#project black flag

[dailyadventureprompts]

Dungeon: Grave Portent

Tormented by nightmares of a darkened sarcophagus in the depths of an infamous cavern tomb, a nobleman sends the party to investigate the source of these visions fearing one of his rivals is using dark magic in an attempt to ruin him, possibly from beyond the grave.

Once known as the graven sepulcher the necropolis was dedicated to Illmater and Located in a cavern thought to be the final resting place of one of his saints. For more than a century it was the go-to place to be interred if you were a pious elder of the temple or someone wealthy who wanted their lifetime of sins forgotten beneath a sacred slab. Then a war and ensuing famine broke out, and the temple of Illmater took it upon themselves to house the swelling ranks of the dead. Once the paupers outnumbered the proud and the pious the cavern tomb lost much of it's prestige, coming to be known in the common day as "the bone pit"

Adventure Hooks:

Given it's remote location few venture to the old necropolis anymore, with the few countryfolk leaving their swaddled dead on the interior stairs for fear of braving its darkened depths. The party may be asked to carry one of these bodies in return for asking for directions, sworn to see it to its destination less they suffer the curse of the bereaved and recently dead. Along their way they'll be pestered by a Yeth hound who wants nothing more than to eat and despoil the body, simply for the wrongness of it all.

With its many hiding places and forboding reputation the necropolis is a great place to lay low, which explains the gang of outlaws currently hiding from the law in its upper reaches after robbing a tax wagon. If the party encounter them they'll pretend to be peaceful pilgrims, but they're intent on not sharing their takings and won't hesitate to add a few more bodies to the bonepit if necessary.

Apart from the usual shades and skeleton warriors, the necropolis is haunted by a Mohrg spawned from the corpse of a wealthy noblewoman who thought it a delicious irony that she could pay to be buried among saints and holyfolk despite her secret history of serial murder. Only awakening after the tomb's consecration decayed and with hazy recollections of who she was, the Mohrg will observe the party from the shadows, following them back to town if it can to become an enduring thorn in their side.

In the depths of the necropolis the party will find the sarcophagus open and waiting, just as the nobleman described it. Beside they will encounter a death priest of Nerull, god of unnamed graves, who will council them about the vision's meaning: The sarcophogus is the nobleman's destined end, and should he not come to rest within it soon a great peril will befall the land. Its up to them to deliver the bad news and convince the nobleman to make a selfless sacrifice, or perhaps contrive an unfortunate accident and make off with his corpse.

Artsource

[tabletop-rpgs]

Playtest Packet One from Project Black Flag out now!

LINK

[rpgsandbox]

Kobold Press’s Project Black Flag playtesting is already underway, and the deadline for feedback on the first packet (character building) is imminent.

Download the packet at DriveThruRPG:

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/426952/Project-Black-Flag-Playtest-Packet-1-Lineage--Heritage

or from here:

https://d2qwlo0rgdq9bs.cloudfront.net/Black+Flag+Playtest+Packet+1.pdf

Feedback form:

https://koboldpress.com/project-black-flag-playtest-packet-1-feedback/

[tjtrewin]

I invented a new pangram for my debut blackletter font: Undaunted 😆

[dungeonmalcontent]

You mentioned a while back when the OGL stuff was happening that you were thinking about porting grimdark and dangerous to pathfinder. If you were to do so, would it need to be purchased again if I already bought the 5e one?

This is a good question, though I admit the answer is at least a little disappointing.

So, because of other licensing legal stuff, I am not confident I would be able to sell a generic/Pathfinder variant of G&D. Partially because I've already sold the content under the DMsGuild licensing agreement, but also because of things that prevent you from selling Pathfinder compatible content without jumping through some more dramatic hoops than I had initially understood. In short, it would be an incredibly in-depth re-write. And if I did do the re-write, I would not be able to bundle it into the package on DMsGuild—so it would need to be a separate purchase (since I wouldn't do that work for free and I can't track my previous buyers).

