TG Deals and Steals: A Free RPG For You and Me!

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Traditional Games > TG Deals and Steals: A Free RPG For You and Me!

gradenko_2000: Oct 5, 2010; HELL SERPENT; Lipstick Apathy

Any opinions on the newest Bundle of Holding? It's a series of world building books, which I'm rather interested in as a GM

# ¿ Nov 4, 2014 10:31

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# ¿ May 17, 2024 02:19

gradenko_2000: Oct 5, 2010; HELL SERPENT; Lipstick Apathy

I went in for that bundle instantly. LOTFP is ehhh, but Scarlet Heroes is really really good and Labyrinth Lord is as OSR as you can get.

# ¿ Nov 12, 2014 20:49

gradenko_2000: Oct 5, 2010; HELL SERPENT; Lipstick Apathy

Can someone sell me on the Dungeon World books? I'm particularly interested if the new classes are any good.

# ¿ Dec 9, 2014 07:33

gradenko_2000: Oct 5, 2010; HELL SERPENT; Lipstick Apathy

Libertad! posted:

Saying this upfront, this is self-promotion of my company.

From now until New Year's Day I'm having a Christmas Sale on Drive-Thru RPG. If you're a fan of Pathfinder or OSR sourcebooks (or both!), then you'll probably find my selected works of interest.

Everything's half off at very affordable prices ($2-$3), including my books from the Game Writing Workshop thread.

I have never played Pathfinder and I don't know if I ever will, but a supplement called Nice Things for Fighters is loving brilliant and I was instantly sold

# ¿ Dec 17, 2014 22:12

gradenko_2000: Oct 5, 2010; HELL SERPENT; Lipstick Apathy

Thanks for the advice, guys. I did take a look at the Path of War classes and those look mighty interesting as well. Anyway if it ever came down to it I'd probably do the DMing myself (have never actually been a TRPG player yet) so I'll try to keep all of that in mind.

# ¿ Dec 18, 2014 07:34

gradenko_2000: Oct 5, 2010; HELL SERPENT; Lipstick Apathy

You beat me to it! I was just about to post that. I really liked your Nice Things for Fighters supplement and now I'm eyeing the OSR monster classes.

# ¿ Feb 12, 2015 07:02

gradenko_2000: Oct 5, 2010; HELL SERPENT; Lipstick Apathy

My gosh, that's a lot of products. Any standouts?

# ¿ Mar 3, 2015 17:40

gradenko_2000: Oct 5, 2010; HELL SERPENT; Lipstick Apathy

I'm a big fan of GUMSHOE from everything I've heard of it, but sheesh I still find that bundle too rich for my blood.

# ¿ Apr 20, 2015 20:43

gradenko_2000: Oct 5, 2010; HELL SERPENT; Lipstick Apathy

JDCorley posted:

Not going to spam up the thread with DrivethruRPG Deals of the Day, but today's is pretty sweet, you can get the World of Darkness corebook for $3 here. Don't forget the God-Machine Rules Update is also available for free if you want to try out the newest iteration of these rules.

Is this what people are talking about when they talk about "oWoD" or "nWoD", and this is a complete game?

# ¿ Jul 6, 2015 02:00

gradenko_2000: Oct 5, 2010; HELL SERPENT; Lipstick Apathy

The current Bundle of Holding is for Monte Cook's The Strange, which takes the Numenera system and applies to a multi-verse setting

https://bundleofholding.com/presents/TheStrange

# ¿ Oct 13, 2015 06:41

gradenko_2000: Oct 5, 2010; HELL SERPENT; Lipstick Apathy

The current Bundle of Holding is horror-themed:

Savage World Deluxe + Horror Companion
Silent Legions

Accursed
Rippers 1st Edition + Rippers Companion
Shadows of Esteren Prologue + Universe

I'm not familiar with the latter three, but I do have Silent Legions and it's a really good system-agnostic book if you want to run Lovecraftian adventures but don't want to use the same Mythos, and there's a lot of advice on running low-prep investigation/horror adventures.

They also brought back their first horror-themed bundle, which I snapped up immediately Dread, the Jenga-powered horror game.

# ¿ Oct 23, 2015 05:47

gradenko_2000: Oct 5, 2010; HELL SERPENT; Lipstick Apathy

DTRPG is running a big sale on corebooks under a "New Year, New Game" sale. There's way too many for me to pick out any gems though, so I thought to bring it up so we could share notable titles.

