Dragon Issue 318: April 2004


part 6/8


Countdown to Eberron: So as they said last issue, Warforged are important enough to get a teaser all to themselves. They've obviously had a lot more thought put into their development than last issue's golemoids, with careful examination of exactly which construct traits would be game-breaking for an LA+0 race, and which can be included straight, or in a modified form. They don't need to eat, sleep or breathe, but they don't heal naturally, and magical healing aimed at organic creatures only restores half, so what you gain in logistical ability will be made up for by the need to have someone with an appropriate craft skill in the party. They can't wear armor, but automatically get the equivalent of light armor, and have two mutually exclusive feats that can only be taken at 1st level that reflect how they were built and give you the equivalent of medium or heavy armor, which means they have to choose carefully, and will be a feat behind most equivalent builds in other races. They can try to figure out how to fit in with the organic races, or take racial feats which further emphasise their mechanical side. It's all very interesting from both a mechanics and setting point of view, to the point where the PHB races seem a little dull in comparison. After all, they're not giving specific races their own Complete splatbooks this edition to really flesh them out. Oh well, you've probably played them many times before. Why not create a party entirely comprised of new classes and races, see how they do. These teasers continue to do the job of selling me on the setting.


Expanded psionics preview 4: The psionics previews continue to be interesting, but not as finely tuned as the Eberron stuff, which shows who's getting the lion's share of the development budget. This time, it's a couple of new psionic monsters that once again, won't be appearing in this book, but will a couple of years down the line. Larval Flayers are what happens to illithids that aren't implanted in someone's brain cavity soon enough, turning into their own squirmy thing, and raising very big questions about their evolution process and lifecycle. Shadow Efts are less interesting. Shadowy monsters that feed on emotion, and will therefore hang around scaring and draining victims rather than actually killing them if possible. Now there's a literary cliche that turns up again and again, although more in horror stories than fantasy ones. In addition, they've introduced a psionic subtype with which to label monsters, although it doesn't really do much. What's the point of it then? About the same as the goblinoid or native outsider subtypes. All it does is make it easier to say if a creature is resistant or vulnerable to certain special powers. Oh, the joys of codifying things that most of us got along just fine without bothering to pin down. That's what years of Sage Advice does to you.

Dragon Issue 318: April 2004


part 7/8


Under command: After 6 months of little general expansions, they decide to risk taking about campaign play again. They might not have a setting behind the game anymore, but that doesn't mean you can't have a storyline, setting and continuity between your skirmishes. They skip the general advice, which hopefully you know by now, and go for a sample adventure arc, and lots of little bits of crunch to advance your warband with, particularly the group leader who will hopefully develop into a unique character by adding levels and magic items over the course of a campaign. This does ram home just how simplified the skirmish rules are, allowing them to fit a lot of information into just a few of pages. In that way, it's a good callback to the very early days of the magazine, where they could cram a dozen spells onto a single page and have half-page wargaming articles that contributed something meaningful. It's a positive development, and I hope they won't axe the column immediately after this. :/


The play's the thing: Unsurprisingly,  this time Mike examines what a party that's missing an arcane or divine caster feels like. Equally unsurprisingly, it's the lack of a cleric that really reduces the staying power of a party. It's not that you won't feel the pinch from the lack of a wizard as well, especially if you come up against similarly magical and intelligent monsters that use their powers to no-sell straight-up attacks. But healing and magical food creation (if you track rations anyway) make a huge difference ALL the time, as they're significant in every adventure where there's any kind of physical challenge or journeying. And while magic items may replace spell-casters to a degree, the healing ones are much more likely to be limited-use, forcing you to pay for them again and again over the course of a campaign. It's ironic that the class you miss the most if it isn't there is also the one people are most likely to not play because it isn't "cool", and this really is a big flaw in the game design that they have good reason to worry about. (and made a valiant attempt to fix in 4e. ) Course, in 3e, there are tons of classes that don't fit neatly into the striker/defender/controller/leader boxes, and even more prestige classes that consciously combine roles, so you can get by if you try. You'll just have to work a bit harder when the char-op no-brainers are removed.

