Let's read the entire run

Barring a single random issue I bought a year or two back, I think my first real issue is the NEXT ONE. So speed this up, unreason! Though I did borrow a lot of these issues from the library at the time, and a lot of them (like that decanter article) are very familiar.

Oh, and I had a character who had sex with a dragon. In my defense, it was her idea and had no idea I was polymorphed.

I started collecting Dragon regularly with issue #53, although I do have a few older issues I picked up at Gencon (the oldest is #28). At one time, I had all the issues from #53 through #300, but I managed to lose most of them due to various accidents, moves, etc. Nowadays, I just have the older issues and a few not-so-old ones with my own articles in them...

Dragon Magazine Issue 171: July 1991

part 3/6


Forum: James R. Collier replies to the criticism of The Enemy at the Gates. Just as the real world has fantastical areas like Hollywood or Dubai, where all the cool stuff is supported by a serious inflow of money from around the world, so should at least one or two magic heavy cities be possible in a campaign world, even with D&D's pricing system for employing spells commercially. When effects don't have an expiry date, even if you can only afford one every few years, they really add up. So let there be fantastic stuff.

Jager McConnell thinks that computer games can satisfy the roleplaying itch if done right, such as in the Ultima series. People are unlikely to react in the same way to all the situations, and a little randomisation can ensure that experiences are different even with the same player. Oh, and my 40 mb hard drive is more than big enough to handle a few roleplaying books. Bring on the digital age!

Glenn Pruitt also thinks that more advanced AI than they currently have could satisfy the GM'ing role. It might actually work. Take an advanced chatbot, fill it with all the data from the forgotten realms books and novels, and see what happens. It would be the biggest canon lawyer evar, and quite possibly insane as well, but it might get close to passing the Turing test.

Matt Heuser, on the other hand, remains dubious about computer adventure games. They're all a bunch of railroads where there are tons of things you can't do, that commonsensically you could in reality or with an actual DM to arbitrate them. Not that some modules don't do that as well. Rahasia sux! I'm guessing you never picked up the Dragonlance adventures if that's the one you criticise most.

Mario Sismondo often winds up playing additional PC's as well as DM'ing, but tries to do so fairly. Remember, they're people in the game, not avatars of you.

Daniel J. Cuomo also plays and DM's simultaneously, but does so in a group where the current DM rotates. This of course keeps people from abusing knowledge when they're god, because if they do it, the next person can do likewise or reverse their ill-gotten gains. The social contract is much easier to enforce when you aren't dependent on any one person.


The marvel-phile: Another example of the growth of dark edgy anti-heroes here. Darkhawk! Isn't that just a perfect name for this kind of character. Disillusioned about the law after witnessing his father taking bribes, he's discovered a magic amulet, which gives him powers, but the more he uses it, the more trouble he has controlling his temper, causing him to hurt the ones he loves, make stupid decisions in the heat of battle and drive people away. AAAAAAAAAngst!!! :shakes fist at sky: He even went on to join a superhero group called The Loners. (I have no words, save possibly oxymoronic) So this was another sign of the times that I thought was pretty awesome back then, but like shellsuits, getting off your face on E's and believing that the fall of the berlin wall meant the end of war and global tension, now just seems amusing and faintly embarrassing. Still, at least I can enjoy it ironically.


The role of books: Renegade by Gene DeWesse gets a better review than most Star Trek books have managed here. It doesn't venture too deep into the characterisations of the characters, but at least that means it doesn't mess them up like certain other writers.

Achilles choice by Larry Niven and Steven Barnes works rather better as theoretical sci-fi than an actual story. The psychological exploration that would give the themes of sacrifice for power resonance for the reviewer just aren't there.

Blind justice by S N Lewitt is reviewed in a somewhat pretentious way, as the reviewer tries to live up to the cleverness of the book. I do so love it when they try themed reviews. I shall have to experiment with doing a few myself.

The paradise war by Stephen Lawhead gets a moderately negative review. The mythical elements jarr with the self-invented ones, and the pacing is unpleasantly uneven. While curious about what happens next, the reviewer can't say he enjoyed it.

Good night, Mr Holmes by Carol Nelson Douglas is a book about Irene Adler, and her adventures before she crossed the master detective's path. It manages to both complement and contrast with the existing canon, with Irene and her sidekick putting their own spin on the mystery solving business.