However. And this is the good news, a large chunk of the concepts present in the content of G&D are already in Pathfinder 2e. A lot of it is scattered throughout different books; however, because most of my content is player options, you can just use the Paizo endorsed character building tools (like Pathbuilder) and libraries to get access to all the expanded player character building content for free. The only major thing I'm fairly confident that Pathfinder doesn't have is a sacrifant stand-in, but the oracle class option isn't terribly far off.

So, for everyone that loves this content but not WotC (myself included) you aren't missing anything by not playing 5e d&d and you can still enjoy this kind of content (if not G&D itself) with other systems. Pathfinder has a lot of this baked in. And, from what I've seen, the Kobold Press RPG (currently code named Blackflag) is 5e compatible enough that G&D should be fully compatible with only very minor tweaks (mostly with race and background options).

I'm very grateful for everyone that has stuck with me on this project and been supportive (really, ya'll have been so supportive and I love you for it), especially with all the dickery on the part of Hasbro and WotC. Sadly, I don't have the resources at the moment to re-write Grimdark & Dangerous for another RPG. What I'm lacking right now is mostly time and psychological/emotional drive. I will absolutely stick by my commitments regarding G&D, because I do love this project and want to make it the best version of the book I can. I am a man of my word, and I have made no promise regarding this book that I am not willing to fight tooth and nail to keep. But I don't think any new promises will be forthcoming.

Again, thank you to everyone that has supported this project and continues to do so. I wrote the book for you, so that you can have characters that suffer like we all do (maybe a little worse).

-WorryWrite

[demiplanardemagogue]

Orc replaces Furies in announcement of new contract with the Dark Powers

The Furies of the Gray Wastes were scheduled today to announce a new, more draconian system of Powers Checks, one that granted the Dark Powers a perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free sublicense to everyone’s suffering. “This revised system is intended to protect the Evil Brand* by reducing corrupter confusion, preventing good actors from challenging it...” said an excerpt from a purportedly leaked draft of the new Powers Check system scroll. All old pacts with the Dark Powers were to be revoked. (*Prerequisite for the feat they’re trying to get now.)

However, due to unforeseeable circumstances- merely technical closed border issues, really- the Furies failed to make an appearance for the momentous announcement. Unexpectedly, an Orc along with a kobold waving a black fag appeared in their place. Said Orc offered an alternative pact with powers previously unknown. Orcs have thus far been also been unknown in our worlds, but this turn of events may signify a rising tide of Orc appearances.

Since the rumors of a new Powers Check system began, the Furies have been missing. It’s been the longest time for their absence on record. A massive monster hunt for the missing fiends is now underway. At the same time, calls have been made for their their faces to be printed on milk cartons.

Some theorists say the Furies are merely hiding, watching, and waiting for this new Great Upheaval to blow over. In the meantime, sworn allegiances to the Legions of Night is dropping faster than Falkovnian soldiers during an invasion. Purportedly the Powers Check changes are the causes of the uproar.

“If they only had been more subtle, the fools might have gotten away with it,” said Meredoth, one expert on Necromantic Property and copywight infringement issues

[the-black-goat-inn]

Raising Our Flag

By

Kobold Press

/ January 10, 2023 /

Announcements

,

Editorials

To our fellow Kobolds,

Kobold Press has been and always will be committed to open gaming and the tabletop community. Our goal is to continue creating the best materials for players and game masters alike.

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.

[martianmuckraker]

A Golden vault and a Black Flag

Recently I was (finally) able to run a playtest of the second packet of Project Black Flag. For an adventure I ran the heist in the Little Lockford from Keys from the Golden Vault. Which means, yes, I have (partially) forgiven Hasbro for the OGL debacle. Golden Vault The adventure we ran was very well written and permitted numerous character choices. Characters can choose where in the town…

[thatgamerajax]

Project Black Flag early impressions

So, let’s talk about Project Black Flag, the new tabletop system under development by Kobold Press. The game was announced at the time when WOTC was under a lot of fire for trying to change their open gaming license, and with Kobold Press being a major third party D&D creator, it has had a lot of people interested in what they will put out.

