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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 4494623" data-attributes="member: 27780">The Dragon Issue 29: September 1979part 2/2Origins of the Norse pantheon: Not quite what the label indicates. There is much talk on Berserking, and a little on the origins and geographic ranges of the original Aesir and Vanir religions. One of those articles that feels woefully short for the depth of its topic. The mythos of Oceania: Yet more G,DG&H stats. We get the usual mix of concept embodiers, wierd critters, great heroes and their relations. Are there any more pantheons I've forgotten about, because damned if I can think of any they haven't covered yet. Strain and spellcasting: A spell point system that substantially depowers magic-users. Well, plenty of people were sending them in, so I suppose they had to publish one. So by choosing one that weakens them, the people at TSR make it unlikely anyone will actually use it. Thus keeping vancian magic supreme. How clever of them. <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:" /> Trained animals: What, they didn't include rules for something as important as this in the DMG anyway? Shocking. So much for it being complete. Aging in D&D: Take my previous statement and make it double. Oh yeah, they did, just simpler ones. This version uses a random roll per 2 years to determine if you lose points in your physical stats. Which of course is dreadfully unpredictable. Which is probably more realistic, but less fair and fun for the game than the 3rd ed way of doing things. Nonplayer characters have feelings too: Need random personality traits for your NPC's and hirelings. Roll here. I ought to make an index of all these random tables, so people can use them more efficiently later. Bazaar of the Bizarre: Two classic items this time. The ring of the necromancer (using the term in the proper sense, rather than just as the title for an 8th level magic user.) And the binary stop design for determining the results of Hewards mystical organ. Very pleasing indeed. Can I have some more please sir. Jim Ward reports on Origins 1979. Despite some organisational hassles, and a lack of air conditioning, it was in general a success. So they'll be going again next year then. The reviews section gets a proper title this issue, The Dragons Augury. Wonder how long that'll stick? Anyway, this issue they review Reich, a wargame. Raiders and traders, another war/strategy game Panzer colors II, a book. I, Kubelwagon, a book. Desert tracks, a book. The tolkien quiz book, pretty self explanatory, plus a whole host of mini-reviews I can't be bothered to list individually. The profesionality has definitely taken a step up here. Which is nice. Fineous fingers goes on vacation again. But wormy is Baaack, if only with a recap of the story so far. Dragons Bestiary: the whiz-bang beetle. An amusing little low level monster that takes the prospensity of real insects to fly into flames and glass, and extrapolates it to a creature that has the power to punch through walls by flying into them repeatedly. Which should be fun for adventurers to face. Shame this one never made it into common use. Another sign of their increasing professionalism, Dragon finally gets a proper classified ads section. Another thing that I wonder whether it will take off or not, given the trouble they had with the letters page. Another significant issue with several innovations that would make it into future products (but plenty more that wouldn't) this marks the start of another leap in professionalism. Looks like 1979 was a real turning point in D&D's fortunes in many ways. And we've still got 3 months to go. What further surprises could they spring on us before the year is out? Lets keep going and see.</blockquote>

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