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Complete Kobold Guide to Game Design
Wolfgang Baur, Monte Cook, Ed Greenwood, Mike Stackpole, and other industry veterans have the answers you asked for...and the advice you need! You'll learn how to create great new adventures, monsters and magic for your RPG campaign, and maybe even design your own game. The Complete Kobold Guide to Game Design offers 240 pages of in-depth essays on what makes RPGs tick. Get time-tested advice from the top designers in the industry. This compilation includes all three volumes of the Kobold Guide to Game Design series—now with all-new material by Wolfgang Baur, Mike Stackpole, and others! From core rules and magic systems to fantasy adventures, monster design, playtesting, and much more, these 40 essays cover every aspect of RPG design in clear, accessible language, to show you what it takes. The City Book Review called it "highly recommended for gaming nerds everywhere"! Pick up the Complete KOBOLD Guide to Game Design today, and starting designing your RPG tonight! Winner, 2012 Gold ENnie Award, Best RPG-Related Accessory
244 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 19, 2012
51 people are currently reading
281 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
January 26, 2013
One of the most interesting "how to" books that I have read in a while is the Complete Kobold Guide to Game Design, by Wolfgang Baur and including essays from such Role Playing Game Design superstars as Monte Cook, Ed Greenwood, Michael A. Stackpole, Keith Baker and others. The word "complete" is no misnomer, as this tome contains over forty essays, some original to the volume and others drawn from three previous volumes of game design advice.
The book covers everything from rule creation and setting creation, to campaign design, to understanding your audience, right down to how to craft a pitch for a publisher and how to handle rejection. It is valuable both for creating game systems from scratch or for writing inside existing properties. Michael A. Stackpole's essay "Designing Magic Systems" is priceless, likewise Rob Heinsoo's "Seize the Hook". But despite all the luminaries in the volume, it is Wolfgang Baur's own essays that stand out for me as the most useful, applicable advice of the book.
In fact, Baur's "The Process of Creative Thought" is worth the price of the entire collection alone. In the essay, Baur attempts to "systematize and demystify creative thought for the engineering and technical professions." His result, breaking creativity into the stages of 1. Defining the Problem, 2. Borrowing Ideas, 3. Combining and Connecting the Borrowed Ideas, 4. Incubation, 5. Judging the Work, and 6. Enhancing not only articulates processes that I have used for decades but provides a structure to writing collaborations that is invaluable to any team product. This is an essay that, like much of the Guide, has applications outside game design for any creative endeavor. Likewise his essay on "Using and Abusing Misdirection." And I wish all writers would read "The Three Audiences."
I have read a great many books on creativity and writing across the years and very few of them offer much of lasting value. The Complete Kobold Guide to Game Design sets in a place of honor amid this very select list. I highly recommend it not only to game designers but to anyone involved in any creative narrative undertaking. And look, Baur has just come out with the Kobold Guide to Worldbuilding. I don't see how I can resist the urge to start into that soon.
The book covers everything from rule creation and setting creation, to campaign design, to understanding your audience, right down to how to craft a pitch for a publisher and how to handle rejection. It is valuable both for creating game systems from scratch or for writing inside existing properties. Michael A. Stackpole's essay "Designing Magic Systems" is priceless, likewise Rob Heinsoo's "Seize the Hook". But despite all the luminaries in the volume, it is Wolfgang Baur's own essays that stand out for me as the most useful, applicable advice of the book.
In fact, Baur's "The Process of Creative Thought" is worth the price of the entire collection alone. In the essay, Baur attempts to "systematize and demystify creative thought for the engineering and technical professions." His result, breaking creativity into the stages of 1. Defining the Problem, 2. Borrowing Ideas, 3. Combining and Connecting the Borrowed Ideas, 4. Incubation, 5. Judging the Work, and 6. Enhancing not only articulates processes that I have used for decades but provides a structure to writing collaborations that is invaluable to any team product. This is an essay that, like much of the Guide, has applications outside game design for any creative endeavor. Likewise his essay on "Using and Abusing Misdirection." And I wish all writers would read "The Three Audiences."
