Monday, December 1, 2008

Kobold Quarterly's Behind the Spells

Now, just when I thought Kobold Quarterly had come up with one of the coolest ideas to date, Wolfgang and company comes up with, yet again, something pretty cool and interesting. That something cool is Behind the Spells, which launched its self with Color Spray, and is pretty darn interesting.

Kobold Quarterly is hoping that other gamers are like me, too, with respects to our wonderment at where spells came from and from whom these interesting spells sprung, not to mention the state of mind that helped the creation. While there are memorable spells with the names of their creators attached to them, so well known are these folk that I do not need to mention them, so I will not, but you know of whom I speak.

Maxolt Alberiim, a "human" fighter-mage, walks use through the unknown histories of some tried and true spells, of lore unknown, forgotten, yet we know exists because spells had to have come from somewhere, someone, right? Maxolt, voiced by author Bret Boyd for the color spray article, walks us through not only the history and usage of the tried and true spell, but also strategy and alteration of the spell's focus and effect.

Once again, in my not so humble opinion, Kobold Quarterly has hit it out of the park, again, in an article that is free on their website. While KQ has been a much heralded replacement for Dragon magazine, they are quickly cutting their own path and surpassing the legendary periodical, and well they should.

So, people, go and enjoy Kobold Quarterly's Behind the Spells, I know it is part of my regular habits, now.

Addendum: Tricky Owlbear Publishing is the publisher of the Behind the Spells series, by Bret Boyd, author and company president, as well as the series Behind the Monster. So, not only can you see Behind the Spells articles at Kobold Quarterly, but you can also find the series at Tricky Owlbear Publishing. My apologies for missing this important detail, it was not intentional.

2 comments:

Bret said...

Thanks for the kind words! "Behind the Spells" has really been a labor of love for me since I started the series in 2005. In case you weren't aware, there are many more issues on sale via Tricky Owlbear Publishing. To get the most bang for your buck, pick up BtS: Compendium which features the first 36 pdfs and includes bonus material. You can get this in pdf and print forms (latter via Lulu).

Sorry to make this sound like an ad, but I need to get the word out when possible. ;) Thanks again for the review!

--Bret Boyd

Unknown said...

No worries, if I had known that I would have included it in the article. In fact, if I find the time here in the next day or so, I'll add an addendum to the review and point that out.

Thanks!