Tenkar's Tavern

Saturday, September 23, 2023

Humble Bundle - Eerie Comics Collection by Dark Horse

I only managed to snag 2 or 3 issues of Eerie over the years, and the content was, mostly very good. Sure, some clunkers were in there, but there was also some work by artists and writers that would make huge names for themselves in mainstream comic books.

18 bucks gets you 30 volumes, which is over 130 issues of the classic Eerie Comic run. Perfect reading to get one in the mood for Halloween ;)

Looking for some macabre reading for the spookiest season of the year? Fix your gaze upon this massive Eerie archive from Dark Horse, collecting over 130 issues of the long-running horror comics magazine! Featuring terrifying tales and astonishing artwork from legends like Gray Morrow, Frank Frazetta, Alex Toth, Neal Adams, and Joe Orlando, this Eerie library is for everyone who loves strange and twisted tales of terror, fantasy, and science fiction. Lose yourself in the Eerie Archives, and help support the Hero Initiative with your purchase!

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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

Friday, September 22, 2023

Bundle of Holding - Mistborn Adventure Game

I've read some good things about the Mistborn Adventure Game, but I've yet to talk to anyone who has actually played it - and I have no experience with the novels. Are any of our readers familiar with the Mistborn ruleset that can offer some feedback, positive or negative?

This all-new Mistborn Adventure Game Bundle presents the tabletop game from Crafty Games based on the bestselling Mistborn® fantasy novels by Brandon Sanderson. Explore the world of Scadrial under the Final Empire and beyond, and learn the magical secrets of Allomancy, Feruchemy, and Hemalurgy. Your brave (or foolhardy) heroes may be former slave skaa, disenfranchised nobility, or travelers from the far-off Terris mountains. They may wield magic or have the clout to summon armies, stymie lords, or rouse the masses. Their common cause drives them to change the world.
For just US$17.95 you get all five titles in our Mistborn Collection (retail value $69) as DRM-free ebooks, including the complete 585-page Mistborn Adventure Game Digital Edition core rulebook (plus the free Preview, Primer, and Sheets Pack); the campaign supplements Alloy of Law and Masks of the Past; and the sourcebooks Terris: Wrought of Copper and Skaa: Tin & Ash.

Thursday, September 21, 2023

Deal of the Day - KoDT: Tales from the Vault vol. 5

I really enjoy the various Knights of the Dinner Table series, but I'm running out of room (damn RPGs ;), so I do nearly all of my comics reading on my iPad. So, when KotDT pops up on Bundle of Holding or as the Deal of the Day on DTRPG, I'm all over it.

Today's Deal of the Day at DTRPG is KoDT: Tales from the Vault vol. 5. Normally 7.99 in PDF, until tomorrow morning it is on sale for 3.20.

This volume of the Tales from the Vault includes the "Dawn of the Zombies" web saga (a 32 page story arc) and KoDT strips that appeared in the HackMasters of EverKnight comic book.
Strips include:
Recipe for Diaster
It Takes 4 to Tango
Tap Dancin'
I Motion to Adjourn
Red-faced Ensign (Black Hands strip)
Ark in the Dark (Black Hands strip)
The Brain Drain (Black Hands strip)
Rumors Abound - Bonus strip

Wednesday, September 20, 2023

Bundle of Holding - The Yellow King

More GUMSHOE system gaming :)

I actually own this in hardcover, with. It's a good-looking game, which regretfully I have yet to run.

You can grab The Yellow King "King Collection" for $17.95 at Bundle of Holding.

Investigator! We've resurrected our June 2021 Yellow King RPG Bundle featuring the surreal supernatural tabletop game The Yellow King from Pelgrane Press. Designed by Robin D. Laws (Cthulhu Confidential, The Esoterrorists) and funded in a June 2017 Kickstarter campaign, the brain-bending YKRPG uses the fast-playing "Quickshock" GUMSHOE system. Investigate the malign influence of Carcosa in mysteries of reality-changing horror across four different timelines inspired by the famous horror stories of Robert W. Chambers collected in The King in Yellow: 19th-Century Paris, a Continental War across Europe, civil war in an alternate America, and even a world that looks like our own – except....
This bargain-priced June 2021 revival once again brings you DRM-free .PDF ebooks and MP3 music tracks for The Yellow King RPG and a congeries of Carcosan creations. For just US$17.95 you get this revived offer's King Collection (retail value $60) with the complete four-volume The Yellow King RPG (retail price $55), along with the six atmospheric music tracks in James Semple's The Yellow King Suite.
And if you pay more than the threshold price of $28.08, you'll level up and also get this revival's entire Scholar Collection with four more titles worth an additional $56, including a big compendium of stunning YKRPG handouts, Absinthe in Carcosa; Kenneth Hite's erudite edition of the original Chambers book, The King in Yellow: Annotated Edition from Arc Dream Publishing; and two volumes of Carcosan fiction by Robin D. Laws: the alternate-history novel The Missing and the Lost and the story collection New Tales of the Yellow Sign.

