Swords & Wizardry Appreciation Day to Return in 2020

I'm still gobsmacked by the Swords & Wizardry Boxed Set Kickstarter, which is sitting at over $52k in just under a day and a half. The Frog God Team is looking for new stretch goals, as the ones that were planned are nearly blown through :)

I figured the return of Swords & Wizardry Appreciation Day, hosted by The Tavern (we were the original host back in April of 2013) would be nice considering all of the love the community has shown Swords & Wizardry over the past two days.

Consider this an open call to all of the OSR bloggers, podcasters and Youtubers. I'm thinking of running it over three days - February 28, February 29 and March 1st.

Basically, if you create Swords & Wizardry related content - gaming material, reviews, live plays, etc and share it during those days, I will share a link here. So start brainstorming :)

I'm excited! I plan on producing some S&W related gaming material this weekend and have some ideas for release on each of those three days :)

More details as I converse with others. I hope to get a prize pool together for contributors ;)

Frog God Games is Having a DEEP Discount Swords & Wizardry Appreciation Day Sale - Get Yours Before the Getting is Done!

Help Matt Finch celebrate with deep discounts!!  He will not be undersold!!  Another 6 a.m. start at the office for Matt. Swords & Wizardry appreciation day 2017!! We appreciate that. No one more than Swords & Wizardry creator and capitalist extraordinaire Matt Finch (pictured). In return he has a hoard of appreciation for you- in the form of savings. Get yourself some of our Lost Lands poster maps for $5 each coupon code-  LEGION-MAP-5 Pick up three Lost Lands hardcovers! Choose between Stoneheart Valley, Lost City of Barakus or Tome of Horrors 4 for only $10 each. Use coupon code-     LEGION-HC-10 Need some rules on paper? How about a dark adventure underground? Get Cyclopean Deeps I or the 3rd Printing of the Swords and Wizardry rules each only $20 using coupon code- LEGION-HC-20 PLUS 25% Off all Swords & Wizardry PDFs-  LEGION-01101-25 Gateway to the Legion* Sale begins now!! *see below Swords & Wizardry Legion I want you!! To join the legion! We have begun a new project with the goal of promoting the playing of Swords & Wizardry. Michael Badolato has volunteered to manage it while I am the Frog God Partner who facilitates that. What exactly is the Legion? Well, it's an attempt to create an appreciation society for Swords & Wizardry with a focus on the Light variant, a stripped-down-to-the-basics version of Matt Finch's retroclone, Swords & Wizardry. The system is only four pages long, uses only two dice (d6 and d20), and is the perfect blueprint for convention games, introducing newbies to RPGS in general or Swords & Wizardry in particular, or as a gateway to kids wanting a beginning RPG they can jump into without having to learn a lot of rules. That's not to say that veteran gamers won't get a lot of fun out of Swords & Wizardry Light...they will, especially those used to old school systems where it's about the game itself and not the rules. By stripping S&W down to the basics, the rules fade into the background and the actual game play....solving puzzles, investigating ruins and dungeons, battling monsters, inter-party squabbling.....becomes the important thing. To find out more you can contact Mike by going to the Legion's Facebook Group (Facebook Legion Group). If Facebook is not your thing than he can be contacted via his email address- mikebadolato@ntrpgcon.com. Swords & Wizardry happens at Facebook's most notorious tavern... Need even more Swords & Wizardry? Got a light? Or are you complete? Either way you should come and see what is happening at the Tenkar's Tavern - a Neutral Ground Aptly run by well-known scofflaw Erik Tenkar. The happenings in the Swords & Wizardry fan community happen even faster there. Hate Facebook? Try Tenkar's Tavern on the web. File photo of typical  patron...

Where is S&W Continual Light? - and Assorted S&W Appreciation Day Goodness (an adventure, a character sheet and a printer friendly SWL PDF)

Best laid plans of mice and men and all that. Final edits should be wrapping up on Swords & Wizardry Continual Light and then the new layout. I had hoped it would release today, but I work with perfectionists. That is NOT a complaint, BTW - just a remark. it will be soon though, I promise.

Instead, just after midnight I released the Elementalist Class for Swords & Wizardry Light. Personally, I like the way it came out and look forward to seeing it in play and getting play reports.

