Gaming Frontiers Volume 1

[Messageboard Golem]

United Playtest, Inc. is the publisher of Gaming Frontiers, a full-color quarterly d20 sourcebook periodical. Our first volume features an exclusive preview of Codex Germania from Troll Lord Games, a Q&A with Rob Kuntz, original Iron Kingdoms personalities from Privateer Press, original Freeport fiction from Green Ronin, a preview of Broncosaurus Rex from Goodman Games, three original adventures, reviews and much, much more all wrapped
in a cover by Patrick Keith. Contributing d20 companies include Troll Lord Games, Atlas Games, Privateer Press, Goodman Games, Mystic Eye Games, Thunderhead Games, Green Ronin, Skeleton Key Games, Black Arrow Games, Guildhouse Games, Bastion Press, Mongoose Publishing, Bard's Productions, Hammerdog Games, 0one Roleplaying Games, Vox Poplar and Paradigm Concepts. Our goal is to support the d20 industry while giving the readers a good source of information for their money. We hope you will join us in our venture into the Gaming Frontiers!

 

[Morrus]

Gaming Frontiers... not exactly a magazine, not exactly a sourcebook. I'm not entirely sure what it is. It's a quarterly periodical of about 140 pages composed of articles from various d20 system publishers.

140 pages is about average in magazine terms (about the same as Dragon). But the oddest thing is - it costs $17.95. That's $17.95 for an average-sized magazine which comes out with one-third of the frequency of most other magazines. Why would anyone want to buy something like that? Well, let's take a look and figure out whether or not Gaming Frontiers is worth it.

What you get: an introduction/editorial, a letters page, some submission guidelines, an interview, 15 or so articles from various publishers, 3 adventures, some cartoons, an art gallery, a reviews page and 3 pieces of fiction.

The Bad

Most of the articles are reasonably solid and well thought out, although I question the utility of some of them. The articles cover a wide variety of games and gaming styles, so there's certainly something for everyone; it is unlikely that nay given person will find a use for more than, say one-thrd of it, though. Some of them are merely 'optional rules' or expansions to already published products by various companies and virtually useless on their own; this type of item should be available for free from the publisher. Yes, WotC do this in Dragon - but they are expanding on a smaller base of products with a much higher likelihood that you will already own them.

I question the wisdom of including various items of fiction - including one very long poem. Although these will appeal to some people, I have learned from experience that those people are very much in the minority. Perhaps the magazine would have been better served with just a single item of fiction and a couple more crunchy articles.

The Good

Some of the articles are genuinely useful, and others which have no relevance to my game are an interesting read. There's a great section from Goodman Games detailing a couple of classes for Dinosaur Planet: Broncosaurus Rex, complemented well by another article detailing various dinosaurs. A couple of Bastion Press' monsters are pretty good. The rules for a luck system are very good - not only do they present 'Karma Points', but they encourages roleplaying by including 'Tass Points' (luck gained from items which have no in game benefit for the character - for example, your cleric carrying round a copy of his holy book). I may even use this in my game. There's a tavern ('The Falling Star') from Privateer' Press Iron Kingdoms setting which is easily used in your own campaign, along with a whole bunch of colourful NPCs. Two of the three adventures, although short, are fairly good. The reviews section is also good.

The book itself is very pretty - well laid out, clear, just the right text size and amount of white space. This is something that many publishers seem to have problems getting the hang of, but it's spot on here. It's a pleasure to read, and very easy on the eye.

Overall...

So, overall. Not bad. Not bad at all. Better, in fact, than Dragon magazine. However, it is fairly expensive. If it were half the price, I'd give this a solid 4; as it is, I'm going to knock it down to a 3.

 

[Messageboard Golem]

First a fly by..... looked nice, no over kill on the graphics, easy to read , well laid out.... designed to be read....

And then the reading....

"White Dwarf"..... was my favorite gaming Mag before it became Games Workshops Warhammer prop.... it had a great variety of systems, reviews, new stuff, etc etc... and I was thrilled to see that GF has come along and filled in that long open gap in my reading life.

First What I didn't Like

1. Interviews :
Sorry while I think Rob Kuntz does some great stuff and is indeed an idustry demi god, but his interview is about useful as cutting off my arm.....ditto for A'lis, nice art work, but again doesn't add anything for me as a GM or player, a d20 developers might like the interviews but for me, less please.

2. Stories :
There were less than i thought there were going to be, which was good. But I'd prefer that if there are going to be stories that they would be tied into some kind of feature or mini adventure, therefore making them more useful as scene setters. None of the three companies that gave in Fiction had any other related items in the Volume.

What could be better :

1. Reviews,
Seemed a little shallow, I'd like to see more of breakdown on the reviews of each product, for example on presentation, playability, Open Game Content, Ease of GMing, ease of integration into own campaign... rather than just a single score. Call me negative but I'd also like to see more of what I should not spend my money on.

The best.

1. On the Horizon and No Boundaries :
I may never play half the things that you cover in these two sections, but this is what i like best , seeing what else is out there, the Goodman Games stuff was excellent, the cool thing with D20 is that now if I want to take a ;little of what they have created and put it into any other d20 game I can...this is where OGL and d20 really rocks, back in White Dwarf days, taking a traveller adventure and adapting it for DnD was...well...not too easy.

2. Uncharted Territory
Moongoose.... I have to say that I will rushing out to Amazon to buy some of there stuff, you web review and the Sands of Death article both have shown me that while their cover art might be a little lacking the content is all value. A look at different campaign worlds in this section is excellent.

3. TOC :
Some people have said it's not clear, to them I say "i Bah!", well structured, grouped by type of content is a great way to do it...easy to find what I care about reading.

4. Graveyard / Shootin / Home front
All these small sections add great flavor to the mag, that personal touch that died in Dragon when they cut out that last page....what was it called, forgot sorry, this is great stuff, personal comments, thoughts ideas, DnD is about the players and GMs I like this stuff a lot.

Other comments, one off classes, monsters and magic, granted this is all in a way part of allowing D20 developers to show case their products, but I'd rather it was done in the same way as the Goodman Games piece.

What's missing :
d20 release calendar, let us know who is releasing what and when
Web Resources : Lets see some reviews or content on web resources available from d20 and independant sources, start with Mortality.net

Ads.... okay laugh, I like ads, it's the only way that I can know what's going on, there are NO RPG shops here, none at all, I can no window shop to see what is here nor see posters of what is coming soon, Ads are my contact with the world .

All in all a great mag, I love it, money well spent. What I disslike about Dragon is what I like about GF, more variety and coverage of products that I might otherwise never see, sure I may never use much of the stuff but it is still nice to see what is available up close without spending money on it.

Yes I will be buying more copies of GF, sure it is three times the price of Dragon, it has at least three times as much content.

cheers

Kwai