D&D 5E Kobold Press (and are they the new Paizo?)

[Omand]

Tome of Beasts II hardcover just arrived in the mail today... and it is spectacular! A nice balance of new creatures across all monster types, a meaty wildlife section at the back with find familiar suggestions, and the expected fun artwork. Can't wait to unleash some of these nasties on my unsuspecting players!

PDF has not been released yet (expecting an email for that tomorrow). And it looks like it is not quite available yet on the Kobold Store for those that didn't jump in at the Kickstarter.

Good to hear they are coming through. Eagerly awaiting my copy.

Cheers

 

[Mercurius]

Anyone know how long after the hardcover that the pocket edition comes out?

ToB was 3 years, CC 2 years. Hopefully this will be much quicker.

 

[Tyler Do'Urden]

Tome of Beasts II hardcover just arrived in the mail today... and it is spectacular! A nice balance of new creatures across all monster types, a meaty wildlife section at the back with find familiar suggestions, and the expected fun artwork. Can't wait to unleash some of these nasties on my unsuspecting players!

PDF has not been released yet (expecting an email for that tomorrow). And it looks like it is not quite available yet on the Kobold Store for those that didn't jump in at the Kickstarter.

Can't wait to get my ToB II PDF today... It'll be the perfect way to reward myself after finishing a four hour exam on retirement planning...

 

[Zardnaar]

Well, they are a new Paizo. I of course prefer 1e over 2e PF, so Kobold Press might be even better than Paizo.
I'm sure the Kobolds are better than Wizards. But they aren't like 2000s paizo.

To me Paizo peaked somewhere around Savage Tide to 2010 or so.

After that to much splat and a decline in AP quality often tied in with the splat.

 

[humble minion]

5e Southlands kickstarter announced, will launch on Nov 30.

I'd probably have preferred Brilliant East all things considered, but I'll buy the hell out of this one regardless...

 

[Marc Radle]

5e Southlands kickstarter announced, will launch on Nov 30.

I'd probably have preferred Brilliant East all things considered, but I'll buy the hell out of this one regardless...

The Southlands Kickstarter is LIVE!

The Southlands feature high adventure in a self-contained and standalone campaign setting, with all the tools at your fingertips for a dozen adventures and even full campaigns! This updated 5E version includes new player options, an updated Worldbook with all-new chapters, and a fantastical city book to launch a memorable campaign—and a caravan's weight in short- and medium-length adventures. The Southlands setting is fully compatible with the 5th Edition of the world’s first RPG.

Welcome friend! Come and adventure with us here.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/deepmagic/southlands-5th-edition-a-realm-of-high-adventure/description

 

[nevin]

To me Paizo peaked somewhere around Savage Tide to 2010 or so.

After that to much splat and a decline in AP quality often tied in with the splat.

I think that's about the time they got really paranoid and crazy with "Balance" as well. It seems to me that the players became the enemy and they became the gatekeepers protecting the game. Not a good place to be relative to your customers.

 

[Maialideth]

I own Tome of Beasts, Tome of Beasts II, Creature Codex, and Deep Magic.

The monster books are really good. Art and design is great and the monsters are much more varied in abilities, rather than just being different sacks of hit points and damage with minor flavor differences, which I feel most of the monsters from Monster Manual and the other WotC monster books are. But what I like the most is that the monsters are more challenging than the official books, these monsters actually challenge the players. And then there are all the pawns for the books

Deep Magic, however, didn't impress me. The spells don't feel balanced (often weak compared to spell level) and some feel downright pointless. The wording in a lot of them is a bit off the mark.
There is an 8th-level spell that causes creatures with darkvision to be blinded and stunned for 1 round, creatures without darkvision can save vs. Con or be blinded. It affects all creatures that can see the caster, even if they're wearing a blindfold...
There's also a weaker version of Feign Death called Heartstop, which I don't really see the point in having, as Feign Death is only a 3rd-level spell and can be cast as a ritual on top, which the other spell can't.

But still, their monster books are incredible.

 

[Zardnaar]

I think that's about the time they got really paranoid and crazy with "Balance" as well. It seems to me that the players became the enemy and they became the gatekeepers protecting the game. Not a good place to be relative to your customers.

They also started to move away from what appealed in the first place. They were a bit more adult orientated.

I think I bought the last product 2012 outside of some 3pp stuff.

Kobolds scratch that itch. Need to get ToB2, Creature Codex and Southlands.

 

[Goliath Coins]

Interesting post for me personally. I am difficult to buy for and my wife always gets on me for holiday gift ideas.

I have been watching Kobold's Kickstarters for some time. So my list included several of their books. Honestly they are the gifts I most want to receive.

 

[humble minion]

A day and a bit in and the Southlands kickstarter is about 210% funded. Kobold would be pretty happy with that progress I reckon.

I hope they don't over-focus on Nuria Natal though. There's so much other interesting stuff. The City of Cats supplement is obviously Nuria Natal-focused, and at least three of the stretch goals also are, while there's no stretch goals specifically focused on any other part of the Southlands.

I love Nuria Natal, and that's where i'd set a Midgard campaign given the choice. But the region and its pantheon already had a lot of coverage in the Midgard worldbook, while a lot of the other areas of the Southlands missed out.

 

[Zardnaar]

A day and a bit in and the Southlands kickstarter is about 210% funded. Kobold would be pretty happy with that progress I reckon.

I hope they don't over-focus on Nuria Natal though. There's so much other interesting stuff. The City of Cats supplement is obviously Nuria Natal-focused, and at least three of the stretch goals also are, while there's no stretch goals specifically focused on any other part of the Southlands.