We also have some other S&W Appreciation Day Goodness that other would like me to share with you:

Dr. Dennis Sustare wrote a short adventure for SWL in honor of earth day. Preserve the Feedbank can be found in the shared SWL folder.

+Antonio Bravo has put together a S&W Character sheet that is literally an index card.

Carl Heyl has converted the full color SWL PDF to a nice and clean, printer friendly B&W 4 page PDF. You can grab it from Carl or find it in the shared SWL folder.

The Elementalist Class for Swords & Wizardry Light

Art by Brett Neufeld

"Some secrets aren't learned in books but are passed down by oral tradition. Such is the path you have chosen. The mysteries of the elements will be yours to control if you complete your trials. If you fail, mother earth will take you into her embrace. And so it begins..."

Elementalist Class for Swords & Wizardry Light

Elementalists get both spell like abilities and an elemental that can do their bidding.

Level   HD   Save   BhB  Adventures needed for Next Level
1           1        15       0       3
2           2        14       0       +4
3           2+1    13       0       +5
4           3        12      +1     +6
5           3+1    11      +1      +7
6           4        10      +2     +8
7           5          9      +2     xx

Elementalists have + 2 to Saves against fire and air bourn poisons. They can use daggers and staves, much like a magic-user.

They get the following abilities at each level:

Level 1: Summon Elemental (described below) Once per Day
Level 2: Gust of Wind - Can summon wind that can disperse papers, fan flames and knock over small (1/2 pound or less) objects Once per Day
Level 3: Breath Water as Air - Once per Day for 1 hr per level
Level 4: Dagger of Fire: Once per Day can summon a Magical Faming Dagger. Only the Elementalist can wield it. It lasts for 1 round per level (throwing the dagger dispels it early). The Dagger is +1 to hit per level of the Elementalist and does 1d6+3 damage.
Level 5: Ball of Mud - Once per Day as the 2nd level Magic-User Web Spell, but this is made of mud.
Level 6: Fly - Once per Day as Magic-User Spell
Level 7: Fireball - Once per Day as Magic-User Spell

Summon Elemental

The greatest gift (and most dangerous, to the Elementalist as well as his adversaries) is the elemental they can summon.

The AC for a 1 HD elemental is 9[10] and improves by 1 point per HD to 3[16] at 7 HD.

Damage is 1d6, improving to 1d6+2 at level 4 and 2d6 at level 7.

The HD of the summoned elemental can be as many as the Elementalist has levels, but less HD then the max may be chosen. Only one elemental can be summoned each day and the death of an elemental causes damage to the Elementalist equal in HP to the HD of the elemental. Example: The destruction of a 4 HD Elemental causes 4 HP of damage to the Elementalist. Elementalists often dismiss injured elementals early to avoid this danger.

Elemental

AC 9 to 3

HD 1 to 7

Damage 1d6 to 2d6

Some Ideas for The Tavern's Swords & Wizardry Appreciation Day Post - Elementals and Elementalists

Art by Brett Neufeld

I'm sitting here thinking about what I'm going to add to the Swords & Wizardry Community this weekend, and while I'd like to say "Swords & Wizardry Continual Light" will be ready for download this Saturday, its not back yet from being proofread. Best laid plans and all that shit.

So, what is your bartender ever going to do?

Well, Dennis Sustare suggested ecological themed adventure for Swords & Wizardry Appreciation Day intersecting with Earth Day, but I'm going to take that a bit further or at least in another direction.

I'll be introducing minor and lesser elementals to the SWL bestiary as well as a new class, plotted through level 7 - an Elementalist. We'll even include the optional advancement for when a SWCL class hits their cap of level 7. I suspect it will appear later in Torchlight and at that point I'll do a Swords & Wizardry Complete conversion through level 10.

Fear not! Swords & Wizardry Continual Light is nearly here ;)

Swords & Wizardry Appreciation Day is also Earth Day - Ecological Themed Adventures Anyone?

