amysrevenge
First Post
Out of curiosity, how long does it usually take you to do an issue at regular speed? I've only been following on this site, so I don't know your actual rate.
Let's read the entire run
Out of curiosity, how long does it usually take you to do an issue at regular speed? I've only been following on this site, so I don't know your actual rate.
Orius
Legend
Are you planning on splitting to a second thread like you did over on RPG.net? Just curious.
I dare you to post the thread on dragonsfoot.
(un)reason
Legend
Out of curiosity, how long does it usually take you to do an issue at regular speed? I've only been following on this site, so I don't know your actual rate.
It's been a process of gradually slowing down as the page count increases. Up till 1979, I was pretty much managing one per day. Then as it went up, I gradually slowed to around 2 a week. I managed to get up to 3 a week again for 1982-3, over the course of august, but then I had an attack of burnout and spent a few weeks doing none and posting off my buffer. From the start of the Ares section and consistent 100 pagers I've been doing 2 per week, untill I got to the recent price and page count increase, at which point I could probably have just about kept that up, but I was feeling the sting of burnout again, so I've slowed it to 3 per 2 weeks, which means I generally get a couple of days rest between batches and more time to do other stuff. Hopefully I'll able to keep this up and maintain a consistent 6 months a month progress at least untill we get to 1990, and the page count starts increasing again.
That's just due to moderation policy there. The WLD thread seems to be chugging along nicely at over 2,000 and not being closed. Hopefully the servers here are currently robust enough to accommadate another thread like that.
I fully intend to at some point. Probably in a few months time.I dare you to post the thread on dragonsfoot.
(un)reason
Legend
Dragon Issue 108: April 1986
part 2/4
Cantrips for clerics: Well well. It's been a few years, but they finally get round to including minor magics for divine spellcasters as well. Pretty much as you would expect, minor, but still pretty useful powers that can be used to make your everyday life go much smoother, and might well save your life in a pinch if applied cleverly. Arthur Collins presents this with his customary flavour of humour, making powers that are specifically useful to the traditional jobs of clergy, and in particular the dull things novice priests have to do as part of their daily chores. This is a nice addition to the game, that I would delight in my players using, and finding clever uses for.
A different design: Tournament adventures. I think this is the 4th time this topic has shown up. And as ever, the conception of what makes a good tournament adventure, and how it should differ from a regular one has evolved somewhat since last time. Of course, there are plenty of bad tournament modules out there that don't adhere to these guidelines, with convoluted backstories that take up over half an hour of explaining before you even get to play, insufficiently clear guidelines on what you're supposed to be doing, poor playtesting meaning they're too big or small for their tournament timeslot. And that's not even getting into all the crap that poor GM's or other players can subject you to. So please please playtest your tournament adventures because if they don't work, we can't houserule them like you could at home. This goes double for multi-round adventures, which are a huge logistical hassle, and really need to be finely tuned if they are to work as intended, and not overrun or have too many people drop out at each phase. And if you're still willing to give it a try after all that, please apply to become a tournament GM at this year's gen con As you may have noticed, this concentrates more on what not to do than what to do, and comes off as a politely couched rant. Still, bitching is always entertaining (at least, until they get drunk and start repeating themselves. ) so I rather enjoyed reading this one. Don't let the piles of dross drag you down.
The judge Dredd RPG. Another game that would spawn multiple editions. Are you ready to lay down the law?
Palladium goes onto the high seas.
Agents and A-bombs: Ahh, nukes. One of the things that in most games, the writers tell you to never let the PC's get their hands on them at any cost, and if they go off, it's instant death, no roll. Rather spoilsporty behaviour, really. Top Secret is not an exception to this rule. However, sometimes the PC's will fail, and power stations will meltdown, or a nuke will be launched at some city. So rules for the aftermath would not go amiss. How harmful exposure is, how to avoid it, how to spot trouble. It also talks about nuclear scenarios, and the ways players could become involved in them. Terrorists selling nuclear material on the black market, hijacking of missiles in transit or nuclear subs, spying to make sure the ruskies are adhering to the treaties. There's plenty of fun stuff to do once you get over your fear of instadeath. A fairly decent article.