Quote from: bbgenderblind99;655367:huhsign::hand::idunno::enworld:

That's a nice set of emoticons. When did we get those in, and is there one for rpg.net as well?

Dragon Issue 318: April 2004


part 8/8


Sage advice: Can a monster with a disease affect other things with the same disease (No. If they've got it, they've got it. If they're already immune, you are wasting your time.)

Save DC's for disease attacks are based on con? That can't be right. Tough things are resistant to disease. ( Wrong way round! The tougher they are, the meaner the disease has to be to live in them. They're frickin typhoid marys. )

Why do afflicted lycanthropes have lower damage reduction and no chance of passing on lycanthropy. Surely some mistake (Wrong again! We want them to be weaker. Plus, did you forget all the hassle we had with summon cascades? Well it's the same principle. Monsters like that cannot be permitted in this game anymore!)

Can you use dispel magic to suppress a creature's supernatural abilities (no, and you can only deactivate spell-like ones, not stop them from casting in the first place. )

What happens when a monster uses a weapon plus it's natural attacks in the same round (Nothing much. This works just fine, albeit with the usual secondary weapon penalties. )

What happens if a monster doing this is high enough BAB to get iterative attacks (They get them with the primary weapon, as usual. Come on, give Skip a hard one. )

Does the weapon have to be the primary attack (Skip is afraid so. It takes the most concentration. Tarrasques probably shouldn't bother. )

What happens if you use a secondary weapon as your primary weapon (You can't. Even if that's your only attack, you still take the penalty. It's like fighting left handed. If you don't have ambidexterity, you'll always suffer the penalty)

Do you have to use your primary natural weapon to trip or sunder. (No way. In many cases, using a tail or something for that makes more thematic sense. You still suffer the penalties though.)

Do you have to use your primary weapon when making an AoO. No, but it's a good idea. No sense taking pointless penalties. )

How exactly does poisoning work again?  (Ah, another open ended question that gives Skip a chance to pontificate for ages and make loads of money. Skip loves the dumb ones. )

Do you have to save every time a paralyzing creature hits you. What happens if they overlap (Yes. Carrion crawlers are brutal buggers. The durations run concurrently. )

How do nagas cast spells with somatic and material components. (By sinuously swaying their serpentine coils. )

Can you disjoin a Golem (No. It may be magically animated and nonintelligent, but it's still a creature, not an object. Intelligent magical swords ought to form a union and protest about this blatant bias. )


Well, in the battle between ninjas, pirates and dinosaurs, I can definitely say the fight goes to the guys with scales and millions of years of experience. I am more than a little disappointed that they didn't squeeze in at least one joke article, but hey, it's still an improvement on last year. Let's hope that they can come up with more complementary gestalt themes as well, rather than ones that just feel shallow.  But for now, let's get back to the proper big themes. Next up, Dark Sun! (and psionics in general, which is an obvious complementary combination) Good to see the resurgence in settings isn't just a one-off.

Dragon Issue 319: May 2004


part 1/8


91(108) pages. While the Realms may have by far the most material, it looks like Athas is still on top in the number of specials it's got in the magazine. And for all that food is supposed to be scarce on Athas, they sure do manage to produce some serious beefcake. I suppose no matter how tough the world, the people on top will always be able to commandeer an amount of resources orders of magnitude greater than the huddled masses. Whether they use it for good or evil is another question entirely. And of course, there's the question of how much they'll focus on the gritty aspects of the setting, given that 3e is generally less interested in fine setting details and low powered NPC's. Guess it's time to brave the harshest wilderness of all again, and hope we can sniff out water before the defilers ruin the remaining oases.


Scan Quality: Good, unindexed, ad-free scan.


