“A generic trademark, also known as a generalized trademark or proprietary eponym, is a trademark or brand name that, because of its popularity or significance, has become the generic term for, or synonymous with, a general class of products or services, usually against the intentions of the trademark’s owner.” (from Wikipedia) I am not a lawyer. This is simply my observation and is not intended as legal advice.
I believe that “Dungeons and Dragons” and “D&D” have become generic trademarks. Just like people may ask for a “Kleenex” when asking for a facial tissue, they often refer to all role playing games as “Dungeons and Dragons“.
Not long ago, when talking to most people, if I said that I played Dungeons and Dragons, they wouldn’t know what I was talking about. In the last five or so years D&D has exploded in popularity and most people know the name Dungeons and Dragons, even if they still don’t know much about it. However, this is the only role playing game they have heard of and may know very little about it. If you play a different TTRPG (table top role playing game) chances are the average person will have never heard of it.
A conversation may go something like this: “I play _______ every Friday evening.” [Fill in the blank with any TTRPG other than D&D.] “What is that?” “It’s a tabletop role playing game”. “What is that?” “It’s like Dungeons and Dragons.” “Oh, I’ve heard of that. Isn’t that where you sit around a table, roll dice and pretend to fight monsters?” “Yeah, kinda.”
To most people, any game where you sit around a table, roll dice, move little miniature people around and pretend that your character is fighting monsters, is Dungeons and Dragons. And, to tell the honest truth, that isn’t necessarily a bad definition. If you tried to tell your friend what the difference is between D&D and your preferred game it would boil down to your preferred rules. But, the rules aren’t necessary to understand what the game is about, and why we love it.
If you, like me, love fifth edition Dungeons and Dragons, there are most likely some rules that you think need to be changed. You may have some house rules that you use to improve the game. You are probably looking forward to the release of the updated rules that are scheduled to be released this year. You trust that WoTC (Wizards of the Coast) will make changes to improve on the existing rules. When they are released, you will probably switch to playing with the new rules, but you will still be playing Dungeons and Dragons. The same happened when third edition and v3.5 was released. It was all still Dungeons and Dragons.
So what is it when another company takes the Dungeon and Dragons rules (as are available to anyone in the SRD for fifth edition) and makes changes to improve on the existing rules? There is an argument to be made that these versions are still Dungeons and Dragons. Several different companies have done this. Some made major changes and some only added to the basic rules and made minor changes. I say that if you are plying any of these games you are still playing Dungeons and Dragons.
Why does any of this matter?
Many people, myself included, are unhappy with Hasbro, WoTC included, for many things they have done over the last 12 months. So much so that we are uncomfortable giving them any of our money. But we love the current version of Dungeons and Dragons. Of course, we could just continue playing the same game we have been playing for the last 10 years, but the idea of a new improved version is very appealing. So all I am saying is that if this describes you, don’t worry. You can upgrade your version of Dungeons and Dragons to a new and improved version without supporting WoTC. Just switch to one created by a different company. It will still be the same game, but will have changes that the authors think are an improvement. That is the same thing that WoTC is going to be doing with their new release.
I think that the easiest new version to switch to, the one that will be the most like the new version of D&D from WoTC but perhaps even better, is the one that is coming soon from Kobold Press that they are calling Tales of the Valiant. But I am tempted to call D&D 6E.
I haven’t posted much on D&D lately. If you follow this blog you know that after the OGL mess this January I have said that, depending on the Wizards of the Coast’s (WotC) behaviour between now and the time the next version of D&D is released in 2024, and my opinion of that version, I will not be buying any Wizard’s of the Coast products. Here are my latest thoughts regarding this.
I’m still not giving Hasbro [WotC is a subsidiary or Hasbro] any of my money at least until after they release the 2024 version of D&D, if then.
As a side note – they have said that they will not be calling it a new edition but will be referring to the current edition as the 2014 edition of Dungeons & Dragons and the new version as the 2024 edition of Dungeons & Dragons. I agree that, based on the most current play-test, it does look more like a rules update than a new game. For now, I will be referring to it as D&D v5.5
At the current time I like the proposed changes to 5e, but I also like the new game rules that Kobold Press is proposing for their Tales of the Valiant (ToV). The two games will be different from each other, but they will both be based on the current version of D&D with revisions, changes, updates, and new content. They both insist that they will be backward comparable with existing 5e content. So, when the new books come out next year, I have several options. 1) I could ignore both and continue playing 5e. 2) I could believe WotC was censer when they apologized for the Dungeons & Dragons Open Gaming License fiasco, and start using the new v5.5 rule books. 3) I could switch from D&D to ToV or some other RPG (I am leaning toward ToV over the alternatives).
