Free OSR - Under Tenkar's Tavern, Levels 1-3

Hey! Do you wanna adventure under Tenkar's Tavern? Written for Swords & Wizardry Light by Thom Wilson and published by Throwi Games, Under Tenkar's Tavern, Levels 1-3 is priced at PWYW. Hmmm, I should run this at a convention...

Under Tenkar's Tavern, Levels 1-3 for Swords & Wizardry

Once a boisterous and popular bar, Tenkar’s Tavern has recently become a place shrouded in mystery and despair. Members of the kitchen staff have disappeared and have not returned in several days. Additional hired hands have also since gone missing. An empty kitchen means unhappy customers and the barkeep Nerik is losing money! He needs outside help to solve his dilemma. Can the adventurers help find the kitchen staff or the source of the tavern’s problems?

An Adventure for three to six characters of 1st or 2nd level, designed for Swords & Wizardry TM by Matthew J. Finch.

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Kickstarter - The Slumbering City - A Shadowdark RPG Adventure

I'm a huge fan of Thom Wilson (and consider Thom a good friend). Thom understands Old School Gaming. I'm also a huge fan of Shadowdark. It's the only game my game group has played in an actual livestream - actually, we've done so THREE times now :)

The Slumbering City is Thom's latest Kickstarter. PDF is 7 bucks, print plus PDF is 17. 

A tribute to the creator and adventures of the mightiest barbarian in fantasy literature. For the Shadowdark RPG system, 4 to 6 characters of 2nd to 4th level.

A black & white, digest-sized, saddle-stitched (soft-cover) adventure of 38 to 40 pages. Features all-new artwork and maps by renowned creators including Luiz Prado, Jeff Madding, Joey Docil, Jared Binder, Mark Lyons, MonkeyBlood Design, and more.

It is an adventure filled with strange people and supernatural horrors. Players may find some encounters easy, but others so deadly they end up running for the fabled city’s exit.

This is the third Kickstarter for which we are using Lulu to print our saddle-stitched books. The two other Kickstarter books came out great. We prefer saddle-stitched books to perfect-bound in this smaller format, and Lulu does a great job in the print-on-demand market with this binding type.

Lulu charges the publisher an additional $1.50 per drop-ship order (I create the KS reward order on the Lulu site, then have them produce and mail the book to backers). I have to add this cost to the PoD reward (already added to the $17 tier cost). To be clear, this is not charged to the backer after the project, but as part of the initial tier cost.

 

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 - Prison-Pit of the Agelast King - for the Shadowdark RPG

A fully written, edited, and illustrated low-level adventure for the Shadowdark RPG.

I've been a friend, and fan, of Thom Wilson / Throwi Games for years. He's had some amazing releases for various old-school games, from B/X to Gamma World and beyond. I've been a special guest at Thom's local convention, ShireCon, in NW Connecticut since the first year of the con.

Prison-Pit of the Aglelast King is Thom's current Kickstarter, a low-level adventure for the Shadowlands RPG. It's 4 bucks in PDF and 12 bucks in POD plus PDF (plus shipping)

Prison-Pit of the Aglelast King is a 24-page, saddle-stitched, B&W adventure book for the Shadowdark RPG. Written by Thom Wilson of ThrowiGames, LLC. Edited by Joshua Newey. Cartography by Dyson Logos (commercial use license). Filled with stock art.

For 4-6 characters of 1st to 2nd level. 25 encounter areas filled with hazards and monsters. Playtested at North Texas RPGCon in June of 2023.

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 - Back to BasiX Issue #12 Fanzine (OSR)

I have every issue of Back to BasiX but nearly missed this one. Somehow I missed Thom's announcement that the Kickstarter was live!

Back to BasiX is an amazing series of old-school zines. I don't care if you missed the prior eleven, grab Back to BasiX #12 now!

