It's no wonder why there are so many races that simply don't have the necessary crunch to make them special. Kobolds, those little xenophobic gits, are, quite simply, awesome enough to hog all of the attention for themselves. That being said, the very xenophobic nature of kobolds allows for some very interesting compartmentalization.
I would like to check interest for supplements that detail the history of a tribe of kobolds, key NPCs from that tribe with statblocks, a small grouping of feats specific to that tribe's culture, signature traps and items, and alternate racial abilities specific to that tribe.
The following is a sample tribal backstory that leads into the section for NPCs.
The story of the Wyrmward Kobolds begins, quite fittingly, with a wyrm, a black dragon, to be precise. Hasty and impetuous, Veskala, for that is her name, dominated a small, subterranean tribe of kobolds scarcely before she was capable of breathing acid. Under her tutelage, they became strong and skilled, a tribe of proud warriors rather than cowards hiding behind the works of their trapsmiths. What she desired, she taught to them. Gnomish glassmakers and dwarven blacksmiths were taken as they slept and subjected to the cruelest of torments until they finally assented to teach her kobolds their trade. They were then eaten.
Gems and gold were nowhere to be found, but sand and iron were present in abundance. To make up for the lack of the former, she continued her cadence of kidnap and torment until her kobolds were master glassblowers and rather competent interior decorators. In this way, the heart of the kobold's warren, Veskala's Perch, for such was her conceit, became a grander lair than that of dragons ten times her age, a place of such light and opulence that Dale Chihuli himself would weep from his one good eye at the sight of it.
Through all of this, Veskala was effectively alone. Certainly, she had her kobolds, but to a mind such as hers, minions don't exactly count. There was a clock within Veskala, a clock present in females of any species, and it was ticking. To that end, one day, she simply let it be known that she desired a mate. The kobolds, being an insular race that is only adept with matters that affect them and only adopting ideas manifested in the minds of fellow kobolds, had no idea how to attract a dragon for their mistress. To their credit, their bumbling attempts, including crude signage topside, eventually worked.
His name was Skoriale. Twice Veskala's age, yet still barely three quarters her size, even the Wyrmwards, who normally find dragons to be semi-divine beings, thought he was a bit strange. To Veskala, however, this was the perfect arrangement. Here is a dragon, she thought, puny and likely quite submissive, who will not attempt to muscle into her holdings once they have a clutch together. And so they had one.
Needless to say, given the nature of dragons, she was dead wrong. Mere days after she laid her eggs, Skoriale attempted to take what he claimed should be rightfully his as the male - everything. By their mistress' command, the Wyrmward kobolds learned what it was like to kill a dragon that day; the glassblowers and interior decorators learned what it was like to decorate with dragonhide.
You stole that idea right out my head, you jerk!
... so why are you making me wait to give you my money to get it back? ^.~
Dude I love your stuff, however i see problems with this directly competing with kobolds of golarion that just came out.
You've hit my primary concern right on the head, Toaster. I cooked up that text and realized there was a first party publication of kobolds coming on out the very same day.
Incredibly awkward.
As it is, I'm too far behind in the bills to really let anything short of a lawyer stop me from making content whenever an idea of opportunity presents itself. Still, this series is going to wait a little bit until I know how I have to angle it to be unique. It's really the only advantage one-man operations have over the big guys - the ability to turn on a dime.
That being said, I'm a staunch supporter of the 3.5 variant of kobolds, so the overlap with the Paizo flavoring of the race should be acceptably low.
Thanks for the input, gents!
If you include variant Kobolds, I think you could work with it.
@Marc
I'll look into it, sir.
@Toaster
I have a variant race of kobolds with all sorts of cool stuff for them attached to The Eternal Innkeeper of Dun Karaz, but, should I ever find a way to make maps that I like, that's going to be a full 2-3 session adventure. I am against ripping it apart to make a quick buck from it as I did a good job with that story.
@All
Also, I'd like to thank everyone for making today about 15% of the month's total sales here on Paizo.com. That sort of rally makes the combined total of sales at all three stores the best yet despite the lack of new content due to my hopping around trying to secure other income streams this month. (Fun fact: didn't work.)
I'll try to hang onto that motivation and get one of the several $5 projects I've got on my table out the door in the next few days.
From the way my mind feels, it'll likely be the product outlined here in Pathways #27.