The Kobold Strips... Divinely

Upon reaching your twenty-first birthday, you are widely regarded as having reached the age of responsibility and acquired not just responsibilities, but also rights and freedoms too. You are at liberty to do what you want and take the consequences of your actions. So the question is, having reached its twenty-first issue, what does Kobold Quarterly, Open Design's roleplaying magazine devoted to the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, Dungeons & Dragons, Fourth Edition, and the AGE or Adventure Game Engine, do? Well, the first thing it does is take its clothes off and gut a rabbit and play with its entrails, all before discussing religion.

Now that sounds all so terribly rude, not to say dangerously controversial or even dangerous. The truth of the matter though, is that contents of Kobold Quarterly #21 is far from controversial, certainly not rude, and anything other than dangerous. The bulk of the issue is devoted to matters clerical, divine, and religious, all matters which are treated in a mature and reasonable manner. The first “controversy” though comes with Kieran Yanner’s cover, “The Wood Nymph.” Having seen the artist’s work inside the covers of numerous RPG titles, it is a pleasure to see a fully painted cover by him, but the fact that it depicts a semi-clad nymph might not be to everyone’s taste. It is something that is acknowledged by Kobold Quarterly editor, Wolfgang Baur. There is nothing prurient about that cover, and if it can regarded as being art of the cheesecake variety, then its flavour is a tasteful vanilla.

The controversy of the issue’s contents begins with “The Shaman – A Spirit-Based Class for the Pathfinder RPG.” Written by Marc Radle – whose The Expanded Spell-less Ranger I reviewed recently, as its title suggests, this presents the Shaman as a new Class for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. At its heart it feels much like a variant upon the Druid Class, but a combination of spells that do not have to memorised to be cast, the ability to heal by touch rather by spell, being able to morph into animal form, and having unimpeded movement through undergrowth gives the Class a wilder, more free spirited feel. The Class also has harder edge as seen in its limited spell choice and the sanguinary start to the augury powers with the Totem Secret, “Blood Divination,” which can provide a Shaman with skill and initiative bonuses. The Shaman has an array of Totem Secrets to choose from, many of which call upon the spirits for healing, protection, warnings, and other aid. In addition, the Shaman possesses a Spirit Guide, with whom he shares an empathic link, deliver touch spells for him and even help him draw spells from the spirit world for him. The Class includes a selection of sample Spirit Guides. At later levels, a Shaman can enhance his magic with a spirit dance and even go on a vision quest. Overall, the Shaman Class has a pleasingly earthy feel, and would make a useful addition to any wilderness set campaign. Where the controversy of the piece comes is in the opening colour text, which has a Shaman casting an augury through the examination of rabbit’s entrails. Perhaps a little too strong to some tastes, but still in keeping with the Class as described.

The sexual tone of the issue’s cover is continued with Sersa Victory’s “Daughters of Lilith – An Ecology of the Succubus.” Written as a piece of academia, this delves into the origins, motivations, life cycle, faith, society, and sexual proclivities (despite most actually being unable to bear children) of a type of devil that is widely regarded as being the ultimate in sexual seductresses and arch manipulators. It also discusses her male equivalent, the Incubus, and presents the Cult of the Succubus Queen, a cabal that in worshiping Mother Lust seeks to undermine the chaste morality underlying civilization’s integrity… Although the article is written for use with Dungeons & Dragons, Fourth Edition, including a new Feat and Powers for both worshippers and Succubae, much of the background presented in the article would work just as well with any fantasy RPG setting that includes seductive devils. Especially an urban set campaign that involves power politics. This is though, an article best suited for a mature audience, as its content does touch on sexual themes. They are well handled and what could have been potentially prurient piece is nicely judged.

