Meme-Free Zone

RPGs for one referee and player - presented as a Valentine's day special, partly a repeat of an offer from 2017

https://bundleofholding.com/presents/BundleForTwo2

This offer launched Tuesday, February 12, and runs through 10PM Eastern US time (GMT -4) Monday, February 25. This promotional page expires at that time.

"This Bundle for Two 2 is our second Valentine collection of tabletop roleplaying games designed for just two players. Whereas the original February 2017 Bundle for Two included intimate duets ideal for a loving Valentine's Day experience with your significant other, these games feature serial killers, hack-and-slash dungeons, and Cthulhu. But hey, these could work for some relationships; there must be at least fifty shades of romantic roleplaying. And even if you have other Valentine plans, these games still work fine when you can't find an entire game group, or you want a game that works well with online virtual tabletops, or you're just looking for an intense head-to-head gaming experience.

We provide each ebook complete in .PDF (Portable Document Format). Like all Bundle of Holding titles, these books have NO DRM (Digital Restrictions Management), and our customers are entitled to move them freely among all their ereaders.

Ten percent of each purchase (after gateway fees) goes to this offer's designated charity, Human Rights Watch.

The total retail value of the titles in this offer is US$87. Customers who pay just US$5.95 get all three titles in our Starter Collection (retail value $29) as DRM-free .PDF ebooks:

• Reflections: A Game of Duelling Samurai by Jim McClure (Third Act Publishing, retail price $12): A longtime rivalry between feuding samurai culminates in a final, fatal confrontation.
• The Quiet Year by Avery Alder (Buried Without Ceremony, retail $8): A highly original map-drawing game from the designer of Monsterhearts about the struggles of a post-apocalyptic community. [Previously in our November 2013 Indie Cornucopia.]
• Dirty Secrets by Seth Ben-Ezra (Dark Omen Games, retail $9): An amazing story engine that effortlessly creates dark and twisting noir plots. [Previously in our June 2015 Deadly Games offer.]

Those who pay more than the threshold (average) price, which is set at $14.95 to start, also get our entire Bonus Collection with three more titles worth an additional $58:

• Cthulhu Confidential by Robin D. Laws, Chris Spivey, and Ruth Tillman (Pelgrane Press, retail $25): Mythos horror meets hard-boiled noir in this GUMSHOE One-2-One game for a Game Moderator and a lone detective.
• One on One Adventures Compendium (Expeditious Retreat, retail $18): Eleven Pathfinder fantasy adventures for a GM and one player.
• The Hour Between Dog and Wolf by Matt Gwinn (Errant Knight Games, retail $15): A flawed hero and a serial killer both confront their darkest impulses.

These don't really work terribly well for me - I tend to prefer games with several players, since a lot of the fun of roleplaying comes from player interaction, daft ideas, etc. - but I can see them possibly being useful if for some reason only one player makes it to a game session. It looks to be a pretty cheap offer, and probably worth it just to mine for ideas. Recommended, though as usual I have to stress that I'm not paying for this stuff, YMMV, etc. etc.

Another bundle offer, this time for one of the most popular superhero RPGs, Mutants and Masterminds:

https://bundleofholding.com/presents/EarthPrime

"This new M&M Earth-Prime Bundle is intended to introduce new players to Mutants & Masterminds from Green Ronin Publishing. If you're new to this popular tabletop game, fly straight into four-color comic-book superhero action with this standalone collection of introductory rulebooks and sourcebooks. It gives you everything you need to foil the nefarious schemes of would-be conquerors.

First published in 2002, M&M started as an OGL D20 product. Designer Steve Kenson (ICONS) creatively modified and expanded the d20 System to reflect the unique demands of a superhero game. Character generation, character advancement, damage, and saves are all different from the traditional d20 System.

And the superhero RPG Green Ronin likes to call "the World's Greatest" is much more than a system. It offers two well-developed settings, Freedom City and Emerald City, and you can easily create your own setting, as many fans have already done -- including Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin, who licensed his Wild Cards shared-world fiction series (inspired, it's said, by Martin's own 1970s Superworld campaign) as an M&M RPG supplement series published by Green Ronin. You can even publish your own setting through Green Ronin's "Super-Powered by M&M" Trademark License, which allows third-party publishers to use "product identity" text.

We provide each ebook complete in .PDF (Portable Document Format). Like all Bundle of Holding titles, these books have NO DRM (Digital Restrictions Management), and our customers are entitled to move them freely among all their ereaders.

Ten percent of each payment (after gateway fees) goes to the charity chosen by Chris Pramas of Green Ronin, the California Community Foundation Wildfire Relief Fund.

