Tenkar's Tavern: 2013-03-31

Saturday, April 6, 2013

Promoting the Free Swords & Wizardry SRD Can Put Credit in Your Pocket and Help the S&W Community

+John Reyst runs the Swords & Wizardry SRD (as well as the Pathfinder SRD, but who has the time to read thru all of that? ;) and he as an idea to grow the Swords & Wizardry Community.

As most of you know, April 17th is the Swords & Wizardry Appreciation Dat Blogfest. John wants to keep it going year round. Well, not the blogfest, but the focus on Swords & Wizardry ;)

Here's his email to me:

"Hey Erik! I'd really love to get a massive boost to the traffic on the Swords & Wizardry SRD website so I want to give out a free $10 coupon to one random blog per month that I see in my referral logs for the SRD website! So all people have to do is post a link somewhere that people can see and will click so I can build more of a userbase to help grow the Swords & Wizardry community. I'll check my logs and pick one blog I see sending clicks to me and fire off a free $10 to them. That's about all they have to do! While this is beginning at the same time as the Swords & Wizardry Appreciation Day I want to try to make sure some of those folks keep coming back so hopefully this might help. So that's it, just a link, and if I see people hitting the site via a link on your site or blog, you qualify."

Tonight Rappan Athuk, Tomorrow Morning Grimmsgate!

Clicking Above Will Take You to the Swords & Wizardry SRD Site :)

Tonight the Saturday Evening AD&D 1e / OSRIC campaign returns after taking a week off for the Easter weekend. More buttkicking in Rappan Athuk, as the party has finally arrived to RA proper. Should be loads of fun.

Tomorrow morning my "Lapsed Gamers Campaign" will move from it's one session of Swords & Wizardry "Mostly Complete" version of the rules to the Crypts & Things / Swords & Sorcery flavor of the Swords & Wizardry rules.

I did this not just because S&S style gaming is loads of fun but because with a small group at the moment - 2, maybe 3 players if we are lucky - I needed a varient of the S&W rules that gives smallish parties a bit more survivability.

This of course, inspired me to work on my S&S flavored S&W setting - which got a bit derailed when the Swords & Wizardry Appreciation Day took off like a 12 dice lighting bolt.

Which leads me to Grimmsgate. It's got a small village, a wilderness map and a dungeon. Enough to occupy my players for a good 2 to 3 sessions. Which should get me past the S&W Appreciation Day and a bit more focused on the sandbox setting.

I read through it quickly when it arrived with my S&W Complete Kickstarter package, but tonight I'll read it cover to cover to ensure I'm ready for my players every move ;)

Jeff Talanian is Adding 3 PDF Copies of Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea to the S&W Appreciation Day Gift Pool

The gifts keep on coming in ;)

+Jeff Talanian is adding three PDF copies of his Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea RPG to the to Swords & Wizardry Appreciation Day Blogfest Gift Pool. I'm going to need to print a list out just to keep straight all of the loot we have to give away.

Jeff is letting me decide how we give these away, and this is what I've come up with:

- One copy to a random blogger that participates in the Swords & Wizardry Appreciation Day Blogfest. To be eligible, I'll need your email ahead of time, so if you haven't sent me your info yet, send it to tenkarsDOTtavernATgmailDOTcom

- One copy to a random commenter that adds a comment to the Swords & Wizardry Appreciation Day post on this here blog on April 17.

- One copy will be given to a random blog to give away to their readers. Again, I'll need your contact info in advance (preferably prior to April 10th). If I don't have your email, I can't get you the needed info.

Here's the rest of the gifts up for grabs (again, a reminder that participating blogs need to give me a valid email address in order to be in the "gift loop" - tracking you down after the fact is going to be way too much work at this point)

- Everyone who's signed up and posts a relevant post on the Swords & Wizardry Appreciation Day would get Moleskin Maps Volumes One thru Three. Courtesy +matt jackson

- +Jon Marr , also known as the main man behind Purple Sorcerer Games, is putting 5 PDF copies of The Ooze Pits of Jonas Gralk and 5 PDF copies of Perils of the Sunken City into the gift pool. While written for the DCC RPG, Jon will be posting an article on how to use DCC adventures and resources in your Swords & Wizardry game.

- Frog God Games will be giving away a PDF copy of Monstrosities to the blog post deemed "the best of the blogfest by Matt, Chris and myself. You can also hit Frog God for snazzy graphics to show your support of the S&W Appreciation Day.

