Let's read the entire run

[prosfilaes]

I remember Illuminati. Do they still make that game from back in the day?

There's Deluxe Illuminati, a $30 boxed set. They've got quite a few of their games available through warehouse23.com, and e23.sjgames.com for electronic copies.

I just got rid of Illuminati:NWO a few years ago. Dumped them all on the shelf of games the game store owner had available to play in store. I only got to play it once or twice, but there's no real point in keeping a CCG around that no one else plays.

 

[Orius]

Star trek: The next generation CCG gets a 6 pip result, with great visuals on the cards, and the rules creating games that reflect a ST mission instead of being a straightforward battle like most other CCGs. The details of the setting are carefully adhered to. The only oddity in that respect is that you can wind up using the same character on both sides, which is kinda an inevitability in a CCG as compared to a limited deck game.

The cards were great visually, but the gameplay wasn't that great. The game really didn't start becoming good until they branched out into the other series like DS9. Or so I heard, I stopped playing this game after the second expansion. Yet this game managed to outlive most of the early crop of M:tG imitators.

 

[(un)reason]

Dragon Magazine Issue 218: June 1995


part 7/8


Sage advice: What is temporary damage, How does leaching work (The normal sort. Leaching is where you temporarily suck magic out of your items to stop yourself from taking damage)

Are weavings like spellbooks or scrolls (They're essentially personalized scrolls. So if you get killed, the enemy doesn't benefit from your gear)

Can you clear up after the mystic of nog (Has he not been wiping properly again. Well, if you turn your hands to stone, I guess that's what happens. Silly mystic of nog)

Aren't clockwork mage's devices a little slow (That's scale inches. Even some of our writers slip into first editionisms by mistake sometimes)

Are language proficiencies affected by intelligence (yes. Note that you don't have to roll every time you try and speak. This aint creeks and crawdads)

If you don't have a high enough int to learn permanency, you can't make permanent magic items. This sucks! (So it goes. Some people will never be good enough, no matter how hard they try. Skip will at least be generous enough to reverse last months ruling and allow specialist wizards to use opposition scrolls. Be thankful for that.)

Do svirfneblin hate light like drow. They're really scary. They need some nerfing. (suuure. Don't worry so hard. They can be agoraphobic too if you still don't think they're balanced. Just don't try having an Aaracockra and a Svirfneblin in the same party, or someone'll be miserable all the time )

Where are the stats for new weapons mentioned in supplements, but not detailed (arms & equipment and combat & tactics. Better buy both, just to be on the same side.)

Do you get individual XP awards for using spell-like powers (only if you actually do something with them. Pointless waving around won't impress anyone)

Does invulnerability to magical weapons protect you against normal weapons as well. (no, but if you have a separate power that does that, they stack. Beware fiendish spellcasters )

Where are the planar monsters that aren't in the appendixes (All over the shop. Gotta catch em all. Yay. More money, more money, more money, mo problems.)

How many HD does a lich have (Recycled question. Skip is bored now. )

My players were pissed off that vorpal swords can't chop off huge creatures heads (And well they should be. It's a powerful magic item. It should be able to overcome little hassles like realistic measurement)


Libram X makes it clear just how unpleasant the players in this game are. Swordplay once again have problems with their party dynamics. It's a good thing they don't have continuity, or they'd be dead by now. Dragonmirth is extra geeky this time round. Yamara has to sit and watch while the day is saved by the macguffin.

Nightspawn! Another game that's going to have to change their name soon. Oh, glutinous legal crap. Why ay ay ay ay must you smell so raaaaaaank.

 

[prosfilaes]

Nightspawn! Another game that's going to have to change their name soon. Oh, glutinous legal crap. Why ay ay ay ay must you smell so raaaaaaank.

No love here. Palladium knew about Spawn before hand, and I'm pretty sure they were going for a Spawn-type game. Palladium stepped in it. (Not that Nightbane is a bad game, at least from reading. It's a glorious mess, and I'd run it with GURPS, but it looks fun.)

 

[Erik Mona]

Rumblings: Ooh. TSR releases the cancelled Ivid the Undying as a free download. Greyhawk lives on over the Web! That's not bad news, is it. It certainly sets the stage for further internet support for lines that don't merit full books any more.

This was the moment that I decided to get AOL and join the TSR forums there. Folks on the old GreyTalk list (which may have even been "secret" at the time in fear of Rob Repp's lawyers) had been posting really interesting logs of the Greyhawk folder at about this time, and the ability to get a free Carl Sargent book for my favorite campaign setting was the thing that finally got me on the internet for real.

