Dragon Magazine Issue 218: June 1995


part 3/7


Spice of life: Having A plots and B plots in the same episode of a TV show is a well established convention. Similarly, in a show with continuity, there will generally be at least one plot thread per main character, and these will alternately get the spotlight at some point or another. Now, how can we make that principle work for our games? For a start, a large group with multiple characters is going to have problems. You have to make sure people are paying attention and don't get confused. And you have to move back and forth between plots quickly enough that they seem concurrent rather than separate episodes in a larger metaplot. This all becomes a lot easier if you're all operating from a single location like a city, and characters can split up for short periods and then get together again without too much trouble. The big reward of this style of plotting is that it makes games less likely to peter out after you've accomplished some big objective, as there'll always be more plot threads lying around to pick up on. Some of you'll already be doing this instinctively, but for those who aren't, this is another pretty decent bit of GM'ing advice. We've said many times that you've got to be a good observer if you want to be a great storyteller, and this is another angle on getting that across.


The game wizards: Hmm. As with spellfire, it looks like the Blood Wars CCG is encouraging you to do things that they strictly forbid in the RPG. This time it's having open warfare in Sigil. All the factions are being dragged in, and the gods aren't far behind. So as with actively encouraging twinking in CCG's while discouraging it for AD&D play, this shows a definite developing double standard between the games. You can of course break it in your own game, and there are several instances they'll casually do something in the name of metaplot that would also get a rather sniffy reception if ordinary PC's & DM's did it and then wrote into the magazine about it, (kill an entire city and turn them into undead? surely in any decent adventure the PC's would get to foil this successfully? ) but it is very much there. Who's really having the badwrongfun these days? All I know is it sure ain't me, and this article gives me more reasons to be grumpy.


Forum: Nigel Epsley points out how many things were wrong with the player throwing a tantrum about 1st level characters standing up to his 11th level wizards. Discipline, force of numbers, the frequency and level of wonder magic has. You can't just drop out of the sky and expect people to worship you in a world where weird shit happens all the time.

Robert Melvin points out the problems with a spell/fatigue point system for magic. Wizards pump their Con ridiculously, and spam a few spells over and over again. it's a good deal less fun than D&D's regular one in actual play.

Greg Detwiler praises issue 216's Paths of Power. He offers his commentary on the advantages and disadvantages illusionists would face under this system. Double-bluffing is always a good idea for deceitful types to really keep others on their toes.

Alex Plocki reminds us that paladins need to be lawful as well as good. That should be a priority for them over whatever god they serve. I am dubious. Do you serve your employer, or the principles your employer ought to serve? I know which one is more likely to get you fired in the real world.

The forum welcomes it's first email contributor, who is simply called Steve. New technology is penetrating everywhere. He is also rather interested in Paths of Power, offering a little contribution on how bards fit into this new system. They might have trouble getting a foothold on the arcane arts, but become real jacks of all trades once they've picked up enough paths, which seems appropriate.

Floyd Adams III is one of those people who sees the strengths of the cleric, both statistically and socially. Magic-users and thieves'll really have to struggle to get the respect and breadth of powers clerics can claim as standard. Godly backup and worshippers count for a lot.

CLS Innis thinks giving characters xp bonuses for high stats is exacerbating the unfairness. We've heard that one before and it continues to make sense from a metagame perspective, if not a realism one.

Stephen Carter points out the difference between dark and mature games quite rationally. It's quite possible for a game to be one but not the other. In the end, fun is more important than either. Amen to that.

Mike Clair is suffering from insecurity about being a DM. Afraid he's not doing it properly, he asks for help. Oh just get on with it. 20 years ago people had no-one to learn from, they did ok.

Philip Crawley suggests modelling the character's hometown on the player's real hometown to help ease them into playing, make it as familiar as it should be. That presumes they stick around their hometown and come back, which many adventurers don't.  

Joe Walker has found his game ramping up to ridiculous monty haul levels, and not being able to do much about it. Well, of course not, now you're there. This is what the reset button is for.

Dragon Magazine Issue 218: June 1995


part 4/7


Magic resistance, step by step: Oh bloody hell, this rules pain in the ass again. Issue 79 covered it in 1st edition, but that's a long time ago now, and they shook things up quite a bit in the edition change. Skip Williams has answered more than a few questions about it in his time here. Will a full article about it settle this once and for all? Maybe for a year or two, if he's lucky. So like forum getting a stoneskin special back in issue 199, this feels like a sage advice special on top of the regular one. It's all pretty clear and sensible, and is over in a page and a half. Makes you wonder why it was a problem in the first place. Is it because far too many people don't read the rules properly, or is it the fault of the rules for being scattered around the books and sometimes contradicted in supplements. Probably a bit of both. As with last time, this isn't too gripping, although the writing is less dry than last time round. It's a good use for the magazine, but at the same time, you can't help but wish they didn't have to do it. Well, no shortage of other issues they'd do articles on instead if it wasn't there. Meh.


Eye of the monitor: Aww, poor Apple. They're pretty much reaching the nadir of their popularity. Co-incidence that they nearly went bankrupt at the same time as TSR? Probably, but it's amusing to ponder. In the meantime, they still have some pretty avid followers in our writing team, arty types that they are. So both reviews this month are mac ones. Well, at least they're not Atari Jaguar ones or something. That would truly be a lost cause at this point.

Jump Raven gets a whole load of grumbling because it's far too tricky, and no fun to play. There are plenty of shooting games where you can control everything without a co-pilot, and where the collision detection works properly. Complexity & shiny visuals do not equal fun.

