Saturday, June 8, 2024
Friday, June 7, 2024
Wednesday, June 5, 2024
Tuesday, June 4, 2024
Heading to NTRPG Con in the AM
Over the next few days, posts may become spotty as I enjoy everything that NTRPG Con has to offer.
I'll try and regal you with con photos and more :)
Monday, June 3, 2024
Humble Bundle - Delta Green RPG Collection
I remember Delta Green when it was a supplement for Call of Cthulhu. My, how times have changed. Now it's a full-blown RPG in its own right. The Delta Green Humble Bundle is 18 bucks for 20 PDFs
This is like nothing anyone has ever understood. This is the apocalypse.
Fan of H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos? Delta Green is the premier modern day setting for cosmic horror roleplaying, casting players as operatives for a top secret government organization tasked with keeping the eldritch at bay. This bundle includes everything you need for endless adventure in this thrilling world! You’ll get the Agent’s Handbook and Handler’s Guide core rulebooks plus an entire library of sourcebooks, adventures, and game aids to keep your gaming group busy for as long as your sanity can handle!
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
Sunday, June 2, 2024
Final Sunday Before NTRPG
No...this year will be much more laid-back than my norm. Between a work trip kicking my ass (I brought home a summer cold that I'm just recovering from) and some unexpected home repairs having to take up my most valuable of resources....oh, and my workplace kind of sort of tried to tell me I couldn't go to the con this year. Yeah, that wasn't going to fly. I take one scheduled vacation a year (NTPRG) and they can have me do whatever for the other 360 days of the year. They've had this on the books for a year and if management cannot get the manpower figured out, that's not my burden to bear.
So yeah...I'm not going to take on undue stress so I can enjoy myself.
NTRPG is basically the beginning of the summer convention season, so if you have things you need to do before Origins, or maybe GenCon.....here's your sign to check in on your state of affairs now.
I'm happy with the games I've gotten into to play, but I don't have and guests coming in this year like I've had in the past. Just gaming...some drinking, and giving Bad Mike too much money.....
Hopefully I'll have a good end-of-con report.
Blogs of Inspiration & Erudition
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OSR Commentary - FASERIPopedia Camelot Rpg Sourcebook By Johnathan Nolan & Ascendant Rpg Campaign update Report - Last night I was messing around with FASERIPopedia Camelot & noticed a very interesting comment by the publisher; "Depending on the original source, there...5 hours ago
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Spatial Situations - *Doctor Who: Adventures in Space* is a supplement for the Doctor Who: The Roleplaying Game – Second Edition published by Cubicle 7 Entertainment. *Doctor ...7 hours ago
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Trouble at Bigby’s Meadery - By Vanessa NairnSnail Song StudiosOSE"Low Levels" Jebediah Bigby is a meadmaker extraordinaire, famous throughout the region for his delicious mead. The se...12 hours ago
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I2: Tomb of the Lizard King (1982) - From the back cover: "The southlands of Eor are being despoiled. Merchants will no longer run their caravans on the main highway past the quiet village o...14 hours ago
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Dracula, The Hunters' Journals: September Dr. Seward's Telegram to Van Helsing and Letter to Holmwood - Lucy gets worse and Seward summons Van Helsing. Holmwood is informed. [image: Dracula - The Hunters' Journals] *Telegram, Seward, London, to Van Helsing...23 hours ago
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Random Thoughts & Links for 9/6/2024 - - Next Felltower is the Sunday after this coming Sunday. - CRPG Addict finally got to Betrayal At Kronder, which I really enjoyed. - Wealth in GURPS, in a ...23 hours ago
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5 tips for running the Ghostbusters RPG (AKA another lazy post!) - Inspired by Adam Dickstein's killer Chapter 2 writeup of his awesome Ghostbusters + Tokyo Ghost Research idea in action over at his Barking Alien blog (ser...1 day ago
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d12 Cataclysmic Encounters & Weird Wasteland Locations - Are players bored of mud and bad food? Just pop in one of these into any hex Sites might be buried and uncovered, hidden in nearby dimensi...1 day ago
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Rappan Athuk: Are we the baddies? - Session 251 was played on 4/28/24 Nick, Fighter 7 (Me) Borumar, ½ Orc Thief (Josh) Blotto, Goblin Fighter (Lanse) Morgana, wizard (Rob) Koltic, Cleric 7 (...1 day ago
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Amarod (I) - Creating a sandbox - I started my current sandbox campaign in late 2022. I'm using Dark Fantasy Basic with a few updates. We play a bit more than a couple of hours every coupl...2 days ago
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D&D Player’s Handbook 2024 - Being an incomplete, visual review of the 2024 Player’s Handbook. I got a copy of this almost entirely on the strength of the new cover art: (This is the “...3 days ago
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Kord of Bhaal The White Death - It was bound to happen. You can thank James over at Pits Perilous for reminding me of this.Sword and Sorcery genre? Heck yes!3 days ago
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The Sun as an Evil God - I was recently listening to a podcast in which (to paraphrase) it was stated that CS Lewis had once said that he could not imagine there existing a huma...3 days ago
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Unknightly Rulers - *Mythic Bastionland *suggests that Holdings are commonly ruled by a Knight. Last time I spoke about this I had one of the four Holdings in a Realm ruled b...3 days ago
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The Seven Seals of Sword & Sorcery... - So Gregorius 21778 released *Rescue From the Temple of the Revealing Flame, *an adventure for our Blood of Pangea game. This one's a nice mixture of clas...4 days ago
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Lessons from Elden Ring - I know I’m late to the From Soft party, but I’ve finally beat the Elden Ring DLC and after a couple hundred hours in that game I finally have enough opin...4 days ago
