Con Man Ken is Offering Acting Lessons Tonight

Go figure, a time sensitive post.

Yes, none other than our very own #ConManKen is offering acting lessons tonight at 6PM in London, KY.

Remember, those that CAN - DO. Those that CAN'T - TEACH. I suspect this is one of those situations that falls squarely in the middle with the expected mediocre results.

I wonder if the lessons include: "How to accumulate your own film equipment using other peoples money?" Maybe that's in the Advanced Class...

Neoplastic Press Puts All Titles at PWYW at OBS (and at cost at Lulu)

+Rafael Chandler has put all of his titles at PWYW in PDF at OBS and AT COST over at Lulu.

Terratic Tome, Roll XX, Lusus Naturae and others.

          EVERYTHING MUST GO

All my PDF gaming stuff is now free or pay-what-you-want. All my print gaming stuff is now sold at cost (no profits to me). Why? Because I pretty much broke even, and had a bit left over to commission some artwork for that heavy metal OSR sourcebook I'm working on. Time to cut prices to the bone! If you like cannibalism, tentacles, and scaphism, check out my stuff in the links below (also, new Lulu code: RESOLUTE15 saves you 15% -- Christ, talk about burying the lede, Chandler).

Here's the link for the PWYW PDFs

Here's the link for the at cost Print at Lulu

Here's a 15% off Lulu coupon:  RESOLUTE15

Remember, all purchases using The Tavern's OBS affiliate links puts 5% of your purchase price into The Tavern's coffers. Don't leave that money on the table for the greedy corps! Tip your barman!  ;)

TSR Tuesday - Chainmail $5 in PDF - Mic Drop...

Chainmail is $5 in PDF.

Shall we do a mic drop?

Sure, there were other releases for TSR Tuesday - Print and PDF - but does anything come close to Chainmail?

Questions for the Tavern Master - Swords & Wizardry Light Omissions, Clarifications & Questions - Part the First

+Sophia Brandt emailed me some questions / clarifications regarding Swords & Wizardry Light. Without further ado, here we go:

edit - somehow blogger dropped this post)

I'm writing on a post for SW Light. First, great idea to slim down the ruleset!

Second, I have some questions + I found a typo.
a) Typos
1. The Thief:
"...Leather Armor AC 12[7]." - Shouldn't it be AC 7[12]?
ET - yep - that's a typo

2. Magic-User
Magic-user spells – Level 1 (*user* is lowercase)
ET - I'd need to refer this to one of our grammar experts...

b) Questions
Does the game assume that the reader knows Swords & Wizardry rules?
ET - No, but it does assume a familiarity with RPGs and to a lesser extent older editions of the original RPG. Basically, lapsed gamers and current players of the latest editions and those between. Can you learn to play from just these rules? Probably, but it would sure be easier to have a gamer show you the ropes, as we learn best by doing and experiencing, not by reading. With just 4 pages to play with, explaining the concept of an RPG is beyond the scope of the rules

1. Ability Scores/Ability Score modifiers
You mention that you can use the bonuses for different things, for example, STR bonus for Fighters to hit. But there is no table for the bonuses. AFAIK the modifiers between various editions are slightly different.

ET - There is no table because there is only, at most, a + 1 bonus

2. Hit Die
Is it a d6? HD is mentioned but it's not explained that HD = Hit Dice

ET - The morning tea hasn't quite kicked in, so I can't say for sure we explained that you roll a D6 for Hit Dice. A D20 and D6s are, however, the only dice used in the game. That was to simplify the learning curve, as I've noticed new players often have difficulty telling the different sized dice apart.

As for Hit Dice = HD, it is a common abbreviation across all editions of the game. Additionally, it is shown here for clarity:

3. M-U
Does the M-U get no starting weapons, no dagger? Per rules as written he only gets a spellbook.

ET - That is a big "oops". Dagger or staff. I'll update the Word file later today.

4. Does spellcasting require a test?
Couldn't find an explanation, just that the M-U prepares spells.

ET - As far as I can recall, no edition of the original RPG required a test or spell check to cast a spell (later editions did require one if struck while casting, and the DCC RPG does require such, but it is a very different beast)

All the questions may be redundant if you assume familiarity with S&W Complete. But then it wouldn't be necessary to explain a lot of other things.

