Deal of the Day - Cha'alt (Gonzo Setting)

Let's get this out of the way: Cha'alt is written by Venger Satanis. V is a polarizing personality in gaming, to put it politely. I expect that that situation pleases Venger just fine. The thing is, the majority of his fantasy RPG work is pretty good to damn amazing (I'm not a fan of his Alpha Blue line, but that's my personal preference) in my humble opinion. If you like Venger, you probably already know that V has some solid releases. If he's on your shit list, today's Deal of the Day may be an opportunity to view the work separate from the man at a discounted price.

Until tomorrow morning at 11 AM, Cha'alt is on sale for 5 bucks - half of its regular sale price of 10 bucks. Cha'alt is about 200 pages of old-school gaming gonzoness.

Cha'alt is the beast of a book (218 pages) I've been working on for the past year.  It's a ruined world focusing on a couple of introductory dungeons before getting to the main event - the megadungeon known as The Black Pyramid.  

The Black Pyramid is like nothing you've ever seen before.  Unique design, purpose, feel, magic items, NPCs, monsters, factions, motives, agendas, strangeness, the works!

There's a decent amount of setting detail besides dungeoncrawling - space opera bar, domed city, mutants, weird ass elves, desert pirates, a city ruled by a gargantuan purple demon-worm, and much more!

Cha'alt is compatible with both old school and 5e D&D purposefully blended for maximum usability.  Full disclosure: aside from advantage/disadvantage and bounded accuracy, there isn't much in the way of 5th edition mechanics. It's predominantly OSR.

I've included my own Crimson Dragon Slayer D20 as an appendix, but you can use any of the hundred RPG systems available to run Cha'alt as your own.  The rules-language is fairly neutral, and my priority was helping the Game Master at the table.

The world is gonzo, eldritch, science-fantasy, and post-apocalyptic.  It's a wild ride, perfect for those players seeking something a little bit different, but also recognizable. 

The interior is gorgeous full-color art, layout, cartography and Lovecraftian aesthetics.  Gold ENnie winner Glynn Seal of MonkeyBlood Design went above and beyond his usual fantastic job.  Give the new 32 page preview a look.  I spared no expense making Cha'alt fantastic - this world is alive and spilling over with possibilities.

Cha'alt should give you years of solid, non-standardized gaming. 

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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 - AEON: Ancient Greece Volume 3 “Monsters of Myth” (DCC RPG)

I've covered previous releases in the AEON series of zines. During the funding period of AEON Issue #2, our group was playing in JoetheLawyer's bronze age setting, and the zine was a good fit for flavor. No, we weren't playing using the DCC RPG rules (we were using Joe's bronze age fantasy heartbreaker rules), but converting from DCC to other OSR systems is fairly easy, the difficulty is going in the other direction. 

AEON: Ancient Greece Volume 3 “Monsters of Myth” is as low as a single buck for the PDF, or 12 bucks for the Print plus PDF shipped worldwide.

Whether your campaign takes place in our Ancient Greek setting... In Lankhmar… On the Purple Planet… The Empire of the East… Mutant Crawl Classics…  Umerica… or your own doesn't matter because this brand new volume is going to help you bring the wondrous and downright terrifying to your campaign thanks to 36 new monsters inspired by Greek mythology for your Dungeon Crawl Classics game.

The Ancient Greeks measured their heroes by their mighty deeds.

And nothing will test your players’ mettle, luck, and their standing with the Gods, like a battle to the death with an epic monster.

Your players have better rested and healed up ‘cuz they’re gonna need all their HP, Spells, Abilities and Luck if they want to defeat, let alone live to tell the story of their legendary battles with these mythical monsters!

We guarantee your players have NEVER encountered any of these monsters before!

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

Humble Bundle - Tales of the Space Marines Chapter 2022 by Black Library

I'm a huge fan of the Warhammer and Warhammer 40k fiction. There is just something about the default universe that I find exciting. The opportunity to pick up 24 Warhammer 40k Titles for 18 bucks in digital (Mobi/Kindle and ePub formats) makes this a deal I can't pass up. Besides, my old eyes no longer are treated well by most print products ;)

Tales of the Space Marines Chapter 2022 by Black Library gives you 24 books for $18. That's like 75 cents a book.

Discover the fearless exploits of the Adeptus Astartes—the elite Space Marines of the Warhammer 40,000 universe—in this collection of novels & fiction from Black Library! This galaxy-spanning bundle gathers war stories of Chapters and squads from across the Imperium, charged with defending humanity against the relentless forces of Chaos. Explore the grim darkness of the Warhammer 40,000 universe, and support EveryLibrary with your purchase!

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 - TileForge: Software to Batch-Generate Mapping Tiles (Mapping Program)

This software for Mac & Windows PCs will create batches of custom geomorphic tiles for use in creating top-down battlemaps for RPGs.

