Let's read the entire run

[(un)reason]

Dragon Issue 90: October 1984

part 1/3

100 pages. So we've finally reached the quarter point of this insanely epic journey. A pretty significant point for me, as it shows that this is not an insurmountable task, merely a very long and exhausting one. Not that they knew that at the time. They're busy planning for issue 100, trying to figure out how to make that nicely spectacular instead. Still, there's tons of stuff in here, as is standard, including several things we haven't seen in quite some time. This certainly seems promising.

In this issue:

Out on a limb: We have a letter asking how you advance your NPC's. You don't have to play out all their adventures manually, that would be several steps toward realism too far. Just look at their XP table, figure out how active they are compared to the players, and progress them appropriately. Honestly, the things some people ask.
Two letters saying the gods are statistically inaccurate. They're gods dear. Breaking the rules is what they do. You should know that by now.
A letter asking what the real relationship between Norebo and Wee Jas is, since their descriptions contradict. :giggles: And the editor said let there be retcon, for he does not want to be smitten. Whether they are or aren't doing it doesn't matter. Unlike celebrities, gods tend to get revenge against people saying things they don't want personally, and with great irony.
A letter complaining that their store got copies of the magazine before their subscription arrived. Oh woe. We do send them out a day earlier. If they don't arrive earlier, it's the post office's fault, not ours. That extra day or two won't kill you. Now, if your copy gets lost in the post, that's a different matter altogether, and you are quite entitled to complain.
A pair of complaints about baba yaga, and the contradictions in her description. Have we not established now that they change these things on purpose to make clear that there is no true canon, and all stats are malleable. You, sirs, are being more pedantic than the original writers. I mock your pedantry. Mock, mock, mock.

The forum is unusually homogenous this month. Jeff Martin, Jim Tuttle, Jay D Glithero, Jonathan Heiles (all the J's, for some reason) and Ted van Horn all have a problem with the physics and falling damage article. Ouch. Rough, man. Poor Arn. First they get your gender wrong, now this unanimous slating. Hope it didn't crush his spirit too much. Jim Parks is the only dissenting voice, and he is more concerned with the long running debate about high powered characters and what to do with them. Surely the editors could pick out a better variety of letters to publish than this.

The enchanting incantrix: Hmm, said Edward Greenwood. My players are taking magic for granted, treating it like just another form of artillery. This is most crass and not conductive to good stories. That makes me do my sad face What can I do about that? I know! What I need is a new kind of spellcaster with abilities ordinary wizards can't duplicate! That'll confound and delight them! And then I'll make it based upon mysterious forces of destiny, so they can't join the class after encountering it, even if they want too. That way, it'll stay mysterious, plus I don't have to worry about balancing it with other classes. And then I can write books about the 7 special women who can wield it, and Elminster can score with them all like the ultimate mack daddy he is. Happy days are here again!
Um, yeah. This has been a very tricky article to review. On one hand, it's brimming with his usual cool ideas, with loads of neat tricks and new spells, and evocative writing. It goes quite a way towards putting the mystery back in magic, by creating a class that's light on the blasty abilities, but has lots of neat tricks up their sleeve. On the other, this is a definite hint towards the excesses he would slip into in later forgotten realms books, with spellfire, the seven sisters, mary-sue twatery, and all the problems that came with it. The irony, of course is that for all his insistence that these girls should be kept rare, and under no circumstances should a PC be allowed to be one; like the death master, they're not actually that overpowered really. No more than standard spellcasters who have a wide range of supplements to pick their spells from, anyway. Oh, Edward, Edward, Edward. Don't believe your own hype.

Palladium's weapon series is now up to 5 books. And I'm guesing that's Maryann Siembiedas maiden name on the book of contemporary weapons.

From the Sorceror's scroll: Gary returns to our pages for a running visit. Firstly, we have an expanded list of what exactly counts as a person for the purpose of charm and hold spells. Fair enough. I can see that many people would want that kind of thing. Then, it's time to inform us what he been up to during his absence from these pages. The D&D cartoon is getting renewed for another season. (Surprised we haven't seen that mentioned more, whether in praise or mockery. It's like they're diliberately avoiding discussing it. ) We have two film scripts ready. (but no-one wants to buy them. Whatever happened to these. Is there any chance we could get hold of them.) The Master set is nearly done. Temple of elemental evil is finally written.( now it's just up to poor little Frank Mentzer to edit it into a publishable form) We will revise the game sometime after that. But don't stop buying folks! Your company needs you! Complain to your local shop if you can't find our products to buy! And then he's off again. Busy busy busy. No time to waste. Those cocaine fueled all night orgies/writing sessions won't hold themselves, you know.

