Still Trying to Get That Intro Game Going

 

I'm not sure I've mentioned that I'm currently unemployed....long dumb story, but in the end I'm just killing time waiting for my old job to re-hire me under a new employer. The end result is I have way too much time on my hands.

I don't do that great with a lot of time on my hands. I'm one of those people that are more productive when I'm already busy doing other stuff. If I have a week with nothing to do (or should I note, a week where I don't have anything I *have* to do) then nothing will get done. Oh I have a work project bleeding into my time at home? I'll probably work out some time to hit the gym and maybe even start some writing. While I'm at it, let's start panting those minis.....

.....ok, that's a stretch. We all have minis that aren't getting painted! Kind of a gaming maxim.....

One of my only true goals during this expected two-month "staycation" in between employers was to get some dice rolling for one of my buddy's daughters who "wanted to learn to game". I've written about that here before so I'll not delve into the fine details.

I'm thinking I should have dropped off physical copies of my game books for her to read and some dice. Now I did drop off PDFs of rulebooks and have since acquired dice. Thanks to Erik's post I found out about that Dollar Tree RPG dice set and I scooped up enough for a full group. I put a couple sets into an OG Dice Bag (Crown Royal bag), along with some cheap d6's.....I like to have dedicated d6's for character creation, but I'm odd that way.

I'm thinking I'll make a second pass at this and drop off my physical books (lending!) and the dice, along with some PC sheets. If they want to throw down while I'm there we'll make PCs and I can easily run an intro adventure off the top of my head...'cause I wrote one for HackMaster which will work for other systems. If you follow that link.....it is PWYW, but please put in $0.

I have been working on some modular terrain as well. I figure if I use some terrain instead of "theater of the mind" or a basic battlemap it might go over better.

Of course, I know I can only do so much and in the end, it doesn't matter. If she wants to game, it'll happen, and if not......well then I have some more dice and terrain. Win/Win for me either way!

Special Note:

I wrote all this stuff yesterday (Saturday) and went over today for brinner and no dice (pun intended). Will have to circle back around later in the week and see if there is still any interest.

I Backed 27 Projects During ZineQuest - Holy Sh!t

I backed 27 projects during ZineQuest month over on Kickstarter, and I literally thought I had backed more. Like 27 isn't already a huge number ;)

My initial budget for spending on ZineQuest - a "soft" budget, and more like a suggestion and not a hard limit, was $250. In the end, it wound up just north of $525. Holy shit.

I could easily have backed more, but my spending was already out of control, so I stopped looking for new projects as the month went on, and for that, I am sorry. I'm sure there were some Zines that were notably released later in the month, but my cup had runneth over.

I'm not going to list the ones I backed, because I know there were some I wanted to back and never did. Again, it was a matter of quality or lack of interest, it simply came down to a lack of available funds. Suffice to say, I'll be enjoying the zines I did back for months to come.

If you haven't checked out ZineQuest, there are still some projects that are funding and could use more backing. Here's your ZineQuest link.

A huge "thank you" to all of the Zine creators, past, present, and future. The light you shine keeps this hobby alive and vibrant.

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Indiegogo - The Dark Den of Dagon (Pathfinder 1e / Lost Lands)

It isn't often that I cover Pathfinder releases, but The Dark Den of Dagon over at Indiegogo is special. As far as I can tell, and please, correct me if I'm wrong, it is the first third-party release under Frog God Games' open license for their Lost Lands setting. I'm kinda excited, as I had advocated for such a license for the Lost Lands a few years back.

This adventure is designed for a group of 4-6 characters of levels 5-7 playing the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. While functional as a standalone module, this adventure is designed to be the first adventure in a series exploring the workings and reasons of a deity of the Lost Lands referred to as the Nameless One and her most faithful servant, “the Walking Stick Man” as they try to recover ancient words of power and stir forces lost and forgotten.

This adventure starts in the settlement of Chesmire, though can be moved around with little difficulty and placed in any campaign world with only minor changes, namely the addition or use of an ancient lost or near lost pantheon. The reason for the placement in this area is easy access to the adventure “Sorcerer’s Citadel” from Quests of Doom, which should be played following the events of the second adventure in this series as a return to the feelings of normalcy while still maintaining references to the ancient pantheon on which these adventures are focused via the statue of Mocham.

