GM's Day Sale - Swords & Wizardry Picks

While I'm fairly disappointed with this year's DTRPG GM's Day Sale, as the bundles pretty much suck, and the majority of the titles on sale are only discounted 10%, there are a number of pics that are 40% off for the sale. The picks below are all 40% off.

Here's the link to the Swords & Wizardry picks. My highlighted picks are far from exhaustive.

Tome of Adventure Design - I can't say enough in praise of ToAD. I own multiple physical copies - The Tome of Adventure Design is organized as a series of "books," each one providing resources at every step of the way. The vast majority of the content of each book is made up of random generation tables that we created over a quarter of a century (sigh) for our own use. It should be said upfront that these are tables for deep design - in other words, most of them are too long, and contain too many unusual or contradictory entries, for use on the spot at the gaming table. There are already many excellent books of tables for use on the fly; the tables in these books are different. They work best as a tool for preparation beforehand, providing relatively vast creative resources for browsing and gathering, rather than quick-use tables designed to provide broad, fast brushstrokes. Our shorter tables tend to deliver cryptic results designed to shock the reader's creativity into filling in the gaps, whereas the longer tables are unusably vast for easy random generation, being designed to shock the reader's creativity into operation by presenting a sea of possibilities. 21.99 13.19

Dark Places & Demogorgons - Survive This!! - Core Rule Book - Stranger Things for the OSR - In Dark Places & Demogorgons, you play as high school students during the early 1980s. The town you live in has had a rash of disappearances and strange happenings. The adults seem lost as to what to do, the police are as clueless as ever and aren’t helping and Reverend Phillips is on another witch-hunt. It’s up to you and your friends to figure out what’s going on and stop it from happening again! 9.99 5.99

Operation Unfathomable - I'm dying to run this one day - OPERATION UNFATHOMABLE is a 108-page, internally-consistent, gonzo funhouse module for Swords & Wizardry that runs like a subterranean wilderness trek instead of a “down the 10-foot hall and kick in a door” affair. There are random elements aplenty to keep GMs guessing as well as players. No balanced encounters to be found here, but the clever setup allows low-level characters to drop into the dungeon “deep end” and still have a chance of making it out alive—if they’re smart and wary. 12.00 7.20

White Star: Galaxy Edition - Space opera for the OSR -Ace Pilots, dead-eyed Gunslingers, and irrepressible Star Squirrels blast off across the stars to save the galaxy from the horrors of the Void! Hellfire Mecha march across the battlefield, leaving carnage in their wake! From the galactic center of Omega Consor to the Manrash System on the edge of the universe, the galaxy needs heroes! Endless galactic adventure awaits you in White Star: Galaxy Edition! Integrated and updated to include material from White Star and the White Star Companion, White Star: Galaxy Edition integrates new rules, new options, and expands the original game. Now more than just a toolbox, White Star: Galaxy Edition offers you a universe full of thrilling adventure! 9.99 5.99

Crypts and Things Remastered - Newt did a great job with this Swords & Sorcery hack of the S&W rules - Be a wild Barbarian, a deadly Fighter, a soul-torn Sorcerer or a sword sharp canny Thief, fighting evil tyrants and foul demons in a world rapidly dying and heading towards its final nemesis. Crypts and Things (C&T) is a Swords and Sorcery Roleplaying game based upon the Old School Rules of the 70s/80s. It also draws upon the British fantasy games and game-books of that period to bring a distinctly dark and dangerous feel to the game. It was originally released back in early 2012 and after a highly successful Kickstarter in 2015 it returns in a Remastered edition, with revised and expanded content and entirely new art by David M. Wright. 14.42 8.65

