Let's read the entire run

[(un)reason]

Dragon magazine annual 1997


part 2/8


Deadlands disses boot hill. Are we going to let that lie?


Bazaar of the Bizarre: More bottles? Last seen in issue 194, it seems like there's a few more drops to be squeezed out of that theme. Not that you can squeeze bottles in D&D, as they don't have plastic ones. Well, maybe that will be one of the ideas. They do often pull the magic as technology trick around here.

Bartender's friends can heat, chill, stir and refill with but a word. Keep a few of these in your pub and you can raise the rates quite satisfactorily. (course, some of that'll go into paying for security. )

Cormian's viewing bowl is a classic scrying variant. Crystal balls are getting too ubiquitous? The fashion may shift to these instead. Then you'll look so 80's to all your wizard friends.

Flasks of delusion make whatever's in them look mysterious and magical. Another one with minimal use really, but you can leverage this into more money with a little brains. Just watch out for repeat customers who might want recompensation.

Goblets of the emperor protect you from poisoning, and have a bunch of other suitable awesome tricks. One of these will indeed give a court a good deal more prestige, but adventuring parties may find them a bit of a pain to steal.

Water purifiers are a tiny fraction of the usefulness of the last item, but also only a tiny fraction of the cost. I'd still prefer a decanter of endless water. That's not gonna flake out on you for anything less than a planar rip.

Potion cloakers are the precise opposite of the flask of delusion. Now you can double fakeout everyone around you. Those wacky wizards, always hiding the really valuable stuff in plain sight.

Security vials are the perfect preserver, and nearly impossible to break or open accidentally. Yeah, this is magic as technology alright. :shrugs: Store up a few of these for your health and safety.

Martyr Glass, on the other hand is very nicely idiosyncratic. You can get substantial benefits if you smash it in the right way. It'll make sure you have the fortitude to carry through on your good intentions, regardless the sacrifice.

Courtier's Bane is a nicely tricksy variant on poisoning your enemy. With but a word, you can turn the liquid in it to healing instead. Way to pull xanatos gambits, methinks.


Campaign Classics: Well, if Athas is appearing here, I think that makes it pretty certain it's dead now. Actually, this is an example of how their rules and setting stuff got entangled when they really needn't have been. They introduced a revised psionics system in the new Dark Sun Campaign set. This was not compatible with the Players Option stuff, despite that being well out at this time. And here's errata for both of these versions. Confused yet? I am, trying to penetrate this morass. Once again I am left with the feeling that while a bit unbalanced at times, the original 2nd ed psionics rules were easier and more fun than the revised ones. Gimme a break. :wrinkles nose: At least the 3.5 rules definitely work, even if they do encourage novaing 15 minute workdays.

 

[(un)reason]

Dragon magazine annual 1997


part 3/8


Ew. Eating spaghetti through your armour. What delightful imagery. Aaron Williams again brings the funny.


The dragon's bestiary: Ooh. An arctic themed collection of monsters. Haven't had one of those since christmas 1980. We could probably do with some more of these to fill out our encounter tables. Let's get a cataloguing.

Snow spiders are a lot more social than you'd expect, hunting in packs to keep warm. Thankfully, they don't have instadeath poison, so it'll just be a fairly standard fight as long as you can keep from falling down on the ice.

Crystal skeletons are another skeleton variant with a low malevolent intelligence. Like Dust skeletons from last year, they're even more dangerous if you kill them. The undead equivalent of suicide bombers, they should be most annoying to fight, especially if there are civilians around.

Tundra lizards are pretty self explanatory. They're not too scary in combat, but may drain the heat from you while you're sleeping. I bet the players'll suspect vampires.

Growlers look like icebergs and use that disguise to let their prey get close. Another cool idea I'm surprised they haven't got round to before. A quite decent end to a fairly average entry in this series.


Dungeon mastery: Oooh, a back conversion of an idea from Oriental Adventures. It's been ages since they tried something like that, partly because they simply ran out of enthusiasm for Oriental stuff in general after 1991. This time, it's the random events table for regions. So whether you're doing the domain play thing, or just passing through a town and need a little help figuring out what happened recently, roll on this and see what it throws up. It's not innovative, but it's useful, and that counts for quite a bit. Plus, y'know, nostalgia callback, which adds an extra frisson of excitement. If you're going to be unoriginal, it helps if you steal from good sources, which OA definitely was. So this is the kind of article I hope I'll remember when the right time comes in actual play.


