Dragon Magazine Issue 222: October 1995


part 1/7


124 pages. We get a funny little red triangle underlining the various headers. Is this your revamp? It looks crap, especially superimposed upon the more conventionally  painted rest of the cover. It's like someone's first attempt with 3D modelling software. The rest of the cover isn't too bad though, occupying the uncanny valley nicely. Inside, they're experimenting with format too, changing the shapes and colour schemes of all the headers, and often not getting it quite right. Things have come down to the wire enough that they're making their mistakes in public again, rather than having a decent buffer. And unlike me, they can't slow down to deal with the pressure better. Well, it's more interesting than the first half of this year, anyway. Let's see what's happened to the writing.


In this issue:


Letters: A letter from someone who has players who refuse to learn the rules. If they're really that dumb, you may have to just drop them. Some people are not worth the effort.

A complaint about the whole SASE thing being a pain when you're an international writer. Yes, you will have to pay extra. If they want to help with that, they could start allowing online submissions and correspondence.

A letter asking if the new printings of the corebooks are essential. Of course not, my dear. Merely desirable for both you and I.

A letter criticising issue 219's armor nerfing article. It's amazing what a well trained person can do even in full plate, and the agility hit isn't that great if it's properly fitted and balanced. They were merely overexaggerating for genre emulation.

And finally, a continuation on the alcohol question. It should be done responsibly. Yes, but irresponsible drinking is responsible for so many interesting stories in real life it would be a shame to leave it out of our gaming.


Editorial: Hello to a second new editor this year. Anthony Bryant wasn't a promotion, but someone headhunted from an entirely different magazine, moving in from a different state as well. Which means that learning the ropes has been compounded with the shock of adapting to the weather and new environment. Still, he seems to be both a professional in the field, and a long-term gamer, which is obviously what they're looking for, hoping to shake things up in a way that promoting upwards wouldn't manage. Well, there are worse things to try, but it does mean that the lower members of staff are now more experienced than the boss, which I know full well can cause resentment and erode team spirit. So once again I'm suspicious about this, especially as he doesn't seem to have lasted very long in the job. What things will they try during his tenure? As usual, we'll find out soon enough.


First quest: Doug Niles finally takes a turn here. He's the pulp guy, and it's not at all surprising he got inspired to engage in gaming via that route. Actually, it looks like he might well have been a writer anyway, even without being introduced to roleplaying by a rather large stroke of luck. But even so, having people to test out your ideas on a weekly basis does do quite a bit for your creative confidence. After all, if you don't enjoy something, it becomes a lot harder to persist with it and get really good. This is really a reminder that very few great things happen in a vacuum, and luck plays a huge part in people's lives. And also, incidentally, a reminder that Gary was a fairly mature adult with teenage kids when he developed D&D, not some whiz-kid, and that probably also had a significant influence on early playtests. So unlike the last few, this column actually has a degree of significance in overall gaming history. That is an improvement.

Dragon Magazine Issue 222: October 1995


part 2/7


The Death Knight: Well, we're having a decent halloween themed beginning, anyway. Death knights are dramatically interesting because you have to have started off as a good guy and then fallen to darkness to become one. This isn't exactly an ecology, more the equivalent of Council of Wyrms or the complete book of humanoids, turning them from a monster entry into a class/race combo by letting them scale, spreading the abilities they gain out over various levels, and codifying the amount of undead followers they gain. It's obviously intended to keep them as bad guys, but like antipaladins, there is sufficient detail that a PC could run one if they were permitted too. In any case, it lets you customise them quite nicely as big bads, and also provides roleplaying and adventure designing hints for campaigns featuring them. So this is a pretty likable feature, that does something they haven't done for way too long. New classes, kits and races are one of those things the magazine is ideally suited to cover, that they don't do nearly enough on. Hopefully that's one of the things they'll fix in this revamp.


The necrology of the Penanggalan: Ahh, ecologies under another name. We've had a few of those over the years, all with a different twist. In this case, well, the fact that it involves undead should make the reason behind this name change pretty clear. This is a fairly familiar story of corruption, deception,  and aaaaaaaangst. But the body horror of the original myths has been played down, with the full-on display of flying viscera that they possessed in 1st ed replaced by a more utilitarian combo blood reservoir and clubbing device. Bloody 2nd ed bowdlerisation. It also has that other great staple, of the woman trying to prove herself in a man's world. And then turning into a weepy twit under pressure and having to be rescued instead of seeing that there is a pragmatic solution to the problem at hand. You're living in a magic heavy world. Do you not think that the solution to the little issue of becoming an undead bloodsucking fiend would not be known to your bosses. Dear oh dear. It's certainly not dull, but I do not approve of several of these stylistic choices. If this is the kind of thing that'll be even more common next year, it's going to get pretty irritating.


Role-playing reviews is in theme, as isn't too surprising. Dark magic for villains to glory in, and heroes to be tempted by. Virtually every successful game has something like that, so there's no shortage of things to review. The formatting change for the header isn't too jarring either. This doesn't look like it's being hurt by the changeover. Plus the intro is pretty good, and has some amusing callbacks to previous reviews. He's still got it.

GURPS Voodoo sees CJ Carella do WoD lite. Wait a minute. Isn't that exactly what Witchcraft has been described as as well? Not that it's much like the later game, with the focus being on ritual magic and a detailed, well researched, fairly realistic portrayal of the supernatural elements. And since he's going from this to Palladium's Nightbane, he can hardly be said to lack versatility.  If anything, it tries to throw too much into the pot, trying to make the scope global and compatible with the themes of many other GURPS supplements. Still, they certainly can't call it bland, unlike many other books they've reviewed in the past.

