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Friday, February 17, 2023

Kickstarter - Dark Wizard Games: Fantasy Folder #1 - Dungeon Demon (bunch of PDF goodness as a $1 backer)

RPG Folder used with OSRIC / 1E / 5E / D&D / DCC / Pathfinder / role-playing games or anyone who loves fantasy folders!

Pledge a buck, get all of the following:

WITH ANY MINIMUM PLEDGE OF $1.00 or more, you will also get FREE PDF copies of our Maximum Mayhem Dungeons #1: Hanging  Coffins of the Vampire Queen (a full 36 page "fun house" style 1E  module) and Maximum Mayhem Dungeons #5: Palace of the Dragon's Princess  (a full 44 page "role-playing" style 1E module) normally a $20 value for those two PDFS on our website! 

Everyone will also get all of the "Digital Extras" which includes: A PDF of 27 Themed Character Sheets, a ZIP file of 6 Mayhem Posters printable in 18 x 24 size: Vampire Queen cover, Star Spawn cover, Villains Undercity cover, Dwarven King cover,  Dwarven King inner cover and Monsters of Mayhem cover, a PDF of Fifty-Six 1E Pre-Generated Characters, A PDF of Three Playable BW Maps with Four 1E Pre-Generated Characters, A PDF of Single Bonus Dungeon Map Color and BW, a PDF of Eight 1e Pre-Generated Characters, and a PDF of Eight 5e Pre-Generated!

All this as a special thanks for kicking in a buck to help support my books and projects and heck it, ALL of these above mentioned PDFS will be delivered in the FIRST PROJECT UPDATE once we reach our $500 goal and each update after that in case you miss one!


What's the actual Kickstarter? Dark Wizard Games: Fantasy Folder #1 - Dungeon Demon. You actually get 3 very cool-looking folders (that's the front-back image above). Hell, I can use them for my tax records if nothing else, and at 15 bucks they are a bargain! Did I mention you get everything above, too?



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, February 16, 2023

Bundle of Holding - Godbound (OSR)

Kevin Crawford is a "can't miss" RPG Creator.

We've resurrected our April 2020 Godbound Bundle featuring Godbound, Kevin Crawford's tabletop fantasy roleplaying game of heroic demigods forging a new world from the Uncreated Night. The Throne of Heaven stands empty, and a pantheon of mortals newly bound to the Words of Creation faces a land ravaged by madmen and fools. Godbound characters start play as legendary powers, facing fearsome god-monsters, legions of sorcerers, and bitter angels. And using the system-neutral tools like those in Kevin's Stars Without Number, a Gamemaster can create noble courts, lost shards of Heaven, and terrifying foes worthy of these exalted heroes.

This revival helps promote the Kickstarter campaign in progress for Godbound designer Kevin Crawford's new cyberpunk SFRPG Cities Without Number, which promises more of the gamemastering tools that make Kevin's games widely popular.

This comprehensive revival once again brings you the entire Godbound line for an unbeatable bargain price. For just US$5.95 you get both titles in this revived offer's Starter Collection (retail value $25) as DRM-free ebooks: the complete 214-page Godbound Deluxe Edition core rulebook and the introductory adventure Ten Buried Blades.

And if you pay more than the threshold price of $17.13, you'll level up and also get this revival's entire Bonus Collection with four more titles worth an additional $38, including Lexicon of the Throne (new Words of Creation and rules for creating religions), Ancalia: The Broken Towers (gazetteer), and Sixteen Sorrows (a handbook of dire calamities), plus the full-length adventure Storms of Yizhao.


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, February 15, 2023

Kickstarter - Advanced Ancient Academy (OSE/OSR)

It's that time of the year at Kickstarter - ZineQuest is here!

For our first ZineQuest entry, we are going to take a look at Advanced Ancient Academy by Stuart Robertson. Mike and I just had Stuart on Talking Crit, our weekly Wednesday Night Youtube Livestream.

