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.