David Howery
Hero
I wonder if the guy who wrote this letter went on to become the guy who wrote the script for "Tangled"...
Let's read the entire run
- Thread starter (un)reason
- Start date
(un)reason
Legend
Dragon Magazine Annual 1996
part 3/8
Bazaar of the Bizarre: Another bunch of new magical armours? That was quick. They must be running out of ideas to approve this. Couldn't you do staves or scrolls, something you haven't done in a few years? Mutter mutter mutter.
Rabak Armor is made of multiple layers of wood with sticky sap smeared on top. This makes it maintenance heavy, but very stealthy for it's AC and able to trap weapons that hit you. Another one that would be nowhere near as much benefit for the PC's as the enemies, as without the materials to fix it, it loses it's special qualities in weeks.
Sindar web armor is less of a bugger to maintain, but even rarer than elven chain. A rogue who wants some really tough spider silk armor like this will probably have to steal it, given the stupid prices it goes for.
Asheiran armor is made from tons of tiny crustaceans. This makes it another one that takes ages to make and tons of maintenance. Don't even think of using it out of the water.
Sul Armor is even more gross, made of trained cockroaches that cover your body and respond to the will of their wearer. Since they are chameleonic, they actually boost your thiefly hiding skills. They're perfectly designed for drama and I like this one.
Armor of the Ventadari is made out of layers of transparent force, allowing you to be fully armored and still cheesecake.
They also absorb magic, although unlike last time's item that does the same, they don't get stronger from doing so, and can be overloaded and fail. Still, this is another definite case of paucity of ideas, even if this variant has some nice fluff added to it.
The dragon's bestiary: Another collection of underdark monsters in quick succession as well. They really are running short on original ideas this year. Not really a surprise, given the amount of time they've been doing this. Oh well, on I trudge wearily.
Gohlbrorn are to bulettes as people are to chimpanzees, using tactics and missile weapons where regular landsharks would just wade in biting and slashing. They can burrow ridiculously fast, making setting up ambushes and escaping if things turn against them a cinch. One for the kobold lovers to really take advantage of.
Lukhorn are gigantic worms with camouflage so good, you could just walk right into them, and not realise until you get swallowed. Now there's something that's been missing from D&D and I didn't even realise it. I know I've seen that kind of trick more than once in books. How pleasing to add in.
Varkha are another variant humanoid, slightly smaller and more vicious lizard men. These really do not add anything new in the slightest. Peh.
Chromatic mold is another annoying threat that gives you good reason to be deeply suspicious of anything fungal. Curiously, it's a lot more dangerous to things with infravision. Oh the dilemma. To take torches or use magic to see in the dark. Looks like there's a monster designed to catch you out either way.
Eighonn is a mysterious unique shadowy being that kills without remorse. Unique? Ha. That's every other mysterious cloaked badass to a tee. Once again, I'm really not impressed here. A decidedly mediocre collection overall.
part 3/8
Bazaar of the Bizarre: Another bunch of new magical armours? That was quick. They must be running out of ideas to approve this. Couldn't you do staves or scrolls, something you haven't done in a few years? Mutter mutter mutter.
Rabak Armor is made of multiple layers of wood with sticky sap smeared on top. This makes it maintenance heavy, but very stealthy for it's AC and able to trap weapons that hit you. Another one that would be nowhere near as much benefit for the PC's as the enemies, as without the materials to fix it, it loses it's special qualities in weeks.
Sindar web armor is less of a bugger to maintain, but even rarer than elven chain. A rogue who wants some really tough spider silk armor like this will probably have to steal it, given the stupid prices it goes for.
Asheiran armor is made from tons of tiny crustaceans. This makes it another one that takes ages to make and tons of maintenance. Don't even think of using it out of the water.
Sul Armor is even more gross, made of trained cockroaches that cover your body and respond to the will of their wearer. Since they are chameleonic, they actually boost your thiefly hiding skills. They're perfectly designed for drama and I like this one.
Armor of the Ventadari is made out of layers of transparent force, allowing you to be fully armored and still cheesecake.
They also absorb magic, although unlike last time's item that does the same, they don't get stronger from doing so, and can be overloaded and fail. Still, this is another definite case of paucity of ideas, even if this variant has some nice fluff added to it. The dragon's bestiary: Another collection of underdark monsters in quick succession as well. They really are running short on original ideas this year. Not really a surprise, given the amount of time they've been doing this. Oh well, on I trudge wearily.
Gohlbrorn are to bulettes as people are to chimpanzees, using tactics and missile weapons where regular landsharks would just wade in biting and slashing. They can burrow ridiculously fast, making setting up ambushes and escaping if things turn against them a cinch. One for the kobold lovers to really take advantage of.
Lukhorn are gigantic worms with camouflage so good, you could just walk right into them, and not realise until you get swallowed. Now there's something that's been missing from D&D and I didn't even realise it. I know I've seen that kind of trick more than once in books. How pleasing to add in.
