Kickstarter - BURN 2d6 Core Rulebook -- an indie RPG system

With the recent OGL drama, we've seen a bump in new game systems releasing their own SRDs and using Creative Commons licensing. BURN 2d6 is one of those systems, and I know the project's artist, and you might too. Craig Brasco does some amazing work and has donated some to The Tavern.

I tend to like short, concise rulesets (SWL anyone?) and BURN 2D6 comes in at 64 pages and covers four genres: Pulp Era, Space Opera, Myth & Magic, and SUPERS.

I'm in :)

(next week expect me to catch up on some reviews that have been in the hopper but haven't been gotten to because of, well, time issues) - Tenkar

BURN 2d6 is a flexible system with a unique BURN mechanic that keeps the game moving and allows for a complete adventure to be run by the Moderator in a single short session! Ever get a group together with limited time, perhaps late at night at a convention? Or want to introduce folks to roleplaying games? With BURN 2d6 you can get to the fun in moments and play a complete adventure in 90 minutes. The system also promotes and encourages character progression and campaign play.

We will produce an at least 64-page Core Rulebook (6.14" x 9.21") in full color for the BURN 2d6 roleplaying game system. The text is 100% written and being edited as you read this. Your support will help us to complete the art and layout. This project does not use AI art. All the art is being commissioned from two real live artists (see the team described below). We will have the finished product sent to backers in June 2023. 

BURN 2d6 will be distributed under a Creative Commons (CC BY-SA) license. This is an original indie rpg system. We hope that you will support indie creators like us by making a pledge.

 

 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 - Worlds of 2D20

I must admit, I own none of the titles included in the Worlds of 2D20 Bundle of Holding, yet there are a number IPs I'd love to own as RPGs. Dune, Fallout, Star Trek, and John Carter of Mars. I'm in!

Adventurer! This new Worlds of 2d20 Bundle gathers .PDF ebooks of many tabletop roleplaying games that use the 2d20 System rules from Modiphius Entertainment, including Dune, Dishonored, Fallout, Star Trek Adventures, Achtung! Cthulhu, Infinity, and John Carter of Mars, all for an unbeatable bargain price. This offer promotes the new Modiphius 2d20 World Builders Community Content Program through DriveThruRPG. 2d20 World Builders lets you design and sell your own complete 2d20-based games, supplements, characters, and more.

For just US$14.95 you get all three complete rulebooks in our 2d20 Starter Collection (retail value $67) as DRM-free ebooks, including Dishonored: The Roleplaying Game, the Infinity RPG, and John Carter of Mars, as well as the free 2d20 System Reference Document you'll want if you join the World Builders program.

Star Trek Adventures core rulebookAnd if you pay more than the threshold price of $39.97, you'll level up and also get our entire 2d20 Bonus Collection with eight more titles worth an additional $138, including the complete Dune: Adventures in the Imperium core rulebook; the Achtung! Cthulhu 2d20 Player's Guide and Gamemaster's Guide; the Star Trek Adventures corebook; the Fallout Starter Set; the Dishonored Gamemaster Toolkit; the John Carter of Mars Phantoms Campaign Guide; and Infinity: Adventures in the Human Sphere.

Your purchase includes a unique, one-use 30% discount code, good through 30 March 2023, on purchases of any or all of six qualifying print rulebooks at either the Modiphius UK webstore or its US webstore. Your unique discount code and full details will appear near the top of your Worlds of 2d20 Wizard's Cabinet download page on this site.

 

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 - Delver Lost Tomes (OSE)

As a seat-of-the-pants style DM, bundles like Delver Lost Tomes for OSR style are the type of resources I love. For less than 10 bucks, it's a no-brainer for me.

Adventurer! This Delver Lost Tomes Quick Deal gathers a dragon hoard of dungeon maps and random tables from The Tabletop Engineer for the Old-School Essentials tabletop fantasy roleplaying game and other Old School Revival RPGs. Use these play aids before or during your game sessions to generate quick side quests, nonplayer character hirelings, magical treasures, and spur-of-the-moment colorful details about any sword, skeleton, trap, tome, brazier, blessing, scroll, song, map, Wanted poster, or owlbear that suddenly appears on the scene.

Delver Book of Tombs page 28Tabletop Engineer mastermind James Floyd Kelly edits the popular OSR magazine Delver, a rich source of scenarios, tables, maps, and play aids. This new offer, which includes the first two issues of Delver, promotes James's Delver issue 7 Kickstarter campaign in progress. Check it out!

For just US$9.95 you get all seven titles in our Lost Tomes Collection (retail value $54) as DRM-free ebooks, including all four Tomes supplements – Lost Adventures, Lost Artifacts, Lost Hirelings, and Lost Pages; the recent Book of Tombs; and Delver Magazine issue #1 and issue #2, both previously in our April 2022 Old-School Essentials Treasures.