In this issue:


Wyrms turn: The editorial, as is often the case these days, seems to be actively going against the things they put in the articles. This time, it's giving the players fair, CR appropriate encounters. Safe to say that they sometimes get thrown into situations that are way above their power level, and are expected to actually pay attention to warnings of certain death. Another example of how they have to write 3e articles aimed at a different kind of play, and lower expected skill levels than they have themselves. Which is probably a frustrating business in general. They can't just make adventures and campaigns that they'd want to play if they were in our shoes. So we get to read about the fun they're having, and then figure out how much of the rules to ignore to get there. It's not surprising I get fed up with them having to deal with this.


Scale Mail: Our first letter is from someone who really enjoyed the Novel themed issues, and wants some more of them. They decide they'll go for greater quantity and less depth, and institute a regular column on converting book stuff to D&D in the same way Silicon Sorcery does. That way they have another easy method to get ideas and fill a few pages each month without wearing out their welcome.

Secondly, we have a letter complaining there's too much disconnected crunch in the magazine at the moment, and not enough expanding on existing things. We can only use so many prestige classes at once. They accept that yes, they may have gone too far in one direction, and will look towards swinging the other way this year. And so the wheel of creativity continues to turn.

Third, we have a generally positive letter that suggests they ought to do more fiction again. This they're slightly more cagey about. They intend to stick to stuff by established authors only from now on, so you won't be making any fresh young discoveries around here.

Finally, we get reminded that once upon a time, there was an AD&D Trivia Game. There were also colouring books and calendars, you know. They produced a lot of cheesy crap back in the day. Some, they still do.

Dragon Issue 319: May 2004


part 2/8


Zogonia are still not getting along after last month's adventure. Maybe they'll get along better with the hot drow chick.


Up on soapbox: Gary's delivers his final story this month, the tale of how the first dual-class character was created. As is often the case, it involved a bit of exception based design that did not follow the rules that the books would later use. Erac's Cousin was forced to switch from magic-user to fighter when he was accidentally transported to Barsoom, where his magic didn't work, but his physical capabilities were superhuman compared to the low-gravity natives. Unlike the later rules, he got to choose which class he wanted to use and gain experience in for a particular adventure, rather than being stuck with the new one until it surpassed the levels of the old one. Once again, the fact that the rules were still being created allowed characters to do things they'd never get away with these days, unless your DM also isn't playing by RAW. So I guess we'll leave this by wondering if you'll have more fun not strictly playing by the rules. Unless you're in large scale tournament play, you'll get more out of the game if you put your own ideas into it as well. Be a creator, not just a consumer.


Struggling to survive in a savage world: Let's get this show on the road, because we'll run out of water if we hang around. First up, the races. We get all the ones from the old dark sun books, plus Elan and Maenads from the new Psionics handbook detailed. Like the old Dark Sun books, they aren't the same as standard ones, with even humans being beefed up into an LA+1 race. Combine this with the default starting level being 4, and this means most PC's start with 3 class levels like in the original, and eliminates a lot of the problems higher-powered races face in regular campaigns. So this is both fairly faithful to the original, and makes some effort to make them more balanced with each other, (which is an argument for higher default starting power level as it gives you more leeway as a designer) and while it does introduce some new stuff, it integrates it into the setting and doesn't try to cram in everything from the new XPH. And Gnomes are still extinct. So far, definitely so good.


Heroes of a dying world: The classes, on the other hand, get treated in a way that feels pretty half-assed. In 2e, clerics and rangers had very different spell lists, Bards eschewed spellcasting for encyclopaedic poison knowledge, and wizards, hoo boy. Here, nearly all of this gets blanded out, they don't go to any effort to explain how the setting is changed by the Sorcerer/Wizard divide in 3e, Paladins are plonked back in without thought to their power source, and they don't even bother to make a separate Gladiator class. It feels like no effort was put into this article at all, which is very strange given it has the same author as last one. I guess we know where David Noonan's priorities lie then.

