Tenkar's Tavern: January 2024

Wednesday, January 31, 2024

Kickstarter - Fiend Folio Vol.1 for use with OSR

I'm a sucker for new monsters in my OSR games. I like to create them, and I love it when I find new monsters that others have created. I've been a fan of Jeremy Hart's artwork for a while now, and the Fiend Folio Vol.1 Kickstarter looks very appealing. I'm a backer :)

For this zine I'll be aiming for the center of the OSR. Stat-blocks are modeled after various great games such as Cha'alt, Swords & Wizardry, Lion & Dragon, etc. Basically just a single Saving Throw and only Ascending Armor Class. All the usual funky dice are necessary.

Each monster gets two pages. One has stats and the facing page is an artsy size comparison piece you can flash to your players. These have been generated over on my Patreon as cards. I've also been uploading them to DriveThruRPG as time allows. I try to create at least 8 different color/texture variations per creature. Of course, only one version of each can make it into the zine.

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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

Monday, January 29, 2024

News Regarding Castle Zagyg and More (Troll Lord Games)

From the Troll Lord Games Website:

WORLDS OF GARY GYGAX

We are beyond pleased and honored to announce that the powers that be have released multiple works of the late Gary Gygax to Troll Lord Games for mass-market publication. These include the complete Gygaxian Fantasy World series, Castle Zagyg: Yggsburg, Castle Zagyg: East Mark, Castle Zagyg: The Manse, Castle Zagyg: Mouths of Madness, Castle Zagyg: The Dungeons (including all 17 handcrafted levels and any sublevels), and all related Castle Zagyg adventures such as the Teeth of Barkash Nour, The Halls of Many Panes, The Hermit, and the Kings of England Kings of France boardgame. See below for details.

THE FATHER OF A HOBBY & INDUSTRY

Though Gary Gygax was not alone in creating role playing games, others like Dave Arneson certainly played a part, it is to Gary’s drive, creativity, expertise, and sheer love of gaming that launched it from a basement hobby for a passionate few, into an industry that spans multiple media platforms.

What You Need to Know Right Now

Currently we are set to launch the Gygaxian Fantasy World Kickstarter campaign this March. Be sure to sign up and be there for any early bird specials!

The Kickstarter campaign for Gary Gygax’s The Hermit ended in December of 2023, support for which broke six digits! Fear not if you missed the Kickstarter, for you can pre-order The Hermit on our website and receive yours when it becomes available this spring.

Furthermore, we still have copies of the classic printing of Gary Gygax’s Castle Zagyg: Yggsburgh. This classic reprint relaunched the Gygax Estates properties, and a host of folks came out to order it, support TLG and the Estate, and help launch this whole endeavor. A hearty thanks to all those people, but if you missed it, you can buy yours now in our store. It ships immediately!

TROLL LORD GAMES

Troll Lord Games served as Gary’s primary publisher from 2000-2008. After he crossed over much of Gary’s material vanished from the gaming table. Now we hope to launch a new era of publishing, bringing back the many rich worlds of Gary Gygax.

Gygaxian Fantasy World Series

The Gygaxian Fantasy Worlds (be sure to SIGN UP NOW for notifications) is an Encyclopedic series envisioned by the co-creator of Dungeons and Dragons, Gary Gygax. He conceived the series as an open-ended collection of role-playing gaming aids for the Game Master and the Player, the specific focus of which was World Building. Written, co-written, or edited by Gygax himself, its intent was to cover all the bases of our gaming world.

The first of these books, The Canting Crew, was published in 2001. Six more volumes followed, and more were planned prior to his passing in 2008.

Now, for the first time since they were pulled from the market in 2008, this collection of Gygaxian knowledge returns to the gaming world. Through this Kickstarter we hope to bring back all seven volumes and possibly more. Join us in recreating part of our gaming heritage and flood your own table with mountains of gaming content.

For a complete list of the Castle Zagyg material see below.

WHY CASTLES & CRUSADES

In 2003 Gary opened a discussion with Steve Chenault about Castle Zagyg. He did not want it to appear under the Dungeons & Dragons name or game system. When the Troll Lords proposed that we make Castles & Crusades compatible with his vision for a game for Castle Zagyg he heartly agreed. Both he and Steve wanted C&C to be near to AD&D, so it worked well. Gary was given the right of approval of the rules, and did so with few corrections, so that when Castle Zagyg: Yggsburgh and Upper were finally published, they launched with the Castles & Crusades SIEGE Engine system. We will pick up with his wishes where we left off in 2008.

