I recently was in contact with Dr. Jonathan Jacobs of Nevermet Press, and received a review copy of Nevermet's latest endeavor, Brother Ptolemy & The Hidden Kingdom.

The book is a 4e "Adventure Setting", which means that while it does have an adventure, that's only a small part of this book in comparison. It's a really cool concept, so let's see how it works!

Chapter one opens with a history of who Brother Ptolemy and the Hidden Kingdom are, a group of monks who have found the secret to undeath. The chapter gives information on the group's goals and organization. The group often recruits the homeless and forgotten, considering no one will miss them once they're gone. They also hide their undead faces behind masks as part of their garb.

The chapter includes stat blocks for Ptolemy and his monks. What impressed me most was that there are seven different stat blocks for the monks, not including Ptolemy. And they're different, unique monsters, of mid-heroic tier. It would be pretty easy to begin slipping this group into your campaign from the beginning, reaching a boiling point around level six in your campaign.

Chapter two introduces a new disease, the Red Harvest, a fairly brutal 9th Level disease which has the opportunity to permenantly change a character into a "plague stalker", driven mad with the desire for blood.

The disease even effects plants, turning all into a deep rust color. Soon the land looks bathed in blood, not the type of place you want to visit on vacation.

The plague stalker template itself can be truly terrifying, as entire villages will be overrun with the disease and turn into a zombie-like horde. Not only are the villagers themselves overtaken, but animals as well. There are some really terrifying ideas presented, which could end up becoming quite a plague (no pun intended) on your players.

Chapter three presents the City-State of Corwyn, a sprawling city on the banks of a river, which could really be placed in any fantasy world. The chapter talks about the Red Monks of the Hidden Kingdom rescuing the city from almost certain doom when the Red Harvest overtook the lands many years ago, putting the city in the monk's debt. The monks now walk freely in the streets, and the townspeople are blissfully unaware of the sinister secrets behind the brotherhood of monks.

Chapter four is the adventure proper, with the heroes finding themselves at odds with the Hidden Kingdom. It's designed for 5th level heroes, and deals with the resurgence of the Red Harvest. There are quite a few NPCs introduced throughout, and a lot of opportunity for roleplaying. There's a really large chunk of the section designed purely for information gathering and roleplaying, which I like a lot. Eventually, however, the Red Harvest comes calling, and the plagued walk the streets, giving the players a run for their money, until they must go to the Von Brandt manor to face the leaders of the Hidden Kingdom in their base of operations. The game doesn't end there, but in the eventual trial of the monks, which is pretty cool to read about. I've wanted to run a trial in a game for a long time now, and this shows me how to do it.

Chapter five has magical items, including my favorite, the Beggar's Coin, which takes the hunger out of a hungry man by simply pressing it into their hand, but only if you have less than 5gp on you.

Finally, Chapter six presents new feats and rituals for the members of the Hidden Kingdom to perform, which are good, solid new rules.

The Appendix in the back has some great adventuring hooks for getting your players involved in the intrigue behind it all as well.

In all, at 110 pages, this is a fantastic book for anyone looking for some awesome and creepy new adversaries in their 4e D&D game. Definitely check it out.

My kid needs to grow up already.

With the release of rpgKids 1.5, there's no reason not to get your kids into RPGs. Enrique's update to rpgKids which appeared both on his website and in the Open Game Table 2.

Enrique sent me a review copy to look at, and it's a really, really solid product. He's had some great reactions, and as of this moment, it's #4 on the RPGNow Hottest Items list.

The game is a simple, straightforward roleplaying game to teach kids concepts such as math, taking turns and rational thinking. It encourages the use gridded maps and miniatures, which I approve of, because I think it engages a child's tactile and visual senses.

There are four character types a child can play: Sword Fighters, Wizards, Archers and Healers. Archers have to keep track of the number of arrows they use, to help with math skills, healers can heal allies and when they attack, hit everything adjacent to them, sword fighters can team up with other sword fighters, while wizards are the only ones who can read magic, making them invaluable outside of combat.

