Tenkar's Tavern

Wednesday, July 19, 2023

Bundle of Holding - Hydra Cooperative

The Hydra Cooperative Bundle is one of the few bundles where I own nearly a complete collection and still plan on snagging the collection. 9 titles for 14.95 can't be beaten. Some of the best OSR releases one can find in a single bundle.

Adventurer! This Hydra Cooperative Quick Deal gathers tabletop roleplaying supplements and modules designed by the talented creators in the Hydra Cooperative publishing alliance. Drawn from five early Bundle of Holding offers (2015-2020), these inventive and strikingly packaged titles show graphic inspirations ranging from art nouveau to pulp magazines to Atari game cartridges to Gold Key comics. And the modules themselves are just as flavorful: Face a Zombastodon during the Yambor soldier-bear pilgrimage across the Slumbering Ursine Dunes. Dodge mile-long grubs and Bonegrinders outside the bio-transmogrification Vat Complex of the Eld. Visit the Prismatic Peak of Mount Geegaw in seearch of the Whim-Wham Stone. Run scams and con games with Frantisek the Checkered Mage or Jarek the Nagsman at Marlinko's Ebon Horse Fair. Save the Village of the Gleaming Fins people from Skelephants or the immense pale crocodile called the Bachelor. What Ho, Frog Demons!

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DTRPG, Amazon, and Humble Bundle are affiliate programs that support The Tavern. You can catch the daily Tavern Chat cast on Anchor, YouTube, or wherever you listen to your podcast collection. - Tenkar

Tuesday, July 18, 2023

Deal of the Day - Xeno Dead Zone (ICRPG turns Aliens)

Index Card RPG (ICRPG)is currently sitting on my physical pile of "shit to read", but I think after reading the description of today's Deal of the Day, I'll be reading it when I return from the Poconos ;)

Xeno Dead Zone (both a stand-alone game AND an ICRPG supplement) is today's Deal of the Day. Normally 4.50 in PDF, but until tomorrow morning it is on sale for 1.80.

XENO DEAD ZONE is a one-stop solution to scratch your itch for a night of great gaming in the world of deadly space predators and the badasses who fight them.
This package is power packed with rules and resources for ICRPG players and GM's.
-Play in XDZ mode: a GM-less board game ruleset
-Play in classic ICRPG mode: 9 new classes, Xeno and vehicle stats
-Dynamic Mission Objectives and Ecalations in any mode
-A huge collection of print-and-cut standees
-Tokens for use in your favorite VTT
-32 map building cards and door standees to assemble your game map with flair
Expand your ICRPG multiverse to include the deadliest creatures in the spaceways!

What Happens When Your PCs Crash the Economy by Pumping Too Much Gold Into It?

Monday, July 17, 2023

Deal of the Day - BEOWULF: Age of Heroes (5e Reimagined)

I'm not a huge 5e fan, but I've come across some hacks that made the unwieldy (in my opinion) system bearable. Mythgarther was the prior high watermark to my eyes. From what I've read of BEOWULF: Age of Heroes, we may have a new contender.

Normally 19.99 in PDF, BEOWULF: Age of Heroes is marked down to 10 bucks until tomorrow morning.

“BEOWULF: Age of Heroes is a vast treasure-hoard that shows how you can hone the rules for 5e to make them cut like the edge of a long-seax and sing like a Scop.” – Francesco Nepitello, designer of The One Ring Roleplaying Game
One of the oldest recorded stories in Western Europe, Beowulf is the ultimate tale of hero vs. monster – and now a dramatic, 5e setting.
Discover a fierce background of wild seas and savage monsters, of meadhalls and of heirloom swords that bear legendary names. Gain Followers, take Inspiration from unique Portents, and use our specially crafted tokens to guide your voyage along the Whale Road.
Play the ‘Hero’ class, and choose from six sub-classes based on your ability scores. You can be the mighty Bench-Breaker, the wily Riddle-Reaver, or the sturdy Ox-Blooded. And you can come from a range of setting-specific backgrounds: you might be the Chosen One, or Adrift and seeking answers. You may be an Avenger, or of Noble Blood.
Written and illustrated by a team of industry veterans, led by Jon Hodgson, (The One Ring, D&D, Warhammer Historical) BEOWULF: Age of Heroes features 272 pages of beautifully illustrated mythic setting, and evokes a legendary age of tales, poems and song.
Described by fans as the ‘best hack of 5e ever made’, and by games designer Will Hindmarch as something ‘really magical’, BEOWULF Age of Heroes is uniquely designed for duet play: one Hero and one GM (though it can still be played by a group). This means it’s very easy to get a game going and to keep it going, and it’s especially ideal for play over the internet.
With its feet firmly in the world’s favourite role-playing game, BEOWULF has been very carefully forged to follow the folklore, flow and feel of the original poem.

