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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 9126899" data-attributes="member: 27780">Dungeon Issue 85: Mar/Apr 2001part 3/6Ever-Changing Fortunes: One fairly significant change 3e has made is not just listing the alignment of creatures, but which ones are pretty much always that alignment and which it’s merely a suggestion for. This is particularly the case for many of the humanoids that were previously just savages to kill, which gradually had nuance added to them last edition with the 2e Complete Book of Humanoids and BECMI PC1-4 books, but now they can truly compete on a level playing field. Anyway, the PC’s are encouraged to question their prejudices when a kobold asks them for help. It turns out he was raised by dwarves, but now the mine has been taken over by a group of troglodytes led by drow, which means both the dwarves and kobolds are slaves working under far worse conditions. If you don’t speak dwarven or draconic, this will not be explained very well, as his common is pretty halting. If you choose to take the mission, he’ll accompany you, and while not very useful in combat he does have plenty to contribute to the roleplaying encounters in various parts of the mines, making him not just another irritating cowardly comic relief sidekick. So this uses some fairly familiar elements, but delights in subverting your expectations in the way it uses them, with things like a male drow priest, (who’s actually extra good at his job due to all the extra assassination attempts he attracts from rivals) kobolds you can make peace with and troglodytes that actually use technology & decent tactics. It feels like it was written after 3e was released and is keen to encourage you to break those old habits and expectations that might not be the best idea under the new rules. We’re still a long way from completely solving fantasy racism (which would also need the invention of some kind of powerful magical deodorant before you could fully integrate the trogs into a mixed society) but any step in the right direction is a positive one in my book.</blockquote>

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