I started my Traveller experience with the Traveller Starter Set. My God, it was an amazing experience and my only regret at the time was a lack of an experience point system (heh - I still harbour that regret)
The Traveller Explorer's Edition is a mere buck. I strongly suggest, that at that price, one can easily make a decision on whether to dive in further to what Mongoose Traveller has to offer, game on with what one has, or forgo any further.
Simply a bargain.
Traveller is the science fiction roleplaying game of the far future. The Traveller Explorers’ Edition is an introduction to the game for newcomers that provides all of the tools you need to create adventures or even an entire campaign. Create bold scouts and intrepid scientists who travel into the unknown aboard their trusty Type-S Scout/Courier, a rugged exploration ship perfect for the job.
Dock your ship at advanced starports, visit strange worlds, encounter alien beings and animals, and take on the challenges that the galaxy sets before you.
The Explorer’s Edition provides all core game rules for Traveller, plus a universe creation system that allows referees to create new star systems on the fly for their players to visit and explore…
The universe awaits. Welcome to Traveller!
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I've been attempting to make a special effort to reveal any connections I may have to the various products I highlight here at The Tavern. This post is no different.
I've known Joe Bloch for a number of years (and got to meet him face to face for the first time at the Gygax Magazine launch in Brooklyn back in January of 2013 - my God, 8 years ago!)
Joe's latest release is Red in Tooth and Claw, an adventure written for Adventures Dark & Deep but usable with an OSR ruleset. It's 2.95 in PDF and 5.95 in Print plus PDF.
The southern verge of the Sesve Forest is beset by evil. Woodsmen are slain, villagers’ flocks and herds are rended asunder, and no one seems able to stem the tide of evil. But this is no ordinary pack of wolves threatening the forest precincts; they strike with supernatural cunning, behave with human-like strategy, and show a pure evil unknown to nature.
You and your companions must explore the southern edge of the forest and root out this pack of evil beasts before they strike again, and bring peace once more to the region. This adventure is the second in a trilogy of adventure modules, but can easily be played as a stand-alone module.
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I've always enjoyed Dirk Stanley's work, and actually snagged some of his adventures for the Far Away Land RPG before I even bought the core rules. Quite simply, he does good work. Dirk, Vince Florio, and I even did a short-lived podcast for the Far Away Land RPG.
(edit: Doh! And yes, that is Dirk's artwork at the top of this page)
So yes, I know Dirk. Yes, I am likely biased. But that's okay because Mere Anarchy is priced at PWYW pricing for two pages (1-sheet) and your risk (and investment) is literally nil (unless you tip Dirk for his fine work.
I suspect Mere Anarchy would work best as a convention game. Simple to learn, everyone can be given their 1-sheet of the game AT the game, and all one needs are some d6's.
Mere Anarchy is an ultra-lite, 1-page (front and back) rpg that uses a simple 2d6 system. You can learn the game and make characters and get started playing in minutes.
The game features unique and simplified systems for many things like NPCs and monsters and generating treasure.
Overview of basic mechanics
Character creation (with optional rules)
PC Advancement
Combat
Magic (freeform system)
Gear
NPCs & Monsters
Treasure
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The Tavern.
You can catch the daily Tavern Chat podcast on Anchor, YouTube,
or wherever you listen to your podcast collection.
I've recently been bitten (again) by the RuneQuest Bug. I last ran a RuneQuest Campaign over 30 years ago, using the RuneQuest 2nd edition rules and the Pavis and Big Rubble box sets. It was an amazing summer of RuneQuest fun, and although we didn't call it a "sandbox" back then, it was certainly the first sandbox I ran.
I noticed last night that on the Chaosium website, they offer Glorantian Classics: Borderlands and Beyond for $18.99, in print plus free PDF - basically half off the regular price. Not owning a prior version of Borderlands (but remembering the rave reviews of it from years ago) I promptly ordered the hard copy and started perusing my newly acquired PDF.
