Principia Apocrypha Is Here

Principia Apocrypha is a free Primer for Old School Style RPG Gaming in the form of a collection of Apocalypse World-style GM (and player) Principles.


Find It Here

along with some further reading and recommendations


Right now it utterly baffles me how anyone ever feels like they can know they have actually finished making a thing they care about.

It has been more than a year that I started working on it (first private GDocs version says April 7 2017). Since then, I've gone through many sinusoidal phases of in/active development of seemingly endless iterations, and actually ran some damn games (still only about 25 sessions but at least I feel like I can walk most of the talk). I commissioned art from Evlyn Moreau, and a few weeks ago started learning layout in Scribus (I actually thoroughly enjoyed making GDocs jump through hoops to make things look good-enough, which I might make some posts on... Scribus less so. Thankfully we now have Affinity Publisher).

And I started this blog, partly just to have a place to put PA. I'm still anxious, but I'm forcing myself to put my finger over the big red button. The next step may be to get this up on DTRPG (for free)... I'd love to hear opinions on whether it would be worth the hassle. And, you know, any other opinions.

Here goes...

20 comments:

  1. I came across your page with the Principia Apocrypha document. I read it and felt so happy. It was the first OSR "explanation" that I felt really captured my true feelings.

    My desire to return to a more OSR style thinking in my RPGs is not a nostalgia thing. But when I try to explain it, I end up sounding like the old grognard my friends say I am.

    But the three of you together have put into a simple and clean document almost 100% of what I feel when I say "I wish I could find that old feeling again".

    I have linked back to the page in one of my FB groups and in one of my BGG groups. I did not copy any content, just raved how good it was and provided a link. I hope this drives others to come experience what I did.

    Thank You for posting this document.

    Daniel Casquilho

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  2. Just wanted to mention that the book is now available as a module for Foundry VTT:
    https://foundryvtt.com/packages/foundryvtt-principia-apochrypha

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  3. Hi David,
    we are producing a print-at-home layout for the Italian translation of the Principia Apocrypha (which you can find it here https://www.storiediruolo.com/principia-apocrypha/)
    Since this work is license under CC BY-NC-SA we would like to know if you agree with a possible print-on-sale at cost (without revenue) edition on lulu and amazon.

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    Replies
    1. Technically I believe it is fine to do so without permission, so thank you for asking about it - To be honest I have reservations about having an English version coordinated in such a way by someone other than myself (though as I don't have an actual say in whether it does), but that is purely a personal hangup about not getting around to it myself. However, I think I'm comfortable having non-English versions being coordinated by others. Go for it!

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    2. Hi David, here it is! https://osr-italia.itch.io/principia-apocrypha

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    3. Looks great! If you wouldn't mind, please add a link to https://lithyscaphe.blogspot.com/p/principia-apocrypha.html somewhere on the itch page, just to aid in sourcing info/centralization.

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    4. Hello David, I just added the link in the main "download" buttons (sorry for my oversight!)
      And thank you again to all of you for this fantastic work :D

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  4. Hi, there is great Russian translation here:
    https://pnprpg.ru/blog/2018/10/15/principia-apocrypha/

    Could you add it to the main Principia Apocrypha post?

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  5. Hello David. A German translation of the Principia Apocrypha is now available: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/381357/Principia-Apocrypha

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  6. David Hi! We are finishing a Brazilian Portuguese Version of Principia, and I´d like to know if you have a file template for Affinity with the fonts and book style.

    Regards

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    Replies
    1. Hi Antonio - It was laid out in Scribus. I'd prefer not to provide it publicly, but I can provide it for translations. I just realized I haven't provided an email address on this site, but I have added a link to my blogger profile.

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  7. I found this translation to Spanish of the Principia Apocrypha.
    http://maskandmagic.blogspot.com/2021/05/los-principia-apocrypha-del-osr-en.html
    Just for your information

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  8. Hi! Our community’s translators have made a translation for Ukrainian. Would you mind adding it for language "Українська"?
    You can found document there:
    https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Sgsu84zLDgn43jqWR8j4Lxr2HlhR_wqb/view?usp=drivesdk

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    Replies
    1. Awesome! I will add it - though I notice an issue on page 30, unless that is deliberate text art?

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  9. First page *ammended should be amended - spelling mistakes on the first few pages are usually a big flag for me but I’ll read through.:)

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for the reminder that digging the file up and relearning Scribus to address this outweighs my own embarrassment at this goof. I appreciate your magnanimity.

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  10. Hello! My friend have translated this file into Simplified Chinese. Would you mind adding it for the language "简体中文"?

    The link of the document is as follows:
    https://mega.nz/folder/ksEEQTBB#nL9KlUNRmoHys5KU-i14zQ

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Be kind, approach disagreements with curiosity, enrich the conversation!