Let's read the entire run

[(un)reason]

Merry Christmas everybody!

Dragon Issue 73: May 1983

part 1/2

100 pages They change not only their format, but their typeface and column layout this month. Very interesting. I expect we'll soon take it for granted, like most little changes of this sort. But they haven't made the changes they said they would last issue. April fool In fact, they've actually increased their size, and intend to keep this up. Great. More work for me. We have several old things elaborated upon, plus the usual array of new stuff and returning features. On with the show.

In this issue:

Hmm. A Harn advert. Interesting. Another long running setting gets added to the list of arrivals.

Out on a limb: Two letters asking some questions about the attack priority system in issue 71. Kim does his best to help, as usual.
Two letters commenting on and complaining about the social class articles. People really don't like the idea of being unable to get into a class because they're too low on the totem pole. And if every other PC is going to try and break the rules just because they're there, why have them at all?
A letter filling us in on the effects of extreme cold (or at least, canadian temperatures. ) and asking for a better article on the effects of temperature in general. They reply that since the writer seems so knowledgable, perhaps they should write it.
A letter engaging in some mathematical quibbling.
A letter telling us more about tides around the world. As usual, things are never as simple as they first seem, and there are a bunch of variations and exceptions. Fascinating.
A letter praising their humble artists. They really don't get enough credit for their part in making the magazine look good. Damn right. Good to see a purely positive letter once in a while.

Another new class this month, The Duelist. Designed to put a little more drama into D&D combat, they are exceedingly good at one-on one battles, but not so much at facing monsters, spellcasters and other stuff. While more powerful than straight fighters, they still can't hold a candle to a properly designed druid or wizard. They would make a perfectly legitimate character as long as you weren't facing nothing but humans in your adventures. I quite like this, even though they might outshine the other fighting classes a bit, it's well written and has a strong sense of flavour and thematics.

From the sorceror's scroll: Oooh. The planes take another big step forward, as Gary introduces the para and quasielemental planes. Ooze, magma, radiance, vacuum, and all the rest in their instadeath inflicting glory. Plus we get the code for the colour curtains when engaged in ethereal and astral travel. Every planar traveller ought to know them, because ending up in a place that'll kill you instantly when unprepared is not a good idea. As ever, it's fascinating to discover how this stuff started and evolved. That he gives us several alternatives that he tried and rejected as well is a definite plus. After all, even if they're not canonical, you could still use them in your own games. It keeps players who've read the books from knowing all the answers.
We also end with another blatant plug for money, as Gary mentions the TSR scholarship fund for gamers (?!) and encourages people to both donate to it and apply for it. Ookay. That's a bit of a sour note. He could definitely have phrased that a bit better.

The solo scenario: Katherine Kerr considers the benefits and difficulties in one-on-one play. You have to put in rather more effort to tailor the adventure to both the abilities of the character and the personality of the player if you want it to work well. However, it does offer substantial benefits in terms of attention, you're free to have extensive attention on emotional matters that would result in big chunks of the group doing nothing for parts of the session, and you don't have to worry about splitting the party. She quotes plenty of personal experiences and her advice seems sound, particularly if you want to do more roleplaying than dungeon crawling. She also digresses onto how to introduce a new player to the game, and how to integrate a newly joined player into an established group. This is a very strong article indeed, and really stands out from the crowd. I get the impression that this inspired quite a few people to develop their playstyle beyond team based dungeoncrawling. Which is good.

The ecology of the catoblepas: Looks like this series has been taken up eagerly and is already in full swing. They have entries lined up for the rest of the year. And why not. Who doesn't love ecology (apart from the current D&D developers). This month's entry takes a particularly strange tack in inventing and rationalizing it's subjects powers and mating procedure. The catoblepas we see are the females, and the males are pathetic little grazing things that have to run up behind her and get their end away without being looked at and dying. (so many comments I could make here but won't ) Their death attack is due to their breath, rather than an actual gaze. (grody) And the fiction ends with an amusing twist. Even if you don't use the changes and additions it makes, its still an entertaining article. The antics of the sages in it jive well with my view of D&D sage groups of this period's implied setting. Lets hope the next few entries in the series keep up this strong showing.

