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<blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 6013175" data-attributes="member: 27780"><p><strong><u>Dragon Issue 292: February 2002</u></strong></p><p></p><p></p><p>part 3/10</p><p></p><p></p><p>D&D Previews: Our final class splatbook is Masters of the Wild, covering the three remaining classes. Always a pain having an odd one out. You know the drill by now. What big releases will they provide now these slots are filled. </p><p></p><p>The Forgotten Realms get a new DM's screen. I remember when every gameline got one of these for free in the boxed set. Now this is the only world still getting the full load of products. Sigh. </p><p></p><p>Dragonlance continues to be novel only, completing the Icewall trilogy. Doug Niles is still doing this stuff, 18 years later. How much longer can old guard like him carry on? </p><p></p><p>Greyhawk also continues to self-cannibalise. The Tomb of horrors is the latest old module to get a novel. I do hope the body count is suitably excessive. </p><p></p><p></p><p>Up on a soapbox: This month, Gary switches things up by telling us a sadistic trick Rob Kuntz came up with when he was in the DM's seat. Turnaround is fair play, and he turns out to be a good sport, diving into the strange situations with gusto, and being quite willing to laugh at the results. Eating from a table full of food just set out in the middle of a dungeon sounds like an invitation to all sorts of chemical or magical trickery, but he's not here to play the game in paranoia mode. Life's too short, and besides, as long as they're regularly trading off roles, if one person gets too uppity in the viking hat, they'll just set themselves up for a more humiliating turnabout next time. Tomb of Horrors style slaughterfests were the exception, not the rule, and as we saw in the early issues, they tended to take things less seriously than later on, when they had to think about keeping the business side running, and catering to new players who didn't have a wargaming background, and were more in it for the storytelling. So this is a reminder that the original crew did play in a particular way that many later players wouldn't, and the game was tweaked around those experiences, such as large groups augmented further with hirelings, regular trading of DM's and non fixed parties depending on who turned up that week. And above all, it was just a game, and stories were what happened in play, not scripted beforehand. I should stop now, shouldn't I, because I'm sounding more soapboxy that he does this issue. Dunno why he keeps the column title. <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>Dork tower forgets the essentials of role playing games. How can you play a character without those?</p><p></p><p></p><p>Outlanders: More multiclass combinations? Still trying to keep that non-starter of a topic alive? I think we've already proven that the charop boards have a better handle on creating effective and interesting characters than the official writers. Even splits of two just don't cut it by comparison, even if they don't have to worry about XP penalties. The roleplaying advice part is also pretty basic, having a very high fantasy view of barbarians and ignoring the grimy day-to-day bits. So this all feels a bit shallow, one of those initial articles that's a warm-up rather than a big spectacular opener. I do wonder why they pick those sometimes. </p><p></p><p></p><p>Lords of the lost vale: Saurials! There's a welcome returnee, even if appearing here means they're unlikely to appear in official Forgotten Realms books this edition. But then, after their big role in one book series, they got relegated to an easily ignored background detail, since they only have a settlement in one small part of the Realms, and we never got to see their original homeworld. ( That would be a step too far into the exotic even for the TSR of the mid-90's. ) Still, they were pretty decent as PC's even back in the 2e days, and one of the most idiosyncratic races in the complete book of humanoids. I'm not surprised they still have a few big fans, and it seems very appropriate to revive them just as Dungeoncraft's lost world setting builds up to it's finale. They retain their distinctive senses, weakness to cold and difficulty communicating with regular humans, which is pleasing to see. They all have 2 racial HD and the appropriate LA adjustment, which means they'll be a bit crap at skill-heavy classes though, but for fighters & spellcasters, their natural weapons and armor boosts should keep them from being too vulnerable for those first few levels. So this is a pleasingly faithful conversion I can see myself using. Dinosaur people could fit into all sorts of games.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="(un)reason, post: 6013175, member: 27780"] [B][U]Dragon Issue 292: February 2002[/U][/B] part 3/10 D&D Previews: Our final class splatbook is Masters of the Wild, covering the three remaining classes. Always a pain having an odd one out. You know the drill by now. What big releases will they provide now these slots are filled. The Forgotten Realms get a new DM's screen. I remember when every gameline got one of these for free in the boxed set. Now this is the only world still getting the full load of products. Sigh. Dragonlance continues to be novel only, completing the Icewall trilogy. Doug Niles is still doing this stuff, 18 years later. How much longer can old guard like him carry on? Greyhawk also continues to self-cannibalise. The Tomb of horrors is the latest old module to get a novel. I do hope the body count is suitably excessive. Up on a soapbox: This month, Gary switches things up by telling us a sadistic trick Rob Kuntz came up with when he was in the DM's seat. Turnaround is fair play, and he turns out to be a good sport, diving into the strange situations with gusto, and being quite willing to laugh at the results. Eating from a table full of food just set out in the middle of a dungeon sounds like an invitation to all sorts of chemical or magical trickery, but he's not here to play the game in paranoia mode. Life's too short, and besides, as long as they're regularly trading off roles, if one person gets too uppity in the viking hat, they'll just set themselves up for a more humiliating turnabout next time. Tomb of Horrors style slaughterfests were the exception, not the rule, and as we saw in the early issues, they tended to take things less seriously than later on, when they had to think about keeping the business side running, and catering to new players who didn't have a wargaming background, and were more in it for the storytelling. So this is a reminder that the original crew did play in a particular way that many later players wouldn't, and the game was tweaked around those experiences, such as large groups augmented further with hirelings, regular trading of DM's and non fixed parties depending on who turned up that week. And above all, it was just a game, and stories were what happened in play, not scripted beforehand. I should stop now, shouldn't I, because I'm sounding more soapboxy that he does this issue. Dunno why he keeps the column title. :p Dork tower forgets the essentials of role playing games. How can you play a character without those? Outlanders: More multiclass combinations? Still trying to keep that non-starter of a topic alive? I think we've already proven that the charop boards have a better handle on creating effective and interesting characters than the official writers. Even splits of two just don't cut it by comparison, even if they don't have to worry about XP penalties. The roleplaying advice part is also pretty basic, having a very high fantasy view of barbarians and ignoring the grimy day-to-day bits. So this all feels a bit shallow, one of those initial articles that's a warm-up rather than a big spectacular opener. I do wonder why they pick those sometimes. Lords of the lost vale: Saurials! There's a welcome returnee, even if appearing here means they're unlikely to appear in official Forgotten Realms books this edition. But then, after their big role in one book series, they got relegated to an easily ignored background detail, since they only have a settlement in one small part of the Realms, and we never got to see their original homeworld. ( That would be a step too far into the exotic even for the TSR of the mid-90's. ) Still, they were pretty decent as PC's even back in the 2e days, and one of the most idiosyncratic races in the complete book of humanoids. I'm not surprised they still have a few big fans, and it seems very appropriate to revive them just as Dungeoncraft's lost world setting builds up to it's finale. They retain their distinctive senses, weakness to cold and difficulty communicating with regular humans, which is pleasing to see. They all have 2 racial HD and the appropriate LA adjustment, which means they'll be a bit crap at skill-heavy classes though, but for fighters & spellcasters, their natural weapons and armor boosts should keep them from being too vulnerable for those first few levels. So this is a pleasingly faithful conversion I can see myself using. Dinosaur people could fit into all sorts of games. [/QUOTE]
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