I remember playing Top Secret during the weekly Physics lab in my senior year of High School. Those cheap as d10s quickly cracked being rolled on those granite lab tables. I've always had a soft spot for espionage rulesets.
Modus Operandi is a roleplaying game of super spies and secret agents set against the backdrop of the Cold War of the 1980s.
Go back to basics and become an expert.
Modus Operandi is an espionage role-playing game in which you play an agent employed by a secret organisation working to stop those who would destroy or dominate the world. The default setting for Modus Operandi is the 1980s but your games can be set in any decade.
Modus Operandi is inspired by old school espionage games but, using the Old School Essentials SRD as its core, brings a fresh take to the genre. Included in Modus Operandi are all new character classes (called specialities), weapons, equipment, communications gear, gadgets and rules for contacts.
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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 Rumbleor YouTube - Tenkar
Pictures say a thousand words and these pictures show a nice assortment of horror games.
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 Rumbleor YouTube - Tenkar
I hand draw and digitally color LOTS of maps. I sell many of them in royalty-free digital packages so people can use them in their commercial projects. I always wanted a book of maps to put on my shelf, and thought: “Why not make the maps into a workbook that DMs/GMs can write in to stock each dungeon? That way the book becomes a living document they can keep on their bookshelf and re-use for new game groups, saving them time and effort!”
MAPS For FANTASY RPGs Workbook 3 & 4 are 150-page & 138-page softcover books/PDFs with 36 (Workbook 3) & 33 (Workbook 4) black & white old school grid and grid-less maps from the MAPS FOR FANTASY RPGs 1 & 4 Digital Maps Packages and include spaces provided to name maps, stock dungeons and/or add notes as you run players through your adventures!
These DM's/GM's Workbooks are ideal for anyone who wants to keep their dungeon/adventure notes organized and in one place - on your bookshelf, in beautiful books with gorgeous hand drawn, old school maps!
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 Rumbleor YouTube - Tenkar
DTRPG currently has a Cosmic Horror Sale going on. Most of the sale prices are 25% off the regular price, but many titles in the ALIEN RPG collection are 50% off, including the ALIEN RPG Starter Set.
I played in a few sessions of the ALIEN RPG, and it was a blast and a half. I'll be buying a copy of the Starter Set for my own collection.
This set contains everything you need to start playing:
A 104-page rulebook with a fast and effective ruleset designed specifically to support the core themes of ALIEN: horror and action in the cold darkness of space.
The 48-page complete scenario Chariot of the Gods by sci-fi novelist Andrew E.C. Gaska, taking you on a thrilling, terror-filled ride into deep space where no one can hear you scream. Chariot of the Gods is designed for 3–5 players plus the GM.
Five pre-generated characters to play.
A huge full-color, double-sided map, with one side depicting chartered space in the year 2183 and the other floor plans for the Chariot of the Gods scenario.
84 game markers for keeping track of characters, motion tracker pings, and more.
56 custom cards for weapons, personal agendas, and initiative in combat
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 Rumbleor YouTube - Tenkar
The setting material / boxed sets for the DCC RPG are simply stunning in the quality and quantity of the contents. DCC RPG Dying Earth is no exception, and it holds a prominent place on my gaming shelves. Alas, it will likely never get played, as my gaming group isn't a fan of the DCC RPG, but the books are sweet and a pleasant read.
Adventurer! This all-new DCC Dying Earth Bundle presents the 2022 Goodman Games tabletop roleplaying game adaptation for the Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG of the world-famous Dying Earth stories by legendary fantasist Jack Vance.
Funded in a June 2021 Kickstarter campaign, DCC Dying Earth is the newest licensed RPG version of Vance's setting. DCC Dying Earth is both a sourcebook that expands the DCC RPG core rules and a campaign setting that evokes Vance's singular setting: the distant twilight of Earth as a dim red sun sheds its last life. The world is filled with the whimsical and the curious, the evil and monstrous. DCC Dying Earth is 100% compatible with DCC RPG. Parties can jump from Aereth to the Purple Planet to the dim twilight of the 21st Aeon, where magic and science are one and the same – even back through time to the sorcerous age of Grand Motholam or doomed Ampridatvir. The four new classes (magician, wayfarer, witch, and vat-thing), dozens of new spells, new monsters, and more – all can fit any era and expand any judge's setting.