Gathox Vertical Slum - I like the cover and the premise. Snagged! -Welcome to Gathox Vertical Slum, a far-out, gonzo science fantasy campaign setting for Swords & Wizardry White Box Edition and other classic tabletop role-playing games. Aliens, mutants, spellslingers, and hardened criminals struggle for dominance in a lawless city built upon the back of a wandering, world-hopping godling. Inside this tome, you’ll find:* A fully mapped and fleshed out Vertical Slum, stuffed to the gills with greedy factions, hook-laden NPCs, and seedy locations.* A new gangland system for running domain-level games at level 1.* 43 fully illustrated strange and inimical monsters to spring on unsuspecting players.* New classes, skills, ability checks, hirelings, and gear for players to work their will across the mean streets of the Great Spire.* A vertical dungeon introductory adventure to test the skills and resourcefulness of new and seasoned players alike. 9.99 5.99

Eldritch Tales: Lovecraftian White Box Role-Playing - There is much within that I want to put into my next S&W campaign - Eldritch Tales: Lovecraftian White Box Role-Playing in an OSR rule set with its roots in the Original version of the world's favorite RPG, but instead of exploring musty dungeons, characters in Eldritch Tales investigate Mythos horrors in the 1920s! The setting and background are based on the cosmic horror tales of Howard Phillips Lovecraft and other members of his writing circle. Within the pages of Eldritch Tales you will find four character classes representing many classic pulp archetypes, occupations, rules for insanity, spells, monsters, esoteric tomes, artifacts, a starting scenario, and setting material, as well as advice on using Eldritch Tales with other White Box games. This game is compatible with Swords & Wizardry White Box and other OSR games. 6.99 4.19

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GM's Day is Here -

Yep, March 4th is GMs Day, a remembrance of the passing of Gary Gygax. I remember Gary's passing, or at least my learning of it, quite clearly. I was at work, at my desk, and one of the tabs I had open had the Troll Lord Games Castles & Crusades forums. I refreshed the page and saw a new thread. Gary Gygax had passed. It hit me right in the gut. My son's mother had passed a month and a day prior and all of the emotions came back. I had never met Gary in person but we had conversed on the interwebs, and he had been nothing but a gentleman in our exchanges. Now, I'd never get to take the man up on his invite to play games on his back porch. Never get to shake his hand and thank him for the influence his games had on me becoming the man I had become.

It seems like yesterday and an eternity at the same time.

If it weren't for Gary it's likely our hobby would never exist. Scary thought, that. Gary, I owe you much. Not just from the direct joy of gaming, but the problem solving and social skills that roleplaying gave me.

In any case, DriveThruRPG is holding a GM's Day sale. Heck, even Swords & Wizardry Continual Light is 20% off in PDF (it's just 2 bucks right now)

We'll now return to our usual postings :)

Yep, those are affiliate links above. Affiliate links put a portion of sales generated into The Tavern's coffers. I thank you in advance.

The GM's Day Sale is Live at RPGNow and DM's Guild - 33% off a Huge Amount of Releases (including SWCL ;)

The Annual GM's Sale kicked off earlier today at RPGNow and DM's Guild and there is a HUGE amount of OSR and classic titles included in the sale (including Swords & Wizardry Continual Light)

I'll start putting some Tavern Picks together for tomorrow's posting. In the meantime, you can use the above links to browse the goodies.

Yep, those are affiliate links. They keep the lights on at The Tavern when you use them to make purchases. I thank you in advance.

OSR Picks for the GM's Day Sale, Part IX - Last 24 Hours and Counting! Last post in the Series!

Yep, we are under the 24 hour mark for time remaining i the RPGNow GM's Sale. These will be my last picks. That doesn't mean if something didn't make my pick list that it wasn't good - it probably means I ran out of space.

It also means time is running out at these sale prices. Next major RPGNow sale will probably be Christmas in July.

This post is Part VI. Part I ,  Part II , Part III, Part IV,  Part V,  Part VI,  Part VII and Part VIII are linked. Remember, 5% of your purchase goes to support The Tavern and associated costs for projects like Swords & Wizardry Light and the upcoming Torchlight Zine.

