Let's read the entire run

[(un)reason]

Dragon Issue 278: December 2000


part 7/7


Silicon Sorcery: 5 new magic items from Icewind Dale get backconverted to D&D stats this month. They all have pretty cool names, which definitely makes me more predisposed to using them. Let's see if their powers can match their names in inventiveness.

Alamion is a longsword that makes you resistant to fire, detects fire using creatures and is super effective against evil outsiders. If you're a paladin going to hell, you couldn't have a better friend in all the world.

Dead man's Faces are helms that provide a bonus against fear effects, which is moderately useful. The flavour text is more interesting than their power, being based around the funereal practices of the followers of Tempus. This is an unusual amount of depth for video game items, and well worth using in a tabletop game.

Faith Killer isn't too surprising, being an axe that dispels any divine spells when it hits someone. There's quite a few people around the multiverse who don't like the idea of gods now. I suspect that's why they'll hit back and institute the wall of the faithless to keep us in line.

The Bitch Queen's Envoy is a shield given to servants of Umberlee, that makes them invisible and untouchable to water creatures. How useful this'll be will be pretty context specific, but it's a truly awesome name, nonetheless. I hope you can get good use out of it in the game.

Black Swan Armor isn't the most powerful in terms of armor bonus, but gives you resistance to 4 energy types, a charisma enhancement, and has reduced armor penalties. Since it's designed for a female wearer, I'm left wondering if it looks chesecakey in game. How are you supposed to take a military leader seriously when they're showing great acres of cleavage? (until they prove they've got Great Cleave as well) So with plenty of effort to integrate them into the setting, and powers that aren't just more plusses, this lot can definitely have high marks.


Dungeoncraft: Ray reveals that yes, he wasn't part of the in crowd for the new edition's development, so he's only found out about it as we did. I suspected as much. And due to lead-in times and all that, he's 3 months behind in getting to talk about it. No wonder he's been running booster episodes these past few months rather than starting new topics. Still, this one is quite topical, as it asks the difficult question of when, and indeed if you should switch systems, particularly mid campaign, where the change in rules might hurt people's sense of immersion, as characters can suddenly do things they couldn't before. (or possibly the opposite, which would also annoy them.) A one-shot to try things out before you commit your main game would be a rather good idea. Still, while he doesn't leap headfirst into 3e, he does have positive things to say about it, particularly in the universal resolution system removing big chunks of the headache in winging unexpected actions. All you have to do is figure out a stat to roll against and an appropriate DC. And you can still eyeball those and not worry about it too much if you turn out to not be calculating things strictly by the RAW. Keeping the game moving is more important than adhering to the letter of the rules at all times. As with some of the other writers, he's obviously still writing with the 2e spirit, even if he's using the new rules. And I find myself fully in agreement with his observations this month. You don't want to jump in and use everything in the new system at once just because it's cool and new. That way lies making mistakes you can't easily take back before you get the hang of things.


Dixie is foiled in her latest attempt to rule the world by the wonders of chocolate. That's just cruel.


I'm afraid we have a lot of short, somewhat insubstantial articles this issue. It seems like they're still waiting for the freelancers to catch up with the new edition and start sending in stuff using the new rules, with a lot of system free ones that feel like filler. Despite dwarves being fairly popular, there's no real game-changers for them here, just lots of stuff that tells us what they think we want to hear. Looks like there's still another few mountains of rock to dig through to find the gold in this magazine. Better get a bigger pickaxe if I want to get through them faster.

 

[Sanglorian]

This is an unusual amount of depth for video game items, and well worth using in a tabletop game.

I remember Baulder's Gate II (from the same game company) had oodles of details about different magic items and the sort. To be honest, I prefer a game to keep its flavour limited and targeted: I want to know that what I'm reading is relevant and targeted.

It's different in a tabletop RPG, because any piece of backstory can become relevant if the character decides to chase it up. But on the computer, don't tease me with stuff I can't find out more about!

 

[(un)reason]

Dragon Annual 2000


part 1/7


116 pages. Hmm. This half-dragon's a bit less androgynous and pretty than the one in issue 206. He'd chop you up without breaking a sweat or wasting time to angst about being caught between two worlds and belonging to neither. Well, he'll have a far easier time finding a group of companions with similarly bizarre origins these days. That takes the sting away quite a lot. But despite the edition change, the annual seems to have the same idea as before. Skip the themes for lots of regular columns, and maybe an adventure for Dungeon fans. Let's hope the articles are good ones this time, because we need a nice filling helping of extra crunch more than usual at this point.


