We're sorry. We broke a promise.

April 1, 2026

First, a deeply sincere apology from the CEO of Chip Theory Games, Josh Carlson.

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TL;DR

We're very sorry. We broke a promise. But technically, we actually didn't. Trover does fit in the Trove Chest. Please buy our new product. It's available today and on sale at a 17% discount through the month of April. Thank you for 10 years (!!) of Too Many Bones. Sincerely.

Meet Trover!

Okay, now that that's all out of the way, let's dig in to our newest playable gearloc kobold, who totally fits in the Trove Chest, we promise: Trover! While out in the wilds, Trover met Duster, and he became the gearloc's biggest fan! So much so that he's doing his best gearloc impression, despite being a rather cute kobold!

Tyrant powers, now leveraged for kobold glory!

Trover has a few skill dice of his own, but most of his skill dice are actually powered by existing tyrant dice that you already own! This is the secret sauce that allows him to fit inside the Trove Chest with a minimal footprint. 

 

At the beginning of an adventure, you gather all unused tyrant dice into a draw bag, and whenever Trover would gain a skill die, you can draw two from the tyrant bag and choose one to add to his profession lines. His reference sheet includes skill definitions for all tyrant dice in the game!

 

If you only have the base game, or an incomplete TMB collection, that's okay! His skill spread has been carefully balanced to ensure that he is a powerful addition to any team, even if you only own the base game. But of course, the more tyrant dice you own from across the Too Many Bones series, the more versatile he becomes.

No bones about it

Trover doesn't have bones... in the traditional sense. Well, surely kobolds have bones, but - mechanically speaking, in the sense of TMB board game mechanics - he doesn't use bones the same way gearlocs do. Well, he sort of does.

 

What we mean is that Trover doesn't have a backup plan.

 

That being said, bones still affect Trover. He just doesn't place them into a backup plan. Instead, he tracks his bones utilizing a "theory chip" instead of a traditional slotted system. He rolls and gains bones as normal, but instead of slotting them into a backup plan, he ticks up his theory chip. If he ever exceeds six, his bones will reset to zero, and he'll be unable to gain bones for the rest of the turn. Notably, any time Trover rolls a bone result, he must accept it. Manage carefully!

 

This lil' guy loves bones, it turns out. He can't say no to them, wherever he finds them!

He's heating up!

Since the real estate on Trover's gearloc kobold mat is uncluttered by any kind of backup plan nonsense, Trover instead uses a Heat Up Track™ (patent pending, clearly no relation to or inspiration drawn from The Elder Scrolls: BotSE cooldown track mechanic). Skill dice that are used during combat are placed in the Heat Up Track™ instead of being exhausted, and Trover will regain some skill dice each round, allowing him to use skill dice multiple times per combat. But - manage your track carefully! If the Heatup Track™ gets full, Trover will be forced to exhaust any additional dice that would be added for the remainder of the battle, like a real gearloc would. Which actually kind of sucks, so - don't... don't do that.

Dive deeper

For a comprehensive look at exactly how Trover plays, be sure to check out the venerable Liz Davidson's comprehensive overview video! And then, once you've done that, proceed to purchase Trover straight away, because he's available right now!

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Available now! At a discount through the month of April!

Available now while supplies last, no foolin'. 

 

17% off through the month of April!

 

‼️ EU/UK CUSTOMERS: We will be fulfilling the end of April into early May due to a container shipment delay ‼️

Too Many Bones: Trover

$24.95
$29.95

LAUNCH SALE!  ~~  Save 17% through April 2026. 

It's the Gearloc you never expected - because he's not a Gearloc at all! Meet Trover, the resourceful kobold who is obsessed with the heroes of Daelore and wants to be just like them. The cardboard replicas he makes of the Gearlocs are definitely not creepy... They're just loving homages!

While Trover doesn't have many skill dice of his own, what he does have is access to all of the Tyrant Dice that Too Many Bones has to offer, converting the existing die faces to brand new and crazy effects. Better yet, he can use the dice multiple times per battle, so long as you can get them back from his Heatup Track!

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Thank you for 10 years of Too Many Bones

This is actually the 10 year anniversary of the Too Many Bones series.

 

We love and thank all of you, our dear customers, who have journeyed alongside us. Without you, we are nothing, and we could not do any of this.

 

We hope you enjoy this final addition to the game... surely.

 

❤️

 

P.S. To maintain the utmost secrecy around Trover's creation, we knew we couldn't rely on our normal external playtesting process. That is why, in addition to extensive internal playtesting, we also worked closely with TMB expert and superfan George Aristides, who was invaluable in pointing out the many odd elements and potential issues in a character like Trover. George's criticism and problem-solving was tough but fair, which is exactly why we knew we could count on him to help us with such an important and secretive project. George, thank you again for all your work on this; we forgive you for being wrong about Duster.

.... and here's how it fits in the Trove Chest.

Easy peasy. No apology needed.

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