It was nice to hear of 'Tim Kask's' view of players; it tells me to avoid his games. To be specific, he blamed his perceived decline of the entire game hobby on 'the players'. He had four accomplishments in his bio, none later than 'Early TSR'.

Alan T. Grohe, Jr.'s collumn was of useful information on ideas for creating dungeons that change, along with the useful advice to not hit your players with this until they have enough experience (IC and OOC) and IG hints to guess what's going on. It was refreshingly conversational.
His personal bio came with an impressive list of accomplishments and awards, as well some personal info.

Kellri's collumn on a new Necromancer class was interesting, including the type of spellcasting used. However, although I didn't read the whole article, I noted two errors and a missing spell - I couldn't find 'Beckon (Undead)'. Since I couldn't find any 'Summon' spells, that seems to be a name mis-match. Also, the level of the powers should have been included in the description.
Just to note, I do like the class and class idea - If I'm ever running a S&W or compatable campaign, it *Will* include a Necromancer.
And, just in case you're wondering, these aren't 'cute and fuzzy' misunderstood necromancers. These are small animal and people sacrificing necromancers who sold their souls to arch-devils. Also, Frankenstien references. Classic.
Several good...Er...Evil items are detailed; each alone would make a good...Er...Evil decoration for a necromancer's lair and tell you you've run into a Villain of the highest order. No 'anti-hero' here.

James Maliszewski presents a Paladin class; it's pretty much Paladin-normal. Fans of 3e will find little suprising here. It seemed more than a bit front-loaded and the experience to level table doesn't make sense, mathematically. I do like the restriction on magic item ownership. It's an ok paladin class, but no more than that.

He also presents a Monk class. Mathematically, the experience table looks better. However, I do not understand/agree with the decision to allow all weapons - although it may be a flavour choice, I prefer monks being restricted to 'traditional martial arts' type weapons - Staves, nunchucks, certain swords, etc.. That is, however, a minor complaint, easily fixed.
A clever bit is Monks have a restriction on magic item ownership. But, again, this is no more than an ok class.

He has a personal bio. It's...Well, sorry, but bland.

James Carl Boney presents a page of advice for adventuring. It's all good, general, but not detailed, advice.

Gabor Lux presents the adventure 'Isles on an Emerald Sea'
The adventure is a small island with two mountain peaks. Without giving anything away, it's for high-level or paranoid-cautious PCs, an odd choice for the first magazine. Escaping the isle is either a railroad if you intend to get to the next part of the adventure, or putting the isles close enough to each other you can see the other one in the distance.
The next part of the adventure takes place on another isle, which is measured in...Stadion. I have a vague idea that it's a roman measurement. However, note to the author? There's no romans anymore.
It's basically overgrown parkland and villas. 'Bizarre' is the order of the day.
The adventures are good (I'd treat them as seperate, even if one follows the other), but the players must be self-propelled.

Mike Davison presents a comprehensive advertisement for Ruins and Ronin - Basically, fantasy gaming in Japanese 'History'. It left me wanting to buy the S&W supplement.

Akrasia presents 'Fighters with Flair', an addition that adds mechanical differences to five types of fighters - Berzerkers, Swashbucklers, Weapon Masters, Unarmed Combat and guys who like shields. Each of the styles works and is simple to impliment - A high compliment for retro gaming, I think.
His personal bio was amusing.

He also presents 'Class-based Weapon Damage', which removes damage from weapons and places it in the class. This is a want that's been wandering around my head for a while.
The addition also ups the fighting abilities of non-fighters, since they can now use any magic weapon. He notes this and suggests adding a counter-balance, along with described ideas - Only one of which is his 'Fighters with Flair' article.

The Random Hireling Generator, by Robert Lionheart, will create interesting, generic hirelings/NPCs, with a little GM work.

...And it's two hours later than when I had decided to go to sleep. Goodnight until tomorrow.

-----------------------

(Continued)

Jeff P. Talanain and Mathew Stanham are producing a new FRPG called 'Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers'. As of this magazine, it is not out yet, but it's 'compatable with Swords and Wizardry, OSRIC and other systems'.
Jeff Talanain presents an adventure for the game, Charnel Crypt of the Sightless Serpent. It's for 4 to 6+ characters of levels 4 to 7. A thanks to his business partner is included.
The adventure is a swamp and dungeon crawl. Maps are provided. It's good, but could use some fleshing out...That's not a deliberate pun.
It's also got a minor twist, which may be a kick to awaken unaware players.

Micheal Curtis presents 'The Dungeon Alphabet'; an 'A to Z' of things found in/about dungeons. It's got good ideas in it and I'd recommend them, but...Well, the writing is a bit too bland for me. Other people have reported not having this problem - YMMV.

Salvatore Macri and Matt Finch present a different type of Masterminds and their Minions each; The Shadow Kin are living shadows, raiding or trapped in the 'material plane'. Interesting enough, but unfortunately overshadowed by 'The Artificers of Yothri' - Alien, ancient, incomprehensible minds. Using their eldritch magic-science, they project constructs into our reality to accompish their strange designs.
Both, however, only present three types of adversaries.

Matt Finch presents 'How in the ____ do you open this thing?!', a 3d50 table of 'How to open something'. The results are universally interesting, funny and/or to a character, potentially terrifying.

The Thrall class is presented by David Bowman; it's a twist on playing a 0-level character. For a risk of dying horribly before you can do anything but Gofer, you gain a permanent benefit. More than that would pretty much reveal the whole idea.
It's a good and interesting one.

We finish with some advertisements, a comic and the OGL used in Knockspell.

Final grade: 8
If it had cost more, I may have adjusted that down. This isn't a professionally produced magazine, but for what it does and is, it doesn't have to be. Go elsewhere if you want gloss; go here if you want enthusiasm and retro.