OSR Christmas Day 11 (and giving gifts for Day 10)

It's the most, wonderful time of the year - it's time for OSR Christmas! I just verified, and this is officially the 10th Year for OSR Christmas. Holy Santa, but that's a lot of gift-giving!

Now, this is Day 11 of OSR Christmas (and the assigning of gifts for OSR Christmas Day 10). Sure, Christmas was last weekend, but I usually run this through Three Kings Day ;)

The following are the gift receivers from Day 10 of OSR Christmas. If you see your name below, you are being gifted. Email me at tenkarsDOTtavern at that gmail thing with "OSR Christmas" in the subject. Digital gifts need an email, and physical gifts need a mailing address. 

$10 DTRPG Gift Certificate, donated by The Tavern - Worldwide - Brian S

OSR Refrigerator Magnet, donated by Thadeus Moore - Worldwide - Jax7778

Shadowdark PDFs, full set, donated by James Mishler Games - Worldwide - Rob Banks!

Arduin Map - Physical, donated by Emperors' Choice Games- Worldwide - Mike Bauer

Endless Encounters PDF (choice of B/X or 5e), donated by Pacesetter Games - Worldwide - Kevin N

The Haunted Ruins - Physical, donated by Wizard Tower Games - US Only - GMJasonGURPS

To be in the mix to be potentially gifted one of the following gifts, you need to comment below. One random gift receiver will be picked for each gift sometime on Tuesday, January 3rd, 2023. So you have 3 days to get your comment in. Note: if you are outside the United States, I need you to indicate such. Some gifts are cost-prohibitive to ship outside the US. Blame the USPS, not us.

So, without further delay, the gifts in today's OSR Christmas Day 11 mix are:

$10 DTRPG Gift Certificate, donated by The Tavern - Worldwide

OSR Refrigerator Magnet, donated by Thadeus Moore - Worldwide

Shadowdark PDFs, full set, donated by James Mishler Games - Worldwide

Arduin Map - Physical, donated by Emperors' Choice Games- Worldwide

Endless Encounters PDF (choice of B/X or 5e), donated by Pacesetter Games - Worldwide

The Haunted Ruins - Physical, donated by Wizard Tower Games - US Only

Shadowdark Quickstart & Cursed Scroll (Bundle) – Print Copies – Donated by The Arcane Library – US Only - (Note: This is a different Shadowdark than above)

Tuesday or Wednesday will kick off the last day of OSR Christmas, and if you remember the initial list, we've been holding some awesome stuff for the end ;)

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 cast on Anchor, YouTube,  or wherever you listen to your podcast collection. - Tenkar  

Humble Bundle - Vaesen & Forbidden Lands from Free League

I've been hearing a lot of good things said about Vaesen & Forbidden Lands in various forums and from friends. I rarely have enough time to read the gaming material I buy on a regular basis, so I've yet to plunk my hard-earned dollars for either.

Until tonight :)

18 bucks get you two solid RPGs and their support material.

Explore dual realms of tabletop role-playing

Journey into folklore and far-flung fantasy in this bundle of tabletop role-playing books from Free League!

Discover realms of Nordic horror in Vaesen, the grim RPG based on the myths of Scandinavia, plus a book of bone-chilling cases and the Mythic Britain & Ireland expansion.

Make your mark on the cursed world of Forbidden Lands, the open-world survival fantasy RPG, along with a campaign book, adventures, and more resources to enhance your party’s experience.

 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 cast on Anchor, YouTube,  or wherever you listen to your podcast collection. - Tenkar  

Deal of the Day - EE1: Things From Beyond (Essential Enemies #1)

I like zines. I also like Old School Essentials. A Zine for Old School Essentials is right up my alley.

EE1: Things From Beyond (Essential Enemies #1) is just that, and until tomorrow morning it is marked down from its usual 10 bucks in PDF to 4 bucks. Print plus PDF is 17.

Essential Enemies 1: Things From Beyond is a third party monster manual for use with Old-School Essentials and other old school fantasy role-playing games.