Cosmology of Kyoto, on the other hand, isn't really a game, but is both interesting and educational. Explore the streets of japan, encounter all kinds of supernatural weirdness, and try to reincarnate yourself into a favorable form. Course, going to one of the many hells or being reincarnated as a dog just gives you new avenues to explore. For someone who loves oriental stuff as we know zeb does, it's quite a treat, even if it is slow and often a bit illogical. Still, since many of the legends are long and not entirely coherent, this adds to the mythical feel. It's achieved what it set out to do, even if that isn't for everyone.


The nature of evil: Ah yes, the question of how to make a really memorable villain. There's one that's always an issue as soon as you introduce an overarching plot with a big bad to your game. The choice here is fairly simple. To make them significant, you need to make the players fear and hate them. And of course the rest of the article is focussed on methods of achieving that. Not a hugely nuanced method compared to the ones that really try and get into your NPC's heads and find out what makes them tick, but the focussed tricks are often quicker. Figure out what they can do, and what they will do to the PC's when they interfere with their plans. Make them mean, make it personal, set them up and deceive them, turn their friends against them, and generally make Evil mean more than just a letter on a sheet and a side in a conflict. It even recommends that you play on the personal fears of your players, which is something that can backfire badly. These things are a balancing act. If you have the villain raping, killing and then reanimating their character's babies as undead monstrosities the players may leave in disgust. So I think this article doesn't quite present the degree of perspective and moderation that you need for a truly great campaign. But if you're looking for trouble, you'll get it in spades following this advice.


Rumblings: Rather a grab bag of arrivals and departures here, few of which really leap out and grab me. Most notable is the departure of Vampire developer Andrew Greenberg. Their gonzo era is about to draw to a close, with the mad overarching conspiracies reined back into a more coherent form. Also of interest is the mention of WotC releasing Everway, and of course Changeling: the Dreaming. Both of which use cards in their mechanics, quite possibly as a response to the CCG craze.

Speaking of CCG's it looks like the X-files is licencing their name out to get in on that action, following in the footsteps of Star Trek. As are The Crow, James Bond and Wing Commander. The cash-ins just keep on coming. When will this bubble burst?

Dragon Magazine Issue 218: June 1995


part 5/7


The ecology of the bird maiden: Another setting gets it's first ecology. We sail over to Zakhara to tackle a creature that is very strongly based on real world mythology. Tales of people who turn into animals by putting on skins are incredibly common in many cultures. And almost as ubiquitous is the idea that if you steal their skin and keep it, you can force them into marrying you, at least until they find it, at which point they are likely to depart, possibly inflicting some horrible vengeance along the way, and taking any kids that may have resulted from the union with them. Seems like the kind of idea that really really isn't worth it. But arrogant fat merchants are notoriously genre blind, and deserve everything they get. While this story is a bit anvilicious in the way it rams home it's moral message, it does manage to put a good D&D specific spin on the old story, and make them seem pretty decent as both NPC's and PC's. They certainly make more sense as shapeshifters than Swanmays. (I mean, what kind of form to change into is that? It's no good for stealth, not brilliant for combat, and similarly rubbish in terms of speed and maneuverability. Silly myths.)


The hyborean gates card game. Another bandwagon jumper. Note the pic of Boris Vallejo and Julie Bell looking incredibly pumped. Nice to see some artists still find the time to work out.

Species also gets a game licence. Man, now that's a rather limited property to work with.


Role-playing Reviews: Oh man. Rick gets sucked into doing a CCG special. THEY ARE NOT ROLE-PLAYING GAMES. Call the column something else if you're going to cover this kind of stuff regularly. Still, it looks like they're here to stay. Maybe you ought to start a new magazine focussing on them. Then that'd get them out of our hair and let the people who still prefer creating worlds enjoy that again.

Star trek: The next generation CCG gets a 6 pip result, with great visuals on the cards, and the rules creating games that reflect a ST mission instead of being a straightforward battle like most other CCGs. The details of the setting are carefully adhered to. The only oddity in that respect is that you can wind up using the same character on both sides, which is kinda an inevitability in a CCG as compared to a limited deck game.

Star of the guardians is from Margaret Weis, as mentioned in the Rumblings column a few months ago. As with Krynn, this CCG is also a novel line, and looks like being a nice little earner for her. It's fairly simple and fast, and has some loose mechanics, but hangs together well enough, and gets straight to the action. You'll have to get the novels to find out much about the setting and characters.

Galactic empires brings warring alien races to the CCG arena. Like many a wargame that covers similar territory, you have to make huge complex logistical and tactical decisions, and do lots of bookkeeping. One for lovers of really crunchy games, it is quite fun if you can handle the rules, and the setting certainly seems cool. Guess they're going to make the same mistakes RPG designers did in the search to one-up M:tG.

Illuminati: new world order sees this long running game adapted to the collectible craze. This of course allows things to be even more multilayered and convoluted. Which is exactly what the game needs, really. Rick gives it 6 pips, finding it thoroughly achieves it's design goals, even if it isn't particularly newbie friendly. I'll bet he was paid by the church of the zogonian ascension( using the FBI as an intermediary) to say that.


Rifts goes underwater, and to japan. There will be appropriate PC classes and power creep, as you would expect.

Dragon Magazine Issue 218: June 1995


part 6/7


Fiction: The time of leaving by Ron Collins. A story about growing up seems appropriate for a birthday issue, especially as the magazine leaves it's teens behind. Still, these days it becomes increasingly difficult for children to leave the nest, for one reason and another. (mostly economic) And a lot of the time the parents feel the wrench as much as the kids do. So this is a story where the mentor figure thinks it's time for the student to leave, the student disagrees, and eventually, proves he has the right to stay as well as leave. Not the usual way these things go in stories. On the other hand, since in reality the balance of power shifts as the parents become increasingly frail and unable to keep up with changes in technology, it's one that happens more in reality than we'd like. So this makes for quite melancholy reading, but not in a bad way. Not all those big truths are pleasant ones, and stories can choose to reflect those as well.


