General RPG DiscussionDiscussion of all RPGs and non-system-specific topics. DM/GM/player issues, settings, etc. Rules discussion belongs in one the forums below.
100 pages. Shouldn't you have done the beefing of the page count last issue? Oh well. Better late than never. This issue is a second traveller special, with 7 articles devoted to it. (which has absolutely no connection to the fact that The Space Gamer's most recent issue was also a traveler special, honest. We're not taking bribes from GDW and Marc Miller either) Plus another wonderfully weird game from Tom Wham. Lots of other returning things this issue. The band is all together, and they're playing some pretty tight grooves. So lets let them rock.
In this issue:
The D&D computer labyrinth game from mattel now available in all good toy stores. Batteries not included. Pieces not edible. Please do not introduce my little pony crossovers to the game.
Out on a limb: Len rebutts the letter in issue 49 attacking his archer class. It turns out he's a longbow fanboi and crossbow h8er, which is why he doesn't give halflings a bonus as archers.
Two letters, (plus plenty more that weren't printed) criticizing the samurai article from issue 49. Why am I not surprised. Yeah, they weren't what you would expect to go under that name, are they. Which Kim does acknowledge. But they stand by it in terms of quality and playability.
A letter from the designer of fury of the norsemen comments on last issues review (man, they really are speeding up their turnaround time) of his game. And he also takes the time to give us some errata. How nice of him.
Two letters commenting on the AD&D exam from issue 46.
And finally, a letter requesting that they go back to giving modules separate page numberings, so they can be removed without the magazine looking messy. Yeah, I'd prefer that as well.
Make your own aliens: yay. Yet more random generation tables. What a wonderful and original idea [/sarcasm] Still like regular character generation in traveller, half the fun is seeing what you end up with and trying to make sense of it. And playing a three armed, two headed, parthenogenic creature with ultraviolet vision, eyes on its hands, ears on its legs, sonar, perfect memory, and a fetching red and yellow scale pattern could be pretty fun, in the right kind of game. But watch out for those damn speciesists. Its not always easy being green.
Plotting a course for choosy players: Part of the idiosyncratic fun of traveller was its lifepath system. But some people would prefer more choice over their character development. This system doesn't eliminate the randomness, but does give you the ability to sway the crucial dice rolls at times. The odds of getting everything you want are still stacked against you though, just like real life. Lots of dull tables in here.
New ideas for old ships: Sometimes you can't afford to buy exactly the ship you want, so you get what you can and then jury rig it to your needs. Sometimes a pre-owned ship'll come with some of these modifications. Roll on these tables if you want to add a little unpredictability to your second hand purchases. Yes, more random tables. It is traveller. What were you expecting, chicken marengo? A nice shower and a jog before brunch at a little restaraunt I know? No, you'll have random tables, and you'll like it.
In defense of computers: Man traveller computers really do look anachronistic these days. And it looks like even back in the day, people were picking holes in what their reasonable capabilities should be. And this article tries to defend this. And does a reasonable job, given what they knew at the time. In hindsight though, this is pretty laughable. Reality has simply moved on too much.
Planet parameters: Guidelines for determining a planets approximate gravity, mass, rotational period, size, etc, based on real world figures. Of course, you are free to deviate from that if it would make things more interesting, as planets are hardly homogenous. But at least this'll give you a solid grounding in real world physics to work from.
Masers and cameras: Stats for a couple of new pieces of equipment that you may find useful in combat and reconnaissance. I think they're starting to struggle a bit and are just putting any old submission they can get to fill out the page count.
The miller milk bottle: Ookay. We've reached the final article in the traveller section at last . And it looks like they're really reaching to think of things to put in there. This final article covers the many uses of the humble milk bottle, for some reason. (Yeah, I'm baffled too) Almost as many as those douglas adams found for the towel. So remember to bring one with you, mmkay. It could save your life.
The winged folk: Oh man. Now here's a classic example of a mary sue race if ever there was one. The winged folk, also known as Al karak elam, long lived prettyboys and girls with minimum attributes of 12 or higher in every single ability score, pretty good level limits for the era, and lots of general niftyness without many drawbacks. Any DM who lets their players play one deserves everything they get. Thank god wingfic has ruined my ability to ever take stuff like this seriously again.
Leomund's tiny hut: This month, len gives us rules for playing 0th level characters, and the training they need to go through to reach 1st level. In multiple stages, covering every special ability, each of which requires months of training. For when playing 1st level characters trudging through the mud and facing goblins in dank little moldy caves isn't disempowering enough for you. A far cry from the later BD&D approach (as soon as an 0th level hireling earns an experience point, they get to choose a class straight away) I don't disapprove of this as much as I thought I would, as it is pretty well done. But I still wouldn't want to play in a game that includes this stuff for more than a one-shot. 1st level characters are more than weak enough for my tastes.
The worshippers of Ratar: A Runequest article about the aforementioned god. A somewhat secretive cult of magic, they seem designed as antagonists, as the default setup has them infiltrating the government of a city and taking it over covertly. Yes, it might be an old chessnut, but thats because its a good one. Mechanically it seems reasonable, as far as I can tell.
The winged folk: Oh man. Now here's a classic example of a mary sue race if ever there was one. The winged folk, also known as Al karak elam, long lived prettyboys and girls with minimum attributes of 12 or higher in every single ability score, pretty good level limits for the era, and lots of general niftyness without many drawbacks. Any DM who lets their players play one deserves everything they get. Thank god wingfic has ruined my ability to ever take stuff like this seriously again.
This is a classic article and the predecessor to 2e's "Avariel" - aren't they described as an NPC race that has mostly died off? i don't recall.
The temple of poseidon: This month's module. Looks like leaving them in the middle, rather than interrupting the page count is the new standard for these things. I preferred the previous way, but oh well, its not a huge problem.
Thanks for the entertaining reviews. I just wanted to point out that all of the previous modules (starting with "The Fell Pass") were actually in the center of the magazine as well. They were just placed at the end of the pdf files for reasons unknown (to me, anyway!)
Normally I'd say google is your friend, but here, I'll have to say that it hates you, and the entirely of humanity and wants you to suffer. The vast majority of it, however, can be boiled down to
Frodo: OMG, I haev wings. WTF?!!!!!!
:enter Sam:
Frodo: don't look at me! I'm hideous!
Sam: :reaches out and strokes them: No, their beutifull!
:Ensue buttsecks:
Exchange characters from series to your taste. And lets speak no more of it.
A new breed of bug: A new unit for Metagaming's Chitin, the wargame of competing bug hives. The low hacker, designed to increase the role of stealth, defense and reconnaissance. Another article that seems reasonable enough from what I can tell without knowing the precise details of the rules.
It's not easy being good: Ahh, paladins. One of the most problematic classes in the game. Unless the GM and player are on the same page when it comes to what behaviour constitutes lawful good, there will be problems. Because being stripped of your powers when you don't feel you deserve it sucks. That and its a hard line between don't be stupid and foolhardy, and you must spend your existence promoting law and good and smiting evil wherever it may be found. Roger Moore's opinion on this subject is that moral relativism does not have a place in D&D, drugs and casual sex are not lawful good behaviour, full stop, as they can have unfortunate concequences that gets in the way of being ready to go out and do good at all times; and the paladins code should be pretty strictly enforced. (and so should the anti-paladins, by the way. One act of genuine generosity, selflessness or compassion, and you're out. ) If they look like they're about to stray, heavy handed hints from the GM should be used to make sure they realize their god disapproves. And if they go through with it, sometimes they'll just be smitten and killed outright on top of losing their powers. Which isn't very nice, is it.
Thou shalt play this way: The paladin pontification continues. Robert Bezold is rather more constructive in his approach to defining what paladins should and shouldn't do, setting out a sample paladins code in the form of the ten commandments. Yes, it may be another cliche, but drawing on the christian tradition is easy to relate to, even for those of us who don't subscribe to it, simply because of familiarity via exposure. You want to invent a whole pantheon of religions and their customs that have nothing in common with real world ones, be my guest.
Search for the emperor's treasure: Tom Wham presents this months centerpiece, a somewhat comical fantasy boardgame. Will you return the emperors treasure to him, or keep it for yourself? Where could it be hidden? etc etc. Once again he's come up with the goods. If only he'd managed to come up with them a month earlier, so we could have a proper birthday game instead of a half-assed railroady module.
A part of the game: A piece of fiction by Darren Schweitzer. Never trust the things you see in desert oases. Even if the illusion doesn't fade straight away, you never know what horrible stuff might really be behind the pretty image. A nicely dark little story I thoroughly enjoyed.
Con season is coming up, so we get lots of stuff on what's happening and when.
Figuratively speaking is back to two pages this issue. To go with the theme, they're concentrating on sci-fi appropriate mini's such as spaceships and soldiers.
The electric eye: Wouldya like ta take a survey? It'll help us know what to put in future issues. Aw, go on, goon goan gowan Go ON!
The world of beysycx? I don't remember that one. Looks like another advert for a D&D compatible 3rd party product. Anyone got any info on this?
The rasmussen files: Lots of new courses and a few new traits this month. Although do you really want to be colour-blind, deaf, know what your blood group is, etc? I think those definitely fall under the category of unnecacary crunch. Having to spend months of downtime learning new things does rather get in the way of adventuring. Did len and merle work together at some point, as they seem to be of similar minds on the matter of additional crunch.
Dragon's bestiary: Two rather badly named monsters this issue. Darkdwellers are basically smart trolls with the special mining powers of dwarves who ride carnivorous dinosaurs into battle. Whether that is awesomely metal or deeply cheesy and unimaginative is for you to decide. Pirahna bats are another D&D hybrid monster in classic format, and do exactly what you would expect given their component creatures, fly around, swarm you and strip all the flesh from your body. What a lovely way to go. Lets hope they don't learn how to hide in shadows and develop a communal hive mind.
