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(un)reason
Legend
Dragon Magazine Issue 219: July 1995
part 5/8
Forum: Heather Darling brings back the sexism issue. Not only do far too many men look down on female players, when it becomes apparent they do actually know the rules and what they're doing, they get scared. They obviously can't be very secure in their abilities.
I know groups of girls giggling does seem to set off an instinctive masculine paranoia, but that's one of those things you have to try and rise above. We are not slaves to our instincts.
Denyse J. Zane is finding other women are half the problem in the battle for equality, particularly when you're trying to DM. It's the old bitch/pushover problem female bosses have to struggle with in the workplace as well. You've got to find the right combination of firm and fair, and stick to it, they'll soon get used to it.
Leyshon Campbell points out just how bad for your health repeated use of Haste is. It really ought to be a bigger deal in terms of use. Plus if you're going to get into realistic logical consequences, there's all kinds of tricks you can pull. Yeah, that's a fun one. It is one of those spells that unbalances a game if not counterbalanced, like stoneskin.
Daniel Arenson thinks Rangers are underpowered for their XP costs. Oh come on. Yeah, they're not as powerful as wizards at higher level, but you know what spellcasters are like. They're still miles more rounded characters than fighters.
Christopher David defends cyberpunk's search and retrieve missions. It's quite different from rescuing a princess, I assure you. I guess it really depends how you play the adventures. All in the details.
Greg Detwiler contributes for a second month in a row, adding a bit more to the Paths of Power system. He really seems to be quite taken with it. That's a pretty good recommendation to me, given how frequent a contributor he is in his own right.
The wizards three: Elminster, Mordenkainen and Dalamar once again make the time is their busy schedules to meet up at Ed's place. In sharp contrast to the last one, where things were pretty staid, and our friendly neigbourhood archmages got down to productive horsetrading fairly quickly, this has quite dramatic fiction, and fewer spells covered. Elminster actually gets challenged, although the danger never seems that serious. We get to see a decent example of the multilayered contingencies and counterspells paranoid archmages equip themselves with. Ed is actually an active player in the narrative for a change. (and gets a rather more comfortable hiding place for a change. ) But Dalamar still winds up being the primary butt of the humour, of which there is plenty. And of course, the family friendly policy forces him to fade out on the romantic aspects of their evening. It does once again make for rather fun reading. And the fact that the new spells are shown in action rather than just talked about really does elevate their coolness and integration.
The Floating Helm of Tharados is the latest in magical imprisonment technology. A
repurposed giant's helm, it's now Elminster's latest contraption for putting enemies out of action for a while without killing them. Being trapped in a 5x5x5 space for years, unable to even stretch out properly, would not be good for the health or sanity. Man, it's hard to fight evil archmages and win without making hard moral choices.
Handfangs is one of those spells that's pretty self explanatory. Shake with an enemy at talks and then nuke them while they're incapacitated from the poison.
Farscry is another effect actually used in the narrative. An upgraded clairvoyance and audience, it's mechanical quirks are crucial to the plot, and show Ed knows exactly what he wants to do when he puts them in. Once again, we see why wizards who get into the custom spell business will be way more effective than conservatives, even if the individual spells are weaker in some ways.
Dauntra's Cloak protects you from poison. Not quite as good as clerical healing, it's still another rather useful little buff spell for the paranoid.
Translocation Shift is the kind of spell most archmages would pay handsomely to acquire. Relocating incoming teleports is a crucial warding when you have extraplanar enemies who use their powers intelligently. How could you sleep without it?
Temporal Freedom is another counterspell that can seem near essential once you get to the stage where 9th level spells show up routinely. Plus, easy immortality with no apparent drawbacks save regular maintenance. No wonder Elminster guards THIS one extra carefully.
Brainblaze is one of those odd 9th level spells that like Tempestcone, gives you epic powers and resistances, but with substantial issues and risks. Becoming a bodiless pillar of raw energy forever has some fairly substantial problems to it. Ahh, the fun of experimental high magic. This collection definitely feels like it's come from a wide range of sources, of varying competence. And introducing some of the spells will definitely be appreciated by your players as long as they can get their hands on them. After all, applying these countering strategies will definitely increase your lifespan at high level. So it's another instalment that's both entertaining and instructive here, probably the best yet overall.
part 5/8
Forum: Heather Darling brings back the sexism issue. Not only do far too many men look down on female players, when it becomes apparent they do actually know the rules and what they're doing, they get scared. They obviously can't be very secure in their abilities.
I know groups of girls giggling does seem to set off an instinctive masculine paranoia, but that's one of those things you have to try and rise above. We are not slaves to our instincts. Denyse J. Zane is finding other women are half the problem in the battle for equality, particularly when you're trying to DM. It's the old bitch/pushover problem female bosses have to struggle with in the workplace as well. You've got to find the right combination of firm and fair, and stick to it, they'll soon get used to it.
Leyshon Campbell points out just how bad for your health repeated use of Haste is. It really ought to be a bigger deal in terms of use. Plus if you're going to get into realistic logical consequences, there's all kinds of tricks you can pull. Yeah, that's a fun one. It is one of those spells that unbalances a game if not counterbalanced, like stoneskin.
Daniel Arenson thinks Rangers are underpowered for their XP costs. Oh come on. Yeah, they're not as powerful as wizards at higher level, but you know what spellcasters are like. They're still miles more rounded characters than fighters.
