Kickstarter - Into the Majestic Fantasy Realms, the Northern Marches (By Rob Conley)

Alright, let me start this by saying Rob is one hell of a great person, and I'm proud to call him a friend. Some people talk about giving back to the gaming community, but Rob walks the walk. Look at Rob's hexcrawl, BlackMarsh. Not only is it free to download, but it is free to use in your own projects. Rob simply "gets it."

Now, let's take a look at Rob's latest Kickstarter, Into the Majestic Fantasy Realms, the Northern Marches.

Now it's time to expand the frontier once more with The Northern Marches, and to reveal more of the world that Blackmarsh belongs to: the Majestic Fantasy Realms.

Each regions of the Northern Marches brims with ancient ruins, forgotten magic, and factions fighting to shape the future. The Ring Islands, the Forsaken Desert, the forest of Les Gigantov, the Great Glacier, the Black Marshes, the underwater realms of the Grey Sea, all await adventurers willing to brave their dangers and plunge into their mysteries.

Together, the Northern Marches span over 100,000 square miles, divided across four 12" by 18" maps overlaid with a numbered hex grid for easy reference. Its factions, characters, histories, ruins, lairs, and cultures form a rich tapestry, creating a living world that players can visit as their characters while seeking adventure.

And yes, Rob is releasing the new setting material to the gaming community under the CC-BY 4.0 license, to be built upon as needed.

This Kickstarter funds the art and editing for the following. 

• A 200 page Guidebook - A detailed reference to the Northern Marches in the hexcrawl format. It covers the region’s history, religions, cultures, and locales, along with a brief overview of the larger world of the Majestic Fantasy Realms. 

• Travel Rules and Encounter System - Included in the guidebook is an expanded version of the travel rules originally presented in How to Make a Fantasy Sandbox. It adds greater detail to overland journeys, caravan travel, sea voyages, and adventuring in the underwater realms of the Northern Marches. 

• Five 12" by 18" Referee Maps - Four maps depict the major regions of the Northern Marches: the Great Glacier, the Wild North, Blackmarsh, and Northport. Each includes settlements, terrain, islands, ruins, and lairs. The fifth map combines the corner areas where the four regions meet. 

• Five 12" by 18" Players Maps - These maps show the geography of the Northern Marches, but only include settlements and locations commonly known to the public, perfect for use at the table without revealing hidden details. 

• Two 12" by 18" Overview Maps - The two maps combine the four individual maps into a smaller overview of the entire Northern Marches. One for the players and one for the Referee. 

• Setting Reference Document - Text and markdown documents with the text and maps of the guidebook will be released under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license (CC-BY 4.0) for use in your own projects and worlds.

I'm backing at 60 myself, and I backed one minute after it went live, and I'm only backer #8 ;P

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Free OSR - Wormwood (Setting - OSR Edition)

I'm a sucker for "historical" based settings. Make it free, and it's for me :) You can also grab Wormwood in a DCC RPG version. Wormwood is priced as Free.

"For the sun gave forth its light without brightness, like the moon, during the whole year.” So wrote Byzantine historian Procopius of the year 536 A.D., the year the first of three catastrophic volcanic eruptions in Iceland would drop global summer temperatures by 1.5 to 2.5 degrees Celsius and herald the beginning of the coldest decade on record in 2,000 years. Migrations of Germanic, Hunnic, and Slavic tribes have swept aside and now pick over the remains of the Western Roman Empire, sacking Rome itself and establishing a network of “barbarian kingdoms” across the west. Crop failure, famine, the Justinian Plague will devastate a fractured Europe for the next hundred years. Of all the time periods called the “Dark Ages,” this is surely - both literally and figuratively - the darkest.

This historical context is interwoven with both “authentic” medieval folklore and the classic elements of 19th- and 20th-century fantasy fiction found in your typical Appendix N. This ‘Dark Year’ and all of its tumultuous events provides players and Judges a compelling backdrop upon which to project historical fantasy adventures. While based upon historical context, these are works of fiction: liberties have been taken where doing so would be entertaining. Weave fiction and fantasy as you please, and above all: Fight On!

This book contains 95 pages of rules for: expanded character creation, cultures, languages, soubriquets, mass combat, social status, equipment, estates & strongholds, trade goods & services, crime, punishment & trials, medicines, poisons, and retainers - - everything referees and players could want to set their old-school fantasy role-playing campaigns within a 6th century Europe historical fantasy setting.

