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[Let's Read] ARES Magazine
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<blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 7544157" data-attributes="member: 27780"><p><strong><u>Ares Special Edition 1: Summer 1983</u></strong></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>64 pages. So here we are, breaking up the chronology of the magazine into two different paths. From looking at the contents page, it seems like they're going to be using the freed up page count to burn through the remainder of their fantasy submissions faster, as the issue is packed with them. But there's also a fair bit of sci-fi too, including a longer bit of RPG material than they've ever done before. Let's see if the contents of this extinction burst are any good. </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Ares Log: The editorial gets renamed to be a bit more sci-fi appropriate, with the name it'd keep all through it's time in Dragon. Unsurprisingly, the rest of it is a mix of the usual self-promotion, and trying to make the magazine more like Dragon, since they're trying to turn it into it's sci-fi counterpart. Letters, classifieds, and more little articles with crunchy bits in. But of course, to do those things, they need reader submissions. Yeah, that's probably going to be the sticking point, isn't it, since not only do they have far fewer readers than Dragon, but they also alienated some of the long-term hardcore fans by not honoring SPI's subscriptions, which is the kind of petty douchery that backfires by turning your previous strongest supporters into vocally complaining ex-fans. That probably had a fair bit of influence on Ares failing to thrive as it's own thing and being folded into Dragon in the end. I guess we all sow the seeds of our own downfall. </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>White Hole Bomb: Our hard physics piece this month is on the mechanics of black (and white) holes. Since black holes do actually radiate away mass inversely proportional to their size via hawking radiation, (at least, according to the most popular current theory) they do have a limited llfespan, even if it's many orders of magnitude longer than anything else in the universe, and a white hole is simply a black hole that's become small enough that it's radiating significantly more energy than it's taking in. (which won't be for long, as that's only when it's very small indeed) So while it is possible to use one as a power source by stealing rotational energy, transporting one and using it as a bomb is completely ridiculous on a logistical level unless you have teleportation, in which case physics already works so differently from reality as we know it that there's no point worrying about it. Creating and storing enough antimatter to use as a weapon is even more implausible still. So this is one article where our understanding of physics hasn't improved much in 30-odd years simply because we still don't have access to any black holes to get more practical data, so it's still mostly fancy theoretical models. A little less depressing than some of these, but still very much about what we can't do rather than what we can. Oh well, at least that's several fewer ways the world could be destroyed. We should be grateful for that at least. </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Conan the Barbarian: Ah yes, L. Sprague de Camp's attempts to turn the adventures of Conan into a consistent chronology. Now there's a topic that still proves divisive today, both because the quality of other authors playing in the universe is variable to say the least, and because trying to say they're all canon results in him having an improbable quantity of adventures packed into every moment of his life, especially given travel times in a low tech world. This is the problem with trying to turn something that wasn't originally designed as a cohesive world suitable for a franchise into one post hoc, and is why comics universes wind up repeatedly rebooting and retconning stuff to keep popular characters around and not aged out of the points where their stories make sense. So this is a somewhat irritating promotional article that reminds me that Conan remaining a famous character after his original author died was not entirely for nice reasons. Like a lot of things, showbiz is a lot more pleasant when you don't know how the sausage is made. </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>The Oaken Sword: Ian McDowell returns for a second piece of fiction about the younger escapades of Mordred before he went full-on villain. Once again, he gets into trouble due to his personality flaws, which ironically, are also the things that get him out of the trouble again where a stalwart and true knight would face it head-on and die. This time, he trespasses on faerie ground, and gets geased to retrieve a magic sword, which obviously he'd like to keep, but fate wouldn't be so kind to him, and he ends the story no better off, but no worse either for future instalments. He continues to be a selfish dick, but not so awful it's impossible to root for him, so while this isn't original, it's still pretty entertaining. This seems like a fairly rich vein of inspiration ready for the tapping. </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Mordred Mac Lot: A short behind the scenes piece following up on the fiction about