Tenkar's Tavern

Friday, April 19, 2024

Kickstarter - Swords & Wizardry: Expansions, Monsters, and More!

Optional supplemental rules for S&W (and other OSR games), a book of new monsters, an adventure, and much more!

I'm a HUGE fan of Swords & Wizardry. Of all of the early sets of OSR rules, Swords & Wizardry Complete felt like AD&D 1e without the baggage.

Swords & Wizardry: Expansions, Monsters, and More! is the latest Kickstarter from Mythmere Games.

Swords & Wizardry: The Book of Options
The Book of Options gives you 11 new optional character classes, new spells, new magic items, and much more. Now you can play a wily demon-hunter, a bard, a troubadour, an illusionist, and many others. Gnomes and Stygians are now playable ancestries in Swords & Wizardry for the first time in 16 years!
Fiends & Foes - A Monster Compendium
Fiends and Foes offers more than 300 monsters (and doesn't repeat the ones from the Complete Revised Rulebook). Encounter the bizarre plant-animal Ultharians on their plane-shifting flamingoes, the giant, foul-mouthed fey cats known as Bulgrimalkins, along with many old favorites from Monstrosities such as the Artificers of Yothri. All are updated with morale numbers and revisions to the Swords & Wizardry Complete Revised rules.
Domain of Heryngard & Tomb of the Iron God
Plus, there's adventuring, of course! The Domain of Heryngard is a hex-crawl campaign with a section of the Uldra Cthon megadungeon and room to explore. It's also the site of the Tomb of the Iron God, a fan-favorite low-level adventure from 2008.

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Thursday, April 18, 2024

So It Is Written, So It Is Done - LaNasa v. Tenkar - Case Dismissed With Prejudice

What can I say other than to thank everyone for their support and kind words over the last year and a half. No more shackles ;)

Tuesday, April 16, 2024

Humble Bundle - Pathfinder 1e Kobold & Frog God Bundle

I am very much NOT a Pathfinder fan, regardless of edition. That being said, I own a surprising amount of Pathfinder 1e material, mostly setting-related, as I find I can convert such to the OSR system of my choice with minimal effort. YMMV.

The latest RPG-related bundle on Humble Bundle is a Pathfinder 1e Kobold & Frog God Bundle. 69 books for 25 bucks. Seriously, go big or go home :)

The Lost City of Barakus, Rappan Athuk, and Stoneheart Valley are worth the price of admission on their own.

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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