Combat rules are very simple, with a d12 being rolled by each side, and the higher winning. The rules are very simple and easy to understand, making it ideal for kids. In fact, it seems like it would be quite easy for a child to run an entire adventuring party, and I've seen Enrique's kid do that very thing on the videos he's posted on his site.

The book also contains counters and a 1" grid for making adventures. It's pretty nifty, with nice simple crayon drawings of heroes and monsters.

The book concludes with a nice little adventure called The Lair of the Frog Wizard, in which the evil wizard is turning the town to frogs, and the must stop him. Its a great introduction to the game, and really shows the style of play you should be using with your kids.

I look forward to seeing what else Enrique comes out with in the future. I'd love to see a Sci-Fi version of this for kids who love Star Wars, or even a Super Hero one.

Today, I’ll be reviewing the Open Game Table, Volume 2. I was sent a physical review copy by Jonathan Jacobs, one of the editors for the book. Right off the bat, I’m going to tell you that I’m pretty biased towards this book. Many of my friends are published in here, and it’s really cool to see their blog posts in print. This book is a collection of blogs from around the interwebs, many from the RPG Blogger’s Network. The books is really well laid out, with thirteen different broad topics covered: Gaming roots & reflections, new players/new games, campaign success & failure, lies, tricks & more damned lies, campaign design choices, of sandboxes & railroads, play style, character style, 4e D&D, Old School RPGs, make it a challenge, the RPG toolbox, and “laughing hyenas” (comedic posts). A few notable posts really stand out to me, which I’ll talk about.

1. The Jeremy Jones interview with Dave Arneson. This is one of the last interviews he gave before passing. He talks about a wide variety of topics, with some really great things to take away from it, including; “The players are there to keep the referee amused. If they don’t, he will find a way to make it entertaining,” and “[the heart of a good game,] as far as I am concerned it is the story. It can make or break a game quite easily.”
2. Realism Stinks, or What It’s All About by Justin Achilli. In this article, Justin points out something I hadn’t thought of before, that if there’s a skill in the game, it’s there for you to use it, and be an integral part of the game. If you’re playing a vampire game, and there’s a computer use skill, then you should expect that “this is a setting in which people who use computers are a significant facet of the setting.”
3. Nico’s Lego RPG: assault on the Crystal King’s Cave by ChattyDM. This is an awesome little article where Chatty plays an RPG with his son, Nico, using Legos. In the end, he finds the game less magical than the games he had previously played with his son, where they used to just tell stories. I can agree with that.
4. Monotheism in D&D by multiple. There are two great articles about monotheism in D&D, by both Paul King and Michael Wolf. Both take different perspectives, but both are fantastic articles.
5. rpgKids by Enrique Bertran. Enrique just came out with rpgKids 1.5, and this is the original, which has gotten rave reviews. I’ll be reviewing rpgKids 1.5 later this week, so keep your eyes open for that. There are a bunch of other fantastic articles, and if I talked about them all, we’d be here all night. This one is definitely a step up from the previous Open Game Table Volume 1, which was fantastic to begin with. If you’re looking for a place to get the “best of the best”, this is the place to go.

