Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 4541662" data-attributes="member: 27780">Dragon Issue 50: June 1981part 2/2The glyphs of Cerilon: Another regular writer gets another article published. Larry DiTillio  expands on the list of effects available to glyphs of warding. This also includes quite a bit of implied setting, as he also gives them flavourful names and pictures of what the various glyphs look like. As is often the case, it's better to go for the more inventive effects than the straight damaging ones, as they are substantially more dangerous overall, plus the players reactions will be more amusing than if it were just a bit of burning they can heal no trouble. (disintegrate all paper items on in their possession. Muahahahaha. Now you have no map of the way out, and no spellbook. Shrunken to 6 inches tall. Random teleportation. Memory loss.) They'd never allow much of this stuff in more recent editions. Oh well, nothing's stopping me from playing older ones save finding a group of players. I know there's still plenty of people around who enjoy this stuff, especially when their players can learn it as well. Thieves do it in the shadows? Someone's using that joke in an actual advert?! Man, that is such a cheap shot. My eyes, they are rolling. The Chapel of Silence: This months module is only 8 pages long, a bit of a letdown after the more epic recent features. Designed for low level characters, it's the kind of 1-3 session dungeon you can drop pretty much anywhere. They forgot to clear out the railroady tournament intro that forces the players into the plot, and there are are several horrible no save effects, and monsters which a party of the suggested level won't be able to beat by straight combat, instead having to use the items found earlier on in the adventure cleverly to have a decent chance. So another frustrating dungeon that you have to really work at to survive and solve then, because they wanted a big chunk of the people attempting it to fail outright. It also has several awkwardly written bits that leave it unclear as to what the author actually intended for certain sections. So all in all, it is not a very good module, for either the players or the DM. I think you can safely skip this. Minarian legends: Gobins! Even these guys get a balanced account in Minaria. Yes, they do eat people from other races. But they also love their children, and have a fascinating cultural and economic setup (which includes democratic elections in a world still largely governed by heriditary monarchies.) And really given the things humans eat if we have the chance, are we actually any better? Another high quality article full of setting ideas to steal. The ups and downs of riding high: Flying mounts! One of the things that really changes the overall tone of a campaign, moving it from the mundane towards the awesome. Of course, there are quite substantial logistical issues in obtaining and caring for a flying mount, and that's what this article is here to help with. Intelligent vs nonintelligent mounts. One big mount for everyone or smaller ones for each person, good or evil, each has their own advantages and disadvantages, and optimal ways of caring for them. A solid, but not exceptional article that seems pretty well thought out. Up on a soapbox: One of those articles that attempts to define the proper way a GM should run their game. This particular soapboxer seems to fall on the firm side of things, encouraging making a ruling and sticking to it, ignoring all further complaints from the players, letting the dice fall as they may, so people know that their life is always on the line, but the GM isn't cheating to make it easier or harder than it should be, and making sure that digression and messing around while the game is on is kept to a minimum. Oh, and don't run games way into the night. Tired players and GM's get cranky and make mistakes. One of those articles that generally seems reasonable, but every now and then throws up something that makes me go man what, and reminds me that the fashion for what is commonly considered good GM'ing has changed quite a bit since then, particularly as regards frequency of character death and use of preprepared modules. They may be starting to build familiar settings, but we're still very much in old skool territory in many ways. Figuratively speaking only gets a single page this month. And once again, the scanning leaves me unable to really get a good picture of the models. You could definitely have done a better job of this, WotC. Reviews: The fury of the norsemen is a fun little boardgame of rape and pillaging. Slightly stacked in the favour of the viking players, but you'd expect that, wouldn't you. The morrow project is another post-apocalyptic game where you play cryogenically frozen soldiers trying to reclaim an earth full of mutants and <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=":)" />. Technically a roleplaying game, it seems more oriented towards tactical combat situations than character development, with a heavy emphasis on realistic weaponry. Still, if you want a less zany post apoc game than gamma world, this could do the job. After all, roleplaying  is more a matter of a good group than system. Dragons bestiary: Giant vampire frogs! Adapted from an article in OMNI magazine. And definitely not written by PETA girl. <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" /> Man, these things are pains in the ass. One of those monsters which grabs onto you, meaning any attacks against it have a good chance of hitting the victim instead. And there are few things more annoying than being accidentally killed by another PC. One of those monsters designed to annoy players as much as they are to fight characters. Simulation Corner: More talk on the cold hard economics of being a professional game designer, this time from the perspective of a company owner. The need for starting capital to get the first games designed and advertised, the question of mail order vs retail distribution, and the respective benefits and drawbacks of each. ( a question that is being seriously revisited in the modern day, as the internet makes direct ordering a far more viable option. ) The problem of offering too many discounts and freebies and undercutting your profits. All stuff that is relevant for virtually any business in any field. Just because this is a labour of love, don't get the idea that working in gaming won't be bloody hard work. The electric eye: More on choosing your computer properly. Computers are changing rapidly, and dropping in price, even though virtually everything else is going up, so you might want to hold off on buying one until the market is a little more stable (but don't keep doing it, or you'll be waiting 30 years at least <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=";)" /> ) Look out for hidden costs, and don't buy  any old books about computers, because they'll be useless. Once again we are reminded how much things have changed in this area. But other things are still the same, such as the tricks people try to sell you things. Dragonmirth is here, and really rather amusing. What's new has a failure of artwork, and resorts to the old tricks Dirt used, turning out the lights, and recycling pictures. Fineous fingers gets King Kong in to help him flush out those halflings. And Wormy reveals the secret of how he got his treasure hoard. And it's a doozy of a revelation that'll be important for the rest of the run. Feel the meta. I think they've just about pulled off making this a proper celebratory issue. A combination of looking back, bringing in familiar faces, and trying new things. There are still a few dull articles, but I suspect that'll be the case for the rest of the run, as they're too big and diverse now for every article to please everyone.</blockquote>

Verification