The total retail value of the titles in this offer is US$123. Customers who pay just US$14.95 get all three titles in our Starter Collection (retail value $60) as DRM-free .PDF ebooks, including the complete new M&M 3E Basic Hero's Handbook with stripped-down rules for newcomers; the Rogues Gallery collection of dozens of supervillains; and the new edition of the classic M&M campaign setting, Freedom City for 3E.

Those who pay more than the threshold (average) price, which is set at $24.95 to start, also get our entire Bonus Collection with three more titles worth an additional $63, including the complete 320-page Deluxe Hero's Handbook with all the rules you need for any situation (previously presented in our April 2014 M&M 3E Bundle); the Atlas of Earth-Prime, a 270-page guide to the entire world of M&M; and the revised edition of Hero High, about the travails of super-powered teens training to become the heroes of tomorrow."


M&M compares reasonably well to other superhero RPGs; it's based on the Open Games License e.g. D&D so a lot of players will be able to pick it up fairly easily, and it plays about as well. I tend to prefer GURPS Supers or Champions if I'm playing, simply because they seem to be a slightly better fit to the genre, and if I'm running something I'd probably use homebrew rules based on Diana: Warrior Princess, but that's mainly because I wrote the system and know it backwards. For a newcomer with some familiarity with other OGL games this may well be a better fit, and as always you get a hell of a lot for the money. Recommended, subject to all the usual YMMV caveats.

This is a relatively recent system I know little about - the initial game is designed for a post-human SF setting dealing with a failed galactic empire, with spin-offs for a variety of other settings:

https://bundleofholding.com/presents/Fragged

Fragged Empire from Design Ministries is Wade Dyer's game of exploration and rebuilding in a "post-post-apocalyptic" future. In the far future you are a genetically engineered remnant, emerging from genocidal war to reclaim a lost empire. Some worlds have fallen to barbarism; some retain technology so advanced it seems magical. You stand at the dawn of a new civilization, a time of opportunity and danger.

A June 2014 Kickstarter success (with follow-up crowdfunding in 2016 and 2017), Fragged Empire spawned the fantasy spinoff Fragged Kingdom, the pirate setting Fragged Seas, and more. All use the same robust, adaptable rules that emphasize unique characters, intuitive tactical combat, and long-term "sandbox" campaigns. The Fragged Empire YouTube channel explains it all.

From a "Sell me on Fragged Empire" Reddit thread: "One of the most mechanically rich while still being simple (it's just three dice, right?) combat system that dynamically changes the battlefield and choices you might make based on attribute damage. All of that inside one of the more unique universes with all-new worlds and races that have a wealth of history and tension built in." -- "Well organized and nonlinear character creation lending itself to diverse progression that enriches a character concept and diversity. Abstract advancement system that lets you roleplay almost any situation at both ends of the table. [...] Awesome combat that makes use of terrain and cover."

This new bargain-priced collection gives you everything you need for science fiction, fantasy, and piratical adventure using this flexible and fast-growing system. We provide each ebook complete in .PDF (Portable Document Format) and each audio track in .MP3 format. Like all Bundle of Holding titles, these books and tracks have NO DRM (Digital Restrictions Management), and our customers are entitled to move them freely among all their ereaders and music players.

The total retail value of the titles in this offer is US$117.50. Customers who pay just US$14.95 get all four titles in our Starter Collection (retail value $55) as DRM-free .PDF ebooks, including the complete full-color 385-page Fragged Empire core rulebook (plus the free Quick Start Rules and the adventure The Ghost Ship Carthage); Protagonist Archive 1; the full-length introductory adventure Let Sleeping Gods Lie; and the rules expansion Hacked.

Those who pay more than the threshold (average) price, which is set at $24.95 to start, also get our entire Bonus Collection with five more titles worth an additional $62.50, including Fragged Kingdom and Fragged Seas; Classic Races and Magic (add elves and clerics to your Kingdom); Fragged Dieselpunk Mecha because why not; and eight Fragged Empire Ambient Audio Tracks of atmospheric science-fictional background sounds for your game sessions.

I really don't know much about this - it sounds interesting, but they all do - at the moment all I can do is say that it looks to be well presented, but there is a strong emphasis on combat which may not be to everyone's taste. The first 33 pages of the rules are on the web site, mostly a couple of stories and other information to give a feel for the future setting. As usual with these bundles you seem to be getting a lot for your money, whether you need it is a matter of personal taste.

