Dragon Issue 52: August 1981
part 2/2
The undercover job guide: A little Top Secret article expanding on good jobs for undercover agents to get, and how much you can expect to get paid for them given your skill level in the appropriate abilities. Obviously, this stuff is well out of date now, due to inflation, but it seems like a good time saver if you want to add a little more depth to your character without doing all the research yourself.
Another artist profile is this months centrefold. Boris Vallejo. And he is...... certainly under no illusions as to the level of his abilities and achievements. Once again we see that attaining fame isn't just about talent, but also a willingness to both work your ass off, and not being ashamed to negotiate prices and sell yourself successfully. And yet like many workaholics, he still sees himself as lazy, and has not forgotten his insecurities from when he was poor and skinny. Which as ever, is pretty interesting to me.
Giants in the earth: This month's munchkins are shakespeare's Prospero, Ariel, and Caliban (who is represented as a half-orc. Hmm. What does that remind me of?) and Greek Myth's Circe.
Cavern of the sub-train: Oooh. Looks like we have a second big feature this month. This is a gamma world module, another case of taking a perfectly ordinary 20th century invention and making it into a mysterious adventure for the mutants of the future to deal with. A pretty short scenario that can be used as a throwaway, or expanded into a whole series of adventures as the characters explore the underground tunnels and find things lurking beneath in various places.
Dragon's bestiary: This months monsters are the rhaumbusun, rocky lizards with a paralyzing gaze, possibly related to basilisks, and pelins, which are essentially organic zeppelins, and therefore inherently utterly awesome, especially once you factor in the ecological stuff which tries to put a logical slant on how such a creature could exist (ha). Any player with any imagination would want to capture a baby one and train it. Another creature I'd really like to put in a game.
The history of siege warfare: A system free historical article (is it just me, or have they been doing less of those lately)
Following the request for a bounty hunter, they have been inundated by submissions. So they present us with three of the best of them (immediately catching them up with alchemists, samurai and witches in number of versions
) so you can choose which one(s) to allow into your game. Number 1 is probably somewhat overpowered, with powers drawn from the assassin, thief and ranger lists at pretty good levels. Only the fact that it is limited to 13th level, and the highest one is restricted to a single master bounty hunter that you have to kill to take the job of, druid stylee, keeps it from getting too out of hand. Number 2 is basically a ranger plus a bit and minus a bit, which is mainly useful if you want to skip the supernatural powers, fluff and restrictions of the standard ranger, and just play an outdoors huntery type. Number 3 is probably my favourite, as it has the greatest number of unique abilities, rather than just recycling preexisting powers in a new combination, and has more focus on the social sleuthing and subdual side of their job than the other two. All are pretty well written, and I'd probably allow them in my game, apart possibly from the 1st one if I wanted a more serious game. (there can be only one style classes have their place, and that is not for when I'm trying to be realistic. )
Up on a soapbox: Another Lew Pulsipher article, as he talks about the problem of fixing mistakes in your game, particularly when it comes to rulings that have proved to be bad for the game, and magical items and abilities that have unbalanced a character relative to the rest of the group. How do you keep this from spoiling the game, and sort out the problem without creating resentment in the player who got the shiny overpowered toys? He reccomends admitting you made a mistake, and not trying to fix a metagame issue by in game vendettas. Open talking about problems is the way to solve them.
Also on the soapbox this month is Tom Armstrong, giving us another reminder that players will read the rulebooks, even the ones they aren't supposed to, so you shouldn't hesitate to create new monsters and items, or alter existing ones. Never let the rules lawyers take over your game, and turn it into a mere tactical exercise. As ever, they probably put the better article first.
Minarian legends: The southern city-states get their day in the sun. Defined by a cycle of conquest, spoiled offspring, descent into decadence, and subsequent fall, the deserts and savannas offer their own distinctive spin on the dramas of fantasy history. Can they secure a lasting place on the world stage, for a change. The answer, as ever, is in your hands.
Simulation corner: They start an extended series on game design this month, talking about the process you go through to get from that first idea to a finished product. Mostly a checklist of common sense stuff that is applicable to nearly any creative project, this is the kind of thing that is really rather helpful, and often gets forgot about. Creating virtually anything is going to involve more perspiration than inspiration, and while you might not be able to control the inspiration part, you can definitely set things up so you accomplish more for your effort with good organizational thinking.
Figuratively speaking: Lots of big minis (oh, the irony) this month. Giants, huge birds with riders, an ogre, a spider, a beholder, a dragon, and a castle. The pics are actually legible this time as well, which is nice.
The dragon's augury: As they're seriously starting to split the reviews up into various categories now, I guess I shall have to start calling this by its given name, to prevent confusion.
BRP gets its first release as a generic system, separate from Runequest. In only 16 pages, it gives a complete basic system, plus (and here's the important part) it presents it in a clear, friendly fashion designed to get complete newcomers to roleplaying going quickly, with examples, and advice on how to find more players and other peripheral stuff. Another great example of how much lower the bar for entry to the hobby was then. It's no wonder far more people were trying it without any help from current gamers at that point.
Timewarp is a sci-fi wargame who's primary distinctive point is a strong attempt to model the time dilation fast sub-light travel results in. With turns 5 years long, it does cover quite an impressive scope in that respect, modeling wars that cover generations with different participants aging at different rates. But unfortunately, apart from that one gimmick, it's not that a great a system, and has limited replay value.
Dungeon tiles do exactly what you'd expect, provides an easy to assemble set of underground geography for your minis to inhabit, for those of you like to keep precise track of where everyone is.
Off the shelf: Another new feature that looks like it's going to be a regular. Fiction books are now given a separate section to be reviewed in from the RPG's, boardgames and suchlike. Which is a nice development.
Dream park is a Larry Niven and Steven Barnes' take on virtual reality games, and therefore has a lot of relevance to roleplayers. Just how far can the line between fantasy and reality be blurred, and how far is a company willing to take these things when large amounts of money is involved.
Dragonslayer, by Wayland Drew manages to add considerably more depth to the characters than the movie did.
Sunfall, by C.J Cherryh is a strong selection of short stories set in the decline of the earth, as resources are exhausted and the sun slowly dies. Which may be a bit depressing, but hey.
Horseclans Odyssey, by Robert Adams, is another postapocalyptic future novel, that is part of a larger series, with lots of well done technical detail and strong characterization (at which point the reviewer takes a snipe at Lin Carter) that leaves the reviewer consistently entertained and wondering what happens next.
Dragonmirth is here, and joining in with the clerical theme. What's new and Wormy are also here. We see our first mention of the long to be delayed sex in D&D issue. (next month, we promise.) Meanwhile, in Wormy, we get a hilarious demonstration of just how stupid goblins are, and how seductive the lure of wargaming is. How much must this strip have shaped peoples conception of the various D&D races at the time.
Well, it looks like D&D is back in the majority with a vengance. But they're still putting in plenty of stuff for lovers of other systems as well. And with sex in D&D and Off the Shelf, we get to see two more things that will be significant right down the rest of the run start. Another busy month that took quite a lot of effort to get all the way through. But I think it was worth it. Not long now until D&D really goes critical, now the red box set is unleashed on the market.
), and the great geek hive-mind of rpg.net drew a blank. And it seems enworld is similarly stumped. I find this rather intriguing, and would like to fix that ignorance. Anyone anywhere who can help will get much kudos.
Don't mess with them. 