The complete book of necromancers has plenty of cool bits and pieces, but two main criticisms. It's aimed towards DM's and discourages players from using it, which may reduce it's sales somewhat. And it's just too darn polite and tame in contrast to White Wolf's lurid output around the same time. Where are the decaying entrails and cackling inanity?!!!1 TSR being stuck in the disney position, trying to be the family friendly good guys everyone else plays off does have it's limitations.

The bronze grimoire is the magic expansion for the Elric RPG. As this is from the works of Michael Moorcock, Law vs Chaos is the primary conflict in the universe and magic is moderately firmly on the side of chaos. Which means it has some rather interesting side-effects if the spells go wrong, and the rune magic operates under rules that are even more detailed and idiosyncratic. Rick's main complaint this time is that it's not very friendly to people who haven't read the original books, with setting detail being a bit sparse. Gotta collect 'em all, etc etc. Really, who buys a licensed game without reading the source material first? (although I must admit I was tempted with Smallville)

Dragon Magazine Issue 222: October 1995


part 3/7


Mage: The ascension gets 4 page spread of rich purple to advertise it's new edition. White Wolf has a promotional budget, and they're not afraid to do a little splurging.


Sage advice also has to put up with the horrible triangle underlining it. And answering questions about players option stuff. Hard times are comin for the company, and skip's gotta lump it with everyone else.

Why aren't attack options modified by character size (Finesse is more important than mass in D&D. Abstract combat, remember.)

What are the stats for shield punches and rushes (Does skip have to write this? Please, Lorraine, have mercy. :looks up: :Crash of thunder, stab of organ music: Yes mistress, Skip understands. Skip will tell them.)

Shouldn't light and medium lances inflict double damage from horseback (yes)
Are lanterns really that light (No. Did you really want to know that? Now you have several extra pounds of equipment to worry about.)

Shouldn't the staff sling be large (no. Your knowledge of historical weapons is insufficient, fool)

Do creatures with low AC's become immune to whips (nah. Abstract combat again. You can always get 'em in the eyes if they don't have any other weak spots.)

Isn't the direct fire example wrong (No, you're wrong! Get outta Skip's sight, you peon! )

What's the damage for a gaff/hook (Same as it ever was. Aint that the way you like it, livin wild wild wild.)

My old kits don't work with the new rules! (Nope. You'll have to choose. One or the other, you can't have both. So what's it gonna be? Are you prepared to make that choice? )

Do any kits automatically get weapon mastery ( no. You gotta pay the price if you wanna be that badass)

The new initiative system is messed up! (Yeah. Skip completely ag :Crash of thunder, ominous organ music: er ......  disagrees with you, fool! It makes perfect sense! Now here's a message from our sponsors. )

What's the deal with guarding (we're doing experiments with stuff we might want to put in the new edition, like attacks of opportunity)

Why do psonic creatures have to wait to use their powers (Speed of thought isn't infinite. Big creatures have big brains, so the thoughts take longer to get from one end of it to the other.)

Dragon Magazine Issue 222: October 1995


part 4/7


Rumblings once again repeats what we just found out in the editorial anyway. What a waste of word count. Other than that, they're also again more concerned with computer games than straight RPG's. Interplay's plans for the Forgotten Realms, Planescape and Dragon Dice continue to gather steam, and on top of that, they're planning another console D&D game for the Playstation & Saturn. There's also Magic: the gathering and Illuminati spinoffs on the way. I guess CCG's and computer games are now far more dominant in terms of media space. The result is that they seem to be actively pushing our spending away from RPGing. This column is still a real problem then.


Roaming the Realms: Another IC narrated bit of Forgotten Realms setting building. Those are generally pretty entertaining. Curiously, it's not by Ed or one of his regular sidekicks like Jeff or Steven. It is however quite high density, fitting in stuff about a whole bunch of elf settlements, their cultural quirks and significant NPC's. Exactly who the narrator is isn't revealed, although we do get some hints. This isn't bad at all, although unlike with Ed's stuff you don't get the impression that all the hints connect up to a bigger world out there. I suppose that's another sign of how big the realms has become, and how many people are playing in it these days. It might not all add up, which means you'll have to choose which ideas to give priority. And if there's a conflict, I'm afraid I'm probably going to go with Ed's vision. Overall, this article'll just have to join the many in the middle, not having anything to mark it as brilliant or terrible.


Fiction: On the scent at slab's by John Gregory Betancourt. A belated third appearance in the magazine for this series. (see issues 105 and 126) I get the impression that there may be other stories in this series published elsewhere, and a little googling confirms this. I must pick up that anthology at that point. Once again this manages to be both funny and creepy, with the ghosts both interestingly alien in their actions and all too human in their motivations. By this point, I suspect he has a fairly good idea of the world around the tavern, even if the details were originally invented just to serve the stories. It certainly seems like a solid enough place to game in, even if it doesn't exactly fit D&D or wraith rules. In any case, it's both a welcome returnee, and a good story in it's own right, with plenty of room still for further follow-ups. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like we get another instalment, so I'm a little disappointed. Guess it'll have to go down as another unfulfilled opportunity. Will anyone ever overtake Niall's record of 8 stories in the early years of the magazine? They've got a pretty steep hill to climb. (Or they'll need to bribe the editors. )

Dragon Magazine Issue 222: October 1995


part 5/7


Dragon interviews Steven Brust: After statting out Vlad Taltos a couple of issues ago, we now get to see the man behind the books. I suspect they might have been intended to go in the same issue, but you know what it's been like around here lately. Still, this is a very interesting interview, as we get to see a lot of the interplay between what someone intends to write, and what actually comes out. It does look like his writing involves quite a bit of conscious examination of fantasy, and his own tendencies, and then deliberately undercutting overused tropes so as to keep things interesting. He also reveals that he's toying with his audience as well, telling the stories in the books from the viewpoints of the characters, and intentionally misrepresenting certain details due to their biases. It's all very tricksy, and he certainly seems to be having fun with his writing. It's fortunate for him that writing what he likes resulted in the public liking it too, and playing with author voice didn't make them complain about being deceived and railroaded. Much of it comes down to not forgetting the core elements, like action and snappy dialogue, whatever experiments you're trying out in the larger scheme of things. That even carries over into the interview, where he manages to communicate a lot with fairly curt answers. And since he's still going today, he's obviously managed to find the sweet spot between giving the people what they want, and what they don't expect but will wind up liking anyway. I approve of this interview, as it's fun to read, is of a gamer, and gives us lots of tricks to play with, and possibly try in our own games. It's certainly much better than most of the Novel Ideas interviews.