For those who haven’t seen ChaoticShiny.com, it’s Hannah’s site for random generators she’s come up with, allowing you to create civilizations, pantheons, mottos, regions and more. It’s a great way to piece together ideas for a campaign world. The KBGP2 is an .exe file (sorry Mac users) which gives you lots of possibilities for designing your own kingdom, including fashion, armies, law, place names, conspirators, events, and even flags! The first tab in the program is for your Kingdom & Hooks. This generates your Kingdom name, who its ruled by, prominent places, some laws, recent events in the kingdom, notable individuals, how the army is run, and current fashion. Some results seem odd (since it is a random generator), but you can get some really interesting variations on strange lands. I had it generate me a kingdom, and here’s what it came up with: Kingdom Name: Traetael Ruled By: A philosopher-queen Prominent Places: Kraemi Strait, Restdaisy Foothill, Treatmiss Jungle, Leastgator County, Wrackblade Wetlands A Few Laws: The penalty for a nonhuman striking a courtesan is a few months’ imprisonment. The penalty for insulting a juvenile is a few months’ imprisonment. Recent Events: In a northeastern township bandits have become prevalent and a beholder has been plaguing a village. Meanwhile, an important bard has gone missing. A prominent socialite may be involved. There has been a string of kidnappings near the eastern region and there have been severe droughts for the past several years. A prominent socialite may be involved. A prominent socialite has been stirring up discontent in the southeastern township and there is a dangerous drought. Notable Individuals: Alorrel, the proud master artisan who recently had a sudden change in alliance. She has few open allies. Rumors say that she has some interesting relationships with certain warriors. She can usually be found at all the biggest social events. She is wiry with mismatched eyes and black hair. The kind guard captain Scethai is her ex-lover. The arrogant adventurer Cansan is her lover. Cand, the slothful, smug foreigner who has been preaching the new religion. He has questionable allies. He is short with a pierced lip and piercing blue eyes. The talented spy Inoulloe is his adversary. Army: Traetael’s army is famed for its accurate archers and the use of flails. They often make use of rogues. They are famous for their high-quality weapons and for flashy tactics. Current Fashion: This fashion features soft, scanty tan and blue-green garments. Tops are typically short sleeved with low necklines. Jodhpurs and pants are also customary. Capes are popular accessories. Leather and collars are staples of the style. Bright blue, deep red, and vibrant blue are also common colors. The wealthy and the poor wear very different clothing. As you can see, there’s a lot of hooks there for you to expand upon. Even from the second line “Ruled by a philosopher-queen”, you begin thinking; how does being a philosopher effect her rule? With recent events, you’ve got at least three different game sessions each time you hit the “Generate Kingdom” button. That’s a lot! You’ll keep your party occupied for months! Sometimes, the results are less than stellar (an example being that “the penalty for insulting a juvenile is a few months’ imprisonment”). However, it gets your mind working, in figuring out why that would be in this kingdom. And if you don’t feel like spending the brainpower, just tell it to generate again, or go over to the “Law” tab. The other tabs are more detailed versions of the different events of the Kingdom & Hooks tab. you’re able to generate any number of armies and choose what suits you best, as well as place names (which could work very well when you’re in a pinch) as well as conspirators. The conspirators are a bit unusual, since I’m not sure why they’re named as such. I would most likely have named them “shady characters” if I was designing it, but I supposed conspirators works just as well. The Flag tab is really cool. With it, you can come up with all kinds of strange and unusual coats of arms, with pictures of dragons, unicorns, pegasuses, and more. You can set specific parameters, including colors, only using heraldric colors, and even import your own pictures for the symbols. In all, the Kingdom Builder is a definite must-have for anyone trying to come up with their own kingdoms, and those who could use a little help coming up with various hooks and NPCs.

Not a bad game for kids, the game probably won't hold much interest for adults. The rules are very, very simple, and a ton of space is set aside for explaining to kids how to play and GM. To be honest, I was hoping for a little bit more robust a system, but as a game for kids, give it a try.

