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.
An extensive set of articles on the astral plane takes the crucial center spot this issue. 13 pages of general stuff on the description and physics, plus a 5 page mini adventure. This makes me very happy indeed. Because I'm a huge planes fan, and because it's such a big part of this issue, I'm going to break it down into it's subsections.
The preface gives us a basic description. Silvery weightless place with conduits, psychic wind, occasional bits of debris. Not that dissimilar to later developments, apart from the lack of dead gods.
Astral encounters is still a bit vague, as they still don't have many creatures to populate the place with. Again, the chances of meeting a god passing through are rather higher than later fluff would indicate. Most of the creatures will be rather powerful, but that's ok, as you'll probably be pretty high level too if you're there.
Astral traveling reiterates the common ways to get there. Will you project, or go there bodily? Either way, you don't need to worry about food, drink, sleep, aging, etc, because time passes at the rate of one day per thousand years. But it does catch up after you leave, so be prepared.
Encounter checks and the psychic wind elaborates on the chances of running into trouble. This should have been condensed with astral encounters, as this positioning is not very good organization.
Movement and combat establishes the intelligence powered flight that people in astral space use to get around. Watch the wizard doesn't leave everyone else behind. Fun stuff, because it requires very different tactics to be successful in to regular battles.
Magical alterations is mostly a list of spells that don't work, (druids in particular are rather screwed) but there are also some ones with weird effects. This eats up a lot of space, as they tackle every spell individually, rather than giving general formulae organized by school and stuff, as they would later in planescape. This could definitely do with some refinement.
Fedifensor is the module. Recover a powerful magical sword from a githyanki fortress. Just another day for seasoned adventurers. This one involves a lot of luck, as if you roll badly, you may might meet a demon prince or greater titan along the way, while the final fortress would be a walkover for anyone strong enough to face down things that powerful. Don't think attacking everything you see head-on is the best course of action.
I've quite enjoyed this, as it feels familiar, but is still noticeably missing several elements that would be crucial to the later planescape portrayal. It's nice to know which bits were part of the original conception and what's changed since then. And as this is one of the few planes that's survived to 4th edition fairly unscathed, it can't have been bad. There's certainly already room for plenty of adventures here. Now all we need is a good set of articles on the ethereal and outer planes. Sometime soon, hopefully.
Fiction: King of the cats by Gillian Fitzgerald. Ahh, romance. What a wonderful thing. But where fae are involved, it never turns out well for the humans involved. A nicely mythical feeling little story.
Loyal readers: More talk from Gary. He comments on the various character classes he's thinking of developing, and the feedback he's received upon them. He once again strongly rejects the idea of anti-paladins, and talks about demoting the monk to an optional class. On the plus side, they're considering making a full oriental variant of D&D with all new classes. Yay. More foreshadowing. Another thing that it'll take them years to actually get round to publishing, but that's interesting in itself. On the negative side, he introduces one of the dumber mid 1st edition optional rules. Comeliness. Separating physical attractiveness and social skill and presence is not an inherently bad idea, as the WoD system shows, but doing so in this kludgy way mid edition just turns the two into even greater dump stats, given how few are the number of things that they are used for. What was he thinking?
Poker, chess, and the AD&D system: A fifth piece from gary this month (whatever happened to his promise not to write too much and monopolize the magazine? I guess the same thing that happened to their promise to always cover a wide range of games. ) Once again, he reminds people that the AD&D rules are official, and owned soley by TSR. If you add to, subtract from or alter them, you are no longer playing an Official AD&Dtm Game. On the other hand, I as the creator and head of the company, can create Official AD&Dtm Material as I choose. It is a duty I take on with a heavy heart, and a determination to make the game more fun for you, loyal readers! This is primarily him commenting on and justifying the recent stuff such as barbarians and devas, and their oddities when compared to the standard rules. All of this was well thought out! You can rely on my judgement! I roll my eyes. He really really needs an editor who'll say no to him.
The role of books: Lew gives us a group of big reference books containing the catalogue of myths and fairytales in condensed form. Any one of these contains enough plots to keep you going for centuries, if you file off the serial numbers and mix them together. Of course they're probably not easy to find these days, and the internet is more comprehensive than even the thickest book can manage. But there's a lot to be said for editorial oversight. You'll have to decide for yourself if you can search out stories individually and tolerate reading it all on a screen.
Reviews: Trollpak is a runequest supplement, giving us plenty of detail on the Uz, as they call themselves, including makng them available as PC's, plus a bunch of different adventures based around them. Readable, comprehensive, and not forgetting the gloranthan sense of humour. Just be careful not to overpower the PC's, especially when using them in large groups.
Wormy gets back home and has to defend his horde. What's new gets Sooooo close to doing sex in D&D this time before being interrupted.
So it looks like we get to see the seed of the plans that would eventually grow into Oriental Adventures. Probably the biggest variant made on 1st edition AD&D, showing how you can completely rework the classes and monsters while keeping the same basic framework. This is rather a divided issue. On one hand we have tons of cool stuff on the planes, and several other good articles. On the other hand, Gary is continuing his unchecked rampage through the magazine, adding on stuff all over the place seemingly at random, while insulting anyone who gets in his way. What is up with that? I seriously hope they'll start putting more freelancer articles in again soon.
