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<blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 5989057" data-attributes="member: 27780"><p><strong><u>Dragon Issue 289: November 2001</u></strong></p><p></p><p></p><p>part 4/7</p><p></p><p></p><p>The fantastic world of Hong Kong cinema: In the years since OA was first published, real world asia definitely hasn't been standing still. There's a vast quantity of books, TV and movies made there, and more of it is getting translated and released in the west than ever. (and hopefully you can get fansubs of the rest these days. ) So there's a lot of material for you to draw upon for your game, that you might not know about unless you're a serious cinephile. (even researching on the internet runs into problems when the other country uses a different lettering system. ) Robin Laws does his thang of mixing example material with rules hacks to show you how to emulate it in your own game. Everyone can do super jumps and flying, everyone of any note knows everyone else on the circuit, and you've got to train hard and find the right sifu if you want to unlock the super special secret maneuvers. Oh, and watch out for Eunuchs and Crossdressers, which isn't very politically correct, but what do you expect from fantasy legends. I think it's a pretty safe bet to say you can run a very fun game indeed by emulating this genre, even if there are many base systems better suited to it than D&D. In fact, didn't Exalted just come out a couple of months ago. If you want your spectacular yet highly crunchy action, get your ass over there before the number of supplements becomes too much trouble to keep track of. Once again, I have mixed feelings about this article, but it's still vastly superior to the filler he's been cranking out for his regular column lately. I think Robin really benefits from the freedom to completely redesign things and do them his way. It's not easy to do that in just 2 pages, and isn't the best use of his skills. </p><p></p><p></p><p>Thunder and Fire: Kaiju! <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=":)" /> yeah! :throws up the horns: Since giant monsters were one of the first ever templates, way back in the D&D companion set, and appeared in the original OA as well, I'm surprised they didn't get included in the 3e version. Once again, the book's loss is the magazine's gain, with this very fun article from James Jacobs, showing you how you can construct nicely unique giant monsters by scaling up regular ones, and then adding on a few more abilities on top of that. The three sample monsters would fit right into a japanese monster movie, A giant octopus that can also survive on land for a while, a Fiendish centipede that lives in a volcano, and a giant robotic bulette. All are quite capable of being in ur city, wrecking ur buildingz. (Hmm, giant kitten. There's a thought. <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite8" alt=":D" title="Big grin :D" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":D" /> ) So this isn't a truly original article, but is both a well done and well timed revival. As characters level up, they're going to want bigger challenges, and these definitely fit the bill. Go for the classics, only bigger. Maybe you can have a giant domesticated otyugh disposing of an entire city's waste, and defending it from invaders. Or a giant flying owlbear scooping up entire houses for future consumption. The possibilities are truly enormous. <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" /> </p><p></p><p></p><p>Playful Phoenix fist: Ah yes, the random name generators. Couldn't go without those. To go with the theme, it's random martial arts manoeuvres. This has a particularly wide array of possibilities contained within it's tables, with 20 different word constructions, and many tables with a full 100 options. I find it unlikely you'll repeat the same move no matter how long you roll, although as ever, some of the results may be silly. So this definitely looks like an above average entry of this kind, with both serious and comedic uses. </p><p></p><p></p><p>Class combo's: Since we've just introduced a bunch of new oriental classes, that means we have a chance to dig this column up again. Our obvious combinations are Martial Artist (50/50 fighter/monk), Monastic Defender (55/45 monk/sohei), and spirit warrior (40/60 fighter/shaman). Since all these combos are heavy on the martial arts, they also include two new martial arts styles that you'll want to aim for with your bonus feats. So once again, this is filler, but not useless, especially if you need to build scaled NPC's quickly and don't want to spend ages combing through hundreds of feat choices. We all need the occasional badass martial artist for our players to fight in a hurry. </p><p></p><p></p><p>Cities of the Ages isn't in theme, which seems a bit of a shame given the many oriental cities with thousands of years of continuous development to draw upon. Instead, it's covering Paris, which certainly isn't a bad choice, but is a bit disappointing, especially since the previous choices have been mostly European as well. Kenneth decides to zoom in on the mid 11th century, the era of Louis IX, Thomas Aquinas and Roger Bacon. Notre Dame isn't quite finished yet, despite having been under construction for 85 years. (and to think I complained about the channel tunnel) The crusades are just starting to get interesting, and the knights templar are building up political power. There's a fair chunk of interesting stuff going on, even if much of the stuff we think of as their big landmarks isn't up yet. The number of overtly supernatural ideas isn't as great as most of the previous instalments though. So this doesn't feel very complete, partially because there's probably so much material to use. Sticking too strictly to a format can become a hindrance after a while.