Let's read the entire run

[Orius]

108 pages. Another month, another return to familiar themes. Back in 1982, we had a whole series of issues devoted to the various demihuman races. This time, they're all getting lumped together, and being given a special collectively. Well, at least it's not a straight off rehash. Since Roger was responsible for writing the originals, that means the contents probably won't be a straight recycle either. And it has been 6 years, so it wouldn't be too unreasonable if they did reuse a bit. Can they surprise me this time? Onward, through another year.

They'll be back. My collection only spans about 6 years, and there's at least 2-3 issues themed on dwarves and elves each. So really, there's a lot of stuff people can think up.

Elizabeth Atwood takes a tangent, picking apart the ridiculous size and thickness of magic-user spellbooks. How the hell are they supposed to carry these things? What exactly are they made of. Even the biggest real life books aren't that big.

This one keeps reoccuring in the Forum. As one later replay states, paper in the Middle Ages was quite thick compared to today, and sometimes they were made out of thicker parchment. Books often had wood covers wrapped in leather and that stuff gets thick and heavy fast. So yeah.

 

[(un)reason]

Dragon Magazine Issue 129: January 1988

part 2/5

Don't sell them short: A halfling exclusive class? Hee. How very interesting. It's not even a direct analogue of an existing class, a la the Elven Cavalier. Well, given the huge number of classes only open to humans, someone really ought to redress the balance. So here we have stats for the Halfling Defender. Closely analogous to rangers and paladins for humans, they are fighters with modest nature affecting powers at higher levels, and a duty to defend their communities and the halfling race in general. Really, it's close enough to Rangers mechanically that if they were allowed to become them anyway, this could be represented by a minor tweaking to powers and accessable spells like the dwarven cleric one earlier. In any case, it doesn't look particularly overpowered, so even if it isn't hugely imaginative mechanically, it's another one I'd have no objection to my players trying out.

Entering the Drider's web: Drow get a second article this month, proving that they must already be pretty popular amongst certain freelancers. Lolth is a weird one. Putting promising drow through a test of skill and loyalty, failures are cursed with awesome, and sent back to the prime material to serve as an object lesson, a boogeyman to both the drow and other races in the underdark, and a massive source of fossilized angstium to power future generations of mary sues. Makes a certain degree of warped sense, especially when you consider that one of a god's primary pleasures in life is watching mortals do stuff and playing with them like pieces in a game, throwing obstacles in their way to keep things interesting and advance their cause. This is essentially the footnotes of an ecology without the fiction coming first, expanding on their entry in the fiend folio, and detailing exactly how all their capabilities are changed by the transformation. Useful if you want to have one as a major villain, or possibly as a PC, (although that might be a bit tricky to engineer plotwise. ) this does still feel curiously incomplete without the fiction. Goes to show how much of a fixture those ecology articles have become over the years. It also makes a few curious mechanical decisions, and requires you to reference issue 119 to fully understand all the new capabilities given in the article. So overall, it is a somewhat flawed one, that is an interesting read, but could definitely have been handled better.

The role of computers: Tower of Myraglen is the main review this month. It's one of those adventures where you have to explore a massive dungeon complex, find stuff, and complete the quest. So far, so familiar. It does have several distinctive features to recommend it though. Proper stereo sound that also gives you clues as to what's around corners and through doors. Interesting tactical considerations, including the ability to move and fire in different directions independently. Design that encourages you not to kill everything and grab every tiny bit of treasure. Plenty of clues and hidden bits. And like the sound, the graphics also show off the new advances in computer technology if you have an up to date machine. If not, sucks to be you.
The rest of the column has the usual assortment of news, game tips and mini-reviews. From a pinball game, to a sex comedy (ahh, leisure suit larry. Of all the deranged series to remind me of.) they cover a pretty wide variety here. It's not just RPG's and wargames anymore. Which makes it a very pleasant diversion for me, with lots of contextual stuff on the wider gaming industry around.