Tuesday, September 19, 2023

Classic TSR Era Releases on Sale at DTRPG's Pirate Sale

There are a few AD&D 2e picks in the current Pirate Setting Sale at DTRPG that I thought I'd highlight here.

Volo's Guide to the Sword Coast - Welcome to the latest in the popular series of guidebooks penned by Volothamp Geddarm. You hold in your hands and overview of the most important inns, taverns, shops, and tourist attractions in the western Heartlands, the coast of which is known as the Sword Coast. These lands begin south of fabled Waterdeep and the Savage Frontier, continue up the northern borders of Amn, and reach east as far as the desert's edge and Tunland. This perilous region sees some of the heaviest caravan traffic in all the Realms.

Skullport - Skullport, the Port of Shadow, is perhaps the best-kept secret in all the

Sword Coast. A mile and a half beneath the orderly streets of Waterdeep squats the most wretched and lawless pit of thieves, buccaneers, slavers, and sellswords the Realms has to offer. Under a moldering tangle of catwalks threaded between the stalactites and stalagmites of the cavern city, illithids, drow, beholders, and other plot and trade with emissaries from the surface. Monsters prowl the dark recesses and alleyways, gangs of zombies shamble about performing menial labor; here, anything and everything can be bought and sold—lethal poisons, foul tomes of forbidden magic, and slaves.

Sea of Fallen Stars - For years beyond measure, folk of Faer?n have sailed and swum the Inner Sea from the Lake of Dragons to the Alamber Sea, but few believed there was more here than a vast expanse of blue water filled with fish, a few sea monsters, and ever-present pirates. Come, take another look and discover new worlds above and beneath the sea. Once you enter the Sea of Fallen Stars, you may never want to go home again.

The Moonsea - Its waters are the deep purple of the most precious amethyst; its

shores hold some of the most dangerous locations in Faerun. It is the Moonsea, home to Zhentil Keep, the Citadel of the Raven, and thousands of ordinary folk who merely want to make and honest living. Hark to the words of Melandryll Belarod, the bard whose writings form the bulk of this material. He has experienced firsthand the horrors of ruined Hulburg, he desolation of Sulasspryn, and the stench of Mulmaster. His travels aboard the Devawing have produced this chronicle of the towns and people of the Moonsea, including both havens and dangers. Belarod knows of the Citadel of the Raven, a ten-mile-long series of fortresses and barracks, site of a terrifying betrayal. He also has evaded the Zhentilar, the crack forces garrisoned at Zhentil Keep.

Port of Ravens Bluff, The Living City - Cast off for adventure with the members of the RPGA Network. Get to know one of the busiest ports of the Sea of Fallen Stars, where adventure awaits on land, at sea, and below the waves. Pirates, honest sailors, smugglers, fishermen, and water creatures rub shoulders with stalwart adventurers bent on exploring the ships in the harbor, businesses on the waterfront, and a few mysteries less audacious locals prefer to ignore. This product contains new buildings and personalities for the Forgotten Realms Living City campaign setting, and your own 3-D fold-up ship.

DMGR9 Of Ships and the Sea - Of Ships and the Sea is packed with information on the ships of the AD&D game, rules for sailing them to exotic lands, and two system for conducting naval combat. The action extends below the waves, too, as this book also reveals the secrets of underwater adventuring and exploration-rules for travelling, fighting, and casting spells underwater, new spells, new magical items, and a new character kit, the fathomer.

ALQ1 Golden Voyages -Inspired by the tales of Sinbad, Golden Voyages provides the source material and adventures needed to run a mini-campaign on the Crowded Sea. Detailed backgrounds, perilous locations, and wondrous NPCs populate the enchanted seas. Player characters will discover wildly different adventures as they sail from place to place.

Golden Voyages includes six booklets filled with mini-adventures, an overall framing adventure, expanded rules on ships and sailing, details and background concerning topography, tribes, and new locations, and plenty of maps and player handouts. Recommended for use with the Al-Qadim: Arabian Adventures rulebook.

