Let's read the entire run

[(un)reason]

Dragon Issue 279: January 2001


part 5/7


Class acts is in on this month's theme, with the Ancestral Avenger. For elves who really really hate the drow and want them exterminated. They're a fighter/ranger type which get lots of bonuses not only against drow, but against their partners in crime spiders and demons. This does mean that like clerics, they'll be less useful when their favoured enemy isn't around, but if you're playing one of these guys, you should be proactively seeking out adventures where you fight Drow anyway. They seem both fairly solid mechanically and flavourwise, with no obvious foul-ups in their design, requirements or powerset. You will have to select your skills carefully though, as they have a pretty good set, and only 2+int to choose, which may be frustrating if you're coming off from ranger. Can't have everything, as usual.


Giants in the earth: Ha. It's an article on the greek-persian war, as seen in the comic book and film 300. That's quite fitting for a fantasy magazine that's trying to up it's badass quotient. They did heroic stuff, that has since become magnified by stories until it's fairly legendary. And none of this CR equivalent opponent stuff either. Real heroes don't let impossible odds stop them from trying. Roll the dramatis personae.

Xerxes is the persian king, proud and commanding, determined to make his country into a world power. He did indeed assemble a pretty impressive army, and got quite a long way before finally being stopped. He is a straight fighter though, when as a hereditary ruler, he ought to have at least one aristocrat level for the social skills. Leadership is not all about who can kick the most ass on their own.

Miltades is the old but still badass guy who beat the persians last time, leading Xerxes to hold a grudge and come back with a bigger force years later. Things like this don't happen in a vaccum, and it can be hard to say where they truly start and end.

Leonidas does indeed look quite like he did when yelling THIS IS SPARTA! He's buff, has a badass beard, and is quite capable of inspiring loyalty in an army. Having a decent supply of smart one-liners definitely helps with this, as does being willing to die for your men. If anyone's the hero in this story, it's him.

Epilates sold out to the persians for money, and spent the rest of his life paying for it. Your basic out for himself weasel, he's no real threat physically, but don't trust him with any secrets or you'll regret it. Still, this is a good example of how being trustworthy is generally more profitable in the long run.

Megistias is the oracle that advised Leonidas & co, trying to interpret the visions of the gods as clearly as possible. He didn't survive the battle, and indeed, knew he was going to die, but went in anyway. He got pretty high posthumous praise for that bravery, which makes sense.

Artemisia is another ruthless mutha who switched sides repeatedly during the war. Somehow, she managed to keep her respect anyway. It's not easy for a woman to become a military commander full stop, so she must be a pretty smart cookie.

Themistocles is the guy who finally stopped the Persian invasion for good, although the methods he used to win made him pretty unpopular afterwards. Such is the life of a politician. If you're too clever, people won't appreciate it, even if you are acting in their long term best interests, because life is complicated, but people secretly want a leader who offers simple solutions and tells them what they want to hear. And overall, this collection reminds us that in real life, events are rarely as neat as they are in stories, despite our attempts to force a narrative on things. It's quite interesting for that.


PC Portraits: No beards on the elves this time round, and in general they look a good deal more alien, with oddly shaped faces and very noticable pointy ears. In fact, they're sufficiently uncanny valley that I'd have a hard time finding myself attracted to creatures that looked like this, which is a definite change from the fetishised sexy elves. Plus they look like they had more work in general put into them than the collection in issue 251. I think this is a case where the newcomer definitely wins against the incumbent, having a more distinctive aesthetic, while also presenting us with plenty of variety in character concepts. Not all rehash is bad.


Dragonmirth dices with death and minding again. Nodwick starts revisiting dungeons. Plant things and mecha, what a curious combination. How do they get along? I couldn't say.

 

[(un)reason]

Dragon Issue 279: January 2001


part 6/7


Forum starts taking the supplements into consideration. Psionics are coming. What are you planning to do with them. I suppose that depends what they think of the changes. Still a bit up in the air, you know.

