Kickstarter - Warlock Knight (DFRPG)

Holy crap! I almost missed this! I always snag Gaming Ballistic releases on Kickstarter, as they are all fantastic regardless of system. 

Warlock Night is a "programmed adventure" (can be used as a solo). It's 20 in PDF, 30 in PDF plus Foundry files, 40 in print plus PDF, and 60 in print, PDF, card, and Foundry VTT files. Oh, and you can snag prior titles in the series, too. 

Warlock Knight is a programmed solitaire adventure for the Dungeon Fantasy RPG, Powered by GURPS. It is designed to serve as an introductory adventure, with characters starting at 150 points and growing through the adventure to approach the usual starting 250 points as presented in the Dungeon Fantasy RPG Box Set. Warlock Knight can be played with or without a GM, and is extendable into an ongoing campaign.

Warlock Knight is a conversion of David's excellent version for The Fantasy Trip to the Dungeon Fantasy RPG. It is designed to introduce the Isle of Sedra setting, in the same manner that Saethor's Bane serves to introduce the neighboring Isle of Elazar.

Designed to showcase and teach the capabilities and options of the Dungeon Fantasy RPG, three martial characters engage on a quest to regain their lost titles through adventuring.

The characters start at 150 points - substantially fewer than the 250-point characters that feature in the Dungeon Fantasy RPG. This capability level is fully supported by the Delvers to Grow modular character build system: These characters start roughly halfway between "Journeyman" at 125 points and "Master" at 187 points. By the time the adventure finishes, they should wind up right about at starting DFRPG levels.

The adventure is much longer than the prior solo release by Gaming Ballistic for the Dungeon Fantasy RPG: Saethor's Bane. Enough so that to keep it convenient so that the books lay flat on a table during play, the material is divided up into two volumes, broadly speaking "The Adventure" and "Supporting Cast." The digital file will consist of a single file, with the two volumes presented sequentially - that will keep hyperlinks straight!

There are no stretch goals, and all the art is already in hand. When the campaign ends, it should be ready for PDF distribution, with print, cards, and digital support material all ready with good speed.

 

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Crowdfunding - Saethor's Bane: A Dungeon Fantasy RPG Solo Adventure

It looks like several creators have moved to using BackerKit over Kickstarter. Douglas Cole/Gaming Ballistic is just the latest, and it's a topic I'll be bringing up with Doug on tonight's Talking Crit Live!

As always, I'm letting you know that I consider Doug a friend. He was part of my infamous B-Team about a decade ago, making their way through Castle of the Mad Archmage. Doug has been a guest on prior Talking Crit Lives! as well as the Random Party Generator Livestream.

I've been a fan of the GURPS System since first finding Man to Man and OrcSlayer in the mid-80s. Dungeon Fantasy sits on my bookshelf as a game I really want to be a player in, and Saethor's Bane solo adventure may be just the way to finally accomplish that goal :)

Saethor's Bane is 10 bucks in PDF and 20 bucks in Print plus PDF. Those are good, honest prices for the material you get.

You won't need a GM - you follow the branching pathways as you make choices. If these choices lead to violence, resolve conflict using the Dungeon Fantasy RPG rules.

You can still use a GM! This "solo" adventure follows the path of four mercenary soldiers who have signed up to oppose Saethor, the titular Dark Lord, by force of arms. One person can play all the roles, or several can play through the scenario, dividing roles as needed.

Use Saethor's Bane to:

• Keep gaming when you can't get together with your usual group
• Learn the Dungeon Fantasy RPG game rules at your own pace
• Run players through a scenario with near-zero prep - they can experience roleplaying within moments of sitting around a table. 
• Great for bringing in new players, or even stress-free convention play.

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Bundle of Holding - Dungeon Fantasy Bundle Powered by GURPS

Dungeon Fantasy is probably the one RPG I own, that I've never played, that I dearly want to at some point. I ran some GURPS back in the '80s and '90s and always had fun with it, but at times the system was so open it was overwhelming. Dungeon Fantasy seems to be the perfect balance and a nice change from D20-style gaming.