Corsairs of the Great Sea - Set Sail with the Pirates of Chaos!A thousand welcomes, noble friend! I see your eye is as keen as the eagle and your mind as sharp as my jambiya, for you hold in your hand a great treasure. This box contains everything needed to launch an epic adventure featuring corsairs and mamluks: A stunning poster map of the Corsair Domains and Zakhara's northern shores. Six full-color cardstock sheets containing maps and player aids. An 8-page booklet filled with new monsters, including the dreaded ghul-kin. A 32-page sourcebook detailing the wily pirates of Hawa and their greatest enemies, the stalwart mamluks of Qudra, plus several new magical items. A 64-page adventure book presenting a fabulous array of tales set in or near the Corsair Domains. Meet the beautiful and notorious Jayani al-Jasir, called by some the Queen of pirates. Face untold perils to fetch the wondrous waters of the River of Gold. Save Hawa's people from the horrible Soultaker, and much, much more. But beware! Treachery awaits at the hands of those you trust most! Recommended for use with the Arabian Adventures rulebook.

Monday, September 18, 2023

DTRPG Sale - Sail the High Seas and Save up to 80% on Pirates RPGs!

Aargh! Best time t' be a pirate is all the time! Heh. There is a sale on pirate goodness (is that a thing?) over at DTRPG, with some titles going for as much as 80% off.

The titles I find most tempting are Tiny Pirates (using the Tiny d6 rules) and Pirates of the Spanish Main (using the Savage Worlds rules. So many pirates, so little time ;)

You can keel haul your favorite pirates at the DTRPG site ;)

Sunday, September 17, 2023

Don't Mind Me, I'll Be Over Here Playing with Myself (Yes, you heard that right...but SFW)

My Kickstarter history has been quite varied and *most* have been successful, but I'll admit there seems to be an inverse relationship between the expense of a Kickstarter and fulfillment.

Looking at you Kenny!

A couple of years ago I helped fund an interesting RPG game that had it's normal COVID delays, problems with production (as in actual printing and assembly) and I think I spent close to $200 after shipping for this thing. Luckily the creator was actually good at communication and I figured I'd get it when I get it..,,or not. At the $140ish price-point and my particular history I knew I was gambling a bit.

I actually got this HUGE box for the League of Dungeoneers game earlier this summer, but I had put off opening it until today, mostly because I was afraid of losing something from this massive TTRPG.

MASSIVE!

Seriously, this thing was shrink-wrapped over a nit-actually closed box because there was just too much add-on stuff inside. I think was close to throwing out my back carrying this around for pictures (22 pounds or so)! To show the scale I've put my KenzerCo Dwarven mini and my two Gamescience D30's on the box for scale.

That's the top view, but it gets even more ridiculous when you see the side view.....I'm not kidding when I said the box doesn't close.

Good thing is that after they shrunk-wrapped it it was covered with custom-fit foam and placed in a perfectly sized heavy cardboard box. They did not skimp on packaging and I'm grateful.

The reason I was willing to risk a couple Benjamins and wait a couple of years for this game is because it's a solo/co-op game for up to four players.....it's a TTRPG that doesn't have a GM!

There are rules for how the monsters work and IIRC there is some randomness worked in such that you can't easily cheat the system (assuming you're playing by the rules...anybody can just straight-up cheat) when running the bad guys.

As expected there is a load of internal components and I'm actually a little overwhelmed by so much stuff. One of the coolest things about this game, and I'm 110% certain it factored into my purchase decision, is that a lot of the "stuff" in the box could be used for other games. There's a couple of maps (one is a neoprene placemat of sorts) a ton of tokens, and a bunch of nice, thick cardboard room/map tiles. I think I'll have to pull the plastic doors from the box to close it for storage, but no biggie.

This seems to be such a cool game I'm seriously considering bringing it to NTRPG and running a couple of sessions. If I do that I'd take the place of the player's DM/GM actions so four people couple just play and not have to worry about knowing the rules at first.

1-4 players......oh boy do I look forward to League of Dungeoneers (company website). The only thing I'm missing, and will most certainly pick up, is the PDF of the rulebook.

Friday, September 15, 2023

Kickstarter - Macuahuitl - Whitebox Roleplaying in the Aztec Empire

Old-School Whitebox Roleplaying in the Ancient Aztec Empire

When you mix White Box gaming with my love of history, from any and all eras and locals, you likely have a winner in my eyes. The Macuahuitl - Whitebox Roleplaying in the Aztec Empire Kickstarter scratches an itch I never knew I had, roleplaying in the era of the Aztecs.

