Dragon Issue 295: May 2002


part 9/10


Command points: The new emphasis on many player battles continues in this column with some more tactical advice, graded by ease of use and effectiveness as per last time. The first bit of advice is the most useful here. Maximise your action points so all your units can do something each round, as in a multiplayer fight, you're particularly susceptible to ganging up, so you won't get that many rounds. Setting things up so you can make enemies rout, and then take them down and win the game while they're at a disadvantage is the other big tricky one, requiring knowing your enemies stats, and good use of positioning. The other stuff seems fairly common sense, apart from the reminder that you can move over knocked down models, which is the kind of little rule you can forget in the heat of the action. It seems likely they'll be sticking with this topic for a little while longer, so I'm wondering what else they can do with it. I suppose the more variable you introduce, the more permutations you can create. What else are they discovering about their game that they didn't intend when designing it?


The play's the thing: Robin continues from last month, by showing us how different people would describe the same event with lots of examples. Of course, these are less variable than real people writing about the same event because they're all from the same perspective, and all vetted by a professional editor for comprehensibility, so it's not a perfect example. If he really wanted to illustrate this, he wouldn't have written those bits himself, but farmed them out to his players to create. I guess that shows how hard it is to truly get outside your own head. Even professional writers are limited by their own experiences and research, and it can be almost as hard to write below your current skill level as above it. If you want to become a good novelist, working on your ability to think in multiple voices and slip between them is a skill that will serve you well. Once again, Robin is writing filler for this column to make up the page count, but it's still got a fair bit of useful information that you can learn from in there.


Silicon Sorcery: Even this column is in theme, talking about using computer design applications to put together your strongholds. Be they simple overhead 2d ones, or the more sophisticated 3d designers that are gradually coming into existence, they can be quite handy in helping you get an idea of proper placement of various elements. Unfortunately, a lot of the time they can also wind up leaving out elements that would be essential in a real fortress. (The endless dilemma of finding a place to go to the toilet) So choose wisely. The eponymously named Stronghold seems to be their favourite, although they point out 5 other options as well. This is one of those articles that definitely feels it's age, with the graphics looking more mid 90's than early 2000's. Maybe there's a difference when things are in motion, but I'm not particularly impressed with how this looks. Makes me wonder what current apps are out that can do this sort of thing, as that'd probably be more useful than trying to hunt down decades old software.

Dragon Issue 295: May 2002


part 10/10


Sage advice: How do you attack someone's armour (Shields are resolved like any weapon. You can't attack worn armour separately. )

How do you disarm a wizards wand (Surprisingly easily, especially at high level. Hey, dramatic cinematic scenes! How about that.)

How do 10 foot poles work when used diagonally (use the 1-2-1-2 rule. The universe is not perfectly pythagorean)

What happens if someone with quick draw and improved initiative face off (Nothing special.)

Does being flatfooted negate your strength bonus to avoid tripping (no)
Will a mighty bow's enhancement bonus stack with your strength bonus (yes)

How far can you throw improvised objects. (Don't we have rules for that? Eh, we're not the first system, and we won't be the last. (yes, you, Scion) Eh, guess it's up to skip to fix the problem again. )

Do you get an attack of opportunity if you're grappling someone and they cast a verbal only spell (yes)

If a class starts off with proficiency in an exotic weapon, do they get the full skills needed in it (yes)

How do the retrievers eye rays work (Roll to hit, then to save. Two chances to avoid it. Woo. )

What happens when rays miss (Nothing much. We don't like bothering with spill damage hitting other things. )

Do blink and displacement stack (No, they're rolled separately. Another two rolls added to every attack resolution. That's gonna slow combat down a bit.)  


What's new also thinks about getting a castle. And finds that it isn't all it's cracked up to be, especially when there's bills to pay. This is why you become undead first. The savings are enormous.


Well, this was a fairly strong issue, but also a frustrating one, as the emphasis on pricing everything out made it very clear that most players won't be able to afford all the cool stuff here. I guess despite some people calling for it loudly, the domain management and stronghold building side of D&D is always going to be a niche part of the game, because of the amount of effort it is to track it mathematically. We can only take so much crunch at once. So let's move onto the next issue, see if dragons can remain suitably iconic despite the amount of work handling all their powers is.

