Kickstarter - Creeping Cold - a 5E adventure that promises chills and excitement!

I know I've mentioned Silver Bulette before. Ian and Rocky are two old school gamers that have dipped their toes into Kickstarter with a 5e release called Creeping Cold. What's that you say? No OSR version of the adventure? Well, if it hits the $3500 stretch goal (its currently sitting at over $2500) there will be a free Swords & Wizardry version of the PDF included for every backer at the $10 level or higher. Good stuff!

What makes this extra special is it's written and ready to go to the printer once they receive the funds from Kickstarter:

Creeping Cold is 30+ pages:

• An overview and introduction
• Optional cold rules
• 4 pages of NPCs, including a quick-reference chart
• Timeline of events
• Maps of the caravansarai (2 interior and 1 exterior) and a dungeon
• Pages of adventure and intrigue
• Pages of new monsters and spells
• 4 player handouts

We are ready to print and prepared to ship. The module has color as well as black and white player handouts (and maps) for ease of the DM's printer. Once Silver Bulette has the funding in hand, we intend to be at the printer within 10 days.

Yep, that's still a Kickstarter rarity these days.

10 bucks for the PDF, 25 for the Print plus PDF. I think I'm jumping in for the print version myself.

Quick note - I know Ian and Rocky. We've gamed together at cons and they participate in the weekly Wednesday Night Tavern Chats on the Tavern's Discord Server. Heck, we've shared meals together. I've watched them set their bar higher and higher with each release and I'm looking forward to holding Creeping Cold in my own hands. 

Bundle of Holding - Stars Without Number x 2

Stars Without Number is probably the best-known D20 based sci-fi ruleset published, even more so than White Star. While WS builds off of the "Original White Box" / S&W White Box for its engine, SWN is something a bit different.

I've run SWN and it plays very smoothly. It is built for sandbox style play with rules and tables that solidly support such.

If you want, you can check out the Stars Without Number Revised rules for free. (link)

There are two Stars Without Number offerings currently on Bundle of Holding:

For just US$8.95 you get all three titles in this offer's Stars Without Number Revised Starter Collection (retail value $45) as DRM-free .PDF ebooks:

• Stars Without Number Revised Deluxe Edition: The premium full-color 324-page rulebook with 80 pages of bonus content covering transhuman tech, true AIs, mechs, society creation, and even Space Magic.
• Other Dust: Kevin Crawford's 208-page post-apocalypse sandbox RPG completely compatible with Stars Without Number. Includes the freebies Grandfather's Rain, Cult of the Wraith, and Cult of the Still Lady. (Previously offered in the original October 2013 SWN Classic collection.)
• SWN Revised GM Screen: A portrait screen with eight pages of useful reference charts.

And if you pay more than this offer's threshold price of $17.12, you'll level up and also get this offer's entire Bonus Collection with four more sourcebooks worth an additional $35, including Starvation Cheap (wars and mercenaries), Dead Names (ancient civilizations), Sixteen Stars (popular sf settings), and Polychrome (cyberpunk).

There is also:

For just US$7.95 you get all three titles in this offer's Stars Without Number Classic Starter Collection (retail value $35) as DRM-free .PDF ebooks:

• Stars Without Number Classic: The complete original 253-page First Edition rulebook (2011).
• Skyward Steel: Join the Thousand Lights of the Stellar Navy and embrace both the duties and the terrible freedom of a naval campaign.
• Hard Light: The first SWN adventure setting. In the radioactive glare of a red giant star, explore the hard-bitten mining outpost of Brightside and ancient asteroid Sky Tombs.

And if you pay more than this offer's threshold price of $17.15, you'll level up and also get this offer's entire Bonus Collection with four more titles worth an additional $34:

• Suns of Gold: Merchant campaigns and far-flung trade, including trade world tags and guidelines for building your own colony worlds and merchant empires.
• Engines of Babylon: Create vehicles and low-tech system spaceships for your SWN campaign. This equipment book debuted in this offer's July 2014 revival.
• Relics of the Lost: A sourcebook of long-dead technology from the Second Wave of human colonization. This supplement debuted in this offer's original October 2013 run.
• Darkness Visible: Spacefaring espionage campaigns of classified perils, nameless heroes, and secret glory. 

