This is not a playtest review.
Gaming Frontiers (Volume 2) is an odd kind of hybrid. Weighing in at 160 pages at a cost of $17.95, it looks and feels like a weighty sourcebook. However, the content is similar to a magazine with cartoons, reviews, advertising and fiction as well as a host of articles and adventures from many of the d20 publishers in the gaming industry. The price per page is excellent for its length and the fact that it is published in full colour compared to d20 books of similar length.
Although the art is from a wide variety of artists, most of it is good quality. The book makes good use of space, with advertising not taking up too much room and the whole feel is very high class in terms of the production values. The quality of the writing varies from publisher to publisher obviously, but in general the quality is good and the editing seems sound.
There are a lot of articles in the book. Here's an overview of whats inside:
* A City Ranger Prestige Class from Gary Gygax's The Canting Crew, released by Troll Lord Games
* An interview with Gary Gygax
* Some weapons, the Path Seeker prestige class and the Shaosai tribal lands - add-ons for Mongoose Publishing's 'Slayers Guide To Amazons'
* 3 monsters from Inner Circle Games' world of Avadnu
* A 'build your own guard tower' article from Bard's Productions including advice on terrain, personnel and scaled maps.
* Some advice and links for writing d20 stuff and getting it published
* A 15 page adventure, "Jacob's Haunt", for PCs of levels 2-4, where a popular ghostly bard has disappeared from a local inn and the PCs must find a way to bring him back to save the owner's business. Roleplaying-intensive. Also includes a new magic item, the Amulet of Restless Souls.
* An excerpt from SkeletonKey Games' forthcoming 'Orcs: Savage Legacy' sourcebook including background to the Black Tusk tribe, some NPCs and a couple og magic items - totem-sticks and the Septum Ring of Valour.
* A selection of magic items used by monsters for placement in a lair.
* The Shadows Academy of Nath Rex, a fantasy secret service organisation add-on for 0One Roleplaying Games' Twenty Sides Of Evil adventure but usable in most fantasy campaigns.
* Psionic dinosaurs for Goodman Games' Broncosaurus Rex setting, including two psionic weapons.
* A piece of fiction set in Freeport by Green Ronin Publishing.
* A rant about the varied prices of d20 products.
* 5 new underwater monsters designed for use with Mystic Eye Games' Foul Locales.
* A 15-page solo adventure for AEG's Spycraft. "If you attack the guard, read entry 31".
* The Cleaner prestige class for AEG's Spycraft.
* Monsters for Atlas Games' Nyambe African Adventures.
* Gaming Ideas/Previews from a CRPG, book and Bard's Productions 'Instant Churches' & 'Instant Inns'
* A preview of the Judge Dredd RPG from Mongoose Publishing.
* Some fiction and rules regarding double-barrelled pistols and an ammunitionist NPC for Privateer Press' Iron Kingdoms setting.
* An interview with Privateer Press
* An article on afterlife myths
* An adventure 'Beware The Bloodstorm' for 20th level PCs, a possible entrance to an epic level campaign - designed for Hammerdog's Denoa setting but integratable with most standard fantasy campaign settings.
* Short story by James Lowder
* An article on William de Sonac and the Knights Templar, including a Templar prestige class
* Interview with artist Patrick Keith
* Reviews of d20 products - Song & Silence, Broncosaurus Rex, Prisoners of the Maze, Minions, and The Giants Skull.
Like most magazines, only a limited amount of these articles are going to be of interest to most people. There's no doubt that the amount of content and the quality of the production measure up to the price tag. My concern is more to do with the type of content found within - unless you own the book in question, most articles are going to need a certain amount of work to integrate them with your own campaign and its likely that several articles (at least) are going to hold little of use or interest, simply because of their diversity.
In much the same way as the articles in Dragon are often a covert advertisement for their upcoming releases, the same is true of Gaming Frontiers for the d20 industry - be warned. Also like Dragon, that doesn't mean that the content cannot be used and is in fact, generally of good quality. So, if you like the look of most of whats described above, the content is certainly worth your cash. If only a few of the articles appeal to you, think again about spending your $18.