Dragon Issue 296: June 2002


part 1/10


124 pages. Year 26. Eh, it's just another number. We'll have to wait until 30 before they can really make a big deal about that again. Unless they join the 27 club, but we know in hindsight that doesn't happen. There's a dragon on the cover, but given their current trend of zooming in closer and focussing the humans, we only get to see a small part of it. Will the contents be focussing on dragon hunters more than dragons themselves as well? Would it be so terrible if they did? Let's see if they can keep the quality up.


Scan Quality: Excellent, searchable (the only non archive issue that has fully word searchable innards, actually)


In this issue:


Wyrms turn: Another year, another reiteration of the things that they want in their writers. And as before, creativity comes second to the ability to fit the formats and formulas of the company in general and gameline in particular, listen and react to editors, and get your work in on time. Which explains a lot. The only real notable point this time round is their reminder that they still require physical copies of manuscripts, even though the internet is more than big and fast enough to send them over. I wonder when that'll change, before or after the magazine itself goes electronic in 5 years time? Big wheels keep on turning, and even if the company as a whole is behind the times, it will keep on changing as new people come in and old ones leave. Once again, I guess we'll keep rollin down the river, watching out for signs of change.


Scale Mail: Our first letter, not too surprisingly, is from someone who thinks the april issue this year mixed useful stuff and humour decently. Only one of the articles didn't have some usefulness to him. This unsurprisingly makes the writers happy, since april is quite stressful for them.

They don't get off completely unscathed though. The beefcake on the cover draws mixed reactions. Turnaround is fair play, and this time it's the guy's turn to feel jealous and/or exploited. Not so funny now, is it? I hope you've learned something. We should all let go of worrying about gender and nudity and just have huge bisexual orgies. (while using proper protection of course)

The gender issues continue with the Gamers vs Girlfriends article getting a fair number of complaints, one of which is actually funny in it's own right. Curiously, it's the letter by a man that's the most hostile. Ahh, overprotective white knights. What are we to do with them in this bold new online world where the difference in physical strength between genders is pretty irrelevant?

Wolves also have their defenders, with a letter a little peeved all the elemental wolves in issue 293 were evil. Where would we be without some good old-fashioned froofy animism?

Also, where would the magazine be without it's special features. The tiles get praised again. Hopefully this means some more physical stuff to cut out and use in your game in coming years.

The final three letters are more generalised praise, once again showing how most people have enthusiastically leapt on the new edition, even ones that lost interest at some point in 2e. The gaming population as a whole is definitely younger and less conservative than it will be in 10 years time.

Dragon Issue 296: June 2002


part 2/10


Nodwick reaches the spot on the map marked here be dragons. Thankfully, that's exactly where they want to be.


Lest we forget, Hardestadt was a dick in DA:Vampire. Seems so long ago now. :sigh:


D&D Previews is looking increasingly marginalized, literally. The D&D aspect of it is particularly so, with only 1 game product, but 4 novels. The possibility that the IP is actually more profitable as a licencing device than the actual game looks increasingly probable. The book of challenges is our gamebook. More little bits and pieces to speed along your adventure design, this probably wasn't a huge seller.

In novels, The Realms gets Crown of fire by Ed Greenwood and Heirs of Prophecy by Lisa Smedman. Dragonlance gets Dragons of a vanished moon by Weis and Hickman, and The Dawning of a New Age by Jean Rabe. Looks like one set of cataclysms is settling down, but the other is still plugging along. Now, when will we actually get to play in the new Krynn with both wizardry and sorcery coexisting?


Up on a soapbox: Gary's story this month is different, but has exactly the same lesson as last month. Put it in your dungeon, and they WILL find it, and probably overcome it too. It's just a matter of trial and error. And good mapping helps a fair bit as well, as it means they spend a lot less time just wandering aimlessly, and can often guess where something is hiding by looking at the gaps in their current drawings and having a good nose around for secret doors. This contrasts with outdoor adventures where you're not on a grid or otherwise sharply bounded borders. There, it's quite likely they can wander for months, and not come across all of the stuff you put in there. I guess that shows why you want to start your adventures small. It means less of your work will wind up being wasted in the final game, and there's less chance of the variables getting completely out of hand, resulting in something you don't know how to react too killing the game. Probably part of the reason D&D became a bigger success than general RPG systems. It's much easier to get a game started when you have a clear objective and then expand on that, than presenting a paralyzing array of options right away. So put plenty in your game, but only reveal it in bits and pieces, making them work to get all the information, and your game is more likely to last a long time.


