I used to be a huge collector of comic books in my teens and 20s. There was just something about reading books with art that was special. My local comic book store didn't carry Judge Dredd or the 2000 AD titles, because those weren't "American", but I would make occasional trips to Forbidden Planet on 13th Street in Manhattan and I'd always leave with some Judge Dredd and the like to fill the holes in my collection.
Most of those comics are gone now, either by choice (and downsizing purge) or by fate (a flood in the basement). I'm building my new comic book collection digitally. It stores much easier ;)
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I shared this on The Tavern's Youtube Channel this morning and offered to match the first $250 raised by Tavern Members. That was hit with the first donation of $250!
So now here's the new goal. If members of The Tavern can get us to $1000 or more raised for Darlene by this community, The Tavern will donate $500 total in the name of the members of The Tavern.
Skip your next cup of Starbucks coffee and give it to Darlene and save her home.
Queen Anne is dying. She was born in 1901 in a small town in North Carolina. I’m doing all I can to save her, but I need your help.
I am a retired artist whose claim to fame is being the first woman artist for Dungeons and Dragons. Choosing a life devoted to art cost me financial security. I’ve always lived close to the bone and have no means to help her.
Queen Anne is my house, a Victorian lady in serious trouble. Your contribution will help to repair her windows (so she can see); remove the overgrown vines, bushes and branches (they scratch her); a new roof (her hair is falling out); along with mold remediation from a leak (the result of her tears); and a new coat of paint (to protect her skin and restore her beautiful face).
Although her foundation is sound, and she’s paid for, Queen Anne sadly faces a point of no return. Repairs need to be done ASAP while they can still be easily managed. Also, the town is after her, insisting she be brought up to what they call “minimum standards.” They mostly don’t like to see windows without sills… Thus, my immediate need.
The amount I’m asking will take care of the minimum requirements so I’m not in trouble with the town. Anything over this amount will help defray the costs of a new roof and, hopefully, a paint job.
I hold out the hope someday soon she will again be the beautiful southern belle she once was. Won’t you help me refurbish this grand dame?
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I really haven't been a fan of the "Dungeons & Dragons" movies out there. The first one was, maybe OK, but the second one......yes, there was a second pretty-much-straight-to-DVD second film, well let's just say I know I watched it, but I remember jack squat about it.
I do watch a lot of movies, but to basically purge it from memory except for my recollection of the perception (I don't remember anything about Eragon, except for the abrupt ending and me thinking, "Where the F*%k is the rest of this shitty movie?!"
No, the best D&D movies, to me, were so NOT D&D movies....well at least not outright:
OK, I added Time Bandits to see if you were still with me here, BUT it did have a bunch of time & space jumping Dwarves stealing everything in sight. It fits with the Fantasy and SciFi mashup that a lot of those early guys seemed to enjoy.....
So I'm not super excited about the new Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves movie that was just announced as the track record isn't that great. I mean the first one had some big names and fancy (for the time) special effects too. It's not like Jeremy Irons phoned it in or anything, but the movie was...again, just OK. I think the problem was that instead of telling a good story with some D&D elements they went with D&D-ish elements that were more important than the story.
Remember the Beholder?
Yep, a Beholder running around acting as an overgrown guard dog. New one for me.
Still, I'm holding out a little hope for this movie, even if my expectations are low. There really isn't much to go on right now but the trailer. I'm guessing the lead character is a Bard, but the others....no clue. Just seems like generic fighter-type, maybe thief-type, maybe a paladin-ish-type, a magic-user-type, and....druid-type? Actual classes, who knows. Is that one PC, er character, actually a high-level druid that can shape-shift into an Owlbear, or is there a weird new lycanthropy in the newest edition? Hell if I know.....just hits me a bit like the D&D-ish elements of the previous attempts.
The basic plot seems like some type of redemption story, with the idea that the main character recovered a super-powerful magic relic and handed it over to the bad guy who does bad things and now he's forming a group to get the macguffin back? Interesting putting the lewt acquisition way up-front like that, but if it works....
...if.
