Tenkar's Tavern: 2023-10-22

Saturday, October 28, 2023

Deal of the Day - Book of Lost Beasts (OSR)

I've known Joe Bloch for years (we first met in person at the Brooklyn Strategist for the premiere of Gygax Magazine). I ran his Castle of the Mad Archmage funhouse mega dungeon for the better part of a year and The Tavern's "B-Team" had a blast. Joe has a true understanding of the original TSR era of publishing. I also call him a friend.

Book of Lost Beasts is Joe Bloch's Monster Manual, and it would fit quite well next to the "Orange Spined" books of the AD&D 1e era. Book of Lost Beasts is normally 9.95 in PDF, but until tomorrow morning it is the Deal of the Day, and it is on sale for 4.98 - 50% off.

Nearly 200 new monsters for your old-school campaign!
From the massive prehistoric ambelodon to the terrifying plague zombie, within these pages you'll find a bevy of new monsters to use in your campaign. There are angels, bladegrass, undead dragons, rakshasa nobles, and much more! Creatures found in dungeons, wilderness, the prehistoric past, the sea, and even alien planes of existance are within.
Written for the First Edition of the world's most popular RPG, this book will also be useful to anyone running a game using old-school rules.

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Friday, October 27, 2023

Humble Bundle - Doctor Who MegaBundle 2023 (RPG, Audiobooks, Comics)

A TARDIS full of audio dramas, comic collections, and role-playing.

I am not a huge Doctor Who fan, but I did enjoy the earlier seasons when they were on PBS when I was a kid. The Doctor Who MegaBundle 2023 is a rare bundle that includes the core rules for the RPG at the $1 level. Holy shit! I'm in!

The wonders of the Whoniverse are at your fingertips with this massive bundle of Doctor Who comic collections, tabletop role-playing games, and audio dramas! Take your gaming group on a trip to Gallifrey and beyond with the Doctor Who Roleplaying Game Rulebook and a TARDIS-full of adventures and supplements. Travel to the swinging 60s with two different incarnations of the Doctor in the comic collection Doctor Who: A Tale of Two Time Lords. Return to one of the most captivating settings from the TV show in the audio drama anthology Tales from New Earth. Get all this and more than 30 other Whovian treats, and help BBC Children in Need with your purchase!

Thursday, October 26, 2023

Crowdfunding - Dragon Dice - Dracolem (GameFound)

Color me surprised when I saw Dragon Dice on a crowdfunding platform - in this case, Gamefound. For those that don't recall, Dragon Dice was one of TSR's responses to Magic The Gathering, the other being the Spellfire collectible card game. The history of Dragon Dice can be found on Wikipedia.

Honestly, I own a few Dragon Dice sets from the TSR era and never really understood the rules, but the dice were cool. The current project has art that I'll find difficult to differentiate between the different power levels, but I guess it's found it nice over the last two decades.

Dracolem are the 14th species created for Dragon Dice - the compact wargame with streamlined rules played with dice armies. Build forces from various fantasy species and fight to control battlefield locations. Mix and match units to harness the unique abilities they gain from the elements of nature and death. To play Dragon Dice you only need a pocketful of dice, setup in 5 minutes, and you can play on a card table. Experience the deep strategy of a wargame without having to paint miniatures, build terrain, or carry around large rulebooks and codexes!

Wednesday, October 25, 2023

Bundle of Holding - Arkham Gazette (CoC)

If there is a time to put Call of Cthulhu material up on Bundle of Holding, this is it, the month of October.

The Arkham Gazette Issues 1 through 5 Bundle gives you all of the currently released issues of the Arkham Gazette for 9.95 in PDF.

