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Monday, August 31, 2020

Humble Bundle - Humble Fantasy 3D Printable Models Bundle

 I really need to invest in a 3d printer. The models you can purchase are simply great, and it might be a neat hobby for pandemic time :)

The Humble Fantasy 3d Printer Models Bundle can be bought in for as little as a buck. I see dwarf and tavern themed pieces. 

Yeah, I really need a 3d printer...

 The Tavern is supported by readers like you. The easiest way to support The Tavern is to shop via our affiliate links. DTRPGAmazon, and Humble Bundle are the affiliate programs that support The Tavern.




Saturday, August 29, 2020

Deal of the Day - The Blackest Space - An Interstellar Sci-Fi Survival Roleplaying Game (OSR)


When it comes to OSR based RPG systems, Bloat Games has a pretty good track record. While I'm not sure I need another scifi ruleset, the OSR is famous for its hackability and The Blackest Space may provide good source material for some White Star gaming. At 3 bucks -normally 9.99, there really is no reason now to find out :) 

Written by Josh Palmer (Co-Creator of Dark Places & Demogorgons and Vigilante City) comes The Blackest Space, a Sci-Fi game that utilizes the BoD game system created by Eric Bloat for The Blackest of Deaths RPG

There is 15 Classes represented in The Blackest Space:  Bounty Hunter, Captain. Communications Commander, Ebontear Endbringer, Ebontear Necrojudge, Emerald Champion, Medical Officer, Meta-Psych, Pilot, Pirate, Science Officer, Security Director, Shock Marine, Smuggler and Technician.

And 12 Playable Races: The Apparatus, Arpi, Asaluss, Cymyrs, Gnargfang, Gronslag, Harkfey, Humans, Lanerians. Mirewhips, Qu’fer and Zygaq.

Content included:

  • Rules VS Rulings
  • Core Mechanic
  • Benefit and Hindrance
  • Advantage and Disadvantage
  • Attributes (Strength, Intelligence, Wisdom, Constitution, Dexterity and Charisma)
  • Determining Attributes
  • Luck
  • Hit Points
  • Healing
  • Death
  • Move, Evade & Armor Points
  • Everything In Turn
  • Leveling Up
  • Initiative
  • Combat
  • Vacuum of Space & Dangerous Enviroments
  • Gear and Currency
  • Weapons, Armor and Equipment
  • Cybernetics
  • Robots
  • Vehicles
  • Interstellar Ships
  • Space Combat
  • Free Actions
  • Star Ships (all sizes and upgrades)
  • Space Booty (Stat Bonuses, Weapons, Armor, Equipment, Galactic Repute/Currency, Special Items)
  • Galaxy Background
  • Earth's Timeline
  • Sections of the known Milky Way
  • Gronslag Empire, Lanerian Depths, The Solar Council,  Earth, PAX I, J-15, Nexus Base Evermore, The Azure Domain, Barrison-5, Zonatt-3141, The Golden Arsenal, Illumination Realm, The Brine Mire, Crucible Center, The Emerald Edge, Arpourus III and XI, Forbidden Zone, Ventura II, Fury VI, Wyll III, Blackspace Corsairs, La'samoo Station, Devogolos, Koshka-8 and many, many more!
  • Organtizations:  The Infinity Exchange, The Probers or Greys & The Ruins of the Great Ancients
  • Random Star System Generators
  • MONSTERS & ADVERSARIES (30+)
  • Templates

 The Tavern is supported by readers like you. The easiest way to support The Tavern is to shop via our affiliate links. DTRPGAmazon, and Humble Bundle are the affiliate programs that support The Tavern.

Friday, August 28, 2020

Final Two Weeks for Old School Essentials Advanced Fantasy Kickstarter

Final Two Weeks for Old School Essentials Advanced Fantasy Kickstarter
Erik should be home today from the hospital, but I'm off work early today and thought I'd use the Tavern soapbox to shill for myself, something I thought fellow Tavern-goers (do we collectively have name?) might be interested in:

Old School Essentials Advanced Fantasy Game Kickstarter.

I know, I know.....it's probably bad form to have one post with where I name-drop Ken Whitman (or is it Whit Whitman now?) and then the next day mention a different Kickstarter......

Old School Essentials Advanced Fantasy Kickstarter
I cannot do much about that now, if Erik has a problem he'll either cut me off at the bar, or.......heaven forbid, ask me to settle my bar tab. I think I'm good because the folks over at Necrotic Gnome have actually come through on their 1st Kickstarter for Old School Essentials, which was a B/X Clone.

Just a couple weeks ago I got my copy of the OSE Classic Fantasy Rules Tome.....and it is sooooooo droolworthy. Holy crap is it nice! Now I don't want to talk shit about other B/X games/sets, but I really only want to play with my OSE book now. It is one of them there "fancy" European sized books, I don't know A5 maybe.......ugh, I feel a little less 'Merican for even knowing that, but whatever. The book is beautiful, sturdy, and full of gorgeous little touches.

When I found out that Necrotic Gnome was doing another Kickstarter to add-in some "Advanced Fantasy" supplements...I bought in ASAP. Since the Kickstarter has just under two weeks left as of the time of this post I figured I'd clue some of you in.

Click on the link above if you're interested.....

......BUT WAIT! THERE's MORE!!!

You know that OSE Classic Fantasy Rules Tome I was just gushing over? Yeah, i just learned it's on sale over at Necrotic Gnome's Website......for a lot less than I paid for it. With the quick Euro-conversion I just did I think it's $41 plus shipping.......

......oh, wait a minute....that's if you're one of those European-type folks that natively gets what an A5 sized book is. Those guys get it on sale for more than haf-off. We can get it for $40 through Exhalted Funeral, and it's the same price what I paid for.....guess I got a little too exited....must have been thinking of the gobs of money I spent on other gaming stuff recently (got a bunch of 3d printing stuff and filled some holes in my comics collection).

If you didn't already have the Classic (B/X) Fantasy Rules Tome already, but were interested I think I'd probably just buy in to the Kickstarter and grab everything you wanted all at once and get a huge present to yourself, but that's more to see if you can shave a few bucks off of shipping.

A lot of us here at the Tavern love the OSR and this is just a pretty new flavor of OSR that I happen to enjoy right now. Love it or leave it.....your choice, but better to have the choice than to miss out....right?