I love Nuria Natal, and that's where i'd set a Midgard campaign given the choice. But the region and its pantheon already had a lot of coverage in the Midgard worldbook, while a lot of the other areas of the Southlands missed out.

I've only run 1 Midgard game and used Nuria Natal.

First time in 27 years I've run an Egyptian themed game.

 

[TheSword]

I’m going to go out on a limb and say, while Paizo knocked the socks off 3rd adventures, I think the typical 5e adventure is a good as most Paizo APs and the best of 5e matches the best of Paizo.

Im not at the stage of wholesale adoption of KP products as I was with the wholesale adoption of Paizo. But Tales of the Old Margrave for example is a great book. Very inspiring.

Is it better than Curse of Strahd or Tomb of Annihilation? Not to my mind but it’s definitely up there with the best.

 

[BrassDragon]

I own Tome of Beasts, Tome of Beasts II, Creature Codex, and Deep Magic.

The monster books are really good. Art and design is great and the monsters are much more varied in abilities, rather than just being different sacks of hit points and damage with minor flavor differences, which I feel most of the monsters from Monster Manual and the other WotC monster books are. But what I like the most is that the monsters are more challenging than the official books, these monsters actually challenge the players. And then there are all the pawns for the books

Deep Magic, however, didn't impress me. The spells don't feel balanced (often weak compared to spell level) and some feel downright pointless. The wording in a lot of them is a bit off the mark.
There is an 8th-level spell that causes creatures with darkvision to be blinded and stunned for 1 round, creatures without darkvision can save vs. Con or be blinded. It affects all creatures that can see the caster, even if they're wearing a blindfold...
There's also a weaker version of Feign Death called Heartstop, which I don't really see the point in having, as Feign Death is only a 3rd-level spell and can be cast as a ritual on top, which the other spell can't.

But still, their monster books are incredible.

I'm with you on the inelegant wording of spells in Deep Magic but I feel many of these 'weak variants' spells are there to give options to non-wizard classes. Like your example of Heartstop, which is basically a smaller Feign Death option for warlocks... you're right that it wouldn't make much sense for a Wizard to take it, but a Bard strapped for slots might.

 

[Myrdin Potter]

I would argue that Frog God Games / Necromancer Press are also up there for releasing consistent and good amount of product. If you prefer the shorter, 32 to 48 page modules format, they are about the only large 3PP doing that right now in print and PDF.

I have pretty much all the Kobold Press books and appreciate that their kickstarters offer Fantasy Grounds as an option. I have TPKed parties twice in their shorter modules.

Kobold Press releases a fair amount of player facing content, which is what tips them into more of a leading position for 3PP in my mind.

 

[Marc_C]

I use their Creature Codex all the time. My current D&D world only has the humanoids from that book. Trollkins, Bearkins, etc. It's a nice change from the classic LOTR humanoids. Keeps the PCs on their toes!

 

[MNblockhead]

I would argue that Frog God Games / Necromancer Press are also up there for releasing consistent and good amount of product. If you prefer the shorter, 32 to 48 page modules format, they are about the only large 3PP doing that right now in print and PDF.

I have pretty much all the Kobold Press books and appreciate that their kickstarters offer Fantasy Grounds as an option. I have TPKed parties twice in their shorter modules.

Kobold Press releases a fair amount of player facing content, which is what tips them into more of a leading position for 3PP in my mind.

I'm a big fan of FGG. The physical quality of their books is top notch. They've created some great, iconic setting books. What they are doing with the Lost Lands setting on World Anvil is something I've been waiting for for years. But . . .

They tend to rush things to meet Kickstarter publishing goals and need to do a MUCH better job with copy editing. In particular, and most annoyingly, are the large number of mistakes in their maps.

Kobold Press's content quality control is impressive. On par with WotC's. I've never felt anything I've bought from Kobold Press was shoddy or rushed. I remember an interview of Wolfgang Bauer on Dragon Talk. He brought his copy editor with him. I was rather surprised that he would put his copy editor in the spotlight, versus, say a visual artist or a member of KB's creative writing team. But I think it really speaks to his focus on quality, not just on the art and printed material, but on the content itself.

So many TTRPG materials are poorly edited. They'll spend all this effort and investment on great art and premium printing, only to spoil it with typos, stat block mistakes, and misnumbered and poorly laid out maps.

 

[Marc Radle]

This is it friends—the Southlands Kickstarter project’s FINAL 4 HOURS!

$252,397 pledged and still going!
2,550 backers and still climbing!

The kobolds are pleased as a dragon’s punch at how much fantastic additional content our incredible backers have unlocked. We’ve more adventures—including an exclusive adventure hardcover compilation—new content for the Southlands Worldbook and Southlands Player’s Guide, additional PDFs for backers, and more!

Back the Southlands Kickstarter now!

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

I said it in other thread and I repeat it here again:

The Spanish publisher "Nosolorol" is going to translate "Tome of Beast". This is a good sign of a well done work. And I guess it's the right time, because the translations by Devir Iberia of Pathfinder and Starfinder is very slow, and the conflict between Gale Force Nine and WotC has stopped the translations of more D&D books but that module of the storm king. My intention is to buy the future "Tomo de Bestias" when it arrives to the market.

It is in Spanish languange, but don't worry, you don't need to understand it.

Comenzamos a traducir el Tomo de las Bestias, el aclamado bestiario de Kobold Press

Comenzamos a traducir el Tomo de las Bestias, el aclamado bestiario de Kobold Press

www.nosolorol.com

 

[humble minion]

Southlands 5e kickstarter closed at $265,726, something over 530% funding. Blows all of the previous Kobold kickstarters out of the water, they must be pretty rapt with that.

Hoping the success of this setting book means that they push Brilliant East up on the schedule...