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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 4475586" data-attributes="member: 27780">The Dragon Issue 20: November 197836 pages. The aftermath of con season continues to cast a shadow over this issue, with talk of awards, corrections, and other stuff filling up the issue. They also apologise for having to raise prices again. Other than that, they have the usual selection of stuff on D&D and other games. In this issue:Imperium: A profile of the winning game of the strategists club outstanding game award by marc miller. Lots of cool stuff on his design process, including a few things that he would do differently in hindsight. Errata for the last issue of dragon <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" /> They had left out pieces of both the editorials, and as they were covering the same topic, people got confused. Nice to see them admitting to and fixing their errors quickly, unlike certain other companies. A job advert, hiring a new editor to work for TSR. Seems amusingly appropriate given the preceding article. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" />  Another random table, reorganising the frequency of magical eyes and amulets in tekumel to a level more to the liking of this particular GM. Yawn. Star trek miniatures! Another important IP makes its first expedition into the gaming world. Not exactly where no-one has gone before, but ..... Wait a minute, what exactly was the first licenced RPG of a previously famous property? (cthulhu doesn't count, as it was largely derived from open works anyway) Another question I'll hopefully be able to answer sometime soon. Polynesian mythos stats for G<img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" />G&H: Scrape out the barrel, Scrape out the barrel. We will not stop, until its cleaned of every single drop. And when its clean, we'll make our own to fill it up again. So endlessly we can pour and scrape the barrel once more. Not impressed? Yeah, same here. Witches as PC's: Somewhat more acessable than the previous article on this subject, this new character class is admittedly slightly overpowered, but with its very high xp advancement probably isn't too broken. One of the first examples of the "give them something cool at every level" philosophy that only now is becoming the standard in class design, and so is prophetic in some small way. Demonology made easy: The first mention in Dragon of Orcus, Asmodeus, demogorgon, jubilex, and lots of the other fiendish personalities that would be a staple of adventures throughout the rest of D&D's life. Lots of fun rules stuff that unfortunately, most players will never get to use. Because doing so is eeeeeevil, despite the fact that most adventurers are mass murderers for fun and profit anyway .<img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f644.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":rolleyes:" title="Roll eyes    :rolleyes:"  data-smilie="11"data-shortname=":rolleyes:" />  A centerfold spread of photos from Gen con. No, not that sort you perv. Lots and lots of seventies hair on display. No, not chest hair. Honestly, can't I take you people anywhere?A review (and rewrite) of Source of the Nile by Gary. Surprisingly I think that with these alterations the game would wind up less lethal than by the RAW. I suspect the way this game worked would be in inspiration to the way the Isle of Dread adventure worked later. Like the one of gamma world last issue, this is all the more entertaining for not technically being primarily a review, and is still pretty informative as it deconstructs the game. The asimov cluster: Stats for the worlds in the Foundation series for Traveller. They admit that they had to make big chunks of this stuff up, because the books don't have enough detail. Pretty dry stuff, really. A preview of the LotR animated film, along with lots of talk of the hassle they went through filming it, and the techniques they used. How well will it be recieved. I look forward to seeing how they react to it in an issue or two's time. Death statistics: In 4 years of play, one particular gaming group has racked up a body count of over a thousand deaths (counting hirelings, of course). Thats something like an average of 5 deaths a week. (is this the most lethal campaign EVAR!) For the past 2-3 years, they have been compiling statistics of how, and they present them here. Unsurprisingly, other humans come in top, with more than 20% when all types of them are added up, with goblinoids coming in a distant second, and dragons third. Absolutely classic, and an excellent example of how you can take antagonistic GM'ing to the X-treme, and still have a long running and enjoyable campaign. Take note, all those of you who's games have fewer deaths in a year than these guys had in a week, and feel that even a slight risk of unexpected mortality spoils your fun. A variant rule for War of the Ring, making the pieces truly hidden, battleship stylee. Not a bad idea, even if it does add some complexity. Fineous fingers and wormy continue. Demonic posession in the dungeon: A second demonic article in the same issue. this time slanted towards the GM making life a nightmare for the players. Ahh, the excorcist. You have much to answer for. The space gamer: An advert for a sci-fi gaming magazine. I don't remember this one. Anyone have any info on it? A less exceptional issue than the last couple. While they hint at upcoming changes, this issue is pretty much business as usual. Another step on down the road that leads to the present.</blockquote>

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