Printing Out the Free Far Away Land Quickstarts for NTRPG Con

I have 16 covers printed (using heavier paper than the insides) and 3 copies completely stapled up of the Far Away Land Quickstart. Gonna bring at least 12 copies with me. These copies do not include the Isle of the Rat Wizard as they are play copies for the players, not the GM.

I know conventional wisdom says you should provide your players with pregens, but as it took my highly distracted group about 20 minutes for 4 players to create characters via Roll20, I strongly suspect we'll have similar if not better results at NTRPG Con.

Guest Poster - The Frugal GM - As The d20 (Entertainment) Spins - Wayward Kickstarter

As most of you folks know, The Tavern is open to to guest posters. Send me an email using the contact form to the right of this post with your elevator pitch. Today's guest post is from Christopher Stogdill, the Frugal GM. It's topic - d20 Entertainment / Ken Whitman. There is much more to this story. Hopefully in the coming weeks, Chris or I will be able to expand on what it here.

Greetings Tavern,

My name is  +Christopher Stogdill and like Erik, I try to give back some to the RPG community at-large through my blog and some other writing/design efforts under the “Frugal GM” banner. I try to get in on the Tavern Chats and have been fortunate enough to be able to contribute here or there elsewhere. For a couple of months I’ve been doing my best keeping Erik apprised of the general fuckery that has become the Knights of the Dinner Table: Live Action Series (KoDT: LAS) Kickstarter. I’d hoped he would use his site as an additional forum to highlight this “issue”. Although he’s aware of what is going on in general, and I’m sure on some of the specifics, he’s been reluctant to do so for some very good reasons, primarily because his information is second-hand. I don’t have that problem….not the willingness to use second-hand info, but because I have 1st hand info. I get his point loud and clear and the more I think about it, I cannot come right out with everything I know because I’m certain some of it was told to me in confidence.

A quick background: I was quite active with the HackMaster Association and while I was just a rabid fanboy I’ve generally come to consider the D-Team (Kenzer & Company Development Team) friends. Through volunteering and just straight-up social visits I’ve gotten opportunities to develop actual relationships with these people that at one time were stronger than those with my immediate family. I could try to “prove” this connection somehow, but it is one of the things you’ll just have to take my word for it.

Another thing you’ll have to take my word on, and I think it is a fair bet to say this is a general assumption, is that the publicly-viewable problems are the tip of the shitberg, er…I mean iceberg. As much as I’d like to type out, “..and this happened to Barb, or some such” I’ll point out only what has happened to me & the Mrs. and what you can easily read for yourself online. I’m sure I’ll miss stuff, which just adds credence to the sh…iceberg analogy.

The basic facts are that Ken Whitman of d20 Entertainment started what ended up being a series of Kickstarters with the KoDT: LAS Kickstarter than ended on February 5th, 2014 with 795 backers coughing up $69,525. My wife backed the “GEN CON 2015 THEATRICAL PREMERE & AFTER PARTY PACKAGE” at $450 which was promised this:
1.            Blu-ray DVD of the KODT:LAS with bloopers and extras
2.            Ability to download a 480p .mp4 of the KODT:LAS series after the “theatrical debut”
3.            Thank You in the movie credits
4.            24” x 36” print of the movie poster painted by Larry Elmore
5.            Hardback Limited Edition Book (KoDT: 20 Years of Covers)
6.            2 Tickets to the “world premier” of the KoDT Live Action Series at GenCon2015
7.            Question & Answer session with the D-Team and KODT: LAS Actors
8.            Hang out at the After Party with the D-Team and KODT:LAS Actors

Now obviously I cannot really get into items #1-3 because the “movie” isn’t out yet, I can speak a bit to items #4-8. Remember, all of this is pretty much publicly available knowledge except for any “this happened to us” input.

