Deal of the Day - Heraldry (Columbia Games)

Heraldry is an often under-appreciated aspect of fantasy RPGs, but properly used it can add atmosphere and detail. Columbia Games is second to none when it comes to support material that is systemless for your fantasy RPGs.

Heraldry from Columbia Games is today's Deal of the Day. The normal asking price is 9.99, but until tomorrow morning, it is on sale for 4 bucks.

Heraldry, also known as armory, is an art in perfect harmony with this flourishing age of chivalry. Among civilized folk, heraldry is strongly supported by the noble classes. This is partly due to the exclusive right of gentle folk to bear arms and partly due to the color and pageantry involved. On the practical side, military helmets tend to obscure the face, while armour and shields disguise gait and build. There is an urgent need to quickly identify friend or foe on the battlefield and heraldry does this well.

The proper name for a complete heraldic bearing is an achievement; it is a coat of arms only when the arms are depicted on a coat, usually a surcoat. An achievement has a number of possible elements, most of which must be registered with the College of Heralds to be legal.

Illustrations of all common heraldic symbols and devices are included, greatly expanded from the original article.

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Indiegogo - LAND OF BONES 1e SOLO Fantasy RPG (AD&D 1e/OSRIC)

This is a 1e SOLO fantasy rpg adventure campaign that contains NEW SOLO RULES & a 4-part adventure!

You know those times that you simply want to go to a roulette table and simply put your hard-earned cash on BLACK and want to let it ride a spin or two? That's how I feel about Land of Bones, currently funding on Indiegogo. It was big amazing. It may be a total wash, but damn I want to put my money down.

Land of Bones is a 1e SOLO fantasy TTRPG game system that is comprised of:

1. OVERLORDS - 1e SOLO RULES BOOK - 200 pages approx.

2. LAND OF BONES - 4-part 1e SOLO ADVENTURE OMNIBUS 300 pages approx.

3. SOLO ADVENTURER’S JOURNAL - Optional but is designed as a keepsake to record all your adventures. This includes numerous tables, charts, and several other options to record these travels. Also includes time trackers, and acquisitions unique ONLY to the LAND OF BONES 4-part adventure.

4. 12-piece POSTER/MAP HANDOUTS - Optional 18” wide by 12” high poster maps from DTRPG showing the 12 most important handouts and maps unique only to LAND OF BONES. Please note that ALL PRINT products will all be printed professionally by DTRPG and not from your home computer. You CAN, however, print all pages to your home computer from the digital PDFs.

5. 20-piece 1e SOLO GM’s SCREEN - Optional (these are 8.5” x 11” PORTRAIT pages) 

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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 

 

 

Humble Bundle - The Maps Bonanza Encore (Campaign Cartographer 3+ Bundle)

In the right hands - not mine - Campaign Cartographer 3+ is a huge powerful mapping tool. For 35 bucks, you get a lifetime license to Campaign Cartographer 3+, along with Fractal Mapper 3+, Fantasy World Mapper, Fantasy City Mapper, and nearly a dozen other titles and support materials.

The Maps Bonanza Encore (Campaign Cartographer 3+ Bundle) is 30 bucks - or less for less ;)

Our popular fantasy map bundle returns! Prepare your adventurers to explore vast dungeons, vibrant cities, and expansive worlds with this collection of maps and mapmaking resources. Get creative with Campaign Cartographer 3+ (1-year or lifetime license), Fractal Terrains 3, and sci-fi focused Cosmographer 3, and discover a treasure trove of pre-made maps to add exciting new destinations to your virtual tabletop games. Plus, your purchase will support Cool Effect and Oceana!

  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 

Deal of the Day - Griffin Mountain (RuneQuest)

 

I was introduced to RuneQuest back in 1987 or so, at a gaming convention at Columbia University. The dealer's room had a shelf-worn copy of the RQ rulebook and water-damaged boxes of Big Rubble and Pavis. All for 20 bucks. I was sold. Sadly, I never came across a copy of Griffin Mountain at the time, but for 3 bucks in PDF until tomorrow morning, that is about to be corrected ;)

Griffin Mountain details an area 800 kilometers wide. Elder Wilds is where non-humans live and high adventures thrive. Balazar is a wild frontier where anything can happen.