The initiate brother by Sean Russel is an oriental adventure. (although not set in Kara-tur, despite using the same name for the empire) It gets a so-so review, doing ok as a story, but not actually feeling very oriental beyond the names. Needs moar research.

Dragon Magazine Issue 171: July 1991

part 4/6


The voyage of the princess ark: Welcome to Slagovich. We get to see the precursor to the Red Steel setting here, as the Ark runs across a land poisoned by it's soil, and forced to rely on supplies of cinnabryl to alleviate the effects on people's minds. As this depletes when people touch it, and the stuff is also used as the primary currency there, this results in a rather unstable economic condition, prone to regular attacks of deflation. It's not all useless though, because some people have found ways to create powerful weapons and gain red-tinged magic powers that don't require components or correspond to regular wizard or cleric spells. How very intriguing. This is definitely deserving of some further investigation. Will they find out more about this? You'll have to wait and see.

In this month, we also finally get stats for Xerdon, who is proving to be easily the second most important PoV character. A maxed out Elf, he may not quite be the equal of Haldemar, but he's certainly no slouch, and if anyone's going to take over, it's him. We also see that the bloody morals brigade have penetrated here as well, resulting in them stepping very awkwardly around the topic of religion. This is definitely a part that feels quite different to read now I have the benefit of hindsight. So much context I was missing before, so many characters I now have a better understanding of. It's all tremendously satisfying.


The nature of the beast: A second minis article this month, this one focussing on painting monsters. Colour and fine detail, my dear, these are what make a mini captivating and lifelike. Even if it isn't a real creature, they usually have body parts drawn from them. And if not, then your imagination is the limit. One of those articles that is helpful because it give lots of specific examples of the effects they're aiming for and how they tried to achieve them. If you want to hone the synasthetic properties of your creations, then you should learn to think like this. I regularly use similar processes when composing music to try and get the right mood to match the lyrics, so this has probably been an inspiration in some small way. Can't say it's a particularly amazing article, but it more than does it's job.


The role of computers: Eye of the Beholder is our latest excursion to the Forgotten Realms. With graphics and sound substantially improved from previous games, it gives you a great dungeon-crawling experience, with the 3D interface meaning you can be attacked from behind if not careful. Just don't expect much actual roleplaying.

Buck Rogers: Countdown to doomsday is another prong of their multimedia assault with this property, once again proving it's getting a lot more money thrown at it than Gamma World or Top Secret ever did. It gets a fairly positive, but not brilliant review.

Dungeon Master:Chaos strikes back is a sequel where the difficulty level picks up where the first one left off, making it damn tricky if you come in with starting level characters. The first encounter in particular is a nightmare. So you'll need to persevere to get to the fun bits.

Lemmings is another classic game that caused me almost as much entertainment as Tetris, although it doesn't seem to have had quite the same longevity. Still damn cool though, and it's nice to be reminded of it after all these years.

Spirit of Excalibur sees you trying to unite the country after the death of King Arthur. They list the bad points first this time, but then go on to deliver a fairly positive review. Funny how that works, but at least it lets you decide if it's worth buying it.


Fiction: Child of ocean by Eluki Bes Shahar. Another if our returning writers delivers a somewhat poetic piece which is essentially about deciding to say you to destiny in a flowery way. Which when you consider her previous one was about denying the demands of your evil magical item and putting it to practical use, does make this a bit of a theme. Still, promoting themes of independence and believing in yourself is hardly a terrible thing, even if it can get a bit cliched and cheesy in the wrong hands. In this case though, I find myself appreciating the story a lot more than I did when I was young, as the questions of adulthood, what you have to sacrifice to achieve it, and if you even want to make those sacrifices at all obviously resonate in a way that I couldn't even conceive of then.


It's clobberin time!: A second superheroic article this month gets meta, looking at the roles superheroes play in their teams. The powers they have naturally push them towards contributing towards a full scale battle in a particular way, particularly when they are in a group. While not as regimented as 4e's role system, (particularly as many heroes fall into more than one category) this is certainly in the same vein, with tactical advice for both individuals and groups. This is another one that was probably an influence, getting me into looking for patterns and symmetry in character groups, and figuring out how to cover your weaknesses while striking at the enemies flaws. Still seems pretty decent, if a bit dated now. Tactical advice for teams is something they haven't covered much, despite it being crucial to playing D&D well. Hopefully they'll have something analogous for Top Secret as well before it disappears for good.

