The Kobold, the Quarterly and the Contest!

Fall is upon us (well those of us living in the northern hemisphere at least)! It’s the time of harvest, leaves fall, the weather turns colder, and apparently Kobolds come out of their den. I received a review copy of the Fall issue of Kobold Quarterly, number 23, by the friends from Kobold Press and sat down to write a review about it over the weekend, when their Kobold Courier newsletter arrived in my e-mail I and I read about a wonderful new contest they are having which I thought may be of interest to our readers, so I thought I’d combine both into a post!

First the magazine…

As you may know from previous posts I am a fan of Kobold Quarterly. (That link is to my last review of issue #20, but the reviews to issues 21 and 22 by a fellow contributor to the blog are linked to the issue numbers.) It takes me back to the golden years of Dragon Magazine, continuing a proud tradition in spirit if not by name. Issue 23 boasts a beautiful yet horrifying cover by Emile Denis entitled Master of Demon Mountain, appropriate for an issue that boasts the words Demons & Devils right above their logo. They are not shy on letting you know what awaits inside.

The book is very appropriate for the autumn season, especially for the now passed Halloween festivities, covering topics such as demons and devils, the lamia as a player character race, a martial archetype for the witch, magical inks, a weapon master Monk archetype, ways to simplify the Sunder rules, an Earthdawn Pathfinder article, even a Pathfinder Society adventure, all for the Pathfinder RPG. All in all there is a LOT of Pathfinder goodness in this issue, including some persuasion rules for Pathfinder/3.5/OGL and a D&D 3.5 Devil Hunter Paladin variant. Rules for the AGE system for selling your character’s soul, and article for the 13^th Age RPG on living gods, and system neutral advice on world building, scaring your characters, and the classic Ask the Kobold rule advice column.

Don’t be fooled by the Demons & Devils on the cover, there is much more to the issue than the denizens of the lower planes, but thematically it all fits really well together. It includes plenty of information on the Midgard setting, and various articles while specific to the world are easily adaptable to any game. I couldn’t help but notice that there in not much support for D&D 4^th edition. I guess it has a lot to do with submissions and the fact that said edition may be seen as a lame duck as Wizards works on the development of D&D Next. Regardless, the articles are top notch, well written, entertaining and shall fuel your imagination no matter which game you fancy. Give Kobold Quarterly a chance!  It’s available in PDF, Print+PDF or via their subscription.

Secondly, the contest…

Kobold Press is holding and adventure writing call, Valhalla Calling! They are looking for pitches for either the Pathfinder RPG or the AGE system, it’s an open call and they say on the info page that they will limit the call to 100 entries, so get cracking!

While I’ve been playing for so many years I have NEVER submitted anything for any contests or consideration for publishing. I guess it’s a mix of little time and fear of rejection mixed together. Sort of like what I felt when I began writing for the blog, and I haven’t driven every reader away…

I don’t know if I’ll participate. But don’t be like me, go forth, submit, the deadline is December 20^th. If you don’t receive the Kobold Courier you can e-mail to subscriptions@koboldquarterly.com to subscribe. Besides Kobold Press news they have interesting links and information, I always find it useful so if you are a fan of their work or RPGs in general I recommend you check it out.