October 19, 2011 / Kobold Staff / 6 comments
Kobold Quarterly issue #19 is out today, and this Kobold horn of plenty is overflowing with what might be our most diverse set of articles and columns ever.
Sure, maybe there’s nothing new about this issue having great crunchy, fluffy articles for Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, 4th edition Dungeons & Dragons, and the AGE System RPG —including an official sneak preview of Tian Xia, Paizo’s new Dragon Empire.
But in this issue we go where no kobold has gone before: the realm of indie games, where we interview Fiasco designer Jason Morningstar. We asked Jason how the interview went, and he said, “I enjoy my subscription to Kobold Quarterly and was thrilled to get my (monkey) brain picked about games and game design for this issue.” This is nice of him to say, considering that at the end of the interview we challenged him to escape a deadly trap. Because we’re still kobolds, right?
Kobold Quarterly #19 is available now in print and PDF with necromancers, werewolves, grave druids, arch-devils, and a new solo adventure. Here’s a look at what’s inside, after the jump:
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July 25, 2011 / Kobold Staff / Comments Off
Now that you have a veritable trove of relic goodness awaiting you, you must pick one — only one — item from it. You see, you all have the power to choose the item that the kobolds will make available in the next issue of Kobold Quarterly. Yes, many fine artifacts arrived for appraisal, and if you haven’t yet looked at them, now is the time!
Those of you who have already peered closely at these artifacts can jump in and vote right away: Go to the KQ Forums and vote for your favorite entry from Relics of Power!
Of the ten finalists, the one that receives the most votes will receive the title “Relic of Power” and will appear in the next issue of Kobold Quarterly, fully illustrated. Who will you vote for?
Thank you, everyone, for entering the contest! On behalf of the judges and KoboldQuarterly.com, we had a great time doing this contest. Please, show your support of events like this by voting for your favorite artifact. Voting ends this Friday (07-29-11).
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July 23, 2011 / Josh Jarman / 4 comments
Welcome to the Relics of Power finals! Our very last finalist is the artifact called the War Band of the Last Mead Hall. Remember, these entries are unedited so that you can have a similar experience to the one that the judges had while reading them. As a special treat, we are posting each one with an illustration that Chris McFann made for the item. Time to read!
War Band of the Last Mead Hall
The laughter of Ogradin can still be heard in the mead halls of Wolfheim, echoing in the sonorous chanting of the warrior skalds and the drunken singing of the reaver dwarves. Lord of the ale horn, he of unending laughter, Ogradin is a legendary hero of the Wolfheim dwarves who was known to drain large ale barrels in a single, long quaff. A ferocious fighter, warriors say his battle cry could split the frost-covered stones, splinter the shields of his enemies and cause even the iceblooded trolls to quake in terror at his charge.
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July 19, 2011 / Wolfgang Baur / Comments Off
You might think that the judges, having adjudicated the King of the Monsters contest not once but twice, would find mere artifacts easier to weigh in the balance for nominations. You would be wrong—the judges had some difficulty even sorting out what makes an artifact, er, artifact-y.
Put another way, all three judges had firm convictions and opinions informed by a deep understanding of what was Really and Truly Meant by the AD&D Dungeon Master’s Guide of Yore, and yet only one of our ten nominees got a triple approval. But you know what? That’s okay. One judge went for story value in a campaign, one went for magic a step beyond typical magic items, and one went for the traditional, conservative understanding of artifacty-ness.
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July 17, 2011 / Josh Jarman / Comments Off
When we set out to design the Midgard Bestiary for the Adventure Game Engine (or AGE) system, we knew it was going to be a unique project from the start. The book represents not only the first stand-alone, third-party game supplement for the AGE System, it’s also the first time more than five years of Open Design monsters have been presented in a single volume, and the first time those creatures have been made available for the system that powers the Dragon Age Dark Fantasy Roleplaying game from Green Ronin.
Because of this, it was important to me as lead designer that the book pull double duty as both a great addition to the AGE system and as a great introduction to the world of Midgard for AGE game masters and players. So how did we do it?
With monsters, lots and lots of monsters.
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