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Knockspell Issue 2

Issue 2 continues the strong run for Knockspell. It opens with another good From Kuroth's Quill. This entry in the series deals with dungeon dressing and gives some cool things that can be done with doors. As I have said before these idea articles are the kind I get the mist use out of. I often times find myself putting down the magazine when reading an article like this and spending 20 minutes just thinking about the possibilities.

The next article is Dungeon as Mystical Underworld. This is a good read and deals with dungeons in a way that I never have in my games. My dungeons have always been small and geared towards realistic layouts.

The next section presents some views and class definitions for thieves. I know there is a lot of debate about thieves but I have no dog in that hunt. It was interesting, I may try my OSRIC campaign without them just to see what happens.

Next up is another setting description by the insanely prolific Gabor Lux. You will understand what I mean if you also read Fight On! Seriously, this guy is a bottomless pit of good locations.

This is followed by a series of articles with the retro-clone articles. I was especially happy to see the one with Dan Proctor. I think Labyrinth Lord is the most well written of the retro-clones and could function the best for people who had never encountered the original source material. I also appreciate that it does not have the adversarial tone that Swords and Wizardry (which other than the tone I really like) has.

The jousting rules are interesting to me since I just worked out jousting as a skill challenge for 4ed earlier this year. A totally different approach, obviously.

Next up is an article on dungeon oddities by Michael Curtis. At this point I am willing to say that if Curtis is writing it, I am going to read it. I have enjoyed his articles and his blog. The Stone Womb is going in my game.

I think you have the idea by now so I will just hit on a few more highlights. Surviving Old School Dungeons by Sean Ahmed, and Magic Swords and Treasure Maps by Philotomy are can't miss.

Overall I found this issue to be even stronger than the first.

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