the adventures of young Mordred. Unsurprisingly, the author has decided to spin out the idea to a whole novel, where our hapless antihero goes from one scrape to another trying to have a good time, earn his dad's approval and stay out of any epic heroic quests. (and definitely failing miserably at that last one) Yup, that definitely sounds like a premise capable of supporting a good few books, as series like the adventures of Flashman prove. Rogues make more interesting protagonists than paladins precisely because of the troubles they cause for themselves and those around them. So this is well written and interesting at first, but look behind the curtain and it's also a fairly formulaic bit of promotion. We've seen many stories in this vein before, and we will see many like it in the future, because most authors will stick with what works. </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Nitimandrey & the cabinet maker's vision: Our second bit of fiction this month is far less formulaic, a poetically written fantasy fable that seems heavily influenced by the stylings of Lord Dunsany, which is definitely something that has fallen out of fashion with the rise of Tolkien knockoff worldbuilding heavy doorstoppers. A battle between gods from the perspective of an ordinary cabinet-maker swept up into events way above his reckoning, the rules of what's going on remain ambiguous right up to the end, at which point you're definitely rewarded by reading it a second time with a better idea of what's going on. There's a lot of buildup, and then when the action does come, it's sudden and unexpected, with a dark twist of an ending. It might not be so easy to make a game out of as a story where the rules are consistent and explained, but as a story, it's a nice breath of fresh air. I definitely approve of this.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Dawn of the Dead: They might not be giving us a new game in here for the first time, but they're still posting an expansion for one of their existing ones. A tie-in game to George Romero's movie? Not the most obvious choice for toyetic cross-marketing, but fair enough. They tweak the rules for the humans so they're more likely to do stupid impulsive <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /><img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /><img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /><img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /> in the heat of the moment, and thus cause their own downfall, making the game play more like the movie while also pushing things closer towards balance between the two sides. Curiously, the rules use the old SPI method of numbered clauses and subclauses rather than the more natural language introduced last issue, showing this was probably in the queue for a while and they're still not fully up to date with their reorganisation. So this isn't that interesting to me as an article, since I don't have the game it's expanding upon, but that bit of behind the scenes knowledge is interesting. They probably could have rewritten it if they really wanted, but it wasn't high enough priority to do so. Another reminder that the people at the top don't really care that much about their new acquisition. </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>First Contacts: Our final article also shows definite signs of having been written and formatted before the changeover. It also feels less like a magazine supplement, and more like a full module that they didn't think would sell enough standalone, as it's a full 28 pages long. (which would become the standard for the era 32 once the cover was added) So this introduces the Sh'k'tlp to the Universe RPG, giving us an extensive lowdown on rules to play them, along with plenty of detail on their psychology, history, how they meet humanity, and a bunch of new equipment and psionic powers connected to them. (plus the odd bit of more general setting material and errata they just happened to be thinking of at the time. ) It's all interestingly crunchy and old school, as the Sh'k'tlp are indeed pretty alien, and so need a fair bit of rules work to incorporate. Natural shapeshifters on a planet dominated by various species of natural shapeshifters, they have to deal with the fact that anyone could change their appearance to look like anyone else, and any object could be a shapeshifted predator waiting to strike. They deal with this via an eidetic memory and a truly epic degree of obsessive compulsive orderliness, (which contrasts sharply with the freewheeling nature of most D&D shapeshifters) allowing them to spot anything that's even slightly out of place, and making them a real pain in the butt when living in close quarters with the generally more slobby humanity. So they're challengingly alien to play, but in a way that's derived logically from their physiology and powers rather than being incomprehensibly weird for the sake of it. It's pleasingly ambitious work packed into a compact package instead of rubber forehead aliens and demihumans that don't even vary a size class. Even if I'll probably never use it, I still respect the quality of their worldbuilding. </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Despite the lack of a centrepiece game, this issue actually felt more SPI and less TSR than the last one, in terms of aesthetics and topics chosen. I guess that's a reminder that the assembly of magazines is a very nonlinear process, with some things scheduled way in advance, and some only finalised just before they go to the presses. So this was probably the equivalent of two issues of old material burnt through. Which will probably make the changes next issue feel even bigger. Oh well. I'm definitely finding this stuff more interesting and easier to get through than the early issues, so let's see what the next one brings.