Orius
Legend
It means that kid's 16 now and the name may not have done any favors where bullies are concerned.
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- Thread starter (un)reason
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It means that kid's 16 now and the name may not have done any favors where bullies are concerned.
(un)reason
Legend
Dragon Magazine Issue 211: November 1994
part 2/6
Sight in the darkness: After a whole load of articles that resulted in rather sobering thoughts, we finally one that provokes a genuine Wahoo! in me. Scientific analysis of infravision, and just what seeing heat really means for a demihuman. It's not just seeing in the dark in exactly the same way as normal. There's a lot of interesting information you can pick up by being aware of radiated heat. Hiding requires quite different procedures when you gradually warm up your surroundings, leaving afterglow anywhere you stayed for a while. Undead become extra scary, being nearly invisible in the dark even to elves & dwarves. A sudden burst of light can ruin an enemies darkvision at a crucial point, letting you do the quick getaway thing. Roger Moore once again shows that freed of the pressure of constant editing, he hasn't lost the touch that led him to produce game defining stuff like the series on demihumans back in 1982. This is one bit of rules analysis that's both cool and long overdue. (although it doesn't look like they're ever going to do one on the realistic ramifications of the existence and nature of alignment languages, which is one I really wanted to see.) If fully applied, it could be a real game-changer. Exactly the kind of thing the magazine ought to be covering.
Fungi of the underdark: A little more ecology appropriate stuff here. The underdark can't just be full of monsters with nothing to live on. Unless you use some technobabble about time being retarded by underground radiations, sending things in closed rooms into a state of stasis until someone opens the door. How d'ya like them lampshades? So here's a whole selection of fungi to put in your game. That's a long overdue and welcome one.
Trillimac is a massive mushroom that can make a servicable paper or a dull but long-lasting meal. The kind of staple you need to build a civilised society, in other words. With no trees underground, that's the kind of cool ecological thoughts you ought to include in your world-building.
Nimergan makes a really brutal mushroom beer, and is favored by duergar who want to prove their manliness in front of their peers. Since dwarves are rather resistant to poison, you probably don't want to try keeping up with them unless you want to wake up naked, tied to a stalagmite with a bad case of green slime.
Ormu is glowing moss that gives DM's another excuse to let the players see underground. It's luminescent properties can be turned into dyes, and then used as an obvious fashion statement by Drow and any other underground races that give a damn about that kind of thing.
Askume is another poisonous lichen that can be used to great effect by nasty underdark creatures. Practice your herbalism, and you too could be inflicting save or die attacks on a regular basis!
Timmask may or may not be poisonous to humans, but de
love it. This makes it handy as a summoning aid, a bribe, or a distraction. It is pretty rare though, which is a relief for the world, and means they're only available for obscene prices. Keep an eye on the underworld and you may be able to head off fiendish infestations before they even happen. Plot hooks aplenty in this collection.
I sing a song by the deep-water bay: Steven Schend once again acts as Ed's sidekick in Realmsbuilding. Once again we see the reasons why the Realms is a relatively stable world, where any magical cataclysms are confined to a countrywide scale at the most. Powerful do-gooders such as the Harpers everywhere. Actually, not many of them are full Harpers, but they seem to have learned to turn the bad guy's methods back on them by building a network of people who do favors for them and pass on information without knowing the full details. Hey, the success of that approach speaks for itself. This is why being chaotic good can prove more effective in dealing with evil than lawful good. So here's yet more little details about some of the many inhabitants of waterdeep, and what they get up to. Their secret methods of communicating, hideouts, and the means they use to protect them. Since Waterdeep already has multiple supplements and magazine articles devoted to it, this starts to feel like overkill, but it's still entertaining, with the 4th wall breaking fiction as amusing as ever. Steven might not have the sheer effervescence Ed manages, but he's still a pretty good writer. And there's lots of info here that can be easily applied to your game, so it's still useful even if it is familiar stuff.
part 2/6
Sight in the darkness: After a whole load of articles that resulted in rather sobering thoughts, we finally one that provokes a genuine Wahoo! in me. Scientific analysis of infravision, and just what seeing heat really means for a demihuman. It's not just seeing in the dark in exactly the same way as normal. There's a lot of interesting information you can pick up by being aware of radiated heat. Hiding requires quite different procedures when you gradually warm up your surroundings, leaving afterglow anywhere you stayed for a while. Undead become extra scary, being nearly invisible in the dark even to elves & dwarves. A sudden burst of light can ruin an enemies darkvision at a crucial point, letting you do the quick getaway thing. Roger Moore once again shows that freed of the pressure of constant editing, he hasn't lost the touch that led him to produce game defining stuff like the series on demihumans back in 1982. This is one bit of rules analysis that's both cool and long overdue. (although it doesn't look like they're ever going to do one on the realistic ramifications of the existence and nature of alignment languages, which is one I really wanted to see.) If fully applied, it could be a real game-changer. Exactly the kind of thing the magazine ought to be covering.
Fungi of the underdark: A little more ecology appropriate stuff here. The underdark can't just be full of monsters with nothing to live on. Unless you use some technobabble about time being retarded by underground radiations, sending things in closed rooms into a state of stasis until someone opens the door. How d'ya like them lampshades? So here's a whole selection of fungi to put in your game. That's a long overdue and welcome one.
Trillimac is a massive mushroom that can make a servicable paper or a dull but long-lasting meal. The kind of staple you need to build a civilised society, in other words. With no trees underground, that's the kind of cool ecological thoughts you ought to include in your world-building.
Nimergan makes a really brutal mushroom beer, and is favored by duergar who want to prove their manliness in front of their peers. Since dwarves are rather resistant to poison, you probably don't want to try keeping up with them unless you want to wake up naked, tied to a stalagmite with a bad case of green slime.
Ormu is glowing moss that gives DM's another excuse to let the players see underground. It's luminescent properties can be turned into dyes, and then used as an obvious fashion statement by Drow and any other underground races that give a damn about that kind of thing.
Askume is another poisonous lichen that can be used to great effect by nasty underdark creatures. Practice your herbalism, and you too could be inflicting save or die attacks on a regular basis!
