Orius
Unrepentant DM Supremacist
However, as DM of the Rings tells us, not every player is going to like that:
DM of the Rings CXLIV:The Long-Expected Parting - Twenty Sided
-
NOW LIVE! Into the Woods--new character species, eerie monsters, and haunting villains to populate the woodlands of your D&D games.
Let's read the entire run
- Thread starter (un)reason
- Start date
However, as DM of the Rings tells us, not every player is going to like that:
DM of the Rings CXLIV:The Long-Expected Parting - Twenty Sided
(un)reason
Legend
Dragon Magazine Issue 245: March 1998
part 3/8
Out of character: Peter puts his own unique spin on the idea of using music to enhance your roleplaying. Rather than just using it as a backdrop, he takes individual artists and adapts their songs and personalities to fit the bards in his campaign, giving them an instant hook for players to relate too, while reducing the work for the DM. That has the potential to get rather cheesy. But it also has possibilities for directing your career path, as if you choose an experienced artist with a hefty back catalogue, but your character starts out new, you can play out the process of them writing new songs as they advance their career. That isn't an idea I've encountered before. So it seems he still has plenty of ideas to contribute, freshen up our games. And they're easily adaptable to most systems as well. Once again he's being a hands-on positive force for them.
Heart of the forge: For a second month in a row, we have an epic feature from the staff with a ton of cool illustrations, including ones from Roger Raupp. Second only to mining, Dwarves specialise in smithing, as after all, they have to do something with all the stuff they dredge out of the ground, and make money so they don't have to resort to farming to eat. And even in a mostly medieval setting, this can involve some fairly sophisticated technology. Other races would be worried if they knew just how big and complicated dwarven forges are. But their prowess isn't purely technological. Smithing is a religious activity for them as much as it is a practical one, and this is given just as much attention, with 18 new spells and 5 new magical items. As one of those articles that gives us a whole ton of setting detail and crunch that is primarily useful in worldbuilding terms, rather than for adventurers, this seems to be aimed at the DM, but people with dwarf PC's can still get something from it, especially as the new spells do have ingenious uses in adventuring situations. This definitely manages to avoid rehash by focussing on an area and providing lots of extra detail, and it a suitable strong start to their theme. So as usual, I just have to hope they'll keep that momentum up this month.
Mindstalkers: It's not just gith who hate illithids. Dwarves might not have a personal animosity with them the way they do with goblinoids, but I'm sure they run across them in their delvings and are not fond of the arrogant mind
ing squidfaces at all. So a society of dwarves dedicated to hunting them down, and developing their own psionic capabilities to counter them is just the kind of practical solution they'd adopt. So here's a new kit, and a whole bunch of powers designed specifically to fight illithids. Many of these can be acquired through multiple methods, either as psionic powers, or nonweapon proficiencies. Of course, the expense of these (one of them costs 5 slots! ) means you're pretty unlikely to be able to buy them if not using S&P rules, plus the fact that they're illithid specific means you'll face the same kind of problems as the dragon-hunting kits we've seen before. You just have to focus your build so much that you're left weak against other monsters. So while this is pretty well written, it's the kind of stuff that you need to approach with caution, because if you buy a ton of expensive powers that you only get to use once or twice in a campaign, you'll feel more than a little gypped. It really makes me long for the introduction of Feats and the 3rd edition version of the illithid hunter, which was done better. (and should be, since they were by the same writer. ) They still have some serious lessons to learn about power budgeting and controlling the size of your characters niche so it's harder for people to make themselves hugely under or overpowered, or useless in far too many situations.
part 3/8
Out of character: Peter puts his own unique spin on the idea of using music to enhance your roleplaying. Rather than just using it as a backdrop, he takes individual artists and adapts their songs and personalities to fit the bards in his campaign, giving them an instant hook for players to relate too, while reducing the work for the DM. That has the potential to get rather cheesy. But it also has possibilities for directing your career path, as if you choose an experienced artist with a hefty back catalogue, but your character starts out new, you can play out the process of them writing new songs as they advance their career. That isn't an idea I've encountered before. So it seems he still has plenty of ideas to contribute, freshen up our games. And they're easily adaptable to most systems as well. Once again he's being a hands-on positive force for them.
Heart of the forge: For a second month in a row, we have an epic feature from the staff with a ton of cool illustrations, including ones from Roger Raupp. Second only to mining, Dwarves specialise in smithing, as after all, they have to do something with all the stuff they dredge out of the ground, and make money so they don't have to resort to farming to eat. And even in a mostly medieval setting, this can involve some fairly sophisticated technology. Other races would be worried if they knew just how big and complicated dwarven forges are. But their prowess isn't purely technological. Smithing is a religious activity for them as much as it is a practical one, and this is given just as much attention, with 18 new spells and 5 new magical items. As one of those articles that gives us a whole ton of setting detail and crunch that is primarily useful in worldbuilding terms, rather than for adventurers, this seems to be aimed at the DM, but people with dwarf PC's can still get something from it, especially as the new spells do have ingenious uses in adventuring situations. This definitely manages to avoid rehash by focussing on an area and providing lots of extra detail, and it a suitable strong start to their theme. So as usual, I just have to hope they'll keep that momentum up this month.