The ecology of the shambling mound: The monster hunters association are all nicely raised after their debacle with the nymph, and this time, they're after a creature which will simply kill them by bashing them to bits, rather than narrative fiat. But since shambling mounds can grow infinitely if you cast the wrong spells at them, this can be a risky business for the dumb. And this ecology ends rather comically, with the association in disarray again. How will they stave off bankruptcy with a showing like this? It is marred a little by having a bit too much pure pontification, with the personalities of the people talking not quite managing to keep me interested the whole way through. Still, it is pretty solid, and gives the creature a few new tricks to surprise adventurers who think they can beat it by sticking to a formula. A perfectly decent way to finish off the year in this department.

 

[Jhaelen]

They introduced a revised psionics system in the new Dark Sun Campaign set. This was not compatible with the Players Option stuff, despite that being well out at this time. And here's errata for both of these versions.

Oh dear. I didn't know there were differences between the new psionics system in Dark Sun Revised (which was utter crap and didn't make any sense at all) and the Players Options stuff.

Does anyone recall how they were different? Did the Players Options version actually make sense?

The Revised Psionic System was the main reason why I got fed up with and abandoned my Dark Sun campaign. I'm still getting angry about this when I think about it - how could they so totally up this extremely important part of the rules?

 

[(un)reason]

Dragon magazine annual 1997


part 4/8


Rogues Gallery: Hey ho. Time for another instalment in this column statting up the characters of their recent novels. How's that working out for ya? Cheesily, if the past is anything to go by. And since this involves a newly ascended Forgotten Realms demigod, I don't have great expectations. The things they do with their powers. :shakes head:

Joel the rebel Bard is an illegal alignment for a bard, so I guess his name makes sense. From a long line of talespinners, this makes his a major disappointment to his family. Like many young protagonists, he's managed to rack up a list of heroic deeds in an improbably short period of time. Course, he'll only keep that up if the writers stay interested and produce another book starring him, which seems less likely under the current climate.

Jas is a fighter who's acquired wings under embarrassing circumstances. Yes, they are fairly beautiful, although the precise details vary from plane to plane. Joking about them may result in abuse or dive-bombing. This is of course extra funny and meta in the internet age. Jeff is truly ahead of the times here.

Holly Harrowslough is a 16 year old 5th level paladin. Another alumni of the fast track adventuring advancement system, including the stereotypically tragic loss of her parents. She's a little less naive than the average 16 year old or paladin though. Guess she gets to be the voice of reason for this party, which is indeed fairly cheesy. They know their audience, and hit those story points pretty regularly.


Dragonwyr: Well, this is a welcome bit of continuity. We not only have another module in the annual this time, but it's a follow-up to last year's one. I strongly approve. Not only does it let us have more info on the conflicts hinted at last year, but it also caters for higher level parties than most of their adventures. There does seem to be a stronger default path for the plot to go in this one, but you could probably still go off the rails and give this a rather unexpected outcome. It certainly makes allowances for the PC's to fail, and things to go horribly wrong for the village they're supposed to protect and the plot to go on from there, so it's not a railroad. The fact that the two combine together makes me especially keen to use them in actual play, as that's the kind of thing I encourage. And maybe they'll even make a trilogy out of this next year. Guess that's another pretty good incentive for me to keep reading.


Cry Havoc: We're having another extensive set of articles for each of their campaign worlds this annual, but thankfully this time they aren't wasting an extra page just talking up the settings for noobs. Instead it's straight into the action with an article showing us how to convert between Birthright's War Cards mass combat system and the old Battlesystem mechanics. Since it's been years since we saw anything on that, and I suspect it's out of print now, that's quite welcome in a quirky way. Unfortunately, as I'm not really familiar with either system, I'm not really in a position to judge the quality of the crunch, but as with many of the old non D&D articles, that's really not the point. It still makes for more interesting and varied reading than another wodge of monsters and magic items and reveals quite a bit about both. And if it gets people to buy one or both of these, then it's been a success for them in a larger financial sense.