Burning Down the House - of Gygax (Gail is on a Facebook Meltdown / Sympathy Tour)

There has been a trickle of Facebook postings by Gail Gygax recently (my God but they have accelerated today) that are verging on libel regarding Tom DeSanto and Luke Gygax (as well as some inaccuracies with me). Nearly every post is Gail railing on the two above, accusing them of suing her in an attempt to take Gary's IP and her house. If you are on Facebook and haven't seen this mess yet, send Gail a friend request - she's been adding Facebook friends like they are going out of style the last few weeks.

I'm not going to post any her postings here - all I have is screenshots and they don't read well in a blog post, but I AM going to share a piece from Gail's Kotaku article which I fund VERY relevant:

Two years after Gygax and DeSanto struck a deal, DeSanto was suing for breach of contract. DeSanto says he spent “thousands of hours” and “substantial sums of money” trying to develop the Gygax IP. Speaking through his lawyer, DeSanto did not elaborate on what exactly he was working on outside of sorting through what Gail does and does not own of Gary’s estate, although the complaint mentions a biopic. Over email, DeSanto’s lawyer sent the following statement to Kotaku. 

“My client was left no choice but to file a lawsuit seeking to enforce the rights promised him in the Gygax IP. Tom has developed and produced some of the biggest franchises in movie history, and he is clearly in the best position of anyone to develop and exploit the very rich library of material left behind by Gary Gygax. That is very reason why Ms. Gygax entrusted it to Tom. We are more than certain in our legal position and, in the end, everyone stands to benefit from enforcement of the agreement, including and especially Gail Gygax and her family.” 

What triggered the lawsuit appears relatively benign at first, just another balloon in the parade of lawsuits that Gary’s legacy has drawn. It was a deal that Gail had made, along with her son Alex and archivist Paul Stormberg, to produce a video game based on Gary’s Castle Greyhawk, later named Zagyg, with a company called Fig, which runs a crowdfunding platform for indie games. DeSanto, who was not involved, said this was part of an effort to “freeze” him out. In a response to DeSanto’s lawsuit, Gail contested that she and DeSanto had ever entered into a partnership and, on top of that, contests that their contract gave DeSanto rights to Gary’s “entire library.” Further, she says, DeSanto made up her entire Variety quote. 

It’s unclear whether Gail meant to give DeSanto the full rights to control what happens to her late husband’s creations and name. Should DeSanto prevail in court, it would add to the heaviness of the legend story Gail carries on her shoulders—one more stone of animosity and betrayal to weigh her down, one more piece of evidence that “they” are out for Castle Greyhawk, the Gygax name, and the great Gary Gygax mythos. This is the tidy tale, the one that makes sense in the the linear storyline of victimhood.
DeSanto’s lawsuit could have even larger implications for Gail, ones that don’t fit in that linear storyline. Beneath its allegations of breach of contract and fiduciary duty, DeSanto’s suit claims that Gail does not, in fact, own the rights to Gary’s legacy as freely and clearly as she claims. 

In May 2017, DeSanto’s suit reads, he learned that Gary Gygax had a second will. He wrote it shortly before his death. That will, according to the complaint, merely gives Gail a life estate to some of Gary’s IP—the parts his children couldn’t claim. That would mean that, when Gail dies, DeSanto would no longer have the rights to develop Gygax properties, making their contract worthless. 

Gail agrees that this will exists, but denies that it is valid. She says it was not signed correctly, adding nobody had ever contacted her about the will’s validity before DeSanto.

Read those last two paragraphs again. It means that Gary changed his will - changed his mind about the long term inheritance of his legacy.  Gail knows that. She admits the will exists that would supersede the one she claims all rights via. She knows her late husband's intents towards his children - to, in the end, let them inherit his IP. Yet Gail claims a technicality in her attempt for full rights, beyond death, that wasn't Gary's intent.

I wonder if DeSanto's lawsuit has brought up feelings of guilt for Gail.

In any case, she needs help. More significant help than the community can provide. One that only family can provide. I hope she takes the help I am sure is being offered, sooner than later.

 

Tavern Chat Tonight - 9 pm Easter - Suspect Some Gygaxian Tale Tales will be on the Agenda

I am being bombarded with screenshots of recent postings by Gail Gygax's Facebook account, which appears to be a bit in the realm of revisionist history. I expect that will one of many topics tonight during the live Tavern Chat hangout at 9 pm Eastern.

Tavern Chat is held weekly on the Tenkar's Tavern Discord Server, each Wednesday night.