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Free OSR - Guidebook to the City of Dolmvay (City Setting)

Wow! Talk about nostalgia. I'm relatively sure I have a print copy of the Guidebook to the City of Dolmvay on one of my bookshelves. I remember when Pete was putting this together, and he inquired about including a Tenkar's Tavern in the book - there are a few places that such a place exists in published works, and the Guidebook to the City of Dolmay may very well be the first.

Dolmvay is an excellent city setting, ready to be dropped into most any Fantasy campaign. Go ahead, have your party visit Tenkar's Tavern ;)

The Guidebook to the City of Dolmvay is a FREE Labyrinth Lord™ supplement that details the people, layout, and government of the City of Dolmvay. The city is presented in broad strokes and is open to customization. It was specifically designed to give Labyrinth Lords a convenient and familiar city setting to place their adventures.

The Guidebook to the City of Dolmvay is largely open content. Small Niche Games would like to encourage professional and amateur publishers to use the Guidebook as a shared city setting and set their commercial adventures within the City of Dolmvay. Labyrinth Lords (and publishers) should feel free to change, add, or remove any of the information in this book to better suit his or her own game.

The Guidebook to the City of Dolmvay contains:

• A breakdown of city-based adventure themes
• History of the City of Dolmvay
• Detailed overview of the City of Dolmvay including government, religion, commerce, and laws and punishment
• Descriptions of over a dozen major festivals
• An overview of the citizens of Dolmvay including a breakdown of social classes, daily life for commoners and nobles, style of dress, arms and armor, rumors and gossip, and common gestures, curses, and phrases
• Layout of the city including details on architecture, street lighting, sanitation, as well as detailed descriptions of the city's wards, districts, quarters, neighborhoods, and businesses
• Descriptions of dozens of factions and stat blocks for hundreds of NPCs
• Descriptions of common shops and businesses, prices for food and lodging, and a dozen sample inns and taverns
• Over 100 unique city encounters
• Over two dozen new plants and monsters
• A detailed description of the religious organization known as the Church of Law and Order including church history and doctrine, major NPCs, and new magic items
• A detailed description of the Dolmvay Adventurer's Guild including training facilities, dungeons, and major NPCs
• A detailed description of the city's magical sewer system including dozens of unique encounters and several sample sewer geomorph maps
• Guidelines for NPC generation including common names, professions, dozens of quirks and traits, and rules for creating unique and interesting 0-level NPCs
• Guidelines for random treasure determination including pick pocket tables and random tables for determining household treasures

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Free OSR - Blackmarsh (Sandbox Setting by Rob Conley)

Truth in advertising - I've known Rob Conley for over a decade and consider Rob a close friend. Blackmarsh is an OSR Sandbox and one of the finest sandboxes ever written. Coming in at less than 40 pages, it packs a campaign worth of adventuring within its relatively sparse pages. It should be noted that Blackmarsh is also available in soft-cover for 6.99 and hard-cover for 11.99.

In the days when man knew only the working of stone and fought for their existence against the orc and the goblin, the sky turned to ash and down fell the fiery mountain onto the land. The world tore open and the grey waters rushed in. Those who survived the impact were lost as boiling clouds rushed out in all directions leaving a wasteland in its wake.

The Mountain That Fell left a gift; magic. Near and far, those of learning and strong of heart discovered new powers to shape the world. In the desolation around the Smoking Bay the adventurous found viz, magic in physical form. And there was more, scattered amid the landscape were strange artifacts and stranger creatures that survived The Mountain That Fell. For a time men, dwarves, orc, goblins, and other races braved the dangers and fought each other in the wastelands. Then the elves came into Blackmarsh expelled the feuding races, drove the monsters out, and healed the land.

In the present day, many come to Blackmarsh to harvest viz, kill monsters, or seek the strange artifacts left by The Mountain That Fell. The only force that stands against the wilderness is the Blackmarsh Rangers. Anyone who is willing to defend the land and its people are welcomed into their ranks. Powerful kingdoms outside of Blackmarsh are beginning cast a covetous eyes toward the land's riches. Will the adventurers of your campaign become wealthy and powerful? Or will their bones join the many that have sunk into the swamps?

