Dragon Magazine Issue 220: August 1995


part 1/7


140 pages. A third enlarged issue this year, it seems. This is the biggest of them all,  and is actually the 4th largest issue in the magazine's run. Fairly impressive. It looks like there's going to be plenty of action this time round, with the contents page bursting at the seams. Still, quantity does not equal quality. But at least there's no 20 page promotional cuttings like a few issues ago.


In this issue:


Letters: A letter wondering who slade is. Ha. Now that's an interesting question with a fairly interesting answer. Whether he's more or less interesting than zeb though, is another matter.

A letter complaining about the frequency of alcohol in TSR's adventures and illustrations. Won't someone think of the children! Oh, this is an awkward one. Banning alcohol from your products is rather harder to do than getting rid of de:bleep:s because it would present an overly sanitised everyday world which lacked believable people with understandable motivations. It'd be like Star trek TNG or something. Plus it'd sell less. Kids want their transgression. Better they do it in their imagination than in reality.

A in ironically contrasting letter complaining TSR's products are too modern in their mindset, rather than being realistically medieval in terms of values. Again, they wouldn't sell as well if they were. You have to exercise dramatic licence as a producer of fantasy. Oh, the annoyances of compromise.


Editorial: Larry Smith the art director once again takes the editorial. And here we start to find out what they're planning. More themes and regular columns. Coverage of dead campaign worlds. Less CCG stuff, less stuff on other RPG's, it's time to focus on AD&D first and foremost. And thankfully, less articles that are just blatant promotion for an upcoming product. A decidedly mixed bag. The overall result seems to be a reduction in variety of topics covered, and a greater reliance upon the various regular columns. Well, we have found that highly specific topics like the ecologies make them less likely to precisely repeat themselves, particularly as long as the editorial control stays good, and there are lots of little details in the rulebooks and settings that could be expanded upon without meriting a full book. So we could well get more interesting AD&D specific crunch on various topics from this. As ever, I guess it depends on the writers and editors. But it does look like this new policy will make it easier for them to get trapped in a cycle of the same few options, again and again. I hope that won't be the case.


First Quest: Ed Stark? Who? :Googles: Lots of TORG, a little paranoia and star wars, some bloodshadows and shatterzone. That's a pretty good resume. Still, the fact that they're picking people who've only just joined the company shows they may be running short of people with interesting first time stories and the desire to tell them to the public. And really his first experience was nothing special. A little embarrassing, mainly due to an unwillingness to admit he was a noob, and didn't actually know what he was doing, but hey, most of us have done that at one time or another. Sometimes faking it until you make it is the best way in anyway. So this is one I can empathise with quite well, even though it doesn't match my own first time.  (I really ought to get round to talking about that before this column finishes, shouldn't I. ) It's short, but it gets the picture across pretty well.


Dirty Tricks: Or Tucker's kobolds, unofficial part 8: This time EVERYONE'S invited! Once again it's time to crack open the Art of War and show players and DM's how you can shift the odds of battle with some basic tactics, and if you're lucky, win fights without ever drawing a weapon. We've definitely been here before. Course, many people would ask why you would ever want to leave, when the alternative makes life so much shorter and nastier. This is basically another case where Greg Detwiler takes an already well-covered idea, and puts his own personal spins on it, introducing us to a whole bunch more specific ways in which you can screw your opponents over. So like another collection of monsters, spells, or magic items, this isn't original at all, but is entertaining and useful regardless of system. He's still a pretty solid contributor.


Politics of empire: We follow on with something on much the same topic, but far far more specific. A look at the politics of Birthright, and their trends from region to region. Heartlanders are expansionistic blame-shifters. Easterners pretend to be above all that politics crap while subtly manipulating everyone. Northerners & westerners are blunt and aggressive. And Southerners are most interested in getting their own domains prosperous by whatever means. Pretty broad stereotypes, but I suppose that helps a DM pick what kind of game they want to involve players in. PC's domains really ought to be set fairly near each other so they can interact in the political play segment of the game as well as the adventuring. And since you are in control of large areas which will change during game as you engage in trade and conquest, they can't just give potted lists of specific rulers for specific areas. This isn't hugely useful, and I suspect will become superfluous once you actually own a bunch of books for the setting. It's another case where the agenda to slip in a bit more promotion for their new books is pretty transparent. Still, it does give you a nice format for designing your own political regions, so it's not completely useless. Overall, it's another resounding meh.

Dragon Magazine Issue 220: August 1995


part 2/7


Hired Killerz: Hrm. This is a blast from the past in two ways at once. A look at assassins, which have been persona non grata for a good few years now. And a statting out of a character from a book, which is also something that's fallen out of fashion for a while. Here's talk about the kinds of hired killers out there, from guild assassins to brooding loners, and stats for Vlad Taltos from Steven Brust's series. Some of them are complete bastards, while others are merely morally ambiguous. They can be used as PC's, but watch out. And since they should be good at stealth and making getaways, they can be foreshadowed before the PC's ever meet them by having them kill NPC's, and then become recurring adversaries. This is mainly interesting because like making the fiends a crucial part of many planescape supplements, it shows a softening of their big edicts around the 2e changeover. Even without the company changeover, it's possible they would have become a class again in the next edition. It's also interesting because this time round, the literary part is done by someone who's familiar with roleplaying, and so the character converts a little more smoothly to gaming, although he still breaks D&D rules liberally. So this is quite an interesting article, as it shows they may start to incorporate more old school elements into the magazine in an attempt to win back readers. When you don't know what to do, try what worked before.


Moving in mysterious ways: What? What?! Riiiiight. This is an article that raises some rather complex questions. While having an all-encompassing way of categorising and dividing up your spells isn't a bad idea, it has the flaws that it can discourage creativity, and if the subdivisions are bad, some will be vastly more powerful than others and you may struggle to figure out where a more quirky power should go. In AD&D, it's Alteration that gets to be the catch-all school, and rather overpowered as a result. Eve if you were to separate out the spells that move things from those that transform them, it'd still be better than most of the others. So why not create the school of Apportation? With crucial stuff like knock, fly and haste falling under it's umbrella, it's hardly obscure or useless in practical situations. And it should be easy enough to figure out what spells from supplements should go into it. Will this fix the underlying problems in the school system? I'm not sure, although it is probably a step in the right direction. Albeit one that didn't make it to next edition, where transmuters remained one of the best specialist options. Oh well, we can still use the neat new spells, and ignore all the mechanical wrangling.

Little Bird is essentially a low weight telekinesis spell. Just the kind of thing you want as a stopgap between cantrips and the real thing to impress the rubes at low level.

March lets you move at full speed without any fatigue even when heavily encumbered. After a few levels, you'll be able to help the whole party, which is when you'll be weighed down with too much gear from your hauls anyway. Utility!

Tipple is more whimisical. You can make a swig of drink fly into your mouth on a whim. Tee hee. Very much in the gandalf spirit.

Bloodbridge lets you do blood transfusions, essentially transferring hit points, as last seen in issue 148. Wizards might struggle with creating hit points, but their ability to manipulate them is fairly well established now. (and they've never had any trouble removing them)

Mouse lets you enchant an object to run away and hide whenever anyone tries to mess with it. Another whimsical one I seem to recall coming from a cartoon.

Speed gives you the mobility boost of haste, but not all the other stuff. It has whimsical material components. Nuff said.

Teleport Object should be fairly obvious. Send it where you want, within reason. Which is an incredibly versatile trick really. Have fun setting up your xantatos caches.

Transpose gets a little more meta, allowing you to move properties from one thing to another. This does have slightly fuzzy rules, but is another one that can really reward imagination. What strange swaps will you engineer?

Transfuse takes things a step further, allowing you to steal characteristics from something, and quite possibly not give them back. This can be very mean indeed, and will definitely piss off players if it's used unwillingly, as it doesn't even allow a save.