Scott Sloan has no problem with the dungeonpunk aesthetic. Since one of the important things about 3e is sweeping away all the built up cruft, it seems very thematically appropriate. All the more fuel for shouters of betrayal.

David Werling was a skeptic, but rapidly converted when he realised how much better the new rules were. Plus not needing all those supplements is a huge weight off your shoulders. (literally if you carried the books to the game in your backpack)

Jeff R Taylor reminds us that D&D would have died entirely if not for the new edition. The playtesters and writers are saving roleplaying, not betraying it. I'm shocked at the sheer venom of some of the people writing in.

Jeff Dern likes some changes, but confused by others. His main hope, however, is that the old campaign worlds get brought back. 2 generic ones just isn't enough really.

Randy Donahue has been away from D&D since 2e came out, as he moved on and craved new experiences. But now he's back, and thoroughly happy with the improvements. They really are bringing back more people than they're losing.


Role models: Another round of painting advice. Here we go again. Must not fall asleep and skim over. Must make effort ……. to ……. judge …….. on ……. own merits. It looks like our new writer is set up for the rest of the year at least, so he's decided to plan ahead and go for the same decompressed doling out of information as Ray. Which is already better than last year's flailing around, but less useful than the 1999 ones where they were cramming in as many ideas as they could into the small space they had. And this actually goes into quite a lot of detail on painting techniques, and getting everything ready to work on your own minis without making an awful hash of them. Taken alone, it's pretty good. There is the inevitable rehash problem, but no escaping that really. And the photos are clearer than ever. With digital camera and desktop publishing software, you cut out several layers of inconvenience and analog degradation that used to be a real pain. But writing engagingly remains as big a challenge as ever.


The play's the thing: Speaking of engaging writing, Robin Laws does a little better here, in his first regular column than earlier on in the issue. Battle cries for your character? That's a vein of characterisation that's rich in comic potential, both intentional and unintentional. It's also one where it's all too easy to overthink things, come up with one that looks good on paper, but is a mouthful that doesn't come out clearly or leaves you open in an actual battle. It's hard to be threatening when the enemy asks you to repeat yourself three times before they get it. A good standard to see if it'll stand up is if you can imagine it being chanted by thousands of football hooligans. Most of the examples here are probably a little too verbose to stand the test of time, but they are interesting, and tap a wide variety of literary sources. And the formatting is very interesting, with bloody lines breaking things up in uneven patterns that make reading this a less linear process. This is another neat little bit of characterisation you can add to your game easily enough, but probably won't have thought of.

 

[Orius]

Come on, Klingons got their own language, and I'm pretty sure they're not as popular as Elves.

Yes, but why bother with this warmed-over attempt at an elvish conlang when someone has already done it better, twice.

 

[(un)reason]

Dragon Issue 279: January 2001


part 7/7


Sage advice: How much does it cost to scribe 0 level spells (1/2 that of first level spells)

Do you have to select your target before or after you finish casting a spell (After. A lot can change in a round, and it's good to be adaptable.)

Do sorcerer's need material components and focuses (Yes. Just because it's instinctual, don't mean they don't need the tools. )

Can spontaneous spellcasters use quicken spell(They can, but to no benefit. Congratulations, you've just wasted a feat and four spell levels. )

Do you get to control who sleep puts to sleep. (Clever positioning of the spells area of effect. Best to use it before melee starts. )

If an AoE extends beyond the spells range, it gets truncated. That's weird. (We have our reasons for making that change. Not that most of you'll remember it.)

What does 1 target per level, no two of which can be more than x feet apart mean ( Geometry, my dear boy. Tales of topographic twattery. )

Do you provoke an attack of opportunity every round you cast a lengthy spell (no, just the round you start.)

If a wizard moves away and casts a spell, will the AoO disrupt the spell. (no. The AoO is for the movement, you aren't casting the spell yet. )

Can you ready an action to follow someone and still get an AoO (yes)

Can you ready an action with multiple conditions (That seems a bit pointless to Skip. )

What's the point of the healing domain if any good cleric can spontaneously cast spells from it (You misunderstand the rules. Fortunately, Skip is a prescient sage, and has an explanation all ready for you. )

Can Diviners prepare detect magic as a bonus spell (No. Counterintuitive rules fixes strike again.)

