I answered, forwarded, and read all outstanding OSR Christmas related emails this morning. I am all caught up as far as I can tell, but there are still unclaimed gifts. If you have a gift pending and you haven't emailed me to claim it, please do. If you haven't heard from me, and you have emailed me, comment below. I dug through my spam folder and there were no OSR Christmas-related emails in it.
There WILL be a Gamers' Health Livestream tonight but at 10 PM Eastern instead of the usual 8 PM. We want to ensure we have time to spend with family AND our community.
OSR Christmas gifts will likely be awarded Monday, Dec 26th. OSR Christmas still has a few days left ;)
The DCC RPG is the only RPG I've run that had the same magic to me as running AD&D 1e. Sadly, it was short-lived, as my group didn't enjoy the rules as much as they enjoyed the adventures. Now, I convert the DCC RPG adventures I like to Swords & Wizardry on the fly.
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 cast on Anchor, YouTube, or wherever you listen to your podcast collection. - Tenkar
It's the most, wonderful time of the year - it's time for OSR Christmas! I just verified, and this is officially the 10th Year for OSR Christmas. Holy Santa, but that's a lot of gift-giving!
Now, this is Day 8 of OSR Christmas (and the assigning of gifts for OSR Christmas Day 6). Some may ask: "where was OSR Christmas Day 7?" Day 7 was on the Tavern's Youtube Channel on the Wednesday Night Livestream and Day 9 will be Friday, 8 PM, again on the Youtube Channel Livestream. Day 5 was awarded to subscribers of the Tenkar's Tavern Substack.
The following are the gift receivers from Day 6 of OSR Christmas. If you see your name below, you are being gifted. Email me at tenkarsDOTtavern at that gmail thing with "OSR Christmas" in the subject. Digital gifts need an email, and physical gifts need a mailing address.
$10 DTRPG Gift Certificate, donated by The Tavern - Worldwide - MGSherm
OSR Refrigerator Magnet, donated by Thadeus Moore - Worldwide - davrion
Shadowdark PDFs, full set, donated by James Mishler Games - Worldwide - Matt
Arduin Map - Physical, donated by Emperors' Choice Games- Worldwide - Tim Baker
Endless Encounters PDF (choice of B/X or 5e), donated by Pacesetter Games - Worldwide -
Fire in the Mohle! in PDF for MCC, donated by Silver Bulette - US ONLY - Narmer
Frog God Gift Pack - Either Splinters of Faith for 5e or an Assortment of Soft Cover Modules - Print - US Only - Trainer
To be in the mix to be potentially gifted one of the following gifts, you need to comment below. One random gift receiver will be picked for each gift sometime on Saturday, December 24th. So you have 2 days to get your comment in. Note: if you are outside the United States, I need you to indicate such. Some gifts are cost-prohibitive to ship outside the US. Blame the USPS, not us.
So, without further delay, the gifts in today's OSR Christmas Day 8 mix are:
$10 DTRPG Gift Certificate, donated by The Tavern - Worldwide
OSR Refrigerator Magnet, donated by Thadeus Moore - Worldwide
Shadowdark PDFs, full set, donated by James Mishler Games - Worldwide
Arduin Map - Physical, donated by Emperors' Choice Games- Worldwide
Endless Encounters PDF (choice of B/X or 5e), donated by Pacesetter Games - Worldwide
Dice Tower and Tray – Set – Archania Workshop - Note: US ONLY
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 cast on Anchor, YouTube, or wherever you listen to your podcast collection. - Tenkar
Bundle of Holding has been hitting it out of the park recently. Their latest bundle, 13th Age MEGA, is an amazing value for a truly well-spoken system. I have had the core book on my shelves for a number of years, and with this bundle, I think I'll complete my collection in PDF format.
Especially suited for new 13A players, this bargain-priced Megabundle gives you everything you need to run your own 13th Age campaign in the Dragon Empire. (Even if you bought our December 2015 13th Age Bundle and its December 2019 companion offer 13th Age Adventures, the six recent titles here might still entice you.)
For just US$24.95 you get all nine titles in our Starter Collection (retail value $158) as DRM-free ebooks, including the complete 13th Age Core Book (plus the Free RPG Day adventure Make Your Own Luck), the 13 True Ways rules expansion, the Bestiary and Bestiary 2, The Book of Loot and Loot Harder, The Book of Ages, the introductory adventure Crown of Axis, and the Game Master's Screen and Resource Book.