ET - Excellent questions. It should be noted that the Swords & Wizardry Light Word Doc will be the living document for SWL. All corrections and edits will be made to the document you see in the SWL download folder. I'll make sure to add a "date updated" to the last page, so you know how current a copy you have. If and when there is a 2nd printing of SWL we'll make sure to include the fixes and corrections.

Please send any questions / clarifications / unlawful gratuities to tenkarsDOTtavern at that Gmail thing. Put SWL in the email title if you could.

Thanks.

Tenkar

State of The Tavern - Light Posting Week and Time Sinks, Oh My!

Yep, just like last week was fairly light, this will probably be another, even lighter, posting week. I need to finish some work for +Pete Spahn , get the Tavern Talk Live podcast conversion of the Livestream done, probably record another Livestream with +Zach Glazar and deal with the ongoing drama that is my mother's cousin (amazingly NOT kicked out of Assisted Living her first weekend, but damn it was close). This is a hellova time sink. Oh, and a dozen or so other responsibilities that have crept in. Heh. Fun times.

Oh, did I mention the metric ton of product I need to review? Amazing stuff like Bard's Gate, Blood in the Chocolate, Hubris, Gramma World and others. I may need to lock myself in a room for a couple of hours a day to get all caught up.

Now, for those playing along at home, I can be found running my mouth with various others of more import than myself on:

The Old School Blues Podcast

Save or Die! Expert Edition Podcast

The Tavern Talk Livestream on Youtube (and soon an audio file on iTunes, so help me God) - I even ordered a green screen for effect - lets see if it works

Tavern Analytics - We Are an Older Bunch of F@ckers ;)

ENworld just posted their analytics results and I figured it would be interesting peeking at those of The Tavern.

79.5% of Tavern readers are 35 years of age or older. For ENworld, approximately 70% of their readership is 34 years of age or younger.

96.2% of Tavern readers identify as male, putting female readership at 3.8% (if I recall correctly, it was 3.1% back in July)

ENworld is 92.4% and 7.6% respectively.

There are observations that can be made from these numbers about the number of female gamers in the hobby, but the biggest one is that they are an untaped market for the gaming hobby in general.

68.3% of Tavern visitors are returning visitors, ENworld has a 67.3% rate. Pretty much the same.

So, The Tavern audience consists overwhelmingly of middle aged men. Sounds like my local pub :)

Save or Die! Podcast - Resurrected!

The Save or Die! Podcast is continuing in a slightly new format with new hosts. Its new, official title is Save or Die! Expert Edition in homage to the Expert Boxed Set. The main man behind the wheel is none other than +James Spahn himself.

Now, if James reaches out and asks a favor of you, who among us would say "No!" Not I, as I owe James much over the past few years, so I readily agreed to join James in his newest endeavor. Along with James and I, +Vincent Florio and +Glen Hallstrom also agreed to be part of the newly assembled team. For me, it is almost a homecoming to my first podcasting experience, the Brainstorm Podcast.

Episode Adventure#131 is actually a Swords & Wizardry Light episode. By the way, I am TM Erik - Tavernmaster :)

After hovering on Death’s Door for a few rounds, Save or Die continues! Save or Die: Expert Edition bursts on to the scene with Swords & Wizardry Light – an ultralight folio sized incarnation of the flagship Frog God Games fantasy roleplaying game. Join DM James, DM Vince, TM Erik, and DM Glen as they keep it light, keep it fast, and keep it fun!

So, if you want some behind the scenes info (and some upcoming plans) of Swords & Wizardry Light, here's your chance.

Kickstarter - The Folio #12 & #13 - 1E / 5E

Art of the Genre has issues #12 & #13 of The Folio currently funding on Kickstarter. If you've been following along at home, AoG does some high quality releases and they release on time. I know, that's a rarity among gaming Kickstarters, and R. Scott Taylor hits the mark each time. There really should be a Tenkie Award for such an achievement.

The art is top notch as always and I love the fact that the covers are folders like in the era of 1E. Yeah, I'm a sucker for nostalgia.

Folio #12 & #13, along with the prior #11, which can also be ordered from the current Kickstarter, make of the City of Taux Trilogy. You get adventure and setting material in each issue. Game information is given in both 1e and 5e format, so it is both OSR compatible as well as with the latest edition.