What does Nystul's undetectable aura actually do. (Blocks detect magic. That's it. Circumstantial evidence may still allow people to deduce magic is involved. )

Does shocking grasp dissipate if you miss (What is this bollocks. Not even 6 months in, and you're already recycling questions. Didn't you understand the general answer about holding the charge on touch spells. Skip is not amused.)

Can you two-weapon fight with chill touch and a weapon in the other hand (yes. It even counts as a light weapon. Pretty neat, huh?)

Fireball's range is way longer than lightning bolt's now. What gives? (We wanted to increase their differentiation, making them very different tactical choices)

Does fireball expand to fill the area in enclosed spaces now. (We decided to get rid of that quirk. It caused way too much grief for both players and DM's. )

If silence is an illusion now, can you disbelieve it (No. If it don't say disbelief in the save, then your ego will do you no good.)


Dungeoncraft: Ray reminds us that when adopting a new edition, it's important to suspend your preconceptions about how things ought to be done. This is even more important than when playing a whole new game entirely, as subtle changes can catch you out more easily than obvious ones, and you need to relearn your reflexes accordingly. A big one is that character generation now takes quite a bit longer, so devoting a whole session to it, allowing the DM to have oversight over what supplements and combos are included in their builds becomes a more sensible idea. Another one is that positioning is more important, thanks to attacks of opportunity, so minis, or at least a way to mark position do come in handy. On the other hand, characters are a good deal less fragile now, so you can subject them to onslaughts of adversaries that would have seemed excessive last edition. So while he may have been a latecomer to the new rules, his analytical skills are fully functional, and he's already aware of the main strengths and weaknesses of 3e. So follow his advice, and make sure you're doing everything by the book for the first few sessions, not applying stuff from 2e that isn't actually there anymore. Your gaming will be more versatile for it in the long run.


What's new demonstrates how not to live eternally when you can. The snail is nearly halfway across the page, by the way.


Can't say I was very keen on the themed stuff, which felt like they did it because they were obliged too after the dwarf one. Plenty of other interesting stuff going on though, as the first supplements come out, and people react accordingly. While they are putting more emphasis on tactical play, there's still plenty of roleplaying advice and system free material that's useful for anyone reading the magazine. The whole thing definitely feels like far less of a grind than the final 2e years. Now, will halflings and gnomes be forced to share a themed issue this edition? And will orcs and half orcs ever get their turn in the sun? I'm sure we'll find out in due time. But will it be next issue?

 

[Orius]

What's new demonstrates how not to live eternally when you can. The snail is nearly halfway across the page, by the way.

I don't like elves much, so this was one of my favorite strips. One of the best strips with Evil Dixie too.

 

[Klaus]

Dragon Issue 273: July 2000


part 5/7


Arcane Lore: We draw 2nd ed to a close with a 3rd druid special, this time concentrating even more specifically on plant magics. Hey, that means it'll also be useful to Rangers. A plan with relatively few drawbacks. Except the ever present danger of rehash. Still, hopefully this is the last time I'll have to say that for a while.

Hail of Thorns brings the pain, plant style. Slightly less dangerous than magic missile, as a cleric blasty spell should be, it's still both accurate and reasonably damaging.

Pinespear lets you add piercing damage to your staff without any metal assistance. Cue getting reamed with a pinecone jokes. Hey, druids can still have filthy senses of humour.

Nature's Mantilla is invisibility, plant sphere style. This is another one that doesn't work quite as well as it's straight wizardly equivalent, but that's the nature of kludges.

Leaf Ears is clairaudience via plants. Well, we do already have teleportation via plants.

Rooting lets you feed through your feet. Seen you before. Next!

Thorn Growth is the textbook antigrappler. Seen plenty of variants on you too.

