Let's read the entire run

[amysrevenge]

Is it any wonder that they gave them a whole complete handbook with dozens of mixed class ninja variants a couple of years later.

I know that when I was in high school (right around the time of the current reviews), about half of my group was obsessed with ninjas and Oriental Adventures stuff. We shoehorned the OA stuff into our 2nd Edition games, and it was a bit... crazy.

 

[carborundum]

Got to say thanks for this epic performance! It's not only interesting but also a valuable research tool!

You just helped me help someone else! (paizo.com - Paizo / Messageboards / Paizo Publishing / Older Products / Dragon Magazine / General Discussion / Wizard Duel Article)

 

[(un)reason]

Dragon Magazine Issue 189: January 1993


part 4/6


The role of books: The spirit ring by Lois McMaster Bujold gets one of those mixed reviews that results from their being lots of good elements, but not enough tying them together into a coherent whole. Stick to one or two main characters and plots! Someone get that woman a stricter editor.

Mage's blood and old bones, edited by Elizabeth Danford & Mickael A Stackpole is a collection of Tunnels & Trolls short fiction. It retain the playful trope subversion that AD&D has mostly lost by this point, and has some nice background notes and essays along with the fiction.

Tales of Talislanta, edited by Stephan Michael Sechi doesn't get such a good review. It's a mixed bag, many of which aren't very good, and no overall picture of the game world really emerges. Meh.

The price of the stars, by Debra Doyle & James D Macdonald gets a very positive review indeed. High speed sci-fi, full of action sequences that would require a huge budget to represent on screen, and characters that still have distinct likeable personalities, it sounds like a star wars beater. Oh, if only commercial success followed quality. Someone remind george lucas he needs other people to write decent dialogue.

Out of nippon by Nigel Findley embraces the genre switching nature of the TORG setting. Unfortunately, this involves him sticking too closely to the genre formulas of the various sections, and the whole thing feels like it was written on autopilot. Which is a shame, since his short fiction work here was so good. I guess it becomes just a job for everyone eventually.

Best destiny by Diane Carey is a star trek novel that does surprisingly well. Kirk as a young man is as rebellious and impetuous as you'd expect, and the plot manages to be much less shiny than the series while not betraying the details. It is of course probably completely invalidated by the reboot.

Quantum leap, the novel by Ashley McConnell is another one that actually benefits from it's new format, with the ability to get inside the heads of the characters in their odd situations and challenges working quite well. It's also very handy for providing extra details that would be useful if you wanted to make an RPG around the quantum leap premise.

In an amusing footnote, we also find out that Laurel K. Hamilton has done a Star trek: TNG book. Didn't know that before. Oh, the slashfic crossover images that one raises. Oh Data! I never knew you were that modular and extendable!


Bazaar of the Bizarre: A bunch of primitive focussed items here. Just because they live out in the jungle in mud huts, doesn't mean they can't make stuff. In fact, chances are they can do it cheaper, by hunting down the ingredients they need directly. Underestimate them at your peril.

Headdress of peaceful conflict are another way to smooth out your encounters with faerie folk. Unlike our last two items with that theme, if you play in bad faith it stops working. Oh come on. Since when do fae play fair? Turnabout is only what they deserve.

Spirit skulls warn the shaman of non-natives and have a load of other divinatory powers. You can fill in the rest of the visuals pretty easily.

Ointment of mage-smelling lets you know how powerful other spell-casters around you are. Sniffing around people may raise suspicion, of course, but you can probably play that down as part of your savage nature, especially if you're meeting them on home turf.

Drums of menace spread ominous rhythms through the jungle well away from you. This gives a fairly substantial advantage to the home team in hit and-run combat, for the paranoia does not make you any better at spotting real threats. It doesn't have a save either, so it's pretty powerful.

Powder of images is another basic divinatory effect refluffed for cultural appropriateness. Do we really need this kind of basic handholding?

A Rattle of Exorcism is the shamanic variant on sprinkling holy water around the place and reciting from the bible. It takes aaages to work though, in which any demon worth their salt'll do something nasty to them. What works on tv doesn't work in D&D dear.