The Macuahuitl is 10 bucks in PDF, 12 bucks for POD plus PDF, and 32 bucks for offset print plus PDF.

It is the age of the 5th sun. The Mexica (Me-Shee-Ka) people settled and conquered the valley of Mexico. The grand city of Tenochtitlan is feared throughout the valley. The Tlaxcala Confederacy and other kingdoms and cities resist the might of the Aztecs, but for how long?
Macuahuitl is an old-school game using modified Whitebox rules to allow for gritty sword and sorcery adventuring in the age of the Aztec Empire (prior to the Spanish conquest) during the rise of the Triple City Alliance. Players will roll up characters and select a class from iconic warrior societies from within the empire. As a group, they must survive not just the human foes of the Mexica, but the supernatural forces hailing from the 13 heavens that lurk in the wilderness as well.

Free OSR Material - City of Shiran - Harn

I've been a fan of Harn since I first found the original World release of Harn back in the 80s. So detailed, so realistic. Almost too much so for my players, LOL. Now, you can sample some Harn for free.

City of Shiran is a full-sized Harn release detailing a small city. You can use it as it is, or pull out elements that you want for your own urban environment. Besides, the price is right - it's free!

Shiran is Hârn’s smallest city. Located on the north bank of the Thard River near Lake Benath, it is the second-largest settlement in the Thardic Republic and capital of Shiran Province, one of six in the Republic. Shiran is one of the Republic’s economic and cultural centers. The city has a reputation for corruption and hedonism and is known throughout Hârn as the “City of Sins.”
Shiran offers game masters many opportunities as the site of urban intrigue and adventure.
The Shiran article contains an overview of the city's history, economics, religion, government, and military forces. In addition to a full-page color player map, color GM maps are provided for each district of the city and more than 125 locations are described. Color floor plans and detailed descriptions are included for the Pamesani Arena, site of gladiatorial games and depraved spectacles; the Crimson Palace, Hârn's most famous house of courtesans; and the Temple of Halea, the Empress of Opulence and Queen of Pleasures.
Some material in this article was originally published in Cities of Hârn (1983) and Son of Cities (1987). The article has been greatly expanded and organized to allow for future expansion of new plans and sites within the city.
This article now includes a 2-page expansion of the Bull Ring Tavern, located in the cellar of a nondescript warehouse in the Kobar District, home to many of Shiran's poorer residents. Although most popular with ordinary folk, the Bull Ring is also frequented by members of wealthy land-owning clans seeking a taste of the forbidden. Some patrons appreciate the poor illumination and the lack of questions as long as one’s coin is good. Some activities demand privacy and discretion. The tavern features a fighting pit, where men and animals fight for the entertainment of the crowd. The Bull Ring is a nasty, merciless place, and is owned by Goril of Ardair, the head of the local Lia-Kavair (Thieves' Guild).
This location expansion describes the establishment, its proprietor, and the sordid events that take place. Full-color plans of the building are included, along with several adventure hooks the GM can use to bring the location into play.

Thursday, September 14, 2023

Kickstarter - Fantasy Sidequest & NPC Decks (Inkwell Designs)

I've been a fan of Inkwell Designs since the early days of Kickstarter when I backed the stock art project he had organized. Later, I found his Dungeonmorph Dice, and before I knew it I was grabbing every deck he put on the market.

Joe's latest Kickstarter is Fantasy Sidequest & NPC Decks. Another useful resource for the DM who likes to improv or run their sessions with minimal prep. More decks, I'm collecting them like dice at this point ;)

