BareBone Fantasy RPG On-Air Tutorial

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Barebones FantasyI have mentioned BareBones Fantasy a few times here at The Iron Tavern. The game is a “rules-lite” fantasy game that contains everything you need to start playing in one 80-ish page book.

My first experience with it has been quite fun. With that said there are a couple of things that take just a little bit to wrap your head around when you first get started. Two of the big things for me were how multi-actions played out and resistance checks to avoid taking damage and how that worked with multi-actions. Now that I have played it makes perfect sense and is really an elegant mechanic.

Larry Moore has posted a short actual play session online at YouTube to help cover some of these frequently asked questions about the game. The video specifically seeks to cover the following game rules

  • Multi-Actions
  • Initiative
  • Resistance Checks
  • DR
  • House Rules
  • Spells (Repel, Offensive Strike, Dispel

The video is worth a watch if you are curious about BareBones Fantasy RPG.

Map: Kajak’s Kave

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I have been participating in Friday Five Minute Maps over on Google+ sporadically for the past several weeks. I figure it is a good way to practice my mapping and expand my mind a bit. Recently I have started posting my Five Minute Map to Google+ and then spending more time on it and posting my final results. I feel even in a relatively short period of time my mapping has improved.

I have found adopting Matt Jackson’s and Dyson Logo’s mapping styles I can create some decent, usable looking maps even with my feeble cartography skills. Today’s post takes my Friday Five Minute Map from last week after I spent some more time on adding detail and then scanned it in for some work in Gimp, Photoshop, and Inkscape (still trying to figure out the tool chain that works for me).

So without further ado, I present Kajak’s Kave and a mini-encounter area for you to use with your games. It is system neutral and could easily be used for a variety of fantasy genre games.

Kajak's Cave Kajak’s Kave

Kajak would be considered a runt of his ogre family, standing just shy of 9’ tall. A mop of tangled, bright red hair graces his head above his lopsided eyes and nose that looks to have been broken one too many times. Kajak’s remaining teeth are jagged in his mouth, a thin film of yellowish-brown covering them. Though on the short side for an ogre, his shoulders are broad and legs thick like small tree trunks, rippled with muscles and scars. Kajak makes up for any deficit in height with ferocity several times over.

Kajak is the solitary sort, his life amongst other ogres not pleasant as he was constantly defending himself. He soon found himself alone in the wilderness carving out an area he could call his own. Finding a small set of caves set on a very steep hillside, he came to call these caves home.

True to ogre fashion Kajak is a brutal beast. He does not take lightly to intruders on the area he calls home, a three mile radius surrounding his cave entrance. Beasts – animal or man – that cross the area he calls home are often brutally dealt with, frequently tortured and toyed with before Kajak declared them dinner.

The only exception to this horrific treatment of trespasses is a trio of wolves Kajak had adopted. This wolves he keeps as pets, feeding them scraps of his conquest for the day or allowing them to join in on the torture of trespassers. These wolves have become loyal to Kajak over the years and frequent his cave home freely as if on patrol many times.

The Approach

Kajak’s cave entrance sits high on the side of a rough hill just shy of the Ironcrag Mountains. A small, winding trail has been carved into the hillside from Kajak’s travels from his cave to the surrounding area. The entrance is difficult to see from the valley floor, a set of scraggly bushes obscuring the entrance.

Area 1

Nearly blocking the entrance tunnel to this small cave system is a large boulder in the center of the tunnel. Foot traffic appears well established to the right of the boulder. The wall of the tunnel here appears worn smooth as if something large frequently squeezes by this obstruction in the tunnel passage.

Area 2

The faint odor of refuse and rotting meat wafts through the air in this large chamber. The floor of the chamber is littered with bones, appearing to be gnawed by teeth. Two other tunnels lead off the back of this chamber.

The trio of wolves claim this area for theirs. The trio immediately lets out snarls and barks and attacks. The barking alerts Kajak to an intruder’s presence.

