Tabletop Gaming Feeds

There's been a lot of discussion over the years about how Original Dungeons & Dragons handled (or didn't handle) the common situations you'd expect in a tabletop role-playing campaign. Things like jumping a chasm, climbing a wall, or fast-talking a city guard. The critique often boils down to: OD&D wasn't complete, it left too much out.
What people forget is that Gygax wasn't writing OD&D for newcomers to gaming. He was writing for the early '70s wargaming community, people already creating their own scenarios, modifying rules, and running campaigns. His audience wasn't looking for a complete, airtight system with exhaustive coverage. They wanted a framework they could expand on, the kind of framework that would let them run the campaigns they'd heard about, like Blackmoor or Greyhawk.
That mindset shaped the game. Gygax and Arneson distilled what worked in their campaigns into OD&D, trusting referees to fill in the rest. What they didn't anticipate was how quickly the hobby would grow beyond that core group, or how differently newer players would approach rules and systems.
"Rulings, Not Rules" Is a Design PhilosophyWhen people talk about "rulings, not rules," they sometimes frame it like it's a patch, something you do because the game didn't cover enough. I don't see it that way. I see it as a deliberate design choice.
A campaign that starts with just a dungeon and a village isn't "incomplete." It's a starting point. The assumption was that the referee and players would build outward together. The game wasn't meant to hand you a world fully realized and mechanized; it was meant to give you a structure for making your own.
OD&D Worked Because of the GapsBy modern standards, OD&D has "gaps." But those gaps weren't always accidental. They existed because Gygax knew his readers already had the habits and mindset to fill them. Wargaming referees knew how to adjudicate oddball situations, because that's what they'd been doing for years on their sand tables.
What looks like an omission today was often just a silent assumption: "Of course the referee will handle that."
That's why OD&D led to so many variant campaigns. There was no ur-text, no canon, it was a culture of iteration. Try something, tweak it, keep what works. That was the DNA of the early hobby.
The Problem When the Hobby GrewThis is where things broke down. OD&D didn't teach the process of making rulings. Once the game spread beyond wargamers, that missing guidance became a real issue.
Take the example of jumping a chasm. A wargaming referee in 1974 might've looked up Olympic jump distances, considered the character's stats, the gear they were carrying, the terrain, and improvised a ruling from that. That was normal.
But for a brand-new player or referee in 1977? That same situation could turn into a frustrating dead end. There wasn't a shared framework for how to think through it, so rulings felt arbitrary, or worse, like pulling numbers out of thin air.
Coaching and GuidanceThe early hobby would have been better served by teaching how to make rulings, not just listing rules. Coaching newcomers through the process of handling novel situations and coming up with rulings, both in general, and using the designer's own mechanics, would have gone a long way.
It's not difficult to do, and it doesn't undermine the open-ended style that made early D&D so creative. In my Basic Rules for the Majestic Fantasy RPG, I wrote a chapter, "When to Make a Ruling," to address this very issue using the mechanics of the Majestic Fantasy RPG. I plan to expand on this and more when I finish the full version.
The Basic Rules for the Majestic Fantasy RPG
Rulings Are Not a Stopgap, They're the PointHobbyists aren't wrong for wanting more structure. Games like GURPS, Fate, Burning Wheel, or Mythras provide extensive out-of-the-box support, and that's valuable.
But here's the truth: even those systems eventually run into edge cases, a weird situation, a new setting, or something the rules don't cover. When that happens, you need the same tool OD&D assumed from day one: the ability to make a ruling.
And that's why "rulings, not rules" isn't just a slogan or an excuse for missing content. It's the foundation of how tabletop roleplaying was intended to work.
What we need going forward is more coaching and less telling from designers. Hand a referee a Difficulty Class, and they have what they need for that one situation. Teach them how to craft rulings along with Difficulty Classes, and they’ll have a skill they can apply to every campaign they run from that day forward.
Because rules give you tools, but rulings give you craft, and that craft is what makes tabletop roleplaying campaigns truly come alive.

By R.A. Lopez Hyperfantasy Handbooks d20/3.5/PF Levels 6-20

Your heart skips a beat as you realize something and time seems to stop. This being, this “God-Beast” was sent by this newworld. It could have just summoned a gate or spirited you away, like a babe in the night. Instead, it sent a God it here to rescueyouall

from death. You -are- precious. You are not just a lost soul with fate cut via the golden scissors that has no recourse but tofadeInto history- potential unfulfilled. Only you can delve deep and discover the depths of your psyche and what you can become! This is Not “The End”, but a New Beginning. A Life Eternal, A Promise Made, A Gift of The Land. What Will You Do WithIt?

This 242 page adventure is a literal nightmare. Whatever demons you face in life can not be as bad as this heartbreaker. It has no redeeming qualities. I’m not even sure how someone managed to type the 242 pages it took to make this. It is a TRUE fantasy heartbreaker. 

I have been trying, very hard, to make it through this. I know that longer adventures take more time to review, and thus typically work on one over the course of weeks. I don’t see how that is possible with this adventure. I can make it through, maybe, two pages? Then I have to put it down. It’s a nightmare. There’s almost no formatting. It’s absolutely a wall of text. The font is small and, while not “a funky font”, it is something that is not easy on the eyes … maybe the stroke weight? And that’s just the non-creative decisions! There is a literal DM in the game to guide the players. The read-aloud is mixed with mechanics information. It is … I don’t know man. I’m not sure I’ve ever encountered something like this before? 

This is hard to review. My ire is generally reserved for those individuals trying to cash in via shovelware, AI slop, or Megacorps who have the resources but don’t care. (Which is all of them.) One person, making one thing, a man of singular vision … Objectivism is the western version of communist heroic sculptures: fucking awesome and inspiring and yet absolutely worthless once you reach age fourteen. But man, the mythic appeal! I don’t want to go full force on this dude. But, also, man, every decision this designer made was wrong. I don’t want anything to fucking do with this, and neither do you. But also, he did it!

So, you get transported to this new world, ala the Dungeons & Dragons ride. You can change your characters appearance over time. Such as: “Personal Evolution can be as simple as losing weight or a shift in hair color, to the growth of wings or horns or sometimes again or loss of more sensitive bits such as breasts or genitals.” It’s not FATAL, but my rule of thumb is that any time someone mentions something akin to sex, then it’s got those undertones that can’t then be unseen. The god-beast talks to you for a million paragraphs of read-aloud. I guess you’re level six now. Then you are released upon The Land to do what DungeonMaster tells you to do. Yeah, he’s in this. Different name, but same thing. You will visit various lands and solve abstracted set pieces. Here are six towers in a circle. Explore the sic levels of each and defeat everything/overcome everything in them and then a clock tower appears in the middle with a jeweled pegboard for you to move the pegs around, representing the towers, to solve the puzzle. How do you know what to do? Well, the first few pages of the book have a bunch of prose about the eighteen or so different aspects.

“There are Six Elements of Arcane Origin: Fire, Earth, Lightning, Ice, Water, and Wind. Earth is ruled by Constitution. Earth is powerful against and weak versus Wind. Earth is expressed as the color, Orange. The natural crystal of Earth is Topaz.” And that continues for each, and then covers device, arcane, ying, yang, dark and light aspects, rare, active, reactive …  THis then is your first real sign that something ‘special’ is going on with this adventure. 

Ok, so, you’re off exploring The Land, which basically means doing what DungeonMaster tells you to do and nothing else. Your first challenge is … fishing. There’s a river. You can fish. And of course you get the rules for making rainbow trout sushi. No, I’m not making this up. THEN you get to go to the tower puzzle/thing. Which, if I know my 3.5 right, is going to take about nine hundred sessions of play to complete, given the length of Pathfinder combats. 

I know, many of you are worried about the god-beast and it’s endless exposition. Or DungeonMaster and his endless instructions (much more than in the cartoon.) But, not worry. The read-aloud has you covered! “As your bloodline is wakened, you will take on the signature of it’s power, a visible sign, a Stitch. You may attempt to hide this feature, but trust me, if you do attempt this you will find luck is not on your side. There is a special kismet that guards our kind ensuring that we cannot hide from it. If you attempt to hide away from God, does God not forsake you? Regardless, when you hide your Stitch/es, you begin to lose health and energy over time. This is called [Masking]. It can be dangerous to do it often.” I’m not cherry picking. That’s fairly typical. A weird mixed tense or second person, DM voice, mechanics, some attempts at being evocative. That’s it, that’s the adventure. It’s pervasive and normal here.

Hey, remember that river I told you about? Here’s the encounter: “Everflowing River (Drinking) Restores Health and Energy to Maximum. Destroys All Epic (and Non Epic) Negative Effects. ‘Mortal Wound’ Effects are Destroyed! After Drinking Deeply, Status is Reset to Clear! It is almost like having a new body. Secondarily, drinking the equivalent of a small lake from the aquifer fed river is not only one of the most exhausting things you’ve ever done but also the most refreshing.” How the fuck do you run something like that?

