OSR News Roundup for January 5th, 2026

Welcome to the first News Roundup for 2026. The holidays (in the US, at least) are over, and we're heading towards ZineMonth in a matter of weeks. I've already got some interviews lined up, and just want to remind folks that if you're participating in the event, and want some free press, there are a few options:

• You can send me an email at thirdkingdomgames at gmail dot com and I'll hook you up with a few short and sweet questions.

• I've started a thread on rpgnet for people to promote their projects. Feel free to hop over there and post about your work!

The past few weeks have been understandably slow with releases, so let's see if that pace has picked up a bit now that the holidays are over (spoiler, there's a lot of new stuff this week!).

• Distant Lands is an interesting looking Cairn Hack that borrows the corruption mechanics from Weird North. It gets an extra shout out from me because Perplexing Ruins did the artwork, and his works really sets the tone for the game, as much as the mechanics.

• Afterthought Committee has released E.V.I.L. (Every Villain is a Loser) on itch, a game where you play the henches, mooks, and goons working for super-villains. It's designed so it can be played with or without a GM.

• I'm not familiar with Pytanga Studios, but they're out of Brazil, and look to be continuing the rich tradition of excellent OSR products coming out of Brazil. They've just released The Grand Grimoire of Marvelous Relics, a system neutral supplement for generating unique magical items.

• Steven Gibbs has released two new adventures for Pirate Borg: Curse of the Rumrunners and It Comes from the Deep.

• There are a bunch of supplements for randomly generating features and encounters for hexcrawls, but I rarely see them devoted just to settlements: the aptly-named Instant Settlement Builder is an entry into the latter category.

• I'd mentioned the Land of Blood and Honey zine awhile back, and just saw that Issue 2 is now out. It's a setting specific zine for OSR games, but can be easily adapted for use with other games, especially those with a desert setting.

• Shutirah, by WatcherDM, was a submission to the recent Zungeon Jam, focusing on the eponymous island chain and the corpse of a minor deity that affects the surrounding area.

• Arbitrio Games has released The Lost Opus of the Lich Bard, an adventure for Shadowdark centered around a bard who attained lich-dom and the quest to destroy its spirit vessel.

• BX Modern, by Jeremy Reaban, is pretty much what it says, an adaption of the BX rules to run modern games. It's bare-bones, no art.

• Losing Games has released Cabinet of Curiosities, an official adventure for Mausritter, a snakes and ladders-inspired adventure set in a storage cabinet that has become a weird, extra-dimensional space due to the strange artifacts stored within.

• Into the Bronze is a fantastic rpg that hails from Brazil, and Under the Seal of Solomon is a release for that system where the adventurers are tasked by Solomon to capture the demons that are running roughshod through his kingdom.

• Prancing Puca has released Cobbins, an ancestry for use with Dolmenwood.

• Eric Bloat is funding Campgrounds and Cryptids, a collection of four solo zines of modern horror and mystery.

• d66 Hexes to Explore, by Philip Reed, is pretty much what it says. Philip's got a strong track record with Kickstarted products, and always publishes solid supplements.

• The Kranus Collection, by Kabouter Games, is on Kickstarter, funding a release of system neutral magical items.

• Volume 3 of the BX Advanced Bestiary is still funding on Kickstarter. It covers monsters L-R from the BX and OSE Classic rules, expanding them with options and new variants.