The whole half-ogre: Roger Moore reiterates and expands upon the half-ogre. (from all the way back in issue 29. That's quite the gap) Yes, they are quite limited in a lot of ways. You'll just have to accept that if you play one and concentrate on the good parts. Low stats do not neccecarily make a character not fun to play. Not an exceptional article, especially as so much of it is rehash. I wonder why they decided to do that now. Seems like the sort of thing that would be more appropriate for the best ofs than here.

Relief for traveller nobility: Oh joy. Another article offering extra detail (and more importantly, extra powers) for a particular career path. [/sarcasm] Yeah, I'm recycling my material. So are they. You want to be a noble who actually has the money to own an estate or a full-on ship, rather than just being some hanger-on relation, use these. Seems pretty self explanatory.

Lights, camera, life!: Having done several artist profiles. they're now showing you some hints on how to make your own dramatic images from miniatures. Basic set-up, how to make simple special effects, and lots of sample pictures. Once again I am reminded just how much computers have revolutionized the editing process, allowing even amateurs to achieve results that would take tons of equipment and training years ago. This is one of those articles that feels woefully short, as you could fill whole books on this subject, and he's got only a page or so of writing to give to us. But at least they're trying to cover other topics.

Figure feature has lots of ridable stuff this issue. Dinosaurs, elephants, big cats, wyverns, griffons. Quite the selection for your character to choose from. Hopefully the figure on top will also suit your conception of your character.

When it gets hit, it gets hurt: Equipment damage and maintenance rules. No thanks. Particularly when they happen every time you roll a 1 or 20. While I don't inherently object to realism, those odds are just bastardliness masquerading as realism, and would not make for better games. On the plus side, they're simple, so if you want to set your game in a universe where entropy has a far more brutal hand on the balls of reality than this one, it won't slow the game down too much. You can still expect complaining from the players, unless they get a chance to escape and kick entropies ass at some point.

 

[Deuce Traveler]

Wow... doing this on Christmas. That's dedication. Merry Christmas to you and to all!

 

[el-remmen]

We finally reached my first issue!

Still use half-ogres in my games and the duelist was the first prestige class I designed for 3E.

 

[Orius]

The whole half-ogre: Roger Moore reiterates and expands upon the half-ogre. (from all the way back in issue 29. That's quite the gap) Yes, they are quite limited in a lot of ways. You'll just have to accept that if you play one and concentrate on the good parts.

The real reason they suck: no spiked chains yet.

We finally reached my first issue!

Still use half-ogres in my games and the duelist was the first prestige class I designed for 3E.

Until the official version came out anyway. But that's 202 issues in the future.

Or maybe you just kept using yours.

 

[(un)reason]

Dragon Issue 73: May 1983

part 2/2

Non-violent magic items: Well, this is nice. One hundred new items, all of which aren't combat focussed, and many of which are very handy for everyday living. Thank you very much Mr Pulsipher. These'll definitely come in handy for when I want to award treasure. We can always do with a little more general setting depth. I'm sure some of these items could be put to broken purposes in the hands of devious players, but they'd have to think about it. And since that kind of ingenuity is something I encourage, I may well choose some of these over another +1 item if I get the chance.

Forest of Doom: Another module of Dooooooooooooom!? I guess the cliches become cliches because they work. A 16 pager, this is not a wilderness adventure as you might expect, but a dungeon set inside a giant tree. Which is a cool idea, albeit one we've seen quite a few times since then. (especially in zelda games) It's not quite as impressive as giant underwater plants, but it beats another miserable cavern. Course, at this level, a smart party with enough spells to spare could fly up to the top level and face the bosses, skipping everything else. Not a perfect module, but at least it tries to tie it's disparate monsters together with a plot rationale. Overall, neither brilliant or dreadful. Eh, it'll fill up a session or two.

