I remember when DC Comics published Dungeons & Dragons, Forgotten Realms, and Dragonlance comics. I bought them as I found them, and they were good, if popcorn, reading.
One of the latest bundles over at Humble Bundle is the Return to the World of Dungeons & Dragons Bundle, which appears to include some of the DC-era titles as well as later releases, including Baldur's Gate.
Damn it! I'm in at 18 bucks for the full collection. Popcorn reading for the win :)
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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
Ah. Cepheus Engine. We almost lost the open Traveller clone with the whole OGL debacle earlier this year. Thankfully, Cepheus Engine is here to stay and it is well supported.
Adventurer! This all-new Clement Sector 3E Bundle presents the 2021 Third Edition of the space-opera tabletop roleplaying game from Independence Games that uses the Cepheus Engine based on the First Edition of Mongoose Traveller. Set in a distant space sector stranded after a wormhole collapse, Clement Sector has grown and matured through three editions to become one of the largest and best-supported lines based on this popular open license. Fight epic space battles – explore new worlds – become a pirate or bounty hunter – it's all possible in Clement Sector, and this big bundle provides the foundation for many exploits.
For just US$17.95 you get all seven titles in our Starter Collection (retail value $87) as DRM-free ebooks, including the complete standalone 673-page Clement Sector Third Edition core rulebook (2021), the character expansion Diverse Roles, the world and star system generation sourcebook Unmerciful Frontier: The CCA Sourcebook, and four starship supplements: Anderson and Felix Guide to Naval Architecture 3E, Wendy's Guide to the Fleets of Hub Subsector, Pleiades-class Light Freighter, and Roosevelt-class Intercept Destroyer.
And if you pay more than the threshold price of $35.62, you'll level up and also get our entire Bonus Collection with nine more titles worth an additional $123, including Port of Entry; three subsector sourcebooks – Hub, Sequoyah, and The Colonies; and five background sourcebooks: Manhunters: Bounty Hunters, Outlaw, Skull and Crossbones, Tree of Life: Altrants, and Wondrous Menagerie: Uplifts.
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
I've been a huge InkwellDesigns fan since their first Dungeonmorph Dice Set years ago. Currently, Inkwell has a sale on their SideQuest Decks Collection. There are a total of 16 decks, each at 1.99 in PDF. Print decks are available too (and I own most decks in print) and I find the decks extremely useful when you need an adventure "on-demand" on short notice.
I do not know how long the sale will continue for, so don't wait too long.
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 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
Swords & Wizardry (White Box plus Supplements) is one of the original three retro-clones, including OSRIC (AD&D 1e) and Labyrinth Lord (B/X) (others may include Castles in Crusades in this discussion but I see C&C as more "proto" retro-clone).
One of the major changes Swords & Wizardry made from its source material was whittling the number of saving throw categories down to a single save number.
I am, personally, a great fan of Swords & Wizardry in all of its flavors - White Box for its streamlined ruleset, Core for its expanded rules while keeping the classes to the core four, and Complete for being, well, essentially "complete".
Matt Finch and his company, Mythmere Games, are kickstarting Swords & Wizardry Complete Revised Rulebook, which is essentially the 5th printing of S&W Complete and the first to not be released under the OGL, but most likely the upcoming ORC license or something similar.
The S&W Complete Kickstarter has already hit $50k in funding in less than 12 hrs. Now that's impressive!
Looks like I'll be adding another printing of Swords & Wizardry Complete to my collection :)
For anyone who's completely unfamiliar with the game, Swords & Wizardry is a tabletop fantasy roleplaying game. All the rules are in this book, and all you'll need in addition are a set of gaming dice (20 sided, 8 sided, etc.), paper, and pencil. Many people also play with miniatures, but they aren't necessary.
Swords & Wizardry is one of the oldest of the Old School Renaissance ("OSR") games, originally written in 2008, with a large following throughout the world. Hundreds of adventures have been written for use with the system by multiple publishers, and these are still compatible with this version of the game.
The game is much more "rules-light" than most fantasy roleplaying games, so it's fast and easy to learn the basics and start playing.
Swords & Wizardry contains a full set of 9 character classes, all the rules you need to play, including all the monsters, spells, and treasure tables.
The game rules of OD&D are similar to the B/X rules, so this game can be viewed as an "advanced" version of the B/X rules in many ways.
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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
Created by Philip Reed (PDFs available at DriveThruRPG), this collection of D100 encounter hooks was designed for use with most fantasy roleplaying games. Primarily a source of inspiration for the gamemaster, each of the enclosed hooks details just enough of an idea to get the GM's imagination running. Mix, match, and modify every single one of the d100 hooks to suit the specifics of your preferred game system and campaign setting.