The first real discussion of religion in Kobold Quarterly #21 is “It's a Mystery!” by David “Zeb” Cook. This is a generic article that suggests how a GM might make religion in his campaign more interesting by adding Mystery Cults. Drawing from those of Ancient Rome, Greece, and Egypt, it discusses how to design a Mystery Cult and its motivations, how and why you might join such a Cult, and hints at what its secrets might be. This being an article in a roleplaying magazine, your first thought at reading the word “cult” would be that this article is all about cabals bent on evil, but nothing could be further from the truth. As the author makes clear, Mystery Cults are about secrets and the privacy of worship rather than just being evil. A Mystery Cult could just as easily be composed of farmers worshipping for a bountiful harvest as they could “cultists” attempting to learn the secrets of summoning some tentacle creature from the nether regions. With advice on how to get the player characters involved, this is another interesting article that would work in many fantasy RPG settings. If it lacks anything, it is that it would have been nice, given the article’s historical sources, if some references and suggestions as to further reading had been included.

Tim and Eileen Connors continue the divine theme with “Clerical Conflicts – Thy Will Be Done” for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. Although its opening paragraphs feel bland, the piece really steps up a pace with the five well-written and colourful examples that support the idea that the faith adhered to by a player character Cleric can the source of character conflict. Essentially, it asks what if a character’s experiences or interpretation of his faith conflict with the dictates of his deity or his church? The examples all use members of the same faith, all sat down to the same meal, and all mulling over questions of faith. Each one comes with a mechanical effect, mostly minor, but some come with major effects instead. For example, a Cleric with the “Forsaken” Conflict has not only lost his direct connection to his god, but also his Domain spells too, and in praying for them he literally steals them from other Clerics around him. These are all interesting and colourfully written dilemmas that could easily adapted to the religions detailed within a GM’s campaign, and whilst the mechanical effects are written for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, the dilemmas would work in most fantasy RPGs.

With “Howling Tower: Why No Monotheism?” Steve Winter asks an interesting question. Why do so many fantasy settings have pantheons of gods when most real-world religions are monotheistic and have the single, one god? The article comes up with some good answers and suggests ways in which such a faith can be added to a game. “Divine Archetypes: Angelic Heroes, Holy Traps, and Celestial Fists of Fury” by Stefen Styrsky, details divinely scented Archetypes for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, turning the Sorcerer, Fighter, Gunslinger, and Ranger into the Angel Scion, Seraphic Cohort, Peacemaker, and Spirit Hunter respectively. Also for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, Christina Stiles’ “Saints of Mavros” describes two saints worshipped in Midgard, either widely in the case of St. Brigantia of Valera, or just in Morgau, Doresh, and the Ghoul Imperium, in the case of Saint Whiteskull of Bratislor. Both include descriptions of each Saint’s worshippers, Domains and favoured weaponry, symbols, noted books, famous shrines and priests, connection to other faiths, and what demands each places upon his worshippers.

As its title suggests, “A Background in Magic – Alchemists, Druids, Illusions, and Seers for the AGE System” by Rodrigo Garcia Carmona gives new magical backgrounds for the magic-using character in Green Ronin Publishing’s AGE or Adventure Game Engine. These are reasonable Backgrounds, but they feel like half an article because there is no information about these forms of magic given for the Adventure Game Engine. With just that half, both GM and player will have to work hard to supply further detail and flavour.

Diverging further from the issue’s divine theme, “The Scriveners of Allain” further develops background and concepts previously described in Kobold Quarterly #8. Written by Brian A. Liberge for Dungeons & Dragons, Fourth Edition, it describes glyph and ink magic and the disparate cult devoted to it in the magocracy of Allain. In a Scrivener’s hands, this form of magic summons deadly glyphs that for a time will obey the summoner’s commands, though their diabolic nature makes them wilful servants. Again, this article contains a nice mix of flavour and mechanics. Also for the wizard or sorcerer is David Schwartz’s “White Tongue, Black Heart,” which describes a literally tongue twisting companion for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. Known as a Witch Louse, it replaces the mage’s tongue, as his familiar it can help by maintaining the Concentration required to keep a spell going, deliver a nasty bite, give the mage a really disturbingly intimidating countenance, and because of its duplicitous nature, it can enhance his lies. The article is rounded out with a fully-fledged NPC, the enchanter Kergart, who is commonly known as “the man with the silver tongue.”

