Let's read the entire run

[(un)reason]

Dragon Magazine annual 1998


part 8/8


Rogues Gallery: Another Troy Denning novel conversion this month. I'm sure he's been around a lot more than he was before the changeover. This time, it's his new novel Faces of Deception that he's telling us about the characters of. Which seems to involve venturing both to the utter east and the planes, so they're also keeping their other settings supported through this. Hey ho. Gotta get what you can take.

Atreus Eleint is utterly hideous, as a combination of a childhood raised by bullying ogres, and a magical curse. He'd very much like to fix that, and I suspect much of the book involves working towards this. In the meantime, he has virtually every material thing he wants, a castle, plus a whole band of ogre mercenaries. This will not assuage his angst, of course.

Yago is his surprisingly smart and civilised ogre adoptive father. As a mercenary, he's spent a lot of time around various villainous masterminds, keeping quiet and paying attention, and he might not completely get human culture, but he knows what he's doing. He seems quite appropriate to put in a game.

Rishi Saubhari is an eastern conman with a moonshaes fashion fetish. He's high born, but ruined his family, pissed away his wealth, and now lives from one grift to the next. Superficially charming, but with poor long term planning skills and a short temper if foiled, he's pretty much the epitome of the chaotic evil wastrel. Steer well clear.

Seema Indrani is a pacifist priestess with a really crappy sphere selection, following a god that can only empower a very small number of clerics. Well, that's what you get when you're only worshipped in a remote tibet analogue. At least it proves she's genuinely faithful. But she wouldn't make a very good adventurer.

Tarch is a Barbazu slaver. His abilities are pretty standard for his race, it's merely what he does with them that's interesting. He seems more of a plot point than a fully fleshed out personality though. How long an appearance does he actually make in the book?

The Sannyasi is a deva who also has more than half of his description wasted on the powers and immunities that are common to his race, thus leaving little space for individualisation. Would it be so hard to simply refer us to the appropriate monstrous compendium? Or is he just another cookie cutter goody-good boy scout? Either way, I'm left a little disappointed by this.


Dragonmirth has an attack of the twee. Expense is relative, and value is in the eye of the beholder.


Another mixed, but generally competent collection this month. On the positive side, they had more non D&D RPG material than they've done in ages, with an article for each of their 3 other systems, and the setting specific stuff is generally pretty cool. On the negative side, their over-reliance on the same old regular columns continues, and gets a little more barrel-scraping each month. And without any extra special guests like last year's annual, I'm left feeling this is business as usual overall. If this is intended to make me feel like it's time for a change in the near future, they're succeeding. I strongly want to get to the next edition. Will the magazine ever start getting quicker to get through again? Guess I'll never know if I don't keep going.

 

[(un)reason]

Dragon Magazine Issue 255: January 1999


part 1/8


124 pages. Another case of the eerily similar cover subjects here. Check issue 177. Don't they look like the same person. Also, Rebecca Guay fails mind flayer anatomy 101. Sphincter mouths, not leering fanged maws. They aren't sexy vampires. Don't humanise stuff unnecessarily. But anyway. They've finally got round to doing a psionics themed issue for 2e, nearly 10 years in. About time too. I was worried you'd miss it out, and that would be a real shame. So let's see if the minds of the writers can master the minds of people who can master others with their minds, or if it'll all degenerate into paranoia where no-one's sure who's controlling who.


Scan Quality: Good, a little visible pixelation.


In this issue:


The wyrms turn: Another new beginning? You just can't stick at it, can you. Yes, once again, they're talking about making this a fresh start, and the new material more friendly to newbies. Have a little trust in the intelligence of your readers, please. Well, this pretty much guarantees I'm going to be bored by some of the articles, but when has that ever not been the case. Still, they've got regular coverage for two other systems, and two new columns planned, so it shouldn't be entirely a reset to the same old topics as if we'd never seen them before. So as usual, I am torn between pessimism and optimism, hoping for the best while fearing the worst, and aware that reality will be somewhere between the two. It's never going to be a perfect world. But just maybe, it'll be better than 95 and 96.


D-Mail: We start off with one of those long letters where someone spells out in great detail exactly what they do and don't like about the recent magazines. Once again, they think Wyrms of the North is played out. Ed maybe got a little too self-indulgent there. But it has been an interesting ride.

