More Playing with Myself: But with Computers (and Consoles!)

Like probably everyone reading this blog I enjoy playing games, specifically RPGs. Now most of us here probably think of slinging dice first when talking about RPGs, but the average non-gamer tends to equate "RPGs" to computer games.

Now I like computer RPGs as well, but it's such a different animal and frankly the blend of D&D and computer RPGs has been rather hit-or-miss for me.

I've only played a few "Official" D&D computer games and really.....I only remember two: Baldur's Gate and Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance. Both games were pretty awesome, for different reasons.

Baldur's Gate was a fun game I've played about 1/2 way through several times. I still have the original CD-Roms, the expansions, and even the follow-on games. I recently tried to install the game and play again, but no matter what I did I just couldn't get the game to run. No clue why....it was beyond frustrating. No worries, I'll just try another methodology.......I'll grab the Xbox version.

Now that starts right up......but OMG does the gameplay suck. For such an expensive game the graphics suck and navigation is problematic. It just isn't fun to play.

I ended up grabbing it again on Steam. Now I can play on my laptop wherever I am.....much, much better.

The one Xbox D&D(ish) game that did work, and I did enjoy was Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance. It is so not like playing D&D, but the graphics were good and so was the gameplay. I especially enjoyed the fact that I it was a two-player hack & slash. Unfortunately it isn't available for backwards compatibility.....so no go, well at least not yet.

I'm working on a couple of emulation projects and maybe I'll get to try this game again that way. While I'm at it I might be able to check out one of the bazillion(ish) other actual D&D computer games.

I did not know there were so many other titles to check out.

Now to this point I've been restricting my computer gaming to D&D-only titles, but there are a metric-butt-ton of other Fantasy RPGish games out there, far more than I am aware of. One of my favs has been Torchlight, but you can only replay that so many times before it gets old. Now South Park: Stick of Truth was a fun homage of sorts and I do have a couple Witcher games to check out.

Clearly I have hours of future entertainment already lined up, but I'm thinking there could be some real gems out there I am just not aware of....and other readers might not know about either. If you have a favorite computer RPG game, especially one that does a good D&D-style fantasy RPG...please share with the group!

The Tenkar's Tavern Audio Recap Podcast is Live

As I mentioned last week, I'll be converting each week of the Tenkar's Tavern blog into an audio podcast for those that have asked for such.

The first episode covers 3/14/21 thru 3/20/21. It's about 16 minutes long.

It may take a few days / weeks for it to populate across the various podcatcher platforms.

In the meantime, those interested can listen on Anchor:

https://anchor.fm/erik-tenkar/episodes/Tenkars-Tavern-Audio-Recap-Week-of-3-14-21-thru-3-20-21-et4h7b

Review-ish - Monsters! Monsters! (2nd Edition - Tunnels & Trolls)

I'm not one to do much in the way of reviews, even though many have and still do ask me to do so. The reasons are quite simple, as I feel many others do a far better job at reviewing products than I ever could and I don't take pleasure in reviewing (let alone reading) releases that I'm not enjoying. So, for the most part, I leave reviews in the hands of others, although I do post often about new releases that spark my interest.

The Second Edition of Monsters! Monsters! was released in June of 2020, and technically is not a "new release." Quite simply, I knew it had released, I had my copy in print and PDF and I never got around to reading through it until earlier today. So, technically, it's new to me ;)

First things first, the art is damn good. The cover is awesome and the interior art reminds me of Games Workshop / White Dwarf artwork from the 80s and it fits the atmosphere perfectly.

Ruleswise, you can see the influence of later editions of Tunnels &Trolls on this edition of Monsters! Monsters! We get spite damage from T&T 5.5, stunting, and a new optional rule - Chaos Factor. Chaos factor has a huge potential to skew the power level of the game in favor of the players, but that isn't necessarily bad, just something to be aware of. You get 5 Fast Start Kindreds (and 49 altogether), so your choices as a player cover a large potential of concepts.

Still, the rules are Tunnels &Trolls rules. If you play T&T, you'll find inspiration within. The enclosed GM Adventure (not quite as rare as a unicorn in T&T, but certainly uncommon) is part setting with a large helping of adventure and adventure leads. The Ruins of Hael'Ku can be used for Monsters! Monsters! or Tunnels & Trolls, and should work well with either system - or both.

Monsters! Monsters! is 9.95 in PDF, which I think is a very fair value for what you get, especially if you are a fan of the Tunnels & Trolls rules.

T

he Tavern is supported by readers like you. The easiest way to support The Tavern is to shop via our affiliate links. DTRPG, Amazon, and Humble Bundle are affiliate programs that support The Tavern.  