Varkha are another variant humanoid, slightly smaller and more vicious lizard men. These really do not add anything new in the slightest. Peh.
Chromatic mold is another annoying threat that gives you good reason to be deeply suspicious of anything fungal. Curiously, it's a lot more dangerous to things with infravision. Oh the dilemma. To take torches or use magic to see in the dark. Looks like there's a monster designed to catch you out either way.
Eighonn is a mysterious unique shadowy being that kills without remorse. Unique? Ha. That's every other mysterious cloaked badass to a tee. Once again, I'm really not impressed here. A decidedly mediocre collection overall.
(un)reason
Legend
Dragon Magazine Annual 1996
part 4/8
Rogues gallery: Another set of characters from a recent novel stated out here, courtesy of their actual author. Now, given that I've never seen Elaine Cunningham produce any game books, I do wonder if she actually plays D&D much, or if she's like Simon Hawke, just someone who writes in their worlds. Well, it's not as if D&D is that hard to learn. We shall see if there's any rules-breaking going on here.
Hasheth, Lord Venazir is an annoyingly talented teenage nobleman who has trained as an assassin, worked for the harpers, and also managed to amass an independent fortune through merchant work at the age of 16. Sounds more like an anime protagonist than a D&D one. Can you say Cheeeese. Ahh, the joys of flexible timekeeping.
Ferret is an elf who disguises herself as a human, in the process wearing some rather sleazy outfits to ensure people's attention is always on the wrong features. Fanservice! She too works as an assassin, but has an agenda behind many of the targets she chooses. Interesting. Still, if the next one is a shaved dwarf on stilts, I shall laugh a lot.
Foxfire is another elf with a literally translated name. He also reads as author fanservice for women, with great detail gone into just how sexy he is, strong and with a dark past, but also considerate and a good leader. So yeah, there is a hell of a lot of cheese in this collection. I really don't think I'm the target audience for her books. Let's move on.
Campaign Classics: Spelljammer's turn now. This is one that doesn't feel basic or rehashed, instead being Roger Moore's look at the scro, and how to make the most of them in any setting. They're reasonably capable in a fight, and have even more tricks up their sleeves than regular goblinoids. Plus spaceships scare the
out of people in a regular fantasy campaign, because it means you have an enormous mobility advantage. You'll need the original monster entry as it doesn't repeat that stuff, but if you do, there's plenty of cool ideas for you to take advantage of. Actually, in terms of presentation, it's quite similar to his old classic articles on demihumans in 1982. And that's a very good thing indeed in my book, as it gives this article more weight in general. Not being constantly occupied by editorial work has indeed helped him return to being a valuable writer for them.
Forgotten realms: Ed Greenwood introduces this one of course, with his usual impish sense of humour making things so much more entertaining to read. The realms is now packed full of characters competent, and not so much. And good gods they get up to some funny stuff. Well, when you're Elminster, and they offer very little threat to you, it's easy to laugh. How big does the body count in the various Realms novels become before they get the mandated happy ending? I guess even here, you can make a real difference to individual lives. There's still plenty of people having fun with this world, and actually, you could be one of them. Don't forget that, amid all the overcrowding canon.
part 4/8
Rogues gallery: Another set of characters from a recent novel stated out here, courtesy of their actual author. Now, given that I've never seen Elaine Cunningham produce any game books, I do wonder if she actually plays D&D much, or if she's like Simon Hawke, just someone who writes in their worlds. Well, it's not as if D&D is that hard to learn. We shall see if there's any rules-breaking going on here.
Hasheth, Lord Venazir is an annoyingly talented teenage nobleman who has trained as an assassin, worked for the harpers, and also managed to amass an independent fortune through merchant work at the age of 16. Sounds more like an anime protagonist than a D&D one. Can you say Cheeeese. Ahh, the joys of flexible timekeeping.
Ferret is an elf who disguises herself as a human, in the process wearing some rather sleazy outfits to ensure people's attention is always on the wrong features. Fanservice! She too works as an assassin, but has an agenda behind many of the targets she chooses. Interesting. Still, if the next one is a shaved dwarf on stilts, I shall laugh a lot.
Foxfire is another elf with a literally translated name. He also reads as author fanservice for women, with great detail gone into just how sexy he is, strong and with a dark past, but also considerate and a good leader. So yeah, there is a hell of a lot of cheese in this collection. I really don't think I'm the target audience for her books. Let's move on.
