Humble Bundle - Call of Cthulhu

First things first, the past few days have not been useful for playing 'Catch-up', so if you are waiting on a response to an OSR Christmas email regarding a gift, it may be a day or so still before I get to it. You can still participate on the last day of OSR Christmas here until Tuesday evening, January 9th, 2024. Now, on to the subject of THIS post.

One of my unstated (until today) goals for 2024 is to run a few sessions of Call of Cthulhu for the first time in over 30 years. I was inspired after picking up the CoC Starter Set. It reads really well and has inspired me to return to some horror gaming via short campaigns.

The Call of Cthulhu Humble Bundle has two sweet spots in my opinion. If your pockets are nearly empty, forego the Starbucks coffee one day this week and put the monies towards the 5 Buck Bundle level. You get the CoC Starter Set, five scenarios for beginning Keepers (GMs), Sandy Peterson's Lovecraftian Horrors, and of course, a CoC Coloring Book ;)

Skip the 15 Buck Bundle level and jump right to the Call of Cthulhu 25 Buck Bundle Level. You get the two core books, three solo adventures, settings for pulp, French Revolution, Weird West, Dark Ages, and more. More Old Ones than you can shake a stump at! heh

Bring a taste of terror to your game nights with this bundle from Chaosium, complete with everything you need to run the dreaded (yet beloved) Call of Cthulhu RPG system! On top of the Call of Cthulhu Starter Set, you’ll get the Investigator Handbook, replete with expanded rules for creating player characters, as well as the Keeper Rulebook, brimming with all the information you need to keep things orderly as your table descends into madness. You’ll also get tons of adventures, including some aimed at first-time game masters, as well as entire campaigns! Pay what you want for over 25 books and game aids for this seminal RPG and help support the World Wildlife Fund with your purchase!

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

DTRPG, Amazon, and Humble Bundle are affiliate programs that support The Tavern.  You can catch the daily Tavern Chat cast on Anchor, YouTube,  or wherever you listen to your podcast collection. - Tenkar  

So When Do You Call it?

Yesterday was a complete shit-show, as-in pretty much everything I tried to do on my Saturday went to shit. My day started waaaaay too early when I thought some idiot was trying to break into my home at 1 AM. No, I was the idiot, a fact I learned quickly...and painfully as I discovered the source of the broken glass that had woken me up......with my foot. It wasn't the window but a liter beer stein that fell down from a high shelf (still don't know how).

Fortunately that was the only bleeding I did yesterday and since I was working with power tools I consider myself rather fortunate. Instead of cutting off a few fingers I only managed to ruin $50+ of wood, make a mess of my garage, and put a few holes in my wall......

Honestly, I would have been so much better off lighting a Benjamin on fire and going to bed early, like 10 AM.

Even though the weather was cooperating, I finally decided to pack it in early and nope out of my projects. Patching the holes in the wall, cleaning my mess up, and tossing my project in the scrap heap can wait. Looking back I really wish I could've quit much earlier......

......I really wish I could've quit much earlier.

When I "called it" that actual thought was going through my mind, and as I did the patching, and the sweeping, and bought replacement wood, this mantra (for lack of a better word) kept running through my mind.

I think most of us have issues recognizing when things have gone too far and we should just pack it in. Obviously I'm giving a real-world example, but I've seen this a lot of times at the game table. I've seen it as a player, and definitely as a GM. 

Go ahead, reach in...

On the player side of things I've partaken in going down the rabbit hole of the GM tempting the party with an obscure "something" just out of easy reach. "You think you could reach it if you stuck your whole arm in...." I seem to recall a time my GM got one of us to dive under some water and into an empty cavern beyond the wall just because someone saw "a box" through a hole in the wall into said cavern. IIRC that water made the PC turn into some type of snake-man abomination....