I'm inspired to run a RuneQuest Campaign again, with Pavis & Big Rubble, as well as the Borderlands at my disposal. Apparently, I ordered a PDF copy of Pavis & Big Rubble from DTRPG in the past, and I'll be uploading that to my iPad, much like I've uploaded Borderlands. Edition changes don't phase me, as I've been running all editions of various D&D / OGL adventures for years using Swords & Wizardry rules. So long as the players don't know what the "true" stats should be, any stats you present as a GM are the "true" stats ;)
This is an updated and reformatted 300+ page reprint of ALL of the information from the original Chaosium Borderlands boxed set, Plunder, and Runemasters.
Rick also included additional Plunder items, expanded Runemasters character histories, and loads of background info from Nomad Gods and Wyrms Footnotes magazine. The interior is lavishly illustrated with dozens of new pictures from Simon Bray, Dario Corallo, plus loads of oldies but goodies from Lisa Free, Luise Perrinne, Gene Day and Rick Becker.
Note, this is the last of the Glorantian Classics line Chaosium has in print.
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The Tavern.
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or wherever you listen to your podcast collection.
Looking at one of the latest Bundles of Holding, I am quite impressed by the quality works included at these price points. Truth be told, I believe I already own everything, if not in print than in PDF. That says a lot IMHO.
With the Goodman Gems bundle, you get The Adventurer's Almanac, the DM Campaign Tracker, PC Pearls, and GM Gems for 9.99. If you increase your buy-in to about 26 bucks, you also get The Dungeon Alphabet, The Monster Alphabet, The Cthulhu Alphabet, 50 Fantastic Functions for the D50, and How to Write Adventure Modules that Don't Suck.
It's a pretty damn strong collection overall.
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The Tavern.
You can catch the daily Tavern Chat podcast on Anchor, YouTube,
or wherever you listen to your podcast collection.
To be honest, I did not purchase Giantlands with high hopes. At $130 plus shipping my expectations were severely muted. That being said, I can honestly say, the editing is, by far, better than any of the peeks we've had of various TSR3 products that have not been released yet. Surely, not a high bar to meet, but one that has been met and exceeded.
Now, on to the cover of Volume 1 of Three Booklets, Spirits Guide. Yes, I know that looks awkward, but there it is.
Giantlands: Science Fantasy Roleplaying Game Playable with Pen, Paper, Dice & Masks
Maybe it's just me, but we never played with masks back in the day OR today (but occasionally we did play with hand puppets, like the Rocky & Bullwinkle Game from TSR). This makes it seem like masks are expected to be used as part of gameplay. It should be noted that masks are NOT included in the box, but pencils are, as well as dice and some tokens.
At first glance, the art looks above average to pretty damn good. Jeff Dee did some interior art, and the other artists did fine jobs overall.
We start with the description of the 5th Age. If you've played an RPG with a default setting before, you probably already know much of the script.
This is followed by the section The Fun of Roleplaying. If this is your first RPG, do read it. Also, my sympathies, as this should likely not be your first RPG. That applies to MOST RPGs. It's not a knock on Giantlands specifically, just a general note.
Definition of Terms comes next. At four pages, it does a decent job of defining terms used in RPGs in general and Giantlands in particular.
Core Guidelines is the next page and really feels like it could have been included with The Fun of Roleplaying Section. Again, as a gamer, this section can likely be ignored by most.
The What Do You Need Section ("the following is a list of what is needed for a game of Giantlands") is where I find myself blinking and shaking my head. Spirits (players), Spirit Keeper (GM), Dice, Sigil Coins (tokens of a sort. Four are included in the box, but you could substitute coins), Pencil (the cover says "pen", but that's nitpicking), Paper, Imagination, Lusory Attitude (basically the ability to immerse yourself in the game - yeah, Gygaxian word) and lastly Masks and Costumes.
Now, let's pull that last piece out on its own.
Masks and Costumes
Masks are a way to help us stay safe while stepping even more out of our everyday selves and into other roles. Decorate your mask with Sigils, human or animal features, or anything else that makes you feel more like your character. Costumes of any kind also help us and others to imagine more deeply and suspend disbelief in the fantasy
Does the above paragraph make anyone else cringe? It certainly makes me cringe. Needless to say, no masks or costumes are included with Giantlands but they are included in the What Do You Need Section of the rulebook.