Slumbering Ursine Dunes - I think someone else said it better than I ever could - "Want a healing potion? No generic shit in this, you’ll instead be drinking the pure white soul of someone who has drowned in a pond." - Bryce Lynch, Ten Foot Pole - There ya go ;) - "Run, play or splice up 66 pages of mayhem and weirdness in this Slavic mythic-inspired (with an acid fantasy-twist) mini-sandbox for Labyrinth Lord or the well-aged fantasy rpg of your druthers. What You Will Find Inside: • A 25-site pointcrawl of the otherwordly Slumbering Ursine Dunes region. Beyond the big ticket adventure sites you will find along the way a Polevik-haunted rye field, a Zardoz head-living hermit, bearling pilgrimage site, antediluvian beaver engineers and other assorted madness. • Two separate “dungeons”, the bio-mechanical, lost-in-time Golden Barge and the faction-contested Glittering Tower, with enough detail and portability to be slotted into an existing campaign. • The Chaos Index, a dynamic events system for modeling the mythic weirdness of the Dunes. Actions of the players in the sandbox will escalate or de-escalate the levels of events. • Four competing factions operating inside the Dunes, plus guidelines for their mutual interactions. • Unique player classes, spells and magic items compatible with Labyrinth Lord. • 15 new and unique monsters, many drawn from Slavic mythology (with a twist or three, naturally)." $9.00  $6.30


The Wizardarium of Calabraxis - some of my picks are downright cheap. amazing quality and price. grab this now! - "17 pages of fun, built around a core of an easy to run 2 page overview. The Wizardarium of Calabraxis starts off with strangely behaving apemen, but players who start to explore the cave where they reside will soon discover there is a lot going on: ancient civilizations, the mad experiments of a forgotten wizard, and a couple unique magic items are guaranteed to provide a lot of bang for your buck to your players. This module has stats for the DCCRPG, but if one wants to work around the weird dice, this module is probably at home in just about any OSR rules system. Characters of almost any DCC level will probably have fun in this adventure; just adjust some numbers until the exact right number of PCs are dying ;)" $1.95  $1.50


Ruins & Ronin - Ah, did you think I was done with the awesome and inexpensive selections? Well, you were wrong. Maybe medieval fantasy isn't your style. Maybe you want to adventure in the orient. Maybe you want your non European setting rules to be Swords & - Wizardry derived - "A complete set of rules for playing an old school fantasy game (Swords & Wizardry compatible) in a medieval Japanese-like setting.  What's inside: Unique player classes and races. Japanese-styled weapons, equipment and magic items.  A complete 32-page bestiary of monsters and spirits."
$2.00  $1.40

Labyrinth Lord: Revised Edition - sure, you could grab the free art PDF, but where is fantasy gaming without awesome art? -"Enter a world filled with labyrinths, magic, and monsters! You can take the role of a cleric, dwarf, elf, fighter, halfling, magic-user, or thief on your quest for glory, treasure, and adventure! This is a complete role playing game. All you need are a few sheets of paper and some dice. Welcome back to a simpler old-school gaming experience. The Labyrinth Lord awaits your arrival. Can you survive the dangers of the labyrinth?" $5.95  $4.17

Rats in the Walls - you didn't think we'd get through this without referencing "rats" did you? besides, its an excellent adventure - "An adventure in HYPERBOREA designed for 4–6 characters of 1st through 2nd level. For use with Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea™ and other traditional fantasy role-playing games. In the City-State of Khromarium, a dockside tavern called the Silvery Eel is plagued by rats of a most unusual breed. These abominable rodents have ruined the tavern keeper’s business and his life. The man is desperate, and he offers a substantial reward for the elimination of his horrific problem." $4.29  $3.00