So far, two playtest packets have dropped with early iterations of the rules for the game, and I wanted to share my thoughts over what I have seen so far. Let’s start with the good:

The Good:

The two playtest packets we have received so far have gone over heritages, which will include your character’s background and early talents, and two classes with the wizard and the fighter.

I love the way the heritage system looks like it will work. Players will have more customization for their characters than the current options available in D&D 5E, and backgrounds look like they’re going to be much more involved and have active components rather than being passive stat bonuses. A lot of this includes unique traits and manipulating proficiency bonuses to make a variety of checks easier.

Something that really surprised me in the latest packet was the way they are using luck. Players will be able to have a small pool that is earned regularly as rewards from the GM and in combat by missing attacks, and each point of luck that is used increases a die result by 1. In my opinion this will be much more fluid than simply granting advantage a couple of times per day. However, if a player stores more luck than the limit of 5, they have to roll 1d4 to see how much they have, which encourages regular use.

I’m also loving their take on the fighter, which we were given information up to level 8 for. The sheer number of character builds you can do with it is going to be insane, and quite frankly it seems like they made dual wielding actually a viable option by making it simply a bonus action to use your off-hand weapon and not tying it to being part of the normal attack option. Both archetype options provided with the spell blade and weapon master seem fun to play as well.

The Not So Good:

While there seems to be some promise with this game, make no mistake this is largely going to feel like a D&D 5.5 rather than being its own unique thing. I can’t help but be disappointed with this based on some of the language used to promote the game, but I understand not wanting to isolate an existing customer base.

I’m also a bit underwhelmed in what has been presented with the wizard, which seems a bit stronger early compared to its 5E counterpart but I personally would have a hard time pointing out what makes it standout.

One concern I have as a player is the amount of small things that will need to be tracked. There are a lot of small things that will require doubling proficiency bonuses from heritage options and class features, and at the moment we don’t have a dedicated character sheet to look and see if there are easy ways to note these. 

At the moment, some of the background and heritage choices also have me scratching my head a bit but the team has said they are still taking feedback. From what was presented, you either got ability improvements or unique traits; I hope this is something that gets tweaked during development.

Overall I think this game has some serious potential for telling cool fantasy based stories, and if people are wanting to branch out from 5E this could be a great way for them to start since it’s not all that different from it. 

[someotherheroes]

The brand new Episode of Space at the Table is live!

Join Chris as he has a first look at the playtest packet for @KoboldPress new #5e System @BlackFlagRPG

You can catch the episode HERE

[slickdungeonsblog]

The Project Black Flag Playtest is Here!

Super excited to check out the Project Black Flag Playtest from Kobold!

Art and logo by Kobold Press Hello fellow tabletop role play gamers! It’s Slick Dungeon here and I wanted to talk about the new play test material Kobold Press has put out for its upcoming fantasy role playing game. What is Project Black Flag? Project Black Flag is the super cool name Kobold Press is using for a new 5th edition compatible tabletop game they are working on. This project was in…

[dailyadventureprompts]

Mystery: Daughters of the Drossyard Pact

Originally intended to be sacrifices n a fiendish ritual , three orphan sisters managed to outsmart the warlock who’d adopted them and managed to offer him in their stead, Inadvertently becoming the beneficiaries of his profane dealings. Decades later, with the renewal of the pact looming one of the sisters has gone missing, leaving the other two in a lurch fearing the other had something to do with it. One sister desperately wishes to be free of the deal,  while the other may be willing to do anything to hold on to the power it has granted her. Neither trusts the other but both want the party’s aid in discovering the fate or whereabouts of their missing sibling.

Adventure Hooks: 

A pious noblewoman by the name of Lia Rolland initially hires our heroes to investigate the disappearance of a local playwright she serves as patron to as well as look into the strange occurrences around the theater which have only seemed to escalate since. Sleuthing around turns up a gaggle of disgruntled actors and stagehands stretched to the breaking point by an endless series of accidents and mishaps and delays. On top of everything else, prior to her disappearance Mecona, the playwright,  kept insisting on revising the piece over and over again and was prone to bringing production to a halt for days at a time while she buried herself in rewrites, which is why no one initially noticed that she was gone.  If the party are careful with their questions they may just discover that lowborn Mecona and highborn Lia are apparently sisters, a truth discovered by a snooping costumer looking in on one of their meetings. 

