As a Knights of the Dinner Table fan I occasionally pick up the magazine and I'm always mildly horrified not only by the low quality of the other articles which makes me suspect that in truth they're nothing but padding, allowing Kenzer to put out a monthly magazine without having to fill it with comic.

On the freelancer forum over at RPGnet, the magazine's never mentionned so seemingly it's considered to be something of a joke but given that we have quite a few "old school" gamers here, I was wondering what the people thought.

I personally like it.  There are precious few general gaming mags out, and since I like KotDT, the rest is just a bit of a perk for me.

I remember Jolly saying somewhere that it was in the top 100 comics, but I can't seem to find the link.

I love it. It's the only comic I read every month. The gaming articles are often interesting. I like the HackMaster material, especially now that so little HackMaster material is coming from Kenzerco. Trouble is, they've been ratcheting back on the HM material, such as "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly," which is now presented in what seems to me to be a useless generic format. I'm looking for stats blocks; I can write the fluff material myself.

The most worthless section of the magazine is the "Gamer's Rant On Movies." Yeah, I know they now have the dotted line where you can cut it out of the magazine if you hate it. That's a mildly amusing answer to the criticism. But it's consistently negative, and the guy writing it seems to equate being cool with bashing any and every movie he writes about. Plus his use of hyperbole is half-assed and just not funny. It could be that the reason I dislike it so much is the fact I have a film degree, and have made a number of shorts (nothing you'd ever have seen). The guy writing the rant is fucking clueless, and that grates on me. It's a bit of jealousy, I confess - damn, I'm a gamer, I know movies, I could do better than that hack! I've yet to read one of the "rants" that has given me any new insight or ideas whatsoever from any perspective, gamer or not.

Yeah, when I started out writing reviews I used to do quite a lot of rants but then I read the words of an august theatre critic (whose name I've forgotten) and he pointed out that actually when you rant all you're doing is being self-indulgeant and wallowing in how rude you can be rather than directing that hostility at the film itself by taking it apart piece by piece.

I still write negative reviews but they tend to be less emotive than my positive reviews as I try and really nail down WHY something sucks.

I think that the Gamer's Rant on the Movies is astonishingly crap.  He picks uninteresting films, his criticisms are sophomoric and predictable and his prose isn't even remotely as good as he seems to think it is.

I have no idea how he managed to get that gig but I'm sure I could do better.  If you're going to write a movie column for gamers it should be all about taking gamers out of their comfort zone and confronting them with films that they can learn from but wouldn't necessarily go out of their way to watch.

Hmmmm...

Quote from: Mr. AnalyticalI think that the Gamer's Rant on the Movies is astonishingly crap.  He picks uninteresting films, his criticisms are sophomoric and predictable and his prose isn't even remotely as good as he seems to think it is.

That's pretty much my assessment of him, in a nutshell. I get the feeling he's read a lot of reviews over at Ain't It Cool, Seanbaby, or maybe even Joe Bob Briggs, and is trying to emulate them. It just doesn't work.

Quote from: Mr. AnalyticalI have no idea how he managed to get that gig but I'm sure I could do better.  If you're going to write a movie column for gamers it should be all about taking gamers out of their comfort zone and confronting them with films that they can learn from but wouldn't necessarily go out of their way to watch.

I don't think that's all it should be about, but it should be a large part of the mission statement for such a column. So far, it's come off almost entirely as an attempt to do an outrageous film review column, with reasoned assessments and relating the film to gaming coming far down on the list of priorities. It seems strained and, as you say, predictable. Gosh, let me guess, his next review will be negative. What a surprise.

I came into possession of some issues of KoDT when a guy I know dropped out of college.  I read them through in one night.  It was like a trainwreck of bad art and Dilbert style "email me your stories and I'll shoehorn them into the comic or die trying!" writing.

I get it.  They're power gamers.  They're losers and freaks.  RPG companies are poorly-run remoras drinking the blood of OCD shutins.  Sure, whatever you say.

Now stop it.

Quote from: fonkaygarryI came into possession of some issues of KoDT when a guy I know dropped out of college.  I read them through in one night.  It was like a trainwreck of bad art and Dilbert style "email me your stories and I'll shoehorn them into the comic or die trying!" writing.

I get it.  They're power gamers.  They're losers and freaks.  RPG companies are poorly-run remoras drinking the blood of OCD shutins.  Sure, whatever you say.

Now stop it.

