IndieGogo - For the Love of Valentine (S&W, 5e, PF1e)

Frog God Games releases its limited run, softcover adventures through IndieGogo. Their latest is For the Love of Valentine, which comes in Swords & Wizardry, 5e, and Pathfinder 1e flavors. 6 bucks in PDF, 20 bucks for the Print plus PDF. You may occasionally find some of these releases at various conventions the Frogs attend. Otherwise, your only guaranteed opportunity is when they seek funding on IndieGogo.

Will Love triumph?  

A chance encounter connects your party with a charismatic prophet on the lam, and the woman who loves him. Congratulations, you’ve stumbled into an epic clash of religions, and you may or may not be on the winning side of that conflict. Sure, you have Love on your side. But they have soldiers, power, and maybe something more. Delivering your guy to safety means winding your way through a crowded city celebrating a raucous festival of fertility, and a race through the countryside, where all is not as it seems.  

For the Love of Valentine takes your 1st-3rd level characters and their NPC charges through a land in turmoil, while being hunted by the law. And perhaps, something darker…? Inspired by the tales of St. Valentine and the ancient legends of Lupercalia, your players will ultimately have to answer the question: Will Love triumph?  

The setting in this scenario drew heavily on the politics and rituals of the Roman Empire for inspiration. Interested readers are encouraged to learn more about the Lupercalia Festival, the legends of St. Valentine, and the god Faunus. 

We have placed the adventure in the coastal city of Freegate, an independent city in the Western Akados region of the Lost Lands. Additional information can be found in the City of Brass adventure and the Gazetteer of the Lost Lands, both by Frog God Games. 

You are, of course, free to place this adventure in a small- to mid-sized city on a river. If you wish a more Roman feel to the adventure, replace Freegate with the city of Terni, the Talamerin river with the Nera, and mention the power and authority of Rome, a mere four-days’ march to the south.

Death Notice - Christopher Tolkien (JRR Tolkien's Son)

The news of Christopher Tolkien's Death (JRR Tolkien's Son) made the rounds of social media yesterday. He was 95 years at the time of his passing.

From Wikipedia:

Christopher John Reuel Tolkien (21 November 1924 – 15 January 2020) was an English editor and academic. He was the son of author J. R. R. Tolkien and the editor of much of his father's posthumously published work. Tolkien drew the original maps for his father's The Lord of the Rings.

I knew he edited much of his father's posthumous work but had no idea he drew the original maps for the Lord of the Rings.

It was easy to overlook the influence he had on Middle Earth. The number of his father's work he edited is stunning:

Tolkien, J. R. R. (1977). ——— (ed.). The Silmarillion. , with Guy Gavriel Kay
Tolkien, J. R. R. (1979). ——— (ed.). Pictures by J. R. R. Tolkien.
Tolkien, J. R. R. (1980). ——— (ed.). Unfinished Tales.
Carpenter, Humphrey; ———, eds. (1981). The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien. , as an assisting editor
Tolkien, J. R. R. (1983). ——— (ed.). The Monsters and the Critics, and Other Essays.
Tolkien, J. R. R. (1983–2002). ——— (ed.). The History of Middle-earth. , 12 volumes
Tolkien, J. R. R. (1983). ——— (ed.). The Book of Lost Tales, part 1. 1.
Tolkien, J. R. R. (1984). ——— (ed.). The Book of Lost Tales, part 2. 2.
Tolkien, J. R. R. (1985). ——— (ed.). The Lays of Beleriand. 3.
Tolkien, J. R. R. (1986). ——— (ed.). The Shaping of Middle-earth. 4.
Tolkien, J. R. R. (1987). ——— (ed.). The Lost Road and Other Writings. 5.
Tolkien, J. R. R. (1988). ——— (ed.). The Return of the Shadow. 6.
Tolkien, J. R. R. (1989). ——— (ed.). The Treason of Isengard. 7.
Tolkien, J. R. R. (1990). ——— (ed.). The War of the Ring. 8.
Tolkien, J. R. R. (1992). ——— (ed.). Sauron Defeated. 9.
Tolkien, J. R. R. (1993). ——— (ed.). Morgoth's Ring. 10.
Tolkien, J. R. R. (1994). ——— (ed.). The War of the Jewels. 11.
Tolkien, J. R. R. (1996). ——— (ed.). The Peoples of Middle-earth. 12.
Tolkien, J. R. R. (2002). ——— (ed.). The History of Middle-earth Index.
Also The History of The Lord of the Rings comprising volumes 6, 7, 8, and 9 (volume 9 re-titled The End of the Third Age, some paperback editions truncated to only relevant chapters)
Tolkien, J. R. R. (2007). ——— (ed.). The Children of Húrin.
Tolkien, J. R. R. (2009). ——— (ed.). The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún.
Tolkien, J. R. R. (2013). ——— (ed.). The Fall of Arthur.
———, ed. (2014). Beowulf: A Translation and Commentary. Translated by Tolkien, J. R. R.
Tolkien, J. R. R. (2017). ——— (ed.). Beren and Lúthien.
Tolkien, J. R. R. (2018). ——— (ed.). The Fall of Gondolin.

