Let's read the entire run

[(un)reason]

Dragon Issue 55: November 1981

part 2/2

The many ways of getting away: Yes, you can't win every fight. So sometimes, even the best adventurers have to retreat, if they want to live to advance another level. This article is mainly a list of the various magical items that increase your mobility, and their varying optimality in aiding your escape attempts. Will you run, fly, climb, swim, teleport, or even go extraplanar? Best to have as many options as possible, because you know some monsters'll be able to bypass each of those methods. And remember, a party is only as fast as its slowest member, unless you don't mind leaving them behind to be eaten. A fairly well thought out article, that properly considers the range of special abilities available to D&D characters. Not much use for other games though, considering how tied to D&D physics its calculations are.

Filling in skills: Someone has noticed how glacial the rate of advancement in play is in traveller, and how rigid the career system is. And discontented with the situation, they set out to fix it. So he steals and adapts the check rules from BRP to create a system which allows for a decent advancement rate, but gets harder the higher your current skill is. He also discusses going from one service to another, and which ones make logical sense to be combined. A pretty good article that I would probably allow in a game, as it seems to open up quite a lot of options to the game, and fixes a serious problem in the original design.

Minarian Legends: This months legends is indeed rather legendary, focusing on the various mysterious ruins scattered throughout minaria. Dare you go to the altars of greystaff and invoke forbidden magics there? Or summon the ghost troops from the lost city of Khos. Or brave the curses of the tombs of olde to get the treasures within. A bit of a grab bag of short articles, this goes several more steps towards establishing just how full a setting minaria is. It certainly seems to cover all the fantasy bases.

Dragon's bestiary: Devil spiders are another monster that is not actually from another plane, but are still pretty damn annoying. Still, at least they don't have an instadeath bite. That would ruin the fun of trying to rescue your companions from their web traps.
Surchur are tentacle headed monsters. Thankfully, all their tentacles are resolved as a single hit, rather than getting 8 separate attacks like certain monsters (yes, you, carrion crawlers) so they shouldn't be too much trouble for a well equipped party to deal with.
Dyll are bloodsucking swarms of flying leeches. I'm sure they'd get on great with pirahna bats. Use your area effect attacks to take them down, because they sure do come in large swarms. Swatting them will not work well.
Poltergeists are the ghost of gnomes coming back from Limbo to cause chaos. Ok, that's one way to tie them into the D&D cosmology a bit more. It won't stick, though.

Simulation corner turns its eye on the concept of State of the Art again. Should this be used to define the current limits, or the present standard? This gets bogged down in niggling. As is often the case in these extended series, it seems to be sagging in the middle. You could have cut this out and we wouldn't have missed it. We don't need more pontification about the non linear method of advancement in technologies based upon subjective judgements.

The Dragon's Augury: Universe is a new sci-fi roleplaying game. While not bad, it is probably too complex, and not rich enough in setting to supplant traveller.
Third reich gets a third edition. Rather a bigger change this time around than the switch from 1st to 2nd. Covering both small scale tactics and large scale strategy and logistics, it covers the entire flow of WWII without forcing games to all go the way of the real history. With clearer writing and heavily reworked airial combat, the reviewer seems to think that most of the changes are good ones.
Kim also turns his eye to a bunch of general gaming accessories. Spellbinders are designed for storage of your character sheets and stuff. Magne=Melee is a magnetic grid marker system. (I don't really think they explain this properly. I'd have to see this to properly make sense of this. ) Dragonbone is an electronic random die roller, that seems to be pretty reliable. And finally, we have an official AD&D paint set, composed of 54 official AD&D colours, so you can paint your monsters in exactly the same hues that the designers intended. Er, right. Thanks for that, I guess. (Way to restrain our creativity.)

Figuratively speaking: Dragons, doors, a manticore. spaceships, aliens and gorillasaurs. This is what's on show this month, in the column on miniatoures. (ow, that's a terrible rhyme.)

Da letter: A comic strip by Larry Elmore, in the same style he would later use for Snarfquest. Is he going to get properly paid? Or will he get what he deserves? Don't expect to see, because this is just a one-shot. You'll have to wait a little longer for something to replace Fineous Fingers to show up.

Wormy, What's new and the rest of dragonmirth are present. Once again, Sex and D&D is postponed. Don't try and fight a mini's battle on a waterbed, because leaks will ruin your game.

My, what a wholesome looking family that is advertising the Dungeon! boardgame. I bet they sit down together and eat a proper roast dinner every sunday.

