In prior years, DriveThruRPG has done a Halloween Pumpkin Hunt of sorts, having shoppers scour the DTRPG pages for hidden pumpkins in search of freebies. This year, there are freebies neatly grouped together and an accompanying sale.
Highlights from today's Halloween Freebie Page include Fear Itself 2e (GUMSHOE) and some seasonally appropriate soundtracks. It appears there will be new offerings daily.
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Tomb of the Savage Kings for Dungeon Crawl Classics (DCC RPG), a level 2 adventure designed by Stephen Newton.
Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Soulbound: Reap and Sow gives an introductory adventure for players interested in visiting the Mortal Realms in Soulbound. Great for Age of Sigmar fans.
I'm not sure what larger effect the decision of Paizo's staff to unionize will have on the larger TTRPG industry (likely little if any), but the 30+ staffers at Paizo are hoping that Paizo will recognize their union.
Staff say they are “underpaid for their labor, required to live in one of the most expensive cities in the United States, and subjected to untenable crunch conditions on a regular basis”.
Most everyone in the RPG industry is underpaid for their labor, in large part because the profit margins are not as large as many would like them to be.
In any case, 30 some odd members does not make for a powerful bargaining unit. It is, however, likely, that Paizo has the largest staff of non-managerial job titles in the industry.
Interesting times.
My further thoughts are in the video below:
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 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. - Tenkar
A modern-day horror setting with an OSR feel for 2 bucks? Say it ain't so! ;)
Until tomorrow morning, Dark Streets & Darker Secrets is a mere $2 in PDF (marked down from a regular price of $10).
So, what is Dark Streets & Darker Secrets?
Dark Streets & Darker Secrets is a Street & Sorcery Rules Light Role-Playing Game with an Old School spirit, just like its predecessors: Sharp Swords & Sinister Spells and Solar Blades & Cosmic Spells.
It’s a game about modern adventures in the world we live today, only with a layer of supernatural weirdness and horror. Characters are people who have found out about the mysteries and horrors that exist in the world and have decided to do something about it, be it battle it, join it, or simply explore its possibilities in any way they see fit. They will battle evil cultists, corrupted ghosts, bloodsucking vampires, and frenzied werewolves, or maybe they will be the horrors of others. This edition of the game assumes the reader knows the principles of what role-playing games are and how they are played.
What will you get with this book? Not only you will get a complete game system for urban fantasy, action horror and street and sorcery stories, you will also find tools and generators to create cities, neighborhoods, organizations, factions, NPS, monsters, ancient and sinister artifacts, complete adventures, which can all be of great help to inspire Referees of all modern games!
So grab your leather jacket, a baseball bat and whatever you can get your hands on to put the bad monsters to rest and come explore these dark streets and unveil these darker secrets.
It's essentially Chill with an OSR chassis. :)
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 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. - Tenkar
I recently posted about The Great Supply Chain Disruption. Surprisingly to me, I've gotten ZERO updates from ANY open Kickstarters I've backed since that announcement talking about fulfillment delays that could be blamed on shipping printed books from China - and I know a few fall into that category.
So, why no updates?
I think for the bulk of them, avoiding the issue until it can't be put off any further is simply a trait of human nature. No one really enjoys negative feedback, so if you can delay it, so much the better.
Take Far West for example. Gareth has no issue with using Twitter on a damn near-daily basis but hasn't updated the Kickstarter page since July 19th, 2019. Well over two years ago.
Why would that be? Well, He did say you can ask him questions about Far West on his Far West Forums, but you can't sign up for them - the sign-up app is broken and there hasn't been a comment there since February of this year.
The thing is, comments on Kickstarter, and Indiegogo to the best of my knowledge, can't be moderated by the project creator. So, if the angry mobs of a late Kickstarter decide to engage with the creator, the creator can not control the ebb and flow of the conversation. The narrative belongs to the mob. Often a righteous mob but a mob nonetheless.