Blackmarsh is a complete, ready to run setting for your campaign. It can be run as its own setting or an expansion of your existing world. Contained in Blackmarsh are 17 geographical entries, 78 described locales, and one detailed town; Castle Blackmarsh. Each entry provide one or more adventure hooks to use in your campaigns.

Rob's Note: If you can afford it the hardcover print option comes with two blank pages in the front and three blank pages in the back that you can use for handwritten notes. The inside covers are also blank. The printing process for hardcovers wraps a heavy paper protector between the covers and the first and last pages of the book.

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.

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New Release - Tales of the Wolfguard (OSE)

Sandbox setting, adventure hooks, and more in a neat package for 2.99? Impossible you say? Not this time.

Priced at 2.99 in PDF (no print currently planned), Tales of the Wolfguard is priced at Deal of the Day pricing 365 days a year.

Released in February of this year, Tales of the Wolfguard is already a Gold Best Seller at DTRPG, with a solid 5-star rating.

LET’S TELL THE TALES OF THE WOLFGUARD!

Blizzard Vale is the northernmost province of the Empire, conquered with great endeavours centuries ago. It’s a frozen, hostile land with sparse patches of conifers, icy rivers, and lakes. The Wolfguard, an old garrison of soldiers and scouts, watches over the vale and protects the town of Ysvindur from the barbarian Elves and more sinister threats.

Tales of the Wolfguard is fully compatible with Old-School Essentials and most classic game RPGs.

Content:

• The description and map of the frozen province of Blizzard Vale, its features, settlements, dwellers, factions and many secrets!
• The description and map of the Faraway Den, the Wolfguard’s outpost. Rules to upgrade the den are also provided!
• An introductory adventure to start telling the tales of the Wolfguard.
• Seven encounter-related mini dungeons!
• Legends, rumours, encounters and adventure inspirations for all the areas of the vale.
• A random generator to create your quest plots!
• 13 new monsters and extras!
• Six pre-generated 3rd Level characters (each with its own background) to dive straight into the adventure with.
• Original art by Alessandro Paderi.
• An ambient soundtrack, specially composed for the module, to play during your game sessions!

Utility

• Interactive hyperlinked index and text.
• Color and printer-friendly versions of the module.

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.

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Deal of the Day - Ravensrook: A Grimdark Urban Fantasy Setting (OSR/5e)

Settings. Can you really have too many? I find that I love reading new settings, and liberally steal, or borrow, depending on your point of view, from different settings to make my own setting complete. Urban settings have their own, special appeal, as they are easier to drop into a different setting more or less whole.

Ravensrook: A Grimdark Urban Fantasy Setting is a setting suitable for both the OSR and 5e rulesets. Normally 10 bucks in PDF, Ravensrook is on sale for a mere 5 bucks until tomorrow morning, March 1st.

The Lands of the Free Lords is a patchwork of petty kingdoms, bandit lords, and misfit war camps sandwiched between evil empires, do-gooder nations, and religious zealots. While regional warlords rose and fell over the ages, there was one constant within this chaotic land - the famed city of Ravensrook. The Black-Winged City of Bandits and Brigands. The only proper city within the Lands of the Free Lords.

This supplement is fully compatible with 5th edition as well as the OSR.

Includes:

• A history of Ravensrook and its region, the Lands of the Free Lords.
• A full overview of the city’s government; Guilded-law, the Members of the Council of Lords, and the new Governor.
• A full breakdown of the four tiers of the city, along with the prominent businesses and Guilds to be found in each one.
• A full city map showing the locations of all the important businesses, Guild Halls, and governmental buildings.
• Information on 14 different factions within the city that are vying for power and control.
• Entries on the top 16 Guilds of the city.
• 23 entries for the most important NPCs to be found within the city along with role-playing notes.
• A listing of all the Gods worshiped within Ravensrook along with monsters specific to the city and their statblocks.

 

 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     

Deal of the Day - The Oneiric Hinterlands (OSR Setting/Campaign)

I truly enjoy picking up new settings and campaigns. Even if I never run them, they are flush with new ideas and fresh takes.

The Oneiric Hinterlands is both setting and campaign and should take the party from 1st level to about level 7, which is where many campaigns peter out in my experience. While not for all groups, I suspect there is much one can borrow or steal for their own campaign.