Campaign Classics: Spelljammer's turn now. This is one that doesn't feel basic or rehashed, instead being Roger Moore's look at the scro, and how to make the most of them in any setting. They're reasonably capable in a fight, and have even more tricks up their sleeves than regular goblinoids. Plus spaceships scare the
out of people in a regular fantasy campaign, because it means you have an enormous mobility advantage. You'll need the original monster entry as it doesn't repeat that stuff, but if you do, there's plenty of cool ideas for you to take advantage of. Actually, in terms of presentation, it's quite similar to his old classic articles on demihumans in 1982. And that's a very good thing indeed in my book, as it gives this article more weight in general. Not being constantly occupied by editorial work has indeed helped him return to being a valuable writer for them. Forgotten realms: Ed Greenwood introduces this one of course, with his usual impish sense of humour making things so much more entertaining to read. The realms is now packed full of characters competent, and not so much. And good gods they get up to some funny stuff. Well, when you're Elminster, and they offer very little threat to you, it's easy to laugh. How big does the body count in the various Realms novels become before they get the mandated happy ending? I guess even here, you can make a real difference to individual lives. There's still plenty of people having fun with this world, and actually, you could be one of them. Don't forget that, amid all the overcrowding canon.
(un)reason
Legend
Dragon Magazine Annual 1996
part 5/8
Gem of the north: Hmm. A description of Alustriel's palace. You know, a map would only take up a page or two, and help quite a lot, especially for adventurers who might want to get a little combative. But no, instead we have to visualise it all ourself, and accept that there's great wodges of stuff that we're not being told about, as they want to maintain the supreme power of mystra's chosen, and that means always being able to pull another deus ex machina out of their arse. So while there's a good deal of cool descriptive detail in this article, it is very much part of the problem, both in the 2e sense of putting description over stuff that will be useful in actual play, and the Realms specific issue of tying everything down and making it feel like the PC's can't really affect the world. I don't really feel comfortable reading it.
Dragonlance fifth age: Now, the Realms started slow and gradually built to dominance, but was a success from day one, and never really flagged in popularity. If anything, it's supremacy over the other D&D settings is all the more obvious today, as it's the only one getting repeated support in 4e and fairly regular novels anymore. Dragonlance, by contrast, started in a big fanfare, and then really, it's been mostly downhill from there. Still, that means they've been less afraid to shake things up, for it's less of a cash cow to kill in the first place if it does fail. And next year they're really going to go to town filling in the 5th age. After all, they have to get this stuff out quick, for things aren't great in the company, and if it doesn't sell, this setting'll be put on the backburner for good. Once again, this does make for slightly depressing reading in hindsight. Oh well, at least they went out experimenting.
Between the ages: In which it is revealed just how long it took for things to reach their current state. Sure it seems like everything has changed. But when you lived through it day by day for 30 years, it doesn't seem so bad, especially when you remember these events are scattered across the entire continent. But it does show just how annoying the dragons are being at this point, and how many there are. I guess the important thing this once again demonstrates is that this is the setting made to showcase the Dragons in D&D, and they're making substantial attempts to make them bigger, scarier and more integral to the setting. It also puts the 5th age stories from the magazine into better context. Really, there's a 27 year gap between the 1st and last ones. That's longer than, say, the whole real world history of D&D at this point. So this makes their actions over the last year seem a little more palatable to me. There was a bigger plan in their redesign of the setting. We just don't get to see it until after the fact. And hopefully that'll make it a little easier to run a game here, should I ever decide to do so.
Ravenloft: as befits the gothic setting, Ravenloft is really starting to be weighed down by it's history at this point. After all, like the Forgotten Realms, it started off slow, and built up popularity by proof of demand for quite a few years before getting a full gameline. But like Dragonlance, it's actually changed quite a bit as time went on. The geography has gone through a full-scale rearrangement, and they've also killed off the biggest good guy NPC and city in the setting, thus really driving home that no-one and nothing is safe here. Just about the only thing that remains constant is that it's near impossible to get out of here. And now it's getting it's third core set. Even the Forgotten Realms hasn't got that privilege yet. Goes to show just how popular and enduring horror is, and how many writers in the TSR stable want to put their own spins upon it, dragging the setting in different directions in the process. Just how much more stretching can it take before it too is torn apart by nerdrage over it's metaplot choices?
part 5/8
Gem of the north: Hmm. A description of Alustriel's palace. You know, a map would only take up a page or two, and help quite a lot, especially for adventurers who might want to get a little combative. But no, instead we have to visualise it all ourself, and accept that there's great wodges of stuff that we're not being told about, as they want to maintain the supreme power of mystra's chosen, and that means always being able to pull another deus ex machina out of their arse. So while there's a good deal of cool descriptive detail in this article, it is very much part of the problem, both in the 2e sense of putting description over stuff that will be useful in actual play, and the Realms specific issue of tying everything down and making it feel like the PC's can't really affect the world. I don't really feel comfortable reading it.
Dragonlance fifth age: Now, the Realms started slow and gradually built to dominance, but was a success from day one, and never really flagged in popularity. If anything, it's supremacy over the other D&D settings is all the more obvious today, as it's the only one getting repeated support in 4e and fairly regular novels anymore. Dragonlance, by contrast, started in a big fanfare, and then really, it's been mostly downhill from there. Still, that means they've been less afraid to shake things up, for it's less of a cash cow to kill in the first place if it does fail. And next year they're really going to go to town filling in the 5th age. After all, they have to get this stuff out quick, for things aren't great in the company, and if it doesn't sell, this setting'll be put on the backburner for good. Once again, this does make for slightly depressing reading in hindsight. Oh well, at least they went out experimenting.