Note: This licensed DCC RPG adaptation of the Dying Earth stories is different from an earlier version published by Pelgrane Press. These adventures all require the Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG rulebook, which is not included in this offer – but check our DCC Essentials Starter Pack in the Bundle Store!
Dungeon Crawl Classics module 5 Penumbra of the Polar ApeThis all-new offer has everything you need to begin adventuring in the 21st Aeon. For just US$17.95 you get all four titles in our Starter Collection (retail value $61) as DRM-free ebooks, including the complete DCC Dying Earth core set and the first three modules: Dying Earth #0: The Black Obelisk, #1 Laughing Idol of Lar-Shann, and #2 Sorcerer's Tower of Sanguine Slant.
Dying Earth campaignAnd if you pay more than the threshold price of $35.39, you'll level up and also get our entire Bonus Collection with seven more titles worth an additional $67. The centerpiece of this Bonus Collection, debuting exclusively in this offer, is the Casebook of Arcane Apocrypha, a collection of stretch goals from the DCC Dying Earth Kickstarter campaign. And this Bonus Collection also adds DCC Dying Earth modules #3-8: #3 Magnific Machinations at the Grand Exposition, #4 Mind Weft of the Moonstone Palace, #5 Penumbra of the Polar Ape, #6 The Great Visp Hunt, #7 Phantoms of the Ectoplasmic Cotillion, and #8 The House on the Island.
The Casebook of Arcane Apocrypha debuts exclusively in this offer and is not yet available on DriveThruRPG. Download the Casebook from your Wizard's Cabinet on this site.
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 Rumbleor YouTube - Tenkar
Here's a bundle that will likely be on the list of many to snag - Star Trek Adventures RPG 1e Bundle from Modiphius. Even if you simply snag it for the Star Trek lore (it even has a book on the classic Star Trek TOS Cartoon) you'll likely get your money's worth. Still not sure about the bundle? A single buck gets you the Star Trek Adventures Starter Set AND an adventure. 36 PDFs for $25!
Assemble your Starfleet crew for this Star Trek bundle of tabletop role-playing books from Modiphius! This TTRPG explorer’s kit contains new character templates, expansions, and campaign guides for the original series, The Next Generation, Discovery, and more. Get everything you need to embark on an epic space journey with your friends while supporting Girls Who Code. Get the bundle and take your Star Trek Adventures experience to the next level!
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 Rumbleor YouTube - Tenkar
A Review of 'Memoirs of Hadrian'
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(My friend and I did a multi-hour podcast on this. You can listen to it
here.)
A slender and capacious book, like the shadow of a flame on sunlit marble.
...
The Spires of Kuyyin
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By Wes Stroud Self Published Cairn 2e […] Now, the once-mighty fortress
lies in ruins, the steel and iron that once shined over the valley now
tarnished an...
Thieves' Guild VI (1982)
-
From the back cover:
Now here's yer chance fer a rollickin' good time out on the rolling waves
of the high seas! Don yer bandanna and tie on the old eye-...
Link: Taskerland on NSR
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This feels a bit like the old days, when we used to have a discourse about
the RPG world between our sites. Taskerland also has some things to say
about wh...
How Did they Die?
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Old characters in *Mythic Bastionland* stand a chance of just dying
off-screen between Ages.
But what happened to that person?
*Roll d66*
11: The life...
Adventure Seeds for Ethyria
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This is a map where I will add rumoured locations for my Ethyria game.
I'm using Dungeon Mags, Advanced Adventures Compendium vol1-4, and some
old-school...
Music Monday - Kekka Orai
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As I’ve mentioned previously I love My Hero Academia: Vigilantes. It was a
great manga and season 1 has been fantastic. I’ve had the opening theme
“Kekka O...
Miskatonic Monday #355: The Outbreak 1854
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Much like the Jonstown Compendium for RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha
and The Companions of Arthur for material set in Greg Stafford’s
masterpiece of A...
Monstrous Mondays: Hippalektryon
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[image: Hippalektryon]
I am back to work on my next set of syncretized myths, this time my poster
child of syncretism, the Greco-Egyptian gods, also know...
