Dragon Issue 306: April 2003


part 6/9


Silicon sorcery: Another fairly long instalment from this column as they promote another D&D computer game - Icewind Dale 2. Unlike Neverwinter Nights, you get to control a whole party, and the game is more focused on on action than roleplaying elements. The game material reflects that, providing a full adventure scenario based on their tutorial system, which I find fairly amusing. Do you have what it takes to win a game of noughts and crosses FOR YOUR LIFE! (although they don't actually let you die in the actual game) You fight a battle for each square, and the first side to make a full line across the board wins. Since the monsters can be different every time, this little challenge can be scaled to any level save those so powerful they can easily bypass the entire room. (and even those could be forced to participate if it's a godly game of tic-tac-toe )

Ironically, this is the closest thing to a joke article in the entire issue, and it's still presented with an entirely straight face, with a load of different ideas on variants and how to integrate them into your campaign. You could even run a full campaign around it, where it's standard procedure for disputes to be settled by monstrous noughts and crosses duels. (now a cartoon with a flamboyantly hairstyled protagonist determined to find the "heart of the board" )  I really don't know how to react to that. It's definitely interesting, I'll give them that. I'm not sure if I actually want to use it, but I admire their commitment to sparkle motion. Oh well, I'm going to give this high marks, simply because it's provided me so much material to riff with.


Nodwick suffers april fools day in the traditional fashion. Zogonia must be increasing in popularity, because it gets to go full page. 4 whole pages in fact. Much hilarity is had as the lich is vanquished, and everything is put back to normal. Well, almost. Dork tower suffers from the dread sucky name syndrome. Fortunately, there is a cure available. Nodwick then gets a second strip. Exactly what the townsfolk don't want. Now, if only they'd bring back dragonmirth. Then everything would be peachy-keen here.


Campaign News finishes here, because they've decided to put it back in Polyhedron where it originally came from. And before they say goodbye, they have another round of reorganisations and nerfs to hand out to us. They've been talking about the new metaregions for quite a while, so that's no surprise, but it is nice to know the names and contact emails for each of their co-ordinators. What isn't so pleasing to see is the removal of yet another magical item that has maybe proven too powerful. They won it fair and square and have had a good year to grow attached to it. There's going to be some grumbles about that. Still, it was amusing to see the trials and aggravations of running organised play from a distance, and the articles in this section were of above average quality for the magazine, so I'm definitely sad to see regular Greyhawk coverage end in here. Now it's just generic stuff and the Realms left. Maybe someday I'll do this for Polyhedron too and see the other side of this migration, but that'd be years in the future even if I started immediately after finishing Dragon. (not bloody likely) For now, it's farewell, and I do indeed hope they fare well.

Dragon Issue 306: April 2003


part 7/9


Paladins of Greyhawk: Despite the many many articles we've got over the years to humanise paladins, they still get accusations that they're boring and all the same. You know what's a good way of making things less generic and stereotyped? Include a whole bunch of subdivisions, each with their own substereotypes that add too and sometimes replace the main one. It definitely works for White Wolf, and it can work for D&D too. Yup. It looks like our last regular Greyhawk article'll be devoted to the paladins of various gods, and just what flavouring this choice adds to the squeaky clean vanilla boys of team good. I can think of far worse ways to end this, so lets look at them individually, take our time on this.

Mayaheine's paladins tend to be optimists, feminists, and general champions of minorities and the downtrodden. Well, she is a new god, with a still growing following. That does tend to make people more hopeful that they can make a difference, change the world for the better where so many others have failed. Perfect adventurer material too, as they do tend to be more socially progressive than the average NPC.

Murlynd's paladins are of course gunslingers and experimenters in using technology to make people's lives better. Of course, like tinker gnomes, people may be rather afraid of their methods, which doesn't help general adoption, but that's just what you have to deal with in a world stuck in a medieval mindset. The greatest good is not achieved just by killing things, and lawful good technician is an entirely valid paladin archetype.

Pelor's paladins are pretty much the standard stereotype, giving their life for the cause and specialising in healing and turning undead. Someone has to be the straight man everyone else is compared too, and I guess they fit the bill.

Rao's followers, on the other hand, are all about the clever tactical solution to a conflict, studying the situation and then making a move that'll solve it quickly and with a minimum of risk and collateral damage. If that means avoiding combat altogether, all the better. Not that they're cowards or dishonourable. But lawful good definitely does not mean dumb or lacking in charm or humour in this case.

