Kickstarter - The End of Everything: Epic 5e Adventure to Save the World (Frog GodGames)

Crops are failing, the undead rise, an ancient evil stirs in the north, and even magic seems tainted — why is everything failing?

I enjoy campaign books that take characters from 1st to name level or beyond, even if I don't always run them. They offer value for money, and a well-written campaign will entertain for months or longer.

The End of Everything Kickstarter is written by Alex Kammer and Alan Patrick. Alex has been writing some SOLID RPG adventures for years, and his gaming convention, GameHole, is one of the best one can attend. My only complaint is that the only flavor it comes in is 5e. 

Is there a group of adventurers that has the grit, bravery, and tenacity to stop The End of Everything?

Sure ... massive, sprawling, and dangerous D&D campaigns are cool, but what about one imbued with the cosmic horror of the Cthulhu mythos?! If you dare, dive into the pages of this enormous new campaign adventure: The End of Everything!

Epic Adventure, Full Campaign

The End of Everything is a brand-new and 100%-finished campaign and setting book that takes characters from 1st through 12th level. As soon as this Kickstarter campaign concludes, backers at the $25 pledge level and above will receive a link to download the full PDF of the book. The book features entirely new material and information regarding the fascinating Haunted Steppes region of The Lost Lands, including revised and more detailed regional maps; several new town and village maps and accompanying setting lore; many new and expanded monsters; the Gnoll, a new playable race; the Geomancer, a new arcane tradition; four new setting-specific character backgrounds; new magic items; new and simple mass combat rules (why would anyone need that? 😊); and, of course, Corruption Value, a new game mechanic described below.

REMEMBER! The entire project is complete and will deliver digitally shortly after the Kickstarter campaign ends.

The Tavern is supported by readers like you. The easiest way to support The Tavern is to shop via our affiliate links. The Tavern DOES NOT do "Paid For" Articles and discloses personal connections to products and creators written about when applicable.

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    

Bundle of Holding - Kult: Divinity Lost

I have a first printing of Kult somewhere in storage. Can't believe it's over 30 years old at this point. It was a very interesting read at the time.

Currently on Bundle of Holding is Kult: Divinity Lost.

We've resurrected our October 2020 Kult: Divinity Lost Bundle featuring the 2018 Helmgast edition of the acclaimed tabletop roleplaying game of contemporary horror Kult. The world around us is a lie, and humanity is trapped in Illusion. By discovering the truth about our prison, our captors, our hidden past, and our Shadow selves, player characters hope to awaken from their induced sleep and take control of a stolen destiny. Funded in a February 2016 Kickstarter campaign, Kult: Divinity Lost updates the original 1991 Kult with a new rules set Powered by the Apocalypse. But just as before, death in Kult is only the beginning. Escape your nightmares, strike bargains with demons, and try to stay alive in a world full of pain.

(Content warning: Kult has always been, and remains, a game of visceral and psychological horror about madness, sex, brutality, and death.)

For just US$14.95 you get all three titles in this revived offer's Starter Collection (retail value $49) as DRM-free ebooks, including the complete Kult: Divinity Lost core rulebook, the GM Screen, and the Reference Deck.

The Tavern is supported by readers like you. The easiest way to support The Tavern is to shop via our affiliate links. The Tavern DOES NOT do "Paid For" Articles and discloses personal connections to products and creators written about when applicable.

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    

I Tried to get Some Stuff Done, and was Almost Successful...

Late post today because I had plans, I worked on said plans, and I didn't quite finish....

...and I was going to post about it here as a bit of a brag.

A few months ago I had picked up a Dungeons & Dragons Tower of Doom arcade cabinet and this weekend it was time to do a light refresh (not quite a restoration). The cabinet was in generally good shape, but it has had it's fair share of dings and dents, along with some half-assed repairs (mostly just a quick slap of paint). The veneer had been peeled off on part of the side, so I first had to remove all of the veneer, which was a pain in the ass. That I got done last weekend, along with some structural filler (i.e. "fancy" wood spackle) and a coat of primer.