This zine contains the following monsters:

• Astral Paladin: A mounted knight from a far-away world, summoned here to do a noble’s bidding.
• Building Blocks: Cubic workers brought here to mine a magically poisonous metal.
• The Crystal Kingdom: The domain of the crystal men spreads across the face of this world, consuming all before it.
• The Firehorse: The spirit of living fire, trapped in a blind body of flesh.
• The Iridescents: Floating spheres that poison the earth and lead to desperate cannibal behaviour.
• The Light Collector: It started a cult to get its greedy tentacles on new sources of light.
• The Mung Mung: Transdimensional merchants of oddities and other creatures.
• Tentacle Men: They might look like men, but they are mostly tentacles.

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 cast on Anchor, YouTube,  or wherever you listen to your podcast collection. - Tenkar  

End of the Year Wrap Up for 2022, Tavern Plans for 2023, and what is this Dungeon23 Thing?

Yep, 2022 is wrapping up. Overall, it's been a very good year for all things Tavern. The blog is still going strong, the video channel has surpassed 1850 subscribers, and we added a Substack to highlight the video channels of our various cohosts and friends of The Tavern.

OSR Christmas has been a great success and there are still 2 days left for the gifting of gifts.

2023 will be a challenging year. I plan to get back behind the DM screen in the early part of the year, and I am tempted to participate in Dungeon23, but on my own terms. For those that don't know, Dungeon23 is a challenge to write one room of a megadungeon for every day for the next year. I'd like to change that, for my purposes, to one piece of gaming content a day for the next year. Dungeons, creatures, magic items, random events, locations, encounters - things that would be useful in an ongoing campaign, not simple time fillers.

Let's see what the next year brings...

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 cast on Anchor, YouTube,  or wherever you listen to your podcast collection. - Tenkar 

Bundle of Holding - Shadow of the Demon Lord

 For some reason, whenever I type out Shadow of the Demon Lord, I was to spell "demon" as "daemon". Maybe it is because I can feel the Warhammer influences to the game.

In any case, Shadow of the Demon Lord is one hell of a dark fantasy RPG. The core rulebook reads well, and it's a damn shame I've yet to get to play a session of it. For 9.95, the SotDL Starter Collection is a steal!

Hero! Through unholy rites we've resurrected (for a third time!) our May 2017 Shadow of the Demon Lord Bundle featuring Shadow of the Demon Lord, Robert J. Schwalb's tabletop fantasy roleplaying game of grim heroism against a cosmic destroyer. In this fast-playing, low-prep RPG, desperate heroes battle strange magic, unhinged cultists, and roaming mobs of undead while humanity's last great empire slides toward oblivion. If you love Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, the Ravenloft and Midnight settings, Joe Abercrombie's The First Law novels, or heavy metal music, get this revived collection of DRM-free .PDF ebooks and confront the Void That Hungers – or, as star designer Kenneth Hite describes it, "Pure Spikey Caustic Red-Hot Squirming Deliquescing Rugose Gonna-Bite-Your-Fingers-Off Horned Fetid Monstrous EVIL."

For just US$9.95 you get all five titles in this revived offer's Starter Collection (retail value $42) as DRM-free ebooks, including the complete 278-page Shadow of the Demon Lord corebook, the Demon Lord's Companion, the Uncertain Faith sourcebook of divine magic, and the fine introductory adventure Dark Deeds in Last Hope – and the Demon Lord Screen gives you all the charts you need.

Exquisite Agony supplement for Shadow of the Demon LordAnd if you pay more than the threshold price of $20.82, you'll level up and also get this revival's entire Bonus Collection with six more delicious gobbets of evil worth an additional $55. What's in these sourcebooks? The titles speak for themselves: Hunger in the Void, Tombs of the Desolation, A Glorious Death, Terrible Beauty, and Exquisite Agony. Plus, Tales of the Demon Lord is a collection of 11 low-prep adventures across the Northern Reach.

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 cast on Anchor, YouTube,  or wherever you listen to your podcast collection. - Tenkar  

OSR Christmas Day 10 (and giving gifts for Day 8)

It's the most, wonderful time of the year - it's time for OSR Christmas! I just verified, and this is officially the 10th Year for OSR Christmas. Holy Santa, but that's a lot of gift-giving!