I haven't been disappointed with a Folio yet, but I am the type of GM that constantly mines my collection of gaming material for ideas and twists in my campaign. The Folio series has been an excellent resource for me.

Swords & Wizardry Light "Word File" and Smaller PDF (3 MB) are Now Live!

Thanks to the magic of +Zach Glazar we now have a Swords & Wizardry Light PDF that clocks in at 3 MB. The original file was a hair over 26 MB, so Zach found a nearly 90% savings for you. Yes, its now a "lighter Light" ;)

Additionally there is a Swords & Wizardry Light Word file available for download. You want to hack the rules? Have at it. I know I will. Heh.

Here's the link for the Swords & Wizardry Light folder:  http://bit.ly/2eHQNZw 

For those asking, yes, its a free download.

Work continues on Swords & Wizardry Extra Light, which is extra goodies for SWL, not a more stripped down SWL, as that would be crazy talk...

Old School Blues Podcast - Episode #8 - How can you have any Black Pudding if you don't eat your meat!?!

Last night, Vince, Colin and myself reviewed Black Pudding #2 on the Old School Blues episode #8. How did it go? Well, I'm going to quote the great DM, Tim Connolly:

It was just like having you and Vince in my car with me whilst I was driving to Levittown and back again to Glem Cove afterwards. 

I'm awarding it 6 tankards!

There you have it.

Listen to the podcast, but before you do, download your copy of Black Pudding #2 so you can follow along at home. Unless you're driving. It that case, read Black Pudding later ;)

Save Failed! Save or Die! Podcast Loses its Hosts

The Save or Die! Podcast hosts have left the podcast. Liz, Mike and Jim are moving on. To what? No clue. I wouldn't be surprised if there was a new project involving one or more of the team - podcasts rarely die, they just reincarnate as new beasts ;)

So, where does this leave the Save or Die! Podcast? Sadly, the last episode with the current team was a Email Hot Tub episode. Its no secret that I dislike email features of podcasts in general and having a whole episode dedicated to it? Needless to say, I won't be listening to episode 130. I hereby declare that the last Liz, Mike and Jim episode of SoD was episode 129, when they reviewed The Hero's Journey - that way their run truly ends on a high note.

Will Save or Die! continue? I suspect so, but it won't be the same creature. I'm interested to see what Wild Games Productions has in store for the future of SoD. +Vincent Florio , can I request less emails? ;)

Why I Focus on the Kickstarter Con Men - Hatred or Diligence?

There is currently a discussion going on in a Google Plus Community that has come down to this - is shining a continual spotlight on certain reprehensible individuals (my words, not theirs) that have abused the Kickstarter process to harm our gaming community an act of hatred or diligence?

Let me get this out there. I hate neither Gareth nor Con Man Ken. I do, however, loathe them for what they have done to the gaming community and to the Kickstarter process.

You see, no project creator on Kickstarter is in a bubble of their own (well, maybe Monte). When someone abuses the process, there are repercussions throughout this hobby of ours. I can't tell you the number of communications I've had with folks that tell me its because of Gareth, #ConManKen, Brave Halfling, Nystul, Myth & Magic or some other "took their money and failed to deliver" Kickstarter creator that they are now gun shy when it comes to supporting further Kickstarters.

Can you blame them?

Kickstarter funding requires trust and that is something that can not be bought, only earned. It is easy to lose and difficult to regain. And its a fucking shame that shitty people have taken the money of others and given back nothing that was promised, even years later.

Some do try to make right. Others, like Nystul, fall on the sword and admit to their failures. I can respect that. I might not be happy with the results, but it takes a certain amount of introspection to admit you are a failure. It also requires honesty.

Neither ConMan Ken nor Gareth are honest. They have yet to show they have the potential to be so. I will continue to shine my light on the pair of them until they either provide their backers with the products that were promised them OR fall on the sword, admit to their lies and failures and cease trying to fleece honest people of their money. They are a blight on this hobby of ours. Maybe by keeping this pair in focus I have discouraged others. Maybe...

So no, its not hatred. It isn't just diligence. Its a responsibility that I take seriously, even if I do make some of the posts lighthearted at times.

There you have it.

