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.
1982, right? So those 16 year olds are now 42 or so?
I wonder what the average age is now. . .
Didn't the last enworld poll on this topic peak out somewhere in the mid 30's. Obviously that may not be representative of the population as a whole, but it's probably not a terrible estimate.
Half-orcs: Ahh, the other second stringer PC race. Good to see them getting the spotlight as well. This is as much about orcs as it is about half-orcs. Their culture, their likely upbringing, the predjudices they have to face. They don't have an easy life. Is is any wonder they resent elves so much? This article completely glosses over the rape issue, but goes into considerable detail about the inherent sexism in orc society. (Because it's perfectly fine to depict your villains as sexist, and casual killers, but as rapists? That's going too far :rolleyes: ) It also goes into a quite good explanation of why they are suited to certain classes and not others. All, in all, it is probably an above average installment of this series. Unlike halflings and gnomes, they seem perfectly comfortable inventing all kinds of little details. But then, it is easier to tell interesting stories about bad guys than good guys.
The gods of the orcs: :groans: Dear oh dear. Slipping a sly muppets porn reference in? You get two demerits for that, Roger. The rest of the pantheon is serious enough. Luthic, Bahgtru, Ilneval, Shargaas and Yurtrus. A lovely family and bunch of hangers-on. You really really don't want to go if they invite you for dinner. Once again, this article is considerably more useful and entertaining than the halfling or gnomish one.
The jaded temple: A 14 page Top Secret module is this month's centerpiece. Spy movie, meet martial arts movie. Includes special rules for making expert martial artists more badass, plus a pretty decent bit of starting fiction, plus campaign rules make this a very ambitious module that its almost a full-on supplement. Apart from the usual slightly dodgy names for the bad guys, I'm very impressed by this one.
Fiction: The feline phantom by Gordon Linzer. Tigers can astrally project too. An amusing little tale, if not as striking as some of the recent ones. Still, it's a pretty solid addition to the list, with a protagonist I wouldn't mind seeing again sometime.
Leomund's tiny hut: Len goes goes into some detail on the mercantile guilds, and the precautions they go too to avoid being robbed in a world full of untrustworthy adventurers and monsters. A lot of this involves low level spells, which they seem to be able to pick up with considerably less time and expense than PC magic-users (and of course, their spells are in a different secret language, so if PC's kill them and take their stuff they won't be able to use them) This assumes a rather more high (or at least common) magic setting than Gary's article above, which is interesting to note in itself. I'd think very carefully about using this in a game, but as a historical footnote, this is interesting and informative.
Zadron's pouch of wonders: Oooh. A random item producing magic item. One of those things that are great fun, but virtually impossible to balance in XP/Challenge terms, precisely because they're so unpredictable. Will you get something badass, something quirky but useful if you're clever, or something that's a pain in the ass? Anyway, I'm sure you'll have hours of fun with this, particularly as it is one of the more lenient examples of its kind, with well over half of its products being useful ones. Will it save you in a tight spot, or just make everyone groan in exasperation when you get the rabbit in an egg again. (don't ask)
The mount st helens dragon, who's goal is to burn up all the pollution threatening earths atmosphere?! :rolleyes: That's rather captain planet, isn't it. Leave it out. It's too early for this eco-crap.
The dragon's augury: Fifth frontier war is a largescale wargame set in the traveller universe. Can the zhodani conquer the spinward marches? It'll certainly be an epic conflict, whichever side wins. Question is, will you enjoy it enough to play it all the way to it's conclusion? And will you lose a load of the 720 pieces after playing it a few times? That's the problem with epics, they do take quite a bit of effort to get through.
The free city of haven is a city for Thieves Guild. Well, a third of a city, as they plan to come out with two more volumes on it. This pisses off the reviewer, especially as the fact that it is incomplete isn't clear on the cover, so you're suckered into buying the others to get the full picture. However it is good enough that that is a real temptation. While it might not be a Ptolus, it is certainly one of the most detailed fantasy cities yet made.
Off the shelf: Revenge of the horseclans by Robert Adams is another strong adventure in this series, which seems to be a reviewer favourite.
Rite of passage by Alexi Panshin is a coming-of-age story, albeit set on another world in the far future. While some things may change, human nature remains the same wherever you put it.
War of omission by Kevin O'Donnel. Ahh, bureaucracy. Ghastly stuff. Now there's something I can get behind a war on. Combine that with a good bit of speculative sci-fi, and I think we have a winner on our hands. Congratulations. You get the first distinction of first review that really makes me seriously want to buy the book reviewed.
The gray prince by Jack Vance may be a reprint from quite a while ago (what, can't even authors as well known as him keep their books in print consistently) but it still outclasses more recent books in terms of plot and characterisation.
The napoleons of eridanus by Pierre Barbet puts an amusing spin on the alien abduction trope, with several twists along the way.
The warlock unlocked by Christopher Stasheff Shows what happens when a real wizard starts gaining powers on a planet founded by the SCA. If that's as amusing as the premise, I'm not sure, but it certainly sounds interesting.
Wormy doesn't have the patience to play Expanded Grottos and Goblins properly. Once again we see how odd it is dealing with sentient creatures of different sizes and shapes. What's new reminds us just how much physical exertion actual adventuring would be. Dragonmirth has the usual punnery and witticism.
In general, this has been quite a good issue. Both entertaining and informative, it has once again revealed a bit more of the TSR staff's conception of D&D, and some of the context surrounding it. Maybe not quite a full birthday spectacular, but they can't have one every year, especially now they're past 5. They can save that for the big numbers.
Dragon rumbles: Ha. We get a lecture on copyright and trademark issues, prompted by a recent lawsuit which GDW won against a computer game company. They must proclaim their ownership of these registered trademarks loud and proud, or they could lose them to any upstart who thinks they would also make a cool name for their product. I am thoroughly amused.
Out on a limb: A letter expressing horror at Ed Greenwood's firearms article, saying it would destroy both the balance and the spirit of the game. Guns have no place in D&D. (oh noes)
A letter about errors they spotted in flight of the boodles. These are admitted too and corrections given.
A letter very strongly complaining about the characterisation of Tarl Cabot of the Gor books, saying he isn't evil. Just because he's presented fairly unambigously as the hero by the author, doesn't mean his morals aren't utterly wrong by the standards of many readers. This is Gor we're talking about.
A letter desiring a system to represent the sixth sense that many characters have in fantasy books. You may want to start with a more simulationist system in the first place, instead of trying to adapt D&D.
A letter of generalized praise. Again.
Featured creatures: Gary decides he's too important to put his monsters in the dragon's bestiary with everyone else's. No, these are Official AD&Dtm Monsters, approved for use in Official AD&Dtm Games. Anyway. He's finally got round to filing the serial numbers off angels to his own satisfaction, (lest we forget, he forbade putting actual angels in D&D while allowing devils because he knew if you give something stats, players will kill it, and he didn't like the idea of people even imagining killing angels.) and gives us the astral, movanic and monadic devas, winged servants of good throughout the universe. All are pretty powerful for their hit dice, with a ridiculous array of spell-like abilities, other powers, and immunities that take up most of their descriptions, and virtually no ecological or roleplaying stuff. I am not impressed.
From the sorceror's scroll: Barbarians! This month, Gary also introduces a new Official AD&Dtm Character Class. And dear god they are twinked. Best 3 of 9d6 for strength rolls?! Hiding as a thief of their level+3? Save bonuses up the wazoo. This is very definite power creep. Plus their refusal to use magic items, or even associate with wizards means they'll be useless in some encounters (well, I guess that makes it alright then) and may not play nice with many parties. What was he thinking? How in the world these guys ever got past the editors and playtesters I'll never know. (unless someone involved enlightens me) Were the UA version an improvement from this mess?
Smile! You're on fantasy camera: Another little artist profile. Darlene Blanchard engages in miniature photography. With filters, a little dry ice, and some backdrops, you can achieve surprisingly effective results on a limited budget. Just goes to show, just how many ways you can express your creative and artistic impulses.
Where the bandits are: A little one-pager giving us the borders of the various teritories in the Bandit kingdoms and who's in charge of them. So if your players want to clear out this place, you know how much they have to face (usually in the hundreds. ) It's going to take more than just storming in, swords swinging to sort this lot out.
Greyhawk's world: More political machinations, focussed upon the southeast, and Ivid the overkings plots. At the moment, he rather seems to be winning, bringing even people who should know better under his power. Looks like it's up to the PC's to sort things out again, because the NPC's have no chance.
Pirates & Plunder! (now there's an obvious rip-off name) Swashbuckling on the high seas. Buy it now! Interesting advert. Anyone remember this one?
Leomund's tiny hut: Len turns his attention to what was definitely the dump stat pre 3rd edition. Charisma. So often, people just ignored the henchman stuff, and purely roleplayed any interactions with NPC's, making it useless in play. Shock, horror, this will not do, etc, etc. We need more subsystems! We must define exactly how your charisma is expressed! Once again, I yawn. Nothing much to see here.
Bandits: Speaking of bandits, looks like we have another new class for you to try out this month. Another wilderness focussed fighter/thief hybrid, (which means they have a lot in common with their logical enemy, the bounty hunter ) they aren't particularly over or underpowered, but also don't have any particularly imaginative new abilities. So they're merely a bit meh, as compared with the utter embaressment that are barbarians.
The guns of navarone adventure from FASA. Hmm. Interesting.
... But not least: Roger finishes off the races series with a grab-bag of short articles on the common humanoids. Kobolds, goblins, hobgoblins, gnolls each get a few paragraphs plus a new god. (one of which I've never seen before, and so must have not gone into common use. ) The shorter word count means he gets to the point, really focussing on what makes the various humanoid races different from one another apart from hit dice and power level. Kobolds are cowardly gang fighters and trappers. Goblins are bootlickers and users of other races to get what they want. Hobgoblins are status obsessed stoic disciplinarians, while gnolls are lazy scavengers. Which is nice. All in all, a good way to end what has been a pretty informative series that's influence is still seen today.
Chagmat (what? Not quite the dumbest monster name evar, but not far off.) is this months adventure, another 16 pager. That aside, it's a pretty interesting one, with a combination of small encounters and a full dungeon at the end. Plus the monsters get plenty of depth of history and setting of their own. They could probably even be turned into a PC race without too much trouble.
Plan before you play: Hello again Mr Greenwood. More campaign building advice from the master? Railroading (although that term still hasn't been invented yet) is bad, and players like to feel that they have choices, and the world exists beyond just something to challenge them. He then goes into his world building technique, one again including stuff that would appear later (with some alterations ) in the forgotten realms. While creating political situations and relationships might be a bit of effort, once you have done, the story virtually writes itself from there, as the NPC's make their moves and give the players tons of stuff to do on whichever side they choose. Once again, his passion and dedication to the art of storytelling and worldbuilding shines through, keeping things interesting that could be (and have been under lesser writers) dull all too easily. The gauntlet has been thrown down. Do you dare to try and keep up with him?
The RPGA posts a bulletin that is both an advert, and an example of content, with some special rulings about how Official RPGAtm Games are run. Because they have to standardize, so adventures can be run fairly and consistently throughout the world. Ho hum.
This year, Gary has taken the trip to england, courtesy of Don Turnbull, to attend games fair 82. And it seems he finds english players quieter and better organised than american ones. Do stereotypes have some basis in reality then. He also takes the time to review a couple of fanzines, Dragonlords and Thunderstuck. Both get rather less scathing reviews than the ones he has delivered in the past. He must be enjoying himself.
Computer games have a way to go: More interesting historical stuff on the nature and use of computers, and the logistics of creating a game at that time. Most games are way too short and lacking in depth. He looks forward to the days when memory and processing power is no longer the primary limiter on what people can make. Reality, as ever, will be less impressive than your optimistic predictions. Still interesting though. Particularly interesting is how much less simulationistic computer games have become, despite being able to model reality more accurately. Genres such as platformers are still in their infancy, and many games are simply computerised versions of board and puzzle games. i guess they still have yet to build their own identity and subculture.
The electric eye: A program to generate characters for Top Secret. Well, someone probably got some use out of it. (if it wasn't errata ridden like many of them) Rem, gosub, goto, and other familiar old commands are there in all their glory.
For the sake of Change: Where does money come from? In reality, money comes in many forms, each region with its own, and substantial fluctuations in prices and exchange rates. Should you adopt some of this in your game? Given how complicated economics can get, too much would seriously derail a D&D game. Just like everything, you'll have to find your own balance between reality and usability.
Once again, Gary refuses to put his reviews in with everyone else's. He is really rather scathing of Conan the barbarian, calling it Conan meets the flower children of Set (he has a point there). The sorceror and the sword is also called pretty mediocre. All these bad fantasy movies will put people off the idea of making and watching them. This simply will not do! I shall create a D&D movie, and it will blow these amateurs out of the water! If I fail, I shall roast the incompetents responsible and apologize to you personally! This is entertaining. He's certainly in fine form this month.
The dragon's augury: Simba Safari is a traveller adventure of, yeah, big game hunting. Travel from planet to planet, killing stuff, and intriguing with the other people on the cruise. Well, It'd certainly be a change of pace from most adventures, if a rather politically incorrect one. Not sure what to make of this, although the reviewer seems to like it.
Wild west. Looks like fantasy games unlimited is trying to compete directly with boot hill. Anyone remember this one?
What's new faces the danger of computers taking over. Wormy should feel lucky he's out when the shadowcat comes calling. Dragonmirth reminds us that when dealing with undead, your expected level at the end may be substantially lower than at the beginning.
Seems we have another case of when designers attack this month. Gary delivers one of his largest broadsides in a long time, consisting largely of things I found rather unpalatable. Still, even when I disagree with him, he's always interesting, and never mediocre. This stuff should have reprecussions in following magazines. Also notable is the number of interesting adverts in this one. Seems like lots of games are coming out now, people are jumping on the bandwagon, and the amount of adverts is increasing. Even the second stringers have half-decent budgets to work with. What will happen next?
Dragon rumbles: We get some clarification on the situation between SPI and TSR. TSR loaned them lots of money, with their copyrights as collateral. When SPI collapsed, that means that TSR got the properties, but not the liabilities. That's their justification for screwing over the subscribers anyway. Sneaky. So what are they going to do with them? Try and make some money! Look forward to new games and magazines soon.
Out on a limb: An article expressing displeasure at gary's introduction of traveling spellbooks, saying they make playing magic-users too easy. Hmm. With those prices? Okay then.
A letter complaining about all the optional rules in the magazine going out of print, and asking them to release revised editions compiling the relevant stuff from the magazine.
Another letter of generalized (and quite fulsome) praise.
A letter complaining about the bad advice some Sage Advices give us. Your rules lawyers suck. I could do better.
From the sorceror's scroll: Once again, Gary decides not to use a prexisting article, but make his own Official AD&Dtm Expansion. This time, it's weapons that he's turning his eyes too. From aklys to whip, we have 17 new weapons, including two new polearms (oh yes, it's been a long time.) Even he doesn't seem that enthralled with this topic. He'd much rather be designing new twinked out classes and spells. Is it any wonder fighters ended up so underpowered.
Featured creatures continues to fill out the I can't believe it's not Angelic Heirarchy, with Planetars and Solars (I see what you did there.) Once again, their entire description is a rather excessive laundry list of powers that would be virtually impossible to keep track of and apply to maximum tactical effect in actual play. While I might not agree with the extent which 4th ed trimmed back creature's noncombat powers, after being reminded of these pains in the ass, I have better appreciation of why they made that decision. Once again we can see how many of the flaws in the game's design can be traced right back to the top.
Greyhawk's World: A third article from Gary straight away. He elaborates on the gods of the humanoids, and introduces a new one, Raxivort, the god of the Xvarts. Yet more setting building. Nice to see the various races getting their own gods and spellcasting abilities.
Giants in the earth: This month's characters are Taith Lee's Myal Lemyal, John Henry the railroad legend, and Finn MacCumhal. Rather an odd grab-bag, really. I suppose they publish what they're given.
Sage advice: What are the odds if multiple characters try and open a door together (figure it out yourself, based on size of the door, number of handholds, etc. We can't be arsed to even give you guidelines.)
What are the odds for non-thieves to climb walls. (zero. We like our classes rigid in old skool land. )
Does a multiclassed character have to abide by both sets of weapon and armour restrictions? (if they want to use the powers of a class, they need to be abiding by its restrictions at the time.)
Do all the required attributes of a class count as principal attributes for multiclassed characters. (not quite)
If a follower gets higher level than the master, do they continue to serve (probably not, unless you pay them very well. Watch out for them trying to kill you and take your stuff.)
What level do paladins and rangers cast spells at (they cast at 1st level when they first get spells, then gain 1 caster level per level after that)
Do rangers, paladins, bards, or druids get bonus spells for high ability scores (Only druids)
How do racial limits apply to multi-classed characters (divide XP equally between classes. The limits don't change. But even after you've reached max level in a class, it still eats up half your xp, slowing down your advancement in other classes. Because we have to gimp multi-class characters somehow.)
What happens if your ability scores are too low to qualify for any class (roll a new set. Only the cruelest GM would force you to play a character with multiple 3's)
The assassins guild: Ahh, the joy of D&D organizations. Simultaneously monolithic and untouchable, and yet unable to clear a simple 1st level dungeon. This sets out the rules any successful assassins guild needs to follow in a place with ordinary law enforcement. There are a few D&D'isms, such as assassins and thieves guilds always being separate, and never the twain shall exchange skills, and freelancers being caught easily and stamped down hard. But the rest of the rules make sense, basically boiling down to don't where you eat. It certainly doesn't have the cleverness of the ankh morporkian guild system. A pretty middle of the road article overall. (great, now I have an image of assassins listening to Boston while on a stakeout)
The assassins run: Following on, we have an assassin based adventure. And Ed Greenwood immediately breaks one of the rules from the previous section, making the thieves and assassins guild in the forgotten realms completely integrated, and giving us a load of realmsian backstory about the lords of waterdeep forcing their thieves guild out, and the survivors plotting revenge. So much for monolithic and untouchable. Not that it really matters to the module, as you can insert it pretty much anywhere there's a group that likes to test it's members fitness in a sadistic fashion. You probably won't die doing this, but you may well lose and get seriously humiliated if you aren't ready for anything. Still, if you can't take the training, you've got no chance out there in real dungeons where they're actually trying to kill you. So if you're planning to run your team through an old skool killer dungeon, put them through this as an in game warm up to get them in properly paranoid mood. They'll thank you for it afterwards.
Planet Busters: Yay! Another Tom Wham game! This is more complex than his previous games, with a large number of different pieces allowing for lots of different strategies, particularly if you play the advanced version. It almost seems like a precursor to CCG's, as it has plenty of room for expansion. Not sure if I like this one or not. I guess I'd have to play it to find out.
Robots for Traveller: I think you can guess what this one does. As they did in gamma world, they eschew random generation for a point based creature building system. And building one that can match up to a human PC in terms of versatility and power would be exceedingly expensive. Still, there are worse ways to spend your money. And having a robot sidekick or character can be amusing, and do things a human can't. Obviously I can't tell if this is broken, but it seems fairly well thought out.
Fiction: The next-to-last mistake by Paul McHugh. A rather meta story of drama at a fantasy LARP, with archery, chess, romance, moral lessons, and twists, oh my. Reminds me quite a bit of the arabian nights style of storytelling, although without the excesses of story nesting that style can fall into. Another strong bit of fiction that fully justifies it's place here, even without any actual supernatural elements. Two thumbs up. Please don't shoot an arrow through them, even if you can.
Why gamers get together: A bit of a misnamed article, as it's more about the benefits conventions bring to individual gamers. By getting to talk too and play with people from other places, you pick up new tricks, find out about new products, and learn how to work the rules better. Another article that strongly reminds me how much harder it was to disseminate ideas between groups before the internet. Before, if it wasn't on TV, it'd take years to get around, now, ideas can be sent across the world by ordinary people.
Championship Sumo wrestling: Another sports game from Brian Blume. Hmm. This doesn't even pretend to be roleplaying or wargaming related like Ringside. It's just an excuse to get a cool little design he made published, regardless of it's appropriateness to the magazine's theme as a whole. I am somewhat dubious as to how much he gets it. Still, at only a page long, it doesn't matter that much. It's his financial choices we really need to worry about.
The dragon's augury: OGRE gets a new edition, expanding the game to cover a greater range of scenarios, some not even using the eponymous ubertank. Production values have been increased, optional rules from magazine articles have been compiled, and the rules have in general been tightened up. Probably worth making the upgrade, in other words.
Worlds of Wonder takes the BRP system, and applies it to three different settings, a fantasy past, superheros in the present, and future one. Essentially, its both a semi-generic toolbox, and a bunch of example settings with their own genre rules added in to use or raid for parts. While there are some minor design errors, this is a laudable effort, as it shows that the company has realized one size does not fit all games, and you can adapt your rules to better simulate a genre, rather than sticking to an imitation of real life. Game design has come quite a way since the start of the decade.
Off the shelf: The dying earth by Jack Vance is a reprint. As it started one of his ongoing series, it's good to have it available again.
The goblin reservation by Clifford D Simak is also a reprint.
Honeymoon in hell by Frederic Brown is a collection of his short stories from the 40's and 50's. Full of puns and other fun, it's a good bit of light reading from a more wholesome age. ( )
The complete robot by Isaac Asimov is a large collection of his short stories on that theme, building a consistent universe, and going to a good length to shape people's perception of robots. Obviously a classic.
Blade Runner by Philip K Dick (not it's original title, but there's a film out, doncha know, so we'll put that in big letters and only put Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep as a little subtitle underneath) is of course a classic. The reviewer once again recommends it heartily.
Outward bound by Juanita Coulson is part two of another series. Sci-fi with a strong element of human drama, it is big without being slow or dull.
Castaways in time by Robert Adams is not part of the horseclans series, instead focussing on a group of modern people swept back to an alternate history england. Much less comedy ensues than you might think.
Warlocks gift by Aradath Mayhar gets a rather negative review, as it contains a mary-sue protagonist, and lots of pointless distractions.
Elephant song by Barry B Longyear follows the story of a troupe of circus performers stranded on a uninhabited planet, and learning to survive. A depressing prospect, entertainers with no-one to entertain. But therein lies the drama.
What's new gives us it's own take on women in gaming. But still no sex. Indeed, much of the strip is involved in preventing it. Wormy continues, with drama meeting comedy, and drama winning for a change.
Ooohh. I.C.E proudly presents the arrival of Middle Earth Roleplaying next month on the back cover. This is a big deal. One of the primary inspirations for the hobby enters that hobby. They must have high hopes for its sales potential, as they're already planning an extensive line of supplements. I guess if any licence could make a profit from RPG's, It'd be this one. I wonder if we'll be seeing articles for the game in the magazine?
Another issue I'm a bit dubious about. With the increase in both advertising and stuff from in-house writers, they are definitely becoming more blatantly commercially driven. Their coverage of games by other companies has dropped dramatically, and it doesn't look like that trend'll be reversing any time soon. If I were a young reader at that point I'd be considering sending them a letter saying pandering only to your core audience is not the way to expand your fanbase. Don't say the halcyon days where the magazine was a centreground for the entire hobby are already over.
86 pages. It's convention season again. Which means off they trot to meet up with the growing legions of fans. What stories will they have to tell this year? What backstage shenanigans will take place. Things are already getting interesting in that respect. We have some stuff on that, and it looks like there's more to come. Plus another full helping of crunch, reviews and games. The D&D train chugs onwards.
In this issue:
Out on a limb: A letter defending Ed's firearms article, pointing out that the weapons in it are still far less damaging and reliable than spells, so the game is hardy broken by their inclusion.
A letter pointing out a bunch of errors in the jester class. It was a joke. Do you really expect perfect mechanical rigour?
A letter expressing confusion at the D&D is satanic crowd. This gets a long-winded reply from kim. You don't have to explain it to us. We're on your side.
A letter talking about the troubles they had with using the umbra as a monster, and the logical problems shadow-fighting presents.
A letter saying ecological stuff, particularly dietary information, should be mandatory for monster descriptions.
Dragon rumbles is written by Gary this issue. It is a fairly lengthy piece about the competition between Gen con and Origins. So you're now the head of by far the most successful company in your field, to the point where other companies are simultaneously sniping at you and imitating you. Just because you've been overtaken that's no reason to pull out and only go to other conventions. That's not a way to produce a unified hobby, or to make money from the conventions. PS. Boycott them if you agree with me So it's another classic Gary editorial full of hyperbole and hypocrisy. What would we do without them?