I have read a great many books on creativity and writing across the years and very few of them offer much of lasting value. The Complete Kobold Guide to Game Design sets in a place of honor amid this very select list. I highly recommend it not only to game designers but to anyone involved in any creative narrative undertaking. And look, Baur has just come out with the Kobold Guide to Worldbuilding. I don't see how I can resist the urge to start into that soon.
July 21, 2020
D&D centric platitudes
If you are planning on writing exclusively for Dungeons and Dragons, this is not a bad book. It's dated but the advice is not bad. You may be out of the loop on some of the jargon, but it mostly hangs together.
However, this is a "you can do it" self-help guide, not a bunch of design best -practices. If you are waiting for permission, this is a helpful book. If you need advice, you'll find none here. Middle through and trust your process. Go fight win. Hardly illuminating.
If you are planning on writing exclusively for Dungeons and Dragons, this is not a bad book. It's dated but the advice is not bad. You may be out of the loop on some of the jargon, but it mostly hangs together.
However, this is a "you can do it" self-help guide, not a bunch of design best -practices. If you are waiting for permission, this is a helpful book. If you need advice, you'll find none here. Middle through and trust your process. Go fight win. Hardly illuminating.
March 18, 2013
Reasonably interesting, not-too-helpful essays on how to create new RPG material. The only thing that makes this a decent book on the subject is that there are few others. Otherwise, you could just have someone remind you periodically to "make it good" and you'd accomplish the same end.
September 15, 2017
While there was some content about game design, a better title for this book might have been the complete kobold guide to writing adventure modules for dungeons and dragons and trying to get them published. Doesn't exactly roll of the tongue though. I guess I was disappointed about the lack of game design content and the amount of time dedicated to writing D & D adventures. Worth a look if you are an aspiring dungeons and dragons adventure module writer.
June 2, 2019
Some good advice, some terrible advice.
May 17, 2020
Plenty of interesting thoughts and (possibly) good advice. If I have criticism, then it would be that many of the articles feel outdated and target the TTRPG industry from 10 years ago.
February 19, 2021
A book about game design. I liked it.
December 3, 2023
While the book offers a good insight into what game design is and how it works, it is too abstract to provide actual guidence to designers and DMs with some field experience.
May 5, 2024
Sehr vielfältig. Nicht alles kann ich direkt in meine SL-Praxis übertragen, zum Teil gibt's auch einen sehr starken D&D-Bezug. Die einzelnen Essays haben eine gute Länge fürs häppchenweise Lesen.
August 31, 2013
This compilation of The Kobold Guide to Game Design volumes 1-3 starts with some general advice on RPG game design, but soon narrows down to fantasy RPGs and by the time it moves into adventure design is focused mainly on Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 and 4th Edition.
Despite the narrowing focus, there remains a lot of good advice here not just for general RPG game design, but also advice applicable to any GM creating content for his home campaign. Even the last section of the book, which is titled "Writing, Pitching, Publishing" contains a lot of advice that would be useful to GMs. The articles focused solely on issues pertinent to professional game designers are in the minority.
Overall, it's a worthy edition to my growing library on game design and theory.
Despite the narrowing focus, there remains a lot of good advice here not just for general RPG game design, but also advice applicable to any GM creating content for his home campaign. Even the last section of the book, which is titled "Writing, Pitching, Publishing" contains a lot of advice that would be useful to GMs. The articles focused solely on issues pertinent to professional game designers are in the minority.
Overall, it's a worthy edition to my growing library on game design and theory.
November 3, 2022
Skewed towards designing material for the D&D/Pathfinder space rather than a broader overview, this also includes some howling oversights - like suggesting White Dwarf as a potential venue for RPG material, when that magazine has not run anything relating to RPGs for decades. Full review: https://refereeingandreflection.wordp...
Want to read
April 5, 2016I own this book and haven't fully read it. I think it will be very helpful though because it has so many essays from great designers and will help me find new avenues to wander down.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews