Dragon Magazine Issue 203: March 1994


part 3/5


Amazing engine system guide: Oooh. A full 16 page special feature. Haven't had one of those since they stopped doing modules back in 86. Along with the 10 page castle-building one in 201, this is one definite positive change this year. Course, the reason they're doing this is because the Amazing Engine isn't selling too well, and they'll stop producing new products for it before the year is out. So what do they have to lose by giving away a taster for free?

In we go then. The most innovative part of this, of course, is the use of a player core and individual characters, allowing you to bounce from genre to genre without it just being a bunch of disconnected one-shots. The ability scores are also interesting, if not quite as successful. Four different macro stats, each divided into two more precise categories. An idea they'll try to apply to AD&D next year in the Players Option books. Combined with the fact that there's still a substantial random aspect to character generation, and that means your characters may have a few common trends from universe to universe, they won't be identical by any stretch of the imagination.

The primary resolution mechanic is percentile based, and this may be one of the definite flaws in the system, as even with skill bonuses, it looks like your average chance of success in a task is going to be under 50%, even for specialised characters. D&D manages to get past the early vulnerable phase with it's clear level structure and advancement path, but this doesn't have the same clarity, especially as it emphasises the fact that beyond the basics, the rules will vary widely from universe to universe. It puts a lot of onus on the GM to both come up with specifics, and get buy-in from the players. And since they only got 9 books out before the line was cancelled, you hardly have the same base to build off that you would with GURPS or the HERO system.

The experience system also seems a bit hinky, with you constantly having to gamble on if you're going to stick with this game long enough to apply the experience now, or if you should hold off and put it all in the core, and possibly get no benefit from it for months. It does seem like between these problems, you will have to fight the system to create a fun long-term game. Well, at least now I have a better idea of why I would or wouldn't want to buy it. That's certainly worth 16 pages to me, even if it isn't really for them.


Eye of the monitor: Doom gets in a guest reviewer to deal with conflicts of interest. It still gets a 5 star review though, as should come no surprise. BFG's, lighting tricks, moving walls, getting monsters to fight one-another, networked multi-player fighting, the amount of awesomeness packed into this game is quite considerable. Don't be afraid to run away and use tactics, because there's a lot of monsters, and only one of you, and you don't want to lose all the weaponry you've accumulated.

Sam and Max: Hit the Road is another Lucasarts graphic adventure. It is a bit buggy, but it does have great graphics and interpersonal interactions, along with their typical sense of humour. It also showcases another instance of RPG guys moving into computers, taking their contacts with them. Go where the money is, etc etc.

Phantasie I, III & Questron II don't seem to have stood the test of time for Sandy. Still, this little compilation is pretty cheap. And it does highlight the ephemeral nature of computer games, disappearing as their platforms are superseded. It'll still be more than a decade before the online and mobile platforms bring old games back into general circulation.  

Mario All-Stars gets a surprisingly cursory review. As with the zelda reviews, it's obvious Sandy isn't a true nintendo fanatic. The hammer suit IS in the original SMB3, even if you can only get it reliably in one place. And there is one very significant difference in the physics. Shells used to be faster than fireballs, now they're slower, and this messed up one of my old tactics when I first made the switch. Playing these again reminds me how much faster and less padded games used to be. Thiiiis IIIIssss NOSTALGIA!!!!!!


Libram X gets to a lull in the action. I guess it's time for some exposition. Because heaven knows, we need it at the moment.


Forum: Seth Seyfried has not had the negative experiences talking about gaming to nongamers that so many people have written in to complain about. In fact, his went rather well. Both luck and good social skills may play a part in this.

Joe Kutcherfield gives another reminder that fun should be foremost, be it by killing things and taking their stuff, or constructing elaborate histories and personalities. It's a game, people. Do we keep on forgetting that?

Anonymous makes it's now near monthly contribution, telling us about the recent powergaming escalation in their area. They got arm cramps from rolling so many dice! You call that fun? A very good reason why you shouldn't simply scale up the math. That is not an inherent improvement to a game. If anything, it's a rather bad thing, as it sets the joining bar higher.

Lucy Kinborough is getting tired of the sexism complaints. Yes, Roleplaying isn't perfect, but it's a lot more accepting of women than certain other hobbies. :cough:sports:cough: Not that we should stop pushing to fix the issues that exist, but at least accept that they're not doing everything wrong.


A colorful Collaboration: Once again with the Bradstreet. He's a big name already, so they have to do a whole article on him to show off the fact that they've got him. The cover isn't all his work though. Fred Fields did the colouring, and the whole thing was originally derived from a posed photograph. It is a pretty good example of how you go from a scratchy sketch to a full-color, high detail piece via adding things, removing or going over the little notes. It's also a lot funnier when you see the amount of thought that goes into adding all the over the top badassery. Those tattoos, guns, outfits and circling eagles all took meticulous research drawing upon real-world examples. It once again reminds me that I'm not alone in my degree of obsessiveness, and this stuff is pretty hilarious when viewed from the perspective of an outsider. Where would white wolf be without people like him going above and beyond the call of duty, in the process encouraging us to be proactively pretentious as well.

Dragon Magazine Issue 203: March 1994


part 4/5


The plane truth: The teasers for planescape really kick in with this highly abridged A-Z. And the first thing they do is start teasing about the new homebase. This is completely new for the new edition, unlike most of the planes themselves, which are mostly as they were last time we visited. It's ruled by the lady of pain, and the people in it are divided into factions, which fight over philosophical points, for in the planes, what people believe can shape reality. SQUEE! It's all coming right back to me. The modron and the sexy tiefling are also instantly familiar. (and look at the size of those horns! I don't remember them being that big! ) They are going to release some really cool stuff in the next few years, and this is definitely one of the high points. (and again, I'm not talking about the tiefling horns ) The mix of slightly surreal imagination and artwork with real philosophical questions underlying the action still speaks to me today, unlike the previous article, which feels very dated. Ok, so technically it's just a promotion article that won't tell you anything the actual books don't, but it's still done very well, with interesting framing and accessible writing. This time, it looks like the promotion style is going to achieve exactly what it was intended too, a mix of "Wait, what?" and "Drool, WANT!"   I look forward to reading the next part.


Sage advice: Can the caster of a prismatic spell let their spells through it selectively  (no)

What happens if something with magic resistance resists time stop.(the whole thing collapses. Waste of a 9th level spell)

How exactly does a holy sword's dispelling work (with great brutality. They really are paladin's trump card. )

Can a druid help someone else turn undead with a combine spell (sure)

What things from issue 185 have psionics ( none of them. Not everything that goes on a trip to athas develops their mind from the experience. Just like going to university)

I want deck plans for more spelljammer ships (buy the supplements then. :teeth ting: )

My thief wants XP for stealing stuff (Yes, and you ought to give it to him. It's a social contract thing, donchaknow. Otherwise he's hardly a thief, more a trap disarmament and stealth specialist. )

Finally, skip does the indian pantheon this month. Mmm, lots of arms. How will they find places to put them. Good thing Skip's gotta whole lotta sage for them to love.


Role-playing reviews: Shatterzone Is the new game from West End Games. With many similarities to TORG, it has an interesting setting, but rather clunky rules. Big numbers, exponential scaling and card based narrative control, it all seems pretty similar, only with a sci-fi setting rather than a fantastical cross-genre one. Ironically, they encourage you not to use everything, and Rick finds the game runs better that way. Once again, the parallels you can draw with palladium are pretty obvious.