Blastoff!: TSR's got a new game out, Star frontiers. Which means it's promotion time. This is their attempt to do for space opera sci-fi what the basic D&D set did for fantasy gaming, making a more accessable and less gonzo game than their previous two attempts. Which means it's doomed to failure, as this smacks of a game developed around marketing decisions, rather than love. I could be wrong. It could enjoy years of decent sales and play. But Gamma world and Metamorphosis Alpha certainly seem to be remembered more often these days. That's what happens when you forget to put the fundamental weirdness as the foundation for the gloss. You can't make a pearl without grit, after all.
From the sorceror's scroll: Gary turns his eye towards new classes. He has quite a number planned for inclusion in future issues, some which made it (cavalier, thief-acrobat) some which didn't. (savant, mountebank) He also reveals what's at the top of the druid heirachy. (The grand druid, the only 15th level druid in the entire world, with huge personal powers, plus 12 special followers, who's job it is to look after the balance of nature over the entire planet. Now there's a job that would get in the way of regular adventuring. Still, it's not as if you'd be short of things to do in that situation.) He also gives barbarians a new special power so they have a fighting chance against magical creatures, encourages giving your characters proper personalities, and gives Frank Mentzer a promotion. Plus more bitching about the competition. So, he's still got lots of big plans. But how long before he finishes them, flitting between so many projects at once? This is why creative types need a firm editorial hand and deadlines.
Greyhawk's World: This month, the spotlight goes on the south-east and the lendore islands. What lies beyond the limits of the known map? All sorts of legends of dooooom, for none have returned to tell the tale. Meanwhile, Nyrond masses it's army to defend against Ivid's depredations. How much success will they have? Wait a few years for the next edition to come out and we'll see. Nothing special to see here.
Leomund's tiny hut: Weapon quality. Another experiment in differentiating weapons and armour by minute amounts based upon how well they were made. Which involves lots of tedious tables, and even the best ones provide less benefit than a simple +1 weapon. As is often the case with his rules mods, this is really not worth it and needs some serious refining and streamlining.
Weapons wear out, not skills: Weapon proficiency groups. A good idea they really need to get round to implementing canonically. This article make another attempt to generally improve the proficiency system. It does, but not nearly enough. And I suspect we'll be seeing many more of these attempts before third edition. Hopefully some'll be weird enough to be interesting.
Featured creatures is introducing more good guys to the game roster: Baku are magical mini elephants from elysium. But as they have planar travel, they can turn up in the oddest of places. And frankly, the thought of an invisible elephant in the room should scare most evildoers.
Phoenix are thankfully no longer singular, nor do you get tortured to death and sent back in time to stop yourself by the gods for killing one. They're even more disgustingly powerful though, with another laundry list of powers that'll rarely be used properly in play. Gary does love overpowered good guys, doesn't he. If only he could find a more elegant way of making them so.
The missing dragons: The colour wheel theory. Now there's a dumb idea. Well, if you lived in the D&D universe, where attempts at rigorous science fall apart as the researchers go insane trying to make sense of the results, it'd seem like a perfectly reasonable hypothesis. So anyway, we get another set of yellow, orange and purple nurple dragons. Which bear no relation to the previous set, or future sets. Well, they are pretty lame. Is it any wonder people thought they could do better. We also get more "sages believe" pontification. We want names, damnitt. Academics is all about individuals seeking knowledge, not some nebulous monolithic collective. I think we can consign this one back to the shelves of history without regret.
The RPGA bulletin advertises the R series of modules, only available to members. This includes R2, which is the module Frank Mentzer designed, that won him the the 1980 dungeon masters competition. So it ought to be pretty good. Anyone played these?
Timelords: Ahh, doctor who. You have a lot to answer for. Not that these guys have much to do with the Dr who conception of them, being more like specialist psionicists with lots of different time manipulation powers, powered by a point expenditure system. (Proper stimulation of the chronal glands? Really? How do you do that then? ) Fortunately, Lew avoids giving them powers that break the game, such as traveling back in time and stopping aging, and while certainly not weak, there's no way they can compete in overall versatility and blasting power with standard clerics and wizards. I doubt they'd ruin the game if they were allowed as PC's, although they might upset the tone a little, especially if the other players kept making jokes. Still, more options are rarely a bad thing, especially when they're ones that break new ground, rather than just being hybrids and variants of existing roles like bounty hunters or swashbucklers. Once again, Mr Pulsipher wins me over with the quality of his writing.
Monsters of the Midway: Football. Of the american variety, just to ensure no confusion amongst our international readers. Played by D&D monsters, each with their own stats and special powers. I seem to remember Games Workshop doing something similar. Unfortunately, contrary to the (rather good) illustration, hydra is not one of the character choices. And we seem to be missing the stats for satyrs. I'm a bit iffy on this one. The rules don't quite seem to add up, and I can't really visualize how the game plays. It could definitely have been better written and edited.
Tuatha de Danaan: Sigh. It's another article quibbling over the precise stats of a pantheon of deities, based on different sources, readings and translations. Experts in a field are like watches. If you have one, you know what's going on. If you have several, you're never sure. (and disagreeing experts are considerably more annoying than watches that are out by a few minutes.) I might prefer my deities statted, but if I'd had to deal with 10 years of this, I'd throw my hands up and say "Fine, you can't agree on deities stats? They have no stats. They are all beyond mortal reckoning! Are you happy now?!" as well. It might not completely stop the whining, but at least that'd save hours trying to figure out what they ought to have and add up all the math.
Law of the Land: Ed Greenwood gives more setting building advice, once again using examples from the forgotten realms. Shadowdale is now ruled by a PC in his game, and so that means he has to defend his teritory. This is another sortie in his battle to get everyone building their own worlds full of depth and constant evolution, that feel like living places that don't just exist for adventurers to kill and loot. A war as unwinnable as the war against drugs. Anyway, this is about laws, customs, and punishments for breaking them. Differentiating between places in this respect is a good way to make them all distinctive, not just the same old pseudomedieval mishmash. You can even put a few utterly ridiculous laws in there. It's not as if you can think of any more stupid than the ones you can find in real life. As ever, he cites plenty of sources, and writes in an entertaining manner. I can't really fault him on this.