The font is small. It’s something hard to read, but not obviously so, I think it’s the stroke weight. It is repetitive. I mean REALLY beating a dead horse. Even more so than I just did about the stroke weight. “On The Fourth Morning (After All 3 Days and Evenings Have Been Spent!)
Yes, that is generally the definition of the fourth morning. And the, the descriptive text is clearly meant to be a railroad “Breakfast’s remnants sit now on barren, cracked ground. In the distance, you spot a series of bleak towers. You notice a steadyglowbriefly appearing to outline the edges of all weapons and armor; they are all now enchanted with the barest of magics- onlyasimple+1 (Enhancement) imbues all starter equipment transforming from fine craftsmanship (masterwork) to true magic” Uh, no? I’m not camping next to some towers.

This adventure is set pieces. It’s a lot of exposition, mixed in tone and voice, and then set pieces. DUngeonMaster is there for you. He guides you, explicitly. Then you do a set piece. Which is itself full of other set pieces. And you go on to the next one as you visit multiple areas of The Land. 

This is %100 a heartbreaker. It is also, I think, unusable. I toss that word around a lot, but this is … completely legible but difficult to decipher? The best example yet of what a spellbook is like? You can read it … but it’s hard as hell. A month to get through this and I’m still not sure I can describe it.

This is $15 at DriveThru. The previs is six pages. It is perfect. No, that legalese does not go on for pages. That’s the adventure. Enjoy the elemental BS, and the god-beast exposition. You know EXACTLY what you are getting from this preview.

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/529775/reality-unbound-reclamation-book-i-levels-6-20?1892600

 For my followers who can easily get to Canterbury in the southern UK on August 8-10, the local game shop is hosting a convention on the University of Kent campus and I will be running multiple sessions of Jennell Jaquays' Thracia using 52 Pages rules and pregen characters, including classes from the Next 52 expansion.

Register for the convention here. For my sessions, you can sign up using Warhorn here.

That is all, carry on!

Remember the SSI D&D Gold Box computer games of our youth? You can grab them ALL and more for 10 bucks with the Dungeons & Dragons: Classics Collection (Gold Box) @ Humble Bundle.

Edit: 29 games, which as a bundle are $59 on Steam.

The Tavern uses affiliate links

Support The Tavern: tenkarstavern.com/p/support

tenkars-tavern.games/DTRPG

youtube.com/@TenkarsTavern?sub_confirmation=1

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 is what happens), but it covers our ongoing games. The current post covers games until the end of June – I didn’t post due to my July sale and setting up my business taking up my full attention, so reports have been piling up, and this post is long enough as it is. 

The Battle of Villa Cardone

28/05/2025 THISIUM

News from the doomed city of Thisium! A party of 5 characters and 7 henchmen rode out of Thisium towards the Cyclopean Hills. Leading them was Adonis Gratianus carrying a newly made battle-flag, to fulfil his promise to the noblewoman Ottilia Cardone, who was forced to banditry once returning to her homeland, and finding Villa Cardone occupied by the men of Bazascus the Brigand. They met Ottilia at the bandits’ campsite, and decided on a plan to scout the fortified villa in the evening, and raid it afterwards. They travelled through the foreboding Cyclopean Hills; and at one point, found an ominous-looking, ancient statue watching them that wasn’t there the last time they travelled here, despite its weathered appearance. At sunset, they approached the villa, and the company’s three thieves made recon around the building. The entrances were well-guarded, while the main force was in the interior courtyard, some were out at the stables, and the villa’s masters were having dinner in the master’s quarters. An impromptu three-prong attack plan was made and executed. A force of adventurers drew closer to the front gate guards, the bandits approached from the back with Adonis and Ottilia in the lead, and the thieves waited on the sides for their opportunity.

Flaming oil on the stables set the thatched roof on fire, raising a commotion among the brigands, but drawing them out into a lit backyard to be met with arrow fire. The darkness made for difficult archery on both sides, so casualties were initially low, but started to mount as opposed groups traded shots, and especially when the forces rushed each other along the line of contact. Ethel the heavy footman, a cowardly and weak retainer, died from arrow fire; and his master, Maglor the Elf was badly wounded. While the brigands streamed outside, the thieves could drop into the central courtyard, and assassinate Lundolf, the brigands’ Magic-User. Adonis called on Bazascus the Brigand to come out, and he did, clad in his plate mail that made him nigh invincible. He shrugged off magic and blade, fighting with ferocity. The frontal assault group decimated the brigands, but came under fire from Tiny, a halfling thief sniping at them from the darkness. At last, Bazascus was surrounded, and steadfastly refusing quarter after his remaining men already surrendered, eventually slain by Adonis. Tiny was pursued by Dorvo with his sword of fire, but melted away into the night. Theirs was Villa Cardone, and the brigands’ treasure, including Lundolf’s potions and spellbooks, and a mysterious treasure map. Ottilia Cardone was once again the owner of her family nest, although of her bandits, a mere third survived. As for Adonis, he was quite happy to have helped a noble lady, and found that good deeds are often rewarded. At this time, the city had 32 days left...

Temple of the Unknown God

04/06/2025 THISIUM

News from the doomed city of Thisium! After their victory over the brigands, three adventurers and their henchmen rode to explore the mysterious Temple of the Unknown God in the middle of the Cyclopean Hills. After shaking off a group of orcs who proclaimed the Coastlands to be the new domain of their god, Porculus, they rode through a desolate and silent landscape, finding the massive, ancient structure in  the centre of a valley, as old as time, and built from massive cyclopean blocks in an unrecognisable style. The entrance was guarded by weird, spindly statues holding tridents, with conch-shell shaped heads. All of this was unfathomably old. Through an open gate meant for giants, they could see the gloomy antechamber with a massive, empty basalt throne, flanked by two human-sized stone braziers. Walking forward, pit traps opened underfoot; Dorvo fell into a pit, landing on top of a deep layer of accumulated bones, fossils, and ancient debris. Saved with a rope, they proceeded with more caution. Poucas Trancas and Eriberto Barrella reconnoitred the entrance area. Growling sounds came from an eastern room, so they went west, finding a dark hall with heavy dark drapes, two enormous brass statues resembling those at the entrance, and a stone spiral in the floor. Returning back, a corridor behind the throne room was decorated by hieroglyphs, being deciphered by a group of four adventurers. Poucas warned them of the monsters to the east. The adventurers thanked them, and getting closer, one remarked, „Perhaps the monsters are just us...” as the four attacked as doppelgangers! The monsters were slain and sacks of coins hauled back to the horses. The NW chamber held broken statuary and a gargoyle which demanded gold for passage, but attacked from surprise even after it was paid. The beast was invulnerable to non-magical weapons, but not sleep (a SVoZ peculiarity!), so it was wrapped up in a net and tossed in an entrance pit, which was then wedged shut.

Investigating the room, the gargoyle’s treasure was collected, while an odd recess hid a secret door, but one that was also trapped: the door would slide up, but the threshold would bring it down on the careless explorer. Opening it carefully, a room with metal floor was found, with the frozen body of a dead warrior carrying a sack, a splendid magic spear, and wearing a gem-studded helmet. They dragged the corpse into their room with a grappling hook, triggering the threshold trap, and crushing the gemstone and the warrior’s head under the trap. However, an identical second helmet was also found, along with a magic spear and coinage. The next thing to be checked was the source of the noises to the east. The room was inhabited by 4 wrestling white apes, which charged out; and the party, weak from previous fights, fled the temple to return to rest at Villa Cardone. The next day, they returned more prepared, raining spells and missiles on the monsters, slaying them all. The prize was a valuable crystal skull. Calling it a day (as the end of the session approached), they returned again to Villa Cardone, the first playtesters to have no casualties on their first foray to the Temple of the Unknown God! At this time, the city had 30 days left...

Dwellers of the Undercity
05/06/2025 KASSADIA

News from the fallen empire of Kassadia! The Lion Pack continued their forays into the Undercity beneath Viaskar. Crossing a cistern with ropes, they found a stairway to a plundered crypt, where four ogres were squabbling over their loot. They retreated to plan an attack, but a secret door opened, and out came the ogre leader in heavy armour, wielding a two-handed sword. The ogres were slain, but the damage was considerable. Their gold, a ring, and a small semi-precious stone figure were recovered. From the lower level of the ogre lair, a secret door opened to the bottom of an old staircase. Climbing it all the way up led to an enormous, dark hall, where the bones of ancient legionaries slumbered in burial niches. Recognising the place as the resting place of the Legion of Iron, the Empire’s last-resort undead defenders, they withdrew. To the east, a long stairway led up to a domed chamber inhabited by a dishevelled, sickly hermit, Gomberto. He was confused and lost, trying to remember what underground place he had escaped from, but told them of people living further on. Following this clue, they left him be, and investigated the natural caverns opening from a collapsed wall of the stairway. Old columns held up the cavern ceiling, and lights flickered in side-caverns. Investigating, they found dens of lepers, dwelling down here in the darkness. Suspecting they were somehow getting near the cult of Titus Malformatus, they withdrew, and checked out the upper caverns, filled with fungi growing around old columns. The way led to a room with a weird man-bat idol spewing water into a stone bowl, which Jovial Faustulus detected as poisonous. Following a charnel stench, they found the body of a lost explorer behind the statue. Aristeo Guarini checked the cadaver’s belongings, and was infested with several rot grubs, which were burned out with a torch – but some coins were at least recovered.