White Box Gothic [Swords & Wizardry] - this is the type of fantasy / old school horror that I really enjoy - not to hack it for SWL ;) - "White Box Gothic brings gothic horror to your Swords & Wizardry WhiteBox campaign! Inside this terrible tome you'll find a horde of horrors! - Six New Classes: From the deadly Monster Hunter to the damned Dhampir. - Thirty New Spells: Speak with the dead, defile the land, and bind spirits to your service! - Twenty-Five New Magic Items: Draw undead servants from your Bag of Bones, learn the secrets of the Book of the Damned, and draw hope from the Symbol of Piety! - Fifteen New Monsters: The lowly Cultist, the mysterious Breath Stealer, to the powerful Vampire Lord! - Optional Rules: Corruption, Dread, and laying Curses! - Inside these fifty pages you'll find all manner of dark and dire secrets to vex your players and defy the undead! $4.99  $3.49

Feast of the Preserver - A horror adventure for the DCC RPG? Its like chocolate and peanut butter -"Feast of the Preserver is a survival horror adventure designed for a group of 5 to 8 characters of levels 3 to 4. Something is amiss in the isolated village of Barrowton. Only courage, skill and a lot of luck can aid the adventurers in facing the horror that has taken hold of this once idyllic place. Can the adventurers save the village from a terrible fate or will they become the Feast of the Preserver? Features: Mystery and excitement compatible with Goodman Games Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG but easily converted to other systems - Over 40 pages of blood chilling suspence and horror - Beautifully rendered isometric maps by Brian Van Hunsel - New evil magic to destroy or be destroyed by" $4.99  $3.49

Cryptworld - Back in my college days of gaming, I really enjoyed Chill! Then they made a hardcover book for it and I didn't enjoy it anymore. I enjoy Cryptworld, the spiritual successor - "CRYPTWORLD is a horror role-playing game in which you investigate and hunt the forces of the unexplained. The Crypt Master may design any world of horror he desires. Classic horror, slasher horror, alien menaces from the stars and interdimensional monsters. These horrors and more may greet you in CRYPTWORLD! - CRYPTWORLD is a role-playing game complete in one volume. - In this book you will find: - Rules for character generation - Optional paranormal talents - Creatures covering multiple horror genres - Advice for running horror games - An introductory adventure... and more!" $7.95  $5.57

OSR Picks for the GM's Day Sale, Part VIII - Last Two Days Countdown

Yep, there's less than three days left to the RPGNow GM's Day Sale. And yes, there's more OSR picks to be had :)

This post is Part VI. Part I ,  Part II , Part III, Part IV,  Part V,  Part VI and Part VII are linked. Remember, 5% of your purchase goes to support The Tavern and associated costs for projects like Swords & Wizardry Light and the upcoming Torchlight Zine.

Ghost Ship of the Desert Dunes - Every adventure published by +Jeff Talanian  / North Wind Adventures is excellent or better. Grab one or grab them all, you can't go wrong - "Somewhere in the depths of Diamond Desert lie the skeletal remains of Ymir’s Serpent, a legendary Viking longship. In days of yore, Sigtrygg Forkbeard led his company upriver, piercing the desert’s hostile heart. There the Vikings unearthed a lost mine brimming with green diamonds, but the River Æolus desiccated as the Serpent prepared for launch, and the ship was swallowed by the dunes. Forkbeard and his company were never seen again, but tales of a shimmering Viking ghost ship gliding over the dunes persist to this day. Ghost Ship of the Desert Dunes takes players into an action-packed realm of adventure: the mythical world of Hyperborea, a sword-and-sorcery campaign setting inspired by the fantastic fiction of Robert E. Howard, H.P. Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith, and others. This adventure is designed for Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea™ (AS&SH™), a role-playing game descended from the original 1974 fantasy wargame and miniatures campaign rules as conceived by E. Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. Therefore, AS&SH is compatible with most traditional fantasy role-playing games (c. 1974 to 1999) and their modern simulacra, such as OSRIC™ and Swords & Wizardry™."  $10.00  $7.00


