By Lou Anders Mar 20, 2019 | Articles, Reviews |
I chatted with co-designer Dan Dillon about his work bringing Courts of the Shadow Fey to 5th Edition, and naturally, we ended up talking about Midgard-in-general quite a bit too. Lou: So this is a 4th Edition product—that was quite celebrated when it came out—now updated and significantly expanded for 5th Edition. What were some of the major changes in this version? Dan: Yep, originally 4E, though it went through a conversion to Pathfinder...
By Kobold Staff Mar 18, 2019 | Articles, Midgard |
An enormous bronze and iron statue filled with fire towers above the ring of chanting, frenzied worshipers. Tophets are used by worshipers of fire gods, who toss sacrifices into their flaming maws to incinerate them. A tophet has a large opening in the front where the flames can be seen; sometimes this is an enormous mouth, and at other times it is a large hole in the tophet’s belly. Horns and expressions of anger or wide‑mouthed laughter are...
By Kobold Staff Mar 15, 2019 | Articles, Memoirs of a Lich |
Dear Osvaud, This is Osvaud. I let myself start with illusion (colloquially known as the best school of magic) and then gave myself some time off after the whole mental breakdown after conversion thing. Well then, I guess I’ll move on with my least favorite school of magic… evocation. Guess what? It is still both horrendously dull and incredibly, annoyingly amazing. Every arcanist wants to at some point blow up a bunch of unaware enemies from...
By Kobold Staff Mar 13, 2019 | Articles, Contest |
And the Winner Is…! Drogas Greycastle: Half-orc paladin of Lathander. Intended to avenge his fallen wife, instead saved the world. His teenage daughter’s a blood hunter—it’s complicated. Congratulations to Jeremy Young, who has won our very first My Hero contest. And congrats to all the other finalists. It was grand fun, and I’m sure you haven’t seen the last of this competition. Copies of Midgard Heroes...
By Kobold Staff Mar 11, 2019 | Announcements, Articles |
Intrigue & Adventure in the Shadow Realm! Courts of the Shadow Fey is a 5th Edition planar adventure for 7th- to 10th-level characters. The Free City of Zobeck has thrived since overthrowing the tyrannical Stross family. But an ancient bargain gives the Queen of Night and Magic a claim to the city—and now the shadow fey have seized Zobeck as their own. The city’s only hope lies with a band of heroes who can outfight and outwit the shadow...
By Kelly Pawlik Mar 8, 2019 | Articles, Warlock's Apprentice |
The Wasted West is known to be host to myriad dangers, from the tribes of dust goblins to vicious sentient plants to the ravening undead that seem to be everywhere. Best known of this region’s hazards, however, are the Dread Walkers, the alien Great Old Ones summoned in the final days of the Great Mage Wars by wizards unaware of the ruin their hubris would bring. The Walkers sleepwalk now, time-trapped for the time being, largely unable to...
By Kobold Staff Mar 5, 2019 | Announcements, Articles |
After years of heroic labor in the Kobold mines, 5th Edition designer Dan Dillon has moved on to a much bigger, shinier mine—Wizards of the Coast—where it’s just been announced that he’s joined the D&D team! Dan’s credits at Kobold Press are mighty indeed. Here are the 5th Edition titles he either led the charge on or significantly contributed to: Midgard Worldbook Tome of Beasts and Creature Codex Midgard Heroes, Midgard...
By Kobold Staff Mar 4, 2019 | Articles, Midgard |
The druids of the Northlands tend to more than the land. Some see to the health of the spirits. Druids of the Circle of the Stones build immense circles of standing stones where they commune with both the spirits of the land and the souls of the departed. SPIRIT GUIDE Starting at 2nd level, you gain the service of a minor spirit guide. You can cast find familiar as a ritual. As long as you and your spirit guide (familiar) are within 100 feet of...
By Kobold Staff Mar 1, 2019 | Articles, Contest |
You told us about your characters! What a blast. Thank you all for submitting to our My Hero contest. It was a ton of fun to read all your characters (whether PC or NPC) and throw them all in the virtual fight machines of our minds to duke it out. Ultimately, five stood victorious, surviving the Kobold judges’ first round… And congratulations to those five finalists: Scott Dillin, Jeremy Young, Rilke Crane, Anna Baltayan, and Neil...
By Lou Anders Feb 27, 2019 | Articles, Reviews |
There are a lot of things I love about Midgard. Whether it’s the beer domain clerics, Per-Bastet the City of Cats, the Kobold Ghetto in Zobeck, or the Margreve Forest, there are so so many brilliant aspects of the world that make me go “wow” and secure Midgard’s place as my hands-down favorite campaign setting. But when I try to nail it down to just one aspect of the world that really stands out for me, that makes Midgard what it is, I always...
By Kobold Staff Feb 25, 2019 | Articles, Midgard |
Twin Gods of Passion, Fertility, Magic, and the Living World, Lord and Lady of the Vanir, Gods of Beauty, Patron of Farmers and Patroness of Shield Maidens, the Twins of Wine Freyr Divine Domains: Life, Nature Freyr Domains: Animal, Charm, Earth, Healing, Lust, Plant, Water Freyr Subdomains: Caves, Decay, Fur, Growth, Resurrection Freyja Divine Domains: Tempest, War Freyja Domains: Charm, Magic, Plant, War, Weather Freyja Subdomains: Arcane,...
By Richard Pett Feb 22, 2019 | Articles, Your Whispering Homunculus |
“Oh, dear, I’ve just trodden on one.” Continuing our look at rarely encountered purple worms, we come to the letter N… Nightmare Purple Worm (CR 13) XP 25,600 “The tunnel stank abysmally. Its flanks oozed vile slime that slithered like thick spittle down the walls. Worse was waiting within those walls, however, for the slime played host to thousands of vile, white worms, a living wall of filth and horror.” The mere largeness of this worm...
By Ben McFarland Feb 20, 2019 | Articles, Warlock's Apprentice |
The departure of the elves and the resulting conflict shaped Central Midgard in fundamental ways. At its core, the Great Mage Wars rise out of the hubris of the Fulgurate Society and leave behind a monument to humanity’s capability for destructive spite. Legacy of the Fulgurate Society It began as a joke, a thumbing of their collective noses at the Elvish Empire of Valeran, the snide comments about humans being “all thunder and no lightning,”...
By Kobold Staff Feb 18, 2019 | Articles, Midgard |
This tattered skeletal humanoid resembles a monster from a nightmare. A dream eater’s natural form is mostly human in appearance, though with vestigial skeletal wings with a few feathers, small horns, sharp teeth, and cloven hooves. Most often they use magic to disguise themselves as attractive members of a humanoid race. Drawn to Sin. Dream eaters are dedicated to lust, gluttony, and greed, and they make their lairs in casinos, brothels,...
By Stephen Rowe Feb 15, 2019 | Articles, Memoirs of a Lich |
Dear Osvaud, This is Osvaud. We have spent eons attempting to ascertain the deepest rules of the cosmos. With our hard-won knowledge, we have ascended to the heights of arcane power, conquered death, and swindled countless adventurers who couldn’t cast the identify spell. Every now and then, we wake up, and… everything is a little bit different. The big stuff almost always stays the same. Magic is the best thing ever. Your soul is safely...
