Deal of the Day - Castles & Crusades M1 A Stranger Among Us (OSR Adventure)

Castles & Crusades marked my return to RPGs. I remember finding the C&C Players Handbook at Buy.com for less than 10 bucks. Heck, I bought copies for the four members of my college RPG group that year, and it started our tradition of yearly gifting. C&C simply looks and feels a lot like AD&D 1e.

I also find it extremely easy to convert Castles & Crusades material to Swords & Wizardry on the fly (and I would assume it would be a similar process with other OSR systems from C&C).

Today's Deal of the Day at DTRPG is Castles & Crusades M1 A Stranger Among Us. Normally 6.99 in PDF, until tomorrow A Stranger Among Us is on sale for 2.10

A brigand and thief have slunk into Lord Wynn’s keep and pilfered several valuable carvings. Lord Wynn is offering a bit of gold for the return of the stolen goods, but he is offering a king’s ransom for the return of the thief.

“A king’s ransom. For a thief? Must have been some precious stick ‘o wood,” Bariston quizzically comments to those at the table. 

“Aye! That’s right. I thin’ 1,000 coin. Oh, dat Walrun da Lord’s Sheriff, daren’t go follow dat thief. He crossed the Hruesen River and headed to the Blacktooth Ridge. Nary a soul here wants to make their way to the Ridge these days. Ole’ Red Cap is about they say. An dat devil is the least o’ your worries.”

The Blacktooth Ridge is no place for the weak, the inexperienced, or the fearful. The dangers there are many and rewards paltry. And this thief must be something other than a common rogue to head straight into the jaws of that deadly wilderness.

A Stranger Among Us is an overland adventure that pits your characters against dangers both rare and extraordinary. It is designed for use with a mid-level party of 4-6 characters.

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

Kickstarter - Plague Grave, a Soundscape for Fantasy RPGs by Philip Reed

Five tracks and five short encounter seeds that a GM may string together. A source of inspiration for many fantasy RPGs!

For those that don't know, Phil Reed is the Grand Master of low-cost RPG-related Kickstarters. Plague Grave is no exception, as you can get all of the material (soundscape and encounter hooks) in digital format for a buck. Sure, you can pay more for physical content, but the minimal buy-in is the price of a can of Coke - or less.

Welcome to Plague Grave, a soundscape for use with most fantasy roleplaying games. This five-track album includes a single encounter hook for each track, and a GM may string all five together to form a short adventure. As a systemless work, most gamemasters can adapt the ideas to almost any roleplaying game of their choice.

Once the Kickstarter campaign is complete, I'll release the digital edition of Plague Grave as a free PDF and MP3s. Supporting this project at the $1 reward level is purely to show that you enjoy my work and like to see these oddball, out-of-the-ordinary creative efforts succeed. I'll release the free digital edition at DrivethruRPG and itch.io.

In addition to being free and to download and use, the five tracks included in the Plague Grave digital edition will be available for use as royalty-free music in your podcasts and streaming sessions. All I ask is that you credit me and link to either the Plague Grave page at DrivethruRPG or itch.io.

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  

Newest in Print - N5 - Under Illefarn (AD&D 1e)

One of the most used adventures from my AD&D 1e days is Under Illefarn. Although set in the Forgotten Realms, I've placed it in Greyhawk and beyond. Micro setting, dungeon, and adventure seeds, there is little more that you could ask from it.

In truth, N5 - Under Illefarn is probably my favorite AD&D 1e adventure.

In PDF, Under Illefarn is on sale for 3.50 (normally 5.00), and is now in Print for 11.99 (print plus PDf for 13.99)

Written by Steve Perrin, it is truly a treasure.

Daggerford is fairly quiet for a frontier town. Sure, lizard men raid the local baron's holding now and then, orcs sneak out of the Misty Forest to raid caravans on the Trade Way, and Lady Bronwyn has a few suitors who are a touch too passionate, but there's nothing going on that a member of the renowned Daggerford militia can't handle.

Except that the Shining River has turned green, and cattle are dying. Except that the Elf King of Laughing Hollow, a place where no human dares go without fearing for his life, is asking the militia for help. Except that strange substances are oozing from the fissures caused by a recent earthquake. Except that the earthquake also has opened an entrance in the cliffs around the Laughing Hollow that might lead to the fabled dwarf mines of Illefarn.

Suddenly, being a militiaman isn't quite as easy as it used to be.

"Under Illefarn" is the first module produced for use with the Forgotten Realms Campaign Set.

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  

New Release - Tsar Frontiers: Not Genuine (Parody of the yet to be published Star Frontiers: New Genesis)

If you've been following The Tavern's YouTube Channel (and you HAVE been watching, right? ;) you'd know that an unknown source has put together a parody of the as-yet-unreleased TSR3 title, Star Frontiers: New Genesis. The parody is called Star Frontiers: Not Genuine.

