News, Entertainment and Free Stuff for Pathfinder RPG,  13th Age, and  D&D

Dear

The kobold warrens are abuzz with some holiday treats, a handful of new projects, and many a cup of ratnog will be hoisted over the next few weeks as we bear down to finish the Deep Magic first layout and the edits on various adventures for 2014. Also, I've been playing too much Cardhunter, but I'm over it. Really.

We've added some surprisingly affordable Q-Workshop dice to the Kobold Store, including official Pathfinder dice for Rise of the Runelords and the super-beautiful Curse of the Crimson Throne dice. We hope you like them, and that they always roll true for you.

Also: the new Monarch of the Monsters game design contest is now live! Details below.

Happy gaming!

Wolfgang Baur,

Kobold-in-Chief

Kobold Press, Twitter, Facebook, Google+

 Advanced Races: Ravenfolk Now Available

Few races in Midgard live amid so much rumor, suspicion and outright falsehood as the ravenfolk.

They are condemned as solitary wanderers bearing misfortune, and praised as messengers from the gods. But these truths, half-truths and lies conceal a greater mystery that very few outsiders know...

Advanced Races 5: Ravenfolk gives you everything you need to play a ravenfolk PC in Midgard or in into the setting of your choice. Compatible with Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, this 19-page book by designer Wade Rockett includes:

• The ravenfolk themselves, their rookeries, and their secret feather-language
• 13 alternate racial traits, and 6 new ravenfolk feats
• 5 new archetypes including Doom Croaker, Sea Raven and Thief of Secrets
• New spells, magic items, and exotic weapons
• And much more!

The gods have need of you: trickster, prophet, blade-master, spy. Will you answer the call? 

To whet your appetite, here's one of the new ravenfolk spells:

Drink Deep From Mimir's Well 

School divination [raven]; Level cleric 1, druid 1 

Casting Time 1 standard action 

Components V, S, DF (Wotan) 

Range personal 

Duration instantaneous 

Saving Throw Will (negates); Spell Resistance yes 

You call on the wisdom of the runes and sky to provide you with guidance. Sometimes a white feather of insight falls into your claws; more often, the world remains mysterious. 

Roll 1d20 and add your Wisdom bonus to the roll (huginn receive a +1 racial bonus to this roll). On a result of 16 or better the Game Master provides you with some obscure but useful piece of advice that applies to your character. On a roll of less than 16 the GM provides some other bit of wisdom that is largely useless to adventuring, such as, "Be kind to animals," or "If you love something, set it free."  

You can find Advanced Races 4: Ravenfolk at DriveThru RPG or Paizo.com!  

 Greyhawk Maps Project

Fantasy cartographer Anna B. Meyer dreamed about making a detailed map of Greyhawk. Now she's using digital tools to accomplish much more.

Anna's using Bryce 3d terrain mapping software to create a zoomable, interactive map of Greyhawk -- see her latest version here. 

Upcoming stages of the project include:

• High Resolution files ready to print wall maps of various sizes
• E-Book version of an Flanaess Atlas in the form of a layered PDF
• Releasing all the source files, under the Creative common non commercial license, in several different formats: CorelDraw, Illustrator, SVG, Photoshop.
  Writing tutorials that can be used to bring others up to speed on how to use the material for their own projects, making it possible to map your own version of Greyhawk.

You can follow the Greyhawk Maps Project on Anna's blog.

 Dice at Kobold Store

There's always room for dice--especially when it's a great deal on official Pathfinder dice from Q-Workshop, or dwarven runic dice, or Cthulhu dice, or steampunk dice. 

Check out the selection of high-quality polyhedrals at very friendly prices in the Kobold Store today!

 13th Age SRD Released

The new d20-rolling fantasy RPG by Jonathan Tweet and Rob Heinsoo made all of its open content available to fans and 3rd party publishers, unleashing a flurry of new projects.

The 13th Age Archmage Engine SRD is new available in Word and PDF formats, as well as an official wiki (and several unofficial ones.) 

Several designers and publishers have announced new projects as a result:

• Sersa Victory has switched systems from Pathfinder to 13th Age for his Kobold Press adventure Crown of Charon 
• David Flor of Darklight Interactive announced a new post-apocalyptic RPG to be built on the Archmage Engine
• We have an upcoming 13th Age-compatible project designed by Fire Opal Media's Ash Law and edited by Wade Rockett. Details soon! (Hint: it rhymes with "Widgard Mestiary".)

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Gary Gygax & the Chili

RPG editor and Hobbit expert John Rateliff recently discovered a clipping of Gary Gygax judging a chili contest in Lake Geneva in the mid-90s. It's a nice find.

Rateliff writes here's "a clipping from a local news paper of TSR founder and D &D co-creator Gary Gygax judging a local chili contest. ...t being low-res newsprint the image doesn't reproduce all that well. Gygax is the second from the left.

I have no memory of this clipping at all, or any idea how it found its way into those papers. The date was sometime between February 5th (the date of the contest) and 14th (since, as Jeff Grubb pointed out, there's an add for Valentine's Day on the back), but I don't know the year; probably '95, '96, or '97." 

It's a nice human side of the RPG creator. Got any brush-with-designers stories you'd like to share? Send 'em in!

Why White Necromancers Rule

The Expanded White NEcromancer ruled the 3PP Sales Chart for a month--and this review by Mikaze digs a little into *why*.

I have no memory of this clipping at all, or any idea how it found its way into those papers. The date was sometime between February 5th (the date of the contest) and 14th (since, as Jeff Grubb pointed out, there's an add for Valentine's Day on the back), but I don't know the year; probably '95, '96, or '97." 

