(un)reason
Legend
The Dragon Issue 16: July 1978
40 pages
Once again, the editor tries to remind people it's just a game, and their readers shouldn't take roleplaying so seriously. Don't confuse fantasy with reality, don't throw tantrums when your character dies, don't try and assign some deep cosmic meaning to everything we write. All things that you would suppose are common sense. But there's always a few who don't listen, and those are the ones sending poorly written vitriolic letters to the magazine. It's no job for the sensitive, being an artist
No wonder they have such a high turnover. Your biggest fans become your worst enemies. In the blink of an eye they're saying you've sold out or lost it, and bitching as if they'd been personally betrayed by you.
In this issue:
More arguments about the cthulhu mythos' stats and fluff, as some people draw upon various authors, while others are lovecraft purists, and the details in stories contradict one-another. Another argument that could go on forever if the editors didn't step in and stop it. And they are noticeably more partisan than most forum moderators in doing so, as they have only limited space, and a personal connection to many of the columnists. Another way in which the internet is a vast improvement, despite its flaws.
The Sumerian pantheon. (ishtar, nergal, etc.) Another deity list. Most notable in that it introduces Tiamat, who would go on to become a D&D regular, and develop into a character quite different from her source mythology; and scorpion men, who would be a staple mystara monster.
Ninjas! Our first new class in well over a year. Some people might have been complaining about class bloat already, but others will always want more, no matter how much they get. This one is very very badly designed indeed. Both overpowered, overcomplicated and stupidly specific in a lot of ways, they specifically say it should be used for NPC's only. (particularly if players are getting overconfident, another case of Gm/player antagonistic assumptions) I think I just won't bother using it at all, thank you very much.
The adventures of the monty haul crew continue: This time Monty gets to GM, and the players have to marshall all their overpowered characters to survive. Also notable because it features the first mention of Drow in dragon magazine, some time before their first iconic adventure and subsequent fame.
Why magic-users and clerics cannot use swords: A typical old skool solution. It's because of a magical curse apprentices have to accept before they can be trained. Which is about as workable as the scribe monopoly on copying magical spells, and its not surprising it never made it into common use.
Realism vs game logic.........: A rather longwinded rant by Gary on a whole number of topics, including spell point systems, people demanding realism in fantasy games, (particularly realistic magic) people trying to coattail on D&D's success by producing unauthorised supplements, critical hits, special weapon expertise powers, spell point systems, people who resent them for making money off their creativity, and people who are incapable of accepting that they are wrong, even when presented with concrete evidence against them. Yeah, thats a lot of vitriol. Public relations were not his speciality. Since a lot of the things that he railed against here made their way into 3rd edition, I can see why he ended up dissatisfied with it. This definitely qualifies as a classic rant.
More metamorphosis alpha expansions and charts, this time focusing on using mutant animals as PC's.
Runequest! King arthurs knights! We're really cooking with classic chaosium products now. Which means BRP, and all the mechanical design advances that come with it. Another important part of RPG history starts here.
The conclusion to the green magician. Once again, the heroes wind up making history happen the way it did. Bit of a lazy way of making a plot, really. Still, I suppose it educates people who can't be bothered to read the originals.
Fineous fingers and wormy are particularly amusing this issue.
Game balance: Jim ward presents a different face to it, reminding us that characters can be obscenely powerful and the game remain fun, as long as they are up against challenges commensurate with their abilities. It is after all, a game, and if you make it too much of a grind, it ceases to be fun. Which is a nice contrast with gygaxian antagonistic GM'ing.
Quite an entertaining issue. We see a lot more of the personalities behind the game, and their interactions and differences than usual. A reminder that this is just a bunch of people who had a cool idea, and were now watching it blow up around them and trying to ride the wave, not always perfectly. They still have quite a lot to learn. And so do we. Maybe some day, I'll wanna settle down. Untill that day, I'll just keep movin' on. (cue banjo solo. )
40 pages
Once again, the editor tries to remind people it's just a game, and their readers shouldn't take roleplaying so seriously. Don't confuse fantasy with reality, don't throw tantrums when your character dies, don't try and assign some deep cosmic meaning to everything we write. All things that you would suppose are common sense. But there's always a few who don't listen, and those are the ones sending poorly written vitriolic letters to the magazine. It's no job for the sensitive, being an artist
No wonder they have such a high turnover. Your biggest fans become your worst enemies. In the blink of an eye they're saying you've sold out or lost it, and bitching as if they'd been personally betrayed by you. In this issue:
More arguments about the cthulhu mythos' stats and fluff, as some people draw upon various authors, while others are lovecraft purists, and the details in stories contradict one-another. Another argument that could go on forever if the editors didn't step in and stop it. And they are noticeably more partisan than most forum moderators in doing so, as they have only limited space, and a personal connection to many of the columnists. Another way in which the internet is a vast improvement, despite its flaws.
The Sumerian pantheon. (ishtar, nergal, etc.) Another deity list. Most notable in that it introduces Tiamat, who would go on to become a D&D regular, and develop into a character quite different from her source mythology; and scorpion men, who would be a staple mystara monster.
Ninjas! Our first new class in well over a year. Some people might have been complaining about class bloat already, but others will always want more, no matter how much they get. This one is very very badly designed indeed. Both overpowered, overcomplicated and stupidly specific in a lot of ways, they specifically say it should be used for NPC's only. (particularly if players are getting overconfident, another case of Gm/player antagonistic assumptions) I think I just won't bother using it at all, thank you very much.
The adventures of the monty haul crew continue: This time Monty gets to GM, and the players have to marshall all their overpowered characters to survive. Also notable because it features the first mention of Drow in dragon magazine, some time before their first iconic adventure and subsequent fame.
Why magic-users and clerics cannot use swords: A typical old skool solution. It's because of a magical curse apprentices have to accept before they can be trained. Which is about as workable as the scribe monopoly on copying magical spells, and its not surprising it never made it into common use.
Realism vs game logic.........: A rather longwinded rant by Gary on a whole number of topics, including spell point systems, people demanding realism in fantasy games, (particularly realistic magic) people trying to coattail on D&D's success by producing unauthorised supplements, critical hits, special weapon expertise powers, spell point systems, people who resent them for making money off their creativity, and people who are incapable of accepting that they are wrong, even when presented with concrete evidence against them. Yeah, thats a lot of vitriol. Public relations were not his speciality. Since a lot of the things that he railed against here made their way into 3rd edition, I can see why he ended up dissatisfied with it. This definitely qualifies as a classic rant.
More metamorphosis alpha expansions and charts, this time focusing on using mutant animals as PC's.
Runequest! King arthurs knights! We're really cooking with classic chaosium products now. Which means BRP, and all the mechanical design advances that come with it. Another important part of RPG history starts here.
The conclusion to the green magician. Once again, the heroes wind up making history happen the way it did. Bit of a lazy way of making a plot, really. Still, I suppose it educates people who can't be bothered to read the originals.
Fineous fingers and wormy are particularly amusing this issue.
Game balance: Jim ward presents a different face to it, reminding us that characters can be obscenely powerful and the game remain fun, as long as they are up against challenges commensurate with their abilities. It is after all, a game, and if you make it too much of a grind, it ceases to be fun. Which is a nice contrast with gygaxian antagonistic GM'ing.
Quite an entertaining issue. We see a lot more of the personalities behind the game, and their interactions and differences than usual. A reminder that this is just a bunch of people who had a cool idea, and were now watching it blow up around them and trying to ride the wave, not always perfectly. They still have quite a lot to learn. And so do we. Maybe some day, I'll wanna settle down. Untill that day, I'll just keep movin' on. (cue banjo solo. )
