As tabletop gamers, we are generally obsessed with maps to some extent. I love to draw maps for my fantasy campaigns, but I truly suck at it. With a bit of practice - and the Map Making Mega Bundle over at Humble Bundle by ProFantasy, your maps won't suck ;)
30 bucks is all in, but 15 does give you the core software and some fun widgets to use with it.
The Doom-Cave of the Crystal-Headed Children was the Free RPG Day offering from LotFP in 2014, written by James Raggi. To call the adventure "quirky" would be an understatement - and a disservice.
It claims to be for "any level" of characters, but I'd guess from browsing the adventure that levels 2-3 would work fine. It is pure Raggi, but it is solvable. Oh, and disturbing. Very disturbing.
Lamentations' stuff is not for everyone, but if you enjoy the various LotFP releases and this isn't in your collection, the pricing should be very tempting ;)
LotFP’s 2013 Free RPG Day adventure, Better Than Any Man, was banned by many game stores around the world. The adventure was even accused by one participating store as being about “killing children.”
It wasn’t; but people see what they want to see, and because LotFP wants to work with retailers and be a publisher that produces what retailers want to see, we have decided that per that store's wishes, this year's Free RPG Day adventure should be about the killing of children.
Not to worry though—they are freaky crystal-headed children. Inhuman RPG cannon-fodder. ‘Monsters.’ So it’s okay. They deserve it. So you can have fun carving them up. Right?
A LotFP Weird Fantasy Role-Playing adventure for characters of any level. As the title indicates, it is a dungeon crawl.
At some point, Courtney priced Megadungeon #3 as PWYW. If you haven't sampled any of Hack & Slash's Megadungeons, you should, as the amount of immediately usable game material is ridiculously high.
You can pay what you want for Megadungeon #3—grab it for free or leaveCourtney a tip; it's up to you. As a way to try before you buy other releases from Hack & Slash, it's another one of those no-brainers!
Dungeon adventures, NPC's, and resources suitable for any campaign! Dual-statted for Basic Dungeons & Dragons and 5e. Come explore the upper and lower crypts of Hierax. Visit the sadlark mine, get lost in non-euclidean space. Meet interesting people and kill them!
Articles on actual play in the gaming renaissance, as well as disscussing dungeon restocking, and the Cannitie faction in Numenhalla.
Heavily illustrated by the talented OSR artists, Todd McGowan, Kent Miller, Sean McCoy, Evlyn Monroe, with a cover by Luka Rejec!
I was surprised to see an OSR Bundle at Bundle of Holding where I didn't recognize the titles. Such is the case with the Wyrd and Wild bundle. But then I looked at the titles on DTRPG:
Adventurer! This all-new Wyrd and Wild Bundle presents Into the Wyrd and Wild and other tabletop weird-fantasy roleplaying sourcebooks from designer-artist Charles Ferguson-Avery at Feral Indie Studio and Wet Ink Games. Easily adaptable to any Old-School Revival system such as Old-School Essentials, Shadowdark, or The Black Hack – or, with a little work, to Dungeon Crawl Classics, Pathfinder, and D&D 5E and compatible systems – these vivid and atmospheric system-neutral supplements give gamemasters the tools to create forbidding forests, exotic cities, Witcher-style monster hunts, and more. And the 200-room Ave Nox dungeon and the brutalist alien megastructures in The Vast in the Dark keep any group busy exploring for months. Send your players into these dark and dangerous landscapes and let them get their Wyrd on.
For just US$19.95 you get all six complete Old-School supplements in our Feral Collection (retail value $87) as DRM-free ebooks, including the acclaimed Into the Wyrd and Wild (Revised Edition) (often described as "Veins of the Earth for forests") and its urban counterpart, Into the Cess and Citadel; the 208-page megadungeon Ave Nox; the alien exploration setting The Vast in the Dark - Expanded; and two zine-size mini-sourcebooks, As the Gods Demand and They Cried Monster.
Somehow, I missed Rich LeBlanc's (New Big Dragon Games) Creature Compendium being priced at PWYW. At this price, it should be in every GM's toolkit for old-school / OSR gaming. Written for B/X AND 1e, it's a perfect fit for OSE, DragonSlayer, OSRIC, Swords & Wizardry, the original rules, and beyond.
