Meme-Free Zone

"System-neutral" random tables for items etc. to be found in dungeons, wildernesses, etc. from Raging Swan Press

 

https://bundleofholding.com/presents/DungeonDressing

If you read these posts you probably already know that this really isn't my sort of thing. But someone out there is probably saying "Hey, just what I needed", and I think it's fair to say that you do get a LOT of random lookup tables for your money. Useful if you want to create a setting in a hurry, but I generally prefer to add my own - although sometimes this ends up a little oddly, I'm still trying to work out why one of my NPCs has a desk drawer containing "postcards and stereoscope pictures from strange places such as Lhasa, Peking, the Plateau of Leng, Boston, Boca del Infierno California, and Havana, and peculiar dice with eight, ten, and even twenty sides" since they play absolutely no part in that particular adventure. If you don't have a warped mind like mine you may find this bundle useful.

This is a repeat of the May 2022 bundle of Shadowrun Sixth World Essentials, featuring the current (2019) Sixth Edition of the cyberpunk-magic RPG.

SHADOWRUN SIXTH WORLD ESSENTIALS

   https://bundleofholding.com/presents/2025SR6Essentials




In 2022 I said "I'll be honest, I've never been a big fan of this setting - while there's a "fantasy with big guns" genre that works reasonably well in fiction, adding in all of the cyberpunk tropes means that in any given situation some of the characters will have problems bringing useful skills and abilities to bear; the worst case is a scene where only one or two characters are active, the rest are standing around waiting for their hacker / shaman / whatever to get their part of the job done. Having said that, this is a very popular system which has stayed in print for 30+ years despite changing publishers twice. If you like this sort of game, this is probably the game for you."

I really don't see any reason to change this opinion.


There may be more for this system later this week.

This is a bundle of third-party dungeon crawls from Menagerie Press for the The Arcane Library's old-school FRPG, Shadowdark. It doesn't include the Shadowdark rules, but a starter version is available free.

https://bundleofholding.com/presents/MenagerieShadowdark

As I've mentioned a few times before, I don't really play this sort of game any more. At a quick look the modules are well-presented and readable, but as usual with dungeon-bashing they're mostly maps with stats and random result tables. There's not really a lot of description or characterization, or many options outside fighting and looting. That's pretty much what the Old School thing is about, of course, and if you like that sort of thing this is probably the sort of thing you like.

Apologies this is a little late - I went out this evening, forgot to post before I left, then ran into huge transport problems so that I was very late getting home.

Two more Traveller Bundles - Mongoose Traveller 2E, featuring the second edition published by Mongoose, who now own the Traveller system, and Pirates of Drinax, a huge campaign using the Mongoose incarnation of the system.

Mongoose Traveller 2E (last offered May 2021)

https://bundleofholding.com/presents/2025MongTrav




Traveller Pirates of Drinax (Last offered May 2021)

https://bundleofholding.com/presents/Drinax2025




In 2021 I said "This feels like a return to the roots of Traveller; without a lot of the grimdark elements that predominated in later editions, and with rules that are much closer to the versions that the game began with. There are a lot of new careers and options, but it ought to be possible to get up and running fast if you're familiar with the original game. This isn't to say that it's perfect - I found the explanation of character generation a little confusing, even though I actually know pretty much how it works. There's a flow chart that helps considerably but more of a simplified "these are the things you need to do in this order" explanation might help. Presentation is very good, and avoids some of the pitfalls by minimizing illustrations where they aren't really needed - for example, there is only one illustration of a player character, a spotty nerd just entering college, in the first fifty pages, and sexual balance seems fairly even in later pictures, with zero gratuitous nakedness, at least for pictures of humans.

The campaign returns to the classic roots too, the Trojan Reach has been in the game since 1980 and looks open-ended enough to satisfy the sort of player who listens to all of the options presented by the GM then does something entirely different. I won't say much about it because spoilers, the description.. ..should give a reasonable idea.

Definitely recommended, but as usual I'm not paying for this stuff, if you do you may have other ideas!"

I don't see any need to change any of that.

This is the second of several Traveller offers this week, a revival of the 2021 offer of classic Traveller material from GDW

https://bundleofholding.com/presents/Imperium2025



In 2021 I said

I already own a lot of this in dead tree format, but this offer will fill in a few gaps. If you don't know Traveller you really ought to - it's pretty much where all SF RPGs have come from, and handles the epic scale of a BIG galaxy better than most of its successors. There are weaknesses, of course, given its age, but it holds up better than most of the other vintage RPGs, and still packs a lot of entertainment value.

I don't see any reason to change that.

This is a short term offer for a bundle of material for the Apocalypse Keys RPG, an Apocalypse Engine setting involving occult agencies and monsters working as agents for DIVISION, an agency apparently inspired by Hellboy, Men in Black, etc.

https://bundleofholding.com/presents/ApocalypseKeys



This is an interesting idea but has a lot of competition, not least Delta Green, the Laundry Files RPG, etc. It also seems to use way too many capitalized words but that's not uncommon. It looks like reasonably good value anyway.

Apologies that this has been posted late - I've been working on preparing material for the scenario I'm running on Saturday and forgot to check my email. The offer ends on Thursday May 1st.

A repeat of a 2022 offer of Sigil Stone Publishing FRPGs which add modern rules to Old School Revival Adventures. One supplement is added from the original release, but if you bought that you will get the new material free so no need to buy it again.

https://bundleofholding.com/presents/Sigil2025



In 2022 I said "It's about 25 years since I last played a pure dungeon-bashing adventure, and to be honest I don't particularly want to go back to the genre. Both look reasonably well presented, and it's an unusually cheap bundle; if these are the sort of games you like it's worth a look." I don't think any of that has changed.

This is an RPG from publishers Game Machinery, set in a post-Apocalyptic world where supernatural beings including demons, angels, dragons and other entities collectively known as Defiant have decided to protect the last human survivors instead of killing them. The players take on the roles of the supernatural beings, trying to sustain a city and its civilization and keep things from falling apart - the humans are more or less unaware of the problem. The characters start powerful, and accumulate more power through intrigue, throwing the best parties, creating/recruiting more Defiant and overcoming obstacles. Rules prioritize style, intrigue and interaction:

https://bundleofholding.com/presents/Defiant



This is an interesting idea, but since I'm not really the partying sort of person I'm not sure how attuned I am to the general game vibe - although having said that, something like a science fiction or games convention might be the sort of thing that a Defiant might think will set up the sort of atmosphere that promotes their goals. It's pretty cheap and I think it's worth a look.

A bundle of material published by Green Ronin in the early days of the Open Games License, rebadged as "Third Era" with its own rulebooks when D&D 4E was published:

https://bundleofholding.com/presents/GreenRonin3rdEra



If you read this blog much you know what I'm going to say next - I'm not really into fantasy RPGs any more, especially D&D and related systems. But if that's the sort of thing you like, it looks like reasonable value for money.

Only heard about this an hour ago - there's going to be a Dragonmeet convention (a spin-off from the big one in December), but in Kensington Town Hall where it used to be held. It's on April 26th, the Saturday after Eastercon. It's called Dragonmeet: Call to Adventure and seems to be aimed at getting newcomers into the hobby, the advertising emphasises kids, it's sponsored by two London boroughs and membership is free.

https://dragonmeet.co.uk/cta

I've just got membership, next I'll see if they need GMs or anything...