Now, I'm not saying that an RPG with masks and costumes can't work, but marketing such to old-school gamers is likely the wrong market to aim for.
But wait! There's more on Costumes and Masks a few pages later.
Costume and mask creation is an important part of playing Giantlands.
We strongly and sincerely suggest you craft your own.
Playing dress-up is great fun, but it comes with game benefits too. The costume rules state that if you wear a mask, you may add +5 to each of your Ability scores. If you wear a full-body costume, you can add +10 to each Ability score.
I'm an adult. I don't play dress-up.
But it seems as though Costumes and Masks are NOT required to play Giantlands, just highly beneficial with in-game bonuses that literally make no sense.
"Hey, bring blue dice to my game table and I'll make sure you get +1 hit for the rest of the session" is not the way to design a game.
Damn, where was I?
Oh yes, the Play of the Game Section. This is another section that makes me scratch my head, specifically Step Three. Actually, everything from Step Three on. Fuckit, there's too much to type. Here's the page for review purposes only:
There is no sample adventure in the box (and I just confirmed that Volume 2, the Keepers Guide, lacks such). It appears that the assumption is that the Spirit Keeper will know how to design an adventure for Giantlands, but the rules thus far seem to be directed at players new to RPGs in general.
How do you NOT include a sample adventure for a totally new game system? Even a free one on the website would suffice. From what I can tell, the only download on the WFD website is for a Giantlands character sheet. At 2 bucks, BTW.
K, I'm burned out.
Tomorrow Night on the Talking Crit LiveStream, we'll do a Giantlands Session Zero - Character Generation. At first glance, it doesn't seem all that balanced, but maybe that's where the "old school" aspect comes into the ruleset.
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The Tavern.
You can catch the daily Tavern Chat podcast on Anchor, YouTube,
or wherever you listen to your podcast collection.
I've always enjoyed the various worlds and settings of Warhammer and immersing myself in fiction is a fun pastime. These days, I prefer audiobooks, but with my Kindle app, even my tired old eyes can read the selections available in the Stories From the Worlds of Warhammer 2022 Humble Bundle by Black Library.
For as little as a buck, you can snag six bucks in Kindle and epub formats. $18 dollars gets you 25 books. If you are into fantasy and/or fantasy/sci-fi fiction, this is a hard-to-beat deal.
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You can catch the daily Tavern Chat podcast on Anchor, YouTube,
or wherever you listen to your podcast collection.
Yeah, so if you think I almost forgot about today's post........you'd be right. This last week I managed to sign on a new home and then my car up and crapped out on me. Not really a good time to be needing to purchase a new vehicle, but you gotta do what you gotta do (Futurama anyone?).
So basically I'm leveling up and am able to "create" a Stronghold. I mean it's not my 1st house, but it's "my first" house....as in all me and just me. So the first thing I have to do, after "evicting" the previous tenets (i.e. bought the house) was to secure the premises.....in this case change all my locks.
Now I'm at the cleanup and slowly moving in phase.
Anyway, clearly that's my real life at the moment, but I've yet to be able to do this in-game. I did get close once. My DS Invoker got a high enough level and saved up more than enough coin. The tipping point was my PC getting a Pseudo Dragon familiar, so then he was all set to "retire", build a library, and begin his practice (he was working on being a Doctor of sorts)*.
I've never GM'd a player building a bonafide Stronghold either.
In-game I like the idea of a Stronghold/Library/Whatever, but it seems to me to be more of a goal....a journey, not really a destination, something to work towards, but probably a campaign-wrecker if it ever came to fruition. While I can certainly come up with ideas for adventures emanating from the Stronghold, or during it's creation, they just seem way too different from the types of adventures during the normal murder-hoboing.....
