Just my two cents

Mar 13 2013

What about Open Gaming Monthly? A short review…

OGM 01After my review of Gygax Magazine and my bemoaning of the loss of Kobold Quarterly, I discovered another magazine that was recently released in digital form Open Gaming Monthly, a digital only magazine supporting open gaming and brought to you by the folk at PFSRD.com and Fat Goblin Games for $2.99. You might be wondering is the price of admission worth it? Most certainly!

Ok on to the fiddly bits…

The magazine is 99 pages long, full color, with a good balance of ads and content and a catalog of the items for sale at the PFSRD Shop in the back. Right off the bat I must say this did not feel like a shopper, the ads were there but they did not overwhelm me. They had certain columns, like previews, news, notes, and upcoming releases; with a print magazine such content can quickly become dated, but taking advantage of the digital format it’s all hyperlinked and really useful. And there is so much goodness here, from the small columns and asides, like GM Advantage with links to articles and tools, a Resources column, and Random Treasure, little boxes with items all around the magazine.

The content is solid, almost all open content! They had interviews, but they were NOT the main focus of the magazine. The focus was actual content, fluff and crunch I can immediately use in my game. Monsters, items, races, locations, adventures, optimization advice and an open content shared setting to be developed each issue.  There is an artic theme running through many, but not all, articles, which is very nice. The theme ties together parts of the magazine but does not make it so that people NOT running artic or cold themed setting are left hanging.

The largest chunk of the magazine is really Pathfinder content, but with publishers also hosting the Sword and Wizardry SRD and the Mutants & Masterminds SRD, I hope there is space for content for both these games and other OGL games in the magazine.

There are other details, like a full reproduction of the cover art with artist info, and even a recipe! Yes you read that right, a food recipe for Spinach Lasagna Rolls. The art, layout and everything about the magazine is top notch. If they can continue producing such a wonderful magazine month after month they have a regular client here.

An excellent product all around, if you like Pathfinder, Open Gaming content games and want to support PFSRD.com and their related sites, check it out!

By • Just my two cents, Mutants & Masterminds, News & Reviews, Other Systems, Pathfinder, Random musings, Reviews & First Looks, RPG, Swords & Wizardry • 0

Mar 6 2013

What about Gygax Magazine? A review… (and a rant for good measure!)

Gygax Magazine #1When Gygax Magazine was announced I was thrilled. Although I am not a big super of the OSR movement (more on this later!), I understand its appeal and there are instances where I enjoy it. Also if you’ve read my past reviews of Kobold Quarterly you’ll know I’m a fan. I always compared it to the old print Dragon Magazine. It was to me the spiritual inheritor of said publication. So what about this magazine that was clearly setting itself up to be the direct descendant of Dragon, from font, to art to content? Would it work?

When the release came out I was REALLY disappointed… I wanted to participate of the fun and get the magazine, but alas there was no electronic version when it came out. That, to me, was a head scratcher; in this day and age to ONLY go with print at launch was a miss. I understand the nostalgia, which was confirmed upon reading the editorial, but that was not communicated effectively beforehand.

In their defense they cleared up questions really quickly, communicated effectively and assured us there would be a digital copy soon. And there was, but no having the digital copy right there and there took the wind off my sails a little bit. Despite the excitement in the RPG community I was a little disappointed by everything I saw about the magazine. It looked TOO MUCH like Dragon magazine; I feared it might not be a tribute and become merely an aping of glories past.

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By • Blogging, Humor, Just my two cents, News & Reviews, Other Systems, Random musings, Reviews & First Looks, RPG • 8

Feb 4 2013

The Pathfinder Reference Document Updated (And a few other things!)

PathfinderIf you are a Pathfinder RPG fan you might already know this because Paizo has been very good at announcing it via social media and RPG new outlets have covered it, but just in case this is the one source of RPG news you read, and we can’t criticize your for your impeccable taste, I’m writing this post.

The Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Reference Document has been updated yet again! I have to commend Paizo for keeping their reference document current and making it a real tool for gamers on the digital edge. For me the reference document does not substitute the actual book, PDF, on in many cases both. The books have more details and explanations; of course illustrations, “fluff”, and I still prefer reading the information from the book. But to a digital Game Master it is an excellent tool.

I don’t run adventures at home so my space to transport books is at a premium. I have to choose what to take and having so much content available online is probably what makes running Pathfinder so easy for me. So what’s new? The content for the NPC Codex has been added, the stat blocks, not the specific NPCs for each stat block (and they make getting the book in print of PDF worth it!) as well as information from the Advanced Races Guide integrated into the indexes. Oh the indexes! The various indexes make it possible to sort through the ever growing number of spells, feats and magic items. Some people are overwhelmed by the sheer number of choices in Pathfinder but tools such as this make it much easier to run the game!