Sage advice: What is temporary damage, How does leaching work (The normal sort. Leaching is where you temporarily suck magic out of your items to stop yourself from taking damage)

Are weavings like spellbooks or scrolls (They're essentially personalized scrolls. So if you get killed, the enemy doesn't benefit from your gear)

Can you clear up after the mystic of nog (Has he not been wiping properly again. Well, if you turn your hands to stone, I guess that's what happens. Silly mystic of nog)

Aren't clockwork mage's devices a little slow (That's scale inches. Even some of our writers slip into first editionisms by mistake sometimes)

Are language proficiencies affected by intelligence (yes. Note that you don't have to roll every time you try and speak. This aint creeks and crawdads)

If you don't have a high enough int to learn permanency, you can't make permanent magic items. This sucks! (So it goes. Some people will never be good enough, no matter how hard they try. Skip will at least be generous enough to reverse last months ruling and allow specialist wizards to use opposition scrolls. Be thankful for that.)

Do svirfneblin hate light like drow. They're really scary. They need some nerfing. (suuure. Don't worry so hard. They can be agoraphobic too if you still don't think they're balanced. Just don't try having an Aaracockra and a Svirfneblin in the same party, or someone'll be miserable all the time )

Where are the stats for new weapons mentioned in supplements, but not detailed (arms & equipment and combat & tactics. Better buy both, just to be on the same side.)

Do you get individual XP awards for using spell-like powers (only if you actually do something with them. Pointless waving around won't impress anyone)

Does invulnerability to magical weapons protect you against normal weapons as well. (no, but if you have a separate power that does that, they stack. Beware fiendish spellcasters )

Where are the planar monsters that aren't in the appendixes (All over the shop. Gotta catch em all. Yay. More money, more money, more money, mo problems.)

How many HD does a lich have (Recycled question. Skip is bored now. )

My players were pissed off that vorpal swords can't chop off huge creatures heads (And well they should be. It's a powerful magic item. It should be able to overcome little hassles like realistic measurement)

Dragon Magazine Issue 218: June 1995


part 7/7


Libram X makes it clear just how unpleasant the players in this game are. Swordplay once again have problems with their party dynamics. It's a good thing they don't have continuity, or they'd be dead by now. Dragonmirth is extra geeky this time round. Yamara has to sit and watch while the day is saved by the macguffin.

Nightspawn! Another game that's going to have to change their name soon. Oh, glutinous legal crap. Why ay ay ay ay must you smell so raaaaaaank.


From the forge: Straight into the reviews, trying to fit as many as they can into the limited space again. A mummy pegasus trying to get her foal to fly the nest, which is thoroughly adorable. A pegacorn, that symbol of mary-sues everywhere. An interestingly coloured griffon with rather impressive wings. Some Gnashings from 5th cycle. Look like fairly generic humanoids to me. Similarly, orcs riding big scaly warbeast thingies isn't surprising after a good helping of warhammer. A chunky spiky earth dragon and a slim, curvy air dragon, both with humanoid companions. A heavily armored cyclops with a helmet that may well restrict it's vision a little further. Two different wyverns, one looking up and to the side, and the other looming over something prey-like. And finally, two wemics and a ki-rin, filing in the officially licensed D&D monsters. Well, they are some of the more attractive creatures out there. Guess it's the shiny end of fantasy that wins out this time.


TSR Previews: A truly scary 13 products released this month. I think that's a new record. 4, count 'em, are for Birthright. Even the forgotten realms never enjoyed this sheer short term onslaught of releases. As well as the core boxed set, there's Blood enemies: Abominations of Cerillia; The Endier domain pack, and The Roesone domain pack. Whoosh. Are you ready to take command, and face up to enemies as singular and connected to the land as your party? If they keep up this pace, you'd better learn the ropes fast.

The Realms certainly isn't sluggish though, with it's usual one-two punch of gamebook and novel. Spellbound expands on Thay, Rashemen and Aglarond. Have they recovered by now from the horde invasion of a decade ago? What secret magics do their rulers command for the PC's to take once they've killed them? Ed Greenwood is also busy telling his own stories of what Elminster was up too recently, in Cloak of Shadows. What looked like a big crisis was actually an even bigger crisis. Is it any wonder he has to get other adventurers to help save the world?

Planescape releases The Factol's Manifesto. Join now and work your way up for even greater benefits. Your philosophy can do as much for you as you can for it. Especially if you become a god. Now that's something to aspire too. Another tremendously pretty book with plenty of experimental elements.

Mystara revisits another ancient module in style in Mark of Amber. Like House of Strahd, it's twice the size of the original, and it also has a CD full of atmosphere building bits and pieces. Can it top it for excitement though?

Dark Sun compiles the many many changes the past 4 years of metaplot have made in Beyond the Prism Pentad. Have they ruined it forever for you yet?

Dragonlance, on the other hand, goes back in time rather further than usual, to tell the story of the fall of the Irda. Linda P. Baker is in charge of this one. Will there be any new spins on what we've already seen in the books?

Generic stuff is also big this month. First up, we have Players Option™: Combat and Tactics. Boo hiss spit. I had a very ..... visceral reaction against this when it was first released, and even now, in hindsight, the idea of point buy twinkery still seems better done in something like GUPS or BESM. The other two releases are pretty unexceptional though. Thief's challenge II lets you have more low level solo fun. Castle Sites gives you more floorplans so you can generate adventures quickly. Try the new or rehash the old? Funny how I've actually got less conservative since then.


Not nearly as fun as last birthday, this issue shows that they are continuing to slip in both quality, and choice of what they cover. It's all very tiresome, with the generic bits going round and round, and the new developments mostly being bad ones. And with the new people in charge promising to shake things up, I'm pretty sure that it's going to be even more problems for quite a while before things start to get better. Who will provide a light in this darkness? Bugger. Guess It's going to have to be me again, isn't it.

