Dragon #299 arrived, contents

[Aitch Eye]

The cover article in this issue is the first of a new type of recurring feature called "Campaign Components." The articles "take all the best parts of a campaign idea and give you the tools you need to implement them in your home campaign or use them to build a whole new world." I'll go a little heavy on the details for the article so you can get a better idea of what they're trying to do.


Campaign Components "Knights: Honor and Chivalry in Any D&D Game," by Michael John Tresca. This aims to help give the pieces necessary to create the proper feel of a knightly campaign, and is useful for players as well as DMs. It includes rules for Honor Points, as well as rules and guidelines for running tournaments, including jousting and other melee and target events. Suggests tweaks to standard D&D game elements (dungeons, monsters, cohorts, etc.) to make them fit better with a chivalric feel, as well as additional elements that could be included (such as hunts or crusades). There's a sample code of chivalry and the basics of feudalism; there's also alternatives to feudalism for introducing knights, and a sidebar giving real world examples of knight-like groups from other cultures. Concepts for adventuring parties, how different classes fit in and what character types they're appropriate for (such as courtier, spy, herald, animal handler). A number of other bits and pieces and pieces scattered around the 21 pages.

Oath & Order: The Monks of the Oath of Nerull, by Bruce Cordell. Two 5-level prestige classes adapted from the third of the Iconic's novels. [possible spoiler ahead] Ember's order has the Monk of the Enabled Hand. The Reaper's Children infiltrate other orders and convert them to the worship of Nerull.

The Bestiary "The Horrors of Cormyr," by Thomas Costa. Six creatures: the Blood Horse, Catoblepas, Glamer, Shadovig, Tree Troll, and Veserab. Includes notes for using them with Summon Monster, or as mounts, familiars, cohorts, and characters. Each has a paragraph of FR-specific info.

Bazaar of the Bizarre "Wizard's Toy Box," by Christopher Coyle. Ten toy-like magic items that are useful in general.

Feats Of Personality: Learn How Feats Can Define Your Character, by Eric Cagle. Suggestions for personality traits associated with standard feats.

Arcane Lore "Blessings Of War: Paladin Spells," by Amber E. Scott. 18 of them (five are variations of two spells), eight spells affect or modify the paladin's mount.

Memories, by Lisa Smedman. FR fiction.


Guild Secrets "The Gray Order," by Andy Collins. Organization dedicated to law that tries to balance the powers of good and evil.

At The Table "Monster Tokens and Mounts." Illustrations from the articles of characters and creatures adapted into counters. (Not an insert.)

Up On A Soapbox "All I Need To Know I Learned Fron[sic] D&D: Robbing From The Really Rich," by Gary Gygax. Mordenkainen goes after bandits.

Elminster's Guide to the Realms "Moon Mountain Brewery," by Ed Greenwood. Sprawling, ramshackle business near the Unicorn Run.

Silicon Sorcery "Warcraft III," by Clifford Horowitz. The Dwarven Thane and Orc Blademaster, 5-level prestige classes.

Sage Advice by Skip Williams. Class abilities, spells, and "related matters."


Living Greyhawk Journal

Playing Pieces "Heroes of Onnwal," by Stuart Kerrigan and the Onnwal Design Team. Jian Destron and Rakehell Chert, leaders of the rebellion against the Scarlet Brotherhood.

All Oerth's Artifacts: A Complete Annotated Listing, by Allan T. Grohe, Jr. (with Erik Mona). Excluding those that don't have a specific Greyhawk role, certain artifacts with no names, and "certain less-inspiring artifacts". Gives sources and very basic information for each.

 

[Knight Otu]

Hi, Aitch Eye!
A few questions, if you don't mind.

What are Honor Points good for? Are they similar to the Rokugan Honor Rules?
Does the issue contain info about samurai?

Does the article succeed at what it set out to do?

Are the "Blessngs of War" spells Paladin only, or do some extend to other classes?

Do any of the article have a side bar saying - We want your feedback because the contents of this article may appear in a future product? (It would seem unlikely for me, though)

What do they say about issue #300?

 

[Aitch Eye]

...and in the 300th issue:

(I initially left Silicon Sorcery and Sage Advice out of the contents, but I've edited them back in. Sorry.)

As an insert, it will have a "trasparent template that will clearly show the effects of some common spells."

The cover has a little box saying "Mature Audiences/Sealed 16-Page Section" which apparently refers to the article "Arcane Lore: Secret of the Skin Scribes" by James Jacobs featuring "Spells so vile they must be kept in a sealed section..." They ask whether you dare to open it or use them. I suppose we could post a poll on that, but it would probably get locked down.

Monte Cook ask "Are Your Villains Truly Evil?" which "helps you decide how much evil your gaming group can handle. Sex, drugs, torture cannibalism: How far should your villains go?"

James Wyatt has an article on "evil dragons native to the Outer Planes: The Styx dragon, tarterien dragon, rust dragon, howling dragon, and pyroclastic dragon.

