Swords & Wizardry Super Bundle - Over $300 in S&W PDFs for $25 ($5 and $13 bundles too)

Wow. So yeah, the 5e Humble Bundle was very nice but the Swords & Wizardry Super Bundle from the Frogs is damn sweet too. I do think I already own it all in print and PDF though ;)

Here's what you get for 5 bucks ($106 retail) Tier 1:

Quests of Doom 1 - retail $30.00
The Borderlands Provinces - retail $14.00
Tome of Horrors 4 - retail $17.00
The Mother of All Encounter Tables - retail $20.00
Rogues of Remballo - retail $5.00
Adventures in the Borderlands -$17.00

At 13 bucks you get to add (another $65 retail) Tier 2:

Monstrosities - retail $25.00
Quests of Doom 3 - retail $15.00
The Borderland Provinces Gazetteer - $5.00
The Borderland Provinces Players Guide - $5.00
The Borderland Provinces Journey Generator - $5.00
Strange Bedfellows - $10.00

25 bucks adds the rest (another $142 retail) Tier 3:

Digital Maps - retail $20.00
Hex Crawl Chronicles Volumes 1-7 - retail $35.00
Chuck's Dragons - retail $15.00
Swords and Wizardry Card Decks - retail $42.00
Tome of Horrors Complete - retail $30.00

If nothing else, 5 bucks gives you years of material for your Swords & Wizardry Campaign. Its also a very low cost buy in for the Lost Lands setting. 2018 will be a big year for the Lost Lands from what I hear.

Yes, I swim in the Frog's pond these days. Doesn't make this deal any less of a deal. Look at it this way - you could get Tome of Horrors Complete at a 5 buck discount and consider all of the rest a gift with purchase ;)

Dungeon Crawl Classics: RPG Starter Box (preorder) Rulebook, 7 adventures, more - Suggested Retail - 100 Bucks (or less)

God bless The Taverners. When multiple eyes are always checking in the nooks and crannies, you never know what they may find.

Here's the link to the DCC RPG Starter Box preorder

This limited-edition DCC RPG Starter Box is only available while supplies last! It includes a special edition of the DCC RPG core book, printed with gilded edges, thumb tabs, and a dust jacket. In addition, the boxed set contains 7 adventure modules, plus stickers, a character record folio, character sheets, and more. All is packaged in a sturdy corrugated cardboard box custom-printed with the DCC RPG logo. This is a complete "campaign in a box,"

Suggested retail is $100. Preorder through above is $70.

I find nothing about it on the Goodman Games site.

I'm Swimming In Emails - OSR Santa Needs a Holiday

Alright, to the best of my knowledge, all of the outstanding OSR Christmas emails have been addressed / forwarded / SWCL ordered / etc. I say to the best of my knowledge as it is possible someone / something was missed.

There are some unclaimed gifts. Gifts still unclaimed as of January 12th, 2018 will be forfeited. Sorry, OSR Santa can be a biatch at times.

Frog God gift recipients will be having their info forwarded this weekend.

I have one thing to mail out that is not coming from Amazon - that will require a trip to the post office. That will be in the later half of next week. I'll need to dig my car out (no mail deliver the past 2 days)

If you haven't received an email from me AND your gift isnt coming from the Frogs, email me again. Damn, I probably should check the spam folder.

Now, on to reviews this weekend, as I'll be mostly stuck home with a foot plus of plowed snow keeping my car in place and single digit temperatures keeping my travels very close to home ;)

Matt Finch interviews Wolfgang Baur - Midgard Setting for S&W Officially Announced

I've been following Kobold Press since before the now defunct Kobold Quarterly. They were an early innovator of crowdfunding and its exciting to see their Midgard setting getting a Swords & Wizardry Guidebook (PDF is $5 for the PDF and $15 for the softcover - use this link and go to the bottom of the page if you are interested in placing an order - https://midgard-campaign-setting-dark-roads-and-deep-magic.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders )

Release is set for March 2017 2018 (damn year change)

Oh, the interview with Wolfgang is pretty good too ;)