St Cuthbert's tend to be common sense, working class sorts, fond of a good drink and smoke when not out bashing the skulls of the unfaithful. So while closer to the vanilla stereotype than most of these, they also remind us that not all paladins are rich, and they're definitely not detached from the reality of the social problems ordinary people face. If anything, knowledge of those will just make them fight all the harder to stamp out chaos and poverty and improve the plight of the common man. Sometimes it's the subtle differences that bring a character to life, not the big ones, and this article has certainly given us plenty of different examples of that.

Dragon Issue 306: April 2003


part 8/9


DM's toolbox: Skip and Penny both have their own articles this issue, plus they team up on this column as well. Busy busy busy. This is a list of ways you can fake out your players, to make sure they're more likely to follow the plot you've created and keep the game fun. (for you, at least) They definitely tend towards the sadistic, keeping the information the players have unreliable, and letting them dig their own grave that way. While there's the usual warning not to railroad them and make their choices irrelevant, I'm strongly reminded that Skip's published adventures have tended to get pretty negative reviews, and I do have to wonder how much that bleeds into his own games (which according to his profile in issue 276 he doesn't get to run much anyway) I'm definitely dubious of this particular bit of advice. It just looks like it's more likely to blow up in your face than help.


Dungeoncraft: Monte finishes off his little series on city adventuring by talking about  the adventures themselves. This is where we're really reminded that he's regularly running adventures in Ptolus at the moment, and so these observations are born from plenty of actual play experience. (unlike Skip's) There's tons of adventures you can have without ever leaving the city limits, and even those that are slightly outside will be influenced by the knowledge that healing and restocking is within easy reach if you have the money. In fact one of the problems might be that you find yourself with too many options. The secret is to make sure you build stuff one step ahead of your players, and then to keep everything you make for future use, so you don't have to do so much work later. Creating flowcharts of where the adventure is likely to go is a better idea than detailed physical maps, especially if you haven't done the research on all the various things a functional community needs. (the toilets and bedrooms in dungeons problem writ large.) Similarly, timelines of what will happen if the PC's don't interfere keep the plot rolling nicely, and make sure they can't solve the problem on 15 minute workdays and only acting when fully charged up and prepared. And if you're playing in a game with plentiful magic, make sure the NPC's prepare accordingly, so PC's can't short-circuit the whole thing with one spell. Yup, that one's probably born out of bitter experience. This all seems like advice worth heeding, formed through trial and error as it is. Hopefully that way, your own adventure building'll be slightly less of a trial.

Dragon Issue 306: April 2003


part 9/9


Sage advice has redecorated with a fetching books, vines and crystal balls motif. It's quite pretty really. I rather approve.

Can bards affect themselves with bardic music (Skip thinks it's case by case time again, as this gets fiddly. )

Which description of harmonize is correct (The big one)

Does long term care + healthful slumber = 4x healing (No. Multipliers add, remember. Don't forget your basic math again. )

Can you use endurance on a petrified character before turning them back, to increase their odds of survival (No, but for complicated reasons, not simple ones. But you don't need to worry your head over that. Just remember not to waste your time doing it. )

Will wind wall affect a sling stone  (yes)

Where are the brackets on bless weapon. (Nowhere. Read it as a full sentence, don't try and get lawyery or Skip'll throw some compound predicates at you. )

Can a barbarian use a wand while raging (No. The best they can do is smash you on the head with it.)

When do you apply automatic metamagic feats (Any time you like. )

Can shambling mounds get infinitely tough from lightning bolts (Yes, but not for long. We've learned our lesson from last edition, just as we did about summoning cascades.)

Can darkmantles grab creatures much larger than them (Yes. Special exemption)

Can undead automatically be killed by arrows of slaying (No. You have completely misunderstood the no constitution rule)

Does evasion work on shadow dragon breath (yes)

Can runecasters get infinite uses of a triggered spell by making it permanent (yes, but only one at a time. This can still be very twinky.)

Can you make AoO's against someone with spring attack if you have reach. (Only if they do something other than moving to trigger them. Nothing changes unless the rules specifically say it's changed.)


What's new reveals the real reason good gets such a bad rap, and why chaotic good is a necessary alignment. AND THAT DAMN SNAIL FINALLY GETS OFF THE PAGE! Thank god for that. That was one of the most painfully dragged out jokes in history.


With a ton of information on how they're going to shake things up in 3.5, and a few hints as to what lies even further in the future, this is fairly interesting as a general issue, but a complete failure as an april one, with not even an acknowledgement of the things they usually do here. So it shows that the transition to Paizo has once again made them even more serious and focussed on just a few things than the TSR > WotC one did. Still, at least we're getting tons of easy to use and often rather good game material, so at least they're succeeding at what they're focusing on. Now they just have to deal with the fact that diminishing returns arrive so much faster when you do that. I guess that's what the revision is for. :\ Let's move another step closer to it.

