Art Theft in the Gaming Community? Say it isn't so Johnson Games!

First, I'm sure 98% of you are going "who the fuck is Johnson Games?" I know I did when I was shown the following piece:
https://my-site-101402-107830.square.site/product/Skull-Mountain-poster/7?fbclid=IwAR0Lw6OrZ9_smnnmgNHMMYPd9VzuhKyJkfrVyxrBrnMbha-pTTYVupxI-bE

Notice the "12" x 18" of my original work" part?

Here's Lloyd Metcalf's original work of art: https://www.instagram.com/p/CABztcpA6_Z/?fbclid=IwAR1K7lhUPrJAl4YaMwDqKrqYNZEybvA3rhrHsNK92iXnkbUeSQ7r83qMZdY

I've spoken with Lloyd. He did not authorize this use of his work, nor is he credited.

This is NOT how things should happen. It reminds of the days of Shipman in the Tunnels & Trolls community. Theft is theft, plain and simple. "Original work" my ass.

There is also the question of dice using a Pelgrane Games trademark. I'll reach out to them later today and see if it is authorized.

Edit: Found the answer, and the use is legit and authorized

This is a quick FYI as I run out to handle today's chores (vet time for Danke). I'll followup later.

Edit:

Follow Up to the "Inspired By" Art Disagreement
Dave spoke with Lloyd. Dave also spoke with me. I spoke with Lloyd.

Dave apologized to Lloyd.

As far as I'm concerned it is over and done.

Any further updates will come from the involved parties.

Tomorrow is Gary Gygax Day and I Think you Should Celebrate

Tomorrow is Gary Gygax Day and while not a "real" holiday to the general public, and definitely not something my employer would be keen on giving me the day off to celebrate, it is a good time sling dice with family and/or friends.

Now I don't know about you, but a lot of the friends I've made over the gaming table have been as close to me as family, but that might be a post for another day.

Unfortunately I've never met Mr. Gygax. I did briefly meet Dave Arneson and I have been fortunate enough to meet a lot of designers and my own "heroes" in the industry. Unless you go to a bunch of game conventions and/or just get lucky, odds are you haven't been able to meet your own RPG heroes....definitely not all of them.

While I think most people with access to a stage like I have here (thanks Erik!) would probably tell you to pick up some dice and roll a few in Gary's honor.....I know I am on my own blog tomorrow....but I'd like to offer up an alternate method of celebrating Gary Gygax Day:

Honor Gary's memory by reaching out to a RPG author/designer/creator of a product you've enjoyed and let them know how much you appreciate their work!

That's it, it can be simple, but if you are able.....step it up a notch. Instead of firing off an email, send a card, send a letter. You can usually reach these folks through their publishers if you don't already have their contact info.

Don't wait for your favorite creatives to pass away to honor them. Play their game, read their books, and let them know how their work has impacted you. Their work, your enjoyment, it's all just a couple steps removed from Gary Gygax and his work on D&D. I don't call myself a fancy author or great designer, but I know the joy that comes from hearing someone else enjoys your work........and Gary Gygax Day is about sharing & spreading joy, or at least that's how I see it!

Torchlight Peek - We Are Getting Close...

I'm really psyched. It's like a weight is being lifted off my back as the premiere issue of Torchlight comes closer to release. Jeff is doing some amazing work laying out my thoughts in a presentable manner.

We are hoping to release by the 30th of the month, which coincidentally both Jeff & I's 53rd birthday ;)

Sneak Peek - The Crypt of the Skull Walker

Work continues on the first issue of the Torchlight Zine. While the layout is ongoing I'm writing up a short adventure for the zine. Here's a sneak peek at The Crypt of the Skull Walker:

Crypt of the Skull Walker

A group of goblins discovered a crypt in the Grey Hills a few weeks back. Protection from the elements and a freshwater source (room 8) as well as incidentals to loot (and a place to store loot) have encouraged them to set up residence. Three nights ago, one of the goblins on sentry duty (room 1) was found, its corpse a dry husk. Sentries were doubled. Last night another sentry was killed, but this time there was a witness - a surviving goblin. He ran to his chief, screaming and ranting about the “skull that walks!” Now, the remaining goblins are hunkering down and establishing defensive positions. Nerves are on edge. Such is the situation your small party of adventurers stumbles into...

1 - There are the remains of a small bonfire in the south-east corner of this room. The embers are still warm. The single door to the north is ajar. The double doors to the south are closed (and barred from the room 4 side). There is the dried husk of a goblin corpse just north of the west entryway. A short sword, short box with 8 arrows and a pouch with 7 silvers are on the body.

2 - Old storage room. In the north-east corner of the room is a crate holding old mining tools. Also in this room is some odds and ends the goblins have looted from various travelers and caravans. Hidden underneath a blanket on the ground in front of the north wall is a silver dagger with a pommel encrusted with crude red gems. Value 100 gp. The rest the loot, if sorted, would be worth about 75 gp and weighs about 30 pounds. There is a secret door on the west wall, which can be opened by placing a torch into the single wall sconce of the west wall.

3 - True Crypt. This is the real burial chamber of a chaotic priest named Nabulis. He prayed for eternal life and his spider god granted it. Well, a form of eternal life. His soul gives energy that powers the Skull Walker - Nabulis’ Skull with the legs of a spider. The goblins woke the Skull Walker with their presence, and it hungers. If the party finds this room and haven’t yet encountered the Skull Walker, it is here.

end sneak peek...

Skull Walker art courtesy of Frog God Games. It will be a new creature written for Torchlight.

Map thanks to https://watabou.itch.io/one-page-dungeon.

Premiere Episode of the Talking Crit Podcast with Bad Mike & Tenkar - Special Guest Greg Gillespie (Barrowmaze)

Last night we recorded the premiere episode of the Talking Crit Podcast. Sure, Mike & I have recorded some Talking Crits on my Tavern Chat Podcast, but now we are spinning it off as it's own weekly podcast.

Greg Gillespie joined us and we had a blast. Pour yourself a drink, pull your chair up to the bar and join us as we all Talk Crit about gaming :)

Link: Talking Crit Podcast

Currently available on Anchor, Spotify, and Pocketcasts. Other platforms are pending.

Looks Like This Sh!t is Getting Real! Torchlight is Relit!

Huge thanks to Old Man Grognard for the cover!