Thursday, August 27, 2020

This One Time, at a Convention.......

This One Time, at a Convention.......
Erik's still in the hospital & should be out tomorrow, so your sorry lot will have to suffice with another story from me!

<insert evil cackle here>

This one time, at Scout camp.....whoops, wrong audience.

Actually since I usually type about HackMaster, especially when it come to tournaments, I thought maybe I'd regale you fine follks (I'm clearly laying it on thick) with the quick (?) story about when I allegedly became the German National Grand AD&D Champion.

Seriously.....it was evidently a thing.

Oh wait, I told that story? Well not in depth, but close enough.......

Well I know I mentioned that I was pretty much handed the Tournament MVP because the fricken adventure revolved around my (randomly assigned) PC. The thing is that there was much more going on at this convention and being the AD&D Champion came with some cool perks.

So this was back in 1996. Magic the Gathering was still pretty new and WotC had a VIP at the convention (cannot remember the guy's name). Dragon Dice were a thing and Lester Smith was a VIP at the convention. I got him to sign a few of my Dragon Dice bags and I got to play, and lose, some games with him. I won some art in a drawing, one piece of which was a huge photo negative cell-thing from an upcoming Traveller book. I still have it, never did get it framed. Got to meet Larry Elmore who was also a VIP at the con, AND I got to meet for the 1st time.......

..........drumroll please.............

Ken, fucking Whitman!

I'm not sure if Kenny was a VIP as well or part of Larry Elmore's entourage. I do remember that I was invited to a special after-party followig the convention and was volunteered to drive Ken, Larry, and the WotC guy to the party.....and at the time I was driving an old Austin Mini (Red Hot Secial Edition.....not a Mini Cooper). Now if you've ever seen a picture of Kenny, he's not a small guy.

I got everyone in, those small cars are bigger on the inside, and went to the party. To this day all I can remember about the party was that we got to play a very work-in-progress game of Groo! The cards and mechanics were pretty much done, but the cards themselves were all still hand-drawn from Sergio Aragonés. It was a fun night and I made sure to buy nyself a copy when it cane out.

I got to see Ken again when I went to the European Gen Con, which was my prize for winning the German Tournament. That was a fun experience for me, but mostly because it coincided with a longer vacation to the Netherlands........but that's more a story over beers at a future after-party.

Wednesday, August 26, 2020

A HugeThank You to All for the Support During this Latest Hospitalization

 2020 has been one hell of a year. Screw Covid, I’ve been hospitalized three times without its help ;)

This latest hospitalization has been the least stressful, even though I’ve been here since passing out after lunch on Sunday.

Here are the takeaways:

- ECG of my heart reveals the four stents I received for congestive heart failure in May are working perfectly. Actually, the cardiologist told me my heart was working perfectly. My current issue is low blood pressure when I stand, likely due to dehydration. No more diuretics! Currently on a saline drip. This appears to be the cause of Sunday’s passing out.

- there are partial blockages of my coronary and one further artery leading to my brain. CT was late yesterday afternoon. Waiting on vascular surgeon to review The CT, but was told most likely course of action will be to treat with medications.

- I’d rather be bored and monitored than worried :)

I’d like to thank all of my friends in this community of ours for the kind words and thoughts. It really means the world to me. Of course, a huge thank you to Chris, who’s been posting the past few days. The Tavern truly is a team effort.

Oh, and to the magnificent bastard that paid 10 bucks each for the two volumes of Pocket Monsters as well as snagging a copy of SWCL - I don’t know what to say other than “thank you”. 

Thank you all.




Tuesday, August 25, 2020

Hitting the Party Sideways

Hitting the Party Sideways
One thing that has always gotten under my skin was the concept that as an adventure author, of course this is HackMaster (Association) specific, that my adventure had to "Hit the Party Sideways", or have elements so far out of left field as to surprise the players to the point where it'll lead to a PC death.

Now granted this was usually in context of one of the two big national (Origins & GenCon) multi-round elimination tournaments, but as a GM or a tournament/adventure author, should our goal ever be a player-character death? Personally I say no. My job is to make a fun, engaging adventure that sets up the possibility for the PCs to kill themselves. Despite the apparent adversarial overtones of the GM/Players relationship (we did have PC kill stickers after all), I'm there to have fun and I root for the PCs just as much as against them.

While this "hit them sideways" bit was usually a generic challenge, I have had it issued with regards to a specific group, in one case the winner's of the tournament last year. Evidently my buddy Topher and his group kicked too much ass and needed to be taken down a peg or two. Now I will admit that back in the day I called bullshit. Now I'll admit I was friends with Topher and had actually flown from Boise to Chattanooga a few times to game with his group......ok that's an exaggeration. My work flew me from Boise to Nashville a couple times and I did the added two-hour drive to Chattanooga on my free Monday nights to sling dice. Anyway, this group was a well-oiled machine that wasn't a collection of PCs, but a group that started having their collective shit together before they started rolling 3d6. When Topher played (he was normally the GM) his PC was a Double-Specialist Diviner, basically the magical equivalent to Sherlock Holmes. In a heavy hack & slash game like HackMaster, Diviners seem kind of lame since they are non-combative one-trick ponies that seem kind of useless on the surface. Useless that is unless you need to find out some information about something......which comes up so much more often in a tournament situation than you might imagine.

In any regard, good job creating a PC that either shines or hangs back and does jack squat. In most gaming groups this would not be a good PC to play, but in a good cohesive team built from the ground-up to work together, this guy could be a tournament wrecker......could be.

I'm not one to care if a specific group/table/player/PC finds one particular encounter easy because of good roleplay, character design, teamwork, or just dumb luck. Technically, especially in HackMaster, it is possible for me to set a single 1st level Cleric with a wooden hammer up against a Red Dragon and have the Dragon succumb in one blow due to a critical hit. Statistically impossible, but still can happen. As a GM/author you cannot, I dare say should not, plan for/against outliers. It's kind of a waste of your time.

If you're writing for a group other than your own, make up a story and make it make freakin sense for your game world. Who cares if somebody isn't sufficiently challenged by one particular encounter, or hell....even the whole thing. Now I'm not saying that you shouldn't put in the effort to make it fun for everyone involved, but spending an inordinate amount of time of making it sufficiently "sideways" is not a good use of your time.