War!: Lew gets a second article published in one magazine. He is pretty prolific. This is about creating in-game justification for conflicts. These things don't just happen for no reason, and discovering and dealing with these can create a whole load of plot hooks above and beyond those simply caused by the fighting and destruction itself. Economics, ambition, religion, race can be complex issues, and solving them a protracted problem. Or it could be as simple as the groups being of opposing alignment and therefore conflict being inevitable and eternal. Either way, it not only keeps the PC's busy, it keeps the world evolving as well. This complements the previous article nicely. When the conflict comes out of the dungeon, the players really have to decide how it affects their characters.
That's no pizza - it's the pong papers: Assassination advice for top secret. As ever, players are often not very clever or subtle, and need to be taught how to avoid detection better. bursting in shooting gets you killed, and it gets innocents killed, while if you plan things properly, no-one will ever expect your involvement.Sniping, Bombs, poison, mechanical "accidents", blackmailing other people into doing the dirty work. All good options bloodthirsty players neglect. The better you do at getting things done smoothly and covering your tracks, the less drama you'll have to deal with later. Surely that's what any professional wants. Only a fool fights when they don't have too.
Up on a soapbox: My god. Lew scores a hat trick for the magazine with this article. Another piece about playstyles, primarily focussing on the risktaking/caution axis of player tendencies, but also with some stuff on the logic/intuition one. Correctly judge your opponent's tendencies, and you'll be at an advantage. Fail, and the reverse is true. It's hard to encompass everything in a little article, and he doesn't even try, but he does put a distinctive spin on the subject. This is less boring than most articles of this type.
The dragon's augury decides to do a whole bunch of computer games this month: Wizardry is an adventure game wih a lot in common with D&D. Generate you characters stats, choose classes, and put together a party. The dungeons are large, pretty, and filled with all kinds of imaginative monsters (creeping coins) Of course, due to memory limitations, this means you have to keep the disk in and do lots of mid game loading, which slows things down a lot. If only they would do something about that in the future.
Akalabeth is a randomly generated adventure game. It takes a different tack, and fails to overcome the information limitations in old computers, so all the locations and adventures look and play the same, and there is no sense to the monster and treasure distribution. Which makes it boring.
Crush, crumble and chomp is an arcade game of giant monsters rampaging a city. It's fairly fun, but there's no way of winning, so its just a matter of how much you can smash and how long you survive to get as high a score as possible before being worn down. Which was often the case in those old games. You'll get bored sooner or later.
The chamax plague/Horde is another Traveller double bill. A pair of adventures that can be run separately or interlinked, they also provide an alien adversary with plenty of bite and ecology. Can you figure them out well enough to use good tactics against them?
Empire builder gives Gary a rare opportunity to indulge his love of railroad games. (no, not that sort ) Build your network and compete with your opponents to make as much money as possible. Maybe not for everyone, but he certainly enjoys it. And as we know, he's not one to sugar-coat things and say so when he doesn't mean it. So that's a pretty good recommendation.
What's new sees dixie playing the pedant. Wormy fits a couple more plot twists in. Dragonmirth only gets half a page, which is a bit half-assed.
Gangbusters gets a cool newspaper style advert on the back page. Yes, I know it's been done here before. It works, ok.
I hope you've enjoyed the Lewis Pulsipher special. Honestly, at this rate, he ought to have a permanent job along with Roger and Ed. Whatever happened to him? I don't remember seeing any stuff from him during the 90's. More questions that I hope our Loyal Readers ( ) can answer. See you next time.
Wizardry is an adventure game wih a lot in common with D&D. Generate you characters stats, choose classes, and put together a party. The dungeons are large, pretty, and filled with all kinds of imaginative monsters (creeping coins) Of course, due to memory limitations, this means you have to keep the disk in and do lots of mid game loading, which slows things down a lot. If only they would do something about that in the future.
It runs pretty smoothly on my NES, actually. It's a damn fine game.
__________________ "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
84 pages. They moved into new buildings recently. Bigger, shinier, and more consolidated, this'll hopefully make things more convenient for everyone on the team. And they certainly won't miss the mice. Language is this month's special theme, with a whole bunch of related articles. We also, as promised, get more stuff for illusionists, and plenty of returning series. Even big upheavals like moving house no longer stop them from putting out a full sized quality product on time. So lets see what else they've managed to squeeze in.
In this issue:
Out on a limb: Glenn Rahman defends his villainisation of the protagonist of the Gor novels. He has read them properly, and can cite extensive quotes to support his choice. One wonders why he kept reading them.
Roger Moore also gives a load of commentary and corrections.
Gary writes in to say that the reasons firearms are not found in Official AD&D Worlds is because the physics of the universe do not allow for gunpowder and similar explosives. Burning stuff simply burns, it doesn't exert outward pressure. (so steam power won't work either) Experiments on those lines will simply do sod-all. If you want blasting effects, you'll have to use magic. And that's final.
And finally we get an actual letter from a reader, saying that is a held creature literally couldn't move any muscles at all, they'd die from suffocation in a few rounds. Kim follows Gary's lead, and reminds him that spells completely bypass real life physics. They can be completely unable to even blink or breathe, and not suffer the ill-effects they normally would. (yes, this contradicts the ruling about held creatures in water, but hey, even a master editor can't remember everything, and if magic can break the rules of the universe, that means they don't have to be internally consistent anyway.)
Should they have an edge: The class weapon restrictions debate gets reopened. Well, it has been a couple of years. You've gotta trot out the old perrenials for the new readers. John Sapienza floats the idea of detaching the damage dice from the weapon used, so cosmetically, they can be using any weapon, but due to lack of training they'll still be limited to d4 or d6, which will preserve the intended game balance. Which is pretty innovative, really. They'll make narrativists out of these guys yet. Bruce Humphrey provides the predictable counter of no is no, and that's final argument. Which is considerably less interesting, as it's just reiterating the status quo. And we all know that drama is found in pushing and breaking the rules. So it goes. I'm sure we'll see this one again in the future.
Elfquest's characters get converted to D&D. Cutter, Skywise, Leetah, Rayek and Picknose. These guys are less twinked than most of these articles, with not a single 18, and relatively few abilities that are illegal for regular PC's. A fluke, or is this a good sign? Lets hope.
Sage advice seems to be stuck in the past this month, focussing on demihumans:
Can demihumans make magical items (yes, within the limits of their class restrictions. They can also make some special items humans with the same skills can't, because their gods are nice like that.)
