Let's read the entire run

[(un)reason]

Dragon Magazine Issue 138: October 1988

part 4/5

The end of the world: A slightly hyperbolic title. This isn't about inflicting a full-on apocalypse, but the kind of thing which "merely" wipes out around half of the population like the plague, and how it would impact on your campaign. There's plenty of room for adventures before, during and in the aftermath of this, and it's a good way to shake up a game that's getting dull. The players may not be able to save everyone, but they can certainly make a substantial difference on a local scale. Keep them guessing as to if they'll be infected, if they are, if they'll die, and play up all the dramas that sweep a community when people start dying and there's no apparent control over it. A very specific article, concentrating on the specifics of the historical plagues rather than extrapolating to a fantasy world, with all the ways magic affects society incorporated. Still, I'm having no trouble working outwards and thinking of variants on this idea, so hopefully you won't either. This is certainly a form of horror they haven't tackled before, so even though it's not perfect, it definitely has my interest. This has easily been the second best themed issue under Roger's run so far. Lets see if the nonthemed bits can also bring the awesome.


Putting fire into firepower: Top Secret gets another way out of date article, with info on lasers for the old edition. Despite being invented only a couple of decades ago, they're already ubiquitous in sci-fi settings. They don't actually make that brilliant weapons, due to atmospheric attenuation and lack of collateral damage making them fairly inefficient in terms of cost/damage ratio. And indeed, this article tries not to stray too far from reality, forging you to wear a ghostbusters sized power pack to operate one portably, and featuring lots of crunchy details about charging times, the difference based on the type of gas used in the canister, and rather high chances of malfunction. This manages to make something inherently awesome dull, and is definitely intended for those who prefer the older more gritty game style. How very tiresome.


TMNT goes transdimensional. As with the australian sourcebook, this seems entirely appropriate to the source material.


Fiction: Between lightning and thunder by Nancy Varian Berberick. A rather melancholy story, combining the sadness of a declining race, the horrors of war, and the rather more banal horrors of bullying into a seamless whole, and saying that sometimes there may be no good answers, but you should still try and go on living, because suicide is an even worse choice. Hey ho. Not sure if I like this one, as it has good goals, but approaches them in a slightly after-school special kinda way. Still, it's an interesting one, that isn't all flashy heroics, so that counts for quite a bit. I think that I approve, overall.


The role of computers: Star command is a sci-fi roleplaying game. Like the more common fantasy ones, you build a team of characters from a selection of classes, and then do some asskicking, which is both ship based and hand-to hand in this case, and level up your characters and ships. It's more than big enough to accommodate months of play. They both recommend this, and give you quite a bit of play advice.

Questron II is a 3D adventure. It gets a rather short and vague review that assumes you are already familiar with the first game in the series.

Bards tale III balances familiar locations with drastic changes to the world, as you need to beat the new big bad before he completely mucks things up. There are plenty of new character classes, but you can also use your old ones from previous games. While it does what it does well, the reviewers have recently been spoiled by games where you can negotiate with your enemies, and the pure combat gets tiresome to them. Ho hum.

Power at sea is another one that gets repetitive after a while. A naval simulator where you control a fleet of ships, there's only so much you can do tactically, particularly where landings are involved. Not that they actively dislike it, but it doesn't have huge amounts of replayability.

Shanghai is a computerised version of Mah-jong. No great surprises here, but like chess, this is a game you can spend a lifetime mastering, particularly when playing two player. Combined with the good graphics and ease of learning, they give it 5 stars.

Wooden ships and iron men, on the other hand, should have stayed a boardgame, getting a snarkily negative review. Just don't buy it.

 

[(un)reason]

Dragon Magazine Issue 138: October 1988

part 5/5

Role-playing reviews is doing horror again. No surprise at all there.
GURPS Horror shows yet again how solidly designed and flexible the GURPS system is. With three sample settings, and plenty of elements, it can certainly be used to build a horror game, but the utilitarian writing means you'll have to add your own atmosphere to actually make games scary. Seems fairly par for the course for them.

Beyond the supernatural, on the other hand, has plenty of atmosphere, but not very well designed rules. Ken makes it pretty clear that you'll have to tinker with this one a bit, but the setting is quite cool, offering a consistent explanation for all kinds of supernatural weirdness in the same game. The GMing advice and sample adventures are also not the best, but there are more than enough cool elements for you to create a good game from. Looks like palladium are the same as they ever were then.