Advanced Ancient Academy has its roots in a one-page dungeon submission from a decade or so ago, and via the Advanced Ancient Academy Kickstarter it is growing to full zine size :)

Advanced Ancient Academy is a dungeon adventure zine for Old School Essentials, suitable for a party of low level adventurers. Filled with bandits, cultists, goblins, and skeletons, Advanced Ancient Academy is designed to be an introduction for new players, or the foundation for a new campaign for veteran gamers. As our kickstarter funding progresses there is the potential to unlock more content, turning the zine into a mini mega-dungeon, and even a small campaign setting.

The original Ancient Academy was published a decade ago as part of the One Page Dungeon contest, as an experiment in packing the most dungeon I could onto a single sheet of paper. Most of my original notes for the adventure had to be condensed to the absolute minimum, with many rooms only having 7 or 8 word descriptions. A great deal of the mystery behind the academy could only be hinted at with a few random objects I could squeeze in alongside the functional details of the 39 locations in the adventure.

The adventure has been downloaded thousands of times over the years, and often recommended as a good starting adventure for new campaigns. The one recurring complaint that I see, usually by people unfamiliar with the original contest, is that it's too terse and they would enjoy more details. When I've run this adventure for my own players it's been with those extra details that other games are missing. I'm sure dungeon masters have expanded the game in their own ways, but I've always felt I could have expressed my original intention better without the one-page format.

 

 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, February 13, 2023

Bundle of Holding - The One Ring™ 2E

I own the Starter Set of The One Ring 2e as a physical box, and it is a thing of beauty. The fact that it is written by our community's very own James Spahn is simply icing on the cake.

Well, I may already own the Start Set in physical, but I'd love to have it in PDF for my iPad. Solo rules with Strider Mode? I'm sold :)

The One Ring Starter Collection is $12.95 in PDF.

Adventurer! The One Ring™ Starter Bundle brings you .PDF ebooks of The One Ring Starter Set and recent supplements for The One Ring tabletop roleplaying game from Sophisticated Games and Free League Publishing. Explore the Shire as the hobbits whose children will go on to do extraordinary things, such as Drogo Baggins, Rory Brandybuck, and Esmeralda Took. With streamlined rules, ready-made characters, and a tight focus, The One Ring Starter Set makes it easy for new (and maybe younger) players to take their first steps into JRR Tolkien's Middle-earth.

The One Ring Starter Set Shire mapFor just US$12.95 you get all three digital downloads in our The One Ring Starter Collection (retail value $35) as DRM-free ebooks, including the complete The One Ring Starter Set, the Loremaster's Screen and Rivendell Compendium, and Strider™ Mode, a rules expansion for solitaire roleplaying across northern Eriador.

 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  

Review - The Kakondo (DCC RPG Creature)



I don't do a large number of reviews at The Tavern. I feel there are others that specialize in doing such and do a much better job than I do at it. Still, there are times I do a review, usually because something about the release impresses me or stands out. In the case of The Kakondo, a creature for the DCC RPG (but easily converted to the OSR system of your choice - I plan to convert this to Continual Light) what stands out is the personal perspective of the author.

The Kakondo is a legendary creature that the author, Ashraf Braden of Uganda, recalls from the days of his schooling. While there is some awkwardness in Ashraf's writing, it is authentic, and I have no complaints. You get a page of descriptive text and a page of DCC RPG stats, abilities, and a new weapon detailed. As I said above, I already have plans to convert this to the system of my choice.

The Kakando is priced at a buck, which I think is fairly priced for what you get. What you give with your purchase, I think, is even more valuable - you empower a young man to share more of his local legends and history. I eagerly await future releases and wish to thank Bob Brinkman for bringing this young man to my attention.

All Sanctum Media proceeds from this product go directly to the writer, Ashraf Braden. Ashraf is an aspiring game designer and author living near Kampala in Uganda.