Bats that do more than bite: Ed also delivers one of his more quirky articles this month, courtesy of Elminster's rambling mind. Swords, shields, spellbooks ...... Bats? WTF! Thankfully, what seemed like madness is rapidly revealed to actually be genius, as we get an incredibly cool and varied set of new monsters that take the basic idea of bat, and run with it in all sorts of different directions. Azmyths are adorable little magical bats with stinger tails. If you can get one of these as a companion, DO IT! They'll pay for themselves many times over. Sinisters aren't quite as nice, but they also have a quirky set of powers, likes and dislikes that make them more than just another combat encounter. Gloomwings are the bad boys of the sentient bat world, serving both as steeds to powerful evil creatures, and plotters in their own right. Night hunters and Hundars are less interesting in terms of abilities, but still get plenty of interesting notes on their lifecycle and behaviour. And finally werebats are what you would expect. Infected by another werebat, their bloodthirst forces them to change shape at night and go on the hunt, yet unlike infected werewolves, they retain full awareness of what they are doing, and consequently, are filled with AAAangst. Just like actual vampires then. A great collection of nasties and potential allies that would make it into future forgotten realms books, and can be used to all kinds of cool ends. Me likey.

 

[(un)reason]

I've been following along, but I think I missed something. What's happening here?

Loong story. Essentially, through much of the early 80's there was a power struggle between the Blumes and Gary for control of the company. They had a majority of the shares between them, so they got to overule him on a lot of business decisions. He went out to hollywood when the D&D cartoon was being made, (and movie was being optioned) and they ran up horrible debts through expanding the company beyond it's income. So Gary was brought back, they rush released Unearthed Arcana, sacked more than half the staff, and the company was saved. But that wasn't the end of the boardroom conflicts, and soon after, the Blumes sold their shares to Lorraine Williams. Gary tried to prevent this, but failed. Shortly afterwards, Gary also left to form his own company, having got fed up of fighting this crap. Google it. There are plenty of places out there that go into way more detail than I can, reading from sketchy and sometimes conflicting sources.

We pretty much don't allow evil characters, and we've never seen this nonsensical "good guys engaging in mass slaughter". I can't comment on such wacky games that do have this as I can't even imagine it - such a premise/argument is pretty much a non-starter for me. Sorry.

Be gratefull that it is, and you haven't had players who play good like good and evil are just teams, rather than actual philosophies, and you can do whatever horrible crap as long as you only do it to the opposing team. It's amusing puncturing the hypocrisy in that worldview once or twice, but then it just gets tiresome.

(Though I think I know, from this thread, your opinion on evil characters... so we're probably not going to get further than "agree to disagree"... !)

I like variety. It's not so much that I like playing evil characters, as I like playing ones that differ wildly from me in all kinds of respects. I like playing genuinely alien thingies like the Fair folk from Exalted, Vamps on Paths of Enlightenment, Earthbound, etc, trying to get inside their heads and play their particular experience of reality and corresponding codes of behaviour. That these alternate morals lead them to do things that are really ed up by 20th century human standards is part of the adventure.

 

[Arnwyn]

Loong story. Essentially, through much of the early 80's there was a power struggle between the Blumes and Gary for control of the company. They had a majority of the shares between them, so they got to overule him on a lot of business decisions. He went out to hollywood when the D&D cartoon was being made, (and movie was being optioned) and they ran up horrible debts through expanding the company beyond it's income. So Gary was brought back, they rush released Unearthed Arcana, sacked more than half the staff, and the company was saved. But that wasn't the end of the boardroom conflicts, and soon after, the Blumes sold their shares to Lorraine Williams. Gary tried to prevent this, but failed. Shortly afterwards, Gary also left to form his own company, having got fed up of fighting this crap. Google it. There are plenty of places out there that go into way more detail than I can, reading from sketchy and sometimes conflicting sources.

Thanks for the summary! Actually, I do know this story - I just didn't know it was happening right now (so to speak ) in your Dragon Magazine review saga.

Waiting for the actual "event" was one reason I've been following along so carefully! (I'm going to have to go back through your posts and find out when Gary's last Dragon Magazine missive was.) Edit: Oh wait - there he is in #90, right above! "Not dead yet."

Be gratefull that it is,

One of the reasons why I bother going to ENWorld is to remind myself how grateful I am with my friends/players. Sorry to the rest of ENWorld, but that's the way it goes...

 

[(un)reason]

Thanks for the summary! Actually, I do know this story - I just didn't know it was happening right now (so to speak ) in your Dragon Magazine review saga.

Well, they don't reveal much of the backstage problems in the magazine. We generally only find out about them after the dust has settled. It's the same 10 years later, with TSR's financial collapse. This is a bit annoying for me, of course.

Waiting for the actual "event" was one reason I've been following along so carefully! (I'm going to have to go back through your posts and find out when Gary's last Dragon Magazine missive was.) Edit: Oh wait - there he is in #90, right above! "Not dead yet."

Yeah, this is the start of his return to the pages of the magazine. He was away through most of 83 and 84, and I'm not sure how much control he had over the company even during 82, as although he was writing prolificly in the magazine, he wasn't really producing much else for the company, and the quality control was definitely off on his work.