--Erik

 

[(un)reason]

Dragon Magazine Issue 218: June 1995


part 8/8


From the forge: Straight into the reviews, trying to fit as many as they can into the limited space again. A mummy pegasus trying to get her foal to fly the nest, which is thoroughly adorable. A pegacorn, that symbol of mary-sues everywhere. An interestingly coloured griffon with rather impressive wings. Some Gnashings from 5th cycle. Look like fairly generic humanoids to me. Similarly, orcs riding big scaly warbeast thingies isn't surprising after a good helping of warhammer. A chunky spiky earth dragon and a slim, curvy air dragon, both with humanoid companions. A heavily armored cyclops with a helmet that may well restrict it's vision a little further. Two different wyverns, one looking up and to the side, and the other looming over something prey-like. And finally, two wemics and a ki-rin, filing in the officially licensed D&D monsters. Well, they are some of the more attractive creatures out there. Guess it's the shiny end of fantasy that wins out this time.


TSR Previews: A truly scary 13 products released this month. I think that's a new record. 4, count 'em, are for Birthright. Even the forgotten realms never enjoyed this sheer short term onslaught of releases. As well as the core boxed set, there's Blood enemies: Abominations of Cerillia; The Endier domain pack, and The Roesone domain pack. Whoosh. Are you ready to take command, and face up to enemies as singular and connected to the land as your party? If they keep up this pace, you'd better learn the ropes fast.

The Realms certainly isn't sluggish though, with it's usual one-two punch of gamebook and novel. Spellbound expands on Thay, Rashemen and Aglarond. Have they recovered by now from the horde invasion of a decade ago? What secret magics do their rulers command for the PC's to take once they've killed them? Ed Greenwood is also busy telling his own stories of what Elminster was up too recently, in Cloak of Shadows. What looked like a big crisis was actually an even bigger crisis. Is it any wonder he has to get other adventurers to help save the world?

Planescape releases The Factol's Manifesto. Join now and work your way up for even greater benefits. Your philosophy can do as much for you as you can for it. Especially if you become a god. Now that's something to aspire too. Another tremendously pretty book with plenty of experimental elements.

Mystara revisits another ancient module in style in Mark of Amber. Like House of Strahd, it's twice the size of the original, and it also has a CD full of atmosphere building bits and pieces. Can it top it for excitement though?

Dark Sun compiles the many many changes the past 4 years of metaplot have made in Beyond the Prism Pentad. Have they ruined it forever for you yet?

Dragonlance, on the other hand, goes back in time rather further than usual, to tell the story of the fall of the Irda. Linda P. Baker is in charge of this one. Will there be any new spins on what we've already seen in the books?

Generic stuff is also big this month. First up, we have Players Option™: Combat and Tactics. Boo hiss spit. I had a very ..... visceral reaction against this when it was first released, and even now, in hindsight, the idea of point buy twinkery still seems better done in something like GUPS or BESM. The other two releases are pretty unexceptional though. Thief's challenge II lets you have more low level solo fun. Castle Sites gives you more floorplans so you can generate adventures quickly. Try the new or rehash the old? Funny how I've actually got less conservative since then.


Not nearly as fun as last birthday, this issue shows that they are continuing to slip in both quality, and choice of what they cover. It's all very tiresome, with the generic bits going round and round, and the new developments mostly being bad ones. And with the new people in charge promising to shake things up, I'm pretty sure that it's going to be even more problems for quite a while before things start to get better. Who will provide a light in this darkness? Bugger. Guess It's going to have to be me again, isn't it.

 

[(un)reason]

Dragon Magazine Issue 219: July 1995


part 1/8


130 pages. An extra $2 is added to the newsstand price because they include a CD with this one. And once again, they can't be bothered to have a theme for their features section. I guess with Roger well gone, no-ones pushing that as an idea very strongly. Still, better to try and celebrate the new than mourn the old. I'm certainly interested to see how they'll fare with this format experiment, with the rather faster turnaround a magazine has to contend with compared to their supplements.


In this issue:


Letters: The theme of this column seems to be people complaining about missing stuff. Fiction, comics, cards and ampersands, of all things. People really don't like having their routines disrupted, do they. It's not even as if their recent special features have been special enough to justify it. As always, they'll try to give you what you want, presuming they can find it somewhere in the first place.

Plus a letter asking for a Yamara anthology. It's already here. Just contact Steve Jackson & co, they'll sort you out.


