Troll Lord Games Sale - 40% Off PDFs - C&C, 5e, Victorious, and More

The Trolls have a sale going on right now at their DTRPG Webstore. 40% off almost all of their PDFs. Yes, that means Castles & Crusades, 5e, Victorious, Amazing Adventures and more.

Heck, Return to Blacktooth Ridge is 46 cents. Go figure. If I didn't already own it, I'd be buying it right now ;)

Here's the link to the Troll Lord Sale

Just over 4 days to go on this one.

And yes, that is an affiliate link above. A portion of the monies you spend via that link will go to support The Tavern. I thank you in advance.

Please don't forget our Amazon affiliate store :)   Amazon.com/shop/eriktenkar.

Far West Update - Gareth Will NO Longer be Posting Updates on the Kickstarter Itself

First things first. I had about a half dozen PMs, emails and the like pointing me to the latest update by Gareth Skarka about the Far West Kickstarter - it just wasn't on the Kickstarter page itself. Why would it be? Why would Gareth want to actually be respectful to the backers of his now seven and a half fucking years late Kickstarter?

Here's the latest (my comments are in orange):

I’ve been quiet recently, I know. (but not on Twitter! I kid! No, not really kidding)

First things first:  Far West is NOT dead. I only have one chapter remaining to assemble from the earlier drafts. (the same chapter I've been talking about since - forever) Things are moving slowly, and I figure that I owed you an explanation. (We've had plenty of excuses - I mean - "explanations over the last seven and a half years)

It’s no secret that among the many trials and tribulations that have plagued this project, my depression and anxiety have been at the forefront. I have been my own worst enemy. (there is no arguing with this)

Well, a few months ago, my family convinced me to finally seek treatment. 

So I’ve done that. 

The initial stages of the process, where, among other things, we were trying to zero in on the right combination of prescriptions and correct dosages, made it very difficult to get anything done. I just couldn’t focus on anything other than my mental health. (so, for the last couple of years, where you've produced work for the Star Trek RPG among other RPGs, occasionally under a psuedonym, none the less, your mental health issues only prevented work on Far West?)

Now that we are further along, and I’ve begun to feel the effects, I’m coming back into myself, in a way. And that includes finishing Far West. (I don't want to not believe you, reslly, but the outright lies over the past seven plus years...)

So that’s what I’m going to do. 

I appreciate the patience of so many people who have given far more than I could have ever asked. “Thank you” seems terribly inadequate, given the circumstances. 

As a final administrative note: All official updates will now appear on this website. We have a forum here where I can be reached for questions. The Kickstarter page will be used purely for delivery of texts, PDFs, etc. to backers. (that is NOT the way Kickstarters are updated, but I know, you want to control the narative and censor the dissenting voices)

Now, the home stretch. Talk to you soon.

Here's what Kickstarter says about updates:

Edit - How dead is Garth's website, that has been around for 8 years or so?

Map - Work in Progress - Level One of The Demonic Dungeon of the Bone Dreamer

Yeah, I know I keep swapping out the maps, but when you can do your own it's just a tad better. I'm doing my own now thanks to DungeonFog, an online mapping app.

Its a work in progress, as the rooms arent yet numbered (I'll save it as a second map for that - so, players and GM maps for VTT use)

Stairs down are in the upper left, behind a secret door.

Reminder - Tavern Chat Tonight - 9 PM Eastern

Yep, today is a Wednesday, and that means tonight at 9 pm eastern is the weekly Tavern Chat.

Join your hosts, Glen Halstrom and myself, Erik Tenkar as we open the doors to The Tavern's community.

Where?

The Tenkar's Tavern Discord Server

Link?

https://discord.gg/AWmKjz

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

"A minimum 26-page book, filled with one- to two-page adventures usable by any system. Based on the Patreon project by Nomad Gaming."

The "Excursions" series of projects by Thom Wilson are some of the most useful campaign supplements for fantasy gaming one is going to find. A number of short yet expandable adventures in each release, perfect for throwing at your party when you, as the DM, aren't as prepared as you had hoped to be. Off the Beaten Path, City Excursions is the latest in the series.

A  minimum of twenty single- or double-page city excursions to use  as side quests or stand-alone adventures for your Fantasy RPG. There  are over twenty-five pages of encounters to be found within cities and towns. As your players' characters travel through large settlements, they will come across gangs, sewer creatures, evil warlords, basement baddies, and more! These adventures are a great way to  add additional encounters during travel or to handle an unexpected change in direction! 

Two Options: designed as System Neutral or specifically for Swords & Wizardry.  