In the areas around Kampala, it is not uncommon for workers to make as little as $2/day. By purchasing this product, you are contributing to Ashraf’s ability to be able to continue to write and design games by allowing him the financial breathing room to do so. 

 

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, February 12, 2023

Stop Soldier Suicide: 30 Hours of Gaming Challenge

Stop Soldier Suicide: 30 Hours of Gaming Challenge

If you're a veteran or service member in crisis, please call 844-907-1338

I just found out about this challenge and I'm trying to figure out how to work this on my end because I'm TDY to a remote location working with, and for, a group of soldiers as that's what my day job entails. I have a couple gamers with me, but they're of the video game type and our internet kind of sucks here....well sucks as far as online gaming goes.

I'm going to talk with "my guys" and see if we can work some kind of 30 hour game marathon here taking shifts (if needed) and maybe see if we can get a fundraiser going....probably for next weekend.

Some of you might know that I was enlisted for eight years in the Air Force where I actually lived and worked with the Army as a TACP. I became and ETAC (they're called JTACs now) and it isn't an easy job or life. There is a reason I got out at eight years instead of doing my 20 like I planned. I will acknowledge that I'm broken, mentally and physically, in a few ways. Not a pity-party request, just stating a fact that is shared by many, many Veterans. It takes a toll.

I don't think any of us don't have a buddy (or three) that hasn't taken their own life, or had a go at it themselves. IIRC the statistic is not 22 a day, but closer to 17 and our rates are 57% higher than the civilian populace. This problem is really only acknowledged in someone's passing, but we rarely (if ever) talk about the larger problem. At best we hear, "I wish <brother> would have reached out to me." It isn't something that we talk about and if a Veteran needs this kind of help, we're not apt to burden each other with our problems even though we'd do anything to help someone else. It's a huge disparity that really doesn't get acknowledged. Realistically if a Veteran needs help they need someone else to reach out to.

You'd think that the Veteran's Administration would be on top of the mental health game, but at least in my experience they kind of suck. Note: I had a couple paragraph's of rant here that I deleted.

So USAA (coincidentally my bank and insurer) has kind of stepped up and initiated this Stop Soldier Suicide campaign, and they have a number of challenges this month and next:

Now of these challenges, the Gaming Challenge is right up our alley. I really wish I had more advance notice on this so I could've planned something better, but there is still some time.

The last time I saw a Facebook Challenge about Veteran Suicides it was that lame 22 push-up thing. Yes I called it lame because 99% of what I saw was people doing push-ups on Instagram with no real ambition for results. They weren't raising money or promoting anything other than themselves. 

This go-around USAA barely has their name on it and it's much more than just a generic "awareness" campaign. There's a no-shit 501(c)3 setup that has been verified by the DoD as "candid", which is HUGE if you've ever taken part in a Combined Federal Campaign before. This group is actually trying to do something and I think we, as a community, can get involved. There are a couple of ways....

1st, since this is also an "awareness campaign", just share the info. Everyone needs to know these guys exist and if a Veteran is in crisis they can call 844-907-1338 for help...and it isn't the VA. For the record though the VA's Crisis line is 988 in the US. Regiment is giving away a gaming PC here and I'm surprised that none of the entry links seem to encourage word-of-mouth promotions, but there is a lot to be learned about the organization.

2nd, and this is hand-in-hand with the 1st thing, go ahead and follow Stop Soldier Suicide on Facebook. The more attention they get there, the easier it will be to get their message out and about. I only learned about these guys today and I'm certain there are those that need to have this name & number.

3rd is just straight-up support. I'll do what I can to get something together in the next 24 hours and will post the details here, but that doesn't stop any of you from getting a group together to do something. Hold a 30 hour gaming session (or group of sessions) and take up a collection....a six person group doing a quarter per person per hour would be $45 (just saying....). Sure donations would be great, but really even just doing the 1st and 2nd thing would be big.

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lights on and the taps flowing. Your Humble Bartender, Tenkar

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