State of the Tavern Keeper - Upper Respiratory Infection Day 15

I never thought I'd be typing this 2 weeks after getting my URI diagnosis while enjoying Total Con, but here we are on the 15th day of Con Crud. Ughhh! I'm finally averaging over 4 hours of sleep each night this week - last week was consistently under 3 hours a night. No more snap, crackle pop coming from my lungs, but the wheeze still sneaks in after a couple hours of sleep.

Just as an FYI, I've been a miserable fuck with little energy to do anything other than sit and bing watch on-demand shows. It takes all I have to put together a short podcast and a quick post every day, although I do seem to be getting some energy back over the past few days.

To put thigs into perspective, the last time I left my house was the Monday after the con to see my own doc, who just confirmed what the Urgent Care doc said 2 days prior. If nearly 2 weeks effectively self quarantining sounds like fun, it isnt. That being said, I run short on breath when walking even short distances, so staying home simply makes sense.

This means re-punting Swords & Wizardry Appreciation Day, yet again. I'm going to aim for the weekend of March 28th, 2020, as I strongly suspect next week will continue the slow but steady improvement in my health and energy levels but I literally do not know when I'll be back to 100%. Le sigh...

I've got a number of pending Fireside Chats to schedule for the Tavern Chat Podcast. I don't want to schedule anything until my breathing improves a tad more. Another le sigh...

For those waiting on me to accomplish things, and there are more than a few, I apologize. Apparently, I don't multitask well with being sick.

Tenkar

Kickstarter - Monsters! Monsters rpg & "Toughest Dungeon in the World" solo

For those that somehow don't already know this, I'm a huge Tunnels & Trolls fan. I own original copies of the Tunnels & Trolls 2nd print (Ken's play copy), 4th print, multiple versions of 5e and 5.5e. the tin and cardboard boxes from Fiery Dragon and of course T&T Deluxe. I own first prints of most of the original T&T adventures. Yes, I really enjoy me some T&T.

So it is safe to say I am am excited to see the Monsters! Monsters rpg & "Toughest Dungeon in the World" solo Kickstarter go live and at VERY reasonable backer levels. Both books in PDF for 8 bucks or both books in Print -and shipping free in the US with PDFs for 29 bucks. 37 bucks if you want both books signed by Ken St Andre and Steve Crompton (there are levels between for one book or the other, but trust me, you'll want both). Tell me I don't want the signed leather copy. Sigh. Rach will kill me ;)

In 1976 Ken St Andre, the creator of the 2nd oldest role-playing game, Tunnels & Trolls created a companion game to T&T, called Monsters Monsters! It was first published by Metagaming Concepts and then again by Flying Buffalo in 1979. The game remained unchanged from then until now...   

It's 2020 - Ken St. Andre has worked since the 1970's to make games that are better for the players; for example, the Origins  award-winning Stormbringer for Chaosuim, and Computer Hall of Fame Wasteland for Electronic Arts/Interplay. (It was the first post-apocalyptic rpg.) Plus Deluxe Tunnels & Trolls for Flying Buffalo. Now he  has updated and created a new edition of Monsters! Monsters! that retains much of its original appeal and structure, but with all new art and new options like stunting and monster chaos factor. 

The new M! M! rules also lists 38 monster kindreds you can play, gives you their dice modifiers and now each monster has a special power unique to its kindred. Each monster is described in a separate section. Its also better organized and easier to use. (For example - now the monsters are separated into humanoid and non-humanoid types)  There are two character sheets you can use along with specialized charts that allow you to roll up  various types of Monsters based on many common frpg environments.  And before this Kickstarter is over, we may have some other exciting surprises to add to the book if we reach some of our stretch goals...

In 1980 Judges Guild published "The Toughest Dungeon in the World" a solitaire adventure that was meant to be played with Monsters! Monsters! or Tunnels & Trolls. Since then several new editions of T&T have come out and Ken St Andre was inducted into the Origins Hall of Fame. Ken is one of the last standing creators of the first generation of role-playing game designers and is still working on the classic games he created.  Now, 40 years later, Ken has updated and enhanced this classic adventure and the Monsters Monsters Rules. Artists Phil Longmeier and Steve Crompton have enhanced it with new illustrations and graphics more suitable for a monster-mash solo adventure. This new edition is at least 44 pages long and will keep any player busy for a lot of adventure in caverns and tunnels deep below Trollworld. The Lord of Shadows dwells in the depths - can you avoid his power or will you be corrupted by it?  One other thing we should add is that you can play this solo with the Tunnels &Trolls rules or the Monsters! Monsters! rules, so you don't have to learn a whole new rpg to play.  

