Let's read the entire run

[(un)reason]

Dragon Magazine Issue 227: March 1996


part 2/8


The dragon's bestiary: Quelle surprise, more darkdwelling monsters. Will they actually help the ecology down there make more sense, or just be more horrors to kill?

Bainligor are moderately badass flightless bat-people. They come in huge numbers, and their stats scale up a lot, but are relatively slow, so they are not ones you want to stick around and fight the whole horde of. Still, at least they're more interesting and negotiable with than Gibberlings. Good luck to your dwarven communities if a horde attacks them.

Giant scarab beetles nom dung and undead, thus serving a vital ecological role in the underdark, and quite possibly in keeping spawning undead from taking over the world in general. They might also eat you if you get in their way though, so sticking around to say thanks isn't the best idea. Like denzelian, it's good to have them there.

Carapace is another gross organic thingy that grows all over you and grants you powers, but also gradually consumes you. Are you willing to make that sacrifice? If you don't have a good cleric around, it will be the end of you, but you've got a good chance of taking down plenty of enemies with you.

Darkness Elementals are of course made of negative energy, This means they can blind you, but are vulnerable to magical light. The usual negative energy = Eeevil rule is in full force here. So we still need positive energy ones to complete the symmetry, but all the para and quasiplanes are long since dealt with in the magazine. They'll have to start making up new planes if they want to do more of these.

Fireweed is like brown mold, only far less dangerous. Plant it in a volcanic region and it'll grow quickly and render the area inhabitable in the process. Another one that's more flavour and ecological filling in than combat encounter.

Glouras are whimsical fae with quite powerful charming capabilities, and the willingness to use that power to assemble harems of slaves who will defend their mistress to the death. You may well have to fight your own buddies again. Be ready with those dispels

Whispering Moths are another ecology filler, serving the role of bats or bees in spreading seeds and fungi spores. They're not harmless though, and are especially likely to be a pain for surface adventurers, as like regular moths, they're drawn to light. If you can keep your head and toast a whole swarm in one go, you'll get a truly ridiculous amount of experience.

Blue ring octopi are another of the few good guys down there. Like svirfneblin, they survive by caution and co-operation, hiding and fighting only if they have to. You may well meet some if you get turned into an aboleth slave, which can lead to making new friends when you break out. I think that sounds like a pretty decent plotline, don't you.

Vampire squid are illithid's weapons of choice in spreading their reach to the waters of the underdark, kicking the asses of aboleth & kuo-toa. They're another one that has a strong implied plotline connected to them, with interesting issues of morality and sacrifices for freedom raised. This is proving a very interesting collection of monsters indeed.

Albino Wyrms have relatively low HD for dragons, and no particular magical abilities, but are pretty tough still. They're also of dubious sanity, so they're probably not that effective really, and may get stuck in one area as they age (which can't help) Not a very interesting way to end an otherwise pretty good article.

 

[(un)reason]

This ain't news, WotC is always laying their workers off.



Yeah, this article is really missing some ominous music in the background.

Maybe it's not news now, but this was 15 years ago, and we didn't know them as well back then. Plus, how many other games companies do that sort of thing? Quite a lot stick with the same core group of friends for ages, quite possibly to their detriment.

 

[(un)reason]

Dragon Magazine Issue 227: March 1996


part 3/8


Journeys to the deepest dungeons: Or the logistics of penetrating dungeons miles deep, with entire cities of monsters and surviving. Even at 20th level, you can't just walk in, kill them all, and take their stuff. (and even if you do, it's going to take some pretty involved magic to get it all back to the surface, so logistics will come into things anyway. ) More realistically, you have two options. You can pick a target within your power, get in, make a surgical strike, and get out again before they can retaliate. Or you can assemble a larger team, maybe even an army, and use them to keep the general population busy. (and they will have problems in a city of Drow or Illithids) So really, it's the kind of undertaking that'll take a few adventures just to get the resources to take on the big one. As with our first underdark special, in particular the advanced aboleth article, this tells us that there are adventures possible that are epic far beyond the usual scope of what happens in play, and it's up to you to seize those possibilities proactively. That's not a bad message to send to a group.


The ecology of the Osquip: Om nom nom! Whosa happy rat-thing? Whosa OW! Bleeding hell, it bit my finger off! Do you know how expensive regeneration spells are?! Anyway, welcome back to the guilds of bickering sages. They played a substantial part in the first few ecologies, but haven't been around much lately. It seems that they're experimenting with format even here, with the crunchy footnotes put at the bottom of the page, rather than all being saved up for the end. This actually is probably an improvement, particularly in pdf format, which is not as conducive to rapid flicking back and forth as paper. The fiction is pretty entertaining as well, as we see said sages bicker, theorize, and aim snide remarks at one-another. And make poop jokes. Oh yes. At least they're not getting all flustered when talking about mating habits. Family friendly magazine, blah blah blah. An excellent addition to the series, that gives me plenty of new tricks to try on my players.


