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<blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 5724343" data-attributes="member: 27780"><p><strong><u>Dragon Magazine Issue 253: November 1998</u></strong></p><p></p><p></p><p>part 3/8</p><p></p><p></p><p>Spontaneous enchantments: Magical items developing not through wizards enchanting them, but by doing cool stuff with them over an extended period. That is a good idea. Wait a minute, my rehash sense is tingling. Let's have a look. Thought so! Issue 226, less than 3 years ago. That's not a suitable gap in my book. It's less crunchy than the previous one as well, which gave a properly codified system for player actions to enhance their items and become legendary. However, it is longer, and details a wider variety of methods, which all seem appropriate from a story point of view. And the artwork is superior this time around. So from a system guy's point of view, this article is inferior because it's vaguer, but if you're looking from a Storyteller PoV, it's superior, giving you a wider range of tools to tell a story the way you like it. Overall, it obviously doesn't have the impact it did first time around, but it's still a good idea well presented. So they just about get away with this one. But a third time will make me vewy vewy cwoss. <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /> </p><p></p><p></p><p>Random magical weapon generator: Sniff sniff. Is my rehash sense still going off? Shurely shome mishtake? Aww. sonofabich. Issue 57 already did it. Guess I get to do the compare and contrast thing two articles in a row. And hmm. I think that once again this issue manages to do it in greater detail and quality than the previous one, which was only a single pager, where this is 6. They also have slightly different focuses which means they don't step on each other's toes much anyway. Plus this one has examples that show what can come out of it, which is another plus. Once again, there are benefits to experience, and Greg Detwiler is certainly a pretty experienced writer. The 2e era may have dragged on a bit longer than it should have, but that means there is some highly polished stuff in amongst the repetition that'll be very good in actual play. </p><p></p><p></p><p>A treasure trove of tomes: We've had tons of magical books for the Realms, and Greyhawk has been trying to play catch-up. Now they try to play catch-up in the nonmagical books department as well. And don't do too badly, with 20 books packed with plot hooks and minor mechanical benefits for owning them. This is full of the kind of detail canon obsessives can have a field day with, with tons of specific dates, places and people mentioned. This is one of those cases where I don't feel quite qualified to make a judgement on their consistency with established lore, or if they get used again later, but they do make quite entertaining reading, and aren't particularly overpowering. They should probably work fine in actual play. </p><p></p><p></p><p>Working class wizards: Wizards doing mundane jobs with their magic seems to be another familiar topic, although this is more driven by the forums than the official writers. As I've said before, this is one area where being a specialist will let you earn more money, for you get to do more per day, and get a reputation for doing something in particular, instead of promising the world to people and leaving them disappointed when you can't perform miracles in any field they ask. The good thing about this article is that it picks careers that have possibilities for adventuring life, such as spy, messenger and police officer. That way, as long as the DM makes sure that the missions you face are interesting, you have a ready supply of plots to give the group direction, and they may well have to kill enemies and take their stuff in the process. There are more ways to tie adventurers into larger society and still keep their lives eventful than one. Of course, it's even easier for clerics, with gods for everything, and more emphasis on utility spells. But they aren't as glamorous, so they don't get as much attention. Oh well. That may or may not be a story for another time.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="(un)reason, post: 5724343, member: 27780"] [B][U]Dragon Magazine Issue 253: November 1998[/U][/B] part 3/8 Spontaneous enchantments: Magical items developing not through wizards enchanting them, but by doing cool stuff with them over an extended period. That is a good idea. Wait a minute, my rehash sense is tingling. Let's have a look. Thought so! Issue 226, less than 3 years ago. That's not a suitable gap in my book. It's less crunchy than the previous one as well, which gave a properly codified system for player actions to enhance their items and become legendary. However, it is longer, and details a wider variety of methods, which all seem appropriate from a story point of view. And the artwork is superior this time around. So from a system guy's point of view, this article is inferior because it's vaguer, but if you're looking from a Storyteller PoV, it's superior, giving you a wider range of tools to tell a story the way you like it. Overall, it obviously doesn't have the impact it did first time around, but it's still a good idea well presented. So they just about get away with this one. But a third time will make me vewy vewy cwoss. :) Random magical weapon generator: Sniff sniff. Is my rehash sense still going off? Shurely shome mishtake? Aww. sonofabich. Issue 57 already did it. Guess I get to do the compare and contrast thing two articles in a row. And hmm. I think that once again this issue manages to do it in greater detail and quality than the previous one, which was only a single pager, where this is 6. They also have slightly different focuses which means they don't step on each other's toes much anyway. Plus this one has examples that show what can come out of it, which is another plus. Once again, there are benefits to experience, and Greg Detwiler is certainly a pretty experienced writer. The 2e era may have dragged on a bit longer than it should have, but that means there is some highly polished stuff in amongst the repetition that'll be very good in actual play. A treasure trove of tomes: We've had tons of magical books for the Realms, and Greyhawk has been trying to play catch-up. Now they try to play catch-up in the nonmagical books department as well. And don't do too badly, with 20 books packed with plot hooks and minor mechanical benefits for owning them. This is full of the kind of detail canon obsessives can have a field day with, with tons of specific dates, places and people mentioned. This is one of those cases where I don't feel quite qualified to make a judgement on their consistency with established lore, or if they get used again later, but they do make quite entertaining reading, and aren't particularly overpowering. They should probably work fine in actual play. Working class wizards: Wizards doing mundane jobs with their magic seems to be another familiar topic, although this is more driven by the forums than the official writers. As I've said before, this is one area where being a specialist will let you earn more money, for you get to do more per day, and get a reputation for doing something in particular, instead of promising the world to people and leaving them disappointed when you can't perform miracles in any field they ask. The good thing about this article is that it picks careers that have possibilities for adventuring life, such as spy, messenger and police officer. That way, as long as the DM makes sure that the missions you face are interesting, you have a ready supply of plots to give the group direction, and they may well have to kill enemies and take their stuff in the process. There are more ways to tie adventurers into larger society and still keep their lives eventful than one. Of course, it's even easier for clerics, with gods for everything, and more emphasis on utility spells. But they aren't as glamorous, so they don't get as much attention. Oh well. That may or may not be a story for another time. [/QUOTE]
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