Now, this is Day 10 of OSR Christmas (and the assigning of gifts for OSR Christmas Day 8). Some may ask: "where was OSR Christmas Day 7?" Day 7 was on the Tavern's Youtube Channel on the Wednesday Night Livestream and Day 9 was Friday, 8 PM, again on the Youtube Channel Livestream. Day 5 was awarded  to subscribers of the Tenkar's Tavern Substack.

The following are the gift receivers from Day 8 of OSR Christmas. If you see your name below, you are being gifted. Email me at tenkarsDOTtavern at that gmail thing with "OSR Christmas" in the subject. Digital gifts need an email, and physical gifts need a mailing address. 

$10 DTRPG Gift Certificate, donated by The Tavern - Worldwide - Ryan

OSR Refrigerator Magnet, donated by Thadeus Moore - Worldwide - RhinoDino1973

Shadowdark PDFs, full set, donated by James Mishler Games - Worldwide - Kelroy Was Here

Arduin Map - Physical, donated by Emperors' Choice Games- Worldwide - Jonathan

Endless Encounters PDF (choice of B/X or 5e), donated by Pacesetter Games - Worldwide - Jason Jensen

Dice Tower and Tray – Set – Archania Workshop - Note: US ONLY - Allen Hammack

To be in the mix to be potentially gifted one of the following gifts, you need to comment below. One random gift receiver will be picked for each gift sometime on Wednesday, December 28th. So you have 2 days to get your comment in. Note: if you are outside the United States, I need you to indicate such. Some gifts are cost-prohibitive to ship outside the US. Blame the USPS, not us.

So, without further delay, the gifts in today's OSR Christmas Day 10 mix are:

$10 DTRPG Gift Certificate, donated by The Tavern - Worldwide

OSR Refrigerator Magnet, donated by Thadeus Moore - Worldwide

Shadowdark PDFs, full set, donated by James Mishler Games - Worldwide

Arduin Map - Physical, donated by Emperors' Choice Games- Worldwide

Endless Encounters PDF (choice of B/X or 5e), donated by Pacesetter Games - Worldwide

The Haunted Ruins - Physical, donated by Wizard Tower Games - US Only

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 cast on Anchor, YouTube,  or wherever you listen to your podcast collection. - Tenkar  

Happy Chrismahanukwanzika

 

Why are you here reading this?! Do you know it's Chrismahanukwanzika?

Erik and I (I'm comfortable speaking for him on this one)....and I assume Rach...want to wish you & yours a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Cool Yule....whatever it is you celebrate....even Festivus.

If you're still reading this I'm going to assume it's because you're bored, which is unfortunate....but here's some appropriate time-wasters:

I made the Christmahanukwanzika GIF above, feel free to use if you'd like to....

OSR Christmas - Christmas Eve Update

I answered, forwarded, and read all outstanding OSR Christmas related emails this morning. I am all caught up as far as I can tell, but there are still unclaimed gifts. If you have a gift pending and you haven't emailed me to claim it, please do. If you haven't heard from me, and you have emailed me, comment below. I dug through my spam folder and there were no OSR Christmas-related emails in it.

There WILL be a Gamers' Health Livestream tonight but at 10 PM Eastern instead of the usual 8 PM. We want to ensure we have time to spend with family AND our community.

OSR Christmas gifts will likely be awarded Monday, Dec 26th. OSR Christmas still has a few days left ;)

Humble Bundle - New Perils! For Classic Game Crawls (DCC RPG)

 

The DCC RPG is the only RPG I've run that had the same magic to me as running AD&D 1e. Sadly, it was short-lived, as my group didn't enjoy the rules as much as they enjoyed the adventures. Now, I convert the DCC RPG adventures I like to Swords & Wizardry on the fly.

New Perils! For Classic Game Crawls is an amazing value for the money. 29 Books and a discount coupon are in the bundle.

18 bucks get you the DCC RPG Core rules, Referee Screen, Lankmar Boxed Set, Chained Coffin, Perils on the Purple Planet and so much more. I have about half of the material in print but for 18 bucks the rest of the collection is still a bargain and then some.

