BoLS logo Tabletop, RPGs & Pop Culture
Advertisement

Discover ‘The Making of Original Dungeons & Dragons’ and More

5 Minute Read
Mar 1 2024
Advertisement

The Making of D&D, multiple Apocalypses, and getting inside the minds of villains and minions are all in our 5E compatible roundup this week.

It’s time to roll the dice on new 5E compatible releases! Come check out this week’s batch of brand-new tabletop role-playing games.

The Making of Original Dungeons & Dragons

  • Unearth the very first draft of original D&D, never released to the public until now. Crafted on Gygax’s home typewriter, this 1973 document contains handwritten notes by both Gygax and Arneson.
  • Discover approximately 30 early articles and rare documents that lay the foundation for modern D&D, including unpublished correspondence between Gygax and Arneson.
  • Peruse a remarkable collection of magazine and fanzine articles, many of which are no longer publicly available or remain undiscovered by D&D historians and fans of classic D&D.
  • Flip through facsimiles of all the first printings of Original D&D, compiled in a single book for the first time in D&D’s publishing history.
  • Explore the creation and development of the original 1974 game with insightful commentary by Jon Peterson, one of D&D’s foremost historians.
  • Commemorate our 50th anniversary with this homage to D&D’s past. We invite you to look back on D&D’s history with a discerning eye as we celebrate how far D&D has come. Here’s to 50 years, and 50 more!

Apocalypse Codex: The Cataclysm Handbook

Embark on a journey through the ruins of tomorrow with the “Apocalypse Codex: The Cataclysm Handbook”, an indispensable resource for navigating apocalyptic, post-apocalyptic settings, or integrating doom prophecies into your campaign. This tome is filled with options specifically crafted to reflect the harrowing beauty of worlds on the brink of annihilation. Offering tools for Game Masters and players to weave stories of resilience, magic, and heroism amidst the shadows of ultimate destruction.

What you find inside:

  • Over 60 Magic Items
  • 50 new Spells
  • 45 Feats
  • 30 Monsters
  • 12 Subclasses
  • 4 Races
  • Doomclock Rules Table
  • Guidelines for Cataclysmic Spells (10th to 13th level)

The Great Titan of Belaos

What sinister things lie hidden in the deep woods of Meiyora? It is said that the tomb of a great Titan of old once stood in the deepest part of Meiyora Forest. But stories of that Titan have since faded into the mists of time. In recent years, the coastal village of Meiyora has begun to fall on hard times following the arrival of a strange ship in the harbor.

The ship brought with it an ill fortune for the small lumber village—starting with an icy wind blowing from the entrance of the woods and culminating in the mysterious disappearances of many of Meiyora’s villagers. Were they kidnapped or killed by monsters? Who was on that strange ship that brought the winds of bad fortune to Meiyora—and what are they here for?

The Great Titan of Belaos has players venturing into the forbidden Meiyora Forest, where the ruins of the tomb of a great Titan, Belaos, are said to lie. Following the disappearance of the last adventuring party sent into the woods, players investigate the mystery of Meiyora’s vanishing villagers at the heart of the forest.

The End of Everything

Crops are failing, the undead rise, an ancient evil stirs in the north, and even magic seems tainted—why is everything failing?

The adventure picks up in the rough and tumble-port town of Port Mandei. Port Mandei passes for the commercial hub of the stark and desolate Haunted Steppes, a far northern region of the Lost Lands known for its calamitous past.

Whatever brings the adventurers to this remote location, odd things start happening shortly after they start exploring Port Mandei. These weird events start discreetly enough – maybe a glass suddenly slides off of a shelf to shatter on the floor or a distant dolorous bell of an unknown source will ring for a minute and then suddenly stop.

Advertisement

As the characters move through the adventure with the early prospects of some interesting employment taking them into the heart of the Steppes, it becomes increasingly apparent that something very wrong is happening. The crops are starting to wilt and die. The dead are increasingly unquiet and are rising from their graves. The seasons themselves seem to be reversing. There even seems to be some sort of taint or obstruction to magic itself. What could be causing all these devastating changes?

The first thought is that the wards that hold back the Demiplane of Shadow far to the north are failing and that the cursed shadow horde that has afflicted this region for thousands of years is returning. However, after much exploration across the vast Steppes visiting such dangerous and incredible locations as Cale’s Doom and the long-abandoned wizard’s college, Tangjan College, the truth is revealed, and that truth is more horrible and terrifying than anyone could have imagined.

It will come down to this simple fact—can these adventurers unite the fractious cultures of the Steppes in order to face a gathering horde of the most horrid and dangerous creatures ever assembled? And, all that just in order to gain themselves the chance to face a being of legend and myth that the mere thought of it makes most mortals faint in fear? That is what it will take to prevent The End of Everything. Do you have what it takes?!
The Haunted Steppes

Come explore the Haunted Steppes, far to the north in The Lost Lands, a stark and inhospitable land filled with dangerous creatures and unforgiving terrain. For millennia, the native and nomadic khans have struggled with and survived the difficult legacy of this troubled region. But now, something even more terrible is stirring. Whatever it is, this new horror is affecting time and reality itself!

The Game Master’s Book of Villains, Minions, and Their Tactics

This challenging book provides GMs with more than two dozen major villains and their followers for use across all levels of 5E RPG play. A game master’s biggest challenge can be prep time. With busy lives in mind, this book provides new and exciting content to help GMs save hours of time preparing for a game. Inside, readers will find twenty-five “Big Bosses,” along with insights into how they use their minions strategically in order to decimate any heroic threat that might cross their paths.

Advertisement

The Game Master’s Book of Villains, Minions, and Their Tactics provides tips and strategies that readers can use to “drag and drop” a BBEG into a new or existing game, with full-color illustrations, lore, stats, combat tactics, and special abilities for each exciting entry. You’ll also find detailed tactics and combat strategies of dozens of other minions found throughout the 5E game. In addition to providing three exciting one-shot adventures, the book also shows you how to create your own original villains, minions, and monsters—the best of the worst your game has to offer.

Just so you know BoLS may collect a share of sales from the links on this page if you decide to shop from them. 


Avatar
Advertisement
  • Pre-Order 'The Making of Original Dungeons & Dragons' and get a History Book for Nerds