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.
In a Galaxy Where No One Has Gone Before...
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Ok, so lots of people have done this before.
Our weekly AD&D Forgotten Realms game was canceled again because we wanted
to make starships!
My oldest is...
On Bounty, Questions worth asking.
-
Well? Will we?
Available Now!
https://sinlessrpg.com
------------------------------
*Hack & Slash*
Follow, Twitch, Support, Donate to end Cancer (5 ...
Strange Knights
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You’ve probably met knights from other realms, but these are different.
While they resemble familiar knights in many ways, they have a different
oath and...
Rob Kuntz at Lucca Comics & Games 2025
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If you are planning a trip to Europe (like right now) and wish to catch up
with me in person, make sure to book a detour via *Lucca Comics & Games*,
...
Prismatic Worms (Prismatic Planet)
-
Did you ever notice how *purple worms* are listed under “P” in the D&D
monster manuals, but *red dragons* are under “D”? Not sure where I’ll file
my entrie...
Jonstown Jottings #101: Spiders Gorge
-
Much like the Miskatonic Repository for Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition,
the Jonstown Compendium is a curated platform for user-made content, but
for ma...
Community Greyhawk – The Song of Iara
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Today’s community Greyhawk takes us to The Song of Iara, a sequel/expansion
of 2019’s Ghosts of Saltmarsh. It’s a 117 page pdf, with a standard 5E
interior...
The Shrike
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By Leo HuntPublished by Joel HinesOSELevel 1? The Shrike is a world of
decay – rusted iron, crumbling stone, saltwater, blood, and fog –
surrounded by a ro...
Random Links for 10/10/2025
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- AD&D Asassination. Seems straightforward in the PHB, and then the DMG
comes and takes it away. Thanks, Gary.
- Next game is in 3 weeks.
What is the point of the OSR?
-
Over on Reddit, Kaliburnus asks What the point of the OSR is? He concludes
his post with some questions.
So, honest question, what is the point of OSR?...
Ten Marlinko Townies To Annoy Your Party With
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#
Name
Description
1
Mother Feketa
Mummified, animate matriarch who rules her tenement block from a tub of
heated mud. Gives quests in exchange for...
Quick Reviews from Mail Bag
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Still waiting on Dolemwood
Arrivals:
The Caverns of Thracia
Yoon-Suin 2nd Ed
BX Essentials
Ryecroft
*The Caverns of Thracia ...
Tombs: Fantasy Made Mortal...
-
So Gregorius 21778 has released *The Tomb of Ferkhat the Dreaded* for Blood
of Pangea, complete with an excursion into an Egyptian-inspired burial. We
lo...
A review of The Golden Peaches of Samarkand
-
by Edward H. Schafer
tldr; this book has a whole sub-section on Dwarfs
Its 1962 and Edward H Schafer delves into ream upon uncounted ream of
scholarship ...
DTRPG Loot
-
These just arrived for me today from DriveThruRPG.
They took about a week to get here, much faster than used to be the case,
as DTRPG now has PoD resou...
Unboxing the 2025 D&D Starter Set
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I grabbed the 2025 Dungeons & Dragons Starter Set at Barnes & Nobles on
Friday. An 'undented' copy.
Because it is a Starter Set and meant to assist he...
Musings on the OSR Blogosphere and Forums
-
Link to discussion There are some posts on the historical OSR blog scene
that I’ve read recently from the Grumpy …
Continue reading →
How do you do piracy… in SPACE!?
-
Interstellar space travel in Iridium Moons was always going to be a form of
hyperspace jump like in Star Wars or Traveller. Simply because it’s the one
for...
Free GM Resource: Freep!k Icon Generator
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[image: Free GM Resource: Freep!k Icon Generator]
Last week I mentioned a *secret project* and while I'm not going to divulge
the project yet, I am bringi...
The line has been crossed
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I hope all you fuckers enjoyed your Blue Sky. It is coming. You reap what
you sow.The right to free speech is a hill I will die upon.Slight update:
Anyone...
Zock Bock Radio return engagement
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German AD&D superfan and podcast host Settembrini (who already had me on
his show a couple-three years back) recently completed a two-year-long run
thro...
Greyhawk News You Can Use - Harvester 2025 Edition
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I’m well-overdue for another Greyhawk news roundup, and a recent post by
/u/talktoh in /r/Greyhawk prompted me to complete catchup on Greyhawk news
for the...
Tomb of the Blind and Deaf Dead
-
So the cat is out of the bag thanks to Tobias Schulte-Krumpen, who posted
the above image to the Lamentations of the Flame Princess facebook group. I
...
Eyes of Idola, Part 2
-
This is Part 2. Here is Part 1.
*Concept 1: Entering the Dungeon*
Descending the stairs into B1, the party reach rooms that are dark,
crowded, flooded, a...