And this is why many creators don't engage on their project page when they go into the realms of the late, late, late project.
Communication is where many Kickstarters fail horribly.
I've been trying to cut back on backing Kickstarters these last few months. It's not just recent supply and delivery issues that made me decide that, but also the large number of RPG Kickstarters that I've received and have yet to read. I doubt I'm unique with this issue :)
I'm partial to the casting runes pictured above. Heck, they can double as 4-sided dice. And it's hand-made. How cool is that?
My name is David Savedge and I am a blacksmith and game designer. I have a studio and blacksmith's shop on my farm, Ravenstead.
Ravenstead is my home and family business, with smithing and metal work becoming a bigger part of what I do to provide. This current project will help better establish the workshop at Ravenstead.
When I'm not working on the farm or smithing, I'm thinking about games and gaming. I love classic tabletop role-playing games. I'm excited to share my new project with you!
I wanted to bring another unique and magical project to the gaming table or altar that involved some serious blacksmithing and pewter work!
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 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. - Tenkar
Like most of us, and I know this is an assumption, I'm not just a single type of "gamer". This week a couple of new console games came out, most notably Far Cry 6 and Back 4 Blood. Now I know there are a few "I don't give a damn" eyerolls at the very mention of computer/console games, but years ago my console and RPG gaming circles overlapped, and one of the big overlaps was Left 4 Dead/Left 4 Dead 2.
Now I've been hearing that Far Cry 6 is just more of the same, for good or bad and Back 4 Blood, which I purchased, is technically is an all new game. I say technically because the creative team behind the game worked together on the Left 4 Dead games and damn, does it feel like a difficult, updated version of those games. Since it is a different game/series, the zombies are not necessarily zombies, more like a zombie-like plague or some such called the "Ridden".....I think it's a parasite. The special Ridden have new names and I keep wanting to call them by the closest L4D equivalent.
Anyway I know this is a long intro, but basically I got this new game and really wanted to link back up with the old console gaming group and once again kick some zombie Ridden ass.
So I did reach out to one guy I'm still a Facebook friend with to see if the rest of the guys still game.....I kind of dropped out when the Call of Duty games when "futuristic" and I refer current to past-era CoD games. I think I'm the only one who got the pre-order.
Now I'm not sure the game is worth the $100 or so for the "Ultimate" edition, but if you want to play an updated L4D......my gamertag is "Face275"
TL;DR I need "friends" to play Back 4 Blood with online.
Now I have a different console gaming/friends group for a different game......the Borderlands series. I'm a huge fan of all the games but one of my favorites was a DLC for Borderlands 2 called "Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep"
Now if you haven't played this game or the DLC, the whole thing is essentially a game-within-a-game. Tiny Tina was a ancillary character in Borderlands 2 that is a little "explosives happy" and a lot deranged. In the DLC she is running a table-top game of "Bunkers and Badasses" that is an over-the-top homage to D&D. It's a great fusion of two disparate games, with plenty of puns and adult-ish humor tossed in.
My problem is that my circle of friends that play Borderlands are on the newest game and its DLCs, and you can really only play Assault on Dragon Keep so many times (odds are 3x per character).......
....unless you manage to pick up a copy of Bunkers & Badasses. Yep, the folks at Nerdvana Games is flexing the mashup the other way. I purchased a pre-order and while, like pretty much everything these days, production is running behind, allegedly the game has been produced and is on it's way to the fulfillment center for a mid-October arrival.
With any luck I will again get a couple of my gaming circle to align!
Condiment King Causes Chaos In Vigilante City
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I've been giving my 5e supers content a lot of love recently and thought
Vigilante City could use some too. Here's a zany, but potentially
frightening vill...
Expressions
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I think it's possible to express the pursuit of D&D, and by extension
role-playing games, in four general forms. This is not to suggest that
these ways ...
