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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 4611875" data-attributes="member: 27780">Dragon Issue 77: September 1983part 2/2A new game with a familiar name: Frank Mentzer talks about the new edition of the basic and expert sets (again? That's the third new edition in 4 years. And we complain now that 5 years between editions is too soon) and how much of an improvement it is over the last ones, particularly for complete n00bs, with it's introductory adventure teaching you the rules as you go. (remember, it's easier to get people to learn things if they don't view it as work. ) Better artwork, better editing, better initial adventure, better all round. Meanwhile in the expert set, we see the start of Mystara, as they expand outwards from the map in X1. YAY! Another classic setting starts here. All the old D&D modules now have locations on the map there, plus you have a proper hometown in karimekos. This is awesome, and hopefully we'll be seeing articles expanding on my own personal favourite of the generic D&D fantasy campaign worlds soon. The companion set also gets it's first mention, and it and the master set are coming soon. (For a generous value of soon <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f61b.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":p" title="Stick out tongue    :p"  data-smilie="7"data-shortname=":p" /> ) Yeah, this is a pretty significant article, even if it does fall a little into the trap of selling the new stuff by saying the old stuff was crap. It also once again shows up the differences in tone between D&D and AD&D, with the greater emphasis on evolving playstyles, and the PC's coming to have important social positions within the world, making big changes to the setting instead of just wandering from one adventure to the next getting tougher, but still doing basically the same thing. Funny how that worked out. You might start out smaller, but you have a clearly defined path which leads to bigger and better things. It's a shame they've pretty much dropped that aspect from the newer games. Figure feature: This month features a slightly more unusual set of minis, with superheroes, civil war, 20's (plus cthulhoid monster), star trek (khaaaaan!), and swashbucklers catered for. Do your games need any of those? Spy's advice: What are the effects of being exposed to a cubic inch of uranium (how should I know, am I a physicist?(answer, not a lot, unless it's purified U235, as U238 is actually pretty stable, with a half-life of billions of years. A cubic inch won't be a problem unless you make it into a ring and wear it for years. )) How much does thermite cost. What can it burn through ( $30 per bomb or 12 oz tube. Most things, apart from brick and concrete, which are just too damn absorbent.)How long does a flash grenade blind you (1-100 minutes) Can tripods or Two weapon stances increase your hit odds. (yes, by +10) Why are my characters so much tougher than the NPC's (you're forgetting to divide by 10) What are the odds of failing a parachute jump. (1 in 500 for round chutes, 3 in 10,000 for square ones)  When you gain knowledge points, do your AOK's go up (yes) Is there a limit to AOK's (150) Can you get more superior AOK's (only by buying them up the hard way)Can NPC's have fame and fortune points (only if they were once PC's) Does drinking too much alcohol kill you (yes)How do I keep players from finding out each other's objectives in a PvP campaign. (note passing and leaving the relevant parts of their sheet blank so they can't find out just by peeping. Are the prices for the other weapon charts correct (yes) King of the tabletop: Hello again, Mr Wham. You have another game for us? How interesting. Let's see what it entails this time. Looks like he's getting all meta on us for a second time. Having covered the game development process, he now lampoons roleplaying itself. And wargaming, and economics. And still finds the time to make a workable game underneath the humour. He does have an interesting brain. The rules continue to increase in complexity, to the point where I really can't tell how the game will play without trying it. Lets hope that's a good thing, and the crunch creep hasn't reached the point where it gets in the way. Valley of the pharaohs. Palladium once again expands their repetoire. Don't remember this one. Did it use the same rules as all their other stuff? Wouldya like to take another survey? It has been over a year. Surely it isn't asking that much of you to fill it out and send it in? We want to know what's changed, so we can change in response. Is that so wrong? Reviews: Harn is another thing that has been advertised for ages, and finally gets a review. A pretty positive one, too. Seems the designers already have a pretty solid idea of what their setting is like already, with plenty of geographical, sociological, and economic details, all well organized and indexed. It does get a bit of flak for being so blatantly based on middle-earth, but that's more a taste thing. It also has the problem that since it's all so tightly integrated, it may be tricky to change bits without messing up the game. I guess it depends if you like the idea of playing in someone else gameworld as written or not. Which is the same issue tekumel ran into. What makes good stories and worlds does not always make for good gaming.  Plague of terror is a generic adventure module. It gets a very critical review by Roger, who thinks it has too much plot detail and graphic content. Which, y'know, sound like pluses to me. I guess child abuse, torture and stuff is a matter of taste, and TSR prefer to tread a more family friendly line; plus what makes for good plots may make for railroady adventures, which would be particularly jarring when most modules at this point are location based rather than plot based. Can I get a second opinion on this one, as this review actually makes it seem perversely tempting. What's new covers death in D&D. Fineous Fingers makes a cameo from ohio, calling out to all the pretty ladies around the world. Snarfquest features comical combat. Wormy goes back to the trolls plotline. Once again we are reminded just how slow time passes when you only have a strip per month to work with. The entire 10 year run is only about 3-4 days of events in setting. Dragonmirth is missing. Rather a scattershot issue here, with lots of cool stuff, but very little theme, apart from random effects playing a strong part. I think they're doing it diliberately, to provide a nice contrast with the last few and keep us interested. Because they still seem to have a good idea what they're doing. And hopefully the info they get in the survey will help make it even better. (assuming what the public says it wants is also what I want, which they have a spotty record on at best. ) Eh, still time for tons of ups and downs before it's over. Why worry too much.</blockquote>

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