Kobold Press

Here is their announcement:

Flaring this OGL because I'm not sure what else it would fall under.

The new playtest was just released via their email list. I will edit this to include a link when it updates on their website.

This looks... interesting. Wizards get a "divine sense-esque" Detect Magic ability (with the spell detect magic no longer being a ritual), fighters have a built in "regain HP at zero" once per day, and they are actually including expertise in attack rolls on occasion.

Very interested to see what people think on this.

EDIT:

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Good news for 3PP products. From Kobold Press:

This means Kobold Press will release its current Kickstarter projects as planned, including Campaign Builder: Cities & Towns (already printed and on its way to backers this winter).

In particular, Deep Magic Volume 2 will remain fully compatible with the 5E rules. We are working with our VTT partners to maintain support for digital platforms.

EDIT: Well, it's official. Seems that Kobold Press is intending to pull another Paizo, and split off the 5E Ruleset. Here's the:

• to the announcement

• Relevent text of that page: "Kobold Press is also moving forward with some clear-eyed work on keeping the 5E rule set available, open, and subscription-free for those who love it: "

The first Project Black Flag playtest came out recently, and it seems Kobold Press had some negative feedback on how similar the new RPG system is to D&D 5e. They've since released a highly detailed blog post explaining that their "5e clone" (their words) is being designed with the aim of de-monopolising D&D. In Celeste Conowitch's words, “I am not ready to give [D&D] up or let its future be controlled by a single company”.

I've summarised the key points from Kobold Press here:

What do you think of Kobold Press' design choices so far? How do you think this RPG system will change things for D&D, if at all?

/

Good news for 3PP products. From Kobold Press:

This means Kobold Press will release its current Kickstarter projects as planned, including Campaign Builder: Cities & Towns (already printed and on its way to backers this winter).

In particular, Deep Magic Volume 2 will remain fully compatible with the 5E rules. We are working with our VTT partners to maintain support for digital platforms.

As we look ahead, it becomes even more important for our actions to represent our values. While we wait to see what the future holds, we are moving forward with clear-eyed work on a new Core Fantasy tabletop ruleset: available, open, and subscription-free for those who love it—Code Name: Project Black Flag.

EDIT: Seems that Kobold Press is intending to pull another Paizo, and split off the 5E Ruleset. Here's the and relevent Text: "Kobold Press is also moving forward with some clear-eyed work on keeping the 5E rule set available, open, and subscription-free for those who love it: "

First big 3PP publisher notice of pushback I've seen. I'd have hoped Paizo would comment first, but (as they say) the first thing lawyers tell you is to "keep your mouth shut". LOL... However, I did see on another forum that Erik Mona was breathing fire as he rallied the troops in a staff meeting at Paizo yesterday. Cheers and applause from all, even those on Facebook.

Somewhat Pathfinder-adjacent, but I thought this would be interesting for people following the OGL/ORC news at the moment. Kobold Press recently announced a new RPG system, and it shared some new details yesterday - including that the system will operate under Paizo's ORC once that's finalised.

Details here (disclaimer that I worked on this article):

I'm curious about both which newer books are worth looking up AND which older books are still good today.

I said "aside from Kobold Press" in the title mainly because from all the books I found and looked into, none caught my interest (especially their player options. Their monster are okay)

ICYMI, Kobold Press is having a big sale as it prepares to move warehouses. That means a huge pile of 5e supplements are available for a discount - I've shared details here:

Are there any of these books that you think are a must-have for a D&D lover?

Apologies for using the Flair if it's only for official staff, I am just a random denizen of the sub.

New release to Dndbeyond, Tome of Beasts. Over 400 monsters inside.

Does anyone have experience with this? How do we feel with now at least 4 third party books being added to Dndbeyond?

Maybe I missed some press release or something but I thought the Project Black Flag was part of the crusade against WoTC and going to be something to divert off of 5e and avoid supporting WoTC products. Literally the first paragraph of the playtest document says you need WoTC 5e materials to create a character.

What am I missing here? Was I misinterpreting the project Black Flag announcement this whole time?

I noticed there's a new Humble Bundle up of 5e and old school material by third-parties:

There's also a few similar things up on Bundle of Holding:

Now seems like a good time to support the indies