That was my opinion of it at first, back when I first saw it in Dragon. Hated it for all the reasons you state. But then they released the HackMaster game, and I fell in love with it. I went back and looked at KoDT, and found a new appreciation of it. The characters grow on you after a while, and all the ancillary characters that show up add to the texture of the comic. Sure, sometimes Jolly and crew get carried away with stuff that isn't all that great - the chimpanzee running gag is way old, for example - but they usually get right back on track quickly enough.

I think the KoDT strips themselves are practically above repproach.  Some work better than others but they're incredibly good at having you enjoy gaming by proxy simply because the characters are strong and the in-game plots are generally quite nicely built.

KoDT is something that shouldn't work on paper and yet does.  I think it capturtes the heart of gaming far more than Dork Tower's procession of cheap and easy gags.

I don't think you even have to like the style of gaming they do to enjoy the strips because it's so relentlessly character driven.

I don't have a problem with the strips, it's more with the rest of the magazine that I have a beef.

I have a standing order for KoDT at the FLGS. I've collected it for years--it's monthly release is something I really look forward to. I read it from cover to cover, just about, and if I don't, there'll be something novel to find when I dig it out of the stacks and reread it later.

It's likely the most influential gaming publication of today... in that the wildly disparate formats and sheer enthusiasm leak right off the pages, rather like beloved and ancient copies of Dragon, Sorceror's Apprentice and others once did.

If I don't like an essay, there'll be another issue next month. I don't find much use for Fuzzy Knights or the other occasional strips myself, but I value their presence much as I once did Elmore's Snarfquest or Darlene's Jasmine (even I never could warm to Pinsom!)--as an expression of the creativity of gamers.

Best of all, they still include old-skool gamers and habits, unlike the house organs of Paizo's Dragon/Dungeon and White Dwarf, both of which are fully homogenized, airtight house organs and contain little of even novelty value if you are not obsessed with the respective systems they feature.

This is a publication which speaks to me--it's has a definite editorial style, and feels genuine throughout. Love the material or hate it, it's never bland and always stimulating.

KotDT was fun back when it was an old-school Dragon Magazine comic. I'm not entirely sure if I'm comfortable with how much Kenzer has tried to expand it beyond that.

its fair to say it sells well enough to ensure Kenzer keep publishing it. perhaps finally they'll make enough money to cover the money they lost on Monty Python :-)

its an occasionally an interesting read (the comic), but agree that everything else is dismissable.

Quote from: Lawbagits an occasionally an interesting read (the comic), but agree that everything else is dismissable.

I think the comic is definitely readable from month to month, but the rest of the content has been increasingly less so. This started around the time they decided to make the "Good, Bad, Ugly" NPCs generic rather than using HackMaster stats.

The magazine is generally pretty good, and has a loose, old school feel to it. I was looking at me Dragon Magzine Archive the other day, and KoDT compares favorably to old Dragon. It's nice to see a game magazine with so much reader feedback in it. Yeah, online forums are much more immediate and dynamic, but there still must be a large segment of the gaming population not online. I also like all the little tidbits in the magazine, from small reviews to shout-outs to general news items. It's nice to have an actual magazine to hold and read.

Quote from: ColonelHardissonI love it. It's the only comic I read every month. The gaming articles are often interesting. I like the HackMaster material, especially now that so little HackMaster material is coming from Kenzerco. Trouble is, they've been ratcheting back on the HM material, such as "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly," which is now presented in what seems to me to be a useless generic format. I'm looking for stats blocks; I can write the fluff material myself.

The most worthless section of the magazine is the "Gamer's Rant On Movies." Yeah, I know they now have the dotted line where you can cut it out of the magazine if you hate it. That's a mildly amusing answer to the criticism. But it's consistently negative, and the guy writing it seems to equate being cool with bashing any and every movie he writes about. Plus his use of hyperbole is half-assed and just not funny. It could be that the reason I dislike it so much is the fact I have a film degree, and have made a number of shorts (nothing you'd ever have seen). The guy writing the rant is fucking clueless, and that grates on me. It's a bit of jealousy, I confess - damn, I'm a gamer, I know movies, I could do better than that hack! I've yet to read one of the "rants" that has given me any new insight or ideas whatsoever from any perspective, gamer or not.

Your ranting about this 'zine reminds me of the reasons I started my blog.
I couldn't find a magazine that covered the sorts of things I liked: general gaming without a bias toward one system over another, with news, interviews, and reviews about other products (books, movies, etc.) that can potentially inspire creative gaming.

I just gave up after a while and started doing my own thing. I don't always live up to my own expectations, but it's a learning process.