I have the three prior releases in the series: (Off the Beaten Path, Forest Excursions; Off the Beaten Path, Desert Excursions; Off the Beaten Path, Mountain Excursions). They are my goto books when I am less prepared than I planned to be, which is fairly often ;)

Six bucks for the PDF in either System Neutral or Swords & Wizardry, Ten for both PDFs or ten for POD coupon. 14 for POD coupon plus digital.

I'm in at 14 for the Swords & Wizardry POD plus digital :)

Playing With DungeonFog (Online Mapper)

I did the above with Dungeon Fog (current ENnie nominee) in about 15 minutes during a break last night in Tim Short's Roll20 game. It was more about seeing what I could do with the app than making an actual, viable dungeon.

Suffice to say, I like it :)

It's free to play with and you can have three maps saved at the price of free. Additional art resources and unlimited maps are 5 bucks a month. A commercial license where you can use these maps commercially is 100 bucks a year. Guess what level I'm at?

I expect a return of Free Map Mondays is in the wings ;)

OSR Sale - 50% off Castle Oldskull line of Releases (Kent David Kelly)

I never realized quite simply how many releases there were on the Castle Oldskull imprint until today. Damn impressive. The early history of Dungeons & Dragons? Covered. Charts and tables for your old school game? They are there. Advice and more on adventure design? Enough to keep your campaigns going for generations.

Castle Oldskull is possibly the most prolific and complete series of Old School support material available and its 50% off for the next 5 days. 48 releases in all.

Looks like I've picked up much of this line over the years. Why am I not surprised? heh

And yes, that is an affiliate link above. A portion of the monies you spend via that link will go to support The Tavern. I thank you in advance.

There is a D&D 5e Humble Bundle on sale right now. Every Humble Bundle purchase made via The Tavern's Affiliate Link raises monies that help support The Tavern. 

Please don't forget our Amazon affiliate store :)   Amazon.com/shop/eriktenkar.

There's a New Tunnels & Trolls Community on Facebook

I've been a huge Tunnels & Trolls fan for years. I even own Ken St Andre's signed, personal play copy of T&T 2nd edition (Ken's signed, personal play copy of T&T 1st edition is in the possession of Bill Meinhardt. Yes, Bill does have the most complete RPG collection of anyone in the world, alive or dead.) I have all of the original solo adventures, some signed first prints. Yeah, I'm one of those ;)

Anyhow, last week the largest Tunnels & Trolls community on Facebook went dark. No, I don't know the drama behind it shutting down unexpectedly, but it left a community without a home.

There is something to be said with publishers and creators being the ones that admin the various communities that showcase their work. It protects against instances like this.

There is a new community for the Tunnels & Trolls Community to call home and Steve Crompton, Art Director for Flying Buffalo, is a moderator and a very active recruiter.

We discuss Tunnels and Trolls and related games here as a group of friends. All T&T and related systems are welcome, as are any other games by T&T's designers. This is an unofficial group. (emphasis mine)

I'm hanging around a bit with other T&T fans. Come join us :)

30% Off Frog God, Troll Lord, Kobold Press and More - For Just a Buck!

Earlier this evening, a friend reached out to me about how to get a Frog God Games title, in Print at a discount. Because as you all know, that is the kind of "influence" I have ;) Then it hit me, the current Humble RPG Book Bundle: 5TH Edition Beast of a Bundle includes just that - a 30% discount at Frog God Games AND Kobold Press, Troll Lord Games, Nord Games, Nerdarchy, Fail Squad Games and TPK Games for as little as a buck. Oh, and a bunch of cool PDFs too.

Just over 3 1/2 days left in this sale. Get your coupons before the clock runs out on this one! :)

And yes, that is an affiliate link above. A portion of the monies you spend via that link will go to support The Tavern. I thank you in advance.

Oh My! Crowdfunding Update from LotFP / James Raggi (Ref Book)

James Raggi offers an update on the LotFP Weird Fantasy Ref Book. Presenting without comment. I'll leave commentary on the Tavern Chat Podcast side ;)

Update and Plan Going Forward

'allo all...

Update on this dumpster fire is that after good progress over the winter, everything came to a dead-ass halt as of February 11, which started an avalanche of crud which I'm still getting myself out from. I've had new releases that were delivered to me in April that haven't even been put up on the webstore as of yet, to give an idea.

Catching up on all the stuff that has been left hanging all spring is going to run into Ropecon and Gen Con coming up on consecutive weekends starting the end of this month. (this is "pay the rent" sort of stuff, not "I want to procrastinate on the project I should be working on to do this other project instead.") But then we're into frickin August 2019 and that's completely horrible for the matter at hand here.

