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<blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 5077340" data-attributes="member: 27780"><p><strong><u>Dragon Magazine Issue 169: May 1991</u></strong></p><p></p><p>part 1/6</p><p></p><p></p><p>124 pages. At last, the magazine has reached it's greatest regular size. We've now reached the era where they were producing the greatest amount of official D&D material each month, both here and in terms of general supplements. (Whether this was a golden age or a golden shower is very much a matter of opinion, but we are unlikely to ever see them produce this much again.) While there are a few specials that are even larger, this is the size it maintains throughout the majority of the decade, before starting to shrink again. At last, the issues won't keep taking longer and longer to get through. Whew. Funny to think that I'm now regularly going through ones bigger than the one that caused so much surprise, way back in 1980. I guess it's like a frog in boiling water. Turn the heat up gradually, and it doesn't realize just how bad things are for it. Or more positively, it's like gradually moving up through weight classes by bodybuilding. You've got to warm up properly, prepare and practice. Which curiously, is also the theme of the issue. That's a new one on me, but an idea I could see yielding some valuable material. As long as the result isn't characters buffing themselves up tediously before each battle, and having to keep track of all the changes to their stats. Let's see what we can see see see. </p><p></p><p>In this issue:</p><p></p><p></p><p>Letters: A letter asking for more DM'ing advice. The stuff in the books just isn't enough. You've come to the right place. Roger can point out dozens of articles in the magazine's history that help with this, and intends to publish more in the future. Good luck collecting them all though. </p><p></p><p>A letter from someone who's recently picked up a disability about the article they did on that. Once again, Roger is pretty helpful, proving that he knows the history of the magazine inside out, in even greater depth than I do. Well, 10 years compared to 2, it'd be more worrying if he didn't. However, this does have the side effect of reminding me how little attention they've given to race and sexuality and how they relate to gaming. You'd think they'd have found the space for at least one article in in 16 years. No wonder roleplaying has wound up such a whitebread hobby. </p><p></p><p>A letter from someone having trouble keeping all the various characters and organizations in the Forgotten Realms straight. It's not easy, and it's only going to get harder. Good luck. </p><p></p><p></p><p>Editorial: Or let's see just how much of a dick Roger can be when he puts his mind too it, as he reveals the answers to last month's questionnaire. Which shouldn't surprise anyone who's played his adventures, such as Baba Yaga's hut and The Twofold Talisman. There are millions of ways you can do this job wrong, and every sentence is a minefield, just waiting to blow your foot off if you make a wrong step. Part of this is due to the persistent exceptionalism is the english language, much is due to the bloating of supplements (including changes made due to enshrining of previous editorial errors), part is due to legal issues of copyright, TSR's family friendly policy, etc, and sometimes there is no right answer, so you'll have to make the choice, and then try and get other people to stick to it. Is it any wonder he's a little mad by now. Good thing the other editors have got his back. (or is that sniggering at him behind his back <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" /> ) This all feels a bit meanspirited, like he's saying I'm the editor of Dragon Magazine, and you're not, so don't get uppity when I make a few mistakes. Entertaining, but certainly not likable. </p><p></p><p></p><p>New weapons for old: Or welcome to the arms race. In real life, weapons varied quite substantially from century to century, as people constantly looked for an edge, and took advantage of new construction technologies. Here's some ideas that seem based upon those principles. Crossbows with more than one shaft, swords designed to pierce armour, hypersharpened swords that do extra damage for the first few hits, triple balled morningstars (these are particularly twinky, with a huge dps average, especially if you have a strength bonus) there is a certain degree of power creep here compared with core weapons. Since many of them do DX+1 damage, this also means they're less likely to whiff over long campaigns. Think carefully about allowing these ones, especially if you don't track the speed factors, space required and weapon vs armor tables that provide an element of rebalancing. </p><p></p><p></p><p>Creative casting: Ah yes, this old chessnut. Looks like the arms race is taking place here as well. Turning spells to uses other than those their designers intended is a tradition as old as the first gaming group. It's been incorporated into a few articles, and somewhat more forum letters, but hasn't got it's own article before. This is the kind of thing I delight in both as a DM and a player. It serves to remind us that a magic-user can usurp a thief's job with very little effort, continual light is actually one of the most awesome spells in the game, monster summoning is useful for so much more than combat, especially when you can pick the creature, and anything created can be sold, even if it's existence is only temporary. A couple of these look like they're really pushing the limits of the rules, and some DM's would disallow those interpretations, and quite a few more would be nerfed deliberately so these tricks definitely won't work in 3rd ed. (and even fewer in 3.5 and 4e. ) Still, mustn't let the spoilsports get us down. There's always a few loopholes somewhere in a ruleset. It's up to you to find them and abuse them, or possibly fix them if you're that way inclined. And that kind of arms race can be almost as fun as the IC action.