The first issue of Level Up, Goodman Games’s new 4e magazine, hit your friendly local game store and RPGNow recently. Goodman seems to have several secondary goals with this product: to fill the gap in printed D&D magazines left by the repackaging of Dragon and Dungeon as PDF-only products, to get people physically into brick-and-mortar game stores, and to increase exposure for Goodman Games products. Above all, though, Level Up #1 gives you about 48 pages’ worth of well-designed 4e content.

The Good: Pretty much everything about Level Up #1 sets a great example of what short 4e supplements should offer. If you’ve been around this hobby for a while, you’ve come to expect excellence from Goodman Games, and Level Up #1 delivers.

The Bad: Well, there’s a lot of advertising, but that’s not so bad.

The Ugly: The cover artwork is skillfully executed, but not family-friendly. “Azagar’s Advice for Adventurers” delivers good content, but it’s so profane that I wouldn’t want my elven-year-old son to read it. Power descriptions are set in shades of gray, making it hard to distinguish at-will, encounter, and daily powers at a glance.

I’ll offer a brief description and assessment of each article on the other side of the jump.

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Wizard’s Corner: Never Split the Party. Andy Collins explains why the old adage still works. It’s a fun read.

Roads to Adventure: Rift of the Hill Giant Thane. This adventure by Harley Stroh, for a 7th-level party, pits the PCs against a hill giant and his underlings (ogres and dinosaurs behemoths). In length and complexity, the adventure sits one step up from a delve. I estimate that my gaming group could complete the adventure in one full-length gaming session (for us, “full-length” means five to six hours). The plot hooks smack of deus ex machina, but the rest of the adventure combines obstacles with combat in a fun and exciting way. “Rift of the Hill Giant Thane” earns a spot on my “might run” list.

PC Pearls: Weapon-Focused Warriors. Aeryn “Blackdirge” Rudel offers three weapon-focused paragon paths for martial heroes: the arbalestier (crossbow specialist), crimson cleaver (axe specialist), and cudgel thug (club or mace specialist). Rudel also offers stats for the arbalest (heavy crossbow). This article synergizes well with “Azagar’s Advice for Adventurers: Choose Your Weapon: Part I” (also by Rudel).

Blackdirge’s Bestiary: Natural Born Killers. Unquestionably my favorite in issue #1, this article by Rudel presents seven new dinosaurs behemoths for D&D 4e. Now where I did put that old copy of Isle of Dread again?

Deities of Aereth: Gorhan. Since I don’t currently run or play in a campaign set in the world of Aereth, this article didn’t excite me much. However, it is well-written, and I imagine that DMs and players who do use Goodman’s Aereth setting will find it interesting. In addition to a description of the god Gorhan, author Jeff LaSala provides lots of guidance on role-playing Gorhan’s followers, plus an appropriate channel divinity power, magic item, and paragon path for devotees.

Azagar’s Advice for Adventurers: Choose Your Weapon: Part I. Beware: the language used in this otherwise fun article falls rather short of family-friendly. Actually, if the language were “cleaner,” I don’t know that the article would be as much fun—but as a religious parent of two young boys, I have to think about these things. The storyline of this article has Zavius Oakshadow, an elven scribe, taking down advice for adventurers from Azagar Bloodfist, a hobgoblin general imprisoned by King Ivar Brighthammer. An imprisoned hobgoblin forced to give advice to adventurers by means of an elvish scribe is bound to have a bad attitude. In this first installment, Azagar reviews several different types of weapons, and author Aeryn Rudel enhances Azagar’s advice with three feats (one for each tier) for each weapon type Azagar discusses.

GM Gems: Fiendish Foes. Truth to tell, I don’t like demonic or diabolical monsters all that much, so the content of this article isn’t really my cup of tea. However, it’s well written, and provides three useful templates—with one example each—for turning “ordinary” monsters into fiendish threats.

Power Skins: Mayhem in Mirahan. The gist of this article is that changing the names and descriptions of existing powers can help add flavor to your campaign setting. I get that—but I don’t think I gained much from two pages full of full-text fighter 1 examples.

A PIcture Tells 1,000 Words: Spurned. You’ve had the experience, haven’t you, of seeing a picture and thinking you could turn it into a great D&D encounter? That’s exactly what this feature accomplishes. From a picture of a busy marketplace comes a story about a philandering husband, a jealous wife, and an assassination attempt. The encounter includes a skill challenge, combat, and environmental obstacles, making for a rich scene.

Jack’s Ultrashort Reviews. As a prolific reviewer myself, I use other people’s product reviews to help me decide what to buy and what to skip, so I appreciate the inclusion of this article and hope to see it continue. However, half of the entries review products by Goodman Games, publisher of Level Up.

D20 Questions: Adrian Pommier. I don’t usually l ike interview articles very much, so I barely read this one. Sorry, Adrian. Nothing personal.

4e Tookit: Semi-random 4e Monster Name Generator. Speaking of Adrian Pommier, he contributes this fun little table for creating 4e-sounding adjectives to stick in front of monster names. Are you ready to face rothammer kobolds or a dragonthorn treant? Grab 2d12 and have yourself a great little time with this table.

Dear Archmage Abby. I found this faux advice column mildly entertaining.

There’s a lot to love in this first issue of Level Up, and the magazine is definitely going on my “must buy” list for a while, at least. Goodman has made the extraordinary step of including a code in the printed version that will allow you to get the digital version for no additional charge, so you get the best of both worlds. I didn’t realize that when I bought the PDF. The bestiary article alone is worth the $1.99 cover price, adn more. ★★★★★