(3) Wolves, Bite Attack

Area 3

The smell of refuse and rotting meat becomes near overpowering in the this chamber. The cave floor rises in a series of ledges towards the back of the room. The chamber is littered in a menagerie of discarded bits of bones, torn pelts and shattered skulls. A humanoid form, about the size of a man hangs against one wall, flies buzzing around the corpse that appears to have been there for some time.

Rats scatter as you enter the room, diving underneath a pile of furs. An iron cauldron with a large crack running halfway down its side hangs from a crude tripod of thick branches.

This is Kajak’s “kitchen”. Though he has never cooked a meal, preferring raw meat, he would frequently bring his victims back here for hours of torture and misery before finally consuming them. Removing the discarded remains has never been a thought of his, contributing the pungent odor of this chamber.

Area 4

The tunnel to this portion of the cavern leads steeply down before opening in another large chamber. Several large boulders are strewn across the floor. The smell of rotting refuse and decaying meat is replaced by the near overwhelming smell of body odor.

An oversized pile of straw, twigs, and dried grass sits in one corner. A pile of rusted weapons rests nearby.

This is Kajak’s living quarters when he is not tormenting prey in the Area 3 or out roaming the outside lands he calls his.

Ogre, use an Ogre Hook (2d6 dmg)

A Look at BareBones Fantasy RPG

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Barebones FantasyBareBones Fantasy RPG is a game from DwD Studios, written by Larry Moore and Bill Logan. The game has become quite popular over on Google+. The system comes in a small package with 80-some odd pages that include character races, character skills, monsters, magic, and more. BareBones Fantasy RPG is currently available in PDF, softcover, and a hardcover is in the works.

I ended up picking up the PDF of the system late last year to see what it was all about. The system is intended to be a ‘rules-lite’ system using only d10’s for dice and trying to keep out of the gamer’s way allowing them so spend time having fun rather than held back by a heavy set of rules. They call the system the d00Lite system.

The welcome to the game page does introduce a golden rule – “The GM is in charge!”. After playing and running many rules heavy systems over the years, I have been finding myself drawn to systems with fewer and simpler rules and back to the days where the GM is responsible for figuring out the gray areas and running with it. I was quite happy to see this golden rule, it seems more and more of the games I am attracted to these days include something along these lines.

The Rules

To play this game you only need two 10-sided dice. Things such as damage rolls and the like are indicated by using the notation of 1D (one 10-sided dice) or 2D (two 10-sided dice). Checks are done by trying to roll under a percentage. If you roll under you are successful, over and you are not. If the two 10-sided dice come up the same number (i.e. both 2’s) and the roll was successful then you scored a critical success. If they come up the same number and you were higher than your percentage then you had a critical failure. The game’s mechanics revolve around this simple mechanic.

There are four ability scores for each character. Strength, Dexterity, Logic, and Willpower. Ranges for ability scores tend to range between 35 and 80, though there are exceptions.

Instead of choosing a character class in BBF, you choose skills. There are eight skills to choose from. From these skills the player selects a primary skill (netting a +20 in that skill), a secondary skill (a +10 in that skill) and you choose one skill to assign a level in. Some skills require a “level” in them in order to be used. This method of building a character allows a player to build their character they want without being tied into a particular class. It is a very flexible system.

There are four races in this book to choose from – Human, Elf, Dwarf, and Halfling. The player’s race choice will affect starting ability scores and provide other racial abilities depending on choice.

The Game Guidelines section adds a little detail for the GM running the game on success modifiers, damage, healing, and more. The book also contains spells for the caster-types, magic items, and monsters for the GM to use in their game.

Putting even more into this book, there is an included random dungeon generator and adventure idea generator. If you are ever stuck for an idea, these generators alone are sure to get your brain going with some ideas.

The final 7 pages of the book include a brief look at the campaign world Keranak Kingdoms to act as a backdrop for all of your adventures. If you purchase the PDF version of this product you also receive a free adventure called Maidens of Moordoth to help get you started.