Sample creature with stat block:
Remember those flashes of inspiration that electrified your brain when you first picked up that hardback volume of monsters all those years ago?
The countless nights you sat up thinking of how to use those monsters, where to put them, and when your players would meet them? Those unceasing waves of joy that swam over you and your players as you unleashed those creatures, critters, beasts, and behemoths upon their characters?
Collected herein are over 200 monsters from Abysmal to Zathoa, instilled with that same spirit, presented in a “dual-stat” format, and designed to be used with most early editions of the world’s original role-playing game and comparable retro-clones.
When I was first exposed to WHPA-13at TotalCon in 2024, I wondered what this quirky little zine of an RPG was. After reading the rules and flashing back to my youth of black and white TVs, rabbit ears, and public access, I wanted to know where WHPA-13had been for much of my earlier life. (Note: WHPA-13 is 5 bucks in PDF at DTRPG - you owe it to your younger self to buy a copy)
It's a very special RPG, and Silver Bulette is publishing The Demon Curd of St Uguzo. Rocky and Ian are dear friends of mine, and I expect their entry will be a huge success. Oh, and funny as hell!
This 'zine came together as an adventure and some bonus material you can use at your WHPA table. The adventure contains numerous player handouts and aps to make the investigation of this mystery a breeze. Can your Hosts figure out what is plaguing the town of Fairhaven before Demonic Manifestations overrun the entire place.
This project is a 20 page zine that will be printed on 80 pound paper with a 100 pound cover. The zine is production ready and files have been uploaded to the printer and are awaiting the go ahead.
The current estimated printing and shipping time was 4-6 weeks and mailing would happen immediately upon arrival.
"This melts my mozzarella heart, Ian. I love this so much and the experience section is really interesting. Thanks for putting so much personality into this. This has my top-tier blessing. You really get this whole project. WELL DONE" - Rev. Joey Royale
I've only heard good things about the FlexTale series of releases, and I've picked up the odd one here or there. I believe I have their Solo FlexTale supplement, and it was full of useful tables.
This book was designed to be the most complete, most comprehensive, most innovative authority on hexcrawl roleplaying game adventuring ever produced.
After more than 35 years of gaming, both old-school through to today's most popular systems, the Hexcrawl Toolkit takes one of the hobby's oldest and most enduring concepts, and provides a passionate and well-organized guide for running hexcrawls, either as part of your campaign, or as the focus of them. Designed to be used by new players, veteran G/DMs, those entirely new to hexcrawls, and solo players alike, this book will be immediately useful to any gaming group, in any context, using any rules system, for campaigns of any length--even those already in progress!
The goal of the book is to guide readers through the concepts at the reader's own pace and preference.
If you've ever seen a module or other book with a hex map, and thought to yourself, how do I make one of those? How do I make the one that's there better? This book is for you.
A hole in an old oak tree leads characters down to a maze of twisting, root-riddled passageways, the chambers of an ancient wizard-complex, and the banks of an underground river where once a reptile cult built their temples.
A classic expedition into the Mythic Underworld for characters of 1st to 2nd level.
60 keyed areas, rumour table, loot summary, dungeon background info, suggestions for expanding the dungeon.
Keyed in a quick-reference, bullet point format.
Statted for Old-School Essentials (B/X), usable with any vintage adventure game.
I've said this before, and I'll say it again - Gylnn Seal (AKA Monkeyblood) is one of the most skilled RPG professional creators in the business. Writing, artwork, mapping, layout, you name it - he's one of the best.
Ryecroft: A Dangerous Cemetery Crawl is Glynn's latest Kickstarter. While not explicitly set in the Midderlands, it will fit right in (or likely fit most any old-school setting.)
The GM Miscellany series of releases is one of the best resources for any GM running a campaign, OSR or otherwise. They exemplify the ideal resource for the improved GM, and little comes close in quality.
If any GM Miscellany resource indicates a rules system, especially if it is on sale, you can easily ignore it and regard it as system-neutral.
