Bouncing around google images this morning I stumbled across this photo.  I was shocked when I saw these two books as I have never seen them before.  They appear to be short and just slightly taller than the original brown OD&D books and remind me of the AD&D 2nd ed Encyclopedia Magica set.  One has a "wizard" logo.  Does anyone here know what these are?

Lazerrus wrote in What are these two D&D books??????:I have found out that these belong to James Maliszewski over at Grognardia.com and have sent him an email requesting info.  I will post any updates he hopefully supplies.

Yeah. Um, good luck with that. Just as background, Maliszewski disappeared from the face of the Internet some months ago after reneging on his end of a $50k Kickstarter campaign to publish his homebrew "megadungeon". The likelihood of him responding to your e-mail message (or even being reachable at the e-mail address you have) is slim to zero. I envy you your lack of involvement and familiarity with the ugly ins and outs of the so-called "OSR", haha.  

edit: My understanding at the time James originally posted this picture was that these were unlicensed hardcover compilations of the original D&D rules plus supplements, self-printed on Lulu or another of the PoD houses. Anyone could do the same with the .pdfs and a flexible approach to ethics... Hope that helps.

No problem. I'm hardly an expert, but thanks.

The OSR thing could take you years to catch up on, so have fun! And at least coming to it after most of it's blown over, you'll have the luxury of picking and choosing and skipping over the boring parts (of which there are a number)

I did receive an email reply from James. They are infact printed and bound pdf's. Whew! That is nice to know. I thought I missed some special pressing somehow

MetaSigma wrote:<null>

Out of curiosity what are the ugly ins and outs of the OSR?  I have collected a few freebies and whatnot.  Nothing real serious.  If you don't mind can you give us a "Reader's Digest" version of what's been going on?

MetaSigma wrote:Any summary I could give were I so inclined would necessarily be partial, fragmentary, and biased from my own point of view and "agenda". While I did avidly follow developments up until a year or so ago, the bewildering array of people, products, projects, blogs, etc. involved would require book-length treatment to do it justice. I'm sure someone will write that book someday, undoubtedly will use Kickstarter to fund it, and will create a huge stink in the process. Suffice it to say that (in my opinion, as is everything I say that isn't a lie) the Old School Renaissance is neither old, nor a school, nor a renaissance. Discuss amongst yourselves .

You see, it had its origins in the Carolingian Empire (800--888), which is an historiographical term referring to the realm of the Franks under the Carolingian dynasty in the ... oops, wrong discussion.

I shall take OSR with a grain of salt and, since it's 5:00 somewhere, a shot of tequila to boot.

Guy Fullerton wrote in What are these two D&D books??????:In terms of collecting, if you haven't started already, you will have some catching up to do!

Hoard and Horde : Recent Gygaxian D&D Products

The list is a little out of date, but it can get you pointed in the right directions.

I find it odd that the creator of that list found Castles & Crusades to not be in the proper spirit of Gary's D&D, even though it was Gary's simulacrum of choice for Castle Zagyg (though Gary of course preferred his own non-clone Lejendary Adventures). It's amusing that the list creator found it in his heart to consider Castle Zagyg to be "Gygaxian enough" regardless of it being published using C&C...

jamesmishler wrote in What are these two D&D books??????:I find it odd that the creator of that list found Castles & Crusades to not be in the proper spirit of Gary's D&D, even though it was Gary's simulacrum of choice for Castle Zagyg (though Gary of course preferred his own non-clone Lejendary Adventures). It's amusing that the list creator found it in his heart to consider Castle Zagyg to be "Gygaxian enough" regardless of it being published using C&C...

The creator of that list is indeed a little bit idiosyncratic! And that's putting it politely!

I'd be happy to explain why the C&C system isn't on the list, but why CZ adventure material is. That's probably a topic for another thread. There's one around here someplace that sheds a little bit of light ...
Re: OSR checklist