Item #4.               24” x 36” print of the movie poster painted by Larry Elmore
One of the lower tiers of pledges states the KODT: LAS DVD will “feature” cover art by Larry Elmore, but pledges at level $100 or higher, like mine, are to receive a “print of the KoDT 24” x 36” movie poster”. According to d20 Entertainment’s comment dated May 21, 2015 “The Elmore Movie Poster will come out ON the DVD itself in Mid August!” If I buy a “print”, I’m expecting an appropriately-sized piece of paper with art on it, not a digital file.

Item #5.               Hardback Limited Edition Book (KoDT: 20 Years of Covers) (review of the Limited Edition is here)
Backers pledging above the $200 were to “receive a FREE copy of the Hardback Limited Edition Book!!!” The content of this book wasn’t quite what it was described to be, but like the basic format of the KODT:LAS, I understand that some allowances have to made for a product that is in the process of creation. What is not acceptable is the “misleading, or inaccurate” content regarding this book. I ascertain that d20 Entertainment was deceptive and dishonest about the fundamental nature of this “limited edition” book. 1st the KODT:LAS kickstarter page clearly states, “IT IS ONLY AVAILABLE ON KICKSTARTER. AFTER FEBRUARY 5th, YOU WONT BE ABLE TO GET THIS BOOK.”, which is patently false since you have been able to buy a copy of this book directly from d20 Entertainment even as late as this morning, more than two years after the Kickstarter completion. d20 Entertainment also claims that “Just 250 copies of this beautiful book will be available in Hardcover”, which is also false since they printed and extra 25 copies as part of the author’s payment and they created another hardcover version of 50 copies (at $250 each) not listed on the Kickstarter, but available on their website.

Item #6.               2 Tickets to the “world premier” of the KoDT Live Action Series at GenCon2015
As of today I have not received any tickets for this event from d20 Entertainment. Since the end of the Kickstarter d20 Entertainment has been selling “premium” seating for the 1st two rows of the “premier” showing. My wife has inquired about this on several occasions and has yet to get a direct response from d20 Entertainment. Today there was some mention that they’ve updated their website to accommodate this, but frankly, for the huge premium, we should be jumping through hoops 60 days out form the event.

In addition to the issue with tickets, it has come to my attention, via d20 Entertainment’s posts on the subject, that this initial GenCon showing will in fact not be the premier for at least one of the episodes, which significantly dilutes the pledge package I bought into, “Episode Two will premiere on line in June 25th Where? Two locations! On line, and ready to download for backers AND the the nexus game fair in Milwaukee. Jolly and the D-Team will be on hand to talk to you about the episode and all HACKMASTER PRODUCT. If you are interested in attending log on to http://www.nexusgamefair.com.”

Item #7.               Question & Answer session with the D-Team and KODT: LAS Actors
It has also come to my attention, via a post from one of the KODT:LAS producers that the actors have largely not been contacted (as of May 24, 2015) about attending either the “world premier” and the Q&A, or the after-party.

Item #8.               Hang out at the After Party with the D-Team and KODT:LAS Actors
As far as the KODT: LAS Kickstarter pledge levels go, this is the one item that distinguishes my original $450 pledge level from the original $150 pledge level. There are several issues with this after-party that rise to the level of “taking action you know is false or misleading”. First we have the aforementioned unknown status of the actors, much less the complete cast, being able to attend GenCon. Second is the simple fact that for $40 I could essentially purchase attendance to this party which I already paid an additional $300 for! In one of the comments to another backer d20 Entertainment stated, “Throwing a party at gen con is an added expense. Not promised in our Kickstarter.” This in and off itself is a falsehood because that is the differentiation between my $450 pledge level and the $150 pledge level. Either d20 blatantly lied about their intent to throw an after-party when creating the Kickstarter, or are lying now during their attempt to elicit and additional funds to throw one of three parties at GenCon.

So basically we’ve spent an extra $300 (that’s $150 for each of us) on what? That’s an injury if I’ve ever seen one…and Ken’s incessant spamming is just adding insult to injury. Now to be fair, Ken’s email and social media “marketing” may have slowed down or stopped, but I wouldn’t know because the only relief I could get was to block, de-friend, unsubscribe to everything I could.

