Deal of the Day - For Coin & Blood: Classic Edition (OSR)

Today's Deal of the Day is For Coin & Blood: Classic Edition. Built off of the Swords & Wizardry: White Box Edition, For Coin & Blood is on sale until tomorrow morning for 2 bucks (normally 9.99).

FOR COIN & BLOOD is a classically inspired d20 fantasy roleplaying game with a twist...

...a twist of the knife!

Embracing the literary genre known as "grimdark", and inspired by stories of mercenaries, sellswords and blackguards, FOR COIN & BLOOD keeps you on your toes, as you tell stories about the terrible things that happen to people, when they head out in search of coin, passion, and revenge...

FOR COIN & BLOOD uses a modified version of Swords & Wizardry: WhiteBox, but is a complete game.

 

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.

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Bundle of Holding - Wyrd Breach

Some games look interesting simply for the default setting. The Wyrd Breach Bundle is in that category. I'm not sure I'd play the system, but I may snag it at this price for inspiration.

Fated one! We've resurrected our November 2021 Wyrd Breach Bundle featuring the Through the Breach Lovecraftian-Wild West-steampunk tabletop roleplaying game based on the Malifaux miniatures game from Wyrd Games. In the magic-saturated parallel world of Malifaux, you take on the roles of unique Fated citizens such as Gunfighters, Drudges, Dabblers, and Entertainers. Your destiny, or Fate, is created during character creation, and it affects every aspect of your life. As the game progresses, the destinies of the Fated entwine, driving you all inexorably toward a final reckoning. Will you fall to Fate, or cheat it?

This revived offer once again gives you five Expansion Books and many adventures. For just US$17.95 you get all five titles in this revived offer's Starter Collection (retail value $100) as DRM-free ebooks, including the complete, full-color 412-page Through the Breach Second Edition core rulebook (2017) and four full-length Penny Dreadful adventures, ideal for introducing the Gothic, necromantic-industrial city-state of Malifaux: Days Without Accident, Fire in the Sky, The Obsidian Gate, and A Stitch in Time.

And if you pay more than the threshold price of $31.34, you'll level up and also get this revival's entire Bonus Collection with eleven more titles worth an additional $164, including five Expansion Book rules supplements – Above the Law, From Nightmares (play a monster!), Into the Bayou (play a Gremlin!), Into the Steam, and Under Quarantine – and six short Penny Dreadful One-Shots designed for a single play session each: Bubbling Up From Below, The Iktomi Shuffle, Jurassic Faux, The Show Must Go On, Silurid Showdown, and Uncontainable.

 

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 - Ambition & Avarice: 2nd Edition

It's Greg Christopher's Birthday Week, and he's put Ambition & Avarice: 2nd Edition on sale for 5 bucks in PDF (regularly $15). A&A 2e is one of the best OSR games on the market (and I'm not just saying this because Greg is a good friend, which he is). A&A 2e should be on every Grognard's game shelf, as the equipment charts Greg has included would be an asset to any OSR campaign, regardless of the ruleset.

Ambition and Avarice is an action-adventure roleplaying game with an easy-to-understand OSR chassis. The 2nd edition maintains focus on character classes and races that walk the line of respectability.

2nd Edition at a Glance:

- Simple OSR-style resolution mechanics

- 10 Races: Dark Elf, Dwarf, Elf, Gnome, Goblin, Halfling, Hobgoblin, Human, Lizardfolk, and Orc.

- 12 Classes: Brigand, Conjurer, Cultist, Elementalist, Enchanter, Knave, Ranger, Savage, Shaman, Witch, Veteran, and Zealot.

- More powerful low-level magic users + more powerful high-level mundane characters.

- Pre-built backpacks to grab off the shelf for quick character creation.

- The most comprehensive medieval fantasy equipment chapter in the RPG industry (I checked).

- Monster trophies to take after the battle and use as magic items; Cyclops eyes, Giant frog tongue, Nymph hair, and more.

- Catalysts: A spell component system that is actually fun to use.

- Clear and useful rules for hex crawling, managing retainers, and building your own barony.

- A complete customizable cosmology system with major/minor gods and demigods of your own creation.

- 596 spells: a mix of old favorites and reimagined wonders divided across six traditions: conjuration, elementalism, enchantment, primeval, salvation, and vexation.

- NPC design system mixing reaction rolls and attitude to determine exactly how far each NPC will go to help or harm you.

- A dungeon familiarity mechanic to allow the players to gather information BEFORE going down the steps into darkness.

- Full Bestiary of 182 monsters with a simplified combat stat block system for easy management.

- Monster entries include formulae for creating your own twisted undead.... if you don't mind dabbling in necromancy.

- Treasure chapter with rules on magic item creation and numerous treasure tables to stock your dungeons.

Each class features;

- Expertise in a class-specific task; like the Conjuror's binding circle ability or a Cultist's ability to sacrifice humanoids to curry favor with their god.