The Discovery of the Great Underground Cess Pit
Following the stairs further down, they found an enormous dark space: an old circular arena with rows of seats, and evidence of recent human presence – torch stubs, crates, basic wooden furniture, and so on. A place for secret gladiatorial games? For now, they pressed on. A stairway up was a dead end with abundant moss and the bones of another dead explorer. Faustulus once again checked for poison, and discovered the moss to be poisonous as suspected. Returning without touching it, they went further, entering an old, ornate halls that stretched on an on in the darkness, with mosaics on the side walls. Two stone griffins stood before a double stone gate, and an inscription read: „VIDIBIVS MEMOR, CHAMPION OF LYKOPHRON”. The text and the bas-relief of a bare-chested, wolf-headed man indicated a presence of the werewolf-cult – for now, best avoided. Further on, sets of stairs and less ornate undercellars were discovered. The way led up to a cesspool, and while there were iron rungs leading up, this was not something they wished to investigate for fear of catching some disease. From the direction of a wooden door, they overheard men conversing, but with resources and torches low, they chose to retreat through the passages. On the way back, they saw approaching lanterns, and concealed themselves, letting a group of 15 rough-looking men pass by. The further way was uneventful: they emerged from the Undercity on the plaza of the Hound-Birds, and went for the nearest drinking and dining establishment, the Two Charioteers, a pleasant sports bar and bordello near the great amphitheatre.

A Visit to the Fairy King
10/06/2025 THISIUM

News from the doomed city of Thisium! A large company entered the Fairy Garden to steal the Sacrificial Calf from the Fairy King. Following known routes, they headed for the plateau shrouded in eternal night. Walking through the dark forest, they were ambushed by giant killer bees, who immediately killed Serafina Malpractis and Pontiki, the party’s two magic-users, and the lynchpins for their rescue plan. Nevertheless, they pressed on, eventually finding their way to the centre of the forest. Song, music and laughter drifted from a marble hall surrounded with lush forests, and overgrown with ivy and splendid wildflowers. Gata spied on the hall in weasel form, finding it inhabited by the lords and ladies of the fairies. The Fairy King, a pudgy figure in dirty finery was engaged in idle chitchat with his courtiers, and watched over by his bodyguards, the stern fighting-man Primrose and the halfling hunter Barberry. An enormous pile of silver and gold lie nearby. But it was the third sight that was most important: a splendid white calf of outstanding beauty, pampered and groomed by the courtiers on a bed of flower petals! Now, Bambino the rider went forward openly, imitating drunkenness and carrying three bottles of wine, two tampered with deadly nightshade. The „lost traveller” was well received by the bemused fairies, and escorted to the King’s presence. With some fast talk, he fooled the assembled fairies to try his novel vintage while the party took up positions around the hall. The courtiers and the king drank, but all but one lady made their saving throws; thinking her drunk, she was carried to her bed. Alert to treachery, Primrose urged his king to be alert, and the King was just about to turn Bambino into some small forest animal when Gata jumped him from the rafters, seizing him by the throat and holding him fast. The party rushed the hall and took the assembled nobles hostage.

Tense negotiations ensued, but at last the talking Sacrificial Calf, Bouillon, offered to accompany the adventurers on his own free will. „I trust you”, he said with full conviction. The King was taken as a hostage, and his gold put in sacks and loaded on patient Bouillon. Returning through the forest to the site of the killer bee attack, Gata demanded that Pontiki be raised. The King promised to do so for his freedom, and Pontiki walked again, albeit silently. He tried to slip away, but was tackled, and „Pontiki” disappeared – only an illusion, the original still lying there dead! Gata tried to kill the king there and then, but was herself restrained from bloody murder. They retreated from a plateau to the outside garden. Four owlbears came towards them in an open field. The King was pushed forward, and he fell among the ravenous owlbears, who tore him to pieces while the company legged it, fleeing the Fairy Garden with Bouillon in tow. Exiting the enchanted realm, Ser Narvi decided to split and carry the news to the Yellow Dragon while the remaining group took the Calf to Thisium. Sir Drago also said his farewell, having fought along the company, but now heading for new adventures. They thus travelled back towards the city. An enormous green dragon swooped down from overhead. The party scattered into the woods while, alone, Giacomo heroically lured the beast ahead, riding just below it to avoid its breath weapon. At last, he jumped from his horse, which then took a cloud of chlorine gas, and was devoured. They waited out the dragon in concealment, and continued.

Orcs on the Coastlands

Beyond the Forest of Verrilli, they rode through the nocturnal Coastlands, towards Thisium. Approaching the campsite of the merchant Trigulano Goi by the Bay of Pearls, they spotted a curious sight: a palisade with guards and watchfires. Giacomo investigated again, and spotted orc guards and the banners of the orc demi-god Porculus – the symbol of a great black swine suckling two human infants! The head of Trigulano Goi was also there, impaled on a wooden spike as a grim warning. The quick-witted thane pretended to be an ally of the orc cause, „reporting” that his team was engaged in talks with the green dragon to enlist him as an ally against Thisium. With this stratagem, he not only secured passage through the barrier, but learned something of the orcs’ war plans to cut off Thisium and prepare for the orc conquest of the Coastlands, starting with the manor house of Sir Egmont Mouseburg, a local knight and landowner. Riding on towards Thisium, another company of riders approached – none other than Sir Egmont himself with a patrol of 20 men! (The odds of this happening were 1:120 on the wilderness encounter table, clearly the intervention of fate!) Hearing of the orcish presence, they assaulted the orcs jointly, destroying their forces with a decisive ambush. Sir Egmont lost 10 men, and Giacomo was badly wounded, but the battle was won. Dead tired, they returned to Thisium, which now looked even shabbier and more dilapidated. They went for the Temple of the City on the city above Thisium, leading poor naïve Bouillon, still deluded he was about to return to graze and play. But it was not to be. Paphogenus the priest came forward, binding him to the altar with golden chains, and with his sacrificial knife, slit his throat and spilled his innocent blood so that the city might be saved. Thus was the Doom From the Forests averted. At this time, the city had 27 day left...

A Small Detour

18/06/2025 THISIUM

News from the doomed city of Thisium! Adventurers at the Yellow Dragon Alehouse rode out of the forest inn to return to Thisium. Avoiding confrontation with suspicious men who turned out to be werewolves, they made for a bridge they had thought to be guarded by orcs. On the way, they encountered two owlbears, one of which tore apart Kosmas the light footman. Arriving near the bridge, they approached carefully, and found that the orcs were out in force, with a military encampment. Instead of a confrontation, they decided to take a small detour through the forest to find a ford to the NW. This was not a good idea. The road led out of the Forest of Verrilli, into abandoned and increasingly swampy moorlands, but no ford was present. The trail reached the desolate seacoast, and ended at the uncaring waves. They made camp on a low mound, and the next day, sought a crossing through the swamp. A ford was found, but shortly afterwards, a black dragon the size of a horse discovered their presence. The battle, while terrible, unexpectantly turned in their favour with critical and head hits slaying the beast. However, Belinda Marchello the Thief received mortal wounds and died, while Tripa Seca the Thief was severely wounded in a way requiring medical attention. They continued east through trackless wilderness. Below a lone and forlorn mountain peak, they passed a mysterious statue, depicting the Philanthropus, Thisium’s mysterious and oft-reviled benefactor. Further on, they rediscovered the road, and a small camp where a bandit, Rodolfo Rampoldi, warned them of the orcs in the northern mountains, whom he was hunting for profit. They parted ways and rode in the night, bypassing a mysterious villa in the middle of a hedge maze, and eventually finding hospitality in a small village at the foot of a decrepit manor house. This was the land of Sir Egmont Mouseburg, out on an adventure. The next day, they mounted their horses, and rode into Thisium.

The adventure in Thisium started off inauspicious. A helpful guard at the gates helped them out with information, and was quickly incinerated by the gods for daring to help the city’s saviours. The other guards didn’t like this at all, so they left quickly. In the streets, they met Gordisio Pamfile, one of the city’s influential noblemen, who was happy for a conversation. Things had gotten worse in the last few days as black dogs started attacking the townspeople, while mysterious disappearances, including that of the Magic-User Adrius Doriano, plagued the city. After arranging healing for Tripa Seca, they descended through the graveyard into the Thisian Underworld, seeking an underground well beyond the tower of Yldegonda Gremullo. They had been there before, but this time, the plan was to find a hypothetical city exit above the shaft, to secure it for further expeditions depicted on their treasure map. The empty cistern above the well was inhabited by a swarm of stirges, however, and plans were devised to trap them. Finally, a net was prepared with glue, drawn taut across the passage, and the stirges drawn into it. Half of their numbers thus got stuck, while they made short work of the rest. Climbing up the well with ropes, they crossed the mossy overflow cistern, and found another well, leading outside into the sunlight. Climbing out, they found themselves in a small garden wedged among the houses of Thisium. The body of a young man lay dead on a bench, evidently dead of starvation – the poet Chiaffredo, who had walled himself in to find death by hunger to mourn the death of his love. In his hand, he still grasped a last scribbled note reading „LUCIA...” The company liberated his valuables, and, through a balcony in his small but tidy house, they descended back into the alleyways, and returned to the Pickled Carp. At this time, the city had 25 days left...