Dungeon Fantasy Bundle Powered by GURPS is currently available on Bundle of Holding.  The Dungeon Fantasy Starter Set is 17.95, and includes the Dungeon Fantasy Core Rules, Companion 1, the GM's Screen, and the Dungeon Planner.

And if you pay more than the (current) threshold price (suggect to change) of $38.06, you'll level up and also get our entire Bonus Collection with five more supplements, including Dungeon Fantasy Companion 2 and Companion 3, Dungeon Fantasy Magic Items and Magic Items 2, and Monsters 2.

 

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 Anchor, YouTube,  or wherever you listen to your podcast collection. - Tenkar    

Kickstarter - Artifacts of Legend (Dungeon Fantasy RPG)

Two volumes of epic magic items for your Dungeon Fantasy RPG campaigns.

I love me some Douglas Cole, regardless of the system he's writing for. OSE, The Fantasy Trip, Dungeon Fantasy RPG... Doug always seems to be setting new high water marks for quality.

I've known Doug for the better part of a decade. He was part of my infamous B-Team that delved into Castle of the Mad Archmage once a month. Doug has been a fairly frequent (and oft-requested) guest on the Tenkar's Tavern Livestream.

The Artifacts of Legend Kickstarter is 20 bucks for both PDFs or 40 bucks for both books in print plus PDF.

Artifacts of Legend contains 40 pages of weapons and utility items that were gifts from the gods to the heroes of Norðlond. 

• Wield one of the four mighty Stormhammers, gifts from the God of Thunder to his most worthy servants.
• Take up the undead-slaying spear named "Journey's End" (Ferðalok) by the Allfather. 
• Drink of the milk of the very first cow in the universe
• Partake in the sanguine delight of a very special batch of mead.

Also included in Artifacts of Legend are tables to generate other magic items that grow in power based on the deeds of their users and the blessings of the gods. The book provides charts to randomly generate Legendary and Runecarved items, including pages of worked examples. 

Artifacts of Saga features 36 pages of unusual items, and many are weapons of a darker or less overtly beneficial nature.

• The Dawn Blade was a weapon forged to be used by the gods - it burns mortals who try and use it without proper protection
• Team Evil gets to play too, with the Ring of the Fell Dead and the Wight Hand, made for those who are more necromantically inclined.
• For those who like to try and use evil to do good ... seek out one of the Bloodfangs. Axes with bound demonic spirits in them, who whisper hints of great power if enough blood is spilled.

These items are tied to tragedy and mischance. No stone was left unturned in the search for power, and some of the items have been infused with the essences of powerful entities: demons, elementals, even the souls of the mighty. These spirit-bound items were wrought in the centuries after the leyferðs were destroyed in the Shattering ... proving that some stones should be left unturned!

The Tavern is supported by readers like you. The easiest way to support The Tavern is to shop via our affiliate links. 

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  

Kickstarter - Delvers to Grow (Dungeon Fantasy RPG, Powered by GURPS)

Fast, modular character generation. Would-be heroes from 62 points and higher as player characters, henchmen, or supporting cast.

I've been a fan of GURPS from the time I found the Man to Man rules, along with the Orcslayer supplement. The only problem was that designing characters was always a pain in the ass as a player. As a DM, it is literally a compounded player. Still, the GURPS sourcebooks have always been a thing of beauty.

The other complaint I used to have is that GURPS never seems to do traditional fantasy tropes as one would expect from a D&D-type background. Sure, you had the Fantasy and Magic sourcebooks, but they seemed to lack flavor, unlike many of the other GURPS sourcebooks.

That is until Dungeon Fantasy was released. It literally was the GURPS rules with the D&D tropes that I have come to expect from a fantasy RPG, and my God, it does the genre well. Character generation of NPCs still sucked though, and become one of the intimidating factors that kept me from truly giving the Dungeon Fantasy rules a proper shake.