- Spes Magna Games is giving away a $10 RPGNow gift certificate to a random participating blog.

- +Tim Shorts of Gothridge Manor will be giving away 5 copies of his zine, The Manor. You'll need to hit his blog on the 17th for details. Heck, hit it before then, it's a damn good blog (as are os The Manor)

- I'm throwing in 1 $10 gift certificate and 3 $5 gift certificates to random participating blogs. As we have surpassed 100 participating blogs, I'll also be throwing in 2 $5 gift certificates to random commenters on the S&W Appreciation Day blogpost that goes up on this blog on the 17th. If the winning commenters are also members of the 2,000 Coppers G+ Community, I'll double their gift to a value of $10.

Will there be more "gifts in the basket"? I don't know for sure, but an educated guess says yes ;)

List of Participating Blogs (108):

1 - Chronicles of Ganth! - Homebrewed heartbreaker

2 - Secrets of the Shadowend

3 - They Might Be Gazebos

4 - Mad-Kyndalanth - 'to share good stories afterwards'

5 - Dizzy Dungeon - New School falls for the OSR

6 - Gothridge Manor - OMG, its full of Sleestaks

7 - Lapsus Calumni

8 - 19th Level - Musings on RPGs & Fiction

9 - Sycarion Diversions - "One day, Spelljammer will return!"

10 - Dorkland!

11 - Worlds Galore

12 - Dreams of My Mystic Fantasy

13 - Daily OSR fix - Random tables makes me smile

14 - BrewLab Gaming Concepts

15 - Realms of Chirak - "Eclectic Gaming Madness from Camazotz"

16 - Quickly, Quietly, Carefully - OD&D exegis, retro stupid fun

17 - Dreams in the Lich House

18 - Hereticwerks

19 - RPG Delisi - A Turkish blog about RPGs

20 - The Retired Adventurer

21 - Semper Initiativus Unum - Rethinking Classic Tropes, Sharing History

22 - Red Box Denver

23 - Bat in the Attic - Hexes, Sandboxes, and Wilderlands

24 - Reverend Dak dot Blogspot - Bicycles, Beer and 20-sided Dice

25 - The Ongoing Campaign - Obscure Games and Famous Ones

26 - The Other Side

27 - d20 Dialectic

28 - Once More Unto the Breach - Rediscovering the joy of roleplaying!

29 - Venger's old school gaming blog

30 - Fear No Darkness - reasons...not rules

31 - Mythmere's Blog (Mr S&W Himself ;)

32 - Gamers & Grodnards

33 - Dispatches From Kickassistan

34 - Six Sarcophagi

35 - Edgar's Game Blog

36 - Spes Magna Games

37 - The Space Cockroach's Hideout - Space, Modern and fantastic Adventures

38 - inthecitiesdotcom

39 - Sorcerer Under Mountain

40 - Tenkar's Tavern - "OSR To the Core!"

41 - No School Like the Old School

42 - Blessings of the Dice Gods

43 - Porky's Expanse - a nebulous region of hobby space

44 - The Clash of Spear on Sword

45 - Roll to Carouse!

46 - Ilea jacta Est - A 20-Sided Look at Life

47 - Blood & Battle - Swords & Wizardry resources, reviews, recaps

48 - Starting Over With the OSR

49 - Sandbox of Doom

50 - Lord Archaon's Grimoire

51 - Battle Axes and Beasties - Sporadic Babbling about Various Stuff

52 - Apathy Blogs

53 - Applied Phantasticality

54 - Strange Stones - Strange Stones: Demons, Rogues, and Lemurian Barbarians

55 - Mystic Bull Games

56 - Le Verre Violet - Hexcrawls, Blackmoor, Carcosa and OD&Dities

57 - The Sorcerer Speaks! - Purple Sorcerer News, and stuff

58 - The Crazy GM

59 - O Druida Hierofante (The Hierophant Druid) - Swords & Wizardry in Brasil

60 - The Rusty Battle Axe - Home of Haiku: The RPG

61 - Keith Davies -- In My Campaign - Too heavy for Tenkar's reading ;)

62 - Necropraxis - OD&D, rules hacking, necromantic musings

63 - Rended Press - Free typos deal double damage!