If you missed it, Matt and my conversation is linked to the left... hint... hint

State of The Tavern - Snow, Emails, Videos and More

The Tavern was hit with about 12" of snow yesterday, not including drifting snow with the high winds for the storm that wasn't officially a blizzard. The side of the street I'm parked on is the side the plows pushed the snow. With single digit temps in the forecast, I don't expect to dig my car out until the first half of next week. I owe a physical copy the Midderlands from OSR Christmas - at best it will ship Wednesday, maybe later in the week. I don't fair well in sub zero wind chills. Call me a sissy :)

I am almost caught up on emails from OSR Christmas but not fully. Yesterday was lost to snow and shoveling (and sleeping until 1135 AM this morning due to - shoveling) My niece is off from school and is here - and staying the night. Hopefully emails are caught up tonight after she goes to bed. I'm working on this post in the midst of "uncleing" ;)

There are plans to kick off a fairly regular video series. There are certain releases - +Rob Conley 's CSIO maps is a perfect example - that really need more than just a text post to do them justice. I'm hoping to kick that off this weekend. Lets see if "Pinky" cooperates.

I've got plans for The Tavern in 2018 and more video posting is just a small part of that. I'd like to get an active series of guest posters (each once a week or so) and things are in the works but there is no time frame to kick it off. When its ready, its ready.

Alright. Back to uncleing. Duty calls...

What Exactly Happened to Remove The RPGPundit's Latest Release from RPGNow?

In case you missed it, the RPGPundit's Lion & Dragon RPG got delisted and then re-listed at RPGNow, initially losing is "Copper" seller status, issuing it a new link and certainly losing its place on the Best Sellers list (currently at #28 - it was Top 10 prior.) You can read the Pundit's post on it here.

So, what happened?

According to The Pundit, OBS said when The Pundit's publisher uploaded the file to be published, there was  "some kind of an 'error'." They said 'the system' mistook some prototype page for the real page we'd been using all month, and that now it couldn't be switched back and the old page was lost.
At first they gave us a new page with no pdf option, without our copper status. After some gentle shouting and threats on my part, they restored the copper button."

I've only uploaded three products to OBS's servers for sale. As far as I know, there is only one way to do it. Assuming that is the case, it wasn't an error on the publisher's part but on the end of OBS.

Question - Has this happened with other publishers? Has this happened to you?

Now, The Pundit thinks this was an act of intentional sabotage over his anti-censorship stance. If you are going to go that route, you may as well throw in his right wing political stances into the mix too. I don't see the evidence for either. Not saying The Pundit is wrong, I just don't see the hard evidence.

There IS some hard evidence to take from this and The Pundit made the observation himself:

They restored my copper bestseller status (though now that we know they can fiddle with the numbers who's to say that they won't be secretly keeping me from reaching Silver or higher, or for that matter that games that have reached to high positions like that got a "little help" for being ideologically correct??) - emphasis mine

I've already asked OBS in the past about certain sales numbers and rankings I felt didn't add up. Their answer was plausible but this observation from the Pundit is making me think. Its certainly something to keep an eye on.

Yep, that's an affiliate link above. Keep the taps flowing here at The Tavern with your patronage.

Reminder - Tavern Chat - 9PM Eastern - Welcome to the Year 2018

New Year. More Chat!

Tonight is the first Tavern Chat of 2018.

When: 9 PM Eastern

Where: The Tenkar's Channel Discord Channel
https://discord.gg/fReGmuD

I'm thinking of adding an off time once a month Tavern Chat to accommodate those that that work off hours - Europe - Aussies and Kiwis. Weekdays of weekends? Let me know.

And if you somehow can't get enough of your favorite bartender, watch myself and +matt finch discuss all things OSR...

Almost Caught Up with OSR Christmas - Almost

This morning I started emailing folks that are receiving  gifts as well as gift givers from the 12th Day of OSR Christmas (and days 11, 10, 9 and some others) - Hopefully I'll get to the rest later this afternoon. +Pete Spahn , I probably filled your email box ;)

Note, if you are receiving a gift from Frog God Games, Zach is on vacation this week - info will be forwarded this weekend.

Thanks to all for your patience.

