Pub Crawls! Adventures of All Sizes, Coming Soon from The Tavern & Wizard Tower Games

Pub Crawls! Damn, this was on the back burner for a while, but now it will start turning into reality thanks to The Tavern and Wizard Tower Games.

Pub Crawls will come in three sizes:

Flights - short, 1-sheet (2-page) adventures

Pints - generally 8 to 16-page adventures, likely requiring more than a single session to complete

Kegs - an anthology or compendium of adventures, linked by level, theme, or whatnot.

I'm really excited to see the various balls get in motion ;)

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 Rumble or YouTube - Tenkar

Watch the Fireside Chat with Vince Florio, Podfather of the OSR

Yesterday I sat down with Vince Florio, Podfather of the OSR. Yes, "Podfather" is a bit of a joke, but the reality is, Vince was the primary force that brought podcasting to the OSR. Other amazing podcasts have followed, either in his footsteps more or less or finding their own path (huge thanks to Anchor.fm for opening wide the doors of podcasting in general, and the OSR in particular)

For The Tavern, YouTube is the Final Frontier. Much of what will appear on the Tavern Chat Podcast will be recorded on YouTube, in a large part to the ability to Livestream. Feedback, as I record, is literally priceless, and I think will strengthen the Tavern Chat Podcast. There will be other content that will be unique to YouTube and Vince did suggest that the return of the dragon puppet Feltothraxis should happen, so it will ;)

If you want to participate in the Livestreams and give realtime feedback, subscribe to The Tavern's YouTube Channel at YouTube.com/ErikTenkar. I truly appreciate your support, and every subscriber to The Tavern's YouTube Channel is important, as is every member of this community.

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 the 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.

Distracted Today By Seven Years of Wedded Bliss - The Tavern Wouldn't Be Here Without Rach :)

Seven years ago today, I became the luckiest man alive when Rach gave me her hand in blissful wedding matrimony. In truth, she had stolen my hear over two years prior and does so again every day.

In truth, The Tavern would not be here today if Rach hadn't been with me all these years. She encouraged me to blog, supported me emotionally early on when I just wanted to throw it all away, has been my sounding board and honest critic when needed, and most importantly, has allowed me to spend as much time as I need on all things Tavern.

She is my partner, my best friend, and literally the best part of me.

The first anniversary we barely saw each other, as I was working long hours with the aftereffects of Hurricane Sandy. I got home after 10 PM, shared a hug and a kiss and was promptly told "You need to get your post up for today! Get to it!"

I am truly blessed. And just think, Alex was nice enough to schedule GameHole Con right around our anniversary. You might almost think he planned it that way ;)

The Tavern's Community is Awesome - Far Over $250 Raised for Josh Beckelheimer & Family

As my regular readers know, The Tavern pledged to match the first $250 raised for Josh Beckelheimer & Family for emergency car repairs. Skeeter Green Publishing also agree to do the same match.

Well, The Tavern's Community has done it and then some. The Tavern actually donated $350 thanks to an anonymous donor who sent a $100 donation to us to forward to Josh.

Josh and his family are not out of the woods yet but they are getting closer, because of you.

I sincerely thank everyone that has donated to Josh and his family.

This is a most amazing community.

Further donations can be made via the following link:  tenkars-tavern.games/JBfund

Getting Closer to the First Tavern Livestream Event

New camera? Check

New software for that green screen effect? Checkity check check

Finding awesome pieces of art for such effect? Fun times

Never again see that basket of laundry in the corner of the room? Rach thanks God ;)

Where's the top of my head? Eh, its optional anyway...

For Those That Have Asked, Paypal Subscriptions to Support The Tavern are Now Available

When I revealed The Tavern's financials 2 weeks ago, I had a number of inquiries as to accepting Paypal donations. Some didn't like the idea of signing up for Patreon. Others preferred dealing with Paypal directly. Some didn't like the idea of reoccurring payments.

Well, I've covered the first two issues with the current Paypal subscription options available in the upper right hand corner of this page. The advantage with going directly with Paypal is Patreon fees aren't deducted, so your donation goes further.

As for one time donations, which I have accepted in the past and will gladly accept now and in the future, you can send your donation to PayPal.Me/TenkarsTavern

Any amount goes far in supporting The Tavern.

I've been told that the only place one can find "investigative journalism" in the RPG Community is here, at The Tavern. That isn't so. There are others but they do tend to focus on singular events. The Tavern has "multiple investigative threads" ;)

The Tavern does not accept commercial advertising. It's support is solely from the RPG Community.

Alright, I'll try to hold off on stirring any more shit for a few days :)

Open Call for More Tavern Header Art - This is a Paid Gig

Now that The Tavern's blog header is rotating, what I'd like to do is ad more blog headers / banners to the rotation.

Why?

Quite simple actually - I want to be able to highlight and display art from the various artists in the OSR community, both professional and amateur. I REALLY like art, probably because I have no talent in that direction ;)

If you are looking to gan some visibility in the OSR as an artist there are few places more visible than Tenkar's Tavern. I'll be working on a page of links at The Tavern to showcase the various artists works.