Cthulhu Now, on the gripping hand, gets an unreservedly positive review. Both system and setting work together to update the mythos hunting to the modern day. (or at least, the late 80's ) With lots of odd little real world details, and several excellent adventures, it keeps things scary and challenging even with the extra equipment.

S. Petersen's field guide to cthulhu monsters also gets plenty of praise. The sly humour that pervades the book goes down a treat with Ken, and the illustrations are generally of high quality. Once again, they merge the IC and OOC perspectives to entertaining ends.


TSR Previews: Not a very impressive list of releases this month. Most of the attention is on last month's products, including one they missed last time. Prince of Thieves is the 18th AD&D adventure gamebook. You steal so much, how are you supposed to figure out what's made someone REALLY mad. Time for a little swashbuckling derring-doo.

Anyway, this month, AD&D gets another bunch of prefab design assistance in the Dungeon master's design kit. Lots of blank sheets and advice on how to use them.

Marvel gets the second installment of it's epic guide to all the superheroes out there. E to M, 256 pages of bizarre creations. I wonder how much errata that'll need.

The rest of this month's stuff is all on the literary side. Dragonlance is getting it's first trilogy reprinted in a single compiled book. 928 pages of papery goodness. Wouldn't like to read that in the bath. Agent 13 also gets a new format, with his original story turned into a graphic novel. Pulpilicious. Bimbos of the death sun is also being reprinted, having massively exceeded expected sales. Is a reprint really worth mentioning again?


The game wizards: A newbie takes the reins here. Scott Haring is eager to talk about his first completed project, get his name out there. Empires of the Sands might have had it's map borked in the first printing, but they're fixing that, and sending out replacement copies to people who ask for them. He also engages in some errataing and justification of his decisions. And here we run into some fairly substantial controversy, as he reveals his belief that NPC's should not be bound by the rules PC's are. Yes, quite a few of them are impossible for you to replicate. Suck it up. Hmm. This is interesting as another snapshot of where company policy is currently at. They might care about their customers, but they aren't particularly concerned with maintaining editorial control over rules minutinae. The scene is very much set for the onslaught of contradictory splatbooks the next edition will bring. Time for another crap filter upgrade.


Dragonmirth continues the cruel jests, some where the jesters get to be the butt of the joke. Yamara and co waste time talking when they should be killing. Incidentally, Barbera Ward ought to sue paper mario. Snarf strikes gold at last.

The I think you think I think boardgame? That's rather a tonguetwister. Imagine having to ask for that in a shop. No wonder I don't remember it.


A pretty strong issue, particularly in the themed section. In addition, the general quality of the presentation seems to be improving again, with more colour bits, better incorporated photography, neater layout. They're still trying hard to please us. And still succeeding at least some of the time. Question is, are they pleasing more or less people than last year? Not long until we find out again. On we go.

 

[(un)reason]

Dragon Magazine Issue 139: November 1988

part 1/5

108 pages. Looks like the recent improvement in quality hasn't just been subjective to me. Sales are up again, pushing over that crucial 100,000 mark. That's nice to know. What's even nicer is that the format is vastly improved, using actual type rather than a microsized photocopy. Guess they want everyone to see the good news. Will they keep it up next year? Keep on peeling, keep on revealing. (That doesn't sound right somehow. Reeling? Maybe. Congealing? Definitely not. But I digress.)

In this issue:


Alias and that Saurial paladin. Now there's a novel for you. A textbook example of the impractical cheesecake cover too. Hee. You can't spend 15 minutes lacing up sideless leather trousers (I speak from experience here) in the dangerous wilderness when wandering monsters strike at night.


Letters: A letter asking where the map to Dragotha's lair is. They can give you a large scale reference, but you'll have to make the close up one yourself. Whether he has a simple cave or an elaborate labyrinth filled with traps is up to you.

A letter asking what happened to the info on ordering back issues. Check their mail order catalog.

A letter asking what's going to happen to psionics and the anthologies. The first will be back in a supplement after some reworking, the second will not for the forseeable future.

Some questions on the new Merchant class. No great surprises here.


Forum: Jeffrey C Weber thinks that allowing wizards to specialise in different types of magic is a rather good tool to differentiate them, and allow them a little more power, but at a cost to spells outside their speciality. Hello mr foreshadowing. How often are you going to turn up here in the next few months?

Michael Drake gives us a bunch of sample ways to differentiate clerics. I think we've established by now that this is very much in next edition, so this is not so much of a surprise.

