Old-school dungeon delvers, your demons just got upgraded. On 6 May, Necrotic Gnome and Exalted Funeral launched Old-School Essentials: Demonic Grimoire on BackerKit, a 176-page tome of cults, pacts and infernal monsters for the popular OSR ruleset, and it tore through its funding goal within minutes.
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Set up your group for freeNecrotic Gnome's OSE is the spiritual successor to Basic/Expert D&D, designer Gavin Norman's reorganisation of the classic ruleset into clean, clear pages that built a dedicated following among UK and US OSR groups. The Demonic Grimoire packs in eight demon lords with their cults, rituals, spells and infernal domains; 60+ illustrated monsters; four new character classes (chaos knight, cultist, demon hunter, tiefling); and 70+ artefacts. There are also rules for summoning circles, demonic pacts and devilish familiars, plus 120 black-and-white illustrations from artists including Lucas Korte, Kennon James and Tony Hough.
The campaign comes with sixteen sister projects from other OSR creators, all bundled into "OSE Demon Month". HELLCRAWL is a hexcrawl through Nethria, the Burning Hell, Skullboy's Illustrated Guide to Demons brings the artwork, the Emporium of the Damned offers infernal items, and the catalogue continues through gore-soaked dungeons, abyssal bestiaries and one called Dinner With the Damned. Backers picking multiple projects get group shipping discounts.
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See how it worksThe crowdfunder runs through 5 June 2026, with the Demonic Grimoire shipping in January 2027 alongside Quick Delve #5, tarot-sized monster cards and 2026 updates to the Player's and Referee's Books. Time to round up your group and start drawing pentagrams, and if you don't have a group yet, find one over at Backseat Gamer.
Sources: BackerKit | Necrotic Gnome | TTRPGfans
