Quote from: Captain Rufus;405025I know you basically wrote this for RPGnet, but if I had all the Rifters I kind of do want to do this someday.

I only have about half of them now sadly, and almost none but the most recent in actual order.  (29 total issues out of about 50 or so.)

I would get through like the first 6-7 and there would be a gap.  

I only sort of buy them now and again, slowly filling up the set, kind of like what I am doing for Autoduel Quarterly and Battletechnology.

Eventually I will be bothered to have a full set of all 3.  Eventually.

Dragon magazine was actually relatively easy to collect a whole set of online, especially once you have the archive. I've complained before about how much harder it's been to get hold of polyhedron issues, and I have no doubt that would apply double to stuff from smaller companies. Good luck with that.

Dragon Magazine Issue 196: August 1993


part 2/5


The art of storytelling: Things step downwards again with this bit of basic listed roleplaying advice. With a rather substantial editing error which means that point number 6 is repeated twice, and then it continues from there. Tut tut. That loses quite a few marks, even beyond this advice being mostly rehashed. Very much half-assed filler.


Organization is everything: Or once again I thank humanity for inventing laptops. Even a decade ago, most of my notes were on paper, and things tended to get seriously higgledy piggledy as things were scrawled down wherever was most convenient at the time. If you wanted to seriously sort out the organisation of your notes post-hoc you have to completely rewrite them on fresh bits of paper. And of course, the sheer volume of them seriously mounts up if your campaign continues for years. If you aren't gaming at your own home, there comes a point where you simply can't fit all the stuff you use into your backpack to take to the group. These days, hard drives are big enough that you can fit .pdfs of every D&D book ever released into them, and still only fill a fraction, so I don't think you're in any danger of filling them up with your own written notes. And in this format, you can copy effortlessly, and cut and shift stuff around or insert something in the middle of other notes with a tiny fraction of the time and work it would have taken then. As is often the case, they finish off the themed section with an article that's relatively short, but still full of handy advice. Which in this case seems a bit dated, but the principles are still sound. After all, it may take a fraction of the effort to search and organise your work on computer, but it still needs to be done, otherwise you'll have a ton of little post-it's littering your document folder and you have to open them up to see what's inside the obscure titles. So plenty to think about here. Better get to work.


Forum: Pierre Lapalme agrees with earlier forumites that getting persuading new players to start can be tricky. Much of this is the fault of the rules. Choose wisely, and then be consistent, but don't let them straitjacket you. They should be a path to fun, not an obstacle.

Erik Koppang also thinks that wise house-ruling is important. Neither the rules of the tabletop game or the computer games are perfect. You certainly shouldn't follow them blindly just because that's the easy path.

Paul Bleiweis finds he's becoming more embarassed talking about gaming as he gets older. Yeah, probably need to tackle that, or you'll have great trouble putting a group together in adulthood. You need to be able to convince them it's a desirable thing to do, and shame will not help with that.

And finally we get another Anonymous letter, from one of the female employees at TSR, who is part of the anti-cheesecake brigade. Anyone know who this was? Anne Brown? Barbara Young? In any case, they blame it on the people in marketing. If you want to convince them otherwise, write to that department.


Sage advice is tiny this month.

Do paladins still lose their powers if they commit evil acts in ravenloft (yes. The gods know, even if you don't. Ok, sometimes the dark powers'll take over, but that kind of cheatyness is for NPC's only.)

Why aren't the new spheres from ToM used in Tales of the lance (Space. Writers always produce too much, then something has to be cut. Like Skip this month, it seems.)

What kind of spellbooks does a multiclassed mage/minstrel have (Two of them, one for each class. Oh woes, for I have to have a big backpack. It's nothing compared to the amount of gear modern musicians have to lug around. )


The known world grimoire: Bruce manages another burst of inspiration this month. He might not be able to manage them frequently enough to run a proper narrative, but there are still areas of the known world to fill in, and by gosh he's going to keep at it. He visited the manscorpions in issue 192. Now we head south to see the orcs that give this nasty swampy peninsula it's name. With a particularly big, tough battlescarred red dragon as their overlord, the various tribes may bicker with one-another, but they're more than organised enough to repel any attempts at civilising these lands. As with many aspects of mystara, this is a set-up designed to give the players challenges at whatever level they may be, from fighting individual raiding parties, to being able to take on entire armies and do world-shaking deeds that'll get them into the Immortal pantheon. Just be careful you don't bite off more than you can chew and get the attention of the big guns too soon, for huge dragon breath killing the entire party in one hit is a real day spoiler. With the usual mix of IC and OOC perspectives, and plenty of references to the other parts of this massive intertwined world, this is a pretty pleasurable read, able to support plenty of adventure while leaving room for expansion of the specifics by the DM. I just wish they were coming more frequently. While he may still have the skills, they mean little without the creative will to channel them. It becomes increasingly difficult to see a future for this series.


Mutant chronicles gets a very eye-catching advert. Nice colouring job, dude.


Fiction: The only good orc by Liz Holliday. Aka the story of orc jesus, and the stuff he goes through to get to sacrifice himself for the sins of his race. This involves a certain amount of deception, but mainly because people don't believe an Orc can be good, so the truth wouldn't be believed. The result has a pretty decent number of twists and turns, and the requisite bittersweet ending. It's not often you'll see PC's sacrifice themselves like this, so you need every good example you can get. It's all pretty decent.

Dragon Magazine Issue 196: August 1993


part 3/5


The role of computers comes to an end. Or at least, the crew of writers leave for other fields, to specialise in Mac games in another magazine. Once again cementing the fact that they don't have a great track record in picking successful systems. We've had some good times, we've had some dull times, we've had some strange moments. We've seen systems rise and fall, games go from 0 to 6 stars, (wing commander is still unsurpassed) and lots of complaints about stuff not working properly. (well, it wouldn't be a computer column without them. ) They've been one of the most consistent columnists since 1986, and I can't escape the feeling that this magazine's computer game coverage won't be the same without them. I know it's only a couple of years before they cut out computer stuff entirely, so the people who replace them certainly won't have the chance to build up the same level of familiarity.

Challenge of the 5 Realms is an ok fantasy RPG, if a bit dated in presentation. Overhead walky stuff, slow dialog balloons, instruction manual based copy protection, this all sounds very familiar. is this the 90's or what?

The Journeyman Project pushes at the current limits of data streaming, and consequently runs annoyingly slowly on their computer. It's no good having these fancy CD's if you don't have the read speed to really take advantage of it, or the RAM to buffer most of the info for instant use when needed. Can't win either way. Too primitive, they give it poor marks, too advanced, they can't run it properly yet.

Legends of Valour doesn't do too well. It may look good, but play is both tedious and fiddly. If you don't have the hint book, you'll waste tons of time trying to figure out where to go and what to do. Whatever happened to the instruction manual guiding you through the basics?

Pax Imperia is one of those epic space games where you have to not only build an empire, but manage it too. I some how doubt we'll be seeing nearly as many of those under our next regime.

S.C.O.U.T combines action shooter with puzzle game, as you have to find keys, negotiate railroads, teleporters, mirrors, and all manner of other tricks to get around the alien base and blow them to bits.

Spaceward Ho! V. 3.0 is another, slightly smaller scale space exploration and resource management game, where you have to think more about controlling individual spaceships. They finish this off with another load of clues on how to play it well, which seems appropriate since these things can get pretty complicated.


Novel ideas: How many Forgotten Realms books have TSR published in the past 6 years?! Jeez, maybe you should have started worrying about their continuity a little sooner. James Lowder takes on the job of figuring out what happened before and after various other things, and delivering it to us. The timeline starts off fairly sparse and sketchy, but them becomes very busy after DR 1350. It's pretty obvious where the prequels end and the bits written as present begin. With things stretching up to 1372, it seems that they've progressed forward at the rate of approximately 2-3 game years per real year, giving new adventurers plenty of chances to strut their stuff on the stage. This is interesting when contrasted with their other gameworlds. Mystara & Ravenloft tried to maintain a realtime, 1 game year per real year progression, while Krynn and Oerth have wound up progressing in fits and starts, due to their primary developers being absent for extended periods of time, and over-reliance on prequels, interquels and side stories. It's a good thing there aren't actually that many crossover stories between them, or this'd become an almighty headache. This stuff isn't too hard to handle as long as you have a good line editor, but take your eye off the ball, and before you know it, there are inconsistencies and continuity snarls everywhere and you have to deploy the dreaded blunt tools of retcon and reboot to get things working again. And it only gets harder the more stuff you add. So this is a sign that they're not quite at the point where continuity starts to strangle the line, but it's only a few years away. It also manages to be quite a good bit of subtle promotion, not only helping you know clearly all the stuff you might want to buy, but also some of the books they haven't released yet. It's certainly given me plenty to think and talk about, and something to reference back too.