I want to be optimistic because if they do a good job and the movie makes money outside of the nerdcore audience, maybe we can get more? I'm thinking if it does good, maybe not great, we can at least get a few more definitely-not-D&D-type movies out of the deal, and some of those might make it to the short list right above Time Bandits....
Special Note: I started this post on Friday before Erik posted this same movie clip...and I finished it before he finished his post, but it was scheduled for "my day". I already gave him crap, so no need to bug him (or me) about that fact......instead bug him about other stupid shit. He just loves that!
I very much like the quality of the Tenkar's Minions shirt I received, but the vendor I used does not have its own marketplace. Still, it showed me that the art will reproduce well. The next step is to try RedBubble or the like.
I will likely take orders for pick-up at Shire Con in September from the original vendor, but they only offered up to 2x, and as gamers that is similar to a Gamers' Large ;) Another reason to use RedBubble is they offer up to 5x.
As the art was donated to the community, all shirts will be sold AT COST when they are available. There are other ways to support The Tavern and they are linked below.
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The new trailer has been released for the upcoming Dungeons & Dragons movie starring Chris Pine. I am pleasantly surprised to say "it looks fun" and possibly even good. I know, go figure.
Here's the link to the video. Enjoy:
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Star Trek recently returned to my must-watch franchises, with the Brave New Worlds series. Discovery and Picard didn't seem like Star Trek to me, but Brave New Worlds scratches that itch.
Star Trek in its current incarnation is an RPG that I've yet to pick up. I think that's about to change.
The Star Trek Adventures Humble Bundle has two sweet points in my opinion. For a buck, you can get the Starter Set. For 30 bucks you get 32 titles, including the core books. I think that's a decent return on my gaming dollars ;)
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"Hi everyone, all Goblinoid Games social presences are hereby suspended. Basic sales operations and all products currently available will remain for sale and in print at this time.
This page will remain active for now, but the Goblinoid Games page is deactivated.
My sincere apologies if these developments cause any distress. I appreciate and am grateful to have had your support over the last 15 years.
Please hang tight, additional information will surface in the coming weeks."
Dan Proctor
The above was shared on Facebook earlier today. I have no further information (trust me, many have asked throughout the day). Whatever is in the works, I wish Dan only the very best.
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Yep, Star Frontiers: New Genesis is "for realz". I have a PDF copy and my God, it is a steaming mess. It's written as if its sole purpose is to troll WotC and embarrass them to the point they pay nuTSR to simply make SFNG and nuTSR go away. Far away.
I strongly suspect that is NOT going to happen.
That being said, it appears either Dave J or Justin L wishes to threaten yours truly with "slander" and I ("Tenkarp") run the risk of being "sude". Someone is calling "lawers". I hope they are Bar certified "lawers".
Did you notice the comment above by "Mario Real"? It just validated the content of the PDF I was given. Talk about sinking your own ship.
In any case, the comment was deleted shortly after I posted my comment. I wonder why that would be?
You can view the first installment of what will surely be a many-part series below.
As an aside, if I do get "sude", I may seek funding to hire an attorney. Hopefully, it will have more success funding than nuTSR had in funding their lawsuit against WotC ;) In any case, I suspect the WotC suit will settle first, and any "discovery" would be totally to my advantage, and not just for the reasons stated above. Any such filing would likely fall under NYS's Frivolous Conduct Sanctions. I could always use a tattoo parlor or two, but I'll pass on the grits ;)
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I remember the first edition of Shadowrun. It was exciting. Elves and other fantasy races in a cyberpunk world. sadly, none of the regular players in my gaming group at the time gave a shit. Ah well, such is the life of a tabletop RPG gamer.
Shadowrun Sixth Edition is the latest Humble Bundle RPG Bundle. For 18 bucks you get a fairly complete set of books, including the core rules. It certainly is a bargain at that price. Still, I'll be honest, any price point under 18 bucks does not get you the core rulebook, and if you are grabbing this on Humble Bundle, you likely want the rules in PDF. I'm going to call that a bad decision by Catalyst Games, but it is what it is.