A very easy to get through issue, with a low ratio of duff articles. (normally, I wind up spending loads of time trying to finish the dullest few articles in an issue. Not this time, thankfully.) The D&D supplement mill has had another classic book added to its list, although they certainly don't seem to think so at the time. Hindsight is a funny thing. Can they top this for their christmas issue? Lets see.

 

[(un)reason]

Dragon Issue 56: December 1981

part 1/2

84 pages. Phil and Dixie make it onto the cover this issue, in another amusing christmas themed cover. Growf. Apart from that, it's curiously low on festivity this year, with no page expansion, and only a couple of remotely connected articles. Actually, they've been a bit sloppy about their event celebrations in general this year. I guess they think we'll get bored if they cover the same topics every year. Still, it's not as if they're actually short on stuff. Lets see what we have got instead of griping about what we haven't.

In this issue:

Out on a limb: A pretty short letters section this issue. We start with two contrasting letters as often, one approving the changes made to the monk in issue 53, and the other disapproving, saying the changes were unneccecary.
A letter saying Dragon is over priced, and they ought to split it into a D&D magazine and a non D&D magazine. Yeah, that'd make them more money
A letter engaging in minor quibbles about Lew Pulspher's article on heraldry in issue 53.

Singing a new tune: Looks like this month it's bards turn to get a good looking over. This article essentially presents a new bard class, without the weird class switching baggage. The author eschews thieving abilities in exchange for illusionist magic, and adds a whole bunch of other little tweaks that he hopes will make the class a better designed one. I'd be quite interested in testing if he succeeded. It certainly seems pretty well written and thought out. It may well be overpowered, though.

Sage advice is also concentrating on bard rules this month, as they seem to like joining in with the issues theme.
Can rangers, paladins or assassins become bards (No. When we say fighter then thief, we mean fighter, then thief. No other combinations. Not the other way round, no diversions.)
Are fighters who intend to become bards limited in their choice of armour (not yet)
Do bards suffer a penalty to thieving abilities when using armour and weapons thieves can't? (Nope. Isn't that cool.)
Can bards use weapons they were allowed to by previous classes, but not as bards (No. Druidic forbids it. You wanna keep your spells, stick to your new restrictions. Plan your weapon proficiency selection ahead so you don't waste any. )
How can a bard have 8th level fighting skills as it says in page 181 of the DMG. (if they read that magical manual that increases your fighter level after they switched classes, thus getting round the normal limits. That, and NPC's don't have to abide by the rules PC's do. If your DM wants to make a bard who is also a 27th level half dwarf half githyanki fighter, he is entirely within his rights to do so, so ner. )
Do fighters who dual class keep their exceptional strength.(No. They don't have time to work out enough to keep it anymore. Or something. :waves hand: I can't even be bothered to rationalize this one.)
What are the maximum fighter and thief levels for bards (this is clearly in the books, you morons)
What level do bards cast spells at (= to their level)
Do bards get shapeshifting (Why yes! And all the other druidic special powers at the appropriate level too. How many people remember that? Which is odd given how scary druid special powers are. )
Which is right, the bard class in the best of the dragon, or the one from the players handbook, as they're so different. ( The one from TBOTD was originaly from SR6, more than 3 years before AD&D was published. The new one is the right one, although you could use the old version in a BD&D game if you like. )

Songs instead of spells: Another bardic article. This presents the idea that it would be more thematic for bards to create magical effects via playing and singing music, rather than the boring casting methods employed by other spellcasters. What a revolutionary idea This article also gives them a custom spell list with a few new spells to replace the straight druid one. They really could do with a few more sound related spells. I guess they have yet to be invented. A fairly decent article, if still rather hampered by the limitations in scope of the era. It is so hard to really think outside the box.

Map hazard, not haphazard: Want more realistic geography in your games? (no thanks) Steal it from the real world! Take proper topographic maps, do a bit of rotating and resizing, and move the buildings around. They'll be more realistic than you could manage without an advanced degree in geophysics. And more detailed than any ordinary map you could create. Yeah, I can see that working. And even great creatives such as tolkien er, borrowed from the real world extensively. The important thing is knowing how to mix and hide your sources. Personally, I'd still prefer to custom create everything myself, but I recognize the practical impossibility of that.