As it turns out, the strange occurrences are the fault of a host of dark spirits that have taken up residence in the forgotten corners of the theater, who’ve been amusing themselves by causing all kinds of minor chaos. Inevitably the party will be victim to a few of their cruel pranks or sabotauge, escilating until have to fight an entire possessed prompts department and worse as the demons boil out like a kicked hornet’s nest. 

 Into the chaoic (and potentially burning) theater strides Doc Briar, a scarred and swaggering practitioner of dark magic who aids the party in putting down the fiendish threat before warning them not to trust their employer and portaling out.  Briar will be shadowing them for the rest of the adventure just in case they get into any more scrapes, though it appears she has a motive of her own. 

Background: Once there were three orphan sisters, Rose, Camellia, and Poesy, their parents and last name taken from them by an awful war that saw them bourne from the smouldering remains of village to the big city. For years they were overlooked in the crowds of other refugees, falling ever deeper through the cracks until they were atlast taken in by a cold-eyed man who saw them brought up as servants in his great an empty house. Warry Camellia suspected the man had torrid plans for them, but ever-practical Rose was willing to put up with anything if it meant the  younger two would be saved from the street.

The cold-eyed man did have designs on the sisters, but they were far more sinister than what cruel old men usually do to those who are dependant on them. The man was an occultist of great ambition, and had spent his life seeking the means of summoning a fiend capable of granting his desire for power. After much dark dealing he’d found one, Calceinatis the profaner, but her summoning ritual required betrayal on the part of the summoner. Thinking himself clever he brought the three sisters into his home, taught them the basics of his magic,  and claimed that he’d take the most promising of the girls not only as his apprentice, but as rightfully acknowledged heir to all his wealth and holdings.  Over the next few years the cold-eyed man moved his favor from one girl to the next, hoping to stoke resentment and envy between the sisters, laying the groundwork for that most nessisary betrayal.

It was reticent Cammellia was his eventual selection, passing over Rose who wanted it most and young impressionable Posey to whom he was most like an actual father.  He passed the middle sister off to his peers as his bastard,  an indiscretion from years back that he had sheltered out of shame and only now worked up the courage to admit. Society applauded him for it, and he grinned as he introduced his “daughter” to polite society, thinking of how the other two must have watched their sister from the back rooms with covetous hatred. 

It would take a fool not to notice that the sisters had been on to his game for years, but the cold-eyed man was not just a fool, he was hollow hearted and narrow minded, ignorant of the bonds of love and convinced that all people were as motivated by the promise of power and station as he was.  While the sisters couldn’t know exactly what he had planned, they’d swore to stick by eachother no matter what, and so when their benefactor took them out to the great ash dusted badlands at the foot of the mountains as part of Cammellia’s “ascension ritual” they knew they had to act soon.   The rite had barely begun before the cold-eyed man tossed the sacrificial knife between the girls, claiming that he needed only one blood offering and the other two would be greatly rewarded if they did the deed. He drew close as the girls squabbled over the blade, unwilling to deny himself the violence that would lead him to everything he wanted, the oft imagined vision of young veins sliced open and spilling forth everything he could have wanted. 

The Cold-eyed man never could have imagined that his girls, his pawns, his wretched little orphans, would drive the knife into his belly with all the stregth their little arms could muster. That three little sets of hands would pull as one to tear open his fine suit and spill his guts into the ashen earth. 

He was still alive when the demon loomed over him, two sets skulls grinning, he was still alive when the sharp bear fangs started in on his flesh while the goat congratulated the girls on their marvelous betrayal and the boons they would be granted for this fine offering, he was still alive when the blunt goat teeth started in on his bones while the bear intoned that if the sisters wanted to keep these gifts they would need to return to this spot every sixth year and use the same knife to spill a few drops of their own blood or else… The demon did not finish what it was saying, the cold eyed man had finally died and so the meal was done. It disapeared, leaving Rose, Camellia, and Poesy to drag their father/employer’s body back to civilization, claiming to have been the victim of some savage animal attack. 

