MAGAZINE STATISTICS
Name: Kobold Quarterly
Kobold-in-Chief: Wolfgang Baur
Issue Number: 10
Publish Date: Summer 2009
Pages: 88
Articles: 20

Kobold Quarterly Magazine is published four times a year by Open Design LLC. It is a magazine dedicated to the world’s most popular roleplaying game, Dungeons & Dragons.

At eighty-eight pages long Issue #10 is the biggest Kobold Quarterly issue ever. In this issue, Kobold Quarterly created a larger than normal issue to expand their D&D 4e content without removing any of the 3.5 content or other articles. Issue #10 contains the following topics: an editorial, letters to the editor, a sneak preview of The Pathfinder RPG, an article on game theory, an interview with Jeff Grubb, a Q & A session, six book reviews (including Open Game Table), 4e and 3.5/d20 fantasy content (skills challenge, PC classes, backgrounds, monsters, equipment, maps, and more).

For readers that have never read the Kobold Quarterly Magazine, you should know it is dedicated to Dungeons & Dragons. There is content in the magazine that is not specific to D&D, such as the Pathfinder sneak preview, the interview with Jeff Grubb, the book reviews, and Monte Cook’s game theory article, No School like an Old School. However, over 50% of the magazine is specifically written towards a fantasy setting, often with the statistics being set for D&D 4e or 3.5/d20.

A lot of the Dispatches and Complaints section dealt with the addition of 4e content to the magazine. Kobold Quarterly still largely supports D&D 3.5, but it is now writing content that is specifically driven towards 4e as well. They have also stated they plan on future content to cover Pathfinder as well. Although some purists appear to be upset about the addition of non-3.5 content, Kobold Quarterly is still a business and obviously has to support fans with a variety of interests in D&D. This issue included five articles that support 3.5, two articles that support 4e and two articles that support The Pathfinder RPG (which includes the sneak preview). Many of these articles that are written with a specific system in mind can easily be converted to another system. When you include the non-D&D specific articles, this results in a good mix of articles that supports a variety of games.

The Pathfinder RPG sneak preview article discussed the history of The Pathfinder RPG, the changes between it and 3.5, what’s next with The Pathfinder RPG, and contains information on the Shadowdancer class. The Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook is set to release on August 13th, 2009. The following month the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary will be released, as well as the Pathfinder GM Screen. In November, Paizo will release the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Gamemastery Guide. There are also a host of other Pathfinder products that are set for release in the coming months and 2010.

The fantasy content articles have a wide variety of subjects between them. The topics include religion and deities, monsters and monster ecology, a 4e skills challenge, feats, character backgrounds, equipment, maps, and a city background. All of this content is 100% official content that can be seamlessly added to the game in which it is designed for. The fantasy content articles are:

• Revering Ninkash by Ed Greenwood
• Chaos Magic of the Proteans by Todd Stewart
• Swords against Darkness by Michael Brewer, Quinn Murphy, and Jonathan Jacobs
• Ecology of the Hill Giant by Richard Pett
• Whispering Enigmas: A Warlock Field Guide by Mario Podeschi
• Haffuns: Seeming Servants by John Wick and Jesse Heinig
• PCs without Backgrounds by Amber E. Scott
• Ticking Hounds and Clockwork Hunters by Ben McFarland
• On the Care and Keeping of Gelatinous Cubes by Jonathan McAnulty
• The Halberd by Brian E. Shefveland
• Ruyintan Caravanserai by David Schwartz
• Elven Lust and the Green Gods by Wolfgang Baur

The Warlocks & Patrons article that was supposed to appear in the recent edition of Kobold Quarterly was cut at the last minute due to space reasons, but it appears in this issue.

Cynthia Ward and Neal Hebert reviewed the following six books in this issue of Kobold Quarterly:

• Agents of Artifice by Ari Marmell
• The Judging Eye by R. Scott Bakker
• Open Game Table: The Anthology of Roleplaying Game Blogs, Vol. 1 edited by Jonathan Jacobs
• The Ship of Ishtar by A. Merritt
• The Sword of Rhiannon by Leigh Brackett
• The Warded Man by Peter V. Brett

Veteran readers of Kobold Quarterly should be happy with this issue. It has plenty of content for all D&D systems as well as quality articles on more general roleplaying topics. For new Kobold Quarterly readers, this issue is a great introduction to the magazine. The cover art and interior art is spectacular. Even the ads are interesting, as they are are all targeted towards gamers and actually inform the reader about more places and new things that they may not be aware of.

The cost of Kobold Quarterly Issue #10 is US $7.99, CAN $10.99, EURO €6.99. A PDF Subscription is only $16. The Print+PDF Subscription is $36 (U.S.A. & A.P.O), $44 (Canada), and $60 (International). For more information, check out the Kobold Quarterly website at www.koboldquarterly.com.