The PDF of The Dark Den of Dagon is only 5 bucks. The Print plus PDF is 15. For 5 bucks, I can convert this to Swords & Wizardry on the fly ;)

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Bundle of Holding - Old School Cool

I have to admit, there are some titles in the Old School Cool Bundle of Holding that I never heard of. Others that I've heard of and don't own and some that I feel are well worth the price of admissions on their own.

In the 7.95 Starter Bundle, I own Sharp Swords & Sinister Spells, and it is an excellent Swords & Sorcery OSR ruleset. I've heard of Vagabonds of Dyfed but don't own it, and this is the first I've heard of Pariah and Fallen Justice.

In the Bonus Collection (currently at 19.23), I own both Solar Blades & Cosmic Spells (Sword & Planet with magic) and Dark Streets & Darker Secrets are (modern-day horror) and they are great. I've heard of Hypertellurians but don't own it and again, this is the first I've heard of Dortoka: City on the Sea of Glass. Just because I haven't heard of a title doesn't mean it's not good, it just means it has never reached my radar.

Kickstarter - Character Collections for The Fantasy Trip

Let me start by saying I've known Douglas Cole for a number of years, and he was one of the regular players in my "B Team" Swords & Wizardry Campaign about six years ago. I may just be a bit biased, but Doug has been producing top-level RPG products since Dungeon Grappling - the only usable iteration of unarmed combat for any version of Dungeons &Dragons or its clones I've ever come across. It is simply that good.

Bad Mike & I grabbed Doug earlier tonight for the weekly Talking Crit Livestream, and Doug had some solid advice for new Kickstarter creators. If you prefer an audio-only feed, here's the podcast version.

So, what's so great about Character Collections for The Fantasy Trip? Quite simply, the character descriptions are inspirational and essentially systemless. How do I know? Doug was kind enough to give me a peek at the first three Character Collections and they look awesome. 

Heck, I'm tempted to break out my The Fantasy Trip boxed set and run a few sessions via VTT. As an improv style GM, Character Collections simply is an amazing resource for my personal toolbox, regardless of the game system I'm running.

You can snag Character Collections for The Fantasy Trip for as little as 10 bucks in PDF, which will include at least 3 books - and possibly more if stretch goals are hit. Interestingly, stretch goals are not reached by hitting certain dollar values raised, but by the number of backers. So get the word out, as I want more books like the first three Character Collections.

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Fantasy Grounds 4th Quarter Report Shows 71% of Game Sessions on the VTT are using D&D 5e

If we needed other proof that Dungeons & Dragons 5e was the "bully on the block", dwarfing all other RPGs, the 4th quarter report for the Fantasy Grounds Virtual Table Top shows the stark reality. 5e comes in with an ungodly 71% of 4th quarter game sessions on the platform.

Paizo comes in at 15% IF you combine Pathfinder 1e, Pathfinder 2e, and StarFinder as a single figure.

The following graph shows the influence of the pandemic on virtual play, at least using Fantasy Grounds (I'll be discussing 5e specifically below ):

Holding steady at around 20k sessions a month through February 2020, 5e spiked to over 80k sessions by April, and even the summer dip didn't go below 45k-ish. As for January 2021, it's knocking on 100k - nearly a five-fold increase.

These are just the numbers from Fantasy Grounds. Roll20's last ORR (3rd quarter 2020) report is less revealing, as we don't get to see the increase, if any, in sessions played (although 5e has a 53% share of the games and Paizo's share is even smaller than on FG). There is one tidbit of interesting information on the latest ORR report, and I'll share that below:

For less 5e games played to still equal a greater part of the pie, would mean that Roll20 saw a decrease in usage compared to the Second Quarter of 2020. Interesting.

Actually, FG2 might have seen a similar, small drop

I'd love to see Foundry's usage stats.

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State of The Tavern - I Missed a Day of Posting, and it Was Good ;)

I can't believe I'm saying it. I totally missed putting up a post on Saturday. The first time The Tavern had a postless day in over 7 years, although much of that streak is thanks to Chris Stodgil stepping up and assisting during my hospitalizations in 2020, and covering Sundays on a regular basis now. It truly is a team effort.

So, what emergency caused me to miss posting on Saturday?

None whatsoever. 

Could it be that 2 1/2 weeks of near-daily and often multiple livestreams caught up with me? That could be part of it but in the final analysis, I think the answer is an easier one.

I was distracted.

