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.