Reminder - Classic Edition GM Screen - Less than 20 hours Left to Back

Normally I'd give this a mention with the weekly Kickstarter Roundup, but as the clock is ticking it's time for me to send a reminder. I've held the prototype (last June) and it was good. It's also a testament to the amount of time put into getting this project right. Remember, you can back for everything in PDF for as little as 7 bucks - Tenkar

+Richard LeBlanc is one of my favorite creators in the OSR corner of the hobby. His D30 Sandbox Companion is THE go to product on my gaming shelf when I'm short on adventure ideas. Rich knows his gaming stuff, knows his art, knows his layout... yes, he simply knows his shit and it shows.

Rich's New Big Dragon Games Unlimited is running a Kickstarter for a Classic Edition GM Screen. It's what you see above. I actually got to handle a beta version of the screen last June at NTRPG Con and I was very impressed. I can only imagine how much nicer it is with 8 more months of development.

But wait. Your not just getting 2 3-panel GM screens:

6-panel (12-page) BX Game Masters Screen (in two 3-panel pieces) 

This is the most comprehensive GM screen ever created for BX editions of the original RPG and comparable retro-clones. The inside and outside faces of each screen will be printed on 15 pt. cover stock, and glued together to create 30 pt. thickness!!! Additionally, the entire screen will be protected with a UV coating for resistance to abrasion and staining. The exterior of this 6-panel (12-page) screen features artwork by the legendary artist Arthur Rackham, and content panels include all the pertinent information any Classic (BX/LL) GM needs to run their game, including:

-Experience point & spell level progressions for each character class
-Class-based combat & saving throw tables
-Class abilities & attribute adjustments
-Tables for Clerical turning and Thieves' abilities
-Variable damage by weapon; missile fire ranges; AC by armor type
-Step-by-step outlines for both turn sequence & combat sequence
-A simplified Treasure Types table
-Comprehensive cost lists for weapons, equipment, and animals
-Complete movement information (including dungeon, wilderness, airborne, and encumbered movement)
-Henchmen/hirelings, mercenaries & specialists (recruitment, requirements, salaries, and abilities)
-8-page GM Table Reference Document: This 8-page letter-sized piece includes all of the tables from the GM screens in a handle table-ready format. Features additional cover art by Arthur Rackham. Printed on a 60# uncoated cover stock and saddle-stitched.

8 Individual Card Stock Master Character Sheets (1 Generic Sheet + 7 Class-specific Sheets): Each of the 7 class-specific character record sheet contains the most pertinent information each player needs (e.g., notes on which types of weapons & armor may be used by the class, additional experience earned based on prime requisites, and special abilities like clerics' turning and thieves' abilities). In addition to the 7 classic character class sheets (cleric, dwarf, elf, fighter, halfling, magic-user, and thief), an 8th "generic" sheet is usable by any character class. Printed on an 80# uncoated cover stock.

Spells Record Sheet: This record sheet is usable by any spellcasting PC, and includes places to list each known spell's name, range, duration, and area of effect, as well as other pertinent notes. Printed on an 80# uncoated cover stock.

Character Record Log: This record sheet provides a place to write the information a GM needs for up to 6 PCs or NPCs, including the basics (name, class, hp, level, AC, etc.) as well as ability scores, saving throws, equipment/inventory, and other notes. Printed on an 80# uncoated cover stock.

4-page Cleric Spell Handout: The cover of this digest-sized piece notes spells gained by level, and the inside includes all the key information (e.g., range, duration, spell notes, etc.) for all the cleric spells contained in the classic red and blue rule books (plus a few additional core spells from other early editions). Printed on a 60# uncoated cover stock.

8-page Magic-user Spell Handout: The cover of this digest-sized piece notes spells gained by level, and the inside includes all the key information (e.g., range, duration, spell notes, etc.) for all the magic-user spells contained in the classic red and blue rule books (plus a few additional core spells from other early editions). Printed on a 60# uncoated cover stock and saddle-stitched.

That's a lot of stuff for your $43 investment and you get it all in PDF too. If print isn't your preferred media (or if your budget is tight) you can get the total package in PDF for a mere 7 bucks.

Did I mention I love the art used?

Mini Review - The Carnival of the Damned (DCC RPG - Tournament or Funnel Adventure)

First, let me apologize to +Jon Marr and +David Baity . Jon put a prerelease copy of The Carnival of the Damned in my virtual hands in early January and I never got around to reviewing it. The last few months were certainly hectic, but now that time is slowly becoming my friend, Ive been playing catch up. Which is where we are at right now ;)

The Carnival of the Damned can be played either as a Tournament adventure, in which case players play until their character dies and then a new player jumps in OR as a 0-level funnel. If used as a funnel, it has the ability to be used multiple times, as you'll probably only use a half dozen or so of the encounters (and maybe one or two of the random encounters) in a session. As you can see already, you get lots of gaming material for your money.

Now obviously, if there's a carnival, there has to be clowns. And when I think of evil clowns, Killer Klowns from Outer Space comes to mind. So, sidetracked. Anyhow, the artwork in CoD isn't the cute but disturbing art that Jon Marr is known for and that's because Jonn didn't do the art in this one. +Doug Kovacs did the cover and David Baity, Todd McGowan, Danny Prescott, Stan Reed, Simon Todd did the interiors and what interiors they are.

Right. Encounters. There's a gawd damn Whack-A-Mole encounter. How awesome is that? More awesome than you can imagine, but I'm not giving it away. Yep, even a Petting Zoo. Bet you won't see what's coming in this encounter. Heck, you wont see what've coming in nearly all the encounters.
They aren't curve balls and they make their own kinda sense, but your players won't find themselves in familiar territory.