I'm not quite sure I can tell you what is the right amount of "sideways" and I'm not sure one even exists because that seems to go against my personal philosophy, but I can give an example where I had added some.....and where it didn't matter. This particular encounter takes place in what is essentially an exit shaft up and out the mountainside of a Dwarven fortress. It's really designed for exit OUT of the complex, but the players are trying to use it to go IN. The wide corridor extends a good 100 meters into the mountainside and ends in what appears to be a dead-end. At the end of this hall is a stone tray filled with large tiles, Dwarven runes on one side and copper pegs embedded in the other side (I actually had props for this of placards with Runes on one side of a bunch of cards). The end wall of this hall had tile-sized indents filled with little holes. Now this was basically a lock for the escape hatch out of the mountain. The idea was that there was a password to open the lock where you had an eight-letter word you needed to spell out in runes using the letters provided. Once the last tiles was placed, if the word was correct, the secret door would open. If not, the ceiling would drop out and crush the party.

Now it is important to note that this encounter was designed to be a time-waster more than anything.  The tiles were large enough and spread out enough that it would take more than a pair of thieves to "pick" the lock. Three thieves could try, but ideally it took four. If a party had three or four thieves in it, they suffered enough and should be able to get a pass on this encounter. This trap/lock was like a memory game. Every letter corresponded to a section of hallway, with an extra section at the end above the tiles. For every letter/rune in the word that was incorrect, that ceiling section came down, doing a specific amount of damage.....but so did the section above the tiles. With enough trial and error, a group should be able to figure out the word needed and open the secret door, which was well down the corridor they had already walked through, definitely not within the area of the trap.

Now with the right spells, skills, magic items the party might be able to eventually find the door on their own and bypassing it (and the trap) would take some effort, but mostly because it wasn't where you would normally look. A party going that far would still be wasting time and having to use resources that would then not be available to them later in the game. The time-wasting effect would still be there.

Now I'm sure this wasn't a sufficiently "sideways" for some of my adventure reviewers, but come on.....this was basically just a fancy lock on a fancy door that was really made for one-way use. If you needed it to be a little more....I don't know...extra: remove some of the needed tiles. Maybe this lock had been used more often than originally intended and some of the tiles were showing some extra wear & tear so one of the brighter Dwarven guards temporarily removed some key tiles so newer replacements could be made.......

......that makes sense to me. Hitting the group sideways by spelling the "password" wrong to begin with, that's probably more like what I'd been told to do all along.

Monday, August 24, 2020

Deal of the day - GM’s Miscelany: Dungeon Backdrop

 

Let’s see how well I do posting with my iPad. Maybe the new Blogger interface will solve a multitude of problems. Maybe ;)

Today’s Deal of the Day is GM’s Miscellany: Dungeon Backdrops. The whole GM’s Miscellany line is simply an awesome resource for the harried GM, and this release is no exception.

You are a GM, but you are busy. You want to write your own modules, but you just don’t have the time. And you don’t want to use commercial modules. You want to make your campaign your own. That’s where the Dungeon Backdrop line comes in! Each Dungeon Backdrop presents a fully fleshed out and lovingly detailed self-contained dungeon ready for you to use as you see fit. Stock the dungeon with your own monsters (and—perhaps—their treasure), decide their back story and you are good to go. 


Every Dungeon Backdrop is carefully designed to be easily inserted into almost any fantasy campaign. Dungeon Backdrops: we describe the dungeon, you add the monsters (and the treasure).

Ah well. Still problems. I’m biding my time in the hospital for some tests. Thank God for Chris Stodgill. Give the man some love.

The Tavern is supported by readers like you. The easiest way to support The Tavern is to shop via our affiliate links. DTRPGAmazon, and Humble Bundle are the affiliate programs that support The Tavern.




 


My Introduction to the HackMaster Association

My Introduction to the HackMaster Association
This last week school started for some folks and a good friend of mine saw his youngest daughter off to college. One of the things she was sent off with was a "party pack" of the most recent Pacesetter Games BX set (has a bunch of extra player's books). She also got some dice, map boards, and some other D&D books (4th Edition?). Her father told me she was interested in playing so I bought a bunch of stuff to do so (on a couple of occasions). Despite me spending more than a couple hundred bucks (my buddy won't read this so I don't mind mentioning that fact) I couldn't get her family to start up a game and I hope that she'll have better luck in college.

Now on the surface I'm sure this seem stupid as hell, especially given that I go by "Frugal GM" with another blog by the same name. Why the hell do you spend that kind of money on NOT playing a game?

In short: because I can.

First off, in my opinion, being Frugal has nothing to do with being cheap. Frugality is about spending money wisely and saving money when and where appropriate. I simply feel that a couple hundred bucks is a worthwhile investment in a buddy's kid, but more importantly, the very real future of the next gaming generation.

I've not made it a secret that I didn't get to game worth a damn growing up, and would maybe argue even still today (but I've had some pretty good stretches). One recurring theme in my personal gaming journey has pretty much been the high barrier-for-entry. My introduction to HackMaster is a good example.

HackMaster PHB
So in 2002 I'm on my Honeymoon in Las Vegas and my new bride decides she wants to visit EVERY comic book store in the greater Las Vegas area. I like comics and most comic books stores also stock games and cool toys, so no problem. At one store I happen upon the HackMaster PHB. Now at this point I haven't slung dice in five, maybe even seven, years and 1st Edition? Decade or two for sure. I recognize the homage that is the cover, but at the same time it's not familiar.....I hope that makes sense. I end up picking up the PHB and...and I'm hooked. I loved the writing and the blend of 1st Edition, 2nd Edition, and home rules. I had bits and bobs of different rules I was wanting to run with another system, but HackMaster just felt so much better.

Now don't get me wrong, I know damned well that HackMaster 4th edition is crunchy, clunky, and has a few of the same problems 1st Edition did, but I loved it. I really wanted to play.