Scott A Shepard has thoughts on the balancing of magic-users. Don't we all. Just don't sweat it too much. Obsessive tweaking ruins the fun for most people.

Amod Lele is insulted by the idea that people who play primarily for fun are "lesser" gamers than those who play it to be challenged, or create something deep and artistically meaningful. If it's not fun, the other aspects mean little.

David Moyle also thinks Steve Allen was being pretentious. You choose games full of challenges and puzzles because that is what you consider satisfying and fun. Others think otherwise.

Ed Friedlander is back yet again, reminding us too keep our campaigns from becoming too unfriendly to newcomers. Pregens definitely help in this respect, as does explaining stuff in a non patronising manner. Absolutely right, dear, ats head: Run along now.

S. D. Anderson is also back with the beats from the renegade master, pointing out how little power the people have compared to a character with a decent array of magical items. Even if they don't have +5 everything, they can still be pretty untouchable. Meanwhile, poison is way overpowered for it's cost. Both need fixing in some way. Any ideas?

Douglas Porter is also engaging in statistical analysis of capabilities, particularly those of dragons. In his opinion, they need a serious powering up. You too will get your wish answered come next edition.


Phantasy star. I guess having a computer games column in here has got the magazine enough attention that the guys in sega's marketing division have noticed them as well.


A gamers guide to DC heroes does exactly what the marvel heroes index did a few months ago. Only shorter, because there's been less attention paid to it in here. Copycats Definitely an article I can't think of anything interesting to say about.


Lords & Legends gives us some more entirely original (as much as anything can be) characters. This time, the theme is wizardly ones.

Aylegard, Queen of the unicorns is your typical chosen one. Now it's her job to ensure their health and safety, protect the wilderness in general, and look incredibly hot while never ever getting laid. Custom designed for players to hate, methinks.

Eelix is a rather blatant rip-off. A formerly dumb guy raised to supra-genius intelligence by a lab accident that he's never been able to replicate. Now where have we seen that before? He has a ton of cool magic items, and is entirely willing to make more if the characters do him a favour. Is that plot hook I hear you say?

Elayne Mystica is an outcast (due to sexism) albino from a tribe of underground humans, who was trained by elves, became an outcast a second time for developing psionic abilities, adventured for a while, got too powerful for the rest of her party, and now owns her own demiplane. The amount of Aaaangst she has over this oh so hard life is not revealed. I sense the author would love to write a whole series of novels about her escapades.

Shugar is another blatant PC, with magic items that cover for his weaknesses, and tragic elements to his backstory that in no way interfere with his badassedness. Ho hum. Can't say I've been hugely pleased by this collection.

 

[Orius]

Elayne Mystica is an outcast (due to sexism) albino from a tribe of underground humans, who was trained by elves, became an outcast a second time for developing psionic abilities, adventured for a while, got too powerful for the rest of her party, and now owns her own demiplane. The amount of Aaaangst she has over this oh so hard life is not revealed. I sense the author would love to write a whole series of novels about her escapades.

I sense that I would NOT love to read them.

 

[(un)reason]

Dragon Magazine Issue 139: November 1988

part 2/5

Where Wizards meet: Mage guilds. Given how tricky studying to be a spellcaster is, a tutor is obligatory. It'll be a long time before magic is ingrained enough to manifest spontaneously round these parts. So sharing the responsibility may not be as common as with thieves and clerics, but it's hardly rare. Here's another article on the idea. This is less concerned with the training of apprentices, and more with the social organization of working spellcasters. It includes a sample wizards guild, along with a map, and large quantities of setting detail. A long and elaborate article, this is a pretty good place to start from in designing your own, as it will probably need a bit of adaption to fit into an existing campaign. Pretty pleasing, as it's another good example of their improvement at building campaign worlds at this point.


Bazaar of the Bizarre: Back to the spellbooks this month, as they give us some more tricks for exceedingly powerful spellcasters.

The book of black circles is a very interesting item indeed. With spells that allow you to detect magical potential in ordinary people, prevent them from advancing in magical power until they prove themselves worthy, and enforce a magical hierarchy, it is designed for a very particular kind of wizardly guild, and putting it in your game encourages a very particular kind of story. This is a strong thematic choice that may not be for every group, but is pretty cool, and definitely worth considering.