Dragon Issue 319: May 2004


part 3/8


Tempered by a burning world: The equipment, at least, remains much the same as in 2e. Gold and silver will go 100 times as far as in most settings, if you can find somewhere with enough decent stuff to pay for it in the first place. The weapons and armor suuuuck, which compensates for the higher starting level and ability scores. You can pretty much throw out the idea of recommended treasure per level. On the other hand, there are plenty of giant insects that you can use to make chitin armor or shields. (if you can kill them without ruining their shells) Things are generally too tough for civil liberties to gain much traction. (but if you can survive going off into the desert, who's going to chase you? ) So this is somewhere in the middle of the other two articles in quality, simply translating the setting straight, doing what's needed to update it to the new rules. I don't think it gives quite enough info to play it if you don't have the old books, and it doesn't add to the setting, unlike the better articles from 315, so I can't give this themed section hugely high marks. As is the case far too often these days, this is serviceable rather than thrilling.


The erudite: (as played by Samuel L Jackson) Now here's an interesting little bit of design experimentation. 3e psions had a lot in common with Sorcerers in that they have a more limited selection of powers than wizards, but can use them more frequently and repeatedly. What would happen if we reverse engineered that process, and created a psionic class that has a greater total selection of powers, and the ability to add more mid-level by training with or scanning the minds of other characters? How would we keep this from being completely overpowered and dominating the game in the same way well-prepared wizards can do? The whole point of psionic characters is their self-contained nature, so they can't have an expensive and losable spellbook as a balancing factor. The answer they chose was twofold. An XP cost for learning each power above the standard ones gained per level. And only being able to manifest a limited selection of the powers you know per day. As is often the case when an idea appears in the magazine and is then put in a book a few years later, there's a whole bunch of subtle mechanical differences. The big one is that they can manifest a number of powers of each level per day exactly equal to a wizard here, rather than the flat 1 +1/2 per level in Complete Psionic. This means they're more powerful here, but also require much more bookkeeping. The xp is also a flat cost here, instead of scaling with level like it does in CP. So this version is a comfortable tier 1 class, only slightly below wizards due to the XP cost becoming negligible at higher level, while the CP version is about balanced with Psions and Sorcerers, with it's initial flexibility at the start of the day nicely counterbalanced with the hard choices you'll have to make in an extended dungeon crawl. Another case where it's very nice to see their design process working.

Dragon Issue 319: May 2004


part 4/8


Countdown to Eberron: With the Dark Sun stuff out the way, it's time to get back to teasing the new arrival. While magic there is distrusted and driven underground, with good reason, here it's fairly common and well integrated into society. This despite the fact that they've had their own magical apocalypse recently, rendering a whole country into a wasteland full of weird shit. I suppose it fits the nuclear power metaphor. The benefits still outweigh the risks for normal people. A lot of the day-to-day spellcasting is handled by a new NPC class, the Magewright, which seems to mostly replace the Adept, with a limited selection of practical spells that they don't need a spellbook for. (which means killing them and taking their stuff isn't as challenging or appealing) More interesting for PC's is the fact that the gods are more detached from the setting than most D&D ones, which means Clerics don't have to worry about losing their powers for misbehaving. This makes things far more morally ambiguous, and opens things up for conflict within a single religion that you couldn't do in the Realms or Greyhawk. This would prove popular enough that they would try to spread it everywhere else in 4e, which ...... yeah, too much change for too many people. So I guess this showcases both the cool aspects of making your setting different, and the dangers of trying to export those ideas everywhere, just because they work in one place. Trying to make everything core has both it's ups and downs.
 

Greyhawk feats: On we trot with another setting specific article that follows up on the ones in issue 315. Here's another 22 feats from Erik Mona to help Greyhawk characters feel more attached to their homeland. These ones tend to have a more supernatural slant than the previous ones, instead of just granting slightly better bonuses to mundane abilities than a regular skill focus would. The more powerful ones in particular are restricted to being taken at 1st level, which results in the usual hard character-building choices. Some also have penalties to go along with the benefits, such as the troll-blooded one that gives you regeneration, but causes you to suffer while in sunlight. They're definitely more interesting than the previous set, and also show that they weren't just divided up by cutting alphabetically after submission, which is good of the editors. Together, they let Oerth pretty much equal the Realms in this department. Definitely hoping they keep up stuff like this this year.