Here are my thoughts:
I am a long time supporter of WotC and I would hate to give up on them by switching to a different gaming company. Hashro’s purchase of them in 1999 didn’t seam to have much effect on WotC until after Chris Cocks became CEO of Hasbro on February 25, 2022. The changes were subtle at first, but they came to a head January this year with the OGL thing.
Hasbro has made it clear that their goal is to get more money from D&D players. They realize that DMs spend much more on WotC products than the players do and they want to get more of the players money. Their plan appears to make D&D primarily an on-line game with the v5.5 Virtual Tabletop (VTT) that they are developing, coupled with D&D Beyond. That way they can charge a monthly fee for each player and offer a lot of customizing options, each of which you can get for a small fee. Even if they make it free for the players to join a game, WotC will still make a lot of money on the micro transactions. And they can offer even more things for the DM to buy, such as 3D objects and tools to create custom 3D dungeons along with animations, special effects, furniture, commoners and monsters.
When I first saw their VTT preview I was excited. It looked great. I thought it would be wonderful to play. But now I am not sure how well that will work for me as a Dungeon Master. First of all I may have to upgrade my PC or get a new one to handle the real time 3D at a decent rate. Perhaps if I stick to playing on-line with adventures that are published by WotC that include all of the 3D maps and monsters, that would work. Especially if it were something like a dungeon crawl where the PCs couldn’t go anywhere off the map. But for me to use it for a home grown campaign or to play one of the many 5e adventures I currently have as a PDF or in a print, the VTT would need to have a 2D ability to draw the encounter map and to import 2D JPG files, something like Fantasy Grounds or Roll20. But if I use their new VTT it will need to be a lot better than the Fantasy Grounds, that I am currently using.
For one thing, I bought a copy of Fantasy Grounds including a copy of the 5e version of the Player’s Handbook, the Dungeon Masters Guide and the Monster Manuel a couple of years ago. This was a one-time purchase which they say will allow me to continue playing with it as long as I want to. With it, for example, I am currently running the “The Age of Worms” adventure path that was published over twelve instalments from July 2005 through June 2006 in Dungeon magazine. I am importing 2D maps that others have drawn and made available on the internet. If the WotC new VTT won’t allow me to do that, I won’t be interested. Also, if there is a monthly fee along with a requirement to link to D&D Beyond with a requirement for another monthly fee for that, those will be strikes against it.
If I decide to not use the new VTT and continue using Fantasy Grounds, I will be surprised if WotC makes a Fantasy Grounds version of the new PHB and MM available for purchase. They seem to be intent on forcing everyone onto their platform.
And, what if I just buy the new D&D 5.5 books, and don’t play on-line or take the time to revise all the rules on my copy of Fantasy Grounds? Up until now, WotC has published Errata for the PHB and others from time to time with corrections and revisions, and include those in the next release of the book. Will they continue to do this? I think that the temptation will to be to make those changes to the on-line versions of those books that you access through the VTT or D&D Beyond and forget about the errata updates. It appears that they are looking at the physical books as only something that collectors will purchase. If they do that, you will only know if you are using the latest rules if you are using Wizards’ VTT, or at least D&D Beyond. I also wouldn’t be surprised if they combine their new VTT with D&D Beyond at some point.
Another thing – when you “buy” a book on D&D Beyond you are not actually buying anything. What you are doing is paying for a “license” to access a copy of that book when you log onto their web platform. If the site goes down, or the company goes out of business, or they simply decide to change the wording of the conditions that you accepted when you clicked on at the bottom of the pages of text that you never read when you “bought” the book, then you will no longer have access to it. If you think that could never happen, look at what they tried to do with the OGL. There is no reason to think that everything that you “buy” on their VTT will be any different. As an example of what they could do instead: A copy of the Fantasy Grounds program exists on my hard drive. When I run it, it links to their on-line site, but it would run even if I were disconnected from the internet. When I purchased Fantasy Ground versions of the D&D books, I downloaded copies of them onto my hard drive. These are similar to PDF files, except they can only be opened with the Fantasy Grounds program, and all the rules, monsters, NPCs, etc. that they contain are available for me to use in Fantasy Grounds. I regularly backup the folder that they are in. Whenever I update Fantasy Grounds, it checks to see if anything else that I have purchased has been updated and will replace them with the newer versions. If Fantasy Grounds were to disappear from the internet, for any reason, I could still link to others site-to-site and continue to play with everything I have purchased. WotC could do something similar if they chose to.