You can catch the daily Tavern Chat podcast on Anchor, YouTube, 

or wherever you listen to your podcast collection.

 

Sneak Peek at Various Upcoming Projects at The Tavern

More details of the above when we are closer to launch. I know, it's a tease. Sorry, but so it must be...

James Shields did the logo and did an amazing job with the piss poor description I gave him ;) Back James' current Stock Art Kickstarter - he does damn good work.

This weekend should see the launch of a new weekly podcast, which will have its own feed on Anchor and will simply be an audio recap of the previous week's post here at The Tavern. Nothing new if you steadily read the blog, but convenient if you want a weekly recap to listen to on your commute. No link yet. Soonish.

I've moved the podcast recording to Streamyard from the Anchor app, and it has enhanced how I get to interact with voicemails and has allowed me to put up daily videos on Youtube.com/ErikTenkar that aren't simple conversions of the podcast audio - now the podcast audio is a conversion of the video. It's a much more workable system now and I've noticed an uptick in both Youtube views and Tavern Chat podcast downloads.

We've had Tavern Chat Hangouts on The Tavern's Discord Server for YEARS now on Thursday Nights (9 PM Eastern until 11ish). It's a simple and relaxed voice chat hangout where all are welcome, and you never know who is going to pop in. There appears to be an interest in having an alternate time for those that live across the pond (or across the world), shift workers, those that work from home, etc. I'll be asking on the Discord Server for a prefered day/time to do so. I expect we'll start it on a monthly schedule as we gauge the interest.

Is that enough for the plate? Heh ;)

The Tavern is supported by readers like you. The easiest way to support The Tavern is to shop via our affiliate links. DTRPG, Amazon, and Humble Bundle are affiliate programs that support The Tavern.  

You can catch the daily Tavern Chat podcast on Anchor, YouTube, 

or wherever you listen to your podcast collection.

Deal of the Day - Weird Adventures (OSR Pulp Fantasy)

I haven't thought of Weird Adventures in a while. I own it in print & PDF, and it simply oozes the pulp genre that mixes well into an otherwise fantasy setting. It's a bit like Reeses Peanutbutter Cups - it shouldn't be as good as it is ;)

Today's Deal of the Day is Weird Adventures. Normally 10 bucks in PDF, until tomorrow morning it's on sale for $4.

Welcome to the City...

The streets are mean--and what lurks beneath them is even meaner. Only the most hard-boiled adventurers make it in this town.  You think you got what it takes? Grab your gun or grimoire and find out.

Weird Adventures is a setting where traditional rpg fantasy meets the Pulp era.  It's a world where hobogoblins hop trains, gargoyles nest on art deco skyscrapers, and celebrity sorcerers hawk cigarettes on the radio.

Weird Adventures includes:

• A guide to the City, greatest metropolis in the world, including its five baronies, numerous neighborhoods, and points of interest to adventurers.
• An overview of the Strange New World beyond the City, including the mysterious jungles of Asciana, the zombie-haunted streets of Cujiatepec, and the hidden moonshine stills of the hill-billy giants in the Smaragdines.
• Thirty new monsters from the Black Blizzard to the Skunk-Ape.

 The Tavern is supported by readers like you. The easiest way to support The Tavern is to shop via our affiliate links. DTRPG, Amazon, and Humble Bundle are affiliate programs that support The Tavern.  

You can catch the daily Tavern Chat podcast on Anchor, YouTube, 

or wherever you listen to your podcast collection.

Kickstarter - Bestial Ecosystems Created by Monstrous Inhabitation (System Neutral)

A guide to dynamic monster ecologies for novel fantasy campaigns.

Courtney Campbell is one of the most skilled writers of DM resource material that I've encountered in my 40 odd years of gaming. Whether we are talking game prep or winging it when your party goes left and you had expected them to go right, Courtney has your back.

Bad Mike & I were lucky enough to have Courtney as a guest on our Talking Crit Livestream last night. It was an excellent conversation and a true insight into the mind of a creative like Courtney.

Bestial Ecosystems Created by Monstrous Inhabitation is Courtney's latest Kickstarter. When he informed us that the title was chosen to be abbreviated as BECMI, I was floored. Apparently, he's done the same with his previous releases in the series: Artifices, Deceptions, & Dilemmas (AD&D) and On Downtime and Demesnes (OD&D). Interesting little Easter Egg.

What if monsters were unique and exciting? What if monsters no longer existed in solitary, but part of individual, specialized, ecosystems? What if you had the tools to make these ecosystems quickly and easily, over and over again?

What's in it?