A letter asking for reprints. Not in the magazine. But we do have something extra special planned for you. Oh yes. I think you'll be very happy indeed, providing you have enough money.

Another letter saying wyrms of the north has probably run it's course. The public are pretty unanimous on this one. But Sage Advice can stay in perpetuity. People will never stop coming up with new silly rules questions for Skip to solve.

Two more letters giving sample castings for a Dragonlance movie. Kiefer Sutherland is nowhere to be found amongst them, I'm afraid.

And finally, a fairly long letter with illustrations (!) about the idea of bringing back a minis column. They've already said they were doing that! Show a little patience! There's still such a thing as lead-in times, you know.


Nodwick saves the day. But he still won't get the credit.

 

[(un)reason]

Dragon Magazine Issue 255: January 1999


part 2/8


Forum: Dennis R. Rose thinks wizards are weenies. It is to laugh. Course, they'll be even less so next edition. Be careful what you wish for.

Kev Smith wants monks back as a full class. If you do them right they can be properly balanced against everyone else and quite interesting. Hmm. You'll almost get your wish. Caveat emptor and all that.

Mark Burdett carries on the weapons debate. Heavy armour requires heavy weapons, and vice versa. It only went out of fashion because weapons became too good at penetrating. We've been through this many times before.

Steve Rees likes his unorthodox PC's. If 3rd ed made it easier to play nonstandard races, he wouldn't be at all unhappy. Yay for you.

Derek Groen wants the initiative and round system changed into a time taken for each action one, a la CRPG's. (and exalted 2nd ed) I think that may be another idea that's a bit too forward thinking for the designers.


Dungeoncraft: Well, here's our first new column of the year. Ray Winninger was brought on in the dying days of the review column, where he certainly didn't slow it's demise with his heavy rehashing of products already covered by previous reviewers. And this does indeed feel like a reset, not only to 1st level, but 0th, as his advice starts off being aimed at someone who hasn't even started roleplaying yet, and is feeling daunted by the idea. Well, AD&D is particularly daunting, it has to be said, with at least three books required, and thousands now available, someone just looking at it in a store just wouldn't have a clue what to do, and if they bought a random book on impulse because they liked the cover, they might well be baffled by the contents. Not that talk on where to find players, how to set up a group, and cost analysis of getting into gaming doesn't have a use. But it's not useful to me, except perhaps as a tracker of inflation. If this column continues a while it might become so later. But first it'll have to get through stuff that I've probably seen before repeatedly.


Sage advice: If you can breath underwater, can you cast spells underwater (Only if your form is suited to it. Don't even think of taking scrolls underwater, though. That would end very poorly)

What is a ghul lord's manipulation. (a special power that requires them to spend hit points. Figure out what spell they're simulating and go from there to determine the amount. They go boom if you encounter normal spells. Remember, not all magic counts as spells. )

If you use detect magic around a ghul lord, does that automatically mean you're caught in the explosion (thankfully not)

What's the point of crown of flame when most lower planar creatures are immune to fire. (It's divine damage skinned as magical fire. Sneaky. )

How do you use a protective circle (to help you summon demons. This may not be a good idea, remember)

If you cast a spell with a long duration and move, how do you determine the area affected. ( Depends if it's cast on an area or a person. If it's a buff, it moves with you. If not, it's generally fixed.)

Do you need to spend a slot to use a rod in combat (use staff, unless another would be more logical)

Can you make more than one called shot per round if you have the attacks (yes, but the penalties stack. )

Can you stack trick shots with called shots (bloody elves. no)

Can you incapacitate an enemies arm with a called shot (Only if you're using Skills & powers. Buy it now :teeth ting: :gargling sound: :spit: )

What are the stats of an elven bow (supertwinked. Just like everything else they make)

Can you two weapon attack with missiles (no)

How do you set an ambush. (Position yourself so the enemy can't see you, then jump out or shoot stuff at them. There's no magic trick to it.

And that's it for the month. Guess skip gets to clock of early this month. Wait, what's that you say, Mr Wizard from the coast? Skip's got to do Alternity questions too?Bloody 'ell; Well, only if Skip can have them in a snazzy blue font. Ok then, now we have an ...... understanding, let's bring them in.