Fantasy Stock Art: Dungeon Scenes +Denis McCarthy - I'm a huge buyer of stock art. I figure when I need it its best to already have it and I love grabbing it on sale. I have everything Denis has to offer :) - "Fantasy Stock Art: Dungeon Scenes is a collection of stock art images for use in your personal or commercial role-playing game product, subject to the terms of the license agreement included within these materials. This zip file contains seven fantasy illustrations, which you may crop, color or rearrange as you see fit. Also included is a text-free version of the cover image, which may be used as stock art. All images are presented in 300 dpi resolution. All images are presented in .jpeg format as well as .tiff images with a preserved transparency."   $1.99  $1.39

Castle Gargantua - A mega dungeon? A mega dungeon toolkit? Two great tastes in one candy bar? Its a bit random, so it may not fit everyones tastes, but the price is right (and Print plus PDF is only 10 bucks) -  Ride the beanstalk and crawl into the sprawling halls of Castle Gargantua. There awaits the most legendary of giants and the fiercest creatures known to man. Delve further than ever for the great doors of Castle Gargantua have swung open once again, and what lies ahead isn't for the faint-hearted. The biggest dungeon ever published by the OSR. A campaign, a massive generator, and a grotesque setting all-in-one. A bookmarked PDF & print edition compatible with everything Old School Renaissance With DYSON LOGOS & JEREMY HART “It's not about killing monsters, looting treasure, and gaining experience as you delve deeper into some mad archmage's architectural folly. It's about surviving in a loathsome, terrifying environment where nothing is quite as expected. It's about atmosphere, gloom, and despair. It's a thriller.” $6.90  $5.00


DCC Lankhmar: Patrons of Lankhmar - I really enjoy the Lankmar setting and I'm looking forward to what else Goodman Games does with it in the future. Damn, now I want to dig out my old AD&D Lankmar book - "Authorized by the estate of Fritz Leiber! From beneath the Outer Ocean, from out of the depths of the Great Salt Marsh, and from the odd fanes of the Street of the Gods, they come: the Patrons of Lankhmar! With the information contained in this tome, a judge can introduce such formidable beings as the Sea King, Mog the Spider God, Sheelba of the Eyeless Face, and even Death himself into any DCC RPG campaign setting. This early look at the upcoming Dungeon Crawl Classics Lankhmar line introduces a half-dozen supernatural powers and eerie entities for use in your DCC RPG or Lankhmar campaign. Each power’s entry includes details on the entity and their role in Nehwon, tables for invoking that power’s aid, corruption charts for when things go wrong, and new spellburn possibilities. Are you ready to serve the Patrons of Lankhmar? Look for future releases further exploring the tales of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, the creations of world-renowned author Fritz Leiber, and eventually a complete boxed set." $7.99  $5.59




Nod 29 - This is NOD 29. There is nothing else quite like it but other issues of NOD. Nod is great. Seriously. Grab an issues and you'll be hooked. - "The second issue of NOD in 2016 features the second half of the Trollheim hex crawl, and then delves into modern and sci-fi supplements for Grit & Vigor, including Tony Tucker's Luchador class, the final part of Luke DeGraw's d20 Mecha rules, the fabulous Lovecraftian Hyperspace setting by Aaron Siddall and a quick and easy rpg that pits Luchadores vs. the Aztec Mummy. Plus: A random class generator, coins for more interesting hoards, the Laser Mage and a couple odd bits for Space Princess." - $4.99  $3.49



Weird Adventures - Pulp. Fantasy. OSR. Setting. Mix it all together and what you get is Weird Adventures - Welcome to the City... The streets are mean--and what lurks beneath them is even meaner. Only the most hard-boiled adventurers make it in this town.  You think you got what it takes? Grab your gun or grimoire and find out. Weird Adventures is a setting where traditional rpg fantasy meets the Pulp era.  It's a world where hobogoblins hop trains, gargoyles nest on art deco skyscrapers, and celebrity sorcerers hawk cigarettes on the radio. Weird Adventures includes: A guide to the City, greatest metropolis in the world, including its five baronies, numerous neighborhoods, and points of interest to adventurers. An overview of the Strange New World beyond the City, including the mysterious jungles of Asciana, the zombie-haunted streets of Cujiatepec, and the hidden moonshine stills of the hill-billy giants in the Smaragdines. Thirty new monsters from the Black Blizzard to the Skunk-Ape. $10.00  $7.00