The Star Frontiers: Not Genuine PDF first went up on itch.io. A Print on Demand was available for a short time on Lulu (I received a shipping notification earlier this morning in regards). Well, The Tsar Frontiers: Not Genuine (notice the title change) PDF is now available at DTRPG for free.

Grab a copy. It's good for a laugh and actually looks playable ;)

Note - Tsar Frontiers is "published" by OSR Games. OSR Games is a registered LLC by Justin LaNasa. I don't expect this to stay up long. Grab your copy now!

The primordial Role playing game of science fiction is back thats right and its, really real ! 

You can do Space battles and, play like Old School that means. No easy mode or balanced Encounter’s or coffee shop’s and pronouns this is for the hardcore Hardwire players that want to shoot some Bad guys and be a Hero. 

Or a heroine, girls are welcome to. If they wan’t to play. Maybe if they have a brother or Dad to teach them

 This is a whole new experience theres Technomancy and exciting Space politics and dont forget? lots of Battles!

No X cards or session zero’s just start playing and a galaxy of Adventure awaits you with thrilling Aliens fair space maidens evil villans Lasers and monsters and robot’s!

 

 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  

Kickstarter - Splinters of Faith (OSR & 5e)

It starts with missing chickens. It ends in a showdown with an undead death-priest. Eleven linked adventures to test your characters.

For those that are following along at home, I wrote Swords & Wizardry Light for Frog God Games a few years back, and I've helped run the Frog God Booth at various conventions over the years. Although I am not "a frog", I've certainly swum in their pond.

Splinters of Faith is a Frog God Games Kickstarter, a re-release of an earlier incarnation of the same name, updated with new art, new layout, and for 5e in addition to the OSR.

Originally presented as a series of softcover modules, Splinters of Faith is now being released as a hardcover single book.

Splinters of Faith is a series of 11 linked adventures centered on stopping the return of the dread death-priest Akruel Rathamon and his undead minions. The campaign takes characters across hundreds of miles as they race to different temples to restore the broken scepter of faiths, a powerful weapon that once stopped the warlord. It all starts when some chickens go missing. But this fowl beginning might mean a foul ending for your characters. Designed for your Fifth Edition and OSR campaigns.

Splinters of Faith will be available as a full-color hardcover volume in your choice of Fifth Edition or OSR systems:

* The Fifth Edition book is a library-bound hardcover.

* The OSR volume is printed using the Swords & Wizardry rules and is a print-on-demand, case laminate hardcover. It is adaptable for any OSR system.

 

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 the 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. 

Humble Bundle - Fifth Edition Fantasy Book Bundle from Goodman Games

I know that not all of my readers play D&D 5e, let alone want to read anything having to do with 5e, but Goodman Games knows old-school gaming. I'm confident that the 5e material can be converted to OSR with little difficulty. Additionally, PC Pearls, GM Gems, and the Monster Alphabet are system neutral. The 20% discount at the Goodman Games Store is pretty sweet.

18 bucks give you the complete Fifth Edition Fantasy Bundle from Goodman Games package - 21 books PLUS the 20% coupon. Heck, even if you don't want any of the PDFs, a single buck gives you two titles AND 20% off at the Goodman Games store.

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 the 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. 

Discovered a Dungeon Design Pet Peeve

This weekend I managed to get back to the gaming table after the normal Christmas break. Yes, it's March, but January and February were what they were and at this point there is nothing that I could do about the overly-long break. I can admit though that I've probably spent way too much time thinking about gaming because I wasn't gaming, and because what I was doing was frequently mind-numbing and a infrequently a little gross.

I'll spare everyone the details, but it did get me thinking a lot about dungeon design, or....based on my experience, lack of design.

I don't know how many dungeon-delve adventures I've played in that didn't have any real thought behind the care and upkeep of those living in the space, well at least as far as waste removal goes. Trash chutes, bathrooms, basic vermin control.....all seem lacking in about 90% of the dungeons I've been able to adventure in. I'd probably say at least half of the other 10% was just judicious use of a gelatinous cube.

I know on so many levels dungeons are just places that exist to serve as an adventuring locale, but they should be, for the lack of a better term, "living" places. The dungeon your party only half cleared out? Well the other half spread out some. That dungeon your party did clear out? Well some other things moved in, or they would if they could. 

All living spaces, dungeons included, really need to meet all the requirements for the inhabitants, otherwise why live there?

Of course I'm looking at all, well ok some....of my previous written adventures and I'm faring decently well on the sanitation front, but one of the adventures was literally titled "Little Outhouse on the Prairie".  Those other adventures though.....yep, they kind of suck in this particular department.

Of course in the scheme of things, does it really matter? At this point it's probably more of a dungeon design pet peeve.

If this is *my* dungeon design pet peeve, then clearly there have to be some other pet peeves. As someone who dabbles in the occasional written adventure, I wouldn't mind hearing some other design issues that I could avoid. If anyone else happens to pick up an idea or two.....