Crosshairs is the first supplement, sending you to a delightfully grim burnt-out industrial planet where corporations rule and danger lurks omnipresent within the rubbish dumps. It all sounds rather Shadowrun meets Judge Dredd, which isn't a bad market to try and tap.

High adventure cliffhangers is of course TSR's new try at a Buck Rogers game. It sees him playing a skeptical cheerleader, wanting it to succeed, but all too aware of it's flaws as well. It's easy enough to learn, but it may be a bit simple and twee for experienced gamers, particularly ones who don't buy into the intentionally gee-whiz pulpiness of it. Jeff Grubb tries his best, but even his sterling work won't save this from the scrapheap of history.

War against the Han is also not really to Rick's taste, with lots of stuff on determining adventures via random rolls. Fashion, thou art not here. And nostalgia is not currently in in general either. It really doesn't bode well, does it.

Battlespace takes Battletech's mechs up, up and away to fight on an interplanetary scale. Surprisingly easy to learn, but hard to master, this get's Rick's highest marks this month.


Rumblings: A second new column starts up this month. Gossip time! Because if anything flourishes in hard times, it's telling tales of how other people are doing even worse, and bitching about the few that are profiting. Particularly screwed are mayfair games, who have just dropped their entire RPG department to focus on board games. So much for DC heroes, Chill, et all. Funny that the comic licences for both big companies have died within a year of each other. Beyond that, we have a whole bunch of hirings and firings, which don't seem too controversial. Larry Elmore has decided he can make more money freelancing again. Willie Walsh is back, Lynn Abbey is joining us, Ken Rolston has moved over to White Wolf, Jonathan Tweet has just joined WotC. Nope, no big dirt this time round. Is there anything people who know what was happening between the lines can tell me about the politics that led to these changes?


The role of books: The iron thane by Jason Henderson takes a minor character from Macbeth, and then continues his story, weaving in further shakespearean supernatural elements, including a faerie invasion. The result is interesting but a bit choppy.

The case of the toxic spell dump by Harry Turtledove is another of his somewhat comic alternate history fantasy tales. This time mixed with mystery story. As usual, even though he's quite playful, he's also put some serious work into the worldbuilding. I suppose like Ed Greenwood, adding fun bits helps keep you around and paying attention for the serious stuff.

Under the eye of god by David Gerrold gets picked apart. It's various elements combine badly, making this less than the sum of it's parts. Not really worth the effort.

Guilty pleasures by Laurell K Hamilton sees our good friend Anita Blake start her adventures by proclaiming "I don't date vampires, I kill them." Yeah, I bet you make that resolution at the start of every year. How long before you fall prey to the sweet temptation of having your cervix bumped again? It's easy to be cynical, but it's important to remember that this is another series that started off pretty good, and has been fairly influential in horror over the past decade or two. There are far worse places to start reading.

Dark Mirror by Diane Duane sends the next generation characters into the mirror universe to meet their goateed counterparts. This gives her a chance to put distinct dark spins on all the regular crew, including a few minor ones, and expand on how history is different here. Hopefully it'll please the fanboys who recall the original mirror universe episode.

A wizard's dozen, edited by Michael Stearns tries to create a set of new fairytales to tell your children. Plenty of familiar names contribute, with Will Shetterly's The princess who kicked butt seeming like the obvious standout. This is very much one for getting for your kids, or at least, someone's kids anyway.

Dragon Magazine Issue 203: March 1994


part 5/5


Fiction: Spenser's peace by Kurt Giambastani. Being top wizard is like being a gunslinger. There's always some upstart punk who thinks they can take you on, that cosmic power is a limited resource, and any competitors need to be eliminated, not worked with. And when you've got immortality, and age will not slow you down, this may get easier to handle, but ever more tiresome, and the knowledge that you will slip up at some point can come to weigh heavy. It's no wonder many liches turn to constructing ever more elaborate many-leveled deathtraps, despite the fact that this actually often attracts even more adventurers just for the challenge. Don't you just wish you could give it all up sometimes. Yeah, not likely. As a certain prime minister once said, the worst day in power was better than the best days after it. But some people manage the strength to give it all up. And when you do, you can find it isn't so bad after all. A nice bit of dramatic irony here, as is often the case in this department. Whether it'll get PC's to follow the example I very much doubt, but it's still a reasonably successful bit of fiction.


Dragonmirth puns it's way through the day again. Ralph has abandonment angst in Yamara. Shandara has just enough strength for one final strike in twilight war. Will someone have to die before the end?


Through the looking glass: Once again we see how companies are trying to survive by experimenting with different scales more. Robert's preamble this month is largely devoted to the scales. 15, 23, 25, 28, 30mm, many of these are close enough together that you can mix them, although certain ones will loom amusingly over others. I guess every problem is an opportunity in this instance, as you can use them to represent a setting full of giants and dwarves.

Our first set of reviews are not of minis, but sourcebooks for Warhammer fantasy battles. Splatbooks are in full force these days, with ones for the empire, elves, dwarves and goblinoids out now. All get Robert's recommendation. In another sign of Game Workshop's expansion, they're also sourcing out production of minis, with Epcast producing an appropriately ugly riveted tank called a gobsmasher. Palladium, on the other hand get another unusually low mark, showing that they need more quality control than one person writing, editing, doing quite a bit of artwork and handling most of the business at once can manage. Grenadier, on the other hand, are their usual reliable selves, producing a whole bunch of humanoid rat variants that seem well-suited for using unofficially as Skaven. Yeah, games workshop really are on the up these days, with the competition in poor shape. This looks like it may be a continuing trend.


TSR Previews: Back to firing on all cylinders and then some here. First up is the Planescape campaign set. Join the factions. Marvel at the awesome Diterlizzi illustrations. Sneer at the cant. Get ready to buy the supplements, because less than a page on quite a few of the infinities out there really isn't enough.

The forgotten realms takes us to where humans are forbidden, in The elves of Evermeet. Now it's been statted, you can bet some group will ruin it. They might even be one of the official novel writers.

Al-Qadim has the slightly misleadingly named complete sha'ir's handbook. It also has stuff fairly evenly distributed between sorcerers, elementalists, and a whole bunch of weird and wacky new kits. (which are far superior to the complete wizard's handbook ones) But the genie controlling mages are the big draw of the setting, so they get to enjoy top billing.

Ravenloft shows us some more frankensteinian horror in Adam's Wrath. Is Dr Mordenheim still mucking around with these things after all the times he's messed up? He really ought to learn how to let go. Will you side with the man, or the monster?

Dargonlance has another anthology. A rather large one. The Dragons of Krynn is another one that does exactly what it says on the tin, reminding us that this setting was designed to showcase the blighters in the first place. It is, as we say so many times, Dungeons and DRAGONS.

Two Generic AD&D books this month. HR6: Age of heroes takes us back to ancient greece. Crack out your Legends and Lore, and prepare to get mythological. Or you could play it gritty, removing most of your armour and much of the weaponry. There's also Fighters Challenge II. The original 4 solo adventures did well enough to start the cycle again. Will we get a third go round before diminishing returns become too great to continue?

Speaking of solo gamebooks, the Endless quest line returns. They got a quite ridiculous 36 books before the line ended in 1987. Will they match that run this time around? Two of them get this off running. Dungeon of fear, and Castle of the undead. The second of these is tied into the Ravenloft setting. This is definitely another interesting development.