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The topic of this post has been sitting in my head all weekend and I've sat down to type this a couple of times now and the first few times I keep thinking that it looks too much like a commentary regarding either Erik's "recent" dealings with the Evil DM, or Satine Phoenix drama....hell maybe even Zak Smith bullshit.
No....this is about my own personal RPG bully and as much as I'd love to put this asshole on full blast, I have to realize that this is clearly a double dumb-ass on me situation. I let this fucker move into my head and set up shop rent-free. I thought that I managed to evict him, but evidently he had a key to the back door.
Now I'm not sure how much to share here, mostly because it's a lot of "who gives a shit" for Tavern Patrons. The TL;DR version is I had someone in my old gaming community bully me online to the point where I had to take the nuclear option and quit. I spent all of my vacations, and a LOT of money, volunteering for this company/community, for friends (I thought) and in the end it didn't matter for shit......
There's a reason I pretty much stick with OSR games now, which is a shame 'cause I did really like that "old" system. It's literally been years since I've even picked up one of those game books, aside from when I reorganize my shelves....
Of course, the natural question is "Why is this even an issue this weekend?"
Well, glad you (didn't) ask. So my own personal dick-head popped up on social media....again probably my fault for even subbing to that group....and lamented the loss of the old gaming community, the same community he shit all over in an attempt to make my life hell while shoring his own ego up as some burgeoning RPG writer. Anyway, in this post he lamented the community's loss and propped up his statement by mentioning the passing of one of its members some years ago.
That add-on got a lot of traction, as one might expect. Thing is this kind of activity was in-line with the asshole's MO. The whole post was like ripping off a scab on a wound I thought had been healed....evidently not.
Now I don't know about everybody else, but I'm into playing RPGs because, well, it's fun. It should be fun!
Aside from those actually trying to make a living from producing RPG products (...and even then), do we really need people trying to make a name for themselves as some kind of RPG Persona? Most of these RPG bullies have this need for attention at the core of, well everything. At least that's my impression. If it was really about the game then they'd be, well gaming.
I'm not the guy for giving advice, but I can pass on something I've been told...and evidently can't remember without being reminded: "Resentment is like swallowing poison and expecting the other person to die." I know, I know....add this to the laundry list of things I need to work on.
Surprisingly enough I feel better getting this topic off my chest and hopefully off of my mind and get back to the only thing that I think might work, just ignoring these fuckers. I didn't engage my bully on social media and while I'm kind of fucking this up by posting here, but I'm taking advantage of the opportunity to vent.
Wow. Things have gotten busy here at The Tavern. Let's talk about the balls being juggled ;)
Dungeon Crawl Cards should be going out in a few days. I did about 7 or 8 cards with pens that did a poor job leaving ink on the actual card, so I had to track down better silver ink pens. Ordered and crossing my fingers. Those receiving the first cards with the poorer ink will be getting a bonus to make up for it.
See that artwork/mock module cover above? That's from Fugli. Simply amazing. But it also inspired the adventure I'll be running at Shire Con on September 17th, 2022. Here's the pitch:
The Minions of Tenkar -The crazy dwarven bartender has left his Tavern and has taken up residence in the ruined abbey’s dungeons just outside of town. Over the past few months, a deformed tribe of goblins has heeded his call to extract revenge on his former town. Pets have disappeared. Someone peed in the brewery’s kegs. And now, old man Nasala has gone missing. Will you heed the call. Will you confront Tenkar’s Minions?
SWL levels 1-3. Characters rolled at table. Or bring you character back from a prior Shire Con and possibly level up.
I've got some twists and turns already mapped out in my head. Now to put it on paper.
I just ordered a Tenkar's Minions T-Shirt as well as an extra Torchlight hat. If the shirt meets my expectations, I'll order another as a giveaway at the Shire Con table, along with the extra Torchlight cap. There's a distant chance I may take orders for fulfillment at Shire Con.