What's the requirement? It needs to showcase a tavern of sorts. Fantasy, sci-fi, horror - you name it, but it needs the tavern theme. Thanks to the programing wizardry of+Tony Bravo the banner's width will resize. So long as the banner is wider that it s high, we should be okay.

Free submissions are welcome but if you are looking to get paid we'll negotiate. Artists are vastly underpaid in the realm of RPGs in my opinion and I'm happy to pay a fair price.

Send you inquiries and / or submissions to tenkarsDOTtavern at that gmail thing.

Thanks in advance, your proprietor, Mr. Tenkar :)

The Tavern's Patrons Are Amazing - $505 Raised for Jim Ward in 12 Hrs - Plus The Tavern's $250 Match

You folks are frigging awesome!

This is one hell of a community. It always humbles me in a very good way :)

$505 given by Tavern readers thus far.

Keep giving to Jim Ward folks.

I Survived a Week of Working Evenings - Tavern Chat Survived My Absence Too ;)

I'm still adjusting to the new evening hours (and considering asking to work overnights - now that's one hell of a switch) and I still haven't found a proper way to move my creative hours to the 12 hour switch around - maybe I need to brew some tea in the morning for the caffeine hit.

I'm happy to see that Wednesday Night's Tavern Chat went off ok. I tried logging into the chat from my phone but it didn't seem to sync with the chat properly. I was afraid nothing was happening. Glad to have been proven wrong.

I have stuff to ship and packing will be going on tomorrow, but I don't think I'll get a chance to hit the post office until next Friday. There is a lot to be said about working "Banker's Hours" and I'm missing the flexibility you had with certain chores and such. That being said, hitting the 24 hr supermarket at 11 pm does make for easier shopping.

There isn't one piece of gaming material that I've read more than a few pages of in the last week. I'll try tonight to get some reading in, but I had "uncle duty" today with my 4 year old niece and I'm exhausted.

Behind the Bar - Tweaks and Forthcoming Content

June was a bear of a month. After I returned from NTRPG Con my free time was literally at a premium - time and a half because the bureau realized it didn't spend enough overtime during the previous 11 months.

Over the next few days were are FINALLY going to award the Post 5k / NTRPG Con gifts to all those that are waiting, although anything that requires  trip to the post office will have to wait on next weekend to finally ship.

It may seem there was a dearth of gaming content at The Tavern in the month of June and there was. There were multiple reasons for that - lack of free time was one but a desire to get a proper OGL in place was another. I have some free time this week and I have what should be a proper OGL for the website ready to go. OGL for the Pocket releases for the Patreon Backers is also being finalized.

This does mean there will some White Star / Swords & Wizardry content hitting the blog over the next few days. Huzzah!

Don't forget Tavern Chat tonight at 830 PM Eastern ;)

Adding Text to Speech Integration - The Tavern is Now Listenable via iTunes and other Podcast Apps

While at NTRPG Con last week I played in +Mike Stewart 's Victorious session. Mike runs a really entertaining game and it is easy to forget that he is visually impaired. Afterwards, a third party mentioned to me that Mike would like to read The Tavern, but he literally can't.

I've been playing catch up on my end since we got back last Monday but I've spent a good part of the day today trying to find a solution. In the end, simple is best.

Podcastomatic allows blogs to be converted to podcast feeds, so you can subscribe and listen to them via iTunes or other podcast apps. Sure, the voice is a bit robotic, but it's actually a nice solution. The podcast feed is constantly updated.

I'm surprised Rach didn't get on me to do this earlier. Her vision defines her a "legally blind" and issues like this are important to her. Don't feel bad if you met her at NTRPG and never realized - there is a reason we found her oversized dice ;)

Here's the Tenkar's Tavern podcast link.

+Elizabeth Stewart I apologize to Mike for not thinking of this before and encourage other bloggers to do the same. It's simple and it works.

25 Posts From 5k - 5 Days to 6 Years of Posting

Strange when the stars line up unexpectedly.

We are 25 posts from 5k. I expect to hit that next week while at NTRPG Con.

We are 5 days from 6 years of posting here at The Tavern.

Trying to think of a unique way to celebrate all that. Failing that, I'll settle for a fun way.

Thank you all.

Your Tavern Keeper :)

Tenkar's Tavern Zazzle Store is Live - Grab a Tankard :)

The Tenkar's Tavern Zazzle Store is live - sorta. I think we have mugs and tankards and maybe a mousepad thus far. You may need to use the direct link on the right for the first day or so.

I'm looking forward to getting +Jim Magnusson 's art on a few items, but +Eric Quigley 's is amazing. I want the travel mug in stainless steel. I will have to wait it seems :(

Next Tavern Header - Work in Progress by Jim Magnusson

As I've mentioned previously, the goal here at The Tavern is to have a series of blog headers / banners from different artists in rotation. It keeps things fresh as well as highlights some of the work of my favorite OSR artists.