Sunday, July 16, 2023

MACE #2 Kickstarter is Worth Checking Out

I try not to take too much advantage of my ability to post here, but......if you can't abuse your position slightly to help out your friends.....

...actually this is a bit of a win-win as the MACE Volume #2 Kickstarter is a cool Zine of monsters that James Shields is producing. I'm a big fan of his black & white style and have several pieces of his original art. $15 for a print and digital copy of the Zine is a fair price and it's some great art. Getting new monsters is almost always a good thing, for GMs at least.

I haven't received my physical copy of MACE #1, but it's probably in my stack of mail I have to go through. The digital copy though....I'm pretty impressed. The digital copy I got with my backing was actually three digital copies.....three! I know, I know, you're probably thinking "Duh, even I know how to make a copy of a digital file...."

MACE #1 came to me as three distinct digital copies: a Low Res version, a High Res version, and a printer-friendly High Res version. I really wish more....publishers (?) did this. I was going to try and show the differences here, but the subtleties would be completely lost on a web/screen viewing, which is a shame.

All too often these digital copies are not far removed from the PDF sent to the printers, maybe cut back to not show cut lines and bleeds, but otherwise the same. Having three different versions, all fully bookmarked by the way, shows that James expects people to....I don't know, actually use the product. Being able to easily go to and then print off a single monster is a nice nod to the end-user that is sorely lacking in the average gaming PDF.

Monster and Character Encounters (MACE) Volume 2

Check out James Shields' MACE Volume 2 Kickstarter if you get the chance....

Saturday, July 15, 2023

A Successful Venture to The Compleat Strategist

Rach and I did something we rarely do these days - we ventured into Manhattan (often referred to as "The City" by New Yorkers). I had forgotten that hell's Furnaces are directly linked to the Subway system in The City, and I couldn't wait to venture out of the warrens known as the NYC Subway System and into the surface reaches of Manhattan.

Heh!

In any case, we were meeting up with Professor DM, JoetheLawyer, and a few others for what is now a yearly tradition of gamer shopping, followed quickly by gamer eating and gamer drinking.

A fun time was had, stories were told, and the attendees left (hopefully) satiated.

As usual, we forgot to take a photo to commemorate the event, but I'm toying with the idea of adding a January meet-up to the schedule. I mean, gaming purchases, Irish food, and good beer are timeless, correct? ;)

The picture above shows my acquisitions for this trip :)

Friday, July 14, 2023

Kickstarter - Infinite Archipelago: The Isle of Sedra (The Fantasy Trip - 24 hours left in funding)

I'm a huge fan of Gaming Ballistic, ever since I first laid hands on Dungeon Grappling. It simply showed that Doug was wired into what people want AND can readily use at their game table. Be it for OSE, Dungeon Fantasy, The Fantasy Trip, or his own system, Doug releases top-notch products.

I love fantasy settings, and I'm looking forward to seeing what Doug has put together. I've also promised to run The Fantasy Trip at NTRPG Con 2024.

The Infinite Archipelago: The Isle of Sedra Kickstarter has about 24 hours left in its funding period as I type this, and it's hit its funding goal, so we should be seeing the results around November of this year. Print plus digital is 50 bucks (plus shipping) and purely digital is 30 bucks.

