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.
Villains & Vigilantes (2nd Edition) (1982)
-
From the back cover:
CONTEMPORARY ROLE-PLAYING IN THE AGE OF SUPER-HEROES
COMPLETE RULES FOR:
Origins of Super-Heroes
Super-Powers
Use of Super-Powers
C...
Fuccubus Friday - More Love For Karlach
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I’ve featured content related to my favorite Faerunian cinnamon roll,
Karlach before. Well a few weeks ago, Ring of Honor’s Athena dressed as her
for a mat...
Limits on Targeting Hit Locations?
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This post is thanks to Faodladh, who made a comment on my last post on this
subject.
In GURPS, it's very common to target specific hit locations. For skill...
New Printable Scenery Campaign: Ramshackle & Ruin
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[image: New Printable Scenery Campaign: Ramshackle & Ruin]
I don't know how many of my peeps here are into 3d printing, but I'm always
collecting the STL ...
Play as Sculpture, Play as Prism
-
Watching my eldest child and friends engaging in imaginative play, I'm
often struck by the fact that what seems to excite them is deciding who
gets to be...
New monster for dungeons and debauchery
-
Ive never heard of a minotaur with a medusa headed nob - terrifying.
At least you can always see him coming.
So I made s...
Replacement Star Hero Books
-
The two *Star Hero* books I ordered to replace two that I thought I'd lost
(but had merely misplaced) arrived this morning.
I got the shipping notice ...
Remembering Celery, 2010-2024
-
I started 2024 with -- relative to my usual blogging output -- a bit of a
bang. And then I fell off...for a variety of reasons, one of which I'm
about to ...
The Lost Universe
-
By Christina Mitchell NASA Generic/Universal/Fantasy Levels 7-10? A dark
mystery has settled over the city of Aldastron on the rogue planet of
Exlaris. Res...
Making the Game Happen
-
My favourite RPG books do their work in three distinct stages:
*GRAB*: Get the reader excited to play the game and make it an easy sell to
players.
*PRE...
I saved the timeline!
-
One of the other participants in the game jam I joined produced a Game Boy
adventure called OuttaTime. You can try it yourself in your browser here:
http...
Weapon speed, size and force: simplifying AD&D
-
*"Forget weapon speed factors. I must have been under the influence of a
hex when I included them in the bloody rules." - attributed to Gary Gygax.*
If you...
Miskatonic Monday #276: Pass the Giggle Water
-
Between October 2003 and October 2013, Chaosium, Inc. published a series of
books for *Call of Cthulhu* under the Miskatonic University Library
Associati...
A Review of 'A Tale of Bali' by Vicky Baum
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really liked this book but the five stars I give it are based on my
experience, and that is influenced strongly by my recent reading of 'The
Theatre State'...
Session #12 & Adventure Sites Compilation
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Firstly, I wanted to let everybody know that Adventure Sites I by Coldlight
Press is now available as a free download on DriveThruRPG. It includes my
own...
Clerics of the Flanaess, Part 2
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Sorry it took so long to get to the next article in this series, but here
we are! This continues the details of specialty clerics for the World of
Greyhawk...
On the Sector Turn
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It's very simple.
There are many important things cybertechtronically enhanced secret agents
need to do: Buy illegal tanks with railguns. "Convince" the...
Arsenic & Old Lace (a Review)...
-
The free-kriegsspiel revolution (or FKR; sometimes free-kriegsspiel
roleplay) has been getting a lot of attention lately, which seems
inevitable given re...
The Light Dawns
-
THIS!!! Yes, a thousand times, this!
Back in the day, I referred to this as “neo-classicalgaming,” which is to
say, the sorts of games that came ou...
Improvised Awful Lights Missions
-
Asking about The Awful Lights, a commenter asks:
*I'd love to hear about how this is run - with the Handler determining
mission location and objectives ...
Jim Ward's Adventure in Gygax's Wonderland
-
Last weekend at GaryCon, many of us raised a glass to the memory of Jim
Ward, who passed away just days before the convention. Ward was very
helpful to m...
It’s Tolkien Reading Day
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I recently started rereading *The Silmarillion*. I had last read it over
two decades ago. I liked it then but I’m really enjoying it this time!
Despite b...
Osr anchorites?
-
It's been a long time since I listened to any osr podcasts. Anchor was a
lot of fun. I'm not sure if the community is still going? I deleted the
app ...
Chaos War Dogs
-
Welcome back to the Vault! My gaming partner and I had a fun day at the
Meme Team doubles last weekend, placing mid-table results wise. My eye is
now lo...
ShadowDark Magic Items
-
The next campaign I run will use the ShadowDark RPG. I'm not sure when
that'll be (I'm hoping a little later this year), but ShadowDark is my
choice. I'v...
Xandering, Jaquaysing, or Arneson-ing the Dungeon?
-
Yet another gamer firestorm arose shortly after the passing of Janelle
Jaquays when it was noted that Justin Alexander had changed a rather well
known p...
The 4th Category
-
New Year, New Release — and this one is a monument all to itself, a great
fit for the 50th Anniversary of the launch of D&D™...
Introducing *The 4th Cat...
GLOG Class: Bioweapon
-
I got this idea from mad gods on bear blog.
Crab Evo from Kagaku Sentai Dynaman
A thousand soldiers were slain. Too many to be tragic--this is just a fact...
The Economy Engine, v0.2
-
I made a thing. For D&D 3rd edition, so it might not be that interesting to
a lot of people. But I made it and I think it’s cool. The 3rd edition
Dungeon M...
*'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...
What Else Have I Got in Me?
-
Brechewold's been done for a little while. Still incredibly pumped to have
this labor of love out in the company of LotFP's marvelously creative body
of ...
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...
Time Rolls On
-
Today is December 31, 2023, in the mid-afternoon. In less than ten hours it
will be 2024. 2023 2023 was a good year. But all years are good years. Both
goo...
Play Report: Skull Mountain
-
At the end of the last Skull Mountain session the PCs had retreated to
safety at Owen's redoubt, met with visiting elves, and recovered from
injuries ...
-
Heya folks, the 21st Salt Mine book, Import Export, has hit the digital
shelves! In the 21st book we follow Aaron Haddock-codename Stigma-as he
tries to ...
Moving On...
-
So, my D&D 5e experiment has blown up the lab in a puff of green smoke
leaving my face blackened like Wile E. Coyote after a failed roadrunner
Acme trap...
How to Keep Megadungeons Fresh
-
People often consider megadungeons boring. Not because the play style is
boring, but because they are in the same locale for a majority of the
campaign. If...
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...
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, ...
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 ...
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
doi...
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...