Dragon Issue 307: May 2003


part 1/9


116 pages. A Game of Thrones themed issue? Very interesting, and rather more welcome to me than the Shannara one. That bit of fiction a couple of issues ago has a genuine payoff then. I suppose it's even cooler because like the steampunk issue, it shows how good ideas can still gradually build and be even more popular when revisited a decade later, which is a definite relief when you spend too much time bombarded by pop culture ephemera that vanishes unmourned once it's 15 minutes is up. You can make a sustainable career in the entertainment business, but it takes putting as much attention to promotion as actually creating stuff, and regularly releasing new material to build a fanbase, and that's two full-time jobs in one if you don't have a team behind you. Will they be able to give us an exciting encapsulation of this enormous series and make it look like a fun world to adventure in, or will this just be a load of promotional junk to leave in the trunk?


Scan Quality: Excellent, unindexed.


In this issue:


Neverwinter Nights, shadows of undrentide! Sweet. Computers might not be able to match real DM's, but they're definitely making progress.


Wyrms turn: Our editorial, unsurprisingly, is selling us on the idea of adventuring in Westeros. Like Middle-Earth, the world gives the impression of being far larger than any single character's story, with tons of history stretching backwards to play with. This means PC's have room to do stuff without constantly being overshadowed by the stars of the novels. In fact, in that respect, Martin is probably even better than Tolkien, because he makes it very clear there's no one viewpoint character, and anyone can die at any time via treachery or arbitrary twists of fate, but the narrative as a whole will carry on. Which is a lesson many DM's should take to heart. The party is not an inviolable perfect circle of chosen ones, that the story cannot take place without, and if you've written everything in advance so that it is, a less, shall we say, dicey medium would work better. Being willing to let the players change history from the books if they're playing in an existing fictional world isn't a bad rule to learn either. So far, so incentivising. What region and time period captures your interest?


Scale Mail: Our first letter this month, is a suggestion of how to speed along the mapping process with overlays on projection paper that fit together to make the full map without making hidden bits obvious. The main expense there'll be the projector then, unless you can "borrow" it from the office, which many people can do in their line of work.

We follow with some fencing minutinae, reminding us that even swashbucklers can be obsessive and geeky too.

Some really bad actual play story, heavily abbreviated. This really should have been in last issue, where we needed some risible letters to mock.

Continuing praise for Robin Laws and his ideas about social contracts. More articles that aren't game specific would be nice too.

And finally, linked to that, a reminder that you don't need to kill monsters to gain XP from overcoming them. Social conflict (as long as it's genuinely challenging social interaction, not just talking ) counts too. That's how all those Aristocrats and Experts get to level up. Haggling can be a cutthroat matter, and politics even moreso. Don't underestimate them because they haven't been on the front lines.

Dragon Issue 307: May 2003


part 2/9


Zogonia engages in epic fail. Guess the party hierarchy is staying the same for the time being.


Up on a soapbox: Gary brings up another benefit of having a stable of players that delves into the same megadungeon, but not in the same combination each time. If one team gets killed or captured, another one can go in and rescue them, thus preserving continuity and allowing the campaign to continue onwards despite losing an individual encounter. Plus it definitely makes for good stories where everyone gets to laugh about it later, despite it being terribly harrowing in actual play, and one character rescuing another is a very bond-forming experience. (which will hopefully lead to them returning the favour in the future, not becoming bitter and betraying them because they're sick of always living in their shadow. ) So as with the editorial, this reminds us that you can run formats other than the 4 player team which never splits up, and your game will be the richer for it due to the multiple perspectives. Keep fighting against attempts to homogenise the rules and playstyle. That way leads only to boredom and diminishing returns.


House rules: Our house rule this month is one that was pretty much canon in previous editions. Racial reaction modifiers. Like Weapon speeds, and modifiers vs specific kinds of armor, this was partly dropped because it was often ignored in actual play, and partly because they wanted to encourage greater variety in races between campaigns, and a relationship table just for all the monsters that can become PC's in the first MM would sprawl over several pages. And to be honest, not one I can see myself bothering with. I've never been a fan of monoculture, so I'd only use it when it looks like the players are going to stop in a particular area for a full adventure or more, where there is a definite set of racial demographics and regular exposure for stereotypes and conflicts to develop. Otherwise, it's not worth the effort, and I can quite understand why they didn't keep it in the 3.0 revision.