Dee’s Discernments
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*The Sight: A True & Faithful Relation of Acts of Supernatural Foresight,
Uncanny Vision, divers Readings of Occult Tokens: shewing the Particulars
of SO...
Monsters and Treasures in the B/X Dungeon
-
Getting to work on some dungeons for my next campaign, I want to stick as
close as possible practical to what the Basic and Expert rules actually
advise as...
Review: Traveller20 (2002-2007)
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[image: Traveller20 (2002, 2007)]
We are now in another new decade. In fact a new century and a new
millennium in fact. And of course another new edition ...
Rulings from Session 169
-
Just a couple of quick rulings from Session 169:
- Attacking into Close Combat is -2, but generally doing some other
DX-based activity while in an already-...
Wyrdwood Adventures, ep9
-
The following is a solo adventure I am running using White Box FMAG, the
Perilous Wilds, Freebooters on the Frontier and Into the Wyrd and Wild. I
use my ...
Minitama
-
I made myself a miniature travelling Onitama set, this time on the 3d
printer instead of out of wood.
The pieces are pegged, to go in the holes on the bo...
[REVIEW] Crashmoon
-
Cashmoon*Crashmoon (2022)*
by David Kentaro Jackson
Published by Elk and Unicorn
Low-level
Not actually a part of Zinemassacre 2021, but what the hell…...
Skips and Misjumps Pt. 2
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Final Approval...
If you read that with a booming reverb sounding in your head, you read it
right. Final approval means the Bank will indeed invest in ...
Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaos
-
By Bill Bengham, Mackenzie De Armas, Dan Dillon, Steve Kenson, T. Alexander
Stangroom WOTC 5e Levels 1-10 The greatest minds in the multiverse meet at
Stri...
Forest
-
This *Bastionland Editorial *was originally sent as a reward to all Patreon
supporters, and is released freely on this site a week after its original
pub...
Gaming's Non-Gaming Seeds...
-
Games inspire games, especially fifty years on. There's a whole industry
catering to the hobbyist's every potential need; but no one's born a gamer,
howe...
The first non-evil Drow
-
With Wizards of the Coast’s initiative to strip monsters and fantasy races
of their default alignment preferences, I thought it would be interesting
to tal...
Skills breakdown of 5e monsters (blog of holding)
-
A quick thought...
*Blog of holding* has lots of great posts, and this is one of them:
https://blogofholding.com/?p=8018
He breaks down "the percentages o...
Home brew mutant future campaign
-
A long time ago I ran a brief Mutant future campaign for some friends. I
had done a PILE of prep with locations factions etc, my intention at some
poin...
Warsmith's Words: Obliterators
-
Welcome back to the Vault! Apologies for the lack of posting recently;
I've been suffering with a yucky cold, and haven't had the motivation to
blog. I'...
Recommend Me Books, Part 347
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This has always worked well in the past, and my 'to read' pile has shrunk
from being about as tall as the Eiffel Tower to being only about the height
of ...
Plugging Away
-
As of a month ago I'm now working again on a part-time basis (three days a
week). In January I walked away from a position I'd held for over 20 years
bec...
Monsters of Blackmoor Supplement II - part 2
-
Mermen are the first monster described in Supplement II, and one of the
most interesting for the key role they appear to play in the underwater
ecology ...
Q: Running hybrid AD&D game: virtual+in-person?
-
*(Also asked this on the r/OSR subreddit...)*
Thanks to COVID, I had to put my long-running, in-person AD&D campaign on
hold. So two years later... I'm l...
April '22 in Review
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Fun things to do in the middle of a pandemic:
Close on a house
Quit your old job
Pack up everything
Move
Unpack enough stuff
Start a new job
Unfortunately...
Back in the Day: Playing The Never Used Rules
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As most everyone who finds this obscure blog knows I started playing
OD&D in 1977 and switched to AD&D 1e in 1979 and have been playing 1e ever
since....