Now as a GM, I've also teased players in a similar fashion: I had a spellbook "hidden" underneath a stove that was in danger of being consumed by some green slime, only being held back by a weak protective shield. Personally I had plenty of ideas on how the party's spellcaster could get access to that book, but evidently the player couldn't come up with two, and went with the only one that occurred to him, which was just reaching in and grabbing it*. End result was one spellcaster missing a hand because the ranger had to do a field-expedient amputation lest the green slime take over completely. Now that was a fun night.

Fun for me, but I'm certain that David wished he'd made better choices leading up to the ...well "incident".

I tend to see players take too long to nope out at conventions, mostly because they are playing for a set time period and have no real investment into their characters. Most of the TPKs I've seen (both sides of the screen) have been at convention games/tournaments. Since they have the time, or are trying to "win", they'll push one room too many, or opt to stay in the fight for "one more attack roll", thinking the tide of bad luck coming their way will subside in time. Head's up....it rarely does.

While defeat is par for the course, those times when you do manage to pull a W out of thin air are pretty sweet. I can think of a few examples and I'll spare you from a slew of tangent character stories, but I'm sure you probably have a few of your own.

*I've not been shy about just how much I loath Green Slime as a monster and I use it sparingly, with plenty of foreshadowing/forewarning. If your PC gets hit by green slime at my table it's very much your own damned fault. 

OSR Christmas - Day 12 - The Day of Three Kings

Yep, OSR Christmas will wrap up with the gifting of these last few gifts. Comment below if you wish to be considered for one of these fine gifts. Note, that there is a physical gift in the mix, so only those who expressly state in their comment that they have a United States mailing address will be considered for such.

Gifts from OSR Christmas Days 9, 10, and 11 that haven't been addressed yet will be tackled tomorrow. If there are outstanding gifts from earlier days, ping me. With many balls in the air, I expect to drop one or two.

Comments must be in by Tuesday, December 9th, 2024 at 1800 hrs.

So, without further ado, here's the gift list:

From DiceBro:

• PDF Bundle of issues1-3 of Wizard Funk, an OSR zine

From On the Tabletop:

•     PDF copy of Holmes & Clark, along with digital goodies

From James Mishler Games:

• Set of 12 PDFs (by my count) of James Mishler releases for Shadowdark as well as the Isle of Eldisor for Labyrinth Lord in PDF

From Tenkar's Tavern/Solarian Games

New Copy of Top Secret: New World Order

Shipped in the US Only!

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

DTRPG, Amazon, and Humble Bundle are affiliate programs that support The Tavern.  You can catch the daily Tavern Chat cast on Anchor, YouTube,  or wherever you listen to your podcast collection. - Tenkar  

OSR Sale - Shadowsun (ShadowDark RPG)

First things first. I've been a friend of, as well as a fan of, Greg Christopher for well over a decade. Greg ran the D&D Next (5e Beta) playtest for me and others. He writes some of the best gaming material for OSR gaming that one can find on the market IMHO.

ShadowSun is Greg's homage to Dark Sun, using the rules of ShadowDark. I have had an earlier PDF version of ShadowSun that Greg had shared with me earlier, but while looking at the current sale, I noticed that the Print plus PDF is only 14.95 for a hardcover version, and that is dirt cheap for my gaming collection - so I ordered it :)

ShadowSun is marked down to 4 bucks in PDF (from 8) for a 216-page setting book. Quite simply, a bargain.

ShadowSun is a dark, apocalyptic, desert setting designed for use with ShadowDark. It presents a bleak world scorched by an angry sun and defiled by powerful Mage-Kings. A land where metal, food, and water are scarce resources. Player ancestries are Elves, Dwarves, Hawkfolk, Humans, Lizardfolk, and Mantisfolk. Class choices are Explorers, Mentalists (psionics), Shamans, Sorcerers, and Warriors. Extensive equipment choices and spell/power options. Also contains 124 ShadowDark monsters and extensive internal hyperlinks.

