Yay! I finally did it. Here is the PDF for Crimson Dragon Slayer - my humble Old School Renaissance roleplaying game. The print version should be available on DriveThru and Amazon in early June.
Since there's already a hundred or so retro-clones and retro-compatible RPGs similar, based on, or taking off from the original Dungeons & Dragons, I really didn't think there was anywhere to go. After all, I had included a few game mechanic tweaks in Liberation of the Demon Slayer and The Islands of Purple-Haunted Putrescence. Were there enough new ideas in my head to publish yet another OSR RPG?
It started with a face-palm breakthrough in my VSd6 idea. Instead of multiple 6's being a critical success, just a lone 6 would suffice, with everything scaling from there. It seems tiny, obvious, and the furthest thing from a revolutionary idea, but when I eventually tripped over it, the revised concept gave me that initial spark of hope that I might be able to contribute something worthwhile.
Re-watching bad/cheesy 80's fantasy films like The Dungeon Master, Deathstalker, and Tron fueled the narrative. After all, thousands of RPGs hand you a bunch of rules and drop you in a vague setting conforming to the genre or, conversely, slathered in meta-plot. I just wanted an interesting framework and then back off to let the Dragon Master and players take it from there.
Lastly, I wanted to showcase my sense of humor. Why not make it kind of funny... an occasionally silly self-parody of what we consider old school fantasy roleplaying?
Glynn from +MonkeyBlood Design and a bunch of my OSR friends and acquaintances did the rest. They provided ideas, encouragement, and the support needed to float this project until completion. I literally couldn't have done it without them, so big thanks to all those righteous dudes!
VS
p.s. Fantastic interior illustration by +Joshua Burnett.
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