Christopher David defends cyberpunk's search and retrieve missions. It's quite different from rescuing a princess, I assure you. I guess it really depends how you play the adventures. All in the details.
Greg Detwiler contributes for a second month in a row, adding a bit more to the Paths of Power system. He really seems to be quite taken with it. That's a pretty good recommendation to me, given how frequent a contributor he is in his own right.
The wizards three: Elminster, Mordenkainen and Dalamar once again make the time is their busy schedules to meet up at Ed's place. In sharp contrast to the last one, where things were pretty staid, and our friendly neigbourhood archmages got down to productive horsetrading fairly quickly, this has quite dramatic fiction, and fewer spells covered. Elminster actually gets challenged, although the danger never seems that serious. We get to see a decent example of the multilayered contingencies and counterspells paranoid archmages equip themselves with. Ed is actually an active player in the narrative for a change. (and gets a rather more comfortable hiding place for a change. ) But Dalamar still winds up being the primary butt of the humour, of which there is plenty. And of course, the family friendly policy forces him to fade out on the romantic aspects of their evening. It does once again make for rather fun reading. And the fact that the new spells are shown in action rather than just talked about really does elevate their coolness and integration.
The Floating Helm of Tharados is the latest in magical imprisonment technology. A
repurposed giant's helm, it's now Elminster's latest contraption for putting enemies out of action for a while without killing them. Being trapped in a 5x5x5 space for years, unable to even stretch out properly, would not be good for the health or sanity. Man, it's hard to fight evil archmages and win without making hard moral choices.
Handfangs is one of those spells that's pretty self explanatory. Shake with an enemy at talks and then nuke them while they're incapacitated from the poison.
Farscry is another effect actually used in the narrative. An upgraded clairvoyance and audience, it's mechanical quirks are crucial to the plot, and show Ed knows exactly what he wants to do when he puts them in. Once again, we see why wizards who get into the custom spell business will be way more effective than conservatives, even if the individual spells are weaker in some ways.
Dauntra's Cloak protects you from poison. Not quite as good as clerical healing, it's still another rather useful little buff spell for the paranoid.
Translocation Shift is the kind of spell most archmages would pay handsomely to acquire. Relocating incoming teleports is a crucial warding when you have extraplanar enemies who use their powers intelligently. How could you sleep without it?
Temporal Freedom is another counterspell that can seem near essential once you get to the stage where 9th level spells show up routinely. Plus, easy immortality with no apparent drawbacks save regular maintenance. No wonder Elminster guards THIS one extra carefully.
Brainblaze is one of those odd 9th level spells that like Tempestcone, gives you epic powers and resistances, but with substantial issues and risks. Becoming a bodiless pillar of raw energy forever has some fairly substantial problems to it. Ahh, the fun of experimental high magic. This collection definitely feels like it's come from a wide range of sources, of varying competence. And introducing some of the spells will definitely be appreciated by your players as long as they can get their hands on them. After all, applying these countering strategies will definitely increase your lifespan at high level. So it's another instalment that's both entertaining and instructive here, probably the best yet overall.
(un)reason
Legend
Dragon Magazine Issue 219: July 1995
part 6/8
The game wizards: Hmm. Dragon Dice. Ok, it's not exactly a third CCG, as it doesn't involve cards, but it's very much in the same genre, where you have to put together a structure from lots of little modular packs and fight it against other players. As it's the first release, we get lots of behind the scenes talk from Lester Smith, the main designer. The usual trials and tribulations manufacturing something in a new format involved. Figuring out what looks good when put on dice. And then the basics of how you actually play the game. It's skewed more towards skill than luck, with the choice between offence and defence an important one. Once again, I think system mastery will prove pretty important, and they'll have further articles with tips and tricks coming up. And once again I am left with mixed feelings. I don't have quite the personal disdain for this I did for CCG's, as it is an interesting variant rather than a straight bandwagon jumper. But I did regard it as another unwelcome intrusion and pretty much ignored it first time round. I think I'm willing to be a bit more magnanimous this time and see how it does. After all, it looks like there's a substantial supplement mill coming up. As tempting as it would be to prejudge for dramas sake, I'm not going to do that.
What's a wizard to do: Still more playtesting talk, this time for Birthright. Despite the tales of their evil overmistress (Wolves howl, roll of thunder, organ music etc) discouraging playtesting, they're still managing to get some done. Such as this rather interesting little piece on domain magic. In the basic game, wizards may not get domains even when they get to name level, having to settle for a piddly tower, while here, they can tap power from the land to do large-scale spells with cool tactical applications even at low level. The prospects are quite drool inducing. Undead hordes without spending months digging up the graveyards manually, mass teleportation, magically enforced laws that apply everywhere in the country, it's all pretty cool. Course, there are checks and balances. Most interesting is that the more developed and populated an area becomes, the less magic there is to tap, so wizard rulers have to keep substantial wildlife preserves if they want to properly exploit their powers, and there's a real temptation to become a hermit ruler in a lonely castle with nothing but hordes of undead or constructs as servants. Which sounds absolutely perfect from a dramatic viewpoint, as it creates just the kind of tensions that lead to cool stories. Yep, this definitely looks like a fun addition to our campaign options. Did the implementation work in actual play?