Deal of the Day - Old School Essentials Classic Fantasy: Rules Tome

We've been using the Old School Essentials rules in Tim Short's Monday Night game for the past year or so. Well laid out, beautifully edited, you aren't going to be surprised by anything new. Instead, they will fit like a pair of well-worn gloves coming right out of the box.

Today's Deal of the Day happens to be those same rues -  the Old School Essentials Classic Fantasy: Rules Tome. Normally 20 bucks in PDF, until tomorrow morning you can snag them for a mere 10 bucks.

Old-School Essentials is an adventure role-playing game of exploration, danger, monsters, and magic. The game is intentionally rules-light, putting the focus of play on imagination, improvisation, and fun. The rules are optimised for ease of use at the table, with meticulous attention to wording and layout clarity. What's more, Old-School Essentials is 100% compatible with the classic Basic/Expert game from 1981, meaning that decades of adventure are at your fingertips! 

A Complete Game All in One Book 

Old-School Essentials is a modular game where the core rules of the game are extended by additional "rules modules" which add content for different genres of fantastic adventure. The Old-School Essentials Rules Tome is a compilation of the core rules plus four rules modules, forming a complete game for Classic Fantasy adventures: 

• Core Rules: Rules for character creation and advancement, adventuring in dungeons, the wilderness, and at sea, magic and combat.
• Classic Fantasy: Genre Rules: Seven classic classes (cleric, dwarf, elf, fighter, halfling, magic-user, thief), complete lists of weapons and adventuring gear, extensive lists of vehicles, mounts, and vessels, mercenaries and specialists for hire, rules for stronghold construction.
• Classic Fantasy: Cleric and Magic-User Spells: The complete set of 34 cleric spells (from 1st to 5th level) and 72 magic-user spells (from 1st to 6th level), for use by players or cleric, elf, and magic-user characters.
• Classic Fantasy: Monsters: A selection of over 200 classic monsters to challenge adventurers of all levels.
• Classic Fantasy: Treasures: A hoard of over 150 wondrous magic items.

The material in this book forms a complete clone of the classic Basic/Expert game, including all rules, classes, spells, monsters, and magic items.

Yep, that is an affiliate link above. Keep your bartender in Kleenex and Nyquil by using The Tavern's affiliate links.

Deal of the Day - Gathox Vertical Slum: Quake Alley Mayhem (Swords & Wizardry)

If I'd been feeling better I would have gotten this post up earlier, but I'm sick as a dog - whatever that actually means.

Today's Deal of the Day at DriveThruRPG is Gathox Vertical Slum: Quake Alley Mayhem. It is an adventure for Swords & Wizardry characters of levels 1 to 3. Normally 6.99 in PDF, until tomorrow morning it is reduced to 4.19 in PDF.

Enter a seedy underworld of alien hyper-capitalists and wondrous ancient artifacts with Quake Alley Mayhem!  

This murderous, misshapen module foists a host of traps, puzzles, and environmental hazards upon unsuspecting players in a race against time. Structured for both tournament and campaign play, Quake Alley Mayhem! includes pregenerated characters, supplements to track the party's progress and impending doom, and hooks to fit the adventure into a larger campaign. 