Castle Zagyg

We are going to revisit Gary Gygax’s Castle Zagyg like never before, but much like we intended in years past. This project is massive!

Mike Stewart, known for his Victorious RPG and many adventures like Shadows of the Halfling Hall, has come on board as the head writer. But he won’t be alone, Luke Gygax joins him as does James M. Ward, Jason Vey, Jeremy Farkas and Davis Chenault. Peter Bradley and Bill Edmunds on cartography.

This project will include several major areas:

Castle Zagyg The City of Yggsburg
Castle Zagyg Yggsburg Environs (24 neighborhoods of the city)
The East Mark Setting
Castle Zagyg: The Manse & Mouths of Madness
Castle Zagyg: The Dungeons, 17 levels

We’ve not yet settled on an organizational format but have settled on hardcover books with pockets in the back to hold the many maps that will come with this set.

MISSION STATEMENT

We are going to try to stay as true to Gary Gygax’s vision of his work as we possibly can. Steve and Davis Chenault and Peter Bradley all worked closely with Gary for almost 8 years and have a pretty good handle on what he wanted. On top of this, we will be consulting with family members such as Ernie and Luke Gygax, and long time friends like James M. Ward and Jeffrery Talanian to make these works as close to Gary’s vision as we can. New art! New maps! Layout and all, but Gary through and through.

Hall of Many Panes and Other Games

There is so much more to work on. Gary’s creative output was unmatched and even in the wanning years it continued to grow.

We were very happy to have launched The Hermit kickstarter (preorder here), and move toward bring that fabled adventure to your table.

But there is more. The Hall of Many Panes is on the deck. This massive planar adventure, written by Gary and originally published in 2005, is a monument to the bizarre and genius that was Gary’s gift to us all. We’ll bring this on up to date and republish in full color!

One of the projects near and dear to his heart was the Kings of England, Kings of France board game. We are going to dust off the old maps and playing pieces and bring this one back to the fold.

Sunday, January 28, 2024

D&D's Golden Anniversary

As this is the "last Sunday of January" in 2024, that means realistically today(ish) is the 50th Anniversary of D&D.

50 Effing years.....holy crap. I think I started playing in the winter of '78, but I could be off a year either way. I should be celebrating like any faithful dork by playing this weekend and I had full intentions of attending NTRPG's gaming day/weekend at the hotel, but I'm not fully recovered from the flu from last week and traveling to the event, I'm certain, would've been "terminally stupid".

Anyway, 50 years is a lot of time, but that number is really misleading. The real number is the hours spent around the table, days playing between school sessions, weeks at conventions, and (if you were lucky) years in campaigns. Those numbers, well they're the real numbers we celebrate.

If you haven't been able to in a while, please pick up some appropriate dice and roll one out in commemoration.

Friday, January 26, 2024

Looking Back to 2014 - Scarlet Heroes (Sine Nomine)

I can't believe Scarlet Heroes was first released in 2014. Now I find myself desperately looking for my physical copy on my unsorded bookshelves. I backed the Scarlet Heroes Kickstarter back in the day and I so wanted to run this, but I never had a small enough group. Now I'm tempted to try this as a solo RPG. Kevin Crawford simply does great stuff.

Scarlet Heroes is an old-school tabletop role-playing game designed to provide classic sword and sorcery gaming for one player and one gamemaster. Unlike most other RPGs, Scarlet Heroes is built to support one-on-one play, with no need for a full-fledged party of adventurers to provide an evening's entertainment. Whether for a spouse, kid, curious friend, or just as an alternative to boardgames for those nights when only one or two friends can make it to the gaming session, Scarlet Heroes gives you the tools for good old-fashioned skull-cracking adventure.
Scarlet Heroes can be used both as a stand-alone RPG and as an overlay over your favorite old-school game to make its adventures playable for single PCs or very small groups. It shares the same classic statistics and basic game mechanisms as these old-school favorites, but by changing the interpretation of these numbers it makes it possible for a single courageous adventurer to dare perils that would otherwise threaten a half-dozen freebooters. With Scarlet Heroes, a GM can pull out a favorite module, grab a convenient friend, and have a full night's adventure with no tweaking, alteration, or adjustment of the material needed.
Inside the pages of this book, you'll find...
A full stand-alone RPG system that can also be used as an overlay atop most popular old-school games.
The Red Tide campaign setting as a default for the game, with a full bestiary of Southeast Asian-inspired monsters, suitable new magic items, and a full list of new cleric and magic-user spells for that setting.
Sixty new adventure tags of the sort beloved in Stars Without Number and the Red Tide Campaign Setting sourcebook. Mix and match to fashion your own perilous circumstance.
Solo adventure tools for genuine single-player RPG gaming. Mix your own creativity with table results to create a narrative for your own hero's adventure... or use them as inspiration in crafting something for a group.

