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<blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 5674946" data-attributes="member: 27780"><p><strong><u>Dragon Magazine Issue 245: March 1998</u></strong></p><p></p><p></p><p>part 5/8</p><p></p><p></p><p>Fiction: Honest and true by Troy Denning. Lest we forget, Cyric is a right <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /><img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /><img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /><img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /><img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /><img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /><img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" />. And now of dubious sanity as well, which just makes him all the more dangerous. Who'd want to serve something like that? A snivelling self-deluding little weasel of a man, who gets horribly abused by both friends and enemies, and mostly winds up taking it. You have to pity him, really. So this is a story of several levels, as it shows that the book The Trial of Cyric wasn't just a subjective account for us with a first person narration, but is actually a physical book in setting, albeit one with a very small print run from a vanity publishing house. The 4th wall in the Realms, never particularly strong, just got another hole poked in it. Really, this is a story where everyone fails. Malik winds up beat around and losing tons of money, Cyric doesn't get his version of events read by more than a few hundred people, and Ruha fails to defeat them permanently. So it bucks a whole bunch of normal trends, while sticking to several Realms specific ones with style. It's all very interesting indeed. Troy might not be quite as adventurous as Ed, but he certainly has some very interesting ideas and the mastery of the craft to follow through with them. </p><p></p><p></p><p>Rogues Gallery: Following straight on from the fiction, this column goes on to stat out the characters from it. Well, that ensures that they're instantly accessible to every single reader, unlike when they just publish characters from one of their recent novels. That's a reasonably sensible move. And since I've just been rather entertained by them, I'm already primed to like this article. Course, they could still ruin that. I guess it probably depends on if the cheese overpowers the cool, as with so many other Realms articles. </p><p></p><p>Ruha has every single ability score at 15 or higher, and a ton of spells from the Al Qadim rulebooks. But not many magical items for her level. Well, that seems to be a common issue with fiction NPC's. They don't have the wealth of onscreen adventures that would let them organically accumulate all sorts of weird bits and bobs. </p><p></p><p>Malik El Sami yn Nasser, on the other hand, has acquired a whole bunch of weird little abilities and handicaps as a result of his starring role (that he'd really rather not have, I suspect) All he wants to do is serve Cyric and make a decent amount of money in the process. But no, he gets to live the life of Job, beset on all sides, unable to even be as weaselly and deceitful as he'd like. Feel sorry for him, but if you see him, don't trust him. </p><p></p><p>Avner of Hartwick was a good guy, but has been stuck with being a servant to Mask. This also leads to amusing situations where he follows the letter of his orders rather than the spirit. This does not lead to his powers being taken away, curiously enough, because Mask has a sense of humour about these things. He's also dead, which brings it's own powers and problems. He's once again full of the kind of exceptionalism that seems likely to produce player imitations. I think they're intentionally trying to replicate the success of Drizzt. So yeah, it looks like they aren't scaling back on the cheese and twinkery at all, as they have to compete with existing characters or die horribly. It's a hard life being low level in this world.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="(un)reason, post: 5674946, member: 27780"] [B][U]Dragon Magazine Issue 245: March 1998[/U][/B] part 5/8 Fiction: Honest and true by Troy Denning. Lest we forget, Cyric is a right :):):):):):):). And now of dubious sanity as well, which just makes him all the more dangerous. Who'd want to serve something like that? A snivelling self-deluding little weasel of a man, who gets horribly abused by both friends and enemies, and mostly winds up taking it. You have to pity him, really. So this is a story of several levels, as it shows that the book The Trial of Cyric wasn't just a subjective account for us with a first person narration, but is actually a physical book in setting, albeit one with a very small print run from a vanity publishing house. The 4th wall in the Realms, never particularly strong, just got another hole poked in it. Really, this is a story where everyone fails. Malik winds up beat around and losing tons of money, Cyric doesn't get his version of events read by more than a few hundred people, and Ruha fails to defeat them permanently. So it bucks a whole bunch of normal trends, while sticking to several Realms specific ones with style. It's all very interesting indeed. Troy might not be quite as adventurous as Ed, but he certainly has some very interesting ideas and the mastery of the craft to follow through with them. Rogues Gallery: Following straight on from the fiction, this column goes on to stat out the characters from it. Well, that ensures that they're instantly accessible to every single reader, unlike when they just publish characters from one of their recent novels. That's a reasonably sensible move. And since I've just been rather entertained by them, I'm already primed to like this article. Course, they could still ruin that. I guess it probably depends on if the cheese overpowers the cool, as with so many other Realms articles. Ruha has every single ability score at 15 or higher, and a ton of spells from the Al Qadim rulebooks. But not many magical items for her level. Well, that seems to be a common issue with fiction NPC's. They don't have the wealth of onscreen adventures that would let them organically accumulate all sorts of weird bits and bobs. Malik El Sami yn Nasser, on the other hand, has acquired a whole bunch of weird little abilities and handicaps as a result of his starring role (that he'd really rather not have, I suspect) All he wants to do is serve Cyric and make a decent amount of money in the process. But no, he gets to live the life of Job, beset on all sides, unable to even be as weaselly and deceitful as he'd like. Feel sorry for him, but if you see him, don't trust him. Avner of Hartwick was a good guy, but has been stuck with being a servant to Mask. This also leads to amusing situations where he follows the letter of his orders rather than the spirit. This does not lead to his powers being taken away, curiously enough, because Mask has a sense of humour about these things. He's also dead, which brings it's own powers and problems. He's once again full of the kind of exceptionalism that seems likely to produce player imitations. I think they're intentionally trying to replicate the success of Drizzt. So yeah, it looks like they aren't scaling back on the cheese and twinkery at all, as they have to compete with existing characters or die horribly. It's a hard life being low level in this world. [/QUOTE]
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