Deal of the Day - The Midderlands Expanded (Monkeyblood)

Today was a busy day and I almost missed that The Midderlands Expanded is the Deal of the Day. As I type this, there are about 11 hours left to get on this deal. Did I mention that Glynn Seal is for real? Truly amazing stuff. Normally 15.72, the PDF is currently available for a mere 3.10

This book is an expansion to The Midderlands - An OSR Setting & Bestiary  

Important Note:
This book contains some content already found in The Midderlands Additions, and The Midderlands Additions II supplements. It also contains lots of new content not published already. 

Contains Strong language & Graphic Descriptions 

Written for use with the Swords & Wizardry Complete roleplaying game, but suitable for any Old-School D&D-style roleplaying game. 

More green-hued, twisted, dark-fantasy, old-school mini-setting. Now expanded to include the whole of the British Isles and beyond. 

The first book (The Midderlands — An OSR Mini-setting & Bestiary) focused on the land-locked Midderlands, a twisted version of central England. This book expands the setting to include the whole of Havenland, Scrotland, Oldenwale, Emeraude, and beyond. 

Learn about Bear Maw, Darkpool, H’sst-Akal, Middercastle, Queensmyr, Scar Burg, the Great Wall of Hadreen and many more locations. 

Explore the shipwrecks of the coast, and be harried by Gloomcrabs, Sharkfolk, Leviathan Spawn and more. 

Learn of the dangers of the neighbouring countries, Gaulandia and the Serpentlands.
This book is full of more horrors and threats to the safety of not only the midderfolk, but havenfolk at large. 

Sea monsters, threats of invasion, countrywide travel, island enclaves, and ship combat to name a few. This expanded setting gives more opportunity for adventure and who doesn’t love adventure? 

WANT A HARD COPY? HEAD OVER HERE: http://monkeyblooddesign.co.uk/The-Midderlands 

The first book focused on the land-locked Midderlands, an area I know well. In terms of a campaign area, it is small – approximately 45 miles by 35 miles – which allows for a feeling of close ties and for the actions of the player characters to have a tangible influence. I have been to Haven’s End, Ill Faircombe, Blymouth, Great Lunden, Windsour, Caer Oldenwale, Bellthorp… the list goes on. I realised that I know quite a bit about some of the other locations around my fair island home. I love the sea, the rugged hills and mountains of Oldenwale, and I frequently take trips to Bear Maw. I realised I could use the same approach as I used in The Midderlands to twist and mould other locations, and finally make my way to the seas and discover the other landmasses at its borders. 

Ports, shipwrecks, Gaulandia, Scrotland, Oldenwale, Emeraude, and the Serpentlands could all be used to make the setting larger and introduce more alarming horrors and threats to the safety of not only the midderfolk, but havenfolk at large. Sea monsters, threats of invasion, countrywide travel, island enclaves, ship combat to name a few. An expanded setting gave more opportunity for adventure and who doesn’t love adventure?

Castles & Crusades Classic Box Edition

Boxes are all the rage these days ;)

I have the "original" Castles & Crusades "White Box" from many years ago.

While Swords & Wizardry might be my true love among OSR rulesets, Castles & Crusades was the first love that brought me back to gaming.

Classic Gaming! 

Easy-to-learn, fast and fun to play, Castles & Crusades is the game for those who enjoy tales of high adventure and epic fantasy. 

Now available in the Classic Box Edition! Everything you see here in one beautiful box!
This set contains five booklets including all the rules to play, monsters, treasure and a starting adventure. 

The Castles & Crusades Classic Edition box contains everything needed to create heroic characters and enter a world of fantastic adventure. A world where brave adventurers battle ancient dragons, descend into dungeons in search of treasure and glory, and rescue mystic artifacts from the clutches of evil wizards. 

Castles & Crusades' easy-to-learn attribute-based rules system allows players to choose among archetypal character classes and races to create their characters. Spells, equipment, fast-paced combat rules, and all essential information needed for the players of Castles & Crusades is in this box.

Gather some friends, grab some dice, unleash your imagination – you’re entering the grand adventure that is Castles & Crusades!

This set contains the following: 

Five Books *Each Book is 5.5 inches wide and 8.5 inches tall. They are saddle stitched. They are black and white in the interior and black with red on the covers. 

• Vol. 1 Men and Magic, 36 pages (this includes the OGL)
• Vol. 2 Eldritch Enchantments, 52 pages (this includes the OGL)
• Vol. 3 Adventures in the Wilderness and Underworld, 36 pages (this includes the OGL)
• Vol. 4 Monsters & Treasure, 44 pages (this includes the OGL)
• Kane’s Gauntlet, 36 pages (this includes the OGL)
• 3-5 Character Sheets
• Reference Sheets (this reprints various charts in the books above)
• Dice (randomly chosen colors)
• 1 Golf Pencil

NOTE: The first four volumes do not contain new material for the C&C PRG. These books recast material already published in other sources, but is presented here in a Classic Style Box set. 

Here's the link.

Kickstarter - The Hero's Journey 2e - Last 14 Hours!

The Hero's Journey 2e Kickstarter is coming to a close in 14 hours or so as I type this, so you have until about 10 AM Eastern time, January 31st 2020 to back it. You have backed it right? It's written by James Spahn, one of the most skilled RPG ruleset writers in the OSR Community and beyond (I'm not just saying that because he is one of my closest friends, its the simple truth :)

Over 730 backers can't be wrong ;)

The game is written, the art is done, the editing is finished and layout is done! The PDF has already been uploaded to DriveThruRPG, and proof copies ordered! 

