SM2 Dullahan (d20)
DULLAHAN FOR OSR
A Seasonal Holiday Beastie
Compatible with Most OSR Retro-Clone Systems
Within these pages you will learn of the fearsome fey dullahan.
A headless horseman who stalks the night¸ searching for victims.
With his cruel whip¸ sickle and exploding pumpkins¸ he is quite deadly!
Can your players best this ancient Halloween beastie?
Greetings adventurers and Game Masters!
In your hands is a game supplement detailing the spooky folkloric creature known as the "Dullahan" or "headless horseman"¸ and the Old School Renaissance ("OSR") statistics which I designed to bring it to life in my OSRIC campaign world.
Everyone has heard of the headless horseman¸ made famous by the classic American Colonia-era horror tale "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" by Washington Irving. That delightfully spooky tale features a Hessian soldier¸ decapitated by a cannonball in the American Revolutionary War¸ who rises again to terrorize the populace of Sleepy Hollow. Cultural luminaries from Mel Blanc ("Bunker Hill Bunny") to Time Burton ("Sleepy Hollow") have retold the tale¸ and the headless horseman has become a staple baddie in our Halloween celebrations.
But do you know where that headless horseman comes from? Allow me to introduce you to the Dullahan¸ a faerie creature from Irish mythology. He is like the horseman we know¸ but much grimmer and creepier¸ as only Old World folkic monsters can be!
This supplement contains a full monster listing (a la the Monster Manual) for my version of the Dullahan¸ which should be compatible with most OSR retro-clones. The OSR version of the Dullahan in this supplement first appeared in the pages of my 2019 holiday one-shot adventure "Headman's Revenge" (available on here: )
While I feel my adventure has a lot of offer¸ I also believed many GMs running OSR games might enjoy having a ready-made OSR version of the Dullahan to drop into their own campaigns at the holidays¸ especially the many of you who do not like to run pre-made scenarios¸ so I decided to release this version of the beast for your personal use and enjoyment! He is easily modified to challenge players of any level by merely adjusting his hit dice and hit points.
This book features a full OSR statistical listing and description for the Dullahan¸ along with several different illustrations of the beastie¸ to liven-up your Halloween/Samhain gaming sessions! It is sure to be a hit with discerning GMs and players everywhere! (To clarify so no one is upset¸ what you are getting is only a monster listing for the Dullahan¸ not a scenario. -LEK)
As an ADDED BONUS¸ as a purchaser of one of my modules you also get a FREE copy of my 2019 Starry Knight Press Catalog!
Louis "sirlou" Kahn
Starry Knight Press
October 2019