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
One of the biggest perks of this Sunday gig that Erik has given me is that I have carte blanche to type whatever I feel like. Probably doesn't help drive numbers here at the Tavern, but I do get to share cool things I come across from friends and internet associates......
....like the Kickstarter for Black Pudding Issue 7 "from" JV West (The Kickstarter is from a publisher, but it's his stuff). While I'm not a fan of all his stuff, I love that he does his own thing and so much of his art, and writing, just screams "cool gonzo OSR". Now I'm just a fan of Zines in general, but the Black Pudding series is chock full of odd/weird character classes, monsters, and art....lots of art.
One Page PC Class
The Kickstarter is specifically for a print copy of #7 along with a gaming journal, but if you just want the Zine as a PDF, they're currently PWYW over at DTRPG. I just picked up issue #7 (I have already backed the Kickstarter).
If you aren't familiar with JV West/Random Order Creations, I'd recommend starting with the Black Pudding Zines, but if you need a cool one-off adventure I was a big fan of Howler. I did a spoiler-free review of that adventure back in.....2014(?!).
Therapy & Terror
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What if the monsters today sent young men and women off on pointless wars
of aggression and pride? What if the monsters today sat at their keyboards
and s...
Felltower tomorrow
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We'll pick up in combat in Felltower tomorrow. Summary probably Monday,
unless we end early enough tomorrow. We'll see. Even with a won fight I
think we'll...
Free Comic Book Day/Comics Give Away Day 2026
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The geek world was seriously disrupted a few years ago with Diamond
Distributors filed for bankruptcy last year. I know a few publishers that
took some big...
Kingdom
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By James DesboroughPortmortem StudiosLotFPLevels 2-4 A high-concept
adventure beneath the bone-white hills of Southern England:. […] The
hearthstone tilts ...
Tales of Jackson, IL: Hot for Teacher
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I had something scheduled for today, but got my dates wrong, so today's
post will be in one week instead. This one was supposed to be next week's
post.
...
Characters (Prismatic Planet)
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Most of the planet's inhabitants live in small enclaves, villages, and
isolated settlements, separated from one another by vast stretches of
hostile terr...
Abstraction in My Liege,
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I think the aspect of *My Liege,* that could potentially put off the most
people is its lack of accounting granularity. It does not track Court
wealth in...
Harn and the Elven Kingdom of Evael has launched!
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I’ve been a fan of Columbia Games and the Harn setting since the early
1980s. It’s not just a strong medieval fantasy world in its own right. What
has al...
Recommend me Generators of Underground Worlds
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In my big re-work of ‘Veins of the Earth’, I have begun looking at the
systems used for generating the geography of the Veins, the large main
routes, smal...
SoloDark: Four Drunk Priests
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Dabbling into some solo play using SoloDark. Rolled up the party last
night. 3d6 down the line and pick the best class for the results. It was
tragic.
ht...
The Myth of Death as Stakes...
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It's been said, especially in old-school circles, that character death is
essential to the pulse-pounding stakes good adventures depend upon. Combat
means ...
Consolidated AD&D Weapon Characteristics List
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Having spent the last few days down a research rabbit hole, I ended up
compiling a chart of AD&D weapon characteristics, adding some "missing"
entries an...
Tempo
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Been tinkering with some advice for pacing a game of *Intergalactic. *I
suspect I'll go a bit further than this, but it's a start.
The speed at which the...
Grenadier "Night Hag" - 1986
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While I was looking through some accumulated boxes of stuff, I found one
containing a whole bunch of old white metal miniatures from Ye Olden Times.
Thi...
Referee Sabotage
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It is an old saw that players are bad at executing their plans. Imagine
this common scene: the party have some big job that requires planning;
perhaps robb...
The March 1636 Lantern is Published
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Okay, The March Lantern is available. Those fast on the draw may have
noticed that I mistakenly published it as free access for 56 minutes. I
was just so ...
Gary Con 2026 Registration
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Silver Badges get to register for events at Noon Central today (February
21, 2026). Somehow I thought I failed to register for running games this
year and ...
On a Happy New Year
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We are about to experience the most social upheaval since industrialization.
What will that look like in sixty years?
Sinless is starting it's third yea...
Mutants and Wizards
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Heya folks, long time no see.
I've just started working on something new called Mutants and Wizards. It's
going to be an OSE/OSR post-apocalyptic game t...
Ten Friggin Hill Cantons Wizards
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10 Wizards of the Hill Cantons
#
Name
Description
1
Magister Dobromil the Cauterizer
Specializes in magical “cleaning” of reality leaks. Wears fou...
Rob Kuntz at Lucca Comics & Games 2025
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If you are planning a trip to Europe (like right now) and wish to catch up
with me in person, make sure to book a detour via *Lucca Comics & Games*,
...