Rip moves something in multiple directions simultaneously, causing quite substantial damage if not dispelled. Every school needs at least one good offensive trick, such as divination's ninja foresight and illusion's phantasmal killer.

Teleport Other is another one that can screw over enemies quite effectively. It does have a fairly nasty backlash though, making it one for when you hold a personal grudge against someone.

Mass Teleport and Mass teleport without Error are exactly what they sound like. Now you can take the whole party along. Another of those ones that casually changes the game once you have it.

Skycastle is one of those spells many an archmage will drool about getting their hands upon. Really, who doesn't want a flying castle? You've gotta think big, and this article certainly gives you several more spells that can really make your game feel fantastical.

Dragon Magazine Issue 220: August 1995


part 3/7


Things I learned at E3: It's Zeb Cook's turn to do some post convention reporting for us. Seems like he's actually been around more since he left the company. Anyway, E3 is a computer games convention, but since quite a few gaming companies are licencing out their properties, he has quite a bit of stuff relevant to our interests. Baldur's Gate and Torment, Gary Gygax's new game Hunters of Balk, (another one I've never heard of, once again showing how he failed to bottle lightning twice) and several star trek games. Fairly short, this mainly drops names, without talking too much about the events. I guess the computer gaming crowd aren't so likely to kidnap you and hold you for ransom. As a result, there's not much I can say about it apart from that I found it vaguely dissatisfactory. He ought to read Roger's reports, pick up some pointers.


Dice Advice: As they did with the two CCG's, now it's time for twinking tips for Dragon Dice. Single theme decks are dumb and easy to counter, a mixed team will usually do better. He who dares wins. Terrain is important. Plan ahead. Make sure you finish a defeated enemy completely. Don't forget to recruit and heal troops, otherwise you'll lose via attrition. If it looks like victory is within your grasp, then is the time to go all out and sacrifice resources. It does look like this is a game which can go on for quite a long time if you have competent players, since you can replenish your forces, and conservative players could get into an extended standoff  as they try to build up an advantage. Once again, it shows that playtesting is going on in the TSR offices, and fun is being had. After all, you want people to keep on buying the booster packs to upgrade their forces. If they stop playing after a few tries, they won't do that.


The thought police: Muhahaha! Or how to make sure players don't steamroller over the militia. While wizards are squishy and can only cast once or twice a day at low levels, psionicists start off with a decent selection of powers, can use moderate weapons & armor, and can recharge with an hour or two off before going back on the beat. In addition, the whole telepathy and synergistic abilities angle, combined with their subtle disposition towards disciplined thinking in general, makes them much more able to work together than any spellcasters apart from priests of some particularly orderly gods. It all makes a good deal of sense, even if the requirements for the class might be an issue. This article approaches telling us this in a pretty entertaining way too, with some ecology style fiction with rules notes afterwards. The ramifications of their common powers are examined logically, and with a nice bit of humour as the hapless thieves come up against powers beyond their ken. It all makes it into an option that could be used not just one, but several times with different variants in a psionics heavy campaign. I strongly approve.


Role-playing reviews: Don't look back: Terror is never far behind gets one of those reviews that is less about the game at hand than it is a look at the history of rules evolution in RPG's. In particular, the examination of how mechanics affect mood. The eventual conclusion is fairly positive, but it doesn't seem too exceptional in setting or system. It has to compete in a pretty busy market these days, and modern conspiracy horror is a pretty well run genre. It really needs something extra to make it stand out from the crowd.

Shattered dreams puts you in the role of dreamwalkers, exploring the dreams of others and defending them from creatures of nightmare. This cool premise is not followed up though, with clunky mechanics and cliche-ridden setting design. There are far better games which can do the same thing, so why bother?

Psychosis: Ship of foo(a)ls is a more successful experiment in RPG design. All the players begin amnesiac and completely detached from reality, and the fun is in realising just how screwed up they actually are in reality, kinda like a reverse Changeling the Dreaming where sanity is the goal rather than something to avoid at all costs. It's a limited game designed to last around 6-8 sessions, and makes a highly amusing diversion for a group.


Forum: Tim Jones has some advice for Joe Walker. Wishes go wrong, prices come due, ooh, how about now. Get too it. Give them some challenges suitable to their powers.

Alan Clark says much the same thing, but in far more sadistic terms. We sorted out this problem for star wars, we can certainly do so for D&D. Use your ultimate world controlling power and snap them like twigs.

Eric Aune tells joe walker to retire his group. Sometimes it's the only way, and this looks like the case here. He has similarly blunt and unambiguous advice for other forumites too.

John Holcomb is being driven away from AD&D by the sheer bloat of products. It's impossible to use it all, and his group keeps arguing over what exactly to do, winding up getting very little done. There's too many choices, too many books to haul around, and they've virtually stopped supporting regular D&D. It's not good for the company. Ah yes. Choice is a good thing, but the human mind is not equipped to deal with too many choices, and TSR has pushed well over that limit by now and is busily spreading itself too thin. Another sign their public support is definitely going downhill these days.

Christopher Kelley is finding that roleplaying is still very much a man's game where he lives. He's tried to get more girls interested, to much apathy. It isn't very pleasing.

Anonymous writes in, giving some more worldbuilding ideas, plus one rather sadistic little adventure seed that'll make your life very interesting. Take all their stuff away, make them really work to get it back. Many adventurers don't look nearly as impressive without their shiny toys.

Jess Hallsworth concentrates more on game running advice than worldbuilding, but still has helpful info to impart. Sometimes it seems like the forum has more concentrated useful info than the rest of the magazine put together.

Dragon Magazine Issue 220: August 1995


part 4/7


Eye of the monitor: Warcraft gets a second review in quick succession. This is becoming a definite issue with having two sets of reviewers who don't seem to be very well co-ordinated. (unlike the minis pair, curiously. ) Once again, it's a pretty positive review, with the main complaints being that the two sides are mechanically identical, and the computer AI is too easy. Going multiplayer is definitely the right course for them.

Machiavelli is a sim game of renaissance politics. Explore the world, trade, build up political power and take over Venice. It does have some amusing play elements, but ultimately falls prey to grindyness. Just like real life then.

Blood Bowl is of course a computer game conversion of Games Workshop's grimdark fantasy football game. Unfortunately, it seems unfinished. The AI sucks, they hadn't got round to implementing online play and intend to do so in a patch, and there are stupid tactical mess-ups. Really not worth bothering with.

We also have a quick review of Inside Mac Games magazine. It's another good example of people taking advantage of the cheapness of CD's, as it comes packed with demos and shareware. They've still got a userbase big enough to produce more games than you can play. Now they just need a few more regular consumers to pay for this stuff.


Arcane Lore: Another variant magic type? They are definitely experimenting more with the rules here these days, not just in the books. While not as ambitious as the Paths of Power stuff from issue 216, this is a lot easier to incorporate into a regular campaign, and less arcane in it's additional rules. Say hello to sea magic. Now, you might think that with two different types of water elementalists, this would be redundant, but as we've found over the years, you should never underestimate people's ability to think up interesting new variants. And the sea is more than just water. There's air, weather, and all the various practical bits and pieces you need to maintain a boat. Plus pirates, sea creatures, supplies, and all those things that a pure water specialist, or even an air/water hybrid wouldn't have any particular proficiency with. So these are the arcane and divine equivalents of the Mariner, exceedingly useful in an ocean environment, but with serious limitations on land. Very handy to have around as NPC's, but players should take them with caution. The DM may sink your battleship and send you to Athas. Still, even if you don't take the speciality, you can get some of the useful new spells here. There are quite a few of them for both clerics and wizards.

Conjure Water Elemental is another boring symmetry filler. I find this very appropriate since we had the air one recently in issue 205.