BareBones Fantasy Map and MinisThe Play

I finally had the chance to take this system for a spin the other weekend. I used a combination of the NPC Generator and the sample characters in the rulebook to get some pre-gens ready. I used the Trouble at Karam’s Claim from the Keranak Kingdoms Fantasy Setting for the game as my first adventure. I ran the adventure for my kids, who do pretty well at playing new RPGs. They play Pathfinder quite frequently, my son runs some Pathfinder games for us, and I’ve run a quick run of DCC RPG with him as well.

I handed out the pre-gens – my son wanted a couple of dwarves, my daughter wanted an elven ranger type. She has a crush on Legolas. I had characters that fit those ideas and I spent a short amount of time going over the basics. That did not take long to explain and it seemed to set in after the first round or two of combat.

Trouble at Karam’s Claim was fun. There are a lot of one type of creature in it, though the module warns of that ahead of time. It can get just a little repetitive unless the GM plays it up a bit. The overall concept of the adventure is a good one though.

The play was quick and very easy to get the hang of. The concept of being able to do more than one action in a turn is very nice. Essentially, your first action in a turn is not penalized at all. The second takes a -20% to the score you are trying to roll under. The third takes a -40% to the score you are trying to roll under and so on. It really allows a character to decide just how much they want to risk not being able to defend well because they took too many attacks.

In the end the kids vanquished the primary threat at the mines and were successful for the day! My son liked it and has been poking around the softcover book a bit and studying some of the reference sheets I had printed up for the game. He ranked it above DCC RPG (he has a bit of a problem with all the randomness in DCC RPG).

Wrap Up

My experience with BareBones Fantasy RPG has been a very good one so far! I will definitely be looking to get into a few more games of it and will likely seek some out at conventions this year. I am sure I will find myself running a few here and there as well!

If you are looking for a “rules-lite” fantasy system for a low cost investment that includes rules to play, spell, monsters, magic items, a glance at a campaign world, and more – BareBones Fantasy is well worth checking out! BareBones Fantasy RPG is currently available in PDF, softcover, and a hardcover will be coming out in the near future.

Random Table: Dungeon Odors

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photo courtesy: disoculated @ flickr

photo courtesy: disoculated @ flickr

I am going to try piloting a new weekly feature here at The Iron Tavern. There is always room for more random tables in games. They are handy for on the fly ideas at the table or even while prepping ahead of time and just needing a “kick” to get you thinking.

With that in mind, I plan on posting a new random table every Thursday for the next 4 to 6 weeks. These tables will contain 20 entries and the subject matter will typically have something to do with the fantasy genre. I have several ideas for tables already, but if you think of something you would like to see, feel free to add a comment here or on G+.

After the 4 to 6 weeks I will take a look back at the feedback these posts have received through either comments here, on G+, or twitter and a look at how the posts do traffic wise. If things look positive I will continue the random table posts. If things were only so-so, we’ll call it a simple experiment and I will still have had the exercise of brainstorming some random tables. Always good for the creativity, even as an exercise!

To kick off this random table experiment, we start with dungeon smells! 20 possible smells your hero’s might experience as they make their way through otherwise empty dungeon corridors!

Random Dungeon Odors

Roll (d20) Odor
1 faint sulfur
2 rotting trash
3 hint of spoiled milk
4 musty with a hint of mold
5 tangy, earthy
6 strong rat feces
7 faint incense
8 overpowering mildew
9 pungent ammonia
10 trace of a bat guano
11 hint of a flower aroma
12 lingering scent of body odor
13 stale urine
14 decaying meat
15 smoky smell from past burnt torches
16 wet animal fur
17 overly sweet smell
18 lingering smell of rotten fruit
19 strong vanilla
20 moldy straw

 

Crawl! in PDF

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crawl2_coverThe Crawl Fanzine for the Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG has become quite popular for fans of that game. The zine is made by the fans, for the fans and features homebrew rules, adventures, patrons and more for DCC RPG.