Thousands of unique monster ideas and origins

Tools to integrate these into biomes and exploratory play

Dozens of ideas to make monsters mechanically unique

No longer will monsters feel like bags of hit points to you or your players.  Bestial Ecosystems Created by Monstrous Inhabitation includes clear guidelines for how players can come across these monsters and learn about them in a system-neutral way. This book has no statistic blocks, no repeating anything in the possibly dozens of monster books you already own. This gives every monster dozens and dozens of ideas to make it special, along with the tools and guidelines to use them in play.

I'm in for 28 bucks, print plus PDF. You can back for as little as a buck to get a peek at the PDF as a work in progress. Courtney writes some seriously useful reference books that should be in every GM's toolkit. 

The Tavern is supported by readers like you. The easiest way to support The Tavern is to shop via our affiliate links. DTRPG, Amazon, and Humble Bundle are affiliate programs that support The Tavern.  

You can catch the daily Tavern Chat podcast on Anchor, YouTube, 

or wherever you listen to your podcast collection.

News - Gen Con rescheduled to September 16-19, 2021 - Hybrid In-person, Digital, In-Store Pop-Ups

From the Gen Con website (further details at the original post):

Today, we’re announcing that we are postponing Gen Con 2021 as originally planned for August 5-8 in Indianapolis and announcing plans for a hybrid slate of concurrent in-person and online experiences, including the rescheduled Indy convention, this September 16-19, 2021. We believe this is the best approach both to meet the many challenges of the moment and to explore possibilities for the future.

By offering a flexible range of opportunities to participate, we hope to safely include the largest number of people in the Gen Con experience this year and adapt to conditions as they are in September: in-person at Gen Con in Indianapolis with capped attendance and a modified format, from home through Gen Con Online events and livestreaming, and at local game stores through Pop-Up Gen Con retail activations.

With the rollout of effective vaccines, we look forward to an end to the COVID-19 pandemic and an eventual return to normal convention conditions, but the timeline is far from certain. In consultation with public health experts and local partners, with community feedback in mind, and with cautious optimism, we are moving forward with planning while maintaining the ability to shift course as needed to meet the requirements of changing conditions.

Convention planning happens on a long timeline, and we appreciate your continued patience as we tread these murky waters. By postponing our dates and expanding our approach, we hope to provide you with the best experience we can this year. With so many pieces in motion, we aren’t yet announcing dates for badge, hotel, and event registration, but we will announce those decisions soon as we advance to the next stages of planning.

Gen Con Indy

“The Best Four Days in Gaming™,” with capped attendance and enhanced health and safety measures.

• Smaller attendance numbers to comply with public health mandates and enable safer-attendance procedures.
• Potential combinations of social distancing, mask-wearing, and vaccination requirements as determined by public health guidelines.

Gen Con Online

Concurrent with the convention in Indianapolis, a virtual offering of livestreaming, remote/virtual gaming and events, and community on Discord.

Pop-Up Gen Con

During Gen Con weekend, Pop-Up Gen Con activates participating Friendly Local Game Stores (FLGS).

• FLGS adapt their event to local health and safety conditions and requirements, determining how to structure participation in their community.
• Publishers’ games available to stores for demos, events (where allowed), and purchase.

Kickstarter - Dungeon Dangers & Devices (Stock Art)

I'm a huge fan of stock art. Not just for smaller publishers, which I am on occasion, but as a blogger. A good piece of art can inspire a whole post, and knowing you have legal rights to use such art somehow makes the creative juices flow even more, or so it seems to me.

James Sheilds has a very large and very deep catalogue of stock art. The pieces are great, at a minimum, and some reach the level of "Awesome", such as the art I used for the cover of Swords & Wizardry Continual Light. As my niece, Shannon (age 6 at the time) told my wife Rach when she saw the proof copy for the first time: "This art SELLS Auntie!" There can be no greater endorsement. ;)

James just Kickstarted Dungeon Dangers & Devices, Stock Illustrations of Fantasy Traps and Tricks. 10 illustrations for 25 bucks or 25 illustrations for 50 bucks (all B&W) Color is a stretch goal and available at a higher backing point. I'm currently in for 50 :)

This project will be a collection of twenty-five illustrations of various dangers and devices that one might find within the depths of a fantasy dungeon. They will be in A5 format (5.8 x 8.3 inches) and will initially be in black and white.

In my opinion, the licensing terms are extremely fair:

All illustrations may be used for personal and commercial projects.

          The following apply to any commercial use:

• May be cropped, flipped, or colored.
• Signature mark should be included in the final composition.
• Signature mark must remain in its original orientation.
• Must credit 'Jeshields' for any use.
• May be used indefinitely.
• May NOT be used in products sold primarily for artistic value.
•            (Stock art, tokens, posters, etc)
• May NOT be used in works overtly deemed racist, sexist, or sexually explicit.

