Author Archives: Jeffrey Tadlock

Whisper & Venom Map Arrival

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On Saturday this past weekend the postman brought my poster-sized map from the Whisper & Venom Kickstarter over the summer. Checking the Kickstarter updates it seemed my penchant for skimming such things was my downfall as it was clearly announced they were beginning fulfillment for the poster maps!

I love maps, but typically I don’t go in for large maps as they just end up rolled or folded up rarely seeing the light of day. I made an exception this time because of course, Alyssa Faden! Her maps are awesome. More like art  than maps! Second, with Whisper & Venom being more of a boutique product (and knowing Zach’s attention to detail), I thought this map would be either a great candidate for hanging at work or the den once I get that sorted out. I was not disappointed.

So whether a fan of Whisper & Vendom or Alyssa Faden, here are some pictures of the map.

Teach Your Kids to Game Week – 2013

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Teach Your Kids to Game WeekDriveThruRPG launched their Teach Your Kids to Game Week on Monday this week. With today’s digital assault of TV, video games, tablets, and such – this is a perfect time to keep the RPG fires burning and teach your kids, nieces, nephews, or any other kid you know the fun of RPG gaming. Where the options are limitless and not constrained by what the digital 1’s and 0’s can do.

Teach Your Kids

I hear a lot of folks saying they will teach their kids to game when they are a little older. As someone that has taught kids about RPG games at an early age, you might be surprised at just how soon they are ready to take on some form of RPGs. You can read about some of my experience with how my kids started in last years ‘Teach Your Kids to Game’ post.

DriveThruRPG List

To help you out DriveThruRPG has a three page list of games available if you want something tailored to gaming with children right here. There are a variety of systems if you feel you want something geared specifically for kids.

I wrote an adventure or two contained in the Argyle and Crew’s adventure supplement. A game played with sock puppets! And a great way to teach the really young kids about RPGs and possibly even coach them through life experiences!

Another interesting product it the Dagger supplement, an OSR approach to teaching kids to game from Brave Halfling Publishing. I don’t have much experience with this system, but its advertised approach looks quite interesting and it is hanging out at four out of five stars at the moment.

Or Don’t Underestimate the Kids

The list above is useful if you really feel the need to have a kid specific product to intro kids to RPGs. But I think we sometimes underestimate kids and we can just “water” down an existing ruleset and make it playable by kids quite easily. As I have noted in the past, I’ve taught my kids to play with D&D 3.x or Pathfinder before there were actual starter sets for them. I just made sure to handle the heavy lifting of the specifics for them.

A lot of us started gaming when we were just kids. Self-taught perhaps around the age of 9 to 11. I know I taught myself Basic D&D from the Moldvay boxed set. Just think of what your kids can do with just a little bit of coaching and a similar rules set. I often think the best way to teach your kids to game is take the system you are familiar with, ask them what they want to be or what they see their characters doing and then apply a class to that and start playing.

Teach the Kids

Regardless – the important thing to take away from this week is to start teaching your kids to play! My kids love it and have been exposed to several different rule systems by this point. So whether it be simplifying your current favorite rules system or picking up a made for kids from the list above – take a few hours this coming up weekend and teach your kids to game!

Bundle of Holding – OSR Style

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Bundle of Holding OSR StyleRegular readers of The Iron Tavern know I tend towards an OSR style of game these days. I run a weekly DCC RPG game and dabble in running other games under various retroclones such as Swords & Wizardry and Labyrinth Lord. Maybe you’ve been curious or maybe you just need to fill out your collection of OSR products, but this week’s Bundle of Holding has gone OSR!

What is a Bundle of Holding? Bundle of Holding is a gathering of variously themed products and offering the bundle for one low price for the PDFs. 10% of your payment is sent to charity. For the OSR bundle your 10% will be split between the Cancer Research Institute and the Parkinson Foundation.

In addition there is the core offering and the bonus offering. The core offering is a very low minimum price that gets you a certain set of products. The bonus offering is yours if you pay above the current average price for the bundle.

