OSR Christmas is Temporarily Suspended - FU Omicron!

As I mentioned yesterday, Rach and I have been hit by COVD, likely Omicron. Aside from the fact that it manifests as a severe cold, one of the symptoms both of us are suffering from is brain fog.

Suffice to say, brain fog sucks shit.

I'm avoiding going through emails related to OSR Christmas, because they require me to be, at a minimum, cognizant enough to record and forward information to a third party, or in certain cases, forward DTRPG credit to those that have earned such. 

As an aside, thank GOD for Grammarly, as the above paragraph had a half dozen spelling and/or spelling issues. That's about 6x my normal ratio ;)

I'm strongly hopeful that I'll be back to my usual mental state by Monday (not that that is saying much ;)

Expect OSR Chrismas to return with 24-hour turnarounds early next week.

Thank you for your understanding and patience. As always, The Tavern is here because of you.

State of the Tavern Keeper - It Appears My Better Half are Heralding the New Year with Omicron

Yep, according to the home kit we used Thursday evening, after the both of us came down with fresh cold-like symptoms on Wednesday, Rach is COVID positive and the assumption is I am too.

My ass certainly dragging. 10 hours of sleep last night and a three-hour nap this afternoon.

Not the way I'd have chosen to end the year, but so far the symptoms are mild and my complaints are minimal.

All that being said, I'm (potentially) going to be far slower than usual to get to emails and PMs for the next few days. Packages coming from The Tavern directly from OSR Christmas will be delayed, as trips to the post office are not in the immediate future.

I'll keep you updated, but this appears to be more inconvenience than a threat.

BTW, Happy New Year!

News - Ken "Turbo" Trbovitch Resigns as President of Servotronics

The "Turbo" saga appears to have come to a conclusion, with Ken "Turbo" Trbovitch resigning as President of Servotronics.

The lawsuit referred to below named Gary Con and Luke Gygax within its pages.

Earlier Tavern coverage here

THE BOARD OF SERVOTRONICS, INC. ANNOUNCES LEADERSHIP CHANGE (link to original article)

NEWS PROVIDED BY

Servotronics, Inc. 

Dec 27, 2021, 07:30 ET

ELMA, N.Y., Dec. 27, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Servotronics, Inc. (NYSE American - SVT) announced that Kenneth D. Trbovich has resigned as Chief Executive Officer and President and was removed as Chairman of the Board, after a nearly six-month-long internal investigation identified grounds for his termination.

While the Board of Directors conducts a search for a permanent replacement, the responsibilities of the CEO and President will continue to be carried out by other personnel, led by Chief Operating Officer James C. Takacs.

The Board's non-employee directors stated:  "Our highly skilled workforce and experienced management team have ensured that Servotronics continues to deliver on its reputation for meeting and exceeding government, defense, commercial, consumer and other customers' high standards for quality and reliability, which has been built over more than six decades. This team has delivered sequential sales growth in the second and third quarters of this year, while continuing to invest in people, product development, and production capabilities that are designed to position Servotronics for the future. We look forward to providing Jim Takacs and his team with the resources they need to continue executing, while the Board conducts an active search for a new CEO."

Today's announcement follows a previously disclosed internal investigation, authorized by the Board on June 8 when Mr. Trbovich was placed on administrative leave, one day after a then-employee filed a civil complaint making allegations regarding the executive's conduct. The investigation was undertaken by independent, outside counsel.

On Dec. 1, Mr. Trbovich was informed that grounds for termination were identified during the investigation and a Dec. 22 meeting was scheduled for the Board to hear from the executive and consider the matter. On Dec. 21, Mr. Trbovich resigned as CEO and President. At its Dec. 22 meeting, the Board accepted his resignation, removed him as Chairman, and based on the findings of the investigation determined that he committed willful malfeasance that would have justified termination. The Company has not disclosed other findings of the investigation, as they relate to personnel matters.

While the former executive remains a director, the Company does not intend to renominate him for election to the Board at the 2022 annual meeting of shareholders.

The Tavern is supported by readers like you. The easiest way to support The Tavern is to shop via our affiliate links. DTRPG, Amazon, and Humble Bundle are affiliate programs that support The Tavern. 

You can catch the daily Tavern Chat podcast on Anchor, YouTube, or wherever you listen to your podcast collection. - Tenkar 

OSR Christmas - Day 10 - To Gift, or Not to Gift, THAT is the Question...

Actually, we know the answer. We will certainly gift :)

Here's the skinny:

Comment by 1159 PM Eastern Standard Time, December 31st, 2021 to this very post. 

        Three more days of OSR Christmas gifting after Day 10 :) 

PLEASE indicate if you are in the US. If you do not indicate, I will assume you are from outside the US, and that will affect which gifts you are eligible for.

Now, on to the gifts:

Emperors Choice Games and Miniatures is giving away Volumes IV through IX of Arduin (six books!), in print, to one lucky gift receiver (US ONLY for this package)

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 DCC "Perils of the Sunken City" PDF (anywhere in the world)

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Torchlight Issue #1 - Print (Limited Print Run - Signed by Tenkar if Requested - US Only)

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 ONE $10 DTRPG Gift Certificate to one non-US commenter.

The Tavern is supported by readers like you. The easiest way to support The Tavern is to shop via our affiliate links. DTRPG, Amazon, and Humble Bundle are affiliate programs that support The Tavern. 

You can catch the daily Tavern Chat podcast on Anchor, YouTube, or wherever you listen to your podcast collection. - Tenkar 

OSR Christmas - Time to Gift Day 9 Gifts

First, I need to apologize. I don't think I've answered or forwarded emails since the day before Christmas Eve, so if you are waiting to be gifted, it's all on me. I expect to start playing "catch up" tomorrow. Crossing my fingers. But now that we are post-Christmas Weekend, things seem to be calming down.