Dragon Magazine Issue 219: July 1995


part 1/7


130 pages. An extra $2 is added to the newsstand price because they include a CD with this one. And once again, they can't be bothered to have a theme for their features section. I guess with Roger well gone, no-ones pushing that as an idea very strongly. Still, better to try and celebrate the new than mourn the old. I'm certainly interested to see how they'll fare with this format experiment, with the rather faster turnaround a magazine has to contend with compared to their supplements.


In this issue:


Letters: The theme of this column seems to be people complaining about missing stuff. Fiction, comics, cards and ampersands, of all things. People really don't like having their routines disrupted, do they. It's not even as if their recent special features have been special enough to justify it. As always, they'll try to give you what you want, presuming they can find it somewhere in the first place.

Plus a letter asking for a Yamara anthology. It's already here. Just contact Steve Jackson & co, they'll sort you out.


Editorial: A bit early for a day in the life editorial. You've only been here two months, and so's your publisher. That's hardly time to have settled into a tedious workday routine in my book. Nevertheless, here we go. It's not really groundhog day, given the weird stuff that happens, but it can feel like it given the way the deadlines cycle on a monthly basis. We get brief introductions to each of the other editorial staff, and find out that Dragon actually gets more fiction submissions than it does everything else put together. It's no wonder that department is maintaining a consistently higher standard than the rest of the magazine. And of course we have to listen to complaints at their computer woes. Are they finally catching up with modern technology in that department? Not sure what to make of this. Mostly, it helps me get a bit more of a handle on Wolf's writing style. Still, it seems like they have decent supplies of whimsy remaining. It'll be a while longer before they fall prey to the cutbacks at this rate.


First quest: Ah yes, Mike Nystul. He hasn't actually been a TSR employee, (he wasn't even in high school when the 1st D&D books were published) but he certainly left his mark on AD&D. And it's certainly left it's mark on him too. His introduction to gaming came due to having a father who was an insider, allowing him to get in from the very first releases. Still, there were plenty of flavours of the week he passed up on along the way. And I suspect that plenty of people exposed to D&D in those early years did pass it up for something else more interesting to them. But anyway, this is a good example of the fact that the imagination really needs to be properly primed for roleplaying to properly take root. If someone doesn't think the idea of pretending to be something else is cool, no amount of persuading is going to work. So if you want to introduce your kids to gaming, make sure they're excited by the subject matter first. There's quite a bit you can do to actively ensure you have new players, and this has a few good pointers.


At sword's point: The swashbuckling style has plenty of fans. This is another one I'm surprised they haven't done an article on before, especially since Red Steel accommodated it so well. Guess the magazine is behind the times again. So yeah, a little history, a whole lot of talk about style, and how to get the right one for a swashbuckling, high action campaign, and a bit of crunch involving unarmed combat and improvised weaponry for those delicate situations where you can't take your heavy armour and magical weapons. Almost exactly what you'd expect. Actually, D&D isn't too terrible at this playstyle anyway, especially when you use the right options from the complete handbooks. After all, after a few levels, fighters can pull some pretty over the top tricks. You've just got to narrate them right. Might be a good idea to skip the one hit and your doomed phase of the adventuring career though. So I approve of this, even if it isn't particularly mind-blowing.


Run!: Chase scenes. Like social combat, there have been a whole ton of experiments to try and get these to work in a way that extends the drama out and allows for tactical choices from the participants. It's something that can and has been played out in an exciting manner in other media, so why shouldn't it work for RPG's? Unfortunately, this article doesn't go that far, instead boiling things down to opposed dexterity checks with a bunch of modifiers. That doesn't give you a whole lot of choices when the crunch comes down, although you can certainly stack the odds in your favour by your choice of character and equipment. Come on, you could have at least factored constitution in, letting there be a meaningful difference between sprint chases and endurance pursuits. So this feels a bit half-assed and underdeveloped, relying too much on ad hoc DM oversight to make it interesting. Most disappointing.

Quote from: (un)reason;434584An extra $2 is added to the newsstand price because they include a CD with this one.

Wow. I don't remember this at all. I know I bought it, because I had an unbroken run from issue 45 until the last print issue, but an issue with an included CD should stand out in my memory, and it doesn't. Not even in a vague "oh yeahhhhh, that's right..." kind of way.

Dragon Magazine Issue 219: July 1995


part 2/7


Out of armor: A bit more buckling of swash here. This one is slightly more player focussed, although it also talks about how to encourage the playstyle from a DM's point of view. This is accomplished by both encouraging more playful action as seen in the movies, and imposing substantial penalties on those who attempt flashy acrobatic stuff in heavy armor. In fact, it may overcompensate a bit, making the penalties too harsh, and would probably get complaints if you tried suddenly imposing them in an existing game. So once again, it's a cool idea, but I'm not sure I agree with the implementation. If I want a game built for fast paced swashbuckling action, I'll go for Savage Worlds these days.


Pirate crews and retinues: Expanded followers tables. It's been a good few years since we had some of those. (issue 178) This time, the extra differentiation is kit based. Some of the complete handbooks implemented this anyway, (bard, ranger ) but most didn't, and it's the kind of thing that's easy to add onto those that missed out. So here's ones for the complete fighters handbook kits. Always seems to be fighters that come first when it comes to getting followers. Probably something to do with them not getting any other special abilities. The lists are pretty good, drawing upon the other complete handbooks as well, so the followers also have appropriate kits and equipment. I quite approve of this, even if like any followers table, you won't get to use it more than once a campaign. Now, can someone come up with a similar degree of variety for wizards or thieves?