There are already too-numerous-to-list complaints regarding unwanted solicitations regarding other d20 Entertainment KS projects using the KODT: LAS pledge list (just read the comments in the KoDT: LAS Kickstarter), d20 Entertainment used the KODT:LAS project to promote the Traveller Kickstarter on May 9, 2014 (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/d20e/kodt-live-action-series/posts/838878); May 15 (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/d20e/kodt-live-action-series/posts/844526); May 23 (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/d20e/kodt-live-action-series/posts/851667); Jun 1 (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/d20e/kodt-live-action-series/posts/862367); August 13 (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/d20e/kodt-live-action-series/posts/952173); January 5, 2015 (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/d20e/kodt-live-action-series/posts/1099566). The KODT:LAS update feed and email list was also used for promotion of the Dice O’Matic Kickstarter on July 4, 2014 (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/d20e/kodt-live-action-series/posts/900252) and even the Castle & Crusades Kickstarter on October 3, 2014 (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/d20e/kodt-live-action-series/posts/1006805) & November 2, 2014 (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/d20e/kodt-live-action-series/posts/1021668). At one point d20 Entertainment’s own Ken Whitman comments, “For those of you receiving KODT: LAS shirts, Hackerjack boxes, etc. Please e-mail me with photos so I can spam the other members with your happy faces! :-) -Ken Whitman” Later he even goes to defend the use of SPAM as an appropriate business activity, even though it clearly violates the TOS, “@ RevChewie I am sorry thats our business model does not work for you. If there is anything I can do for you, please send me a personal e-mail at sales@d20entertainment.com. -Ken Whitman”

The over-arching theme of this KODT:LAS Kickstarter has been manipulating fans of the Knights of the Dinner Table into giving d20 Entertainment as much money as possible with no clear intention to fulfill all of the promises made to backers. The recent attempts by d20 Entertainment to solicit more funds from current backers and GenCon attendees at best is diluting my pledge package by $300 and at worst is outright fraud since d20 Entertainment has demonstrated their inability or unwillingness to full pledge packages as outlined in the Kickstarter.

Ken Whitman/d20 Entertainment agreed to a specific set of rules when they started their Kickstarter binge, outlined in the applicable Terms of Service TOS, dated October 2012. The specific rule(s) that have not been complied with are (emphasis mine):

“You shall not, and shall not permit any third party using your account to, take any action, or Submit Content, that: infringes any patent, trademark, trade secret, copyright, right of publicity, or other right of any other person or entity, or violates any law or contract; you know is false, misleading, or inaccurate; is unlawful, threatening, abusive, harassing, defamatory, libelous, deceptive, fraudulent, tortious, obscene, offensive, profane, or invasive of another's privacy; constitutes unsolicited or unauthorized advertising or promotional material or any junk mail, spam, or chain letters;”

The majority of these rewards are not scheduled to arrive until August 2015, but it has become evident from the publicly-viewable comments for KODT: LAS that a) d20 Entertainment has knowingly and willfully taken action widely considered to be “unsolicited or unauthorized advertising or promotional material or junk mail” and b) has “taken any action, or submit(ted) content….you know is false, misleading, or inaccurate”.

But hey, don’t take MY word for it……

How Protected Are Your PCs? The Safe and Secure Illusion

Ash thinks she's safe and secure, but evil can lurk from above.
Such evil goes by the common name "Tobby".

I'll admit that I rarely think about my PC dying. Not because I want to avoid the thought, but because the idea of my PC failing to survive is rarely part of the equation.

It's much like being a teenager or young adult. "That shit will never happen to me!"

Actually, it's much like law enforcement. You put aside fears (and smart thoughts like "self preservation") and get the job done. You deal with the fears afterwards.

Of course, that's all an illusion, even if it's one created by you for your own benefit. It's useful though.