Yep, that is an affiliate link above. Keep your sick bartender knocked out with Nyquil and antibiotics by using The Tavern's affiliate links.

Kickstarter - FantaSOAP Tears of Unicorn, Sputum of Troll & Chant of Dryad

A collectable series of magic potions, filled in awesome flasks containing RPG dice and creamy soaps inspired to fantasy creatures!!!

Yep, it's another Soap-n-Dice Kickstarter. What makes FantaSOAP Tears of Unicorn, Sputum of Troll & Chant of Dryad Kickstarter different?

So, what makes this one different? Liquid soap and potentially glass bottles.

Everyone knows how much Role Playing game players like their dice. They are a little treasure for all of us. We want to create special items designed to RPG, boardgames and tabletop games lovers, the perfect gift for your lovely master or for those who dream of dice just closing their eyes... :)

Ah, a nice bottle of Scotch!

In this first phase of the FantaSOAP campaign we want to create awesome flasks, with the aspect of a magic potion, inspired to fantasy creatures, spells, mith and folklore, filled with special customized creamy soap, enriched with special related soap flakes. After using the soap you'll find a special set of RPG Dice hidden in it. We will attach to each flask a scroll with a special spell, related to the "magic potion". 

The Flasks: We will send to you cute ampoules in glass or plastic, with a paper scroll attached on it. Flask's models will be sent randomly, according to availability. 

The Soap: We will fill flasks with HQ creamy soap, enriched with HQ soap flakes. A specialized company will create it for us, according to our requests. Soap will not be HOMEMADE, but professionally produced. We consider it a good warranty. Scent and soap will be related to the subject of the model, please see specific description below. 

The Dice: You'll find a special set of RPG dice into the soap. Dice will be professional crafted and HQ. Colors will be related to the fantasy "setting" of the magic potion.

Fuck, not Scotch!

Wait, I can't choose between glass and plastic? I don't want glass and slippery liquid soap in my bathtub.

It's Been a While Since I've Dropped in on Dragonsfoot

I know I've told this story elsewhere, but at my first NTRPG Con back in 2014, I had an in-person Dragonsfoot sighting, kinda sorta ;)

The Wednesday night before the convention we (Rach and I) arrived at our hotel. Not knowing ANYONE we decided to use the hotel pool. One other was using the pool at the time, a male probably in his late 30s.

Rach decided to introduce us because she figured he must be here for the convention too, and EVERYONE read Tenkar's Tavern. She couldn't have been more wrong. Heh. My proud wife dropped my name and the other swimmer had no clue who I was (and he was there for the convention). Rach was confused. How could this be?

I asked him if he read blogs. The answer was no. Then I asked which forum he frequented? Dragonsfoot. There was my answer :)

It's been my experience that the audiences for blogs and forums, while they do overlap to some extent, certainly favor one over the other depending on the individual in question.

The thing is, not going to Dragonsfoot can mean missing out on some damn good stuff. Free stuff. I'm not even talking about the message boards. No, I'm talking about the AD&D 1e, BFRPG, C&C, and so much more downloads section. If you want access to high quality and abundant material for your OSR campaign, you can do your one-stop shopping at Dragonsfoot.

Link to adventures

Link to settings

Kickstarter - Make 100: MeepleCraft Mini Maps (Leather Maps)

"Handmade postcard-sized leather maps for display or use in RPGs!"

I love maps. I have little ability to do so myself, which is probably why I like them so much ;)

The Make 100: MeepleCraft Mini Maps Kickstarter brings those maps to 4"x 6" leather pieces. Yes, maps on leather. I'm not sure if I need one, but I want one. At 30 bucks a pop, I think I can afford it too.

Each map will be roughly 4" x 6" in size and backers will have the option of keeping them rectangular or having the edges scalloped in a way that resembles the style of maps seen in fantasy settings.  As we get more maps made I will update here with more photos showing examples of the types of maps you may expect with the different tiers.   

The Mini Maps project will hopefully be the beginning of future cartography projects for me.  While this project isn't about making custom maps (backers will receive a random map of our design from the tier they selected), I can see this as great practice for making larger, custom maps that will enhance an RPG setting.  Backing this project will help me learn more skills and build experience (basically - I'm hoping to level up) in order to bring forth something bigger in the future.