Let's read the entire run

[(un)reason]

Dragon Magazine Issue 253: November 1998


part 8/8


TSR Previews: The Forgotten Realms enjoys another variant splatbook. Demihuman Deities gives you yet more gods to be speciality priests of, with all the cool power options that entails. On the novel side, Troy Denning returns after his lengthy sojourn in Athas with Faces of Deception. He adventures in the Utter east (which is of course, actually to the west of the things he was making involving the Horde back in 1991.) Sounds like it could be fun.

Dragonlance continues to fill in the gap between the original adventures and 5th age. Legacy of Steel by Mary H. Herbert sees an attempt to found a new knightly order that isn't batshit insane or with a stick up it's arse, that actually helps ordinary people. Tough order, really.

Greyhawk really brings the irony to it's lost tombs series, with The Doomgrinder. It makes more sense when they reveal it's a giant evil windmill. Now that sounds like a fun bit of adventuring.

Ravenloft goes back to another classic, with Children of the night: Werebeasts. An anthology of short adventures, you know how these things go by now.

Alternity gets The Lighthouse. Your typical inn on the borderlands where you can rest up and find clues to adventure, only Iiiin Spaaace! Once again we see how closely they're sticking to the D&D product model with this line.

Marvel super heroes enjoys a double bill featuring the Avengers. A Roster book full of stats, and Masters of Evil, an adventure anthology. Will you use the pregens for this one, or adapt it to your own ends?


Profiles: Jolly Blackburn is the writer and artist (by default, as he couldn't get anyone else to do that bit for him) of the Knights of the Dinner Table comic strip. Originating in Shadis magazine, it has since gone from strength to strength, and wound up moving to Dragon in issue 226. This is because despite being somewhat exaggerated and simplified in it's dysfunctionality, it is pretty true to life. So many people identify with it, and the people and scenarios, and frequently, they suggest storylines that he then uses. Ahh, the joys of observational humour. As long as you know how to shut up, listen, and remember what you take in, you will never want for material. Also, an excellent example that the production values of something are less important than the ideas and emotions contained within. Even if you don't have the resources to do something properly, do the best you can, get it out there, and if the fundamental ideas are good, you'll pick up people to help along the way.


Another issue of fairly high quality articles, and slow development in the format of the magazine. It looks like after cutting away some stuff, and adding a few bits and pieces to replace them, they've reached approximately the form they'll keep until the edition change comes to shake things up again. They just have to struggle with the dread spectre of rehash, which is more prevalent than ever. Maybe introducing some new regular series would help with that, as the current ones are approaching saturation, apart from the ecologies. Maybe we'll see something coming next year. After all, it's the end of the millennium. All that apocalyptic tension has to go somewhere. But first, another christmas! I never get tired of those at least.

 

[(un)reason]

Dragon Magazine Issue 254: December 1998


part 1/8


123 pages (missing page 89) A giant who appears to be doing rather well for himself (if you look at the quality of his boots) deals with another valiant assailant on the cover. Inside, it looks like there are quite a few Giant-centric articles as well. That's a theme for an issue they haven't done before, and has a rich vein of legendry from around the world to tap for inspiration. Maybe they can give goblins their turn in the sun (which the goblins would hate) sometime soon. Perhaps, perhaps perhaps.


Scan quality: Excellent colour, missing one page, no index.


In this issue:


The wyrms turn: Looks like once again, the staff of the magazine have barely found time to play all year, and when they did, it was to playtest a new module. A pretty textbook example of turning something into your job spoiling the fun. And so when they do, they get a little silly, acting deliberately stupid in the name of roleplaying. So they're still a way away from insisting people should put being a team player over creating a character. Still a way from the present and more interested in storytelling than tactical play then. Well, that's vaguely interesting to see. So it's another editorial that shows what they preach in the articles isn't exactly what they do in actual play. Obviously they can't incorporate everything. But it would be nice if they were trying out some of the custom monsters and kits before sending them our way.


D-Mail: Two letters of general praise for issue 251. Once again it seems that for many of the people still reading, the magazine's the best it's ever been. Let's hope that continues to be the case.

A letter of specific praise for PC Portraits, that also points out that in the artwork department, the amount of rehash has actually gone down. If only I could say that for the articles they're supporting as well.