Between the ages: In which it is revealed just how long it took for things to reach their current state. Sure it seems like everything has changed. But when you lived through it day by day for 30 years, it doesn't seem so bad, especially when you remember these events are scattered across the entire continent. But it does show just how annoying the dragons are being at this point, and how many there are. I guess the important thing this once again demonstrates is that this is the setting made to showcase the Dragons in D&D, and they're making substantial attempts to make them bigger, scarier and more integral to the setting. It also puts the 5th age stories from the magazine into better context. Really, there's a 27 year gap between the 1st and last ones. That's longer than, say, the whole real world history of D&D at this point. So this makes their actions over the last year seem a little more palatable to me. There was a bigger plan in their redesign of the setting. We just don't get to see it until after the fact. And hopefully that'll make it a little easier to run a game here, should I ever decide to do so.
Ravenloft: as befits the gothic setting, Ravenloft is really starting to be weighed down by it's history at this point. After all, like the Forgotten Realms, it started off slow, and built up popularity by proof of demand for quite a few years before getting a full gameline. But like Dragonlance, it's actually changed quite a bit as time went on. The geography has gone through a full-scale rearrangement, and they've also killed off the biggest good guy NPC and city in the setting, thus really driving home that no-one and nothing is safe here. Just about the only thing that remains constant is that it's near impossible to get out of here. And now it's getting it's third core set. Even the Forgotten Realms hasn't got that privilege yet. Goes to show just how popular and enduring horror is, and how many writers in the TSR stable want to put their own spins upon it, dragging the setting in different directions in the process. Just how much more stretching can it take before it too is torn apart by nerdrage over it's metaplot choices?
(un)reason
Legend
Dragon Magazine Annual 1996
part 6/8
Vampires A-Z: Now we've definitely had this topic before. Yeah, right back in issue 25, plus another in issue 126. People like their variant undead from around the world. Although looking at this and comparing them, it seems to be substantially inferior to those previous articles. For a start, it's completely crunch free, simply renaming existing undead for new cultural setups, saying there's not enough room for statistics. This despite being a good 3 times as long as the first one in issue 25, and not having that many more entries. (26 compared to 15. ) It really is a great demonstration of how much more tied down by convention and less can-do writers are now. It wouldn't be impossible at all to detail how they differ statistically as well from their primary template in the space you have. You'd just have to cut down on the descriptive fluff a little bit. Fail.
Beyond the Flanaess: Greyhawk doesn't get an introduction, as like spelljammer, it's not a live setting anymore, but it still gets an article. Actually, this is a rather interesting one, as it's very old material indeed. An original sketch of the whole continent, approximately tripling the amount of area detailed in the previous books, by Ga :rumble of thunder, organ stab, wolves howl: sorry mistress, by it's original creator himself. That's both tremendously useful, and also an important hint of what the political situation is like in the TSR offices. Are they now aware that the company is in trouble, and trying to sneak out valuable information they haven't been allowed to relay for years, just in case this is the end? Or is it just generalised breakdown in discipline. Ok, there's still a bit of whitewashing in force, but still, we are getting valuable old skool information in highly condensed form. Of course, if Greyhawk were ever to come back, the details of these new areas might turn out to be as different as the expanded continents in Mystara were from their Master Set map. Well, we shall cross that bridge if it ever comes. In any case, this article is a joy to see.
Planescape: A fairly straight introduction here, covering all the usual bases. Fantastical locations, not for hack-and-slash, power of belief, anything can be found, Sigil ties it all together. Yawn. Pretty much what they said before it was released, only without the IC teasing. I suppose it contrasts with the previous settings, which have changed quite a bit over the years. But then, you don't really want the planes as a whole changing. That's the whole point. Individual worlds and species may come and go, but the universe remains, too vast for one creature to make a difference. Try and change that, and people get very pissed off. It's like if we suddenly woke up, and the sun was green, the moon was tiny and orange, and all the stars were different. (oh wait, they just pulled that kind of stunt in Dragonlance and look where it gets them) Oh wait, I'm getting ahead of myself again. Back to now then.