The factol's manifesto. Or how to sneakily introduce complex philosophical concepts to impressionable minds and make it fun. I wuv this book.


The ecology of the black pudding: Another cool stylistic experiment in this series, as we see things from the perspective of both the creature, and the adventurers that encounter it. And the writer develops quite a distinctive voice for both sections, the relentless rhythmic pulsing drive of our worrisome ooze friend, and the amusing bickering and experimentation of our amateur adventurers (A group of 2? They're just begging for a swift death) It's interesting to see people who really don't have a clue what they're getting into, and the whole thing feels very true to games I've actually played, when the characters run across something unfamiliar with a bunch of screwage powers. Another highly entertaining entry in this period of resurgence for the series, which makes it scary, but also helps point out why creatures like this don't overrun the entire planet. Unless, of course, you want them too. Muahaha.


A colourful weekend of euro-gaming: Roger Moore once again plays convention reporter, as he has done many times in the past. This time, he's off to england, along with several other special guests. As with Gary's trip over a decade ago, he finds UK gamers more polite and helpful than their yank counterparts, and the whole thing less rigid and centralised than the american Gen Con has become. There's plenty of amusing anecdotes related, most notably the incineration of poor Wesley Crusher. (for charity) This isn't nearly as big as last year's similar article, and there's no photos either, which makes it feel a bit shallow. All it really does is perpetuate stereotypes. Hopefully there'll be more to come in a few months time, and this is just a warm-up.


Role-playing reviews: Ah yes, Al Qadim. A good example of a limited run series, started with the intention of doing a set number of supplements, and then wrapping things up neatly. After all, Oriental Adventures was highly successful initially, but then suffered quite considerably from diminishing returns in the follow-up modules before fading away in 1991. By contrast, Al Qadim actually exceeded expectations, getting a few more supplements than planned to round the setting out. And now it's finished, but not yet out of print, this seems a good time for a comprehensive themed review.

Arabian Adventures gets quite a bit of ambivalence in it's review. Much of this is due to the conflicts between D&D's rules and setting tropes and those of the source materials. It's pretty, and handles the mechanical aspect of things quite well, but setting, adventure building and roleplaying advice isn't great. It all feels like they're laving stuff out so they can sell more supplements later. Plus a few of the decisions seem to have been made for political correctness, which is rarely particularly  entertaining. In hindsight, it's not the greatest implementation ever, but it's still fun reading. And quite a few of the kits and spells can be plundered for other settings as well. It's a valuable addition to 2nd edition's wide range of covered settings.

Land of fate is of course the second thing you should get, as it actually gives you a decent overview of the continent. Of course, it is only an overview, setting things up for yet more supplements (gotta collect 'em all!) and often rather dry. They did have to set up a lot of places. What can you do?

City of delights is where things actually start taking off. Like Waterdeep or Sigil, Huzuz is the obvious centre for a campaign. It has tons of plot hooks, locations, and colourful characters, and makes a suitable adventure location to take you from 1st to 20th level. You can then build up the wider world as much or as little as you want.

We also get brief reviews of each of the little sourceboxes. Golden Voyages, Caravans and Secrets of the lamp get the best marks, while Corsairs of the great sea is the least liked. Most of them have at least something useful for a general campaign, even if the adventure bits don't all hold up without DM modification. The combination of setting and adventure in each box is interesting, and means that this setting was built up in the same kind of way as the original Known World stuff, only over a shorter period.

GURPS Arabian nights on the other hand, does exactly what GURPS supplements usually do. Historically accurate as far as possible, careful and logical in the adjudication of the magic bits, and rather dry. The rules are taken care of, now it's up to you to make a fun campaign out of it. Or you could just nick the Al Qadim setting from earlier.

Quote from: ColonelHardisson;434597Wow. I don't remember this at all. I know I bought it, because I had an unbroken run from issue 45 until the last print issue, but an issue with an included CD should stand out in my memory, and it doesn't. Not even in a vague "oh yeahhhhh, that's right..." kind of way.

It was dreadfully forgettable. I guess that really serves to illustrate the problems with their audio output.

Dragon Magazine Issue 219: July 1995


part 3/7


Eye of the monitor: Warcraft: Orcs & Humans begins a series that is going to go on to take over the computer gaming world pretty effectively. At this point, it's a fairly standard wargame, with the two sides identical to each other save in the cosmetic aspects. Train up your minions, and set them against the enemy. There's tons of stuff to discover and unlock, and the difficulty curve is just about right to keep you coming back. They just wish the manual explained things a little more clearly, instead of repeating itself in gimmicky fashion by having one set of instructions for each side.

1830: Railroads & Robber Barons is a fairly straight conversion of the old Avalon Hill boardgame. The computer taking over the rules means things progress a lot faster, but the visual resolution is lower, making some things hard to make out. The manual is once again a pet peeve, although for a different reason, with the impression someone went mad with layout software, putting boxes, borders and garish colour schemes all over the place. What a thing to pick on for an issue.

Citadel of the Dead gets nul points. In many ways, it's more primitive than games they played 10 years ago, yet it has the nerve to boast about it's complexity. And the manual is almost nonexistent. The only reason they reviewed it is so they could give something a good slating. Well, that is always fun, isn't it.

Realms of Arkania: Star Trail, on the other hand, is a fairly decent CRPG, based on Germany's The Dark Eye. It is a pretty accurate conversion, highly crunchy, with tons of room to customise and equip your characters. This time, their main complaint is that as a sequel where you can load the characters from the previous game, it's incredibly hard with starting characters, and possibly too complicated and detailed in the nature of it's encounters. Most of us can do without treating tetanus infections in our escapism.


Birthright gets a pull-out six (!) page spread of advertising in the middle of the book. Yikes. How much would that have cost if it wasn't being done by their parent company anyway?