Investigator! This all-new Arkham Gazette Bundle presents The Arkham Gazette, the digital magazine of Miskatonic Country tabletop roleplaying scenarios and articles from Sentinel Hill Press supporting Chaosium's Call of Cthulhu horror RPG. Since 2013 each big issue of The Arkham Gazette has covered one area in depth of the New England region formerly called "Lovecraft Country" (not to be confused with the unrelated 2020 HBO Max TV series Lovecraft Country). From crumbling, whisper-haunted Arkham to decaying Innsmouth to the fog-draped village of Kingsport, The Arkham Gazette is your guide to local sites of interest, curiosities, odd citizens, peculiar histories, and books of forbidden lore. Each issue includes a full-length scenario for Call of Cthulhu Sixth or Seventh Edition, high-quality handouts, and a full bibliography of relevant published scenarios.
This offer gives you all the issues of The Arkham Gazette to date – a total of 476 Mythos-haunted pages – plus a conspectus of published Call of Cthulhu scenarios set in the Miskatonic region. For just US$9.95 you get all six titles in our Arkham Collection (retail value $54) as DRM-free ebooks, including five issues of The Arkham Gazette – Issue #0, #1, #2, #3, and #4 – as well as the helpful overview Miskatonic Country Scenarios: A Keeper's Guide.

Tuesday, October 24, 2023

Kickstarter - Adventurer Conqueror King System Imperial Imprint (ACKS II)

Welcome to the new edition of the bestselling fantasy role-playing game. Adventure, conquer, and reign.

The first system I ran upon returning to the GM's table was AD&D 1e / OSRIC. The second system I ran was the Adventurer Conquerer King System, and it felt like B/X tuned up to 11, in all of the good ways. From what I've read of ACKS II, I'm eager to get behind the DM's screen and run some ACKS again :)

The Adventurer Conqueror King System Imperial Imprint (hereafter referred to as ACKS II) Kickstarter is going strong out of the gate. As I type this, it is less than 9 hours after launch and it has already raised over $180K. Phew! The OSR is still going strong.

ACKS II is being released in a total of three books, the Revised Rulebook (the core rules and player-facing), the Judges Journal, and the Monstrous Manual. The core three books in PDF come in at $50, the Revised Rulebook in Print & PDF is $75, and the Revised Rulebook in Print & PDF with the Judges Journal & Monstrous Manual in PDF is $100. I'm in at $175, with the three books in Print plus PDF, along with a Referee Screen. The $175 price point is good through 10/26 before the price goes up to $200.

Since the inception of the Old School Renaissance in 2008, there have been countless retro-clones of D20 fantasy games. Any gamer seeking an old-school RPG has a thousand options. But ACKS II isn't like any of those games. Because with ACKS II you get:
Endgame action that's more than just a treadmill of higher HD foes. Build and run domains, conquer your enemies in grand wars, break the laws of magic with ritual experiments, run a criminal syndicate, even anoint yourself a god and empower yourself with the worship of your loyal subjects. The experience point mechanics integrate campaign activities into the core gameplay loop, enabling your character to level up in new ways as his temporal power grows!
Epic pitched battles as grand as any in fiction or history. Don't settle for so-called "mass combat" rules that can't handle battles bigger than a few hundred combatants. With ACKS II you can field armies that measure in the hundreds of thousands and fight hordes that make the earth shiver.
Integrated in-game economics that make sense. Naysayers will claim that fantasy adventure worlds can never have plausible in-game economies. ACKS II proves them wrong with a robust economic system that's easy to use because we've done all the heavy lifting for you.
Sandbox setting design that emphasizes player agency. Our clear, comprehensive (and comprehensible!) guidelines, based on the top down zoom-in method in our book Arbiter of Worlds, help your world come to life.
Fractal design with modular rules. ACKS II is designed to let you focus on what matters to your campaign, diving as deeply as you want into any area of the game knowing that it just works at every level.
Scaling complexity with an easy-to-learn new player experience. ACKS II is structured such that the players only need to learn a narrow slice of the rules to start playing, and then incrementally scales up the mechanical crunch as the players improve their mastery of their game.
Customizable and transparent construction tools. We open up the hood and let you see how the ACKS II engine runs. Build your own custom classes, spells, magic types, monsters, and more, knowing that anything you create will mesh well and balance properly with the canon material.
Fearsome fighters that can change the course of a pitched battle. Say goodbye to "quadratic mages and linear fighters" and embrace epic heroism. Combat mechanics for cleaves, sweep attacks, and special maneuvers allow your fighters to conduct a symphony of slaughter on the battlefield.
Thrilling thieves that lead the way in dungeon delves and urban adventures. In ACKS II, thieves are skilled experts from level one. With special mechanics for shadowy senses, hasty searching, hijinks, and more, thieves can finally steal the spotlight.
Whatever you've ever wanted to do in a fantasy world -- ACKS II already does that.

