Tenkar's Tavern

Sunday, October 9, 2016

Flash Giveaway - Quests of Doom 3 - Print (Swords & Wizardry) - 24 hrs

As I mentioned last night in this post, I'll be giving away some of the duplicates in my Swords & Wizardry Collection over the next few days (as I need to make room for more Christmas Swag ;)

Today we're giving away Quests of Doom 3, in Print, for Swords & Wizardry. I backed the KS and found myself receiving two copies instead of one. Go figure :)

Here's the rules:

1 - I'm only shipping to the US, but anyone can enter. If the winner is randomly picked from outside the states, they will get a $10 RPGNow Gift Certificate and the physical prize gets bumped to the 12 Days of OSR Christmas

2 - You need to leave a comment below to enter. Thats pretty much it.

2a - You could go to last night's post and give some feedback for art choices for Swords & Wizardry Light.

2b - You could go to the Swords & Wizardry Complete 3rd Printing KS and back for a buck, which gives you the rules in PDF and all the stretch goals in PDF (currently Strange Bedfellows, the new cover as an art poster and Deck of Treasure) This also allows you to choose in Print add ons. If you do back, add a comment to the KS page stating to the effect that The Tavern sent you ;)

3 - Your comment must be made prior to 1101 AM Eastern Time, Monday, October 10th, 2016

Good luck :)

edit - obviously 2a and 2b are completely optional ;)

Saturday, October 8, 2016

Looking for Art Suggestions for S&W Light from Current and Past FGG Releases

Swords & Wizardry Light is a labor of love. It is an offering to the OSR from Frog God Games and myself. As such, you should have input as to how it gets to show itself off.

We (as in you and me) have access to nearly the whole Frog God Games and Necromancer Games art libraries.

What we (as in FGG and myself) need are some suggested pieces. Something that you feel screams old school gaming, Swords & Wizardry, amazing fantasy - if it speaks to you, we want to know about it.

We can only squeeze in 3 or 4 pieces but I'd really like to see what the community identifies with.

What we need in your comments below is:

1 - Book it appears in

2 - Page number it is on

3 - Brief description in your words

4 - Why you think it should be chosen

What do you get in return? Bragging rights for having helped chose the art direction for Swords & Wizardry Light.

Now, for those still reading. Over the next few days I'll be giving away some of the duplicates in my Swords & Wizardry collection. These will be "flash giveaways", only accepting entries for 12 or 24 hours, depending on how I feel when the post goes up. I'll only be able to ship to the US, so if you enter from outside the states, you'll get a $10 RPGNow GC instead. Sorry about that.

So, keep your eyes open, and in the meantime, start posting those art suggestions!

Kickstarter - Legendary Realms Terrain - Ice Caverns & Terrain Accessories

It's funny. I never made the connection between the Legendary Realms Terrain and the Legendary Realms Game Store until I actually walked in and saw the terrain for sale in the store. It was one of those eye opening moments ;)

What this means is that I actually got to look at this stuff in person and its fairly impressive.

Then I realized something else. I had backed and received some amazing pieces from a previous Legendary Realms Kickstarter a few years back. I had forgotten that the company was one and the same. Nice set of painted terrain pieces (there was no unpainted option, which is cool, because I suck at painting) and accessories. Sadly, I wasn't doing face to face gaming at the time, so it was boxed up fairly quickly. I did unbox them this morning to ogle it all and remind myself I will soon have an opportunity to use them.

But I digress. Yes, the Legendary Realms Terrain - Ice Caverns & Terrain Accessories Kickstarter looks pretty cool. According to the KS page, if a piece needs to be painted (I'm assuming the basic ice pieces won't need it) it will be painted. I was pleased with the painting jobs from the previous KS.

So tempting.

Why is Ice, Ice Baby bouncing through my head?

New Episode of Old School Blues is Up - Episode 3 - Vince and I Talk about Kickstarters

Yes, episode 3 of the Old School Blues podcast is up. Get to here my words of wisdom when it comes to creating a successful gaming Kickstarter (and an old school one in particular)

Its just over 30 minutes, so it can be listened to whenever you have a spare moment.

