Tag: Kobold Press

  • Reblogging: I’ll be adding NPC ritualists to my world

    In this post Jared talks about how rules support fiction with the examples being from Tales of the Valiant’s rituals system.

    What Do I Know About Diegetic Rules? Tales of the Valiant Rituals

    The magic of this is you don’t even have to use Tales of the Valiant as your base system to add this to your 5e world. The ritual system is essentially 5e D&D neutral.

    Take Divine Ritualists as described. They look like, and are mechanically supported like, miracle workers at a temple. The Primordial Ritualists are like less powerful Tom Bombadils.

    Thank you Jared Rascher for the inspiration.

  • Kobold Press Eonics offer time loop fun to D&D

    Kobold Press Eonics offer time loop fun to D&D

    I’m one of those passive backers for most projects. For Tales of the Valiant I sent Kickstarter my money to send Kobold Press and then I waited. I did this because I have enough of their products that I know I will use them. Many of their dragon variants are part of my world right now.

    That also means I get fun surprises for their intermittent reveals, like the Eonics.

    This new lineage (their current term for race) is a bunch of time travellers who lost their ways on the time stream, now existing your D&D/Black Flag/5e world without the ability to get back to their normal time.

    They do still have minor time travelling abilities. That’s where things get fun. Their core abilities are about possibly knowing the past, their expectation that things are going to go wrong and a skin that’s been scarred by time streams. Those combine to have fun uses as monks, rogues, bards and maybe even an off-brand barbarian.

    In Black Flag (Kobold Press’s SRD) and Tales of the Valiant characters are born into a lineage and grow via a heritage. Heritages are similar in power to 5e (2014) subraces, but are open to any species/race/lineage.

    The eonic-themed heritages immediately become part of my world. This is time-hoppy funness.

    Time-lost Drifter

    Those raised as drifters have a special belt and some exhaustion based mechanics with a future-self time echo. Plus, they are hard to kill. Their body comes disconnected from time.

    Inheritor of the Future

    The inheritors get a super-advantage Help action and a powerful time warping staff.

    Mirror Worlder

    These peoples can see alternate realities and grab things from them. This is a classic trope in fantasy that hasn’t been embraced much in 5e, until now.

    The Eonics and all of their heritages fit in the World of the Everflow as the peoples from the future who went back to when the gods shunted off magic from the World. They would be 3,000 years in the future from the current games, popping into a world that they helped break and create at the same time.

    With these and the Tales of the Valiant goblins I’m very excited to bring more variety to my table.

  • Lore Collage: 20 Links You Should Read and Watch This Week

    Lore Collage: 20 Links You Should Read and Watch This Week

    Most of what you need to know about Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything is all over the internet. No one has overlooked the latest book release from D&D, but for those that want a slightly different approach to a review here are 7 non-crunch reasons I love the book.

    Lore Collage’s focus this week is primarily on resources and approaches to Dungeons & Dragons during the pandemic. Remember to support local businesses as you purchase products, since they remain in danger of closing permanently, not just pausing.

    Official Survey Time

    Not Tasha’s, the Other New Product

    There was another new product, one that got a lot less fanfare. The DM’s Screen Wilderness Kit is something that will be much more useful when you resume play in-person. The focus is on the exploration pillar. Newbie DM offers a flip through.

    Other Official Updates

    With many Actual Play podcasts and streams taking a pause Wizards has a collection of holiday and winter themed one-offs for your ear-holes.

    Changes coming to how Adventurer’s League info spreads information. There will be greater integration into official D&D channels and websites, which should make it easier to follow the seasonal changes.

    Gift Ideas

    After Thanksgiving Full Moon Storytelling will offer a mega-list of D&D products for the fan, or soon-to-be-fan, in your life. For now here is the official guide from D&D and a review of Field Notes new Game Master Journal.

    D&D During Pandemic

    Mainstream media continues to explore how the game of D&D can help people cope with the isolation necessary to combat coronavirus. Up in the Great White North there is also a feature on the educational benefits of D&D.

    Playing remotely or following major AP shows creates connections to community that we lack while inspiring the creation of new stories that we are unable to tell on your own.

    https://oxfordstories.net/2020/11/16/column-how-dungeons-dragons-can-help-players-escape-isolation/

    For the thousands of thousands who are just beginning Tribality continues to put out fresh information to connect a new player with classes and concepts within the game.

    Brief Description of 5e Classes and Subclasses (Ideal to Show to your Players), Part 6

    Documentary on Polyhedrals

    Watch the history of dice.

    Not D&D but Other RPG Stuff

    Screen Rant has a list of RPGs that aren’t based in Euro-American fantasy. What would happen if you combined Strato-matic Baseball with D&D? Blaseball.

    A Romany Lesson

    Read about the modern Romany in America.

    https://19silverlinings.com/2020/11/14/calling-us-gypsies-is-fine-but-we-call-ourselves-romany-travellers-because-some-of-them-like-wi-me-used-to-roam/

    As Always, Maps

    Want a Dungeons & Dragons world with a map that reminds you of Google Earth? Welcome to Kobold Press’s Midgard.

    https://koboldpress.com/so-you-still-want-to-play-in-midgard-part-one/

    Paths Peculiar takes a tiny map and creates an entire campaign with it. The simple approach is an excellent lesson for a first time DM.