Laendar's book of metamorphoses is rather more self-explanatory. A big spellbook full of shapeshifting magic, including two new spells, it also has an awkward curse that takes place slowly, and is exceedingly hard to get rid of. This is another one that makes for dramatic stories, as the transformations it can inflict take place slowly enough that a race against time quest to cure them is a very viable option. Both of these are definitely intended for games where roleplaying is more important than pure hack-and-slash combat optimization. Overall, a very pleasing entry, that feels very much in the upcoming 2E spirit.


Speaking with the spirits: More call of cthulhu coolness here. Seances were rather popular around the turn of the last century, so of course Cthulhu by gaslight had some stuff on them written. But cutting for space happened yet again, and now their loss is the magazine's gain. Do you really want to sit in a circle and call up the dead when OOC, you know exactly what mind bending horrors lurk out there? Eh, you gotta go sometime. As this is CoC, you may not be dealing with the spirits of the dead at all, but insubstantial extradimensional horrors that'll take you over and use you for their own ends, and these get statted up for your use. As this is from an actual book, the quality of writing is pretty good, although thematically some of the elements don't mesh perfectly with the mythos setting. I suppose it depends how much of a purist you are. And it doesn't hurt to surprise people anyway in a milieu like this.


Oh look - a harmless statue!: Now there's a phrase you'll never see an experienced group of adventurers say. They're almost as bad as skeletons for coming to life at awkward moments. So here's 30 ways that you can make your animated guardians a little less obtrusive. Recessed into walls, dressed up dummys, silly poses, many of these are rather amusing. This will of course have the long term effect of making your players even more paranoid. Generally, I'm rather fond of this kind of article, and this is no exception, as it also gives you plenty of ways you can mechanically customise your monsters. Another short article that'll give you hours of fun.


Ars Magica! Now this is advancement. This is turning out to be a very good year indeed for new games.


Fiction: The visitor by Llynne Moore. Hee. Bait and switch. Always a fun way to get people to remember you, if not always particularly favourably. So it goes here, in a story which builds the drama up and up, into purple prose territory, and then deflates in in one swift rush of humour at the end, with almost as much finesse as Harry Turtledove managed in issue 113. Which is pretty amusing to me, anyway. Taking things too seriously is one of the great dangers of writing, and mocking those who take themselves too seriously one of the great pleasures. Which this manages just fine, with lots of very D&D specific tropes mentioned. Woo.


The new, Improved druid: Hmm. New druid powers? Interesting. In actual fact, this is a substantial nerf disguised as a power-up. Reducing the range of creatures you can shapeshift into? Codifying poison brewing abilities in a way that substantially reduces their power, and competely ignores the many non-damaging penalties you can inflict with chemicals. Spells which seem out of theme (druids do not manipulate undead. ) This is not a good article both in terms of mechanical and thematic design. I very strongly disapprove. One to avoid.

 

[(un)reason]

I sense that I would NOT love to read them.

Ay cayn't possybly Imagyne why.

 

[(un)reason]

Dragon Magazine Issue 139: November 1988

part 3/5

TSR previews: D&D gets GAZ9: the minrothad guilds. Want to be a merchant prince rather than a dungeoneer? Let's hope they figure out how to make another playstyle fun.

AD&D gives Kara-Tur it's own full boxed set. Zeb Cook must be very happy that he gets to keep revisiting and adding to this.

Marvel Superheroes is picking up the pace with it's third gamers handbook following hot on the heels of the second. M to R get to find out all their powers. And now we must fight.

Novelwise, as mentioned earlier, we have Azure Bonds. Alias and crew gotta do what they gotta do. Will you enjoy reading about it too? Dragonlance is still recycling material on the other hand, with our third installment of the graphic novel conversion of the first series.

And finally, on the wargaming front, the Sniper system gets the Bug Hunter game. As inspired by Predator and Starship troopers. Now that's how you don't do alien relations.


Buck Rogers has yet more upcoming products next year. They really are going to push this for everything they can, aren't they.


Hand-to-hand Against the rules: Nerf time again. They've introduced tons of new martial arts in the magazines, plus a few general revisions. But here, the writer wants to reduce the access many classes have to these powers. He also wants to save us from ourselves, by fixing the problem of classes specialising in them when it would provide markedly less benefit than specialising with a weapon. This article actually turns out to be better thought out than first impressions would indicate, if rather conservative in terms of enforcing training requirements and social divisions. Not every member of each class should have the same attitude, especially in a setting where members of one class often pretend to be members of another. A mixed bag of suggestions here, some of which I like, and others which I don't. Guess I'll just have to do the usual plunder and discard routine then.


