Hoping that the Tavern had a Good Christmas 2021

I really hope everyone had a good Christmas. I'd wish that you got what you all wanted for the holiday, but I figure a lot of us want a bunch of OSR collectibles and there is only so much to go around.....

I kid, I kid.....I hope that most of you got what you wanted and if you're one of the unlucky few who was waiting on a Christmas present from me, so not my fault it didn't arrive. If you're one of the lucky folks who picked something up from the Tavern's 12 Days of OSR Christmas I'm jealous. Highly doubtful the bundle of New Big Dragon Games Unlimited stuff I sent off has arrived yet, but if not, it is definitely on it's way.

Now I'm going to go on a bit of a stretch here and make an assumption that my gaming holiday experience (now) is a bit on the typical side for the average Tavern patron: been gaming since back in the day, family & friends know you're a gamer, but they don't really understand what that means. Maybe they know you sling dice, but the default setting for a definition of "gamer" is that you play video games. Now I don't expect this to describe anyone (other than maybe me) to a tee, but I'm guessing there's maybe a good 50-75% similarity in there somewhere.

For the most part not really "getting it" means you're not going to be getting any cool gamer stuff for Christmas. Of course you may just luck out in that regard (and if so, please share your Christmas loot with the rest of us in the comments!), but I know I didn't. Not a complaint mom (as if she reads this), just an observation. Actually since I mentioned good old mom, I'm in a weird spot in that my mother really doesn't have a clue what RPGs are despite my feeble attempts to explain. She has no clue what D&D is even though I'm certain she's read every single TSR Novel (Dragonlance, Drizzt, Forgotten Realms, etc.) made as an avid fantasy reader.

Too bad for me since I live 12 hours away. If I could get my mother to understand my hobby a bit better she might be able to look around for the rare OSR score at second-hand bookstores that I'm unable to visit. Can you imaging how cool it'd be to have your parents gift you a good copy of an OSR book (like maybe a 1st printing of the Deities & Demigods) that she found at a garage sale for $5? Almost as good as finding that yourself.......but I kind of like the thrill of the hunt, as it was, for collectibles.

Anyway, I "just" get money for Christmas. Really no complaint there as it is a gift and I can use that $ to buy some other things I didn't know I needed. On my trip this holiday season I found a new game/hobby store in Kansas City that had a bunch of miniatures I did not know I needed. I got some Warriors of the Dark Ages and Warriors of Antiquity minis from Victrix Ltd. I've never done armies of minis before, much less the mix & match sprue kind that remind me of Warhammer, but I couldn't pass these things up. I'll definitely have to work on these and report about them later as I think they have a lot of RPG potential even though they are clearly made for wargaming.

I also managed to stop by an "old" comic/hobby shop in the the college where I 1st went to school and scored some minis as well. I was at the university when this shop originally opened 30 some years ago....anyway I got some Reaper Mini Black Henchmen & Hirelings, which was pretty cool.

Altogether between these two shops I picked up 100+ minis that I can add to my collection of figures that will never get painted.

Not really a super cool score, but at least I did get some RPG stuff for Christmas and I still have a couple shops I can visit as I drive back home today.

Now I did not even know that these Reaper Minis existed and while not "super cool", I am actually excited to potentially add them to my game. I'm guessing that some of the folks here at the Tavern did get some stuff that is pretty awesome and honestly, I'd rather enjoy seeing folks share what they got in the comments. If nothing else I might get a couple of things I really want to be on the lookout for as I still have some Christmas money to spend.....

Deal of the Day - Monster Stand-Ins (Paper Minis) {Inkwell Designs}

Most of the sessions of Swords & Wizardry Light at various conventions have been with the Mouth of Doom 3d printed dungeon. I learned to appreciate the use of miniatures, which I sorely lack. Pogs are useful but get lost in the 3d terrain. Printable minis would have been awesome and extremely portable, as well as affordable. Normally 9.95, you can snag Inkwell Designs Monster Stand-Ins (Paper Minis) for 1.99. perfect for the frugal DM ;)

Monster Stand-Ins is a PDF of creature miniatures.  Print as many as you need!  Over 350 images (originally 250+) cover all the most common creatures (orcs, skeletons, goblins, etc.) as well as many uncommon creatures such as a devourer, vegepygmies, and sahuagin. Most of the more common creatures come in several versions--get a kobold as a melee fighter, an archer, a shaman, or a buffed-up leader.

The PDF also includes many animals & insects (horses, cats, dogs, lions, bears, bees, bats, rats, etc.) and over different 50 PCs/NPCs.

The back of each creature is a silhouette of the front. Each mini is available with or without a label.

As much as possible, creatures are grouped on pages of similar creatures to make printing easy.  (If you need hobgoblins, you'll likely want goblins.)

Each mini has a front and back on the same side of paper and when folded: Small creatures are 1.25" x 1", medium are 1.5"x1", large are 2"x1.5", and huge creatures are 2"x3" and a few are 4"x3".

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My Non-Thoughts on "Combat Wheelchair" Minis

OK, I realize that this is probably more rant territory than anything, but yesterday I came across this article about WotC, well specifically WotC staff, chiming in on the "Combat Wheelchair".

My initial reaction was, "WTF, is this actually a thing?"

No, not the wheelchair mini....I could give a rat's-ass about Tiefling minis in the first place. That's there's one on a wheelchair is even more a non-issue for me.

What fucking blows my mind is that someone, well anyone really, cares enough about a wheelchair mini to bitch and gripe about it to the extent that anyone, much less WotC staff, has to come and make a statement (in defense or otherwise) over the mini.

Seriously guys, and probably not you, but the whiners.....do you not get that it is a game?! You don't want a wheel-chair bound Tiefling...then don't play one! If having one in the group is that big of a deal to you then bring it up in the group and guess what......you might be looking for a new gaming group, but if you're that hung up on the issue that were you really in the right group to begin with?