Mindstalkers: It's not just gith who hate illithids. Dwarves might not have a personal animosity with them the way they do with goblinoids, but I'm sure they run across them in their delvings and are not fond of the arrogant mind
ing squidfaces at all. So a society of dwarves dedicated to hunting them down, and developing their own psionic capabilities to counter them is just the kind of practical solution they'd adopt. So here's a new kit, and a whole bunch of powers designed specifically to fight illithids. Many of these can be acquired through multiple methods, either as psionic powers, or nonweapon proficiencies. Of course, the expense of these (one of them costs 5 slots! ) means you're pretty unlikely to be able to buy them if not using S&P rules, plus the fact that they're illithid specific means you'll face the same kind of problems as the dragon-hunting kits we've seen before. You just have to focus your build so much that you're left weak against other monsters. So while this is pretty well written, it's the kind of stuff that you need to approach with caution, because if you buy a ton of expensive powers that you only get to use once or twice in a campaign, you'll feel more than a little gypped. It really makes me long for the introduction of Feats and the 3rd edition version of the illithid hunter, which was done better. (and should be, since they were by the same writer. ) They still have some serious lessons to learn about power budgeting and controlling the size of your characters niche so it's harder for people to make themselves hugely under or overpowered, or useless in far too many situations.
(un)reason
Legend
Dragon Magazine Issue 245: March 1998
part 4/8
Little rascals: A little bit of hyperspecialisation here. Dwarf Rogue kits. Since the complete dwarves handbook only gave us 4, adding another 4 gives them a decent number of new opportunities to advance themselves. Or not, particularly if they turn out to be the sort that trade tangible benefits for purely social penalties. Which is particularly a temptation for rogues, given the inherent illegality of their skillset.
Delvers are dwarven indiana jonses, mining to dig up ancient artefacts and quite possibly world destroying monstrosities if they're not careful. They do indeed have substantial benefits in exchange for a mild social penalty. And this does irk me a little.
Hoardsackers specialise in stealing from Dragons. This does seem like a pretty suicidal occupation, and indeed, it doesn't make them popular with older more conservative dwarves. And as with the warrior kits who's benefits are all dragon specific, they'll have to actively work to make them useful. So really, their benefits don't outweigh the risks.
Scurr appear to be dwarven jesters, but they're actually spies for their governments, pretending to be pratfalling merrie pranksters while keeping their eyes and ears open for gossip and state secrets. Other dwarves who aren't in on the secret think they're complete and utter twats, and if they're found out, they can expect terminal dismissal. If you look a little deeper you'll see the tears of a clown.
Talebearers are the only popular ones, being another dwarven bard variant focussing on stories and historical info. Amazingly enough, the author once again makes their only penalties social, simply saying their powers don't work as well on nondwarves. So that's 4 for 4, in a shockingly poor bit of mechanical design. That's almost Complete Elves handbook level of benefits exceeding penalties twinkery. I do not approve at all. If you try and fight the mary-sues on their own terms, and in the process become like them, everybody loses, even if you technically win. Bad writer. No cookie for you.
Wyrms of the north: Ed gets round to talking about draconic naming conventions of Toril. He's not just throwing syllables into a blender, there's actually a plan behind them. Or at least, there is now. How much of it is retroactive is hard to tell. Which I suppose is another reminder how many notes he has still to mine and turn into published articles. The dragon itself is another interesting example of how Ed is getting away with rather more than he used too. Imprisoned by a sadistic mother who enhanced her with regenerating spells and used her as her food source, before she was freed when her mother's magical experimentation killed her via Akira style limb growing overdose. That's some pretty high octane nightmare fuel right there. And it has indeed left her pretty traumatised, with huge trust issues and a tendency to go berserk if something triggers flashbacks. But thankfully, it hasn't led to the abuser becoming the abused, with her becoming rather protective towards people who play it straight with her. So this is another rather interesting character study that once again shows us just how much more he can get away with than any other writer they have on the staff. (except possibly the new boss) And precisely because of that fact, it holds the attention more than another rehashed helping of magical items or monsters. It also shows yet again that he's planned quite a bit of this stuff out in advance, with more references to dragons yet to come. I can't dislike this, as it's still just more ambitious and adventurous than anything else the magazine is doing.
part 4/8
Little rascals: A little bit of hyperspecialisation here. Dwarf Rogue kits. Since the complete dwarves handbook only gave us 4, adding another 4 gives them a decent number of new opportunities to advance themselves. Or not, particularly if they turn out to be the sort that trade tangible benefits for purely social penalties. Which is particularly a temptation for rogues, given the inherent illegality of their skillset.
