Dragon Magazine Issue 268: February 2000


part 2/7


Forum: Nikki Johnson finds IRC is a far better medium to actually roleplay than MUDs. The more mechanics there are for XP and other rewards to happen independently of a DM, the less people will give a shit about getting into a character and talking for the pleasure of it.

Jack Pinckert finds computers are really speeding up his play experience, especially now there are so many D&D products on CD. rules are available at a touch of a button, far less tedious page flipping. Assuming you know what you're looking for, anyway.

John C. Campbell thinks the magic system had better get a revamp in 3e, and the artwork had better not continue it's downward slide from the revised corebooks. Well, I suppose that depends if you like belts or not.  

Steve Rees is very much in favor of using minis, and also building terrain for them to adventure upon. He's built tons of stuff, and had great fun using it. More power to him.

Jeff Myrom also likes using minis, but not as much. They should be an aid for positioning, not a substitute for imagination. Spending hours on painting one could be better used for coming up with new scenarios.

Andrew Branstad is pleased by what he's seen of the changes to 3e so far. If the rest lives up to this, it'll be a huge improvement in his opinion. Yay! Happy customers!

Brian Libby wants a more MA based campaign, and wonders how to implement that. There's so many books, how am I to know which ones to pick? Roll on the reboot.

Patrick Curtin gets the special privilege of a sidebar all to himself, being the premier reader's response. He thinks it's important to give characters something to fight for beyond just money and fame, particularly if they're good. They really ought to be actually helping people to justify that.  


Up on a soapbox: Gary continues to tackle the thorny question of how we label ourselves. We've been labelled in unflattering terms, and then taken steps to appropriate and recontextualise them. What's particularly amusing is when you simultaneously have some people within the subculture using these terms as terms of insult because they look down on them because they don't consider their particular interests as cool, while others are using it as an ironic term of endearment. The parallels with racism and religious discrimination are obvious, and show humanity's ability to subdivide to ridiculous degrees and create reasons for conflict.  It's all pretty amusingly pointless, really, especially when there are more pressing concerns in the world everyone has to deal with. Why can't we all learn to get along, and just ignore each other where our interests don't intersect. But we still all agree pedophiles are bad, right? I'd hate to find that fashion suddenly changed when I wasn't paying attention and the ancient greek approach had become popular again. So anyway, this continues to be entertaining and thought-provoking, and appears to have a larger plan that'll lead somewhere interesting. Like Dungeoncraft, this definitely has the potential to stick around for a good few years without getting tiresome.


ProFiles: Bruce Cordell. Now there's a name that has yet to go on to produce their greatest work, as he would later go on to become the grand master of psionics in 3rd edition. Not that he hasn't been busy, producing stuff like the Illithiad, Killing Jar, two of our recent Return to adventures, and, unfortunately, Die, Vecna Die! :spits: He's another of our scientific types, applying logical principles to decidedly nonlogical ends, such as wrestling, and having fun in general. They also change the format this issue, adding a bunch of quickfire questions to the prose, which is definitely the kind of thing which helps you get into the minds of the interviewee. Plus it's easier to make smartass comments in and about that format. I approve.


Wizards live: Promotion time again! Only this time you can be personally involved. They're setting up a whole bunch of chatrooms and scheduled online events where you can talk to the game designers personally. The wonderful connecting power of the internet, everybody! Well, it's definitely an area where WotC always was, and still is a huge improvement over TSR. And embracing new technologies and making it possible to get to know the writers personally is pretty cool. It has been pretty interesting to be able to talk to some of the original writers over the course of this thread. So this is a topic that is worth mentioning, and doesn't overstay it's welcome. Now gitchore asses over there and get flaming! Make them work to earn their keep!

Dragon Magazine Issue 268: February 2000


part 3/7


Countdown to 3rd edition. 6 months to go: Now, while Wizards do get some changes in 3e, they aren't on the same magnitude as Clerics. 0th level spells make them less problematic at low level, and schools are no longer arranged in an opposition diagram that I found thoroughly counterintuitive. (why would the two main combat schools be opposed? Or conjuration and divination, which are very thematically complimentary. ) The interesting changes - counterspelling, familiars and metamagic, are less significant. Familiars are still regularly ignored, and in later games, substituted for some other power, and I have never seen counterspelling come up in any game I played. Only metamagic feats really caught the public imagination, with tons of variant ones appearing in various splatbooks, and contributing to making all spellcasting classes more twinkable. So while they remain one of the most powerful classes overall, and lack the weaknesses they had at low level before, they haven't been as radically upgraded as clerics and druids. Still quite capable of stealing other people's niches though.


Ill gotten gains: The last time we got a full article on taxation was issue 95, where Arthur Collins had quite an amusing take on how adventurers and taxation relate to one-another, with others in issue 36 and 74. So this is one final visit to that bit of old skool realism before the edition change. Adventurers shouldn't simply be able to accumulate wealth unimpeded. There ought to be plenty of people trying to remove their money from them by means legitimate and devious when they get back to civilisation, and cool things for them to spend it on. Some might even turn a profit if you invest properly and don't get swindled. This falls into the useful but dry category, especially when compared to the more playful writings of over a decade ago. This really is an area where a more playful and less verbose style of writing would help the medicine go down.


What do you know?: What is the default character capable of, without spending any points on knowledge of an area? Now that's an interesting question, and one that can vary hugely from system to system based on how granular the skill lists are, and how many points you get to spend. In D&D, that means you probably need reasonable general competence that isn't covered by your proficiencies. Which is exactly what this article is about, mostly collecting stuff from obscure parts of the corebook and various supplements which describe what the odds of success an untrained person has at various basic tasks. Which is a strange little topic for an article, but not one they've done before, and one which could come in handy if you have the magazine to hand, but not a ton of books, and need to settle a rules dispute. So this might actually be worthwhile, particularly if you have it indexed on your computer. It's certainly informative as a way of testing how your default game assumptions measure up to the Rules As Written. That's interesting from an anthropological point of view.


The Armory Annex: Some more weapons? Oh, do go on. We always need a little something to keep wizards from pulling so far ahead that they're out of sight. Unfortunately, the problem here is that there just aren't as many viable weapon shapes as there are spells, so it's a lot harder to keep from repeating yourself. And indeed, I can definitely pinpoint nearly half of these as appearing in various 2e sourcebooks, and wouldn't be surprised if I'd missed more, given just how vast 2e is. So this another case where they're simply running out of ideas that haven't been used before. Sorry, but this isn't particularly great use of their remaining time.


Before the Bow: And they continue in the same vein with some more missile weapons, which again are mostly collected from existing sourcebooks. So this is something of a look back, compiling and maybe updating the info from a whole bunch of sources. That's not totally without value after all, especially when some of these are from 1e, and never appeared in 2e before. Seems like the kind of thing which deserves it's own book though, a best of 2e sourcebooks, just collecting all the useful crunch that's reasonably generic, and leaving out all the setting stuff. After all, the magazine still isn't really enjoying the sales it used too, and the monthly format makes the insights it delivers feel more transient than if they were in an actual book. Seeing a retrospective that is itself rather dated now feels doubly dated. Not the best use of their extra space.


