Quote from: (un)reason;299971[Gary reminds us that the requirements of what makes a good game, and what makes a good novel, are very different, and you shouldn't try and make your games emulate novels, as you'll be disappointed. Well you certainly will if you try and use D&D rules, and indie games where the rules are specifically designed to encourage play that resembles a genre are still a long way off. So much for lets pretend and tell a story like the books you read, it's troupe play or embarrassing death before you get to do anything really heroic. Which shows his calcification somewhat. You've got to change to suit the game, because I don't want you changing the game to suit yourself. AD&D should be played the way it was designed, and not be changed and added too willy-nilly. Together we sigh.

But he was right, wasn't he? D&D isn't very good at emulating a novel.  Just look at how traumitized the Forge folks were by their attempts to make D&D run the kinds of games it wasn't designed to run - they have had a hate-on for D&D ever since.

But the Forgites are right; better to make a new system from the ground up that supports narrative gaming than try to twist and bend D&D into something fundamentally different.

Quote from: Haffrung;299979We played White Plume mountain when it came out, and it's a great dungeon. The encounters aren't random at all - they were clearly placed to maximize fun and challenge. The giant crab in the volcano caldera, the vampire guarding Whelm, the Efreeti doormen - this is all great fun to play. And every other group I knew at the time did play it and have fun.

My game group and I played it as the 80s were winding down.  It was probably the last module we played before 2nd edition came out.  I had Realms of Horror, or whatever the S-series supermodule was.  A friend borrowed it and off to the mountain we went.  It was so completely random that everyone longed for the logic of Castle Amber.  It stands to this day as the only module where a player actually critiqued the environment as completely illogical.  

I remember the inverted ziggurrat with the random monsters on each level.  Wasn't there a chessboard room in this one too?  Tournament modules always had the motif where each room was some kind of puzzle/test.  White Plume took it to an extreme.  I think we used to call it Pop Quiz Mountain because of the arbitrary nature of the tests.

I have some fond memories of it, but I certainly don't remember it as a well designed and engaging dungeon.  

Quote from: (un)reason;299971The Dragon Issue 31: November 1979

ZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzz.....

huh, what?

Oh, sorry.  I fell asleep reading this one.  Even Gary ranting about his one-true-wayism couldn't keep me interested.

If this issue could have looked a little over a decade into the future, they would have had a much better tagline for their cover courtesy of Guns N Roses.

The issue has a couple of features about minis, but I'm still saving that rant.

Sage advice is sorta amusing.  However the condescension shown in the bow damage question is a bit much.

I guess the Alpha Omega article adapting the game to play a Jason of Star Command game is kind of interesting.  Although, the fact I never heard of this game before kind of dulls the impact.  Hell, I barely remember Jason of Star Command.  Imagine that.  People in the late 70s were using games to play out Saturday morning TV shows!

Quote from: Haffrung;299980But he was right, wasn't he? D&D isn't very good at emulating a novel.  Just look at how traumitized the Forge folks were by their attempts to make D&D run the kinds of games it wasn't designed to run - they have had a hate-on for D&D ever since.

But the Forgites are right; better to make a new system from the ground up that supports narrative gaming than try to twist and bend D&D into something fundamentally different.

That's not what the Forgies are doing though; they're creating something totally different, but CALLING it RPGs, and CLAIMING that this is what RPGs were always somehow "meant" to do but had till now failed to do.

In other words, they are trying to bend ALL OF THE RPG HOBBY into something fundamentally different.

RPGPundit

The Dragon Issue 32: December 1979

64 pages. As it's christmas, they've got a special present for us. However, the price goes up to $2.50, to pay for the extra size this time round. They say If they shrink again they intend to reduce the price again. What an incentive for them to keep their page count up. Will they let it drop again? (Not a hope, from this point on, every single issue is 64 pages or longer. More work for me.) But anyway, let's unwrap our presents, see what we have.

In this issue:

Out on a limb: This moves to the front of the magazine, just after the main contents and editorials. We get one letter dispairing of the overpowered twinks who play characters that they couldn't possibly have acquired legally and played up from 1st level. Two about peoples struggles to find a good gaming group, and problems with age gaps, Three snarking back at Marc Jacob's letter in TD28. And some more general comments and requests, including one for a collection of covers. We're finally starting to see the letters page used as a forum, with people replying to one-another through it. Which is most bodacious, and another step towards the Dragon I was familiar with.

Poisons from AA to XX: Ahh, the weirdness of D&D's implied setting, where characters are heavily restricted on what they can make, buy and use by class restrictions, and there are powerful trade monopolies of level 20+ Alchemists and Assassins ready to stamp on any PC who tries to break them. Yeah, this is one of those articles entirely devoted to nerfing and adding additional risks to an otherwise too powerful option, that any rational PC who isn't concerned with paltry matters like honour would use the hell out of, given it's effectiveness under the current rules.

Weapons of the far east: Ahh, orientophillia, one of the things that's changed very little over the years in adventuring circles. A system free article that doesn't really tell me anything new. I must say meh.

Sinister seaweed: Adventures in the air filled cavities of giant underwater plants. A truly inventive idea, with tons of different adventure seeds within. This puts a whole new slant on the dungeon concept that looks like great fun to play through. I like this article very much, and hope to use it at some point.

Playing on other planes of existence: Unfortunately, we don't get any concrete information yet, but Gary assures us that he is working hard to flesh out this important part of the D&D metasetting, and he hopes to provide modules set in other planes soon, so you can get info on them. Hopefully we'll be seeing more articles on this in the near future, since it's still a good half a decade before the full-on Manual of the Planes gets released, and I'm sure lots of people don't want to wait that long. He also talks a little about putting alternate dimension crosssovers with other games, but decides to hold back from putting official links in supplements, as it would be bad for the tone of the game if characters regularly went to gamma world or modern day earth. As ever, developments on this thread of history will be reported with great enthusiasm.