Delvers are dwarven indiana jonses, mining to dig up ancient artefacts and quite possibly world destroying monstrosities if they're not careful. They do indeed have substantial benefits in exchange for a mild social penalty. And this does irk me a little.
Hoardsackers specialise in stealing from Dragons. This does seem like a pretty suicidal occupation, and indeed, it doesn't make them popular with older more conservative dwarves. And as with the warrior kits who's benefits are all dragon specific, they'll have to actively work to make them useful. So really, their benefits don't outweigh the risks.
Scurr appear to be dwarven jesters, but they're actually spies for their governments, pretending to be pratfalling merrie pranksters while keeping their eyes and ears open for gossip and state secrets. Other dwarves who aren't in on the secret think they're complete and utter twats, and if they're found out, they can expect terminal dismissal. If you look a little deeper you'll see the tears of a clown.
Talebearers are the only popular ones, being another dwarven bard variant focussing on stories and historical info. Amazingly enough, the author once again makes their only penalties social, simply saying their powers don't work as well on nondwarves. So that's 4 for 4, in a shockingly poor bit of mechanical design. That's almost Complete Elves handbook level of benefits exceeding penalties twinkery. I do not approve at all. If you try and fight the mary-sues on their own terms, and in the process become like them, everybody loses, even if you technically win. Bad writer. No cookie for you.
Wyrms of the north: Ed gets round to talking about draconic naming conventions of Toril. He's not just throwing syllables into a blender, there's actually a plan behind them. Or at least, there is now. How much of it is retroactive is hard to tell. Which I suppose is another reminder how many notes he has still to mine and turn into published articles. The dragon itself is another interesting example of how Ed is getting away with rather more than he used too. Imprisoned by a sadistic mother who enhanced her with regenerating spells and used her as her food source, before she was freed when her mother's magical experimentation killed her via Akira style limb growing overdose. That's some pretty high octane nightmare fuel right there. And it has indeed left her pretty traumatised, with huge trust issues and a tendency to go berserk if something triggers flashbacks. But thankfully, it hasn't led to the abuser becoming the abused, with her becoming rather protective towards people who play it straight with her. So this is another rather interesting character study that once again shows us just how much more he can get away with than any other writer they have on the staff. (except possibly the new boss) And precisely because of that fact, it holds the attention more than another rehashed helping of magical items or monsters. It also shows yet again that he's planned quite a bit of this stuff out in advance, with more references to dragons yet to come. I can't dislike this, as it's still just more ambitious and adventurous than anything else the magazine is doing.
(un)reason
Legend
Dragon Magazine Issue 245: March 1998
part 5/8
Fiction: Honest and true by Troy Denning. Lest we forget, Cyric is a right. And now of dubious sanity as well, which just makes him all the more dangerous. Who'd want to serve something like that? A snivelling self-deluding little weasel of a man, who gets horribly abused by both friends and enemies, and mostly winds up taking it. You have to pity him, really. So this is a story of several levels, as it shows that the book The Trial of Cyric wasn't just a subjective account for us with a first person narration, but is actually a physical book in setting, albeit one with a very small print run from a vanity publishing house. The 4th wall in the Realms, never particularly strong, just got another hole poked in it. Really, this is a story where everyone fails. Malik winds up beat around and losing tons of money, Cyric doesn't get his version of events read by more than a few hundred people, and Ruha fails to defeat them permanently. So it bucks a whole bunch of normal trends, while sticking to several Realms specific ones with style. It's all very interesting indeed. Troy might not be quite as adventurous as Ed, but he certainly has some very interesting ideas and the mastery of the craft to follow through with them.
Rogues Gallery: Following straight on from the fiction, this column goes on to stat out the characters from it. Well, that ensures that they're instantly accessible to every single reader, unlike when they just publish characters from one of their recent novels. That's a reasonably sensible move. And since I've just been rather entertained by them, I'm already primed to like this article. Course, they could still ruin that. I guess it probably depends on if the cheese overpowers the cool, as with so many other Realms articles.
Ruha has every single ability score at 15 or higher, and a ton of spells from the Al Qadim rulebooks. But not many magical items for her level. Well, that seems to be a common issue with fiction NPC's. They don't have the wealth of onscreen adventures that would let them organically accumulate all sorts of weird bits and bobs.
Malik El Sami yn Nasser, on the other hand, has acquired a whole bunch of weird little abilities and handicaps as a result of his starring role (that he'd really rather not have, I suspect) All he wants to do is serve Cyric and make a decent amount of money in the process. But no, he gets to live the life of Job, beset on all sides, unable to even be as weaselly and deceitful as he'd like. Feel sorry for him, but if you see him, don't trust him.