Secret of the brotherhood of true flame: Oooh, an Al-Qadim article. The brotherhood of the true flame were one of the big villains of the setting, and were responsible for more than a few devious plots in the published adventures. So this could be quite cool. Unfortunately, it turns out to be setting light, and mainly just another collection of magical items and spells you could really use anywhere. Another case of their current editorial policy causing them to fill an already over-saturated niche further. Many of them are fire based too, which is already a disproportionately popular topic for books and articles. And on further examination, this collection tends towards the underpowered compared to similar spells of the same level. (which I now have a lot to reference. ) So again, this isn't really adding much to my options, any more than another angsty Drow rebel would. Less filler please.

Dragon Magazine Issue 268: February 2000


part 4/7


Fiction: The python king's treasure by Gregory Keyes. Fool Wolf's life is once again full of highs and lows, love, betrayal, feast, starvation, and repeated near death experiences. It's not that he can't catch a break, but something will come along sooner or later to screw it up. That's the life of the classical adventuring scoundrel, always in and out of trouble, never getting to settle down. In the meantime, we do get to find out some more interesting stuff about his world, and the way spirits and humans relate in it. It's not all one-sided deals where they bind or possess one another, there are oaths that are sworn for mutual benefit, and other long-term relationships. So this is pretty cool, especially as he solves his problems with brains, rather than unleashing raw power whenever he gets in a jam, and isn't totally a slave to the whims of fate and manipulative spellcasters. His adventures are worth a few more watches.


PC Portraits: NPC's is this month's theme. Which frankly is so vague a concept as to not be one at all. What really distinguishes PC's from NPC's in terms of appearance? If this is anything to go by, it's not being quite as attractive on average, which is a fitting indictment on the wish fulfilment fantasies of many players. The heads do have odd proportions in this one, and tend to be quite small compared to their necks. But there is a decent variety anyway. Who's to say they can't serve their intended purpose.


Arcane Lore: Back to Oerth for a named spell journal, where the history is if anything more important than the spells within. As with far too many journals, a trail of people killing each other for the stuff within is a notable feature of the overall thing. It all feels both formulaic and insubstantial. There's only a couple of spells, and they get big colourful sidebars detailing them. Truly a triumph of style over substance.

Lightning Serpent is actually quite good for a 1st level spell, as it may not be that accurate, but it keeps on attacking independently. One of these near the start of the battle'll add to your offense decently.

Kieren's Curse Ward lets you piss off gypsies and break into ancient tombs with substantially greater smugness. Shoulda had that a long time ago. Course, you can bet Ravenloft dark powers'll blow through that just like they do for all the other supposed countermeasures. Stay out of Ravenloft, kids!


Bazaar of the Bizarre: Round and round we go, with another set of items that are both boon and pain. We had this in issue 263. They aren't even trying to maintain variety now, are they. They're just burning through whatever they have in the slush pile before it's obsoleted by the edition change. Crunch crunch crunch.

Chitin Helms form an exoskeleton around you, then replace your original skin and bones, transforming you into an insectoid thing with decent armor and abilities, but severely impaired social skills. You've managed to integrate thri-kreen into your party before. Just get someone else to play the face.

Bone Wands gradually drain your life force to power their effects, and eventually come to life. Perfect for a Ravenloft style game.

Candelabra of Holding can suck you into them like the mirror. They are rather less stable though, and people in them often escape and try to kill their captor. Again, this has a very definite horror slant. Being turned into a Wax Golem does not sound like a good way to live.

Dairon's Hound is a flawed figurine. If it tastes blood, it goes berserk, and then you're screwed. It could still be useful for tracking and fetching though. It'll take a good divination spell to spot that little problem before it becomes an issue.

The Hourglass of Lost Youth can stop time, but at a serious cost to your lifespan. Even more than Haste, this is probably not worth the cost, but might be tempting in a pinch.

The Sliver of Life's Reflection lets you make a duplicate, at the cost of some permanent lifeforce. This means you'll want to take good care of them, for even a high level character won't be able to treat them as throwaway mooks. Very tempting for PC's though.

Dragon Magazine Issue 268: February 2000


part 5/7


Dragon's bestiary: Oooh. New PC races! Shiny! This column's never done that before. The writer asks why they don't have variants on lizard men based on various lizard species. Um, they did. Mystara, remember? Shazaks, Gurrash and cay-men? Made PCable in the princess ark series? Some people, no sense of history at all. I dunno. Oh well. These don't seem too bad, even if their ability modifiers are rather more extreme than most of the humanoids made PCable previously. They should make decent counterparts to the many cat and dog variants from issues 237 & 247.

Agrutha are bigger tougher lizard men, the ogres of the reptilian world, with decidedly limited intellects and class choices. Still, they're still smart enough for basic tactics. And remember, your mobility is limited in the marsh. Their's isn't.

Crcodilians, like regular lizard men, are divided into neutral grunts and highly evil boss guys. The big difference is that the boss guys are smaller than the regular ones here. They do learn spells though, which explains why the regular crocodilians don't eat them with their substantial natural weaponry.

Varanids are based on Komodo Dragons. They're fast and tricksy, ascetic and amoral. You really don't want them as enemies, because a village isn't going to have much luck against them.

Geckonids have pretty obvious ancestry. This makes them very good at climbing, and they can see through invisibility without even trying. They have kenderesque humorous tendencies, which is a bit worrying. Just the thing to annoy players.

Iguanids are the all-rounders of the lizard people, with the widest range of classes open, skill at climbing and swimming, natural weapons and magic resistance. One would make a pretty interesting addition to an adventuring party. Looks like they're still providing useful stuff for the old edition even as the changeover draws nigh.


The new adventures of Volo: A little playful legendry from Volo this month. Ancient magitech empires, being what they were, frequently looked for ways to make the effects of spells applicable to larger groups. Teleportation gates are a good example of something that has huge logistical benefits and are relatively easy to control, as long as you have sufficient guards or a magical warding system set up around them. No surprise then, that there's more than a few of these hidden in ruins, just waiting for people who know the passwords to use. Volo has figured out some of their OS, but not nearly all, and following his advice may get you in trouble. Elminster knows a little more of course, and has no hesitation in being smug about this. These can serve as both adventures in themselves, and avenues to further adventures, which means that once mostly solved, players may well visit them repeatedly. I'm going to have to give him another A grade, aren't I, because this all seems like great storybuilding material.


Giants in the earth: Ed takes over this column as well. He's apparently decided to go the route of Margaret & Tracey and try writing in a new, non-gaming connected world. Although googling shows that it was pretty generic fantasy fare anyway, just not tied into the bloated continuity of the Realms, and got mixed reviews for being mostly high action fighty stuff with not much plot. So let's see what he has to offer in terms of characters.