Dragon Magazine Issue 171: July 1991

part 5/6


Role-playing reviews: Fittingly for my first issue, this is talking about introductory modules. At this point in time, the balance of releases has probably skewed a little too far in favour of experienced players. Most of the classic old B series are out of print, and AD&D 2nd ed does't seem to have an obvious introductory adventure at all. This is a real problem. Still, there are some adventures intended for 1st level characters out there, and as ever, Ken wants to help you buy the good ones, so you enjoy your game.

B11 kings festival & B12 kings harvest get fairly good results, both individually and chained together to introduce new players to both the dungeon crawling and role-playing sides of playing D&D. They might not be a keep on the borderlands beater, but they'll do the job. Ken also mentions a houserule of his that I quickly adopted, that of giving characters a bleeding out buffer equal to their Con score to make them less fragile (which was also used by Monte Cook later on) Guess that's another way this issue influenced me.

DDA1 Arena of Thyatis & DDA2 Legions of Thyatis get a somewhat less enthusiastic review. While a nice plot, it doesn't seem that well suited for a novice DM, and you'll either have to do a bit of railroading, or be ready to improvise when the players take a route the adventure isn't prepared for. Good luck.

DMGR1 Campaign sourcebook and catacomb guide is another recommended product. Full of advice for the inexperienced DM, and handy reminders for veterans, it's certainly a lot quicker to read through that than all the stuff from various issues of this magazine if you want a good checklist.

Dungeon master's design kit, on the other hand, doesn't do very well. Aaron Allston produces something that works by filling in forms, which bores Ken, and he suspects the average reader will agree. Only for the OCD then.

DLS1 New beginnings also gets poor marks for making learning the rules too much like work, and also being overly specific, not really working well unless you're playing a Dragonlance game set on Taladas. The odds of a player sticking around if this is their first experience don't seem particularly great.

LC3 Nightwatch in the living city, on thew other hand, gets top marks, having been honed to a fine sheen by it's extensive RPGA playtesting, while still having enough genericness to be applicable to fantasy cities other than raven's bluff. If this is your first experience, you're much more likely to become someone who thinks and talks their way through problems, rather than killing everything. Plus it doesn't take itself too seriously,

WG11 Puppets also gets a fairly positive review, with Ken considering the whimsical elements a plus. Well, he is also a Paranoia writer. And this kind of humour seems to be common even with TSR's best writers of this period, like Ed and Bruce. Like the fashion crimes of the 70's, it's tricky to judge them harshly for it, even if this is one of the modules that's considered rather embarrassing these days.


Conquer the solar system - By mail!: Hmm. I remember this one well as well. By this period, Jim Ward was very much part of the upper management, not one of the boys. And since that was my first impression of him, and his management approach, my impression wasn't that favourable. Course, even at that age, I quickly realised that he couldn't be that big a tyrant if they were publishing stuff like this in their own magazine, but it was still a little strange. It didn't seemlike the best way to promote your new game.

Of course, it all makes a lot more sense this time round. Buck Rogers was still the bosses baby, and so they really were constantly demanding impossible things from their employees, and meddling with the product. If anything, the experience of coding and playtesting the PbM was probably even more grueling and less funny than it comes off here. Still, this is the first Buck Rogers article the magazine has had in 10 issues, so my fears that it would wind up taking over a load of space in the magazine for a while haven't come to pass at all. Looks like the employees are managing to stymie Lorraine's :roll of thunder, stab of organ music: ambitions in all kinds of little ways. I wonder how long this managed to run before being shut down. Google is singularly unhelpful in finding out anything about this, just as it was with the old AD&D PbM.

(un)reason said:

Lemmings is another classic game that caused me almost as much entertainment as Tetris, although it doesn't seem to have had quite the same longevity. Still damn cool though, and it's nice to be reminded of it after all these years.

Click to expand...

I've got a reasonably foul mouth, but I think that other than CSI: Miami, no piece of media has ever made me curse so much as Lemmings. lol

Dragon Magazine Issue 171: July 1991

part 6/6


Sage advice: Can you make more than one image at once with phantasmal force ( Probably not. The singular nature of the description makes the force bit of the title a bit of a misnomer)

Does Fly end when you land (Nah. That would be so easily got around it would be a joke)

Can you use at will abilities as often as you like (no, They generally still use up your standard act... oh, wait. Damn, there's Skip's precognition kicking in again. Skip hates it when that happens)

Psychic crush sucks (yeah, but it's the only attack mode that does real damage. We have to make it a bit less likely to work to compensate)

What does X mult mean (We have to make sure that their other powers scale with HD. Otherwise we'd be no better than 1st edition )

How much do siege weapons cost ( Whatever the market will bear. But we can't be having with adaptive economics around here. The guild cartels would throw a fit. And with the assassin's guild gone, who knows how they'd deal with you.)

