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<blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 5987468" data-attributes="member: 27780"><p><strong><u>Dragon Issue 289: November 2001</u></strong></p><p></p><p></p><p>part 2/7</p><p></p><p></p><p>Forum gets marginalised. No, really. Now it's just a little blue sidebar running parallel to the regular letters. This means it's getting considerably less page space and fewer contributors as well. They seem to be losing interest in debate. Or maybe it's us, not bothering to write in when we can get instant gratification on web forums. Hmm. </p><p></p><p>Brad Smith is tired of all the frickin' nitpickin'. Seems people these days want instant gratification more and more. If something's not useful to them now, they just throw it away, instead of storing it for a rainy day or looking for an unorthodox use for it. And if you can't take a picture with a little blood, you'd never cut it as a real adventurer! Get offa mah lawn! </p><p></p><p>Jon Mullenax thinks that is strength is more important than charisma or not very much depends on what kind of game you're playing. Technically true, but still a mixed message to send, which may have an underlying overall balance. </p><p></p><p></p><p>Previews is also reduced to a sidebar, and all the description is cut out. The health of this section is not particularly great. Still, I suppose we have the internet to get more info now. All it takes is a quick search. </p><p></p><p>Our big adventure is Deep Horizon. Skip Williams once again produces an utterly critically panned adventure with some bad bad joke items. Stick to sageing, ya twazzock. I don't know. :shakes head: </p><p></p><p>The Realms enjoys a supplement and a novel. Lords of Darkness helps you keep track of the all too many villainous groups spanning the Realms. With all the novels where the good guys win each time, you'd think someone'd manage to finish off at least one of them for good, but no, they keep proliferating. Speaking of novels, Black Wolf by Dave Gross takes us to Sembia, to spend a while in the life of someone infected by lycanthropy. It's a hard knock life. </p><p></p><p>Greyhawk continues making books based on old modules. Actually, this time, they don't even use a greyhawk module, but steal a Mystara one. What a load of cheek. Keep on the Borderlands is adapted by Ru Emmerson. Once again, reviews are mediocre to poor. They're scraping the bottom of this barrel now. </p><p></p><p>Dragonlance gets Chosen of the gods by Chris Pierson. Another prequel, we go back to the time of the Kingpriests. We can make this work. Or something. We know how this one ends. </p><p></p><p></p><p>Sunscale, the gryphon's legacy. Another early d20 product that sank without a trace, despite being from Wolfgang Baur, one of TSR's big writers in the 90's.</p><p></p><p></p><p>Up on a soapbox: It's important to remember that back in the old days, the rules were pretty fast and loose. This includes things like monster descriptions. Sure oozes and slimes are supposed to be mindless, but if it makes a story more fun for them to have at least animalistic learning capabilities, go for it. That's basically the moral of this month's story. What are you going to place more importance on? Strict adherence to the rules, or fudging things to make the story more interesting? Gary may have sold playing it strictly tournament style for a while in the early 80's, but I think over the course of his life, he spent more time doing what seemed cool at the time. It's always important to remember that the people who write (and repeatedly rewrite) the rules don't see them as immutable canon like some fans do. And while this may be problematic when dealing with politicians and CEO's, It may be good advice here. When the primary objective is fun, not verisimilitude or winning, flexibility is probably the way to go. Still, we maybe ought to do something about the tendency of wizards to be the stars of the show, and everyone else their entourage, which is another lesson we can take from this tale. Just because we can change the rules, doesn't mean we shouldn't try to make them as good as possible. Lots to debate here, and no real answers. Hopefully this'll keep the letters and forums busy. </p><p></p><p></p><p>Zogonia: Another little strip comic starts. Well, that's one way to break up a fight. Remember, violence is serious business in D&D, not some form of entertainment. </p><p></p><p></p><p>Dork tower fails to break out of its rut.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="(un)reason, post: 5987468, member: 27780"] [B][U]Dragon Issue 289: November 2001[/U][/B] part 2/7 Forum gets marginalised. No, really. Now it's just a little blue sidebar running parallel to the regular letters. This means it's getting considerably less page space and fewer contributors as well. They seem to be losing interest in debate. Or maybe it's us, not bothering to write in when we can get instant gratification on web forums. Hmm. Brad Smith is tired of all the frickin' nitpickin'. Seems people these days want instant gratification more and more. If something's not useful to them now, they just throw it away, instead of storing it for a rainy day or looking for an unorthodox use for it. And if you can't take a picture with a little blood, you'd never cut it as a real adventurer! Get offa mah lawn! Jon Mullenax thinks that is strength is more important than charisma or not very much depends on what kind of game you're playing. Technically true, but still a mixed message to send, which may have an underlying overall balance. Previews is also reduced to a sidebar, and all the description is cut out. The health of this section is not particularly great. Still, I suppose we have the internet to get more info now. All it takes is a quick search. Our big adventure is Deep Horizon. Skip Williams once again produces an utterly critically panned adventure with some bad bad joke items. Stick to sageing, ya twazzock. I don't know. :shakes head: The Realms enjoys a supplement and a novel. Lords of Darkness helps you keep track of the all too many villainous groups spanning the Realms. With all the novels where the good guys win each time, you'd think someone'd manage to finish off at least one of them for good, but no, they keep proliferating. Speaking of novels, Black Wolf by Dave Gross takes us to Sembia, to spend a while in the life of someone infected by lycanthropy. It's a hard knock life. Greyhawk continues making books based on old modules. Actually, this time, they don't even use a greyhawk module, but steal a Mystara one. What a load of cheek. Keep on the Borderlands is adapted by Ru Emmerson. Once again, reviews are mediocre to poor. They're scraping the bottom of this barrel now. Dragonlance gets Chosen of the gods by Chris Pierson. Another prequel, we go back to the time of the Kingpriests. We can make this work. Or something. We know how this one ends. Sunscale, the gryphon's legacy. Another early d20 product that sank without a trace, despite being from Wolfgang Baur, one of TSR's big writers in the 90's. Up on a soapbox: It's important to remember that back in the old days, the rules were pretty fast and loose. This includes things like monster descriptions. Sure oozes and slimes are supposed to be mindless, but if it makes a story more fun for them to have at least animalistic learning capabilities, go for it. That's basically the moral of this month's story. What are you going to place more importance on? Strict adherence to the rules, or fudging things to make the story more interesting? Gary may have sold playing it strictly tournament style for a while in the early 80's, but I think over the course of his life, he spent more time doing what seemed cool at the time. It's always important to remember that the people who write (and repeatedly rewrite) the rules don't see them as immutable canon like some fans do. And while this may be problematic when dealing with politicians and CEO's, It may be good advice here. When the primary objective is fun, not verisimilitude or winning, flexibility is probably the way to go. Still, we maybe ought to do something about the tendency of wizards to be the stars of the show, and everyone else their entourage, which is another lesson we can take from this tale. Just because we can change the rules, doesn't mean we shouldn't try to make them as good as possible. Lots to debate here, and no real answers. Hopefully this'll keep the letters and forums busy. Zogonia: Another little strip comic starts. Well, that's one way to break up a fight. Remember, violence is serious business in D&D, not some form of entertainment. Dork tower fails to break out of its rut. [/QUOTE]
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