Kickstarter - HYPERBOREA: Modulistic Terror

Just mentioning Hyperborea (formerly known as Astonishinh Swordmen & Sorcerors of Hyperborea or ASSH) should be enough to draw your attention. The modules published for Hyperborea by Jeff Talanian are second to none in terms of content and quality, and can literally be run with ANY D20-based OSR ruleset. Yes, even the DCC RPG, but it would take some tinkering ;)

You can get all three modules of the HYPERBOREA: Modulistic Terror collection, in Print and PDF, for 85 bucks plus shipping over at Kickstarter.

THE OBLATION SLAB OF THE HEPATOMANCER™

An adventure in Hyperborea for four to eight characters of 5th to 7th levels

Abductions and murder! For many months, small villages and farmsteads along the eastern coasts of New Vinland, and up the River Maedbh as far north as Bogrest, have been plagued by swift and deadly attacks. The few surviving witnesses describe a vicious band of Viking berserkers—led by a giant of a Viking and a beautiful Keltic woman—descending without warning in their sleek longship. They seize victims (some scarcely older than children), loot and burn homes, and slay any who resist. Rumours of these raids have reached your ears, as tales spread through mead-halls and taverns as far distant as Khromarium. Tensions are high in New Vinland; the jarls eye their neighbors warily, speculating upon the identity of the raiders and placing the political stability of the entire region at risk. Attempts by Keltic and Viking chieftains to suss out these malefactors have thus far been fruitless—but your party has now become privy to information that could put a stop to these murderous slavers.

Text: Joe Maccarrone 

Editing: Ben Ball, Jeffrey P. Talanian

Front Cover Art: Del Teigeler

Back Cover Art: Johnathan L. Bingham

Interior Art: Johnathan L. Bingham, Mick Fernette, Skye Talanian, Del Teigeler

Cartography: Andreas Claren

Book Format: Saddle-stitched softcover book with #60 unfinished paper and two-colour interior layout.

THE THOUSAND EYES OF THAUMAGORGA™

An adventure in Hyperborea for four to eight characters of 3rd to 5th levels

Bold is the man who travels to the Skarag Coast, where the fell bargains of desperate ancient folk birthed the terrible dæmon-blooded race known as the orc—a species of abomination which now rules the land with blood and iron. Bolder still is he who would dare to erect a stronghold on that accursed shore in open defiance of those Hell-spawned horrors. Just such a man is Ronan Svendoros, a fighter lord of renowned courage who left distant Brigand’s Bay to rear a keep at the mouth of the Bloody River Basin. Now your party journeys to his holding, lured by the promise of gold and glory. Will you triumph, or will your bleached bones join those of countless others who have vanished into the darkness of the dæmon-haunted Skarag Coast?

Text: Ben Ball

Editing: Jeffrey P. Talanian

Front Cover Art: Adrian Landeros

Back Cover Art: Mick Fernette

Back Cover Colours: Glynn Seal

Interior Art: Ian Baggley, Johnathan L. Bingham, Mick Fernette, Adrian Landeros, Glynn Seal, Phil Stone, Del Teigeler, Mike Tenebrae

Cartography: Ben Ball

Book Format: Smyth-sewn hardcover book with #60 unfinished paper and two-colour interior layout

THE VANISHING ISLES OF THE SUMMER KING™

An adventure in Hyperborea for four to eight characters of 4th to 6th levels

Avoiding the lawless pirates of the Zangerios Islands and the blood-thirsty half-bulls of Minotaurios, your party sails to the Isles of Maedsid, deep in the Hyperborean Sea. Maedsid is surrounded by treacherous waves and clinging mists, a place of mystery since time immemorial. Over three centuries ago, the isles became the sacred home to a clandestine sect of sun-worshipping druids called The Awakening Dawn, but they have not been heard from for about forty years. Concern has grown amongst mainland druids, prompting calls for inquiry. Furthermore, speculators, treasure hunters, and curiosity seekers of all stripes are attracted by growing rumours of treasures undreamed and the possibility of unravelling peculiar mysteries. Now, your party voyages to investigate the fate of the lost druids, but perhaps some things are best left unknown.

