(un)reason
Legend
Dragon Issue 51: July 1981
part 1/2
100 pages. Shouldn't you have done the beefing of the page count last issue? Oh well. Better late than never. This issue is a second traveller special, with 7 articles devoted to it. (which has absolutely no connection to the fact that The Space Gamer's most recent issue was also a traveler special, honest. We're not taking bribes from GDW and Marc Miller either) Plus another wonderfully weird game from Tom Wham. Lots of other returning things this issue. The band is all together, and they're playing some pretty tight grooves. So lets let them rock.
In this issue:
The D&D computer labyrinth game from mattel now available in all good toy stores. Batteries not included. Pieces not edible. Please do not introduce my little pony crossovers to the game.
Out on a limb: Len rebutts the letter in issue 49 attacking his archer class. It turns out he's a longbow fanboi and crossbow h8er, which is why he doesn't give halflings a bonus as archers.
Two letters, (plus plenty more that weren't printed) criticizing the samurai article from issue 49. Why am I not surprised. Yeah, they weren't what you would expect to go under that name, are they. Which Kim does acknowledge. But they stand by it in terms of quality and playability.
A letter from the designer of fury of the norsemen comments on last issues review (man, they really are speeding up their turnaround time) of his game. And he also takes the time to give us some errata. How nice of him.
Two letters commenting on the AD&D exam from issue 46.
And finally, a letter requesting that they go back to giving modules separate page numberings, so they can be removed without the magazine looking messy. Yeah, I'd prefer that as well.
Make your own aliens: yay. Yet more random generation tables. What a wonderful and original idea [/sarcasm] Still like regular character generation in traveller, half the fun is seeing what you end up with and trying to make sense of it. And playing a three armed, two headed, parthenogenic creature with ultraviolet vision, eyes on its hands, ears on its legs, sonar, perfect memory, and a fetching red and yellow scale pattern could be pretty fun, in the right kind of game. But watch out for those damn speciesists. Its not always easy being green.
Plotting a course for choosy players: Part of the idiosyncratic fun of traveller was its lifepath system. But some people would prefer more choice over their character development. This system doesn't eliminate the randomness, but does give you the ability to sway the crucial dice rolls at times. The odds of getting everything you want are still stacked against you though, just like real life. Lots of dull tables in here.
New ideas for old ships: Sometimes you can't afford to buy exactly the ship you want, so you get what you can and then jury rig it to your needs. Sometimes a pre-owned ship'll come with some of these modifications. Roll on these tables if you want to add a little unpredictability to your second hand purchases. Yes, more random tables. It is traveller. What were you expecting, chicken marengo? A nice shower and a jog before brunch at a little restaraunt I know? No, you'll have random tables, and you'll like it.
In defense of computers: Man traveller computers really do look anachronistic these days. And it looks like even back in the day, people were picking holes in what their reasonable capabilities should be. And this article tries to defend this. And does a reasonable job, given what they knew at the time. In hindsight though, this is pretty laughable. Reality has simply moved on too much.
Planet parameters: Guidelines for determining a planets approximate gravity, mass, rotational period, size, etc, based on real world figures. Of course, you are free to deviate from that if it would make things more interesting, as planets are hardly homogenous. But at least this'll give you a solid grounding in real world physics to work from.
Masers and cameras: Stats for a couple of new pieces of equipment that you may find useful in combat and reconnaissance. I think they're starting to struggle a bit and are just putting any old submission they can get to fill out the page count.
The miller milk bottle: Ookay. We've reached the final article in the traveller section at last . And it looks like they're really reaching to think of things to put in there. This final article covers the many uses of the humble milk bottle, for some reason. (Yeah, I'm baffled too) Almost as many as those douglas adams found for the towel. So remember to bring one with you, mmkay. It could save your life.
The winged folk: Oh man. Now here's a classic example of a mary sue race if ever there was one. The winged folk, also known as Al karak elam, long lived prettyboys and girls with minimum attributes of 12 or higher in every single ability score, pretty good level limits for the era, and lots of general niftyness without many drawbacks. Any DM who lets their players play one deserves everything they get. Thank god wingfic has ruined my ability to ever take stuff like this seriously again.
Leomund's tiny hut: This month, len gives us rules for playing 0th level characters, and the training they need to go through to reach 1st level. In multiple stages, covering every special ability, each of which requires months of training. For when playing 1st level characters trudging through the mud and facing goblins in dank little moldy caves isn't disempowering enough for you. A far cry from the later BD&D approach (as soon as an 0th level hireling earns an experience point, they get to choose a class straight away) I don't disapprove of this as much as I thought I would, as it is pretty well done. But I still wouldn't want to play in a game that includes this stuff for more than a one-shot. 1st level characters are more than weak enough for my tastes.