Open skies: Another chunky guild article is our first feature this month. In issue 304 we had an article on intelligent flying mounts, and how to use them in your game. Now we have a guild full of them and their riders. There's a lot of attention paid to the politics of this, with an insistence that the rider and mount are equal partners who both have things to contribute. Which also means they have to fight a constant battle against quadruped bigotry and enslavement in unenlightened regions, which is both amusing and provides an endless source of adventure hooks. The history and setting detail makes this particularly easy to insert into any campaign, and they have a solid selection of new spells and feats that are well suited to high mobility combat, plus reprints of the stats for air infused creatures, half elemental, and air genasi to keep this accessible to those without supplements. It's a good reminder that you can make life an adventure by actively trying to change the world for the better, not just hunting down and killing those who would take over the world and change it for no-one's benefit but their own. And that nearly anything can have sex with anything and produce offspring in 3e, even humans and sentient columns of air, (maybe they got the idea by watching Marilyn Monroe standing on a grate) which can also lead to tons of adventures just trying to figure out how to raise the kid properly. If any cause is worth adventuring for, it's racial equality and (fully consensual) kinky interspecies sex. I officially endorse this guild.

Dragon Issue 307: May 2003


part 3/9


Monsters in the alley: Another article that feels like it was too late for the urban themed issue, making me wonder if Paizo is struggling to keep itself organised and read and edit everything submitted in good time. Even now they're throwing out all the fiction submissions unread,  I still suspect they have fewer resources at their disposal than when they were a full part of the WotC offices. Still, even if it is a couple of months late, it is a James Jacobs one, and he rarely disappoints me when it comes to inventive monsters. Let's see if he can keep up his winning streak.

Dweomervores are little barbed-tailed dragons that eat magic, and reproduce asexually when there's a plentiful supply of it. Since they need to eat magical items, adventurers will likely wind up hunting them when some of their gear goes missing. At least it's a better excuse than the random mischief faerie dragons will inflict on you for kicks.

Splinterwaifs may or may not be the twisted remains of dryads who's trees were cut down and used to build stuff. Whether they are or not, they steal children and turn them into bushes before slowly eating them, which is a very interesting way to go that also makes it very hard to hunt them down, since there's no bodies. Better have your divination spells at the ready to figure this one out.

Trap Haunts are ghosts who were killed by traps, which means adventurers have way above average odds of becoming one. As if the tomb of horrors wasn't nasty enough, add a few of these and you'll never clear it out.

Wilora are shapeshifting birds that steal memories with their gaze and assume people's forms. The most mythological feeling of this collection, they don't seem to have much motivation beyond jumping into people's lives temporarily and getting up to mischief that the poor amnesiac has to deal with next morning. Well, it's a good alternative to dopplegangers or obliviax. If there's a substantial population of them in an area, people will be very superstitious about barring the doors and padding the walls at night.

Since none of these are really straight combatants, have good descriptions with some ecological thought in, and will all need some brains to deal with, I think this is another pretty good article from James. The important thing with new monsters is that they always need to be slightly different, otherwise why write them, and these fit that bill.


Risen dead II: It definitely seems like they're bringing out sequels to popular articles faster these days. Well, I suppose that fits with the overall tendency of faster edition changes and more instant communication with the public. If they're cutting months off finding out what worked and what didn't through forumwatching, and days off the process of transmitting and revising manuscripts via using email, then of course there's going to be some acceleration. Plus it helps if they're easy ones to write like this one. Yup, it's 4 more undead converted from regular monster types into templates. Bodaks, Ghouls, Ghasts and Sons of Kyuss get genericised for flexibility. The templates are exactly what you'd expect, but there are some amusing quirks in the examples. Bodak Hydra get to use the death gaze with all their heads, while kyuss infected ogre mages enjoy both regeneration and fast healing, which makes them an absolute nightmare to put down for good. So it looks like they've found another vein of easy to mine crunch to tap into, and hope it doesn't run dry too soon. Ho hum. What other monster types fit better as templates than existing creatures then?

Dragon Issue 307: May 2003


part 4/9


Heroes of Cormyr: Greyhawk may have moved out now, but the Realms is still getting multiple articles nearly every issue. Even individual regions get more detail than most other campaign worlds. So here we go again, showing what benefits you can get by swearing loyalty to a larger organisation, rather than just wandering wherever fortune takes you. Let's see if it feels worth it given the rules you'll have to abide by.

Battlepriests get full BAB, 2 extra domains, and a load of social effects that make them good for fighting in the frontlines and keeping the troops healthy and motivated. In this case, sacrificing a couple of spellcasting levels seems entirely worth it.

Council Mages are a short one for the high level wizards who get Vangerdhast's personal approval. With the ability to cast co-operatively to raise DC's, easy access to high level spells through their connections and a bonus to dispelling checks, they're definitely strong team players who can bring the strategy to a big party. Let's hope the player is as good a planner as the character should be.

