4 Great Out-of-Print Books to Expand Your OSE/BX Collection

                I have a few go to books that I always keep on hand because they are that useful to me. I have used these books either actively at the table, or in doing research for an individual session/ campaign. Most of these are treasure troves full of great material that can be imported into your Old-School Essentials/BX game or really any OSR compatible system. Most of these books I own physically, but there are a few that I have not got my hands on yet and rely on PDFs. I promise that if you get these books you will not be disappointed with the quality of the material within them and many can be acquired off-market pretty cheap.

I am including links below to places you can purchase the books.

1 – Rules Cyclopedia

                This is a bit of a cheat straight out-of-the-gate because it is not in print, but it is print on-demand. For those that do not know the Rules Cyclopedia is a collection of four of the five Mentzer Basic D&D sets. Mentzer’s D&D is extremely compatible with OSE/BX products because the core materials of the game are almost identical. What it does add is a whole host of options that you can have in your game. Want rules on Weapon Specialization? It is in there. Want rules on Mass Battles? It is in there? Want expanded ideas for running domains? It is in there. Expanded items list? It is in there. Oftentimes players might want to do something that is not in the rule book and I don’t want to make a flippant rules call on the spot and I will consult the Rules Cyclopedia for at least an idea on how to proceed.

                I will mention that the organization of the RC leaves a little to be desired, but not to worry. Dark Dungeons has done for the Rules Cyclopedia what Old-School Essentials did for BX D&D. Dark Dungeons is a cleaned up version of the Rules Cyclopedia. Remember how I said the Rules Cyclopedia was four of the five box sets, well Dark Dungeons added the 5^th box set Immortals into the rules. It also has a cleaned up skills system and rules for Spelljammer ships if you are into that setting. I have copies of both and use both on a regular basis.

Rules Cyclopedia can be found here.

Dark Dungeons can be found here. This is the link to the hardback, the PDF is free.

I found this after publishing, it is an article by the author of Dark Dungeons as to the changes from the RC.


https://rpggeek.com/thread/926652/differences-between-rules-cyclopedia-and-dark-dung

2 – Arms & Equipment

                I recently got my hands back on a physical copy of this book after several years using the PDF. The name of this book says it all it is a books that gives you big lists of stuff with great descriptions of all that stuff. Need to know the difference between a partisan and a voulge? This is the book for that. It is jam-packed with descriptions and pictures of all the different things you might run across in a typical fantasy adventure. It has a lovely list of expanded weapons that take no real conversion on your part to add into your game. It even has a great section on clothing for the general medieval era which is actually quite interesting to read.

This can be found here.

3 – Encyclopedia Magica Vol. 1-4

                I am counting these four books as one entry because they are meant to be used together. I do not have the physical copies of these, because they fetch a pretty penny on any website that you can actually find them. They contain every magical item that was created for AD&D, including everything in the Dragon Magazines. This is an amazing resource and well worth the PDF expense. When I am looking for an interesting item or artifact, I go into the books and just take a look around. I am bound to find something that is interesting and useful. Oftentimes the items come with great descriptions and histories which can really fuel the imagination. I find myself stealing one item’s history, using the stats from another item, and might add a personality from a third item.  If you can find the original sets of these books you will have a tough time choosing to either keep them, or sell them for a small fortune.

You can find them here.

4 – Player’s Options: Combat & Tactics

                This might be a controversial book on this list because many people do not like this book. I am a big fan because it gives you lots of interesting options for the martial side of play. Some people refer to this period as AD&D 2.5. You can see some of the groundwork for 3^rd Edition beginning to take form. To be completely honest I do not love EVERYTHING in this book, but I do think some of the material is great for optional rules. I like some of the actions you can take in combat. I like the weird initiative system that is somewhat a hybrid of speed factor and side initiative. They even have interesting rules for conducting a Three Musketeers style duel with movement charts and different types of strikes. When I started to recollect my collection from back in the day, this was one of the first books I purchased, I have a strange love for it and I think it has a lot of fun materials.

This can be found here.

                I might do a follow-up to this someday with some more books that I love, but I can truly say that these books are ones that I actively use in my D&D life. I have been given great ideas from these books and many of the enhancements my players enjoyed. Most of the books can be picked up rather cheap, and if you go bargain hunting can be found at used book stores.


DriveThruRPG is having a GM's Day Sale today click HERE.

Like my work? Follow me on Facebook here.