Avner of Hartwick was a good guy, but has been stuck with being a servant to Mask. This also leads to amusing situations where he follows the letter of his orders rather than the spirit. This does not lead to his powers being taken away, curiously enough, because Mask has a sense of humour about these things. He's also dead, which brings it's own powers and problems. He's once again full of the kind of exceptionalism that seems likely to produce player imitations. I think they're intentionally trying to replicate the success of Drizzt. So yeah, it looks like they aren't scaling back on the cheese and twinkery at all, as they have to compete with existing characters or die horribly. It's a hard life being low level in this world.
part 5/8
Fiction: Honest and true by Troy Denning. Lest we forget, Cyric is a right
. And now of dubious sanity as well, which just makes him all the more dangerous. Who'd want to serve something like that? A snivelling self-deluding little weasel of a man, who gets horribly abused by both friends and enemies, and mostly winds up taking it. You have to pity him, really. So this is a story of several levels, as it shows that the book The Trial of Cyric wasn't just a subjective account for us with a first person narration, but is actually a physical book in setting, albeit one with a very small print run from a vanity publishing house. The 4th wall in the Realms, never particularly strong, just got another hole poked in it. Really, this is a story where everyone fails. Malik winds up beat around and losing tons of money, Cyric doesn't get his version of events read by more than a few hundred people, and Ruha fails to defeat them permanently. So it bucks a whole bunch of normal trends, while sticking to several Realms specific ones with style. It's all very interesting indeed. Troy might not be quite as adventurous as Ed, but he certainly has some very interesting ideas and the mastery of the craft to follow through with them. Rogues Gallery: Following straight on from the fiction, this column goes on to stat out the characters from it. Well, that ensures that they're instantly accessible to every single reader, unlike when they just publish characters from one of their recent novels. That's a reasonably sensible move. And since I've just been rather entertained by them, I'm already primed to like this article. Course, they could still ruin that. I guess it probably depends on if the cheese overpowers the cool, as with so many other Realms articles.
Ruha has every single ability score at 15 or higher, and a ton of spells from the Al Qadim rulebooks. But not many magical items for her level. Well, that seems to be a common issue with fiction NPC's. They don't have the wealth of onscreen adventures that would let them organically accumulate all sorts of weird bits and bobs.
Malik El Sami yn Nasser, on the other hand, has acquired a whole bunch of weird little abilities and handicaps as a result of his starring role (that he'd really rather not have, I suspect) All he wants to do is serve Cyric and make a decent amount of money in the process. But no, he gets to live the life of Job, beset on all sides, unable to even be as weaselly and deceitful as he'd like. Feel sorry for him, but if you see him, don't trust him.
Avner of Hartwick was a good guy, but has been stuck with being a servant to Mask. This also leads to amusing situations where he follows the letter of his orders rather than the spirit. This does not lead to his powers being taken away, curiously enough, because Mask has a sense of humour about these things. He's also dead, which brings it's own powers and problems. He's once again full of the kind of exceptionalism that seems likely to produce player imitations. I think they're intentionally trying to replicate the success of Drizzt. So yeah, it looks like they aren't scaling back on the cheese and twinkery at all, as they have to compete with existing characters or die horribly. It's a hard life being low level in this world.
jonesy
A Wicked Kendragon
They do have the backing of the writer/DM so if they need something they can get it.
Or maybe it's that PC's generally end up with way more loot than likely. How many stories have a group of people fully decked with magical gear? Poor Gimli with only a little elven hair.
Edit: actually, I have to take that back a little. I just checked Gimli's stats in MERP. He has an Axe of Shield and Orc-Slaying, a shield of Delving, a hammer that strikes as a flail, boots of Stone Running, and a frickin cape of Hiding and Stalking which makes him Water-and Windproof as well. Yikes.
Last edited:
LordVyreth
First Post
I never really minded the NPCs with high ability scores, to be honest. I mean, you could pretty easily calculate what the odds are of a character having stats that high. Once you do that, you just divide the total population of a fantasy world by that number. Even unreasonably high numbers are a given in a population of millions, or even billions of the population approaches our planet. And people with that level of skill are the ones most likely to have long or at least interesting lives, and thus get their descriptions written up.
(un)reason
Legend
Dragon Magazine Issue 245: March 1998
part 6/8
Bazaar of the bizarre: We stay in theme here, with a whole bunch of dwarf-made items. Interestingly, this time they're all not only unique, but focussed on a specific setting, with lots of setting detail.
The Helm of Agate Thorwallen isn't even magical, just lovingly crafted and engraved with tons of gems. Truly a triumph of setting over mechanics. Guess that like the ecologies, that's really reaching it's zenith now.
Moradin's Anvil has no powers other than being apparently indestructible, but that's more than enough to make dwarves love it, and use it as a means of settling disputes. After all, religion is Serious Business to dwarves, just like everything else.
The Tomes of Gideon also do nothing other than recount history. This makes me wonder if we're going to have an entire Bazaar of nonmagical items. That would be a truly bizarre turn of events.