Zogonias system fails to work first time in the field. Which is a problem, since it was a life or death situation. Lets hope they can afford the rez'ing.

Dragon Issue 296: June 2002


part 3/10


Epic level countdown: Here we have one of the definite headaches of the epic level handbooks. Monsters that have ridiculously high stats in everything, even those that aren't related to their area of expertise. As PC's have to specialise if they want to stay CR competitive, and will generally only have one or two obscenely high stats, this results in a situation where monsters don't have any significant weaknesses to capitalise on, so the only way you can beat them is through ridiculous amounts of brute force, rather than clever tricks that make for good stories. Particularly egregious are the examples which have superhuman mental stats, but still just act as basic predators, attacking with their natural weapons with no forward planning, contingencies, tools, social manipulation, or anything else that justifies those high numbers. It really does bug me tremendously how dumb that is. The stats and the description need to sync up, and this is important both at low and high levels. Frustrating Frustrating Frustrating. :grrr:


Robin's laws of good game mastering. Well, he's certainly proved himself repeatedly in the magazine. And it's certainly got plenty of good reviews. But would it exist if it weren't for the pun he could make on his own name?


Dork tower does sarcasm brilliantly. Oh yeah, that's gotta bite. Quite possibly the best punchline in the entire run.


Dragon hunters: Well, this isn't surprising at all. A collection of prestige classes devoted to dealing with dragons? I knew something like this'd turn up sooner or later. Let's see how it compares with it's 2e counterpart from issue 230, and if they're one-trick ponies who's powers'll be useless when facing other monster types.

Dragonscribes are pretty much the same idea as the Dragon Lords from issue 230. They get bonuses at understanding, communicating, and commanding dragons, and full spell progression on top, making them pretty decent. Unfortunately, they do have one of those awkward bits where they have skill requirements and bonuses for a skill they don't actually get in class, so you won't be able to just full wizard or sorcerer your way in and get a perfect build unless you find a feat that lets you take diplomacy as a class skill regardless. Do you know which supplement to mine for that little trick?

Knights of the Scale are your basic mounted frontal fighting badass, resistant to breath weapons and inflicting extra damage vs dragons. Only in a clever twist, they get the ability to summon a flying mount at higher levels so a smart dragon can't just waltz away from an encounter it doesn't feel like. Definitely a case where the 3e version plays it smarter than the 2e one.

Heartseekers obviously fill exactly the same niche as the Black Arrows from the 2e Kit collection. They too get a method of dealing with flying creatures, grounding them if they hit them with their magical arrows, before finishing them off for good. Their powers are fairly dragon specific, but with decent saves and half spell progression, they'll probably be better in a general fight than arcane archers at least.

Vengeance Sworn are the only one that doesn't have an obvious 2e analog to compare too. They require Rage and divine spellcasting to get into, so you'll have to multiclass barbarian and something else, probably ranger or druid so you can keep those wilderness skills maxed out. They do get minor spellcasting progression, but it won't be a big loss if you go Ranger to keep that full BAB with no dips. They get an interesting combo of offensive and resistance boosts, that once again target dragon's actual common powers and negate them. I think I can pretty firmly say that these guys have a better chance of successfully kicking dragon ass and chewing bubblegum than their 2e counterparts. It's good to have more writers with actual tactical acumen around.