Tired of glossing over the details of your PCs’ overland journey (except for the inevitable, violent random encounters)? Want to add in minor features of interest to their journeys? Want to make their journeys seem more “real”? Then GM’s Miscellany: Wilderness Dressing is for you! A compilation of the Wilderness Dressing line, each instalment focuses on a different type of wilderness or a feature therein and gives the harried GM the tools to bring such features to life with interesting and cool noteworthy features.
GM’s Miscellany: Wilderness Dressing presents loads of great features and details to enliven your PCs’ travel both overland and by sea. Designed to be used both during preparation or actual play, GM’s Miscellany: Wilderness Dressing is an invaluable addition to any GM's armoury!
GM’s Miscellany: Wilderness Dressing presents the material originally appearing in:
Built with both 5e and OSR in mind, inspired by Lovecraftian Horror, Oz & Wonderland, and a bit of The Muppets... it's Emberland.
Incorporating both a points-of-interest-hexcrawl and story-filled campaign hooks, the Emberland sandbox is designed to provide GMs with an open world that will grow and respond to player choices, and also be a setting where specific storylines (if the PCs are inclined to follow the hooks) can lead to detailed adventures. Built around a hex-crawl "points-of-interest" format, the Emberland zines will build out a world full of random encounter tables (changing with each zine to reflect the different terrains and level advancement of the characters) add specific adventures (including a Mega-Dungeon: The Work Pit), and introduce a growing number of NPCs and factions that will be at odds with the PCs.
If I have to choose between reading an adventure and setting material, I'll almost always choose setting material. An adventure is essentially "one and done," whereas setting material can be part of a campaign to be used session after session. It's where the author's imagination truly shines through.
Today's Deal of the Day is The Shrike for OSE. It is billed as "A huge modular sandbox adventure setting in an abandoned fragment of Hell." If that isn't one hell of an elevator pitch, I don't know what is!
46 unique pointcrawl locations across the Shores of the Shrike, its fiery Guts, jagged snow capped Exterior, and procedurally generated depth-crawl in the surreal shifting interior of the it's heaven-harrowing Barb.
3 detailed and keyed dungeons including the waterlogged Cove of Iron Coffins, the derelict Gamigin's Starforge, and an endless masquerade ball in The Palace of the Heart, ranging from low to high level.
5 scheming factions of the diabolic Courts and mountains of detailed NPC's
3 new classes. From the shapeshifting Imp, to the Forged and Rampant Partials; made from the God's blood animating detritus and abandoned objects- molded into demon designed bodies or left to grow wild and feral.
40+ new monsters from the eyegouger finch to the auric homunculus.
37 brand new peculiar magic items
1 Nameless God impaled upon the Shrike's heaven-harrowing thorn, writhing and seeking escape.
I'm not a huge sci-fi gamer (but I definitely play them more than Supers) but I'm far more interested in sci-fi RPGs for the fluff. The crunch is almost irrelevant. The fluff for the Stillfeet Bundlelooks damn good.
Voidminer! This all-new Stillfleet Bundle presents Stillfleet, the far-future science fiction tabletop roleplaying game from the Stillfleet Studio about exploring ruined spacecraft ("hulks") and habitable Earthlike planets cut off from contact with Terra for decades or centuries. Players are voidminers, explorers working for the Worshipful Company of Stillfleeters, known simply as "the Co." Their base is the mysterious alien space station nicknamed Spindle – a kilometers-long sea slug made of undulating black stone. The Spindle is shot through with timespace gates that lead to habitable worlds. Using the flexible Grit System, you can play any sapient species from a (post)human to a giant bug, a mobile xeno-cactus, or an AI that projects an invulnerable hologram. No matter what type of voidminer you create, you'll have to contend with a venal Co. that sends you out on dangerous ventures at short notice for confounding reasons. The cosmos of Stillfleet is hilarious and horrifying – the struggles, all too real.
For just US$9.95 you get both titles in our Starter Collection (retail value $34) as DRM-free ebooks: the complete Stillfleet Core Rulebook and the nanotech-based character expansion Subtle Fluid.