I got my chance nearly a year later when I found out that HackMaster was being run at a game convention in Salt Lake City over Memorial Day. Now this convention is much more an art, sci-fi, and cosplay convention so gaming was there, but almost an after-thought. I tried, and failed, to register for the games I wanted. Evidently the sign-up sheet wasn't there and the registration "guy" was nowhere to be found. My 1st game wasn't until the next day, but I was getting pretty worked up, agitated, down-right pissed off that I could not register for my games! I didn't drive 6 hours, rent a room over a holiday weekend, and subject myself to fricken cosplayers to miss out on a game 'cause some guy can't be bothered to work his volunteer shift!

After the third or fourth visit to the registration desk the convention staff wisely decide to track down the games-guy before this one guest loses it. I didn't know that this really wasn't a gaming con and if I'd just showed up the the right time & table I'd have been good....

Man did I have a good gaming weekend. Aside from one ass-hat blatantly cheating in one miniatures game it was a good time all around. Met a lot of good guys that were in a couple different home groups, but active together in something called the HackMaster Association (HMA), basically a way to track home groups, PCs, and allow for organized play.

Wait, more opportunities to game and a way to have my PC from a Home Game play in a tournament? Sign my ass up!

Yeah, this brief , bright moment of gaming would inevitably crash into that common high "barrier for entry" I referred to. So these new gaming friends a state away were part of one particular Chapter of the HackMaster Association. Since I was living in Boise that placed me into a different Chapter. I could sign up for the HMA, register my home group and even get certified as a Level 1 GameMaster, but anything else I had to work with my Chapter.

You Eastern folks might have issues comprehending the distances involved hereOk....no problem. Let me reach out to the other groups in my Chapter.....oh wait, there's only one, and its in fricken Spokane! That's an eight hour drive. This group isn't active, but the GM sure seems to be. I don't know what the heck is going on yet, but I'm liking this HackMaster game so I'me willing to do some digging......

It ended up that there were a lot of active HackMaster players, groups, and a chapter in Seattle. There was this one group in Eastern Washington led by a bit of a notorious GM. I had a buddy in Boise from GM who was big into the gaming scene there and he was able to fill me in on some details and I was able to do some more digging.

I won't go off too much on this guy, but for you older Air Force Vets that might be reading this.....he retired at 20 years as a Buck Sgt! Says enough for me right there!

Anyway there was this big HMA fight I guess with this one guy wanting, nay demanding, that every other year his home group getting to host the Washington State HMA Championship. I'm not going to comment on fairness or how I think things should have played out, but in the end, this guy (as I heard, remember this is all 2nd hand info) had a hissy fit and decided to form his own chapter. As part of trying to legitimize his chapter he claimed all of Eastern Washington and the whole (player-less) state of Idaho.

It was a bit of work trying to formalize this research, contacting the powers that be, and finally getting to join up with the folks in the SLC area to form a new HMA Chapter. It was a pain, but well worth it. We drove down several times a year to game, folks from "down there" came up to game with use. To this day I'm still friends with some of those folks...

This was a rough introduction to the HackMaster Association, but things got better and at one point I ended up helping to run the darned thing, but that is (probably not) a story for another time.

Sunday, August 23, 2020

My Non-Thoughts on "Combat Wheelchair" Minis

My Non-Thoughts on "Combat Wheelchair" Minis
OK, I realize that this is probably more rant territory than anything, but yesterday I came across this article about WotC, well specifically WotC staff, chiming in on the "Combat Wheelchair".

My initial reaction was, "WTF, is this actually a thing?"

No, not the wheelchair mini....I could give a rat's-ass about Tiefling minis in the first place. That's there's one on a wheelchair is even more a non-issue for me.

What fucking blows my mind is that someone, well anyone really, cares enough about a wheelchair mini to bitch and gripe about it to the extent that anyone, much less WotC staff, has to come and make a statement (in defense or otherwise) over the mini.

Seriously guys, and probably not you, but the whiners.....do you not get that it is a game?! You don't want a wheel-chair bound Tiefling...then don't play one! If having one in the group is that big of a deal to you then bring it up in the group and guess what......you might be looking for a new gaming group, but if you're that hung up on the issue that were you really in the right group to begin with?

I take it this is the mini in question:

I prefer this option to the large chicken mount

Please don't read into me on this.....I'm not some Social Justice Warrior championing the cause of diversity and inclusion at the gaming table. I've got my own biases, judgements, and can be just as big of a dick as the next guy.........but at some point you have to be an adult and realize it's your job in life to figure out what's important/not important and make the appropriate call......and that call isn't to go online and piss and moan.

You don't like the mini, great......again, don't buy it. I won't buy it because I have no use for it....even if it wasn't a Tiefling. Would I turn down a player wanting to use it for their PC?.....yes, but again only because it's a Tielfing. If this was a Dwarf, go for it. Like any other aspect of your PC I reserve the right to use the wheelchair against you. Don't expect me to suddenly make dungeons accessible or anything, but you know creatures/humanoids are fricken lazy so aside from stairs between levels a wheelchair would probably be more useful than initially imagined, but good luck escaping those pit traps!

Also, as an aside.....don't give me too much to work with as I'll use anything you give me against you if I can!

You don't have to be inclusive or have a diverse group at your gaming table, but maybe....and I'm going out on a limb here...you don't need to be a dick about it. It is just a game and there's a lot of out-of-game stuff that really matter, until it does. I don't know about disabilities, but I've had players with lifestyles (and religions!) I don't agree with.....that might not be the right way of putting it.....I generally don't care what you do in your off time as long as innocents aren't harmed...except Furries...they just (figuratively) rub me the wrong way, but that's my problem to work on.

I have been in a gaming group where I definitely did not agree with the GM's lifestyle. Again, I generally don't care, but too much "downtime" around the table consisted of discussions I really did NOT want to have to listen to. I wouldn't want to hear about my best-friend's sex life at the gaming table, and I might find that interesting, so someone else's.....no thanks. I stuck with the game for a while......and I would like to say that I mentioned my discomfort to the GM, but it was years ago....doesn't matter now. Clearly this was just "my" issue, so I just stopped playing. It was a good game & GM otherwise, but it was a big enough issue to stop playing. I'm self-aware enough to know that I probably wasn't as mature and adult about the whole situation as I should have been, I am human after all, but I learned from it and I did not go online to piss and moan about the situation that really only affected me. I did not expect the world to change to make me feel more comfortable and I definitely did not act like a big enough douche that KenzerCo (it was a HackMaster game I was playing) felt like they had make some public statement.