A handful of keys: Proper control of your portals is vital for a low level Planescape campaign. Until they get hold of magic that gives them the choice of where to go, they are purely dependent on your generosity as a DM to control where they can go, how easy and costly it will be to get there, and how much travelling they'll have to do at the other end. So a bit of advice on how to do it right comes as welcome. Frequency, type of keys, random places in sigil in which they can be found, how to have them cycle in game, and alternate key ideas such as magical items, spells and thoughts. Yeah, this seems like exactly the kind of handy little reference that you'll want to take a look at if you have an adventure to run in a few hours and are running short on ideas. Basic, but not bad at all.
part 6/8
Vampires A-Z: Now we've definitely had this topic before. Yeah, right back in issue 25, plus another in issue 126. People like their variant undead from around the world. Although looking at this and comparing them, it seems to be substantially inferior to those previous articles. For a start, it's completely crunch free, simply renaming existing undead for new cultural setups, saying there's not enough room for statistics. This despite being a good 3 times as long as the first one in issue 25, and not having that many more entries. (26 compared to 15. ) It really is a great demonstration of how much more tied down by convention and less can-do writers are now. It wouldn't be impossible at all to detail how they differ statistically as well from their primary template in the space you have. You'd just have to cut down on the descriptive fluff a little bit. Fail.
Beyond the Flanaess: Greyhawk doesn't get an introduction, as like spelljammer, it's not a live setting anymore, but it still gets an article. Actually, this is a rather interesting one, as it's very old material indeed. An original sketch of the whole continent, approximately tripling the amount of area detailed in the previous books, by Ga :rumble of thunder, organ stab, wolves howl: sorry mistress, by it's original creator himself. That's both tremendously useful, and also an important hint of what the political situation is like in the TSR offices. Are they now aware that the company is in trouble, and trying to sneak out valuable information they haven't been allowed to relay for years, just in case this is the end? Or is it just generalised breakdown in discipline. Ok, there's still a bit of whitewashing in force, but still, we are getting valuable old skool information in highly condensed form. Of course, if Greyhawk were ever to come back, the details of these new areas might turn out to be as different as the expanded continents in Mystara were from their Master Set map. Well, we shall cross that bridge if it ever comes. In any case, this article is a joy to see.
Planescape: A fairly straight introduction here, covering all the usual bases. Fantastical locations, not for hack-and-slash, power of belief, anything can be found, Sigil ties it all together. Yawn. Pretty much what they said before it was released, only without the IC teasing. I suppose it contrasts with the previous settings, which have changed quite a bit over the years. But then, you don't really want the planes as a whole changing. That's the whole point. Individual worlds and species may come and go, but the universe remains, too vast for one creature to make a difference. Try and change that, and people get very pissed off. It's like if we suddenly woke up, and the sun was green, the moon was tiny and orange, and all the stars were different. (oh wait, they just pulled that kind of stunt in Dragonlance and look where it gets them) Oh wait, I'm getting ahead of myself again. Back to now then.
A handful of keys: Proper control of your portals is vital for a low level Planescape campaign. Until they get hold of magic that gives them the choice of where to go, they are purely dependent on your generosity as a DM to control where they can go, how easy and costly it will be to get there, and how much travelling they'll have to do at the other end. So a bit of advice on how to do it right comes as welcome. Frequency, type of keys, random places in sigil in which they can be found, how to have them cycle in game, and alternate key ideas such as magical items, spells and thoughts. Yeah, this seems like exactly the kind of handy little reference that you'll want to take a look at if you have an adventure to run in a few hours and are running short on ideas. Basic, but not bad at all.
(un)reason
Legend
Dragon Magazine Annual 1996
part 7/8
Birthright: Birthright is expanding outwards in it's own way. While it doesn't have a central city, it does seem to have a default starting point for your characters, down in the southwest. And in traditional D&D style, the further away you go from that, the further you go from the default medieval assumptions of the game, into different landscapes and political setups, as well as the intention that characters will be higher level. Interesting. So it looks like there's still plenty for them to build upon in this setting, even without opening up other continents on the same world. I wonder how much they'll actually get done before the line dies.
Guilds of cerilia: A fairly short article for this world, that's about thieves going legit. Or at least, giving themselves a nice plausible front business for laundering money and keeping the authorities off your scent. Which is a very funny business when you might actually have a more noble bloodline than them. How does that work, when the guy who is in charge uses their power for ends like this? Well, I suppose we have plenty of real world examples of banana republics where the leaders bleed the population dry and then bugger of to switzerland when things go bad. Why shouldn't you enjoy doing that kind of thing? So this shows just how much you can do when you're a rogue that's in charge. They don't have to be the odd ones out at all. A pretty decent little article really.
Dark sun: Really, has Athas become more or less dangerous over the years? That's the big question they have to face given how many things have happened. And really, the messages are pretty mixed. The existing areas have probably become less dangerous, but they've opened up a whole bunch of new areas with their own challenges for you to face. And the PC's, already more powerful than ones from other worlds, have gained tons of new stuff in the various supplements, while the bad guys have become fairly pinned down and codified, so we know exactly what it takes to beat them. I think we can probably say that while still daunting, the place is less scary than it used to be. All the over-the-top descriptiveness in this intro can't make up for the facts.