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?
Some bits I like, some I don't. Just like with all the editions. That won't stop me from playing it. Plus, as I've said before, I'm cultivating a generally snarky persona for these reviews because I find it more fun to write like that. If I get complaints from both the grognards and the 4rons then I'm probably doing it right.
104 pages. Another extra large christmas episode. Nice. After more than a year of 84 pagers, I was starting to wonder when there would next be a size increase. The cover's nothing much to shout about this time, however. Oh well, hopefully the contents'll make up for that.
In this issue:
Out on a limb: A contrasting pair of letters, as is their wont, one praising the language stuff in issue 66, and asking for more of it, and more attention paid to it in official modules; and the other saying that actually putting fantasy grammars and vocabularies in is a waste of space, and too much attention to pointless detail that hardly anyone will actually use in a game. Ahh, the usual can't please everyone problem. No getting around that one.
A letter on the great how illusions should work debate, adding their own opinions and houserules.
A letter rubbishing the idea that all clerics should be forbidden edged weapons, regardless of alignment or their deities creed and culture. We have to break out of the medieval european mold.
A letter pointing out how inconvenient digging the right bit of equipment out of your pack is in the heat of battle, and the effect this has on wizards trying to cast from their spellbook. If you take that into account, you'll find it's not unbalanced at all :rolleyes:
Featured creatures gives us lots of fungal, er, fun this month. Ascomids, phycomids and basidronds. Some seriously freaky looking and acting things. I suspect that like bug and deep sea fish based monsters, this may be another case of things based on reality being stranger than ones just invented wholecloth. In any case, these are worthy additions to the D&D dungeon ecology, fitting in perfectly with the array of slimes, oozes and things like gelatanous cubes and carrion crawlers. Take them out from a distance, because otherwise you'll get gunk all over you.
Be a two-fisted fighter: Roger Moore turns his eye on two weapon fighting, one of the more problematic little tricks in the game. This is mostly clarifications and semi-official houserulings, not really adding much to the rules as a whole. It points out just how dangerous high dex characters are if they choose to become two weapon fighters, as they nearly double their damage output. Thanks for that, roger. Now every unimaginative twink'll want to play one. (the smart ones, of course, will keep on playing wizards and druids.) I suppose it would have happened sooner or later, he just helped it along. Are the crimes of the proletariat the fault of the proclamations of the elite? Did this open the door for drizzt and his clones? Is it way past midnight, and I'm reaching for things to say to finish this issue off? Who can say.
The gen con mini's competition this year gets a good looking over. They give us the winners and runners up in the various categories, and show us photos of the dioramas. The legibility of the photos still isn't perfect, but is an improvement on most of their attempts in earlier magazines.
Up, up and away: Looks like TSR has another new game to promote. Dawn patrol is actually a new version of Fight in the Skies, a game that has been mentioned in this magazine a few times. Obviously, they think the new edition is a substantial improvement. No great surprises here. I'll reserve judgement for a more impartial review.
Beg, borrow or steal: An article for Barbarian Prince, of all things. Which is pretty cool really, given how much they've ossified in recent issues. This gives you a load of extra options for making a little money, most of them on the larcenous side. Well, Glenn does enjoy his shades of grey. I rather like this. It adds lots of options without reducing the danger, and gives me lots of clues as to how the rules work in play. Which does a far better job of selling me on the game than the straight promo piece above. Anyone know if this is available in pdf anywhere?
Thrills and chills: Ooh. This is cool. (literally) Adventuring in the ice age. A rather harsher environment than usual, given that getting hold of enough food is trickier, and there are huge swathes of technology that haven't been developed yet. Just surviving is an adventure in itself, given the creatures out there in a D&D world. The author really does play up the degree of hardship involved, expanding on the cold rules, and giving us a whole new set of encounter tables. If you liked dark sun, and gritty survivalist fantasy in general, this should be fun to play with.
From the sorceror's scroll gets a new, more dignified header, and gives us lots more official high level spells, including quite a few named ones such as Otiluke's telekinetic sphere and Mordenkainen's disjunction. The length of each description is considerably longer than in previous entries. We also get to find out who played the various named wizards that made the spells, which is neat. As in the last issue, we get quite a few spells that would become staples of play, such as chain lightning, contingency, and teleport without error, but also some that didn't, including a whole range of spells for dealing with extraplanar creatures such as binding, truename and dolor. This is pretty useful stuff, that once again boosts the power and versatility of wizards quite a bit. And thankfully, his spleen seems vented after last months outburst, so he stays on topic this time. What a relief. We wouldn't want to spoil christmas by fighting, would we?
Leomund's tiny hut also gets a pretty new colour header. He introduces the cloistered cleric, the wimpy non-adventuring variant who stays at home healing people and copying books. So your characters can be ordered around by people who's asses they could kick no trouble, with the threat of withholding their magical healing and training. :sigh: We don't need this, the game doesn't need this. Still, at least we get some new spells out of the deal, which is always useful. As ever, you've got to seriously filter lens output for the useful bits, because big chunks of it are not, and some are actively detrimental to your fun quotient.
