Bundle of Holding - Goodman D20 Monster Guide

It's strange. I kinda missed the whole D20/3.0 Era of gaming. Sure, I picked up the core books upon release and snagged the random Forgotten Realms release, but I stepped away from gaming from 1997 to 2007, give or take a few months. When I did return to gaming, the OSR had firmly taken root, even if it was young. The rest, as they say, is history.

This is a long, roundabout way of saying I missed these Goodman Games D20 Monster Guide releases when they were fresh. Hell, this is the first I've heard of them, and it makes them a tempting pick-up.

Of course, the Minor Threats Collection is less interesting, I think, than the Major Threats Collection, but you can't get the second without getting the first.

Adventurer! This all-new Goodman d20 Monster Guides Bundle presents 13 big d20 System monster sourcebooks from Goodman Games. Published in 2006-2009 for D&D 3.x, these inventive and detailed treatises describe, in 32 to 128 pages each, adversaries both major (beholders, liches, rakshasas) and minor (velociraptors, wererats). As d20 System supplements, these d20 Guides work as-is with Pathfinder 1E – and gamemasters of Fifth Edition and compatible "ampersand fantasy" systems can easily adapt the extensive discussions of monster physiology, social structure, culture, tactics, and campaign use. It's 770 pages of terrific monstrous classification, explication, and interpretation for an unbeatable bargain price.

For just US$9.95 you get all six d20 System monster sourcebooks in our Minor Threats Collection (retail value $46) as DRM-free ebooks, including Doppelgangers, Dragonkin, T-Rex, Treants, Velociraptors, and Wererats.

And if you pay more than the threshold price of $18.98, you'll level up and also get our entire Major Threats Collection with seven more sourcebooks worth an additional $60, including Beholders, Drow, Fey, Liches, Rakshasas, Vampires, and Werewolves.

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 - Pathfinder 2 Bundle

I am NOT a Pathfinder player, whether it's 1st or 2nd edition. That being said, the Pathfinder 1e Beginner Box is one of the best values in RPGs, and the Pathfinder 2nd Edition Beginner Box is right up with it. I'd actually be happy to run either Pathfinder Beginner Box as a campaign game, and I can't say that about either full version of Pathfinder. The Pathfinder Beginner Boxes are, dare I say, almost OSR in nature.

The current Pathfinder 2 Bundle: Guns of Alkenstar, has two sweet spots in my humble opinion. Five bucks gets you the Pathfinder 2 Beginner Box, two adventures, and a player's guide. 30 bucks gives you all of the core Pathfinder 2 Core Rulebooks, the Pathfinder 2 Beginner Box, adventures, Foundtry VTT-ready modules, and more. Personally, if I didn't already have the Pathfinder 2 Beginner Box in print and PDF, I'd be snagging the five-buck bundle.

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  

Bob World Builder is Mirroring WotC's D&D Survey - Take It Now!

WotC's recent D&D survey was over before most folks knew it was up. It appeared that they DIDN'T want people to even take it, and they didn't allow respondents to leave feedback, as most surveys from WotC ask for.

Well, Bob World Builder has essentially mirrored the survey, with the intent of sharing the results of the new BWB survey with the public in a few weeks when the survey ends.

Here's the link to Bob's D&D Survey:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf0g4nR--hjPGDC5DLphaCRaX__zPVJVP67aXbmu6gMZNxSpA/viewform?pli=1&pli=1

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 - John Carter of Mars

I missed the John Carter of Mars RPG Kickstarter a few years back, but I've heard good things from those who were backers. Now I have an affordable manner to play catch up ;)

The John Carter of Mars Starter Bundle at Bundle of Holding is 7.95. For about 25 bucks you can add in the Bonus Collection as detailed below.

Adventurer! We've resurrected our January 2021 John Carter of Mars Bundle featuring the John Carter of Mars tabletop roleplaying game from Modiphius Entertainment based on the Martian planetary romances of Edgar Rice Burroughs. Explore Barsoom as pilots, warriors, scientists, or one of the terrifying green Tharks. Create you own Barsoomian adventurers, or take on the great journeys as John Carter himself, Dejah Thoris, Tars Tarkas, Thuvia of Ptarth, Carthoris of Helium, and the other heroes and heroines of the books. Using "Momentum," a streamlined pulp-action version of the Modiphius 2d20 system (Star Trek Adventures, Dune), you'll experience a dying world of dry ocean beds where giant four-armed barbarians rule, of crumbling cities home to an advanced but decaying civilization, of strange beasts and savage combat, where love, honor, and loyalty become the stuff of adventure.