The tricks and traps of illusions: Oh no, not this subject again. Slab may be a welcome returnee. Illusion adjudication, on the other hand, I am very very bored with, even though the last time it got a serious look at was in 1988. With multiple articles and forum follow-ups that dragged all the way into 1991, I think it got more than enough screentime. So it is with a heavy heart I see that a new generation needs to hear about this topic again. What should be considered reasonable doubt, so as to trigger a saving throw. The importance of the various senses in fooling particular creatures. And various reasonable situational modifiers. Zzzzzzzz. Zzzzzzzz. This is so not what I want to read about anymore. Next!


Floyd might know the basics of magic, but he really has a lot to learn about proper woodsmanship.


Adding substance to psionic combat: Oh great, another encouragement to describe  your battles in an exciting manner rather than just rolling dice. Like we haven't seen those before. Only this time for psionic combat. Which really makes it too easy, since you have 5 different combat options with obviously differentiated descriptive natures, and since the battle is all in the minds of the participants, you're free to describe the attacks and defences as you please. It's like shooting fish in a barrel, no challenge at all. Which makes this article feel deeply pointless, really. It also feels like it's put here as promotion for their new products, which is a bit annoying. Subtlety fail, Mr Slavicsek. You'll have to write better than that if you want to pull us in and get us to update.

Dragon Magazine Issue 222: October 1995


part 6/7


Who needs hit points when you have credit?: Building up and breaking down villains. Or in this case, both at once, with a side order of Tucker's Kobolds. Yup, this is about making level zero characters threatening to PC's. Something that certainly needs a little ingenuity, especially if the PC's are of the sort who's first reaction is to slaughter their way through any obstacle. Money certainly can't hurt, although it can make you a bigger target. Brains are pretty much a necessity. More powerful minions are very much an option, although you'll need good reasons why they don't just take over. Similarly, a neat magic item can be a great equaliser, but ones that have clever applications will work better than power adders, especially given how small the bonuses they offer are compared to character's natural scaling. It's all fairly tricky when you do the math. It will work better in some other systems, but even so, it's the kind of thing you'll want to do in moderation. So once again, they're encouraging us to fight against the rules to do something that makes dramatic sense. Something I continue to have very mixed feelings about. Make the rules better, and then they'll work with you instead of against you.


Secrets of the sunless seas: Tie-in time again. The Night Below is our big adventure for the year. In fact, it's not so much an adventure, as an entire campaign in a box, with a load of expansion on the underdark that you can use even if you don't put the characters on the main adventure path. And here's a few more glyphs for the new magic system. Since we're unlikely to see it again in actual books, this kind of crunch expansion is generally welcome. Here's 11 new glyphs which you can place in your underdark locations, just to keep players paranoid and ensure the monsters don't die too quickly or seem too dull. They range in power quite a lot, and the upper ones are pretty much a death sentence if you fail your save. It's possible but difficult for a PC to learn these tricks, and they're clearly explained enough that it all makes sense even if you haven't read the actual book. So like the half-dragon article in issue 206, I think this is one of the better tie-in articles they've managed, being useful in it's own right while also selling me on further products. That's the way to do it.


A slither in the dark: Oooh. A Call of Cthulhu article again. Interesting that this should be one of the last non TSR games they ever cover. It's popularity has been amazingly enduring, and if anything has gradually grown over the years. Course, that has come with a bit of dilution. In issue 162 they did an article on putting vampires into the game. This time, it's nagas. Since CoC already has fish-men hybrids, snake ones doesn't seem that much of a genre shift. And being able to swallow you whole is pretty scary even without the uncanny valley. With pretty decent ecology style fiction, with the usual san loss involved, this is quite entertaining, and of course, the new monster can be used for any BRP based system, not just Call of Cthulhu. I suppose that means they can also cater to a larger demographic than they would doing articles for most systems. I still wish they'd done World of Darkness ones at some point. Still, this is a pretty decent way to round off the issue's articles.

Dragon Magazine Issue 222: October 1995


part 7/7


Things are starting to look up for the heroes in Libram X, but they aren't out of the woods yet. Dragonmirth has more humanisation of the undead. Swordplay's encounters are starting to blur into one, even for them.

White Wolf has got their dirty paws on the Lankhmar novels! Shock, Horror. They'll get narrative juices all over our old skool swords and sorcery!


TSR Previews: Revising and revisiting seems to be fairly high this time. We get a new set of generic DM screens. Instead of one with 4 parts, we have 2 with 3 boards each. In theory more versatile, I found them more fiddly and irritating to use. So much for that plan. They also continue the floorplans series with Country sites. More understated but useful stuff that gets lost among the flashy splatbooks with new crunch.

The Forgotten Realms digs up a bunch of old Dragon articles, add some new stuff, and pads out Pages from the Mages to a full book. The ecologies managed to make the transition. Can this do the same and remain kickass?

Ravenloft pushes the boundaries of gaming in a different way with The Nightmare Lands. Shane Hensley takes you into a land where even when you're awake things are pretty screwy. When you fall asleep, they get even worse, because now you're playing under a different ruleset. That always puts experienced players on edge.