Scan Quality: Ok, unindexed, scruffy page edges, one page out of order.


In this issue:


Wyrms turn: It doesn't matter how long you've been playing, everyone's a newcomer to the new edition, and starting on an even footing. Of course, some are learning faster than others, but that's only natural. What's important is that circulation is up, and people are sending in more proposals for articles than they have in a long time. The main problem is that tons of them are ones about people's personal worlds and characters, which isn't something they're really interested in anymore. Ed got away with that because he was in on the ground floor, interesting, and insanely prolific too. You can't unless you can sell yourself in a mere couple of hundred words. So this is an attempt to herd cats, get what they want from the readerbase, instead of what they want to give us. Good luck with that guys. You'll definitely need it.


By any other name part one: The array of random system free tables to fill out issues continues. We didn't get them this frequently and consistently even in the 70's. So much for the old school. This time, it's appropriate random names for shops. If you're a regular visitor to the same settlement, you can wind up going to the same local places and making them feel like home. So you really really don't want them having names the players'll laugh at every time. If you're caught off guard, this is another one that could well save your bacon if you remember to pull it out in time. It caters well for human, dwarven and elven settlements, but everyone else is on their own. It also sounds very english. Still, there's only so much you can do in 4 pages. An ok starter, I guess.


By any other name part two: Even more than shops, pubs, inns and taverns tend to have interesting names, and be regular hangouts for adventurers. When you start a lot of your adventures being approached by some mysterious figure for a dubious job, it's important to be seen in the right places and have a reputation with the right people. This mostly works off d100 tables, so it has even greater variety than the last article, making it even less likely you'll repeat names. (unlike the real world where it seems every other town in the UK has a Queen's Head. ) I think I like this a little better out of these two, but it's a close thing, as neither really reaches out and grabs me by the throat.

 

[(un)reason]

Dragon Annual 2000


part 2/7


Fresh starts: Speaking of being approached by some guy in a pub as they way you start every adventure, screw that noise. This is definitely one area where a little more variety would be great. This is only 3 pages and has 20 hooks, so it's not as able to completely avoid repetition as the previous two articles, but they are fun ones, including multiple ones that take you away from everything you knew, and one dragging the PC's into a harem comedy gone wrong. Blackmail, being swept off course sailing, turned to stone and then back centuries later, or even the really cheesy old one of inheriting a haunted castle. If there is an issue with these, it's how many simply sweep the characters up with no chance to say no, and completely cut them off from their old connections and safety nets. Sure Dorothy and Alice got good stories out of that, but if it happens regularly to players they'll feel railroaded and lose investment. Be sure to break stories like this up with ones where they do get to exercise agency if you want a long healthy campaign.


Rays of light: We don't have an Arcane Lore in this annual, but we do have a collection of spells and new metamagic feats anyway. Quite a substantial one too, with 17 spells and 5 feats crammed into 4 pages. The theme is ray spells. They've been around for ages, but they've received a real increase in frequency in the new edition. This is somewhat mitigated by the fact that you have to both hit the target with a ranged touch attack, which wizards aren't the best at, and then they get a saving throw, making them more likely to be resisted than the average spell. If you want to be a specialist in using them, multiclassing with something with a high BAB like Eldrich Knight would be a very good idea. But I digress. The new metamagic feats are both the most interesting part of this, and also the smallest. You can turn a ray spell into a cone or a burst, make it shoot three things at once or two in a row. And with the spells here, you can shoot fire, cold, electricity, rust, disease, stupidity, negative energy, or a critically acclaimed madonna album. In addition to the 16 rays, they also include a counterspell that'll reflect ray spells back on anyone trying to shoot you, which makes a lot of sense in the circumstances. He who lives by the ray does not want to die by the ray. This is packed full of just the kind of crunch players'll love to use, and love to hate bad guys who also use it. Even now, you can't always rely on AoE attacks to get the job done without hurting your friends.