I'm expecting 16 to 20 pages of content. Patreon backers will get it free. The Tavern's Community will get at least a 50% discount.

Work continues on Torchlight today...

Raising the Torchlight Zine from the Dead

Torchlight, the Zine for Swords & Wizardry, has gone through a shitload of bumps and bruises. My health issues earlier this year put this very far back on the pile of things to do, and thoughts of jumping back into it at the size it morphed into was intimidating as all hell.

So I scaled Torchlight back to its original vision - a small, amateur zine, initially using much of the OGL content I've already published here at The Tavern.

I printed out a current "work in progress" to get a better feel. Not the final cover, nor the final Table of Contents. More a proof of concept.

I do hope to have something up by the end of the week. We shall see.

I want to thank all of those that were involved in the attempt earlier this year to put Torchlight together. The dream of a larger, more professional zine isn't quite dead, but I need to crawl before I can run ;)

Bundle of Holding - Old School Gold (OSR)

Old School Gold on Bundle of Holding is a mixed bag of OSR titles, some well known and others not so well known.

For 9.95 you get Class Compendium (50 classes by James Spahn for LL), Golgotha, Cinderheim, and Lorn Song of the Bachelor. I don't know the last three myself.

The big 235-page Class Compendium from Barrel Rider Press with more than 50 variant character classes; the science fiction RPG of exploration in alien ruins beyond the frontier, Golgotha; Cinderheim, a setting sourcebook of a demon-ridden desert wasteland; and Hydra Cooperative's Malay-themed sandbox module about a hungry crocodile, Lorn Song of the Bachelor.

Alright, the other three do sound cool.

What about the threshold? (currently a hair over 20 bucks)

If you pay more than the threshold price of $20.11, you'll level up and also get our entire Bonus Collection with seven more titles worth an additional $44.50, including three titles in the new horror SFRPG series from Tuesday Knight Games, Mothership (the adventure modules Dead Planet and A Pound of Flesh plus the Mothership Player's Survival Guide rulebook); the impressively illustrated Trilemma Adventures Compendium of 55 short scenarios; the grimdark standalone RPG of antiheroic mercenaries, For Coin & Blood from Gallant Knight Games; and three short supplements for Golgotha ( The Obsidian Garden, The War Hive, and New Player Character Classes).

Do You Have a Travel Player's Kit?

I'm going to come right out and admit it.....I don't game enough.

Now I don't need to roll dice every day, but once a week would be nice. In more than one of my previous jobs I've had to travel....a lot, like a hundred nights a year a lot. The job I'm in now has me gone for two-weeks a go. Frequent travel makes having a home group, well at least a weekly game-having home group, damned near impossible.

Now that the internet is available in even the crappiest location and we have things like Zoom, having an online weekly game is an option.

Before, not so much.....so I had to be prepared for pick-up games as they became available. Back when I played HackMaster (I know, not another HackMaster story) I was also a member of the HackMaster Association, which gave me a nation-wide group of people I could reach out to for a game while travelling. Normally I was too busy....the travel was a business trip after all, but a couple of times when I was in Nashville I did manage to make the couple-hours drive down to Chattanooga to take part in one group's Monday night weekly home-game.

I also had a player or two driving through Boise stop in for a game at my house (I was the GM so the sporadic game schedule was on my terms).

The thing is I had to be ready for a pickup game, so I had a travel game kit. I actually had two, one as a player and another one as a GM, but I never used the GM kit and ended up cannibalizing it for convention games.

I never liked the dice I had in my play kit. Kind of cool dice, but waaaaaay too tiny. I'll have to post pics sometime. Anyway I was in my local game store and they had some small dice and I figured I should update my kit and make it ready for an upcoming trip next month.

Here's my player's kit....which is housed in a fancy gift card tin. I did take the liberty of spray-painting the tin in prep of some future decoration plans. The lid is lined with thin craft foam, making for a small dice tray (got to have my DRZ.....designated rolling zone). The actual contents of the player's kit:

• Two sets of dice
• PC Sheet(s)
• Note Cards
• More note cards (graph-paper)
• Pencil
• USB Thumb Drive

Whenever possible I keep PDF copies of my PC sheets. Hand-filled sheets are great, but don't necessarily travel or store well. I print these out multiple pages (2 in 1) and then at 60% size, which makes it small enough for the tin and is still legible. The note cards are standard 3 x 5 cut down to 3 x 4.75" and then rounded with a simple punch. The pencil......it's a fricken pencil. It's actually the same size as I found it, basically a golf pencil with an eraser, but no reason you couldn't cut down a regular pencil and/or use a Fisher space pen (well, but the price!). The thumb drive I use to hold PDFs of my game rules, which I rarely use because of things like laptops and tablets that are ubiquitous these days. What I use it more for than anything are copies of my PCs. Usually the hotel has a printer I can access and I'm able to print off bigger sheets before the game. The tiny one is a back-up...just in case.

So that's it....that's my travel game kit. I do have a couple meeple minis I could toss in, but I don't really see me using a mini 'cause either the GM has them or the game is online.

I can't help but to wonder if I'm the only one with a mini/travel game kit and if not, what do other people add in that I don't?

Monday Afternoon Edit: I went ahead and took a pic of some of my dice. The big dice are my beloved d30's (well, two of my Gamescience d30's), the next largest would be my "regular" Gamescience d20s. The purple ones are the new travel dice pictured above and the tiny ones.....those are the "big" metal d20's from my tiniest set of dice. I kept more than two sets in one of those emergency pill bottles you'd keep on a keychain.