Elemental Control lets you nick someone else's summoned elemental. It's lower level than the regular spell too, so if you know you're up against a big bad who likes using stuff like this, it could strike at their weak spot and win the battle.

Hold Wave is less fun than it sounds, becalming an area rather than freezing water in position. I wanted to make water sculptures. :pouts:

Home Port lets you do the pigeon thing. It can last for months cast by a high level character, so one responsible cleric can make a huge difference to the prosperity of a port town. Shipshape and Bristol fashion. Come back with plenty of slaves, won't you.

Protection from fire becomes applicable to inanimate objects. Now that's a useful bit of customisation. How often have you lost stuff to fire under the current item save rules?

Sea Form lets you turn into a liquid ooze shape. This makes you hard to hurt and able to slip around, but slow, and naked when you reform. Useful for spying and escapes into the sea then, but not so much for getting into fights.

Sea Mount is another basic summoning spell. It's only useful for transport, not combat though. And it may backfire if they break free. At this level, there are quicker and more reliable means of transportation.

Speak with Sea Creatures demonstrates that specialising has it's downsides too. So much for being able to communicate with landdwelling animals. Oh well, more incentive to stick to what you know.

Surf is a baby environmental havoc wreaker for mid-level clerics. Even mildly choppy waters can play havoc with shipping. And sometimes you've gotta use that kind of leverage if you want the community to listen. Peaceful protest works best when they know you can back your words up with actions.

Swim lets people who can't swim do so. Another useful low level trick that you may find yourself memorising multiple times in your role as party utility belt. Being a cleric can be tedious sometimes.

Compass is the wizardly navigational aid. Slightly less useful than the cleric one,

Elemental Turning is a direct cleric spell conversion. Having a specialised niche lets you penetrate some of the normal

Fireproof is pretty self explanatory. In this case Wizards have to take a different route for their magical protections. No saving yourself with this one.

Ironwood is an idea we've seen before in the magazine. (Issue 142. ) It's less powerful than last time too. I know it's appropriate, but once again, I am bored.

Protection from normal missiles also becomes applicable to inanimate objects. Hell, there's a lot of spells that you could profit from by applying that variant too, one  direction or the other. Maybe it should be a metamagic feat.

Summon Wind will hopefully give you a trouble free journey right to your destination, controlling the weather for days or weeks. Given it's material components and other provisos, you'd better hope you get lucky on those rolls.

Tsunami is another one repeated from issue 205. Course, 9th level wizard spells have a bit more leeway in their ability to devastate than 7th level cleric ones, so it's rather bigger and scarier this time.

Waterspout is another devastation inflicter that won't be a huge amount of use on land. Like regular tornados, it's relatively contained, allowing you to devastate what you want and not everything around it.

Wood Rot decays an enemy ship. A non sea mage could probably apply this to other structures too, but that's something they'll just have to live with. Have fun deciding if this one is worth it in your campaign or not. It's one I have no objection to incorporating, in any case.

Dragon Magazine Issue 220: August 1995


part 5/7


Bazaar of the Bizarre: A second article on elven-made magical items in the same year? Dear oh dear, they really are running out of original submissions. This kind of   close repetition would never have got through under Roger's run.

Arrows of Return come back a limited number of times. They get less effective each time. Really, who decided to make magical arrows limited use devices anyway?

The Cloak of the Unicorn lets you get around the usual "virgins only" association policy, and also transform yourself into a unicorn as well. At last! Now that's an item I can really get behind.

Faerie Stones have a whole bunch of minor powers. Infravision extension, telepathy, magic missiles. I fail to see the connection, but they're all pretty useful powers. People of any class would find these desirable.

Elven Hounds are a rather unimaginatively named figurine. You call on them, they come to life. The usual deal, and not nearly as imaginative in abilities either as the set from issue 196.

The Rod of Sylvan Prowess changes shape to become a whole bunch of weapons and utility devices. Much more useful than just a basic werebow

Elven Blades reinforce the "elves are superior" meme by having the same stats as katanas. Superlame and unneeded, especially if you're already using the complete book of elves.

Tents of Elvenkind apply the same concealing material used in their cloaks, and those for their horses. I suspect that this is applicable to nearly anything, including full-size buildings. Once again I yawn.

Wands of Faerie Spheres have 7 powers, each based upon a different colour. All have rather unpleasant effects upon the person engulfed in them. Should be something to penetrate most resistances here if you choose wisely. So lots of cool stuff here, but another irritating reminder of people's elf fetish, and tendency to give them stuff better than other people. Tensions tensions.


Sage advice: Can you cast spells through a peephole (no, you filthy pervert )

Can you raise a faerie dragon. (Why in the name of all that is serious would you do that! Only with resurrection.)

I thought you couldn't cast walls of stone in the air to crush people, but Elminster did. I wanna do it too. How much damage does it do? ( YOU can't. Elminster can, because he's a genius gary-stu. Now stop hassling Skip. Skip answered this question years ago. )

What's elven huntsmen's tracking penalty (only -3. It may not seem like much, but 15% is not to be sneezed at)

The complete book of necromancers thinks wizards are 3 times as likely to become wild talents as everyone else ( Curse that incompetent freelancer! Skip hears he's been sneaking actual play reports from his own campaign into a generic splatbook and engaging in telling you about his characters without a licence as well. Fear not, skip is still The Sage! (oooh, ahh) Skip will hunt him down and put the pages in his mages and a broomstick between his legs most painfully.)  

Why is detect life only printed once (because it's identical for both classes. We can't be bothered to write it twice. )

Can gloves of missile snaring stop a magic missile (Nope. Aint nothin stoppin a magic missile short of a sphere of invulnerability dude. )

Can a dustman protect others from undead by interposing themself. ( No. That's a definite act of hostility. But then, you've already broken into their home. Would you stand for that in their place?)

Psionicists can't learn empower at level 10 because they don't get a slot. Do they have to wait another level (Yes. Oh woe. Surely you can wait that long. )

Is a psionic item limited to using int based powers (no)

How do psionic powers that involve transfer of stuff work for items (They transfer or drain the owner's stuff. Thankfully, they need consent to do this. )

How fast do psionic items regain PSP's (6 per hour)

Does a ring of wizardry double all a specialist's spells ( No, only the general ones Multipliers go before additions, remember. )

What does a druid see when looking at an illusory forest (Fakery! Flimflam! A risible attempt at deception! Mistletoe doesn't grow like that! The angles are all wrong. And look at those leaves. How could anyone believe in that for a second!)

Which method do you use for a demihuman's method of surprise (recycled question. Best option, as ever)

Can you teleport past an ottilukes resilient sphere (Sure. It's a higher level spell, so it has priority.)

Dragon Magazine Issue 220: August 1995


part 6/7


Dangerous ground: Last issue we had a good deal of talk about swashbuckling. Here we have a related topic, that of setting your fights on interesting terrain, and how to take advantage of that. After all, in movies people do often fight high on rooftops, along narrow cliffs, over balconies, swamp water, cramped basements, and all kinds of other interesting locations. All you need to do is apply a few mechanical effects, and make sure the party don't defy physics too egregiously in their positioning & movements. A little sketch or minis may help with this. So it's one of those bits of fairly basic advice that you may well have already figured out on your own, but it still does them good to spell out. After all, if people make their games exciting and dramatic, we're more likely to stick around. And if there's anyone who doesn't think that's a good idea, I pity their business model.


Fiction: Hunt's end by Rudy Thauberger. Another Dark Sun story here that seems to have been picked to tie in with a recent splatbook, since we did get one on the thri-kreen a few months ago. Still, it's not by the same author as the book, and indeed not by a regular author at all, so it looks like it's more lucky co-incidence on the magazine's part that they got this submission. Still, it has an excellent handle on the general atmosphere of the setting, where life is harsh, psionics are omnipresent, and the only people with any moral conflicts are the protagonists. It also manages to deal with the fact that the giant insects are rather alien, and even if you live with them and they consider you part of the pack, you'll never entirely understand each other. So it's a pretty decent addition to the list of stuff for this setting, which has managed to run nicely for a good few years now. The combination of many small ways that it differs from standard fantasy is pretty well established, which means they don't have to spend half the story just making sure you understand what they're talking about and getting you to buy into the world, which is a definite issue with many of the standalone bits of short fiction.