By what, you may ask? An idea that is NOT quite ready for prime time, and won't be announced until it is ready. In truth, I was so psyched on Saturday, that I was afraid I'd spill the beans if I did post, so I think the idea was to bleed off some of the excitement before posting. That didn't work out so well, as I never posted, but thought I had. Heh.

Ah well. Back to working on this new project as well as tying off some loose ends on Torchlight #1.

As I mentioned in last night's Livestream of Gamers' Health, the three hospitalizations in 2020 took a toll on me, not just physically (physically I'm currently down 50#s and feeling better than I have in years) but also mentally. I spent the last half of 2020, and the beginning of 2021, considering the idea that when I went to sleep at night, I might not wake up in the AM. I no longer have that fear, or if I do, it is no longer a controlling and distracting factor. In retrospect, it crippled my creativity, and I'm glad to have refound much of my mojo :)

Thanks to all for the support, and I hope to have something to announce fairly soon. Heck, I've even arranged for a logo and stuff ;)

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Learning Something New About my OSR Game: Strap-Hangers

 

With one notable exception, in all my infrequent years of playing and/or GMing I have never really had to deal with any manner of PC strap-hangers that would be classified as henchmen, followers, mercenaries, or Protégés. Actually HackMaster (4th Edition) had a pretty cool Protégé system we used so if your main PC kicked the bucket you didn't have to start off with a zero-XP 1st level nobody.

In my bi-weekly game we decided to pick up some.......henchmen? I know I should probably pick up a DMG or some such and familiarize myself with the concepts, but what's the fun in that?

Seriously? What is the fun in that.......bear with me a second here.

Like probably a good many of the readers here at the Tavern I've been playing and/or running various RPGs for decades now......yes, off and on, but still. The Out of Character (OOC) knowledge base is HUGE and if I play stupid about something at the game table, it's literally me playing stupid. "Oh gee, my 1st level nobody on his very 1st adventure I didn't know that Holy Water can do damage to Undead" *wink* *wink*

Actually it should be more like "HOLY FUCKING SHIT ZOMBIES ARE REAL AND NOT SOMETHING MY MOTHER MADE UP TO SCARE THE CRAP OUT OF US AS KIDS! RUN MOTHER-FUCKER, RUN!!!"

Aside from the occasional GM change-up, "Oh, you run this spell that way? Cool...." there aren't a lot of in-game, at the table surprises in most games. Sure, some systems.....I'm looking at you DCC, have some interesting mechanics that are all about surprise through random weirdness (in a good way, really), but your regular OSR game......not so much. Discovering something new about a game you've played for a long while is a refreshing surprise.

Now my GM may have thought I was bored, or looked bored over Zoom, but I really enjoyed the idea of bringing on a strap-hanger for the adventure and figuring a couple things out. Sweetening the deal with a magic item, sure.....here's a +1 Dagger or two I'm not using. Do I try to get the fighter to follow me or do I play it safe with a PC who won't out-level me......I'm assuming that if they get to be a higher level than I am the dynamic will change and I become their follower, hench....strap-hanger.

I ended up "hiring"....well I'm not technically paying outright for services.....so whatever flavor of strap-hanger that is,  new Lawful Cleric that sounds like she'll fill a need for the party, and evidently her Morale is pretty high....

I have absolutely no fricken clue where this strap-hanger thing is going to end up, and I'm looking forward to trying out this new/old aspect of OSR gaming.

Deal of the Day - Tiny Dungeon: Second Edition

I've said this before and I'll say it again - the TinyD6 system is amazing. Light yet deep, it doesn't get the recognition it should get IMHO. I hope that changes.

Today's Deal of the Day is Tiny Dungeon: Second Edition. Normally 17.99 in PDF, until tomorrow morning Tiny Dungeon 2e is on sale for 7.20

Powered by the TinyD6 engine, with streamlined mechanics that utilize only one to three single six-sided dice on every action, characters that can be written on a 3x5 notecard, and easy to understand and teach rules, Tiny Dungeon 2e is great for all groups, ages, and experience levels!

Included are over a dozen lightly detailed settings, written by some of the best authors out there. These “micro-settings” are light-weight, open-ended and designed to be inspirational for your games and provide a fast, easy jumping point for your campaign! Covering a wide selection of fantasy genres and ideas, there's something for everyone in Tiny Dungeon 2e!

