Tenkar's Tavern: August 2023

Thursday, August 31, 2023

Bundle of Holding - Atomic Robo

It is no secret that I'm not a huge fan of the FATE system. Sure, I backed the Kickstarter and received oodles of support material, but the system itself just didn't do it for me.

The thing is, I AM a fan of graphic novels, and Atomic Robo looks like a fun one. I guess I can just ignore the included Atomic Robo RPG, or simply use it as a reference source.

Remain calm and trust in Science! We've resurrected our February 2021 Atomic Robo Bundle with nine complete .PDF graphic albums of the Eisner Award-nominated Atomic Robo comic series from Tesladyne LLC, plus the 2014 Atomic Robo RPG tabletop roleplaying game from Evil Hat Productions. In 1923 Nikola Tesla unveils a robot with automatic intelligence: Atomic Robo! Granted full American citizenship in 1938 after a secret military operation, Robo founds Tesladyne, a two-fisted think tank that explores the fringes of scientific inquiry. After decades of high-octane, full-contact hypothesis testing at the edge of human knowledge, Robo and the Action Scientists of Tesladyne are the go-to defense force against the unexplained.
Created in 2007 by Brian Clevinger and Scott Wegener, Atomic Robo has been online since 2015 at atomic-robo.com. There's giant monsters, rogue agencies, underground cities, trans-dimensional vampires, one particularly annoying dinosaur, and explosions – lots of explosions. Atomic Robo reads like the Ghostbusters, Indiana Jones, Buckaroo Banzai, and Rocketeer movies crammed into a robot who wears pants. Jump in anywhere – each graphic album in this offer is a self-contained story, so you can read them in any order.

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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

Wednesday, August 30, 2023

Crowdfunding - Unnatural Selection: A Supplement for use with Shadowdark

I didn't realize Backerkit was its own crowdfunding platform, but now I know :)

Unnatural Selection: A Supplement for use with Shadowdark is funding directly via Backerkit and is "a supplement of classes, ancestries, adventures and more for use with the Shadowdark RPG." Or, more precisely, "Unnatural Selection is a new digital and physical Supplement to the Shadowdark RPG. It introduces over 120 pages of new classes, ancestries, weapons, spells, untamed beasts, underworld oddities, magic items, adventures, and other enhancements while maintaining and expanding the core of the Old School Renaissance."

There's a ton of content under a single cover.

120+ pages in a concise, two-page spread layout
Rules for all new elements
6 New Ancestries
4 New Classes
70 familiar and brand new spells
65+ New Monsters, Animals, and Underworld Oddities
Backgrounds from the Underworld and Nature
Nature Spirits & Death Pantheon
New Support Spell Type
New Carousing
New Mishaps
New Treasure and Magic Items
Zero Level Gauntlet and Campaign Setting
Incredible hand drawn black-and-white art

Do I need it? Probably not. Do I want it? Definitely!

Tuesday, August 29, 2023

Bundle of Holding - The Nightmares Underneath (Old-school dark-dungeon tabletop fantasy roleplaying)

I do like a heavy dose of "dark" in my fantasy settings. Years later, I still feel that Midnight was one of the best FRPG settings ever. So, of course, I'm finding The Nightmares Underneath Bundle to be very tempting.

Adventurer! This new Nightmares Underneath Bundle presents The Nightmares Underneath, the old-school horror-fantasy tabletop roleplaying game from Chthonstone Games. The physical world faces invasion by deadly "incursions" from the Realm of Nightmares that manifest as dungeons. To destroy the incursion, your fantasy adventurers must risk nightmarish curses, face the dungeon's monsters, and loot its treasures. Use your loot to improve your home community, making it more prosperous and helpful for your expeditions into the ruins from the Age of Chaos, where you may find items of great magical power to banish the nightmares.
The Nightmares Underneath, a standalone game by Johnstone Metzger (Class Warfare, Adventures on Dungeon Planet, Wizard-Spawned Insanities), creatively adapts the systems common to old-school fantasy RPGs, replacing hit points with "Disposition" and introducing new alignment and spellcasting rules. We presented the 2016 First Edition of Nightmares in the November 2017 OSR 5 Bundle. This new offer brings you both editions, plus many incursions, monsters, and hexcrawls, for an unbeatable bargain price.
For just US$9.95 you get all three titles in our Nightmare Starter (retail value $45) as DRM-free ebooks, including the complete The Nightmares Underneath core rulebook in both its First and Second Editions (plus the free edition); the straightforwardly named Dungeon Full of Monsters, written for Labyrinth Lord with conversion notes for Nightmares; and a 36-page book of dungeon incursions, City of Poison.
The Nameless Grimoire for The Nightmares UnderneathAnd if you pay more than the threshold price of $23.12, you'll level up and also get three Bonus Nightmares worth an additional $60, including the Nightmares spellbook The Nameless Grimoire; the large-scale wilderness sandbox setting Only Monsters Here; and The Metamorphica (revised edition), a system-agnostic resource to generate mutations for dark fantasy, horror, transhuman sf, post-apocalypse, and even superhero campaigns.