Cop nightmares are
made of this

If you are running this for your home group, once the 0-level survivors reach 1st level you could easily keep the Carnival running for another session or three. In it's own way, it's a contained sandbox and there is a mystery for the PCs to solve (and souls to save - maybe even their own). If I get a chance to run this, it's how I would want things to work out. Multiple sessions with the group whittling down and the survivors getting enough experience (a level or two) to solve the mystery.

Which is a great thing about The Carnival of the Damned. There's a ton of fun content. It would be a shame not to get the most out of it.

Oh, before I forget to mention it again. The art. Flat out awesome.

The Common Room Forums are a Week Old Today - How Have We Done?

33 Publishers, 36 Blogs, 18 Reviews, 3 Artists Highlighted and much more.

Not bad, but The Common Room needs more.

It needs you.

If you are a publisher, start a thread for your company and your releases. If you're a blogger, start one so members of the Old School Gaming Community can find your blog along with other Old School Blogs.

Are you an artist that works in the RPG field? Put up some sample of your work. Publishers, look at these samples and see if you might find an artist that fits your style and needs.

Old School Gaming Podcast? Add yourself to the Podcast forum. Old School Convention (or a convention with an Old School Track? There's a section for you.

Do you want your own sub-forum? Ask and you'll probably get it.

Most importantly, if you are a regular reader of The Tavern, use The Common Room to expand upon your Old School Gaming horizons. Find new publishers, blogs, podcasts and more that you might not have known about prior.

The Old School Gaming Community is much more than the sum of it's individual parts. It's that sense of community that makes the OSR and Old School Gaming the joy that it is.

The Common Room has gotten off to an amazing start and will only get better with time. Be a part of it. Oh, and thank you :)

Another WTF Kickstarter - Mithlonde (Compares itself to Diablo, Pillars of Eternity, Skyrim and World of Warcraft)

Look at the above screenshot.

Now, look at the sales pitch:

Maybe it's just me, but I'm not feeling it.

Goal? $10k

Amount raised? Why even ask.

Alright, I think the first challenge will be to get this product funded. Assuming it funds (not gonna happen) at $10k, I'd love to see the following challenge met:

His bio says he's a student. I'm guessing freshman - in high school.

Mini Review - RuneQuest 2nd Edition (PDF)

Classic RuneQuest is back and I'm loving it. I was a backer of the RuneQuest: Classic Edition Kickstarter and I've just gotten around to looking at the PDF. My God, if I had this in PDF when I came across Chaosium's RuneQuest back in 86 or 87 I might never have stayed with AD&D.

RuneQuest has flavor that D&D in it's various incarnations lacked at the time. It's default world, Glorantha, had depth. Ah shit, I'm sounding like a fanboy. The thing is, RuneQuest lacked something that D&D was built upon - levels. Hit points didn't progress, combat ability went up slowly. Armor prevented damage by hit location. If you wanted your party to stay in the same general area, they didn't suddenly out power all of their adversaries. It was, and is, a damn good system. You've seen it elsewhere, most likely in Call of Cthulhu.

RQ uses a percentile system and using skills is what increases them. Want to be an excellent pick pocket? You need to use the skill every session (and probably get thrown in the stocks in return, but that's another story)

As for races, you had some of your standard fantasy races but you also had Ducks (i'm sure someone on staff had Howard the Duck on their mind when writing this up)

For the time, RuneQuest had a rather complete presentation of the game rules. You could learn how to run RQ from just reading the core book. Certainly better organized and much more complete than Tunnels & Trolls, another game I enjoy from the early era of RPGs.

I ran Pavis and Big Rubble with my group for over a year using these rules and we had a blast. Of course, the group always went back to AD&D but that's another story ;)

The PDF is a beauty with hyperlinks in it's table of contents. This is going right on my tablet.

It's a well presented piece of gaming history that is just as relevant today as it was in the late 70's.

The Most Complete Listing of Gareth's Broken Delivery Promises of Far West EVER Compiled (and it's not by me)

Let me start this by saying "Holy Shit! I knew it was bad, I didn't know it was THIS bad!"

Gareth has broken more promises in regards to Far West than... fuck if I know. Really, I can't think of anything that comes close. And he's been doing it for over FOUR FUCKING YEARS!

Milestones are a thing, so in the time between the funding of Far West and, oh, I don't know - today maybe, I've - gotten married, worked in 3 different units and RETIRED from my job, watched my son go from high school student to gainfully employed to engaged, backed 188 further Kickstarter projects (don't tell my wife :) (Far West was #3 that I backed) and I can count the totally fucked up project creators that I supported on one hand. (I did not back any of Ken's)

With the exception of Tom and the Myth & Magic fiasco and mistruths, nothing comes close to the blatant lying that Gareth has put forth over four plus years. For simple volume alone, Gareth wins the crown handily.

How well?

Over the course of those four plus years, Gareth has made at least 46 promises as to the release date of Far West, some claiming completion was a mere few weeks out YEAR AGO.

Here's a sample from late 2014:

Where can you find the rest of this amazing list?

Do not pass go, do not collect on the empty promises of the Far West Kickstarter creator. Instead, go to http://www.mutedhorn.net/far-west-delivery-estimates/

You'll laugh. You'll cry (if, like me, you backed for $150 and have this as the professional piece of art work to remember Far West)

I didn't say "Beet Juice" you idiot!
I said I'd "Beat YOU!"

Best of all, you'll have some window into the mindset of Gareth.

It's Not Often That I Give Interviews, But When I do, It's to the Quasar Knight's Fantasy Blog

+Ray Chapel of the Quasar Knight's Fantasy Blog asked me if I was up for an interview. Now, I don't give many interviews, but for Ray, a frequenter of the weekly Tavern Chat sessions here at The Tavern, it was hard to say no.

The interview is up at the Quasar Knight's Fantasy Blog.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Sadly, at the time the interview was conducted I was at liberty to discuss any podcasts. Maybe next time.