Sage advice: Jean Wells' lone voice campaigning for the depilliation of dwarven women has not gone unnoticed by the general public. And as is often the case, it's the little things that spark fiercest debate, with plenty of people on both sides
 of the fence. (for the record, I'm in the let them grow beards camp, as it makes good  dramatic symmetry with elven men not being able to grow facial hair, as well as making them seem more like a different race, not just short long-lived humans. Plus if you don't want your female dwarf to have a beard, all they need to do is shave.) Anyway, this issue, the questions settled are:
What the monster on the cover of the DMG is (an efreeti)
Can paladins catch lycanthropy (they can)
Can a ring of telekinesis can make an object spin at the speed of light (It can't)
What happened to Asmodeus after I beat him (It's up to the DM, but watch out, because it might be a trick, and the rest of hell will be after you.)
How do I stop the fighters from hiding behind me and my magical shielding (stand up for yourself man!)
Will a wand of fireballs release all its charges at once if you break it (no)
Can a god allow an elf to become a druid (only by turning them into another race which can be one)
How do I handle pregnancy in the game (dear god, this is too complicated a topic for this article, and I'm going to address that properly in a later issue)
How do I divorce my husband so I can have a romance with a god. (Headesk headesk headesk, any GM that allows a character to get into a scenario like this ought to remove the character from play, as having the personal favour of a god is totally unbalancing to the game and unfair to the other players) Yeah, there were quite a few ridiculous twinks around back then that needed keeping in check. This is the good part of the character optimisation boards. They channel that urge to legitimate ends.

Leomunds tiny hut: A selection of crossbreeds between goblinoids and insects, for those of you who tire of the same old mooks. Not updated, but given the template system of 3rd ed, it would be simplicity itself to do so. Ahh, mad wizards. Is there anything you won't make?

Some Spells for the very Smart Sorcerer: A load of extra spells for the game WIZARD. All are directly nicked from D&D, which is a bit cheeky really. Where is your imagination?

The druid in fact and fantasy: This again? Still, this time there's lots of interesting D&D specific material, so it's better than last time. But is it really worth eating Satans Feces to protect yourself from devils? Man, what a decision.

The traveller politician: An additional set of career paths for those of you who don't want to join the military. Obviously, you'll get rather more opportunities to hone your social skills, and less combat ability, so it's not a good option for purely hack and slash games. Still, I hope we're far enough into roleplaying teritory that there are people who want to try a less combat focussed game once in a while. And it's certainly no Ninja in terms of brokenness. So I give this article my approval.

The fantasysmiths notebook: The writer attempts to persuade those of us who play without miniatures of the advantages of doing so, plus a bit of info on how to get started for the complete amateur. Buy more stuff. Come on, you know you want too. As someone who has played games both with and without miniatures, I simply say meh. I have other things to spend my money on.

WRG rules modifications for modern combat: A pretty substantial rewrite of the game. Rather dry and dense stuff, and since I don't know the game, I can't comment on how broken it is. Such a pain in the derrierre.  

Reviews: Samurai, a wargame. Middle sea, A boardgame, plus mini reviews of Ironclad and Sandalot Football. Rather a short section this month. I guess people are holding off on new stuff until christmas day or something. Still better to only have a few and maintain quality control than let any old drek be printed.

Dragons bestiary: Another familiar Ed Greenwood offering this month, the Crawling Claw. AKA thing from the Addams family with the serial numbers filed off. Also features the first mention of Nulathoes Ninemen (really, what was all that about? What's his problem with the self explanatory spell names everyone else uses. ) which would also be instrumental in the creation of Bone Bats. So he's snuck quite a bit of implied setting into this monster description. What are we to do with this upstart freelancer?

A typical night in the life of nine ordinary people: A little piece of fiction on the strangeness of gamers to the uninitiated, with a distinct horror slant. Reminds me of something else I've read, but can't place at the moment. (edit: of course! They're made of meat. That's the one) Pretty cool, anyway.

Wormy continues, and we get the start of another persistent piece of formatting, that of the dragonmirth section. Beware the carnivorous commode.

And your big christmas present, a complete 16 page module, The Fell Pass by Karl Merris. Well, it is still nearly 7 years until Dungeon starts up. I suspect we'll be seeing a few more adventures in here before then. This is a pretty old school plotless location based module with several horribly unfair death traps and challenges way above the average level of the encounters. Still, at least they're inventively evil death traps, so your players won't be bored as they die.

Once again they've continued to put out a quality product, and made noticeable steps towards becoming the magazine I remember. I guess the second half of 79 is where things really become a professional operation. Which puts them in a good position to expand further and capitalise on this. So lets step from the 70's, leave behind disco, punk, economic troubles and stupid hair for synths, shoulderpads, excess and er, more stupid hair. Lets hope you enjoy my trek through the next decade even more than you enjoyed this one.

The Dragon Issue 33: January 1980

64 pages. Hello again everybody. Welcome to the 80's, where everything is bigger and better. The glory days of D&D.The only decade in which dragon was published continously, with no interruptions. The smallest issue in this decade is equal to the largest issue of the last decade. More color, more developments, more writers, more setting stuff, more roleplaying, more changes. In other words, it's going to take a lot longer to get through this decade than it did the 70's. And the 90's may take longer still, as despite a few interruptions, the average page counts were considerably higher, so there was probably more actual material released then. But lets not get too far ahead of myself. Gotta keep my eye on the part of the race I'm running at the moment, or I'll stumble and fall.

In this issue:

Dragon Rumbles: Tim takes the time to acknowledge the things all the new staff have done for the running of the magazine. Particular Kudos is given to Jake, who has pretty much taken over as editor, and they intend to formally alter peoples job titles accordingly soon. They also let us know that they intend the size and price increases to be permanent, as it is more economical for them to run things this way.   How long will it be before the next price increase? We shall see.

Out on a limb: A letter from the submitter of an article, complaining that the editing job that they did on it made it not entirely sensical. A letter from Ed Greenwood complaining about spelling errors, and also asking about white dwarf and lifelong subscriptions. And a request for a picture of gary, which they provide, but in rather cryptic fashion, with heavy shadowing. All rather interesting stuff that reveals more to me about their current modus operandi. Also on this page is their 2nd class mailing thingy, with the circulation numbers for last year, but unfortunately the scanning resolution makes that illegible. Anyone able to fill in the numbers for us?

Paradise for painterly people: Talk on how to paint large numbers of miniatures in a short amount of time, while retaining decent quality, instead of the painstaking methods employed by most people. Which is Veeery iiiiinteresting. There's usually a quicker and easier way of doing things, if you're willing to swallow your pride, and its nice to see trade secrets revealed.