Darkzel Art Scholarship 2016-17

+Grim Jim / James Desborough and I do not see eye to eye on everything but we do have some significant common ground. I've always felt that artists in our hobby are underpaid, whether they are "A" names like Doug Kovacs or skilled unknowns just finding their way, taking their first steps to getting their works published in this hobby of ours. Yes, I call it a hobby - its my perspective. For others, this is a business and a livelihood.

Well, James has put together a scholarship fund to assist artists like the one this scholarship is named after:

This will be the fourth annual fundraiser in memory of my long-time art collaborator ‘Zel’ Harris, cruelly taken from us in a terrible accident, putting paid to what I always thought was a very promising career in art. In his memory and given working for me helped him through his education, I have set up an annual scholarship to aid genre artists working their way through college or in reduced circumstances such as disability, long term unemployment, mental health crises and other hardships. 

The fundraising part will run through the month of December and we’ll be accepting entries through December and January before awarding the scholarship by the end of February. 

We already have a fund of $100 from this year’s art sales, I’ll be seeking to raise another $500 on top of that for a total of at least $600 as a scholarship. 

The aim is still to make the scholarship self funding and it has become apparent that a much stronger effort is going to be needed to make this happen. As such I’m doing a big push this year for donation art. As well as supporting with financial contributions, sharing on social media etc I will be hitting up artists for contributions that can be sold to help support the scholarship in the coming years. 

More information will be coming soon, but for now if you’re an artist or know artists and are willing to help, please contact me about submitting a piece for sale (as stock art) to help continue to fund the scholarship. Your work will be sold electronically and will be used – with credit – by multiple role-playing and publishing companies as well as contributing via the sales to the fund. 

These pieces should be genre fiction (science fiction, fantasy, horror, superheroes or similar) and 300-600dpi. Old pieces or concept pieces you haven’t otherwise sold are perfectly acceptable. 

I think you, in advance, for your aid, whether in donating art or helping with the publicity and fundraising in the near future! 

Love and bunnies,
Grim

So, how can you help?

Here's the link to enter if you are an artist in need of assistance or have art to donate.

Here's the link to donate to the fund.

If you do donate, please make a note of it in the comments below. The Tavern will match the first $50 raised by Tavern Readers by 1159 PM, Eastern, Sunday January 8th, 2017.

Tales From the Yawning Portal - Against the Giants, Tomb of Horrors, White Plume Mountain and others coming to 5e this Spring

Forbes has an article on Tales From the Yawning Portal (are they getting paid by WotC?) but the gist of things is seven adventures from various editions are being converted into a D&D 5e adventure path this coming April.

What's included?

-Against the Giants
-Dead in Thay
-Forge of Fury
-Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan
-Sunless Citadel
-Tomb of Horrors
-White Plume Mountain

I wonder if they will be using any of the crowdsourced edition translations that have been published on the DM's Guild / OBS site in whole or as a resources. Do you give up all rights to your work when you do said translations?

The Brain Gorger's Appetite releases at Frog God Games Online Store

The Brain Gorger's Appetite (for 5e) just released at the Frog God Games webstore. From what I can tell, this is the first third party product carried at the FGGs store, which is impressive unto itself. You know its a quality release if Bill Web approves of it. Heck, its the rare gaming release I read cover to cover.

Remember, orders of physical items, such as The Brain Gorger's Appetite, will have a copy of Swords & Wizardry Light included in the package for free. Just sayin'. $14.99 in Print. $5 in PDF.

The Brain Gorger's Appetite is the first official convention module originally released at GameHole Con 2016.

For the most part, the town of Ockney’s Hold has always been a peaceful place—bordering on boring. The most interesting things going on in this frontier mining settlement include the annual livestock fair, the cost of spirits at its various inns, and speculation fueled by those same spirits as to what foul things are being dumped into the river by the ore refinery. Recently, however, the usually placid Baron Reinson has begun to act erratically, ignoring most of his counselors, giving more responsibility to his equally erratic chamberlain, and replacing key figures in Ockney’s Hold with outsiders. With no clear answers as to what might be behind the baron’s strange behavior, his last loyal counselor seeks out a band of adventurers to help. Will these brave heroes be able to get to the bottom of a widening conspiracy? And can they expose the terrible and unseen forces manipulating the baron in time to save Ockney’s Hold?

