Apparently I Used to Paint Minis & Why are All of my Skeletons ALL Missing an Arm?

 Rach had me doing some major cleaning today. actually, not so much cleaning as Marriage Archeology 101 - I dug through drawers and such of my clutter that hadn't been touched for years PRIOR to our marriage in 2011. Yes, I put this off for over 5 years AND STILL completed the project faster than Gareth.

Sadly, my skellies all seem to have lost their weapons as well as the arms attached to such. These are Games Worksop plastic minis and I guess the glue didn't hold up over time.

Painting all ended in the summer of 1996 and many of these minis are in various stages of painting (or lack there off) I think I do need to return to the hobby.

Apparently Someone Forgot to Set their Lunar Clock - Another Month of Silence On Far West (Oh, and another missed delivery)

So, here we are, three weeks into 2017.

We were supposed to get "something" by the end of 2016. Never happened.

Of course, I could set my watch by Gareth's failed deliver dates. So long as I was using a lunar standard.

Here's the link to file a complaint with the Attorney General in Kansas.

http://ag.ks.gov/file-a-complaint/complaint-center

And now, a musical interlude by Kansas:

How long? How Long? How long to the point of no return...

Looking at Swords & Wizardry Monstrosities from a "Light" Eye and Forthcoming Content

Ogre by Eric Quigly

I was a backer of the Swords & Wizardry 3rd Printing Kickstarter at the "I Want All of the Swords &Wizardry Shit in Existence" level, even if I have much of it in print. Just filling my holes made the idea of getting it all something I could not pass up on.

I already have Monstrosities in print- its a great book with a seemingly endless source of monsters for your S&W / Old School game. It took until tonight when I downloaded the PDF for me to realize, or at least remember, that each entry has a short encounter or scenario attached to it. Pure. Fucking. Genius.

Its both a seed to growing into a larger adventure as well as an instant filler for the moments in between adventures. In the hands of a skilled DM, some of these encounters can morph into a night of gaming with minutes of prep. Or no prep at all ;)

Ghoul by Storn Cook

So, what does this have to do with Swords & Wizardry Light?

After this weekend I should have some free time on the creative side of things. What I'd like to do is an encounter / small adventure for each creature in the Swords & Wizardry Light release. Examples for the new GM as to how to use the creatures in question. I'd post them here at The Tavern and put the final product out as a PDF.

Other creatures / monsters from the OGL can be added later and new creatures can be added to the mix.

These aren't one sheets so much as a couple on a sheet. Kinda. Sorta.

So, the question becomes... which creature do I start with?

ConManKen - Pick Axe Savior Short - A Role Made for Ken

Every Savior has a Story by #ConManKen. Wait, I use the #ConManKen hashtag too liberally? Lets refer to the hashtag expert:

Fuck! The hashtags are longer than the post itself. Oh, BTW #TheWalkingDead

Still, I apologize. All this is delaying you from watching Ken in the role built for him: a homicidal, brutish man of minimal intellect. At at least he didn't have to reach too far inside himself to find inspiration. BTW, it says "Six Comments" over on Youtube but I don't actually see any. It also appears you can't like it or dislike it at Youtube, but I could be wrong.

Marcus gets an axe to his head and Ken's wife stabs him in the gut and he likes it.

Fuck me! Blogger uploaded it twice and I can't delete the extra.

Don't watch it twice! I implore you!

WotC Won't be at GenCon 50 - But Will be at GaryCon 2017 (and others)

It seems really strange that WotC's DnD division / staff / team / last men standing won't be at the 50th GenCon this year. I know they've been distancing themselves from GenCon for a while, but this is the 50th one after all and it has some significance (aside from being the largest gaming convention in the world)

Here's the list of the cons WotC WILL be officially attending:

PAX SOUTH
January 27-29
Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center
900 E Market St.
San Antonio, TX

WINTER FANTASY
February 1-5
Grand Wayne Convention Center
120 West Jefferson Blvd
Fort Wayne, IN

PAX EAST
March 10 -12
Boston Convention & Exhibition Center
415 Summer Street
Boston, MA

GARY CON
March 23-26
Grand Geneva Resort & Spa
7036 Grand Geneva Way
Lake Geneva, WI

ORIGINS
June 14-18
Greater Columbus Convention Center
400 N High Street
Columbus, OH

PAX WEST
September 1-4
Washington State Convention Center
800 Convention Place
Seattle, WA

HASCON
September 9-10
Rhode Island Convention Center & Dunkin Donuts Center
1 La Salle Square & 1 Sabin St
Providence, RI

GAMEHOLE CON
November 2-5
Alliant Energy Center Exhibition Hall
1919 Alliant Energy Center Way
Madison, WI

I should be at two of these myself - Gary Con and Gamehole Con. Interestingly, HasCon is all about Hasbro properties. Time to play My Little Pony ;)

Tavern Chat - Tonight - 9 PM Eastern - Be There or Be Not

Yep, its Wednesday, so that means another Tavern Chat tonight at 9 PM Eastern.

What is Tavern Chat? Its that chat box on the right side of this page where readers of The Tavern get to converse via chat every Wednesday night.

What are the topics? Whatever we damn well please ;)

Join us. You never know who may pop in. Seriously. You never know...

Updated Swords & Wizardry Light PDF With Corrections & Clarifications Available for Download - High Res and Low Res

A HUGE thanks goes out to +Zach Glazar for updating the Swords & Wizardry Light PDF (both High Res and Low Res versions) with the edits, corrections and clarifications pointed out by the community.