This weekend involved getting the finish coats on, some wheels, and replacing the locks and internal marquee lighting. The &^$!@ keys were somehow locked inside the damned thing and I was able to pick one lock, but the other....well luckily I had a small through-hole that I could use a 30" screwdriver to reach through the cabinet and unscrew the back of the one lock. I bought that tool wondering if I'd ever get to use it, and this weekend I was damned glad I had!

I got it mostly done and inside, but I still need to clean the front and do a little touch-up on the paint where I wasn't as careful as I could have been bringing it in. When I get it's future home squared away then I'll be comfortable taking picks, bragging about it, but more importantly...play the damned thing. 

Of course this wasn't my only project this weekend. I had also picked up a can/bottle vending machine for my game room and I man-handled that beast (It's 568 pounds.....) into the house, got it all cleaned up and plugged in. Works like a champ, but the machine is too loud. Ugh, so then I had to man-handle that beast back out of the house (thankfully that part was easier) so it can no live in the garage. So any future gamers at my house will have to go outside to grab a soda or beer.

Sorry guys, that's just how it has to be....

...at least until I can get my other two machines fixed & serviced. They're bottle only though and one is missing the keys, which seems to be a theme this weekend. I had to go get a special lockpick set for that and watch a bunch of videos on how to use said lockpick.

Clearly I'm one of those guys that collect shit of all types....

Kickstarter - Familiar RPG Coins

At a gaming session, in your pocket, or on display - keep your favorite Familiar with you at all times with these large Familiar Coins!

I'm a sucker for dice, but even more so, I'm a sucker for fantasy coins. Artwork that can be held, put in your pocket, and looked at at random is simply something very special to me. 

The Familiar RPG Coins Kickstarter offers these 1/4 pound coins - they ARE large, for 22 bucks each - 5 coins can be had for 100 plus shipping (and they ship in time for the December Holidays). I'm in for 5 for Rach and myself - thinking cat, owl, pseudodragon, rat, and one other. Fun times!

Goliath Coins are incredibly detailed, large metal coins, with sculpted 3D art.  Each coin comes with a display stand.

This series of Goliath Coins features "Familiar RPG Coins" and consists of ten different Familiars!

You can keep your favorite Familiar with you at all times - at a gaming session, in your pocket, or on display!

They can also be used as a game marker, first player token, game prop, inspiration token, deck topper, card guard, or good luck piece.  

The Tavern is supported by readers like you. The easiest way to support The Tavern is to shop via our affiliate links. The Tavern DOES NOT do "Paid For" Articles and discloses personal connections to products and creators written about when applicable.

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    

Kickstarter - How to Make a Fantasy Sandbox (Bat in the Attic)

A book that teaches you how to create a hex crawl-formatted setting for a fantasy sandbox campaign.

Rob Conley writes about "How to make a fantasy sandbox." Need I say more?

What is a Hexcrawl-formatted setting?

A hex grid is placed over a map of the setting with each hex numbered. The hex location of the various locales such as lairs, are noted and arranged into an index.  This format provides a convenient way to reference detailed local information within the setting.

You can look at the map, see the hex number the location is in, and then look it up quickly in the book. It works in reverse as well. You can read about a location in the book, which will have its hex location noted in the text. Then look up where it is on the map quickly.

This allows for easy access to dozens if not hundreds of detailed locations scattered across the setting map. 

Hexcrawls and Sandbox Campaigns

Sandbox campaigns are distinguished by the fact the players drive the campaign forward by their choices. While there are many types of sandbox campaigns, one common type is where the group arrives at a location on the map and begins exploring the region.

Regardless of the type of sandbox that is being run, the possibility exists that the players will decide that they need to head west instead of east in pursuit of their goals.  The ease of looking locations up makes the hexcrawl-formatted setting a useful tool for the referee trying to keep ahead of their players while running a sandbox campaign.

How to Make a Fantasy Sandbox will teach you how to make a hexcrawl-formatted setting and explain what details are important to include to handle the different types of sandbox campaigns.  

