Gathering of Fools - 2024

It's a yearly tradition with my old gaming group from our high school and college days to gather at some point in June, usually on a Saturday, to remember Paul Benedetti. We lost Paul on 9-11nearly 23 years ago, and Paul's birthday was in June, so we gather in June each year (2020 being the obvious exception).

I always hand out gaming books to the other 4 members of our group. This year it was the Basic Fantasy RPG and Morgansfort.

Cherish your friends. Embrace them when they are with you and celebrate their lives when they pass on.

Paul, as always, your presence was missed...

Kickstarter - Gary's Appendix: Issue 6 - Dragons!

Yep, there's been a bunch of Kickstarters listed here at The Tavern over the last week or so, but that's simply because there is a large number of damn good old-school Kickstarters to cover.

For those that have missed the earlier Gary's Appendix Kickstarters, Jeff Jones essentially herds cats, er, creators, to all work on a similar topic. With Gary's Appendix: Issue 6 Kickstarter the topic is Dragons!

Inspired by the AD&D Dungeon Masters Guide.

Gary wrote and collected a vast amount of information, rules, and guidance. Its haphazard nature and perplexing subjects makes it as fresh today as when he penned the work almost fifty years ago. Indeed, Gary's Appendix draws inspiration from the past works of the gaming giants. 

Gary's Appendix is about our love for the past and our excitement for the future. We do not have the audacity to believe that we can produce a work that matches the magic of the AD&D DMG. Instead, we seek the spirt of that evergreen work by presenting an array of articles that are enjoyable to read, informative to the GM, and useful at the gaming table.

Each issue contains a collection of articles written for the OSR by a variety of authors. In addition, Jeff contributes an expanded entry for a collection of monsters from the OSE collection.

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Kickstarter - Castles & Crusades Reforged

When I returned to tabletop RPGs in the early aughts, I found Castles & Crusades on Buy.com for 10 bucks, and I have been fascinated with it ever since. It feels very much like AD&D 1e, but built with the 3x engine.

In response to the great OGL fiasco of 2022, Troll Lord Games has decided to rewrite Castles & Crusades without referring to the SRD or the OGL. Thus we have Castles & Crusades Reforged Kickstarter.

Castles & Crusades is a TTRPG that focuses on imaginative gameplay, allowing everyone in the gaming community to utilize whatever play styles they desire. NOW with revised non-OGL content.

Its primary purpose is to give those who play the game an adaptable, responsive, easy to use mechanic that does not force any one style of play on the participants, and which does not restrict any playing style. 

The system was designed to be rules light, allowing new players to learn the system in under 15 minutes and make their characters in the same space of time. 

To achieve this, a simple and logical attribute check system, the SIEGE Engine, was created. By downplaying the role of rules in the game, it encourages imaginative play, unrestricted by predetermined rule sets.

Castles & Crusades was first created in 2003/2004 and debuted in Christmas of that '04. It was the first to use a simple attribute based system as its key mechanic. It predated and in many ways sparked the OSR publications that followed and heavily influenced D&D 5th edition. The core of this game has remained unchanged but for minor edits and a few revision. It has played the same all these years. Now with the revised non-OGL content, though it plays the same, even faster!

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 Comics Bundle - The Boys Are Back

I thoroughly enjoyed the first few seasons of The Boys and have yet to read the comics. I've heard the comics are even better and more disturbing than the Amazon Video series. If so, this is going to be a fun read ;)

The Boys Are Back is currently available at Humble Bundle for 18 bucks for 12 graphic novels and 8 comics (or just get the first graphic novel for a buck).

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 - The Ruins of Ordane: D&D 5E / OSR / AD&D / B/X Adventure

Explore a ruined city of an advanced civilization that met its doom: with a touch of Barrier Peaks meets Call of Cthulhu.

I'm always a fan of dark fantasy. Mix a little Call of Cthulhu into what is otherwise standard fantasy, and you usually level up to a deeper, more entertaining adventure. Looking at The Ruins of Ordane Kickstarter, it hits this sweet spot with just enough weirdness to make it special. The fact that it is encounter-based and not linear (which happens all too often in published RPG adventures) is simply icing on the cake.

The Ruins of Ordane is an OSR and 5E one-shot (or sandbox) for characters of levels 6-10. Elements of the adventure hearken back to Expedition to the Barrier Peaks and Call of Cthulhu, but injected with a bit of weird and whimsy, ala Jack Vance. 

