Dude! What's Up With Your Cat Posing With Your RPG Books?

If you read this blog with any regularity, you've seen numerous pictures of my feline daughter, Ashley. If you've gamed with me online, you've probably seen Ashley's tail at the very least as it crossed the screen mid game.

Ash has her own blanket on my desk. It's her spot when I'm on my computer. Why fight the inevitable when you can just embrace it. Besides, every book that hits my desk she feels a need to check out. Might as well make it a signature of The Tavern. On the plus side, she keeps the mice away ;)

At some time, like all pets, she'll move on to the rainbow bridge, and I'll have these pictures to hold me over until we meet again in the distant future. She's a young 7 years old, so hopefully she'll be posing for Tavern Pics for many years to come :)

DCC RPG in Space? CRAWLJAMMER is the Fanzine you are Looking for...

I liked the Spelljammer setting back in the 2e days. Never to really use it (or Planescape) but I bought a bunch of stuff for it that now sits on the top shelf of a closet behind other stuff, because that's how much gaming stuff there is in the Tenkar household (not counting gaming stuff in the basement or in storage).

Anyhow, I digress a bit, but the fact remains that I like bit's of space opera in my fantasy at times. CRAWLJAMMER is a zine that puts a little space opera in your DCC RPG.

Issue #1 of CRAWLJAMMER gives a taste of what's to come. Don't expect Traveller type detailing. It's flavor or crunch, which is just the way I like it.

Highlight for me? The Lizardman Mercenary, as it could fit into a standard DCC campaign with little if any tweaks. Really well done.

Issue #1 even includes a 1st level adventure: Cry Freedom and Let Slip the Bat-Men of Venus.

These two bits alone are well worth your three bucks.

I'd rate this up there with Crawl! It's the right size to sit next to my Crawl! collection too!

How Much Detail do you Expect in the Adventures You Use

Some folks like to run adventures that are fairly barebones and fill in the needed details on the fly. Others like to have everything needed (and possibly more) - this could be boxed text and or paragraphs describing the encounter / room / tactics and if this then that situations.

I fall somewhere in between. For "drop in" adventures not part of a bigger plot line, less most certainly is more. If it's ore of a mini-campaign (Razor Coast and the like) more is better, at least for me.

What do you want in the adventures you buy? More? Less? A bit of both?

How Important Are Player Visuals in the Game Sessions You Run?

The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan

Tomb of Horrors

Many DCC adventure for 3.5

They include player visuals - snapshots of locations, walls, writings, rooms, monsters, etc - all used to bring the players' interactions more fully into the game session. Or at least, that is the theory.

Do you like these "visual handouts" or not? Why or why not?

Looking at The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan

I literally hadn't looked at this in 20 years, but discussions in the weekly group had me dig it out of the nether regions of the endless closet.

I forgot how much this module does right, such as:

- tri-fold cover, which could double as a poor man's DM's screen (given a choice between a module and a DM's screen, teenage me would go for the module every time)

- illustration booklet - holy shit, but it is well done - damn shame I can't draw for shit, or I'd be doing this for my game sessions

- "This module is meant to stand on it's own, and includes areas on the map where Dungeon Masters may add their own levels" - I did so back in the day, just wish I could find those maps 30 years later

It does suffer quite a bit from "boxed text-itis". Too much to read, to the point the players' attentions will stray. Easily enough to fix, but common for the era.

Still, i ran this multiple times. May have to do so again in the future.

More Thoughts on a Thieves' World Campaign...

The Thieves' World Boxed set has grabbed me by the proverbial balls. I'm thinking it might make for a very nice sandbox yet episodic campaign.

Here's my thoughts:

Crypts & Things for the base ruleset

Scarlet Heroes for the skills / traits. Basically 2d8 plus stat bonus plus trait bonus if applicable. Average task requires an 11 or better. I'd have to write up a list of applicable traits but that's fine.

D30 Sandbox Companion for filling in any holes.

