It is immpossible to review this product the way other products are reviewed, since it is a magazine, and each article functions on its own, and is not dependant on the other articles. What follows are a few lines about each article:
Jack Vance and the D&D Game/Gary Gygax
Interesting.
This article won't really contribute to your game, it looks more like a personal column, but it is interesting to read about what affected Gary Gygax when writing D&D. Nothing much to review here, so I'll move on to the next article.
Phasms/Robin D. Laws
This one is a Rhialto Level scenario - and an excellent one. Not much can be told about this scenario, in which the players portray members of Ildefonse's Conclave, without ruining it for potential players. It deals with a takeover attempt on the conclave, and is very well written (well, what did you expect? Robin Laws wrote it). It includes almost every traditional element a good Dying Earth game should include, such as Foppish Apparel and Weird Magic, ans some wonderful taglines, like "Fortuitously, I happen to be a master of the wholly non-magical combat technique familiarly known as the Claw of Prelb". It is well structured, with a well defined starting point and a few well defined ending points, but very non linear and with a lot of freedom to change whatever happens between those points.
Arcana of Grashpotel/Peter Freeman
This article describes a book known as Turgubut's Fatal Statistics, which is the summary of years of experimenting with magic conducted by a certain Turgubut. The book describes many spells, the effects of mistakes in certain parts of the spell, and the statistics for making mistakes in spells, according to your level of familiarity with magic, as well as what kind of mistakes often happen, from summoning spoiled food instead of a feast when casting such spells as Behemoth's Bounty to getting killed by a stampede of wild boar when trying to attract a single pig. Very amusing and pretty funny at some points, this book could be an invaluable artifact for a group of characters, and so the article ends with rules for putting those statistics into the game, as well as descriptions of the book itself (of which only 1,000 copies exist) - and of fake books.
Tweaks/Sasha Bilton & Phil Masters
Tweaks are an addition to the game mechanics, introduced in Cugel's Compendium of Indespensable Advantages. This article briefly explains the mechanics of acquiring Tweaks (and also losing them - beware), then proceeds to list the new tweaks, which is what the article is all about. A Tweak is a way to enhance the usage of your abilities, for instance - Increasing your pay after a successful service provided, or seducing members of your preferred sex. Since each tweak functions differently, there is no point in describing all of them here, as it would require the copying of the whole article, which would also be a breach of copyrights.
The Timeless Valley/Lynne Hardy
The Timeless Valley is a place where a certain magician named Darabellum conducted his experiments with time, in order to prolong his life. He created automatons which populate the valley, and when he saw that he wouldn't complete his work in time, he created an automaton to replace him, continue the experiments and take care of the other automatons if the need arises. The whole valley is filled with magical cogs and wheels (not visible to the naked eye, of course), which run the automatons, and allow Darabellum's magical mechanisms which affect time in the valley to work. The article includes descriptions of the valley, it's inhabitants, Darabellum and his inherently flawed replacement automaton, and also Darabellums work and what one might find when searching his laboratory. An excellent idea, and very well written.
Three Cozener's Expedients/Colin Speirs
The article describes the town of Thearsphane. What's special about the town? Why describe it and not any other town? These questions remain unanswered. The town isn't very interesting, not half as interesting as many places described in the Dying Earth books. Like most articles in this magazine, this one could fit most fantasy games. However, unlike the other articles, it doesn't have the special feel of Dying Earth locales. A very big disappointment.
The Air Cars of Ampridatvir/Nicholas H.M. Coldwell
If you read the Dying Earth novels, you probably remember the air cars. This article doesn't add much. It doesn't describe ampridatvir in detail, only the aircars themselves, and also the groundcars, which weren't mentioned in the novels. It describes all their functions in detail, something that wasn't done in the novels, since it really is of little interest for the reader. However, if you wish to put the cars into your game, this article is invaluable. Every button, level and switch is described. They way they are used, and their effect. Some adventure ideas follow, as well as suggestions for putting Ampridatvir into your game in different eras (before and after the books). It also includes artwork of an aircar dashboard, which is very useful as a handout.
The Valley of Cages/Lizard
As the name implies - It is a valley filled with cages. Created by a mage named Avorial Deritass to serve as a sort of prison, or zoo. The article includes a description of the valley and it's inhabitants, both cage dwellers and wardens. Magical items created especially for this valley, and the spell that places targets in the cages, or - in the case of a dismal failure - the caster himself in the special red cages. Also described is the ritual of the cleansing of the red cages. The place seems very interesting, and suitable for any fantasy games, but the Dying Earth seems like the place most natural for such a valley. This article really shows what the Dying Earth is all about, and is one of the brightest spots in the magazine, along with Robin Laws' adventure.
Three Golden Swans/Steven S. Long
The Inn of the Three Golden Swans could be placed more or less anywhere on the Dying Earth, and is well worth that placement by the GM. It could be an average inn from any other fantasy setting, but the characters occupying it are what make it shine. The owner, who wants to look as if he's in charge, but is actually controlled by his wife. The boy who raises the racing Quortazes, and makes sure the right quortaz wins the race, the magician who lives nearby and often visits the inn, and many others.
A Begginer's Guide to Vat Creatures/Jim Webster
Just like Turjan, so you too must learn that the most basic thing for growing of vat creatures is the creation of the Matrix. This article explains how to create a new matrix, alter an existing matrix or extract a matrix from an existing living creature. It covers the materials needed for creation of the matrix, and for its projection onto a cell placed in a vat, in order to create the vat creature. All the rules are also covered, as well as suggestions for playing vat creatures as player characters.
The Bottom Line
Very well done. Most of the articles are very good, and the whole thing looks as if it was a magazine published in the Dying Earth, with advertisments of buisnesses from the Dying Earth and letters written and replied to by the locals. The artwork isn't special, most of the time, but the ideas portrayed in it, and the way in which it was placed gave it a higher grade than it would have recieved otherwise.
The ideas themselved couldn't have filled a book each on their own, and it is good to see that the guys at Pelgrane don't try to write as many books as possible, as opposed to many companies these days, but would rather give you as many good ideas as possible in one good and rather cheap book. A job well done, and a must have for any Dying Earth GM.
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