I am not a massive fan of Supers RPGs—I never have been and never will be. That being said, if I were to play a Supers RPG these days, it would be Mutants & Masterminds—hands down. It's just familiar enough to feel comfortable.
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've heard a lot about Nights Black Agents. Surprisingly, I bought this back in 2017 - I need to redownload The Dracula Dossier.
Agent! We've been cleared to resurrect the December 2017 Dracula Dossier Bundle. The Dracula Dossier is an epic improvised horror-espionage campaign for Night's Black Agents, star designer Kenneth Hite's GUMSHOE system tabletop roleplaying game of burned spies vs. vampires from Pelgrane Press.
In 1893 a visionary spymaster in the British Naval Intelligence Department tried to recruit the perfect asset: a vampire. Operation Edom contacted Count Dracula in Transylvania, set up a safe house and headquarters in England, and arranged transit. Then it all went wrong. Dracula betrayed his minder and double-crossed NID. British intelligence hunted him down on his home ground and terminated him with two knives and extreme prejudice – or so they thought. Dracula lives. Now it's up to you to finish the job.
Funded by a November 2014 Kickstarter campaign, the Dracula Dossier series follows in the fully improvisational path of the award-winning The Armitage Files campaign for Trail of Cthulhu. Players follow leads in the margins of Dracula Unredacted, a rare edition of Bram Stoker's masterpiece that reveals the terrifying truth behind the fiction. Players choose which leads to track, which scarlet trail to follow. The Director, using the clear step-by-step techniques in these ebooks, improvises a suitably blood-soaked thriller in response to their choices. Together you create your own unique story for one of the greatest RPG campaigns ever published.
This comprehensive revival once again brings you the entire Dracula Dossier line. For just US$19.95 you get all three titles in this revived offer's Agent Collection (retail value $54) as DRM-free .PDF ebooks, including the Night's Black Agents core rulebook, Dracula Unredacted, and The Edom Field Manual.
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
What would your players' characters do if aliens crash-landed in your campaign? This adventure just may answer that question!
This is the part where I pull back the curtain. I've known Thom Wilson for years, first meeting Tom at NTRPG Con and later being a Special Guest at the first Shire Con (run by Thom) and yearly since. Thom is a skilled and prolific producer of Old School RPG material.
It Fell From the Sky is Thom Wilson's ShadowDark low-level adventure. It's 4 bucks in PDF, 15 bucks for print plus PDF, and includes shipping.
It Fell From the Sky is a 24- to 28-page adventure designed for the Shadowdark RPG. It contains enough content to last one to three sessions of gameplay for most groups. It can be dropped into any campaign or world of the game master's choosing.
This adventure will be available to backers in two formats: a PDF or a digest-sized print-on-demand book. The cover is full-color with a black & white interior.
The adventure was created and written by Thom Wilson of ThrowiGames. Eric Lofgren created the fantastic cover. Maps were hand-drawn by Glynn Seal of MonkeyBlood Design. And the original interior art was developed by Joey Docil. Of course, Joshua Newey is handling all the editing.
DriveThruRPG will handle PDF delivery, and Lulu.com will fulfill the print-on-demand copies.
This is the part where I talk about who I know, so you can read this post with open eyes. I've known Ben Burns, owner of New Comet Games, for about a decade. We set aside time to talk at every NTRPG Con, and I consider Ben a friend.
I own nearly all New Comet Games Call of Cthulhu print releases, which are well worth the investment. At 7.95, this PDF bundle is practically a steal.
Ahoy! This all-new Corsairs of Cthulhu Bundle presents Corsairs of Cthulhu: Fighting the Mythos in the Golden Age of Piracy and other historical Call of Cthulhu Seventh Edition tabletop roleplaying scenarios from New Comet Games. This piratical guide to the years 1650-1730 gives you new rules for alchemy and voodoo, historical occupations and equipment, and maps of Port Royal and far Tortuga. Your 17th-Century Investigators can crew a pirate or privateer vessel, freelance out of a Caribbean port, or sail their own ship as corsairs. They face curses left by ancient civilizations, and nightmares hidden around the Gulf and the seas beyond (waaay beyond). Join the crew, hoist the Jolly Roger, prime your pistol, and sharpen your cutlass. It'll take more than luck to save you today.