This is Cubicle 7's Doctor Who RPG, one of the better ones by all accounts:

https://bundleofholding.com/presents/DoctorWho

This new collection presents recent .PDF ebooks for the official Doctor Who Roleplaying Game from Cubicle 7 Entertainment. Embark on your own adventures across time and space as the Doctor (any of his first 12 incarnations) and his companions (any of them too) -- or invent your own Time Lord, new companions, and a new TARDIS -- or create a ragtag band of time agents, or even a UNIT base protecting Earth. With the Doctor Who RPG the power is in your hands, and maybe in your Sonic Screwdriver.

(In July 2017 Humble Bundle presented a collection of 11 of Cubicle 7's various "Doctors Sourcebooks" for the RPG. Now this new offer from the Bundle of Holding (which isn't associated with Humble Bundle) duplicates only the core rulebook from the earlier Humble offer; all the sourcebooks, supplements, and adventures in this offer are new and have never been presented in a bundle.)

We provide each ebook complete in .PDF (Portable Document Format). Like all Bundle of Holding titles, these books have NO DRM (Digital Restrictions Management), and our customers are entitled to move them freely among all their ereaders.

Ten percent of each purchase (after gateway fees) goes to the charity designated by Dominic McDowall of Cubicle 7 Entertainment, BBC Children in Need.

The total retail value of the titles in this offer is US$142. Customers who pay just US$19.95 get all three titles in our Starter Collection (retail value $70) as DRM-free .PDF ebooks:

• Doctor Who Roleplaying Game (retail price $30): The complete game (previously published as Doctor Who - Adventures in Time and Space) based on the Vortex System (Rocket Age, Primeval).
• All the Strange, Strange Creatures Volume 1 (retail $20): Aliens the Doctor has encountered on his adventures, aliens he has not yet met, and aliens he hopes never to meet again.
• Paternoster Investigations (retail $20): The sourcebook of Victorian-era adventures and Paternoster Gang campaigns.

Those who pay more than the threshold (average) price, which is set at $29.95 to start, also get our entire Bonus Collection with four more titles worth an additional $72:

• Gamemaster's Companion (retail $20): A TARDIS-full of guidance for running Doctor Who RPG adventures, along with three complete scenarios.
• The campaign sourcebooks The Black Archive (retail $14), about UNIT, and The Silurian Age (retail $20), about dinosaurs in spaceships.
• All of Time and Space Volume 1 (retail $18): A collection of four complete adventures -- Ghost Engines, Northern Knights, Schrodinger's Expedition, and Tomb of Cleopatra.

The offer also includes a 30% discount on purchases of Doctor Who RPG print products at the Cubicle 7 webstore.

This is very pretty, with tons of illos from Capaldi-era and earlier iterations of Doctor Who, and the system looks very playable. It reminds me a bit of Time Lord, the only Doctor Who system I actually wrote for, which gave similar priority to role playing over combat etc., and has fun skills and traits like "Resourceful Pockets" (produce any item from your pockets as needed) and "Reverse the Polarity of the Neutron Flow," pulling scientific rabbits out of your hat. I think that I can safely recommend it. But as usual I need to point out that I'm not paying for it, if you do your mileage may differ.

Two game bundles for the Cyberpunk 2020 system, one a repeat, the other all new (or at least not offered in one of these bundles before)

Cyberpunk 2020

https://bundleofholding.com/presents/Cyberpunk2018

"This revived offer (originally presented in June 2017), first of two now in progress, presents the 1993 Second Edition of Mike Pondsmith's classic RPG of the dark future, Cyberpunk 2020 from R. Talsorian Games. The all-new companion offer is Cyberpunk Boost, with another data hoard of rulebooks and supplements. As the back cover of Cyberpunk 2020 tells us, "The Corporations control the world from their skyscraper fortresses, enforcing their rule with armies of cyborg assassins. On the Street, boostergangs roam a shattered urban wilderness, killing and looting. The rest of the world is a perpetual party, as fashion-model techies in the hottest clubs rub biosculpt jobs with battle-armored roadwarriors. The future never looked so bad -- but you can change it. You've got interface plugs in your wrists, weapons in your arms, lasers in your eyes, biochips in your brain. You're wired in, cyberenhanced, and solid state. Take it to the fatal Edge where only the toughest and coolest can go -- because you're Cyberpunk." Warm up your cyberwear and faxprinter, grab your mirrorshades and Dai Lung Magnum, tell the ripperdoc to stand by, and hit Night City's mean streets and hot clubs in the unimaginably faraway time of AD 2020.

We provide each ebook complete in .PDF (Portable Document Format). The new scans of the .PDF ebooks in this revived offer are much improved from its original June 2017 run, and they're all bookmarked. (Purchasers of the original run can find the improved ebooks on their Wizard's Cabinet download page.) Like all Bundle of Holding titles, these books have NO DRM (Digital Restrictions Management), and our customers are entitled to move them freely among all their ereaders.