Editorial: A bit early for a day in the life editorial. You've only been here two months, and so's your publisher. That's hardly time to have settled into a tedious workday routine in my book. Nevertheless, here we go. It's not really groundhog day, given the weird stuff that happens, but it can feel like it given the way the deadlines cycle on a monthly basis. We get brief introductions to each of the other editorial staff, and find out that Dragon actually gets more fiction submissions than it does everything else put together. It's no wonder that department is maintaining a consistently higher standard than the rest of the magazine. And of course we have to listen to complaints at their computer woes. Are they finally catching up with modern technology in that department? Not sure what to make of this. Mostly, it helps me get a bit more of a handle on Wolf's writing style. Still, it seems like they have decent supplies of whimsy remaining. It'll be a while longer before they fall prey to the cutbacks at this rate.


First quest: Ah yes, Mike Nystul. He hasn't actually been a TSR employee, (he wasn't even in high school when the 1st D&D books were published) but he certainly left his mark on AD&D. And it's certainly left it's mark on him too. His introduction to gaming came due to having a father who was an insider, allowing him to get in from the very first releases. Still, there were plenty of flavours of the week he passed up on along the way. And I suspect that plenty of people exposed to D&D in those early years did pass it up for something else more interesting to them. But anyway, this is a good example of the fact that the imagination really needs to be properly primed for roleplaying to properly take root. If someone doesn't think the idea of pretending to be something else is cool, no amount of persuading is going to work. So if you want to introduce your kids to gaming, make sure they're excited by the subject matter first. There's quite a bit you can do to actively ensure you have new players, and this has a few good pointers.


At sword's point: The swashbuckling style has plenty of fans. This is another one I'm surprised they haven't done an article on before, especially since Red Steel accommodated it so well. Guess the magazine is behind the times again. So yeah, a little history, a whole lot of talk about style, and how to get the right one for a swashbuckling, high action campaign, and a bit of crunch involving unarmed combat and improvised weaponry for those delicate situations where you can't take your heavy armour and magical weapons. Almost exactly what you'd expect. Actually, D&D isn't too terrible at this playstyle anyway, especially when you use the right options from the complete handbooks. After all, after a few levels, fighters can pull some pretty over the top tricks. You've just got to narrate them right. Might be a good idea to skip the one hit and your doomed phase of the adventuring career though. So I approve of this, even if it isn't particularly mind-blowing.

 

[(un)reason]

Dragon Magazine Issue 219: July 1995


part 2/8


Run!: Chase scenes. Like social combat, there have been a whole ton of experiments to try and get these to work in a way that extends the drama out and allows for tactical choices from the participants. It's something that can and has been played out in an exciting manner in other media, so why shouldn't it work for RPG's? Unfortunately, this article doesn't go that far, instead boiling things down to opposed dexterity checks with a bunch of modifiers. That doesn't give you a whole lot of choices when the crunch comes down, although you can certainly stack the odds in your favour by your choice of character and equipment. Come on, you could have at least factored constitution in, letting there be a meaningful difference between sprint chases and endurance pursuits. So this feels a bit half-assed and underdeveloped, relying too much on ad hoc DM oversight to make it interesting. Most disappointing.


Out of armor: A bit more buckling of swash here. This one is slightly more player focussed, although it also talks about how to encourage the playstyle from a DM's point of view. This is accomplished by both encouraging more playful action as seen in the movies, and imposing substantial penalties on those who attempt flashy acrobatic stuff in heavy armor. In fact, it may overcompensate a bit, making the penalties too harsh, and would probably get complaints if you tried suddenly imposing them in an existing game. So once again, it's a cool idea, but I'm not sure I agree with the implementation. If I want a game built for fast paced swashbuckling action, I'll go for Savage Worlds these days.


Pirate crews and retinues: Expanded followers tables. It's been a good few years since we had some of those. (issue 178) This time, the extra differentiation is kit based. Some of the complete handbooks implemented this anyway, (bard, ranger ) but most didn't, and it's the kind of thing that's easy to add onto those that missed out. So here's ones for the complete fighters handbook kits. Always seems to be fighters that come first when it comes to getting followers. Probably something to do with them not getting any other special abilities. The lists are pretty good, drawing upon the other complete handbooks as well, so the followers also have appropriate kits and equipment. I quite approve of this, even if like any followers table, you won't get to use it more than once a campaign. Now, can someone come up with a similar degree of variety for wizards or thieves?


The factol's manifesto. Or how to sneakily introduce complex philosophical concepts to impressionable minds and make it fun. I wuv this book.