Do it on the cheap: Or how to save a big of money when convention going. A very short article, padded out with extra spacing, layout tricks and photos, this is one of those articles that feels like it was put in at the last moment to fill out space, but it does still have some useful information, especially for newbies. As a promotional article, it manages to remind us that convention season is upon us without being too intrusive. Overall, I think this warrants a meh, as it's not really consequential enough to have an opinion one way or another.


Rumblings: Another fairly TSR centric rumours column this month. Since they're starting to draw back from the rest of the hobby, I suspect this will be another continuing trend. That great lost project Wildspace gets a good teasing. When will it come out? What will it look like? How an something that had so many prongs of attack planned just disappear with barely a trace? More successful, of course, is the return of Tracey & Margaret to do more Dragonlance books. Well, successfully released, anyway. In other annoying news,. Tim Beach is leaving. Now we'll never get sourcebooks expanding on the rest of the savage coast. And a company is going to try and release a home VR system costing $ 8,000. Yeah, I don't think that's going to be a commercial success. Although given computer's depreciation, something like that would cost, what, $60 today. If only VR had become a fad 10 years later, it might have actually lasted. On the other hand, there's a ton of MMO games coming out around this time, and they're cheap enough to play for hours these days. They're actually an idea who's time has come. So once again we see how high the ratio of hits to misses is in commercial ventures.


The game wizards: Ooop. Speaking of Athas enjoying a healthy life, this is where it really started to go wrong for them. They lived by the metaplot, and then they died by the metaplot, as the changes made to the setting progressed so fast, and in many cases reduced adventure hooks because the good guys won regularly, that they alienated a lot of people. And this is where it really came to a head, as they released a new corebox, and it became near impossible for existing campaigns to ignore the effects, especially if you wanted to use the new geographical areas opened up. On top of that, they tried to fix the psionics system, but I found the new one more confusing than the old. And the answers to many of the things that were mysterious before weren't particularly brilliant. So in hindsight, we can chalk this up as another big fat misstep. How does something that has so many cool ideas put into it wind up becoming so much less than the sum of it's parts?

Quote from: (un)reason;437790Dragon Magazine Issue 220: August 1995


part 6/7


Dangerous ground: Last issue we had a good deal of talk about swashbuckling. Here we have a related topic, that of setting your fights on interesting terrain, and how to take advantage of that. After all, in movies people do often fight high on rooftops, along narrow cliffs, over balconies, swamp water, cramped basements, and all kinds of other interesting locations. All you need to do is apply a few mechanical effects, and make sure the party don't defy physics too egregiously in their positioning & movements. A little sketch or minis may help with this. So it's one of those bits of fairly basic advice that you may well have already figured out on your own, but it still does them good to spell out. After all, if people make their games exciting and dramatic, we're more likely to stick around. And if there's anyone who doesn't think that's a good idea, I pity their business model.

I just re-read this piece recently (I'm the guy who wrote it), and I think it holds up. Yeah, it's basic advice, but as you say it's worth it to spell it out. I'm running a little D&D 4e mini-campaign for some of my friends who have 11-year-old sons, and the basic principle of making the terrain part of the action is something that I still try to do. So in one fight there was a big stream that the heroes wanted to cross to get away from the bad guys, and one PC fell in and had to fight his way across; in another, a giant tunneling engine with giant borer-teeth operated by machinesmith orcs was a moving piece of the battlefield.

Anyway, as always, thanks for doing this.

Dragon Magazine Issue 220: August 1995


part 7/7


Jen still doesn't suspect treachery in libram X. Dragonmirth is concerned about getting in..... and out. Swordplay come out ahead of the game for a change. Yamara is off into space again.


From the forge: Oh man. Now this is a classic intro. After many columns of horror at the legal issues and price increases minis have faced in recent years, we have a far less weighty complaint. Bright colours are winning over fine detail and shading, particularly in recent contests! Thats a gitoffa mah lawn moment if ever there was one. Not that it probably isn't true, if I know human nature, but it's rather a vain cry, like the one against the loudness wars in music. Some things rise to the top, but it's not always the cream. If only there were something we could do to raise the average level of intellectualism in the world. Oh, wait. There's plenty you can do on a local scale, if you get off your ass and engage with the community.

But anyway, the minis themselves. A female barbarian with a sabretooth tiger which looks like it would like to make a meal out of all suitors. A quartet of pirates, some overdressed and others under. In similar contrast, a trio of vampires and opposing trio of vampire hunters. I think the undead still have the advantage though. Games workshop have a trio of their individually named standardbearer characters examined. Njal Stormcaller the Space Wolf for WH40k, Varang Ghoulchewer for Blood Bowl, and Teclis for WFB. All are pretty good, if rather expensive. We then change gear for 5 wizards. One is rather large, and has a robe that only goes to knee length, which is vaguely amusing, while the other 4 are a more generic elementalist set with appropriate accessories to their outfits. You ought to know that just makes it easier for enemies to predict and counter your actions. A trio of heavily armed stormtroopers, who's actions are likely to be even more predictable still. A duo of secret agents, who may not actually use their weapons. And a chaos lord and lich with over the top thrones that make it very likely they will apply excessive force to a problem. Probably overcompensating for something, as usual. Just get them bickering and sneak out while they're distracted.


TSR Previews: We go from Players Option to Dungeon Masters Options. High level campaigns helps you go up to level 30. Skip Williams tries to make the rules go to the limit without breaking. Whether he succeeded or not is very debatable. Also pushing their luck this month is the Complete series, with the Ninjas handbook. I really do roll my eyes. Go on, pander to the cheesemonkeys if you think it'll help you. Slightly more cerebral is Chronomancer. Can you make time travelling work in your campaign? Signs point to it being tricky.

The Forgotten Realms tries to put new spins on familiar subjects. Giantcraft follows up on the recent novels to make giant PC's playable and expand on their lifestyles. How does it compare to Council of Wyrms? And Drizzt gets a copycat in Daughter of the Drow by Elaine Cunningham. A drow princess goes adventuring, and winds up being rather more generous than most of her race. Methinks my Aaaangst-o-meter may start pinging.

Birthright also gets a double bill. Sword and Crown puts you up against three simultaneous problems. Figure out how to delegate or splitting the party seems the most likely option, worryingly. Simon Hawke completes the first Birthright novel, meanwhile. The Iron Throne serves as a warning tale of how you could screw it up and lose your own rulership. Learn it's lessons well.

Ravenloft follows up it's van richten's guide with a themed adventure, as usual. The Evil eye has you getting vistani aid, then getting on their bad side, much to your danger. Will you face a fate worse than death?

And finally, we have a third collectible game this year. Dragon Dice. Man, TSR really jumped on this bandwagon quickly and enthusiastically. But not to much success. Anyone know how and why that happened?


Having just said what they're going to get rid of in the revamps, this magazine sure has a lot of it. I suppose it's the usual thing where they burn through the existing reserves before making a fresh start. As a result, most of the increased size went to tiresome promotional stuff again. Still, there is also a definite increase in the amount of useful crunch as well. So once again it's a real struggle to get through the whole thing, but there are a few worthwhile things to reward me for doing so. I can not wait for things to be switched up a bit.