After the blast: Roger Moore follows up on the previous article with a short one about just how large an area is actually affected when a nuke goes off. Where does instadeath end, and simply very likely to die horribly begin. We have fairly finely graded sets of radii, along with top secret stats for how agents will be affected. Since lots of these measurements are in real world numbers, this is relatively easily adapted to other games as well. It doesn't quite make this a full special section, but it does fill out the previous article nicely. Which means this kinda straddles his roles as writer and editor. Hmm. Interesting.
The plants of Biurndon: Another writer copies Ed by talking about stuff from their own campaign world. Plants are an oft-neglected part of your campaign building, and can be pretty damn useful if you know how to use them. This is the kind of topic that can fill entire books in the real world, so a few pages will never give you the same kind of depth real plants attain. But the author tries gamely, giving us plenty of in-setting writings (which also reference other in-setting stuff amusingly) before letting us in on the behind the scenes statistical stuff. While actually pretty good, this does feel very pastichey, as if the writer is actively trying to imitate Ed Greenwood's writing style as well as his methods. And we all know that kind of imitation is not the way to great success. You'll end up being the Jobriath to Ed's David Bowie. Develop your own voice. It does help.
part 2/4
Cantrips for clerics: Well well. It's been a few years, but they finally get round to including minor magics for divine spellcasters as well. Pretty much as you would expect, minor, but still pretty useful powers that can be used to make your everyday life go much smoother, and might well save your life in a pinch if applied cleverly. Arthur Collins presents this with his customary flavour of humour, making powers that are specifically useful to the traditional jobs of clergy, and in particular the dull things novice priests have to do as part of their daily chores. This is a nice addition to the game, that I would delight in my players using, and finding clever uses for.
A different design: Tournament adventures. I think this is the 4th time this topic has shown up. And as ever, the conception of what makes a good tournament adventure, and how it should differ from a regular one has evolved somewhat since last time. Of course, there are plenty of bad tournament modules out there that don't adhere to these guidelines, with convoluted backstories that take up over half an hour of explaining before you even get to play, insufficiently clear guidelines on what you're supposed to be doing, poor playtesting meaning they're too big or small for their tournament timeslot. And that's not even getting into all the crap that poor GM's or other players can subject you to. So please please playtest your tournament adventures because if they don't work, we can't houserule them like you could at home. This goes double for multi-round adventures, which are a huge logistical hassle, and really need to be finely tuned if they are to work as intended, and not overrun or have too many people drop out at each phase. And if you're still willing to give it a try after all that, please apply to become a tournament GM at this year's gen con
As you may have noticed, this concentrates more on what not to do than what to do, and comes off as a politely couched rant. Still, bitching is always entertaining (at least, until they get drunk and start repeating themselves. ) so I rather enjoyed reading this one. Don't let the piles of dross drag you down. The judge Dredd RPG. Another game that would spawn multiple editions. Are you ready to lay down the law?
Palladium goes onto the high seas.
Agents and A-bombs: Ahh, nukes. One of the things that in most games, the writers tell you to never let the PC's get their hands on them at any cost, and if they go off, it's instant death, no roll. Rather spoilsporty behaviour, really. Top Secret is not an exception to this rule. However, sometimes the PC's will fail, and power stations will meltdown, or a nuke will be launched at some city. So rules for the aftermath would not go amiss. How harmful exposure is, how to avoid it, how to spot trouble. It also talks about nuclear scenarios, and the ways players could become involved in them. Terrorists selling nuclear material on the black market, hijacking of missiles in transit or nuclear subs, spying to make sure the ruskies are adhering to the treaties. There's plenty of fun stuff to do once you get over your fear of instadeath. A fairly decent article.