Noble Adventurers have the interesting distinction of being the only 4 level prestige class I've ever seen. While they last, they're just plain better than regular fighters in nearly every way, so you want social status and power, you'd be dumb not to go for the classy option.

Moon Drovers have the really perilous job of harvesting catoblepas herds for death cheese. Fortunately, by 2nd level, they're immune to to their death gaze, but you'll need to survive a few levels of regular cleric before you get that. Still, since they keep full spellcasting, and there's people around who can raise you, I think a few months milking the warthogs is a worthwhile way to spend your summer holidays.

Royal Scouts are for particularly patriotic rangers, hunting down any monsters that enter the royal woods and serving as messengers the rest of the time. With lots of low skill requirements, you'll probably need to multiclass to get in, but once again, they're worth it. So this is a particularly twinky collection, appropriate for those who like to multiclass a lot to squeeze every inch of optimisation out of their character. Good thing they are region specific then.


Elminster's guide to the realms: A bridge as an adventure location? Haven't had one of those since issue 131. Another underused idea when you consider how good a flashpoint for dramatic encounters they make. Be there tolls, trolls, treacherous footing or stuff hidden beneath, getting across can definitely be a challenge for low-mid level adventurers. Of course Ed wants to create a persistent world, so this particular bridge is in no danger of collapsing anytime in the next few centuries. But it does have a regular problem with bugbear bandits, a whole load of little hidden compartments, triggered magic mouths that proclaim odd stuff to people crossing, and a really nasty marsh underneath to suck down people who try to go around it. If you're high enough level to laugh at all of those, there might also be an extradimensional gate to a dragon's lair if you touch the right stones in the right order. As usual, this is aimed at characters of all levels and the idea that you can cross multiple times and still find something new to keep it from being just another flavor encounter. Still, even if it is formulaic, at least he's found another real world thing that deserves more attention in game. I'm sure billygoats everywhere will thank him for it.

Dragon Issue 307: May 2003


part 5/9


3.5 Revision update: This time, we're getting out the nerfbat for the spells people have complained most about. Harm now not only requires a touch attack to hit, but also allows a saving throw on top of that and only does 10 points of damage per level. Hold allows a saving throw every single round to escape. And Haste and Polymorph are getting thoroughly weakened, because they're just ridiculously versatile. This is one area where they really caused their own problems in the first place. Removing the aging effect from Haste and System Shock roll from polymorphing turned them from really useful but risky effects to no-brainers. Refocussing the game from large parties where each person plays multiple PC's or has a load of hirelings to 4 person teams which don't have any slack if one member is taken out makes save or suck spells have way more impact, as does changing the save system so you're more likely to fail at high levels instead of less. And whinging about Harm is just silly when finger of death is lower level and more powerful. It just shows how trying to create a tightly balanced system where everything is interlocked is really difficult, and near impossible where flexible powers that can synergise multiplicatively are involved. While 3e fixed a lot of 2e's problems, it also created a fair number of it's own, and this is where they're coming home to roost. And trying to fix the problem by cutting down power and flexibility just sucks the wonder out of things. You know, it would have been way easier to set spell and monster DC's at 10 + ability modifier + 1/3 your level/HD, instead of all this faffing around with individual spells. (and kill scaling with spell level with fire, as all that does is leave your low level spells useless against higher level monsters) So it should be pretty clear that this is one set of changes 3.5 made I'm not keen on at all. They're greasing the squeaky wheels in a way that doesn't actually make the game better once the changes are made.


Silicon Sorcery: Shadowbane is another fantasy CRPG that puts a different spin on the familiar fantasy races, two of which are converted here. Shades are humans who's fathers die while they're still in the womb. They appear half in the grave themselves, with grey skin, solid black eyes and no hair, so they're very much an oppressed minority in human communities. Still, this has it's advantages in that they can freely see and interact with ghosts, so who ya gonna call? Their half-elves are different as well. The magical energy coursing through them leaves them mentally unstable, and they need special tattoos to maintain a modicum of control that also leave them instantly recognisable. Once again, they suffer pretty badly from discrimination by both sides of their parentage. Both of these are sterile, which means they'll never be anything more than a rarity. Still, they both have strong incentives to become adventurers, and gain some measure of self-worth and acceptance through heroism, so they fit in nicely to D&D. And let's face it, angsty outsiders are a perpetual bestseller in media. There have been many before, there will be many in the future. There'll always be a place in my game for them, especially as long as I fit that mould in reality.

