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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 4590987" data-attributes="member: 27780">Dragon Issue 68: December 1982part 2/2The adventure is yours! Not a very good pic as they advertise the basic and expert sets, with very two-dimensional looking characters. If you were feeling uncharitable, you might suspect them of mispromoting it, because the high-ups want AD&D to sell better than BD&D. What's in the water: The fiend folio forgot to put expanded tables for underwater encounters. So its up to the magazine, as usual, to cover for their mistakes and omissions. What a job to have. This is pretty much as you'd expect, lots of tables, plus some expansion on the aquatic versions of various monsters. Not that interesting, but you'd miss it if it wasn't there. After all, in a long running game, chances are you'll spend some time adventuring underwater. Weather in the world of greyhawk: This month centerpiece is a strange one. A detailed system for determining what the weather will be like, based upon your latitude, terrain and time of year. Which I guess will work for any roughly earth sized and structured world. They've certainly put plenty of research into it, with citations and a bibliography. And Gary approves. So even if it might be a bit dull, all the really dull stuff's already been done for you. Just roll on it and enjoy the results. Or decide on weather based on plot. Or completely ignore the weather, as far too many of us do. The choice is yours (or at least, your GM's), as ever. Gaming by mail can be nice: Yeah yeah. You would say that, wouldn't you. A rundown of the pro and cons of PbM games. As we have seen, this has a lot in common with modern MMO's, apart from the massively slower response times between turns, and corresponding effort you need to put in to keep the game going.   They can also get pretty expensive, especially if you start privately corresponding with other players. Still, at least you're in no danger of being glued to your computer for 20 hours solid. Sorry, I'm afraid that you can't tempt me with this one. I have no craving for another nonproductive time-eater in my life. Deities and demigods of greyhawk: Several more familiar faces are introduced to us, plus a couple of unfamiliar ones as well. Celestian, Fharlanghn, Ehlonna,  Pholtus and Tritherion. Once again, clerics worshipping them get extra benefits, ranging from a single extra spell to a whole array of neat tricks. Ahh, power creep. Pretty soon, no-one'll want to play a standard cleric. I'm divided by this. One on hand, inflation is bad, especially as clerics are pretty powerful already, but on the other hand, properly differentiating clerics mechanically is cool. Oh well. They solved the problem eventually. I just need to get through the next 18 years. The dragon's augury: Robert plamodon gives us a review that is technically one of High fantasy, but is actually more focussed upon the solo adventure that comes with it, plus the idea of solo games in general. Which is certainly a topic that deserves examination, as the Fighting Fantasy series gains popularity, and plenty of other companies try to get in on the market as well. How do you ensure that they retain interest through multiple plays, and keep the reader from cheating? Several other books and their quirks and merits are also mentioned. Whatever happened to these? Another genre killed by the rise of computer games. Still that's quite a few years in the future, and hopefully we'll be seeing more reviews in the meantime. Borderlands is a runequest supplement. It gives details of both the area, and 7 scenarios for the players to adventure in. It gets plenty of praise for both the quality of its writing and visual design. Once again Glorantha beats Greyhawk in terms of  setting depth, character characterisation and integration with the rules. Elric: Battle at the end of time, is a strategy game based loosely on the novels. While it does have quite a number of features that emulate it's source material, it still leaves the reviewer cold, feeling it lacks depth and direction. Try harder next time guys. You've always got a chance: Ahh, using attribute rolls as a catch-all for anything the rules didn't cover. It's been a couple of years since we've seen that suggested. And it's still the best solution that doesn't involve ripping the system apart to implement a proper skill system. Nothing particularly controversial or innovative here. Off the shelf covers tons of books this month. Obviously they want you to have plenty of options to spend your money on.  Voyage from yesteryear by James P Hogan tells the story of the conflict between the first and second wave of colonists at Alpha Centauri. Confessions of a crap artist by Philip K Dick is not an autobiography, nor does it have supernatural elements. It does, however have an intricate narrative that shifts points of view in a clever way, and is highly recommended. Light on the sound by Somtow Sucharitkul tells another story of mans inhumanity to other creatures and each other in the pursuit of precious things. Which may be a grim topic, but that doesn't make it a bad read. Crystal singer by Anne McCaffrey has no tentpegs. But is does have lots of crystals. And the usual large cast full of conflicting motivations. The darkling by David Kesterton has more crystals. While it includes lots of pulp adventure tropes, the characters are not two-dimensional heroes and villains. The white plague by Frank Herbert is of course the story of how a mad biologist wipes out all the women. Lots of grim drama full of social commentary ensues. Shadows of sanctuary, edited by Robert Lynn Asprin is a third collection of stories from the thieves world setting. They get some pretty big authors in to flesh it out, so the quality is quite high. More evidence that there were plenty of authors already aware of and approving of RPG's (or at least, willing to learn and write about their settings to get some money <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=";)" /> )The battle of forever by A.E van Vogt is a reprint of one of his old books. No further details are given, apart from it supposedly being a classic. Outpost of jupiter by Lester del ray is another reprint. Solid pulpy fun rather than anything deep and philosophical, it still provides good light entertainment the reviewer. Psycho II by Robert Bloch is the long awaited (and much demanded, thanks to the movie) sequel, revealing what happens next after Norman Bates' release. Lots of social commentary takes place as he notes the insanity of modern liberal laws and social policies. Oh, and we mustn't forget the tabloids either. Seems like another case of things have changed less than people think they have. The last man on earth, edited by Isaac Asimov & co, is a compilation of short stories  bout that very topic. I think I've actually read this one, and yeah, it is a pretty tight collection. Clique by Nicholas Yermakov tells thestory of a future where anyone can look how they like, and the resulting rebellious underground that develops in response. As with much speculative fiction, this is merely the macguffin that drives the human drama. Journey to the center by Brian Stableford is a story of people exploring an alien planet, and the weird things they find along the way. The best from FANTASY & SCIENCE FICTION, edited by E.L. Ferman is the 24th compilation from the magazine. Not just fiction, this also collects essays and scientific articles as well, with plenty of commentary from the editor to tie it all together. So you get plenty of education with your entertainment. Strange eons By Robert Bloch Is the one where Cthulhu gets nuked and it doesn't stop him. <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:" /> A bit of a power-up from his first appearance, where a steamboat puts him off long enough for the protagonist to get away. That's the problem with pastiches. They can wind up being overly reverential of the source material.  AMAZING magazine is now published by TSR. Subscribe now! Wormy harks back to it's very first issue, as it's riddle time again. What's new helps relations of gamers shop for them this christmas. Dragonmirth is fairly amusing this month. Lots more adverts at the end. In fact, this seems to have been a very ad heavy issue in general, even above the general upward trend at the moment. I guess it's important for sales to really push these things at christmas.  While not as bad as some of the recent issues, all in all, this year has been the first one in which they not only haven't improved substantially in size and quality, but actually got worse in some respects. Which is a bit worrying. They definitely don't have the innocent enthusiasm that they used to. Even if the meteoric rise is over now, hopefully they'll figure out how to gradually refine things and pull upward again next year. After all, there's still a long way to go before they reach the production values of their last few years. Lets hope the quality to drek ratio isn't too low these next few years.</blockquote>

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