For me, the original Baldur's Gate releases brought back much of the same joys of playing the earlier Gold Box releases on my Commodore 64. The stories were great and they felt like the D&D ruleset they were built upon.
For the next couple of days, you can score the Baldur's Gate & Beyond Bundle for 12 bucks, which is beyond a bargain (see what I did there?). I have a few of these titles and I'm in for 12 bucks.
Lose yourself in some of the most immersive, beloved, legendary PC role-playing experiences of all time—and get Lose yourself in some of the most immersive, beloved, legendary PC role-playing experiences of all time! Rediscover a genre-defining saga in the Enhanced Editions of Baldur’s Gate and Baldur’s Gate II from Beamdog. Embark on an epic journey in 2021’s acclaimed Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous. Return to the Forgotten Realms in Neverwinter Nights: Complete Adventures and more, and help support Active Minds 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. The Tavern DOES NOT do "Paid For" Articles and discloses personal connections to products and creators written about when applicable.
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
I enjoyed the original Traveller rules - the only rules I knew of at the time where your could die during character generation. I remember rolling Traveller characters during breaks between classes in High School.
Set out on a journey into the unknown in Traveller, the science fiction role-playing game of the far future! This starfarers’ bundle features over a dozen digital rulebooks, sourcebooks, and character & campaign resources for the latest edition of the iconic tabletop RPG. Plunder the galaxy in the Pirates of Drinax campaign and Drinaxian Companion, expanding the setting with new possibilities for adventure. Gear up with weapons and equipment using the Central Supply Catalogue and Field Catalogue. Get everything you need to craft and play your own sci-fi saga, and help support Cancer Research UK 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. The Tavern DOES NOT do "Paid For" Articles and discloses personal connections to products and creators written about when applicable.
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
Tables. Random Tables. It seems the more of an improv GM you are, the more you rely on random tables.
The DiceGeeks Eras Bundle is literally hundreds of tables for different eras (nothing directly related to fantasy (but that really isn't an era) for 7.95.
Adventurer! This all-new dicegeeks Eras Bundle presents 11 .PDF ebooks of tables created by Matt Davids at dicegeeks that enhance tabletop roleplaying games set in many historical and future eras. If you run (for example) 1920s Call of Cthulhu investigations, modern-day superheroics, Shadowrun or Cyberpunk 2020 data heists, starfaring RPGs like Traveller, Weird West, steampunk, posts-apocalypse, and more, each of these 50-page assortments of d100 tables can help speed up your game prep and add authentic detail to enhance your gaming sessions.
For just US$7.95 you get all eleven gatherings of random tables in our Eras Collection (retail value $33) as DRM-free ebooks, including Ancient World, Steampunk, Wild West, 1920s-30s, 1960s-70s, Modern, Cyberpunk 1, Cyberpunk 2, Post-Apocalyptic, Science Fiction 1, & Science Fiction 2.
The Tavern is supported by readers like you. The easiest way to support The Tavern is to shop via our affiliate links. The Tavern DOES NOT do "Paid For" Articles and discloses personal connections to products and creators written about when applicable.
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
Life as a self-publisher is often hand to mouth, with usually little if any sort of "emergency funds". Rick Hershey is the main man at Fat Goblin Games and is quite talented as an artist. He did the logo for my Torchlight Zine, and I often snag pieces of his stock art when I can.
Fat Goblin Games is offering stock art exclusively through a Paypal Donation that won't be available elsewhere.
I'm in for 100 myself. I love the samples we've been shown thus far, and my mind is already rolling with ideas :)
It's time we get a new vehicle, something more reliable and a bit newer. But generating those extra funds can be difficult when you are an artist and a small TTRPG publisher. So, I am running this fundraiser to help with that!
I've been working on a new style of watercolor and inks for my own projects, but also with the idea that I would like to produce art closer to the illustrators that inspired me as a kid. That said, I have mostly focused on fairly normal studies, and nothing I would say comes close to the "fantasy" of TTRPGs. To help reach our goal, this entire set of 25 Exclusive portraits is completed in this style.
When you donate $100 (or more) you will receive the 25 base portraits.
Each time we reach a $1000 milestone, I will add 10 more portraits to the set.
If we fully fund, I expect to have all completed and delivered before November. They will be sent via email (so please make sure you include your email when donating).
The portraits are EXCLUSIVE here and will not be sold as stock art elsewhere, they will also include our standard license.
The Tavern is supported by readers like you. The easiest way to support The Tavern is to shop via our affiliate links. The Tavern DOES NOT do "Paid For" Articles and discloses personal connections to products and creators written about when applicable.