I was sent a free review copy of the Conflict Roleplaying Rulebook recently by Conflict Roleplaying, and have perused it. Conflict is a roleplaying game supplement by Mark M. Scott for the Pathfinder and OGL d20 rule systems, allowing for a group of players to play PVP combat while making sure the game is balanced for any rules the players may be using from any supplement. The book is 120 pages of gaming goodness, providing some very interesting ways of dealing with arena type campaigns where your sole goal is to wipe your enemy off the map. The book details types of matches, map elements, feats, and some pre-generated characters. This almost completely redesigns how character creation is done. You aren’t trying to create a compelling character, you’re creating a battlefield terror, intent only on destroying your enemies. The cover of the book is a well painted piece of art detailing two knights in combat (as you can see on the right) and the rest of the book is in greyscale, with decent art throughout. This book looks like it took a lot of time and a lot of playtesting to pull off. The idea of the Battlepoints system is that, based on your level, you are given a certain number of battlepoints to spend on your class, magical and non-magical items, as well as different battlefield conditions. The DM plays the role of the referee, which allows for secret movement and orders by the players through sheets called “passcards” which let the players write out their plans on them, including what attacks they’ll make, what square they’ll be moving into, and any other condition the DM needs to know. There are many different game types, including “Ambush,” “Kill of the Hill,” “Hellbreak,” “Regicide,” and “Brother’s Keeper.” Each one has specific win conditions that must be met in order for one team or the other to win. Within each type of game, there are other variants, so you aren’t likely to run out of options any time soon. Conflict Laws are special rules the DM can apply to nearly any game, adding even more options, such as Dead Lands, which cancels out all magic in the battle, or Fog of War, which makes it more difficult to attack the enemy with range attacks. There are 15 team feats presented, which allow you to benefit not only yourself, but others on your side. Mostly involving distracting an opponent so the other can move in for a hit, or holding the enemy while another lands blows on him. There’s also a pair of hefty guides within, once for the DM, the other for players, and gives some good tips on different conflicts and how they can be run. In the game Bridget and I tried, we had a blast, pounding the snot out of each other across the excellent map provided. It was pretty awesome. Overall, this is a very solid product, with some great options for a game group who is tired of the standard grind and wants to take their aggression out on one another. It’s definitely a book I would recommend to any Pathfinder and 3.5 players out there.

This set has some great zombie dogs, along with a re-skinned hero. It's a great set, perfect for a zombie game, or even for a fantasy game involving dark necromany.

I've always liked Darkmook's figures, with their clean lines and well designed minis, which are very evocative of the horror setting.

This latest set is great. Introducing horrific monsters, and the MIB-type agents who oppose them, this set would work great for any Call of Cthulhu or other horror game. While you're at it, pick up his other horror sets.

The Fantasy Companion your standard races of elves, dwarves, halflings and half-orcs, but also features the Saurians and Rakashans, lizard-folk and cat-folk respectively. With a few quick little tweaks, you’ve got your Dragonborn and Tieflings from D&D quite easily. There are some awesome rules for sieges, which I will implement post-haste if I’ve got the chance to run a fantasy game. There’s a ton about magical items, as well as many intelligent items, and a large bestiary. Also, their magic has been greatly expanded upon in this book, adding trappings to powers to make them quite different. One wizard could employ two different bolt powers and they’d be very different if he used either ice or fire as the trapping on the power.

The Super Powers Companion is a nice, quick read that is basically 2.0 of the Necessary Evil sourcebook, featuring new rules and some new and modified powers. If you want to play a superheroes game but don’t care about the background of the Necessary Evil setting, this is the way to go. Some powers are expanded upon, while others are changed a bit. There’s also some nice new rules for lairs, which make Professor X look like he spent a lot of edges to get the X-Mansion up to the level it is now. The lairs are an awesome addition to the game. One really nifty thing they added was the ability to tweak how many power points you get to spend on powers based on how powerful you want your heroes. It’s just as easy to take a drawback to make another hero not have as many points to spend on powers so they can play the sidekick role if they want. There’s also a ton of new villains, fully fleshed out with all kinds of powers to fight your heroes.