More entertaining flavour for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game comes with Nicholas Milasich’s “Nine Treasures of Deep Midgard” which describes a nonet of goods, treasures, and trophies that might be brought up from the Underdark. Drow Brandy is a euphoric intoxicant whilst Tinned Heads are literally that, each crafted by the Ghoul Imperium to contain a head that will each serve the owner as a fount of certain knowledge… What brings all of these intriguing items together is their unfamiliarity to surface dwellers, that is, the player characters. Everyone requires an Appraisal skill roll to identify and value each item. Lastly, “The Shadow Lodge Insurgency” describes the events surrounding an attempt to subvert the Pathfinder Society of Golarion, the setting for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. As recounted by Marius Scipio, it is a lengthy background piece that is interesting enough, but it lacks an immediate use and brings the issue to disappointing close. This is not to say that it is a bad article, but the issue would have all the better had it included a scenario in its stead.

Rounding out the issue is an entertaining interview with Bill Slavicsek, the former Director of R&D for Dungeons & Dragons as well as freelancer and writer on numerous titles for West End Games’ Star Wars and Torg RPGs. This is in addition to the usual “From the Mines...” (letters) section, cartoons, “Ask the Kobold” column that answers questions about being “Flat-Footed in Heavy Armour,” and the Free City of Zobeck column, “Deadly Tolls and Honest Challenges,” which looks at banditry in the Midgard campaign setting. The issue is without its usual book review column, but it promises to return with issue #22.

Available as an eighty page magazine or a 26.69 Mb PDF, Kobold Quarterly #21 is well presented and pleasingly adheres to its theme although it does need an edit in places. Overall, Kobold Quarterly #21 is another entertaining and useful issue, with plenty to say on matters divine whatever your choice of fantasy RPG. That it does so with maturity and a lack of controversy over what could be contentious issues is a sign that it has come of age.

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A Kobold's Score

As Kobold Quarterly #20 attains its score, its coverage of Dungeons & Dragons – and its primary variants, continues to maintain a high standard with its mix of articles, advice, and scenarios. As with Kobold Quarterly #19, this latest issue from Open Design continues to move away from its previously self-avowed tag line – “The Switzerland of the Edition Wars” – with more coverage for Paizo Publishing’s Pathfinder Roleplaying Game than Wizards of the Coast’s Dungeons & Dragons, Fourth Edition. This is not to say that Dungeons & Dragons, Fourth Edition receives less coverage than in the previous issue, but the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game definitely gets the most space. In addition there are articles for the Adventure Game Engine, the mechanics that power the Dragon Age – Dark Fantasy Roleplaying from Green Ronin Publishing.

So if being neutral is not what Kobold Quarterly #20 is all about, what then, does it have as its theme? Again, the clue is in the tag line: “A Strong Bow and a Full Quiver,” for its theme is all about archers and archery, arrows and quivers, hunters and the hunted. Kicking off this theme is John E. Ling, Jr.’s “The Elven Archer: For Some Heroes, the Arrow Strikes Swift and True” which provides a Racial Class for the player who wants to play a character akin to Legolas. The Class is essentially a variant of the Ranger Class, but a pleasing touch is that it includes notes on how to adapt the Class to other races, roles, and missile weapons, as well as how the Class fits into the publisher’s Midgard Campaign Setting with a discussion of the Arbonesse Exiles and Daughters of Perun.