And if you pay more than the threshold price of $20.29, you'll level up and also get our entire Bonus Collection with three more titles worth an additional $44, including the espionage-focused regional gazetteer Qadida, the eight-scenario anthology Peregrinations Volume 1, and the full-length introductory venture The Sleeper in the Sky.
I got to spend some time with Justin at PAGE 2, and I will say this flat out - the quality of his books - the art, the layout, and the paper itself- is second to none. I easily spent 100 on his Mork Borg material and have yet to run a session of Mork Borg.
Needless to say, I put $99 into the Sickest Witch Kickstarter, as that level is, by far, the sweetest spot. What do you get for 99 bucks?
Sketch Edition + Original Art from Book
Sketch Cover Limited Edition Sickest Witch Core Rulebook +PDF. Each cover will have an original art ink sketch by Justin Sirois. No two books will be the same. Only 100 will be printed and sketched on. You also get a random original piece of inked art from the book. On top of that, you get the standard edition of the book as well and all physical and digital stretch goals.
Additionally:
Pledge within the first 72 hours (before Friday March 28 at 11am EST), and all physical backers get a free Blood Property adventure zine +PDF with exclusive cover and an exclusive Sickest Witch wood mini.
Justin had a goal of $3k - he was at over $15k when I posted this, so this is funded at then some.
Curious about Sickest Witch? Maybe you like really dark games or maybe you love witches—or both. You might just like the name. Sickest Witch is a dar, low-fantasy system and series of adventures. There are no dragons or fairies. Demonology is prevalent among the poor common folk who populate the towns. Black magic, plague, and famine are routine. But this is folk horror with a twist.
Nostalgia is not what Sickest Witch is going for. There are many old school systems that do that great. Even though this system borrows heavily from the past, it is not looking to recreate it.
This is what sets the Severed System apart from others. Firstly, Witches have to harvest body parts to cast magic. Piece by piece, you become more powerful as you hack up your enemies. Additionally, nearly all magic points are shared in a pool named the Cauldron. This makes for somewhat tense moments as your Coven discusses what to do next.
Most of you know about DragonsFoot. In the days of forums and bulletin boards, before the coming and waning of blogs, places like DragonsFoot were the place to be. Say what you will about forums, but Facebook, and Discord, and X don't hold a candle to what forums often offer - a static location to upload and download files.
Are you looking for adventures for your OSR campaign and have a tight budget? Let your fingers do their scrolling at DragonsFoot, and you may be amazed at what you find, freely given to the public.
Yes, even I need to remind myself to visit Dragonsfoot on an irregular basis...
Looking to add some modern weaponry to your fantasy OSE (or likely ANY OSR game)? You may want to run some modern-day campaigns, with or without magic and fantasy elements. Maybe GURPS just isn't up your alley ;)
Modern Necessities: Professional Edition is a 3rd party supplement for Old-School Essentials that adds rules, classes, equipment and more to run your campaigns in any modern setting, including those that mix the contempary with magic and monsters.
The book includes the following across 169 pages
20 modern themed classes, from soldiers and hitmen to detectives and hackers.
Rules for giving modern traits to a small selection of fantasy races
60+ modern weapons, from pistols to rocket launchers and airstrikes
Numerous firearm attachments, ammunition types, and even modifiers based on the firearm design philosophies of different fantasy cultures.
15+ modern themed types of armor.
Assorted equipment, from flashlights to aerial drones.
Specific, named magic weapons, armor and equipment.
Vehicle rules, including 19+ sample vehicles.
48+ Technomancy spells.
20 Psionic powers.
Multiple modern themed enemies to do battle against.
Rules for hiring modern themed mercenaries.
Optional rules such as weapon jamming, weapon conditions and armor damage.
Sample plot hooks, providing quick and simple ideas for one shots or even entire campaigns.
Assault on Blackfang Tower: A short intro adventure set in a world hit by a magical apocalypse. Defeat the dark wizard and his armed Goblin minions controlling a small, ruined town.
The Midderlands is Glynn Seal's baby. I have backed every Kickstarter he's run and have all his work in print & PDF. I've enjoyed his art and maps in the products of many other publishers, and I consider Glynn a friend.
The Midderlands is an old-school game setting with bestiary for use with old-school role-playing games. It is based on Swords & Wizardry Complete, but could easily be used with other old-school systems and even non-OSR systems such as D&D or Pathfinder.