CthulhuTech is an interesting beast. A strange cross of Anime and H.P. Lovecraft, it’s really made a splash in the RPG community. I love me some giant robots, so that’s the draw for me. Throw in the Old Ones, and I’m rearing to go! Vade Mecum is the CthuluTech companion, offering new races and professions, and a ton of optional rules. The art throughout is top-notch, a very beautiful style for all of the horrors throughout. There are strange aliens, extra-dimensional beings, and governmental conspiracies all gorgeously painted. The book features new races, new and modified assets, new skills, and some new professions, including my favorite, the Zoner. A Zoner is someone who suddenly comes into psychic powers without warning, driving them insane. That would be a challenge to play, but incredibly fun. There’s some awesome healing complications for when you are attempting to get healing, and something goes wrong. This can include massive scarring, nerve damage, even making your character a quadriplegic. All of these new injuries can be implemented as well through the new hit location rolls. I’ve always been a fan of knowing where someone’s been hit, and this helps you with just that. There’s a bunch of new fighting styles, which are called cascades and look like talent trees. Kendo, ninjutsu, gunplay and military unarmed combat are all covered under these cascades. Para-Psychic powers are introduced, and there’s a ton of them. I counted 24, ranging from pyrokinesis to dream manifestation. I would definitely introduce them into my own game, were I to get the chance to run CthuluTech. There are new spells introduced to the magic you can find in the core rulebook, including dream magic, something that happens a lot in Lovecraft. I really like the new magic they have. I’ve always liked giant robots, so introducing even more is a plus. 22 new mechs grace the pages, from all kinds of different factions. The art on these puppies are nice. More monsters and NPCs are introduced in Chapter Eight, from Liches to Zoners and Ghouls. Sea monsters, vicious sharks are also pretty cool. The book concludes with two adventures, called stories, which are pretty well thought out. One begins as a murder mystery, but steadily turns into much more. I don’t want to spoil the surprise, if there’s any players reading. It’s for a party who are federal agents working for the Federal Security Bureau. The second mission is for members of a GIA GhOST team to rescue a doctor in Tibet, who also happens to be a sorcerer. And of course, horrible things happen along the way. This is followed by some great little plot hooks to finish up the book. There are some typos throughout the book, but I only noticed them because I’m an editor in my day job. They weren’t all that noticeable, I don’t think. I highly recommend this to anyone playing a CthulhuTech game out there. This book provides some great information and features that can definitely add a lot more depth to your game.

How to Host a Dungeon, by Tony Dowler, is a fantastic example of an easy to use game tool. As described in the introduction it is, “…part solo game, part toy, part toolkit for creating dungeons in the style of the Dungeons and Dragons role-playing game.” Even though it refers to it as a solo game there is no reason this cannot be used with 2 or 3 people. Not so much as a ‘game’ in that instance, but as a toolkit. The directions were very easily followed, and the supply list consisted of things typically found around the house. As long as you can find some blank paper, pencil, some dice and a few token counters you are set to go. Oh and one must not forget you need a hand; however, we can assume if you can hold a pencil then you indeed have one to use! The game/toolkit is split into four ages: the Primordial Age, the Age of Civilization, the Age of Monsters and the Age of Villainy. To begin with, a simple line is drawn towards the top of the page. During the Primordial Age, you begin to roll dice, and where the instructed die drops on the page is where certain physical characteristics appear. They might be Mithral deposits or caverns and the like. Not to mention the introduction of an Ancient Wyrm or two. Once this stage is complete you move onto the Age of Civilization. This first begins with the introduction of a Dwarven mine shaft. Note that you do have the option of choosing the Drow instead of Dwarves. The Dwarves expand, as they do, underground. With some more roles of the die and using a finger or thumb for the required measurements you begin to create a whole Dwarven empire; complete with Great Halls, Workshops, Barracks and Treasure Rooms. Next in the line is the Age of Monsters. With a few more rolls of the die you create castles, farms, cities, wizard towers and begin to send expeditionary forces into the underground caves. Some adventuring parties return with treasure and help to continue the building of life on top of the ground and others meet their fate at the hands of goblins who have been breeding deep beneath the surface or a Giant Spider or two! The Age of Villainy would begin when the previous stages are complete. We actually didn’t continue into this stage for two reasons. Reason number 1: It was getting to be pretty late in the evening. Reason number 2: We actually thought that it would be a fanstastic place to throw in your own adventuring party and use the map we created. This is a perfect game to sit down with a friend or S.O. who plays and do some plotting on a quiet afternoon or evening. I also found this to be a very creative way of randomly creating a dungeon for your gaming group to adventure in. Overall, I would highly recommend this to someone who likes to run the show and especially wants another great tool that they can use to enhance their current or future campaigns.