Thus “Arrows of the Arbonesse” by Jarrod Camiré can be seen as a companion piece, describing as it does the deadly and varied arrows of the Elves known as the Arbonesse Exiles. Again for use with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, it offers arrows that splash acid on a target, that release an obscuring fog, that leave a trail of razor wire, and need to be fired in pairs to create the anchoring points for the equivalent of the Web spell they release. The theme continues with Christopher Bodan’s “Fey Hunters & Shadow Hounds: Hunting PCs in the Margreve and the Shadow Plane,” which delves into the dangers of the hunt in the Old Margreve Forest in Open Design’s Midgard Campaign Setting. The region itself is described in more detail in the supplement, Tales from the Old Margreve, but this article looks at one particular aspect – how the Shadow Fey use the forest to hunt their prey. Their prey being the player characters… Discussed are the shadow fey’s tactics, devices, and servants, the latter possibly being the heroes’ fate if they fail to escape the shadow fey’s predations. It is perhaps not as punchy as the previous articles in the theme, but instead provides a greater depth.

Nicholas L. Milasich adds a mucky element to the art of Alchemy in the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game with “Derro Ooze Magic: New Discoveries and Archetypes for Alchemists.” It introduces the Ooze School of magic, a variant of the Transmutation school, the most notable features of which includes the ability to turn your arm into a slimy pseudopod and attack with its acidic touch and even temporarily transform into an Ooze! Similar abilities are available to the Sorcerer who selects the Ooze Bloodline, whilst adherents of the Ooze School who can take an Ooze familiar! Naturally, the article includes a list of oozy spells, but it is also much more than its mechanics as there is plenty of detail to be found here that can be added to a game, whether for player characters or NPCs.

A regular contributor to Kobold Quarterly, for this issue Mario Podeschi offers “Servants from Beyond: Lesser Planar Allies that are Ready to Summon,” a quartet of servants that the heroes could summon to their aid by casting the lesser planar ally and lesser planar binding spells. All four come with motivations as well as their stats and a list of negotiation mechanics that help bring them alive. The best of the four is Kaliskaria, an ambitious Fire Mephit whose jealousy and arrogance will surely try the patience of anyone who summons her. More obviously dangerous creatures are on show in Jack Graham’s “Night Terrors: Four Creatures to Truly Terrify.” They include the Chrysalis of the Changeling Moth, which charms groups of humanoids to care for it to the detriment of their own well-being and the haggard Pishtaco, a form of undead that butchers the living for their body fat and are reputed to be Alchemists or Gunslingers. Each of the four threats comes with a corresponding adventure hook and should present an interesting challenge to the heroes. Both articles are for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game.

Of a similar nature is “Small Spirits: 5 Nature Spirits for Any Campaign” by Matthew J. Hanson, which is written for both the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and Dungeons & Dragons, Fourth Edition. Each of the five is powerful force of nature within a localised area and whilst capable of granting a boon will not always do so readily. Each comes with an adventure hook or two that the GM can develop. My favourite of these is the “String of Grandfathers,” a necklace of teeth from a lost tribe’s shaman that will offer the wearer the toothy advice of the ages if he can win the shamans’ approval.

Christina Stiles makes two contributions to Kobold Quarterly #20. First, she authors the issue’s single scenario, “Captured in the Cartways.” Designed for use with fifth level characters for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, it is an entertaining side trek adventure set in the tunnels under the Free City of Zobeck that sees the adventurers captured and given a small task before they can progress with their current task. Quite literally a mucky adventure, it throws the adventurers into the murk of the city’s underworld politics as well as providing a set of NPCs that can be added to a GM’s campaign. Written to support the release of Open Design’s Streets of Zobeck, to get the fullest use out of the scenario a GM will need access to the recently published Zobeck Gazetteer and the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary 1. For her second contribution to this issue, Christine is interviewed as part of the magazine’s regular “Kobold Diplomacy” feature. This is a thought-provoking article because the interviewee has been involved in various aspects of the industry that are rarely considered by the gaming public at large. As an editor myself, it was interesting to read her thoughts on the process.