I've been a huge fan of Heruca/BattleGrounds Games for over a decade. Not only did he offer a useful VTT, but he also offered links to the VTTs of competitors, and he also offers links to competitors of his mapping software. 

BattleGrounds Games used to be best known for offering a competitive VTT, but now I believe they are best known for their popular mapping software, MapForge.

The TileForge Kickstarter is BGG's latest offering, to allow one to design and print out battle maps on demand for their game sessions.

25 bucks is a very fair price, especially when you consider the price and storage issues of Dwarven Forge terrain and the like.

TileForge is a new program that I would like to develop, to support the creation of maps for tabletop RPGs (e.g. Dungeons & Dragons, Pathfinder, etc.). It should serve quite well as a companion app to my map-making software, MapForge, but that software is not required.

Whereas MapForge is focused is on creating battlemaps, TileForge is for creating geomorphic mapping tiles and stand-alone assets. These tiles and assets can later be used in your favorite image editor, map-making app, or even in a virtual tabletop app (e.g. Roll20, Foundry, Fantasy Grounds, etc.), to quickly assemble custom map layouts from the modular assets.

Creating geomorphic mapping tiles can be a tedious and labor-intensive process. TileForge will automate that process. Simply choose a few textures (you'll be able to drag-and-drop texture images right onto the app), and TileForge will apply the necessary shape masks, drop shadows, bevels and other effects, and create an entire set of geomorphic map tiles using those textures.

And TileForge won't be limited to creating just modular hallways or roads. You will also be able to create rooms or buildings, including multi-tile ones. Even create them without a background, so that you can place them anywhere on your maps.

Depending on the textures you use, you can make tilesets for a variety of genres: Fantasy, Modern Day, Sci-Fi, etc. Some examples of tilesets you could create include space station/base, dungeon, fantasy castle corridors/rooms, modern city roads, etc.

Entrepreneurs take note: If the textures that you utilize in a tileset allow commercial use, you could sell your TileForge-generated tilesets on sites like DriveThruRPG, the Roll20 marketplace, Etsy, Fiverr, and/or other online stores that cater to RPG fans. Or run your own crowdfunding campaign to deliver your tileset/s printed on card stock designed for use with dry erase or wet erase markers.

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 

Deal of the Day - Bottomless Pit of Zorth (OSR Adventure)

I have to admit, I'm a bit of an adventure junkie. No, not in real life, but I enjoy reading adventures, especially adventures written for the OSR. Its few and far between where I run them as written, but I mine the shit out of them for the sessions I run. 

Bottomless Pit of Zorth is today's Deal of the Day, written for OSRIC/OSR for a party of levels 3 to 5. I wish they mentioned the level range on the sales page, but I'll forgive that sin. Sure, it's on the cover, but you'll only be able to read that bit if you click on the thumbnail. Bottomless Pit of Zorth is normally 7.50 in PDF, but until tomorrow morning, it's on sale for 4.50.

This OSRIC/OSR adventure can be run as a stand-alone or as part of the Gunderholfen and Darkness at Nekemte setting. It includes approximatlely 65 keyed locations + random site/event and encounter tables. It's heavy on curious oddities; viscous oozes; and squishy, mutated monstrosities, with a healthy dose of push-the-red-button and see-what-happens interaction thrown in for good measure. 

The Bottomless Pit of Zorth has stood as a place of inscrutable mystery and dread since time immemorial, yet not few of the brave and reckless have tried their luck within its deep and reportedly never ending depths. Those lucky enough to survive can attest to its apparent bottomless nature, but spoke more of the alienness and oddness of the place: the unfathomable purpose of the giant rotating pin that pierces down into the depths; the otherworldly machinery; and the crazed and demented denizens that for reasons unknown defended the hellish hole. These survivors often left with a sense that there was a deliberate design and purpose to the Pit and that a terrible but inhuman intellect ruled and guided all, though none have yet seen or met this assuredly dreadful master.

 

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 

Free RPG - Call of Cthulhu Quickstart and Alone Against the Flames (Solo)

You say you want to play a scary RPG and have no one to play with? Well, with the Call of Cthulhu Quickstart and the Alone Against the Flames solo adventure, you can get the full CoC experience by yourself for the price of free. No, no one else will see you lose points of sanity, and only you will know if you cheat on your dice rolls, but your experience will be truthful to the CoC genre.

Alone Against the Flames: An Introductory Solitaire Adventure for Call of Cthulhu

This is a solo adventure for the Call of Cthulhu game. It is a horror story set in the 1920s where you are the main character, and your choices determine the outcome. It is also designed to lead you through the basic rules of the game in a gradual and entertaining fashion. Although most such adventures are played with your friends, this one is just for you. 

Before you begin to play, make sure you have a copy of the Call of Cthulhu Seventh Edition Quick-Start Rules. You’ll also need a pencil, an eraser, and some roleplaying dice. 

You don’t need to read the rules before you start playing. Just settle in a comfortable chair before a roaring fire. Then read on and follow the instructions. 