New tools of the trade: More cool bits of gear for top secret, with a particular emphasis on concealment. From acid to wigs, this is mostly stuff that'll get you in, help you see, and generally get you more info on whatever you're investigating. Because lists of weaponry, no matter how extensive, can't solve all your problems as a spy. Many of these things should really have been in the corebook. I mean, grappling hooks, glass cutters. Where would a spy be without basic like that? Stuck on the outside, that's where. Another useful but not brilliant article.

Thief's climb should be leveled out: Not about their wall climbing percentages. An article criticizing the kinks in their xp scale, which means that sometimes they're better and sometimes they're worse. Ho hum. Yes, the rules might need some fixing, but a basic mathematical uneveness is not a game breaker. Bored now.

A rare way of viewing the wish: Another dull single page article. Lew Pulsipher tries to limit the power of wishes (again) by asking the question. Who's granting them? what do they want in return? How will they screw the characters over if they ask the wrong thing? Nothing of note here. We'll probably see these ideas regurgitated again several times before the run's over.

Forever War, the game. Fight those Taurans as a mech suited superwarrior. Seems like rather missing the point of the original book. Show people a grim tale of the futility and ugliness of war, and there's always a few idiots who say cool, I want to do that! Anyway, was it a good game?

Patching the cracks in Champions: One of those articles that does exactly what it says on the tin. A lot of people are having trouble generating a character from concept up, as they're so used to random generation (Now that's amusing) So roll up a character in V&V, and then convert it. We also get some social advantages that seem pretty sensible. Good to see them catering to different games in here, even if it is just a one-off.

Fiction: The sagittarian by Jessica Amanda Salmonson. Ahh, poetic justice. Such a lovely phrase. What better kind is there. It makes for far more entertaining stories than the regular variety. Shame there's not enough mischevious gods and whimsical wizards around to enforce it properly. Anyway, man gets turned into stagtaur. (elaphocentaur if you want to get technical) Wackiness does not ensue, unless it happens in a follow-up story. Googling is unhelpful. More info would be good.

Up on a soapbox: Oh, for gods sake. Roger Moore goes on about how players should always work together as a team to complete their mission. If they don't they will fail miserably. Infighting and selfishness has no place in gaming. off. Did you not read the intro to every roleplaying game ever, where it says there's no winners and losers. It's not about the mission, it's about the fun you have playing your characters on the way. (ha) Okay, so if you're going to have a game with PvP and intrigue, you should establish that beforehand, so there's no OOC hard feelings when people get screwed over. But for a lot of us, that drama is a huge part of the fun, and something to be actively sought out. Maybe I'm just too new skool for these guys. But this shows a tremendous amount of blinkeredness about what roleplaying can be.
....... Well. That was an unexpectedly vehement reaction. As you may gather, I disapprove of this article. YMMV, of course, since this is very much a matter of personal preference.

Time, money, and the goon show: Tom wham gives us some extra stuff for file 13, for those of you who'd played it a few times, and need to put variations in to stay interested. This makes winning and losing much more definite, as there is a stronger scoring system. He also takes the time to point out the errors in kim's making of. Which isn't quite as funny as the original article, but still amusing.

Reviews: Moon base clavius is set in 1996. Ha. Its a military boardgame with a bunch of little scenarios. Unfortunately, it fails to live up to its promise and gets a poor to mediocre rating. As disappointing as the monorail.
Grav armor is a futuristic tank wargame. It's sequence of play results in some unusual tactics being optimal, and it has good graphics, but otherwise is unexceptional. Another solid game you'd probably play a few times, and then lose interest in.
Dragonmaster is a card game. And once again, the reviewer is in a rather vicious mood this month, calling it bland and simplistic underneath it's pretty visuals and high production values. What's eating him? Oh well, I guess I should enjoy it while it lasts, because I'll probably be seeing lots more dull moderately positive ones in the future.

Mercinaries, spies and private eyes. That's quite a cool name for a game. And it sounds like it has more scope than top secret or gangbusters. Anyone remember this one?

Palladium! Their very first advert in the magazine. But not their last by a long shot. Weapons and armour and castles and assassins, oh my. No system though. It'll be interesting to see when they start developing their own setting stuff.