Rumblings: Computer game conversions once again dominate this column, one way or another. Neverwinter nights gets a rather belated bit of promotion, as more people realise just how cool and useful the net is. White Wolf is making a Vampire computer game, not too surprisingly. Magic:the Gathering is also moving to the digital world, complete with online multiplayer coolness. Bruce Nesmith has been poached by a computer games company, while another is hiring big names in sci-fi like Michael Dorn to appear in their cut scenes. They've long since overtaken roleplaying, and will soon pull ahead of the music and film industries. Speaking of film, the Dragonlance cartoon idea that would take well over a decade to get out of development hell appears here. They really aren't pushing their multimedia side enough down at TSR. They do have some new arrivals. Mike Nystul, unsurprisingly given his recent appearance in the magazine, plus Alan Polack and Bill Olmsdahl. Hrmm. Seems like a whole lot of poaching going on. The big companies borrow from the small companies, which recruit from the even smaller companies that aren't exactly stable financial prospects, but have talented people manning them. Creativity is a cannibalistic business.
part 6/8
The game wizards: Hmm. Dragon Dice. Ok, it's not exactly a third CCG, as it doesn't involve cards, but it's very much in the same genre, where you have to put together a structure from lots of little modular packs and fight it against other players. As it's the first release, we get lots of behind the scenes talk from Lester Smith, the main designer. The usual trials and tribulations manufacturing something in a new format involved. Figuring out what looks good when put on dice. And then the basics of how you actually play the game. It's skewed more towards skill than luck, with the choice between offence and defence an important one. Once again, I think system mastery will prove pretty important, and they'll have further articles with tips and tricks coming up. And once again I am left with mixed feelings. I don't have quite the personal disdain for this I did for CCG's, as it is an interesting variant rather than a straight bandwagon jumper. But I did regard it as another unwelcome intrusion and pretty much ignored it first time round. I think I'm willing to be a bit more magnanimous this time and see how it does. After all, it looks like there's a substantial supplement mill coming up. As tempting as it would be to prejudge for dramas sake, I'm not going to do that.
What's a wizard to do: Still more playtesting talk, this time for Birthright. Despite the tales of their evil overmistress (Wolves howl, roll of thunder, organ music etc) discouraging playtesting, they're still managing to get some done. Such as this rather interesting little piece on domain magic. In the basic game, wizards may not get domains even when they get to name level, having to settle for a piddly tower, while here, they can tap power from the land to do large-scale spells with cool tactical applications even at low level. The prospects are quite drool inducing. Undead hordes without spending months digging up the graveyards manually, mass teleportation, magically enforced laws that apply everywhere in the country, it's all pretty cool. Course, there are checks and balances. Most interesting is that the more developed and populated an area becomes, the less magic there is to tap, so wizard rulers have to keep substantial wildlife preserves if they want to properly exploit their powers, and there's a real temptation to become a hermit ruler in a lonely castle with nothing but hordes of undead or constructs as servants. Which sounds absolutely perfect from a dramatic viewpoint, as it creates just the kind of tensions that lead to cool stories. Yep, this definitely looks like a fun addition to our campaign options. Did the implementation work in actual play?
Rumblings: Computer game conversions once again dominate this column, one way or another. Neverwinter nights gets a rather belated bit of promotion, as more people realise just how cool and useful the net is. White Wolf is making a Vampire computer game, not too surprisingly. Magic:the Gathering is also moving to the digital world, complete with online multiplayer coolness. Bruce Nesmith has been poached by a computer games company, while another is hiring big names in sci-fi like Michael Dorn to appear in their cut scenes. They've long since overtaken roleplaying, and will soon pull ahead of the music and film industries. Speaking of film, the Dragonlance cartoon idea that would take well over a decade to get out of development hell appears here. They really aren't pushing their multimedia side enough down at TSR. They do have some new arrivals. Mike Nystul, unsurprisingly given his recent appearance in the magazine, plus Alan Polack and Bill Olmsdahl. Hrmm. Seems like a whole lot of poaching going on. The big companies borrow from the small companies, which recruit from the even smaller companies that aren't exactly stable financial prospects, but have talented people manning them. Creativity is a cannibalistic business.
(un)reason
Legend
Dragon Magazine Issue 219: July 1995
part 7/8
Libram X makes evil doubles sympathetic. Dragonmirth needs to buy better equipment. Swordplay kills the wrong stupid movie star. Yamara ends really sweetly. All together now. Awwwwwww.
Through the looking glass: The reorganisations begin with the wrapping up of minis reviews. Time for Robert to bid us farewell. Thank you to Roger Moore for giving him a chance in the first place, thanks to all the companies that sent him free stuff, and thank you to all the people who read the column and wrote in. No particular thanks for the current management though, I'm fairly sure it was their decision to end this relationship, not his. After all, if you're going to retrench and focus on your core audience, something like this would be the first thing deemed unneeded.
The number of minis reviewed is less than usual as well. He's certainly not getting to go out with a bang. A page is devoted to a starter castle, which of course is a fairly large piece of work requiring some serious assembly work. This means it doesn't quite fit it's beginners label, despite being high quality. A trio of fairly generic elf archers. They'll drop into most games without too much trouble. Ral partha continue to take the official orders for the big games, with a bullette and a bone gnawer in various states of transformation, and a horse headed centaur, from shadowrun, apparently. All are pretty good as usual. You can see why companies keep coming back to them. And finally, there's a female orc riding a turtle, which is from Earthdawn. And yet another elf wizard. They're in no danger of being short of troops any time soon. And that's the end of that. Not a particularly impressive way to go out. Who'll be next on the chopping block, I wonder.
