Spreading the Word: "One Page Encounter Contest"

+Stuart Keating (he of the Three Days to Retirement RPG / Kickstarter) has decided to run a "One Page Encounter Contest". This is one of those things that someone like me goes: "Shit! I coulda had a V8!" or at least some similar inspiration.

I mean, really, it's a cool idea, even if he did get the seed of the idea from "he that shall remain nameless, as he long ago blocked me on G+, and besides, body piercings are so yesterday."

So, without further ado, her is +Stuart Keating 's "elevator pitch":

We’re talking epic setpiece battles that require every mini you own PLUS a couple of your niece’s action figures and also the hood of a pickup truck. 

We’re talking strategic fights featuring intelligent enemy tactics in unique and variable environments. 

We’re talking combat that requires resourcefulness, lateral thinking and a crazy/elegant/gonzo/etc aesthetic that your gaming group will talk about for months. 

We’re talking fun.

I've volunteered to be a judge. If accepted, I promise to do my job to the best of my abilities, while drinking heavily. Because drinking heavily while judging just makes it even more fun!

Entries will be judged by a panel of volunteers on the following criteria:  design, innovation, fun, concision and clarity.  Good entries would make excellent one-page additions to one-page dungeons as the showdown in the final room. Excellent entries would make players break out their minis and fight the battle without any narrative context.

I may also have something to add to the prize pool. I'll need to dig into the prize closet and see what's there.

Seriously, give it a good look and make sure you enter. Tell Stuart "The Tavern sent you" ;)

Over 750 Copies of Swords & Wizardry Complete Downloaded From the Tavern Since November 5th

The downloads of Swords & Wizardry Complete have slowed down to a trickle recently, but 750 copies released into the wild in less that 10 days is still pretty impressive ;)

Will this lead to an takeover of the OSR by Swords & Wizardry? No way in hell.

The OSR is like a many headed hydra - and each go their own way while being attached to the others. Which is just how I like it...

New Bundle of Holding - Hero System - Order Buckets of D6s...

I remember playing Champions back in the mid 80s. It, along with Villains & Vigilantes were our superhero games of choice. What do I remember about Champions? Buckets of d6s ;)

The current Bundle of Holding features the Hero System.

For $6.95, you get the current version of Champions, the Hero System Resource Kit and Equipment Guide for $6.95

For less than $16, you add in Fantasy Hero, Pulp Hero and Star Hero.

Very tempting for a system I know I will never run, and the odds of me playing are long. Still, I've heard only good things about this "buckets of dice" Hero System, so I will probably take the plunge ;)

Top Five Entries Get Prizes, But ALL Entries Become the Property of Kobold Press

I feel like I was just part of a conversation about giving up rights to your work for the opportunity to enter a contest. That's right, its not just the winners that give up the rights to their entries, but the losers too!

What are we referring to? Why, Monarch of the Monsters 4: Enter the Arena! of course!

Listen, I enjoyed Kobold Quarterly when it was published. I personally like Kobold Press, even if they don't put out anything that I would currently use. Still the idea of giving up the rights to you work for the opportunity to enter a contest seems... lame, especially in the RPG publishing world.

The main prize is like "mega-awesome" for the winner - "The winning designer will receive a freelance design commission from Kobold Press, and he or she may be interviewed for the Kobold Press website."  All five finalists get a bunch of PDFs. Every entrant loses the rights to their work.

Maybe it's common contest mumbo jumbo, but if they put out a product based upon these entries and you weren't one of the top five, you just worked for free on (what I'm sure would be) a for profit product.

The prizes are PDFs put out by the awarder of the prizes, so they have no real cost to Kobold Press, so in truth, there is little cost to KP for the opportunity to get a large selection of predesigned monsters for their publishing stable.

Maybe I'm just getting grumpy in my old age. Maybe this is what all of the young folks are doing.

Damn, I may just be an old crotchety fuck these days...

The Return of the "Blogger Followers" App to the Tavern

For those that are long term readers of this blog, you'll remember The Tavern suffered a hijack last fall, which led to the tear down and rebuilding of the blog. In the process, the Blogger Follower app was not reinstalled. It was nuked down to "zero followers" and was not a priority when reinstalling the posts and other blog features took precedence

Amazingly enough, 57 fine and loyal readers of this blog found a way to add themselves to an app that wan't actually on the blog - pretty damn cool if you ask me. In any case, the Loyal Followers app is back. Feel free to add yourself back ;)

I've also added a translate feature, so if you want to read The Tavern in poorly translated Tamil, have at it. ;)

Last Night My Players Went Down "The Well of the Worm"

Last night we ran our session with 3 out of our 6 regular players. No fighters, no healers - instead, we had a 2nd level Halfling Thief, a 1st level Human Monk and a 1st level elven Magic-User. My intention had been to give the party a choice of adventure leads, which I had dropped on them at the end of our 1st session, but I went with the adventure I had the best handle on - The Well of the Worms.

I basically ran the 3x version from DCC #29, The Adventure Begins, which holds an amazing number of low level adventures. I also have the DCC RPG version of The Well of the Worms - the map makes more more sense in the DCC RPG version, just so you know.

I tend to convert 3x adventures on the fly for OSR use, although the read through usually lets me know what I have to convert the most. The nice thing about using ascending AC in Swords & Wizardry is that in makes the on the fly conversion so much easier.

The PCs picked up a local farm boy for extra muscle / cannon fodder and proceeded down the well.

Now, I could fill you with spoilers, but +Harley Stroh did a really nice job on this adventure, so I'd rather not. Still, there are some observations to be made:

- 3x had one hell of a HP bloat effect, at least on the monsters. So yeah, had to tone this down a bit, especially four a party of three where the main tanks were a monk and a thief ;)

- My players forgot about the "luck" houserule that I added to this campaign until about midway through - once they remembered it and started to use it, things got a lot more exciting.

- one PC went down to exactly 0 - i go with -10 for death (adjusted by con bonus / penalty) as did the farm boy they hired. It was a tough little adventure, even with me toning it down due to party composition and numbers

All in all, it went very well. This is the second adventure I've run from DCC #29 for the group in this campaign (the other being The Tower of the Black Pearl) and my players remarked on how much fun they were to play. "Weird yet grounded". As one player put it (and I paraphrase): "I didn't like all of the randomness in the spell casting in the DCC RPG sessions we played, but the adventures were some of the best I've ever played". Thankfully, those DCC RPG adventures should convert fairly easily to Swords & Wizardry ;)

Can a "Free" RPG Product Be "Too Good"?

Can a free RPG product be too good? Can it's production values overshadow other free products to the point that it becomes the "standard-bearer" of the OSR, for good or ill?

This topic came up in the comments to my previous post, and it is a valid question.

Swords & Wizardry Complete is a full art product formerly offered at a $10 price point that is now offered for free. It became free because the cost of production was recouped (the final piece of the puzzle was 400+ backers on the Frog God's latest Kickstarter).

S&W Complete is not a new product. It's just newly free in PDF.

From my perspective, I always treated full art versions of OSR releases otherwise available as free without art as "donation-ware". If I paid for the full art PDF, I was kicking a few coins to the publisher because I enjoyed the "no-art" version, but not enough to buy a hardcopy. Which, to be honest, wasn't often.

PDF copies of OSR rulesets are, in many ways, a marketing tool to sell dead tree copies of the same product (this doesn't apply to all OSR rulesets - for example, dead tree copies of BFRPG are sold at cost).

There is a strange juxtaposition in our hobby, where some work is produced for free or at cost, and other work is produced with the idea of making a profit.