Normally 10 bucks in PDF, The Oneiric Hinterlands is the current Deal of the Day, and until tomorrow morning, it is on sale for 4 bucks.

The Oneiric Hinterlands is a sandbox campaign inspired by fairytales and folklore and set in an enchanted woodland.

Deep in a hollow hill in the ancient Woldwood lies the Dream Gate: a beachhead for a war against reality that never came to pass. Its custodian, Lord Nuada, has disappeared, and now the oneiric energies have begun to warp the very fabric of the world.

Nuada's subjects - the sapient animals called the Danu - are too distracted to care. Following his disappearance, a civil war ended in a magical catastrophe, and the ascension of cruel predator overlords.

Meanwhile, the 'Goblin King', deposed by Nuada, has returned from Underland. Sending his fungal minions into Nuada's abandoned hill palace, he seeks to retake his throne.

Nearby the dwindling human colonies are still dealing with the aftermath of their war with the giants two decades earlier. Rumors circulate that the leader of the giants may have returned from death, and now treasure hunters arrive to disturb things best left buried.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Requires Old School Essentials Advanced Fantasy, or similar old school rules.  

The Oneiric Hinterlands features a 21 location wilderness (the mythic forest of Woldwood), a 34 room dungeon (the Temple of Typhon), and a 118 room dungeon (Nuada's abandoned palace below a hill).

The Oneiric Hinterlands provides a campaign to take 4-6 characters from 1st to 7th level.

VTT support: 74 battlemaps and 16 unlabelled maps included!

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    

Time to Pick the Map for My First Pocket Setting

I've been toying with the idea of Pocket Settings for years. I see a Pocket Setting as something that can be detailed in 16 pages or less - preferably, much less. A setting that will handle adventuring from 1st level, through about 5th or 6th, after which the world the PCs will likely be exploring the world at large (or the outer and inner planes).

These generated maps are from https://watabou.itch.io/perilous-shores , and are free for anyone to use. Heck, if you do decide to turn one of these maps into a setting of your own, I'd love to hear about it.

I'm partial to the first map, as it has a natural barrier to the southwest, that could be inhabited by humanoids and serve as a borderland, while there is also a water route to the mainland.

Three Lakes is definitely cool. Surrounded by mountains, it serves as a natural barrier to keep the PC's in the local area, at least for their initial levels.

Nice sized area with plenty of locations to explore and a large, centralized lake.

Another isolated setting, with water to the south, mountains to the west, east, and north, with a marsh as a possibly method to access the large world.

Tell me what your thoughts are...

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  

Free OSR - Blackmarsh (Setting)

When I found my way back to active gaming, it was initially as a player. It wasn't long before our then-current DM for the 5e Early Beta playtest felt he was burning out, and asked me to take over the DMing reigns. I was nervous, as it was well over a decade (at the time) that I had run a game session, let alone a campaign, but I dove into it eagerly. My ruleset of choice was AD&D 1e / OSRIC and my setting was the excellent sandbox, Blackmarsh. The rest, as they say, is history.

In the days when man knew only the working of stone and fought for their existence against the orc and the goblin, the sky turned to ash and down fell the fiery mountain onto the land. The world tore open and the grey waters rushed in. Those who survived the impact were lost as boiling clouds rushed out in all directions leaving a wasteland in its wake.

The Mountain That Fell left a gift; magic. Near and far, those of learning and strong of heart discovered new powers to shape the world. In the desolation around the Smoking Bay the adventurous found viz, magic in physical form. And there was more, scattered amid the landscape were strange artifacts and stranger creatures that survived The Mountain That Fell. For a time men, dwarves, orc, goblins, and other races braved the dangers and fought each other in the wastelands. Then the elves came into Blackmarsh expelled the feuding races, drove the monsters out, and healed the land.

In the present day, many come to Blackmarsh to harvest viz, kill monsters, or seek the strange artifacts left by The Mountain That Fell. The only force that stands against the wilderness is the Blackmarsh Rangers. Anyone who is willing to defend the land and its people are welcomed into their ranks. Powerful kingdoms outside of Blackmarsh are beginning cast a covetous eyes toward the land's riches. Will the adventurers of your campaign become wealthy and powerful? Or will their bones join the many that have sunk into the swamps?