Masks of stealth let you pick locks, and make people think you fit in anywhere, even if all you're wearing is a loincloth and the mask. It's only useful if you're engaging in actions suitable to a nature connected primitive though. You get corrupted by materialism, and you're out the club. Captain planet, he's our hero! Yeah, this collection seems to have rubbed me the wrong way rather. It can go back in the pile.

 

[(un)reason]

Dragon Magazine Issue 189: January 1993


part 5/6


Completing the complete bard: So they're finally bringing kits to the magazine in earnest. It's been 4 years, and we've only got one set before? Dear oh dear. I guess spells got the same treatment. The editors really have had to work to get people to submit stuff fitting the new edition's format. Anyway, this is another positive step forward. At least, it will be if they're any good.

Dandys are a bard tailored version of swashbucklers, complete with fiaty special benefits and hindrances that'll be purely DM dependent. And looking at the math, they'll turn out completely inferior to them mechanically after 3rd level or so. Unless you don't have the str to take that kit, avoid this one like the plague.

Outlaws are somewhat better, sacrificing legend lore, countersong and rally allies for increased thief skills and underworld contacts. This is probably a negative trade overall in terms of raw power, but not so much that it's completely untakable. Many people don't bother with those froofy knowledge skills anyway. Still, these two aren't as interesting or effective as the ones from the actual book. You're not missing anything by leaving them out.


Forum: Steven Roemer has found his game has died because his players felt they'd seen and done it all, to epic levels and back. No amount of supplements and worldhopping could freshen it up. So they've had to move onto other roleplaying games. They'll be back. :steeples fingers: just you wait. Sooner or later some of them'll get the nostalgia bug.

Robert J. Letts points out just how annoying Stoneskin is when the party wizards buff everyone up with it every chance they get. Oh yes, this is one that runs and runs, isn't it. Little pebble, big avalanche. Which is ironically a good way to deal with stoneskin. Lots of little hits are much better than one big one. Muahahahaha.

Sally A. Haynes is yet another person annoyed by the sexism problem. It should make no difference who you are and what your character is. And things like separate directories are just patronising. No thanks.

Amaryllis Roy takes another swipe at the ludicrous cheesecake outfits. Come now, have you seen the impractical things women wear in real life. I wonder if Dragonmirth'll ever have something like that, with Alias and Neeva watching a crystal ball together and commenting on modern fashion.

Malcom Wolter points out once again how generous TSR modules are with awarding magical items compared to the theoretical recommendations in the books. It's no wonder PC's can smoke enemies of equivalent level without too much trouble and monty haulism gets out of hand easily unless the DM makes conscious efforts to stop it. VE NEED STRICTER EDITORIAL COORDINATION! ACHTUNG! Yeah, this is a big problem, as I've found before. It's much easier if you don't use prefab stuff though.


Sage advice continues to face questions about the rules quirks of dark sun.
What stops a cleric from becoming an elemental. (Improper planning of your career path. One wrong level and you're gimped forever. And you thought we'd got rid of that when we revamped bards. It's even worse than prestige classes.)

Things you said would be in Dragon kings aren't! (Skip may be The Sage, but Skip still can't see the future reliably. Those bloody writers are always rewriting destiny at their whim. Plays merry hell with continuity, let me tell you. )

Do Dragons and Avangions take damage from psionic enchantments (yes)

The stats of The Dragon, and their general stats don't match up. (Hmm, should Skip shake down the writer, or the editor? Skip thinks Skip'll bang their heads together until their brains are all mixed up. That'll make sure they communicate properly with each other next time.

Avangions have contradictory stats in different parts of the book as well. ( Oh, for s sake. How the is Skip supposed to be the ing source of all ing knowledge when all the ing books are ed up! Guess Skip'll just have to play ing rewriter aingain. )

Can avangions and dragons hurt each other physically (They're monsters now, and they have way more than 10+4 HD, so they can hurt anything which needs +4 weapons or less. This is pretty handy)

Can Dragons use the special attacks other dragons get (Probably)

How do high level avangions cast spells with no limbs (Magic. That's the way to solve everything.)