The publishers of probably the three biggest rulesets (in terms of users / players) are Labyrinth Lord, Swords & Wizardry Complete and LotFP Weird Fantasy.

LL and WF can be found in game store on occasion as they are in the distribution channels. I haven't seen S&W in a game store yet, but the Frog God Games market presence and web store has a major presence online, and many of their products are available at the Paizo online store.

So yes, they are all looking to get a piece of your "Old School" dollars. These rules are out there to drive sales and help someone make a living.

Would seeing / owning the full art version of Swords & Wizardry Complete make me more likely to search it out in dead tree format then if it were an "art free" version? Probably, but I'll be disappointed when I can't find it in the game store. Actually, there are good odds I wont find any of the OSR rulesets in a game store for purchase.

Does S&W Complete raise the bar and expectations of what one would expect in an OSR ruleset? Probably.

Could Labyrinth Lord or LotFP Weird Fantasy meet or beat (especially in the case of WF) that bar when it comes to art? Sure. They would just need to offer their full art PDF's for free. They've been available for years now anyway and I doubt they make much in actual sales at this point compared to their dead tree versions. They could be used as an advertisement of sorts to sell their matching print products.

Does any of this apply to the more "hobbyist" rulesets, such as Delving Deeper, Dark Dungeons. Adventures Dark & Deep, Arrows of Indria and the rest? I don't think so. There are different expectations built into these.

Will Swords & Wizardry Complete become the standard bearer of the OSR? I've heard it argued that Labyrinth Lord has held or currently holds that position, but I never put much weight on that. The OSR has many standard bearers, both large and small that appeal to different members of our hobby for different reason.

If Swords & Wizardry Complete DID become the defacto standard bearer of the OSR, it's because Goblinoid Games and LotFP and all the rest allow it to. Well, that and a lot of luck. The OSR may be a small pond in the hobby of RPGs, but it's a crowded pond of compatible products that stand on the shoulders of their predecessors. All rely on the others in some manner for support.

Why The Distribution of "Swords & Wizardry Complete" Between Peers is Important for the Hobby

At current count, over 525 fellow gamers have asked me for emailed copies or downloaded Swords & Wizardry Complete from the DropBox link to the right of this post. 525+ copies in just over 5 days just from this blog alone.

Amazing.

Personally, I think the best thing +Matt Finch could have done was what he did Tuesday morning, when he announced that folks could and should email and share the file to their friends and fellow gamers. Peer marketing on some level, but genius on another. Would the distribution have been the same if the only place one could have downloaded a copy were at the Frog God's webstore? I doubt it.

The best folks for selling something, especially something that is "free", are the folks that are currently enjoying said something. You want to know "why Swords & Wizardry" or "why play OSR games", you need to go where folks are playing them, enjoying them, running them and writing about them.

Swords & Wizardry Core and Swords & Wizardry Whitebox are also free, but I'm not sure if peer to peer distribution of the PDFs is allowed. Maybe Matt will clarify, and if they are, I'll gladly add them to the download folder for those that are interested.

Labyrinth Lord, LotFP Weird Fantasy, OSRIC, Delving Deeper, Basic Fantasy RPG and others are available in free versions, but again, I'm not sure where they stand on peer to peer sharing. Imagine if you could visit a blog (this one and many others) or a forum and have a link that leads to a folder of free OSR RPGs and resources legally shared. No need to go all over the place to get the rules, but links in each product that lead back to the publisher's homepage for further products and the purchase of dead tree versions.

In a sense, crowdsharing becomes the distribution method of introduction to and expansion of the OSR.

Or maybe I've had just a tad too much Jack Daniel's Winter Jack this evening - God help my players in tonight's S&W Complete session ;)

Tonight There Will Be "Swords & Wizardry" - Finally

October was not a good month for gaming, at least on my end. Actually, it wasn't much of a good month at all with all of the crap going on on my end, but such is life.

Tonight, however, there shall be gaming, and the gaming will be Swords & Wizardry. Three confirmations, two possibles and one no answer yet, but I will run tonight's session even if it kills the PCs ;)

Working on finalizing the sessions days and times for the "B Group" later this month, so hopefully November will allow me to catch up on my gaming ;)

The "OSR Bundle of Holding" Expands

I went a bit in depth on the "OSR Bundle of Holding" with a post earlier this week, but there is now more. So, quick recap and then I'll touch on the new stuff.

First, the basics, which you can get for as little as $3.95. This originally included:

- Swords & Wizardry Complete, the Monster Book and Eldritch Weirdness
- Tomb of the Iron God, a low level S&W Adventure
- The "OSR Toolkit":
     - Labyrinth Lord No Art Edition
     - LotFP Weird Fantasy No Art Edition
     - Philotomy's Musings and Quick Primer of Old-School Gaming
     - One-Page Dungeon Contest winners 2013
     - Knockspell issue 1
     - Dyson's Dodecahedron issue 1
     - Graph paper (A .ZIP archive of 8.5x11" .PDFs lined in a variety of useful ways)

- And Now including 10% off your next order at the Frog God Games Store

Then we have the "pay over the average" add ons:
(average purchase price is just over $14.50 as I post this)

- Adventurer Conqueror King System
- Stonehell Dungeon plus Supplements 1 & 2
- The God That Crawls
- The Monolith From Beyond Space and Time
- Vornheim

and now also includes:

- Demonspore, a mid level S&W Adventure
- Cyclopean Deeps 1 - the beginning of a subterranean high level S&W adventure series

Thats a lot of old school value for your gaming dollars.

Why "Swords & Wizardry?"

I posted this originally back in April, right before the Swords & Wizardry Appreciation Day, but in light of the release of S&W Complete for free in PDF, I think it bears repeating (and updating ;)

Believe me when I say I have them all in dead tree format. I have OSRIC in full size, trade paperback and the Player's Guide.  I have LL and the AEC (and somewhere OEC, but I can't find it at the moment). Obviously I have Basic Fantasy RPG. Actually, I have the whole available line in print. Way too much Castles & Crusades. We all know my love for the DCC RPG. I even have Dark Dungeons in print, the Delving Deeper boxed set, Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea (thank you Kickstarter) (edit) BOTH editions of LotFP's Weird Fantasy and will soon have some dead tree copies of the Greyhawk Grognards Adventures Dark & Deep shipping shortly in my grubby hands awaiting a review..

I am so deep in the OSR when I come up for breath it's for the OSR's cousin, Tunnels & Trolls (and still waiting on dT&T to ship).

So, out of all that, why Swords & Wizardry? Why, when I have been running a AD&D 1e / OSRIC campaign in Rappan Athuk am I using Swords & Wizardry and it's variant, Crypts & Things, for the second campaign? (Actually, now running a S&W Complete campaign, soon to be with multiple groups)

Because the shit works.

It's easy for lapsed gamers to pick up and feel like they haven't lost a step. I can house rule it and it doesn't break. It plays so close to the AD&D of my youth and college years (S&W Complete especially) that it continually surprises me. Just much less rules hopping than I remember. (my God but I can run it nearly without the book)

I grab and pick and steal from just about all OSR and Original resources. They seem to fit into S&W with little fuss. It may be the same with LL and the rest, but for me the ease of use fit's my expectations with S&W.

Even the single saving throw. That took me longer to adjust to, but even that seems like a natural to me now. Don't ask me why, it just does. Maybe it's the simplicity of it. At 45 46, simplicity and flexibility while remaining true to the feel of the original is an OSR hat trick for me ;)

Unofficial OSR Zine - Where It's At and Where I'm At

I've had no time to devote to the Unofficial OSR Zine over the past few months, between increasing work responsibilities and the impending loss of my mother-in-law - they had said 4-6 weeks last week, but it's now day by day. So yeah, little time and many distractions.