Dark Sun gets a new revised core set. Find out a lot more about the world and it's history, see a revised psionics system, and generally try and decide if you approve of the alterations or not.  Some of them aren't actually that bad, heresy as it is to say so.

Dragonlance tries to kick off it's new generation properly. Margaret and Tracey return with Dragons of summer flame. Can they pass on the torch properly this time?

Mystara gets Dark Knight of Karameikos by Timothy Brown. Another new protagonist has an adventure launched by an awkward misunderstanding. My braaaaaiiiin iiiiissss Melllllting!!!!


Okay, some very mixed feelings on this issue. They are obviously making attempts to fix the problems that have crept up on them over the last few years. However, with the visual presentation taking a substantial turn for the worse, some very tired ideas, and repeated tricks that have lost a lot of their impact, overall, it's once again a slight decline in overall quality and satisfaction for me. Let's hope their graphic designer gets better at using the new equipment, because this is just a bit embarrassing. You'll have to try harder to teach this old dog some new tricks.

Dragon Magazine Issue 223: November 1995


part 1/7


124 pages. The budget cuts continue, with the degree of shading and definition on the cover art taking a real drop. Turn up the contrast too much, and convincingness takes a hike. The red triangle continues to look like it's poorly superimposed on the rest of the image as well. On the inside, we have messy disrupted lines being worrisomely common. Not sure if that was in the original magazine, or a result of careless scanning, but either way, it's another downwards step for the magazine. The issues will continue to mount up until the company changeover, it seems. Let's see how much worse they can get.


In this issue:


Letters: A letter from someone who who is profoundly peeved by the new Dark Sun boxed set. All my stuff is invalidated! Now now, most of the rules stuff is still perfectly functional, particularly the splatbooks. And to be frank, it's only excess entitlement that makes you think you should get a break on new editions.

A letter complaining about the recent absence of Dragonlance stuff. This is met with cryptic teasering. We have big stuff planned. Stay tuned next year. That's right. Work them all up to let them down again.

A request for an anthology of stories from the magazine. They give the usual noncommittal response. Make us think it's profitable, and we'll consider it. No change there then.

A request that they review more of their own books. That's a perilous path to tread, as it opens up accusations of house organism very easily. Oh, if only there were another big gaming magazine by another company that does these things for them to recommend. That would be more healthy for the whole gaming community.

A bold statement that the semi-regular columns are the best thing in the magazine, and the writer intends to send in submissions for them. The response to that is long and in-depth and digresses into talk about how much Dragon, Dungeon and the rest of TSR share staff. Perhaps that may in itself be part of the problem.


Editorial: Oh dear. Another bemoaning of nerd bitchiness. Oh what a surprise, that a group renowned for their lack of social skills wouldn't get along well even amongst themselves. Not that I'm in any position to point fingers. The fact that I'm pretty odd and dysfunctional should be fairly apparent to most of you by now, particularly if you're a Tangency regular. Of course, the fact that I don't even fit into an obvious geek mold, (moving from Genetic engineering/general transhumanism to conceptual hyperspacial physics modelling to combinatoric math and it's applications in musical harmony. ) makes me hesitant to engage in tribalism, because when you're in a group of one most of the time, it's both pointless and suicidal trying to pick on other people. So, um, yeah, Geek solidarity! Except for the sports statistics nerds. And the furries. And the people who actually read their religious texts and spoil it for the honest down to earth fanatics by pointing out what they actually say on various matters. And definitely the pedophiles who hack other people's websites and hide their dirty pictures encrypted in there. Wait, I think that one does go beyond the boundaries of reasonable inclusiveness. Let's move on.

A more interesting point raised by this editorial is that of microcelebrity. This is something that has been massively increased by the internet, but even in those days, the D&D writers and staff had the experience of working at a job for most of the year (and not even a particularly brilliantly paying one at that) and then being treated like stars by the people who buy the books when they do meet them. It shows that the tendency to assign greater weight and authority to people who communicate with you through some artificial medium is pretty inherent in human nature, even when they hold no official position, qualification or mandate beyond their own skills and what they are willing to claim. Indeed, it's something I've experienced personally a few times. It leaves me very curious as to how much of our society is a perceptual construct based on peer pressure and what we can convince others of. How do you leverage the belief of others into something you can make a living from? It's the real big question of the internet age, and a problem I'd rather like to solve, as it would make my life a lot more pleasant.


First Quest: Tom Dowd? Google is not very helpful, due to both names being fairly common. Had to get to the third page before something pertinent came up. Still, with tons of Shadowrun credits, and a part in writing the original Vampire:the Masquerade book, perhaps I ought to know more. And indeed, his primary interest seems to be in sci-fi games, although he did play D&D as well. Curiously enough, he doesn't talk about the events of his first game at all, although he goes into plenty of detail about the circumstances that led up to it, and then the subsequent ones that got him into the gaming industry. Maybe time has blunted his memory. Or maybe it's the fact that he seems more interested in rules tinkering than the lives and times of individual characters. So I do find this vaguely dissatisfactory, as it's light on the kind of amusing life details you only get in this column. I wouldn't normally say this, but we want to hear about your characters, not you.

Dragon Magazine Issue 223: November 1995


part 2/7


The lords of the nine: Oh dear yet again. Now this is another very sad reminder of the worst aspects of 2e. In both 1e and 3e, while the lords of the nine might possibly have been mysterious to the characters, they were fully known and statted out for any DM which had the right book. Trying to make them mysterious here is very much a case of closing the door after the horse has bolted. Although actually, this is already less mysterious than the Baator book in planes of Law, where only a small fraction of them were named. This time, everyone but the big boss As:urk: Excuse me for a second, GET THE HELL OUTTA HERE! I NEVER SIGNED YOUR NDA CONTRACT IN THE FIRST PLACE! AND IF YOU LOOK AT THE DIMENSIONAL TREATIES YOU'LL FIND THIS PLANET IS ALREADY CLAIMED BY ANOTHER HELL. UNLESS YOU WANT TO GET INTO A TURF WAR WITH SATAN I SUGGEST YOU ACT A LITTLE MORE CIRCUMSPECTLY. And really? Knife in the back? This will not wash and loses you several points for style. MUIRBOPPO NI OTREVER!