The Iron Tavern has positively reviewed issues number 4 and number 5 here. Until now the only way to get the Crawl Fanzine from Straycouches Press has been to receive the print copy. Frankly, the print copy is great and having a subscription to the print copy leaves me anxiously awaiting the postman on release weeks for my issue to arrive!

That has all changed! Crawl is now available in PDF from RPGNow! I picked up Issue #1 earlier today in PDF as I only started reading the zine starting with Issue #2 and had not gone back to pick up the first print issue. It looks great and PDFs are a super easy way to get fast access to this great fanzine for Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG.

Right now the first three issues are available, the others are on their way. The prices are currently discounted at initial release as well. If you have been waiting to check out the zine, this is a great opportunity to do so!

UPDATE: Crawler’s Companion Released

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Crawler's Dice Roller

UPDATE: 2/6/2013

The iOS version of the app has been released through Apple! You can now download Crawler’s Companion from the Apple App Store. Go to the bottom of this post for my iOS experience with this app.

Last summer Purple Sorcerer Games ran a Kickstarter to help fund their Crawler’s Companion app. They were looking to port it to a large variety of mobile devices increasing its usefulness exponentially to Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG players at the table.

The application has been available in beta form for some time. This weekend the app has slowly been rolling out through the various app stores. The application is currently available through the Amazon Marketplace and Google Play stores. It is currently awaiting approval from Apple and Nook app store. The application is free and its increasing availability in the app stores for the different platforms will be a boon to DCC RPG players.

The Crawler’s Companion puts funky dice rolling,critical hit charts, fumble charts, spell lists, and other rule lookups at your fingertips. On charts that require a roll to determine effect the user can either choose to let the app roll the dice for you or use lookup mode to enter in the result of an actual die roll.

Crawler's Spell TabI have the app installed on a Droid X2 and the application is quite snappy! Having all of this information at my fingertips is going to be great for my weekly DCC RPG game. No more flipping through my printed cheat sheets to see what the results of the most recent spell check or critical hit are.

The released version of the app that just hit the app stores in version 1.0. Purple Sorcerer Games is already at work on the 1.1 version which will include a batch dice roller, initiative tracker, hit point tracker, a new options screen, and the ability to change dice colors.

If you are a Dungeon Crawl Classics player or judge, be sure to check Crawler’s Companion out. Even if you aren’t a DCC RPG player, you might find the dice roller worth the download for quick rolls on your mobile device.

Updated: I still have a generation 1 version of the iPad. Application support is slowly growing more limited as my device ages. Purple Sorcerer Games worked hard on making this app run on generation 1 devices. This work helped make for an app that ran well on the generation 1 iPad and quite efficiently on the newer devices. So far the app has done great on my test drive of it on my iPad. A great application for DCC RPG fans who own iOS devices! You can’t go wrong with this free app from Purple Sorcerer Games!

DCC Monster: Crystal Aberration

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Art by: Larry Moore

Art by: Larry Moore of DwD Studios

Crystal Aberration

There are several theories on how these cyrstal aberrations originally form. Some say these crystal aberrations spontaneously form in rare circumstances when earth energies and crystal meld into one. Others say powerful wizards have mastered the earth element and can cause the crystal to meld together and become sentient. Some suggest these crystal creatures form as a result of some alien being starting the process in motion. No one can say for certain what the source of these creatures initial energy is.

Growing slowly over time, the crystal formations automate and begin to form symbiotic ties to crystal obelisks where they draw their growing energy. Left unchecked a multitude of these crystal aberrations will form, their power growing stronger as they harvest more crystal for the powering obelisk.

A crystal aberration uses its crystalline fists as weapons when close to other combatants. The creature can also unleash a shower of fast moving crystal shards towards an attacker, peppering the victim with hundreds of thin, needle-like crystal projectiles. Larger crystal aberrations gain a fire surge ability which is used for crafting crystal power obelisks and as an offensive capability.