Will you be doing articles on the electronic magazines, too, or just sticking to the physical ones?
Like I said at the beginning of the thread, I intend to stop at the end of the print magazines, purely for the sake of my own sanity, and the desire to keep this ridiculous task I've somehow got myself into completable. I may tackle the 4e ones sometime in the future, but not untill 5e is announced at the very earliest.
Well, think of it this way, issue wise, you're about 20% complete. Fuggin' fantastic you!
I think I'll ignore page count for now.
__________________ 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.
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?
Last edited by cildarith; 16th December 2008 at 03:39 AM..
The adventure is yours! Not a very good pic as they advertise the basic and expert sets, with very two-dimensional looking characters. If you were feeling uncharitable, you might suspect them of mispromoting it, because the high-ups want AD&D to sell better than BD&D.
What's in the water: The fiend folio forgot to put expanded tables for underwater encounters. So its up to the magazine, as usual, to cover for their mistakes and omissions. What a job to have. This is pretty much as you'd expect, lots of tables, plus some expansion on the aquatic versions of various monsters. Not that interesting, but you'd miss it if it wasn't there. After all, in a long running game, chances are you'll spend some time adventuring underwater.
Weather in the world of greyhawk: This month centerpiece is a strange one. A detailed system for determining what the weather will be like, based upon your latitude, terrain and time of year. Which I guess will work for any roughly earth sized and structured world. They've certainly put plenty of research into it, with citations and a bibliography. And Gary approves. So even if it might be a bit dull, all the really dull stuff's already been done for you. Just roll on it and enjoy the results. Or decide on weather based on plot. Or completely ignore the weather, as far too many of us do. The choice is yours (or at least, your GM's), as ever.
Gaming by mail can be nice: Yeah yeah. You would say that, wouldn't you. A rundown of the pro and cons of PbM games. As we have seen, this has a lot in common with modern MMO's, apart from the massively slower response times between turns, and corresponding effort you need to put in to keep the game going. They can also get pretty expensive, especially if you start privately corresponding with other players. Still, at least you're in no danger of being glued to your computer for 20 hours solid. Sorry, I'm afraid that you can't tempt me with this one. I have no craving for another nonproductive time-eater in my life.
Deities and demigods of greyhawk: Several more familiar faces are introduced to us, plus a couple of unfamiliar ones as well. Celestian, Fharlanghn, Ehlonna, Pholtus and Tritherion. Once again, clerics worshipping them get extra benefits, ranging from a single extra spell to a whole array of neat tricks. Ahh, power creep. Pretty soon, no-one'll want to play a standard cleric. I'm divided by this. One on hand, inflation is bad, especially as clerics are pretty powerful already, but on the other hand, properly differentiating clerics mechanically is cool. Oh well. They solved the problem eventually. I just need to get through the next 18 years.
The dragon's augury: Robert plamodon gives us a review that is technically one of High fantasy, but is actually more focussed upon the solo adventure that comes with it, plus the idea of solo games in general. Which is certainly a topic that deserves examination, as the Fighting Fantasy series gains popularity, and plenty of other companies try to get in on the market as well. How do you ensure that they retain interest through multiple plays, and keep the reader from cheating? Several other books and their quirks and merits are also mentioned. Whatever happened to these? Another genre killed by the rise of computer games. Still that's quite a few years in the future, and hopefully we'll be seeing more reviews in the meantime.
Borderlands is a runequest supplement. It gives details of both the area, and 7 scenarios for the players to adventure in. It gets plenty of praise for both the quality of its writing and visual design. Once again Glorantha beats Greyhawk in terms of setting depth, character characterisation and integration with the rules.
Elric: Battle at the end of time, is a strategy game based loosely on the novels. While it does have quite a number of features that emulate it's source material, it still leaves the reviewer cold, feeling it lacks depth and direction. Try harder next time guys.
You've always got a chance: Ahh, using attribute rolls as a catch-all for anything the rules didn't cover. It's been a couple of years since we've seen that suggested. And it's still the best solution that doesn't involve ripping the system apart to implement a proper skill system. Nothing particularly controversial or innovative here.
Off the shelf covers tons of books this month. Obviously they want you to have plenty of options to spend your money on.
Voyage from yesteryear by James P Hogan tells the story of the conflict between the first and second wave of colonists at Alpha Centauri.
Confessions of a crap artist by Philip K Dick is not an autobiography, nor does it have supernatural elements. It does, however have an intricate narrative that shifts points of view in a clever way, and is highly recommended.
Light on the sound by Somtow Sucharitkul tells another story of mans inhumanity to other creatures and each other in the pursuit of precious things. Which may be a grim topic, but that doesn't make it a bad read.
Crystal singer by Anne McCaffrey has no tentpegs. But is does have lots of crystals. And the usual large cast full of conflicting motivations.
The darkling by David Kesterton has more crystals. While it includes lots of pulp adventure tropes, the characters are not two-dimensional heroes and villains.