 

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 

E. Gary Gygax Probate Case Update

 No further details:

Here's the text:

01-26-2023

10:01 a.m., Court in session.  Attorney Joseph A Kromholz in court for Lucion Gygax.  Attorney Jennifer M Gorn in court for Lucion Gygax.  Attorney Theodore Nathan Johnson in court for Gail Carpenter Gygax.  Personal Representative Steven A. Koch in court. 

Parties have reached an agreement.  

Attorney Johnson will provide information to Attorney Koch regarding largest item sold.  Other issues will be held in abeyance.  Mediation date has been scheduled.

Future court dates remain as scheduled.

10:03 a.m., Court in recess.

Link: https://wcca.wicourts.gov/caseDetail.html?caseNo=2020PR000058&countyNo=64&index=0&fbclid=IwAR2wyvHmw3wvviheAQmLU02VGjyhe09GY3oac4s1sLGVRtRgq48TLEHeA2k#records

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  

Kickstarter - Sinless RPG (Shadowrun Anyone? ;)

Sinless is a cyberpunk role-playing game in a world where magic has returned.

Shadowrun is a game I picked up the moment I saw it in 1989/90. Cyberpunk meets Fantasy gaming! What could be better? For me, not much. For my gaming group, pretty much anything. The setting was awesome but the rules were broken, and we'd already played Paranoia 1e, an amazing setting with broken rules. So, Shadowrun was never played.

Apparently, our experience was not unique. I've spoken with Courtney about these very issues, and his vision of Sinless is a game inspired by Shadowrun but expressly playable. Courtney Campbell has an amazing record of extremely useful and USABLE tabletop RPG Kickstarters, and I expect Sinless to continue in that tradition.

Sinless in Print and digital is 30 bucks, and digital-only is 10 bucks. 

Sinless is a playable cyberpunk tabletop role-playing game with magic, integrated domain play, and giant pools of d6s created by Courtney Campbell, author of On Downtime and Demesnes and creator of the Quantum Ogre!

Sinless was designed to be played in sessions lasting four to six hours by 4-6 human beings. Without a system identification number, cybernetic Ronin, Mages, Deckers, and Riggers form groups of Sinless who seek to undermine corporate lords. Not only by attacking them directly by performing extractions of crucial personnel, targeted destruction raids, and infiltration and data theft, but also by developing a brand, hiring assets, and exploring sectors to find new resources and factions. 

Malls are back in a big way in this classic 1980s-styled cyberpunk role-playing game. Using a priority character creation system, you pick your heritage, magical aptitude, attributes, skills, starting resources and buy cybertechtronic and biogenetic enhancement. 

Magic has reentered the world. Some humans have mutated into the Blighted, many growing tusks, horns, or even worse horrors; others have mutated into the Green, growing antlers pointed ears, or resembling the fae of myth. Humans share this world with Synths and Uplifts. Synths are synthetic AI in "living" forms and Uplifts are animals given intelligence, mobility, and opposable thumbs by cybertechtronics and biogenetics. 

Sinless takes place in 2090, a possible dystopian future, but not one without hope! Given enough time, ingenuity, and planning, characters can use their brand to help make a better world. Once they accumulate 1 billion Zuzu's (a secure crypto-currency controlled by the corporate court, based on the popularity of a posh dog) they will be recognized by the international corporate court and can found their own future, free of interference. 

What will your players sacrifice to achieve their goals?

This game rules text is complete—backers will immediately gain access to the first backer post which has a copy of the rules. Much art, fiction, and extra content (bestiary entries, additional assets/resources) is in process. It has not been edited or laid out. The Kickstarter is to raise funds for the cover art and editing. Additional funds will add art and more content. Stretch goals include the possibility of printing it traditionally, gameplay add-ons, as well as special Kickstarter-only content!

 

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 - The Incandescent Grottoes (OSE)

As I decide which way to go with the updated version of Continual Light (OGL, CC, or something completely different), I find a new appreciation of my Old School Essentials collection of core books and adventures. It is, quite simply, a beautifully laid out, concisely written, sharp presentation of the classic B/X rules. If you haven't checked out OSE yet, you probably should.

Today's Deal of the Day, The Incandescent Grottoes, is written by OSE creator Gavin Norman. Normally 7.50 for 48 pages in PDF, but until tomorrow morning, The Incandescent Grottoes is on sale for 3 bucks.

A bubbling stream cascades into a hole in the earth, leading to a series of underground watercourses and scintillating grottoes. Adventurers who delve within may discover odd mosses and fungi, a ruined temple complex, and the lair of a crystal-eating dream dragon.

A classic expedition into the Mythic Underworld for characters of 1st to 2nd level.

• 57 keyed areas, rumour table, loot summary, dungeon background info, suggestions for expanding the dungeon.
• Keyed in a quick-reference, bullet point format.
• Statted for Old-School Essentials (B/X), usable with any vintage adventure game.
• Unlabelled map included for VTT use.

The Incandescent Grottoes can be linked with The Hole in the Oak to form a large, 3 level dungeon with over 115 keyed encounter areas!

