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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 8914804" data-attributes="member: 27780">Dungeon Issue 69: Jul/Aug 1998part 1/584 pages. Here comes the Flameskull! But is it going to attack the adventurers, or is it one which is bored enough to attach themselves to the party instead and follow them around making snarky comments until they decide to kill it out of sheer irritation. (then probably find that they can't) That's a situation that has caused much annoyance over the years, including in official novels. Let's see if this issue makes it fun to play out or not.Editorial: Chris has already made more changes in the past couple of issues than previous editors did in the past 10 years. He does not intend to slow the pace, although he's finally starting to run down his backlog of submitted but not published adventures, so this is the first issue in quite some time where he doesn't also feature as a writer. That's counterbalanced by the fact that they're starting up their first extended series of adventures this issue, which obviously needed more creative input as an editor than usual to co-ordinate all the writers of individual sections and make sure it has a solid overarching plot with no inconsistencies. What darkness lurks in the mere of dead men, and will the PC's be joining them in eternal rest? Plenty of other experiments coming up soon which he has no hesitation about spoiling, some all new and some harking back to the old school. Puzzles and traps with a booklet of illustrations to help the players choose their course of action? They haven't done that since issue 37. A homage to the works of Lenard Lakofka? Off to the planes, under the seas, and a tie-in with Dragon's Wyrms of the North column. Not sure I'll like all that, but it's definitely a decent amount of variety, and as long as someone does it won't be wasted space in the magazine. Letters: First letter reminds us that even when you use adventures from Dungeon, you shouldn't hesitate to put your own spin on the material. (particularly if there's a chance the players might have already read some of it) It makes your game more unique and probably more fun as well.Second is irritated at the inefficiency of the Dragonlance Saga adventure. That was a lot of backstory for relatively few encounters. Well, what do you expect with these narrativist sorts? The story is the important part and they don't want you messing it up. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f61b.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":p" title="Stick out tongue    :p"  data-smilie="7"data-shortname=":p" />Third is generally complimentary, but wants more adventures with riddles & puzzles. Well, you're in luck, because have we got a treat for you coming up later!Fourth praises the works of Michael Shel & Steve Kurtz, but spends most of the letter talking about the idiosyncratic way they played the game before they had the full rule books. Playing AD&D modules with only the basic set and extrapolating higher levels from that had results that were hilariously wrong in hindsight. They could definitely do with a clearer entry path to the rules. Fifth is very strongly in favour of more Alternity adventures. It inspired a whole ton of ideas that you couldn't do in D&D and needs more support. Let's make it the success it deserves to be. Sixth nitpicks Eye of the Storm, pointing out that with their saving throws, Storm Children are on a fast track to below replacement breeding rate and extinction. That's probably why you never see them anywhere else in the future. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f61b.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":p" title="Stick out tongue    :p"  data-smilie="7"data-shortname=":p" />Seventh has the complaint that the gender balance of characters in adventures isn't great. Time the Dungeon writers got a little affirmative action & diversity training perhaps?Eighth thinks regular D&D is superior to the supposedly advanced variety, particularly the Rules Cyclopedia version which is easy to get into but still gives you enough depth to play for decades with the same characters. They should do more adventures for it. Oh and support other systems in general as well. They could do with the extra help while AD&D already has more than enough.9 &10 continue the endless debate about if the magazine should have more or less variety and what even counts as not generic in the first place. The stars could burn out and nerds will still be nitpicking over the boundaries of genres.</blockquote>

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