Remember to keep your dirty socks off the video.

Enjoy the listen. I figured the above pic would allow you to share the laugh when you reach the proper point in the podcast ;)

Friday, October 7, 2016

New Podcast - Glowburn-Mutant Crawl Classics RPG

Glowburn is the new podcast for the Mutant Crawl Classics RPG.

What's that? the MCC RPG hasn't released yet? How can they have a podcast for a game that hasn't released yet?

You'll need to listen ;)

(Well, that and they talk about other post apoc RPGs - it's an interesting listen IMHO)

Lulu Coupon Alert! - 30% Off - Lulu Coupon Alert!

I just noticed (thanks to +joseph browning ) that there is a 30% off all Lulu.com purchases coupon code floating around.

30% off is pretty huge and will go a long way to adding books to your gaming library.

The code is:

OCTSAVE30

Ends October 10th at 12:59 PM

(Joe also has 20% off on the Advanced Adventures Compendiums (vol. 1-3) - lots of adventuring for a very fair price)

Note - there are no affiliate links for Lulu. I'm sharing this because it's freaking awesome! :)

Add suggested purchases for your fellow Taverners in the comments section. They'll appreciate it as will I.

The Return of the Open Source White Box and Core Rules Swords & Wizardry Docs

I've been asked on nearly a daily basis "When is the SwordsandWizardry.com site coming back up?". The truth is, I don't know. When I have an update, you'll see it here first.

In the meantime, I've gotten permission to host the Swords & Wizardry White Box RTF File and the Swords & Wizardry Core Doc file. Just go to http://bit.ly/SWOpenSource

What does this mean for you?

If you like to house rule, you can go in, edit the files and print it at at home, at a professional printer or at Lulu.com. Yes, your own, customized, Swords & Wizardry ruleset. (sorry, art assets and cover art are not included)

It also means if you have the desire to hack together a new ruleset, using Swords & Wizardry as your inspiration, the tools are here. The S&W White Box rules are what I hacked up to come up with Swords & Wizardry Light.

I'll be looking to put together a page with other Swords & Wizardry resources. I'll post it at The Tavern when such is live. (If you have houseruled / hacked S&W ruleset you want to share with the community, this will be the place)

Long live Swords & Wizardry :)

Note - the PDF files and the POD are still hosted at Lulu.

Why "Swords & Wizardry?"

Believe me when I say I have them all in dead tree format. I have OSRIC in full size, trade paperback and the Player's Guide. I have LL and the AEC (and somewhere OEC, but I can't find it at the moment). Obviously I have Basic Fantasy RPG. Actually, I have the whole available line in print. Way too much Castles & Crusades. We all know my love for the DCC RPG. I even have Dark Dungeons in print, the Delving Deeper boxed set, Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea. BOTH editions of LotFP's Weird Fantasy and some dead tree copies of the Greyhawk Grognards Adventures Dark & Deep

I am so deep in the OSR when I come up for breath it's for the OSR's cousin, Tunnels & Trolls

So, out of all that, why Swords & Wizardry? Why, when I have been running a AD&D 1e / OSRIC campaign in Rappan Athuk am I using Swords & Wizardry and it's variant, Crypts & Things, for the second campaign? (Actually, now running a S&W Complete campaign, soon to be with multiple groups)

Because the shit works.

It's easy for lapsed gamers to pick up and feel like they haven't lost a step. I can house rule it and it doesn't break. It plays so close to the AD&D of my youth and college years (S&W Complete especially) that it continually surprises me. Just much less rules hopping than I remember. (my God but I can run it nearly without the book)

I grab and pick and steal from just about all OSR and Original resources. They seem to fit into S&W with little fuss. It may be the same with LL and the rest, but for me the ease of use fit's my expectations with S&W.

Even the single saving throw. That took me longer to adjust to, but even that seems like a natural to me now. Don't ask me why, it just does. Maybe it's the simplicity of it. At 45 52, simplicity and flexibility while remaining true to the feel of the original is an OSR hat trick for me ;)

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