Sneak Peek, Gen Con Playtesting, and Other Goodies
about 1 year ago – Fri, Jun 16, 2023 at 12:09:17 PM

Last week, we showed you a sneak peek of the Astral Destroyer and today we have a sneak peek of the art for the deep gnome, ettercap, black pudding, and basilisk. We’re working to re-imagine many classic fantasy monsters, like making the ettercap extra spidery, and can't wait to show them all to you!

Gen Con Playtesting

Are you going to Gen Con and interested in playtesting Tales of the Valiant? There’s still plenty of room to get into one of the Tales of the Valiant adventures. Sign up for Sea of Bones or Beast of Dib! 

Giveaway

In celebration of the amazing support we’ve received for this Kickstarter from all of you, we are running a giveaway. The winner will receive one Kobold Press book of their choice (this doesn’t apply to Tales of the Valiant books). Please be aware, the giveaway applies to US entrants only, and it ends on June 30th.

Bookmarks

We created some fun Tales of the Valiant-themed bookmarks featuring art from the books to ensure you never lose your place in your book. You can download them for free here! Please note: Kobold Press bookmarks are ineffective as magical wards, banishment tools, or ritual aids.

Streamer/Creator Kit

Are you a streamer, broadcaster, or content creator looking to show your group playing Tales of the Valiant? We put together a free digital kit so you can have Tales of the Valiant-themed overlays and graphics for your game! This kit includes TWO overlay kits, beginner (Kobold) files and advanced (swolbold) files, so you have exactly what you need for your skill level.

•  Kobold Quick Overlays. This kit contains all the overlays you need to get going, Kobold, quick! Each PNG file is a full 1920x1080px format, with the spots for your cameras. Just add your text, and you are ready to go!
•  Swolbold Swol Overlays. This kit contains folders with each asset saved in 1920x1080px in PNG format. You will also see a PSD file that holds every single overlay in artboards, and color-coded folders allow you to build any overlay you need for your creative endeavors.
•  Valiant 4. The digital kit also includes tokens and art for the Valiant 4, a group of pre-generated characters using the content in the Tales of the Valiant preview PDF.

If you use these kits, be sure to include the Tales of the Valiant and Kobold Press logos in your streams and videos to help spread the word for Tales of the Valiant, and if you stream or record your game using these overlays, graphics, and/or tokens, feel free to let us know! We would love to see them in action and to share your game with others.

Happy Gaming!

-The Kobold Crew

Design Diary - Monsters
about 1 year ago – Fri, Jun 09, 2023 at 10:17:41 AM

Today, we have another design diary! This time the diary is from designer JB Little, who reworked many of the traditional monsters you see in the preview PDF, like the goblin and its new goblin captain.

To help make the more traditional monsters unique, JB focused his attention on two design options: Conditions and Gated Features. 

•  Conditions: Giving monsters the ability to cause conditions makes some of the more unassuming monsters more dangerous, and it allows PCs capable of undoing or avoiding those conditions feel more heroic.
•  Gated Features: Giving monsters unique features that require specific conditions encourages both GMs and players to approach each encounter differently, changing tactics based on the monster.

To see JB's full thoughts on conditions and gated features and how he implemented these design options in some of the Tales of the Valiant monsters, check out the full design diary!

Halfway There and New Stretch Goals
about 1 year ago – Thu, Jun 08, 2023 at 10:55:20 AM

Wow! We’re only halfway through the Kickstarter, and your support so far has been phenomenal! Here’s a quick summary of the 14 stretch goals you’ve unlocked so far, including links to the updates where you can get more details about some of them:

• 3 short-form adventures (Spore Lord, Fortress of Dib, and Return of Dib) perfect for introducing Tales of the Valiant to new and veteran players
• 3 new monsters in Monster Vault: Kobold Witch, Yellow Dragon, and Wickerbeast
• 2 Designer AMAs: one about the best of 5e & the best of ToV (and answering a lot of questions from all of you) and one about classes (which will occur at a future date)
• 2 PDF guides for free to all backers at the $48 tier or higher: one that teaches you how to speak Draconic and one all about The Labyrinth 
• 1 additional partner adventure in the Partner Adventure Pack, which was detailed in this update
• 1 form-fillable character sheet, which you can download here 
• 1 section on encounter building in Monster Vault
• 1 additional backer-exclusive playtest (of the Bard and Warlock classes) which will happen in August
• 50 “slots” for backer-submitted world summaries to go into the Labyrinth

New Stretch Goals

The kobolds have been hard at work putting together more stretch goals, and today we’re revealing them. We’ve always wanted a good excuse to include a GM screen in a Kickstarter, and you wonderful backers have given us that opportunity! If the stretch goal is unlocked, the GM screen will be included in all pledges that include the two-book set in a slipcase. If unlocked, the GM screen will also be available as a separate add-on after the Kickstarter ends during the pledge management phase.

We’re also happy to announce that we will (if the stretch goal is unlocked) expand the backer-submitted world summaries to 70 and include another short-form adventure, the Hidden Tomb of Nargoth!

The Valiant 4

Today, we released pre-generated characters with complete character sheets for a cleric, fighter, rogue, and wizard. You can check out these characters and download their character sheets on the Tales of the Valiant website. In yesterday’s Kobold Chats, Erik took a look at the characters. You can see that VoD right now on Twitch or check our Youtube Channel early next week.

Thank you all so much for your support! Please continue shouting about this Kickstarter from fences, trees, wagons, and other tall locations to ensure as many kobolds and non-kobolds as possible hear about it!

Sneak Peek - Astral Destroyer
about 1 year ago – Wed, Jun 07, 2023 at 10:02:40 AM

Although we are putting our unique Kobold spin on the monsters you know and love from the SRD, we are including over 50 brand-new, never-before-seen monsters in Monster Vault. Today, we’re taking a sneak peek at one such monster: the Astral Destroyer!

Please keep in mind, this is a preview, and the specifics of the Astral Destroyer are subject to change after development and editing.

• Astral destroyers roam the Astral and outer planes, consuming reality. They are the death of any world they alight upon, rending it apart chunks at a time and slowly consuming the remains.
• The astral destroyer is drawn to magic, particularly magically active worlds, and its attacks rend magic, dispelling magical protections.
• A legendary monster, the astral destroyer can alter reality around it, consuming the surrounding terrain—and even the PCs!

Design Diary - Let's Talk Compatibility
about 1 year ago – Fri, Jun 02, 2023 at 12:59:25 PM

Today, we have another design diary from the lead designer behind Tales of the Valiant, Celeste Conowitch! This design diary discusses what 5E compatibility means to us.

To us, 5E compatibility means:

• You don’t need to relearn how to play the game.
• You can run any 5E module with Tales of the Valiant rules.
• A character made with 5E rules can play at the same table as a character made with ToV rules.

For a deeper dive on each of these definitions of compatibility and on what you can expect with regards to converting between 5E and ToV, check out the full design diary. 

Miss Last Week’s Discord AMA?

Good news! The Discord AMA with Celeste Conowitch, Wolfgang Baur, and Sebastian Rombach is now available to watch on Youtube.