I'm thinking of using the following art for some Tenkar's Minions coffee mugs:
Starting in August, on the second Thursday of the month, instead of hosting the usual Tavern Chat Hangout on The Tavern's Discord Server, I'll be running a session of Tenkar's Thursday Night One Shots. These will use the Swords & Wizardry Light Rules with some options from Continual Light. We'll generate characters prior to the session, and characters that return from prior sessions can level up. It will be drop in - drop out and run from 8 PM Eastern till about 11 PM Eastern. The first session will be on the evening of Thursday, August 11th, 2022, and will use Discord for voice and Roll20 for the VTT. I am very much a VTT minimalist, so don't expect much more than for of war and online dice rolling It will be a playtest of The Minions of Tenkar, so if you plan on playing in my Shire Con game, I'll ask you to skip this session ;)
Oh, and no Livestream tonight for those wondering. Summers have a habit of f'n with expected scheduling.
K, time to get to work...
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I've been a fan of Whisper & Venom since Zach Glazar first self-published it back in 2013 - holy shit, has it really been that long? Whisper & Venom has led to a strong friendship between Zach & myself, that continues to this day. Heck, we even get together for virtual racketball sessions on occasions. Just letting you know what the connections are, and any biases I may have :)
The Whisper & Venom: Dark Fantasy Adventure for 5e and OSE Kickstarter brings back the original with new art, updated layout, and is available in 5e and Old School Essentials versions. Those backing in the first 36 hours get a free gnome mini. I have mine directly from Zach at my first NTRPG. Again, has it really been that long? I guess so ;)
Those first 36 hours also get you a discounted price ($47 - plus shipping, of course - compared to the regular price of $50).
I'm in for an OSE version. Lets get 200 backers for the OSE version and unlock the higher quality printed book (instead of merely a POD).
Edit - 100 backers in the first 50 minutes - not bad at all!
Whisper & Venom, the acclaimed adventure setting, is being resurrected and expanded for Fifth Edition and Old-School Essentials. Originally released in 2013 by Necromancer Games’ very own Zach Glazar under his publishing venture Lesser Gnome, Whisper & Venom’s success was a surprise to everybody, especially its author. After many years of disingenuous promises, Whisper & Venom is here, and it is bigger, better, and more beautiful than ever. No, really it is!
It will be a full-color, hardcover book written for Old-School Essentials by Necrotic Gnome or the ever-popular Fifth Edition system. In addition, many of the options from the 2013 project will be available as add-ons, including the 28mm miniatures featuring a selection of notorious adversaries and hapless NPCs that appear inside the adventure. This new batch of 28mm miniatures will be cast from the original masters by Valiant Enterprises.
Whisper & Venom was written by Zach Glazar and John Hammerle as a tribute to the fantasy adventures and roleplaying game accessories of the 1980s. Following its release, Whisper & Venom proved to be a well-received title that was played and discussed more often than anyone, especially its author, expected.
It is now being released by Necromancer Games, which brings the experience, resources, and talent to the project to make Whisper & Venom even more special. A combined total of 80 years of publishing experience will allow for art, editing, and design resources that are an order of magnitude bigger and better than what was possible when it was first released.
Whisper & Venom is a regional setting and multi-part adventure set in the Whisper Vale, an isolated community of insular villagers beset by an outside supernatural force that sow's distrust and paranoia. Undue stress has induced social hardships and pushed their community to the point of breakdown. As they blame each other, the actual source of their misery remains camouflaged.
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Filling in the Blanks is a guide to populating hexes with lairs and features to use in fantasy role-playing games. While written specifically for Necrotic Gnome's Old School Essentials it is compatible with virtually all OSR-style games, and can be used with more modern versions of the game with little effort.
It provides tables for randomly generating the number and type of lairs and features that can be found while exploring the wilderness and guidance on how to craft the results into coherent setting details.
I literally just purchased the Filling in the Blanks PDF and expect to do a deep dive in a week or so.
Filling in the Blanks is normally 10.95 in PDF, until tomorrow it is 4.38.
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5e module and comic based on the first RPG adventure written by a woman.