 

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

DTRPG, Amazon, and Humble Bundle are affiliate programs that support The Tavern.  You can catch the daily Tavern Chat cast on Anchor, YouTube,  or wherever you listen to your podcast collection. - Tenkar    

Bundle of Holding - The Midderlands (OSR Dark Fantasy Setting)

First things first - Glynn Seal is one of the most generous, both in his time and his work, creatives in the OSR, if not tabletop gaming as a whole. As a mapper, an artist, a creative, and a writer, in the field of OSR fantasy creation he has no peers. He is the very definition of the Renaissance Man, and I am very happy to call Glynn a friend.

After saying all that, Gylnn's Midderlands setting is probably THE setting in the OSR that I am dying to run. I've backed each of Glynn's Kickstarters, but if you haven't backed all of Glynn's Kickstarters, the current The Midderlands Bundle of Holding is the answer you've been waiting for.

Adventurer! This all-new Midderlands Bundle presents The Midderlands, the grim, green, grime-smeared old-school tabletop fantasy roleplaying campaign setting from MonkeyBlood Design. Designed by ENnie-winning writer-artist-cartographer Glynn Seal, the Midderlands setting is a green-hued, dark-fantasy, late-Middle Ages, early-Renaissance land based on Glynn's home in the United Kingdom, the Midlands. Many Midderlands locations are grounded in reality, others pure fantasy from the designer's fevered imagination. This atmospheric (not to say fetid) sandbox setting adapts easily to any Old School Revival rules set such as Old-School Essentials, Swords & Wizardry, and many other Dungeons & Dragons retroclones, or you can add any of the horrific Midderlands monsters, weird locations, and beautiful maps to your own campaign. (The sewers. We recommend the sewers.)

For just US$14.95 you get all three titles in our Starter Collection (retail value $60) as DRM-free ebooks, including the complete Midderlands OSR Setting and Bestiary corebook, The Midderlands Expanded, and The City of Great Lunden.

And if you pay more than the threshold price of $30.33, you'll level up and also get our entire Bonus Collection with seven more titles worth an additional $70, including Adventures in Great Lunden, Fighting Folk of the Haven Isles, Folk Magic of the Haven Isles, Bats of Saint Abbans, Chewer of Fingers, Behind the Walls, and Rivers and Lakes.

 

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

DTRPG, Amazon, and Humble Bundle are affiliate programs that support The Tavern.  You can catch the daily Tavern Chat cast on Anchor, YouTube,  or wherever you listen to your podcast collection. - Tenkar    

OSR Christmas - Day 9 - Gifting the Gifts

Today is the day for gifting the gifts of Day 9 of OSR Christmas (I know this post was meant to be up yesterday, but a more important post took precedence)

If your name/handle/screen name is below one of the following gifts, you MUST do the following (it helps with my sanity):

Email tenkarsDOTtavern at that Gmail thing (note - DOT equals a ".") In the Subject of the email, please put "OSR Christmas Day 9". This SHOULD keep you from getting caught up as spam. Note - should. It's failed once already. In the body of the email, state your name/handle/screen name that is down below, state the gift you are receiving, and both your DTRPG email and, if you are getting the stickers and patch, a snail mail address.

From DiceBro:

• PDF Bundle of issues1-3 of Wizard Funk, an OSR zine

ch\/\/olfgang

• OSR Stickers and Barrowmaze patches to give away (1 US)

Tim Baker

From The Knotty Works:

• Bundle of BX Game Options Volume I-XII in PDF

IL

From On the Tabletop:

•     PDF copy of Holmes & Clark, along with digital goodies

DungeonMapper

From James Mishler Games:

• Set of 12 PDFs (by my count) of James Mishler releases for Shadowdark as well as the Isle of Eldisor for Labyrinth Lord in PDF

Tim Baker

From Tenkar's Tavern:

$10 DTRPG Gift Certificate

Peter D

OSR Christmas Day 10 will be tonight, on the Talking Crit Livestream. OSR Christmas Day 11 will be here, on the blog, either tomorrow or Friday. Day 12 will be on Friday Night's Livestream with Glen Halstrom :)

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

DTRPG, Amazon, and Humble Bundle are affiliate programs that support The Tavern.  You can catch the daily Tavern Chat cast on Anchor, YouTube,  or wherever you listen to your podcast collection. - Tenkar   

GoFundMe for Funeral Expenses of Ben Shields, Son of James Shields

I was just informed of the suicide of Ben Shields, son of artist James Shields. I have no words. I have seen suicide impact the families of friends and coworkers far too often. If you find yourself in a desperate state, the Suicide Hotline Number is 988 in the United States. You can also text the number if that is a more comfortable form of communication for you.

The Tavern will match the first $250 raised for Ben's funeral expenses by the members of this community, with a minimum donation of $100. We'll be making the donation no later than 6 PM Thursday Night, January 4, 2024. Simply comment below with the amount of your donation. When we hit $250, The Tavern will make a matching donation - Tenkar

Here's Gary Oliver's post from Facebook:

It is with great sadness that I am reporting one of our NTX family members and contributors, James Shields lost his son Ben to suicide on 12/31/23. The family is in mourning and very overwhelmed by all of this. James told me I could inform the community and let everyone know that they appreciate everyone’s condolences and support but may not respond directly to people for a while.

James has helped the convention with our logo the last couple of years. He is also a good friend to me personally as well. To help the family with expenses related to the final arrangements and other costs I am setting up a GoFundMe for Ben’s memorial. I know that this group will be supportive with not only post of condolences but will also help financially in this time of great despair and sadness for the Shield’s family.

Thank you, as always, for your support of NTX and all of the friends and family that make this such a great community - Gary Oliver

GoFundMe Link for Ben Shields 

 

State of The Tavern - 2024 New Year, New Stuff Edition

Well, 2023 was one hell of a year. It could have been better, and certainly could have been worse, but overall I think it ended up pretty positive.

So, what does 2024 have in store for The Tavern and its community, and even the OSR at large?

First off, a huge thanks and shout out to Don Semora over at Wizard Tower Games, we now have a gamershealthonline.com site to support the community with links, resources, and a forum. It's not just for those who join Rach and me on our Saturday Night Gamers Health live streams, but anyone in the gaming community who is looking for some support. The forums are still in their infancy, but they will grow with use and need.

The Tenkar's Tavern Substack will return as a monthly newsletter/ links to gaming channels/gaming content later this month. Weekly was simply not feasible, so I'm retooling it. As it grows, I'm hoping to build on the gaming content it will provide its readers. Wish me luck :)

Tenkar's Tavern Youtube Channel - We'll be adding Shorts and excerpts from the various live streams. The live streams are very popular but can last, at times, over two hours at a clip, so I'm going to be pulling out bits and pieces so folks can sample an episode. 

Additionally, we'll be commencing with Fireside Chats, a series in which I sit down with various creators in the gaming hobby, learn how they got into gaming, how they got into creating for the hobby, and what keeps them going. We'll aim for 10-20 minutes a session. These will be released first to paid members of the channel but will be released to the general public approximately a week after the limited release of each episode. Membership is only 1.99 a month ;)

This here blog - as requested, I'm aiming to do some reviews, likely weekly, possibly with an accompanying video depending on the material. Possibly even some gaming content, in earlier, beta versions before releasing on the Substack.

Now, to dive into the backlog of OSR Christmas emails...

Talking Crit Short - Fauci Doesn't Like Spiders!

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

DTRPG, Amazon, and Humble Bundle are affiliate programs that support The Tavern.  You can catch the daily Tavern Chat cast on Anchor, YouTube,  or wherever you listen to your podcast collection. - Tenkar  

Next Year's RPG Goals (Aside from Playing More)

Whelp, this is it. If you had plans for something in 2023 you've got this evening to finish it up.