E'a, Chronicles of a Dying World
-
David M. Fitzgerald's *E'a: Chronicles of a Dying World *is one of the more
obscure digest-sized unofficial supplements to early D&D, little known even...
OSR: Pantheopolis and the Divine Exodus
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Pantheopolis, the City of Many Gods!
Pantheopolis, whose armies ranged far and wide! Their legions captured
countless cities, and with each victory, the...
Random Research
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This post was prompted by two players having questions that required NPCs
to do research. One PC is a cleric, the other a paladin. They worship
different...
On a Future Coming
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Hey all.
I've been busy writing. It turns out that when you write for a living, it's
hard to write on a blog.
The good thing is, there's actual profess...
Secret Society Factions in ORWA
-
In the coming weeks 5 Years Left will be ending. Its been a fun and
creatively rejuvenating game, but after nearly two years I’m ready to shift
focus. I wa...
Ivan Reitman, 1946-2022
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I didn't want too much more time to pass before posting something here in
tribute to filmmaker Ivan Reitman, who the world lost unexpectedly on
Saturday,...
Saving Throw for Evey Lockhart
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Fans of Trilemma Adventures: one of our own needs our help. Evey Lockhart
is the writer and designer of weird, sad, queer old-school stuff that
you’re pr...
Vox Machina: Good for a Few Laughs
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TL;DR: it’s ok.
How’s that for brief?
Ok, seriously, it’s got some fun moments, but isn’t nearly as clever as it
thinks it is. Better?
Dig...
Julius Moessel (1871 - 1957)
-
[image: Julius Moessel - Symphony in Hell, No. 2, 1940's]Symphony in Hell,
No. 2, 1940's
[image: Julius Moessel - Symphony in Hell (No.3)]Symphony in He...
Growling Mage Tavern
-
The other day I used Frog God Games *Journey Generator*. There was a set of
tables to create an inn or tavern. So I rolled up one because you can never
...
Achievement versus Experience
-
Hello everyone, Pardon me for digressing out of Victorious for a bit, but
as a proponent of the Old School gaming style I’ve often thought about the
differ...
Go Die In a Hole: a Podcast for You
-
Back in 2019, me and Nick put our microphones together and made a podcast
called Go Die in a Hole. We made 2 episodes. It was a magical journey in
whi...
Happy Needfest and Merry New Year!
-
While life has continued to wear me out (in particular my day job*), with
the new year's turn, there's always a fresh bout of hope that seeps into my
fin...
Clean Your Room
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Looking back at my little blog here. That last post… wow, I was having fun
playing WOW Classic! That was August of 1999 and I was having a blast… it
was ...
People of the World, Spice up Your Life
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I have seen the *Dune*. It’s good, but, like all “content” now, too long.
The forms of many designs are quite nice (love the costumes of the imperial
de...
The Worm Ouroboros
-
The Worm Ouroboros is a proto-fantasy (the in the genre sense) novel by E.
R. Eddison, originally published in 1922. It is an amalgam of mythological
tradi...
This Blog has Moved!
-
I’ve moved this blog to a self-hosted one, on the same server running my
old-school gaming forum, this blog will …
Continue reading →
What's wrong with megadungeons?
-
I ran across a megadungeon article from last July. I know, I am a little
behind, as I was dealing with my cancer when it came out.
In the blog, DM David ...
My RPG Zine Trilogy is on Kickstarter!
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I can't believe I didn't post about it here!
The Dead are Coming, Screams Amongst the Stars and Running Out of Time are
on *Kickstarter right now!* Thes...
Maximum HP 004, one week to go
-
Just one week to go for Maximum HP issue #004, the undead. We are pushing
through stretch goals and wracking up contributions for the best issue yet.
We...
Steve Jackson Interview
-
James Maliszewski recently did an interview with Steve Jackson over on his
Grognardia blog. Steve chats about the beginnings of The Fantasy Trip and
upcomi...