Christmas in July - The OSR Picks - Megadungeons & More

Time for Round two of the OSR Picks for the Christmas in July Sale at DTRPG. Without further ado lets jump right in, the water is fine :)

The Halls of Arden Vul Complete - over 1100 pages of megadungeon greatness. Undermountain, quiver in fear! - "Arden Vul is the most ambitious megadungeon ever created, with over 1,100 Pages of Incredible Adventure. This 1st Edition compatible fully-bookmarked PDF product features: 2,162 Encounter Descriptions, 14 NPC Factions, 10 Massive Levels, 15 Extensive Sub-levels, 7 Dangerous Exterior locations, 149 New Monsters, 332 New Magic Items, 69 New Technological Items, 44 New Spells, 189 New Books through which PCs can gain a deep understanding of the dungeon, A full NPC appendix with 10 competing parties at 3 levels of power, Over 140 original pieces of art, including 28 full-page illustrations! All of this is mapped via 33 Amazing Maps that you can download for free at The Maps of Arden Vul. As we have gotten requests for VTT player's maps we have created The VTT Maps of Arden Vul for free as well. If you know you want the physical copies, just head over to the Arden Vul Bundle and get everything Arden Vul in one fell swoop. There has never been anything like Arden Vul, and there never will be again.
Welcome to the Halls of Arden Vul! 109  81.75

Low Fantasy Gaming Deluxe Edition - the last game my Saturday Night group played. Very solid system - "Low Fantasy Gaming is a tabletop RPG built for gritty adventures in low or moderate magic settings. It has simple rules, dangerous combat, flexible PC customisation, and mysterious, unpredictable magic. Designed for short, episodic adventures in sandbox worlds, LFG provides the mechanics and tables needed for easy GM improvisation. It’s a heady mix of the best old school, modern, and new game design, wrapped around a familiar d20 core." 20  15

Old-School Essentials Classic Fantasy: Rules Tome - I love this presentation of the Basic / Expert Rules - "Old-School Essentials is an adventure role-playing game of exploration, danger, monsters, and magic. The game is intentionally rules-light, putting the focus of play on imagination, improvisation, and fun. The rules are optimised for ease of use at the table, with meticulous attention to wording and layout clarity. What's more, Old-School Essentials is 100% compatible with the classic Basic/Expert game from 1981, meaning that decades of adventure are at your fingertips! A Complete Game All in One Book. The Old-School Essentials Rules Tome is a complete game of classic fantasy adventure, containing the following: Core rules: Rules for character creation and advancement, adventuring in dungeons, the wilderness, and at sea, magic and combat. Character options: Seven classic classes (cleric, dwarf, elf, fighter, halfling, magic-user, thief), complete lists of weapons and adventuring gear, extensive lists of vehicles, mounts, and vessels, mercenaries and specialists for hire, rules for stronghold construction. Spells: The complete set of 34 cleric spells (from 1st to 5th level) and 72 magic-user spells (from 1st to 6th level), for use by players or cleric, elf, and magic-user characters. Monsters: A selection of over 200 classic monsters to challenge adventurers of all levels. Treasures: A hoard of over 150 wondrous magic items. The material in this book forms a complete clone of the classic Basic/Expert game, including all rules, classes, spells, monsters, and magic items."  20  15

Barrowmaze Complete - the premier OSR megaduneon - "Local villagers whisper of a mysterious place deep in the marsh - a place shrouded in mist and dotted with barrow mounds, ruined columns, and standing stones. The tomb-robbers who explore beneath the mounds - or rather the few who return - tell tales of labyrinthine passages, magnificent grave goods, and terrifying creatures waiting in the dark. Are you brave (or foolish) enough to enter the Barrowmaze? Barrowmaze Complete (BMC) is a classic old school megadungeon for use with Labyrinth LordTM and other fantasy role-playing games. BMC includes everything in Barrowmaze I and II in the same book in addition to new material, art, layout, and cover art by Ex-TSR artist Erol Otus. Barrowmaze Complete will keep your players on their toes and your campaign going strong. BMC is brought to you by the Old School Renaissance (so don’t forget your 10’ pole)." 29  21.75

There's a bunch of affiliate links above. Your purchases help support The Tavern

Christmas in July Sale - OSR Picks - Swords & Wizardry

DriveThru is running a Christmas in July Sale, with a HUGE selection of PDF releases at 25% off. I'll be highlighting some of my personal OSR picks that are on sale over a series of posts. This is the first.

Note: A portion of monies spend via the affiliate links on this page will go to support The Tavern. I thank you in advance - Tenkar

Swords & Wizardry Continual Light - My baby. My precious. Published by your friendly bartender. "What is Swords & Wizardry Continual Light? It is a streamlined version of the Swords & Wizardry rules many of you already love. You will recognize some White Box and some Complete, but its all Swords & Wizardry. It covers four core classes (and a bunch of optional ones), four races, seven levels of play (and optional rules to keep the game going after seventh level), magic items, spells, monsters and more - all in about 17 pages of rules. Suitable for introducing new players to old school gaming or reintroducing a lapsed gamer, perfect for pick up games, convention play and yes - even campaigns.  3.00  2.25

SURVIVE THIS!! Vigilante City - Core Rules - OSR supers? Say it isn't so! "From the creators of SURVIVE THIS!! Dark Places & Demogorgons comes SURVIVE THIS!! Vigilante City, a gritty, street-level, superhero game set in the near future. Vigilante City is heavily inspired by Batman:  The Animated Series.  Along with the X-men, Spider-man and TMNT cartoons of the 1990s. Vigilante City utilizes the familiar ruleset of the world’s most popular fantasy RPG, mixing the old-school with modern mechanics for the best possible gaming experience. With it’s modular system design, you can easily play to the exact style of super’s game you want! SURVIVE THIS!! Vigilante City - Core Rules features ALL the rules to make a vigilante and play the game. Complete Modular Independent rules for Humans, Mutant Animals, Borg Conversion and Power Armor, Magic, Mutant Abilities, Psionics, Speedsters and Super Soldier Drugs, that are designed to be added or removed easily to allow your game of Vigilante City to be tailored to the exact style of superhero game that you want to play! There is also, Background/Origins, Weapons, Equipment, Gadgets, Vehicle Upgrades, Vehicle Combat, Ranged & Melee Combat, Morale, Skills, Usage Die & so much more! Vigilante City features both Human (no powers) and MegaHuman (powers) classes!"  9.99  7.49

Eldritch Tales: Lovecraftian White Box Role-Playing - I am a huge Mythos fan, and this scratches my itch - Eldritch Tales: Lovecraftian White Box Role-Playing in an OSR rule set with its roots in the original version of the world's favorite RPG, but instead of exploring musty dungeons, characters in Eldritch Tales investigate Mythos horrors in the 1920s! The setting and background are based on the cosmic horror tales of Howard Phillips Lovecraft and other members of his writing circle. Within the pages of Eldritch Tales you will find four character classes representing many classic pulp archetypes, occupations, rules for insanity, spells, monsters, esoteric tomes, artifacts, a starting scenario, and setting material, as well as advice on using Eldritch Tales with other White Box games. This game is compatible with Swords & Wizardry White Box and other OSR games. 6.99 5.24