I think some of the new psionic powers are in the wrong discipline. ( Could be. That's the trouble with edge cases. Someone's gotta draw a line, and not everyone's gonna agree wit that. )

Dragon kings messed up the gladiator advancement table. (So it did. Ignore that. It means nothing)

What happens to your wild talent when you switch to psionicist to become an advanced being. (you get to keep it, thanks to Skip's generosity. )

Why does Ranis Inilka get spells when Athasian bards don't (More writer incompetance. I dunno. We set you these incredibly strict rules for module submissions in the magazine, and then we give commissions to writers who break every one of them with impunity and still get rehired. Life aint fair. )

You make too many game worlds! (We certainly don't think so. If anything, Skip thinks we don't make enough! And as long as you keep buying our stuff, we will continue to produce more. Isn't that nice of us.)

 

[(un)reason]

Dragon Magazine Issue 189: January 1993


part 6/6


Dragonmirth faces more problems, and sometimes solves them. Yamara gets traded to the drow. Twilight empire gets very weird indeed.


Through the looking glass: Last month Rick gave Battlemasters a slightly sniffy review. It might be alright for those common folks, but not for me. Robert, on the other hand is a lot more enthusiastic, as befits someone who's more invested in getting new people into minis gaming. The quality of the minis is good, and they're easily adapted to other games, with their multifigure bases working well to represent large groups of monsters economically. He rather enjoys the game aspects too, going into rather more description of the details of the mechanics. This is an amusing contrast. I quite approve. Which side are you on?

We also get a similarly positive review of Warhammer Fantasy Battles. The new edition is clearer and more complete, filled with more than enough minis to get you going, and a catalog to make it easy to decide what supplements you'd like. Games workshop really are a smoothly oiled machine, whether on their own or collaborating with other companies. It's no wonder they survived when the other wargaming companies fell by the wayside. Control the distribution and the games played with your products, multiply your creative freedom and take of the profits. Be your own master.

Our other minis this month are a pair of dragons, Bronze and Flame. Some assembly is required for both. And a bunch of dwarf signallers. I suspect they may actually be overweight gnomes.


TSR Previews: No particular game line gets to shine hugely above the others this month. Al-Qadim has ALQ2: Assassin Mountain. Another slimline boxed set, this is another one you can use as a homebase if you have an assassin PC, or as an ultradungeon to overthrow. If one of the characters is secretly a holy slayer, you can have double the fun. Muahahaha!!!

Spelljammer completes the trifecta of crossover with SJR7: Krynnspace. Now if there's a world that's hostile to interplanar interlopers (apart from the gnomes, weirdly enough) it's this one. Buncha hicks. Leave them to their petty squabbles about good and evil.

Greyhawk gets WGR4: The Marklands. See one of the most war torn areas of Oerth close up, discover the personal cost of the recent conflict.

The Forgotten realms finally follows Dragonlance into the short story business. Realms of Valor has lots of familiar names in the credits, but no detail on the actual stories. Any opinions on this one?

Speaking of Dragonlance, they return to doing trilogies. The Covenant of the Forge is the first of three focussing on the dwarven nations. Well, elves got a load of love last year. The equal heights commission would go mad if they didn't, despite elves being more popular.

Plenty of generic stuff though. DMGR5: Creative Campaigning helps you vary and spice up your games. We can always do with one of these, if only as a checklist to make sure you aren't forgetting something obvious you already know. HHQ3: Thieves challenge is another solo module. You'd better have jacked up the right thief skills if you want to do well here. And finally, the Magic Encyclopedia gets it's second volume. Now you have hundreds more items easily referenceable for the enjoyment of players and DM's.

D&D finally gets a GM's screen of it's very own. Like novels, it's curious that they haven't bothered with that, when AD&D's been doing them for ages, with several different ones for the various campaign settings.

And finally, our generic book this month isn't standalone at all. Valorian by Mary Herbert is a prequel to Dark Horse. Guess we get to see the backstory of yet another universe expanded upon.