 

[(un)reason]

Dragon magazine annual 1997


part 5/8


Hark, the herald!: Or Converting Bards to the 5th age system. Never mind that they might or might not have not had Bards in the first place, as some amusing Sage Advice questions showed, they're here now, and they have an iconic NPC to back them up. Where the last age had Astinus and his huge great library cataloguing the history of Krynn, now we have a mysterious wandering Herald showing up to tell stories of it's past, present and possible future. Which I suppose is symbolic of the same changes magic has gone through in general. No longer is it controlled by the gods, and regulated by a stuffy council which tests everyone seeking it, instead it's become more low-key and everyday, and goes to them instead of having to be sought out. So this fits nicely into their setting, and provides us with some new crunch for both the 5th age system and AD&D. My main issue with it is by tying an entire class to a single character, they risk making the world seem too small. But then, that's a mistake that's also very much in keeping with the setting's tone in general. Does that make it better or worse in the big picture?


The magic of Myth Drannor: Ed only takes one article this special, although we know he probably could have done more if he wanted too. But then, wouldn't want to upstage the guy with top billing, would we? So it's time for another bunch of magical items and spells. Exactly the kind of thing that we're oversaturated on, so it's particularly hard to impress me with. Still, if anyone can manage it, it's Ed. And as usual, he's going for it with gusto, and making use of IC fiction.

Mantles are magical gems that drain your hit points to power a quite extensive set of magical abilities. They need to be bathed in your tears to activate, and are generally unique in their precise abilities. They're really another excuse for elves to be better than you in all sorts of annoying little ways, and make it trickier for you to just kill them and take their stuff.

Spell-Webs are a prettier and easier to trigger means of storing spells than scrolls. Unfortunately, they're very much a lost art. Anyone who figures them out could make a pretty penny selling the secret to modern mages, for they let you build up contingencies quite handily. And in Faerun, that's what really makes the difference once you have 9th level spells, not a few more hit points and spells per day.

Araemyths are scary spells/devices capable of destroying magical items with ease, and converting the energy to unpredictable but powerful beams of destructive force. When a magical civilisation develops something like this, you know it's on the path to imploding sometime soon. After all, that's the standard cycle of development in the Realms. Get more magically badass until someone loses control of their massive magics, and then blows it all to pieces, creating lots of interesting dungeons for later generations to explore in the process.

Body Switch isn't as cool as it could be, essentially just teleporting each person involved to the other's position. Still, it seems like the kind of magic Ed could find many inventive uses for in his fiction. Muahahaha.

Gargajaws has impressive and quirky visuals, but is basically just a way to destroy inanimate objects and leave people unharmed. This will of course piss people off, especially if they have lots of magical items. Once again, it seems the Drannoreans have mastered destructiveness to a degree that makes you glad they're a lost civilisation.

Lifequench lets you kill something with a touch, and use its energy to double the power or uses of another spell. Scary and efficient. Once again, you're glad this one got lost, for overuse can make a spellcaster positively obscene.

Blood Dragon, on the other hand, kills it's caster, which makes it the kind of spell that only gets used when the caster has nothing to lose. It's not actually that scary for a 9th level spell though. A good meteor swarm would be preferable unless they're immune to fire.

Avarphyn are another item with a whole array of powers, but quirky limitations upon their use that may result in you permanently ruining them through ignorance. Oh, if only identify were a little cheaper and faster. Then we wouldn't have to worry so much about DM screwage.

Storm-Swords protect you from lightning and let you shoot lightning bolts and teleport. They seem positively mundane given the company they're keeping.

Wyrmtongue Scepters, on the other hand finish us off with another lovingly described weird item that has plenty of utility, but expresses it in an unusual way. Well, that must have been the cultural norm back then. Look how fashions have changed in reality, after all. So once again it looks like his imagination is functioning on a whole different league to most of their writers, and our gaming experience is all the better for it.

 

[(un)reason]

Dragon magazine annual 1997


part 6/8


Founding greyhawk: Gary's back! Now this is a way to make this special really special, and a good sign in general. Now the people in charge of TSR are gone, the new folks start the reconciliation process with the old guard who'd been driven away by Lorraine's ( single raindrop, chihuahua yaps, kazoo tootles) policies. And he's going right back to the start, to talk about his early campaign before D&D was even published. This demonstrates that even before it was finished, the game had plenty of people enthusiastic about it, and was already growing via word of mouth, as people told their friends about this fun new game Gary was running, and they wanted in as well. And as a result, the castle was built up from session to session, with big chunks made up in play or just before it. And so when it was released, it was thoroughly playtested, and ready to surprise people wherever they wandered in it. And so the stage was set for years of people dying horribly in conventions, and speculating what the full map of Castle Greyhawk might look like. A question that never would be answered in full, with Gary's death and legal crap leaving it unpublished, and so much of the details being cryptic notes that were merely guidelines to be played around with and changed on the fly in response to a party's actions. Really, this shows that D&D wasn't meticulously planned from the top down, and much of it's best work was created in a social context. This is more evidence that sequestering yourself away to work on something for years in the hope it'll change the world and make you a fortune isn't a particularly natural or easy method of creativity. You've got to immerse yourself in the world if you want to change other people's lives. This article is pretty cool, but it's really what it represents that's critical. It says that the new company is really drawing a line in the sand and making an effort to change things. And hopefully it means we'll be seeing more articles from classic writers in the future as well. That's worth a lot in terms of making me anticipate reading through the rest of the magazine.