A setting guide to the land that includes Gwalathar and Ironskull Castle. The major cities and locations are expanded on, and factional alliances and conflicts provided, supporting all manner of adventures, including dark gothic fantasy, monster hunting, labyrinth and wilderness adventuring, and political intrigue.
The Barony of Gwalathar: A fertile land surrounded by deadly foes, and a vassal state to the Holy Kingdom of Elazar over the sea. With the baron's soldiers fighting overseas, it's up to heroes to step up, especially with neighbors like....
The Duchy of Thorn: A tormented ruler sees conspiracies and threats everywhere. In a land where even the duke's daughter was taken and slain by a vampire, who can blame him? Can his new Monster Hunters' Guild turn the tide?
The Warlock Kingdoms: Five petty states ruled by sorcerers and inhuman lords, locked in a bloody conflict. One free city that has cast off the ancient chains of feudalism in a parliamentary revolution. Can it survive?
Vixengard: Fabled city of beasts, ruled by a kitsune queen said to be fabulously rich in spices. What ships would dare the long voyage to treat with her? And what of the rumors of dire threats from the Queen of Swarms?
The Emerald Mountains: Home to gold, gems … and dragons. There, the goblin prince Rykzaor schemes against his neighbors.
The City-State of Tamaz: Sitting on the fringe of the Red Desert and its Scorpion Sands, trading caravans and adventures cross the monster-haunted expanse. Ruins of the ancient Scorpion Empire dot the rugged waste. Its entombed queens and warlords may not be as dead as they appear....
The Reaver Coast: Dotted with the ancient burial mounds of the Sea Reavers and relics of times where they sacrificed and worshipped in the strange rites of serpent cults. It is an unquiet place, peppered with treasure-filled barrows.

Thursday, July 13, 2023

Humble Bundle - Classic Swords & Sorcery TTRPGs

Holy crap! This RPG collection just went live on Humble Bundle and it's stunning! Not just OSR releases, but some truly classic D20 era picks.

My OSR picks, simply best of the best, are:

Monstrosities, Dark Secrets Darker Secrets RPG, The Beaten Path series, Gangbusters B/X RPG, Hall of the Rainbow Mage, and a bunch of others. Damn, it's such a good selection!

My D20-era picks are:

Rappan Athuk: Reloaded, Demonheart, Lost City of Barakus, Tome of Horrors, The Bonegarden, Book of Taverns, and a few others.

I'm already in for 25 bucks. 54 RPG releases. Impossible to beat...

The sweet spot of the Classic Swords & Sorcery TTRPGs Bundle is 25 bucks. Unless you need a print copy of Monstrosities, which you can step up to get in print.

Gritty fantasy, bands of thieves & barbarians, and dark necromancy rule in this treasure trove of tabletop RPG resources! This eclectic collection of rulebooks, campaign settings, and supplements explores the pulpier side of fantasy role-playing. Delve into Rappan Athuk, the world’s deadliest dungeon. Discover Wonders of the Ages in the Tome of Artifacts. Stock your temples, forests, and seas with creatures of the massive, popular Monstrosities tome. Get all the digital goods for $25, or double down with the 580+ page softcover edition of Monstrosities for $65—and help support Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society with your purchase!

Wednesday, July 12, 2023

Deal of the Day - The Dread Thingonomicon (System Neutral Tome of Random Tables)

I am a HUGE fan of The Dread Thingnomicon from Raging Swan Press. I went ahead and ordered The Dread Thingnomicon in hardcover, after snagging the PDF on sale, it is that good in my opinion. The Dread Thingnomicon is over 475 pages in length, and the first 50 pages are available for free to preview on the sales page (20 of which literally are the Table of Contents). Yes, The Dread Thingnomicon is simply huge ;)

The Dread Thingnomicon is normally 27.95 in PDF, but until tomorrow morning it is marked down to 16.77. Yes, this is not a cheap offering by any stretch of the imagination, but you get what you pay for and The Dread Thingnomicon is the rare beast that I feel comfortable paying that price for a PDF.