A sorcerer's supplement: New spells for runequest. Another game that had an article here years ago, and nothing since. I know there's at least a couple more to come, but how infrequent will they be? Anyway, here's 12 new spells. From basic temperature control, to reversing aging, this is about 50-50 cool stuff that puts a distinctive spin on the spell idea, and dull stuff that simply converts it from D&D. Overall, a pretty decent article, with several ideas that I'd like to steal and back-convert. (creating the illusion you're wearing clothes? Now there's one you can make plenty of jokes about. ) While they may not be covering as much non D&D stuff in terms of page count as they did in the days of the ARES section, they do seem to be trying to cover a wider variety these days. That's not a bad thing.

 

[(un)reason]

Dragon Magazine Issue 129: January 1988

part 3/5

Sage advice is absolutely huge this month. This is what happens when you skip them. You wind up having to binge later on. Everyone knows that aint healthy.
How should you divide experience (Equally amongst everyone, even if they died or were lazy bastiches. Other methods promote competitive play, and may result in bad blood. And we can't possibly risk that in the new safehappy family friendly TSR.)
How much damage does a two handed staff do. (Same as it ever was. This is not your beautiful 3.5)
What is a concealed door (one hidden by having something put in front of it. It's like a secret door, only an amateur production.)
Can a good creature be convinced to join an adventuring party. (Hmm. Can you convince a good creature to tag along with a bunch of random humanoids for some indiscriminate killing and looting. Tough sell. )
How do you get yellow mold spores out (neutralize poison. For even the toughest toxins. )
When can you exchange ability scores (Only during character generation. And really, you should just roll a new character instead. S'not like they're hard to come by in BD&D )
Can crossbows hurl rocks? Can clerics use them if they do (yes, no. We don't want to mess with established game balance. Clerics'll have to stick to slings. )
How long is a round (10 seconds. Doesn't that make waay more sense than AD&D's minute long ones. )
How do you determine how fast you move. (Encumbrance table, muthaa. Do you use it. Honestly. Skip swears that if he see's one more person ignoring encumbrance, Skip is gonna kneecap that bitch. )
What's the difference between chain mail and plate mail (Do the books not have diagrams? Is Skip gonna have to carve one on your chest?)
What's the difference between different races of elves (None. This is D&D, not AD&D. That would be way too fine a granulation for a quick pick up and play game. )
If elves are such great archers, why don't they get a bonus. (Again, you're thinking of AD&D, not D&D. The two are completely separate games, and we have to keep them so, otherwise Dave Arneson will sue us. )
What is encumbrance (What are you, some kind of computer with no experience of the real human body. Pick stuff up. See how much you can carry before you can't walk. That's encumbrance. )
When you use a wand of magic or enemy detection, who can see the glow. (everyone, including the creature detected. Violence may ensue rapidly)
Which monsters have infravision (Nearly all of them. It really isn't fair on humans, is it.)
Do you turn to stone if you see a medusa using infravision (Yup. No weaseling out that way. )
Can you see undead with infravision (probably. Even cold bodies don't radiate heat quite like the surrounding air. As for the insubstantial ones, it would be entirely in genre for them to artificially chill the air around them )
Can you see invisible things with infravision (no. It's be a bloody sloppy spell that only affected the visual spectrum. That'd be the kind of cut price variant Bargle would sell people. )
Can you use a mirror to look around a corner with infravision ( not unless it's made specially. As infra red is of a longer wavelength, it diffuses into objects more readily, plus the longer the wavelength the lower the resolution of fine detail in general. But enough of real world physics. What place does that have in a D&D game? )
