By Kobold Staff Sep 30, 2019 | Articles, Midgard |
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...
By Lou Anders Sep 18, 2019 | Articles, 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...
By Kobold Staff Sep 2, 2019 | Articles, Midgard |
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...
By Kobold Staff Jul 29, 2019 | Articles, Midgard |
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...
By Kobold Staff Jul 1, 2019 | Articles, Midgard |
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...
By Lou Anders Jun 26, 2019 | Articles, Midgard |
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...
By Nick Landry Jun 7, 2019 | Articles, Kobold FAQ, Midgard |
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...
By Kobold Staff Jun 3, 2019 | Articles, Midgard |
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...
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 Kobold Staff Apr 1, 2019 | Articles, Midgard |
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...
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 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 Kobold Staff Feb 11, 2019 | Articles, Midgard |
The Clanking Legion is a legendary mercenary company, composed of roughly half gearforged and half beings of flesh and blood. CLANKING MERCENARY (FIGHTER) Fighters who emulate the Clanking Mercenary archetype see the flexibility of flesh in steel and the strength of metal in their own bodies and minds. CLANKER’S CRAFT Beginning when you choose this archetype at 3rd level, you gain proficiency with your choice of blacksmith’s tools or tinker’s...
By Kobold Staff Feb 4, 2019 | Articles, Midgard |
Midgard is surrounded by a god made flesh, the great World Serpent, a monstrous beast that defines the edge of the world and that contains—and some say, created—the entire world. This serpent, biting its own tail, creating the tides through his breathing and storms through his snorting and sneezes, is well known to the Northlanders and the Mharoti and less well known in other places. Hugely powerful, he is an indolent, even lazy, god who rarely...