The Tavern is supported by readers like you. The easiest way to support The Tavern is to shop via our affiliate links. DTRPG, Amazon, and Humble Bundle are affiliate programs that support The Tavern.  

You can catch the daily Tavern Chat podcast on Anchor, YouTube, 

or wherever you listen to your podcast collection.

Playing with Dungeon Builder - Isometric Mapping Program

I was shown the magic of Dungeon Builder yesterday by Thaddeus and I was blown away by the sample map I was shown. So, I downloaded the free demo and  I put together The Dungeon Privy shown above in less than half an hour. That included time to learn the basics of the program.

This morning I tried my hands at the demo again, this time for an outdoor map, and again I was extremely impressed with the results. Again, the map was completed in about half an hour.

The demo is free. The full app without a commercial license is 59 euros. Commercial license prices depend on whether you want to give attribution to Dungeon Builder and how large your company is in terms of yearly revenue. They start at 199 euros.

I put in for a commercial license. Expect to see me working on my Dungeon Builder skills in the next few weeks.

The Tavern is supported by readers like you. The easiest way to support The Tavern is to shop via our affiliate links. DTRPG, Amazon, and Humble Bundle are affiliate programs that support The Tavern.  

You can catch the daily Tavern Chat podcast on Anchor, YouTube, 

or wherever you listen to your podcast collection.

Taking Advantage of an Unexpected Opportunity

 

Have you ever fallen asleep on the couch some random Tuesday afternoon and gotten a nice little unexpected nap in.....you wake up refreshed and feeling a little cheeky 'cause you got some unexpected rest in....like you got away with something?

No, well that sucks for you, but also for me 'cause you're not going to get my analogy then.

To me that's what it feel like to get in on a pick-up role-playing game. A good time that makes you feel like you got away with something...a pleasant surprise.

I missed my last gaming session because I was out on a date.....probably an event rarer than gaming...well historically speaking at least. Normally there is no issue with the two interests competing, but really is this a surprise for most any gamer to begin with? Well at least most any gamer who tries to date women who are like, "There are dice with more than six sides?" That's probably a post all unto itself....

...anyway, last night I was able to jump in on a pick-up game playing a "prequel" adventure for my newly acquired Henchman, long with some of the other Henchmen. I had a blast, which I'm sure wasn't apparent because for some reason the moment I logged into the Zoom room I had a yawning fit.....can seeing yourself yawn make you yawn more? Is this a Zoom side-effect?

Normally I play the group's Magic User, which means I'm more a supporting character when combat rolls around, although I have had my moments.....the pick-up game had me on the front line bashing skulls to the extent I think I got the majority of the kills (lucky dice rolls.....not skill!), only to be outshined in the big encounter by a well placed Sleep spell. It's easy to forget how briefly awesome a Sleep spell can be. My MU hasn't been able to make decent use of Sleep for at least a level.

Outside of the straight-up fun a pick-up game can be because it's a game, there's that additional opportunity to change things up. To play something new, or even to rekindle an appreciation for something kind of forgotten. The fact you can't really plan for this "thing"....that it has to be taking advantage of an unexpected opportunity.....makes it all the more special.

State of the Tavern - Update - Closed Captioning for the YouTube Channel for the Hearing Impaired and Audio Conversion of the Blog for the Visually Impaired

 

The above was asked in reference to last night's update, and I had been under the impression that YouTube videos required manual Closed Captioning, and I had neither the time nor the money to do so. I was wrong.

YouTube CAN automatically do CC, and it's pretty damn accurate. I do need to turn it on for each video manually, so it will take some time before it's available across the board, but it's begun with some of the more recent videos and livestreams.

This got me thinking. There used to be a plugin that allowed me to convert each blogpost to an audio file with a simple link, but that app went away years ago. After a little research, I found Woord, and for $60 bucks a year I can convert the blog into an audio format.

My current plan is to upload a week of the blog at a time as a podcast episode - not sure if it will be a new podcast feed or simply extra podcast episodes. Most likely a new feed / podcast.

Let me know what you think. I do care :)

Here's a sample of today's blogpost in an audio format: https://www.dropbox.com/s/8xbn1c11to4st37/16793195831615688173604d71ed159847.16965527.mp3?dl=0

The Tavern is supported by readers like you. The easiest way to support The Tavern is to shop via our affiliate links. DTRPG, Amazon, and Humble Bundle are affiliate programs that support The Tavern.  