What Ho, Frog Demons!

22/06/2025 FOMALHAUT

(Covering three interconnected sessions of mop-up through a three-dimensional palace.)

News from ULTRAREALITY! Having slain the great ape demon, the third of the New Gods ruling the Doorless Arct, the company set about securing their newly conquered palace. Guards arrived from the Viridian Star to guard the exits and watch the rooftops – they also brought news that the pirates’ ship was attacked and taken, with a good quantity of treasures seized. The methodical looting  operation could commence. Breaking into Philetor Grentor’s library was rewarded with a set of spellbooks holding powerful spells; a secret compartment with a light-gem, a compass, and 4 gas arrows, and occult books of general interest. A ground floor chamber – once the lair of the sorcerer Opangi Ord – was emptied of treasure, but held a map to a nearby island, marked with signs indicating the presence of Outworlders – the „demons of Thuzar-Yi” they had heard about? A mystery for another time. They turned their attention to the multi-level gallery above the enormous pile of treasure on the bottom. Attacking the weird ectoplasmic entities populating it drew them out, and the giant amoeboid blobs were defeated, although not easily. This allowed them to go about the central floor more easily, bypassing the obelisk creature guarding it from the north. A few rooms held a room of mists with phantasmal warriors, and a hallways of expensive floor tiles and ominous black sphinxes, judiciously avoided. In a gallery guarded by a phase spider, they found ominous relics from Fomalhaut’s first post-technological eras, including an ugly golden idol in an obviously trapped display case. But the real prize was found on a random detect magic sweep: a flying, invisible crystal ball in the gallery, netted and retrieved for later use.

Next came the topmost floor. There was another small library here, holding a tome sewn in human skin, with a screaming human face on it. This was, in fact, a mimic which almost caught and ate Bocephus, but was then chopped up. A room held a broken brass sphere with planetary rings hovering around it – as it later turned out, an orrery depicting the Planet Algol system, known for its demons. A secret door was discovered, and without an opening mechanism, knockspell used to throw it open – also opening a second one on the other side of the secret chamber. Here stood a weird metal pillar of intricate patterns, many inert glass eyes, and a console – something ancient, and now a mystery. The room beyond was an armoury of many swords, deathly cold. This was left for later as well. They now investigated the NW basement. One chamber held obvious treasures around an idol of the great frog-god Tsathoggus, gazing at them from a stone throne. Trying to nab the loot was not a great idea, as the god smiled slightly, and a grotesque, three-eyed frog demon appeared to protect the prizes, soon gating in a second companion. In this battle, luck left the company, and multiple PCs were almost killed – but finally, with great difficulty, they prevailed. The next day, their sponsor’s daughter, Hela al-Tyraxus sailed upriver to join them for a survey of the palace. The weird machine on the top floor was identified: an Abacus Pillar, a thinking device of the ancients. They inputted a set of instructions to advise whether the Arct could be returned to Fomalhaut with the aid of the rooftop Anomaly Device. After much deliberation, a roll of paper emerged, reading: „ERROR MARGIN MULTIPLIED 6XX /// PARM OVERLOAD POSSIBLE”. The plan no longer looked all that attractive. In the neighbouring room, they fought six animated weapons, and found a magical mace. Another room held a glyph-covered obelisk with powerful planar spells and arcane secrets, copied by rubbing parchments on it.

The Mysterious Brass Tablet

There was only one thing left to do: the enormous treasure pile on the bottom of the interconnected galleries, surrounded by weird, abstract statues and torn apart human remains. They descended vary carefully to the lower gallery, and swept the place with detection spells. No invisibles were found, but multiple items were pinned down as magical, and two traps found: one in a weird dimensional anomaly on the hall’s northern side, and the other on a display pedestal holding an ancient brass tablet under a crystal hemisphere. Expecting something horrible, they descended carefully, and started looting the pile. The vast quantity of coinage (in AD&D terms, 150,000 gp) was such that even a third of it  filled their portable hole to capacity. Trips had to be made to the ship to place the hoard in the hold, until finally, only the pedestal remained. There were no discernible physical traps, but it was obviously magically defended. Finally, a knockspell was used to unlock it, and monster summoning III to summon 2 ruffians and make them lift the hemisphere. Somehow, this worked: the trap didn’t activate. Underneath lie the Doorless Arct’s ultimate treasure: a tablet with a set of connected circles and old writing, displaying the secrets of the Techno-Hellenic age’s transportation gateway network. What they have come to ULTRAREALITY for was now theirs - but further adventures still beckoned!

Also announcing the special Floor Tile Merchant Awards! This adventure featured three instances of valuable construction materials to select the truly skilled ACKS players: silver roof cladding on a pavilion, precious stone floor tiles in a ransacked suite, and very pricy floor tiles in the sphinx hallway. Regrettably, the score for the awards was a round 0/3, as none of these were found. “I take this as a compliment”, noted Bocephus.

Deeper into the Temple of the Unknown God
23/06/2025 THISIUM

News from the doomed city of Thisium! A large company left Villa Cardone towards the ominous Temple of the Unknown God, emboldened by the previous, successful expedition. They approached the imposing, ancient structure carefully. Before the enormous entryway, Dorvo had himself lowered into one of the two cyclopean pits, filled with the bones and debris of the ages. Looking for treasure, he found what he sought, but also got attacked by a buried wight: however, his flaming sword made short work of the undead monster. They entered the interior, going East to a room shrouded in deep gloom, the source of incessant quarrelling. Two shadowy philosophers were debating whether Wisdom or Will was the supreme principle. Entering, Adonis Gratianus offered Love as the true principle as a compromise, but could not convince the irate wraiths. Finally, he chose Will, and the triumphant philosopher advised him to enter the southern door, and use the magic scroll there to gain new powers. Adonis did so, and was immediately turned into a wraith (new powers included), who proceeded to attack his companions. In this combat, Sigismondo Fiesi, distant kin to an extinct Thisian lineage, was drained and turned into yet another wraith; but they were both dispatched with the flaming sword and Aufidia Corvina’s cure light wounds spell. They drank to Adonis’ memory, and continued the expedition. The chamber to the north held an upright, locked metal cabinet surrounded by four pillars. Sensing trouble, they tied a coil of rope around the thing, and knocked it – from inside came growls and the sound of shifting coinage. An ambush was set, and the doors opened. Out came a royal mummy, throwing down it ornate mace, and spilling the pile of gold it was trodding on into the room. It was put down by Eriberto Barrella, who snatched up the mace, finding it a +2 weapon. To the west was a short corridor, where a secret door was discovered.

Beyond stretched a dusty and long-forgotten passage, leading to a massive chamber. Great columns rose to infinity and the starry gulfs of space. The centre was occupied by a dark pool, and Matrona Ladrona chucked in a silver coin to see if it hid any danger. That came all right, in the form of a massive 8-headed hydra. They fled quickly, slamming the secret door, which the beast could not break down. They chose to explore eastwards. A passage led to an intersection with a dark smear on the floor and old, rusty scrap here and there. Investigating carefully, they spotted 4 raised portcullises around the centre – a trap by the looks of it. Now checking the nearby room, they found it decorated with vivid frescoes of old kings and sages. Dorvo, sensing trickery, struck one of the figures with his fire sword, which shrieked and shifted – a doppelganger, flattening itself into a 2D plane. The four monsters were handily dispatched, but the empty room had no treasure. North, beyond the intersection, a recess to the West held three old brass levers. A slingstone was shot at them to make sure there was nothing tricky here, but there was: the „levers” animated as 3 metal snakes, slithering towards the party with incredible quickness. In this battle, Placidus, Adonis’ elderly servant, died to the serpents’ deadly poison, following his young master to the Netherworld. Other followers failed their morale checks and fled in panic. Weakened and wary of worse to come, they checked out one more room to the north, finding 4 alabaster gargoyles, and turning back instantly. They returned to their horses, and rode back to Villa Cardone to bring the bad news to Ottilia Cardone of the death of the man who had loved her and helped win back her inheritance. Two followers, Ancilla Ladruncola (who spoke the tongues of animals) and Daphnis (4th level Elf, travelling incognito) chose to retire from the party, adding to the dark mood. At this time, the city had 30 days left...

(Very appropriately, the full monster experience for the session came out at a round 666 XP. Perhaps the Unknown God’s hand was involved, or perhaps it was blind cosmic chance. Who knows what is true!)

 I previously mentioned the Appx. N Jam and the submission I had planned. Well, the month is nearing its end, and I'm not done (though I'm getting close!) and I do have a cover to show off finally, so that even if I don't make the jam, the adventure will probably come out.

Here's the final piece as an aged paperback featuring an illustration by the inestimable Jason Sholtis:

" Rabalinn on the Rime RiverBook I: Player's GuideDesigned for use with the Shadowdark RPGBy James Mishler and Jodi Moran-MishlerThe Rabalinn on the Rime River Player's Guide is the first fully detailed player' guide for the Talismundia Campaign Setting.The materials presented in this booklet present two new classes, 20 new spells, new patrons for warlocks and witches, and a complete Needleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11243274667834930867noreply@blogger.com0

I have to say, the Call of Cthulhu Starter Set is one of the best bargains in RPGs. Normally 9.99 in PDF, for the Christmas in July Sale, you can snag a copy of the Call of Cthulhu Starter Set for 6.99.