It's a nice human side of the RPG creator. Got any brush-with-designers stories you'd like to share? Send 'em in!

Monarch of the Monsters Game Design Contest 

Let us once again venture forth to Monster Island and see what our creative monster artisans have wrought for our deadly amusement. Will you choose to join the ranks of the monster artisans and set your monster creation against those of others?

We certainly up you will take up the challenge to impress our judges and your fellow gamers in the Monarch of the Monsters Contest, the greatest and most glorious contest ever!

In this, our fourth tournament of monster design, the prizes include a freelance contract and the coveted CROWN OF THE MONSTER MONARCH!

Full details here; deadline is Friday, November 29.

Google Earth Your Campaign  

Christiaan Gerritsen over at the We Burn Down the Inn blog shows how to turn your flat world map for a campaign setting into a layered, awesome Google Earth map. 

This map shows distances, is zoomable, and has all the Google Earth features you probably already know. It's just featuring your world's coastlines, cities, and so forth. Don't forget to save the file, and share it with the world.

How to Google Earth Your Campaign World

 Reviews

The natural order of things is that the kobolds print games and adventures, and people sometimes review them.

Kobold Press 2014 Calendar, ★★★★★

Aeyman writes: "Each month features a fantastic work, and most exciting of all, some of the art is from as of yet unpublished Kobold Press products, meaning I'm seeing the art for the first time! Overall, a great calendar that I'll hang proudly on my wall."

Brelsh writes: "With Kobold's line-up of talent you expect a litany of great art. They deliver every page..... The months and days are noted with various facts & trivia related to our beloved hobby. The history entries cover artists & authors birthdays, historical events (e.g. WotC purchases TSR) as well upcoming events (e.g. Gen Con 2014).

"I like it. I like it a lot. Once again the Kobolds have delivered a top notch product. Excellent quality, top tier art and layout coupled with esoteric bits of gaming lore. $10 well spent and I'll likely pick up a few more as gifts for my gaming friends." 

 Full reviews at Paizo

Midgard Tales, ★★★★★

The Cool Ship writes: "Midgard Tales is a hardcover tome (or pdf) that contains 13 Pathfinder adventures spanning levels 1-11. All the adventures ... could all be easily ported over to nearly any fantasy setting with a minimum of effort.

"The adventures are presented in a straightforward manner, with a quick adventure overviews, ways to work the adventures into your game, and a clear delineation of what is for GMs and what is for players. In some cases, I only had about a half-hour to prepare, but I was able to run the adventure like I had been preparing for weeks.

"I want to give a special shout-out to Richard Pett, the author of the "Sorrow" adventure in Midgard Tales. My players absolutely loved this adventure and told me it was the best roleplaying experience I'd run in a long time. So thanks for making me look good, sir!

"I am pleased with the purchase and highly recommend Midgard Tales."

Full review at Paizo

Mayhem Beneath Demon Mountain, ★★★★

Endzeitgeist writes: "...Author Chris Lozaga has managed to do something hard - confront PCs with an iconic, overwhelming, epic location without having to resort to hard killer-encounters, instead creating a deadly tapestry of weirdness that should make for a truly unique experience.

"I did not expect to like this module and its deceptive brevity also points toward an experience unbefitting of the Demon Mountain - when it isn't. When it actually does the hard thing and manages to capture this epic location in all its weird glory, while leaving the true horrors of the mountain and its master up for appropriately high-level future sojourns when the PCs reach the apex of their powers."

Full review at Paizo

Dark Fey, ★★★★

Alan G writes: "Good quality. Good content. Over all the content was unique and on topic. I would recommend this title to anyone playing any game with fey. I'm running an Eberron game and these creatures mapped to that world nicely."

Full review at d20pfsrd.com 

If you have reviewed a Kobold Press release, let us know! 

 Official Kobold Miscellany

Free options, inspirations, and salutes to fantasy gaming you might have missed.

Bag of Lost Things

This unassuming brown leather bag appears to be little more than a bag of holding, albeit one with a very strong aura. Originally, that is what it was....

Lost Magic

We've had magic on our minds lately, and here's a handful of new spells of interest: Lesser Metal Wind, Inner Secrets, and the Curse of Man.

13th Age: Ravenfolk 

A new PC race for 13th Age fans: the Westernized tengu arrive in the form of the ravenfolk, tricksters and thieves sure to be friends of the Prince of Shadows.

Dark Teleportation and Other Horrors
Teleportation magic is inherently creepy, and when mages learn the spell the campaign always changes. Learn about one GM's emphasis on the possibility of horrible teleportation accidents, as a way to minimize the spell's casual use without preventing the players from using it when important or necessary.

The Random DM

Ah, random tables. How we love them. The Random DM furnished a couple of beauties this month, including 20 random castle names and 20 random pits (featuring the Curse Pit, Reverse Pit and Hypnopit.)

Called Shots in Pathfinder RPG
Called shots are not a new idea, and they aren't even unique to Pathfinder as a game. The idea is always the same, too; rather than just taking a generic attack at an enemy, the character chooses to aim for a specific part of that enemy's body. A dissection of the rules for called shots in Pathfinder for the curious.  

 Project Updates

Forging ahead with the spells layout for Deep Magic!

Journeys to the West

Bosun's Book still in layout, due to ship in 2014. All other rewards completed.

Tell Your Friends 

 
Please do forward this free email and RPG offer to fellow gamers --- we always, always appreciate word of mouth, because kobolds may be small, but you help make us mighty.

Help a reptile out! 

Seriously, please help spread the word. The forward email link is at the bottom left of this message. Click it! Click it now!