The primary conflict this month seems to be between those pushing for more darkness in gaming, and those still favoring a whimsical, lighthearted style. Seeing the two approaches juxtaposed so closely, going from the dark hyper-realism of the Bradstreet work to the wispy angular Diterlizzi illustrations really makes them both seem all the more fascinating. The two new columns are cool ideas as well, even if their initial implementations are a bit ropey. But then, the ARES section had similar teething troubles, and I certainly missed that when it ended, so hopefully I'll be able to say the same about these. So a fascinating, if flawed issue, where once again, we see how the hobby is growing and changing, if not as quickly as history would indicate. Remember, trends take quite some time to percolate out into the wider public, often years. Looking at release dates can be very misleading as an indicator of what people are actually doing on a day-to-day basis.

Dragon Magazine Issue 204: April 1994


part 1/5


128 pages. We have to talk dear. We never find time to game anymore.

Oh, do we have to? I was planning to repair the D on our house. One hurricane and who know's where it'd end up. Oh well, I suppose it can wait until tomorrow. I can fix the wisteria you keep going on about as well. What's for dinner?

Frankfurters.

April Fool. Yes, it's a very particular brand of silliness that has infiltrated the cover this year. It's american gothic, but not the way white wolf would do it. The magazine can turn it's funhouse mirror on the rest of the hobby, with fascinating results. At least, it looks that way from the contents page. Let's hope these jokes make me laugh, not groan.


In this issue:


Letters: The usual collection of april insanity, some of it real, some of it fake ensues.  Someone desperately seeking issue 200. Mind flayers invading the earth. Super crossovers of ultimate destiny. A combination of foods that seems perfectly optimised for giving you gas. And another couple of people who really want to kill canon characters. Ahahahaha. Metaplot comes down from above, not up from below. You cannot dictate to them like this, and they will laugh at you for trying.


Editorial: Continuing directly on from the letters page is another assortment of semi-random goofiness, this time by the staff. In a job which involves creativity, people will come up with ideas that don't get past the filters. So let's look at what people have been up to, at least the stuff they haven't censored because of course this is a family-friendly magazine, or because it might reflect badly on upper management. :organ music, roll of thunder: They're still finding the time for silliness in the office, which helps them keep the products fun, if sometimes a bit too goofy. April fool indeed.


First quest: Speaking of silliness, we once again continue onward in a surprisingly seamless manner, with Roger Moore telling us just how goofy his early gaming experiences were. We already had hints of that in his many editorials, but here he really goes to town. Serious Roleplaying this is not. But is is pleasing to see that many of our writers actually played the game just as we did. So yeah, badwrongfun aplenty in this tale of punnishly named characters, 4th wall breaking escapades, and lots of half-ogres and stranger unofficial races and classes. This is great fun to read about, even if it would be annoying if the DM was trying to run a serious game.  Even call of cthulhu isn't safe from his goofiness. Is nothing sacred! :shakes fist: Yup, this is massively better than the first instalment. He seems to be recovering now the pressure of delivering a magazine every month is off. Hopefully he'll start contributing articles again soon too.


Dance steps for space hulk: In the grim darkness of the far future there is only WAR! And dancing. But the dancing must happen at the same time as the WAR! April Fool. Allen Varney comes up with something truly leftfield this year. Fight the genestealers with funky dance routines! Spin, kick, leap, and throw your companions around the field. Defeat them and then breakdance around their corpses. You know, this looks like it might actually work. The moves make sense, and some have valid tactical applications. And Allen shows you how you can recreate real world dance sequences in game. This could be absolutely hilarious, especially if the GM gets in on the act. The idea of genestealers doing the thriller dance routine is pretty hilarious to me. So I really like this one, which manages to be mostly comedy, but treated with a straight face and presented in such a way that it still has useful ideas for gaming. The UK judge awards you a 9.3.  


Bard on the run: More filks this year. Elvis, Robert Palmer, Jimmy Buffet, and the Chordettes get to endure having their lyrics twisted to fanstastical ends. Elvis comes off best, probably because it's short and rhythmically simple, while Drizzt with Jimmy Buffet causes my brain the most irritation. But really, it's just another three pages of so-so humour, to make this into a proper april issue. Fun to read once, but not really doing much for your gaming. On we skip then.


Potion commotion: Aaaand it looks like it's crossword time again. Lots of clues based upon obscure setting details this time around, including plenty of planescape ones that you'll currently need to have been an old school planes buff to dig out. How very sneaky of them as a bit of co-ordinated promotion. Still, as usual, have fun trying to solve this one.


Arcane Lore: Another set of silly spells, as has happened many an april before. The crazed book of Mog is one of those magic grimoires that tends to appear and disappear mysteriously when least wanted, and makes very little sense. If you see it and want the stuff within, make a copy.

Gain Weight is near impossible to cast if you read the description. Balance a 50 pound cheese on your head? You'll do yourself an injury trying that. Mind you, if you succeed, the penalties inflicted are well worth it, especially as it's only a 1st level spell.

Wake-up call is the reverse of sleep. This is one of those joke spells that isn't even worth memorising, for it's components look like they'd do the job quite adequately on their own.

Macho's Uncontrollable Hideous Belching does exactly what it says on the tin. A humiliating and rather smelly way of making sure enemies can't stealth away. Watch you don't get indigestion yourself when casting it.

Pelf's rancid arrow may be a fairly blatant bit of parody, but ruining all the supplies of the person you hit is a very nasty way to deal with them, particularly if you're undead and they're at the bottom of a dungeon. Starvation is so much crueler than killing them in combat.

Hold Portal Open is the reverse of the usual hold portal. This is another one that seems useless initially, but really isn't. How many times have DM's screwed you over with one way or trapped doors that slam unexpectedly, leading you to have to find another way out.

Hallucinatory Murrain is a silly pun name, and is another reversed spell. Rather than creating illusionary vegetation, it makes existing stuff look and smell manky. I can think of uses for this one too. This is proving to be a pretty good article really.

Wall of Paper is also a bit silly, but not to be underestimated. It might not be that good an obstruction, but it sure beats spending several hours wallpapering a room. And after all, that's just the kind of convenience magic should be used for. It's ironic that the joke articles sometimes have stuff more suited to everyday use than the normal ones.

Teleport without Awareness is just plain mean. Who knows where they'll end up. It doesn't even have a save either. If they don't have their own means of magical transportation, they'll be living in interesting times for ages after this.

Power word, kill rodents is another one that sounds silly, but has plenty of practical value. One word'll get your house nice and clear of anything smaller than a rabbit in a jiffy. The value of being a specialist if you want to be a commercial wizard once again becomes apparent, as you can do quite a few more appointments per day that way. And so we bring this year's april fools section to a rather good end, that would work fine even without the humour.

Dragon Magazine Issue 204: April 1994


part 2/5


The plane truth: Name changes ahoy! Having introduced the brand new city of Sigil to us, now it's time to go back to more familiar locales. Or are they? The planes are infinite and multifarious, and the same place may have many names. And calling them the wrong ones in the wrong places will get laughter or baffled looks. Of course, we must try not to use the H word, any more than we use the D words, for it is naughty, and miss moral majority will give us a good spanking if she catches us at it. In hindsight this is a reminder that some of the changes they made were for sake of playability and the sheer joy of making cool shit up, such as the gate-towns and the factions, but others were due to company politics and the frustrations that surrounded them. (Lady of pain? :Roll of thunder, organ music) It's also a reminder that despite concentrating on the outer planes, where alignment is one of the most important things in the multiverse, it actually had more moral greys, odd couples and compromises than most D&D settings in it's adventures. So this is another example of how you do teasers right, that sets my nostalgia glands a-secreting, and shows us that we can play D&D quite differently to the way the rules encourage you to go.


