(ENN) Kobold Press’ Midgard Coming soon to Kickstarter

Wolfgang Baur, publisher at Kobold Press, has been in touch to let us know that a revised Midgard Campaign Setting for 5^th Edition D&D and Pathfinder is on its way! The Kickstarter should be launching mid-January so we’ll keep our eyes peeled for it and see if we can get some preview at or something off the Kobold team to share with you.

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THE WORLD SERPENT AWAKES

The age of heroes is dead, and the bridge to glory is broken – Bifrost fell long ago. Midgard is lost in an age of war, of dark wilderness and lost empires sunk beneath the waves. Only magic and the warmth of hope keeps lights aglow when dread things prowl and priestly wardings shake, bent by demonic rage.

Now, sinister forces are forming new and terrifying alliances throughout the world. The roads to the shadow realm are open again, and the fey have returned to claim their ancient tribute. In the north the giants prepare for Ragnarok, while the goblins in the west grow restless. In the Crossroads, the shadow of the vampire princes fall across the land. The World Serpent is stirring – and not even all-knowing Baba Yaga can say what will happen next.

It is a dark time. But a new breed of hero is coming to stand against the dark, driving it back with spell, steel, and cunning!

[video=youtube;if59Fc8jo5Y]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=if59Fc8jo5Y[/video]​

 

[Istbor]

You had me at Midgard.

 

[Mercurius]

Hmm. I really like Midgard, but the original setting book was pretty light on the stats, so I don't get why a new one is needed. I'd really like to see publishers follow a format where they create one edition-neutral setting book that is, in a sense, an evergreen product, then separate books--perhaps shorter and softcover--for edition specific stats.

Of course I know I don't need to buy one, especially because I don't run in Midgard and enjoy it as a reading book...

 

[Ath-kethin]

I have been hugely disappointed in most Kobold 5e stuff. It really smacks too much of 3e for my taste and it's really too bad.

That said, I have enormous respect for Wolfgang Baur, and I'm interested to see how this one plays out.

 

[Desh-Rae-Halra]

I need more details.

 

[turkeygiant]

I have been hugely disappointed in most Kobold 5e stuff. It really smacks too much of 3e for my taste and it's really too bad.

That said, I have enormous respect for Wolfgang Baur, and I'm interested to see how this one plays out.

I have had this same problem with their products, forcing 3.0/pathfinder assumptions into 5e...which is exactly the stuff that pushed me to 5e in the first place. I get the feeling they don't want to be writing 5e but have to because of market pressures.

 

[darjr]

From what I understand they love 5e. What is it that is 3rd like in their products?

 

[Morrus]

I have had this same problem with their products, forcing 3.0/pathfinder assumptions into 5e...which is exactly the stuff that pushed me to 5e in the first place. I get the feeling they don't want to be writing 5e but have to because of market pressures.

Doesn't seem likely. They wrote the first official D&D storyline after all.


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[darjr]

And one of the most popular DMsGuild adventures.

 

[Ath-kethin]

I have had this same problem with their products, forcing 3.0/pathfinder assumptions into 5e...which is exactly the stuff that pushed me to 5e in the first place. I get the feeling they don't want to be writing 5e but have to because of market pressures.

I wouldn't necessarily agree that Kobold isn't interested in publishing 5e stuff or is doing so unwillingly.

My issue with their stuff is that it adds tons and tons of stuff, but very little that is outside the box and nothing that expands the game. For example, the Tome of Beasts includes four new types of hags, all of which are slight variations of the ones in the Monster Manual and could have been handled with a sidebar. All of them also include "new" abilities that work exactly the same way as other abilities available in the game already. To me, this reads as "more crunch for the sake of having more crunch, and necessity be damned. That, to me, is the very essence of 3.x. Additional extra fey and other uninspired monsters fill the pages (along, it must be said, with a few welcome updates and some well-done old Lovecraftian friends).

I guess I also feel that Kobold's stuff, more than any other expansion stuff I've seen, illustrates the weaknesses of 5e's chassis+subclass approach, particularly when it comes to wizards. Wolfgang Baur wrote many amazing products for the old Al-Qadim line (you can feel his love for the setting in many of the old AQ monsters included in the Tome of Beasts, for that matter), but the Kobold Press take on a 5e Clockwork Mage makes me want to weep. It's a basic, fireball-slinging wizard (just like every single wizard in 5e), but its animate construct spells last a bit longer and it can turn into a golem of sorts. Whoopee.

In fairness, they have a bunch of new spells everybody can argue over. Though again, the constant adding of new spells and other garbage is a very 3.x approach.

I guess loads of extra crunch is what a lot of people want. It would bother me less if it actually expanded the rules, and added something that isn't just a rephrasing of another ability.