Back to BasiX is a periodic fanzine focused on the B/X version of the world's most popular tabletop role-playing game. The zine premiered in June 2017 and ended its initial ten-issue run in September 2019, with an special eleventh issue released as part of a hardcover compilation in 2021. The zine was offered in PDF and print formats, and while PDFs are still accessible at DriveThruRPG.com, individual print issues are becoming harder to find. The hardcover print-on-demand is also still found at DriveThruRPG.com.

This project delivers the twelfth issue of that series.

Product Reviews

In each issue of Back to BasiX, an old-school product designed for the B/X system is reviewed. Covering everything from rule books to supplements and adventures, the fanzine’s creator takes readers through all the highlights of each product examined.

New products supporting the B/X system, mostly from independent creators, are also reviewed in each issue.

In issue 12, we review X2 Castle Amber by Tom Moldvay and New Big Dragon Games's Adventurers Wanted! (a North Texas RPGCon exclusive).

Interviews

Each issue of Back to BasiX features an interview with a legendary creator of the industry, from pivotal authors to fantastic artists. In previous issues, the voices of icons like Merle Rasmussen, Frank Mentzer, David Cook, Erol Otus, and Douglas Niles were highlighted, providing thoughts on the game, their influences, the industry, and much more.

In this issue, we chat with Gavin Norman of Necrotic Gnome.

New Content

Back to BasiX also provides a wealth of all-new content for readers to explore. Each issue includes one to three custom adventures of various B/X levels, as well as original monsters and magical items that are featured in those adventures. Each entry also includes a spell-casting article, taking readers through new and existing spells from B/X rule books.

This issue contains Part 2 of The Lost Recipe of the Drunken Zymurgist, an ongoing story that unfolds as both a playable, section-segmented adventure and a thrilling comic illustrated by Travis Hanson.

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 - Not One, but Two Mörk Borg Compatible Adventures! (ThrowiGames)

Two Mörk Borg Compatible adventures in print-on-demand hardcover! 100% completely written, edited, illustrated, and test printed.

I'm putting this post up as I listen to the State of the Union speech. I know, dangerous but I am focused. Kinda. Not turning it into a drinking game. I promise ;)

Truth in posting, Thom Wilson is a friend of mine. I've been a special guest of Thom's Shire Con every year he's held it. I consider Thom a good friend of mine. That being said, Thom produces consistently good Kickstarter projects.

Thom is doing a short Kickstarter, with 5 days remaining in the funding period for the Not One, but Two Mörk Borg Compatible Adventures Kickstarter.

I'm in for PDF plus Print plus POD costs at 15 bucks. PDF only is 7 bucks.

Two Separate Print-on-Demand Hardcovers, Both Compatible with Mork Borg!

There's only one thing better than a Mörk Borg adventure: two Mörk Borg adventures! That's right, two fully compatible adventures for the award-winning roleplaying game that we all love. Each adventure is 100% complete - fully written, edited, illustrated, and even test-printed! Backers will receive completed PDFs just weeks after the project wraps up and print-on-demand books within a few months.

The Two Adventures

Sacrifice Before Sunrise, The Child Must Die!

Whispers of dark work drift from the twisted mouths of temple priests in Schleswig. Doom approaches in the form of a small child, begat by an unnatural union between Nechrubel and the arch-priestess of Galgenbeck. A plan to dethrone King Fathmu IX by replacing him with the grotesque child-god is mere days from success. Soon, Two-Headed Basilisk temples will burn and all will praise their rival, the shadow lord who awaits his true position in the world.

Buckets of silver will be showered upon a group who succeeds where others have dared not even try. Your skills are in alignment with the task: infiltrate an abandoned village, capture the unnatural offspring of Nechrubel and Josilfa, and sacrifice him to the Two-Headed Basilisks before the next sunless day begins.

Initially Written for the Anti-Christmas Jam at Itch.io. Mixture of 29 b&w and color pages*, hardcover. Approximate print cost: $9.50.

The Demon's Arse

Demons plague the eastern Wästlands, decimating villages and mutilating travelers seemingly for sport. Dense, acrid smoke billows from a wide hole under a remote hill. This is the legendary Demon’s Arse, rumored to be the home of unearthly creatures both demonic and dead. Who dares enter?