Dragon Issue 307: May 2003


part 6/9


Good monsters: A second sequel in quick succession this issue. We've had two articles about transformative prestige classes based on evil monsters. Now here's one for the fans of good monsters. After all, there may not be as many as there are evil ones, but that just means we're more likely to remember the ones there are, especially as they're more intelligent and magically capable on average too. There's room for a few of these, and possibly ones focussing on lawful, chaotic and neutral monsters as well. Course, that all depends on the existing ones holding the public interest and getting follow-up submissions. Let's see if these can maintain their winning streak.

Whitehorns are devoted to unicorns, completely unsurprisingly. They get to heal by touching people with the horn that grows from their forehead, but don't get unicorn's dimension door, weirdly enough. With full BAB, they seem best aimed at rangers rather than Druids, who would gain all that healing power and more if they just progressed their spells normally.

Followers of the Skyserpent want to be Coatl. This means they get to use poison freely despite being lawful good, and the usual wings and tail you'd expect from a transformative prestige class. They're also good at social stuff too, so they've got good odds of catching the right people when hunting evildoers. The ends can only justify the means if you don't screw up in the judicial process.

Treefriends act as an information network for Dryads, keeping them in touch with each other and protecting forests as a whole. A definite case where the creature needs them as much as they need it, since staying in one place your whole life must be pretty boring for something that smart, and they can't take the fight to the big logging companies before they arrive. They're another one that can't really do anything druids can't, but make up for it with full BAB. Plus a boost to your charisma score is pretty tempting for the vain out there.

The Artists Vengeance is a secret society of Bards that venerate Lillendi, and are obsessed with eliminating any attempts to censor or destroy their work. They mostly just progress their bard abilities as normal, but also gain a tail and wings at higher level. (and I'd like to see how they explain that when making public appearances promoting their work) Let all those who give bad reviews beware their might. That's sufficiently funny that I can definitely give respect to this article. Good still needs to be fun, and they've got that, even if they don't have ultimate power.


The saga of Westeros: For some reason, they're putting the themed stuff near the end of the issue instead of the start. That's unusual. Do they think a big chunk of their readerbase won't be interested or something? Or is it just the amount of adverts they got and needed to structure their features around. That's caused formatting mess-ups before. in any case, this first article definitely falls into the category of unimpressive warm-up, being just a very very abridged and spoiler light synopsis of the books' plot so far. They're going to gradually build up to the epicness then? At least, I hope that's what they had in mind. Let's move on from this little bit of fluff then.

Dragon Issue 307: May 2003


part 7/9


The ice wall campaign: There's plenty of room in Westeros for D&D style roaming bands of adventurers at the edge of civilisation. If you've broken the law and want to leave your old identity behind rather than hang or rot in jail, you can sign on with the wall guards that keep barbarians and monsters from invading the southern lands. If that's still not enough excitement, from there it's a simple step to disappear into the frozen wilderness full of wolves, wights, dragons, and mysterious winter fae. And that'll probably be all the excitement you can handle without wizards and clerics to fill out the party and make things less inexplicable. There's still a fair amount left open here, presumably because it hasn't been properly detailed in the books, which means the DM has plenty of leeway to decide what else is out there, but won't be able to get away with being lazy and sticking strictly to published material. Still, like the overview of mystara in X1, it's enough to go on for now, and does contain some genuinely evocative elements. So far, so playable.


The clash of kings: Our second campaign idea is of course going right to the centre of the empire and immersing yourself in political struggle. Course, if you aren't from one of the great houses, the deck is stacked against you. Still, with 5 of them, there's plenty of room for making alliances and marrying into power that might let you claw your way up if you have something to offer. And let's face it, there's a good deal to fight for. This is organised by houses and the territories they command, with details of NPC's and adventure seeds for each. So it doesn't feel as detailed and cohesive as the icewall campaign, but it does have more scope to it. You have a much greater number of cultures and terrains to deal with, and the chance to assemble armies and amass riches in a way a band of wandering miscreants couldn't. Mind you, plenty of emphasis is put on how magic low Westeros is compared to a standard 3e campaign, so even at 20th level you won't be rocking a full regalia of +5 gear and unleashing meteor swarms on a daily basis. But if the characters are born to that world, they won't know that. And what's important to in feeling rich is that you're better off than your neighbours, not that you're objectively well off. There's plenty to fight for and win here, and the challenges will remain challenging at all levels (and don't get complacent even if you do win, because political manoeuvring never stops, and winter is coming. ) I think this article manages to successfully convey how big the world is and how easily you could run an entire campaign set there. When you've got strong material to work with, everything else looks much easier.