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
Now, not everything I share is something that I PERSONALLY would enjoy. I quite like the AGE system and it looks like it would play out quick and fast and mostly fall quietly into the background. I do NOT enjoy "romantic fantasy" for my reading material, nor do I enjoy such in my RPGs. Others do, which is why this post exists ;)
Blue Rose is one of the current offers on Bundle of Holding and for 7.95, you get the Blue Rose RPG Rules, Shadowtide (novel) Pit of Vipers novelette) and Sovereigns of the Blue Rose (a 14-story anthology). As you can see, Blue Rose takes its "romantic fantasy" source material quite seriously :)
The threshold price for the Blue Rose Bonus Collection stands at approximately 20 bucks as I type this and includes setting material, an adventure, a GM kit, and yet more fiction.
Adventurer! We've resurrected our March 2020 Blue Rose Bundle featuring the 2017 Second Edition of Blue Rose, the tabletop roleplaying game of romantic fantasy from Green Ronin Publishing. Inspired by authors like Mercedes Lackey, Diane Duane, Tamora Pierce, and many more, Blue Rose makes you an envoy in service to the Sovereign of the peaceful and prosperous kingdom of Aldea. As much problem-solvers and diplomats as warriors, envoys uphold civilization's ideals and protect ordinary people from danger. Aided by the rhydan – your psychic animal allies – you and your companions guard your homeland from aggressive neighbors, ancient monsters and artifacts, and a resurgent Shadow.
The 2017 edition of Blue Rose uses Green Ronin's Adventure Game Engine (AGE), the popular rules that power the Fantasy AGE, Dragon Age, and The Expanse RPGs. This March 2020 offer once again brings you the core Blue Rose AGE rulebook and essential supplements. And after you get this revived offer, look for our all-new companion with recent campaigns and adventures, Blue Rose Aldean Adventures.
Six of Swords scenario collection for Blue RoseFor just US$7.95 you get all four titles in this revived offer's Starter Collection (retail value $38) as DRM-free ebooks, including the complete full-color, 384-page Blue Rose 2E rulebook for the AGE System; the novel Shadowtide by Joseph D. Carriker Jr. (plus its novella-length sequel Pit of Vipers and the free Shadowtide: Recipes from Aldea); and the 14-story anthology Sovereigns of the Blue Rose.
And if you pay more than the threshold price of $19.96, you'll level up and also get this revival's entire Bonus Collection with five more titles worth an additional $45, including the massive city sourcebook Aldis: City of the Blue Rose, the adventure collection Six of Swords, the Blue Rose Narrator's Kit, and two more short stories.
The Tavern is supported by readers like you. The easiest way to support The Tavern is to shop via our affiliate links. The Tavern DOES NOT do "Paid For" Articles and discloses personal connections to products and creators written about when applicable.
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
So, true story. Right before NTRPG Con, Microcenter had a sale of a 3d printer, a decent one, for 99 bucks. I snagged it with great plans, but have yet to set it up. Looks like I'm snagging Tom's latest to force me to set up my 3d printer ;)
Today'sDeal of the Day is DRAGONLOCK Lost Dungeons: Master Set from Fat Dragon Games. Normally 49.99, it is on sale until tomorrow morning for 9.99
DRAGONLOCK Lost Dungeons™ is an all-new 3D printable terrain series that is the culmination of our 18 years of design experience in tabletop gaming, and this master set is so complete we even include a dungeon toilet!
All models print supportless and are optimized for FDM 3D printers. This set features our innovative no-solder LED lighting designs that Dragonlock™ first introduced in 2019 (allowing anyone to make gorgeous LED illuminated terrain with no soldering or electronics experience necessary), our new easy-build hinge design for opening doors, 45˚ angle hallways, round rooms with centered doors, our incredibly popular Dragonbite™ link system, and much more! Lost Dungeons™ expansion sets will allow you to customize your dungeon layouts even further with the groundbreaking innovations you have come to expect from Fat Dragon Games.
New to 3D printing? We've got you covered! Fat Dragon Games has a YouTube channel devoted to getting you started in this fantastic hobby, we walk you through everything you need to know to get your first printer, troubleshooting, tutorials, recommended settings, and much more. We also do the hard work for you and provide custom slicing profiles for Cura (a free slicing software) to take all of the guesswork out of the printing process. With full color instruction manuals, custom slicer profiles, video tutorials and build guides, and a Facebook support group with over 13,000 members, no other 3D model publisher provides you with as many support options as we do! A typical dungeon wall can be printed at home for only $0.40, and good starter 3D printers can be purchased for around $180. See our website for more info.