Monday, August 28, 2023

Kickstarter - DragonSlayer (Greg Gillespie's Old School Clone)

I know what some of you are saying, as I've heard myself ask it many times over - Do we need yet another OSR ruleset? The answer, surprisingly, is yes, so long as the new ruleset has something new to offer. ShadowDark is very much Old School while being built on a 5e rules engine and adding the torchlight gimmick, and it works very well.

Well, earlier today, Greg Gillespie of Barrowmaze fame, launched a new Old School ruleset titled Dragonslayer. So, what does Dragonslayer offer that brings something new to the table? Let's see how Greg states it:

Once upon a time, as kids in the late 1970s and early 1980s, we played the first role-playing game created by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson.
There were options at the time. Some played Basic and some most moved to First Edition (as best they could).
Most of us kept using the Basic Engine (elegantly restated by Tom Moldvay in 1981) and grafted the chrome of First Edition onto our existing style of play. We used First Edition spells, character classes, monsters, and all the adventures. We left behind lame rules that bogged down gameplay and made it feel like actuarial science (for example, counting segments for spells or weapon-speed factors, among others).
This wasn't Moldvay Basic and it wasn't First Edition.
This was the edition we all played. We called it .75 or halfway between BX and 1E.
This is the ruleset that I've played for decades. This is how I play medieval fantasy role-playing games. This is the way...I want to play fantasy role-playing games.
This is the ruleset I used to create and play some of the most popular and evocative megadungeon adventures on the RPG market today:
Barrowmaze, Archaia, HighFell, and Dwarrowdeep.
Both Archaia (2017) and Dwarrowdeep (2022) won the Three Castles Award for Independent Game Design in recent years.
This...is the DragonslayerTM Role-Playing Game.
DragonslayerTM is a 300 page rulebook with cover art by legendary ex-TSR artist Jeff Easley.

The DragonSlayer Kickstarter is about 26 USC in PDF and about 63 USC in Print plus PDF. I say "about" because Greg is Canadian and the prices are converted by Kickstarter into USC. When you read the word "about", you need to read it with a Canadian accent ;)

Sunday, August 27, 2023

Hear Me Out: TTRPG Achievements

So this last week I've been playing Minecraft off and on, deciding to go back to a Survival world I'd pretty much abandoned because I was an idiot who let the Wither loose in the Nether. I thought maybe if I let loose a bunch of Iron Golems they'd take care of it, but no....

....after a few (more) character deaths, and loosing a bunch more "leveled" gear, I decided I'd enlist some help, which I haven't done yet, but while I'm waiting for that help I've spent my time screwing around and I was surprised when I was awarded a Diamond Achievement, which means I managed something that less than 10% of players have done.

Cool...cool. While I'm screwing around, why not work towards some more achievements. Some were easier than others, just because the crap I've been doing....like my home base has a huge "aquarium" I built that has a full-up conduit, which means my "character", as it were, is able to breath underwater. Spend an in-game day underwater and ding! another Diamond Achievement (0.78% of players).

This got me to thinking that it'd be cool if we had achievements for table-top RPGs. Now I know darned well that this would be a HUGE ask of our community because I could see this being fractured beyond belief, but at a table/GM level....very doable. If it was actually a community thing then we could get something that looks like a cohesive art style across achievements, but right now....we just got me.