Rewards

This project is offering three rewards:

• How to Make a Fantasy Sandbox (Digest PDF/Book, 150+ pages)
• The Isle of Pyade Setting (Digest PDF/Book, 50+ pages)
• Blackmarsh Revised Layout (Digest Book, 39 pages)

 The Tavern is supported by readers like you. The easiest way to support The Tavern is to shop via our affiliate links. The Tavern DOES NOT do "Paid For" Articles and discloses personal connections to products and creators written about when applicable.

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    

GoFundMe - Ernie "The Barbarian" Gygax Needs Aid

 Without further commentary:

Dave Conant is organizing this fundraiser.

We have a friend in need...can you help?

Ernie “The Barbarian” Gygax has been in many D&D battles in his life being the eldest son of the co-creator of the D&D game. Now, he is in a fight for his very life – in fact, he has been in-and-out of hospitals and in-and-out of critical condition over the last few months. He even died for several minutes this past week, but was able to be revived. I won't go into many details, but he has a heart defect that results in not enough blood being pumped through his body and, more importantly, not delivered to vital organs...like the kidney. That means, in addition to heart issues, he is also needing dialysis to help the kidney to do it's job. Like any barbarian though, he keeps fighting – winning each individual battle so far, but he's getting wary and frustrated by his body's growing weaknesses.

The initial reason for this fundraising campaign is to help Ernie and Donna with the medical bills that are already mounting AND to help cover some of the hotel expenses for Donna (Ernie's significant other, soulmate, and Health Care POA), while she stays by Ernie's side every day at the hospital helping him through this and making some VERY difficult medical decisions along the way. Going forward with the time he has left, even accounting for the best possible situation, Ernie will need to follow strict guidelines and be severely limited in his activities...but HOPES that he and Donna can once again offer a place at their home in Lake Geneva for gamers to stop by and roll some dice.

Did you know that:

• The cost for an Air Ambulance (Life Flight) is between $12,000 - $25,000 (used twice),
• Average Ambulance transport in Wisconsin is $1,200 (used twice)
• Average for 1 Day in ICU/Critical Care: Numbers vary widely depending on how sick you are, but an average of $8,000-10,000 is typical – more the first few days and a little less beyond that (More than 10 WEEKS in 4 different hospitals.),
• Average for 1 Day of regular hospital care for heart issue patients is $4,000 (Used 15-20 days),
• Most insurance plans only pay up to 80% of those costs (if they pay them at all)

Today Ernie is fighting for his life...tomorrow they'll both be fighting to dig out from the pile of bills – even with insurance picking up a good portion of that tab. He has used all of those expensive services multiple times during his struggle over the last few months plus many doctor visits for months before that as he began feeling the affects of his body's weakening. Between the various ambulance services, hospitals, numerous doctors, procedures, medications and services provided, they'll be getting bills for many months.

Please lend your aide and contribute what you're able to help a gaming community friend in need.

The Tavern is supported by readers like you. The easiest way to support The Tavern is to shop via our affiliate links. The Tavern DOES NOT do "Paid For" Articles and discloses personal connections to products and creators written about when applicable.

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    

Bundle of Holding - The Arcane Library

For many of us in the OSR, Kelsey Dionne came out of nowhere with Shadowdark, but the reality is she was publishing 5e material for a while before she struck gold in the OSR market.

Well, The Arcane Library, Kelsey's publishing label, is one of the current bundles over at Bundle of Holding.

For just US$9.95 you get all eleven titles in our Arcane Collection (retail value $45) as DRM-free ebooks:

Eight D&D Fifth Edition horror modules: Masque of the Worms (for 1st-level characters), Valley of the Gilded Tower (level 2), Crypts of Azarumme (level 3), Watchers in the Dark (level 4), The Snow Stalkers (level 5), Beneath the Black Rose (level 6), The Curse of Wardenwood (level 7), and The Horror Within (level 8)

A 20th-level adventure in a live volcano, Fires of Iskh

The Ultimate Combat Cards Full Set with hundreds of print-and-cut reference cards for all the monsters, spells, and items in the D&D System Reference Document

And we also include the free Shadowdark RPG Quickstart Set

 The Tavern is supported by readers like you. The easiest way to support The Tavern is to shop via our affiliate links. The Tavern DOES NOT do "Paid For" Articles and discloses personal connections to products and creators written about when applicable.