As I was saying, while it's fairly apparent that a majority of the company want more openness in the handling of fiends, and they have made some progress, we're still a long way from the openness and usability of the stuff they were making 12 years ago. Which is a shame, because they're trying so hard here. Yet both the descriptions and statistics are damnably vague, making them generic and difficult to use without further DM planning, and this whole article concentrates strongly on trying to establish atmosphere over in game usefulness. Presenting them as avatars rather than regular creatures further enhances the impression that you're not meant to be able to do stuff to meaningfully oppose them, and the whole thing has the air that the best thing you can do is avoid getting their attention in the first place. How deprotagonising. Which is especially odd given several of the lords have changed since 1e, so those keeping track will know they can be beaten. This is an excellent example of 2nd edition fail caused by overall politics in the company. Still. it couldn't have happened to a more ironically appropriate group of creatures, could it?


The dragon's bestiary: Hmm. Gargoyles haven't had as much attention as some of the other monster types around, but they haven't been completely absent from the magazine either. (see issues 101 & 131) But they certainly seem like they have room for quirky variants, and that's what this issue has to offer. Just the thing for a cleric who needs an unobtrusive guardian for their church.

Spouters lurk on the eaves of a building and send acidic jets of fluid at anyone who doesn't give the password. Make sure you pack them away if you're planning on holding a service then.

Archers look cherubic, but they're little psychopaths who'll shoot up a whole town if not stopped. One of these could be the driver for quite a nice horror story/murder mystery as long as they make sure they only struck when no-one else is around. After all, who's going to suspect the statue? Muahahahaha!!

Stone Lions generally come in pairs, guarding the front of a building, as you'd expect. They're relatively unlikely to cause problems for their creator, so they seem like a good investment, unlike so many other created beings which are more trouble than they're worth.

Grandfather Plaques are another variant on the old talking door theme. We've seen plenty of these before, so I simply say meharoo to this one. Can't win 'em all.


Primal Rage: Hmm. They've recently brought back conversions of novels. Now they're introducing AD&D conversions of video games as well. Very interesting. It's not even one of the expected RPG's either. Instead, it's a giant monster fighting game called Primal Rage. Now that is a strange choice. Still, it means you have some creatures that are supposed to be ridiculously powerful and have some strange tricks, and they aren't being modelled by classes, so I have far less to complain about than usual. Plus I'm just so surprised that it's completely suspended my normal ennui. Onto the specific creatures then.

Blizzard is a gigantic simian with oversized jaws, and unsurprisingly, cold attacks. He can either breathe it, or summon blasts of it down to hurt the enemies at a distance. Sounds pretty familiar from fighting games I've played.

Talon is the short agile one, at only 16' tall. Once again, his abilities are pretty directly modelled. High speed means he usually attacks first, plus he can jump on an enemy's head, and summon other velociraptors to mob opponents. Not sure how that would convert to facing normal sized PC's, but it's unlikely to be pretty. Certainly looks likely to convert to an interesting looking battle.

Vertigo is a cobrasaur, and looks like she might be distantly related to demogorgon. A hypnotic gaze, acidic spit, teleportation, and general spellcasting, she definitely seems the most versatile as a big bad in a regular game. Something like that looming over you laughing maniacally would be rather scary. So I think this article has quite a bit of game usability, even if they don't have very good sphere selections for their worshippers. Plus I rather enjoyed it. Can they continue to pick good choices for conversion? I guess we'll just have to see.

Dragon Magazine Issue 223: November 1995


part 3/7


Bazaar of the Bizarre: We riff off both Ed Greenwood and Tolkien here this month, with 9 more magic rings. We also see them reset the artwork to old skool style, which looks curiously clunky and blurry, as if it's been photocopied too many times and scaled up and down in a computer without proper antialiasing. More evidence that their budget is going doooooooooown. Still, they haven't come up with many hugely inspired items in the past few years. Maybe the ideas will be inversely proportional to the presentation.

Rings of Assimilation let you fit other items into your ring slot. This seems like a waste in the case of ioun stones, but it might be handy for pearls, scarabs, and the like. Metamagic effects continue to develop in interesting ways.

A Ring of Autonomy makes you immune to mindfucking. Just what every adventurer wants for christmas. Few things are more valuable than assured free will.  

A Ring of Cages lets you escape from said implements. It's very hard to detect too. Another failsafe that's almost too valuable really. Who could possibly say no?

Rings of Life shield you from energy draining. Looks like antiscrewage really is the name of the game this month. I quite approve.

Rings of Might give you power over all 4 elements. All purpose badassery makes you able to do without wizards little better. Hey ho.

A Ring of Obstruction prevents you from casting spells. Like a ring of weakness, this will completely screw you over until you can get a remove curse. Doncha just love it when that happens.

A Ring of Shields lets you make a magical force shield. This isn't too impressive normally, but will really save your hide if something tries to disintegrate you. Pray you or the DM remember this.

A Ring of Swords makes a magical blade of various types. All are rather scarier than a standard blade, but it only has limited charges. Still, your own lightsaber is another one that seems very tempting to certain players. Are you ready to be generous?

A Ring of Timelessness makes you immortal. It does not protect you from the mental pressures of said state, however. But what's a little insanity among friends anyway? All your buds'll be shades or liches or something, and I'm sure they'll be forgiving of your idiosyncrasies.