I own the physical boxed set, and the value is amazing!

The Call of Cthulhu Starter Set contains books, dice, premade character sheets, maps, and enough content to keep a group busy for several roleplaying sessions.

Three softcover manuals broken into rules and scenarios to guide you in playing Call of Cthulhu. The physical boxed version also includes all the dice you need to play the game: a D4, D6, D8, D20, Percentile D10, and an extra D10 in a different color for use as a bonus/penalty die.

Learn to play in the best way possible—by playing! The special introduction “Alone Against The Flames”, a solo Call of Cthulhu scenario, teaches you the basic rules of the game and character creation as you find yourself in the rural New England town of Emberhead—but can you escape?

Three scenarios designed for 3, 4 and up to 5 players.

• In Paper Chase, the search for a missing professor leads to a grizzly discovery.
• Edge of Darkness sees a group of investigators fulfill the wish of a dying friend, and attempt to undo the mistakes of the past.
• Finally, in Dead Man Stomp, Harlem and jazz music serve as a backdrop to the nefarious schemes of an alien god.

Player aids are an essential component to Call of Cthulhu gameplay. Each scenario has its own collection of maps, notes and player handouts. Each presented in full color, these play aids will enhance your gameplay, and help your players immerse themselves in each of the investigations.

The Tavern uses affiliate links

Support The Tavern: tenkarstavern.com/p/support

tenkars-tavern.games/DTRPG

youtube.com/@TenkarsTavern?sub_confirmation=1

By Scott Craig
Cutter Mountain Simulations
B/X - Shadowdark
Levels 1-6 (?)

For hundreds of years, the Lunamancer conducted his magical research in the pinnacle of his tower, hidden by potent illusions. Whenever he needed rare components for his research, he relied on the Greater Crypt Thing in his tower’s lower labyrinth. This labyrinth was well known by adventurers far and wide, and they regularly entered its dark halls for loot. The best and brightest of these adventurers the Crypt Thing would set a geas upon to procure whatever the Lunamancer required. And so the years passed… Until one fateful night when the moon waxed full, and the Lunamancer made one small error in his calculations. Then something filtered down from the night sky to terrorize him in his very chambers, and his illusions suddenly faded…

This six page adventure uses two pages to describe six levels of an illusionist tower. Yes, six. Its heart is in the right place, if only it stopped stopping drinking a bottle of rumplemintz immediately upon entering surgery for its organ donation and then immediately passing out on the floor and vomiting all over itself. 

I’m a big fan of hubris here at Ten Foot. You go Icarus! Fuck the rest of those asshats! Try new things. Iconclast those safety regulations on the reactor! Build your truck campers bed frame out of aluminum and then put your 300 amp battery ¼” from the frame! And, of course, get criticized harshly for the foolish decision you’ve made! This is the way designers of singular vision advance the art. Or die trying.

 The six pages here reflect a title page, a fluff page full of “WHAT BOLD MEANS” and other dumbass boilerplate, a monster reference sheet (Huzzah!) with some general notes as well, A page of four maps for the six levels (one maze map being reused three times) and the two pages of keys. For six levels. I think that means something like 46 keys. Plus a decent number of portcullis, curtains, statues and other features. The maps here are at least interesting. If Scott is a mapmaker then he does a decent job with room descriptions and if he’s a designer then he does a decent job with his maps. Even a dumb-as repeating maze level gets a decent amount of interest on the map. We’re not talking talking rock-star, there’s a lot of symmetry here which is a cop out, but they are more than just a throw away basic effort.

This means we get descriptions like “ Strangely clean…” for a room. Or, perhaps “Entrance – Scattered Leaves and twigs, muddy footprints leading all directions.” Or, straight out of The Borderlands caves “2 ORCS laze about on a pile of smashed furniture and soiled rugs. One wears a GOLD TORQ (65gp).” There are a couple of longer rooms, “. Moon-Lens Turntable Machinery Room. 2 SERVANTS OF APOC’L’TH examine a forest of arcane tubes, gears, and pistons that actuate the forcefield projectors holding the MOONLENS atop the spire. The spiral staircase ascends to area 24.” But, I’d argue that, other than a couple of riddle rooms, these are actually just further examples of the ORC LOUNGING room. CREATURE verbs OBJECT. Room interactivity might be something like “Central Hall. A stone FOUNTAIN gushes clear, refreshing water. A marble STATUE of a robed philosopher stands with hand extended in friendship. If statue’s hand is touched, statue speaks loudly (once per adventure): “Harken! Behold, a river!” Secret door is opened by pushing statue’s arm downward.” At its heart that’s not bad. A little magical wonder, a classic pull the arm down.  But, also, marble statue of robed philosopher is not exactly the most evocative. But, also, to be fair, that strangely clean room is foreshadowing a Cube, so, fuck me and my criticisms. 

It’s an ok adventure. “The LUNAMANCER appears as friendly, ELDERLY WIZARD in moonlight. Otherwise appears as the lich he truly is.” That’s the kind of shit you want in your adventures. If every adventure I reviewed were at least as good as this one then I’d be bemoaning the blandness of the environment and lack of complexity. Most adventures are fucking train wrecks and this one isn’t though. But it IS a bit bland with some lack of complexity and depth. The core concepts are good but the dungeon size (six levels … of like eight rooms each) and the artificial constraint shows through. Dude has his thing and his thing is a six page adventure. Got it. But the artificial constraints imposed by that decision will mean that the chances of a Spawning Grounds, Hyquatious, or other classic adventure coming from a one-page dungeon, Stonehell (half marks for building depth over depth), or a six page dungeon are rather low. It is serviceable, but it’s hard to see it rising to greatness. Especially when squeezing in six levels, as this adventure does. I’m not going to say move to a longer format. Sure, I’d love to see something from this designer that had a map with room to breathe and descriptions and interactivity that had that room also. But he’s doing a six pager. Which means creating an adventure that can truly excel in those six pages. No, not a fucking lair dungeon. I’m gonna puke if I have to see another one of those five room shit holes. How do you create a six page adventure that can be magnificent? That, good gom-jabbars, I leave as an exercise for the designer. For I am The Watcher.

This is $5 at DriveThru. The preview is interesting. It’s one image/photo, but it shows the map, the two keys pages and the general info/summary page. You can get a sense of the formatting, but zooming in makes it too blurry to read. I appreciate the attempt, but I suspect shoing a portion of the keys would have been better. 

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/528166/the-mystery-of-the-moon-haunted-spire-compatible-with-shadowdark?1892600

I'm reading DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) to Crisis! This week, I read the comics on sale on July 26, 1984.

World's Finest Comics #308: The Hannigan/Janson cover here is a complete deception as no such scene occurs in the story. Busiek and Tuska/Alexander have Batman and Superman working in parallel, at first, until over dinner discussion, they realize the cases are related. A "ghetto genius" has synthesized a dangerous strong to sell and orchestrating a robbery from STAR Labs all so he can build a powered armor suit to destroy Columbia University, who snubbed his application. What's most interesting to me about this story as it suggests Gotham, Metropolis and New York are very close together. Bruce seems to go watching Clark on the news at home to meeting his friend on the WGBS set before Clark has finished the news cast. Then, then both fly to Columbia university with Superman holding Batman's arms.

Action Comics #560: The first story by Kupperberg and Saviuk/Hunt sees an escape criminal turning super-villain with the use of powered-up handcuffs as a weapon. Somehow, his power causes Superman to have bouts of amnesia, which complicates his capture. I won't reveal the cause of the amnesia on the unlikely chance you might read the story yourself, but really, it's skippable.
The second story is the standout, not because it's great in and of itself, but because it's obviously it's a stealth preview for the Ambush Bug limited series. While his costume has quite reached its final form, Giffen and Fleming's storytelling and scripting is definitely a preview of the almost-sketch comedy storytelling we'll get in that book, as Ambush Bug gets out of Arkham and sets up a detective agency in Metropolis.

Arion Lord of Atlantis #24:   Cara Sherman-Tereno is on art this issue. We pick up where the last issue left off, with Wyynde defeating Arion in the arena, but Garn choosing to spare his brother who he loves dearly. All of these mindgames go on until Arion, discovering Lady Chian is in a relationship with Garn loses his mind and rides out of the city. Or does he? Garn and his mother are certain of victory, but Arion has played a trick. He doubles back into the city and discovers what was obvious all along: this is all being done with magic. He confronts his brother who admits the truth. They fight in the Dark Dimension, and Garn is (again) seemingly defeated and trapped forever. I really hope that's at least closer to being true this time, because this title needs to do something different. 

All-Star Squadron #38: Thomas and Hoberg/Collins have Green Lantern and Hawkman bring their fellow All-Stars a newsreel of a race war in Detroit where the klansmen-esque Phantom Empire try and fail to set Amazing-Man on fire on a cross, Green Lantern says that they must help the black citizens of Detroit to move into their new housing project. Only Commander Steel does go along, as he's learned his old flame's husband is captive behind enemy lines, and he's promised to help.