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 cast on Anchor, YouTube,  or wherever you listen to your podcast collection. - Tenkar  

OSR Christmas Day 8 (and gifting gifts from OSR Christmas Day 6)

It's the most, wonderful time of the year - it's time for OSR Christmas! I just verified, and this is officially the 10th Year for OSR Christmas. Holy Santa, but that's a lot of gift-giving!

Now, this is Day 8 of OSR Christmas (and the assigning of gifts for OSR Christmas Day 6). Some may ask: "where was OSR Christmas Day 7?" Day 7 was on the Tavern's Youtube Channel on the Wednesday Night Livestream and Day 9 will be Friday, 8 PM, again on the Youtube Channel Livestream. Day 5 was awarded  to subscribers of the Tenkar's Tavern Substack.

The following are the gift receivers from Day 6 of OSR Christmas. If you see your name below, you are being gifted. Email me at tenkarsDOTtavern at that gmail thing with "OSR Christmas" in the subject. Digital gifts need an email, and physical gifts need a mailing address. 

$10 DTRPG Gift Certificate, donated by The Tavern - Worldwide - MGSherm

OSR Refrigerator Magnet, donated by Thadeus Moore - Worldwide - davrion

Shadowdark PDFs, full set, donated by James Mishler Games - Worldwide - Matt

Arduin Map - Physical, donated by Emperors' Choice Games- Worldwide - Tim Baker

Endless Encounters PDF (choice of B/X or 5e), donated by Pacesetter Games - Worldwide - 

Fire in the Mohle! in PDF for MCC, donated by Silver Bulette - US ONLY - Narmer

Frog God Gift Pack - Either Splinters of Faith for 5e or an Assortment of Soft Cover Modules - Print - US Only - Trainer

To be in the mix to be potentially gifted one of the following gifts, you need to comment below. One random gift receiver will be picked for each gift sometime on Saturday, December 24th. So you have 2 days to get your comment in. Note: if you are outside the United States, I need you to indicate such. Some gifts are cost-prohibitive to ship outside the US. Blame the USPS, not us.

So, without further delay, the gifts in today's OSR Christmas Day 8 mix are:

$10 DTRPG Gift Certificate, donated by The Tavern - Worldwide

OSR Refrigerator Magnet, donated by Thadeus Moore - Worldwide

Shadowdark PDFs, full set, donated by James Mishler Games - Worldwide

Arduin Map - Physical, donated by Emperors' Choice Games- Worldwide

Endless Encounters PDF (choice of B/X or 5e), donated by Pacesetter Games - Worldwide

Dice Tower and Tray – Set – Archania Workshop - Note: US ONLY

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 cast on Anchor, YouTube,  or wherever you listen to your podcast collection. - Tenkar  

Bundle of Holding - 13th Age MEGA

Bundle of Holding has been hitting it out of the park recently. Their latest bundle, 13th Age MEGA, is an amazing value for a truly well-spoken system. I have had the core book on my shelves for a number of years, and with this bundle, I think I'll complete my collection in PDF format.

Especially suited for new 13A players, this bargain-priced Megabundle gives you everything you need to run your own 13th Age campaign in the Dragon Empire. (Even if you bought our December 2015 13th Age Bundle and its December 2019 companion offer 13th Age Adventures, the six recent titles here might still entice you.)

For just US$24.95 you get all nine titles in our Starter Collection (retail value $158) as DRM-free ebooks, including the complete 13th Age Core Book (plus the Free RPG Day adventure Make Your Own Luck), the 13 True Ways rules expansion, the Bestiary and Bestiary 2, The Book of Loot and Loot Harder, The Book of Ages, the introductory adventure Crown of Axis, and the Game Master's Screen and Resource Book.

And if you pay more than the threshold price of $40.66, you'll level up and also get our entire Bonus Collection with ten more titles worth an additional $172, including the supplements The Book of Demons and Book of the Underworld; the adventures Shards of the Broken Sky, Elven Towers, Eyes of the Stone Thief (plus the conversion for D&D 5E), and Shadows of Eldolan; three sets of iconic Battle Scenes (with their accompanying Map Folios) – High Magic & Low Cunning, The Crown Commands, and Fire & Faith; and the 171-page adventure Diamonds and Shadows, a collection of seven modules from the 13th Age Organized Play program available exclusively in this offer and nowhere else.

