New Columns

Christopher Cecil published a new issue of gaming comic Fuzzy Thinking: "Weapon Proficiency: Blowgun."

Lloyd Brown, expert in the Business of Gaming Retail, discusses how giving up some job duties reflects a major step forward for his business in "My New Job."

And, Sandy's Soapbox found itself once again occupied by Sandy Antunes, who offered up "1 Handy Trick for Writing How to Play Examples."

New Reviews

The week in reviews kicked off with Endzeitgeist's review of the "Player's Guide to the World of Xoth," a free supplement presenting the sword-and-sorcery setting using a modified version of the Pathfinder RPG rules. At this price point, it's certainly a must-grab for fans of the sword-and-sorcery genre.

Dan Davenport looked at "Of Dreams and Magic," an RPG in a modern fantasy setting with a great concept but that requires more information to make for ease of play than the book has room to present.

Shannon Appelcline reviewed "The Colonists," a complex resource-management board game that takes a while to play through, but offers one of the deepest and densest games you've played, with truly evolutionary play along the way.

Shannon also reviewed a couple of miniature sets from WizKids. First were the "Pathfinder Battles: Deep Cuts Miniatures," which generally carry through on the style of the Pathfinder iconics, creating evocative and attractive miniatures. Next were "Nolzur's Marvelous Miniatures" for D&D which also represent nice value and will be exactly what experienced miniatures painters are looking for.

Last up was Edward Kabara with a review of "Psionics- The Next Stage in Human Evolution," an RPG based around playing psychic teenagers. If that premise sounds interesting, this is the game for you.

Threads You Might Have Missed

Would you like some humor, ethics, and science fiction all mixed together into one scrumptious confection? I thought so: head over to "The real morals of SF cautionary tales."

If, like many RPG settings, yours involves flying humanoids, then this thread may help you in deciding the tools with which they will attempt to stab your player characters: "Melee Weapons for Flight?"

And, for some general advice related to fixing a problem that many roleplayers have faced, "How to speed up a session."

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Have a good week, everyone.

• Iustum
  Newsletter Editor