In game, I think it's important to remind PCs (and their players) of their relative vulnerability. If the players discuss running instead of engaging (even if they do engage 90% of the time after having said discussion) when things look horribly tough, you as the DM are doing something right. If your players always run head long into each fight, never thinking twice, never considering escape, you need to remind them of their vulnerability. Sometimes all it takes is a single PC to die to make it real (in the context of the game, of course.)

A little fear goes a long way...

Far West isn't Late (Well, Yes it is but...) There's Still May 2016

To be honest, I don't think ANYONE expected a May 2015 release date for Far West. May 2016? Perhaps. Considering Far West is already 3 1/2 years late, what does one more day, week, month, year mean at this point anyway?

Far West has stood up more gaming nerds when it comes to dates than the 1980s ever did.

If I had a girlfriend who missed this many "release dates" it would be too late to consider an abortion.

Far West is approaching TWICE the gestation period of an African Elephant, and that's only counting the days it's late.

I fly into Dallas on Wednesday and boy, will my arms be tired.

Try the fish!

Second Session of Far Away Land in the Bag - Scything & Dicing

Last night was the second session of the Temple of Zoko, my Saturday Night group's introduction to Far Away Land and a testing of the system / gameplay prior to me running a session or two at NTRPG Con later this week.

My four player group survived without a casualty. That was due to smart play on the part of my players.

As far as I know (as I didn't see them in the FAL Quickstart and I didn't have time to refer back to The Tome of Awesome) there are no disarm / weapon grabbing rules for FAL. Well, one of my players, whose character was skilled in unarmed combat, decided he want to take away the BBEG's apparently magic scythe. The two wrestled over the scythe for two rounds, and the player's character gained control on the second round, which changed the dynamics of that final encounter. I'll post my house rule later.

Far Away Land is a big hit in my group, a grumpy set of grognards one and all. It's nothing like D&D and yet plays out very much like D&D. It also seems to encourage me to "ham it up" just a bit, which has gotten my wife laughing from the next room and entertained my players to no end.

We've pretty much agreed FAL is going to be the game we play to take breaks from ongoing campaigns, as the change of pace should keep everything fresh.

All I need to do is print up a dozen or so Far Away Land Quickstarts for NTRPG Con.

Now I'm going to sneak in yet another giveaway, also open until June 8th. On June 9th I'll pick a winner and mail them the self printed copy of the Far Away Land Quickstart that I used for the last 2 sessions (the very one pictured above). And yes, I'll mail it anywhere in the world on the following weekend.

All you need to do to enter is comment on this post :)

6 Years / 5k Posts Giveaway - City of Dolmvay - Print Copy (US Only)

A while back +Pete Spahn sent me an print extra copy of the Guidebook to the City of Dolmvay, an excellent OSR City supported and backed by members of the OSR on Kickstarter. I vowed to give away the 2nd copy, but an opportunity never availed itself. This is that opportunity.

How do you get a chance to win that copy of the Guidebook to the City of Dolmvay?

Make a comment below before I return from NTRPG Con. We fly back on the Monday after the con, June 8th. On June 9th I'll pick a winner and mail their copy out the following weekend.

In the meantime, grab a copy of the Guidebook to the City of Dolmvay PDF for yourself. It's priced at PWYW pricing, so there is no reason not to pick up a copy.

(Today marks 6 years of posting and we are 13 posts away from 5k)

Today Makes Six Years of Posting at The Tavern - It's Been one Hell of a Ride!

As I sit here at type this, I find it amazing that I've been doing this "blog thing" for six years. Six years of writing, reviewing, learning and more learning. Blogging is equal parts craft and art. It's finding one's writing voice and falling flat on one's face more often than not, at least in the beginning.

In the early days of Tenkar's Tavern, I think at least half of my page views was me opening up the blog and reading what I wrote for the umpteenth time. The first truly notable traffic spike was my review of +James Raggi 's The Grinding Gear . I think that got somewhere around 60 views in those first 24 hours, nearly tripling my average traffic. Two years later, the Pathfinder Beginner Box unboxing went viral on Facebook and I had over 1000 views in 24 hours.