I spent a few hours, probably waaaaay too long, trying to come up with 600dpi 1" .png's for the 20 19 (I accidentally listed one twice) Achievements I came up with. I stopped a little more than halfway because it was more than a Sunday morning's work. Clearly I took some liberties with the graphic ideas, but not all:

(20 points) Designated Survivor: Bravely ran away as the only party survivor from a fight you couldn't win.

(5 points) Flawless Victory: Win a combat encounter without any of your allies taking damage.

(5 points) Resourceful Fighter: Defeat an enemy using improvised weapons or environmental objects.

(10 points) Avenger: In a subsequent battle, defeat an enemy who had previously killed a party member.

(20 points) Revenger: In a subsequent battle, defeat an enemy who had previously killed your PC.

(10 points) Jester: Successfully stop the game for 1' because you lightened the mood with your witty repertoire.

(20 points) Highlander: There can be only one.....be the lone survivor of the battle.

(5 points) Melee Master: Win a battle using only melee attacks, without an party member relying on ranged attacks or spellcraft.

(5 points) No Mercy: Defeat an enemy while they are incapacitated or at a disadvantage.

(5 points) Lost and Found: Return to a location you've been to more than a month before and discover a hidden treasure.

(10 points) Underground Adventurer: Spend more than a month of in-game time underground.

(20 points) Death's Door: Survive a combat encounter with only 1 hit point remaining.

(20 points) Critical Master: Land three critical hits in a single combat encounter.

(20 points) Living Legend: Have a character make Name Level.

(5 points) Silent Negotiator: Resolve a significant conflict without resorting to combat, using only your words and diplomacy.

(20 points) Take One for the Team: Place yourself in harm's way and take a wound that would've killed another party member.

(20 points) Campaign Chronicler: Keep a detailed in-character journal or diary chronicling the party's adventures for an entire year's time (in or out of game).

(10 points) Divine Inspiration: Role-play a conversation with a deity, and survive the experience.

(10 points) Linguist: Fluently converse in five or more fictional languages during a single game session.

Obviously this is just and idea, and only a start, but I'm thinking of these achievements kind of as a counter to the GM Kill Stickers I've made to adorn my GM Shield.

Saturday, August 26, 2023

Kickstarter - Monsters! Monsters! Rules 2.7 & Crystal Caves Challenge solo

Yes, Kickstarters have been a frequent theme here, and the scary thing is, each of the ones I've highlighted in the past week I'm also backing. I need to make a list of Big Box Games I'll be donating to ShireCon, simply to make room for more recent acquisitions (I know there was a rumor last summer, being passed around by some that don't follow The Tavern on a regular basis but like to believe rumors, that I was downsizing my game collection due to "financial constraints". The truth was, and still is, I'm dealing with "space constraints", and there's a shit-ton of gaming material that can fit where one OGRE Kickstarter Box is right now. I am like most of my readers, still actively collecting. These donations are part of the current "decluttering" Rach and I are currently in the middle of. It is neither a simple nor short process, but it IS well worth the effort.)

I'm really excited to see the updated Monsters! Monsters! rulebook being released, and spiral bound at that. I'm a licensee to publish under the Monster! Monster! rules, but other events (not the least of which is figuring out how to get Continual Light out the door with the OGL still in flux for the 3.5 SRD) have kept that from getting completed in a timely fashion. Don't let anyone tell you that retirement doesn't have its own time constraints :)

In any case, just like I'm a huge Tunnels & Trolls fan (still waiting on an update as to what the new owners of the ruleset have planned), Monsters! Monsters! is becoming very much a refined T&T "what if" ruleset, as in "what if the system wasn't human-centric, but rather monster-centric?" I'm really enjoying the Monsters! Monsters! rules, and I'm excited to get my hands on the update.

There are numerous options to back the Monsters! Monsters! Rules 2.7 Kickstarter. I'm backing at the "kitchen sink" level, but remember, I'm a huge fan of T&T, M!M!, and related goodness. 38 bucks get you a wire-bound copy of Monsters! Monsters! 2.7, but you can get for less in PDF, or pay more for more options.

What's in this Kickstarter: We have three rpg books, one is Trollgod's Crystal Cave Caverns and the 2.7th edition of the Monsters!Monsters! Rules. PLUS we are offering a limited edition of the never-before-seen 1976 Zero Edition of Monsters! Monsters! We also have some add-ons including a new set of standees and a new full-color adventure map and a couple more surprises, You can buy either book separately or get them both at a discounted price.