The R&D department will apparently be converting all of the undead to templates in a series of articles. First up will be the skeleton and mummy, along with new monsters the Ghost Brute and Spectral Creature.

"The Ecology of the Mummy," by Terry Edwards will bring the feature back in a new version, "now with more usable game information than ever before." This one will have "mummy variants, strategies for mummy villains, and the secrets to defeating mummy foes."

There will also be more monster cultist prestige classes and a "Bazaar of the Bizarre."



While on the subject of future issues, in the letter section they comment on the complaints over themed issues and that they're "making some small changes that will bring a more comfortable feel to the issues," starting with the current issue. Over the next year "You'll see fewer product tie-in articles come before a products's release, making it easier to use the material when the magazine gets to you. You'll see a great blend of crunchy, rules-heavy material and great game-focused advice for both players and DMs. Best of all, you'll see innovative ideas like the 'Campaign Components' feature in this month's issue that let you bring a new aspect to your game."


(Knight Otu: I was typing this up when you posted, I'll get to your other questions shortly.)

 

[Aitch Eye]

Hi, Aitch Eye!
A few questions, if you don't mind.

No, of course I don't mind. It's not as if I'm running about the boards feverishly making other useful contributions. (I should probably put a smiley here)

The honor points are a running measure of the knights' status in seven categories, (such as courage, courtesy, charity). These are used to determine the honor score, which gives automatic bonuses or penalties to all Bluff, Diplomacy, Gather Information, Intimidate, and Perform -- if those involved have heard of them. It's limited by level (a 10th level knight couldn't have more than a +10 bonus), and the actions of their entourage enter into the calculations.

Samurai are only given a short paragraph in the sidebar on knight-like groups in other cultures.

I think the article pretty much gives the basics of what DMs need have in mind to effectively run a chivalric campaign or work the concept of knighthood into a world, and there's thankfully an annotated bibliograpy to help them go into more depth if they're not familiar with the genre or the history. The parts about how to use character classes that aren't knights will probably be particularly helpful. It makes a start at pointing ways towards less historical and more "fantasy" versions of knights but doesn't pursue it very far.

(There is a nice Wayne Reynolds illustration of a medusa knight mounted on a barded gorgon, though. A few of the other illos contain fantasy elemnts; most of them are by Arnie Swekel, and are also quite nice, as is the illustrative map of a typical tournament ground.)

Of the paladin spells, three can be used by clerics (Mass Stabilize, and two versions of a spell that turns a shield into one type of enery).

I didn't spot any feedback requests for future products.

 

[Knight Otu]

Thanks for the answers, Aitch Eye!

The issue sounds quite interesting, I can't wait to see it! (But I have to, at least a month ).

Issue 300 sounds promising (or would that be temptng in this case?). I seem to remember that the rust dragons are a type of dragon evolving from rust monsters? The others sound "new", though.

 

[dreamthief]

Re: ...and in the 300th issue:

There will also be more monster cultist prestige classes and a "Bazaar of the Bizarre."

Ah I have to say these were pretty fun. They could even do an entire book on these. It'd add a lot of flavour to some of the monsters. (Yes, I know every game manufacturer out there is listening...)

 

[Aitch Eye]

The monster cultists were one of my favorite things they've done recently. I'd be happy if they dropped them into "Class Acts" occasionally.

 

[hong]

The honor points are a running measure of the knights' status in seven categories, (such as courage, courtesy, charity). These are used to determine the honor score, which gives automatic bonuses or penalties to all Bluff, Diplomacy, Gather Information, Intimidate, and Perform -- if those involved have heard of them. It's limited by level (a 10th level knight couldn't have more than a +10 bonus), and the actions of their entourage enter into the calculations.

Man, that definitely sounds like something my Britannia 3E campaign could use!

(Britannian Virtues: honesty, compassion, valor, justice, sacrifice, honor, spirituality, humility. It's close enough.)

 

[Davelozzi]

Re: ...and in the 300th issue:

While on the subject of future issues, in the letter section they comment on the complaints over themed issues and that they're "making some small changes that will bring a more comfortable feel to the issues," starting with the current issue. Over the next year "You'll see fewer product tie-in articles come before a products's release, making it easier to use the material when the magazine gets to you. You'll see a great blend of crunchy, rules-heavy material and great game-focused advice for both players and DMs. Best of all, you'll see innovative ideas like the 'Campaign Components' feature in this month's issue that let you bring a new aspect to your game."

It's great to see them take feedback into account like this.

 

[ColonelHardisson]

I haven't had a chance to read the whole magazine yet, but I really like the Campaign Components concept. The subject this time, knights, is something I've felt has been covered too lightly for D&D in the past.

If they'd released the Honor Points and jousting rules as OGC, that would've been great - really would've helped out if someone was wanting to do a King Arthur d20 book (hey, I've thought about it). But, the material is very usable in any campaign, and should be a good addition to anyone's game.