So here is the plan forward to get this shit done:

Starting the week after Gen Con, not the week of the 4th because nothing is going to get done that week doing the intercontinental traveling after 2 straight weeks of cons, but the week of the 11th, I am going to do weekly updates all about the Ref book and where I am and tracking progress until my part of this shit is DONE. These probably will be in video form as rambling on verbally will take less time than rambling on in type.

Once that is done, then I will deal with the issue of the "commentary" bits that were to have been written by people now in the naughty corner. These consultations will be done only with the people that actually paid for them. This is going to be the high-stress stuff I think and I'm not dealing with it until after I've shuffled my portion off to the editor.

After that I'll be finishing up the coordination of some third-party writing I contracted out (a starting adventure setting) and after that it's just waiting for layout to get done. I have a full-time layout person on salary so there won't be undue delay there. (I do have over 60 pages of art ready to go for the book, but I'm sure there will need to be some extra fill-in stuff to plug layout holes.)

So see you next month...

-
Jim

Oh My! Crowdfunding Update from Judges Guild (CSIO)

I'm going to drop this without comment. I may comment later on the podcast side. Oh, and a LotFP update later today ;)

July, and Progress on the Book

Posted by Judges Guild
Jul 5, 2019

- Update from Bob Bledsaw II.

I could not simply sit on my hands here (having promised to halt other Guild projects and stop my convention appearances). I want the City State to be better, and so began a rewrite of the original texts. This is changing the City State Book in the following ways:

1. Additional material is being added to enhance and fresh-out the descriptions of people, places and things. Some of this material draws from Bob Bledsaw's original 1970's campaign (unpublished writings), and alternate drafts, the Guild's unpublished works Gem City, Bob's Lonely Mountian, and Book of Rumors.

2. Weapons on NPC's are now described as in-hand, worn, secreted, or near-by. This will help judges determine readiness in combat situations.

3. The Tri-stat system is has been stripped out for the lighter generic version. This is the one thing that has been altered away from Bob Bledsaw's 1999 Universal design. (the last digit imposed an endurance factor to all stats, meaning how many times per day the stat held without degradation). This is a good feature, but for this product, I have bowed to popular opinion here.

4. Many NPC's have now complete stats, where before it was only sketched. This created full NPC listings for many new characters.

5. Many NPC's have been given their own combat style and tactics which they will employ if provoked. Their aggressiveness or passiveness with help judges determine how they with interact in various situations.

6. Drawing from Bob Bledsaw's unpublished ideas for monsters and items, some new surprises in the way of creatures, rare weapons, and back-stories have been applied.

7. The original artwork needed cleaned and digitally enhanced. Also, new illustrations are being applied, but sparingly to avoid over-extending page-count (which has jumped significantly with the additional text).

I feel this expansion of the material will enhance your product, because aside from the great map and concept of the City State as a whole, the meat of the product has always been the richness of ideas within. Although a lot of the new material draws from Bob's scattered thoughts jotted down on scraps of paper, I think they have a place here, and have inserted the best of these where I felt they fit best.

I want you all to know that as of yet, no large project has added substantial funds toward the account, but the account is growing from sales royalties coming in from third-parties. As for now, I continue to make this something you will all treasure. My goal remains to get this into your hands as soon as possible.

- Bob Bledsaw II

DungeonFog - The New Way to Map Online

I must admit that I had not come across the Dungeon Fog mapping tool website/app until I read the list of ENnies nominees earlier tonight.

I put the below together in about 20 minutes without referring to any directions:

Map with and without the grid. I like the way you can do diagonals. I think I need thinner grid lines.

This was all accomplished using the free version of the service. Five bucks a month or 50 bucks a year gives you access to a huge amount of additional art resources. 100 bucks a year and you can use the results in your commercial projects. Guess who will be stepping up the commercial license after the holiday weekend? heh

Maybe sooner if I can get their payment portal to work... le sigh...

There is a D&D 5e Humble Bundle on sale right now. Every Humble Bundle purchase made via The Tavern's Affiliate Link raises monies that help support The Tavern. 

Please don't forget our Amazon affiliate store :)   Amazon.com/shop/eriktenkar. 

Reminder - Tavern Chat Tonight - 9 PM Eastern

Can you believe it? Its Wednesday already, and that means another weekly Tavern Chat tonight at
9 PM on the Tenkar's Tavern Discord Server.

