allgeektout

Kobold Quarterly, Issue 12

I really had trouble picking out three articles from the most recent issue of Kobold Quarterly. Not that it’s a bad issue – the exact opposite, it’s amazing! Too good, that I couldn’t just pick three articles. But I knew that if I tried to make it longer, then eventually the list would spiral out of control and I’d have pretty much every article in there. Here are my three favorites instead.

1. Telkari, Inevitable of Death. A great clockwork villain for use in your 3.5e (or 3.5e compatible) game. Telkari is a marut that punishes those who try to escape death – including nearly every living creature, since the gods have destroyed and rebuilt them multiple times. If the fluff wasn’t delicious enough, he also can cause the “clockwork plague” where the victim finds their insides being slowly replaced by clockwork parts.
2. Elves: The Fallen Ones. Another example of some really fantastic fluff. This is a “Wicked Spin” by John Wick, and it takes the backstory of the elves and gives it a bit of a darker look. The Fallen Elves are spirits of the Great Trees, and their lifeforce is linked to the tree they protect. When their tree is cut down, they begin to die, and they spend their few years remaining to the best of their abilities. It’s great writing and of course the stats for the new race come with it too. There are a few odd typos, but nothing too distracting.
3. Lessons from the Shadows. This article has a flaw, in that I’m not entirely sure who or what it’s geared towards. But it’s awesome anyway, because it talks about ninjas, and some of their tactics. In particular, I like the idea of projecting an aura of infamy – I want to figure out some way to fit that in to something.

Like I said, I had a lot of trouble picking out my top three articles. Seriously, I changed that list around a lot. There are a lot of articles I would to have liked to include that list. The Holy Remix has four Cleric variants that combine some of its class features with those of other classes. Spice Up Your Combat Encounters is by none other than Chatty DM, and is a great look at how to integrate 4e skill challenges into combat. And if you want another look at elves, there’s Impossible Caravans and Unseelie Ambassadors, a look at Open Design’s 4e patron project that’s currently in development.

This issue of Kobold Quarterly is even better than the last one I looked at (issue 10). I still like the icons that identify what system each article is for (although they’ve become less useful for me as Pathfinder has grown on me), but I would also like them to appear on the Table of Contents – just so I can glance and get an idea. Other than that minor tweak, Kobold Quarterly 12 is a great bang for your buck – check it out here [Affiliate Link].

Full Disclosure: I received a free PDF copy of Kobold Quarterly 12 to review.