TSR Previews: The Forgotten realms is back to taking the lions share of the supplements. The secret of spiderhaunt carries on the Mourndale adventures. Randal Morn is missing. Guess who's responsible, and where they're hiding out. Volo is nearby, giving his own distinctive guide to Cormyr. Shame we can't pin the blame on him. And we are reminded once again that as prolific as their schedule is, there are even more books that don't appear here, as we find out they're up to book 10(! Why didn't they mention 2-9?) of the Super Harpers series. Masquerades sees us return to the doings of Alias and co. Man, this is getting impossible to keep track of.
Planescape gets Harbinger house, another extradimensional place full of weird set-pieces in the vein of Baba yaga's hut. This is one I've used to reasonable success, and it confounds mapping nicely while still being easy for the DM to keep track of where the players are. This is the dark side of seeking godhood.
Ravenloft sees Van Richten try and study the Vistani. Not an easy task, and one likely to result in half-truths and curses upon the examiner. But hey, he's already cursed. Still, beware lack of objectivity.
Mystara gets Dragonking of Mystara by Thorannin Gunnarsson. Dragons are never easy to negotiate with, and trying to get profit out of them is like getting blood from a stone. When there's a whole bunch of manipulative supposedly on your side, it gets even harder. Still, that's what we need heroes for.
Dark sun gets Cinnabar shadows by Lynn Abbey. Yet more developments and dramas under the harsh desert sun as people fight to survive.
Some fairly interesting generic stuff too. The second Players option rulebook, Skills and Powers hits. Yet more attempts to make AD&D point buy to limited success. Also ambitious but a bit dodgy is Labyrinth of Madness. Wasn't the 20th anniversary of TSR's founding last year. Unless you're being lawyerly and counting it as the founding of the new TSR, not the old Tactical Studies Rules. Anyway, this is to the Tomb of Horrors what a Jumbo Jet is to a Monster Truck. A meatgrinder and pixelbitcher on a scale large enough to give even 20th level characters months of frustration, years if they play dumb but don't give up and the DM doesn't give any clues. Like getting to immortality twice in basic D&D, if you can win this one fair and square, no help or cheating, then there's pretty much nowhere left to go. It really deserves more nostalgia than it gets. Guess so few people get to 20th level that they can't build the same kind of shared experience as the old convention modules.
Blood wars on the other hand, is still escalating with every supplement. This time, the gods get involved. The lady of pain isn't going to be happy if they come into sigil.
part 7/8
Libram X makes evil doubles sympathetic. Dragonmirth needs to buy better equipment. Swordplay kills the wrong stupid movie star. Yamara ends really sweetly. All together now. Awwwwwww.
Through the looking glass: The reorganisations begin with the wrapping up of minis reviews. Time for Robert to bid us farewell. Thank you to Roger Moore for giving him a chance in the first place, thanks to all the companies that sent him free stuff, and thank you to all the people who read the column and wrote in. No particular thanks for the current management though, I'm fairly sure it was their decision to end this relationship, not his. After all, if you're going to retrench and focus on your core audience, something like this would be the first thing deemed unneeded.
The number of minis reviewed is less than usual as well. He's certainly not getting to go out with a bang. A page is devoted to a starter castle, which of course is a fairly large piece of work requiring some serious assembly work. This means it doesn't quite fit it's beginners label, despite being high quality. A trio of fairly generic elf archers. They'll drop into most games without too much trouble. Ral partha continue to take the official orders for the big games, with a bullette and a bone gnawer in various states of transformation, and a horse headed centaur, from shadowrun, apparently. All are pretty good as usual. You can see why companies keep coming back to them. And finally, there's a female orc riding a turtle, which is from Earthdawn. And yet another elf wizard. They're in no danger of being short of troops any time soon. And that's the end of that. Not a particularly impressive way to go out. Who'll be next on the chopping block, I wonder.
TSR Previews: The Forgotten realms is back to taking the lions share of the supplements. The secret of spiderhaunt carries on the Mourndale adventures. Randal Morn is missing. Guess who's responsible, and where they're hiding out. Volo is nearby, giving his own distinctive guide to Cormyr. Shame we can't pin the blame on him. And we are reminded once again that as prolific as their schedule is, there are even more books that don't appear here, as we find out they're up to book 10(! Why didn't they mention 2-9?) of the Super Harpers series. Masquerades sees us return to the doings of Alias and co. Man, this is getting impossible to keep track of.
Planescape gets Harbinger house, another extradimensional place full of weird set-pieces in the vein of Baba yaga's hut. This is one I've used to reasonable success, and it confounds mapping nicely while still being easy for the DM to keep track of where the players are. This is the dark side of seeking godhood.
Ravenloft sees Van Richten try and study the Vistani. Not an easy task, and one likely to result in half-truths and curses upon the examiner. But hey, he's already cursed. Still, beware lack of objectivity.
Mystara gets Dragonking of Mystara by Thorannin Gunnarsson. Dragons are never easy to negotiate with, and trying to get profit out of them is like getting blood from a stone. When there's a whole bunch of manipulative
supposedly on your side, it gets even harder. Still, that's what we need heroes for. Dark sun gets Cinnabar shadows by Lynn Abbey. Yet more developments and dramas under the harsh desert sun as people fight to survive.