From the sorceror's scroll: Iuz! Hello and welcome back to Dragon. What has that diabolical half-demon been up too? Same thing he's up to every year. Trying to take over Oerth. Ahh, metaplot. Gary fills us in on the geopoltics of years 575-9 of the oerdian calendar. That's a lot of warring going on. I suppose that's one of the things that makes Greyhawk a more gritty setting than the Forgotten Realms. Once again, Gary introduces a lot of interesting things that will continue to have an impact for the rest of the setting's history.

Minarian Legends: Dragons and sea serpents and ogres, oh my! The giant monsters of minaria, and their place in the world. Which side are they on, and what part will they play in your game? With so many different factions, no one side, even ones as individually powerful as this, can win on their own. There certainly must be a LOT of different ways they could be combined.

 

[LordVyreth]

I have to admit, your constant praise of the Minarian Legends series is making me interested in finding that game some time. If not to play it, at least to study it.

 

[Storm Raven]

Squad leader: This months scenario is the russian siege of budapest. 17.01.1945. They do seem to be concentrating on WW2, don't they. Was that an explicit part of the game as written

Yes.

 

[(un)reason]

I have to admit, your constant praise of the Minarian Legends series is making me interested in finding that game some time. If not to play it, at least to study it.

Yeah. Divine right seems to have been one of the great forgotten gems of that era. I'd never heard of it before starting this either, but the articles on it have been consistently well written, and usually pretty entertaining as well. If I spotted a copy I'd certainly snap it up.

 

[Croesus]

Yeah. Divine right seems to have been one of the great forgotten gems of that era. I'd never heard of it before starting this either, but the articles on it have been consistently well written, and usually pretty entertaining as well. If I spotted a copy I'd certainly snap it up.

For more info - including what appears to be all the Minarian Legends articles - check out this website.

According to Wikipedia, there was supposed to a new edition released Summer 2008. Either it's late, or it really fell under the radar...

The Divine Right Website

 

[(un)reason]

Dragon Issue 56: December 1981

part 2/2

Mad Merc: Our Christmas module this year is a Top Secret one that goes to a full 20 pages. A sequel to Dr Yes, this is another semi-aquatic mission. With jetpacks, more bad pun names, and some terrible fashion choices, this is definitely on the more lighthearted end of the gritty/cinematic scale. Of course, that doesn't neccecarily mean it isn't a challenge. But I can't properly judge that. As ever, any stories of actual play from any of these modules would be welcomed.

Fiction: The doctor, by Robert Dunkle: Oookay. Now that's just nasty. Well done to you Robert, you've just told a genuinely creepy story in just a page and a half. Don't explain why, just show and tell, and present us with a concept that seems all too plausible from a twisted angle and goes right to the bottom of my mental uncanny valley. I seriously hope that this one doesn't give me nightmares.

Ral partha take out a full page colour advert just to wish us merry christmas, without even showing any products. That's ..... nice of them.

Figuratively speaking: This months miniatures are a troll, an ent, a storm giant, and an evil wizard. All get pretty average marks, nothing below 5 or above 8. How am I supposed to think of something interesting to say when the reviewer is being so conservative?

Dragon's bestiary: Shroom are annoying dog-bear things that like to kidnap people and ransom them for honey or whatever else they feel like at the time. Use them if you want a slightly more lighthearted break in your adventuring.
Colfel are weird looking creatures from the negative material plane. Which means they get energy draining attacks. So beware. Another interesting creature that would fill out the ecology of an underinhabited plane. At least, if they had shown up again.
Gem vars are another construct created by wizards. One of those creatures that eschews the standard hit point system in favour of exception based design that makes them a nuisance to kill. And careful how you do it, otherwise you'll damage the valuable materials they're made of, and won't be able to sell them for so much. They probably would be /nerfed/ standardised in later editions.

The dragon's augury: Survival/The barbarian is a packaged set of two short board games, that can be played solitare or in a small group. Both are fairly high on randomness, and probably won't hold up to lots of repeated play.
Dawn of the dead is a board game based off George Romero's movies. You know the drill. Find weapons, kill zombies, avoid having your brain eaten.
The argon gambit/Death station is another double adventure set for traveller. Both are fairly short, and offer a nice range of challenges within their scenarios. Either can be thrown in fairly easily to an established game when the GM is short of ideas for a session.
Fighting ships provides lots of really big spaceships for traveller. Unfortunately most of them will be out of the price range of PC's. Still, it gives both players and GM's something to drool over. And trying to get the money for one (or steal one) is the stuff adventures are made of, isn't it.