Just use the handy dandy link below:

https://discord.gg/6cGyku

See you tonight :)

Kickstarter - The Lost Lands - Grand Duchy of Reme (System Neutral Setting Book)

I truly enjoy the Lost Lands setting from Frog God Games. It covers a large and varied area, literally. The Grand Duch of Reme is my kind of setting book. System Neutral really is my thing when it comes to settings. OSR, 5e, PF, Tunnels & Trolls, The Fantasy Trip, GURPS, Rolemaster - whatever system you enjoy, it fits.

The Grand Duchy of Reme is a system neutral hardcover volume designed to be useful for campaigns independent of system preference. For specific details that affect the characters in the Lost Lands there are System Encounter Books. These companion volumes are softcover (or PDF), that contain reference stats for use with the Region book along with detailed encounter tables for the region. 

Additionally, 3 classic adventures previously unavailable for Pathfinder, Swords & Wizardry, and Fifth Edition are back. These are offered as either softcover add-ons in backerkit or as free stretch goals in PDF (see reward sidebar).

And here is the pitch:

The city of Reme itself is ancient, with world-spanning trade — the eternal citadel of the Loreclans, where the ashes of legendary barbarian kings reside. This land lies near the slow collapse of the nearby Empire of Foere, and the rise of Bard’s Gate to the East. The Rhemish watch these events with cold eyes rather than concern, for they live in vast regions that devour invaders. Their land is eternal; their people can be forced back to the plains, but in the plains they can abide for as long as need be. They are — as a people — the ultimate hunters. The fall of Foere is like the fall of an antelope upon the plains; the rise of Bard’s Gate is little more than the stepping-up of jackals before the body. The Grand Duchy of Reme simply waits and watches — for Reme is the dwelling-place of the world’s wolves.

I personally think 40 bucks (plus shipping) for a hardcover setting book is a hard to pass up price point.  I'm guessing going system neutral and not printing (let alone laying out) three different versions is helping to keep costs down.

Full disclosure: I am Frog God Games' "Convention Coordinator". That means I get to go to conventions, set up the booth, sell shit and run games. I am not involved in this project and I am a $40 backer.

There is a D&D 5e Humble Bundle on sale right now. Every Humble Bundle purchase made via The Tavern's Affiliate Link raises monies that help support The Tavern. 

Please don't forget our Amazon affiliate store :)   Amazon.com/shop/eriktenkar. 

Frog Chat Tonight - 9 PM Eastern - Bill Webb, Matt Finch & More!

It's a very special Frog Chat tonight on the Tenkar's Tavern Discord Server. Bill Webb and Matt Finch will be the main quests. Chuck Wright should arrive a bit after things kick off and there may even be a Zach Glazar sighting. Ask the questions of all things Frog related and tell them "Tenkar sent me!" ;)

Details are below. Here's an active link you can use to join in:

https://discord.gg/6cGyku

The Demonic Dungeon of the Bone Dreamer - We Have the Skull!

Art by Henriette Boldt - used with permission

I like this skull by Henriette Boldt in their stock art Skull Collection. 

Skull? Check!

Horns? Check!

Demonic? Check!

Controls the dreams of the local townsfolk? ..........

I think we have our Bone Dreamer!

I love it when a plan starts to come together ;)

Yep, that's an affiliate link above. Affiliate links keep the lights on and the beers cold at The Tavern.

There is a D&D 5e Humble Bundle on sale right now. Every Humble Bundle purchase made via The Tavern's Affiliate Link raises monies that help support The Tavern. 

Please don't forget our Amazon affiliate store :)   Amazon.com/shop/eriktenkar. 

What Constitutes "Small Press" on DTRPG?

Until OBS killed the RPGNow webstore / portal, I rarely paid attention to the DTRPG side of things. There was no need to, as RPGNow did a much better job of reflecting products I would be interested on their home page.

Now I'm paying more attention to DTRPG and it has my head spinning a bit.

Case in point. Cubicle 7 is on the Hottest Small Press released with Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay Fourth Edition Buildings of the Reikland currently at #3 and Wrath & Glory: Core Rules at #7, and then we have Savage Worlds Adventure Edition from Pinnacle at #4.

Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay Fourth Edition Buildings of the Reikland is #43 on the Bestselling Titles but is beat by other Cubicle 7 books on that list, with Rough Nights and Hard Days and the WFRP book at #13 & #15 respectively.  I always thought Cubicle 7 and Pinnacle were many steps beyond "Small Press".

Cyberpunk 2.0.2.0. The Second Edition, Version 2.01 from R. Talsorian Games Inc. is #6 on the Bestselling Titles list but appears nowhere on the Hottest Small Press list. Is R.Tlasorian Games NOT "Small Press"?

I'd be very interested in knowing under what conditions a company is categorized as "small press" by OBS.