Gamers guide: Looks like their extra size comes at a cost. But thankfully that'll be taken up by extra advertising. Hey, at least they're putting it at the back so you don't have to wade through it if you don't want too. This is a commercial operation, you know. Don't worry. I'll still be keeping my eyes out for interesting adverts, and thinking about what they reveal about the scene at the time.

What's new and wormy are unfortunately illegible this issue. Suckitude. Dragonmirth is as entertaining as ever.

A very good issue indeed. With both excellent articles for D&D that move the games setting and agenda forward, and a reasonable quotient of articles for other games, plus quite a few cool and significant adverts, this is one of the best overall packages they've released in a long time. Still a few articles I don't agree with, but I'd probably get bored if I agreed with everything anyway. Lets hope they keep this style up for a bit, as I already like it more than last years one.

 

[(un)reason]

Dragon Issue 74: June 1983

part 1/2

87 pages. Welcome to another birthday issue. We have more dragons, more cool stuff from Ed, Lew, Roger, Len, and plenty of other articles. Also, Roger is now a full member of the editorial team, working in the same building rather than sending in articles from god knows where. Unfortunately, the pull-out extra pages on gen con do not appear to have been included in the scan, so I can't comment on them, which sucks. Oh well, there's plenty of other things still to do. Like spying. This issue has an unusually high number of top secret articles as well. Lets see what they've crammed in, and see if I can fit it into my already bulging skull.

In this issue:

Out on a limb: A letter defending giving each level a title. There's always going to be some reactionaries.
A letter complaining about the statistical analyses of classes, as well as their recent revisions and additions, saying that this does not help roleplaying, and boiling things down to the numbers discourages creativity and treating them as personalities. Kim gives a rather lengthy reply to this, and seems a bit baffled as they do also have plenty of articles of how to build personalities and background details.
A letter complaining about how male oriented the magazine is, and wondering why there's no incubi in the game. This gets the stock response of well, we're trying, but when the vast majority of submissions are by male writers and artists, of course it's going to be skewed to that viewpoint. (oh, and they did do incubi, back in issue 54, but kim forgets to point that out) You want to change that, send stuff in.

From the sorceror's scroll: Horseys! Gary gives us info on warhorses, barding, and how much of an expense it is to get hold of them. You may want to use that, because it is pretty helpful for your overland adventures.
More importantly, we get another talk about their current plans for the future. And this one's a doozy. They're planning on releasing more minis and constructable environments for them. The D&D movie has a script (written by an academy award winner, what the hell happened there?) now we just need someone to make it. The D&D cartoon is done, and will be sharing airtime with the smurfs and pac-man. (tee hee. Family friendly show) and he's working with Flint Dille to create another D&D TV show. (And so another seed of his downfall was sown) Very interesting indeed. So many big plans, to have so many crushed hopes and unexpected ramifications resulting from them. You think you can play with the big boys in hollywood and come out ahead? Oh boy. You will learn. Lets hope we get to see some more of the backstage drama unfold here in the future, because this is important stuff, and I don't want to miss these big events in their zenith years.

James bond, 007 gets a big full colour advert. Another big licence gets a game based upon it. Will we see more stuff on this soon?

Leomund (and Nystul's) tiny hut: We get a contribution that seems to have been misplaced from the april issue. The bureaucrat and politician classes, more ones that are technically functional, but completely unsuited for adventuring. This is about as interesting and funny as spending time around real bureaucrats. Next please.

Landragons: Ahh, this is more like it. Three new dragon types, with a common theme running through them, and a load of implied setting stuff attached (the ubiquitous nebulous sages strike again!) Wingless compact dragons which are closer to being standard apex predators than the magically mighty supra-intelligent all rounders that make up the standard selection. And their breath weapons are pretty interesting as well. With plenty of info on their tactics, life cycle and ecology, this is a solid article that'll give you foes to challenge your players at a wide range of levels.

The electrum dragon: And a 4th dragon, unconnected to the previous three. This is not the product of gold and silver dragons mating, (although it probably ought to be) but a brand new metallic dragon species. They are a bit poncey, and not very considerate parents, but as we know, even good dragons aren't saints. This certainly isn't Ed's best contribution ever.