AD&D Triviathon: Ha. We've had a few of these knowledge tests before, but this is the first time they've made it a competition with actual prizes. Very interesting. Unfortunately, it's on a pull-out poster which they haven't scanned in, so I can't match my wits against it, see how I would have done. That's mildly irritating, but as ever, what can ya do. You can only go so far to track this stuff down. :shrugs:


Sage advice: How do wererats transmit lycanthropy through their swords (By rubbing their weapons in their were-ratty filth. You really don't wanna get hit by that. )

Do you lose a point of con after being resurrected (yes. Each time, it gets easier to die and harder to come back. Sometime, you're gonna fail. Do you feel lucky this time, punk?)

Why can't you cast spells through a projected image anymore (you can. We just don't advertise it anymore. )

What's the difference between AD&D 2nd ed and the new rules (It's still 2nd edition. Only the packaging and the errata has changed. We still want you to buy the new versions though. Lorraine, er, I mean we, need your money.)

Krynnish characters can so be bards! It lists them in the book! No, those are actually just thieves with musical proficiencies. If you have bard characters in dragonlance, you must retcon them immediately!)

Do you get to roll % immediately if you increase your strength to 18 by wishes (If you like. )

Since when do rangers cast wizard spells ( They did way back in 1st edition. Don't you remember that? Ed certainly does. )

What happens if an invisible character is in the way of a magic missile shot (It ignores them. A magic missile does not miss it's target, no matter how improbable that may look.)

What happens when two half-elves mate ( That's a bit personal, isn't it. Look, we're just people. Our bits work just the same as any human or elf. We don't turn into a glowing ball of light or cause earthquakes or anything.)

Is charging a full or half move action (depends how far you charge)

Do undead get fatigued (no. Not for a second. )

How fast can you move running or sprinting (running is x2, sprinting is x3. Is that so hard?)

What AC do you get when you combine cap and coif ( Are you making a dirty irish joke? No? Skip'll be watching you. 4. )

What affects a weapon's speed factor ( magic)

What are the saving throws against normal blows (2 for everything. They're unlikely to do much)

Is there a formula for converting proficiencies to the new rules (no. You'll have to fudge it)

How many pages extra does having a reversed spell take (none, unless it's listed separately )

What happens if a specialist uses a item from an opposing school (nothing. They either don't know how to use it, or can use it fine. There's not some canon police waiting to sweep them up if they try and use a forbidden item.)

What age should you be at a particular XP level (There is very little correlation between the two. You can go a lifetime without getting any, or be epic while still in your 20's. It's all about accomplishment, not putting the time in. Just like becoming famous in real life. )

 

[jonesy]

What age should you be at a particular XP level (There is very little correlation between the two. You can go a lifetime without getting any, or be epic while still in your 20's. It's all about accomplishment, not putting the time in. Just like becoming famous in real life. )

When we first started playing we made up a chart of the expected ages for each BECMI level title. It turned really silly really fast.

 

[(un)reason]

Dragon Magazine Issue 227: March 1996


part 4/8


The role of books has a Magic: the Gathering special this month. Since role-playing reviews has already done that recently, this means it has become such a breakout hit that no-one's quite sure where to put it anymore, and so anyone remotely related is trying to get in on the act. Ahh, the joys of becoming a breakout hit that creates a whole new genre. Until the shine wears off, and the world puts you in a niche, you get to do virtually anything you want. It's a brilliant position to be in.

The pocket players guide for magic the gathering is already up to it's 4th edition. They must be releasing them every 6 months or something. Still, being released by the official writers, it's got a better ability to keep up with the breakneck rise of CCG's than any third party competitors. Apart from the attempts at IC banter, which fall a little flat, it's a pretty solid explanation of the game, well organised and indexed. That should make them quite a bit more money by handling their own support industry as well.

Learn Magic cards, by Larry W Smith, PhD, on the other hand is just plain innaccurate in a lot of it's details, some of them worryingly basic. This problem is compounded by the fact that the writing is smooth and authoritative and consistent in it's misreadings. Unless it's John who has the rules interpreted all wrong, which isn't completely beyond the bounds of probability. Still, it is worrying, and he can't recommend it. Curious and interesting. Any comments on this?