After the blast: Roger Moore follows up on the previous article with a short one about just how large an area is actually affected when a nuke goes off. Where does instadeath end, and simply very likely to die horribly begin. We have fairly finely graded sets of radii, along with top secret stats for how agents will be affected. Since lots of these measurements are in real world numbers, this is relatively easily adapted to other games as well. It doesn't quite make this a full special section, but it does fill out the previous article nicely. Which means this kinda straddles his roles as writer and editor. Hmm. Interesting.
The plants of Biurndon: Another writer copies Ed by talking about stuff from their own campaign world. Plants are an oft-neglected part of your campaign building, and can be pretty damn useful if you know how to use them. This is the kind of topic that can fill entire books in the real world, so a few pages will never give you the same kind of depth real plants attain. But the author tries gamely, giving us plenty of in-setting writings (which also reference other in-setting stuff amusingly) before letting us in on the behind the scenes statistical stuff. While actually pretty good, this does feel very pastichey, as if the writer is actively trying to imitate Ed Greenwood's writing style as well as his methods. And we all know that kind of imitation is not the way to great success. You'll end up being the Jobriath to Ed's David Bowie. Develop your own voice. It does help.
amysrevenge
First Post
The first actual hardcopy issue I have is 119 which is pretty soon, but I didn't start reading regularly until about 190 or so. I'm looking forward to reliving my own start.
(un)reason
Legend
Dragon Issue 108: April 1986
part 3/4
Mutant manual: This month's special is a 12 page bestiary for gamma world. The usual set of mutated reprobates with pun names to annoy, and possibly abet your characters. Curiously, none of our big regulars contribute. Guess this is powered by genuine fan demand. How nice.
Ameebies are creepy macrobes that suck your face and then assume a humanoid shape. They're pretty hard to communicate with, and have odd senses. Do they have some agenda beyond just eating? Do you want to give them a chance to integrate into society and risk getting your face sucked? Hmm.
Bumbles are gigantic bees. Unfortunately, they're missing a load of their stats, due to poor picture positioning. Errata errata, mutter mutter. They are intelligent, so you might be able to trade with them for honey. Mmm. honey.
Fear deer are a definite case of attack of the pun names. Unless there's nothing else to eat at all, leave them alone. If their fear doesn't get you, their poisonous antlers might. If you really must hunt them, do so from a distance.
Crumbleweed are gigantic poisonous invisible tumbleweeds. |'ll bet your players won't expect to be rolled over by one of them. How very random.
Deng keshes are shy cacti that drop into the ground and hide whenever something comes along. Amusing visuals, but a pretty sensible idea really, given that anyone with any desert lore knows to tap cacti for water. Try not to get too warner brothers with them.
Draguns are giant sea alligators. They're big enough to swallow you whole, and if you bombard them from a ship, they can shoot you back. Gamma world's weirdness extends to the high seas as well as the land.
Firebugs are fire-breathing crickets with a vindictive streak. Like Pernicon, they come in swarms, which means you might get some of them, but there'll be more around to take you down in revenge. Putting forcefields around your crops is pretty much the only way to foil their depredations.
Gliders are flying komodo dragons with laser eyes. Now that's what random mutation gets you in gamma world. In reality, you'd just be dead. Comic book radiation is awesome.
Kreel Torrn are another creature derived from grasshopper stock. Nomadic humanoids, they'll probably try and raid you, but can be negotiated with from a position of strength, and hired (until they get bored and betray you.) Yer basic orc analogues then, only with super jumping.
Lukalukas are giant turkeys which release clouds of gas as a distraction when startled. They don't make very good eating, and are rather irritating.
Moklas are mutant brontosaurs. Guess they weren't as extinct as everyone thought, and they've made a comeback. Another thing that can really ruin the day of shipgoing adventurers.
Niregs are double headed turtles. Each head has it's own personality, and they may argue sometimes. Now where have we seen that before? I'm sure Trampier won't mind. You can befriend them if you try. Just don't ride them if you want to get anywhere fast.