Some niggling about catapults, cannons, and other ancient weapons of mass destruction. Why is is always the mass combat rules that leave people unsatisfied. Do the designers not put the same effort into them, or is it just harder to get right?

A letter from someone who quit for a while, but has been lured back by the magazine. Nostalgia will tell, as long as you don't change things too much.

A letter niggling about evolution, and criticising the comics that they've already cancelled. It seems some people actively want less continuity in the magazine where I would prefer more. How are they to please both sides?

A letter which thinks they ought to catalog and republish their back issues for ease of reference. Oh, they have a better idea. They're going to put 250 issues on computer. So they probably started planning this immediately after, or even before they reached that landmark. Someone at the company really cares, even if their editors can't always find the time to check the back-catalogue to see if they've already done something.

And finally, a second letter of praise for PC Portraits, asking if it could be done in colour. They chose to do it in B&W so you could customise it yourself. Still it's good to see it get such a strong response. You can bet they'll keep this around for a good few years.

 

[(un)reason]

Dragon Magazine Issue 254: December 1998


part 2/8


Nodwick is getting rather compressed. Thankfully he has his hench snax to keep him going. Remember folks, chemical augmentation is Wrong.


Forum: Ben Stiles wants rules for knockback and other effects from spectacular hits. Fighting giants and dragons definitely shouldn't be a matter of just trading blows till someone dies.

Garett Kutcher is another person who wants to see achieving story goals be the primary method of gaining xp next edition. it makes it so much easier to control the PC's when you explicitly can define all the carrots and ignore everything else they do. No levels until you follow the plot!

Derek Groen defends the need to trim down the alteration school. You can justify nearly anything as an alteration, and far too many people have. I suspect overambitious transmuters in game.

Justin Bacon gives another lengthy contribution, as expected by someone who's been a regular forumite for ages. He wants to see D&D move towards the majority of systems, with point buy, skill progressions, and all that. The current system is still based off a 1974 kernel with lots of clunky add-on script, to use a computer analogy.

Matt Loey wants to get rid of alignment restrictions on classes, as they mostly cause trouble and arguments. It should be a purely internal matter, and based more on intentions than actions. See you when 4e comes around.


Sage advice: If you destroy your old body and the receptacle after magic jaring, does the new body count as your natural one (no. You're still a squatter, no matter what you do. You'll get your just deserts sooner or later. )

Can you get around spell caused aging and ability drain by casting it in someone else's body. (No. Fate does not smile on that kind of jackassery)

Is passive contact still a power (yes)

How much do you pay to make it permanent (nothing above the base cost)

How many people does it take to make the new kinds of armour (Follow the formulas. Skip wonders if people read the books sometimes)

What level is a wand of wonder's power when a wild mage controls it (6th, just like most wands )

Which of your items have to save when a fireball hits you. (use table 47)

I need more info on the staff of the python (Well, you say NI! to activate it, and feed it shrubbery to recharge it. And now for something completely different. )

You still haven't properly converted all the proficiencies from old supplements to Skills & Powers. (If skip did that, skip would be at it all year. It'd be even worse than giving tome of magic spheres to all the old gods)

Can detect magic locate an invisible enemy (Man, you people never learn, do you. This is like the 4th time you've asked that. )

Can a feebleminded character maintain psionic powers (no. )

Are all PC pixies middle aged (oh, errata, errata. What does it matter. It makes books fatter. Especially if it's fried and served in batter.)

 

[(un)reason]

Dragon Magazine Issue 254: December 1998


part 3/8


The series of competitions extends itself to monsters this month.


PC Portraits: Our giant themed stuff starts off with some pictures of giant-killers. They have more than their fair share of scars, and weapons with range or reach would be a very good idea, but otherwise are the usual motley crew of adventuring sorts. After all, giants can generally move quite quickly, so they get around the world and bother people of any race. Dwarves just get lumped with the traditional enemy role because of the rule of opposites as much as anything. So these are fresh for extracting and repurposing. After all, in a dangerous world, you might prefer to fight a certain type of monster, but you can never be sure what you'll run into on the way.


The bigger they are: And so we continue with some specific examples of giant NPC's for your game. I expect we'll see more actual races later, but they generally keep the bestiary near the end now. This is well established with horror monsters, so why not do the same for giants. After all, they may not have the same tragedy in their origins, but they are basically just people writ large, so they can have the full range of human personalities and skills, only …….. bigger? :waves hand: Roll the characters.