I take it this is the mini in question:

Please don't read into me on this.....I'm not some Social Justice Warrior championing the cause of diversity and inclusion at the gaming table. I've got my own biases, judgements, and can be just as big of a dick as the next guy.........but at some point you have to be an adult and realize it's your job in life to figure out what's important/not important and make the appropriate call......and that call isn't to go online and piss and moan.

You don't like the mini, great......again, don't buy it. I won't buy it because I have no use for it....even if it wasn't a Tiefling. Would I turn down a player wanting to use it for their PC?.....yes, but again only because it's a Tielfing. If this was a Dwarf, go for it. Like any other aspect of your PC I reserve the right to use the wheelchair against you. Don't expect me to suddenly make dungeons accessible or anything, but you know creatures/humanoids are fricken lazy so aside from stairs between levels a wheelchair would probably be more useful than initially imagined, but good luck escaping those pit traps!

Also, as an aside.....don't give me too much to work with as I'll use anything you give me against you if I can!

You don't have to be inclusive or have a diverse group at your gaming table, but maybe....and I'm going out on a limb here...you don't need to be a dick about it. It is just a game and there's a lot of out-of-game stuff that really matter, until it does. I don't know about disabilities, but I've had players with lifestyles (and religions!) I don't agree with.....that might not be the right way of putting it.....I generally don't care what you do in your off time as long as innocents aren't harmed...except Furries...they just (figuratively) rub me the wrong way, but that's my problem to work on.

I have been in a gaming group where I definitely did not agree with the GM's lifestyle. Again, I generally don't care, but too much "downtime" around the table consisted of discussions I really did NOT want to have to listen to. I wouldn't want to hear about my best-friend's sex life at the gaming table, and I might find that interesting, so someone else's.....no thanks. I stuck with the game for a while......and I would like to say that I mentioned my discomfort to the GM, but it was years ago....doesn't matter now. Clearly this was just "my" issue, so I just stopped playing. It was a good game & GM otherwise, but it was a big enough issue to stop playing. I'm self-aware enough to know that I probably wasn't as mature and adult about the whole situation as I should have been, I am human after all, but I learned from it and I did not go online to piss and moan about the situation that really only affected me. I did not expect the world to change to make me feel more comfortable and I definitely did not act like a big enough douche that KenzerCo (it was a HackMaster game I was playing) felt like they had make some public statement.

Clearly I'm not anyone special here, not claiming to be, but I have a soap-box and really when/if you guys reading this happen upon this level of self-entitled whining trying to force someone else to needlessly play RPGs "their way".....shut that shit down....

.....unless it's about Furries or Tieflings, fuck those guys*.





*Lighten up Francis......I'm kidding, clearly, but there should probably be some very minor variances made for edition-preferences.

Is it Cheating on Your FLGS if You're in Another Time Zone?

Truth be told I don't have a FLGS (Favorite Local Game Store) there is one local comic store where I live that has some game stuff and I do visit them almost weekly to pick things up, but it it isn't *my* store, my *favorite* store......it's just the only local game store.

Not knocking the store, I still support them, but I do miss having an actual FLGS.

Sometimes I travel for work and when I'm on the road I do like to stop in and check out local game stores. I've seen (mostly) some real hole-in-the-wall places that seemed to basically live off of CCGs, some smaller shops that just happen to have RPG stuff on the side, and even a few *holy crap, this is awesome* game stores.....and at least one the game stuff was less than 1/4 of the store!

I have more of a retail background than I really wish was on my resume, so I understand (better than most) what it takes to run a retail store and know just how much *fun* (seriously, can you feel my eye rolls) running a game store would probably be. If I had to have an endeavor to lose money and could do a specific type of diversification.....I'd consider it, but then I'd probably save some cash by paying a buddy to simply kick my ass for suggesting it.

I'm not saying you can't run a game store and you cannot make money doing so....just retail kind of sucks and the nerd/geek/gamer "dream" of owning and running a game store would most likely be a nightmare (technically still a dream.....)

......anyway I'm on this trip and I stopped by two hobby/game stores. One was closed, as in out of business, and the other was a tiny, deep shop loaded to the gills with product. Fully half the store was devoted to models, but there was a HUGE selection of RPGs, more old than new, a ton of dice, minis......most everything you'd expect in a game store. While there wasn't a ton of any particular product, what was there was quite varied. I found a ton of minis I haven't seen out in the wild, which I scooped up, along with a tool that you'd expect to find in a model shop, but I haven't seen yet.....a set of tiny drill bits.

You might wonder why I'm not naming this shop........it's a social media thing for work to post where I'm at for work. I'll update this after the fact next week when I make a post. (Edit: It was the Hobbit Hobby Shop in Fayetteville NC)

There were a few things I really wanted to pick up, but I only have so much room in my luggage, so I kept it to what I got:

My Game Store Mini Haul....almost $75!

Now clearly I visit game stores while travelling, but for those of you who travel.....do you make side trips/visits to local game stores? If so, would you like to know which ones are worth visiting? Maybe we'll get together a list.....or not.

Kickstarter - Frog Folk Villagers - 3D Printable & Physical Model + CHIBI

I'm really really tempted to get a 3d printer, especially in these days of pandemic lockdown. The files coming out for 3d printers these days are simply amazing in detail. With the Frog Folk Villagers Kickstarter you can snag files or physical pieces. I've always been a Bullywug fan ;)

As your brave RPG adventurers travel through the edges of the swampland on their way to the Mountain of Taunting Doom ... they come upon a village of simple Frog Folk.  Are they peaceful?  Will they attack suddenly when your guard is down?  Maybe befriending them will give your party some vital information for your daunting quest ahead!