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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 4576395" data-attributes="member: 27780">Dragon Issue 63: July 1982part 1/284 pagesIn this issue:Dragon rumbles: Ha. We get a lecture on copyright and trademark issues, prompted by a recent lawsuit which GDW won against a computer game company. They must proclaim their ownership of these registered trademarks loud and proud, or they could lose them to any upstart who thinks they would also make a cool name for their product. I am thoroughly amused. Out on a limb: A letter expressing horror at Ed Greenwood's firearms article, saying it would destroy both the balance and the spirit of the game. Guns have no place in D&D. (oh noes) A letter about errors they spotted in flight of the boodles. These are admitted too and corrections given. A letter very strongly complaining about the characterisation of Tarl Cabot of the Gor books, saying he isn't evil. Just because he's presented fairly unambigously as the hero by the author, doesn't mean his morals aren't utterly wrong by the standards of many readers. This is Gor we're talking about. A letter desiring a system to represent the sixth sense that many characters have in fantasy books. You may want to start with a more simulationist system in the first place, instead of trying to adapt D&D. A letter of generalized praise. Again. Featured creatures: Gary decides he's too important to put his monsters in the dragon's bestiary with everyone else's. No, these are Official AD&Dtm Monsters, approved for use in Official AD&Dtm Games. Anyway. He's finally got round to filing the serial numbers off angels to his own satisfaction, (lest we forget, he forbade putting actual angels in D&D while allowing devils because he knew if you give something stats, players will kill it, and he didn't like the idea of people even imagining killing angels.) and gives us the astral, movanic and monadic devas, winged servants of good throughout the universe. All are pretty powerful for their hit dice, with a ridiculous array of spell-like abilities, other powers, and immunities that take up most of their descriptions, and virtually no ecological or roleplaying stuff. I am not impressed. From the sorceror's scroll: Barbarians! This month, Gary also introduces a new Official AD&Dtm Character Class. And dear god they are twinked. Best 3 of 9d6 for strength rolls?! Hiding as a thief of their level+3? Save bonuses up the wazoo. This is very definite power creep. Plus their refusal to use magic items, or even associate with wizards means they'll be useless in some encounters (well, I guess that makes it alright then) and may not play nice with many parties. What was he thinking? How in the world these guys ever got past the editors and playtesters I'll never know. (unless someone involved enlightens me) Were the UA version an improvement from this mess? Smile! You're on fantasy camera: Another little artist profile. Darlene Blanchard engages in miniature photography. With filters, a little dry ice, and some backdrops, you can achieve surprisingly effective results on a limited budget. Just goes to show, just how many ways you can express your creative and artistic impulses. Where the bandits are: A little one-pager giving us the borders of the various teritories in the Bandit kingdoms and who's in charge of them. So if your players want to clear out this place, you know how much they have to face (usually in the hundreds. ) It's going to take more than just storming in, swords swinging to sort this lot out. Greyhawk's world: More political machinations, focussed upon the southeast, and Ivid the overkings plots. At the moment, he rather seems to be winning, bringing even people who should know better under his power. Looks like it's up to the PC's to sort things out again, because the NPC's have no chance. Pirates & Plunder! (now there's an obvious rip-off name) Swashbuckling on the high seas. Buy it now! Interesting advert. Anyone remember this one? Leomund's tiny hut: Len turns his attention to what was definitely the dump stat pre 3rd edition. Charisma. So often, people just ignored the henchman stuff, and purely roleplayed any interactions with NPC's, making it useless in play. Shock, horror, this will not do, etc, etc. We need more subsystems! We must define exactly how your charisma is expressed! Once again, I yawn. Nothing much to see here. Bandits: Speaking of bandits, looks like we have another new class for you to try out this month. Another wilderness focussed fighter/thief hybrid, (which means they have a lot in common with their logical enemy, the bounty hunter <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=";)" /> ) they aren't particularly over or underpowered, but also don't have any particularly imaginative new abilities. So they're merely a bit meh, as compared with the utter embaressment that are barbarians. The guns of navarone adventure from FASA. Hmm. Interesting.</blockquote>

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