Dennis Sustare, he of Bunnies & Burrows fame (and known as Bunny Burroughs on FB) suggested the following yesterday:Now, if you know anything about Dennis, he doesn't just talk - he does. Last night, as I was sleeping, Dennis sent me the two page Swords & Wizardry Light adventure: Preserve the Feedbank. Actually, he labeled it a "Mini-Ecoquest", which it certainly is. Its aimed at 4 to 6 2nd level adventures.

I'll be adding it to the Swords & Wizardry Light shared Dropbox Folder for release on April 22 - this Saturday - Swords & Wizardry Appreciation Day as well as Earth Day.

Have an "ecological themed" adventure squirreled away for S&W? Email me at tenkarsDOTtavern at that gmail thing and I'll add it to the folder.

Crowdsourcing a Unique "Wand of Wonder" for Swords & Wizardry - Light thru Complete

I know I did this back when The Tavern was young, but I figure we now have time (and hopefully some new budding layout skills) on our side. I'm talking about crowdsourcing a Tenkar's Tavern Wand of Wonder, new and unique and fun as hell. Well, hopefully fun as hell.

Here are the rules:

1 - We are going for 120 entries (1d6 x 1d20)

2 - All effects must use a d6 and /or a d20 if a dice roll is needed (1d3 and 1d10 also work, as they are half the parent die). Any sub-tables must be 1d3, 1d6 or at most 1d10 - and d10 is pushing it.

3 - By making a comment below, you agree to add your writing to be released under the OGL. Copyright entry for the Tenkar's Tavern Wand of Wonder will be made under Erik Tenkar Stiene (see Ken, the name is out there, if only you could read...)

4 - One random entry will get a $10 RPGNow Gift Certificate. Three random entries will get $5 Gift Certificates. One final $5 Gift Certificate to the one that makes me laugh the most.

5 - A compiled version of the wand will be posted here at The Tavern on April 22, 2017 for Swords & Wizardry Appreciation Day and released under the OGL. Each entry will be credited on both the blog post and the PDF version under whatever name you post under. If you want a different name used, mention it in the comment. The final PDF will be released at RPGNow as PWYW

6 - Entries must be made by midnight, April 20th. You have a week from now.

7 - Silly trumps useful. Silly and useful trumps all ;)

Free Akados Region Map in Digital Format for Swords & Wizardry Legion Members

The Frogs are offering free downloads of the Akados Region Map to Swords & Wizardry Legion members. Details are in the Swords & Wizardry Legion Community.

Yes, before one asks, it is currently a Facebook only community. Don't like Facebook? Use a throw away email and a fake name. Use it only for the Legion community. Seriously. I've gotten a sneak peek at the offers that Frog God Games is going to offer on Swords & Wizardry Appreciation Day to Legion members and the prices are ridiculous.

I'm thoroughly enjoying the Swords & Wizardry love in the air ;)

Swords & Wizardry Light / Continual Light Updates and News - 3/12/17

A few bits of news for those interested in Swords & Wizardry Light / Continual Light.

Gary Con is going to have some major SWL stuff going on. +Zach Glazar , +Michael Badolato and myself will have some goodies to give out. Folders, folios, character cards and even two dozen or some copies of Swords & Wizardry Continual Light - taking your games to level seven. SWCL will be digest sized, signed and numbered and very limited in number for the Gary Con release. I'm figuring two dozen copies tops for the con. I'll hand out maybe five copies a day Wednesday through Sunday.

The official release date for Swords & Wizardry Continual Light will be Swords & Wizardry Appreciation Day (April 15th, 2017 I do believe) It will be free in PDF and low cost in print. I'm totally guessing on the following price points for print which ARE NOT set in stone:

US -             $4 including shipping
APO -          $2 including shipping (yes, deployed military get a discount)
Canada -      $5 including shipping
Elsewhere - $6 including shipping

If you want multiple copies for your gaming group we'll work something out.

Swords & Wizardry Continual Light will be digest sized and printed via a laser printer.

Swords & Wizardry Continual Light Deluxe (working title) will follow later (I'm hoping NTRPG Con but we will see). That will include seven adventures (one for each level covered by the rules) as well as a small sandbox. Pricing to be determined. I'm hoping to use a sepia colored cover for this version.

