The Evolution of Kobolds

So here's something interesting... I was perusing one of the free 4e adventures the other day (Keep of Shadowfell). There are a few encounters with kobolds in the adventure and they are these "high powered" kobolds - dragonshields, wyrmpriests, whatever - they're level 1,2 & 3 and they have scripted out powers...and...um...stuff...

Anyway, I looked over the history of kobolds - not to see if they're dog-like or reptilian or...yeah, whatever...

It was how Kobolds went from these little goblin-like 1/2 HD critters to having all kinds of specific powers...

And I think it was all Roger E. Moore's fault. You know. Tucker's Kobolds.

Here's what I mean. Roger E. Moore, in that editorial from Dragon Magazine #127, told us how a bunch of kobolds on the first level of a dungeon terrorized a bunch of mid to high level PCs.

In fairness, the evolution of the kobold (and everything else in the later editions) isn't really Roger E. Moore's fault. In fact, I think he revealed to some of us different ways to play monsters rather than as simple cannon fodder. Give them brains, tactics, weapons. Give them survivability. But do it on your own terms. At least that's what that editorial did for me...

But it strikes me that what has happened (and started in second ed) is that the powers that be at TSR/WotC whatever felt it best to detail out these possibilities - instead of leaving it up to individual DMs to do themselves (inspired by Tucker's Kobolds). A good example of how to do this (without necessarily changing who kobolds really are) can be found in the 2ed boxed set Dragon Mountain.*** I bought that puppy as soon as it came out...but, sadly, never got a chance to play it. But I think it's fair to say that the kobolds in Dragon Mountain have not been "powered up" so much as "smarted up" (um...is that a word?).

Now, I readily admit that I'm a fan of 0e/BX/1e monsters - fiddly bits and just a hint of "society/ecology/blah, blah, blah" and I never read a single "Ecology of..." article in Dragon Magazine (even though I bought them all) because, really, I don't CARE why a peryton craves hearts or what the digestive tract of a piercer looks like. Why does anyone care? I can make that up if it becomes relevant to the campaign, but when would it? And there's the rub, at least for me. Too much of "tell me everything" and not enough of "I'll make it up on my own, thank you very much." And I confess, that's a really fine line - they have to provide SOME detail, but really it got out of hand in 2e and beyond (it's cool that "the peryton tears out the victim's heart with its teeth" - but, and I had to read some of the "Ecology of..." article...ugh... do I really want it to be because the female peryton has to have a balanced diet? I'd much rather it be because the peryton is a wild, magical, mythical evil beast...that's enough for me...and if the party wants to know why, they can find out for themselves...and I'll make it up when they get back to the nest...but the answer might be...just because...)

And in 3e kobolds get levels, right? And in 4e they're specialists with special tactics and...well, I don't know the later rules at all...just what I try to decipher from the free and floating adventures that I find on the 'net...

So, really, it's not Roger's fault - it's everybody who wouldn't think for themselves, who waited for the game's designers to script out every possible action for the monsters, who became more interested in power levels and balance and whatever than trying to creatively use what we have in the books. The truth is, Tucker's Kobolds were a pattern for my lower level encounters from the day I read the editorial - I think it's genius. And it's exactly what monsters should be - each DM's interpretation (mixed in with a ton of inspiration)...

Okay - so that's my little rant about the...um...newer editions of my favorite game.

***You can see Dragon Mountain misunderstood and misapplied here - the review is clearly from a d20/3e point of view (which is fine, just misses the point of the adventure in my opinion).