Heroes of Athas: Bah. And I was hoping we'd get through this issue without having to deal with more Skills & Powers stuff. Instead, I have to wade through 12 pages of it, the largest article in the issue. Well, when you have to allocate costs to all their standard racial and class abilities, plus a bunch of new extrapolated ones which do tend to be more powerful than the basic set, it really adds up. I'm struggling to get through this set without zoning out, which isn't a particularly good sign. I do note that there seems to be quite a lot of healing/regeneration innate powers, which reduces the need for clerics in a team. There's also plenty of resistances to specific energy types, ability score bonuses, and natural AC lowerers. All that good stuff that'll come in handy nearly every session, in contrast to being able to detect sloping passages. I think I can say pretty safely that there is opportunity for twinkery here. Once again, this is not to my tastes.
part 7/8
Birthright: Birthright is expanding outwards in it's own way. While it doesn't have a central city, it does seem to have a default starting point for your characters, down in the southwest. And in traditional D&D style, the further away you go from that, the further you go from the default medieval assumptions of the game, into different landscapes and political setups, as well as the intention that characters will be higher level. Interesting. So it looks like there's still plenty for them to build upon in this setting, even without opening up other continents on the same world. I wonder how much they'll actually get done before the line dies.
Guilds of cerilia: A fairly short article for this world, that's about thieves going legit. Or at least, giving themselves a nice plausible front business for laundering money and keeping the authorities off your scent. Which is a very funny business when you might actually have a more noble bloodline than them. How does that work, when the guy who is in charge uses their power for ends like this? Well, I suppose we have plenty of real world examples of banana republics where the leaders bleed the population dry and then bugger of to switzerland when things go bad. Why shouldn't you enjoy doing that kind of thing? So this shows just how much you can do when you're a rogue that's in charge. They don't have to be the odd ones out at all. A pretty decent little article really.
Dark sun: Really, has Athas become more or less dangerous over the years? That's the big question they have to face given how many things have happened. And really, the messages are pretty mixed. The existing areas have probably become less dangerous, but they've opened up a whole bunch of new areas with their own challenges for you to face. And the PC's, already more powerful than ones from other worlds, have gained tons of new stuff in the various supplements, while the bad guys have become fairly pinned down and codified, so we know exactly what it takes to beat them. I think we can probably say that while still daunting, the place is less scary than it used to be. All the over-the-top descriptiveness in this intro can't make up for the facts.
Heroes of Athas: Bah. And I was hoping we'd get through this issue without having to deal with more Skills & Powers stuff. Instead, I have to wade through 12 pages of it, the largest article in the issue. Well, when you have to allocate costs to all their standard racial and class abilities, plus a bunch of new extrapolated ones which do tend to be more powerful than the basic set, it really adds up. I'm struggling to get through this set without zoning out, which isn't a particularly good sign. I do note that there seems to be quite a lot of healing/regeneration innate powers, which reduces the need for clerics in a team. There's also plenty of resistances to specific energy types, ability score bonuses, and natural AC lowerers. All that good stuff that'll come in handy nearly every session, in contrast to being able to detect sloping passages. I think I can say pretty safely that there is opportunity for twinkery here. Once again, this is not to my tastes.
Orius
Unrepentant DM Supremacist
Well, it doesn't bother me too much, for some of the same reasons the Planescape S&P article didn't bother me in the November issue. The S&P stuff can be easily stuffed into an existing world like Greyhawk or the Realms (like the latter really needs it...
) or any generic homebrew, but settings that that are quite different from the norm like Planescape or Dark Sun will make that more difficult. For one, there's a whole different set of PC races in either that aren't covered in the S&P book (well some of the standard DS races are in the humanoids chapter, but they don't get any abilities at all, which might not be good). And trying to sell a special suppliment that describes how to adapt PO stuff to each world is probably not going to work very well at all. So it gets stuffed in Dragon. I'd probably zone out too, because I was never a DS player, so I have no idea what some of this stuff talks about, though possibly some of psionicist abilities might be worth trying to adapt for a normal campaign, since S&P didn't give them any point-based abilities.
(un)reason
Legend
Dragon Magazine Annual 1996
part 8/8
Dragon dice: Mixed Race Armies? Well, this is interesting. Once again it is proved hybridisation is the path to maximum twinkitude! Although you do still have to maintain some level of compatibility. It seems some of the best choices have one element in common, but the two races bring other things to the table as well. Still, they don't seem too keen on you combining a bit of everything, for reasons I'm not sure of. Would that be even more powerful, or would it actually result in a weaker army overall? Once again, I do somewhat regret not knowing any more about this game than I've read in the magazine.
Deckbuilding Revisited: You know, we haven't actually seen any Spellfire articles over the last year, as Dragon Dice seems to have replaced it in the affections of the writers. What's up with that? Short attention spans, I guess. And this is already a return to basic deckbuilding advice. Can't they take a break from something for any amount of time without assuming people have forgotten about it and need to start from the bottom again? So yeah, this tells you that you can't expect to win by just throwing money at hundreds of booster packs, and then putting the most powerful cards you find into your deck. Synergy is the name of the game, and all types of cards are needed to win. Picking stuff from the same world can make you predictable, but does often have real combo advantages. And never forget to have enough realms to give you a chance of winning quickly. Another article that seems sensible, but not groundbreaking in the slightest. You could do stuff like this all day, should you be so inclined. But sensible is not exciting. Zzzzzz.