Some fairly interesting generic stuff too. The second Players option rulebook, Skills and Powers hits. Yet more attempts to make AD&D point buy to limited success. Also ambitious but a bit dodgy is Labyrinth of Madness. Wasn't the 20th anniversary of TSR's founding last year. Unless you're being lawyerly and counting it as the founding of the new TSR, not the old Tactical Studies Rules. Anyway, this is to the Tomb of Horrors what a Jumbo Jet is to a Monster Truck. A meatgrinder and pixelbitcher on a scale large enough to give even 20th level characters months of frustration, years if they play dumb but don't give up and the DM doesn't give any clues. Like getting to immortality twice in basic D&D, if you can win this one fair and square, no help or cheating, then there's pretty much nowhere left to go. It really deserves more nostalgia than it gets. Guess so few people get to 20th level that they can't build the same kind of shared experience as the old convention modules.
Blood wars on the other hand, is still escalating with every supplement. This time, the gods get involved. The lady of pain isn't going to be happy if they come into sigil.
David Howery
Hero
wasn't a heavy investment in these dice one of the things that sunk TSR way back then, when it turned out that no one was really buying them?
That, buying a needle point factory, the Buck Roger's game, over producing product, because they did not keep track of actual sales...
jonesy
A Wicked Kendragon
The dice were a success. But they had ordered a million units of them. They turned a successful sale into a staggering loss.
(un)reason
Legend
Dragon Magazine Issue 219: July 1995
part 8/8
Bonus CD: They've been doing CD's with their products for the past couple of years. It's been one of the more irritating and gimmicky parts of their output, and hasn't aged very well at all. Now, as with a lot of digital media, most of the costs are in producing and distributing the content, the costs of duplicating each CD are pretty small, especially when you have a run in the tens of thousands. So making this bonus feature isn't that great a technical feat anymore, although it would mean their packers had to work overtime this month. Which means this is mainly excerpts, with commentary by Tim Beach, Andria Hayday, Colin McComb, and the other writers of said products. I haven't listened to this in years, and I'm immediately reminded how bad the acting is, and how general MIDI a lot of the instruments sound. D&D really does work better in your imagination than put on the screen in front of you, because the budget needed to smooth out the rough edges is just too great. It also shows up just how much processing the sample tracks received compared to the commentary. The commentary sounds noticeably muffled and bassy by comparison, especially on track 1. I suspect much of this nitpickiness is precisely because I am a trained musician, but it does still make me feel like this stuff is not worth using, because I do know the mechanics of how it's done, and could replicate it if I wanted too. The fact that it also forces them to write adventures with quite linear design is another strike against it as a fashion. So it looks like distance has not removed my annoyance at this fad at all, and if anything has made it look worse. What a waste of money and time.
Another issue where the good articles are very very good, but there are also bits that are horrid too. The bonus CD feels like a dreadfully forced bit of promotion, and the initial articles are mostly pretty dull. Still, it does look like some changes are coming soon. Unfortunately, I seem to remember them being mostly bad ones, at least in the near future. Still, at least that means I'll have something new to say. 10 years in which the magazine hardly changed at all is a pretty long time really. All things must pass. Roll on the new era.
part 8/8
Bonus CD: They've been doing CD's with their products for the past couple of years. It's been one of the more irritating and gimmicky parts of their output, and hasn't aged very well at all. Now, as with a lot of digital media, most of the costs are in producing and distributing the content, the costs of duplicating each CD are pretty small, especially when you have a run in the tens of thousands. So making this bonus feature isn't that great a technical feat anymore, although it would mean their packers had to work overtime this month. Which means this is mainly excerpts, with commentary by Tim Beach, Andria Hayday, Colin McComb, and the other writers of said products. I haven't listened to this in years, and I'm immediately reminded how bad the acting is, and how general MIDI a lot of the instruments sound. D&D really does work better in your imagination than put on the screen in front of you, because the budget needed to smooth out the rough edges is just too great. It also shows up just how much processing the sample tracks received compared to the commentary. The commentary sounds noticeably muffled and bassy by comparison, especially on track 1. I suspect much of this nitpickiness is precisely because I am a trained musician, but it does still make me feel like this stuff is not worth using, because I do know the mechanics of how it's done, and could replicate it if I wanted too. The fact that it also forces them to write adventures with quite linear design is another strike against it as a fashion. So it looks like distance has not removed my annoyance at this fad at all, and if anything has made it look worse. What a waste of money and time.
Another issue where the good articles are very very good, but there are also bits that are horrid too. The bonus CD feels like a dreadfully forced bit of promotion, and the initial articles are mostly pretty dull. Still, it does look like some changes are coming soon. Unfortunately, I seem to remember them being mostly bad ones, at least in the near future. Still, at least that means I'll have something new to say. 10 years in which the magazine hardly changed at all is a pretty long time really. All things must pass. Roll on the new era.
(un)reason
Legend
Dragon Magazine Issue 220: August 1995
part 1/8
140 pages. A third enlarged issue this year, it seems. This is the biggest of them all, and is actually the 4th largest issue in the magazine's run. Fairly impressive. It looks like there's going to be plenty of action this time round, with the contents page bursting at the seams. Still, quantity does not equal quality. But at least there's no 20 page promotional cuttings like a few issues ago.
In this issue:
Letters: A letter wondering who slade is. Ha. Now that's an interesting question with a fairly interesting answer. Whether he's more or less interesting than zeb though, is another matter.
A letter complaining about the frequency of alcohol in TSR's adventures and illustrations. Won't someone think of the children! Oh, this is an awkward one. Banning alcohol from your products is rather harder to do than getting rid of de:bleep:s because it would present an overly sanitised everyday world which lacked believable people with understandable motivations. It'd be like Star trek TNG or something. Plus it'd sell less. Kids want their transgression. Better they do it in their imagination than in reality.