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    

Bundle of Holding - Best Left Buried RPG

Well, although Best Left Buried declares itself as "old-school fantasy-horror tabletop roleplaying", I can't identify the old-school RPG it is seeking to emulate. Still, you can peek at what is essentially the Best Left Behind SRD and decide for yourself if you like what you see before buying in. I find the D6-based system interesting enough to put down just over 20 bucks, and it might become another option for convention and pick-up games for me.

Cryptdigger! This all-new Best Left Buried Bundle presents Best Left Buried, the rules-light fantasy horror tabletop roleplaying game from SoulMuppet Publishing where the monsters are scary and the players are scared. Players take the role of Cryptdiggers, professional dungeon-divers who venture underground in search of riches. Cryptdiggers brave dark tunnels, solve cryptic puzzles, and face terrifying monsters. Characters who survive might be permanently changed by their experience. They are often broken, beaten, and diminished – as ruined as the crypts themselves.

Pay just US$7.95 to get the DRM-free .PDF Deeper compilation, funded in a September 2020 Kickstarter campaign, of all three core books for the Best Left Buried line: Cryptdigger's Guide to Survival, Doomsayer's Guide to Horror, and Hunter's Guide to Monsters (plus the free Best Left Buried Zini Edition), along with three short "Expanded Character Options" supplements: Ancestries, Consequences, and Heroic.

And if you pay more than the threshold price of $20.15, you'll level up and also get our entire Bonus Collection with five more adventures and supplements worth an additional $70, including the 308-page sandbox campaign Throne of Avarice and four old-school hexcrawl modules – Beneath the Missing Sea, Darkling Seas of Islesmere, Spoils of the Gorgon Coast, and Spy in the House of Eth.

 

The Tavern is supported by readers like you. The easiest way to support The Tavern is to shop via our affiliate links. The Tavern DOES NOT do "Paid For" Articles and discloses personal connections to products and creators written about when applicable.

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    

Deal of the Day - Night's Black Agents

There's been a lot of talk about the GUMSHOE RPG Engine, which is the engine that powers Night's Back Agents. I like what I've read about the engine, and I really like the implied setting for Night's Black Agents, but I think I'd want to be a player in such a game and not the GM. Hmmmm.

Today's Deal of the Day is Night's Black Agents. Normally 24.95 in PDF, until tomorrow morning it is on sale for 4.99.

Night’s Black Agents brings the GUMSHOE engine to the spy thriller genre, combining the propulsive paranoia of movies like Ronin and The Bourne Identity with supernatural horror straight out of Bram Stoker. Investigation is crucial, but it never slows down the action, which explodes with expanded options for bone-crunching combat, high-tech tradecraft, and adrenaline-fueled chases.

Updating classic Gothic terrors for the postmodern age, Night’s Black Agents presents thoroughly modular monstrosity: GMs can build their own vampires, mashup their own minions, kitbash their own conspiracies to suit their personal sense of style and story. Rules options let you set the level of betrayal, grit, and action in your game. Riff from the worked examples or mix and match vampiric abilities, agendas, and assets for a completely custom sanguinary spy saga.

The included hook adventure gets the campaign going; the included city setting shows you what might be clotting in Marseilles’ veins even now. Rack silver bullets in your Glock, twist a UV bulb into your Maglite, and keep watching the mirrors … and pray you’ve got your vampire stories straight.

The Tavern is supported by readers like you. The easiest way to support The Tavern is to shop via our affiliate links. The Tavern DOES NOT do "Paid For" Articles and discloses personal connections to products and creators written about when applicable.