This 25-30 page adventure will include:

• 12+ encounter locations within and below the ancient, ruined city of Ordane.
• Multiple brand-new monsters, including the elder sentry and primal shoggoth.
• Numerous new magical items, including the death orb and urn of Katir.
• Numerous Charts and Tables, to help ensure the party has an opportunity to unearth useful information, including:

Events

6+ Random Encounters while exploring the city

Discoveries

Ordanian Artifacts, including the inferno blaster and hypnosis cube

Lore connected with the world, including numerous tie-ins with past adventures and adventures to come. Have your PCs done business with Ralamir of Veros? This may come in handy. Did they encounter the Mudlicker goblins in Witch of Chimney Rock? If so, they may have an advantage in Ordane.

Spectacular Art from Simon Underwood.

Multiple maps, including a regional map of the area and encounter maps within Ordane by the excellent Silver Compass Maps.

 

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 - Shadow of The Brutacorn (Neon Lords of the Toxic Wasteland)

For those that don't know, Neon Lords of the Toxic Wasteland is an amazing game with some classic punk attitude. I wanted to run a Neon Lords of the Toxic Wasteland adventure at NTRPG, but Attack on the Penissaurus never wrote itself (but the title is golden :)

Shadow of The Brutacorn is a third-level adventure for Neon Lords from Ian McGarty (who will be a guest this Wednesday Night on Talking Crit Live!). It includes new monsters and new items for your Neon Lords campaign.

This adventure takes characters through a maze of deadly encounters, into the demon-ridden Battle Stables of Monocorn Manefire, and into the realm of Ba'al Berith to face the Demon Lord and potentially save Monocorn Manefire.

In this adventure, the characters explore the still intact hedge maze that stands beside the ruins of an ancient Brutacorn fortress. Traveling to the center of the maze reveals a carved pattern and a dimensional tear floating above. This dimensional tear transports the characters into the Shadow plane where the fortress sits intact and the maze is a shadow of itself.

Inside the Shadow Realm Battlestables, the characters find the Seal of Brutaxis, evidence of the Horn Wizard’s betrayal of Monocorn Manefire, and a pillar of cosmic energy bridging into Ba’al Berith’s home plane.  Unbeknownst to Manefire, the Horn Wizard was actually the Demon Lord Ba’al Berith, who managed to escape back to his Shadow Demon Realm through the portal in the Path of Brutaxis located beneath the Battle Stables. Here he is gathering power and marshaling demons to march on Neoterrax. 

 

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

My NTRPG 2024 "Haul"

Last weekend was North Texas RPG con and it was a good convention for me, for the most part. The worst part was probably Sunday with the %!$@#ing fire alarms.

I got to see almost everyone I wanted to see and the Whiskey Tasting went better than last year, but if I served everyone toilet water (as-in Eau de toilette) it'd have been better received than last year's hooch!  I finally experienced the Chariot races and played in an OSR game, a MCC game, and in a Dare-Luck Club game. Unfortunately I had to bow out of one game because the tasting was scheduled for an odd time, presumably for an attendee that didn't actually attend the event. These things happen.....especially when the schedule is made months in advance. We'll square that away next year.

Since Erik posted last Sunday I took the opportunity to have a leisurely drive back home and get myself mentally prepped to go back to work....something that was actually needed this year.

Today, before I mention my "haul" from NTRPG, consider this a PSA: Ticket sales have already been opened up for next year. Don't fiddle-fart around and wait until next spring to get yourself one of the limited opportunities to attend.....

This year, between the Dealer's Room and the auction(s), I mostly picked up art and modules. Only a couple of items fall outside this range:

I've been kicking around an idea for a choose-your-own-adventure that I wanted to write and I've collected a few of the Endless Quest books to look at as an example. When I saw this one from Douglas Niles I had to have it. I wrote to Mr. Niles back in the day after finishing one of his novels that I just could not put down. I think I read it in record time, which is generally not something I do. My reading pace is usually a bit haphazard. To my surprise he wrote me a response to my thank you letter.

So his work is something I'm often on the lookout for....

At the Saturday auction there were four (?) sets of old D&D minis that were up for grabs. The other three were probably more desirable because they were generally unpainted and had the insert ad paper in them. I have no idea if I got these at a good price or not, but it's for the con to begin with and I wanted the box more than anything.....

Now we get into the modules.....