This is the current plan for the zine and such:

1 - The Unofficial OSR Zine is officially on hold. I need to block out some major time to get it organized and I need focus - both of which are at a premium these days.

That being said, I have a collection of work, both articles and art, that were submitted. If you submitted to the Unofficial OSR Zine, drop me an email at tenkarsDOTtavernATgmailDOTcom so I can send your beer money your way. Even if the zine is on hold, you should still get paid. I'll be going through my records to find who I owe, but nudging me at this time is best.

When work on the zine picks up again, I'll pay again in beer money to use your work if you wish to submit again as well as paying for new submissions.

2 - I'll be starting a new feature here at The Tavern in the meantime. The Unofficial OSR Column will (hopefully) feature guest authors and artists. Again, I'll pay in beer money (5 bucks in RPGNow Credit or Paypal per used submission). Stuff that would have fit in the zine would fit well in this feature. Stuff that has been submitted to the zine may also work well, and will get paid for both the original submission and use on the blog if you decide to post it to the blog.

Email me at tenkarsDOTtavernATgmailDOTcom with your inquiries and ideas. You retain all copyright, I just get to use it on the blog until hell freezes over or some such. This serves the purpose of mixing things up, frees up some blog time for use otherwise and (hopefully) should be fun. Aiming for once or twice a week, but we'll see how it goes.

Remember, there are some awesome OSR zines out there right now, in print and PDF. Support them and they will reward you with some awesome reading :)

In any case, if you can spare some kind thoughts or prayers for my wife and her family, they'll gladly take it.

Approximately 250 Copies of Swords & Wizardry Complete Distributed by the Tavern Since Tuesday Morning

This is not an exact science, as my initial DropBox downloads were not tracked for the first 24 hrs.

Still, this is what we have:

130 email requests fulfilled. The blog page for the email requests got 650 hits and 75 pluses.

Estimating 92 downloads prior to tracking. Arbitrary number based on 825 hits for the blog page announcing the link and 92 pluses. Using the 92 pluses as the number. Could have gone with 20% of the page hits (that's how it worked for emails) which would make this 165, but that seems high.

26 downloads since the tracker went live at 4ish yesterday afternoon.

Makes 248 copies distributed, give or take 10%.

Not bad for 48 hrs ;)

Swords & Wizardry Complete - my current gaming go to rules

The OSR Takes Over "The Bundle of Holding"!

Now THIS is a gaming lineup. Look at the Old School Revival graphic up above. But what is an "OSR Toolkit" anyhow?

Glad you asked, because this toolkit rocks!

Labyrinth Lord (Fourth Release, 2009) - no art version, which is free but it's nice to have.

Philotomy's Musings and Quick Primer of Old-School Gaming
Two useful guides to the principles and values of the Old School Revival.

Knockspell issue 1
Magazine of the Swords & Wizardry 0e Project and old-style Original D&D gaming. This 61-page issue was the first of six issues released starting in 2008. Editor Matt Finch says, "The issue is much rougher in terms of layout than the later issues, but it epitomizes the fire and energy of the early OSR."

Dyson's Dodecahedron issue 1
The first 12-page issue of an irregular magazine by Dyson Logos focusing on Labyrinth Lord and B/X D&D clones.

Graph paper
A .ZIP archive of 8.5x11" .PDFs lined in a variety of useful ways.

We also have:

Swords & Wizardry Complete - my OSR ruleset of choice and just went free for all yesterday

Swords & Wizardry Monster Book

Eldritch Weirdness for S&W

Tome of the Iron God, a S&W 1-2 level adventure.

All of the above for as little as $3.95

Add about 10 more bucks and you get the following:

Adventurer Conqueror King System - the first ruleset I ran upon returning to RPGs

Stonehell with Supplements 1 and 2 - a very well done OSR style megadungeon

The God That Crawls - a disturbing adventure from LotFP

Vornheim - if my opinion on this isn't known yet, I'll leave you with a video link ;)

It's an amazing gaming value, whether one is in for 4 bucks or 14.

So, what are you waiting for?

Free Has More Value When It Is Desired and Asked For...

In the summer of 2012, Swords & Wizardry Complete was given away for free to over 17,000 supporters of the Reaper Bones Kickstarter. Think of that number for a second. Pretty huge, right? Sure, but it's a passive number. None of those 17k asked for the ruleset, so how many actually downloaded it, let alone read it or used it?

We have no idea really.

I do have some numbers from the Free Release of Swords & Wizardry Complete PDF yesterday. 116 PDF copies emailed and a bakers dozen waiting to be sent when i get home later this afternoon. Oh, and an unknown number that have downloaded from my DropBox link.

All in a bit more than a day. Just here at the Tavern. Others are spreading the love too.

These copies will be read and probably used at some point. These required interest and minimal effort to obtain, but effort none the less. Folks wanted their copies of S&W Complete and I can't blame them - it's my OSR ruleset of choice.

Now is the time for the Frogs to get the books into the hobby shops and on Amazon. The interest is there.

Time to Award Two Free Copies of the OpenQuest 2 PDF to Our Loyal Readers

Now for the other free stuff today, to be given away on our (my wife and I) second wedding anniversary:

Two free copies of the OpenQuest 2 PDF.

May I have a drum roll please?

Or not.

In any case, the winners are:

Mike Gibb and Shane Mangus -

I need you lads to email me at tenkarsDOTtavernATgmailDOTcom so we can hook you up :)

let me know the addy you use with RPGNow, as I'll be gifting your accounts with a PDF copy - unless you plan on getting it in print - in which case I'll issue you credit you can use towards it, as the PDF is free with a print copy ;)

Swords & Wizardry Complete for FREE - Now Via Convenient DropBox Link

I've sent out over 75 copies via email thus far and more to go. I am most certainly NOT saying "don't email me". Some of your comments have put a smile on my face and I've tried to answer some of the many questions posed.

So yes, email me if you want to converse, shoot the shit or just say hello.

If you want to be impersonal, just click the awesome Erol Otus cover above and get your free Swords & Wizardry Complete rulebook in PDF. Oh, clicking is also instant gratification, and that is cool too ;)

Swords & Wizardry Complete is Now FREE in PDF - The Tavern is Distributing Copies

Want a PDF copy of your very own?

Email me at tenkarsDOTtavernATgmailDOTcom with "Swords & Wizardry Complete" in the subject.

I'll email you a copy in 24 hrs or less. It's about 22mb in size. Gmail will handle the file, I'm not sure about other email providers.

It's time to start the Swords & Wizardry Revolution!

Did I mention it's my wedding anniversary today? This, the OSR Bundle of Holding later today and giving away some free copies of OpenQuest. It's a damn good day!

The Lost Lands Kickstarter is Currently at 401 Backers - Swords & Wizardry Complete WILL Be Free in PDF!

Damn, but if it didn't just happen!

Heck, the free PDF may even roll out in time for the "B Team" sessions of my Wilderlands / Swords & Wizardry Complete due to kick off later this month.

Not that I know when it will happen - but we know know it will happen ;)

As I Post This - Two Backers Away From FREE "Swords & Wizardry Complete" For All - Forever

As I've mentioned earlier, once The Lost Lands: Swords of Air Kickstarter hits 400 backers, Swords & Wizardry Complete will go completely free in PDF format. Currently my OSR ruleset of choice, this is a great gift back to the community by +Matt Finch and Frog God Games.

