Tenkar's Tavern: 2023-12-03

Saturday, December 9, 2023

OSR Christmas Kicks Off on December 11th - This Coming Monday!

Yep, OSR Christmas kicks off here at the Tenkar's Tavern Blog in 2 days, this coming Monday. There will be six days of gifting here on the blog side, four days on four consecutive weeks of Wednesday Nights' Talking Crit Live, as well as two of the Friday Night livestreams.

Here's what is currently in The Tavern's OSR Christmas Gift Closet, with much thanks to the generous donors. In no particular order:

From MonkeyBlood:

5x digital sets of the all three HandyMaps map content (Dungeons, Caves & Strange Locales; Buildings & Structures; and Towns & Villages) delivered via DriveThruRPG https://www.drivethrurpg.com/browse/pub/7771/MonkeyBlood-Design/subcategory/22304_47441/HandyMaps
1x The Cartomancer 2 Bundle (physical boxed set containing all three HandyMaps content) delivered anywhere in the world for free. https://monkeyblooddesign.co.uk/product/bundle-handymaps-the-cartomancer-2/

From Emperors' Choice:

An Arduin Bundle with the hardcover trilogy 1-3, all the grimoires 4 - 9, and Vaults of the Weaver, which has 7 Dungeons in It. All printed material worth $155.00 bundle for Christmas Day! (Note - US Only)

From BRW Games:

A PDF Bundle including Book of Lost Lore, Book of Lost Beasts, and Book of Lost Tables
A PDF Bundle including Swords of Wuxia and Swords of Cthulhu

From The Knotty Works:

Four Bundles of BX Game Options Volume I-XII in PDF

From DiceBro:

10 PDF Bundles of issues1-3 of Wizard Funk, an OSR zine

From On the Tabletop:

2 Softcover copies of Holmes & Clark (OSR Ruleset)
1 Hardcover copy of Holmes & Clark (OSR Ruleset)
12 PDF copies of Holmes & Clark, along with digital goodies

From James Mishler Games:

12 Sets of 12 PDFs (by my count) of James Mishler releases for Shadowdark as well as the Isle of Eldisor for Labyrinth Lord in PDF

From Tenkar's Tavern:

At least 12 $10 DTRPG Gift Certificates. There may be additional physical gifts mailed out from The Tavern

OSR Christmas Gifting Days will be open for comments for at least 48 hours each.

OSR Christmas Gifting on the Livestream will happen at approximately 9 pm on the nites of the livestreams in question. Gifting will use the Streamyard Giveaway app to determine gift receivers. You MUST comment in the livestream chat 5 minutes or so before the random determination for the app to include you in the gifting.

The Tavern is supported by readers like you. The easiest way to support The Tavern is to shop via our affiliate links. The Tavern DOES NOT do "Paid For" Articles and discloses personal connections to products and creators written about when applicable.

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

Friday, December 8, 2023

Save Some Kitties - Buy a DCC/ MCC/ Weird Frontiers Insulated Tumbler!

If you know David Baity and you should, it's likely because of his DCC RPG engine-powered stand-alone weird western Weird Frontiers RPG. You may also know David from his yearly Stray Kitty Benefit Raffle.

This year, David is still supporting stray kitties, but this year he is offering 20oz tumblers/ cups with DCC/ MCC/ Weird Frontiers logos with the proceeds helping a kitty in need. I'm simply adding bandwidth.

Heya folks! I won't be doing the annual charity raffle this year to raise cabbage for local feline shelters, but Joseph Goodman was kind enough to give permission to add DCC & MCC logos along with Weird Frontiers to have a limited run of 20oz cups made for charity.

100% of profits from sales go directly towards helping feline rescues in my hometown. You guys know how dear the felines are to me, so this is my way of helping those who help them. Once the cups are gone they're gone, so please consider making one or more of them a present under the tree for your favorite gamer and helping a cat or kitten in need.
The easiest way for me to set this up is by a direct PayPal link and set a shipping included price of 35.00 for each cup. If you know of anyone not on FB that might be interested please let them know I'm selling them. Upon payment, you'll be asked to provide type/quantity/shipping address
I'll begin mailing cups as soon as boxes arrive this weekend and continue until they're gone.

paypal.me/mysticmousers

Thursday, December 7, 2023

Kickstarter - Old-School Setting: The Isle of Sedra

I'm a huge fan of Doug Cole/Gaming Ballistic / gamingballistic.com. Doug was a regular part of The Tavern's "B-Team" 7 or 8 years ago - my once-a-month second group running through Joe Bloch's Castle of the Mad Archmage using Swords & Wizardry Complete. Ah, the good old days.

I consider Doug a friend as well as an amazingly prolific publisher of fantasy gaming materials for multiple game systems. I own The Isle of Sedra for The Fantasy Trip and it looks beautiful. I'm also a backer of The Isle of Sedra Kickstarter for OSE and other OSR systems.