For just US$7.95 you get all three titles in this revived offer's Starter Collection (retail value $36) as DRM-free ebooks, including the complete full-color 288-page John Carter of Mars core rulebook, the Narrator's Screen & Narrator's Kit, and the Barsoom and Korad Legacy Map & Travel Guide.

And if you pay more than the threshold price of $24.96, you'll level up and also get this revival's entire Bonus Collection with six more titles worth an additional $72, including the Phantoms of Mars Campaign Guide; three "Era" supplements that describe different phases of the Martian sequence – Dotar Sojat Era, Jeddak of Jeddaks Era, and Prince of Helium Era – and two print-and-cut decks of artwork: the Landscapes and Locations Deck and the Characters and Tokens Deck.

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  

Death Announcement - Jim Ward Has Passed

James "Jim" Ward passed on March 18th, 2024 from heart complications and long-term diabetes complications. He was 72 years old.

You can read Jim's Wikipedia entry to see a list of his accomplishments in the gaming field and beyond. There are many.

Below is what Michael "Bad Mike" Badolato shared about Jim via Facebook:

Word has come down tonight that one of the greats in our hobby and a past guest of the con, James Ward, passed away tonight.  Jim was to attend our 2nd con and had to cancel due to having the first of what would be several heart attacks brought on my complications of diabetes. He attended our 3rd year and we had him every year until his health began to make travel impossible. James was a great guy, and excellent guest, and very down to earth. At NTRPG con #4 he sat at my booth for a few hours with me helping me take money, signing parts of my collection, and telling stories about gaming. His Metamorphosis Alpha games were always full and of course the boast was he never killed you, you killed yourselves by your actions, but dammit I think we all thought Jim had it out for us.

There are so many things I could say about Jim, not only the author of Metamorphosis Alpha but many other classicc TSR products. I'll tell you my favorite James Ward interaction. Doug Rhea had gotten word that Jim was going to be a special guest at Rose City Con in Tyler many years ago, Jim had called him and asked if we could meet him there. So Doug decided we were going to go to hang out with Jim, that weekend I jumped in the car with him, my brother, and Zach Glazar and we drove to Tyler. Jim was delighted to see us and invited us to play in his Metamorphosis Alpha game.  First, the con was woefully overbooked and we took one look at the table Jim was supposed to run the game at and Doug said no way, packed in a small room and surrounded on all sides, hot and stuffy and jammed full of humanity. Doug went to the front desk and rented a board room overlooking the lobby, a huge room with a mini fridge and bathroom, that was our headquarters the entire weekend and Jim was our personal DM! He ran his games in the luxury of the room and all of us played with the lucky attendees. 

Now Jim had made known at the beginning of the game (we were space marines exploring an abandoned spaceship) that if you survived three hours in his adventure you got a signed photo card of his, so we all had motivation not to die early. We were extra careful exploring an abandoned spaceship, and I will swear to you Jim was picking on me and trying to kill me, he kept making suggestions to my character (a medic) to enter combat when I only had a pistol and I kept rebuffing him despite Jim (with a twinkle in his eye) suggesting I was a coward and letting my fellow space marines down. I was taking no bullshit from the old man and dodged all his feeble attempts to lure me to my doom and deprive me of the signed card! Soon the entire party was dead except for Zach, Doug, and my characters. I looked at my watch and had 15 minutes to go. I whispered to Zach to follow my lead and asked Jim to tell us some stories about the old days running MA for Gary and friends. So Jim told tales to all three of us until I marked the 15 minutes as up, then said something like "Thanks for the stories, Jim, the three hours are up and we want our signed cards!!!" He started laughing and knew I had conned him but he was magnanimous and gave us all a card.  Then, of course, he killed us all 5 min later with an unescapable trap and we took him to dinner. 

That Rose City Con is to this day one of the best con weekends of my life thanks to Mr. Ward. If you never had the chance to meet him you really missed a nice guy and a great game master. Another piece of our hobby's history is gone and we are all poorer for it. Bad Mike

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 Release - Tales of the Wolfguard (OSE)

Sandbox setting, adventure hooks, and more in a neat package for 2.99? Impossible you say? Not this time.

Priced at 2.99 in PDF (no print currently planned), Tales of the Wolfguard is priced at Deal of the Day pricing 365 days a year.

