Cyber Monday Sale at RPGNow is Live - Five Buck Bargains

Yep, RPGNow / DriveThruRPG went live with their Cyber Monday Sales.

My 5 buck picks?

The Traveller Main Rulebook - it's an excellent deal at 5 bucks and you might actually survive character generation with this edition ;)

A Song for Fire and Ice - Game of Thrones Edition - it says Game of Thrones on the tin. 'nuff said.

CthulhuTech - because sci-fi CoC is just what the doctor ordered

OSR Christmas 2014 - Reaching Insane Levels of Holiday Cheer - Kicks Off on December 1st (Oh Sh!t - That's Tomorrow!)

Yes, Christmas Holiday OSR Goodness kicks off tomorrow. What's it going to be? I have no idea, as we are still getting in some amazingly generous gifts. If this keeps up, there may be some bonus days snuck into the 12 days of OSR Christmas.

So, what's new to the list of Christmas Gift Giving Generosity?

- Rob Kuntz's The Original Bottle City adventure, reprinted by Black Blade this past summer;

- Rob Kuntz's Cairn of the Skeleton King adventure, originally published by Rob's Pied Piper Publishing imprint, now out of print;

- Rob Kuntz's Tower of Blood adventure, originally published by Rob's Pied Piper Publishing imprint, now out of print;

- Rob Kuntz's and Lance Hawvermale's Campaign Treasuries supplement, originally published by Rob's Pied Piper Publishing imprint, now out of print.

The above is being donated by +Jon Hershberger and Black Blade Publishing. Jon will ship the above anywhere in the world on Black Blade's dime, so unless Jon tells me otherwise, this is a bundle of Holiday Cheer ;)

But wait, there's more!

- TWO sets of Dyson's Delves Volume I+II in Print (softcover) +Dyson Logos

- 3 PDF copies of Adventurous Locations I - The Broken Tower donated by +Anthony Hunter

- 1 full set of The Undercroft zine, shipping anywhere in the world donated by +Daniel Sell

- 3 sets of Dungeonmorph Dice (Adventurer, Explorer & Spellunker) as a bundle sent pretty much anywhere in the world. Donated by +Joe Wetzel

- two copies of the elite and very rare "A Collection of Presentations, Cartographical in Nature" donated by +matt jackson

- Print copies of Cryptworld and Timemaster donated by +Tim Snider and Goblinoid Games, as a bundle shipped anywhere in the world

- a complete set of The Manor zine in PDF, donated by by +Tim Shorts

If I've missed anything (and I probably have) let me know at tenkarsDOTtavernATgmailDOTcom. Tuesday is the last day to add to Santa's Bag of Holding ;)

and of course the previously donated loot:

- Peril and Plunder in Print donated by Jeff Carpenter

- Attack of the Frawgs (PDF), Haunting of Larvik Island (PDF), Stronghold of the Wood Giant Shaman (PDF) donated by +Stephen Newton (yes, more DCC RPG goodness)

- 2 PDF copies of the complete Straycouches collection (Crawl! and other goodies) and one Print copy of said collection donated by +Dak Ultimak

- Complete PDF Collection of Spes Magna Games releases by +Mark Chance

- A Guide to the Astral Plane (AD&D Planescape) and The Glory of Rome Campaign Sourcebook(AD&D Historical Reference) - Print copies of these TSR Classics again donated by +Mark Chance

- free commissioned piece of artwork (a4, b/w, old school styled) donated by +m foczka , a sample of whose work graces this post above

- First Sentinel Limited & One of the last Whisper & Venom boxed sets donated by Lesser Gnome Games - +Zach Glazar IS The Man. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

- Hard copy of Trolls of Mistwood (DCC) by +David Fisher

- A PDF copy of The Caves of Ortok (choose between LL, S&W, or OSRIC)

- A PDF copy of Bearing A Grudge (choose between LL, S&W, or OSRIC)

- A PDF copy of the Noh-Cha Classbook

- A sub to Issues 1-6 of Another Bunch of Content in PDF (the above donated by Infinibadger Press +Jason Paul McCartan )

- Dyson's Delves Volume I + II donated by +Tony T

- An assortment of +Purple Duck Games  DCC Adventures in print (they are in The Tavern's Prize Closet - need to verify what is in there)