Minarian legends: A story of the fairies of minaria, the Golglio favre and Ta-botann, and how schardenzar, a half-fae, became another great hero and sorcerer. Full of classic tropes such as the stolen fairy bride who leaves her husband if he violates a particular commandment, and enemies who lose their power if prevented from touching the element they are bonded with, this is another strong addition to the mythology of Divine Right.
Reviews: The sci-fi theme continues in this section, with lots of traveller focussed stuff. Triplanetary is a board game of interplanetary conflict, with a exceedingly good system for handling the way space travel works in a form that is realistic, but not too complicated to make a fun game, and can handle a wide range of scenarios, including plenty of scope for player designed ones.
Traders and gunboats is another traveller supplement (the 7th official one, man, marc could really churn them out back in the day) focussing upon more starships, and the things they get up to as they explore the universe.
Ley sector is a judges guild supplement for Traveller detailing an area of space and the planets and creatures within. Which like any module, is pretty usefull for when the players want to go somewhere you haven't detailed yourself yet.
Fenris and Tethys are two starship plans by FASA, also intended for use with Traveller. Looks like lots of companies were producing supplements for the game. They have detailed ship plans and sample NPC's running them, so they can also be dropped into your game to fight, buy or negotiate with easily enough.
Whats new is starting to get into its stride. Fineous racks up the tension another notch. Wormy gets spectacularly extraplanar. The rest of dragonmirth trundles onwards.
An issue that has considerably more for other systems than D&D, and makes me wonder how long they keep that policy up for. They still had lots of non D&D stuff when I started reading, which means they're likely to keep this policy for at least the rest of the 80's. Which is pleasing. While I might not know all the systems, concentrating on one game and nothing else for years would get rather dull. Variety is the spice of life and all that.
Whoa, FASA is getting into the game. I LURVED me Battletech back in the day.
__________________ Currently running: Sufficiently Advanced over Maptool. Soon to change. If you'd like to join in a short 3-8 session campaign for various systems, drop by our forums.
I double-dog-dare you to make your game sound super cool without comparing it to other editions. - paraphrased from Umbran.
I remember playing Search for the Emperor's Treasure a couple of times. . . but don't really remember the game itself all that well. . . But I do recall in a more general fashion thinking that a lot of those mini-games were pretty good.
Huh, no What's New? this issue? I'm surprised they missed one so soon. And on an unrelated note...beysycx? Really? That's the worst fantasy realm name I've ever heard. What, was the creator hoping to get an easy out on Scrabble games?
Huh, no What's New? this issue? I'm surprised they missed one so soon.
Quote:
Originally Posted by (un)reason
Whats new is starting to get into its stride. .
:Coughs:
Quote:
And on an unrelated note...beysycx? Really? That's the worst fantasy realm name I've ever heard. What, was the creator hoping to get an easy out on Scrabble games?
Beysycx seems to be one of those things that's completely slipped through the cracks. (probably due to being crap) No-one anywhere seems to have any idea about it. Google returns nothing (apart from a googlewhack to my own thread now, it seems ), and the great geek hive-mind of rpg.net drew a blank. And it seems enworld is similarly stumped. I find this rather intriguing, and would like to fix that ignorance. Anyone anywhere who can help will get much kudos.
Most I could find out about it. A few sites list the "Quest for the Arm", but it does not appear in the US copyright records from 1978 on, so it may have never been made.
Maybe it got turned into one of their video games?
84 pages This month, clerics get the spotlight upon them. And I'm guessing they'll be running through the other classes in the near future, as its the kind of topic that's always good to fill out a load of articles with every few years, like women in gaming.
In this issue.
A Dungeons & Dragons adventure. Oh god, I remember seeing these adverts being mocked. A jackalwere! Don't look in it's eyes or you'll sleep forever! So this is when they start. I get the impression that we'll be seeing more in this series in the near future. Honestly, this is preaching to the choir. You do not need to run these adverts in this magazine. Concentrate more on TV and stuff, getting it out there.
Out on a limb: A letter criticizing issue 49 for putting a big interview in the middle, rather than more modules. You ain't gonna be happy with this months issue either then.
Another letter criticizing issue 49, this time for focussing too much on convention stuff.
A letter praising the interview from issue 49, and asking for more. Because they do so love presenting contrasting viewpoints.
A letter from someone who worked his characters up to high level the hard way, and resents being lumped in with the monty haul crowd, or being asked to retire their character. They also object to making deities untouchably powerful, particularly considering the number of real world myths where a mortal manages to somehow get the better of a god. It makes for better stories when gods aren't untouchable, as comparing greek and norse myth to the bible demonstrates.
A letter from someone who wants articles to be less DM focussed, and more useful to the players. After all, they make up a far bigger proportion of people roleplaying.
