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This is a nice soft cover, perfect bound collection of mostly OGL and a couple 4E baddies-- each with a hearty helping of "fluff," in the form of background, lore, physiology, society, and then something specific to the monster. For the centaur this was equipment and medicine. For cloakers, it was psychology. For the maened, this was religion and the derro gave us a very cool set of incantations to play with later. The text is decently edited, and reads well enough that you forget this is a book with over a half dozen contributors, rather than the work of one author.

Then there's all that delicious crunch to go along with it. We get feats, crafts, poisons, and of course, with every entry, a fleshed out stat block of an example that puts the material through its paces. The bargest would make a good reoccuring lieutenant or low/mid-level primary villain. A great story arc could be focused on the liches and an entire campaign could be based around the phantom fungus. It's great to have all the material from nearly three years worth of magazines compiled into single book. The two new entries-- the half-giant and the retreiver are excellent additions, providing an OGL take on a closed content race, and putting an interesting spin on a monster that never quite got the proper transition from its Planescape roots.

My only complaint about this book has to do with some of the artwork. Many of the primary pieces for the entries were either in color in the original publications, or slightly smaller. Now the pieces are either too dark because the original color image was simply printed in black and white, or slightly pixellated. Both are frustrating, because I know the art looks good on the PDFs, and probably in the PDF of this book, but it's not done justice in the printed book. I know there are difficult choices to be made for small press print runs, but I think that the images should have been converted to more legible black and white before the print run, or we should have paid the extra for the color plates in the interior.

Overall, I'd recommend Ecologies, but mostly for the OGL player and those 4E players who don't mind doing their own conversion work. It's a tough sell for the time-pressed 4E crowd with only two entries-- they might be better served purchasing KQ7&9. For the OGL crowd, it gives you some great twists on known creatures and plenty of time-saving stat blocks.

[EDIT] Having seen the price for the color interior, you could have the PDF and the print for the cost of the color Print copy. Wow! Something to consider! Link to color print is in the thread.

This issue has the historic, final interview with Dave Arneson. For that alone it should not be missed. His contribution to the hobby can’t be overstated. It provides insights towards his feelings about the very nature of roleplaying games and antecdotes from Greenwood, Forbeck, and Lauder serve as fine commentary.

The solid cover art suffers a bit from the text splatter, & see one of those stumbles before even cracking a page. An article change seems to have escaped layout, leaving the Warlock-themed teaser orphaned.

The article split is 50/25/25. Half of the material is for OGL, a quarter for 4E, and a quarter is system independent. Truthfully, three of the OGL articles would require little effort for conversions to 4E or Pathfinder. This seems like a good mix, & helps solidify KQ’s position as a gaming magazine, rather than an OGL or 4E publication.

The OGL material is a solid combination of flavor&crunch. I especially like the bard article, chock full of feats, spells, and alternate class options. The bandit lair comes in a second, and fans of socially-focused games will enjoy the Courtiers article, but it’s really useful to those adding a bit of social interaction. I wonder how much tabletime a CR24 Bat-god avatar gets.

The 4E material follows a similar mechanics-and-inspiration vein, detailing two races for play; the Maedar also has conversion notes for the Pathfinder Beta system and the Kitsune received an online OGL treatment. Purely 4E, the Chasing the Grave article doesn’t skimp on the worldbuilding, giving a couple of storyseeds for inspiring dark, urban 4dventure.

A couple of editing issues are the result of trying to use of out-of-house typesetting, & kinks aren’t all worked out. The art maintains a top-notch caliber, the contributor list continues to boast veterans like Grubb, Cook, & Pett, while giving newer voices a shot. I’m happy to keep up with KQ as it enters its third year; it seems to be maturing fantastically.

While this book isn't essential for your saga, you'll find it has some fantastic story seeds and a method for integration into Hermetic Theory that beats the pants off what you get in True Lineages. But this isn't about those things.

Ancient Magic is about the forgotten secrets of Antiquity and the dim memory of Man's beginnings. This book is going to give your Hermetic magic context, as it shows the wonders lost to time, conquest, and misfortune. Most of the action is going to take you to the Roman, Theban, and Levant Tribunals, but then, that makes sense.

Read through and you'll want more, more detail, more hooks, more Ancient Magic!

The cover is gorgeous, but a little busy. KQ is hitting its stride.

The glyph magic article presents a school of magic with spells running from 1-6th, with the bulk in the 2-5th range, a nice mixture.

The horror article gives a new creature type and provides lovecraftian terror that is, thankfully, not far realm inspired.