Consider this version 1.01. Somehow I suspect there will be a minor tweak or two still to be found before we can consider this the "Gold Copy" or whatnot ;)

FYI, the High Res version of SWL was been reduced in size by about 10 MB, so over a third. to 17.5 MB. If your tablet had problems with the snazzier version before, the updated file may work better than its predecessor.

The Low Res version of SWL comes in at 3.9 MB.

As for the notable changes / corrections / clarifications:

- Starting weaponry was added to the M-U description

- Hit Dice (HD) are defined under the heading of Constitution (as a high constitution grants a bonus to the HD roll)

- The Combat Table was corrected to follow the advancement of the Fighter's BAB as detailed in the fighter's description

- Corrected the spelling of my name in the copyright ;)

- Other typos / spacing / etc

You can grab the updated PDFs as well as the Word file from here: http://bit.ly/2eHQNZw

(you do know its free, right? ;)

Roll20 Hits the 2 Million Player Mark

Roll20 has hit the 2 million player mark and then some. I was an early backer of the Roll20 Kickstarter, and truth be told, I was a little nervous with the initial release. While I wasn't asking for much, even some basic things as drawing tools were borked.

Flash ahead a bit over 4 1/2 years and not only has Roll20 become my Virtual Table Top (VTT) of choice, but that of over 2 million other players. Pretty impressive. Actually, it was my VTT of choice even with the initial quirks as the potential was just that good.

I've used MapTools, Klooge, ScreenMonkey, Fantasy Grounds 1 & 2 and a handful of other VTTs that have come and gone over the last 10 years or so and none have come close to the usability of Roll20 for me. The learning curve is small and the depth is huge.

As I've said elsewhere, I'm very much a minimalist when it comes to running my games online but there are a few features I absolutely need: online die roller, chat and fog of war (we use a third party app for voice and video usually) for my game map. Everything else is optional and not needed for my use (you milage and needs may vary). The scalability of the features in Roll20 is probably its strongest asset.

Which reminds me, now that we've resurrected the once a month "B" Team its probably time to bring back the Saturday Night Team, now with a "Lighter" Swords & Wizardry ;)

Kickstarter - Star Hat Miniatures: Delvers Lost in the Dungeons of Doom! 2 (Get Your "Tenkar the Warrior Barkeep" Mini)

Star Hat Miniatures: Delvers Lost in the Dungeons of Doom! 2



You know you want one. Or many.

Yep, I'm talking about your very own "Tenkar the Warrior Barkeep" miniature. Beer mug in one hand, beer cask cradled in his other arm and a bitchin' battle axe strapped to his back. Because even though beer is a priority, you need to be prepared for all situations.

Yes, the mini was made to my specifications. Darcy is amazing at the back and forth needed to get a vision like this right and my God, he did an excellent job. I owe you big time good sir, as to the readers of The Tavern. He's about 8 bucks on his own plus shipping.



Did I mention there is also a HUGE St. Andre Troll available too? Based on the creator of a certain game that goes by the initials T&T.

Oh, I'm in at $70 USC. Everything included the troll ;)

Quick Updates - 1200+ & 2300+

Over the past few days we've hit a few milestones and I figured I'd share them. I find them very gratifying as well as humbling.

Over the weekend we surpassed 1200 members in The Tavern's Facebook Community. For a community that didn't even exist even 14 months ago, I find that number to be stunning. Thank you all. I've enjoyed watching it grow from just my posts to an active community of posters and commenters. Its ALIVE! heh

Tonight we surpassed 2300 downloads for Swords & Wizardry Light. That's in addition to the hundreds of physical copies given away at Gamehole, 700 or so copies sent out with the Bard's Gate Kickstarter and hundreds more arriving with the Swords & Wizardry Complete 3rd Printing Kickstarter. And we ain't done yet. Zach, James and I have plans... as do others. Its fun. Its scary. Its scary fun!

Alright, three straight days of uncle duties are wrapping up. I need a drink ;)

Kickstarter - Life of the Party: The Realities of an RPG'er - Humorous RPG Comic

Usually I'd assume its depicting +Tim Shorts , but he avoided Natural 1's last Friday Night ;)

Time to peek at a sweet looking Kickstarter that  mocks the very game we love.

Yep, I'm talking about Life of the Party: The Realities of an RPG'er, an online comic strip releasing a printed collection.

It had a goal of $7k. It has currently surpassed $38k and still has 4 week of funding left. Stretch goals have added pages of content, a switch to hardcover and more in the pipeline.

I don't know about you, but I get a Calvin & Hobbes feel from the art, which I do like.

$10 for the PDF, $22 for Print plus PDF, $35 for Print plus PDF plus sketch - which is where I'm at. There are other, higher backer levels, but for me, $35 is the sweet point.

New Year, New Game! Sale at RPGNow - Bundles 40-58% Off - Nearly 1,000 Releases 20% Off

There's a sale going on at RPGNow - the New Year, New Game! Sale.

First off, we have bundles of Doctor Who, A Song of Ice and Fire, stars Without Number, Mummy: The Curse, Scarred Lands and Ashen Stars. You can see the "Starter" bundles here.

Then we have nearly a 1,000 other releases on sale for 20% off. White Star, DCC RPG, Crypts and Thing, Starships & Spacemen, Apes Victorious and others.

Here's the link for items tagged specifically as OSR, but its a limited selection that is properly tagged.

Remember, all purchases using The Tavern's OBS affiliate links puts 5% of your purchase price into The Tavern's coffers. Don't leave that money on the table for the greedy corps! Tip your barman!  ;)