With micro-settings by: Tobie Abad, Marie Brennan, Shawn Carmen, Elizabeth Chaipraditkul, Steve Diamond, Miguel Espinoza, Dianna Gunn, John Kennedy, Melanie Meadors, Mari Murdock, Darren Pearce, jim pinto, Steve Radabaugh, Wendelyn Reischel, Ryan Schoon, Howard Tayler, Randy Tayler, Sandra Tayler, and Ben Woerner

So grab some dice, some pencils, some friends, and get ready for some minimalist, straight-forward, fantasy roleplaying!

When you grab Tiny Dungeon 2e, don't forget to grab Mad Magicks of the Turned God, a PWYW introductory adventure for Tiny Dungeon.

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Kickstarter - The One Ring™ Roleplaying Game, Second Edition

A new edition of the roleplaying game set in the world of The Lord of the Rings™
by J.R.R. Tolkien, designed by Francesco Nepitello.

Full confession - I never played The One Ring, although I have only heard good things about it. Heck, I only own in PDF. So, when I heard there was a second edition of the game in the works after Cubicle 7 lost its license, I was intrigued to see what was in the works.

Well, I've been following The One Ring Second Edition Kickstarter since its launch, and with 14 days left in the funding period, it has crossed the $1,000,000 US.

Yep, you read that right. Apparently, I wasn't the only one intrigued by the new edition.

Now, another true confession. My good friend James Spahn wrote The One Ring Starter Box. That, for me, was the icing on the cake. No more fence-sitting for me, I'm all in :)

The One Ring™ is a roleplaying game based on The Hobbit™ and The Lord of the Rings™, two extraordinary works of fiction by the beloved author and respected academic, John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, published in partnership with Sophisticated Games.

First released in 2011, its award-winning design was hailed as the best attempt at bringing Middle-earth to the gaming table to date, thanks to its thematic rules and painstaking attention to detail. For 10 years, players of the game have traveled far and wide across Middle-earth, adventuring for multiple decades of game time.

Today, it is time for the game to enter a new era – this new edition of The One Ring brings players further into the Twilight of the Third Age with a new hardbound volume, presenting:

A set of updated and streamlined rules, developed thanks to years of players’ feedback and raising the game to the standards of quality that have made Free League so popular.

 A new setting to experience – the Lone-lands of Eriador in the year is 2965 of the Third Age. This is a vast land that once saw the glory of the North Kingdom of the Dúnedain.

 A complete visual redesign of art and graphics, offering a view of Middle-earth that is fresh and familiar at the same time.

The new edition will be compatible with modules for the first edition, requiring only minor tweaking.

Created for the first time for this edition of the game, the Starter Set contains everything you need to start playing, and more! Focused on the Shire, this set allows for new players to enter the world of Middle-earth from the land of the Hobbits, where all the stories began. A number of pre-generated characters allow players to take the road to adventure in no time. The boxed set, mainly written by seasoned RPG writer James Spahn, includes:

 Condensed rules, including everything you need to start playing in Middle-earth.

An adventure compendium, presenting a number of adventures to be played using the pre-generated characters contained in the box.

Pre-generated characters of esteemed Hobbits like Drogo Baggins, Paladin Took, Primula Brandybuck or Lobelia Baggins, and more.

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Deal of the Day - Necromancer KenzerCo Adventure Bundle

Looking for some classic (3x era) Necromancer Games releases, from before the days of Frog God Games? Here's your chance.

Necromancer KenzerCo Adventure Bundle is Today's Deal of the Day. Individually the titles in this bundle retail for over 90 bucks and the bundle itself is normally priced at 40.80, but until tomorrow morning, the Necromancer KenzerCo Adventure Bundle is available for 16.32

Included in the bundle are the following titles:

Family Affair

Coils of Set

Doom of Listonshire

Elemental Moon

Tower of Jhedofar

The Six Spheres of Zaihhess

Shades of Grey

The Diamond Fortress

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Humble Bundle - Humble Asmodee Digital Tabletop 2gether Bundle

Sometimes you don't have the time, energy, or players for an RPG session. Back in the day, we used to pull out Risk, Nuclear Assault, Chaos Marauders, or some such tabletop game for those times. Now, in the midst of the never-ending pandemic, there may just be a need for some remote play tabletop games.

The Humble Asmodee Digital Tabletop 2gether Bundle is just that. Some amazing tabletop games that can be played virtually, at unheard of pricing.

