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Saturday, September 3, 2022

Humble Bundle - Boldly Go: A Star Trek Comics Collection



I'm finding a new love for comic books, as I can load them onto my iPad and zoom in to appreciate the art and better read the lettering. Yes, my eyes are getting old ;) It isn't only that though, it's the fact that at 55 I've run out of space for new stuff without getting rid of old stuff to make room. Digital comics take up no more space than my iPad does, for hundreds if not thousands of comics. I've been rereading The Sandman and spending countless hours in the worlds of 2000 AD/Judge Dredd recently, and it's been a blast. It looks like I'll be adding Star Trek to the list of comics I'll be reading.

18 bucks get you everything you see on this post, 54 titles in all from the Boldly Go: A Star Trek Comics Collection. You can spend less to receive less, and personally, I'm not all that excited to see Discovery titles in the batch, but maybe the included stories will make the TV series enjoyable, or at least tolerable. There look to be a number of gems in this collection, like The City on the Edge of Forever. What a classic!





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The Tavern is supported by readers like you. The easiest way to support The Tavern is to shop via our affiliate links. 

DTRPGAmazon, and Humble Bundle are affiliate programs that support The Tavern.  You can catch the daily Tavern Chat cast on AnchorYouTube or wherever you listen to your podcast collection. - Tenkar 






Friday, September 2, 2022

DTRPG is Having a Settings Sales, and Its Left Me Scratching My Head...

It appears that two of the three titles showcased for the September Settings Sale are not actual part of the sale. This could be a simply oversight, but not a good look when there is another controversy brewing over yet another update to their publisher guidelines (I'll share that below - its worthy of a full post, and Bat in the Attic will likely have you covered in the near future;)

Brinkwood and Court of Blades are full price as you can see above and will also see if you follow the links on the sales page. This is not the first time I've seen items listed as part of a sale that weren't actually ON sale, but it is the first time I've noticed it with products they highlighted on their banner. The fact that they are placing 7 and 9 for the Hottest September System Sale: Week 1 is also leading to some head scratching, as they are currently selling at FULL price. 

Note: As I was writing this, they dropped off the "Hottest" list, but are still listed as part of the sale at full price.


As promised - more later:


Don't forget to subscribe to the Tenkar's Tavern Youtube Channel to ensure you don't miss an episode. https://www.youtube.com/c/TenkarsTavern

The Tavern is supported by readers like you. The easiest way to support The Tavern is to shop via our affiliate links. 

DTRPGAmazon, and Humble Bundle are affiliate programs that support The Tavern.  You can catch the daily Tavern Chat cast on AnchorYouTube or wherever you listen to your podcast collection. - Tenkar 



Thursday, September 1, 2022

Bundle of Holding - DCC RPG Essentials

If you haven't played the DCC RPG yet, you probably should. The "funnel" is one of the most fun types of scenarios to run or play in. For 14.95 for the DCC RPG Essentials Bundle, you can get the core rules, Sailors on the Starless Sea (one of the best adventures for any system), another adventure, and the GM screen in PDF.

There is a second bundle for the DCC RPG if you want to continue playing the DCC RPG. 

Don't forget to subscribe to the Tenkar's Tavern Youtube Channel to ensure you don't miss an episode. https://www.youtube.com/c/TenkarsTavern

The Tavern is supported by readers like you. The easiest way to support The Tavern is to shop via our affiliate links. 

DTRPGAmazon, and Humble Bundle are affiliate programs that support The Tavern.  You can catch the daily Tavern Chat cast on AnchorYouTube or wherever you listen to your podcast collection. - Tenkar 


Wednesday, August 31, 2022

As Promised, Complete C&D Letter on Behalf of TSR/LaNasa can be Downloaded Below

As I promised in this morning video, I'm making the complete Cease & Desist letter that was sent to me earlier this month on behalf of Justin LaNasa / TSR Games available below. Feel free to watch the videos that Justin's attorney failed to actually do.

Note: Yes, it includes my full name and address. I've been doxed by those associated with nuTSR several times. The info is in the wild. I'm sure If I tried to obscure it, they would simply dox me again.