Timmask may or may not be poisonous to humans, but de
love it. This makes it handy as a summoning aid, a bribe, or a distraction. It is pretty rare though, which is a relief for the world, and means they're only available for obscene prices. Keep an eye on the underworld and you may be able to head off fiendish infestations before they even happen. Plot hooks aplenty in this collection. I sing a song by the deep-water bay: Steven Schend once again acts as Ed's sidekick in Realmsbuilding. Once again we see the reasons why the Realms is a relatively stable world, where any magical cataclysms are confined to a countrywide scale at the most.
Powerful do-gooders such as the Harpers everywhere. Actually, not many of them are full Harpers, but they seem to have learned to turn the bad guy's methods back on them by building a network of people who do favors for them and pass on information without knowing the full details. Hey, the success of that approach speaks for itself. This is why being chaotic good can prove more effective in dealing with evil than lawful good. So here's yet more little details about some of the many inhabitants of waterdeep, and what they get up to. Their secret methods of communicating, hideouts, and the means they use to protect them. Since Waterdeep already has multiple supplements and magazine articles devoted to it, this starts to feel like overkill, but it's still entertaining, with the 4th wall breaking fiction as amusing as ever. Steven might not have the sheer effervescence Ed manages, but he's still a pretty good writer. And there's lots of info here that can be easily applied to your game, so it's still useful even if it is familiar stuff.
(un)reason
Legend
Dragon Magazine Issue 211: November 1994
part 3/6
Eye of the monitor has some new writers, the very abbreviated Jay and Dee. Do
they have something to hide? They certainly show no desire to tell us about themselves, moving onto the reviews far quicker than the previous columnists. How do you expect us to get attached to you and have nostalgic memories with an attitude like that?
Civilisation is praised by both of our guys. Worldbuilding over 4,000 years? How could that not be epic? Tricky. It could have turned out overcomplicated and tedious though, and thankfully it hasn't. Despite being out for years, it still gets regular plays from them.
Heaven & Earth is a multilayered puzzle game, combining a whole bunch of different minigames into one storyline. Again, it's a huge time eater, and one they compete on to get top scores. I suppose that's one big advantage of a team over a single writer.
Reach for the Stars is another old game they pick because it was a longtime favourite. It's another god game, where you send out your spaceships to colonise worlds and build new bases. It's a bit primitive by today's standards but it's still fun because it's relatively quick and simple to play.
Bandit kings of ancient China is completely different, but still in the same kind of genre. Recruit heroes and try and protect the people from both corrupt overlords and wandering tigers. How cute.
Jewel Box and Pipe Dream get tiny tiny reviews, barely even worth mentioning. They seem to be skimming over a whole bunch of games as a means of showing what they're interested in. And once again, it's quite a different selection from the previous review teams.
Aladdin (the Genesis version) gets 5 stars from both reviewers. Disney have successfully expanded their multimedia empire to fill the new medium, like Lucasarts before them.
D-Day in Miwaukee: Normally, Roger would have reported on convention season in his editorials. Instead, another benefit of his leaving is that he gets the time to write up a full 8 pages of coverage with a ton of colour photographs instead. More than 25,000 people attended, once again easily smashing last year's record. Margaret Weis was once again chief troublemaker, ( I think Roger still bears a grudge from the time she sent Klingons to kidnap him) sending Buffy to Ravenloft and trying to set up an Elminster vs Raistlin fight (pfft, no chance. They're not even in the same league.) Jim Ward Dressed in frilly swashbuckler gear with rapier et all, and our evil overmistress (Wolves howl, roll of thunder) showed her megalomania by ordering her minions to attack the neighbouring stalls and take their floor space (all in a spirit of fun, of course) Other guests included Majel Barret, John de Lancie, Timothy Zahn and Flint Dille, reminding us it's not just about RPG's. Once again, this looks like an enviable amount of fun. If you just looked at the conventions, it would seem like the glory days of roleplaying show no signs of ending.
Topkapi palace: We started off this year with Allen Varney going to Turkey and bringing home some stuff on it's unusual locations. Now it looks like we're finishing it in the same way, with Steve Kurtz going to Topkapi Palace and bringing back a load of first hand photographs and info on it's history. It looks like a pretty cool place to insert into your campaign, some bits are labyrinthine and heavily guarded (particularly the harem) but it also has huge courtyards and places for the various servants to live. As is often the case where they draw directly on reality for inspiration, this reminds us how utterly unrealistic and impractical many fantasy maps are, with the basic amenities of living missing, and everything laid out in neat right-angles. The photos are of excellent quality as well, showing the minarets, spires and lavish colour scheme. It makes western castles seem positively dull by comparison. And it's hardly indefensible either, with it's design confusing invaders and making it hard to get a clear picture of the whole thing. This would of course be perfect for an Al Qadim campaign, but you could adapt it to some other fantastical culture as well. It's not quite as instantly game usable as the castles in issue 145, but it's still pretty interesting reading, and has plenty of room to be expanded upon, thanks to the references to other books which cover the palace and it's history in far more detail. Reality definitely has it's value in your fantasies.
Forum: Eric C. Putnam thinks that both too much and too little roleplaying are bad. Balance and maintaining interest are the critical things. The DM and players should work together to make sure no one person gets out of hand.
Michael Patrick is another person rubbishing Joe Kutcherfield's rejection of roleplaying. Seems he's stirred up quite a hornets nest. Most people here want personalities on their characters.
Douglas E. Berry tells Joe to get back to wargaming. Once again with the cheap zing. Find yourself a new group that shares your preferred playstyle.
Joshua McMillin thinks that fun is more important than roleplaying, but you ought to be doing some of that too. If the other players are wasting time, just tell them to get a move on.
Jason Wright also thinks it's not how much roleplaying you are or aren't doing, it's how much fun you're having. That's the spirit. Remember the game portion, otherwise we're all screwed. Can we have a new topic now?
part 3/6
Eye of the monitor has some new writers, the very abbreviated Jay and Dee. Do
they have something to hide? They certainly show no desire to tell us about themselves, moving onto the reviews far quicker than the previous columnists. How do you expect us to get attached to you and have nostalgic memories with an attitude like that?