Dragon Issue 319: May 2004


part 5/8


I Scry: We've had a couple of articles recently on the ramifications of scrying magic in your game. If used regularly and intelligently, it rapidly turns into an arms race that leaves less intelligent and magically capable creatures in the dust, and those that can keep up perpetually paranoid. Course, money can substitute for magical skill to an extent, especially in 3e, where you can hire wizards to make you items that shield you from screwage. So it's not surprising that we'd see an article on this topic. Give some of these out as treasure, and your players may not be as immediately ecstatic as a new blasty wand, but they will thank you later, when the evil diviner doesn't immediately know all the buttons to push to make them inadvertently advance his plans.

Amulets of Deception make you look like someone else in scrying visions, while not affecting your appearance in person. This may actually be more handy than just plain nondetection, as a smart diviner may well be able to figure out by inferrance when there's a person who's interacting with others in the scene but invisible to them, but not a more subtle alteration like this.

Circlets of Convocation let you teleport straight to someone who's scrying on you, giving them a nasty shock indeed. Course, they don't give you a way to get back, survive in hostile environments, or bring anyone else along, so this still might not turn out great for you. Hope your dungeoncrawling skills are up to scratch, because you'll probably be right in the middle of their defences.

Deathglance Lockets are slightly safer, merely inflicting large quantities of damage on peeping toms and breaking their contact. One or two shocks like that'll make them far more cautious in the future.

Golden Beholders are a decidedly inventive item that let you detach the small eyestalks and place them wherever, and then use the central body to see through any of those 10 locations at will. So they're good both as a security camera system in your lair, and to a lesser extent spying. Beware of wizards giving gifts, for they may be traceable.

Black and White Elipsoid Ioun Stones give you yer basic invisibility to scrying. As that's only step 2 in any arms race, it's not hugely impressive.

Mirrors of Captured Images let you do magical stakeouts without being glued to the crystal ball all day, recording up to 24 hours of remote images for you to play back at your leisure. Careful you don't record over the really important bits, as that storage time'll get filled up faster than you think.

Rings of Scrying Detection are another basic one that just do what they do reliably. don't get too clever and forget your basic info gathering enhancers.

Rings of the Evil Eye, on the other hand, have a superficial benefit that hides the fact that they leave you completely open to being spied upon anytime, anywhere. Still, unlike most cursed items, you just can take it off after discovering the catch. Better hope one of your companions covers your vulnerability.

Scout Goggles are another one that lets you see through the eyes of other ones in the set. Since they're obvious and this can be done reciprocally, they're better suited to party scouts than spies, hence the name.

Scryskulls bring this to a close with another very cool looking idea, a helm that lets you animate, and perceive the world through a floating skull. A good one for if you want to convince people you're a demilich, or just give quests from a safe distance in a suitably dramatic fashion, as people tend to be suspicious of skulls, which makes them not great for straight spying.

Dragon Issue 319: May 2004


part 6/8


Warriors of the animal fist: A little while ago, we had a themed monk set based around the 4 winds. One that's based around emulating animals isn't a stretch at all, as there are plenty of real world martial arts that do exactly that. So here's another set of prestige classes that have a lot in common in design and requirements, and only subtle differences in what powers they get. In fact, this compression of info allows them to fit 7 styles into as many pages. Crane, Dragon, Mantis, Monkey, Panther, Snake and Tiger. They all advance their unarmed strike and get ghost touch, uncanny dodge and evasion, and the ability to assume a hybrid form for when shit gets real and it's time to administer a blatant beatdown. And they're probably more rewarding to learn than the same animal styles as feat chains too. Seems to do the job.