I wouldn't still be doing this - posting 2, 3 or 4 or more times in a day if it wasn't for the community that has formed around The Tavern. This is as much your blog as it is mine. Without you - the readers, the commenters, guest posters, Patreon backers, fellow bloggers, publishers and more - there would be no need for The Tavern. As I've stated before, I am forever in your debt.

What does the future hold for The Tavern? I can't say for certain (even as we come up on the 5,000 post later on this week) because this blog seems to take on a life of it's own. I can say this - the immediate future should hold more new gaming content in addition to the usual assortment of blog posts. I expect next year around this time there will be some major changes - both with The Tavern and some other side projects. More free time means more stuff to fill that time.

Later on today I plan to do a small giveaway. US only - as it is print, but as the week goes on I hope to be able to get some smaller print and / or PDF items to giveaway.

For those that have been along for the ride since the beginning ( +Joe D I know has been a regular at The Tavern since before the taps were installed ;) I hope you've enjoyed the growth and changes (which were, for the most part, for the better I think.) Those that are recent arrivals, I hope that you'll stay for the next six years and then some.

Little Notebooks - Big Thoughts

As Rach and I were going out to lunch earlier, our mailman arrived with the above. Not the cat, but the little notebooks. The blue covered one is hex lined, the black covered one is unlined.

These were sent to me curtesy of Wombat's Workshop.

They really are the perfect size to slip in a pocket for the times inspiration strikes.

I plan to bring them with me to NTRPG Con next week. Feel free to hit me up for a peek at them.

Pocket Creatures - The Four Armed Squatch - For Swords & Wizardry and White Star

I love the point blank shot to the head myself ;)

There is little more amoral or disgusting in the known world (or known universe for that matter) than the Four Armed Squatch (what they call themselves is unknown). These green, 6' tall and obviously four armed creatures communicate exclusively via a form of telepathy. They are known as slavers, and make the average slaver compare favorably to a Star Knight or Paladin of old.

They rarely use weapons, preferring to use a form of psychic blast to stun their opponent, as dead new slaves are fairly worthless (except to feed other slaves - waste not, want not.) The lifespan of the average slave of a Four Armed Squatch is counted in weeks and therefore recruitment of new slaves is an ongoing concern.

Physically weak, nearly everything in Squatch society has been built by, prepared by, cooked by, moved by, carried by, etc - slave labor. There have been few slave rebellions and none successful. The last rebellion resulted in the recycling of over 90% of the slave population, the remainder being used to clean up and process the bodies of the former.



Four Armed Squatch

ARMOR CLASS   5 [14]
HIT DICE   2+2
TOTAL HIT BONUS   +2
ATTACKS   2 x Fists (1d6-2) or Psychic Blast
SAVING THROW 15
SPECIAL - Psychic Blast - Range 6" - Save or sleep 1d6 rounds
MOVEMENT 12
HDE/XP 4/340

For use with White Star (discount link - link expires in 3 days - use it if you want it) and Swords and Wizardry White Box (free download link)

Dungeon Crawl or Sandbox Styled Adventure for a Con - What Say You?

I plan to run a session or two of Far Away Land at NTRPG Con next week. I'm currently running the Temple of Zoko for my Saturday Night group. We do a lot of BSing during our game sessions, so it should take about 2 sessions to play and it's fairly sandboxie. I estimate at a con that would convert to 3 hrs or a tad more of game play. Well, depending on number of beers, that may significantly increase the time to complete.

Or I could run Isle of the Rat Wizard. Sure, it's in the quickstart, but I can always leave it out of the copies I print for the con. It's a bit of a sandbox and a bit of a dungeon crawl.

Damn!

Either will okay quick enough to generate characters and run the adventure.