I'd have to get the Thieves' World Player's Guide into my players hands. It's out there on the interwebs for them to find.

I'd ask them for their goals and plans and work the hooks and schemes around that. Flexible plot points for the players to choose and react to or not. Less dungeon, more intrigue.

No expectations that it would follow the series of books, but notable characters may be seen.

Damn. I don't have time for another campaign, but the idea is just so damn cool...

Bundle of Holding - Classic GDW Traveller!

Yeah, there is Mongoose traveller, which is OGL, but can you DIE during character generation in Mongoose Traveller? I don't think so.

Then there is Traveller5, which I don't think anyone without an engineering degree can understand, and they'll be the ones saying "this shit makes no sense!"

Or you can go back to the original. Plain old Traveller. Where men were men, and often died before they got to experience the first game session.

Totally old school. Totally fun. I'm totally in, as I have the rules and the class books, but little in the way of campaign material.

I'm just thankful it's not the traveller New Age crap ;)

Grab your Bundle of Traveller here.

Mortality: Inevitable Yet Terrifying

latest in a series of guest posts by The Tavern's patrons.

We accept that we have a limited lifespan on the planet.   No big deal, in a few decades, we'll fade from existence.   Such is life and the natural course of affairs.   Right up until it hits you smack in the mouth or when someone you loves lapses into forlorn silence.

As gamers, mortality is something we deal with day to day.   For OSR folks, we can lose a handful of characters without more than a nodding of the dead to indicate death has once again defeated the living. Occasionally, one grabs our soul and plays out a life not as a shade of ourself but something superior, something far different, than the original idea.  The character springs to life amid the whims of a game master but is truly born in the soul of the player behind it.  There are few characters that reach that inspirational level but when they do, it is agonizing experience for not only the player but for the game master.

Game masters are the embodiment of life for the characters.   Certainly they pull strings, but I, they, want to make characters flourish.   To do so is to them alive and along with them a string of others. The world opens, play expands, and those characters, those players, continue to make memory after memory.  But it has end.  No one can live forever.

Game masters come and go.   Groups wither and die.  What once was, can be no more.   Characters are bound to us but have lifespans far shorter than desired.  A character's lifespan can be as short as the game master's

Mark
Mithirill & Mages

Games From the Basement - Thieves' World Boxed Set

I really enjoyed the first couple of Thieves' World books. Later ones seemed to be much less enjoyable, but the first three or four were simply aces and I could see myself running a campaign in the city and the surrounding area.

I never did.

I wasn't able to make it work in my head in D&D terms, and at that point in my gaming history we had already played some RuneQuest and moved on, or back, to AD&D as our fantasy ruleset of choice.

Damn but I can see this playing out in my head right now as a S&W sandbox. Lots of adventures, few dungeons, lots of intrigue, few magic items but the ones found will have history and power and overall lots of fun.

The encounter charts are inspirational and the mapping is damn near magical. The city is presented in a systemless manner but the personalities are stated out for nearly every damn system that was on the market back in 1981. Which systems?

AD&D, Adventures in Fantasy, Chivalry & Sorcery, DragonQuest, D&D, The Fantasy Trip, RuneQuest, Traveller (yes, Traveller) and even Tunnels & Trolls. The names working on the conversions is nearly a who's who of the early days of RPGs: Dave Arneson, Eric Goldberg, Steve Marsh, Marc Miller, Steve Perrin, Lawrence Schick, Greg Stafford, Ken St. Andre and others.

Ye gods but I really want to run this now. Damn me cleaning out the stack of games to make room for a real closet to be built...

Next Week I Play in my First Session of Swords & Wizardry

It sounds really strange to say that, but it's true. Although I run Swords & Wizardry on a regular basis, I've yet to play in a session as a player. That's a pretty big difference.