 

[(un)reason]

Dragon Issue 90: October 1984

part 2/3

Gods of the suel pantheon: This month's deities detailed are Phyton, god of beauty and nature (the kind of portfolio you'd normally expect from a goddess, hmm. ) Xerbo, god of the sea, money and business (which is almost as annoying a portfolio as wee jas.) and Osprem, goddess of water voyages. Rather nuanced portfolios here, which I find interesting. They're definitely improving on the trick of balancing the bonus powers with appropriate restrictions and XP surcharges as well. They really should have kept that up in 2nd edition, instead of making many god's priests definitely more powerful than others.

Thieves guild 2nd edition. Woo. Buy it now, etc etc.

Playing the political game: In one of their bursts of appropriate positioning, they put this immediately after an advert for the Companion set. You don't have to do dungeon crawls all the time. Bringing politics into it can really spice things up, especially once a game's been running for a while, and you've built up a proper cast of NPC's. Suddenly, it's not all good guys and bad guys, and you kill the bad guys first chance you get anymore. You have to deal with resource management, alliances, treachery, territorial expansion, and all sorts of fun stuff that a single person, no matter how powerful, can't solve on their own. This can, of course be a daunting task to create scenarios for. So here's a nice bit of advice on the topic, including a couple of examples of actual play. You thought saving the world was tricky. Maintaining it's a lot harder. If you find you can't challenge your players by conventional means anymore, this is definitely a good way to go. Sure, they can make enough food to feed hundreds of people a day, and defeat a demon prince, but what happens when thousands all over the country are starving, and they have to choose who gets saved, or lycanthropy is spreading amongst the population faster than it can be cured. If you run it right, a truly epic adventure, that's what. As ever, I am very much in support of this playstyle.

Plane facts on gladsheim: Another plane gets an extensive official profile. It's been too long since the last one. Was no-one sending them in, or were the submissions they got just not good enough? Anyway, welcome to Gladsheim. One of the most adventurable outer planes, as despite having good leanings, it's still a wild and untamed place full of monsters and warriors. Roger decides to focus on the Norse section of the plane, to the exclusion of everything else. This may not have been such a good idea, as he falls into one of the primary traps planar chroniclers have to deal with, making an infinite universe seem too small and stereotyped. They managed to avoid it with the astral and hellish articles, but this is a definite case of fail, I'm afraid. The incorporation of real world legends is handled way too literally, instead of making the effort to make them fit properly within D&D, they just seem tacked on with little consideration to the larger picture. Once again, they also suffer the problem of individually spelling out the changes in spells and magic items, rather than just giving general patterns. Only since the article isn't as long, this winds up taking more than half of it. In other words, I found this article a massive disappointment, that manages to take a thrilling subject, and make it seem hackneyed and dull. I'm very disappointed in you, Mr Moore. You're normally such a reliable student. D+. Must try harder.

As with the astral article, we also get an official adventure set there, Aesirhammer. This is rather more fun, giving you the chance to meet some really high level creatures, negotiate with them, and possibly take their stuff. Of course, in the GM's advice they STRICTLY FORBID that you let the players keep the world shattering plot macguffin and actually use it themselves, or that you be permitted to mess up the status quo in any way. But if you ignore that, you have a neat sandbox with which to play, that could enable you to have all kinds of effects on the setting. After all, if you hit the reset button after every adventure, what's the point. High level play should be about making permanent changes to things, and having big friends and enemies. Step off the railroad, take your time, and set up a really great show.

Reviews: Chill is our only review this month, getting a pretty positive look at. Once again we see the advantage of boxed sets over single big books in making games quick to start and accessable, while allowing you to build plenty of depth into the setting. This simplicity does have it's costs in terms of setting depth, and there are a few silly elements. Still, it's not hard to houserule those, and then you have a streamlined yet versatile horror game. It already has 4 supplements, and looks like more may be along soon. If you like your horror a little less grim and weird than Call of Cthulhu, this could be a worthy addition to your collection.

The Ares section gets to have a colour cover for the first time. Manwhile, in the ares log, they use the space to provide a brief review of a book on the space program, and how you go about becoming a part of it. Those are certainly both developments. Guess the amount of trust (and money) they're getting for this section is increasing.

Skills for the super agent: Ahh, a persistent problem with supers games. How do you balance batman with superman? Much fun has been had with this debate in the past. Unfortunately, this completely ignores the generalities of this question, and goes into providing templates for trainees of the various organizations in the Champions game. With point costs of between 12 and 30, they don't show you how to make a really badass secret agent style character who can stand up to superbeings in a toe to toe fight by skill, grit and luck, either. I get the impression I may be thinking at cross-purposes with the author of this article. Not that it's a terrible article, but the way it's designed means it doesn't have much use to players of other games.

