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<blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 5055763" data-attributes="member: 27780"><p><strong><u>Dragon Magazine Issue 165: January 1991</u></strong></p><p></p><p>part 4/6</p><p></p><p></p><p>Rifts is already Palladium's best selling line ever, despite only being out a year. So of course they will get the lions share of the supplements from now on. Expect delays. </p><p></p><p></p><p>The role of computers: Railroad Tycoon is a computer conversion of the old game Gary was rather fond of. The reviewers rather like it too, finding it a nice way to eat up huge amounts of time, building an empire, setting up a neatly running schedule in which the trains don't crash into one-another, and adding all sorts of extras to your stations, while competing with other companies. Increasing memory sizes really are doing wonders for the depth of simulation games. </p><p></p><p>Brainblasters is a pair of fun puzzle games, a shoot-em up, and a sequence puzzle. Both get their approval, making this good value for money. </p><p></p><p>Imperium is another large scale strategy game. Conquer the galaxy! Live to 1,000! War, economics, diplomacy, you can once again spend aaages trying to finish this one. The graphics and sound aren't perfect, and also tend to overtax their machine. Still, that probably won't be a problem if you emulate it these days. </p><p></p><p>Starflight 2: Trade routes of the cloud nebula also takes you into space, to deal with an alien invasion. This also involves substantial crew management, planet colonisation, and similar resource control tactical details. This is somewhat hampered by the fact that you can only do one thing at a time, which can be a serious issue that you have to work around tactically. As a result, it gets a mediocre score. </p><p></p><p>Ishdo: The way of Stones is a conversion of an old chinese puzzle game. Like shangai or chess, it's the kind of game you can spend a lifetime mastering strategies for, and they enjoy both the game, and it's visual representation here, with plenty of options and computer tutorial stuff, plus some good old fashioned koans thrown in for extra verisimilitude. Nothing like pretension to liven your day up, as oscar wilde would say. </p><p></p><p>Armor Alley and Stratego are the proud recipients of the buggies award this month. A memory eater that refuses to play nice with other programs running at the same time, and a game that crashes if you click on the wrong combat option. Not very impressive ways of messing up, really, but still dealbreakers for them. </p><p></p><p></p><p>The denizens of the lower planes are back in the MC outer planes appendix. (geekiest rapper name evar) Renamed of course. Because we don't do the D words anymore. So instead, we'll use ones no-one can agree how to pronounce. </p><p></p><p></p><p>Fiction: The curse maker by Laurell K Hamilton. Well well, it's another writer who has since gone on to, er, bigger things. A pretty good story here too, involving another hero with an evil sentient weapon, trying to keep themselves from going to the dark side under rather strong provocation and save their party member from death by politics. The various characters are established quickly and effectively, and the magic is handled with style. It all adds up to a quite satisfying package. Of course, given the current company policies, there are no 24 inch were-schlongs involved. She'll have to go to white wolf to sell those stories. <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite7" alt=":p" title="Stick out tongue :p" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":p" /> Another interesting historical footnote here. </p><p></p><p></p><p>Role-playing reviews goes back to the superheroic genre. Currently, it's pretty healthy, with both Marvel and DC having solidly selling RPG's. This month DC gets the spotlight here. </p><p></p><p>DC heroes RPG 2nd edition gets an interesting and context high review, referring back to Allen Varney's review of the 1st edition 5 years ago in The Space Gamer. Time has improved it quite a bit, with the rules being refined, and the editing improved as well. There are a few problems, not least with the rapidly changing and retconning history of the DC universe, and of course, the usual quibbles about character stats. But those certainly aren't dealbreakers, and of course provide plenty of room for supplements. Which of course sets us nicely for the rest of this column. </p><p></p><p>The batman sourcebook, 2nd ed combines a whole load of stuff on batman, his lair, villains and relationships with other heroes, an adventure, and some essays on the nature of batmanness <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite8" alt=":D" title="Big grin :D" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":D" /> Sounds like they had a bit of a struggle filling this one up. It also has some whimsical graphic design elements that Allen isn't too keen on. Batman may be pretty popular, but can a single person really hold that much attention alone? </p><p></p><p>The otherwhere quest is a solo adventure designed for a green lantern. Obviously, given the open-ended nature of their powers, it falls short somewhat, and the environment isn't that thrilling either. Mehness. </p><p></p><p>The laws of darkness, on the other hand is a fairly good high power adventure starring the new gods. It takes you on a ride through lots of familiar locations before petering out. </p><p></p><p>They also give the complete priest's handbook a short and favourable review. Lots of cool stuff within! Try it, and you can have viable all priest campaigns. Yeah, right, watch out for the newbie traps. This is why a good playtesting really helps.