I rarely have "by year's end" goals. "This weekend" or generalized goals, yes, but not "this year" type goals. This weekend I'm taking out two closets and making custom shelves....and I clearly forgot that I'm old and broken because my two-day project will go at least three days, if not four or four-plus.

FFFFFFF....UUUUUU.......Fun! So much Fun!

Luckily there has been very little bleeding on these two builds and I did get the "big stuff" done. The work has given me time to think a bit and when I wasn't thinking about Starfield Damn this hurts Did I measure twice cut once? other things, I thought about what kind of goals I should have for this next year. In other words, I actually want to have some "by year's end" goals.

I think it's important to actually state (share) goals and I also think one should have at least three goals: a big one, a medium-size one, and small/easy goal. How your goals fit into each category will be up to you, but for me small is easy, medium is probably (but with difficulty), and big is something I will really have to work hard to accomplish.

So my 3 goals, and these are gaming goals here, would be:

Small: I want to buy/build a wheeled gaming case to hold all my shit for a convention. Instead of lugging around my backpack and having to go up to my room to switch-out/resupply, I want a cool case I can wheel around and have easy access while at the table.

Medium: The project I think I can get done, but will take some effort, is to get a pet project of mine published. I have to be a bit secretive on that one.....but I'll be self-publishing and I want to be done this year.....it's been on my mind for far too long. The graphic for this post was inspired by this particular idea that I've not been progressing on. 

Big: Another writing/publishing project, but a big one, is to write an adventure. I want to get the artists lined up, have it written and playtested, do the layout....etc.

Feel free to comment with your goals for the next year. Put a voice to that idea......an important 2nd step. Later this year, after NTRPG we can circle back and see if we (we......not just me) have been making progress on our goals.

OSR Christmas - Day 9 - 'Tis Nearly the New Year!

Yeah, this post was supposed to have been posted yesterday. Ah well, it is here, today, so let's get to it  - Tenkar

PS - I'll be diving into outstanding emails from the last few days of OSR Christmas tonight and tomorrow - Tenkar

The following gifts will be gifted on Tuesday, January 2, at some point after 7 PM Eastern, so make sure you comment before the cut-off and check back here on the blog side to see if you are receiving a gift from OSR Christmas Day 9.

If you want to be considered for an OSR Christmas Day 9 gift, simply comment below before 7 PM, Tuesday, January 2nd, 2024. PLEASE include if you are in the US. 

From DiceBro:

• PDF Bundle of issues1-3 of Wizard Funk, an OSR zine

• OSR Stickers and Barrowmaze patches to give away (1 US)

From The Knotty Works:

• Bundle of BX Game Options Volume I-XII in PDF

From On the Tabletop:

•     PDF copy of Holmes & Clark, along with digital goodies

From James Mishler Games:

• Set of 12 PDFs (by my count) of James Mishler releases for Shadowdark as well as the Isle of Eldisor for Labyrinth Lord in PDF

From Tenkar's Tavern:

$10 DTRPG Gift Certificate

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

DTRPG, Amazon, and Humble Bundle are affiliate programs that support The Tavern.  You can catch the daily Tavern Chat cast on Anchor, YouTube,  or wherever you listen to your podcast collection. - Tenkar   

Humble Bundle - 2023 Cinematic Adventures RPG from Evil Genius Games

I remember this system and this series of supplements recently being Kickstarted. I know literally nothing about the Everyday Heroes RPG (ah, Modern 20 5e-ified) or its rules system, but the sourcebooks are damn tempting.

Not sure? One buck gets you the Everyday Heroes core rules and the Escape From New York adventure. Surely that's worth a buck :)

For 18 bucks, you get the full Everyday Heroes Bundle - core rules, Escape From New York, Universal Soldier, Rambo, Total Recall, Highlander, Pacific Rim, Kong: Skull Island, and The Crow. That's one hell of a line-up.