The unauthorized strategy guide to Magic: The gathering by Gregg Williams and Paul Dreyfus (man, these titles really are getting stupidly huge) isn't bad, but it is very focussed upon helping newbies. This means serious tournament players are likely to outgrow it fast. If you just want to have fun with your family, on the other hand, this might be the right guide for you.

Deep magic by Charles Wolfe & George H Baxter, by contrast, is aimed at experts, particularly those with the cash to spend on buying tons of booster packs to get those rare cards for really brutal deck-building. It's so focussed on these optimal strategies that it neglects the more achievable builds, which means it won't be useful to a lot of people. Still, it's a good way to keep people buying more booster packs, isn't it.

Targen's tome: A masters guide to Magic by John M Corradin, looks like another attempt at writing from a semi-IC perspective. With quite a bit of humour, and accessible top tens of most useful cards, it's both useful and a good read despite being a bit rough around the edges. Remember, a game should be played for fun. Taking the whole thing too seriously kinda spoils it for everyone.


Network news: Once again this column clearly and concisely states what it's trying to accomplish. To make these conventions work, they need people able to write good adventures. After all, they can't keep reusing the tomb of horrors for eternity. We need self-contained, easy to understand adventures that can be played in a single session, with pregens that are correctly tailored to the challenges of the adventure. You need to submit your idea first, and then be willing to test and edit afterwards. As with most of the company these days, it's not particularly accessible to newbies anymore, but still, it's probably an easier way to get a foothold than going straight into freelancing for official books. And it's easy enough to understand what you have to do here. I just wish they didn't have to repeat themselves so many times in slightly different formats to get the message across.

 

[(un)reason]

Dragon Magazine Issue 227: March 1996


part 5/8


Bazaar of the Bizarre: We had two specials on elven magic items last year. Inevitably, this brings the complaint that dwarves are under-represented. Oh, suck it up. You're still easily in the top percentile in terms of media coverage and shiny toys to play with. Spare a thought for the Norkers and Dire Corbies. They're never going to get a special on them, while you've still got several to come over the years. Now enjoy your presents, ya grumps.

An Axe of Dwarvenkind can turn into a battle axe or a pair of twin returning throwing axes. In either form, they're only really any good for dwarves. No question how the treasure's gonna be divided if you get one of these.

Stonereaver axes are not only super effective in dwarven hands, they also hurt stone based enemies even more. No big surprise from a race built on mining stuff.

Dwarven Warhelms give you a bonus to AC, and also to ale! (I presume that's meant to be morale, but is a very appropriate typo played straight) It's even cumulative in groups. Let's quaff some more, lads!

Explode stones are a very bad pun. They can be used as grenades or dynamite, both of which seem handy in subterranean warfare. Watch the enemy don't reverse engineer them, because then you have very definite technological advancement and we can't be having with that.

Hammers of Battering allow you to automate your violence in a whole bunch of interesting ways, and avoid having to keep rebuying material components. Definitely one for the priestly then.

Hammers of Stunning seem pretty self-explanatory. You hit them once, they're at a substantial disadvantage and you can keep on pounding. Always useful when facing a big boss.

A Manual of the Forge gives you a free proficiency. It's not as invaluable as the ones that give you level or ability score boosts, but certainly nothing to be sneezed at. Search for lots of variants on this to become a real skill monkey.

Oil of Corrosion Resistance is invaluable in a community where they try and build things to last. A manufacturer of this can make a pretty penny by selling it on to all the craftsmen.

Oil of Sculpting is basically stone shape in a jar. Another one that has considerable economic value. Not trusting magic rapidly disappears when it's just so useful.


Floyd has the summoner/demon relationship rudely inverted.


They're in the book: Another way of using books as plot hooks. Well, it's important to get our adventurers reading, especially since 2e has the lowest literacy level amongst characters of all editions thanks to the way the proficiency rules work. Actually, this is pretty interesting, as it showcases the various ways clues can be hidden in an otherwise unrelated book, or collection of books. The main issue here is that it is rather tricky to adjudicate, as you can't just put the books in front of the players and let them find the clues themselves. You can either give the solution away, or like secret doors, make them roll, and just use the solutions as flavour when they discover. Or if you're really dedicated, scribble on a real book and make them search for the anomaly IRL. Yeah, Not sure I'm keen on that one. Maybe annotate a .pdf instead. So this is a good idea, that may be a lot of work in actual play. I'll have think about how I can make this one work to my benefit.