This book contains extensive notes on the area's geography, history, and inhabitants.

Meet King Yalaring Monsterslayer who became king of the citadel of Trilus by right of conquest. Visit picturesque Elkoi, built by giants. Trade with Joh Mith, a fat, jovial caravan master with high bargaining skills. Gamble with Hen Cik, one of the caretakers of a legendary caste in Giant Land. Cross the dangerous River of the Damned (full river crossing rules inside). Quest for the powerful windberries, rumored to be found on Griffin Mountain itself. Beware of the ever-present baboons, bears, dragonewts, wild hawks, trolls...

Get your adventurers ready for a glorious time in Griffin Mountain!

Running Griffin Mountain

This book is designed for use with the fantasy role-playing game system RuneQuest. It is recommended that the referee owns and is familiar with Cults of Prax.

The authors and publishers of this book take no responsibility for inexperienced characters that may get trashed by these scenarios; nor do we accept responsibility for any referees who may get trashed by the players thereof. Seriously, these adventures are designed to provide a challenge to mixed level characters including Rune Masters. Even then, the going might be a little tough.

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Bundle of Holding - Goodman D&D 4e (I Kid You Not)

Bundle of Holding has offered out-of-print RPG material for years, but this is the first time I can remember a bundle for D&D 4e being offered.

For those that don't know, Goodman Games was one of the few companies that signed up for the D&D 4e Game System License (GSL) and were able to offer official support for D&D 4e.

I was unaware that there is a D&D 4e retro-clone out there in the internet wild. Color me very surprised ;) https://sanglorian.github.io/orcus/

For those D&D 4e holdouts out there...

Adventurer! This all-new Goodman Games 4E Bundle presents tabletop roleplaying supplements and adventures published by Goodman Games in 2008-2010 for the Fourth Edition (2007-2013) of Dungeons & Dragons from Wizards of the Coast. Goodman's modules, character sourcebooks, and bestiaries showcase the appeal of a system that still attracts enthusiasts on Reddit, Discord, and on virtual tabletops.

The sourcebooks and modules in this rich Goodman Games bundle require the 2007 Dungeons & Dragons Fourth Edition rulebooks from Wizards of the Coast, which are not included in this offer. Orrrr you could use Sanglorian's free Orcus 4E-compatible retroclone rulebooks, and consult the Offline Compendium for reference. The titles in this offer won't work well with other editions of the D&D rules.

For just US$17.95 you get all eight titles in our Player Collection (retail value $85) as DRM-free ebooks, including Azagar's Book of Rituals; two Forgotten Heroes guides – Scythe & Shroud and Fang, Fist, and Song; four Hero's Handbooks – Dragonborn, Eladrin, Tiefling, and Immortal Heroes; and the 4E Character Codex.

From Here to There adventure collection from Goodman Games for D and D Fourth EditionAnd if you pay more than the threshold price of $28.36, you'll level up and also get our entire DM Collection with seven more titles worth an additional $68, including Blackdirge's Dungeon Denizens for 4E; three 4E module collections – In Search of Adventure, From Here to There, and Frank Frazetta's Death Dealer; the two Master Dungeons adventures – M1 Dragora's Dungeon and M2 Curse of the Kingspire; and the 4E DM Campaign Record.

Goodman Games has kindly provided purchasers of this offer a 20% discount code good through April 10, 2023 on most products bought from the Goodman Games online store. Your discount code will appear on your Wizard's Cabinet download page here on the Bundle site.

 

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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 - Best Supporting Actors: Adversaries and Allies for OSE

I've been a fan of Douglas Cole since Dungeon Grappling, if not before (Doug was a member of the Tavern's "B-Team" - our once-a-month group exploring Castle of the Mad Archmage a few years back- but I digress).

In any case, Doug produces great support material, whether it's for GURPS, The Fantasy Trip, or in this case, Old School Essentials.

This time around, Doug is taking on Best Supporting Actors: Adversaries and Allies for OSE, and take it on he does (in typical Gaming Ballistic style - balls to the wall ;)

In the pages of the book, find 172 ready-to-play characters built as individuals. Each has a brief story, describing something of their past, motivations, and salient details. Not all are combat monsters: Some must resort to duplicity, cunning, seduction, and guile to get by. Others prefer to handle things with blunt heavy objects. Some bring extra tools to otherwise-mundane professions. 