Are you a busy GM? Does session prep take too long? Do you never have time to design the cool little details that bring your game to life? Fear not! That’s where the Dread Thingonomicon comes in.
Crammed full of system-neutral themed lists, flavourful NPCs and more, the Dread Thingonomicon is designed to give you—the time-crunched GM—the tools to effortlessly add flavoursome verisimilitude to your game.
If your campaign features abnormal lesser undead, alchemist’s laboratories, ancient necropolises, archives & libraries, bandits & brigands, besieged castles, black dragon lairs, blue dragon lairs, bustling marketplaces, corpses, creepy graveyards, crypts & catacombs, cultists’ lairs, curio shops & pawnbrokers, dark caverns, fairs & festivals, fallen dwarven holds, fanes of evil, fanes of good, farming villages, fecund jungles, forts on the borderland, ghostly hauntings, goblin lairs, green dragon lairs, haunted houses, henchfolk & hirelings, hill giant steadings, items most wondrous, kobold warrens, lich’s lairs, local landmarks, lunatic asylums, merchant caravans, minions of evil, necromancer’s lairs, noble’s manor houses, noisome marshes, noisome sewers, ocean voyages, orc villages, red dragon lairs, roads, ruined castles, ruined cities, ruined monasteries, ruined wizard’s towers, seedy taverns, shadowed borderlands, slavers’ compounds, smugglers’ villages, smugglers’ lairs, snow and ice, subterranean mines, sun-scorched deserts, sunken ships, thievish doings, torture chambers, travellers’ inns, troublesome treasures, urban chases, urban events, urban landmarks, urban oddities, vampire’s castles, war-ravaged lands, white dragon lairs, wilderness camps, windswept moors, wizard’s towers and wrecked ships (and whose doesn’t?) the Dread Thingonomicon is for you!
Comprising the entire 20 Things line, the Dread Thingonomicon weighs in at 476 pages of content and is the culmination of seven years of design.
Use the system-neutral material herein either before or during play and bask in your players’ adulation.
This product is a Dual Format PDF and comprises two versions, one optimized for printing and use on a normal computer and one optimized for use on a mobile device such as an iPad.

Tuesday, July 11, 2023

Deal of the Day - Through Sunken Lands and Other Adventures (Swords & Sorcery OSR)

Through Sunken Lands and Other Adventures is one of those RPGs I'm dying to run, or at the very least, steal liberally from for my own games. Using the character generation system (and low prep game engine) we first saw in Beyond the Wall & Other Adventures, Through Sunken Lands and Other Adventures port much of that over to the Swords & Sorcery genre.

Through Sunken Lands and Other Adventures is normally 9.99 in PDF, but until tomorrow morning, it is on sale for 4 bucks. This should be a bargain that is hard to pass up...

In the common rooms of the great city’s countless inns, in the bathhouses of the merchant quarter, and before the altars of a thousand gods, brave and desperate adventurers meet and make plans. They leave every day and seek their fortunes in the Sunken Lands.
Travel with us through sunken lands...
Lots of times, we want to play a roleplaying game but just don’t have the time for all the prep work involved. No more. Through Sunken Lands is a kit to make a motley crew of ruthless sellswords, gifted sorceresses, and cunning thieves, and send them off in search of gold and glory. Now we have this simple swords and sorcery roleplaying game that gives a group all the tools they need to play an exciting adventure in a single evening, no homework, no fuss.
Anyone with a background in OSR games will already be comfortable with the core rules of Through Sunken Lands.
• Inspired by the works of Michael Moorcock, Fritz Leiber, and Robert E. Howard.
• Character Playbooks and Scenario Packs for play in a single evening with no prep.
• Player driven setting design for fleshing out the great city and the world beyond.
• A sample sword and sorcery setting: the impossible city of Jundarr and the Hundred Seas.
• Nine Character Playbooks, including the Spell Thief and the Eldritch Sorcerer King.
• Three Scenario Packs: the Mysterious Island, the Treasure Hunt, and the Wizard’s Tower.