The game wizards: Hmm. A new adventure for Dragon Strike? That's an interesting one. I have been saying they need more useful stuff than straight promotion in these columns. Looks like someone else was saying so at the same time and they've listened. So in 2 pages we get a map, and a key, including a bunch of roleplaying notes. While still pretty basic to actual roleplayers, this still manages to have more depth to it's play than Heroquest, (which it is clearly influenced by) and is a good example of how you can fit a lot of play info into a tiny word count, which is a lesson the official AD&D adventures are increasingly forgetting to their detriment. While I'm still not too keen on boardgame stuff being promoted here, like this month's Novel Ideas, this is an interesting way of handling their duties, and one that gives me things to think about. You too can steal and make good use of this kind of adventure notating formula, and thereby fit a dozen scenarios in a 32 page booklet.

In another amusing footnote, we also get an apology for their spate of cultural insensitivity last month. Research Moar! And remember folks, what is acceptable around the gaming table is not acceptable in an international magazine. Knowing is only half the battle. You also have to act upon that knowledge.

Dragon Magazine Issue 196: August 1993


part 4/5


Role-playing reviews: Rick picks some rather obscure licensed games this month. The kind of thing that are unlikely to make much money, and probably got commissioned because the original creator is a geek, or someone approached them and gave them a good spiel. Curious business.

When gravity fails is a supplement for Cyberpunk 2020, giving us a vision of how islamic culture might interact with cyberpunk tropes. There's always going to be the stereotypical reactionaries, but this gives a far more nuanced portrayal than that, mixing olde world issues with modern solutions, and adding on a ton of cool personality modification rules as befits the original source material. If anything, it's too short to handle all the cool ideas it raises, with some bits left sketchy, but what there is is both interesting and genre expanding. Just as roleplaying games need to tackle cultures outside medieval europe more so too do cyberpunk stories.

Dream Park is a rather odd little game from Mike Pondsmith, based on Larry Niven's story of the same name. (see issue 52) As you're playing a person playing a character inside a virtual reality game, things get a little meta, and you can shuffle your special abilities around between adventurers, and lose powers as often as you gain them. It also means the GM can worry far less about things such as plausibility and continuity, instead concentrating on delivering inventive one-shots while having an excuse for keeping the same underlying characters throughout. Like Toon, the system may be a bit simple to really support extended campaigns, but it should be fun for a change of pace if the regular GM is absent.

Wizards is based on Ralf Bakshi's movie. This isn't quite as bad as the movie, in Rick's opinion, but still feels like a poorly edited, convoluted mess that needs some serious revision to get it's good ideas up and running. Why it ever got made in the first place is a mystery.  


3 Wizards too many: Having fully established the personalities of our three plane-hopping, 4th wall bending archmages, Ed starts to have them relax in each other's company a little more. Mordenkainen is still suffering the most heavily from his world's metaplot events. (I wonder what Ed thought about the power struggles in the company and changes made to Greyhawk after Gary left.) Dalamar is still the aggressive young punk who regularly gets taken down a peg by his older and more powerful companions. (Both El and Mord have tales of them facing down Fistandantilus during his plane-hopping days, which they may or may not be making up to keep him off balance. ) And Elminster is still playful, all-knowing, and tremendously cheesy. All three engage in gender-bending over the course of this episode, which is presumably why it's title is what it is, and these's a running gag involving gnomes as well. The new spells, items and monsters are somewhat less obscene than last time, but still designed for active adventurers, by experienced adventurers, and pretty useful. The whole thing is like a bouncy technicolour ball of sentient energy that bounds in and livens up your day. Which given how much work this thread is, is pretty damn welcome.


MERP finally gets a new edition. It's been well over a decade. That's vaguely surprising. Now, the big question. Is it an improvement?


Bazaar of the bizarre: Figurines. Little animals that come to life on command. (and sometimes when you don't want them too either. ) Another easy vein for you to mine, that's nowhere near tapped out yet. And since this involves some pretty good writers too, I believe I shall wander up to the head table and go "Please sir, can I have some more?"

Amber monkeys are a riff on the see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil saying. There are three of them and they'll do exactly that on command, blinding you, deafening you and muting you. Which leaves you alive, but very vulnerable. Muahahahaha.

Coral Dragons aren't as badass as real dragons, but are still reasonably useful. They can be both combatants and fonts of wisdom. Show them a little respect, don't just stuff them in your pocket.

Emerald Frogs don't get any bigger when animated, but can shrink giant bugs and suck them straight in with their tongue, making what is often a deadly encounter much easier. Like the bottle of trapping 2 months ago, this makes for amusing visuals as well.

Jade Snakes come in pairs, one for biting, and one for healing. Trying to use both at the same time is a very bad idea. They look very pretty entwined though.

The Moonstone Rabbit digs quite impressively. Don't abuse it though, because it's more fragile than it seems.

Opal Cats are another themed set. The mother cat, which attacks with great viciousness. The kitten of caterwauling looks pathetic, and it's yowl is worse than nails down a blackboard. The kitten of contemplation, by contrast, is relaxing to have on your lap, and lets you recover spells in half the time, which a high level wizard would pay a LOT to have. A very cool set of ideas.

Silver Carp can produce water, or purify it. Their production capabilities aren't as impressive as a decanter of endless water, but what is? They can also blind you by wriggling their flashing scales. Individually none of their powers are that great, but they do add up to a nice little package.

The Tourmaline Turtle lets you ride on it's back like Jacques Costeau. Some of them even let you breathe underwater while on them. it also has a really vicious bite, so any kraken that messes with you will lose a tentacle. Still, it only works up to 12 hours a week, so you'll need another ship for lengthy voyages.

Dragon Magazine Issue 196: August 1993


part 5/5



Swordplay lowers their ambitions to an achievable CR enemy. Fea wears drowface and incites racial hatred as part of her plan to rescue Yamara. Dragonmirth plays oblivious, but they'll suffer for it later. Robinson finally gets to meet his ex-wife. And safe to say, she doesn't feel the same way still.


Through the looking glass: The air of pessimism that pervaded the past few columns here is gone. Life goes on, and that includes the big conventions. There'll still be plenty of cool minis released there, along with paints, brushes, primer, and other modification tools. Don't hesitate to buy them. After all, your hobby still needs you as much as you need it.

Interestingly our first set of minis tie in with the Dream Park game reviewed earlier this issue. Guess it must be a bigger licence than I thought. Vaguely cyberpunkish people which can fit in any near future game. There's also a pair of giants intended for the Pendragon game, also fairly easily used in other fantasy games. Pendragon also gets another knight, so you have another choice to differentiate your PC from the others. Other products include a 2 storey medieval building, a Sorcerer ready to cast at you, A mummy that looks like it's in the middle of the Thriller dance routine, a thief, a cleric, an elf, several rather large goblins, and a cyberlegger. Any changes in construction materials have not affected Robert's fairly generous marking system, with all the scores going from 3+1/2 to 5 stars.  

On top of that, we have another trio of game reviews. Night Brood introduces hive based alien horrors to the Silent Death game. Yeah, we know what you're influenced by. Get ready for violence with a touch of body horror.

Man O' War is a game of high seas piracy set in the Warhammer universe. This means it combines historical and fantasy elements to good effect. Games Workshop may well have another winner on their hands if they can market it to the kids.

Seekrieg 4th edition is another, far more crunchy ship based wargame, with rules covering hundreds of real period ships and their weaponry. It get's compared to Rolemaster, which really isn't a recommendation for me, but Robert must like da crunch, because he gives it 5 stars.


Vampire and werewolf get their own lines of minis as well. That vaguely amuses me.


TSR Previews:  Having flopped with the fight for freedom in the grim 25th century solar system, TSR takes a more lighthearted shot at a Buck Rogers licence, with the High Adventure Cliffhanger game. More money for Lorraine's purse. Whoever got assigned to develop that must be seething. Will it flop just like the last one? Magic 8-ball says signs point to likely. Still, they're still gonna give it their all, experimenting wildly with mechanics and little add-ons in the boxed set.