Heck, from 81 or so through 97, my first "age" of playing RPGs, with the exception of my very first session, some later whacked out session with 12+ players and 2 DMs and convention play, I DM'ed as a rule when it came to (A)D&D. Rifts and Battlelords I gladly joined as a player, but pretty much everything else I was the GM - easily 4 out of 5 sessions found me behind the screen no matter the game or the genre.

Upon my return in 2008 via Fantasy Grounds, I was a player, mostly because I couldnt figure out the interface as a DM. I didn't want to run 3x, I wanted to run classic D&D with my own adventures, and that was damn clunky for what I wanted it to do. I could, however, embrace it as a player, and I did get a chance to play in extended Dark Heresy and Castles & Crusades campaigns.

Move us up to D&D Next's beta and G+ Hangouts, and I was again playing as a player - until DM burnout and a broken game system led to me running ACKS, then AD&D 1e / OSRIC, some Ambition & Avarice and now Swords & Wizardry Complete. I have recently been playing in some of +Joe D 's excellent Blood Island Campaign, as we rotate the DM's chair. Joe runs a damn sweet LotFP Weird Fantasy (more heavily houseruled than even my S&W campaign).

Next week, +David Przybyla is going to run a session of S&W for us as we playtest something that he has written. I jumped at the opportunity, as I have yet to play in a session of S&W as a player. So, in a way, it will be a bit of a playtest for me too ;)

Final Tally - 339 Magic Items Entered into the OSR Superstar Competition and a Map Peek

Partial map for the final round

The magic number of magic items is 339.

It's not quite set in stone, as there might be duplicates or missed items in my count, but it shouldn't change by much. We'll have an accurate count when I send the judges their copies of the entries later on this week.

Next round for the 16 qualifiers will be designing monsters.

The final round of 8 finalists will get to complete and flesh out the partial map shown above by our very own +matt jackson (there may also be an open round using Matt's map - we'll see when we get there). Maps will be judges less on artistic ability and more on content, imagination and usability - but that's a bit down the line ;)

Huge thanks to all that entered!

325 Magic Items Entered thus far in the OSR Superstar Competition - Just Over 3 Hours Left to Submit

Let me put it simply:

325 Magic Items submitted to the OSR Superstar Competition with mere hours left to enter!

Wow.

There is still at least one more set of prizes to add to the list, I just need to finalize the details with the publisher. It is some damn good stuff (that I own and is based of the S&W rules).

Cut off for entries is 1159 PM NYC time tonight. That being said, I won't be up at 1159 tonight. I'll probably be up around 8 AM, which is when I will give the final tally. I'm not so much of an ass that I'll cut off late entries before the tally, but don't be late. Maybe my stomach will continue with it's grumblings and I will be up at 1159. Just send that shit in now ;)

There have been suggestions that I assign some of the prizes to "best magic weapon" and other similar categories - ain't happening. My judges will being having enough work as it is judging the best overall entries from the number we will have and I'm not going to throw a spanner into the works.

We will be expanding the first round to 16 qualifying entries from 8 - spots 9-16 will get $5 RPGNow gift certificates and move up to the second round.

There will be 8 qualifiers for the second round from 4 - positions 5-8 will get $10 RPGNow gift certificates and move up to the final rounds.

I'll be covering the cost of awarding the RPGNow credit to the expanded qualifying list.

At the earliest, judges will get a list of identifiers redacted submissions by this wednesday, but it may take longer (as this is by far more entries than I could have expected), as all the entries will be going into one huge document for them to review, with each submitted item given a number for me to match up on my master list.

Then the judges will need time to review and make their decisions - figure at least a week on their part, so it may be two weeks or so before the second round kicks off.

Trial and error folks. If the process moves more slowly then I may like, the best excuse for that is the amazing response to the event.

+R H is the man to thank for putting up the cash to kick this off and giving me the kick in the ass needed for me to kick things off on my end. God bless you sir :)

252 Magic Items Entered thus far in the OSR Superstar Competition - 15 Hours Left to Submit

The response to the OSR Superstar Competition has been nothing less amazing. Yep, simply amazing.