So what am I going to do?
Well, it depends. ⚫ If either v5.5 or ToV becomes obviously head and solders better than the other, I will probably use that one. (I will post a side-by-side comparison once they are both published.) ⚫ If the v5.5 books are not available for Fantasy Grounds, I will probably switch to ToV. I have already supported their Kickstarter and included purchase of the Fantasy Grounds versions of the books.
This is one of several reviews I am doing this year of various table top roll playing games. I am specifically comparing them to D&D 5e. I am doing this with the assumption that my readers are already familiar with D&D 5e. The following review is based only upon my reading of the rulebook. I haven’t played this yet, but I will be posting my opinion after I get a chance to play test it.
Tails of the Valiant is scheduled to release early in 2024. I am basing this comparison on the Tails of the ValiantPreview (that they have labeled final) that I downloaded from their site on July 7, 2023. I may update this when the final version is released. When the 2024 version of Dungeons and Dragons is available I will post a comparison of that with 5E.
I am referring here to the fifth edition of Dungeons and Dragons as 5E and to Tales of the Valiant as ToV. This information is for evaluation purposes, it should not be considered official rules of the game. You can assume things that I don’t list here are basically like 5E with only minor differences.
In ToV the Dungeon Master is called the Game Master.
Summary of the game system
Kobold Press is creating Tales of the Valiant to be compatible with 5E. From their Kickstarter page: “It combines the Creative Commons foundation of 5th Edition with new elements to create a powerful Kobold-style 5E with teeth.” If you know how to play 5E you know how to play ToV, with only a few differences – most of which I will try to summarize here.
Primary differences between Tails of the Valiant and D&D 5e
Character Creation
Choose a Class
Note your Hit Die size
If you have spellcasting, mark your available spell slots and spells known (if applicable)
Any skills you are proficient in
Any equipment and tools you are proficient with
Saves you are proficient with
Your Proficiency Bonus (PB)
Your starting equipment [you may also get additional equipment based on your background]
Determine Ability Scores and use them to calculate the following:
Your hit-point total
Your spell save DC and your spellcasting attack modifier (if applicable)
Choose your lineage and heritage, including:
Your size
Your senses
Your base movement speed (or speeds, if applicable)
Any additional proficiencies
Select or create a background, including:
Any skill or tool proficiencies
Your languages
Your talent
Any additional starting equipment
Your adventuring motivation
Set your Luck points to 0
Come up with a name and basic description
Classes
The rules preview includes the iconic Cleric, Fighter, Rogue, and Wizard. When released, ToV should include the 12 core 5e classes plus the Mechanist. It will also include more subclasses and all classes get their subclass at 3rd level. The preview only includes the class progression through 5th level. As an example, here are the major differences in the Rogue Class between ToV and 5E. These are still in beta testing and may change before the final version is published.
Rogue
Hit Points: Same as 5E, except 1d8 (or 4) + your CON modifier per fighter level after 1st [in 5E it is 1d8(or 5).]
Proficiencies, Weapons, Tools, Skills, Saves, and Starting Equipment: Same as 5E
1st Level Features
Expertise: Same as 5E
Sneak Attack: Same as 5E
Thieves’ Cant: Same as 5E
2nd Level Feature
Cunning Action: Same as 5E
3rd Level Feature
Roguish Specialty: called “Roguish Archetype” in 5E – select one form the following:
Enforcer: You get the following features if you choose “Enforcer”:
Ambush: During the first round of combat, you have advantage on the first attack roll you make against any creature involved in the combat. Additionally, whenever you make a successful attack roll against a creature with the surprised condition, that attack is automatically considered a critical hit.
Cold-Blooded: Once per turn when you reduce a creature to 0 hp with a weapon attack, you can use the same weapon to immediately make a weapon attack against a different creature you can see within your weapon’s range. You can’t add Sneak Attack damage to this additional attack.
Expanded Talent List: When you gain a new talent, you can select that talent from the Martial or Technical Talent list. (Refer to Talents)
Thief: You get the following features if you choose “Thief::
Fast Hands: You can use the bonus action granted by your Cunning Action to do any of the following:
Make a DEX (Sleight of Hand) check
Use thieves’ tools to attempt to disarm a trap or open a lock
Take the Use an Object action
Second-Story Work: gives you the following features
You gain a climb speed equal to your base movement speed. If you already have a climb speed when you gain this feature, it increases by 10 feet.
