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WolfgangBaur
2007-10-03, 03:35 PM
The new issue of Kobold Quarterly shipped on Monday, and I'm a very proud papa so I gots ta brag about it.

It's got articles by some familiar names: Greenwood, Williams, Logue, Grubb, and Schwalb, for instance. It's got full color art. And unlike the WotC DI, it's cheap, just $16 for a year's subscription.

Princes of Hell - Belphegor, the Prince of Laziness by Tim and Eileen Connors
On the Street Where Heroes Live by Ed Greenwood
Industry Interview - Wayne Reynolds
The Assassin by Robert J. Schwalb
Ask the Kobold by Skip Williams
Ecology of the Barghest by Nicolas Logue
From the Inside Out, Creating Vibrant Characters by Sigfried Trent
A Kingdom For My Horse - Alternate Paladin Class Abilities by John E. Ling, Jr.
Joining the Noble Classes - by Jeff Grubb
The Avatar of Hunger - by Wolfgang Baur (Empire of Ghouls Preview)
Griffon Towers of the Margreve by Wolfgang Baur

45 pages

What would people like to see in future issues?

Shas aia Toriia
2007-10-03, 03:44 PM
umm. . . what is Kobold Quarterly?

RandomNPC
2007-10-03, 03:47 PM
ditto on the question

it's obviously a quarterly magazine of sorts, but is it paper, e-zine, or is it some other form of comunication? is it a telepathic magazine implanted in your brain? i'd pay 16 a year for that.


edit: i'm a good speeler

WolfgangBaur
2007-10-03, 03:51 PM
umm. . . what is Kobold Quarterly?

See, that's the trouble with working on it. I assume everyone already knows.

It's an Open Design D&D magazine that's available both in PDF and print, with great connections to the freelancer community. There's some more information here. Single copies are sold at Paizo.com (http://paizo.com/store/downloads/openDesign/v5748btpy804e), subscriptions at my Free City (http://wolfgangbaur.com/kobold_quarterly/) site. And it's cheap ($16/year).

In some ways, it's like a tiny little Dragon, but it's not a WotC marketing vehicle.

WolfgangBaur
2007-10-03, 03:53 PM
it's obviously a quarterly magazine of sorts, but is it paper, e-zine, or is it some other form of comunication? is it a telepathic magazine implanted in your brain? i'd pay 16 a year for that.


Oh, I'd pay a lot more than 16 for a telepathic magazine. Well, for the RIGHT telepathic magazine.

Getting Model Railroader beamed directly into my brain isn't in my future plans.

KnightErrantJR
2007-10-20, 05:07 PM
I've gotten issue #2, and its great. Honestly, this helps a lot with my Dragon withdrawal that I've had since the magazine ended, and feels more like Dragon than the online version that WOTC is putting out. Honestly, if you are even mildly interested in this, check this out. I'm definitely going to get the back issue of #1.

Matthew
2007-10-20, 05:17 PM
Ah, interesting to see that advertised (though, I suppose I shouldn't say advertised, as that's not allowed, so perhaps 'discussed') here. Will this only support 3e or will it be changing to 4e once that is released?

KnightErrantJR, could you give more information about what you thought of this publication? Perhaps a short review of the content?

Renrik
2007-10-20, 06:06 PM
Wow... Wolfgang baur. First, let me say I'm a fan, and I was idssapointed beyond measure when they stopped Dragon.

What do I want to see in upcoming Kobold Quarterlies? Simple: Demonomicons, and lots of them. Of course, you probably have to change the name now, due to Dragon still technically existing (I can't get high-speed internet where I live, and so cannot navigate wizards.com with any speed.This forum is about as high-graphics as my internet goes)

Demonomicon was a great feature. I spcifically lovd the ones on Dagon an Zuggtmoy. I woul love to see a Demonomicon of Doresaine.

Also, ecologies are awesome. But I can;t think of anything I would want an ecology on at the moment, unless you guys haven't done one on worgs or troglodyts yet, in which case, for god's sake, do that.

By the way, how do I subscribe to Kobold Quarterly?

Matthew
2007-10-20, 06:16 PM
Try this link: The Free City - Kobold Quarterly (http://wolfgangbaur.com/kobold_quarterly/)

KnightErrantJR
2007-10-20, 07:09 PM
I almost hate to do a review, since I don't have much negative to point out. I also have to admit that I've only skimmed the "advice" columns, one on creating towns and plots related to them, and the other on creating a character and their back ground. Both looked solid when I read through them quickly though, and I'm pretty sure I'll enjoy Ed Greenwood's contribution.

There isn't a demonomicon, but there is an installment article about the dukes of Hell, this one detailing Bhaalphegor. Really liked this, and one of the things I missed when the Demonomicon was running was that it only had demon lords, and while they are awesome, I wanted some devil lovin' as well. The article also details a type of devil that is associated with the lord of sloth and invention.

I really enjoyed the Ecology of the Barghest, and it felt like the type of ecology that would have appeared in Dragon, and it was written by Nicholas Louge, who has a pretty good resume when it comes to content like this.