This game is ready to go. We just need your help to get the word out about it, and help make sure everyone gets paid!  Gallant Knight Games has already paid for the art, layout, and editing, but making games is more expensive than that.  

The long term success of a game can often depend on retail stores, gaming groups and more. The goal of our project is to run a focused, tight campaign that will allow us to make a high-quality offset print run of the corebook in both softcover and hardcover. We believe James has created a work of art here, and we want to show case that with the best print run we can do.  

The day the funds are delivered to Gallant Knight Games you'll get your PDF and we'll put the game to print. This will be a very fast turn around and a very tightly focused project. We're producing one book, and everything else is digital. 

Swords & Wizardry Appreciation Day to Return in 2020

I'm still gobsmacked by the Swords & Wizardry Boxed Set Kickstarter, which is sitting at over $52k in just under a day and a half. The Frog God Team is looking for new stretch goals, as the ones that were planned are nearly blown through :)

I figured the return of Swords & Wizardry Appreciation Day, hosted by The Tavern (we were the original host back in April of 2013) would be nice considering all of the love the community has shown Swords & Wizardry over the past two days.

Consider this an open call to all of the OSR bloggers, podcasters and Youtubers. I'm thinking of running it over three days - February 28, February 29 and March 1st.

Basically, if you create Swords & Wizardry related content - gaming material, reviews, live plays, etc and share it during those days, I will share a link here. So start brainstorming :)

I'm excited! I plan on producing some S&W related gaming material this weekend and have some ideas for release on each of those three days :)

More details as I converse with others. I hope to get a prize pool together for contributors ;)

Kickstarter - Swords and Wizardry: Limited and Collectors Edition Box Sets

Wow. Holy shit! Seriously!

The Swords and Wizardry: Limited and Collectors Edition Box Sets Kickstarter hit its $12k goal in 25 minutes. 8 hours later, it has surpassed $36k. You want proof of the viability of the OSR? You are looking at it.

I'm as excited as all hell. I LOVE Swords & Wizardry and this simply shows how much love everyone else has for it too :)

I interviewed Pexx from Frog God Games earlier today regarding this very Kickstarter. I interview Matt Finch at 10 AM EST tomorrow (Wednesday, Jan 28, 2020) on the Tenkars Tavern Discord Server. There will be further interviews with Frogs over the next few weeks on the Tavern Chat Podcast.

Standard Box is 50 bucks, limited wood grain box is 55.

What is Swords & Wizardry?

Swords & Wizardry is more than a re-statement of the original rules that gave rise to 5e. It is fast-playing, easy to start, and easy to learn by anyone. Swords and Wizardry is  a snapshot of the rules as they existed in 1978 right before "first edition" was released. The fifth edition game currently played, watched and beloved by millions is great fun, but the structure of the rules has changed over the course of editions, and there's a unique feel to the earlier versions of the game which you may not have encountered before. 

The rules in Swords & Wizardry are based on the original 1974 game, plus all of the supplements released from 1974 to 1978, articles in the Strategic Review and the Dragon magazine from that period, plus tips for house rules choices. The rules are organized in a more modern fashion than the original books, and are more accessible to those who started gaming after the 1970s.

Swords and Wizardry Box Set Contents 

Four Softcover Rule-books :
Player Book
Spells & Magic
Monsters
Referee's Book 

Also includes:
Extra height is reserved for dice,minis, adventures or ... expansions?

Stretch Goals 

Can you tell I'm excited?

Deal of the Day - Top Secret / New World Order

Rach and I got to playtest Top Secret / New World Order a handful of times with Merle Rasmussen behind the screen at various NTRPG Cons over the years. Actually, I think a very early playtest was before the game was publicly announced. It was a no brainer for me to back it when it Kickstarted. sadly, like 98% of my gaming purchases these days, it's sitting on a shelf. I guess I'm more of a collector these days ;)

Today's Deal of the Day at DTRPG is the Top Secret / New World Order PDF. Normally 19.99, until tomorrow morning its on sale for 9.99

The new espionage role-playing game from Merle M. Rasmussen, creator of the first espionage role-playing game. 

The time: now. The place: everywhere. 

Your mission: preserve peace and stability in a world rife with conflict, mistrust, duplicity, and shadowy organizations. 

You are an agent of ICON: The International Covert Operatives Network. You have been recruited from your former life, trained in the ways of tradecraft, and sent into the field to handle the missions that other agencies cannot, or will not handle. 

One player is the Administrator, describing and controlling the game world, while the other players take on the role of international spies, working behind the scenes where governments won’t go. 

Tense negotiations, dangerous combat, thrilling car chases, tradecraft, surveillance, intrigue, and subterfuge are all at hand with the roll of the dice. 

Top Secret: New World Order is a tabletop role-playing game recommended for 2–8 players. 

Frog God Games 35% Off Sale at DTRPG - Swords & Wizardry (oh, and PF and 5e)

So, it looks like the Kickstarter for the NEW Swords & Wizardry Boxed Set will be launching on this coming Tuesday. Completely compatible with prior printings, the boxed set will certainly be getting new eyes on Swords & Wizardry.

Just in time, Frog God Games has put its entire PDF catalog on sale at DriveThruRPG at 20% (my math shows 35% or more) off. Now's the time to plug the holes in your Swords & Wizardry virtual collection ;)

Sale prices are in effect thru early Tuesday morning, so don't wait too long...

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