You can catch the daily Tavern Chat podcast on Anchor, YouTube, 

or wherever you listen to your podcast collection.

State of the Tavern - Which Comes First, The Podcast or the Livestream or YouTube? The Blog!

So, before tonight's Iron Rations LiveStream with JoetheLawyer (and Matt & Mike), Joe tossed out the idea that I should consider ditching the Tavern Chat podcast and move to just doing the Tavern's YouTube Channel. Thankfully, Joe didn't suggest that I ditch the blog ;)

Now, I understand where Joe is coming from. Four of the daily YouTube shares each week are simply reshares of the podcast, and three episodes each week are reshares of the YouTube livestreams. They are, in effect, imperfect mirrors of each other.

What I AM thinking of doing is recording Tavern Chat as a video initially, sharing it to YouTube, and then upload the audio to the podcast side of things. From the podcast side of things, little if anything would change. Same content, same show. On the YouTube side of things though, it would do away with the generic static image that is generated when the podcast gets converted to video. Instead, you would get my lovely image 7 days a week, in addition to my voice.

It would be a small amount of extra work on my end, but it might just be worth it for those that prefer using YouTube.

As an aside, I'd like to thank the recent subscribers that put the channel over 300 subs. We truly appreciate the support.

In any case, that's the current thought. If you have feedback or suggestions I'd be glad to have it.

The Tavern is supported by readers like you. The easiest way to support The Tavern is to shop via our affiliate links. DTRPG, Amazon, and Humble Bundle are affiliate programs that support The Tavern.  

You can catch the daily Tavern Chat podcast on Anchor, YouTube, 

or wherever you listen to your podcast collection.

Kickstarter - Bestial Ecosystems Created by Monstrous Inhabitation

I feel like all I'm posting about is Kickstarter, but so many awesome ones have released in the last few days that I find myself highlighting another one. I apologize for the impact I'm having on everyone's wallets ;)

Hack & Slash, AKA Courtney, just went live with the Bestial Ecosystems Created by Monstrous Inhabitation Kickstarter. This is a "must back" Kickstarter for me, and I suspect it will be so for others.

What if monsters were unique and exciting? What if monsters no longer existed in solitary, but part of individual, specialized, ecosystems? What if you had the tools to make these ecosystems quickly and easily, over and over again?

What's in it?

Thousands of unique monster ideas and origins

Tools to integrate these into biomes and exploratory play

Dozens of ideas to make monsters mechanically unique

No longer will monsters feel like bags of hit points to you or your players.  Bestial Ecosystems Created by Monstrous Inhabitation includes clear guidelines for how players can come across these monsters and learn about them in a system-neutral way. This book has no statistic blocks, no repeating anything in the possibly dozens of monster books you already own. This gives every monster dozens and dozens of ideas to make it special, along with the tools and guidelines to use them in play.

What's it for?

This allows referees of fantasy tabletop games to enjoyably generate monster history, traits, and ideas. Referees can then take those monsters and integrate them into dynamic fantasy biomes, along with the tools to allow players to explore those biomes. This allows the players the opportunity to learn about these biomes and monster interactions through play!

Creating a new campaign is like raising a house frame all by yourself. This is a tool that makes something often overlooked (fantasy ecosystems) into an exciting and quick process. 

The Tavern is supported by readers like you. The easiest way to support The Tavern is to shop via our affiliate links. DTRPG, Amazon, and Humble Bundle are affiliate programs that support The Tavern.  

You can catch the daily Tavern Chat podcast on Anchor, YouTube, 

or wherever you listen to your podcast collection.

Kickstarter - Dwarrowdeep - Greg Gillespie (OSR & 5e)

Barrowmaze is probably the gold standard of megadungeons. It broke new grounds when it was published and established Greg Gillespie as one of the OSR's premier adventure creators, as he followed Barrowmaze with Barrowmaze II (which were then joined in Barrowmaze Complete) Highfell, & The Forbidden Caverns of the Archaia. 

Today, Greg launched the Kickstarter for Barrowmaze: Dwarrowdeep (OSR and 5E). It funded in an hour and has already surpassed 275 backers. I should know, I'm one of them ;)

Tonight at 8 PM Eastern, Greg will be the guest of Bad Mike & I on the Talking Crit Livestream. Join us and pepper Greg with questions. Or watch later and simply listen to the answers to the questions of others. Oh, and events in the hobby we all love. We ALWAYS touch upon such news ;)

This Kickstarter campaign is designed to support the creation of a new megadungeon adventure for the Old School Renaissance and the Fifth Edition of the World's Most Popular Role-Playing Game. Dwarrowdeep represents the fourth in a massive six-part megadungeon adventure series never before undertaken in the history of fantasy role-playing games.

