Tenkar's Tavern: Bundle of Holding - Free Trader Beowulf (History of Traveller RPG)

Thursday, May 1, 2025

Bundle of Holding - Free Trader Beowulf (History of Traveller RPG)

I own a physical copy of Free Trader Beowulf, and it has been a pleasure to peruse. At 7.95 for Free Trader Beowulf in PDF, it is a bargain!

Traveller! For a limited time, Mongoose Publishing is offering This is Free Trader Beowulf, Shannon Appelcline's comprehensive "system history" of the Traveller tabletop science-fiction roleplaying game, for a special promotional price.
From the author of Designers & Dragons, which told the story of the entire roleplaying industry, comes the intimate, detailed history of a single roleplaying game. This is Free Trader Beowulf tracks Traveller from its inspirations in the early '70s to its initial publication and across seven distinct editions of its original 2d6 gaming system. It tells the stories of Traveller's major publishers, its many licensees, its Long Night, and how it rose again like a phoenix. Now you can get a non-watermarked, DRM-free .PDF ebook of the complete full-color 298-page This is Free Trader Beowulf (retail value $30) for just US$7.95!

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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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Thursday, May 1, 2025

Bundle of Holding - Free Trader Beowulf (History of Traveller RPG)

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