As ell as the reviews and editorial, it featured the following articles.
A Changing Bretonnia/Errant Land - Pretty much in line with my own thoughts, this is an in depth coverage of the development history of Bretonnia which to me seems pretty accurate. As pretty much in my case it is singing to the converted about how to use the more recent incarnation of the setting, a lot of the material is probably wasted on me. However, if Knights of the Grail had contained this kind of attitude to the setting rather than tiptoeing around what Robin Low refers to in his earlier review as 'the bigger picture', I would have been a lot happier with the official source book.
Unveiling the Lady - an alternate, in character view of the Grail Cult. Interesting, but I am not sure I would use it apart from as a smoke screen. Still, these options that add ambiguity are always good, I like things like this being left open as a GM. (There is also a Fiction piece supporting the Bretonnia articles that I have yet to read).
Derelich of Chateau Fnaargh - A setting based on one of the less inspiring creatures introduced by Knight's of the Grail, this simply rewrites the abilities of the Derelich to make it actually useful. I am still not 100% convinced it really works as a WFRP concept, but it is a million times better than the KotG coverage. Additionally, even if like me you are not convinced that Dereliches are redeemable, I think the setting is strong enough that its still perfectly usable without one.
Stromfels: Lord of the Ranging Seas - Ok, my name is credited in this section, so I probably should not comment on it. However, I only contributed to the Sharks so I am going to. I really like Stromfels as a concept, and I think this gives him good coverage; especially I liked the section on Oradeur. I would have preferred it if some of the legendary material was more ambiguous. In particular, I would have liked to have seen the Beastman material from Nemesis Crown incorporated and its implications explored a little. Rules wise the only thing that really irked me was the huge list of 9 Cult skills rather than the traditional 3 or 4, but that is easily fixed with a biro.
Unfinished Symphony - A Solid Scenario packed with detail, with Profiles and even a somewhat unique use for a lemon. Additionally, even if you do not intend to use the scenario itself, it is packed with interesting details that can breathe life into a WFRP game. I suspect a lot of material from this will be winging its way into my game.
Magical Charms – The heart of this article is a pure background piece, detailing five example charms with text and pictures. There is also some discussion of what to me is one of the major problems of the second edition of WFRP, the frankly overpowered and silly disposable nature of Lucky Charms. Perhaps the only thing that could have been expended upon was some ideas for actually dealing with the problem in terms of mechanics.
Chaos Dwarfs – This article takes the unpublished Chaos Dwarf material from Dwarfs Stone and Steel, then updates it to the second edition of WFRP Rules, and makes some effort to update to the more recent background. So, if you are looking for a guide to placing the White Dwarf Big Hat Wearing Chaos Dwarfs of yesteryear into the first edition WFRP background, this is spot on. What however it does not do is incorporate the Chaos Dwarfs of Tome of Corruption, Storm of Chaos or Ogre Kingdoms into the second edition WFRP Background. A prominent example of how the article feels somewhat out of date is that it mentions the lack of the Slaver career in the second edition of the game, which was officially reintroduced in 2006 with a whole host of Chaos Dwarf material and careers that the article seems to pre-date. That aside, I do think a lot of the material is usable for the more recent background, but you will probably need to make the society a lot more chaotic than presented, perhaps by merging the two factions the article splits Chaos Dwarfs into back into one chaotic mass and getting rid of a lot of the hats.
Gasper's Guide to the Inns of Middenhiem - Similar in nature to the Pub Crawling chapter in WFRP Companion, this is 4 pubs with a description of building, owner and gossip that can be found there. Simple and very useful.
Barak Char - Its a dwarf hold, located on the Black Peninsula (Which happens to be where my current campaign is set, so bonus marks). This is another of those articles that WFRP and in particular Warpstone does so well, a relatively in depth look at Dwarf Salt production in a single hold. In writing it in actually gives a not only satisfactory but actually inspired explanation for the name of the Gulf of Tears, that is going straight in my game as indeed is the whole settlement.
All in all, another great issue.