An 8 page spread of artwork recycled from recent products finishes this off. Not that it's bad at all, as they've obviously picked what they think is the best of the year, but it once again smells of padding because they don't have enough material, not making the most efficient use of the space they have available.
This definitely seems to have been designed to attract the interest of more casual buyers, who wouldn't normally pick up issues regularly. With it's heavy emphasis on settings, familiar topics, and noncontroversial crunch that's easily incorporated into existing games, it wants to take people who've already bought a little, and get them diversifying so they buy a greater proportion of TSR's stuff. So I'm left feeling that this really isn't aimed at me, and this is rather less satisfying as a whole product than the regular issues. Even the number of external adverts is vastly reduced, which also contributes to making the whole thing feel much more like a house organ. It also feels like they don't really have the ideas to fill all this extra space, and are resorting to self-promotional padding a lot. Really, it brings the end of the year down. I hope next year's annual has a better idea what it wants to do with itself.
part 8/8
Dragon dice: Mixed Race Armies? Well, this is interesting. Once again it is proved hybridisation is the path to maximum twinkitude!
Although you do still have to maintain some level of compatibility. It seems some of the best choices have one element in common, but the two races bring other things to the table as well. Still, they don't seem too keen on you combining a bit of everything, for reasons I'm not sure of. Would that be even more powerful, or would it actually result in a weaker army overall? Once again, I do somewhat regret not knowing any more about this game than I've read in the magazine. Deckbuilding Revisited: You know, we haven't actually seen any Spellfire articles over the last year, as Dragon Dice seems to have replaced it in the affections of the writers. What's up with that? Short attention spans, I guess. And this is already a return to basic deckbuilding advice. Can't they take a break from something for any amount of time without assuming people have forgotten about it and need to start from the bottom again? So yeah, this tells you that you can't expect to win by just throwing money at hundreds of booster packs, and then putting the most powerful cards you find into your deck. Synergy is the name of the game, and all types of cards are needed to win. Picking stuff from the same world can make you predictable, but does often have real combo advantages. And never forget to have enough realms to give you a chance of winning quickly. Another article that seems sensible, but not groundbreaking in the slightest. You could do stuff like this all day, should you be so inclined. But sensible is not exciting. Zzzzzz.
An 8 page spread of artwork recycled from recent products finishes this off. Not that it's bad at all, as they've obviously picked what they think is the best of the year, but it once again smells of padding because they don't have enough material, not making the most efficient use of the space they have available.
This definitely seems to have been designed to attract the interest of more casual buyers, who wouldn't normally pick up issues regularly. With it's heavy emphasis on settings, familiar topics, and noncontroversial crunch that's easily incorporated into existing games, it wants to take people who've already bought a little, and get them diversifying so they buy a greater proportion of TSR's stuff. So I'm left feeling that this really isn't aimed at me, and this is rather less satisfying as a whole product than the regular issues. Even the number of external adverts is vastly reduced, which also contributes to making the whole thing feel much more like a house organ. It also feels like they don't really have the ideas to fill all this extra space, and are resorting to self-promotional padding a lot. Really, it brings the end of the year down. I hope next year's annual has a better idea what it wants to do with itself.
(un)reason
Legend
Dragon Magazine Issue 237: very late unspecified date sometime in the middle of 1997
part 1/8
124 pages. So they're back. Where've they been, and what happened to them? You already have a rough idea, but lets see what the magazine themselves has to say about their unscheduled absence. Amusingly, not a lot. This issue appears to have been pushed out using their preprepared material, with no thought as to it's relevance. Big chunks of it look amusingly out-of place and inaccurate in light of events. Well, if they'd restarted from scratch, they'd probably have been out for several months more. I doubt there were particularly good options here. Let's stop skimming, and delve a little deeper.
In this issue:
The wyrms turn: Here we see the only bit that's really up to date, where they apologise for their lengthy unscheduled absence. They've been bought by Wizards of the Coast! They of course try and spin this as positively as possible, saying the future is going to be better instead of dwelling on how bad the past may have become. We'll be the judge of that. I also note that they've also lost two members of staff, but only gained one, so there's a gap in their staff listing now. This does feel very much like they're giving us an official party line, rather than talking honestly about all the troubles they've been facing in the past few months. Maybe they'll give us more info later, but for now, it's only a teaser, making us curious as to what this means for us. I'm going to have to try and get to next month as quickly as possible in light of this.
D-Mail is completely oblivious, and stuck in the end of last year. Still, at least the commentary on earlier issues mostly makes sense.
