Today’s post was going to be a review of the new Gygax Magazine. I thought along the way they had announced the magazine would be available digitally on Saturday the 26th as well. Looking back over some older interviews, I appear to have misunderstood. It looks like the PDF release will be in about two weeks on February 7th. That is a little disappointing in this day and age. It seems they want the print version to be people’s first experience with the magazine instead of a digital copy.

So instead of a full review of the magazine it will be some of The Iron Tavern’s thoughts on the new magazine based on the unboxing videos from Saturday. First, the look of the magazine will make anyone that read Dragon magazine from the 1980’s do a double-take. The cover, the fonts, and even the table of contents all look remarkably similar to the old Dragon of past years.

I consider the look and feel a good thing. When I think of Dragon magazine my mind always recalls images from the 80’s. The new Gygax Magazine certainly hits some of those same chords.

At this point I can only judge the book by its cover. The content of the magazine will be what reveals whether they also strike the same feel the Dragon magazine of the past had. I hope they do. Kobold Quarterly had been filling the gap for a print periodical and now it looks like Gygax Magazine might be positioned to step into that void rather quickly.

The Table of Contents has been floating around in the Internet for several weeks now. I will not list it in its entirety, but rather highlight a couple of articles I am looking forward to.

Leomund’s Secure Shelter by Lenard Lakofka promises to do some math and reveal which is better, a +1 to hit or a +1 to damage. Even from the unboxing video one could see there were some tables that went along with that. While not a power gamer, I do find the math behind the game interesting and always like reading about it when someone else does the math for me!

Gaming with a virtual tabletop by Nevin Jones lands in an area of interest for me. I play a good amount over a VTT. I always like to see what other people are doing in the virtual space. Perhaps I will pick up some new tricks or maybe it will cover things I already know. But I am always curious to hear how people are using tech in their games.

DMing for your toddler by Cory Doctorow will be interesting to me as well. As readers of The Iron Tavern know, I’ve been playing RPGs with my kids for a couple of years now. I like to see if other people’s experiences match up with mine or not.

There are several other articles that look interesting, but based on a scan of the Table of Contents those three are at the top of my list.

I took the risk and signed up for a subscription to the magazine. Given that US residents get free shipping if they sign up for a subscription and I will want to see at least a couple of issues before I make my final call on the magazine, it seemed like the way to go. I am already looking forward to my first issue arriving in my mailbox.

Once I receive my first issue and read it, you can be sure I will post a more in-depth review on the new Gygax Magazine here at The Iron Tavern.