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Thankfully the cover is reproduced sans text on the inside of the magazine. I’d love for a larger version in future issues though.
Opening the magazine though, I worried that perhaps there was too much price paid for the expanded size. While it’s now at sixty pages, the book has ballooned in no small part due to numerous ads. Over ten pages of full ads, not counting half pages or quarter pages. In the paper version, it’s not so bad. On the e-side though, as I read the magazine one page at a time, it seemed there were too many ads. On one hand, it’s nice to see gaming ads again. With the death of Dragon and Dungeon, gamers really don’t have a lot of places to get exposure to new things. On the other hand, I don’t see any of the… ‘higher’ end companies but rather, a lot of fellow PDF publishers. Nothing wrong with that but it’s certainly not Dragon. At least not yet.
So what did I think about the actual issue itself though? Depends on the article. As this is a PDF magazine with a print option and it started through the old net, I’m a little underwhelmed by the idea of a letter’s page. While it’s probably nice for those who get it through the newsstand, I’m of the opinion that’s what a message board is for, and KQ does indeed have that(http://www.koboldquarterly.com/kqforums/ ) so taking up magazine space with it seems wasteful.
Ecology of the Lich, starts off with a great illustration that looks like it belongs to a Celtic version of the Great Hunt. The actual article itself isn’t bad but doesn’t add a lot of meat to the Lich. Lots of little ideas and lots of things for the game master to flush out if he has the time and inclination. Probably not a bad thing for people who are new to the game, but as I’m one of those old hats whose seen an article or three like this before, not to mention the huge old Van book from the Ravenloft line, I was left wondering, “Where’s the beef?”
One of Wolfgang’s article, Star and Shadow Magic, provides some new spells and a master listing of spells to form a subschool of sorts, the school of illumination. Some of the spells are multipurpose like Black Hand, a 4th level spell that deals no actual damage, but damages physical stats and augment’s the caster’s stats by the amount lost. For a 4th level spell, it seems a little underpowered despite the fact that it effects three stats. For example, Bull’s Strength provides a +4 flat bonus (as do the other spells), at 2nd level, while Ray of Enfeeblement is a random roll, it’s a d6 plus a variable bonus based on level. The roll on Black Hand is only a d3, having slightly less than the same effect as if the target made the saving throw, where the partial effect is the loss of 1 point of Constitution.
Many of the spells are of a primary effect and a potential secondary effect. For Starbolt, those who are struck take 1d6+1 point of damage per bolt (in essence and improved Magic Missile), but must also make a Fortitude save or be dazed for the remainder of the round. Net of Comets does greater damage if you fail a Reflex save and then requires a Will save to escape in following rounds. Some interesting effects and something to think about when determining if these will be allowed in the campaign.
One of the things I like about KQ is that it’s not just Wolfgang doing his thing. He’s had support from some heavy industrial names in past issues and this issue continues that trend. Here we get the devil prince of swarms, Arbeyach, with a great illustration by Aaron Acevedo, written by Ari Marmell, a lengthy article with stats for the devil as well as his minions and ideas on how to use him.
On the other hand, that doesn’t always mean that it’s going to be a “knock out” article. For example, while I love Keith Baker’s stuff 99.9% of the time, his work here, Hardboiled Adventurers, amounts to little more than all purpose general advice that has no game mechanics and no real meat to back it up. I suspect that’s because some of those ideas for these type of “noir” adventures have already appeared in his various Eberron work.
What I was surprised at though, was how much I enjoyed the Ed Greenwood interview. I felt that the first interview with Erik Mona was too much like some D&D buddies sitting around talking about their previous game and campaigns and while this article does a touch of history, it hits on many other fields as well. For instance, we find out that Ed’s got involvement in 4th edition, as well as continuing to write his own material. We learn that unless there is some type of shake up, that Castlemourn is pretty much finished. It’s good stuff and I’m looking forward to seeing what Ed’s take on the Forgotten Realms brings us in the future.
An interesting twist of things is that with no more Dragon, Sage Advice has gone to an online only bit. While useful, it’s never moved beyond the official rules. Here we have Ask the Kobold by a fan favorite of rules, Skip Williams who tackles the Spellmaster, an alternative bit of rules from Green Ronin’s Advanced Player’s Manual. I’ll be curious to see what other fields Skip handles in future issues and if they’ll all be so focused as to handle one topic or if he’ll wind up jumping around several 3rd party sourcebooks in a single article.
Like Dragon magazine itself, I find there are some articles I’m simply not interested in. This time around, that would be Optimizing Power Attack. For those min-maxers out there, this is probably a must read article. I’m not into that aspect of the game that much though. If I have to start doing calculations about how much Power Attack to use, I’ve got to buy the argument of 4th edition that currently, Power Attack is “too hard” to use. Since it’s never been an issue at my table, this article was passed up.
A great article is one that has the potential to be of long term use to a campaign in planning as well as an immediate use. In this case, More Than Dragon’s Blood, an article that allows a sorcerer to swap out his familiar for an ancestor spirit, is such an article. Instead of a familiar whose overall use and even purpose might be limited or even useless or worse, a hindrance, is replaced with a host of options ranging from a dragonic ancestor to a elemental ancestor, each type coming with their own benefits following a pattern of abilities that includes rules for creating your own ancestors. I can easily see these rules in place to showcase familial clans whose bonds with their ancestors is still in place to those with ancient pacts to the old powers.
Some articles can provide their utility only in a limited manner but are fun once you do so. Dangerous Doors reminds me of an old Dragon article that showcased numerous trapped doors and injected some variety into my campaign. Dangerous Doors does that but like that old article, it’s only so many times you can pop a Firebreathing Door or other variety onto the party before they just start blowing open the doors or maximizing the rogue’s ability to deal with such traps.
One thing that the new Dragon online has pretty much failed to do, is bring in some new cartoons. To me, seeing stuff like Order of the Stick and other favorites through the years like Phil and Dixie or Knights of the Dinner Table, was part of it’s charm. While we don’t have those old favorites, another old favorite, Bolt & Quiver and 10’ by 10’ Toon by Stan! Are present.
Kobold Quarterly seems to be in a bit of a transition. It’s far more in merely three issues than Wolfgang’s personal newsletter . It’s increase in size and advertising as well as a potential for more print push may make it a true tool kit to gamers and with some potential insight into 4th edition coming next issue, may become popular enough to be a long term staple of readers looking for good material for their favorite game system. If it becomes the next Warpstone, a long published magazine providing great support material for a favored game system, I’ll keep subscribing.