And if you pay more than the threshold price of $40.66, you'll level up and also get our entire Bonus Collection with ten more titles worth an additional $172, including the supplements The Book of Demons and Book of the Underworld; the adventures Shards of the Broken Sky, Elven Towers, Eyes of the Stone Thief (plus the conversion for D&D 5E), and Shadows of Eldolan; three sets of iconic Battle Scenes (with their accompanying Map Folios) – High Magic & Low Cunning, The Crown Commands, and Fire & Faith; and the 171-page adventure Diamonds and Shadows, a collection of seven modules from the 13th Age Organized Play program available exclusively in this offer and nowhere else.
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 cast on Anchor, YouTube, or wherever you listen to your podcast collection. - Tenkar
It's the most, wonderful time of the year - it's time for OSR Christmas! I just verified, and this is officially the 10th Year for OSR Christmas. Holy Santa, but that's a lot of gift-giving!
Now, this is Day 6 of OSR Christmas (and the assigning of gifts for OSR Christmas Day 4). Some may ask: "where was OSR Christmas Day 1?" Day 1 was on the Tavern's Youtube Channel on the Wednesday Night Livestream and Day 3 was last night, Friday, again on the Youtube Channel Livestream. Day 5 was awarded to subscribers of the Tenkar's Tavern Substack.
The following are the gift receivers from Day 4 of OSR Christmas. If you see your name below, you are being gifted. Email me at tenkarsDOTtavern at that gmail thing with "OSR Christmas" in the subject. Digital gifts need an email, and physical gifts need a mailing address.
$10 DTRPG Gift Certificate, donated by The Tavern - Worldwide - Helen
OSR Refrigerator Magnet, donated by Thadeus Moore - Worldwide - The Malum
Shadowdark PDFs, full set, donated by James Mishler Games - Worldwide ShadowStalker
Endless Encounters PDF (choice of B/X or 5e), donated by Pacesetter Games - Worldwide - Lasgunpacker
Fire in the Mohle! in Print for MCC, donated by Silver Bulette - US ONLY - goeticgeek
To be in the mix to be potentially gifted one of the following gifts, you need to comment below. One random gift receiver will be picked for each gift sometime on Thursday, December 22nd. So you have 2 days to get your comment in. Note: if you are outside the United States, I need you to indicate such. Some gifts are cost-prohibitive to ship outside the US. Blame the USPS, not us.
So, without further delay, the gifts in today's OSR Christmas Day 6 mix are:
$10 DTRPG Gift Certificate, donated by The Tavern - Worldwide
OSR Refrigerator Magnet, donated by Thadeus Moore - Worldwide
Shadowdark PDFs, full set, donated by James Mishler Games - Worldwide
Arduin Map - Physical, donated by Emperors' Choice Games- Worldwide
Endless Encounters PDF (choice of B/X or 5e), donated by Pacesetter Games - Worldwide
Fire in the Mohle! in PDF for MCC, donated by Silver Bulette - US ONLY
Frog God Gift Pack - Either Splinters of Faith for 5e or an Assortment of Soft Cover Modules - Print - US Only
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 cast on Anchor, YouTube, or wherever you listen to your podcast collection. - Tenkar
The Fantasy Trip Bundle presents The Fantasy Trip, the tabletop roleplaying game designed by Steve Jackson in its 2018 Legacy Edition from Steve Jackson Games.
The Fantasy Trip is one of the few early RPGs I didn't encounter in my early days in the hobby. I was lucky enough to get an early copy of the Kickstarter Boxed Set directly from Phil Reed of Steve Jackson Games a few months before I got my Kickstarter copy. It was an impressive box. Reading The Fantasy Trip, you can see the roots of GURPS in its design.
This all-new TFT Bundle brings you a Cidri-sized lineup for an unbeatable bargain price. For just US$14.95 you get all four titles in our Core Collection (retail value $47) as DRM-free ebooks. The star attraction is the mammoth The Fantasy Trip Legacy Edition that includes Melee, Wizard, In the Labyrinth, both Death Test solo adventures, the dungeon crawl Tollenkar's Lair, and tons of extras. You also get the solo adventure Red Crypt and two play aids: the Labyrinth Planner and Deluxe Character Journal.
The Fantasy Trip CompanionAnd if you pay more than the threshold price of $25.58, you'll level up and also get our entire Bonus Collection with four supplements worth an additional $57, including The Fantasy Trip Companion, TFT Adventures Volume 1, The Book of Unlife, and the first issue of the Fantasy Trip magazine, Hexagram.
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 cast on Anchor, YouTube, or wherever you listen to your podcast collection. - Tenkar
It's a week before Christmas and it's pretty much crunch time for a lot of people. Last-minute presents, wrapping what you already have, maybe one too-many holiday parties/obligations, oh, and the inevitable travel plans (even if it's people coming to you).