With 10 days left to the Kickstarter, I think it's more than a given the number will be hit and surpassed. I suspect the free S&W Complete offer won't take place until AFTER the Kickstarter has completed funding, as you haven't locked anyone in until the funding part comes to an end.

Still, a very nice gift to the gaming community at large should be coming our way fairly soon.

(We'll, I already have my copies in HC and PDF, but for the rest of you out there, this will soon be free)

Bundle of Holding Goes Old School For My Anniversary ;)

I think it's just a coincidence that tomorrow, November 5th, sometime in the afternoon, Bundle of Holding is going to be offering an OSR bundle of goodness. There is no way it could be happening to coincide with my wedding anniversary, could it? ;)

What's being offered? If I told you, I'd have to kill you. Seriously. Or something. I've been sworn to secrecy.

That being said, I expect a ruleset that I've used to run a decently long campaign, possibly a megadungeon that I really need to run some day, some monsters and other goodies. Do I know anything for sure? No. But if the lineup comes close to what I expect, it should be an excellent package.

That being said, if you could put together a Bundle of OSR Goodness, what would be in it?

D&D is Amber and All Other RPGs Are Shadows

I had asked At What Point Do Houserules Become Their Own Ruleset which +Joseph Bloch followed with What is D&D?

I submit to you that Dungeons & Dragons, The Original Boxed Set, is Amber from The Chronicles of Amber series by Roger Zelazny and all other RPGs are shadows of this original. Some shadows are closer to the original than others, but all can trace out their heritage to the OBS.

The question than becomes: If D&D is Amber, than what is the RPG based on the Chronicles of Amber. Is "Amber the RPG" itself The Courts of Chaos?

(posts that spawn a post that spawn a post that...)

At What Point Do House Rules Become Their Own Ruleset?

Swords & Wizardry begot Crypts & Things and perhaps X-plorers and others.

+Joe D is working an an awesome houseruling of LotFP Weird Fantasy (I've seen it and played in it and it is good). In the end, it I suspect it will be a combination of houserules and setting, more of it's own thing than the rules that it is based on, but time will tell.

I play with a houseruled version of S&W Complete, which is close enough to the core rules that my house rules can fit on a single page.

At what point do houserules stand on their own as a separate set of rules?

Adding a 2nd PDF Copy of OpenQuest 2 Into the Prize Pool (and possibly a 3rd)

The main giveaway thread currently has 48 50+ entries - at 50, I'll add a 2nd PDF copy of OpenQuest 2 into the prize pool. You need to add yourself to the original thread to be counted and entered.

Not too shabby, if I must say so myself.

Heck, I'll add a third copy IF the affiliate sales commissions at RPGNow hit 15 bucks before the end of the day on November 5th, my actual wedding anniversary. Currently, we are ahead of pace these first 2 days at a hair over 6 bucks (probably due to everyone looking for the RPGNow Halloween Freebies). Still, if the pace continues, a 3rd copy goes into the random prize pool. So, if you are going to shop at RPGNow anyway, shop thru one of my links and buy the community another copy of OpenQuest 2 ;)

As I've said many a time at The Tavern, monies raised from affiliate sales are the community's money, and I like to return it in fun ways - either through contests like this or to review products I wouldn't otherwise have access to.

This is a very fun way :)

Kickstarter Updates For the OSR - The Lost Red Box of Dwimmermount Whispers "OpenQuest..."

I'm actually afraid to see where some of my Kickstarter projects actually are along the fulfillment ladder. Maybe I'll tackle that later on this 4 day weekend of mine.

Instead, I'm looking at some OSR Kickstarters. Some long overdue and some stlll accepting backers.

Lets take some short peeks, shall we?

The Lost Lands: Sword of Air is Frog God Games' setting Kickstarter for S&W and Pathfinder. It has funded and is currently at 383 backers. At 400 backers, Swords & Wizardry Complete goes free in PDF - this is the full art current version. So, backers get to give a gift back to the gaming community as a whole - pretty cool. It also just hit it's first stretch goal at $85k. 13 days left in this one.

Adventures in the East Mark: The Red Box is an amazing value for an OSR starter set. $30 gets you a boxes set with dice. The art is amazing, but if you want it in color, it will cost your $60.

Dwimmermount - another update- another update that I barely skimmed. No ship date yet. 15 months late and the curse seems to be still in effect.

Whispers & Venom Boxed set - on pace to ship at the end of November and on time. I'm really glad I backed this one.

OpenQuest 2 - shipped and delivered and on sale at RPGNow. Took it with me for my extended weekend escape. Hope to get some reading in ;)

The Tavern is Giving Away One Free PDF Copy of OpenQuest 2 (D100 System)

Sometimes you just need to do something fun to cheer yourself up. This is what I'm doing for fun:

Between now and the morning of November 5th (Tuesday) you can give yourself a chance to win a PDF copy of OpenQuest 2, the new revision to OpenQuest. All you need to do is make a comment on this post and come Tuesday morning (my wife and I's 2nd wedding anniversary) and you'll be entered to win a copy of OpenQuest 2 in PDF.

One random winner will be awarded the prize using account credit at RPGNow. Kinda like my anniversary gift back to the community here at the Tavern.

Why OpenQuest 2? Because I really like the first edition, and to my sensibilities, it is what the modern version of RuneQuest should have been. After D&D / OSR rules, my picks would be Tunnels & Trolls and RuneQuest 2nd edition for old style play. OpenQuest 2 brings out the RQ2 feel for me.

From the blurb:

A complete and easy to play Fantasy Roleplaying game, with monsters, magic and exotic locales.

OpenQuest uses the classic D100 rules mechanic, which uses percentages to express the chance of success or failure.

This is the 2nd Edition of the game in full colour with 80 new pages of content. The Deluxe version of the game aims to be a self contained game with rules and advice on how to run a full campaign where the adventurers progress from their poor and ill experienced beginnings to the lofty heights of Godhood!

Open Quest is based on the Mongoose RuneQuest SRD (MRQ SRD), with ideas from previous editions of Chaosium's RuneQuest and Stormbringer 5th, mixed in with some common sense house rulings from the author's twenty years of experience with the D100 system.

40% Off Coupon For Lulu - Suggest Some Gaming Purchases

The following code is good at Lulu for 40% off through November 4th if I'm correct:

FALLSALE40

So, what shall we spend out savings on?

Come on! Give us some ideas!

New S&W Supplement From the Creator of Crawl! - Hack! (Firearms for S&W)

Back in the way back (mid April of 2013) there was a day unlike any other. That day was Swords & Wizardry Appreciation Day. Much goodness was had that day, and one of the things that sprung forth was an awesome article by one +Dak Ultimak about Firearms in Swords & Wizardry.

+Dak Ultimak has now put that in finalized form as a Print / PDF supplement for Swords & Wizardry. If you have ever read an issue of Crawl! for the DCC RPG, you know that Dak puts together an amazing zine, and I expect no less from Hack!

Maybe if there is enough interest, Hack! could be a semi-regular release ;)

The PDF is PWYW and the Print / PDF Combo is $3.50 - shipped! You can't beat either price.

Free Sh!t at DriveThruRPG For Halloween - IF You Can Find It...

Through November 3rd, OBS / DriveThruRPG is running a "find the pumpkins and you get free swag" promo for the Halloween season.

I've found Savage Worlds Horror Companion thus far (follow the link and click on the pumpkin for the free loot).