Fiction: The eyes of Mavis Deval, by Gardner Fox. The fifth Niall story. Niall smartens up a little, but not enough to escape being dragged into the plot against his better judgement. I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop, and him to get bitten for being a demon's pawn, but it has yet to happen. Still, who can say what the future holds. (well anyone, if it's also the past, but I don't want to spoil myself)

A cau for NPC's: Adding an additional stat, caution, to your NPC's to determine how likely they are to act impulsively. Also notable for including a libido table, for quick determination of your success in seduction. Yeah, this article is pretty funny, but perhaps not something you want to incorporate into a serious game.

From the sorcerers scroll: Gary talks about the development of the D&D magic system, and its further refinement in AD&D, and the sources he drew from in creating it. This includes much talk on the separation of components, and the logistical tricks that spells missing one or more allow. Still a far cry from the days of regular metamagic though.

The third installment of Frederick MacKnights tales of the creation of Lankhmar. This time, it's mostly full of conversion notes between the editions of the boardgame, which is a bit dull really.

Leomunds tiny hut: Len gives his house rules and clarifications on lots of D&D spells. Most of them are common sense and/or nerfs, many of which would be adopted in later editions. Particularly notable, though is where he failed. Magic missile. Apparently Len and Gary have a quite substantial disagreement over the appropriateness of a spell with no save or to hit roll, even if it isn't that damaging. Which is interesting to know. More evidence in support that D&D really needed a from the ground up revision to make character classes remotely balanced.

Oooh. An advert for Adventures in Fantasy, Dave Arneson's own new roleplaying game. This is a very interesting development. Would someone care to fill us in on how this came about, and in what ways it differed from D&D?

No swords means No Swords!: Stop trying to get around your class restrictions folks. Its Not Allowed, and your god will be very pissed off at you. Ahh, the joy of the old arbitrary restrictions that paid no attention to what god you actually worship. 2nd edition can not come fast enough in this respect.

Mapping the dungeons gets this years entry, which is a quite frightening 13 pages long. Well, it's good for the page count, I suppose. Not every issue can have an adventure to make up its size.

Days of the Dragon, the D&D calendar full of spiffy old artwork out now.

Bazaar of the Bizarre: It uses the lotion or it gets the cane again. Yeah, this time, we get tons of magical lotions, many of which are stat buffs. Each of them only gets a line or two, allowing them to include a hundred different lotions in only 2 pages. Which is pretty useful, and should keep your players from finding the same treasure repeatedly too often.

Sage Advice: Business as usual here. How much is the DMG, and what the hell is a Dungeon masters screen (ahh, the innocence of the past) What do you do to get rid of a 34th level character with 86 magic items. (Give them a managerial job that stops them from adventuring, so the player has to make a new character, otherwise make him retire that character.) What level do rangers and paladins cast spells at (= to their level, and I agree that that shouldn't be the case) Are multiple faerie fire spells cumulative? (no) Can dispel magic negate multiple spells with one casting (yes) Do longevity potions affect both natural and magical aging (well duh, wouldn't be much point to them otherwise) Is invisibility cancelled by tripping over (No) Is a curse removed when you die (It depends) What happens if you try and resurrect a lich. (you get a very pissed off magic user to deal with) Can thieves use bows (no, oddly enough. ) Can humans be multiclassed (no, they can be dual classed, they are completly different things, you doofus.) Can elves and half orcs be raised with raise dead (no, because they don't have souls ) As ever, this is very handy in revealing the weirdness in these old rules, and design thoughts behind them.

The electric eye:Appropriately for the new decade, they've decided to turn their attention to the (not so) new technology of computers. This is basically an explanation of what a computer actually is, aimed at the complete newbie. Some of them enjoy sales in the hundreds of thousands, and can hold up to 64 kilobytes of memory these days. Man, this really takes me back to my first computer, to the incredible annoyance of the zx spectrum 48k. 8 color graphics, several minute loading times with frequent tape errors. I do not miss it one bit.

Reviews: This month we have Wizard, an RPG, and part of the fantasy trip, which would later evolve into GURPS. Wizards quest, a boardgame that has nothing to do with the previous review. The apprentice, Not the TV show, but a magazine. Gamelog, another magazine. Invasion of the air eaters, a boardgame. The average length of reviews is definitely increasing, but they're still mostly description.

Dragons bestiary: Frosts, aka snow pixies. The first contribution to the magazine by Roger Moore, another writer who would go on to play a big part in the development of the magazine. Like regular pixies, they have spell abilities far in excess of their hit dice, and are tricksy bastards. The illustration is particularly large, which is handy, because he skimps a bit on the ecological stuff. Unlike Ed, there's no obvious signs of the greatness he would eventually attain.

Wormy and fineous fingers are firing on all cylinders this issue.

Quality is maintained this issue, with the average length of articles being fairly high, and yet more new developments that would become regular features. They're still far from stable in their structure and all the more interesting for it.

Quote from: (un)reason;293199Rangers. The very first instance of a twinktastic new class being introduced in the magazine! They only go to level 13, and lack the rogue abilities and two weapon fighting that they would later get, but are deadly against giants, can track, and become pretty decent spellcasters in both wizard and cleric lists at high level. I certainly recognise the AD&D 1st ed ranger in these, but they are almost completely different to the 4th ed ranger. Once again we see an influx of fiddly social restrictions that have since disappeared, and a tendency towards static abilities with an arbitrary chance of success. Unified mechanics, where are you?

Just for historical interest, Joe Fisher was 17 or 18 at this time.  The idea of "professional game designer" did not exist.  Gary Gygax was still a part time shoemaker, and Dave Arneson was a parking lot attendant.

We knew the idea of what would later be called "unified mechanics", we just didn't care.   Mileage, vary, yours.

At this point, TRACTICS had sold more copies than Dungeons and Dragons by a long site, so it does not seem strange to me at all that they'd think a hot new historical miniatures game to use these new-fangled microtanks could be The Next Big Thing.  Fantasy gaming was still a small ancillary to wargaming, and D&D was a small ancillary to fantasy gaming in general.

Quote from: (un)reason;300248The Dragon Issue 33: January 1980
Leomunds tiny hut: Len gives his house rules and clarifications on lots of D&D spells. Most of them are common sense and/or nerfs, many of which would be adopted in later editions. Particularly notable, though is where he failed. Magic missile. Apparently Len and Gary have a quite substantial disagreement over the appropriateness of a spell with no save or to hit roll, even if it isn't that damaging. Which is interesting to know. More evidence in support that D&D really needed a from the ground up revision to make character classes remotely balanced.

