Kobold Press

Kobold Press is an independent roleplaying-game publisher founded by game designer and editor Wolfgang Baur. Its roots reach back to Kobold Quarterly, a magazine Baur launched in 2007 for fantasy tabletop gaming. The publishing operation later expanded into adventures, rules supplements, and campaign settings, becoming especially associated with the Midgard setting and with books for Dungeons-and-Dragons Fifth Edition. Midgard is Kobold Press’s signature fantasy world. It is not simply a renamed generic medieval setting: its history includes the Dragon Empire, the Crossroads region, and the influence of the shadowy Shadow Fey. The setting also gives prominent roles to nonhuman cultures and distinctive political powers, including the Southlands and the Free City of Zobeck. Zobeck, a city-state shaped by trade, industry, and goblin experimentation, has served as one of Midgard’s recurring centers. The company’s best-known Fifth Edition bestiaries are Tome of Beasts and Creature Codex. Tome of Beasts appeared in 2016 after a Kickstarter campaign and collected hundreds of monsters designed to provide alternatives to familiar fantasy opponents. Creature Codex followed in 2018, adding another large collection of original creatures. These books became notable references for game masters because they supplied complete statistics, lore, and encounter concepts rather than merely naming new monsters. Kobold Press also published Deep Magic, a substantial Fifth Edition magic supplement organized around specialized schools and traditions, and Midgard campaign books that detail the setting’s regions, religions, factions, and adventures. Its catalog includes the Empire of the Ghouls campaign, an underworld-spanning adventure path set in Midgard, as well as city and regional guides intended to support longer campaigns. In 2023, Kobold Press launched Project Black Flag, a public initiative to develop a new fantasy roleplaying game after changes surrounding Wizards of the Coast’s Open Game License caused uncertainty across the Dungeons-and-Dragons publishing community. The project’s eventual game, Tales of the Valiant, was presented as a compatible-but-independent alternative rather than as a new edition of Dungeons-and-Dragons. Kobold Press released the Tales of the Valiant Player’s Guide and Monster Vault in 2024, establishing a rules foundation separate from its earlier Fifth Edition publications. Across these projects, Kobold Press’s identity rests on recognizable authorship: Baur’s editorial background, the Midgard setting’s recurring geography and mythology, and a deliberate emphasis on expansive monster and magic collections. Its work has therefore influenced both players seeking a detailed campaign. These publications connect its setting material, rules design, and bestiary work into a coherent publishing program.