 

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 cast on Anchor, YouTube,  or wherever you listen to your podcast collection. - Tenkar  

OSR Christmas Day 6, and Giving Out Gifts for OSR Christmas Day 4

It's the most, wonderful time of the year - it's time for OSR Christmas! I just verified, and this is officially the 10th Year for OSR Christmas. Holy Santa, but that's a lot of gift-giving!

Now, this is Day 6 of OSR Christmas (and the assigning of gifts for OSR Christmas Day 4). Some may ask: "where was OSR Christmas Day 1?" Day 1 was on the Tavern's Youtube Channel on the Wednesday Night Livestream and Day 3 was last night, Friday, again on the Youtube Channel Livestream. Day 5 was awarded  to subscribers of the Tenkar's Tavern Substack.

The following are the gift receivers from Day 4 of OSR Christmas. If you see your name below, you are being gifted. Email me at tenkarsDOTtavern at that gmail thing with "OSR Christmas" in the subject. Digital gifts need an email, and physical gifts need a mailing address. 

$10 DTRPG Gift Certificate, donated by The Tavern - Worldwide - Helen

OSR Refrigerator Magnet, donated by Thadeus Moore - Worldwide - The Malum

Shadowdark PDFs, full set, donated by James Mishler Games - Worldwide ShadowStalker

Arduin Map - Physical, donated by Emperors' Choice Games- Worldwide - Jayson "Rocky" Gardner

Endless Encounters PDF (choice of B/X or 5e), donated by Pacesetter Games - Worldwide - Lasgunpacker

Fire in the Mohle! in Print for MCC, donated by Silver Bulette - US ONLY - goeticgeek

To be in the mix to be potentially gifted one of the following gifts, you need to comment below. One random gift receiver will be picked for each gift sometime on Thursday, December 22nd. So you have 2 days to get your comment in. Note: if you are outside the United States, I need you to indicate such. Some gifts are cost-prohibitive to ship outside the US. Blame the USPS, not us.

So, without further delay, the gifts in today's OSR Christmas Day 6 mix are:

$10 DTRPG Gift Certificate, donated by The Tavern - Worldwide

OSR Refrigerator Magnet, donated by Thadeus Moore - Worldwide

Shadowdark PDFs, full set, donated by James Mishler Games - Worldwide

Arduin Map - Physical, donated by Emperors' Choice Games- Worldwide

Endless Encounters PDF (choice of B/X or 5e), donated by Pacesetter Games - Worldwide

Fire in the Mohle! in PDF for MCC, donated by Silver Bulette - US ONLY

Frog God Gift Pack - Either Splinters of Faith for 5e or an Assortment of Soft Cover Modules - Print - US Only

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 cast on Anchor, YouTube,  or wherever you listen to your podcast collection. - Tenkar  

Bundle of Holding - The Fantasy Trip (Steve Jackson Games)

The Fantasy Trip Bundle presents The Fantasy Trip, the tabletop roleplaying game designed by Steve Jackson in its 2018 Legacy Edition from Steve Jackson Games.

The Fantasy Trip is one of the few early RPGs I didn't encounter in my early days in the hobby. I was lucky enough to get an early copy of the Kickstarter Boxed Set directly from Phil Reed of Steve Jackson Games a few months before I got my Kickstarter copy. It was an impressive box. Reading The Fantasy Trip, you can see the roots of GURPS in its design.

You can snag The Fantasy Trip Core Collection for 14.95, but for less than 26 bucks as I type this, you can grab the Bonus Collection, which is a huge bargain.

This all-new TFT Bundle brings you a Cidri-sized lineup for an unbeatable bargain price. For just US$14.95 you get all four titles in our Core Collection (retail value $47) as DRM-free ebooks. The star attraction is the mammoth The Fantasy Trip Legacy Edition that includes Melee, Wizard, In the Labyrinth, both Death Test solo adventures, the dungeon crawl Tollenkar's Lair, and tons of extras. You also get the solo adventure Red Crypt and two play aids: the Labyrinth Planner and Deluxe Character Journal.