- 1 set of print copies of Crawling Under a Broken Moon DCC fanzine (print) +Reid San Filippo

- PDF copy of the Sunken City Omnibus (DCC) +Jon Marr

- a complete set of Crawljammer (DCC) (print) +Tim Callahan

- Complete Vivimancer and the first issue of the new zine Wizardzine (print copies) +Gavin Norman

- Castle of the Mad Archmage books in softcover +Joseph Bloch

- 12 PDFs of Far Realms, 12 PDFs of Far Realms - More Spells and 1 print version of Far Realms(holy crap if I must say so myself ;) +Rick Stump

- print copy of the S&W Player's Companion, signed +James Spahn

- PDF copy of the LL Class Compendium +James Spahn

- some gems from The Tavern's vaults (my wife is making me downsize my collection, even as I upsize it ;)

Free OSR Product of the Week - The Basic Illusionist (Swords & Wizardry)

First released around the time of the 2013 Swords & Wizardry Appreciation Day, The Basic Illusionist adds the overlooked Illusionist class to S&W. It is a well designed class and an excellent addition to your S&W (or most any OSR) campaign. It was just recently released on RPGNow.

From the blurb:

The Basic Illusionist is a 34-page sourcebook for illusions and illusionists in Swords & Wizardry and other OSR-style games. Everything you need to play or GM an illusionist is included in one book.

The Basic Illusionist includes:

the illusionist class;

the montebank class variant;

types of illusions and their effects;

guidelines for running illusions for both players and GMs;

156 illusion spells of levels 1-9 in Swords & Wizardry format, including nearly every illusion spell from First and Second Edition and a selection of new OSR spells from more recent sources;

conditions, or disadvantages, revised for the Swords & Wizardry ruleset;

two illusion-related monsters, the psyche fungi and the piscidine, and the imago creature template for Swords & Wizardry and other OSR-style games.

From The Basic Illusionist FAQ:

Q - What is the most important thing to know about this book?

A – This book is not what it might seem. First and foremost, this is a book of choices. Great pains have been taken to not create new rules, restrictions, or requirements. Adding this book to your current OSR game should not make it more complex or cause your Referee to develop many more headaches or involuntary tics than usual.

The Basic Illusionist is an OGL product and 100% Open Game Content.

OSR Christmas 2014 - More is More Better - Santa is Gonna Need a Second Bag of Holding - Interdimensional Space is Bursting!

Holy crap! You don't realize how many email addresses you have until you start missing things.

+Dyson Logos is adding TWO sets of Dyson's Delves Volume I+II in Print (softcover.) This and the OSR ruleset of your choice could literally give you a lifetime of gaming (assuming normal human lifespan.)

There has to be an Android App for tracking this stuff ;)

I'm heading to the pub for a beer now...

(quick reminder - Tuesday is the last day to add to Santa's Bag - email tenkarsDOTtavernATgmailDOTcom if you have something you wish to add - use OSR Christmas in the subject)

Santa's OSR Gift Bag is bursting at the seams. We'll need to upgrade his Bag of Holding.

I've got more to add to the list of donated goodies, but before I do, I want to give an overview on how this should work. No guarantees about the time table - I've already been told Dec 1st thru 3rd is "no excusals" at work along with the possibility to mobilized for potential protests. So, what follows is "the plan". The plan may or may not work out. We'll see.

Starting December 1st and following every other day in December, there will be an OSR Christmas Post. Each post will be labeled in some vague way to hint at the gifts up for grabs and will state wether the gifts are international or US only. PDF gifts are international and many of the donators of physical products are willing to ship internationally (if you don't already realize, international shipping outside of the states is akin to highway robbery these days.) A post may mix PDF and physical gifts, but it is either all or nothing when it comes to international availability - I won't be mixing PDFs and US only shipping on a given post.

When the post goes up you'll have at least 24 hours to add a comment and put yourself into the mix. Only one comment per post please. Post may go up early in the morning, mid afternoon, in the evening - it will vary. In any case, they will be open for comments for at least 24 hrs. The post will be closed to new comments when I make the announcement on the post. Sometime shortly thereafter, a post will go up listing the lucky gift recipients.