Don’t forget to pack the popcorn for your next RPG night, because it’s time to bring the movies to your table! This bundle from Evil Genius is packed with games inspired by some of the silver screen's most exciting names. Get ready to walk in the shoes of elite special forces fighters and take on larger-than-life missions in Rambo, based on the beloved films and fully compatible with 5e! Hop into your Jaeger and protect mankind from vicious kaiju in the 5e-compatible Pacific Rim! And more! Get games based on The Crow, Kong Island, Highlander, and other great films, and help support Gameheads with your purchase!

 

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

DTRPG, Amazon, and Humble Bundle are affiliate programs that support The Tavern.  You can catch the daily Tavern Chat cast on Anchor, YouTube,  or wherever you listen to your podcast collection. - Tenkar    

OSR Christmas - Gifting the Gifts for "Christmas Day is for Arduin and Monkey Blood!" - Day 7

Welcome to Day 7 of OSR Christmas for 2023, awarding of the gifts. Note that Day 8 of OSR Christmas was on the Talking Crit Livestream, on Wednesday Night @ 8 PM Eastern, December 27th, 2023. Day 9 will be here, on the blog, tomorrow, December 29th, 2023.

If your name is found below one of the following gifts, you are receiving that gift. Email me at tenkarsDOTtavern at that gmail thing. PLEASE include "OSR Christmas Day 7" in the subject, and please mention the gift you are receiving in the body of the email. This makes it easier for me to match up everything.

Note - if you are awaiting a gift from Day 6 of OSR Christmas or earlier, email me, with "OSR Christmas Day X", where X= the day in question, and mention the gift you are waiting on in the body of the email.

From MonkeyBlood: 

juboke

1x The Cartomancer 2 Bundle (physical boxed set containing all three HandyMaps content) delivered anywhere in the world for free. https://monkeyblooddesign.co.uk/product/bundle-handymaps-the-cartomancer-2/

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

From Emperors' Choice:

RhinoDino1973

• An Arduin Bundle with the hardcover trilogy 1-3, all the grimoires 4 - 9, and Vaults of the Weaver, which has 7 Dungeons in It. All printed material worth $155.00 bundle for Christmas Day! (Note - US Only)

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

From DiceBro:

Pen, Dice & Paper

• PDF Bundle of issues1-3 of Wizard Funk, an OSR zine

Thraxis & AEIOU

• OSR Stickers and Barrowmaze patches to give away (1 US/1 Int)

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

From On the Tabletop:

Jonathan

•     Softcover copy of Holmes & Clark (OSR Ruleset) (US Only)

Major E

•     PDF copy of Holmes & Clark, along with digital goodies

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

From James Mishler Games:

AronBC

• Set of 12 PDFs (by my count) of James Mishler releases for Shadowdark as well as the Isle of Eldisor for Labyrinth Lord in PDF

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

From Tenkar's Tavern:

Lando_The_Archmagi

$10 DTRPG Gift Certificate

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

DTRPG, Amazon, and Humble Bundle are affiliate programs that support The Tavern.  You can catch the daily Tavern Chat cast on Anchor, YouTube,  or wherever you listen to your podcast collection. - Tenkar    

OSR Christmas - Gifting the Gifts from Day 5

Welcome to Day 5 of OSR Christmas for 2023, awarding of the gifts. Note that Day 8 of OSR Christmas will be on the Talking Crit Livestream, on Wednesday Night @ 8 PM Eastern, December 27th, 2023. The gifts will be given around 9 pm Eastern. Drop in and comment!

If your name is found below one of the following gifts, you are receiving that gift. Email me at tenkarsDOTtavern at that gmail thing. PLEASE include "OSR Christmas Day 5" in the subject, and please mention the gift you are receiving. This makes it easier for me to match up everything.