The role of the cleric: Or, Verily, Archbishop Turpin kicketh righteous posterior. Why should D&D clerics not behave likewise? Know they not the tales of heroic priests to draw from? Or those of adventurous shamen who outsmarted the spirits and monsters bedeviling their lands. It is most demeaning to see the glorious servants of gods treated as mere medics and second string fighters or wizards. Be we weak? Be we restricted to pseudochristian dogma? I say thee NAY! We will have respect as befits our station. We will smite those who oppose us. We will not rest until it is proven that clerics are deserving of a place in adventuring parties to a degree matching any fighter or thief. Did I mention the massive hard-on for Archbishop Turpin, by the way? As usual, the themed section comes out with its biggest gun first. And quite an impressive ...... weapon it is too. Ok, you can put it away now. No, Really. Put it away. I don't care how much epic poetry you read me, I don't swing that way. Thank you.
This land is my land: Hmm. This is very interesting. Should the power of a cleric be influenced by the amount of power his deity has in an area? Quite possibly. But probably not quite to the extent this article posits, as it'd mainly benefit stay at home clerics and hinder adventuring ones. Which would not be useful or fun from a PC's point of view. This kind of thing is ok when you're going extraplanar, at which point things should be epic, weird and stacked against you, but not for normal adventures.
The sense of sacrifices: Even good gods like receiving gifts. (including sacrifices of sentient beings it seems, as long as they're of an alignment opposed to the deities. That's a little dubious. Another example of the double standards applied to the morals of deities.) If you give them something special, they might do so in return, granting a miracle above and beyond the usual spells. Don't take it for granted though, and don't give them the wrong stuff. You are their servant, they are not yours. A bit of a filler article, really.
Sage advice is back again, after 3 months off, and is joining in on the cleric theme. Exactly who is responsible for answering the questions is no longer clear, however.
How many spells should starting clerics know and where do they learn them from (clerics can automatically access any spell on their list that they are of a high enough level to cast, unless they piss off their god. )
If you attack a monster you turned, can it fight back? (yes)
Can a cleric appeal again in a day if their god does not grant their request the first time (yes, but it's not a good idea. Do not take your deities generosity for granted for a smiting often offends. )
How much area is covered in darkness by the reverse of the light spells (the same as for the normal version)
How long does the paralyzation caused by a glyph of warding last (Godammnit. Did the writer for get to put a duration for this stuff again? We recommend 1-6 turns)
Can good clerics cast cause wounds and evil ones cast cure (yes, on both counts)
Do morally neutral clerics turn or command undead? (Depends on the deity. Use your common sense. )
Since elves and half-orcs have no souls, does that mean they are immune to the reversed forms of the raising spells which kill you instantly (No. One form of a reversible effect not applying does not mean the other does not as well. Quite the opposite in fact, in most cases.)
What happens when you attempt to resurrect an undead creature? (it'll work if it has a body present to raise and died within your time limit, but you need to touch it, and suffer the concequences of doing so before the spell takes effect. Depending on how it became undead, it may still be pissed off at you once raised, or of dubious sanity if it was undead for quite a while.)
If a spawning undead under your control creates a spawn, is that spawn also automatically under your control (No. Beware the chain of command, because it can get out of control very easily as you add more links to it. )
What level does a cleric have to be to become a saint (becoming a saint is a level independent process that is entirely up to the GM's adjudication. We don't want to give rules for everything. )
Basic D&D points of view: John Holmes and Tom Moldvay talk about the new basic set, (yay!) and how it has improved on both OD&D, and the first edition of the basic set. Making it clearer for people who've never roleplayed before, and don't have someone else to explain the game to them is of paramount importance. The plethora of random tables and advice on how to use them make it easy for both players and DM's to start playing quickly, with no experience of the game. The new module, the keep on the borderlands, is a massive improvement on the previous one. But the dice still suck. Horrible little blue things with no marking of the numbers to make them easier to read. And beware the d4. You don't want to tread on that baby. Very interesting because it reveals that John, like so many people grappled with infravision and alignments, what exactly they mean, and how they should be applied. If even he had problems, then maybe the new edition's designers were right in stripping these right back. Still, they didn't seem to stop this edition becoming the biggest selling one ever, and I certainly had no problems understanding the concepts at the age of 8, so they must have been doing a lot more right than they did wrong.
Leomund's tiny hut: This month, we get lots of stuff for greyhawk, with Gary's official seal of approval. Random tables for determining birthplace and languages spoken are more interesting than they first appear, as they also give secondary details such as the most common alignments in these various countries, and the appearances of people from various regions. This is important, because it reveals that the humans of oerth have ethnic groupings not found on earth. (brown skinned redheads, gold and bright yellow (as opposed to RL oriental colouring) skinned people, coppery and bronzed tones, amber coloured eyes.) Which is something I rather approve of, as it's an easy way to make the world more fantastic without having to alter things stats. I wonder if they'll remember to portray them like that in future art?
We will not rest until it is proven that clerics are deserving of a place in adventuring parties to a degree matching any fighter or thief.
Hmm, I believe they'll have to wait until 3e and the rise of CoDzilla for that.
Or 2e's Faiths and Avatars for the Realms players at the very least.
