Recent content by Corone

Ian Livingstone does a very short editorial asking what genres might be covered in the future of gaming, although he doesn’t get much of an answer. On the Cover A group of soldiers put up a mostly valiant fight against a group of huge robot warriors. Most of the robots seem to be taking severe...

Now that our look at White Dwarf has reached the issues where it is firmly established, I caught up with Lew Pulsipher, game designer and EN World columnist, who was one of the first writers for the nascent magazine. Andrew Peregrine (AP): So I suppose the first question should be, how did...

They have also had a good response for more articles and expect to go monthly next year (1982). Games Day 81 was also a lot of fun and continues to grow, as does the new store in Birmingham. On the Cover A group of soldiers take defensive positions around the landing ramp of their spacecraft...

I don’t generally reply as I’ve already said my piece. I can’t really see anything in your response that needs a reply anyway. You didn’t like it, fine, move on. The point of many of these is for other people to add their thoughts and discuss, not a long argument of whether I’m right or wrong.

Ian Livingstone reports that readers very much want a monthly magazine, but in return he needs more articles and material to support doubling the release rate! I would have certainly answered that call had I not been 11 and still learning the rules to AD&D. On the Cover A dragon menaces an...

Picture courtesy of Pixabay. To help you on your games design journey, here are the common pitfalls in the journey you might like to be aware of. I have fallen for all of these in some way at some point. These are specific design choices or approaches that often lead to challenges or suboptimal...

This issue is something of a nostalgia moment for me as I think this is the issue that was out when I first played Advanced Dungeons and Dragons. It was at school and I was 11 at the time, and asked some friends what they were talking about while lining up for chemistry class. A friend made me a...

I’ve also noticed as I read these magazines that while the page count hasn’t changed for a while, I think the word count very much has. Each magazine takes a little longer for me to read now, and there are many articles in much smaller type. In some cases a bit tricky for me to read! But back...

Picture courtesy of Pixabay. I mention these trends not to mock them; they are often viable and worthwhile ideas or a phase we all go through in learning. But if these seem familiar you may want to take a step back and have another think. Fantasy Heartbreaker This is often a starting point for...

I get that food is often bait, as I mentioned. But I still think my point stands given that the very oddness of the food suggests it has some function to fulfill in the game. By all means be wary, by all means be careful. It could well be a trap and it’s fair to take care. But to just say ‘oh...

Player characters are wonderful things. They have an array of abilities, talents, and special powers that can deal with almost any situation. But not every situation needs the application of your favorite ability. Sheet courtesy of Lubien Giagulliel Problem-solving can take many forms, and...

Livingstone imagines video games having full motion animation with realistic graphics and sound. It is interesting to note that his description of the future matches the video games we have today, yet they have failed to replace TTRPGs and instead offer a very different experience. I’d offer...

In this issue’s editorial, Ian Livingstone asks if popularity in game system is the same as being the best. D&D is the front runner, but does that mean it’s a better game than Runequest or The Fantasy Trip? Of course not, but it’s nice to hear him say it. The best game is always the one you like...

In this issue’s editorial, Ian Livingstone gets very controversial! He suggests we should move away from the ‘Vancian’ model of wizards learning spells and forgetting them as they cast them to a more points based system like Runequest. Well, many years on we gained Sorcerers for D&D, but the...

This issue Ian Livingstone wonders if anyone is really paying attention to their character’s alignment. Can a pack of murder hobos really claim they are Lawful Good in all honesty? Do any of them wonder about the alignment of the monsters they meet before wading into battle? Personally I still...