Mythoard is Offering 30% Off to Tavern Readers for a One Month Trial

You heard it right. Due to the huge response to the Fifth Day of OSR Christmas (where there is a gift of a 3 Month Mythoard subscription up for grabs until sometime tomorrow), +Jarrod Shaw (he of Mythoard fame) is offering The Tavern's readers a 30% discount code just for you! This is an awesome deal for Mythoard and truly an amazing amount of gaming product.

Use the code TAVERNTRYOUT at sign up at Mythoard.com and get 30% off your first box. Its good until the 10th of January 2016, and applies to US month to month subscriptions only.

I'm serious - If you haven't checked out Mythoard yet, now is the time to do so. What are you waiting for?

What a second. I'll do this one better. I'm sure +Jarrod Shaw can tell when folks sign up with this code. I'll send the first five sign-ups at Mythoard using the code TAVERNTRYOUT a $5 RPGNow GC. I'll figure out the logistics with Jarrod later. This is a surprise even for him ;)

You're still here? Go get your Mythoard!

Kickstarter - Bōken: A Tale of Ninjas (It's About Ninjas - Need We Say More? Apparently Not)

Sometimes certain Kickstarter projects leave me scratching my head. Bōken: A Tale of Ninjas almost made me pull out my hair.

The video starts with some animated ninja shit before moving on to some boring ass talking heads. The the thing is, if you don't listen to the talking heads, you wouldn't even know what broad type of RPG system it is (dice pools apparently.) Color me not impressed.

How much are they asking for? $32,000

Any sample art on the Kickstarter page?

Nope.

How about the approximate length of the book (which they are claiming a March 2016 delivery date)?

Why would they.

You don't even need to go to the Bōken: A Tale of Ninjas Kickstarter page to read the whole pitch as it fit into a single screenshot:

Too much coffee? How about not enough of anything else to justify even a buck to get backer only updates. Hell, they've all been public thus far so why bother.

For all of the good projects out there it's the quick attempts at a cash grab that really annoy the shit out of me.

If You Had Stuck Around to the End of Last Night's Tavern Chat...

You might have caught the conversation talking about a possible podcast in last night's Tavern Chat. It was out there for all to see.

+Michael Badolato (Bad Mike)

+Zach Glazar (the Lesser Gnome)

+Erik Tenkar (myself)

Off the cuff, no scripts, no mailbags, immature (adult language) and sure to offend most people. Old school gaming as raw as it can be.

Is it a done deal? Of course not. Are we excited? Hell yeah.

Enter to win a Death & Taxes Boxed Set and tell +Zach Glazar you want to hear him on a podcast. Cause you know you do :)

Day Five of OSR Christmas - Look! Over Yonder! A Mythical Hoard!

Before we get to today's main event, there is a prize I must award here at The Tavern:

Joel Priddy - email me at tenkarsDOTtavern at that gmail thing and I'll get that $10 RPGNow GC to you.

So, what's in Santa's Bag today?

Something totally unexpected, as it wasn't on the initial gift list, but when offered, there was no way OSR Santa could say no:

a Three Month Subscription to Mythoard

What is Mythoard? You don't know? It's like Loot Crate on OSR steroids! Not that it's all OSR, but the OSR is a damn strong presence in every monthly release, which means it's easy enough to convert to the edition (or ruleset) of your choice.

I've been a subscriber since the beginning. It's like a gamer's Christmas once a month! (or Hanukkah or the religious gift giving holiday of your choice / your diety's choice / the choice of "He That Shall Not Be Named" / the day your dog chose to chew on your shoe and you just needed to be cheered up / etc)

Three months of Mythoard for free. How cool is that?

Just a heads up - this gift is for US Only. It is for three monthly shipments. Imagine the joy the US Post Office would have had charging international postal rates to +Jarrod Shaw for three months in a row. You want a real Scrooge? The US Postal Service...

So, how do you get yourself this most awesome of gaming gifts? Simply make a comment here, on this very post, about why you deserve such an epic gift. The gift receiver of the Mythoard subscription will be chosen randomly, but the answer that stands out to me, your bartender, will earn themselves a $10 RPGNow Giift Certificate. Gift receivers will be chosen sometime on Sunday, December 21st, 2015.

Remember, there are other events still going on for OSR Christmas. You can't be gifted if you aren't in the mix.