It is a green-hued, dark-fantasy, late-middle ages, early-renaissance view through grime-smeared spectacles. The setting itself is based on an area in the middle of England near where I live called The Midlands. Many of the locations are loosely based on reality, but others are pure fantasy from an addled mind.
The setting part of the book contains something I call "game-juice". Not heavy of history and monotonous detail, but enough to get the game-juices flowing and let the game master twist and tweak as they need to in order to fit their campaign.
Glynn has a Kickstarter in the works, and we will do our best to get him on The Tavern's YouTube channel for a live it does kick off.
If you don't already have The Midderlands—OSR Bestiary and Setting (and you should), don't miss out on the chance to get the PDF for 8 bucks instead of the usual 20 (still a bargain for the content you get).
I don't know what the system itself plays like, but the setting is one I'd love to run a short (4-8 session) campaign in. WWI and occult in the same RPG? I'm in!
We've resurrected our August 2022 Never Going Home Bundle featuring Never Going Home, the Wet Ink Games World War Occult tabletop roleplaying game set in the horror-haunted trenches of WWI. In Never Going Home the 1916 Battle of the Somme tore open the Veil between Earth and the occult world beyond. Now, as part of a Unit of soldiers in the trenches, surrounded by the horrors of combat, you witness Corruption leaking into the world. The Whispers tempt you, promising power to save your friends. Will you give up some of your Humanity to live another day?
For just US$12.95 you get all seven titles in this revived offer's Never Going Home Collection (retail value $65) as DRM-free ebooks, including the complete Never Going Home core rulebook, the magic supplement Book of Whispers, the Tome of Corrupted Beasts bestiary, three campaign dossiers (Blood on the Snow, Bones in the Dust, and Tears in the Sea), and a collection of short journeys (scenarios), Once More Unto the Breach.
The first official day of Spring is right around the corner, and it is time to do some spring "planting" and "painting" here at The Tavern.
Time to reboot The Tavern's Substack, as I've had a creative block concerning rules editing, but not when it comes to content creation. So, beginning in April, we should see some OSR content on the free side of The Tavern's Substack and some short, or not-so-short, adventures and setting material on the paid subscriber side. More on that in a week or two.
I know. I used to create gaming content on the blog in recent years, but it will be a better fit on Substack.
Here, on the blog, we will aim to share links to free OSR rules, resources, adventures, etc., at least two days a week starting in April. There are a ton of such hidden in all corners of the internet, and I'll be making it a regular feature to bring them to you.
On the YouTube side, we've had great success adding some daily shorts, curated mostly from the channel's various live streams. This will continue. I truly appreciate the positive response.
A Tabletop Roleplaying Adventure in the New Setting of Wythmail for DCC and Shadowdark
Let me get this out of the way: Matt De Micco, the main man behind The Cult of the Winged Skull, is an acquaintance of mine. We've shared beers at NTRPG, shared "war stories" of our prior professions, and talked shop—the publishing side of RPGs. I like his vision, as it is truly "old-school" in nature.
It's part setting (Wythmail) and part connected adventures. It comes in two flavors: DCC RPG (which honestly can use a setting) and ShadowDark, effectively hitting the fanbases of two of the most popular old-school alternatives to WotC's D&D.
Wythmail is an all-new campaign setting designed for use with the DCC and Shadowdark rules. The Cult of the Winged Skull is an adventure in this setting and provides an introduction to Wythmail, its peoples, places, and pantheons. Future endeavors will further develop the setting, but this adventure provides more than enough detail for hours of play.
Now, I have to admit, I'm a sucker for setting material, even if I would (likely) never use such material "as is."
The world of Wyhmail struggles with an imposed fragile peace. Decades of war have settled over the realm like an uninvited shadow, devastating the land, destroying the continent, and stripping its resources dry.
I'm also a fan of "dark fantasy," For good to have any value, there must be evil in the world.