Arytis clocks in at only 24 pages, but that’s more than enough to give an overview of the culture, as well as a map of the city, and some utility powers for the Rogue and Fighter. Now, if you’ve picked up Martial Flavor, you will notice a bit of overlap. The utility powers in Martial Cultures: Arytis are the same as those in the chapter on Arytis in Martial Flavor, as well as some feats and flavor text. The real reason to pick up Martial Cultures: Arytis is for the additional flavor text, not the mechanics, and the number of feats in Martial Cultures is beefed up a bit from the few you’ll find in Martial Flavor. The Arytis are from a city of the same name. They love their city, worshiping the spirit who they believe inhabits it. They have a proud martial heritage, known for their fighters and rogues. The book features ranking of the Legions, both the names of ranks, as well as the actual symbology of each rank, which is a nice addition. Also, various ribbons and medals awarded to legionnaires is pretty cool, and I can see a lot of use in the game (rolling a History check and being able to identify that a certain soldier was involved in a certain war). As in the Martial Flavor book, Lipsky doesn’t tell you what race the Arytis are, instead giving you a few options for who they can be in your world. Primarily, the Dragonborn, Eladrin, and Human. Also featured, are ideas for making the Arytis either benevolent or malevolent, a very cool idea to show how making a slight tweak to your civilization can change it dramatically. New class options are given for fighters, rangers, rogues and warlords, as well as non-martial classes such as avengers, paladins, and bards. These change the class features to fit more in with the city. Some of the feats are the same as in Martial Flavor, but there are quite a few more, including ones for the non-martial classes, which is nice. The feats are for both Heroic and Paragon tier. A simple but effective map of the city, as well as information about important NPCs wraps up the book, featuring an actress, smith, city hero, really bad legionaire, cheif justice, a few council members, as well as the leader of the city. All very well thought out and intriguing. If you have been looking at picking up this book, and still aren’t sure, I highly recommend it. Right now, for the next couple of days, you can even get this book in the Gamers Help Haiti bundle! Definitely pick this up.

The book is a 55-page pdf, with some great cover art by Rachel Yung, featuring a human and Tiefling fighting one another. Yung’s art is featured throughout, and is top notch for a 3rd-party publisher. The idea behind the book is that it is a book of various cultures for your martial characters. But this isn’t just a book of fluff, it also features background benefits, feats, class features and powers. These are cultures that can be dropped into literally any campaign setting and used as is, simply incorporating in the history of the world to make it match their specific culture. The first group featured is known as the Daikort Pack, a band of nomad mercenaries who are willing to do whatever it takes to get the job done. Their allegiances change as often as their camp. The book states that the recruits the Daikort take in are either “the best of the best, or the worst of the worst, depending on who you believe.” The Daikort will take in anyone who is good enough to make the cut, regardless of race or sex. Most often, members of the Pack are either Rangers or Warlords. There are some pretty cool Utility powers for Rangers and Warlords for you to use, includimg my favorite of the bunch, Turn the Tables, a 10th level Warlord power which allows you to use it to cancel out you and any ally’s ability to be surprised who is within Range 10, as well as a few other bonuses. The Elessim are known as the “people of the horse”. They are a proud, noble culture, who believe that there is no better life than on the back of a horse. Their villages are small, surrounded by vast grazing land. The people have no written language and are seen by some as primitive and poor. The book advises you to use Eladrin, Elves, Half-Elves, Halflings or Humans for your Elessim culture. The Elesim are most commonly Fighters and Rangers, of which there are Utility powers to match. The Ikanoi are very similar to the Inuit of North America, living in the snow and ice of the bitter north. They cover themselves in tattoos from head to foot, each tattoo telling stories about their cultures and tribes, as well as their ancestors. Each part of their body tells the story of something else. Very fascinating and adds a lot of deep backstory to your character. It is advised you play the Ikanoi as Dragonborn, Dwarves, Half-Elves and Humans. I thought the idea of playing a Dragonborn Ikanoi as an excellent and unique idea. In this chapter, all four Martial Classes are given a nod, each being given three Utility powers to choose, as well as feats. If I were to choose a favorite culture in the book, the Ikanoi would be it. The Legions of Arytis are a very Romanesque culture, in which every citizen becomes a member of the Legion, known for their Rogues and Fighters. They are a mixed lot of races, who are not highly spiritual, and instead worship the spirit of the city itself. The Sijara are another nomad culture, reminiscent of Gypsies. They look disdainfully on the “Bound People”, those who live in one spot. They travel in family groups, “ranging anywhere from small troupes of three or four to huge extended families with members numbering in the dozens”. The Sijara wear their wealth through jewelry and ornate weapons. The book says that a “quick glance at a Sijara’s many earrings is usually enough to determine his or her current monetary situation”. The Sijara are most often Rogues and Warlords. This is my second favorite culture in the book, as I was looking, in the past, at playing a gypsy character in 4e. In the future, I’d love to see “Arcane Flavor”, “Divine Flavor”, “Primal Flavor”, and even “Psionic Flavor”. Near the back of the book, it mentions that they will be coming out with more books featuring even more details about the five cultures, each book focusing on a specific one of the cultures. I look forward to these as well. If you are playing 4e right now, I can’t praise this book enough. It’s got everything you need to introduce new and fascinating cultures to your current game.