For me, my "crunch-time" is trying to figure out just how I'm going to get in all of my Christmas movies: Elf, Bad Santa, Bad Mom's Christmas, Scrooged, Miracle on 34th Street, A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas, Anna and the Apocalypse, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Die Hard (I know it's not a...whatever), It's a Wonderful Life, Office Christmas Party, Christmas Vacation, A Christmas Story, Eight Crazy Nights (I know, it's a Hannukah film, but deal), Fat Man, Mixed Nuts, and the Guardians of the Galaxy Christmas Special (for the 4th time). I have some other Christmas movies, but I don't need to see .....every .....single .....one.
Now as far as the holidays and gaming intersect, I have rarely seen a GM/campaign that has regular holidays as a thing. My HackMaster campaign did (I can envision of few readers rolling their eyes.......of course HackMaster had holidays!), but to be fair I didn't use my calendar, but one provided by somebody else. He had this whole bit of math done up to track lunar cycles (three moons) and specific holidays based on intersecting moon phases with some set holidays. I took all the math and created an Excel sheet so all you had to do was enter the year and *poof* here's a calendar for the year with holidays marked. My campaign was set thousands of years after the destructions of the Old Gawds, so I had to use Excel to make it work.
Granted, since Christmas is a religious holiday, as is Hannukah, and the majority of RPG campaigns have multiple gods...so would there be a LOT of "Christmas" holidays? Or maybe there is a predominate religion in each region and only that one has a "Christmas"?
Since before modern times almost all of our/the holidays we had were religious, not secular...holy crap that would be a HUGE amount of holidays to figure out for a campaign calendar. I mean I think it could be fun to do all of your gods, but if you use the Petty Gods book (like I do/would), you might need to lump a few together or your calendar would be only religious holidays!
Now.....if I can find the time between Christmas movies (and other last-minute holiday tasks), I think I'm going to stat-up Santa Claus for OSR....I'm thinking a dual-identity Fae that is Sinterklaas/Krampus that is (unfortunately) real easy to strike a bargain with, but like all dealings with the Fae.....there can be issues.
1993: Earthdawn
-
1974 is an important year for the gaming hobby. It is the year that *Dungeons
& Dragons* was introduced, the original RPG from which all other RPGs would ...
Lore 24
-
It’s now only three more weeks until the start of 2024, so it’s probably
high time to get some promotion for this idea going. I think most people in
the DI...
DL11: Dragons of Glory (1986)
-
From the back cover:
Across the world of Krynn, the armies of light and darkness clash in
titanic struggle, Now the vast forces of the High Solamnic Knig...
d100 Terrible Times Growing up an Elf
-
Has hayfever and pet dramas so no patreon last month
Have had up to 4 gigs a day for Dec already
Frog related dramas here too
I do want to do a book for X...
Never tell me the odds! Calculation Rule.
-
One thing that bugs me about games is this sequence:
- player proposes action
- player calculates the roll for the action
- player rejects option or changes...
The new Mythras Imperative is now available!
-
I recently mentioned that a new version of *Mythras Imperative* was in the
works. Well … it’s here!
The Design Mechanism’s announcement (at the RPG Pub):
...
The Drowned Valley of Gorth
-
By R.P. Davis Kabouter Games OSR Level 3? In a foggy valley high on the
knees of The Spine, a ruined castle sleeps half-buried in rancid mud. A
fabulous f...
More Big Bads - Magda and King Blrrk
-
Today I'm going to talk about two more Big Bads from Hit Point Press.
Unlike my last post, these pdfs aren't free (though they are only
2.99).Magda is a tr...
Rappan Athuk: Borumar gives a hand
-
Session was played on 2/13/23
Nick, Fighter 7 (Me)
Borumar, ½ Orc Fighter (Josh)
Blotto, Goblin (Lanse)
Morgana, Magic User (Rob)
Koltic, Cleric 7 (NPC)
Aro...
Isle of Sedra Kickstarter
-
My good friend Douglas Cole over Gaming Ballistic has launched a new
Kickstarter for his Isle of Sedra setting. It is written for Old School
Essentials....
Shieldwalls and Sorcery
-
The furniture of D&D is high medieval Europe, but tonally, it is a Western.
The PCs are not medieval Europeans who are buried beneath complex layers of
r...
In praise of Basic Fantasy (BFRPG)
-
As we've mentioned before, Basic Fantasy RPG (BFRPG) is a clone of Basic D&D,
"with small changes, mainly ascending armor class and separation of
character...