Ten percent of each purchase (after gateway fees) goes to these two Cyberpunk offers' designated charity -- who else? -- the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

The total retail value of the titles in this offer is US$149.50. Customers who pay just US$14.95 get all six titles in this offer's Player Collection (retail value $48) as DRM-free .PDF ebooks:

• Cyberpunk 2.0.2.0 Second Edition (retail $15): The core rulebook for this quintessentially '90s RPG of high-tech lowlifes.
• Four role guides (total retail $27) adding options for individual character classes: Solo of Fortune (mercenaries), Protect & Serve (law enforcement), Wild Side (fixers), and Rockerboy (rock'n'roll will never die!).
• Blackhand's Street Weapons 2020 (retail $6): The big book of guns and every kind of armament.

Those who pay more than this offer's threshold (average) price, which is set at $27.95 to start, also get this offer's entire Referee Collection with ten more titles worth an additional $101.50:

• Night City (retail $9): One of the best city sourcebooks for Cyberpunk or any modern-day RPG, this jam-packed 180-page sourcebook covers Cyberpunk's signature urban sprawl.
• Three 2020 worldbooks (total retail $23) looking at life on the edge outside the US: Pacific Rim Sourcebook, Eurosource Plus, and Rough Guide to the UK.
• All four Chrome supplements (total retail $25): These trendsetting styleguides to the equipment and fashion of 2020 were called "Chromebooks" before we got laptops.
• Deep Space (retail $8): Escape the polluted Earth for the high frontier of Paradise Station, Chryse Base, and beyond.
• Rache Bartmoss's Guide to the Net (retail $9): Rache Bartmoss (the world's greatest netrunner) is dead -- which finally gives him time to write this acerbic gonzo-journalist tour of the information superhighway.
• Land of the Free and Home of the Brave (total retail $20.50): Two linked supplements on fallen America. Home of the Brave covers NPCs, plot hooks, and more from this fractured union. Land of the Free presents a sprawling road-trip campaign.
• Listen Up, You Primitive Screwheads! (retail $7): The unexpurgated Cyberpunk referee's guide with some of the best GM advice for this or any RPG.

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Cyberpunk Boost

https://bundleofholding.com/presents/CyberpunkBoost
"This all-new Cyberpunk Boost Bundle is one of two offers now in progress presenting the R. Talsorian Games RPG of the dark future, Cyberpunk -- the inspiration for the forthcoming CD Projekt Red videogame Cyberpunk 2077. This bargain-priced collection presents Cyberpunk V3.0, Cybergeneration, and a data hoard of supplements and sourcebooks -- two of them debuting in .PDF in this offer. The second bundle is a revival of our June 2017 Cyberpunk 2020 Bundle, with the C2020 rulebook and many supplements.The total retail value of the titles in this offer at launch is US$110.50. Customers who pay just US$12.95 get all four titles in this offer's Starter Collection (retail value $38.50) as DRM-free .PDF ebooks, including the Cybergeneration 2E core rulebook, set in an alternate 2027 where heroic CyberEvolved youths fight the Machine; the two Firestorm adventures of the Fourth Corporate War, Stormfront and Shockwave; and, debuting in .PDF in this offer and not yet available anywhere else, the newly remastered Cyberpunk 2020 Data Screen and its introductory adventure, "When the Chips Are Down."
Those who pay more than this offer's threshold (average) price, which is set at $19.95 to start, also get this offer's entire Bonus Collection with ten more titles worth an additional $72:

• Cyberpunk V3.0: The complete 291-page Third Edition core rulebook (2005), plus its FlashPak accessory kit.
• All three Cybergeneration "Documents of the Revolution" sourcebooks: EcoFront, MediaFront, and VirtualFront.
• When Gravity Fails, the licensed Cyberpunk 2020 supplement based on the Marîd Audran novels by George Alec Effinger.
• Three C2020 adventures: NeoTribes, Eurotour: Danger & Death on a Euro-Rock Tour, and Edgerunners Inc.
• Bartmoss's Brainware Blowout, an exuberant compilation of all the cyberware from every C2020 book plus lots of dangerous new stuff.

At least one more title will be added after launch; "When a title is added after launch, ALL customers who previously purchased that offer automatically receive the newly added title, REGARDLESS of whether or not they paid more than average. This is their reward for buying early."