Role-playing reviews:Bug city is the kind of adventure that completely changes a big part of a setting, turning chicago into a sealed off zone infested with giant insects, and trapping the players inside to survive however they can. This may involve resorting to eating the bugs, or cannibalism. Rick finds the whole scenario more funny than he expected, because it is just so over the top. Something of this scope could do with being even bigger though. We're not all entomologists, and could do with some more ideas on how the lifecycles of giant bugs differ from real ones. Still, it's entertaining as both an adventure and political commentary, and adaptable to other cities and systems as well. It's certainly different, and a lot more ambitious than another dungeon crawl. Will you derail your game with this unnatural disaster?

Mystic China gives the palladium system it's oriental fix courtesy of Erick Wujik. The whole thing is fast-paced and easily explained, packing a ridiculous amount of info in and keeping the writing exciting at the same time. Rick gives it 6 pips, finding it lives up to the standard of Oriental Adventures quite adequately. Well, with source material this fun and diverse, it's not hard to fill out a book with ideas.

Pacific rim is for Cyberpunk 2020. This doesn't get such a good review, the sheer size of the area means things are again sketchy at times. You'd best invest in some good real geography books if it looks like your characters are going to spend much time there.

Tabloid! was released a good year ago now. Not sure why Rick is reviewing it here, but it is an entertaining idea. Still, since he freely admits that the system is exceedingly light, it's very much up to the DM and players, and their grasp of comedy to make it fun. All it'll do is get out of the way. You could play this premise under any system.

More interesting are some of the supplementary reviews. The Marco Volo series gets bizarrely high praise. Well, I guess they read better than they play. Meanwhile Dirty secrets of the Black Hand gets described as humourless. Uh yeah. Shapeshifting alien-infected plants. A vampire werewolf who has to be constantly kept from suicide. A power that makes you act like a skipping record. A whole family of ghouls raised explicitly for the purpose of child snatching. Can you not see the funny side of that? I suppose by contrast with the Volo impersonator the humour  here has quite a bit more subtlety. But really, the vampire designers were having fun making this stuff too - I've seen their foreword dedications.

Dragon Magazine Issue 223: November 1995


part 4/7


Winter Fantasy 96 gets a brief promotional article over recycled artwork. Meh, my dear, meh. Exactly the kind of thing you've been told to cut out.


The role of books: Season of shadows by Ellen Foxxe appears to be written under a pseudonym, with an unknown amount of the worldbuilding and plot done by the publisher. This results in John being curious who's behind it, and how much of it is actually a collaborative work. That is an interesting question. As I've said before, even when one person appears to be sole author, they do often benefit from a friend or SO providing an ear and holding up a mirror to their work. It's like an editor without the extra cost. Anyway, the review is positive overall.

Chicks in chainmail, edited by Esther Friesner is obviously on the lighterhearted side of fantasy female asskicking. There is of course good stories and bad ones, and a bit of cyberpunk in amongst the typical fantasy. And it is very obviously aimed at a female audience. But it is generally pretty entertaining, and any preachiness is generally outweighed by the fun. Since she's had stuff published in here, I can guess pretty well what this'll be like.

Time scout by Robert Asprin and Linda Evans is of course a story of time travel with fairly complicated rules that are crucial to the unfolding of the plot. Sounds fairly familiar. Still, as he says, the implementation is the important thing, and this fast-paced action filled one is pretty good. Looks like it's going to be all positive reviews this time around.

Fires of eden by Dan Simmons is essentially a bottleneck murder mystery, only set in Hawaii, with a cast of unpleasant gods endangering everyone. This means the structure may be traditional, but the trappings and twists certainly aren't your standard english country house cluedo cliches. Plus it's tightly plotted and well paced. No objections here then.

Point of hopes by Melissa Scott & Lisa A Barnett is another novel that gets plenty of praise for being well-crafted, well plotted, and understated in style, so you can uncover more with multiple readings. One of those cases where I'm sure John has said exactly the same in a previous review. Either he's been doing these too long, or I've been reading them regularly for too long.


The ecology of the chitine: Hmm. This ecology is delivered by a drow, upon one of their many enemies. Very interesting. In this case, it's a self-made problem, as the chitine were created by them, and then thrown out when they failed to live up to expectations. Lolth, on the other hand, still thinks they've got potential. But then, she's the kind of deity who really gets off on the idea of her worshippers fighting over who loves her more, while being randomly cruel to all sides to "make them stronger." A pretty short ecology, this is very much business as usual. Description, footnotes, a bit of new crunch. They may be planning to shake up the magazine, but it doesn't look like much needs changing here.


Eye of the monitor comes to an end with a rather embarrassing little piece about zeb's upgrade woes. Sure, it's vaguely reassuring seeing our familiar long-term writers suffering from the same problems as us, but it really doesn't make them seem like professional computer operators. Plus Windows '95? I'm not sure if I'm nostalgic for that or not. On balance I'm gonna have to go with not. I certainly remember our computers crashing a hell of a lot more in those days than they do now. So this is yet another case where they go out poorly, and with little warning, as if they know there's going to be some changes around here, but are expecting, or at least hoping to have a place in the new order, and trying to present a positive face accordingly. Life can be cruel.

Our only actual review here is of the Discworld computer game. This gets a decidedly mixed result. The writing is funny, the art is great, but the coding really is not up to scratch, and it gets very repetitive by the end. This is one game that seriously needs a good patching. A very definite shame, really.

Dragon Magazine Issue 223: November 1995


part 5/7


Forum belatedly gets the triangle, although it's in black and white. Unusually after skipping an issue, this is rather a short one too.

Adam Volk reminds all the rules pedants that are clogging up games that the rules shouldn't be set in stone, and the game runs faster if you cut away many of the options. Plus you should stick with one campaign for a while instead of jumping from one world and set of characters to another like a kid with ADD.

James Fahy also thinks that you need to get a little consistency in your game, and better communication if you want it to last. You can't throw the kitchen sink in the stew, as it's pretty indigestible, and what's going to store the water once you've done that.  