Jetboots, don't fail me now: Star Frontiers' article this month attempts to solve that old chessnut of making exciting chase scenes when everyone of the same race moves at the same rate. And fail, because the solution used still results in a fixed movement rate for a particular individual, only now that rate varies slightly based on their attributes. So success or failure in a chase is still pretty much fixed. And they don't even take encumbrance into account. A not particularly good bit of filler.


Sage advice: Can a spellcaster memorise a lower level spell in a high level slot (No, unless they use metamagic. That would let you cast particular spells more often and mess up the game balance)

Can you be hurt by your own fireball (Oh yes. Muahahaha! Don't forget the volume of the fireball splays out if there isn't enough room for it to expand properly. Fireballs in dungeons are responsible for many adventurer casualties. )

Are there restrictions on magic-users trading spells ( Only whatever costs indivdual magic-users impose. Aren't you glad you don't have to deal with an overarching organisation imposing stupid union rules like thieves, assassins, monks, druids, etc. )

Can rangers wear plate mail (If they don't mind the stealth penalties. )

How do rangers get MU spells (from the justified ancients of mu-mu. Kick out the jams, y-all!)

What level do rangers cast spells, do they get bonus spells for high stats, can they use items for magic users once they can cast spells (Rerun questions. Change the channel luv)

How can a ranger build a stonghold if they can only own what they can carry ( If someone else technically owns it. )

Do elven rangers surprise chances stack (no, use the best.)

Can dual class fighters and rangers specialise or not ( Depends if you take material from dragon as official. Remember, Gary's stuff isn't official anymore, no matter how much he claimed it was at the time. )

What do I do with characters made before the new rules (We'll forgive you if you retcon them, just this once. )

Can you get proficiency in two weapon fighting ( We do not recommend it Keep whining and wait another 12 years)

Is specialization in swords in general or a specific type (One type. Again, you'll have to wait a bit for weapon groups to come into style. )

Can you specialize in more than one weapon (No. Bad twink. )

Does weapon specialization count as a magic bonus (no)

Why can't assassins use shields anymore (they can, just not during assassinations. Union regulations, again.)

Do you have to roll to hit when assassinating (depends if you're abstracting the process or not. The jury is still out on this one. We suspect they may choose to scrap assassins altogether rather than answer it)

Can you backstab or assassinate with missile weapons (Skip says No! kids. Other writers will subsequently contradict him. Skip sometimes wishes he could cap all those bitches asses. )

Can you backstab with two weapons (Once you've attacked once, the element of surprise is gone, so nope. )

Do you multiply strength or magical bonuses on a backstab (No, only the dice.)

Do super high level thieves get more than 5x damage on backstabs (no)

Why can't thieves use longbows ( Not stealthy enough, and not thematic)

Do you add elves chance to surprise to their move silently odds (no. use the best roll. Don't keep on.)

How far can a thief acrobat fall (oh, pointless minutinae, oh mindless tedium. whyeyeyeyey. Miaow. )

What races can become thief-acrobats (any that can become thieves. Of the base classes, that means any at all, doesn't it. How generous are we! )

Do thief-acrobats pay extra for training (Nope. Skip likes thief-acrobats. They're cool. Skip does not like assassins. They're not cool. Skip is very partisan. Boom boom muthaers and I'm not talking about Basil Brush here. )

Do gauntlets of ogre power give you the bonuses to your acrobat skills. (only in your arms, so it only affects your pole vaulting rating. )

Does evasion affect missile attacks (yes)

How can thief acrobats multiclass (same as regular thieves. Have you no power of inferance at all? )

Can assassins become thief-acrobats (no, as they're part of the same class group. )

What races can become cleric/thieves (originaly only half-orcs, but in our benevolence, we have opened up a whole load more in UA)

Are druid/illusionists possible (Theoretically, but there's currently no class other than humans which can be both, unless you allow winged folk (issue 51 ) in your game. And given how twinked they are, that would be a bad idea. )

Who can become magic-user/assasins (lots of elf subraces. Fear them. )

Can a dual classed cleric/fighter use edged weapons (Skip is a maverick! Skip says yes! Skip forgets how annoying gods are. This is in contradiction of previous rulings and common sense and skip may get slapped for it. )

Can you combine specialization and backstabbing (No! Only single classed characters may specialize. Not sure if specialized characters can dual class though. )

Can multiclassed fighter/mages wear plate (As long as they don't mind not being able to cast spells. Which rather defeats the point, doesn't it. )

Can barbarians and cavaliers multiclass (they have to be human, so not at the moment. This may change as more races are introduced )

How do demihumans add another class after play (They can't. Oh, woeforous fate. I have chosen my path, and now I am bound to it, unto level I max out and beyond. )

When can fighter-illusionist specialize (only if they are human, and newly adopting the fighter class)

Do multiclass casters stack levels to determine spell power (No. Note that this is far less crippling than it would be in 3rd edition, because of the exponential nature of the XP tables)

How do proficiencies work for muticlassed characters. (They get all of them, but have to spend them separately.)