Project status: Just to let you all know - these books are DONE.  The rules are written, the art is finished and the layout is complete.  We will be able to send this to the printers a few weeks after this Kickstarter is funded.  All we need to know is how many of each book to print. We also want to add the backers' who paid to have their names listed in the book our Monster Benefactor thank you section.  This Kickstarter is open to shipping anywhere in the USA.  (We will soon have an update that details how overseas fans will be able to order as well.) 

Kickstarter - Tiny Cthulhu

Cosmic Horror meets the minimalist TinyD6 RPG system in Tiny Cthulhu!

I really enjoy the TinyD6 system. Heck, it's one of the few "modern" systems that I pretty much grocked with little difficulty. Then there is Cthulhu. A very popular setting, I do believe Evil Hat has done a Kickstarter for a FATE driven Cthulhu RPG. Screw FATE - that system really makes no sense to me ;)

Gallant Knight Games is bringing us a TinyD6 Cthulhu RPG via Kickstarter. I'm over it like game designers on public domain horror resources ;)

I guess I'm adding to my TinyD6 collection...

15 bucks for the PDF. 40 bucks for SC Print plus PDF. 60 bucks for SC Print, PDF, Tiny Cthulhu d6 and a GM Screen. Need I say at what level I'm backing?

Using the rules in this book, you'll be able to play investigators, doomed heroes, and classic cosmic horror characters of all types, from scientists and librarians, to WWI veterans, to mysterious guardians defending the world from the dark powers of cthonic entities!

Character creation is simple, fast, and exciting. You pick your character archetype based on the exciting stories your Game Master is going to tell, you pick a few Traits that each grant a single benefit, and you're done! 

Tiny Cthulhu features a myrid of settings set throughout the world and history, ranging from prehistory to the Bronze Age,  Age of Sail, World War 1, modern day, as well as fantasy, superheroes and the science fiction future! 

You can survive cosmic horror in any time or place! (Lucky you!) 

Additionally, each setting will have appendices that details how you can integrate other TinyD6 books like Tiny Dungeon 2e, Tiny Supers, and Tiny Frontiers: Revised with Tiny Cthulhu to create robust and unique experiences

Kickstarter - Midderlands 5e

If you are a regular reader of The Tavern, you've seen me talk about the Midderlands before. It's Glynn Seal's "weird fantasy" setting and was written with the OSR in mind. This time around the Midderlands are getting the 5e treatment, and I couldn't be happier.

Fifth Edition needs a setting that breaks the mold and yet feels familiar, and the Midderlands 5e Kickstarter will do just that. There's a whole world of future Midderlands fans that will be introduced to Glynn's work through this Kickstarter and I couldn't be happier.

This Kickstarter is being run by Frog Gd Games under its Necromancer Games subsidiary label.

20 bucks for the PDF, for bucks (plus shipping) for the Print plus PDF.

The Midderlands 5e
Necromancer Games is proud to team up with Glynn Seal to bring the ENnie Award winning Swords & Wizardry weird fantasy setting, the Midderlands, to Fifth Edition. This strange and wondrous setting is edgy and twisted and will make a perfect addition for those looking for something new and challenging for their home campaigns. The Fifth Edition version comes with a ton of new art, a fresh layout, and updated maps.  It still has all the green style of the original! 

Words from the Author 

The Midderlands exists because of a series of fortunate thoughts. 

It was mid-late 2016 and often I would go around to my partner’s house on the evenings and whilst she sat on the sofa watching the television, I doodled the heads of strange creatures in side profile. 

I had no plan for these doodles, but I had a sketchbook and I wanted to fill quite a lot of it. As I doodled, I imagined that these creatures might live in the surrounding lands where I lived. That gave them much more life. I then thought I cou 

ld create a book of creatures with a little about where they live and what they do.
Then I figured that rather than living in the land where I do now, why not an alternate version of where I live. It would be a bit weirder, darker, gloomier. I wanted something that made the land the way it did. That’s when Gloomium became a thing. 

The locations would be inspired by the real world, but twisted and green-tinged, so I needed a map. I made an alternative version and that’s when I decided this was a game setting. 

------- 

The creation of the initial setting book for old school games – the 5E version of which is being crowdfunded here – spawned another book which covered the rest of the United Kingdom, and then a further book which focused on the setting’s version of London, Great Lunden. 