Dragon Magazine Issue 221: September 1995


part 1/7


124 pages. Larry Elmore turns up again, with a summer themed cover that's as pretty as ever. Summer's over now, my dear. Dark clouds are gathering, and both the protagonists are looking pretty pensive and brooding. Even the horse doesn't look like it's in a frolicking mood, despite it's expensive looking accoutrements. Very fitting, really. As is standard this year, there's no particular theme or hook in the contents page to grab us, focus our attention and sway those on the fence about picking the magazine up. Turning the page to see what's next is once again proving to be quite the effort.


In this issue:


Letters: A letter complaining that they should do more fiction. Ironically, they're skipping it this month. It seems unlikely this particular request will be honored.

A letter grumbling about having to pay extra for the bonus CD, especially as the product itself was so lackluster. Don't do it again. They make no promises, apart from not to charge subscribers extra. (So subscribe now. Save money! Tee Hee. )

Another request for a complete index for the magazine. It's all on the internet, being regularly updated. Get with the times man!

A letter complaining about the unprofessional behaviour of their computer games columnists. Fear not. They're being shown the door as of this issue. That'll teach them! I think this is following the path of what they were going to do anyway.

A letter pointing out the nostalgic callbacks in the new corebooks. The artists have had fun updating, and in many cases improving on old favourites like a paladin in hell and Emrikol the chaotic. Course, it's the originals that'll still get most of the glory. Will any of the new ones enjoy the same memorability and longevity?


Editorial: After a mere 4 months as head editor. Wolfgang decides this job isn't for him, and buggers off to become a full-time writer. This is really not what he saw himself doing. Which is understandable. Very few people go into any field with the intention of becoming the wind beneath someone else's wings. Course, he will wind up in this position again in a decade's time when he sets up Kobold Quarterly, but hey, he gets to be his own boss there and top of the masthead. Plus 12 years of experience and maturity can change someone's viewpoint in all sorts of ways. But back to the past. This probably means the period of transition and uncertainty will be extended by several months more, as they get the new guys up to speed. '95 really is not being a good year for them. It's a good thing they still have the rest of the team working away stalwartly in the face of changing orders and budget cuts, or they'd start missing months.


First quest: Michael Stackpole? Once again it seems like they're choosing writers who haven't done much in D&D before. In fact, he seems to be primarily a novelist rather than a gaming writer, which I find very curious since they cut coverage of that in recent years. In fact the main game he's written for is Tunnels & Trolls. And in fact, that was the first game he played as well. He then leapt straight into writing an adventure, and sold it back to the publishers, which goes to show, it was much easier to get into roleplaying back in the 70's. He then had to sink or swim, GM'ing with much more experienced players and realising just how much freedom the RPG medium offers.  He did resort to a little fiat attack when the players outsmarted him, but hey, what can you do. Actually, you can go the complete opposite way to me, and wind up playing virtually dicelessly for long periods of time, making most of the setting up on the fly, but that's not a bad thing as long as the players are having fun and you can keep a hold on continuity. It is roleplaying, after all. So this is probably completely different from most people's early experiences, but still very interesting for it.

Dragon Magazine Issue 221: September 1995


part 2/7


In dreams: Ah yes, dream magic. That's a topic that rolls around every few years. Issue 132 featured an entire class devoted to dream powers, there's been the odd spell or two in other issues, and of course, there were several big reviews of games in which dream magic features heavily, such as Changeling the Dreaming and Shattered Dreams. So I guess it would be appropriate for the magazine to jump on the bandwagon again, with this article by the assistant editor.

Alter Dream lets you play dreamlord. This is exceedingly versatile and can mimic several lower level spells by controlling what they experience and giving them ideas. Have fun.

Enter Dream is one we've had before, in issue 204. This works somewhat better than the psionic version, but still isn't really long enough to see a full dream. Is this really so hard to do? Maybe if it actually sent you in bodily, instead of leaving the caster asleep and vulnerable. Nah, that'd definitely need to be a higher level spell.

Conjure Dream Object is one of those ones that'll be a pain to adjudicate, as it requires you to keep track of the weird things the character has seen in dreams. And since they lack any supernatural properties in the real world, this is just a bit annoying. So this is serious wasted potential in a fantastical magical world.

Conjure Nightmare lets you get hold of said lower-planar horses. If you're not a scumbag, it may be more trouble than it's worth. Plus it may disappear abruptly if the dream it came from ends. I suppose it is a good deal better than basic monster summoning'd get you, so it needs the drawbacks to balance things out.

Endless Slumber is your basic sleeping beauty effect. Only a wish or a very specific condition chosen by the caster can break it. Very much one for making games work like stories.

Sleepless Curse keeps them awake for one day a level. At the level you can cast it, this has a pretty decent chance of killing them if it isn't removed in time. Drop that on them and teleport out, leaving them to deal with the consequences while you get on with your real plans.  

Sleepwalking will of course let you control someone while they're asleep, with no memory of what they did. It's way weak for it's level, when you consider how long and effectively charm person lasts. Not worth bothering with unless you're theme obsessed.

Slumber is like Sleep, only it doesn't break if you kill them, essentially making this a save or die in combat. it's got a longer duration and harder save than Hold Person too, making it quite a nasty option for capturing and humiliating someone.

True Dream is your basic semiprophetic dream spell. it's such a staple of literature, and so subject to fiat, it probably ought to be lower level. I grow increasingly tired of that kind of spell.

True Nightmare keeps you from refreshing your spells, and otherwise prevents you from getting a restful night. It's short duration though, so you'll need to have regular access to the victim to keep casting it. Probably better in a city/espionage situation than a dungeon crawl then. Actually, it'll be easier to get another couple of levels and go straight to sleepless curse.

Healing Dream gives wizards another option for facilitating health in their buds. Ok, it's only 2hp per level, and takes it's time, but as ever, it's better than nothing.

Overall, I think we have an article which is strong on flavour, but moderately weak on mechanics, with several of the spells rather under or overpowered by comparison to existing stuff of the same level, or just problematic. I thought he was supposed to be an editor. I suppose it is hard to look over your own work objectively. But surely they have other people in the staff to do that these days? In any case, this is a bit disappointing, but not truly terrible.


Magic of kings, magic of the land: New spells for Birthright's realm magic system. Seems a reasonable enough idea, particularly as the selection in the core set was fairly limited. Since I seem to remember Birthright was a rather short-lived setting, it's probably not going to be that filled in, so any new crunch the magazine can fill in is welcome.  

Forethought gives you an extra domain action next turn. Since this costs an action to cast, it'll only be useful if used very tactically. Practice your chessmaster-like planning ahead for great justice.

Disrupt Ley Line puts a short term blockage in place. You'll probably have to scope out the ley of the land to get the one that'll reduce enemy power the most. Good thing you'll probably be dealing with recurring enemies in this world.

Tangle Ley Lines is slightly more powerful, temporarily stopping all the ley lines in a province from passing power. This means it's a more blunt tool, and may disadvantage you too or make unexpected enemies if cast in the wrong place.

Duplicate lets a wizard bugger off for a few months adventuring or studying and have a magical clone handle the tedious day to day stuff. This'll only work for a little while though. And don't let the public know, or they'll be deeply annoyed that you're slacking off.

Enhance Source lets you double the power you can get for a couple of turns. It's fairly expensive, but you will get a net positive from doing so if you tap them out both turns. So this is another one you use just before you plan to be very busy dealing with trouble.

Locate Sources is the only spell here that can be used from 1st level. Good thing too, as a new wizard probably needs a bit of help figuring out where there's some magic to tap. Course, you will need to get at least a little magical energy to cast it in the first place. It can be hard getting on the first rung.

Divine Right is mechanically identical to forethought, but has completely different fluff. An interesting example of reskinning here then. I quite approve.

Erik's Preserve prevents natural disasters in an area. Get the weather to behave, and you have a tremendous advantage in farming. One that seems likely to make you popular with the common people.