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     

MACE Vol 2 has been Relaunched

This isn't actually a re-post from July....

James Shields has re-launched his MACE Volume 2 Zine and it has basically a week & a half and a bit of funding to go.....basically he only needs 110 basic backers.

I'd personally recommend going with the $15 backer level so you get the POD and PDF versions. If you go with that first hyperlink I posted, you'll get a bit of a mini-review but I'll TL;DR it for you: James definitely gets PDF usage and made a great product with options to fit how you might want to, I don't know....actually use the zine at your table.

I won't go full rant, but I hate when publishers make a shitty PDF as an after-thought....and I've seen some real stinkers (like a huge high-res PDF that didn't allow printing....and it was a map!), so when I come across a squared-away PDF product, I will make a big deal of it.

This particular volume is all about Villains....unfortunately it'll be too late to use said villains in a Halloween adventure (should've backed back in July if that was an issue), but that's how these things go.

Now I'm clearly biased here and I'll be honest enough to admit I'm being a bit on the selfish side here promoting this Kickstarter....I want my copy and that won't happen if you don't try to get one as well....

Humble Bundle - Vampire: The Masquerade: Month of Darkness

I guess if you are going to put Vampire: The Masquerade up on Humble Bundle, you probably can't choose a better month than October.

The Vampire Bundle is one of those with a physical option for your purchase - 40 bucks (plus shipping) gets you all the books in PDF AND the Rivals card game. I've quickly learned that non-standard card games are NOT up my alley.

Without the card game, the PDF-only option for the Vampire Bundle clocks in at 18 bucks for 20 items/PDFs. I rarely find the 12-buck price point to have value, and the dollar basement level is often hit or miss.

I haven't looked at Vampire and the other titles in what was then The World of Darkness in decades and never had the opportunity to run a session, let alone play one, but the setting itself was an enjoyable read. 

 

Take your first step into the eternal night of Vampire: The Masquerade with this bundle of digital RPG rulebooks & supplements—plus the physical Rivals card game!

Get everything you need to start running RPGs in the storied World of Darkness, including digital rulebooks for both Vampire: The Masquerade and Hunter: The Reckoning, a host of sourcebooks covering the setting’s darkest mysteries, and a selection of adventures to get your campaign up and running.

When you pay $40 or more, you’ll also get the boxed Vampire: The Masquerade Rivals, a thrilling expandable card game set in the World of Darkness, as well as The Wolf and the Rat expansion and two bonus promo cards (shipping and handling not included). Succumb to the deadly allure of this legendary RPG setting, and help support charity with your purchase.

The Tavern is supported by readers like you. The easiest way to support The Tavern is to shop via our affiliate links. The Tavern DOES NOT do "Paid For" Articles and discloses personal connections to products and creators written about when applicable.

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    

Free OSR - Melee (The Fantasy Trip)

I've agreed to run a session of the Fantasy Trip at NTRPG 2024 in June of next year, so I need to tighten up my rules knowledge. Well, color me surprised to find Melee, the combat rules of The Fantasy Trip for Free at DTRPG in PDF. Woot!

A classic game of fantasy combat. Create characters in just a few minutes – then send them into the arena. Winners become stronger and faster for the next battle. Losers die.

Each counter in this fast-moving game is a single warrior. Players choose weapons and tactics for their fighters, and send them into combat against men, beasts, or monsters – to victory, or death.

This is the basic combat system for The Fantasy Trip For the basic magic system, pick up Wizard. For ready-to-use adventures perfect for solo or group play, check out Death Test. And for 40 – yes, forty! – postcard adventures, download The Fantasy Trip 2019 Postcard Contest collection absolutely FREE!

 

The Tavern is supported by readers like you. The easiest way to support The Tavern is to shop via our affiliate links. The Tavern DOES NOT do "Paid For" Articles and discloses personal connections to products and creators written about when applicable.