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OSR: Illusionist Spell Rewrites (Treasure Overhaul/AD&D) - The *Treausure Overhaul* is going to include spells. They're too useful for treasure design. It's tricky to make a systemless OSR book that includes wand...4 days ago
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Play Report: Skull Mountain, the Dead Level - * Written by Jen, a player.* We first ran into the “dead level” long ago, fairly early on in our explorations of Skull Mountain. It was incredibly scary ...5 days ago
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Send Help - The next Magic the Gathering set is horror themed and the trailer dropped yesterday. It’s pretty damn spooky. Enjoy!6 days ago
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My complete map of Oerik - So many people have asked me for this over the years, I figured it was time to acquiesce, because my redone maps are taking much longer than I had hoped. I...1 week ago
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Let Him Cook - Hugh Cooks Chronicle of an Age of Darkness; Books one to Five It was an age undreamed of… Between 1987 and 1992, Hugh Cook released a ten volume Science-Fa...1 week ago
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Concerning the Future of Traveller - I have been a fan of Traveller for a long time and have bought various books over the years from just about every Traveller licensee, as well as from Ma...1 week ago
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The Mystery of the First Blackmoor Map - In this POST from a few years ago, I was concerned with the issue of scale and distance in Blackmoor in the course of which I attempted to determine the...2 weeks ago
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Churchill Mk.VII (again) - The state of the track sponsons nagged and nagged at me, so I girded my loins and redid them. I also took the opportunity to separate the sponsons from...2 weeks ago
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Got my Summer Art Acquisitions Framed - [image: Got my Summer Art Acquisitions Framed] This weekend was a bit of a catch-up/housekeeping period as I have gotten around to purchasing more frame p...2 weeks ago
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Combat should be interesting - Combat obviously is an important element in most fantasy role-playing games. At its best, it’s exciting and dramatic. After all, the protagonists’ lives ...3 weeks ago
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Far Away Land 2nd Edition Kickstarter is Amazing - Fay Away Land RPG Ed. 2 is now Kickstarting! It funded quick and has 22 days remaining as of this post. It is a unique setting and RPG that reeks of fun....3 weeks ago
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Garth Ennis & Jacen Burrows unleash BABS! - Garth Ennis sends up fantasy? Sounds like fun.4 weeks ago
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[CAMPAIGN JOURNAL] News on the March! Episode II. - Hags No Mo This post continues the series of brief play reports I have been posting on Discord. It does not cover every single session (sometimes, recon ...5 weeks ago
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NTRPG Con 2022 Victorious session, Part II - Greetings all, long time no see! Sorry about the vast gap of time between these posts, but I fell into Doctor Saturn’s Electric Chronoscope, and it sent me...5 weeks ago
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New Planar Magic Items - Hellsguard, Mephrytis, Ring of Planar Vision, and Four New Potions - I've been busily working away on various projects since the end of April, including attending the North Texas RPG Con in Dallas from 5-10 June 2024 (and ...2 months ago
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A Bargain at Any Price: Unfathomable Bundle in Progress - This impecunious Underworld Otter knows a good deal when he smells it. If you crave* deep*, almost ridiculous discounts for your RPG materials, look no fu...2 months ago
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Grimdark vs. Eucatastrophe - 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 ...2 months ago
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Musings on Sleep in OD&D – Is it Over-Powered? - Link to discussion Let’s look at the sleep spell in Men & Magic: >Sleep: A Sleep spell affects from 2–16 1st-level types (hit dice of up to 1 + 1), from...3 months ago
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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...3 months ago
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Recent painting efforts - Welcome back to the Vault. It's been quiet here, but the hobby machine keeps on running. I thought I'd post a quick update with some of the recently fin...3 months ago
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Living Rooms, Beyond the Living Room, and The Open Form Broadside - Living rooms set to liven up your RPG adventures, and a broadside journal set to stimulate those little grey cells... Rob Kuntz's latest releases! *Livin...4 months ago
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Session #12 & Adventure Sites Compilation - 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...4 months ago
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Improvised Awful Lights Missions - Asking about The Awful Lights, a commenter asks: *I'd love to hear about how this is run - with the Handler determining mission location and objectives ...5 months ago
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Jim Ward's Adventure in Gygax's Wonderland - Last weekend at GaryCon, many of us raised a glass to the memory of Jim Ward, who passed away just days before the convention. Ward was very helpful to m...5 months ago
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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...7 months ago
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*'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...7 months ago
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What Else Have I Got in Me? - Brechewold's been done for a little while. Still incredibly pumped to have this labor of love out in the company of LotFP's marvelously creative body of ...7 months ago
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Housekeeping 2024 - Coactus Illustration © Heather Gwinn. A gift she gave me in 2013 for an edition of Miscreated Creatures which I hope exists someday. Coloring by me. I am a...7 months ago
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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...7 months ago