Tenkar

So, ConManKen DID NOT Buy a Store? Color Me NOT Surprised

With the New Year the entertainment from #ConManKen is simply priceless, Well, Marcus the Enabler is certainly skilled too and together they are simply gold.

Gotta love it when Marcus expects the blowback right from the start.

Remember when Marcus was going to sell close his second location at the end of last July?

Then Marcus decided to sell it instead (after clearing dead inventory from both store and selling it as clearance in the soon to close store - allegedly)

Then Ken bought the store...

for no money down at that. Little Monster is the new name of the store under Ken's watch - I mean ownership - or is it simply management?

See, look at the first screenshot. "He (Ken Whitman) is the manager of a store in Kentucky" - emphasis is mine. The follow up to that screenshot is priceless as Ken's rep is apparently well known and hasn't gotten better with age (i have more screenshots), but I'm more concerned that Marcus would attempt to add Ken to a Facebook Group for hobby store owners and yet introduce Ken as a manager.

It brings up some interesting questions:

Who REALLY owns Little Monster?

Who actually runs Little Monster?

Did Marcus retain defacto control of the shop when he "sold" it to Ken for "no money down"?

If Ken doesn't own the shop, why make it look like he does?

What are the tax implications?

RPGNow Deal of the Day - Bard's Gate (5e - Frog God Games)

Let me give you a small piece of inside information on Bard's Gate. Your humble bartender was approached to write a small entry for an establishment that would have effectively been Tenkar's Tavern. While I agreed without hesitation, the events in my personal life at the time (especially my impending retirement and crazy work hours) kept me from accomplishing what was needed. Who do you turn to in such a predicament? None other than +James Spahn . So, when you read the entry for what is effectively Tenkar's Tavern, know who it was that pulled my butt from the fire...

Oh, needless to say I think its one of the best Frog God releases ever, and I have nearly all and there are few that aren't readily available on my nearby desk shelf, waiting to be used or referenced. It has nothing to do with The Tavern being within the city walls. Well, maybe a wee nit ;)

There are also a crap ton of Easter Eggs within for those that know personas in the gaming community, past and present. NPCs, locations, streets - many names will look familiar and even their placement often has a hidden meaning.

Anyway, today's RPGNow Deal of the Day is for the 5e PDF of Bard's Gate. Currently $100 for the Print version and $40 for the PDF version at the Frog God Store, for the next 24 hours (well, slightly less as I'm typing this) you can snag the 5e PDF of Bard's Gate for $8.04 at RPGNow.

Can you use this readily with an OSR ruleset? I think so. I find setting material to be easier to convert on the fly than adventures (and i convert those on the fly too, so maybe I am not the one to talk ;)

City of the Lyre  

Established centuries ago as little more than a ferry for travelers between the ancient cities of Tsen in the north and Remenos and Curgantium in the west, over the years Bard’s Gate has grown from a small river crossing tended by a pig farmer into an important center of learning and trade. The city is famed far and wide as a bastion of the arts that welcomes bards, performers, writers, artists and crafters of all sorts. It is a beacon of civilization and a pillar of the western world.Yet this citadel of enlightenment is also threatened by dark forces — gnolls and orcs from the Stoneheart Mountains, cults of evil gods lurking within and without, and the machinations of rivals and allies alike threaten the city daily, for the very freedom that draws artists and musicians from around the world also allows evil to flourish.  

City of Adventures  

While Bard’s Gate serves as a cornerstone for The Lost Lands, it is also a fully-developed fantasy city that can be used in any campaign. A wide range of businesses and shops, churches and temples, homes, taverns, inns and other locations are described in detail, ready made for your ease of use. Bard’s Gate is filled with unique NPCs, from the most influential leaders and wealthiest merchants on high to the lowliest beggar living in the gutter.After a decade of playability, with the associated stories, tall tales, lies, and legends, Frog God Games presents you with the updated and reimagined The Lost Lands: Bard’s Gate. In striking full-color, and more than doubling the size of the original, The Lost Lands: Bard’s Gate details hundreds of individual locations and NPCs, gives an overview of the Lyre Valley and a complete history of the city, and quadruples the number of adventures that were found in the original, raising the total to 8. The adventures contained within are suitable for player characters of 1st level to 10th and even beyond. More than 20 pages of random encounter tables and descriptions give additional unique opportunities to fine-tune the city to your tastes. The Lost Lands: Bard’s Gate is not just for The Lost Lands campaign setting, it is designed with enough flexibility to be used in any campaign. Whoever you may be, whether prince or pauper, if you are a seeker of adventure, Bard’s Gate welcomes you!