As I post this, there are less than 2 days left in the deal. I know, I've been Zine obsessed recently ;)

Quick reminder, if you haven't snagged the Humble RPG Book Bundle: 5th E Dungeon Extravaganza here's about 16 hours left

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Indiegogo - The Folio: Black Label #4 - Lair of the Slaver Succubus (1e & 5e)

I've been a fan of the Folio series of adventures / accessories since The Folio #1 released a few years back. R Scott Taylor has put out quality releases from the very start, and his venture into the "Black Label" series of Indiegogo releases has allowed him to dabble in more adult-oriented content while still maintaining his high level of quality.

I'll be having Scott on as a guest on the Livestream tonight (2/15/21) at 8 PM Eastern. I hope you'll join us and ask some questions :)

So, what is The Folio: Black Label, and in particular, what is the Lair of the Succubus?

The Folio: Black Label series are fantasy adventure modules that are compatible with BOTH classic Advanced Dungeons & Dragons and 5th Edition D&D formats.  Each adventure combines what I enjoyed most from the heady days of of the late 1970s and the 1980s swords & sorcery storytelling. 

The Folio: Black Label #4 begins a new chapter in the series, this time pitting the characters against a demonic slaving nation bound to a cursed ruin call The Burning City.  In this adventure the characters will have to try to retrieve a stolen noble before she is taken too deep into the demon insect infested 'ash lands' that surround The Burning City for hundreds of miles.  They must enter a slaver compound and underground lair to retrieve her, fighting terrible creatures along the way.

Taking a page from the previous Black Label trilogy, this one is going to have an even more adult edge than can found in the standard Folio, and yes, there might be some nudity, and maybe some horror, and maybe a twisted quality here or there, but at the base its really just about the unfettered fun of hacking and slashing your way through a pulp style adventure with blatant evil doers, magical treasures, and exposed flesh.  

So, I'm throwing out the standard politically correct playbook, and turning the flux capacitor back to the early days of gaming. R Scott Taylor 

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There are D&D Themed Valentine's Day Cards!

 

I know that posting about Valentine's Day, love, or whatnot today here at the Tavern is a bit of low-hanging fruit, but really.....how often do I get to post here on Valentine's Day?

First, I get to eff around and come up with a new lead-in graphic, so that's clearly justification enough....

Actually I've been thinking about in-game romance, at-the-table romance, and couples in gaming all week now thinking about today's posts, and maybe I'll come around and expound about that, but not today. Today I'm going to keep with the low-hanging fruit....'cause I can?

Well, not because I can, but because I discovered that D&D themed Valentines are actually a thing. No shit. I'll post some links, but after spending some time pouring through different D&D VD cards I want to start with my absolute favorite:

You can find a couple different ones here from this post at the blog INSIDE THE MIND OF KURTIS J. WIEBE. I just love this one because while clearly adult, it has a grade-school aesthetic....and I'm currently dating a cute redhead so I can envision getting this card from her, but that's a bit of an aside. The card made me laugh and that's always a winner.

Of course Hasbro/WotC has some Valentine's Day cards, which can be found here. You only get a preview of one card above the download link, so here's a collage of 10 D&D cards.

Of course, these aren't the only Hasbro/WotC Valentine's Day cards, just the ones that show up most of the time. More recent cards, with previews, can be found on this page.

Yes, you can easily do a Google search for D&D Valentine's Day cards....hell, how do you think I started this? Thing is, if you actually need a card you can print out, you might be searching for a while. The Wiebe cards are hi-rez and a good physical size, but the WotC cards.....not so much. 

If you're needing some geeky Valentine's Day gifts, well at this point you're pretty much SOL. It's a bit late to get cool dice, dice bags, or......yeah, I'm done, not sure whatever else would work (custom dice box?) Oh, maybe a 3d printed mini? 

ZineQuest - Lands of Legend experienced the Horrors of the Sepulchre on the Desert Moon of Karth

And we are back to ZineQuest! 

Zines, zines everywhere, and all the shelves doth creak! Zines, zines everywhere, with one I even peeked - with sincere apologies to Samuel Taylor Coleridge - Tenkar

Lands of Legends - SIX Zines for #ZineQuest3 - An OSR toolkit in SIX zines to spark your fantasy sandbox with 500 unique areas and 500 special encounters, in five different flavors! I think I was hooked at "OSR toolkit" :) Seriously, Giuseppe Rotondo gave me a peek behind the veil, or rather, a sneak peek of Lands of Legends and I was, and still am, duly impressed. If you like running sandboxes, hex crawls, or need some inspiration for the setting you are prepping, you really can't go wrong with the Lands of Legend Kickstarter - Tenkar

I'm backing at the POD plus PDF level :)

Lands of Legends is a collection of five zines, each of which is a unique tool to craft and enrich your fantasy sandbox and adventures with unique areas, locales, encounters, and events.