With the new column, the new themed topics, and the new determination to actually cover kits in the magazine, this is a very strong issue, full of useful stuff that you can return to and use repeatedly. While it doesn't have any particular standout classic articles, the overall package is one of the best they've done since 2e started. Solid specific details, that's the way to move forward at this point. And maybe a bit more real world cultural stuff, as despite the billing, they spread themselves a bit too widely to really complete the african stuff. Hopefully Roger got some more articles, and'll parcel them out over the year. And if not, maybe this'll inspire the readers to send some more in. Not an impossible dream, is it.

 

[Orius]

Through the looking glass: Last month Rick gave Battlemasters a slightly sniffy review. It might be alright for those common folks, but not for me. Robert, on the other hand is a lot more enthusiastic, as befits someone who's more invested in getting new people into minis gaming. The quality of the minis is good, and they're easily adapted to other games, with their multifigure bases working well to represent large groups of monsters economically. He rather enjoys the game aspects too, going into rather more description of the details of the mechanics. This is an amusing contrast. I quite approve. Which side are you on?

In the middle really. Like I said, I hate the gameplay, but the minis are great for D&D. I've never used the large bases, since I haven't needed them for mass combat (they might be alright for that I suppose), so I needed to use individual figure bases. Guess what I went with?

Warhammer bases.

I figured hey, it's all Games Workshop. And the Warhammer bases do work with most of the figures rather well.

With the new column, the new themed topics, and the new determination to actually cover kits in the magazine, this is a very strong issue, full of useful stuff that you can return to and use repeatedly.

I have used bits of this magazine. That demographics stuff Heard did in the KWG I yoinked and mashed together with some bits and pieces of rules from Birthright and the RC, and some Dungeoncraft articles from later issues to piece together some rules for describing kingdoms. It's an ungodly mess, but that's what happens when the core rules don't go into any detail on this stuff.

 

[(un)reason]

Dragon Magazine Issue 190: February 1993


part 1/6


124 pages. As the cover hints, it's time to go out on the ocean wave again. Although not that much, as it's only 2 connected features, barely worth calling a special. Still, better that than letting some crap ones in just to use as padding. Hopefully they'll have room for plenty of other interesting stuff in the issue instead.


In this issue:


Gnomes and halflings have to share a splatbook? Shows you the low regard people have for them Low regard, Gettit? I prove my own point.


Letters: Some questions about Yamara. Roger goes to the source and gets answers that are a bit silly. But you wouldn't have it any other way, really.

A whole bunch of letters from people who did remember what the Thendar were. Roger is suitably chastened that other people know more about his magazine than him. I guess when you have to make deadline each month, you don't get much time to look back and reflect on the past.

This leads neatly into a request for people to make an index for the magazine themselves. Since you have so much free time and we don't. Cheeky muppet. Oh well, at least there's some money to be made here.

And finally, a correction by Lester Smith re one of their recent book reviews. Oh, cruel fate, that misattributes me so! Yeah, getting the recognition you deserve's a bitch.


Editorial: Ha. This month, Roger talks about the adventures that got planned, but never carried out. You spend hours and hours building a scenario, and then the players go the wrong way, or the group breaks up, and it all goes to waste. Sometimes you can reuse the work later, but others, the scenario is designed specifically around your player's quirks, and just one of them dropping out turns it into a mess. Such a pain. And then there are the idle fantasies for a game in a system you never get to run, which also gets quite a bit of attention here. There is a lot of goofy crap in here, and I can see why they wind up not happening. Roger does have one bit of good advice though. Don't hoard your ideas, talk about them. It increases the odds that you'll be able to bring them to fruition, for they might suggest modifications that you can bounce off, or they might like the idea enough to help you get a group together to actually play. Working alone is far more tedious and depressing than involving your friends. Another fairly entertaining and somewhat useful editorial that actually covers a topic they haven't done an article on.