In 1980, Jean Wells, the only woman in TSR's design department, was assigned to write an adventure for the "B" (Basic) series that would teach new players how to play D&D using rules for the D&D Basic Set. This module would be unique as it was the first TSR adventure authored by a female designer. Wikipedia - Palace of the Silver Princess
It's not often, if ever, that I start a blog post with a quote from Wikipedia, but I thought it was appropriate this time ;)
Now, on to the "connections". The project creator, author of the comic, and co-author of the adventure is Preston Poulter. Preston is a frequent participant in The Tavern's weekly hangouts on Thursday Nights on our Discord Server and loves creating comic books. Courtney Campbell is a prolific and highly skilled writer of RPG material. Courtney has a blog - Hack & Slash - and can often be found lurching in the Common Room of The Tavern's Discord Server. Heck, he was there earlier today.
So yes, I know the main folks behind the Palace of the Golden Princess #1 Kickstarter project. Quite simply, if Courtney is writing RPG material, I want it. If Preston is publishing a comic book, it will literally look amazing (parental supervision may be required on some comic book titles, as the artwork can be risque ;)
So, what can you get and for how much?
The comic book, the adventure, and character sheets in digital format will be 10 bucks. Print of the comic book adventure will be 20 bucks. Then it goes a bit crazy but in a good way. There's a Deck of Many Things, limited covers for the comics, resin minis, replica swords, wall tapestries, and more. Phew! Have at it. Damn, but the sword tempts me ;)
Subsequent to the success of the Palace comic, I sought to build a campaign to offer a module set in the world of Palace. Ultimately, I partnered with prolific module writer Courtney Campbell to bring you an adventure that, while published under the current 5e ruleset for the world's most popular roleplaying game, has been customized by Courtney and myself to embrace the play style of the 1980s. I invite you to download our introductory release, available on drivethrurpg as a "Pay what you want" PDF.
Rejecting the modern notion of roleplaying which seems to have evolved into what can best be described as "fantasy superheroes," Courtney and I dispatch the modern notion of character "builds" straight away by declaring that character stats should be generated by rolling 3d6 for each stat in the order the appear on the sheet, just like you would have done back in 1981 to play Jean Wells original work.
Of course, you are free to ignore our rules recommendations, but we feel you will be cheating yourself and your group out of a different kind of roleplaying experience that delivers a lot more fun.
The module offered with this campaign incorporates all the material of the introductory release, and expands upon it to offer a multi-session adventure designed for 4-8 characters of levels 1-3.
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My anonymous source (that provided me the screenshots for today's earlier video on Vince Florio) has decided to share all the screen captures they have from the TSR Discord and put a Google Drive link for folks to access.
From the beginning, it's been about the truth when it comes to nuTSR, not the clicks. I'm very happy to be able to give this wings and hope others will use the included information to make their own decisions about nuTSR.
Feel free to use it on blogs, websites, videos, etc.
I only follow a handful of blogs, of course the Tavern is on that short list. I can also be kind of lazy and tend to go and review a whole week of posts on these blogs over the weekend, or when I have a quiet moment at lunch.....well, allegedly I'm on lunch.
Imagine my surprise when I'm going through the last week of posts here at the Tavern and I simply cannot find the post I'm looking for. I could've sworn that there was an update regarding Ken Whitman, er Con Man Ken? What is it that Erik calls him....Whitless? I know I could do a search and figure it out, but lazy and I'm already on the blog, posting.....
....of course I forget that most every web browser has something call "tabs". Maybe I should have more coffee before hopping online....
OK, ConManKen and Whitless are things and not my creation or imagination. Was it my imagination that there was an update? I could've sworn I heard about one and Whitless is really where my introduction to the Tavern, as a guest poster, began. Kenny managed to bilk my household out of $450 on the KoDT: LAS Kickstarter and Erik let me rail on about it.
The thought that Kenny might get back into our community, in ANY capacity other than as an inmate requesting we send him gaming materials to make his cell time more comfortable (hey, a guy can dream, right?), well it gives me chills.
I did find the info I was looking for....it was on the Tavern's YouTube channel. Not listed here in any easy capacity. No, that will not do:
I know this is essentially double-dipping, but it's not Erik's fault.....it's mine. Kenny is working an angle...has to be, he's done it before, actually multiple times IIRC, and him popping up to solicit Erik for an interview cannot be a good thing. You have to dig through the YouTube comments, well all 14 at this point, to see that info.