I find this whole bit here indicative of a disease many gamers have: "You're using the rules to your advantage, so the rules must be changed."

Magic Missile was neatly useful in the narrow instance described.  It could be used to to interrupt the casting of a lengthy spell.  But most times it wasn't worth memorizing it for that narrow application.   Seriously, for a 1st level mage is was a once per day ability to cause 1d4+1 damage.  You couldn't even kill a kobold with it a lot of the time.  It came into it's own once you hit 7th level with an awe inspiring 3d4+3 of unavoidable damage, but by then you had much better options.  (and soon enough, everything else will have magic resistance, rendering your magic user useless anyway)

Sleep was a MUCH better choice for a low level mage to spend slots on.  I don't see any complaints about that one in the article.

I really read the entire bit about Magic Missile as:

"Waaaaa!  The magic missile screwed up my big bad magic user's spell, and I didn't screen him with enough minions to prevent the fighters from mobbing him.  I'm going to change the rules to make sure such an intelligent plan doesn't work again rather than building my boss encounters better."

I'm not familiar with Lakofka's stuff, although I'm sure I've probably read a lot of his work over the years.  From this he definitely seems to be in love with crapshoot saving throws.

The Dragon Issue 34: February 1980

73 pages. This issue is a Divine Right special, with a whole slew of articles based upon the boardgame. In addition, they also feature their second full module. Not your average issue, in other words. Which is pretty cool.

In this issue:

Dragon rumbles: Once again, tim talks about the oddness of writing for several months in the future. A feeling I am also starting to really understand. He also talks about the next big growth spurt for the magazine and industry, as it looks like D&D is about to be picked up much more by mainstream toy stores. Which will of course coincide with the creation of the moldvay basic set, leading to the biggest period of sales to new players in D&D's history. Next years calendar is also going to have a print run 10 times this years one did. They might be expanding still, but he does definitely seem a little tired of his job. I suppose it's better for him to move on to other things while still excited about gaming in general, than to run it into the ground.

Out on a limb: We get another letter encouraging the idea of loose leaf books that you can take apart and rearrange. A letter praising Mohan's introductory article in issue 30. A letter picking apart the math in How tall is my giant. A letter complaining about the lack of traveller related supplementary material. And a letter complaining about all the articles nerfing magic-users, to which they remind that all the articles in Dragon are optional, and not designed to be used all at once.

Divine right changes from the designer, and The official changes to 2nd ed divine right: two articles that partly complement and partly complete with each other, showing how the creative process can work in a company environment.

The history of Muetar: The original writer of Divine Right expands upon its setting. Like Greg Stafford's boardgames set in Glorantha, it seems likely that the place had been a rich playground for its creators imaginations long before any games were published. And of course we're only seeing a small fraction of it. Oh well. Such is life.

Ambassador cards for Divine Right: Giving your ambassadors personalities like your monarchs. Includes 12 sample cards with various amusing personality and ability quirks.

Sieges in Divine Right: Commentary, plus an optional rule on exactly that topic.

Tom Wham talks about the design process of Divine Right, and gives his own set of variants that hit the cutting room floor. Looks like this game really did go through the committee design process, with everyone at TSR lending their own viewpoints at one point or another.

Nine ways to change the game: Ed Greenwood gives a whole load of ways to tinker with the rules of Divine Right. These really play up just how complex the setting is, and how many different places and people are in the game. It looks like it would be pretty easy to adapt to an RPG setting. Did anyone try this?

Pirates, Ogres and other variations: A bunch of optional rules for Divine Right introducing new power blocs to fight and negotiate with. Again, If you've played it several times and are getting bored of the basic setup, these'll keep things interesting for a while longer.

Up on a soapbox: Don't just recreate historical battle scenarios in your wargaming, invent your own. There are plenty of places in history, where if things had gone a little differently, there would have been some quite interesting match-ups. It then goes on to give plenty of examples. Which span a pretty good range of alternate history from the probable to the fantastical.

Sage advice: Taking a mule into the dungeon? Not a good idea. All sorts of comical but inconvenient stuff could happen. Anyway, on with the rulings.
Can a thief wear studded leather (no, (a ruling they would later change))
 What the hell are all those weird weapon names. (ahh, polearms, see TD22 for a full guide)
Can a periapt of wound closure heal damage from a sword of wounding. (no, only natural rest can, so there healbot.)
 Are the rules for gods in G,DG&H correct for AD&D (no, we're creating a conversion now.)
How do you do mass combat in AD&D? (you can't yet, again, we're working on it. Use Chainmail for now)
Can Humans be multiclassed? (no, they can only be dual classed. Do I have to explain the difference to you again)
Will this column answer questions for games other than D&D. (no, I do not feel qualified to do so.)
Can evil clerics heal their allies? (Yes. Good people can kill their enemies, so of course they can. Alignment is about context as much as actual deeds.)
Are there such things as anti rangers and paladins(not officially, and not in my game either.)
Are the softcover supplements and the new hardbacks different games? (yes, AD&D and OD&D (and yes, she actually calls it that) are indeed different games) More stuff that shows just how dramatically the game has changed since then, largely towards permitting things.

In defense of the poor magic-user: This article argues that magic-users are not overpowered, their low hit points and equipment restrictions make up for their power, plus they will often be in trouble from using up their spells or not having selected the right one for the challenge today. Yeah, this writer has never heard of the 15 minute adventuring day tactic. And thank god for that, because as soon as it gets into Dragon, everyone'll know about it and want to use it.

For familiar but fearsome fiends: Dungeon building without needing a shitload of supplements. Ahh, the days when you had to regularly run from opponents or die, particularly in the first few levels. Of course you'll still need to determine stats for the multitude of human opponents of various class and level you'll encounter using this table.

Feel like RISKing everything?: Incorporating nuclear war into RISK. This will obviously make your games somewhat shorter, unless you also use diplomacy between players. Seems like it should be fun, as it increases the strategic options without slowing the game down.

From the fantasysmiths notebook: Creading our own custom foam padding to protect your miniatures in transit, so they don't get all dented and bent from jostling against one-another. Which is neat. Plus the article has some amusing illustrations, so I give it high marks for both usefulness and creativity.

