Gaming Frontiers: 4

Game: Gaming Frontiers: 4
Publisher: United Playtestr
Series: d20
Reviewer: Wyrdmaster
Review Dated: 3rd, May 2003
Reviewer’s Rating: 6/10   [ On the ball ]
Total Score: 6
Average Score: 6.00

Gaming Frontiers #4 is the second of the d20 supplemental magazine series to be in black and white, it’s the fourth to be packed to the hilt with bites of d20 supplements and therefore maintains the 100% record where it counts the most.

The Uncharted Territory sections in the magazine might be the most popular corners of the magazine; within them are the exclusive extras from supplements yet-to-be-published or “cutting room floor” outtakes from books already on the shelf. Just watch that yet-to-be-published bit, in the chaotic d20 publishing world some books makes it to print faster than expected and others are delayed. I’m not sure whether I’m late with the Gaming Frontier review or early to read other books but I’ve seen quite a few finished products from the upcoming section. This is true for “On The Horizon” too.

Goodman’s Games Complete Guide to Wererats is a worthwhile purchase, the extra rules for the Quite Ones brood in “Uncharted Territory” just adds to its value. Keith Sloan’s lengthy article on Polynesian mythology is another bonus – even though I hate to see the masses tap into an inspiration resource I’ve been plundering for years. Bad Axe Games’ Heroes of High Favor: Elves received almost universal praise from reviews and the specialist wizard rules for the magic circle presented in the magazine will make it even more tempting to buy the book, I’m not entirely convinced that they can be used effectively without the book though. Pinnacle offer up extra from the Lakes and Liches is an addition for the Deadland The Great Weird North supplement. The Mystic Eye offering of Guilds Glorious Guilds takes the rules from their new Guilds and Adventurers book, using the rules to enhance the Bluffside setting.

The big preview in “On The Horizon” must be the look at Mongoose Publishing’s Armageddon 2089 RPG – it’s just a shame that the printing treatment hasn’t been the best and the end of the words on the right pages have been shaved off. As Mongoose say themselves “never in the history of RPGs have so many problems with printers and customs combined to delay one book!” and so although this long awaited RPG might be shipping right now, this sneak peak is still a strong temptation. There’s a second Mongoose preview, a section from the Quintessential Psion. The Quintessential Psion and partner book the Quintessential Psychic Warrior both caused controversy, moreso the latter, and so either one is a good choice for previewing. Bastion Press’s newly released Faeries has baited the interest of quite a few gamers and so although it’s one of those games which have actually been released as Gaming Frontiers 4 hit the shelves the preview should be popular. There’s a fairly lengthy preview of Monte Cook’s The Book of Hallowed Might but I just can’t help note that you can buy the full publication in PDF form for less than a third of the cost of the magazine. That’s no good if you can’t stand PDFs, I suppose. The Hunter in Shadow is as much a story as it is a preview from Paradigm Concepts but despite that (probably because of that) it’s one of my favourites here. There’s a reference to Arcanis: World of Shattered Empires setting and that’s about as close as I get to being sure which book we’re actually previewing. I’m not so good at keeping track of all the d20 companies as I should be and Gaming Frontiers has traditionally done well at highlighting a new-to-me publisher; this month it’s Inner Circle and their three page preview from the first (or perhaps second) book in the Violet Dawn series. It’s worth pointing out it was actually Gaming Frontiers #2 that first introduced me to Inner Circle and Violet Dawn, the campaign setting looked very interesting then but my radar has failed to catch them since then – it just shows how this relationship between magazines, publishers and consumers is a three-way symbiotic thing.

The “No Boundaries” section is there to promote the non-fantasy elements of the hobby. You know; horror games, thriller games, espionage, historic, sci-fi, noir, supernatural, superheroes, pulp and… well, there’s only two submissions here despite that list. The Little Girl Lost article is an introductory adventure for Hammer Dog’s Nearside Project. There’s value for money here since the preview gives away the all important shadow dice and critical 13 rules. Andrew Hind is a regular contributor to Gaming Frontiers, he writes again to give us a look at Otherworld’s The City of Kuching and as a supplement to their Forbidden Kingdoms 1930 setting. It’s just a shame their forthcoming Chill stuff fails to qualify for Gaming Frontier’s criteria.

Dinosaurs! We can count on there being plenty of stats for dinosaurs in RPGs and in case you’re missing your d20 dinosaurs then there’s here for you. I believe we’ve already seen Goodman Games give us d20 dinosaurs for the same magazine, albeit intelligent space dinosaurs.

Freeport fiction seems to be becoming another Gaming Frontiers feature – and that’s not unwelcome. “Bury Me In Freeport” is a 13-paged story, it’s also what they’ll be doing to your character if he can’t get his hands on a special rod after releasing that he’s in hell.

Monte Cook sent in some holiday snaps and an article about real castles and caves. They’re nothing like the giant wonders that appear in most fantasy RPGs. I suppose if you’ve never been out of America, for example, and have never been in a real castle then this article is invaluable. The other offering to the “Reinforcements” section is an initiative order sheet from Citizen Games. It’s the sort of thing easily distracted GMs running with a group of eight players might want to use.

Look to page 62 and for Second World Simulation’s Trick Shots and Vital Spots offering. Steven Palmer Peterson is one of those people blessed with a great writing style and a great eye for game mechanics. For example, the vital spots here go beyond aiming at just the arm or leg but include trying to hack off that tentacle or aiming for a creature’s wings. Game mechanics are best when they match the way players think.

Project X is Gaming Frontiers’ exploration and study of how a campaign world might grow and mature. It’s perhaps the highest profile “open game” world and it continues to be expanded on in this issue.

The number of not-so-new previews and the occasional annoyance with the formatting do manage to take the shine off this quarter’s Gaming Frontiers but the magazine is just as meaty as ever. The percentage of articles in the magazine that can be used without needing to have the d20 book they’re inevitably promoting isn’t too bad, not if you’re willing to make a fair few GM calls but it could be a lot worse. I miss the days of full impact, full colour, full wow Gaming Frontiers and curse economics to hell for making such things impossible for now. In the meantime we can make do with a magazine that’s managing to stay on target (let’s hope not in a Red Leader sort of way) and that’s good enough for me.