64 - Hunter's Quarry

65 - hDan's YAGB - Traveller, D&D and related interests

66 - Like Being Read to From Dictionaries - It's Like Reading A Dictionary

67 - Vargold - The Wolf-Time

68 - The Wizard's Chest

69 - Wampus Country - Whimsical tall-tale fantasy frontier

70 - Troll & Flame

71 - Epic RPG Blog - San Diego's RPG Scene

72 - Kingdoms in Trevail - Infrequent & random old-school gaming thoughts :)

73 - Jeffro's Space Gaming Blog - Microgames, Monster Games, and RPG's

74 - Swords & Dorkery - the name is the description

75 - Dice of Doom - Old School Cool

76 - Infinite Dragons - Adventure Unlimited

77 - Dyson's Dodecahedron - Award Winning Dungeon Design

78 - The Ultimate Josha - RPG reviews, stories, and thoughts

79 - Places to Go, People to Be - RPGs are easily accessible self-expression

80 - Tales From the Tower - Recaps, Campaign Info, Game Art

81 - Tenfootpole - Hypocrite reviews OSR adventures

82 - Ynas Midgard's OSR Blog - irregular musings and content for D&D

83 - Castelli & Chimere (Castles & Chimeras) - My musings on D&D (OSR)

84 - What Do I Know? - One Gamer Yapping; Many RPGs

85 - Dungeon of Signs - Drunken OSR glossolalia

86 - The Frothy Friar - Advancing back to basics
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87 - Edgar's Game Blog - Recaps, Philosophy, & Games Within Games
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88 - The Adventures of the Clock Caravel - Eclectic Crowdsourced Virtual Steampunk Roleplaying

89 - Requiem for a Muse

90 - Scottenkainenland

91 - EdoWar's Blog

92 - Pilgrims Guide to Zeitgeist - A journey into the worlds i play in

93 - Forgotten Runes

94 - @ Padre's - Dragonquest lives on!

95 - Heropress

96 - Basic Fantasy RPG Blog - The Basic Fantasy RPG Blog

97 - Rather Gamey

98 - Into the Dungeondark - TPKs Continue Until Play Improves

99 - ubiHEX

100 - Mesmerized By Sirens - Carrying the torch of defunct fantasy role-playing games

101 - Tower of the Lonely GM

102 - The Frog God's Blog - where you can be the frog, not the flies

103 - The Dice Are a Lie

104 - Acirema Mountain - Playing the first Finnish rpg

105 - Ruthless Diastema BlogCast - Life From a Gamer's Perspective

106 - Jack's Toolbox - tools and tips for DMs

107 - Infinite Dragon - Mostly OSR-themed game blogging

108 - Lost in Time - D&D, Jorune, and other gubbins

109 - Jasper's Rantings - Random D&D/OSR/RPG and Geekish Amusements

110 - D20 Dark Ages - From 1989 to the Present

111 - The Iron Tavern -

112 - Machpants' Blog - Mashing S&W for my kids

113 - The Space Cockroach's Hideout

Matt Jackson / Chubby Monster Games is Adding Moleskin Maps to EVERY S&W Appreciation Day Blog Participant!

+matt jackson together with his Chubby Monsters Games publishing, is offering EVERY blog that participates in the upcoming Swords & Wizardry Appreciation Day Blogfest on April 17 free copies of his Moleskin Maps series of releases. The number of volumes each participant receives is dependent upon the number of blogs participating.

Here's what Matt's offering:

1-50 blogs = Moleskin Maps vol One
51-100 blogs = Moleskin Maps vol Two
101-150 blogs = Moleskin Maps vol Three
151-200 blogs = Moleskin Maps vol Four

We are currently at 108 participating blogs, which means everyone who'se signed up and posts a relevant post on the Swords & Wizardry Appreciation Day would get Moleskin Maps Volumes One thru Three. If we hit 151 or more blogs, they'll each get Volumes One thru Four.

Now, in order to get the map packages, you'll need to:

1 - make sure you are signed up for the Swords & Wizardry Appreciation Day Blogest. You can do so as a comment on this post OR send an email to tenkarsDOTtavernATgmailDOTcom

2 - i'll need a valid email to forward to Matt so he can send out the proper RPGNow coupon codes to everyone. If you have given me your contact info already and didn't have a problem with the Frogs receiving it, I'll assume you are okay with Matt sending you codes. If you are among the handful that didnt want it forwarded to the Frog, I won't forward to Matt unless you ask me to.