On this Friday Night at 8 PM Eastern, over at the Tenkar's Tavern Youtube Channel, youtube.com/@TenkarsTavern on the Random Party Generator Livestream, Douglas Cole of Gaming Ballistic will be our special guest. Join us live to support Doug and/or ask him questions about his current projects and potential future projects.

Located in a vast ocean, the Isle of Sedra (and its neighbor Elazar) forms a compact regional campaign setting small enough to be manageable by the GM but large enough to contain a wide variety of adventures. Sedra provides a unified home for several of the adventures published by Gaming Ballistic for Old-School Essentials (and other systems).

The Isle of Sedra contains supplemental information for the solitaire adventures Vampire Hunter Belladonna, Dark Lord’s Doom, Dragon Hunt, and Monster Hunter Belladonna.
Use Sedra as a campaign start ... or drop it in as a destination and trading partner a few weeks sail from wherever your current campaign is playing out.

Wednesday, December 6, 2023

Bundle of Holding - Dungeon Fantasy Bundle Powered by GURPS

Dungeon Fantasy is probably the one RPG I own, that I've never played, that I dearly want to at some point. I ran some GURPS back in the '80s and '90s and always had fun with it, but at times the system was so open it was overwhelming. Dungeon Fantasy seems to be the perfect balance and a nice change from D20-style gaming.

Dungeon Fantasy Bundle Powered by GURPS is currently available on Bundle of Holding. The Dungeon Fantasy Starter Set is 17.95, and includes the Dungeon Fantasy Core Rules, Companion 1, the GM's Screen, and the Dungeon Planner.

And if you pay more than the (current) threshold price (suggect to change) of $38.06, you'll level up and also get our entire Bonus Collection with five more supplements, including Dungeon Fantasy Companion 2 and Companion 3, Dungeon Fantasy Magic Items and Magic Items 2, and Monsters 2.

Tuesday, December 5, 2023

Deal of the Day - Sword Weirdos (Old School Skirmish Rules)

I tried to get into Warhammer Battles and Space Marines back in my 20s to no avail. The rules were too cumbersome and the number of minis required to field an army was way out of the reach of my gaming group.

So, at the ripe old age of 56, I stumble across Sword Weirdos - 24 pages of skirmish goodness, a Platinum Seller on DTRPG that aims for 5 to 10 units PER side. Did I mention it includes solo rules? If I weren't away for a few days I'd give this a trial run right now ;)

Swords Weirdos is normally 4.99 in PDF, but until tomorrow it is on sale for 2.99

Sword Weirdos is the fantasy sequel to the surprisingly popular Space Weirdos. "When will you write a fantasy version?" people asked. So I did. Sword Weirdos is a skirmish wargame that allows you to build stats for just about any fantasy or historical model in your collection. Your model's class and weapons determine its special abilities. With 26 classes and 54 weapons and other pieces of equipment to choose from the possiblities are...a lot. I'm not that great with math.
You’re wondering what makes Sword Weirdos different from other games. Not much! It takes what I like from other games and mashes it all together.
Low model count: 5-10 models or so for each side.
Use any fantasy/historical minis you have.
Short but comprehensive. Everything in one 24 page zine.
Minimal tokens, but still a few because I like them.
No tape measures or rulers, all movement and ranges are measured with 5” sticks.
Uses all your RPG dice (except the d20, d20's get enough love) because dice are fun.
A points system, but you shouldn’t worry about it too much.
Alternating activations, opposed rolls, Maneuver Points, and random tables mean everyone is involved and rolling dice all the time.
Also includes:
A separate 4-page solo rules document.
A pdf with tokens, hobby advice, and a warband sheet.
If you like minis games but giant rulebooks turn you off or seem intimidating, maybe give this a shot.

Why Goodman Games is Abandoning the OSR for Future 5e Refugees

Monday, December 4, 2023

USPS reveals designs for 2024 stamps celebrating Dungeons & Dragons

Cool stuff! I haven't collected stamps in over four decades, but I'll snag these stamps for sure!

https://www.linns.com/news/us-stamps-postal-history/usps-reveals-designs-for-2024-stamps-celebrating-dungeons-dragons-ansel-adams-more

On Nov. 30, the United States Postal Service revealed additional stamps to be issued in 2024. Also announced were issue dates and locations for 13 previously announced issues that will debut during the first three months of next year.
According to the Nov. 30 press release, 10 stamps will be issued in recognition of the 50th anniversary of the iconic role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons.
“By inviting participants to imagine themselves as wizards, warriors and other adventurers in exciting and treacherous fantasy worlds, DUNGEONS & DRAGONS opened doors to whole new universes of creativity for generations of players,” the USPS said.
The stamps, which are to be issued in panes of 20 (two of each design), feature richly detailed images of characters and creatures that will be familiar to Dungeons & Dragons players. Veteran USPS art director Greg Breeding designed the stamps and pane using existing illustrations.