Download the PDF of the complete C&D letter here

In addition, I am attaching the "anonymouse" email that referred to the C&D, at a time when I had not publicly shared knowledge of the C&D. I'll let you guess as the the source of the "anonymouse" email.



Don't forget to subscribe to the Tenkar's Tavern Youtube Channel to ensure you don't miss an episode. https://www.youtube.com/c/TenkarsTavern

The Tavern is supported by readers like you. The easiest way to support The Tavern is to shop via our affiliate links. 

DTRPGAmazon, and Humble Bundle are affiliate programs that support The Tavern.  You can catch the daily Tavern Chat cast on AnchorYouTube or wherever you listen to your podcast collection. - Tenkar 




Tuesday, August 30, 2022

You Get a Subpoena, and You Get a Subpoena! - WotC Subpoenas in the Legal Action vs nuTSR Are Served!


Well, I knew about this Monday afternoon and now the cat is out of the bag. Don Semora and Michael Hovermale have been subpoenaed by WotC in their legal action vs nuTSR. Actually, Don got two, as Wizard Tower Games also received a subpoena.

So, any bets on the next sock-puppet account to appear on Twitter? Maybe ILostMyHome2023 or OwnedbyWotC99NeverMind.

Maybe we need to turn this into a drinking game. Never mind, I think someone in North Carolina already has...


Don't forget to subscribe to the Tenkar's Tavern Youtube Channel to ensure you don't miss an episode. https://www.youtube.com/c/TenkarsTavern

The Tavern is supported by readers like you. The easiest way to support The Tavern is to shop via our affiliate links. 

DTRPGAmazon, and Humble Bundle are affiliate programs that support The Tavern.  You can catch the daily Tavern Chat cast on AnchorYouTube or wherever you listen to your podcast collection. - Tenkar 

Monday, August 29, 2022

Humble Bundle - Inside Gaming MIT Press Books (includes Game Wizards and The Elusive Shift)

I don't read much fiction these days unless it's in comic book form or audiobook format. Sit me down with a good book about recent tech or geek history, and I'm gone for hours. 

The Inside Gaming MIT Press Books Bundle from Humble Bundle is exactly what it says on the tin:

Discover insider knowledge on all things gaming—from design, development, and theory to the history of your favorite consoles, RPGs, MMORPGs, and more—in the Inside Gaming book bundle from MIT Press!

Get fascinating new perspectives on popular games like Dungeons & Dragons and World of Warcraft (Game Wizards; Warcraft Civilization). Take a trip down memory lane, and revisit histories of classic gaming systems, including Atari (Racing the Beam; Atari Age), the Game Boy Advance (Who Are You?), Super Nintendo (Super Power, Spoony Bards, Silverware), and the Nintendo Wii (Codename Revolution). Go inside the world of game developers with Handmade Pixels and Developer's Dilemma, and discover how games provide more than just entertainment—but insight into our values, the nature of play, and the power of storytelling—in The Art of Failure, How Games Move Us, and Values at Play.



Don't forget to subscribe to the Tenkar's Tavern Youtube Channel to ensure you don't miss an episode. https://www.youtube.com/c/TenkarsTavern

The Tavern is supported by readers like you. The easiest way to support The Tavern is to shop via our affiliate links. 

DTRPGAmazon, and Humble Bundle are affiliate programs that support The Tavern.  You can catch the daily Tavern Chat cast on AnchorYouTube or wherever you listen to your podcast collection. - Tenkar 

Sunday, August 28, 2022

Story Time: My 1st Two Tournament Experiences

Story Time: My 1st Two Tournament Experiences
Yesterday I was doing something kind of monotonous and painful.....assembled (mostly) a big piece of Ikea furniture. Had Spotify blasting in the background and some song lyrics lamenting being dealt a "bad hand", and I honestly thought....., "Do people even think about the times they unfairly have an advantage?"

Well, obviously I do, or I probably wouldn't be typing about it here. What immediately came to mind were my 1st two RPG tournaments. While I am quick to talk about tournaments here 'cause it's an easy topic for me since I played in, and then ran, quite a few for HackMaster at Origins & GenCon. Pretty sure that I've referenced my earliest tournament experiences before, but I haven't flat-out told the whole story/stories.