Text: Johnathan L. Bingham

Editing: James T. Demers

Additional Development: Jeffrey P. Talanian

Front Cover Art: Val Semeiks

Front Cover Colours: Daisey Bingham

Back Cover Art: Johnathan L. Bingham

Back Cover Colours: Skye Talanian

Interior Art: Johnathan L. Bingham

Cartography: Johnathan L. Bingham, Glynn Seal

Book Format: Smyth-sewn hardcover book with #60 unfinished paper and two-colour interior layout. 

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   

Looking for a Different Sort of Campaign Setting

I know I've mentioned a few times that I travel for work, which is great because I get to see FLGS all over the country. I see plenty of crappy stores too, but that's par for the course. Unlike the majority of my travels, the trip I have coming up is to a ....how do I put this.....a place that did not have a "European Medieval Period" (EMP).

The overwhelming majority, if not damn near 100%, of my TTRPG gaming experience is located in an EMP setting.

I've read, or at least thumbed-through, Oriental Adventures, but never played in an Oriental campaign, and as far as AD&D goes, that's the only non EMP setting out there. No African setting, Middle East, Southwest Asia, South America, North America, or even a generic Polynesian campaign setting. This really seems like a missed opportunity in the TTRPG world. 

The majority of the players I've played with undoubtedly have the same general experience, but maybe I'm wrong. I just think if there were some good non-EMP campaigns settings, that more experienced (i.e. old as fuck like me) players would have a bit of a culture shock, as it was. A foreign (pun intended) campaign setting could let players experience the game anew. A lot of things we take for granted just might not exist, or better yet, be tweaked just enough.....

I think it could be a lot of fun, but honestly this isn't something I could just "do" as my genealogy is European and I think this would require more than just some research.......

Of course maybe I'm lucky in that some people have already done this and I'm just unaware. If that's the case, please feel free to educate me because I don't know what I don't know.

Humble Bundle - Cypher System

Cypher is Monte Cook's house system. I have no experience with it, but I understand it is fairly popular. Part of this bundle is The City of Ptolus, written for 3e but easily converted to the system of your choice. I may pull the trigger for the various Ptolus products alone.

Looking for your new favorite tabletop RPG? This bundle is your ticket to the fast-running, easy-to-learn, and infinitely adaptable Cypher System, created by the famed RPG scribe Monte Cook! Whether your tastes run from hard Expanse-style sci-fi to whimsical Princess Bride-flavored fantasy to anything in between, the Cypher System is your gateway to infinite TTRPG possibilities. This bundle includes the core Cypher System Rulebook, and dozens of adventures, supplements, digital game aids, and more. Treat your players to Ptolus, Monte Cook’s beloved setting sourcebook clocking in at over 900 pages. Create your own Cypher System post-apocalyptic setting with Rust and Redemption.

 

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 - Ice Caves of Mt. Fuji: Call of Cthulhu© Adventure

I've said it before and I'll repeat it, Ben Burns and his publishing label New Comet Games KNOW the CoC RPG like the back of their hands. I've picked up prior CoC releases from Ben, and each has been awesome and well worth the investment of time and money.

Ice Caves of Mt. Fuji is a Call of Cthulhu 7th edition adventure book licensed by Chaosium. The book will feature the beautiful art work of  Keith Draws,  brought to you by the award-winning company, New Comet Games, the same people who brought you the Call of Cthulhu books Devil's Swamp, A Time for Sacrifice, Star on the Shore, and Corsairs of Cthulhu.

Ice Caves of Mt Fuji is 6 bucks in PDF and 15 bucks for the Print plus PDF. 

