Dragon 303-305, Dungeon 97: Good?

[Darkness]

What the title says.

Or rather, what is good about these issues?

'cause I want to know whether or not to get them.

 

[The Sigil]

Not trying to troll, but they were "good" enough to get me to cancel my subscription.

Actually, as it turned out, I didn't have to cancel - it lapsed with 305.

Without opening the S-bomb/F-bomb can of worms, suffice to say that I found approximately 5 pages of stuff I felt I could use in 3 issues. That was it for me... no sense paying $20 for 5 pages of stuff.

--The Sigil

 

[Douane]

Hi Darkness!

Can't say anything about the Dragons, but I recommend Dungeon 97:

First, it has the mini-game "V for Victory" (World War II), which I really liked. ( Well, playing in a WWII campaign certainly helped in that regard. )

Second, it provides the first part of the Dungeon Adventure Path Series, which seems to have gotten quite a lot of positive remarks/reviews around here. Can't say more about it, since I'm playing it at the IC board, so I didn't read it.


Hope this helps!

Folkert

 

[Renaissance Man]

I liked 303 for the Bluff, Diplomacy, Intimidate and Sense Motive Rules ("Saying the Right Thing"), and the new fighting styles, a la Oriental Adventures' martial arts styles ("The Iron Path"). The gladiatoral focus article ("Campaign Components: Gladiators") didn't set me on fire, YMMV.

The rules for intelligent mounts ("Saddle Up") from Dragon 304 was okay. "Monstrous Magic", 46 new spells for monstrous characters, was good, and perfectly timed for the release of Savage Species. (Imagine that.)

Issue 305 was good, but I lent it to a fellow gamer, so I'm going on memory. Lots of focus on urban adventuring, but I don't recall anything truly groundbreaking. Nice article on the yuan-ti, and perfectly timed for 1) their disappearance from the SRD and 2) their sudden appearance in my current campaign. (Not sure how Paizo tumbled to the latter - sneaky gits.)

Dungeon? Sorry mate, you're on your own.

 

[Darkness]

Not trying to troll, but they were "good" enough to get me to cancel my subscription.

Nothing wrong with an honest negative answer; if I was already sure that they are very useful to me, I wouldn't need to ask.

Without opening the S-bomb/F-bomb can of worms

I don't want to open any can of worms either, but can you at least tell me what an "S-bomb/F-bomb" is?

Hi Darkness!

Hey there!

I recommend Dungeon 97:

First, it has the mini-game "V for Victory" (World War II), which I really liked. ( Well, playing in a WWII campaign certainly helped in that regard. )

Is that for d20 Modern, or does it use a d20 rules set of its own?
(Of course, I don't know whether I'd manage to actually run a game in WW2; I have GURPS WW2 but somehow, I've so far been unable to think up a campaign for a WW2 setting that doesn't disturb me too much on a certain level. )

Second, it provides the first part of the Dungeon Adventure Path Series, which seems to have gotten quite a lot of positive remarks/reviews around here.

Huh. A series of adventures in Dungeon? This concept sounds promising, IMO (read: I always wanted them to do something like that some of the time ). Very interesting...

Hope this helps!

Oh, yes; it certainly has made me curious for more details, anyway...

 

[barsoomcore]

I was very pleased with Dungeon 97.

"Life's Bazaar" is a great 1st-level dungeon crawl that somehow gets all the classic dungeon elements into a story that isn't "kill things and take their stuff". Very cool. There's also a cool adventure set in a giant walking robot that will be making an appearance on Barsoom TV very soon, and another high-level adventure that features something called The Demonblade that I haven't bothered to read cause... "The Demonblade"? How lame is that? But maybe it rocks.

Worth getting, I thought.

Plus it includes a 1" square grid street scene map you can use as a battlemat -- I'm liking this trend in Dungeon, frankly...

