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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 4599763" data-attributes="member: 27780">Dragon Issue 72: April 1983part 1/2<img src="http://paizo.com/image/product/magazine_issue/dragon/72/cover_500.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />88 pages. Yet another dragon on the cover of this one. At least this time the female adventurers are sensibly dressed. And that's not an april fool. But they haven't skimped on that stuff inside. We have both ridiculous stuff, and things that are humorous but still useful. And they've got some pretty big changes in store, like bringing in drag-racing to the magazine. <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=";)" /> I hope you'll enjoy their new direction. In this issue: Out on a limb: A letter complementing them on the chess article, and suggesting some ways it could be further added too. A letter critisizing the erratad version of falling damage, saying the normal version is both more realistic and better for the game, as while the distance fallen in a time may increase geometrically, the speed you are falling at increases linearly. A letter engaging in much quibbling about maximum speeds for ships and boats. Five letters asking for more/less inclusion of games other than D&D, which the editor uses to illustrate the impossible line they have to walk in terms of meeting demand and pleasing everyone. A letter complementing them on using the original version of historical names rather than modernized ones. Kim comments that he likes to get this right, because so many people falsely assume about his gender. (cue That's not my name) A letter complaining that the magazine is so expensive.  From the sorceror's scroll: Ahh, the cavalier. One of the more hated second wavers of 1st edition AD&D. What was Gary thinking when we already have the paladin? Roughly the same thing as when he made the barbarian, probably. Lets make up some cool stuff, and worry how it fits in with everything else later. And although they occupy the same thematic niche as the paladin, that of the chivalrous mounted fighter, the specifics of their powers are quite different. They really do push the mounted warrior schtick, which of course may cause some problems when dungeoneering. So like the barbarian, they are exceedingly powerful when dealing with problems suited to their powerset and mentality, and a pain in the ass outside them. This probably is not conducive to a good gaming experience, and their failure to make it to 2nd edition seems pretty reasonable, considering. The ecology of the piercer: Woooo! This series has finally started. This makes me very happy. We've been having too few developments that I can be unreservedly positive about. We start with a monster that really needs it, D&D's ceiling hanging gastropods of dooooom. The fiction part isn't as good as most of the later installments, but it includes a very nice full page diagram of their internal structure. Overall, it's definitely a solid start to a series that will give us lots of inspiration over the years. I look forward to seeing what they cover next. Gems Galore: Now this is something that's all too easy to ignore. Gems and jewelery turn up in a lot of treasure hordes, and often get viewed as just more money with less encumbrance worries. Given the variety they come in, and how tricky it can be to value them and sell them, getting maximum profit from your hauls could become an adventure in itself. As usual, Ed has both done his homework, and not been afraid to add things that he found cool. We get plenty of realmsian setting detail worked in, much of it pure fluff. Even if it's not that useful, it's very interesting to see what superstitions the members of a imaginary world have. Some may find it too much detail, but I'm still hungry. It's going to take till the mid-90's to satiate my hunger for more and more little world details.   The real barbarians: Ahh, the old misrepresentation of the natives screed. We had it with druids, and now we have it with barbarians. Honor, adherance to taboos, actually more sexually progressive than the so-called civilized people, rich oral tradition, blah blah blah, wake me when it's over. This stereotype and overgeneralization does no more favours to them than the other one. The PbM scene: Another long article, this is an overview of the Play by mail games that are currently big, with quite well thought out descriptions of all the major games, and the differences between them. If you did want to pour you money into that stuff, at least you're now a good deal better equipped to choose ones that you'll like. I'm still not convinced enough to try one, (not that I could now) but I'm not going to knock the skill of it's advocate. File 13: Tom Wham gets all meta on us, giving us a game about the process games go after being written to get to being a completed project. And like movies, computer games, or anything else creative, once it goes into committee process, everyone wants to monkey around with it. Which a lot of the time, doesn't help. One wonders how much editing work went into the game's design <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=";)" /> You can play this one solo, or compete against others. Not that it matters, because victory and defeat is mostly a matter of luck. Just like real life soliciting <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=";)" /> Seems like a pretty quick game that you could play a few rounds of between other things, but not the most amazing thing he's ever come up with. Figure feature gives us 4 different dragon mini's to peruse this month. Nothing particularly unusual here. The true story of file 13: And most of my questions from the game are answered. Kim gives us a rather funny recounting of his part in the game's production. They've got to make sure it's all suitable for a family magazine. As is often the case, I'm not sure how much of this is true and how much is invented for comedic effect. But it makes for an amusing read anyway, which seems to have been their primary intention anyway. And if they can make their april fool section useful as well as funny, that's all to the good. Valley elves get filked. They like, so deserve it. I mean, they think they're cool, but they're totaly not. Plus they're, like, old. They might look young, but they're totally older than your mom. I mean how eww would that be, going out with one, and then they start talking about your grandparents. Grody. Duh Jock: Ahh, mocking the popular crowd. Now there's something we've seen before. We get another joke class, with maximums to many ability scores. Just about legal, they probably won't be functional in a dungeonering game, because so many of their powers are non-combat based (oh, the irony) Unless you want to play a highschool drama game (not beyond the bounds of possibility), you should give this one a miss. Or you derive some sadistic pleasure from throwing a team of jocks against D&D monsters and seeing how long it takes them to all die horribly. I can see how that would appeal to some people. Spells for everyone: Oh, this joke again as well. Nonmagical "spells" with obvious material components. Like throwing a dead slug at someone for taunt (oh, wait <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 diliberately mess up the format, just to confuse us. Come on, the joke articles should at least be as imaginative as the normal stuff. You only have to fill this once a year. You shouldn't be recycling themes yet. Ha. We get a sex in AD&D article this year. What's new must be kicking themselves that someone else beat them too it. Roger Moore covers the mating habits of woodland creatures, sphinxes, succubi, minotaurs, and almost hydras ( yeah, like they're really going to let tentacle rape into the magazine. ) Then it all goes downhill and they have to drag him away from the typewriter. I suppose it's a better way than most to finish off our joke section. I'm certainly amused, anyway.</blockquote>

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