Dragon Issue 296: June 2002


part 4/10


Wing, fang and spell: Course, having powered up dragon hunters, they now have to give a grab bag of stuff to Dragons to keep this little arms race even. And this article is very much a grab bag, seemingly composed of all the various little ideas knocking around the office that wouldn't make up a full article individually. First up is some clarification on Dragon senses, as it's the kind of thing Skip has obviously got repeated questions on over the years. Next, we have 3 new feats which allow them to do new things with their natural weapons, as if they didn't have enough tricks already. Then we have two sample dragons with personalities, combat tactics, and handy magical equipment detailed, so you have more examples of concrete clever tactics they might try with their arrays of abilities. And finally, we get a prestige class specifically for dragons who want to boost their natural spellcasting abilities (although it'd also be pretty decent for half-dragon PC's as well. ) So none of these really merit a full article in themselves, and the whole thing is useful, but rather scattershot. Not really sure what to make of this, as it's a bit of a throwback as articles go, not having the polish of most of their modern stuff. I wonder if any of it will go in future books, as can happen when the staff give us rough ideas to give feedback on.


Worshippers of the forbidden: Oooh, transformative prestige classes. That's one thing that'll definitely become more common as the edition goes on. The first wave of them were all skillsets/specialist organisations, but the idea of your character gradually physically becoming something different and powerful was an alluring one that got plenty of traction and several full d20 books dedicated to it. One of the most obvious theme, of course is becoming more like a particular type of monster. You can get nearly as many prestige classes out of that as you have types of monster. But these are all based on the big iconic options. After all, when you're one of the first, you don't have to worry about diminishing returns yet. But you might have to worry about them being mechanically unpolished and wonky, superceded by later versions. Well, enough waffling, let's take a look.

Sphere Minions are beholder fanboys. Their prestige class runs into the problem that beholders are massively powerful, with 11 attacks per round, several of them instakills, while these have to be balanced with other PC options. So they basically get 1 eye power per 2 levels usable 1/day, each with 1 use/day added to existing ones each time they gain a new one. Even so, they can get access to flesh to stone and disintegrate a level before wizards could, so they might be tempting to some twinks.

Illithidkin definitely wind up being superceded by the 3.5 heritage feats and 10 level prestige class. Telepathy and minor advancement in your psionic abilities really isn't worth the hassle you'll get socially everywhere else. Very much a trap for dumb minions who'll never get respect, just the chance to be the last one eaten.

Snake Servants are devoted to Medusae, not yuan-ti as I first assumed. They gain complete immunity to petrification, and minor resistance to poison, allowing them to safely serve them while not getting particularly impressive powers outside of that. Another one only really good for NPC's.

Wakers of the Beast are tarrasque cultists, and actually do have some rather cool bits in their design which makes them suitable for a long-term plot. Full BAB, permanent strength boosts on top of that, and natural armor, plus a strong incentive to form substantial sized cults mean they make great villains and aren't completely out of the question as PC's. After all, you never know when waking the tarrasque might wind up being the lesser of two evils, as so many Godzilla movies have shown. So this isn't as good overall as the dragon hunter collection, and the prestige classes are a bit weak and wonky in general but isn't completely useless either. You do want adversaries to be beatable, after all.

Dragon Issue 296: June 2002


part 5/10


Guild secrets: (another nearly illegible title): Straight away, we have another thing that they would work on and add too in 3.5. Rules for building organisations, and the mechanical requirements and benefits you get from joining them. Now why couldn't we have had these before they tried to update planescape factions as prestige classes in an ill-fitting way? As is often the case, these are more DM focussed than their next incarnation, with a greater emphasis on specific numbers, such as membership, who the leader is, and exactly what level they are, while the benefits are relatively flat without the codified reputation system. So this is another article that feels kinda superceded, knowing what I do in hindsight. Still, it is good to see them working out ideas and bouncing them around the office. And it helps us pinpoint who to blame as well if you don't like these kind of rules in your D&D (Andy Collins, in this case. ) That's also useful when it comes to internet flame wars as it's more interesting to accuse particular employees of being the problem and "ruining the game!1!!1" than attack the whole company.


Fiction: The tomb by Thomas Harlan. Our second trip to crusades era Jerusalem, filled with knights, saracens, jews, and various others either trying to gain power, or just survive and gain a little profit. Some are virtuous, some are sinister, and often it can be hard to tell which is which. One thing that no side really looks that favourably on, in sharp contrast to D&D, is grave robbing. While you can find people willing to pay for grave goods, often quite highly, you also have to watch out or get arrested and have all your gains confiscated. So in many ways, this story is an inversion of a normal D&D adventure, where the protagonist is sent on a quest by a mysterious employer to protect someone who's already dead and stop people from taking their stuff. It still manages to have a fair amount of drama and action, and a bit of bickering comedy as well, showing you can flip an idea on it's head and still keep things interesting and challenging. And it looks like this series may well build a little further, as we gain a larger cast of recurring characters. I guess time will tell if it ever gets big enough for an overarching plot to form.