Sunday, December 3, 2023

How Much World Building Do You Require to Become Engaged?

Today I had the opportunity to watch a movie.....the type of movie I generally like even if they're bad (the genre isn't actually relevant here), but I was only able to get maybe half-way through when I had to nope out. I thought this movie just sucked and the suckage kind of sat in my head and I spent a few hours just stewing as to why I thought this movie sucked. I clearly didn't like it, but I just couldn't quite grasp why I didn't like it.

Eventually, after a bit more of an expenditure of brain-power than I like to waste on this particular form of entertainment, I realized that this movie tried, and failed, to be set in what should have been a recognizable location, within a world that shouldn't need a lot of explanation. It felt like a ton of disparate details just being crammed together and the audience was just supposed to ....I don't know, get it? It was maybe halfway through the movie, maybe 10' before I turned it off, when I kind of confirmed what country this movie was set in. It felt like the audience was expected to simply absorb all of the exposition and enjoy the ride.

To me it wasn't too unlike many Anime movies. They tend to just drop the audience in and run with the story and you have to figure it out as they go along. The thing is most Anime that I've seen doesn't go so heavy-handed with the details.

It quickly occurred to me that most convention/tournament games kind of do the same thing, but it's not the same because while players may be thrust into a completely unknown setting (heck, even sometimes completely unknown game mechanics!) player at least have some level of agency and can work at their own pace to learn about the setting they're in for a few hours. I'm sure the fact there is some amount of interactivity instead of just passive viewing helps.......

I'm honestly wondering just how much world-building players require in their games, not just the convention game but the home game as well. I'd like to think I'm more easy going myself, but I distinctly recall an online tournament game that essentially started each player all alone in some kind of void, kind of like some existential sensory deprivation tank. One minute your PC is doing their thing then nothingness. I have no clue what the GM was trying to accomplish, but I basically sat silent for 10' then noped out of the game.* For all I knew, from my PC's perspective, was that I was dead and in purgatory. Why would I try to do anything about it, especially since I basically have no sense of, well any senses....

When I'm writing an adventure I really don't like to write a novel for the GMs to have to read and comprehend. If there's more than a single page of backstory I think I've failed. I want to set something up, but I'm not able to anticipate everything the player may want to know and I hope that if there's some kind of framework the GM can decide what the player needs on the fly. I had a quick "learn-to" game that I had to add two paragraphs to for the two most-encountered left-field player actions that I ran into, mostly because players doing a learning session have no desire to see their PC live and want to push the envelope until the PC was dead or the clock ran out (as in convention time-block, not a timed game otherwise).

I think I need to go through an assortment of written adventures and see how widely the world-building parameters are. The aforementioned movie clearly didn't have enough, and when the entire movies was an entire arsenal of Chekhov's Guns....

*One of the hardest lessons I've managed to live in my half-century of learning can be summed up from a quote from one of my favorite cheesy PCs: "If we don't like it we can always leave." I don't know why people....ok, younger me....feel like they have to throw good resources after bad when things aren't worthwhile. Watching a crappy movie, stop. Not enjoying your meal, why finish it? You know, stuff like that.

Why "Swords & Wizardry?"

Believe me when I say I have them all in dead tree format. I have OSRIC in full size, trade paperback and the Player's Guide. I have LL and the AEC (and somewhere OEC, but I can't find it at the moment). Obviously I have Basic Fantasy RPG. Actually, I have the whole available line in print. Way too much Castles & Crusades. We all know my love for the DCC RPG. I even have Dark Dungeons in print, the Delving Deeper boxed set, Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea. BOTH editions of LotFP's Weird Fantasy and some dead tree copies of the Greyhawk Grognards Adventures Dark & Deep

I am so deep in the OSR when I come up for breath it's for the OSR's cousin, Tunnels & Trolls

So, out of all that, why Swords & Wizardry? Why, when I have been running a AD&D 1e / OSRIC campaign in Rappan Athuk am I using Swords & Wizardry and it's variant, Crypts & Things, for the second campaign? (Actually, now running a S&W Complete campaign, soon to be with multiple groups)

Because the shit works.

It's easy for lapsed gamers to pick up and feel like they haven't lost a step. I can house rule it and it doesn't break. It plays so close to the AD&D of my youth and college years (S&W Complete especially) that it continually surprises me. Just much less rules hopping than I remember. (my God but I can run it nearly without the book)

I grab and pick and steal from just about all OSR and Original resources. They seem to fit into S&W with little fuss. It may be the same with LL and the rest, but for me the ease of use fit's my expectations with S&W.

Even the single saving throw. That took me longer to adjust to, but even that seems like a natural to me now. Don't ask me why, it just does. Maybe it's the simplicity of it. At 45 52, simplicity and flexibility while remaining true to the feel of the original is an OSR hat trick for me ;)

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