Do character levels equal hit dice for purposes of calculating how something is affected (in most cases. We'll probably think up some arbitrary exceptions at some point.)
Can you copy spells from scrolls into your own book (yes, but this erases the scroll. Conservation of something is at play. Not sure what exactly.)
What's the penalty for using a weapon forbidden to your class (none, you just can't do it. It's like asking out a really hot girl. No matter how much you'd like too, you just can't make that move. And then you watch the bloody jock do it no trouble and you're left wondering why and how. Bitter, Moi? )
What's the highest level (36 for humans. Other races generally have lower limits. )
What's the best saving throw you can have (2. Failure is always an option.)
What does 2 in 6 mean (Are you Dense? Are you retarded or something? I'm the Goddamn Skip Williams. Roll a d6. if you roll a 1 or 2, you succeeded. How much simpler do you need it?)
Why aren't there rules for half-breeds (Again, simplicity. To squeeze the game into 64 pages, you need to leave stuff out)
How many Hp do you regain when you eat (none, this is D&D, not a computer game. )
How do you determine hit points (What is this, the remedial class? What happened to the hard ones about specific spells and social contracts. Skip so does not need this. )
How much food does a pack of iron rations have (A weeks worth. Not a very nice or satisfying weeks worth, though. )
Can you turn a stoned character back (yes, but you'll need a 12th level wizard to help you out. This may not be easy, depending on how rare high level characters are. )
How much Xp are rats worth (1. A good ratcatcher could gain several levels in a year. Don't underestimate your NPC's)
What's the AC of a sprite (5. I can't even be bothered to rant about how dumb you are this time. )
How long does a potion of gaseous form last (same as any other. 7-12 turns. I'm now going to be an idiot, and forget the difference between rounds and turns. Oopsie daisy)
Do area attacks hit automatically (yes. You're doomed. This is why smart teams treat their wizards like artillery)
Which weapons can halflings use (Any that are small enough. It's not some arbitrary absolute restriction like the spellcasters have to deal with. )
How do you run missile fire (Same as melee. If they're in range, shoot. If you hit, roll damage. Skip would be happy to demonstrate using you as a target, because skip is not having a good day. )
Can you restore hit points without magic (You get 1 hp per day of rest back. Getting better from being sliced up takes a lot of work in D&D)
Are holy symbols magic (no, but clerics can't cast spells without them. They're like a catalyst in chemistry. Or a beacon so your god doesn't forget where you are and to grant you spells )
Are creatures that need magic weapons to hit immune to paralysis (not nececarily)
Can you get a benefit from one gauntlet of ogre power (No. If one gets eaten by the washing machine, you might as well throw the other one out)
How many charges do rods have (none. They aren't like those one trick wands or flashy exhaustible staves. Rods can go on and on and on. Yeah baby. Who's the daddy now then?
What's the encumbrance of a magic item (normally the same as a normal item of the same type)
What's the Xp value for monsters (calculate it using the table. It's easy enough. )
I don't understand why you need to keep track of time ( You're gonna have a tricky time getting on in life then, and get fired from jobs pretty damn often. Knowing who is where doing what when is vital for maintaining a consistent universe. This can not be stressed enough. Write it down, because it's less stress than trying to remember everything everyone has done and intends to do. )
What do you keep when you become undead or lycanthropic (DM's choice. What you don't get is to keep them as a PC. They're a monster now, raaar. )