Nodwick has another attack of continuity. And fails to get the dragon's hoard again.


Class acts: Monte returns to give us our first monk related prestige class, the Acolyte of the Fist. They focus on exactly that, sacrificing the more esoteric monk powers and resistances for pure offensive badassery. DR penetration, smashing through walls, even hadoukens at higher level. And the power to heal with a strike as well, curiously enough. As with primary spellcasters, the powers you get from advancing to 10th level in this really don't compete with the ones you would get as a 20th level straight monk, unfortunately. Immunity to aging and a whole bunch of effects vs +1d6 to your attack damage? Somehow, I think not. Avoid the false enlightenment, you must. Unfortunately, you can't just dip into this one, as it has a unique restriction preventing you from stepping off it until you've finished it. This may frustrate certain players. Another favourful but weak prestige class, as Monte is prone to producing. He really ought to do something about that.

Dragon Issue 296: June 2002


part 6/10


Elminster's guide to the realms: Sometimes, Elminster reveals all the secrets behind these strange little locations the Realms is packed with. Sometimes not, and you just get what's needed to play, and some options for what could be behind the scenes. Here's another one of those. A dryad, a mysterious floating shield, and a pool of water which may or may not be enchanted. As usual for these, it's designed to exist in a world where adventuring parties are common, so there are pretty substantial safeguards in place to make sure a single party can't just kill everything and take all the stuff, leaving a stripmined wasteland. I guess once more it's a pretty flavour encounter that reminds us how many powerful creatures there are here, and how hard it is to make an impact. If you want to be a real hero or villain, it's going to be a lot of hard work and clever contingency building so you can survive when you get the attention of the big players. I think once again I'm feeling the oversaturation, because I can't get enthusiastic about this at all this month.


The bestiary gets it's The back. Well, it's something, anyway. This birthday has yet another variant on dragons, as you would expect. Wurms? Well, Wyrms is already used, and worms just sounds mundane. Warms is already a word, and werms and wirms would look even closer to not just scraping the barrel, but taking it apart and using the planks for firewood. Still, they're not going for the brainless rampaging monster archetype this time, but the more connected to nature one. And rather than having individual stats for every variant, they use a cross-matrix of ages and types, with Wurmlings, adults, Greater Wurms and Elder Wurms, and Forest Wurms, while the environments they favour are Tundra Wurms, Sand Wurms, Swamp Wurms, Sea Wurms, River Wurms, Grassland Wurms, Hill Wurms, Lava Wurms, Storm Wurms, Cave Wurms and Mountain Wurms. Thats a relatively elegant bit of design, which isn't too overused, so I don't mind this one after all. It can't be easy finding decent non-rehashed dragon articles every birthday for 25 years, but somehow they keep on doing it. All credit for the many writers who make that possible.


Hackmaster presents The Spellslingers guide to wurld domination. Because that's what every wizard wants, isn't it?


Living Greyhawk Gazetteer Index: This section doesn't have the usual pair of articles, instead devoting a full 12 pages to an index of Greyhawk material. Want to know who's what, where, and how high level quickly? Here's a high density alphabetical listing of page references. I strongly suspect that this is why the scanner went to the extra effort to make this issue searchable when the rest of the post-archive ones aren't. And kudos to them, as that makes this index even quicker and easier to use. This article is a good example of fan power in general, showing that the official writers are willing to take and use things that the fans do for free at the moment, which is of course a big change from the 90's and part of the same idea that produced the OGL. Let's hope it lasts a few years longer before WotC start trying to claw back control and do everything in house again.