Craer Delnbone is very much the swashbuckling roguish sort, slim, good-looking, and wielding light weapons with style. Dunno why he doesn't have the actual kit, since he's more than qualified ability-wise, and they've included them in these sorts of write-ups before.

Hawkril Anharu is the intentionally contrasting big stoic fighty guy, heavily armed and armored. Isn't that one of the most obvious pairings in tropesville? I hope they have a bit of nuance to transcend the cliches in the actual books.

Lady Embra Silvertree continues Ed's habit of making the wizards way more powerful than anyone else in the party, even beyond the imbalance AD&D rules naturally cause anyway. Come on, it's a new world, couldn't you try to play against type? I guess audience expectations remain the same. Still, she does have some interesting limitations, and plenty of cool backstory stuff to round her out.

Sarasper Codelmer is the cleric, although he consciously rebels against being used as a healbot, not wanting to deplete his own lifeforce prematurely. Combined with his quirky shapeshifting, and he's easily the least stereotypical of the characters here. Still, I don't think it's going to be enough to stop people from thinking of the Realms instantly when they think of Ed, just as people don't think of Mythus or Cyborg Commando when they think of Gary.

Dragon Magazine Issue 268: February 2000


part 6/7


FX Artifacts: Aka magical items for Alternity. Which is a relatively easy topic for them to add stuff on even after doing a whole book on the subject, because the system is pretty close to AD&D, and they have 25+ years of materials from that to convert. And indeed, I can recognise the sources for quite a few of these powers and drawbacks. Still, they're certainly not all implemented in the same way as they were in other systems, and they are given a good sci-fi dressing. Plus the specific items are both well described, interesting and have good illustrations. So this was an easy assignment, but it didn't feel phoned in despite this. The writers really do care about Alternity, and are still hoping it'll get a continuation.


Dungeoncraft: Ray finally moves to talking about good ol' location based adventures. Even here, he has some rather interesting suggestions. This is one case where doing a little extra effort at the start will save you more in the long run. Make it big enough they can't clear it out in one go, and you can reuse it. Even more cleverly, you can design it with different entrance points, and build new expansions, put new monsters in, and it's quite possible they won't even notice the recycling. The specific adventure is pretty cool too, providing an easy way to get new PC's involved and working together, and incorporating plenty of the larger setting details rather than just being a place filled with monsters. It both makes good reading, and is useful advice. Still, it does seem specifically designed as a first adventure. I guess that'll give him room to talk about how successive ones at higher levels will differ in design later. The long game continues.


Sage advice: What can you do while gaseous (move around verrrry slowly. That's it. )

What does past life reveal if you were unconscious just before you die (sod all. Way to foil those annoying wizards )

Do invisible things cast shadows (no)

What happens if a speciality priest has a forced alignment change (they become a regular cleric until the matter is settled)

Does a wizard have to completely relearn spells drained by a magedoom. (no, just standard rememorization)

What demihumans can be elementalists (only half-elves. Demihumans aren't generally very good at picking up new variant magic disciplines. )

Dragon spellcasting level guidelines contradict themselves. (use the individual descriptions. Exception based design strikes again. )

6 seconds is way too long to cast feather fall (1 segment is not 6 seconds, and we don't even have segments anymore. You're talking rubbish.)

Can a speciality priest of Berronar Truesilver cast extra protection spells (no. Just the ones they have with greater power. )

Can you cast a spell round corners with a mirror (No. That's one of the more inventive bits of rules lawyery Skip has seen, but still no. )

Do spellsingers have to use the new nonproficiency system if they use skills & powers stuff. This totally nerfs them at low level (That's your problem, not Skip's. )

Spellsingers are too good at casting high level spells. This needs fixing (Skip agrees with you. God, Ed comes up with some overpowered crap. )

Are spellsingers limited in highest spell level by int (yes)

How does polymorphing yourself with a wand work (just like normal polymorphing)

Can smoke power hurt things that need magic weapons to hit (yes)

What does push do (See 1st ed AD&D. For whatever reason, it was never converted, but it shouldn't be a problem to use. )

Does high wisdom protect you against ghost powers (sure)

Are hold spells saved against paralyzation or spells (spells)

Do spellcasters know how long their spells will last (if they're of fixed duration, they should be able to keep track of it. )

What spells affect a deck of many things (not a lot. It's a bitchin' thing, you gotta take your knocks. )

Can you automatically memorize spells after using a candle of invocation. (yes, but you've gotta take the time. )

How long does bless last on a weapon (6 rounds. Really not long enough. )

Is bless affected by magic resistance (would you cast it on someone who wasn't willing? If so, yes.)

Does your natural dex boost the thief skills granted by gauntlets of dexterity (That makes no sense at all. Lamest twinking attempt evar.)

Do drow objects degrade inside a bag of holding (if anything's going to keep the radiation they need out, it's a bag of holding. At least it keeps the sun out as well. )

Do wizards have to research a whole new spell to customize an existing one (no. It's considerably easier than that.)

Do weapons have an alignment (Only if they're intelligent. No thinking, no morals, no alignment, no matter how they're used. )

Dragon Magazine Issue 268: February 2000


part 7/7


Silicon Sorcery: They've been increasing the frequency of computer game conversions over the last year. Now they get their own regular column. I think that proves pretty conclusively they're either popular with the readers, or the company is getting kickbacks for including these. So this time, we're converting some summoned monsters from Disciples: Fallen lands into something that fits the AD&D cosmology. Which since they seem to be from a fairly generic Hell, is an easy fit.

Beliarh are big humanoid coobeasties, that charge their opponents and trample them. They're quite smart, but don't have any particular spell-like powers to back that up, so they're still very much shock troops.

Infernal Avengers are mysterious cloaked beings with big swords, that can terrify people with their faces, and unleash really devastating fireballs.  They're obviously all about vengeance, and actually seem to enjoy being summoned for an appropriate mission. So if you want to go hellish, but don't want to be screwed over, you could do a lot worse.


KotDT has another attempt at modern gaming. They still don't get it, I'm afraid. Dragonmirth mocks playboy readers. Shop keep mocks D&D's history. There does seem to be a lot of nostalgia around back then.


Coming attractions: A rather more substantial collection than usual for this era this month. Many are still rehashes though. Drizzt's second trilogy gets released in an omnibus edition. The first book of the cleric quintet gets reissued, with more to follow. The Dragonlance chronicles get reissued as individual books again, so now you can choose between them and the compiled omnibus versions. The best of the dragonlance short stories over the years get compiled and rereleased in a new form. It's tedious to the point of brainrot. I really can't wait for this to be over. There's also the 3rd and final part of the priest's spell compendium. So you haven't done as many as wizards got after all. No surprise there. And finally, there's Secrets of the Magister by Ed Greenwood. Exactly how much this has in common with the original Magister book from a decade ago I'm not sure, but I am not inclined to be generous at the moment.