W. Jason Peck wants to nerf level draining, and make temporary ability damage more common. Yeah, that's another prophetic one to chalk up. Ability damage is a good way to make the players really hurt without putting them out straight away.

Michael C. DeRosenroll defends TSR's modules and points out that the dungeon crawls are also frequently guilty of being over linear. That's pretty crap too you know, and I shouldn't tolerate it either.

Karrie Huff is another person who is being affected by sexism problems. Mind you, complaining that there aren't enough female classes and kits is a bit erroneous. I can think of far more kits that are female only than male only, and classes are all unisex. That bit shouldn't be a problem.


Sage advice: You've changed the ranges for infravision again. What are the right ones? (Whatever we say in the latest book. Buy it and implement it, or you'll no longer be playing an Official AD&Dtm Game)

Do drow really get to keep their Special powerz under Players option rules ( Sure. Retconning down the road, system blasting. We don't care how many players we drive off! Booyeah! )

You've messed up the paladin spell progression ( Skip will try and fix it. Unfortunately, Skip has been slacking on Skip's formatting training lately, and Skip will screw it as well, only in a different way)

Shouldn't table 46 have another entry (yup. )

Have crossbows been buffed (Yup. Len aint working here anymore. No-one's trying to keep them down. )

How do you determine a monsters mental AC ( Assume wis is equal to int unless stated otherwise. This may result in some stupid results, but works better than nothing.)

What happens to characters with multiple specialisations from the old rules (They lose them. Retcon, retcon, merrily down the stream. We don't care if we're pissing on your dreams.)

How do you decide if a grenade hits (by rolling to hit, just like any other weapon. Scatter only maters if you miss)

What are the costs for fighting proficiencies (Don't worry, Skip's got it. And Skip's not going to mess it up this time. )

Which class of a dual or multiclassed character gets the benefit of a green ioun stone. ( The current or highest one)

What spells are elves resistant too (Recycled question. Charm ones, like Skip said before)

Does exceptional strength boost ability checks (only as a tiebreaker)

Can a cloud of purification kill a tinified character (First, tinified isn't a word. For that rank stupidity, Skip will deny your request. Get outta mah office.)

How often can priests change their spells  (each time they memorize them)

What happens if you try and teleport while carrying too much (Nothing. Better shed a little, tubby)

Isn't polymorph other too powerful (Probably. But it is also very thematic. We will have many debates on this before deciding to nerf it.)

How many creatures are affected by hold person (Not enough. You'll always wish you could get a few more. )

Dragon Magazine Issue 223: November 1995


part 6/7


Here we see this years statement of ownership. And in the past year, it seems they've shed another eight and a half thousand readers, with an average of 71, but a last month total of 68. They haven't sold this little since 1981. The number of free copies given out also continues to increase, although they obfuscate that by splitting it between free posted stuff, and stuff given away to in house staff, at cons, etc. Ahh, nepotism, freebies and bonuses. Another thing that seems harmless, but can bleed a company dry if not kept in check.


The right monster for the right adventure: Call of Cthulhu coverage comes to an end with a rather long article on choosing what adversaries to throw at your players. There are now a lot of mythos beasties out there, and they have very different abilities and habitats. You need to keep track of that is you want to maintain a sense of reality. So this is mainly adventure hooks, with a little bit of ecologising thrown in. I'm not sure if it's aimed at experienced GM's who are dry on ideas for a session, or newbies who maybe haven't read the original book too extensively, (which isn't hard given that it's now an open universe with all manner of different authors adding to it without any kind of central clearing house. ) but it does seem useful, and packs a lot of information into it's page count. It has a surprisingly large number of decent illustrations as well. It all makes for a classy and elegiac goodbye for coverage of third party games. So long, eldritch mind-shattering horrors. We no longer practice affirmative action employment for your sorts. Don't let the door hit you on the way out.


Floyd is indeed in over his head, and narrowly escapes becoming dinner. This wizard gig isn't all it's cracked up to be.


Fiction: Winter's Knight by Mark Anthony. Dragonslaying time again. It seems almost an anachronism these days, with the things given so much weight, but rarely encountered in actual games. And interestingly this story takes advantage of that tendency, presenting dragons and the knights that hunt them as in decline, and the kingdom suffering from this fact. The twist here is that the dragons, as forces of tremendous vitality, bring renewal to the land when their blood spills upon it. Which leaves the story open for a happy ending of the kind you don't get to see in reality, without it feeling unduly given or a deus ex machina. Since we've been having quite a bit of darkness lately, that is a fairly welcome contrast. Plus it feels thematically appropriate given the recent release of Birthright. The fiction is maintaining it's usual high standards quite comfortably despite the troubles around them, just like the ecologies.


Libram X reaches a climax. Possibly. It's certainly progressed a lot faster than most of these comics. Dragonmirth features PETA girl. No, seriously. And no, she isn't hot either, before you ask. Swordplay features things from the point of view of the monsters. Only don't call them that. Persey has to get the hang of being human in Yamara.


An interview with the Dragonlance team: Dragonlance has had rather a lot of embarrassing episodes in it's history when you sit down and look at it. Some of them were intentional, while others really weren't. But they don't shy from either in this interview, acknowledging both that new books may piss off longterm readers, and that the writers have made terrible mistakes that ought to have been spotted in editing, as well as revealing how banal and whimsical many of the inspirations for characters and events were. I'm not sure if they're trying to sell us on or off the setting, given how mixed the messages being sent are. In any case, they're being honest, which does count for quite a bit. I guess it's like a family. Everyone knows that jimmy's had a drug problem for years, and mum's having an affair with the gardener, but they still stick together and stay civil because they still love each other and the alternative is worse. And the soap opera provides interesting gossip for the whole neighbourhood. Which means this is an advert for their big things to come, that also shows us just how goofy and flawed Krynn is. Yet it still holds together somehow and has millions of fans. They must be doing more right than they are wrong. So this remains intriguing yet frustrating reading. I do wish I could stomach this setting.

