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<blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 4697426" data-attributes="member: 27780"><p><strong><u>Dragon Issue 100: August 1985</u></strong></p><p></p><p>part 2/3</p><p></p><p>Pages from the mages V: Since he's one of their most popular writers, and this is one of his most popular series, having a 5th installment of this seems a very logical choice for Ed's contribution. As in the previous installments, we get 4 spellbooks. Exactly how Elminster knows so much about all these is still unrevealed, but he's definitely quite the font of lore as well as having a certain sense of mischief. He's becoming more defined by the article as much as the world he describes. </p><p>Sabrine's specular comes from the north, and runs the range from small to mighty, with three new cantrips, plus bladethirst, Merald's murderous mist, and one of those marvels of quirky magical design (Blatantly cribbed from Larry Niven) Spell Engine. Just the thing to have in your study, make sure people don't cause too much havoc. </p><p>Glanvyl's workbook is slightly less spectacular, with 3 more cantrips, plus a copied druidic spell for no apparent reason other than the compiler found it, and a couple of Ed's cookery recipies that just go to show how much cool detail he can casually create. </p><p>The red book of war is actually a cleric's prayerbook, not a spellbook. Guess Ed's tired of wizards getting all the new spell goodies, and is looking for reasons to share the love. I approve. As this is for Tempus, the FR god of war, the new spells within are quite useful in combat. Holy flail and bladebless handle the offensive and healing side. Reveal has huge strategic advantages, and sacred link has all manner of twinky possibilities in the hands of an inventive player. Wizards don't have to have all the spell-hunting fun on their own. </p><p>The Alcaister is a decidedly dangerous book to possess, with it's lethal pages and tendency to send you through a one-way gate if you read it wrong. But if you can survive it, you can learn a lot, including 3 new cantrips, plus Reconstruction and Body Sympathy. More ways in which wizards can mess with unsuspecting people and prevent themselves from dying. </p><p></p><p>Fiction: At moonset blackcat comes by Gary Gygax. Oh Gord. Oh Gord Oh Gord Oh Gord. Have you guessed what it is yet? Yes, it's the start of the Gord novels. Be very afraid. So we get a short story featuring Gord & co to promote it. In a bit of ingenious cross-promotion, our protagonist is playing Dragonchess in the starting illustration. It even features in the story, so it's not just a tacked on bit of pimping. Once again we see Gary get away with stuff no-one else would be allowed to in this magazine, with whores, gambling and drinking aplenty, and even some proper swearing. This definitely stands out, if not always for the right reasons, with overblown prose and a decidedly fiaty plot which leaves lots of questions unresolved. Will they be answered in the actual novels? Do you want to spend the money to find out? We won't judge you if you do. </p><p></p><p>Dragonchess gets a new edition. This complex variant on the traditional game runs across three boards, has 15 different pieces, each with their own idiosyncracies that'll take a while to learn, and supports some pretty heavy tactical play. Once again we are reminded that while D&D may be their big breakaway hit, Gary also enjoyed wargaming, model railroads, boardgames, and other similar hobbies, and wasn't short of ideas for those either. They really should have pushed this one harder, as it certainly shouldn't have been that hard to get this into commercial production and onto the toy store shelves at this time, and chess is a perennial game that seems to sell quite nicely without the endless revisions RPG's go through. This is another successful attempt to push the boundaries of what this magazine does, and definitely goes on the list of things I want to do when I have some free time. (ha) Drawing up and cutting out all the needed bits and pieces would be an adventure in itself. </p><p></p><p>The city beyond the gate: One of our longest modules ever, at a full 22 pages, plus interruptions by several full page ads. They've certainly pushed the boat for this one. It's a somewhat goofy adventure, as the adventurers stumble through a dimensional portal into modern day london. With victorian overtones, given the prevailance of horse drawn hackney cabs, thieving street urchins, and other amusing sorta-anachronisms. (You can tell it was written by an American) Dr Who makes a cameo, you'll get plenty of chances to roll on the random harlot table, you'll have to deal with the strange technology, (which is handled pretty well) and your money will be useless for spending, but incredibly valuable if converted. Not quite as brilliant as the hut of Baba Yaga, this is still a well written, open-ended, tremendously fun adventure, which could have all kinds of insane results if inserted into your game. This easily matches up to Expedition to the barrier peaks as a demonstration of how to put crossover stuff into your D&D, and has advice on how to stop it getting completely out of hand in the long run as well. As a special feature, this succeeds quite admirably. </p><p></p><p>ARES Log: The massive popularity of supers games, and the marvel super heroes game in particular, has resulted in them deciding to do a special on it for this month's ARES section. This starts off right away in the editorial, where they fill us in on the changes to various characters due to events in the comics. Plus Marvel superheroes will hopefully be getting an advanced version sometime soon. Other supers games will also get more coverage. Just don't ask us to do conversions, for legal crapola means we cannot. Intriguing developments here as well. </p><p></p><p>Creative conjuring: Magic. While found in both main supers universes on a regular basis, like gadgeteering, it's a definite problem from a gaming point of view, particularly if the ruleset is a simulationist one, because it implies a level of awareness of how your powers work, and ability to get them to do whole new things on a regular basis that most powers simply don't allow. So how are we to deal with this, make having magical powers balanced with the other options? You could make learning each spell require study and XP, but that wouldn't fit the source material very well, and would take up an entire sourcebook on it's own. This magazine doesn't have that kind of space. So instead, it breaks up magical power into a bunch of schools, which is fairly thematic, and still means you have access to broad swathes of abilities . A nerf, but probably a needed one.