The ecology of the black pudding: Another cool stylistic experiment in this series, as we see things from the perspective of both the creature, and the adventurers that encounter it. And the writer develops quite a distinctive voice for both sections, the relentless rhythmic pulsing drive of our worrisome ooze friend, and the amusing bickering and experimentation of our amateur adventurers (A group of 2? They're just begging for a swift death) It's interesting to see people who really don't have a clue what they're getting into, and the whole thing feels very true to games I've actually played, when the characters run across something unfamiliar with a bunch of screwage powers. Another highly entertaining entry in this period of resurgence for the series, which makes it scary, but also helps point out why creatures like this don't overrun the entire planet. Unless, of course, you want them too. Muahaha.


A colourful weekend of euro-gaming: Roger Moore once again plays convention reporter, as he has done many times in the past. This time, he's off to england, along with several other special guests. As with Gary's trip over a decade ago, he finds UK gamers more polite and helpful than their yank counterparts, and the whole thing less rigid and centralised than the american Gen Con has become. There's plenty of amusing anecdotes related, most notably the incineration of poor Wesley Crusher. (for charity) This isn't nearly as big as last year's similar article, and there's no photos either, which makes it feel a bit shallow. All it really does is perpetuate stereotypes. Hopefully there'll be more to come in a few months time, and this is just a warm-up.

 

[(un)reason]

Dragon Magazine Issue 219: July 1995


part 3/8


Role-playing reviews: Ah yes, Al Qadim. A good example of a limited run series, started with the intention of doing a set number of supplements, and then wrapping things up neatly. After all, Oriental Adventures was highly successful initially, but then suffered quite considerably from diminishing returns in the follow-up modules before fading away in 1991. By contrast, Al Qadim actually exceeded expectations, getting a few more supplements than planned to round the setting out. And now it's finished, but not yet out of print, this seems a good time for a comprehensive themed review.

Arabian Adventures gets quite a bit of ambivalence in it's review. Much of this is due to the conflicts between D&D's rules and setting tropes and those of the source materials. It's pretty, and handles the mechanical aspect of things quite well, but setting, adventure building and roleplaying advice isn't great. It all feels like they're laving stuff out so they can sell more supplements later. Plus a few of the decisions seem to have been made for political correctness, which is rarely particularly entertaining. In hindsight, it's not the greatest implementation ever, but it's still fun reading. And quite a few of the kits and spells can be plundered for other settings as well. It's a valuable addition to 2nd edition's wide range of covered settings.

Land of fate is of course the second thing you should get, as it actually gives you a decent overview of the continent. Of course, it is only an overview, setting things up for yet more supplements (gotta collect 'em all!) and often rather dry. They did have to set up a lot of places. What can you do?

City of delights is where things actually start taking off. Like Waterdeep or Sigil, Huzuz is the obvious centre for a campaign. It has tons of plot hooks, locations, and colourful characters, and makes a suitable adventure location to take you from 1st to 20th level. You can then build up the wider world as much or as little as you want.

We also get brief reviews of each of the little sourceboxes. Golden Voyages, Caravans and Secrets of the lamp get the best marks, while Corsairs of the great sea is the least liked. Most of them have at least something useful for a general campaign, even if the adventure bits don't all hold up without DM modification. The combination of setting and adventure in each box is interesting, and means that this setting was built up in the same kind of way as the original Known World stuff, only over a shorter period.

GURPS Arabian nights on the other hand, does exactly what GURPS supplements usually do. Historically accurate as far as possible, careful and logical in the adjudication of the magic bits, and rather dry. The rules are taken care of, now it's up to you to make a fun campaign out of it. Or you could just nick the Al Qadim setting from earlier.


Eye of the monitor: Warcraft: Orcs & Humans begins a series that is going to go on to take over the computer gaming world pretty effectively. At this point, it's a fairly standard wargame, with the two sides identical to each other save in the cosmetic aspects. Train up your minions, and set them against the enemy. There's tons of stuff to discover and unlock, and the difficulty curve is just about right to keep you coming back. They just wish the manual explained things a little more clearly, instead of repeating itself in gimmicky fashion by having one set of instructions for each side.

1830: Railroads & Robber Barons is a fairly straight conversion of the old Avalon Hill boardgame. The computer taking over the rules means things progress a lot faster, but the visual resolution is lower, making some things hard to make out. The manual is once again a pet peeve, although for a different reason, with the impression someone went mad with layout software, putting boxes, borders and garish colour schemes all over the place. What a thing to pick on for an issue.

Citadel of the Dead gets nul points. In many ways, it's more primitive than games they played 10 years ago, yet it has the nerve to boast about it's complexity. And the manual is almost nonexistent. The only reason they reviewed it is so they could give something a good slating. Well, that is always fun, isn't it.