So basically I see the creation of a Stronghold as more of an end-game thing. Retire the PC and maybe bring them back out here & there for one-offs. I often have some sort of end-game idea in mind for my PCs. My current OSR Magic User doesn't have one....yet, but my last HackMaster PC was expected to return to the homeland and probably die leading a rebellion to free his enslaved brethren. I was hoping that'd be an epic campaign, but alas the gaming group broke up and I haven't touched that PC since.
Usually I like to pose a question to the 12 13 readers I have here at the Tavern and the obvious one would be if anyone has built a Stronghold before, but what I'd rather read about is if/how many of us envision an end-game for their PCs. Not just what, but when (level?), and what is involved in that thought process?
Miskatonic Monday #183: Saturday the 14th
-
Between October 2003 and October 2013, Chaosium, Inc. published a series of
books for *Call of Cthulhu* under the Miskatonic University Library
Associati...
Mystery in Muffelton
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By ArtifexWorlds Self Published Generic/Universal ... or 5e? Tier 2 Welcome
to Muffelton. A frontier town in a land that has finally calmed down a
little a...
Gigantic Attack -- Resolving Combat in One Roll
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So tonight I'm going to be writing the first draft of a mechanic that is
meant to replace an entire combat round with a single roll.
I first had the idea...
Dungeon23 (Wk 14) - Different sorts of monsters
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Another addition to my personal, locally-hosted Dungeon23 generator, I
added the Random Esoteric Creature Generator tables to it.
I think it's time to ...
Music Monday- High School of the Dead
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High School of the Dead is infamous for its fan service and physics defying
boob jiggling. That being said I love it and it’s a really good zombie
series. ...
Felltower pre-summary
-
Full writeup tomorrow. But for now:
- the PCs finished their fight with the demons, and didn't all die.
- loot was looted.
- the PCs took a break near the...
Post-Singularity Hardcopy Concepts
-
Chatbot evolution, deepfakes. conspiracy and counter-conspiracy and
counter-counter conspiracy. re-editing of children's books (is your copy of
'The Twits'...
The Soldier Class (5E)
-
Here's a jotted-down Soldier class, made for jotting down Soldier
characters to battle it out as action figures do.
Obviously, it's just a few steps away...
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 ...
Call of Cthulhu
-
I've ordered myself a copy of the 7th edition of the venerable *Call of
Cthulhu* game by Chaosium, because everyone should have at least one
version of...
Analysis of Causes of PC Death in OSR Games
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In my previous post, I mentioned that in my weekly campaign we average
around one PC death a month. In the comments somebody asked me about the
causes of...
Adding skills and feats makes OSR games SIMPLER
-
Most of the times, adding stuff makes games more complex, while removing
unnecessary parts makes them simpler. One example I like to mention is the
"slow" ...
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 ...
Exploring With Spells in the Megadungeon
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Found at Angry Golem GamesContinuing the thoughts from last week, I thought
I would discuss some of the more versatile spells in a megadungeon
environmen...
Using 30-mile hexes
-
Everyone knows that Hexagons are Bestagons, and that the 6-mile hex really
is the only size that makes sense for wilderness travel. But since the dawn
of R...
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...
Into the Unknown vs 5th edition Dungeons & Dragons
-
I learned about the *Into the Unknown *fantasy role-playing game last
summer at the RPG Pub. Intrigued, I ordered it from *DrivethruRPG *(both
PDF and pr...
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 ...
Funneling the Fantasy Sausage...
-
There's an ascending (or rather, descending) structure to our fantasy
campaigns*, which hopefully enforces the specialness of its magical
elements while ...
Free GM Resource: Syrinscape 2nd Look
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[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
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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
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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...
The Cyberpunk We Got
-
Taking a covid test in a car speeding through the rain at night feels very
cyberpunk. International travel, backseat chemistry.. all I need is a red
dot...
[REVIEW] The Hollow Tomb
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*Curently Smoking:Imperial Beetroot BlendThe Hollow Tomb (2022)*
by Harry Menear
Published by Noisms Games
Levels 2–4
Enjoy being lost *In the Hall of...
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
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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...