Creative thinking: Hmm. An article on advice for developing new psionic powers, along with new actual powers. Well, like advice on other systems, this gives them a good reason to say the same kinda thing as they would on developing new spells, only with different spins. And more psionic crunch is always welcome. I have no objection to this. Course, much of this is by necessity DM fiat, with costs for new powers figured out by eyeballing existing ones with similar strength. The main solid rules here are how long it takes to do research, determing if a power should be a science or devotion, and a rather annoying one that seems to have been invented purely for game balance's sake so psionicists have to expend money the way magic-users would during the research process, which doesn't feel very thematically appropriate. Yeah, I find that mildly irritating. Whatever happened to eschewing material things. That aside, this seems pretty solid. Now let's see about the powers.

Diagnose allows you to figure out what a disease is. Since Cell Adjustment can fix it for the same cost, without the preliminaries, and also gives you regeneration, I'm not very tempted by this.  

Feature Dancing is the psionic answer to change self. This isn't too great either, because it's maintenance cost is per round, so extended deceptions don't seem very viable. Not hugely tempting, since there are better ways to disguise yourself.

Tool, on the other hand, is a variant of body weaponry that you probably can find millions of uses for, many which will require you to stay in it for an extended period. Fortunately, it's cost is low enough for that to be feasible. Perfect for the imaginative player.

Bonding is a variant on Charm Person. Again, it's probably a bit underpowered compared to the wizard's spell, but has plenty of interesting quirks. it would be ironic if psionicists are actually weaker at mind-control than wizards in some respects.

Enter Dream is another one that may be a problem due to a maintenance time measured in rounds. Dreams can go on for quite a long time, and even with a little time dilation, I'd rather like to stick around more than an hour or two.

Microkinesis lets your psionicist nick the role of a rogue almost as effectively as a wizard with Knock can. It may also reward inventiveness, but they concentrate entirely on it's lock-picking and trap disarming potential. Guess you'll have to make it worth the price with your mind again. So this is a collection that definitely seems rather conservative, particularly when contrasted with the equivalent spells. Maybe being able to use them more frequently'll balance that out in actual play. Not sure.


Creatures that time forgot: Our irregular series on prehistoric beasties manages to unearth another era to plunder. Issue 112 did dinosaurs in epic detail. 137 filled in the cenozoic. 176 went back to the paleozoic. Now it's time to look at the weird invertebrate thingies from the cambrian era. That is exciting. Course, most of these things were pretty tiny in reality, (and there may be other inaccuracies in light of subsequent discoveries and creative licence) so Greg Detwiler has decided to scale them up to be a decent challenge for a group of adventurers. Some of them are even big enough to swallow you whole. Get your swords out, or you'll be trilobitten.

Opabina are a variant on the things that appeared in issue 176. These ones are actually slightly tougher than last time, but otherwise identical. They're still pretty sluggish and wimpy, but they can surprise you and lash out with their tentacles.

Yohoia are somewhat faster and tougher, with two clawed limbs which they can also use to manipulate things with. They may grapple the PC's, which of course adds a whole extra set of tactics. Let's hope that doesn't put DM's off using them.

Marrella have a xenomorph like face, and a centipede-like body, and whip with their antennae. With a heavily armoured head, they seem like they'll be trouble for a single enemy. Good thing adventurers come in parties. Kill it with fire.

Odontogriphus are flat things with circular maws that drop from the ceiling, enwrap you and suck your blood. Sounds like they fit right in in D&D land. Greg has chosen his topic well.

Leanchoilia are fin-footed arthropods with more tentacles to attack with. Someone ought to find a way to make a show that crosses over the dinosaur and hentai fan crowds. Fun for boys and girls.

Amiskwia occupy the same kind of niche as seals do today, if somewhat grosser. Give them a bit of brains and psionics and they'll fit right into 150's sunset world too.

Hallucigenia are all spines and blobbiness and have a lot of attacks. They're pretty scary both to look at and to fight, especially if they pin you down. Once again, they seem pretty good for a movie adaption. Brr.

Cave hallucigenia are much smaller, and are another thing that drops on you from above and sucks you dry. This means the rest of your body is just left there for other predators, so they serve a valuable role in the ecosystem.

Acidic Hallucigenia are between the previous two in size, and unsurprisingly squirt acid to break down their prey. The HR Giger comparisons become ever more appropriate. Just be thankful they're not poisonous as well.

Sanctacris are armoured things with dirty great mandibles and armoured heads. They take advantage of this by lunging out of narrow passages where you can't surround them, and then retreating with one victim. Down we go, into another dungeon then.

Wiwaxia are all spines and scales, with their jaws in their rear ends. They crawl over you and eat you that way. They're really slow, so they're only a danger in confined spaces and numbers, but they're tough enough to still be a pain to clear out. At least they're not as goofy as piercers.

Ottoia are enormous sea worms with extending proboscises. They have a very amusing illustration that shows just how big they are. Hee. Almost scooby doo really. Letsa hunt those bugs.

Anomalacaris have been turned into whale size tentacled shrimp, ready to grab you and stuff you in their maw. They'll be short work for an actual kraken, but who's got one of those to just whip out any time. So this is pretty cool, and the dual statting for the amazing engine is a nice bit of icing on the cake, showing me how the same creatures translate to two very different systems. Let's hope they can dig up (literally) creatures from a few more eras before the edition changeover.

Dragon Magazine Issue 204: April 1994


part 3/5


The game wizards: Hmm. What is this strange sound my ears detect? Hammy acting? Obvious sound effects? The latest in holophonic technology, trying to make it seem as though sounds are coming from in front, behind, above and below. Editors scrambling to get everything done and properly produced on time and within budget. And the strident voice of hype. Why, it can only be their new Audio CD line. Heeeeere's First Quest! Yes, the lessons they learnt with Dragon Strike are now being applied to AD&D in an attempt to hook new players. Well, it's certainly not a bad idea. But it was rather gimmicky, and we know stuff like that rarely has a long shelf life even if it sells well for a bit. The harder you try to be modern and hip, the quicker you seem embarrassingly dated in the long run. We know all this, but with sales gradually declining, they really have to do something or become irrelevant. And the results do have a certain kitsch appeal. So anyway, this is an article that even they admit is a bit pointless, for regular buyers of the magazine are not their target audience. Don't know why they bothered.


Campaign journal: This column is mostly co-oped by Greyhawk from this point on. As they said last month in the letters section, Greyhawk is cancelled, but there is stuff written but unpublished, and they still want to get it out. Wonder if this means Carl Sargent is still getting paid? Anyway, it's a lot better than nothing, and more evidence of support from the creative side of the company. After all, Blackmoor has never gotten any articles in here.

So yeah, it's time to take a tour around the decaying ruins of the great kingdom. Back in 1982, the general public of Oerth was still unaware of just what a scumbag Ivid was. How things have changed. Now, with undead things occupying many high government positions, it's pretty obvious something is amiss. This is particularly the case in Rinloru, which is nearly 10% undead by now. This is why you should never let priests of Nerull have any kind of secular authority. There's plenty of other nasty sorts in power around here, and they're not all allied either. The result is interesting, but it does seem to push Oerth in the same high magic direction as Mystara and Toril. I suppose that's one of the big flaws of the metaplot heavy post Greyhawk Wars Oerth in general. Poor niche differentiation. On the other hand, the level of darkness is distinctive, this looks like a world where not only is evil flourishing, things could easily get substantially worse, which you certainly can't say for Toril. So this is an article that highlights why this stuff wasn't to many people's tastes, even if it isn't badly written in itself. As the primary writer, Carl must take both the praise and the knocks for this.