Initially written for TotalCon 36 (play-tested at the convention). A mixture of 19 b&w and color pages*, hardcover. Approximate print cost: $8.00.

Each adventure has been designed for 3-6 desperate characters, and can generally be completed in 1-2 sessions.

*While several pages feature colorful backgrounds and bright-colored text, more than half are in standard B&W. These books were designed in typical MB fashion (bright colors, different fonts), but many pages have a layout similar to that of Rotblack Sludge (from the MB rulebook).

 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 - Batteries Low, Getting Dark - a Post-apocalyptic Adventure

A low- to mid-level adventure for your favorite post-apocalyptic setting.

I've always been a fan of Gamma World. It's the first RPG I bought after getting my AD&D 1e Core books back in the day. I was very confused about how Hit Points worked in Gamma World.

Now, I am NOT saying that the Batteries Low, Getting Dark - a Post-apocalyptic Adventure Kickstarter is written for Gamma World. What I AM saying, is that from all appearances, it should work with Gamma World 1e without a hitch. As always, YMMV ;)

This adventure was play-tested at the North Texas RPG Con in 2019 using the first edition of the Gamma World system. The stat blocks of Batteries Low, Getting Dark will be suitable for the play-tested system, or can easily be modified for other systems of similar genres. 

100% of the adventure is written. All maps and art have been completed. At the time of project launch, the work is midway through editing. My hope is that before the project ends, the book will be in or through layout.

The B&W, digest-sized, perfect bound book will be between 32 and 40 pages in length. The adventure features 40 plus encounter areas in total.

Unlike other adventures written by ThrowiGames for this genre, the book's layout will be built around the custom artwork of several artists. Each piece is at least half a page in size, and has been created exclusively for this adventure. 

Count me in. Heck, I backed this yesterday :) 

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 -The Evolutionary Mishap - a Mutant, Martial Arts Adventure

An alternate reality adventure for use with your favorite mutated animal martial arts RPG system.

Thom Wilson is one of the hardest working folks in the Old School Gaming Community. He seems to always be working on multiple projects, and this one, The Evolutionary Mishap Kickstarter, is truly neat. It APPEARS to be riffing off of the classic TMNT / After the Bomb RPGs, and if that's the case, they can easily be used with most any D20 based RPG of your choice. Sure, the classic system in question was fairly broken, but it was broken in some of the most awesome ways ;)

The Evolutionary Mishap PDF is 5 bucks, Print is 15, and print PLUS PDF is 18. Note, this is already written. Editing has commenced and layout should start in early April, so I expect a quick turn around from Thom, which is usual for him ;)

An adventure for new characters for use with your favorite mutated animal martial arts RPG system. Designed for use with the Megaversal System but easily transformed to the system of your choice.

When an explosion in a nearby section of the laboratory sends you and several other test subjects through an inter-dimensional wormhole, you suddenly find yourself transformed into highly trained, humanoids capable of speech and complex thought. You and your fellow lab animals now find yourself in an alternate version of feudal Japan and in the middle of war. Even worse, your existence in this alternate dimension seems temporary and your very life depends on returning to the world from whence you came—but how?

Note that the adventure book does not contain new RPG rules or mechanics - this is purely an adventure for use with the Megaversal system or system of your choice.

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.  

Kickstarter - Space Scoundrels - A Not Too Serious Science Fiction RPG

Thom Wilson of Throwi Games has a great track record, both with on-time Kickstarters and quality writing. He is one of those "organized" people. I am not, but I am glad to count Thom among the friends I've made in the old school gaming corner of the hobby.

Thom's latest project is Space Scoundrels - A Not Too Serious Science Fiction RPG, which is being funded on Kickstarter. Light-hearted SciFi is right up my alley, and the pricing is certainly right for my wallet. 4 bucks for the PDf and 8 bucks for the at-cost POD and the PDF (really the sweet point I think). I'm in for 12 bucks, same as the above but I get credited as a backer in the final release.