Dragon Issue 307: May 2003


part 8/9


A song of dice and fire: Unsurprisingly, we finish off with an interview of George R. R. Martin himself, getting some insights into his working methods. And it does have to be said that he doesn't seem to be the most efficient of writers, not keeping many  notes, and sometimes having to backtrack and rewrite big chunks of story when they turn out not to fit the larger scale plot. It's a good thing he is now in a financial position where he can take more than 5 years between instalments to give attention to all the many many characters and subplots, and it would be a shame if the wheel of time got finished posthumously, but this series never does. But with the morbid stuff out of the way early, we get to find out all sorts of cool stuff about his own roleplaying experiences. His primary poison of choice is GURPS, and his main long-term campaign is a fairly realism heavy one set in ancient rome. Which isn't to say he hasn't done some pretty serious min-maxing and blowing stuff up in the past. But in general, he's a fan of keeping the wondrous elements sufficiently rare that they stay wondrous. Which does put him somewhat at odds with the current D&D writers. But then, if you're the type of person who likes to explore a single world for decades at a time, you don't want a system that causes you to level up to game-breaking degrees in less than 2 years and then start again. This is a pretty strong reminder there are a big crop of fantasy readers who aren't really catered for by what D&D does, and it'll be interesting to see how the D20 version of ASoI&F handled that. Can they strip the fantastical elements back just the right amount so they stay special when they do come up? In any case, this interview shows just how many fantasy writers are or were also gamers these days, and that that has had an influence, whether they're taking those ideas they saw in the games, or reacting against them. No escaping it these days, I'm afraid.


DM's toolbox: While they may be nerfing many spells next edition, they're still pretty big on the idea of letting you play any monster you like, especially now the ECL system causes you to probably be weaker than a regular PC unless your class complements your racial abilities. So here we go with a load of advice on how to integrate them into a campaign, and the challenges they're likely to face. In most campaigns, they will face suspicion from the public when they go into towns, and it's not impossible that they'll have problems getting into and sticking with the rest of the party. The more their body shape differs from humanity, the more frequently you'll find yourself making special allowances for them that can take over the game. While obviously shorter, I think this may actually be better than the similar advice in the complete book of humanoids, with plenty of ideas on how to make a game filled with exotic PC's work, rather than just obstacles to throw in their way make up for their racial powers. With the problems of 3e really coming out of the woodwork this issue, it's important that we take the time to remember the many things it does do better than previous editions, and this is one of them.


The play's the thing: Mike's contribution this month is a whole bunch of fun spell synergies that you can use to make the most of your powers. Never underestimate the utility of your basic flasks of oil and 10 foot poles. Also don't underestimate the power of illusion combined with a real threat. And especially don't underestimate how much dropping heavy stuff on people from a great height hurts. I find it very ironic that they're putting an article like this in the same issue which just nerfed a whole load of spells, and just shows how pointless a task it is. As long as wizards and clerics have access to hundreds of spells at higher level, there's always going to be ways you can combine them that are disproportionately effective. So individually, this article seems fun and inconsequential, but combined with the rest of the issue is a reminder of the multiple masters they're trying to serve. They actively tried to encourage charop at the beginning of 3e, and now they're starting to crack down on it again, closing up loopholes that players discovered, which means a chunk of the gaming population will once again be left behind trying to play the game the old way. It's very interesting indeed to see these shifts in the writer's attitudes, and who is first and last to change their minds.

Dragon Issue 307: May 2003


part 9/9


Sage advice: What counts as too crap an ability spread. Do you have to meet both the conditions or just one (Just one. Bow before our mercy, that you should be permitted to abort unviable adventurers before they are even born. We had to face a lot of opposition to get you that right.)

When do devoted defenders get AC bonuses (Whenever actively defending someone. This means they need to stick near them or use a reach weapon to stay in range.)

Page 59 of the ELH includes the bonuses from ability scores, right (yes)

Do specialist wizards with improved spell capacity get the bonus spell at each level (Yes. Nearly double the benefit from each feat, triple if they hyperspecialise. Another way that wizards blow other spellcasters away at epic level. Clerics get domain spells as well. )

Does a tattooed monk have to take the same tattoo more than once to increase the benefits (no. It scales with level, just not directly. )

What's the difference between a knowledge check and a bardic knowledge check (different sources, different DC scale criteria, different applications. They're completely different. How could you confuse them.)

Does a loremaster add their level to all knowledge checks (No. Once again, you completely misunderstand. It's just another bardic lore variant.)

How often can a rogue sneak attack in the dark if the enemies can't see them (Constantly. Very scary indeed. )

Can a barbarian use their dex bonus while climbing or grappling. (no)

How does an arcane trickster's impromptu sneak attack work (Full attack, only one does the extra damage. Best make it the first one)

Can an assassinated character be raised (Their death attack doesn't have the Death descriptor, so no. It just kills you, it doesn't make you harder to bring back.)