How many skill points do you need to get cyberware ( 10. They're generally pretty user-friendly)

What happens if your gun has more actions than you do (you can't use them all. Better get a-trainin. She'll be comin' round the mountain when she comes, and you'd better be prepared to shoot, because that train's bringin' lotsa trouble to stir up your peaceful little town. )

Do mindwalkers get psionics at a discount (no. We closed that loophole before you even thought of it.)

Do Thuldans really get attributes that obscene (no. You've completely misread it.)

Does a burst let you do more damage (No, it just increases the number of things you can hit. That's what spraying does. Psssshhhhhh Psssshhhhh. That and messing up the bathroom floor.)

 

[(un)reason]

Dragon Magazine Issue 255: January 1999


part 3/8


The new Illithid arsenal: The magazine continues to have a …… special relationship with the monster it spawned way back in the very first issue. And they got a whole book fairly recently (although that was incompatible in some ways with the ideas from issue 150) What's a few more items. Well, what really makes a difference is how many of them individual bad guys in your campaign have. And how many issues they cause players who get a hold of them. After all, they are pretty weird and smart creatures. They certainly ought to be able to make things a real bother for the average PC to utilise.

Void Spheres let illithids banish things back to their home plane and summon cranium rats. Since their biggest enemies are extraplanar, this allows them to shortcircuit a gith hunting party. (after all, plane shift is not the most precise spall at getting you to a place in the regular 3 dimensions. ) Sometimes, the simple tricks are the best.

Tessadyle Robes are tenticular fungal robes that respond to you psychically, giving you several useful psychometabolism powers. Of course, nonpsychics need not apply, and illithids will be pissed if they catch you wearing it, plus they look gross. The issues may outweigh the benefits.

Circlets of Venilkesk let illithids psychically detect undead and protect them from level drain. They're as scared of the dead as anyone, and this at least helps them feel a little safer in the dark.

Tendril rings of Illsensine teleport their wearer away automatically when their HP get low. After all, a race as smart as them would come up with contingency plans like this. Which just makes them a little harder to finish off for good. Muahahaha, etc.

Gauntlets of Tyla'zhus let them shoot laser beams from their hands and cause excruciating pain. They only have three fingers though, so unless you're playing a cartoon character, you may have problems after killing their owners.

Abductors let them do an x-files riff, and cast the illithids as the aliens inside the flying saucers, whipping things up for experimentation. Really, this shows that the writer has a sense of humour along with a twisted imagination. If you want to capture one of the players and make the others panic, this will help a lot.

Kezreth are giant preserved illithid heads, used as bizarre shock troops in mass battle. You can even pilot them by going in their mouth and up to where their brain used to be. Now why can't I be a necromancer driving a giant skull vehicle? I'm sure there's something out there, especially in Exalted.

Nyraala Golems are a particularly gross form of construct. Made from underdark fungus, and able to break themselves down into a moldy carpet or form a writhing tentacular mass, they're reasonably stealthy in an underdark environment, and capable of being given fairly complex programming. As usual, the flayers have the best plans, but may not have the resources to implement them often enough to win the war.

Tzakandi Ceremorphs are the result of fusing lizard men with illithid tadpoles. Instead of tentacles around their maw, they come out of the top of their heads. While smarter than regular lizard men, they're hardly geniuses, and so get used as enforcers and attack dogs by "proper" mind flayers. They seem happy enough with their fate.

Mozgriken Ceremorphs, on the other hand, are what happens when you implant Illithid tadpoles into gnomes. A fate worse than death for both parties, as the result is runty and doomed to eternal whipping boy status amongst flayerkin. Still, they are exceptionally good at stealth, so they have a reason to be kept alive. If their master has a sense of humour they may well call them Igor. This is a pretty fun collection. Just because they're tentacled monstrosities, doesn't mean they can't have a sense of humour.

 

[(un)reason]

Dragon Magazine Issue 255: January 1999


part 4/8


Psi Kits: Having given our big psionic monster a load of new stuff, now it's the players turn again. Now, we already got 13 psionic kits over the course of 1993 by various writers, so there's always the risk that they'll repeat the same ideas. But if not, that'll take our total up to 23, which is quite a substantial number for players to choose from, and certainly more than can fit in a single campaign. So let's see if this particular vein of stuff is tapped out already.

Charcoal burners are a much more specific example of psionicists hiding their powers from oppression than issue 200. They obviously get a bunch of extra fire manipulating skills to back up their cover identity, but will be kicked out of the organisation if they ever show their powers. I think this is an improvement on generic mountebanks.