From The Knotty Works:

Bundle of BX Game Options Volume I-XII in PDF

Connwulf

From DiceBro:

1 PDF Bundles of issues1-3 of Wizard Funk, an OSR zine

MGSherm 

1 Set of OSR Stickers and Barrowmaze patches - International Shipping!

Kevin N 

From On the Tabletop:

  1 PDF copies of Holmes & Clark, along with digital goodies

ch\/\/olfgang

From James Mishler Games:

1 Set of 12 PDFs (by my count) of James Mishler releases for Shadowdark as well as the Isle of Eldisor for Labyrinth Lord in PDF

Mark Goetzinger

From Tenkar's Tavern:

1 - $10 DTRPG Gift Certificate

Ryan—Aqualith Media

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

DTRPG, Amazon, and Humble Bundle are affiliate programs that support The Tavern.  You can catch the daily Tavern Chat cast on Anchor, YouTube,  or wherever you listen to your podcast collection. - Tenkar    

Sorry for the Interruption...

but today went a little pear-shaped at the end. Fires are put out, and everything is fixed (for now - heh), but I am emotionally drained and physically worn out..

OSR Christmas emails? The first thing to address after Rach's appointment in the morning.

OSR Christmas in general? More tomorrow.

Now, some well-deserved rest :)

OSR Christmas - Christmas Day is for Arduin and Monkey Blood! - Day 7

I know, I haven't distributed gifts yet for OSR Christmas Days 4, 5, and 6! I know, this weekend was a time crunch, and I'll be tackling that gift-giving TOMORROW, December 26th.

The following gifts will be gifted on Thursday, December 28th, at some point after 7 PM Eastern, so make sure you comment before the cut-off and check back here to see if you are receiving a gift from OSR Christmas Day 7.

If you want to be considered for an OSR Christmas Day 7 gift, simply comment below before 7 PM, Thursday, December 28th. PLEASE include if you are in the US. ONLY US ADDRESSES WILL BE CONSIDERED FOR THE ARDUIN BUNDLE.

From MonkeyBlood: 

• 1x The Cartomancer 2 Bundle (physical boxed set containing all three HandyMaps content) delivered anywhere in the world for free. https://monkeyblooddesign.co.uk/product/bundle-handymaps-the-cartomancer-2/

From Emperors' Choice:

• An Arduin Bundle with the hardcover trilogy 1-3, all the grimoires 4 - 9, and Vaults of the Weaver, which has 7 Dungeons in It. All printed material worth $155.00 bundle for Christmas Day! (Note - US Only)

From DiceBro:

• PDF Bundle of issues1-3 of Wizard Funk, an OSR zine

• OSR Stickers and Barrowmaze patches to give away (1 US/1 Int)

From On the Tabletop:

•     Softcover copy of Holmes & Clark (OSR Ruleset) (US Only)

•     PDF copy of Holmes & Clark, along with digital goodies

From James Mishler Games:

• 12 Sets of 12 PDFs (by my count) of James Mishler releases for Shadowdark as well as the Isle of Eldisor for Labyrinth Lord in PDF

From Tenkar's Tavern:

$10 DTRPG Gift Certificate

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

DTRPG, Amazon, and Humble Bundle are affiliate programs that support The Tavern.  You can catch the daily Tavern Chat cast on Anchor, YouTube,  or wherever you listen to your podcast collection. - Tenkar    

Finally Got to Look at the D&D Terrain Case

I'm enjoying Christmas at the family farm, which is a long (almost exactly 12 hours) drive from where I live & work. That's too long of a drive for me so I tend to break it down into two 6 hour drive times. On my way up I managed to stop by an Ollies and pick up a copy of the D&D terrain case and the creature case. I had actually seen these for sale a a game store for $65, online for a bit under $20, and I paid $2.75....

I mention the prices not as a humble-brag, which would be applicable since I am a Midwesterner and it's common for us to say what price we paid for something as a casual part of conversation. I mention it know because I wanted to see how much value I felt there was in this product.