And it's SIX zines, actually: thanks to the awesome community that is backing our project, Lands of Legends now is a set of SIX zines! See the Catch-Up Goals below to find out what the sixth zine is about!

It can be used with most fantasy RPGs, and occasionally refers to the basic concepts of the world's most popular role-playing game (things like Armor Class, Hit Dice, and so on), so it is readily usable with the vast majority of OSR rulesets.

Horrors of the Sepulchre - An old-school RPG zine adventure - Steve C (short for Canadian perhaps), Matt (The Humble Mapper) Jackson and Del (I actually own some of your original artwork before you became huge) Tiegler have combined to put together a new "Tomb of Horrors" for lower levels. Yep, you can abuse your party before they can abuse you ;) Tenkar

Horrors of the Sepulchre is an old-school RPG zine adventure created in the tradition of the classic module Tomb of Horrors, but it's made for the B/X "sweet spot" of player character levels 4-7. 

So what does Horrors of the Sepulchre have within its evil pages?

• One-page Introduction? Check.
• Wicked traps to avoid? Check.
• A fearsome bad guy? Check. 
• Monsters to hack or outsmart? Check
• Awesome treasures? Hell yeah!
• A chance for glory or infamy? Most definitely!

But you mentioned THAT module above. Is there even any hope of survival? 

Of course there is! Be smart about it. This is OLD-SCHOOL, you gotta step up your game! Horrors of the Sepulchre gives you the glorious opportunity to take on a deathtrap dungeon with menacing monsters and substantial reward. 

Are you daring enough? Or are you gonna slink back to Ye Olde Tavern in town like some pansy-ass bard and sing grand tales of what OTHER adventurers do?

Desert Moon of Karth - A space western sandbox on a tiny moon for Mothership RPG. Harvest the ossified corpses of coral beings and live forever - I'm a huge fan of westerns & SciFi, and even wrote some stuff for White Star that was heavily influenced by Firefly & Spaghetti Westerns. So, offering a space western sandbox is right up my alley, and yet another addition to the Zines of ZineQuest 3 that I've added as notches to my belt - Tenkar

Saturday, 2/13/21 I'll be doing a Livestream with Joel Hines. Join us at YouTube.com/ErikTenkar

Desert Moon of Karth is a space western sandbox adventure zine for the Mothership Sci-Fi Horror RPG. 

Karth is a tiny mesa studded moon on the galaxy's edge. The only way down is an antique space elevator to the lawless boomtown of Larstown; a place surrounded by even greater danger and strangeness in the wastes beyond. Survival or salvation is not guaranteed, partner.

Harvest ossified coral corpses to live forever. Become an involuntary organ donor. Dodge ancient orbital defenses. Explore sand blown ruins. Hunt the fearsome sandsquid. Ride camels through the dunes. Drink whisky until you’ve forgotten your own name.

Karth's inspirations include Dune, Firefly, Alien, John Carter of Mars, Cowboy Bebop, The Dark Tower, spaghetti westerns, and modern adventures like Hot Springs Island, A Pound of Flesh, Ultraviolet Grasslands, and Slumbering Ursine Dunes.

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ZineQuest - The Haunted Hamlet - and other hexes

Hexes.

Nothing but hexes.

Let us present you with - The Haunted Hamlet - and other hexes.

ZineQuest has turned the month of February into "empty Tenkar's wallet month." I'm not complaining, ZineQuest has had some amazing content. I've covered many projects here on the blog and I've been doing daily Fireside Chats over at YouTube.com/ErikTenkar with various zine creators.

At the moment I'm looking at The Haunted Hamlet. From the creator of Willow and Woodfall, we now have a chance to back Shane Walshe's latest zine / mini-setting / OSR goodness.

The Haunted Hamlet and other hexes is a zine detailing four unique modular locations for your game. 

Made for old school essentials, but can easily be used with other old-school systems or even 5E. All in a compact zine format.