__________________ "Y'know, I think my favorite thing about being a hero of destiny is that it gives you all kinds of narrative justification to just slay any ol' jerk who gets in your way." -- 8-bit Theater
"i did not serve with napolean in his artillery. but i did play wargames with him and his men." -- diaglo
The undercover job guide: A little Top Secret article expanding on good jobs for undercover agents to get, and how much you can expect to get paid for them given your skill level in the appropriate abilities. Obviously, this stuff is well out of date now, due to inflation, but it seems like a good time saver if you want to add a little more depth to your character without doing all the research yourself.
Another artist profile is this months centrefold. Boris Vallejo. And he is...... certainly under no illusions as to the level of his abilities and achievements. Once again we see that attaining fame isn't just about talent, but also a willingness to both work your ass off, and not being ashamed to negotiate prices and sell yourself successfully. And yet like many workaholics, he still sees himself as lazy, and has not forgotten his insecurities from when he was poor and skinny. Which as ever, is pretty interesting to me.
Giants in the earth: This month's munchkins are shakespeare's Prospero, Ariel, and Caliban (who is represented as a half-orc. Hmm. What does that remind me of?) and Greek Myth's Circe.
Cavern of the sub-train: Oooh. Looks like we have a second big feature this month. This is a gamma world module, another case of taking a perfectly ordinary 20th century invention and making it into a mysterious adventure for the mutants of the future to deal with. A pretty short scenario that can be used as a throwaway, or expanded into a whole series of adventures as the characters explore the underground tunnels and find things lurking beneath in various places.
Dragon's bestiary: This months monsters are the rhaumbusun, rocky lizards with a paralyzing gaze, possibly related to basilisks, and pelins, which are essentially organic zeppelins, and therefore inherently utterly awesome, especially once you factor in the ecological stuff which tries to put a logical slant on how such a creature could exist (ha). Any player with any imagination would want to capture a baby one and train it. Another creature I'd really like to put in a game.
The history of siege warfare: A system free historical article (is it just me, or have they been doing less of those lately)
Following the request for a bounty hunter, they have been inundated by submissions. So they present us with three of the best of them (immediately catching them up with alchemists, samurai and witches in number of versions ) so you can choose which one(s) to allow into your game. Number 1 is probably somewhat overpowered, with powers drawn from the assassin, thief and ranger lists at pretty good levels. Only the fact that it is limited to 13th level, and the highest one is restricted to a single master bounty hunter that you have to kill to take the job of, druid stylee, keeps it from getting too out of hand. Number 2 is basically a ranger plus a bit and minus a bit, which is mainly useful if you want to skip the supernatural powers, fluff and restrictions of the standard ranger, and just play an outdoors huntery type. Number 3 is probably my favourite, as it has the greatest number of unique abilities, rather than just recycling preexisting powers in a new combination, and has more focus on the social sleuthing and subdual side of their job than the other two. All are pretty well written, and I'd probably allow them in my game, apart possibly from the 1st one if I wanted a more serious game. (there can be only one style classes have their place, and that is not for when I'm trying to be realistic. )
Up on a soapbox: Another Lew Pulsipher article, as he talks about the problem of fixing mistakes in your game, particularly when it comes to rulings that have proved to be bad for the game, and magical items and abilities that have unbalanced a character relative to the rest of the group. How do you keep this from spoiling the game, and sort out the problem without creating resentment in the player who got the shiny overpowered toys? He reccomends admitting you made a mistake, and not trying to fix a metagame issue by in game vendettas. Open talking about problems is the way to solve them.
Also on the soapbox this month is Tom Armstrong, giving us another reminder that players will read the rulebooks, even the ones they aren't supposed to, so you shouldn't hesitate to create new monsters and items, or alter existing ones. Never let the rules lawyers take over your game, and turn it into a mere tactical exercise. As ever, they probably put the better article first.
Minarian legends: The southern city-states get their day in the sun. Defined by a cycle of conquest, spoiled offspring, descent into decadence, and subsequent fall, the deserts and savannas offer their own distinctive spin on the dramas of fantasy history. Can they secure a lasting place on the world stage, for a change. The answer, as ever, is in your hands.
Simulation corner: They start an extended series on game design this month, talking about the process you go through to get from that first idea to a finished product. Mostly a checklist of common sense stuff that is applicable to nearly any creative project, this is the kind of thing that is really rather helpful, and often gets forgot about. Creating virtually anything is going to involve more perspiration than inspiration, and while you might not be able to control the inspiration part, you can definitely set things up so you accomplish more for your effort with good organizational thinking.
Figuratively speaking: Lots of big minis (oh, the irony) this month. Giants, huge birds with riders, an ogre, a spider, a beholder, a dragon, and a castle. The pics are actually legible this time as well, which is nice.
The dragon's augury: As they're seriously starting to split the reviews up into various categories now, I guess I shall have to start calling this by its given name, to prevent confusion.