Purrlions are giant domestic cats. They're pretty easy to tame, but don't make good mounts. After all, they are cats. Even when they're friendly, they do what they want, not what you order them too. Watch out for mutant catnip as well. You ever tried breaking the addiction of someone who doesn't want to quit? It's a lot worse when they're that much bigger than you and have sharp claws.
Rakkons are giant raccoons with empathy and photosynthetic skin, of all the strange powers they could have. They can be tamed, and make decent pets or riding animals. Definitely one that could have been created purely by random rolls.
Ribbets are, as should be obvious, frogs. Intelligent, flying frogs. Mischevious, intelligent flying frogs with faeesque powers such as time manipulation and memory erasure. You know what that means, don't you. Humorous screwage. They must die.
Slippigs are rather comical. They're just normal pigs that secrete an extra slippy grease, which makes them a bugger to pin down. I can certainly envisage hilarious scenes resulting from encountering these creatures. But they do make good eatin', and wandering outcasts can't be too choosy. Best to set a trap rather than try chasing them down. Preferably a pit or something else they can't squeeze out of.
Triphants are triple trunked elephants with poisonous spikes. While not that aggressive, this makes them even scarier than regular elephants. Good thing they're not smarter than regular elephants, because with three properly co-ordinated trunks, they could probably be pretty effective tool-users and build their own civilization. And you wouldn't want to get between them and their food, when each of them needs so much.
Vilchneks are giant chameleonic spiders. Unless you have even more gigantic birds around to scare them off, or spears at the ready to impale them when they pounce, you may be in trouble. Eh, nothing experienced adventurers can't handle. Are you experienced? (guitar riff)
Xloecs are double-tailed giant snakes with arms. They make rattlesnakes look thoroughly weedy, with their power to create thunderclaps with their tails. They're pretty slow through, so when they warn you away, stay away and you should be fairly safe. Being eaten whole would not be a cool way to go.
Rather a random set of creatures here, with many of them feeling like they were thought up purely through rolling on a table, and keeping the most deranged results. On the plus side, this keeps them surprising, as they don't all fit into the standard monster tropes. Once again, we are reminded that Gamma world is not an entirely serious game, and like D&D, you shouldn't tie it too closely to real world physics. Another fairly entertaining centerpiece to fill the magazine out with.
TSR Previews gets mixed up, putting the further away stuff first. How very confusing. Well, it seems like there's way more stuff coming out in june than may, so they want to prioritize that. I shall keep my attention on the ones for next month though. Otherwise I would wind up repeating myself, which is no fun.
D&D gets M2: Vengeance of Alphaks. Face one of the biggest threats to the known world in his exceedingly nasty dungeons. How will he keep them from using Wishes, Gates, armies and stuff to short-circuit the adventure? Good question.
AD&D is also featuring a returning set of villains with A1-4: Scourge of the slave lords. Compiled, revised, and redesigned to better follow on from T1-4 to make a truly epic campaign, you can once again fight and intrigue your way through this brutal tournament series.
And we also introduce Agent 13, The midnight Avenger, to our roster. Written by Flint Dille, this seems to be a high adventure pulp series, set in the 30's, with all the genre mishmashing and cliffhangers that implies. The first two books, Agent 13 and the invisible empire, and Agent 13 and the serpentine assassins, are out now. This is another case where my opinion is divided. I quite like pulp. I quite like Flint Dille. (he wrote the goddamn transformers movie, among many other things.) But I know that this is both not a very commercially wise move, and this is part of the relationship between TSR and the Dille family that resulted in Lorraine Williams (Roll of thunder, stab of organ music) getting control of the company. How very awkward.
part 3/4
Mutant manual: This month's special is a 12 page bestiary for gamma world. The usual set of mutated reprobates with pun names to annoy, and possibly abet your characters. Curiously, none of our big regulars contribute. Guess this is powered by genuine fan demand. How nice.