Monsters of the deep: Not exactly a standard bestiary entry, here we have an odd grab-bag of new monsters and adaptions of existing ones, mostly using abbreviated statblocks. Giant eels, super otters ( ) giant turtles, colossal tadpoles and a whole bunch of variants upon the saurian and whale body forms. Whatever their origins, they're big scary sea monsters that can mess your ship right up, and quite possibly swallow you whole. They're the subject of many real world legends, including, of course, Nessie. Yes, the Loch Ness monster finally gets stats in Dragon! That's an amusing turnup for the books, and definitely ups my rating for this article. With both plenty of subtle humour and a good bibliography, this is a very readable article that manages to venture somewhere new for the magazine and give you directions on how to take a cryptozoological campaign further. I think this is a pretty good way to start an issue.


Deep beneath the waves: From a reasonably amusing upper to rather a downer, as we get an obituary for the writer of this article just before it. While not quite as sad as Paul Montgomery Crabaugh's death in '86, as they don't have a load of previous articles for us to get attached by, there is a very definite sense of wasted potential here. This is both pretty well researched, tackling the real world physical issues of going underwater, the fantastical solutions to those, and the magical creatures and weirdness that could be added down there for your adventurers to encounter. Metallic precipitation, geothermal flows, bizarre creatures, there's both challenges and treasures aplenty to be found down there. With giant tube worms and clams among the new monsters, this once again has slightly amusing elements that help sweeten the extensive footnotes and bibliography. As with the last article, this is pretty good, and together I think they do actually add up to a solid special feature. Just don't keep losing writers, or you'll never keep this up


The ecology of the actaeon: Yet another departure from usual Ecology protocol, we have a BD&D specific monster this month. That is fairly pleasing. Is Bruce's effort finally paying off? Anyway, in terms of actual format, as well as writing, this is a return to classic ecology style, revealing the nature and powers of the creature, and telling a little morality tale at the same time. Given all the powerful supernatural creatures protecting nature, you can barely collect firewood without running into them. I guess you need them to balance out the ridiculous number of apex predators D&D worlds also have to cope with. Anyway, this is a solidly entertaining, yet not particularly ground-breaking ecology. I do miss the days when Ed contributed a new one virtually every month, throwing new lights on creatures and filling in little bits of realmslore as well.

 

[LordVyreth]

Editorial: Ha. This month, Roger talks about the adventures that got planned, but never carried out. You spend hours and hours building a scenario, and then the players go the wrong way, or the group breaks up, and it all goes to waste. Sometimes you can reuse the work later, but others, the scenario is designed specifically around your player's quirks, and just one of them dropping out turns it into a mess. Such a pain. And then there are the idle fantasies for a game in a system you never get to run, which also gets quite a bit of attention here. There is a lot of goofy crap in here, and I can see why they wind up not happening. Roger does have one bit of good advice though. Don't hoard your ideas, talk about them. It increases the odds that you'll be able to bring them to fruition, for they might suggest modifications that you can bounce off, or they might like the idea enough to help you get a group together to actually play. Working alone is far more tedious and depressing than involving your friends. Another fairly entertaining and somewhat useful editorial that actually covers a topic they haven't done an article on.

Yeah, I've been here. I call it the Law of Inverse Enthusiasm. Basically, the more planning I put into an adventure and the more excited I get at playing it, the more likely it is that half my players can't make the game anymore, or everyone gets busy so we don't get a session for a month, or the ones who do show up are angry or fight or just don't care because of some other issue. It led to a really bad habit of whipping up the adventure an hour or two before the game starts.

 

[Orius]

124 pages. As the cover hints, it's time to go out on the ocean wave again. Although not that much, as it's only 2 connected features, barely worth calling a special. Still, better that than letting some crap ones in just to use as padding. Hopefully they'll have room for plenty of other interesting stuff in the issue instead.

I get a feeling that we're right in the middle of the magazine's period that readers were complaining about several years later. Things like there was no (A)D&D related content, or that the magazine was crammed with reviews. Many of the previous issues did seem to be pretty light on actual game related stuff.