Ravenloft goes back to basics and expands on them. RM3: House of Strahd lets you face the vampire lord just like you did in 1983 (not 1982, as the historically incompetent copy writers seem to think) Only now he's twice the level, and the castle & surroundings gets twice the detail. Which means your chances of finishing him off for good are considerably smaller. Still, they might come away alive, and with a copy of his memoirs, I, Strahd (Ghost-written by P. N. Elrod. ) See how he's not just some Dracula clone, but a complex person in his own right in one of the most popular gameline related books they ever released.

Dark sun, on the other hand, expands and changes once again. DSM2: Merchant house of Amketch allows you to take the role of a trading company trying to prosper in these harsh environments. Not easy when there's apocalyptic stuff going down nearby in the final book of the Prism Pentad, The Cerulean Storm. Rain is about to become more common again on Athas, but it certainly isn't happy shiny land yet. Still a long way to go.

The forgotten realms, having been focussing on the harpers in the novels last year, finally releases a supplement dealing with them. FOR4: The code of the harpers. Ed Greenwood personally intervenes to make them more playable. Do you have the right stuff to join their cheesy ranks?

Spelljammer comes to a conclusion with The Ultimate Helm. Book 6 of the cloakmaster cycle. As is often the case, the fate of the universe is at stake. Will they engage in a big act of metaplot screwage?
 
Dragonlance decides to tell the backstory of an actual dragon in their second villain book. The Black Wing by Mary Kirchoff lets us know what Khisanth got up too before the heroes met him.

Two generic products as well. GA3: Tales of Enchantment is another little module, this time focussing on fae. This time, diplomacy really is the best option. As it also is when trying to get all the fantasy collectors cards, which have been bumped up to 3 installments this year. Trading will get you one of each considerably cheaper than trying to tough it out on your own.


A quick and easy beginning, but a slow grindy ending here. This is often the case, but it was particularly pronounced this time. Still, with a classic article in the 3rd wizards three one, the departure of the computer columnists, and the interesting, but not entirely welcome dragon strike support, it was one that stands out overall. It definitely has me interested to see how the magazine will change with it's new contributors.

Dragon Magazine Issue 197: September 1993


part 1/5


124 pages. Dark sun art doyen Brom takes the cover this month. No great surprise, since the last couple of years made this month a Dark sun special. And while they aren't going that far to promote it this time, there are a couple of articles devoted to that campaign world. September isn't really the optimal month for heat and dryness, but it's almost a tradition now, so let's just go with it, shall we.


In this issue:


Letters: A bumper pack of one-liners from readers of the unfair things their DM has inflicted upon them. Tinker gnomes with uzi's! Not so funny now, are they?

A letter praising the people providing us with African articles. Visualise the idea, and make it work!

Another of those letters about people's personal experience with the satanic panic. Some parents believe the hysteria, some don't. Pray that yours are of the sensible kind. Roger makes another long response that shows this is still an ongoing problem. And worst of all, they don't even contact us to get the other side of the story! It's so unfair. I want to go on chat shows and local news programs and become more of a celebrity.


Editorial: This month, Roger shows you how to take classic plots, and twist them until virtually unrecognisable. Going through 9 iterations of the same basic seed, gradually growing more elaborate and counter-intuitive, he shows how evolutionary thinking rapidly results in things as different as fish and trees. And just as with real world evolution, this will give your story weird legacy issues, such as human's tendency to get back and knee problems that stem from our quadrapedal ancestry, that may require further workarounds to turn into a good story again. Which is a fun business, especially if you have an imagination as active as Roger's.  Many of these are rather goofy and humorous, but that's not a terrible thing, and it does help set an example for you to emulate. It's both better and more original than any of the bits of GM'ing advice offered last issue, reminding us that Roger's talents as a writer have been stifled somewhat by his time as an editor. He really ought to get back into a more creative role.


Discworld mini's! Ahh, the joys of cross-marketing. They're probably usable in other games as well.


The ecology of the giant scorpion: Hmm. This is a creature that's probably actually less scary in giant form than it is at regular size. After all, when you can see it and fight it directly, it's just another nasty fight to get through. When it lurks in your boots, bed or toilet bowl, and takes you by surprise, you have rather more of a shock coming. A quite D&Dish ecology, with a nice portrayal of infravision, and characters using named spells and the standard class roles. Most of the changes in the footnotes are for reasons of greater realism, which is reasonable for an ecology, and actually makes them more generally effective, yet less likely to cause a TPK with instakills. Since that'll probably make encounters with them more fun, I think I can can call this ecology a success, even if it's not the most brilliant one ever. On top of that, we have the first appearance of Tony Diterlizzi's distinctive style in the magazine, which is a definite plus for me.


Think big in miniature: If you've been reading the minis column, you'll know that TSR and Ral Partha have been partnered for ages now. This continues that relationship, with a particularly blatant single-page bit of promotion. Now they're introducing 15mm scale figures as well as the standard 25mm ones, so you can have more figures in the same space for larger scale battles. This doesn't even pretend not to be promotion or try to be entertaining, making it very tiresome indeed. Next!


Sage advice: Why don't you write back any more. I miss you.( Because the private sage who puts the pages in the mages and the broomstick between the witches legs is a very busy man. Skip can work non stop, and still pick and choose his clients. )

What's included in living expenses ( All your physical and housing needs, and nothing more. Lets get biological, biological. )

Does a jongleurs dodge count as an action. (yes)

How do you resolve synaptic static (same as any other contest. Best roll wins. )

There's overlap in the proficiencies introduced in two spelljammer supplements (Parallel evolution. That's what happens when you have two teams writing books simultaneously but independently. We need a stronger line editor.)

Plus, because skip is a badass mutha(shut yo mouth) Skip is going to give you the extra spheres for all the pantheons, one per month, without even being asked. Skip can read the signs, and knows what you like baby. Oooooh yeah.


Perils and postage: It's been a couple of years since we had an article on play by post gaming. As is the case far too often these days, this article assumes you're a complete newbie, and tries to act as a reboot to the concept, bringing in people who've never heard of or thought about the idea of using mail to play long-term games. Of course, straight away we are reminded exactly why this medium never really became mass market entertainment. It's slow, expensive, and requires substantial organisational skills as a GM to make sure everything is communicated in a useful fashion to all the players. It does improve from there, but you're still putting everything into the control of a single person to a rather greater degree than  normal (unless everyone sends mailshots to everyone else, which multiplies costs geometrically) On the plus side, you get plenty of time to write more polished prose and react to the actions of others than if you were running in real time. On balance, they still can't make it appeal to me, especially with technology developing at the speed it is. Like the attempts to revitalise wargaming and other RPG's, this is another bump in the road of their interests gradually closing in, and becoming purely D&D centric.

Dragon Magazine Issue 197: September 1993


part 2/5


By mail or by modem: The eternal september begins now. Play by post's days are numbered. Nice of them to publish an appropriate article to say that at exactly the right time. Much shorter than the previous article, this points out the same problems, with a very different solution. It's not really that much cheaper yet, and BBS's still have a definite regional element that makes international communications slower, but it is already substantially more convenient in terms of making sure everyone has access to the same info, and don't go around splitting up abruptly or treading on each other's toes. And while PbP peaked in the early 80's, this stuff has been growing fairly substantially, and is just about to start rocketing up exponentially. It's a pretty strong reminder how the future comes in ways you don't expect, at paces even the smartest pundits can't predict. In this case though, I think I can rightly say bring it on, since I have fond memories of chatrooms around the turn of the millennium.


The dragon's bestiary gets four new Forgotten Realms monsters courtesy of Ed. All of these would go on to be printed in official monstrous compendia. That does seem to be becoming increasingly common these days.

Banelar are ridiculously similar to Dark Nagas in powers and fluff. Put side-by side they're virtually the orcs & hobgoblins of the mid-level, scheming serpentine creatures. Rather unnecessary, really. Give us something new!

Flameskulls are another reminder that Ed loves his irritating whimsy. They're near impossible to kill, and may well follow you around making smart-alec comments and being quirkily mentally unstable. Is there a particular novel of his actually featuring one of these? Or is he just setting another bad example which will lead to less skilled DM's annoying their players like hell?

Foulwings are winged, vaguely xenomorph like creatures, with their 3 mouths, vile breath, and hollow bloodsucking tongues. You really don't want one of these jumping out at you on a dark night. Much better than the last two.

Whipstings are also decidedly alien looking things, another of the Realms' strange predators lurking in odd corners and leaping out to trouble the players. Like Gambados or Bhaergala, they're both a decent fight and amusingly weird. So it seems we have rather a mixed bag this time round. Hmm. Could definitely be better.


