 timeless and can help to elevate your own skill as a DM. If you have not read Tucker’s Kobolds before please give it a read before you continue any further as my article will be referencing it a lot. Without further adieu let’s begin!
Kobolds are one of the weakest monsters in the entire monster manual. They are small creatures with almost no hit points, and no special abilities going for them. In a world full of Dragons and Leviathans it is a wonder that they are not extinct yet. But despite these apparent weaknesses, Tucker’s Kobolds are one of the most terrifying enemies that a party could face, even at higher levels. How is it that one of the weakest characters in the Monster Manual could pose such a threat to these PCs?
The answer lies in how Tucker utilizes kobolds. Rather than just blindly throwing them into the meat grinder that is the party, he is patient with them. He knows the kobolds would never win in a straight-up fight with the party so he never gives it to them. Instead, he plays to the strengths of the kobolds never letting the party have a fair fight. The kobolds will always attack from small tunnels, booby trap the halls, throw Molotov cocktails to flush the party out. The kobolds main weakness, that of being easy to kill, is negated by how hard it is to hit the damn things! 
By analyzing the strengths of the kobolds he learned how to abuse it. Kobolds are simply small intelligent creatures who never fight fair. Their lair will can then be built with these strengths in mind. Small tunnels that only kobolds can squeeze through. Traps that only trigger from larger creatures stepping over it. Places where the kobolds can hit you but you can’t hit them. All of this combines together to make a devious dungeon where the player’s main strength of being combat gods, is turned against them as they are never allowed to even engage in combat with the kobolds in the first place.
And why should the kobolds fight fairly? These intruders dressed up in full plate armor and wearing magical swords just broke into your home. It makes no sense to step up to them one by one wielding stone daggers and hoping you will eventually defeat them. When the fight is unfair, to begin with, it is important to never give them a fair fight. Tucker does this by using hit and run tactics to chip away at the parties formidable defenses until they have no other option left besides running.
Once your players start running the game becomes far easier for you. Now that the players have no other choice to run, they can only start running into more things such as traps and ambushes. This, of course, will make them want to run even more leading them into more and more traps. Once they realize that running only hurts them more they may attempt to stop giving you a perfect opportunity to have some kobolds rain hell on them from above. No matter what your players try to do in this situation they are caught between a rock and a hard place. Keep on pressuring them until they figure a way out of the dungeon or die in the process. But never let them catch their breaths, as this gives them a chance to mount a counterattack.
Splitting up the party is another good way to make things more manageable for the kobolds as well. (And miserable for your PC’s too I guess). The old adage of “Never Split the Party” is doubly true in the lair of kobolds as they are quick enough to capitalize on the advantage of a missing party. A single party member is very similar to a single monster. Roger E. Moore points out the following in his article: “Singular monsters like tarrasques and liches are easy to gang up on; the party can concentrate its firepower on the target until the target falls down dead and wiggles its little feet in the air.” If your party member happens to be that singular monster to the kobolds, the kobolds won’t ever give them a chance to reunite.
Tucker’s Kobolds are one of the meanest tricks that any DM can pull out to humble any party. They are terrifying to play against and will teach you and your party many new things about the game of Dnd. Tucker’s Kobolds are also one of the most interesting antagonists to ever place in front of your players as it challenges both you and your players. “Tucker’s kobolds were the worst things we could imagine. They ate all our donkeys and took our treasure and did everything they could to make us miserable, but they had style and brains and tenacity and courage. We respected them and loved them, sort of, because they were never boring.”  See if your players have what it takes to face Tucker’s Kobolds.
Kobold Commandos with spell scrolls on them. Little does the party know that these spell scrolls carry Explosive Runes.
Small holes in the ceiling to drop nasty things such as scorpions, alchemist’s fire, acid, and oil down onto the party.
Shieldwalls blocking passage with spearmen behind them.
Long hallways with crossbow murder holes at the ends.
A long rickety bridge that the kobolds set fire to while the party is passing.
Poisons of all shapes and sizes, but particularly paralysis poisons.
Rather than making some of the corridors small, make them all small.
Caltrops in all the main walkways.
And finally, Rust Monsters if you are feeling particularly evil.
Thank you for reading this week’s installment of “Only on Tuesday’s!” If you ever get the chance to use Tucker’s Kobolds let me know how it goes! Have any great stories you’d like to share? Write it in the comments below! Until next time, have a great week and an amazing Tuesday!
Viceroy Hotels & Resorts will make its European debut when the company opens a ski-in, ski-out luxury mountain resort in Serbia in June 2021.
Viceroy Kopaonik will add glamorous, US West Coast flair to the foot of snow-crested mountains in one of Serbia’s most beloved National Parks. Known for locations in the US, Latin America and the Caribbean, Viceroy Hotels & Resorts chose the most famous ski resort in Serbia for its first European debut highlighting Serbia’s enriched tourism potential and furthers the brand’s visionary philosophy of embracing authentic and culturally rich destinations.
As a part of The Viceroy Icon Collection — the epitome of pure, unadulterated luxury — Viceroy Kopaonik features 119 spacious rooms, including a two-bedroom Penthouse that includes a private kitchen, dining area and private lift with direct access to the Penthouse.
Drawing inspiration from the local “Suvo Rudiste” style, each room reflects the natural beauty of Kopaonik’s landscape with dark natural timber materials, crisp white accents and an abundance of open-air spaces that captures spectacular mountain views in all directions.
Inspired by the mountain landscape and the local culinary scene, guests will enjoy dining experiences rooted in international and Serbian specialties at the Pique Ski Bar and The Mountain Kitchen.
Additional amenities include The Spa by Viceroy, the only full-service luxury spa in Kopaonik complete with six treatment rooms, a beauty lab, an indoor vitality pool, hammam/scrub room where guests can be soothed by an array of holistic wellness experiences using ingredients that are native to the mountains.
Viceroy Hotels & Resorts has five properties in the US in Chicago, San Francisco, Snowmass Village, Los Angeles and Washington DC, and a further four properties in Latin America and the Caribbean in Colombia, Mexico, Panama and Saint Lucia.
The Group will add a second European property to its portfolio next year when Viceroy at Ombria Resort Algarve, Portugal is flagged to debut.
Ameena Mattress Information?
Is anyone familiar with the Ameena mattress?
You are the first one to mention them on the forum and they are one of about 23 "simplified choice" mattresses that I haven't listed yet to go with the 23 that I already have listed in the simplified choice mattress topic.
You can read more about simplified choice mattresses in general in post #1 here.
The Ameena mattress uses 2" of Energex (which is a high performance polyfoam) on top of 2" of gel memory foam on top of a 6" polyfoam base layer. It comes in a single firmness level which would be somewhere in the middle of the firmness range.
They don't specify the density of all their foam layers which means that I would avoid it until the quality/density specs of all their foam layers are known.
While nobody can speak to how any specific mattress will "feel" for someone else because this is too subjective and relative to different body types, sleeping positions, and individual preferences, sensitivities, and circumstances and you are the only one that can feel what you feel on a mattress...if you can find out the density of all their foam layers and post them on the forum I'd be happy to let you know if there are any lower quality/density materials or weak links that could compromise the durability and useful life of the mattress and would be a cause for concern.There is a small Catholic church on the street where we live. Saint Christopher's. We passed it walking home tonight and I couldn't help but wonder: who is the priest there? Does he live here or does he come across