A Role Playing Games Blog
Dragon Age
What about the Kobold of Winter, aka #20? A review…
0January 20, 2012
“The Winter Kobold is coming!” If those were the words of House Stark, Eddard would have faced a different fate! Because the know Kobolds are powerful, dangerous creatures. Well at least that’s what Wolfgang Baur, the folk of Open Game Design and all the authors and contributors make me think issue after issue. I am a fan of the magazine and they keep pushing the envelope and producing quality content consistently. But let’s leave strange references to A Song of Ice and Fire behind and dive in into the issue at hand!
The theme this issue is archers and its well served. Let’s see, it opens with the Elven Archer, a race specific class for the Pathfinder RPG. It’s an interesting mix of the ranger and the rogue that fits a traditional fantasy niche. The article has some typos (and you all know I’ve got plenty of those, so I shouldn’t be nitpicking), but I found it interesting and it’s a perfect fit for my long running campaign. The notes on adapting the class for other races, cultures, or even weapons make it useful in other contexts. There is also an article on magic arrows, which again provides what in my mind are some archetypical magic arrows. These two articles seem plucked from my adolescent love for RPGs updated for Pathfinder.
What else is there? Read on to find out…
Oldies but goodies! Some great digital game supplements for the New Year…
0January 12, 2012
It’s really strange that I just classified as “oldies” some books that became available in digital format just a few short months ago. I guess it’s the nature of the digital age, the immediacy, and the ease of publishing that has changed my perspective. But the fact that these supplements where published some months ago doesn’t make them any less amazing.
These books where provided by the publisher for review and even if I took my sweet time to get to them I am always really flattered that publishers will submit their products for review. Thanks, that doesn’t mean I’ll pull my punches!
So without further ado, the reviews…
What about Kobold Quarterly #19?
Issue 20 of Kobold Quarterly just came out, and I plan to review it much faster than the previous issue, but the issue at hand (pun intended) is 19, the Fall issue. I’ve reviewed previous issues and the wonderful people at Open Design have made me a fan, with a mix of nostalgia for the old Dragon Magazine coupled with great new content for some of the most popular fantasy RPGs in the market right now, D&D, AGE and Pathfinder. So what’s good in this issue? Glad you asked!
Freebies: Who Watches the Watch Fires (AGE System)
2September 1, 2011
I am truly amazed how much third-party support Green Ronin’s AGE system has been getting lately. There are of course numerous fan supplements, adventures and conversions on the ‘net, but a good portion of support has come from our good friends at Open Design LLC.
The upcoming Midgard Campaign setting will come with full support for that game system, Kobold Quarterly regularly has interesting articles for fans of the system and they recently released a Midgard Bestiary for AGE.
They latest release is “Who Watches the Watch Fires”, a complete free adventure for beginning characters written by Jonathan Roberts and converted to the AGE system by Josh Jarman.
Review: Midgard Bestiary Volume 1
3July 25, 2011
If you haven’t been living under a rock for the last few years, you surely heard about Green Ronin’s Dragon Age Roleplaying Game. Instead of trying to copy the system used in the Dragon Age computer games, Green Ronin designed an original system, called AGE, or Adventure Game Engine. Even though the system has been designed with a specific background in mind, people started to use it for different settings basically from day one.
Open Design and Kobold Quarterly have been supporting AGE with new material for a while now, and the upcoming Midgard Campaign Setting will not only be designed for Pathfinder but for AGE as well. Open Design’s latest release, the Midgard Bestiary Volume 1 by Josh Jarman is a 58-paged PDF containing fifty monsters drawn from five years of Open Design projects.
What about Kobold Quarterly #18? A review…
2July 19, 2011
Ah the change of seasons, the passing of time. Maddening heat and unending rain have descended upon my tropical island paradise, but there is another sign that summer is here. The new issue of Kobold Quarterly is out. Michael posted about this here, and the publishers were so kind as to provide the blog with a review copy. Since he knows I love fantasy, and I’m in a very bad need of a fix since I’ve been playing supers for over six months now (and I love it, but I miss my wizards and dragons), he let me review it… Happy blogger!
I review a lot of Open Design books, and I make no qualms about admitting how much I enjoy their products. I am a Pathfinder fan true and true, and well they simply publish so many awesome books for my favorite fantasy RPG I can’t help myself. The 18th issue of Kobold Quarterly does not disappoint. This issue weights in at 100 pages with content not only for the Pathfinder RPG but to the other two big players in the fantasy RPG field, Dungeons & Dragons 4th Ed and the newcomer AGE system from Green Ronin. I am a fan of AGE as well and I am happy to see more options for fantasy RPG lovers out there and I applaud Open Design for supporting it. It’s chock full of goodies…
Want to learn more? Read on…
Spring is here… Can’t you smell the kobold? The Kobold Quarterly that is!
0May 3, 2011
After such a long and convoluted title, I guess you know it’s time to look at the new issue of Kobold Quarterly, in this case issued 17, the spring issue. Both Michael and I have previously blogged about Kobold Quarterly (here and here for two instances) and if you are a regular reader you know we both are fans of Open Design products. They were kind enough to provide a review copy of their latest issue in PDF so here is my take on it.
Kobold Quarterly #17 is a 76 page full color magazine, including ads. The collection of articles in this issue covers the gamut of fantasy RPG systems, the typical D&D 4th edition and Pathfinder, while adding the increasingly more popular Dragon Age system, and includes some non system specific articles, such as advice columns and book reviews. The issue’s theme is villains and they certainly deliver. Its chock full of goodies! I have said it before and will again, Kobold Quarterly is the spiritual successor of Dragon and Dungeon magazine. All in all this is a great issue, so don’t tarry, get you copy.
I do have more to say, if you are interested read on…
Beyond Ferelden
2February 17, 2011
Back in December 2009 I professed my love for the Dragon Age RPG by Green Ronin. As someone who enjoyed (and still enjoys) the Dragon Age: Origins computer game it was no question whether I picked up that game or not. And the Dragon Age RPG definitely lived up to my expectations, it actually surpassed them.
It’s a great game for new players to pick up and play because of the easy ruleset and familiar setting. As a veteran player I enjoyed that the game had a great old-school feel to it. There’s a lot to love about the game and it’s underlying system, called AGE.
But what I actually didn’t expect was that about one year later people would use Dragon Age’s system to run all kinds of campaigns. It was no big surprise that people used it for other fantasy settings like Mystara, but nothing could have prepared me for Star Wars or Firefly conversions. And from what I’ve seen so far the AGE system seems extremely versatile.
More support for that system comes from Wolfgang Baur’s Open Design in form of the Midgard setting. Following the patrons’ wishes this setting will not only support the Pathfinder RPG but also AGE. Actually more patrons voted for Dragon Age than for D&D 4th Edition. That was actually an outcome I didn’t anticipate.
Midgard was actually not Open Design’s first brush with the Dragon Age game. There have been several articles about Dragon Age in the last few issues of Kobold Quarterly including one by Chris Pramas, Dragon Age’s lead designer, which provided players and GMs with Backgrounds that allowed them to use the AGE rules for a game set into Green Ronin’s Freeport.
This all shows me that the AGE system seems to have legs of its own. I can easily imagine a more generic AGE system rulebook which allows GMs and players to run all kinds of fantasy games (and perhaps games set in other genres) without all that Bioware IP. I would even go so far and say that AGE could even become this day and age’s D&D. If Green Ronin announced a Freeport RPG using AGE rules today, I wouldn’t hesitate to preorder it.
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