The Golem ecology article has engaging background and variant stat-block goodness that doesn’t forget real-world roots.

The Salvatore interview looks at his worldbuilding, a certain drow warrior, and the directions he’s moving in now.

The article on Medieval Medicine covers a topic usually ignored where disease is a 5th level cleric away from being a non-issue.

Ling shows how a weapon can act as a story hook, an NPC, an enemy, or a story in and of itself. Intelligent weapon stat blocks with histories makes campaign integration easier.

The barroom brawl article nicely adds mechanics, considers the tactics, & provides the insight to make memorable encounters.

The roachlings are a non-psionic alternative to the OGL dromites. The addition of a roachling god and evil rites makes for a creepy foe.

“Traps of the Mind” is about psychological warfare against dungeon delvers. Nothing prevents this article from applying to a 4E game with a few DC adjustments.

The Warlord battlecries piece adds to 4E roleplaying elements, the quotes are perfect. This article has no crunch, unusual for 4E material.

The book reviews focus on new novels, one unreleased—an indication of KQ's growing reputation.

The Flagellant embraces roleplaying potential with great crunch; the flavor of this class is outstanding for that method actor.

The Frostrift provides a “Side Trek.” The map is well rendered with good suggestions for optional monsters.

The issue closes with the Cults and Heresies of Zobeck. It has no crunch, so the material could provide for any system.

Good stuff, KQ continues not to disappoint.

Disclaimer note: I was a senior patron and I contributed to the Zobeck Gazetteer. Take that for what it’s worth.

Zobeck weighs in at 50 pages, subtitled “an introduction to the free city.” It has some very pretty cover art and then dives into the material—the first half covers an overview of the city’s history, its notable districts and important locations, its guilds, and its gods. Nothing is done to an extreme depth, but there is enough meat here to really get you hungry for Zobeck, and easily provide a mental image of the city with all its exotic trappings. Short summaries provide a general outline of important characters and places, permitting a GM to customize the locales as needed and a lot of adventure hooks means it’s simple to tie into an existing game. On a particular note, the full-page map of the city is gorgeous.

The second half details a new playable race, the Gearforged—more of a soul tied to a construct form, a-la Full Metal Alchemist than the living constructs of a certain lighting-rail setting, or the near-droid Cogs of OGL Steampunk—then continues to give the crunch for clockwork oriented skills, devices, and creatures. I like the artwork for the various creatures, particularly Robert Scott’s almost surreal Watchman and Weaver. Clockwork magic receives a decent share, providing the Gear Domain and 26 new spells from level 1 to 9 for arcane and divine casters

Like all of the Open Design projects, it has a variety of designer’s notes scattered through the sidebars. I always enjoy these notes for the insights they provide and possible tweaks I could utilize later. The layout and art suits the material well, with a heavy gear motif and a lot of classic artwork that helps keep the theme.

Overall, this is a product that has a lot to offer and hints at the potential of future offerings. You won’t go wrong adding this particular clockwork gem to your campaign world.

First, I'll qualify this... I wrote the Dwarven Airships article, so I'm biased.

This issue comes packed with 4 new Pathfinder monsters, 4 steampunked OGL monsters, and two templates with examples befitting the name Pett.

The interview with Sandy Petersen is engaging, giving insights into CoC and a few design gems.

The article on undead creation is functional, cool, and simple. Feats and spells round out the piece, leaving you itching for a new villain.

The Centaur ecology dips into 4E territory-- but the bulk of the piece is system-neutral. An experiment for KQ, even if you ignore the stat blocks, or convert them, the piece is well done.

Next, Spells of the Gun-- a firing squad of eight spells designed to incorporate black powder. Some defend against guns, like Barrier Cloth, and others augment the gunslinger, like Deadeye. A few are high level, coming in at 7th/8th, providing limited utility in my opinion, but there are folks out there who love their epic games. :)

Then a useful piece on roleplaying a rogue. This is one for the storyteller/method actor in the group.

We continue to book reviews! Personally, I enjoy having these. As someone with limited time, being able to get a few good looks at both new and old books is nice.

The article on rogues' equipment has some interesting tidbits. They would definitely add to color and novelty of an NPC or reoccuring rival.

The Garnet Codex article is great because it could fit anywhere, a good hook for any game. It's one of those things that would have players "ooh"ing as they try to decipher it. This is one you slip into your back pocket and unleash later without a shred of guilt.

The article on disease provides the sort of seed that can drive a campaign.

Airships? I'll let you decide for yourself.

We close with the Courtesans of Zobeck. This offers a cool look at the world's oldest profession.

KQ continues to set the standard, you won't be disappointed.