Gatekeepers are all about watching and guarding over stuff. They get substantial benefits to aura sight so they can pick out troublemakers before they cause trouble, but their law enforcement training means they prefer to subdue rather than kill. In a dungeoncrawling campaign, that will probably turn out to be a net negative. But they would make good NPC's.

Janissary are your basic honorbound exotic psychic warrior sorts. They get an extra specialisation, at the cost of a few PSP's and powers, and a fairly strict behavioural code. Is this a fair trade? Depends on if you're the straight-up fighting sort. A +1 to hit and +2 to damage really adds up over the course of an adventuring career.

Militant Psionicists, like the previous kit and like their wizard counterparts, get slightly better combat capabilities at the cost of their psionic powers. But at 4 levels behind, a multi-class fighter-psionicist would be strictly better, while also having room to pick another kit, so I think I can safely say this is a suboptimal choice.

Mind Mages are yet another one that pretends to be another class to avoid oppression. As long as people believe they're casting spells, they get a +2 to all their power scores, so they have a pretty strong incentive to pick their powers and trappings carefully to keep up the facade. If they can, yeah, that's a pretty powerful benefit.

Mind Monks get minor clerical powers, at the cost of having all the behavioural restrictions of following that faith, plus another 3 hours of mandatory meditation tacked on. Not really appropriate if you worship a god of sex, drugs and flaunting your bling. But since psionicists have their own alignment restrictions, they're not likely to follow someone like that.

Paranaturalists are another familiar idea, the self-trained psionicist trying to understand their powers in a magic-heavy world. However, instead of being more self-reliant, they go the x-files route, investigating the world around them to find clues as to what they are. I think they two approaches and mechanical implementations have room to co-exist.

Pioneers get to develop brand new psionic powers every few levels on top of their regular ones, but suffer a -1 to all their power scores for their constant moving on to new things, rather than sticking with one idea. Like dilettante, their bag of tricks may well save the day, but they'll have trouble keeping up with a more focussed character.

Such as these ones. Specialist Psionicists are even more restricted than specialist wizards, only getting access to a single discipline, but getting huge boosts in all their powers as they progress. As with other specialists, this is only a drawback in a small team where you don't have another complementary member of the same class to fill the other niches, or they get taken out.

Voices are psychic ambassadors, using their telepathic skills to facilitate open and honest communication between important people of different nations. They have huge benefits using Mindlink, but of course may be sent on missions by their employer that don't suit the party. Course, you could go freelance, and negate that issue anyway. So it seems that the kits here that are most powerful, are the ones that emulate wizardy ideas, while the fighty ones end up underpowered. I think that's a pretty good indictment of the overall balance issues in the system at this point. But there's more than enough new ideas to make this worthwhile is a psionics heavy game.

 

[(un)reason]

Dragon Magazine Issue 255: January 1999


part 5/8


The shadow way: Psionics and Ninjas. Two great tastes that go great together. After all, when you want to be stealthy to a supernatural degree, you do not want verbal, somatic and material components giving you away. This is essentially an expansion for the Complete Ninja's handbook, which already showed you how to combine ninjas with all the core classes out there. As with those, you can go for one that's primarily a psionicist, but also gains modest thiefly abilities, or one that's primarily a ninja, but also gets pretty decent psionic powers. The power is in your mind! They're at about the same power level as the other options in that book, which means they are indeed a little on the cheesy side. An all ninja campaign looks increasingly viable. (not that it didn't work right from OA, given the range of classes they could combine with there. ) On top of that, we get 7 new psionic powers which they keep as proprietary secrets, and will probably kill to protect. And since they mostly enhance their combat abilities, this is not to be taken lightly. As with the old Genin, this feels like such an obvious one they had to include it at some point, and why not now. And it's pretty fun to read as well. Let the ninja triumph in every edition!