# ¿ Jan 7, 2016 03:52

gradenko_2000: Oct 5, 2010; HELL SERPENT; Lipstick Apathy

I personally don't like the system, but Castles & Crusades is still on the Bundle of Holding for another week or so. It's essentially AD&D rules but with d20's unified resolution mechanics.

# ¿ Mar 1, 2016 03:24

gradenko_2000: Oct 5, 2010; HELL SERPENT; Lipstick Apathy

Libertad! posted:

Also, Death to Alignment is now a Best Copper Seller on Drive-Thru RPG. Feels really good, man.

Yeah, this was a great spite-buy.

# ¿ Mar 4, 2016 14:40

gradenko_2000: Oct 5, 2010; HELL SERPENT; Lipstick Apathy

Traveller is a sci-fi game that's well known for an interactive (and potentially deadly) character creation system where you "play out" the adult part of your character's life before starting a game with them.

It's also known for its sandbox tools, since you can randomly roll entire star sectors and individual planets inside them and the industry and population and trading opportunities within.

The Mongoose version, AFAIK, cleans up the original rules by standardizing them: you always have a basic Target Number of 7 when rolling your 2d6 as a basic resolution mechanic, and gaining a bonus to that 2d6 roll always happens at generic stages in your stats.

Having run it all of once, it's a workmanlike sci-fi game - it can be very dry since the skills are largely military oriented and there's no character advancement, it's mostly about providing the immersive background and letting you fill in the narrative empty space yourself.

# ¿ Apr 21, 2016 12:26

gradenko_2000: Oct 5, 2010; HELL SERPENT; Lipstick Apathy

https://storybundle.com/games

Jon Peterson's Playing at the World, among other gaming-related books, are available for a minimum 5 USD at this bundle.

# ¿ Jul 7, 2016 05:44

gradenko_2000: Oct 5, 2010; HELL SERPENT; Lipstick Apathy

Where D&D intersects with that other D&D:

http://www.blastr.com/2011-1-27/judge-bans-dd-prison-rules-it-could-lead-gang-behavior

quote:

If you're reading this, chances are you've played Dungeons & Dragons: a game that involves creativity, quick thinking and a tendency to eat too many potato chips in one sitting.

Anyone can play D&D who can get his hands on a rules book and a set of dice�except for Kevin T. Singer, a prisoner in Wisconsin's Waupun Correctional Institution, who in 2004 had his D&D materials confiscated.

Singer, imprisoned for bludgeoning his sister's boyfriend to death with a sledgehammer, has sued the facility for violating his First Amendment rights. But on Jan. 25, 2010, the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the ban ... because Waupun believes D&D promotes gang-related activity.

According to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, when Captain Muraski, the prison's gang specialist, testified:

He explained that the policy was intended to promote prison security because co-operative games can mimic the organization of gangs and lead to the actual development thereof. Muraski elaborated that during D&D games, one player is denoted the "Dungeon Master." The Dungeon Master is tasked with giving directions to other players, which Muraski testified mimics the organization of a gang.

In this fascinating article from Above the Law, Elie Mystal says it best:

Look, I know the title "dungeon master" sounds scary and important. But don't let the words confuse you. We're talking about a guy who sits around all day drawing maps and debating whether a cloak of anti-venom can protect you from a fictional rat bite. (Note: It can't, rats have diseases, anti-venom contemplates poisons, those are two completely different things. Please don't tell my wife about this.)

If you were around in the 1980s, you would recall the public's fear that D&D led to mass criminal activities and/or psychiatric disorders. As with heavy metal music, comic books and videogames, these fears did not come to fruition. But it seems that these prejudices still exist, despite the fact that many of these former D&Ders went on to become happy, productive members of society; and others even created our current technology revolution.

The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals quoted cases in which extreme escapism fostered by D&D led to murder or suicide and resulted in the offenders' imprisonment. However, none of these cases dealt with current inmates trying to rehabilitate. Singer, on the other hand, brought in Paul Cardwell, chair and archivist of the Committee for the Advancement of Role-Playing Games, who testified that "there are numerous scholarly works establishing that role-playing games can have positive rehabilitative effects on prisoners."

Ultimately, the Seventh Circuit ruled in favor of upholding the ban because none of Singer's witnesses could prove that D&D didn't ultimately lead to forming gangs. And if you follow the news, you'd know that gangs are extremely dangerous organizations that are detrimental to prison security and to rehabilitation.