I'll probably dig into this a bit further. For know, just interesting observations.

edit - Cubicle 7 has 7 titles in the BestSelling Titles Top 100, coming in at 13, 15, 30, 43, 67 and 78 - yet somehow is "Small press"

Yep, that's an affiliate link above. Affiliate links keep the lights on and the beers cold at The Tavern.

There is a D&D 5e Humble Bundle on sale right now. Every Humble Bundle purchase made via The Tavern's Affiliate Link raises monies that help support The Tavern. 
Please don't forget our Amazon affiliate store :)   Amazon.com/shop/eriktenkar. 

Wayward Kickstarter - Far West - Still MIA & Radio Silence

As I type this, Gareth has tweeted six times in the last 23 hours.

As I type this, Gareth has posted ZERO Kickstarter updates for Far West in the last SIX plus months.

Maybe he's been trying to track me down so he can punch me in the throat and hasn't had any free, non-tweetable time ;)

I'm so glad Gareth thinks "it's just a game!" and cares not about the nearly $50k he took from backers and is coming up on 7 1/2 years late. Damn, that's practically a record for incompetence.

Now, if you follow Gareth on Twitter, you'd see he is now promising a release "sometime this year".

Why not share that on the Kickstarter page itself? Kinda disrespectful of the backers if you ask me.

Kickstarter - Reaping at River's End for 5e and S&W RPG

The town of River's End has lost its mage, Mortimer. Rumor has it he has fallen into the dark arts. Aid the people to save River's End!

I spoke with Ben (Best Hair in the OSR) Barsh of Pacesetter Games yesterday on the Tavern Chat Podcast (Tavern Chat Podcast link). We touched on many things, including the Reaping at River's End for 5e and S&W RPG Kickstarter.

I love the cover :)

So, what is Ben offering us?

Reaping at River’s End (R1) is an 8th – 10th level adventure module optimized for the 5th edition and Swords & Wizardry rules sets.  

This adventure module is meant to be a strong challenge to those who attempt it. I was raised in the old school gaming community, so I do enjoy the challenging aspect that RPGs provide. The player characters (PCs) will be up against a strong enemy and his forces. They will also have to resolve the mission in a timely manner because the harvest of the Dragonberry is soon approaching. If they do not successfully track down Mortimer and either learn his secrets or get him to help, the people of River's End may all die. Since this is being written for two separate game systems, certain encounters, traps, and/or mechanics may be subject to change to fit the system well. However, all content, story, and missions will be the same.

I'm very glad to hear that the 5e version and the S&W version will be tailored to the systems in question and not a sloppy direct port between the two. I support his :)

10 bucks in digital, 20 bucks for softcover print plus PDF (about 5 bucks to ship)

New Release - Gunderholfen (OSR Megadungeon)

I've had a couple of Taverners point me at Gunderholfen over the last few days. This looks like a VERY interesting megadungeon. Maybe I can put this on my birthday list...

Gunderholfen… Ancient, abandoned dwarf hold, battleground of arch-liches, cultist base, wizards’ playground, heroes’ bane and treasure-seekers’ tomb. Gunderholfen is a classic, old school exploratory sandbox-style mega-dungeon consisting of ten levels, a mini-campaign setting and one demi-plane. 

This mega-dungeon and mini-campaign setting is designed for character levels 1-10+. It is compatible with any OSR system. Play it as an integrated, complete mega-dungeon campaign or just pick out individual levels to run as separate dungeons. Gunderholfen includes the following:

• 10 main dungeon levels consisting of 22 sub-levels and numerous sub-areas, with approximately 930 keyed locations, all detailed in 40 maps.
• 1 demi-plane level.
• A mini-campaign setting insertable into any existing campaign that includes a detailed overview of Longfelt, a nearby city complete with NPCs, including possible patrons for PCs, places of interest, encounter tables and rival factions.
• 32 encounter tables with full monster stats for each level of the dungeon and the surrounding lands.
• Extensive ready to play lists of NPCs including 10 pre-generated NPC parties that can be used as foes or allies.
• 1 fully detailed mini-side adventure.
• A brief overview of the history and background to Gunderholfen.
• Rules for a new class of priest including 18 new spells.
• Many new monsters and magic items.

10 bucks in PDF. 47 in hardcover plus PDF.

Yep, that's an affiliate link above. Affiliate links keep the lights on and the beers cold at The Tavern.

There is a D&D 5e Humble Bundle on sale right now. Every Humble Bundle purchase made via The Tavern's Affiliate Link raises monies that help support The Tavern. 
Please don't forget our Amazon affiliate store :)   Amazon.com/shop/eriktenkar.