Here is what is currently in the core offering of the OSR Bundle of Holding:

  • Swords & Wizardry Complete
  • Swords & Wizardry Monster Book
  • Eldritch Weirdness
  • Tomb of the Iron God
  • OSR Toolkit (a bundle in and of itself with Labyrinth Lord (no-art version), OSR essays, graph paper, etc)

Now a couple of the above are already available free for download, but with a minimum to pickup for $4 and helping a charity – still a good deal!

Moving into the bonus material is where it gets interesting. To get these products you need to pay more than the current average (just shy of $14 now).

  • BONUS: Adventurer Conqueror King
  • BONUS: Demonspore
  • BONUS: Stonehell Dungeon (plus supplements #1 and #2)
  • BONUS: The God That Crawls
  • BONUS: Vornheim: The Complete City Kit

I actually only had the Stonehell product as it is the direction I am leaning for my winter megadungeon campaign. But, ACKS, Vornheim and the others are ones I have been quite curious about, so this is a good opportunity to pick them up!

There is still just under 4 days to pickup this bundle. And keep checking back to the Bundle of Holding website as they may continue to add more bonus materials along the way.
This is a great way to help out a couple of charities and either start your OSR collection or supplement!

 

Free: Swords & Wizardry Complete PDF

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Swords & WizardryAs noted here at The Iron Tavern and other popular OSR blogs in October, the folks at Frog God Games were going to release the S&W Complete PDF for free if their The Lost Lands: Sword of Air Kickstarter hit 400 backers. This isn’t a stripped down, sans art PDF – but the real deal with artwork and all.

Today the Kickstarter hit 401 backers and true to their word have released the S&W Complete PDF for free as announced over on Matt Finch’s blog. I don’t want to reproduce his content from his blog here, but for his own words and the caveats associated with it (primarily don’t make changes to it and that they still retain copyright to it, so don’t lift the art from it) – visit his blog:

Mythmere’s Blog Post – Swords & Wizardry Complete Rules Now Free

The Frog God Games site will be updated shortly, but in the meantime permission has been granted to redistribute the S&W Complete PDF.

The Iron Tavern will act as a short term host for now and post a copy for download. As Frog God Games gets caught up and updated, I will likely remove as it makes more sense for folks to grab the most up to date copy from Frog God rather than a potentially out of date copy here.

Swords & Wizardry Complete PDF Revised

Are you wondering why Swords & Wizardry? Check out a post I did for S&W Appreciation Day earlier this year – ‘Is Swords & Wizardry the One?’

Also – don’t forget to check out the Kickstarter that is responsible for this. There is still time to get in on it!

Dungeon Crawl Classic Campaigns

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DCC RPG Limited Edition CoverI have seen various comments and questions about campaign play in Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG. DCC takes its inspiration from Appendix N books and stories. And really, a lot of the Appendix N stories originate from short stories written for fantasy periodicals of the era. Short stories lend themselves to minimal periods of travel and whisking the reader from point of adventure to point of adventure. And sometimes there are unknown gaps of time between stories that are not connected in any one way.

Appendix N Foundation

For example, Conan stories cover very little travel. Conan is just in the country or situation the story merits. The action moves quickly and he is quickly embroiled in the core elements of the story with just enough setup to get the reader up to speed. In addition, going from one story to the next the reader is left not knowing what events have transpired between each story. This works very well for stories that used to appear in magazines over the course of several months.

Another component I have noted with Appendix N literature is that even when the book is a novel, things move quickly. In one 200 page book one can be taken from arriving at a new city, journeying off across the sea, getting stranded on an island with a gigantic creature, to getting rescued to learning more about the first city, to a daring raid on that city. All in 200 pages. Appendix N stories move fast, very fast. More major events can happen in one book than happen in some trilogies.

DCC Adventures

Back in the land of Dungeon Crawl Classics. A lot of the adventures that have been released are also self-contained (for the most part) adventures that setup the plot, and get the characters into it quickly. Compared to the favoring of Adventure Paths that are popular today, that seems a bit unusual to players and judges who have not formed their roots on joining disparate adventures or their own crafted adventures together to for longer running campaigns.