Eye of the monitor: Ooh, the question of if computer games can be art. Now that is an interesting one. Their heavy degree of interactiveness means they can't simply be passively appreciated like a painting or TV show. On the other hand, there is a strong element of skill involved in creating them, and they do exist entirely to entertain and provoke thought. (well, apart from DDR, wii fit and stuff like that) Like Sandy, I'll probably incline towards the yes camp. Things like the mario and zelda series are definitely going to be remembered as one of the big cultural components of our era, far more than most bands, authors or painters. By that yardstick, there's definitely a degree of artistry involved.

Companions of Xanth throws sharp contrast upon our intro. The works of Piers Anthony are never going to be remembered as high art, to be honest. The game does not stray far from that formula, with terrible puns aplenty and a very linear plot.  No alternate choices or sequence-breaking here, just straightforward puzzle solving. Meh.

Bloodnet mixes cyberpunk & supernatural shadowrun style, with you playing a detective gradually turning into a vampire. This involves both brutal combat and lots of talking to various people to accomplish your goals and survive, making it quite the challenge for Sandy. Save frequently, for as is genre convention, many of the people you deal with will double-cross you, and it may well be easier to just avoid that subplot altogether. Still, it does seem to have some rather cool bits, with random killing accelerating your decline into monstrosity in a pleasing way.

World of Xeen:CD-ROM gets lower marks than the text would indicate. It may be fun, but it also looks and sounds rather primitive these days. And in this fast-progressing world, that is definitely worth subtracting marks for.

Escape from Monster Manor also gets low marks for being simplistic and sloooow. Disk based games need to buffer more, so loading times don't ruin the experience. Silly game designers.


Libram X explains the cosmology of their universe. Also, Holy crap tentacle monster vs King kong mickey mouse world! You don't want to live there. My poor poor SAN score.


Forum: Mohammed F. Kamel presents the case for keeping the numbers out of the players hands, and sticking to vivid descriptions instead. This is a particularly good technique for horror gaming, where you want them to feel uncertain and out of control.

Todd A. Silva gives his contribution to the question of what a paladin should do to the fallen foe. In general, they should pick the merciful option, unless it's completely obvious they're going to offend again if given another chance. Hitting someone when they're down is pretty well established as dishonourable.

David Carl Argall reminds us that a paladin defeating villains but not killing them shouldn't let them go. They ought to be turned over to the rightful authorities to serve the proper sentence, whether they say they're sorry or not. Otherwise you're making a mockery of the law. Course, if the law is corrupt, or as incompetent as Arkham Asylum, then you might be justified in taking matters into your own hands.

Chad Cuss also tries to deal with the problem of just when a paladin should actually be violent, and how far they should go. As with many others, he reminds us that Lawful good does not mean stupid or lacking in proactivity. They should be actively seeking out evildoers to thwart and damsels to rescue.

Dragon Magazine Issue 204: April 1994


part 4/5


Role-playing reviews: This time, Lester decides to focus on card games, or at least, games that incorporate cards. Not everyone is content with just dice as a randomiser. And of course, with Magic: the Gathering making real waves, the scene seems to be set for a whole bunch of people trying to use them in some form, quite possibly in tacked on and bandwagon jumpy ways. This is a new topic, and so should be quite interesting.

Quest for the faysylwood sends your adventurers on a quest into the unknown, trying to find the legendary forest. Draw cards, which determine the lands you travel through, the challenges you face, and the dangers you can throw in the paths of your competitors. Sounds like many a board game out there, only with cards. Lots of tactics available here, which means that the leaders of the pack tend to get knocked back again by everyone else, keeping things dramatic. I can see myself having fun with this one.

Once upon a time doesn't do so well, with Lester finding the rules both too strict in some ways, and too vague in others. It is very much a game of skill, with winning or losing a matter of weaving the cards you're given into a coherent story. On the other hand, it looks good as a means of breaking writer's block. like Eno's oblique strategies. Make of that what you will.

Dark Cults is a game of gods manipulating a mortal's life. This of course leads to all sorts of hijinks, frequently fatal. Of course, the nature of card decks means they generally peter out anticlimactically, with the protagonist escaping or dying. Well, that's how it happens in real life. You really need to try to make a game become narrative simply by naturally following the rules.

Creatures and cultists turns the tables, being a card came of mad god cultists competing to see who can summon their dark god and destroy or take over the world first. This is pretty funny actually, with all kinds of chaos ensuing when you mix the mundane and magical to sabotage your opponents. You'll never be able to play Call of Cthulhu with a straight face again.


Sage advice: Do you get strength bonuses to attack and damage when you push a rock off a ledge on someone (no. Gravity is doing most of the work, not you. Skip does not approve of credit stealers )

How hard is it to hit the broad side of a barn (harder than you think, especially in a high pressure situation with missile weapons. )

How do beholders reproduce (See the ecology of the beholder, waaaaaay back in issue 76. Even Skip has trouble remembering stuff from that long ago. )

If I accidentally break a crystal shell and let all the phlogiston in, killing everyone, do I get XP for killing everything in the system (there are so many holes in that logic Skip doesn't even know where to start. Let's just say no, you can't play this storyline. Skip will dispatch the canon police to retcon you if you persist. )

Can Dwarven booze replace greek fire (Almost. It'd certainly make a good improvised substitute. But it's not as useful as dwarf-bread plate armour. Now that's a truly impenetrable defence.)

What happens if a toothless man is turned into a vampire (retractable fangs! Woo! )

Can a molydeus sever heads with an adjusted roll of 24 or 25 (yes. Basic math, my dear, once again.)

Why do you have stats for gods if we can't kill them (We don't. We only give stats for their avatars these days. Skip pitys yo, fool)

How long does it take to memorize a spell, oh great sage (10 minutes per spell level. This gets very tedious at high level)


The dragon project: Car wars! Another of those games that seems to have surprising survivability. Since they've done crossovers with them before, it's no surprise that they get a turn in the Project. Now, how do we incorporate dragons into a fairly low-key sci-fi setting? Well, they managed clones with memory backups in issue 166. A little genetic engineering should do the job. So get ready to face gigantic genetically engineered alligators, able to run at 20mph for short bursts, and with snouts tough enough that if they ram you, your car may well be damaged or overturned. That'll give a shock to people expecting a more conventional battle, even if it won't make a particularly credible extended threat when the protagonists have flamethrowers and missile launchers attached to their cars. The setting stuff is pretty good too, with nice touches of humour making this feel appropriate for the issue without going so far as to break suspension of disbelief. This is definitely making me reappraise Car Wars as a premise suitable for interesting long-term gaming in. Like Divine Right, I'd now be fairly enthusiastic to pick it up if I should stumble across it in the shops.


Fiction: A brush with life by Tim Emswiler. a little while ago, we had a review of a book where someone gained the power to bring things they painted to life. Here we get a rather more humorous spin on that idea. A young student finds that the minis he paints are coming to life. Unfortunately, they're not even remotely under his control, and rather annoying and demanding. This leads to comedy with great ease, and eventually results in the protagonist giving up painting altogether. Oh well. Some gifts are more trouble than they're worth. Better to learn that now than by leaving new york a smoking ruin when the statue of liberty decides to scourge the world of all evildoers. I rather like this one, as I generally tend to when they incorporate a bit of sadism into their humour. Now there's a pattern I have no objection to realising.