Civilisation is praised by both of our guys. Worldbuilding over 4,000 years? How could that not be epic? Tricky. It could have turned out overcomplicated and tedious though, and thankfully it hasn't. Despite being out for years, it still gets regular plays from them.
Heaven & Earth is a multilayered puzzle game, combining a whole bunch of different minigames into one storyline. Again, it's a huge time eater, and one they compete on to get top scores. I suppose that's one big advantage of a team over a single writer.
Reach for the Stars is another old game they pick because it was a longtime favourite. It's another god game, where you send out your spaceships to colonise worlds and build new bases. It's a bit primitive by today's standards but it's still fun because it's relatively quick and simple to play.
Bandit kings of ancient China is completely different, but still in the same kind of genre. Recruit heroes and try and protect the people from both corrupt overlords and wandering tigers. How cute.
Jewel Box and Pipe Dream get tiny tiny reviews, barely even worth mentioning. They seem to be skimming over a whole bunch of games as a means of showing what they're interested in. And once again, it's quite a different selection from the previous review teams.
Aladdin (the Genesis version) gets 5 stars from both reviewers. Disney have successfully expanded their multimedia empire to fill the new medium, like Lucasarts before them.
D-Day in Miwaukee: Normally, Roger would have reported on convention season in his editorials. Instead, another benefit of his leaving is that he gets the time to write up a full 8 pages of coverage with a ton of colour photographs instead. More than 25,000 people attended, once again easily smashing last year's record. Margaret Weis was once again chief troublemaker, ( I think Roger still bears a grudge from the time she sent Klingons to kidnap him) sending Buffy to Ravenloft and trying to set up an Elminster vs Raistlin fight (pfft, no chance. They're not even in the same league.) Jim Ward Dressed in frilly swashbuckler gear with rapier et all, and our evil overmistress (Wolves howl, roll of thunder) showed her megalomania by ordering her minions to attack the neighbouring stalls and take their floor space (all in a spirit of fun, of course) Other guests included Majel Barret, John de Lancie, Timothy Zahn and Flint Dille, reminding us it's not just about RPG's. Once again, this looks like an enviable amount of fun. If you just looked at the conventions, it would seem like the glory days of roleplaying show no signs of ending.
Topkapi palace: We started off this year with Allen Varney going to Turkey and bringing home some stuff on it's unusual locations. Now it looks like we're finishing it in the same way, with Steve Kurtz going to Topkapi Palace and bringing back a load of first hand photographs and info on it's history. It looks like a pretty cool place to insert into your campaign, some bits are labyrinthine and heavily guarded (particularly the harem) but it also has huge courtyards and places for the various servants to live. As is often the case where they draw directly on reality for inspiration, this reminds us how utterly unrealistic and impractical many fantasy maps are, with the basic amenities of living missing, and everything laid out in neat right-angles. The photos are of excellent quality as well, showing the minarets, spires and lavish colour scheme. It makes western castles seem positively dull by comparison. And it's hardly indefensible either, with it's design confusing invaders and making it hard to get a clear picture of the whole thing. This would of course be perfect for an Al Qadim campaign, but you could adapt it to some other fantastical culture as well. It's not quite as instantly game usable as the castles in issue 145, but it's still pretty interesting reading, and has plenty of room to be expanded upon, thanks to the references to other books which cover the palace and it's history in far more detail. Reality definitely has it's value in your fantasies.
Forum: Eric C. Putnam thinks that both too much and too little roleplaying are bad. Balance and maintaining interest are the critical things. The DM and players should work together to make sure no one person gets out of hand.
Michael Patrick is another person rubbishing Joe Kutcherfield's rejection of roleplaying. Seems he's stirred up quite a hornets nest. Most people here want personalities on their characters.
Douglas E. Berry tells Joe to get back to wargaming. Once again with the cheap zing. Find yourself a new group that shares your preferred playstyle.
Joshua McMillin thinks that fun is more important than roleplaying, but you ought to be doing some of that too. If the other players are wasting time, just tell them to get a move on.
Jason Wright also thinks it's not how much roleplaying you are or aren't doing, it's how much fun you're having. That's the spirit. Remember the game portion, otherwise we're all screwed. Can we have a new topic now?
LordVyreth
First Post
I played the crap out of this game on the NES, which indicates that this is another really old game or a really delayed PC adaption. It's not an easy game to get into if you never did strategy games, since you literally start out in exile and spend most of the game being ludicrously underpowered compared to the main bad guy, who gets to bully you around demanding tribute or trying to expand into your prefecture. And if you get too ambitious recruiting heroes, they all just get disloyal at once and quit, or worse, defect to the bad guys!
(un)reason
Legend
Dragon Magazine Issue 211: November 1994
part 4/6
Rumblings: In previous instalments of this column, we saw the end of TSR's relationship with SSI. Now, it's time to meet their replacements, Interplay. Actually, it looks like it's not the end after all. Interplay are getting the Realms and Planescape, while SSI is getting Ravenloft. Curious. Once again I smell the hand of behind the scenes politics, and wonder what led to things shaking out like this. Also probably involving plenty of wrangling negotiation is the return of Weis and Hickman to writing for Dragonlance. Whether it's genuine desire to tell more stories, or just the temptation of another fat payout, they're back, and the company seriously hopes they'll revive Krynn's flagging fortunes. Get ready for worldshaking metaplot events. In other news, WotC are bringing M:tG to computer systems as well, and there's a new SF gaming magazine out there. Probably won't last long though. Man, it's easy to be cynical about this stuff, knowing what's coming in the near future.
Fiction: Lifegiver by Darren C Cummings. Ooh. This is one I remember very positively. We've had plenty of intelligent swords over the years, dominating their owners and frequently leading to their downfall, but what's rarely explored is the possibility of them learning and choosing to change from their experiences with owners over the centuries. Well, here you go. It may not be legal under D&D RAW, but hey, if you can have angsty conflicted vampires, you can definitely make a good story about an angsty pacifist magical sword. Of course, the people it meets are bound to be suspicious, especially when they know the legends about it's past deeds. And as Redemption = death in far too many stories, it doesn't end well. So a sad story here, but a good one, and one that definitely opened my eyes up to another plot avenue.
