Kickstarter - Primordial Chaos: Gonzo Like A F@cking Boss

Venger Satanis leads you by the tentacle, showing you how to make your gaming more gonzo and accessible for novices and veterans alike.

If you watch my videos and live streams, you know I have no issue with the f-bomb, let alone using it myself. That being said, I think I may need to avoid using it as part of the title of a blog post.

Primordial Chaos: Gonzo Like A Fucking Boss, is Venger's latest, and possibly last, Kickstarter, as V has announced his retreat from the hobby after this Kickstarter fulfills. As I'm writing this, I'm listening to the latest (last episode?) of Inappropriate Characters, with Venger as one of the hosts. Its the end of an era.

Whether Venger is within your wheelhouse is a personal decision, and Venger doesn't shy away from offending large segments of the gaming community. All of which is a shame, as he is a very skilled creator.

Primordial Chaos: Gonzo Like A Fucking Boss is 20 bucks in PDF, but I do advise you add a Cha'alt Hardcover book (or the Cha'alt Trilogy) to your backing - it makes the Primordial Chaos PDF essentially free ;)

Unformed, omnipotent, oscillating, undulating, chromatic, prismatic, and ultra-telluric.  Primordial Chaos is the throbbing gristle of our hobby, the pale underbelly of a sandworm coughing up a hairball akin to the dark messiah who shall change the unchangeable.  Neon fuchsia reflected on the chartreuse palm of an all-seeing eye.  It is the prophecy!

Gonzo is awesome in and of itself, but gonzo can also be used to enhance the roleplaying experience in a variety of ways.  The problem is that, for many gamers, gonzo is inaccessible, hard to understand, and difficult to implement successfully.  

There's regular old surface immersion, and then something deeper, darker, stranger... a hyper-immersive PSYCHOCOSMIC experience that you just can't obtain with vanilla fantasy or plain-Jane dungeon delving.  That's right!  This book will go beyond gonzo - exploring outer depths of reality that only a madman or magician in his wildest fever-dream could conceive.  With the forbidden knowledge contained inside Primordial Chaos, your gaming will take on a reality of its own; as real as you need it to be. 

According to the RPG Pundit, I am the master of stupid gonzo fantasy.  I've made gonzo a cornerstone of my writing, designing, and gaming output.  Now is the time, I am the individual, and this is the book that will not only put primordial chaos on the bloodstained map, I'll show you how to gonzo like a fucking boss!

Do you want random tables that would make seasoned Arduin-Rifts-Carcosa gamers cross the street to avoid you?  Because backing this Kickstarter is how you get those kinds of random tables... and ants!

 

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Venger Con III - July 19-21, 2024

If I weren't limiting myself to one "fly to" convention in a year, so if it were just a tad closer, I'd be going to Venger Con this July. If it's within driving distance for you (which is subjective), Venger Con may be on your bucket list.

VENGER CON III: Revenge of the OSR is happening this July in Madison, WI. This is a small and exclusive (100 attendees max) con held in a very nice and new hotel focused on old-school, OSR, and traditional RPGs, organized by game designer, adventure author, and GM Venger Satanis.  No more shouting to be heard in noisy, distracting rooms packed-full of gamer-sardines: 

https://tabletop.events/conventions/venger-con-iii

Free OSR - Cha'alt (Gonzo Setting)

I've known Venger for several years. We've butted heads in the past, at times quite vocally, but one thing that is consistent with V is the quality of the work he does. Love him or hate him, if you like gonzo in your OSR, few compare to V and his releases.

Venger is running a sale today for his Cha'alt setting. Physical books are 20 bucks plus 5 bucks shipping:

For one unbelievable day... February 29th, Leap Day, I'm selling the gorgeous, professionally printed, signed and numbered Cha'alt hardcover book for only $20 + $5 shipping/handling.

What is Cha'alt (in case you were sent here by a friend of a friend)?  It's my eldritch, gonzo, science-fantasy, post-apocalypse, humor, sleaze, pop-culture, exploitation grindhouse campaign setting.  It's a system-neutral OSR and 5e compatible tome of lore, factions, new races, adventures, locations, monsters, magic items, high tech, and features The Black Pyramid, a darkly weird megadungeon funhouse that's like nothing you've ever seen.

Check out the reviews, testimonials, vlogs, word of mouth, and hushed whispers of lurid illumination, unutterable chanting, and that foul piping music interspersed with foreboding drums!  According to the RPG Pundit, Cha'alt is a masterpiece of stupid gonzo fantasy!

After the last sale and Kickstarter, I only have about 300 left to sell.  Want your book by this time next week?  Paypal me the $25 [USA only; foreign shipping is $60 for book + shipping] at...

Venger.Satanis@yahoo.com

But maybe you want to see what you are getting first. Or maybe you don't want to pay at all. In that case, V is offering Cha'alt for FREE today in PDF.