The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals also writes:

D&D can "foster an inmate's obsession with escaping from the real life, correctional environment, fostering hostility, violence and escape behavior," which in turn "can compromise not only the inmate's rehabilitation and effects of positive programming but also endanger the public and jeopardize the safety and security of the institution."

Yes, D&D is about escapism. It can provide a nice mental break from the stresses of life, especially if that life is one without parole. D&D has been proven over time not to lead to violence, and it does not incur extra cost to the taxpayers. So why is it being withheld from Singer and his group?

Mystal again says it best.

[W]hat this is all about is punishment. It's not about rehabilitation, it's not about security, it's about old-school vengeance carried out by state actors. He killed somebody, and we as a society found something else he liked that we can take away. So we're going to take it away. It's Christopher Lloyd playing a Klingon in Star Trek 3 telling Kirk he won't beam up Spock "because you wish it."

I guess that is our right. I guess there is no compelling interest in making the life imprisonment of a murderer a little less horrible. But vengeance, even when legal, is still ugly. The Seventh Circuit just made a Lawful Evil decision here.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/27/us/27dungeons.html?_r=0

quote:

Prisons can restrict the rights of inmates to nerd out, a federal appeals court has found.

In an opinion issued on Monday , a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit rejected the claims in a lawsuit challenging a ban on the game Dungeons & Dragons by the Waupun Correctional Institution in Wisconsin.

The suit was brought by a prisoner, Kevin T. Singer, who argued that his First Amendment and 14th Amendment rights were violated by the prison�s decision to ban the game and confiscate his books and other materials, including a 96-page handwritten manuscript he had created for the game.

Mr. Singer, �a D&D enthusiast since childhood,� according to the court�s opinion, was sentenced to life in prison in 2002 for bludgeoning and stabbing his sister�s boyfriend to death.

Prison officials said they had banned the game at the recommendation of the prison�s specialist on gangs, who said it could lead to gang behavior and fantasies about escape.

Dungeons & Dragons could �foster an inmate�s obsession with escaping from the real-life correctional environment, fostering hostility, violence and escape behavior,� prison officials said in court. That could make it more difficult to rehabilitate prisoners and could endanger public safety, they said.

The court, which is based in Chicago, acknowledged that there was no evidence of marauding gangs spurred to their acts of destruction by swinging imaginary mauls, but it ruled nonetheless that the prison�s decision was �rationally related� to legitimate goals of prison administration.

�We are pleased with the ruling,� said John Dipko, a spokesman for the Wisconsin Department of Corrections, who added that the prison rules �enable us to continue our mission of keeping our state safe.�

News of the decision spread quickly though the network of blogs that discuss such games and to those devoted to the law, where many commentators revealed perhaps more of their own history as gamers than they might have intended. On The Volokh Conspiracy, a legal blog, a particularly rollicking discussion ensued, kicked off with a post by Ilya Somin, an associate professor of law at George Mason University, who asked, �Should prisons ban �The Count of Monte Cristo� on the grounds that it might encourage escape attempts?�

In an interview, Professor Somin said the prison�s action was reminiscent of a media frenzy in the 1980s surrounding the supposedly pernicious effects of gaming. �Ideally, you should really have more evidence that there is a genuine harm before you restrict something,� he said.

The comments accompanying Professor Somin�s post ranged from hoots of outrage over the ban to constitutionally nuanced discussion, but they showed that there were many lawyers who at some point owned a pouch with some dice of more than six sides. And none of them seemed to think that the risk to the nation�s prisons could be found in the works of Gary Gygax or other creators of the genre.

As Andrew Oh-Willeke, a lawyer in Denver, wrote, �If more inmates were �ber-nerdy D&D players, life would be good.�

# ¿ Jul 7, 2016 16:53

gradenko_2000: Oct 5, 2010; HELL SERPENT; Lipstick Apathy

James Raggi is someone who, during the height of the Chris Fields/Tournament dust-up, tried to position his own web store as an alternative for discerning RPGers who don't want to deal with censoring, social justice ways of DriveThruRPG and did the TRPG equivalent of advertising for more guns after a mass shooting when he said that you might want to buy more of his books soon before DTRPG takes them down because Lamentations of the Flame Princess is just way too provocative!

Lamentations of the Flame Princess itself is actually just Basic/Expert D&D with a coat of "gothic horror" paint - the only significant mechanical change is that Magic-User hit tables never improve, and Thief skills are based on a d6 system.