 

[Darkness]

I liked 303 for the Bluff, Diplomacy, Intimidate and Sense Motive Rules ("Saying the Right Thing"), and the new fighting styles, a la Oriental Adventures' martial arts styles ("The Iron Path"). The gladiatoral focus article ("Campaign Components: Gladiators") didn't set me on fire, YMMV.

"Saying the Right Thing" isn't similar to that one funky article some issues back where everyone was supposed to have "social hit points" (don't remember what exactly they were called), is it?
(Not that that article was bad, mind; just not what I'd want to use in most campaigns.)
BTW, how many such fighting styles are there, approximately - e.g., more like 3, or more like 10?
Hmm... Gladiators. I have the Dungeon issue (96, IIRC) that ties in with that. But yeah; I guess a specific article probably isn't really necessary to run that game.

The rules for intelligent mounts ("Saddle Up") from Dragon 304 was okay. "Monstrous Magic", 46 new spells for monstrous characters, was good, and perfectly timed for the release of Savage Species. (Imagine that.)

Right, I'm normally not too much into mounts but if it's done interestingly, maybe it can still "click" for me.
BTW, are there a lot of necromantic spells in there? (Yeah, I admit it - I'm a sucker for necromantic spells... )

Issue 305 was good, but I lent it to a fellow gamer, so I'm going on memory. Lots of focus on urban adventuring, but I don't recall anything truly groundbreaking. Nice article on the yuan-ti, and perfectly timed for 1) their disappearance from the SRD

Urban adventuring and yuan-ti? Just the way at least one of my players likes a game.
Hmm... Anyone can tell me what else is in that issue?

and 2) their sudden appearance in my current campaign. (Not sure how Paizo tumbled to the latter - sneaky gits.)

Psionic mind control - duh!


BTW, lest I forget it: Many thanks to everyone who's replied so far!
And keep 'em coming!

 

[Douane]

1. "V for Victory":
- designed by Chris Pramas
- no D20 Modern, but a new system. 4 basic classes (leader, combat, intelligence and recon), some new skills, many new feats, weapons (of course) and some rules (autofire, Shell-shock), finally advice on possible campaigns [We combined D20M and "V" without any problems by generously pilfering from both.]

2. Adventure Path:

It's indeed a series, planned like the original adventure modules to go from lvl 1 to lvl 20. Paizo also has some goodies adding to it on their website; I believe Maps and a Web enhancement. This part is written by Christoper Perkins.


Folkert

 

[Darkness]

I was very pleased with Dungeon 97.

"Life's Bazaar" is a great 1st-level dungeon crawl that somehow gets all the classic dungeon elements into a story that isn't "kill things and take their stuff". Very cool.

So it's kinda like the anti-thesis to the Diablo computer games?
(Gawd, I need to dig out Diablo I once again and play a bit... )Anyway, that sound good.

There's also a cool adventure set in a giant walking robot that will be making an appearance on Barsoom TV very soon,

In a walking robot?!
Sold!!!

and another high-level adventure that features something called The Demonblade that I haven't bothered to read cause... "The Demonblade"? How lame is that? But maybe it rocks.

Heh. Maybe they meant "the demon, Blade" and it's about a half-demon demon-hunter kicking various kinds of butt across a wide variety of lower planes.

Plus it includes a 1" square grid street scene map you can use as a battlemat -- I'm liking this trend in Dungeon, frankly...

Word.

Worth getting, I thought.

Right, Dungeon hasn't disappointed me so far in 3e... I guess it won't this time, either. Now, if only I'd get around to actually running more of the adventures I get when I buy Dungeon. (Heh. Of course, that probably would necessitate stopping to constantly write my own adventures. )

Thank you, barsoomcore; you and Douane just convinced me to get Dungeon 97.

BTW, which of the adventures is the "Dungeon adventure series" one?

 

[barsoomcore]

Which of the adventures is the "Dungeon adventure series" one?

"Life's Bazaar"