Let's read the entire run

Dragon Issue 67: November 1982

part 2/2

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.

The Stray said:

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?

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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.

Dragon Issue 68: December 1982

part 1/2

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

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.

I remember that two-fisted fighter article, but maybe it was reprinted in a best of dragon. . .?

Will you be doing articles on the electronic magazines, too, or just sticking to the physical ones?

The Stray said:

Will you be doing articles on the electronic magazines, too, or just sticking to the physical ones?

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300 issues and 26 odd years of print magazines to finish. let him take one step at a time

Phaezen

The Stray said:

Will you be doing articles on the electronic magazines, too, or just sticking to the physical ones?

Click to expand...

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.

(un)reason said:

Dragon Issue 67: November 1982

part 1/2

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?

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Dragon Issue 68: December 1982

part 2/2

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. 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.