There are enough that you'll likely find one to fit your needs, as an adversary, ally, person encountered in a tavern, or as a pre-generated PC to get a game going fast. It's likely that there are sufficient numbers that you won't need to use the same character twice!

• Roughly half are level 1-4 delvers just getting started - rookies as it were
• Around 40% are presented as potentially dangerous bandits or outlaws...including a breakaway unit of a dozen fighters from a defeated military company.
• Most have lives independent from "adventurer" and perhaps 25% don't fit neatly into a single class concept (fortunately, the OSE Advanced Fantasy Player's Tome easily accommodates this through multi-classing).
• About 1/3 are spellcasters of some stripe or another; sample spell lists are provided. New spells that go well with a particular character's role are provided where it's flavorful.

A quick "tab line" descriptor allows the GM to roleplay these as NPCs without even referring to the stats...but keep the writeups at hand in case the party wants to enter into a contract or a combat.

Grab a few of them to make wandering parties of pilgrims or adventurers. Deal out a half-dozen or a dozen to answer the question of "who's in the inn?" Choose randomly or with malice aforethought to see who shows up when the PCs post want-ads for hirelings, henchmen, and allies. Several are of the "wilderness guide" variety, allowing quick access to someone who can help get from A to B if the PCs are all "want to crush, crush now?" types. Random party generator tables are provided for a few classes of encounter, for use and inspiration.

Did you catch that bit above? The bit about  "deal out a half-dozen or dozen to answer the question of...". Well, if you back at 75 bucks, you get both the book and a deck of cards for the NPCs in the book. 

Digital rewards start at 20, and physical (plus digital) start at 45. As I indicated above, I'm in for 75 :)

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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

Roughly Thinking of Stuff to Accommodate Some Inclusivity

This last week has pretty much sucked balls for me because my cold had lasted for more than a week and a half and then phased into a bad sinus infection. Yeah, yeah boo-hoo, sucks to be me.

I'm mentioning this because part of having a bad sinus infection is that my hearing had been degraded and my tinnitus has gone from a background ringing of the ears to a "who installed this infernal/internal dial-tone in my forehead"? 

I know, I know......wtf cares? Give me a hot second here......

....so I had game last night and I did inform my GM that I was having issues. The GM was accommodating but I realized that my (I hope) temporary disability impacted my ability to participate. There were times I missed my name being called, I know I missed some of the banter and at least one attempt at humor. Not that I'm big on trying to take a front-seat role at the virtual table (not the caller or trying to be the alpha player type), but I definitely felt like I more along-for-the-ride and a somewhere between a party member and a henchman. Now this latter bit is clearly just my internalization based on my physicality/emotions (medications a factor) and not how my fellow player were treating me.

I hadn't gamed since January and I enjoyed myself as best as I could even though I was clearly just "off". Now that it's the next day I'm really thinking about my average game, as a GM, probably isn't that inclusive to those with some hearing or vision problems. Now in my home game hasn't been an issue, that I'm aware of, but convention games.......I realize now there are some things that could be done a bit better since you don't know who might be showing up to play.

First off, I think making it easy to rearrange players...GM and/or other player willingness to relocate so someone who needs to be closer to see or hear, not too big of an ask, and I've seen this happen before. What I haven't seen, and this is probably beyond the individual GM's control, is a convention who reserves some smaller rooms for play where players/GM need a quieter room with little-to-no background noise, or where they can alter lighting as needed.

Having the ability to provide large-print format PC sheets, maybe printed as needed at the con, would be useful as well. Honestly it's seeming to me that what really is needed would be gaming conventions having some possible accommodations ready at the convention level. Having it known that players/GMs could put in requests easily.....as in no big deal to ask (I'm willing to bet that not everyone needing accommodations are quick to ask for them), and then being set up to do X, Y, and or Z as needed.

Clearly I'm NOT the person to come up with ideas on what could be done since I'm limited to my, well limited, experiences, but I do think going forward I'll be prepping a little extra to make things easier for certain types of players who want to play in my games.....just in case.