The wizards three: Near another year has passed since our esteemed archmages last met. Yeah, scheduling's a bitch when you have a ton of responsibilities. Being lighthearted and whimsical takes a lot more effort than it seems. Nothing of significance happens in this one, and all assembled are noticeably more lighthearted than previous instalments. Familiarity breeds contempt, which leaves them open for disintegrations. The primary focus is on the new spells, which get a considerably larger proportion of the article than in previous instalments. So let's see how cheesy and broken they are individually.
Belsham's mace is an entry level variant on the flying weapon that attacks independently principle. Since it only lasts two rounds, it's not going to be much of an independent actor, but it does have multiple nasty effects beyond just hurting what it hits. Just don't expect it to be as reliable as magic missile.
Falling Wall lets you do what Elminster can anyway, but everyone else is forbidden from with other wall spells. Squishy squish. Definitely one for the sadist. It doesn't last long though, or have much range.
Battlecurse impedes your fighting ability, sensibly enough. Since it only affects one person for a few rounds, it's considerably weaker than Hold person in most circumstances. Not really worth a 3rd level spell slot.
Aragaster's cloak of shadows lets you counter Evard's black tentacles, as well as providing general low level protection through concealment. He obviously wasn't very keen on being grappled.
Othnal's spectral dagger gives you another fairly standard flying weapon. Another so-so offensive effect to add to your selection.
Sphere of eyes lets you penetrate a whole bunch of misdirecting spells. Just the thing for if you're being regularly screwed over, but haven't quite reached the stage where you can use true seeing.
Jonstal's double wizardry and Improved double wizardry let you unleash two spells at once, under very limited conditions. Spell weavers still aren't remotely challenged by human multitasking capabilities. Not really worth it most of the time.
Valiancy is really crap compared to haste, but at least it doesn't age you. Another bit of experimental magic that doesn't compare to standard spells of the same level. Seems like this year, he's definitely erring on the side of conservatism. What are we to make of this?
part 4/6
Rumblings: In previous instalments of this column, we saw the end of TSR's relationship with SSI. Now, it's time to meet their replacements, Interplay. Actually, it looks like it's not the end after all. Interplay are getting the Realms and Planescape, while SSI is getting Ravenloft. Curious. Once again I smell the hand of behind the scenes politics, and wonder what led to things shaking out like this. Also probably involving plenty of wrangling negotiation is the return of Weis and Hickman to writing for Dragonlance. Whether it's genuine desire to tell more stories, or just the temptation of another fat payout, they're back, and the company seriously hopes they'll revive Krynn's flagging fortunes. Get ready for worldshaking metaplot events.
In other news, WotC are bringing M:tG to computer systems as well, and there's a new SF gaming magazine out there. Probably won't last long though. Man, it's easy to be cynical about this stuff, knowing what's coming in the near future. Fiction: Lifegiver by Darren C Cummings. Ooh. This is one I remember very positively. We've had plenty of intelligent swords over the years, dominating their owners and frequently leading to their downfall, but what's rarely explored is the possibility of them learning and choosing to change from their experiences with owners over the centuries. Well, here you go. It may not be legal under D&D RAW, but hey, if you can have angsty conflicted vampires, you can definitely make a good story about an angsty pacifist magical sword. Of course, the people it meets are bound to be suspicious, especially when they know the legends about it's past deeds. And as Redemption = death in far too many stories, it doesn't end well. So a sad story here, but a good one, and one that definitely opened my eyes up to another plot avenue.
The wizards three: Near another year has passed since our esteemed archmages last met. Yeah, scheduling's a bitch when you have a ton of responsibilities. Being lighthearted and whimsical takes a lot more effort than it seems. Nothing of significance happens in this one, and all assembled are noticeably more lighthearted than previous instalments. Familiarity breeds contempt, which leaves them open for disintegrations. The primary focus is on the new spells, which get a considerably larger proportion of the article than in previous instalments. So let's see how cheesy and broken they are individually.
Belsham's mace is an entry level variant on the flying weapon that attacks independently principle. Since it only lasts two rounds, it's not going to be much of an independent actor, but it does have multiple nasty effects beyond just hurting what it hits. Just don't expect it to be as reliable as magic missile.
Falling Wall lets you do what Elminster can anyway, but everyone else is forbidden from with other wall spells. Squishy squish. Definitely one for the sadist. It doesn't last long though, or have much range.
Battlecurse impedes your fighting ability, sensibly enough. Since it only affects one person for a few rounds, it's considerably weaker than Hold person in most circumstances. Not really worth a 3rd level spell slot.
Aragaster's cloak of shadows lets you counter Evard's black tentacles, as well as providing general low level protection through concealment. He obviously wasn't very keen on being grappled.
Othnal's spectral dagger gives you another fairly standard flying weapon. Another so-so offensive effect to add to your selection.
Sphere of eyes lets you penetrate a whole bunch of misdirecting spells. Just the thing for if you're being regularly screwed over, but haven't quite reached the stage where you can use true seeing.
Jonstal's double wizardry and Improved double wizardry let you unleash two spells at once, under very limited conditions. Spell weavers still aren't remotely challenged by human multitasking capabilities. Not really worth it most of the time.
Valiancy is really crap compared to haste, but at least it doesn't age you. Another bit of experimental magic that doesn't compare to standard spells of the same level. Seems like this year, he's definitely erring on the side of conservatism. What are we to make of this?
(un)reason
Legend
Dragon Magazine Issue 211: November 1994
part 5/6
Role-playing reviews: Cyberpunk time again. It may not be particularly innovative anymore, but it is reaching it's peak of commercial penetration, with shadowrun and cyberpunk 2020 both enjoying plenty of supplements and an active metaplot. And much as Rick would prefer not to have to deal with imaginary computers, as long as he's a reviewer, it's his duty to go where the money is. It's a hard life. Does it ever get easier?
