Crafting magic items is oddly controversial in Savage Worlds. The rules are simply not built for crafting and are quite clear that permanent magic items are something that only the GM should provide. The only sop to players who want to create items is the Artificer Edge, which is required to make temporary Arcane Devices. And that's fine for many, if not most, Savage Worlds settings, but ignores a fun aspect of fantasy settings. The Artificer's Codex steps in where the rules fall short. Taking the Artificer's Edge through it's logical development into the Improved and Master versions, the Codex neatly sets out the mechanics for crafting permanent arcane artifacts, including alternate power sources, in-game costs, and guidelines for bonuses to keep the created items compatible with Savage Worlds. It's a great resource for GM's who want to use the grand quest for components as a plot hook, and a pathway for players who want to create custom gear.

Until recently there were really only two choices in layout and page design software for writers/publishers who want to publish under Pinnacle's Savage Worlds Adventurer's Guild license, InDesign and Scribus. Professional designers use InDesign. Amateurs, which is most of us, use Scribus. But after a couple of years in beta testing, Serif software released Affinity Publisher 1.71.4, a full featured, professional level desktop publishing program at a reasonable one-time price (as opposed to Adobe's subscription model). That makes it very attractive for freelancers, small businesses, and hobbyists or hopefuls who want to take advantage of the SWAG program to bring their cool Savage Worlds products to the masses. What makes it even more attractive is this guide and template. Affinity Publisher Basics will not make you a professional, but it does translate the PEG template into Publisher, complete with the appropriate logos, fonts and paragraph styles and a handy PDF that outlines how to use the supplied template to build your SWAG product. The PDF covers importing text, using layers, placing art, and wrapping text. As the title says, it's basic, but it's a damn good start. Having rebuilt the PEG template from scratch in Scribus, I can say that using Affinity Publisher and this template & guide is so much easier it's ridiculous. If you just want to publish a one-sheet, Scribus is fine. It will do what you need it to, and it's free. If you have larger plans or want to publish something more elaborate, spend the $50 on Affinity Publisher and another $5 on this guide and template. it's well worth it.

Get this. Period. Full Stop. Writing with Style is not revolutionary. It is not mind altering or world shattering. Writing with Style is plain common sense and simple writing advice -- which we all forget or ignore and need to be reminded of on a regular basis. I don't write RPGs except for those adventures I run for my players. I do write books, however, and magazine articles, and I have the advantage of a kick-ass copy editor with the mind of a Byzantine lawyer and the heart of a grammar loving Mongol. All of those things, in theory, put me way ahead of the game. But I've had Writing with Style open on my desktop for a couple of months now as I work on a couple of projects and it makes a difference. It makes me think, simplify, write in a way that, I hope will make my copy editor give her grudging approval. Nice job Ray Vallese. I still punctuate by sense of smell, but that's a matter for another book.

Adamant seems to be in hibernation, which is a real shame, especially since Triple Ace has gone to another ruleset. That means that those of us who love pulp and weirdness AND Savage Worlds don't have much other than aging Thrilling Tales stuff to rely upon. Thrilling Tales is great, don't get me wrong, but it desperately needs a SWADE update, better layout and more consistent art. I still give it Five Stars because it's the best thing going for those of us who still listen to The Shadow and I Love a Mystery in our cars. There is no better compendium for running a Weird Pulp SW campaign. But seriously Adamant folks, throw us a bone here, give us an updated Thrilling Tales.

Excellent toolbox for Savage Worlds. Guild of Shadows offers a plug'n'play city for a "Thieves World" or "Tales from the Vulgar Unicorn" sort of campaign or as a drop-in to any mid to high fantasy setting. It also adds to the mechanics of SW in a common sense way that allows you to bring things like advanced poisons, disguises, and political assassinations into your existing SW setting without having to do the math or rules lawyering yourself. I'm quite impressed. I'm currently pulling maps, NPCs, Edges & Hindrances into a series of one-shots that I run at a local game shop. Guild of Shadows & Agents of Oblivion sit next to my core rulebook so I can handle those "You want to do what?" moments. Highly recommended.