I swim in the Frog's Pond these days, but I'm barely a pollywog. James Spahn is a damn good friend of mine and not just because he pulled my ass from the fire. Neither makes this anything less than the amazing deal it is. Yes, that's an affiliate link above. Affiliate sales are the magic that keeps the taps flowing here at The Tavern.

Frog God Games Clearance Sale - Stoneheart Valley - Print plus PDF - $12.99 (S&W and PF)

New Year. New Sales.

Frog God Games has put Stoneheart Valley on sale for $12.99 in Print with the PDF included (choose between the Swords & Wizardry and Pathfinder versions - as if there truly is any choice ;)

Finally, welcome to the World of Necromancer Games! From Bill Webb and Clark Peterson's home campaign comes the old-school setting of The Lost Lands: Stoneheart Valley. For over a decade, fans of Necromancer Games and Frog God Games have been asking to see the world behind the adventures. And at long last, here is where it all began, in the Stoneheart Valley near the town of Fairhill. This mini-campaign was originally presented to the fans of Necromancer Games in three separate modules: "The Wizard's Amulet", "The Crucible of Freya", and "The Tomb of Abysthor". Frog God Games has taken the full series from the 3E version plus supplemental material previously available only online, and converted it all to the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game system and the Swords & Wizardry Complete ruleset. 

Weighing in at 192 pages for Pathfinder (retail $32.99), and 144 pages for the Swords & Wizardry Complete rules (retail $29.99), this new product is the first offering in The Lost Lands setting, coming from Frog God Games. Expanded, enhanced, and providing hours and hours of adventure, this hardbound book is intended for characters of levels 1-8 (and beyond), including dungeon, wilderness and city encounters.

Matt Finch Interviews Your's Truly for Old School Gaming Radio

I'm actually nervous sharing this. Not a lot nervous, just a little. You see, when I do podcasts, we have a general idea where the conversation is going to go and I am not the focus. With +Matt Finch I really didn't know where the conversation was going to go and i WAS the focus.

We did I have fun, that's for sure. I haven't watched it yet so I can't tell you whether it went well or not, but shit - it had Matt and that's about all a video needs to have for success.

Watch the video. Subscribe to the channel. Hit the website - Old School Gamer Radio. Tell Matt that "Tenkar sent you" ;)

Far West - Six Years Late and Still Not Done - Seven Months of Silence from Gareth (but not on Twitter)

Can you believe it? Six years have passed since Gareth's completion date for Far West. Six fucking years. I wish I had spent my $150 on something more useful, like a toilet paper / sand paper combo Kickstarter or some such.

Last Update from "an Icon in the RPG Industry?"

Weeks, months, years - really, what does it all mean when you tweet every day (and multiple tweets at that) but don't even attempt to live up to your financial obligations? Get your head out of the sand and man up Gareth!

Yeah, this is NOT the man I'd ever want to do business with in the future.

Now, about that pre-ordered Buckaroo Bonzai RPG I heard about...

The Tenkar's Tavern 2018 Predictions From the Privy Scrying Pool

Last day of 2017. Time to wake up the Grumpy Dwarf from his winter nap and lead him to the Tavern's Scrying Pool, complete with runoff from the privy. Ignore the floating feces please...

Look yass lazy bastitches - I know the first two are the same as last year - doesn't mean they wont come true yet again - Grumpy

1 - Far West WILL NOT RELEASE IN 2018! It will not release in a box. It will not release on a dock. It will not redeem a career. It will not do anything I fear. No, Far West is something I no longer held dear - The Grumpy Seuss 

2 - The Gygax Memorial Fund won't look any different than 2017. or 2016. or 2015. No bricks will be sold, no groundwork will be laid, no call to arms and no audit. Why fix something that's broken? 