Released in February of this year, Tales of the Wolfguard is already a Gold Best Seller at DTRPG, with a solid 5-star rating.

LET’S TELL THE TALES OF THE WOLFGUARD!

Blizzard Vale is the northernmost province of the Empire, conquered with great endeavours centuries ago. It’s a frozen, hostile land with sparse patches of conifers, icy rivers, and lakes. The Wolfguard, an old garrison of soldiers and scouts, watches over the vale and protects the town of Ysvindur from the barbarian Elves and more sinister threats.

Tales of the Wolfguard is fully compatible with Old-School Essentials and most classic game RPGs.

Content:

• The description and map of the frozen province of Blizzard Vale, its features, settlements, dwellers, factions and many secrets!
• The description and map of the Faraway Den, the Wolfguard’s outpost. Rules to upgrade the den are also provided!
• An introductory adventure to start telling the tales of the Wolfguard.
• Seven encounter-related mini dungeons!
• Legends, rumours, encounters and adventure inspirations for all the areas of the vale.
• A random generator to create your quest plots!
• 13 new monsters and extras!
• Six pre-generated 3rd Level characters (each with its own background) to dive straight into the adventure with.
• Original art by Alessandro Paderi.
• An ambient soundtrack, specially composed for the module, to play during your game sessions!

Utility

• Interactive hyperlinked index and text.
• Color and printer-friendly versions of the module.

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  

Murderhobos Figuring Out How to Offload Their Loot (Merchant Thoughts)

I've been thinking of writing up the beginning area of my old (like a good 15 years ago) campaign into an....well not so much an adventure, but a larger drop-in area for a GM to use in whatever game world they desire. A big part of this beginning area revolves around (it's not obvious though) a general store of sorts....and the "of sorts" is the real meat of the setting, but that's what I'm thinking of today.

Now I don't know about your particular band of murderhobos, but I'm used to groups that I'm in or running for liking to take most everything that even looks like it has some value. Murder some armored brigands? Grab that armor and weapons...make sure you check their boots for hidden loot. Wipe out a Kobold nest, make sure to grab those "ok" shortbows and arrows. Wow, the front door of that otherwise ruined hovel looks nice.....toss it on the cart.....

...you get the picture.

Of course offloading won/stolen/scavenged loot can be problematic. Not like there's a ready market for "ok" shortbows and a nice front door. Armor and human-made weapons...maybe, but that other stuff...even if you found a buyer, just how much can you get? Who cares...every CP counts.

When I do this, well I blame computer RPGs. If you will let me take everything and sell it, I will. Usually there is something that doesn't have a carry weight, ammo is a likely candidate in modern/futuristic games, so I'll sell every piece of fruit, silverware, or random piece of crap and store it in the form of ammo (gems, or whatever works). This carries over for me in table-top RPGs, but there it can be hard to find a buyer.

I don't know what other GMs do, but when I GM'd I'd have a particular buyer available to either purchase all this crap outright, or to help broker sales for bigger stuff, like magic items. The absolute best price the party could get...and this was never advertised...was 49% of the value for their items. What I did was roll a d20 and subtract that, as a percentage, off of 50%. If the players wished to purchase non-magical "gently used" gear from the same merchant I reversed things, so the players could get items for 51% to 70% of "book" value. Often new gear would have a similar percentage added, so 101% to 120% of book value, unless the party wanted to haggle.

Now, when creating a character straight book-values are used, and usually parties are more than pleased with this setup because it gets them coin for their crap stuff quick and easy and there isn't a lot of time spent on "in town" stuff. They always have the option of spending time "shopping around", but they rarely care.

I once also had a campaign where I advanced the game world like 10,000 years (society had stagnated, for reasons, so still more medieval fantasy) and people generally didn't travel far from home. In that campaign/game world Halflings were basically the merchant class and were the only ones who actually travelled, usually along set routes. They connected communities with trade and information. Because they controlled merchant services outside of the community, they could generally buy/sell anything. If not personally, they could forward things to their extended family, getting that good door or "ok" bows from the party to some buyers.

Maybe I'm being overly generous, but I like the randomness of the d20 (maybe I should have used a d30?) introducing some price fluctuations and then some relatively easy math because I'd just figure out the total book value of everything and apply the appropriate percentage. I'd rather do that than role-play a crap-ton of sale/bartering interactions. Also, maybe.....just maybe....the party won't be trying to extract every CP of value out of the dungeon...

....yeah, right.

I have wondered how other GMs handle shops/shopkeeps in their own campaigns....