Detective Comics #543: Moench and Colan/Alcala continue the Nightmare, Inc. story. Nightshade, still trying to impress Nocturna, plans a daring robbery of an event on an island amusement park. Nocturna is unconvinced and plans to find another man to support her expensive tastes. Noting the custody issue plaguing Bruce Wayne, so has her mark.
Nocturna's skepticism about Nightshade's plan proves prophetic as Batman and the police spoil the robbery. Nightshade is killed by Anton Knight, now the Night-Slayer, recently escaped from prison. 
With Mayor Hill trying to ensure Wayne doesn't get custody of Jason as revenge against Gordon, Nocturna has the opening she needs. She files adoption papers for Jason (presumably this is due to Hill-directed corruption.) She tells Bruce they should get married, so Jason has a mother and a father!

Sun Devils #4: In a Rogue One-ish outing, The Sun Devils embark on a daring mission to rescue the scientist responsible for building the Starbreaker super-weapon. We also get Myste's origin, which is tied to the scientist and his work. Unfortunately, he's being held in a facility full of traps--because thanks to a spy, Karvus Khun knows they are coming. The infiltration goes off well, but then the trap is sprung and Rik, Anomie, and Myste are caught in it.

Jonah Hex #87:  Fleisher is still spinning the plates of his various plot threads. Jonah's tired of the soft life in New Orleans as sets off for the trail again. Adrain refuses to go with him but then changes her mind and decides to go after him. The train Hex takes back West is wrecked by bandits with dynamite. Hex is forced to use all his tricks to take out the gang in the swamp near the wreckage. When he gets back to civilization and looks for work, he finds Emmy Lou's face on a wanted poster thanks to the robbery she was forced to participate in.

Super Powers #4: Kirby/Cavalieri and Gonzales/Kupperberg pick up where last issue left off. Green Lantern contains the Kryptonian caveman and finds that his power bubble cuts off the signal, causing Superman to return to normal. They decide to trace the signal to its source. Meanwhile, the Emissaries of Darkseid reveal their mission to conquer Earth and dismiss their former pawns, the Earth villains. Joker, at least, recognizes they've been played, and they should team up with the heroes. They arrive via boom tube on Brainiac's ship shortly before the heroes do. They are only able to to convince the angry heroes of their mutual foe as the ship arrives at Apokolips, and they are faced with their ultimate foes. The Emissaries use the power they once granted the villains, but working together the heroes and villains escape their traps to keep fighting.

Tales of the Legion #316: Levitz/Giffen and Shoemaker/Kesel have Cosmic Boy teaming up with the Legion Subs to tackle crime on Earth. They run into a bit of trouble as a smuggler traps them in a ship and sends them on a one-way trip into deep space. Cosmic Boy rallies the panicking Subs and they manage to escape in a shuttle to be picked up by the Legion Academy. The Levitz/Giffen portrayal of the Subs here is as much more competent than Giffen's treatment will be of them in stories he writes later.
In the backup by Levitz/Newell and Tuska/Kesel, the White Witch completes her story, we see her ultimate triumph over adversity to claim her mantle as both sorceress and Legion member.

Full confession - I'm fascinated by solo play RPGs. Not so much solo adventures, but the ability to take an OSR ruleset and embrace solo play. It's not that I lack friends or a group to play with, but gaming on demand does have its appeal.

Flint: A Cairn 2e Solo Handbook is currently $6.29 in PDF, normally $8.99. I'll have to check this out :)

FYI, I just ordered Flint and the Cairn Player's and GM's books in PRINT (free in PDF) - there will be a review later this summer.

This supplement for Cairn: Second Edition invites you into a symbolic, character-driven experience that preserves the unique narrative-based progression mechanics of Cairn and marries them seamlessly with a new quest-based advancement system that will make you rush home from work just to keep playing.

With a tarot deck as your compass, you’ll uncover quests, endure trials, and interpret the shifting winds of fate as you wander the vast lands of Vald. Whether you’re forging mythic skill paths or wrestling with fateful omens scrivened from the Major Arcana, every choice deepens your story. There are no rails here—only echoes, intuition, and the quiet weight of consequence.

This is not a game. It’s a guide to a solo campaign of Cairn 2e (free). No AI oracle or random table will tell you what happens next—you will. With nothing more than a tarot deck and the core rules of Cairn 2e, you’ll generate your own campaign, character arc, and fate.

Inside you’ll find:

• A tarot-based quest system that powers advancement through emergent story
• Four attribute-aligned skill trees, each with five tiers and tons of new upgrades, tactics, and abilities
• Two simultaneous oracle systems; one that paints detail into every nook & cranny and another that forges narrative turning points—both wondrous and grim
• Support tables for generating NPCs, locations, traps, encounters, and treasures from each of the 78 tarot cards.
• A formidable overview of the Arcana including the basics and history of Tarot as well as universal interpretations of each.
• Over 80 quest prompts matched to the numbered and court cards of the four tarot suits
• Designed for solo play—but modular enough to use in cooperative or GM-less modes
• Balanced for Cairn but easily adaptable into any of Cairn's cousins (Into the Odd, Knave, Maze Rats) or OSR systems

Since you've made it all the way down here, that must mean you're into this kind of thing, so just between me and you...

What if we assumed for a moment that what happens in a game is not a game.  That it is real.  That the lands you can discover are being terraformed as we speak.  That the treasures are hiding themselves away, the monsters are readying themselves to strike, the swords are sharpening themselves against flint ready to be drawn and plunged into that which deserves them.

This is the premise of Flint.  It's all real.  And you can discover it all on your own.

The Tavern uses affiliate links

Support The Tavern: tenkarstavern.com/p/support

tenkars-tavern.games/DTRPG

youtube.com/@TenkarsTavern?sub_confirmation=1

Free League Publishing’s New Game Releases and Live Events at Gen Con 2025  Coriolis: The Great Dark, The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying Starter Set, and more! Let the games begin!

Free League Publishing is returning to Indianapolis this year, bringing a varied collection of its award-winning tabletop RPGs to Gen Con 2025 from July 31 to August 3, 2025. Their headline titles this year are Coriolis: The Great Dark, the brand new edition of Free League’s original sci-fi RPG Coriolis, and new starter sets for The One Ring RPG and The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying 5E.

Attendees can meet Free League at Gen Con in booth #2449 in the main trade hall and in their very own game room in ICC #137!

PLAY
Free League has two rooms for games this year. You can find them in ICC #137 and at the JW Marriott in the White River Ballroom E. They will be running over 175 games with friends from Lurking Fears, including Dragonbane, Alien RPG, The One Ring, Vaesen, Blade Runner RPG and more! 

To find Free League’s events, search for Free League Publishing in the Gen Con event system. See you there!

SHOWCASE
On Thursday, July 31 at 3:00 PM EDT in room ICC:244, Free League invites press and the public to a reveal of exciting news for the coming year and the chance to ask their game designers about the brand new game Coriolis: The Great Dark – being officially released at Gen Con – or anything else! Attendees will get to meet Free League’s designers, including: Tomas Härenstam — lead designer of Dragonbane, ALIEN RPG, Blade Runner RPG, Twilight: 2000, Forbidden Lands, and Mutant: Year Zero Nils Karlen & Kosta Kostulas — lead designers of Coriolis: The Great Dark Martin Grip — lead artist of ALIEN RPG, Blade Runner RPG, Symbaroum, Coriolis, and more Kiku Pukk Härenstam — co-writer for Seasons of Mystery, A Wicked Secret, and The City of My Nightmares for Vaesen – Nordic Horror Roleplaying Surprise Guests — to be revealed at the event, along with some exciting news! Note: The showcase is free, but attendees need to get a ticket in the Gen Con event system – you can find the showcase event here. If you cannot get a ticket, please contact pr@uberstrategist.com and we’ll help you out.

CREATORS
Attendees may be able to meet some of Free League’s game creators and get games signed throughout the show at the Free League booth, #2449.
If you’d like to find time to speak with any of the Free League team in attendance, please respond to this email, and we would be happy to accommodate.

The current Advanced Adventures MEGA Bundle on Bundle of Holding is a solid choice for OSR gamers and DMs. I'd jump on it myself, but I own it all in compiled print editions. That being said, there's a TON of adventuring for about a buck and adventure or less.

Adventurer! We've resurrected our January 2023 Advanced Adventures Megabundle featuring .PDF ebooks of nearly four dozen short, ready-to-play tabletop fantasy roleplaying adventure modules in the long-running Advanced Adventures line from Expeditious Retreat Press. These 43 short scenarios – dungeon crawls inspired by the earliest versions of Dungeons & Dragons – show off the Old School Revival style: tools, not plotlines; rulings, not rules; a gamemaster who doesn't railroad players onto a prearranged script but lets them sink or swim through their own actions. Encounters aren't necessarily "balanced," and outcomes are seldom scripted. Characters who don't use their heads usually wind up losing them.

Designed for the open-license OSRIC system (the "Old School Reference & Index Compilation," a free retroclone of First Edition AD&D), these Advanced Adventures modules adapt easily to any Old School fantasy RPG such as Old-School Essentials or Shadowdark, and they fit smoothly in your ongoing campaign to let your player characters ramp from level-1 zeroes to level-10 heroes.

