#Jason Sholtis

[vintagerpg]

Few megadungeons are quite the smack in the face as Jason Sholtis’ Completely Unfathomable (2022). It actually collects two previous publications, Operation Unfathomable (the underground) and Odious Uplands (a wilderness), and translates them to the DCC system. Everything about this is bold and clear — the writing, the design, the art (by Sholtis himself, as well as Christ Brandt, John Larrey, Stefan Poag and Skullfungus). The art in particular does a lot of work here — strong line work keeps things comic bookish and cartoony, which is a nice contrast to how unrelentingly deadly the book is.

I’m not even sure the cave complex here counts as megadungeon. The maps seem rather reasonably sized, and a lot of the material is dedicated to bespoke encounters rather than detailed room descriptions (it feels more like a collection of hex descriptions, actually). It is an unrelentingly strange place (so are the Uplands, honestly), but I hesitate to call it gonzo, a term that for me evokes the flailing and shouting of Kermit the Frog — gonzo games are just explosions of chaos, one right after another. This is a deeper sort of weird, with odd characters wandering on and off screen in a way that implies a larger sort of ecosystem, but one that remains inscrutable to me. Similar to the way aliens in many ‘60s science fiction novels are just bizarre, and even when you get them explained, they never entirely make sense. Or, like Voyage to Arcturus, where humans grow new organs upon arrival and no one freaks out about it. That’s the vibe here (I mean, the name of the book IS Completely Unfathomable). There’s a strong sense of near-psychedelic wonder as well; granted, the party is probably too busy dying repeatedly to truly appreciate those wonders, but still.

The bestiary is A+ and worth the price of the book alone. So many odd creatures. I particularly like the decapitants (humanoids with aerials and satellite dishes instead of head) and blind antler men (fungus-headed people), but honestly every monster in the book brings something new to the game.

[darkeldritchdepths]

Astonishing Sorcerers & Swordsmen of Hyperborea (2e)

Book features amszing art by Ian Baggley, Johnathan Bingham, Charles Lang, Peter Mullen, Russ Nicholson, Glynn Seal, Val Semeiks, Jason Sholtis, Logan Talanian, and Del Teigeler.

[jamesdavisnicoll]

Bundle of Holding: Operation Unfathomable

The Operation Unfathomable Bundle features Operation Unfathomable, the gonzo fantasy roleplaying campaign setting by Jason Sholtis for Old School Revival tabletop retro-clones.

[thegaminggang]

[pawneecityschool]

Paint an Ornament Night!

By Claire Kaster

Photos provided by Jason Vetrovsky

The Pawnee City students in grades k-12 along with their parents participate in the first-ever “paint an ornament night” on December 8. Mrs. Sholty said,  “I thought that a family painting night would be a great way to help build community. I have thought about doing this for a couple of years but never carried through with it. This year when I mentioned it to some high school art students, they were excited to help with it, so I decided to carry through with the idea.”  

The Pawnee City Schools Education Foundation sponsored and funded everything that was needed that night. 

[sorcerersskull]

Art by Jason Sholtis

[hydraco-op]

Black Void by Jason Sholtis and Chris Malgrain for the Armchair Planet Who’s Who

[technoskald]

Create the content you want to see in the world

Create the content you want to see in the world... #TTRPG #DnD #PbtA #OSR

Lately, I’ve been thinking about whether I should start publishing more stuff beyond my musings here and my game sessions. I wouldn’t do this for the income stream (“monetize your hobby and make it a job” doesn’t appeal to me) but rather for the fun of seeing other people use what I’ve made and hopefully enjoying it themselves.

One of the things I’ve always appreciated about the OSR is the…

[chronivore]

Jason Sholtis

[nerdtrekdotcom]

The Manor #2 (OSR)

The Manor #2 (OSR) The second installment of the OSR-zine The Manor clocks in at 24 pages, 1 page editorial/ToC, leaving us with 23 pages of content. Front cover and advertisement/back cover are its own pdf; additionally, we get an alternate layout to print this out in booklet form: You know, first and last page on the same page, etc. – that is pretty damn cool!   Now, it should be noted that…

[stefanpoag]

“Odious Uplands” 2019 What have I been up to? Actually, a lot of things. Above is one of my illustrations for Jason Sholtis' "Odious Uplands" book for his…

[dungeonspossums-blog]

In which I review the popular Operation Unfathomable by Jason Sholtis, published by Hydra Co-operative. Easily one of the most enjoyable, fun modern OSR adventure modules out there. A great underworld sandbox to play in!

[heidirubymiller]

The indispensable Maria Sholtis and Jason Jack Miller taking a breath at the end of another successful UPL Author Series event. Time to eat chocolate and goodies! . #smallspacebiglife #uniontownlibrary #jasonjackmiller #fayettecounty #uniontownpa #writerslife #fayettecountypa #creativeuniontownpa #writersofinstagram #beautifuluniontownpa #fayettepride #uniontownpubliclibrary #fayetteproud #authorsofinstagram #uniontown (at Uniontown Public Library, Uniontown, PA)

[gilgalahad]

Excellent mock penguin classic covers for some osr products. 

Originally found here and here.  Hydra Cooperative products here.

[sorcerersskull]

Art by Jason Sholtis, color by me

[sorcerersskull]

Only in the 32nd Century was the power of the Werewolf Reich broken, and it required the destruction of the Moon by nuclear bombardment.