Pox of the Planes: We've had a whole boxed set on fiends, plus another book on top of that recently. But they've been pretty light on details about Night Hags. Which is probably just how they want it. For all the Yugoloth work behind the scenes to orchestrate the flow of the blood war while pretending to be purely mercenary, it's the hags that are really making the huge profits, despite not having any overarching organisation or plan, beyond a mean spirited vindictiveness against anyone else who tries to muscle in on the larva trade. Still, they have some pretty nasty tricks up their sleeve, and can call in favours from all sides, since without them, the lower planes would go into a serious recession. And the most important of these is that they hold the key to turning Yugoloths into singular badasses to rival Baatezu and Tanar'ri lords. So this article actually fills in details on the setting that are rather important in the larger picture, including bringing back Anthraxus from the original 1st edition MMII. Whether these details will stick in future supplements I'm not sure, since unlike the demiplane of shadow, Yugoloths & Night Hags never really got much spotlight time in 3e. Still, this is another ambitious and rather good article from Ed Bonny. This is exactly the kind of thing we need to keep the planes alive and growing.

 

[(un)reason]

Dragon magazine annual 1997


part 7/8


Villains of gothic earth: Ah yes, James Wyatt doing a Red Death article. He's doing quite a lot to keep people from forgetting this otherwise pretty minor subline. This time, it's a collection of antagonists. We've already had one rogues gallery this issue. Will this be sufficiently different to keep me from getting bored?

The Abomination is a british gentleman that's been transformed into a yuan-ti by a curse. In classic darklord fashion, that means he now has a nice little domain with plenty of slaves and everything he needs, but the things he wanted are now forever out of reach. Well, without hands, that's quite literal. Shouldn't be a slavedriver in the first place.

Grepik is a jermalaine hillbilly with a sweet tooth. Don't laugh, you don't want to be sleeping in a creaky shack when he's around. I think someone's been reading some steven king for their horror ideas. Not sure how well that fits with Ravenloft's flavour.

Grethiyn Greymalk is a githyanki trapped on Gothic Earth. As his learning comes from offworld, he doesn't have to worry about most of the crap PC spellcasters have to go through here. He explains his odd features by pretending to be lithuanian, which I once again find hilarious. Really, in the long term, he's not getting away, and it's his own fault, just like most other bad guys here.

Musaf ibn-Talir is a thief who got transformed into a jackalwere for his sadism. He'd like to think of himself as a hunter, but really, he'll always be a scavenger, and isn't that ironic punishment enough?

Ndrionhary is a beholder that pretends to be a god that just happens to look like a beholder. Wait a second. That sounds familiar. Ah yes, issue 215, as part of our african deities articles. Cool. And really, given how powerful beholders are, are you in any position to claim it's not, when you're a nerfed gothic earth PC? I'd like to see how their scientists would even go about testing it.

Juliette Preduit is a badass wererat gunslinger (with total fart control ) She's originally from paris, and currently trying to take over montreal. Once again, I'm not sure if I should be laughing or not, but it certainly isn't helping establish a horrific atmosphere. All the incongruous bits just come off as silly.

Sheldra is a sahuguin who's been scarred in such a way that she can pretend to be a person wearing a fish-person mask, which is amusingly meta. She's also developing a drinking problem from her raids which she's trying to hide from her clan. I'm still being amused by the offbeat way these ideas are being presented.

Praskovia Voronov is a russian ghost who feeds off anger by possessing people and provoking an argument. This isn't inherently comical, but when the DM starts acting out a thick russian accent in actual play, it may well become so. So yeah, this article is pretty much a failure as horror, but it's still pretty entertaining reading.

 

[Orius]

Grethiyn Greymalk is a githyanki trapped on Gothic Earth. As his learning comes from offworld, he doesn't have to worry about most of the crap PC spellcasters have to go through here. He explains his odd features by pretending to be lithuanian, which I once again find hilarious. Really, in the long term, he's not getting away, and it's his own fault, just like most other bad guys here.

