D&D 5E Kobold Press and their products

[kevbeck45]

Wondering if anyone here has purchased any of the Kobold Press products and if they have added anything to your game? Are they worth it if you already have all the 5e books to fall back on? Thanks.

 

[mcmillan]

there was a pretty long thread not too long ago that touched on this topic D&D 5E - Kobold Press (and are they the new Paizo?)

 

[Mercurius]

The short and common answer: Yes, they're really good - at least as good as WotC, and a lot of folks consider their products of overall higher quality. At the very least, they're comparable.

A bit more, with different areas:

SPLATS: Tome of Beasts I and 2, Creature Codex 1 and 2, Midgard Heroes Handbook, Deep Magic. I don't have the last one, but they're all excellent - especially the four monster books. I especially like the pocket sized, which are both much cheaper and handier to have at the table. Highly recommended. The Heroes book has lots of alternate classes and such, and is really good.

SETTING: Midgard Worldbook, Zobeck Gazetteer. In my opinion, the best well-known and in-print D&D setting. It is kitchen sink but closer to "magical Europe" than, say, Golarion or the Forgotten Realms. It has some really creative areas, and is just well done, top to bottom, with a more cohesive feel than other kitchen sink settings. Zobeck is the classic starting town, very Germanic in feel.

CAMPAIGNS/STORY ARCS: Tales from the Old Margreve, Empire of the Ghouls, Courts of the Shadow Fey. WotC-style mega-adventures. I only have Old Margreve, but it is really great sandboxy forest setting. Highly recommended. The other two look good, with Empire being their most recent offering.

ADVENTURES: Lairs books, Midgard Sagas, etc. I haven't investigated these too much, but the Lairs books seem really good and are tied in with the big story arcs.

OTHER: They have a bunch of other stuff, including Lair-specific player's guides, pawns, etc. I haven't really investigated this stuff. The Design series is excellent.

 

[Nebulous]

In short, I would highly recommend all their stuff. I'm running Tales from the Old Margreve and it has breathed new life into the stale 5e game. The monster manuals are VICIOUS and will hand players their asses. Exploding Toads. My players will never utter those words again without shuddering. Zobeck is a badass city setting, and the world in general is very well thought out and rich in lore. Deep Magic adds hundreds of new spells, most of them rather interesting. New races and subclasses make it feel all new as well. So basically, it's such an overhaul to D&D that while the rules are identical it feels like a new game, and that's what I needed. I have Empire of the Ghouls and Court of the Shadow Fey. They look solid. In fact, every product is at least as good if not better than WotC.

Having access to a world filled to the brim with hundreds of new enemies and allies goes a long way toward frightening players. They can't metagame anything now because they've never seen most of what is getting thrown at them.

My campaign thread is here

D&D 5E - 5e - Tales of the Old Margreve (Roll20) Campaign Recaps

This is the Kobold Press Midgard campaign setting, and in particular the adventure book focusing solely on the Margreve Forest. We started at 1st level and the campaign is still ongoing. There is no set end point, but probably won't go past 7th or 8th level. The adventure is being run in...

www.enworld.org

Edit: Be aware that the CR of many Tome and Codex monsters hits way above an equivalent in the core MM. You can TPK a party if you're not careful.

 

[Morrus]

The short and common answer: Yes, they're really good - at least as good as WotC, and a lot of folks consider their products of overall higher quality. At the very least, they're comparable.

I'd agree with that. I'm far more interested in KP stuff.

 

[R_J_K75]

I own Tome of Beasts I and 2, Creature Codex 1 and Zobeck. Their monster manuals are cool and have some unique monsters I think they are worth the money, I use them more than WotC MM's. I havent read or used Zobeck much, just read bits and pieces. I used a few monsters out of it for a specific adventure I wrote but dont have an opinion other than that.

 

[Swarmkeeper]

SPLATS: Tome of Beasts I and 2, Creature Codex 1 and 2, ...

That was cruel! I thought I had missed something big!

Otherwise, good KP review.

 

[Diceyguy]

I replace many of the monsters in the standard WoTC products with KP monsters it keeps things fresh for players who are used to the standard WoTc 5e Monster offerings.

 

[Alzrius]

They're not 5E specific, but I think that the various Kobold Guides (affiliate link) are incredibly insightful for what they offer. I heartily recommend them to any RPG fan, regardless of what you play.

 

[Weiley31]

Courts of the Shadow Fey is pretty damn cool. If you wanted it to represent dealing with the courtly politics of the Unseelie Courts on their own grounds, then you can certainly do so. And Kobold's Press take on the Fey feel more in tune with how they are in their actual mythology.

I've yet to get their Tome of Beasts, but from what I understand, if you complain that 5E MM is easy mode then your gonna be a lot more happier with Kobold's take on the MM.

Also: Beer Domain for Clerics.
I don't drink but that is a great idea for a Brewer character in DND.