The Koboldnomicon
Publisher: Bards and Sages
Various authors

I personally don't get the fascination so many gamers have with kobolds. I use them rarely, since I tend not to start games at low levels. I've always pretty much looked at them in terms of dire rats and wolves and other weak monsters: something that the party can kill without worrying about dying before they have enough hit points to take on a real challenge.

Then out comes The Koboldnomicon, and I begin to see the potential. Disguised as a serious black tome of "koboldic lore," The Koboldnomicon is really just a fun book offering some original ideas for using kobolds either as adversaries or allowing them as PCs. My personal favorite is the Dragonmarked Kobold sub-race. Imagine flying kobolds with a mini version of a dragon's breath weapon. Now there is a kobold I can work with!

A lot of the stuff in the book, despite the name, is not kobold specific. The bio-weapons could be used by any evil-aligned race willing to strap a badger to a battering ram (I still can't get that vision out of my head). Many of the feats can also be easily adapted to other races, and the new spells introduced are a worthwhile collection for any spellcaster to check out.

I don't often read game material and burst out laughing, but you won't be able to help yourself at times. Lurking between the sections of solid, balanced game rules are some pretty amusing kobold stories and poetry (yes, I said poetry. Bet you didn't know kobolds wrote poetry, did you?). Love Slave of the Kobold Queen is officially my nomination for one of the funniest pieces of game-related fiction I've ever read.