In general, I suspect a dungeon crawl workds better than a sandbox in a convention environment. It's also probably the only time most players won't violently rebel a railroad.

What are your thoughts?

Prepping for NTRPG Con and "Yes, there will be a Tavern Chat next Wednesday from the Con"

When I leave work this afternoon I'll be kicking off a week long vacation. I thought I'd have plenty of time for con prep, but Sunday thru Tuesday I'll be in the Poconos. Yes, very full vacation.

I'll be printing out about a dozen copies of the Far Away Land Quickstart tomorrow and maybe 2 or 3 copies of Pocket Monsters, Creatures & NPCs for the con.

Need to grab the right dice - need to like enough to want to use but be okay if I lose one or two ;)

Rach wants to be prepared for all of her games this year - she is taking her second con very seriously. I told her to relax and have fun, but she's been bit by the RPG bug it  seems.

Next Wednesday night I'll be hosting Tavern Chat from the hotel bar. If you have questions for any attendees, it will be a perfect time to ask. If they aren't around at question time, I'll track them down later at the con and post the info here at The Tavern. If you arrive early for the con, search Rachel and me out :)

Pocket Creatures - Muelitoad - Swords & Wizardry and White Star

Really, what can be said about the Muelitoad race that hasn't been said prior? The fact that they all seem to be female, with wart covered breasts and the frame of an ogre? Perhaps the small stalks that protrude from the eyes and ears that appear to have no useful purpose? Or maybe that they are drawn to the females of intelligent races - for what nefarious purpose we know not yet.

I suspect you didn't realize that they spit poison at their adversaries, for if you did the wad of spittle oozing down your face would cause you no small amount of alarm.

Ah, never mind. You are experiencing such knowledge first hand right now. What a lovely shade of blue. I shall take your leave now if you don't mind. I wonder what will happen to your woman?

Muelitoad

ARMOR CLASS   4 [15]
HIT DICE   4+1
TOTAL HIT BONUS   +4
ATTACKS   Fists (1d6) or Spit (1d6-3) and Save or Die
SAVING THROW 10 (save bonus due to thick skin)
SPECIAL - Poisonous spit - Range 3"
MOVEMENT 9
HDE/XP 5/600

Kickstarter - Murderous Monsters Bestiary for Old School Tabletop RPGs

Murderous Monsters Bestiary for Old School Tabletop RPGs is a Kickstarter to fund a bestiary for multiple "old school" fantasy RPGs. On just that hook, it's an interesting project by +Brent Newhall .

Know what makes it damn near irresistible for me? The +Eric Quigley art.

Know what  puts it over the top? Eric's art is going released under a Creative Commons license, allowing it to be freely used in other commercial projects.

I backed last night.

Did I mention that the "giant rat" gets added at the $4k stretch goal? Every tavern needs some rats and maybe a hoard of coppers ;)

Further Thoughts on "Four Page Pocket Projects"

So, the first "Four Page Pocket Project" to release on Patreon will be Pocket Monsters, Creatures and NPCs - Ashcan #1. I call it an "Ashcan" because the plan to to rerelease it later in a more professional format consolidating at least three to four releases. I'll cross that bridge when it gets there ;)

The goal is to release 1 to 2 four page pocket projects a month, get feedback and tweak as needed.

Now, I'm also thinking of adding a Four Page Pocket Treasures into the mix, which would include magic items, tech items and all the stuff inbetween. As always, they will be posted at The Tavern first.

The fun part is I get to splurge on some stock art. I'll be like a kid in a candy store :)

Oh, got my mailing envelopes for the printed Four Pagers.

And no. No zine on the horizon. Need to crawl before I can even walk ;)

Reminder - Tavern Chat Tonight 830 PM Eastern

Yep, it's another Wednesday, and that means another Tavern Chat.

I'll gladly answer questions about the forthcoming Pocket Monsters, Creatures and NPCs as well as the Pocket Settings. However, if all goes as usual, I suspect the conversation will take care of itself ;)

Weather as the Adversary - Can it be a Heroic Opponent?