Just over 15 hours left to enter - over 250 magic items submitted.

So many additional prizes submitted I'll need to a spread sheet to figure it all out.

This, my friends, is what the hobby is all about.

Huzzah!

227 Magic Items Entered thus far in the OSR Superstar Competition - Yarr! Where be me Maps and Treasure?

Entries for the OSR Superstar Competition are poring in today - 25 new items enters since this morning's post with just over a day left to enter. I still need to sit down and figure out where all of the new prizes fit, which is certainly a good thing.

We are probably going to increase the number of qualifying entries from 8 in the first round to 12 or 16 just because of the sheer number of entries. The first 8 would get the prizes already mentioned and the additional qualifiers would get $5 RPGNow gift certificates as well as moving on to the 2nd round. The response really has been amazing.

So, without wasting more of your time, here are the latest additions to the prize pool:

+Peter Regan , possible best know for Oubliette Magazine and for his love of mapping tools, is donating the following for the top four finalists-

I'd like to offer up 4 prize bundles for the finalists.  They contain some of printed pads from my site Squarehex.co.uk along with a few accessories. 

Each bundle contains the following:
A5 Hex pad (7mm hexes) with Super Hex
A7 Hex pad (7mm hexes)
A7 Pad of Geomorphic Intent (7mm grid)
Little Hexes mini-campaign setting
Pocket Guide to Dungeon Geomorphs
7mm plastic card ruler
Hex symbol card
Dungeon symbol card
Dungeon symbol fridge magnet
A7 polyfile wallet
Staedtler black fineliner pen
Papermate mechanical penci

Apparently I need to get back into mapping again, because a package like the above just makes one want to map.

+Bill De Franza is adding 3 PDF bundles of YARR!, an OSR styled rules light pirate RPG. If you want to roleplay pirates with kids, adults or a fine mix of the two, this is a fine choice.

227 Magic Items. Over 100 folks sending submissions. Unlimited fun. It's what being an OSR Superstar is all about.

There's a day left to enter. Have you submitted YOUR entries yet?

Tavern Art from the Soon to be Released "Guidebook to the City of Dolmvay"

Tenkar's Tavern. The brazen thief Janni the Lucky takes bids on a (stolen) portrait of what appears to be the young wizard Kormydigar surrounded by angry demons. The curio shopowners/ pawnbrokers Abah the Dealer, Bekker of Malthaven, and Cadfan the Moneylender make offers while the grumpy dwarf Tenkar the Barkeep looks on disapprovingly. The Valenon guardsmen stop by for a chat.

Yep, the above will be in +Pete Spahn 's / Small Niche Games Guidebook to the City of Dolmvay. As if visiting The Tavern's blog isn't enough excitement for the average gamer, your PCs will soon be able to wet their whistles there ;)

202 Magic Items Entered thus far in the OSR Superstar Competition - The Mad Archmage Finds His Small Niche

So, it appears that this morning we are 25 entries further along than last night's post. We broke 200 magic items submitted to the contest with over a day and a half left to enter. Very humbling. Very exciting too! Yes, the OSR Superstar Competition is still accepting entries :)

I told you we had more prizes being donated and we do. This morning I'd like to highlight the gifts of two of the OSR's publishers.

+Joseph Bloch is donating a print hard cover copy of Castle of the Mad Archmage. It's a sweet megadungeon that Joe has published under his BRW Games imprint. I'll be reviewing this in the near future, as I find some down time after the first round of the competition closes to entries and it all gets tossed into the hands of the judges.

+Pete Spahn is donating a bundle of the complete line of Small Niche Games releases. Sixteen PDFs in all, including setting material, adventures, fanzines and more. I've really enjoyed Pete's releases, and the winner of this bundle should be inundated with some high end RPG reading ;)

I'm going to need to map things out on paper and see where all of these prizes will land ;)

Keep the entries coming!