Castles Forlorn! Another epic boxed set adventure for your players to try and figure out how to deal with. Not an easy one, but good for a wide range of levels, since so many of the problems are puzzle and role-playing based rather than straight combat.


The known world grimoire: Looks like Mystara is finally getting to play with the other boys and girls in the AD&D universe, instead of being on its own. Here we get the big announcement that they're shifting ownership, with Jeff Grubb taking on the developer's role. Bigger budget for books, more colour, and some "special features" coming with the books that are still left mysterious. Course, this may be a poisoned promotion. And what's going to replace it down in BD&D land? Nothing is mentioned here, which doesn't seem very promising. Like the computer columnists leaving last issue, this is presented as good news, when hindsight shows that it really really wasn't in the long term. Now we're never going to get decent amounts of info on Norwald, the arm of the immortals or the southern continents, because they'll be too busy trying to re-cover and update the parts of the world that are already familiar, just like the Forgotten Realms. Another slow step towards the circle closing, D&D starting to eat it's own tail. Man, this is depressing. The new crunch, weapon mastery lists for chakrams and bullroarers, does little to mitigate this feeling. The old guard are gradually being driven away from the magazine. What will replace them this time round?


The role of books: The element of fire by Martha Wells mixes magic and swashbuckling, in a world where they are suitably balanced in power to make for stories full of derring-do and political intrigue. Combined with strongly written main characters, this one is pronounced a success.

Knights of the blood by Katherine Kurtz and Scott MacMillan wants badly to be the first book in a long series, but won't be if the poor plotting and worldbuilding doesn't improve sharpish. Vampire knights trying to remain honorable down the centuries certainly isn't a bad idea. But as ever, it's the implementation that's crucial.

McLendon's syndrome by Robert Frezza tries to meld sci-fi and comedy in a manner reminiscent of the Xanth books, only less irritating. The tendency of the characters to be full of quips and puns doesn't destroy the credibility of the worldbuilding or drama of the plot. You could have far worse guilty pleasures.

The ghatti's tale book 1 by Gayle Greeno feels like a blatant formulaic attempt at replicating the successes of several other recently popular novelists. John can trace the elements easily to certain other specific books, and does not feel they've ben integrated well here. The literary world equivalent of Menswear or Republica.

On basilisk station and The Honor of the queen by David Weber see Honor Harrington unleashed upon the world at high speed. These sci-fi age of sail pastiches have done pretty well for themselves over the years, and it looks like the praise is justified. The biggest danger, as for Star trek captains, is being promoted out of the adventuring life.


The shadow of Yserbius is a MMO that only costs 57 cents an hour at off-peak times. Isn't that a bargain? (5/6ths cost reduction in 4 years, the joys of exponential computer advancement.) Don't you want to play it now?!

Dragon Magazine Issue 197: September 1993


part 3/5


Eye of the monitor: So welcome to the new computer column. As is often the case, the change in ownership also means a name change, to allow the new guy to draw a line in the sand and stamp their personality more firmly on things. Still, it's not all bad news. Sandy Petersen! Creator of both Call of Cthulhu and rpg.net! The hobby certainly owes a lot to him. This might be fun for a bit after all. He certainly seems more enthusiastic to be here and less formal than the Lessers were by the end of their run. On we go then.

Wolfenstein 3D does very well indeed. The look is strong, the difficulty is well-graded, the AI makes the enemies both clever and realistically dumb, and there's plenty of hidden bits to unearth and tricks to figure out. The fact you can download it for free on the web really is the icing on the cake. Despite that, the makers still probably made a healthy profit with console conversions and the like, giving the laugh to corporations who panic over piracy.

Commander Keen takes a slightly different tack to shareware, giving you the first installment for free, but then you've gotta pay up. Combining overhead map with side-scrolling action sections, it has a decent sense of humour and requires puzzle-solving abilities as well as reflexes. The computer format means you can have lots of similar games based off the same main character easier than you could with consoles, where you need a full-priced new cartridge for each game.

Cosmo's Cosmic Adventure also tries the trick of giving you the first bite for free. However, with the actual gameplay slow-moving and repetitive, Sandy can't recommend it. Even free stuff can be a waste of your time.

Waxworks gets a mixed review for being a bit too tricky and brutal for it's own good. Get used to saving after every encounter and dying frequently as you work your way through 1st person 3D horror. You'll certainly be scared regularly, if maybe not for the right reasons.

We don't seem to have a tips section anymore. However, Sandy does offer numbered hints for the games at the end of each individual review, which is probably the biggest format change. Whether he makes more as his confidence increases or not, we shall have to see.


Join the electronic warriors: Jim Ward does a second piece of pretty odious pure promotion, this time concentrating on their quite substantial number of computer games out now. Along with the large number of adverts for their own products, this is rather tiresome, and makes me wonder if they're getting enough external advertisers in to pay their bills properly. Still, they do seem to be expanding the scope of this department, with games for new campaign worlds, plus a generic one planned as well. Hopefully we'll at least get some good games out of this promotional dross, so they can make some more money. But they do need to cut down a bit on this kind of crap. Show, don't tell. Basic rule, you know. Along with the one against railroading, they're slowly forgetting it in their attempts to be more sophisticated.


Forum: Clarissa Fowler points out an interesting conflict in the TSR camp, between Roger's support of GLB (but not T yet) gamers, and their code of conduct, which tries to sweep all that ickiness under the carpet. This looks like another topic likely to cause further debate now it's been exposed to the light. As well as that, she offers some more advice about how to make gaming more inviting to people of various minority groups. Things are gradually getting better, but only due to the hard work of people like her.

Kendal Miles encourages you to involve your players in creating backstories for their characters collectively, instead of sending them away to produce several page essays of pretentiousness. That'll help them find reasons to get the party together and all working on the same goals.

Erik Munne also encourages you to talk about what characters you and your players want when building a game, instead of working in a vacuum. Communication is integral to gaming, so of course improving your skills at that will help.  

Les Bowman laid down the law when it comes to timekeeping and food during his game. He did lose a couple of players, but now the whole thing runs so much better. A little discipline is a very good thing. You wouldn't want the people who can't buckle down to it anyway.

Steven Cox brings the Complete book of Dwarves into the overpowered kit debate. As with the bard ones, it's the multiclass stuff that really brings the cheese. Another voice joins the list of people clamouring for a solution. Is it any wonder 3e overcompensated and wound up going the other direction with multiclass power levels.

Eyal Teler doesn't find psionicists overpowered. Course, that's because his wizards have houserules that substantially increase their versatility. In any case, you shouldn't expect them to work in the same way, as that gets boring. If you do encounter problems, he has some relatively reasonable sounding nerfs to keep them from getting too complacent.


Mage gets a rather odd byline. Truth until paradox. And there are ninjas with shades and people riding hoverbikes firing lots of guns with telekinesis. That'd certainly invoke lots of paradox in the actual game. Guess we have another unfortunate case of artwork disconnect. I suppose you've got to lure people in. A bit of false advertising never hurt anyone.


Role-playing reviews: The HERO system is Allen's choice of review material this month. Like GURPS, you can do a hell of a lot with it. But unlike GURPS, it has a definite focus, with the Champions game seeing the lions share of it's supplements.  With it's effect based point buy design, it does stand out, and has some fanatical devotees, but not enough to keep it financially stable. As a result, we get a quick history lesson as well, telling us how ownership has shifted around over the years. It once again cements Allen's position as a good reviewer who knows the context of what they're talking about.

Dark Champions: Heroes of vengeance sees a decidedly mixed review, with Allen recognising it's quality, but also rather uncomfortable with the violent, nihilistic worldview it espouses, where the heroes are barely better than the villains. This may be just a reflection of the recent changes in comics, but it's a decidedly depressing one, and he wants no part in games based upon it. Fight the grimdark!

High tech enemies gets listed, but then almost forgotten about in the actual prose of the review. The only important detail is the sheer brutality of some of the enemies, who are quite capable of kicking the average parties ass. Better get accumulating those extra points then.

Champions Universe is a bit of a headache, as it tries to consolidate the work of all the previous setting books into one rather large unified supplement. Unfortunately, it's not nearly large enough to stand on it's own, and raises as many questions as it answers. You'll have to reconcile the inconsistencies exposed yourself.

