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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 4768243" data-attributes="member: 27780">Dragon Issue 114: October 1986part 4/4The dungeoneers survival guide. The first proper AD&D book without Gary at the helm. We still haven't heard anything about that, he's just stopped appearing in the magazine. How very worrisome. The immortals set. Just in time for christmas. Are you ready to go cosmic! Awesome. Now you can finally win D&D for good. The role of computers: This month's main review is of Wizards Crown, another adventure game. Explore the world, get stuff, and advance your characters to win back the titular wizard's crown. Make sure you save it frequently, otherwise you may find yourself suffering massive amounts of frustration, because it's a big and tricky game. Ahh, the differences between computer and tabletop RPG's, where this kind of thing is expected. Unlike the first few reviews, this is a game I didn't already know about, so it was interesting on that level. But on another, the novelty is wearing off, and this column is starting to feel like business as usual. I suspect we'll have some dull issues for this as well before it comes to an end. Running guns: Battletech gets an article this month. As ever, nice to see them covering games they have not done previously. As is often the case, this article tackles something ignored in the main books. Humanoid mechs get all the glory, while boring things like tanks, missile launchers and PPC's get ignored, even when they do actually play a significant part in the battle. Just like the trenches and the planes in WW1. So here we have three new vehicles statted out for your enjoyment. Will they be the crucial tipping point in your fight, or merely cannon fodder? One of those questions I can't answer due to unfamiliarity with the system. Still, as with revenge of the nobodies, and heroic mortal exalted games, getting to see the world from a slightly lower down perspective than the PC default and face the consequences can make for very interesting gaming. So I think I'll give this one a thumbs up. High-tech hijinks: Our final article is only sorta a sci-fi one, despite being in this section. It's about putting high-tech devices into your fantasy world. Fitting, given Blackmoor is just being released in a new version. Do you want them for a brief crossover (and if so, how will you take them away after the episode is over) or do you want them here for good? Who made it, when and why. And the critical question of how powerful it should be compared to magic and how you differentiate the two. This gives us some pretty specific answers to these questions. Needing batteries and repairs is a good way to take them out of player hands after a bit, weapons should be more powerful than regular ones, but not ridiculously so, buying and selling them should be a bitch, and magitech and bombs should not be allowed. Ok then. Seems pretty sensible. This is not entirely a good thing. Quite a number of games, from shadowrun, to rifts, to d20 modern, will merge magic and technology integrally in the future and be successful, so this advice seems rather dated. Take a few more risks. It's not going to kill you, and if it kills your game, you can just start a new one. Balance is not essential to fun. Wormy gets to see his horde of new recruits. Dragonmirth plays with our expectations again. Snarf finds claiming the throne is not as simple as he'd hoped. MERP is once again on the back cover with a new edition. And yet we've never seen an actual article for it, despite years of press. What's up with that? You'd think that given how much of D&D is derived from it, someone would at least try. Are the approvals people a bunch of <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=":)" /><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=":)" />s, as has often been the case where the tolkien estate is involved? Not a very good issue at all, with a ridiculously high degree of recycled material, particularly in the D&D bits. The articles covering other games are rather better, especially the top secret ones, but as a whole, this still leaves me unsatisfied. It also demonstrates that covering multiple systems really does make it much easier to maintain interest, as even if you tackle similar topics, the rules and setting quirks means they manifest differently in each game. How will they solve this problem? Believe me, I'm very eager to find out too.</blockquote>

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