How Do These Decks Help GMs?
Improvise: Did a player take an off-hand NPC comment as a real plot hook? Tell your group to take a snack break, skim a few Sidequests cards that have summaries at the top, pick one, read the short outline, and play! Or do the players want to chat with some NPCs you don't have prepared? Glance at a few NPC cards, pick one, and be ready to go!
Create an Adventure: Read some of the Sidequest card summaries and find one that fits the current situation, start with the given outline and flesh it out (add and detail your campaign's locations and NPCs), and you're ready for your next session or two. Don't have enough NPCs in your campaign? Pick an NPC Portraits Deck and you've got 50+ more characters ready to go complete with portraits, personalities, backgrounds, quirks and more!
Plan a Campaign: Pick the Sidequest deck that best fits your campaign's genre and setting, then skim the summaries of many of the cards. Choose several cards that will be possible adventures for your party. Set their locations in your campaign's starting area. Then brainstorm a rumor or two for each to feed your player characters. See which they are most interested in and play! Use the matching NPC Portraits Deck for well-developed NPCs with personalities, secrets, needs, and histories.
More About Sidequest Decks
Whether you're a seasoned GM or just starting out, Sidequest Decks are a tremendous resource helping you guide your players through captivating mini-adventures that add depth, excitement, and surprise to your campaigns.
Each deck has 54+ poker-sized cards. Each card has a map on one side and a system neutral mini-adventure outline on the other side. The outline starts with a short overview for the GM. (Skim these to find an adventure that fits the circumstances.) Choose between a couple of story hooks to get the adventure started. Next several encounter ideas move the game along. Customize them depending on what your players do (drop some, change them to fit the circumstances). Finally most cards wrap up with one or two follow-up adventure ideas. The sample card above is from our Mini-Lairs deck, which has more detail in the Encounter Key, but no follow-up ideas.
More About NPC Portraits Decks
Each NPC Portraits Deck also has 54+ poker sized cards. Each card is a character, with a portrait on one side and suggestions for playing the NPC on the other. The portrait on the front of the card can inspire the GM and spark the imagination of the players. Top-notch writing on the back details the character's personality and background with story hooks sprinkled throughout.

Wednesday, September 13, 2023

Bundle of Holding - KotDT Trouble 5

I'm a huge fan of Knights of the Dinner Table, going back to the days of Shadis Magazine. There's always something that reminds me of my own group from back in the 80s and 90s within those pages.

As I type this, KotDT Trouble 5 Bundle is live on Bundle of Holding for 24.95.

This Bundle includes KoDT Bundles of Trouble V41-50, which in turn includes content from KoDT issues #139-178 (2008-2011). Maybe it's just me, but I greatly prefer reading my comic books on my iPad these days. It is simply easier on my eyes ;)

Tuesday, September 12, 2023

Supers on Sale at DTRPG - As Much as 80% Certain Titles

Truth in advertising - I am NOT a huge Supers fan when it comes to RPGs. Love the movies and the series, enjoyed the comics back in the day. It's just that the Supers Bug in RPGs never quite bit me.

Well, this week there is a Supers Sales at DTRPG, (titles above are 80% off) and if you ARE bitten by the bug, I'm quite sure you'll find a title or three that is right up your alley.

Monday, September 11, 2023

Bundle of Holding - Hostile (Cepheus Engine/Traveller Horror RPG)

If you are going to push a horror RPG, September is the month to do it as we ramp up to celebrating Halloween at the end of October. Humble Bundle has Trail of Cthulhu and Bundle of Holding already has a bundle or two up for Delta Green. So, we have 1930-era horror and modern-day espionage horror, but where is the sci-fi horror? Well, Bundle of Holding has it with Hostile, a stand-alone sci-fi horror RPG built on the Cepheus Engine (itself built off the Mongoose Traveller SRD).

You can get the Starter Bundle of Hostile for 9.95, or for a hair over 20 bucks, you can get it all in the Bonus Collection.

Adventurer! Name notwithstanding, this Hostile Bundle, resurrected from April 2022, is a friendly offer of the tabletop science-fiction roleplaying game of deep-space alien horror, HOSTILE from Zozer Games. Based on the Cepheus Engine rules (closely modeled on Classic Traveller), HOSTILE is a gritty retro-future setting inspired by movies like Outland, Blade Runner, and Alien – a universe of harsh planets and toxic atmospheres – claustrophobic space freighters and brutal industrial colonies – ancient horrors entombed on icy moons – killer ETs, perfectly evolved to survive at any cost. Whether you're a combat-weary veteran or a miner on a grungy corporate star tug deep in the Extraction Zones, HOSTILE pits you against deadly hazards in an unforgiving void where no one can hear you scream.
This revived April 2022 offer gives you a new chance to get much of the HOSTILE line for an unbeatable bargain price – an obviously generous and well-meaning gesture. For just US$9.95 you get all five titles in this revived offer's Starter Collection (retail value $48) as DRM-free ebooks, including the complete standalone HOSTILE Rules and Setting core books, the Gunlocker weapons guide (it'll come in handy, trust us), the Cepheus Handouts, and the Referee's Screen.
And if you pay more than the threshold price of $20.04, you'll level up and also get this revival's entire Bonus Collection with eight supplements worth an additional $56 that let you build out your pitiless universe:
Three guides to survival on bad worlds that don't want you: Explorers, Dirtside, and Colony Builder
Two bestiaries about entities that really, really do want you: Alien Breeds and Synthetics
Two hardware and vehicle guides: Gunboats & Shuttles and Marine Corps Handbook 2215
A campaign framework well described by its title: Crew Expendable

Sunday, September 10, 2023

New FLGS: TableTop Game and Hobby in Overland Park (Kansas City)

Today I really feel like phoning it in.....