The Common Room has 15 Reviews Linked so Far - Needs More ;)

The Common Room Forums, which launched last Saturday as a resource for Old School Gaming, has a section for bloggers and publishers to link reviews of recent releases (generally released within the last 12 to 18 months but it's just a guideline)

At the moment, in addition to the 31 publishers and 34 blogs currently listed (and more adding themselves daily) we have 15 reviews listed and linked. We need more. Many of you have already written reviews of old school gaming products, so why not get eyes on them?

Signing in as as simple as using the social media application if your choice (the plan really was to keep this simple, and if you are like me, you detest having to constantly register for new websites and forums)

Hopefully over the next couple of months we can turn The Common Room into a fairly complete directory for all aspects of Old School Gaming. For now though, posts those review links :)

Sword Coast Legends Developer n-Space Shuts Down - Did The D&D Digital Curse Do Them In?

It's all over the internet. Well, not ALL over. But in the right corner you will find a few articles discussing Swords Coasts Legends developer n-Space closing it's doors. SCL never really lived up to it's expectations. It was a Dungeons and Dragons game without much Dungeons & Dragons mechanics, and a DM with group feature that felt very incomplete and clunky the very little time I experimented with it.

So, lets see, how many failed digital adventures can we link to D&D in the recent years? 4e's VTT and failure to digitally monetize, the death of Project Morningstar for 5e, Pathfinder's MMO fiasco and now Sword Coast Legends.

Ah well, I guess I should finish the single player storyline for SCL when i get the chance.

Should still be coming to Xbox One and PS4 though. Go figure.

Read more here, here and here.

Whitman Will Work for $250 a Day - Does Blue (Ray)

Alright, he does "blue-ray". Who exactly is picking nits?

Still, for a man dodging creditors and Kickstarter backers, Kenny likes to be found. Heck, Kenny was kind enough to leave contact info and a list of valuables that creditors could use to secure his debt. As for the green screen experience, he does have one behind his bed (saw it in a pic and pics don't lie)

BTW, we need a name for the Tavern's well motivated army of investigators. Give me some ideas :)

Tenkar's Tavern Mid-Week Roundup for Thursday, March 31, 2016

Mid-week roundup is something I'm going to experiment with. I'm guessing it will move to Wednesday's in the future but who knows. Still trying to adjust to "free time" and the day of the week doesn't have as much importance as it used to ;)

What is the mid-week roundup?

Events and interesting posts from our corner of the OSR. Could be links to previous posts here at The Tavern or from other blogs in my "I read their blogs" circle or other stuff that strikes my fancy. Just call me "Mr. Fancypants"

Releasing the Kraken!

+Dyson Logos of Dyson's Dodecahedron just went to eleven. His Patreon has hit the support level need that he is now going back to some of his previous work and releasing it under a free commercial use license. First one up? Just look to the right...



They're Coming Over the Wall!

+James Spahn , he of White Star, The Hero's Journey and many other best selling releases on RPGNow, gives a highly rated review on his Halfling's Luck blog to none other than Beyond the Wall and Other Adventures. To be honest, it's a game that ever really hit my radar, but after reading James' review I know I need to grab a copy. It seems like the system is perfect for creating a cohesive adventuring party right out of the box.


It's a Hero's Journey

Olde House Rules over at the Pits Perilous blog reviews The Hero's Journey by +James Spahn . Hero's Journey is a product I've been following since fairly early in it's development and I'm suspecting a mashup of Beyond the Wall and Hero's Journey could come close to matching my love for all things Swords & Wizardry.

Good Rules for Selling Goodies

+Tim Shorts of the Gothridge Manor blog has a series of posts dealing with Selling Your Loot. It's two posts into the series with more to come. There's some good GMing advice thus far, but that's nothing new for Tim.

What a Witch

+Timothy Brannan of The Other Side blog has written up Koliada, The Winter Witch for both BECMI and D&D 5e. She is a bad ass in both rule sets... heh. If you didn't already know, Tim really digs witches and has even released a Witch Sourcebook for OSR / Classic D&D games.

K, that's it for this week. Unless it isn't...

It isn't!

Heh

Last weekend Tenkar's Tavern opened up a new forum called The Common Room. The idea is to have a place where old school publishers, bloggers, conventions, podcasts, artists, writers and the rest of the OSR can find each other. Check it out. Sign in (using the social media app of your choice) and sign up. It's your community. It's your Common Room.

BTW, The Common Room needs more reviews linked. I'm sure many of you have already posted reviews on your own blogs, so why night make sure they get more eyes on them?

The Far West Missed Deadlines Tracking Page - More Fun than TWO Far Wests

Last night in Tavern Chat, the topic of the Far West Kickstarter came up. I had remembered there was a page that tracked the number of promised completion dates for Far West that Gareth had given his adoring fans - but I had no idea where to find it.

Well someone dropped a link to Is Far West Out Yet? I think it was Tim Snider but not 100% sure. Anyhow, the amount of promised completion dates is mind boggling.

I'm only going to screenshot through the end of 2013:

And some folks wonder why backers are pissed. There's a dozen more missed dates after those.

Now, for you your musical entertainment:

This is Not the Far West You Are Looking For ("Far West", Meet "Far West")

So, silent Gareth, he of the Twitter account that by words sent since Far West funded over 4 years ago could probably add a couple of completed chapters to the book, hasn't updated the status of the Far West project on Kickstarter since January 29th, 2016. That's a hair over 2 months for those playing along at home.

As I indicate above, Gareth may be silent with the Kickstarter updates, but Twitter tells us he's had a bout of food poisoning and his commenting on the Kickstarter comments section gives us this little tidbit:

Now, the month ends tomorrow and I suspect I will be neither pleased nor surprised when April 1st comes around. Oh yeah, that's right, it will soon be April Fools Day. Well, here's a joke on Gareth that is real:

Yep, there's a Spanish Far West that's finishing up (more like a 2nd edition, as this game first came out in the 90s). Any bets on which Far West gets to the finish line first?