The white plague by Frank Herbert is of course the story of how a mad biologist wipes out all the women. Lots of grim drama full of social commentary ensues.
Shadows of sanctuary, edited by Robert Lynn Asprin is a third collection of stories from the thieves world setting. They get some pretty big authors in to flesh it out, so the quality is quite high. More evidence that there were plenty of authors already aware of and approving of RPG's (or at least, willing to learn and write about their settings to get some money )
The battle of forever by A.E van Vogt is a reprint of one of his old books. No further details are given, apart from it supposedly being a classic.
Outpost of jupiter by Lester del ray is another reprint. Solid pulpy fun rather than anything deep and philosophical, it still provides good light entertainment the reviewer.
Psycho II by Robert Bloch is the long awaited (and much demanded, thanks to the movie) sequel, revealing what happens next after Norman Bates' release. Lots of social commentary takes place as he notes the insanity of modern liberal laws and social policies. Oh, and we mustn't forget the tabloids either. Seems like another case of things have changed less than people think they have.
The last man on earth, edited by Isaac Asimov & co, is a compilation of short stories bout that very topic. I think I've actually read this one, and yeah, it is a pretty tight collection.
Clique by Nicholas Yermakov tells thestory of a future where anyone can look how they like, and the resulting rebellious underground that develops in response. As with much speculative fiction, this is merely the macguffin that drives the human drama.
Journey to the center by Brian Stableford is a story of people exploring an alien planet, and the weird things they find along the way.
The best from FANTASY & SCIENCE FICTION, edited by E.L. Ferman is the 24th compilation from the magazine. Not just fiction, this also collects essays and scientific articles as well, with plenty of commentary from the editor to tie it all together. So you get plenty of education with your entertainment.
Strange eons By Robert Bloch Is the one where Cthulhu gets nuked and it doesn't stop him. :rolleyes: A bit of a power-up from his first appearance, where a steamboat puts him off long enough for the protagonist to get away. That's the problem with pastiches. They can wind up being overly reverential of the source material.
AMAZING magazine is now published by TSR. Subscribe now!
Wormy harks back to it's very first issue, as it's riddle time again. What's new helps relations of gamers shop for them this christmas. Dragonmirth is fairly amusing this month.
Lots more adverts at the end. In fact, this seems to have been a very ad heavy issue in general, even above the general upward trend at the moment. I guess it's important for sales to really push these things at christmas.
While not as bad as some of the recent issues, all in all, this year has been the first one in which they not only haven't improved substantially in size and quality, but actually got worse in some respects. Which is a bit worrying. They definitely don't have the innocent enthusiasm that they used to. Even if the meteoric rise is over now, hopefully they'll figure out how to gradually refine things and pull upward again next year. After all, there's still a long way to go before they reach the production values of their last few years. Lets hope the quality to drek ratio isn't too low these next few years.
Voyage from yesteryear by James P Hogan
Confessions of a crap artist by Philip K Dick
Crystal singer by Anne McCaffrey
The white plague by Frank Herbert
Shadows of sanctuary, edited by Robert Lynn Asprin
The battle of forever by A.E van Vogt
The last man on earth, edited by Isaac Asimov & co
Zowie, I have all of these on my bookshelf right now (haven't read the Dick or von Vogt ones yet)!
I quite liked the Hogan one. Just read it about 3 months ago.
103 pages. Looks like Gary's recent outbursts have once again provoked a rash of critical responses. And once again, they proclaim their independence. The reason they're covering D&D more is because it's popularity relative to everything else has increased so much, so they're going where the money is. Which is a bit depressing in itself, but that's the nature of an expanding outlier. It takes a while for that success to trickle down to the rest of the industry, if it ever does. Economics sucks. Lets try and get back to the escapism.
In this issue:
Out on a limb: A letter calling out the idiocy of making thieves cant an actual language, rather than a set of jargon, like it is in reality. Frankly, if you can accept the concept of alignment languages, you can accept the concept that thieves and druids have their own language that's the same all over the world. But of course so many people couldn't, which is why they got rid of them in 3e.
A letter saying that read illusionist magic contradicts earlier statements that illusionists don't need spells to read their books. They reply that yes, that was the case, but newest rules supercede earlier ones. It's their game, and they can change the rules any time they want. And then you have to change them too, otherwise you are no longer playing an Official AD&Dtm Game. So there.
Two more letter pointing out errors. Again, they reply. Some of them were indeed errors, but others were actual changes to the rules. But how can we be sure which is which, when it seems like every few issues, we have gary apologizing for an error that was in a previous one.
A letter saying that Nystuls magic aura should be an illusionist spell, because, y'know, it makes an illusion. A valid point.
A letter engaging in lots of quibbling about the language articles a few issues ago, with a particular focus on the prevailance of literacy in D&D's world. Yes, not being able to read has quite a few drawbacks. But even now, there are big chunks of the world where a substantial percentage of the population can't read. Still, I suppose modern D&D is even more unrealistic in that respect.