BRP gets its first release as a generic system, separate from Runequest. In only 16 pages, it gives a complete basic system, plus (and here's the important part) it presents it in a clear, friendly fashion designed to get complete newcomers to roleplaying going quickly, with examples, and advice on how to find more players and other peripheral stuff. Another great example of how much lower the bar for entry to the hobby was then. It's no wonder far more people were trying it without any help from current gamers at that point.
Timewarp is a sci-fi wargame who's primary distinctive point is a strong attempt to model the time dilation fast sub-light travel results in. With turns 5 years long, it does cover quite an impressive scope in that respect, modeling wars that cover generations with different participants aging at different rates. But unfortunately, apart from that one gimmick, it's not that a great a system, and has limited replay value.
Dungeon tiles do exactly what you'd expect, provides an easy to assemble set of underground geography for your minis to inhabit, for those of you like to keep precise track of where everyone is.
Off the shelf: Another new feature that looks like it's going to be a regular. Fiction books are now given a separate section to be reviewed in from the RPG's, boardgames and suchlike. Which is a nice development.
Dream park is a Larry Niven and Steven Barnes' take on virtual reality games, and therefore has a lot of relevance to roleplayers. Just how far can the line between fantasy and reality be blurred, and how far is a company willing to take these things when large amounts of money is involved.
Dragonslayer, by Wayland Drew manages to add considerably more depth to the characters than the movie did.
Sunfall, by C.J Cherryh is a strong selection of short stories set in the decline of the earth, as resources are exhausted and the sun slowly dies. Which may be a bit depressing, but hey.
Horseclans Odyssey, by Robert Adams, is another postapocalyptic future novel, that is part of a larger series, with lots of well done technical detail and strong characterization (at which point the reviewer takes a snipe at Lin Carter) that leaves the reviewer consistently entertained and wondering what happens next.
Dragonmirth is here, and joining in with the clerical theme. What's new and Wormy are also here. We see our first mention of the long to be delayed sex in D&D issue. (next month, we promise.) Meanwhile, in Wormy, we get a hilarious demonstration of just how stupid goblins are, and how seductive the lure of wargaming is. How much must this strip have shaped peoples conception of the various D&D races at the time.
Well, it looks like D&D is back in the majority with a vengance. But they're still putting in plenty of stuff for lovers of other systems as well. And with sex in D&D and Off the Shelf, we get to see two more things that will be significant right down the rest of the run start. Another busy month that took quite a lot of effort to get all the way through. But I think it was worth it. Not long now until D&D really goes critical, now the red box set is unleashed on the market.
84 pages. The class series continues, with monks getting their turn in the spotlight this month. We also get a particularly iconic bit of cover art, that I remember being reprinted in future books several times, most of the usual suspects, and a new column. Just another busy day at dragon publishing. Onward we go.
In this issue:
Dragon Rumbles: Oookay. We have a rather interesting editorial from Jake here where he goes to some length to distance tabletop roleplaying from LARPing, and especially Steve Jackson's new game KILLER, in the classic "we have no connection to those wierdos, and are do not want to be associated with anything they do" stylee. So much for geek solidarity. And this magazine and LARPing got off to such a nice start. Yes, I know people dressing up and running around in public can be a bit embaressing, but they're no more likely to engage in genuine psychotic stuff than tabletoppers. And they get considerably more girls. So stop kvetching.
Out on a limb: Another letter asking for reprints, which forces kim to make another frustrated lengthy reply as to exactly why this would not be economical or ethical.
A letter complaining about the plethora of new classes being presented as NPC's, not PC classes. They reply that they do this so that the default answer for if they're allowed is no. This is because if PC's are nonstandard classes, they can't be transferred from one campaign to another as easily. Remember, AD&D is a tournament system, so variants must be removable if you're to properly synch with other GM's who don't have access to the same stuff as you. To do otherwise would be high-handed and elitist. Er, ok then. (man what)
A letter from someone who claims not to like the company, yet most of his specific statements about their content are complementary. This confuses the editors as well as me.
He's got a lot to kick about: An extensive article about the flaws of the monk, exactly how and why he is underpowered compared to other character classes, and then setting out to fix this. Hey, power creep! Next thing you know, everyone'll want some. Another example of give them a new power at every level based design, that I'm pretty sure overcompensates, making them too powerful. I am rather dubious about this one.
Defining and realigning the monk: More monk related pontification, this time focusing more on their position in the game world. Particular attention is given to the problem of how they should behave, and the logistics of their upper heirachy, how the upper level monks are supposed to deal with both training new monks, and getting more experience so they can challenge their superiors and move upwards. The author use some decidedly dubious statistics to try and justify how this could work. Which really just proves how full of holes the D&D implied setting was. Its no wonder they got rid of monks in 2nd edition if they were this problematic to deal with.
Sage advice is also answering monk related questions this month.