Currently, +Jim Magnusson is working on the next Tavern banner. Somehow, I think he's caught the proprietor of Tenkar's Tavern in an awkward moment...

A HUGE "Thank You" to the Patrons of The Tavern!

early Quigley sketch

As March draws to a close and I find myself with my nose to the virtual grindstone, working on creature write ups and small pieces for some projects I promised to participate in, I find I need to thank the readers of The Tavern.

As I've stated before, you don't need to be a Patreon Backer to be a supporter of The Tavern. In addition to shopping through our links at RPGNow and clicking on ads that interest you, we've had some generous donors in the past week, giving away keys to Pillars of Eternity and a Corgi edition of the Tunnels & Trolls solo - Sword for Hire / Blue Frog Tavern (of course it had to be a tavern ;)

I've always regarded Tenkar's Tavern as less of a blog and more of a community - and I've seen so much community here in recent months I'm thrilled to have been proven right and then some.

I owe a G+ Hangout to this very community, pretty much on the level of the weekly Tavern Chat. I don't think the hangout will kick off until the weekend after next, although I could be wrong. It is possible that the stars will align for this coming Sat night. When i know, you will know.

Thank you all. Each and every one of you. If you are reading this, yes, I do mean you :)

If we add Jim Magnusson to The Tavern Art Mix, We'll have a Strong Rotation

I've mentioned I love +Jim Magnusson 's work in the past and Jim has been amazing with turning some of my ideas into amazing pieces of art that evoke the OSR (the above piece was done without any input from me - probably for the best ;)

The following was done with some input from your's truly -

So, new banner by +Eric Quigley and Ive already have twisted +Craig Brasco to also do one. I think if I add +Jim Magnusson to the mix we'll have a trifecta, or a hat trick or some such here at The Tavern.

Yes Jim, you have been officially added to the rotation ;)

Next Artist Expected to Make an Appearance at The Tavern - Craig Brasco

+Craig Brasco probably thought I was joking when I told him on Saturday night that I wanted him to do the next banner for The Tavern.

This is notice Craig, that I wasn't joking ;)

Ideally The Tavern will have 3 to 5 banners in rotation, highlighting some of my favorite artists in the OSR.

I guess I should tell +Jim Magnusson he should start thinking now...

There's More Than One Way to Show Your Support of The Tavern

The Tavern's Patreon Page has been up for just over a week, and the support has been humbling. I will strive to meet your expectations and hopefully exceed them.

I've received in the past week more than a few inquiries as to ways to support The Tavern in ways other than Patreon. If you are reading this post, you are showing that support.

Yes, simply read this blog on a daily (or however often) basis is showing support, and I appreciate it greatly. Participate in post discussions. Hang out with us on Wednesday Nights for Tavern Chat. Be a part of our community. That type of support is priceless.

If you are going to shop, or even just browse at RPGNow / OneBookshelf, think about clicking one of the link from the RPGNow Hottest Items listing on the right hand side before you go there. The Tavern gets 5% back on all sales received after you click through one of our affiliate links, and those monies go to pay for the contests and giveaways here at The Tavern.

The Adsense Ad we run in the upper right hand corner is hit or miss, but it's a moderate supplement to the RPGNow monies we receive and allow for further prizes. You don't even need to click on it to make a small difference. Just do what you normally do, hang out at The Tavern.

See, all you need to do is continue what you are already doing :)

GM's Week is coming up soon and I expect to do a few giveaways. Depending on how the sale prices go, I intend to include a print item or two.

Again, thanks go out to all of you, as without you I wouldn't be doing all of this ;)

I've Tweaked The Tavern - Looking For Feedback on Loading Speed

Tweaking the slow moving cube ;)
Art by Malcolm McClinton

It was pointed out to be earlier today that The Tavern was having some real issues loading on some folks computers so I did some tweaking and pruning.

Gone are some graphics and links to feed readers - I figure if you use a feed reader, you know how to add a feed.

Also gone are about 30 blogs from the blog roll. It was time to trim the dead and dying - anything that had gone over 2 months was fair game, although a handful found a stay of execution due to nostalgia. More importantly, I killed the icons and thumbnails from the blog roll, as it appears even though I was showing only the last 25 blogs that updated, all of the blogs in the blog roll were having their icons and thumbnails loaded.

Hopefully these tweaks have some noticeable load time improvements for those that were chugging along ;)

If you see an improvement in load time, please comment below. If it's worse, definitely comment below!

Thanks for your time

Tweaking The Tavern - For Speed!

I received an email earlier today that The Tavern has been slow to load recently. I haven't seen it myself at home, but working off of 4g here at work, I can see the need to tweak a bit to quicken load times.

I'm sure last night's upload or art didn't help things much - I suspect those files were a bit large ;)

Let me know if you have any issues.

One thing I'll be doing is pruning the blog roll of inactive blogs. I pruned a bit earlier today and I think there are still 132 or so in the blog roll. I'll be aiming to remove any blog that hasn't updated in the last 60 days or so.