Kobold Quarterly has been around for a while now, having just reached the double digits (congrats, guys!) and their magazine keeps getting better.

They’ve recently expanded the length of the magazine to account for more 4e material, which, as a 4e player, I really appreciate. They make it obvious that they won’t be reducing their 3e material, but expanding on their 4e (and most likely more Pathfinder as well).

Now, just because I’m a 4e player doesn’t mean I don’t care about things like Pathfinder, so I was pleased to see them put a preview of the new game right near the front of the magazine. In the sneak preview, they talk about what’s changed from 3.5 to 3.75, and more importantly, what’s stayed the same. Also, there is a new Prestige Class, the Shadowdancer, a group who strikes from the darkness.

There’s a fantastic article by Michael Brewer, Quinn Murphy and Jonathan Jacobs about Skill Challenges called “Swords Against Darkness”, which includes a few very cool skill challenges that can be dropped into any campaign. What I like about skill challenges is just that: they are small scenes that can be thrown into the middle of any game.

Their interview for this issue is with Jeff Grubb, a pioneer in D&D, who has helped develop Dragonlance, Forgotten Realms, and, the greatest campaign setting of all, Spelljammer (you should probably read that last part as sarcasm). In the interview he talks about life at TSR, world building, and mentioned that he’s even playing 4e. I like seeing the old guard picking up the game, when so many aren’t, so that’s cool. The interview is quite extensive, and you should probably check it out.

Another good article is that of “Whispering Enigmas: A Warlock Field Guide”. Though it’s not specifically 4e, the fact that it’s about warlocks and features their various pacts makes it quite obvious. The article has various one-liners that a warlock may say as they cast their spells or use words of power. It’s a great thing for a warlock player to have on hand to aid in their roleplaying. In addition, it talks about warlocks “patrons”, or those who have given the warlocks their powers, and how to develop that.

A new race is presented in the Haffuns, for both 3e and 4e. They’re similar to Halflings, but they have the ability to grant boons to their enemies.

In their book review section, they cover Open Game Table, the anthology of game blogs which consists mainly of blogs from the RPG Bloggers Network. It’s a nice review, and though I still haven’t gotten a chance to pick it up, I intend to as soon as I’m able. I’m even hoping to end up with an article in the next OGT (if there is one).

Of course, those are only the 4e focused articles I’ve referenced. There’s plenty more articles I don’t have time to mention here, but if you pick up a copy, you will definitely find more.

I give this 5 of 5 Kobolds.