(un)reason
Legend
Dragon Magazine Issue 142: February 1989
part 2/5
Sage advice: How long does a dragon stay subdued (Until they think they can get away with killing you all or escaping. Be vewy vewy wawy. )
Is the tarrasque really as nasty as you say it is (Skip says YES! If you aint got that wish, don't make that trip. Steer well clear, or drop it in the lava, because you can't kill it by conventional attacks. )
Hangman trees are ridiculously tough! (oops. Now that is errata. They're still no pushovers though. )
What does beholders anti-magic eye do. (no magic works while they're looking at you with it. Period. On the plus side, that means they can't kill you, turn you to stone, and disintegrate you simultaneously. So look like a wizard, and then hit like a fighter, and you might have a chance.)
Why do demon princes hide their amulets on the prime material (because the abyss is full of treacherous maniacs. If they're schitzo like Demogorgon, they can't even trust themselves. To be extra safe, they hide them all over the place)
Is there an AD&D module with a spaceship. (S3. Get the reprinted version now! )
Is the temple of elemental evil bigger than the players handbook (metaphysicaly, yes. Practically, no. )
I don't understand the psionics system. (Don't worry. In just a few months we'll get rid of it, and rework it into something comprehensible. )
Are levels of mastery equal to your character level (no, they're equal to the number of levels you gained since you got the power )
Do thieves have to conciously activate hear noise (yes. You want autoscanning, get an elf. Good for 'elf an' safety, innit mate. Never know when a secret door might be a bother. )
The index in the DMG is wrong (no, you're reading it wrong. )
What does c in front of a weapon mean. (Circa. Not perfectly precise. No standardisation mate. Let the buyer beware, innit. The weaponsmiths guild aint as all-controlling as the scribes guild or the assassins guild. )
How do you pronounce drow (it rhymes with cow. But don't call a priestess of lolth that, for a lengthy flaying may ensue. If you get off on that kind of thing, make sure you get someone to youtube it, and pay for your ressurection in advance. )
Do you have to sell gems and jewelery to get any XP from them (no)
How many GP will a container hold (not enough to carry a dragon hoard. This is why sensible adventurers get bags of holding ASAP)
What happens when you're at -1 hp (Nothing. Yet. )
What does a one way door look like from the wrong side (that is so stupidly context dependent I can't even begin to answer it. What does the back of a creature's head look like?)
What's a composite bow (one build out of several layers, duh. The wonders of advancing technology, even if it doesn't actually make your life easier, eh. )
What's on the cover of the manual of planes (an astral dreadnought. Bet you wish you were psionicaly actually there now. )
This means war!: Mass combat for gamma world. Cool. It's heavily derived from the War Machine as well, although it uses rather smaller numbers. This actually makes it simpler to do the math on, and hopefully pretty quick and understandable. Overall, it looks pretty good, although there is the usual problem that if you're doing this as a one-shot, it'll take rather longer to convert the groups into army stats than it will to actually fight the battle. The bit on guerilla warfare may be a bit iffy, and it could definitely stand a few expansions and refinements, but overall, this is a pleasingly ambitious thing to kick off the issue with. Hopefully, we'll see a follow-up or two on this in future issues.
The well educated spy: Another review by any other name. The Spymaster's handbook by Michael Kurland is a good way to put the grit back in your espionage. A well researched book on the technical details and history of espionage, it has an understated sense of humour, and is curiously positive about a business that can get exceedingly mucky. Goes to show, you can't judge a book by it's cover. It's interesting that despite the huge 2nd ed bits, this issue actually has more non D&D focussed stuff than the last couple of issues. I do wonder why they didn't save this for a full book column, but it's still an interesting diversion.
part 2/5
Sage advice: How long does a dragon stay subdued (Until they think they can get away with killing you all or escaping. Be vewy vewy wawy. )
Is the tarrasque really as nasty as you say it is (Skip says YES! If you aint got that wish, don't make that trip. Steer well clear, or drop it in the lava, because you can't kill it by conventional attacks. )
Hangman trees are ridiculously tough! (oops. Now that is errata. They're still no pushovers though. )
What does beholders anti-magic eye do. (no magic works while they're looking at you with it. Period. On the plus side, that means they can't kill you, turn you to stone, and disintegrate you simultaneously. So look like a wizard, and then hit like a fighter, and you might have a chance.)
Why do demon princes hide their amulets on the prime material (because the abyss is full of treacherous maniacs. If they're schitzo like Demogorgon, they can't even trust themselves. To be extra safe, they hide them all over the place)
Is there an AD&D module with a spaceship. (S3. Get the reprinted version now! )
Is the temple of elemental evil bigger than the players handbook (metaphysicaly, yes. Practically, no. )
I don't understand the psionics system. (Don't worry. In just a few months we'll get rid of it, and rework it into something comprehensible. )
Are levels of mastery equal to your character level (no, they're equal to the number of levels you gained since you got the power )
Do thieves have to conciously activate hear noise (yes. You want autoscanning, get an elf. Good for 'elf an' safety, innit mate. Never know when a secret door might be a bother. )
The index in the DMG is wrong (no, you're reading it wrong. )
What does c in front of a weapon mean. (Circa. Not perfectly precise. No standardisation mate. Let the buyer beware, innit. The weaponsmiths guild aint as all-controlling as the scribes guild or the assassins guild. )
How do you pronounce drow (it rhymes with cow. But don't call a priestess of lolth that, for a lengthy flaying may ensue. If you get off on that kind of thing, make sure you get someone to youtube it, and pay for your ressurection in advance. )
Do you have to sell gems and jewelery to get any XP from them (no)
How many GP will a container hold (not enough to carry a dragon hoard. This is why sensible adventurers get bags of holding ASAP)
What happens when you're at -1 hp (Nothing. Yet. )
What does a one way door look like from the wrong side (that is so stupidly context dependent I can't even begin to answer it. What does the back of a creature's head look like?)
What's a composite bow (one build out of several layers, duh. The wonders of advancing technology, even if it doesn't actually make your life easier, eh. )
What's on the cover of the manual of planes (an astral dreadnought. Bet you wish you were psionicaly actually there now. )
This means war!: Mass combat for gamma world. Cool. It's heavily derived from the War Machine as well, although it uses rather smaller numbers. This actually makes it simpler to do the math on, and hopefully pretty quick and understandable. Overall, it looks pretty good, although there is the usual problem that if you're doing this as a one-shot, it'll take rather longer to convert the groups into army stats than it will to actually fight the battle. The bit on guerilla warfare may be a bit iffy, and it could definitely stand a few expansions and refinements, but overall, this is a pleasingly ambitious thing to kick off the issue with. Hopefully, we'll see a follow-up or two on this in future issues.
The well educated spy: Another review by any other name. The Spymaster's handbook by Michael Kurland is a good way to put the grit back in your espionage. A well researched book on the technical details and history of espionage, it has an understated sense of humour, and is curiously positive about a business that can get exceedingly mucky. Goes to show, you can't judge a book by it's cover. It's interesting that despite the huge 2nd ed bits, this issue actually has more non D&D focussed stuff than the last couple of issues. I do wonder why they didn't save this for a full book column, but it's still an interesting diversion.