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="(un)reason, post: 4697426, member: 27780"] [B][U]Dragon Issue 100: August 1985[/U][/B] part 2/3 Pages from the mages V: Since he's one of their most popular writers, and this is one of his most popular series, having a 5th installment of this seems a very logical choice for Ed's contribution. As in the previous installments, we get 4 spellbooks. Exactly how Elminster knows so much about all these is still unrevealed, but he's definitely quite the font of lore as well as having a certain sense of mischief. He's becoming more defined by the article as much as the world he describes. Sabrine's specular comes from the north, and runs the range from small to mighty, with three new cantrips, plus bladethirst, Merald's murderous mist, and one of those marvels of quirky magical design (Blatantly cribbed from Larry Niven) Spell Engine. Just the thing to have in your study, make sure people don't cause too much havoc. Glanvyl's workbook is slightly less spectacular, with 3 more cantrips, plus a copied druidic spell for no apparent reason other than the compiler found it, and a couple of Ed's cookery recipies that just go to show how much cool detail he can casually create. The red book of war is actually a cleric's prayerbook, not a spellbook. Guess Ed's tired of wizards getting all the new spell goodies, and is looking for reasons to share the love. I approve. As this is for Tempus, the FR god of war, the new spells within are quite useful in combat. Holy flail and bladebless handle the offensive and healing side. Reveal has huge strategic advantages, and sacred link has all manner of twinky possibilities in the hands of an inventive player. Wizards don't have to have all the spell-hunting fun on their own. The Alcaister is a decidedly dangerous book to possess, with it's lethal pages and tendency to send you through a one-way gate if you read it wrong. But if you can survive it, you can learn a lot, including 3 new cantrips, plus Reconstruction and Body Sympathy. More ways in which wizards can mess with unsuspecting people and prevent themselves from dying. Fiction: At moonset blackcat comes by Gary Gygax. Oh Gord. Oh Gord Oh Gord Oh Gord. Have you guessed what it is yet? Yes, it's the start of the Gord novels. Be very afraid. So we get a short story featuring Gord & co to promote it. In a bit of ingenious cross-promotion, our protagonist is playing Dragonchess in the starting illustration. It even features in the story, so it's not just a tacked on bit of pimping. Once again we see Gary get away with stuff no-one else would be allowed to in this magazine, with whores, gambling and drinking aplenty, and even some proper swearing. This definitely stands out, if not always for the right reasons, with overblown prose and a decidedly fiaty plot which leaves lots of questions unresolved. Will they be answered in the actual novels? Do you want to spend the money to find out? We won't judge you if you do. Dragonchess gets a new edition. This complex variant on the traditional game runs across three boards, has 15 different pieces, each with their own idiosyncracies that'll take a while to learn, and supports some pretty heavy tactical play. Once again we are reminded that while D&D may be their big breakaway hit, Gary also enjoyed wargaming, model railroads, boardgames, and other similar hobbies, and wasn't short of ideas for those either. They really should have pushed this one harder, as it certainly shouldn't have been that hard to get this into commercial production and onto the toy store shelves at this time, and chess is a perennial game that seems to sell quite nicely without the endless revisions RPG's go through. This is another successful attempt to push the boundaries of what this magazine does, and definitely goes on the list of things I want to do when I have some free time. (ha) Drawing up and cutting out all the needed bits and pieces would be an adventure in itself. The city beyond the gate: One of our longest modules ever, at a full 22 pages, plus interruptions by several full page ads. They've certainly pushed the boat for this one. It's a somewhat goofy adventure, as the adventurers stumble through a dimensional portal into modern day london. With victorian overtones, given the prevailance of horse drawn hackney cabs, thieving street urchins, and other amusing sorta-anachronisms. (You can tell it was written by an American) Dr Who makes a cameo, you'll get plenty of chances to roll on the random harlot table, you'll have to deal with the strange technology, (which is handled pretty well) and your money will be useless for spending, but incredibly valuable if converted. Not quite as brilliant as the hut of Baba Yaga, this is still a well written, open-ended, tremendously fun adventure, which could have all kinds of insane results if inserted into your game. This easily matches up to Expedition to the barrier peaks as a demonstration of how to put crossover stuff into your D&D, and has advice on how to stop it getting completely out of hand in the long run as well. As a special feature, this succeeds quite admirably. ARES Log: The massive popularity of supers games, and the marvel super heroes game in particular, has resulted in them deciding to do a special on it for this month's ARES section. This starts off right away in the editorial, where they fill us in on the changes to various characters due to events in the comics. Plus Marvel superheroes will hopefully be getting an advanced version sometime soon. Other supers games will also get more coverage. Just don't ask us to do conversions, for legal crapola means we cannot. Intriguing developments here as well. Creative conjuring: Magic. While found in both main supers universes on a regular basis, like gadgeteering, it's a definite problem from a gaming point of view, particularly if the ruleset is a simulationist one, because it implies a level of awareness of how your powers work, and ability to get them to do whole new things on a regular basis that most powers simply don't allow. So how are we to deal with this, make having magical powers balanced with the other options? You could make learning each spell require study and XP, but that wouldn't fit the source material very well, and would take up an entire sourcebook on it's own. This magazine doesn't have that kind of space. So instead, it breaks up magical power into a bunch of schools, which is fairly thematic, and still means you have access to broad swathes of abilities . A nerf, but probably a needed one. [/QUOTE]
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