 

[Orius]

Once again, I am left vaguely unsatisfied by this issue, despite there being plenty of good articles in it. Maybe I'm doing this too fast, and need a break. Maybe I'm just jaded. No matter how good things get, humans can adapt to it and wind up taking it for granted.

Nah, some issues are the ones that can really spark your imagination, and other aren't. That's just the way it was with Dragon. There's a lot of different gaming tastes they're serving up to out there, so either they occasionally server up something you don't like, or turn it all into bland pap leaving everyone unsatified.

Waiting for the actual "event" was one reason I've been following along so carefully! (I'm going to have to go back through your posts and find out when Gary's last Dragon Magazine missive was.) Edit: Oh wait - there he is in #90, right above! "Not dead yet."

I think it was late '85 or early '86, so about another dozen issues.

 

[(un)reason]

Dragon Issue 90: October 1984

part 3/3

The superworld game, Expanded: And we get a second supers article in quick succession. Still not sure why they're lumping that in with the sci-fi stuff, but there you go, I'm not the editor on this magazine. Steve Perrin presents us with a grab-bag of new abilities and disadvantages for his game, making it better able to emulate the huge range of powers found in the genre. As he's the original creator, I'm guessing this is fairly balanced stuff, that made it into the next edition after a little tweaking. Plus it's interesting to see someone else who still gets talked about sometimes today show up in the magazine. Wonder if we'll see him again.

The mega-corporations: As promised last issue, we get write-ups for the various star frontiers megacorps. 16 of them are detailed, which means they don't get much depth each. They do tend to be a bit cliched, dividing themselves along obvious business lines, despite the theoretical ban on monopolies. I'm guessing this is probably diliberate, but it does feel a bit "white wolf splats in outer space, maaan" This is one article that could definitely have benefited from being quite a bit bigger.

Starquestions sets it's co-ordinates for Gamma world again. Penny takes the reins, to tell us about the game.
What's the difference between the original and revised editions of the game. (lotsa shiny new stuff, and an improved advancement system)
What issues of Dragon have gamma world stuff. (Several really old ones, and all the recent ones, with lots of big gaps in between)
Are there going to be any more supplements (No. You don't buy it enough to make that economical. )
Can you play old modulez using the new system ( Does a bee harvest flowers in the woods?)
How fast does a horse drawn wagon go. (Not much faster than walking. The real benefit is in the load you can carry )
Why isn't Canada on the map (Because Jim Ward's a big meanie who wanted to make Edward Greenwood cry. There there, Ed. Remember, the best revenge is success.)
Shouldn't plate armour be tougher than plastic armour (No. Plastic is awesome. Don't diss it like that. Metal may rust, but plastic is virtually impossible to get rid of. )
Can Gamma world races interbreed (Not usually. Course, with mutations being what they are, anything's possible. )
Can you disguise yourself as someone else with shapechange (no)
What happens to someone who travels to another plane (they're removed from play. Unless everyone goes, in which case convert them to the new universe's system.)
How do you get to the AD&D universe (Mad Science! It's indistinguishable from magic, so it can get you places you'd need magic to get to. )
Can you modify vehicles to run on different types of fuel (If you can scrounge up the parts. This may not be easy in postapocalyptic land)
Will sunglasses protect someone with dark dependency (no. You'll need a whole bodysuit to keep yourself from getting terminal sunburn)
Why doesn't being taller increase your hit points. (Because it doesn't. Size =/= resilience. Go beat up Jarvis Cocker. That'll be a good demonstration. )
How does a 1cm tall character attack. (poison and stealth. Just don't expect them to be useful in a pitched battle.)
Can I buy Metamorphosis alpha (Not unless you find a second hand copy somewhere. We're all out.)
Are there any Gamma world mini's (again, you aren't buying enough to make it worth our while. )
I need some help on making high level adventures (Tough. I can't provide you with any. Maybe Jim will be in a more generous mood.)

Wormy gets some REAL bait. Snarfquest has a random encounter. Which winds up a lot more random once he's through with it.

Paranoia! Buy this game! And play it! Are you happy now? Remember, happiness is mandatory. Playing other games is treasonous. Posession of this magazine is strong evidence that you play other games. Therefore you are treasonous and must be terminated. I hope your clone is happy and not treasonous, and has many long happy years playing Paranoia before it gets terminated.

Some serious disappointments in this issue, as they seem to be taking a definite step forward towards the more restrictive, preachy, railroading style of certain later adventures. I'm not happy to see those turning up this early, as I know they get a lot worse before they get better, and hope they won't grow too fast or show up up too often. We might have come a long way, but we've got far further to go still. And this issue is a foreshadowing that some of that journey is going to be rather challenging and unpleasant. Still, at least it shakes off the ennui, and gives me something to rant about. Can't be all sunny days and flowers, can it? If it never rained, we'd never see flowers, because they'd all dry up and die. Which I suppose proves the point.