All this leads me to Douglas Coles' new Kickstarter, Delvers to Grow. Doug takes the most intimidating factor of GURPS, creating characters, and makes it easy as pie for the GM. No stress GURPS. Never thought I'd see the day. Of course, Doug is selling Delvers to Grow as a Player aid, but in my eyes, it's an amazing tool for the Dungeon Fantasy GM ;)

Even the mightiest delver started somewhere. An apprentice, a squire or man-at-arms, a backup singer with The Backstreet Bards.

Delvers to Grow allows you to take the part of those starting characters, supporting starting play as low as 62 points.  Delvers to Grow provides pre-built modules and packages enabling a player to create a capable, playable character in minutes. 

Fully compatible with the professional template system in the Dungeon Fantasy RPG Adventurers book, Delvers to Grow lets you start much earlier in the hero’s journey, letting both players and GMs ease into the full breadth of capability that the professional delvers of the Dungeon Fantasy RPG bring to the table.

Explore different challenges or use the modules to effortlessly assemble henchmen...or create a starting character to replace the dearly departed.

Doug has an amazing track record of fulfilling his Kickstarters on time and is one of the few third-party publishers licensed by Steve Jackson Games. In truth, he MAY be the only third-party publisher licensed by SJG, as I can think of no others offhand, but I could be wrong. 

The Tavern is supported by readers like you. The easiest way to support The Tavern is to shop via our affiliate links. DTRPG, Amazon, and Humble Bundle are affiliate programs that support The Tavern.  You can catch the daily Tavern Chat podcast on Anchor, YouTube,  or wherever you listen to your podcast collection. - Tenkar

Kickstarter - Powered by GURPS: Dungeon Fantasy Monsters 2 & Game Reprint

I like GURPS. Well, I love the sourcebooks and used to run some GURPS back in my college days. It just seemed a bit heavy for my gaming tastes.

Now, I really like the GURPS: Dungeon Fantasy boxed set. The rules focus on what I focus on - fantasy gaming - and without the need to cover every genre the rules seem more approachable. I could see myself running this. I certainly could see myself playing it.

The Powered by GURPS: Dungeon Fantasy Monsters 2 & Game Reprint Kickstarter puts the relatively small print run associated with the original Dungeon Fantasy Kickstarter back in print. More copies - more circulation - more players - more support material. Isn't that how it works?

With your support, we're going to bring back the Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game with a second printing and, more importantly, expand the line with a new book: Dungeon Fantasy Monsters 2! This companion to Dungeon Fantasy Monsters introduces even more foes to the dungeon, giving the GM new tools to use when designing adventures and the players more beasties to slay and loot.   

If you already have the Dungeon Fantasy boxed set, the Monsters 2 book is 20 bucks in print plus PDF.

If you need the Dungeon Fantasy boxed set (along with Monsters 2), print plus PDF is 95 bucks.

Dungeon Fantasy is a really sweet ruleset :)

Neither The Tavern nor myself receive compensation for Kickstarter coverage or Kickstarter posts. Some Kickstarters are brought to the attention of The Tavern by their creators. Such communication does not guarantee coverage here at The Tavern. I do not back every Kickstarter I highlight as my wallet's contents are not limitless but I do find all highlighted Kickstarters interesting for one or more reasons - Erik Tenkar

Kickstarter - The Citadel at Norðvorn (Norse-flavored setting for the Dungeon Fantasy RPG)

I really like the GURPS powered Dungeon Fantasy RPG. Back in my earlier days of gaming, GURPS was one of the many systems I owned and ran. Dungeon Fantasy is the GURPS treatment I've been waiting over 30 years for.

Sadly, there wasn't much support for it on release. Step aside for Gaming Ballistic / Douglas Cole. Douglas loves the GURPS system and it shows in his work. This time he gives us The Citadel at Norðvorn Kickstarter, a Norse-flavored setting for the Dungeon Fantasy RPG. Saweet!

Doug is spot on what it comes to his Kickstarter projects. High quality and on time.

In The Citadel at Nordvorn, you will find many adventures, plus more trouble the players will doubtless create on their own. The area is so teeming with strife and peril that their characters will have the opportunity to stand at the center of many crises. 

