Kobold Quarterly Spring Issue III

Recently I was asked to review the Spring Issue of Kobold Quarterly. The following is the last part of that review.

• Hmmm, an article about sex and romance in RPG’s... The article is well written and deals with the subject in an adult manner. Which is more than I can say about most Role Players. Only recently have I played RPG’s with Ladies. So I never really had to worry about. Recently I've had a character that’s been romantically involved, it does factor in the story, but shouldn’t distract from having a good time killin’ shit.
• Next is an article about "Destined" magic items. At first I thought I would never use this. I changed my mind. Basically, you get a Magic Weapon when you’re at lower level, and it evolves and grows with your character. Most of the time you throw away that +2 halberd when you find that +4 vorpal pictchfork. Interesting article.
• The next two articles are about Dragon Age, a RPG based on a cool looking video game. I’ll be honest with you, my kids won’t let me near the PlayStation. Maybe one of these days I’ll try it, and I will let you know.
• Last is a nifty underwater adventure seed. I like the idea and the map. I might use this to kick off my Sword and Sorcery/Cthulhu Mythos TPK. Oops, I meant adventure.

I really enjoyed reading each of these articles. A word of advice, read stuff about games you don’t play you might just learn something.

Kobold Quarterly Spring Issue II

Recently I was asked to review the Spring Issue of Kobold Quarterly. This is Part Two of that review.

• The "Thrill of the Unknown" is a very good article by Monte Cook about fear and how to keep your players in suspense and on the edge of their seats. I love the smell of fear around my table. That’s how I knlow you’re doing it right.
• Next is the King of the Monsters Contest Winner called “Spark”. As an electrician, it certainly got my attention. Basically it’s elemental that jumps into you, and makes you do bad stuff. The Math is Pathfinder, but could work for 3.5. I probably wouldn't make this guy my boss fight though.
• The next one is a PC Bloodline called the “Scions of Shadow” to me this was the most interesting article. Basically your progenitors make nice with the Shadows and the whole family pays the price. Like it! This is mostly for magic users, or as I call them, 'Marshmallows'. I would like to see a Shadow Hammer for my Fighter.
• The last article for this part is called Gamblers Magic: Wonderous Items of Chance. It details 4^th ed. Magical items of a gambling natue. I like the Demon Dice. I won’t spoil it, but they are nasty.

Just a pet peeve here, but when you go to the trouble of introducing new magic items, give us a card we can cut out and give to our players. As a DM my time and patience are limited (this goes for you too Wotc). And, as a player, it would make things much better if we got a card instead of transcribing and looking stuff up.

Kobold Quaterly Spring Issue

Recently I was asked to review the Spring Issue of Kobold Quarterly. It’s nearly 70 pages long and has 14 articles, not to mention the editorials, regular features and letters to the editor and such. I will endeavour to give each author their due and in the interest of brevity, which I’m told is the “Soul of Wit” I will break my review into three parts.

• Cover and Interior art are above average. If I was scanning magazines in a store I might pass this one by. It’s very green and has dancing faeries and such. But you can’t judge a book by it’s cover. I also would have liked to have seen some more art in Shoggoth article.
• Ecology of the Shoggoth: I’m a big Cthulhu fan, and I’ve been itching to mix the Mythos into my sword and sworcery stuff. While the article is listed under the Pathfinder category, a minimum of tweeking it would fit into any system. Like it.
• Lovecraftian Gods: Same as above, well written and fun. Who doesn’t want to stick a Cult of Nyarlathotep under a tavern in the Realms.
• The Arquebusier: this is a gun toting base class for Pathfinder. Honestly I was a little confused by the title. But it was well written, and the math makes sense. I can see myself playing a Dwarf pirate with a Blunderbuss at some point.
• Alternate Objective: capture the flag. This one made me think. Not every encounter needs to be a “Bug Hunt”. The problem is getting your players to believe it. This idea would work well with two opposing adventuring parties.

To be continued.

"Hammerfast" is a Big Bag of Cool

• Just by happenstance I was in the FLGS when the UPS guy showed up. He had all kinds of dice and Mini's and goodies and such. In the stack was the RPG supplement "Hammerfast". O.K., I knew it was coming. But I wasn't prepared for the coolness.As everyone knows I'm a Dwarf-a-holic, so I had high expectations. In brief here are my thought at first blush.
• I think it was an excellent idea.
• The art is excellent, and I like the whole Old School vibe.
• The big pull-out map is very nice. One side is the whole town (scaled to fit) the reverse is the town's most interesting Tavern. I'm definitely going to get it laminated.
• Each feature, NPC and building has a little fluff but not too much.
• It does have some adventure hooks in the back, saving those for later.
• It's vague enough to be dropped into any setting.
• The inside cover map of the area is a nice touch (love the hexes).

Long story short, if you like Dwarves, buy it. If you need a base of operations for your party, buy it. If want someplace that ready to go when your party needs a rest and refuel, buy it. I plan on keeping this within arms reach whenever I'm playing D&D.

I give it a 5 out 5.

Gaming Paper

Last year, while updating my Facebook page, one of those "side ads" caught my attention. It was for something called "Gaming Paper". What I saw intrigued me, and tweeked my "Old School" meter. So I ordered a roll.

Long story short, I have been using this ever since.

Basically it has 1 inch squares or hexes. It's 12 ft long and 30 inches wide. And, are you ready for this, it costs 4 dollars!!! You can't get a cup of damn coffee for 4 dollars. I was able to put an entire dungeon on it and roll it up in between sessions. It is hands down better than the dry or wet erase battle maps. I've posted more in-use pics on their Facebook page (I'm a big fan). Order a roll and try it.

Kobold Quarterly: a review

Yeah, I'm old. When I read a magazine I like to have something to hold on to. Something that I can read in the John or while I'm eating lunch at work.
PDF's are cool. They are slick, printable and environmentally friendly. But, I have a hard time thinking of them as a form of Periodical.
Recently, my Friendly Local Gaming Store (FLGS for short) started stocking "Kobold Quarterly", published by Paizo. For those of you not familiar, and who play D&D (3.5 and 4th) or Pathfinder, it is a must see.
I do read "Dungeon" and it's sister "Dragon" published by Wizards. But, it's just not the same.
The best part is you can buy the slick color mag for the bookshelf and/or a pdf copy for the laptop.
http://www.koboldquarterly.com