Among all the many strange and forgotten old RPG things I have come across during the course of this project, I think Gamelords, a Maryland-based publisher that operated from 1980 to about 1984, is my favorite. They’re probably most remembered for publishing Traveller zines by the Keith brothers after FASA stopped supporting the game, but I love their generic fantasy material (and the D&D derivative game Thieves Guild) the best.

This is an early product, The Compleat Tavern (1981), which was published in digest/zine format and includes a cardstock tavern floorplan and some furniture tokens (which seems ambitious for a company of this size at the time and I guess anticipates Tower of Magicks!). It is, as the title suggests, all you need to present a tavern in your game, and more, perhaps even too much (in all seriousness, the page and a half on sex workers is handled OK, especially for the period, but I could still do without it).

The mechanics here remind me of Midkemia’s city books, except applied to a business instead of a city street. There are lots of tables to build clientèle and to move them in and out according to the time of day. There are rules for rates, advice for running the rumor mill, games of chance, a method for charting and running inebriation and a specialized system for bar brawls. Most of these rules are too complex for me to ever consider using them, but I like seeing them and their methodology laid out for me.

The pub games is a welcome addition, even if I don’t need rules for simulating dart matches. I’ve had a lot of groups go to a lot of taverns to move the plot along or to rest, but never for the reasons I’ve gone to a bar — to chat, to hang out, to generally experience some nightlife. I never considered coaxing players into arm wrestling matches or dice games at the tavern, and I might still not for reasons of expediency, but this makes me pause to think about it (and gives me some ideas on how to handle it), and I appreciate that.