Hand of Peace makes everyone stop fighting, walk home and suffer amnesia. The kind of thing that's pretty impressive in narrative terms, in other worlds, this would be very scary to be confronted with, especially as it doesn't have a save.

Haelyns Courage is a god specific spell that buffs the troops and keeps them loyal to you, as long as you act appropriately. Typical godly behaviour, really. You could do similar spells for all sorts of gods.

Nesirie's Blessing lets you move your ships around faster by giving them favorable winds. It's fairly cheap too, so you can easily recoup your costs in trade profits. Pretty unfair advantage for that clergy, really.

Dragon Magazine Issue 221: September 1995


part 3/7


The little wish: As with Kobolds, you really shouldn't underestimate cantrips. They might not be able to inflict direct damage, but given a few levers and a bit of preparation, a tiny push in the right place can cause an avalanche. And yet, they don't get used nearly enough, as to get access to them requires sacrificing a 1st level spell slot, which is pretty valuable for a low level wizard. This article tries to solve several birds with one stone by making cantrip use a proficiency, allowing wizards to pull off extra little magical tricks if they want too, but not reliably, and allow members of other classes to be dabblers in magic without going through all the rigamarole of multi-or dual classing. I suspect this article may have influenced their decision to include 0 level spells next edition, so even 1st level characters always have a decent selection of options up their sleeve. So this is quite nice from a mechanical viewpoint, and also from a flavour one, as it helps make the game more literary and playful, rewarding creative thinking. Add in the historical significance, and I think this qualifies as one of the closest things to a classic article from this year, along with paths of power and the demiplane of shadow.


The ley of the land: More tales from the coalface about Birthright's nifty realm magic system. Getting hold of that magic and maintaining those ley lines takes a fairly substantial amount of planning and resources. And if you have any enemies, then they can disrupt any leylines if they can get into a territory that they pass through. This means that you have to make a choice between having multiple lines that cost more to maintain, or a few long ones that have more chances to be broken. Either way, it's important to keep track of where they all are, because otherwise it makes the domain stuff pretty pointless. This article points out the ambiguities in the rules as presented in the core box set, but instead of giving them a straight answer, decides to give us four different options of how they could be interpreted, in roughly increasing order of power and flexibility. Which means you can figure out if you want wizards to dominate domain play as they do many other arenas, or if the fighters have a far easier time in this sphere. This results in an article that is quite interesting, but also pretty ambiguous. Like the Player's option stuff, this is very much left open for individual groups to customise, and may well lose easy buy-in due to that. Birthright is already a fairly hard sell to a group given it's theme and the number of active worlds it has to compete with. Making the new rules vague and open to interpretation only makes that worse.


Arcane lore: Hmm. Rather depressing to realize that in more than 12 years of Arcane Lore and Pages from the Mages, this is only the third spellbook by a female writer revealed in the magazine. (and the other two were both written by Ed.) Once again the bias inherent in people's assumptions is thrown into sharp relief by the few exceptions. Still, this little collection has 9th level spells in it, so a few women are managing to follow the seven sister's example and go all the way to archmagedom. Say hello to Zala and her book of barriers. Looks like they're going to be filling in abjuration, which is also one of the more neglected schools. How very pleasing.

Zala's Icejacket coats you in a mobile barrier of snow. This is moderately versatile and protects you against both mundane and magical heat. Plus you could break a bit off to suck if you don't have a cleric to provide water.

Compose Mind protects you from mundane distractions, and low level magic ones too. If I had that, I'd be getting all this writing done a hell of a lot faster.

Zala's Lifeforce Guardian keeps your soul safe. This protects against some quite powerful magics for such a low level spell, such as energy draining. You're unlikely to regret learning this one. After all, a life ends, but your soul should be forever if you look after it properly. Yet far too many people take it for granted. Take care of your soul.

Zala's Forcebuckler gives you generalised AC and spell protection. It's another one that burns itself out after absorbing an attack. Is that going to be a general trait of this collection?

Zala's Amberhelm counters psionics. They won't get inside your mind. It can be overloaded, but it's a lot trickier, as the levels mount up.

Repulse Metal is of course perfect for dealing with those plate-clad lummoxes. And unlike a rust monster, it won't ruin their equipment. Keep them at a distance and use your wizardly blasting powers to their full potential.

Thunguul's Preservation squirrels some of your hp away for a rainy day. Another trick enemy wizards can use to escape insufficiently zealous heroes and get revenge later.

Zala's Deception combines blink and mirror image to make your location indeterminate for an entire combat. The images don't disappear and your real location teleports between them. This should increase your survivability quite a lot.

Zala's Disruption causes everyone around (including the caster) to forget a load of the spells they've memorized. Like any AoE spell, this needs to be applied wisely. After all, it's not often you face large quantities of low level spellcasters, unlike warriors, and you could wind up hurting your own party more.

Tobian's Ultimate Circle is completely invulnerable from one side only. Course, if you cast two of them, that little problem can be fixed, and you have a completely impenetrable warding circle that'll outlast the world. Now that's the kind of thing you should be doing with 9th level magic. Another strong entry in this series.

Dragon Magazine Issue 221: September 1995


part 4/7


Eight ways to tame the dark overlord: After several issues in a row where they showed you how to make your villains scary and effective, they remember that just maybe the heroes are supposed to win. How are they going to do that if the villain outclasses the heroes that much? Weak points! Be they psychological, or actual statistical issues, you have to give the players something they can exploit. Or just make them imprisoned, crippled or in another plane, and the real battle is to keep them from being unleashed on the world, because if you face them directly, you've already lost. After all, the only time we ever see Sauron in LotR is briefly via palantir, and he's defeated by exploiting a weak spot rather than direct combat. And if the players do screw up, you can give them at least one second chance by having them captured instead of killed, which we know doesn't work well in D&D. So this is very typical 2nd edition advice encouraging you to put story before mechanics, and if necessary, break the rules to make the story continue to work. A bit awkward really. You're trying to fix problems you made in the first place. Oh if only they could have just not made them in the first place.


Role-playing reviews: Players option: Combat and tactics sees Rick skeptical at first, but won over fairly quickly. For the first time in, like, evar, someone is trying to seriously clean up the rules of the game instead of just adding more and more stuff or giving them a cosmetic polish. Attacks of opportunity, weapon groups, a greater emphasis on tactical movement, there's quite a bit of stuff that would make it into the next edition, albeit further cleaned up in a lot of ways. Course, there's also quite a lot of stuff that wouldn't as well, and there's too many options for a group to really use it all at once. It OUGHT to improve your game. Well, yeah. In theory, every supplement you buy ought to improve the game. But in practice, too many choices leads to options paralysis and less gets done. And this is where that point hits for me. Maybe if they'd done it a few years earlier, it wouldn't be such a problem. Once again, there's plenty to speculate about how this could have been done differently and in a less alienating way. As is often the case at the moment, I'm finding it rather frustrating.

The ultimate martial artist is for the HERO system. With over a hundred martial arts detailed from around the world, with plenty of research on their details, and how they translate into the system, it is indeed pretty ultimate. On top of that, it has conversion notes for lots of popular systems, including D&D, that'll allow you to add some more MA to them as well. Looks like you can get plenty of bang for your buck from this one.

Arms Law is of course for Rolemaster. And equally obviously, It makes skills & powers look quick and simple. Which is of course exactly what it's target audience buy it for. That and the funny bits in the vast critical hit tables, which never seems to get old. If you want your combat complex and brutal, accept no substitute. But since Rick is starting to incline towards lighter games, he doesn't give it as high a mark as the other two.  


The role of books: Angel souls and devil hearts by Christopher Golden is a high action vampire thriller, owing as much to James Bond as Dracula. People are coming up with all kinds of different vampire variants these days, and doing well from them. Course, he'll do even better once he moves into playing with other people's worlds, but that's another story for a different time and place.