Friday, August 25, 2023

Kickstarter - Legacy of the Green Flame: A Solo Campaign for 5e & Classic!

I've been dabbling in the world of solo play recently, snagging rulesets and trying to get comfortable with the idea of playing when I have a few minutes to spare, without a GM or other players. As such, I constantly have my eyes open for new solo play options, which brings us to Legacy of the Green Flame: A Solo Campaign for 5e & Classic from Pacesetter Games.

The Legacy of the Green Flame: A Solo Campaign Kickstarter offers a full campaign (to 5th level), to be played with essentially any OSR system, or 5e (and probably Pathfinder with some minor tweaking). Hardcover plus PDF, for the system type of your choice, is 45 bucks, which I consider to be very reasonable.

This multi-part solo campaign includes four linked adventure modules that can be played as part of the campaign or independently. Each module is set in a unique location and environment. There are two versions of the campaign adventure, 5e and Classic (which includes BX, Holmes, OSE, Swords & Wizardry, and 1e). Additionally, your character gains experience and advances in level as you move through the adventures (5e uses benchmark leveling but may opt for traditional experience point leveling, while the Classic version uses experience point progression).
Legacy of the Green Flame uses Pacesetter’s innovative SoloSystem for augmented solo gameplay; however, you still use the core rules of whichever RPG system you prefer (5e or Classic). Every creature, magic item, and new spell is full described (with full stat blocks in the Classic version). Did we mention there are dozens of new monsters, magic items, and spells? Well, there are. The SoloSystem provides added guidelines and rules to help move the game along while maximizing the solo game experience. These are generally items such as resting, wandering monsters, hirelings and henchmen, Adventure Points, etc. You also can map as you go! This is a unique facet that Pacesetter innovated way back in 2010.
Each of the adventures has multiple adventure paths and routes so you can play them many times and experience new adventure areas and results.

Thursday, August 24, 2023

Humble Bundle - Dungeon Crawl Classics MEGA Bundle (Over 70 Adventures for 3e, 4e, 5e, DCC RPG for 25 bucks)

Dungeon Crawl Classics, or DCC, adventures, had their star in the 3x/D20 era, progressed through 4e, and finally spawned their own RPG, the Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG, or the DCC RPG.

I have run 3x era DCC Adventures as well as DCC RPG Adventures with the Swords & Wizardry (OSR) rules, converting on the fly with little if any hiccups. The adventures themselves are generally the most imaginative, most inspiring adventures one can choose to run as a GM.

The 74 adventures included in this bundle include some personal favorites that are well worth the price of admission on their own. DCC #29, The Adventure Begins includes a collection of low-level adventures to kick your new campaign off with. DCC #35, Gazetteer of the Known World is one of the better fantasy settings around, regardless of system. DCC #51, Castle Whiterock, is a mega-dungeon that will take your players through level 15 or so. While all three of these highlighted choices are written for 3x, they convert easily to the system of your choice.

20 of the included adventures/PDFs are from the 3x era of D&D, 14 are from the 4e era, 8 are for D&D 5e, and the rest are written for the DCC RPG (over 30) as well as a 20% off coupon for use at the Goodman Games Online Store. There is a lifetime of gaming potential in the Dungeon Crawl Classics MEGA Bundle at the $25 price point.

Get ready to put your players through the meat grinder with this gargantuan collection of modules and supplements for the Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG system from Goodman Games! This bundle includes 70+ DCC books, ranging from essential modules like Idylls of the Rat King, The Lost Vault of Tsathzar Rho, and The Mysterious Tower, to mammoth supplements like Castle Whiterock, a veritable campaign-in-a-virtual-box. Pay what you want for enough material to keep your campaign going for ages—valued at over $1,000—and support World Central Kitchen with your purchase!

Wednesday, August 23, 2023

Kickstarter - Prison-Pit of the Agelast King - for the Shadowdark RPG

A fully written, edited, and illustrated low-level adventure for the Shadowdark RPG.

I've been a friend, and fan, of Thom Wilson / Throwi Games for years. He's had some amazing releases for various old-school games, from B/X to Gamma World and beyond. I've been a special guest at Thom's local convention, ShireCon, in NW Connecticut since the first year of the con.