Land of the free is a full book length adventure for Cyberpunk 2020. It takes a leaf out of Mad Max's book, and sends you on a road trip across america, with plenty of setting detail along with the plot. With tons of optional encounters and plot twists, it looks like the kind of thing that can be draw upon to fill out a campaign in general as well as following the actual tracks. Just don't expect gritty realism from this one.
Greenwar contrasts pretty sharply with the previous adventure, but is also pretty good. This puts you in the world of corporate espionage and buyouts, trying to take over an enemy company without ruining it (which rules out unsubtle uses of violence.) There's still room for tense searches and cool action set-pieces, showing that this kind of complex RP heavy adventure can work if done right.
Paradise lost is for shadowrun. This time Mr Johnson sends the PC's to Hawaii, where they face a obstacle course of slightly undeveloped encounters. It all seems a bit contrived and flabby. They don't seem that good at adventures really.
Double Exposure is tighter in it's construction, but seems to suffer from the worst excesses of mid 90's railroading, with the story operating on ridiculous amounts of co-incidence rather than solid plotting and worldbuilding. You can't just have things happen because you say so if you want to maintain any illusion of reality.
Digital web is for Mage: the Ascension's Virtual Adepts, showing you what a digital wizard can do in the world of darkness. There's a whole bunch of methods they can use to do this, and the worldbuilding is pretty complex as well. As is the white wolf way, things aren't always clearly explained, but that'll just fuel the fanboy flamewars, which is good for the line in the long run.
Also notable this month is GURPS Werewolf: the Apocalypse, and Strangers in Prax, which looks like it might be the last Runequest supplement in quite a while. Now there's a sad statement. I know they were inactive for quite a while before Mongoose revived the property. What went wrong for that line?
Sage advice: Where are the rules for mass combat ( The castle guide. Buy it now, :teeth ting: )
What happens to sha'irs spell collecting on the planes (usually nothing. Gens can get out of ravenloft. Anywhere else is child's play in comparison)
Do dragon mages and clerics get better spellcasting choices than regular dragons (oh yes, very much so)
I thought dragons could only breathe 3 times per day (Are you still thinking in 1st edition rules. Get with the times man, don't be a square!)
Can I use a council of wyrms PC in another setting (only if you don't mind that you won't be able to advance levels with the other characters)
What spheres do dragon clerics get (same as any generalist. Far better than any specialist)
What tome of magic spheres do Lolth and Eilistraee get (Does Skip have to go back to this. Skip already gave you months of extra service. I guess it's not as humiliating as having to do spellfire stuff. Speaking of which, Skip supposes Skip had better lubricate Skip up for this months reaming.)
Does Iuz throw a tantrum if the heartwood spear kills him (yes. )
Who chooses what land Iuz razes (His player)
Do you get the spoils of war from a land Iuz razes (No. If he can't have it, no-one can)
Can a wizard cast fly and attack a protected realm (yes)
Can you kill a champion as soon as they're chosen (only if your wizard's rank is lower)
part 5/6
Role-playing reviews: Cyberpunk time again. It may not be particularly innovative anymore, but it is reaching it's peak of commercial penetration, with shadowrun and cyberpunk 2020 both enjoying plenty of supplements and an active metaplot. And much as Rick would prefer not to have to deal with imaginary computers, as long as he's a reviewer, it's his duty to go where the money is. It's a hard life.
Does it ever get easier? Land of the free is a full book length adventure for Cyberpunk 2020. It takes a leaf out of Mad Max's book, and sends you on a road trip across america, with plenty of setting detail along with the plot. With tons of optional encounters and plot twists, it looks like the kind of thing that can be draw upon to fill out a campaign in general as well as following the actual tracks. Just don't expect gritty realism from this one.
Greenwar contrasts pretty sharply with the previous adventure, but is also pretty good. This puts you in the world of corporate espionage and buyouts, trying to take over an enemy company without ruining it (which rules out unsubtle uses of violence.) There's still room for tense searches and cool action set-pieces, showing that this kind of complex RP heavy adventure can work if done right.
Paradise lost is for shadowrun. This time Mr Johnson sends the PC's to Hawaii, where they face a obstacle course of slightly undeveloped encounters. It all seems a bit contrived and flabby. They don't seem that good at adventures really.
Double Exposure is tighter in it's construction, but seems to suffer from the worst excesses of mid 90's railroading, with the story operating on ridiculous amounts of co-incidence rather than solid plotting and worldbuilding. You can't just have things happen because you say so if you want to maintain any illusion of reality.
Digital web is for Mage: the Ascension's Virtual Adepts, showing you what a digital wizard can do in the world of darkness. There's a whole bunch of methods they can use to do this, and the worldbuilding is pretty complex as well. As is the white wolf way, things aren't always clearly explained, but that'll just fuel the fanboy flamewars, which is good for the line in the long run.
Also notable this month is GURPS Werewolf: the Apocalypse, and Strangers in Prax, which looks like it might be the last Runequest supplement in quite a while. Now there's a sad statement. I know they were inactive for quite a while before Mongoose revived the property. What went wrong for that line?
Sage advice: Where are the rules for mass combat ( The castle guide. Buy it now, :teeth ting: )
What happens to sha'irs spell collecting on the planes (usually nothing. Gens can get out of ravenloft. Anywhere else is child's play in comparison)
Do dragon mages and clerics get better spellcasting choices than regular dragons (oh yes, very much so)
I thought dragons could only breathe 3 times per day (Are you still thinking in 1st edition rules. Get with the times man, don't be a square!)
Can I use a council of wyrms PC in another setting (only if you don't mind that you won't be able to advance levels with the other characters)
What spheres do dragon clerics get (same as any generalist. Far better than any specialist)
What tome of magic spheres do Lolth and Eilistraee get (Does Skip have to go back to this. Skip already gave you months of extra service. I guess it's not as humiliating as having to do spellfire stuff. Speaking of which, Skip supposes Skip had better lubricate Skip up for this months reaming.)