The worshippers of Ratar: A Runequest article about the aforementioned god. A somewhat secretive cult of magic, they seem designed as antagonists, as the default setup has them infiltrating the government of a city and taking it over covertly. Yes, it might be an old chessnut, but thats because its a good one. Mechanically it seems reasonable, as far as I can tell.
part 1/2
100 pages. Shouldn't you have done the beefing of the page count last issue? Oh well. Better late than never. This issue is a second traveller special, with 7 articles devoted to it. (which has absolutely no connection to the fact that The Space Gamer's most recent issue was also a traveler special, honest. We're not taking bribes from GDW and Marc Miller either) Plus another wonderfully weird game from Tom Wham. Lots of other returning things this issue. The band is all together, and they're playing some pretty tight grooves. So lets let them rock.
In this issue:
The D&D computer labyrinth game from mattel now available in all good toy stores. Batteries not included. Pieces not edible. Please do not introduce my little pony crossovers to the game.
Out on a limb: Len rebutts the letter in issue 49 attacking his archer class. It turns out he's a longbow fanboi and crossbow h8er, which is why he doesn't give halflings a bonus as archers.
Two letters, (plus plenty more that weren't printed) criticizing the samurai article from issue 49. Why am I not surprised. Yeah, they weren't what you would expect to go under that name, are they. Which Kim does acknowledge. But they stand by it in terms of quality and playability.
A letter from the designer of fury of the norsemen comments on last issues review (man, they really are speeding up their turnaround time) of his game. And he also takes the time to give us some errata. How nice of him.
Two letters commenting on the AD&D exam from issue 46.
And finally, a letter requesting that they go back to giving modules separate page numberings, so they can be removed without the magazine looking messy. Yeah, I'd prefer that as well.
Make your own aliens: yay. Yet more random generation tables. What a wonderful and original idea [/sarcasm] Still like regular character generation in traveller, half the fun is seeing what you end up with and trying to make sense of it. And playing a three armed, two headed, parthenogenic creature with ultraviolet vision, eyes on its hands, ears on its legs, sonar, perfect memory, and a fetching red and yellow scale pattern could be pretty fun, in the right kind of game. But watch out for those damn speciesists. Its not always easy being green.
Plotting a course for choosy players: Part of the idiosyncratic fun of traveller was its lifepath system. But some people would prefer more choice over their character development. This system doesn't eliminate the randomness, but does give you the ability to sway the crucial dice rolls at times. The odds of getting everything you want are still stacked against you though, just like real life. Lots of dull tables in here.
New ideas for old ships: Sometimes you can't afford to buy exactly the ship you want, so you get what you can and then jury rig it to your needs. Sometimes a pre-owned ship'll come with some of these modifications. Roll on these tables if you want to add a little unpredictability to your second hand purchases. Yes, more random tables. It is traveller. What were you expecting, chicken marengo? A nice shower and a jog before brunch at a little restaraunt I know? No, you'll have random tables, and you'll like it.
In defense of computers: Man traveller computers really do look anachronistic these days. And it looks like even back in the day, people were picking holes in what their reasonable capabilities should be. And this article tries to defend this. And does a reasonable job, given what they knew at the time. In hindsight though, this is pretty laughable. Reality has simply moved on too much.
Planet parameters: Guidelines for determining a planets approximate gravity, mass, rotational period, size, etc, based on real world figures. Of course, you are free to deviate from that if it would make things more interesting, as planets are hardly homogenous. But at least this'll give you a solid grounding in real world physics to work from.
Masers and cameras: Stats for a couple of new pieces of equipment that you may find useful in combat and reconnaissance. I think they're starting to struggle a bit and are just putting any old submission they can get to fill out the page count.
The miller milk bottle: Ookay. We've reached the final article in the traveller section at last . And it looks like they're really reaching to think of things to put in there. This final article covers the many uses of the humble milk bottle, for some reason. (Yeah, I'm baffled too) Almost as many as those douglas adams found for the towel. So remember to bring one with you, mmkay. It could save your life.
The winged folk: Oh man. Now here's a classic example of a mary sue race if ever there was one. The winged folk, also known as Al karak elam, long lived prettyboys and girls with minimum attributes of 12 or higher in every single ability score, pretty good level limits for the era, and lots of general niftyness without many drawbacks. Any DM who lets their players play one deserves everything they get. Thank god wingfic has ruined my ability to ever take stuff like this seriously again.
Leomund's tiny hut: This month, len gives us rules for playing 0th level characters, and the training they need to go through to reach 1st level. In multiple stages, covering every special ability, each of which requires months of training. For when playing 1st level characters trudging through the mud and facing goblins in dank little moldy caves isn't disempowering enough for you. A far cry from the later BD&D approach (as soon as an 0th level hireling earns an experience point, they get to choose a class straight away) I don't disapprove of this as much as I thought I would, as it is pretty well done. But I still wouldn't want to play in a game that includes this stuff for more than a one-shot. 1st level characters are more than weak enough for my tastes.
The worshippers of Ratar: A Runequest article about the aforementioned god. A somewhat secretive cult of magic, they seem designed as antagonists, as the default setup has them infiltrating the government of a city and taking it over covertly. Yes, it might be an old chessnut, but thats because its a good one. Mechanically it seems reasonable, as far as I can tell.
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