Normals Unbound is the only supplement that gets serious praise, with character sketches that are both appropriate and fun. They may not have special powers, but that doesn't make them any less critical to the story. It's one of those areas where campaigns often struggle to emulate the source material, and this bunch of prefab example characters go quite a way in showing you how to do it.

Allen also mentions the monster book, adventures, official magazine, and online ventures by the community. There does seem to be the persistent theme of plenty of potential, but patchy implementation. Just can't get the staff, it seems, so they have to rely on the fans to keep the fires burning. I suppose that puts them in a good position to have their fortunes revived by the internet age.

Dragon Magazine Issue 197: September 1993


part 4/5


The marvel-phile: This issue has been pretty light on new crunch so far. Here we get some rather unexpected new stuff for this game. The proportion of badass normals in comics has been increasing in recent years, and it's got to the point where they really need to represent this properly in the game. Steven Schend does just that, allowing you to generate characters who rely on skills and gadgets for any exceptional capabilities they have. On the plus side, they get more contacts than regular heroes, and a whole bunch of talents, which means they may not have the world changing powers, but they will be more versatile. Hopefully they'll be able to hold their own with the likes of Batman and Captain America. Not a bad article at all, even if it does highlight another area of growing conservativeness in the company, that of gradually backing off from high level coverage in their adventures and supplements. As usual, any actual play experience with these optional rules is welcome.


Beyond the dark horizon: The start of our little Dark Sun section is a mix of new spells and magic items, meaning it doesn't quite fit into either of the regular columns for those. Still, lots of crunch will generally have a few gems hidden in it, ready for raiding whatever the campaign. Let's chomp like a starving sand howler on a juicy kank abdomen.

Erdlu claw is your basic hand to hand enhancer, probably better cast on the party fighter than yourself. Slash them to death like an animal, divert the attentions of detectives.  

Giant Fur makes you ridiculously hairy, providing modest armour, although not the protection from cold it probably should. But this is athas. Who wants to know how something'll protect you from something you'll never experience.

Petrification makes wooden weapons as damaging as stone weapons. Only in athas would someone even consider developing a spell like that. Still, life and death, often you can't get anything better.

Boneiron & Bonewood do much the same, although as these are more powerful transmutations, they're a bit higher level.

Erdlu Hide brings your AC down to 6. Not that great really, but it is long-lasting and cumulative with a good Shield spell. And good armor is in short supply on athas. A wizard needs all the help they can scrounge.

Ranike Cloud drives away even the biggest bugs. This'll range from a minor convenience to absolute lifesaver. Don't use if there's a thri-kreen in your party.

Reverse fossilisation makes stone weapons work like bone ones. Once again, you can't see adventurers who take proper blacksmithing for granted bothering to fill slots with that.

Stoneiron & Woodiron give us another round of the sequential weapon material enhancers. This does feel rather like padding, and could easily have been compressed into fewer, better scaling spells.

Erdlu Egg give wizards a basic food creating spell, even if it can't compete with cleric's capabilities at this level. When you draw your power from consuming lifeforce, you don't get many free lunches.

Kank Shell is another armouring spell that's flavourful, but a bit weak for it's level. Once again, the poor scaling of these spells is very notable in a setting which is all about the high level characters.

Isolate Templar is our first real winner, fucking up their ability to memorise and cast spells via interfering with their connection to the boss. Still, this is another one that'll be no use at all on other worlds with different cosmological setups.

Heart Call finally does something cool, giving you an instadeath spell with great visuals. Indiana Jones won't get away this time. Time to really show them the meaning of pain.

Which brings us to the magic items. Ranike Rods are another bug-repellent, making sure they'll learn not to mess with you pretty sharpish. Ranike Staves do much the same, only with more options on how to apply the pungent smoke.

Erdlu Canteens give you just enough to survive off if very conservative. A whole party trying to rely on one will soon wind up with egg on their faces.

Petrified weapons & shields are the permanent equivalent of the earlier spells. Since they're still susceptible to breakage, this seems a rather inefficient use of a really high level wizard's time. Why not just give them more plusses?

Purple-leaf blades are made from razor-sharp grasses. They get bent out of shape easily, but it's just as easy to get them back in. Watch you don't cut yourself while doing so.

Bonewood Fossilized, Woodiron, Stoneiron & Boneiron weapons continue this formula, allowing you to bring stuff up to the level adventurers in other worlds take for granted. Yawn city. Man, there's a ridiculous amount of padding and dross in this one. They could definitely be using their page count in a more efficient manner.

Dragon Magazine Issue 197: September 1993


part 5/5


Fiction: Ashes to ashes by Lisa Smedman. Man, it sucks being a templar. You have to deal with a god who is very much present, giving you specific instructions and often being very partial and petty. And unlike most other priesthoods, you don't even have any kind of unifying ideology. Instead, it's more like a modern business, dog eat dog, short term profits paramount, with everybody treading on everybody else to suck up to the boss. No wonder that some people wind up doubting their commitment to the boss, particularly the ones who ironically started out as idealists.  If it weren't for the fact that everyone'd lose all their powers and no-one knows how to replicate becoming a sorcerer-king, they'd have been deposed long ago. This gives us a side-story to the whole business where Kalak fell and Tyr became a free state, as one of his templars discovers just how nasty her boss is, and finds out that maybe losing all your spellcasting isn't such a terrible deal after all. Sure, it's a sacrifice, but it's better than knowing you're a jailer in a gilded cage, likely to be sacrificed yourself in the future if you stick around. Like most athasian stuff, this has a hard edge, but somehow remains fundamentally hopeful. Things will get better, because it's hard to see how they could get worse. As gaming fiction goes, I've seen worse.


The dragon project: ARS Magica gets a turn in the magazine this month. And in the process, we get to see Roger's editorial on evolutionary plots applied practically in another way, as this takes the big twist of Forbidden Planet and twists it to the point of near unrecognisability to fit it into their setting. The result is one of those adventures where there isn't really a proper good or bad guy, and it'll take a lot more work to solve the mystery than hacking and slashing. Unlike the GURPS one in issue 194, this'll take a moderate amount of work to convert to another system, heavily bound to Ars Magica's default setting as it is. I guess you'll have to practice those evolutionary tricks again. Should be fun. I definitely like this one, as it does manage to put a very distinctive spin on some familiar ideas, as well as once again introducing readers of the magazine to a new system.


Swordplay still has cash-flow problems. The drow still have Ogrek problems. The undead have serious paternity problems. Where is Yamara in all this? Dragonmirth has very contrasting art styles. Twilight empire also has multiple familial problems. She might help dad escape, but I don't think Becca would let him kill mum.


Through the looking glass: Minis continue to struggle onwards, with price increases and material changes frequent in this season's lineup. This certainly isn't business as usual, however much they'd like to pretend it is. But there's still more than enough choice for one little column. A vampire on the stairs, cape a-swishing. A princess with one of those silly conical hats that blow off at the slightest breeze. Some CoC deep ones, ready to lurk and rend. A rather emaciated looking minotaur. A nicely modular set of castle pieces. A gatehouse which might or might not mesh with the previous model. Another tank to add to your collection. A swarm of giant rats, one of those fantasy staples that's a bit under represented in minis. A suitably petite sylph. Some digitised monsters for Shadowrun games, looking suitably angular and polygonic for the era. A four-piece set of battletech mechs, some assembly required. A couple more mechs from Fantasy Force. Some polearms for those who want to mod their armies. An old skool paladin, judge Dredd style cops, and a trio of mad scientists, one of which is wheelchair bound. Affirmative action! Tons and tons of little things get tons of little reviews.


TSR Previews: The Forgotten Realms continues to move forward, quickly obsoleting a few elements of the new core set. FRQ2: The doom of daggerdale rips off sleeping beauty. But don't think solving it'll be as easy as just kissing someone. Meanwhile, R.A. Salvadore has a very good month indeed. His new novel, Starless night, sees Drizzt return to menzoberanzan to kick ass and lift curses. And his previous novel appears in paperback with a bonus chapter. This line is still very profitable indeed.

Ravenloft is also doing pretty decently. Castle Forlorn lets you explore this deeply messed up, vaguely scottish flavoured domain, experience serious time shifting weirdness, and try and solve one of the more intractable darklord's issues. Not easy, and definitely not a hack and slash one. Be ready to leave baffled, frustrated, and quite possibly dead if you can't find the clues.

Dark Sun gives it's clerics a splatbook too. DSS2: Air, earth, fire and water. More cool tricks for them, particularly at high levels to make them a half-decent challenge to those bloody Dragons and Avangions. Are you ready to get para-elemental and save the world? Or just find out once and for all how those fucking magnets work.