Designed as a beer-and-pretzels game with minimal rules and fast-paced skill progression, Space Scoundrels takes a lot of the science out of science-fiction for those that love the genre but don't want to get mired in lots of physics and math. 

 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.

Kickstarter - Gamma Zine, Issue #2 (ZineQuest)

Gamma World was my second RPG and the first I bought with my own money. I remember being confused that the number of Hit Dice was determined by the character's Constitution score. Took me a while to wrap my head around that one ;)

Gamma Zine, Issue #2 is a zine for the fans of old school Gamma World. It's by Thom Wilson / Throwi Games. Thom is a workhorse that simply produces great old school gaming material. I expect no less from this Kickstarter.

Do you still play Gamma World or another post-apocalyptic, science  fiction RPG? Do you wish there was more material for the games you play?  Well, your wish has been granted: a 36-page fanzine for your  post-apocalyptic game campaign or reading pleasure! In the second issue  of Gamma Zine, you'll find three short adventures, new mutated monsters, lost and forgotten tech, and more.

The zine will be black & white, saddle-stitched and digest-sized. Unlike the first project in 2019, the size of this second issue is fixed because it's already written!

Although the fanzine will focus primarily on the first edition of  Gamma World by TSR, we'll try to keep much of the fanzine flexible to  allow the reader to adapt its contents to other systems. However, when  statistics are displayed for foes and challenges, we'll use the earliest edition of Gamma World for the rules and stats.

Kickstarter - A System-Neutral TTRPG Adventure Designed by Backers

I am a huge supporter of Thom Wilson / Throwi Games for years now, and Thom's latest, A System-Neutral TTRPG Adventure Designed by Backers Kickstarter looks to be really cool.

In this Make/100 Project, backers will be able to pick the theme, antagonists, and some of the monsters in the adventure that I will custom-create for 100 people. Additionally, backers can sponsor art (including a custom cover piece by one of the artists I call on often for work), add additional pages, or back the project for the end result: a PDF adventure!

This is a very inexpensive Kickstarter to back. You can get the PDF for as low as 3 bucks.

Kickstarter - The Lost Depths of the Ageless (Systemless)

"A System Neutral dungeon adventure in PDF designed using a sensory descriptive style approach. Less text, more clues, maximum fun!"

The Lost Depths of the Ageless is the latest Kickstarter from Thom Wilson. Instead of collections of one and two-page adventures, this project is a single adventure - starting at 8 pages and increasing with stretch goals.

A minimum* 8-page adventure in PDF designed for any fantasy RPG system. Each standard letter-sized page will be filled with encounter details in a style that is geared toward character senses: "What do I see? What do I smell? What do I hear?" Instead of walls of text to parse through, GMs can quickly look at the details by sense to get the answers to the players' questions. 

For those that prefer to craft their own backstories and would rather not use pre-written read-aloud text, this adventure is for you. You'll get a couple of short paragraphs of background before the book delves right into encounter areas. It is up to the GM to develop adventure hooks and detailed reasons for the Lost Depths to be what they are and why they exist.  

The adventure is designed as System Neutral. This means that empty stat blocks for foes, treasure, traps, and other system-specific points will be provided for the GM. The GM can add the stats for their preferred system into the space provided. Since this is a PDF, it can be printed out several times to be run for different systems!  

*Minimum 8 pages; likely more with project funding total stretch goals 

Here are the stretch goals:

The funding period is very short - just five days. The basic backer level is 3 bucks. Want your name as a supporter in the PDF? 5 bucks. That's my kinda Kickstarter ;)

Kickstarter - Off the Beaten Path, Desert Excursions (S&W and System Neutral Adventures)

Thom Wilson is one of the workhorses of the OSR. Constantly producing high quality stuff and on time too. Thom's latest Kickstarter is Off the Beaten Path, desert Excursions.

So, what is Off the Beaten Path, Desert Excursions?