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Cyberpunk 2020 resources

• R. Talsorian Games
• Datafortress 2.0.2.0
• Moosh.net character and lifepath generators
• Reddit's C2020 subreddit
• Karsten's C2020 Archive (in German)
• 1999 Kheper.net page of general cyberpunk resources

In its day this was a ground-breaking system, the first RPG to really explore Cyberpunk tropes, and it still has a lot to offer although some of the background now feels a little dated (or too factual, depending on your perspective). The system isn't as clunky as some from this period, and games move at a reasonable pace if the GM can avoid too many excursions into cyberspace. Other systems have since mined the same territory, but this is still a pretty good collection for the genre - the only big omission I can see is the Hardwired supplement, released for the first version of the game and based on Walter John Williams' novel, presumably the rights have lapsed.

My problem here is primarily that I already own most of this stuff as dead trees and haven't used it in a decade or two, also that it has dated by modern standards, though nowhere nearly as badly as some of its rivals. If I wanted to get into the genre and didn't already have it I would probably be very interested. Recommended, subject to all the usual disclaimers.

This is another of the annual all-new collections of independently published games:

Indie Cornucopia 6

https://bundleofholding.com/presents/Cornucopia6

"This is the all-new sixth annual installment in our Indie Cornucopia series, which launches each year on or near the Thanksgiving Day holiday in America. Each Cornucopia presents recent high-profile small-press tabletop RPGs. This time out we have Spire, Dusk City Outlaws, Red Markets, Tiny Dungeon 2E, Age of Anarchy, and Murders & Acquisitions.

We provide each ebook complete in .PDF (Portable Document Format). Like all Bundle of Holding titles, these books have NO DRM (Digital Restrictions Management), and our customers are entitled to move them freely among all their ereaders.

Ten percent of each purchase (after gateway fees) goes to this offer's designated charity, Doctors Without Borders.

The total retail value of the titles in this offer at launch is US$111. Customers who pay just US$11.95 get all three complete games in our Starter Collection (retail value $48) as DRM-free .PDF ebooks:

• Dusk City Outlaws (Scratchpad Publishing, retail price $20): The January 2017 Kickstarter triumph about crime cartels and crews in the sprawling sandbox city of New Dunhaven.
• Age of Anarchy (Reroll Productions, retail $13): War and intrigue in England's 12th-Century civil war, setting for the Brother Cadfael mysteries and The Pillars of the Earth.
• Murders & Acquisitions (NerdBurger Games, retail $15): Cutthroat corporate intrigue, melees in the breakroom, and promotion by execution. Sound like your office?

Those who pay more than the threshold (average) price, which is set at $23.95 to start, also get our entire Bonus Collection with three more titles worth an additional $63:

• Spire (Rowan, Rook, and Decard, retail $25): Revolution in a mile-high city of a thousand gods.
• Tiny Dungeon 2E (Gallant Knight Games, retail $18): The new 2018 Second Edition of the minimalist pickup-and-play fantasy RPG, including a dozen microsettings that jump-start a new campaign.
• Red Markets (Hebanon Games, retail $20): Economic horror in a slow-motion zombie apocalypse where civilization is ending but the rent is still due.

At least two look like they're my type of game, but since I hadn't hear of any of them until about ten minutes ago I can't really offer an informed opinion. Having said that, two of my games have been published this way: Diana: Warrior Princess was one of the games a few years ago, and The Original Flatland Role Playing Game raised several hundred pounds for Doctors Without Borders a little later. I think they're probably worth trying, but as usual I have to stress that I don't pay for this stuff - if you do your mileage may vary.

FATE is a fairly good generic system which I've played a few times. This bundle has several settings for it, all with FATE rules variants:

https://bundleofholding.com/presents/Fate4

"This is our fourth collection of RPGs (following offers in September 2013, November 2014, and November 2015) that use the ever-popular Fate roleplaying rules. Like its predecessors, this is a new collection of top-quality RPGs that range across many genres -- classic and modern fantasy, space opera, and alternate history -- all using the same consistent, fast-playing rules.

We provide each ebook complete in .PDF (Portable Document Format). Like all Bundle of Holding titles, these books have NO DRM (Digital Restrictions Management), and our customers are entitled to move them freely among all their ereaders.