Off the shelf returns, at last (obviously they needed to build up the supply of submissions for the new column)Other stories and the attack of the giant baby by Kit Reed is nowhere near as silly as its name implies, with lots of darkness mixed with the humour and only one of the stories fails to entertain the reviewer.
Sharras exile by Marion Zimmer Bradley is another novel in the Darkover series. The reviewer is decidedly unamused by her continual denigration and mistreatment of her male characters, but still recognizes the quality of her storytelling.
Too long a sacrifice by Mildred Downey Broxon is a story of two people stolen away by the faeries centuries ago returning to earth .... right in the middle of ireland during the Troubles. (my god, how long ago that seems) Tragedy ensues, as they try to make sense of this new world. No easy solutions through magical macguffins here, in a story that sounds like it would be a good inspiration for Changeling:the Lost.
When trouble beckons by Mike McQuay is a sci-fi detective novel in the raymond chandler mold, with convoluted plot and plenty of internal monologue. It also receives a pretty positive impression from the the reviewer.

A holiday gift guide to lots more books, giving us brief descriptions of 20 recent releases from popular authors. Many of which are still familiar to me now, so I guess they've stood the test of time fairly decently. Others are limited editions, and would have been hard to get hold of even back then. Who'd get those as a present for someone else, unless they were stupidly rich?

Simulation Corner finishes off its series on game design by talking about design philosophy. This is of course, one of the most annoyingly nebulous subjects in existence, along with "where does your inspiration come from?" Still, it is important to be able to apply some level of critical rigour to the design process, particularly where it involves mathematical probabilities and sequences of calculations. I suppose taking the time to think up a philosophy can't hurt. Still, if it doesn't produce playable fun games, all that thinking has gone to waste. Better learn from your mistakes and do better next time.

Thieves guild disguises another advert as a comic. Cheeky.

Wormy meets something that can scare even creatures from hell and god knows where. Whats new gets to go colour. Dragonmith misses the opportunity to make christmas related jokes.

Another issue packed full of useful stuff. The reviews in particular are definitely improving again, now they've widened their scope, and there are more RPG things being released for them to compare and contrast. This gives me a better idea of the subculture outside RPG's and the related things they thought gamers would be reading and playing. The amount of wargaming stuff seems to be gradually going down though. Do they ever make an active decision to cut it out, or is this just a gradual loss of interest that reflects the market shift in general. I guess I'll find out soon enough. On to the next year.

 

[(un)reason]

Dragon Issue 57: January 1982

part 1/2

84 pages. Welcome to another year. Once again, they seem to be jiggling up the issue format to keep things fresh. We say goodbye to one long-running column, hello to a few more, and the running order seems to be different this year. Gary is really at the reins again, there's far more concrete setting details, and wargames are fading into the background. Still plenty of stuff on other RPG's, though. Lets enjoy that while we can.

In this issue:

Out on a limb: Ha. A player who independently played a winged character is somewhat peeved about the winged folk, as there are lots of other similarities between his character and them, and he doesn't want to be accused of being a copycat. They tell him not to be ashamed, as the stuff from Dragon is meant to be used anyway.
A letter criticizing the editing and design errors in Cavern Quest. One of which they admit, but the rest they poohpooh, saying he's the one in error.
And that's your lot. Only 2? You people are slipping. Come on, we need more rants.

Modern monsters: Ooh. Welcome to our first attempt at D&D modern, courtesy of Ed Greenwood. He gives us lots of conversions of modern stuff: weaponry, cars, people. Neither side has it too easy, as the adventurers won't know how to use modern equipment, which is considerably more dangerous than medieval weapons, while the modern people have no access to spells. If the adventurers behave as adventurers stereotypically do, there are likely to be a lot of casualties on both sides. As with most of Ed's work, this is very well researched and considered, with proper footnotes and everything. He does err a little on the side of realism over game workability, and concepts such as abstracting machine gun fire don't seem to be common design parlance. But these are minor quibbles in the face of the overall quality.

Leomund's tiny hut: Ha. Len just went to the SCA. Len just went to the SCA. [/taunt] Which means he's back, all bright eyed, bushy tailed and eager to give us new, more "realistic" house rules based upon his observations there. New rules for shields and weapon proficiency training. With lots of tables. Seems pretty similar to his usual modus operandi. Pass me the glasses with eyes painted on so I can snooze through this one.