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    

Kickstarter - Gamefold: The First Folding Table Designed For Gaming

I must say, I really like this gaming table. Versatile, storable, portable, and affordable - starting at $250 USC. If I had an in-person gaming group, I'd snag this. 

Sadly, all my gaming is at cons and via VTT. But if you play in someone's living room, this table and a few folding chairs and you will be golden!

What is Gamefold?

Gamefold is an innovative, premium folding gaming table that combines affordability with versatility. Its rock-solid design, dice-friendly lip, and 6x3 feet size make it perfect for various indoor and outdoor activities, from board games to puzzles. Gamefold's standout feature is its built-in rail, allowing for easy customization with add-ons.

Gamefold is a versatile gaming table that can be folded up for easy storage. It features a built-in 360° rail system with three separate rails (triple rails) around the table, allowing users to attach, customize, and even slide various accessories for an enhanced gaming experience.

The Tavern is supported by readers like you. The easiest way to support The Tavern is to shop via our affiliate links. The Tavern DOES NOT do "Paid For" Articles and discloses personal connections to products and creators written about when applicable.

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    

Kickstarter - Gammalitic Age: Future Warrior World Book (FAST RPG)

Post-Apocalyptic setting for the FAST Core RPG gaming system

If it seems like I'm a Kickstarter kick recently, I guess I am. There are simply a number of interesting Kickstarters, and my wallet has been getting lighter ;)

Gammalitic Age: Future Warrior World Book is a post-apocalyptic setting for the FAST RPG. It's brought to you by R Scott Taylor, probably best known for The Folio series of releases. If you've seen Scott's prior Kickstarter projects, you know the quality of his work - simply top-notch.

Welcome to the world of Gammalitic Age: Future Warrior!  This is a dream project from Art of the Genre, as this setting has been 'kicking around' since roughly 1985 when I decided to create my own RPG, entitled 'Future Warrior'.  While the system at the time was basically a rough rip-off of OSR D&D mechanics, I, and my cousin, Greg Lovell, had a blast spending our summer making this post-apocalyptic world based around the worldview of the time with movies like The Road Warrior, The Day After, Threads, and of course those incredible adds I kept seeing in Dragon Magazines for the Aftermath RPG. Still, life moves on, and all those fun supplements we created on graph paper were stored away, never to be seen again (or so I thought), until, almost 40 years later, I created the FAST Core RPG and became close to artist Luiz Prado (who also did work on the RPG for me).  Luiz had been a lifelong fan of post-apocalyptic settings, mostly through classic video games like Fallout and Wasteland, so when we started talking about the setting I was motivated to dig out my old game and look at what it would take to convert it into the FAST Core system. 

The rest, you might say, is 'history', as we began building the world through weekly chats on Discord and putting together a Patreon to roll out some of our ideas.  Still, nothing fully manifested as a true gaming supplement until this year when the success of the FAST Compendium Volume 1 showed that small digital supplements for the core game were desired by fans.  This brings us to today, as I sit here writing this Kickstarter page with a smile as I think about the years of work that have gone into the recreation of my ancient game, and how we would love to roll it out to all of you.  It is our hope that we'll see great support for this, and if so, we can achieve stretch goals that will help us create Luiz's ultimate dream of creating this project as a 300+ page physical book absolutely FILLED with his incredible post-apocalyptic ideas that have languished, unfulfilled, on pages and pages of rough artwork and warm-up sketches.   

The Tavern is supported by readers like you. The easiest way to support The Tavern is to shop via our affiliate links. The Tavern DOES NOT do "Paid For" Articles and discloses personal connections to products and creators written about when applicable.

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       

Kickstarter - Tome of Adventure Design - Fantasy Adventure Builder

PC/Mac/tablet app for designing and creating adventures for D&D and other fantasy role-playing games AND to create your OWN generators!