The four locations detailed in the zine focus on gameable content and being easy to use at the table. The locations are not connected to one another and can be sprinkled onto your campaign map however you like, or run as one shots. The zine is graphic and art heavy and utilizes a lot of random tables and other tools to make it easier for GMs to run in a pinch.

Each hex location has its own tone and scenario and they are not related to each other. They each are complete with hooks for your players, timelines of events to keep the pace of the game moving, as well as unique monsters and NPCs. The hexes are designed to be low-prep to run with a focus on what information is needed at the table.

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

You can catch the daily Tavern Chat podcast on Anchor, YouTube, 

or wherever you listen to your podcast collection.

Noble Dwarf - Print on Demand Canvas, NOT Beholders & More - 30% off Sitewide Through Tomorrow

Stepping away from the ZineQuest coverage for a brief moment (but you can grab more ZineQuest Fireside Chats at either YouTube.com/ErikTenkar or anchor.fm/tavernchat depending on how you consume your content)

I'd heard of Noble Dwarf in the past as a patron of Allyssa Fayen's Patreon but hadn't had the opportunity to peruse its wares, so to speak. Then a friend told me earlier today that there was a 30% off sitewide sale expiring end of the day tomorrow, so I figured it was time to take a closer look. I am glad I did.

3d printed minis, print on demand canvas prints (my God, some are simply gorgeous looking - I ordered the Whisper & Venom map as I simply love the boxed set and all the art and maps), mugs, apparel, challenge coins (they need more challenge coins - I think we need a Tenkar's Tavern challenge coin ;) and more.

So, this is the map I ordered at 14" x 18". It came out to less than 20 bucks shipped (with tax and delivery included). I'll be more than happy to report on its quality when I receive it.

As stated above, the 30% off sale expires end of the day tomorrow, so peek now before the sale is over, and maybe if you have some cash leftover from all of the ZineQuest shopping you'll find yourself with a new wall hanging or beholder. Or more :)

Oh yeah, Beholders! Alright, technically most certainly NOT Beholders, but Beholders are in the eyes of the beholder ;)

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

You can catch the daily Tavern Chat podcast on Anchor, YouTube, 

or wherever you listen to your podcast collection.

Deal of the Day - Edge of the Wilds - 100+ scenarios for rural adventures! (System Neutral)

Stepping away - briefly - from ZineQuest 3 coverage - I'm taking a peek at today's Deal of the Day. Sometimes, all you need is the seed for an adventure, the spark that sets of your own imagination, and it looks like Edge of the Wilds - 100+ scenarios for rural adventures! may just be that. I love adding tools to my DM's toolkit, and this looks to be a nice fit.

Normally 4.73 in PDF, until tomorrow morning, Edge of the Wilds is on sale for a mere 2.31.

This book contains dozens and dozens of scenarios and scenario ideas for adventures in rural settings, suited for nearly all imaginable kinds of fantasy RPGs. If your game has villages and towns surrounded by wilderness, you will be able to run these scenarios!

Our plothooks and storyseeds (around half a page in length each) are ideas: a collection of lawless gangs, rampaging beasts, rivaling settlements, incarnate powers of nature and much much more. A few adventures are straightforward, but many come with a twist, designed to lead to more trouble and more action for your average adventuring party!

Each adventure introduces the basic story: a villain's plan, the most important NPCs and how things might develop once our heroes become involved.

Use these scenarios as they are written, or let them inspire you and grow your own, custom adventure from the sprouting seed of our story!

Most of the scenarios are written with a medieval-ish fantasy setting in mind, but are easily adaptable to ancient, victorian or even more modern rural settings.

Each adventure seed is focused on one or more of the four large categories of RPG scenarios: exploration, diplomacy, investigation and combat.

Many adventures are designed for low to mid level characters, but you can also find quite a few for veteran adventurers and even some for legendary champions in this collection.

Rural adventures are extremely well suited as starting points for RPG campaigns. They have their own distinct strengths and traits to capture the “flair” of this frontier environment. In this collection you will find a short guide with the most important tips on running plots in the rural setting.

Last but not least: we have included a list of 20 short encounters that can be used in any rural area and are especially well suited to be thrown into your campaign as a bit of a distraction, a small tidbit of interest that gives your player characters a little room to breathe...but at the same time holds the potential for much more!

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

You can catch the daily Tavern Chat podcast on Anchor, YouTube, 

or wherever you listen to your podcast collection.