If you find the other freebies (there's a total of 7), post the links in the comments so the rest can share :)

I'll update this post with the links as they are found...

edit - thanks to James Smith for the heads up:

Bottom of login page, there is a pumpkin for Guide to Transylvania (AD&D 2e) (same link of the Free Stuff Page)

Click "About Us" to find the pumpkin that leads to Streets of Bedlam: A Savage World of Crime + Corruption

DriveThruCards has 5 - the first is Building an Elder God

DriveThruComics has 7 - the first is Impaler Volume 1 Trade

DriveThruFiction has 7 - the first is The Book of Apex: Volume 1 of Apex Magazine

WarGameVault has 5 - first is Red Ops 5

Are You Late to Crawl!? Crawl! Zine Now Available in a Colorful Bundle!

+Dak Ultimak has back issues of Crawl! available in a bundle pack. If you have somehow missed out on Crawl! in the past, it's an excellent way to catch up.

Sure, it's for the DCC RPG, and you might say "is it of any use if I don't play DCC?" The ideas themselves are often priceless, and I'll be yoking stuff from back issues of Crawl! to liven up my new Swords & Wizardry campaign.

Crawl! is one of the best RPG zines out there - if not the best (the competition is damn tight for "the best").

Oh, and Dak is taking preorders for issue #8 too...

Are There Any "Legit" Old School / OSR Horror Settings?

Ravenloft was NOT a horror setting, no matter the trappings. It was more of a "horror fun house".

Tainted Lands for C&C looks like Ravenloft with a different set of paints.

Midnight (for 3e) is a dark setting, not horror.

Is there a horror setting for Old School gaming that I've missed?

Google Plus Simplifies URLs - About F'ing Time

I hated sharing my G+ link that led to me, as it was a huge jumble of numbers.

Now, its: https://plus.google.com/u/0/+ErikTenkar/about

That's almost... simple ;)

Hey, I'm almost at 8,300 folks that have circles me :)

New Bundle of Holding - "Bundle of Tentacles (Cthulhu Heavy)

I really like Call of Cthulhu - maybe one day I'll get to run another session or two ;)

That being said, there is a lot for me to like in the current Bundle of Holding:

I've always wanted to check out Trail of Cthulhu. Sure, it's only the Player's Guide, but it should be enough to let me know of the system is for me.

The Cubicle 7 CoC books always tempted me in the past, are there are two in this collection.

I almost pulled the trigger on Eldritch Skies over the summer - now I can get it for cheap ;)

About $15 bucks gets you everything pictured and no watermarks dirtying up your PDFs.

C&C Tome of the Unclean Has a Dirty Trick For Some...

I doubt this is intentional BUT you can buy 7 pages of the C&C Tome of the Unclean Issue # 3 for $9.99 or you can subscribe to the whole project for $9.99

Now, I thought for a sec that maybe this was supposed to be a special link that they might give out to reviewers, but it's in the rotation on the RPGNow homepage.

I know the Trolls have some quality control issues at times, but this is a new one for me...

(not linking the 7 pages with 2 whole monsters for $9.99, as I'd hate for anyone to buy it)

(subscription page)

Wayward Kickstarter - Myth & Magic - Print Copy in Hand

I almost thought I wasn't going to get a copy. That is, until Tom posted my full name and tracking info in the comments section of the Myth & Magic Kickstarter. Safe to guess my persistent badgering got under his skin. I'm also fairly sure that without the vocal complaints of numerous backers in the comments section of said Kickstarter, we'd still be waiting on delivery.

That being said, its a pretty book. The cover has a nice grip to it and the pages seem to be of a high quality paper. I'd guess and say NHG made little if any profit after shipping these books.

Which is a shame. The PDF showed Myth & Magic to be a damn decent reimagined presentation of the 2e rules and the print copy is an excellent companion to the PDF. I'm just not sure how well Tom is going to be able to regain the faith of a sizeable portion of those that backed this Kickstarter.

Poor communication in a Kickstarter is bad. Outright "misstatements of truth" hurts credibility, and Tom had some whoppers in various updates.

So, excellent game design and presentation, piss poor customer service and management on the business side of things. All in all, not a huge surprise for this hobby of ours.

A New Trend in RPG Kickstarters? - PDF Rewards With "At Cost Print on Demand" for Supporters

Awesome art can open my wallet, and this piece and others like it
may just get me to support the Amethyst Kickstarter

The first time I noticed "At Cost" print options as a reward in a Kickstarter was the Lords of Gossamer and Shadow: Diceless Role-Playing campaign. Steve Russell, the main man behind Rite Publishing, has been doing crowd sourced projects from a time before Kickstarter became the engine for funding.

I loved the Amber RPG, even if I only played it in a short, email run campaign years ago, so it was a no brainer that I would support a Kickstarter that was bring the rules for that game back into print. Until I saw the "At Cost Print on Demand" in the rewards section of the Kickstarter. In truth, it pissed me off initially, as it meant that my pledge / support / backer cash that I was Kicking in WASN'T going to actually give me a "prize in hand" without further expenditure (not counting the PDF that is). In the end, I recognized it as pure genius.

With "At Cost Print on Demand", some schlep who can't keep his finances in order to actually pay for print copies, or just as bad, pays for print copies but never ships them because of the latest excuse of the day, isn't the one holding things up. When it's ready to "print", you get your link or code to OBS, pay the "at cost" price plus shipping and you get it shortly thereafter.

Instead of shipping to someone's apartment and then shipping from there across the world, in dribs and drabs as one sneaks out to the post office between real world responsibilities, it's just a single shipment from the Print on Demand source.

International shipping? The project creator isn't at the mercy of increasing postal rates. OBS' PoD partner prints in Europe and Australia if I'm not mistaken, again keeping down costs (and removing the dreaded "International backers please add $30 US for shipping).

Amethyst - Fantasy & Technology Collide is another Kickstarter that is going the "At Cost PoD" for backers, which allows one to get all of the rewards for $40 in PDF and print copies of the products one wants in print at cost.

Taking shipping out of the hands of creators can be an excellent business decision, as more often than not, creative types make for horrible business types. Not everyone can be good at both.

The danger lies with the back tho'. One has to remember the final cost will include the price to print and ship. Still, it's a better option than waiting on a "Wandering Wizard" or looking at photos of boxes piled in someone's living room waiting for the shipping fairies to come and take them away.

Now we just need to get project creators to stop with the t-shirts, tankards, usb keys and all of the other extraneous chotskies that are used to drive up pledge amount totals but do nothing but drain money, time and effort from the project. One can hope, right?

PWYW - Prince Charming, Reanimator (DCC RPG Funnel)

There is something special about DCC RPG adventures - there is usually a really strong story to each of them, and each adventure generally stands on it's own. Prince Charming, Reanimator is definitely special, it has a strong story and hook and if successful, may not need to stand on it's own. It's also the first "Pay What You Want" release for the DCC RPG that I can think of.

It's funny - I think I've gotten to the point where I can recognize a +Harley Stroh , +Michael Curtis or +Daniel Bishop DCC adventure just from reading the opening text. They are each strong storytellers and each has their own style. Prince Charming, Reanimator is certainly in +Daniel Bishop 's style.

I love the re-imagining of the classic fairytale, and the multiple ending options IS the way to write an adventure of this type. It is very much an Appendix N style adventure.