Bear Fruit is a juicy variant on create food and water. Handy though, because it leaves the tree it creates behind, which may be more of an ecological benefit than the immediate one. Reforestation can be hard for druids, this makes it a lot easier.

Placate Plants satisfies their appetite, keeping them from going all Audrey II on you. A niche power, but possibly a lifesaver, like so many others.

Bronzewood Weapon is another way of making your weapon more badass, hopefully enough to hurt an annoying monster immune to mundane stuff. Not totally reliable though.

Rooted Wrath is a buffed up, damage inflicting Entangle. As usual though, there needs to be vegetation around. And this is one dungeon delving druids are unlikely to have the materials to draw upon, unless on the first level, and having the tree roots reach down out of the roof. Oh well, it's hardly terrible, is it.

And there you have it, folks, my first published work, from before the age of the internet (had to type it, mail it and include a SASE)!

 

[(un)reason]

Dragon Issue 280: February 2001


part 1/7


116 pages. The price goes up to $5.99. Knew it couldn't last forever. Inflation is an annoying fact of life in an economic system based around perpetual expansion, and even collapse won't stop people industriously rebuilding again, making the same mistakes. The theme, on the other hand is brand new. They're giving sorcerers an issue in the spotlight, showcasing the spontaneous magic that many people dreamed of being able to do, but couldn't using AD&D rules. So let's blast our way through this issue using excessive force, and exhaust our liberal supplies of spells. After all, they all come back easily enough tomorrow. It's not like it takes longer the more spells you have to memorise anymore.


Scan Quality: Ok, unindexed.


In this issue:


Wyrms turn: Unsurprisingly, the editorial apologises for having to raise prices, and encourages you to subscribe now, before they raise the prices for that as well. They will try to put more cool bits and pieces in to make up for that, but I suspect many of those won't make it to the electronic format. In addition, the plan to add d20 material to the magazine didn't go as they say here, with that being merged with Dungeon rather than Dragon. (which means I won't get to review it) This is one of those reminders that they aren't free to publish what they choose, but bound up by a larger corporate structure that can mandate big changes if they please, and make the staff go along with them. Such is the price you pay to play in the big leagues. We'll go along with it, but not without a good few grumbles.


Scale Mail: Our first letter strongly praises Tracey Hickman for his recent roleplaying advice. Sacrifice your character for the greater glory of the group! He'll be back soon.

Second, we have one Justin Carmical writing in to praise the odd fonts they've used recently. Jew Wario?! Seems quite probable, since I know he's another TGWTG gamer, even if his show is more about computer games. Googling says he was indeed part of the Star Trek fanclub chapter of Tallahassee around that time. That IS a turnup for the books, and shows how small the internet can make the world seem, and how multifarious his geeky interests are.

Our next suggestion is more mundane. Put some landscape posters of the right scale to make a good minis battleground in the magazine. That's certainly a decent idea to put in the slush pile.

Another request is for full stats for Lidda, Mialee & co. That's one they'll definitely get round too at some point. Turning their cover logo into a full font, on the other hand, they may well not have the time to do.

Completely unsurprisingly, someone praises the dwarf issue, and asks for an elf one to follow it. If you'd checked the previews you'd already have known it was right around the corner. Pay attention! It's people like you who clog up Sage Advice with questions he's already answered.

Yet another person says they like the articles, but dislike the dungeonpunk visuals that have come with them. This looks to be one complaint that'll run and run and run.

The Realms continues to have an enthusiastic fanbase who want all the articles and books from the old edition updated to the new. Steady there. We could do that for years, and we'd never have a chance to add on new stuff. We'll stick to bringing back the good bits, thank you very much.

Our next request is for them to bring back the Bladesinger. We're onto your games, sonny jim. It'll be back, but don't expect it to be overpowered like last edition. How dumb do you think we are?

A rather more surprising request is for them to not put spoilers for modern modules in Nodwick. The old ones are OK, as everyone ought to have read them anyway, but we might want to actually play these ones. I find this very very amusing, but I know some people take spoilers seriously. And so the editors decide to indulge that request.