White Star: Galaxy Edition - simply the BEST way to play a sci-fi RPG game - it was inspired a plethora of 3rd party publishers - "Endless galactic adventure awaits you in White Star: Galaxy Edition! Integrated and updated to include material from White Star and the White Star Companion, White Star: Galaxy Edition integrates new rules, new options, and expands the original game. Now more than just a tool box, White Star: Galaxy Edition offers you a universe full of thrilling adventure! White Star: Galaxy Edition includes: Twenty-five character classes! Complete rules for Starship, Vehicle, and Mecha combat! New Starship and Vehicle Modifications! New Aliens and Creatures! New Equipment, Advanced Technology, and Cybernetics! New Meditations and Gifts! Two new forms of Mysticism: The tribal Etchings of the Yabnab and strange Chitterings of the Star Squirrels! New Optional Rules, like Deeds Dark & Daring, to add pulp sci-fi heroics to your game! New Star Systems: The rugged Marnash Sector and strange Scuiridae System!"  9.99  7.49

Willow - I'm a fan of mini-settings and this looks damn good -"Willow is a town that can be dropped into your campaign setting. Focused on game-able content and being easy to use at the table, It is graphic and art heavy. Structured as a mini hexcrawl, players will have to work together to investigate a mystery to move on from a damp backwater town to bigger, brighter places. The Setting: Deep in a vast wood, a town called Willow sits beside the Lake of Tears. The lake is framed by weeping willow trees, their vines pouring into the lake’s dark green shores. Willow is not what one would call an upbeat town. The rains here are relentless and the grey skies loom low like a giant cage. Travelers do not linger here long; one night in the Blue Brew Inn is enough to make most jump on the ferry and move on. But recently the ferries have stopped running as something terrible has taken up residence on the river. Meanwhile, the town folk will not talk about the noises echoing up from the staircase that descends below the lake, nor the broken stone circle on the hill at the edge of town. The town's leader, a witch named Morose Morgan, is a recluse and refuses to leave her island."  7.00  5.25

Far West - Obligatory Annual Update on Gareth the Hut

On July, 15th, Gareth Skarka made the following update on the Far West Kickstarter (funded way back in 2011 - note, my commentary will be in ORANGE)

For those of you that haven't seen this already via social media, the following update appears on my personal blog and the FAR WEST website (not Twitter? I'm surprised):

I've been quiet recently, I know. (but not on Twitter. NEVER quiet on Twitter. If only Far West could be written 256 characters at a time)

First things first:  Far West is NOT dead (please, bring out your dead). I only have one chapter remaining to assemble from the earlier drafts (and I have this bridge in Brooklyn to sell really cheap).  Things are moving slowly, and I figure that I owed you an explanation. (I think we are owed a new explanation)

It's no secret that among the many trials and tribulations that have plagued this project, my depression and anxiety have been at the forefront.  I have been my own worst enemy. (strangly enough, it hasn't stopped Gareth from working on other projects, which we'll detail below)

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

So I've done that. 

The initial stages of the process, where, among other things, we were trying to zero in on the right combination of prescriptions and correct dosages, made it very difficult to get anything done.  I just couldn't focus on anything other than my mental health. 

Now that we are further along, and I've begun to feel the effects, I'm coming back into myself, in a way.  And that includes finishing Far West. (so close, yet so far...)

So that's what I'm going to do. 

I appreciate the patience of so many people who have given far more than I could have ever asked. "Thank you" seems terribly inadequate, given the circumstances. (i think the last year you've given so many people a big FUCK YOU)

As a final administrative note:  All official updates will now appear on the Far West website (last update was THIS very update).  We have a forum there where I can be reached for questions. (last forum comment, not from Gareth was January 2 - Gareth's last was in 2015 - did i mention the forum hasnt taken new sign-ups in years?) The Kickstarter page will be used purely for delivery of texts, PDFs, etc. to backers. (so obviously the KS page hasn't been used)

Now, the home stretch.  Talk to you soon. (but only on Twitter)

Gareth-Michael Skarka
Lawrence, KS
July 15, 2019.

So, what else has Gareth written during the time frame he HASN'T completed Far West?

• Axanar: Ships of the Four Years War for Squadron Strike! Troy, NY: Ad Astra Games, 2019.
• Legend of the Five Rings Roleplaying Game. Roseville, MN: Fantasy Flight Games, 2018.
• Star Wars: Force and Destiny — Unlimited Power. Roseville, MN: Fantasy Flight Games, 2018.
• Star Wars: Age of Rebellion — Cyphers And Masks. Roseville, MN: Fantasy Flight Games, 2018.
• Star Trek Adventures: Beta Quadrant Sourcebook. London, UK: Modiphius Entertainment, 2018.
• Star Trek Adventures: Core Rulebook. London, UK: Modiphius Entertainment, 2017.
• Fiasco ’12: Fiasco Playset Anthology Vol 3. Chapel Hill, NC: Bully Pulpit Games, 2015.
• Doctor Who: The Eighth Doctor Sourcebook. Oxford, UK: Cubicle 7 Entertainment, 2015.
• Doctor Who: Adventures In Time And Space – Limited Edition Rulebook. Oxford, UK: Cubicle 7 Entertainment, 2014.
• “Exit Visa”, Have Blaster Will Travel. Washington, NJ: Galileo Books, 2012
• Defending The Earth: The UNIT Sourcebook. Oxford, UK: Cubicle 7 Entertainment, 2012.
• Doctor Who: Adventures in Times and Space (Eleventh Doctor Edition). Oxford, UK: Cubicle 7 Entertainment, 2012.

Kind words said by those that weren't Far West backers:“[A] standout example […] of one of our newest professions: the e-book publisher.”

—The Associated Press. (Washington Post, December 2007)

“…a visionary in the electronic publishing field.”–Dominic McDowall-Thomas, Cubicle 7 Entertainment.

“A trail-blazer… an innovator… one of the inventors of ‘how it’s done’ in the ePublishing sector.”

–Sean Patrick Fannon, OneBookShelf, Inc.

“Gareth got the Inner Circle off of the ground and I couldn’t recommend a better person to take start-ups under his wing.”

–Jeffrey J. Visgaitis, The Inner Circle.