For just US$9.95 you get all twelve titles in this revived offer's Starter Collection (retail value $70) as DRM-free ebooks, including the first ten AA modules – from #01: The Pod-Caverns of the Sinister Shroom through #10: The Lost Keys of Solitude – and we add the 2009 bestiary Malevolent and Benign I and the free OSRIC rulebook. For a list of all the modules with links to their sales pages on DriveThruRPG, see the first book entry below, "Advanced Adventures #01-10."

And if you pay more than the threshold price of $35.13, you'll level up and also get this revival's entire Bonus Collection with thirty-four more titles worth an additional $210: 33 more Advanced Adventures modules from #11: The Conqueror Worm through #43 The Warrens of Zagash, and hitting many highlights of the AA line including #15: Stonesky Delve, #23: Down the Shadowvein and #24: The Mouth of the Shadowvein, and both White Dragon Run scenarios. (For the list and the DTRPG links, see the fourth book entry below, "Advanced Adventures #11-43.") We also include the 2018 Malevolent and Benign II monster manual.

The Tavern uses affiliate links. 

Support The Tavern: tenkarstavern.com/p/support

tenkars-tavern.games/DTRPG

youtube.com/@TenkarsTavern?sub_confirmation=1

 I just wanted to say, I don't know if people know this.

I hire Jeshields to do art for my projects because he captures that classic style in his black and white line artworks. Take a look at the following samples from Sinless of his work

But, you know, even though I paid for these, you know he's got literally thousands of beautiful stock art pieces? And as a creator and gamer, he's got exactly the type of illustrations you need for products and games.

I was just flipping through his catalog the other day, and it is beyond superior. 

https://jeshields.com/

https://sinlessrpg.com

Hack & Slash 

Follow, Twitch, Support, Donate to end Cancer (5 Star Rating) sinlessrpg.com

By Odinson Games
Self Published
Cairn

Sir Zebadiah was once a war hero, celebrated for purging witches from the Wenderweald. Now he exhumes his subjects and puts their corpses on trial. His squire begs for intervention before her liege damns the barony entirely. You’re sent to capture Zebadiah alive—but the villagers want him dead, his loyalists stalk the woods, and the dead themselves rise for justice. Will you bring the heretic to justice or suffer his corpse trials?

This fourteen page adventure features about eighteen locations in a village/woods pointcrawl search for an errant and fanatical knight. It has a decent premise and detail in places, but it falls down severely when it comes to locations. Cutsy layout detracts from what otherwise could have been a decent adventure.

“You must arrest the false knight zebadiah and bring him to justice.” Well, actually, I think he IS a baron and knight, so, not really a false knight. Basically, dude burns witches. He got cursed and is now REALLY on a tear, digging up bodies, trying to find the last “real” witch he burned, his sister, who he thinks cursed him. The villagers get pissed and the dead are rising in revolt against having their graves molested. He runs off with his men in to the woods to look for more bodies. So we’ve got a village on edge with soldiers about, and a fanatic in the woods. In comes the party. 

I’m not super down with the hooks, they are all very honor, faith, justice oriented. I’m more down for some RealPolitik framings in situations like these. What was that runaway bridge adventure where the lord said something like “if you can do it without violence then I guess that’s ok also”, or “tie up the loose ends.” Essentially the hooks presented are all the same, with the party being of mine moral character, and I prefer to see some variety. Sure, a fine moral character hook. But also a RealPolitik one, or some other mood variety. Otherwise, it doesn’t really matter who hires the party, you’re just wasting hook space to describe essentially the same hook with different actors.

The general set up and specificity, especially around the village proper, are pretty good. We get some key NPC’s and a little villager generator with a two part name generator, trait, personality, and quirk. Excellent, although a page of these pre-gend would have perhaps been better. There’s also an escalating tension table which serves as a kind of event generator. You really feel the reality of the situation the villagers are in. “Grieving villagers claim their dead at the graves and squabble with tense guards.” or “Moreina doles silver to grieving widows outside the keep.” or “Jaanus leads a mournful family to collect their exhumed dead gibbeted in the square.” or “Edvin leads flagellants around the Temple, crying “Repent! Repent! Repent!”” Excellent window dressing to communicate mood and perhaps even spur some deeper play. “Several stockaded villagers beg for water beside it.” With guards about this could be fun. 

The dude is hiding out in the woods, running around digging up graves, and he’s got a short little three-day timeline associated with his actions, which ends with him razing the village after burning his niece alive. Ouch. 

The overall framework, the situation, the window dressing, this is all great. But things fall apart when we get to the keys. This is one of the, few, locations and typical for the location descriptions: “Rainrot Pit:  creek runoff drains into the cavernous hollow. Dappled light catches on gold down there. + A hex-smuggler stashed 300 gold pieces in a dry bag but the draw-rope was cut.” All of that fabulous situations and specificity , etc really don’t show up at all. So this is not a bad location description: “The Breedpool: mosquitoes cloud the reeds and algae films the still, black water. Helm-sized eggs float in the pool.” But then there’s nothing there. Yes, a monster has a 50% chance of being there, but that’s just a stabbing. The more interesting play just isn’t available. Dude has a timeline and he might be at one of these locations, but then the location is just which screen the Mortal Combat match has a backdrop, with it contributing little to nothing to the play.

And this is a shame. I suspect that there is MORE than enough room in the fourteen pages used to provide just a little more depth to the various keys.  Even if they are meant to be used as backdrop, they could be made in to more interesting backdrops. But it’s gotta use one of those modern hip edgy layouts. And it’s gotta use a fucked up font in place in order to make things hard to read. I just want more out of this. As presented it falls in to something like “a large social situation” adventure, which I can dig. But the way the material is presented doesn’t really help that too much. It seems like it is fighting against that. We need locales, people, timelines, situations, ad then a little bit on using them all together, as the DM, to put it all together. You’ve got this situation and the designer should be giving you the tool sections to help run that in the loosy goosy way that these things usually play out. And there is an attempt at that. You can see the village map and brief descriptions, the forest map and loose descriptions. The NPC section, the events section. But it just never gels to come together in the way I would want it to. It’s like, I don’t know, half a page of text is missing (in addition to the locales …) 

At the conclusion, you need to capture the dude to get the full payout. But, also, “The villagers will be enraged if they see Zebadiah captured and will demand his death, descending into a riot.” Noice. A couple fo extra sentences there would have been ice.

This is not a train wreck. But it also just misses the mark of what I consider decent enough to run.

This is Pay What You Want at DriveThru with a suggested price of $2. No preview, but it is Pay What You Want, so I guess the whole thing is a preview.

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/527846/knight-of-the-corpse-trials?1892600

I wrote the original version of this post in 2014, then I updated it in 2019. It's probably time to check back in and see how the rpg landscape is changed. There are a number of genres/subgenres that are under-utilized or not utilized at all in rpgs, despite the fact they would probably work pretty well. Here are the ones I listed originally and have been following up on:

Humorous Adventure Pulp
Basically this would cover the whimsical, fantastical, and often violent world of Thimble Theatre (later Popeye) and the Fleischer Popeye cartoon. A lot of fist-fights, fewer guns. This would also cover Little Orphan Annie, various kid gang comics, and (on the more violent end) Dick Tracy.
Update: Still nothing, really. Acheron Game's Helluva Town does a sort of Roger Rabbit or Cool World sort of setting, so references things like Popeye, but it's not quite the same thing.

Wainscot Fantasy
Little creatures hiding in the big world. Think The Borrowers, The Littles, and Fraggle Rock.
Update:  Some progress here! Household by Two Little Mice does this sort of thing, though from its specifically about fairies. There's also a game called Pixies and one called Under the Floorboards that specifically namechecks The Borrowers.

Kid Mystery Solvers
Scooby Doo is probably the most well-known example, but you've got several Hanna-Barbera returns to the same concept. Ditch weird pet/side kick, and you've got The Three Investigators, Nancy Drew, and the Hardy Boys. 
Update: There's Meddling Kids I mentioned in 2019, and then there's The Mystery Business that debuted in 2024.

Wacky Races
I've written about this one before--and Richard has run it. Still needs a game, though.
Update: Still just the board game, so far as I know.

The Christmas in July Sale is going strong at DTRPG. There are a ton of titles at 30% off, as well as a few at 75% off. Today's pick is one of those 75% off games, Candela Obscura.

I've heard mixed reviews of Candela Obscura in the past, but at $5 instead of the usual $20, I figure I can take the plunge and see if I like what's presented. If I don't, I'm sure I can salvage $5 worth of entertaining from it ;)

You’re needed, investigators: join the secret society Candela Obscura to confront occult horrors from beyond, keeping hidden the true nature of magickal incursions besetting our world.

The Candela Obscura Core Rulebook is a fully detailed guide on playing and gamemastering the collaborative investigative horror tabletop roleplaying game. As an investigator of the paranormal secret society Candela Obscura, you and your circle are charged with exploring, fighting, and protecting the people of Newfaire from supernatural dangers lurking in the folds of a bustling world unaware of the occult magick simmering beneath. Candela Obscura is the very first game to use the Illuminated Worlds System as well as the first full RPG from Darrington Press, as featured in the ongoing anthology series on Critical Role.