D-day, A more accurate variation: House rules for the wargame. Entirely crunch, and so I can't really comment on how good or bad they might be.

Dastardly deeds and devious devices lives up to its name, with 4 nasty variations on blades and pit traps that'll have your players screaming in the aisles as their characters are hit on the head, hamstringed, and then split off from one another so the healbot/cleric can't fix them. Muahahahahaha.

A general knowledge quiz for tekumel. Please do not write on the magazine, whatever they suggest in the article. You'll ruin the fun for everyone else reading it later.

Bolotomus' Revenge: Lotsa neat houserules for the game from issue 11, mostly revolving around making each organ more individual. Nice to see people are still playing it, more than 2 years later.

Whats in a name? Random generation of those pretentious descriptive fantasy names based off elements, animals, weather etc. They're silly enough anyway. When you string two or three descriptive words together by random roll, the potential for ludicrity gets pretty high.

Taking the sting out of scoring: Standardising scoring for tournament play by using a formula for determining the points awarded. Encourages the avoidance of GM fiat wherever possible, by making the categories as specific as possible, so that different groups can be scored fairly, and you can thus get a good benchmark of how good your team was compared to others playing the same module across the world. Which all makes sense, when playing from that kind of viewpoint. I can't fault their logic.

Beware of quirks and curses: Cursed magic items are no fun because players will immediately do anything in their power to get rid of them. Far more interesting are items that have useful abilities, but also have a price or drawback (which can also  sometimes be turned into an advantage in its own right) as well, such as making animals afraid of you, or compulsive gambling. That way, it becomes a real choice deciding if they're worth the hassle. Another cool idea that would later be used to great effect in Iron Heroes, and one I thoroughly recommend trying in your games.

Frederick Macknight continues his conversion notes, this time going back the other way. What started out fascinating is rapidly growing very dull. Virtually everyone is interested in gossip about people. Very few are interested in minutinae of rules.

Leomunds tiny hut: Variant combat rules taking greater account of AD&D's system of breaking rounds into segments. As is frequently the case for precision systems like this, it adds huge amounts of extra work keeping track of things. Which as you ought to know by now, is one of my least favourite types of add-on. People forget things, and you have to keep going back to get it right, or just skip over the details, so they don't get used properly anyway.

Bazaar of the Bizarre: Magic fountains. Another one of the classic random screwage items. Do you dare to drink. Are you so thirsty after weeks of dungeoneering that you don't really have a choice. Will the DM even lock you in until someone takes a drink, a tactic they recommend against overcautious players.  And you can't even take it with you and use it when better prepared, unlike the bag of beans. Well, as long as everyone has fun, why not use it anyway.

Yay, we finally have actual classified ads coming through.

Reviews: Bushido, a roleplaying game. Hammers Slammers, a book. The Wolfen, A book. The spacefarers guide to alien monsters, a cross-system roleplaying supplement. This issue has a greater amount of criticism of the reviewed products than usual, including one that is completely panned. Which is something I thoroughly approve of. We know that over 90% of everything is crap, but it's your job to tell us what is so we can avoid wasting our money. Only printing positive reviews does not help in that.  

Dragons bestiary: the Vilkonnar. A bunch of energy sucking humanoids that make a decent mid range challenge, while not being as annoying as level drainers.

Dragonmirth isn't just a bunch of pics this issue, it also includes an amusing article on degrees of disasters based upon the exclamation used upon encountering them. Which is dreadfully bowdlerised, as they are trying to be a family friendly magazine. Life is strange.

Wormy is here this month. Fineous fingers is not.

Aaand finally, the big tournament module, DOOMKEEP! Fear the cliched name, Ahahahaha!!!!! As this is a tournament module, it is full of horribly tricky puzzles, inventive monsters I've never seen before and killer encounters, including double fakeouts that'll have your players screaming bloody murder. It also gives a proper scoring system, so if people survive you can calculate the winner, and lists the rankings from the convention it was originally played in.

A very full issue, as not only is it the biggest I've faced yet, but it has lots of little articles in addition to the very big one at the end. They continue their policy of having lots of wargaming articles as well as the RPG stuff. I guess there's still quite a bit of demand for that stuff. As ever, there are some bits which are rather dull, but there's still plenty of interesting stuff to discover, particularly in sage advice, which is rapidly becoming very useful to me.

This is great stuff!

Just wanted to thank you for the effort of your reviews.

Quote from: (un)reason;300441The Dragon Issue 34: February 1980

Feel like RISKing everything?: Incorporating nuclear war into RISK. This will obviously make your games somewhat shorter, unless you also use diplomacy between players. Seems like it should be fun, as it increases the strategic options without slowing the game down.

Basically the only really cool article so far.  Supremacy is still 4 years away.  There are some small similarities to the rules, but I think that's just the subject matter rather than Supremacy being inspired by this article.

The Dragon Issue 35: March 1980

64 pages. A particularly cool cover this issue, Phil Foglio's snowmen of doom. This issue, Traveler gets focused upon, with 5 new articles for it.

In this issue:

Dragon rumbles: This issue marks the retirement of Tim Kask as the main editor, with Jake Jaquet taking over that job. It also marks the point where RPG's really start making it into mainstream toy stores. Having been to the trade convention mentioned last month, it seems that lots of people want in on the action.

Out on a limb: This month we have a letter complaining about character inflation. Two letters about agism in gaming groups, from opposite sides of the spectrum. And an extensive letter justifying the unrealism  of simply scaling up human proportions to create giants weights and strengths in the recent article. Once again we see the battle between the people constantly picking unrealistic stuff apart, and the "its just a game" guys, with the TSR staff pretty firmly in the just a game camp.

Errata for AD&D: All three corebooks get extensive goings over, with the changes to be incorporated into the next printings. Also includes stats for those magic items we would have had if the typos hadn't been spotted, such as the Cube of Farce and Manual of Gollums. Goes to show what cabin fever can make seem funny.

Fiction: Oasis, by Cynthia Frazer. A little D&D meets cthuluesque horror adventure. One of those stories that feels like the start of a series.

Jobs, profit and peril: Joining the Interstellar bureau of internal security. Yes, instead of being a military guy, now your PC can be an ex spy with retarded aging. Which means you'll be pretty badass, if you survive to play.