The Fantasy Trip CompanionAnd if you pay more than the threshold price of $25.58, you'll level up and also get our entire Bonus Collection with four supplements worth an additional $57, including The Fantasy Trip Companion, TFT Adventures Volume 1, The Book of Unlife, and the first issue of the Fantasy Trip magazine, Hexagram.

Day 4 of OSR Christmas gifts will be given out tomorrow, Tuesday 11/20. So you get a few extra hours to comment ;)

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 cast on Anchor, YouTube,  or wherever you listen to your podcast collection. - Tenkar  

Christmas Crunch Time......and RPG Holidays (or Lack Thereof)

It's a week before Christmas and it's pretty much crunch time for a lot of people. Last-minute presents, wrapping what you already have, maybe one too-many holiday parties/obligations, oh, and the inevitable travel plans (even if it's people coming to you).

For me, my "crunch-time" is trying to figure out just how I'm going to get in all of my Christmas movies: Elf, Bad Santa, Bad Mom's Christmas, Scrooged, Miracle on 34th Street, A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas, Anna and the Apocalypse, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Die Hard (I know it's not a...whatever), It's a Wonderful Life, Office Christmas Party, Christmas Vacation, A Christmas Story, Eight Crazy Nights (I know, it's a Hannukah film, but deal), Fat Man, Mixed Nuts, and the Guardians of the Galaxy Christmas Special (for the 4th time). I have some other Christmas movies, but I don't need to see .....every .....single .....one.

Now as far as the holidays and gaming intersect, I have rarely seen a GM/campaign that has regular holidays as a thing. My HackMaster campaign did (I can envision of few readers rolling their eyes.......of course HackMaster had holidays!), but to be fair I didn't use my calendar, but one provided by somebody else. He had this whole bit of math done up to track lunar cycles (three moons) and specific holidays based on intersecting moon phases with some set holidays. I took all the math and created an Excel sheet so all you had to do was enter the year and *poof* here's a calendar for the year with holidays marked. My campaign was set thousands of years after the destructions of the Old Gawds, so I had to use Excel to make it work.

Granted, since Christmas is a religious holiday, as is Hannukah, and the majority of RPG campaigns have multiple gods...so would there be a LOT of "Christmas" holidays? Or maybe there is a predominate religion in each region and only that one has a "Christmas"?

Since before modern times almost all of our/the holidays we had were religious, not secular...holy crap that would be a HUGE amount of holidays to figure out for a campaign calendar. I mean I think it could be fun to do all of your gods, but if you use the Petty Gods book (like I do/would), you might need to lump a few together or your calendar would be only religious holidays!

Now.....if I can find the time between Christmas movies (and other last-minute holiday tasks), I think I'm going to stat-up Santa Claus for OSR....I'm thinking a dual-identity Fae that is Sinterklaas/Krampus that is (unfortunately) real easy to strike a bargain with, but like all dealings with the Fae.....there can be issues.

OSR Christmas Day 4 (and distributing gifts for OSR Christmas Day 2)

It's the most, wonderful time of the year - it's time for OSR Christmas! I just verified, and this is officially the 10th Year for OSR Christmas. Holy Santa, but that's a lot of gift-giving!

Now, this is Day 4 of OSR Christmas (and the assigning of gifts for OSR Christmas Day 2). Some may ask: "where was OSR Christmas Day 1?" Day 1 was on the Tavern's Youtube Channel on the Wednesday Night Livestream and Day 3 was last night, Friday, again on the Youtube Channel Livestream. Day 5 will be awarded tomorrow to subscribers of the Tenkar's Tavern Substack.

The following are the gift receivers from Day 2 of OSR Christmas. If you see your name below, you are being gifted. Email me at tenkarsDOTtavern at that gmail thing with "OSR Christmas" in the subject. Digital gifts need an email, and physical gifts need a mailing address. 