The fearful summons by Denny Martin Flynn is another star trek book that fails to write the existing characters very well. Seems like they have particularly low quality control as franchises go, as they get easily the most complaints on that front. Maybe it's that John is a big fan of the series, and so has high standards for writing the characters properly.

Tapestries, edited by Kathy Ice is a Magic:the Gathering anthology that does more to fill in the setting than the novels reviewed a few months ago. It also sees humour start to enter the design. As with most anthologies, there are a few missteps, and the lack of illustrations is a bit curious, but it's still an improvement. Where will WotC take their big moneyspinning property next?

The key of the Keplian by Andre Norton & Lyn McConchie feels like it's one of those franchise books where the younger author does most of the work, follows their formula, and then they both reap the rewards. Not that it's bad, but it doesn't seem to add much to the world, and the marketing is somewhat incongruous. Probably not worth bothering with unless you're an established fan.

The baker's boy by J V Jones, by contrast, is a first novel that manages to bypass several common fantasy flaws, and be quite distinctive as well. It gets to the point, the worldbuilding has some very amusing touches, and both good and bad guys are human and understandable. And the marketing is similarly quirky and amusing.  Well, a bit of bread with the review copies certainly gets a reviewer's attention, and can hardly be called bribery. A lot of products could benefit from care like that.


Rumbles: You know, Wolf just told us he was leaving in the editorial. We really didn't need it as lead news here as well. Slow month? Or just self-aggrandisement. Actually, it's quite a busy one. TSR loses a second tim, (brown this time) but is getting a Dragon Dice computer game and a new Forgotten Realms computer game as well. There's another new gaming magazine out, d8, which will die in just over a year's time. GDW has sold the licence for a Space: 1889 movie, which is another spinoff that never seems to have come to fruition. Cthulhu is getting a collectible card game, which just depresses me, as is Marvel Comics, FFG, and WWII, of all things. Well, it was popular for wargamers. Why not try recapturing that market? Even more strangely, Mortal Kombat is hosting an entire stageshow featuring tons of real life martial artists. I guess when you're making money hand over fist, you get a little extravagant. In general, it seems like what's going on in movies and computer gaming is more interesting than what's going on in RPG's. Maybe they need more high profile designer drama or something to keep people interested.

Dragon Magazine Issue 221: September 1995


part 5/7


Floyd: Another new comic starts. Annoying ginger apprentice wizard loses his master due to magical politics. Wackiness and big explosions ensue. His life is about to get very interesting.


Forum: Michael A Fiorentino comes to the defence of TSR's current trends in adventure design. Gamers are bored with just wandering around, they want story! Yes, but a story where you can choose what happens would be nice.

Jason Johnson rules that haste may drain your lifespan, but that's due to stress rather than actual aging. That reduces quite a lot of the pure logic stupidity.

Ed Freidlander contributes for the first time in a few years, to talk about the human weight and body composition. This is another area D&D isn't too realistic on, and could stand to revise it's formulae for next edition.

Hussain Adulhaqq finds that his characters refuse to pay for anything, preferring to rob and kill all the shopkeepers. You know, they really ought to bite off more than they can chew at some point. And if they are too powerful, there's been plenty of advice on how to deal with that over the years.

Steven A. Greenfield hasn't found female gamers have any problem in his games. Guess this is another annoying thing with lots of regional variation.

Koby Bryan is another individual who feel TSR's output has really gone downhill in recent years, and is more concerned with making money than encouraging creativity. We don't want to be hemmed in, and we don't want style over substance. Smarten up, or many more people will leave the fold.

J. B. Pollard has more advice on dealing with powergamers. A shapeshifted dragon in politically powerful positions means brown trousers time if they try to completely mess up the status quo. Even ridiculously tough characters have issues with that kind of damage output.

Steve Bitz thinks we ought to have sentient armor as well as sentient weapons. It's a lot easier to have them take over in amusing fashion, and should liven things up. I quite agree, as I have said before.


The dragon's bestiary: Ahh, yes, the Slaad lords. Created by Charles Stross way back in the fiend folio. Course, that's long out of print, and unique enemies seem notably rarer in 2nd edition, Ravenloft excepted. A few of the old de :shut yo mouth:   (hey, I'm talking about Graz'zt here) lords have come back recently in Planescape though, so it seems that this is no longer a strict policy like it was around the changeover period. And since so many people won't have access to the originals, like a few of the ecologies, reprinting the stats seems a good thing to do. And indeed, this was where I first read about these guys. This will be an interesting one to revisit now I've actually read the FF.

Ssendam gets some fairly substantial changes, including a gender switch ( O_o Can a giant golden amoeba really be said to have a gender? ) and serious behavioural tendency alterations along with quite a bit of powering up in general (apart from the nerfing of it's energy draining ability :rolleyes:) It all feels like more of a rewrite than an updating, and I do wonder what the motivation of the writer was.

Ygorl isn't powered up nearly as much, putting him firmly below Ssendam whereas before they were pretty near equals overall. He's also considerably less changed, with all the fluff from the previous version updated and expanded upon. When contrasted with the previous entry, that makes this whole seem even more curious.

Chourst, on the other hand, isn't rehashed. He is however a personification of the lulz school of chaotic neutral, as also practiced by the xaositects and fishmalks. This also makes him seem rather annoying and out of place in these more serious times.

Rennbuu is slightly less goofy, but probably even more annoying. Randomly changing your colour is like girdles of gender changing. Statistically, it may mean nothing, but few are the people who will be happy about their character becoming purple with orange pinstripes unexpectedly. In short, it seems that this is an article that has not aged well, and didn't have respect for it's source material either, leaning quite strongly towards the kender side. Bleah. I want to wash my hands after reading this.


ARS Magica stops numbering their editions, and just revises them. For now, anyway. The next owners will have different ideas.

Dragon Magazine Issue 221: September 1995


part 6/7


Bazaar of the Bizarre: Magic items to buff your familiar. We've already had articles on getting hold of better familiars (issue 86), and using magic to enhance your existing familiar. (issue 181) So now an enterprising wizard has even more tools to ensure their companion's badassity.

Amulets of mutual location are yet another tool for ensuring splitting the party isn't permanent. What's that Skippy? Your wizard's stuck down the well again? You're getting very tired of that joke and wish he'd just memorise levitate? You wish you'd never answered the call at all? Ok then.

The Basin of disguises lets you disguise your bird by giving it a wash. Once again we have to consider every eventuality to foil the master detectives. They are recycling abilities in different containers with increasing frequency these days.

Boots of manipulation give your familiar fingers! Oh, what a joyful day for them, especially if you've already enhanced their intelligence. Much gratitude ahoy.

The Bowl of Dampness keeps anything in it properly moistened no matter how hot and dry it is. A niche item, but one that could save lives, or keep something valuable and fragile from getting spoiled on the way to market or making a magic item.

Coats of Adaption do exactly the same as the necklace would. I suspect we'll be seeing some more of these straight conversions in here. In fact, to save myself more boredom than I really have to, I shall just extract them all. Coats of displacing, Collars of protection, Legbands of Sharpness, you are all creatively moribund direct conversions of existing items. I yawn and flick my thumb at you. Begone!

Coats of Slipperiness keep them from being pinned down. Just the thing for if you're about to be captured and need to get a message out.

Collars of defending let your familiar use your saving throws. Now that's going to save their life more than a few times at high level.

Collars of freedom keep them from being mindfucked, ensuring their loyalty to you and you alone. At least, until you mistreat them too badly, at which point you won't be able to charm them back, but such is the risk that comes with power.

A Dropper of good measures lets you affect small animals with a potion without worrying about overdosing them. Not a problem I'd considered before, but given how much trouble vets have treating various species, I can see why they'd think of it.