Ameebies are creepy macrobes that suck your face and then assume a humanoid shape. They're pretty hard to communicate with, and have odd senses. Do they have some agenda beyond just eating? Do you want to give them a chance to integrate into society and risk getting your face sucked? Hmm.
Bumbles are gigantic bees. Unfortunately, they're missing a load of their stats, due to poor picture positioning. Errata errata, mutter mutter. They are intelligent, so you might be able to trade with them for honey. Mmm. honey.
Fear deer are a definite case of attack of the pun names. Unless there's nothing else to eat at all, leave them alone. If their fear doesn't get you, their poisonous antlers might. If you really must hunt them, do so from a distance.
Crumbleweed are gigantic poisonous invisible tumbleweeds. |'ll bet your players won't expect to be rolled over by one of them. How very random.
Deng keshes are shy cacti that drop into the ground and hide whenever something comes along. Amusing visuals, but a pretty sensible idea really, given that anyone with any desert lore knows to tap cacti for water. Try not to get too warner brothers with them.
Draguns are giant sea alligators. They're big enough to swallow you whole, and if you bombard them from a ship, they can shoot you back. Gamma world's weirdness extends to the high seas as well as the land.
Firebugs are fire-breathing crickets with a vindictive streak. Like Pernicon, they come in swarms, which means you might get some of them, but there'll be more around to take you down in revenge. Putting forcefields around your crops is pretty much the only way to foil their depredations.
Gliders are flying komodo dragons with laser eyes. Now that's what random mutation gets you in gamma world. In reality, you'd just be dead. Comic book radiation is awesome.
Kreel Torrn are another creature derived from grasshopper stock. Nomadic humanoids, they'll probably try and raid you, but can be negotiated with from a position of strength, and hired (until they get bored and betray you.) Yer basic orc analogues then, only with super jumping.
Lukalukas are giant turkeys which release clouds of gas as a distraction when startled. They don't make very good eating, and are rather irritating.
Moklas are mutant brontosaurs. Guess they weren't as extinct as everyone thought, and they've made a comeback. Another thing that can really ruin the day of shipgoing adventurers.
Niregs are double headed turtles. Each head has it's own personality, and they may argue sometimes. Now where have we seen that before?
I'm sure Trampier won't mind. You can befriend them if you try. Just don't ride them if you want to get anywhere fast. Purrlions are giant domestic cats. They're pretty easy to tame, but don't make good mounts. After all, they are cats. Even when they're friendly, they do what they want, not what you order them too. Watch out for mutant catnip as well. You ever tried breaking the addiction of someone who doesn't want to quit? It's a lot worse when they're that much bigger than you and have sharp claws.
Rakkons are giant raccoons with empathy and photosynthetic skin, of all the strange powers they could have. They can be tamed, and make decent pets or riding animals. Definitely one that could have been created purely by random rolls.
Ribbets are, as should be obvious, frogs. Intelligent, flying frogs. Mischevious, intelligent flying frogs with faeesque powers such as time manipulation and memory erasure. You know what that means, don't you. Humorous screwage. They must die.
Slippigs are rather comical. They're just normal pigs that secrete an extra slippy grease, which makes them a bugger to pin down. I can certainly envisage hilarious scenes resulting from encountering these creatures. But they do make good eatin', and wandering outcasts can't be too choosy. Best to set a trap rather than try chasing them down. Preferably a pit or something else they can't squeeze out of.
Triphants are triple trunked elephants with poisonous spikes. While not that aggressive, this makes them even scarier than regular elephants. Good thing they're not smarter than regular elephants, because with three properly co-ordinated trunks, they could probably be pretty effective tool-users and build their own civilization. And you wouldn't want to get between them and their food, when each of them needs so much.
Vilchneks are giant chameleonic spiders. Unless you have even more gigantic birds around to scare them off, or spears at the ready to impale them when they pounce, you may be in trouble. Eh, nothing experienced adventurers can't handle. Are you experienced? (guitar riff)
Xloecs are double-tailed giant snakes with arms. They make rattlesnakes look thoroughly weedy, with their power to create thunderclaps with their tails. They're pretty slow through, so when they warn you away, stay away and you should be fairly safe. Being eaten whole would not be a cool way to go.