I have been amazed with its success and wanted to bring a version of the original to the 5E audience, so they too could enjoy wandering its twisted locales and encounter its unusual creatures. I just wasn’t sure how to achieve it. 

Luckily, the kindly amphibians at Necromancer Games came to the rescue and we are now in a great position to bring a new version of the setting to you. My hands will be heavily involved in new and updated artwork and maps and a new layout. 

This is going to be exciting and you won’t want to miss out.
—Glynn 

Kickstarter - Ascendant (Superhero RPG)

A new superpowered role-playing game of infinite possibilities.

I've always had mixed feelings about superhero RPGs. Usually, they were too many dice (Champions) or had random powers (V&V). TSR's Marvel Superheros probably hit the sweet spot, and as much as I thought I wouldn't like the color-coded charts, they grew on me and became second nature.

Yesterday, Autarch launched a superhero RPG Kickstarter - Ascendant - and it has its own color-coded chart. Heck, they forwarded me a PDF of the rules - when I'm healthy I'll delve into them - but at first glance, they look solid.

20 bucks for the PDF, 40 for POD w/ PDF, 60 for the limited HC w/PDF.

Deal of the Day - Magical Industrial Revolution (OSR)

There has simply been a huge OSR presence in the recent Deal of the Day promotions over at DTRPG. Today is no different. Well, Magical Industrial Revolution is OSR but it IS different ;)

Normally 15 bucks in PDF, until tomorrow morning Magical Industrial Revolution is 9 bucks.

This book is about Atlantis before the tide turned. It’s about Hyperborea before it vanished between dimensions. It’s about Nu Yark Citee before the Mushroom Bombs hit. 

It’s a setting guide to the greatest and most ambitious city in the world: Endon. It’s about a world slowly tipping onto its side, and all the interesting things that begin to slide at the start of a revolution. It’s about people with grand dreams pushing the boundaries of the possible, and the strange machines and devices they create along the way. 

But mostly, it’s about magic. 

Magical Industrial Revolution: A Pre-Apocalyptic Setting Guide contains a wealth of information to supplement Role Playing Games, including: 

• Maps, People, Buildings, Dungeons, Factions, and Villains of Endon
• Eight Pre-Apocalyptic Innovations
• Hundreds of Magic Items and Spells
• Rules for Magical Industry
• Useful Tools for Urban Campaigns
• Horrible Monsters and Nightmarish Creatures
• And much, much more. 

By Skerples, the author of the CoinsandScrolls blog, Tomb of the Serpent Kings, Kidnap the Archpriest, Epochrypha, and Magical Murder Mansion. Art by Jonathan Newell, Logan Stahl, & Luka Rejec. Editing, layout, and incalculably valuable assistance by David Shugars. Additional editing by Fiona Geist. 

Three very useful pamphlets featuring magical industrial tips, hanging ballads, and local attractions are provided along with the 156 page book. The PDF is fully optimized and bookmarked.

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Kickstarter - Face Folio (100 Fantasy Portraits for Tabletop Role-playing Games)

When it comes to RPG material that really catches my attention, inspirational releases grab my attention more often than anything else. I prefer stuff that enhances my campaign - so something like the Face Folio Kickstarter is perfect for my needs.

So, what do you get with Face Folio?

Face Folio is a simple project with a simple goal: to provide 100 fantasy portraits for use in your tabletop role-playing games. Referees are always on the lookout for NPC faces to show their players and players are always looking for portraits for their character sheets. This project aims to meet that need. 

The portraits will be organized into the following sets: 

• Human NPCs/PCs
• Dragon-blood
• Dwarf
• Elf 
• Gnome
• Halfling 
• Orc-blood
• Demon-blood 
• Human nobles
• Human peasants and towns folk 

Each set will contain ten portraits, half male and half female. With the exception of the human nobles and peasants, the portraits will be a spread of adventuring classes. 

The Zine will have a simple elegant layout with 10 portraits per two-page spread, and organized in the above groups. There will be no blocks of text and no fluff to get in the way. That way this book can be used right at the table, as and when needed, for example when the referee suddenly needs an NPC to drop into the game.  

We are using a single artist to do all the artwork. This is because MARCINs is a wonderfully talented artist and because we want there to be a coherent and unified style to the whole project.

It's about 7 bucks in PDF, Print plus PDF is about 12 bucks shipped. I'm in for a print copy.