[BLOG] News on the March! Episode X.
-
This post continues the series of brief play reports I have been posting on
Discord. This does not cover every single session (sometimes, recon and
setup...
A long overdue hobby update!
-
Welcome back to the Vault everyone! 2025 is going by in a blur; I last
posted in February, almost started a post in March and now it's the end of
May. W...
Pulp: Adventure Location: Trindade & Martim Vaz
-
History is fractally interesting. Start examine any event, or following any
citation, and interesting facts emerge. But some places, for whatever
reason,...
Playing at the World 2E V2 Arrives
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With the release of its second volume, the second edition of *Playing at
the World *is finally complete. The two books combined total well over
1,000 ...
Blogs on Tape season 6 has begun!
-
Hi everybody! Its been a minute. How are you? Everything is awful all the
time? Horrors never cease? You’re being driven mad by the weight of the
unfathoma...
Articulations
-
Creating house rules, custom rules specific to a local group or campaign,
has been common throughout the history of D&D. What makes an effective
house rule...
Writing playlists for all occasions
-
Hello again! Going off the idea of inspiration elaborated on by the prior
post, I also have music playing while I write my various games and fiction
pieces...
The Tarot of Pips
-
Somewhere in your dice collection is a die like this one, the humblest of
dice. Although you don't know it, this small white die carries with it a
secr...
Pirates and Necromancers, a Play Report
-
Over the Thanksgiving weekend we did a lot of gaming ranging from
“off-table” domain level stuff to some solo adventures to spell and magic
item rese...
It's been a bit
-
Hey everyone, I hope you are doing well! I've had a lot going on and
haven't had much time to blog lately. Heres a recap of gaming events and
other st...
*'s in SpaaaaaAaaaace
-
A lot of SF (including a certain 2D6 RPG grandaddy) deal with ancient
aliens taking humans from Earth and dropping them, fleas and all, on one or
more w...
Last move - to self-hosting!
-
As my vote regarding Substack in the “marketplace of ideas”, I’m moving to
self-hosting.
I’m now at (and hopefully staying for a long time at)
Blog: ht...
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 ...
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...
ToAD Monster of the Week: Crocoman
-
Now that I'm back doing the blog thing I thought I would use Tome of
Adventure Design to create monsters for The Black Hack.
Using the monster tables in th...
Strange, Dangerous, and Inhuman: The Fey and Fairie
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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...
Fiction in Airhde
-
On a whim this weekend, I picked up some fiction off the TLG store. *A
Houseless God & Other Tales* and *The Mirrored Soul & Other Tales*, both by
the T...
Ravensburg Reboot: Streamlined City Map
-
I mentioned in my last post how I was tweaking and reworking parts of my
Ravensburg setting. Today I streamlined the city map. The old map had lots
of redu...
The Withered Crag available now
-
I just enabled the sale of the PDF version of The Withered Crag at
DriveThruRPG a few minutes ago, and the custom print version will be
available startin...
Annihilation Rising Goes live
-
The latest in Fail Squad Games’ Quick Kick projects has gone live and needs
your support!! This project is only running 11 days and ends on 5/28/2019!
...
James's Celebration of Life
-
We could not have asked for a prettier day for James's service. It was a
bit chilly and windy but gorgeous. A heartfelt thank you to all that joined
us tod...
Trap Tuesday: A step back
-
I will get back to Tomb of Horrors soon. I found a topic that was
interesting enough to take a break. While interacting in a 5E group on
Facebook I talked ...
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...
Please, I don't do paid advertisements - don't ask.
-
A little note since people have asked me about this. My video channel's
*not* an advertising platform, so I'm not available for hire if you want to
promote...
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...
Total Sales for WB:FMAG
-
Hi Folks,
It's been a long time since I provided an update for the sales of White
Box: Fantastic Medieval Adventure Game.
*LULU*
Print: 396
PDF: 433
*OBS*...
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 megadunge...
Mord Mar - Session 5
-
We had another successful delve into the dungeon yesterday. The delvers:
Moira, the Magic-User
Radovan - Human Cleric (of Odin?)
Khazgar Stonehand - Dwarf ...
Bundle of Fantasy Age
-
Bundle of Holding: Dragon Age/Fantasy Age: Available until March 12. PA
Presents: Fantasy AGE Freeport live play Green Ronin in 2018 The Fantasy
Age RPG ma...
New Free PDF Module: The Hyqueous Vaults
-
A new dungeon module—written in celebration of OSRIC's 10th Birthday—by
Rebecca Dettmann, Allan T. Grohe, Jr., Jimm Johnson, Matthew Riedel, Alex
Zisch, a...
Swords & Wizardry Light: Session # 6
-
Two months after our last session (thanks to things like 8th grade finals,
a 4 year-old's birthday and party, Father's Day, etc.), we finally had our
next ...