Regular forumite Steve Shawler once again complains about one of Rick's reviews. Dungeon Crawls are the adventures we remember, because we have the chance to play them differently and make them our own that you don't have when the story is the main attraction. Especially when we die in unexpected and funny ways. That's not a pleasure we grow out of.
A letter praising the Dragon Annual. Gee, what a surprise. Well, there's always someone who likes nearly anything they try. Even Buck Rogers had a few hardcore fans.
A letter pointing out a couple of bits of eratta. They duly fill in the missing statistics. It's always those little details you forget when in a hurry.
A letter from someone who misses first quest. Why did it have to go? Not enough people with interesting stories to interview, I think. It is a shame though. It could have run indefinitely with a wider writerbase.
A letter asking them to do themed issues on campaign worlds. They have done that occasionally, particularly Athas. Still, I'm sure it would be popular, and would be their only real chance of contributing significantly to the development of cancelled worlds. I'm sure they'll do it if they can get the submissions. Which may be harder after this little hiatus, as that's the kind of thing that messes up relationships with established writers.
part 1/8
124 pages. So they're back. Where've they been, and what happened to them? You already have a rough idea, but lets see what the magazine themselves has to say about their unscheduled absence. Amusingly, not a lot. This issue appears to have been pushed out using their preprepared material, with no thought as to it's relevance. Big chunks of it look amusingly out-of place and inaccurate in light of events. Well, if they'd restarted from scratch, they'd probably have been out for several months more. I doubt there were particularly good options here. Let's stop skimming, and delve a little deeper.
In this issue:
The wyrms turn: Here we see the only bit that's really up to date, where they apologise for their lengthy unscheduled absence. They've been bought by Wizards of the Coast! They of course try and spin this as positively as possible, saying the future is going to be better instead of dwelling on how bad the past may have become. We'll be the judge of that. I also note that they've also lost two members of staff, but only gained one, so there's a gap in their staff listing now. This does feel very much like they're giving us an official party line, rather than talking honestly about all the troubles they've been facing in the past few months. Maybe they'll give us more info later, but for now, it's only a teaser, making us curious as to what this means for us. I'm going to have to try and get to next month as quickly as possible in light of this.
D-Mail is completely oblivious, and stuck in the end of last year. Still, at least the commentary on earlier issues mostly makes sense.
Regular forumite Steve Shawler once again complains about one of Rick's reviews. Dungeon Crawls are the adventures we remember, because we have the chance to play them differently and make them our own that you don't have when the story is the main attraction. Especially when we die in unexpected and funny ways. That's not a pleasure we grow out of.
A letter praising the Dragon Annual. Gee, what a surprise. Well, there's always someone who likes nearly anything they try. Even Buck Rogers had a few hardcore fans.
A letter pointing out a couple of bits of eratta. They duly fill in the missing statistics. It's always those little details you forget when in a hurry.
A letter from someone who misses first quest. Why did it have to go? Not enough people with interesting stories to interview, I think. It is a shame though. It could have run indefinitely with a wider writerbase.
A letter asking them to do themed issues on campaign worlds. They have done that occasionally, particularly Athas. Still, I'm sure it would be popular, and would be their only real chance of contributing significantly to the development of cancelled worlds. I'm sure they'll do it if they can get the submissions. Which may be harder after this little hiatus, as that's the kind of thing that messes up relationships with established writers.
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Orius
Unrepentant DM Supremacist
Might be popular with the fans of the settings, but then they'd get a ton of letters from people who don't play the setting complaining about how the magazine was a waste of paper and their money. Depends on how many good submissions they get too. That might be why they launched the Campaign Classics feature and possibly it's one of the uses they had for the Annual, not just publicity for the settings, but an excuse to publish articlesfor them.
You're right that some previous writers seem to disapper after this issue or at least in the late 2e days. Spike Jones is the only one that comes to my mind atm. But there was also a crop of regular contributors who had some good stuff in these days like Johnathan Richards. So it kind of balances out, and it seems this sort of thing happened throughout the magazine's run, except for Ed Greenwood who seems to be the most perennial contributor (but that's probably what happens when the homebrew you're writing about becomes published and very popular
).I don't know if it started with this issue, since I'm missing this issue and the next in my collection, but after the purchase by WotC, some of the companies that were advertising in the magazine changed. One of the more noticable ones is Palladium. The September 1997 issue has at least one of their ads, so presumably they might have been purchased long in advance or something, but they seem to stop altogether in the near future before the end of the 2e issues. I've read Siembieda strongly dislikes WotC or something along that line, so it seems he didn't want to support The Enemy with his advertising dollars or something. Whatever the case, it amuses me. OTOH, the magazine starts putting in new types of ads that we didn't see in the TSR days, most notably ads for anime video releases. There's also ads for early MMOs or I guess they're MUDs or something inbetween. Though in this case, some of them are pretty new at this time, so they weren't going to be advertising before, much like the e-retailers that start running ads.
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