Lulu.com has a 30% off coupon through Cyber Monday. When you go to the Lulu website, the coupon code is at the top of the page.
If somehow you mise the code, it is: SAVE30
Now, I could list and link to a bunch of OSR related releases, but it's been done already by many others, so I'm going to send you to OTHER sites that have done the work and deserve the traffic.
Enjoy your holiday weekend and God Bless you all :)
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
It's no secret that I'm a huge fan of audiobooks, but damn, they are usually cost-prohibitive. So when audiobooks pop up on Humble Bundle, I'm all over it. Currently, Black Library has a Voices of Heresy Bundle - you can get four titles for as low as a buck, or 23 titles for 18 bucks. Being that a single title can often cost 18 bucks, this is a bargain and a half.
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
It's Thanksgiving here in the United States, and there is much that I am thankful for.
Let me get this out of the way, right out of the box - I am happy for my health. After the trifecta of hospitalizations in 2020, I have taken steps to turn my poor health-related habits into better ones. I've lowered my A1C by three points, my weight by about 50 pounds, and have changed my diet to a much healthier one. All it took was pneumonia, sepsis, and congestive heart failure (followed by four stents). Take my advice, correct your course earlier than I did :)
I am thankful for knowing the friends that I have lost, and those I will likely lose in the coming weeks and months. As painful as the losses are, there would be an emptiness in my soul were I to have never known them.
This is especially true for Doug Rhea, who touched more lives than anyone I know. I have cemented more friendships because of Doug and the convention he founded, NTRPG Con, than can be counted on my fingers and toes. Rest well Doug, you more than earned it.
I am thankful for the opportunity to give back to my community, not just where I live physically, but where my heart is, the gaming community. In a few days we'll be kicking off another OSR Christmas celebration, and it wouldn't be happening without all of you.
Most of all, I am thankful that you, my readers, my viewers, and my listeners, allow me into your lives for a few minutes each day. There can be nothing more gratifying, nor more humbling, than that simple amount of trust in me that you have shown over the past decade and more.
I thank you all :)
Tenkar
May your Thanksgiving be blessed with the comfort of family and friends, near and far.
Sometimes it's the little things that please us most. Other times, it's the large things that make us smile. Today, I'm happy and smiling because of the amazing selection of RPG titles in the Black Friday RPG Bonanza Humble Book Bundle (say THAT five times fast ;)
In the Black Friday RPG Bonanza Bundle, we have releases from Troll Lord Games (C&C Core rules and more, as well as 5e World of Airde adventures), Frog God Games (Bunnies & Burrow Core book and more, as well as 5e), Goodman Games (DCC RPG Core Rules and adventures), and Kobold Press (5e and System Neutral).
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
It was about a week and a half ago that I was bitten by the Arduin bug. Sure, I'd owned the initial trilogy of three little books for a number of years, an eBay acquisition that I briefly leafed through and promptly put away. Who actually reads everything in their gaming collection? ;)
The print in the originals was too small for my older eyes. But when Emperors Choice announced they were rising like a phoenix and Arduin was going to be distributed again, I brought those books out of their place of hiding.
And quickly remembered I couldn't read the small typeface with anything coming close to comfort.
I found I did possess a copy of the Arduin Trilogy in PDF, likely acquired via the generosity of my readers and their use of The Tavern's affiliate links (see how useful they are?). I started reading that easy to read, thank the gods for a font size my old eyes can enjoy, PDF, and I was hooked. Line and sinker.
George DeRosa of Emperors Choice reached out to me to discuss Arduin, as I had mentioned Arduin on the YouTube side of The Tavern. He told me what I had barely scratched the surface, and if I wanted, he could send me a small package of Aruin goodness, as they were processing a large number of orders, and adding one more to the process wouldn't be an issue. I excitedly said yes, expecting a book or two from the "odds and ends" pile.
Instead, what arrived is pictured above.
I have enough to occupy my Aruin fever for months, likely years even.
As it currently stands, I intend to have some articles covering the crunch - classes, monsters, magic, and more, here on the blogside, and discuss Dave's various essays within the pages of Arduin on the YouTube/Anchor side of things.
If you have topics you want to be covered, here or on the Cast, let me know in the comments 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
Following the amazing success of the Maps Extravaganza Humble Bundle, we present the Maps Bonanza, featuring Fractal Terrains 3+, a powerful world-generator and editor. Whether it's starships and solar systems, entire worlds, historical maps or fantasy floorplans, this treasure trove of assets and apps has what you need for your cartography. Plus, your purchase will support Carbonfund and Oceana!