“A lot of publishers would benefit from [his] experience.”

–Steve Creech, DragonWing Games/Bastion Press.

Humble Bundle - Pathfinder 2nd Edition by Paizo

Color me VERY surprised. I never expected Paizo to put Pathfinder 2nd Edition on sale on Humble Bundle so early in its life span. Nor did I expect them to include a PRINT copy of the rulebook to be included at 30 bucks, but they did. Hell, it's tempting even for me ;)

That is an affiliate link above. By using The Tavern's affiliate links you support The Tavern and we greatly appreciate it.

Kickstarter - Frog Folk Villagers - 3D Printable & Physical Model + CHIBI

I'm really really tempted to get a 3d printer, especially in these days of pandemic lockdown. The files coming out for 3d printers these days are simply amazing in detail. With the Frog Folk Villagers Kickstarter you can snag files or physical pieces. I've always been a Bullywug fan ;)

As your brave RPG adventurers travel through the edges of the swampland on their way to the Mountain of Taunting Doom ... they come upon a village of simple Frog Folk.  Are they peaceful?  Will they attack suddenly when your guard is down?  Maybe befriending them will give your party some vital information for your daunting quest ahead!

Deal of the Day - Timemaster (Pacesetter / Goblinoid Games)

I have fond memories of Timemaster. It was one of a series of games from Pacesetter Games and a bunch of ex-TSR employees produced in the 80s, including Star Ace, Chill, and Sandman, and uses a color-coded results table. Goblinoid Games resurrected it and for that I am happy.

Normally 5.95 in PDF, until tomorrow morning Timemaster is on sale for 3.57

This is the reprint version, with all new interior art by Mark Allen. This book combines the two books from the original boxed set. The introductory adventure is now provided separately as a free download. 

Lurching into action, your battered chronoscooter crosses the void of time and space. Another lurch, and the vertigo fades. The countryside comes into view. Knights in armor battle, clanging sword against shield, and then someone blasts at your neck with a laser beam. Once again, all of Time is a mess, and as an agent of the Time Corps, you must set this world straight or die trying! Adventure to any place, any time, in this universe and beyond! The TimeMaster Roleplaying Game makes you master of the "Fourth Dimension", guiding you to the ultimate adventure in history, legend, and science fiction. fight cunning aliens and savage renegades who twist Time to their own purposes. Only skill and wit stand between the world you know and absolute chaos

Yes, there is an affiliate link above. You can support The Tavern by using our affiliate links. 

Deal of the Day -The Nocturnal Table (OSR)

I've always been a huge fan of inspirational game aids that can be used within the game session, as I'm a huge improv style GM. Today's Deal of the Day, The Nocturnal Table, looks to scratch that itch. Normally 6.50 in PDF, until tomorrow morning it is a mere 2.60.

“The City is a maze. A labyrinth of alleyways, plazas, shortcuts and hidden thoroughfares, it isn’t any less treacherous to navigate than a dungeon. At least during the day, the worst one can expect is a greedy patrol of guards eager for a shakedown, or a thief in the crowd, ready to make a grab and run for it. At night, the sensible and the timid hurry home and bolt their doors. Ecstatic revellers, madmen, assassins, religious fanatics, thrill-seekers, enigmatic apparitions and tiger-headed opium nightmares prowl the streets. And the guards are still not helping. The Nocturnal Table is a supplement intended to bring you this city by way of an encounter system, random inspiration tables, NPC and monster statistics, as well as a giant nighttime random encounter table, whose three hundred entries can serve as interludes as well as springboards for complicated investigative scenarios and fantastic conspiracies.” 

The Nocturnal Table is a 60-page game aid dedicated to city-based adventures, lavishly illustrated by Matthew Ray (cover), Peter Mullen, Stefan Poag and Denis McCarthy. This is a game aid designed for regular table use, and formatted to be comfortable and accessible, offering a handy guide to design and run adventure scenarios in a large, sinful city filled with action and intrigue. 

At the core of The Nocturnal Table is a 300-entry table of random encounters and odd events you can run into at night in a busy fantasy metropolis. From a patrol of guards carrying a slain comrade, to a sinister beggar-catcher soliciting the aid of dishonest adventurers, or a skeleton covered in grey ooze, its eyes glittering gemstones shambling towards the party, all the wonder and menace of a city-crawl are at hand. But that is not all. With The Nocturnal Table, you can…
create general encounters with the aid of a comprehensive encounter system… 

• generate merchants selling strange and fantastic goods (as seen in Echoes From Fomalhaut #01)…
• find out what’s in their pockets…
• generate local colour on the fly…
• stock warehouses with exotic goods to plunder…
• and set up secret meetings and investigation sites!
• Guidelines are also offered to re-use the encounters and chart contents for the construction of bizarre plotlines and sinister conspiracies which rule from the shadows… while the City sleeps. All that, and more are at your disposal in… The Nocturnal Table!

Above is an affiliate link. Affiliate links keep the taps flowing here at The Tavern and are the easiest way to show your support. We thank you.

News - Lamentations of the Flame Princess over 100k in Debt

James Raggi updated the LotFP blog for the first time in three years earlier today. Here is the relevant news:

THE CURRENT SITUATION 

This one is for all the marbles. As you're probably aware, LotFP has gone through a rough patch the past year and a half. 

The tldr is we're about 90,000€ in debt, 60,000€ of which is due in about a month or we're done. And we have so much more to do. 

So if you want LotFP to continue, you need to buy something, preferably a lot of somethings, and very soon, when the new books go on sale. If you don't want LotFP to continue, you don't have to do anything. You're good. 

A more thorough explanation for those who will surely ask:
After a record 2018, webstore sales hit a wall in January 2019 (I assume because of increased Finnish postal costs; November and December 2018 were strong and then *bam*), but we were supposed to have a new US-based webstore opening in the early summer. So I was confident that I was in for a fifth straight year of growth and prosperity, and made plans to take care of that. 

The exact same week the Zak allegations hit in February 2019, I received the last of series of business loans totaling just about 70,000€. These would cover a number of reprints (which sell slowly and thus take more time to recoup their costs, making them very difficult to finance from normal cashflow), and convention expenses for the year. I secured these loans based on the fact that I'd grossed over 250,000€ the previous year, had two new Zak books set to come out in 2019 (not to mention Red & Pleasant Land as one of the reprints), with a few other new books on the schedule as well. 