Hoods of Suspension let you keep your falcon completely inert until you need them. If you have a whole bunch of these, you can make for seriously creepy tableaus. Another idea that's just ready for the stealing. Does Ravenloft have a falconer darklord?

Legbands of Identity make them immune to polymorphing. Course, this is another one that may be a disadvantage if your wizard forgets what items he's given his familiar.

Legbands of Haunting let them come back as a ghost to wreak their revenge against whoever killed them. Since ghosts in D&D are really scary, this will probably have the desired effect.

Oil of Repulsion keeps predators away. Since it only works on animals, this will only be much use if you're sending them on a solo mission. And how often do you do a thing like that?


The ecology of the crystal spider: The ecologies continue to venture to new worlds, with one set in Athas. Not a place where you get to do much detached academic study, but one where knowing what dangerous stuff is out there, how to deal with it, and if you can eat it after doing so is crucial. This ecology doesn't really take full advantage of this opportunity, lapsing back into detached pontification for the majority of it's length, showing a very detailed knowledge, without telling the story of how that knowledge was obtained. The results are still useful, and full of interesting little details, but overall, this isn't a brilliant ecology like the last few. Back to the up and down it is then.


More than 101 uses for a portable hole: Ah yes, this ever popular item. Unlike the decanter of Endless Water, very few adventurers (unless their DM simply doesn't enforce encumbrance in the first place) undervalue it's usefulness. But still, they might underestimate just what they can fit in, that would simply be unfeasible in any number of backpacks due to bulkiness or fragility. And by being prepared, and bringing this stuff in, they're more likely to survive than if they just threw everything in the hole as they looted it, and then thought no more of it until it was time to divide the spoils. So this is filled with ideas, some of them cool, some of them silly, but most of them pretty inventive. And as with the Decanter article in issue 171, they also offer plenty of variants on the item that would give them further uses and possibly problems to deal with. So this is one of those articles that's not only full of tricks for you to use, but encourages you to come up with your own. Brain food of the best kind, really. They really ought to do more articles like this, taking an overlooked part of the game and expanding upon it. Now, if only there was a snappy alliterative column name that would fit.


Sage advice: Do bards suffer penalties for trying to read languages in armour?! ( No. That's just silly.)

Does magical armour reduce thief skill penalties (no)

Can druids wear armour other than leather (as long as it's made from natural materials )

Why doesn't magic resistance work on stoneskin (because it's buffing them, not directly affecting you. Another reason why buffs are better than blasts at high level.)

Isn't it too easy to spot when a jackal's stolen your spells ( Probably. Skip'll make it a little trickier, just for you. )

Can you stop casting a spell halfway through, then pick up later ( No. Be thankful this isn't Buffy, or who knows what would happen. In D&D, it just gets wasted)

What's the point of speed factors (For nitpicking with. After all, having nits sucks, especially when you're just a poor boy growing up on the mean shores of lake geneva. No-one would do it for Skip, so Skip had to get good at picking nits for himself. )

What's a samovar (An arabian teapot, short and stout.)

Can Elementalists or sha'irs learn the kits from the complete sha'irs handbook (No, because then they'd have two kits. Why did we call it the complete sha'irs handbook if they can't use the stuff in it? Good question.)

Can you have firearms in planescape (It's a big universe. Probably. They won't work the same from plane to plane though, just like everything else. Expect lots of retooling every bloody time you go somewhere new. )

What happens if wild mages cast spells in wild magic zones (Everything goes wild. What do you think. Extra randomness on toast with a little dancing chaos beast on top. Wise wild mages wouldn't do it, but wise mages don't become wild mages.)

Do you retain your class when reincarnated (As long as the new form can be that class. If not, you'll have to start again.  )

Dragon Magazine Issue 221: September 1995


part 7/7


Jen is finally starting to suspect something is amiss in libram X. Dragonmirth is anachronising again. Swordplay are totally fair in dividing their treasure. For a certain perspective of fair. Yamara goes full-page as a world ends, and a woman is reborn. Yay, no more baldness.


The game wizards: Back to bigging up the CCG's in here. Quite literally, as it's time for the gods to be introduced to the Blood War. So this is another basic promotional article, listing the various new cards that are coming out in the expansion, and giving us a couple of themed sample decks. Yawn. It's over quickly, so I shall skip over it quickly as well, knowing that they'll hopefully be getting rid of this kind of dreck soon. Why is reading about this so much duller than the wargaming stuff in the early 80's? Why have their methods changed for the worse so significantly? Why does this not make me want to investigate the games further at all? I'm sure their marketing people would love to know the answer to that. Trouble is, if it's something like you can't manufacture sincere enthusiasm, and people can tell the difference, there's not a lot you can do apart from easing up on the top down control, and hoping someone comes along with a cool new idea that isn't focus-grouped into blandness.


Eye of the monitor: As mentioned earlier, this is Jay and Dee's final appearance. Their sacking must have been fairly abrupt, because they don't get given the chance to say goodbye, instead treating this as just another day at the office. Indeed, they introduce another reviewer as if he will become a regular contributor, when in actuality, we never see him in the magazine again. I'm having flashbacks to the mysterious disappearance of Pinsom and Jasmine when Kim took over. There's definitely some behind the scenes unpleasantness going on this time round. Who else will be on the chopping block?

Hammer of the gods is a sim game with you playing vikings building communities, and then going out looting and pillaging. With decent diplomacy options, extra quests, and multiplayer options, it offers more than enough choices to keep you busy for a long time, and doesn't get boring while doing so. Sounds like you can get good bang for your buck from this one.

Machiavelli the Prince gets a second review in quick succession. (again) This time they are aware of the previous review and try and comment around it. In the end though, it doesn't hold up quite as well as Hammer of the Gods, which seems more cohesive in design.

Toh Shin Den and Ridge Racer get tiny reviews from just Dee. The first is a reasonably good fighting game, while the second is a rather bog standard racing game. Nothing much to say here. It's as if he was interrupted mid review or something. Hmm.

High seas Trader has a rather long, but ultimately negative review from our guest reviewer. It looks good, and there's plenty to do, with a good economic system, but the combat system sucks, and many of the options are simply suboptimal or not expanded upon properly. Sounds like it needed a good deal more development and playtesting before being released.


TSR Previews: The Forgotten Realms triple bills again. Elminster's ecologies get a second appendix, covering two more out of the way adventuring locales. Just how likely are you to find certain monsters there? Back in the Dalelands, Randal Morn is rescued and takes his rightful place. Assuming the PC's have done their job. You could get a doppleganger to take his place and rule in his stead. :rubs hands evily: And similarly, Troy Denning completes the giants trilogy with The Titan of Twilight. Happy ending left open for future adventures seems the likely order of the day, if I know them.

Planescape gets it's second Monstrous compendium appendix. More creatures nifty and weird, including a complete set of mephits for all your elemental mischief, and a bunch of new alignment exemplar races. As you'd expect, many of these are powerful, and have annoying laundry lists of powers and immunities. Magic missile is no longer the old faithful it used to be.

Ravenloft reprints I, Strahd in paperback. Yawn. Not worth mentioning, really.

Endless Quest revisits greyhawk in Bigby's curse. Keep him from becoming a lich? That sounds a bit sketchy. Normally you don't get to be a lich without serious conscious effort, and stay fairly rational if you do. Who's idea was this.

And finally, we have the Terror T. R. A. X. interactive audio CD games. More buh inducing and probably expensive to produce ideas. Did they have a bloc hiring of studio time they needed to fill or something?


As usual, there are a few great articles in this one, but there really is a landslide of poor articles, plus the rather badly handled removal of the computer games columnists. It feels like people are quitting because they cant take the pressure, and their replacements are throwing their weight around, and in the process deadlines are slipping and quality control is being forgotten. If anything, this is the most turmoil-ridden issue yet. Have we reached the bottom, or is there even worse to follow? Guess I'll find out soon enough.