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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 8686645" data-attributes="member: 27780">Dungeon Magazine Issue 54: Jul/Aug 1995part 5/5Dark Thane Macbeth: A second shakespeare adaption just a couple of issues after the first? Very interesting. Was the second inspired by the good reception of the first, or were they sent in independently? In any case, this is the longest adventure in the issue, but still not pushing at any records due to the sheer quantity of other ones. Anyway, as you'd expect, it's the scottish play, only most of the NPC's are elves, the witches are hags, and Peyton is a deep dragon. Can you defeat the near invulnerable and increasingly insane Macbeth by rules lawyering the whole "no man of woman born" immunity or ridiculously overpowering raw force and restore peace between the grey & dark elves? Rather than bogging you down too much in angsty amateur dramatics, this turns into a surprisingly epic extended battle scenario where your 100 Reverend Ones face up against 100 Shadows, and the PC's tactics will be crucial in tipping the balance and winning the day. (although knowledge of the play definitely won't hurt when it comes to picking effective actions) So this is less faithful than the Tempest adaption aesthetically, but looks more fun to play, giving the NPC's lots of high magic tricks and expecting the PC's to pull out their big guns in response. High level adventures that embrace just how gonzo D&D characters can get with lots of magic items are actually pretty rare in here, so this is actually quite pleasing to read, even if most groups'll never get to the kind of level where they have decent odds of getting through it alive. The kind of thing I really wish they did more of, rather than fighting the system and trying to keep things mostly "realistic" in their campaign worlds.The two rapid editorial changeovers are having an effect, because this was one of the more tonally chaotic issues I've seen so far, in both good and bad ways, as well as quite inefficient in terms of page count to adventure length ratio. The amount of backstory and general waffle has been creeping up throughout the 2e era anyway, but I guess losing the experience of a long-term editor has really reduced the amount that's getting chopped down before publication. So I'd have to do some extra work myself to make the best of these ones. Still, you generally learn fastest in your first few months on the job. Hopefully another couple will make all the difference for the next issue.</blockquote>

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