Remember, many of the gift givers are publishers freely giving their wares to members of our community. So them some love :)

- TWO sets of Dyson's Delves Volume I+II in Print (softcover) +Dyson Logos

- Peril and Plunder in Print donated by Jeff Carpenter

- Attack of the Frawgs (PDF), Haunting of Larvik Island (PDF), Stronghold of the Wood Giant Shaman (PDF) donated by +Stephen Newton (yes, more DCC RPG goodness)

- 2 PDF copies of the complete Straycouches collection (Crawl! and other goodies) and one Print copy of said collection donated by +Dak Ultimak

- Complete PDF Collection of Spes Magna Games releases by +Mark Chance

- A Guide to the Astral Plane (AD&D Planescape) and The Glory of Rome Campaign Sourcebook (AD&D Historical Reference) - Print copies of these TSR Classics again donated by +Mark Chance

and of course the rest of the list:

- free commissioned piece of artwork (a4, b/w, old school styled) donated by +m foczka , a sample of whose work graces this post above

- First Sentinel Limited & One of the last Whisper & Venom boxed sets donated by Lesser Gnome Games - +Zach Glazar IS The Man. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

- Hard copy of Trolls of Mistwood (DCC) by +David Fisher

- A PDF copy of The Caves of Ortok (choose between LL, S&W, or OSRIC)

- A PDF copy of Bearing A Grudge (choose between LL, S&W, or OSRIC)

- A PDF copy of the Noh-Cha Classbook

- A sub to Issues 1-6 of Another Bunch of Content in PDF (the above donated by Infinibadger Press +Jason Paul McCartan )

- Dyson's Delves Volume I + II donated by +Tony T

- An assortment of +Purple Duck Games  DCC Adventures in print (they are in The Tavern's Prize Closet - need to verify what is in there)

- 1 set of print copies of Crawling Under a Broken Moon DCC fanzine (print) +Reid San Filippo

- PDF copy of the Sunken City Omnibus (DCC) +Jon Marr

- a complete set of Crawljammer (DCC) (print) +Tim Callahan

- Complete Vivimancer and the first issue of the new zine Wizardzine (print copies) +Gavin Norman

- Castle of the Mad Archmage books in softcover +Joseph Bloch

- 12 PDFs of Far Realms, 12 PDFs of Far Realms - More Spells and 1 print version of Far Realms(holy crap if I must say so myself ;) +Rick Stump

- print copy of the S&W Player's Companion, signed +James Spahn

- PDF copy of the LL Class Compendium +James Spahn

- some gems from The Tavern's vaults (my wife is making me downsize my collection, even as I upsize it ;)

OSR Christmas 2014 - More is More Better - It's a Good Thing Santa's Bag is a Bag of Holding - Upgrading to New "Larger" Size

Santa's OSR Gift Bag is bursting at the seams. We'll need to upgrade his Bag of Holding.

I've got more to add to the list of donated goodies, but before I do, I want to give an overview on how this should work. No guarantees about the time table - I've already been told Dec 1st thru 3rd is "no excusals" at work along with the possibility to mobilized for potential protests. So, what follows is "the plan". The plan may or may not work out. We'll see.

Starting December 1st and following every other day in December, there will be an OSR Christmas Post. Each post will be labeled in some vague way to hint at the gifts up for grabs and will state wether the gifts are international or US only. PDF gifts are international and many of the donators of physical products are willing to ship internationally (if you don't already realize, international shipping outside of the states is akin to highway robbery these days.) A post may mix PDF and physical gifts, but it is either all or nothing when it comes to international availability - I won't be mixing PDFs and US only shipping on a given post.

When the post goes up you'll have at least 24 hours to add a comment and put yourself into the mix. Only one comment per post please. Post may go up early in the morning, mid afternoon, in the evening - it will vary. In any case, they will be open for comments for at least 24 hrs. The post will be closed to new comments when I make the announcement on the post. Sometime shortly thereafter, a post will go up listing the lucky gift recipients.