$10 DTRPG Gift Certificate, donated by The Tavern - Worldwide - Jax7778

OSR Refrigerator Magnet, donated by Thadeus Moore - Worldwide - Strange Magic

Shadowdark PDFs, full set, donated by James Mishler Games - Worldwide - Helen

Arduin Map - Physical, donated by Emperors' Choice Games- Worldwide - Allan Hammack

To be in the mix to be potentially gifted one of the following gifts, you need to comment below. One random gift receiver will be picked for each gift sometime on Monday, December 19th Tuesday, December 20th. So you have 2 3ish days to get your comment in. Note: if you are outside the United States, I need you to indicate such. Some gifts are cost-prohibitive to ship outside the US. Blame the USPS, not us.

So, without further delay, the gifts in today's OSR Christmas Day 4 mix are:

$10 DTRPG Gift Certificate, donated by The Tavern - Worldwide

OSR Refrigerator Magnet, donated by Thadeus Moore - Worldwide

Shadowdark PDFs, full set, donated by James Mishler Games - Worldwide

Arduin Map - Physical, donated by Emperors' Choice Games- Worldwide

Endless Encounters PDF (choice of B/X or 5e), donated by Pacesetter Games - Worldwide

Fire in the Mohle! in Print for MCC, donated by Silver Bulette - US ONLY

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 cast on Anchor, YouTube,  or wherever you listen to your podcast collection. - Tenkar  

Humble RPG Bundle - Warhammer 40K: Wrath and Glory by Cubicle 7

What synchronicity! The same day that we get the announcement that Henry Cavill (The Witcher/Superman) is playing the lead in an upcoming Warhammer 40k series on Amazon, lo and behold, there is a Warhammer 40k: Wrath and Glory Bundle up on Humble Bundle. What are the odds? ;)

18 bucks get you 24 titles in the Warhammer 40k: Wrath & Glory Series, including the core rules in PDF, as well as a Cubicle 7 15% off coupon.

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 cast on Anchor, YouTube,  or wherever you listen to your podcast collection. - Tenkar  

OSR Christmas Day 2 - Comment and Ye May Be Gifted!

Art by Fugli

It's the most, wonderful time of the year - it's time for OSR Christmas! I just verified, and this is officially the 10th Year for OSR Christmas. Holy Santa, but that's a lot of gift-giving!

Now, this is Day 2 of OSR Christmas. Some may ask: "where was OSR Christmas Day 1?" Day 1 was on the Tavern's Youtube Channel last night on the 8 PM Livestream. Day 3 will also be on the Tavern's Youtube Channel, tomorrow December 16th, on the 8 PM Livestream.

To be in the mix to be potentially gifted one of the following gifts, you need to comment below. One random receiver will be picked for each gift sometime after 10 PM Eastern Time, Saturday, December 17th. So you have over 2 full days to get your comment in. Note: if you are outside the United States, I need you to indicate such. Some gifts are cost-prohibitive to ship outside the US. Blame the USPS, not us.

So, without further delay, the gifts in today's mix are:

$10 DTRPG Gift Certificate, donated by The Tavern - Worldwide

OSR Refrigerator Magnet, donated by Thadeus Moore - Worldwide

Shadowdark PDFs, full set, donated by James Mishler Games - Worldwide

Arduin Map - Physical, donated by Emperors' Choice Games- Worldwide

Comment, comment, comment...

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 cast on Anchor, YouTube,  or wherever you listen to your podcast collection. - Tenkar  

OSR Christmas - Gift List Current as of December 14, 2022

Yep, it's that time of year - OSR Christmas is here!

OSR Christmas kicked off earlier tonight on The Tavern's Youtube Channel. Day 2 will be here, at the Tenkar's Tavern Blog. Different gifts will be awarded on all 12 days.