How do you make elven chain. (Its a secret alloy. You don't think they'd give away trade secrets, do you. You'll be lucky to get hold of some if they like you. )
Why can't elves be rangers, when they're so nature oriented. (because the gods say so. They gave humans ranger abilities as a direct way to deal with giants and other wilderness threats. For whatever reason, elven deities aren't so generous, despite the fact that they have ranger abilities themselves. Maybe if you pray enough, they'll change their minds someday. )
Featured creatures: This month, Gary fills out the genie races, so now there's one for every element. Dao, Marids and Jann. How symmetrical of him. These are pretty much as they remain for the next few editions, giving us a wide range of power levels and morals for our genies. You'll still want efreet for the full-on wish granting stuff though. Rather a mixed blessing really, that power.
From the Sorceror's scroll: Lots of new spells in Gary's other contribution this month. This includes both future staples like alter self and shadow walk, and forgettable stuff like read illusionist magic and phantom wind (fnarr) These are generally pretty solid. As is often the case, he follows up the game material with some general chatter about events. A certain ex-editor of the fiend folio gets snarked at for something he wrote in a rival publication (can someone fill me in on the other side of this, as it is annoyingly vague.). He talks a little more about their move to new premises. And he promises to fill in details on the deities of greyhawk sometime soon. Once again, he's produced a pretty interesting, if not always the most organized set of stuff for our perusal.
Is it really real?: To complement the illusionist spells, we get another nature of illusions essay. Why can illusion spells really hurt if you believe in them, but not heal? How much does repeated exposure make spotting illusions easier. How inaccurate do things created from descriptions look? In some respects more lenient, and in some less than things would later be, this is another article that shows up repeatedly, and is useful in gauging how fashions change over the years. Which is interesting from a statistical and sociological point of view.
A primer for the language of larceny: A dictionary for thieves cant, so if you want to learn the basics of it and incorporate some of this stuff into your in character speech, you can. Since its only 8 pages, plus a couple of pages on grammar, it's hardly complete. Unfortunately, I suck at learning other languages, so this makes my eyes glaze and brain squeek. You'll have to get someone else to judge its quality and usefulness as a language and shorthand for communicating larcenous acts.
84 pages. They moved into new buildings recently. Bigger, shinier, and more consolidated, this'll hopefully make things more convenient for everyone on the team. And they certainly won't miss the mice. Language is this month's special theme, with a whole bunch of related articles.
Ha. Given that I was born in October, 1982 (Hi, old guys!) and study linguistics, this is quirkily appropriate. (Although I suspect that the magazine actually arrived some time before October, cover dates being what they are.)
Ha. Given that I was born in October, 1982 (Hi, old guys!) and study linguistics, this is quirkily appropriate. (Although I suspect that the magazine actually arrived some time before October, cover dates being what they are.)
Heh, I'm surprised we're not getting more posts chronicling our lives like this. I was born in July 1979, so I'm not that much older guy! I like imagining what I'm doing when an issue came out. Going to preschool and finishing up toilet training, I guess, in this case.
The warlock unlocked by Christopher Stasheff Shows what happens when a real wizard starts gaining powers on a planet founded by the SCA. If that's as amusing as the premise, I'm not sure, but it certainly sounds interesting.
You know, I was good friends with Christopher Stasheff's son for several years, and had tea at the guy's house once, but I never read any of his books... Maybe I should get around to doing that sometime...
Out on a limb: Glenn Rahman defends his villainisation of the protagonist of the Gor novels. He has read them properly, and can cite extensive quotes to support his choice. One wonders why he kept reading them.
Probably for the same reason people act them out. Boy did I lose a few Sanity points when I found out about that latter bit.
__________________ "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
And a second article on languages. The author creates a possible language tree to show how the various D&D languages could be related.
Fantasy philology: And another one, which also gives various eases of learning related languages to your current ones. Like weapon proficiency groups, this may be realistic, but it's also a considerable amount of extra crunch which you only want to use in a game focussed upon the subject.
Old dwarvish is still new to scholars: Another article that gives us some specific details on a fantasy language. The writer steals liberally from tolkien to give us the basics of dwarvish grammar. Which is pretty much as you would expect, given their established personality traits. Meh.
Leomund's tiny hut: This month, Len gives us stats for a load more (almost) natural animals. Compsognathus and euparkia, adorable mini dinosaurs. Vultures and hawks. A whole host of stats for miniature animals, to counterbalance all the dire ones and give low level characters a fair chance. Skeletons for the above. And in a stroke of genius, the carnivorous flying squirrel. Combined with the amusing illustration, this is the best thing he's come up with ever. What's more terrifying than a swarm of these leaping onto you, each taking off a little chunk of flesh and then scurrying away with it? The only thing that's really in the same league are giant space hamsters. I an definitely using these when I get a chance.
Up on a soapbox: Individuals are important, and can make a difference to the flow of world history. While the truth of this statement can be debated in the real world, it should definitely be the case in your games, particularly for the PC's. Otherwise what's the point in playing? So let them rock. Not a particularly exceptional or controversial position, really.
Off the shelf: The coming of the horseclans by Robert Adams is a reprint of the first book in what sems to be the reviewers favourite series. It goes without saying that he wants you to get it.
The iron dream by Norman Spinrad is another reprint. It tells the story of what could have happened if hitler had decided to become a novelist and emigrated to america instead of taking over germany. Which certainly sounds interesting.
Mallworld by Somtow Sucharitkul (now there's a hard name to write right. ) pokes fun at humanities current foibles via extrapolative sci-fi.
The earth-shaker by Lin Carter is another novel in the Prince zarkon series. The liberal stealing from various pulp stories continues.
The wrath of khan by Vonda N McIntyre is of course the novelisation of the latest star trek movie. Of course, the novel format means you get to see inside the characters heads, as well as some stuff that was cut from the final version of the movie. Which makes it a worthwhile complement to the film.
Collected fantasies by Avram Davidson is a collection of whimsical short stories. Can dentists save the world from alien invaders? Stranger things have happened.
Bolo by Keith Laumer is another load of short stories, this one telling the tales of giant, self powered super-tanks and what happens when they refuse to be shut down after the war is over.
Erasmus Magister by Charles Sheffield blends real history and fiction cleverly, making legends seem plausible.