 

[(un)reason]

Dragon Issue 91: November 1984

part 1/3

116 pages. So here we are, pretty much at the zenith of their popularity. With a circulation of 120,000, they're certainly a pretty significant force to be reckoned with. This is their biggest issue yet, and they seem to be making an extra effort for this one, with a load of format changes and special features. They probably should have held back for christmas but they just couldn't wait. So I won't bore you with pretentious preamble either.

In this issue:

Out on a limb loses it's vaguely amusing name, and becomes simply Letters. Seems a slightly pointless change to me. Eh, if they feel it'll make us take them more seriously. :shrug: Anyway, lets see what people are actually saying.
A letter praising Katharine Kerr's recent articles, and offering some supplemental advice. Kim gives an unnecceceraly large reply justifying an argument against such a minor quibble.
Three letters complaining about the rust monster ecology and asking further questions. Kim once again reminds them that a creature's description is not something to be stuck too slavishly. We're willing to give Ed plenty of leeway because the things he comes up with are cool. Whining whenever things aren't just so, on the other hand, is the epitome of uncool, and will not endear you to anyone.
Four letters about the details of various magical items they recently published. Once again I yawn. Just make it up for your own campaign. Is that really that hard?

The forum also gets it's header improved. This is nice.
Scott Hicks is not pleased at Katharine Kerr's denunciation of evil characters. Evil =/= stupid. The pragmatic bastard approach to adventuring can be very effective indeed. The success of many corporations in the real world is not hindered by their ethically suspect actions, quite the opposite in fact.
Steve Null also attacks Katharine, along a different tack. If even fantasizing about committing evil acts was mentally unhealthy, them all the GM's in the world would be on the fast track to breakdowns and depraved real life behaviour. This is obviously not the case. Your logic is deeply faulty.
Eric Herman worries about demihuman lifespans and the levels they would acquire in that time. Surely an elf is far more likely to advance to obscene levels than a human, particularly if they take thief, which is unlimited. Probably true, but for any race, levels will be an exponential curve. There is no proper age/level progression. Becoming high level is like becoming a millionaire. Some people manage it before they hit 20, but most will never do it, no matter how long or hard they try. Even long-lived races only have a low percentage of name+ level characters.
David N Moolten sticks his two cents in on the matter of falling damage. So much of it is dependent on what material you're hitting. This ought to be taken account of in the rules. Ha. No chance.
Finally, Alan Zumwalt sneers at Kevin Lawless' criticism of dragon clerics. It's perfectly normal for people to worship gods of different alignments if they have a desirable portfolio. Awareness of alignment is not constantly on creature's minds.

From the sorceror's scroll. Prreeeesenting! The Dukes of Demonic Destruction! The Squishers of Spinagons and Smashers of Structures! The Tanks of the Tanar'ri! The Goristro! Quail in terror, puny mortals! RAAAAARRGG! Particularly Gary's editor. You are most incompetent and must suffer for all the mistakes you introduced to my perfect work. A particularly amusing article that is a classic of Gary's writing style. Unlike last issue, which felt rather tentative, he's now back and firing on all cylinders. It's good to see him in the driving seat again. Long may he continue to entertain and confound us (from a safe distance, preferably.)

Realistic vital statistics: Ahh, Stephen Innis again. He's becoming another regular of recent issues. This is another reiteration of the Square-Cube law, and the problems it presents when dealing with giants and other proportionally weird D&D creatures. A dwarf the height of a human would weigh around 500 pounds. There is no way cloud and storm giants could function without magical support or being way less dense than humans. (which is why they are partially composed of clouds, I suppose. ) This is one of those articles that falls into the competent but dull category. I already know this, don't particularly care at the moment, and would rather concentrate on figuring out how to make games fun than realistic. So much for all that hard mathematical work.

The ecology of the leucrotta: Now here's a bastard of a monster, made even more bastardly by a well written Ed Greenwood article. Leucrotta may not have genius intelligence or an array of magical powers, but they're still smart enough to trick humans, and cause quite considerable amounts of harm and paranoia with their mimicry and depredations. Kinda like the peryton in that respect. Are they from the same mythological sources? In any case, this is also another good reminder that even fairly mundane monsters become a lot scarier when you start applying basic tactics and not just jumping out and fighting the adventurers on straight terms. Once again, both the fluff and the extra crunch are entertainingly written, and you get a real feel for the creatures and how they live their lives. If only it were a little longer, as I could definitely stand to hear a little more about this kind of topic.