The Banner of Courage is also nonmagical, but at least gives a mechanical effect to the confidence inspired by fighting under it. Once again, pretty craftmanship and culture is serious business.
The Book of Kemalok Kings does for Dark sun what the Tomes of Gideon did for birthright. Course, Dark Sun has both more obscured history and fewer resources, so the final product is rather different.
The Prize of Erackinor may or may not be magical, but they still don't spell out it's powers. Still, it certainly seems to inspire creativity, so Moradin must be doing something right.
The Sarcophagus of Ran is another one that may or may not be magical. Either way, it's creator is no longer stuck in ravenloft, so he may well have done something right. In any case, it's a very curious ending to a very curious article. I wonder if they're going to get any complaints about this one. In any case, it's a not entirely welcome departure from normal procedure that makes me wonder what they're going to try next to get the magazine back on track. There may well be some awkward flailing around to come.
The ecology of the steeder: The dwarven section winds down with a little something for the Duergar. Training giant spiders isn't the easiest of things to do. They will try and eat you if you don't start them young and bond with them carefully. But if you can, you get to ride on the ceiling. How awesome is that! This does a good job of reminding us that while they may be stoic to other races, it takes considerable cultural pressure to mold them into that kind of badass, and they're only that way because the underdark is a bloody harsh place (and their god is too stubborn to let them go elsewhere. ) This clears up a bit of errata, but doesn't present a hugely different spin on it, and actually seems more concerned with the human (well, dwarven) interactions than the actual creature. So it's another one that's pretty good as a story, but not too great as an ecology. Oh well.
part 6/8
Bazaar of the bizarre: We stay in theme here, with a whole bunch of dwarf-made items. Interestingly, this time they're all not only unique, but focussed on a specific setting, with lots of setting detail.
The Helm of Agate Thorwallen isn't even magical, just lovingly crafted and engraved with tons of gems. Truly a triumph of setting over mechanics. Guess that like the ecologies, that's really reaching it's zenith now.
Moradin's Anvil has no powers other than being apparently indestructible, but that's more than enough to make dwarves love it, and use it as a means of settling disputes. After all, religion is Serious Business to dwarves, just like everything else.
The Tomes of Gideon also do nothing other than recount history. This makes me wonder if we're going to have an entire Bazaar of nonmagical items. That would be a truly bizarre turn of events.
The Banner of Courage is also nonmagical, but at least gives a mechanical effect to the confidence inspired by fighting under it. Once again, pretty craftmanship and culture is serious business.
The Book of Kemalok Kings does for Dark sun what the Tomes of Gideon did for birthright. Course, Dark Sun has both more obscured history and fewer resources, so the final product is rather different.
The Prize of Erackinor may or may not be magical, but they still don't spell out it's powers. Still, it certainly seems to inspire creativity, so Moradin must be doing something right.
The Sarcophagus of Ran is another one that may or may not be magical. Either way, it's creator is no longer stuck in ravenloft, so he may well have done something right. In any case, it's a very curious ending to a very curious article. I wonder if they're going to get any complaints about this one. In any case, it's a not entirely welcome departure from normal procedure that makes me wonder what they're going to try next to get the magazine back on track. There may well be some awkward flailing around to come.
The ecology of the steeder: The dwarven section winds down with a little something for the Duergar. Training giant spiders isn't the easiest of things to do. They will try and eat you if you don't start them young and bond with them carefully. But if you can, you get to ride on the ceiling. How awesome is that! This does a good job of reminding us that while they may be stoic to other races, it takes considerable cultural pressure to mold them into that kind of badass, and they're only that way because the underdark is a bloody harsh place (and their god is too stubborn to let them go elsewhere. ) This clears up a bit of errata, but doesn't present a hugely different spin on it, and actually seems more concerned with the human (well, dwarven) interactions than the actual creature. So it's another one that's pretty good as a story, but not too great as an ecology. Oh well.
(un)reason
Legend
Dragon Magazine Issue 245: March 1998
part 7/8
Best Behavior: Our themed material finally comes to an end with a moderately sized piece on dwarven etiquette. Dwarves might seem blunt and taciturn to other races when not drunk, but as a lawful race, there's some definite rules of conduct that they will think less of you for not following. And of course these are pretty counterintuitive to elves, thus contributing heavily to their continuing rivalry with each other. And since they don't talk about them much to outsiders, that puts you at a bit of a disadvantage. No great surprises here, just elaboration on what we probably already know, particularly if you've read their complete handbook. The insult table is quite amusing, but really, this just washes through me without making much of an impression. Well, it's a rare issue that doesn't have some filler these days.
Dragonmirth needs some henchmen fast. Swordplay needs some job security of the pointy kind. Knights of the dinner table take the time to pimp their back catalogue. Floyd comes to an end with a final battle that is both spectacular and funny. Coming next month, Nodwick! What will Aaron deliver us if he can't have obvious continuity in his strips?