Dragon Magazine Issue 204: April 1994


part 5/5


Psychotronic weapons: Tesla! Ahh yes, those wacky theories about wireless transmission. If anything is perfect for gaming, it's these. A surprisingly long article, this is a system free primer on the things he was supposedly able to do with his theories, and how it would make for good games. (along with limitations to make sure that it doesn't become a game-breaking god power. ) There's plenty of ways you can use the ability to capture and transmit energy sympathetically, many which are very scary when combined with real technology like nuclear bombs. It's not exaggerating to say that you can threaten the end of the world quite easily, which means the PC's have plenty of incentive to pull their socks up and get thwarting. This is very definitely an idea they haven't covered before, which means I'm pleased to see this. Like UFO's, it's a 90's cultural reference I'm quite amused to be reminded of, as I wasted many an hour playing Commands & Conquer: Red Alert, where tesla coils were easily the coolest form of base defence, and other pseudoscience devices like the chronosphere and iron curtain also added interesting tactical options. There's plenty of modern day or mildly futuristic/retro settings that could benefit from a little more Tesla, from Mage to Shadowrun.


Swordplay makes light of modern living. At least as an adventurer you're your own boss. Yamara & co get cabin fever. Ogrek solves this problem by taking them to a bad crossover world. Dragonmirth gives a shoutout to pinball. Twilight empire ends tragically, with the lovers separated for an eternity. Or at least until next issue, given the time rate differences between the worlds.


Through the looking glass: For a second time, this column is delivered by Ken Carpenter instead of Robert Bigelow. Actually, looking ahead, it looks like this is a regular arrangement, and they will continue to contribute in alternate months until they both get knocked off in the next big reorganisation. I guess Robert wants to focus on keeping his store open in these tough times, and has less energy to devote to this column. Like the departure of the Lessers, this feels like a sign that we're drawing to the end of the silver age of the magazine. Tarnished silver has a good ring to it.

We start off with a partially humorous look back at how far we've come. Paints and minis have improved quite a bit since the 70's, and for that he is grateful. But really, minis in the 70's weren't that bad. I suppose it is april and a little comedic exaggeration is to be expected. But this does have a touch of meanness to it as well. So much for nostalgia. Let's just enjoy the new painting techniques.

Our proper reviews once again show the rise of games workshop, and other games based on properties that aren't purely minis based. Mutant chronicles gets a review, another boardgame with plastic minis trying to get into the Heroquest/Space hulk mass market. Again, it's fun, but not too complicated, with a nice combination of co-operation and competition between players. But it does mean another nail in the coffin of wargaming, as minis become further detached from that.

For actual minis, we have a serpentine winged thing from Call of Cthulhu. Undead, skaven and orcs, a little for each monstrous side. An anthropomorphicised gorilla that's kidnapped a woman, for reasons we're not sure. A mech for Battletech. A dragon for Earthdawn. And the Green Knight, which is obviously most suited for Pendragon, but could appear in other games as well. So the companies that are surviving are the ones that tie in to other stuff. Another pattern we see again now, as the music industry suffers, and those areas connected to TV, movies, video games, etc suffer less than the straight recording companies.


TSR Previews: Since they recently killed off the D&D line, they now need a new gateway drug to put new bums on seats. Their answer? First Quest. With a CD, and a whole bunch of other bits and pieces, this is another attempt at making the game easy to learn while forcing them to buy the three corebooks as well if you want to get above the first few levels. Also damn useful for any aspiring DM is DMGR6: The complete book of villains. A relatively low key and system free book, this has retained it's usefulness to me long after the edition finished. Covering not only villains but general plot and roleplaying advice, this is a pretty handy reference.

Dark sun gets Forest Maker. Like a decanter of endless water, the idea that there could be something that valuable lying around unexploited simply will not do! The PC's must investigate. It also continues the Tribe of One trilogy. Simon Hawke takes our hero and makes him suffer for his enlightenment. There's still some of the old sadistic dark in him.

The Forgotten Realms doesn't just get a new Harpers novel, it gets a Super Harpers novel! Crown of fire by Ed Greenwood throws all sorts of fun into the mix as people seek the power of spellfire from it's unwilling possessor. Rock. Cheesy hair metal with extra mandolins to be precise, if I know Ed. Oh well. might as well enjoy the ride :throws horns and starts headbanging:

Dragonlance starts another novel trilogy. Night of the eye by Mary Kirchoff. So wizardly politics are going to be involved. Well, when you have good and evil forced to co-exist and work together for the betterment of magic as a whole on the same hierarchy, there are going to be tensions. When powerful upstarts burst onto the scene, they are going to make enemies. Surprised they haven't focused on it before now.

Much better than last year's april issue, with stuff that manages to be genuinely funny, stuff that manages to be generally useful, and stuff that manages to be both at once. With lots of non D&D stuff as well, this feels like a nice continuation from last issue as well, an indian summer of sorts as people send in a wider variety of material again, thanks to the Dragon Projects. For a second time this year, I'll have to give Allen Varney top credit for an issue, with two excellent, highly varied articles. He's really hitting his stride as a writer. It's a pleasure to have him on the team.

Quote from: (un)reason;399285Dragon Magazine Issue 190: February 1993part 1/5
Divide (VVVV) and conquer!: Never split the party, the first words in this article, and one of those lessons most teams learn pretty soon, especially if raised on a diet of horror movies. It makes you vulnerable, and results in players spending long periods of time with sod all to do. But from a plot point of view, sometimes it's the natural course of action to take, and then you need to figure out how to make it work. Fortunately, there are tricks to make it work better. Timekeeping is of course the critical one, as Gary knew well, and the rest of us hurriedly learned. Not that fudging to ensure characters have a greater chance of "co-incidentally" running into one-another again hurts in this kind of game. The other things are making the story interesting enough that people don't mind sitting around waiting for a bit, tailoring the adventures properly to the participating members of the party, proper use of cliffhangers, between session one-on-one interactions, letting players control NPC's, and figuring out how and where they're going to get back together. So plenty of advice I've seen before, a couple of bits I haven't, and quite a few valuable ideas I've often used on this subject missing. I think that adds up to a middling article overall, just high enough CR that I can eke out a few more XP from it.

Middling? Middling?! Hey, I wrote that article years ago, and I was pretty happy with it. Plus, the pictures were pretty amusing. What's missing from it?

I shudder to think what you'll say when you get to the other stuff I wrote. Still, it's nice that someone finally read it.

Quote from: Bill White;414385Middling? Middling?! Hey, I wrote that article years ago, and I was pretty happy with it. Plus, the pictures were pretty amusing. What's missing from it?

I shudder to think what you'll say when you get to the other stuff I wrote. Still, it's nice that someone finally read it.

shit, you should go back in the thread and read what he's said about people who aren't around to defend themselves.

Dragon Magazine Issue 205: May 1994


part 1/5


128 pages. Elminster shows off his stuff on the cover of this issue, while Strahd broods toweringly on the next page. How very iconic. You can bet they'll be making contributions inside as well. The theme is nothing to do with that, however. It's wilderness time again! Trompy tromp tromp. Watch out for that weather, it can be a killer in it's own right.


In this issue:


Letters: A letter praising the african articles, and wondering if they'll do any on other cultures as well. You, good sir, are in luck. Plenty of that to come, including some this issue.

A letter complaining that they don't want to double dip pay for african stuff if it's going to be collected in a book later. Well it isn't, so there. Keep buying the magazine.

A letter from a teacher trying to improve roleplaying's image and make people realise it's value in education. Good luck with that.

A bemused question about why subscriptions are handled in a different state to the rest of the company. The ways of accountancy are strange and arcane. Like sourcing food from abroad, it can be cheaper to use a bank in a completely different state, despite this seeming counterintuitive.

A letter from someone who found their infant was hypnotised by issue 200's hologram cover. Hmm. They'll be approaching 17 now. Perfect age to find being reminded of that really embarrassing. I am tempted to see if they're on facebook.


