This huge monster’s long sinuous scaled body slithers through dark forests. Vast wings the color of midnight rise from its back, and four wavy black horns sprout from its evil serpentine head; its wings can fold back entirely flush with its long body. The kulshedra’s scales are burnt greenish-orange in hue and its eyes glow […]
Monday Monster: Kulshedra Read More »
It turns out that kobolds are bi-lingual. I don’t mean they have forked tongues (though they do), but rather that KoboldQuarterly.com has quietly and stealthily been posting some articles in translation. The translation work has been done by José Montero, and we can’t thank him enough. Here’s the four articles currently available, due to his
Kobold Hablo Español Read More »
So I’ve been reading the Pathfinder RPG for a while, and there are a few things about it I absolutely love. One of them was the fact that halflings get Abyssal as a default language. The little buggers have always seemed sort of suspicious to me, frankly. Not as dour as a dwarf, not as
Halflings Speak Abyssal Read More »
If you’ve played Dungeons & Dragons at all in the last decade, you’ve probably run into Bruce R. Cordell’s work. And if you’ve used his gaming books or run his adventures, you’ve probably noticed that there seems to be some larger—some epic—arc connecting it all. If you’ve ever met him at a con or online,
The Simple (Yet Epic) Elegance
of Bruce R. Cordell Read More »
What happens to your spells if the ability score that governs them is somehow reduced? Do you lose any spells? If your spellcasting ability is reduced to 0 or less do you lose all your spellcasting ability? Some of these questions are easy to answer, and some are trickier. Let’s start with the easy answers:
Ask the Kobold: Ability Damage Read More »
The 3E/OGL release of Halls of the Mountain King has gone to the patrons who supported this project; these patrons both contributed to and funded its creation. The resulting 175-page saga takes characters from 8th to 12th level as they fight a range of foes in the abandoned halls of a major dwarven holding: everything
Halls of the Mountain King
Ships to Patrons Read More »
Ultimately, a traps’ function is one of protection. Many things deserve protection; it all depends on the perspective of the traps’ buyer. The altar and its various ceremonial and sacred items are cherished by clerics, and thus they often build the hand of god trap in their temples. Hand of God Trap “From the temples’
Trapsmith: The Hand of God Read More »
Flying across the arid steppe is a monstrous draconic beast with bat-like wings, a scaled body and legs, and the head of a mangy wolf with a thick goat-like beard. Its scales are a uniform light brown, while its wolf head is dark brown with gleaming red eyes. The dragon-wolf flexes its vicious claws and
Monday Monster: Cynoprosopi Read More »
Open Design 002: Halls of the Mountain King (OGL) Welcome to the Open Design Podcast, a discussion about game design and game mastery with hosts Wolfgang Baur, Ed Healy and Rone Barton. Regular Features: * ‘Ask the Kobold’ with Skip Williams (Pinning in Combat) * ‘Game Theories’ with Monte Cook (Do Overs) We took a
Open Design 002: Halls of the Mountain King (OGL) Read More »
The Kobold Diplomats have spoken: The augurs are good; the planets have aligned. Kobold Quarterly is ready to kick things up a notch. For the past two years, you, our readers, have stepped up to the plate for us time and time again. You were with us when we were black and white and barely
Big Kobold Dreams Read More »
Magic defeats magic. This simple rule explains why trapsmiths refrain from using it in their designs. If any wizard’s apprentice can detect the trap, what is the point of using it? For instance… Burning Hands Trap CR 3; magic device; proximity trigger (alarm); automatic reset; spell effect (burning hands, 5th-level wizard, 5d4 fire, DC 11
Trapspringer: Hellish Fire Read More »
The creature galloped across the outcrops and lurched before us. It was a great beast akin to some sort of huge ram or shire horse with a single great horn erupting from its head. It stood for a moment, as though considering its next move, and then, with a snort, it lowered its head and
Baiste-Na-Scoghaigh: The Bestial Unicorn Read More »
When you cast a spell as a swift action (maybe because the spell has a casting time of a swift action) can you also cast as spell as a standard action the same round? What happens if I cast a spell as a swift action while an enemy threatens me? And what if I then
Ask the Kobold: Swift Spells Read More »
Clang! The grate slams to the floor, sealing the exit — and alerting every monster in hearing distance…. Most traps are active defenses, contesting every foot of the dungeon. However, a passive defense can be a valuable deterrent as well. Two entry-level passive traps are the portcullis and the razor-wire trap, which we’ll re-design this
Trapspringer:
Portcullis and Active Defenses Read More »
Sean Macdonald never intended to become a freelance RPG cartographer. An internet programmer by trade, he got into RPG cartography through his work as a website designer. He started his freelance cartography career in 2003 mapping the Dragonlance Campaign Setting. Three years later he won a gold ENnie for Tasslehoff’s Map Pouch: War of the
As Much of the Story as Possible:
Map Talk with Sean Macdonald Read More »
The box looks like a fat, heavily pregnant woman with fangs instead of teeth. Her copious belly contains a rather grotesque image of an infant with three heads, each with an open mouth like a key-hole. No ordinary receptacle will do for treasure in the Land of Gothic Horror. The infuriating Ustalav Doll Casket is
Trapspringer: Ustalav Doll Casket Read More »
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