Ten percent of each purchase (after gateway fees) goes to this offer's designated charity, the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

The total retail value of the titles in this offer at launch is US$101.50. Customers who pay just US$8.95 get all seven titles in our Starter Collection (retail value $45.50) as DRM-free .PDF ebooks:

• Bulldogs! Fate Core edition (Galileo Games, retail price $10): The newest version of the rustbucket space opera about troublemaking across the galaxy. Includes the supplement Red Star (retail $5) and the Bulldogs-inspired Fiasco playset No References Required.
• The Small Folk (retail $12): Phil Masters (the Discworld RPG) writes about the magical beings who live in the walls of your house.
• Leaves of Chiaroscuro (Bennett-Burks Design, retail $10): Megan Bennett-Burks' fantastic alternate Renaissance of wonder and Machiavellian intrigue.
• Two Fate Accelerated RPGs from Berin Kinsman at Dancing Lights Press: Starship Tyche (retail $8.50), for boldly going into the final frontier; and Santa Claus Conquers the Martians (Pay What You Want), because -- well, we don't have a good reason, but hey: Santa Claus!
• Oh, and like the three previous Bundles of Fate, this one includes the Fate Core and Fate Accelerated rulebooks from Evil Hat Productions.

Those who pay more than the threshold (average) price, which is set at $18.95 to start, also get our entire Bonus Collection with six more titles worth an additional $56:

• Kaiju Incorporated: The RPG (Evil Hat Productions, retail $10): You've got a monster job to do in Rob Wieland's mayhem-filled game of giant creatures and equally destructive HR policies.
• The Fate Adversary Toolkit (Evil Hat, retail $8): The indispensable guide to villains and obstacles for any Fate game.
• Heart of the Fury (Galileo Games, retail $10): A galaxy-size Bulldogs! campaign by Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan (Darkening of Mirkwood, Eyes of the Stone Thief).
• Elysium Flare (VSCA, retail $13): Another take on Fate-based space opera by Brad Murray, co-designer of Diaspora.
• Shadowcraft: The Glamour War (Reroll Productions, retail $10): Magical superspy espionage in the lands of Faerie. Includes the Shadowcraft Mission Folio (retail $5) that generates unique new missions.

At least one surprise extra title will be added after the offer launches. "When a title is added after launch, ALL customers who previously purchased the bundle automatically receive the newly added title, REGARDLESS of whether or not they paid more than average. This is their reward for buying early."

This is an interesting offer which has some fun and/or moderately demented settings. I was marginally involved in the creation of one of them, The Small Folk, though only as an ideas person / beta reader, and I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of them. It looks like a pretty good deal, but as usual I have to stress that I'm not paying for it - if you are, your mileage may vary.

Two offers - one a repeat, the other all new:

Shadow of the Demon Lord

https://bundleofholding.com/presents/2018DemonLord

"Shadow of the Demon Lord is designer Robert J. Schwalb's dark fantasy RPG of grim heroism against a cosmic destroyer. In this fast-playing, low-prep March 2015 Kickstarter triumph, desperate heroes battle strange magic, unhinged cultists, and roaming mobs of undead while humanity's last great empire slides toward oblivion. Gamers who love Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, the Ravenloft and Midnight settings, Joe Abercrombie's The First Law novels, or heavy metal music will thrill to confront the Void That Hungers -- or, as star designer Kenneth Hite describes it, "Pure Spikey Caustic Red-Hot Squirming Deliquescing Rugose Gonna-Bite-Your-Fingers-Off Horned Fetid Monstrous EVIL."
We originally presented this bargain-priced collection to great success in May 2017. This offer prompted glowing writeups like The Dread Gazebo's "10 Great Reasons Why You Should Give Shadow of the Demon Lord a Try," and extravagant praise on Reddit's /r/rpg subreddit and the RPG.net forums. In conjunction with this revival we've spawned an all-new separate companion offer, Demon Lord Victims, with recent supplements and sourcebooks that tour the Lands in Shadow.

As with this offer's original run, we provide each ebook complete in .PDF (Portable Document Format). Like all Bundle of Holding titles, these books have NO DRM (Digital Restrictions Management), and our customers are entitled to move them freely among all their ereaders.
Ten percent of each payment (after payment gateway fees) for these two Shadow of the Demon Lord offers will be donated to the charity designated by Demon Lord designer Robert J. Schwalb, the Wildlife Conservation Society.

The total retail value of the titles in this revived offer is US$97. Customers who pay just US$9.95 get all five titles in this offer's Starter Collection (retail value $42) as DRM-free .PDF ebooks, including the complete 278-page Shadow of the Demon Lord corebook, the Demon Lord's Companion, the Uncertain Faith sourcebook of divine magic, and the fine introductory adventure Dark Deeds in Last Hope.
Those who pay more than this offer's threshold (average) price, which is set at $19.95 to start, also get this offer's entire Bonus Collection with seven more delicious gobbets of evil worth an additional $55. What's in these sourcebooks? The titles speak for themselves: Hunger in the Void, Tombs of the Desolation, A Glorious Death, Terrible Beauty, and Exquisite Agony. Plus, Tales of the Demon Lord presents 11 low-prep adventures across the Northern Reach, and the Demon Lord Screen has all the charts you need.