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Sex-Crazed Falling Stars, Free Weather Magic, and Adventures: News of the Hill Cantons - *Grandma Gaya, the Rav-Witch of High Kezmarok*, seeks the stout of limb and humble of mind in the *obtaining of fallen stars* from an upcoming prophesied ...8 months ago
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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...8 months ago
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Moving On... - So, my D&D 5e experiment has blown up the lab in a puff of green smoke leaving my face blackened like Wile E. Coyote after a failed roadrunner Acme trap...1 year ago
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How to Keep Megadungeons Fresh - People often consider megadungeons boring. Not because the play style is boring, but because they are in the same locale for a majority of the campaign. If...1 year ago
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Master Treasure Seeker: A Dungeon23 MegaDungeon - Introduction - Sean McCoy, author of Mothership, posted an article on his substack titled Dungeon23 and it's taken the indie RPG scene by storm. So, I'm throwing my hat...1 year ago
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Osamu Tezuka (1928 - 1989) - [image: Osamu Tezuka - Shonen Magazine Cover, 1970]Shonen Magazine Cover, 1970 [image: Osamu Tezuka - Shonen Magazine Cover Illustration 1970]Shonen Maga...2 years ago
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Helvéczia: Journal de Campagne, 3 - We resumed play this past week, joining the company still within the farmstead where those that remain of the seven knaves are restrained or incapacitate...2 years ago
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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$&...2 years ago
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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 ...2 years ago
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My RPG Zine Trilogy is on Kickstarter! - I can't believe I didn't post about it here! The Dead are Coming, Screams Amongst the Stars and Running Out of Time are on *Kickstarter right now!* Thes...3 years ago
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Maximum HP 004, one week to go - Just one week to go for Maximum HP issue #004, the undead. We are pushing through stretch goals and wracking up contributions for the best issue yet. We...3 years ago
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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...3 years ago
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The Hero’s Journey 2nd Edition, Campbellian roleplaying at its best! - (this review done using the reviewers own purchased copy) I have been a James Michael Spahn fan since he wrote his Swords & Wizardry Companion. His writing...3 years ago
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Undermountain Map Origins - As documented on the Ruins of Undermountain sales page, "TSR didn't actually use Ed Greenwood's original maps," at least not in their entirety. This post d...4 years ago
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WB:FMAG Total Print Sales - Hello Folks, The last time I did a quick sales report was in September 2018. I pulled reports from Amazon, Lulu and DrivethruRPG from October to current fo...4 years ago
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The Minotaur for Old-School Essentials - *Minotaur* *Requirements:* Minimum STR 9, Minimum CON 9 *Prime Requisite:* STR and CON *Hit Dice:* 1d10 *Maximum Level:* 8 *Armor:* Leather, including shield...4 years ago
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WIZARDS OF POHJOLA - Init +0 Melee Atk • sword or dagger +1 (1d5 or 1d3) Ranged Atk • hot iron sparks +3 (1d4+2 to two targets within 20' but not closer than 5') AC 14 HD 12d...4 years ago
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The Withered Crag custom print version for sale again - Just re-enabled the direct sales button for the custom print (classic style detached cover) version of F4 The Withered Crag, and also for F3 Many Gates of...4 years ago
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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...4 years ago
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D&D Sling Damage vs. Large Targets - In many early editions of D&D, weapons were assigned two damage values: one for small/medium targets (i.e. man-sized) and one for large targets (giants and...5 years ago
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James A. Smith, Jr. Memorial Video - A beloved father, devoted friend, and D&D Dungeon Master extraordinaire. We miss you! To view video, click here Memorial Video Note - The original video...5 years ago
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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...5 years ago
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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...5 years ago
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SHORT BREAK. - I'm going to take a break for a week or so and will start up again in the New Year. Thanks for reading and we'll start with Level 6 when I get back.5 years ago
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Iain Lovecraft, 3D Sculptor - Nope, it's got nothing to do with Cthulhu. I just did a video conversation with Iain Lovecraft, who designs 3D miniatures and terrain. If you're not doi...5 years ago
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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...5 years ago
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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...5 years ago
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Mord Mar - Session 6 - We weren't able to play Mord Mar last week, due to a family funeral. This week we played on Monday for the first time, due to kids returning to school and ...6 years ago
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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....6 years ago
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Don’t Sleep It’s Broken - Expanding/editing my comments from What Makes Something Broken G+ thread: “Broken”, for me, is anything that makes normal character choices, tactics, or ro...6 years ago
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Swords & Wizardry Light-Themed Birthday Party - Last month, my wife and I helped our oldest to celebrate his birthday in style. Ever since 2013, we have hosted a themed birthday party for our now-15-ye...6 years ago