Clearly I'm not anyone special here, not claiming to be, but I have a soap-box and really when/if you guys reading this happen upon this level of self-entitled whining trying to force someone else to needlessly play RPGs "their way".....shut that shit down....

.....unless it's about Furries or Tieflings, fuck those guys*.





*Lighten up Francis......I'm kidding, clearly, but there should probably be some very minor variances made for edition-preferences.


Saturday, August 22, 2020

Extra Life - James Spahn is Raising Money to Help Children

 

I've known James for years and he is one of the most generous people I know. Tonight he is running a charity game of Hero's Journey 2e via Etra Life to support children in medical need.

The Tavern will match the first $250 raised by members of this community. Use this link and drop me a note in the comments section of this post with the amount you are donating.

We know times are hard now but we are trying to make them better at least for those few we can make an impact on.  Our club, the Royal Dragoon Guards (RDG) is a small one but if we can raise some money it will go to the Extra Life Charity.  The charity raises funding for local Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals and we are big fans of helping children in need.  

The Royal Dragoon Guards (RDG) is an inclusive gaming organization that promotes the gaming hobby.   The Extra Life Charity is about gaming to raise money.  You can see why we make a good team.  We love to game and raise money for charity while they love to take the money we raise.  

Seriously though, come watch us on our Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/RDGExtraLife donate while we play and help influence the game through your donations.  

This weekend’s game session will be a story created for “The Hero's Journey 2nd edition” role playing game.  Which is a fantasy genre game with a Tolkien feel.  The story will be led by the creator of the game and a member of the Royal Dragoon Guards.  James Spahn.

The game promises to be a lot of fun and we think you will enjoy it if you come to our site and journey with us.  The Session will start at 7 pm and continue late into the night.

Also for every $500 raised James is going to be sending a signed copy of The Hero's Journey to a random viewer.

We really do love giving back to our community so please help us support the Children’s Miracle Network.

We need your help!

Your donation is tax-deductible and will make miracles happen for families who desperately need them.

The Tavern is supported by readers like you. The easiest way to support The Tavern is to shop via our affiliate links. DTRPGAmazon, and Humble Bundle are the affiliate programs that support The Tavern.

Friday, August 21, 2020

Cthulhu Mythos Sale - OSR Picks

 There is a Cthulhu Mythos Sale over on DTRPG. This post is to highlight some of the OSR selections in the sale. I'll add another post over the weekend highlighting some Call of Cthulhu selections.

Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea (Compleat Second Edition) - what if AD&D were primarily inspired by Conan and not Middle Earth? Wonder no longer. "ASTONISHING SWORDSMEN & SORCERERS of HYPERBOREA™ is sword-and-sorcery role-playing at its pinnacle. Play an Amazon fighter, Atlantean magician, Esquimaux shaman, Hyperborean warlock, Ixian necromancer, Keltic barbarian, Kimmerian cataphract, Pictish thief, Viking berserker, or one of many other possibilities." 19.99 15.20   AS&SH Player's Manual 12.00 9.60


Silent Legions - anything from Kevin Crawford simply rocks :)  Silent Legions is a game of modern-day Lovecraftian horror, one carefully designed to support sandbox adventures by hard-bitten investigators and fearless hunters of the dark. Its clean, lightweight old-school rules are compatible with the free Stars Without Number sci-fi game and give both GM and players a steady framework for plumbing the unspeakable secrets of the eldritch night. Now, after a successful Kickstarter with more than 1,100 backers, a Kickstarter completed a month early, this tome of dark secrets can be yours. Silent Legions isn't just about traditional Yog-Sothothery. Silent Legions is a creation kit, a toolbox in the Sine Nomine style for creating your own Mythos, with all-new deities, alien entities, foul magics, accursed artifacts, unaussprechlichen kulten, and diabolical dream-worlds to bedevil your players. These tools are system-neutral, so even fans of other Lovecraftian gaming systems can scoop them up to add a splash of fresh horror to their more familiar tentacular abominations. Not only that, but Silent Legions is built to help the GM create investigative adventures with minimal strain. Within these pages, you'll find a modular set of templates and adventure guides that help you snap together an evening's intrepid investigation and fit it neatly into your campaign setting. Like the Mythos creation tools, these guides are system-neutral and can be exported for any occasion when you need something wicked to this way come. 19.99  15.99

Eldritch Tales: Lovecraftian White Box Role-Playing - Swords & Wizardry Horror Roleplaying? Sign me up! - "Eldritch Tales: Lovecraftian White Box Role-Playing in an OSR rule set with its roots in the Original version of the world's favorite RPG, but instead of exploring musty dungeons, characters in Eldritch Tales investigate Mythos horrors in the 1920s! The setting and background are based on the cosmic horror tales of Howard Phillips Lovecraft and other members of his writing circle. Within the pages of Eldritch Tales you will find four character classes representing many classic pulp archetypes, occupations, rules for insanity, spells, monsters, esoteric tomes, artifacts, a starting scenario, and setting material, as well as advice on using Eldritch Tales with other White Box games. This game is compatible with Swords & Wizardry White Box and other OSR games." 6.99  5.69

The Cthulhu Alphabet - Simply an excellent read -"The Cthulhu Alphabet is a collection of random tables to inspire your role-playing game, structured around an abecedarian theme. If you are a player navigating an uncaring universe, a haunted setting, or a horror-filled dungeon, you will find new ideas for your character and adventures. And if you are a game master creating scenarios set in the Cthulhu Mythos—or in any fantastic world—you will find every page bursting with ideas. Your brain will spark on every page, whether you roll randomly for inspiration or read the tables in order." 12.00  9.60


Realms of Crawling Chaos -
a classic OSR horror release. It should be part of every gamer's collection. - "Evil cultists consummate their union with Shub-Niggurath in dark woods no other mortals dare go. Alien terrors lurk in the underworld; their vast riches wait, or their incomprehensible powers could leave you broken, dead, or worse. Adventure in underworlds filled with horrible entities, or the ruins of alien beings that enslaved the ape-like ancestors of mankind. Seek hidden secrets from the arctic wastes to dark, briny seas. But as you approach the ocean, what are those strange longings you feel? Realms of Crawling Chaos is a Lovecraftian Dark Fantasy campaign supplement for Labyrinth Lord and the Advanced Edition Companion. In this book, you will find: New player races, including white apes, white ape hybrids, sea blood, and subhumans. New spells, New monsters, New artifacts, and a system for designing unique artifacts, Rules for psionics, compatible with Mutant future." 6.99  5.59

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Kickstarter - Hex Tile content Add-Ons for MapForge mapmaking software


The goal: To enable the creation of gorgeous "hex crawl" or West March style maps by bringing flat-side-up hextile content to MapForge.