Kickstarter - Crimson Escalation (OSR Combat Hack)

What if you could speed-up DnD combat while making battles more exciting, realistic, and fun? All that with a minimum of bookkeeping!

How often do you get to back a Kickstarter for a buck and get the full product? Not too often is my guess ;)

Crimson Escalation is a buck to back in PDF. There is no print option.

So, what is Crimson Escalation?

This summer, I (Venger) had an idea for a mechanic that could cut combat short by making it potentially deadlier.  I posted it on my YouTube channel for feedback.  I received a lot of comments.  Rob Couture suggested increasing the critical-hit range by one every round of combat (Rob has graciously agreed to write the foreword for Crimson Escalation). 

Yes, that's basically the entire gist!  On the 1st round of combat, critical hits are on a "natural 20".  On the 2nd round, crits are 19 and 20.  3rd round, crits are 18-20, and so on...

After giving it some thought and a quick playtest, I took that idea and ran with it. I decided to call the mechanic Crimson Escalation since I implemented it in my OSR / 5e house-rules, or "hack" as the kids say, Crimson Dragon Slayer D20, and because the idea vaguely reminded everyone of the escalation mechanic from 13th Age.

For a buck, I'm definitely backing. Even if I never use the rules as presented, I always like to see new ideas. 

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Kickstarter - Cha'alt After Dark (OSR)

To my surprise, it looks like Venger is going back to his OSR roots. Not O5R, but truly OSR. 

I've said it before and it bears saying again. In my honest option, Venger was best when he first hit the scene, before he tried to rely upon shock or create his own scifi system. It wasn't the soft porn references I found offensive, it was O5R and trying to bring the shock level up to 12.

V has an amazing ability to write useable adventures and his presentation is often second to none. Sadly, some of his attempts at attention gaining actually distracted from him gaining traction. Hopefully, Cha'alt After Dark is a return to Venger's early days, just with more sleaze. I suspect it is.

Normally, Cha'alt adventures are on the edge of "family-friendly".  Ok, maybe over the edge.  Cha'alt After Dark, on the other hand, is way off the map.  We're into darker and sleazier territory now, hoss.

Buy-in is 5 bucks for the PDF or 15 bucks if you want all of the Cha'alt releases in PDF thus far. There are also hardcover options.

For 5 bucks, it's a no-brainer.

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

Deal of the Day - Player's Handbook Like A Fucking Boss (Kort'thalis Publishing)

Venger is many things. Prolific and quality releases certainly are on that list of things. I seem to have fallen behind on some of his releases, as I hadn't even realized that Player's Handbook Like A Fucking Boss was a thing. Well, it is. It seems to be a good thing.

This is a grab-bag of fantasy goodies for use with O5R roleplaying games.  That means everything from Basic D&D, AD&D, all the various retro-clones, systems similar but not identical (like Crimson Dragon Slayer), and 5th edition. 

Primarily, Player's Handbook like a Fucking Boss is meant for players (duh, just look at the title).  Contained within these occasionally dark, humorous, gonzo, Lovecraftian, high, and low fantasy pages are useful character suggestions, awesome bonuses, radical deeds, sneaky skills, random tables, XP sweeteners, life-lines, and get out of jail free cards that will hopefully bring balance to the force (but will most likely just spread untold chaos and evil throughout the galaxy). 

If dying seems too easy (as it should be), these tools could save your miserable, gutter and dungeon strewn life!  If you love bards, get this.  If you hate bards with an unnatural purplish passion, then you really need to get this!

Alright, I had to look at what Venger offered for Bards. Yes, they are a weakness of mine and something I think AD&D 2e handled pretty well.

Ah, low fantasy bards. Basically, thieves that can con, use their instruments as weapons and other low fantasy stuff. It needs some fleshing out, but there is some gold in his thoughts. I may just run with this.

Anyway, there are lots of valuable ideas within these pages. Don't try to use it all. Just find the pieces that work for you and run with it.

Did I mention that art is very good to amazing in quality? Venger never fails on the art side of things. Ever.

Normally 5 bucks in PDF, Player's Handbook Like A Fucking Boss is currently 2.25 until tomorrow, 11 AM Eastern.

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Banned Again - Venger - Guardians of Galaxy XXX

Yep, Venger Santanis has a product removed at OBS - yet again. The link goes to his blog post about the latest product removed - Guardians of Galaxy XXX.

Haven't read it yet, but Venger is offering it as a free download via Dropbox.

Now, could it have been removed for trademark / IP issues? Perhaps

Does Venger often needlessly stir up shit? Perhaps Definitely. It is his trademark ;)

Is OBS obligated to sell everything submitted? No

Isn't there an Adult Content filter to take care of stuff like this at OBS? I thought so

Did I plan on DLing Guardians of Galaxy XXX? Probably not. While Venger's earlier OSR fantasy releases were in my wheelhouse, his more recent SciFi SlutPorn or whatever he calls it is not. Doesn't mean it doesn't have its fans.

Ah well. Interesting times.