The OSR Labyrinth Lord edition can be played with any TSR rule-set from the 70s/80s/90s, or inspired by them, such as Original Edition, B/X, First or Second Edition, OSRIC, Old School Essentials, or Swords and Wizardry without conversion. The adventure is designed to support low-to-high level play within a medieval fantasy campaign lasting months and years.

I estimate the final draft to be between 260-290 pages and approximately 500-600 encounter areas. If you are familiar with Barrowmaze Complete, that project was 259 pages in a two-column format (cover to cover). The Forbidden Caverns of Archaia my follow-up project, was 293 pages. Like my other megadungeons, Dwarrowdeep will provide PDF poster maps in both black and Old School blue.

Dwarrowdeep begins with a gazetteer that outlines the region in which the adventure takes place. This includes a cultural history of the dwarves as well as detailing the town of Hamelet - the base of operations for the campaign. The dungeon proper will be levelled in a traditional style, albeit with twists and surprises. You can expect new spells and magic items, special monsters, pregenerated characters, new races, and rival adventuring parties. Dwarrowdeep merges my own unique vision (one that has never been realized in a dwarven-themed adventure) with inspiration drawn from J.R.R. Tolkien and classic adventures like Shrine of the Kuo-Toa and The Night Below.

The Tavern is supported by readers like you. The easiest way to support The Tavern is to shop via our affiliate links. DTRPG, Amazon, and Humble Bundle are affiliate programs that support The Tavern.  

You can catch the daily Tavern Chat podcast on Anchor, YouTube, 

or wherever you listen to your podcast collection.

Kickstarter - SCIENTIFIC BARBARIAN No.3 (post-apocalyptic)

I'm pretty fond of the Mutant Crawl Classics RPG. To hamfist a quote inspired by Spinal Tap: "This Gamma World Clone goes to Eleven!" Note, no drummers were killed creating this RPG ;)

So, what is SCIENTIFIC BARBARIAN No.3? According to the Kickstarter page, "Bigger and better than a fanzine, not quite as fancy as a magazine, SCIENTIFIC BARBARIAN No.3 is a megazine. It’s 6” x 9” in size, with 64+ pages of professional gaming content created and produced by industry veterans. Our megazines are also perfect-bound with a spine, so they stand up nicely on a shelf as you collect them! This is an exciting new format we here at Mudpuppy Games are proud to pioneer, and we can’t wait to see how many others adopt what we think is a pretty handy format for jamming a publication straight into your game bag or your backpack."

So, a zine that goes to Eleven! Cool :)

Does that mean that SCIENTIFIC BARBARIAN No.3 is specifically written for the MCC RPG? No, but it will certainly fit very well with MCC, Gamma World, Mutant Future, and the like. Heck, even fits with your OSR fantasy rules if you want to push your campaign in different directions.

The Tavern is supported by readers like you. The easiest way to support The Tavern is to shop via our affiliate links. DTRPG, Amazon, and Humble Bundle are affiliate programs that support The Tavern.  

You can catch the daily Tavern Chat podcast on Anchor, YouTube, 

or wherever you listen to your podcast collection.

Kickstarter - Folio #27 - Lair of the Serpents (1E & 5E - Get the PDF for a buck!)

I've been following Scott Taylor and his Folio series of adventures since the first one he published. Amazing art, quality writing, and adventures that are ripe for using, by piece or whole cloth for your own campaign.

If you haven't checked out The Folio yet, Scott's latest Kickstarter is a great opportunity to do so, as you can get the PDF of Folio #27, Lair of the Serpents Gaming Adventure! for just a buck. Even better, you can grab all 30 of The Folio releases in PDF for 30 bucks. Many campaigns worth of gaming material for D&D 1e and 5e for less than the cost of the 5e Player's Handbook.

Want to watch Scott talk about The Folio and more? I had a FireSide Chat with Scott a few weeks back: 

Join the adventure as Art of the Genre continues to add content to its first new mega-dungeon in over three years!  This second part of a six-phase mega-campaign is based around 1st-3rd level characters in a completely revolutionary setting.  I've specially designed the dungeon to breathe new life into those adventuring levels while allowing the DM the ability to create incredible story arcs with old favorite monsters like lizardmen, giant serpents, huge toads, and even early fantasy RPG video game monsters inspired by classic crawls like Wizardry and Bard's Tale!

The Virgin Mine setting revolves around an adventuring company moving into the ruins of the wild jungle around the Imperial Capital city of Nextyaria. Here, they will match wits against other treasure-seeking adventuring companies as well as the intelligent dungeon that hosts relic treasures with nearly unlimited power.