Our generic stuff this time combines the spectacular and the prosaic. The Book of Artifacts brings back dozens more ways to screw your players over while also making them think they're going to get obscene power. Most have extensive backstories, many tied into specific worlds. Use with caution. They also complete the first round of solo modules with HHQ4: Cleric's challenge. Tailored specifically to your talents, which means lots of undead. Get ready to roll.

D&D gets champions of Mystara, the compiled book of the princess ark adventures. Now you too can explore the savage coast in detail and fly airships. Bruce Heard has worked a lot on this over the past 3 years. Enjoy. They also complete the Penhalligon trilogy. Come on, they've gotta save magic, because otherwise, they'd have to publish a whole new game with different rules! (shh, don't give them ideas )  

And in our increasingly small completely unconnected to D&D bit, we have AM4: Magitech, our next Amazing engine world. So what happened to AM3? Is it late, or are there still more books coming out that don't show up in these previews for space reasons? Vaguely bemusing.  


It's quite notable how computers are moving forward in this issue, which is pleasing to see, but the gaming stuff has some very ropey bits indeed, with official promotion getting far too big a part of the magazine. The rise of grimdark and street level stuff isn't particularly pleasing to me either, as it feels rather like a step down when you've already enjoyed truly epic adventures and know that you can save the world. The shine of the start of the year is long gone, and it's pretty obvious they're building up their big guns for the huge christmas celebration. The next two may well be pretty lean pickings as well.

Dragon Magazine Issue 198: October 1993


part 1/5


124 pages. Horror elements on this month's cover, but combined in amusingly goofy fashion. Goes to show, it's a tiny change from genuinely creepy uncanny valley stuff to harmlessly weird and back. Just the kind of melding of serious and playful Roger has got rather good at over the years. Lets see if the april spirit persists at the other end of the year this time.


In this issue:


Letters: Three letters from people having trouble getting hold of some of the smaller company games reviewed in the magazine. It's an object lesson in how much power the main distributors still wield in controlling what becomes big or not.

Another letter from someone who wants to become an Officially Qualified DM. That little rumour will not die, for some reason. I suspect some creepy gamers perpetuate it to gull the gullible.

A couple of questions about bonded weapons from issue 194. They aren't quite that special.

A letter asking for the sources used as references by the artists. We do have a lot of artists with different influences, but a few names do turn up again and again.

A letter wondering why they don't do more fiction. We tried that around issue 2. 1 piece of fiction per month has turned out about the optimum to minimise complaints from both sides of the fence. We are primarily a gaming magazine, you know.


Editorial: Well, Cons are still a growth industry, anyway. As has become habit over the years, it's time for Roger to recount our tales of Gen Con wackiness. TSR has increased the size of their booths, but they still look proportionately smaller when you account for all the other companies blowing up around this time. Once again Margaret and Tracey are right in the middle of any trouble that crops up, being captured by Klingons and then setting them on the rest of the TSR staff. (all for charity, of course. Jurassic park stuff was huge, George Takei guest starred with aplomb, and Roger consumed FAR too many M&M's over the three days. As usual, the whole thing was exhausting but fun. They've somehow retained enough immaturity and sense of wonder to really take advantage of events like that, despite this being a job to them for well over a decade. As is often the case, I am full of envy. It does get very tiring being the serious one all the time, but I just don't seem to be able to unwind enough to enjoy that kind of mischief anymore. Too much time spent writing alone, too little direct feedback for what I do leaves me perpetually insecure as to my value. It drives me forward, but it's not healthy by any yardstick. I wish I got to have more fun.


Pin back their ears: Lycanthropes get first place this year, unusually. However, it is not exactly to get more toys for the DM or players. It's actually mostly nerfs, with some optional clarifications as well. Handy for a low magic game where you have to figure out how to defeat them without the easy solutions, and especially if you've somehow wound up with a lycanthrope PC with a degree of control over their actions, and they've tried to run rough-shod over bit chunks of your campaign. A bit of mixed bag really in terms of opinions, but it does have some nice adventure seeds. They've done better, they've done worse. This doesn't set my world alight either way.


The false undead: Pseudo-undead were one of the more vague and irritating creatures of 1e, and for whatever reason, they never got converted over to 2e. But the idea of monsters that fake out the players is a well-established one, and always useful in dealing with overconfident players. Still, a surprise is only a surprise once, before you have to find a new one, so here's another instalment of things that look creepy, but you can't actually turn. Bunch of cheek really.

Skullriders are arachnoid creatures with a shell that looks very much like a human skull. They can attach themselves to a dead body and animate it temporarily, but are more a nuisance than a real danger to prepared adventurers. Just another strange add-on to D&D's dungeon ecology.

Goop ghouls are oozes that also like to use someone else's remains as a means of facilitating their mobility and ability to manipulate objects. They flow over a skeleton and animate it, looking like regular undead at a distance as they're semitransparent.  Sounds like the kind of thing a Slithering Tracker might evolve into, given the right level of underground radiation. Both of these are pretty cool monsters, both from a conceptual and design point of view.


Beyond the Grave: From Pseudo-Undead to the real thing, as Tom Moldvay returns after 3 years to provide some more alternative takes on the traditional AD&D undead. Tracing back their names to various cultures, he shows how they largely stem from the desire to guard graves, and humanities discomfort at the remains of their dead. A primal fear manifested in many different ways around the world, and it's no surprise that they'll have quite different power levels and abilities, even if most have much the same goal. So let's see what he has to say about wights, wraiths and mummies.

Ka are somewhat more benevolent than normal mummies, but still not to be trifled with. They can animate the statues from their tombs, and control people with magical glyphs. If you're including one, you really need to design a suitably cool tomb complex to go with them, for the extra resources, secret doors and traps are what'll really make the encounter special.

Angreden are based on an icelandic legend, and have quite an idiosyncratic appearance. Their special power, that of cursing the person who defeats them, on the other hand is a pretty common legendary one. This is another reason why full parties work better than the solitary heroes you find too often in legends. The tall grass gets the scythe, and winds up with all the drama of death curses and blood feuds. An anonymous bunch of heroes can save the world and move on.

King-wights take us to Norway for a little inspiration storywise, but mechanically they're pretty much what you'd expect, albeit with slightly more magical powers. They're load-bearing bosses too, which is awesome. D&D could do with a few more of those.

Wraith-kings are fairly obviously based upon tolkien's ringwraiths. With the power to drain levels merely with a gaze, enslave people with ease, and a penchant for Nightmare mounts, they're pretty darn terrifying, and can make for quite credible big bads in themselves. Anything with the power to assemble 9 of them as lieutenants is going to take some serious levelling up to fight head-on.

Vartha are essentially revenant variants, people reinhabiting and preserving their body because they have some important task that needs fulfilling. They can be of any alignment, so who knows what their goal might be. Probably best to get on their good side, for they're another creature with an extensive set of spell-like abilities with which to deal with you, many which are divinations for some reason. I doubt trying to trick them will go down well. This lot are well up to the standard of his previous instalments. When he finally gets round to finishing this series, it'll be a real standout of the middle years of the magazine.

Dragon Magazine Issue 198: October 1993


part 2/5


The marvel-phile: Our final instalment of this column this month, as it slips unheralded into obscurity, after a year in which the company didn't release anything for the game. Still they're going out not exactly with a bang, but a roar at least, as they cover a trio of giant monsters from the comics. Grogg, a massive horned scaly firebreathing horror. Why not just come out and say the word dragon? Taboo, a near indestructible ooze creature cast out from another world. And The Glop, another alien scouting the earth for potential conquering. They really shouldn't bother, but there you go. The heroes will triumph in the end, and the villains will be defeated in an ambiguous way that leaves things open for a future return. For if they aren't, a future writer will have to concoct an implausible twist or retcon to bring them back. This neatly leads us into our final little bit of pontification, as they talk about some name changes that people and creatures have gone through over the years. It feels very much like business as usual, which is ironic. Did the licence expire naturally, or did it get pulled suddenly for some reason? Either way, it means that despite their attempts to cover non D&D stuff more in the Dragon projects, they're losing one of their longest running and most reliably covered games at this point. Bit of a shame, but they have been struggling to fill it of late, with the information getting increasingly obscure and/or new as the years went by. All things must come to an end, and this has sometimes felt like it outstayed it's welcome over the last year. So long, superheroics, it's been a blast.