 

 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  

Kickstarter - Isometric content Add-Ons for MapForge map-making software (Battleground Games)

I've been a fan of Heruca and Battlegrounds Games for years, it may be even a decade or more. When I was researching VTTs back in the day, the Battlegrounds Games forums were my go-to location to get info and ask questions. sadly, the forums appear to be down right now, but I was always impressed that Heruca was quite happy to have conversations about VTTs that were in competition with his own VTT in his own forums. That took both integrity and confidence in his own work, and it was refreshing.

These days, Battlegrounds Games has been working hard in expanding the content available for its well-regarded MapForge mapmaking software. The current Kickstarter- Isometric content Add-Ons for MapForge map-making software, is as it says on the tin, about adding Isometric content to the ever-growing MapForge library.

Isometric maps were made popular by many computer RPGs and strategy games. A lot of people, however, might be familiar with the map style but not necessarily with the technical term "isometric". Maps made with with isometric graphics can create spectacular, richly detailed visuals.

For GMs of pen-and-paper RPGs, such maps are often more useful as visual aids than as tactical battlemaps that you would move tokens around on. However, some virtual tabletop programs (aka VTTs) now support isometric maps, and that number should gradually increase.

While the majority of potential backers of this project will likely be tabletop RPG gamers, isometric mapping is something that non-gamers can really enjoy, too. Creating isometric maps/illustrations is a fun, creative, and rewarding activity that anyone, regardless of drawing skill (or lack thereof) can enjoy.

 If you're not already familiar with MapForge, here's a quick recap:

• MapForge is easy-to-use software for Windows and Mac OS that makes high-quality maps for printing or for use in virtual tabletop software (e.g., Roll20, Fantasy Grounds, etc.).
• It can be used for free (no license required for low resolution output).
• Comes with 52 free content Add-Ons (covering a variety of game genres and mapping styles).
• You can download and try the software out for yourself, to evaluate it and see if the program is what you want/expect it to be.

Assets from this KS start at 4 bucks a pack. The full Mapforge Software is 35 bucks, and well worth the price. 

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  

Good Deal Going on Right Now Over at Kickstarter

Today kind of sucks for me......I finally got my home server setup almost like I want it (will be putting it into a new case next month) and I go to hookup my external drive to transfer about a year's worth of RPG downloads to the server....and I accidentally knock if off the table. Now it just makes a clicking noise and Windows won't see it anymore.

Now I'm a firm believer in the idea that if you don't have your data in three places you don't have your data. I really haven't lost much, well actually I've lost a LOT of data, but some of it is on other devices/drives. Some. My rather large collection of 3d printing files are *poof*. I'm sure some of those files are backed up, but that backup is back home on the family farm and there isn't a local backup because....well because I can just re-download all of those things.

It's a complete and total PITA, but it is doable.

So I've got a long road ahead of me logging into like three or four different websites/databases and clicking through 5,000 files to restore things......which is sad since I was literally setting up top transfer files so I'd have the data in 2 places (I was going to burn everything to a Blu-Ray M-Disc for my off-site tertiary).

Gee whiz Chris, sounds nice by why TF would I give a rat's-ass about your 1st world problem?

Ok, well for one.....wake up call to keep your data organized. Second, I'm ass-deep in .STL files right now and so obviously I'm thinking about 3d printing files.....and this particular morning, Fat Dragon Games current Kickstarter: Realm of the Goblin King. 

My first guest-post here at the Tavern was to totally bitch and moan about Ken Whitman and his highway robbery that was his Kickstarter Scams. Erik is more than up-front when it's come to his Kickscammers, but I'm not sure we get to hear too often about the guys doing these things right....and Tom Tullis/Fat Dragon Games does a helluva job with Kickstarter:

• Has most of the product designed (main pledge level-stuff) and tested before starting the campaign.
• Doesn't have a HUGE campaign goal.
• Lots of stretch-goals/add-ons
• Actually innovates
• Delivers early

Now as far as Tom goes, he likes to project an online persona that he's an asshole, but he's actually one of the nicest guys I've run into in the industry, which is saying a lot because we have a lot of nice guys in the industry. Sure we have actual assholes too, but they're not the norm.....

Now I do have a decent Tom Tullis story that I could share, but he's probably not going to like (well, at least publicly) me going any further along this train of thought. What I can "say" however, and I'm kind of banking on my own reputation here, is that I own almost every product that Fat Dragon Games has ever produced. The only stuff I do not own is either modern or futuristic/Sci-Fi. I can honestly say that I put my money where my mouth is and I can't sign up for Fat Dragon Games' Kickstarters fast enough!

This is what is being offered for $75 (and this isn't counting the stretch goals!):

Currently there are only two stretch goals left...and those will be hit easily, so my promotion here is not to benefit my own pledge. I'm just wanting to help a good guy/company out, and more importantly, turn some Tavern Patrons onto a good thing.