Class acts: Monte returns to this column for the first time in ages to give us the Aerial Avenger. A flying warrior type, you could theoretically take this by becoming a spellcaster with flying spells, but it would not be a very optimal path. Still, given how scary flying attackers can be, they can be very dangerous against less mobile foes. And since they have plenty of skill points, including the stealth ones, they make a perfect scout type as well. Just don't try and take on the enemy all by yourself. You know by now that annoys you if you die, and your companions if you win and hog all the glory.


Salammbo: Silicon Sorcery forgets it's header this month, but the format remains much the same. An RPG conversion of a computer game. (based on a public domain novel, weirdly) Exploring the joys of having leprosy in 3rd century BC Carthage. Heavy, maaaaan, heavy. Only the computer game introduces contagious flesh-eating zombies. Very contagious indeed, as the new rules make the disease slow, really hard to get rid of, and allow you to remain mostly functional despite the constant ravenous hunger until you finally lose your mind for good. All the better to spread it far and wide, my dear. Certainly seems like a situation with plenty of potential for pathos, as adventurers try not to become the things they hunted, or cause more havoc by spreading it everywhere they go while searching for a cure. Another one that's good because it steps outside the paradigm of "fair" challenges that their native articles stick too. In a plot driven video game, the rules on what is a fair option are very different to an RPG.

Dragon Issue 319: May 2004


part 7/8


Fiction: The altar of Duzares by Thomas Harlan. And so we come to the end of the last bit of serialised fiction in Dragon. Where the previous instalments were heavily urban, emphasising the melting pot (and powder keg) nature of the big middle eastern cities, this takes them out into the desert where all that investigation and politicing is irrelevant, and it'll all come down to their physical and magical skill to stop the assassins. This follows the pretty standard climax format of the heroes getting knocked out or captured, the big evil ritual succeeding, and then the heroes pull back from the brink and use all their resources to take out the big bads. It also takes the time to reveal the big secrets of the characters, particularly the stalwart knight who turns out to have a darker past than the others expect. As the final instalment, it's more serious than the previous ones, but there are a few action movie-esque one liners slipped in there. And like an action movie, it ends as soon as the big bad is defeated, not tying up any other loose threads or showing how they got back afterwards. It's definitely not as final or satisfying an end as Fool Wolf got, but it's not bad either. Shorter series with more regular characters mean you don't get the chance to get as attached to any one of them.


Nodwick's party takes a decanter of endless water to Athas. Hilarity ensues. Dork tower get bored and decamp, and wonder how long it'll take for the GM to notice.


DM's toolbox: Johnn's column is smaller and faster paced than usual, which fits the theme of making sure things don't stall. This is less about the social aspects of keeping the game moving, as they've covered before, and more about writing your setting and adventures in such a way that one awkward decision from the players doesn't completely throw you off. Know your players, know your setting, know your NPC's, and then you won't need a strict script to stick too. Don't make challenges that only have one solution, and especially not ones that are completely dependent on a particular member of the party's powers. Essentially this seems to be another reminder to play it as a roleplaying game, in which the NPC's have independent existences and free will, and aren't simply there to deliver lines and fights to the players, because if you try and play it like a book or TV show, you will likely be surprised by what happens. Embrace the surprises, and let the story be whatever happens, rather than the other way around. I think we've heard most of this before.

Dragon Issue 319: May 2004


part 8/8


Dungeoncraft: Monte examines the logistics of making interesting wilderness adventures some more. Remember, just because it's a wilderness to the PC's, doesn't mean it is to the creatures that live there. Also, while it may be neat hexes on a map, it presumably isn't in reality, and the distance you can see will vary hugely. Also, it won't entirely be travelling, fighting monsters and living off the land. You may well have to create temporary base camps to explore particularly interesting areas in more detail. You may stop off at a village for a few weeks to recharge your supplies, and have to spend a load of time learning the basics of the language and culture.  You may get hunted by a monster that's too tough to fight, which forces you to run and not have time to keep up your mapping. It's unlikely that a several hour game session will be all just one thing. (and if it is, you should probably work on your pacing. ) So yeah, options and diversion. That's what'll keep players venturing further out to see what's there. That or having no idea where they are and really needing to find a familiar landmark to navigate from. So even if you don't design the whole world beforehand, make sure there's plenty of options and diversions to throw at the characters whichever way they go.