The pricing of The Cult of the Winged Skull is undoubtedly affordable. PDF for 1 system for 15, both systems for 20. Getting it in HC POD requires 30 plus printing and shipping, but it does include both PDFs. I'm in for 30 :)
I've known Bill and Ben (best hair in the OSR) Barsh for well over a decade, and their knowledge and devotion to the OSR and old-school gaming is second to none (even if Ben is a bit of a 5e guy)
At the moment, I'm in between campaigns, so a nice, solo adventure may do me well. Of course, my preferred flavor is B/x ;)
Up the Beanstalk is a true solo adventure for 3rd level characters using the 5th Edition or B/X game systems! For more about solo gaming, see the SoloSystem header here in the "Story" section.
This book will feature a variety of new content to each game system to better fit the adventure at hand. You can expect:
75+ Pages of Adventure
New Marvelous Magic Items
New Malicious Monsters
Detailed maps to guide adventure where necessary
Beautiful black and white artwork to tell the visual story
"Writing a fantasy roleplaying adventure based on such a classic story comes with a fair amount of responsibility. I have done my best to retain the spirit and themes present within the original tellings of this story. The stalk is still a challenge in itself, a certain hen may lay certain eggs, Blunderbore (you know him) is still evil, etc etc. However, this adventure module gives your character the opportunity to be the hero of the story. I hope you all enjoy this adventurous re-telling of one of the greatest stories on Earth. We all have a beanstalk to ascend to become whom we were meant to be. Time to start climbing!" -Ben Barsh, author and designer of Up the Beanstalk
Many large and small publishers have offered bundles via Humble Bundle. One of the more frequent offerings of gaming-related fiction is from Black Library and its various Warhammer / Warhammer 40k fiction lines. The current Dragonlance offering from WotC is the first time I can recall WotC offering ANY bundles via Humble Bundle.
I was a huge Dragonlance fan in my younger days, and it was gaming fiction that was also read by many non-gamers.
You can get the Dragonlance Fiction Bundle for 18 bucks, giving you 26 books worth of fantasy fiction readable on Kindles, iPads, and virtually all similar electronic devices.
Embark on an epic adventure through the land of Krynn with the ultimate Dragonlance Collection from Wizards of the Coast. Follow the perilous journey to protect the mystical Blue Crystal Staff from an evil dragon goddess in Dragons of Autumn Twilight. Untangle dwarven political tensions, hidden dangers, and long-lost secrets with The Companions in Dragons of the Dwarven Depths. The battle of the gods comes to a dramatic climax in Amber and Ashes. Get 25+ amazing page-turners and help support Room to Read with your purchase!
You REALLY need this. I'm not kidding. You'll regret missing out on Weird Heroes of Public Access (WHPA).
I picked up a copy of Weird Heroes of Public Access from Joey Royale at Total Con in 2024. Damn it! I should have had him sign it. I never think of that! In any case, it's a short and quirky rules system that is reminiscent of the public access TV (and obscure UHF channels) of my youth. Hard to imagine one could hit those vibes with a zine-style RPG, but it works. Perfect to play at a convention or even a few sessions distraction from your regularly scheduled campaign.
Something is amiss in Fairhaven. The mysterious station manager of WHPA-TV13, Fairhaven's public access television station, has curated a cast of show hosts who will use their niche powers to save the day!
Rules-light, d6 pool-based resolution system/homage to the personalities of 80s and 90s public access programming!
The Mysteries of Felltower - Status
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I will attempt to keep an ongoing list of solved and unsolved puzzles,
mysteries, and oddities in Felltower.
Some of these aren't really that mysterious. S...
Miskatonic Monday #350: Cthulhu Ireland
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Much like the Jonstown Compendium for RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha
and The Companions of Arthur for material set in Greg Stafford’s
masterpiece of A...
Monstrous Mondays: Duke Bartzabel
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[image: Photo by Alessio Zaccaria on Unsplash]
Photo by Alessio Zaccaria on Unsplash Progress continues on the *Left Hand
Path *witch book. This is going ...
The Caves Beneath Us
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By Giles PritchardCaradoc GamesWith Every Fibre Redevelopment of an old
building deep down, close to the mines, led to a collapse. A crack in the
wall has ...
Fantasy Hero Grimoires
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Just arrived this morning, a couple of PoD Fantasy Hero books from Hero
Games.