Editorial: Our art director takes the editorial this month, with Kim continuing to be disinterested in day-to day communications, and Dale unexpectedly busy with life crap. This is another of those ones that points out just how many people sending in submissions they have, and what you need to do if you want to be published. Of course, for art, we're looking at a slightly different set of criteria to writing. The biggest one, which may be a bit of a surprise, is that it's not what you're best at that'll get you the job, it's making sure you don't have any obvious technical faults that'll persistently bug people. (I suspect this is a view not shared by his successor, given the way 3e steps away from 2e's realism for a more stylised, aggressive form of artwork) Similarly, ability to make stuff that's appropriate to the articles and complements them will get you regular repeat work, while a talented but self-centered auteur should seek financial renumeration elsewhere. It's not the best that rise to the top, but the most able to network and play the system, and there's a lot of competition. Thanks for that somewhat depressing reminder.


Wraith drills in the fact that it's about people who died, but have reasons to stick around. That's a pretty strong motivator, isn't it. Careful now, don't wanna hit too close to home, otherwise people'll be uncomfortable playing it.


First quest: Karen Boomgarden is our writer this month. Unlike Jim & Roger, she's not one we've had much direct communication from before. The only one I can find is in issue 195, where she made a bit of a gaff while trying to promote For Faerie, Queen and Country. And like Roger, it seems that her early gaming experiences were more than a little silly. (and quite possibly still are) So this is a runtthrough of not just her first, but a whole bunch of the more memorable experiences in her gaming career. In the process, she has learned how to make her characters survive a little longer, just how differently people will approach the same problem, and when to duck and cover to avoid explosions. Reasonably good fun, this is another illustration of what TSR's office culture and approach to gaming is like at the moment. Do not be surprised if there are monty python quotes.


Oh for the love of. Ahh yes, one of TSR's goofier products during their last few years. Interactive audio CD's. Including First quest, the mimir, and those dreadfully forgettable soundtracks for red steel. Almost as pointless as multiple holographic covers for comics. I do not approve.


The people: Another dozen page special feature! Yup, they are definitely doing more of these this year. Having done africa last year, David Howery turns his sights on the native american setup. This is a little tricky to research due to the lack of written records, and the fact that we were destroying their original cultures pretty much as we discovered them. Still, there's more than enough to fill a magazine article. As with many milieus, it's what you leave out that's more important than what you put in, and you need to do some pretty extensive pruning to make this work. Actually, there seems to be more removed than added, which is slightly uncomfortable to me, but what can you do. There's plenty of useful stuff here, but it does feel slightly like diminishing returns compared to the african article. Still, let's have a good look at the new kits.

Eastern woodland warriors are great at stealth in their native terrain, for no particular penalty other than optimisation. They're also scary archers. One of these would definitely shape the party's combat tactics in an interesting way.

Great plains warriors are another one of those kits that gets special benefits on their horse, but then has to deal with the hassle of bringing a horse everywhere. It's not quite as big a deal as an elephant, but you aren't taking it in most dungeons.  This also shows the bias towards invaders already being present. Horses were not an indigenous animal of the americas for quite some time.

Southwest desert warriors are also excellent at hiding within their natural terrain, and highly unpopular outside it. They'll never be the face for a party, but at least they're closer to balanced than the east coasters.

Shamen are pretty much as you'd expect. Esa good. E's are good. He's Ebenezer Goode. They're good with nature spells, and can summon animals to make sure the tribe doesn't starve.

Mystery Men are the sole wizard archetype, distrusted but tolerated, like wizards in many places. They have no real penalties apart from lack of formal tuition, and their social benefits won't be particularly relevant as adventurers. All pretty meh really.

Tribal Scouts also show how the conventional D&D class system is a bit of a shoehorn here. Since so many of their skills won't be commonly used, they get to ignore the usual limits on hyperspecialising. This means they're invaluable at low level, but may struggle at higher level, unless you allow them to pick up optional thief skills like the Dark Sun ones.

Plenty of magic items too. Snake belts let you turn into a rattlesnake. As usual, I have to hope the DM will give you full poison privileges and not nerf you.

Calling stones are another item that seems pointless to an adventurer, but invaluable for a community. Hopefully they'll just give it up after retrieving it, thus saving the poor beleaguered tribe from starvation.

Medicine fire is a shamanic bundle that gives you a whole bunch of fire based blasty spells and protection. It may be the most common attack type, but it'll still impress the average native.

Tribal lances only work for members of the tribe, and terrify the people fighting them. The kind of thing that'll really annoy players when they find they can't profit from it later.

Pipe tomohawks are implements of war and peace, forcing honesty at pow wows from all who smoke it. Yeah, I can see that being responsible for more than a few wars.  

Bison skull totems boost all the villagers around when properly mounted, plus giving their shaman a bunch of fairly wide-ranging nature spells. They're another one you probably won't be able to loot as well, making players all the more keen to hunt down every last one of them if they're on the other side.

On top of that, there's the idea of minor magical items that only work for the intended person, possibly handed down through family lines. You see them pop up all over the world, but without commerce, they're particularly common here. As before, the whole thing doesn't seem quite as gameable as the African setup, but it's certainly not terrible. The crunch definitely needed a second editorial pass though.

Quote from: Bill White;414385Middling? Middling?! Hey, I wrote that article years ago, and I was pretty happy with it. Plus, the pictures were pretty amusing. What's missing from it?

I shudder to think what you'll say when you get to the other stuff I wrote. Still, it's nice that someone finally read it.

That's the problem. There wasn't anything particularly wrong with it, but there wasn't anything hugely exceptional either. When you're reviewing a good half a dozen articles day in day out for years, that means it becomes just another face in the crowd. It's one of the most annoying aspects of doing this, that it is such a large job, and so many people will have to wind up in the middle. In a way, I actually look forward to the articles that are actively bad, because it gives me more interesting things to say.

Quote from: thedungeondelver;414387shit, you should go back in the thread and read what he's said about people who aren't around to defend themselves.

We've been through this before. I believe that whether someone is alive or dead, or if you like them as a person shouldn't have any bearing on how you assess their creative output. You do not. I'm perfectly willing to listen to arguments why I should change that opinion.

Quote from: (un)reason;414671That's the problem. There wasn't anything particularly wrong with it, but there wasn't anything hugely exceptional either. When you're reviewing a good half a dozen articles day in day out for years, that means it becomes just another face in the crowd. It's one of the most annoying aspects of doing this, that it is such a large job, and so many people will have to wind up in the middle. In a way, I actually look forward to the articles that are actively bad, because it gives me more interesting things to say.

No, that's cool. I say I was pleased with it, and I was. It summed up many of the lessons I learned from my H.S. DMing experience, and I think it was cleverly written (if I do say so myself). I'll grant that it didn't contain anything that any reasonably competent DM of a particular gaming style couldn't have picked up on his or her own, but my sense is that many people never get beyond the "Never split the party" mantra, and miss out on thereby on opportunities to be awesome.

Ultimately, however, I'm intrigued by your comment that there's stuff that I missed about split-party techniques. Can you amplify that remark? I'd appreciate broadening my repertoire.

Anyway, I have two other articles coming up as you move forward through the 90s: (1) in Dragon 220 (Aug 1995) a piece called "Dangerous Ground" and then (2) in Dragon 274 (Aug 2000), "The Hero With 1d1000 Faces." You don't have to say nice things about them, but I look forward to your assessment.