(more prizes to be announced)

Adding Up the Ampersands - Looking at "&" Magazine (Free OSR Mag)

It never ceases to amaze me that the spiritual successor to Dragon Magazine is NOT Gygax magazine, despite the trappings and look, but "&" Magazine, a PDF magazine whose articles drip with the feel of Dragon Mag from the mid 1980s. (edit: forgot to mention - it's free)

Ecology articles, new classes, adventures, interviews, game theory - it's all there and more.

Did I mention the hyperlinked contents page? Sure, it's new fangled and I'm turning into the old guy that yells at the kids to "get off my lawn" but I think it's awesome.

Issue #7 even has an interview with +Vincent Florio , which besides being interesting on it's own even includes a shout out to me. How the hell did I miss that before?

I have every issue of "&" Magazine on my hard drive, but I've never spent the proper amount of time doing more than a quick flip though and occasional article read. It appears I need to look closer.

Actually, I will be doing that. I'll highlight at least one article per issue that really stands out to me. Might take me a bit to get through all 7 issues, but I'll start from issue #1. If you are going to do something like this, you need to do it right ;)

177 Magic Items Entered in the OSR Superstar Competition and The Frog God Adds Some Magic to the Prize Pool

Yep, 177 magic items have been submitted to the OSR Superstar Competition. Somewhere around 90 folks have entered. I am going to extend the contest until 1159 PM on Sunday Night, February 16, 2014 NYC time. We are adding about a dozen hours, no more. If you are going to enter, don't wait much longer.

Now, with that out of the way, I'm going to announce some more prizes for the prize pool (and we have even more prizes to announce, so yes, this is going a bit insane and that's the way we like it).

Frog God Games, publisher of Swords & Wizardry Complete and many adventures and other fine material for your S&W game (and some of that Pathfinder stuff too) has offered the following:

Winner gets 50% off on one order up to $1000 total order amount. 

4 runner up coupons for 25% off, up to $1000 total order amount.

Everyone who enters contest with what judges consider to be an actual entry gets a coupon for 10% off one order up to $1000 total order.

Now that's pretty f'n cool!

This is how I see it playing out:

Grand prize winner gets the 50% off on one order up to $1000 total order amount (and with at least $275 in cash prize money, that could stretch far)

Finishers in the 2nd to 4th finalist spots will get coupons for 25% off, up to $1000 total order amount.

1st place finisher in the consolation round will get a coupon for 25% off, up to $1000 total order amount

And everyone that plays and plays to win get's a 10% discount with the Frogs

155 Magic Items Submitted Thus Far for the OSR Superstar Competition - Are they Buried in the Barrowmaze?

I just tallied up the entries that we've received to date for the OSR Superstar Competition and we are now at 155 Magic Items submitted for the first round of the OSR Superstar Competition. Submissions are open through Sunday.

Let me say this before I go any further:

HOLY F'N SHIT!

There, I feel better now ;)

I am totally blown away by the response, not just by those entering but by those supporting the contest with additional prizes beyond what was initially announced.

Tonight, we add +Greg Gillespie 's excellent Barrowmaze I in PDF to the prize pool. This is Old School dungeoneering as it is meant to be. Don't forget to bring your cleric and some sledge hammers. Seriously, Barrowmaze is what I moved my group to when we needed to remove the taste of some uncompleted dungeon that shall not be named from our communal taste buds. Barrowmaze hit my group's sweet spot, and they are a discerning group of players. ;)

If you somehow missed the announcement, Barrowmaze Complete is currently seeking supporters over at Indiegogo. It includes BM I + II along with new material, professional layout, an optional support level that includes minis and more.

Enough With the Snow Already!

I'd rather be home reading RPG books - but as we are having work done on the house, that probably wouldn't have happened if I'd been able to stay home anyway.

So, what are you doing on this icy, snowy, wet, windy Thursday in February?