Ever had an app you didn't know you needed until you saw it, and then you couldn't even think of being without it? Tome of Adventure Design - Fantasy Adventure Builder fits that definition for me. I own two copies of ToAD from the Frog God era and one copy of ToAD Revised. I REALLY like the Tome of Adventure Design if you couldn't tell ;)

The Tome of Adventure Design - Fantasy Adventure Builder (TM) is a PC/Mac/tablet software product that helps you build creative adventures for fantasy roleplaying games such as Dungeons & Dragons, Pathfinder, Swords & Wizardry, and similar games. Many tabletop gamers may already be familiar with the Tome of Adventure Design, from Mythmere Games and this software takes it to the next level.

"we are going to approach it as a multi-stage plan along with our collaborators at RPG Stories and Brave Alice. The first step is to release a two-part piece of PC/Mac software. The first part is an interactive version of the Tome of Adventure Design tables, with a few modifications and improvements. The second part is a table builder that allows you to modify the tables from Tome of Adventure Design and create and share your own generators using those tables and any new tables you make."

The Tavern is supported by readers like you. The easiest way to support The Tavern is to shop via our affiliate links. The Tavern DOES NOT do "Paid For" Articles and discloses personal connections to products and creators written about when applicable.

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      

Kickstarter - Worlds Without Number RPG: Offset Reprint

First, it is Kevin Crawford. So, even if you aren't crazy about his ruleset, the tools he includes for GMs and running a sandbox are prices. Second, Kevin always gives back with his Kickstarters. Initially, it was putting the art commissioned for the project into the public domain. Now, he is releasing SRDs under the CC0 license, essentially the public domain. Wow. Simply wow.

Worlds Without Number is simply a beautiful ruleset. Bringing it back in an offset printing is awesome. A mini Gazetter is even better. An SRD under the CC0 license? Priceless.

Those backers who pledge at $80 or more will get the true prize of the campaign.

The Worlds Without Number offset-print book will be dispatched to them. Unlike the glued-binding print-on-demand books of the present age, these 400-page books have their pages folded into bundles and sewn directly into the spine of the book. The higher-quality printing also allows for richer ink colors, heavier matte paper for the pages, and fully-printed endsheets on the inside of the front and back covers. These books will be entirely identical to those issued as part of the initial offset print run except for the absence of the ribbon bookmark. If the campaign does well enough, I might be able to remedy that absence in the final release.

Offset-print backers within the United States will get their books shipped to a US address at no additional cost. International backers will be prompted for an additional fee for international shipping when they make their pledge. This fee does not include any duty that may be charged on receipt, as international tariffs are sadly too complex for me to manage on my end.

The Tavern is supported by readers like you. The easiest way to support The Tavern is to shop via our affiliate links. The Tavern DOES NOT do "Paid For" Articles and discloses personal connections to products and creators written about when applicable.

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    

Just Discovered a New Console/Computer RPG for Under $10....

This weekend has been a pretty good one for me gaming-wise. Got to sling dice Friday night for a bit...and that'd normally be enough to record this as a good weekend (unless you have a shitty GM & group....been there, quit that, sorry if that hits close to home), but Saturday was a bit more game-filled than expected and this Sunday morning I'm dragging ass a bit because of it.

I know, I know, why should you care.....I'll get there...eventually.

So Saturday morning I managed to get a while hair up my ass and decided to finally break down and pick up a game I've been wanting to try for like, forever. Stopped in at my FLGS and they did not have a copy of HeroQuest. I've never played it, but it isn't a cheap game by any means, so deciding to pull the trigger on a $100+ game isn't something I take lightly.

Since that didn't happen, I drove around town, did my normal Saturday errands, and stopped off at my local Gamestop to look at used XBox games. That store did have a copy of HeroQuest, and it was $95! Online it's listed at $135.....yoinks, mine now. I haven't cracked it open yet because I don't need to see more minis I'm not going to paint and terrain I need, but am not going to build (I'll eventually do that is a lie I tell myself often). 

On a side note, I just did a HeroQuest google search and I think I may have started myself down a very dark and dangerous board game path.....holy hell there is a lot of add-ons and customization....this purchase may be my gateway drug to a new gaming addiction...(hope not).