If my party faces another group of monks, would my monk character have to side with them against my own party. (No. )
How do I make sure a lawful evil monk doesn't cheat when I challenge him for his position? (You don't have too. Even evil monks have to abide by the monks code of honour or lose their abilities. If the GM forgets that, cite this article at him. )
If a monk stops being lawful, does he become a thief (no, he loses all his monk levels, and has to start a new class from scratch. And you thought paladins had it hard. However, that can be any class you qualify for, not just thief)
Can a human fighter become a monk (yes, if they have the ability scores. But remember, humans become dual-classed, demihumans become multiclassed. There is a distinct difference, which we will explain to you once again, because it's obvious from your letters that way too many of you still don't get it.)
If I lose the ability scores neccecary for my class, do I have to abandon it and lose all my abilities from it. (No. And from the sounds of things, your GM is being rather unpleasant and cheaty in the way they implemented this, and may have a vendetta against you or the class in general. Characters should never suffer ability damage from simple standard damaging attacks, as this goes against the abstract hit point system.)
Once I get to 8th level+ do I have to play out all the challenges for higher levels? Will I also have to put up with lower level characters challenging me? (yes, and that's up to the DM, but we strongly reccommend it, as it would be unrealistic if you were the only one moving up the heirachy at that point. This is not a computer game, there should be other people doing stuff in the world at the same time. )
Can monks unarmed attacks hurt creatures that need magical weapons to hit them (no. You'll just have to sit those fights out. Doesn't that suck.)
Another new class, The Oracle, gets a writeup. (well, its a bit too soon for a fourth witch or alchemist class) Another one that seems rather unsuited to adventuring, given the nature of their powers, and involves a load of implied setting stuff that falls apart all too easily if looked at hard. Frankly, given how much more specific and reliable the divination powers PC spellcasters have are, this is rather pointless. Vague predictions of the future don't work well in RPG's anyway, given how big a part randomness plays in the outcome. I really don't approve.
Understanding Armory: Iiiits Mr Pulsipher again! He is getting a lot of articles published lately. This time, he's talking about heraldry. It's development, conventions, and the legalities around it. Which could be a dull topic, but lew manages to keep it interesting. It's just another part of making a rich detailed world that feels real.
Some universal rules: Speaking of creating your own world, Roger Moore goes into some more general discussion on doing just that. Interestingly, it seems like playing the same characters under different DM's, who would then take the game in very different directions, was more common back then. He's not that keen on that, and would prefer characters who are properly integrated into a single world, playing a consistent storyline. Of course, to achieve that, you need to make up a world. The rest of the article is devoted to details on one of his own recent campaign worlds, (Well, Ed's doing it, so why shouldn't Roger?) and ways of getting characters from one universe to another. Another perfectly decent article from another of our reliable regulars.
Up on a soapbox: Oooh. Disabilities and roleplaying. A pretty important topic I'm surprised it's taken them this long to get around to covering. (and they still haven't got around to race and gaming. What's up with that?) A person with cerebral palsy gives her account of becoming a gamer, and the difficulties she faces in things other people take for granted, such as rolling dice and writing stuff on the character sheet. Man, escapism is harder than you think, when your body doesn't work properly. (And even that's not as big a problem as trying to play with the mentally disabled, as I know from personal experience) A pretty strong article which gives us a good picture of the problems some people have to face, and how lucky the rest of us are.
Giants in the earth is replaced by Larger than life, which seems to do much the same thing, only in a more compact format, and focussing on even more overpowered characters, as they are explicitly intended to be on a deity level of power. They start by giving us the Bogatyrs of the Russian Byliny stories, and many of their enemies, including one would go on to enjoy solo success in future products. Baba Yaga. This is intriguing, because it's a set of myths I was entirely unaware of before now. Not sure if I support the overall idea of this, but at least they've got off to a strong start.
The Garden of Nefaron is this months centerpiece module. We're back to a full 16 pager here. And very distinctively, it's an around name level module aimed at evil and neutral parties, rather than the usual do-gooders, featuring heavy use of psionics. Which is interesting. Nice to see them catering to a different kind of party, for a change. Modules should have plenty of variety.
The rasmussen files: Merle gives us a load of Gming advice, in response to letters recieved. How to deal with players who treat missions like a dungeon crawl, rather than an espionage mission, and start killing everything in sight; and how to keep players from just having whatever equipment they can afford, regardless of its appropriateness to the current mission. Yeah, he really isn't into the cinematic approach, is he.
Dragon's Bestiary: This months monsters are the Argas, super lawful good lizard creatures who eat precious metal and drain magic items. Good thing they're on our side, because you'd hate to have them as enemies. Narra are also exceedingly moral, close relations of shedu and lammasu, only with bulls bodies instead, they can be both effective guards and healers, and are quite happy to do so if asked nicely by people of the right alignment. Nice to see a few more additions to the forces of good, they're so outnumbered in D&D. Our final monster this month is the oculon, a weird rubbery construct, with an eye on a long stalk. Don't ask me why a wizard would want to make something like that? I suspect by the time you get to 18th level you've long exhausted mundane forms of entertainment, and need to go for ever more esoteric things just to get any pleasure out of life. :eyelid twitches:
Leomund's tiny hut: Len looks at another part of D&D design that he considers flawed, that of opening doors. It makes no sense for all doors to be just as easy to open. The solution he comes up with is fairly elegant. Give doors a strength rating, and compare it to the strength of the person trying to open it to determine the odds. He also looks at the magical means of penetrating (and reinforcing) a stronghold. To top it off, he also gives us the method for building a teleport pod network, for those wizards who want to get around their home faster, and drop unwanted guests who try to use it in the shark pit. Which is all pretty neat, and the kind of stuff that can be applied to actual play quite easily.