Thursday, January 25, 2024

Kickstarter - 5E (SRD) RPG Stock Art Illustrations in OSR Style / Make 100

Original fantasy artwork. For use in books, tabletop game material, or elsewhere. Permissively licensed for personal and commercial use.

I'm a huge fan of stock art. I've used it in prior releases, and even the cover of Swords & Wizardry Continual Light is technically stock art. It's an affordable way for small publishers to get quality art made by actual human beings.

The 5E (SRD) RPG Stock Art Illustrations in OSR Style / Make 100 Kickstarter (a long and unwieldy title) showcases stock art by Tara Quinn. I haven't seen Tara's work before, at least not that I know of, and her work is a bit more cartoonish than I'm used to, but I find it surprisingly pleasing. I'll be backing this. It's 25 bucks for 100 pieces of art, quality art, and that's hard to beat.

Wednesday, January 24, 2024

Bundle of Holding - Axes and Anvils

This was one hell of a surprise when I saw it pop up earlier today on Bundle of Holding. Axes and Anvils has one heck of a history, and the fact that it exists at all is a testament to the tenacity of Andrew Shields. Andrew took a steaming pile of poo and turned it into RPG gold, and I salute him for it.

Adventurer! This all-new Axes and Anvils Bundle presents Axes and Anvils: A Game of Dwarves, the dwarf-clan tabletop fantasy roleplaying game from Andrew Shields at Shields Up! Publishing. In the Kingdom of Stoneshadow, your Fellowship of experienced warriors undertakes missions to help your clan. Axes and Anvils character creation is fast and easy, the setting is strong in flavor and atmosphere, and the clan framework easily supports both one-evening adventures and years-long sandbox campaigns in the open-table "West Marches" style. If you like kickass warriors, player-driven action, and battles against undead warbands in the Shadowmines, Axes and Anvils is your Dynastic Prestige toolkit for crafting mithril-grade adventures.
For just US$9.95 you get all six titles (plus one pay-what-you-want)in our Anvil Collection (retail value $43) as DRM-free ebooks, including the complete Axes and Anvils core rulebook (plus the Clan Record Book, Character Pack, and the pay-what-you-want Quickstart Rules); the Gamemaster rulebook Under the Mountain; and the Starter Deck and Lore Deck that make character generation easy.

Tuesday, January 23, 2024

Kickstarter - The Slumbering City - A Shadowdark RPG Adventure

I'm a huge fan of Thom Wilson (and consider Thom a good friend). Thom understands Old School Gaming. I'm also a huge fan of Shadowdark. It's the only game my game group has played in an actual livestream - actually, we've done so THREE times now :)

The Slumbering City is Thom's latest Kickstarter. PDF is 7 bucks, print plus PDF is 17.

A tribute to the creator and adventures of the mightiest barbarian in fantasy literature. For the Shadowdark RPG system, 4 to 6 characters of 2nd to 4th level.
A black & white, digest-sized, saddle-stitched (soft-cover) adventure of 38 to 40 pages. Features all-new artwork and maps by renowned creators including Luiz Prado, Jeff Madding, Joey Docil, Jared Binder, Mark Lyons, MonkeyBlood Design, and more.
It is an adventure filled with strange people and supernatural horrors. Players may find some encounters easy, but others so deadly they end up running for the fabled city’s exit.
This is the third Kickstarter for which we are using Lulu to print our saddle-stitched books. The two other Kickstarter books came out great. We prefer saddle-stitched books to perfect-bound in this smaller format, and Lulu does a great job in the print-on-demand market with this binding type.
Lulu charges the publisher an additional $1.50 per drop-ship order (I create the KS reward order on the Lulu site, then have them produce and mail the book to backers). I have to add this cost to the PoD reward (already added to the $17 tier cost). To be clear, this is not charged to the backer after the project, but as part of the initial tier cost.