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="(un)reason, post: 5989057, member: 27780"] [B][U]Dragon Issue 289: November 2001[/U][/B] part 4/7 The fantastic world of Hong Kong cinema: In the years since OA was first published, real world asia definitely hasn't been standing still. There's a vast quantity of books, TV and movies made there, and more of it is getting translated and released in the west than ever. (and hopefully you can get fansubs of the rest these days. ) So there's a lot of material for you to draw upon for your game, that you might not know about unless you're a serious cinephile. (even researching on the internet runs into problems when the other country uses a different lettering system. ) Robin Laws does his thang of mixing example material with rules hacks to show you how to emulate it in your own game. Everyone can do super jumps and flying, everyone of any note knows everyone else on the circuit, and you've got to train hard and find the right sifu if you want to unlock the super special secret maneuvers. Oh, and watch out for Eunuchs and Crossdressers, which isn't very politically correct, but what do you expect from fantasy legends. I think it's a pretty safe bet to say you can run a very fun game indeed by emulating this genre, even if there are many base systems better suited to it than D&D. In fact, didn't Exalted just come out a couple of months ago. If you want your spectacular yet highly crunchy action, get your ass over there before the number of supplements becomes too much trouble to keep track of. Once again, I have mixed feelings about this article, but it's still vastly superior to the filler he's been cranking out for his regular column lately. I think Robin really benefits from the freedom to completely redesign things and do them his way. It's not easy to do that in just 2 pages, and isn't the best use of his skills. Thunder and Fire: Kaiju! :):):):) yeah! :throws up the horns: Since giant monsters were one of the first ever templates, way back in the D&D companion set, and appeared in the original OA as well, I'm surprised they didn't get included in the 3e version. Once again, the book's loss is the magazine's gain, with this very fun article from James Jacobs, showing you how you can construct nicely unique giant monsters by scaling up regular ones, and then adding on a few more abilities on top of that. The three sample monsters would fit right into a japanese monster movie, A giant octopus that can also survive on land for a while, a Fiendish centipede that lives in a volcano, and a giant robotic bulette. All are quite capable of being in ur city, wrecking ur buildingz. (Hmm, giant kitten. There's a thought. :D ) So this isn't a truly original article, but is both a well done and well timed revival. As characters level up, they're going to want bigger challenges, and these definitely fit the bill. Go for the classics, only bigger. Maybe you can have a giant domesticated otyugh disposing of an entire city's waste, and defending it from invaders. Or a giant flying owlbear scooping up entire houses for future consumption. The possibilities are truly enormous. :p Playful Phoenix fist: Ah yes, the random name generators. Couldn't go without those. To go with the theme, it's random martial arts manoeuvres. This has a particularly wide array of possibilities contained within it's tables, with 20 different word constructions, and many tables with a full 100 options. I find it unlikely you'll repeat the same move no matter how long you roll, although as ever, some of the results may be silly. So this definitely looks like an above average entry of this kind, with both serious and comedic uses. Class combo's: Since we've just introduced a bunch of new oriental classes, that means we have a chance to dig this column up again. Our obvious combinations are Martial Artist (50/50 fighter/monk), Monastic Defender (55/45 monk/sohei), and spirit warrior (40/60 fighter/shaman). Since all these combos are heavy on the martial arts, they also include two new martial arts styles that you'll want to aim for with your bonus feats. So once again, this is filler, but not useless, especially if you need to build scaled NPC's quickly and don't want to spend ages combing through hundreds of feat choices. We all need the occasional badass martial artist for our players to fight in a hurry. Cities of the Ages isn't in theme, which seems a bit of a shame given the many oriental cities with thousands of years of continuous development to draw upon. Instead, it's covering Paris, which certainly isn't a bad choice, but is a bit disappointing, especially since the previous choices have been mostly European as well. Kenneth decides to zoom in on the mid 11th century, the era of Louis IX, Thomas Aquinas and Roger Bacon. Notre Dame isn't quite finished yet, despite having been under construction for 85 years. (and to think I complained about the channel tunnel) The crusades are just starting to get interesting, and the knights templar are building up political power. There's a fair chunk of interesting stuff going on, even if much of the stuff we think of as their big landmarks isn't up yet. The number of overtly supernatural ideas isn't as great as most of the previous instalments though. So this doesn't feel very complete, partially because there's probably so much material to use. Sticking too strictly to a format can become a hindrance after a while. [/QUOTE]
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