How to give disease a fighting chance: Clerics curing any diseases you're confronted with too easily? Make the diseases so badass that only a cleric of high enough level can fix them. Another generic nerfbat article. Yawn.
The ways of the Triffids: John Wyndhams classic plant monsters get the D&D treatment. Like the kzinti one a few months ago, this is a pretty detailed account from an obvious fanboy. Instant death and blinding if they hit you requiring separate saves to avoid? That's rather a lot of overkill, and would result in quite a lot of unhappy players. But not as many as a properly played beholder Don't mess with them.
Merchants deserve more too: Oh noes. All the other traveller career paths have got expansions in supplements by now, but merchant's haven't. We must rectify this forthwith! And lo, it was done. On to the next article.
Simulation corner: part 2 of the game design series talks about building a model of whatever it is you want to emulate, and how to go about this. How much compromise between accuracy and speed of play are you willing to make? Is game design primarily an art or a science? Are you sure you want to go for realism anyway? Careful you don't delve into too much theory wank and get nothing done.
Junta needs more instability: The game of corrupt african dictators looting their country and bringing it to ruin (my, how topical. Another thing that's changed depressingly little in 30 years) gets a load of houserules from Glenn Rahman, in an attempt to make things more dynamic. As this is another game I've never heard of before, I can't comment on their effectiveness, but since this is Glen we're talking about, they're probably pretty well thought out. The writing is certainly as high quality as ever from him.
The electric eye: My god. Computer controlled models being used in movies for quicker, more realistic effects. New home computers with 16k of memory! Three inch thick tv screens! You could almost carry these things around. Maybe you could sit them on your lap. Hmmm. This has definite potential. Oh, and here's some errata. At only half a page, this months column feels a bit underdone. Well it is just a load of random bit's he couldn't fit in other articles. Still more entertaining than many long pontifications on single subjects, though.
Coppercon, urcon, rheincon, babel conference. That's a lot of amusingly named conventions in the near future.
The dragon's augury: Stalin's Tanks is yet another WWII game, based around the eastern front, and as you might guess, primarily focussing on individual level combat between armoured vehicles. Not particularly realistic, and plagued by typos, it still manages to be a fairly fun game.
Warlock, a card game of dueling wizards, gets avery short and not particularly impressed review. It's probably too expensive for the amount of entertainment provided to be worth it.
A house divided is based around the american civil war, and it yet another reasonably fast moving game to spend an evening on.
Dragonmirth is here. Fineous fingers and what's new are present. Sex and D&D is once again cancelled, this time due to dragon infestation. How are they going to get out of this one?
The D&D adventure continues. Meet Auric, the fighter, Tirra, the elf, and Khellek, the wizard. No cleric or thief? This group is doomed. Well, they are fighting hoards (sic) of creatures, so I guess their enemies they aren't as mobile as they should be.
One of those issues with more than its fair share of forgettable articles. But there's still plenty of interesting stuff in it, particularly in the smaller articles that don't get so bogged down in dull details. And its also nice to see them starting to seriously consider that AD&D might be flawed and need redesigning in some respects. Now all they need to do is convince the rest of the company.
The D&D adventure continues. Meet Auric, the fighter, Tirra, the elf, and Khellek, the wizard. No cleric or thief? This group is doomed. Well, they are fighting hoards (sic) of creatures, so I guess their enemies they aren't as mobile as they should be.
hmm Those three were recently (relatively) used by Paizo in the 2nd Dungeon Adventure Path, I didn't know they went back that far.
), and the great geek hive-mind of rpg.net drew a blank. And it seems enworld is similarly stumped. I find this rather intriguing, and would like to fix that ignorance. Anyone anywhere who can help will get much kudos.
) so you can choose which one(s) to allow into your game. Number 1 is probably somewhat overpowered, with powers drawn from the assassin, thief and ranger lists at pretty good levels. Only the fact that it is limited to 13th level, and the highest one is restricted to a single master bounty hunter that you have to kill to take the job of, druid stylee, keeps it from getting too out of hand. Number 2 is basically a ranger plus a bit and minus a bit, which is mainly useful if you want to skip the supernatural powers, fluff and restrictions of the standard ranger, and just play an outdoors huntery type. Number 3 is probably my favourite, as it has the greatest number of unique abilities, rather than just recycling preexisting powers in a new combination, and has more focus on the social sleuthing and subdual side of their job than the other two. All are pretty well written, and I'd probably allow them in my game, apart possibly from the 1st one if I wanted a more serious game. (there can be only one style classes have their place, and that is not for when I'm trying to be realistic. ) 
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