Dragon Issue 296: June 2002


part 7/10


Chainmail: So far, the Chainmail game has been fairly low powered overall. This month, they reveal some of the more high powered stuff in it's history, an artifact built by the god of war to kill dragons. Although in a big irony, they only give D&D stats for it, not Chainmail ones. This is probably because an item that takes you over and wipes your memory to turn you into a relentless dragon-killing automaton is a serious wild card that'd make rather a mess of a tactical skirmish game. Still, it is exceedingly good at killing dragons, as it enables you to fly, dodge breath weapons, shut down their spellcasting, and generally mess up their common tactical options. So even if it's fairly risky as an artifact, at least it's good for it's stated job, so people'll actually want to seek it out, unlike too many 2e ones. Once again, Chainmail sometimes has more old school elements going on than regular D&D, and that's actually quite cool.


Command points: Another article full of builds for your units this month. The connecting factor is the commander, showcasing the Hobgoblin Adept, and the various ways their magical abilities can support their troops. With both exploitable spells and a good few command points, they can buff, blast from range, and get their followers moving when needed. So high strength things, and cross-faction monsters that are resistant to fire synergize well with them. Some of these monsters aren't even released yet, making this more sneaky teasers for their upcoming products. Another article that's interesting, but so very specific as to be useless if you're not actually playing Chainmail, unlike say, the pieces on playing Kobolds cleverly over the years that could be applied to any tool using humanoid. Still, at least they seem to have no shortage of followups coming, including whole new factions to play with. I guess it's really a question of how long people want to keep buying.

Dragon Issue 296: June 2002


part 8/10


The play's the thing: Sometimes, a game just isn't working, for whatever reason. Now, you can try to fix it on your own, but in an inherently social pastime like roleplaying, things will probably be a lot easier if you learn how to negotiate. No matter what mechanics you put in the game to mitigate it, the simple fact is that you'll have far more success roleplaying if you also develop your real life social skills, whether you measure that in fun, xp, or just the best magical doodads of this adventure's haul. Fortunately, there are plenty of books you can read to help you out with this. Yup, Robin's digging into the Dale Carnegie self-help ouvre to teach you how to get along with people and have a productive and long-running campaign. Surprise surprise, you're more likely to get what you want if you make a genuine effort to understand other people and satisfy their desires as well. Hell, even just asking people what their problems are, nodding and looking interested, and then going back to doing things exactly the same can often work, for quite a while, as often all people need is to feel listened too and appreciated. Being confrontational and aggressive, on the other hand, can turn even a minor problem into a huge argument that results in everyone being more polarised at the end than they were at the beginning. Keeping the violent conflicts strictly IC is the way to go. Yet again, Robin shows us the value in looking to outside sources, and how seemingly disparate ideas can be combined to great profit.


DM's toolbox: Johnn tackles a very similar topic to Robin, once again showing how different people can look at the same puzzle from different perspectives and come up with different solutions. Of course, as the DM, you do have rather more options at your disposal to alter the way a campaign is run if problems are cropping up, and this column assumes that you're the guy in the viking hat. This means you can introduce subplots if some of the players are stumped or feeling underutilised, have sudden unexpected encounters if they're bored or faffing around, redescribe the area with more detail or pointed clues so they're more likely to figure out a solution. Basically, while Robin is talking about the OOC methods, Johnn is about watching the signs and adjusting the pacing and details of the game to compensate. After all, stopping everything to have a detailed discussion of everyone's feelings will really break the mood of a life or death situation and cause problems in itself. Too much therapy just keeps emotional wounds open long after they would have faded away if you'd sorted out the problem and moved on. Since I spend more time DMing than playing and suck at talking about my feelings, I think I'd find these methods rather easier to implement than Robin's. Which isn't to say it's a better method. Robin's advice is certainly more applicable to social situations outside of gaming. Some tools are very good at one thing, others are harder to use but more versatile. A lot of the time you're going to need both to get the job done really well.

Dragon Issue 296: June 2002


part 9/10


Judge Dredd is back. And this time he's D20. Remember, adventurers are all lawbreaking scum and he has a big gun. Crossovers are a bitch.