(That and Hero Lab, Perram’s Spellbook,these tools are integral parts of my electronic toolbox, but I digress…)

I also regularly use the Pathfinder SRD, it contains much of the same content as the Pathfinder RD, but organized differently, and the SRD includes 3rd party content, not on the official Paizo document. I typically have both open during games and switch from these online tools to my own home grown tools, such as my Excel campaign journal and work tool, an Excel encounter calculator, the campaign Facebook page and Google site. But the Pathfinder Reference Document is the center of all this madness, the most useful tool I have for my weekly game.

I’ve written about the updates before, and hope that Paizo continues to do this. It shows the commitment they have with their fan base, kudos to all the talented and hardworking people who work on my favorite fantasy RPG.

By • Just my two cents, News & Reviews, Other Systems, Pathfinder, Random musings, RPG, RPG tools • 0

Jan 28 2013

What about the Star Wars X-Wing Miniature Game? A mini review…

SWXWSeems I am on a Star Wars roll these days…

Recently during a Puerto Rico Role Players geeknic I got to play the Star Wars X-Wing Miniature Game. I rarely play miniature games. I have in the past but they have never really caught my fancy. Many of my closest friends are miniature and strategy games enthusiast, and in the past I have played Epic, BattleTech, Man O’War, and Battle Fleet Gothic. Except for that last one form which I had the basic box, all the others I played with friend’s armies. While some of those games were fun, most of them took too long or gameplay bored me. I discovered that when those games dragged too long I just zoned out. I can role-play for hours but long war games and strategy games just bore me.

(I did play an old Axis & Allies game that lasted about 18 hours, but we had as much fun off the board as on the game itself. Might have been sleep deprivation, but I digress!)

During the geeknic, some friends played the X-Wing game and I just couldn’t resist looking. The minis looked great, but all the components just fueled my interest. After a short explanation I got to throw some dice and try out the game. What can I say? It was fun!

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By • Boardgames, Just my two cents, News & Reviews, Random musings, Reviews & First Looks, RPG • 0

Jan 21 2013

How about a trio of reviews? Books from Kobold Press!

KP Logo Vertical.mediumI haven’t done one of these in a while! Between work and classes I’ve been away from the blog and not been as effective at getting to review some books provided to the blog for that very end. This time around I’ll tackle three books by the wonderful folk at Kobold Press for the Pathfinder RPG. So without further ado…

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By • Ask The Readers, Just my two cents, News & Reviews, Other Systems, Pathfinder, Random musings, Reviews & First Looks, RPG • 0

Nov 14 2012

The Kobold, the Quarterly and the Contest!

Fall is upon us (well those of us living in the northern hemisphere at least)! It’s the time of harvest, leaves fall, the weather turns colder, and apparently Kobolds come out of their den. I received a review copy of the Fall issue of Kobold Quarterly, number 23, by the friends from Kobold Press and sat down to write a review about it over the weekend, when their Kobold Courier newsletter arrived in my e-mail I and I read about a wonderful new contest they are having which I thought may be of interest to our readers, so I thought I’d combine both into a post!

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By • D&D Next, D&D4e, Dragon Age, Earthdawn, Just my two cents, Legacy D&D, News & Reviews, Other Systems, Pathfinder, Random musings, Reviews & First Looks, RPG • 0

Oct 8 2012

What about the Midgard Campaign Setting? A review…

The new Midgard Campaign Setting by Kobold Press is out, and it is a great book. I can best summarize it this way… If you are a fan of the setting as it has been presented through their excellent line of products, you owe it to yourself to get this book. If you are a fan of old school campaigns reminiscent of the settings of old, you owe it to yourself to get this book. If you like cutting edge campaigns that are inspired by myths, you owe it to yourself to get this book. If you are looking for inspiration for your own campaign and want great rules and inspiration, you owe it to yourself to get this book. Do you get the idea? I really, really, REALLY, like this book.

Wolfgang Baur, the setting creator and lead designer, and the rest of the writing team, Jeff Grubb, Brandon Hodge, Christina Stiles and Dan Voyce (they are the ones with credit on the cover but there are a few more outstanding creators on the credit page, you will not be disappointed) created a great campaign setting. It has the advantage of being familiar to fans of previous books by the publisher, but it is so much more. You are not getting filler material rehashed here; you are getting a broader picture of what you already loved.

I have a confession to make. I have not read the WHOLE book. I received a review copy on PDF and I dove right in. If you have been reading gaming books for a while, like me, you probably read a couple of pages, skim and scan around the book, go to the chapter with the rules or content that most interest you and read the book piecemeal. Slowly getting through it and maybe, eventually, reading it complete. The Midgard Campaing Setting is a 298 pages file, 288 of those are content, with an additional four pages of a thorough index, a necessity in any campaign setting.

So what happened? I read the introduction (yeah I’m one of those…) and I could not stop reading. By the end of that night I had read far too late into the night and I stopped because I had to be at work the next day. I have not been able to put it down since. I am still not completely through it, there are a couple of chapters to go, but this one deserves a read from cover to cover.

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By • Dragon Age, Feature, Fluff/Inspiration, Just my two cents, News & Reviews, Other Systems, Pathfinder, Random musings, Reviews & First Looks, RPG • 0

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