From the Sorceror's scroll: Gary continues his trip round the greyhawk map, updating us on current events. Another 10 nations get synopses of the recent geopolitical happenings between them. Ice barbarians, snow barbarians, frost barbarians? I guess he can't be accused of creating a monoculture for an area. Even the monsters get to be, if not equal players in D&D geopolitics, important and not all divided up by species.

In search of a james bond: What Top Secret class would James Bond have been in? Multiclassed between three of them actually. Yes, that is distinctly suboptimal by the current rules. I guess he's just that badass. This writer wants to see more of that in his games, so he introduces rules that make that kind of build a bit easier. Which includes an early instance of dramatic editing rules. Very interesting, if of course somewhat overpowering compared to standard characters. But if you want cinematic in a game not equipped for it, I guess you've got to be prepared to make rules hacks if you want to change a game's play experience. I can't really begrudge them this one, when they're trying so hard. (what was the first canon appearance of a metagame luck/fate mechanic? ) Plus it makes running a game for smaller groups easier, and that's always handy.

The rasmussen files is imitating sage advice this month, with merle answering questions about the rules in general.
How do you raise your language fluencies? (as you advance in other Areas Of Knowledge. Or take a course)
When your life is reduced to 0 by a limb shot, do you die (you're unconcious and die from bleeding if not treated in 5 minutes.
How do you determine if a lie to other PC's succeeds? (by roleplaying. No-ones thought of social conflict mechanics yet, and I don't think I'd like that idea anyway. If I'd heard of it, which I haven't.)
How do you maintain continuity when handling multiple teams (with a good deal of personal effort, and possibly some notekeeping. There's no magic secret to it.)
How do you have PC's communicate without revealing their identities? (secret notepassing to and from the GM)
Why don't shots that miss hit bystanders (frankly, my dear, I couldn't be arsed. Here's a rough kludge of a rule if you're really keen to try it.)
Where and what is the Intercept chart (something we cut at the last minute and forgot to remove all the references to. We may put it in Dragon in a future issue.)
What happens if you shoot an unconcious person ( You scumbag. Anyway, if their non-subdual hit points are reduced to 0, they die if not treated, just like normal.)
Can a spy be affiliated with a foreign agency (yup. If they're caught, they're in the . But you knew that when you signed up anyway. It's just a matter of which side wants to kill you. )
What's the purpose of each bureau(to use a metaphor, they are all like the various parts of a human body. I'm sure you can work out which. )
What is point blank range (a meter or less)
Should you keep a low profile, or go in guns blazing(Up to you, but we reccomend using intelligence. It is a spy game, after all)
Will top secret get more stuff published (I certainly hope so. I have no shortage of ideas.)
What's thermite (nasty stuff that flares really bright for several seconds. Good for both distractions and melting through solid steel)
What are light intensifier goggles? ( amplifiers for any existing light in the area, so you can see clearly when it's almost dark. Watch out for sudden bursts of light though. )
What are the stats for Shuriken? rolleyes: Bloody ninja wannabes. Oh alright, here you go.)
How much damage do knives do? (look at the special knife-fighting rules. Yes, this is exception based design. )
How do you determine animal's offence ratings(you don't. They just have flat to hit and damage bonus'. See the table.)

 

[(un)reason]

Dragon Issue 57: January 1982

part 2/2

Random magic items: Ever thought it a bit odd that only certain shapes of magic item have certain powers? Want a bit more unpredictability in that area. This bunch of tables decouples item type and powers, so you can determine both randomly. Of course, since they have to be generic, the list of powers isn't the greatest. This could have been better, but it still adds a decent selection to my list which should keep players from finding the same old bits of treasure for a few more sessions. Just watch out for the cursed stuff, as ever.

The versatile Magician: A generalist spellcaster for DragonQuest with access to spells from all three colleges, only not to such great ability. This is the problem with games with rigid class roles. First thing gamers try to do when making new classes is to blur the existing ones in various combinations. Before you know it, you might as well have gone for point buy in the first place. This is not as well done as the Top Secret one above.

Giants in the earth: This months characters converted are C.J Cherryh's (she seems to be quite popular with the GitE authors. What's with that?) Morgaine and Vanye, Lynn Abbey's Rifkind, and Robert E Howard's Belit and Dark Agnes.

The Wandering Trees: Another 16 page tournament module, this is obviously a wilderness one, which means druids and rangers get a chance to shine. Watch out for the ing phooka, because trickster fae aren't funny when you're the butt of their jokes. Nice to see them once again expanding their repetoire and giving regular readers more options to challenge their players with.

