I love kobold adventures because they always lie to you.

They start with the same sales pitch every time. Oh, it's kobolds. Funny little lizard guys. Maybe some traps. Couple slings. Tiny crown. Cute little dungeon crawl.

And then six sessions later you're dealing with ancient dwarven grudges, undead labor theology, emotional damage, cursed relics, fantasy Vecna, and one kobold who should have died three times but keeps showing up because sheer pettiness has apparently made him immortal.

Kobolds are never the adventure.

Kobolds are what the adventure uses to lure you into the basement.

Show Notes

This week we did a full postmortem on Crown of the Kobold King and dug into one of Pathfinder's earliest adventures revisited for Second Edition. What starts as a straightforward kobold dungeon crawl quickly turns into a surprisingly layered story full of ancient dwarven vaults, undead corruption, cursed relics, and one increasingly unfortunate kobold king.

We broke down the setting of Darkmoon Vale and Falcon's Hollow, the lumber town run by a spectacularly terrible administrator, before diving into the dungeon itself and the history behind Droskar's Crucible. The adventure piles old Torag worshippers, fallen dwarven cultists, Tar-Baphon lore, and necromantic experiments on top of each other until the kobolds become almost incidental to the chaos.

The campaign also delivered some incredible table moments. A near total party kill was saved by remembering a forgotten +1 bonus at the last possible second. Sir Thanah evolved from heal bot NPC into one of the emotional anchors of the campaign. Cap Mech somehow transformed from random kobold encounter into recurring rival, revenant menace, and eventual ally. Meanwhile Kirby continued solving problems the traditional way by casting Brick.

We also spent time talking encounter design, what worked, what absolutely did not, and why some dungeon sections deserved immediate deletion. Looking at you, anti gravity hallway.

By the end, the adventure became less about stopping the Kobold King and more about the people trapped inside the dungeon's history and deciding who deserved saving.

Key Takeaways

• Crown of the Kobold King works well as an introductory Pathfinder 2 adventure and offers more narrative depth than its classic dungeon crawl structure initially suggests.
• Darkmoon Vale embraces classic fantasy adventure design with starting town, wilderness, and dungeon exploration.
• The dungeon layers multiple factions together including kobolds, fallen dwarf cultists, undead servants, and Tar-Baphon corruption.
• Small Pathfinder bonuses matter. A forgotten +1 attack bonus completely prevented a TPK.
• Sir Thanah evolved from support NPC into one of the campaign's strongest emotional story threads.
• Cap Mech became an accidental standout character through repeated appearances and escalating rivalry.
• The adventure benefits from adding consequences and time pressure rather than treating events as static.
• Some encounters are excellent while others feel dated and benefit from modification or removal.
• Commanders continue proving they are extremely effective force multipliers.
• Brick remains a valid tactical solution.

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Meet the Hosts

• Tyler Kamstra – Master of mechanics, seeing the Pathfinder action economy like Neo in the Matrix.

• Randall James – Lore buff and technologist, always ready to debate which Lord of the Rings edition reigns supreme.

• Ash Ely – Resident cynic, chaos agent, and AI's worst nightmare, bringing pure table-flipping RPG podcast energy.

Join the RPGBOT team where fantasy roleplaying meets real strategy, sarcasm, and community chaos.

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Tyler Kamstra

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Ash Ely

• Professional Game Master on StartPlaying.Games
• BlueSky: @GravenAshes
• YouTube: @ashravenmedia

Randall James

• BlueSky: @GrimoireRPG
• Amateurjack.com
• Read Melancon: A Grimoire Tale (affiliate link)

Producer Dan

• @Lzr_illuminati