Monday, January 22, 2024

Humble Bundle - Play Pink (Gloomhaven Small World, Arkham Horror, & More)

The Play Pink Bundle (supporting the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, thus "Pink") includes digital versions of MANY top games, including Gloomhaven, Small World, Arkham Horror, Game of Thrones, Carcassonne, and others. The core Gloomhaven game is nearly 35 bucks by itself on Steam, yet the full Play Pink Bundle is only 20 bucks (10 bucks if you DON'T want Gloomhaven).

Sunday, January 21, 2024

Computer RPGs Just Aren't a Suitable Sub for TTRPGs.

If you're like me at all, and I'm willing to bet in this regard you probably are, when you explain to "outsiders" that you're a gamer, they immediately think you like to sit around and play video games all day. In my case, I do sometimes, but I don't define myself by console or PC (like "those" gamers usually do.) Still it's far too hard to explain (many times again...) that I mean table-top RPGS.

Of course it doesn't help that I have the opportunity to fiddle with the Xbox controller far, far more than I get to sling dice. A lot of times it's just a substitute, but it's far from a suitable-sub. First off, I'm usually a completionist. If I can 100% a game, or think I can, I'm going for it. My gamerscore is currently standing at 99,300....but that's probably more a factor of having an Xbox for so many years than my awesomeness of playing. I do have 38 games 100%'d and some of those were a PITA. IIRC one I had to set my calendar and play on a certain anniversary day (couldn't cheese it by changing my system clock), and some have recockulus requirements (one step beyond ridiculous).

Even though there are computer RPGS, they are just so not the same and I FINALLY got to the point with my current game (Starfield) where I 100%'d it and can walk away. I am so effing glad to be done and I'll admit the game stopped being fun maybe last week when I realized I could crank up the difficulty to the maximum and still play easily.

There is such a wide divide between TTRPGs and Computer RPGs, and I think I was experiencing all of the issues that highlighted this difference:

Save Scumming: TTRPGs don't allow you to screw up and "go back" to an earlier point and try again. Even worse, you can't save at an opportune time to "rinse & repeat" actions to try and try again for a better loot outcome. The RNG (random number generator) gods aren't always so kind, so at one point I tried for a couple hours to get a better pistol, which I never got (but I did get a kick-ass sniper rifle).
Cheesing the AI: probably has an actual name, but it's too easy to watch the AI routine do it's thing, establish patterns, or just ...well wait. If I shoot a guy in the head and his buddies see him die, they will only spend a small amount of time looking for you, before just giving up and going back to their routine. I don't think a GM would let the players get away with hiding for a minute......
Grinding: This is almost the worst thing with computer games, having to just re-do things over and over because you need to get a certain amount of experience to get that skill you need, or a specific number of widgets to be allowed to progress. While TTRPGs have you doing stuff to get XP to level, I cannot think of a single time a GM has let you re-run an encounter or scenario/adventure over and over. With Starfield a lot of "unique" missions (bounties for the most part) were set in different locations that were exactly like others. It got to the point in Starfield where I knew that on the 6th landing of this one facility there would be a dead scientist, and on a certain table would be a hookah (noticeable because the "tobacco" vials looked like something out of Resident Evil).
Achievements: This probably doesn't sound like a problem, and you'd think after this post I wouldn't see it as a problem, but in-game I did some things that I wouldn't have done otherwise....just so I can get that achievement. I think I would have stopped playing last week if not for "needing" to get to level 100, and the cheesy stuff I needed to do to get from where I would've quit at level 65 to that level 100.
Bugs: There is a bit of a tie for the actual worst part of a computer RPG, with one part being bugs/glitches in general. Bethesda is kind of known for being buggy as hell, and fixing bugs is something they eventually get around to. On my game there was a power I couldn't use without basically crashing the game, another I just couldn't earn, and so....so much more. In my game there were portions of a city that just....disappeared. I eventually found it. It wasn't so much that it didn't render, just it rendered at an altitude that put in in space. On the plus side one bug kept me from being able to steal spaceships I should be allowed to, but let me get access to a line of starships I was not supposed to be allowed to.
Solo play: The other tie for worst part is having to play by yourself. A HUGE part of TTRPGs is the social aspect of playing with others. Sure, there are MMORPGS, but they take these computer problems and ramp them up to the Nth degree.

Let's just say I'm looking forward to getting some face-to-face gaming in next weekend with the NTRPG folks.

Saturday, January 20, 2024

Time to Pick the Map for My First Pocket Setting

I've been toying with the idea of Pocket Settings for years. I see a Pocket Setting as something that can be detailed in 16 pages or less - preferably, much less. A setting that will handle adventuring from 1st level, through about 5th or 6th, after which the world the PCs will likely be exploring the world at large (or the outer and inner planes).

These generated maps are from https://watabou.itch.io/perilous-shores , and are free for anyone to use. Heck, if you do decide to turn one of these maps into a setting of your own, I'd love to hear about it.

I'm partial to the first map, as it has a natural barrier to the southwest, that could be inhabited by humanoids and serve as a borderland, while there is also a water route to the mainland.

Three Lakes is definitely cool. Surrounded by mountains, it serves as a natural barrier to keep the PC's in the local area, at least for their initial levels.

Nice sized area with plenty of locations to explore and a large, centralized lake.

Another isolated setting, with water to the south, mountains to the west, east, and north, with a marsh as a possibly method to access the large world.

Tell me what your thoughts are...

Friday, January 19, 2024

Free OSR - Blackmarsh (Setting)

When I found my way back to active gaming, it was initially as a player. It wasn't long before our then-current DM for the 5e Early Beta playtest felt he was burning out, and asked me to take over the DMing reigns. I was nervous, as it was well over a decade (at the time) that I had run a game session, let alone a campaign, but I dove into it eagerly. My ruleset of choice was AD&D 1e / OSRIC and my setting was the excellent sandbox, Blackmarsh. The rest, as they say, is history.

In the days when man knew only the working of stone and fought for their existence against the orc and the goblin, the sky turned to ash and down fell the fiery mountain onto the land. The world tore open and the grey waters rushed in. Those who survived the impact were lost as boiling clouds rushed out in all directions leaving a wasteland in its wake.
The Mountain That Fell left a gift; magic. Near and far, those of learning and strong of heart discovered new powers to shape the world. In the desolation around the Smoking Bay the adventurous found viz, magic in physical form. And there was more, scattered amid the landscape were strange artifacts and stranger creatures that survived The Mountain That Fell. For a time men, dwarves, orc, goblins, and other races braved the dangers and fought each other in the wastelands. Then the elves came into Blackmarsh expelled the feuding races, drove the monsters out, and healed the land.
In the present day, many come to Blackmarsh to harvest viz, kill monsters, or seek the strange artifacts left by The Mountain That Fell. The only force that stands against the wilderness is the Blackmarsh Rangers. Anyone who is willing to defend the land and its people are welcomed into their ranks. Powerful kingdoms outside of Blackmarsh are beginning cast a covetous eyes toward the land's riches. Will the adventurers of your campaign become wealthy and powerful? Or will their bones join the many that have sunk into the swamps?
Blackmarsh is a complete, ready to run setting for your campaign. It can be run as its own setting or an expansion of your existing world. Contained in Blackmarsh are 17 geographical entries, 78 described locales, and one detailed town; Castle Blackmarsh. Each entry provide one or more adventure hooks to use in your campaigns.
Rob's Note: If you can afford it the hardcover print option comes with two blank pages in the front and three blank pages in the back that you can use for handwritten notes. The inside covers are also blank. The printing process for hardcovers wraps a heavy paper protector between the covers and the first and last pages of the book.

Thursday, January 18, 2024

Toying With the Idea of Detailing a Small Setting Via The Tavern

Map 1

I'm always stunned by the amazing apps available at watabou for GMs. I'm even a Patreon backer.

Now, I'm considering designing a small "pocket" setting here at The Tavern, shared via the CC and likely "generic" OSR.

The first thing I need to decide on is the style of Map to use at Perilous Shores.

Note that this is probably not the map I'll be using, but I'm looking for some input on style to go with. Let me know in the comments which color/presentation you prefer and why.

Map 2

Map 3

Map 4

Wednesday, January 17, 2024

Deal of the Day - Against the Darkmaster Core Rules

Remember Rolemaster? Consider Against the Darkmaster to be Rolemaster Remastered ;)

Today's Deal of the Day is Against the Darkmaster Core Rules. Normally 25 bucks in PDF, until tomorrow morning it is on sale for 5 bucks.