 

[(un)reason]

Dragon Magazine Issue 129: January 1988

part 4/5

The dragon's bestiary goes planar. Dean Shomshak points out that the para-elemental planes are seriously lacking in inhabitants. Course, ironically he picks the one that does have several already, including it's own statted out ruler, the paraelemental plane of Ice. I guess it's easier to think of interesting looking and behaving creatures for that than it is for vaccum or ash. And more planar stuff is always welcome.
Shiverbugs are odd looking crystaline creatures that emulate no particular earthly phyla. But if you step on them, they'll rouse the rest of their swarm, and then you'll face death by a dozen chilly nips. Seems like they could still be a hassle at higher level.
Icelings also take their aesthetic cues from Modrons, being three sided crystaline humanoids which can make a chilly situation all the more confusing. Again, they're not hugely aggressive, but that doesn't mean they won't defend themselves. Remember, just because it isn't immediately lethal, doesn't mean you shouldn't stack up on your cold resistance powers before visiting. Nearly everything has cold based blasty powers (that don't do much to each other) and you don't want to fall prey to them, or the more mundane toe losing crap frostbite can cause.
Snowfuries are basically semi-intelligent snowstorms. Hot things make them cranky, so they may be a problem to adventurers intruding in their territory. They can still hurt you if you're immune to cold, so don't think you can just wander around, messing up their environment.
Frigidarch are a third creature using the crystaline ice structure theme. Hexagonal pyramid things with tentacles coming from each side, they are smart, fairly magically capable, and frequently in charge, assuming they can find sentient creatures on the plane to be in charge of. If you're traveling there, finding one and ingratiating yourself into their court could definitely be to your benefit.
Just like the reviews, this is an unusually strong delivery taken as a whole, as it presents a consistent aesthetic for creatures from this plane that is easy to extrapolate upon, to create similar monsters of your own. Since the plane of ice has always been one of the easier ones to design adventures for anyway, this makes it even more tempting to find excuses to get my players to visit. Rather pleasing, that.

The game wizards: Jim Ward continues to reassure us that Greyhawk will still be getting plenty of love under the new regime. Just what kind of love, precisely, is up to you, the reader. After all, we can't fit everything in the new corebook, so what gets cut depends on what you demand least. Even the biggest company in the industry has to worry about commercial concerns such as these, and listen to it's fans to know what to provide them. More evidence that this is a vibrant company again, and hubris has yet to set in, but otherwise a pretty unremarkable little bulletin. Onto the next thing.

Fiction: The old ways are best by Larry Walker. Oh, now this is very amusing indeed. The derangedly humorous story of a man who's daughter wants to marry a troll, his irritating wife, the trolls father, and his great^8 grandfather. With some inventive descriptions, pithy commentary on human nature, and some interesting ideas in terms of magic that actually feels magical. A highly entertaining tale that still manages to squeeze in a little drama and sense of danger as well. A well above average little story here.

Who's in charge here?: Demographics has never been something D&D has been particularly comfortable with. Here's another attempt at figuring out just how many higher level characters there are around for a particular sized community of normal humans or demihumans. Their answer is that it's an exponential decrease, going up to slightly below name levels for groups of 1,000+. Seems reasonable enough. Beyond those kinds of levels, the really high level characters will be singular, and have agendas that may or may not tie them to a particular community, so you'll want to develop them individually. It is probably a bit too generous with the spellcasting classes, unless you want a fairly high magic setting like mystara where many businesses use minor magics to increase their efficiency. But this kind of ratio'll keep players from rampaging through cities and taking stuff at their whim, which is important. And it remembers to account for demihuman limits and propensities, so it's obvious quite a bit of thought went into it. Not a bad attempt, even if it won't be appropriate for many campaigns.

Armored and dangerous: Star frontiers gets an article covering another thing that really should have been in the game all along. Powered Armor. Allowing you to pile on even more protection and not be slowed down so much. At least, until the batteries run out. And unlike laptops, you can't just find a hotspot and plug in for a few hours during a dangerous mission in deep space. Like computers, you get best value custom building them, and the price can vary hugely depending on what nifty add-ons you give them. Not sure how accessable this would be to most PC's, given the prices to buy and maintain one of these, but it does look like fun. This line still isn't completely dead yet, and as long as fans send stuff in, hopefully they'll keep publishing it.