Blackmarsh is a complete, ready to run setting for your campaign. It can be run as its own setting or an expansion of your existing world. Contained in Blackmarsh are 17 geographical entries, 78 described locales, and one detailed town; Castle Blackmarsh. Each entry provide one or more adventure hooks to use in your campaigns.

Rob's Note: If you can afford it the hardcover print option comes with two blank pages in the front and three blank pages in the back that you can use for handwritten notes. The inside covers are also blank. The printing process for hardcovers wraps a heavy paper protector between the covers and the first and last pages of the book.

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  

Toying With the Idea of Detailing a Small Setting Via The Tavern

Map 1

I'm always stunned by the amazing apps available at watabou for GMs. I'm even a Patreon backer.

Now, I'm considering designing a small "pocket" setting here at The Tavern, shared via the CC and likely "generic" OSR.

The first thing I need to decide on is the style of Map to use at Perilous Shores.

Note that this is probably not the map I'll be using, but I'm looking for some input on style to go with. Let me know in the comments which color/presentation you prefer and why.

Map 2

Map 3

Map 4

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 - Old-School Setting: The Isle of Sedra

I'm a huge fan of Doug Cole/Gaming Ballistic / gamingballistic.com. Doug was a regular part of The Tavern's "B-Team" 7 or 8 years ago - my once-a-month second group running through Joe Bloch's Castle of the Mad Archmage using Swords & Wizardry Complete. Ah, the good old days. 

I consider Doug a friend as well as an amazingly prolific publisher of fantasy gaming materials for multiple game systems. I own The Isle of Sedra for The Fantasy Trip and it looks beautiful. I'm also a backer of The Isle of Sedra Kickstarter for OSE and other OSR systems.

On this Friday Night at 8 PM Eastern, over at the Tenkar's Tavern Youtube Channel, youtube.com/@TenkarsTavern on the Random Party Generator Livestream, Douglas Cole of Gaming Ballistic will be our special guest. Join us live to support Doug and/or ask him questions about his current projects and potential future projects.

Located in a vast ocean, the Isle of Sedra (and its neighbor Elazar) forms a compact regional campaign setting small enough to be manageable by the GM but large enough to contain a wide variety of adventures. Sedra provides a unified home for several of the adventures published by Gaming Ballistic for Old-School Essentials (and other systems).

The Isle of Sedra contains supplemental information for the solitaire adventures Vampire Hunter Belladonna, Dark Lord’s Doom, Dragon Hunt, and Monster Hunter Belladonna. 

Use Sedra as a campaign start ... or drop it in as a destination and trading partner a few weeks sail from wherever your current campaign is playing out. 

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 - Wind Wraith (OSE Hexcrawl)

I am a setting junkie, even more so than dice, and I love dice. Settings, even if they don't get used directly, open my mind (and my game table) to new ideas and new locals.

The Wind Wraith Kickstarter is a setting book, but it's more than simply a new setting. Shane refers to it as a wavecrawl, which is literally a hexcrawl over the water.

The Wind Wraith Kickstarter is about $17 USC in PDF and $39 in print plus PDF.

Wind Wraith is a generative wavecrawl setting toolkit.

Generate your own flooded fantasy post apocalypse ocean world complete with scattered islands, factions and ancient ruins. Play as refugees of the flood, explorers in a fallen world as they build and upgrade their ship and crew. Unravel the mysterious of the past.

• Island exploration in a gothic waterworld 
• Factions competing over limited resources in stormy seas
• Ancient ruins guarded by rusted arcane constructs 
• Survive dangerous voyages 
• Hire a crew, build and upgrade your ship
• Old School Essentials compatible
• Underwater exploration 
• Magical flora, bacteria and parasites 
• Battle rival crews in naval skirmishes 
• Hunt or be hunted by monstrous leviathans 
• Quick start rules

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 - Black God's Kiss RPG Box Set (OSE & 5e)

A perilous adventure unearthing the dark arcana behind Sword & Sorcery’s iconic tabletop roleplaying game.

It's rare to find a boxed set offered for an RPG, let alone an RPG setting. The Black God's Kiss is exactly that - a boxed setting (and micro game) for OSE and 5e. Color me intrigued. Also, show me as a backer, as this is the stuff I truly want to see.

