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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 4641272" data-attributes="member: 27780">Dragon Issue 86: June 1984part 3/3Ares section: Know your enemy: An article on constructing supervillain groups. Why they exist, how they survive, and what you do with them. A topic that could be a lot of fun in the right hands. Unfortunately, this particular attempt misses the mark, being too concerned with realistic worldbuilding, and not enough with the creation of a fun story. Trying to force superheroic worlds to be consistent is even harder than trying to get fantasy worlds to be coherent, well-structured and have decent continuity. You'll have to try a hell of a lot harder than this to marry the two goals of worldbuilding and fun gaming, with all the genre conventions keeping them apart. Plus the article feels way too short. Once again we see the problems inherent with only having 16 pages to play with. You just don't have the room to create the depth a topic like this needs. A world gone mad: This month's examination of the moon goes to the Gamma World universe. The lunar outposts have been taken over by mutant plants, and gigantic single celled organisms. (gross) Now it's a jungle up there. Can the PC's reclaim it and get hold of some kickass technology on the way? Or will they find this a leap too big for mankind. In just a couple of pages, Jim opens up a whole new avenue for adventure that could become the basis of an entire campaign. Just like going extraplanar in D&D, once you have space travel, it's never going to be quite the same game again. Unfortunately, like the planar stuff, it's still pretty sketchy, with vast areas given the most superficial of examination. Better get to work then. Those moonbases aren't going to draw themselves. Fast and deadly: A short but sweet article introducing a bunch of new ships to the star frontiers game, and then giving us three new sample scenarios employing them so you can get the hang of them before developing your own. See, this is how you make a short article worthwhile. You've got to cut out all the extraneous bits and get right to the point. With proper editing, you can fit in far more than you'd expect. It's a skill that any creative medium, be it movies, books, music or whatever, can benefit from. Interstellar athletes: Ahh joy, another traveler variant. We used to get quite a few of those before they got rid of sci-fi stuff in here. Good to see them return. Don't want to have a past in the military? Be a professional athlete instead. There's probably more money in it, and less chance of being horribly killed before you retire. Unless your chosen sport is slaughtersphere. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" /> And given the age most professional athletes retire, a second career as an adventurer is a pretty decent option. So this is a handy little article that you can easily slot into your game. They're definitely getting the hang of this. Starquestions is handled by Jim Ward on his own this month. Well, he did invent Gamma world, so of course he's the ultimate authority on it's rules. He doesn't need the help of Penny or Will or Jean this time round. Can cyborgs be mutated. (their organic parts certainly can) It should be obvious how a gun works, you shouldn't have to work it out (Ha. Try shooting a bow or lighting a fire with a pair of rocks while we watch you and laugh (from a safe distance) for a few hours. Then say that all modern appliances are utterly self-explanatory in their use.) Why do you get automatically hit when surprised (to encourage you to be more cautious.) My ref isn't checking for reactions, but just making the NPC's act the way she chooses (That is entirely within her perogative. The dice do not rule personality.) I want stats for more weapons (Kill kill kill. That's all you people ever think about. Look, bikini's! That'll distract 'em. Or maybe not. Great. Now they're homicidal, fetishistic, and have dreadful taste in music. <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 haz 10 questions on mutations. Pls ansewer them. (longlist is looooooong. Jim hopes people don't get into the habit of doing this. )Aren't swords and arrows a bit weak. (well, we had to make modern weapons more badass, or what was all that technological advancement for.) When is gamma world set. (1st edition is in 2471, 2nd is in 2450. Not sure why we went backwards. New editions usually advance the timeline of a game. ) What happens to characters caught by cyber-netters (use the most sick and twisted part of your imagination. ) Can you crossover Gamma world and Metamorphosis alpha ( Effortlessly, my dear Watson. They use pretty similar rules and themes. They could be part of the same universe without either being compromised in the slightest. ) Wormy goes fishing. Watch out, because the fish'll eat you. Talanalan faces sudden death from the skies. Snarfquest has wishes go wrong, as usual. Bug eyed monsters. The new game of alien abduction from greg costikyan. Looks like fun.  A fairly strong issue, with plenty of gameable material. (although I'd prefer more birthday stuff) The ares section in particular is definitely a substantial improvement on the first two, as they get the hang of the format, and figure out how to get the most into it. Looks like the turmoil of the first few months is over, and we can look forward to another year or so of the format staying stable before the next revamp. And that's not a bad thing, as they seem to have a pretty sweet gig going on here. It's risky to mess with a working formula.</blockquote>

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