OSR Picks for the GM's Day Sale, Part VII - Last Three Days Countdown

Yep, there's less than three days left to the RPGNow GM's Day Sale. And yes, there's more OSR picks to be had :)

This post is Part VI. Part I ,  Part II , Part III, Part IV,  Part V and Part VI are linked. Remember, 5% of your purchase goes to support The Tavern and associated costs for projects like Swords & Wizardry Light and the upcoming Torchlight Zine.

Classic Traveller - Deluxe - Classic Traveller IS the defining edition of Traveller in my humble opinion, and the first system I houseruled (adding in experience points to add new skills) - This set includes the three core books, Book ) (and introduction to Traveller) and an adventure. $19.99  $9.99




HarnWorld Master Module, 3rd Edition - Harn was my first setting after Greyhawk. While Greyhawk was very general in its descriptions of locations, Harn was detailed. Where Greyhawk maps where almost whimsical, Harn's were extremely detailed. Greyhawk was mid to high fantasy, Harn was low fantasy. The comparisons were striking - "HârnWorld is a detailed, realistic, flexible, and system-neutral setting for fantasy role-playing games. Since 1983, HârnWorld has been used by thousands of people across the world to run a wide array of medieval fantasy adventures. HârnWorld can accommodate whatever style of campaign you are looking for, whether your player characters are knights, mages, barbarians, clerics, noble lords, mercenaries, gladiators, craftsmen, merchants, thieves, or even simple peasants yearning for adventure. This basic HârnWorld module has two components: Hârn Overview: This 58-page Hârn article is a general overview of Hârnic cultures, governments, economics, history, and more. It also includes campaign aids for such tasks as generating weather conditions and character backgrounds. - Hârn Regional Map: The map of Hârn provides a vast amount of information with a unique cartographic system developed specifically for fantasy gaming. The area detailed measures 620×930 miles (1000×1500 km). The colors and textures show vegetation and terrain as noted on the map key. $27.98  $19.98


Adventure Most Fowl - quite simply a nice, inexpensive introductory adventure for Swords & Wizardry (or the OSR game of your choice) - "On the edge of the Four Counties, in a backwater village of lost souls, there is a string of robberies that cannot be explained…Farmer Phileas Filson has lost his chickens, or rather he swears that they’ve been pilfered, along with his prize-winning hen Mabel, and no one in town will lift a finger to help. You and your adventuring comrades, freshly minted from the forges of fame and fortune, may be his only hope… Adventure Most Fowl is a great way to start that new party of low-level adventurers on the path to riches and rewards! With a broad cast of interesting, unusual and perhaps dangerous rural folk, a countryside filled with sheep, squash, and hallucinogenic flora and of course the mystery of missing poultry, your players and their new characters will have a fun-filled romp through this off-color backwater village." $1.99  $1.39

The Anime Hack - The Black Hack has spawned lots of various hacks, but perhaps the furthest afield from its source material is The Anime Hack - The Anime Hack brings the frantic energy of Japanese animation to the tabletop in an easy to play multi-genre role playing game based on the fantastic Black Hack RPG. Based on the original 1970s fantasy role-playing game the rules are easy to follow and playable right out of the box. Character creation takes a few minutes and you'll be playing in no time. The Anime Hack adds anime flavour, mecha and vehicle rules as well as advice for GMs and players alike who want to play in a world of over-sized eyes, giant robots, katanas, ninjas, weaponized mallets and collectable monsters. Choose between eight anime inspired classes: Magical Girl/Boy, Mecha Jockey, Monster Collector, Neko, Ninja, Robot, Trenchcoat Samurai, and Wunderkind. This is a complete game. The Black Hack is not required, but it is awesome and would add a lot to your experience. Everything needed to swing katanas and go "over 9000" is right here in 45 pages of adventure. $3.99  $2.79