Humble Bundle - Warhammer 40k: Dark Heresy, Black Crusade, and Only War

My return to the world of playing RPGs after a decade's absence was via Dark Heresy and Fantasy Grounds. I saw a Dark Heresy Game posted on the Fantasy Grounds Forums looking for players and I jumped at it, and then I bought the rulebook ;)

The game lasted a few months and it cemented my return to RPGs and was soon followed by a short Warhammer FRP campaign and a longer Castles & Crusades campaign. The rest, as they say, is history.

I may need to grab Warhammer 40k: Dark Heresy, Black Crusade, and Only War Humble Bundle just for nostalgia!

Explore the darkest, most brutal corners of the galaxy in three distinctive role-playing games set in the grim future of Warhammer 40,000! Featuring 40+ essential rulebooks and supplemental tomes filled with new possibilities for characters and campaigns, this library will fuel your own tales of conflict between the Imperium and Chaos for eons to come.

Root out the vile corruption that threatens humanity as an Acolyte of the Inquisition in Dark Heresy.

Hold the line against the coming night as a brave member of the God-Emperor’s Imperial Guard in Only War.

Become a Disciple of the Dark Gods and spread terror across the stars in Black Crusade.

Experience the vast universe of Warhammer 40,000K Roleplay from whole new perspectives, and help support Children’s Health Ireland with your purchase.

 

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

State of The Tavern - What Doth Spring Bring?

It's about time for a State of The Tavern update, and here it is, with Spring right around the corner. Just think - three years ago, as a society we were at the horrible beginning of the Pandemic, and I was suffering from undiagnosed Congestive Heart Failure. We've come far in the last three years :)

Status of Continual Light (SWCL) 2e - I'm waiting for the 3.5 SRD to be added to the Creative Commons 4.0 by WotC. It is the SRD that Continual Light is derived from, and I have little faith that the OGL will remain in place. More on that at a later time.

Status of Torchlight Zine - Torchlight will return after we get Continual Light 2e out the door. These two questions are the ones I've been consistently asked, and with good reason.

Pub Crawls - a series of one-sheet or micro-adventures. Third on the list and third in line. We'll get there at some point. Bad Mike already has a few ready to be laid out and released.

Tenkar's Tavern Youtube Channel - Going strong. We've had a significant uptick in subscribers thanks to the OGL fiasco. Livestreams continue on Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday Nights. The content is also being backed up on Rumble, because of attempts by "a certain individual" to remove certain content from the Youtube Channel. Wednesday night Tavern Chat Live with Bad Mike has guests booked through the end of April. Huzzah!

The next convention for Rach and I will be NTRPG Con. I'm looking forward to seeing many of you there :)

he 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

Bundle of Holding - KoDT Trouble 4

I'm a huge fan of Knights of the Dinner Table. I've been collecting off and on since Issue #1, but my early issues are in storage. Whenever the digital collections come up on Bundle of Holding, I snag them. KoDT Trouble 4 is gonna be snagged after I put this post up. 

Hoody-hoo! This all-new KoDT Trouble 4 Quick Deal is our fourth collection of .PDFs featuring Jolly R. Blackburn's long-running comic about tabletop roleplaying, Knights of the Dinner Table from Kenzer & Company. In every issue of KoDT, the players in B. A. Felton's HackMaster campaign find so many devious new ways to torment their Gamemaster, you'll say "They're just like my players!"

For many years Kenzer has reprinted back issues of KoDT, three or four issues at a time, in its Bundle of Trouble compilations. In previous offers we've presented the first 30 compilations. We still have a lot of catching-up to do, because the compilations have already reached Volume 73! Let's keep making headway with this bargain-priced "bundle of Bundles" that brings you DRM-free .PDF ebooks of Bundle of Trouble Volumes 31-40 – collecting KoDT issues #101 through #138 (2005-2008) – a total retail value of $121 for just US$19.95. Even if you're new to the Knights' dinner table, these collections make it easy to pull up a chair and enjoy the longest-running and most successful comic strip in RPG history.

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

Humble Bundle - Shadowrun 5e Mega Bundle

I was an early fan of Shadowrun, snagging the rulebook when it was first released during my college years. I simply could not convince any in my group to create a character, let alone play a session. Ah well.