Monday, October 23, 2023

Deal of Day - Teratogenicon (OSR/ System Neutral)

I don't know how I missed the Teratogenicon prior to it popping up on my radar as today's Deal of the Day. So, of course, I'm snagging it in Print plus PDF. Until tomorrow morning Teratogenicon is on sale in PDF for 6 bucks, down from 11.99.

TERATOGENICON - our most impressive book so far - is a collection of tables and essays on how to create your own monsters.
It contains one chapter for each of the fourteen most famous monster types (aberrations, beasts, celestials, constructs, and so on). Each chapter examines specific habits, appearance, goals, traits, powers, origins, and many other topics. In addition, the appendixes will help you to create stats (for both old school and contemporary games), to roleplay monsters, and to include all monster types into a coherent whole, among other things.
The book is beautifully illustrated by Rick Troula (of The Displaced fame). Take a look at the previews to see for yourself!
The book is inspired by the most famous RPG in the world (in its current format and by its earlier "old school" version) but is mostly system-less. Use it as inspiration for ANY RPG of your choice, or even for your own stories, comic books, videogames, etc.

Sunday, October 22, 2023

Hit or Miss Game Weekend

This weekend was a bit of a hit & a miss. I'm not able to go to Game Hole Con....not sure if I would if I could 'cause it's too close to the family farm and even as much as I love to sling dice, I'd probably rather visit my family. I know, I know....total a-hole move, but that's where my folks, and my Great Nephews live.

I didn't get to game on Friday, which was our scheduled game, but a family issue came up for the GM and believe it or not I did not just set the bar on the matter of gaming vs. family.

I did however, manage to snag some choice titles for my growing ~~habit~~ ~~problem~~ ~~addiction~~ Appendix N library. Before I get to that though, I need to share this HUGE (to me) bit of news: I have FINALLY slain the garage demon! I.E. I found the !**^!%$#! CO2 monitor that was beeping due to low battery. I swear that thing has been going off about every minute since freakin June. My garage is more of a mess than usual because I've been tearing through boxes, moving crap, even unplugging my garage doors (I thought that was it for a hot minute). I just could not actually localize the source of the sporadic beeping. One would think that the damned battery would.....JUST....EFFING...DIE!, but no, I had to use those fancy-dancy long-term lithium batteries. That fucker probably wouldn't be dying until 2025! Anyway I found the detector wrapped in something else in a box and now it is relatively quiet. Now the only high-pitched tones are in my head (tinnitus).

OK, I think I got that out of my system.

NO MORE BEEPING!!!

Evidently not...

Anyway, I decided to go hit up some Half Priced Books in the city and I did find some OSR stuff, but somebody in charge at the one store is smoking some crack. They had a nice-looking 3rd (I know, bear with me) printing of the Deities & Demigods for $150. They also had a good (?) copy of the basic rulebook for $60....not the set, just the book.

No bueno

A different location did yield a nice little find for me. I've thought about picking up some Edgar Rice Burroughs books, but I specifically didn't want Tarzan or John Carter of Mars books. I'm not a Tarzan fan and I think I'd like John Carter of Mars, but I'm still hurting from the completely unavoidable fiasco that was the Disney movie. I liked the movie, would've loved a series, but allegedly the movie was a failure. Of course it was a failure because Disney screwed with the marketing, changing the name and then pulling funding.

I'm full of digressing today.

So I did find some Ace Paperback copies of ERB's books and got six of the seven books of the Pellucidar series and all three books of his "Lost World" series. Even though I was using my phone to help me look for certain titles, I really got only those three books "lost world" books by pure happenstance as I was focusing on the Pellucidar series.

I'm sure the observant among the 12 regular readers here will notice there is a Tarzan title in the group......evidently Old Man Burroughs did a crossover novel.

To me, these books are perfect Appendix N fodder. I mean, Burroughs and specifically the Pellucidar series is actually mentioned in the Appendix N (I hadn't bothered to check until just now). Maybe I should have picked up some of the other books they had, but I had enough of a score for now.

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 ;)

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