Onto the vaguely new stuff. Dragonlance gets Rise of the Titans, another dual stat adventure. Alternity gets Beyond Science: Guide to FX. Yeah, I definitely see the influence this one had on D20 modern a few years later. It also gets the Dark Matter arms and equipment guide. More attempts to find big sellers by packing lots of crunch in. And Marvel Super Heroes does Spider-man: Marvel Team-up. Noo yoik sees things go to crap, and a whole bunch of heroes have to work together to fix things. They really are focussing a lot more on adventures using existing heroes rather than your own this time around. What is with that?


What's new introduces an old joke to a whole new generation. And It's funnier than ever, curiously enough. Growf Growf.


So it looks like they're going to use the extra size in these issues to fill us up to bloating point with generic material. Those who are fed up of 2e will be well and truly nauseous and never want to go back, while those who aren't will have enough material to keep their game going for years to come. And since the OSR does tend to focus on 1e rather than 2e, I think we can say that tactic worked all too well. So they're now busy measuring up the coffin for 2e, making sure it's suitably large and extravagant in trappings. Will there be tears at the funereal? Probably, but I'll check to be certain.

Dragon Magazine Issue 269: March 2000


part 1/7


132 pages. Larry Elmore finally finishes his witches of the seasons series, started more than a hundred issues ago. Like Tom Moldvay's undead reexamination series, it's good to see it resolved, especially given the health problems he had in the interim. Fittingly, the theme of the issue is once again nature based stuff. Like the underdark, we've already had quite a few goes at this, but they want to make sure we're well and truly saturated with it before the edition changes arrive. So it's time for another feast of goods rapidly approaching their sell-by-date. Let's try and grab some nice bargains.


In this issue:


The wyrms turn: In the course of exploring 25 years of roleplaying, I'd be the first to admit I've become more than a little blase about things. And I'm quite aware that losing that sense of wonder is not that great for your ability to have fun. Dave is worrying about exactly the same issue. A talking animal doesn't even make us blink. A dragon is reason for realistic caution, but no real awe or panic. A vampire or medusa sees us shrug and get out the appropriate countermeasures from our backpacks of holding. So yeah, how do you regain that sense of wonder? As with a lot of things based on advancement, the easy solution is to pace yourself, but I think that horse is well and truly out he gates. The other things are to either take a break, do something completely different to allow yourself to re-sensitise, or to focus on something specific for an extended period, so as to develop more nuance and get them emotionally involved. But even that can stop working if you do it repeatedly. Guess the battle to keep things fresh will have to continue, otherwise you're faced with the prospect of a long, slow, bored rest of your life. And I certainly don't want that.


D-Mail: We start off with someone who is generally happy with what they've seen of the 3e rules, but deeply suspicious of the artwork. The writers quickly assure him that he doesn't have to change his playstyle because of that. OR DOES HE?! (dun dun dun) Never underestimate the subliminal power of presentation.

A letter from someone who's interpreted the teasers in the worst possible way, and has sworn never to buy 3e. They try to correct him, but that probably won't help the individual, merely those observing the debate.

We get some more praise for dungeoncraft. It is turning out pretty nice, isn't it.

We then have two letters praising Alternity, and one of them wanting it eliminated from the magazine entirely. It continues to be a rather divisive subject, and one they'd like to find a permanent solution too. Whether that will be giving it it's own magazine or simply killing it is still being debated in the offices.

We then have someone telling them off for using a traitorous guest star. Now they won't trust any genuine new players, and might well kill their characters in response. All I have to say to that is muahahahaha. If you can't take a little treachery then you certainly shouldn't play in my games.

A letter pointing out errors a few issues ago. Not a rare sight, really. The grist mill continues to turn, and editors only have time to check things over a few times.

A rather interesting diversion. Apparently Gen Con is being moved from Milwaukee to Indianapolis. This is obviously good for the general public, as it continues to increase in size and needs bigger infrastructure, but bad for people living nearby.

A threat from the equal heights rights group to end the discrimination against halflings or face kneecapping. Quite right too. You do not mess with someone who's face is at groin height unless you want to feel exquisite pain.


Nodwick is in so much trouble. Imagination is more disturbing than showing the full horror.

Dragon Magazine Issue 269: March 2000


part 2/7


Forum: Thomas B. Knoedler thinks that it's not that thieves are too weak, it's that you don't know how to play them properly. Right back atcha, shifting blame like Margaret Thatcher! If ma flow is ill it's 'cause the beat was crapper.

Justin Bacon doesn't think characters should be defined purely by their combat roles. Thieves may not be great in combat, but they are invaluable out of it. They should actually be useful more of the time than fighters. After all, you only spend a tiny amount of time in combat, and what good are they out of it?

Chad Atkins wants casting spells to consume calories. Tee hee. Losing weight based on how powerful a spell you cast? That would be a damn good variant kit for Dark Sun, but seems a bit silly otherwise. Emaciatomancy? Bulimeamancy? No, I don't think I could quite take this seriously in actual play.

Gregory Rick thinks clerics shouldn't have to memorise spells, but instead call upon their deity on the fly. Sorry, it's arcane casters that are getting that option first. You'll have to wait a few years for Favored Souls to come along.  

Christian Tomsey has great praise for his player's between session activities. The web is full of mails of events, background materials, artwork and even poetry. This proves exactly how invested they are in the game. Mucho envy to you guys.

Cory Herbst has a campaign where kobolds are the supreme civilisation, and humans are tribal guys raiding them. His players are having a great time as the underdogs. Don't be afraid to make your world drastically different from the norm.

James Sheppard is one of the growing number of people who wants to see energy draining sorted out. It ruins campaigns, and bears little resemblance to mythological bloodsucking. There is a reason many Ravenloft variants exchange it for some other power.

Joseph Herpler argues against increasing ability scores as standard. You ought to have to work specifically for them, independent of gaining levels. Perfectly reasonable view, if more suited to a skill based game where everything is improved independently.


ProFiles: Rob Lazzaretti is this month's profilee, with a rather wide-boyish photo not showing him at his best. He started out as a general artist, but somehow became most well known for his maps, with the planescape ones in particular being his distinctive handiwork. Stretching to two pages, this profile goes into rather more detail than most. They use this column as yet another avenue for promoting the new edition, with plenty of talk on things like his favourite new class and upcoming things he's working on. Still, the format continues to improve, with a proper list of his gaming credits as well as plenty of hints for aspiring artists. Make sure you integrate with the rests of the adventure, otherwise it becomes just pointless eye candy. This is still a valuable part of the magazine.