Kickstarter - Lairs & Encounters (Autarch - OSR Sandbox Supplement)

I like Autarch. I like the company a lot. They managed to salvage Dwimmermount and the Adventurer Conquerer King System (ACKS) is a solid system that my group will be returning to in the new year. It annoys me to no end that their Lairs & Encounters Kickstarter has escaped my notice until now. It's funded with 11 10 days to go.

Needless to say I backed this the moment I saw it, but for the curious, this looks to be an amazing sandbox tool. Here's the skinny right from the kickstarter:

Lairs & Encounters is the ultimate supplement for fantasy RPG sandbox campaigns. Designed for use with the Adventurer Conqueror King System™ (ACKS™), it is readily compatible with other fantasy role-playing games built on the same core rules. In Lairs & Encounters you will find: 

- More than 135 ready-to-play monstrous lairs - that's at least one lair listing for every possible monster lair mentioned in the Adventurer Conqueror King System. The lair listings are designed to be used both as dynamic points of interest that can be discovered while wandering through the wilderness and as obstacles to a would-be ruler’s attempt to secure land for a domain. 

-New subsystems for sandbox play, including rules for populating 6-mile hexes with lairs based on the terrain and extent of settlements in the region, and rules for searching for lairs in the wilderness factoring in terrain density, aerial reconnaissance, splitting up to cover more ground (never split the party!), and more. 

-Additional mechanics for monsters, including ability scores for monsters, proficiencies for monsters, and young monsters. 

-A complete system for taming and training monsters, with details on the lifespan, roles, tricks, trained and untrained value, supply cost, training period, and the trainability modifier of every monster in the game.   

-A complete system for creating your own unique monsters. In the ACKS Player's Companion we gave you mechanics to create balanced new character classes and new spells; now we bring our same rigorous attention to balance and customization to monsters.

Even better is that you get a draft copy in PDF when the Kickstarter funding completes. Damn skippy! I won't have to wait to start putting it to it's paces ;)

Tavern Chat Tonight - 930 Eastern - Wherein We Talk About OSR Christmas and Stuff

Tavern Chat is Tonight at 930 PM. Right here on this very page. It's that chat box on the right. All are welcome to chat, lurk or do a bit of both.

OSR Christmas should be picking up some speed now that I am off through the night of the 26th. Going to ATTEMPT a Gift post once a day (sometime two) with one or two gift providers per post. Might not hit the stride I'm aiming for but it should be quicker than it had been. We also have some gifters that have snuck in after the wire. Some amazing stuff coming up, some of which I'll preview in the chat tonight.

As for other stuff, I'm making Fridays "days of productivity." Which means The Tavern should be back to posting gaming content. Monsters, locations, NPCs, encounters, White Box, White Star, White Lies and mish-mashes of the above. Tonight is where you can make your requests if you have any.

Note: There will be no Tavern Chat next Thursday, it being Christmas Eve and such. We MIGHT do one Tuesday or Wednesday instead, it all depends on "stuff" ;)

Day Four of OSR Christmas - Jolly Tenk and the Lesser Gnome Want Your Death... and Taxes

Day Four - Holy Christmas!

Before we get to today's main event, there is a prize I must award here at The Tavern:

Steven Wells - email me at tenkarsDOTtavern at that gmail thing and I'll get that $10 RPGNow GC to you.

So, what does Jolly Tenkar and the Lesser Gnome have for you today?

Death & Taxes

Not just any Death & Taxes mind you, but THEE Collector's Version of Death & Taxes

Just like the one pictured below:

Let me attest to a simple fact. Once you open the box you'll never get all the shit back in. It's packed tighter then... something. It's like a Box of Holding or a Portable Hole, but the charge wears off after you open it ;)

Edit - the Lesser Gnome will ship to Canada and Europe

You need to follow the link to the Lesser Gnome webpage and follow the instructions. Already have a copy? The Lesser Gnome has you covered. Want to buy a copy? The Lesser Gnome has some bonuses in store for you.

Well, what are you waiting for?

Oh, and if comment on this very post here at The Tavern and answer the following question - What... does Gygaxian mean to you? (the answer matters less than your creativity, but the gift receiver will still be chosen randomly ;) you'll have a chance to snag another $10 RPGNow GC. Entries close for the GC when the next OSR Christmas Post goes live - probably on Wednesday, as I'm working a double Monday into Tuesday.