The role of books: Murder at the war by Mary Monica Pulver is a tale of a murder during an SCA LARP. IC waring and OOC politics collide, and the quirks of the subculture are referenced and punctured with the affectionate eye of someone who is intimately involved with it IRL. Like Bimbos of the death sun, this seems like it would be a good deal of fun to read for anyone involved in the scene.
Agnes day by Lionel Fenn (aka Charles Grant, writing under a pseudonym) gets a decidedly unimpressed review. It tries to be funny, but isn't. Cliched, with a poor plot, it fails to hold together as a story. Learn from his mistakes.
Masterplay by William F Wu is an interesting bit of speculative fiction, positing a world in which duels using wargames become a means of settling legal disputes. This is not a move that pleases everybody, and there's plenty of drama, both on the table and off it. Another interesting combination of interests here, handled well, in a book that is far less implausible than most of these.
Sword and sorceress IV, Edited by Marion Zimmer Bradley is her 4th book of fantasy short stories featuring female protagonists. Writers both well-known and brand new contribute, and her editorial hand keeps them at a consistently high quality.
Tales of the witch world, created by Andre Norton, is not quite as consistently edited as the previous anthology, but it still has several good stories contained within. Some of them may not fit very well within the shared universe, but when you're a young writer trying to get published, you've gotta use the material you've got.
War for the oaks by Emma Bull gets pretty high praise, along with a shout out to the Minneapolis-based writing group that has produced quite a few other published authors. A tale of fae war behind the scenes of the local american music scene, this is more evidence that Changeling:the Dreaming didn't spring from nowhere, and there were plenty of people playing with this kind of modern urban fantasy before White Wolf made a series of hit games involving it. More evidence that writing is more fun when you have a little help from your friends.
Triplet by Timothy Zahn is an interesting combination of sci-fi and fantasy. As a logically explored setting up of a world and metaphysics, it's pretty good. As a story, the pacing of the plot leaves something to be desired. Not his best work.

 

[Dyson Logos]

Armored and dangerous: Star frontiers gets an article covering another thing that really should have been in the game all along. Powered Armor.

While I really like a majority of the Star Frontiers articles seen over the years, this one fell flat.

 

[(un)reason]

Dragon Magazine Issue 129: January 1988

part 5/5

The marvel-phile: Jeff finally delivers the first part of the victims of Scourge. Marvel attempted to clear house recently, getting rid of a big chunk of their Z-list villains. And on the whole this managed to stick, because no-one liked these guys enough to bring them back. Enforcer. Miracle man. Hate-monger III. Megatak. Melter. Titania. Basilisk. Hammer & Anvil. The Fly. Death Adder. Blue Streak. Wraith. These 13 unfortunates get stats, and very short descriptions here. Just looking at the puns in their names is enough to make me groan. The art direction is pretty interesting as well (Pum as the sound for gunshots? What's up with that? ) Jeff proves he is quite capable of cutting the crap when necessary. Definitely another interesting bit of history, that has had me googling away to find out more info on how this went down, and the aftermath of these plots. Funny that this has had the side effect of increasing my comics knowledge quite a bit. Hopefully there's more of that to come as well, as long as TSR keep the license and carry on putting out these columns.

Role-playing reviews once again gives us a history lesson before getting down to the reviews. This time, it's on world-building, and TSR's initial reluctance to get involved with it. While Tekumel had some cool setting stuff, stuff like Runequest and Harn massively outdid D&D until 1983, when they decided to play catch-up. And really, they've been playing catch-up ever since, and won't really pull ahead for another year or so, when the Forgotten Realms really starts filling up with supplements covering every area in detail. Ken offers a pretty balanced take on this, pointing out both the good aspects and the flaws in TSR and it's competitor's approaches. Very interesting to see the perspective of someone who lived through that era.
GAZ3 The principalities of Glantri is one of the D&D Gazetteers, filling in rather more setting details of the Known World than the old modules did. The whole line is rapidly becoming notable for being much more high magic than any of the AD&D settings, and this one really takes that to the limit, with it's nobility consisting entirely of name+ level wizards and magically powerful creatures such as liches, vampires, immortals in disguise, some of them from other planets. Religion is outlawed, and magic use is common in every strata of society. Bruce and co have great fun building up a setting that is simultaneously gonzo and well considered, making the ridiculous commonplace, and filling the place with plot hooks. The writing is good, there's plenty of cool new crunch to differentiate your wizards in a MU centric campaign set there, and it makes good use of D&D's rules quirks and implied tropes. You can have a lot of fun there.
The Forgotten Realms campaign set gets an even more comprehensive review, with plenty more comparing and contrasting with the other D&D settings, and even other companies stuff. Each of the booklets is examined individually, and most of it comes off pretty well. Ken probably has more caveats with this than he did with the Glantri stuff, but it's still entirely serviceable as a core product, giving more than enough detail to get going, while still leaving plenty of room for future books to fill in more specific bits in detail.
We also get several significant micro-reviews. Whimsy Cards are a creation of Mark Rein·Hagen (damn that pretentious splodge) and Jonathan Tweet. Pull one out whenever you need a random plot twist. How very amusing. Nice to see those two names who'll go on to bigger things showing up now. Warhammer 40k has also just been released. Ken gets rather ranty about this one, liking the visuals, and lots of the setting elements but being really frustrated that there isn't an RPG based upon it. You're gonna have a Loooooooooooooooooong wait there mate.
Overall, this has been one of the most entertaining review columns ever, both in terms of critical depth, significant products covered, and the way it was done being entertaining reading in itself. We're definitely into the magazine's golden years now as far as reviews are concerned, with books, computers and RPG's all getting plenty of well thought out attention. How very pleasing.

