I'd been avoiding Kobold Quarterly, as I'd gotten tired of people telling me how good it was. But there it was at GenCon, and I submitted to the urge to pick it up.
Boy am I glad I did. KQ14 is the only issue I've read, but it really blew me away.
First, the bad. There are some grammatical/spelling/proofreading errors, and 20% of the articles and adventures didn't do it for me at all. That latter bit isn't really a criticism - no magazine this size would do it for anyone 100% - but it should be said.
Now the good. Lots of articles really inspired me. I'll highlight four.
I wish I'd thought of that! (New material category): Perfumes of Bourgund. How is it that (non)magical perfumes haven't played a bigger role in D&D until now? Really clever take on a historical topic, with cool game applications.
I wish I'd thought of that! (Rethinking category): The Reign of Men. Another historical take, this complete with an inversion of a fantasy trope in a way that works extremely well.
Best design: Hoard Magic. Great use of the fact that the treasure rules are balanced against level in 4e (and 3e/PFRPG, for that matter) to use treasure to tell a cool story. The leading question - why do dragons hoard treasure - had never occurred to me, and now I can't imagine why it never did. Too bad this one wasn't dual-statted in PFRPG, although it should convert pretty easily.
Deepest thoughts: Moral Choices that Matter. This should be in every game mastery guide out there. It could just as easily have been written about Dogs in the Vineyard as Dragon Age, but whatever the system, any group wanting to tell a memorable story should heed this advice.
Overall, this was a great issue. Now I've got to start plowing through the back catalog to see if it's been this good all along.
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