Torchlight. We are aiming for late spring / early summer release for the first issue of the Torchlight Zine, the "Official" Zine of SWL. Current plans are 16 to 24 pages, quarterly, with half of each issue dedicated to a SWL "hack " - sci-fi, old ones horror, western, dark fantasy, etc - that will give classes, some creatures and probably a small sandbox. The rest of the issue will be assorted SWL miscellany. Yes, I have certain hacks in mind.

The official publisher of SWCL as well as Torchlight is Triumvirate Tavern Publishing. Three emperors. One awesome ruleset :)

And the Winner of the Swords & Wizardry Appreciation Day Giveaway is...

So, I offered up a Virtual Patreon for the Month of April package for Swords & Wizardry Appreciation Day this past Sunday. I should have picked a winner yesterday, but this week has been a busy one and won't slow down until tomorrow afternoon, give or take.

In any case, the winner has been chosen, and it is...

Ben Trautman

Ben, reach out to me at tenkarsDOTtavern at that gmail thing and we'll get you hooked up :)

Matt Finch's Eldritch Weirdness Books 3 to 1 on Sale for $2.99 in PDF

Yep, the man that started this mess, +Matt Finch has put Eldritch Weirdness Books 3 to 1 on sale for $2.99 over at TableTop Library (normal price $4.99).

In Matt's own words:

In celebration I've discounted the Eldritch Weirdness Compilation on Tabletop Library, since it's one of the more ... interesting things I've written, most of it during a pretty bad fever that happened to boost the weirder side of the creative parts of what I call my mind.

Gazebo Gazette Premier Issue (PWYW Swords & Wizardry Zine)

+Chuck Thorin is releasing the premier issue of the Gazebo Gazette today in honor of Swords & Wizardry Appreciation Day.

So, what is the Gazebo Gazette?

Most of the content originally appeared on Chuck's old school blog They Might Be Gazebos.

But there's also new content as well. Inside this issue you'll find: 

-The Wand of Too Many Spells
-The Bag of Wonder
-Arachni-Apes
-Arcane Giant Silverfish
-Prismatic Ooze
-"What's Happening in The Big City" Random Table
-The Lost Crypt of Valcerak (An all new mini-dungeon)
-A Dark Take on Raise Dead 

While it's designed primarily around Swords & Wizardry, its contents can be easily used with any OSR retroclone.

Woot! It's Swords & Wizardry Appreciation Day! Time to Get Me Some!

Today is Swords & Wizardry Appreciation Day 2016. Can we get a "Huzzah!"?

Just after midnight I posted The Tavern's S&W App Day post, where you have a chance to score some free loot AND get an amazing discount on +Zach Glazar / Lesser Gnome's Death & Taxes Boxed Set. How big a discount? 40%, just follow the instructions at the blog post I mentioned at the beginning of this paragraph.

Now, I missed yesterday's Saturday Starslinger post, but there was just too much going on that it would have been crowded out even had it been posted. I'll make it up to you, I swear.

I woke up to some Swords & Wizardry product announcement releases which I thought I'd share this morning. I expect there will be more throughout the day.

Looking for Halflings in Space for your White Star game? We'll, I know I am and +James Spahn / Barrel Rider Games is the one to do it. Just 99 cents to add a new race to your White Star campaign with the Brimling Character Class Supplement.

How about some mini dungeons you can drop into your Swords & Wizardry campaign as needed along with a small setting to help out the harried DM? +Steve Gilman s Dungeons of Fel'Valashar might be what the bloodletter ordered. Even better, it's priced as PWYW. There no reason anyone should lack this from their bag of tricks.

It's Swords & Wizardry Tax Time - Your Chance to Score Some Death & Taxes Swag Cheap

Everyone knows its Swords & Wizardry Appreciation Day, right?

Wait, you forgot?

Alright, here's two chances to get some swag, either cheaper than cheap for awesome loot or free for "eh, it's okay" loot.

Now, the Lesser Gnome, or someone that looks mightily like him, is offering 40% off the Death & Taxes Boxed set for one day only, April 17, 2016. There's a catch though. You only have a limited time to grab the sale price... as in 1d4+1 opportunities before it's all gone.