Silicon Sorcery: Want to play Drizzt in an an official D&D computer game? Well now you can, thanks to Baldur's Gate: Dark alliance. All you need to do is finish the game, do a killer time trial, finish the game again in extra hard mode, and bingo bongo, your sweet scimitars are swinging low! You've got to love it when they more than double your playing time with the same material to get a few special unlockables. Still, that information only makes up a small part of this article. The real meat of it is backconversions of the 7 big bosses. Going from CR 7 to 19 for the very final one, all but two of these are unique individuals with class levels, magic item arrays, and often prestige classes as well. Since that's the kind of stats that'd take a fair amount of time to build from scratch in 3e, stealing them for your own campaign doesn't seem like a bad investment at all. Just watch out for the Blackguard at the end, who's spell selection is oh so very illegal by 3.0 rules, and was obviously expanded for the purposes of the game to make fighting them more interesting. You wouldn't want the final boss to be just a slugfest, would you? Instead, she's teleporting, climbing the walls, disappearing into mist, and generally being a pain to keep up with. I suspect in the game itself, she may be one of those delightful sorts you can only hurt at a specific point in their movement pattern. Now there's something that doesn't convert to D&D very well. Still, this article has provided me with some useful information, and made me thing about the differences between computer and P&P roleplaying. I guess they're continuing to inform and entertain then.

Dragon Issue 296: June 2002


part 10/10


Sage advice: Does pyro grant extra damage on all fire spells (No. Only ones that set things on fire. That's a surprisingly small portion of them. )

Can you take dash more than once (No)

Can you hamstring a creature more than once (no)

Why can't you hamstring things with lots of legs (Waste of time, really)

What does quicker than the eye actually do. (Keeps people from noticing what you're doing. Very handy, but not some magic bullet.)

Can you combine quicker than the eye and expert tactician (If you like. This can get pretty nasty. )

What's a stabilization check ( Your odds of stopping bleeding to death. )

What's a language dependent effect. (Non comprende enchante, parlez-vous. Haw de haw de haw de haw de haw.)

Do virtuoso levels combine with bardic music (yup. Same thing.)

Can you cast spells through a wall of force. (You might be able to see things, but you don't actually have line of sight. Isn't that so confusing to your poor little minds.)

Does antimagic field prevent you from casting spells within it (No, just means they don't manifest while in the field. You can use this to surprise people who don't know the finer points of their metaphysics.)

Does antimagic suppress from the point or the area (generally, just the area. It may impede progress as well.)

Does antimagic suppress magically locked and warded doors (Yes, but it doesn't go through them. It's not an emanation, to use what we in the business call a technical term.)

What happens if you cast a prismatic wall spell into an anti-magiced area. (Poofles. No go, dude.)

Are undead immune to external illusions or not. What's with invisibility to undead if they aren't (No. There's a funny story behind that. It's all to do with necromancers and the forbidden schools they had back in 2nd edition. Ha ha ha ha. Laugh? Skip nearly split Skip's sides.)

Can you hold the charge on ranged touch spells (no)

Do you suffer spell failure on scrolls when in armor ( No. This has it's uses. )


Phil is getting fed up of Dixie's evil ways in What's new. So they also have a serious attack of continuity. Guess that little editorial restriction is being relaxed at last. Phil also finds the time to illustrate an advert for Gen Con 2002. Watch out for Ted Raimi and Jonathan Frakes. Man what.


While the last few issues have seen an uptick in rehash, this one has an increase in things that are new, but will be improved upon and reprinted in future books. That's definitely a welcome change and throwback to the old issues, as it's good to see the creative process midflow. However, the themed bits are pretty lackluster, showing they don't have many new ideas for the game's actual namesake this year. I guess it's swings and roundabouts as usual then. The next issue'll probably have an entirely different mix of good and bad bits.

Ugh. Online drama time, unfortunately.  My webhost has decided they don't want my videos on their site anymore. Unless they change their mind on appeal, all that stuff, including the issue 200 videos, will be gone in 10 days. If you don't want that to happen, send a protest to support@blip.tv. Probably won't help, but in the circumstances, it's not as if it can hurt. Anyone have any recommendations for other non youtube webhosts I could use?

