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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 8536245" data-attributes="member: 27780">Dungeon Issue 44: Nov/Dec 1993part 1/566 pages. Choo choo, muthafuckas! I've been complaining about the increase in railroadiness recently, now they've put a literal steam engine powered railroad on the cover. That stands out amid more generic fantasy scenes. Let's see how well justified and amusing this anachronism will be, and if there'll be any murder mysteries while you're trapped onboard. Editorial: We have a particularly amusing guest editorial from regular writer Ted James Thomas Zuvich that talks about how much persistence and revision it took to get his latest adventure published. It's been bouncing back and forth since 1987, with maybe a couple of rewrites per year and multiple playtests until Barbara finally caved in and put it in this issue.  Never give up on the dream kids! Even if it takes years of graft and multiple detours before you gain the skills & budget to really do your idea justice! Hope it was worth all the effort. I've definitely had times where finally finishing things after years of trying just feels anticlimactic and empty. I suppose we'll find out in a few pages anyway so there's no point hanging around here speculating.Letters: First letter is yet another example adventure path from a young DM from Denmark. They're having plenty of fun wandering around the Realms taking odd jobs. Second is a rather longer one who started out their campaign with Old Man Katan, and now the Campestri are a permanent fixture of their party. They sound very twee and roleplaying heavy indeed in playstyle. As long as the comedy bits are fun rather than grating, good for them.Third is from the Netherlands, and all the adventures they used in their campaign are from the past couple of years, so they're obviously a relatively new reader. Once again, their adventure choices are distinctly more whimsical than I would favor. Fourth is from Oregon, and their adventure selections go all the way back to issue 1. They didn't always succeed at the scenarios they faced, but they've managed to survive so far. Next time they may not be so lucky…… Fifth is from someone who's strongly in favor of the more modern style of plot heavy adventures. They give you more to think about and are more memorable as a result. Why would you want to go back to more basic fare after tasting nuance and complexity?Sixth also wants more plot-heavy modules, because they're not as young as they were, and don't have as much free time to make things up. They want something with a good story that they can just pick up and use straight away. When the players do something unexpected you may wind up having to make it up anyway. That's why a grounding in improv acting is handy even if you prefer more plot heavy adventures. Seventh is not suffering from players who do the unexpected. In fact, they're barely doing anything at all, just passively expecting adventures to fall into their laps. What does a DM have to do to get them thinking like proper heroes?! The answer may involve killing them a few times in inventively horrible ways to make it clear that this ain't no country club or disco. Finally, the opposite problem, a DM who freezes up when trying to run adventures more complex than dungeoncrawls. The players want to know more about the landscapes and cities of the world and he just can't come up with those details on the spot. Well, at least you've identified the problem. Now you need to fill your brain with enough prefab bits to throw at your players that you don't get caught out. There are many examples both in here and TSR's other two gaming magazines.</blockquote>

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