I really liked the singular entity that was the "father" of Wolfgang Baur's Ghoul Empire of the underdark, and reading the article really made me want to get his Open Source adventure about said Ghoul Empire. As I said at Candlekeep, this gave me ideas about what direction to take the Underdark in FR when I diverge from "canon" with the advent of 4th edition.

Probably my favorite was the 20 level assassin class, which is an assassin class that feels like the 3.5 version of the guy that was in the 1st edition Player's Handbook, and has no arcane spellcasting component to it. Plus, its only "non-good" as opposed to evil.

Oh, and I have to put in an honorable mention for Skip Williams "Ask the Kobold" which reminded me of the old Sage Advice column. In recent times, post Skip, the column just hasn't felt the same. It was a little too "inside" and a little too, I don't know, "too cool" for the questions asked. At little terse I guess. This is what I remembered, and it felt right.

I liked the paladin's option of a bonded weapon instead of a mount as well.

There isn't much that I didn't like about it, and usually I can come up with a few negatives. My only real complaint, and its one that we can't do anything about really, is that everything has to assume OGL as its base instead of the whole WOTC 3.5 catalog.

Fax Celestis
2007-10-20, 07:49 PM
A question: do you actually respond to those looking to be published in KQ, rather than other publications--print, electronic or otherwise--that I won't mention here? If so, where do I send my stuff?

Matthew
2007-10-20, 08:30 PM
Thanks for your concise review KnightErrantJR. Something worth looking out for, I think.

WolfgangBaur
2007-10-20, 09:47 PM
A question: do you actually respond to those looking to be published in KQ, rather than other publications--print, electronic or otherwise--that I won't mention here? If so, where do I send my stuff?

Fax_C, yes, I do actually respond to all queries.

However, I'm the entire staff, so to keep the slush pile from being completely unmanagable, I'm limiting it to just pro freelancers, Open Design patrons, and KQ subscribers. I feel a bit guilty about excluding any submissions, but there's just no way to cope with the workload otherwise, especially as I don't use form rejection letters.

The Kobold Quarterly submissions guidelines (http://wolfgangbaur.com/kobold_quarterly/submit.aspx) are available. I'm currently looking at queries for issue #4.

WolfgangBaur
2007-10-20, 09:55 PM
Ah, interesting to see that advertised (though, I suppose I shouldn't say advertised, as that's not allowed, so perhaps 'discussed') here. Will this only support 3e or will it be changing to 4e once that is released?

I understand the advertising taboo, and perhaps I should have left the price out. I am interested in hearing what people would like to see in the publication (besides, obviously, seeing more print OotS!).

For the 3E/4E question, I wish I could answer. Until I see actual 4E ruleset, and hear whether readers want them in the magazine, I can't commit. I know, a weasel answer, but it's all I've got at this point.

Fax Celestis
2007-10-20, 10:03 PM
Fax_C, yes, I do actually respond to all queries.

However, I'm the entire staff, so to keep the slush pile from being completely unmanagable, I'm limiting it to just pro freelancers, Open Design patrons, and KQ subscribers. I feel a bit guilty about excluding any submissions, but there's just no way to cope with the workload otherwise, especially as I don't use form rejection letters.

The Kobold Quarterly submissions guidelines (http://wolfgangbaur.com/kobold_quarterly/submit.aspx) are available. I'm currently looking at queries for issue #4.

Is it good enough if I get one of your existing contributors to vouch for my merit? :smallbiggrin:

WolfgangBaur
2007-10-20, 10:07 PM
Is it good enough if I get one of your existing contributors to vouch for my merit? :smallbiggrin:

Depends on the contributor. :smallwink:

But really, if you have something great, don't hide it.

EDIT: And btw, there's a 3.5 vs 4.0 poll (http://wolfgangbaur.com/forums/t/80.aspx) of the KQ readers. At the moment, 3.5 is winning.

Fax Celestis
2007-10-20, 10:55 PM
Great. I sent over a query I think you'll like. Well, I hope you'll like. Can't wait to hear back.

Matthew
2007-10-21, 08:06 AM
I understand the advertising taboo, and perhaps I should have left the price out. I am interested in hearing what people would like to see in the publication (besides, obviously, seeing more print OotS!).

Sure. I would like to see more systemless material. The market seems flooded with Races, Base Classes, Prestige Classes, Feats, Monsters and Magical Items. That said, I'm not suggesting a dearth of such material. On the other hand, I would like to see alternate rules that address some of the imbalances in the 3e system, such as the ever problematic Two Handed, Weapon and Shield and Two Weapon Fighting disconnect.
One approach I have found myself really enjoying in publications like Knights of the Dinner Table is when articles have the potential to connect to one another. So, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly might mention a magic item, which would then turn up in All Things Magic. When mechanics are contextualised in this manner, they seem less intrusive to me.
Short Reviews of D20 products are something I would like to see, but I'm not sure whether they would be best placed in a publication or simply associated with it online. I think there are a lot of gamers who don't engage with the online community, so there is potentially room for such things, assuming that Kobold Quarterly reaches beyond the online community.


For the 3E/4E question, I wish I could answer. Until I see actual 4E ruleset, and hear whether readers want them in the magazine, I can't commit. I know, a weasel answer, but it's all I've got at this point.

I understand. It's an uncertain time. Best of luck with Kobold Quarterly.