The price is right, and if you enjoy what you read, you can give Daniel and +Purple Duck Games a few silvers to ensure there are more stories to be told :)

From the blurb:

A 0th-level funnel for DCC by Daniel J. Bishop

Prince Hubert Charming, son of the Baron of Westlake, and heir to Westlake Manor, is well known as a cold man, whose watery blue eyes seem to betray no emotion at all. Yet he is a great lover of beauty, as all his wives have proven. The first he found working in the cinders of a woodsman’s cottage. Some say that the girl’s jealous stepsisters threw her down a well to prevent her from becoming the young prince’s bride, but even death did not bar Prince Charming, and she enchanted everyone at the wedding. Her stepsisters were placed in spiked barrels filled with hot coals and dragged through the town until they themselves died.

Whatever process Prince Charming used to revive his bride, it did not last forever. All too soon, the Princess Ella took ill and died.

Charming then found another bride, and there was no doubt in this case that she was dead. She was entombed in a glass coffin guarded by half a dozen or so dwarves. Yet,
when Prince Charming injected his magic elixir and kissed her upon the lips, her eyelids fluttered open and she breathed again! The story was told that the new Princess had been in but a deep coma, a sham of death, until a poisoned apple was dislodged by the Prince’s kiss. But folk began to whisper in dread, and none were surprised when it was announced that Princess Snow, like Princess Ella, succumbed to a fatal illness after only a few years of marital bliss.

In all kingdoms there are tales, and in the Barony of Westlake, it is said that the Grimmswood hides the ruins of a long-lost realm. The daughter of its final king, cursed by a malevolent faerie, pricked her finger on a spindle upon her sixteenth birthday, in the blossom of her youth, and died. With her death, the kingdom went to ruin. Few now dare to go far into the Grimmswood, although the riches of the lost kingdom are said to lie unclaimed within. Fear of dark fey magic and even greater evils keep men out.

Or they did so until now. For Prince Hubert Charming of Westlake has determined that the long-dead Princess Beauty is only cursed to sleep away the aeons, and he will have her for his bride. His men rounded up a stable of “volunteers” at the beginning of one early autumn morning, and here you are, with what makeshift arms and equipment you had upon you when you were “volunteered”.

Your mission, the Prince’s Bailiff explains, is to enter the ruined castle, find the place where the “Sleeping” Beauty lies, and bring her forth for Prince Charming to restore with a kiss. Those who choose not to go upon this quest must take their chances with the Prince’s Guard, twenty men strong, and be declared outlaw. Those who choose to hazard their lives within the ruined castle may keep what they find, apart from the sleeping princess, but dare not leave without her.

Free OSR Spell Supplement - Space Age Sorcery (Swords & Wizardry)

I'm sure I've forgotten to mention this, but there are some awesome (and free) OSR resources over at the Hereticwerks Blog. I'l try to highlight them over the next few weeks, just in case you've failed to find the blog on your own (it's on my blogroll).

Today, I'm highlighting Space-Age Sorcery. It's a bunch of new spells for casters (in this case, using the S&W format, be usable with the OSR ruleset of your choice.

It is a collection of mostly bizarre and Lovecraftian style spells. It really is an awesome menu to choose from when trying to make your BBEG different and disturbing. I'm willing to go so far as to say they would work equally well in the DCC RPG as a resource of NPC spells.

With Halloween coming up later this week, the spells in Space-Age Sorcery are even more appropriate ;)

Here's a sample spell:

I mentioned it's FREE, right?

New PWYW - Pandemonio (Rafael Chandler)

I really wish +Rafael Chandler had given me the heads up that Pandemonio was releasing, but no, I had to stumble across it myself ;)

From the blurb:

THE LAST WAR HAS BEGUN

Demons feed on innocent souls while angels obliterate cities. Humans are caught in the middle: possessed, devoured, judged, damned.

The world needs a hero. Unfortunately, there aren't any, so what the hell, you might as well give it a try.

You're a Disciple, a supernatural warrior on the front lines. Wielding bizarre magics like Sexpletive, Death Panel, Photobomb, and Gunfetti, you must hunt down the diabolical and divine, rescue innocent civilians, and maintain a grip on the tattered vestiges of your humanity. How far will you go to destroy your enemy? Will you resort to cannibalism? Are you certain? Listen, don't knock it until you've tried it.

This game is an amalgam of two previously-published RPGs. Dread: The First Book of Pandemonium was originally published in 2002, with a new version in 2007. Spite: The Second Book of Pandemonium was released in 2009.

Pandemonio combines both rulesets and settings into a fast-paced game of splatterpunk action set in a world of violence and decay. You'll need several 12-sided dice and a mind full of nailbombs, scaphism, and hollow-point bullets.

"If you love gorehound transgression at its most base, this is the game for you. You will be vomiting needles ten pages in." (Jason Morningstar)

"This is an independent-publishing triumph." (Ron Edwards)

"I bought the game and devoured it immediately. Excellent writing, flowing with ideas, and worth every penny I spent on it." (Jason L. Blair)

"One of the best traditional RPGs I've seen. It's rock solid entertainment with rules that are easy to grasp, cool to play with, and make play fun." (Matthijs Holter)

"An excellent horror game." (Kenneth Hite)

"The game is something of a primal scream of rage against the kind of God that burns Sodom and kills the first born of Egypt. And the expressions of that rage are the PCs, armed to the teeth with machine guns, kill-mobiles and the ability to go nova when they need to." (Steve Darlington)

"Damn near perfect for a lot of folk who want to play horror games involving humans with supernatural gifts, especially if they're focusing more on the monster takedown." (Christopher W. Richeson)

"The book's a riot to read—Rafael Chandler is the kind of writer that the RPG field sees maybe a couple of times a generation." (Stew Wilson)

A Kickstarter to Support D&D Next? Is Next Going OGL With an SRD? Amethyst - Fantasy & Technology Collide

I have a previous version of Amethyst somewhere, purchased back in the 3x days, when I collected RPGs and did not play. It was certainly a pretty release, but nothing in it lit my fires and said: "you need to run this".

I saw the Kickstarter to reboot it for 4e and Pathfinder earlier this month, and again, looked cool but with so many gaming Kickstarters out there, it wasn't on my short list and barely on my radar.

Well, that is until I saw today's update on ENWorld.

Morrus is listing this as a rumor, but it's a rumor with legs, as the Kickstarter for Amethyst lists D&D Next as one of the supported systems. Here's yesterday's Kickstarter update that mentions it.

If D&D Next IS truly OGL with an SRD, that changes the playing field to a large extent and is a huge backtracking from the GSL.

Interesting times indeed...

Awarding Prizes for the Crowdsourced Rumors Entries

I've had limited free time the last few weeks - well, more limited then usual - I've been squeezing in blog time literally in 5 and 10 minutes spurts, which doesn't leave much time to compiling lists.
The initial post is here.

The winners of the $5 RPGNow GCs are:

+Tim Shorts gets my pick as best :)

Random picks are:

Stuart K

Simon J. Hogwood

email me at tenkarsDOTtavernATgmailDOTcom so I can send you your prizes.

I need to clone myself - really...

Mini Review - Adventurers! - (One Sheet RPG)

Adventurers! from GRAmel is a one-sheet RPG, at least from the player's side. One sheet of paper, 2 sides. The GM rules take up a second, 2-sided sheet. So, maybe 4 pages, 2 sheets is more proper, but who can truly say? ;)

Anyhow, what we have here is an excellent game engine with a convention setting / pick up game type play in mind. Simple enough to hand to the players and have them grasp the rules and mechanics in 5 minutes and literally have them jumping into the game.

The mechanics are based on rolling 2d6 plus stat (ranging from -1 to + 5), 7+ is a success, double ones is a fumble, double sixes is a crit.