…On second thought, don’t sit too close to the fire.

 

Welcome to Chaosium’s Call of Cthulhu 7th Edition Quick-Start Rules, a booklet that collects the essential rules for Call of Cthulhu 7th Edition and presents them in abbreviated form.

This book comprises a complete basic roleplaying game system, a framework of rules aimed at allowing players to enact a sort of improvisational radio theater—only without microphones—and with dice determining whe­ther the characters succeed or fail at what they attempt to do. In roleplaying games, one player takes on the role of the gamemaster (or Keeper, in Call of Cthulhu), while the other player(s) assume the roles of player characters (investigators, in Call of Cthulhu) in the game. The gamemaster also acts out the roles of characters who aren’t being guided by players: these are called non-player characters (NPCs).

From its origin, Call of Cthulhu was designed to be intuitive and easy to play. Character attributes follow a 3D6 curve, and the other Call of Cthulhu mechanics are even simpler. Virtually all rolls determining success or failure of a task are determined via the roll of percentile dice. This means that there’s less fiddling with dice of different types, and the concept of a percentile chance of success is extremely easy for beginners and experienced players to grasp.

Use this booklet to play  Call of Cthulhu immediately, and to discover the improvements to the system. Games rules, an updated character sheet, and a classic adventure are included.

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 YouTube - Tenkar

Picking Up Some New Dice from Monday Knight Adventures (DCC/MCC compatible 14 dice set)

Just a head's up that today's post is 110% me "abusing" the privilege of being able to post "whatever I want" here at the Tavern.........

Now I will admit that as a (RPG) gamer I like dice. I mean who here doesn't?!

I'm also a self-diagnosed dice snob, using my old-school Gamescience dice to exclusion of almost any others. Kind of a difficult position to be in since I cannot really get any more GS dice. Sure, there are some available, but my ability to get all the dice I want, like another d30, yeah.....just not going to happen. I lucked out getting the last two d30's Zocchi had, but that tale has been told (hence the link).

As an almost aside, I used to play HackMaster 4th edition (I know, as if I've never brought that one up before) and I went through a stupid number of dice in that game. Like at one point I HAD to have a metric shit-ton of d6s and d4s for some of my DS Invoker's spells (including some for penetration rolls), but luckily back then I had the means and ability to purchase Gamescience dice, so I have a good supply of dice I'm not currently using....unless I want some of the odd ones, like d3's, d5's etc. While I have some, they are mismatched and not quite what I need when I'm playing Dungeon Crawl Classics or Mutant Crawl Classics.

If you haven't played DCC or MCC, the game can get a bit crazy with odd dice rolls, but the extreme randomness is part of the game's balance. You can get by replacing some dice rolls with others, like using a d30 for a d14 and ignoring any roll of  15+, but that doesn't work out that great......and just sucks if you're dice fan, and most of us are dice fans.

What normally happens is I use my normal GS dice set and then somehow I manage to get into a DCC or MCC game and then have a last-minute burning desire, nay need, for the full range of odd dice for a DCC/MCC game. Then I have to make a run to the dealer's hall and cough up $30 for whatever I can get. One set of dice for a pick-up game is fine, but not enough......I like to use two sets of dice when I play because, well.....you know.....sometimes dice just go cold and shit. If I'm stuck using a bum d20 I guess I could grab one of my regular dice, but then I'm mixing sets.....

....and you know how the dice don't like it when you mix them up.....

.....and sure it works for a d20, but what if it's your d14 goes bad for a spell?

No, I need two matched sets of dice. Since we have North Texas RPG Con coming up I figured I'd grab one of my older "emergency purchase" sets and find another matching set. Well that was my plan....

....until I found out that a couple of guys I knew from my HackMaster 4th Edition days had contracted with Impact! Miniatures to get their own batch of DCC/MCC compatible dice made. They're making them under the company name of Monday Knight Adventures and the dice can be found on eBay for now. 

Now since I know the guys behind Monday Knight Adventures and despite their public attempts to sometimes come off as indifferent a-holes, they're actually good guys. Back in the day when I was fortunate enough to be on a business trip to Nashville, I'd make the 2 hour trip to sit in on their Monday night home game.....and when I needed some help play-testing some tournament adventures I knew if I flew across the country they'd free up a weekend to run through the adventures.

On a more personal note, when I was going through some tough times during my volunteer days, these guys (the whole group, not just the two behind MKA) epitomized the saying "Who's got your back?", which (ironically) was a HackMaster "thing".

Clearly I think it would be cool if anyone who is interested in supporting some good guys, or who needs some cool dice, heads over and picks some of these "Poisoned Skulls" dice off of ebay. Now I'm into this for more than just a cheap Tavern shout-out.....since I'm pretty much on business trips until right before NTRPG, I don't have the ability to make my normal GM thank you gifts this year. *Spoiler Alert* if you are reading this and happen to have me playing at your table this year, you're getting a set of these dice.

I figure this is pretty much a win-win-win.