Motivations & Complications: 

Lia Rolland  (Cammellia): Forced to maintain the deception that she was the illgotten daughter of the man she helped murder has put Lia in a bind. She would like nothing more than to abandon his legacy and the pact but the resources granted to her but necessity has forced her time and again to rely on both. Wealth allowed her to support her sisters into adulthood, and the few supernatural abilities she’s allowed herself have seen her through hard times as she’s made a family and become a patron of the arts. She’d never break the pact on her own, fearing that all the good things in her life would be stripped away, but she’s terrified Briar has given in to her powerhungry nature and hurt or even killed Mecona to strike a new bargin with the demon of the drossyard.

Doc Briar (Rose):  A life spent looking out for two younger sisters convinced Briar that she need to do whatever it took to gain control of her life, which led to her fully embracing the gifts of the pact. She suspects Lia has done something with Mecona to ensure the pact cannot be restruck, and has hired the party as cover. Knowing she’s on a deadline for the next renewal of the ritual, she aims to track down both her sisters and convince them to return to the drossyard. Failing that, steal the knife and get a bit of Lia’s blood which she can hopefully use to stave off the demon for another half-decade. 

Mecona (Poppy):  Barely old enough to remember her parents before she and her sisters were taken in by the cold-eyed man, Poppy was the only one he seemed to show actual parental affection for, if only out of an attmept to make the other two resent their most innocent sibling. This gaslighting seeded her mind with confusion and guilt as to whether the cold-eyed man really meant them any harm, and if they were really without blame for killing their abuser.  These troubled feelings led her to the arts and later to the stage writing under an assumed name, having developed a real talent for portraying complicated relationships that resonated with  audiences.  As the sixth anniversary of the pact rolled around her guilt over the mater came to a boil (were they really any better than the old man if they benefited from the same dark magic as he intended to use them for?), she decided to isolate herself, let the pact end, and see just what her sisters would do with the matter. 

Calceinatis: What the daughters of the drossyard do not yet realize is that they are once again being manipulated, this time by the fiend whispering in their minds and stoking their darker impulses. Sometime while devouring the old warlock’s soul the profaner realized that the three young women could be useful tools in feeding it again, but realized it would have to play the long game if it wanted them to truely turn the knife on eachother.  By feeding Rose’s ambition, Camellia’s fear, and Poppy’s regret, the Drossyard demon has separated the sisters and set them against eachother just as the cold-eyed man once did, Now all she has to do is sit back, wait, and let momentum carry one of the three past the point of no return. 

If you want to use this in your game, why not take a look at my How to run mysteries for d&d post. 

[theenoathee]

the least believable thing in the finale is that stede didn’t at least TRY to wear something flashy to the lupete wedding. you’re telling me this mf who has like 3 costume changes an episode wasn’t like “yes i gave up my fortune but what if we stole me a proper suit for this affair!!!”

[rpgsandbox]

Tales of the Valiant RPG: Launching Black Flag Roleplaying

The heart of 5th Edition: core rules for high fantasy games, including a Monster Vault and a Player's Guide to power your campaign!

Be Bold. 

Be Brave. 

The new Tales of the Valiant RPG keeps the 5th Edition community independent and tabletop moving forward—use it to tell your own tales of 5E high adventure! 

Tales of the Valiant (ToV) keeps all the best of 5E D&D and adds a Kobold Press spin to the well-loved game. It combines the Creative Commons foundation of 5th Edition with new elements to create a powerful Kobold-style 5E with teeth. 

New 5E Options. Of course, ToV includes the fighter, wizard, and rogue, and dwarves and elves. Much more than that, it provides a wealth of new options and expanded gameplay. Explore the new Mechanist class and try out the kobold, outsider, and beastkin character lineages. Tales of the Valiant provides hundreds of new options for talents, spells, and monsters.