....I had a bunch of use-or-lose vacation that expired on the 8th. I went to the family farm in Iowa to do mostly nothing. I've got some health issues that make the 12 hour drive problematic, but 6 hours is very doable (actually I can do 12, if I take a good 16 hours to do it!). Luckily for me, Kansas City is s little over halfway to the farm and that's potentially good for my gaming.

Kansas City has a Micro Center and this time around I got a whole slew of new computer parts to do a massive upgrade to my file server. It is long overdue and since I store my RPG files on there, along with my 3D printing files, having that work...better, is always good. Among my upgrades though is a 8GB video card (I was getting along fine with an old 2GB card...) so now that same computer can also run my old computer game emulators.

When I'm not able to sling dice, playing some old-school MAME or PC games.....well, at least it's a game.

I'm not conceited enough to think any readers here at the Tavern could care that much about my vacation or the potential (some assembly required) new computer, except Steve (Shout to Steve...Hi Steve!). Something that might be of interest though, especially if you get the chance to stop in Kansas City, is the most excellent TableTop Game and Hobby. It's a large, eat-off-the-floor clean place with a wide selection of board games, RPGs, and war gaming. It's connected to the Cardboard Corner Cafe which is a cool coffee shop where you can game.

Honestly it is one of the nicest game stores I've ever seen. I travel a lot for work (past & present) and I've seen a metric butt-ton of game stores and TableTop Game and Hobby is the nicest I've seen. There have been some other pretty good ones, but nothing comes so close as this shop. If you're passing through I suggest scheduling a break/stop to check it out.

Saturday, September 9, 2023

Far West RPG Releases Nearly 12 Years After Promised Release Date

I will give credit where credit is due. Gareth Skarka, nearly 12 years after the promised delivery date, has finally released Far West - in PDF. Don't hold your breath for print copies any time soon.

Years ago, when Gareth felt he was being unfairly forced to offer refunds, refunds for print books were offered at full price less 10 bucks - as that was the assumed price of the PDF. Instead, Far West is currently on sale for 29.95 at DTRPG for a 278-page PDF. I can't speak for the gaming content, as I haven't read it yet and likely won't get to it for a while (after 12 years, what's the actual rush, right?), but I will offer some samples of the included art - art that was likely paid for by individual backers, like myself (59 of us), to be included in the book. You be the judge of whether or not THESE specific backers got / will get, their money's worth.

Tonight on Gamers' Health, Rach & I have a Special Guest, Author Daniel Hand. Daniel recently released Role-Playing Games in Psychotherapy: A Practitioner's Guide. Needless to say, Rach is taking the lead tonight 😉

Friday, September 8, 2023

Humble Bundle - Trail of Cthulhu RPG

It's pretty good timing to release Trail of Cthulhu on Humble Bundle in September, just as stores are gearing up for Halloween. I always find that horror RPGs play out better in the fall, the atmosphere just seems to fit well.

Trail of Cthulhu brings The Cthulhu Mythos to the Gumshoe System. I have ZERO experience with the Gumshoe System, but I've been curious about the Trail of Cthulhu RPG for years, and this seems to be a low-risk opportunity to check it out.

With the Trail of Cthulhu Bundle, 18 bucks get you the core rules, adventures, a GM screen, audio, fiction, and more.

Explore the sublime, horrifying worlds of H.P. Lovecraft at your gaming table with this Trail of Cthulhu bundle from Pelgrane Press. Utilizing the GUMSHOE RPG system to foreground the investigative elements of the Cthulhu mythos stories, this award-winning RPG delivers an experience that makes clue-finding engrossing and interactive for players, while amplifying the cosmic dread. Get the Trail of Cthulhu rulebook plus more than 20 other sourcebooks, adventures, and more to fuel uncountable campaigns’ worth of unfathomable eldritch horror, and support Cancer Research UK with your purchase!

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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