Finally, (and this letters column has felt pretty long) is a letter from someone who's been wargaming for decades, but only now tried out D&D with the new edition. Guess they have made it more accessible to get into than it was for quite a while. The evidence keeps mounting up.

 

[(un)reason]

Dragon Issue 280: February 2001


part 2/7


PROfILES: Looks like the many complaints in the letters have been listened too, because this is back on it's own separate pages again. An improvement, methinks. Aaron Williams (not to be confused with Aaron Allston, who has also done awesome D&D work) is the artist responsible for Floyd, Nodwick, and lots of illustrations, particularly for Dragonmirth, which would have been a lot less colourful without his sense of humour. He's another workaholic, having finally hit it big with nodwick, he's milking it for all it's worth, producing stuff faster and faster (and the amount of attention to little details is dropping in response. The early Floyd stuff looks considerably better than his current output. :\ ) Ahh, the joys of commercialism. Still, as long as he's having fun as well, and people are enjoying something he's producing, it's a lot better than being a starving artist, or having a boring day job.


Up on a soapbox: The first results are in, and Gary looks at the first 4 elements on his list in alphabetical order. Here we see a fairly substantial gulf appear straight away, with building stuff and running businesses being very much niche concerns, while character development and combat are front and centre in most campaigns. This doesn't surprise me in the slightest. For all that roleplaying allows us to do things we couldn't in reality, most people still stick to human scale, rather than playing out the complexities of entire organisations or nations. Plus they seem to be harder to design simple, effective rules for. And a good battle always draws in the punters. So far, so predictable. Let's see if economics and politics stick to that trend next month.


The mailbag: Woo. Statistics. Fairly interesting ones too. Despite the new edition just being out, there are fewer questions on it than there are requests for more support of their various settings. And a quite ridiculous proportion are press releases, presumably for other RPG's and various products that they quite possibly don't even cover. Companies have to deal with spam as well, and I pity the person who gets the job dealing with that, especially when they put something they shouldn't have in the bin and get shouted at later. Still, at least now we know the approximate odds of actually getting printed if you write in. (somewhere between 1-2% Persist and you can probably make it. It's always worth noting that much of the obstacle to achieving things is in your mind, and those around you who think the social order is bigger and more inflexible than it is.


Nodwick adapts to the developments of the new edition. And gets suitably spontaneous.


Previews: The Realms continues to release gamebooks despite technically being on a countdown. The Faerun monster compendium comes along, and sticks rather closer to the old ways of ecology and setting integration than the corebook. Well, Ed did pioneer these things. He'd want it that way.

Our other big deal is the new D&D miniatures line. The first 6 sets of heroes and monsters. Hello to another big moneyspinner that we'll see plenty of bitching about over the years. ZOMG they're making D&D into a boardgame.

And this month's novel is The Messenger, by Doug Niles. The Elves of Silvanesti continue to be bitchy pains in the ass who produce adventures by social ostracism. You're just making more trouble for yourself in the long run.


Countdown to the forgotten realms: 4 months to go, and they give this column 2 pages this time to make it a bit less insubstantial. This time, we find out that there's going to be a bit of power creep in the divine department, as they more than double your selection of domains, and introduce the divine champion prestige class, which is just plain better than a regular fighter in all ways, having the same BAB and feat progression, plus good reflex saves and a decent subset of paladin's abilities. It's available to a follower of any deity, and the requirements aren't onerous at all, so you'd be a mug not to pick up those extra powers. Or just not play a fighter in the first place. Yeah, that seems like the better course of action. They aren't wasting time to power up the weak options, are they.


Dork tower goes off on a tangent. And probably has more fun that way anyway. So it goes.

 

[Orius]

And there you have it, folks, my first published work, from before the age of the internet (had to type it, mail it and include a SASE)!

Huh. I never even noticed that.

 

[Klaus]

huh. I never even noticed that.