As the creators of the Creature Codex and the Tome of Beasts series, we wanted to give the same love and care for the earliest 5E monsters that we gave to our other monsters. To accomplish that, we noted a few key points we wanted for each monster: Clear Identity. For each creature, we worked to answer, “What makes this creature special? How is it thematically different from other creatures of its type, terrain, or niche?” Unique Features. In clarifying identity, we set ourselves up for better creating unique features. We worked to answer, “What mechanics make this creature different from ..read more

To accompany the launch of Tales of the Valiant, Kobold Press has cooked up the Valiant 6, our iconic characters. Here are images and downloadable PDFs of 4th-level PCs ready for action. Use them to help new people to your game or as a resource for conventions and store play! Elf Rogue, Elaizon Hailsigh Elaizon HailsighDownload Human Fighter, Ghada Zayd Ghada ZaydDownload Orc Mechanist, Hendrian Kaska Hendrian KaskaDownload Human Cleric, Seno Fosh Seno FoshDownload Dwarf Wizard, Unthar Shalehart Unthar ShalehartDownload Kobold Warlock, Zalbikar Andrialix Zalbikar AndrialixDownload The post To ..read more

It’s Midgard Monday! Each week, we visit a corner of the wide world of Midgard. Look for standalone content you can drop into your campaign—whether it’s in Midgard or your own homebrew. Find new inspiration each Midgard Monday! The Midgard Worldbook is packed to the brim with lore and legends of the Midgard campaign setting. Its nine interconnected meta-regions offer decades of gaming material, even without the hundreds of adventures available for play. Empire of the Ghouls is one example of a massive campaign spanning the length and breadth of Midgard. So why don’t we blow up the Worldbook a ..read more

@koboldofficial Campaign Builder: Dungeons & Ruins is live on #kickstarter #ttrpg #dnd5e #koboldpress ♬ original sound – Kobold Press For Campaign Builder: Dungeons & Ruins, Kobold Press wanted to return to the roots of TTRPG classic locales to ensure that your dungeons bring as much delight as your dragons. Whether you’re building trap-filled vaults, adding defenses to a lair, or hiding clues within the ruins of an ancient civilization, Campaign Builder: Dungeons and Ruins has everything you need to put the dungeon back in your dungeon crawls.  No matter where you are in the lif ..read more

The classic alignment grid consisting of three rows (Good, Neutral, and Evil) and three columns (Lawful, Neutral, and Chaotic) is a contentious topic in TTRPGs. A lot of games (including the Tales of the Valiant RPG) don’t use it, but it endures. Criticisms include that the system is too rigid and is not descriptive enough. And it essentially predestines certain creatures to be either good or evil. Shortfalls aside, the alignment system leaves an open question: “Why are there good-aligned creatures in monster books?” Kobold Press’s own Tome of Beasts 1 includes several good-aligned creatures ..read more

This week, Kobold Press launched Campaign Builder: Dungeons & Ruins on Kickstarter! This 256-page hardcover book goes into deep detail about making old and dangerous places extra awesome for your Tales of the Valiant and 5E games. Curious? The Campaign Builder: Dungeons & Ruins Preview PDF is available now, and it’s not just for backers! The preview contains a LOT of info on traps, and this is a great first look at the loving detail we have laden onto traps in Tales of the Valiant. Take a look at an excerpt from the preview below! If you want more, download the whole preview (it’s fre ..read more

When the Tales of the Valiant Player’s Guide debuts in just a few months, it will contain the classic fantasy people for player characters: elves, dwarves, humans . . . the usual suspects. This blog series of extra lineages doesn’t appear in the Player’s Guide . . . but if you like these, let us know here and in the Kobold Discord server. There’s potential for them to appear in an official capacity in the future! In the Monster Vault, gnolls have a suite of abilities that make them great monsters. But what if a player wanted to play as one? Gnolls Gnolls look like hyenas given humanoid bearin ..read more

The earliest public playtests for the Tales of the Valiant RPG focused on player options, so we kept the high-level game rules in the Alpha Release pretty similar to the original SRD. This was the best strategy to get people testing player options as quickly as possible. Some people assumed the base rules presentation in the Alpha Release was how they would look in the final book—oh man, those people will be shocked. We dug into everything, making little changes everywhere, to increase usability and address some of the more confusing pieces of the 5E rules, while keeping the base mechanics in ..read more

It’s Midgard Monday! Each week, we visit a corner of the wide world of Midgard. Look for standalone content you can drop into your campaign—whether it’s in Midgard or your own homebrew. Find new inspiration each Midgard Monday! Conflict between the Seven Cities and the occupied territory of Rumela isn’t just a war story—it’s an opportunity to partake in the ceremony of the Season of War. Before delving in, GMs and players should familiarize themselves with the chapters on the Dragon Empire (Chapter 5) and the Seven Cities (Chapter 7) in the Midgard Worldbook. A refresher can help you represen ..read more

The village of Redtower, home city of the Scarlet Citadel megadungeon, is a modest community, boasting just a handful of interesting locations for the adventuring crowd that the neighboring Scarlet Citadel sometimes attracts. You’ll find a smithy, stables, an inn, a brewery, and two temples (with a third abandoned temple to boot). What you won’t find is a proper place to move the loot you find in your travels or a supply of provisions heroes need for dungeoneering. These two new locations (plus NPCs and sidequests to go along with them) fill in those gaps! Oak & Valerian Apothecary Valeri ..read more