Your choice of two flavors:

Death & Taxes Collector's Set:

Adventure Book, Game Master’s Guide, and The Salise: Regional Setting Guide
plus a box busting array of extras…
Sealed invitation letter
Handsome map folio with pull out reference maps
24″ x 18″ poster map of the Salise
Encounter Cards
Magic Item Cards
Polyhedral Dice with Dice Bag
Plus 25 custom sculpted 28 mm figurines that depict an array of friends, foes, and others…

Death & Taxes Retail Set:

Adventure Book, Game Master’s Guide, and The Salise: Regional Setting Guide
plus…
Handsome map folio with pull out reference maps
24″ x 18″ poster map of the Salise
Encounter Cards
Magic Item Cards
Polyhedral Dice with Dice Bag
One custom dice
Figurines for
The Taxman
The Herald
Both Lesser Gnomes

How do you score a chance to grab one of these boxes a 40% off the retail price? Well, you need to join the Tenkar's Tavern Facebook Community and use the code offered therein. As stated above, there are only a limited number of uses for the code, and it expires at midnight, Sunday, April 17th. In some timezone west of the east.

So, what else is up for grabs?

Add a comment to this very post and one random commenter will be made a Patron of The Tavern for the month of April. Anything I send to my patrons that back me at Patreon for the month of April will also be sent to you in PDF and Print. So far one 1 page 4 sheet Creature Sheet for Swords & Wizardry / White Star has been sent out via PDF and there should be at least one more coming.

So, join the Tenkar's Tavern Facebook Community. Buy a Lesser Gnome Boxed Set and comment of this here post. While you're at it, hit all of the Swords & Wizardry sales and posts going on today...

Gamers & Grognards is Hosting the Swords & Wizardry Appreciation Day Tomorrow, Sunday April 17, 2016

Swords & Wizardry Appreciation Day kicked off back in April of 2013 right here at The Tavern. It was an overwhelming success. So successful that I am eternally grateful that +R.J. Thompson has taken the reins for the last few years. He does a finer job herding the cats than I ever could. Let him know you appreciate all he does, as he does a crap load to keep this running smoothly.

R.J. hosts the Swords & Wizardry Appreciation Day over at his Gamers & Grognards blog. If you are a blogger, publishers, fan or whatnot, it's not to late to participate:

Here's the info from Gamers & Grognards:

• BLOG POSTS, SALES and PRODUCT RELEASES:
• - Write a post, article, free pdf etc. related to any version of S&W  OR, get a sale going with product you already have OR release a new S&W Compatible product.
• -Email me with a link to you blog, website etc. By 12:00 PM Eastern Standard Time on Sunday, April 17th. Email both your link and title/sale. 
• -Make the subject of your email: "Swords & Wizardry Appreciation Day Post (or sale)" and the blog/site title. Send email to: luxfaust@gmail.com
•  -Make sure to have the actual post/sale by 12:00 PM Eastern Standard Time on April 17th.
• -I will have all links and titles posted here on the blog around 12:00 PM Eastern Standard Time on April 17th.

I have something in the works with one of the publishers. It will be announced on here at The Tavern, probably after midnight tonight. To take full advantage of what's in the works, you'll need to join The Tavern's Facebook group. There will be something for those that don't do Facebook (a small prize is in the mix), no worries there, but there's something extra special going on for those in the group. Link to the Facebook group is in the tabs right under the header of this page.

The Tenkar's Tavern Tankard Goes to...

We gave away a Tenkar's Tavern Tankard in honor of Swords & Wizardry Appreciation Day this year and now it's time to award the fine drinking vessel.

May the gods of random generation shine upon thee!

The winner is:

+Wayne Humfleet

Wayne, email me at tenkarsDOTtavern at that gmail thing and we'll place your order :)

Thanks to all that commentred.

Giving Away a Tenkar's Tavern Tankard in Honor of Swords & Wizardry Appreciation Day!

You heard it right. We're giving away a Tenkar's Tavern Tankard in honor of Swords & Wizardry Appreciation Day. There is a catch however. It will only ship within the US. So, if we randomly pick a non US address, we will send that person a $20 RPGNow Gift Certificate. Spend it on some of the excellent Swords & Wizardry goodness.

You know the speil - add a comment on this very post before 9pm Eastern tomorrow night (Saturday, April 18th.)

Best of luck to all :)