The Autumn of Summers
-
Nothing dies like a Summer and the great beasts of forgotten summers, each
different.
Seasons here come from the southwest and fade towards the nort...
Which Virtue?
-
We're entering the final 24 hours for *Mythic Bastionland*!
Here's a little extract from the Oddpocrphya section of *Mythic Bastionland*
.
*PLAY*
*After...
Spotlight On: Wyrdwarden...
-
Some of you might have heard about the *Mydwandr Supplement License*
allowing you, the community, to publish your own content for the game, with
great le...
Baking Soda Air-Dry Clay Recipe
-
For later reference:
Baking Soda Air-Drying Modeling Clay
1. Pour 2 cups Baking Soda and 1 cup of Cornstarch into a saucepan.
2. Add 1¼ cups co...
Christmas cards this year
-
Just ordered these and I thought I would share, I am retired Army so I find
this hilarious, may not be to everyone's liking but oh well, it is my
card! Tha...
Musings on Dexterity-based Initiative
-
I’ve been running a Swords & Wizardry play-by-post game for the past year
or so and have been using dexterity …
Continue reading →
Woodland races playtest
-
https://basicfantasy.org/showcase.cgi
I created some playable races for bfrpg. You can check them out on the
showcase page.
These are all races like s...
The Isle of Wight: Planning the Sandbox
-
One of the defining aspects of this campaign is my choice to run this on
the *real*, *actual* Isle of Wight. I had thought about filing off the
serial nu...
[BEYONDE] Thief: The Black Parade [NOW AVAILABLE]
-
The Black Parade
*“In THE BLACK PARADE you play the character of Hume, a hardened*
*criminal who was sent into exile as a punishment for his crimes.*
...
OSR: Rereading OD&D: Back to the Start
-
Time to revisit the primordial ooze of the Old-School Renaissance, the
original D&D booklets.
While my usual long-term OSR campaigns use the GLOG, for p...
Bonus session (#7.5)
-
Although the players from the main group were all busy with Thanksgiving
festivities, I had visitors from out of town who wanted to play, so we had
a gam...
One day left on the TMNT RPG kickstarter...!
-
It seems clear that the campaign isn't in need of a signal boost from a
tiny corner of the internet like mine...but it's still probably worth
pointing ou...
The Wives of Barago
-
Another post about Lon Barago, but also a continuation of Forms of
Government.
History
King Barago was the first king of Lon Barago. After his death, hi...
X-Cards
-
The *X-Card* emerged from the indie/storygamer side of the hobby maybe ten
or so years ago. Originally taking the form of an index card with a simply
X dr...
Go back my first Kickstarter!
-
Sanctimonious Slimes Versus Expired Epicures is the first adventure module
written for Errant. It will also be my first properly printed book. The
kind wit...
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 ...
Clerics of the Flanaess, Part 1
-
It’s been a while since we’ve had one of these articles, but the pages of
Dragonne Magazine have once more released their secrets from that alternate
unive...
Golden Gaming: Adeptus Custodian Guard
-
Welcome back to the Vault! It's been some time since I've posted, but fear
not, I have been both painting and gaming! It turns out that 10th edition
40K...
-
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 ...
Into the Megadungeon
-
Just a quickie to let you know that if you're not following Ben Laurence's
new podcast Into the Megadungeon, you are doing yourself a serious
disservice....
Proxy? You Misspelled Patsy! Part 1
-
Mechane, Atomo and Spatia had a delightful little trade union going.
Things improved with time. Spatia's ships improved their drives and began
reaching ...
Arnecon
-
I've got a busy gaming schedule coming up. I'm playing in Virtual Greyhawk
con and running 2 games (Lakofka's Devils Dung and Lost Dungeons of
Tonisborg...
Change is in the air! I'm moving to Substack!
-
TLDR; Moving here: https://chgowiz.substack.com
I've been using Blogger, formerly Blogspot, since 2008, when I was at my
old blog http://oldguyrpg.blogs...
The Dreams In Gary’s Basement Update
-
Pat Kilbane’s documentary of Gary Gygax and Dungeons and Dragons, The
Dreams In Gary’s Basement, was released online to Kickstarter backers
today. This mul...
On the OSR Christmas in July
-
Isn't it disappointing that only digital files are on sale at DTRPG?
So I've dropped the prices of print copies of my books!
Bestial Encounters Caused By...
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...
Random Encounters: Love Them!
-
Picture swiped for my own purposes from Random Encounter. I want this
sticker!
It's been a while since my last entry. More health issues. More computer...
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 ...
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...