3 - Paizo will find that the Pathfinder money cow is running dry and that the Starfinder money cow was not as large as hoped. Prepare for SuperFinder and GangFinder, their Supers and Gangbusters attempts to kill a dead horse.

4 - Steve Jackson Games will announce the GURPS SciFi Boxed Set Kickstarter for early 2019. Unlike Paizo's StarFinder, it will actually, honest to God be Sci-Fi.

5 - Frog God Games will announce a new megadungeon - Rats in the Athuk. It will ship with counters for 2,000 coppers.

6 - Goodman Games and Steve Jackson Games will jointly publish the Dungeon Crawl Classics Munchkin Card Game. The cards will be cut for three, seven and fourteen corners.

7 - The Tavern will livestream the writing of each blog post. This will be followed by tears of blood from viewers.

8 - ConMan Ken will NOT enjoy 2018 and doctors STILL won't be able to diagnose CTE on a living subject. Self diagnosis STILL won't be valid.

9 - You know that "big" announcement about the Transformers Guy and the Gygax IP from 2016? It will still be just a story in 2018.

10- Your Bartender will have a busy year in 2018. Busy but content. Oh, and beer.

A Look at The Tavern's 2017 Predictions from the Scrying Pool with Privy Runnoff

Yep, its time to look back at the predictions made on December 31, 2016 for 2017. This should be interesting.

Yep. Last day of 2016. Time to wake up the Grumpy Dwarf and lead him to the Tavern's Scrying Pool, complete with runnoff from the privy.

Grumpy Dwarf here. I don't give a Rat on a Stick's Ass how accurate my predictions were for 2016. 2017 is right around the corner and its time for predictions!

1 - Far West WILL NOT RELEASE IN 2017! It will not release in a box. It will not release on a dock. It will not redeem a career. It will not do anything I fear - The Grumpy Seuss - Well, this was a ground ball - fuck, we dont even have an update since may 2017

2 - Con Man Ken will move YET AGAIN! You read it here first. The man has had more addresses than a Hunt's Point Hooker has tricks on New Year's Eve (and at least the hooker will give you what you paid for) - Ken is - allegedly - living in the stock room of "his" comic book store. 

3 - The Gygax Memorial Fund won't look any different than 2016. or 2015. No bricks will be sold, no groundwork will be laid, no call to arms and no audit. Why fix something that's broken? - Apparently, no audit will be done and 2016 tax returns won't be posted either - ah, you've gotta love ground balls

4 - There will be no further Holiday purges at WotC. There is no staff left to purge. - Bingo!

5 - The Greyhawk Setting will be resurrected. Joe the Janitor will have it added to his portfolio of responsibilities at WotC. - Give it time...

6 - Swords & Wizardry Light will spawn other pared down rulesets in the OSR. Light Labyrinth Lord (LLL), Mini OSRIC (MOSRIC), Tiny Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea (TASSH) are just a few examples. - Well, it did influence the DCC RPQ Quickstart. Never saw that coming.

7 - Frog God Games will absorb Kobold Press. The first release of the expanded company will be a 550 page Pathfinder release, 500 page D&D 5e release, 350 page Swords & Wizardry release of the mega-dungeon Klomoring Kobolds of Doom for levels 1 to 12. The Pathfinder version will be rated IIIA by the NIJ when worn in a backpack, the 5e version IIA and the S&W version I. - Heh - not absorbed, but certainly siblings of sorts these days, going as far to "share" a Humble Bundle

8 - Starfinder will release from Paizo. Grogs will be disappointed that your character can't die during character generation. They will be further disappointed when they find their characters can't die during play. - It certainly released to less excitement and more falling apart core books than expected.

9 - Fake News will find its way into the RPG field with the announcement of completed Kickstarter Projects that faded away. The first such will be Quantum soon followed by anything still owed by Nystul. - Sigh - Kickstarters

10 - The Tavern will appear in one version or another in many different mediums. Er, wait, this is already happening... We added a Discord Server :)

Actually, we did pretty well considering many of these predictions were made - at least in part - in jest. I'll put up the 2018 list later today.