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="(un)reason, post: 7544157, member: 27780"] [B][U]Ares Special Edition 1: Summer 1983[/U][/B] 64 pages. So here we are, breaking up the chronology of the magazine into two different paths. From looking at the contents page, it seems like they're going to be using the freed up page count to burn through the remainder of their fantasy submissions faster, as the issue is packed with them. But there's also a fair bit of sci-fi too, including a longer bit of RPG material than they've ever done before. Let's see if the contents of this extinction burst are any good. Ares Log: The editorial gets renamed to be a bit more sci-fi appropriate, with the name it'd keep all through it's time in Dragon. Unsurprisingly, the rest of it is a mix of the usual self-promotion, and trying to make the magazine more like Dragon, since they're trying to turn it into it's sci-fi counterpart. Letters, classifieds, and more little articles with crunchy bits in. But of course, to do those things, they need reader submissions. Yeah, that's probably going to be the sticking point, isn't it, since not only do they have far fewer readers than Dragon, but they also alienated some of the long-term hardcore fans by not honoring SPI's subscriptions, which is the kind of petty douchery that backfires by turning your previous strongest supporters into vocally complaining ex-fans. That probably had a fair bit of influence on Ares failing to thrive as it's own thing and being folded into Dragon in the end. I guess we all sow the seeds of our own downfall. White Hole Bomb: Our hard physics piece this month is on the mechanics of black (and white) holes. Since black holes do actually radiate away mass inversely proportional to their size via hawking radiation, (at least, according to the most popular current theory) they do have a limited llfespan, even if it's many orders of magnitude longer than anything else in the universe, and a white hole is simply a black hole that's become small enough that it's radiating significantly more energy than it's taking in. (which won't be for long, as that's only when it's very small indeed) So while it is possible to use one as a power source by stealing rotational energy, transporting one and using it as a bomb is completely ridiculous on a logistical level unless you have teleportation, in which case physics already works so differently from reality as we know it that there's no point worrying about it. Creating and storing enough antimatter to use as a weapon is even more implausible still. So this is one article where our understanding of physics hasn't improved much in 30-odd years simply because we still don't have access to any black holes to get more practical data, so it's still mostly fancy theoretical models. A little less depressing than some of these, but still very much about what we can't do rather than what we can. Oh well, at least that's several fewer ways the world could be destroyed. We should be grateful for that at least. Conan the Barbarian: Ah yes, L. Sprague de Camp's attempts to turn the adventures of Conan into a consistent chronology. Now there's a topic that still proves divisive today, both because the quality of other authors playing in the universe is variable to say the least, and because trying to say they're all canon results in him having an improbable quantity of adventures packed into every moment of his life, especially given travel times in a low tech world. This is the problem with trying to turn something that wasn't originally designed as a cohesive world suitable for a franchise into one post hoc, and is why comics universes wind up repeatedly rebooting and retconning stuff to keep popular characters around and not aged out of the points where their stories make sense. So this is a somewhat irritating promotional article that reminds me that Conan remaining a famous character after his original author died was not entirely for nice reasons. Like a lot of things, showbiz is a lot more pleasant when you don't know how the sausage is made. The Oaken Sword: Ian McDowell returns for a second piece of fiction about the younger escapades of Mordred before he went full-on villain. Once again, he gets into trouble due to his personality flaws, which ironically, are also the things that get him out of the trouble again where a stalwart and true knight would face it head-on and die. This time, he trespasses on faerie ground, and gets geased to retrieve a magic sword, which obviously he'd like to keep, but fate wouldn't be so kind to him, and he ends the story no better off, but no worse either for future instalments. He continues to be a selfish dick, but not so awful it's impossible to root for him, so while this isn't original, it's still pretty entertaining. This seems like a fairly rich vein of inspiration ready for the tapping. Mordred Mac Lot: A short behind the scenes piece following up on the fiction about the adventures of young Mordred. Unsurprisingly, the