Dr. Gnoll launches comic fantasy spy series for D&D fans

Geoff Habiger and Coy Kissee have launched Dr. Gnoll, the first Flint Dagger novel, as a comic fantasy spy adventure set in a Dungeons & Dragons-style world. The book mixes a Bond-like mission, rival agents and magic-crazed villainy, with more Flint Dagger stories planned.

Why it matters: - Dr. Gnoll is aimed at readers who like spy capers, tabletop role-playing games and comedy in one package. - The book launches Flint Dagger as an ongoing hero, signaling a planned series rather than a one-off parody. - The premise targets a built-in crossover audience from fantasy, gaming and pop-culture spy fiction.

What happened: - Geoff Habiger and Coy Kissee released Dr. Gnoll, the first book in Flint Dagger, Agent of M.O.U.N.T.A.I.N. - The novel is a comic fantasy spy thriller set in the world of Ados. - The book is published by Shadow Dragon Press. - The title is available at Amazon, Bookshop.org and Kobo. - More information is available at the authors' website.

The details: - Dr. Gnoll centers on a mad scientist building a machine to control all magic in Ados. - The villain, Dr. Gnoll, once turned a captured agent into an actual guinea pig. - Agent Flint Dagger, codename Quartz, is sent to stop the plan. - Rival agent Maxine Charisma is also chasing the same artifact Dr. Gnoll needs to finish the machine. - Flint and Maxine have to work together across the Grass Desert because neither can stop Dr. Gnoll alone. - Flint works for His Majesty's Ministry of Unorthodox Natural Talents and Information-Nabbing. - The ministry's rulebook is called the D.M.G., short for D's Ministry Guide. - The secret headquarters entrance is an out-of-order latrine. - Agents licensed to kill are called the Hardness agents, using mineral-hardness code names. - Flint's gear includes enchanted gadgets and a talking clockwork horse named Aston Martin, or Marty. - The book is built around puns, innuendo and a mission briefing with a comic tone. - The novel's metadata lists ISBN 9781963832495 and the genre as comic fantasy and fantasy adventure. - Early praise has called the book a clever, quick-reading mash-up and a strong setup for future adventures.

Between the lines: - Habiger and Kissee are drawing on years of game design and Dungeons & Dragons supplement work, which helps explain the book's rules-heavy fantasy-spy setup. - Their earlier work includes Tangent Games and the card game Bankruptcy, which was an Origins Award finalist in 2007. - The authors are leaning into parody and insider humor, which should resonate most with readers already fluent in fantasy and gaming tropes. - The series pitch suggests the book is meant to build a repeatable world, not just spoof one familiar genre.

What's next: - Flint Dagger is expected to return in future books. - Review copies are available upon request. - The authors are positioning the series for readers who want more adventures in the same setting. - The launch sets up additional misadventures in the Flint Dagger universe.

The bottom line: - Dr. Gnoll is a niche but clear play: a spy spoof, a fantasy adventure and a D&D joke machine wrapped into one series starter.