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 Comics - Doctor Who Megabundle: Explore The Whoniverse

As I've mentioned in other posts (and videos) I'm a HUGE fan of digital comics and graphic novels. The best sale prices are literally at Humble Bundle (although Bundle of Holding does get some nice collections of KotDT at times).

The most recent comic book bundle at Humble Bundle is the Doctor Who Megabundle: Explore The Whoniverse. Some titles offered are single comics in length, and others are graphic novel collections.

Haven't tried digital comics yet? For a buck, you can get the series below (about 500 pages in length). You can always return for the "full boat" of 61 titles for 25 bucks ;)

Here's the rest of the $25 bundle:

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 - Traveller4

Traveller! We've resurrected our September 2019 Traveller4 Bundle featuring the 1996 Fourth Edition of the star-spanning tabletop roleplaying game Traveller. Originally published in 1996-97 by Imperium Games, Marc Miller's Traveller is set in "Milieu 0," the earliest years of the Third Imperium interstellar empire. This revived T4 offer once again gives you everything you need to venture out from Core Sector in your scout ship (or your battle squadron) to recontact the Pocket Empires lost in the Long Night.

For just US$14.95 you get all six titles in this revived offer's Starter Collection (retail value $70) as DRM-free ebooks, including the complete T4 Marc Miller's Traveller core rulebook (plus the Traveller4 Game Screen); the T4 equipment book Central Supply Catalog; the T4 versions of the ship-design system T4 Fire, Fusion, & Steel and the Naval Architect's Manual for ship interiors; and Milieu 0, a setting guide that describes the brave new Third Imperium, a thousand years before Classic Traveller.

And if you pay more than the threshold price of $26.05, you'll level up and also get this revival's entire Bonus Collection with seven more titles worth an additional $70, including the weapons guide Emperor's Arsenal; the Pocket Empires guide that lets you own and operate your own star system; the fleet action guide Imperial Squadrons; Psionic Institutes; the two-part adventure Long Way Home and Gateway; and the nine-scenario collection Anomalies.

These PDFs are decent image scans of the original 1990s hardcopies. Text is always clear and usually copiable, though a few books have background graphics that interfered with the OCR (optical character recognition).

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  

Announcing Blades & Sorcery Light (OSR)

Folks have been asking me about the status of SWL for years. Well, SWL is now Blades & Sorcery Light, or BS Light (BSL).

We've got plans!

Bundle of Holding - Moon Toad Cepheus

The Cepheus RPG is built off of the Mongoose Traveller SRD and is written to emulate the classic "Black Book" Traveller from the GDW days, and it does it very well.

Adventurer! This all-new Moon Toad Cepheus Bundle presents Cepheus Engine tabletop science fiction roleplaying ebooks from Moon Toad Publishing. Cepheus adapts the rules from Mongoose Publishing's Traveller First Edition (2008), released under the Open Game License, to help you create an experience similar to the original 1977-81 Classic Traveller "little black books." UK designer and illustrator Ian Stead and his fellow Moon Toads have produced a popular edition of the Cepheus rules, followed by major rules expansions and a flotilla of fully illustrated, full-color starship guides. This bargain-priced Moon Toad Cepheus offer lets you populate your Cepheus or Traveller campaign with scout ships, Far Traders, transports, escorts, and planetary vehicles of every kind. It's a High Passage ticket for travellers everywhere.

For just US$9.95 you get all five titles in our Moon Toad Collection (retail value $80) as DRM-free ebooks, including the complete Cepheus Engine Core Rules, the Spacecraft Design Guide and Vehicle Design Guide, the Bounty Hunter Handbook, and the scenario Scout Base 947.

And if you pay more than the threshold price of $21.78, you'll level up and also get our entire Bonus Starship Collection with twelve more titles worth an additional $85, including Class E Starports and no less than ten starship guides – Atticus Freelancer, Catino Fast Trader, Celeres Escort, Kambala Freighter, Mainstay Freighter, Quixote Scout, RAX-Type Merchant, Rivington Medium Transport, Roanoke Merchant with Raccoon Landing Craft, and Starguard System Defense Boat – as well as Ship Record Sheets for many ship designs.

