Campaign magazine is the first d20 magazine produced in the English language, as the editor proudly states in his editorial (he says that there are two European non English d20 magazines, too, but I am European and I have no clue about them - perhaps he confused Feench and Italian magazines that cover d20 too). The first issue was presented at Gen Con, alongside its hopeful competitor Gaming Frontiers magazine that, having been offered free as issue #0, I have not reviewed (why reviewing something that is free?).
The magazine has a beautiful cover by Larry Elmore, one of my favourite artists and, without doubt, of many, many other gamers all over the world. Pages are black and white, with a quite heavy cardstock that gives a 'fatter' feel for its 80 pages. Graphics are competent, albeit not very beautiful, and art it's well done and nicely used. Flipping it in a game store should give you a good impression, albeit it's years light away (in graphic prersentation) from Dragon magazine. But please consider that the print run and the size of the publisher affect heavily this…
About the articles: the first issue is, as announced, with an heavy science fiction content, albeit the publisher could have felt that using a sf cover could have been a step too far, so it sticked to fantasy for its premiere issue. The index is, grosso modo, this: a news section (quite old, I must add, and I hope in the future the magazine will be fresher on this subject); a big preview of the d20 Sovereign Stone sourcebook, with two character classes, the Vrykyl (an evil undead fighter) and the archer; then we have another preview, this one of Deadlands d20, with the huckster and a very brief overview of the magic system and of course the Evil Monster; a new prestige class, the Elder Sons of the Green Lord, a sort of druid-warrior; The Company of the Golden Sword, a mercenary company strangely dubbed as a 'campaign setting'; the Trembling Hill, a fantasy adventure from the En Route d20 sourcebook from Atlas Games; an article with probabilirty chart for fighters in D&D; a very long and detailed interview with Ryan Dancey (the most interesting article of the magazine, in my opinion); some fumble charts reprinted directly from the Dragon Lords of Melniboné sourcebook; a preview of computer D&D games (this article suffers most from the black and white pages); some d20 reviews (I found the review of Dragon Lords of Melniboné quite questionable but, hey, reviews are opinions including this one!); a 'special' review column, to be used for judging 'really' innovative releases.
I want to say a little about the final column, "What I think of the d20 system", that guest writer John Wick (a writer I have in high regard) uses at 99% to grind his axe about some heavy comments about 7th Sea from a Name designer working for WotC: interesting, but the only comment he makes about the d20 system is "It's a game" (ehm...) and that there are no new concepts in it. From John Wick we have too a little lecture about 6,000 children dying in one day because they didn't have enough water to drink, without doubt for shaming us for being interested in something so trivial as designer's opinion about the d20 system when so many people suffer for real reasons. That's all true, but if John Wick so much cares about this why was he so angry for the comments of a designer he clearly doesn't respect for a so trivial thing like a new game and, most important, why working in this business instead of, let's say, some humanitarian organization as FAO or UNESCO? I'm sorry if this seems a bit abrasive, but I can't stand lectures of this kind in a gaming magazine.
As I said earlier, the bulk of the magazine is occuped by Borderworlds, a science fiction campaign setting written by the editor himself. In this setting we found two big powers, the Universal Republic, an utopian state where democracy is used, every member world has its say and the most intelligent, competent and bening beings govern, and the Thakan Empire, an evil conquering empire that uses subtle ways to keep its subjects, well, subjected (they are so subtle that the writer states 'life in the Empire is good'). Well, we have of course a Third Part, the Xaendi, another race that the Empire has 'invited' to join and, wonder of wonders, has received 'no, thanks, and stay away!' as an answer.
Beyond the overview, forcely short for space reasons, we have d20 stats for the various races (there is no 'typical' Republican stats and I strongly suspect that humans predominate there), items and gadgets, some creatures and an introductory adventure. All the material is good, with no leaps of originality but well written, well illustrated and easily usable (if you like campaign setting that span a galaxy with only 26 pages, that is). I'd LOVE to see, for a change, a benign Empire versus an Evil Republic, but this seems a bit too extreme for American and European designers (that all live in republics and so consider them the most perfect political system)…
My opinion of this magazine is a solid positive one: it covers a variety of subjects, it gives attention to the various d20 publishers that Dragon Magazine and probably the future d20 Magazine have been told to ignore, strikes a good balance between 'reading' material and 'gaming' material and it's pleasant to see and to read. I noticed, with sadness, that advertising from the same d20 publishers this magazine attempts to promote and cover is really small. This is a real pity because the magazine could be a real help for them, unless they subscribe to the theory that, given the many d20 sites on the Internet, a paper magazine is no more necessary. I hope that sales and advertising will permit to Campaign magazine to flourish, use better cardstock, introduce color in the interior pages (if needed, of course) and affirm itself as a viable alternative to Dragon Magazine. Well done: I have already subscribed (via my distributor, I am a games retailer 8-)
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