Nine hells revisited: Ed also gives us another 16 pages of cool stuff on the nine hells. Well, since Roger messed it up, I guess it's up to him to remind us how it's really done. Which means if my math is right, this plane currently has more concrete stuff about it than all the others put together. People do so love conceiving of unpleasant people and things.
Since the basic layout and hierarchy is well covered, it's time to diversify. Any place with any kind of law will have outcasts, so we get 8 new unique devils for you to fight, deal with, and probably get screwed over by, because even if they're no longer welcome in polite society, they're still devils. They may help you in a scheme against the established power base, but only so they can get back into it, by trickery and treachery. They have a huge range of personality quirks and powers, reminding us that alignment is hardly a straitjacket, even for it's exemplars. And because all the outcasts live on the first level, that means they're relatively accessable. This is the kind of stuff that's both entertaining to read and incredibly useful in actual play, as it'd take months to whip up a cast of this size and diversity yourself.
Next we have treasure in the hells. After all, if you're going to kill devils, you're probably going to want to take their stuff as well. They get increasingly rich as you go down the levels, with tons of different types of gems just waiting to be mined and used. They're certainly not short on stuff to trade or hoard. Just remember, the wages of sin may be a bad influence on you, and finance can do things as impressive as any magic when it comes to gaining influence over a nation.
This neatly segues into a discussion of devilish agents on the prime material plane. If you believe them, they're all over the place, the ultimate illuminati, pulling strings and manipulating the fate of worlds. They're probably not as good as they think they are, but if it weren't for adventurers foiling them on a regular basis, who knows how bad things could get. As with the GDQ series, use of devils as behind the scenes manipulators is a great way to gradually build up to an epic multiverse spanning campaign, which is great fun as long as it doesn't happen every game.
And finally, we get a trio of short sections. Talk on the devilish hierarchy & promotion process. Some talk about the river styx and securing passage to places via it's treacherous boatmen. And finally, one of those tedious exhortations not to allow players to kill archdevils and otherwise make significant changes to the universe. That privilege is reserved for the game designers alone. That standard disclaimer aside, this is another demonstration that there's no-one on the team who can match up to Ed in terms of all round writing skills. When he's on, he's on. And this month, that is definitely the case.

 

[(un)reason]

Dragon Issue 91: November 1984

part 2/3

Eight devilish questions: And just when you thought it was over, Ed is playing sage advice as well. That brings his contribution this month up to 22 pages. Man, he's prolific. Where does he find the time? Well, if he's being paid enough to live on now, he's got to keep his output up, or it's back to a boring day job. That can be a pretty strong incentive.
How big is an army of devils (normally organized in tiers of 10, so you get stuff like 300 grunts, 30 sargants and 3 sub-commanders. Yes, this is an excuse to make them 666 big as often as possible. )
How do Titivius and Malphas confuse words. (Better than any mortal lawyer, bitch. Watch Ally Mcbeal, and then do the exact opposite. (although making your "clients" and opposing council see illusory dancing babies never hurts) Reading minds so you can avoid contradicting what they already know, figure out how your lies are being recieved and adjust your behaviour accordingly is a very good idea as well. )
Is Arioch the same Arioch that appears in Michael Moorcock's novels (No. More than one person can have the same name. It's be a rather awkward universe if they couldn't)
What stops Archdevils from simply killing each other and taking their stuff (Politics. No-one can take on everyone else and win, and if they tried it, they'd be the ones that died. Plus, too much infighting would keep them from advancing the cause of law and evil through the multiverse. They are not stupid. )
How many HD do archdevils have. (divide their hp by 4.5. This will produce nicely badass results for attack probabilities and saves. )
Where does rope trick go exactly in the hells? (an adjacent layer, either above or below. This can be exploited, but is not reliable by any means, certainly not as a method of storage. And if you use it for escape, the words frying pan and fire seem singularly appropriate. )
What are the limitations of fiendish teleport without error (Any solid surface in hell that isn't warded. They can take stuff with them, but can't send it elsewhere without going. This is a very important power, because more than any other, it liberates their logistical processes from a huge number of the hassles humans face, and shapes their view of the world accordingly. Use it cleverly. )
What are the statistics of the greatest pit fiend at all. (Duh. standard pit fiend, maximum hit points, extra cool magic weapon. Nothing spectacular in the greater scheme of things. He just has a good publicist.)

TSR is having a 10th anniversary sale! Snap up this stuff while it's cheap, because it'll be a collectors item soon.

Chronicles - A novel idea: The dragonlance modules are in full steam. You want more? Well you're in luck, because the first novel is out soon. Fear not though. We've made sure the books and modules are different enough that you won't be completely spoiled by reading them, and can still wind up doing different things. The world is a lot bigger than just the epic adventure you're going through. We've done great oodles of setting construction that you won't get to see for a while. As you may have guessed, this is a fairly blatant promotional piece, bringing more attention to their game world and trying to sell it to the masses. Something I have no objection too, but at the same time, am not particularly enthralled by. Once again, we see that their salesman techniques definitely need a bit of refining. Come on guys, do the work, make me drool in antici