While I should really have, well a "real" post for today, I can't let this one go. The thought that this KickScammer might circle back around to us......*shudder*
If Kenny does an interview, I really hope it is documented online outside of YouTube.
Uyu-Yadmogh. Prince of Princes. Archmage. Devourer of Children. Under the earth he built himself a palace in which he could abide eternity. Now he is only half-remembered legend.
The ground trembles, the earth is split asunder. In the sunken depths of the earth, the Palace awaits.
An adventure for those who dare.
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You can catch the daily Tavern Chat vidcast on YouTube - Tenkar
The Sepulchre of Seven is a FREE OSE/OSR adventure for levels 5-7 and clocks in at 70 pages. At the price of free, you really can't go wrong downloading this well-rated adventure. I know I just did ;)
A free OSR adventure module for character levels 5-7
Designed for use with the Old-School Essentials ruleset, compatible with most old-school pen-and-paper RPGs.
Long ago a half-elf, half deer-centaur named Jayne led a small guerilla band against the armies of an evil fae witch.
They prevailed at terrible cost.
Over centuries, the Church erased all memory of Jayne’s fae nature.
Monsters moved into her hideout-turned-sepulchre, still haunted by Jayne’s ennemies and companions, and a ghost longing to complete his vengeance...
In this 39-room dungeon, adventurers will discover the fates and true faces of Jayne and her unremembered companions.
Will they get out with forgotten riches, or become the latest victims of a centuries-old tragedy?
The product includes: a fully-linked interactive PDF + player-friendly VTT maps.
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You can catch the daily Tavern Chat vidcast on YouTube - Tenkar
The DOOM of the DARK is coming...
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The Black Casket of Night has indeed been opened beneath our feet, soon,
only days will remain!
I have been posting here and there about ‘Doom of the Dar...
Jackson, IL: Am I Evil? NPCs of the Satanic Panic
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Last week, I talked about running two different 80s-style teenage horror
campaigns. My Sunny Valley, OH game with Dark Places & Demogorgons and my
curren...
Free GM Resource: 1shotadventures
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[image: Free GM Resource: 1shotadventures]
I came across this blog consisting of adventures written by J.C. Connors.
The adventures are for a variety o...
Jonstown Jottings #106: Marsh Attacks!
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Much like the Miskatonic Repository for Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition,
the Jonstown Compendium is a curated platform for user-made content, but
for ma...
Music Monday - Go Monkey Go
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This one is a blast from the past. Released in 2000 and performed by Devo,
Go Monkey Go is a tribute to Mojo Jojo, the primary antagonist of the Power
Puff...
The Singing Lake
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By Nicole Mattos, Icaro Agostino, Davide TrammaAngry Golem GamesOSELevels
2-4 After being denied recognition as the supreme lord, Severo cursed the
region,...
Dungeon Crawler Carl (book review)
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This was a fun read if not particularly meaningful. It takes place in an
RPG world that works like a televised tournament, similar to The Running
Man and...
d100 Worst Weird Inn & Guest Rooms
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My current map with player exploration of my D&D5.5 game
Yellow is where players been and exploration has been fun
While we had 3 clerics nobody really imv...
The Great Nobility of Harry Potter
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I am of the view that there is no pursuit that is more noble and no task
that is more worth doing than writing novels. Call me romantic; call me
delud...
Circuits and Rallies
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I'm back from holiday! I guess coming back to familiarity after a few weeks
of novelty got me thinking.
Sometimes you repeat the same stuff over and over...
AD&D's Demi-Foot Forward...
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AD&D's demi-humans are primarily known for their multiclassing abilities.
After all, what adventurer doesn't occasionally dream of casting spells
from th...
Adventures Dark and Deep (Lite)
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This arrived for me today, a PoD hardback via DriveThruRPG.
Including postage, it cost me about $40 yankeebucks, so about $65 Kiwibucks.
I got it purel...