The role of books: Mastering magic cards by George H Baxter & Larry W Smith, Ph.D (not often you see one of those around here. ) runs into a rather awkward little problem due to the speed WotC is releasing new editions. It's already out of date by the time it gets to publication. It's not much help on the social side, either, which means it's utility is still rapidly deteriorating further. It's a good example of bad mismatch of subject matter and delivery medium. This is a very definite case where the internet already handles this stuff better.

Excalibur, edited by Richard Gilliam, Martin H Greenberg & Edward E Kramer is another of those fantasy anthologies Mr Greenberg compiles so well. As has been the case for some other very specific topics, he gives his writers plenty of leeway to work around the subject and find new angles both funny and serious. Plus a bit of poetry. If you like arthurian lore, at least some of the stories'll probably please you.

The faery convention by Brett Davis is a fae detective story in a setting that seems like anita blake's, in that the supernatural has just been brought into the open and they're trying to sort out the legal issues. This does not go smoothly, and is also used as an allegory for the oppression of real world minorities. It gets the fairly common result of good ideas, but needed a better editor.

Such pain by Don Bassinthwaite is for Mage: the Ascension. There is of course a certain amount of pretension and mature subject matter. And a good deal of moral ambiguity, since our protagonist is a technocrat. The setting and rules from the game are not egregiously violated, and indeed, it serves as a good introduction to the themes of the game as well. White Wolf haven't done too badly with their fiction department so far.

The printers devil by Chico Kidd gets another fairly typical review pattern. The quirky one that doesn't go over the top with explosions and shit, but manages to find a new spin on several topics and build up it's characters nicely. Well, John has been doing this for 11 years now, it's not surprising he's settled into a pattern as well. I'm glad my reviews almost certainly won't take that long even at this rate.

Quote from: (un)reason;434826It was dreadfully forgettable. I guess that really serves to illustrate the problems with their audio output.

What was on it? Music? Background sound? Maybe I still have it around here somewhere.

Dragon Magazine Issue 219: July 1995


part 4/7


Fiction: Breaking the wall by Lois Tilton. Mrs Tilton's 7th story in the magazine? Since we just found out how fierce the competition is for this slot is, I wonder how many stories she's sent in and had rejected to get this far. So it's no surprise that this is once again pretty good, and quite dark, asking hard questions about the nature and extent of free will, and how much good people should compromise on actively opposing evil for the sake of short term comfort and family. The answer is of course that there's no good answer, and you're going to have to fight like hell and make some nasty sacrifices for freedom. Which is fairly realistic, if rather depressing. But hey, at least it's a good deal more dramatic than reality, which is what the public really wants. And it has some decent setting building, which is what you want in an RPG magazine. She definitely knows what she's doing here.


Sage advice: Why are there spell failure chances for wisdom below 9 (recycled question. Skip has not changed skip's mind since then)

Can you cast spells from scrolls if you aren't smart enough to learn them ( yes. Stand on the shoulders of giants and you can see further. Stand on the shoulders of beatles and you can fill stadiums in style without having an original thought in your head. )

Are giant's weapons adjusted by their enemies size (no.)

Can big races backstab small ones. (sure, if they can get surprise. Look for the appropriate modifiers. They're right there in the books )  

Are creatures that are immune to death magic immune to disintegrate (no. Whatever could possibly make you think that. )

Does immunity to magical charm also make you immune to psionic charms (usually)

I'm still not satisfied about elven archers (well tough. Skip will nerf them some more.  Shut yo mouth or skip will nerf them further, and their poncy cat and dog friends too. )

Can you turn a polymorphed lich (Sure. They're still dead inside. AAAAAAnnnngst! )

Why can't humans become dual classed paladins (they can, just not with classes from the same group)

Can you specialize by buying a weapon for two of your classes (No. This is another case of fundamental misconceptions about the way the universe works)

Do dual classed characters get double the amount of bonus proficiencies from int (no)

Can you improve blind-fighting by spending more slots on that (no)

Can you specialize in thrown weapons (Yup. Not a problem at all.)

Can you use a decanter of endless water underwater as a propulsion method (Sure. Skip doesn't always discourage inventive uses of powers. Just usually.)

How powerful is a chromatic orb's magnetism (exceedingly strong. As hard as opening doors )

Dragon Magazine Issue 219: July 1995


part 5/7


Forum: Heather Darling brings back the sexism issue. Not only do far too many men look down on female players, when it becomes apparent they do actually know the rules and what they're doing, they get scared. They obviously can't be very secure in their abilities. I know groups of girls giggling does seem to set off an instinctive masculine paranoia, but that's one of those things you have to try and rise above. We are not slaves to our instincts.

Denyse J. Zane is finding other women are half the problem in the battle for equality, particularly when you're trying to DM. It's the old bitch/pushover problem female bosses have to struggle with in the workplace as well. You've got to find the right combination of firm and fair, and stick to it, they'll soon get used to it.

Leyshon Campbell points out just how bad for your health repeated use of Haste is. It really ought to be a bigger deal in terms of use. Plus if you're going to get into realistic logical consequences, there's all kinds of tricks you can pull. Yeah, that's a fun one. It is one of those spells that unbalances a game if not counterbalanced, like stoneskin.

Daniel Arenson thinks Rangers are underpowered for their XP costs. Oh come on. Yeah, they're not as powerful as wizards at higher level, but you know what spellcasters are like. They're still miles more rounded characters than fighters.

Christopher David defends cyberpunk's search and retrieve missions. It's quite different from rescuing a princess, I assure you. I guess it really depends how you play the adventures. All in the details.

Greg Detwiler contributes for a second month in a row, adding a bit more to the Paths of Power system. He really seems to be quite taken with it. That's a pretty good recommendation to me, given how frequent a contributor he is in his own right.


