Kobold Quarterly is the scrappy little magazine of Open Design, a tiny journal that covers the world's premiere roleplaying game and the world's best fantasy adventures.
Each issue is written by the industry's best, including many well-known RPG designers from Ed Greenwood to Wolfgang Baur. Each features full-color art by fantasy artists new and familiar.
Kobold Quarterly gives you the finest worldbuilding techniques, great interviews, cartoons, and tested tactical crunch.
The premiere issue features:
The Ecology of the Derro
The first installment of the Princes of Hell series
Dithering Fool seems to be suffering the same enthusiasm as me. I figured I'd get my first copy and look for the strengths and ignore the weaknesses but frankly the product just roundhoused me. Well worth the money, and as the other post says there is a great interview with Erik. I had no idea people in Seattle ordered their Italian food with salmon.
I'm impressed and i haven't even read it. i guess if your dragon dies, what better revenge than to get a kobold! Just the name is poetic. Count me a fanboi( or is that a faery princess?)
~sighs~ Well, I am weak! Weak I tell you! I just could not wait. I just had to go to Wolfgang Baur's web site and purchase the print version of the Kobold Quartery. ~cries~ And this is all because I also rolled a natural 1 on my will save!
Paizo Charter Superscriber, Pathfinder Battles Case Subscriber, Pathfinder Comics Subscriber
I received my pdf copy by e-mail and just love it! The articles I've read are all top-notch and the art is very high quality. My favorites are the Ecology of the Derro and the far darrig article.
Maybe I am just blind and missing it.
Where's the option to sign up for the dead tree version?
I only see the line "paper versions will be available through lulu.com"
I'm pretty happy to see this quarterly being made, and would love a print copy for my shelf.
Sharoth wrote:
~sighs~ Well, I am weak! Weak I tell you! I just could not wait. I just had to go to Wolfgang Baur's web site and purchase the print version of the Kobold Quartery. ~cries~ And this is all because I also rolled a natural 1 on my will save!
Wolfgang Baur
Contributor; Publisher, Kobold Press; RPG Superstar Judge
Evilturnip wrote:
Maybe I am just blind and missing it.
Where's the option to sign up for the dead tree version?
I only see the line "paper versions will be available through lulu.com"
I'm pretty happy to see this quarterly being made, and would love a print copy for my shelf.
Sorry, it's a bit hidden at the bottom of the home page. You can find it here directly.
~sighs~ Well, I am weak! Weak I tell you! I just could not wait. I just had to go to Wolfgang Baur's web site and purchase the print version of the Kobold Quartery. ~cries~ And this is all because I also rolled a natural 1 on my will save!
We are also offering Kobold Quarterly here on paizo.com for those who prefer to shop here. Check out our blog on the front page today!
First off, the content is top notch and I'm proud to be a charter subscriber. Can't wait for the next issue. But I had a few comments/suggestions:
- Most of the hyperlinks in my PDF don't work, which is frustrating for two reasons; not only am I interested in what the dead links originally had to offer, the reminder of not being able to use them is very prominent since the formatting utilizes a box around the text instead of something less obvious like bold or even underlined text. Maybe a list of the URLs in the ToC or an issue index would at least help bypass the technical difficulties.
- The Underdark Encounters page is rad. I want to start using it, even though I don't have all of the referenced books. Therein lies the rub - you (WB) mention a potential online posting of the abbreviations, but it would have been cool to actually have that available in the zine. Although most of us are savvy with the net, I don't want to have to rely on it once I've purchased the zine. (Granted, I can do the research to figure most of it out, but it's a little thing that would go a long way).
I don't mean to gripe. I'm just excited to see the KQ grow.
Bought it last night from the Paizo store. Loved Wolfgang's editorial and interview with Erik the most. Not that the rest wasn't very cool. It's very old school looking. Very reminscent of the early days of Dungeon and Dragon magazines in a whole lot of ways.
I look forward to the future of KQ. It's got a great editor at the helm with some of the best writers in the biz already submitting stuff to him and ready to lend a hand at making it great.
Bought it last night from the Paizo store. Loved Wolfgang's editorial and interview with Erik the most. Not that the rest wasn't very cool. It's very old school looking. Very reminscent of the early days of Dungeon and Dragon magazines in a whole lot of ways.
I look forward to the future of KQ. It's got a great editor at the helm with some of the best writers in the biz already submitting stuff to him and ready to lend a hand at making it great.
~sighs~ Well, I am weak! Weak I tell you! I just could not wait. I just had to go to Wolfgang Baur's web site and purchase the print version of the Kobold Quartery. ~cries~ And this is all because I also rolled a natural 1 on my will save!
We are also offering Kobold Quarterly here on paizo.com for those who prefer to shop here. Check out our blog on the front page today!
-Lisa
Lisa, I did get the PDF version from Paizo, but once I realized that there was a Dead Tree version, I then failed my Wil Save. Sorry Lisa. I will have my wallet make it up to you all some how. ;-P
I really liked issue 1, too, even though the interview with Erik Mona was quite long (but interesting!).
Kobold Quarterly fills a niche left by Dragon Magazine and not filled by anything else yet. Pathfinder and GameMastery Modules give adventures and campaign information, and Kobold provides the information which unfortunately didn't make it into these publications.
I don't mind the nostalgic look. And I am quite sure that future issues with more contributors (i.e. more time for editing!) will contain less orthographic errors. ;-)
A big question of mine:
Did anyone understand all book title abbreviations of the underdark monster listing? Wolfgang mentioned that there is a message board where unknown abbreviations are clarified. Unfortunately I didn't find this board.