Another letter quibbling about the amount of psychosomatic effect illusion spells can have. They quote real life examples of hypnotism and placebo effects. This can't end well. We also get yet more comments on the language articles. They really are proving surprisingly controversial.
And finally a bit of errata. Seems like David Megarry was left out of the credits for the Dungeon computer game. Guess he'll just have to settle for a mention here.
Runes: Ancient languages. Now there's a fitting topic for a D&D game. Lots of real world history, plus some advice on how to incorporate it into your game. Which mainly amounts to window dressing on the current system. Not the most spectacular starter feature ever. But it's too early in the morning for a whole new magic system anyway.
Runestones: Hello again Elminster. What are you talking about this time? Dethlek, the dwarven rune language. What a co-incidence. This is of course a good example of how to apply a real world idea to the game, changing it just enough that it doesn't feel like a total rip-off. Of course, he slips in more realms setting details along the way, and we get more of an idea of elminsters personal voice as contrasted with Ed's. Actually, the framing is more interesting than the subject. I'm not sure that's such a good thing. Oh well, it's more entertaining than the previous article anyway.
Fiction: Be Quest by Atanielle Annyn Noel. Vaguely connected to first two articles in that it's set in a kinda scandinavian mileu, this is basically a little story of overcoming your own fears. No real supernatural element, very little setting, only two pages long. Feels a bit insubstantial really.
From the Sorceror's scroll: Anotther official class introduced this month. The thief-acrobat. Another proto-prestige class like the bard, this allows you to specialize in certain functions of your class at the expense of the others. Which is certainly a development. Albeit one with some precedent, in the illusionist. Now, if only they could apply that principle in an organized fashion to all the classes. Anyway, back to the subject at hand. This seems to be designed for people who want more cinematic, mobile combats. While certainly not at wuxia levels of jumping ability, they are substantially better than most characters. Course, someone buffed with fly and haste'll beat even that no trouble, just as knock beats any lockpicker. This certainly isn't as problematic as the barbarian, in any case. A fairly middle of the road article in terms of quality.
Ha. Despite economic downturns, TSR is hiring 160 new staff. Is that really wise? S'not a good idea to expand beyond your limits and get into debt.
Fiction: Everybody eats everybody on sunday's planet by Jeff Swycaffer. Yay. After a load of mediocre articles, we finally have a kickass bit of sci-fi, setting up a story, an ecology and a fairly convincing alien psychology and using it to make a sociopolitical point, all in three pages. Very nice indeed. And to think some authors would take multi-hundred page trilogy to get to the same point.
Deities and demigods of greyhawk: This month's addition to the pantheon are Istus and Obad-hai. Plus we get stats for time elementals, which are a lot smarter than regular elementals, and get time manipulation powers that make them a pain in the ass to deal with. Bow down and worship, because the alternative is not a good one. No great surprises here.
Charting the classes: Roger Moore gets all statistical on us. Mmm. Just how I like it baby. He analyses relative power level at various XP levels. And we discover that druids and bards rock, monks suck, and illusionists are surprisingly well balanced. Gee, that's a surprise. He then suggests a bunch of stuff to fix these problems. He also turns his eye to Gary's new introductions, and is distinctly critical of them. He obviously put in rather more thought, particularly in terms of mathematical rigour, than the original writer. This is why it's good to have a mathematician on the team. If you don't the game you design will have substantial imbalances, no matter how hard you try. Okay, so it won't be perfect even with one, but you can get a lot closer.
Featured Creatures is still in a fungible mood, with the ustilagor and zygom. Psychic fungus that promotes paranoia, and parasitic fungus that grows inside you and takes you over. Both are pretty gross, and should make for interesting conflicts that go beyond straight-up battles. Especially when they turn PC's against one another. That's always fun.
Caped crusaders and masked Marvels: More analytical stuff from Roger. He turns his attention to the superhero genre and the innate problems that making a game for them presents. Killing is not de rigeur and the rules need to support this, because damage systems where characters are fragile (yes, you aberrant) will result in people dying a lot even if you try and play nice. Physics are exceedingly loose, and the range of powers characters can have very wide. Keeping a team together and following the adventure you had planned may be a problem. All of which are surmountable problems, but it does mean the games are easier to break than D&D. While this points out the problems, it doesn't do a lot to solve them, particularly on the mechanical side. You'll still have to convince your players to play along with the genre conventions, which might not be easy. This is definitely an area that needs improving.
Of course there is some themed advertising adjacent to the above article.
Arakhar's Wand: Another complete boardgame. We are building up quite a substantial selection of these. The good guys hunt for the wand before the evil side can amass enough monsters to take over the world (Muahahahaha!) Some very dry point by point rules make the system pretty clear, but feel rather mechanical to read. The number of variations it has should make for a reasonable amount of replay value. Another solid bit of design.
We get another food fight illustration, apropos of nothing.