Remember, many of the gift givers are publishers freely giving their wares to members of our community. So them some love :)

- Peril and Plunder in Print donated by Jeff Carpenter

- Attack of the Frawgs (PDF), Haunting of Larvik Island (PDF), Stronghold of the Wood Giant Shaman (PDF) donated by +Stephen Newton (yes, more DCC RPG goodness)

- 2 PDF copies of the complete Straycouches collection (Crawl! and other goodies) and one Print copy of said collection donated by +Dak Ultimak

- Complete PDF Collection of Spes Magna Games releases by +Mark Chance

- A Guide to the Astral Plane (AD&D Planescape) and The Glory of Rome Campaign Sourcebook (AD&D Historical Reference) - Print copies of these TSR Classics again donated by +Mark Chance

and of course the rest of the list:

- free commissioned piece of artwork (a4, b/w, old school styled) donated by +m foczka , a sample of whose work graces this post above

- First Sentinel Limited & One of the last Whisper & Venom boxed sets donated by Lesser Gnome Games - +Zach Glazar IS The Man. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

- Hard copy of Trolls of Mistwood (DCC) by +David Fisher

- A PDF copy of The Caves of Ortok (choose between LL, S&W, or OSRIC)

- A PDF copy of Bearing A Grudge (choose between LL, S&W, or OSRIC)

- A PDF copy of the Noh-Cha Classbook

- A sub to Issues 1-6 of Another Bunch of Content in PDF (the above donated by Infinibadger Press +Jason Paul McCartan )

- Dyson's Delves Volume I + II donated by +Tony T

- An assortment of +Purple Duck Games  DCC Adventures in print (they are in The Tavern's Prize Closet - need to verify what is in there)

- 1 set of print copies of Crawling Under a Broken Moon DCC fanzine (print) +Reid San Filippo

- PDF copy of the Sunken City Omnibus (DCC) +Jon Marr

- a complete set of Crawljammer (DCC) (print) +Tim Callahan

- Complete Vivimancer and the first issue of the new zine Wizardzine (print copies) +Gavin Norman

- Castle of the Mad Archmage books in softcover +Joseph Bloch

- 12 PDFs of Far Realms, 12 PDFs of Far Realms - More Spells and 1 print version of Far Realms(holy crap if I must say so myself ;) +Rick Stump

- print copy of the S&W Player's Companion, signed +James Spahn

- PDF copy of the LL Class Compendium +James Spahn

- some gems from The Tavern's vaults (my wife is making me downsize my collection, even as I upsize it ;)

Black Friday OSR Sales Update #7 - 5 Buck Treats at RPGNow and some Frawgs

Apparently the email from OneBookShelf arrived at 1141 this morning - I just read it. You would think they would send an email out to affiliates and reviewers the night before to give folks a heads up on upcoming sales.

Nope.

Anyhow, there is apparently a Black Friday / Cyber Monday promotion going on:

Let me point out my "5 Buck Highlights:

13th Age - Considered by many to be the "true" 5th edition of D&D

The Strange - Numenera set on a strange earth. Tempting at 5 bucks

Complete Kobold Guide to Game Design - the Kobold stuff is usually pretty good. I think I have this from a Bundle of Holding - if not, I'll be dropping the 5 bucks

But where's my OSR goodness you might say?

Thick Skull Adventure's PDF DCC RPG modules are 40% off, meaning they are on sale for $2.99 each.

Now to work on the OSR Christmas Update post...

Far West Fiasco - Infinity Squared - Preorder the PDF for $24.95

Holy Fucking Fucktards Batman!

Far West has proceeded to jump the Sharka.

Yes, you can preprder the PDF of Far West, the Kickstarted RPG that will only be 3 years late in December of 2014. I feel a need to mention a year, because the page for the PDF mentions a December release but no year. That's probably wise, as it's missed three Decembers already. 2015 anyone?

The preorder is $24.95 for the PDF. Just think, if you had backed the Kickstarter three years ago, it would have only cost you $10 to hold the same nothing in your hand.

Now, why anyone would preorder a PDF is beyond me. Why anyone would preorder a PDF of a Kickstarter 3 years late requires a whole new level of consciousness that escapes me. Add a 25 dollar price tag and lead balloons have a better chance of floating to the moon than this preorder has of raising cash.

Did I mention that this overdue Kickstarter and some other overdue RPG Kickstarter are exchanging free PDFs with their backers. I hope you like vaping, because you've now doubled your vaporware.

Before anyone accuses me of being too negative, the cover looks awesome. Shame the same can't be said for the bulk of the backer portraits, but this is the type of art I was backing for. This is what brought me into the Kickstarter. Shame it's turned into a nightmare for the backers and Sharka.