For just US$7.95 you get all four CoC supplements in our New Comet Collection (retail value $44) as DRM-free ebooks, including the complete 299-page Corsairs of Cthulhu campaign sourcebook along with three 1920s-era campaigns: A Time for Sacrifice (about Mayan mysteries in the Yucatan), Devil's Swamp (the Hockomock Swamp in southern Massachusetts), and The Star on the Shore (Rockport, Massachusetts). Each campaign consists of shorter scenarios that can be played as standalone sessions, and all are fine for both beginning and experienced Investigators.
Note: These campaigns require Call of Cthulhu Seventh Edition (not included in this offer) or compatible rules such as the free and open Cthulhu Eternal.
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 first ran a Warhammer Fantasy Roleplaying with the release of the first edition of the WFRP ruleset, and it was a blast. The system is fun, but the setting is second to none. Rich and dark, the world of WFRP is familiar to us but also significantly divergent.
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 Murderous Miscellany
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There have been times when it was very hard to find any support for *SLA
Industries* and times when it was hard to support *SLA Industries*. The
roleplayi...
The Peasants are Revolting
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by Peter GraySelf PublishedOSRICLevel ... 3? There is something rotten
going on in the backwater Barony of Near-Marsh and the region’s noble, The
Countess ...
DMing Styles: Beethoven to the Beatles
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Speaking in very broad brushstrokes (where would the fun be otherwise?),
there have been two different ways to approach making music in the time
since it...
Welcome Campers, Time To Die!
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Intro and OverviewCamp Blood is the second part of Bloat Games bloody
grindhouse trilogy. Like the first, Bloody Appalachia, it's a stand alone
game but fu...
“The Map of Five-Times-Five
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*The paper was flayed skin. Around its borders were these words; “A map
of Signs, like those which show the way to Grace or Down to Damnation,
through go...
Community Greyhawk: Shadows Over Diamond Lake
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Today we have Shadows Over Diamond Lake by Vitor Morelli. This is a 79 page
pdf, but that might be a deceptive because the margins are immense and the
text...
Seerbones
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Bastiards of the electric epoch are known for their badly designed dice
games, but what about the knights, vassals, and vagabonds of the mythic
age?
Th...
Air Gate game notes
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Some reveals and notes.
I said I'd reveal this after - Cumulon's castle layout and traps are from
Dungeon Magazine #9, The Plight of Cirria. It was written...
The Old School Renaissance
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Debates about what the OSR is have been going on since at least the late
2000s. Lately I seen more rounds of discussion on this topic on various
forums ...
Asset Thursdays: Acrocolypse
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Here we have Acrocolypse, and uplifted anarchist crocodile. This asset was
the asset of a player in the playtest games, and I did my bestest to make
th...
Excavating My First Fantasy...
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I've been a fantasy buff going way back; but my introduction to the genre
came by way of a non-fantastical source: dinosaurs and prehistory. Not
surprising...
What to do on a Gaming Break
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It's summer again. Well it's supposed to be but with temperatures lingering
around 40 it doesn't feel like it. Most summers I take time off. A couple
mon...
I come from the land of the ice and snow
-
So I got a wild hair and created 81 pages of demographically accurate
random birthplace charts covering every hamlet, village, town, city,
castle, and...
Easy Tracks in Blender
-
There's an add-on for Blender called BagaPie, which adds a whole lot of
functionality in various arenas (scattering etc.). The one that is most
useful ...
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...
Black Blade Publishing and the OSR Community
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...or, Why Does Black Blade Publishing Still Exist?
Earlier this year, Jon Hershberger and I met to conduct some *Black Blade
Publishing* 2025 planning, an...
Dark Tower (1979)
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From the back cover:
*An Ancient Evil* has overtaken a once holy shrine. Thus, a sleepy mountain
hamlet becomes a focal point for mysterious disappear...
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...
Pulp: Adventure Location: Trindade & Martim Vaz
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History is fractally interesting. Start examine any event, or following any
citation, and interesting facts emerge. But some places, for whatever
reason,...
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...
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 ...
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...
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...
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
-
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
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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...
And Now the News Draft Download on Patreon
-
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
-
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!
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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!
-
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?
-
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
-
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 ...