Treasure trove: pation. Ahh, this is another pleasing returnee. Bazaar of the bizarre hasn't been around all year, but like the dragon's bestiary, they've decided to make up for that with a compendium of 47 new magical items as a second special feature this month. As if the new 9 hells stuff wasn't enough. Ed and Roger contribute many of the items in this section as well, with Richard Lucas, Michael Persinger and David Baldwin also making significant contributions. There's way too many for me to tackle each of them individually, but my favourites here are the ring of the grasshopper (of all the animals to choose, what wizard would think of that?) The girdle of loins (er, lions. ) The necklace of bad taste (genius, simply genius. A flavourful way of providing a substantial combat advantage, and a social commentary on gamers as well) and the cursed everstriking sword. (now that would be perfect for an iron heroes game) A great example of just how quirky and interesting magic items were back then, compared to more recent editions. You never know what you're gonna find in your loot, and figuring out how to put it to best use also takes quite a bit of effort and research. If they just do one thing, and do so completely reliably, it's no surprise if people get blase about their items. How many of you have looked at your video recorder manual and suddenly realized you never knew it could do half the things it can. If you apply the same principle to items you give your players, they'll pay a lot more attention to the things they have. Which is definitely a good thing, in my book.

Spies' Advice: Penny escapes the Ares section to tackle Top Secret again. She is proving pretty versatile. Not like Jean "I do not feel qualified to do so" Wells.
Do assassins have a license to kill (Yes, but it doesn't count for much. If you mess up, you're on your own.)
Why do you say no PC can be super (They can, just not at starting level. We've got to give you something to aspire to. )
Why are there no damage modifiers for rifles ( Good question. I'll guess abstraction for 5 alex)
How much damage does a flamethrower do. (Quite a lot, especially if they don't drop and roll. )
How much do arrows and crossbows cost (lots. They aren't produced much anymore.
What is the .22 Galil. Why is it so accurate? (It's a kickass israeli assault rifle. We think so, anyway. Have desert eagles been invented yet? We may shift our loyalty to them if they have )
How fast can the M3 shoot (4 shots/second. )
I want stats for more military gear. (Tough. This is a spy game, not a war one. You are not cleared to use that kind of ordinance, so we will not stat it out. )
It's too hard for my assassin to kill people in one shot. (You'll be thankful of that when you're the one getting sniped from cover by some bastard. And really, bullets aren't as deadly as some movies seem to think. Some people survive repeated headshots. Maybe you should be using explosives or poison more.)
You seem to think all improvised weapons do the same amount of damage. This is rubbish! (I blame Merle. He messed up the rules revision, not me! )
Can a dumb agent learn hand signals (Probably. He won't be very erudite with them though. Mind you, everyone understands the gesture for THOG SMASH!)
Can agents be ambidextrous (if you roll a 00 on a D% Not likely, in other words)
If you have identical speeds, who attacks first (Resolve simultaneously. You could both kill each other. How very dramatic. )
How does an unarmed person defend themselves against a sword (run away! )
If you kill someone on a mission you weren't supposed to, do you get XP ( Generally. It is a learning experience, after all)
Can you use untrained combat without any skill levels (yes)
Some of the Sprechaltenstalle pregens are more powerful than any legal 1st level PC. (That was intentional. Remember that you're supposed to be forced to choose blind. Random screwage is still pretty popular y'know.)

 

[(un)reason]

Dragon Issue 91: November 1984

part 3/3

Coming attractions: Just in time for christmas, we get another attempt to let us know about all the stuff they have for sale. They really should do this more regularly. I guess they still don't spend enough time on the supplement treadmill enough to make this worthwhile every month yet
For the indiana jones rpg, we have module IJ3: Crystal death. Requires use of the Magic Viewer. Ahh yes, I remember that little gimmick from the transformers toys.
Star frontiers gets module SFKH, 2001 a space odyssey. Now your characters can play the events of the film and book. Sounds interminably tedious to me. I hope they remembered to license it properly this time.
For the marvel super heroes game, we have module MH4: Lone wolves. Or how to force a team of Mr Broody McAngstinthepants to work together to deal with a common foe.
D&D gets module CM3: Sabre river. You may have got yourselves domains, but that doesn't mean you can't go dungeon-crawling. This time though, even the dungeons are bigger and badder. You'd better come prepared.
AD&D, as usual, gets the lions share of products. Dragonlance is already up to it's 5th module, Dragons of mystery, and is getting mini's of the main characters as well. And Conan is fighting against darkness in CB2. Beware Thoth-Amon.

ARES Log: Eratta, eratta, what bettah place to put ya than in the edita's section. Bleh. Anyway, problems aside, it seems the the marvel-phile is easily the most popular part of the section. They have taken note of this and intend to keep it showing up regularly. More evidence that pure sci-fi isn't that popular. A bit awkward, really, and a sign that this section isn't going to last forever. Not that anything does. It's just a question of how long it will last, and enjoying it while you can.

