Tenkar's Tavern

Friday, October 11, 2024

Bundle of Holding - Wulfwald (OSR)

I have a good grasp of the OSR games on the market but have missed Wulfwald. I am correcting that right now!

Outcasts all! For a limited time, this all-new Wulfwald Quick Deal presents Wulfwald, Lee Reynoldson's old-school tabletop roleplaying game from Glasgow-based publisher Lost Pages set in a low-fantasy world inspired by mythic Anglo-Saxon tales. Lost Pages is offering the complete five-book set of Wulfwald core rulebooks, funded in a March 2022 Kickstarter campaign, for a special promotional price.
Your characters are Wolfsheads, rejects from your medieval society of humans, Ælfcynn (elves), Dweorgas (dwarves), or the despised Réþealingas (Outlanders). Seeking redemption, you undertake covert missions and skulduggery for a Thegn, a noble warlord. Together you form your Thegn's Wolfpack, a dire weapon he wields ruthlessly. A Wolfpack is a cross among a special-ops team, mob crew, terrorist cell, and gang. Missions for your Thegn might include threatening, leaning on, beating up, or killing rival Thegns – spying, stealing, cons, capers, stings, and double-crosses – kidnapping, ransoming, bribing, and blackmailing – all the things nobles want done without staining their reputation.
This all-new Wulfwald Quick Deal gives you non-watermarked, DRM-free .PDFs of all five Wulfwald core rulebooks – Wolfsheads, Magic, Campaign, Monsters, and People – a US$13 retail value for just $5.95. Your purchase includes a high-res .PDF of the beautiful black-and-white Wulfwald regional map, one of the last works by legendary British illustrator Russ Nicholson (Fiend Folio, Warhammer, Fighting Fantasy).

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Thursday, October 10, 2024

Deal of the Day - Book of Lost Lore (OSR Sourcebook)

Alright, here's the part where I reveal my connections. I first met Joe Bloch in person at the premiere of Gygax Magazine at the Brooklyn Strat back in January 2013. Of course, we'd known each other online before that. Joe has been a guest on The Tavern's live streams, and we often hang out at conventions together. I consider Joe a friend.

Joe wrote and published Adventures Dark & Deep, essentially a "What If EGG Actually Wrote AD&D 2e". The Book of Lost Lore was written for ADD, AD&D 1e, and other OSR games.

New options to expand your old-school roleplaying game!
This book contains new playable races, new character classes, new magic, alternate combat and treasure systems, and much more for GMs and players alike. You'll find classes including the musical bard, merry jester, studious savant, and the villainous blackguard. Scores of new spells and magic items, and much more.
Written for the First Edition of the world's most popular RPG, this book will also be useful to anyone running a game using old-school rules.

DTRPG, Amazon, and Humble Bundle are affiliate programs that support The Tavern. You can catch the daily Tavern Chat cast on Rumble or YouTube - Tenkar

Note - NEW Humble Bundle Affiliate Link.

Wednesday, October 9, 2024

Mazes & Perils IS NOT The First Holmes Retroclone, Even if It Claims It Is!

Holy shit, I don't believe that here we are, over 12 years later, and Vince Florio (The Evil DM/GM) is back to pretending that Mazes & Perils is something that it isn't. Also, see here.

The above screenshot is from Vince's Solo.to website

First, Mazes & Perils (2012) is a solid OSR game; there's no taking away from that. I'd expect nothing less, as it is based on the work of R.C. Pinnell and their Holmes77 retroclone from 2011. That's the link for the freely available source material right there.

Heck, Vince even credits R.C. Pinnell as "Additional Contributor" because of Pinnell's work on Holmes77 in the credits, but somehow Mazes & Perils came first?

Dude, you won an ENnie with Mazes & Perils (2012). Isn't that enough? Why pretend Mazes & Perils is something it isn't?

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 ;)

Swords & Wizardry Light - Forum

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