59 bucks for the core boxed set, 89 bucks for the deluxe boxed set.

Black God’s Kiss is a perilous setting playable as an RPG module compatible with both 5e and Old School Essentials (OSE)—or as a standalone microgame for two players—with custom rules for Loss of Humanity, and streamlined mechanics for enduring cosmic horror in an eldritch pocket dimension.

Based on the fantasy fiction of C.L. Moore, who stands as one of the great sword & sorcery and weird tale authors of the early 20th century, the box set contains everything you need to delve into the star-lit realm of the Black God—explore forbidden ruins, encounter wretched creatures, and retrieve a weapon of dreadful power ... the Black God’s Kiss!

Undertaking an expedition in this pocket dimension will tax your body, your mind, and threaten the very nature of your soul. To survive, you must carefully make choices—managing your own humanity as a limited resource which diminishes by the hour. To succeed, you must not only confront the Black God, but the darkest recesses of your own shadow self.

Don't forget to subscribe to the Tenkar's Tavern Youtube Channel to ensure you don't miss an episode. https://www.youtube.com/c/TenkarsTavern

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 

The Midnight Setting Returns Later this Month as a Kickstarter for 5e

By far my favorite setting from the 3rd Edition Era was Midnight by Fantasy Flight Games. It is essentially Middle Earth (with the serial numbers scratched off) and Sauron won, and it presented the concept so perfectly that it made me want to run D&D 3e. That says a lot.

Later this month, May 27, Midnight returns as a setting for D&D 5e via Kickstarter. I am extremely excited, as taking 5e material and converting it to the OSR is fairly easy. I just hope they keep true to the original. Heck, I've been eagerly awaiting Midnight since it was announced in 2020.

You can view the trailer below:

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 YouTube - Tenkar

Deal of the Day - Baklin, Jewel of the Seas (OSR City Setting/ Adventure)

I suspect every GM has tried their hand at designing at least one dungeon, if not dozens. At some point, most GMs even start toying with the idea for a world, even f it doesn't get very far in the actual design. But designing an urban environment/setting has been the downfall to many a GM. Even though it is much smaller than a country, the details required to bring an urban environment to life are daunting.

Why not let the work be done for you, much like Gabor Lux has done with today's Deal of the Day - Baklin, Jewel of the Seas. Normally 8 bucks for the 72-page Baklin setting guide and adventure module in PDF, until tomorrow morning it is marked down to $3.20.

“Oh Baklin, Jewel of the Seas, great gateway of Erillion! Minstrels sing of its wealth and marine power; and of the refinement and taste of its magnates and nobility. Minstrels of all kinds, of course, are prone to grandiloquence; and perhaps Baklin is neither as mighty nor as fair as the ballads claim. And yet, there is reason the minstrels sing so, for Baklin has wealthy patrons, its fleet is not inconsiderable – and are its streets not the loveliest within so many weeks of travel? Indeed, those who brave the high seas often believe so… and they will gladly pay for a song to remember their visit.”

A 72-page setting guide and adventure module for low to mid-level player characters, Baklin: Jewel of the Seas describes a medium-sized merchant city, including its rulers, criminal underworld, establishments, and three-level Undercity. Baklin is meant as both a campaign hub a party can depart from and return to (with numerous hooks for wilderness adventures), and as a complex adventure location of its own. It can be used along with the materials published for the Isle of Erillion mini-setting (Echoes #02–05), or it can double as almost any neutral-aligned port town in your own setting.

In any case, Baklin is meant to be played: it is focused on city intrigue, exploration, and dungeon crawling. Go shopping for great deals in port or at the stores of the reclusive Masters’ Guild; be careful not to fall afoul of the Sea Laws or anger the Knights of Yolanthus Kar; discover what lurks in the Tower of Gulls; and brave the Shrine of Roxana and the Thrones of Judgement!

This is two identical-length modules in one: a city guide with 39 major locations and a dungeon setting with 112 keyed areas, connected and bound together via multiple secret entrances, plot threads, and NPC agendas.

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New Release - Isle of Eldisor Hexcrawl Campaign Cyclopedia & Gazetteer (Labyrinth Lord)

Time to get the disclaimer out of the way. I've been following James Mishler since his early days as a licensee of Judges Guild Wilderlands setting. Although that project overwhelmed James (and understandably so) it showed that James truly has a handle on the sandbox/hex crawl style of setting. James and Rob Conley (Bat in the Attic James) are cut from similar cloth.