Realms of Crawling Chaos (Labyrinth Lord) - I recommend this every time it is one sale. Want some "Dark Gods" in your OSR? Then this is for you - "Evil cultists consummate their union with Shub-Niggurath in dark woods no other mortals dare go. Alien terrors lurk in the underworld; their vast riches wait, or their incomprehensible powers could leave you broken, dead, or worse. Adventure in underworlds filled with horrible entities, or the ruins of alien beings that enslaved the ape-like ancestors of mankind. Seek hidden secrets from the arctic wastes to dark, briny seas. But as you approach the ocean, what are those strange longings you feel? Realms of Crawling Chaos is a Lovecraftian Dark Fantasy campaign supplement for Labyrinth Lord and the Advanced Edition Companion. In this book you will find: New player races, including white apes, white ape hybrids, sea blood, and subhumans. New spells .New monsters. New artifacts and a system for designing unique artifacts. Rules for psionics, compatible with Mutant future." $4.95  $3.47


The Manse on Murder Hill - sometimes what you want is a low level adventure where the PCs are just tomb robbers, but heroes. Let them be heroes - they can murder hobo during the next play session ;) - "Several children of Little Flanders have gone missing near an abandoned house of evil repute. A desperate town has begged your heroes to exorcise the house of evil spirits and rescue the children. Will you brave the dangers of the Manse on Murder Hill? A Labyrinth Lord adventure for levels 1-3" $1.99  $1.39

Black Streams: Solo Heroes - I'm trying to add an oft forgotten "freebie" with the last of these post - Want to play one on one? Here ya go! - "Maybe you want to show a friend the fun of classic D&D, but you can't pull a group together on short notice. Maybe you have nights where only one friend can make it, and you're tired of breaking out the card games. Maybe you just want to run a side game for somebody, but don't feel like weighing them down with an entourage of henchmen just so they can survive their first combat. What do you need? You need Solo Heroes, a free Labyrinth Lord-compatible supplement for lone adventuring. While written for the Red Tide Campaign Setting and Sandbox Toolkit, this supplement is compatible with a wide range of old-school games. Within, you'll find a simple set of rules for running classic adventures with just a single PC. There's no need to alter character sheets or rework modules to make them survivable for whatever class your player has chosen- Solo Heroes gives you a handful of simple rules for turning such solitary exploration from a death wish in the making to a daring tale of risk and potential glory.
In addition to these rules, the mini-adventure of The Yellow Toad God's Well is provided to give you a little something instant to run for your player's new hero. And if it turns out you've got a full group for that night's session? Just drop the optional rules and run it by the book. Solo Heroes lets you play the game without painful paperwork and adventure redesign, whether for one player or half a dozen. FREE!  FREE!

OSR Picks for the GM's Day Sale, Part VI - Last Four Days Countdown

Yep, there's less than four days left to the RPGNow GM's Day Sale. And yes, there's more OSR picks to be had :)

This post is Part VI. Part I ,  Part II , Part III, Part IV and Part V are linked. Remember, 5% of your purchase goes to support The Tavern and associated costs for projects like Swords & Wizardry Light and the upcoming Torchlight Zine.

GM Gems - A system neutral (with a free expanded DCC RPG version included in the purchase) book of tricks, advice and tools for every GM. Its from Goodman Games, so you know its good - did I mention its 50% off? - "GM Gems: A Tome of Game Master Inspiration is filled with a wealth of information and ideas to empower every aspect of your game. Never run boring, vanilla games and never be caught flat-footed! Inspiration and Perspiration - This 80-page collection of tricks and tips is systems-neutral, so you can play it with any role playing game you choose. GM Gems is written by veteran Game Masters and some of today’s best known RPG designers, and includes: Alchemical Mishaps - Empty Rooms Worth Describing - Extraordinary Campsites - Familiar Creatures with Unfamiliar Faces - Short Encounters for Short Attention Spans - Unique Taverns and Inns - Unusual Holidays - 100 Unique Treasures - And much, much more!" $11.99  $5.99