My very 1st tournament experience was definitely a "bad hand" and the second was an "unfair advantage". Both of these were at a smaller local con overseas. The organizer was able to bill the AD&D Tournament as the "National Tournament" because there wasn't one otherwise. Winner got a free trip to GenCon Europe. No pressure.....actually I'm in it for the fun, so no....no actual pressure.

It's 1995 and I've made it to the final round at the "American" table.....there was another table for the host country so games could be run in native languages. I don't remember if we can choose our pre-gens or if they were randomly assigned, but I got a single-sided PC sheet that had the party Magic User. On the flip side of the PC sheet was a fricken wall of text. One paragraph of your PC's basic history and then a series of short paragraphs telling the player how their PC gets along with the other PCs. For the most part nothing too remarkable....until you got to the fighter, Solamnus. I can't recall my PC's name, but I sure remember this guy!

My PC did not like the Fighter, thinking he was an idiot and his stupidity is going to get me killed. There was some bad blood there, but it really looked like it my PC's fault 'cause it seemed to me that he was a bit full of himself and more than a bit dickish to the fighter, even if it didn't say that straight-up. The text was a first-person account and the "fact" that the fighter didn't care for being turned (intentionally, mind you) into a chicken was somehow not the MU's fault....yeah ok I think I have a feel for this PC.

In-character, and only in-character, I talked down to the fighter, nick-naming him "Salami" 'cause it was more succinct than "meat head". As a player I did mention to the other fighter's player that there was clearly some issues between our PCs and to please not take it personally. I assume he had bothered to read the backstory......especially since he didn't have to start looking up spells and whatnot before we started.....

.....yeah, clearly I assumed wrong. The player was a little antagonistic, but it didn't seem OOC in the moment.

The party did manage to work well-enough together, but leading into the final encounter it was obvious we were getting into, at best, a stalemate, and at worse possibly even a TPK. Now was my opportunity to shine and through a good combination of spells I was able to advance our party to the final encounter and subsequently managed to obtain the McGuffin while the party was otherwise bogged downed with the BBG. This enabled our table to win the tournament!

We had to pick a MVP from our table to win the trip and while I am biased (duh) I think it should have been me because I was playing my PC well, and managed to do some creative work that caused us to win. Problem was that Solamnus' player, and the player's wife (who was also in the game) really didn't like my PC making fun of that PC. Both players took it personally and to this day I don't think they actually read the PC backgrounds. Instead they both voted for the Bard's player, who did some cheap theatrics at the table......really?

Clearly I was a bit upset, but really it was just some added BS that feed into post-game and post-convention let-down. I really didn't know that was a thing for me yet. The player who went to GenCon Europe had a great time and she actually started playing and I was able to take part in her game a couple of times.

The next year (1996) though, that was a bit of a shit-show, but grossly unfair.....in my favor. Again I'm at the final table and this adventure revolves around finding a Holy Avenger for a Paladin....that I was lucky enough to draw. Really? The entire adventure revolves around one/my PC getting the best bad-ass weapon possible for him, which we managed to do. The final BBG is tough, but against a Holy Avenger....not that tough. Guess who won the tournament? The obvious answer isn't "me", but "Whoever managed to play the Paladin", which was me, but if a monkey capable of rolling dice was at the table with that PC (be nice Erik!) had the Paladin, then that monkey would be going to 1997 GenCon Europe! At least this monkey got a trophy!*

I didn't do too poorly at GenCon Europe. I didn't win, but I did place in the top half of my table...which came in second. This means I was in the top 10 if that's brag-worthy. That convention was in England during the weekend that Princess Diana died. That was an....... interesting experience, but not one for here. It was the second time I met Ken Whitman (1st being the earlier convention), but again not a (interesting enough) experience for here, unless you're a fan of the card game Groo: The game.

With these two initial tournament experiences it isn't surprising that it took me almost another decade to sling dice in an organized play event again......




*There was no trophy for winning the tournament. The prize was the trip, so I had a cup made as a trophy.  I just wanted something physical I could display, and possibly use at the table. Not the best pic as this was for something else....

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