Folio #27 will introduce characters to the next section of the massive Virgin Mine Dungeon, the Lair of the Serpents!.  Unlike normal dungeons, this one carries various mysteries and wrinkles that 'bend' the rules of character advancement, and strategy will need to be employed as the party learns the ropes within the Virgin Mine Dungeon setting.  Dungeon details include 2D standard hex maps as well as fully 3D renderings of The Lair of the Serpents section of The Virgin Mine.  A gazetteer section will give background on the new rules and the exterior camps and companies.  Several new monsters lurk within as well as new magical treasure.  It also features a fully removable and stand-alone cover in perfect OSR tradition!

The Tavern is supported by readers like you. The easiest way to support The Tavern is to shop via our affiliate links. DTRPG, Amazon, and Humble Bundle are affiliate programs that support The Tavern.  

You can catch the daily Tavern Chat podcast on Anchor, YouTube, 

or wherever you listen to your podcast collection.

Doing Something "Nice" for my Players.....and the Unintended Consequences

 

This is my second attempt at a post because my earlier almost-finished post.......I thought it was a bit much as it had some adult content about the time one of my player's PCs was kidnapped to be sacrificed to an evil deity....the method of sacrifice was the "adult" part.

I was inspired to tell that story initially because I found the printed out (huge, like most of the table big) map I had mounted and laminated. This encounter had a couple of possible outcomes, from the straight-up gruesome (for that one PC) to a TPK, or even just a complete bloodbath. It ended up going the bloodbath route, but that happens when you have three women (players and PCs) facing off against a deviant murderous cult that happened to also abduct the orphan the party had taken a liking to........

If given the opportunity I like to have really nice maps to play on, but coming up with nice maps....even if you're just finding and using other people's maps, takes a lot of resources (mostly time). I usually just end up with some props and a good set of Staedtler markers and Chessex Battlemat. If I'm running a bunch of tables, like when I'm head GM, I'll maybe splurge on some clear acetate you can buy at the fabric store. I can easily draw out one map and then make copies and hand out the maps for GMs to plop down quickly on an empty battlemat. Works for me!

If I expect a big battle, especially a challenging (i.e. potential PC death or TPK) encounter I'll more likely go all out. If I'm fortunate enough to find someone else's map (like something from Dyson Logos) I'll take and get it printed up, preferably at the UPS Store or FedEx Kinkos, but I'm not above printing it at home and piecing it together. Mount that map on some foam core and cover it with lamination......good to go, though if I'm really lucky and have the time, I'm not above creating a 3d model using Hirst Arts bricks or insulation foam.

Of course, as a GM, creating terrain pieces for table-top play is not just fun, but a means of me continuing or pre-planning the fun outside of the normal game-time. Generally speaking if I think the players might get their PCs killed, more than just the normal dangers of a game session, I like to treat them to some thing "extra". Of course if you do this enough then you can establish a pattern....

...and as a GM I love establishing patterns. Nothing like being able to mess with your players at the table using Out Of Character (OOC) knowledge. If they get used to potentially ugly battles being preceded by the GM whipping out a custom laminated map....then I can mess with their heads, and expectations, by whipping out a nice map for a mundane encounter. I once had the party spend a good 20', table-top time, checking the room five times for a secret or hidden door because there HAD to be something beyond the walls if I had bothered to slap down a full-color & laminated map.....

Good times.

Makes me wonder what "special things" other GMs do for their players that are outside of the norms. Also, how do other GMs mess with their players (aside from making them do surprise random rolls for no reason....) the former, by all means comment here, but if you have some juicy (but not too mean) ways to mess with players, hit me up outside of the Tavern....too many eyes in here!

GM's Day Sale - Swords & Wizardry Picks

While I'm fairly disappointed with this year's DTRPG GM's Day Sale, as the bundles pretty much suck, and the majority of the titles on sale are only discounted 10%, there are a number of pics that are 40% off for the sale. The picks below are all 40% off.

Here's the link to the Swords & Wizardry picks. My highlighted picks are far from exhaustive.