Undermountain Map Origins
-
As documented on the Ruins of Undermountain sales page, "TSR didn't
actually use Ed Greenwood's original maps," at least not in their entirety.
This post d...
A Campaign Begins for Newbies
-
Like many of you, the affects of the Coronavirus pandemic has disrupted how
hundreds of millions of us fellow mutants interact and function in our
jobs, co...
WB:FMAG Total Print Sales
-
Hello Folks,
The last time I did a quick sales report was in September 2018.
I pulled reports from Amazon, Lulu and DrivethruRPG from October to current
fo...
The Minotaur for Old-School Essentials
-
*Minotaur*
*Requirements:* Minimum STR 9, Minimum CON 9
*Prime Requisite:* STR and CON
*Hit Dice:* 1d10
*Maximum Level:* 8
*Armor:* Leather, including shield...
WIZARDS OF POHJOLA
-
Init +0
Melee Atk
• sword or dagger +1 (1d5 or 1d3)
Ranged Atk
• hot iron sparks +3 (1d4+2 to two targets within 20' but not closer than
5')
AC 14
HD 12d...
Strange, Dangerous, and Inhuman: The Fey and Fairie
-
When I was a boy I loved fairy tales. Jack and the Beanstalk, Puss in
Boots, Rumpelstiltskin - I devoured all of it. My fascination that there
was a strang...
Dungeons & Dragonmead Fall Schedule
-
*As you know, I run public classic Dungeons & Dragons games at **The Loaded
Die**/Metro Detroit Game Night's Board Game Nigh at **Dragonmead**, in
Warren...
D&D Sling Damage vs. Large Targets
-
In many early editions of D&D, weapons were assigned two damage values: one
for small/medium targets (i.e. man-sized) and one for large targets (giants
and...
James A. Smith, Jr. Memorial Video
-
A beloved father, devoted friend, and D&D Dungeon Master extraordinaire. We
miss you! To view video, click here Memorial Video
Note - The original video...
Let's Talk About Pacing!
-
The idea, I think, is that the RPG is ultimately about the long game. Even
rolling back to the early days of Basic & Expert, the goal of the player
was...
Profane and Profound Prep Part 2
-
This is part 2 of my work to edit my magic items for a DMsGuild release,
along with adding cursed items along the way. Here is part 1. Bone of a
Saint 8000...
SHORT BREAK.
-
I'm going to take a break for a week or so and will start up again in the
New Year. Thanks for reading and we'll start with Level 6 when I get back.
Iain Lovecraft, 3D Sculptor
-
Nope, it's got nothing to do with Cthulhu. I just did a video conversation
with Iain Lovecraft, who designs 3D miniatures and terrain. If you're not
doin...
New website!
-
Slowly but surely, all the content here will make its way — in updated
form! — to my new website: timbannock.com. For fairly obvious reasons, that
site wil...
Please Update Your Link!
-
If you're seeing this, it means your link to the Greyhawk Grognard blog is
out of date.
Please update your link to www.greyhawkgrognard.com (RSS feed is
h...
How can We Destroy this Campaign World?
-
d12
1. You must trick a bard into strumming the *Chords of Fate* on the *Lute
of Annihilation*
2. Legends tell of thermonuclear weapons beneath megadungeo...
Mord Mar - Session 6
-
We weren't able to play Mord Mar last week, due to a family funeral. This
week we played on Monday for the first time, due to kids returning to
school and ...
A Small, Quiet Plea
-
There has been a great deal of discussing political agendas, social
grievances, and personal attacks within the little corner of gaming that is
my hobby....
Don’t Sleep It’s Broken
-
Expanding/editing my comments from What Makes Something Broken G+ thread:
“Broken”, for me, is anything that makes normal character choices, tactics,
or ro...
Swords & Wizardry Light-Themed Birthday Party
-
Last month, my wife and I helped our oldest to celebrate his birthday in
style. Ever since 2013, we have hosted a themed birthday party for our
now-15-ye...