Usefull Skills: Expansions to the traveller skill system. The kind that divides broad skills into more specialist subjects, reducing their individual usefulness, and making it harder to build a well rounded character. Also includes huge anachronisms such as tape recorders which remind me how much real technology has overtaken the visions of technological advancement back then.

The "Other" Options: Creating a civilian character in traveller. Obviously, you'll have more financial and social abilities, and less combat ones, but that doesn't mean you won't be a viable character. And more variety in your team is always a good thing.

More Clout for Scouts: Another traveller article focussed on enhancing the options of a particular character type. I think you can work out which one.

Black Holes! The final traveller article, this of course focusses on the havoc you can cause with black holes providing rules for placing them, spotting them and escaping them. You'd better roll well, because failure means death for the whole crew. God, traveller could be brutal. Seems like death awaits you at every turn

From the Sorcerers Scroll: Gary once again talks about where D&D is going. Demonweb pits and caverns of tsjocanth are coming soon, and they're planning on producing expert and master (but not companion, yet) sets for D&D, to make it into a separate game, intended to be friendly to people who have never played wargames, let alone RP'd before; instead of just something that leads off AD&D. AD&D is getting lots more modules, plus a second book of monsters (although they haven't decided on the name yet) And possibly an AD&D computer game. So lots of stuff is in the pipeline. How long will it take to get it all sorted out? Watch this space. But not too hard, otherwise you'll get very bored. I guess even with their expanding staff, the number of people working for them was still somewhat lower than the amount working for hasbro now.

Leomunds tiny hut: Another set of training rules. This one isn't a joke like the last ones, but is rather time consuming, both in and out of game. Can't people figure out stuff on their own? If only characters of the level needed or higher were able to teach people how to advance in levels, then you would rapidly suffer generational degradation until there were only 1st level characters left. It just doesn't work. Still, if you want to keep players dependent on staying on the good side of your annoying uber NPC's, no matter how powerful they get, this is one way to go about it. (sigh)

Sage advice: No preamble this time, just straight into the questions. Can magic users cast spells one handed? (yes, unless the GM rules otherwise for individual spells)
Can a character who can't be raised normally be brought back by a wish (yes)
Can you shoot arrows in hand to hand combat (no)
How do I stop the assassins guild going after me for something I didn't do? (that, my dear, is up to the GM)
Do druids automatically know speak with animals? (druids and clerics don't need spellbooks, they can pray for any spell on their list)
Can evil characters cast protection from evil (oh yes)
How do you deal with an annoying, treasure grabbing, bossy tantrum throwing player (Lay down the law, and stick to it, bitch! The rules can't solve this one for you)
Do you have to read scrolls aloud to cast them (yes)
I'm bored with dungeon delving. How do I spice up my game (start putting proper plots in it. Ask your players what they want to do.)
Can you stack multiple armour types(no)
Can thieves be chaotic good (no) Man, they really were harsh on thieves in those days, seems like every issue we have someone trying to question limitations on them that now don't exist anymore.

Up on a soap box: Wargaming, a moral issue? Wargaming is a threat to the morals of our youth. If they play it they'll grow up thinking that fighting and killing is a perfectly normal thing to do. Classic. Is there a form of popular entertainment or technology that moralizing reactionary fearmongers haven't turned their sights upon in the history of creating stuff. Pay them no attention. A decade or two later their worries usually seem pretty comical.

Angels in AD&D: Another attempt at this topic. This is pretty elaborate, and draws heavily on real world mythology. They have pretty much the abilities you'd expect. Nothing particularly exceptional to see here. Move along.

Giants in the Earth: This time, the disgustingly twinked characters for your delectation are Cecelia Holland's Muirtagh the bowman, H. Rider Haggard's Umslopogaas, and Henry Kuttner's Edward Bond and Ganelan.  

Dastardly deeds and devious devices: A particularly elaborate set of traps this issue, two of which will cause you more harm if you take the obvious route to try and solve or get around them. No wonder adventurers who survived for any length of time became so paranoid. This is nasty stuff. I love it

The AD&D national player rating system: More stuff supporting the use of AD&D as a tournament system, allowing you to work out how good a player you are compared to everyone else who's played in a particular con module. Includes the top 50 rankings from the recent tournaments, which of course has most of the TSR staff in fairly high places. No 1 ranking player in the world at the moment, however is Kristine Bailey, with the highest tsr staffer at 3rd, and Gary coming 47th, Oh, the woes of other people beating you at the game you invented.  

The mystery of the bow: Another one of those historical articles explaining the real world history of stuff. Seems very hung up over the handedness of bow firers, and the historical accuracy of various miniatures because of it. Which is a rather petty thing to spend so much time writing about. Worse things happen in academia.

The History of Hothior: More cool stuff on the setting of Divine Right by its original creator.

A big double page advert for citadel miniatures in the middle of the magazine. Someone's got money to spend.

Simulation Corner: The history of wargaming company SPI. One of those potted history bits that presents the topic in a very positive light, focussing largely on their achievements, and saying the future looks great, without revealing any of the drama and work behind the products. Which is the most interesting part. So not a particularly interesting article.  

Reviews: Gangster, an RPG. Titan strke, a wargame. Double star, another sci-fi wargame. War in the Ice, a wargame. Plus lots of minireviews.

Classified ads continue.

TOP SECRET!!!! (shhhh). Having done fantasy, cowboys, and two gonzo sci-fi games, TSR moves into the spy adventure genre as well. I suspect we'll be seeing articles for this in the near future.

Dragonmirth gets both pics and a joke article on the way the rules of the universe change with new editions. Even the most mighty character can be unexpectedly nerfed by the AD&D rules revision.

Fineous fingers gets all 4th wall breaking in a double page finale.

Errata for Quirks and Curses from last issue, that arrived just after printing. Ahh, deadlines. How many mistakes are not fixed properly because of them.

Despite not being as long as last issue, this one has been a real slog to get through. All the articles start blurring into one after a while, which frankly is no fun at all. I shall have to develop a mental sorting method to keep my mind from getting overcluttered with the new information.

Quote from: Gabriel2;300649Basically the only really cool article so far.  Supremacy is still 4 years away.  There are some small similarities to the rules, but I think that's just the subject matter rather than Supremacy being inspired by this article.

