Tenkar's Tavern

Thursday, September 28, 2023

Humble Bundle - Iconic SciFi AudioBooks

I'm a huge fan of Audiobooks. Whereas my mind is no longer wired to read 2 to 3 novels in a week (I'm lucky if I can hit that in a year these days) audiobook I can devour like candy.

The Iconic SciFi AudioBooks Bundle at Humble Bundle includes Larry Niven's Ringworld, a series that I always wanted to read but never did, and likely never would if it weren't for this bundle. The rest of the selection looks pretty good too. Huzzah!

In Nicholas Sansbury Smith’s bestselling Hell Divers series, you’ll explore the deadly skies of a blighted, war-ravaged Earth as humanity scavenges to survive. Close your eyes and tune into a selection of iconic sci-fi and fantasy series with this audiobook bundle from Blackstone Publishing! Discover the mysteries of an ancient cosmic artifact of mind-boggling scale in Larry Niven’s Hugo and Nebula award-winning Ringworld series. In the Runelords series by David Farland, you’re thrust into a fantasy world where great power can be transferred between beings—often at great cost. Immerse yourself in these beloved series and more—a total of 20 audiobooks—and help First Book’s mission to provide quality education for kids in need.

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Wednesday, September 27, 2023

Bundle of Holding - Flying Circus

No, not Monte Python's Flying Circus, but Flying Circus, the aviation-fantasy tabletop roleplaying game. So, what the heck is aviation-fantasy tabletop roleplaying?

Fly high with this new Flying Circus Bundle featuring Flying Circus, the Apocalypse Engine aviation-fantasy RPG from Newstand Press. In Flying Circus you're a fantasy adventurer, but instead of a sword and spells, you have an overworked biplane with rusty machine-guns – and you might still have to fight a dragon. Above the sprawling industrial-fantasy land of Himmelgard, daring pilots – heroes, knights errant, and scoundrels for hire – protect small rural communities beset by monsters, bandits, and tyrants. Flying Circus optimizes the Apocalypse Engine system to support highly detailed aircraft construction rules and an authentic (and authentically dangerous) flight experience that will charm fans of anime classics like Porco Rosso and Laputa.
For just US$12.95 you get all four titles in our Circus Collection (retail value $75) as DRM-free ebooks, including the complete Flying Circus Core Rulebook, previously presented in our November 2020 Indie Cornucopia 8 (plus the free Aircraft Catalogue Core) along with the expansions Horrors of the Heights, Flights of Fancy, and First Flights.

Tuesday, September 26, 2023

Deal of the Day - The Book of Collected Rumors from Philip Reed Games

Mention the name Phil Reed, and you immediately think of system-neutral resources for the harried DM. Phil literally gives you, the DM, the resources you need to zig when your players zag and to improvise with the best of them. The Collected Book of Rumors is such a tool, or rather, a collection of such tools.

Normally 15 bucks in PDF, until tomorrow morning, The Collected Book of Rumors is on sale for 6 bucks.

A collection of over 200 rumors for use with any fantasy roleplaying game. The Book of Collected Rumors was constructed from the content of seventeen different PDFs from the A Dozen . . . series. This duplicates material from the below PDFs:
A Dozen Disconcerting Rumors
A Dozen Dreadful Rumors
A Dozen Sinister Rumors
A Dozen Dire Rumors
A Dozen Troubling Rumors
A Dozen Distressing Rumors
A Dozen Frightening Rumors
A Dozen Terrifying Rumors
A Dozen Whispered Rumors
A Dozen Auspicious Rumors
A Dozen Loathsome Rumors
A Dozen Ominous Rumors
A Dozen Troublesome Rumors
A Dozen Vexing Rumors
A Dozen Rumors of Other Places
A Dozen Rumors of Lost Treasures
A Dozen Malefic Rumors

Why "Swords & Wizardry?"

Believe me when I say I have them all in dead tree format. I have OSRIC in full size, trade paperback and the Player's Guide. I have LL and the AEC (and somewhere OEC, but I can't find it at the moment). Obviously I have Basic Fantasy RPG. Actually, I have the whole available line in print. Way too much Castles & Crusades. We all know my love for the DCC RPG. I even have Dark Dungeons in print, the Delving Deeper boxed set, Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea. BOTH editions of LotFP's Weird Fantasy and some dead tree copies of the Greyhawk Grognards Adventures Dark & Deep

I am so deep in the OSR when I come up for breath it's for the OSR's cousin, Tunnels & Trolls

So, out of all that, why Swords & Wizardry? Why, when I have been running a AD&D 1e / OSRIC campaign in Rappan Athuk am I using Swords & Wizardry and it's variant, Crypts & Things, for the second campaign? (Actually, now running a S&W Complete campaign, soon to be with multiple groups)

Because the shit works.

It's easy for lapsed gamers to pick up and feel like they haven't lost a step. I can house rule it and it doesn't break. It plays so close to the AD&D of my youth and college years (S&W Complete especially) that it continually surprises me. Just much less rules hopping than I remember. (my God but I can run it nearly without the book)

I grab and pick and steal from just about all OSR and Original resources. They seem to fit into S&W with little fuss. It may be the same with LL and the rest, but for me the ease of use fit's my expectations with S&W.

Even the single saving throw. That took me longer to adjust to, but even that seems like a natural to me now. Don't ask me why, it just does. Maybe it's the simplicity of it. At 45 52, simplicity and flexibility while remaining true to the feel of the original is an OSR hat trick for me ;)

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