Up on a soapbox: Having talked about fanboys, geeks and nerds, Gary now looks at the definition of munchkin. People who play overpowered characters, and steamroller the opposition via rules lawyering and min-maxing, or simply because their DM is similarly generous with the opposition and treasure. Now, it does have to be said that there's nothing inherently wrong in system mastery, it's all about how you apply it. But that's not the real crux of his argument. No, the real danger to roleplaying is the sophisticates and one true wayers, who sneer at any other playstyle, and drive out people who don't meet their standards, making the game as a whole inaccessible. After all, the fact that people are playing is just as important as how they play, and if you don't get new players in, then roleplaying's demographics will gradually age and shrink. A statement that seems all too relevant these days. How many younger people have you recruited in recent years and how did they play when they started out? Really, this is a strong reminder of two things. If the game isn't fun, there's no point in playing, and if there's no-one to play with then roleplaying games don't work very well, because they're an inherently social hobby. Plus, playing obscene power can be very fun indeed. So once again he's asking us to think hard about our basic assumptions, and whether they'll really make for good gaming in the long term, for us and other people. After all, as the creator of roleplaying, he wants to see his hobby flourish. Now he just needs to get people to listen and put some of this stuff into practice, which is far easier said than done.

Dragon Magazine Issue 269: March 2000


part 3/7


Countdown to 3rd edition: 5 months to go. Here we get to see rogues, and the new skill system showcased. This is one area I have no hesitation in saying 3e was a substantial improvement on previous editions. Sneak attack is now clearly defined and explained in what it can and can't do, Rogue skills are integrated with the general system so you don't have to buy a particular one if it's not appropriate to your concept, and the DC system scales far better than the old percentile one. Plus taking 10 and 20 are valuable additions to the general rules. It's still not perfect, but you can easily pick a point or two in a skill that only mildly interests you without knocking down the optimisation of your character too much, which is a lot more than you can say for 2e. No complaints here, so I have less to say than the last two. Now, when we get to fighters and the new/revived classes, that should be interesting.


Animal henchmen: Looks like we're starting off our articles with another look back at the vast mountain of material 2e accumulated, with an article that doesn't introduce new creatures, but does reference a whole bunch of them, some from fairly obscure supplements. Well, that's another way to help clear out the warehouses. And lets face it, there have been a lot of stories with intelligent animal companions, talking or not. Of course, the big issue with animal companions is that they remain fairly static in power while the PC's change enormously. A problem which we now know 3e will handle considerably better. So it's a bit ironic really to see an article that tries to fix this, but doesn't really go far enough, and spends most of it's time looking backwards. This isn't going to be one I reference again once a few months has passed.


PC Portraits does druids and rangers, which is indeed pretty in theme as usual. They do tend towards a certain nobility of features, but I think that's just the artist's style rather than intentional. Hoods, animal features, leaves, feathers and other symbols of the natural cycle are of course popular adornments. Overall, I think this is one of the better composed sets in the series, with relatively detailed shading and no big proportional mishaps. They can use this guy again when they need some more faces.


Herbcraft: As is their habit around this time, they dig up at least one topic that hasn't been seen in the magazine for over a decade. Herbalism previously got articles in issues 82 and 119, both of which are for 1e. So this can avoid rehash simply by incorporating 2e rules. Which it does, expanding on what you can treat with a basic roll, and then detailing some specific magical herbs that can provide further effects beyond that. So this doesn't step on the toes of previous articles, and has enough fantastical elements that subsequent articles are unlikely to repeat it directly in turn, and makes fairly pleasant reading. Like the article last issue about what a person can do untrained, it's good for clarifying the rules, which is helpful as you finish an edition, to make things feel nicely resolved. You can't say they haven't gone to quite a bit of effort to tie up all the loose ends, with all these articles and compilation books and CD's.


Extra healing: Now, Herbalism and Healing have a lot of synergy, to the point where they're obligatory for some cleric builds. (which eats up all your slots if at least one of them isn't a bonus from the kit) Of course, there's always room for more expensive subdividing of skills, and it looks like that particular annoyance of 2e is about to get another airing before the next edition mostly puts skill bloat to bed, and 4e kills it for good. (so far) So here's 3 new healing sub-proficiencies, and 4 new herbalism ones for you, should you be obsessive enough to want a character devoting their whole life to this field of study. They then detail a whole bunch of natural herbs, most of which don't have any defined mechanical effect. Well, I suppose they want to keep it useful for next edition, because you're unlikely to be seeing something like this there. And I can't particularly say I'll miss this topic. Byebye.


Beneath the boughs: In issue 251, we got an interesting little article on Dryads in the Dragonlance 5th age setting. In a fairly obvious symmetry filler, the same writer follows up with one on satyrs. Now, they already have AD&D rules in the Complete book of Humanoids, but they don't have SAGA rules yet. And on top of that, they gain better class options in Krynn than other worlds, as is also the case with ogres, elves, gnomes, and some other races; and some slightly altered ecological information from their previous appearance in issue 155. They also have four new spells detailed for both systems. As with the previous one, this is jaunty, packs it's crunch into small packages, and fits plenty of flavour in there as well. If you want a satyr who's a bit less comic relief (after all, in krynn, they're regularly upstaged by kender and tinker gnomes) and more competent and able to work with a party for a decent length of time, this article provides a nice little upgrade for two systems.

Dragon Magazine Issue 269: March 2000


part 4/7


Fiction: All too familiar by J Robert King. An intelligent animal features in this story, so it's just about in theme as well. And it is a pretty entertaining one, amusingly free of angst, but with a decent amount of whimsy and plenty of action and plot twists. Technically, if anything, the bad guy wins, but in a practical sense, his own hubris turns out to be his undoing. Which is exactly the kind of thing that makes for good reading, as it avoids the more obvious cliches and goes down it's own route, and does it with style. Just like a good cat would. You know how unpredictable they can be, even if you get them as a litter and raise them the same way. So this is pretty entertaining, and not weighed down with continuity despite being from one of their regular writers. Don't let the marketing people turn everything into a tie-in fest. You know what that did to comics.


Arcane Lore: Another one with a single new spell, and a ton of setting blurb. Murq's Mystic Missile is just another variant magic missile. How many of those do we have now? Coming near a dozen. The setting stuff is rather more interesting, with this being another long established but left vague Greyhawk character getting their lives and times (and diabolical plots) filled in. Actually that does seem to be becoming a distinction between Oerth and Toril. Even though Gary may be sorta back, he's no longer in the driving seat of his own world, and other people are working via forensic expansion rather than wholecloth creation. And that's not a distinction that flatters Oerth, really. Plus, overall, this is a continuation of the abrupt drop in usability from last year. I'm really not happy at all about this development.


Dragon's Bestiary: Demihuman pets. Now there's an odd omission considering we've seen dwarf bred spiders, gith dogs, Troll dogs, Ilithid baboons, elf enhanced squirrels, and quite a few more things created to serve other things over the years. looks like this is another last minute filling in of symmetries here, for those who'll stick with the old stuff instead of leaping straight to the new edition.