Does Iuz throw a tantrum if the heartwood spear kills him (yes. )
Who chooses what land Iuz razes (His player)
Do you get the spoils of war from a land Iuz razes (No. If he can't have it, no-one can)
Can a wizard cast fly and attack a protected realm (yes)
Can you kill a champion as soon as they're chosen (only if your wizard's rank is lower)
(un)reason
Legend
Dragon Magazine Issue 211: November 1994
part 6/6
The role of books: Dun lady's Jess by Doranna Durgin puts a horse into a human body, and has her trying to make a living, find her rider, and get turned back. This premise is followed up logically and avoiding cliches. It seems like an excellent introduction that won't be easy to follow up.
A prince among men by Robert N Charrette is in sharp contrast to the previous one, too many ideas, poorly developed. And Arthur returns to a cyberpunk setting? That seems very cliche, since Shadowrun and Rifts cover much of the same ground. Why bother?
Aurian by Maggie Furey also draws upon a bit of arthurian mythology, but manages to take it a completely different direction and make both the characters and worldbuilding convincing. It's large, but makes easy reading, and looks like it could become a good trilogy or even longer. And we know our book publishers like their shelf fillers.
Batman: Knightfall by Dennis O'Neil is the one where batman gets his back broken, and Jean-Paul Valley replaces him. It does not get a positive review at all. Batman gets handed the idiot ball so the plot can work, the plotting is poor, and of course, the reset button gets pushed at the end. Bleah. Another reminder that 90's comic continuity was a sucky business.
The raven ring by Patricia C Wrede gets a blandly positive review. It just seems to be generally good all round, without any hugely distinctive features to generate controversy. So while it may be good, it's unlikely to make the leap to megasales.
The godmother by Elizabeth Ann Scarborough is one of those twisted modern day retellings of old fairytales. This is another one that feels awkwardly stitched together, drawing on so many stories, and introducing so many characters that no-one really gets enough spotlight time. Either make it longer, or edit it better.
Dragon's eye, edited by Cristopher Stasheff is an anthology set about dragons. To make sure this doesn't become monotonous, they draw on plenty of different regions, times and mythologies. From the usual celtic stuff to bibilical, napoleonic and WWII. The main complaint is that it's a bit expensive for it's size. Costs for everything seem to be going up too much around this time. Must be the economy.
Tarant loses his head, but keeps on ticking. The first story of Libram X comes to an end, but is left very much open for further adventures. After you've had a taste of the multiverse, how can you be happy going back to a normal life? Dragonmirth has more thoughts on dungeon hierarchy and ecology. Yamara and co establish a working relationship with those damnable insects against a greater foe.
Through the looking glass: Since Robert is now only bimonthly, he has to use this one for christmas shopping, otherwise he'd miss it entirely. When you count the lead-in time, he's probably writing this in september. If he didn't have an established relationship with the minis companies, there's no way he could do that. You have to work your ass off to establish a business, but hopefully if you do things right, they'll become automated after a while, so you can relax a little and do something with your life other than nonstop work. Or not. It all depends on if you're succeeding or not.
A dragon-riding warrior kicks off our minis this month. It's not a very big dragon, but as we've found before, three hundred foot great wyrms are a bit of a pain to represent on the tabletop. A cyberpunk street biker, looking like they're in the act of a drive-by shooting. A whole tribe of lizardmen, with predictably primitive weaponry. Shame there's no decent roads where they live for you to do a drive-by on them. Some more hard-bitten streetrunners and mercenaries, heavily dressed and armed. And some slightly less heavily dressed (but hardly immodest ) victorian ladies round things out. As usual, they're covering a wide range of eras and genres in here, even if the sales might not reflect that.
TSR Previews: A surprisingly light december this year, with the major push having happened last month. So the people manning the presses can enjoy time with their own families a little earlier.
Planescape gets The Deva Spark. The slightly awkward adventure that tells us that free will and moral agency is a complicated, and often incredibly stupid business. And can be liberallyed around with by magic in D&D. Be careful what you eat.
The Forgotten Realms competes the "Marco" Volo trilogy series of adventures. Who is he really, and why is he on the run? Is the reason ridiculously improbable and nothing to be ashamed of at all.
Mystara releases the Poor Wizards Almanac for 1012. They may have shifted the universe sideways a bit, but they're still keeping the timeline consistent. It's a lot easier this way than having the metaplot changes scattered around in supplements as they come up.
They did a magic encylopedia a couple of years ago. Now they're doing an Encyclopedia Magica. I dunno. :shakes head: Almost as bad as demons, deamons and demodands. Anyway, Slade is in charge again, but the scope is much bigger this time. These tremendously pretty faux leatherbound follies attempt to collect every item TSR has even published. I still have all 4 of them. Still, this is one of those things that I'm very glad we have the internet for these days. Living documents are so much less expensive and inconvenient than things like these, which are out of date even before release, and need yearly updates to even come close to staying relevant.
The Amazing Engine releases Tabloid! A world in which all the stories in the tabloids are true, and you play one of these beleaguered bastions of journalistic integrity trying to find the truth and get it out there? Muahahaha!!! They do have amusingly weird imaginations.
Endless Quest gets Forest of Darkness. Another choose your own adventure. Which path will you pick, and will it get you home safely?
And finally, there's The Hidden War by Michael Armstrong. Just another basic sci-fi conspiracy novel. Cue the X-files theme music.
Between the themed section, the Realms articles, and the fiction, this manages to be a fairly pleasing issue for me. There's a whole bunch of cool ideas in them, many long overdue. Once again I am reminded exactly why I press on through this even when some issues are mostly useless. The constant churn of writers and fashions mean that even when they do cover the same ideas again, there's often at least a different perspective on them. But still, screw the cover versions. It's the new originals I'm really interested in. Bring them on, if you please designers.
part 6/6
The role of books: Dun lady's Jess by Doranna Durgin puts a horse into a human body, and has her trying to make a living, find her rider, and get turned back. This premise is followed up logically and avoiding cliches. It seems like an excellent introduction that won't be easy to follow up.
