Labyrinth International Press

We publish books on game culture and game design: guides to building worlds, shaping rules, designing adventures, and understanding the traditions that make games matter. From tabletop games and roleplaying to magic and the craft of the dungeon master, we seek out works that illuminate both the pleasure of play and the thought, skill, and imagination behind it. Our name, Versari in Artibus, recalls the phrase “游于艺”: to roam freely among the arts. Through these books, we hope to invite readers and designers alike into the shared, ever-evolving art of games.

Works

The Kobold Guide series, published by Kobold Press, is a collection of practical books on tabletop roleplaying games, game design, and game mastering. Featuring essays and advice from experienced designers, writers, editors, artists, and game masters, the series offers diverse perspectives rather than a single system or fixed design method.

Written for aspiring designers, game masters, worldbuilders, writers, and curious players, the guides explore both the technical and imaginative dimensions of tabletop games. They discuss how to create memorable settings, adventures, rules, encounters, stories, and play experiences, while emphasizing creativity, collaboration, and revision.

At its core, the series presents tabletop games as collaborative forms of storytelling and play, shaped by the interaction of rules, narrative, challenge, imagination, and player choice. Combining concrete techniques with professional insight, the Kobold Guides provide a useful reference for anyone interested in designing, running, or better understanding tabletop games.

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Building Blocks of Tabletop Game Design: An Encyclopedia of Mechanisms compiles hundreds of different mechanisms, organized by category. Each has a description of how it works, discussion of its pros and cons, how it can be implemented, and examples of specific games that use it. Building Blocks can be read cover to cover, used as a reference when looking for inspiration for a new design, help solving a specific problem, or assist in getting unstuck in the midst of a project. This book, the first to collect mechanisms like this in the tabletop game design field, aims to be a practical guide that will be a great starting point for beginning designers, a handy guidebook for the experienced, and an ideal classroom textbook.

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A history of board games, ancient and modern

Tabletop gaming is enjoying a huge renaissance. Sales of hobby board games have risen in double digits yearly for the past decade, with more people enjoying the physical, non-digital aspects of playing, along with the social interaction. It’s one of the biggest sectors in crowd-funding platform Kickstarter.

Media interest has also increased proportionally, with celebrity endorsements such as Wil Wheaton’s Tabletop show (1.5 million subscribers) and international newspapers, such as The Guardian, now hosting regular board game content. Board Game cafes are also springing up across Britain and America, a phenomenon that’s attracting its own flurry of media attention.

The Tabletop Gaming Manual covers all aspects of games, from popular and traditional through to role playing and miniatures. It includes specific and specialist information for each area, appealing to the enthusiast market and serious gamer, but also to the curious beginner.

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The official behind-the-scenes companion to Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, featuring cast and crew interviews, photos, and insights about making the film

For fans of Dungeons & Dragons and the upcoming fantasy adventure film Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, this gorgeous tome showcases the storytelling, worldbuilding, and creativity behind the movie.

Join in the adventures across Faerûn with stars Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez, Hugh Grant, Justice Smith, Regé-Jean Page, Sophia Lillis, and the rest of the dedicated cast and crew on their journey to bring the world of Dungeons & Dragons to life. With sections that highlight fan-favorite characters, monsters, and settings, plus explorations of key scenes from the film, this book is packed with production photos, concept art, storyboards, interviews, and more.

Experience the film like never before in this visual feast that takes you behind the scenes of bringing Dungeons & Dragons to the big screen.

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Rise of the Dungeon Master tells, in graphic form, the story of Gary Gygax, co-creator of Dungeons & Dragons, one of the most influential games ever made. Like the game itself, the narrative casts the reader into the adventure from a first person point of view, taking on the roles of the different characters in the story.