Rather a random set of creatures here, with many of them feeling like they were thought up purely through rolling on a table, and keeping the most deranged results. On the plus side, this keeps them surprising, as they don't all fit into the standard monster tropes. Once again, we are reminded that Gamma world is not an entirely serious game, and like D&D, you shouldn't tie it too closely to real world physics. Another fairly entertaining centerpiece to fill the magazine out with.
TSR Previews gets mixed up, putting the further away stuff first. How very confusing. Well, it seems like there's way more stuff coming out in june than may, so they want to prioritize that. I shall keep my attention on the ones for next month though. Otherwise I would wind up repeating myself, which is no fun.
D&D gets M2: Vengeance of Alphaks. Face one of the biggest threats to the known world in his exceedingly nasty dungeons. How will he keep them from using Wishes, Gates, armies and stuff to short-circuit the adventure? Good question.
AD&D is also featuring a returning set of villains with A1-4: Scourge of the slave lords. Compiled, revised, and redesigned to better follow on from T1-4 to make a truly epic campaign, you can once again fight and intrigue your way through this brutal tournament series.
And we also introduce Agent 13, The midnight Avenger, to our roster. Written by Flint Dille, this seems to be a high adventure pulp series, set in the 30's, with all the genre mishmashing and cliffhangers that implies. The first two books, Agent 13 and the invisible empire, and Agent 13 and the serpentine assassins, are out now. This is another case where my opinion is divided. I quite like pulp. I quite like Flint Dille. (he wrote the goddamn transformers movie, among many other things.) But I know that this is both not a very commercially wise move, and this is part of the relationship between TSR and the Dille family that resulted in Lorraine Williams (Roll of thunder, stab of organ music) getting control of the company. How very awkward.
Ed_Laprade
Adventurer
Why would brontosaurs ruin someone's shipping? Oh wait, this was back when they were still thought to be swamp and shallow water dwellers. My how times have changed.
My how times have changed.
LordVyreth
First Post
Why would brontosaurs ruin someone's shipping? Oh wait, this was back when they were still thought to be swamp and shallow water dwellers.
For example, the existence of the Brontosaurs at all. =)
(un)reason
Legend
Dragon Issue 108: April 1986
part 4/4
Profiles: Doug Niles is our first profilee. He's one of those people who ended up at TSR by a number of improbable strokes of luck. While not particularly suited as an editor, he's a great designer, with a real love of pulp stuff like Tarzan and Indiana Jones. And now he gets to write official modules starring them. This is why you should learn your craft. You never know when you're gonna get your big break, and you'd better be ready when it comes.
Jean Blashfield Black is in charge of the book department. She's a nongamer, but has had a pretty interesting career before joining TSR. Head of a major writing project at 21, consultant on a book by Lord Snowdon, chronicling the space program and getting taken to special events while writing about it, she's rubbed shoulders with lots of big names. And now she edits the dragonlance books. Of all the weird turns to make in your life. She has a daughter named Chandelle, which is actually a technical term for an aircraft maneuver, but sounds amusingly chavvy. Wonder how she's turned out since then.
Fiction: the grey stones by Josepha Sherman. Man, that is one bored looking bard in the main picture. Anyway, celtic stuff continues to increase in frequency, with this tale of a bard matching her musical talents against the creatures of the night. You really ought to get a priest to sort these bastards out, but when you're a hero, you don't get to say no to jobs just because you're not optimized to deal with them. A fairly standard heroic test story that's neither brilliant or too dull.
The cover to the Ares section is particularly good this issue. Welcome to Kitty Pryde's imagination.
High tech and beyond: So traveler tech doesn't scale very well. Once again, we are confronted by the fact that our own technological advancement has outpaced sci-fi in several areas. Most notable of these is miniaturization. They think that improvements come in the realms of percentages when IRL they have come in the form of factors of thousands. In other word, this is a very dated feeling article, that's not really very useful to us these days. One to skip without regrets.