Musings on the OSR Blogosphere and Forums
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Link to discussion There are some posts on the historical OSR blog scene
that I’ve read recently from the Grumpy …
Continue reading →
How do you do piracy… in SPACE!?
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Interstellar space travel in Iridium Moons was always going to be a form of
hyperspace jump like in Star Wars or Traveller. Simply because it’s the one
for...
A long overdue hobby update!
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Welcome back to the Vault everyone! 2025 is going by in a blur; I last
posted in February, almost started a post in March and now it's the end of
May. W...
Playing at the World 2E V2 Arrives
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With the release of its second volume, the second edition of *Playing at
the World *is finally complete. The two books combined total well over
1,000 ...
Articulations
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Creating house rules, custom rules specific to a local group or campaign,
has been common throughout the history of D&D. What makes an effective
house rule...
Writing playlists for all occasions
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Hello again! Going off the idea of inspiration elaborated on by the prior
post, I also have music playing while I write my various games and fiction
pieces...
The Tarot of Pips
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Somewhere in your dice collection is a die like this one, the humblest of
dice. Although you don't know it, this small white die carries with it a
secr...
Pirates and Necromancers, a Play Report
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Over the Thanksgiving weekend we did a lot of gaming ranging from
“off-table” domain level stuff to some solo adventures to spell and magic
item rese...
It's been a bit
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Hey everyone, I hope you are doing well! I've had a lot going on and
haven't had much time to blog lately. Heres a recap of gaming events and
other st...
*'s in SpaaaaaAaaaace
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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...
Last move - to self-hosting!
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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...
Clean Your Room
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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 ...
Steve Jackson Interview
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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...
ToAD Monster of the Week: Crocoman
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Now that I'm back doing the blog thing I thought I would use Tome of
Adventure Design to create monsters for The Black Hack.
Using the monster tables in th...
Strange, Dangerous, and Inhuman: The Fey and Fairie
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When I was a boy I loved fairy tales. Jack and the Beanstalk, Puss in
Boots, Rumpelstiltskin - I devoured all of it. My fascination that there
was a strang...
Dungeons & Dragonmead Fall Schedule
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*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...
Fiction in Airhde
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On a whim this weekend, I picked up some fiction off the TLG store. *A
Houseless God & Other Tales* and *The Mirrored Soul & Other Tales*, both by
the T...
Ravensburg Reboot: Streamlined City Map
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I mentioned in my last post how I was tweaking and reworking parts of my
Ravensburg setting. Today I streamlined the city map. The old map had lots
of redu...
The Withered Crag available now
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I just enabled the sale of the PDF version of The Withered Crag at
DriveThruRPG a few minutes ago, and the custom print version will be
available startin...
Annihilation Rising Goes live
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The latest in Fail Squad Games’ Quick Kick projects has gone live and needs
your support!! This project is only running 11 days and ends on 5/28/2019!
...
James's Celebration of Life
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We could not have asked for a prettier day for James's service. It was a
bit chilly and windy but gorgeous. A heartfelt thank you to all that joined
us tod...
Trap Tuesday: A step back
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I will get back to Tomb of Horrors soon. I found a topic that was
interesting enough to take a break. While interacting in a 5E group on
Facebook I talked ...
Let's Talk About Pacing!
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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
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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...
Please, I don't do paid advertisements - don't ask.
-
A little note since people have asked me about this. My video channel's
*not* an advertising platform, so I'm not available for hire if you want to
promote...
New website!
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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!
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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...
Total Sales for WB:FMAG
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Hi Folks,
It's been a long time since I provided an update for the sales of White
Box: Fantastic Medieval Adventure Game.
*LULU*
Print: 396
PDF: 433
*OBS*...
How can We Destroy this Campaign World?
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d12
1. You must trick a bard into strumming the *Chords of Fate* on the *Lute
of Annihilation*
2. Legends tell of thermonuclear weapons beneath megadunge...
Mord Mar - Session 5
-
We had another successful delve into the dungeon yesterday. The delvers:
Moira, the Magic-User
Radovan - Human Cleric (of Odin?)
Khazgar Stonehand - Dwarf ...
Bundle of Fantasy Age
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Bundle of Holding: Dragon Age/Fantasy Age: Available until March 12. PA
Presents: Fantasy AGE Freeport live play Green Ronin in 2018 The Fantasy
Age RPG ma...
New Free PDF Module: The Hyqueous Vaults
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A new dungeon module—written in celebration of OSRIC's 10th Birthday—by
Rebecca Dettmann, Allan T. Grohe, Jr., Jimm Johnson, Matthew Riedel, Alex
Zisch, a...
Swords & Wizardry Light: Session # 6
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Two months after our last session (thanks to things like 8th grade finals,
a 4 year-old's birthday and party, Father's Day, etc.), we finally had our
next ...