Prison-Pit of the Aglelast King is Thom's current Kickstarter, a low-level adventure for the Shadowlands RPG. It's 4 bucks in PDF and 12 bucks in POD plus PDF (plus shipping)

Prison-Pit of the Aglelast King is a 24-page, saddle-stitched, B&W adventure book for the Shadowdark RPG. Written by Thom Wilson of ThrowiGames, LLC. Edited by Joshua Newey. Cartography by Dyson Logos (commercial use license). Filled with stock art.
For 4-6 characters of 1st to 2nd level. 25 encounter areas filled with hazards and monsters. Playtested at North Texas RPGCon in June of 2023.

Tuesday, August 22, 2023

Comic Horror Sale - Spotlight on Swords of Cthulhu (OSR)

Continuing the more or less irregular highlighting of titles from the Cosmic Horror Sale at DTRPG, our next title is Swords of Cthulhu by Joseph Bloch/BRW Games.

I have Swords of Cthulhu in print and it is a thing of beauty that fits perfectly on my AD&D 1e shelf of classic titles. Normally 9.95 in PDF, Swords of Cthulhu is on sale for 7.46 during the Cosmic Horror Sale at DTRPG.

A 2023 "Three Castles Award" finalist!
Swords of Cthulhu is filled with new options to expand your old-school roleplaying game!
Plumb the rich depths of Lovecraftian horror with new races like Deep One hybrids and Degenerates, new classes like the cultist and the scholar, new skills, complete insanity rules, the Dreamlands, the Old Ones and Outer Gods, and much more. For both players and game masters.
Written for the First Edition of the world's most popular RPG, Swords of Cthulhu will also be useful to anyone running a game using old-school rules.

Monday, August 21, 2023

Bundle of Holding - Everywhen (Universal RPG)

Barbarians of Lemuria. One of those RPGs, that, upon my return to roleplaying, was one of those vaguely "indie" games that spoke to me. An easy to learn system, an excellent setting, and it appeared that the engine would fade to the back during play. As the years went on, BoL faded from my active memory.

All of which means, the Everywhen Bundle comes out of nowhere in my eyes. It takes the Barbarians of Lemuria engine and turns it into a universal system based on a simple 2d6 mechanic. I'm sold :)

Adventurer! This Everywhen Bundle presents Everywhen, the rules-lite universal tabletop roleplaying system from Garnett Elliott at 13th Planet Games based on Simon Washbourne's cult-classic sword-and-sorcery FRPG Barbarians of Lemuria. Adapting the fast, fun BoL 2d6-based system and character Careers, Everywhen adds rules for vehicles, chases, investigations, social conflicts, psionics, and mass battles suitable for campaigns in any era or background. Play every kind of character from ancient Mesopotamians to Shaolin monks, 16th-Century vampire hunters to WWII commandos, and Miami vice cops to space truckers, all using the eminently hackable Everywhen, called "the AK-47 of indie games."
This all-new offer brings you almost the entire Everywhen line for an unbeatable bargain price. For just US$7.95 you get all four titles in our Starter Collection (retail value $30) as DRM-free ebooks, including the complete Everywhen core rulebook, plus the free supplement Weapons and Armour and the quickstart solo adventure The Fomorian; Pulse-Pounding Pulp; the scenario anthology Anywhen Adventures; and Darkness: Supernatural Creatures.
And if you pay more than the threshold price of $15.26, you'll level up and also get our entire Bonus Collection with six more supplements and adventures worth an additional $37, including the Vikings-vs-Mythos campaign sourcebook Wyrd Sails and five settings and adventures that range widely across genres: Blood Sundown and its adventure Dragon by the Bay, Neonpunk Crysis and its scenario Escape From Old Tokyo, and the rocketpunk setting Red Venus.

Sunday, August 20, 2023

New Campaign Questionnaire

It's been.......NTRPG(?) since I've slung some dice. I completely blame my GM, who had to go and get engaged. Evidently hanging with the new soon-to-be-wife is more important than running an RPG for his group.

I'm actually happy for him and not bitter, but don't tell him that.

For the last week or two I've been contemplating picking up the GM shield again. Now I already have a preferred system and campaign already in mind, but I also don't want to force that down my player's throats.....assuming my group would even be down for trying that particular game in the first place.

