Back in 2021, role-playing games publisher Goodman Games launched a new magazine focusing on sword and sorcery, a well-made and well-illustrated journal whose production values were very high, and whose contents were a good match for that quality.

I recently received the latest issue, No. 5, and promptly read it this past week. I’m pleased to say that it is another good issue with engaging stories chiefly from those who’ve appeared in previous issues.

James Enge offers another tale of his character Morlock Ambrosius, this time caught in an odd trap of a village whose flora preys upon its inhabitants when they die. Well-written, but not fully to my tastes.

In the second story, “The Guardian of Nalsir-Fel,” two street performers attempt the rescue of a child they know, who has been abducted by a newly arrived cult with ties to the political battling in the cities. The story moved along pretty well, but I thought rather too much stress was placed on the honor of one of the performers.

Next, John C. Hocking relates another adventure of Benhus, the King’s Blade, a rather roguish character in service to a royal master but more than willing to get an opponent or rival out of the way whenever an opportunity presents itself. This time around, in “In the Corridors of the Crow,” Benhus learns more about the king while accompanying him on a dark journey underground. I don’t exactly like the character, but Hocking crafts a good story.

Violette Malan’s “Road of Bones” is a Dhulyn and Parno adventure. These mercenaries somehow don’t quite appeal, and I thought the pace a little too rushed for the emotional outcome to be quite convincing, though the setting was well done.

In Adrian Cole’s “Dreams of a Sunken Realm,” Elak of Atlantis nears home after his conquests and a long voyage at sea, but his adventures are certainly not over. The future is a heavy weight in this story, involving not only the past but threats from angry sea-gods in the present as well.

C. L. Werner provides another episode in the career of demon-fighting samurai Shintaro Oba on his quest to avenge his fallen clan and free his master’s soul from infernal imprisonment. Sea demons are the adversary this time around, with a sorcerer setting them upon the ships of a supporter of the Shogunate, leaving no survivors until Oba takes a hand. An excellent story.

Rounding out the issue are an essay by editor Howard Andrew Jones on the historical fiction of writer Harold Lamb, the usual game-related stats, and letters from readers.

After rounds of funding new issues via Kickstarter, Goodman Games is now offering subscriptions (https://goodman-games.com/store/product/tales-from-the-magicians-skull-four-issue-subscription/), with a planned twice-yearly release schedule. Fans of sword and sorcery would do well to subscribe.