I began my design career with Kobold Press. Actually, it was *before* there was a Kobold Press and there was only Open Game Design which Wolfgang ran via LiveJournal (for those old folks like me who remember that). So I’ve been working for the company off and on since the beginning.
But I’ve been asked to talk about the middle years of the company, from 2017 to 2020. I was just a freelancer in those days so I wasn’t privy to the inner conversations of the company but I can tell you what I can. So let’s set the wayback machine to 2017.
Woosh Woosh Woosh (that’s the sound of the wayback machine as it whisks us back to those bygone days!)
2017: Transition Continues
When fifth edition burst onto the scene in 2014, we had shifted basically all of our design work to Pathfinder. The three years leading up to 2017 saw a gradual shift toward 5E.
But even in 2017 we still were putting out a few Pathfinder related projects. This was the year that saw Wrath of the River King, Streets of Zobeck (now compiled into Zobeck: Clockwork City), Demon Cults & Secret Societies, as well as Courts of the Shadow Fey. We also saw the release of more Deep Magic PDFs, specifically numbers 9 to 14. On the Pathfinder side, we put out the Midgard Player’s Guide and the New Paths Compendium. We also released the Kobold Guide to Gamemastering.
My contribution to Kobold this year was in the New Paths Compendium. It was the only title I was involved with during that year, but behind the scenes, big things were afoot.
2018: Kobolds, Charge!
This was a banner year for the company with the release of over fourteen titles! The project I had been working on burst forth as the 5E Midgard Worldbook. Wolfgang knew I had studied medieval history and literature, so he asked me to write a new version of the Seven Cities chapter, advancing the timeline and consolidating the older material with the results of released adventures.
There was (and still is) a ton of interest in Midgard, so we began the Warlock eZine as a Patreon project. Each month, Patreon backers received a little black and white booklet with four or five articles about or adventures set in Midgard.
This was also the first year I got to work with the wonderful Meagan Maricle who had been hired as an editor the year before. Working with Meagan is amazing because she is just as excited about your project as you are. She also has the uncanny ability to get you to change your mind about design choices without you realizing you’ve been talked around to her point of view.
Some of the bigger titles from this year were Tome of Beasts 1 and Creature Codex, and the Midgard Hero’s Handbook. One of my favorite books of 2018 was Midgard Sagas. It contains the very first 5E thing I designed, Murder on the Crossroads.
The adventure was written back in 2014 or 2015. I had literally just gotten the 5E books when I mentioned to Wolfgang that I had an idea for a murder mystery. He surprised me by telling me to write it for him. Then nothing happened with it for about two to three years. I wasn’t overly bothered by this because I came out of the screenwriting world where it is common to get paid to write something that is immediately shelved. So it was to my surprise and delight when Murder on the Crossroads appeared in Midgard Sagas.
2019: Warlock Domination
I probably could count how many Warlocks were released in 2019 but I didn’t want to do all the math. There were a TON of them.
The actual releases this year were certainly less than 2018, but the quality and size increased. Our books had always been good, but this was the first year that I looked at them next to stuff from other companies and realized that ours not only held their own, but were better in a lot of ways. It was a really cool and proud moment.
We released Tales of the Old Margreve (newly updated to The Old Margreve), the Complete Kobold Guide to Game Design, and Necropolis of the Mailed Fist, among other titles. I was particularly happy to see the release of the first Warlock Grimoire. Now people other than the Patreon backers got their hands on a massive amount of Midgard material, some of which I designed.
2020: Lockdown Designing
Then the pandemic happened. Honestly? My work life was pretty much unchanged since I was writing full time anyway. It was a frightening time, yet despite the uncertainty and economic hardships, Kobold Press forged onward. We released seven major titles and a ton more Warlocks. Among the most notable titles were Tome of Beasts 2, Empire of the Ghouls, and the Underworld Player’s Guide. We also saw the release of the second Warlock Grimoire.
A special note should be said about one of the biggest releases of 2020, which was Deep Magic. This was a book combining all of the Deep Magic PDFs that we’d been writing for years and combining them into a single hardcover along with tons of new material. We fixed it all up and then re-released volumes 1 and 2 in a two-book set very recently. I think there are some gems in there, many of which I continue to use in my home games.
2021: Preview
I wasn’t asked to talk about 2021, but I wanted to sneak in a word about one release from this year that I was really proud of. I had been talking to Wolfgang . . . okay, I had been badgering Wolfgang about writing a book about the Planes. I’ve been a Planescape fan since forever, so I was nagging Wolfgang about it.
He finally compromised by letting me write a singular Warlock issue called Warlock Guide to the Planes. That issue allowed me to reconnect with my favorite NPC, Vissool Gaggaarth, the swashbuckling gentleman mimic. Guide to the Planes was a joy to write and still brings a smile to my face when I look through it.
The 2017 to 2020 period of my life was a time of transition for me as I moved away from screenwriting to devote myself to game design. I’ve always held a special place in my heart for Kobold Press, and today, it’s a dream come true to be a full-time designer for the company.
All in all, from 2017 to 2020, Kobold Press released more than 40 titles and numerous collections of pawns and blog material.
2021–2025 . . . Next Week!
Next up, senior designer Celeste Conowitch will bring us (mostly) up to the present!
Read more at this site