Candlekeep: Now this is how you do a promotional article. Candlekeep is apparently going to get a substantial part in Baldur's Gate, their upcoming FR computer game. So rather than just directly pimping out the game itself, they take screenshots from it, and use them to illustrate a whole bunch of setting material and adventure hooks that can be used for your tabletop game. It certainly doesn't hurt that they look pretty, and also provide solid layouts for your characters to explore. But the pretty visuals would mean little without the setting info, and there's also a ton of this, some of it taken from previous articles in the magazine and condensed down. It makes me quite positive about the game, as it's obvious they've read the books and tried to remain faithful to established Realmslore. And as one of their new high points in overall visual presentation, this really does feel like a greatest hits of an article, looking good, presenting a high density of information, and even managing a little fiction. Despite everything that's happened in it, the Realms still isn't played out, and this once again reignites my enthusiasm for the world. As long as they have Ed and a talented team like this building upon his ideas, and the timeline keeps advancing, there'll always be something new to do there. A+


Powers of the mind: Our Marvel Super Heroes article is in on the theme as well. After all, they have plenty of psychics there, some of which are also mutants and/or secret agents. It's mainly just a list of the common powers and issues that Marvel psychics have at their disposal to make an interesting story. This means it is more than a little predictable, and plays the tropes completely straight, not really adding to them. Which in turn means this article feels like filler material, and provokes a resounding meh in me. Been there, done that, constructed the imaginary t-shirt out of psychic energy.

 

[(un)reason]

Dragon Magazine Issue 255: January 1999


part 6/8


Fiction: Dark legacy by Mel Odom. Another bit of Forgotten Realms fiction from an official writer here. And here we see another obscure part of the setting get filled in, as they venture underwater to the cities of the merpeople. But they have exactly the same problems in having to balance politics, religion, and culture as anyone else, compounded by the number of different races there are in the Realms. And that means macguffin hunt adventures to solve problems, beating up people to get information along the way, and then having to deal with giant monsters along the way when they fail. Really, this feels very much like an actual adventure outline, only one where the PC's fail, and have to deal with it in the next adventure. Or maybe a prologue to the actual novel. Either way, it's a lot more D&D than most of their stories, but a bit awkward as an actual story, not feeling remotely resolved at the end. Overall, like the Dragonlance ones, it didn't really satisfy me.


PC Portraits is of course in on the issue's theme. This means a mind flayer and githzerai get in on the action. On top of that, there's an unusually large amount of tattoos and forehead adornments. Despite not needing material trappings to sustain their powers, psionicists have just the same needs as everyone else to belong to a social group and mark themselves as different and special. (which of course are inherently contradictory goals when taken to the extreme ) And permanent markings that they don't have to worry about losing seem to be the appropriate means of this (at least where psionics isn't illegal or otherwise suppressed. ) Course, future generations of psionicists will make their own fashion errors (crystal fetishism? What the hell's all that about? ) But that's a story for another time.


Rogues Gallery: The Forgotten Realms continues to have a lockdown on this column, with the characters from their new nautical trilogy getting their turn in the spotlight. This also means that the sahuguin get more spotlight time, continuing on from their recent book and series of adventures. Interesting. You certainly can't call them neglected anymore.

Pacys is an old, highly experienced bard who has made more than enough friends on his travels that he always has a place to stay and someone to buy him a drink in return for his stories. And he's still fit enough that he has a few more actual adventures left in him. Maybe he'll tell the story of this adventure after it's over.

Laaqueel is a classic example of an attractive woman who thinks she's ugly, Well, by Sahuguin standards, she is. Like many Malenti, she's all the more dedicated to the cause because she knows she'll never really be trusted. It's a hard life. Don't be dumb enough to try to take her away from it via love, because those retractable claws are not to be trifled with.

Jherek Wolf's-get is another of those naive book-smart idealists that a party needs for good drama. Whether he gets the stuffing knocked out of him over the course of the book, or remains just as annoying at the end as the beginning, we shall have to see. Either way, the cliches are in full force today.

Sabyna is a feisty young shipmage who's primary love is the sea, so no man really has much of a chance compared to that. Yeah, once again, it's a trip to trope city. This doesn't make me particularly keen to pick up the related book.

 

[(un)reason]

Dragon Magazine Issue 255: January 1999


part 7/8


Bazaar of the Bizarre: Ah yes, Athasian Life-shaping. Introduced relatively late in the world's lifecycle, it never really got the treatment it needed to become a viable source of PC power like magic and psionics. Which is a definite shame really. Still, here's some more of the strange things formed by that kind of experimentation. You can still enjoy the labours of others, even if your ability to replicate them is pretty limited.