An Honorable Enemy: Oriental adventures comes to the Hero system, with this adversary group for you to put in your game. Let by a villain who resembles the traditional japanese demon, this is a similarly traditional group of japanese career criminals, with ninja, samurai, and gadgeteers among their ranks. Good to see there are writers who are au fait with manga tropes in that era. Nothing hugely surprising here, but still something that gives you a good example of how to build characters in the game, and using them as an adversary when you're short of ideas wouldn't hurt. An ok read that would probably be more interesting in actual play.
Old yazirians never die: Well, actually, they do, as they're the shortest-lived of the 4 main races in star frontiers. Oh, the irony. This is a single page article that essentially transfers the D&D aging system to Star Frontiers, with middle aged, old and venerable categories each taking their toll on your capabilities. It's obvious that medical technology has advanced a lot, with the average human having a pretty good chance of making it to 200. It does exactly what it sets out to do, leaving me with not much to say about it. I suppose stealing from other games when your current one lacks an important feature is quicker and easier than making stuff up whole cloth. Meh.
The marvel-phile: Well, at least someone's doing a proper april fool themed article. As the cover hinted, we're off to the alternate universe of Kitty Pryde's fairytales. Bamfs, who may or may not be related to Nightcrawler, and regard him as the mack daddy of their race, to the embarrassment of everyone. Mean, the fiend with no name; a parody version of wolverine, with his automatic creation of six-packs of beer and deranged digging ability. Pirate Kitty, our heroine's cooler self-insertion character. Big Lockheed the dragon, a supersonic irish pacifist. And shagreen, a vaguely shark-like wizard from another dimension who is the villain of the piece. Even without Jeff and Roger's framing banter, this would have been a pretty entertaining piece, while with it, this comes close to being laugh-out-loud worthy material. Once again we see that they're not afraid to point out and embrace the sillier aspects of the source material. He's managed to brighten up what has been a pretty heavy going issue.
More mutant fever: Ahh, it's the follow-up to last month's article on disease in Gamma World. I almost thought they'd forgotten. 16 nasty diseases, both serious and comical (Sometimes at the same time. Monty Zoomers revenge is no laughing matter. ) Some are lethal, or may permanently reduce your stats if you're unlucky. A nice range of stuff, viral, bacterial, fungal and parasitic, that gives you plenty more options to make your characters lives unpleasant in ways that combat can't solve. This is definitely an occasion where a little evil laughter seems in order. On the three everybody. 1. 2. 3. Muahahahahahahahaha!!!
Dragonmirth once again misinterprets peoples wishes. Snarfquest titilates and confounds. Wormy sets up a trap. Will it get turned back on him?
Not quite as bad as last one, this issue was still a real slog to get through, with lots of so-so or dull articles. They really do seem to be doing a lot of didactic application of realistic principles to gaming articles, and it is not producing fun results to read about. Combine this with the general dearth of humour this year, (apart from the Marvel and gamma world stuff) and we have definite cause for worry. Playing games is supposed to be fun and I am not amused.
part 4/4
Profiles: Doug Niles is our first profilee. He's one of those people who ended up at TSR by a number of improbable strokes of luck. While not particularly suited as an editor, he's a great designer, with a real love of pulp stuff like Tarzan and Indiana Jones. And now he gets to write official modules starring them. This is why you should learn your craft. You never know when you're gonna get your big break, and you'd better be ready when it comes.
Jean Blashfield Black is in charge of the book department. She's a nongamer, but has had a pretty interesting career before joining TSR. Head of a major writing project at 21, consultant on a book by Lord Snowdon, chronicling the space program and getting taken to special events while writing about it, she's rubbed shoulders with lots of big names. And now she edits the dragonlance books. Of all the weird turns to make in your life. She has a daughter named Chandelle, which is actually a technical term for an aircraft maneuver, but sounds amusingly chavvy. Wonder how she's turned out since then.