Gareth is Adamant He will Release... Anything but Far West: Thrilling Tales 2e: Pulp Villains - The Subterranean Monarch releases for the New Year

Ah, you gotta love it when one flat out lies to one's backers about putting product into their virtual hands before the year is out (yep, never happened - color me surprised) and yet finds time to release a product for yet another product line.

Thrilling Tales 2e: Pulp Villains - The Subterranean Monarch

Awesome! So, this means all proceeds are going towards putting already paid for physical copies of Far West into backers hands, right?

Er, right?

Maybe?

Far West. When tomorrow is always a day away.

In all seriousness, the reason that Far West is Far From Complete is because there is no money in it. The money is long ago spent and the layers of media that were planned to be built upon the Far West property have rotted away over 5 years of falsehoods and misdirection.

New releases, semi detached from the Albatross can generate income for Adamant / Gareth. Far West is a time and money pit with no current upside - all the upside was spent up front with little if anything to show for it.

This is why there are no refunds - there IS NO MONEY left to refund anybody. I'm not going to guess what it was spent on, but it certainly wasn't held aside to ensure print copies went out to backers.

There is mismanagement here, not just of time but of the funds and it should serve as a warning for anyone looking to do business with Gareth in the future.

Remember, if it never releases, there will never be further refunds. I think I understand now...

Oh, and those "beta versions"? Four months later - haven't happened.

Tavern Chat - 9 PM Eastern Tonight - Talk on the Livestream and More

The Tavern Chat Livestream kicked off last Friday. Although it had a rough first few minutes, it went amazingly well over all and we'll be converting it to an audio podcast too.

Tonight is the regular weekly Tavern Chat, where everyone who wants to gets to join the chat room and chaos ensues.

My day has led me to crack open a bottle of red and I'm quite sure I'll be done with that bottle before 9 PM - Yep, we may have our very own chaos.

See y'all tonight :)

TSR Tuesday,er, Wednesday - New PoD Releases

I missed this post last week and I'm late with it this week. as I've said elsewhere, life has been busy (and today has real doozy potential ;)

This week we have two TSR Era POD releases:

GAZ6 The Dwarves of Rockhome - it's a Gazetteer about Dwarves. Really, do I need to say more?  I'm tempted, because I never owned this back in the day and well... dwarves!

CM3 Sabre River (Basic) - I never owned the Companion rules, so I never owned this adventure / setting back when, but my God, it includes wresting rules for BECMI. +Douglas Cole you might find this interesting. $9.99 in Print

The Tavern Chat Livestream will soon be available as a Podcast

We've gotten some very nice feedback on The Tavern Chat Livestream that +Zach Glazar and I recorded last Friday night. Going forward, the goal is to record two sessions a month, with Zach and / or other guests from the OSR community. Just as last Friday, most of the discussion will be fueled by questions asked by out live audience.

As an aside, I'll be keeping the Adult Swim green screen effect and probably swap out art with each episode ;)

I do realize that watching Youtube videos isn't everyone's "cup of tea". The idea is to give you options to access the content. I'll be working on getting the audio uploaded as a podcast feed available on iTunes and other podcatching software. I'm hoping for mid week of next week to kick off the podcast side, but that's a soft date. I'll also be working on editing the Swords & Wizardry Light rules into a word doc for your houseruling pleasure during this time.

As for who the next guest will be, I guess we'll find out next week...

Its 2017 - Where's My F@cking Far West!?!

Gareth, he of endless release dates, promised to release Far West by the "end of the year" even if it was a dump of an incomplete manuscript.

So, where is it Gareth?

Failed again? Say it isn't so. After five fucking years there must be SOMETHING to show for the effort.

How about some words of wisdom attributed to Mister Big Time Publisher?

Gareth, after five years, this is your baby and yours alone. There is one thing I do understand about publishing - if the manuscript isn't complete, it can't be published. Gee, who has supposedly been working on the manuscript for the past five years?

Don't blame Cubicle 7 at this point. They jumped in to save your ass and you had nothing to give them in publishable form.

If you have nothing, be a man and admit it. Right now you've been playing the gaming community for a bunch of fools almost as long as Con Man Ken.