A in ironically contrasting letter complaining TSR's products are too modern in their mindset, rather than being realistically medieval in terms of values. Again, they wouldn't sell as well if they were. You have to exercise dramatic licence as a producer of fantasy. Oh, the annoyances of compromise.
Editorial: Larry Smith the art director once again takes the editorial. And here we start to find out what they're planning. More themes and regular columns. Coverage of dead campaign worlds. Less CCG stuff, less stuff on other RPG's, it's time to focus on AD&D first and foremost. And thankfully, less articles that are just blatant promotion for an upcoming product. A decidedly mixed bag. The overall result seems to be a reduction in variety of topics covered, and a greater reliance upon the various regular columns. Well, we have found that highly specific topics like the ecologies make them less likely to precisely repeat themselves, particularly as long as the editorial control stays good, and there are lots of little details in the rulebooks and settings that could be expanded upon without meriting a full book. So we could well get more interesting AD&D specific crunch on various topics from this. As ever, I guess it depends on the writers and editors. But it does look like this new policy will make it easier for them to get trapped in a cycle of the same few options, again and again. I hope that won't be the case.
First Quest: Ed Stark? Who? :Googles: Lots of TORG, a little paranoia and star wars, some bloodshadows and shatterzone. That's a pretty good resume. Still, the fact that they're picking people who've only just joined the company shows they may be running short of people with interesting first time stories and the desire to tell them to the public. And really his first experience was nothing special. A little embarrassing, mainly due to an unwillingness to admit he was a noob, and didn't actually know what he was doing, but hey, most of us have done that at one time or another. Sometimes faking it until you make it is the best way in anyway. So this is one I can empathise with quite well, even though it doesn't match my own first time. (I really ought to get round to talking about that before this column finishes, shouldn't I. ) It's short, but it gets the picture across pretty well.
Dirty Tricks: Or Tucker's kobolds, unofficial part 8: This time EVERYONE'S invited! Once again it's time to crack open the Art of War and show players and DM's how you can shift the odds of battle with some basic tactics, and if you're lucky, win fights without ever drawing a weapon. We've definitely been here before. Course, many people would ask why you would ever want to leave, when the alternative makes life so much shorter and nastier. This is basically another case where Greg Detwiler takes an already well-covered idea, and puts his own personal spins on it, introducing us to a whole bunch more specific ways in which you can screw your opponents over. So like another collection of monsters, spells, or magic items, this isn't original at all, but is entertaining and useful regardless of system. He's still a pretty solid contributor.
part 1/8
140 pages. A third enlarged issue this year, it seems. This is the biggest of them all, and is actually the 4th largest issue in the magazine's run. Fairly impressive. It looks like there's going to be plenty of action this time round, with the contents page bursting at the seams. Still, quantity does not equal quality. But at least there's no 20 page promotional cuttings like a few issues ago.
In this issue:
Letters: A letter wondering who slade is. Ha. Now that's an interesting question with a fairly interesting answer. Whether he's more or less interesting than zeb though, is another matter.
A letter complaining about the frequency of alcohol in TSR's adventures and illustrations. Won't someone think of the children! Oh, this is an awkward one. Banning alcohol from your products is rather harder to do than getting rid of de:bleep:s because it would present an overly sanitised everyday world which lacked believable people with understandable motivations. It'd be like Star trek TNG or something. Plus it'd sell less. Kids want their transgression. Better they do it in their imagination than in reality.
A in ironically contrasting letter complaining TSR's products are too modern in their mindset, rather than being realistically medieval in terms of values. Again, they wouldn't sell as well if they were. You have to exercise dramatic licence as a producer of fantasy. Oh, the annoyances of compromise.
Editorial: Larry Smith the art director once again takes the editorial. And here we start to find out what they're planning. More themes and regular columns. Coverage of dead campaign worlds. Less CCG stuff, less stuff on other RPG's, it's time to focus on AD&D first and foremost. And thankfully, less articles that are just blatant promotion for an upcoming product. A decidedly mixed bag. The overall result seems to be a reduction in variety of topics covered, and a greater reliance upon the various regular columns. Well, we have found that highly specific topics like the ecologies make them less likely to precisely repeat themselves, particularly as long as the editorial control stays good, and there are lots of little details in the rulebooks and settings that could be expanded upon without meriting a full book. So we could well get more interesting AD&D specific crunch on various topics from this. As ever, I guess it depends on the writers and editors. But it does look like this new policy will make it easier for them to get trapped in a cycle of the same few options, again and again. I hope that won't be the case.
First Quest: Ed Stark? Who? :Googles: Lots of TORG, a little paranoia and star wars, some bloodshadows and shatterzone. That's a pretty good resume. Still, the fact that they're picking people who've only just joined the company shows they may be running short of people with interesting first time stories and the desire to tell them to the public. And really his first experience was nothing special. A little embarrassing, mainly due to an unwillingness to admit he was a noob, and didn't actually know what he was doing, but hey, most of us have done that at one time or another. Sometimes faking it until you make it is the best way in anyway. So this is one I can empathise with quite well, even though it doesn't match my own first time. (I really ought to get round to talking about that before this column finishes, shouldn't I. ) It's short, but it gets the picture across pretty well.
