By Lou Anders May 22, 2019 | Articles, Preview |
“And into the forest I go, to lose my mind and find my soul.” ―John Muir “Tom’s words laid bare the hearts of the trees and their thoughts, which were often dark and strange, filled with a hatred of things that go free upon the earth, gnawing, biting, breaking, hacking, burning: destroyers and usurpers. It was not called the Old Forest without reason, for it was indeed ancient, a survivor of vast forgotten woods; and in it there lived yet,...
By Kobold Staff May 20, 2019 | Articles, Midgard |
Watching with many rows of eyes, this mantis creature strikes with slashing claws and recurved barbs dripping with venom. Dimensional Travelers. The clandestine xhkarsh are beings from another cosmic cycle. Their devices and armor are incomprehensible to—possibly even incompatible with— creatures of this reality. Tamper with Fate. The xhkarsh utilize their fate-altering powers to distort personal histories and manipulate mortal destinies like...
By Kobold Staff May 17, 2019 | Announcements, Articles |
Tales of the Old Margreve takes your 5th Edition game deep into the ancient, magical forest, with new spells, monsters, magic items, and wondrous locations, a monster appendix, and twelve adventures for heroes level 1–10. Over 200 pages of adventures and forest secrets! “Hollow” by Richard Pett “The Honey Queen” by Jonathan McAnulty “The Vengeful Heart” by Matt Corley “Challenge of the Fang” by...
By Lou Anders May 15, 2019 | Articles, Preview |
Midgard is my favorite campaign setting, and Tales of the Old Margreve is poised to be my favorite campaign book. Quite apart from my own contributions to the Player’s Guide—about which, more in a later article—I was able to playtest a lot of this in my own Midgard campaign, and it’s just deliciously chock-full of content, from a detailed campaign setting to a host of incredible adventures. With the release of Tales of the Old Margreve right...
By Mike Welham May 13, 2019 | Articles, Expanding Codex |
The Expanding Codex series fleshes out monsters from the Creature Codex, giving GMs ways to modify the existing monsters to surprise well-prepared players or to introduce monsters to a campaign. Alternate Traits and Actions The following changes allow GMs to alter a leonino without modifying its challenge rating: Favored Messenger. While the leonino is delivering a message, it has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical...
By Kobold Staff May 10, 2019 | Articles, Con Report |
Are you going to Gen Con? Planning what games you want to get in? Kobold Press is here to help with 62 tables of delicious gaming goodness to feed your need. We’re offering mostly 5th Edition of the world’s most popular RPG but also a smattering of 1st Edition Pathfinder and 13th Age to taste. Here’s the full schedule of upcoming games from Kobold Press at Gen Con. Short descriptions follow below. Pregenerated characters will...
By GM Lent May 8, 2019 | Articles, Cult Activity |
Legends tell of an oversized cauldron made of black metal that evil creatures can use to turn the corpses of their foes into obedient undead allies. The price of using such an item is steep, but the power to be gained is significant. Of course, using a powerful evil artifact might disrupt the fabric of the multiverse. Such a shockwave attracts attention, and such attention has led a few innovators to try and create lesser cauldrons in an...
By Kobold Staff May 6, 2019 | Articles, Midgard |
Mercenary life seems full of plunder and easy money when the recruiters come around. Most of the time, it involves a great deal of boot leather and a life spent in tents and camps. The lucky recruits do get paid, find rich plunder, and retire to a manor house filled with sweet scents, rich tapestries, and obedient servants to erase memories of slaughter, death, and burnt-out villages. Most mercenaries are not that lucky. Argent Rats: Originally...
By Lysa Chen May 3, 2019 | Articles, Warlock's Apprentice |
Oft threatened by raiding centaurs, dragon legions, and the bandits of the Ruby Despotate, the Duchy of Perun’s Daughter doesn’t take kindly to outsiders too curious about what lies in Perunalia’s vaults and armories—especially those who gawk at the duchy’s leadership of powerful women. Societies dominated by men are dominated too by their rampant emotions: envy, greed, rage. Waging war to capture the coveted treasures of their neighbors seems...
By Kobold Staff May 1, 2019 | Articles |
A ghastly, green fire flickers in a long-forgotten tomb. From within comes a thunderous crash as the lid of a stone sarcophagus is contemptuously flung aside, followed by the clank of armor and the dread sound of footsteps. Something ancient and evil is coming to claim the night. That ancient evil is none other than Empire of the Ghouls—the new 5th Edition Kickstarter from Kobold Press! We’re thrilled to announce that the funding campaign is up...
By Kobold Staff Apr 29, 2019 | Articles, Wallpapers |
It’s almost May! So here’s a set of wallpapers for your computer, your smartphone, or whatever electronic device you’ve got. This month, we’re teasing the upcoming Empire of the Ghouls, with art by Craig Spearing. Let’s raise the dead, adventurers! ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Please, click on the image you want to download to expand it into a downloadable...
By Jacob Huebsch Apr 26, 2019 | Articles, The Far Side of the Table |
Leaning over the large mahogany table in Lord Boler’s war room, Strass, Azreal, and Kara surveyed the various maps and plans laid out across it. Nearby, Val’s body lay on a low bench, a bone-white sheet draped across his still form. A heavy silence hung in the air, the only sound being the steady drum of Kara’s fingers on the tabletop. After a few minutes, the door to the room opened, and Lord Boler entered, dressed in crisp...
By Robert Fairbanks Apr 24, 2019 | Articles, Out of the Frying Pan |
Encounters have consequences. Every slain bandit has friends who will want revenge, and every devil banished back to the Eleven Hells reports its failure to its dark lord. What happens when the PCs’ daring deeds come back to bite them? The following encounter chains are more than just random conflicts. Each event flows organically into the next, sometimes without giving PCs the chance to catch their collective breath. Each link in the chain...
By Kobold Staff Apr 22, 2019 | Articles, Midgard |
Taut dead skin, adorned entirely with tattooed fish scales, covers this woman’s face and hands. She wears scaled armor, sea green like verdigris on copper and wields a strange sword. Her pale eyes stare, unblinking. Undead Warlock Slaves. Ancient and powerful beings across the multiverse grant magical knowledge to mortals through dangerous pacts. Those bound to these pacts become warlocks, but the will and force of their patron is borne by more...