Dragon Magazine Issue 205: May 1994


part 2/5


Getting back to nature: Oooh, an extensive semiofficial rules revision in the magazine. We haven't had many of those since Gary left. Jon Pickens starts picking apart the cleric and druid spell lists, with a little help from Skip. Druids have lost some of their important 1e spells due to the choice of spheres they were put in. Meanwhile, generalist clerics look grossly overpowered compared to wizards, and most speciality priests. And a couple of the spheres are pretty much useless as is, particularly Astral. So he sets about majorly rejigging the sphere lists. All needs quite a few more, like Dispel magic. Elemental stuff gets a serious reworking, as do creation, charm and divination. The difference between guardian and protection is discussed. Necromancy and healing likewise get a discussion on the awkwardness caused by the positioning of certain spells, and how it affects clerics trying to do their job. Summoning and sun also need a bit of filling in. This all seems pretty well thought out. Course, ironically, it makes both clerics and druids more powerful as well, which isn't such a great idea. But as long as people think of them as support classes, they'll continue to not use them to their full game overtaking potential. This is one I'd be particularly interested in hearing actual play reports on what happened when applied.


Arcane lore: Jon Pickens continues to draw upon the past and try and tune up the divine spell lists. If this was a bit more innovative, it'd be pretty close to a classic special feature. Even as it is, it's pretty useful, deliberately concentrating on the less used spheres.

Seal of Destiny shields the recipient from any divinations that would determine their future. This is less fiat limited than it would initially seem, but still varies widely in usefulness based on your campaign style.

Alter Luck gives you rerolls, as is standard for luck effects. You'll still need at least a moderate amount of real world luck for this to be useful then.

Windbearer is an interesting variation on levitation that'll let a whole party go up an awkward shaft. Careful getting off. Set a whole bunch of these in your lair for fun zeldaesque puzzles.

Calm Winds is a bit of limited weather control for those clerics who aren't high enough level for the full package. Typical that you would get the dull stuff before the interesting like weather summoning.

Clean Air is also a lifesaver, but not very impressive. Still, if it keeps you from being railroaded into module A4, you're going to be pretty happy you picked it that day. This is the joy of having lots of new spells to select from supplements.

Conjure Air Elemental is one of your basic symmetry fillers. Not really worth mentioning.

Whirlwind is the air equivalent of earthquake, your basic 7th level elemental devastator. Clerics may take a bit longer to get the AoE spells, but they certainly don't lack them.

Precipitation is from Unearthed Arcana. Another minor weather effect making it drizzle a bit, it's been changed a bit due to the lack of segments in 2nd ed, and the rules on what it actually does mechanically are a bit clearer. A typical 2nd ed revision then, for good and bad.  

Cloudburst is also a rescued UA scrappy. It gets pretty much the same treatment. Enjoy raining on people's parades.

Tsunami is a second bit of elemental symmetry. Whatever elemental god you serve, you'll be able to kick ass righteously at high levels. Not that that's a great surprise if you've been picking up Dark Sun or Al-Qadim stuff.

Animate Statue is lower level and less versatile than animate object, but may actually be better as a combat spell. After all, it'll probably last longer than a combat, and immunity to nonmagical weapons counts for quite a lot. Course, there is the issue of finding a nonmagical statue in a dungeon. Perhaps you should bring your own in your pack and enlarge them when needed.

Lesser & Greater Guardian Seal keep various supernatural creatures out, as you would expect. Basically just an extended customisable protection from evil, it shows why the guardian sphere is underfilled. You need a more sadistic imagination for nasty triggered effects like Symbol has my dear.

Imbue Purpose answers the question of what spell you need to make weapons with extra plusses against specific creatures. It's reasonably kick-ass and customisable, as you would expect, but rather expensive. Better get investing to make it permanent if you want to save in the long run.

Inner Sanctum is your basic scrying and teleportation blocker, albeit rather high level. Another one you can profit highly from making permanent, possibly for other people as well, as this kind of thing is much in demand by the rich and diabolical.

Ancient Curse is from Oriental Adventures. It not only fucks you over, but your descendants as well. One that certainly hasn't been nerfed in the slightest.

Shield of the Archons is a high level spell deflector of so-so power for it's level. It will be reprinted soon in planes of law, making it all the more official. Good to see this article got drawn upon as well as drawing upon. Makes it feel more like a proper thread of history.

Warmth gives nonelementalists shielding against cold effects. There's more than one route and reason to get an effect, especially where gods of odd portfolios are involved.

Sunburst splats undead and dazzles everyone else. Another one that would go into common use in the future. This is proving to be a pretty influential article actually.

Crown of Brilliance is another one that would become common knowledge among Archons in Planes of Law and get a whole bunch of various power variants as well. So with both familiar faces from the past, and soon to be familiar faces in the future, this article is both useful and full of nostalgia. A pleasure to be reminded of, really.


Rifts gets a sourcebook making gods playable too! Now everyone'll want to play them. Man, that guy has a lot of arms.


The role of books: The legend of nightfall by Mickey Zucker Reichert is a fairly low-key fantasy detective story, who's protagonist can alter his density. This minor magic is of course used inventively throughout the story and allows them to develop his personality better than someone with godlike power. Fairly common story. Escalate to epic to soon and you lose people.

The imperium game by K D Wentworth is another novel that shows the arrival of MMORPG's was anticipated by quite a few writers. This one gets picked apart though, because it's economy doesn't hold up. If people are spending virtually their whole lives playing the game, how are they affording doing so. I think neither the writer or the reviewer fully realise how much costs are going to come down, or how addictive real MMO's can be. Many people do wreck their lives and live off their parents or unemployment benefit for years to spend 20+ hours a day on them. Reality is stranger than fiction.

Fallen heroes by Dafydd ab Hugh is a Star Trek DS9 novel where nearly everyone dies. Of course, this being Star Trek, time travel is involved, and the reset button is pushed by the end of the story. Hey ho. At least it's well done this time, with characterisations being accurate and events not seeming gratuitous.

Indiana Jones and the white witch by Martin Caidin, on the other hand, does not manage to sound like the Indy we know from the films. Way too much exposition, and too little action. And no sexual tension at all? That's no good. :shakes head:  

A college of magics by Caroline Stevermer is a little more technologicaly advanced than the average medieval fantasy, while not being quite modern or cyberpunk. Regencypunk? Sounds good to me.

Crown of fire by Ed Greenwood shows that he isn't quite as palatable over the course of an entire novel as he is in magazine articles. Elminster's voice grates on our reviewer, while the plotting ironically seems like it would work better as a module than a novel. It's like reading about a macguffin hunt from the PoV of the macguffin? Iiinteresting.

Quote from: Bill White;414830No, that's cool. I say I was pleased with it, and I was. It summed up many of the lessons I learned from my H.S. DMing experience, and I think it was cleverly written (if I do say so myself). I'll grant that it didn't contain anything that any reasonably competent DM of a particular gaming style couldn't have picked up on his or her own, but my sense is that many people never get beyond the "Never split the party" mantra, and miss out on thereby on opportunities to be awesome.

Ultimately, however, I'm intrigued by your comment that there's stuff that I missed about split-party techniques. Can you amplify that remark? I'd appreciate broadening my repertoire.

A couple come to mind at the moment. I'm a big fan of the 2 DM approach, be it as guest bad guy or general splitting of duties. Either moves things on a lot quicker, reduces players sitting around with nothing to do, and makes fun plot twists that you would never come up with on your own more common.

The other one is instead of trying to keep what the players are up too while split from each other secret is to not do so, and let them help engineer the co-incidences that bring them back together. There's a whole bunch of metagame tricks that weren't in common use back then, that have since appeared in fairly popular games, often with mechanical backup. But then, you probably know about them now anyway.