The massive response to our Tales of the Valiant (ToV) Kickstarter campaign continues to surprise with an early reveal of a stretch goal.

Yesterday, backers unlocked stretch goals about the Guide to the Labyrinth PDF and backer world summaries for that guide. Here’s a look at what these stretch goals are and how you can contribute.

What is the Labyrinth?

“The Labyrinth” is the collective term for the magical, labyrinthine pathways that connect all worlds together in a winding web.

Various factions know and control those paths and the spaces between the worlds. Some of them also protect those worlds from the incursion of the Void. Other groups seek to control the Labyrinth or destroy it.

There’s much more detail on these groups and the planar connections in the Guide to the Labyrinth itself.

As a multi-world concept, it helps us share the many worlds we know and love, including worlds created by backers who have built their own rich and unique setting for their players. These are among the Ten Thousand Worlds of the Labyrinth.

What Are Backer Contributions to the Labyrinth?

Since any world or reality can be part of or connected to the Labyrinth, we want to give our backers the opportunity to add their worlds to a Worlds within the Labyrinth section of the PDF.

These sample worlds are short descriptions of worlds one might stumble upon while walking the Labyrinth’s pathways. They can serve as a font of inspiration for any Game Master reading Guide to the Labyrinth.

Wait, I Have to Give You My World?

Not at all! The contract with each backer whose world is chosen will be a rights-for-purpose contract. This means that we buy the right to publish that text ONLY in the Guide to the Labyrinth and nowhere else. The backer retains all other rights. We will help backers showcase their worlds (for pay!) and Kobold Press won’t own it.

Okay, So How Do I Get My World in the Guide to the Labyrinth?

For those familiar with Kobold Press Kickstarter campaigns, you might have seen us run open submissions from backers for other books, such as the Deep Magic or Tome of Beasts series. After the Kickstarter ends, we send submission guidelines to all backers of this project, allowing them the option to submit a summary of their homebrew world for consideration.

Submissions will remain open for about a week. Once they are in hand, names are removed from the entry for blind review, without knowing whose world is whose. A panel of anonymous judges with a wide variety of backgrounds, preferences, and gaming styles will review them. They narrow down submissions to the 50 slots we have open for backer-submitted worlds. We will announce those winners a few weeks after the submissions close.

What Can I Do Now to Prepare for Submitting My World for Consideration?

Each Sample Worlds should be no more than 150 words. It should give a reader a solid grasp of the overall theme and feel of your world. Think about the kinds of world or setting descriptions that immediately ignite your imagination—these are the kinds of descriptions we’re seeking. Here’s an example of how we might describe our world, Midgard, in one such writeup:

Midgard Campaign Setting: A world of dark roads and shadow magic, Midgard is home to masked gods, powerful ley lines, and ancient fallen empires. Its unique people include the clockwork gearforged, the rock-ribbed bearfolk, and a clever strain of mining and urban kobolds, as well as a dragonborn empire ruled by ancient drakes.

Its greatest cities are the magocracy of Bemmea; the elvish ruins of Dornig; Per-Bastet, the City of Cats; and Harkesh, capital of the Dragon Empire.

Threatening Midgard are the forces of a ghoul empire in the darkened depths, as well as hellish gnomes, various cultists of deranged gods, Baba Yaga, and an array of elder aberrations from the Wasted West.

When visiting Midgard, heroes can expect to empower their magic with ley lines, travel swiftly on shadow roads, and confront hostile fey, gnomish assassins, or members of the Emerald Order, a group of illuminati seeking world domination.

What If My World Isn’t High Fantasy?

That’s okay! All worlds can be connected via the Labyrinth, but that doesn’t mean all worlds have to be high fantasy. Some might be science-fantasy, low-fantasy, or include no magic at all. As long as a world can be connected to the Labyrinth’s magical pathways, whether or not its inhabitants are aware of the connection, it belongs.

Get in on the Action!

If you want to join, there’s time until June 23, 2023. Jump in the Kickstarter for Tales of the Valiant!

—The Kobold Crew