A minimum of twenty single or double page desert excursions to use as side quests or stand-alone adventures for your Fantasy RPG. There are over twenty-six pages of encounters found within dry deserts and desolate locales. As your player's characters travel through the arid wasteland, they will come across burial chambers, deserted villages, sunken towers, troublesome oases, and more! These adventures are a great way to add additional encounters during travel, or to handle an unexpected change in direction!

Its literally is something to pull out when your party goes "off the beaten path". Its a great series of adventures if you sandbox or if your players tend to stray from the expected story line (or simply useful as random encounters and events)

You have a choice of Swords & Wizardry or System Neutral versions.

PDF's are 6 bucks, at cost POD is 9 (you'll still need to pay the POD cost and shipping), 13 for PDF plus POD (where I'm at) and 18 for at cost POD in both S&W and System Neutral versions.

There are daily stretch goals and the funding period is only 10 days so don't wait too long ;)

New PWYW Release - Under Tenkar's Tavern, Levels 1-3 (written by someone more talented than me ;)

Under Tenkar's Tavern is a new PWYW release from Thom Wilson / Throwi Games. Yes, it has my blessing ;)

Seriously, Thom reached out to me to ask if I was okay with him releasing Under Tenkar's Tavern to the masses (as opposed to just Patreon backers) or if he needed to change the title. I happen to like the adventures included in this package, so saying yes was extremely easy. Besides, Thom simply does good work.

Written for Swords & Wizardry it will easily work with SWL / SWCL.

Did I mention its Pay What You Want?

Under Tenkar's Tavern

Yep, we use affiliate links here at The Tavern. Helps keep the lights on and the taps flowing.

New Release - Back to BasiX - Issue #2 (zine)

If you haven't been following Thom Wilson / Throwi Games you've been missing out on a series of solid OSR releases. Easily one of the best bangs for your OSR buck is Back to BasiX, a fanzine dedicated to B/X and similar OSR clones.

I grabbed issue #1 of Back to BasiX in print at NTRPG Con in June and it was excellent. I expect more from issue #2 (which should be on its way to me via the US Post Office as I preordered). The PDF release of Back to BasiX is $1.50 an issue. There are two issues available.

This fanzine celebrates, highlights and supports one of the original roleplaying game systems of the 1980's, the Basic and Expert editions of Dungeons & Dragons.  Each issue will provide or highlight content within the Holmes, Moldvay, Cook and Mentzer edited rules from TSR's Gary Gygax.  

Issue contains:  Product Spotlight, Spell Review, New Magic Items, New Monster, Short Encounter, Full page comic "Dungeon Delvers" (artist, Travis Hanson), and an interview with Frank Mentzer.

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Last Call for Merchants & Markets in Print Preorders (Throwi Games)

Thom Wilson just informed me that TODAY is the last chance to preorder Merchants & Markets (mini review) in print.

Its 20 bucks including US shipping (and more elsewhere in the world) which is a steal if you ask me. I love the PDF and just ordered the print copy myself, so you are speaking to the converted here ;)

Link to the physical product order is here.

Link to the PDF at RPGNow is here (7.50 in PDF)

Here's the Table of Contents:

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Kickstarter - Off the Beaten Path, Forest Excursions (Adventures for SWL / System Neutral)

Have I mentioned how much I like this cover?

There are less than 21 hours left in the Off the Beaten Path, Forest Excursions Kickstarter's funding. With a goal of $600 it has now surpassed $2,800. Six stretch goals have been hit and the next one is within reach.

Its exciting to see a release for Swords & Wizardry Light about to reach the market place.

Just so you know, Throwi Games has been using a beta copy of the forthcoming SWL Monsters Book as well as discussing rules questions with me as they crop up. This is going to be a sweet release with at least 22 one and two page adventures. You simply can't go wrong backing for either the SWL version or the system neutral version.

FYI, I get 1% of the monies raised for the SWL version. Its not a lot but it's certainly a sweet thank you :)