This is pretty sad. But most of it, no doubt, is a lack of space on top of a lack of imagination. And we should admit it ... kobalds are kind of a lacklustre monster. They're not very strong, they look a little silly, they're even shorter now than they were in 1978 and they're not even able to come out in the daylight.
I've never liked that -1 penalty in the daylight, frankly. Kick a weak monster in the gronknuts, why don't you? And for the most part I don't care what gods the kobalds worship, if it doesn't directly affect how they act or organize themselves in the game world. It's not much of a story and it takes up 12 lines in a 47-line descriptive text. Flying kobalds takes up another 11 lines, leaving us with all of 24 lines. Of these, 4 are used to tell us how a trip wire works; 1 is used to say they inhabit dragon lairs (no idea if the dragon is still there); and 2 are used to tell us that kobalds are weak. No shit, Sherlock.
It is bad enough that the book format doesn't give much room to talk about any creature in it, or that we've used half the bottom of the page to basically repeat the exact same stats for the winged kobald that a kobald has. It's the bloody crime of not using the actual space to tell us anything we didn't already know about kobalds. Hey, guys ... you heard of the Internet? It's this thing that your entire market of 9-year-olds use every single waking minute of every single day. Here's a surprise: it was actually around in 2014! Something you should look into.
I have no great genius to add. I don't have space limitations, so it isn't really fair. Additionally, I have a game world about which I can make references that my readers will get -- so again, not fair. Still, I don't feel that 5th edition is much of a "competitor." DMs need ... specifics. Details. Grit.
As ever, I do what I can. Read the whole wiki entry here.
I try not to hate WotC, their books, their designers. I really, really try. But I fail sooooo hard when I see these examples. So, so hard.
ReplyDeleteInteresting your use of the term "grit," since my project of the last few days makes extensive use of it, even incorporating it in the title.
Why try? There are thousands of other organizations that work just as hard to create crap just as bad, that you don't hesitate to hate.
ReplyDeleteJust bad for the soul.
DeleteThank you, Alexis, for the Kobald entry on your wiki.
ReplyDeleteYou show what is important - and for this is why I follow and support you. To learn. And each time I read something of you, still lots to read left, no matter how long it is you have written it, is a lesson.
Well I felt like I could build a kobold community out of that so that seems to hit the mark.
ReplyDelete