How do you design a spelljammer from scratch and determine the cost (Too Complicated! Too Complicated! Skip cries uncle!)

Who is the attacker if two ships play chicken and ram each other (whoever wins initiative. Reroll ties. )

What happened to the new proficiencies for spelljammer (Drat. Must have fallen behind the sofa. We'll put them in a supplement. )

How much are weapon's ranges reduced by atmosphere. (lots)

How long do you keep your own gravity if you enter a bigger one. (until you touch the surface. More evidence of just how frickin weird AD&D's physics actually are. You could really exploit this. )

How long does it take to regain spells after spelljamming (At least a good nights rest. This is why you fly using multiple mages working in shifts)

Can a creature with a breath weapon foul it's own air envelope. (Yes, but only if it's not immune to it's own powers. That actually leaves out most of them. )


101 surprises in a bag of beans: Ahh joy. This is one of the things that introduced me to the idea of random screwage by player consent as fun. As such, it'll always hold a special place in my heart. It doesn't hurt that this is one of the larger and more wide-ranging tables of this sort, full of items that are good, things that are bad, and lots that are decidedly mixed benefits, that may be useful if properly exploited, but also have very real dangers, such as monsters with cool magic items, portals that'll close after a while, pandora's box, dragon eggs, and flying islands. You could spend months just planting these things and dealing with the fallout. Putting one of these in your game can let the DM sit back and laugh while the players bring about their own demise. Which I'm fully in favour of, because it means less work for me. Worldbuilding takes a lot of time, and the busier I am, the more I come to appreciate shortcuts and efficiency increasers. i won't hesitate to use this if I get the chance.


Dragonmirth screws up the tropes again. Yamara gets the note about her wishes too late and has to be bailed out. Twilight empire has action, drama, and comedy, as per usual.


Look like a loyal palladium fan (o rly? How do you do that then?) at gen con this year and you'll get free palladium bucks!. Only redeemable at the palladium stall, for palladium books. Okey dokey.


Through the looking glass: Another bit of evidence that minis are a decade or so ahead of RPG's in their product cycle here. Robert talks about the problems companies are having making a profit due to people expecting discounts at conventions. Too much undercutting can actually mean you wind up making a loss. Which in a different way is an issue that online stores have made much worse, and has contributed quite a bit in the fall of games shops over the past decade. Supply and demand may be an important principle, but so is ensuring your business is sustainable. Making a loss on one thing on the gamble that profits from other sources will fill it is a dangerous business. Another life lesson applicable to any money-making venture.

Our minis this month are a rather large fairy designed to sit on your mantelpiece, a dinosaur with a lizard man rider, elves, undead, a full 4 pack of elementals, a unicorn, and a castle construction kit. This is all fairly standard, and I can't muster up any particular nostalgia over this article.


Dark sun reveals it's name, and the basics of the setting. Overthrow the decadent sorcerer-kings and save the desert wasteland. Lest you forgot, the metaplot was hard-coded into the setting design, and it was intended to evolve rapidly right from day one. The wisdom of this decision may be questionable, but they carried their brief out with aplomb, leaving no part untouched.


They also give us another set of trading cards. This is another thing that's left out of the scan. Another array of characters, monsters and items with very abbreviated stats on the back, many of which I'd never heard of at the time, and was curious to find out more about. Of particular note are Alias and the Bebilith which both hinted strongly at larger things I had yet to explore. I guess they did their job then.


Well, they say you never forget your first time, and that's definitely true here. I do seem to find myself more positively inclined towards most of the articles in this one, than the previous issues, with specific memories surrounding a decent fraction of them. Not sure if it's actually better, but I do note that this has more non D&D articles than the average for this period, which I generally seem to have found myself in favour of. In any case, many of the articles still hold valuable advice that's still significant after several edition changes and applied to other systems, so it's a better jumping on point than many. It's nice to be here, but it'll be even nicer to finish this, so enough wallowing. On we go again.

amysrevenge said:

I've got a reasonably foul mouth, but I think that other than CSI: Miami, no piece of media has ever made me curse so much as Lemmings. lol

Click to expand...