Don't forget to click on the OSR Christmas pic in the upper right corner to bring you to all of the OSR Christmas posts. There are other offerings from earlier that are still collecting entries, so you may have a Very Merry OSR Christmas!

Troll Lord Games Does Good - Ken Whitman's Ass is being Salvaged for the Good of the Kickstarter Supporters

I received the following from one of The Tavern's frequent readers. It's a message from Troll Lord Games to the backers of Ken Whitman's / Whit Whitman's / Ken Whitless's / He Who Scams People Out of Money and Then Leaves State's Castles & Crusades: Beyond the River (T.V. Pilot) Kickstarter.

Greetings from Troll Lord Games! 

We are not certain of the status of this Kickstarter, but we’d like to give you a very brief idea of what is going on as we know it. 

Steve Chenault wrote the script for the pilot and submitted it to Ken Whitman last year. 

Initially the script was approved by d20 Entertainment, but for a variety of reasons they could not go with that script and a second, abbreviated script was submitted. This script was also approved. However, soon thereafter this script was set aside for one written by Ken Whitman. A short pilot was shot and sent to Steve. He did not approve the pilot in its form and requested the abbreviated script be shot. 

The unapproved pilot was released, but without the C&C banner attached. 

That’s where things stand. 

We do not know what d20 Entertainment’s intentions are but we do know that you guys have backed a project that involves the flagship IP for Troll Lord Games and you did so in good faith that d20 Entertainment would deliver on said promises. You also did so, because Troll Lord Games authorized the project. 

For that we apologize. And we want to make it as right as we can under the circumstances. 

Here is what we have already done: 

1) All backers should have received the script as promised by the Kickstarter 

2) All those who were promised a Leather Copy of the Players Handbook have been contacted and a personalized leather book has been sent from TLG’s own stock. Those shipped yesterday, so please keep a look out. We know it wasn’t what d20 Entertainment promised, but we hope it will serve. 

Here is what we are going to do: 

1) Everyone is receiving a coupon for $10.00 toward any purchase at TLG’s online store. This does not serve to refund your hard earned money, it is simply a gesture from us to you. Use this code at checkout for the discount: xxxxx It does stack with the ongoing Christmas Sale. 

2) This spring we intend to shoot the second part to our short movie piece To The End. We will list the names of all backers of this Kickstarter in the credits section of Part 2, with a kindly Thank You. Also, Steve will write up a script diary for the shoot and we’ll send you all a copy of his adventures on set, observations and general ramblings. 

3) Anyone who backed at 60.00 or more was supposed to receive a free movie poster. Clearly we don’t have that, but we would like to send you a free poster from our existing stock. You can see them on our store under Merchandise. 

We want to apologize to all of you. We allowed the game we all play and you so generously support, Castles & Crusades, to become enmeshed in someone else’s problems. This should not have happened. We hope that it doesn’t sour you on future possibilities. For those who have seen To The End, you can clearly see what we had hoped would occur with this project and what could very well happen in the future. However, if such a future presents itself we promise an even tighter reign. 

We are not sure how long we will have access to this, so please send any inquiries to xxxx@trolllord.com. 

Thank you.
The Troll Lords

Wherein I Retract a Statement That I Never Made and Rabbit Holes

Yes, Retraction Number 2

This one is different.

I never said what I'm being asked to retract. It may have been said in the comments by a commenter on one of the posts, but to the best of my knowledge it wasn't made by me.

Make of that what you will.

I never meant to say (and by never meant to say, I also mean "as far as I can tell I never actually said it") that Gail Gygax, also known as Mrs E. Gary Gygax, is now or has in prior days, improperly removed monies from the entity known as the Gygax Memorial FUND (edit - I had "Trust" before). I have no knowledge of such activities, either directly or indirectly - Erik Tenkar

Onward to "Rabbit Holes"

I recently came into possession of a HUGE info dump of potential leads and information relevant to topics of conversation that have been taking place in the gaming community, particularly the Old School gaming community. I'd be remiss if I didn't follow the leads, although I suspect it will be time consuming and results will be far from immediate. Even relatively easy investigations at my day, rather NIGHT job these days, can take weeks or months. I'm not at liberty to discuss the contents, but I am quite tempted to put together a paper case folder like in the old days (my job is slow to take on technology - paper case folders only ended in 2012 ;)

Wherein I Retract Something...

So, there was a HUGE amount of material waiting to be read after I did my 17 hour shift over the last evening / night.

