Full disclosure: I'm a contributor to this issue of Wayfinder, but I'm going to limit my review to all the other articles.
Those which caught my eye in this issue of Wayfinder include the stuff which helps round out what Katapesh and Qadira might be like, thereby empowering the GM with more material they can use to enhance those parts of the campaign setting. So, everything from Shaun Hocking's gazetteer article on the Golden Cage and Scott Abercrombie's Qadiran stronghold of Samar-Kash to Eric Hindley's shops and stalls in the Katapesh markets and Christina and Mike's write-up for the oasis town of Twelve Tents lends new material you can use right away. Location-based stuff like that is immediately useful if you need something on the fly when your players "zig" when you expected them to "zag."
Other pieces that provide really usable content included the Heroes' Hoard magic items from Frank Gori and Yanick Moreau. There's some innovative ideas there, and all very thematically appropriate to these regions of Golarion. You can never have enough magic items to reach for as a GM, whether you're rewarding your players for a random encounter or giving the NPCs something to challenge them just a little more.
I also liked the new character options introduced by Margherita Tramontano (with the hakima prestige class), Sarah Counts (with the spiderhawk archetype for magi) and John Leising (with the censer archetype for desert-themed alchemists). Even the new animal companions of Katapesh article by Ian Turner can put some new flair into the rangers and druids of the desert. And then he followed that up with some all new desert-themed rogue talents you can easily envision a bunch of sand bandits having. And again, with some very flavorful all-new witch hexes. Really great job on some of these.
The same holds true for the Weal or Woe NPCs and the bestiary monsters. Lots of creativity on display here, too. I really liked the salt golem, sun hag, and especially the concept of the devouring oasis.
Lastly, the variety of this issue is really what makes it shine. Not only do you get all that material mentioned above, but then there's a couple of side trek adventures, some plot seeds, a Beginner's Box scenario, a handful of new Jabba the Hutt-style sand ships by Dain Nielsen, and a new board game you could easily see desert merchants playing in Qadira and all across Garund. And, finally, there's several pieces of fiction to help get folks more immersed in the setting. I especially liked how Todd Stewart's story about Farideh and Inusalia led him into a Weal or Woe article and then a side trek adventure by Larry Wilhelm using those characters. Nice job, guys.
But that's just my two cents,
--Neil