Tactics for two: Our CCG coverage this month is a little collection of variant rules for the Blood Wars game. Rules optimised for two players? Seems slightly odd. After all, the game doesn't break down when played that way, unlike in solitaire play. Still, they would probably know better than I do, having plenty of chances to playtest it. The changes aren't that great, mainly being adjustments to how much stuff you can play, and a few additions and clarifications that will keep play suitably brutal when the political aspect is greatly reduced. It makes me wonder just how badly the game handles 2 player under the core rules. And was that a problem when it came to actually finding people to play the game with? This is one of those cases where I'll have to turn my questions upon the general public. What were your experiences with this game and how did the number of players change it?

 

[Orius]

We had two specials on elven magic items last year. Inevitably, this brings the complaint that dwarves are under-represented. Oh, suck it up. You're still easily in the top percentile in terms of media coverage and shiny toys to play with.

Still, I'd rather see stuff for dwarves than those pointy-eared tree hugging ponces.

Dwarven Warhelms give you a bonus to AC, and also to ale! (I presume that's meant to be morale, but is a very appropriate typo played straight) It's even cumulative in groups. Let's quaff some more, lads!

Ha! I never even noticed that typo, but damn if it isn't funny.

 

[(un)reason]

Dragon Magazine Issue 227: March 1996


part 6/8


Tales from the fifth age: Mission from kendermore by Harold J Johnson. A story of a whole adventuring party of Kender from their original creator? Oh dear god. This is what I call penance for my sins. Still, it demonstrates exactly why Kender are prime adventurer material. Even if the situation wasn't that dramatic before they got there, they'll find a way to make it into an adventure. And no matter how bad things get, how many of the party get lost, they still act like it's one big game, with the long-term consequences irrelevant. And yet despite all the bickering and sidetracks, they still somehow wind up on the winning side most of the time. And hey, if they lose, that just means the fun continues with more challenges to solve. Their stealth skills & toughness makes them much more likely to survive than the average adventurer. This makes this very interesting, and rather unusual in style. The fact that the kender do gradually get eliminated throughout the story makes it all the more entertaining, and very unusual for the magazine, which has become quite shy about killing off protagonists. You could almost say it's penance from the author, providing the readers with sadistic amusement at the expense of his own creation. So I'm not sure what to make of this, but would be very interested in knowing the behind-the-scenes thought that led to it's writing and publication. It is once again a fairly dramatic change from the usual fiction published in the magazine.


Arcane Lore: Oooh. Pretty fireworks. Another thing that has a long association with magic, including a substantial appearance in The Hobbit. We certainly aren't short of elemental fire spells, but this once again shows that you can create a new genre from existing ingredients, like collectible card games, paranormal romance or comedians in drag with fatsuits. And is rather amusing really. Let's amaze those hobbits and startle the goblins.

Firecrackers inflict minor damage and are loud and startling. Is this going to be one of those articles that does technology with magic? Those get dull quite quickly.

Sparkler, on the other hand can light up any metal object without destroying it. A nice alternative to conventional torches or light spells. Watch as they go ow when you hit them with it. Tee hee.

Flare is another one that does pretty much what it does in reality. It even has the same material components. Meh.

Goblin Chaser is very closely inspired by a certain Hobbit scene. Sparking balls of fire to rout your enemies. It's not just pain, it's noise and impact. Wheee.

Spark Fountain is an extended one that'll make an area painful to pass through for quite a few rounds. That'll be good both as visuals and battlefield control, especially if you can shield your own side.

Bakarapper sends out little explosions that explode again. Another familiar real world firework that you don't want to get caught up in the middle of.

Dragon Whirl is a more macho Catherine Wheel. Another one that'll be good for battlefield control over a moderate area such as driving enemies away from your castle wall.

Roman Candle gives you a rapid fire mini grenade launcher, which you can wield, or set down to serve as one of those regularly firing obstacles you have to slip between in CRPG's. Make it permanent and you have a perfect ornamentation to your insane lair.

Special Effects lets you reshape the visuals of many of your spells. Later on, this stuff'll be free. But for now, it takes a 4th level spell. 2nd ed can be harsh in many ways.

Starburst lets you terminally taste the rainbow as it arcs over the horizon and explodes in your face. Or is that Skittles. Oh well, you won't be any position to complain once ye've got a taste o' this sonnie.

Display lets you put on a full gandalf-esque performance in a single precisely timed package. It even lets you make normally deadly spells child-friendly but still impressive looking. That should be exceedingly useful. Can't really complain about this one, as it has lots of cool bits and callouts in amongst the dull spells.

 

[(un)reason]

Dragon Magazine Issue 227: March 1996


part 7/8


Forum: Larry Framness prefers the old modules, and would like to see many of them re-released. Wait a couple of years, you'll be in luck.