The fallout from the Zak situation was that his upcoming work, and the Red and Pleasant Land reprint, were canceled. Everything else went into disarray and only one full-fledged (not limited edition) release happened all year, and that was a low-price short adventure. The US fulfillment center fell through and didn't get going until over half a year later than scheduled. 

Even so, convention sales in 2019 were greater than 2018 (and we did one less convention in 2019!), retail distribution sales was about even year-to-year, PDF sales were down a bit... but direct webstore sales were down 80% for the year. And direct sales are where we traditionally make most of our money. Webstore sales plummeting has almost killed the business: Gross sales were in total 40% down, and the profits (AKA my personal income) went from (rough numbers) 45,000€ in 2018 to 3,500€ in 2019. That's not a typo. 

By last fall, I started falling behind in loan payments. By spring this year, just as the world at large was beginning to fall apart due to the pandemic, I started falling behind on royalty payments to the talent. There's only so long I can shuffle money and beg for patience...
And now with the pandemic, conventions for the entire year are gone (conventions accounted for 25% of last year's gross income). Distribution/retail sales (by far the biggest income source last year) were wiped out completely for a time due to shutdowns and at best will be weak for some time to come due to the pandemic. 

And so here we are. Pretty much all of these new items were financed on credit, sparing no expense to make these the best books we could, and it's time for what just might be the last stand. It is my hope that not only can we clear this debt, but we can get a bit of a cash stockpile so we can make sure the next batch of books (and the next, and the next...) are up to LotFP standards of quality and deliver significant royalty payments to their authors. 

It's up to you now. 

Posted by JimLotFP at 12:28 AM 

Then there was this regarding the LotFP Referee Book:

February 2020 Update! 

The big news: So we've got what I'd consider a complete draft in hand. 296,000 words.  

As far as I'm concerned, this is it. Not throwing out large chunks wholesale, deciding entire sections need rewriting from scratch, or any of the other nonsense that has turned this into a hellscape forever project. 

But it will need editing. I'd estimate it's going to lose 10-20% of the word count through this process, because right now it's not tight. There are a few other things that are going to press imminently so those have to be shepherded first, but as of April 1 doing this will be my sole priority. 

After that we'll know what sections need to be shored up, plus the promised supplemental stuff that needs a tight draft prepared first in order to do, and then we start putting together the final layouts.
And the part that will cause trouble saying it out loud rather to the group than replying individually... there have been refund requests. I can't do it. The money simply isn't laying around. Over 7000€ has been spent on the project just the past 14 months, the whole thing is already way over budget, and I'd estimate there's five figures additional expense on the way getting this thing finalized and ready for print... and then there's the print cost which is going to be another five figures.
This has turned into the Homer and I can't see how it'll retail for less than 75€. Maybe significantly more than that (Veins of the Earth is about 100,000 words and that's 368 pages) and now that I see that written down, maybe broken down into multiple books (which you'd all get as backers at no additional cost but shipping). 

So that's not bad for those getting in for 30€ or 38€ books, and we've now got a US fulfillment center so it won't be necessary for those of you around that area to pay shipping from Finland. 

And that's just the main Ref book. Doesn't count the screen, slipcase, or the monster book due. 

It should be quite the exciting end part of the year. 

(I just jinxed it, didn't I...?)

Tavern Chat Podcast episode covering the current situation

YouTube of the same podcast episode (all episodes are available via YouTube)

What do you Think About "Crunch" in a Game?

I don't think this is going to be a character or player story, but it's not like I write up an outline for these things and shoot them by an editor or anything. The closest I do is go back and fix grammatical and spelling errors I notice after-the-fact.

This last week I was "home" on vacation and trying to explain RPGs to someone who had no clue what an RPG was, but loved reading fantasy novels, to include a bunch of TSR D&D novels. Of course I answered with a high-level pass and then dialed-in on specifics based on follow-up questions.

The conversation moved on to different RPGs and basically why, which is a whole lot to think about. In so many ways I'd say there are three big reasons why we have different game systems: money, ideas, and preferences.

Money is easy. People like money. It lets us buy stuff and do stuff. If you own the game and sell it to others you make money. If you don't own something but can make/sell something similar....

As far as ideas go, yeah...they're like assholes...everybody has one and everyone else's stinks. I'm sure plenty of games exist because somebody either didn't like the way one system did something and that somebody had what they thought was a better idea to solve the "problem", and the fix could make money. Money is good....

The third reason, kind of related to "ideas" is just the fact that folks like to play a certain type of game and if enough people like their game a certain way somebody is going to put forth their ideas for a game system that runs a game that certain way and that somebody can now possibly make money selling that game.

I personally like a bit of a crunchy game, which is why I loved HackMaster 4th Edition. I personally think that game only came about because the KenzerCo D-Team had some ideas they wanted to put into print, basically publishing their home-game rules. They liked a crunchy game like I did.

The thing is, and really where my rambling so far is leading up to is, "How much crunch is too much?" Clearly one person's crunch is another's fluff.

One thing I like about a crunchy game is that you can usually throttle-back things, removing some crunchy bits, and the game will still work. For example....you don't like weapon to-hit adjustments based on armor class/types (something I really don't care for)....just remove it. The adjustments work both ways and removing them doesn't do a whole lot for combat.

As a player I enjoy encumbrance and having to figure out what to keep and what to take. Trying to get those 1,000 silver pieces out of the dungeon when you're already at capacity is.....well, it's a challenge. Spending your hard-earned coin on upgrading your spell books so you aren't risking your main book in the dungeon....good times. Deciding which magic items I can take along on an adventure because there is an experience level-based magic item cap.....(that was a thing) loved it.

Now this was as a player.........I didn't care for it nearly as much as a GM. I trusted my players in my home game, but running a table at a convention.....especially a higher-level game? Fuuuuuuuuuuck that could suck. I saw plenty of what I'm 110% certain was straight-up cheating. I remember one player who always had 95%+ of all possible hit points at higher level. "Oh, your 5th level Mage has 48 1st level spells memorized? I call bullshit." Thankfully this kind of crap was really only seen, at least by me, at the highest level.....and in my experience the players that cheat the most in this regard are generally not the best players overall.