Here is the current gift list:

Hyperborea – Print Set from KS with Damaged Players’ Book – Tavern (US Only)

$10 DTRPG GC – 12 Days 11 Days- Tavern (1 gifted already)

OSR Refrigerator Magnets – 10 pieces 9 pieces – Thad Moore (1 gifted already)

Fire in the Hohle – 1 Print (US Only) / 1 PDF – Silver Bulette

Splinters of Faith (5e) or Assortment of SC Modules (OSR) - Zach / FGG (US Only)

Shadowdark PDFs – Full Set of 4 – 12 Sets 11 Sets – James Mishler (1 gifted already)

Dice Tower and Tray – Set (US Only) – Archania Workshop

Bad Mike Miscellany – US Only (Gifted)

Random Tenkar Box of Goodies – US Only

Arduin Grimoires 1 – 9 – single set – Emperors Choice (final day of OSR Christmas)

Arduin Map – 12 Copies 11 Copies – Emperors’ Choice (1 gifted already)

Gifts will be given here at The Tavern, on The Tavern's Youtube Channel via live streams, and via The Tavern's Substack (subscribers will be automatically eligible to be gifted).

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 cast on Anchor, YouTube,  or wherever you listen to your podcast collection. - Tenkar  

Bundle of Holding - Rifts Core MEGA

I was a huge fan of Rifts in the 90's. I bought my core book at Gen Con and it's signed by both Kevins (writer/publisher and artist). Rifts was, and is, infamous for its endless array of sourcebooks. If nothing else, they were all a great read.

Over at Bundle of Holding, there is a Rifts Core MEGA Bundle up for sale. 20 bucks get you the Core Book Collection, and 41 bucks plus change get you the Core AND the Sourcebook Collection.

For just US$19.95 you get all seven titles in our Corebook Collection (retail value $71) as DRM-free ebooks, including the complete Rifts Ultimate Edition core rulebook (plus the Rifts Primer); the Adventure Guide, Game Master Guide, and Game Master Kit; and Index and Adventures V1 and V2.

And if you pay more than the threshold price of $41.16, you'll level up and also get our entire Sourcebook Collection with eleven more titles worth an additional $129, including Sourcebook One, Book of Magic, the Bestiary, Black Market, the Bionics Sourcebook, all three Conversion books (Book One, Two: Pantheons of the Megaverse, Three: Dark Conversions), and three more sourcebooks: Vampires, The Mechanoids, and Mindwerks.

 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 cast on Anchor, YouTube,  or wherever you listen to your podcast collection. - Tenkar  

Death Notice - Kim Mohan

I remember Kim Mohan fondly as editor of Dragon Magazine in the 80s and 90s, likely the best run that amazing magazine ever had. Kim writing the Wilderness Survival Guide was simply a bonus.

Rest in peace, good sir.

Wikipedia Entry

PSA: Warning About AI Avatars (i.e. Hire Your Own Artist!)

This last week I've noticed a HUGE uptick in folks, in and out of the gaming community, showing off Lensa AI avatars. I get it, this thing is right up our collective alley in that we can use appropriate(?) fantasy avatars to represent us as our characters. PC sheets, online games, maybe even console RPGS.....honestly I almost went through the process of getting my own set of avatars....almost.

Since I didn't know exactly where these avatars came from I had to do a little searching, and I quickly found out that maybe I shouldn't be buying into this craze and I'm going to use this platform to suggest that your shouldn't either.

While the idea of some cheap AI-created avatars is cool, the execution clearly needs a little work. Evidently the program has been grabbing artists' work from a non-profit database (LAION) and, well....passing it off as it's own. The evidence is technically sketchy, but it's there......as in a lot of the art pilfered still has a muddled "sketches" of the original artist's signatures:

That quickly made this a no-go for me.

Now instead of just taking a dump on the fun for everyone, I think we...as a community, could do better, and frankly get better to boot.

It's been a hot minute since I had any avatars created for me, but I highly recommend reaching out to some artists on Fiverr. Sure, it's not $3.99 for 50 avatars (and a 7 day free trial), BUT for $5 you can support and actual artist, and this is where the $5 per vs. 8¢ per differential makes a difference is that you can specify what your background, look, etc. will be and then get what you want.

So...how many bb spins of the random AI wheel would you need to take to get that avatar of you as a monk with a pair of kamas? I'd be willing to bet more than 62!

I've gotten some good use out of Fiverr and if I need a new avatar I generally use them to get the base pic I use/tweak in Photoshop.