Devils! Domes! Dungeons! Necrotic Gnome development updates, third-party releases, and new magic items!

Development Diary: Dungeons & Domes

Here’s a peek behind the curtain at what the Necrotic Gnome team has been working on! From new zines and adventures to infernal horrors, development is moving full steam ahead:

Carcass Crawler Issue 5

Playtesting for the included adventure, Up Chaos River, is complete, and we’re making a few minor tweaks based on feedback. Illustration work is underway, and we’re still on track for a retail launch for Carcass Crawler Issue 5 around June.

Dungeons of the Undermoon

Our first round of playtesting Dungeons of the Undermoon with experienced OSE referees went brilliantly—thank you to everyone who participated! We're currently editing the adventure based on playtest feedback, and the fantastic Kyle Patterson is hard at work on the cover painting, which we’ll be previewing soon.

Next up: writing pre-generated characters and new referee guidance, followed by a second playtest round for groups new to OSE (we’ll be putting out a call when it’s ready). This one’s shaping up to be a truly special starter set!

Devils & Demons

Writing is nearly complete for the eight demon lords, their domains, and their infernal legions. The book is set to include around 80 monsters, featuring a mix of classic AD&D-inspired fiends and brand-new horrors. The first playtest packet will be going out in April—stay tuned!

Adventure Anthology 3

A little update on two of the four included adventures in Adventure Anthology 3:

• Milk by Vasili Kaliman has finished editing and playtesting. Cartography and layout will begin shortly.
• The Grotesques’ Grotto by Amelia Luke is entering its playtesting phase now.

Beneath the Radiant Dome

We’re ready to share more details on the upcoming deluxe edition of Beneath the Radiant Dome!

This science-fantasy dungeon adventure by Gavin Norman, originally published in 2012, is returning in a gorgeous A5 hardcover format with sewn binding and map-printed endpapers. Featuring stunning new cover art by Andrew Walter, this revised edition has been expanded to double the size of the original, with a total of 80 keyed areas!

Designed for levels 4–6, this weird-infused romp features a twisted underground complex teeming with dimensional anomalies, warped wizard labs, vat mutants, sentient ooze pools, animated vending machines, uranium zombies, giant apes, and—of course— massive quantities of arcane loot. 

We’ll continue to share updates as these projects take shape. Watch this space for preview snippets as well as opportunities to join playtests and offer feedback!

Discover the latest releases and creative content from third-party Old-School Essentials creators!

• House of 99 Souls, a horror adventure with plenty of creepy atmosphere from Hellwinter Forge of Wonders.
• Better Off Undead, Epic Solo’s low-level tomb-crawl, complete with coloured hex maps to expand your campaign.
• Times of Adventure, a new OSE solo campaign actual play video series.

Have a project you’d like featured in a future newsletter? Send it to 3pp@necroticgnome.com

Weapons subtle and slimy for slaying:

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Dagger +2, Kinslayer

Slim, innocuous stiletto dagger, easily concealed.

Traitor: +4 against the wielder's own race (including subraces). +3 vs applicable half-races.

Back-stab: Deals an extra die of damage if used as a back-stab attack.

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Snail Flail, +3

Multi-headed, glistening. Treat as mace.

Slowing slime: Enemies struck by this weapon must save vs paralysis or be slowed (unable to act next round).

Slime trail: Constantly dribbles slime trail when held (wielder is easily tracked, double random encounter checks unless cleaned).

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