The art's decent too.

Ah well. If they do an English translation I'll have a Far West RPG in hand. Maybe not the one I paid for nearly 4 1/2 years ago...

Escapist HQ Shuttered - Majority of Staff Let Go

Forbes has an article on the current downsizing of The Escapist website staffing.

As for the move to Seattle, that will be under editor-in-chief Joshua Vanderwall, who appears to be the last man standing.

Quoting the Forbes article:

While Defy is calling the number of employees affected “small” my own source tells me that “Every full-time staff member has been laid off there, from editors to artists to the IT team.”

Damn shame.

For those wondering, yes, it's the same +Alexander Macris from Autarch. Hopefully they can keep paying the bills and rebound in the future.

Reminder - Tavern Chat is TONIGHT - 9 PM to 11PM Eastern

Tavern Chat is back to it's original night, a Wednesday, starting tonight. We may wind up moving the night of the week on a monthly basis and we'll experiment with a weekend chat during the afternoon one day in April.

What is Tavern Chat?

It's where a bunch of folks that enjoy old school gaming get together in a virtual chat room and shoot the shit. It's fun and time flies.

Where is Tavern Chat?

Look on the right side of this page for a chat box labeled Tavern Chat. To log in you use the social media service of your choice.

If your looking to meet folks from around Old School Gaming 24 hours a day, 7 days a week check outThe Common Room. 31 publishers and 32 blogs are represented as well as gaming conventions, podcasts, an artist showcase and more. As with Tavern Chat, participation in The Common Room requires nothing more than the social media login that you already have.

Bundle of Holding - Hackmaster 5e

Hackmaster 5e is the latest RPG collection to hit Bundle of Holding. Unlike the concurrent OpenQuest 2 and Classic Paranoia Bundles, where I already own virtually everything, this is a collection that I own very little of.

Actually, all I own is the Hackmaster 5e Basic Rules in print.

So very tempting. $12.95 for the Player's Collection and currently about $28.50 for the Player's plus GM's Collection.

Can anyone sell me on the system? Should I jump in?

Look What I Got to Peek at Today - Mazes & Perils Deluxe Edition

The Ennie award winning Mazes & Perils is getting a facelift and I got a copy of the not quite ready for public consumption but yes it's damn good earlier today.

I'm really enjoying the optional rules, allowing one to tweak between a "basic" feel or an "advanced" feel (or somewhere in between).

Ah heck, I'm just enjoying the rules and the additional classes (Enchanters and Shamans).

Maybe I can twist +Vincent Florio to allow me to sneak some peeks into some blog posts over the next few days ;)

Alright, back to reading. Might need to charge up my tablet and see how it looks on it. Did I mention hyperlinks from the table of contents?

Monte Cook Games and DriveThruRPG Announce the Cypher System Creator Program (Look Like Another DMs Guild to Anyone Else?)

Looks like the framework developed by WotC and OBS is going to be used by other publishers. DMs Guilds for everybody!

Below is the press release from March 25, 2016 by Monte Cook Games:

Monte Cook Games, LLC, and DriveThruRPG today announced an exciting new program for the licensing and publication of Cypher System-related products. The Cypher System Creator program will allow third-party publishers, including members of the gaming community, to create, publish, and distribute their own Cypher System content at DriveThruRPG and its family of sites. 

Through the Cypher System Creator program, publishers large and small—and even individual gamers—will be able to publish Cypher System related works of any size in PDF format and sell them (or offer them for free) on DriveThruRPG. Anyone who can generate a PDF can become a Cypher System publisher! 

Monte Cook Games will provide a variety of resources for publishers, including logos, templates, and artwork. Publishers will be free to use these resources, although their use isn’t required. 

Publishers may set any price they wish for their products (or make them free). Cypher System Creator products are subject to the standard DriveThruRPG commission, and a portion of the selling price will be paid as a royalty to Monte Cook Games. Terms and conditions, as well as the exact breakdown of commissions and royalties, will be released closer to the launch of the program. 

“This is a really exciting addition to the Cypher System universe,” commented Charles Ryan, COO of Monte Cook Games. “The Cypher System is modular, elegant, and designed for players to build out in any direction their gaming inspiration leads them. The Cypher System Creator will at once let gamers and publishers share the ideas and content they create for the game, while also providing a vast resource for players of rules, settings, adventures, creatures, character options—things we haven’t even thought of yet! When you unleash the creativity of gamers, you get a whole lot of awesome.” 

Matt McElroy of DriveThruRPG added, “Roleplaying games have always been about each participant being a creator of the story and the game experience. We’re excited to work with MCG to make it easier for anyone creating for the Cypher System to share their creations with other Cypher System fans.” 

The Cypher System Creator will go live in spring 2016.

I have a post brewing in my head about the DMs Guild and this Creator Program, but it will wait for now...

Ken Whitman Eats Shit - No, Literally! Er, maybe...

Are you Ken Whitman?

Do you want to try and get a spot on the Survivor reality TV show?

Do you like eating shit in the real literal sense of the word?

Are you someone that would like Ken to eat his own shit?

Well, wait no longer. Thanks to the wonders of the internet, one can literally watch Ken eat his own shit. Maybe. More likely his "wife" is just a horrible cook.

Yeah, I know this has been around for a bit but it's the first time I've seen it. And last.

Tip of the hat to Jay :)

Man Eats Poo for Survivor!!! - watch more funny videos

Tavern Chat is Moving to Wednesdays from 9PM to 11PM Eastern

Mark those calendars. Tavern Chat, where we get together once a week and hangout out with random folks from the OSR and beyond is moving to Wednesday Nights starting this Wednesday, March 30th, from 9PM Eastern until 11PM Eastern.

Why?