[BLOG] News on the March! Episode XIV
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This post continues the series of brief play reports I have been posting on
Discord. This does not cover every single session (sometimes, recon and
setup...
Moldvay Basic D&D now Available in Print
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Just a quick note that (finally) Moldvay Basic D&D is available in POD from
DTRPG – previously, only the Cook/Marsh …
Continue reading →
Abstraction in My Liege,
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I think the aspect of *My Liege,* that could potentially put off the most
people is its lack of accounting granularity. It does not track Court
wealth in...
SoloDark: Four Drunk Priests
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Dabbling into some solo play using SoloDark. Rolled up the party last
night. 3d6 down the line and pick the best class for the results. It was
tragic.
ht...
Consolidated AD&D Weapon Characteristics List
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Having spent the last few days down a research rabbit hole, I ended up
compiling a chart of AD&D weapon characteristics, adding some "missing"
entries an...
Referee Sabotage
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It is an old saw that players are bad at executing their plans. Imagine
this common scene: the party have some big job that requires planning;
perhaps robb...
The March 1636 Lantern is Published
-
Okay, The March Lantern is available. Those fast on the draw may have
noticed that I mistakenly published it as free access for 56 minutes. I
was just so ...
Gary Con 2026 Registration
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Silver Badges get to register for events at Noon Central today (February
21, 2026). Somehow I thought I failed to register for running games this
year and ...
On a Happy New Year
-
We are about to experience the most social upheaval since industrialization.
What will that look like in sixty years?
Sinless is starting it's third yea...
Mutants and Wizards
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Heya folks, long time no see.
I've just started working on something new called Mutants and Wizards. It's
going to be an OSE/OSR post-apocalyptic game t...
Ten Friggin Hill Cantons Wizards
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10 Wizards of the Hill Cantons
#
Name
Description
1
Magister Dobromil the Cauterizer
Specializes in magical “cleaning” of reality leaks. Wears fou...
Rob Kuntz at Lucca Comics & Games 2025
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If you are planning a trip to Europe (like right now) and wish to catch up
with me in person, make sure to book a detour via *Lucca Comics & Games*,
...
How do you do piracy… in SPACE!?
-
Interstellar space travel in Iridium Moons was always going to be a form of
hyperspace jump like in Star Wars or Traveller. Simply because it’s the one
for...
A long overdue hobby update!
-
Welcome back to the Vault everyone! 2025 is going by in a blur; I last
posted in February, almost started a post in March and now it's the end of
May. W...
Playing at the World 2E V2 Arrives
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With the release of its second volume, the second edition of *Playing at
the World *is finally complete. The two books combined total well over
1,000 ...
Articulations
-
Creating house rules, custom rules specific to a local group or campaign,
has been common throughout the history of D&D. What makes an effective
house rule...
Writing playlists for all occasions
-
Hello again! Going off the idea of inspiration elaborated on by the prior
post, I also have music playing while I write my various games and fiction
pieces...
The Tarot of Pips
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Somewhere in your dice collection is a die like this one, the humblest of
dice. Although you don't know it, this small white die carries with it a
secr...
Pirates and Necromancers, a Play Report
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Over the Thanksgiving weekend we did a lot of gaming ranging from
“off-table” domain level stuff to some solo adventures to spell and magic
item rese...
It's been a bit
-
Hey everyone, I hope you are doing well! I've had a lot going on and
haven't had much time to blog lately. Heres a recap of gaming events and
other st...
*'s in SpaaaaaAaaaace
-
A lot of SF (including a certain 2D6 RPG grandaddy) deal with ancient
aliens taking humans from Earth and dropping them, fleas and all, on one or
more w...
Last move - to self-hosting!
-
As my vote regarding Substack in the “marketplace of ideas”, I’m moving to
self-hosting.
I’m now at (and hopefully staying for a long time at)
Blog: ht...
Clean Your Room
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Looking back at my little blog here. That last post… wow, I was having fun
playing WOW Classic! That was August of 1999 and I was having a blast… it
was ...
Steve Jackson Interview
-
James Maliszewski recently did an interview with Steve Jackson over on his
Grognardia blog. Steve chats about the beginnings of The Fantasy Trip and
upcomi...