When you make a long jump, you cover a number of feet equal to your walking speed if you move at least 10 feet on foot immediately before the jump. When you make a standing long jump, you can leap half your walking speed. Either way, each foot you clear on the jump costs a foot of movement.
In the event a STR (Athletics) check is required to clear or extend a jump, you can choose to make a DEX (Acrobatics) check instead.
4th Level Feature
Improvement: Add 1 point to any ability and get a Talent. (Refer to Talents)
5th Level Feature
Uncanny Dodge: Same as 5E
Talents (Called Feats in 5E)
Talents are not an optional rule in ToV.
Talent Categories: Talents are divided into three categories: magic, martial, and technical.
At Level 1: Your background gives you one Talent.
At Class Ability Score Improvement: When your class level gives you an Ability Score Improvement you improve an ability by one point and choose a talent from a specified list.
Ability Scores
Abilities and Modifiers
Same 6 abilities, and the modifiers are the same as 5E.
Player Characters can’t have an ability score higher than 20.
Ability Scores start out slightly higher in ToV
The standard array numbers are 16, 15, 13, 12, 10, and 8. (They are 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, and 8 in 5E)
Point buy works the same as 5E but you start with 32 points rather than 27 and you can purchase a score of 16, 17, or 18 at the cost of 11, 13, or 16 points respectively.
Roll 4 d6’s and discard the lowest, is just like in 5E but when you have finished, add 2 to one score of your choice that is 16 or below and add 1 to one score of your choice that is 17 or below.
Lineage and Heritage (Race in 5E)
ToV splits what would be your Race in 5E into the traits you get from your biological parents (your Lineage) and those you get from upbringing (your Heritage). You select both your Lineage and your Heritage separately. You could have a dwarf who was raised by elves, for instance.
Lineage
Among other traits, your Lineage affects your age, size and speed.
The Lineages in the preview packet are Beastkin (like a half man/half beast of some kind), Dwarf, Elf, and Human. We know there will be all of the races that are in 5E plus Kobold and perhaps more.
If you want a character that reflects common fantasy archetypes, each Lineage has a couple of recommended Heritages.
Heritage
The languages you know are determined by your Heritage, not your Race as in 5E.
Many of the traits and features you get from your background in 5E – you get from your Heritage in ToV.
Your Heritage affects your cultural elements, such as folklore, traditions, and natural environment.
Background
Different from your Background in 5E, this is a backstory explaining why your character has chosen to become an adventurer.
They have omitted personality traits, ideals, bonds, and flaws.
You can select one of the provided Backgrounds, with advice on customizing it to better fit your character or campaign.
Each Background includes an Adventuring Motivation. You are encouraged to modify it, or create your own. Your Adventuring Motivation provides you with the following:
Proficiency in two skills
Proficiency with one or more tools or additional languages.
Starting equipment
One talent.
Luck (replaces 5E’s Inspiration)
You receive one luck point when you fail an attack roll or save and the GM can give you a luck point whenever he chooses.
You can have a maximum of 5 Luck points.
If you have 5 Luck points and would gain a sixth, you roll a d4 and reset your Luck points to that number.
Unless you have rolled a natural 1, you can spend one of more of your Luck points to add to any d20 roll you make. Or you can spend 3 Luck points to re-roll a d20.
Luck can’t create a natural 20.
Spells
Spell Circles: There is not a separate list of spells for each class. Instead the spells are divided into Circles (arcane, divine, primordial and wyrd). A few spells are included in two or more circles. Your classes will get spells from a specific circle.
Spell Rings: This is just a name change. ToV calls spell levels spell rings instead. [I can see where this will be less confusing to new players.]
Ritual Spells: In 5E certain spells can be cast as a ritual if your class allows you to cast rituals. In Tov they have been moved into a separate type of spell, a Ritual Spell.
For each spell circle, rituals are listed separately from the other spells.
Ritual spells take 1 minute or longer to cast.
Ritual spells don’t use spell slots and can’t be cast at higher rings.
When applicable, your class progression table will have columns for: cantrips known, spells known, rituals known, 1st ring spell slots, 2nd ring spells slots, etc.
Monsters
The Preview includes a few monsters that will be in the ToV Monster’s Vault. I am showing the ToV and 5E stat block for the Goblin side by side for you to see how they differ.