I bought the Pacesetter adventure from the convention tournament that I completely forgot to try and play in this year. It wasn't even on my radar until they were announcing the winners.....d'oh!

I also picked up a free RPG day DCC adventure...for free and I was gifted the last adventure from one of the writers (or was it editor?) that ran it for a few of us at the con. I have to do some research to see if I can get in on some online games this larger group has.

Of course I had to get the convention tournament (reprint) that I didn't pick up last year...or at least I don't think I got it last year. It would not surprise me at all if I find a copy later that I had failed to document as having picked up before.....

I also managed to pick up a 1st Edition adventure signed by the author and the cover artist...

Now we get to the majority of my purchases for this con...the art!

I paid (probably) too much money for this piece, but I really don't care. This money raised from this piece wasn't for the con, but part of a fund raiser to help Darlene with some home repair expenses. Her story is pretty cool, and it isn't mine to tell (and I think Wikipedia is totally missing the mark!), but you can get some of it here.

Now I'm not some philanthropist here.....I only pick up pieces I like and I liked this for a couple of reasons. It's just Darlene's sign from Garycon IX that was salvaged by Bad Mike from the post-con trash heap. He schlepped it back to Texas and she added her signature and a quick (?) mermaid drawing. This thing is absurdly large and the story is amusing to me. It's going to cost me a small fortune to get it framed and displaying it will be hassle....but it will definitely be a unique piece.

I did, however, pick up a more "normal" piece that I hope to get framed and displayed at my work desk. I think it will accurately portray what I mean when I try to explain to my co-workers what I mean when I tell them I'm a gamer.

They still won't get it, but whatever.

At my first NTRPG I picked up some cheap-assed prints from Jason Braun (now Brauncowski). Kind of crappy prints really....as in how they were reproduced, not crappy drawings. Now I firmly recally paying an appropriate price at the time, so that's not a complaint even though it sounds like one. I've since picked up nicer prints and originals from Jason and I was pretty "meh" when I first saw this piece, but I do have another one in this style and this one kind of gnawed at the back of my mind and I found myself keep coming back to look at it.....eventually I realized it was pretty cool, I was being a cheap dumbass, and if I didn't pick it up I'd be pissed that I hadn't when I had the chance. I'm really looking forward to getting this matted and framed so I can get it up on my wall.

I floating art shelves all over my house, and I have a few more to still put up. The idea is I can rotate what I have on display because I have a lot of framed pieces, with more still needing to be framed. I try to pick up something every trip, and I'm kind of surprised that I'd say about half of it is smaller B&W pieces. 

I have quite a few pieces from James Shields (jeshields) and his work hits a sweet spot for me. It doesn't hurt he's a good guy and I enjoy his company (I can say that about most every artist I've met, but I've had more opportunities with James). This year he brought the whole family and I played in two games with him and his son. After meeting the family I felt bad I wasn't able to break away and visit him at his home last time I was in his general vicinity (Alaska) while on a business trip. Hopefully I'll go back this next year and have another opportunity.

Anyway, I bought two pieces from his wife (well, she was manning the booth at the time), a relatively larger piece used as a cover on an RPG product and the smaller piece from his MACE book, which I had the pleasure of backing on Kickstarter.

What I really like about this cover piece....I don't have the name/product info handy at the moment. Is that it's kind of unfinished, as it was. This is the original and you can see all the marker strokes. I'm sure when scanned in it's perfect for the end product, but the raw initial work is pretty cool on its own.

The smaller piece is one of the monsters from MACE, but I liked the Dwarf myself. He's what made me want to pick it up.

One of the things James does, which is cool as well as frustrating (because I have to make a decision and I know I'm going to frame it out...) is that he has a loose stack of small pieces that he gives away as a bonus if you buy certain other pieces (like anything from this book or that other....). I was surprised that this giant eagle wasn't for sale on its own, but I'll take it.

I like the tabletop scene, but since its trimmed to the edge of the art it doesn't lend itself to easy framing. I do have a big (enough) jug of deep-cast resin I need to use up and I'm thinking of making a big block of black resin, fixing this piece to that so it forms a backing & border, and then adding a thinner layer of clear resin on top. After getting it cleaned up and polished I'd drill holes behind the art, into the thick black layer, to serve as a pencil holder. I think it could come out pretty cool, would serve as a learning project, and give me something good-looking and useful for my desk.......assuming I can pull it off.