Whenever weather goes extreme and is in the news every day (2 feet of snow in /nyc, flooding in Texas, tsunamis and the like) it always makes me think about integrating such into an RPG adventure. Instead of heroic acts killing the bad guys, it's heroic acts saving the common folk.

Now, part of the problem with implementing that is that earlier editions of D&D and it's clones really stressed combat. Sure, and argument can and will be made that ealry editions were all about the money and the expo and avoiding combat was usually more effective than engaging in it. While that might be true, I've never played in or run a session for a group that wasn't eager to engage in combat. Stealth be damned, half the group is usually wearing chain mail or better anyhow.

Of course, since D&D has it's roots in wargaming, none of this is a surprise.

With all that out of the way, how would you integrate weather as an adversary in your campaign? How do you make them heroic without the incentive of gold and combat? Fight the ogre tribe or rescue peasants from flood waters?

I know you can use extreme weather as obstacle, but my desire is use it as something that will bring out noble, or at least, decent deeds from the PCs.

Throw some thoughts my way.

Playing Around with the 4 Page Pocket Format - Monsters, Creatures and NPCs

I'm pretty happy with the 4 Page Pocket Format that I've been playing around with. Each piece fits pretty nicely on the page with the 4 page Pocket Monsters, Creatures and NPCs. I need to add the White Star and Swords & Wizardry logos, but that's not a big deal. OGL would have to be on a half sheet insert for the printed version - for the PDF I'll just add a page.

Sure, it's basic, but this is as much a way to reward my backers as it is for me to learn new skills. Layout, formatting and the like aren't learned overnite. One only learns from doing.

I want to thank all my Patreon backers - today you pushed the total monthly backing of The Tavern to over $200 a month. If that isn't humbling, I don't know what is.

25 Posts From 5k - 5 Days to 6 Years of Posting

Strange when the stars line up unexpectedly.

We are 25 posts from 5k. I expect to hit that next week while at NTRPG Con.

We are 5 days from 6 years of posting here at The Tavern.

Trying to think of a unique way to celebrate all that. Failing that, I'll settle for a fun way.

Thank you all.

Your Tavern Keeper :)

Kicking it Forward on Patreon - at 28%

As I updated my Patreon page I decided to see where my pledges to other content creators currently stood.

$43.34 and the month isn't over yet.

I have some amazing folks that currently back me for $153 a month, so if nothing changes I'm kicking forward at 28%. Actually, after fees, it's probably about 33% of what I net for the month and I'm damn happy with that.

We (not just me) are literally backing an exciting list of OSR and other RPG creators (as well as a few musicians.)

Who?

+Dyson Logos , +Tim Shorts , +Jim Magnusson , +matt jackson , +James Spahn and a bunch of others. You can see the list here.

Thank you for being generous not just to me, but all those that are in turn backed by your favorite grumpy bartender.

Huzzah!

Just Because I Now Have a "Long-Arm Stapler" It Does NOT Mean I'll be Producing Zines - Really

I must say, now that I have a new laser printer (PHEW! PHEW!) printing stuff out at home is a pleasure. I just added a long-arm stapler (Sparco Long Reach Stapler, 20 Sheet Capacity - $5.99 at Amazon) at a price I couldn't resist. It will make it easy-peasy to put together 10 or 12 Far Away Land Quickstarts for NTRPG Con.

As tempting as it may be, I don't plan to do any sort of regular zine at this point. A monthly 4 pages Pocket Setting or Pocket Creature Collection is probably my limit right now. I'm not saying a highly irregular zine might not pop up in the future, but that future is not immediate.

Now I need to wait on the heaver printer paper to print the the covers for the Quickstart. It's looking like I may run 2 1/2 to 3 hr sessions. I suspect one will be Sunday Morning while Rachel is in the "all girls" Top Secret game, and since Rach insists she is playing in a session, I'm probably running another earlier in the con.