Talk, listen, ask questions, chew the fat. It's all good. You never know who may turn up :)

https://discord.gg/PqSkRc3

News - John Wick Joins Chaosium - Chaosium to fulfill 7th Sea Second Edition and 7th Sea Khitai Kickstarters

Received this in today's email and felt it was newsworthy. A company almost killed off by successful Kickstarters acquires one of the most successful RPG Kickstarters. Interesting times.


Chaosium, publishers of the award-winning tabletop roleplaying games Call of Cthulhu, RuneQuest, and King Arthur Pendragon, has acquired John Wick’s acclaimed 7th Sea RPG, it was announced today.

7th Sea is John’s Wick’s swashbuckling and sorcery roleplaying game set in the fictional world of Théah. The second edition of 7th Sea was crowdfunded by John Wick’s own company, John Wick Presents in 2016, setting a then-record on Kickstarter for a tabletop RPG, raising over $1.3 million dollars.

John Wick himself will be joining Chaosium as creative director for 7th Sea. He will continue to have creative oversight of his game, and will remain a principal author of 7th Sea material going forward. Beyond that, John Wick will also write for other Chaosium game lines, for which he has great affection.

“John is an extraordinarily talented designer and highly regarded figure in the world of tabletop rpgs. We are delighted to have him join our team”, said Chaosium President Rick Meints.

Following the death of Chaosium founder Greg Stafford in November last year, John’s memorial piece about Greg's titanic influence on the landscape of tabletop games was shared and quoted widely (The Gray Crane).

John Wick said,"My first RPG was a Chaosium game. My second RPG was a Chaosium game. My third RPG was a Chaosium game. Saying 'I'm excited to be joining the Chaosium team' just doesn't do it. I've respected and admired the company for over thirty years. I'm joining the same company who started me on this journey and I couldn't be prouder."

Upon acquiring this new game line, Chaosium’s paramount objective for 7th Sea is the fulfillment of the outstanding rewards from the 7th Sea Second Edition and 7th Sea Khitai Kickstarters. Coinciding with this announcement, John Wick has updated all Kickstarter backers with the new arrangements, which will see Chaosium overseeing the remaining fulfillment of the campaigns.

Overcoming weeks, 7th Sea products and content will begin to be migrated to Chaosium.com and Chaosium’s page at DriveThruRPG. A 7th Sea discussion board will also be set up at BRP Central, Chaosium’s forums.

You Got Your Fantasy Trip in My Lost Lands - Announcement From Steve Jackson Games and Frog God Games

No foolin' either! When I had lunch with Phil Reed from SJG a month or so ago, I mentioned that there were many backers of The World of the Lost Lands Kickstarter that were posting in the comments that they planned to use the Lost Lands with The Fantasy Trip rules (The Fantasy Trip was a large part of the lunch conversation and I left with a review copy - thanks Phil!) Hopefully I had some small influence in putting this event into motion ;)

Note - there are two days left to support The World of the Lost Lands Kickstarter from FGG.

Frog God Games

Apr 1, 2019

STEVE JACKSON GAMES and FROG GOD GAMES are excited to announce a new horizon for The Fantasy Trip! The Frog God Games LOST LANDS setting will now contain adventures and resources for those who want to use The Fantasy Trip in the framework of this ancient and storied world, filled with places to find vast caches of treasures or die trying! The first adventure in this series will be the Crucible of Freya, with many more to follow by popular demand. We are always listening to our fans, and there has been tremendous demand for a joint venture between The Fantasy Trip and the Lost Lands. Fear not, because it’s in the works right now!

Details will come later on products that will be converted and included in this. This is not an April Fools joke.

BW

040119

PS--I could not be more geeked...my inner 12 year-old just about fainted!

Obligatory April Fools Posting with Video

Almost could be me as lead singer except for the limited vulgarity vocabulary ;)

Warning - NSFW!

Thanks, Keith ;)

No April Foolin' - April 1st (Tomorrow) is the Last Day for Google+

Farewell Google+. You had your share of the limelight, but you grew much dimmer in recent years. In the end, you were but a shade of your former self. I wish I could say you will be missed, but in there recent months you seemed like you weren't really there.

Let's all do a Google Wave. Wait, they killed that too. Years ago.

Ah well, we had some good times, but now I hang my hat elsewhere:

https://www.tenkarstavern.com/ The Blog

https://anchor.fm/tavernchat The Podcast

https://www.facebook.com/tenkarstaverncommunity The Facebook Page

https://mewe.com/group/5bbbeb719b97560bb884a669 The MeWe Group

https://discord.gg/fReGmuD The Discord Server