# ¿ Jul 19, 2016 11:56

gradenko_2000: Oct 5, 2010; HELL SERPENT; Lipstick Apathy

I'm going to be the least bit fair and say that LOTFP does have Reaction and Morale rolls (as exact restatements of how they worked in BD&D, but we already expected that).

What LOTFP does lack is random encounters because it adopts that thing where "we're not going to give you an 'encounter building system' because OSR has no assumptions of fairness"

Dungeon Crawl Classics also says that, and then LOTFP takes it a step farther by not actually having a bestiary either. It's just a table of monster hit dice, and what their assumed stats should be for every hit dice level, because LOTFP also says "we're not going to give you a goblin because you shouldn't describe it as a goblin - instead you say it's a short, squat, smelly green humanoid with yellowed teeth for fangs and a rusted spear. Describing it instead of saying what it is with a single word is supposed to make it more spoopy"

# ¿ Jul 19, 2016 16:09

gradenko_2000: Oct 5, 2010; HELL SERPENT; Lipstick Apathy

I'm going to ~~shill for~~ promote Libertad!'s Old School Monster classes as one of my favorite OSR supplements, and Nice Things for Fighters as an actual Fighter supplement that isn't hobbled by PF designers being such stick-in-the-muds.

# ¿ Jul 22, 2016 03:20

gradenko_2000: Oct 5, 2010; HELL SERPENT; Lipstick Apathy

DigitalRaven posted:

BLACK SEVEN, modern espionage action in a tightly-focused RPG. Think Deus Ex, Alpha Complex, and similar video games in RPG form.

You just made yourself a sale. You had me at "Alpha Protocol"

# ¿ Jul 22, 2016 17:54

gradenko_2000: Oct 5, 2010; HELL SERPENT; Lipstick Apathy

Dark Dungeons is the more purist (but still not 1:1 reproduction of the) Rules Cylopedia. Darker Dungeons is houseruled/modified to clarify rules from the original, though I can't remember what those are off-hand. I'd recommend Darker Dungeons.

# ¿ Jul 23, 2016 12:37

gradenko_2000: Oct 5, 2010; HELL SERPENT; Lipstick Apathy

If I was just going to get one of these 14.99 bundles, would you recommend the V20 one on DTRPG or the Humble Bundle one?

# ¿ Jul 28, 2016 08:33

gradenko_2000: Oct 5, 2010; HELL SERPENT; Lipstick Apathy

I suppose my goal is to get all of the rules/mechanics, and DM-facing material like enemies and a basic setting, and maybe one or two "adventures", if Vampire does that kind of thing.

# ¿ Jul 28, 2016 08:53

gradenko_2000: Oct 5, 2010; HELL SERPENT; Lipstick Apathy

Why the deuce is Dungeon World itself not part of the sale?!

# ¿ Sep 20, 2016 01:25

gradenko_2000: Oct 5, 2010; HELL SERPENT; Lipstick Apathy

The latest Bundle of Holding is for the Iron Kingdoms RPG. I'm afraid I'm not familiar with it, though.

# ¿ Sep 28, 2016 01:35

gradenko_2000: Oct 5, 2010; HELL SERPENT; Lipstick Apathy

LatwPIAT posted:

He also claimed that Nakazono had given his permission to share LEG material on the mailing list, so Phoenix Command, Living Steel, Sword's Path: Glory, and Small Arms Spectrum just kind of went free-to-play...

Count me in as someone really excited by this news!

# ¿ Dec 9, 2016 12:26

gradenko_2000: Oct 5, 2010; HELL SERPENT; Lipstick Apathy

I now own every Quasar Knight product. Happy Holidays, Libertad! !

# ¿ Dec 25, 2016 16:54

gradenko_2000: Oct 5, 2010; HELL SERPENT; Lipstick Apathy

Isn't this the bullet stopping book?

# ¿ Apr 12, 2017 00:53

gradenko_2000: Oct 5, 2010; HELL SERPENT; Lipstick Apathy

Foglet posted:

And the current Bundle of Holding has Shadow of the Demon Lord in it!

Sold! SOTDL is cool and good.

# ¿ May 22, 2017 23:54

gradenko_2000: Oct 5, 2010; HELL SERPENT; Lipstick Apathy

There's apparently a big-rear end "OSR Extravaganza Sale" on DTRPG right now, running up until June 11

In particular there are megabundles for stuff like all the AD&D 1e corebooks, all the BECMI Gazeteers, all the AD&D Planescape books, and some OSRIC modules for big discounts.

