Midgard’s Icons for 13th Age
Midgard is a place of war and intrigue, where powerful figures pursue agendas that have roots in the distant past. In some cases, their plots, alliances, and enmities are older than Midgard itself. In the 13th Age Roleplaying Game, these individuals are known as icons—and adventurers, even those just beginning their careers, are vital to their intrigues. Player characters can use their relationships with their chosen icons as a resource during...
Welcome to Midgard: Cursed Lines and Arcane Weather
The magical turmoil and strain has warped the terrain into supernatural badlands. Travelers report entire patches of dunes where all magic falls dead one day and is augmented the next. The absence of ley lines makes spellcasters nervous, and some spells perform at maximum capacity or sputter out for no discernible reason. Teleportation, shadow roads, and other magical forms of transportation are extremely risky, since without guiding ley lines,...
Citing the Deep Magic: How and Where to Incorporate the Deep Magic into Your Campaign
“Do not cite the Deep Magic to me, Witch. I was there when it was written.” —C.S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe With apologies to Lewis, citing the Deep Magic is exactly what we’re going to do now. And not just cite it. We’re going to look deeply at Deep Magic, making suggestions for where, when, and how GMs can add these spells, domains, and traditions to their campaign. And there’s a lot of it! In addition to being made...
Welcome to Midgard: The Season of War
The Seven Cities both revel in and depend on war. Customs and laws limit their wars’ gross destruction, provide a season for it, make it a source of status for their generals and nobles that glorifies their power and right to rule, and—not least of all—make war a source of valuable plunder and tribute from weaker states. Fighting a war correctly requires obeying its limits and forms. The practices and rituals governing war in the Septime lands...
Appendix M: Advanced Reading in Midgard
As every grognard knows, the original AD&D Dungeon Master’s Guide had a section at the end called “Appendix N: Inspirational and Educational Reading.” It was a list of the fantasy novels that inspired Gary Gygax to create the game. But it was also a “further reading” suggestion, the idea being to pay some love backward to the authors who carved out the fantasy genre while also serving up some sources of inspiration to beginning game masters...
Welcome to Midgard: Dominion of the Wind Lords
To the west of the Crescent Desert lie the harsh and foreboding lands of the Dominion of the Wind Lords. Here, the great Stone Desert stretches to the sea in sun-baked plains of red and black rock. This is a bleakly beautiful landscape devoid of the crescent-shaped sand dunes found elsewhere in the Southlands. The seemingly barren Stone Desert hides bubbling springs, seasonal waterholes, and a scattering of precious oases. DOMINION OF THE WIND...
Welcome to Midgard: Origins of the Mharoti Empire
The lands of the Dragoncoil Mountains have always been infested with drakes, wyrms, and wyverns—they give the mountains their name. But about 400 years ago, one especially cunning red dragon by the name of Mharot decided he was tired of working so hard to steal golden treasures from humans and dwarves, and then being forced to continually guard those treasures. He proposed a pact to neighboring dragons, and he accepted the standing offers from...
Welcome to Midgard: Khanate of the Khazzaki
The Plain is filled with human nomads who call themselves Khazzaki. They are followers of Svarog and Khors and Perun and Sweet Golden Lada, though Svarog is their patron. Their cities are built of tents and flesh and rope and the people are often driven from their chosen site before the wind, but they are no less formidable for that. Their master, the Khan of the Khazzaki, rules from the City of Wheels. His nation stretches wherever hoof beats...
So You Want to Play in Midgard? (But You Don’t Know Where to Start)
You’ve picked up the Tome of Beasts or maybe the Creature Codex. Maybe you have the Midgard Heroes Handbook. You were thinking about just dropping these monsters into your homebrew or adding those subclasses. But you keep hearing about this Midgard place, this amazing campaign setting that everyone’s talking about. So you take the next step. You get the Midgard Worldbook. So You Want to Play in Midgard? And wow. You had no idea. What a richly...
Kobold FAQ: Ley Magic
Considering making a new geomancer or picking up one of the ley magic feats? You might have many questions about ley lines and how they work. I know I did, so I went to the source and asked Dan Dillon, author of the book Deep Magic 5: Ley Lines from Kobold Press. Here is a summary of that conversation, FAQ style. All the answers come from Dan (except for the first two questions, which I added to provide a more complete FAQ). Q: What are ley...
Welcome to Midgard: Lay of the Dark Kingdoms
A hungry crow pecks at the eyes of the rotting corpse hanging on a rusty gibbet at the crossroads. The night air is filled with the howling of wolves, the soft hooting of owls, and the occasional human scream. The Blood Kingdom of Morgau is made up of three former kingdoms: the Duchy of Morgau, the Barony of Doresh, and the newly conquered northern province of Krakovar. Morgau and Doresh are located on a forested highland known as the Brom...
Welcome to Midgard: Crossroads Mercenary Companies
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...
Welcome to Midgard: Free City of Zobeck
The Free City’s austere feudal history explains the city’s current freedom‑loving citizenry. After suffering under the long, harsh reign of the aristocratic Stross family, the people of Zobeck have little love for nobles or the institution of feudalism. They have vowed to never again accept a lord’s yoke. Instead, commerce and the ability of every man and woman to grab life’s wealth with gusto rule the Zobecker spirit. Free to make their way in...Get Kobold Press News
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