A prince among men by Robert N Charrette is in sharp contrast to the previous one, too many ideas, poorly developed. And Arthur returns to a cyberpunk setting? That seems very cliche, since Shadowrun and Rifts cover much of the same ground. Why bother?
Aurian by Maggie Furey also draws upon a bit of arthurian mythology, but manages to take it a completely different direction and make both the characters and worldbuilding convincing. It's large, but makes easy reading, and looks like it could become a good trilogy or even longer. And we know our book publishers like their shelf fillers.
Batman: Knightfall by Dennis O'Neil is the one where batman gets his back broken, and Jean-Paul Valley replaces him. It does not get a positive review at all. Batman gets handed the idiot ball so the plot can work, the plotting is poor, and of course, the reset button gets pushed at the end. Bleah. Another reminder that 90's comic continuity was a sucky business.
The raven ring by Patricia C Wrede gets a blandly positive review. It just seems to be generally good all round, without any hugely distinctive features to generate controversy. So while it may be good, it's unlikely to make the leap to megasales.
The godmother by Elizabeth Ann Scarborough is one of those twisted modern day retellings of old fairytales. This is another one that feels awkwardly stitched together, drawing on so many stories, and introducing so many characters that no-one really gets enough spotlight time. Either make it longer, or edit it better.
Dragon's eye, edited by Cristopher Stasheff is an anthology set about dragons. To make sure this doesn't become monotonous, they draw on plenty of different regions, times and mythologies. From the usual celtic stuff to bibilical, napoleonic and WWII. The main complaint is that it's a bit expensive for it's size. Costs for everything seem to be going up too much around this time. Must be the economy.
Tarant loses his head, but keeps on ticking. The first story of Libram X comes to an end, but is left very much open for further adventures. After you've had a taste of the multiverse, how can you be happy going back to a normal life? Dragonmirth has more thoughts on dungeon hierarchy and ecology. Yamara and co establish a working relationship with those damnable insects against a greater foe.
Through the looking glass: Since Robert is now only bimonthly, he has to use this one for christmas shopping, otherwise he'd miss it entirely. When you count the lead-in time, he's probably writing this in september. If he didn't have an established relationship with the minis companies, there's no way he could do that. You have to work your ass off to establish a business, but hopefully if you do things right, they'll become automated after a while, so you can relax a little and do something with your life other than nonstop work. Or not. It all depends on if you're succeeding or not.
A dragon-riding warrior kicks off our minis this month. It's not a very big dragon, but as we've found before, three hundred foot great wyrms are a bit of a pain to represent on the tabletop. A cyberpunk street biker, looking like they're in the act of a drive-by shooting. A whole tribe of lizardmen, with predictably primitive weaponry. Shame there's no decent roads where they live for you to do a drive-by on them. Some more hard-bitten streetrunners and mercenaries, heavily dressed and armed. And some slightly less heavily dressed (but hardly immodest ) victorian ladies round things out. As usual, they're covering a wide range of eras and genres in here, even if the sales might not reflect that.
TSR Previews: A surprisingly light december this year, with the major push having happened last month. So the people manning the presses can enjoy time with their own families a little earlier.
Planescape gets The Deva Spark. The slightly awkward adventure that tells us that free will and moral agency is a complicated, and often incredibly stupid business. And can be liberally
ed around with by magic in D&D. Be careful what you eat. The Forgotten Realms competes the "Marco" Volo trilogy series of adventures. Who is he really, and why is he on the run? Is the reason ridiculously improbable and nothing to be ashamed of at all.
Mystara releases the Poor Wizards Almanac for 1012. They may have shifted the universe sideways a bit, but they're still keeping the timeline consistent. It's a lot easier this way than having the metaplot changes scattered around in supplements as they come up.
They did a magic encylopedia a couple of years ago. Now they're doing an Encyclopedia Magica. I dunno. :shakes head: Almost as bad as demons, deamons and demodands. Anyway, Slade is in charge again, but the scope is much bigger this time. These tremendously pretty faux leatherbound follies attempt to collect every item TSR has even published. I still have all 4 of them. Still, this is one of those things that I'm very glad we have the internet for these days. Living documents are so much less expensive and inconvenient than things like these, which are out of date even before release, and need yearly updates to even come close to staying relevant.
The Amazing Engine releases Tabloid! A world in which all the stories in the tabloids are true, and you play one of these beleaguered bastions of journalistic integrity trying to find the truth and get it out there? Muahahaha!!! They do have amusingly weird imaginations.
Endless Quest gets Forest of Darkness. Another choose your own adventure. Which path will you pick, and will it get you home safely?
And finally, there's The Hidden War by Michael Armstrong. Just another basic sci-fi conspiracy novel. Cue the X-files theme music.
Between the themed section, the Realms articles, and the fiction, this manages to be a fairly pleasing issue for me. There's a whole bunch of cool ideas in them, many long overdue. Once again I am reminded exactly why I press on through this even when some issues are mostly useless. The constant churn of writers and fashions mean that even when they do cover the same ideas again, there's often at least a different perspective on them. But still, screw the cover versions. It's the new originals I'm really interested in. Bring them on, if you please designers.
Orius
Legend
But web pages and printouts do not have the coolness factor the Encyclopedia Magic did. When I first saw the first volume in the bookstore, I knew I had to get it. Also, because I was still pretty new to the game at the time, it gave me the first real idea of just how much I could do with the game.
David Howery
Hero
I admit to picking up the Encyclopedia Magica just because the stuff I created for the various articles I wrote were in there, and seeing your name in print is always fun. Alas, they were one of the things I disposed of somewhere along the way during one of my many moves...
(un)reason
Legend
Dragon Magazine Issue 212: December 1994
part 1/6
124 pages. Monsters breaking down the door? I don't think they're bringing us any decent christmas presents. Death and destruction, more likely. But probably not rape, since this is pretty much the middle of the 2e era. Curiously, they have a featured articles section, but no particular topic for the articles within. What's up with that then? Did they run out of money or space for intro artwork? (as they do seem to have a general theme of being adventure designing advice for the Dungeon Master. ) Don't tell me they're already feeling the pinch round here. Stuff like this is only going to get more frequent in the near future, isn't it.