Dragonmirth has lots of food related jokes. Snarf runs over another innocent creature. Wormy is missing.

The last word: Hee. Comedy central continues with this little feature, which is exactly what it sounds like. Did you suspect your immanent death? The kind of thing we see forum threads on on a regular basis, and is always good for a laugh or two. Another amusing little experiment by Roger, including things like this to keep the format getting too predictable. Keep it up.

One of those issues with a somewhat iffy themed section, but the rest of it is pretty good. Of particular note is the quality of the reviews, which have improved massively over recent years. While the quality of the RPG articles is as scattershot as it has been recently, they really are getting the hang of assessing other companies works in an informative, interesting, and often humorous manner. This does result in a more open feeling magazine, and if they maintain or improve on this showing over the next decade or so, before they get cut out, they'll definitely contribute quite a bit more to my overall enjoyment of this journey, and give me plenty more things that I want to investigate at some point in the future. Course, the page count for this is probably coming out of the same bit that would otherwise be used for non TSR RPG's, so it's not all good, but as long as they provide something enjoyable, I'm not complaining too much.

 

[Dyson Logos]

Definitely another interesting bit of history, that has had me googling away to find out more info on how this went down, and the aftermath of these plots. Funny that this has had the side effect of increasing my comics knowledge quite a bit. Hopefully there's more of that to come as well, as long as TSR keep the license and carry on putting out these columns.

I remember reading these and enjoying them. It's fun to read the lists of minor villains that were cleaned out by the scourge. Dragon was also my only interaction with the Marvel universe at the time, and I enjoyed this particular storyline in it's truncated format in the magazine.

Now I'm going to have to google it too.

And really, they've been playing catch-up ever since, and won't really pull ahead for another year or so, when the Forgotten Realms really starts filling up with supplements covering every area in detail.

Having played with FR junkies and Harn junkies, allow me to say that I don't believe TSR every pulled ahead - Harn still has significantly more material and detail than the Realms ever did.

GAZ3 The principalities of Glantri... there's plenty of cool new crunch to differentiate your wizards in a MU centric campaign.

The first appearance of a Prestige Class in D&D, and the second if you include AD&D1e's Bard. There were a bunch in this book.

Warhammer 40k has also just been released. Ken gets rather ranty about this one, liking the visuals, and lots of the setting elements but being really frustrated that there isn't an RPG based upon it.

Friggin' 20 years later we've finally got it. And even then it's only this year that the actual Rogue Trader game comes out - which is the implied setting of the original 40k book.

How I loved the setting of that original WH40K Rogue Trader book.

 

[(un)reason]

The first appearance of a Prestige Class in D&D, and the second if you include AD&D1e's Bard. There were a bunch in this book.

Don't forget the paladin, avenger, druid and knight from the companion set, and the thief-acrobat from UA. I think the 1st ed solamnic knights were out before then as well. Hmm. Seems like the idea wasn't that uncommon by then.