I played Nuclear Risk. It was better than the standard game.

And better than Supremacy.

Quote from: Haffrung;300755I played Nuclear Risk. It was better than the standard game.

And better than Supremacy.

Well, yeah.  Because a Supremacy game never ended with a victor.  The game started with a collapse of the market, and always ended in nuclear winter.

The Dragon Issue 36: April 1980

72 pages. Another april fools issue gets an extensive collection of joke articles, gathered into a mini magazine within the magazine. Nice to see they're taking their humour seriously. Or something like that. Apart from that, there's no particular theme to this month's issue. The regular columns continue, and there are articles aplenty on games of all sorts. To the specificsmobile.

In this issue:

Dragon rumbles: Once again we deal with the tricky issue of playing in groups of different ages, and the conflicts this causes. D&D was originally intended as a game for adults, or at least people with adult attention spans, and the ability to play games without being disruptive and throwing tantrums when they lose. And as it increasingly attracts a younger audience, this becomes more of a problem. We've already seen gary's statement of intent to make basic D&D more friendly to newcomers. Its obvious that some assistance is needed with this. And quite a bit of it needs to come from the current players, as D&D is a bitch to learn on your own.

Out on a limb: A letter complaining about the magical plusses given to Fafhrd and the mouser's weapons, and pointing out that their weapons were given the same names no matter what weapons they had. To which the writer of the piece replies that they had the bonuses to reflect how badass they were and make them superior to regular characters of the same level. To which I say, Isn't level supposed to be the determiner of personal skill? Why not just make them higher level then? They're already around 20th level. What's a few more levels? So much for logic.
A letter praising most of the dragon's content, and complaining about the temporary dropping of Giants in the earth, and also that their shop sells out of issues too quickly. Which seems to be a common complaint. Guess readership is increasing faster than the circulation increases can keep up with at this point.
Three letters on monty haul and the problem overpowered characters present. Overinflation is always a problem. There comes a point when you just have to retire characters and start again. A philosophy they seem to be hard-coding into 4th edition. And finally, another letter of generalised praise. They seem to be printing letters that fit a theme this issue. I guess they have enough to pick and choose from now.

Fiction: The cube from beyond, by Gardner F Fox. A 6th niall story. And he actually gets to do something significant without his demon goddess patron, and be the primary driver of the plot again. But he's still seriously non politically correct. What is the attraction in forcibly taking someone, and why was it so common in books by writers of both genders?

The perseid war: A new Scenario for stellar war, by Steve Jackson (yes, that one. He already seems to be a pretty big player in gaming by now) Designed to support a style of play that is hard to manage in most scenarios, and also includes some new rules. Which is cool. He's the original designer, so the new rules should be well thought out and properly balanced.

Painted ladies and potted monks: Prostitutes and drugs in gaming, and the ramifications of exposing ....... younger players to them. Do you teach them that sex and drugs are bad things to be feared, even in a fantasy world, or a perfectly natural and healthy form of recreation? How much do the games that children play shape their attitudes in adulthood? Will presenting characters of religion or color in the game positively or negatively influence their prejudices with respect to real people. Heavy questions, presented with a light and humorous touch, without the oh noes hysteria that so often acompanies this topic. And they even mention homosexuality positively. (although its the first time they have at all, as far as I can recall.) Overall, this is a very good article indeed, promoting positive liberal attitudes and social responsibility without getting too preachy about it. (Which is a good example of the neutral good way and how it can be distinguished from lawfull or chaotic good, for those of you still involved in that debate.)

From the sorcerers scroll: Gary gives the stats of Conan at various ages, from teenager to ancient king. As is the case for virtually every character published here, he is not a legal character by D&D rules, developing in a decidedly odd way in two different classes simultaneously, and having a whole bunch of special abilities PC's can't acquire. You decry twinks and rulebreakers, and then turn around and present us with overpowered and illegal characters of your own, What kind of an example is that to set us? Ends with a blatant begging bowl asking for freebies in exchange for reviews. Which is pretty distasteful all round really.

Sage advice: As this is getting increasingly lengthy, I'm gonna break up the questions into new lines from here on, to make it easier to read.
Must spellcasters use books to store their spells? (only magic-users and illusionists, but yes, they MUST. (The days of alternate methods of recording spells are still quite a way away))
Can paladins condone or participate in suicide and euthanasia? (Hell no, not even tacitly. There is always a reason to live and keep fighting, and you've got to do your best to convince them of that or lose your specul powerz. Of course, it helps when you have magical healing and disease curing to back up this conviction.)
Must paladins be celibate. (Depends on their religion and the DM, but I personally encourage it. No sexx041ng for you when I'm DMing.)
How do 1st level magic users get their spells(from the person who apprenticed them, silly)
 Why can't demihumans be sages (they can actually, they just aren't very often. Also, don't try and send me money. I don't work in the right department, and it won't help you get better rulings.)
Can you recharge charged items or not? (only as long as they still have at least one charge in them. (What's all that about then?))
Will you become permanently invisible if you overuse a ring of invisibility. (no, this ain't middle earth, and you ain't a slave of sauron.)
Can you automatically tell if an item is magical (no, unless it's glowing or something like that.)
What am I to I do with this pesky lawfull gooder in my party not letting me attack wounded creatures without provocation? ( I fail to see the problem And if there is one it is purely a roleplaying matter, not a rules one, so it's not my business anyway.)
Does being resurrected make you lose constitution (yes)
Why cant half orcs be raised? (Once again, they have no SOULS!! Don't believe me, ask Gary. Gary, do half orcs have souls? Gary: Bitch be hollow and empty inside. Jean: See. Get that through your stupid heads. Unless they go all little mermaid on you (which would make a cool story, actually, ) they simply die when they die. Do not pass go, do not get reincarnated, do not get an afterlife. Are we crystal clear, or are you going to keep fighting? Krusk:That's right. )

Honorable designer Speaks! The designer of Samurai gives us a brief runthrough of his game. An article that reads like a combined advert and history lesson, trying hard to convince people that the game is cool so they buy it. Ah so. You must learn greater subtlety, Mr Campagna.