 

[(un)reason]

Dragon Annual 2000


part 3/7


Bazaar of the Bizarre: A grab bag of stuff this month, running the gamut of weaponry and armor. Materials, plus finished products. Not the most glamorous of descriptions, but in the new climate where character optimisation is encouraged, this is a good thing. And once again, it's not all magical stuff.

Lenaer Wood is another elven material that's Better Than Yours. Reduced weight and increased weapon ranges. That'll let you carry more arrows. It's not even that expensive too.

Mindsteel, on the other hand, offers benefits and penalties. Increased weight and reduced protection, but a big bonus to will saves. Hmm. That's actually a pretty tricky choice.

Vakar is a new material discovered by dwarves mining. Since it does extra damage against elves, this has made it rather popular in short order. Let's hope the goblins don't get their paws on it, because then there'd be a lot more trouble in the offing.

Durand's Armor is a mindsteel alloy that has the best properties of both regular and special.

Leafcutter is made of an alloy of Vakar and Silver, and also has the best properties of both. So if any elf gets infected with lycanthropy, it'll be the perfect solution.

Eward's Sword is made of a combination of admantine and copper. This makes it effectively as good as a full +1 sword. Perfect for your magic suspicious barbarian.

Lowri's Arrows are made from crystalized cave slug slime. Like spider silk, this works really well actually. Very cool idea.

Rejavik is a hollow-cavitied warhammer which uses clever leverage tricks to increase the damage done. Sloshing mercury around inside the cavity makes it tricky to wield but damn effective when it connects. A trick also used in real world mechanics. Now that is interesting as well. This has been more useful than the previous magic-free articles.


The bestiary: James Jacobs continues his romp through Greyhawk lore, adding on more interesting monstrosities previously unseen to scare the players. Funny that they're concentrating on making new monsters when there's so many unconverted ones from the old edition. Still, it shows there are people already making 3e into it's own beast rather than just a continuation of the old stuff. Whether that's a good thing or not is probably a matter of opinion, but I quite like these particular new additions. This time, it's not a location, but creatures connected to Tharizdun that are getting their turn in the spotlight.

Julajimus are a fairytale monster that transforms into small cute animals, to get into your room before eating you, and is rendered helpless by sunlight. A nice cautionary tale for D&D characters.

Kurge are a particularly gross form of undead that have their body parts split off and attack independently when you hit them. What a lovely visual. They're another one that's infested with nasty disease too, just to make the team regret the encounter more.

Rogue eidolon are Tharizdun's equivalent of the animating lion guardian, only creepier looking. Since their god was banished, they aren't the most sane of creatures either. Lure them into pits or traps if you can't penetrate their DR.

RotRippers are undead ogres that steal your arms and add them to their body, in another interesting fairytale touch. That does mean their deadliness may vary substantially while they still have the same HD and CR though. There are worse design flaws, I guess, and it is an exceedingly cool idea for a monster.

 

[(un)reason]

Dragon Annual 2000


part 4/7


Dork tower is taken over by Phil Foglio, who does a really good job of imitating John Kovalic's art style. At least, until the last frame. Muahahahahaha!


Gorgoldand's Gauntlet: This year's adventure continues the fresh start theme, with a 1st level adventure. A fairly clever, rather whimsical one designed to set the PC's up for future manipulation by a powerful NPC with their own agenda. The challenges are mostly based around puzzles, with jermalaine the most frequent adversaries, and some rather annoying wordplay in the same vein as B9. Plus a minesweeper rip-off, which reminds me how ubiquitous that was on windows computers as a free game. This actually seems quite fun, which shows how well Johnathan Richards can sell elements that would be deeply annoying in lesser hands. It's quite flexible as well, with ideas for scaling, and making it a little more action focussed. I was suspicious at first, but I do actually like this, and can see it making a fun little romp in actual play.


All over the map: We had questions about this quite a whole a go. And even now, most maps that the official D&D campaigns and adventures use start off hand drawn. They may be scanned into the computer, overlaid and digitally manipulated in all sorts of ways later, including having copies printed off so more hand-drawn revisions can be made. But if you don't have actual artistic skills, you'll never really be able to replicate what they can do. If you want to be a true pro in this field, you need both hand drawing skills and computer manipulation ones, or a partnership where individual people can really concentrate on being good at these individual parts. Of course, in the internet age, where people are increasingly expected to be all-in-one creative units, and costs are cut wherever possible, it can be pretty tricky to make a living in a highly specialised job like this. I don't think any RPG company apart from WotC has a full time graphics guy anymore. Sometimes, you do miss the old studio system. And I certainly miss having lots of companies big enough to maintain a supplement mill for their gamelines and do big pretty boxed sets with maps and stuff.