Isle of Eldisor Hexcrawl Campaign Cyclopedia & Gazetteer is one of James' more recent releases, and James was kind enough to send me a comp copy of the PDF. I did not request it, and James did not offer it to me. It simply arrived in my email earlier today. I'll follow this post up with a review at some point in the next few weeks.

At first glance, this is an impressive campaign. It claims to support years of gameplay, and that certainly looks to be the case. 

The one thing that sticks out prominently to me is that there are FOUR versions of the setting map - "One map with all the names, location symbols, and mountain passes with hex numbers (identical to the PWYW map available separately), and one such map without hex numbers. One map without all the names, location symbols, and mountain passes with hex numbers, and one such map without hex numbers."

I really love this touch. I can hand out a map to my players without giving away all of the secrets this way ;)

How much is the Isle of Eldisor Hexcrawl Campaign Cyclopedia & Gazetteer? 15 bucks for the PDF and PNG maps. 

The Isle of Eldisor Hexcrawl Campaign Cyclopedia & Gazetteer is a 76-page campaign guide describing the Southlands of the Isle of Eldisor.

Jordvann was once a land dedicated to Law and Good, until the rise of Eldisor, the Devil’s-Son, who together with his hordes of giants, dragons, trolls, ogres, orcs, and goblins conquered the land, reduced the people to slavery, and brought down Fimbul Winter, which caused empires to fall world-wide. Eldisor ruled for 400 years, until he was slain or brought low during a rebellion of his captains, the Old Evils. Fimbul Winter ended, and civilization rose again elsewhere, while the survivors on the Isle of Eldisor sought to stay alive between the warring Old Evils.

Now, descendants (or claimed descendants) of exiled Jordvanner have settled the southern verge of the southern portion of the island, building colonies and rebuilding civilization among the monstrous and savage peoples of the isle. Little is known of the Isle of Eldisor, and what little is known is merely myth, legend, and rumor. The adventurers can partake of the return to the Isle of Eldisor in many ways – find and recover the lost treasures of the ancient civilization; discover, ally, and trade with the savage descendants of the Jordvanner; battle the remaining hordes of evil giants, dragons, trolls, ogres, orcs, and goblins; or seek to re-establish the lost realm of Jordvann and protect the native peoples from the inroads of the colonial factors.

The setting is presented as a Hexcrawl sandbox, and includes the following details:

• History of the Isle of Eldisor.
• Details on the Colonial Powers.
• Geographical information, including specific regional encounter options.
• The Jordvanner (including the four descendant peoples – the wild Cavemen, the sorcerous Gray Folk, the monstrous Morlocks, and the savage Tribesmen, as well as their cousins, the barbaric Kruski berserkers and vikings).
• 13 Gods, Demi-Gods, and Demons of the Isle of Eldisor and the Continent.
• 36 Myths, Legends, and Rumors.
• Complete Campaign Notes on making the Isle of Eldisor experience more immersive and unique.
• Details on the Weather on the Isle of Eldisor, still recovering from Fimbul Winter.
• A complete Hexcrawl Exploration Procedure to determine encounters and the discovery of minor ruins and settlements.
• A gazetteer detailing 156 major settlements, strongholds, ruins, and lairs.
• New monsters, including the Mammoth, Northern Titan, Giant Troll, and Multi-Headed Troll.
• An Appendix N detailing literature inspirational to the campaign.
• There are four separate maps included in PNG format:
• One map with all the names, location symbols, and mountian passes with hex numbers (identical to the PWYW map available separately), and one such map without hex numbers.
• One map without all the names, location symbols, and mountain passes with hex numbers, and one such map without hex numbers.
• The map is 52 hexes east-west by 34 hexes north-south; each hex is 6 miles across, providing more than 50,000 square miles of adventure!
• The map is also provided in the book, divided into eight sections for easy reading.

The Isle of Eldisor Hexcrawl Campaign can provide a Judge and their players with years of adventure!

Designed for use with Labyrinth Lord, easily adaptable to any Old-School RPG or even Fifth Edition!

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The Tavern.  

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or wherever you listen to your podcast collection.