The wizards three: Elminster, Mordenkainen and Dalamar once again make the time is their busy schedules to meet up at Ed's place. In sharp contrast to the last one, where things were pretty staid, and our friendly neigbourhood archmages got down to productive horsetrading fairly quickly, this has quite dramatic fiction, and fewer spells covered. Elminster actually gets challenged, although the danger never seems that serious. We get to see a decent example of the multilayered contingencies and counterspells paranoid archmages equip themselves with. Ed is actually an active player in the narrative for a change. (and gets a rather more comfortable hiding place for a change. ) But Dalamar still winds up being the primary butt of the humour, of which there is plenty. And of course, the family friendly policy forces him to fade out on the romantic aspects of their evening. It does once again make for rather fun reading. And the fact that the new spells are shown in action rather than just talked about really does elevate their coolness and integration.

The Floating Helm of Tharados is the latest in magical imprisonment technology. A
repurposed giant's helm, it's now Elminster's latest contraption for putting enemies out of action for a while without killing them. Being trapped in a 5x5x5 space for years, unable to even stretch out properly, would not be good for the health or sanity. Man, it's hard to fight evil archmages and win without making hard moral choices.

Handfangs is one of those spells that's pretty self explanatory. Shake with an enemy at talks and then nuke them while they're incapacitated from the poison.

Farscry is another effect actually used in the narrative. An upgraded clairvoyance and audience, it's mechanical quirks are crucial to the plot, and show Ed knows exactly what he wants to do when he puts them in. Once again, we see why wizards who get into the custom spell business will be way more effective than conservatives, even if the individual spells are weaker in some ways.

Dauntra's Cloak protects you from poison. Not quite as good as clerical healing, it's still another rather useful little buff spell for the paranoid.

Translocation Shift is the kind of spell most archmages would pay handsomely to acquire. Relocating incoming teleports is a crucial warding when you have extraplanar enemies who use their powers intelligently. How could you sleep without it?

Temporal Freedom is another counterspell that can seem near essential once you get to the stage where 9th level spells show up routinely. Plus, easy immortality with no apparent drawbacks save regular maintenance. No wonder Elminster guards THIS one extra carefully.

Brainblaze is one of those odd 9th level spells that like Tempestcone, gives you epic powers and resistances, but with substantial issues and risks. Becoming a bodiless pillar of raw energy forever has some fairly substantial problems to it. Ahh, the fun of experimental high magic. This collection definitely feels like it's come from a wide range of sources, of varying competence. And introducing some of the spells will definitely be appreciated by your players as long as they can get their hands on them. After all, applying these countering strategies will definitely increase your lifespan at high level. So it's another instalment that's both entertaining and instructive here, probably the best yet overall.

Dragon Magazine Issue 219: July 1995


part 6/7


The game wizards: Hmm. Dragon Dice. Ok, it's not exactly a third CCG, as it doesn't involve cards, but it's very much in the same genre, where you have to put together a structure from lots of little modular packs and fight it against other players. As it's the first release, we get lots of behind the scenes talk from Lester Smith, the main designer. The usual trials and tribulations manufacturing something in a new format involved. Figuring out what looks good when put on dice. And then the basics of how you actually play the game. It's skewed more towards skill than luck, with the choice between offence and defence an important one. Once again, I think system mastery will prove pretty important, and they'll have further articles with tips and tricks coming up. And once again I am left with mixed feelings. I don't have quite the personal disdain for this I did for CCG's, as it is an interesting variant rather than a straight bandwagon jumper. But I did regard it as another unwelcome intrusion and pretty much ignored it first time round. I think I'm willing to be a bit more magnanimous this time and see how it does. After all, it looks like there's a substantial supplement mill coming up. As tempting as it would be to prejudge for dramas sake, I'm not going to do that.


What's a wizard to do: Still more playtesting talk, this time for Birthright. Despite the tales of their evil overmistress (Wolves howl, roll of thunder, organ music etc) discouraging playtesting, they're still managing to get some done. Such as this rather interesting little piece on domain magic. In the basic game, wizards may not get domains even when they get to name level, having to settle for a piddly tower, while here, they can tap power from the land to do large-scale spells with cool tactical applications even at low level. The prospects are quite drool inducing. Undead hordes without spending months digging up the graveyards manually, mass teleportation, magically enforced laws that apply everywhere in the country, it's all pretty cool. Course, there are checks and balances. Most interesting is that the more developed and populated an area becomes, the less magic there is to tap, so wizard rulers have to keep substantial wildlife preserves if they want to properly exploit their powers, and there's a real temptation to become a hermit ruler in a lonely castle with nothing but hordes of undead or constructs as servants. Which sounds absolutely perfect from a dramatic viewpoint, as it creates just the kind of tensions that lead to cool stories. Yep, this definitely looks like a fun addition to our campaign options. Did the implementation work in actual play?


Rumblings: Computer game conversions once again dominate this column, one way or another. Neverwinter nights gets a rather belated bit of promotion, as more people realise just how cool and useful the net is. White Wolf is making a Vampire computer game, not too surprisingly. Magic:the Gathering is also moving to the digital world, complete with online multiplayer coolness. Bruce Nesmith has been poached by a computer games company, while another is hiring big names in sci-fi like Michael Dorn to appear in their cut scenes. They've long since overtaken roleplaying, and will soon pull ahead of the music and film industries. Speaking of film, the Dragonlance cartoon idea that would take well over a decade to get out of development hell appears here. They really aren't pushing their multimedia side enough down at TSR. They do have some new arrivals. Mike Nystul, unsurprisingly given his recent appearance in the magazine, plus Alan Polack and Bill Olmsdahl. Hrmm. Seems like a whole lot of poaching going on. The big companies borrow from the small companies, which recruit from the even smaller companies that aren't exactly stable financial prospects, but have talented people manning them. Creativity is a cannibalistic business.