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
Well I had plans for this weekend, plans for my time and my money.......but, well you know...shit happens.
Usually it's the bad kind of stuff that gets in your way and ruins your weekend, but every once in a while it's an actual fricken opportunity. Saturday was one such opportunity and I just had to go for it.
I like to think I have a couple cool collectibles, but some of my crap....er stuff, I mean collectibles are kind of hidden away and if you can't see something & enjoy it, does it really exist?
One of these tucked away items is an old HackMaster promotional poster that was never really for sale, but sent out to game stores to push the upcoming (2001) Player's Handbook. I've seen them for sale for around $30 every once in a while (Noble Knight, eBay, etc). Thing is outside of one on display at the KenzerCo office, I've never seen one that hasn't bee folded up for shipping to a game store.
That made my rolled poster, that had been sitting in a tube for a decade or two, a bit on the rarer side......is it valuable? Meh, but to me it is.
The big problem, until Saturday, is that it's a huge poster... a hair over 35" x 24". This makes it kind of a pain in the ass to frame up nicely. I was planning on purchasing some frame chops and getting some glass cut, but if I wanted any kind of matting that was going to be... problematic., and really expensive. Unless I go to a custom glass shop, I can't do glass and plexi is going to cost $90-110. The frame will run $55 before shipping, which will be high since it's considered "oversize". With matting I'm probably looking at $200 for this poster, and that's for plexi, not glass like I'd prefer.
Fortunately for me, somebody had some custom frames made at Hobby Lobby (actually multiple somebodies) and then didn't pick them up. A trio of HUGE wooden/glass frames were marked down from $240 to $67.
Hell yes!
I didn't plan on buying some frames and matt boards, digging out my matt cutter and framing supplies, and nervously do the math and cut out some HUGE matts....but I did and now I have to find a place to display one of my favorite RPG collectables.
Blue Period - WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO SAY??!!??
-
I watched this anime and I had a little spastic meltdown, which I will now
inflict on you.
I will start by describing it
So it starts with this prota...
Review: Blue Flame, Tiny Stars
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[image: Blue Flame, Tiny Stars by Stephen Wendell]
I was on Mastodon a while back (and I really do need to do more over there)
and I struck up a conversat...
The Terrible Salt
-
For a generation, the tides at Vincha stopped completely. What was once an
enormous tidal flat was lost under bitter waters. Now they have returned,
and ...
Alex Ross X-Men #1
-
Here's another homage to X-Men #1, this time done by the legendary Alex
Ross.Previous depictions/homages:Original, DCeased: War of the Undead Gods,
Scorche...
Miskatonic Monday #186: Swamp Song
-
Between October 2003 and October 2013, Chaosium, Inc. published a series of
books for *Call of Cthulhu* under the Miskatonic University Library
Associati...
OSE Best Supporting Actors Kickstarter - funded!
-
I meant to post this the other day, but here we are, better late than never.
Doug's OSE Best Supporting Actors Kickstarter has funded! $20 for the PDF
and ...
Peril Below the Pile
-
By Louis Kahn Starry Knight Press OSR Levels 4-6 The Pile is a lone hill
which overlooks the forest village of Naofahill, which lies on the far
eastern bor...
New Release - Swords & Wizardry Treasure Generator
-
*tl;dr:* Stephen Faure and I are releasing a fork of the original Swords &
Wizardry Treasure Generator created by Brian Ramsay (foont.net).
Our version ...
Campaigns I’d like to run one day
-
Old-School Essentials Sword & Sorcery West Marches campaign set in Kaendor,
exploring the ancient ruins of the northern forests which have only
recently be...
Magical Magic That Feels Magical
-
*14. Heart Of The Beast: Cast this spell on a slain monster’s heart (or
reasonably equivalent organ or portion), then consume it. At any time, you
may ...
Warsmith's Words: March to Victory
-
Welcome back to the Vault! I can't believe it's over a month since my last
post; time is flying by these days. Whilst the blog has been quiet, my
hobby ...
How to Handle Parley as an OSR DM
-
One of the most unforgiveable things that mainstream D&D has ever done was
to make Diplomacy a skill.
Weapon skills and knowledge skills, sure. We can't...
Anthem, G.I. Joe Trooper
-
Time for me to start putting some actual stats to figures I plan on playing
with. I'll get to make up some characters in the process. Win win
win...win...
Reviews Again, the never ending battle vs new stuff
-
Finally finished this
*Advanced Adventures Compendium Four 💓💓💓💓*Not quite as good as some
previous ones but still very good. Was on LuLu and I've...