Dragon Magazine Issue 223: November 1995


part 7/7


TSR Previews: December, as is often the case, is jam packed. Birthright, for a second time, gets a fucking mental 4 supplements in one go, rather than spreading it out like a sensible gameline. It's like they're trying to make it tricky for people to keep up with it, unless they have tons of disposable income. Ariya and Talinie get sourcebooks, giving you prefab domains with set up plots for your players to take control of. Cities of the sun takes you off to the coast to show you how to combine domain play and naval stuff. And Warlock of the Stonecrowns is an adventure which puts you up against an Awnshegh who's draining your country's powers. Team up and kick his mutated ass.

The Forgotten Realms revisits the idea of splatbooks, in Wizards and Rogues of the Realms. Really, this is getting ridiculous. Who's going to buy this one? Well, I guess if we put some even more twinky kits and spells in there, they'll have to or fall behind their buds who did. Talking of twinks, Ed fills in some more of Elminster's history, in The Making of a Mage. What did he do to earn all those XP?

Planescape reaches some balance at last, with Planes of Conflict. Another one that occupies pride of place (and lots of tea stains, because that's the one I'd always rest my mug on while reading in bed) in my collection. I'd never sell it, but apparently this one goes for quite a lot on ebay.

Ravenloft realizes that this Gothic Earth thing is good for more supplements than a one-shot, and gives them a gazetteer with more info on victorian times, and the monsters that lurk around the world. Good to see them giving successful products a line on merit, rather than throwing tons at one for a year, and then dropping it when it disappoints, losing a load of money in the meantime.

Mystara gets it's own annoying IC narrator. Joshuan's Almanac continues their tradition of yearly updates here, only with a bit more copycatting of the forgotten realms. Bleh. What happened to niche protection?

Our generic stuff this year is moderately interesting. slade (who has now completely lost his name and capitalisation) completes the Encyclopedia Magica. Now you have the tables to randomly determine which of these hordes of items to give out. I hope you like rolling D1000's. Another big expensive boxed set that eat up months of play is The Night Below. Venture into a massive underdark realm, and try and survive without seeing the sun. I hope you brought your collapsable 10 foot poles. And finally, play yet another type of Shaman. A decidedly weird little supplement with a premise that can take over an entire campaign. I'm still not sure if I like this one or not, over a decade later. It'd probably work better as a white wolf game.


An issue that starts out pretty horribly, and then improves a bit as it goes along, but still never really catches fire, this continues to see them use up old stuff, and bring in new, cheaper looking features to replace them. They're caught between wanting to stop repeating themselves, and not having the money or submissions to do so as well as they used too. Which means they're probably not enjoying themselves in the office as much either. It's all pretty unpleasant really. Let's move on, see if they can still afford some decent presents for christmas then.

Dragon Magazine Issue 224: December 1995


part 1/7


124 pages. This month's cover looks almost CGI, with it's clean angles and mostly monochromatic design. It looks like it was probably really good in high resolution, but whatever they're doing to get it onto the magazine, and then back onto the computer has done it no favours, with the detail blurred and the contrast murky. Still, at least we have a proper theme this issue. Fantastic Architecture? Interesting, if not obviously festive. Still, let's make the most of it.


In this issue:


Letters: Another letter on how to get published by TSR when you're a complete n00b. Follow the procedures and don't get your hopes up. Financial troubles mean we're even less likely to speculate on a completely untried idea, even if we like it personally.

A letter requesting that they set up a sage advice hotline. Skip finds that most objectionable! Skip'd have to employ lackeys to keep up with that kind of demand, and they'd surely mess it up.

A letter congratulating the new editor, and enquiring about the presence and absence of various features in recent months. Some were merely skipped, while others are going going gone. Dragonlance, on the other hand, is going to be back with a vengeance next year. Look forward to it. Still slipping in promotion wherever possible then.


Editorial is really short this month, and padded out like a business letter. They've finally figured out what they're going to do with the magazine. Raise prices! It's only been 2 years since the last increase. Couldn't it at least have been a 50 cent one like last time rather than a full dollar? I suppose if their budget is directly linked to sales, they might be faced with the choice of a big price increase or layoffs. In return, they promise to give us more colour, more meat in their articles and more attitude. Hmm. So this is the point when the pendulum starts swinging back towards the crunchy side. I can't say I'm that surprised. When times get hard, you fall back on the proven sellers. Colour has always worked, this is the 90's, so attitude is very much in, maaan, and splatbooks are big perennial sellers. Oh, and the logo looks like it's been star warsified with that parallax slope. Hmm. If they're becoming more conservative, how will they find new topics to keep long-term readers interested? This all seems a bit ominous for me. As with the last crisis in 1986, it looks like they're going for up front shinys over balance and subtlety. Oh well, it'll give me plenty to bitch about. <^>


First quest: Steve Jackson! Now there's a big name to bring in, even if like the last few, he never worked for TSR. Still, when he started, D&D was pretty much the only game in town, so it's not surprising he started with that anyway. Also not surprising is that he rapidly started modding the game and writing his own stuff, moving from freelancing to full-time writing pretty quickly. More surprising though, is that his initial play experience was pretty rules light. Given the way GURPS developed, I find this rather interesting. I guess it was always modular, and you can dial the complexity up or down as you please. If Kevin Siembieda doesn't use all the rules from his game, and Gary went back to stripped down OD&D in his later years, I wouldn't be surprised if Mr Jackson doesn't use all his own rules either. Once again, he doesn't remember much about his first session, which goes to show, it's not such a big deal for some people, especially when it was over quickly, and the things they did after that are so much more impressive. Still, this was quite informative for it's size.