Libram X makes evil doubles sympathetic. Dragonmirth needs to buy better equipment. Swordplay kills the wrong stupid movie star. Yamara ends really sweetly. All together now. Awwwwwww.


Through the looking glass: The reorganisations begin with the wrapping up of minis reviews. Time for Robert to bid us farewell. Thank you to Roger Moore for giving him a chance in the first place, thanks to all the companies that sent him free stuff, and thank you to all the people who read the column and wrote in. No particular thanks for the current management though, I'm fairly sure it was their decision to end this relationship, not his. After all, if you're going to retrench and focus on your core audience, something like this would be the first thing deemed unneeded.

The number of minis reviewed is less than usual as well. He's certainly not getting to go out with a bang. A page is devoted to a starter castle, which of course is a fairly large piece of work requiring some serious assembly work. This means it doesn't quite fit it's beginners label, despite being high quality. A trio of fairly generic elf archers. They'll drop into most games without too much trouble. Ral partha continue to take the official orders for the big games, with a bullette and a bone gnawer in various states of transformation, and a horse headed centaur, from shadowrun, apparently. All are pretty good as usual. You can see why companies keep coming back to them. And finally, there's a female orc riding a turtle, which is from Earthdawn. And yet another elf wizard. They're in no danger of being short of troops any time soon. And that's the end of that. Not a particularly impressive way to go out. Who'll be next on the chopping block, I wonder.

Dragon Magazine Issue 219: July 1995


part 7/7


TSR Previews: The Forgotten realms is back to taking the lions share of the supplements. The secret of spiderhaunt carries on the Mourndale adventures. Randal Morn is missing. Guess who's responsible, and where they're hiding out. Volo is nearby, giving his own distinctive guide to Cormyr. Shame we can't pin the blame on him. And we are reminded once again that as prolific as their schedule is, there are even more books that don't appear here, as we find out they're up to book 10(! Why didn't they mention 2-9?) of the Super Harpers series. Masquerades sees us return to the doings of Alias and co. Man, this is getting impossible to keep track of.

Planescape gets Harbinger house, another extradimensional place full of weird set-pieces in the vein of Baba yaga's hut. This is one I've used to reasonable success, and it confounds mapping nicely while still being easy for the DM to keep track of where the players are. This is the dark side of seeking godhood.

Ravenloft sees Van Richten try and study the Vistani. Not an easy task, and one likely to result in half-truths and curses upon the examiner. But hey, he's already cursed. Still, beware lack of objectivity.

Mystara gets Dragonking of Mystara by Thorannin Gunnarsson. Dragons are never easy to negotiate with, and trying to get profit out of them is like getting blood from a stone. When there's a whole bunch of manipulative shits supposedly on your side, it gets even harder. Still, that's what we need heroes for.

Dark sun gets Cinnabar shadows by Lynn Abbey. Yet more developments and dramas under the harsh desert sun as people fight to survive.

Some fairly interesting generic stuff too. The second Players option rulebook, Skills and Powers hits. Yet more attempts to make AD&D point buy to limited success. Also ambitious but a bit dodgy is Labyrinth of Madness. Wasn't the 20th anniversary of TSR's founding last year. Unless you're being lawyerly and counting it as the founding of the new TSR, not the old Tactical Studies Rules. Anyway, this is to the Tomb of Horrors what a Jumbo Jet is to a Monster Truck. A meatgrinder and pixelbitcher on a scale large enough to give even 20th level characters months of frustration, years if they play dumb but don't give up and the DM doesn't give any clues. Like getting to immortality twice in basic D&D, if you can win this one fair and square, no help or cheating, then there's pretty much nowhere left to go. It really deserves more nostalgia than it gets. Guess so few people get to 20th level that they can't build the same kind of shared experience as the old convention modules.

Blood wars on the other hand, is still escalating with every supplement. This time, the gods get involved. The lady of pain isn't going to be happy if they come into sigil.


Bonus CD: They've been doing CD's with their products for the past couple of years. It's been one of the more irritating and gimmicky parts of their output, and hasn't aged very well at all. Now, as with a lot of digital media, most of the costs are in producing and distributing the content, the costs of duplicating each CD are pretty small, especially when you have a run in the tens of thousands. So making this bonus feature isn't that great a technical feat anymore, although it would mean their packers had to work overtime this month. Which means this is mainly excerpts, with commentary by Tim Beach, Andria Hayday, Colin McComb, and the other writers of said products. I haven't listened to this in years, and I'm immediately reminded how bad the acting is, and how general MIDI a lot of the instruments sound. D&D really does work better in your imagination than put on the screen in front of you, because the budget needed to smooth out the rough edges is just too great. It also shows up just how much processing the sample tracks received compared to the commentary. The commentary sounds noticeably muffled and bassy by comparison, especially on track 1. I suspect much of this nitpickiness is precisely because I am a trained musician, but it does still make me feel like this stuff is not worth using, because I do know the mechanics of how it's done, and could replicate it if I wanted too. The fact that it also forces them to write adventures with quite linear design is another strike against it as a fashion. So it looks like distance has not removed my annoyance at this fad at all, and if anything has made it look worse. What a waste of money and time.


Another issue where the good articles are very very good, but there are also bits that are horrid too. The bonus CD feels like a dreadfully forced bit of promotion, and  the initial articles are mostly pretty dull. Still, it does look like some changes are coming soon. Unfortunately, I seem to remember them being mostly bad ones, at least in the near future. Still, at least that means I'll have something new to say. 10 years in which the magazine hardly changed at all is a pretty long time really. All things must pass. Roll on the new era.