Upon the destruction of a crystal aberration the energy that formed it is released in a violent explosion of crystal shards. This utter destruction of the creature showers the nearby area in thousands of crystalline needle-like projectiles.

As the crystal aberrations become sentient, they often begin crafting obelisks to further channel the earth energies to themselves. The obelisks are formed from crystal harvested from rocks and then melded with heat into the obelisk structure. As the obelisk grows larger the crystal aberrations in the area will also grow and become more powerful.

This obelisk’s power is one with the crystal aberrations. This symbiotic relationship between obelisk and chief crafter includes both crafter and obelisk being destroyed if either is destroyed. When either the obelisk or crafting crystal aberration is destroyed, both explode in a powerful blast of crystal shrapnel.

Crystal Aberration: Init +0; Atk slam +2 (1d6+1) or crystal shards (40’ range) +2 (2d4+1); AC 14; HD 2d8 12hp; MV 30’; Act 1d20; SP exploding body; SV Fort +4, Ref +0; Will +2; AL N

Exploding Body: Upon death the body of the crystal creature explodes in a shower of tiny crystal shards causing 1d6 damage to all in a 10’ radius (DC 10 Reflex Save to negate).

Greater Crystal Aberration: Init +2; Atk slam +4 (2d6+2) or crystal shards (40’ range) +2 (3d4+1); AC 16; HD 4d8 21hp; MV 30’; Act 1d20; SP exploding body, fire surge; SV Fort +6, Ref +1; Will +3; AL N

Exploding Body: Upon death the body of the crystal creature explodes in a shower of tiny crystal shards causing 2d6 damage to all in a 10’ radius (DC 10 Reflex Save to negate).

Fire Surge: The creature can cause a ray of fire to spring forth from an outstretched crystalline appendage. 4d6 damage (DC 12 Reflex Save for half)

Crystal Obelisk: Init -5; Atk none; AC 20; HD 6d8 32hp; MV 0’; Act 1d20; SP exploding body; SV Fort +10, Ref -2; Will +4; AL N

Exploding Body: Upon death the body of the crystal creature explodes in a shower of tiny crystal shards causing 4d6 damage to all in a 15’ radius (DC 10 Reflex Save to negate).

Roll20: TSR Endorsement and Tabletop Forge

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Roll20, the virtual tabletop, has been having a busy couple of weeks. Last week they released a press release announcing they had surpassed 100,000 users. This week Roll20 has released a press release announcing their endorsement by the newly launched TSR as their “official tabletop”. This week’s press release also announces Tabletop Forge ceasing development and joining in with Roll20!

My comments, particularly on the Tabletop Forge news, follow the press release presented here in its entirety.

ROLL20 GAINS THE SUPPORT OF TSR, TABLETOP FORGE
Application solidifies its status as the preeminent long distance gaming solution
Roll20 LogoWichita, Kansas (January 29th, 2013) – This week two major announcements regarding the popular online roleplaying program Roll20 became public.  The first involved the newly launched TSR company endorsing Roll20 as their “official tabletop,” the second pertained to the lead developer of competing game space Tabletop Forge announcing he was halting production on the program to instead help with future enrichments to Roll20.

“The most flattering part of all this is that they both came to us,” said Roll20 co-founder and lead developer Riley Dutton.  “It really helps make us feel like we must be doing something right.”

The new TSR was formed by Jayson Elliot to cover multiple aspects of gaming, beginning with the launch of “Gygax Magazine” next month.  Elliot was one of the first adopters of Roll20 in the Kickstarter phase.  Additionally, a feature by Roll20 co-founder Nolan T. Jones’ brother, Nevin P. Jones, will be in the initial issue of Gygax Magazine covering Nevin’s first roleplaying experience which was accomplished using his brother’s application.