Role-playing reviews: Allen Varney takes the review slot for the first time in a while, with a Call of Cthulhu special. It's kinda lost some of it's shine in recent years, but there's still plenty of books coming out for it. In fact, due to it's open domain source material, other companies can release material for it, and they may be doing a better job of it than chaosium. Once again, the simple fact that they've been established for ages with the same staff means they're less inspired and vigorous than the competition. This will lead to further problems along the line. What are we to do? Make the best of what we have.
The new orleans guidebook sees Allen comment on Ricks previous reviews of their other citybooks. While you could look up all the mundane stuff yourself, there is something to be said for having the more obscure bits of information already collected and ready to run adventures with. Really, it's of most value to people who don't actually live there. But no, it's not a classic.
A resection of time: the strange case of Kyle Woodson is one of the best adventures of Chaosium's new crop. It might not be that great as part of a campaign, (and does have some railroading resulting from it's tournament origins) but do you really expect Cthulhu characters to survive that long? In terms of atmosphere and drawing upon real world stuff, but not sticking too it too pedantically, it's pretty entertaining. Just don't expect it to be for everyone.
The dreaming stone is their first lengthy adventure for the Dreamlands. Allen gets a bit distracted here, going into plenty of detail about the tonal issues of including the high fantasy dreamlands in your game. But it is still pretty horrific, and not suited for hack and slash gaming at all. The purists can get stuffed. His main complaint here is that the art and editing sucks. The writers might have some enthusiasm left, but the editors definitely aren't what they used to be. So the real problem is the company, not that the setting is out of niches to expand upon.
Re:Views: Big Eyes, Small Mouth gets a very positive review. It's almost perfectly suited to it's source material, and the artwork is pretty good as well. The system is fairly simple, but highly customisable, and it has plenty of room for expansion. Of course, this expansion will turn out to be an issue in itself, as it becomes more rules heavy and less accessible to new people, before dying slowly when the company had financial issues. But in the meantime there's a whole bunch of amusingly named supplements and licensed properties using the system to come. That's one thread of history I'm definitely interested in, should they choose to follow it.
part 7/8
Best Behavior: Our themed material finally comes to an end with a moderately sized piece on dwarven etiquette. Dwarves might seem blunt and taciturn to other races when not drunk, but as a lawful race, there's some definite rules of conduct that they will think less of you for not following. And of course these are pretty counterintuitive to elves, thus contributing heavily to their continuing rivalry with each other. And since they don't talk about them much to outsiders, that puts you at a bit of a disadvantage. No great surprises here, just elaboration on what we probably already know, particularly if you've read their complete handbook. The insult table is quite amusing, but really, this just washes through me without making much of an impression. Well, it's a rare issue that doesn't have some filler these days.
Dragonmirth needs some henchmen fast. Swordplay needs some job security of the pointy kind. Knights of the dinner table take the time to pimp their back catalogue. Floyd comes to an end with a final battle that is both spectacular and funny. Coming next month, Nodwick! What will Aaron deliver us if he can't have obvious continuity in his strips?
Role-playing reviews: Allen Varney takes the review slot for the first time in a while, with a Call of Cthulhu special. It's kinda lost some of it's shine in recent years, but there's still plenty of books coming out for it. In fact, due to it's open domain source material, other companies can release material for it, and they may be doing a better job of it than chaosium. Once again, the simple fact that they've been established for ages with the same staff means they're less inspired and vigorous than the competition. This will lead to further problems along the line. What are we to do? Make the best of what we have.
The new orleans guidebook sees Allen comment on Ricks previous reviews of their other citybooks. While you could look up all the mundane stuff yourself, there is something to be said for having the more obscure bits of information already collected and ready to run adventures with. Really, it's of most value to people who don't actually live there. But no, it's not a classic.
A resection of time: the strange case of Kyle Woodson is one of the best adventures of Chaosium's new crop. It might not be that great as part of a campaign, (and does have some railroading resulting from it's tournament origins) but do you really expect Cthulhu characters to survive that long? In terms of atmosphere and drawing upon real world stuff, but not sticking too it too pedantically, it's pretty entertaining. Just don't expect it to be for everyone.
The dreaming stone is their first lengthy adventure for the Dreamlands. Allen gets a bit distracted here, going into plenty of detail about the tonal issues of including the high fantasy dreamlands in your game. But it is still pretty horrific, and not suited for hack and slash gaming at all. The purists can get stuffed. His main complaint here is that the art and editing sucks. The writers might have some enthusiasm left, but the editors definitely aren't what they used to be. So the real problem is the company, not that the setting is out of niches to expand upon.
Re:Views: Big Eyes, Small Mouth gets a very positive review. It's almost perfectly suited to it's source material, and the artwork is pretty good as well. The system is fairly simple, but highly customisable, and it has plenty of room for expansion. Of course, this expansion will turn out to be an issue in itself, as it becomes more rules heavy and less accessible to new people, before dying slowly when the company had financial issues. But in the meantime there's a whole bunch of amusingly named supplements and licensed properties using the system to come. That's one thread of history I'm definitely interested in, should they choose to follow it.