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="(un)reason, post: 5077340, member: 27780"] [B][U]Dragon Magazine Issue 169: May 1991[/U][/B] part 1/6 124 pages. At last, the magazine has reached it's greatest regular size. We've now reached the era where they were producing the greatest amount of official D&D material each month, both here and in terms of general supplements. (Whether this was a golden age or a golden shower is very much a matter of opinion, but we are unlikely to ever see them produce this much again.) While there are a few specials that are even larger, this is the size it maintains throughout the majority of the decade, before starting to shrink again. At last, the issues won't keep taking longer and longer to get through. Whew. Funny to think that I'm now regularly going through ones bigger than the one that caused so much surprise, way back in 1980. I guess it's like a frog in boiling water. Turn the heat up gradually, and it doesn't realize just how bad things are for it. Or more positively, it's like gradually moving up through weight classes by bodybuilding. You've got to warm up properly, prepare and practice. Which curiously, is also the theme of the issue. That's a new one on me, but an idea I could see yielding some valuable material. As long as the result isn't characters buffing themselves up tediously before each battle, and having to keep track of all the changes to their stats. Let's see what we can see see see. In this issue: Letters: A letter asking for more DM'ing advice. The stuff in the books just isn't enough. You've come to the right place. Roger can point out dozens of articles in the magazine's history that help with this, and intends to publish more in the future. Good luck collecting them all though. A letter from someone who's recently picked up a disability about the article they did on that. Once again, Roger is pretty helpful, proving that he knows the history of the magazine inside out, in even greater depth than I do. Well, 10 years compared to 2, it'd be more worrying if he didn't. However, this does have the side effect of reminding me how little attention they've given to race and sexuality and how they relate to gaming. You'd think they'd have found the space for at least one article in in 16 years. No wonder roleplaying has wound up such a whitebread hobby. A letter from someone having trouble keeping all the various characters and organizations in the Forgotten Realms straight. It's not easy, and it's only going to get harder. Good luck. Editorial: Or let's see just how much of a dick Roger can be when he puts his mind too it, as he reveals the answers to last month's questionnaire. Which shouldn't surprise anyone who's played his adventures, such as Baba Yaga's hut and The Twofold Talisman. There are millions of ways you can do this job wrong, and every sentence is a minefield, just waiting to blow your foot off if you make a wrong step. Part of this is due to the persistent exceptionalism is the english language, much is due to the bloating of supplements (including changes made due to enshrining of previous editorial errors), part is due to legal issues of copyright, TSR's family friendly policy, etc, and sometimes there is no right answer, so you'll have to make the choice, and then try and get other people to stick to it. Is it any wonder he's a little mad by now. Good thing the other editors have got his back. (or is that sniggering at him behind his back :p ) This all feels a bit meanspirited, like he's saying I'm the editor of Dragon Magazine, and you're not, so don't get uppity when I make a few mistakes. Entertaining, but certainly not likable. New weapons for old: Or welcome to the arms race. In real life, weapons varied quite substantially from century to century, as people constantly looked for an edge, and took advantage of new construction technologies. Here's some ideas that seem based upon those principles. Crossbows with more than one shaft, swords designed to pierce armour, hypersharpened swords that do extra damage for the first few hits, triple balled morningstars (these are particularly twinky, with a huge dps average, especially if you have a strength bonus) there is a certain degree of power creep here compared with core weapons. Since many of them do DX+1 damage, this also means they're less likely to whiff over long campaigns. Think carefully about allowing these ones, especially if you don't track the speed factors, space required and weapon vs armor tables that provide an element of rebalancing. Creative casting: Ah yes, this old chessnut. Looks like the arms race is taking place here as well. Turning spells to uses other than those their designers intended is a tradition as old as the first gaming group. It's been incorporated into a few articles, and somewhat more forum letters, but hasn't got it's own article before. This is the kind of thing I delight in both as a DM and a player. It serves to remind us that a magic-user can usurp a thief's job with very little effort, continual light is actually one of the most awesome spells in the game, monster summoning is useful for so much more than combat, especially when you can pick the creature, and anything created can be sold, even if it's existence is only temporary. A couple of these look like they're really pushing the limits of the rules, and some DM's would disallow those interpretations, and quite a few more would be nerfed deliberately so these tricks definitely won't work in 3rd ed. (and even fewer in 3.5 and 4e. ) Still, mustn't let the spoilsports get us down. There's always a few loopholes somewhere in a ruleset. It's up to you to find them and abuse them, or possibly fix them if you're that way inclined. And that kind of arms race can be almost as fun as the IC action. [/QUOTE]
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