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="(un)reason, post: 5055763, member: 27780"] [B][U]Dragon Magazine Issue 165: January 1991[/U][/B] part 4/6 Rifts is already Palladium's best selling line ever, despite only being out a year. So of course they will get the lions share of the supplements from now on. Expect delays. The role of computers: Railroad Tycoon is a computer conversion of the old game Gary was rather fond of. The reviewers rather like it too, finding it a nice way to eat up huge amounts of time, building an empire, setting up a neatly running schedule in which the trains don't crash into one-another, and adding all sorts of extras to your stations, while competing with other companies. Increasing memory sizes really are doing wonders for the depth of simulation games. Brainblasters is a pair of fun puzzle games, a shoot-em up, and a sequence puzzle. Both get their approval, making this good value for money. Imperium is another large scale strategy game. Conquer the galaxy! Live to 1,000! War, economics, diplomacy, you can once again spend aaages trying to finish this one. The graphics and sound aren't perfect, and also tend to overtax their machine. Still, that probably won't be a problem if you emulate it these days. Starflight 2: Trade routes of the cloud nebula also takes you into space, to deal with an alien invasion. This also involves substantial crew management, planet colonisation, and similar resource control tactical details. This is somewhat hampered by the fact that you can only do one thing at a time, which can be a serious issue that you have to work around tactically. As a result, it gets a mediocre score. Ishdo: The way of Stones is a conversion of an old chinese puzzle game. Like shangai or chess, it's the kind of game you can spend a lifetime mastering strategies for, and they enjoy both the game, and it's visual representation here, with plenty of options and computer tutorial stuff, plus some good old fashioned koans thrown in for extra verisimilitude. Nothing like pretension to liven your day up, as oscar wilde would say. Armor Alley and Stratego are the proud recipients of the buggies award this month. A memory eater that refuses to play nice with other programs running at the same time, and a game that crashes if you click on the wrong combat option. Not very impressive ways of messing up, really, but still dealbreakers for them. The denizens of the lower planes are back in the MC outer planes appendix. (geekiest rapper name evar) Renamed of course. Because we don't do the D words anymore. So instead, we'll use ones no-one can agree how to pronounce. Fiction: The curse maker by Laurell K Hamilton. Well well, it's another writer who has since gone on to, er, bigger things. A pretty good story here too, involving another hero with an evil sentient weapon, trying to keep themselves from going to the dark side under rather strong provocation and save their party member from death by politics. The various characters are established quickly and effectively, and the magic is handled with style. It all adds up to a quite satisfying package. Of course, given the current company policies, there are no 24 inch were-schlongs involved. She'll have to go to white wolf to sell those stories. :p Another interesting historical footnote here. Role-playing reviews goes back to the superheroic genre. Currently, it's pretty healthy, with both Marvel and DC having solidly selling RPG's. This month DC gets the spotlight here. DC heroes RPG 2nd edition gets an interesting and context high review, referring back to Allen Varney's review of the 1st edition 5 years ago in The Space Gamer. Time has improved it quite a bit, with the rules being refined, and the editing improved as well. There are a few problems, not least with the rapidly changing and retconning history of the DC universe, and of course, the usual quibbles about character stats. But those certainly aren't dealbreakers, and of course provide plenty of room for supplements. Which of course sets us nicely for the rest of this column. The batman sourcebook, 2nd ed combines a whole load of stuff on batman, his lair, villains and relationships with other heroes, an adventure, and some essays on the nature of batmanness :D Sounds like they had a bit of a struggle filling this one up. It also has some whimsical graphic design elements that Allen isn't too keen on. Batman may be pretty popular, but can a single person really hold that much attention alone? The otherwhere quest is a solo adventure designed for a green lantern. Obviously, given the open-ended nature of their powers, it falls short somewhat, and the environment isn't that thrilling either. Mehness. The laws of darkness, on the other hand is a fairly good high power adventure starring the new gods. It takes you on a ride through lots of familiar locations before petering out. They also give the complete priest's handbook a short and favourable review. Lots of cool stuff within! Try it, and you can have viable all priest campaigns. Yeah, right, watch out for the newbie traps. This is why a good playtesting really helps. [/QUOTE]
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