 

[(un)reason]

Dragon Magazine Issue 190: February 1993


part 2/6


Divide (VVVV) and conquer!: Never split the party, the first words in this article, and one of those lessons most teams learn pretty soon, especially if raised on a diet of horror movies. It makes you vulnerable, and results in players spending long periods of time with sod all to do. But from a plot point of view, sometimes it's the natural course of action to take, and then you need to figure out how to make it work. Fortunately, there are tricks to make it work better. Timekeeping is of course the critical one, as Gary knew well, and the rest of us hurriedly learned. Not that fudging to ensure characters have a greater chance of "co-incidentally" running into one-another again hurts in this kind of game. The other things are making the story interesting enough that people don't mind sitting around waiting for a bit, tailoring the adventures properly to the participating members of the party, proper use of cliffhangers, between session one-on-one interactions, letting players control NPC's, and figuring out how and where they're going to get back together. So plenty of advice I've seen before, a couple of bits I haven't, and quite a few valuable ideas I've often used on this subject missing. I think that adds up to a middling article overall, just high enough CR that I can eke out a few more XP from it.


The known world grimoire: As with last month, it's letters and economics in here. Not hugely interesting. Let's get a-saging.

Are you going to fill in all the locations in Thunder Rift? (not officially. We have to give your DM a chance to exercise some creativity.)

The Rules Cyclopedia is just too good and complete! (Honestly, no pleasing some people. If you want to keep things from the players, get the AD&D PHB instead)

The artwork on your new introductory products is frequently crappy, recycled and inappropriate! And Thunder rift is pointless! And they're too expensive too! You Suck! (How are they supposed to know? They're only N00bs. We want to dumb things down so new people can get in gently. Never mind that things weren't nearly as simplified in our greatest boom period. )

Was Robrenn influenced by the Asterix books (Hell yeah. In the original french too. Well done for spotting that one. )

Your map keys are incomplete. I'm confused! (Honestly, most of them should be common sense. How hard is that? )

I'm sad that the princess ark series has been half filler over the last half a year. (Sorry 'bout that. Reality is a complicated and annoying thing. )

You suck for increasing your margin sizes to save money! (Once again, would you rather we raised prices instead? No pleasing some people.)

The economics talk this month covers population growth (or decline, if you really mismanage it) and exploitation of natural resources. These are of course intertwined, for as the population grows, it'll want to clear woods and create new villages, and'll grow ever more capable of exploiting things like mines and farmland. Bruce introduces some more fairly simplified subsystems, that'll do the job as long as you don't examine them too closely. Meh. This is all a bit uncomfortable. I have to wonder how many of the complaining letters he actually agrees with, and is actually using this as a means of making sure other people know about the companie's current missteps. Or is that kind of political reverse psychology reading too much into it. I'm really not sure these days.


The marvel-phile: Looks like it's sagin' time in here too. What with the actual sage advice, plus the known world grimoire, and the letters and forums, this does seem a touch excessive.

Send me the game statistics of ABCDEFGHIJKLMNPOQRSTUVWXYZ characters! ( Statistics are a product, not a right. You'll have to wait for us to put them in books and magazines and then buy them like everyone else)

How can I get The Ultimate Powers Book? (Search me. It's out of print, and we ain't redoing it. (Note, do not literally search me, or we will be forced to taser you and inform the relevant authorities))

Send me a catalog of what's available! (Write to the right department! We are not going to do all the work for you. )

How does power absorption work? (In the comics, however the writers want it too. Don't expect your GM to be so generous with you. )

Why does wolverine need to put effort into slicing up a sentinel. (again, game balance. We have concerns they do not. )

How does endurance interact with martial arts (Martial arts is the great equalizer. A sufficiently well trained fighter can even take on the hulk in a superhero universe. )

How can assassins gain karma? ( By doing other stuff as well to work off their debt. )

Do you get a chance to dodge when the other guy shoots you (only if you haven't already used your action this round. Yes, it's so unfair.)

Which is tougher, Wolverine's bones and claws, or Thor's hammer. (Thor's hammer, but not by an insurmountable ratio.

How can street level heroes fight thugs with such a big multiple attacker penalty. (sufficient badassery. Simple as that. )

I don't want to play a superhero. What opposition can I face? (Steal batman's villains. Plenty of street level stuff around really.)