Against the Darkmaster is a tabletop Epic Fantasy roleplaying game of high adventure, heroic action, and heavy metal combat.
If you put together works like The Lord of the Rings and The Wheel of Time, sprinkled them with a bit of Labyrinth and Dragonslayer, and put everything in a blender together with a healthy dose of classic Heavy Metal, you’ll get a typical Against the Darkmaster game session.
Travel to distant lands, face terrible dangers, uncover ancient items of power, and gather the armies of the world under your banner to defeat the ultimate Evil.
A complete rule system, including:
Unified d100-based action resolution mechanic
Huge variety of character customization options
Detailed travel mechanics for long overland adventures
Flexible magic system with over 300 spells
Tactical combat and brutal Critical Strikes
Immersive rules for character driven adventures
A Bestiary with over 60 fearsome creatures
A full introductory campaign in three parts

Tuesday, January 16, 2024

Humble Bundle - All I Need to Know I Learned From Star Trek

Space. The final frontier.

I was asked yesterday if I was a Trekkie or a Star Wars fan, and I answered B5. But damn, if the original Star Trek isn't a very close second.

If you are a Trekkie, the All I Need to Know I Learned From Star Trek Bundle on Humble Bundle may just be up your alley.

Monday, January 15, 2024

Bundle of Holding - The Halls of Arden Vul (Huge Mega-Dungeon)

The Halls of Arden Vul is a HUGE megadungeon! I have it in print, and it is in multiple volumes, and in truth, I never finished perusing it. It is THAT massive. As Halls of Arden Vul is the latest Bundle of Holding, I'm now planning to pick up where I left off in my reading :)

The Halls of Arden Vul Bundle is just 24.95 in this bundle, which includes VTT maps, which is huge if you and your group are VTT players. Note: Halls of Arden Vul is 1120 pages, which is fairly large ;)

Adventurer! We've resurrected our July 2022 Arden Vul Bundle featuring The Halls of Arden Vul, a vast megadungeon from Expeditious Retreat Press for D&D, AD&D, and other tabletop fantasy roleplaying games. Originally published in five volumes in 2020, the 1,100-page Arden Vul is one of the largest megadungeons published for old-school gaming, with more than 2,000 keyed encounter areas spread across ten main levels and 15 sub-levels. The scale of the Halls and the variety of experiences ensure no two groups encounter the Halls in the same way. In fact, the same player group might run several different parties through the Halls and never see a given area twice – even the entrances.
For just US$24.95 you have a new chance to get this revived offer's DRM-free .PDF ebooks of The Halls of Arden Vul Complete (retail price $109), the pay-what-you-want Maps of Arden Vul, and The VTT Maps of Arden Vul for virtual tabletops.

Prepare to Beard the Halls of Arden Vul!
Arden Vul is the most ambitious megadungeon ever created, with over 1,100 Pages of Incredible Adventure. This First Edition compatible fully-bookmarked PDF product features:
2,162 Encounter Descriptions
14 NPC Factions
10 Massive Levels
15 Extensive Sub-levels
7 Dangerous Exterior locations
149 New Monsters
332 New Magic Items
69 New Technological Items
44 New Spells
189 New Books through which PCs can gain a deep understanding of the dungeon
A full NPC appendix with 10 competing parties at 3 levels of power
Over 140 original pieces of art, including 28 full-page illustrations!
All of this is mapped via 33 Amazing Maps that you can download for free at The Maps of Arden Vul. As we have gotten requests for VTT player's maps we have created The VTT Maps of Arden Vul for free as well. If you know you want the physical copies, just head over to the Arden Vul Bundle and get everything Arden Vul in one fell swoop.
There has never been anything like Arden Vul, and there never will be again.
Welcome to the Halls of Arden Vul!

Sunday, January 14, 2024

Cold Weather Gear & Exposure Rules Lacking

For the overwhelming majority of Americans, and consequently American Gamers, it's cold AF outside! Perfect weather for sitting inside around a fireside table with friends slinging dice....

While I did go out this morning, I spent as little time outside as possible (understandably) and otherwise kept myself occupied with non-ttrpg gaming. Anything outside requires layers, hats, gloves, and better footwear unless my time outside of a car or building is less than 30" or so at a time....