Sage advice: How many slots does an out of group proficiency cost. (1 extra. If you want healing, that's gonna use up your whole selection )

Does call lightning really do that much damage. (Yes. Its powerful because the conditions you can use it in are bloody inconvenient. )

Why isn't undead turning disrupted when you're attacked. Does this apply to other granted powers ( Because the gods wish it to be so. Yes. Granted powers don't require the complicated supplications spells do. )

Do you still lose your spell if you save for half damage. (yes. Pain is painful. Don't get in fights.)

How many languages can priests of Deneir speak (all of them! It may sound awesome, but once you have a universal translator, they get treated like a commodity, rather than a person. Then again, you are a cleric, so you should be used to it. )

Also, Skip's generous contribution this month is the Aztec pantheon. Blood sacrifice. Rogar of Mooria approves.


The dragon project I: Along with his new computer game column, Sandy contributes a little something to bolster his old RPG's position in the magazine. Mr Josh Wellmeat, a largely sessile, but still very scary creature from millions of years in the past that stretches the definition of dragon somewhat visually, but fits in perfectly from a thematic point of view, with his truly machiavellian level of scheming and hoarding, taking a long view with his plans to an extent that humans can't match because they simply don't have the lifespan. The way that he maintains a human facade is both clever and pretty horrifying, with lovingly crafted details to give it that truly cthulhu-esque san destroying air. He can be used as either an adversary or a rather dubious employer and provider of info, and either way, can be behind a good long adventure arc. This is a joy to read about, fulfilling all the several overlapping remits this column has with aplomb. He's really earned his keep here.


Role-playing reviews: Rick looks like he's facing the same kind of problem I sometimes have to deal with in coming up with introductions. How do you say something pretty similar to what you've said before and keep it both entertaining and informative? In this case, it's talking about what makes a good fantasy setting for him. Just because it's an RPG, doesn't mean you should forget the Chekov's gun principle. Keep your focus, and make the adventures fit the setting. Because there's a lot of settings out there now, and you have to make yours distinct if you want to get anywhere.

From the ashes gets a pretty positive review. Greyhawk finally has a consistent tone, rather than being a patchwork quilt of adventures sewn together into a setting post-hoc. This may displease some people, but you have to try. And you do wonder exactly how someone else could have done things differently so this didn't alienate so many people while still moving things forward. If only we could actually see parallel universes.

GURPS fantasy II sees the debut of Robin Laws, bringing a decidedly silly air with him. The giant moose and gopher gods stamp across the setting, throwing the utopian human culture into stark relief. Well, if you lived in a world that was virtually cartoonish at times, you'd come to throw away greed (as very little has enough permanency to really value) and treasure boredom where you could get it. It's a clever idea, but the theory is better than the execution. Guess that's why he got into theory in a big way later.

Eidolon: city in the sky is a sourcebook for Rolemaster's Shadow World. It's a cool setting idea, with the distinction between the haves and have-nots pretty obvious. The visuals are the best part of it though, with the adventure ideas and details on the inhabitants a bit lackluster. Once again, the concept exceeds the execution.

Dragon Magazine Issue 198: October 1993


part 3/5


Eye of the monitor: Sega vs Nintendo. Mac vs PC. Computers vs Console. These interlocking wars are raging right now, with the great number of competitors that were flooding the market a few years ago being ruthlessly narrowed down. As we know now, the economics of scale where game development is involved means any advantage will rapidly tip further in the favour of the winning side, and push the others out of the market. Unless you can find a slightly different niche to target, as Apple managed to do, and then Nintendo a decade later, you will not survive for long outside the conglomerates. This is one of those topics that can run and run, and I don't doubt that we'll be seeing more unexpected twists and turns in future years too. What will the next generation of consoles bring, now the Wii has proved playability sells over the latest graphics cards and screaming processors? Will another company manage to come from no-where, or are computers pretty much entrenched now? Will the iPad take over the world. For all my examination of the flow of the past, I still can't predict the future.

A link to the Past is of course a stone-cold classic, both instantly accessible (none of the frigging cutscenes that really bog down the later instalments) and full of little hidden bits to discover. I can do it all in around 4 hours, including getting every single heart piece, but it'll take you a while to get that good. Playing around with the large quantity of magical items is called out as a particularly fun part, and I must admit there is a certain joy in sprinkling magic dust and making the beansprouts talk, or the pink skulls turn into fairys, or freezing monsters and throwing them at other ones. I'm sure you don't need me to tell you to get this one.

The Legend of Zelda doesn't do quite as well, simply because it is a bit dated now, and I must admit the saving is a bit clunky (but he would know there is a trick to it if he'd read the manual properly. ) And of course, there's the massive replay value, with the second harder quest and mass of really hard to find (albeit because there's no clues, and you have to burn every tree and bomb every bit of rock to find them) bits and pieces. (You must pay the door repair charge )

The Adventure of Link is well known as being a bit of an odd one out amongst the Zelda series, both stylistically and in terms of quality, and it seems Sandy agrees with the general consensus, giving it only 3 stars. The description is a bit sparse, and there's not as much to riff off. But you're going to buy it anyway, because you're completists.

Doom is previewed here, in it's own shareware incarnation. It of course manages to improve on wolfenstein in terms of graphics, and more importantly, the size and variety of your weapons. Even using your fists is more fun than usual, and as for the BFG's, my oh my you've just got to love them, and what they do to the enemy. \m/ So it's a full house of classic games this month. Haven't seen that before. Sandy is definitely making his mark as a reviewer and writer this time round.


The dragon project II: Another of our reviewers is roped into covering the game they worked upon before TSR poached them. This time it's Lester Smith and the Dark Conspiracy game. He doesn't do as well as Sandy, with a more conventional stalking and ravaging monstrosity, quite possibly from another dimension. Still, even if it doesn't support a whole campaign as easily as Mr Wellmeat and his plot hooks, the Darkwyrm is pretty scary both physically and magically, with 5 heads, disintegrating lightning breath, and the ability to mess up all your technological equipment. I'm not sure exactly how big and experienced a party you'll need under this system to have a good chance of beating it, but it's pretty clear starting characters need not apply. Decent enough filler that would probably have more impact if they'd spread it out better, instead of having two in one issue and then a gap of a month or two. Like the fiction, reviews and promotional columns, you have to tread the line between too much and too little to appeal to the greatest demographic, and this is another skill they appear to be slipping on lately.


Campaign journal: Al-Qadim gets a turn in this column, showing us to combine arabian stuff with horror. After all, they have no shortage of their own ghost stories to draw upon. Why can't they be two tastes that taste great together? Fallen Nog and Kadar are already perfect grounds for forbidden lore, quite possibly of the sort that erodes sanity merely by reading it. Meanwhile the rest of the continent is riven by paranoia. The priests are more oppressive, the holy slayers considerably less holy, and the wizards and genies more mysterious and feared. Yak-men are another perfect horror creature with their rather nasty possession powers and skill at long term planning. It all fits together pretty easily, as if it were born to do this. Sometimes, you just get an easy assignment, where everything naturally flows into place.
Along with the strong advice, we also get two new kits and a monster, making this a fairly complete package with plenty of reasons for us to return to it. Looks like this is turning out to be a pretty good halloween.

Priest-defenders gain the ability to turn genies as well as undead, but are members of one of those obsessive orders that can never give up their quest to destroy evil without losing their powers, and are generally not well suited for integration into society. They can turn evil in the pursuit of smiting though, giving PC's plenty of chance to get into means and ends arguments with NPC's.

Sungazers fight evil, but are likely to fall to madness in their study of it, unless you have access to a cleric powerful enough to cast restoration regularly, in which case their hindrance will be mostly mitigated. A decidedly tricky one in determining game balance, since so much of their benefits and penalties are external action and situation dependent.

Zakharan Kraken are pretty similar to their brethren elsewhere, only albino and slightly more powerful. They're set up to be perfect big bads, with a greater tendency to accumulate slaves and cults. Better watch out, etc etc. Horror can be things from the deep just as much as it can be undead, and we know there really are some pretty horrific looking things down there. (even if they'd actually die from pressure issues if they tried to come up to the surface)

Dragon Magazine Issue 198: October 1993


part 4/5


Forum: Anonymous writes in again, supporting talking things through with your players to figure out who their characters will be, and what kind of world they'll live in. A really good game starts long before you ever actually play. Whatever happened to just making stuff up as you went along?