Leomunds tiny hut: How to make a pantheon you can have faith in. AKA I don't like the idea of PC's killing gods, so I'm going to beef up their powers when they aren't on the prime material, reduce your powers when you are on a different plane of existance, and take a potshot at Jim Ward's GMing style while I'm at it. Now try and kill those gods. Truly Len, you are a visionary. (all of these optional rules would later become canon in Planescape) But the god slayers will rise again come 3rd edition. And then go even further in 4th ed. One of those things that obviously comes in cycles.

Minarian legends: More cool setting stuff for Divine Right, this time covering the history of the kingdom of Immer, and the old empire it was built upon.  

Dragon Grumbles: Ok, welcome to this years comedy central. They're sick of doing this, so its time to sell up and head to the bahamas. April fool.

Out on a limbo: Joke letters. Stupid arguments, stupid suggestions, and political potshots. Probably not real.

Enjoying your Dragon: How to properly take care of a baby dragon, so it'll take care of you when you're old and grey. (and it's still a baby.) This may be a joke article, but it isn't entirely useless in game terms.

New joke monsters, the DM, and the keebler: the first is not statistically legal, while the second is. I don't think I have to explain these to you.

The tax man cometh: I think the title says it all. Take their money, more than all of it, and leave them in debt to an organisation that doesn't play fair, and never stops taking. Just like real life. I fail to see the joke here.

Meeting demogorgon: You say demogorgon's name. He appears. What do the NPC's in the party do? Roll on this random table to find out. Not that it matters, because you're all going to die anyway. Even converting to worshiping him won't save you. Because our double headed demon lord friend is an admiral crankypants when he's just got out of the abyss in the morning.

Bazaar of the ordinary: Another set of 4 ordinary items presented as magical ones, just to confuse people.

This months module, a 10 by 10 room. No orc, no pie, just a 10 by 10 room. That's your lot.  

Leomund's in a rut: Jokes about footwear.

Sage advice: Jokes about the aforementioned herb, in Q&A form. Much eyerolling punnery here.

A visit to an interesting place: The best excuse for not handing your homework ever. I'm a D&D character who wished I was somewhere interesting, and found myself in the real world.

Campaign mixing sure stirs things up! Another story of a gonzo crossover game. Not sure if this one is based on real events or not, since if anything it's less over the top than the monty haul games. The line between excess and parody of that excess is a thin line indeed.

The mongols: Another one of those system free historical articles that seems to be in vogue in this period. And as ever, the most useful thing in it is the bibliography, as there's no way you'll get enough depth in a few pages to do justice to it.  

The fantasysmiths notebook: Modifying and painting skeletons. Oooogie boogie boo. They're always going to be a staple of your undead armies, so if you like undead you'll be seeing a lot of these. This article shows you how to make the best of them while keeping the figures anatomically accurate. Which is pretty nice.

Giants in the earth: This month, the fictional characters overtwinked Aaaaaaaare. Rafael Sabatini's Captain Blood. H.P.Loveraft's Richard Upton Pickman, and Thomas Burnett Swann's Silverbells.
.
Fighting in the streets: A new scenario for Squad Leader, the German sieges of russian cities in 1942. A short but sweet article that does exactly what it sets out to do.  

Experience points to ponder: A system of awarding XP by the amount of damage inflicted, so as to make shares more fair, and allow you to learn from fighting even if you failed to kill them. Which of course takes tons of bookkeeping. I think you know my position on articles of this sort by now. It just isn't worth the bother.

Simulation corner: An essay on the development of wargames, from their simple and sketchy beginnings, to increasing crunch as they attempt to be comprehensive and also keep making money out of supplements, to finding out that too much crunch just slows things down and makes things less fun, and creating games designed to be elegantly simple and/or do one very specific thing very well. Which is also an evolution roleplaying games have gone through as well, in the last 3 decades. I wonder, it this one of those natural developmental paths that a media has a tendency to take, like the carnivore vs herbivore size, weaponry and armor race that has taken place at least 5 times in the past? And does the way wargames declined in the past few decades hold clues into the way RPG's will go, and what we could do to stop a similar slide into increasing obscurity, with the exception of 1 big company (games workshop). I think this deserves it's own thread.

The DM's right hand man? Once again we look at the subject of using a computer to aid in the bookkeeping for your gaming. This article is written by a (self proclaimed) computer science expert, and goes into a detailed look at just what a computer can and can't do to help you. Obviously it cannot substitute for creativity, and the visuals will be a bit crap. And you have to watch out that it doesn't use up more time working it than it saves. A pretty well thought out and informative article, which neither exaggerates or understates the benefits and problems. I quite approve.

The fastest guns that never lived parts I-IV: All the previous articles on this subject collected, plus a few new entries. As they point out, they, like the D&D characters in GitE, are tremendously powerful compared to an ordinary PC, sometimes have special abilities that we have no way of getting, (sigh) and should be used with caution.

Maclankhmar - A compromise game: More rather tedious houseruling minutinae by Mr MacKnight. You should have quit this series while you were ahead, instead of overburdening us with detail and running them into the ground.

The electric eye: A second computer article in the same magazine. This one focusses on the software aspect of computing. Another article aimed at the absolute beginner, and a reminder that they didn't really have dedicated computer shops yet, plus programs were small enough that their code could fit in a few pages of a magazine and be input by you personally. Which would also remain true for almost a decade yet. Yeah, things have really changed here. I wonder how long it'll be before the first mention of the internet in the magazine. Not until the 90's, I'll wager.

Dragons bestiary - The krolli: Ooh. writing and art by Todd Lockwood. I remember that name. He'll be doing plenty of cool stuff in the future. A fairly badass race of flying lizard men.

Reviews: Starship troopers (yes, I know the game's been out for a few years, and already got an article here) Mech war 2, a (very crunchy indeed) wargame. And our first computer game review, of Trek-80, a star trek tactical shoot-em-up. A very interesting set of reviews this issue, and nice to see them spreading out into new avenues. I wonder when computer reviews will get their own separate column? And how long it'll be before the magazine stops covering them, for that matter (sigh)  

Wormy continues.

It's becoming pretty obvious at this point that the magazines are now too big for me to properly digest them mentally in a single sitting. (And they're still only going to get bigger, as well.) So from here on in, I'm going to stop trying to form an opinion on everything, and just concentrate on the articles that I do find interesting (be it because they are good or bad), useful, or parodyable.  The magazine is still full of cool stuff, and it would be a shame if I missed stuff or got jaded with it from pushing through it all too fast.