Some of that reading has lead to the following statement. I'm still reading ;)

I never meant to say or imply that Gail Gygax, the Gygax Memorial Fund or the Gygax Revocable Trust has now, or has prior, actively sued anyone or filed suit against anyone to the best of my knowledge, and any statements to the contrary made by me are due to the unintentional misuse of legal terms by a layman. It would have been more proper to use the words "action" or "actions" regarding any trademark issues that any of the above mentioned parties may have been a part of - Erik Tenkar

A "Holy Sh!t WTF!" Kickstarter - Nazi history monopoly (I Sh!t You Not)

Uhm, right.

Nazi history monopoly. But according to update #1, the game has nothing to do with Hasbro, Monopoly, cute and disturbing as hell Hitler heads nor history as we know it. Alright, I'm assuming the last part. Maybe it will be a riff of Man in the High Castle. Or not.

But what is this game actually about then?

Yep, because the Hitler Channel has cut back on Hitler History and replaced it with Pawn Stars. Neo-Nazi board game anyone? I can only imagine what replaces utilities.

How much for the game? 55 bucks. How much does she want to raise? $50,000.

Yes Kickstarter, there does need to be a vetting process...

Tip of the hat to Marci Deleon over in the Kicksnarker G+ Community.

The Gygax Memorial Fund Lost Over $1,000 in 2014

So, I've basically been told that only positive interviews are going to happen with Gail. She will participate "only in interviews focusing on the positive aspects of gaming and positive news of Garys legacy."

This post is about a negative aspect of the Gygax Memorial Fund which I guess makes in a negative aspect of Gary's legacy. More accurately, a negative cash flow issue for the Fund in 2014. Yes, the Fund lost money in 2014 and compared to 2015 the website was a font of activity. Just imagine how 2015 will shake out.

Look down below. The fund took in a mere $421 in 2014. It's obvious that 2012 and 2013 numbers were from the sales of the AD&D 1e reprints (Thanks WotC) and 2010 and 2011 were probably mostly corporate sponsors.

Again. $421 in 2014. Someone has dropped the ball on their fund raising efforts it seems.

Actually, it's worse than that. See the page below. That a "Schedule O". It's missing from the first few years of tax returns posted, but it's important, as it gives a breakdown of expenses.

Office Expenses:             $1,129

Filing Fees:                     $     10

Conferences / Meetings: $   653

Total: $1,792

Less   $   421

The Gygax Memorial Fund LOST $1,371 in 2014. How do you spend more in a year than your raise?

Now I know why the Fund is a sensitive topic. It's actually moving backwards now. There is apparently little support from the gaming community as a whole, and that's a damn shame.

Day Three of OSR Christmas - "You MUST Delve In!" (Print Copies of Dyson's Delves I & II)

Is it really Day Three of OSR Christmas? Yep, it is! heh

Before we get to today's main event, there is a prize I must award here at The Tavern:

 +Forrest Aguirre  email me at tenkarsDOTtavern at that gmail thing and I'll get that $10 RPGNow GC to you.

So, what is today's OSR Christmas Offering?

+Dyson Logos is gifting his stellar Dyson's Delves. Amazing maps, excellent adventures, all for you. How do you get your chance at such goodness?

Here's Dyson in his own words:

I'm giving away print copies of Dyson's Delves I & II as part of +Erik Tenkar's 12 Days of OSR Christmas. 

But I'm also using this as a chance to collect new uses for old maps - to produce an additional resource for people who are using the blog and who want an idea or seed to go with the maps.  

So to enter, you need to find a map on the blog and propose another use for it. A quick adventure seed or idea of how it could be used. At the end of the day (or tomorrow morning depending on how sleepy we are) one entry (possibly 2) will be chosen randomly to receive print copies of Dyson's Delves I & II. 

This contest is open to entries from anywhere in the world, so get on it!

Oh, and if comment on this very post here at The Tavern and answer the following question - What... is the air-speed velocity of an unladen swallow? (the answer matters less than your creativity, but thw gift receiver will still be chosen randomly ;) you'll have a chance to snag another $10 RPGNow GC. Entries close for the GC when the next OSR Christmas Post goes live - probably on Wednesday, as I'm working a double Monday into Tuesday.

Don't forget to click on the OSR Christmas pic in the upper right corner to bring you to all of the OSR Christmas posts. There are other offerings from earlier that are still collecting entries, so you may have a Very Merry OSR Christmas!