Sage advice: Is damage reduction extraordinary or supernatural (Depends if it's magical or not.)

Do allies of a creature with gaze attacks need to save (Recycled question. What is this? Recycle city. Actually, Skip guesses there's actually fewer recycled questions than when Skip was hustling on the mean shores of lake geneva. But that still doesn't mean Skip is happy about this. The Eternal Sage needs stimulating cases. Give them to Skip!)

Why do ghosts have strength scores when they are incorporeal (because they aren't to ethereal creatures. )

How do you use armor spikes. (As a light off-hand weapon. The real kicker is that you can use them plus a two handed weapon or shield. That and grappling. They're pretty brutal for that. )

Just how much weight can a flying creature carry (No more than their light load. Any more than that, and they don't move more slowly, they just fall and go splat. There are some exceptions. Skip will have to do some more pontification.)

If you have a flying mount, do you need to take fly by attack, or can you still use ride by attack (You'll have to spend another feat. Ground and air attacks are very different disciplines.)

You've nerfed ride by attack so it's nearly useless. Blah blah blah blah worst game evar I want my money back. ( Skip will point out the special case rule that ensures it is not useless, and then Skip will sit back and look smug. The Eternal Sage will not be swayed by your filibustering. Unfortunately, you've eaten up the rest of the magazine, as you took so long, so Skip will have to cut short Skip's cutting reply. Just take it as granted that Skip said something witty, and then made a shaft-esque boast. See you next month, folks. )


With a fairly solid themed section, and the first hints that they're planning a shakeup of the magazine in the near future, this once again shows that the magazine is more interesting when it isn't too bound by a single formula. Seeing what they come out with during these transitional times is less boring, even if it's bad like the red triangle issues. And let's hope they won't be even more formulaic once the've settled down again, because that would not be a good way to end the magazine's run.

Dragon Issue 320: June 2004


part 1/8


90(116) pages. If anyone should reasonably be going raar and having deeply impractical tooth designs, it's dragons, so Wayne Reynolds is a little less irritating on the cover than usual. This year, it's the 30th aniversary of D&D. Which is a rounder number than 28 years of Dragon Magazine, so it gets higher billing. Still, the theme is once again going to be dragons, and in particular playing them. This could well get rehashalicious. Let's see if they can celebrate their past and build upon it, or whitewash it and regurgitate old ideas without adding to them.


Scan Quality: Good, unindexed, ad-free scan.


In this issue:


Wyrms turn: As we seem to be in a retrospective mood this month, it's no surprise that Matthew Sernett decides to give us his first gaming experience. But he also takes the time to point out that people won't become roleplayers unless they already have an interest in imaginative play. If their bedtime stories include dwarves, monsters, wizards, mighty heroes and explosions, they're more likely to become roleplayers than ones who's preschool media are comprised of very hungry caterpillars and daytime soaps. You shouldn't wait until they're teenagers, especially since these days there's so much competition from computer games and the internet. Pay attention to what your kids are consuming while they're still receptive and the chances of them growing up healthy and well-balanced improves quite a bit. And then they'll be able to get decent jobs while hopefully maintaining an imaginative internal life as well. Presuming we don't wind up in a world where automation leaves most of the population perpetually un or underemployed. But hey, given modern technology, if you can afford dice and a laptop, roleplaying is perfect for a group of people with tons of time but limited money. The world will change, and D&D will have to change with it, but roleplaying will survive in some form. There is very little to fear on that front as long as human nature remains the same.