Repellers are another way of driving off bugs. Do they have an infestation in the TSR offices? This power seems to be showing up a lot recently. Wishful thinking, eh.

Mak-ebanrath are the lifeshape equivaient of an antibiotic, seeking out and hunting down rogue creatures at minimal damage to the host. You'd better hope they don't go rogue in turn, as that would suck.

Vitality rays analyse your chemical makeup and provide you with a tailored antitoxin that may well save your life. Or not, if dealing with type E poison, but that's the danger when you're still hurt even if you save.

Purifier Sponges filter out all the crap in any water you find, an invaluable aid in athas. After all, having it there but undrinkable is the worst kind of taunting really.

Injectors are basically organic syringes. They can stick to your arms and either deliver useful healing stuff at your time of need, or hold poison as a concealed weapon. Things like this are only limited by the number of cool chemicals you have on hand to use.

Serpent Lashes are another one that wrap themselves around you and respond to your wishes. They're a good deal more effective than normal whips.

Pur-aish's are adorable soothing lizards that boost your ability to rest and concentrate. Course, like any drug, your body adapts, and before you know it, you need the stuff just to function normally. Kicking the habit isn't easy either. This causes social problems if they're allowed to become regular pets.

Swiftsteps are nasty looking grafts that allow you to haste yourself via adrenal boosts. This can be pretty wearing, but isn't ageing like the spell. Still, prolonged combat is probably not a good idea.

Dark Mothers are a cursed variant of a standard storage device. One to use only if players are already becoming familiar with this life-shaping stuff. Why does everything have to go wrong at some point?


Wyrms of the north: A fourth Forgotten Realms article this month? And it's not even a themed issue. Athas didn't get that many articles in a single issue even when it was the cover topic. But anyway, this month's dragon seems to be a bit of a depressive, responding to most enquiries with an Eyore-like pessimism and a request to be left alone. This hides the fact that he's actually very interested in keeping abreast of current events via scrying and hunting down books, and is quite nice if you don't try to take advantage of him. He is well known enough that a group of PC's on a knowledge-seeking mission might well hear about him from tavern rumours, which gives the DM an instant easy way to work him into an adventure. Anyone trying to screw him over will have to deal with his custom spell that makes gems explode, which should prove particularly frustrating to opportunistic thieves. He seems like another well-rounded character who isn't exactly invincible, but certainly shouldn't be messed with by unprepared players, and it would be more profitable if they talked to him rather than killing him anyway. As this series reaches it's end, Ed continues to find a balance between cool and cheese that'll hopefully satisfy most readers who haven't lost interest already.

 

[(un)reason]

Dragon Magazine Issue 255: January 1999


part 8/8


Starship perks and flaws: So the Ares section is back, after 13 years. Interesting. Of course, they're not covering any outside systems this time round, so it's pretty much a single article devoted to Alternity. This feels like the kind of branding done primarily to defend IP that has gone unused for ages before it lapses. The article itself, on the other hand, is another rather good one, that really shows off their recent improvement in visuals. 12 pages of new stuff for starships, including three sample ones, each of which gets a full page illustration, this is a bit padded out, but has both plenty of crunch for your game, and is tremendously pretty in presentation. It really is a testament to their recent budget increases and improved mastery of layout software. (It's also a testament to what Alternity stole from GURPS, with the spaceships using a point-buy merit/flaw system, but that's neither here nor there. ) So this was good on both a skim through, and closer reading. They are doing well for themselves this issue.


Dragonmirth gives you some bad choices. The KotDT team don't manage to get out of the tavern. Maybe if they talked to the NPC's things would go differently.


TSR Previews: Regular D&D gets a new product for the first time in quite a few years. Wrath of the minotaur. A fast-play tutorial set like the one they featured in issue 251. Just the way to lure people in, they hope.

AD&D is also trying to be friendly to new players with The Shattered Circle. Another generic adventure for low level characters. Is there room for that in your game?

The Forgotten realms has 1 old, 2 new products. The Cleric Quintet gets reprinted. Even though he might not be Drizzt, Cadderly still has fairly solid name recognition. Meanwhile, the Demihumans of the Realms get a splatbook, full of kits, culture and other stuff that draws the buyers in. And Mel Odom releases Rising Tide, the start of a series about troubles in the sea of fallen stars. Round and round we go.