3 stats - Strength, Agility and Mind. 10 skills and a flexible power (magic) system.

Oh, and an experience system and character advancement if you want to turn it into campaign play.

The whole system is flexible and concise, which means a strong GM is almost a necessity. In the right hands, this should shine like gold. At a buck fifty ($1.50), the price is certainly right to take the chance.

From the blurb:

Adventurers! is the new ultra-lite RPG from GRAmel. Made for Old School aficionados, it has a Player's Guide and a Game Master's Guide - each in only two pages!

In the Player's Guide you'll find:
+Fast but detailed character creation rules
+Action resolution rules
+Combat!
+Gear and Encumbrance rules
+A slick freeform system for creating magical characters, from traditional wizards to exotic faeries
+Alternative point-buy rules for character creation

In the Game Master's Guide you'll find
+Additional rules for extended tasks, cooperative actions and more
+Hazards: including poisons, diseases and environmental hazards
+Rules to fully customize your heroes
+A bestiary!
+Optional rules
+... and much more!

Bonus Character Sheet included!

Over the next few months GRAmel will publish mini-settings, adventures and supplements for Adventurers!, all of them in only two pages!

Invoking Valhalla - Worthy RPG Kickstarters as of October 25th, 2013

I'm trying out a new series of posts when it comes to Kickstarters. "Invoking Valhalla" is the label I will be using for the projects that are currently live and that I am supporting. Obviously, some may be more worthy than others, and some that I consider worthy, you may not. Ah well, such is life.

I'll also take my stab at how well I expect the Kickstarter to produce if it funds - this is a average of effective communication / ability to produce / how effective the guesstimate to publish is. Average is 2 Tankards. Highest score possible is 4

First up is my first ever "Tavern Pick": Guidebook to the City of Dolmvay - the goal is to produce an "open" city sourcebook that other publishers can reference and use. Kind of a universal city that publishers can plop into their own campaign worlds (obviously GMs can do the same). Written for the LL system (as are the rest of the Small Niche Games releases) it should be suitable for all OSR systems. Personally, I'm currently in at $50, which means Tenkar the Dwarven Bartender will be making an appearance. Funding goal of $500 was hit in $24 hrs and 1st stretch goal of $1,000 was hit on the second day. This one should have legs ;)   4 Tankards - on time or nearly so.

Next we have Adventures in the East Mark - The Red Box. This is an ambitious English translation of the Spanish game "Aventuras en La Marca de Este", a retroclone released in a series of boxed sets. I'm currently in at $30, which is extremely affordable for a boxed RPG with some amazing high quality art - and I'm considering upping to $60 to get the set in full color. Decisions, decisions. My one fear - their math is off and they can't produce at the prices they are betting on. Halfway to funding with half it's funding time left.  2 1/2 Tankards - Ambitious pricing, but the art cost is minimal as it is recycled from the original edition. Still, boxed sets aren't POD, so there are additional logistics involved.

Three Days Until Retirement: A Game About Cops On The Edge is something I find interesting mostly because of my real life profession. My wife is actually pretty psyched about using it as her introduction to roleplaying. Game is written and funding is for art and professional printing. In for $25 at my wife's request ;) Has hit it's funding.  2 Tankards - First project and an ambitious February 2014 shipping date. 

The Lost Lands: Sword of Air Pathfinder & Swords & Wizardry by Frog God Games. The Frog's stuff is never cheap but always looks amazing. When they hit 400 backers (360 as I type this) Swords & Wizardry Complete goes free for everyone in PDF. This is a a full art version of S&W Complete. As for the setting book itself, I'm interested in seeing an old school setting from the Frogs. In at $110 for the S&W version. This has funded and you are pretty much guaranteed this will be published. 3 Tankards, as you are also pretty much guaranteed that it will ship late  ;)

Remember The "Overdue Kickstarter List" I Used to Do Mostly Monthly?

I think I'm going to try something different, as I want to highlight successful projects as well as point out the ones that are crapping out.

Something along the lines of "The Good, The Bad and the Ugly" but with a more neutral middle ground than "The Bad" ;)

Actually, "The Good" would probably be looking at current Kickstarters that should appeal to a portion of my readers and bring possibly overlooked projects to their attention.

"The Ugly" would focus on the projects that fall into the Nystulian Abyss.

Maybe "The Collective" for updates on Kickstarters that have funded and haven't fallen into the abyss yet.

I'm open for input...

When Mike Nystul is the Shining Example of "How to Act", Your World is Upside Down

My world is officially upside down. I just used Mike Nystul as the example of how to act when you fuck up a Kickstarter beyond recognition and get caught in your lies and misdirections over on the Myth & Magic Kickstarter comments page.

Mike owned up to his shit. He may still be delusional about how to fix things, but he did admit to being a fuck up. I can respect that. I may not respect him as a "traveling wizard", but he did express a level of ownership of his own shit.

Tom on the other hand...

Dwarven Forge Kickstarter Arrives - With 2,000 Coppers ;)

Yep, I opted for the painted pieces from the Dwarven Forge Kickstarter, and boy I'm glad I did. The painting job is awesome. Did I mention it shipped on time? Well, it did!

And look, it came with it's own pile of 2,000 coppers (some might claim it's supposed to be gold, but I say it's copper).

The doors even swing open and closed.

Shame I game 100% online these days, but when I get around to painting some of those Reaper Bones from that other Kickstarter, I can set up some rocking dioramas...

OMG! An Update From "Tom" for the Myth & Magic Player's Guide Kickstarter - 2E Reviled and Undelivered!!!

A huge update from Tom. Amazingly enough, it doesn't address the dozens of comments and posts complaining that apparently NO ONE received any of the Players Guides he claims to have shipped over 3 weeks ago. Yep, he avoids addressing the statements he made in his last update.

I suspect the following is more bullshit. I'll be happy to be proven wrong.

Update #61 - For backers only Oct 23, 2013 

Update on Shipping, Fulfillment, Rules Expansion, GMG 

9 comments  Like 2 likes 

Hi there, 

I wanted to give you a monthly update. 

I made a few decisions. The first: I updated everyone who ordered a softcover Player's Starter Guide. Now, you're getting one (or more) hardcover copies of the actual Player's Guide. That's great news for you, and it actually saved me money. The second: 100 softcover Game Master's Starter Guides are due to arrive at my house Saturday, November 2.  Those of you who have one or more of these softcover GMSGs have not received your order because of that. But, I think the book is a must-have and for those that had the foresight to order it, you deserve it. 

If you fall into this category and want me to send your other books now, but are willing to pony up five bucks in a few weeks, that's fine; but, it may just make more sense to hold off. You're call.  

To my international friends: I mentioned in my September update that many of you pledged much less shipping than what the International Shipping update indicated. Not your fault. It was confusing then. It is confusing now. What I have to do now is email every international backer separately, except for like 12 of you (thanks attackx3 - you got it right ;) We'll get it sorted out. In some cases, the cost to ship exceeds the cost of the books by a wide margin, so I certainly can't front that. I am using m-bags where appropriate to reduce costs, so please know that. 

The Rules Expansion has gotten a lot of commentary. Thanks Speaker, by the way. I hope you enjoy them. Chad Sergesketter just came off a project and is now dedicated to more Myth & Magic, including the GMG (more on that below). He will be doing some BW renditions for the Rules Expansion PDF. 