Does anyone here speak Aslan?: Languages are a pain in the ass. They're one of the areas that gets most consistently fudged or worked around by some handwavium power in game settings, simply because the alternative is so much hassle to deal with, and constantly having to learn new ones wherever you go is bad for smooth and fun adventuring. Thankfully Traveller has never been known for it's cinematicness, so even with a certain amount of linguistic homogenization caused by concious governmental attempts, you still have thousands of the bastards out there, more than any one person could learn. This article covers the rules for learning new languages in a reasonable, but not excessive amount of detail, and somehow manages to keep the idea a likable one. A bit of grit never hurt anyone, (Yeah, I know, so not true, especially if you get it in the eye) and dealing with language barriers opens up almost as many plot avenues as it closes. If you want a more gritty realistic game, this is definitely an option to consider.

Day of the Juggernaut: A quick star frontiers scenario squashed between two longer articles, and with a slightly odd layout, this has a definite feel of something used to fill up space. Better that than more adverts, I guess. Like OGRE, this is a one big ship vs lots of smaller ships engagement, where you have to figure out how to stop the thing before it causes huge amounts of devastation. Perfectly serviceable, but not particularly exceptional.

The marvel-phile: Ahh, here we go. The marvel-phile tackles several interesting things this time round. We have stats for Cloak and Dagger (oh my aching sides.) Transformed by a mob experiment that went horribly wrong, they now target drug dealers and cure addicts. Here we see the conflict between the desire to tackle serious social issues, and the constriction of the comics code, forcing them to represent drug-taking as seriously wrong and detrimental to your karma, no matter what, no greys or excuses. (5 karma per glass of booze? Man that's harsh) How dated that all seems now. As with the U.N.C.L.E conversion, this is a great reminder that there are plenty of sillier things than rpg's out there in media land, and also that Dragon is horribly bowdlerised by it's editorial policy most of the time. You don't notice some things are missing until you see them, and them you're amazed that you didn't notice before. And frankly, I think I could handle a bit more sex and social issues, if you would be so kind.

Careers in Star Law: Yes, it's more detail on these guys. Having had a great idea opened up to us, now someone else weighs in on the crunch behind the idea. And instantly starts introducing restrictions and requirements that close plot ideas off again. This sucks. Every bit of inspiration requires a lot of perspiration to turn into a fully realized product, and maintaining momentum at every stage is nearly impossible. But still, this could definitely have been handled better. Very disappointing.

Don't leave home without 'em!: A nice little counterpart to the D&D treasure trove, they've also decided to give us a load of cool /magic/ technological items for gamma world. Anti-grav packs, energy shackles, /admantine/ duralloy war claws, this is definitely a step in a gonzo direction. Not that there's anything remotely unusual about that in gamma world. So you can slot them straight in, or file the technobabble off and convert them to D&D magical items with a minimum of fuss. Another bit with a good word count to fun had in actual play ratio.

Fiction: The rune and the dragon by Lawrence Watt-Evans. So you took something from a dragon, and now it's following you, trying to get it back. Why would it hold back, instead of tearing you to shreds like the impertinent little mammal you are. A very good question, and one I won't spoil you on the answer to, other than to say that while this may be a one-joke piece, it's a good joke. Another cool little bit of fiction.

Reviews: Shogun is this month's bumper sized review. A card game with substantial similarities to five stud poker, it's a license of the book and tv series by James Clavell. Thankfully, it's not as long-winded as the book, with good production values and a design that makes it simple to learn, but tremendously varied in play, due to the number of special cards and combination of luck and skill required to win it. Seems interesting. Anyone know how this one did sales-wise back in the day?
Mercenaries, Spies & Private eyes gets a rather mediocre review from Ken. It's fast paced simple style does not seem to appeal to him, and he is left unsatisfied by it's lack of depth. What does it have to distinguish itself from the other modern action games like Top secret, Gangbusters and Daredevils? He certainly doesn't see anything special in it.
Death in dunwich is a call of cthuhu adventure. Already the game is rising to a popularity that belies it's humble origins as a license of an obscure author, with a strong emphasis on the PC's suffering horribly. This is a good adventure, but not the best organized ever. It has some serious errata, and no overview, forcing you to read it carefully before you can play it. If you do it wrong, it'll be as much a mystery to the GM as to the players. One for an experienced group.
The vanishing investigator is a Gangbusters adventure. Unlike our last foray into the lands of mystery, this does have a proper index and chronology, making it easy to run. With strong characters, plenty of settling detail, good illustrations and an action packed plot, this gets his top rating for this month.
In addition, we have a whole bunch of capsule reviews. Dragons of dispair, the marvel superheroes game, The mountain environment and Bree and the barrow downs all get under 200 word summaries of their style and contents. None get particularly spectacularly praised or slated.

Wormy shoots Irving. Snarfquest goes to the big city. Dragonmirth is oh so wrong in it's implications.

With it's big size, format changes, and multiple classic articles, this is definitely another high water mark for the magazine as a whole. They may have their ups and downs, and things'll never change as fast as they did in the first few years again, but they're still learning and growing. Let's hope this isn't their artistic zenith as well as their commercial one, and we'll get some more amazing issues in the near future. Don't save it all for issue 100. Lets finish this year off in style as well.