I'm a huge fan of mapping programs for use with RPGs. Probably because my skill at drawing maps freehand is virtually non-existent. I've also been a fan of Battlegrounds Games and their main man Heruca literally for years and years. They've always done great work and have been a huge force in supporting the gaming community over the last 10 years, more or less.

The Hex Tile content Add-Ons for MapForge mapmaking software is the latest Kickstarter to add content to their Mapforge software. There are just over 24 hours left to support the project.

MapForge is map-making software that was successfully funded on Kickstarter in 2017. Version 1.0 of MapForge was released in 2018, along with an incredible 50 content Add-Ons for it from leading content providers. Since then, the number of content Add-Ons has more than doubled. Those of you who are new to MapForge should please visit the above links for more information about the software (it's simply too much information to repeat here). The FAQ for the original campaign is also a useful source of information.

The TL/DR version

MapForge is easy-to-use software for Windows and Mac OS that makes high-quality maps for printing or for use in virtual tabletop software (e.g., Roll20, Fantasy Grounds, etc.).

Can be used for free (no license required for low resolution output).

Comes with  33 free content Add-Ons (totaling around 5600 assets!).

You can download and try the software out for yourself, to evaluate it and see if the program is what you want/expect it to be.


This campaign seeks to broaden MapForge's current hex tile offerings by producing several more mapping content Add-Ons to better support the creation of area/regional scale maps, albeit this time with "flat-side-up" hex tiles (aka V-Hex, or "short grain"). In case you missed it, a prior Kickstarter campaign already covered "pointy-side-up" hex tiles (aka H-Hex or "long grain").

I've already implemented flat-side-up hexgrid generation in MapForge using my own funds (already available in MapForge v1.1.6 and later). A portion of the proceeds from this campaign will go towards implementing the snap-to-grid function on flat-side-up hexgrids, which is a key element that is currently missing. This will allow for much faster and more-accurate mapping. 

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Thursday, August 20, 2020

Kickstarter - Chewer of Fingers (Midderlands Adventure)

A grim old-school adventure for The Midderlands setting intended as a low-level one-shot. Generally usable for all old-school games.


When it comes to old school gaming Kickstarters, Midderlands releases are then high watermark that other Kickstarter are judged against. I also love low-level adventures. Chewer of Fingers looks to be a lot of fun.

Chewer of Fingers is a grim, old-school introductory adventure intended for The Midderlands setting. The adventure is written for Swords & Wizardry and therefore can be used in all retro-clones and old school role-playing games with little or no work. The book contains swear words and mature themes.

If you know anything about The Midderlands fantasy setting, you will see information within the book that makes it directly usable with The Midderlands setting. It is 100% compatible.

The encounters in the adventure take place in and around the small hamlet of Fetterstone—a depressing place on the edge of a stinking marsh near the border between the Western Midderlands and Staffershire.

The PCs are heading to Fetterstone because there is a 20 gold quid reward for the capture of an escaped criminal called ‘The Finger Chewer'. He absconded from Middlemoor Gaol five days ago and is believed to be hiding out in the surrounding oft-foggy marsh. The marsh is notoriously dangerous and even the lure of 20 gold quids isn’t enough to entice the locals into its fetid clutches.

  • The adventure is A5-sized (148mm wide x 210mm high OR Approx. 5.8" wide x 8.3" high) containing 24 interior pages (+2 printed inside cover pages).
  • The adventure features 4 encounter areas: Old Lady Harris' Farm, The Village of Fetterstone and the Gloombug Tavern, Middlemoor Gaol, and The Marsh.
  • Four pregenerated adventurers are provided: Solomon Pilkington (Level 2 Human Cleric of Gael), Dergal Pock (Level 2 Wart Goblin Fighter), Norris Hitchcock (Level 2 Half-elf magic-User), and Elspeth Fallows (Level 2 Human Thief).
  • 6 beautiful hand-drawn and scanned maps. These will also be provided as seperate unlabelled VTT versions with the PDF download.

The adventure is littered with extra details (game-juice) and adventure hooks that make this suitable for additional future adventures. Any Game Master could take the information contained and use it for their own campaigns.

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Wednesday, August 19, 2020

Humble Bundle - Judge Dredd, 2000 AD, & More

 I was a huge fan of the 2000 AD, Judge Dredd, and related comics back in my college days in the late 80's. I'd make my trips to Forbidden Planet and stock up on a couple of months worth at a time.

To be able to snag Judge Dredd, 2000 AD, & More for as low as a buck is mind-blowing. I expect to mine my $15 purchase for many adventure ideas :) Covid-19 and comics - perfect together ;)

We've teamed up with 2000AD for our newest bundle! Get comics like Zombo Book 1, Counterfeit Girl, Best of Tharg's Future Shock, Judge Anderson: Psi Files 2, Zenith Book 1, Brink Book 1, 2000 AD's Greatest: Celebrating 40 Years, and Halo Jones Book 1. Plus, your purchase will support War Child and Special Effect!



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I Thank you in advance - Tenkar 

Tuesday, August 18, 2020

New OSR Release - Ziggurat of the Mega-Maiden (DCC RPG)


 Ziggurat of the Mega-Maiden literally had me at Iron Maiden :)

An Experimental Speed Metal Dungeon!

2 minutes to midnight.

A 20-round race to the top.

The fate of the world in the balance!

Can your 2nd level DCC characters become heroes?

This is a what now? An experimental Speed Metal Dungeon? Yes, yes, it is. The idea emerged while listening to, shockingly, heavy metal. Specifically, Iron Maiden and Megadeth, hence the title and content. So, what’s it all about?

