Apparently kobolds and Cordells get along, because we have a scoop from Mr. Cordell on the Web site about psionics in 4E, plus some discussion of how his game design has influenced his fiction.

Definitely worth a read; if you enjoy it, please digg, stumble, tweet, blog etc. Kobolds need link love for the big news!

WotC Designer Bruce Cordell talks to the Open Design crew about the Far Realms, and we talk about editing and adventures with Paizo's James Jacobs. Monte Cook and Skip Williams contribute their usual segments as well, rounding out some of industry trifecta.

In other words, the second installment of the Open Design Podcast is live and free for your listening pleasure!

Wow, six months can go by pretty fast when you don't look up.

With the work of dozens of patrons, the final text has been designed and playtested. The cartographers and artists have turned over glorious work. Editor Mike McArtor has finished his review and improvement of the manuscript, and Steve Wark has completed the layout. This weekend, I went over the final proofs. There’s final tweaks and one round of changes to the galleys, and then this huge 170 page adventure will go out to the patrons by the end of June. That is, before Tuesday. The Gazetteer will follow shortly thereafter.

So Last Call is on for the 3E/OGL version of this adventure. If you want your copy, sign up today! This project will not be available in game stores or at koboldquarterly.com. It’s purely a limited edition for those who support it. And it’s an amazing deal for the money: a complete dwarven sourcebook with spells and setting and gear, plus an adventure that I can only describe as the best dwarven stronghold adventure since Moria.

Thank you all for making Halls of the Mountain King amazing, and thank you for your patience as it’s been put together!

KQ is taking questions for a roundtable of the top RPG designers. Submit your question here or in the thread at KQ.com.

You will be amazed at who is participating...

Richard Pett does a layered trap that will have your rogue gnashing his teeth in despair, and Ben McFarland delivers a deadly 4E monster in the Deathspittle Bombardier. Both worth a look.

KQ.com keeps delivering some goodness. I'm very happy with the ways the site is ticking along. What do you like? What would you want to see more/less of?

This week's Friday Funny is not as filthy as last week's, but it is a wonderful list of 100 ways to abuse a polymorph spell.

He looks so harmless, really, but don't let that fool you. Wesley Schneider loves the infernal and diabolical and tells us about the hellish plans that Paizo has for Pathfinder.

Plus, a great send-off to the Behind the Spells series, on koboldquarterly.com.

ODP is now available directly from iTunes. That is all.

The newest Monday Monster is the second 4E critter in a row, the Whispering Lady. Seems like a good one, by KQ Associate Editor Neal Hebert.

After some deliberation, Open Design has launched a monthly podcast. All details available at the site, and a subscription through iTunes or other RSS services as well.

First show was a learning experience, and you can hear from great designers like Monte Cook and Jeff Grubb, plus patron designers like Brandon Hodge. I hope you'll give it a listen and let me know what you think.

Memorial Day holiday in the States seems to have been good for kobolds: there's a 4E Frostfang Yeti as the Monday Monster, plus the next installment from the Trapsmith, and the first installment of our Ed Greenwood interview.

All great stuff. Take a look!

Sean Reynolds talks about WoW, RPGs and painting minis (oh, and maybe lobsteak) in his interview at KoboldQuarterly.com.

Two great posts so far this week: the Monday Monster is the colossal Yrchen Bannog by Richard Pett, and today we launched the Trapspringer series by Maurice de Mare (you'll remember him from the popular "Traps of the Mind" article in KQ#8).

Both definitely worth a look!

Two new articles worth your time: Skip Williams addresses the complexity of gaze attacks in 3E, and Dario Nardi talks from the small-press-publisher perspective about his Pact Magic books, his design and publishing process, and his future plans.

All at KQ.com!

Another fine construct from David Schwartz this week in the Monday Monsters. I won't spoil the surprise here, but I think it just begs to be made part of your next BBEG's bag of tricks.

The KQ Free Dice promotion has been a big success, and I'm happy to report we're almost out of dice.

I'll be taking the offer down sometime this weekend, so if you want your free dice, subscribe now.

It's my distinct pleasure to announce that Kobold Quarterly.com is featuring an interview with the tallest game designer in the business and the guiding mind of the Pathfinder RPG, Jason Bulmahn.

Our kobold diplomats caught him when he was still weak from delivering the final manuscript to press, and extorted a few sneak peeks and previews. Worth a look!

Skip Williams is answering D&D questions from the Kobold forums in his column today. Check out his responses to questions about creature size and opportunity attacks in the Ask the Kobold writeup.

The revised, final version of the 4E crag drake is posted on KQ.com, with illustration and all. It's a teaser for Halls, and I think a good one.

Also new, a review of KQ#9 over at RPG.net, and the FREE dice are running pretty low. Subscribe today, before we run out!

We've been talking about dwarven runes a lot lately in Open Design, so it seems appropriate that the Behind the Spells series brings us Explosive Runes for the next installment.