Leomund's tiny hut: Len gives us another unofficial class, the Entertainer. Are bards and jesters not enough for you? This seems to be designed to make their progression a whole new gamestyle in itself, with an incredibly idiosyncratic advancement structure with multiple forking advanced class paths. Given their variety, I could easily imagine a whole party comprised mainly of entertainers working as a troupe. This is almost as big a departure from the original mileu as the attempt to twist D&D into boys own adventure in the professor ludlow module. I have to applaud him for the bravery of his attempt. On the other hand, I have no idea how well these guys would work out in actual play with a normal team. Does anyone have any actual play experiences to supply, because I'm really rather curious. This doesn't quite top carnivorous flying squirrels for sheer entertainment, but it comes pretty close. I guess they'll have to train some and use them in their act if they want to reach that elusive 12th level.
Ready for anything: Lew reminds us that you should be prepared for anything when dungeoneering. Which of course means big heavy packs full of just in case like wolfsbane, holy water, and climbing equipment. They don't have those encumbrance rules for nothing, you know. This is solid advice for anyone engaged in old skool dungeoneering, because you know the DM won't pull punches, and if you forgot to pack something, chances are you'll wind up wishing you had it. Another solid article from him, that's still useful today. Hell, the basic principles are applicable to real life, if you change the specifics. Fill your jacket or handbag with things you've needed in the past, and probably will again in the future, and you'll avoid so many crises and become the envy of all your friends. (Which means they'll be constantly coming to you for help, but that's a price I'm willing to pay. )
Buy the Fantasia strategy game now! No comment needed.
More pages from the mages: Ha. We get the first hint as to the extent of Elminsters wizardry (and letchery) skills. Well, he is capable of interplanar travel fairly easily, so he can't be a slouch at magical knowledge. We get four spellbooks, and seven new spells, six of them named, plus 16 poisons, 4 new glyphs of warding, and tons of realms tidbits. We're starting to see place names and people show up more than once. It still isn't nearly enough to piece the world behind the hints together, but it is more than enough to intrigue. Before you know it, people'll be bombarding him with questions, and he'll have to reveal ever more. It's a nice way to build a world really. Make up whatever stuff seems fun at the time, and then figure out how to piece it together afterwards. He's certainly doing a better job of it than Gary at the moment.
Words of wisdom about weapon statistics: This is actually a spy's advice under different name. Because lots of people have questions about weapons. Remember folks, know what your weapons can do. They could save someone's life.
Why aren't official guns stats calculated using the formulas in the gun design section. (Lots of reasons. But mainly because we know better than to follow the rules we impose on you. Plus custom guns are designed by amateurs, not pros.)
How are range modifiers designed (more complicated formulae based on examination of real world guns, then modified as we choose)
How did you choose which weapons to include in the book. (we cut ones that were too vaguely described, or statistically too similar to other ones, so you had good choices. Here's some of the ones that were cut)
The reviews section has dropped it's header. Well, it's a new year, they've got to change the format somehow. Anyway, this month's reviews AAAAaaaaare.....
United nations is a game of global politics. Which power bloc will TAKE OVER THE WORLD! first? It seems simple at first, but there's plenty of strategy to be found in it's rules.
Jasmine, battle for the mid-realm takes the characters and world from the story, and lets you resolve the conflict yourself with a strategy card game. After all, they never did get a chance to finish it in the magazine. It has plenty of depth and some features that make it not just about luck and tactics, but also your own skills at negotiating with other players. And obviously the art is pretty good. Someone put a lot of care and attention into this. So the reviewer likes it then
The role of books: Lew continues to gives us books that will help us with our worldbuilding. Cities, castles, other cultures. You'll be able to build better ones in your game if you know how the real ones work. Plus some advice on how to get hold of rare and out of print books. This isn't that interesting, but hopefully the things it points you too will be.
What's new tackles what to do with your christmas presents, Wormy finally gets to the fighting. Dragonmirth is hungover from the christmas celebrations and doesn't get there in time.
Lots and lots of adverts, including a clearance sale of some out of print OD&D stuff. That'll be worth a good deal more in a few years time.
Not a very good issue to start the year off with, with tons of dull stuff, particularly near the beginning where it's most crucial to make a good impression. Looks like the slide in quality control is continuing, and however much they may protest that they are not a house organ, they do seem very much beholden to their masters whims at this point. They really could be doing better.
Out on a limb: A letter complementing them on the weather article, and also providing some minor errata.
A letter asking them to cover other games more. They reply that they would if they were more popular. But they aren't. So there. This is the magazine for the cool geeks.
A letter asking them to use a better form of binding than staples. But then how could people remove the adventures in the center? Plus it'd cost more. They don't want to raise prices.
Another article pointing out the flaws in their thieves cant article. Using so many sibilants would not be a good idea when trying to communicate quietly in a dangerous area, as they're incredibly noticable to anyone who might be listening, even at very low levels. A very valid point indeed. You should pay more attention to the specific sounds that make up a language and their voicing qualities when designing them. If only people did that in real life. Then maybe we wouldn't get languages that you need several pounds of phlegm in your throat to pronounce properly.
The smith: Another NPC class for you to ponder the use of. Well, I guess it'll make players thing twice about killing NPC's instead of paying for new stuff. This is another example of new experiments in class design, giving them unique benefits when combined with PC classes. Since their XP costs are pretty low, this might actually be viable for a PC. One of the better examples of profession classes we've seen.