 

[Dyson Logos]

Paladin, Avenger & Knight weren't so much prestige classes as redefinitions of the fighter class at higher levels to keep it from getting "boring" as fighters gain no new abilities as they level up.

Good call on the Thief-Acrobat and BECMI Druid though. I'm unaware of the solamnic knights, obviously from a setting I didn't pursue in depth.

I'll have to rephrase my statement then, as one of the first prestige classes where you had the option to continue in your existing class as well as picking up levels in an alternate "prestige class".

 

[(un)reason]

Dragon Magazine Issue 130: February 1988

part 1/5

112 pages. Back to familiar topics here. In 1984, it was Clerics who not only got two specials, but also got godly stuff nearly every issue. Now it's wizards turn, with their regular arcane lore columns being added too further, with a whole batch of magical articles. Couldn't we have some more mundane plot hooks instead? Ironically, that is exactly what Roger's editorial is about, pointing out some of the stranger and more dramatic things that have happened in recent history. He also points out that in some ways, technology has already overtaken sci-fi, and this is only going to get more extreme in the future, given the breakneck rate computers are progressing. And with that interesting little set of contrasts setting the scene, let's launch off into another massive issue, explore it's outer limits.

In this issue:

Letters: Another letter asking for more coverage of minis. Roger replies that they are seriously considering this, since quite a few people do seem to want it. Keep sending in suggestions, to help us refine the format to a form that'll please the greatest number of people.
A letter asking how you get your games published. Hee. We're always getting that one. And we have to break the hearts of most of the people asking it. Better us do so than you self-publishing and facing the horror of absolute public indifference.
A letter commenting on their recent format change. They've finally decided to start calling a magazine a magazine, not a "monthly adventure role-playing aid" We also get some questions on fonts used, which they duely answer.
Some more layout questions and praise. All complements and criticism on this go to Roger Raupp.
A letter from someone having problems finding people to play with. Oh, woe, etc etc.

Forum: Christopher Earley introduces a more complicated new system for determining how likely magic-users are to learn a new spell, based on intelligence, level, and the level of the spell being examined. Yawn.
Brent Silvis debates the D&D handling on PC's becoming lycanthropes, where they seem to adapt to their new condition straight away, and would prefer to remain that way with no angst at all. This doesn't seem right, especially when their player would prefer to retain control of them. Roll on Ravenloft.
Kelly Calabro is one of the people who thinks getting rid of the illusionist entirely and merging their spells with wizards is a damn good idea.
David Carl Argall continues to be a regular contributor. He continues the rather amusing debate on the nature and frequency of male harpies. You may of course choose any of these explanations for your game.
Tom Brincefield thinks that when the characters get to higher level, you ought to change the enemies, instead of just having them face more. Can't we do a bit of both?

Get the most from your magic: Tactical advice for spellcasters. Haven't had that in a while. And we haven't had many of the specific bits of advice this article gives us before at all, which is very good. Particular attention is paid to spells which have long-lasting effects. Buff yourself up with a load of those as preparation, and then rememorize your spells, and you are at a substantial advantage compared to someone who just walks into dungeons with a load of magic missiles and fireballs. (which lest we forget, are frequently unintentional suicide in enclosed spaces) Ethics go out the window, as they encourage you to charm all your companions just in case to ensure their loyalty, polymorph things liberally and exploit the hell out of this, and raise the corpses of your fallen foes to use against the next bunch of opposition. This is how you make people really dread your spellcaster. Just be grateful that personal buff spells aren't too common yet. Apart from stoneskin and contingency, you don't have to worry too much about tracking endlessly overlapping, long lasting stacking buffs, even if you wanted too. This is definitely one for players who play to win, and have to deal with GM's that are similarly ruthless, but have no objection to their players exploiting every little rules quirk for maximum personal advantage. Or to be less diplomatic, this is total twink fodder, likely to polarize the readerbase. Still, if it results in flamewars, that means more fun for me. Definitely an interesting decision for Roger to put this one first.