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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 4496607" data-attributes="member: 27780">The Dragon Issue 30: October 1979Part 2/2Boot hill, What scale?: Ahh, miniatures, and the hassle of using them when there isn't a standardised ratio. Lots of talk on the various companies producing miniatures at the time, and their respective merits. One of those articles I can't really form an opinion on. Designers notes for Flattop: Another case of the compromises that have to be made in game design, and the neccesity for playtesting. Which is what every good designer should go through. Hopefully it produced a good game, but I can't tell just from this article. Standardisation vs playability: Thoughts on variation in populations of various creatures, creating a realistic world that has powerful monsters, yet humans are still supreme as a race, language barriers, the amount of the world you actually flesh out and allow the PC's to explore. Lots of tricky thoughts for the GM to chew over, and even if the answers aren't brilliant, at least it gets you working on the right questions. Armies of the rennaisance part 5 - Eastern europe: Nick Nascati continues his whizz speed synopses of battle strategies. Cossacks, ponies, muskets, treachery and a good bibliography at the end, oh my. Tournament success in six steps: You wanna kick ass at conventions? Lots of good advice here. A short sweet article. Out on a limb: This month, we get a letter asking the people at TSR to co-ordinate all the people playing high level druids, so they can be challenged, and there only be the right number in the campaign and real world <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" /> Someone attacking Gygax's statement that he intends to focus on AD&D, taking that as an insult to D&D and everyone who still plays it. Another attack on bakshi's LotR. A basic question on the function of a magical item. Ohh, oh, this one's important! A suggestion that to reduce things getting lost, D&D create loose leaf supplements that can then be rearranged and put into a ring binder. Which of course they would take up in the moldvay basic set and lots of the monstrous compendia. Stuart Malone, nice idea, but not functional in practice. A straightforward letter praising them, and asking for more fiction. A letter attacking jim ward for inconsistency in his descriptions of a gamma world group, which he defends by saying not all members of a group are identical, which makes sense. A correction of a review. Another load of general questions. And someone asking why they changed the logo on the front cover. (the answer is to make it more legible at a distance.) Definitely the busiest issue yet on this front. Giants in the earth: This issue, we have Piers Anthony's Sol of all weapons, Tanith Lee's Zorayas and Clark Ashton Smith's Maal Dweb. The twinkedness continues, despite the complaints. Reviews: Spellmaker, A boardgame. Black hole, another boardgame. Down styphon, a wargame. The quality of reviews from last issue is maintained. Bazaar of the Bizarre: The extraneous inventions of Orlow the indolent. I remember the stuff in here from the old 4 volume magic item compendium they released near the end of 2nd ed. Lots of highly amusing stuff in here. I wonder if we'll see Orlow again? I don't remember any of his spells making it into the main books, which is a shame. Wormy returns in a rather tangental fashion, introducing an entirely new set of characters. What's all that about then? Fineous fingers also returns. Dragons bestiary: Curst. Say hello to the very first contribution by Ed Greenwood. You'll have to get used to him, because he ain't going away any time soon. These are the ultimate angstbunnies, humans cursed so they can never die, and spend eternity in a halflife state, becoming more and more insane. Seems cliche now, but compared to the way they've been handling vampires, these guys are full of personality. I remember them from my forgotten realms boxed set, so obviously he gets a good response to them and keeps them. Once again, this issue sets a new high watermark in terms of overall quality of production. With an above average number of good articles as well, and the comics back in full flow, this is definitely a classic issue. The <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> may be hitting the fan in the media at the moment, but the internal situation in the company has never looked better. How long before that runs into trouble and we see the conflicts between Gygax and Arneson that resulted in AD&D and BD&D being branded as completely different games? As ever, on with the adventure. It's all uphill from here.</blockquote>

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