Inside of the Candela Obscura Core Rulebook you’ll discover:

• 204 detailed pages
• The core rules to play and create your Candela Obscura investigators and their circles.
• Over 90 pages detailing the turn of the century-inspired setting of the Fairelands, and in detail the city of Newfaire and the ancient ruins beneath known as Oldfaire.
• 4 full example assignments for gamemasters to dive in with their players.
• Over 30 example assignments to explore far-flung corners of the Fairelands and the organizations and people operating within it.
• An extensive guide to preparing for and gamemastering Candela Obscura.
• Immersive, in-world ephemera and notes strewn throughout the chapters—illustrations, sketches, research notes, correspondences, advertisements, maps, and more to bring the Fairelands to life.

Get immersed in Candela Obscura’s turn-of-the-century inspired setting, learn about the secret society Candela Obscura and its rival factions, and take a spin through the Illuminated Worlds System. Grab some six-sided dice and you’re ready to go!

The Tavern uses affiliate links

Support The Tavern: tenkarstavern.com/p/support

tenkars-tavern.games/DTRPG

youtube.com/@TenkarsTavern?sub_confirmation=1

By Crumbling Keep
Self Published
OSE
Levels 1-3

Your mother used to sing you a song when you were young about circling birds, but it would always end with her tears. Now you find yourself in a forest of crawling dead things and strange happenings, and the events of the song are coming true! What does it all mean? And what is the creature that stares at you with your own eyes?

This fifteen page adventure has five populated hexes, one with a small five room keep. It’s got one of those bullshit narrative game framing devices. Otherwise it’s just fiveish simplistic hexes in a font/layout optimized for your phone. 

Time marches on. We’ve seen responses to various trends in D&D adventures over the years, such as the inclusion of VTT maps, hyperlinks and so on. This time we’ve got an adventure ‘optimized for mobile.’ In practice that means a GIANT FONT on a small screen size and some hyperlinks in the adventure to make moving around it easier. I can’t imagine ever using this, but, it exists so someone somewhere must need it. But is it GOOD? 

No.

Let’s looks at the opening page: “Dim light filters in from a sun that struggles to rise over the horizon. It’s early, perhaps earlier than you’d like, but sleeping was not easy last night. It’s eerily silent as you all mill about, gathering your supplies to get back on the road, and a low mist gathers around your legs, obscuring the ground. Suddenly, a large group of crows rises out of the woods, their caws rising in an insane chorus as they fly in a circle before heading northwest. Ask: Which PC’s mother used to sing them a song about circling birds?” Yup. It’s one of those. A narrative bullshit thing. The followup question is “Why did you think she would cry after singing the song?” So, even better, it’s got some trauma dumping shit attached to it. This is not fun and is inappropriate to put in to a game. The trauma shit. I think the narrative shit, explicit as it is here, is lame as fuck and tends to not fall in to my definition of what a ‘game’ is. It’s a fucking activity. But, if we are going to go down that path then FORCING your players in to some kind of trauma dump is bullshit. Yeah, I think the trigger warning shit is general nonsense. “Someone dies.” or “There are snakes.” But, also, if you’re gonna put crap like this in your game then, yes, you get to trigger warning it. And, further, if you feel the need to trigger warning something then you probably shouldn’t put the fucking thing in your game. This is all edgelord bullshit. You write a couple of decent adventure that I would consider Best, then I’ll ease up on my diatribes and consider that you might be able to stick something edgier in. But, again, we’re all here for fun, not for trauma bonding in a group circle where we work out our feelings. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. EXCEPT WHEN IT HAPPENS IN THE FUCKING D&D GAME. “Sketch the symbol your mother had tattooed on her wrist that she never explained.” Go fuck yourself. I’d walk the fuck out of this nonsense and demand a refund if I stumbled upon this at a con.. 

The style is OSE. “Birds flying over head (squawking ominously), Bones litter the ground (animal and human, clean and unmarred), Stone Altar (northern end of the field, ancient, crumbling” It’s fine. OSE Style is easy to do. You still have to write a decent description. These are ok. Nothing special, but also not terrible. Meh. 

There is, though, a lack of understanding of what a D&D game that infects the encounter keys. Let’s look at one of the encounters: “Pained Man (half embedded/phased into the rock wall, there’s no way he should be alive, can only wail, has lost his faculties)” You getting nothing more than that. Seriously, that’s it. Has the designer never played D&D before? This is clearly an element one wishes to focus on in the room. The party WILL be investigating. And, yet, nothing more. It’s just fucking window dressing. Similarly, there’s a chasm in another area. Down below are a lot of bodies. Absolutely nothing to do in the text mentions that again. The party WILL be fucking going down there. They WILL be searching. If you didn’t want them to then don’t fucking thell them that there is shit down there to do and look at . You put something there, so you need to help us run the inevitable situation where the party goes down to investigate it. 

Oh, I didn’t describe the adventure. You start with that rad-aloud from above, do the trauma dump thing, and then, for some reason, wander around in the woods. I guess cause those birds circling and your mom? Whatever. You wander hexes until you maybe stumble in to one with an encounter in it (five of them) and hope you don’t wander off the edge of the map. IE: I’m sure it was playtested as a railroad rather than a hex crawl. Eventually you find a cave with some abomination in it that looks like your twin. Whatever. No explanation. Just a mystery. 

Garbage adventure with nothing special going on except some pretension. If you’re gonna do some pretension in your adventure then fucking disclose it so we can avoid it.

This is $3 at DriveThru. The preview is three pages. You get to see the start with the narrative nonsense. 

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/528159/that-old-familiar-song-a-tinderbox-mobile-adventure?1892600

Today's Deal of the Day is the GM Companion for ShadowDark from Chubby Funster Games. The Chubby Funster is Greg Christopher, whom I've known for well over a decade and consider a close friend.

The GM Companion for ShadowDark is on sale for $5 until tomorrow morning (usually 10 bucks in PDF). Note, it's a Platinum Best Seller on DTRPG.

Add a more expansive portfolio of options to ShadowDark Core. 

Upgrade your Overland Hex Crawl Experience:

• d20 Point of Interest table for all 9 terrain types.
• 2d6 intersecting Hazard tables for all 9 terrain types.
• New district types + all new Point of Interest options when creating settlements.
• d20 Shop generation lists featuring all new options for Poor, Standard, and Wealthy Shops.
• d20 tables with new Tavern names, new Menu items, and new Drink types. 
• A new dice game to gamble with in the tavern after an adventure.
• Acts of Devotion: a religious alternative to carousing where you can construct temples and attract adherents to support your deity.
• Combat Training: a warrior's alternative to carousing where you can hold tournaments and possibly gain a noble title.
• Magical Study: a wizard's alternative to carousing where they can study old tomes for magical insight and possibly found a university or library to house their books.

Upgrade your Dungeon Experience:

• Define the dungeon entrance and create multi-level dungeons using the dice-drop system developed in ShadowDark Core.
• d20 Room Type table + d10 tables for each Room Type, adding even more variety of dungeon design.
• 2d6 intersecting Hazard tables for all 4 dungeon types.
• d20 trap tables for Crushing / Gaseous / Sonic traps, Magical traps, and Wounding / Weapon-like traps. 
• Expanded NPC tables, including a new d20 Qualities table and a d20 Professions table.
• Expanded Rival Crawler tables, including a new d20 Party Name table, new d6 Signature Tactics table, and a new d12 Party Secret table. Rival Crawlers can now include monster types like Hobgoblins or Beastmen.
• 45 new monsters (including 6 new elemental types).
• Monster tables for levels 0-9 to randomly determine what monsters are in the dynamically built dungeon you are creating.

Upgrade your Treasure Game:

• d100 Dungeon Dressing
• d100 Treasure 0-3
• d100 Treasure 4-6
• d100 Treasure 7-9
• d100 Treasure 10+
• Boons - d20 Oaths, d20 Secrets, d20 Blessings
• Potions - d20 Features, d20 Benefits, d20 Curses
• Magic Armor - d20 Features, d20 Benefits, d20 Curses
• Magic Weapon - d20 Features, d20 Benefits, d20 Curses
• Magic Utility Item - d100 types, d20 Features, d20 Benefits, d20 Curses
• 86 Known Magic Items (non-random)

The Tavern uses affiliate links

Support The Tavern: tenkarstavern.com/p/support

tenkars-tavern.games/DTRPG

youtube.com/@TenkarsTavern?sub_confirmation=1

I was thinking about Leigh Brackett's Mars today (as I often do) and reflecting on how it isn't very science fictional at all, so that if you advanced the timeline of its colonial Mars about half a century to a century, you might get something that looks a bit like our modern world except with spaceships where Terran peacekeeping forces get bogged down in insurgencies or civil wars on Mars (or Venus).

With a set up like this, you could do the pulp Mars version of modern films set in conflict zones like Blackhawk Down or even better Three Kings. If you went with Earth in a sort of Cold War, you could even wind out with a Twilight:2000 sort of situation would troops lost on Mars and trying to figure out what to do next.