Dragonmirth is interestingly obscure this month:


After the Dragon: Vangerdhast is a bit of a dick, really. Making the king's corpse smile during the funereal procession? This is why wizards should be kept in support roles, not making decisions on public policy, despite their intelligence. Anyway, this spells out the changes in cormyran politics in recent novels. The old king is dead, long live the king! You can look forward to politics being pretty complicated, as he's just a baby, and there's a regent in charge for the next 17 years. (more than long enough to be corrupted by power and not want to give it up) Ed once again shows that his knack for details is what you really need if you want to create an interesting political game, as he details tons of NPC's and their basic personalities and motivations, ready for you to set the intrigues in motion. If that isn't your thing, there's also a prestige class for the higher ranking purple dragons, which gives them natural armor bonuses and resistances to poison and magic as they level up, making them rather harder to take down than a standard fighter. Being one'll tie you into a hierarchy, but since their job is often hunting down monsters and sniffing out dissension, that won't put a crimp in your adventuring lifestyle. So this is another finger licking good bit of information from Ed, keeping the world alive and growing, while also hinting at how subtly deranged his high level wizard NPC's are. Maintaining continuity is important if they want to keep the old players on board.

 

[Sanglorian]

(un)reason, do you get more responses here or at RPG.net? If it's at RPG.net, I'll unsubscribe here and subscribe over there.

 

[(un)reason]

(un)reason, do you get more responses here or at RPG.net? If it's at RPG.net, I'll unsubscribe here and subscribe over there.

At the moment, I seem to get more here. It used to be the other way round though, so who knows if it might flip over again.

 

[Sanglorian]

At the moment, I seem to get more here. It used to be the other way round though, so who knows if it might flip over again.

Cool, I'll stick around here then! You're coming up to the first Dragon Magazine I ever bought, so I'll have some stuff to say then

 

[Orius]

By any other name part one: The array of random system free tables to fill out issues continues. We didn't get them this frequently and consistently even in the 70's. So much for the old school. This time, it's appropriate random names for shops. If you're a regular visitor to the same settlement, you can wind up going to the same local places and making them feel like home. So you really really don't want them having names the players'll laugh at every time. If you're caught off guard, this is another one that could well save your bacon if you remember to pull it out in time. It caters well for human, dwarven and elven settlements, but everyone else is on their own. It also sounds very english. Still, there's only so much you can do in 4 pages. An ok starter, I guess.


By any other name part two: Even more than shops, pubs, inns and taverns tend to have interesting names, and be regular hangouts for adventurers. When you start a lot of your adventures being approached by some mysterious figure for a dubious job, it's important to be seen in the right places and have a reputation with the right people. This mostly works off d100 tables, so it has even greater variety than the last article, making it even less likely you'll repeat names. (unlike the real world where it seems every other town in the UK has a Queen's Head. ) I think I like this a little better out of these two, but it's a close thing, as neither really reaches out and grabs me by the throat.

I've used them both, they're pretty good if you need names for shops and inns and stuff if you don't feel like racking your brain. Also good for when the players go off the rails and visit a place you haven't done any work on and need to pull some names out of your ass fast. I had a list of 20 or so random names printed up for when I needed a name quick, because coming up with good names for stuff on the fly is a weak spot for me. And there's also the fun that can come with random tables, one shop name I generated was The Sweet House. At first, it was kind of like a "WTF am I going to use this for?", and then it struck me that it would be a great name for a brothel (which the PCs later burned down for the lulz).

All over the map: We had questions about this quite a whole a go. And even now, most maps that the official D&D campaigns and adventures use start off hand drawn. They may be scanned into the computer, overlaid and digitally manipulated in all sorts of ways later, including having copies printed off so more hand-drawn revisions can be made.

This was a really disappointing article IMO. I was hoping for some decent map making advice for the DM and all they give us is the professional tools they use in the office. Especially since the article was promoted on the cover by "Mapmaking Tips".

[/QUOTE]