OSR News Roundup for January 19th, 2026

Welcome to the third News Roundup for January. ZineMonth is just around the corner; last week there were a lot of new releases, so let's see what this week brings us, shall we?

• The Fracture Between Jade and Ash is a system-neutral, city-based scenario that relies on the conflict between two factions -- Jade Serpents and Ash-born -- to ratchet up the tension in the adventure.

• Moonwhisper Magic has released What Hirelings, a collection of 35 NPC and hireling cards statted for general OSR games.

• The Frog Lord's Hold, by David Okum, is a system agnostic, swords and whiskers adventure with a heist theme.

• Black Knife Media has released Kobolds, a Class for OSE. It is presented as both race as class and race and class flavors.

• I'm a big fan of hexcrawls, and was intrigued to see Khazia: the Fasting East, a mini-hexcrawl for Shadowdark. It includes the map, locations of interest, and a bunch of character options to help provide flavor to the region.

• Roundup regular Paul Partington has released another solo gamebook for OSE: Desolation of the God King, an Egyptian-themed adventure that can be played without a Referee.

• Games Omnivorous has released Best Served Cold and Tomb of 1000 Gears, two minimalist, low-prep games for FLAIL in a slick double-side postcard format.

• I'm not sure if this is brilliant or Mork Borg finally jumping the shark, but I see that someone releases Cottage Borg, a cozy, slice-of-life game powered by the Mork Borg engine.

• I'd mentioned Roguelike Megadungeon before as part of ZineMonth 2022, and, after a number of setbacks, it's been released on Drivethru. The publisher is upfront about the delay, and it always makes me happy when a delayed product is finally released. I was really looking forward this release, as a big fan of the roguelike dungeon-crawling zine.

• Jeff Stevens is raising funds for The Savage Arctic, a campaign setting in the frozen tundra.

• I'm raising funds for Populated Hexes Monthly Issue 53, a location on a lonely moor featuring a korred and a haunted barrow, as well as a half-nixie class.