Seven swords: On the other hand, this is certainly a contender, if you go by the number of people who remember it fondly. Hello again, Elminster. Having been extensively regailed with stories of this world's magical swords, he condescends to reveal a little about the realms' most famous magical weapons in return. Adjatha, Albruin, Ilbratha, Namara, Shazzelim, Susk and Taragarth. Each has interesting powers beyond just being good at kicking butt, from monumental to quirky; and a history that spans many locations and multiple adventurers lives. Obviously, Ed is leading by example, and hopes to inspire other people to write stuff in the same vein, because at this stage, it'd still be a bit tricky to use them direct, given that our info on the realms is still in the form of tidbits with not enough joined up info to see the world beneath. Course, you could just nick the powers but replace or ignore the fluff. So it's useful even if you're lazy. Don't be lazy folks. Put in the effort to make your own world and make Ed proud.

The ecology of the bulette: Now why doesn't it surprise me that these are another of the first monsters to be ecologicaly examined. We see the return of the guild of naturalists, and their attempts to understand the creatures of the world around them. While a fun story, this one doesn't reveal that much about their general place in the world. Still, if not brilliant, it's a solid addition to their latest new series.

Tracing THRUSH's nest: A villainous organization for your top secret games. Formed from the ashes of professor Moiarty's criminal network, the Technological Hierarchy for the Removal of Undesirables and the Subjugation of Humanity (man, that is a terrible acronym. ) is let by a supercomputer and has it's own flying mobile city. That's ..... Pretty far out, man. Introducing that would definitely raise a few eyebrows in all but the most gonzo game. I'm really not sure what to make of this.

In trouble? Say UNCLE: Ahh. Now it all makes sense. It's all the fault of 60's tv. Man, they came up with some utter tosh for their backstories. Most rpg settings seem like models of logical design and consistency by comparison. This does what you'd expect, compiling the hints from the shows to build up a setting for your PC's to use. If they're ON DRUGS! No, sorry, I cant suspend my disbelief long enough to take this seriously as a workable setting. It's like 60's batman. The holes and stylistic weirdness are just too big and obvious for me to deal with. You'll have to get someone else to try it.

 

[Hussar]

Hey, I remember Adjatha. Very cool. Way, way overpowered. IIRC, it ate spells and gained hit points based on the level of the spell. You could then draw from this pool of hit points to add to your own.

Pretty much a way to make you invincible.

 

[(un)reason]

Dragon Issue 74: June 1983

part 2/2

Spying on the spies: The writer of the previous two articles gives their designers notes, revealing the extrapolations and decisions they had to make to build the organizations into remotely consistent creations to use in your game. Which even they admit did take quite a bit of work, given the amount of contradictory material in the TV show and comics. Lets hope someone got some use from this stuff, because I can't see myself doing so, and they did put quite a bit of work into it.

The vicarious participator: Ahh joy. A roleplaying vs rollplaying piece. Lew tries to spread the idea of compromise between the people who just want to stomp and the persona building obsessives. Because we're all in the same hobby, and fighting over this stuff is just stupid. He also draws the distinction between those people who really want to create fictional characters with their own likes, dislikes and personalities, and those who basically play themselves if they were a whatever in the game. Neither is really wrong, and the line between can be quite blurred. And now you know about it, you can figure out where you fall on this scale and consciously choose to change it. Not his best work, and he's trying too hard to be noncontroversial IMO, but still a solid piece of writing with some insights into the roleplaying condition that don't seem obvious and stale. He always has a good spin on things that would be dull in lesser hands.

It's the combat computer: This months special feature is a cut-out wheel which is supposed to help you with your calculations. Not a bad idea. But make sure you cut it out correctly, otherwise it won't work. Notable also for being the first appearance of Tracy Hickman (unless I missed an earlier one) in the magazine. Another name we'll see going on to bigger and better (well, bigger anyway ) things. Another decent entry to add to their list of helpful creations.