Although the idea of old heroes coming out of retirement to perform one last deed is not new – it certainly gets used in books and movies aplenty – it is rare that such a narrative device gets used in roleplaying. Stefen Styrsky remedies this with “Putting the Band Back Together Again” for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, supporting it with examples and a full set of age related Feats. This has everything bar the plots specific to the GM’s campaign, but it could spur a great campaign and be a chance to bring back old, retired player characters that could revisit the sites of their former victories. (As an aside, an existing example of how this could be done would be with B2, Keep on the Borderlands followed by Return to Keep on the Borderlands).

Kobold Quarterly #20’s single article for the Adventure Game Engine is Randall K. Hurlburt’s self-explanatory “AGE of Specialization: Five New Character Options.” This presents five new Specialisations, one for the Warrior class, one for the Mage class, and three for the Rogue class. These become available once a character in Adventure Game Engine reach sixth level – as detailed in Dragon Age – Dark Age Roleplaying Set 2: For Characters Level 6 to 10, with the selection here providing some alternatives to the limited number given in that set. The number assigned to the Rogue class is indicative of the class’ flexibility, with the inclusion of the Marksman Talent covering for an odd omission in the rules given in the box.

“The Bardic Arts” by Aaron Infante-Levy is the first of the issue’s few articles written solely for Dungeons & Dragons, Fourth Edition. It provides a set of new Class features that expand obvious features of the class, whether that is its use of magic with “Cantrip Study;” interaction with “Carousing,” “Etiquette,” “Seduction,” and so on; and study with “Polyglot” and “Student of Human Nature.” Over the course of a Bardic character’s career he gets to choose four of these and they nicely add non-combat aspect to the Class and the game. This is followed by the second article, Jerry LeNeave’s “Unearthed Ancestry: Racial Utility Powers for Gnomes, Tieflings, and Minotaurs” which provides five new Utility Powers for these three species that do add more flavour to them in play.

The last article for Dungeons & Dragons, Fourth Edition is actually for the Adventure Game Engine and Pathfinder Roleplaying Game as well. “Make Haste! How to Design an Adventure with Time Pressure” by Ron Lundeen is really a generic article that provides a simple set of mechanics handling adventures that are a race against time. It is well explained and its mechanics are so light that it would work with many other RPGs too.

Rounding out Kobold Quarterly #20 is perhaps the issue’s oddest article, “Fish of Legend: Magical Seafood for Fighters & Wizards Alike” by Crystal Frasier. The idea is that in a world of magic that fish can provide more than the mundane – dyes, food, medicine, cosmetics, leather, and so on. This adds magical elements to fish and gives them innate abilities and secondary abilities to anyone who consumes or uses them. For example, the abaia has the knack of creating small rainstorms, but when eaten, renders a person impervious to dehydration and able to drip water from his skin for a day. In addition, it can be used as a material component doubles the duration of the control water and control weather spells. As the article explains, this is a means of recreating magical items in a different form, and a clever one it is too. Its contents should be used sparingly, but there is detail enough to add flavour and feel to a game.

For his regular Game Theories column, Monte Cook offers “The Power of the Game Master,” an exploration of the “GM as God,” the “GM as a Player,” and how this affects the group. All told its conclusions might be obvious to anyone with an interest in some of the theory behind roleplaying, but this is a well thought out piece. Of the other regular columns, Skip Williams answers questions about disease and poisons in “Ask theKobold,” Jeff Grubb explores “The Ruins of Arbonesse” in the “Free City of Zobeck” column, plus there are the usual cartoons and book review column.

Physically, Kobold Quarterly #20 is an improvement over Kobold Quarterly #19. It feels far less rushed, the art is more appropriate, and there are fewer editorial problems. The issue also feels as it has much more in the way of content. Similarly, the inclusion of more content, even if only a slight increase, for Dungeons & Dragons, Fourth Edition makes the issue feel more balanced. Anyone who wants to play a character akin to Legolas will get a lot out of the issue, but equally, the article on Ooze magic begs to be added to a campaign (now can I persuade my GM to me play a Kobold Sorcerer with the Ooze Bloodline?). There is material aplenty in Kobold Quarterly #20 that can be added to a campaign, with the detail galore present that add flavour and feel.

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