Still, a game's a game and even when I'm not playing in a crunchy game it doesn't mean I can't add a little on my own end. I can still try to spend money on extra spell books and keep track of my encumbrance even if the GM doesn't care too much.........

Again, I'll ask the question, "How much crunch is too much?"....but I'll add, "What do you do to add, or (someone else might want to know...) remove crunch from your game?"

Kickstarter - Tome of Alchemy: Magic Item and Potion Creation for 5e (Necromancer Games)

5th Edition rules for alchemical creation of magical and mundane items in your 5th Edition game!

A Tome of Alchemy from Courtney Campbell and the fine folks from Frog God Games under the Necromancer Games banner? It's almost like chocolate and peanut butter, but adding bananas ;)

Courtney does amazing work. I also consider Courtney a friend. As most of you know, under normal non-Covid-19 circumstances I'd be attending conventions and manning the Frog God Table. I consider the Frogs "family". So wow, truth in advertising - this looks great and yes, I am connected to all involved :)

Hundreds of items, dozens of spells, rules for potion-brewing, an innovative research-system for alchemy, tables to resolve mistakes in the laboratory, alchemy-related adventure hooks, and much, much more! 

Bubbling alembics and fiery ovens release the fumes of sweet and noxious gases into the stone-walled laboratory, where mists gather and curl among the rafters. Shelves groan with the weight of clay jars, glass containers, parchment scrolls, boxes of rare minerals, and ancient books forbidden to own. This is the mysterious domain of the alchemist, and now the secrets of this venerable craft are opened before you for use in your 5th edition D&D game. A Pathfinder 1.0 version will be made as a print on demand softcover option (upgrades to hardcover at 250 sold). No leather editions will be made of the Pathfinder Tome of Alchemy. 

Players and game masters both can use the mysteries of alchemy to expand options for adventuring and adventure design. This masterful work by Courtney Campbell explores all aspects of the venerable craft of alchemy and weaves it into the structure of the world's most popular fantasy role-playing game!
Not only does this Kickstarter offer the Tome of Alchemy itself, but backers also have the option to purchase the Deck of Mysterious Creations, a card-based system for tracking and developing alchemical experiments. The cards are system-neutral.

Petition - WotC should remove the disclaimer statement on all of its Legacy products

The following petition went live earlier this weekend:

Wizards of the Coast should remove the disclaimer statement on all of its Legacy products

Wizards of the Coast recently added a disclaimer on all of its "Legacy Products", including all of the previous games published by TSR inc.  declaring that those products were supportive of racial, ethnic, and gender-based prejudice and stereotypes.  The exact statement is below: 

"We (Wizards) recognize that some of the legacy content available on this website does not reflect the values of the Dungeons & Dragons franchise today. Some older content may reflect ethnic, racial, and gender prejudice that were commonplace in American society at that time. These depictions were wrong then and are wrong today. This content is presented as it was originally created, because to do otherwise would be the same as claiming these prejudices never existed. Dungeons & Dragons teaches that diversity is a strength, and we strive to make our D&D products as welcoming and inclusive as possible. This part of our work will never end". 

This disclaimer makes a statement of fact argument, and therefore paints all of the writers, editors, artists, and consumers of those products as supporting those prejudices, stereotypes and bigotry.  This statement by Wizards of the Coast opens the possibility for the players of these "Legacy Products" to face ridicule, and face the labeling as "bigot", "racists", "misogynist", and worse. 

It is with that concern in mind that those that sign this petition request that the disclaimer statement be removed.  Secondly, that an apology be issued to the previous employees of the company, or companies that produced those products.  Finally, an apology be made to the to the "Legacy Consumers and Players" who have been supporting the Dungeons & Dragons franchise for over 40 years.   

Free Classic RPG - What Price Glory?! (1978)

Huge thanks to Thad for tracking this down and providing the scan and links.

What Price Glory?! (1978) Was an early, self-published rules variant of OD&D. It is a complete, stand-alone RPG designed, written and self-published by John Dankert and Jim Lauffenberg while they attended Perdue University in the late 70s. Thomas Sprimont illustrated the game. Less than 500 copies were printed.

The rules are made available at the link below in the files section with Jim’s permission. There is also an errata and an NPC sorcerer class by Tom.

I’d like to thank Jim and Tom for graciously answering my many questions and providing materials from their personal collection. I’d also like to thank The Strong Museum of Play for their research assistance. - Thaddeus G. Moore

https://rpggeek.com/rpgitem/205686/what-price-glory

WotC Explains that the recent Legacy Disclaimer is only an Early Step

From the WotC Facebook page

Rach and I discussed on the Tavern Chat Podcast earlier tonight

A disclaimer has been added to several legacy titles on our partner distribution sites. We'd like to talk about why we've added that disclaimer, what it means, and other steps that are being taken to address a legacy of ethnic, racial, and gender prejudice in some old products. 

This is an early step and not done in a vacuum. It's not enough to evaluate ourselves. As outlined in our original diversity statement (http://spr.ly/6184GTbpj), we're undergoing the process of reviewing our content and practices and hiring external consultants to review with us. 

These processes take time to implement, and we'll continue to provide future updates. Unfortunately, our disclaimer was added before we were ready to fully communicate the steps we are taking. We apologize for failing to handle this situation with the care and grace it deserves.
Lastly, we want to make it clear that we condemn the harassment or bullying of those raising their concerns about our content, past or present. D&D wants to be an open, welcoming, and inclusive space. Those who do not reflect those values are not welcome in our community. 

Simply put, we messed up and we're sorry. Wizards of the Coast is constantly working to be better, and we have a lot of work to do, especially so in repairing trust with our community. Thank you for continuing to use your voice so that we may continue to make meaningful change."

WotC Issues Disclaimer for Legacy Products on Sale via DM's Guild / DTRPG

I've already covered this in-depth on The Tavern Chat Podcast. I can't believe they STILL haven't corrected "Dungeon & Dragons".