Can humans become triple classed (if they have the obscene stats needed)

Can a dual classed fighter make multiple attacks. (Depends. They might be forced to forfeit all their XP for doing so if they do it at the wrong time)

Half orcs still haven't had their errata from issue 35 added to the PHB (Sigh. Well spotted. We really ought to get round to that. )

Do elves get their full surprise chance while wearing elfin chain (Nope. Even they aren't that good at armourmaking. Makes you wonder why they bother. )

 

[Orius]

Dragonlance is still recycling material on the other hand, with our third installment of the graphic novel conversion of the first series.

Well you know those cash cows need to be milked until they run dry.

Buck Rogers has yet more upcoming products next year. They really are going to push this for everything they can, aren't they.

Moooooo.

 

[(un)reason]

Dragon Magazine Issue 139: November 1988

part 4/5

The dragon's bestiary: Ed Greenwood makes a random little contribution for the first time in rather too long.

Lock lurkers, like ear seekers, are one of those creatures specifically designed to annoy cautious adventurers. Much of their body is concealed on the ethereal plane, and usually they look like little coins. Ed wastes no time in reminding us he's the king of odd little ecological details, giving us tons of uses for these things, both alive and dead.

Lybarde are another weird feline thing. Their tails slow opponents. When you consider their close relations are Displacer beasts and Nonafel, this makes perfect sense. What other ways can we manipulate time and space to give as their schtick?

Metalmasters are not quite what you would expect. They do, however, mess with your equipment. Fun fun fun. The illustration is pretty damn good too.

Serplar are another thing that keeps the infestations of slimes and oozes that threaten D&D worlds under control. Large pink wormy things, they're better avoided than fought, since they're dangerous but not too fast.

Thylacine's are almost, but not quite like the real world creature. Filtered through the medieval bestiary mentality, they get intelligence and rudimentary shapeshifting, and some weird combat tactics. This has definitely felt like an old school Ed contribution. Nominally set in the Realms, but easily applicable to other games, and full of interesting little details, this is a great reminder how to pull this stuff off. How very pleasing.


The role of books:
Sheepfarmer's daughter by Elizabeth Moon is the start of the Paksenarrion books. A farmer's daughter flees an unwanted marriage by becoming a soldier, and then has lots of interesting adventures. Welcome to another pretty cool series.

The three minute universe by Barbara Paul is a decidedly crappy star trek novel. It uses almost exactly the same bit of bad science as the plot driver as the new reboot movie, and then has a bunch of other irritating anvilicious elements. Avoid.

The heavenly horse from the outermost west by Mary Stanton tries and fails to do for thoroughbred horses what watership down did for rabbits. While the story isn't bad, the worldbuilding doesn't convince the reviewer, and it all seems a little over-precious.

When H.A.R.L.I.E was one: release 2.0 by David Gerrold is a nicely updated rerelease of a cool bit of hard sci-fi. The possibility of computers gaining sentience and exercising their powers over the world is a common one by now, and here's a good early example of the subgenre.

Child of the grove by Tanya Huff gets an ambivalent review. While what is there is good, the big gaps in the narrative leave the reviewer wanting more. But there are many far worse flaws, really.

The nightingale by Kara Dalkey is reviewed in a manner which imitates it's writing. How very droll. Seems good enough, though.

The blind knight by Gail Van Asten mixes arthurian legend with later medieval setting. It manages to do so fairly well, putting it's own spin on what might happen next.

 

[Ed_Laprade]

Dragon Magazine Issue 139: November 1988

The role of books:
Sheepfarmer's daughter by Elizabeth Moon is the start of the Paksenarrion books. A farmer's daughter flees an unwanted marriage by becoming a soldier, and then has lots of interesting adventures. Welcome to another pretty cool series.

Based, loosely, on a D&D campaign. The second book even has the main character staying in Hommlet for awhile. Of course, the names are changed to protect the innocent, but its pretty obvious to those who know what to look for. (And she passes through again in the third book.)