In this issue:
Letters: A public service announcement from the runners of Gen Con that if you want to be involved next year, you'd better let them know pronto, for the deadline is surprisingly close. Given their size, a 6 month lead-in time is now needed. How very tiresome.
A letter trying to find the article on fighter assassins. Issue 172'll do you good.
A question about the probability of being published in the magazine. For your first article, not great. Do not let that deter you though.
A letter asking for help converting the FR Novels into adventures for their players. They keep wandering off the track. You know, railroading is generally considered a bad thing. We've had articles on this before. Trying to put players up against fictional characters usually has unexpected results.
Editorial: In a year which has seen their quotient of blatant promotional articles increase, Dale ironically tries to avoid that by pointing out the nonmonetary ways to facilitate gaming. Driving people to the game, providing the snacks, space, and DM'ing cost relatively little, and help make the whole experience so much more pleasant. Gaming is a fundamentally social hobby, and if no-one does these things, then campaigns are likely to be short and awkward. Creating a game club or convention may well be even more effort for you, but it has definite benefits for gaming in your area. Hmm. I think he may underestimate how much these things cost. Conventions in particular require massive outlay, even if they have a chance of making it back with profit at the end. And as a terminal cheapskate who managed to get through further education without getting into debt, (not easy at all these days) I've calculated exactly how much these things add up over the course of a year. Course, forgetting little courtesies like that which other people would consider necessities so I can afford to save to buy equipment to pursue my dreams may well be a part of why my social life is so messed up, but that's largely my own fault. This is an uncomfortable reminder that I've been living in my own world for far too long, and may not have been treating the people around me very nicely in the process. I'm going to have a good hard think about this. How much do we pay for the things we don't consider, that make the world work? How much do we get back for them in intangibles such as friendship, company and the practical favors people who know each other do when asked? What am I actually gaining and losing by living this way? Bah. I made the decision to put my creativity before my humanity a long time ago. I can put my life back together after I finish this work. (at least, I hope I'll be able too) Onwards!
First Quest: Tim Brown? Don't remember that name. What did he do? Greyhawk Ruins? Dragon Kings? Ok, that's not too bad. In fact, he's done quite a bit to push interesting epic games. It's mildly ironic, then, that the experience that hooked him on roleplaying was killing a single skeleton and barely surviving. Goes to show, it's the human element that's most captivating, whatever the supposed power level. He manages to get the balance between what leads up to his first encounter, the big event itself, and the rest of his early gaming experiences down pretty well. It also seems he likes quite a variety of stuff, with third party rpgs, wargaming and PbM all part of his youthful experimentation. This is definitely one that gives me a good picture of the man behind the writing, and his general approach to the world, most of which I quite like. He's probably been reading the previous instalments of this column and learning from their mistakes.
part 1/6
124 pages. Monsters breaking down the door? I don't think they're bringing us any decent christmas presents. Death and destruction, more likely. But probably not rape, since this is pretty much the middle of the 2e era. Curiously, they have a featured articles section, but no particular topic for the articles within. What's up with that then? Did they run out of money or space for intro artwork? (as they do seem to have a general theme of being adventure designing advice for the Dungeon Master. ) Don't tell me they're already feeling the pinch round here. Stuff like this is only going to get more frequent in the near future, isn't it.
In this issue:
Letters: A public service announcement from the runners of Gen Con that if you want to be involved next year, you'd better let them know pronto, for the deadline is surprisingly close. Given their size, a 6 month lead-in time is now needed. How very tiresome.
A letter trying to find the article on fighter assassins. Issue 172'll do you good.
A question about the probability of being published in the magazine. For your first article, not great. Do not let that deter you though.
A letter asking for help converting the FR Novels into adventures for their players. They keep wandering off the track. You know, railroading is generally considered a bad thing. We've had articles on this before. Trying to put players up against fictional characters usually has unexpected results.
Editorial: In a year which has seen their quotient of blatant promotional articles increase, Dale ironically tries to avoid that by pointing out the nonmonetary ways to facilitate gaming. Driving people to the game, providing the snacks, space, and DM'ing cost relatively little, and help make the whole experience so much more pleasant. Gaming is a fundamentally social hobby, and if no-one does these things, then campaigns are likely to be short and awkward. Creating a game club or convention may well be even more effort for you, but it has definite benefits for gaming in your area. Hmm. I think he may underestimate how much these things cost. Conventions in particular require massive outlay, even if they have a chance of making it back with profit at the end. And as a terminal cheapskate who managed to get through further education without getting into debt, (not easy at all these days) I've calculated exactly how much these things add up over the course of a year. Course, forgetting little courtesies like that which other people would consider necessities so I can afford to save to buy equipment to pursue my dreams may well be a part of why my social life is so messed up, but that's largely my own fault. This is an uncomfortable reminder that I've been living in my own world for far too long, and may not have been treating the people around me very nicely in the process. I'm going to have a good hard think about this. How much do we pay for the things we don't consider, that make the world work? How much do we get back for them in intangibles such as friendship, company and the practical favors people who know each other do when asked? What am I actually gaining and losing by living this way? Bah. I made the decision to put my creativity before my humanity a long time ago. I can put my life back together after I finish this work. (at least, I hope I'll be able too) Onwards!
First Quest: Tim Brown? Don't remember that name. What did he do? Greyhawk Ruins? Dragon Kings? Ok, that's not too bad. In fact, he's done quite a bit to push interesting epic games. It's mildly ironic, then, that the experience that hooked him on roleplaying was killing a single skeleton and barely surviving. Goes to show, it's the human element that's most captivating, whatever the supposed power level. He manages to get the balance between what leads up to his first encounter, the big event itself, and the rest of his early gaming experiences down pretty well. It also seems he likes quite a variety of stuff, with third party rpgs, wargaming and PbM all part of his youthful experimentation. This is definitely one that gives me a good picture of the man behind the writing, and his general approach to the world, most of which I quite like. He's probably been reading the previous instalments of this column and learning from their mistakes.
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