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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 4522271" data-attributes="member: 27780">Dragon Issue 41: September 1980Part 1/2<img src="http://paizo.com/image/product/magazine_issue/dragon/41/cover_500.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />80 pages. A particularly amusing cover this issue, as lizard boy goes to school. This issue, they focus on the fantasy trip, with 4 articles for melee and wizard. Computers also get an increasing amount of coverage, reflecting their new popularity at the moment. In this issue:Out on a limb: Two more letters from the opposing sides of the fence of the dwarven beard debate. Gary once again chips in to provide evidence for his rightness. This one just won't die, will it? Another letter on the age debate, from a 15 year old boy who feels himself more than mature enough to play and run D&D in a responsible fashion.A letter of support for giants in the earth, offering lots of suggestions for future issues. A letter in support of including angels in the game and against too much realism. A letter from Gary with some rather snarky opinions on many recent articles in the magazine. This stuff is not official and never will be (as long as I'm in charge) As amusing as ever. And finally, a very long letter about the weapon and armor restrictions faced by clerics and magic-users, with lots of real world references. Yeah, this stuff was really easy to pick apart when you started using real world logic rather than game balance considerations. But the designers have said many a time that realism was not one of their design goals. Take that in mind. Reflections of a real life cleric: Another of our "issues" articles, this examines the power creativity and fantasy has to enrich our lives, as well as the obvious matters that everyone needs entertainment and outlets of some kind, and that being good is supposed to be fun. (the biggest trick evil pulled is making people think that being bad was more fun than being good, when it very much is not, once the concequences are factored in) Of course, like any tool, it can be used for evil, or you can get too caught up in the means, and forget the proper ends, and you need to be wary of that. But you can't spot that stuff unless you're part of the community. Once again, this is a far cry from the hysteria that would later engulf the game several times. Playing the numbers: Talk of combat optimization for The Fantasy Trip, with detailed analysis of hit probabilities multiplied by average damage capacity, and the corresponding expected output. Ahh, twinking. I guess any game with tactical decisions will attract mathematicians who pore over stuff like this. And that will be continue to be the case as the fantasy trip becomes GURPS and goes through 4 editions. How does steve jackson deal with it? (publishing munchkin, perhaps <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=";)" /> )All fighters are not created equal: More Fantasy trip stuff, as they discuss the unfairness of recieving the same amount of XP, no matter how powerful each combatant is. You know what we need? A challenge rating system, whereby you get more by beating stronger foes, and less from beating weaker ones. Now that's what you call progress. Now, how long will it take for other games to pick up on this? Dueling dragons: Adapting Melee to model combat between dragons, rather than human fighters. This obviously involves changing the tactics weapons, and stat ranges quite a bit. Because after all, dragons are absolutely brutal. I quite approve of this, as it pushes the games envelope, yet the game adapts fairly well too it. I guess the system was already fairly robust, even back then. Ready, aim, firearm: Rules for firearms in Melee. Which are out of date already, as official rules for them were released just recently enough that they could mention it, but not cancel the article. Oh well. As is often the case when they have a themed issue, they put the worst article furthest in, so as to hook you into the magazine. But that's a common trick in any media. Put the best bits at the beginning and end, where people'll remember them, and squash the filler in the middle. And it must work, otherwise we wouldn't do it. Cut the page count instead you say? Nahh. We couldn't possibly do that <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=";)" /> Giants in the earth: This months exceedingly powerful fictional characters (with atrocious artwork by Roger Raupp that doesn't fit the descriptions and makes them all look the same) are C.L. Moores Jirel of Joiry, H Rider Haggard's Ayesha, and Robert E Howards Valeria. Oh, and sigurd fafnirsbane and Starkad from norse myth, who get slightly better treatment. Dragon's blood: The norse theme continues in this pair of articles on the benefits of being exposed to dragons blood, again mentioning Sigurd and Fafnir. One of those things that they admit has the ability to unbalance the game, given the importance of AC to combat, and the way it is tuned in general. You'd think that getting a dragon's treasure hoard would be enough. Nah, We won't stop until we've made swords from it's talons, clubs from it's teeth, armor from it's scales, and heaven knows what magical gubbins with it's internal organs. Honestly, it's worse than buffalo. No wonder dragons are extinct in the modern day. <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=";)" />For appearance's sake: The appearances of the various demihuman races are expanded upon, with guess what? Random tables to roll for eye, hair, skin color, unusual features, etc etc. <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:" /> Truly this is for the uninspired gamer. Still, it does contain quite a bit of implied setting stuff. File under rather average. Minarian legends: The creation legends of Divine Right Trolls. They do fall a little into the noble savage cliche, but are still given enough of a spin to avoid human in funny suits, thanks to they way their society adapts to their regenerative properties. The general quality of this series continues. Up on a soap box: Good generalship involves tactics. In real life, the best way to win is to not fight, or let nature do your fighting for you, hitting them in the supply lines, as demonstrated by the russians. Of course, doing that in a wargame would make the game not fun, but you still need to consider tactics and psychology, as well as winning through unconventional means. As ever, the most common sense things are the easiest to overlook, like plan your tactics to account for the terrain and weather.</blockquote>

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