More Thoughts on 5e and D&D
-
Real life has again stepped into the path of our gaming sessions which have
stalled - but I'm kind of ok with that.
You see, as an old-school DM running ...
Universal Creature Profile
-
It was fun playing around with another type of Universal Profile last week,
so let's keep it rolling. Can we make this work for creatures?
*UNIVERSAL CR...
Dragon Magazine's Banner Year...
-
1982; it was a banner year for AD&D, and a banner year for yours truly,
both thanks to Dragon Magazine. Not only did its awesome Out on a Limb
feature co...
Megadungeon DM Overview
-
As I have said before, running a megadungeon is fundamentally different
than running other types of campaigns. As such, it must be approached
differently t...
Sci-Fi: Unexpected Desirable Outcome
-
Paul Pepera
Unexpected Desirable Outcome
They’d let him name his ship. He picked “Hope”, after the virtue and after
his sister. Translating Hope into Gal...
pledge allegiance
-
*Booty and the Beasts* is a 1979 monster and treasure book from Fantasy Art
Enterptises. Art by Erol Otus, text by Otus, Mathias Genser, and Paul
Reiche ...
Arnesonian Time Keeping
-
The original Blackmoor game as Dave Arneson ran it between 1971 and 1975
may be described as a living world campaign. - that is, the world moves
through ...
Dark world
-
While I'm still working on my greyhawk saltmarsh campaign, I did have an
idea the other night for a different campaign.
I recently got the fifth edition ...
Monster Manual (AD&D 1e) (1977) - Third Printing
-
From the front cover:
"An illustrated compendium of monsters: Aerial Servant to Zombie"
From the back cover:"*OVER 350 MONSTERS*
This book provides a com...
Flux Space
-
I’ve been inspired by my time working with Gus on Tombrobbers of the
Crystal Frontier, and want to play at making something similar: a big intro
adventure ...
Free GM Resource: Syrinscape 2nd Look
-
[image: Free GM Resource: Syrinscape 2nd Look]
I covered Syrinscape back in .....2013(?!). It's been just shy of a decade
and when I got an email from the...
[Review] Lost Dungeons of Tonsiborg
-
Received this thing in the mail a couple days ago, purchased as part of the recent
Kickstarter. It was originally only offered as a deluxe hardcover
"col...
On the Final 48 hours
-
Sinless has just been amazing guys.
If you haven't checked it out, you should back now. Campaign ends Friday.
It's around 700 people, which is enough fo...
Harnworld in Hardback Kickstarter
-
I have been a fan of Harn, both the setting and the Harnmaster rules, for a
long time. Ever since I encountered the original Harn setting folio at Games...
Beneath the Temple of Elemental Evil now in Spanish
-
Hello! A while ago, Manuel Martinez offered to translate one of my ToEE
expansion modules, T5 Beneath the Temple of Elemental Evil, into Spanish. I
am plea...
Gargax's Glorious Gewgaws & Pryce's Price
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Good Day to You All!
There is no better way to start off a New Year than with -- not just one
but TWO -- brand-new, never-before-published creative, exc...
OGL Rollercoaster – End of the Ride?
-
The end of 2022 was full of rumbles about the OGL, but WOTC said it would
be OK. January, 2023 soon revealed WOTC’s (Wizards of the Coast) claims
that all ...
The Blade Itself
-
I just finished listening to the audiobook of The Blade Itself, volume one
in Joe Abercrombie’s The First Law trilogy. This was my first exposure to
his wo...
Seven Sins of RPG Writing
-
The Seven Deadly Sins of RPG Writing
All these sins are relative. For example, you might find a system is your
jam that I found unusable due to complexit...
Genteel Magistrate at FenCon XVIII
-
Victorious author Mike Stewart will be a guest at FenCon XVIII this weekend
at the Sheraton DFW Airport hotel, 4440 W. John Carpenter Freeway, Irving,
TX, ...
Starter Set: Dragons of Stormwreck Isle Review
-
I thought it odd when I saw big name YouTubers talking about the new
starter set WotC published, but I hadn't heard anything about it. I don't
keep up...
This is an Important Game Mechanic
-
*"That's the GM's Regional Map from my AOWG. And it's a damned good
regional map. It's not a good map for a Simple Homebrew Campaign. It does
some s$&...
Clean Your Room
-
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
-
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...
My RPG Zine Trilogy is on Kickstarter!
-
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...
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...
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...
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...