A decade, or two, ago at Origins I ran a small GM panel with a buddy of mine and he introduced, well all of us, to a questionnaire he uses with his players prior to the start of the a new campaign. I recall two of his campaigns, one set basically during the siege of Constantinople and another that was an all magic-user campaign basically set in Hogwarts (every level was a year of magical college).

I think I'm going to tweak his questionnaire a bit and broach the subject with my group.....btw, simply making this post is already broaching the subject. This questionnaire is definitely established for HackMaster 4th Edition, but it'll work :

Answer the following questions to the best of your ability. I am interested in seeing your vision of your perfect game world. Obviously, I can't give every player exactly what they want, but I will do my best to find a happy medium.

1. In what climates are you interested?

Desert Temperate Forest Tropical Forest Mountains

Swamp Tropical Islands Plains Other ___________

2. What human pantheons of Gawds would you most like to see in your world?

Babylonian Celtic Central American Chinese Egyptian Finnish

Greek Japanese Native American Norse Sumerian

Aldrazar Cerilia Fading Realms Krynn Kuchooloo Mystaros

Oerth Tellene Zakhara Don't care All of these GM Creation

3. What class(es) of character would you like to play?

Cleric-types Fighter-types Magic-User-types Thief-types

Druid Barbarian Monk Pirate Battle Mage Assassin

Zealot Berzerker Paladin Samurai Blood Mage Bard

Shaman Cavalier Ranger Soldier Illusionist Charlatan

Chosen One Dark Knight Bounty Hunter Swashbuckler Wild Mage Infiltrator

Knight Errant Gladiator Holy Knight Other________ Other_______

4. What class(es) of character would you not like to play?

Cleric-types Fighter-types Magic-User-types Thief-types

Druid Barbarian Monk Pirate Battle Mage Assassin

Zealot Berzerker Paladin Samurai Blood Mage Bard

Shaman Cavalier Ranger Soldier Illusionist Charlatan

Chosen One Dark Knight Bounty Hunter Swashbuckler Wild Mage Infiltrator

Knight Errant Gladiator Holy Knight Other________ Other_______

5. What class(es) of character would you not like to see anyone else play?

Cleric-types Fighter-types Magic-User-types Thief-types

Druid Barbarian Monk Pirate Battle Mage Assassin

Zealot Berzerker Paladin Samurai Blood Mage Bard

Shaman Cavalier Ranger Soldier Illusionist Charlatan

Chosen One Dark Knight Bounty Hunter Swashbuckler Wild Mage Infiltrator

Knight Errant Gladiator Holy Knight Other________ Other_______

6. Are you more interested in urban or wilderness adventuring?

Urban |_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____| Wilderness

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

7. Do you prefer each dungeon to be a self-contained plot, or do you like interconnected storylines?

Self-contained|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|Interconnected

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

8. Do you prefer solving puzzles/social encounters or killing monsters?

Puzzles|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|Monsters

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

8a. How "crunchy" do you like your combat? Relatively quick & easy or more drawn-out tactical second by second accounting?

Quick/Easy |_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|Tactical Simulation

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

9. Do you like your monsters smart or dumb? (Example: When you kill half of a band of orcs but have to leave the dungeon to get healed, do you want the remaining orcs to be prepared for your return?)

Smart|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|Dumb

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

10. Do you want the early adventures to take place in one general area, allowing the party to have a home base, or do you want the party to have adventures along a journey to a distant destination, possibly because they are fleeing a powerful foe?

Home base|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|Journey

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

11. Do you prefer serious adventuring (Sir Galahad's quest for the Grail) or silly adventuring (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland)?

Serious|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|Silly

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

12. What race(s) would you like to play?

Dwarf Elf Gnome Half-elf Human Pixie Fairy

Drow Gnomeling Halfling

Grel Gnome Titan Half-orc Other ____________

Half-ogre

13. What race(s) would you not like anyone else to play?

Dwarf Elf Gnome Half-elf Human Pixie Fairy

Drow Gnomeling Halfling

Grel Gnome Titan Half-orc Other ____________

Half-ogre

14. Which of the following attributes would you use to describe your ideal character?

Loyal Inquisitive Reckless Trustworthy Greedy Restless

Selfish Sneaky Brave Cautious Ambitious Faithful

Crazy Creative Determined Horny Charitable Happy

Angry Confident Suspicious Noble Other _________

15. Are you more interested in a mission-based campaign, where the party is sent on missions by higher authorities, or a “random” campaign, where the party wanders around looking for trouble?