Dragon Issue 320: June 2004


part 2/8


Scale Mail: Time for the opposing opinions bogaloo again in the letters section.  First up is someone who was initially annoyed at having to update to 3.5 just a few years after 3e, but pleased with the changes once they did, followed with someone who's so pissed off with the edition churn that they aren't going to spend their money on it anymore. You can't afford to rush these things, as it only costs you more in the long run.

Second, we have one person who thinks fantasy staples like ninjas, pirates and dinosaurs are too niche for the magazine, and they should get rid of the comics for yet more game material, while two others love them. I think I'll go for the option that doesn't result in them running out of "suitably wide appeal" topics within a couple of years.

Next, we have someone who thinks Gary's ramblings have had their day and become repetitive, so they ought to figure out a way to gracefully retire his column. Whether they published this because they were already planning to do so, or the decision to quit was Gary's, I'm not sure, but I'm certain it's not a co-incidence.

And finally, we have one person who hates fiction in the magazine, while another loves it, but is frustrated by multi-part stories where they don't have all the pieces. These days, it shouldn't be too hard to fill them in with a quick internet search.


Zogonia strikes out. What a surprise. Seems like there's a lot of that going round.


A retrospective of the best game in history: Just 20 issues ago, we had a retrospective on the magazine. Given how tied up with D&D in general the magazine is, it's kind of inevitable that they wind up repeating themselves a bit. And yes, they do whitewash the bad bits more than they did in issue 300, acting as though even the darkest bit of the late 90's was just a brief stumble on the way to bigger and better things. However, while that was limited to the magazine editors, and not even all of them, this casts a wider net in terms of both the products it celebrates, and the people it brings back to reminisce about them, so there are some good points about this. In the end though, it's just back-patting self promotion, especially as it devotes a fair chunk at the end to promoting their current and upcoming products, including a new basic set, and a 352 page book filled with even more reminiscing stories from those who were there. Like most retrospectives of still alive properties, this now seems more dated than the things it was looking back on. And we'll probably be seeing another one in just 2 years for the magazine's 30th anniversary too. I hate it when they spend too much time looking back.

Dragon Issue 320: June 2004


part 3/8


Dragon Player Characters: As we've seen in many articles in the past couple of years, Racial level progressions are a headache to design. Some creatures may have powers that make them more impressive than a PC of equal HD, but not all of them do, and if you overcompensate, characters wind up really fragile at lower levels. Plus you can be stuck without any real character choices to make for most of your adventuring career. Fortunately, this is not a mistake this article makes. Dragon's age categories give you a good excuse to jump off midway through and take regular character levels. The approximately 1/3 of levels in which they don't gain HD, skills, etc are spread fairly evenly, and dragon's D12 HD, high skills and full BAB mean they remain solid all-round wherever they choose to develop their talents. All the basic 5 metallic types gain 20 level progressions, which take them between 3 and 4 age categories, and it shouldn't be too hard to extend them to epic levels either. So this article is far better than I feared, actually making a baby dragon in the party seem like a viable option. What a relief.


Fostered: Having just made baby dragons seem viable as PC's, an article on how to roleplay baby dragons being fostered by other races is excellent synergy in writing. You can use it both as a player and a DM, and there's plenty of scope for both drama and comedy. Unlike last article, they cover the regular set of both Chromatic and Metallic dragons, and how their natural tendencies are likely to be a pain in the ass to whoever has to raise them. Even the good ones have issues with greed and arrogance, and will rapidly become a physical match for you, so if you don't have enough knowledge and attention to keep them interested, they'll leave if they think there's a better option out there. Unsurprisingly, this is far more useful, but less whimsical than the similar article in issue 36, and completely specific to D&D dragons rather than generic fantasy ones, so it's another good example of both the good and bad changes in their policies over the years. It's another solid addition to the roster, but doesn't give me a huge amount of entertainment in and of itself. The fun will have to come from actual play, I suppose.