The hull truth about speed: A big correction here. For whatever reason, the people designing the ship rules in the DMG made larger ships slower than small ones. This is rubbish! Though they may have higher inertia, in reality, the longer a ship is, the faster it can go. It'll just take a while to start, stop or turn. Glad that's sorted out then. Now, will they remember this when designing the rules for the next edition? Previous experience points to unlikely.
From the sorceror's scroll: Oh boy, social status. One of those annoying things that crops up every now and then. Since these are Official AD&Dtm Tables, I assume they apply to greyhawk. So lets see what they reveal about the setting assumptions. If characters are too low in status, they can't get the training to qualify for many classes. There is a quite substantial middle class, and adventurers often hail from it. Most people still go in for official weddings. Half-orcs have about a 1 in 20 chance of being from a stable loving family. First and second children either die a lot, or are discouraged from becoming adventurers, as they are less common as adventurers than 3rd-6th children. (also, orcs apparently don't go for virgins, because a half-orc PC generated by these tables has no chance of being a first child. That generates interesting concepts. ) Hmm. I get the impression that these may not have been thought through too well, as they fail to build a cohesive picture. But then, when has D&D's socioeconomic structure ever made sense? Depressing to realize that's par for the course.
A caste of realistic characters: Frank Mentzer gives his own contributions on the topic. Thinking about social classes in your game is another important part of worldbuilding. And that's something you shouldn't skimp on, unless you like endless one dimensional dungeon crawls. Relationships between people and monsters (not that sort, this isn't third edition) are important, and you ought to think about them. Yeah, we get it already. Tell us something new.
Falling damage: Belated errata, what an annoying phrase. Belated errata, aint no passing craze. It means the rules suck, and you'll have to cut out this page. Its the rarely seen, revisioning. Belated errata. When I was a young games player. (When he was a young games PLAYER!) I thought that for things to ever be published, they'd be examined until they were perfect. But no, when I grew up you shattered my dreams. And the fall was much more painful than you might think. From linear to geometric, we must put a harsher yardstick. To make things more realistic. So even high level characters fear the reaper, turning them into pizza when they jump off a rooftop with no magic to stop them going SPLAT! :extended silence: Another Official AD&Dtm Rules Correction that most of you probably ignored.
Giants can be awful or awe-full: Nothing to do with actual giants, this is about using characters from the Giants in the Earth series in your own game. Putting the characters in as they are may provoke a certain amount of protest and incredulity from your players, particularly if they've actually read the magazine and know what they're up against. You may want to adapt them to your campaign, changing their statistics, or filing the serial numbers off and using their stats for a different character. Along with the advice we get an index of all the fictional characters statted in the magazine, including those under different titles. A nice way to cap off the series, before it takes an extended break. Actually, they have stopped quite a few of their old regulars over the past year or so. What's up with that?
Deities and demigods of greyhawk: This month's objects of worship are Boccob the uncaring and his servant Zagyg (nudge nudge wink wink), and Olidammara the laughing rogue. (so if you need a healer for your all entertainer party, he'll be the guy for the job.) More ones that continued on to 3rd edition. Their cleric's special powers are fairly muted this issue, so the game will not be broken by permitting them.
Figure feature: Once again they've changed the title and format of the mini's column. Proper categorized grading is out. This is totally dumbing down. I disapprove. All the minis this issue have a knightly theme. Well, it's a good staple. How will they meddle with this next?
Dwarves in Space: Ahem, surely you mean DWARVES IN SPAAAAAACE!!!!!, Mr Moore. This is crossover advice on how to put D&D stuff in a sci-fi setting, with a particular focus on Traveller. Just how liberal are you prepared to be with the laws of physics? In any case, it's not that hard, unless you want to make them available as PC's. In which case you need to build career and aging stuff. Thankfully he does just that. And the tables seem pretty decent. Not bad at all.
A second Volley: Ed Greenwood returns to the idea of putting firearms in D&D. Having done cannons and muskets last time, this time it's handgun's turn. Remember, old guns sucked. It took several minutes to reload, and there was a substantial risk of hurting yourself if you loaded it wrong. Still, at this point wizards took 10 minutes per level of the spell to memorize each one. (yeah, like any of you really enforced that one) A fireball represents 30 minutes work in the morning. Comparing damage outputs by that metric, they don't seem that unbalanced. As ever, Ed does a sterling job of both research and writing the piece.
Mehica: Another module that takes AD&D to new places, this time mesoamerican jungle. Which means step pyramids, human sacrifice, werejaguars, and lots of stuff to loot. Sound like fun to you? A 12 pager, this still finds the space to introduce a variant character class ( a neutral ranger type) and plenty of twisted setting detail. As is often the case in this era, there are several challenges that are way out of the league of the stated party level, that the group is expected to avoid rather than fight. (what 7th level group would have a chance against a 26th level cleric?) A pretty solid module that shows once again, dungeoncrawling does not have to involve literal dungeons, and humans can be just as monstrous as any actual monster.