Armach is a hill giant thief. Not an obvious career choice, but you'd be surprised how stealthy you can be when there's plenty of tall buildings for cover, and he can climb like no-ones business with his long arms and firm grip. He can certainly play a valuable role in your oceans 11 heist team, even if he won't be the one coming up with the plans.

Tuall is a cloud giant architect who hires stone giants to help out with the gruntwork. Now that is a pretty obvious career choice, that allows a giant to make large amounts of money from smaller folk quickly. He's got a pretty sweet gig going, and he plays it by the book so as to keep a good reputation and get repeat customers. Course, he is a mercenary, so you still might find him on the opposing side. But what kind of players would kill the contractors for the evil overlord before they even finish building their base? That doesn't sound fair or fun to me.

Elhena is a storm giant hunter. She's also relatively nice, but if players are dumb enough to attack without trying to talk first, they'll be taken down without mercy, especially if they're shortarses. So once again these are characters designed to be put in positions where players will encounter them, and to be useful as both allies and enemies. Ideal DM fodder for the DM who doesn't have time to make his own.

 

[Orius]

AD&D game aliens: Here we get the AD&D conversion for the Fraal, aka the Alternity system's take on Gray aliens. Frail physically, but with tremendous mental abilities, they have unlimited advancement as psionicists, (if they can make the Con minimum) but pretty limited class abilities otherwise. QUOTE]

Not bad if you want something like grays and you have no problem with psionics. They're very good for a psionic race if you want one and don't want to rip off Dark Sun or something. But otherwise they're pretty limited as they suck at just about everything else, IIRC they have terrible physical abilities and they don't get wizard so they can't use a high INT there.

 

[(un)reason]

Dragon Magazine Issue 254: December 1998


part 4/8


The harder they fall: And now it's the player's turn. We've had plenty of tactical advice for fighting dragons, along with new spells, items and kits to complement this. Actually, this is about 50/50 advice for the giants, and for people who want to fight them, thus keeping the arms race relatively equal. Still, with a good 5 pages on each, and some genuinely inventive tactics, this ought to keep you very busy indeed. The diagrams are helpful, there's plenty of scientific principles involved, and existing information from lots of giant types is tabulated for analysis and quick reference. So this is one that's both fun to read, and very helpful, whether you play D&D or not, as while specific stats may vary, many systems have some kind of giant monster, and basic things like tactical positioning will work anywhere. It's not just kobolds that should play it smart to win against the PC's. With tactics like this to punch above their weight, giants should remain viable opponents at any level. If it had come earlier in the magazine's lifespan, this could well have been hailed as a classic article. Hell, I think I shall go out on a limb and proclaim it so! After all, one of the reasons I started doing this was to dig up under appreciated gems, and I think this qualifies.


The measure of a monster: Here's another article that's very reminiscent of their october output. One about making singular monsters that are indeed very scary and monstrous. Making an existing thing really really big is an effective way of doing that, which ties neatly into the issue's theme, but that's certainly not the primary focus of the article. Really, what makes a monster monstrous is it's actions as much as it's appearance, which you can't say for things you just meet in dungeons and kill before you have a chance to find out anything about them, and certainly can't say for things that turn out to have societies pretty similar to humans, only on the opposing side. A truly terrifying monster also serves as a metaphor for some other issue, such as sexual violation for vampires, or disregard for the rules of hospitality in the case of Grendel. So if you want them to have a real impact, make them represent something with their appearance and actions. If that means scouring Debretts for an overlooked social protocol to violate, all the better. Once again, this is exactly the kind of alternate perspective that can help you put together a distinctive new adventure, that your players will talk about even after it's over.

 

[David Howery]

Making an existing thing really really big is an effective way of doing that

giant flumph?
giant tarrasque?
giant giant?

 

[(un)reason]

Dragon Magazine Issue 254: December 1998


part 5/8


Are you Proficient?: I've expressed my dissatisfaction with both proficiency bloat and putting combat-related stuff in the nonweapon proficiency slots, thus encouraging you to create characters with no life skills but being a combat machine or fall behind other players. Well, this is one that does both of these, with dark sense and dirty fighting to make your character more hyperspecialised in kicking ass, and some seriously specific noncombat stuff like learning how to keep your food from spoiling as well. (which might come up more than you expect for adventurers, but still, who's going to take that?) Neither extremes seem particularly likely to improve your game. They try to fix this a little, by introducing broader skills as well, but since those cost 3 slots, you're unlikely to have more than one. I know I'm repeating myself, but this just gets more frustrating each time I'm confronted with it. Less than two years to go. Please don't let it go too slowly.