The Tavern is supported by readers like you. The easiest way to support The Tavern is to shop via our affiliate links. The Tavern DOES NOT do "Paid For" Articles and discloses personal connections to products and creators written about when applicable.
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
Kind of interesting Sunday post as I'm starting off celebrating the birth of one gamer while reviewing the life of another.
The Dreams in Gary's Basement (Kickstarter Link) documentary came out this weekend from the Dorks of Yore (Youtube Channel Link). I backed the Kickstarter for $100 which gets my "name" in the credits as well as a digital download (I haven't figured out how to download yet) and some goodies including an extra copy of the DVD/Blu-Ray which I have already promised to Erik a few years ago......so simultaneously an early and belated birthday gift(?). Probably beats the $5 I've been sending him to buy himself a beer.....
The film has been a long time coming, but the Dorks of Yore have been doing a good job communicating the status of the film for the last five years. The documentary is really more about the man and not the game, but the two are appropriately intertwined and I highly recommend seeing this if you appreciate the history of either. I have a few books on the subject and have a copy of Dave Arneson's documentary. I think The Dreams in Gary's Basement did a really good job. There were a few times graphics were repeated and pretty sure one bit of repeated video, but overall I think it was worth the wait.
Caves of Chaos: Heading West!
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Session 7 was played on 9/19
Io the thief
Theiss of Gond, cleric
After returning to the keep, the party brings the bodies of their fallen to
the chapel...
Music Monday - Peg Leg Silly-Billy
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This collaboration between Patty Gurdy and Alestorm's Christopher Bowes is
some nautical fun. Listening to it reminded me of how much I want to run
Secret ...
The Final Voyage of Draengr Thar
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By J.C. Conners1Shot Adventures BlogOSR/5e/GURPS/Cthulhu Dark AgesLevels
3-5 […] Drængr survived the initial attack and ordered his men to barricade
the lo...
Miskatonic Monday #332: Heart of Horror
-
Much like the Jonstown Compendium for RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha
and The Companions of Arthur for material set in Greg Stafford’s
masterpiece of...
Al-Qadim Arabian Adventures (1992)
-
From the back cover:
Magic carpets, ghoulish vixens, genies rising from the sand in a whirlwind
of smoke and fire--such wonders, spun into tales by the f...
FGM Review: How to Draw Fantasy Art & RPG Maps
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[image: FGM Review: How to Draw Fantasy Art & RPG Maps]
I've had my eye on this one book for a while now and I was hesitant to pick
up *How to Draw Fantas...
Check out this fashionable fellow.
-
I was looking at the *Tunnels & Trolls* stuff on the ebays and stumbled
across this guy. I love his visor, though I think it would be better if it
was p...
Do DF Felltower foes play by the rules?
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This is expanding on Rules & Rulings for Session 203.
Do DF Felltower foes play by the rules?
Yes.
*Why not cheat?*
I'm the GM. I define the parameters o...
d100 Hex Crawl Landmarks for Chagrinspire
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*Just stuff to add detail to a hex and are places to use and landmarks or
avoidedd12 Landmark Additions*1 Garbage mounds
2 Road or rail or garbage-fille...
Magic Item inflation in AD&D
-
Modern D&D is sometimes accused of turning PCs' into "superheroes".
I have been accused of similar transgressions for daring to add feats to my
OSR games....
Chaos Goblins - VotE Remastered Development
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Anarchists of the infinite dark. Chaotic where nothing so uncertain should
be able to survive. By chance alone they thrive, by chance they die
Russ Nichols...
Distance and Vastness in Hexmaps
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The world is extremely big. It's hard to appreciate how big it is without
spending a lot of time of it on foot, and without making the effort to
notic...
Waiting to Exist
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What is this little underground complex? A basement. A dungeon of some
sorts? Maybe a resupply station? Or a prison? Maybe. Maybe all of them.
It's a pl...
Character Creation Challenge: The Ravenloft Weekend
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[image: Characters from the The Ravenloft Weekend]
Back in 1991, Grenda and I ran a weekend-long game of Ravenloft. We ran it
as the "Dreams of Barovia" var...
Electric Broadcasts
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Bastion is full of broadcasts. The very air you breathe is filled with
transmissions waiting to be received. Radio, telly, machines silently
pinging thei...
My Life in Roleplaying Games: 2024 and 2025
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As we head into 2025, here are some brief reflections on my role-playing
activities in the recent past and near future.
I've been really enjoying running ...