Dragonlance is also recycling stuff due to popular demand. The soulforge gets reprinted, while The Silver Stair by Jean Rabe tells us more about the discovery of the new magic in the 5th age. No-one's sure what it's limits are, so of course, they don't trust it. Quite right too.

Alternity gets Starships. You want to customise your space travel capabilities, might be a good idea to buy it. Seems like a probable solid seller.


The statement of ownership is a month late. Still, it looks like things finally bottomed out, then started going up again, with average sales of 50,795, but last month ones of 63,406. What could have brought on this recent spike? Was it you? In any case, overall readership may be going up again, but subscriptions are way down from even last year. People may be buying out of curiosity, but they certainly don't trust the new owners yet.


Profiles drops the experimental gimmick and gets back to just giving us the straight dope. Mel Odom is one of our Forgotten Realms writers, having plenty of fun both writing there, and playing in games there, with the aid of his kids, of course. Course, it helps that he can pull big metaplot events and have them apply to everyone's games. Writing, playing, researching, kids. That seems to be about it in terms of significant things in his life. One of our less interesting profiles.


Well, this issue certainly had an excellent themed section, showing once again that 2e did psionics better than 1e. Also very notable is just how much the visuals have improved lately, with quite a few of the articles being genuinely pretty in a way that also enhances their usability. The new column is a little frustrating, but may grow into something useful, and the Realms is being oversaturated more than ever, but these are manageable problems. Overall, I'm feeling pretty positive about this issue. Let's hope next issue doesn't go back into the safe and boring zone.

 

[(un)reason]

Dragon Magazine Issue 256: February 1999


part 1/8


124 pages. Ooh. 2^8 issues. If we were on an 8 bit system, things would start to overflow around this point. Good thing we're well into 32 bit days by now, and computers are getting cooler all the time. The people on the cover look pretty shifty, and it seems like they were planning on having a rogue-centric issue, but couldn't quite get the number of articles up. Maybe they got stolen. Still, we have more than enough issues covering rogues already. Let's hope they're going for quality rather than quantity again.


Scan Quality: Excellent, articles indexed.


In this issue:


The wyrms turn: This is taken by Larry Smith the art Director, as he celebrates his 100th issue. Wait a minute, that means his first issue was the much reviled Buck Rogers special. What a way to be thrown into the deep end. Fairly revealing is that the behind the scenes of the magazine has changed as much over the years as the actual product. People came and went, and of course their technology and financial situations fluctuated dramatically over the years. It might have had it's boring moments, but overall, it's been a pretty wild ride. He's quite justified in looking back upon it with wonder. It also means he's the most senior member of staff here, looking at the credits on the side of the page. I hope he's getting suitably compensated. So this is quite interesting reading, and a reminder that the people working here are much more emotionally invested in what they do than the average day job. It might not pay the most, but they're lucky to be able to do it. Long may they avoid burnout.


D-Mail: We start off with a letter reminding us that imagination is more important than rules. Despite the fact that the magazine is gradually moving away from that position, they still agree with it in principle.

A letter that's very much in favor of their improved new formatting, and also coverage of other game systems. They'll stick with them for at least the rest of this year then.

A letter that wants more Dragonlance and Dark sun material, and less Forgotten Realms stuff. Balance please! If only balanced coverage paid the bills. No, people want the Realms, and lots of it, and that's what they get.

Another letter of straight praise. Not much you can say to that, so they take a tangent, and remind us that even in heavily themed issues, they'll try and have a few non-theme articles to keep the issue useful to everyone.

A letter praising all the contests they've been running. It's a great way to get more people involved. Maybe they'll even get some new regular writers from it.

Another long letter with photos from someone who's got a whole games room for their minis. Oh to have that degree of disposable income and free time. Fewer and fewer people have that in the current economic climate. Cue envy.

An article praising the callback to Star Frontiers, and hoping Alternity has learned from the mistakes they made in the past. Maybe, but that won't stop them from making all new ones. It's a big world, and things have changed quite a bit since the 80's.

And finally, a letter from someone wondering where the reviews have gone. They aren't entirely clear why they dropped them, but they aren't coming back for the foreseeable future. They wouldn't have become unpopular if they hadn't sucked in the months coming up to their cancellation. The editors might be able to control what kinds of articles they run, but they can't always know how good they're going to be, or how well a change of direction will be received.


Nodwick makes sure he gets what's coming to him.