Dragon Issue 297: July 2002


part 1/10


116 pages. EPIC LEVEL KRUSK SMASH PUNY BACKDROP! Huge green thighs with improbable muscles too close together, crushing Krusk's testicles. No wonder Krusk raging all the time! Yeah, they try and paint the epic level iconics as something amazing, and the overload of badass just flows over into silly. So yeah, nearly 2 years into the edition, they give us rules for going above 20th level. Well, it is quicker than 2e, where it took them a good 6 years, and even then, only went to 30, while 1e never really dealt with the upper end of the XP scale properly, apart from the classes with hard limits like Bards and Assassins. Even with it's flaws, the 3e system still might handle really high levels better than AD&D, where wizards become masters of all, and rogues struggle to figure out how they can improve now. It's just the fact that you get to them so much quicker that makes the problems more easily noticed, and ever escalating as you get further in. I already have the book, but let's see how well this issue does in selling me on it.


Scan Quality: Some visible pixelation, indexed.


In this issue:


Amongst the format changes, Wyrms turn is seriously cut down in size. What's left is another bit of self-promotion. Their goal here was to make sure you had tons of options, and they were all balanced, valid choices. A boast which will definitely look a bit hollow a few hours after the Charop boards get their teeth into the material. This is what happens when you put all your eggs into one basket. The greater your enthusiasm beforehand, the sillier you look in hindsight. Surely someone in the company had reservations? Anyone? What was the mood in the office at the time? So many annoying questions. So few answers.


Scale Mail: First up, we have the seemingly obligatory commentary on the theme 2 issues ago. One is very happy with it, the other thinks too much of the issue was devoted too it, and it was blatant promotion of their latest book. Same old story. Depending on the theme, you're always going to appeal to a slightly different set each issue, and that has to be taken into account.

The editorial on gaming in prison gets an even more polarised response. One is strongly favorable and thinks that Wardens shouldn't abuse their power and set arbitrary regulations beyond what's needed to keep them under control. Another thinks that if they're in prison, they must have done something wrong, and deserve everything they get. And a more balanced view is provided by someone who actually works there, who illustrates how arbitrary the whole thing can be. In his particular institution, they're allowed to read RPG's, but not play them, as they put the DM in a position of power over other prisoners, and that's a strict no-no. Not saying it's right or wrong, but it is a reason, at least. Man, this stuff is a headache.

And finally we have another perspective on their rehashing old stuff. It's only a problem to people who've been following their books carefully for years. For those that haven't, it can be a pleasant discovery, and quite possibly make them a few extra sales too. They do have to cater to new readers as well as old ones, and drawing on already proven material can help with that.

Dragon Issue 297: July 2002


part 2/10


Zogonia has an attack of the false alarm. You know, that kind of thing can get people killed.


D&D Previews: First up this month is the epic level handbook. Nearly 2 years into the new edition, and hey, obviously feel enough people are making it all the way to 20th and still wanting more. Shame the results were so ...... mediocre. Yeah, it's certainly not as annoying as the god books, but the math still rapidly gets wonky, with your skill at character building soon becoming more important than level. Hell, even the order you get the levels can result in two characters of the same classes having somewhat different power levels. Oh well, they learned from their mistakes here, probably overcompensating next edition.

The realms gets a sourcebook and a novel, as is often the case. Silver Marches. A return to region based sourcebooks. The new edition means they can revisit stuff without worrying so much about rehash. If anything, they may struggle to fit in all the old info they want too, given they're releasing fewer books this time round. The Novel is Dissolution by Richard Lee Byers. More Drow-centric drama in Menzoberanzan and beyond.

Dragonlance gets Redemption, the final book in the Dhamon saga. Looks like he pulls through after all.

They also kick off a new series of generic D&D novels starring the iconic D&D characters. The Savage caves by T. H. Lain cuts away all the vast interweaving canon the other worlds suffer from now, and just does dungeon delving romps. Whether this will sell, I'm not sure. The vast soap opera is part of the attraction for many people.


At the table: This month, we get two larger maps rather than a whole load of tower levels. A cavern, and a (fairly open plan) dungeon level. They're definitely intended for people to have fights in, taking advantage of the little bits of cover around the edges for a bit of missile fire and AoE spell shielding. They recognise that it'll have a short use life if you don't reskin and reuse the layouts, so they encourage you to do exactly that. So another decent enough special feature to add to your collection, if not as impressive as the old castle you had to assemble yourself.