Mission|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|Random

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

16. Which of the following goals apply to your ideal character?

Become a powerful warrior, etc. Expand the territory of my master Obtain great wealth

Convert others to my cause/religion Eliminate evil(good) Impose order on society

Gain knowledge Explore the world Defend freedom

Protect the weak Build a castle, temple, etc. Punish my adversaries

Acquire magic Other ___________________

17. If my character gets killed, I feel: (be honest)

Angry Frustrated

Sad Happy, because I get to play a new character

Surprised, because I'm too good for my PC to get killed

Concerned, because how will the group survive without me?

Other _____________________

18. I see my game master as:

God: He controls who lives and dies based on what he feels will make the game interesting

A guide: He leads the group through the adventure nudging us in the right direction

My adversary: I'm not fighting monsters or solving puzzles, I'm trying to outplay and outsmart him

A computer: He tells me what happens solely based on the actions of the group

Other _____________________

19. My preferred game system is _______________ because:

Please write any additional comments on the back of the page.

Why "Swords & Wizardry?"

Believe me when I say I have them all in dead tree format. I have OSRIC in full size, trade paperback and the Player's Guide. I have LL and the AEC (and somewhere OEC, but I can't find it at the moment). Obviously I have Basic Fantasy RPG. Actually, I have the whole available line in print. Way too much Castles & Crusades. We all know my love for the DCC RPG. I even have Dark Dungeons in print, the Delving Deeper boxed set, Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea. BOTH editions of LotFP's Weird Fantasy and some dead tree copies of the Greyhawk Grognards Adventures Dark & Deep

I am so deep in the OSR when I come up for breath it's for the OSR's cousin, Tunnels & Trolls

So, out of all that, why Swords & Wizardry? Why, when I have been running a AD&D 1e / OSRIC campaign in Rappan Athuk am I using Swords & Wizardry and it's variant, Crypts & Things, for the second campaign? (Actually, now running a S&W Complete campaign, soon to be with multiple groups)

Because the shit works.

It's easy for lapsed gamers to pick up and feel like they haven't lost a step. I can house rule it and it doesn't break. It plays so close to the AD&D of my youth and college years (S&W Complete especially) that it continually surprises me. Just much less rules hopping than I remember. (my God but I can run it nearly without the book)

I grab and pick and steal from just about all OSR and Original resources. They seem to fit into S&W with little fuss. It may be the same with LL and the rest, but for me the ease of use fit's my expectations with S&W.

Even the single saving throw. That took me longer to adjust to, but even that seems like a natural to me now. Don't ask me why, it just does. Maybe it's the simplicity of it. At 45 52, simplicity and flexibility while remaining true to the feel of the original is an OSR hat trick for me ;)

Swords & Wizardry Light - Forum

RPGNow

Thursday, August 31, 2023

Bundle of Holding - Atomic Robo

Wednesday, August 30, 2023

Crowdfunding - Unnatural Selection: A Supplement for use with Shadowdark

Tuesday, August 29, 2023

Bundle of Holding - The Nightmares Underneath (Old-school dark-dungeon tabletop fantasy roleplaying)

Monday, August 28, 2023

Kickstarter - DragonSlayer (Greg Gillespie's Old School Clone)

Sunday, August 27, 2023

Hear Me Out: TTRPG Achievements

Saturday, August 26, 2023

Kickstarter - Monsters! Monsters! Rules 2.7 & Crystal Caves Challenge solo

Friday, August 25, 2023

Kickstarter - Legacy of the Green Flame: A Solo Campaign for 5e & Classic!

Thursday, August 24, 2023

Humble Bundle - Dungeon Crawl Classics MEGA Bundle (Over 70 Adventures for 3e, 4e, 5e, DCC RPG for 25 bucks)

Wednesday, August 23, 2023

Kickstarter - Prison-Pit of the Agelast King - for the Shadowdark RPG

Tuesday, August 22, 2023

Comic Horror Sale - Spotlight on Swords of Cthulhu (OSR)

Monday, August 21, 2023

Bundle of Holding - Everywhen (Universal RPG)

Sunday, August 20, 2023

New Campaign Questionnaire

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