Realms of Arkania: Star Trail, on the other hand, is a fairly decent CRPG, based on Germany's The Dark Eye. It is a pretty accurate conversion, highly crunchy, with tons of room to customise and equip your characters. This time, their main complaint is that as a sequel where you can load the characters from the previous game, it's incredibly hard with starting characters, and possibly too complicated and detailed in the nature of it's encounters. Most of us can do without treating tetanus infections in our escapism.

 

[(un)reason]

Dragon Magazine Issue 219: July 1995


part 4/8


Birthright gets a pull-out six (!) page spread of advertising in the middle of the book. Yikes. How much would that have cost if it wasn't being done by their parent company anyway?


The role of books: Mastering magic cards by George H Baxter & Larry W Smith, Ph.D (not often you see one of those around here. ) runs into a rather awkward little problem due to the speed WotC is releasing new editions. It's already out of date by the time it gets to publication. It's not much help on the social side, either, which means it's utility is still rapidly deteriorating further. It's a good example of bad mismatch of subject matter and delivery medium. This is a very definite case where the internet already handles this stuff better.

Excalibur, edited by Richard Gilliam, Martin H Greenberg & Edward E Kramer is another of those fantasy anthologies Mr Greenberg compiles so well. As has been the case for some other very specific topics, he gives his writers plenty of leeway to work around the subject and find new angles both funny and serious. Plus a bit of poetry. If you like arthurian lore, at least some of the stories'll probably please you.

The faery convention by Brett Davis is a fae detective story in a setting that seems like anita blake's, in that the supernatural has just been brought into the open and they're trying to sort out the legal issues. This does not go smoothly, and is also used as an allegory for the oppression of real world minorities. It gets the fairly common result of good ideas, but needed a better editor.

Such pain by Don Bassinthwaite is for Mage: the Ascension. There is of course a certain amount of pretension and mature subject matter. And a good deal of moral ambiguity, since our protagonist is a technocrat. The setting and rules from the game are not egregiously violated, and indeed, it serves as a good introduction to the themes of the game as well. White Wolf haven't done too badly with their fiction department so far.

The printers devil by Chico Kidd gets another fairly typical review pattern. The quirky one that doesn't go over the top with explosions and , but manages to find a new spin on several topics and build up it's characters nicely. Well, John has been doing this for 11 years now, it's not surprising he's settled into a pattern as well. I'm glad my reviews almost certainly won't take that long even at this rate.


Fiction: Breaking the wall by Lois Tilton. Mrs Tilton's 7th story in the magazine? Since we just found out how fierce the competition is for this slot is, I wonder how many stories she's sent in and had rejected to get this far. So it's no surprise that this is once again pretty good, and quite dark, asking hard questions about the nature and extent of free will, and how much good people should compromise on actively opposing evil for the sake of short term comfort and family. The answer is of course that there's no good answer, and you're going to have to fight like hell and make some nasty sacrifices for freedom. Which is fairly realistic, if rather depressing. But hey, at least it's a good deal more dramatic than reality, which is what the public really wants. And it has some decent setting building, which is what you want in an RPG magazine. She definitely knows what she's doing here.


Sage advice: Why are there spell failure chances for wisdom below 9 (recycled question. Skip has not changed skip's mind since then)

Can you cast spells from scrolls if you aren't smart enough to learn them ( yes. Stand on the shoulders of giants and you can see further. Stand on the shoulders of beatles and you can fill stadiums in style without having an original thought in your head. )

Are giant's weapons adjusted by their enemies size (no.)

Can big races backstab small ones. (sure, if they can get surprise. Look for the appropriate modifiers. They're right there in the books )

Are creatures that are immune to death magic immune to disintegrate (no. Whatever could possibly make you think that. )

Does immunity to magical charm also make you immune to psionic charms (usually)

I'm still not satisfied about elven archers (well tough. Skip will nerf them some more. Shut yo mouth or skip will nerf them further, and their poncy cat and dog friends too. )

Can you turn a polymorphed lich (Sure. They're still dead inside. AAAAAAnnnngst! )

Why can't humans become dual classed paladins (they can, just not with classes from the same group)

Can you specialize by buying a weapon for two of your classes (No. This is another case of fundamental misconceptions about the way the universe works)

Do dual classed characters get double the amount of bonus proficiencies from int (no)

Can you improve blind-fighting by spending more slots on that (no)

Can you specialize in thrown weapons (Yup. Not a problem at all.)

Can you use a decanter of endless water underwater as a propulsion method (Sure. Skip doesn't always discourage inventive uses of powers. Just usually.)

How powerful is a chromatic orb's magnetism (exceedingly strong. As hard as opening doors )