Yyllethyn are elven horses. Like most things elf, they're smarter, prettier, longer lived, and slower breeding.

Crayghe are elven hawks. Exactly the same proviso as previously apples here.

Byut are elven deer, and are too fragile and ethereal to survive in the wild. Useless things. What value is beauty without any practical use?

Pennig are halfling ponies, and like their breeders, are amiable, tough little things that can go anywhere there's decent food. No surprises here either then.

Twill are our first interesting delivery. Little marsupials domesticated by gnomes, they fill the same role as the little creatures in the moties stories. Able to carry tools in their pouches and reach places little stubby gnome hands can't, they can be a big help in creating incomprehensible and unreliable machinery.

Stoight are forest gnome's pet of choice, and similarly adorable and quirky. They can scare animals much bigger than them with their sheer speed and viciousness. One of these would make a great pet for an adventurer.

Brak Twan are dwarvish digger dogs. They have infravision and typically dwarven tenacity as hunters and guards. Nothing too surprising here again.

Guttar are underground oxen that graze on fungi. Don't we already have those, detailed ages ago in Drow of the Underdark. So many supplements to keep track of. Once again, I'm not surprised they've wound up repeating stuff. So I guess the gnomes are the only ones that come out particularly well from this little business. It's easier to avoid getting stale when you don't get as much attention anyway.


The ecology of the pseudodragon: Can you guess which set of regulars is most likely to deal with a creature that can become a wizard's familiar? I think you can. It's the monster hunters guild again. And once again, they find themselves at odds with one-another, as the more principled members of the group would prefer that good creatures not be captured and dissected to make magical items for profit. And at least with PvP, one side of the group actually gets to win. Their bit part cast members are also increasingly becoming recurring characters. It all ends rather comically, yet again, with them not dead, but rather humiliated. And no better off financially either. Guess they'll keep muddling along until something stops them for good.

Dragon Magazine Issue 269: March 2000


part 5/7


The new adventures of Volo: Two months ago, we looked at the various elven kingdoms of the Realms. This month, halflings and gnomes get lumped together, as they have too many times. We get a seriously broken bit of aesopping here, as he simultaneously says they're not to be underestimated, and yet makes most of the settlements here need guardianship by some powerful wizard, dragon, or similar crap to survive in the harsh world of the Realms. That's about on the same level as romance novels who say the heroine is a strong independent woman at the beginning, but she winds up bouncing from one man to another throughout the plot, defining herself by them and worrying endlessly what they think, and then ends the story happily married. Gnomes come out of this better than halflings, but really, this is a nasty case of theory and practice failing to line up. Sorry Ed, but this one is going to get a firm thumbs down.


Giants in the earth: We finally do something that would have appeared in this column's original run, AD&D stats for historical figures. In this case, from ancient egypt. Now, since they did have a habit of deifying their pharaohs, that might mean we've already seen them in Legends and Lore. Will this be rehashed? References at the ready.

Imhotep didn't appear in L&L in either his mortal or divine forms, curiously enough. Course, he played a pretty critical part in Masque of the red death, but that's not really historically accurate. In addition to being a great doctor, he's also exceedingly good at motivating a workforce. Given the difficulties involved in surgery, I'm not sure why dexterity is his lowest stat then. Well, if you've got magic to do all the heavy work, you don't need super nimble fingers.

Ramses II was pharaoh for a stonking 66 years, a pretty good run by the standards of any monarchy. He was supposedly the guy in charge in moses' time, although he obviously didn't die in a flood, and might well have set the Jews free without quite so many plagues as the bible version suggests. You obviously don't stay in charge that long without being a fairly astute politician.

Ramses III wasn't in charge as long, and was a more hands on warrior, always off pacifying the neighbours. This means troublemakers may encounter him directly. Perfect opportunity for adventurers to do a takeover.

Wenamon is a priest of Amon who was saved from raiders by an opportunely timed storm, which of course he thanked his god for. A good example of how what is a legendary event for a real person would be just tuesday for a D&D adventurer, with provable supernatural powers and easy access spellcasting. This is one case where reality doesn't seem stranger or more spectacular than fiction.


Urban Legends: Last month was all about putting magical item equivalents in Alternity. This one involves the monsters. The big difference here is that you probably won't be facing more than one or two types of monster per adventure, and hunting them down will be as much or more of a challenge than the actual battle. So let's get our x-files on, and go to investigate sewer alligators, hook-handed muderers, animating mexican statues, bog monsters and family murdering changelings. Unlike last month, this means they aren't all drawn from D&D, instead casting a slightly wider net of folklorish fun. Each gets a good page of writing, plus stats and illustration. The way they're framed does seem conducive to avoiding hack-and-slash play, and making the whole episode revolve around one. You could steal this format for your monster writing, and see if that would rub off on the way you run the monsters in response. Control the format, and you control the content.


Wizards Live: The online schedule once again looks pretty busy, with 14 scheduled  live chats this month. Skip is once again doing Sage Advice live, which sounds like fun, Elaine Cunningham is getting a good Q&Aing about her life, and the RPGA gets two chats devoted to it. Are the logs of these saved anywhere. It seems another thing that would help us get a clearer picture of the mood in the WotC camp as 3e drew near.


Dungeoncraft: Before actually drawing the map for his first adventure, Ray pauses again, asking us to think about exactly what rooms we need in our layout, and how they should connect. After all, if you just get a blank sheet of graph paper and start drawing until you fill it, you'll wind up with a sprawling monstrosity which makes no sense, is confusing to navigate, and doesn't have nearly enough toilets for it's inhabitants to live comfortably. So he encourages you to figure out what essentials you need, and only then add the extra embellishments that make your adventure quirky and unique. Which does seem pretty sensible. As is often the case, this probably isn't how most of the classic old adventures were designed, but it'll do the job. He's once again giving us a clear step-by-step approach that'll only fail for you if you're completely devoid of creativity. It makes me rather interested in seeing what the final result will be, so it's with some irritation that I see that it'll be appearing in Dungeon rather than Dragon, presumably in an attempt to encourage more crossover between their readerships. (gotta collect 'em all! ) Ok, so it's not as if issues of Dungeon are that hard to find online (unlike Polyhedron) but it still means I won't get to properly review the final product. Sigh.

Dragon Magazine Issue 269: March 2000


part 6/7


Sage advice: Do delvesonns lose con when they use identify (yes)

Can knock open a saddlebag (yes)

Just how immune are Yathrinshee to undead powers (only the innate ones. Learned stuff doesn't count. )

Do you have to spend points to raise your thief skills to a positive number (not if you don't want to. Not every thief has to know everything)

Can you choose high-level skills from crossover groups (no)

Is 2d6 the number of undead turned or the number of hit dice. What happens if it's a mixed group. (One roll, 2d6 HD of creatures, lowest HD get affected first. It's good for mook clearing, but bosses, not so much.