The quoted text is from T1 The Village of Hommlet (1e)

Podcast discussion:
https://anchor.fm/tavernchat/episodes/E765---Bonus-Episode---WotC-Adds-Disclaimer-to-Legacy-Releases-at-DMs-Guild-egemnm

https://anchor.fm/tavernchat/episodes/E766---Rant---My-DD-is-Forever-Damned-egfguh

Youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIdpAASpAI7vu-bZx6pP_mQ
"We recognize that some of the legacy content available on this website, does not reflect the values of the Dungeon & Dragons franchise today. Some older content may reflect ethnic, racial and gender prejudice that were commonplace in American society at that time. These depictions were wrong then and are wrong today. This content is presented as it was originally created, because to do otherwise would be the same as claiming these prejudices never existed. Dungeons & Dragons teaches that diversity is a strength, and we strive to make our D&D products as welcoming and inclusive as possible. This part of our work will never end."

There is an affiliate link above. Purchases made via The Tavern's affiliate links support your bartender.

Sale - The Secret Fire (OSR Ruleset)

Secret Fire Games is running a sale on its entire The Secret Fire line of releases. Has it really been 9 years since it was first released?.

Very much OSR. While some part may be disturbing, there are few games that one can fip through for 10 minutes and be filled with inspiration.

Winner of the 2012 Innovative Game Design Award from I-CON 31, THE SECRET FIRE™ uses a unique blend of game design and storytelling to create a fast and flexible original fantasy game system of roleplaying, exploration, and constant danger. Developed by Origins Award®-nominated game designer George Strayton (Dungeons & Dragons, Men in Black, Star War D6, Indiana Jones, The D6 System, The Lord of the Rings, etc.), TSF’s revolutionary “immersion” mechanics (screenwriting plus fantasy RPG game design) to breathe real life into the experience of descending into dungeons, exploring the uncharted wilderness, and saving the innocent from certain doom. 

“A flavor-filled approach to fantasy gaming that puts the mystery and magic back into the dark recesses of the dungeon.” —Monte Cook

Yep, that is an affiliate link above. Support The Tavern.

Kickstarter -Steve Jackson Games' GURPS 2020 PDF Challenge (11 PDFs 3 Bucks)

Can we unlock all twelve PDFs before the clock runs out?

I've been a fan of GURPS since the Man to Man and Orcslayer releases. I actually love the supplements, as they convert to other RPG systems nearly painlessly. This means 11 - potentially 12 PDFs for 3 bucks is something I can't pass up on, and neither should you.

Just 5k away from 12 PDFs :)

The GURPS team, under the direction of GURPS Line Editor Sean Punch, has prepared a dozen different PDFs . . . and this is your chance to possibly grab all twelve of the new PDFs for only $3! 

Starting with the latest expansion to the GURPS Action series (see Warehouse 23), your pledge of $3 secures you a PDF copy of GURPS Action 6 - Tricked Out Rides. This 10-page PDF, written by Sean Punch, is a quick-and-dirty toolkit for adventures where sports cars pack more gadgetry than fighter jets, and miniguns fit behind headlights! 

One new PDF is great, but the project gets more exciting for all of the backers as stretch goals are unlocked. With each unlocked stretch goal (see below), we'll add another one of the twelve new PDFs to your rewards . . . that $3 pledge becomes an even better deal as more backers join the campaign.

I'm an Elitist When it Comes to Some of my Game Gear

I'll freely admit to being a great many things when it comes to gaming, and most of the adjectives (I'm sure) aren't pretty....like me....seriously, why do you think I use these cartoons instead of an *actual* picture of me?

OK, I kid......but what I'm leading up to is the simple fact that I'm a dice snob. I have a ton of dice and I have purchased a wide array of dice.....I do have some cool ones in my collection, but......BUT I generally only game with one brand of dice: Gamescience.

I do believe dice can be lucky or unlucky and in general I am superstitious when it comes to my dice. I have lucky charms and once I even had my dice cursed and had to do a lot to remove said curse. Now I *know* that most of these beliefs are probably BS and most of my experience in the matter is anecdotal. I also know that run-of-the-mill dice have their flaws. When I was taking Statistics in college I did a few stat experiments where I rolled all of my then-normal (ie. not Gamescience) a few hundred times and recorded the results. Sure enough, my "lucky" dice had an abnormally high distribution and the "unlucky" dice had an abnormally low distribution.

Now I used to run into "Col." Lou Zocchi pretty much every year I went to Origins. Great guy, will talk your ear off for 20' and you'll enjoy most every second of it. He'll gladly go over his spiel about how Gamescience dice roll true compared to "regular" dice, and I believe every bit of it. Everything jives with my personal experience and when I replicated my stats experience I got a pretty equal distribution of numbers, not unlike the experiment done over at the Awesome Dice blog.

Somewhere in my house I have a metric butt-ton of GS dice from when I played HackMaster 4th Edition. I needed a LOT of d4's and d6's for my DS Invoker, between penetration dice and the fact that I just did a lot of dice-worth of damage. My current dice set, pictured below, is what I've been using for the last couple years.....mostly because those other dice are MIA, most likely in a box somewhere.

You'll note that I have basically two sets of green dice, four different d10's and a couple d30's. One set of green dice was a gift for my birthday (maybe my 40th?) from Barbara Blackburn. Anyone who knows Barb, except for Ken Whitman, knows she's a freakin sweetheart, so I'm using the hell out of those dice. I bought the second set because I rolled a lot of pairs of dice for the new HackMaster game....which is why I also have the four extra d10's, so I can roll a d 1,000 (red, orange, yellow, & blue).

Now those d30's...those are near and dear to me for sure. Some of you might know I do some d30 stuff. I have a few d30's, but not like these. I'm not quite sure how the whole Gamescience company sale from Lou to whoever owns it now went down...I heard he got it back at some points, but I really don't know squat about it. I just remember that Lou was selling older dice he had made and Gamescience had a separate dice selling booth at the con. Anyway, I went to Lou to buy more dice that I didn't need and I wanted some more d30's. Unfortunately he was all out, not just of his convention stock, but everything he had & would ever have. The live dungeon folks had come through and bought him out. I was pretty bummed, but not much I could do.....I BSed with the Colonel for a while and wished him well.

Two days later as I'm walking the hall seeing if I could find any last-day-of-the-con deals, Zocchi stops me at his booth. While he was packing up he happened to find two.....2! more d30's. These were no-kidding his last two d30's. The green-ish one was a normal dice, but the yellow....the yellow was very old, one of his earliest designs. Instead of being numbered 1-30 it is number 1-10 three times, with one set having a "-" and one a "+".

Most of my dice are inked with a permanent marker, but the d30's are "inked" "old-school" using a black china pen, which is essentially an adult art crayon.