Originally, when Tavern Chat started, it was held on Wednesday nights. I moved it to Thursdays when my work hours changed and now that I'm retired, we're moving it back. If you've been attending the Thursday night chat sessions, you've probably noticed I arrive late to the chat that I host most nights. Thursday is "let's go out to dinner night" for Rach and I and it often runs a bit late.

As an aside, I'm looking to do a once a month Tavern Chat earlier in the day, possible on a weekend. Give me a little time to set this up.

What is Tavern Chat?

It's where a bunch of folks that enjoy old school gaming get together in a virtual chat room and shoot the shit. It's fun and time flies.

Where is Tavern Chat?

Look on the right side of this page for a chat box labeled Tavern Chat. To log in you use the social media service of your choice.

If your looking to meet folks from around Old School Gaming 24 hours a day, 7 days a week check out The Common Room. 29 publishers and 31 blogs are represented as well as gaming conventions, podcasts, an artist showcase and more. As with Tavern Chat, participation in The Common Room requires nothing more than the social media login that you already have.

Path of Legends Podcast - Episode 2 is Live - 5e from 1e Eyes

Yep, the Second Episode of the Path of Legends Podcast is here. 

What's in it?

In this very episode the guys tackle the subject of "would building characters the OSR style work with 5e?" in the Adventure Path. 

In Monster Hunters, the Ghoul is talked about, comparing it to the original old school one, how did it differ? 

In What is old, now is new the guys talk about Madness and how you can apply the AD&D 1e Insanity rules to this section of the rules to make your game more deadly! 

Finally, we round off the show talking "The Trap Collection" in Presto's hat!

Grab it on iTunes, your favorite podcatcher or from the Path of Legends website itself. Where else are you going to find Vince, Sal and myself entertaining you?  ;)

Monday Morning Kickstarter Update - The Quest for Baby's Classic Edition Pencil Dice

One thing I'm guilty of is highlighting Kickstarters, good or bad, and then never returning them to the spotlight, which I think is a shame. Most of the good ones deserve a second look and some of the bad ones certainly have more sacrifices to make to the community on our behalf. The Monday Morning Kickstarter Update should be a weekly feature (although the title itself is subject to change).

Without further ado...

Classic Edition GM Screen - it is now funded with 7 days left in the funding window. If you were on the fence about getting it, now is the time to do so. Remember, the PDF is only 7 bucks...

WHAT!? Pencil Dice - we all know about the Pencil Dice Kickstarters that Ken Whitman ran to further fund his Hollywood ambitions - the ones that never shipped a single pencil. Well, this is a Kickstarter that is thumbing it's nose right back at Ken: six-sided dice with images of pencils instead of pips. Sure, it's mostly a joke, but the dice are real. 18 days left in the funding window.

Baby Bestiary Volume 2 & Vol. 1 Reprint - the amazingly beautiful and cute Baby Bestiary funded earlier this month and is now taking pre-order on Backer Kit. If you missed out on the KS this is your chance.

Quests of Doom 3 - the Frogs are putting out a third volume in their series of adventures converted from 3x or Pathfinder to Swords & Wizardry and D&D 5e. Excellent value for your money.

Definitely not crowdfunding but certainly crowdsourced, over the weekend The Tavern opened up a new forum called The Common Room. With the simple idea of being a place where old school publishers, bloggers and podcasters could get together to arrange for product reviews or giveaways of product, it has grown to include contact information for conventions, a listing area for reviews, forums for artists, writers, editors and layout specialists to offer samples of their work and much more.

As I post this, 26 publishers have signed up (including some of the larger names in Old School Gaming - Frog God Games, Lesser Gnome, Goblinoid Games and so many more), 27 blogs, 1 convention (NTRPG) with another pending and one podcast. We need more podcasts!

All in all, not bad for less than 48 hours after going live.

I'm considering a forum for Old School Kickstarter listings, but I may lock that down so that only I can do the posts. Not sure yet and very much open to discussion.

Are you a publisher of Old School Gaming material? Are you a blog that posts about Old School Gaming. Are you a fan of Old School Gaming and looking for a way to contact others in the hobby? The Common Room is there for you. Signing up is as simple as using the social media platform of your choice.

Kickstarter - Quests of Doom 3 (S&W & 5e)

What can I say about Frog God's latest Kickstarter, Quests of Doom 3?

Its from the Frogs.

It's for Swords & Wizardry and D&D 5e (no Pathfinder, as these adventure are being converted FROM Pathfinder).

It's a 200+ page hardcover book for 32 bucks (15 in PDF).

It's six adventures, with up to two more if stretch goals are reached.

At 5 bucks an adventure (four bucks if stretch goals are hit) in print, 2.50 an adventure in PDF (less than 2 bucks an adventure, again if stretch goals are hit) it's one hell of a bargain.

Its by the Frogs ;)

I can always use more Swords & Wizardry adventures...

Common Room Forums update - 12 Publishers and 16 Blogs Listed so Far

This community never ceases to amaze me. In less than 24 hours 12 publishers, 16 blogs and 1 podcast have signed up at The Common Room, a new forum for publishers, bloggers, podcasters and content creators to meet and greet and the rest of the OSR to find and converse with the creators in the OSR. It's a place where review copies of products will exchange hands, links to reviews will be posted and artists and writers will get to showcase their wares.

It also hoped that in the future it will serve as a fairly complete listing of the publishers, blogs and podcasts in our hobby. Of course, the more that participate in it, the greater use it will be for all.

If you're a publisher whose release schedule justifies the need your own forum or if you just need a place to converse with your customer base, reach out to me at tenkarsDOTtavern at that gmail thing, and will set you up with your own section in the forum. You'll still need to put up a post in the Publishers Forum introducing yourself and your company and you'll be able to include a shortcut to your forum section in that post.

Tell me what other types of sections you think we need in The Common Room Forums. What's missing? What's needed to serve the community better?

As a side note, we probably really do need a small rectangular banner that can be used to showcase The Common Room in blog sidebars.