Dirty Tricks: Or Tucker's kobolds, unofficial part 8: This time EVERYONE'S invited! Once again it's time to crack open the Art of War and show players and DM's how you can shift the odds of battle with some basic tactics, and if you're lucky, win fights without ever drawing a weapon. We've definitely been here before. Course, many people would ask why you would ever want to leave, when the alternative makes life so much shorter and nastier. This is basically another case where Greg Detwiler takes an already well-covered idea, and puts his own personal spins on it, introducing us to a whole bunch more specific ways in which you can screw your opponents over. So like another collection of monsters, spells, or magic items, this isn't original at all, but is entertaining and useful regardless of system. He's still a pretty solid contributor.
(un)reason
Legend
Dragon Magazine Issue 220: August 1995
part 2/8
Politics of empire: We follow on with something on much the same topic, but far far more specific. A look at the politics of Birthright, and their trends from region to region. Heartlanders are expansionistic blame-shifters. Easterners pretend to be above all that politics crap while subtly manipulating everyone. Northerners & westerners are blunt and aggressive. And Southerners are most interested in getting their own domains prosperous by whatever means. Pretty broad stereotypes, but I suppose that helps a DM pick what kind of game they want to involve players in. PC's domains really ought to be set fairly near each other so they can interact in the political play segment of the game as well as the adventuring. And since you are in control of large areas which will change during game as you engage in trade and conquest, they can't just give potted lists of specific rulers for specific areas. This isn't hugely useful, and I suspect will become superfluous once you actually own a bunch of books for the setting. It's another case where the agenda to slip in a bit more promotion for their new books is pretty transparent. Still, it does give you a nice format for designing your own political regions, so it's not completely useless. Overall, it's another resounding meh.
Hired Killerz: Hrm. This is a blast from the past in two ways at once. A look at assassins, which have been persona non grata for a good few years now. And a statting out of a character from a book, which is also something that's fallen out of fashion for a while. Here's talk about the kinds of hired killers out there, from guild assassins to brooding loners, and stats for Vlad Taltos from Steven Brust's series. Some of them are complete bastards, while others are merely morally ambiguous. They can be used as PC's, but watch out. And since they should be good at stealth and making getaways, they can be foreshadowed before the PC's ever meet them by having them kill NPC's, and then become recurring adversaries. This is mainly interesting because like making the fiends a crucial part of many planescape supplements, it shows a softening of their big edicts around the 2e changeover. Even without the company changeover, it's possible they would have become a class again in the next edition. It's also interesting because this time round, the literary part is done by someone who's familiar with roleplaying, and so the character converts a little more smoothly to gaming, although he still breaks D&D rules liberally. So this is quite an interesting article, as it shows they may start to incorporate more old school elements into the magazine in an attempt to win back readers. When you don't know what to do, try what worked before.
Moving in mysterious ways: What? What?! Riiiiight. This is an article that raises some rather complex questions. While having an all-encompassing way of categorising and dividing up your spells isn't a bad idea, it has the flaws that it can discourage creativity, and if the subdivisions are bad, some will be vastly more powerful than others and you may struggle to figure out where a more quirky power should go. In AD&D, it's Alteration that gets to be the catch-all school, and rather overpowered as a result. Eve if you were to separate out the spells that move things from those that transform them, it'd still be better than most of the others. So why not create the school of Apportation? With crucial stuff like knock, fly and haste falling under it's umbrella, it's hardly obscure or useless in practical situations. And it should be easy enough to figure out what spells from supplements should go into it. Will this fix the underlying problems in the school system? I'm not sure, although it is probably a step in the right direction. Albeit one that didn't make it to next edition, where transmuters remained one of the best specialist options. Oh well, we can still use the neat new spells, and ignore all the mechanical wrangling.
Little Bird is essentially a low weight telekinesis spell. Just the kind of thing you want as a stopgap between cantrips and the real thing to impress the rubes at low level.
March lets you move at full speed without any fatigue even when heavily encumbered. After a few levels, you'll be able to help the whole party, which is when you'll be weighed down with too much gear from your hauls anyway. Utility!
Tipple is more whimisical. You can make a swig of drink fly into your mouth on a whim. Tee hee. Very much in the gandalf spirit.
Bloodbridge lets you do blood transfusions, essentially transferring hit points, as last seen in issue 148. Wizards might struggle with creating hit points, but their ability to manipulate them is fairly well established now. (and they've never had any trouble removing them)
Mouse lets you enchant an object to run away and hide whenever anyone tries to mess with it. Another whimsical one I seem to recall coming from a cartoon.
Speed gives you the mobility boost of haste, but not all the other stuff. It has whimsical material components. Nuff said.
Teleport Object should be fairly obvious. Send it where you want, within reason. Which is an incredibly versatile trick really. Have fun setting up your xantatos caches.
Transpose gets a little more meta, allowing you to move properties from one thing to another. This does have slightly fuzzy rules, but is another one that can really reward imagination. What strange swaps will you engineer?
Transfuse takes things a step further, allowing you to steal characteristics from something, and quite possibly not give them back. This can be very mean indeed, and will definitely piss off players if it's used unwillingly, as it doesn't even allow a save.
Rip moves something in multiple directions simultaneously, causing quite substantial damage if not dispelled. Every school needs at least one good offensive trick, such as divination's ninja foresight and illusion's phantasmal killer.
Teleport Other is another one that can screw over enemies quite effectively. It does have a fairly nasty backlash though, making it one for when you hold a personal grudge against someone.