How does spell failure work for Dragon Sages. Surely they don't get more likely to fail the wiser they are (No. You're adding on in the wrong place. See the normal chance of spell failure, then add to that. )

My multiclass characters are trying to twink skills and powers by skimping on one class and using the points to buy extra proficiencies useful for the other one. (remember to strictly enforce the minimum spending limits. at each stage. Other than that, suck it up. Min-maxing is a big part of the fun of a point buy system. )

Does grand mastery with missile weapons give you another extra attack (yes indeed. Peow peow peow.)

Can non fighters use combat mastery (A little bit. Not the top levels. We have to keep some niche protection. )

What level do you need to be to get the various levels of weapon mastery (it varies. Not that high, though. This aint BD&D, where you had 36 levels to spread things over.)

Do cyclops really do 410 points of damage with their boulders (no. 4d10. Even you figured that one out pretty quick)

How do you deal with two conflicting surprise chances (turn their respective changes into modifiers to your d10 roll. This only becomes a problem if they also ask you to use different dice for the roll.)

Can heat metal actually melt metal. (no. it retains the same shape, although it may get softer. This is magic, not real world physics, etc etc. )

Can you memorize more than 9 spells per level if you have bonus stuff, or is that the limit (It is not the limit. You may continue to increase your firepower to disgusting levels. )

Does a shield of missile attraction affect all missiles on both sides (no. Only the ones aimed at you. Skip really wishes people wouldn't misinterpret the premise)

Can berserkers berserk in bear form. (no. They're scary enough already)

Can you cast spells while wearing gauntlets of ogre power (yes)

Can priests supercharge their spells under the spell point system as well (sure. This may not always be beneficial though. )

How do you decide which table is best for multiclassed characters (Oh, you. :limpwristed punch on the shoulder: You get to totally pick and mix! Whichever save is better for each category! )

Do boots of speed allow you to track faster (Absolutely)

Can you cast spells through clairvoyance (No. Not even if the area is in range. It's still not proper line of sight. Skip isn't letting you weasel around this one, no matter how many letters you send in. )

What does oil of sunlight do (What doesn't it do! Uh, yeah. Skip's not sure either. It's an important ingredient in making kickass magical items, but doesn't do much on it's own. Think what sunlight could logically do. )

How do you pronounce Flind (Windbagstandley-Nunchuckingtonarai)

What happens if you attack someone with a cloak of displacement and roll a natural 20. (if you'd miss, you still miss. No head severing if you can't find the neck. Clive Anderson is totally safe.)

What counts as the home plane for priests of philosophies (use your common sense. What plane seems the best fit. The other alternative, just letting them be at full power anywhere, is just soooo broken. Skip couldn't possibly allow that.)
Just how immobilized are entangled characters. (far less than paralyzed ones, but more than stunned ones )

Can my priest carry a plant with him so he can use entangle anywhere (It'd have to be a pretty big plant. You are remembering encumbrance, aren't you. Maybe it could be an extra long still living grass skirt or something. Much kinky nightmare fodder in that concept.)

Dragon Magazine Issue 269: March 2000


part 7/7


Role models returns after a couple of months off, and it appears they lost their old writers abruptly, with editors Dave Gross & Chris Perkins taking on extra duties to compensate. Now that didn't turn out particularly well in the final days of the video games column, and the contrast here is fairly apparent as well. Where last year's columns often managed to fit three different ideas into a two page spread, this concentrates on a single one, and still feels like it has more trouble fitting it into the space provided. Still, much of that is because there's a lot of photos this time around, showing off their custom setup from multiple angles. And instead of encouraging you to make your own scenery on the cheap, they're engaging in product placement, advertising Master Maze scenery. It's not quite as big and obvious a step down as when Dave took over Libram X from Jeff, but it's not particularly promising, as it's putting commercialism over DIY spirit. He has improved since taking over, but I can still blame him personally for not being as good as Kim or Roger.


Silicon Sorcery: This month's computer game conversion isn't monsters or items, but random encounters. That's somewhat amusing, and not something they've done before. It also means you actually get more new creatures getting abbreviated stats than a regular bestiary entry would give you. In fact, they pack 8 encounters onto 2/3rds of a page, filling up the rest of the spread with promotion for the game, a fantasy sim game called Majesty. So this packs in quite a bit of useful information for gaming, but like the last article, still feels like they're engaging in product placement, quite possibly paid for by the companies, above and beyond the usual advertising. Well, I guess all the extra colour they've acquired in the last couple of years needs to come from somewhere. Call it a mutually beneficial arrangement. Still, it does feel like they're ramping up their count of blatant commercialism again. Sell sell sell.


KotDT engages in X-treeme rules lawyering. Dragonmirth is increasingly modern in its style of humour. Shop keep fails to respect the grognards. Course, they'll be even older now.


Coming attractions: Diablo graduates to AD&D with Diablo II: The awakening. This is really going to fuel the cries of ZOMG they're turning D&D into a computer game. They also start to set up things for the edition change with The Apocalypse Stone. You want to end your campaign now for the reboot, this'll help you go out with a bang.

The Realms is half rehash, as is becoming standard. The second book of the Cleric Quintet is rereleased. And the new book is Realms of the Deep. An anthology of stories around the recent aquatic invasion, this should fill in lots of little perspectives on the same big event. Let's hope the editing stays up to scratch.

Dragonlance starts to move forward again, with yet another massive cataclysm. Weis and Hickman are back together for Dragons of a Fallen Sun. Still, at least we'll get the old magic back soon now, even if it involves yet more ridiculous revelations and some deicide.

Alternity also gets into the computer game business, with a Starcraft conversion. Blizzard are already pretty big names, and they're going to have a long association with D20. Muahaha.


What's new is on a very familiar kick, in more ways than one. Growf.  


This issue does very much feel like they're making an effort to round off the last edition, tie up as many loose ends as possible, leave no avenue unexplored. It really reminds us that 2e was easily the edition that had the most settings, supplements, articles, and weird bits and pieces produced for it. Many of them were pretty flawed in hindsight, but there's just so many that surely you can run the game you want by picking selectively. If you were going to play one game for the rest of your lifetime, you could do so much worse. What other games got this kind of completion and sendoff? Well, it's still not quite over. Will april see any funny surprises this time around, after the last two years of staidness? Give us something else to remember you by.

Dragon Magazine Issue 270: April 2000


part 1/7


132 pages. So we're finally three quarters of the way through this journey. And as with the 2/3rds mark, this is purely a postdated landmark that doesn't feel particularly significant sandwiched between the 1999 annual and the 3e changeover issues. Still, it looks like the topic is high level and planar stuff, both of which are topics I'm quite fond of. High level stuff in particular could do with a few more articles before we wave out the old and in with the new, as material suitable for levels 20+ is pretty scarce. Hell, Dungeon hasn't even got any 2e adventures that go above 15th level. So let's see if this bumper sized issue has any suitably impressive articles.