These are full of spells and potions and what-not — magical shenanigans ...
Ethyria: Local Problems & Carousing
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*Had a nice session zero with 2 players - my first dm session with 5th ed
as I find new version more readable a...
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April 5, 2063, a mere 38 years from now. I'll probably live to see the
date, but doubt I'll be around when we make first contact. Honestly, I'll
be thril...
Metaphysical Syphilis
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Syphilis - although I understand there may be some debate about this -
likely arose among North American native populations prior to European
contact and w...
A Surprising Look at Murderhobos...
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So I asked a question on Facebook this week. What did people do with the
humanoid women and children in the Caves of Chaos, among similar
adventures, persu...
Landmark Sites - Sanctum
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Each Sanctum is a sacred home to a seer. They are typically mysterious by
nature, so by expanding this sanctum into a site we can make it difficult
for t...
36 units sold on day one
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Not big Kickstarter-type numbers or anything but still pretty personally
gratifying to me, because 1) it'a more copies than the first book sold on
its fi...
Praise for Songs of the Dying Earth
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Among my favourite works of fantasy fiction are the *Dying Earth* stories
and the *Lyonesse *trilogy by Jack Vance. I’ve read the *Lyonesse *trilogy
three ...
Best OSR Cartographers
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A video about some my favorite cartographers in the game. This is not an
exhaustive list, but the ones I go to the most and ones that have
influenced my st...
Gary Con XVII
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I attended Gary Con this year. Last year, I was supposed to go, but
something came up and I had to cancel. This year, I ran a scenario I
created called The...
[BLOG] News on the March! Episode VI.
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This post continues the series of brief play reports I have been posting on
Discord. This does not cover every single session (sometimes, recon and
setup...
On the Success of the VOTE
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You voted for it, and it's here!
All the prices on the books I sell on DTRPG will be rising in price, 40-50%
so I can maintain the same margin as now!
...
Fight On! number 16 is out.
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The new issue of *Fight On!* has been out for a bit. You can get copies via
drivethru or lulu.
I haven't finished reading my copy, but I'd like to reco...
Wandering through the Majestic Fantasy Realms
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It's time for another Bat in the Attic update!
I am halfway through the first draft of my upcoming project, Into the
Majestic Fantasy Realms, the Northe...
The Hungering Dark
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Go into the earth, and reality will walk alongside you.
Walk further, and you will eventually be walking alone.
The world is plastic down there. Tar Lat...
Hobby Bingo 2025: January Progress
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Welcome back to the Vault! I've painted a few bits and pieces in January
and made a dent into my Hobby Bingo card! First up is a Chaplain in
Terminator ...
NTRPG Gaming Weekend
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[image: NTRPG Gaming Weekend]
This weekend was a "game day" for North Texas RPG Con, held at the same
hotel the con is held at. I haven't slung dice since...
The Stats of a Dave Arneson Player Character.
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If you want to find the details for one of the characters that Gary Gygax
made and played as a PC, perhaps to use as an NPC in your own game, it
isn't t...
Articulations
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Creating house rules, custom rules specific to a local group or campaign,
has been common throughout the history of D&D. What makes an effective
house rule...
A Fiftieth Anniversary Year
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The 50th anniversary year of *Dungeons & Dragons *is drawing to a close. A
number of projects I'd been planning for this year finally came out, and I
...
A Quick Look at The Wizard’s Scroll II
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October of this year saw the release of The Wizard’s Scroll II, the second
issue of a White Box Fantastic Medieval Adventure Game (FMAG) zine whose first ...
Writing playlists for all occasions
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Hello again! Going off the idea of inspiration elaborated on by the prior
post, I also have music playing while I write my various games and fiction
pieces...
The Tarot of Pips
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Somewhere in your dice collection is a die like this one, the humblest of
dice. Although you don't know it, this small white die carries with it a
secr...
Pirates and Necromancers, a Play Report
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Over the Thanksgiving weekend we did a lot of gaming ranging from
“off-table” domain level stuff to some solo adventures to spell and magic
item rese...