Currently, on Humble Bundle, the complete Shadowrun 5e Mega Bundle of 17 titles can be snagged for 18 bucks. I think I'm all in...

Become a Shadowrunner

Hide. Survive. Do what it takes, and you might even thrive inside the cracks in the world of Shadowrun—the legendary tabletop role-playing game that splices fantasy and cyberpunk sci-fi. This mega bundle features everything runners need to make a dangerous living on the streets and in the Matrix, including the Core Rulebook (5E), guides to armed combat and street magic, and more sourcebooks exploring the dystopian Sixth World. Plus, your purchase helps support Global FoodBanking Network!

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 - Dungeon Denizens (DCC and 5e Monster Book by Goodman Games)

500 monsters for 5E & DCC RPG! Kickstarter backers receive a bonus monster! Epic full-color hardcover with PDF+VTT support!

I REALLY enjoy Goodman Games Kickstarters, even if I don't play 5e or the DCC RPG. Settings, modules, and such are just so easy to convert to the OSR system of your choice, even on the fly, that it makes such backing something I don't even need to think about before pulling the trigger.

Dungeon Denizens made me think for a few minutes before pulling the trigger.

The idea with the DCC RPG was that there WERE no standard monsters. Creatures were unique to the adventure they were found in. Orcs, goblins, giants, and the rest were kicked to the curb in favor of their more unique cousins.

Dungeon Denizens gives you 500 creatures for your DCC (or 5e) game, making them somewhat less unique I guess. Thus my hesitation. That being said, I AM backing at $49 for the print plus pdf book. Sure, there are add-ons that look cool, but I'll never use them.

Shit, it's from Goodman Games. I'm pretty sure I'll get my monies worth ;)

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

Deal of the Day - RPGPundit Presents: World of the Last Sun

Ah, the RPG Pundit. Love him or loath him, his OSR material is ALWAYS very solid. Today's Deal of the Day at DTRPG happens to be RPGPundit Presents: World of the Last Sun.

This is a compilation of Gonzo-Fantasy material from various issues of RPGPundit Presents. It is not simply these issues thrown together. Rather, this tome acts as a sourcebook for RPGPundit's World of the Last Sun gonzo-fantasy setting. It features...

• Details of the World of the Last Sun.
• Multiple Regional Campaign Locations that can also be added to your own worlds.
• Weird fantasy races.
• High-tech fantasy Equipment.
• Rules for ordinary and magical drugs.
• Rules for Skyship Combat.
• Random encounter and location tables.
• Random tables for weird character origins and encounters.
• Fans of RPGPundit Presents have been asking for this book. If you have not yet tried an issue of RPGPundit Presents, this is a great way to start. This sourcebook for fantasy-gonzo OSR games provides new avenues for adventure and lots of inspirational material.

Normally 12.95 in PDF, until tomorrow morning RPGPundit Presents: World of the Last Sun is on sale for 6.47

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

Just a quick check-in.....

Special Note: I'm seriously jet-lagged and have one whole day to transition to local time for work (yeah!)....and I'm fighting some odd cold/flu so mentally I'm maybe not all here. You've been warned...

So I've been out of the country for the last month and I've been just so damned shock on how...limited gaming opportunities are outside of the US. During the month I didn't see a single comic book, RPG book, or even dice out in the wild. The nearest "board game store" was more than 45' away. Compare that to having not only a FLGS at home, but being able to find dice at the Dollar Store, D&D Books at the local WalMart.

.....but at least I was able to get to the end of Baldur's Gate for the first time. I probably have 200+ hours on the game, but never had finished it. I also did some work/prep for North Texas RPG Con and spent probably too much money on NTRPG Auctions.

I did almost have a game while I was in Europe, but I was a moron and calculated the time I needed to get up wrong, so I woke up an hour after the game was supposed to start.

In short: this year hasn't been too good for gaming for me.

Thankfully I'm not too concerned about the short term anyway. The rest of the year is going to be awesome. I'm prepping for this year's Whisky Tasting at NTRPG, which will be the 3rd Official (4th Unofficial) year for the event. While I did already have the Whiskies procured for this year, those bottles have now been set aside for use next year 'cause this year will be some relatively-hard-to-procure bottles. The tasting kits are being remade and once I figure things out I'll know how many attendees I can support. There's five spots already reserved and the con will get the rest to figure out how they want to fill the event.