Now, on to the goodness!

Those named below need to email me at tenkarsDOTtavern at that Gmail thing, with OSR Christmas Day 9 in the subject, and the gift you are claiming in the contnets of the email.

Emperors Choice Games and Miniatures is giving away Volumes IV through IX of Arduin (six books!), in print, to one lucky gift receiver (US ONLY for this package)

p1r8z0r

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 DCC "Perils of the Sunken City" PDF (anywhere in the world)

Ikaros

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Torchlight Issue #1 - Print (Limited Print Run - Signed by Tenkar if Requested - US Only)

Jeremy "frothsof" Smith

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 ONE $10 DTRPG Gift Certificate to one non-US commenter.

macloud

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ONE $25 DTRPG Gift Certificate (anywhere in the world)

Sj 4255

Back tomorrow with a new day of OSR Christmas!

The Tavern is supported by readers like you. The easiest way to support The Tavern is to shop via our affiliate links. DTRPG, Amazon, and Humble Bundle are affiliate programs that support The Tavern. 

You can catch the daily Tavern Chat podcast on Anchor, YouTube, or wherever you listen to your podcast collection. - Tenkar 

Bundle of Holding - Stars Without Number Revised

When it comes to OSR Scifi RPGs, Stars Without Number is the granddaddy of them all, with both a free version and a more expansive paid-for PDF. It's a true OSR sandbox-style RPG.

You can snag the Stars Without Number Revised Starter Collection for a mere 7.95. It includes Stars Without Number Revised Edition, Sixteen Stars and the SWN Revised GM Screen.

The BONUS COLLECTION is approximately 21 bucks and adds in: Starvation Cheap, Suns of Gold, Skyward Steel, Dead Names, and Polychrome.

Damn, but it's a sweet collection. Check your account at Bundle of Holding, as you may have bought this back in 2019.

The Tavern is supported by readers like you. The easiest way to support The Tavern is to shop via our affiliate links. DTRPG, Amazon, and Humble Bundle are affiliate programs that support The Tavern. 

You can catch the daily Tavern Chat podcast on Anchor, YouTube, or wherever you listen to your podcast collection. - Tenkar 

Hoping that the Tavern had a Good Christmas 2021

I really hope everyone had a good Christmas. I'd wish that you got what you all wanted for the holiday, but I figure a lot of us want a bunch of OSR collectibles and there is only so much to go around.....

I kid, I kid.....I hope that most of you got what you wanted and if you're one of the unlucky few who was waiting on a Christmas present from me, so not my fault it didn't arrive. If you're one of the lucky folks who picked something up from the Tavern's 12 Days of OSR Christmas I'm jealous. Highly doubtful the bundle of New Big Dragon Games Unlimited stuff I sent off has arrived yet, but if not, it is definitely on it's way.

Now I'm going to go on a bit of a stretch here and make an assumption that my gaming holiday experience (now) is a bit on the typical side for the average Tavern patron: been gaming since back in the day, family & friends know you're a gamer, but they don't really understand what that means. Maybe they know you sling dice, but the default setting for a definition of "gamer" is that you play video games. Now I don't expect this to describe anyone (other than maybe me) to a tee, but I'm guessing there's maybe a good 50-75% similarity in there somewhere.

For the most part not really "getting it" means you're not going to be getting any cool gamer stuff for Christmas. Of course you may just luck out in that regard (and if so, please share your Christmas loot with the rest of us in the comments!), but I know I didn't. Not a complaint mom (as if she reads this), just an observation. Actually since I mentioned good old mom, I'm in a weird spot in that my mother really doesn't have a clue what RPGs are despite my feeble attempts to explain. She has no clue what D&D is even though I'm certain she's read every single TSR Novel (Dragonlance, Drizzt, Forgotten Realms, etc.) made as an avid fantasy reader.

Too bad for me since I live 12 hours away. If I could get my mother to understand my hobby a bit better she might be able to look around for the rare OSR score at second-hand bookstores that I'm unable to visit. Can you imaging how cool it'd be to have your parents gift you a good copy of an OSR book (like maybe a 1st printing of the Deities & Demigods) that she found at a garage sale for $5? Almost as good as finding that yourself.......but I kind of like the thrill of the hunt, as it was, for collectibles.

Anyway, I "just" get money for Christmas. Really no complaint there as it is a gift and I can use that $ to buy some other things I didn't know I needed. On my trip this holiday season I found a new game/hobby store in Kansas City that had a bunch of miniatures I did not know I needed. I got some Warriors of the Dark Ages and Warriors of Antiquity minis from Victrix Ltd. I've never done armies of minis before, much less the mix & match sprue kind that remind me of Warhammer, but I couldn't pass these things up. I'll definitely have to work on these and report about them later as I think they have a lot of RPG potential even though they are clearly made for wargaming.

I also managed to stop by an "old" comic/hobby shop in the the college where I 1st went to school and scored some minis as well. I was at the university when this shop originally opened 30 some years ago....anyway I got some Reaper Mini Black Henchmen & Hirelings, which was pretty cool.

Altogether between these two shops I picked up 100+ minis that I can add to my collection of figures that will never get painted.

Not really a super cool score, but at least I did get some RPG stuff for Christmas and I still have a couple shops I can visit as I drive back home today.

Now I did not even know that these Reaper Minis existed and while not "super cool", I am actually excited to potentially add them to my game. I'm guessing that some of the folks here at the Tavern did get some stuff that is pretty awesome and honestly, I'd rather enjoy seeing folks share what they got in the comments. If nothing else I might get a couple of things I really want to be on the lookout for as I still have some Christmas money to spend.....