Monday, July 10, 2023

Deal of the Day - Monte Cook's World of Darkness

Back in the later years of the first half of my time in the RPG World of Gaming, I became truly infatuated with The World of Darkness series of games, especially Werewolf the Apocalypse and Mage the Ascension, to the point that my collection of said releases was fairly complete and included the GURPS conversions. Never actually had a chance to run any of it, as my players had ZERO interest, but they were good reads.

Flash forward to the decade or so when I wasn't actively gaming, just collecting and reading, and the release of Monte Cook's World of Darkness. THIS was a version of the setting my old group would have gladly played, but alas, we were no longer gaming at that point. I still have my copy on a bookshelf.

Monte Cook's World of Darkness is today's Deal of the Day. Normally 13.99 in PDF, but until tomorrow morning it is on sale for 7 bucks. Not bad a version of The World of Darkness that even today's 5e players should be able to wrap their heads around ;)

One year ago, eldritch horrors of cosmic malevolence called the Iconnu attempted to destroy our reality.
They failed, but the attempt left the world in rapidly darkening shadow. Dead souls returned to claim living bodies, creating blood-drinking undead fiends: vampires. Bestial spirits came as well, to create werewolves, and demons formed bodies from worldly matter. Magic crashed back into the world, and mages wield its power for whatever purpose suits them. Humans called the Awakened unknowingly keep the darkness at bay.
These supernatural creatures struggle against each other and clash in the shadows, most attempting to destroy the world, but a few fighting to preserve it. And over it all, the Iconnu still lurk, squeezing the world like an eggshell.
This book includes a complete setting: a new vision of the World of Darkness.
Characters play as vampires, mages, werewolves, demons or Awakened and wield frightening supernatural powers against their own kind.
The world is the one we know, but now much darker: destruction in the central United States, nightmares coming to life and beasts roaming shattered cityscapes.
This game uses a variation of the most popular roleplaying game system in the world.

Sunday, July 9, 2023

Should Adventures Be All Wore Out?

I'm busier than expected today, just life & work "stuff", but I've been (im)patiently waiting for a particular online auction for an old adventure I want to pick up. This last week I started going through what printed adventures I have, cataloging them, and then putting into storage. A select few I'm going to display (somehow) and I've always wanted to have a big display of every version of Tomb of Horrors from each edition. Maybe it'll happen, maybe it won't.

I have a few old TSR adventures that have never been played. Whenever I look at one of them I'm reminded of an old friend I know I've posted about here at the Tavern (Link if it matters). I still wish I had a microphone handy when he went on a truly epic rant about how about the only pristine adventure should be the one that wasn't sold. Adventures should be dog-eared, highlighted, notes in the margins, maps all marked up.....

.....and I kind of agree with him, but I'm not going to do that to an adventure that is almost as old as I am!

Since most of the adventures I've written were made for specific tournaments, they didn't have print runs, but local copies. I fondly remember taking my outline, doing a preliminary copy, and then marking the ever-loving-sh....stuff out of it. Those notes went back into a re-write and I wish I had the foresight to keep that original marked up copy.

Now I know I'm no Gary, but can you imagine how many people would lose their shit (I said it this time) and the contents of their wallets to get their hands on a personally-destroyed Gary Gygax copy of an adventure? Or maybe his initial outline/notes/whatever his system was? That would be an epic auction, for sure!

I haven't GM'd in far, far too long, but I assume I'll do more like last time and play a little fast & loose by stitching parts of multiple adventures together. I like to have set "events" planned with each event mostly taking place at the player's pace, but some stuff just happens and if the players aren't involved they'll get to see any aftermath, assuming there is one.

Until then though, I'll probably still be picking up new, or just new to me adventures and not destroying them through play.....

Saturday, July 8, 2023

Kickstarter - Hex Dek, Systemless Fantasy RPG Hexcrawl Cards

To be honest, I thought I posted about Phil Reed's latest Kickstarter already, but it appears I did not. I'm already backing Hex Dek for 50 bucks, which tells you how excited I am to back yet another project from Phil, but the actual post never actually got made. Well, there are 3 days left to back, so don't wait too long to pull the trigger on Hex Dek.