- Identification of something in the world; like the Witch's ability to identify sickness/disease or the Savage's ability to recognize familiar scents and follow them.

- Recruit followers to serve as henchmen; like the Knave's ability to recruit spies or the Conjurer's ability to create imps to serve them.

Six flexible magic-using classes have a varied selection of new and exciting spells. There are easy methods to create your own enchantments, raise unique undead to serve you, or craft cursed items to give to your enemies. The non-magical classes have their own rich choices and don't fade away in importance as the magical characters advance in level.

These classes can then be combined with 10 classic fantasy races; from elves and dwarves to orcs and lizardfolk. You can combine them however you wish, creating everything from goblin rangers to dwarven brigands. Your race is no longer central to your destiny, playing a marginal role in restricting your actions in the game world.

The entire package is designed to allow quick character generation and presented in a format that is clear and easy to read. The text is packed with explanations of not just the rules, but the reasons behind the rules. It is an ideal choice to hand to a new player who is looking to get into the great game, but turned away by dense technical rulebooks with byzantine organization. The adventuring mechanics are also OSR compatible and allow easy integration with a variety of old school campaign material. You can pick up this game, grab an old module, and get playing in a very short amount of time.

 

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 - They Came From Beneath the Sea!

 

1950s horror-movie tabletop roleplaying! From Onyx Path!

This is the first I have heard of this line of RPG releases, and I wonder how I missed it. This is the type of gaming that RPG conventions are made for, and I'm grabbing my copies right after this post goes up. I want to run a session using Them! and one for the Blob! :)

They Came From Beneath the Sea (B-Movie Collection) is 12.95 at Bundle of Holding.

EEEEYAAAHHH! This all-new They Came From Beneath the Sea! Bundle presents They Came from Beneath the Sea!, the tabletop roleplaying game of drive-in B-movie horrors from decades past – of melodrama, science fiction, and farce – from Onyx Path Publishing. PLAY heroic humans driving back watery threats that seek to invade, destroy, or subjugate humanity! CAPTURE everything great about monster movies of the 1950s and 1960s – the thrills and (optionally) the campy humor – using the cinematic Storypath dice-pool system! GRAB your chocolate malt, turn on the jukebox, and ready your harpoons! Don't be caught unawares when it's revealed that They Came From Beneath The Sea!

For just US$12.95 you get all twelve titles in our B-Movie Collection (retail value $58) as DRM-free ebooks, including the complete They Came From Beneath the Sea! Core Rulebook, plus the Party Beach Creature Feature Jumpstart, the Beneath the Sea Quips and Cinematics Cards, and the Director's Screen; the bestiary Monsters of the Deep! and the character book Heroic Land-Dwellers!; the scenario collection Tales of Aquatic Terror; and five "Tasty Bits" mini-scenarios that highlight the many places They Come From: The Bikini Beach Party!, The Bermuda Triangle!, North Herald Beach!, Outer Space!, and Plan 9!

Onyx Path has also provided purchasers a coupon code good, while supplies last, for 50% off one copy of the hardcover They Came From Beneath the Sea Core Rulebook at Indie Press Revolution. Your coupon code appears on your Wizard's Cabinet download page.

 

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 - Through Sunken Lands and Other Adventures (OSR Ruleset)

Through Sunken Lands and Other Adventures is probably the OSR ruleset I'm dying to play or run at some point. I'll be using bits and pieces in my own campaigns, that's for sure.

Through Sunken Lands and Other Adventures is Today's Deal of the Day. Normally 9.99 in PDF, on sale for 3.99 until tomorrow in PDF.

Danger and glory await the bold...

In the common rooms of the great city’s countless inns, in the bathhouses of the merchant quarter, and before the altars of a thousand gods, brave and desperate adventurers meet and make plans. They leave every day and seek their fortunes in the Sunken Lands.

Travel with us through sunken lands...

Lots of times, we want to play a roleplaying game but just don’t have the time for all the prep work involved. No more. Through Sunken Lands is a kit to make a motley crew of ruthless sellswords, gifted sorceresses, and cunning thieves, and send them off in search of gold and glory. Now we have this simple swords and sorcery roleplaying game that gives a group all the tools they need to play an exciting adventure in a single evening, no homework, no fuss.

Anyone with a background in OSR games will already be comfortable with the core rules of Through Sunken Lands.

• Inspired by the works of Michael Moorcock, Fritz Leiber, and Robert E. Howard.

• Character Playbooks and Scenario Packs for play in a single evening with no prep.

• Player driven setting design for fleshing out the great city and the world beyond.

• A sample sword and sorcery setting: the impossible city of Jundarr and the Hundred Seas.

• Nine Character Playbooks, including the Spell Thief and the Eldritch Sorcerer King.

• Three Scenario Packs: the Mysterious Island, the Treasure Hunt, and the Wizard’s Tower

 

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   

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