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Hi Paizo staff.
Generally, I love both the magazines. I think that the January issue is pretty strong. I enjoyed this issue much more than the previous Campaign Classics issue. So, while generally I'm very happy with the complete product, I always like to try to offer constructive criticism.
The issues that I think should be improved in future issues are as follows:
1) Clarity of text.
Text appears fuzzy throughout the magazine. White text on a black background is particularly noticeable. in the warmachine ad on page 8 the white text appears to be on a mottled black/red background. The text on page 14 suffers the same problem. It wouldn't be too bad if the text were pure white, but the mixed color contributes to the lack of clarity. The text on page 30 has the same problem. Elsewhere in the Spelljammer articler (page 26 bottom left column, page 27 first column 2/3 of the way down the page, and page 29 1st column 2/3 of the way down) the text is made more difficult to read because the black background is "lighter" because of the pictures of background stars. The text on page 29 also appears to be blurred without regard to the background. The text might be shadowed in grey contributing to this problem. The Athasian Dragon box on page 24 also seems somewhat blurry. It appears the text again is shadowed in grey (or double printed in two colors without quite lining up) makding it difficult on the eyes.
The dark background themselves are not the problem. On page 27 the second and third column are very easy to read and look really good, for comparison. So, I'm not sure what causes the difference, but I think it is worth investigating and avoiding in the future.
2) First Watch
I'm not a big fan of this section in general. I personally think it should be restricted to a 2 page article (instead of 4). I prefer the smaller graphics (a la page 15) to the large graphics (a la page 14). On some occassions multiple items have been covered in a single column with only a signle graphic. I remember the first watch from some time ago, mentioning the leatherbound Player's Handbook didn't have a picture of that, but it did have a picture of another book (I believe a Faerun book). In this issue the Conan graphic exlcudes the Penny Arcade and Attack of the Bacon Robots pictures. I don't know if they'd be more "grabbing" than the Conan picture, but the graphic doesn't hint that those items would be covered.
My suggestion - rework the format of the First Watch section. Try to cover a few different categories every month. Something like "gaming aids", "computer games", "comics", "artwork", "minis" and "books".
Thus the Castle Kits and Flattened Fiends might be covered in one column (no big graphics) as gaming aids, or one might be covered this month and the other next month. The "motivational posters" or the dice might be the "art" column for the month.
As far as tone, they really read like a self-promotion of the company. "Talk about player friendly!" or "Castle Kits has the solution!"
If these are good products, you can tell us about the product. If they're ads a note (like in Newspapers) might be appropriate.
As far as the articles go, I'm quite satisfied.