OSR: Magical Industrial Gunboats
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Here's some useful information for river-based adventures using *Magical
Industrial Revolution*. Skip to Part 3 or click this PDF link if you just
want t...
Welcome new Greyhawk Fans!
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With the publication of the new Dungeon Master’s Guide, there are doubtless
going to be a lot of new D&D players interested in my favorite setting, the
Wor...
It's been a bit
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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...
The Economy Engine, v0.2
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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...
Last move - to self-hosting!
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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...
This is an Important Game Mechanic
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*"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$&...
Clean Your Room
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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 ...
Steve Jackson Interview
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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...
ToAD Monster of the Week: Crocoman
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Now that I'm back doing the blog thing I thought I would use Tome of
Adventure Design to create monsters for The Black Hack.
Using the monster tables in th...
Strange, Dangerous, and Inhuman: The Fey and Fairie
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When I was a boy I loved fairy tales. Jack and the Beanstalk, Puss in
Boots, Rumpelstiltskin - I devoured all of it. My fascination that there
was a strang...
New Map of the Elf Empire and Southern Isles
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I’ve been having fun developing a new map-drawing style that I think is
finally reaching a certain level of maturity. And yeah, it owes a lot to Matthew
Ad...
Dungeons & Dragonmead Fall Schedule
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*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...
Fiction in Airhde
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On a whim this weekend, I picked up some fiction off the TLG store. *A
Houseless God & Other Tales* and *The Mirrored Soul & Other Tales*, both by
the T...
Ravensburg Reboot: Streamlined City Map
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I mentioned in my last post how I was tweaking and reworking parts of my
Ravensburg setting. Today I streamlined the city map. The old map had lots
of redu...
And Now the News Draft Download on Patreon
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It's self-styled Throwback Thursday and *having just released the 34-page
draft booklet of Hill Cantons news to my Patreon backers* I am going to
indulge m...
The Withered Crag available now
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I just enabled the sale of the PDF version of The Withered Crag at
DriveThruRPG a few minutes ago, and the custom print version will be
available startin...
Annihilation Rising Goes live
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The latest in Fail Squad Games’ Quick Kick projects has gone live and needs
your support!! This project is only running 11 days and ends on 5/28/2019!
...
James's Celebration of Life
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We could not have asked for a prettier day for James's service. It was a
bit chilly and windy but gorgeous. A heartfelt thank you to all that joined
us tod...
Trap Tuesday: A step back
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I will get back to Tomb of Horrors soon. I found a topic that was
interesting enough to take a break. While interacting in a 5E group on
Facebook I talked ...
Let's Talk About Pacing!
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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...
Profane and Profound Prep Part 2
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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...
Please, I don't do paid advertisements - don't ask.
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A little note since people have asked me about this. My video channel's
*not* an advertising platform, so I'm not available for hire if you want to
promote...
New website!
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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...
Please Update Your Link!
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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...
Total Sales for WB:FMAG
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Hi Folks,
It's been a long time since I provided an update for the sales of White
Box: Fantastic Medieval Adventure Game.
*LULU*
Print: 396
PDF: 433
*OBS*...
How can We Destroy this Campaign World?
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d12
1. You must trick a bard into strumming the *Chords of Fate* on the *Lute
of Annihilation*
2. Legends tell of thermonuclear weapons beneath megadunge...
Mord Mar - Session 5
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We had another successful delve into the dungeon yesterday. The delvers:
Moira, the Magic-User
Radovan - Human Cleric (of Odin?)
Khazgar Stonehand - Dwarf ...
Bundle of Fantasy Age
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Bundle of Holding: Dragon Age/Fantasy Age: Available until March 12. PA
Presents: Fantasy AGE Freeport live play Green Ronin in 2018 The Fantasy
Age RPG ma...
New Free PDF Module: The Hyqueous Vaults
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A new dungeon module—written in celebration of OSRIC's 10th Birthday—by
Rebecca Dettmann, Allan T. Grohe, Jr., Jimm Johnson, Matthew Riedel, Alex
Zisch, a...
Swords & Wizardry Light: Session # 6
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Two months after our last session (thanks to things like 8th grade finals,
a 4 year-old's birthday and party, Father's Day, etc.), we finally had our
next ...