I've got some other gaming-related projects in the works.....and I should be slinging dice next weekend...after I get to do some shopping at my FLGS. I don't need anything there, but I have to go....

 

Humble Bundle - Castles & Crusades from Troll Lord Games

Seek gold and glory in worlds filled with treasure-hoarding dragons, terrifying undead, and creatures of legend in Troll Lord Games’ tabletop RPG Castles & Crusades!

Castles & Crusades was the first OSR game I found, finding the C&C Players Handbook for less than 10 bucks over at Buy.com.

It's a very solid system, plays very well, and has tons of support. It reminds me very much of AD&D 1e in its feel and play.

You can get the complete Castles & Crusades Bundle, 37 items, for 18 bucks.

If you want to check out the C&C Players Handbook, you can snag it for free in PDF at the Troll Lord's website.

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

Shadowdark Session Zero/Session 0.5 Will Be Tonight's Random Party Generator Livestream @ 8 PM Eastern

Tonight we are going to be breaking a few rules as we test some new rules. I always swore that I would NEVER broadcast an actual gaming session with my group, as it would likely fail all tests of civility and any sort of correctness. But when my cohosts on the Random Party Generator Livestream started talking about running a session of Shadowdark as a live stream, I never thought of saying "we can't do it". My cohosts actually double as my gaming group, and it was a perfect fit.

Now, I need to state the following, which should be obvious to anyone that follows this blog or our YouTube Channel:

No one at the Arcane Library contacted ANY of us to run and broadcast this session. None of us know anyone at the Arcane Library. Kelsey likely doesn't know us from a hole in the wall. No of us have been offered ANY compensation of ANY sort to run and broadcast this session. 

I'm sure most of you are wondering why I felt I had to include the above. Let's just say there are some who feel the coverage of Shadowdark is "less than organic". As I've seen ads for Shadowdark on Facebook, and it is certainly being pushed, but we, the above, are doing this live stream out of our own curiosity. Go figure ;)

Here's the blurb from tonight's live stream:

Tonight on the Random Party Generator Livestream, Matt Jackson (mapper extraordinaire) will be putting Tim Shorts, Rob Conley, JoetheLawyer, Greg Christopher, and yours truly, Erik Tenkar, through a Session Zero/ Session .5 of Shadowdark, the 5e/OSR "bridge system" that everyone is talking about. The best way to grasp an RPG is to put it through its paces, which is what we intend to do tonight.

 

Jonathan M. Thompson Memorial Bundle (DTRPG)

When I was at Totalcon two weeks ago, I found out that Jonathan M. Thompson had passed. I was blessed to be able to share the GoFundMe to help Jonathan's family with their related expenses. 

Today I'm sharing the Jonathan M Thompson Memorial Bundle over at DTRPG. Pinnacle took the lead on this, but there are dozens of donors of RPG material, including yours truly, as every purchaser of the bundle gets a copy of Swords & Wizardry Continual Light as well as 147 other titles for a mere 25 bucks. It's for a good cause in the memory of a good man, and I ask that you simply give the page a look and decide if the offer interests you.

In addition to the $250 already donated to the above GoFundMe matching the donations of the members of this community, all monies raised from affiliate sales at DTRPG over the next 5 days will also be donated to Jonathan's GoFundMe.

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

Bundle of Holding - Mystical Throne Guides (Historical Gaming Guides)

Mixing real-world history with RPGs mixes two passions of mine. Mythical Throne Guides do just that.

For 9.95, you get thirteen historical guides aimed at gamers like you and me.

What's included in the Mythical Throne Guides Bundle from Bundle of Holding?

Celts, pirates, Vikings, Knights Templar, Roman legions, feudal Japan, Renaissance France, Mongols, the Three Kingdoms, the Pinkertons, and gangs of New York!

Yep, I'm sold ;)

 The Tavern is supported by readers like you. The easiest way to support The Tavern is to shop via our affiliate links. 