Up on a soapbox engages in epic fail this month, with two laughable articles.
Brian Blume falls flat on his face at understanding human nature, and tells us that evil behaviour is completely ineffective in both real life and adventuring because no-one would trust that character, or continue to associate with them. They'd end up alone and friendless, if not locked up or dead. No-one intelligent could possibly enjoy playing an evil character. Er, yeah. Thats as dumb as the people who believe that good would never work because they'd help everyone who asked, even those who took advantage of them, never kill diliberately, and always forgive and give mercy to their enemies, no matter how obviously that would be a bad idea. Oh, and nice guys can't get chicks. No-one could possibly get any success or pleasure out of acting like that. Everyone would hate such an insufferable holier than thou prig. Sometimes I dispair at people, I really do. Still, I suppose it's more entertaining than another bland common sense article.
Like this one. Roger Moore reminds us again that sexism and rape are bad things, mmmkay, even in fantasy worlds, and putting them in may cause discomfort in female gamers, and discourage girls from joining your group in the first place. No sherlock. The only people who don't know that already are candidates for the creepiest gamer thread, and they're unlikely to take it in, even if they do read this magazine fanatically every month and can quote every single optional rule from it.

Having been one of our most consistently entertaining regular faces for the past couple of years, Minarian Legends finally comes to an end. (or at least, says it does. We'll see if it stays gone.) I wonder what Glenn'll do next? He finishes off with an extensive chronology of everything since the great cataclysm, so you can see exactly when all the events detailed in previous issues occurred in relation to one another. Farewell. It's been interesting finding out about you.

The history of the shield: Another system free real world historical article. They've had a pretty wide range of shapes and construction materials over the years, as people look for the optimum compromise of protection against whatever weaponry is popular at the time, and mobility. Very little of which is reflected in the rules for games, unlike weaponry, which gets all manner of neat custom effects in some games. I guess offense is more interesting than defense. This article is certainly pretty inoffensive. Actually, that's doing it a disservice, as it is very comprehensive and well researched. But it is the kind of article you need to be in the right mindframe to enjoy.

Send in your entries for the 5th invitational AD&D tournament now! This year, it's the quality of your custom creations such as spells, monsters and magic items that are being tested.

The dragon's augury: Star viking is a tactical boardgame of interstellar raiding and pillaging. While high quality in components and appearance, it suffers from the fatal flaw that the sides are seriously unbalanced, making it virtually impossible for the vikings to win. Which is a bit rubbish, since they're the namesakes. The reviewer suggests some house rules to fix this, which adds a different spin to the article's purpose. Not sure if I should approve of that or not, but it certainly adds interest.
Champions is one of the first iterations of the Hero system. And it's only around a tenth the size of the bullet-stopping brick 5th edition would become. Which means there are still significant gaps in the powerset and some point cost to effectiveness issues. But even so, the effort to fun ratio might still be higher than more recent comprehensive versions. Hard to say.

Simulation corner: The importance of illustration in game design. This can have more impact on the comprehensibility of a game than you might think. It certainly has a big impact on popularity, as good graphic design is crucial in making first impressions. Of course, being able to afford good artwork is one of the things that sets the professionals apart from the enthusiastic amateurs. Another fairly common sense article with several good examples from the actual era.

The electric eye: We get the results from the survey a few issues ago. Unsurprisingly, it is very male and teen oriented, with quite a high percentage of people who program their own games. Apple is the most popular company (hah. D&D players are artistic types. How little things have changed in that respect. ) And cassettes are just beating disks as the preferred method of storing and loading programs. They'd like to see more programs and reviews in the future. Interesting. But only if you enjoy statistics.

Dragonmirth is here. Wormy expands on the wargaming theme that would become significant later. Still no sex in D&D in What's new, but we do get a little cheesecake for your enjoyment.

Even with the changes, this still feel very much like business as usual. They haven't dropped a beat.

 

[Orius]

Roger Moore reminds us again that sexism and rape are bad things, mmmkay, even in fantasy worlds, and putting them in may cause discomfort in female gamers, and discourage girls from joining your group in the first place. No sherlock. The only people who don't know that already are candidates for the creepiest gamer thread, and they're unlikely to take it in, even if they do read this magazine fanatically every month and can quote every single optional rule from it.

Maybe. This might be far back enough that some of those guys are still taking dating advice from Gor, so you need a ham-fisted approach rather than subtlety.