HeroQuest (and HeroQuest-Adjacent)
-
Some years ago, when I was making some dungeon tiles, a guy gave me these.
They'd taken all the miniatures out, but apart from that they appear to be
c...
Musk and the Moral Homebrew...
-
Our hobby is essentially homebrewed. But it's also an industry eager to
appropriate that which its players inevitably do themselves, whether
through deli...
Articulations
-
Creating house rules, custom rules specific to a local group or campaign,
has been common throughout the history of D&D. What makes an effective
house rule...
Bat in the Attic Games and 2025
-
Happy New Year Folks!
This would be a good time to update everyone on what has been happening
with me and my plans for the upcoming year.
Personal
I ...
Happy New Year from the Vault
-
Welcome back to the Vault, and a Happy New Year to you all! 2024 was quiet
on the blog front, but busy painting and gaming wise culminating in a
Cawdor ...
A Fiftieth Anniversary Year
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The 50th anniversary year of *Dungeons & Dragons *is drawing to a close. A
number of projects I'd been planning for this year finally came out, and I
...
A Quick Look at The Wizard’s Scroll II
-
October of this year saw the release of The Wizard’s Scroll II, the second
issue of a White Box Fantastic Medieval Adventure Game (FMAG) zine whose first ...
[BLOG] Towards Fomalhaut – and What It Is
-
The City-State of Pentastadion
(as depicted in a 1932 university yearbook)
“OK, but what actually is Fomalhaut?” is not a question I get asked
specificall...
Writing playlists for all occasions
-
Hello again! Going off the idea of inspiration elaborated on by the prior
post, I also have music playing while I write my various games and fiction
pieces...
On Manifestos
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The paid media was instructed to not print this.
To the Feds, I’ll keep this short, because I do respect what you do for our
country. To save you a leng...
The Tarot of Pips
-
Somewhere in your dice collection is a die like this one, the humblest of
dice. Although you don't know it, this small white die carries with it a
secr...
Blue Sky Temple, Revised
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Last week, we made a crowdsourced dungeon on Bluesky.
It was fun and it yielded a cool dungeon with a lot of good ideas mashed
together.
This week, I ...
Pirates and Necromancers, a Play Report
-
Over the Thanksgiving weekend we did a lot of gaming ranging from
“off-table” domain level stuff to some solo adventures to spell and magic
item rese...
OSR: Magical Industrial Gunboats
-
Here's some useful information for river-based adventures using *Magical
Industrial Revolution*. Skip to Part 3 or click this PDF link if you just
want t...
Welcome new Greyhawk Fans!
-
With the publication of the new Dungeon Master’s Guide, there are doubtless
going to be a lot of new D&D players interested in my favorite setting, the
Wor...
Grimdark vs. Eucatastrophe
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Noisms has some interesting ideas in this post about his desire for some
depth to his grimdark, and turns to Gene Wolfe and Tolkien for relief.
Now, it ...
It's been a bit
-
Hey everyone, I hope you are doing well! I've had a lot going on and
haven't had much time to blog lately. Heres a recap of gaming events and
other st...
Session #12 & Adventure Sites Compilation
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Firstly, I wanted to let everybody know that Adventure Sites I by Coldlight
Press is now available as a free download on DriveThruRPG. It includes my
own...
The Economy Engine, v0.2
-
I made a thing. For D&D 3rd edition, so it might not be that interesting to
a lot of people. But I made it and I think it’s cool. The 3rd edition
Dungeon M...
*'s in SpaaaaaAaaaace
-
A lot of SF (including a certain 2D6 RPG grandaddy) deal with ancient
aliens taking humans from Earth and dropping them, fleas and all, on one or
more w...
Last move - to self-hosting!
-
As my vote regarding Substack in the “marketplace of ideas”, I’m moving to
self-hosting.
I’m now at (and hopefully staying for a long time at)
Blog: ht...
Time Rolls On
-
Today is December 31, 2023, in the mid-afternoon. In less than ten hours it
will be 2024. 2023 2023 was a good year. But all years are good years. Both
goo...
This is an Important Game Mechanic
-
*"That's the GM's Regional Map from my AOWG. And it's a damned good
regional map. It's not a good map for a Simple Homebrew Campaign. It does
some s$&...
Clean Your Room
-
Looking back at my little blog here. That last post… wow, I was having fun
playing WOW Classic! That was August of 1999 and I was having a blast… it
was ...
Steve Jackson Interview
-
James Maliszewski recently did an interview with Steve Jackson over on his
Grognardia blog. Steve chats about the beginnings of The Fantasy Trip and
upcomi...