Life is the pits: After a bit of new stuff we return to a topic we've seen before, only done longer and with better illustrations. Pit traps! And since the last article on those was in issue 34, this definitely deserves revisiting. Comparing them, this once again shows that while a lot more verbose these days, they're actually less sadistic than they used to be, and more slanted towards catering to the new player. While that expected you were already familiar with the basics, and jumped straight to the really elaborate and sadistic stuff, this begins with the basics, and gradually ramps up the complexity, while never quite hitting the level of impossible to avoid doublethinking sadism the true old skool material managed. This makes me a little depressed, and wish I was reading the magazine backwards, so I got to see all those scrappy bits of esoterica last and could appreciate them differently. Maybe in another field, whatever I choose to take on once I finish this. So this isn't bad, and showcases very well how the magazine has improved in some ways, but got worse in others, and overall, is more competent than it used to be, but also duller. At least the degree of overlap is pretty minimal this time, so both sets of traps are useful in actual play.


Fiction: Arthur's final <s>nom</s> morn by J Robert King. For a second month in a row, we have someone following where Ben Bova has recently gone. And for a second time, we have an attempt to combine two different tones in a way that doesn't quite work, as we start off with tragedy, and then take an abrupt twist into whimsy. Mood whiplash, anyone? Normally it's the other way round, as things start simple and comedic, and then acquire attachments and pain as your life goes on before having everything ripped away from you. (just as in reality. ) So this sees rehash intrude into an area of the magazine that had previously been mercifully light of it. That's kinda annoying. Don't ruin another regular feature for me.

 

[(un)reason]

giant giant?

Considering regular giants in D&D only go up to 30' or so, hell yeah. There's definitely room for the miles high forces of nature as challenges that'll really stretch your player's skill.

 

[(un)reason]

Dragon Magazine Issue 254: December 1998


part 6/8


Wyrms of the north: Ed revisits the idea of a dragon serving as a protector of a community this month. Only as a young adult crystal dragon amongst a community of dwarves, she's really no older than the people around her, and has yet to feel the tragedy of outliving her friends. She does have a few badass magical items, but her hoard isn't too huge (partly because she keeps eating stuff from it ) So it's another case where they're not as badass as some of the entries, but gives them a few centuries and they might get there. And since they're reasonably friendly, but will put their community over a party causing trouble there, the PC's might get to be on either side of a conflict involving them. Plus there's more than a little setting detail on the dwarven community itself. So it's one that's pretty well tied into the larger history of the Realms. Dragons aren't just monsters to be killed, they actually make a big difference to the societies around them if they choose to interact with them. I'd love to go back and play join the dots with this info.


Dragon's bestiary: Another case of combining existing ideas from a regular writer this month. In this case, it's giants, undead, and Greg Detwiler. Another article that makes me beg desperately for the onset of templates so we don't have to put up with this kind of crap anymore.

Barrowe are undead hill giants. They retain all their strength, plus they have energy draining attacks. Fitting really, given the ancestry of Wights as a name.

Cairn are undead stone giants. They lurk until you get close, then bombard you with rocks. No great clever spins on the theme here.

Frostmourn are undead frost giants. They're so cold that they can ruin your equipment, and can turn into an icy cloud to escape, vampire style. That should be pretty scary for players.

Firegaunt are, can you guess? They also have the nasty habit of destroying the posessions of those they hit, this time via fire. Poor adventurers, worked so hard to get these levels and then losing their stuff.

Spectral clouds are of course undead cloud giants. Seems like we're covering all the basic 6 types and skipping the later additions here. They're the only insubstantial ones in this roster, and once again are energy drainers, making them a lot scarier than standard wraiths. You'll need to be quite high level to fight them.

Temperament are undead storm giants, as you probably figured out several pages before. Just as in life, they're easily the smartest and most powerful giant type. They too can spawn by draining your life energy to terrifying results. Thankfully, they don't still have the array of magical abilities they did in life, just lots of lightningy death. Yawn. No surprises here then.