Scan Quality: Excellent, indexed.


In this issue:


The wyrms turn: Here we get a good reminder exactly why high level campaigns got short shrift in 2e. 1: they were too busy trying to be sensible and mature, prove they'd outgrown all that twinky nonsesnse. 2: The rapidly expanding plethora of settings and character options made people more likely to switch games regularly rather than sticking with one to high levels. So this is a series of jokes about the more silly end of obscene power, where the players run roughshod over the world, rather than finding new enemies that present a suitable challenge. If the current editors have this kind of attitude, it's no wonder you have to pretty much make it all up, or use BECMI D&D instead, which did take the whole epic deeds during the endgame thing seriously. (although not completely without whimsy) This doesn't make me confident it'll get the gravity it needs. Mind you, it is april, so maybe we'll get amusingly unbalanced instead. As long as it's not boring, anyway, that's the really important thing.


D-Mail: We kick off with some more edition change concerns that just go to show how differently people can wind up interpreting the same teasers, even though they're not particularly ambiguous. Oh, and the new format for upcoming products sucks, because it doesn't give as much info as the old one. Not disagreeing on that one.

A letter asking them to go back to the old school. While they're adding a bit more old style flavour than they did in the mid 90's, they still want to move forward, so expect mixed results on this one. Variety is the spice of life, after all.

A letter generally praising them, but also telling them where they're oversaturating the market. Rest assured, they will take a break, and then find new markets to oversaturate next edition. In fact, they have one planned already. You thought new races and kits were bad. Wait until you see how many prestige classes they put out! Muahahaha!

A letter from someone pissed off about all their expensive stuff becoming obsolete. THEY'RE NOT BUYING IT!!! Ironically, the things they're complaining about in 2e are going to be fixed in 3e. They may have to eat crow in a few months.

Another letter of general praise. Oh, and lechery. You really don't want to go out with a Drow. The drama quotient in their race is off the charts, and that's on a good day. No amount of slow-aging hotness is worth that.

Another request to bring back reviews. Sorry. They're feeling outclassed by the internet these days. It's not like they're your only avenue for communicating about RPG's in general anymore, and you can probably trust them to be more objective, and able to rant more amusingly without worrying about censorship. So on reflection, nope, not going back.

A question about the balance of new clerics from someone who's noted some have more domains than others. Already accounted for. And you wouldn't have an all cleric of a single god party, (most adventures'd be no challenge ) so it's unlikely to become an issue.

And finally, someone asking about book reviews. As with RPG reviews, they don't plan to bring them back, but they may be doing some more articles converting stuff from books in the future, as they have been with computer games. Gotta keep their eye on their core competencies all the time! Otherwise disastrous things might happen again!


Nodwick is really starting to find his employers predictable.

Dragon Magazine Issue 270: April 2000


part 2/7


Forum: Mark Anthony Sims thinks thieves need much better kits to make them as cool as the other classes. Their complete handbook was one of the dullest in that respect. Correct, but leaving it a bit late.

Josef McCoy thinks having something to fight against is more important than having something to fight for. Once again we see that people work together better if there's a clear and defined opposition.

Jason Bartlett thinks high level begins in the low teens, and characters ought to be able to increase proficiency scores as well as abilities through practice. Give them more room for independent change.

Matthew Avery talks about having an evil character in a mixed party. It can work, providing they have other aspects to their personality as well, and don't act like stereotypes. As ever, family can bind together bickering and disparate individuals into a common cause.

Bryan A. Morgan-Armstrong points out just how much MA sucks at the moment in D&D. Unarmed combat doesn't really work on creatures that have negative effects purely by touching you. This is why the ability to attack unarmed as if you are armed is well worth spending a feat slot.  

Victor P. Archer Jr hopes that speciality priests and standard clerics are better balanced next edition. Man, the complete cleric's handbook ones sucked compared to the others. Thankfully, that will not be a concern, as they've already said a few pages ago.


ProFiles: Sean K Reynolds may look sinister, but he's a nice guy in real life. He still loves creating cool bad guys in the game, though, thinking carefully about their capabilities and psychologies, plans and methods, which make them adversaries that really challenge the players, and make them properly hate them and want to kick their ass. What better kind of person than that to handle the 3e Monster Manual. He's another of our profilees who's best work is yet to come, and even this profile seems to recognize this, talking a lot about his upcoming projects. But he has produced some cool stuff already, such as The Green Goblin's guide to Crime for the Marvel superheroes game. And since he becomes one of the driving forces behind Paizo and eventually Pathfinder, we'll be seeing lots more of him over the next decade of reviews. Another enjoyable read, that still has quite a bit missing in hindsight.


Up on a soapbox: Gary's latest target is those who decry Hack-and-Slash gaming. Fighting in your RPG's is nothing to feel ashamed of. D&D's whole experience system revolves around killing things and taking their stuff, so it's not as if you can avoid it if you want to advance your character. Plus the way levels, damage and hit points escalate, it makes it quite possible to have a nice extended fight where you mow down lots of lesser enemies. Now, if you were talking about a White Wolf game, where damage advancement generally grows faster than your ability to absorb it, death can come very quickly if you get into a serious fight, and the experience system rewards showing up and playing your character well, not fighting, then getting into a holding patten where the same guys manoeuvre socially around each other for years, politicking and pushing for an advantage makes a lot more sense. So this is really a continuation of his opinion back in 1985, where he already though the pendulum had swung too far towards roleplaying, and away from the game part of the equation. Really, both are valid choices, as long as the group is having fun, and you shouldn't look down on the other side. After all, you might want to play differently at some point if you get bored, and burning your bridges with tribal rivalries will hurt you in the long run. And as for criticising the intelligence of people who like fighting - hey, they're the ones doing more math and rules manipulation aren't they. So valid points, made in an amusing fashion, that go against current opinion and make you think. Absolutely perfect material for an april article.


The kingless land: Ed Greenwood's new novel series gets a bit more promotion, with this excerpt from the first book. And like the reviews said, this is almost pure action, which doesn't really let us get to know our protagonists well. Wait a minute, this isn't an article, this is a fricken 6 page long advert. Tor books obviously thinks Dragon readers are a prime ground for buyers. Which is probably right. Still, 6 pages! That must have been quite expensive. Still, someone's got to pay for these expanded issues, and they haven't raised prices for a few years. If they're shelling out, we might as well put up with them. I know a few pages I'll be skipping over if I read this again.


PC Portraits: Tony Diterlizzi takes on the challenge of high level characters. Now while there is a lot of positive things you can say about his artwork, they don't quite capture the gravity that you think of when someone says cosmic reality bending power. They do do otherworldly well, though, as you should know by now. Needs moar glowy things and other obvious magical adornments to signify that they're decked out to the gills and not to be messed with. Colour would definitely help too. Or maybe they've moved beyond that, and would rather avoid the attentions of every young punk looking to prove themselves. You never can tell with these really high level characters.