Therein lies the rub - you (WB) mention a potential online posting of the abbreviations, but it would have been cool to actually have that available in the zine.
I believe it's an issue with the OGL. You can't reference any WotC trademarks in the product (except for specific ones), and that includes most of the references.
Did anyone understand all book title abbreviations of the underdark monster listing? Wolfgang mentioned that there is a message board where unknown abbreviations are clarified. Unfortunately I didn't find this board.
Wolfgang posted them (for the most part) in this post on his Open Design site.
I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed my issue of Kobold Quarterly. IMO it was jam packed with goodness! Ecology of the Derro, Titivillus: Prince of Hell, The Far Darrig, and the Interview withEric Mona were all excellent. I'm already looking forward to the Fall issue, and Open Design's Empire of the Ghoul!
I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed my issue of Kobold Quarterly. IMO it was jam packed with goodness! Ecology of the Derro, Titivillus: Prince of Hell, The Far Darrig, and the Interview withEric Mona were all excellent. I'm already looking forward to the Fall issue, and Open Design's Empire of the Ghoul!
I'm really waiting for Keith Baker's "how to run a noir campaign" article (even if it he can't make next issue's deadline). The fact that I sort of suggested it notwithstanding.
If you don't know where a creature comes from, you can always look it up on DM Tools - I try to keep the lists current!
Of course, some of the sources aren't WotC sources (and one is a website).
Wolfgang Baur
Contributor; Publisher, Kobold Press; RPG Superstar Judge
David Blizzard wrote:
Lilith wrote:
If you don't know where a creature comes from, you can always look it up on DM Tools - I try to keep the lists current!
Of course, some of the sources aren't WotC sources (and one is a website).
Yeah, I have to admit I could have done better there. My argument against is that it would have required spreading the list onto a second page, which I really wanted to avoid. The paper edition had to be 32 interior pages, and this article was almost cut for space a couple times.
If you have any questions about particular sources, I'm happy to answer them.
Maybe next time I put all the sources in 6 pt type, just so they are there.
I've never cursed my unemployment more! I want to get KQ as much as I want to get Pathfinder.
Uhm, I'm sure this is too early to determine a proper answer . . . but in the event it takes me a long time to rectify my current despicable situation, will there be dead tree versions of KQ available? (I'm assuming that pdf versions will be available long after DnD has reached it's 12th edition)
Wolfgang Baur
Contributor; Publisher, Kobold Press; RPG Superstar Judge
William Pall wrote:
...will there be dead tree versions of KQ available?
YES! They are on press now, but in extremely limited quantities. I pretty much expect to sell out of the back issue the first time Open Design goes to a convention.
I wish I could make a go of distributing the paper magazine into the hobby trade, but so far, the numbers don't add up. And I just can't take the kind of losses that would be required to do returns, etc.
Argh, no . . . what I meant was . . . Assume it still takes months or years to get employed (not my plan, just putting forth worst case scenerio for myself), will there be back issues of the printed version of KQ available?
From your response I'm thinking no . . . but that's okay, there's still always a pdf.
Wolfgang Baur
Contributor; Publisher, Kobold Press; RPG Superstar Judge
William Pall wrote:
...will there be back issues of the printed version of KQ available?
From your response I'm thinking no . . . but that's okay, there's still always a pdf.
Right on both counts. I expect the paper edition will sell out before the end of 2007, and the PDF will remain, um, "in print".
Right there with ya, man! It's suckalicious. KQ, however, is frickin' great! Thanks for the Derro ecology!!! I love them, they're not quite right... like Heathenson!
I've got a quick question--if i just signed up today with a Paper and PDF subscription am i going to get issue #1 or will my subscription start with issue #2?
The article on Titilvus was great. That devils, even petty ones, offices and titles is a big part of what sets them apart from demons, and excellent ones were chosen in this case. Keep these coming.
Pathfinder Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Tales Subscriber
messy wrote:
allo
i just subscribed, and i must agree -- the kobold is excellent. it's like a mini-dragon magazine :-)
thanks wolf!
messy
No offense to the crew or my favorite magazine, but it's kind of like the best parts of Dragon...with none of that other stuff I never really cared for...
Wolfgang Baur
Contributor; Publisher, Kobold Press; RPG Superstar Judge
Polevoi wrote:
I've got a quick question--if i just signed up today with a Paper and PDF subscription am i going to get issue #1 or will my subscription start with issue #2?
You'll get #1 in the mail. It would suck to have a quarterly subscription start with an issue 3 months off, and we try not to suck. :)
I've got a quick question--if i just signed up today with a Paper and PDF subscription am i going to get issue #1 or will my subscription start with issue #2?
You'll get #1 in the mail. It would suck to have a quarterly subscription start with an issue 3 months off, and we try not to suck. :)
LOL--sweet! I'm looking forward to it, the reviews i've read so far got me drooling
Pathfinder Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Tales Subscriber
This magazine is really, really good, and I think the potential is there for something outstanding down the road. I grew to enjoy the AP support articles in Dragon, but my all-time favorite articles were the Ecologies, Demonomicons, Creature Catalogs, and spellcraft features: all those type of articles look to be in every issue of KQ, which definitely fills a space my favorite magazine's close has created.
As an aside, you might want to buy your print subscriptions now--just think about the beginnings of Dragon. Don't you wish you had The Dragon no.1? I do.
I failed my will save vs. cool content as well and just had to buy the pdf yesterday (via paizo). I haven´t had the time to read all of it yet, but what I´ve seen so far looks very good. I´m considering getting the print version as well, but then - shipping to europe might be a hassle.
Is the 34 page length set (for the time being)? One of Wolfgangs comments on the encounter table article seemed to indicate this.