Death, edited by Stuart David Schiff is a compilation of stories from Whispers magazine about , well, you can guess from the title. It goes from comedy to horror, as real deaths do.
Black easter and The day after judgement by James Blish are two books in a series. Bored billionaire unleashes all the demons of hell. Concequences happen. No-one ends up happy. You'd think people would learn from other peoples mistakes. But no. Still, it makes for entertaining reading, and gets praise for the consistency of its science and magic.
Merchanters luck by C.J. Cherryh follows on from downbelow station. Once again, this reviewers favourite gets plenty of praise for its characterization and plotting.
The dragon's augury: Star Smuggler is a solo sci-fi adventure game. Can you make enough to pay off the loan on your starship before it gets reposessed. You'll have to work fast and take risks. This is obviously in the same vein as the fighting fantasy books, if a bit more complex. The reviewer certainly seems to like it. We'll be seeing plenty more of these in the coming years.
An open letter to rick loomis: Ahh, joy. It's another amusing case of Gary airing his dirty laundry in public. (or quite possibly the same one referred to obliquely earlier) This is amusing. What are we to do with these bickering games companies? Not much we can do really unless we invent time travel, so lets just enjoy the show and see how it gets followed up on.
Friends in high places: A jokey minific from Roger Moore. What is the ultimate source of ultimate power that nothing else in the game can match up to? Read on to find out. And then bitch about it in forums, because it's so unfair.
What's new talks about building your own dungeon in real life. Wormy has lots of arcane language stuff that is diliberately incomprehensible.
Seems to be a lot of articles on recurring themes and series this month. Combined with the continuing real life drama, this makes it most interesting in context, particularly since a big chunk of the issue was pretty dull on its own merits. The average quality definitely seems to be on a downswing at the moment. Lets hope they can pull out of this soon.
84 pages. Another personell change this issue, as Jake is off to crystal publications. Instead of promoting upwards like they have in the past, they airdrop Mike Cook into the job. (wonder what changes he'll make) Poor Kim. Guess he's stuck with his editing job for a while longer. We also get another second class mailing thingy (illegible again. ) Can someone help me with that?
In this issue:
Out on a limb: Not a lot here this month. One letter pointing out an error in the weapon proficiency system a couple of months ago. And another from Len complaining about nebulous sages (good, someone realized how silly that was at the time) and the inconsistency in levels of realism between articles, and calling for more editorial rigor. Kim reminds him that most of the stuff in here is explicitly optional, and people should be able to pick and choose. If we tried to make everyone play the same, they'd just go and play other games.
TSR wants a japanese translator. Apply now! Interesting. Looks like they want to expand into the asian market.
From the sorceror's scroll delivers us more Official AD&Dtm spells. Once again, we get a load of future staples such as Melf's acid arrow, grease, stoneskin and Evard's black tentacles, plus quite a few forgotten ones like ultravision, run and cloudburst. We also get plenty more comments about events in general. They're improving their dice, so we get decent translucent colored ones rather than the horrible little blue uninked ones. We get some more talk about the minute long melee round, and how each attack is an abstraction of events over that time, justification of his hatred of the conan film, and lots of other little tidbits. thrown in without any apparent pattern other than what was on his mind at the time. Once again, this is pretty interesting stuff, and he's as entertaining as ever to read. Whether it improves the game, or just makes wizards even more powerful compared to other classes, is another matter altogether.
Features creatures is in an elven mood this month. We get the Grugach, or wild elves, and Cooshee, aka elven dogs. Plus another elven subrace that thankfully never made it into common use, the valley elf. I guess that name just has too many wrong connotations for people to put into their games without players having giggles. A far more serviceable contribution than his celestial creations.
Spy's advice: What is wrestling value ( A stat that we dropped in 2nd edition. Don't worry about it. Use your regular HtH rating)
Can you conceal an uzi (With a trenchcoat!)
What are the Xp costs for the tech bureau (see below, and refer to issue 45 for more detail. )
Why isn't the british secret service listed (it is. You just need to look under its proper name, not its nickname. )
Do you only get bureau bonuses if you are of the right bureau (usually, yes)
Should the admin figure out XP before or after the mission (after)
What are your odds of picking pockets (compare surprise values and roll. Here are the odds of them spotting you)
Who is james pong (One of the PC's from my own game, originally. He's a 6th level Killer. Watch out)
Which dragon issues have top secret articles (here's the list)
why does some big ammo have less stopping power than it's lower category. (because after a certain size, it starts going straight through you. Oooh, matron. )
Is J.B in Dr Yes James bond (maybe)
Why do silencers weaken guns (because they reduce the blowback and bullet speed, thus making them less accurate. Concealment comes at a cost.)
How do you determine skiing chances. ( Its an area of knowledge. Roll against it like any other)
Whats the difference between regular and fragmentation grenades (Damage. Mainly we just want to make a fun game. We can't be bothered to include dozens of realistic varieties of grenades, with their own varieties of specific injury. )
What does X for weapon speed mean (That's a mistake. It should be VS. Or possibly XX )
Souping up the spider: 11 new varieties of giant spider for your pleasure. With a whole bunch of clever different hunting methods, these guys really don't get enough credit. Monsters like this are an excellent reason why adventurers should travel in parties. One person on their own could easily get webbed up and eaten with just a moments carelessness. After all, your attributes don't scale in OD&D, so if you can't cast spells or reach your weapon, you're screwed. Who's gonna cut you loose, baby?
The deities and demigods of greyhawk: More official stuff from Gary, as he promised. We get Heroneous and Hextor, the rival brothers of martial discipline. Mmm, slashy . Iuz, the withered demonspawn. And St Cuthbert, the ascended mortal who seems to take on the evangelical christian role in Greyhawk. More stuff that would continue in much the same form editions later. We also see the start of giving clerics of specific gods special abilities to differentiate them, which is nice. Of course, at the moment, there is absolutely no balance between them, which isn't so good. Still, it's pretty interesting to see another bit of D&D canon start. I wonder how it'll develop in the next few issues.
great stuff, though I've noticed a few snide remarks at 4e's expense over the course of the thread. Not a fan of the direction the game has gone, I take it?
) they aren't particularly over or underpowered, but also don't have any particularly imaginative new abilities. So they're merely a bit meh, as compared with the utter embaressment that are barbarians. 
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