How to make the most out of FRP tournaments: Hmm. Seems like we have a returning article theme. How do you do well in tournament games? Since it's been a few years, this has evolved a bit. A very long article (11 pages, although after removing ads, probably only 8 pages of writing.) this goes into quite a lot of detail on the process of preparation for a game and advantageous ways to behave during play. Learn the rules, figure out what kind of GM and module you're up against and adapt your play accordingly. Sort out who's boss in the team and work together efficiently. Keep things moving because you only have a limited amount of time. Don't walk into obvious traps. And try to have fun through all this. Not an easy task, by any metric. Seems like playing to win that hard would suck the fun out of gaming. You certainly won't get the chance to do much roleplaying in any case.
The game within a game: Ahh, another perennial question. How do you represent skill in something in game without bringing player skill into the equasion but also allow for some measure of personal choice. Skill rolls modified with rock/paper/scissors general strategy list selections isn't a bad way to go about it. Now, if only AD&D had a proper skill system. But that's not the fault of this article is it? They're doing the best with what they have.
Off the shelf: The book of the dun cow by Walter Wangerin Jr is a story involving speaking animals. Thankfully, they aren't disneyfied talking animals, as that would be a bit crap.
Special Deliverance by Cliford D Simak is a supernatural mystery story. Can the protagonists survive and solve it? Read it and see.
The man who had no idea by Thomas M Disch is a collection of his short stories. Both comedy and horror are well catered for, and none of them outstay their welcome.
Magician by Raymond Feist is a novel by a gamer. But that does not make it bad by any means. Quite the opposite. The reviewer hails it as a classic, putting together an intricate and epic plot and resolving it nicely, but still leaving the world open for further books.
The odds are murder by Mike McQuay is another featuring his future-noir detective, Matthew Swain. Having hit rock bottom, and lost his license, he's got to claw his way back up again, and take out the people who put him down there. The author convincingly captures the emotional journey he goes through using real life study.
The secret, (by an entire writing team) is both a book about fae stuff and a competition. Hidden in the book are clues to 12 treasures, buried somewhere in America. Can you figure out where the hell they are before anyone else does. No chance by now, given how long it's been. There've been several books like this since then, because I remember seeing this gimmick used a few times. Anyone remember how this turned out?
The venetian court by Charles L Harness is rather simplistic, with 2 dimensional characters, and fails to please the reviewer.
Manshape by John Brunner is another tale of sci-fi drama and confusion, with a well developed setting and characters.
Reviews: Citybook I is a generic RPG supplement to help you build your own urban areas. Obviously you'll have to do quite a bit of adapting to the quirks of your own campaign, but it'd probably still be quicker than creating everything wholecloth. The reviewer is as usual, pretty positive about this.
Civilization is a boardgame that does pretty much what the computer game would later do. Develop your technology, grow your population, and beat all the other players to become the ultimate empire in the world. It goes surprisingly quickly given its scope, and would make a good way to spend an evening for the whole family.
Daredevils is of course a 30's pulp adventure game. This of course means it's in direct competition with TSR's Gangbusters. The reviewer finds the level of crunch in it rather impenetrable, and therefore it's only recommended to hardcore gamers. Reservations aside, it is one of the most comprehensive modern games out there, with interesting mechanics for things beyond just combat. If you want to run an investigation centered game, this could be one for you.
What's new posits the future when gamers are grown up. Reality is less impressive. Wormy uses up his breath weapon.
Another issue that starts off annoyingly and then improves as it goes along. Still, at least they can justify the changes they're making at the moment, even if I might not agree with them. You do have to do a certain amount of dumbing down to maximize popular appeal. But not too much, otherwise people feel patronized, and it doesn't work. Come on, we need a new editorial policy. I'm getting tired of this one.
On the adventureers background generator, it would make sense that many adventurers from highter classes would not be first or second childern, depending in the inheritance practices.
As for Civilisation, I suppose that is the Avalon Hill version, it would be a long evening, I have never seen a game end in less than 6 hours and 8 to 10 is more usual.
My guess is you are going by the advertissed playing time. I have never seen a wargame of the era playable in the stated times.
As for Civilisation, I suppose that is the Avalon Hill version, it would be a long evening, I have never seen a game end in less than 6 hours and 8 to 10 is more usual.
My guess is you are going by the advertissed playing time. I have never seen a wargame of the era playable in the stated times.
On most of these I'm just condensing what the reviewer says, and possibly some opinion on the way they say it. That won't really change until we get to the 90's, and I have personal experience with more of the things being reviewed. Obviously as a games reviewer, he is more likely to engage in marathon sessions than the average family.
) Once again, he reminds people that the AD&D rules are official, and owned soley by TSR. If you add to, subtract from or alter them, you are no longer playing an Official AD&Dtm Game. On the other hand, I as the creator and head of the company, can create Official AD&Dtm Material as I choose. It is a duty I take on with a heavy heart, and a determination to make the game more fun for you, loyal readers! This is primarily him commenting on and justifying the recent stuff such as barbarians and devas, and their oddities when compared to the standard rules. All of this was well thought out! You can rely on my judgement! I roll my eyes. He really really needs an editor who'll say no to him. 
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