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The magazine comes in a robust 60 pages. That is not as big as their major competitor, but it is very, very, full. The initial editorial lays out all of the article types that the magazine plans to pursue in the coming quarters and every one seems interesting and with a constant mind toward having something for all players. There was always an eye toward having both solid fluff (flavor) and rules (crunch) in each article. More over, a focus on making sure the flavor and crunch aligned. Readers will notice if there is a disconnect and will be turned off by a product that does a bad job of aligning these two very important aspects of game design. That is not the case here.
The articles are similar to classic articles we, as a gaming generation, have all grown up with. There are articles that detail new weapons and talk about the fighters that use them, articles that introduce a new god, his followers and other important doctrines of the faith. In short, once again, Aeryn “Blackdirge” Rudel is walking a fine line between classic nostalgia that invokes feelings in old timers and easy grokkability for newcomers. In this issue, Rudel as the editor, succeeds admirably in this quest.
Upsides
• Robust and full of both fluff and crunch
• Material easily grokkable and usable in any homebrew game
• Captures the feel of classic gaming magazines of the 80’s while still being modern and easy for newer players to use
Downsides
• The black and white interior makes powers hard to recognize
• Some templating and power issues in rules design.
Review by Vincent Venturella
Read the full review at FlamesRising.com: http://www.flamesrising.com/level-up-magazine-review
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