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Demon Lord Victims Bundle

https://bundleofholding.com/presents/Victims

"This is an all-new companion collection of recent supplements and sourcebooks for Schwalb Entertainment's Shadow of the Demon Lord. This offer presents new rules expansions, an alternate setting, and many installments in the Victims of the Demon Lord and Lands in Shadow series. This offer runs in parallel with a revival of the original Shadow of the Demon Lord Bundle, which was a huge success in its first May 2017 run. Check out the Shadow of the Demon Lord Bundle promo page.

We provide each ebook complete in .PDF (Portable Document Format). Like all Bundle of Holding titles, these books have NO DRM (Digital Restrictions Management), and our customers are entitled to move them freely among all their ereaders.

Ten percent of each purchase (after gateway fees) goes to this offer's designated charity, the Wildlife Conservation Society.
The total retail value of the titles in this offer at launch is US$80.50. Customers who pay just US$9.95 get all nine titles in this offer's Starter Collection (retail value $38.50) as DRM-free .PDF ebooks:

• Beyond the World's Edge, a travelogue of the strange places and stranger denizens beyond the map in the core Shadow rulebook.
• Five gazetteers in the Lands in Shadow series: Borderlands of Tear, Caecras (crumbling capital of the Empire of Rûl), City of Death (Azl, northernmost city of the Confederacy), Kingdom of God (the Holy Kingdom), and A Land Divided (Old Edene).
• Three Victims of the Demon Lord race sourcebooks: For Gold and Glory (dwarves), Only Human, and Uncommon Courage (halflings).

Those who pay more than this offer's threshold (average) price, which is set at $17.95 to start, also get this offer's entire Bonus Collection with seven more titles worth an additional $42:

• Demon Lord's Companion 2 and Forbidden Rules: New character options, combat rules, and interesting ways to reshape your campaign.
• Godless: A World in Fire and Blood: A complete alternate setting for Shadow of the Demon Lord, a post-apocalypse version of our own Earth where desperate survivors pick their way through the rubble of civilization and fight bloodthirsty warlords, degenerate mutants, rapacious biker gangs, horrid monsters, and of course, demons.
• Four more Victims of the Demon Lord installments: Between Two Worlds (fauns), Born to Kill (orcs), Ghosts in Machines (clockworks), and Stolen Lives (changelings).

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Demon Lord resources

• Schwalb Entertainment's Shadow of the Demon Lord page
• BEDLAM, the official community for Shadow of the Demon Lord
• Pregenerated SotDL characters (World Builder Blog)
• Reddit/r/rpg advice to new Shadow of the Demon Lord gamemasters
• "Shadow of the Demon Lord experiences and pitfalls?" (January 2017 RPG.net forum thread with lots of good starting advice)

When the first bundle was released in 2017 I said


Sorry, but I'm afraid I'm not seeing anything here to change that. Try it if you like this sort of thing, I'm not going to advise either way.

Another bundle offer, as usual for October this one is horror:

https://bundleofholding.com/presents/PalladiumHorror

This all-new Palladium Horror Bundle, part of our annual "October Horrors" sequence," presents RPGs of contemporary terror from Palladium Books. Whether you play the everyday heroes touched by forces Beyond the Supernatural,™ the superhuman otherdimensional shapeshifters called the Nightbane,® or the hapless survivors of the zombie apocalypse where the Dead Reign,® all the standalone RPGs and their supplements in this bargain-priced collection work well with every game based on Palladium's Megaversal rules system.

Ten percent of each purchase (after gateway fees) goes to this offer's designated charity, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

The total retail value of the titles in this offer is US$95.50. Customers who pay just US$9.95 get all four titles in our Starter Collection (retail value $45) as DRM-free .PDF ebooks, including Beyond the Supernatural™ Second Edition (2005), Nightbane,® Dead Reign,® and the Dead Reign sourcebook Civilization Gone.

Those who pay more than the threshold (average) price, which is set at $18.95 to start, also get our entire Bonus Collection with five more supplements worth an additional $50.50, including four Nightbane World Books (Between the Shadows, Nightlands,™ Through the Glass Darkly, and the Nightbane Survival Guide) as well as another Dead Reign sourcebook, Dark Places.

I've made no secret of the fact that I'm not a big fan of the Palladium system, and this one is no exception. But if you like it, or want as many horror games as possible, this looks like a reasonable deal. As usual your mileage may vary.