Tome of Adventure Design - I can't say enough in praise of ToAD. I own multiple physical copies - The Tome of Adventure Design is organized as a series of "books," each one providing resources at every step of the way. The vast majority of the content of each book is made up of random generation tables that we created over a quarter of a century (sigh) for our own use. It should be said upfront that these are tables for deep design - in other words, most of them are too long, and contain too many unusual or contradictory entries, for use on the spot at the gaming table. There are already many excellent books of tables for use on the fly; the tables in these books are different. They work best as a tool for preparation beforehand, providing relatively vast creative resources for browsing and gathering, rather than quick-use tables designed to provide broad, fast brushstrokes. Our shorter tables tend to deliver cryptic results designed to shock the reader's creativity into filling in the gaps, whereas the longer tables are unusably vast for easy random generation, being designed to shock the reader's creativity into operation by presenting a sea of possibilities. 21.99 13.19

Dark Places & Demogorgons - Survive This!! - Core Rule Book - Stranger Things for the OSR - In Dark Places & Demogorgons, you play as high school students during the early 1980s. The town you live in has had a rash of disappearances and strange happenings. The adults seem lost as to what to do, the police are as clueless as ever and aren’t helping and Reverend Phillips is on another witch-hunt. It’s up to you and your friends to figure out what’s going on and stop it from happening again! 9.99 5.99

Operation Unfathomable - I'm dying to run this one day - OPERATION UNFATHOMABLE is a 108-page, internally-consistent, gonzo funhouse module for Swords & Wizardry that runs like a subterranean wilderness trek instead of a “down the 10-foot hall and kick in a door” affair. There are random elements aplenty to keep GMs guessing as well as players. No balanced encounters to be found here, but the clever setup allows low-level characters to drop into the dungeon “deep end” and still have a chance of making it out alive—if they’re smart and wary. 12.00 7.20

White Star: Galaxy Edition - Space opera for the OSR -Ace Pilots, dead-eyed Gunslingers, and irrepressible Star Squirrels blast off across the stars to save the galaxy from the horrors of the Void! Hellfire Mecha march across the battlefield, leaving carnage in their wake! From the galactic center of Omega Consor to the Manrash System on the edge of the universe, the galaxy needs heroes! Endless galactic adventure awaits you in White Star: Galaxy Edition! Integrated and updated to include material from White Star and the White Star Companion, White Star: Galaxy Edition integrates new rules, new options, and expands the original game. Now more than just a toolbox, White Star: Galaxy Edition offers you a universe full of thrilling adventure! 9.99 5.99

Crypts and Things Remastered - Newt did a great job with this Swords & Sorcery hack of the S&W rules - Be a wild Barbarian, a deadly Fighter, a soul-torn Sorcerer or a sword sharp canny Thief, fighting evil tyrants and foul demons in a world rapidly dying and heading towards its final nemesis. Crypts and Things (C&T) is a Swords and Sorcery Roleplaying game based upon the Old School Rules of the 70s/80s. It also draws upon the British fantasy games and game-books of that period to bring a distinctly dark and dangerous feel to the game. It was originally released back in early 2012 and after a highly successful Kickstarter in 2015 it returns in a Remastered edition, with revised and expanded content and entirely new art by David M. Wright. 14.42 8.65

Gathox Vertical Slum - I like the cover and the premise. Snagged! -Welcome to Gathox Vertical Slum, a far-out, gonzo science fantasy campaign setting for Swords & Wizardry White Box Edition and other classic tabletop role-playing games. Aliens, mutants, spellslingers, and hardened criminals struggle for dominance in a lawless city built upon the back of a wandering, world-hopping godling. Inside this tome, you’ll find:* A fully mapped and fleshed out Vertical Slum, stuffed to the gills with greedy factions, hook-laden NPCs, and seedy locations.* A new gangland system for running domain-level games at level 1.* 43 fully illustrated strange and inimical monsters to spring on unsuspecting players.* New classes, skills, ability checks, hirelings, and gear for players to work their will across the mean streets of the Great Spire.* A vertical dungeon introductory adventure to test the skills and resourcefulness of new and seasoned players alike. 9.99 5.99

Eldritch Tales: Lovecraftian White Box Role-Playing - There is much within that I want to put into my next S&W campaign - Eldritch Tales: Lovecraftian White Box Role-Playing in an OSR rule set with its roots in the Original version of the world's favorite RPG, but instead of exploring musty dungeons, characters in Eldritch Tales investigate Mythos horrors in the 1920s! The setting and background are based on the cosmic horror tales of Howard Phillips Lovecraft and other members of his writing circle. Within the pages of Eldritch Tales you will find four character classes representing many classic pulp archetypes, occupations, rules for insanity, spells, monsters, esoteric tomes, artifacts, a starting scenario, and setting material, as well as advice on using Eldritch Tales with other White Box games. This game is compatible with Swords & Wizardry White Box and other OSR games. 6.99 4.19

The Tavern is supported by readers like you. The easiest way to support The Tavern is to shop via our affiliate links. DTRPG, Amazon, and Humble Bundle are affiliate programs that support The Tavern.  

You can catch the daily Tavern Chat podcast on Anchor, YouTube, 

or wherever you listen to your podcast collection.