ToAD Monster of the Week: Crocoman
-
Now that I'm back doing the blog thing I thought I would use Tome of
Adventure Design to create monsters for The Black Hack.
Using the monster tables in th...
Strange, Dangerous, and Inhuman: The Fey and Fairie
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When I was a boy I loved fairy tales. Jack and the Beanstalk, Puss in
Boots, Rumpelstiltskin - I devoured all of it. My fascination that there
was a strang...
Dungeons & Dragonmead Fall Schedule
-
*As you know, I run public classic Dungeons & Dragons games at **The Loaded
Die**/Metro Detroit Game Night's Board Game Nigh at **Dragonmead**, in
Warren...
Fiction in Airhde
-
On a whim this weekend, I picked up some fiction off the TLG store. *A
Houseless God & Other Tales* and *The Mirrored Soul & Other Tales*, both by
the T...
Ravensburg Reboot: Streamlined City Map
-
I mentioned in my last post how I was tweaking and reworking parts of my
Ravensburg setting. Today I streamlined the city map. The old map had lots
of redu...
The Withered Crag available now
-
I just enabled the sale of the PDF version of The Withered Crag at
DriveThruRPG a few minutes ago, and the custom print version will be
available startin...
Annihilation Rising Goes live
-
The latest in Fail Squad Games’ Quick Kick projects has gone live and needs
your support!! This project is only running 11 days and ends on 5/28/2019!
...
James's Celebration of Life
-
We could not have asked for a prettier day for James's service. It was a
bit chilly and windy but gorgeous. A heartfelt thank you to all that joined
us tod...
Trap Tuesday: A step back
-
I will get back to Tomb of Horrors soon. I found a topic that was
interesting enough to take a break. While interacting in a 5E group on
Facebook I talked ...
Let's Talk About Pacing!
-
The idea, I think, is that the RPG is ultimately about the long game. Even
rolling back to the early days of Basic & Expert, the goal of the player
was...
Profane and Profound Prep Part 2
-
This is part 2 of my work to edit my magic items for a DMsGuild release,
along with adding cursed items along the way. Here is part 1. Bone of a
Saint 8000...
Please, I don't do paid advertisements - don't ask.
-
A little note since people have asked me about this. My video channel's
*not* an advertising platform, so I'm not available for hire if you want to
promote...
New website!
-
Slowly but surely, all the content here will make its way — in updated
form! — to my new website: timbannock.com. For fairly obvious reasons, that
site wil...
Please Update Your Link!
-
If you're seeing this, it means your link to the Greyhawk Grognard blog is
out of date.
Please update your link to www.greyhawkgrognard.com (RSS feed is
h...
Total Sales for WB:FMAG
-
Hi Folks,
It's been a long time since I provided an update for the sales of White
Box: Fantastic Medieval Adventure Game.
*LULU*
Print: 396
PDF: 433
*OBS*...
How can We Destroy this Campaign World?
-
d12
1. You must trick a bard into strumming the *Chords of Fate* on the *Lute
of Annihilation*
2. Legends tell of thermonuclear weapons beneath megadunge...
Mord Mar - Session 5
-
We had another successful delve into the dungeon yesterday. The delvers:
Moira, the Magic-User
Radovan - Human Cleric (of Odin?)
Khazgar Stonehand - Dwarf ...
Bundle of Fantasy Age
-
Bundle of Holding: Dragon Age/Fantasy Age: Available until March 12. PA
Presents: Fantasy AGE Freeport live play Green Ronin in 2018 The Fantasy
Age RPG ma...
New Free PDF Module: The Hyqueous Vaults
-
A new dungeon module—written in celebration of OSRIC's 10th Birthday—by
Rebecca Dettmann, Allan T. Grohe, Jr., Jimm Johnson, Matthew Riedel, Alex
Zisch, a...
Swords & Wizardry Light: Session # 6
-
Two months after our last session (thanks to things like 8th grade finals,
a 4 year-old's birthday and party, Father's Day, etc.), we finally had our
next ...