Two horror RPG settings deriving their backgrounds from the first and second world wars:

Weird War I

https://bundleofholding.com/presents/WeirdWarOne

"Weird War I is the latest Savage Worlds battleground in Pinnacle Entertainment's Weird Wars series of historical-horror campaign settings. In this Weird War I Bundle -- the first offer in this year's "October Horrors" sequence -- the intrepid soldiers, sailors, airmen, and civilians of 1914-18 must struggle against ancient evils unleashed in the Great War to End All Wars. (By the way, this year is the centennial of the Armistice.) This is one of two new Weird Wars offers now in progress. The companion offer, the Weird War II Bundle, presents the Savage Worlds and d20 System titles in Pinnacle's World War II setting.

We provide each ebook complete in .PDF (Portable Document Format). Like all Bundle of Holding titles, these books have NO DRM (Digital Restrictions Management), and our customers are entitled to move them freely among all their ereaders.
Ten percent of each purchase for these two Weird Wars offers (after gateway fees) goes to the charity chosen by Pinnacle Entertainment, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

This all-new offer, with a total retail value of US$92, presents almost the entire line of Savage Worlds sourcebooks and supplements funded in Pinnacle's successful February 2016 Weird War I Kickstarter campaign as DRM-free .PDF ebooks. Customers who pay just $9.95 get all eight titles in our Starter Collection (retail value $45), including the Weird War I Player's Guide and War Master's Handbook (plus the free Savage Worlds Test Drive rules), five collections of Weird War I Archetypes (pregenerated characters), and the print-and fold Horrors of Weird War I Figure Flats character standups.

Those who pay more than this offer's threshold (average) price, which is set at $19.95 to start, also get this offer's entire Bonus Collection with ten more titles worth an additional $47, including five Weird War I adventures (Raid on Fort Douaumont, The 13th Warrior, Hellfighters, In Vino Veritas, and No Man's Land), four Combat Maps (Bridge, No Man's Land, Trenches, and Village), and the War Master Screen Inserts of useful reference charts for Pinnacle's Customizable Gamemaster Screen."

At least one more title will be added later. "When a title is added after launch, ALL customers who previously purchased this bundle automatically receive the newly added title, REGARDLESS of whether or not they paid more than average. This is their reward for buying early."

Weird War II

https://bundleofholding.com/presents/WeirdWarTwo

"This all-new Weird War II Bundle presents Pinnacle Entertainment's Weird Wars campaign setting of supernatural horror in World War II. Weird War II debuted in 2000 for the d20 rules system, and in 2009 Pinnacle followed up with a new WWII core setting book and supplements for its fast-furious-fun Savage Worlds RPG. Part of this year's "October Horrors" sequence of horror roleplaying games, this collection presents all the books in both the Savage Worlds and d20 lines for a bargain price.

This is one of two new Weird Wars offers now in progress. The companion offer, the Weird War I Bundle, presents Pinnacle's World War I setting for Savage Worlds.

We provide each ebook complete in .PDF (Portable Document Format). Like all Bundle of Holding titles, these books have NO DRM (Digital Restrictions Management), and our customers are entitled to move them freely among all their ereaders.

Ten percent of each purchase for these two Weird Wars offers (after gateway fees) goes to the charity chosen by Pinnacle Entertainment, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

The total retail value of the titles in this offer is US$78.50. Customers who pay just US$7.95 get all three titles in this offer's Savage Collection (retail value $28.50) as DRM-free .PDF ebooks, including the Weird War II core setting book, the adventure Island of Dreams, and the three-part miniatures campaign Ardennes of Darkness (and we include the free Savage Showdown miniatures skirmish rules).

Those who pay more than this offer's threshold (average) price, which is set at $17.95 to start, also get this offer's entire d20 Collection with seven more titles worth an additional $50 that cover every theatre of World War II. Try to guess each book's subject from its striking title: Blood on the Rhine, Afrika Korpse, Hell Freezes Over, Land of the Rising Dead, Dead From Above, and Hell in the Hedgerows. (We also include the Horrors of Weird War II bestiary.)"

There don't appear to be any surprise extras for this one.


These are interesting if you like role playing in a wartime setting; the snag is that I tend to regard war as horrible enough that I don't really want to run RPGs with that background. I'm also not happy with the idea that the horrors of war need a supernatural explanation, since it deflects blame from the human monsters who are really responsible. It's also worth mentioning that there are at least two alternatives, GURPS WW2 (mostly concentrating on real history and technology but providing a framework for other types of action) and Achtung! Cthulhu, which is definitely on the horrific end of the scale. If you already use either system you may find it preferable.

Having said that, you are as usual getting a lot for your money. It's not entirely to my taste, but as usual opinions differ.