What do you get when you cross a dungeon master with a computer: And here's another spin on the same subject. This provides you with a quick way of generating new characters. (at least, once you've entered the program into your computer ) As befits the expansion in computers capacities, this is rather longer than earlier programs, with several interesting little subtleties which reflect the authors biases. Obviously, you won't be able to get any use out of it now, (unless you can point us towards a retro code environment emulator) but It's nice to see them putting some of this stuff in the magazine again. And if it doesn't do what you want, you can rewrite it yourself, which is more than we can say for the modern crop of digital aids.

A player character and his money: A second article from Lew this month. He attempts to restore some sanity to the economic situation in your game. A difficult task, as this is D&D, but hey, you gotta try. Remember, characters have to spend money just to live. And any place with lots of adventurers will suffer high inflation. (an excellent reason for you to keep heading for farther off continents or even extraplanar instead of settling down. You get higher level challenges, and don't ruin your home's economy and devalue your money there.) He tackles the other things that can eat up your funds; taxes, followers, building projects, equipment, influence etc. Unless they're being deliberately miserly, there are plenty of ways to keep them from being able to live off their current funds for the rest of their lives without them hating you for it. And several that will make you hate them, from thievery to being transported to another world without their stuff, or where it's not valued. Once again he's both full of ideas, and a catalyst for ideas in my head. Which is pretty nice, really.

Reviews: Star Frontiers is the only review this month, but is a bumper sized one. This is one of those reviews that winds up feeling more like a promotional piece than an objective assessment. That's the problem with reviewing games by the same company that's printing the reviews. Even if your enthusiasm is entirely genuine, your opinion still doesn't carry the weight of someone not in the employ of the creators. That said, it still goes into a good deal of detail on the specifics of the mechanics and contents, so it should still be useful in determining if you want to buy it or not.

Off the shelf: D'arc tangent no 1 by Freff & phil foglio is a comic with quite a bit of depth to it. About the search to discover why some races choose violence over empathy, it manages humour, detail and character development. Unfortunately, a quick search reveals that this is the only issue that ever got published, so the story is incomplete. Doesn't that just suck.
Prelude to chaos by Edward Llewellyn is a romance set against the collapse of civilization. Eventually, anyway, as both it's protagonists are hard-headed independent types. Big questions are raised, moral ambiguities presented,
The three legged hootch dancer by Mike Resnick is a story of an interstellar traveling circus, and the fun and trials they face along the way. This is primarily a humorous book, which is unusual for sci-fi.
The walls of air by Barbara Hambly is another story that transports earth natives to a fantasy world, and has them wind up saving it. But the characters and world are well built enough that you care about them anyway.
Orion shall rise by Poul Anderson is a postapocalyptic tale that spans an entire generation, and their attempts to regain power. We get to see how backroom politics and conflicts have very real effects on the world around. And some eco-crap. Not that that's a bad thing, as good sci-fi should throw a lens on real world issues.
The mists of avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley is a retelling of arthurian legend from the PoV of Morgan de fay. Intrigue, lust, incest, battle and magic ensue, as you might expect. The druidic side gets considerably better press than the christian one. I don't need to sell this one to you, as it is fairly well known.

What's new is in code this month, going with the spy theme. Wormy faces the wizard.

Not quite as good as last issue, this is still full of many memorable moments and several things that would go on to be significant later. They may have built up a bit of history, but they can still add on a lot more before it starts to collapse under it's own weight and needs rebooting. So lets add a few more pieces to this jenga tower, see what shapes it makes next as it builds up to it's full height.

 

[Arnwyn]

Gary decides he's too important ... I am not impressed.

Heh. Okay, now I'm definitely seeing a trend here!

 

[(un)reason]

Heh. Okay, now I'm definitely seeing a trend here!

As someone who is prone to attacks of overwrought ambition and egomania, (would I even be attempting this if I wasn't ) I can see the signs of it in other people. During that period, Gary definitely let his success go to his head. Whether that's justified or not is for you to decide, given the whole multimillion dollar company thing. In any case, believing your own hype rarely ends well.