Early Access to Private Playtests. Backers get two exclusive playtest packets containing new classes and new creatures not available to the public until later.

Create Your Own World and Share Your Adventures. Tales of the Valiant is built on the Creative Commons and Open Roleplaying Content licenses, so the core rules are available for everyone to expand on as part of the 5E global community. Keep your investment in 5th Edition going strong!

Retain Compatibility with 5E Tradition. While ToV brings new options, its roots are familiar. Play any 5E adventure with creatures and spells from Tales of the Valiant—and keep the best of both worlds at your table!

For even more insight into Kobold Press's plans, visit the Tales of the Valiant website and check out the the 64-page Tales of the Valiant Preview PDF to see lineages and heritages, 4 classes, 8 subclasses, the spellcasting rules, and 8 monster previews. 

The Tales of the Valiant Player's Guide includes everything needed to create legendary heroes and run the game, and the Monster Vault includes every dungeon-crawling and fire-belching creature of high fantasy. Tales of the Valiant strengthens those mechanics and enriches their story potential, to make your next campaign your best campaign!

The Tales of the Valiant Player's Guide features 13 base classes and all the lineages and heritages of classic fantasy. These include the bard, cleric, druid, fighter, mechanist, monk, ranger, rogue, sorcerer, wizard, and warlock, as well as humans, dwarves, elves, kobolds, halflings, beastkin, and more. 

And that's not NEARLY all! The Monster Vault includes hundreds of monsters of core fantasy, from familiar orcs and red dragons to all-new foes like star crows, husk demons, and mechadrons original to Tales of the Valiant. 

Many more details to come on both Monster Vault and Player's Guide in updates and on the Kobold Press blog, Discord, and YouTube.

While the heart of Tales of the Valiant comes from the 5E Creative Commons, we're also adding much-needed new tweaks for both characters and monsters. These new monsters and new character options entered public playtest in February, and Kickstarter backers will get access to 2 additional sets of playtest material (3 if we unlock a stretch goal). 

Game design and especially character design is a time-consuming process of putting forward rough material and refining it in the crucible of playtest. Kickstarter backers will have the inside track and inside view of this process as we push toward a 2024 release—and the game is playable starting right now. Download a ToV Preview (PDF) to get a taste, and back the Kickstarter to gain access to the full Alpha Release plus the private playtest packets coming in late June and July.

More information on the public playtest and KS-exclusive playtests available on TalesoftheValiant.co

Kickstarter campaign ends: Sat, June 24 2023 12:00 AM BST

Website: [Kobold Press] [twitter] [youtube] [discord] [mailing list] [support]

[ao3-anonymous]

Fastest Growing Fandoms on AO3 This Week (10/03/2022)

Every week I pull data on how many fics are in each fandom and compare to the previous week, then calculate the percentage increase to determine fastest growing fandoms.  Since this naturally skews towards smaller fandoms, I have included the same data filtered to Over 1k, 5k, & 10k fics.

Overall:

Over 1,000 Fics:

Over 5,000 Fics:

Over 10,000 Fics:

Source: AO3 Fandom Dashboard

[dungeonmalcontent]

Got my first look at the playtest material for Kobold Press' Project Black Flag today. And, I have to say, I'm a bit nervous.

I don't think it's differentiating itself enough from 5e d&d, and it doesn't seem very well put together yet. In fact, a lot of it seems like they didn't test or group review any of the materials themselves before starting open beta paytests. And, really, I think they might not have started the project at all until the OGL controversy (which doesn't fully match up with what I recall about them announcing this project). Because this is the level of content I could put out myself in that amount of time (roughly a month), and that is 0% me bragging.

If anyone else has gone through the playtest material, I'm particularly interested in hearing your thoughts on the talents system they've written. It's basically feats, but they made them a lot stronger and they are very much not an optional rule. I like that it's a small step closer to the feats system in Pathfinder 2e, but the features in them are too close to existing 5e feats for that be a good idea IMO.