Never was into Gothic Earth, but I always liked this villain concept for some reason. I think the basic idea could be adapted to other games too: mad scientist creates machine that pulls in some alien/demon/whatever form somewhere else, creature kills scientist and gets trapped, and tries to blend in with human society.

 

[(un)reason]

Dragon magazine annual 1997


part 8/8


Afterword: A little earlier this issue, we got our first bit of writing by Gary in over 10 years. Now we get to see the first bit of direct communication by our new boss, Peter Adkison. This really is a very special issue, far more than last year's. And no surprise that he seems pretty excited to be here. Quite a bit of this is repeated from issue 242's editorial, but we get a bit more info on how these plans are to be implemented. The new Marvel Superheroes game is going to be diceless and use a version of the SAGA System, while Greyhawk's first new adventure will involve putting the old gang back together IC after their embarrassing demise at the hand of Vecna a few years ago. Whether they're getting older people in to write for the line as well is not certain yet. Rather than releasing a whole new world, they're going to try a mini-series, and see how that does. And of course, there's the desire to do more electronic stuff. Once again, I know a few of their plans won't pan out, but that just keeps this interesting as a record of their historical progress. While pretty breezy, Peter doesn't seem to have a particularly distinctive writing style as of yet, which means I doubt we'll be seeing comedy gold moments from him like we did from Gary. Still, it's better than Lorraine's disdainful detachment by a long shot.


This annual is far better than the first one, in terms of organisation of articles, quality of individual articles, and of course, it's quality of special guests. They've been promising change since the start of the year, but sticking mostly to formula. This shows them really making their formula work for them and proving that when they have the articles it can be great. Now I just hope they still have a decent number of freelancers sending stuff in. After all, relying on staff writers is a quick way to push things too far in the formulaic direction. So things might get better next year, or they might get more average. At least it seems unlikely that they'll get worse, with all the extra self-examination they're putting in.

 

[(un)reason]

Dragon Magazine Issue 243: January 1998


part 1/8


124 pages. Another new year, another layout revamp. Well, considering how fast things slid under the last one, they'd be mugs to stick with it. In some ways it feels like a return to 80's layout, with more narrow vertical columns and bright primary colours. But in other ways it's clearer and more sophisticated looking. It's pretty obvious that these days, everything is being laid out on a computer, rather than cut around physically. But that does also mean they can switch colours and fonts around a little too easily, and wind up with clashing combinations. The novelty will wear off eventually. Let's see if there's any novel stuff in the contents.


In this issue:


Baldur's gate! One of the most fondly remembered D&D computer games coming soon. Cool.


The wyrm's turn is back to making efficient use of it's space again, with the header and staff credits reduced in size, so they can actually get more written. And as part of their second attempt to get back to basics, they're also trying to get back to actually playing the game, instead of just working on it. Many of them haven't played properly in years, which of course didn't help when it came to making good supplements in the last few years of TSR. And it's no surprise that they're not using any of those supplements in their actual play either, instead going for an old skool module that they might remember if time hadn't blurred the details. So really, this illustrates the gulf between the written books and actual play that's really grown up in recent years, and is probably one of the things that contributed to people drifting away. Close that gap, and you've got a better chance of attracting and keeping players. So a valuable lesson to be found in this month's editorial, even if it is hidden as a gaming anecdote. One that they do pay attention too, if I remember correctly how big the list of playtesters for 3e was.


D-Mail: We start off with a request from the assistant editor for more letters. They aren't getting enough! I think the cause of that problem is pretty obvious. With so many people suspicious or confused after their lengthy absence, and distribution in a bit of a mess, plus their recent address change, there are issues all along the chain. Hopefully the direct approach will yield results like it has when people have craved specific articles.

A letter complaining Ed Greenwood is overexposed. But he just sends in so much, and so many people love him! They'll try to keep him to just 1 article per issue, but no promises. He laughs at obstacles that would kill a lesser writer's creativity for ever.

A letter from someone pissed off about stirge rehash. With the complete staff turnover, they'd forgotten all about the old one. They'll try to pay more attention to the archive in the near future.

A letter complimenting the assistant editor on his new job. Well, since he's obviously in charge of this section, how could he pass up on this one? They do love a little ego stroking.


Kindred of the east! White wolf starts off their year of the lotus. That took them less time than it did for TSR to do their own oriental setting.