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  

No Love for TTRPGs?

I'm prepping for what is scheduled to be my last business trip of the year and part of that prep is getting my travel computer squared away. I'm not so rich that I have a dedicated computer for travelling, but I did pick up a gaming handheld computer and most of my PC gaming is done on the road so....good enough.

Anyway, the numerous bots that undoubtedly track my online activities decided that the nexus of TTRPGs and PC gaming means I have to see every story about Baldur's Gate 3 there is. Hell, I haven't even played Baldur's Gate 2, but I have gotten maybe 75% of the way through Baldur's Gate a handful of times on multiple computers.....BTW I highly recommend staying away from Baldur's Gate on XBox and it's kind of crappy playing with a controller, but I digress.

This morning I was confronted with this bit of clickbait from GameRant:  "Why Baldur's Gate 3's Most Loved Feature Could Never Work in Tabletop"

Now I'm used to PCs games falling short of TTRPGs, and not the other way around, so I was enticed...only to find that allegedly "Romance" is the "one part of Baldur's Gate 3 that players love". Really? The "one part" that people love? So the rest of the game is unloved? I really find that hard to believe. If "romance" was the real reason that 10 million copies of BG3  were sold, I'd expect to have had a newer version of Leisure Suit Larry since 2020.

Now I get it, TTRPGs probably aren't a good place for romance plots for various reasons and most GMs shy away from any adult themes, or at least romance & sex/sexual violence in their games. The trade-off really isn't there.

I will admit that I've "gone there" a few times of the decades of gaming, and I've only had one game system that had some baked-in:

1. My 1st HackMaster PC was married to my wife's 1st PC and the extent of the sexy times was when our PCs had been adventuring separately for a few years in-game and real world. The first time back together we had a week off in-game to prep for the next adventure and I rented out a ship for the week as private accommodations and informed the group "If this ship's a rockin, don't come a knockin". I know, I know...wildly salacious. 
2. I've probably told this story before, so I'll keep it short. My 1st game of D&D 3.5 my party member whored me out to an NPC for the night and I thought I could use a Command spell to satiate the NPC without having to "perform", only to learn the spell had been changed in this edition of the game. My NPC died shortly thereafter, I like to think it was not from an arrow, but from embarrassment.
3. In the current version of HackMaster there's a few "interesting" tidbits. One is that Orcs can & do breed with pretty much any humanoid, through rape. It's a thing and can be glossed over by not ever having the party come across an orc lair. There are some messed up evil deities as well and one time the party I was GMing had a party member abducted by some cultists and by the time the party caught up to the kidnappers they entered upon a particularly vile ceremony where the party member, along with a certain urchin they had taken an interest in, were basically going to be ritualistically raped to death. It was most certainly fucked up, I will not attest to anything less than that, but the whole event (and resulting PC driven bloodbath) tied up a bunch of loose ends on some issues/events that the PCs had experienced, but never thought were related.

Now clearly the level of adult themes are dependent on the group involved and restrained to a home game. I cannot imagine trying this at a con game with strangers, although I have heard some horror stories of GMs who have.

In general I think that romance, much like humor, is the purview of the players. I don't even think GMs should set things up, outside maybe of some story driven elements and even then that's a high-level pass.

Tavern Post #10,001 - Holy Crap!

I didn't notice last night that last night's blog post was post 10k for The Tavern. When I started blogging nearly 15 years ago (May 31st will be the actual 15th anniversary) I never thought The Tavern would still be kicking after 10,000 posts. Heck, I don't believe even hitting 1,000 posts had crossed my mind.

Over the course of a decade and a half, The Tavern has changed and morphed and grown. It now includes not just this blog, but a Facebook Group, a MeWe Group, a Discord Server, and yes, even a YouTube Channel. 

Thanks as always for your continued support. 