Introducing "The Common Room" - Where Publishers, Bloggers, Podcasters and the Rest of the OSR Meet

Alright, I've set up an embedded forum for the use of publishers, bloggers, podcasters - basically a place for anyone active or who wants to be active in the OSR or the RPG hobby beyond that.

The Common Room is the place where publishers can find folks ready to review their works, bloggers and podcasters can find publishers looking to donate products for giveaways and a one stop shop for sales postings (hint - bloggers, you can share out the sales when they get posted if you think it would interest your readers)

The Common Room is a community resource. Use it. Share it. Link to it.

As stated in this morning's post, The Common Room has the following forums (and a few more just for good measure):

- A forum for publishers to introduce themselves and their products / product lines and give contact information. Publishers would list each product they would like to receive reviews for as separate posts in their thread.  

- A forum for blogs to introduce themselves and their blog. How often do you do reviews? How often do you post? You could list links to your prior reviews, if any, in this initial post. Contact information would be helpful to publishers here. Follow up posts linking each review completed through the use of the forum.  

- A forum for podcasters to introduce themselves and their podcasts. How often do you do reviews? How often do you release episodes? You could list links to your prior reviews, if any, in this initial post. Contact information would be helpful to publishers here. Follow up posts linking each review completed through the use of the forum.  

- A forum for completed reviews. As each review gets done and posts, this would be the master list. 

Once a week I'd do a summary posts of the reviews completed here at The Tavern. It would probably follow the following format to some extent: 

For the week of April 6th through April 12th, the following reviews were completed via The Common Room Review Program:  

- My OSR Blog (linked) reviewed The Deepest Deadly Dungeon (RPGNow Link) (Table Top Library Link) (Lulu Link) (Open Gaming Store Link) (etc link) released by Damn Fine Games (linked). The Deepest Deadly Dungeon is an adventure for levels 1 to 8 using the Swords & Wizardry rules but suitable for all OSR gaming.  

There would be a permanent link to both the weekly review summary posts as well as the Common Room Forums in the tabs on top of the main Tavern Page. If we could commission a graphic for the program, I'd also place it on the right sidebar and other blogs / podcasts / publisher sites could do the same if the wished.

As an aside, if a publisher or blog thinks that they need a forum of their own, reach out to me and we'll try to make it work. For some of the larger publishers or blogs that do many reviews, this might work better.

Working on a Place for Bloggers, Podcasters and Publishers to Meet to Arrange Reviews

As I mentioned in the comments of last night's Open Letter to the Various Online PDF & Print RPG Stores there really needs to be a place for bloggers, podcasters and publishers to meet, greet and arrange for reviews to happen.

It occurred to me as I was laying in bed last night that I have something here at The Tavern that could facilitate such a virtual location - a forum.

What? The Tavern has a forum? Yep, unused these days as it really didn't have much of a purpose when I set a page up for it but now I think we have a purpose. I'm going to rework the forum this weekend.

Here's how I'm currently thinking this will work ("this" being whatever we decide to call this community meeting place - currently called "The Common Room")

- A forum for publishers to introduce themselves and their products / product lines and give contact information. Publishers would list each product they would like to receive reviews for as separate posts in their thread. 

- A forum for blogs to introduce themselves and their blog. How often do you do reviews? How often do you post? You could list links to your prior reviews, if any, in this initial post. Contact information would be helpful to publishers here. Follow up posts linking each review completed through the use of the forum. 

- A forum for podcasters to introduce themselves and their podcasts. How often do you do reviews? How often do you release episodes? You could list links to your prior reviews, if any, in this initial post. Contact information would be helpful to publishers here. Follow up posts linking each review completed through the use of the forum. 

- A forum for completed reviews. As each review gets done and posts, this would be the master list.

Once a week I'd do a summary posts of the reviews completed here at The Tavern. It would probably follow the following format to some extent:

For the week of April 6th through April 12th, the following reviews were completed via The Common Room Review Program: 

- My OSR Blog (linked) reviewed The Deepest Deadly Dungeon (RPGNow Link) (Table Top Library Link) (Lulu Link) (Open Gaming Store Link) (etc link) released by Damn Fine Games (linked). The Deepest Deadly Dungeon is an adventure for levels 1 to 8 using the Swords & Wizardry rules but suitable for all OSR gaming. 

There would be a permanent link to both the weekly review summary posts as well as the Common Room Forums in the tabs on top of the main Tavern Page. If we could commission a graphic for the program, I'd also place it on the right sidebar and other blogs / podcasts / publisher sites could do the same if the wished.

In the end, it's all about community.

So, give me your feedback. Yay or nay? Suggestions? Too much? Too little? Is there something that could really make this pop?

An Open Letter to the Various Online PDF & Print RPG Stores

The other day on social media I mentioned that retailer XXX doesn't give a shit about blogs in the RPG hobby. I stand by those words but they need some further explanation.

Back in the "way back", when a Mr. Fannon was Community Director (or whatever title) at a certain online RPG store, he had a program in place for bloggers and their blogs (possibly podcasters too, but I can't say for sure) Those blogs that applied and got approved were given "featured reviewer" status so that they would get access to review copies of gaming products (reviews were then posted on said blogs), which was (and still is) cool. More importantly, they were given products and store credit to give away on their blogs to their readers.

Holy shit. Giving away free stuff on blogs would be beneficial to online stores and the publishers that sell through them? Say it isn't so!

Publishers see the benefit of giving away free stuff via blogs. Hell, I organize an OSR Christmas every year were publishers (and gamers), not retailers, donate gifts to the gaming community. Their generosity is humbling. I make an announcement and those that want to give, give.

What about the online stores? Nope. Why? Probably because even the biggest blogs aren't seen to drive enough traffic to justify the effort (the expense is minimal)

The thing is, the copies or credit given out to the community benefits both the blog and the retailer. The blog gets traffic and the retailer gets folks following links to products that they have for sale. Oh, and some lucky reader gets free shit.