Felltower Update
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I did a little work on Felltower today. We'll be beyond the air gate, next
time, but still, the dungeon must go on.
- I updated some rumors
- I updated th...
Progress With My Card Game
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On February 9, 2018 I was struck with inspiration for a card game idea that
I brought to Gary Con 10 and play tested away most of the rough edges. I
had th...
Community Greyhawk: 3orcs Village of Nulb
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Today’s offering is another title from 3orcs; the Village of Nulb Campaign
Sourcebook for Temple Elemental Temple Campaign. This is an exhaustive
sourceboo...
Pulp: Adventure Location: Trindade & Martim Vaz
-
History is fractally interesting. Start examine any event, or following any
citation, and interesting facts emerge. But some places, for whatever
reason,...
Yoon-Suin 2nd edition print release PRE-ORDER
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*First there was Yoon-Suin, and it was good*
*The Gods of the God River saw it, and saw it was good*
*The Yali of the forest danced when they saw it*
*...
grodog's Top 10 Favorite Greyhawk Adventures
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On tonight's *Gabbin #353* "The Top Published Greyhawk Adventures!" show,
Jay Scott, Anna Meyer, and Mike Bridges feature Erik Mona, Carlos Lising,
and J...
A long, wonderful life
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This week my wife and I said goodbye to one of our babies. Maddie had just
hit 17 years old on Monday and left us on Thursday. It was heartbreaking as
we w...
OSRIC the Third
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The wise sages at Mythmere Games are hard at work on the third version of
*OSRIC* (“Old School Reference and Index Compilation”). You can support
this proj...
Tripping the Death-Cult OSR...
-
So last month (I don't remember when) I read a bog post (I don't remember
which, except that it wasn't previously familiar) explaining old-school D&D
in ...
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 ...
FDM Bergman PzII
-
Carrying on with my plan to paint up a whole lot of old stuff that I
printed ages — sometimes years — ago, I've whacked out this early-model
Panzer II ...
Adventure Writing Session Turns Into a Hex Crawl
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Last Thursday I got on to do another Adventure Writing Session and Paul
Turner joined me. We decided to use his zine, Critical Hit to roll up a hex
flowe...
How many editions of D&D, Part II
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Back in July of 2022 I made a frivilous post on my thought regarding how
many editions of D&D there really were. I came up with 8.
Since then I have ent...
[BLOG] News on the March! Episode VII.
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This post continues the series of brief play reports I have been posting on
Discord. This does not cover every single session (sometimes, recon and
setup...
Blogs on Tape season 6 has begun!
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Hi everybody! Its been a minute. How are you? Everything is awful all the
time? Horrors never cease? You’re being driven mad by the weight of the
unfathoma...
Should you PAY your GM?
-
Let's start with the conclusion: GM-for-pay is okay.
In other words: there is nothing wrong with paying someone to run a game
for you, or charging people f...
36 units sold on day one
-
Not big Kickstarter-type numbers or anything but still pretty personally
gratifying to me, because 1) it'a more copies than the first book sold on
its fi...
On the Success of the VOTE
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You voted for it, and it's here!
All the prices on the books I sell on DTRPG will be rising in price, 40-50%
so I can maintain the same margin as now!
...
Fight On! number 16 is out.
-
The new issue of *Fight On!* has been out for a bit. You can get copies via
drivethru or lulu.
I haven't finished reading my copy, but I'd like to reco...
The Hungering Dark
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Go into the earth, and reality will walk alongside you.
Walk further, and you will eventually be walking alone.
The world is plastic down there. Tar Lat...
Hobby Bingo 2025: January Progress
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Welcome back to the Vault! I've painted a few bits and pieces in January
and made a dent into my Hobby Bingo card! First up is a Chaplain in
Terminator ...
Articulations
-
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
-
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!
-
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...
This is an Important Game Mechanic
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*"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
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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
-
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...
And Now the News Draft Download on Patreon
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It's self-styled Throwback Thursday and *having just released the 34-page
draft booklet of Hill Cantons news to my Patreon backers* I am going to
indulge m...
The Withered Crag available now
-
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!
-
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...
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!
-
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...
Total Sales for WB:FMAG
-
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?
-
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
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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 ...