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  

Deal of the Day - The Terminator RPG

The Terminator IP is one of those IPs that simply begs for an RPG to be written about it. I may snag my copy simply for the movie lore alone.

Today's Deal of the Day is The Terminator RPG. Normally 24.99 in PDF, it is on sale until tomorrow for 10 bucks.

The Terminator RPG is the official roleplaying game based on The Terminator movie and associated graphic novels published by Dark Horse Comics. It is the sourcebook for the first Terminator film and its expanded universe and extrapolates from hardcore existing canon to create a living and breathing world with a multitude of possible and probable timelines.

Join the Human Resistance 

The world is a wasteland—broken by the machines we built. Our own creations, our own hubris. Not in some distant future. Today. Now. The machines think they have won, but there is one last chance for humankind; a secret weapon that Skynet, in its infinite calculations, could never have anticipated: You.

Play in any time—including the 1980s and future war. All the main characters from the movie, such as Sarah Connor, Kyle Reese, and the T-800 are included, as is content from the graphic novels and all all-new, never-seen-before Terminator variants and hardware. 

The rulebook includes two mission packs, enabling you to relive The Terminator movie and to join the fight to bring down Skynet in a not-so-distant future war.

 

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  

Swords & Wizardry Light - 8 Page Digest Sized Booklet

I found the following bouncing around the internet, and it looks beautiful. Nothing special, but with Swords & Wizardry Light technically out of print, this 8-page layout is easy on the eyes and nice and clean in appearance. 

reddit thread:

https://www.reddit.com/r/osr/comments/w2w5o2/swords_wizardry_light_reformatted_to_digest_size/

direct link to SWL file: 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gDYF22zM8sLrkZR1y1RYyCaqkr_N1HNv/view

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 Journal of the Travellers' Aid Society

The Journal of the Travellers' Aid Society is an amazing resource for Traveller fans. Each volume runs around 128 pages and the current bundle at Bundle of Holding offers you the first 12 volumes of The Journal of the Travellers' Aid Society from Mongoose for 24.95.

Traveller! This all-new Mongoose JTAS Bundle presents the first 12 volumes of the Journal of the Travellers' Aid Society, the guides for the Traveller tabletop science fiction roleplaying game from Mongoose Publishing. JTAS features articles covering all aspect of the Third Imperium and the Charted Space universe. From strange creatures on distant worlds and playable alien species, to new spacecraft, detailed worlds, patrons and full adventures, the Journal can boost your Mongoose Traveller campaign like a Jump-4 drive.

For just US$24.95 you get all twelve complete volumes of the Mongoose Publishing Journal of the Travellers' Aid Society in our JTAS Collection (retail value $180) as DRM-free ebooks. Here are links to the DriveThruRPG product pages that list highlights of each volume: Journal of the Travellers' Aid Society Volume 1, JTAS V02, V03, V04, V05, V06, V07, V08, V09, V10, V11, and V12.

 

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 Comic Bundle - The Witcher & Cyberpunk 2077

I'm a secret comic book junkie, but I no longer have the room, nor the desire, to collect physical comic books. I've pivoted to digital for my comic book reading, and bundles like the current Humble Comic Bundle - The Witcher & Cyberpunk 2077 is EXACTLY what I'm looking for at 19 titles for 18 bucks? Sign me up and take my cash :)

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 - Hyperborea (AS&SH) Print Books 20% Off!

I know I covered this on the YouTube side yesterday, but I wanted to make sure that The Taverners who don't watch the YouTube channel knew about the 20% off sale going on at hyperborea.tv for the Hyperborea RPG (formerly known as Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerors of Hyperborea or AS&SH).

Use code MAYEVE2024 at checkout to save 20%. The offer runs through May 1st, 2024.

If you enjoy swords & sorcery and the OSR in general, Hyperborea should be in your game collection (I have all three editions in mine ;)

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  

The First Step....

"Hi, my name is Chris and I'm a bit of a hoarder...."

<Appropriate OSR 12 Step Group> Hi Chris!

