Monday, January 14, 2008

Kobolds

I got my hands on issue number 3 of Kobold Quarterly thanks to the editor's kind indulgence.

As I read through the articles this evening, I flashed back to sitting at my friend Bret's house reading the latest Dragon magazines back in the early 80's as a teenager. The great cover combined with the interior's earnest writing and production values remind me of that era. Nostalgia is a powerful force, isn't it? I think this publication might have legs.

So it's doubly cool to hear that Kobold Quarterly has decided to come on board early in its support of 4E D&D. Sounds like Wolf's patrons know when to back a winner.

6 comments:

James said...

With all due respect, your assessment of Wolfgang and his support of 4e is not entirely accurate. He put the license fee to his patrons as an offer: if you think I should do this, fund it. And they did. However, and speaking as one of those funders, not all of us are gung ho about 4e. Some of us believe that it is best to see the product before we throw our unquestioning loyalty behind it. Mostly I, speaking only for myself, prefer to see a designer whose work I enjoy, get the chance, if the ruleset is worthy, of making his living from it as soon as he can.

Personally, from the overwhealming lack of information as opposed to the mounting marketing mayhem I see coming out of WoTC, I am only very barely on the side of optimism on 4e. So far all I've heard from designers is "Oooh, it's soooo coooll. If only I could tell you about, you'd bask in the cool, too. " To which I reply: Put up or shut up. Either give me meat or stop talking already and let me enjoy 3.5 instead of listening to the endless non-speak coming out of WoTC these days.

Bruce Cordell said...

James,

Wolfgang's patrons wanted him to jump into 4E early to the tune of 5K. If you're one of those Patrons, then he has you to thank.

As far as not supporting something unseen with unquestioning loyalty: that seems a wise move. I can say that I prefer this system and I bet you will, too, until I'm blue in the face, but you'll have to make your own decision in June.

James said...

Indeed, I'm very much of a wait and see attitude, which I know is the antithesis of what WoTC would like to see in its consumers. However, I still maintain that Wizards jumped the gun in announcing 4e with a shelf date so far away. I feel too much like I'm seeing too much of the internal Wizards sausage making and not enough of the final tasty product.

And while I believe you when you say it's cool, I still need proof, which is why (in part) I backed WB's purchase the early rights. Through that purchase I can see for myself. That's the key to whether or not I'll be puchasing 4e or whether I'll continue to use the mountain of 3rd edition materials I still own and enjoy.

Daniel said...

I'm a Kobold Quarterly- Fan myself and have been a patron in all but the 1st OD project and the "Arabian Nights", so I agree with your praise of Wolfgang's work.

If you like KQ, why not contribute and write a few articles (or even an adventure or two) yourself? I'd love to read new stuff about Mathgammna ("College of Wizardry") or more tentacled goodnes about mind flayers or illithid, to name just a few things. And I guess Wolfgang won't mind another high-quality writer joining the Kobolds (c:

Bruce Cordell said...

Daniel,

Wow, you've got a long memory! College of Wizardry I really enjoyed. Who knows what the future might bring? But, in the short term, my writing schedule has pretty much been sewn up :-(

Daniel said...

...memory? A large rpg collection, yes. But I'm not so sure about my memory - most of the time its more like a sieve... :o)

I linked Mathgammna to a campaign of mine that goes on since 2004. We put lots of creativity in the PC's background stories, and two out of the three PC are linked to the CoW in some ways. The great thing was that you left lots of hooks where a character could be linked with the organization, or even whole campaigns.

Thats what makes great usefulness of a gaming book - not the number of new feats, spells and prestige classes. I sincerely hope "your generation" of writers (like Ed, Steven, Elaine, to name just a few) can bring that mindset back to WotC...

Sad to hear about your writing schedule... maybe some short two-pagers? *begs* ;o)

But on the other hand: I'm of course glad about it, as it means you'll continue to write. :o)