Note: Hex Dek is a purely digital, PDF plus Print on Demand (POD), project. Phil won't be doing any mailing on this one. It also means, if you are backing for a physical (POD) product, you will have an additional "at cost" charge from OneBookShelf when you do order the POD.

Hex Dek consists of 50 double-sided cards:

On the front of the card we have:
A seven-hex mini-map. (Each hex represents a two to three-mile section of land. Of course, the GM is free to adjust this scale as they wish.)
A short description of one location.
On the back of the card we have:
Expanded information on the location described on the card front.
At times, a second location description.
A random encounter table.
The cards are completely systemless. There are no game stats at all. Instead, these are encounter prompts that are intended to inspire the GM. They may also prove useful to solitaire RPG players in need of more prompts for their game sessions.

Hex Dek POD is 7 bucks (plus at-cost printing and shipping upon final order) via Kickstarter, but you can back for more to get more. If you are the least bit interested in hex crawls, I strongly suggest you back for the core deck. :)

Friday, July 7, 2023

Kickstarter - Castle of the Mad Archmage™ 10th Anniversary Edition

I ran a monthly session of the original Castle of the Mad Archmage for the better part of a year with the infamous "B-Team". We had a blast! As fun house mega-dungeons go, it is one of the, if not THE, best. I've also known Joe Bloch for years and consider Joe a good friend. We've had him as a guest on The Talking Crit Livestream! multiple times.

Currently, Joe is Kickstarting Castle of the Mad Archmage™ 10th Anniversary Edition, which is an update to the original CotMA.

You can back for the CotMA PDF at $20, Print Plus PDF at $100 plus shipping, and there is also a POD version for those outside the US.

In this special work, you'll find:
All 13+ core levels from the original published Castle
The Castle Environs, depicting the lands around the castle ruins
Level 3-A, the Black Lake
Level 3 East, the Museum and the Watery Caves
Level 4 South, the Gardens
Level 9 West, the Brumal Realm
Everything will be contained in a single volume, including redrawn maps and the art from the original version of the Castle, as well as new art produced for this edition.
This will be a very limited edition. Each copy of the hardcover book will be numbered and signed, and this Decennial edition of the book will only be available during this Kickstarter. This will not be available in stores, and each backer will be limited to 2 copies. Please note that this is an OSR adventure setting; no version for other games or editions is available.
(A new edition of the core levels will be released at a later date, but it will not have Level 3 East, Level 4 South, or Level 9 West integrated into the other levels, and is not available through this Kickstarter.)
The book is written. Money raised will help pay for editing and art.

Thursday, July 6, 2023

Introducing Gaffer Games (James Spahn's Other Small Publishing Company)

I've known James Spahn for the better part of a decade, ever since he made a splash on DTRPG publishing classes for Labyrinth Lord. I sent James my spare copy of Swords & Wizardry Complete and would like to think that I was instrumental in James' switch to supporting Swords & Wizardry :) James has worked on more IPs and game systems than I am able to count. James is literally like a brother to me at this point, so take what I say with a grain of salt.

James has formed a new publishing label for small, PWYW projects that don't quite fit under the Barrel Rider Games umbrella, Gaffer Games.

From James: Gaffer Games is a small one-man publishing company run by me. I write, edit, layout (such as it is) and publish free or pay what you want games here on itch.to. The games you'll find here are raw, creative expressions that aren't as polished as my works published as a freelancer or under my other publishing company Barrel Rider Games.

At the moment there are three titles available at the Gaffer Games web store:

Why "Swords & Wizardry?"

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

I am so deep in the OSR when I come up for breath it's for the OSR's cousin, Tunnels & Trolls

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

Because the shit works.

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

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

Even the single saving throw. That took me longer to adjust to, but even that seems like a natural to me now. Don't ask me why, it just does. Maybe it's the simplicity of it. At 45 52, simplicity and flexibility while remaining true to the feel of the original is an OSR hat trick for me ;)

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