# ¿ May 24, 2017 16:56

gradenko_2000: Oct 5, 2010; HELL SERPENT; Lipstick Apathy

Aw heck, I couldn't resist - I bought the Starter Collection.

# ¿ Jul 19, 2017 12:09

gradenko_2000: Oct 5, 2010; HELL SERPENT; Lipstick Apathy

https://bundleofholding.com/presents/PalladiumFRPG

Palladium Fantasy Roleplaying is the new Bundle of Holding.

I think it's the revision of the first edition of the game, before they made it more compatible with the rest of the Palladium universe, but I'm not 100% sure, as it doesn't match the covers of my copies.

# ¿ Aug 2, 2017 02:39

gradenko_2000: Oct 5, 2010; HELL SERPENT; Lipstick Apathy

EverettLO posted:

First edition is the better edition. It's a reasonable early-ish attempt at 'fixing' AD&D and has way more character than second edition.

I agree with this opinion. All the Palladium integration in the second edition made it a lot more janky.

# ¿ Aug 2, 2017 04:48

gradenko_2000: Oct 5, 2010; HELL SERPENT; Lipstick Apathy

Evil Mastermind posted:

There's also a $25 Harvey relief bundle on DriveThru.

Deep Carbon Observatory, Fever-Drinking Marlinko, and Slumbering Ursine Dunes are pretty good OSR campaign settings, and then The Petal Hack and The Zebra Hack are OSR-compatible games, but unless you're really into OSR stuff I don't consider this bundle particularly outstanding.

I'd just donate to the Houston Food Bank FWIW

# ¿ Sep 7, 2017 02:59

gradenko_2000: Oct 5, 2010; HELL SERPENT; Lipstick Apathy

ConTessa, a gaming group for minority representation in TRPGs, is running a bundle sale in support of their conventions

http://www.rpgnow.com/product/238925/2018-ConTessa-Bundle-of-Awesome-BUNDLE

Notable titles include Cryptomancer, Fear Itself 2nd Edition, Scion: Hero, Slumbering Ursine Dunes, Tiny Dungeon, and Veins of the Earth

# ¿ Apr 24, 2018 05:35

gradenko_2000: Oct 5, 2010; HELL SERPENT; Lipstick Apathy

Hackmaster 5e is its own cool little fantasy heartbreaker based on Aces & Eights's per second count up system for combat. I like it, but its far afield enough from D&D to not have the charm of 4e's "AD&D, but with a lot of rules that make it better despite the parody density of rules"

# ¿ May 9, 2018 04:50

gradenko_2000: Oct 5, 2010; HELL SERPENT; Lipstick Apathy

DTRPG is having a sale on GUMSHOE system games right now (Oct-5-2018).

Trail of Cthulhu for 21.24
Night's Black Agents for 21.21
Ashen Stars for 21.21
TimeWatch for 18.02
The Esoterrorists for 3.74
Fear Itself for 3.74

Fall of Delta Green is also listed as being part of the sale, but isn't discounted right now as I write this. I assume it's a bug.

# ¿ Oct 5, 2018 04:45

gradenko_2000: Oct 5, 2010; HELL SERPENT; Lipstick Apathy

There's even a project management/task list app in there that caught my eye and I've started to use

# ¿ Jun 6, 2020 21:51

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# ¿ May 17, 2024 02:19

gradenko_2000: Oct 5, 2010; HELL SERPENT; Lipstick Apathy

https://itch.io/b/2120/games-for-gaza

itch.io is currently hosting a Games for Gaza bundle, which is a shedload of both TRPGs and some computer games for 10 dollars

all proceeds will be going to the the organization Medical Aid For Palestinians

quote:

MAP's vision is a future where all Palestinians can access an effective, sustainable and locally-led system of healthcare, and the full realisation of their rights to health and dignity.

Through our programmes in the West Bank, Gaza, East Jerusalem, and Lebanon, we work with trusted and experienced local partners to achieve this vision. Our programmes, designed and delivered by Palestinians, provide access to essential health services and build local knowledge and skills to address Palestinian health problems. In times of humanitarian emergency, we are ready to respond rapidly with aid and assistance.

MAP is also committed to bearing witness to the injustices caused by occupation, displacement and conflict. We speak out in the UK and internationally, and ensure Palestinian voices are heard at the highest levels, to press for the political and social barriers to Palestinian health and dignity to be addressed.

they've raised over 220k so far, and the bundle runs for another nine days at the time of this posting

# ¿ Oct 31, 2023 02:56

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