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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 4603443" data-attributes="member: 27780">Dragon Issue 73: May 1983part 2/2Non-violent magic items: Well, this is nice. One hundred new items, all of which aren't combat focussed, and many of which are very handy for everyday living. Thank you very much Mr Pulsipher. These'll definitely come in handy for when I want to award treasure. We can always do with a little more general setting depth. I'm sure some of these items could be put to broken purposes in the hands of devious players, but they'd have to think about it. And since that kind of ingenuity is something I encourage, I may well choose some of these over another +1 item if I get the chance. Forest of Doom: Another module of Dooooooooooooom!? I guess the cliches become cliches because they work. A 16 pager, this is not a wilderness adventure as you might expect, but a dungeon set inside a giant tree. Which is a cool idea, albeit one we've seen quite a few times since then. (especially in zelda games) It's  not quite as impressive as giant underwater plants, but it beats another miserable cavern.  Course, at this level, a smart party with enough spells to spare could fly up to the top level and face the bosses, skipping everything else. Not a perfect module, but at least it tries to tie it's disparate monsters together with a plot rationale. Overall, neither brilliant or dreadful. Eh, it'll fill up a session or two.  New tools of the trade: More cool bits of gear for top secret, with a particular emphasis on concealment. From acid to wigs, this is mostly stuff that'll get you in, help you see, and generally get you more info on whatever you're investigating. Because lists of weaponry, no matter how extensive, can't solve all your problems as a spy. Many of these things should really have been in the corebook. I mean, grappling hooks, glass cutters. Where would a spy be without basic like that? Stuck on the outside, that's where. Another useful but not brilliant article. Thief's climb should be leveled out: Not about their wall climbing percentages. An article criticizing the kinks in their xp scale, which means that sometimes they're better and sometimes they're worse. Ho hum. Yes, the rules might need some fixing, but a basic mathematical uneveness is not a game breaker. Bored now. A rare way of viewing the wish: Another dull single page article. Lew Pulsipher tries to limit the power of wishes (again) by asking the question. Who's granting them? what do they want in return? How will they screw the characters over if they ask the wrong thing? Nothing of note here. We'll probably see these ideas regurgitated again several times before the run's over. Forever War, the game. Fight those Taurans as a mech suited superwarrior. Seems like rather missing the point of the original book. Show people a grim tale of the futility and ugliness of war, and there's always a few idiots who say cool, I want to do that! Anyway, was it a good game?Patching the cracks in Champions: One of those articles that does exactly what it says on the tin. A lot of people are having trouble generating a character from concept up, as they're so used to random generation (Now that's amusing) So roll up a character in V&V, and then convert it. We also get some social advantages that seem pretty sensible. Good to see them catering to different games in here, even if it is just a one-off. Fiction: The sagittarian by Jessica Amanda Salmonson. Ahh, poetic justice. Such a lovely phrase. What better kind is there. It makes for far more entertaining stories than the regular variety. Shame there's not enough mischevious gods and whimsical wizards around to enforce it properly. Anyway, man gets turned into stagtaur. (elaphocentaur if you want to get technical) Wackiness does not ensue, unless it happens in a follow-up story. Googling is unhelpful. More info would be good. Up on a soapbox: Oh, for gods sake. Roger Moore goes on about how players should always work together as a team to complete their mission. If they don't they will fail miserably. Infighting and selfishness has no place in gaming. <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=":)" /> off. Did you not read the intro to every roleplaying game ever, where it says there's no winners and losers. It's not about the mission, it's about the fun you have playing your characters on the way. (ha) Okay, so if you're going to have a game with PvP and intrigue, you should establish that beforehand, so there's no OOC hard feelings when people get screwed over. But for a lot of us, that drama is a huge part of the fun, and something to be actively sought out. Maybe I'm just too new skool for these guys. But this shows a tremendous amount of blinkeredness about what roleplaying can be. ....... Well. That was an unexpectedly vehement reaction. As you may gather, I disapprove of this article. YMMV, of course, since this is very much a matter of personal preference. Time, money, and the goon show: Tom wham gives us some extra stuff for file 13, for those of you who'd played it a few times, and need to put variations in to stay interested. This makes winning and losing much more definite, as there is a stronger scoring system. He also takes the time to point out the errors in kim's making of. Which isn't quite as funny as the original article, but still amusing. Reviews: Moon base clavius is set in 1996. Ha. Its a military boardgame with a bunch of little scenarios. Unfortunately, it fails to live up to its promise and gets a poor to mediocre rating. As disappointing as the monorail. <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=";)" /> Grav armor is a futuristic tank wargame. It's sequence of play results in some unusual tactics being optimal, and it has good graphics, but otherwise is unexceptional. Another solid game you'd probably play a few times, and then lose interest in. Dragonmaster is a card game. And once again, the reviewer is in a rather vicious mood this month, calling it bland and simplistic underneath it's pretty visuals and high production values. What's eating him? Oh well, I guess I should enjoy it while it lasts, because I'll probably be seeing lots more dull moderately positive ones in the future. Mercinaries, spies and private eyes. That's quite a cool name for a game. And it sounds like it has more scope than top secret or gangbusters. Anyone remember this one? Palladium! Their very first advert in the magazine. But not their last by a long shot. Weapons and armour and castles and assassins, oh my. No system though. It'll be interesting to see when they start developing their own setting stuff. Gamers guide: Looks like their extra size comes at a cost. But thankfully that'll be taken up by extra advertising. Hey, at least they're putting it at the back so you don't have to wade through it if you don't want too. This is a commercial operation, you know. Don't worry. I'll still be keeping my eyes out for interesting adverts, and thinking about what they reveal about the scene at the time.  What's new and wormy are unfortunately illegible this issue. Suckitude. Dragonmirth is as entertaining as ever. A very good issue indeed. With both excellent articles for D&D that move the games setting and agenda forward, and a reasonable quotient of articles for other games, plus quite a few cool and significant adverts, this is one of the best overall packages they've released in a long time. Still a few articles I don't agree with, but I'd probably get bored if I agreed with everything anyway. Lets hope they keep this style up for a bit, as I already like it more than last years one.</blockquote>

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