The PCs have been on the path of The Cult of the Mega-Maiden. The Cult seeks to bring the Demon Seed of Deth to the Iron Ziggurat of the Mega-Maiden. There they hope to perform the Ultimate Ritual and fulfill the Prophecy. This will break open the Demon Seed and bring the Wrathchild into the world with the Mega-Maiden acting as surrogate mother. We begin in medias res, in the middle of the plot. This gives Judges various options to drop this into an existing campaign with some minor set up, make this the culmination of previous adventures, or just run his as a speedy one-shot.

The PCs stand at the foot of the Iron Ziggurat of the Mega-Maiden and it is 2 minutes to midnight. They have 20 rounds to get to the top or the ritual will be completed and the Wrathchild will gain entrance to the world bringing death and destruction of unimaginable proportions.

Perfect for 6 DCC Level 2 PCs, Challenging for 4-5 DCC Level 2 PCs. Deadly for anything less, but still fun. Perhaps a mob of villagers don't want the world destroyed and this turns into a funnel with lots and lots of dead villagers in a mighty struggle to save all of existence!

What are Two-Hour Tales?

Quick Crawls are perfect for in-person or online play and include maps and tokens to facilitate that. Additionally, the Two-Hour Tales work well online as we have found that people begin to fade or lose focus after around 2.5-3 hours. These DCC Quick Crawls, as we call them, will be PDFs only.

The Two-Hour Tales run about 2,500-3,000 words. Each will have at least one map, several tokens and a complete three-part adventure. All NPCs will have a Strategy section so Judges get insight into how they act and fight. We will break out all new spells, creatures and items into reference cards. This will help the Judge run the Two-Hour Tales by giving them all the info they need for each specific encounter in the Quick Crawl.

Additionally, each Quick Crawl leads into longer campaigns after the Two-Hour Tale with our Further Adventures section which gives ideas on how to continue along a specific storyline. Later Two-Hour Tales can be dropped in as side quests or events in between major campaign action.

In playtesting, this adventure took just under 3 hours. We imagine most groups will finish by then.

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I Thank you in advance - Tenkar 

Monday, August 17, 2020

Crowdfunding - Aryx's Almanac of Unusual Magic (ACKS)

 

I'm a huge fan of the Adventurer Conquerer Kings System (ACKS). It's a modular OSR system that draws upon B/X yet breaks it down and rebuilds it. It's that rebuilding that I find so useful in my old school gaming campaigns, even if I'm running with Swords & Wizardry.

I'm also a huge fan of alternative magics, as it just seems to make magic more, well, magical. Aryx's Almanac of Unusual Magic seems like it will scratch two itches.

The Almanac is a 56-page treatise on new and unusual magic. Within the pages of the Almanac, you will find four new kinds of magic, each of which uses magic in new and exciting ways:

Dwarven earthforgers inherit an ancient tradition allowing them to draw on the spark of the divine found in all creation to power their magic.

Gnomish alchemists are experimenters whose concoctions range from ‘helpful and safe’ to ‘incredibly poisonous’.

Terran engineers are scientists and builders from another time, whose inventions and tinkering certainly appear magical to most non-technological societies.

Warlords draw on the chaotic energy of battle, taming it with their practiced tactics and leadership to ensure that their side wins.

All of these classes use variants on ceremonial magic, introduced in the Heroic Fantasy Handbook. Three of them use eldritch magic, and many of the spells on their spell lists are described in that book. The fourth (the dwarven earth-forger) uses a new kind of magic, gnostic magic, which relies on using the power in existing materials and can have terrible effects should a practitioner try to avoid that requirement.


Every campaign is a law unto itself, and you as Judge can include as many or as few of the elements of the Almanac in your campaign as you desire. Each class is entirely self-contained, and none of them rely on the addition of any of the others. Because they use eldritch magic, the new spells (and tactics) described for the gnomish alchemist, the Terran engineer, and the warlord constitute more than one hundred new eldritch spells usable in any campaign that includes eldritch magic, even one that doesn’t include any of these new classes.


Of course, full builds for all of the classes and spells, and the source factors for gnostic magic, are included as well, allowing you to build your own content to expand what’s in the Almanac. Build your own gnostic spellcasters, or use the additional spell design factors to create your own new spells. Even in a book that’s largely new player options with these new and exciting classes and spells, we include something for the Judges out there. Magic is all around you. Are you a forger of creation, an engineer of wonder, an alchemist of the unknown, or a lord of war? Discover what kind of unusual magic speaks to you, with the help of this Almanac!

10 bucks for the PDF, 15 for the PDF plus at cost POD.

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I Thank you in advance - Tenkar 

Sunday, August 16, 2020

Playing by Yourself

1st off, get your mind out of the gutter.....there's only room for one down here.

Clearly I am talking about gaming here, specifically RPGs....this is Tenkar's Tavern after all!  Sometimes you want a bit of a table-top fix and you've got nobody to sling dice with. It happens and thankfully with the advent of this whole interwebs thing you can play online at a virtual table, but I'm talking specifically about when even the virtual table top is a no-go. Basically my main experience as a game-starved kid.

I get that maybe we'll just have to put on our big-boy pants and suck it up......play something else or just do without, but it just sucks to not be rolling dice when you want to be rolling dice.....

.....and for the three of you that are probably thinking "Well go play some Yahtzee then!"....well you can go fuck right off! (Erik....I can tell readers to "fuck off" here, right?). I want to be slinging spells and bashing orc's heads in, not trying to roll a straight or a flush. The only time I want 3d6 in my hand is rolling up a new PC or a higher-level Magic Missile.

Still, if you're by yourself you might have to make some allowances, but still no Yahtzee....I think I've made myself clear there.

Personally my initial go-to has been the good old-fashioned Choose Your Own Adventure Books. Now, not the mainstream series.....I don't want to be playing as a fricken race car driver.....but the Endless Quest series from TSR. I had a small set of these as a child and last year I found some at a local HPB. Unfortunately those were is near mint condition so now I should be looking for a worn or electronic copy so I can have some nostalgic fun. Now there were some other similar books out there, but hell if I can remember their names after 30 years. The ones I liked let me roll some dice and (I know I mentioned this before) I kind of cheated, which made it so much more fun. What I did is map out the game as I played so some of those dead ends were not so much dead ends and if I needed to get back to that one magical healing fountain I could heal-up and then press forward.