(un)reason
Legend
Dragon Magazine Issue 245: March 1998
part 8/8
KotDT also gets a double page spread. It goes a long way for a rather dumb jab at the artist who temporarily abandoned his name due to legal issues with his record company.
TSR Previews: Our generic product this month is something I'm sure they've done before. The Dungeon Builders Guidebook. Random generation, templates to assemble places with, advice on how to populate them, these are all things we've seen in various magazine articles here, stretching right back to SR1. Let's hope it improves on them.
The Forgotten Realms finally brings back Waukeen. She's been a slave to fiends for all these years and you get to rescue her. That sounds promising, if potentially railroady. Their novels also seem to be business as usual, with Tangled Webs by Elaine Cunningham. Our second outcast drow continues to have her own adventures.
Dragonlance stays in solid second place. A Saga Companion does what books of that name normally do, be a grab bag of new rules stuff and roleplaying advice they've though of since the corebook came out. They also get a new calendar, for the first time in a few years. Illustrations, biographies, a place to write events on, you know the drill.
Greyhawk starts to ruthlessly reverse the changes the last wave of products made in Return of the Eight. You, of course get to play a part. Hopefully, anyway. Can neutrality triumph again?
Planescape sees Monte Cook kick butt with Tales from the infinite stairway. Like well of worlds, you can do these little adventures separately, or linked. Go on, splurge a little.
Alternity imitates AD&D by releasing the Game Masters Guide. Doesn't have quite the same ring as Dungeon Master, does it. Surely you could think up a cooler title. This is why GURPS works. Despite the eminently sensible system, it always has the vaguely amusing title to keep you from getting too blanded out.
Dragon dice gets Champions of Estfah. More heroes fighting for a peace that can never come as long as the line survives. Kinda paradoxical, really.
Marvel Super Dice releases two games in one using the same pieces. Variety variety variety. Just what's needed for replayability.
Profiles: Troy Denning is our profilee this month. He may not be quite as prolific as Ed, but he has got a considerably better groomed beard. He's also been involved in considerably more worlds, having co-created dark sun, and written books for there, FR and planescape. He seems a thoughtful sort, full of introspection on different approaches to try new things, and how he would do older works better if he had the chance. Certainly an attitude I can agree with.
Another issue that mostly plays it safe, but does so with pretty high quality material. Exactly how long they've been building up these submissions I'm not sure, but they've evidently been able to save up plenty of articles in the time since they last gave dwarves the spotlight. Still, it does leave me wondering if the new company is going to bring any new ideas into the pot any time soon, or merely handle the old ones in a better way than the old company did in it's dying years. I guess once again it's onto april, to see what's happened to their sense of humour. After all, they considered it important enough that they kept most of the material in their august issue last year. But they have changed several policies since then, so who knows.
part 8/8
KotDT also gets a double page spread. It goes a long way for a rather dumb jab at the artist who temporarily abandoned his name due to legal issues with his record company.
TSR Previews: Our generic product this month is something I'm sure they've done before. The Dungeon Builders Guidebook. Random generation, templates to assemble places with, advice on how to populate them, these are all things we've seen in various magazine articles here, stretching right back to SR1. Let's hope it improves on them.
The Forgotten Realms finally brings back Waukeen. She's been a slave to fiends for all these years and you get to rescue her. That sounds promising, if potentially railroady. Their novels also seem to be business as usual, with Tangled Webs by Elaine Cunningham. Our second outcast drow continues to have her own adventures.
Dragonlance stays in solid second place. A Saga Companion does what books of that name normally do, be a grab bag of new rules stuff and roleplaying advice they've though of since the corebook came out. They also get a new calendar, for the first time in a few years. Illustrations, biographies, a place to write events on, you know the drill.
Greyhawk starts to ruthlessly reverse the changes the last wave of products made in Return of the Eight. You, of course get to play a part. Hopefully, anyway. Can neutrality triumph again?
Planescape sees Monte Cook kick butt with Tales from the infinite stairway. Like well of worlds, you can do these little adventures separately, or linked. Go on, splurge a little.
Alternity imitates AD&D by releasing the Game Masters Guide. Doesn't have quite the same ring as Dungeon Master, does it. Surely you could think up a cooler title. This is why GURPS works. Despite the eminently sensible system, it always has the vaguely amusing title to keep you from getting too blanded out.
Dragon dice gets Champions of Estfah. More heroes fighting for a peace that can never come as long as the line survives. Kinda paradoxical, really.
Marvel Super Dice releases two games in one using the same pieces. Variety variety variety. Just what's needed for replayability.