Mass Teleport and Mass teleport without Error are exactly what they sound like. Now you can take the whole party along. Another of those ones that casually changes the game once you have it.
Skycastle is one of those spells many an archmage will drool about getting their hands upon. Really, who doesn't want a flying castle? You've gotta think big, and this article certainly gives you several more spells that can really make your game feel fantastical.
part 2/8
Politics of empire: We follow on with something on much the same topic, but far far more specific. A look at the politics of Birthright, and their trends from region to region. Heartlanders are expansionistic blame-shifters. Easterners pretend to be above all that politics crap while subtly manipulating everyone. Northerners & westerners are blunt and aggressive. And Southerners are most interested in getting their own domains prosperous by whatever means. Pretty broad stereotypes, but I suppose that helps a DM pick what kind of game they want to involve players in. PC's domains really ought to be set fairly near each other so they can interact in the political play segment of the game as well as the adventuring. And since you are in control of large areas which will change during game as you engage in trade and conquest, they can't just give potted lists of specific rulers for specific areas. This isn't hugely useful, and I suspect will become superfluous once you actually own a bunch of books for the setting. It's another case where the agenda to slip in a bit more promotion for their new books is pretty transparent. Still, it does give you a nice format for designing your own political regions, so it's not completely useless. Overall, it's another resounding meh.
Hired Killerz: Hrm. This is a blast from the past in two ways at once. A look at assassins, which have been persona non grata for a good few years now. And a statting out of a character from a book, which is also something that's fallen out of fashion for a while. Here's talk about the kinds of hired killers out there, from guild assassins to brooding loners, and stats for Vlad Taltos from Steven Brust's series. Some of them are complete bastards, while others are merely morally ambiguous. They can be used as PC's, but watch out. And since they should be good at stealth and making getaways, they can be foreshadowed before the PC's ever meet them by having them kill NPC's, and then become recurring adversaries. This is mainly interesting because like making the fiends a crucial part of many planescape supplements, it shows a softening of their big edicts around the 2e changeover. Even without the company changeover, it's possible they would have become a class again in the next edition. It's also interesting because this time round, the literary part is done by someone who's familiar with roleplaying, and so the character converts a little more smoothly to gaming, although he still breaks D&D rules liberally. So this is quite an interesting article, as it shows they may start to incorporate more old school elements into the magazine in an attempt to win back readers. When you don't know what to do, try what worked before.
Moving in mysterious ways: What? What?! Riiiiight. This is an article that raises some rather complex questions. While having an all-encompassing way of categorising and dividing up your spells isn't a bad idea, it has the flaws that it can discourage creativity, and if the subdivisions are bad, some will be vastly more powerful than others and you may struggle to figure out where a more quirky power should go. In AD&D, it's Alteration that gets to be the catch-all school, and rather overpowered as a result. Eve if you were to separate out the spells that move things from those that transform them, it'd still be better than most of the others. So why not create the school of Apportation? With crucial stuff like knock, fly and haste falling under it's umbrella, it's hardly obscure or useless in practical situations. And it should be easy enough to figure out what spells from supplements should go into it. Will this fix the underlying problems in the school system? I'm not sure, although it is probably a step in the right direction. Albeit one that didn't make it to next edition, where transmuters remained one of the best specialist options. Oh well, we can still use the neat new spells, and ignore all the mechanical wrangling.
Little Bird is essentially a low weight telekinesis spell. Just the kind of thing you want as a stopgap between cantrips and the real thing to impress the rubes at low level.
March lets you move at full speed without any fatigue even when heavily encumbered. After a few levels, you'll be able to help the whole party, which is when you'll be weighed down with too much gear from your hauls anyway. Utility!
Tipple is more whimisical. You can make a swig of drink fly into your mouth on a whim. Tee hee. Very much in the gandalf spirit.
Bloodbridge lets you do blood transfusions, essentially transferring hit points, as last seen in issue 148. Wizards might struggle with creating hit points, but their ability to manipulate them is fairly well established now. (and they've never had any trouble removing them)
Mouse lets you enchant an object to run away and hide whenever anyone tries to mess with it. Another whimsical one I seem to recall coming from a cartoon.
Speed gives you the mobility boost of haste, but not all the other stuff. It has whimsical material components. Nuff said.
Teleport Object should be fairly obvious. Send it where you want, within reason. Which is an incredibly versatile trick really. Have fun setting up your xantatos caches.
Transpose gets a little more meta, allowing you to move properties from one thing to another. This does have slightly fuzzy rules, but is another one that can really reward imagination. What strange swaps will you engineer?
Transfuse takes things a step further, allowing you to steal characteristics from something, and quite possibly not give them back. This can be very mean indeed, and will definitely piss off players if it's used unwillingly, as it doesn't even allow a save.
Rip moves something in multiple directions simultaneously, causing quite substantial damage if not dispelled. Every school needs at least one good offensive trick, such as divination's ninja foresight and illusion's phantasmal killer.
Teleport Other is another one that can screw over enemies quite effectively. It does have a fairly nasty backlash though, making it one for when you hold a personal grudge against someone.
Mass Teleport and Mass teleport without Error are exactly what they sound like. Now you can take the whole party along. Another of those ones that casually changes the game once you have it.
Skycastle is one of those spells many an archmage will drool about getting their hands upon. Really, who doesn't want a flying castle? You've gotta think big, and this article certainly gives you several more spells that can really make your game feel fantastical.
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