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. 

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     

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.

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     

 

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!

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    

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.

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  

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. 

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    

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.

 

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   

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.