Profiles: Troy Denning is our profilee this month. He may not be quite as prolific as Ed, but he has got a considerably better groomed beard. He's also been involved in considerably more worlds, having co-created dark sun, and written books for there, FR and planescape. He seems a thoughtful sort, full of introspection on different approaches to try new things, and how he would do older works better if he had the chance. Certainly an attitude I can agree with.
Another issue that mostly plays it safe, but does so with pretty high quality material. Exactly how long they've been building up these submissions I'm not sure, but they've evidently been able to save up plenty of articles in the time since they last gave dwarves the spotlight. Still, it does leave me wondering if the new company is going to bring any new ideas into the pot any time soon, or merely handle the old ones in a better way than the old company did in it's dying years. I guess once again it's onto april, to see what's happened to their sense of humour. After all, they considered it important enough that they kept most of the material in their august issue last year. But they have changed several policies since then, so who knows.
(un)reason
Legend
Dragon Magazine Issue 246: April 1998
part 1/8
124 pages. So, we meet again, impractical spiky helmets. Getting caught in doors and taking people's eyes out when they stand too close. And ew, what have they done to that guy's face? That's some serious uncanny valley stuff right there. So, I can find stuff to laugh about in the cover, but not that much. No theme it seems, although there's three articles on the topic of henchmen & followers, to tie in with their new comic featuring one. So individual articles will take us here and there, flitting from topic to topic at their whim. Tra la la la la. Pages rise and fall like particularly skinny ocean waves. Will the information within soak my brain more than water soaks my body? Or will the oily residue of previous knowledge make it slide off like a ducks back?
In this issue:
The wyrms turn: Love slave of the kobold queen? Well, this editorial both serves as a dose of april humour, and an explanation as to why they don't have a full theme this issue. It's all Jesse Decker's fault, and he has been made to pay suitably for it. Never miss a deadline for people who can have your character humiliated in ways that will leave you wishing they'd simply killed you quickly. So they certainly haven't lost their sense of sadism around the offices, despite the management changes. You'd better watch out, because in these politically correct times, this can turn into accusations of workplace bullying all too easily. And that would just suck. Don't want to be replicating the things we escaped from when we left school behind.
D-Mail: A letter from someone who is finding their recent emphasis on the regular columns for monsters, magic items, and spells is getting a leetle repetitive. He may have a point, but they'll need a few more good articles to fill the magazine if they want to avoid that.
A fairly lengthy bit of commentary, mostly positive, but with some constructive criticism as well. This is hailed as exactly what the editors want to see, so they can make changes. Carrot plus stick is better than either individually.
A letter from someone who's created a politician class. You know, they already did that in issue 74. You are very scooped. Well, that's another thing it might be long enough that they decide to repeat it.
And finally we have letters asking for more Al Qadim and Spelljammer material. They're quite happy to publish articles if you write good ones. Supply and Demand is a two-sided coin.
Nodwick gets hired. At least this group are honest about viewing him as nothing but cannon fodder and hired help. I'm sure they'll get along great.
part 1/8
124 pages. So, we meet again, impractical spiky helmets. Getting caught in doors and taking people's eyes out when they stand too close. And ew, what have they done to that guy's face? That's some serious uncanny valley stuff right there. So, I can find stuff to laugh about in the cover, but not that much. No theme it seems, although there's three articles on the topic of henchmen & followers, to tie in with their new comic featuring one. So individual articles will take us here and there, flitting from topic to topic at their whim. Tra la la la la. Pages rise and fall like particularly skinny ocean waves. Will the information within soak my brain more than water soaks my body? Or will the oily residue of previous knowledge make it slide off like a ducks back?
In this issue:
The wyrms turn: Love slave of the kobold queen? Well, this editorial both serves as a dose of april humour, and an explanation as to why they don't have a full theme this issue. It's all Jesse Decker's fault, and he has been made to pay suitably for it.
Never miss a deadline for people who can have your character humiliated in ways that will leave you wishing they'd simply killed you quickly. So they certainly haven't lost their sense of sadism around the offices, despite the management changes. You'd better watch out, because in these politically correct times, this can turn into accusations of workplace bullying all too easily. And that would just suck. Don't want to be replicating the things we escaped from when we left school behind. D-Mail: A letter from someone who is finding their recent emphasis on the regular columns for monsters, magic items, and spells is getting a leetle repetitive. He may have a point, but they'll need a few more good articles to fill the magazine if they want to avoid that.
A fairly lengthy bit of commentary, mostly positive, but with some constructive criticism as well. This is hailed as exactly what the editors want to see, so they can make changes. Carrot plus stick is better than either individually.
A letter from someone who's created a politician class. You know, they already did that in issue 74. You are very scooped. Well, that's another thing it might be long enough that they decide to repeat it.
And finally we have letters asking for more Al Qadim and Spelljammer material. They're quite happy to publish articles if you write good ones. Supply and Demand is a two-sided coin.
Nodwick gets hired. At least this group are honest about viewing him as nothing but cannon fodder and hired help. I'm sure they'll get along great.
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