Tabletop Forge was begun as a Google Hangout application by Joshuha Owen with the purpose of helping the vibrant Google+ roleplaying community to better realize their games.  The Google+ page for Tabletop Forge boasts over 11,000 members, many of whom supported the program’s KIckstarter last year.  However, Joshuha decided that the community would best be served by a single HTML5 solution.

“There are lots of options for roleplaying over the internet, but it became redundant to have both Roll20 and Tabletop Forge, as in many ways they were serving the same community and had similar features including a common goal of being lightweight and easy to use,” remarked Joshuha.  As such, the creators of both programs say they will be treating all Tabletop Forge’s Kickstarter backers as if they had made their pledges to Roll20, migrating Tabletop Forge assets to Roll20, and be working with a multitude of RPG artists to bring their content to the platform.

Roll20 began as an effort to keep developers Dutton, Jones, and Richard Zayas in touch via long distance gaming.  Their project went public with an eighteen day Kickstarter campaign in April of 2012.  Since then it has attracted over 100,000 users as a free service.  The program continues to be funded by subscribers who receive features that assist advanced gameplay.

The news of the TSR endorsement from Saturday’s Gygax Magazine unboxing has been out there for several days already. The TSR endorsement does not come as a big surprise to me. Roll20 is very easy to use and has remained so even as they continue to add more features. I have had very little trouble getting people connected and up and playing with Roll20. Congrats to Roll20 on this endorsement though, it can only grow their player base.

The Tabletop Forge news is the big item for me. My first experiences with VTTs in a Google+ Hangout environment was with Tabletop Forge. Several of my early G+ games were done over G+ Hangouts and Tabletop Forge. TTF development moved at a very rapid pace in the beginning. When they ran a Kickstarter for TTF I pitched in and I pointed several people to the Kickstarter to help support them.

Since then things slowed down from the TTF side. Development appeared to have slowed, art assets were slow to get released, etc. My groups ended up playing on Roll20 and really did not look back.

Joshuha Owen did a good job of communicating in the aftermath of the Kickstarter. Several of his developers who had been helping him left, leaving him with the Kickstarter ball. And though the process was slow, he did get the art assets to people via Google Drive, even if they weren’t integrated with TTF.

I think this move to bring content that was Kickstarted to Roll20 is a good move on Joshuha’s part. It seems like a very eloquent way to bring the TTF Kickstarter to a close and attempt to make everyone happy in the end.

This move will also likely benefit Roll20 rather significantly with an influx of art assets, map tiles, and such that were funded as part of TTF. And it will likely bring them an influx of more users as word gets out that Roll20 is the VTT that will continue moving forward.

BareBones Fantasy in Print

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My print copy of BareBone Fantasy arrived today. I ordered it from RPGNow and this is actually the first time I have ever ordered something in print from RPGNow. I am not sure if every experience is like this, but I received my print copy in a very timely manner. Looking back at my order history, I just ordered this on 1/21 and I had it in my mailbox today. Great turn-around in my opinion.

If you hang out in some of the same social media circles I do, you have likely seen mention of BareBones Fantasy. I will be doing a write-up of my initial thoughts on the system based on running a game this past weekend. But for those unfamiliar with the system it is a complete fantasy role-playing game contained in 80-ish pages. It uses a d00Lite system in that it is based on 10-sided dice. Attack rolls, skill checks, weapon damage, and more are all based on rolling under a certain percentage. One golden rule covers the gray areas – “The GM is in charge!”.

I’ve had the PDF since about mid-December. Since I wanted to play this with my son, I wanted to pick up a paper copy. He is not a fan of PDFs and if I want him to read the system he wants to have it in print. Plus the print copy is easier to hand around the table while I run off of the PDF on the iPad.

More in-depth commentary will be coming later this week, but I couldn’t hold off on posting up the pictures of my soft cover copy. hard to believe the whole system is packed into this lightweight book!

Until later this week, enjoy!

Gygax Magazine Unboxing

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Gygax MagazineToday’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.