Strangely enough, I'm not frustrated for The Tavern, as we do enough traffic and affiliate sales to give away store credit on our own. Giving back to the community we're all a part of is fun. Really.

I'm frustrated for the smaller blogs and the newer blogs that have great content and ideas and just need a little push to get more eyes on them. The Tavern was small and new itself at one time and it's success was certainly due in part to Mr. Fannon's program. Of that, I have no doubt.

To the new kid on the block, Table Top Library, I suggest you reach out to the blogs in the OSR and beyond and put together a program that will benefit them, you, their readers and your potential customers.

For the old kid on the block, I suggest you look to the past for ways to expand your reach and goodwill within the gaming community.

We are in a new era of online sales to our hobby. Competition may soon have an effect on the current monopoly, and blogs and even podcasts may be the means to reach out to new customers and maintain old customers, all while strengthening the online community that makes those purchases in the first place.

Stepping off my soapbox.

Tenkar

What do You Get When a Lesser Gnome Joins Forces With a Frog God?

Today appears to be a day for announcements.

In case you missed the post on Facebook from a little while ago, +Zach Glazar , he of Lesser Gnome Games, the man behind Whisper & Venom, has joined Frog God Games as a partner. May God have mercy on their souls ;)

Here's the announcement from +Matt Finch

Introducing the newest Frog of Frog God Games! 

We're proud to announce that Zach Glazar of Lesser Gnome Games has decided to carry the banner of the Frog Gods forward as one of us. Zach is becoming a partner in Frog God, and bringing a wide array of skills to the company. We've known Zach for years, and been deeply impressed by the products he has developed, including Death and Taxes and Whisper & Venom. The amount of labor, quality, and creativity in Zach's products is outstanding, and he's going to be a powerhouse member of the team.

Awesome news for the OSR. Congrats Zach!

The Future of Old School Quarterly - The Future is Now

Regular readers of The Tavern shouldn't be surprised I've been closely following the progress of Old School Quarterly. It's a project that is close to my heart as I'm supposed to supply +Jason Paul McCartan with a series of Kickstarter related articles. Alas, my work schedule was preventing such from bearing fruit and Jason had a series of events on his side that slowed progress on OSQ but now the planets have aligned, signs and portents have been interpreted and the wind is blowing from the proper direction. 

What I'm saying is, OSQ is a "thing".

Fuck it, let me just quote Jason - and go to the Original Post at OldSchoolQuarterly to get the pretty post will all the snazzy links and pics.

So, it’s about time that we updated everyone on what’s happening with OSQ, because we’ve been far too silent on the subject (mostly because we’ve been getting everything all sorted out and making it right – this takes time).

Over the past year there’s been some illness and a bunch of other things going on, including InfiniBadger Press, the publisher of OSQ evolving into the next phase of its growth. We also dropped the ball on the original release plans for OSQ due to scheduling issues and a number of other things. Mea culpa.

The time wasn’t right for OSQ to really be developed and released.

The time is right now, though.

So, what’s changed?

Well, for starters, there really is no other ongoing magazine publication catering to the old school gaming community any more, as Gygax Magazine ceased publishing back in January. This leaves an opportunity to step up and take its place and fill the gap. There’s a huge zine movement for other games, but there’s no real magazine-style publication that caters to multiple games at the same time available right now. There have been plenty of other publications that have also ceased publishing or reduced publishing over the past few years.

Secondly, our short term and long term business operations and objectives are now established and aligned. Most small businesses survive their first two years of business and about half make it to the five year mark, but a lot of that depends on the individual industry. InfiniBadger Press has been operational for about two years now and has been mildly successful. It’s now time to develop and grow the business, and a multi-year roadmap has been put together to develop a number of unique properties, including this magazine. The waters have been tested, and we know a little about what we want to create and what sells, and how to connect both.

Thirdly, the use of crowdfunding has been shown to be a great way to help support and grow small creators and companies and help them get their products created and released. After some analysis about how best to use this approach, the best way forward to help support the ongoing publication of a quarterly publication is through Patreon, and so, we’ve decided to launch a Patreon campaign to help support the magazine!

The magazine will still use advertising to help support it as well as post-release sales online (here at the OSQ website and many other online stores) and in retail, but the Patreon allows us to offer a more modern take on being a magazine subscriber:

YOU get to choose how long to be a “subscriber”: 1 issue, 2 issues, or more! Simply pledge during the periods you want

Get your digital edition from three different locations:
-the OSQ website
-OneBookShelf’s family of websites
-the InfiniBadger Press website

Get large discounts on the digital and at-cost POD versions of each issue
-$6 for the PDF instead of the final MSRP of  $9.99 
-$12 for the at-cost POD instead of the final MSRP of $19.99. Get a code and buy the physical copy when you’re ready at cost

Upgrade to the POD version at a discounted rate later if you just get the PDF for one issue
Get an additional 36 page supplemental publication called OSQ MORE that’s ONLY available to Patreon backers every issue

Of course, OSQ is still going to be doing things differently from the way traditional magazines do things. Most traditional magazines focus on print first, then digital, most often only printing in specific territories and costing a great deal to ship beyond that overseas. We’re focusing on digital first, then print using POD, allowing you to choose how to receive print copies of the magazine, if you even want to do that – using POD means being able to print near to where you live, and help keep costs down on international shipping. This approach can be called “just in time” printing, because you don’t print it until you want it or need it. By being a “subscriber” through the Patreon, you can even save yourself some money doing that!

Right now we’re updating a couple of the documents and pages including the Issue Zero page,  Submissions Guidelines and the Advertising Kit to include details of the Patreon and the new operations. We’re also setting up our online webstore, where you’ll be able to purchase digital versions of the magazine, as well as be directed out to other sites where you can buy that same issue, such as OneBookShelf, Lulu, and CreateSpace, allowing you to choose where YOU want to receive your digital or print issues from.