The Lost City of Barakus--Swords and Wizardry - Frog God Games has practically their entire catalogue on sale at RPGNow for the GM's Sale, which made picking a title to highlight difficult. But then it wasn't. Lost City of Barakus is the campaign I've been itching to run for ages, and the fact that it covers levels from 1 to 5 (or 6) makes it perfect for Swords & Wizardry Continual Light - "The Lost City of Barakus, designed to take characters from 1st to 5th or 6th level (or higher), is as much of a campaign setting as an adventure. Detailed within these pages is the great, bustling metropolis of Endhome, the Penprie Forest and Duskmoon Hills located north of that city, and, finally, the huge dungeon that is the Lost City of Barakus. Within all these areas are many adventures, NPCs, and locations for the party to explore, interact with and conquer. How and in what order the party chooses to take on the various challenges before them is entirely yours (the GM’s) and the players’ choice." $19.99  $13.99

Class Compendium - Over 50 new classes for your Labyrinth Lord campaign? Heck, they are easy enough to convert to just about any OSR ruleset of your choice. By +James Spahn none the less ;) - "The Class Compendium for offers over fifty alternate character classes for labyrinth lord and other old-school fantasy role-playing games. With these new options you'll be ready to face whatever dangers that lay hidden in the deepest dungeon of your next campaign! Class Compendium compiles the best classes from four years of material previously released by barrel rider games into a single tome – and a whole lot of extras! New art, rules for firearms and weapon mastery, new equipment, and three never before released classes! Top it off with an indexed spell compendium featuring every spell used by every class found in these pages, and you've got it all in one package!"  $9.99  $6.99


Petty Gods: Revised & Expanded Edition - always free, but I figured it should be mentioned. Grab it! Grab it now! You'll never find a more professional and complete and useful assortment of Petty Gods. For Ratacus! - Expanded Petty Gods Compendium provides Old School referees with a slew of new, weird minor deities and godlings, for use in rounding out their campaigns. This book includes information for 327 petty gods, 116 minions, knights & servitors, 12 cults, dozens of divine items & new spells, plus a host of other petty-god-related gaming material!  Free!  Free!

Bride of the Darkened Rider - Fat Goblin Games' first DCC RPG release, literally released earlier this week - "Two of the kingdom’s baronies have been at odds and occasionally outright war for centuries, in a blood feud that lost all meaning generations ago. Things have recently changed as the heads of the two noble families have arranged a marriage between the heirs to their baronies, in a move to secure peace and prosperity to the region. - This particular adventure has two sections. The first is an event based part of the game, where the players proceed from one event or scene to the next in a straightforward manner. Each scene or event is self-contained, but has links to the previous and the upcoming events. The latter half of the adventure, when the characters are finally ready to confront the villains of the adventure is a more classic dungeoncrawl, with pits, traps, monsters and treasure. Make sure you familiarize yourself with both before you start the adventure for your group. The adventure itself is written for 4-6 3rd level characters, but is adjustable for other levels of play as you see fit." $5.95  $3.95

Apes Victorious - Apes are the ones in power in the future. Humans are slaves - This is the Planet of the Victorious Apes! ;) - "Apes Victorious is a roleplaying game in which you take the role of an astronaut from the 1970’s who finds himself marooned on a future Earth ruled by intelligent apes. Players may also take the role of an ape, a degenerated human, or a psi-active underdweller. Fight to survive in this post-apocalyptic future ruled by four species of apes. Or play apes who hunt humans for sport. For a different kind of campaign, play highly intelligent but insane underdwellers who have advanced technology and powerful psi powers. This book contains: A complete game - A post-nuclear apocalyptic setting in which apes have become the dominant species - Seven player classes - Animals and creatures of the post-nuclear future - Campaign advice - A complete introductory adventure - Conversion notes for compatible games including: Labyrinth Lord, Mutant Future, Starships & Spacemen.  $4.97  $3.48