Like so many of us, I like to collect stuff. I've been adding a few items from online auctions and generally quite happy with the finds. Not totally sure if I'll be happy shelling out some big bucks for some choice items (to me) currently available, but time will tell.....

...one of my weekend tasks was to take stock of my HeroQuest game, which I have never played, which is my problem. I thought it was an overly expensive game, but I managed to find a copy at Gamestop that wasn't $135 (?!) As soon as I picked it up, before I even broke the shrink, I noticed there were "already" some expansions available. One was clearanced at a Gamestop, and a couple were available from my FLGS.

I'm planning on making a custom box to store all the bits and bobs, which is why I needed to take stock. Since I had no idea how many expansions are available I figured a quick interwebs search will help...

....and now I have discovered that Hasbro/Avon Hill has put our four (4!) expansions this year so far. One was a new character which evidently sold out immediately and unless I want to shell out $80+ for what should be $15, I'm not getting it. Luckily two of the others are available at Amazon, one at a bit of a discount and the last one is "currently unavailable". Not sure if it had actually been released yet.

I did not actually purchase them on Amazon but instead drove down to the FLGS and sure, enough the three non-new-character expansions were available. I paid a bit more than Amazon, but really only because the one was on sale there. The FLGS thinks they might be getting more of that character pack/expansion in. I don't think so, but they told me that the distributor is quick to point out if the stock is sold out and they were allowed an order.....and now my name is on "the list".

Amazon doesn't do "a list". Best you can do is make a wishlist and maybe get notified if the item is available.....but that doesn't save diddly squat for you. Also, Amazon didn't have a copy of Sgt Fury and His Howling Commandos #167 for sale.....

So now I have the base HeroQuest game, one extra character pack, and eight....eight freakin expansions, for a game I haven't played yet. I just wanted a D&Dish board game with minis and I have what is becoming a monster of a game.

Yeah, I clearly have a bit of a problem......but if I pull this off it could be a good problem to have. If I can get my shit, er game sets, together, well I might have a game worth playing.

Deal of the Day - Castles & Crusades Castle Keepers Guide 4th Printing

I really like Castles & Crusades. It marked my return to gaming in general, and it's how I found the OSR. It's essentially AD&D 1e, built of the 3rd edition SRD.

Today's Deal of the Day is Castles & Crusades Castle Keepers Guide 4th Printing from Troll Lord Games. Normally 20.99 in PDF, until tomorrow morning the Castle Keeper's Guide is on sale for 8.40

The Castle Keepers Guide includes a host of new material for the role playing enthusiast; from world creation, to dungeon designs, managing non-player characters, character attributes at high levels, spell use and cost, equipment its use and wastage, the tumult of storms, from warfare to combat, monsters, treasure, death and more. The Castle Keepers Guide provides the CK and the Player with a host of new tools for their use; tools designed to enhance play, not hinder it; designed to be malleable from gaming table to gaming table.