The plan is to release the OSQ Issue Zero in Fall 2016, which means an October 2016 release date. We’ll release an issue every quarter after that, with the support of the Patreon, advertisers, and sales of individual issues.

Of course, there are challenges ahead. A lot of business people say that’s magazines are dying because we’re looking at our phones, while a lot of other smart business people say that the publishing paradigm has changed and that we’re in a period of disruption. This means new business models and changes in the way things are done. It means trying out new ways to do things that are customer-centric and innovative. Even when focusing on old school games.

More news and regular updates to come soon. We’ll keep you posted right here at the OSQ blog.

Oh, and consider becoming a patron at Patreon if you want the best deal possible on the upcoming Issue Zero release. You save money, you get extra content, and you don’t have to pay anything until the issue gets released!

Holy bejeezus but +Jason Paul McCartan has a lotta links in there. I'll make it simple for ya'.

Back the Old School Quarterly Patreon - Click here!

Kickstarter - WHAT!? Pencil Dice

Remember the Ken Whitman Kickstarter trend - Pencil Dice? When he needed more cash to fund his various activities he'd crank a new Pencil Dice Project out much like a sexually frustrated teen. Shit, bad imagery there.

In any case, like everything else Ken put's his hands on there was little intention to actually bring the Pencil Dice projects to fruition. The money from the dice projects went to fund his filming projects (Ken said so himself)

This is not those Pencil Dice. This is Pencil Dice. Whereas Ken had pencils pretending to be dice, this project is dice decorated with pencil images.

Lame? Perhaps.

Watch the video.

It's worth it and it's totally a joke that deserves to fund. The Tavern is backing for a full set of 5 Pencil Dice.

Why?

Because this project will complete before anything Ken has on his plate.

Reminder - Tavern Chat Tonight - 9PM Eastern - Your Host May Be Popping in and Out

Maybe I should have chosen a different word than "popping" as part of this post's title, as I've been having stomach issues most of the day. Ah well, at least I didn't have to call out sick from work though I did need to postpone a podcast recording.

Still trying to adjust to a more productive schedule now that time is, in theory at least, on my side.

At least The Tavern is getting more attention. This will make 15 posts so far this week. Now to move on to The Taproom this weekend. Beer. Mmmmm.

So, tonight at 9PM Eastern. We may be moving the chat to a different night in the relatively near future. Thinking of moving it seasonally, just to make is accessible to more readers of The Tavern. I'm also thinking of doing a 9AM chat once a month to accommodate those with various work schedules as well as those across the pond (and further away) The 9AM chat may fall on the weekend, for even more chatting pleasure.

Let me know what you think of the once a month weekend morning chat idea and see y'all tonight.

EverQuest Next Canceled -- "It Wasn't Fun" (EQ and EQ2 Were My Go to MMOs)

Yep, EverQuest Next is no more. Well, actually, it will never be.

Why?

Apparently, "It Wasn't Fun"

Daybreak Games made the announcement on their website today. Who's Daybreak Games? It's the former Sony Online Entertainment. Yes, EverQuest has gone through many hands.

Here's the relevant part of the announcement:

For those familiar with the internals of game development, you know that cancellations are a reality we must face from time to time. Inherent to the creative process are dreaming big, pushing hard and being brutally honest with where you land. In the case of EverQuest Next, we accomplished incredible feats that astonished industry insiders. Unfortunately, as we put together the pieces, we found that it wasn’t fun. We know you have high standards when it comes to Norrath and we do too. In final review, we had to face the fact that EverQuest Next would not meet the expectations we – and all of you – have for the worlds of Norrath.

Ah well. There goes one potential time sink in my retirement. I guess I'll just have to be more productive or something.

Tenkar's Tavern Mid-Week Roundup for Thursday, March 24, 2016

Mid-week roundup is something I'm going to experiment with. I'm guessing it will move to Wednesday's in the future but who knows. Still trying to adjust to "free time" and the day of the week doesn't have as much importance as it used to ;)

What is the mid-week roundup?

Events and interesting posts from our corner of the OSR. Could be links to previous posts here at The Tavern or from other blogs in my "I read their blogs" circle or other stuff that strikes my fancy. Just call me "Mr. Fancypants"

Maps from a Master Mapper

Temple of The Four Gods - +Dyson Logos - Dyson's Dodecahedron Blog - multiple levels, multiple goodness. What you see here is just a small peek. Bookmark the page before you forget ;)

White Box - Cyberpunk

Save Vs. Poison Blog - looking to add some cyberpunk to your White Box / White Star game? Look no further. DungeonMastahWieg has you covered. Multiple posts, so read and read deep.

Tavern Patrons, Not The Tavern

+Tim Shorts of the Gothridge Manor blog put together a random table of 6 Tavern Patrons. Being a lover of all things Tavern, I had to share this :)

Kickstarter Drama

Want to read some of the recent Kickstarter related drama for projects long overdue with creators that lie - misspeak without even moving their lips? The Tavern's got you covered. Ken or Tom, the choice is yours.

Bundles of Gaming Joy

OpenQuest 2 and the original WEG Paranoia are being featured on Bundle of Holding. Get OpenQuest 2 to play it and get Paranoia to read it. You wont be sorry in either case.

Hot and Free? It's for me!

The Hero's Journey Fantasy Roleplaying by +James Spahn has been in the #1 best seller spot on RPGNow pretty steadily for the past week and a half. Actually, it only released on March 14th, so it's held on to that spot for it's entire run. Pretty impressive for a Pay What You Want release, as it's my understanding that only copies folks actually pay for are counted towards those sales figures. Grab a copy, see if you like it and if you do, go back and put some coins in the tip jar for James. If you don't like it - well, you risked nothing but your time.

K, that's it for this week's Mid-Week Roundup.