Peter Levi thinks we need to reach out more to convert the ambivalent. There's a lot of everyday stuff we could do, but don't. Star Trek managed to become normalised through persistence, (although you still see jokes) we can do it too! Ahh, idealism.

Tres Deloach wants to cut the cruft and get back to the dungeon too. There's just so much crap out now that it's squashing down the good stuff. That complaint is definitely increasing in frequency quite rapidly. No wonder sales slumped.

Nicholas Smith reminds you that if your game sucks, pull out and start a new one. You have to know what you want and satisfy your own needs.

Tobias Hill reminds us that rogues are more powerful than they seem, because on the same XP total, they'll often be several levels ahead. He's also finding TSR's supplement bloat is just getting too much to handle. Not much connection there, but both valid.

David Carithers wants some example of dwarf chants to sing. Perhaps something about ale?

Anton J. Uselmann gives his advice about introducing new players into an ongoing campaign. Maybe they should be a touch behind, but not so far they can't catch up with a little work.


Dragonmirth has plenty of retorts to life's problems. Swordplay goes colour and doubles in size. Not that the joke really needs it. Knights of the dinner table shows that Exalted has nothing on the new edition of Hackmaster when it comes to buckets of dice.


Down to scale: Or let's usher out minis coverage with another bit of introductory painting advice. We've seen this a good few times now, each time a little different. At least this one is a decent size, at 4 1/2 pages and a full 9 steps detailed. Not all of those steps will be used every time, which makes it feel a little less basic than it otherwise would. Some of them you might want to do out of order, particularly painting the base, which generally isn't very complicated compared to the mini itself. But this is both easy to understand, and quite informative for it's size. So this feels like one of the last remnants of the old order, mixed with the new attitude of the current one. Not a bad combination, really, especially if you haven't read the previous ones.


Role-playing reviews: The nightmare lands introduces dream based magic and adventure to Ravenloft, which is perfectly suited for it, really. As with Astral Travel, the more intellectually capable characters have a huge advantage, while warriors will be helpless lunks. It certainly isn't for newbie players and DM's, and Rick feels the setting info is a bit sparse, this could justify becoming a whole other line like planescape. So the question is if it's doing too much, or not enough. Not an easy one.

Nightspawn is essentially Palladium's answer to the World of Darkness, monstrous creatures that thought they were human, are trying to balance their human and monstrous lives and preserve a masquerade, while keeping cosmic evils from conquering the universe. Only since this is palladium, there's less angst, and more random rolls, strange mutations and bits of huge weaponry with which to mow down your enemies. How very adolescent. Well, again, that is very appropriate, and a big part of why Vampire became such a huge success as roleplaying went through it's 2nd decade. You can have lots of fun here, as long as you're willing to fudge the rules a little bit.

The world of necroscope brings Brian Lumley's alien, shape-twisting vampires to the Masterbook system, of all things. Well, I suppose it wouldn't be hard to squeeze them into TORG. This becomes another case where the descriptions are brilliant, if rather gross, but the rules aren't too great, and struggle to fit the books events into the system. Just play an all Tzimisce V:tM game instead.

GURPS Blood types brings a vast load of variant vampire types, most from various real world mythologies, some rather obscure. The strength and flexibility of the GURPS rules means all can be made to fit into your game, and it shouldn't be too hard to convert ones from other games too. They rarely seem to be any problem at all.

The cairo Guidebook, on the other hand, doesn't include enough system stuff to make it worth buying over a real book on egyptology, especially not for Call of Cthulhu, which ought to avoid falling into real world cultural cliches too much when venturing around the world. Go back to more primary sources if you want interesting adventures there.

 

[Orius]

David Carithers wants some example of dwarf chants to sing. Perhaps something about ale?

You mean like this?

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JACpu9Dlr_s]YouTube - The Bard's Tale - Beer Beer Beer[/ame]

Down to scale: Or let's usher out minis coverage with another bit of introductory painting advice. We've seen this a good few times now, each time a little different. At least this one is a decent size, at 4 1/2 pages and a full 9 steps detailed. Not all of those steps will be used every time, which makes it feel a little less basic than it otherwise would. Some of them you might want to do out of order, particularly painting the base, which generally isn't very complicated compared to the mini itself. But this is both easy to understand, and quite informative for it's size. So this feels like one of the last remnants of the old order, mixed with the new attitude of the current one. Not a bad combination, really, especially if you haven't read the previous ones.

Well, this was the first bit of mini paniting advice I'd ever read and it was quite informative. I got some decent results from following it. As I got better, I got more creative with my painting, but it was a pretty good article for someone new to minis and all that.