GMG: Contrary to what you may believe, the GMG Kickstarter will kick in big time. I am going to try to approach that differently and by literally forgetting everything that has transpired between us here and starting fresh. The material is great and the art will be awesome. Having said that, it will take some time, a lot of time (finally, honesty) but I will take you along the journey - something I failed to properly do here. Once all the shipments here are fulfilled, this KS will be behind us and the updates will only focus on the GMG.
As always, I apologize for the crazy-ass-unacceptable-and-unforgiven delays here. The books rock, as you know or soon will know, and it will turn around. I have always sucked at communications, but never at design and I have always and will always deliver. 

Tom

UPDATE - OSR Kickstarter - Guidebook to the City of Dolmvay (Small Niche Games) - Tavern Pick

UPDATE - The Guidebook to the City of Dolmvay Kickstarter has hit it's $500 goal in a day! Congrats Pete!

Time now to reach for the stretch goals:

Stretch Goal: $1000

A full length city-based adventure for 3-6 characters of 1st-3rd levels entitled Oak Grove Whispers. This adventure will be available for sale on RPGNow at the usual price of $4.95 (PDF) or $7.95 (softcover). The PDF will be free to backers who pledge $20 or more to the Guidebook to the City of Dolmvay.

Stretch Goal: $1500

A special edition hardcover of the Guidebook of the City of Dolmvay that includes the adventure Oak Grove Shadows. This edition will be available for sale through RPGNow in PDF and softcover format. The special edition hardcover and PDF will be free to backers who pledge $50 or more to the Guidebook to the City of Dolmvay (this special edition hardcover will replace the standard hardcover that is offered to backers who pledge $50 or more).

(Pete may need to add others ;)

OSR Kickstarter - Guidebook to the City of Dolmvay (Small Niche Games) - Tavern Pick

Let me just say this up front - I'm already in for $50 and I'm toying with the idea of upping that to $100. In any case, there will be a dwarf named "Tenkar" running a tavern in the City of Dolmvay. I've already brought that up with Pete ;)

So, why support the Guidebook to the City of Dolmvay if it's going to be PWYW in PDF? Maybe because you want all of the excellent OSR setting books and adventures that Pete's throwing into the pot.

Or maybe you like the idea of an OSR city that's OGL and can be used by other publishers in their settings and adventures.

Perhaps you've checked out Small Niche Games releases in the past, or maybe you want to kick in because it's simply "cool shit' ;)

The first issue of Brave the Labyrinth Fanzine is PWYW, (edit - Second Issue too)s o you can check out Pete's style of gaming and writing for free.

From the blurb:

Kickstarter: Guidebook to the City of Dolmvay 

The Guidebook to the City of Dolmvay is a Labyrinth Lord™ supplement for the Chronicles of Amherth™ campaign setting that details the people, layout, and government of the City of Dolmvay. The city was specifically designed to give Labyrinth Lords a convenient city setting to place their adventures. 

The Guidebook will be largely Open Game Content and will be offered for free under RPGNow's Pay What You Want Program.. My goal is to provide professional and amateur publishers with a simple to use common city setting to publish their city-based OSR fantasy adventures... 

All money earned from Kickstarter pledges will be put towards artwork and maps (with a bit held out for printing/shipping/handling), so the more backing I receive the prettier the product will look. I expect the look of the product to be a factor when attempting to get other publishers on board, so the more professional it looks, the better.

Are you waiting for an invitation? Here it is... check this out :)

PS - First "Tavern Pick" for a Kickstarter. I think that's a new trend ;)

More WotC "Sneak Peeks" of the Original D&D Boxed Set Reprint Art - What is With The Damn "Flames"?

Is this something I've missed in recent fantasy gaming art? Flames or smoke effects on every piece? If so, it's about as annoying as sitcoms with laugh tracks IMHO.

Anyhow, the first piece, replacing the classic art for Monsters & Treasure isn't to my liking, but does a decent job of evoking the pose of the original - it's the fucking flames that are killing it for me:

WTF happened with the cover of The Underworld and Wilderness Adventures? It went from some winged horse creature that was NOT a Pegasus to a Roc on steroids - with flames of course. There isn't even an attempt to replicate the first cover - the horse had hooves - this eagle from hell has talons.

I really don't get this new art for a classic, iconic reprint. They could have found an artist that could have redone these pieces and still retained an "old school" feel, but it seems that WotC doesn't want to entice old school gamers to pick this up, and new school gamers are going to be disappointed as all hell by the contents. There is no "truth in advertising" left with these covers.

Damn shame.

Bundle of Holding - Nightmare Alley

It's the second October Horrors Collection - Nightmare Alley

Rotworld is the one I know. It uses the classic Pacesetter System (Chill, Sandman and the like). You can get that and 3 other games for a donation of ANY amount.

Beat the average (currently a hair over $14) and you get Cryptworld (for all intents and purposes a Chill clone) and one other game - with more to follow, I am sure.

I did have fun with Chill and the other Pacesetter games back in the day and it is October...

The Swords & Wizardry Complete PDF Goes FREE When the The Lost Lands: Sword of Air Kickstarter Hits 400 Backers

I got the following email this morning from The Frogs regarding The Lost Lands Kickstarter:

When we get to 400 backers, we're going to post the Swords & Wizardry Complete rules pdf (only) for free. Forever. PDF download only. 

Yeah, we're doing that!

+Skeeter Green then clarified the above statement

Just so we are clear: this is not a backer-only gift. This is the Kickstarter pledgers giving a "gift" to rpgers everywhere. This unlocks the pdf for everyone, forever.

Look at that. We can actually Kickstart the Swords & Wizardry Complete rules in PDF to everybody :)

Currently at 320 backers with 25 days to go - this will be happening, and possibly before my "B-Team" plays their first session of the "Southern Reaches of the Wilderlands" using S&W Complete.

Not too shabby ;)

Running Hangout Games as a "Roll20 Minimalist"

I was about to post this to the Southern Reaches of the Wilderlands - Sandbox community page, but I figured it might be interesting to share with all.

I really am a Roll20 Minimalist when I run games.

I don't use tokens, even though I have hundreds of virtual tokens ready to go and could have thousands more using the RPtools token creator app. I have used them in the past, and it usually results in party members' tokens being left 3 rooms behind as someone takes a bio break or just forgets to move their tokens.

I'm not saying there aren't uses for them in the games run by other GMs, nor am I saying that I'd never use them, but I feel they distract a bit from the "Theatre of the Mind" type of gameplay which is how I like to run a game. I want the gameplay to be bigger than the tokens on your screen or the minis on the table.

I do like importing maps from existing adventures and using "fog of war" to reveal to the party what they can see and where they have been. If I need to point out something or confirm a location, I just "ping" it with a click of the pointer. It's much easier and less time consuming than trying to draw the map out freehand based upon GM description or even having the GM sketch it out I've done both.

Handwaving - I do lots of it, especially with combat. It replaces tokens for me.

Handouts are awesome with Roll20 - I love them and enjoy using them. Once or twice a session on average, assuming I have something suitable.

As for character sheets and macros - that's up to the players. I don't think anyone in my regular group uses them, but they could always prove me wrong.

We most definitely do use the online dice feature, but we've never used the 3d Dice feature, which is strange in retrospect, as it's one of the features of Fantasy Grounds 2 that I really enjoyed. I guess the flashy dice really do take a backseat to gameplay.

We use Roll20 within Google+ as an app and have never had an issue, or at least no more issues than one normally has with G+ Hangout sessions.

I'm a huge supporter of Virtual Table Tops and have thrown money at nearly all of them. Roll20 via G+ Hangouts is the closest I've come to a Virtual Table feeling and playing like a dining room table.