The Citadel at Norðvorn is a setting for the Dungeon Fantasy RPG. It consists of three major settlements, many small villages, at least one ruin, and two primary sources of conflict: The Hunted Lands to the northwest of The Palisade, and the Endalaus Forest, to the north and east of Audreyn's Wall. 

Return to Norðlond, a Viking-flavored world with its own history, culture, and expectations. Visit as an outsider, or fresh from a victory rediscovering the Hall of Judgment. 

It is intended for starting Dungeon Fantasy RPG characters of 250 points. They will be major players, and the fulcrum around which the future of Norðlond turns. While it is set in the same world as Hall of Judgment, it is not sequel. It is a setting, filled with adventuring possibilities, and easily tuned up or down in power level as the GM desired to suit any fantasy campaign! 

Good luck, and may the Fates have a bold destiny in store for you!

PDF is 14 bucks.  35 bucks (plus shipping) for the Print plus PDF.

What Do We Find in the Chest? (The Dungeon Fantasy RPG - Article Submitted by Steve Jackson Games)

Disclosure - Earlier in the week, Hunter Shelburne, Community Manager over at Steve Jackson Games, inquired if SJG could submit an article to The Tavern regarding The Dungeon Fantasy RPG (powered by GURPS). I said "send it over and if deemed appropriate we'd run it." We'll I think it's an informative article regarded The Dungeon Fantasy RPG Kickstarter, a project I have already backed for $50 and we are "running it." No recompense of any sort was offered with the submitted article, no recompense of any sort was requested nor would any have been accepted. - erik tenkar

What Do We Find in the Chest?

By Matt Riggsby

GURPS has long had a reputation as the Lego-brand bricks of gaming: you can do anything with it, but you have to put the pieces together yourself. It’s actually easy to play once you get to the table (the whole of GURPS boils down to “roll this number or less on 3d6”), but it can be a lot of work to get you there. The Dungeon Fantasy RPG, Powered by GURPS gets you to the table, with complete dungeon-crawling rules in a single box.

The Dungeon Fantasy RPG contains five slim volumes, covering character generation, adventuring, spellcasting, monsters, and an adventure, and requires no other books. The emphasis is on playing this particular game, not on being all things to all gamers. Part of it is the stripped-down rules set, distilled from the mature, battle-tested GURPS Fourth Edition rules. That doesn’t mean incomplete. Considering the starting point, “stripped down” is still comprehensive, but it’s just rules for fantasy, including what’s useful (monsters, spells) and excluding what isn’t (lasers, automobiles).

Just as important, it provides guidance on how to use those rules for both players and GMs. For example, professions – guided menus for building character types (wizards, warriors, etc.) – don’t abandon you to a list of traits. They provide advice on how to shape the character you want: pick these skills from a short list to make your thief a burglar or those for a stealthy killer. The volume on monsters kicks off with detailed advice on ways PCs can deal with them, only one of which is doing a Leroy Jenkins, and then detailed advice on ways GMs can use monsters against heroes. You don’t have to be a veteran for this.

And there are more subtle aspects which make it an easy-to-use product. Breaking the set into five books rather than one or two means there’s more to pass around at the table. If you’re in a group where most players don’t own the rules, it makes a real difference. There’s no math more complicated than a little multiplication. And professions, which GURPS players will recognize as templates, are reformatted for easier reading.

Finally, it performs a remarkable balancing act, retaining the flexibility of GURPS while remaining true to the specific nature of the game. If you want to build a unique character from scratch, the rules are all there, and still compatible with the rest of the GURPS rules universe. But you don’t have to go there.

If you tried GURPS but left because of the pre-game overhead, this is what to come back to. If you’ve heard of GURPS but were overwhelmed by the size of it, this is where to get on. If you just want a fantasy game that has robust, flexible rules that let you do – or at least try – anything you think you should be able to, and maybe even has some reality checking lurking in the background, this is the one to try. Everything you need is in that box.