ToAD Monster of the Week: Crocoman
-
Now that I'm back doing the blog thing I thought I would use Tome of
Adventure Design to create monsters for The Black Hack.
Using the monster tables in th...
Strange, Dangerous, and Inhuman: The Fey and Fairie
-
When I was a boy I loved fairy tales. Jack and the Beanstalk, Puss in
Boots, Rumpelstiltskin - I devoured all of it. My fascination that there
was a strang...
New Map of the Elf Empire and Southern Isles
-
I’ve been having fun developing a new map-drawing style that I think is
finally reaching a certain level of maturity. And yeah, it owes a lot to Matthew
Ad...
Dungeons & Dragonmead Fall Schedule
-
*As you know, I run public classic Dungeons & Dragons games at **The Loaded
Die**/Metro Detroit Game Night's Board Game Nigh at **Dragonmead**, in
Warren...
Fiction in Airhde
-
On a whim this weekend, I picked up some fiction off the TLG store. *A
Houseless God & Other Tales* and *The Mirrored Soul & Other Tales*, both by
the T...
Ravensburg Reboot: Streamlined City Map
-
I mentioned in my last post how I was tweaking and reworking parts of my
Ravensburg setting. Today I streamlined the city map. The old map had lots
of redu...
And Now the News Draft Download on Patreon
-
It's self-styled Throwback Thursday and *having just released the 34-page
draft booklet of Hill Cantons news to my Patreon backers* I am going to
indulge m...
The Withered Crag available now
-
I just enabled the sale of the PDF version of The Withered Crag at
DriveThruRPG a few minutes ago, and the custom print version will be
available startin...
Annihilation Rising Goes live
-
The latest in Fail Squad Games’ Quick Kick projects has gone live and needs
your support!! This project is only running 11 days and ends on 5/28/2019!
...
James's Celebration of Life
-
We could not have asked for a prettier day for James's service. It was a
bit chilly and windy but gorgeous. A heartfelt thank you to all that joined
us tod...
Trap Tuesday: A step back
-
I will get back to Tomb of Horrors soon. I found a topic that was
interesting enough to take a break. While interacting in a 5E group on
Facebook I talked ...
Let's Talk About Pacing!
-
The idea, I think, is that the RPG is ultimately about the long game. Even
rolling back to the early days of Basic & Expert, the goal of the player
was...
Profane and Profound Prep Part 2
-
This is part 2 of my work to edit my magic items for a DMsGuild release,
along with adding cursed items along the way. Here is part 1. Bone of a
Saint 8000...
Please, I don't do paid advertisements - don't ask.
-
A little note since people have asked me about this. My video channel's
*not* an advertising platform, so I'm not available for hire if you want to
promote...
New website!
-
Slowly but surely, all the content here will make its way — in updated
form! — to my new website: timbannock.com. For fairly obvious reasons, that
site wil...
Please Update Your Link!
-
If you're seeing this, it means your link to the Greyhawk Grognard blog is
out of date.
Please update your link to www.greyhawkgrognard.com (RSS feed is
h...
Total Sales for WB:FMAG
-
Hi Folks,
It's been a long time since I provided an update for the sales of White
Box: Fantastic Medieval Adventure Game.
*LULU*
Print: 396
PDF: 433
*OBS*...
How can We Destroy this Campaign World?
-
d12
1. You must trick a bard into strumming the *Chords of Fate* on the *Lute
of Annihilation*
2. Legends tell of thermonuclear weapons beneath megadunge...
Mord Mar - Session 5
-
We had another successful delve into the dungeon yesterday. The delvers:
Moira, the Magic-User
Radovan - Human Cleric (of Odin?)
Khazgar Stonehand - Dwarf ...
A Small, Quiet Plea
-
There has been a great deal of discussing political agendas, social
grievances, and personal attacks within the little corner of gaming that is
my hobby....
Bundle of Fantasy Age
-
Bundle of Holding: Dragon Age/Fantasy Age: Available until March 12. PA
Presents: Fantasy AGE Freeport live play Green Ronin in 2018 The Fantasy
Age RPG ma...
New Free PDF Module: The Hyqueous Vaults
-
A new dungeon module—written in celebration of OSRIC's 10th Birthday—by
Rebecca Dettmann, Allan T. Grohe, Jr., Jimm Johnson, Matthew Riedel, Alex
Zisch, a...
Swords & Wizardry Light: Session # 6
-
Two months after our last session (thanks to things like 8th grade finals,
a 4 year-old's birthday and party, Father's Day, etc.), we finally had our
next ...