The nature of many of the DCC adventures seems to lead a lot of people to being curious about how DCC works for a longer based campaign. We’ve all heard the roaring success of DCC in a one-shot – either at cons or perhaps as a break for established gaming groups. But just how does a campaign work in DCC?

My Experience

I have been running a DCC RPG campaign online for well over a year now. Same core group of players and a continuing campaign. I have run almost exclusively published adventures. We have a mix of levels in the campaign now, 5th level being the highest and we had some hirelings level up to 1st level (I think one of the characters is amassing an army for an as of yet undisclosed reason).

I started with Purple Sorcerer’s The Perils of the Sunken City to kick the campaign off. It gave me a city to work with if the campaign stuck and a unique way to include a variety of adventures that might not otherwise fit together (for those unaware, the Sunken City has an interesting mechanism to facilitate quick and sometimes random travel).

Since then we’ve explored more portions of the Sunken City, the Great City proper, mountains off to the east and northeast and into the sea waters west of the city. I have not really had a specific path in mind, I’ve been letting the characters sort of take me where they want to go. Then I try to work in a lead-in to certain modules or look for modules that sort of fit what the group is up to at the moment. It seems to have worked out pretty well for us so far.

From my time judging I think the key thing to keep in mind going into it is – expect the unexpected. Trying to plot out a lengthy campaign arc all ahead of time is quite difficult in DCC. There is just so much randomness built into the system that trying to predict what your game will look like in three months is an exercise in futility. Embrace that and you are ready to run a DCC RPG campaign.

Spell corruptions, vengeful patrons, curses, and other afflictions all start influencing the characters from day one of the campaign. Even players that thought they knew how they wanted to see their character progress are thrown loops from the randomness of these events.

Bend your game to fit these random events and you will find yourself able to piece together a successful DCC campaign. Just don’t expect to go into it with the Adventure Path mentality (not meant in the negative, I’ve run and played in  my share of adventure paths!) and think you have the next 12 months of gaming figured out. You don’t.

By trying to remain flexible, saying yes to the character’s ideas, and molding the hooks for published adventures to the current state of the game it does not take much to weave a campaign together. Just some duct tape and baling wire!

Appendix N Kickstarter

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On Saturday part of my Appendix N Kickstarter arrived in the mail. The printed version of Ruins of Ramat.

Just last week I was singing the praises of the Dwarven Forge kickstarter for delivering on time, providing some extra customer service along the way and being at the top of the chart for Kickstarters I have backed. Appendix N is a little different.

Appendix N was a Kickstarter from Brave Halfling Publishing that raised $18k+ for a short series of adventures for the Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG. The prime price point for the kickstarter was $20, which by the end was supposed to get you four adventures (I think, in all honesty, I have sort of lost track) in PDF and in printed form. That’s right – printed form. This Kickstarter was very popular with the DCC RPG crowd. Estimated delivery for all of this was July 2012.

Suffice to say, here it is October 2013 and I’ve received the first print copy of the adventure line. John Adams, the gentleman behind Brave Halfling Publishing has had a pretty rough year with a variety of maladies on the personal front delaying things. In my opinion he has been pretty up front with his communication about these things.

So while this Kickstarter is probably the latest one I have been a patron of, I still can’t call this one a failure really. In fact, this is more like what I thought being a patron was all about. Throwing some money to a small publisher to get out a product they thought was cool. I tend to go into my Kickstarters expecting delays.

In the case of this Kickstarter, I’ve received all four PDFs of the promised adventures long ago. In fact I’ve run at least one of them and read through the others. So while the print copies may not have reached my hands, I’ve had access to the material to run them. I think that is one of the things that has kept me very patient on this Kickstarter – the fact I’ve had electronic access to the adventures and have only been waiting on the hard copies to arrive.