author has decided to spin out the idea to a whole novel, where our hapless antihero goes from one scrape to another trying to have a good time, earn his dad's approval and stay out of any epic heroic quests. (and definitely failing miserably at that last one) Yup, that definitely sounds like a premise capable of supporting a good few books, as series like the adventures of Flashman prove. Rogues make more interesting protagonists than paladins precisely because of the troubles they cause for themselves and those around them. So this is well written and interesting at first, but look behind the curtain and it's also a fairly formulaic bit of promotion. We've seen many stories in this vein before, and we will see many like it in the future, because most authors will stick with what works. Nitimandrey & the cabinet maker's vision: Our second bit of fiction this month is far less formulaic, a poetically written fantasy fable that seems heavily influenced by the stylings of Lord Dunsany, which is definitely something that has fallen out of fashion with the rise of Tolkien knockoff worldbuilding heavy doorstoppers. A battle between gods from the perspective of an ordinary cabinet-maker swept up into events way above his reckoning, the rules of what's going on remain ambiguous right up to the end, at which point you're definitely rewarded by reading it a second time with a better idea of what's going on. There's a lot of buildup, and then when the action does come, it's sudden and unexpected, with a dark twist of an ending. It might not be so easy to make a game out of as a story where the rules are consistent and explained, but as a story, it's a nice breath of fresh air. I definitely approve of this. Dawn of the Dead: They might not be giving us a new game in here for the first time, but they're still posting an expansion for one of their existing ones. A tie-in game to George Romero's movie? Not the most obvious choice for toyetic cross-marketing, but fair enough. They tweak the rules for the humans so they're more likely to do stupid impulsive :):):):) in the heat of the moment, and thus cause their own downfall, making the game play more like the movie while also pushing things closer towards balance between the two sides. Curiously, the rules use the old SPI method of numbered clauses and subclauses rather than the more natural language introduced last issue, showing this was probably in the queue for a while and they're still not fully up to date with their reorganisation. So this isn't that interesting to me as an article, since I don't have the game it's expanding upon, but that bit of behind the scenes knowledge is interesting. They probably could have rewritten it if they really wanted, but it wasn't high enough priority to do so. Another reminder that the people at the top don't really care that much about their new acquisition. First Contacts: Our final article also shows definite signs of having been written and formatted before the changeover. It also feels less like a magazine supplement, and more like a full module that they didn't think would sell enough standalone, as it's a full 28 pages long. (which would become the standard for the era 32 once the cover was added) So this introduces the Sh'k'tlp to the Universe RPG, giving us an extensive lowdown on rules to play them, along with plenty of detail on their psychology, history, how they meet humanity, and a bunch of new equipment and psionic powers connected to them. (plus the odd bit of more general setting material and errata they just happened to be thinking of at the time. ) It's all interestingly crunchy and old school, as the Sh'k'tlp are indeed pretty alien, and so need a fair bit of rules work to incorporate. Natural shapeshifters on a planet dominated by various species of natural shapeshifters, they have to deal with the fact that anyone could change their appearance to look like anyone else, and any object could be a shapeshifted predator waiting to strike. They deal with this via an eidetic memory and a truly epic degree of obsessive compulsive orderliness, (which contrasts sharply with the freewheeling nature of most D&D shapeshifters) allowing them to spot anything that's even slightly out of place, and making them a real pain in the butt when living in close quarters with the generally more slobby humanity. So they're challengingly alien to play, but in a way that's derived logically from their physiology and powers rather than being incomprehensibly weird for the sake of it. It's pleasingly ambitious work packed into a compact package instead of rubber forehead aliens and demihumans that don't even vary a size class. Even if I'll probably never use it, I still respect the quality of their worldbuilding. Despite the lack of a centrepiece game, this issue actually felt more SPI and less TSR than the last one, in terms of aesthetics and topics chosen. I guess that's a reminder that the assembly of magazines is a very nonlinear process, with some things scheduled way in advance, and some only finalised just before they go to the presses. So this was probably the equivalent of two issues of old material burnt through. Which will probably make the changes next issue feel even bigger. Oh well. I'm definitely finding this stuff more interesting and easier to get through than the early issues, so let's see what the next one brings. [/QUOTE]
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