Joe Katzman actually thinks fighters need a little nerfing! O_o Mostly due to specialisation providing an unfair advantage. Well, Len Lakofka thought the same. The disadvantages from having access to a narrower range of weapons do have to be deliberately attacked to become an issue. Another issue that probably needs tweaking.

Jeremy Pataky is yet another person suffering under the yoke of officials with stupid preconceptions about gaming. Epic education fail. This stuff gets you reading, writing and thinking. But of course they don't REALLY want to encourage that, do they.

Chris Scofield is angry that churches are attacking gaming when there are far bigger and realer issues like poverty and crime around. Oh, they're old news. It's always the fads that really get the attention.

Eyal Teler gives support to the idea of playing evil games. You can have a lot of fun, honest! Damn straight you can, even playing it Paranoia style. And it certainly doesn't make it easier either. You might not have to play fair, but it really is you against the world.

Karim Pedersen has a fairly brutal nerf for wizards, based on temporary ability drain when they cast spells. Since it's more dangerous for high level spells, this makes it a real risk casting them. Yeah, that works, if you want to encourage a low magic campaign. Maybe a little too well.

David Howery praises Roger Moore for reminding us that even most good DM's steal most of their ideas. It's all about twisting them enough that it's not immediately obvious. And even if they do spot it, twist things in the right way, and that supposed foreknowledge actually becomes a liability. Muahahaha. I like you.

Roger Smith answers a whole bunch of points from previous writers. Debate needs listeners and replies, not just people talking at each other. Otherwise it's just politics.

Chris Morris also answers lots of letters with his personal experiences on their questions. He's managed to solve the demihuman issues in his campaign, but not the one where people always pick the powerful classes. Just make them roll randomly. That reduces the odds they get to pick those classes considerably, and really pleased if they do.


Soul-swords & Spirit-slayers: Back to 1e for the first time in a while for another oriental flavoured article. Like the Al Qadim article, this has an interesting mix of ideas, giving you some nicely flavourful alternate uses for your honor points. You can gamble your honor in crafting an item, or invest part of your soul to make it permanently magical. However the mathematics on this one are rather iffy, especially since AD&D nonweapon proficiencies are roll low anyway, so the system they use for determining success simply doesn't work. This means I'm really not sure what to make of this one, as I want to like it, but it'll need ripping apart and reworking before actually using. Rather a pain, really.

Kamigoroshi are also a fascinating idea, but a bit of a headache mechanically. A monster that survives by consuming honor points? That raises the question of exactly what they represent. How can a monster absorb the degree of esteem others hold you in? I suppose it's magic, you shouldn't think about it too hard or it unravels. But combine that with the fact that they have no actual damage inflicting powers, and are perfectly vulnerable to normal weapons, and they become like rust monsters, an irritant that will wind up being killed fairly easily, it's merely a question of how much you'll lose in the process. That's a bit wonky in actual play. I think this makes this article qualify as a failed experiment, albeit an interesting one.


Novel ideas: A real bit of showing off this month, as they celebrate their hardcover releases. It's a step towards being Serious Literature, something that will endure for the ages. Or something like that. There are worse things to aspire too, even if it can be funny to see people trying too hard, I can't say I wouldn't want to be in their position, able to write and publish multiple bestselling hardcover books every year. Drizzt continues to go from strength to strength. And my god P. N. Elrod is having way too much fun with the Strahd gig. We must get inside the heads of these dark sexy brooding vampires. And I must force my husband to cosplay as him! She's basically just a squeeing pervy fangirl made good, isn't she. What are we to do with her? Aw hell, let's just rake in lots of money and keep the angst purely IC for a change. This one's just too much fun to dislike, even if it is basically just promotion.

Dragon Magazine Issue 198: October 1993


part 5/5


Fiction: The dark warrens by Lois Tilton: An interesting spin on I am Legend this month. In a world where vampires are supreme, the few remaining free humans are a primitive and ignorant bunch, struggling to survive and stay free against creatures smarter and more powerful than them. Some people are immune to being turned, and obviously as the years have gone by, this proportion has grown simply due to the intensity of the vampire depredations. This kind of info is presented in a textbook example of show not tell, which lets you figure out a good deal about the setting and metaphysics without spelling it out via heavy exposition. It's pretty good gaming inspiration too, giving me an idea of how to combine horror with Dark Sun-esque survivalist struggles. Horror really can be a spice that mixes well with all sorts of other genres. And as long as they have stuff like this, that popularity will be justly maintained.


Swordplay is distracted by internal monologuing. Ogrek gets joe out while the drow are distracted by searching for the vampire's weakness. Dragonmirth gets in on the horror theme. Twilight war'll need to do some fast talking to say everything it needs to say while fighting. Maybe they should take lessons from Wolverine.


Through the looking glass: Things go from bad to worse in the minis section. The lead bill has ground through committee at last in new york, and lots of states are considering following suit. The combination of increased prices and general uncertainty amongst both retailers and public has really done a number on sales, which means the companies have shortages of money and are likely to cancel entire lines to try and survive. This really is the straw that breaks wargaming's back, isn't it. It fought on gamely through the 80's, still getting plenty of promotion at the conventions despite dropping sales, but now it's withering away, a whole bunch of factors simultaneously conspiring against it and draining the enthusiasm of everyone remaining still trying to treat this as an industry rather than a hobby. This also probably helps explain why games workshop ended up on top. As a brit based company, this chaos would have had less impact upon them, putting them in a good position to scavenge off the remains and consolidate their own position. Well, it sounds like a good bit of theorising. Anyone want to talk a bit more about the realities of the next few years in wargaming, since detailed info probably won't be forthcoming in the magazine?

But anyway, lets see what minis he's dug up this month. A mysterious cloaked, winged figure to haunt your dreams. A dragon with another mysterious cowled figure riding it, which wouldn't be at all out of place in Tolkien's setup. A diorama of adventurers discovering a treasure chest. This is not without it's dangers. A huge, oddly mawed worm bursting from the ground. A trio of hunched over ghouls, one with a natty hat. Two sets of three skeletal undead, with rather impressive weapons.  Death on a Motorcycle, as we've seen on heavy metal album covers and will see parodied soon in the Discworld. Some nicely dressed muthafunkin tremere, ready to cast spells, drink blood, and look really sharp while doing so. And a set of 4 minis representing a wolfwere in it's myriad forms, from TSR's official line. Keep the one's you're not using hidden, so you don't spoil the surprise.


TSR Previews: The forgotten realms comes out looking good again. FRS1: The dalelands gives you some more info to help you adventure close to where Elminster can hear your cries of agony. A whole bunch of little independent states is perfect grounds for you to take one over if you're feeling evil as well. There's also Pool of Twilight by Jim Ward and Anne Brown. Once again, they try and recapture the magic of their famous mixed gender writing teams. See yet another generation of heroes come into play, possibly prematurely in this case. Oh well, child heroes are a well established fantasy trope. No reason D&D can't do them.

Al-Qadim expands upon genies in ALQ4: Secrets of the lamp. Now that's one that makes perfect sense, and will probably get pretty good sales. You can even get to adventure in the city of brass, although not in as much detail as 3e. Sweet.

Dragonlance is still busy, but less constructively. Leaves from the inn of last home gets reprinted, which I really don't think is worth the promotional space unless they've made some revisions and additions as well. And The Dwarven Kingdoms get a boxed set, tying in with their latest trilogy. Go them.

In Dark Sun, on the other hand, it's the elves that are getting another splatbook in DSS3. They're quite different from generic elves, and their kits and equipment reflects that. Watch them like a hawk, or they'll have your equipment too.

Lankhmar returns after a years gap. City of Lankhmar appears to be a reboot of sorts, giving us a new core. Seems like this is their only setting not being driven onwards by metaplot and timeline advances.  

Our Generic product this month is another historical one HR5: The glory of rome. Combine with the Celts one for extra conquering and oppressing fun.

Gamma World has another adventure. GWQ3: Home before the sky falls. Ancient robot war machines have been reactivated. Sounds like this could require some gamma knights. That or discretion and finding a weak point. The usual adventurer dilemma then.


As is often the case with the october issues, the familiar and popular theme means they get lots of high quality articles in to choose from, giving us a fairly strong issue overall. Combine that with Sandy Petersen contributing two full-on classic articles on top of everything else, and this is a real home run even though the overall quality of the magazine is sliding. It makes their accomplishments feel all the more heroic, in a way, because things are becoming a genuine challenge again. A bit of fear and tension is just what the doctor ordered.