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<blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 5983210" data-attributes="member: 27780"><p><strong><u>Dragon Issue 288: October 2001</u></strong></p><p></p><p></p><p>part 3/7</p><p></p><p></p><p>Master Villains: Confusingly, this runs on alternating columns in the same pages as the previous article, which I didn't notice on first reading. I expect that kind of mucking around on the letters pages, but not later on in the magazine. Still, it complements it's counterpart, so I can see why they did it. It provides more examples of how to create interesting villains, and has surprisingly little overlap with the similar advice last issue in the DM's toolbox. While less analytical and organised than that, this has some more inventive ideas to make the players more emotionally invested in fighting the villain, and quite possibly conflicted as well. The reasons that people become enemies can be strange sometimes, and the people you trust most can become the bitterest enemies. Watch out in particular for people who say they've redeemed themselves. Chances are, they'll backslide at some point, because the laws of drama love stuff like that. So this is a pretty good article that loses a mark for annoying formatting. </p><p></p><p></p><p>Unhallowed ground: Adventures in a graveyard? Sounds like fun to me. There's certainly room for plenty of interesting encounters in a place like that. Still, it'll differ quite a bit from a dungeon because you have tons of freedom to go off the path and explore in any direction, and the ground is uneven and packed with interesting little obstacles. Plus in the real world, graveyards are ironically one of the places most packed with natural life in a mostly urban environment. There's plenty of room for animal encounters and other people as well as the stereotypical undead, and it's easy to insert new features onto the map and say they were always there, you just didn't notice them in the last trip. So this is a damn good idea, that curiously enough, they haven't done before in the magazine despite all the stuff on the dead, undead and resurrection. </p><p></p><p></p><p>Dungeons in Disguise: Another little article on investigative games, and how to make them work. Just reskin dungeon crawls, with the walls replaced by obstructive NPC's, and keys by clues. Ok, you don't have to be that literal, but creating a good flowchart for your adventure will help you remember what the obvious options are, and what the players can do to accomplish them. That definitely makes a fair whack of sense. Just don't get hung up on it when the players come up with an idea that isn't on your list. This feels a bit fillerish really, mainly notable because we're once again seeing the idea of reskinning promoted and starting to catch on. I suppose once you've introduced a universal resolution mechanic, the idea of applying the same principles to different but analogous situations is a much smaller conceptual leap. History ticks onwards. </p><p></p><p></p><p>Tag team terror: The whole of last year, they've been doing things like the Power Plays and Class Combos, to encourage players to get into the optimisation state of mind and look for the most awesome synergies possible with a set number of resources. Well, it must have worked, because now it's time to raise the game, do the same with the monsters. What combinations of two different types of monsters wind up punching well above their CR, even if it's counterintuitive to have them working together? Well this is a fun topic to explore. This lists 20 ideas in rough order of deadliness, from a werwolf with a pet rust monster to nom the silver weapons of any attackers, right up to the red dragon with iron golem servants which'll be healed if caught in it's breath weapon (the lich with the tarrasque trapped in it's phylactery and released when you destroy it doesn't really count as you don't fight them both at the same time. ) Some have templates or class levels just to really take advantage of these synergies. So this is pretty fun and imaginative stuff, encouraging the DM to be inventive and interestingly adversarial in the challenges they throw at their players. Give them something they'll remember, something that'll make them laugh when they first see it, and cry when they get their asses kicked. The age of Encounter-centric play approaches, and like most of these waves of fashion, the first bits are fun, different and refreshing, which explains why they catch on and get driven into the ground by unimaginative bandwagon jumpers after a reliable formula for profit. So this is a really cool article, introducing a really cool idea, and I wonder how long it'll take for it to lose it's shine, like location based dungeon crawls and metaplot heavy campaign settings before it. Oh well, they won't ruin this's classic position.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="(un)reason, post: 5983210, member: 27780"] [B][U]Dragon Issue 288: October 2001[/U][/B] part 3/7 Master Villains: Confusingly, this runs on alternating columns in the same pages as the previous article, which I didn't notice on first reading. I expect that kind of mucking around on the letters pages, but not later on in the magazine. Still, it complements it's counterpart, so I can see why they did it. It provides more examples of how to create interesting villains, and has surprisingly little overlap with the similar advice last issue in the DM's toolbox. While less analytical and organised than that, this has some more inventive ideas to make the players more emotionally invested in fighting the villain, and quite possibly conflicted as well. The reasons that people become enemies can be strange sometimes, and the people you trust most can become the bitterest enemies. Watch out in particular for people who say they've redeemed themselves. Chances are, they'll backslide at some point, because the laws of drama love stuff like that. So this is a pretty good article that loses a mark for annoying formatting. Unhallowed ground: Adventures in a graveyard? Sounds like fun to me. There's certainly room for plenty of interesting encounters in a place like that. Still, it'll differ quite a bit from a dungeon because you have tons of freedom to go off the path and explore in any direction, and the ground is uneven and packed with interesting little obstacles. Plus in the real world, graveyards are ironically one of the places most packed with natural life in a mostly urban environment. There's plenty of room for animal encounters and other people as well as the stereotypical undead, and it's easy to insert new features onto the map and say they were always there, you just didn't notice them in the last trip. So this is a damn good idea, that curiously enough, they haven't done before in the magazine despite all the stuff on the dead, undead and resurrection. Dungeons in Disguise: Another little article on investigative games, and how to make them work. Just reskin dungeon crawls, with the walls replaced by obstructive NPC's, and keys by clues. Ok, you don't have to be that literal, but creating a good flowchart for your adventure will help you remember what the obvious options are, and what the players can do to accomplish them. That definitely makes a fair whack of sense. Just don't get hung up on it when the players come up with an idea that isn't on your list. This feels a bit fillerish really, mainly notable because we're once again seeing the idea of reskinning promoted and starting to catch on. I suppose once you've introduced a universal resolution mechanic, the idea of applying the same principles to different but analogous situations is a much smaller conceptual leap. History ticks onwards. Tag team terror: The whole of last year, they've been doing things like the Power Plays and Class Combos, to encourage players to get into the optimisation state of mind and look for the most awesome synergies possible with a set number of resources. Well, it must have worked, because now it's time to raise the game, do the same with the monsters. What combinations of two different types of monsters wind up punching well above their CR, even if it's counterintuitive to have them working together? Well this is a fun topic to explore. This lists 20 ideas in rough order of deadliness, from a werwolf with a pet rust monster to nom the silver weapons of any attackers, right up to the red dragon with iron golem servants which'll be healed if caught in it's breath weapon (the lich with the tarrasque trapped in it's phylactery and released when you destroy it doesn't really count as you don't fight them both at the same time. ) Some have templates or class levels just to really take advantage of these synergies. So this is pretty fun and imaginative stuff, encouraging the DM to be inventive and interestingly adversarial in the challenges they throw at their players. Give them something they'll remember, something that'll make them laugh when they first see it, and cry when they get their asses kicked. The age of Encounter-centric play approaches, and like most of these waves of fashion, the first bits are fun, different and refreshing, which explains why they catch on and get driven into the ground by unimaginative bandwagon jumpers after a reliable formula for profit. So this is a really cool article, introducing a really cool idea, and I wonder how long it'll take for it to lose it's shine, like location based dungeon crawls and metaplot heavy campaign settings before it. Oh well, they won't ruin this's classic position. [/QUOTE]
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