Table of Contents

• Expanding the Character: In this chapter we explore new attribute modifiers, god like attributes, beauty as an attribute, creating new races and role playing examples.
• Magic: Digging into the magic using classes with spellbooks, starting spells, components, pricing magical components, playing without components, wands and holy symbols, illusion magic as healing, buying, selling and trading spells, scroll use, non caster scroll use and so much more.
• Expanding Equipment: A fresh look at equipment includes types of carrying items, stabling, costs of lodging and meals, a complete illustrated study of wagons with costs, speed and cargo, a similar treatment of boats and ships, general equipment and a new look at backpacks (abbreviated from the Adventurers Backpack).
• NPCs: A complete breakdown and explanation of the three types of NPCs (Adherents, Hirelings and Henchmen), how to use them, what their skills are, tracking loyalty, hiring them permanent or part time and developing their personalities.
• World Building: A guide on building your own world, beginning with planetary design and exploring everything from plate tectonics to weathering. Ten different types of climates are discussed and a host of biomes. Terrain, weather, movement charts and historical ages are all covered in this chapter. A complete how to will get you started on your world building journey.
• The City: In creating urban environments we explore populations, governments, culture, economic systems, economic systems, cost of goods and bartering, social stratification, types of religions and how to integrate them. Also it explores the types of settlements from the single dwelling to the metropolis, fully illustrated. Occupations, construction and criminal codes round out the chapter.
• Dungeons: Beginning with a study of light, temperature, humidity and movement underground it expands in to caves and types of caves (erosional, solution caves, coastal and so on), to terminology of both caves and underground structures: dungeons. A look at ecosystems, building dungeons, tunnels, gases and traps rounds the chapter out. Everything you need to know to build a complete dungeon.
• Air and Water Adventures: Chapter 8 allows you to expand you adventure into heights its never been. Movement in the air and under water as well as combat, combat maneuvers, spells, magic underwater and monsters with aerial combat ratings.
• Equipment Wastage: Role playing equipment is a wonderful tool that every CK should learn to do. From equipment wear and tear to destruction in combat, from both mundane, magical and monstrous means (what does dragon fire do to +1 armor?). This section is filled with examples and charts to help you along.
• Land as Treasure: In this chapter we explore using land as treasure, where noble titles mark the characters and NPCs with title, rank, stipends, men at arms, offerings and so much more. Broken down by class it allows for the master of the druid's grove and the king or queen of vast realms. Rank/title is assigned by level if that is the direction desired.
• Going to War: Here we explore mass combat and introduce a system fully explored in Fields of Battle that allows your table to conduct massive battles with minis, chits or home made pieces. From morale to siege engines it covers the vast array of encounters that afflict armies in the field. It touches on sea battles as well.
• Monsters: Here the most common monsters are discussed, their ecological niches, geological niches, and geographic regionalization. From arrow hawks to ogre magi the host of monsters supplies the game master with a mountain of material to enhance game play and offer a lead into other monster development. Basic encounter tables serve to get you started.
• The Future: An introduction to the Siege Engine as it applies in a host of different game genres: space age, horror fiction, pulp noir, post apocalyptical and more. It includes guidelines on how to introduce your standard classes into these genres with little effort. Also find guns, canon and laser weapons, all the tools needed to launch a game in a new genre.
• Advancing the Game: A complete break down for starting and continuing RPG sessions. This chapter is dedicate to novice and experienced game masters. Addressing such issues as game balance, leveling, mood, tone, as well as awarding experience and managing expectations.
• The Siege Engine: Here we break apart the Siege Engine. The extremely simple game mechanic is driven by a variety of processes and game design theory. Learn how to expand, change or mold the Engine to your game and table. It further explores attributes and their never end value at the table.
• Treasure: A new look at an old subject. Exploring treasure as a backdrop and role playing tool from quests to unusual coins. Here we discuss extraordinary items, precious metals, gems and more. It includes such subjects as class restrictions and hiring magical services. Scrolls, silver items, destroying and purchasing magic items, treasure is explored for top to bottom.
• Combat: Here we explore the nature of combat at the table, how to run combat and how to pace it. It also expands the idea of inter personal combat with critical hit tables, critical fumble tables and host of combat maneuvers as well as attribute checks, line of sight, ranged, damage reduction and a host of other optional elements.
• Skill Packages: In skill packages we demonstrate the versatility of the game by paving the way for the CK to allow players extraordinary skills that go beyond the class and race skills outlined in the Players Handbook. From orc hunters to elves with enhanced empathy. Furthermore it opens a world of secondary class skills such as armorer, hunter etc.
• Character Death: Lastly we explore the deaths of characters, both the loved and unloved. We look at the impact of their death and explore ways in which they day from combat to disease. It includes a system for Luck Points, Hero Points and more.

 

The Castle Keepers Guide is a tool box with almost limitless optional rules, ideas, concepts and theories. A tool box you will want at your table, no matter what game you play.