Challenge Rating and XP: ToV shows these at the top – to the right of the monster’s name.
Alignment: The Tov preview doesn’t mention alignment. It appears that they will not be using it for monsters or PCs.
Hit Points: ToV lists the monster’s hit points. 5E shows this as the average number and also shows the die expression used to generate a range of hit points.
Stealth: Tov lists a stealth number for all monsters (15 for the Goblin). Your character must make a Perception check of this or higher to notice the monster if it is trying to hide. 5E lists this as one of the monster’s skills (+6 for the Goblin).
Perception: Tov lists this for every monster (9 for the Goblin). Your character must make a Stealth check of this or higher to sneak past it. 5E lists this as passive Perception for one of the monster’s Senses. [Notice that this changes from the monster doing a perception check to the PC making a Stealth check. In my 5E games I have the player make a stealth check when his PC can hide and later have the monster make a perception check when it might possibly notice him. Doing it the ToV way simplifies and should speed up play.]
Proficiency Bonus: This is not included in the monster stat block in the 5E Monster Manual. [Wizards has started including this in their more recent publications.]
Ability Modifiers: ToV only lists the ability modifier and does not also include the ability score. [This may take a little getting used to but I understand simplifying the stat block. Also, ToV is using the stat modifier to do more.]
For any save or ability check, roll a d20 and add the relevant ability modifier.
Bonus Actions: ToV moves anything the Monster can do with a bonus action to this section. (Nimble Escape in the case of a Goblin.)
Reactions: ToV moves anything the Monster can do with a reaction to this section. (ToV has added Frantic Reflexes to their version of the Goblin.)
Immunities, Resistances, and Vulnerabilities: ToV doesn’t use multiple lines that separate out damage and conditions. For example if a creature is immune to fire damage and the charmed condition, both appear in the Immune line.
Immune
A monster that is immune to a kind of damage takes no damage from it.
A monster that is immune to a condition can’t be affected by it.
Resistant
A monster that is resistant to a kind of damage takes half the damage (rounded down) from it.
A monster that is resistant to a condition has advantage on saves to avoid it.
Vulnerable
A monster that is vulnerable to a kind of damage takes double damage from it.
A monster that is vulnerable to a condition has disadvantage on saves to avoid it.
What you need to get started
All you will need will be the Tales of the Valiant Player’s Guide. The Game Master may also want to have the Tales of the Valiant Monsters Vault. There will be no required Game Master’s Guide. Their CFR (Core Fantasy Roleplaying) rules will contain all the basic rules and will always be available as a free download.
Final Thoughts
Quoting from their web site: “ToV moves the independent 5th Edition community forward with a system that is open and available to all … Our goal is to keep 5E products vibrant, both in print and on VTT partner platforms, by keeping a set of rules available under an open, perpetual, and irrevocable license.” Where Wizards of the Coast has their SRD (System Reference Document), Kobold Press will have their CFR (Core Fantasy Roleplaying) rules, which will contain the basic ToV rules. They have also indicated that they intend to be publishing their CFR under the ORC (Open RPG Creative) license, rather than Wizards of the Coast’s OGL (Open Game License). The ORC and the OGL are both public copyright license systems. Where the OGL was created by Wizards of the Coast for publishers to use when using elements of their SRD, the ORC is an agnostic, perpetual, irrevocable open gaming license created and made available to all by Paizo. Wizard’s attempt to change their OGL (in a very bad way) earlier this year prompted Kobold Press to create Tales of the Valiant.
I am a big fan of Kobold Press. I have several of their books. I fully expect their Tales of the Valiant to be at least as good, and most likely better, than Wizards of the Coast’s new version of D&D (that they now say they will be calling D&D 2024). For one thing, Kobald Press isn’t hampered by WotC’s need to keep all the rules basically the same as the current version with “enhancements”, where Kobold Press is making a brand new RPG that will be compatible with 5E. This allows them to re-think the way “Races” work and come up with new ones. The same is true with Classes and sub-classes, the spells, and all of the rules. They don’t need to make theirs compatible with all of the sourcebooks that WotC has published. Their goal isn’t to keep all the rules the same, but to make them “better” where they can and try to make everything so that it can still be used with their published adventures and campaign settings. There are no game designers that I think are better up to this task than Kobold Press.
Kobold Press successfully ended their ToV Kickstarter (June 23, 2023) with over $1,000,000.00 pledged. Congratulations! I’m looking forward to receiving my stuff early in 2024.
Dungeon Master Assistance 