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Kickstarter - FIE, I SAY! The D6 Comedy-Fantasy-Parody RPG

I am a HUGE fan of Tim Sinder was my wife's, Rach, first GM at NTRPG Con many years ago, and definitely turned her into a gamer. TimeMaster for the win :)

Tim has a great sense of humor in gaming, and I expect nothing less from his FIE, I SAY! The D6 Comedy-Fantasy-Parody RPG Kickstarter. I've played in his TimeMaster and Toon games at NTRPG Con (along with Rach) and his comedic timing is second to none.

FIE, I SAY! is a humorous RPG in the vein of all of those other Serious Fantasy Roleplaying Games. (You know, the “Ampersand RPGs” that have dungeons, dragons, tunnels, trolls, castles, crusades, wizards, warriors, and other alliterations.) In this light-hearted parody of Old School Fantasy RPGs,  FIE, I SAY! encourages madcap adventures where the characters are out of their league, the villains are out of patience, and the players are likely out of their minds/

FIE, I SAY! is based on classic D6 RPG systems. For the newer gamers, you roll some six-siders and try to beat a difficulty number based on the difficulty of the task at hand. Roll high? Huzzah! Roll low? FIE, I SAY!

Every PC has four attributes that represent their core abilities, i.e., how strong, dexterous, intelligent, and charismatic they are. (NOTE TO SELF: I should find a way to abbreviate those.) Each attribute also has a specific skill the PC has trained in. The player rolls as many dice as their attribute/skill score and tries to beat the aforementioned difficulty number set by the Dice Meister, or "DM". (Ha! See what I did there?) The higher your score, the more dice you roll, increasing your odds of beating the difficulty number and succeeding!

I'm in for the $7 pledge,  FIE, I SAY! The D6 Comedy-Fantasy-Parody RPG Kickstarter, PDF plus POD at cost. I love Tim Snider, in a most platonic manner. Total respect Tim ;)

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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 - Shadowdark RPG: Old-School Gaming, Modernized

There's a bit of a debate going on online about Shadowdark. Is it 5e-based? Is it OSR? Something a bit of both? Does it even matter?

From what I've read of Shadowdark (you can snag the free Shadowdark Quickstart here) it has an old-school feel with some 5e-isms, such as advantage/disadvantage and the healing of ALL damage after 8 hours of successful rest (definitely NOT old-school healing). Combat is deadly, power increases much slower than 5e, and magic is NOT Vancian in nature. 

Shadowdark IS a very resource dependant system, and light (torches) are a huge part of that. Realtime=gametime when it comes to torchlight, and as none of the PC races/species/heredities have dark or infra-vision, it makes pacing a very integral part of the game.

No feats or skills, and abilities gained at each level are mostly random. I am not sure I'd run Shadowdark as written, but it has many intriguing twists that I do like. Heck, I'm not sure if I'd house-rule Shadowdark into something I'd prefer, or take another OSR system like Swords &Wizardry and add aspects of Shadowdark to it. Decisions, decisions ;)

I AM backing the Shadowdark Kickstarter at $159, for all the loot. If nothing else, I feel confident I'll give it an honest shake before trying to morph it into something similar and yet not. Again, the Shadowdark Quickstart is free, and you can grab the Shadowdark hardback via Kickstarter for $59 (PDF for $25).

Shadowdark RPG has familiar elements of classic fantasy gaming, but it isn't a retro-clone. A lot of new game design ideas have emerged in the last 50 years, and we wanted to bring our favorite concepts together into a nostalgic-but-new adventuring system.

In this game, torches only last one hour of real time. The characters (and players) must make decisions quickly, or they'll run out of precious light! 

A few other features include: 

• The four core classes: fighter, priest, thief, wizard
• A d20-based, roll-high system
• No darkvision — total darkness is dangerous 
• Treasure grants XP, and tracking it is dead simple
• Roll-to-cast spells — magic is exciting and risky
• Simple distances (close, near, far)
• Monster morale and reaction rolls
• Always-on initiative — time is easy to track
• The six classic stats (3d6 in order) 
• No skills — just ability checks and advantage/disadvantage
• Separate ancestry and class
• Randomized character class abilities — emergent character growth!
• Low hit points — fast and deadly combat
• Simple encumbrance (gear slots)

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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