While I was at Gamestop, well it was my main purpose for being there until I got sidelined by HeroQuest, I managed to pick up some games during a 4 for $20 (priced $10 or less). Normally it's hard for me to find enough games that I want to pretend I'll play, but I found three I liked & wanted to try, but I needed a fourth.....so I grabbed up Pillars of Eternity (Complete Edition).

Holy crap did I just luck out, and if you're anything like me you might be going, WTF is Pillars of Eternity? Hell, I didn't have clue.....just picked it up to round out my purchases figuring the $7 was essentially free. Now I had asked about the new Baldur's Gate game and Gamestop didn't carry codes or copies of the game. I liked the original Baldur's Gate game, have bought it like three time now, but the Xbox version.......suuuuuuuuuuuucckkssssssss. The controls are crap. I guess that the new Baldur's Gate 3 game isn't yet available for Xbox, and last I heard it will be download only and only available on the Xbox Series X. If you have a S or Xbox One, you're just SOL. Now that's just what I've heard....

If you don't want to wait and/or shell out $60 or like $560 if you don't have a Series X, and you liked the OG Baldur's Gate, then check out Pillars of Eternity. While it took a little getting used to, the controls (and graphics) are great and....well I'm impressed. It feels like instead of taking a tabletop RPG and forcing a console game over the top of it, they did the reverse. It's playable and a lot of the fiddly bits are pushed aside, but there if you need them. I don't quite understand the game mechanics 100%, but I don't need to. There's enough to get to just jump in and there's a lot of lore I can either dive into, or just gloss over.

I thought I'd just make sure the game ran, maybe see what character creation was like, and get through the intro. Next thing I know it's 1 AM. 

One thing I really liked it that this game doesn't coddle you and aside from a little necessary rail-roading during the intro, lets you figure things out on your own. A couple of barely-spoilery events in the first bits of the game:

• You enter your first "dungeon" with a couple of NPCs....or maybe they'll be party members....and one wants you to do one thing and the other definately doesn't want you to do that one thing. If you do what the one character wants, which makes sense and is totally reasonable, the other character nopes out.
• When you get past the end of the required adventure start railroad you're free to explore. You comes across a solitary character that is morning the loss of a friend to a bear attack. He warns you to not enter the cave to the North, which I promptly tried to do.....and got ganked hard. Well that dude did warn you..... My PC has leveled a couple times so I got back and try again. Oh hell no! That bear un-alived my group just as quickly as before, and this time I had tactics and everything. I'm not sure what level I need to be to overcome this brute, but so far the only way to survive this Kobayashi Maru is not to play.

There's a few game mechanics that I'm really enjoying, mostly because I have some pre-conceived notions that Pillars of Eternity is just not playing into. First is that I'm expecting party members to just come along for me to accept or turn down, so I'm talking to every character with a name. After a few hours of gameplay I've found one. That guy is an established new party member, but I could, and just did, hire an adventurer. When you do that you get to basically create them like you did your main PC, and so far there isn't really any difference between the hired gun and the discovered-in-the-wild party member.

The other new thing I like is actually kind of two-fold. When you level your character and get to add some traits/abilities, you can choose to add a low-level starting ability of another class. I haven't taken one of these options yet, but I'm hoping that can basically lead towards some sort of dual/multi classing. Speaking of classing, if you decided you don't like where your PC is heading ability-wise, you can pay to basically retrain (re-class) your PC. Again, not something I'm taking advantage of, but the fact it's there is pretty cool.

Pillars of Eternity was made by Obsidian Entertainment, who has done some damned fine computer games (pretty much too many to list) and this game was Kickstarted! I know, listing a successful big-budget gaming KS here at the Tavern is like almost unheard of. It's also available on Steam right now for a whopping $9.99 (for the version I have on XBox). I'm considering picking up the PC version as well for when I travel.

If you like isometric computer RPGs and don't want to (or can't) shell out $60+ for Baldur's Gate 3, then I highly recommend Pillars of Eternity.....for $10 or less....you'll defiantly get your money's worth!