But – the reason for this post. Ruins of Ramat in print form has arrived! Here is what was included in the package:

  • The Ruins of Ramat (in both 0-level and 3rd level form)
  • Inspirational Module Map (printed inside the cover)
  • Set of six illustrated player handouts, on card stock material
  • The Green Orb add-on adventure, with map on card stock
  • The Gifts of the Only add-on adventure

The product is pretty sweet. A small adventure with an awesome map and art to go with it. Quality handouts. And two mini-adventures to go along. The product itself is of great quality, I’d almost call it boutique quality.

Below are pictures of what I received. I have obscured the map just a bit, as I am not comfortable revealing the whole map in a public environment.

Megadungeon Advice

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Barrowmaze CoverNo, this isn’t a post where I am offering advice on running megadungeons. This is a post where I am soliciting advice on running megadungeons! See, I have the itch to run a megadungeon campaign over the winter in some form. I have the rules system pretty much picked out, Swords & Wizardry Complete. But I need some guidance on a couple of things.

First – I need a megadungeon! I own Barrowmaze and have dabbled in that with a campaign with the kids. It seemed to work well for the amount we played in it and could be suitable for my plans. I have Stonehell on the way, I should receive it this week. And I am not opposed to picking up something like Rappan Athuk. But with all of these choices, I need to make a choice!

What does the crowd think? Which published megadungeon do you think would be a good one to base a campaign on this winter? Why do you think one is better than another? Sell me on your favorite megadungeon and why I should use it for my nefarious plans.

Or – on a more ambitious possibility, I like to map, I like to write, maybe I should create my own megadungeon this winter and possibly turn it into a package for other folks to use. The downside is one, the work, and two, I feel like I should get the feel of an already published megadungeon to see what works and what doesn’t work before setting down the path of creating my own. So maybe this is more a future project for me.

Once I determine what megadungeon to prep and run, how do I keep it from turning into a “grind”? I expect exploring room after room will be fun for the first 4 to 6 weeks, but what about after that? What can I do as a GM to keep things interesting and not turn the megadungeon campaign into a slog partway through?

I figure I need a nearby town, so the experience can be more of a the group ventures to the dungeon, explores, and then retreats the end of the session. Rinse and repeat. Do I need to sprinkle in some non-dungeon crawl adventures on the side for “breaks” between the megadungeon? I likely need some way to keep the dungeon alive – restocking rooms, making sure to make prior decisions and combats matter later in the game, etc.

I plan on setting player expectations prior to the campaign, so players will know what they are getting into and hopefully be in the mood for a similar campaign style. I also plan on this being a 3-4 month long thing, then put it aside until next year, and so on.

What is your advice for really making a megadungeon fun and exciting?

Dwarven Forge Kickstarter Has Arrived

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Building her first dungeon.

Building her first dungeon.

Yesterday my Dwarven Forge pieces from their Kickstarter earlier this year arrived at the house. I had ordered three sets and didn’t do any add-ons save for the paint that was offered later after the Kickstarter ended.

I have always been intrigued by the Dwarven Forge pieces, gazing at them with envy at various cons where there were booths with their product or expansive dungeon layouts. The price was always prohibitive and buying a few pieces here and there seemed like a long slow process. So when the Dwarven Forge kickstarter launched I thought it would be a good way to get an “instant” foundation of pieces to start my collection. Enough to start building small dungeons or encounter areas right away. And as time goes on I can now supplement with the occasional set purchase to add to what is now a decent base to work with.

Though I game online a lot right now, I do have a local group and I frequently run a kids campaign on the weekends, especially as the winter approaches. So I figure I can get plenty of use from them. Plus – the kids can use them setup their own dungeons and possibly run some games for their friends. I suspect having the Dwarven Forge pieces will make it a little easier for them to “hook” their friends into gaming.

I have backed several kickstarters over the past couple of years. And compared to others I think I have done pretty well. I haven’t had any fail to deliver completely. Several have been delayed in their delivery, and I am still waiting on some to deliver, but overall my track record with Kickstarter has been pretty good. I am fairly picky about which ones I back and these days I also watch for how long my money will be tied up for before I receive product. That last factor alone keeps me from backing some Kickstarters, even ones I am sure will deliver, but that I don’t’ want to tie my money up for a year.

