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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 4521188" data-attributes="member: 27780">Dragon Issue 40: August 1980Part 2/2Squad leader: Scenarios 3 and 4, the battle for warsaw. I've figured out what I like about these. The articles for this game really do feel like a throwback to the strategic review days, given how compact yet full of interesting little details they are.  Which as the issues and articles around them bloat in size, makes them feel like a little breath of fresh air.  Giving the undead an even break: A revised undead turning table based on hit dice rather than just undead type. Which of course makes scaling encounters easier and more sensical. While it wouldn't be used directly in future editions, its a good example of an early attempt to put more joined up thinking into D&D. Which is pleasing, in a way. The Rasmussen files: More writing from Merle Rasmussen on the design process of top secret. As is often the case, the name was derived from an offhand comment during design that stuck. And there were vast amounts of things that were cut from the rules (some of which may reappear in future supplements, if you ask nicely, hint hint <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=";)" /> ) And from Sprechenhaltestelle to?: Getting away from the introductory setting and going globetrotting in Top Secret. Includes a random table to determine what city the next clue to your mission will be found in. A fun concept, but rather dully handled in this article. A good GM should already have realised that to make top secret more james bondesque, you need more globetrotting, cinematics and explosions. Now, did the rules support such behaviour, or would that have been a losing battle anyway?  The miniature spotlight: Filling in holes in your miniatures. One of those jobs you gotta learn sometime,and this ought to help. Bazaar of the Bizarre: A bunch of oriental themed magic items, several magic helms, plus two wands by Ed Greenwood, in which he sneaks in yet more little realmsian setting tidbits. How long before it is first mentioned officially, instead of snuck into ostiensably generic creature and item entries? Having just seen the runequest entries, the limitations of this format are thrown into stark relief. The electric eye: Basic programming in BASIC <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=";)" /> Now this is a real nostalgia trip. All these PRINT and IF THEN GOTO commands. Now that's how you construct a computer program. If you have the time. Ahh, the days where you could understand the workings of a program without years of training and edit it for yourself without breaking everything. Simulation Corner: This month the spotlight falls upon West End Games, a plucky new arrival in the wargaming arena starting to make waves. We'll be hearing more about them in the future. Another article that gives me historical perspective, and shows how much more in touch with the rest of the gaming scene the magazine was back then. An advert for real life clergy of various religions to give their opinions on D&D. I suppose they covered women last issue, so they feel like tackling another big society defining topic soon. Reviews: Annihilator, a mini board game, gets a rather negative review. High guard, a supplement for Traveller, expands on making big ships, and gets a particularly clever review, with lots of comparisions to other games that tackle similar topics. Sword quest, a boardgame, shamelessly rips of the plot of LotR, but reasonably well.The drawing of the dark, a novel, fails to realistically represent the period it is supposed to be set in, but still manages to be an entertaining tale anyway. The reviews this issue seem to have taken a huge leap upwards, in both opinionatedness, and sense of perspective. Which is a good thing, because the old dry descriptive reviews were rather tedious. Long may it continue. Dragons bestiary gets 4 monsters this time. The fire eyed lizard, the Flitte, the Wingless wonder, and the Huntsmen. All are pretty interesting, with setting details and quirks that make them more than just another creature to kill and take the stuff of. Ok, so two of them boil down to a wizard did it, (clerics get no love in the monster creation leagues) but that just means players can learn how to do it as well (muahahaha) And isn't having spells named after you and/or monsters made by you make it into common circulation one of the highest things a wizard can aspire to. Jasmine recaps already. The voyages of the exploration ship znutar gets another comic. A 7 page index of all the articles from Issues 1-40. Nice to see them taking stock of what they've done so far. How long before they do it again. And how long before it becomes impossible to do. And two more pieces of Tom Wham foolery. Outside the znutar, an expansion for Awful green things from outer space, and runngus' game, a whole new little board game based upon dropping your pieces on a board and seeing where they land. I guess that'll provide another few hours of diversion before you get bored of it and play something else. Another strong issue in general, as while it hasn't innovated as much as recent issues, the overall quality and diversity of articles is particularly high. They seem to have an increasing base of enthusiastic freelancers to draw from, and aren't afraid to try new things and explore controversial topics. And they will be rewarded for this.</blockquote>

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