I'm going to only cover the Terrain Case because that's what I have in-hand and I'm not putting on pants, going outside, and digging through the truck to find the other case amongst the Christmas presents I have to unload later. Yes, I'm lazy....deal with it.

I'm probably going to be a bit petty about this "review" because if Hasbro (and that one game store) wanted me to pay $65, it better be a damned fine product.

The box has a hefty weight to it and my first issue was trying to actually open the thing. The outer wrap is glued pretty well and I had to flip it a few times to find a weakness I could rip off. While I had a knife I was loathe to use it because I didn't want to scratch the case.

Case is pretty enough, but I really don't care for the thick rope handle. It seems out of place aesthetically and the case isn't so heavy it has to have a handle. Now if I had a small issue opening the outer wrap I'm damned if I can get this actual case opened easily. Seriously? Do I need to look up a effing unboxing video to figure it out? 

Ok, now I feel stupid, but it actually opened easily, just not the way I was trying to open it. The sides of the case have a small V cutout at the top/front and between these cutouts and the stupid rope handle make sit seem obvious that the internal box slides out of an external box. No....the top of the case is magnetic and it flips open, revealing a forest path scene on the inside of the lid and a removable tray set on top of a larger tray/open-sided box. The inside box has two paper-wrapped tile sets and the smaller removable tray has a big red ribbon sticking out of it. Pulling up the ribbon lets you remove the folded map board and an actual folder containing five pages of static clings.

Ok the clings are pretty cool and the maps/tiles are both wet & dry erasable marker capable.  There are really only two map designs: generic grassland & generic stone. That's it.

Honestly I'm not impressed. Don't get me wrong, it's a pretty case, but $65.....no. Now if I paid $65 to Hasbro I'd get a digital DMG, but I don't want/need a digital DMG. Not knocking the game, but if I played it and was looking for terrain that means I'm the DM and I would already have the fricken DMG. Even if I didn't have a digital copy if that had value to me then I'd have already bought the thing. Adding something I don't want/need that costs the company nothing does not magically add $30 of value to a physical product.

Now I like the clings. I will use the clings, BUT.....I really wish they had provided a handful (five maybe) of empty cling backing sheets because once I remove a cling from the sheet, it's not going back on perfectly. Trying to fiddle with this in-game will prove to be an exercise in frustration. Now going ahead and peeling off all of the on-item cling and throwing it away gives me a lot more wiggle-room to replace items. Instead of spending money on producing a rope handle or and art insert I'll not use, give me something useful.

Speaking of useful, only two map designs? Really? Between the tiles and the foldable map that's four surfaces. If they had switched out the designs on the tiles then I could have used them with the foldable. A marsh map, rubble, rocky/hilly, cart path, creek, river, generic water......anything would have greatly increased the value of this terrain product.

IMNSHO the D&D Terrain Case is not worth the MSR of $65. It is too much style over substance and I think it isn't worth $20. Actually it is worth $20, but probably not to one person. I think any GM can get good use out of the clings and as far as the maps or tiles....pick one. I think I'd prefer the folding map, but I could totally see assembling the tiles and pre-drawing my map on it and then number & break it back up. As you play you only have to lay down the tiles as you need them. It really depends on your particular style. If I was running a con game I might like the tiles, already loaded with clings (obviously where appropriate) that lets me save time trying to draw things out during the limited convention game time.

Pro (ok personal experience) tip: If you're running multiple games (I'm specifically thinking multiple games at once as a head GM), but this will work for one game at a time as well, you can go to a fabric store and purchase clear vinyl "fabric" of various thickness/gauge material. It's normally 3-6' wide and sold by running foot. You can cut that up into smaller bits and draw your map out as individual rooms/halls, essentially creating your own clings! When you have multiple tables going at once you can easily lay one piece of vinyl over another and trace out a copy so all the table GMs have the same map layout all prepped in advanced.

Lastly....Merry Christmas everyone. I hope you all get to enjoy the holiday with friends and loved ones.