But the Dwarven Forge Kickstarter has set a really high bar for performance. Easily the best Kickstarter I have participated in yet. First, the Kickstarter ended at the end of April. Here it is late October and I have my Dwarven Forge terrain in hand. The Kickstarter estimated delivery in October 2013 and they delivered.  That is a rare thing in Kickstarter land.

During the process the Dwarven Forge folks were communicative and actually added value partway through by offering a way to add paints to those of us that bought unpainted terrain. And made it easy to add to our order, all without delaying the original product.

I am so used to delays from Kickstarters that it almost felt weird to *not* receive an email stating shipping was delayed and here is why. There was no need to! As things were here on time as stated in the original Kickstarter.

Definite props to the Dwarven Forge folks for a smooth and well run Kickstarter campaign. Something I will certainly remember if they decide to use that route in the future.

Now if you’ll excuse me – I have some how-to videos on painting to watch!

Swords & Wizardry Complete PDF for Free?

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Sword of Air MainThis news has circulated a bit in a couple of my social media circles, but I wanted to boost the signal a little more. Frog God Games plans to make the PDF of Swords & Wizardry Complete free for everyone (not just backers) if their current Kickstarter hits 400 backers. I think this is a pretty awesome way to help get S&W out there in the hands of some more folks and a some additional incentive to back their current Kickstarter.

Just what is Frog God Games kickstarting now? A new adventure from Bill Webb called The Lost Lands: Sword of Air Pathfinder & Swords & Wizardry. Currently the tome is running 500+ pages and is going to be available in both Pathfinder system and Swords & Wizardry system – your choice when you back it. With several different adventure areas, this adventure area has been a part of Bill’s campaign since 1977. Rather than try to summarize it all, take a look at the Kickstarter page and read all the details as they describe it.

As I have regretted missing the Rappan Athuk Kickstarter I decided to go in on this one. Plus – I think letting S&W Complete loose on a wider audience is a good thing!

Keeping Busy

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The Haunting of Larvik CoverI have been remiss in my blogging over the past several weeks. My guest bloggers have been awesome at carrying the torch for me so far and that has been much appreciated. They have been responsible for making sure The Iron Tavern has at least something new for you each week.

So if I haven’t been posting here as regularly, what have I been up to?

Mapping

First I have had several products released by various publishers that contain some maps I have created. I am proud to have been involved in each of these products.

For the Dungeon Crawl Classics crowd Thick Skull Adventures released the PDF of The Haunting of Larvik Island a month or two ago. This is a fun 1st level module to run your DCC players through. I drew many of the maps in the product think they came out looking great! Earlier this week The Haunting of Larvik Island was released in print, available at some online stores and hopefully at local game stores in your area soon. So if you wanted a copy in print that is an option as well.

Waysides: Hair of the DogOn another front, I have had a couple of tavern maps released under the Christina Stiles Presents line from Super Genius Games. Both Waysides: Didjer’s Crab House and Waysides: Hair of the Dog contain tavern maps I did for the product. These are fun products to drop into your campaign when you need a pre-built tavern with some interesting aspects!

I have another map or two in the works for the Christina Stiles Presents line as well.

Writing

I have a couple of writing projects on the edge of the plate as well. These are still pseudo-secret and because they are personal projects tend to get bumped when other paying freelance opportunities present themselves. But each week I make a little more progress on each and hopefully a little closer to an announcement on those fronts.

Conversions

I also have another much larger project coming up that I also cannot reveal the full details on, as I am not 100% sure I am at liberty to reveal my involvement just yet. But a Kickstarter that funded about two months ago will be using me to handle the conversion to a Pathfinder version of the product. This will be a rather large project, but really looking forward to this one as well. Definitely proud to be a part of the attention to detail this product has received so far. Again – hopefully I can be less vague about the nature of this product in the near future.

Still Here!

Those are some of the things that have been keeping me busy over the past month or so. Lots of exciting things going on. And again – special thanks to my guest bloggers for keeping the doors open and the light on here at The Iron Tavern. I will put additional effort forth to get more posts by me here at The Tavern!