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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 4744922" data-attributes="member: 27780">Dragon Issue 110: June 1986part 2/4For better or norse part 1: Ahh, the norse pantheon. Second only to the greeks in the popularity of their legends. See what being a fractious bunch who are basically just humans writ large gets you. They've already got plenty of airtime in D&D, with quite a few magical items based off them in the core rules, (hammer, gauntlets and girdle for the win) and a whole chapter in Deities and Demigods. But since they have whole sagas about them, there are people who want more. Unlike with the centaur papers, they've decided not to combine these two articles into one, despite them having some overlapping stuff. After all, there is no Canon beyond what you choose to include in your game. This first article gives us stats for the Vanir. Not quite as famous as the Aesir, (probably because they aren't as loud and violent ) they're still an interesting bunch, and including them opens up more avenues for godly politics, with multiple factions competing for worship in the same area. We have a mixture of gods, demigods, and monsters which may not be gods, but are still mean enough to present a challenge to them. Angur-boda. Edger. Gerda. Grid. Gullveig. Hati Hrodvitnsson. Skoll. Hermod. Mimir. Nidhogg. Njord. Ran. The Tempests. Utgard-loki. Vafthrudnir. Volundr. (whew) This nearly doubles the size of the pantheon. Which is pretty useful, if you're playing a game in an appropriate milieu. And if you want to be god-slayers, this is one of the more appropriate pantheons, given the number of horrible monsters they have around them. Another fairly decent article. For better or norse part 2: A rather different and more focussed article makes up our second norse offering. Where the first one was largely crunch, this one has more extensive essays on a few specific deities. Niord (curse you, inconsistent translations! ) shows up again, with different stats, and Frey, Freya and Loki get expanded on from their D&DG entries. Loki in particular gets altered quite a bit, as the writer disagrees with the official interpretation of his personality. Ahh, the annoyance of drawing from a mythos that is inconsistent in itself. How very tiresome. All about Elminster: He's been telling us stories for nearly 5 years now, this mysterious sage. He spins tales of beasts and magic, spells, trickery, swords, shields and rings, histories and possible futures. But all things must change. He can't stay mysterious forever when so many people are curious about him. And so the 10th anniversary of the magazine is where Ed finally chooses to give us concrete details about the teller behind them. And this is one instance where the results are probably bigger than most suspected beforehand. A 26th level magic-user, with 3 18's in his attributes, and nothing below 12, he possesses vast magical and psionic powers, and travels universes with ease. He talks with the undead, sleeps with goddesses, and has developed some of the most twinky tricks you've ever encountered to keep his ass safe. But he still maintains a quiet little home in the Realms, and doesn't meddle in politics there openly, leaving that to others. We also get a bunch of new spells, and huge amounts of detail about the history and other big players in the realms. This really opens up the lid of the stew he's been cooking over the years, and it smells delicious. After this kind of showing, how can they not give Ed the chance to publish his world properly. People must be clamoring for more. Unless they're the sort who think there's too much mary-sue cheese in this mix, which is understandable. But as you can probably tell, I don't. At least not yet. When will it become too overcooked for me? We shall see. The role of computers: As they said earlier, Dragon is opening up to review computer games again. How very pleasing. In the time they've been absent, computers have crashed, come back, developed massively, and are now far more common than ever before. Consoles are also just starting to make inroads into america. But let's not get ahead of ourselves and jabber on about stuff that falls outside this column. Straight away, they recognize that if you just want to read computer game reviews, there are other magazines that specialize entirely in that, and can review far more games every month, probably in more depth. So to justify their place in Dragon magazine, they need to remember they're writing this as roleplayers, for roleplayers. A laudable statement. Let's hope they stick to it. Their first big review is Wizardry. Wait a minute, I hear you say. Didn't this get reviewed in this magazine back in 1982 in issue 65? Why, yes it did! Don't worry. Not only is this a new set of reviewers offering a new perspective on things, it's also a new version of the game, on a different platform, with considerable improvements in the graphics, (although the specs are still pretty risible compared to modern computers. ) a massively improved save game feature, (saving mid adventure? Unheard of! ) use of the new Windows format of displaying multiple things at once, and lots of other awesomeness that will soon become common practice in programming design. It manages to improve on a game that they already have a nostalgic attachment too. We also get 9 capsule synopses of other computer RPG's at the end, rounding off this column nicely. This is another case where it'll probably take them a few issues to really find their feet and strike a good balance of reviews, chatter and guides. Still, the magazine has taken another step outwards in the topics it covers, and towards the format it had when I started reading. Overall, this is a very pleasing  addition to their roster.</blockquote>

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