Fiction: the grey stones by Josepha Sherman. Man, that is one bored looking bard in the main picture. Anyway, celtic stuff continues to increase in frequency, with this tale of a bard matching her musical talents against the creatures of the night. You really ought to get a priest to sort these bastards out, but when you're a hero, you don't get to say no to jobs just because you're not optimized to deal with them. A fairly standard heroic test story that's neither brilliant or too dull.
The cover to the Ares section is particularly good this issue. Welcome to Kitty Pryde's imagination.
High tech and beyond: So traveler tech doesn't scale very well. Once again, we are confronted by the fact that our own technological advancement has outpaced sci-fi in several areas. Most notable of these is miniaturization. They think that improvements come in the realms of percentages when IRL they have come in the form of factors of thousands. In other word, this is a very dated feeling article, that's not really very useful to us these days. One to skip without regrets.
An Honorable Enemy: Oriental adventures comes to the Hero system, with this adversary group for you to put in your game. Let by a villain who resembles the traditional japanese demon, this is a similarly traditional group of japanese career criminals, with ninja, samurai, and gadgeteers among their ranks. Good to see there are writers who are au fait with manga tropes in that era. Nothing hugely surprising here, but still something that gives you a good example of how to build characters in the game, and using them as an adversary when you're short of ideas wouldn't hurt. An ok read that would probably be more interesting in actual play.
Old yazirians never die: Well, actually, they do, as they're the shortest-lived of the 4 main races in star frontiers. Oh, the irony. This is a single page article that essentially transfers the D&D aging system to Star Frontiers, with middle aged, old and venerable categories each taking their toll on your capabilities. It's obvious that medical technology has advanced a lot, with the average human having a pretty good chance of making it to 200. It does exactly what it sets out to do, leaving me with not much to say about it. I suppose stealing from other games when your current one lacks an important feature is quicker and easier than making stuff up whole cloth. Meh.
The marvel-phile: Well, at least someone's doing a proper april fool themed article. As the cover hinted, we're off to the alternate universe of Kitty Pryde's fairytales. Bamfs, who may or may not be related to Nightcrawler, and regard him as the mack daddy of their race, to the embarrassment of everyone. Mean, the fiend with no name; a parody version of wolverine, with his automatic creation of six-packs of beer and deranged digging ability. Pirate Kitty, our heroine's cooler self-insertion character. Big Lockheed the dragon, a supersonic irish pacifist. And shagreen, a vaguely shark-like wizard from another dimension who is the villain of the piece. Even without Jeff and Roger's framing banter, this would have been a pretty entertaining piece, while with it, this comes close to being laugh-out-loud worthy material. Once again we see that they're not afraid to point out and embrace the sillier aspects of the source material. He's managed to brighten up what has been a pretty heavy going issue.
More mutant fever: Ahh, it's the follow-up to last month's article on disease in Gamma World. I almost thought they'd forgotten. 16 nasty diseases, both serious and comical (Sometimes at the same time. Monty Zoomers revenge is no laughing matter. ) Some are lethal, or may permanently reduce your stats if you're unlucky. A nice range of stuff, viral, bacterial, fungal and parasitic, that gives you plenty more options to make your characters lives unpleasant in ways that combat can't solve. This is definitely an occasion where a little evil laughter seems in order. On the three everybody. 1. 2. 3. Muahahahahahahahaha!!!
Dragonmirth once again misinterprets peoples wishes. Snarfquest titilates and confounds. Wormy sets up a trap. Will it get turned back on him?
Not quite as bad as last one, this issue was still a real slog to get through, with lots of so-so or dull articles. They really do seem to be doing a lot of didactic application of realistic principles to gaming articles, and it is not producing fun results to read about. Combine this with the general dearth of humour this year, (apart from the Marvel and gamma world stuff) and we have definite cause for worry. Playing games is supposed to be fun and I am not amused.
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