You do need both a strategic brain and very fast reflexes on the later levels. I found it was one game where going away and having a good think between gos worked better than just diving back in when you lose.

Dragon Magazine Issue 172: August 1991

part 1/6


124 pages. A surprisingly non cheesecaky cover from Clyde Caldwell this time. Goes to show, doesn't it, you spend years fantasising about and drawing unrealistic looking and dressing women, but still settle for a perfectly normal one in real life. And even when you draw her, you still wind up showing substantially less skin than usual. Not that this is some great triumph of feminism. There's still plenty more ludicrous cheesecake covers to come. Also plenty more rehash too, as they make the underdark their theme for the third time. (see issues 131 & 152) Will we discover something new on this trip downstairs. It is a big place, after all. There should be some more nooks and crannies to scrape out of this barrel.



In this issue:


Letters: A letter saying they need more basic D&D articles. They've agreed with that for ages. WHY AREN'T YOU SENDING THEM IN!!! Poor Bruce is being driven to exhaustion trying to cover this stuff largely unaided.

A letter asking if they've heard of the SCA. Sure. They've heard of them since back in 1979. Course, they don't talk about them much, because for some reason, TSR doesn't do any LARP games, and isn't that keen on covering other people's either. What is with that.

An apology from a convention that got abruptly cancelled. Nasty business, very frustrating for all concerned. This is another area that the internet has helped substantially, as it allows you to easily send messages that'll get to all your clientele straight away at minimal cost. Course, you're still losing tons of money from their loss of custom, but that can't be helped, and they're more likely to come back if you do apologise promptly and with good grace.


Editorial: Oh god. Robin hood, prince of thieves. (everything I do) I'd forgotten that was released around this time. And then stayed at number 1 for, like, evar. I will always love you, love is all around, my heart will go on, spaceman. God, the 90's had some sucky music become huge due to tie-ins. But anyway, this is Dale once again demonstrating how players will not play along with ideas that work in the movies, partly because they are not stupid and genre blind, and partly because the rules frequently encourage and reward behaviour that is at odds with narrative convention. So do not railroad your players, or create scenes that don't work unless they take a specific course of action, for this will result in annoyance for both you and them. Even most of the licensed RPG's don't really encourage play that fits the source on a mechanical level. (MERP, I'm looking at you) And making rules that don't just define the physics of the game universe, but also the dramatic conventions hasn't become a generally known and accepted idea. Many even actively discourage playing like the movies by giving you characters dramatically weaker than the stars and setting the difficulties appropriate to them, plus writing adventures that encourage a different mode of play (This time it's star wars d6 and it's Traveller lite tendencies that'll get a good glaring) So don't try and jam a square peg in a round hole. There's lots of new players that make that mistake, and some have even gone on to become game designers. Quite valuable advice, really.


Seeing the sights in skullport: The Realms' fourth wall continues to be fairly porous, with Laeral making another visit to the TSR offices. Undermountain came out a few months ago, and it looks like they've got some leftover material again. If you want to spend extended amounts of time down there, you need a homebase, somewhere you can get food and don't have to kill everything on sight. Fortunately, since this is one of the biggest and most raided dungeon complexes on the planet, other people have already had the same idea, and set up Skullport, a classic example of a literal seedy underbelly to a city. If you want drugs, slaves, poisons, zombies, and enforced blind eye neutrality to any killing that may take place in the tunnels, this is very much the place to go. With a full map, plenty of interesting NPC's, and Ed's usual way with history and worldbuilding, this is another of his highly specific ideas that could nevertheless be stripped out and put into your campaign without too much trouble. Would you like to make a home around there? Not a good place to raise your kids, but at least rent is cheap. Watch out for the floating skulls the place gets it's name from, and other subtle dangers. Tons of fun to be had here, in other words.

Yup, this was my first official issue. Now I can follow along with your updates.

That Robin Hood article was one of my earliest "don't railroad" lessons, ones I hopefully took to heart enough when I started DMing myself. Oddly enough, the Skullport article arguably makes the very same mistake in regards to the skulls? How much would a party capable of adventuring the Underdark take from those nonsensical rules enforcers? But that's not obligatory, just some humorous dungeon dressing. Also, I don't miss those "to be continued halfway across the magazine" segmented articles AT ALL.