When considering gaming and cold weather I'm immediately reminded of the time my gaming group was getting ready to play Annihilate the Giants (HackMaster version of G1-2-3 Against the Giants) and we were told we'd be heading out across the tundra. I think we, ok I, spent hours outside of the game table planning provisioning for the trip. Figuring out what we needed for gear, how many pack animals, and HOW to pack said animals. Since this was HackMaster, I had to assume I needed "extra" gear and I had to figure out how to spread out the gear so losing some pack animals and equipment wouldn't result in losing all of some aspect of the gear (as-in if mule #7 falls into an inaccessible crevasse my Archer wouldn't lose all his arrows). IIRC I actually had "npc" sheets made up for each mule, listing gear, calculating encumbrance, etc. .....

....yeah I can really drill-down on the crunch/details when motivated.

My current group, not that we've played in FOREVER!!!! (hint hint Mr. GM) is pretty much on the far opposite side of the detail spectrum. I think we'd spend 5 minutes getting ready, maybe spend a set amount of coin and any gear we need, within reason, is hand-waived.

I'm not saying either extreme is correct, or even my preference, probably because most game systems I've seen don't do a good job with the provisioning aspect and/or dealing with weather extremes. Now as far as equipment goes, I'm sold on HackMaster's Goods and Gear, and that's not my normal HackMaster bias either. It's a good book, although it has a few issues borne from it's publishing process (In short, Hasbro kept pushing their approval back in a delay to come out with their own, inferior, book and in the end KenzerCo cut it's losses and published as-is without fixing a few errors).

Now as far as figuring out the effects of cold weather.....my eyes tend to gloss over when reading the Wilderness Survival Guide and trying to figure out the saves and "Personal Temperature". Yeah...if anyone has a lead on something easier for figuring out weather effects, send it my way.....

In the meantime......stay warm:

This is us tomorrow....

Saturday, January 13, 2024

Bundle of Holding - Black Scrolls Map-Tiles

I used to view maps as less essential parts of RPG sessions. Give me Fog of War and a scanned map from a module, and I'm good. Slowly, I've become aware that maps, and visual aids like tokens, are useful in retaining a player's attention when gaming via a VTT (which is where I do all non-convention gaming these days).

JoetheLawyer scrounges the internet and beyond to find maps that fit the night's adventure, and I must admit that high-quality, full-color maps do look awesome on the computer screen.

The Black Scrolls Map-Tiles Bundle on Bundle of Holding looks like it would fit Joe's sessions perfectly, and probably save him hours of scrounging time ;)

Adventurer! We've resurrected our June 2021 Black Scrolls Modular Map-Tiles Bundle featuring beautiful full-color digital battlemat tiles for tabletop fantasy roleplaying games. Created by Hungarian graphic artist Antal Kéninger of Black Scrolls Games and funded in a November 2017 Kickstarter campaign, the mix-and-match tiles in the Cities of the Black Scrolls series depict medieval city and village buildings, castle and fortress walls, inns and arenas, cathedral aisles, and dungeon crypts. Print these modular PDFs and assemble them into gorgeous battle sites for your game table, or import the digital .JPG and .PNG images into your favorite virtual tabletop (VTT) like Roll20, Foundry VTT, or Fantasy Grounds.
Each Black Scrolls set includes dozens of digital tiles. Many outdoor scenes have day and night versions; many room tiles are provided both empty and furnished. Each set includes "cutout" props and accessories like tents, doors, gates, and dungeon traps. With the hundreds of tiles in this bargain-priced offer, you can build any inn, village, castle, fortress, or dungeon on the spot, and expand it by just placing another tile.
Note: These high-quality Black Scrolls image sets compose one of the largest offers we've ever presented. Each set is hundreds of megabytes in size, and the whole bundle measures 5.5 gigabytes. Clear space on your hard drive!
For just US$7.95 you get all four titles in this revived offer's Village Collection (retail value $35) as DRM-free titles, including Medieval Fantasy Village, Modular Inn, Cemetery, and – newly added in this revival – Docks and Canals.
(If you purchased this Black Scrolls offer in its original June 2021 run, you also receive the newly added Docks and Canals automatically on your Wizard's Cabinet download page and in your linked DriveThruRPG Library. When you buy a Bundle of Holding early, you never worry about missing a title added later – even much later.)
And if you pay more than the threshold price of $19.59, you'll level up and also get this revival's entire City Collection with seven more titles worth an additional $60, including City (plus the free City and Fortress Transition Tiles), Fortress, Castle, Moat and River, Cathedral, Dark Crypts, and – also newly added this time around – Trenches, a set designed for World War I scenarios but easily adapted to medieval fantasy battlegrounds. (And, again, if you bought the June 2021 offer, you get this new set automatically.)

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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