The next step up, at least for me, was the rare find of a Solo D&D (or AD&D) printed adventure/module. There were a couple different ones out there. The "Magic Window" type and another with invisible ink. I remember getting my hands on a couple, but they were literally one-offs that were hard to find and harder to play. I remember the invisible ink pen not working and being so frustrated. I did really enjoy Midnight on Dagger Ally (MV1). In a more modern(ish) vein, there are some Solo Adventures you may not have seen. I know KenzerCo had a couple for HackMaster 4th Edition that were dual statted....I believe for D&D 3.5(?), but in a pinch you could easily use the HackMaster version for AD&D. I've also played a DCC Solo Funnel called The Hounds of Halthrag Keep (which is a free PDF from DTRPG). That was fun, especially if you like churning through PCs.....it is a DCC funnel after all.

Well that's it. Those were my two options growing up and thankfully not my only options these days. My problem, at least as a game-starved boy with way too sharp polyhedral dice, was that I didn't know what I didn't know. I did not know there are entire fricken RPGs dedicated to solo or solitaire play.

Holy crap.....Tunnels & Trolls, where have you been all my life? Where was my "Cool Uncle" that introduced me to D&D? Totally failed on me here. The Church didn't have T&T on the "bad list" so my parents conceivably could have bought the 5th edition of the game (I'd have taken editions 1-4 happily). All those dry gaming years wasted on things like school/book learning, girls, Boy Scouts, and chores (not in that order) when I could have been the dork in my room slinging dice!

Yeah...so I didn't get to sling dice this last week or two and I now have a copy of T&T......see you guys next week!

Seriously though, there are several different RPGs, not necessarily Fantasy Hack & Slash RPGs, out there these days to check out. I'm looking at some now, but until I've vetted them......

I would suggest, to those of you of the adventure or Zine writing persuasion, to take some time to maybe write your own solo adventure for your preferred game system. You can easily take what I've already mentioned as initial inspiration. One of these days I really want to write up a new Choose Your Own Adventure and I think I have some cool ideas to make it work.....but we'll see.

Gamers' Health - Low Sodium / Low Carb Chicken & Vegetables Stir Fry with No Carb Noodles

 I've been talking about the various dinners I've been prepping on the Friday Night episodes of the Tavern Chat podcast. I've also shared photos of my dinners on Facebook, and there seems to be some interest in the recipes I've kitbashed together.

I've been doing a lot of cooking after being released from the hospital in May after 2 weeks of hospitalization for congestive heart failure and four stents to help the heart. Low carb and low sodium diet for life.

This past Friday I made a low carb / low sodium chicken & vegetables stirfry with no carb Miracle Noodles.

Here's what you'll need to cook along with Tenkar ;)

  • a wok. I snagged this one on Amazon.
  • a small pot to boil the pasta - if it has a strainer lid it will make rinsing and straining the pasta easier.

  • 1lb of chicken. I used white meat chicken cut into 1-inch pieces
  • 1 bag (4 servings) frozen broccoli florets
  • 1/2 bag (2 servings) frozen peppers & onions
  • 1/4 bag (1 serving) frozen corn kernels
  • 2 oz olive oil
  • 2 to 3 oz Mrs. Dash Sweet Teriyaki Marinade
  • 2 to 3 oz Mr. Spice Ginger Sauce
  • 2 bags Miracle Noodle Fettucini (shirataki konjac noodles)
  • dash of no salt added hot sauce (optional)
Start by cutting your chicken into 1-inch cubes or so. Add the Ginger and Sweet Teriyaki sauces to the chicken and let it marinate for 30 minutes or so.

Heat your wok on medium heat on the stovetop and add the olive oil. Once heated add your chicken. Cover your wok with its glass top. Stir occasionally.

Prepare your Miracle Noodles as indicated on the bag - which means rinse, boil for 2 minutes, and then dry in a heated pan on the stovetop. This removes the earthy smell of the noodles. Do these steps as your stirfry is cooking.

After your chicken has turned white on all sides, add the corn. Cover the wok and cook for 2 to 3 minutes.

Add the peppers and onions to the stirfry. Stir and cover for 2 to 3 minutes.

Add the broccoli. If desired, add another oz or so of the ginger and teriyaki sauces. Add optional hot sauce to taste. Stir, cover for 5 minutes.

 Add the Miracle Noodles. Stir. Heat uncovered for 5 minutes. 

Note, you haven't used any thickening agents, nor have you added water. The vegetables add plenty of water and this is the chance to cook some of that moisture off.

Serves 2 to 3 depending on their appetites :)

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I Thank you in advance - Tenkar 










Saturday, August 15, 2020

New OSR Release - Dan Dies in the End no.1 (DCC RPG Zine)

 

A DCC RPG Zine for 50 cents? I almost didn't believe it :)

Dan Dies in the End no.1 is a new zine and it's on sale for a mere 50 cents.

Oh snap! Look at you, perusing a description for the most gloriously gonzo zine you'll read in Dan’s short, inconsequential life. Dan Dies in the End is a labor of love, created by and for folks who love playing tabletop rpgs. 

Need useless magical items? We got ‘em. Is an enormous, rat-like pangolin attacking your village? We got the stats. Craving a low-prep, zany dungeon to throw at your players? That’s on page nineteen. 

Baba Yaga (enemy)

The Undertrench (Heart landmark)

Goblin Super Powers (Goblin Quest rules addition)

Terrible Hirelings

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner (dungeon)

T'Ratsk (enemy)

Xurl the Face Fister & the Dread Beast (short story)

Defenders of Kobold are not responsible for legal or funerary costs incurred as a result of consuming the content within this zine.

 The Tavern is supported by readers like you. The easiest way to support The Tavern is to shop via our affiliate links. DTRPGAmazon, and Humble Bundle are the affiliate programs that support The Tavern

I Thank you in advance - Tenkar 

Tenkar's Tavern is supported by various affiliate programs, including Amazon, RPGNow,
and Humble Bundle as well as Patreon. Your patronage is appreciated and helps keep the
lights on and the taps flowing. Your Humble Bartender, Tenkar

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