Nodwick goes from facing undeath, to just facing death. This is not an improvement. At least if you become undead you get plenty of time to think.


The articles this month are mostly very good, but for some reason, the 3.5 teasers showcase my absolute least favourite parts of the changes they're going to make. This gives me an exaggerated sense of pessimism about the future as we finish this issue, especially as the themed material details a world so very different from their general direction at the moment. Once again I have to press on despite a fair amount of trepidation about the near future. Maybe they've saved the cool teasers for the next issue.

Dragon Issue 308: June 2003


part 1/9


91 (116) pages. Even dragons get the annoying fishbowl lens treatment! Sigh. That's definitely a fashion that gets old fast. Let's hope it is a short one, along with not bothering to do decent backdrops. So. Year 27. 3^3. Not nearly as mathematically significant feeling as the hundreds or the powers of 2, but not a prime number either. Let's see if the articles are as relentlessly efficient as their current fashion dictates, or if any small amount of whimsy has survived the tightening of focus.


In this issue


Wyrms turn: The editorial this month covers the not so weighty subject of people being superstitious about their dice. Do you have particular ones that always seem to get good or bad results? Is this just actual luck, confirmation bias making you remember the ones that fit the pattern in your mind, or actual trends due to the little imperfections in the sides and weighting? Could be any of them, really. People are silly, and can take a little thing and make a huge deal out of it. Not that I'm one to talk really. But however far gone I am with my obsessions, I've never lost my cynicism about the whole thing. I suppose some level of quirkiness is essential anyway. Without it, we'd be just pure profit focussed logical machines, and roleplaying wouldn't exist. And then where would we be? Best to just allow them their foibles, and hope they'll be similarly tolerant in return.


Scale Mail: We start off with a request for more epic level material. They give the old excuse that they can't get the submissions. Simple problem, complicated solutions.

Next we have someone pointing out how utterly unrealistic the 3e jumping rules are. You can wind up floating through the air for rounds on end at high levels. This is the problem with overall movement rate increases being so hard to come by in D&D. Physics can go take a back seat.

We have someone who doesn't see what the big deal is if dragon articles are OGL or not. It's not an issue for you, it's one for publishers. The solutions that are shared are the ones that can be reused and built upon. Everything else is off limits. Sharing only works if enough other people share too that everyone winds up with a net positive.

The complete lack of april frivolity is noted with annoyance. They'd better watch themselves if they want to make it to next year without being pied in the face.

And finally, we have a letter from someone who hasn't been paying attention and wonders how you play living greyhawk. If you can learn the rules for D&D, the ones for joining the RPGA and getting accredited should hopefully be fairly simple by comparison.


Zogonia demonstrates the difference in fighting styles between fighters and rogues.  You've gotta play to your strengths.

Dragon Issue 308: June 2003


part 2/9


Up on a soapbox: Rob Kuntz takes this column instead of Gary for a month. But the stories of the old days remain pretty similar. In fact, we return to the story of the monk with no name, and the fun he got up too. Bored of the dungeoneering, he turned to extorting an barony ruled by another PC,  thus giving Rob an easy ride as two high level characters duked it out with all the magical and temporal resources at their disposal. He got away with it too, thanks to having the forces of nature on his sides, while all the baron had was human armies. Still, as with the last time someone tried to make their fortune outside the dungeon, diminishing returns set in, and the next time they tried it, the target was better equipped. It's the nature of heists. The really hard thing isn't getting away with it once, it's not being hunted down afterwards, and not being dumb enough to try the same trick too soon or too near to the previous attempt. And when you do get the money, spend it slowly, don't blow it on shiny stuff that makes the neighbours suspicious. So this reminds us that political PvP stuff can work in D&D, and how variety is essential to keeping a game interesting. Both PC's and their enemies need to change and grow to keep the campaign from gradually winding down and ending because they're bored. This is why they invented all that high level domain stuff in the first place. Now, if only there'd been some other branching options as well. Then more people might have kept playing once they got there and didn't know what to do with one.  :/


House rules: When you're living in a rules as physics game, even a small change to stats can make a big difference to how a race or class interacts with the world. For example, what happens if you change dwarves from having a charisma penalty to a dexterity penalty instead. That ± 1 to a bunch of rolls seems small, but will really add up in terms of building stereotypes. Their primary identifier goes from grumpy to clumsy, (although thankfully that doesn't affect their crafting skills) and they're even more likely to be comic relief for the group. Very interesting. And also a reminder that it's the little details that let you really make a world your own, and can make or break overall game balance. Change the nuances, and see what happens. If it turns out poorly, change it back. No harm, no foul, and hopefully you got a story out of the experiment as well.