2a - I still need email contact information for about half the blogs that are signed up. I don't bite and I'm only using it to get info and / or gifts into your hands.

Did I mention there's another big announcement for later on today? If you are an OSR blogger or an RPG blogger with any interest in "Old School Gaming" there really isn't a reason not to join in the fun. Worst that happens? You get some free loot ;)

Friday, April 5, 2013

Grumpy the Dwarf Looks at WotC's D&D Next "Design a Character Sheet Contest"

Props to +Eric Franklin of the Kicksnarker Community over on G+ for bringing it to my (and Grumpy's) attention.

WotC is crowdsourcing the design of the D&D Next Character Sheet, and the winner gets to sign all rights to said sheet away for free, have their name and home town used in promotions of WotC desires and the awesome prize is seeing your sheet in an upcoming playtest release.

You are part of the D&D Next Playtest, aren't you? Cause if you aren't, you'll never see your work.

Lets pull out some highlights:

(Grumpy the Dwarf here. It looks like it's time for me to poke my head in)

If your character sheet is selected as the winner, it will be made available to thousands of D&D Next playtesters for use in an upcoming D&D publication. (awesome - you do the work, WotC reaps all of the benefits - and you dont't get paid a dime)

To be eligible, the entrant selected as the Winner must also assign to Wizards their rights, including their copyrights and renewal rights, in the character sheet submitted for consideration in this Contest. (I see what's in it for them, but WTF is in it for you to do their work for free AND give away ALL rights to said work)

To enter, use the Dungeons and Dragons Character Sheet Contest Application on the official Dungeons and Dragons Facebook... (Holy fuck! Not only do i get to do the work for free, I need to go to Facebook in order to give away my work to WotC?)

Contest Prize Information: Subject to verification of eligibility status and Entrant’s assignment of copyright to Wizards, the Winner will have the Submission based on his or her design published in the Publication (“PublicationRight”) and receive a copy of the Publication (the playtest is all PDF, so you get the "Publication" that everyone else is getting and you would have gotten anyway, but you get "bragging rights" is return for you copyright - how the hell does that balance out?)

Marketing Rights: By entering this Contest, Entrant specifically acknowledges and agrees that Wizards will have the right, without restriction, to use, reproduce, and publish Entries submitted without payment of any compensation or consideration to any Entrant or any other person or entity (except the prizes awarded to the Winners pursuant to these Official Rules There is no fucking prize!) on a worldwide basis in connection with advertising, promoting, publicizing or discussing the Contest. (It's the old Marvel Comics "No Prize". Spend your time making a One Page Dungeon Entry. You keep the copyright and can actually win a real prize for YOUR WORK)

Formatting issues are due to the way the contest rules were formatted - probably to make this very post and ones like it frustrating as all shit ;)

Purple Sorcerer is Adding 10 PDF Copies of it's Releases to the S&W Appreciation Day Gift Pool

+Jon Marr , also known as the main man behind Purple Sorcerer Games, is putting 5 PDF copies of The Ooze Pits of Jonas Gralk and 5 PDF copies of Perils of the Sunken City into the gift pool. While written for the DCC RPG, Jon will be posting an article on how to use DCC adventures and resources in your Swords & Wizardry game.

Wow, let me figure out the current "gift basket" for the Swords & Wizardry Appreciation Day Blogfest on April 17th:

Frog God Games will be giving away a PDF copy of Monstrosities to the blog post deemed "the best of the blogfest by Matt, Chris and myself. You can also hit Frog God for snazzy graphics to show your support of the S&W Appreciation Day.

Spes Magna Games is giving away a $10 RPGNow gift certificate to a random participating blog.

+Tim Shorts of Gothridge Manor will be giving away 5 copies of his zine, The Manor. You'll need to hit his blog on the 17th for details. Heck, hit it before then, it's a damn good blog (as are os The Manor)

I'm throwing in 1 $10 gift certificate and 3 $5 gift certificates to random participating blogs. As we have surpassed 100 participating blogs, I'll also be throwing in 2 $5 gift certificates to random commenters on the S&W Appreciation Day blogpost that goes up on this blog on the 17th. If the winning commenters are also members of the 2,000 Coppers G+ Community, I'll double their gift to a value of $10.

Add in the Purple Sorcerer stuff, and it's an amazing "gift basket" which I expect to grow a bit further yet.

List of Participating Blogs (107):