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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 4818522" data-attributes="member: 27780">Dragon Issue 124: August 1987part 1/5108 pages Hmm. As part of their drive to improve their services, they're considering setting up a BBs. Or in other words, thanks to their recently acquired computer game columnists, they're aware of what passes for the internet at the moment, and are considering getting on board. That would be forward-thinking of them. I wonder if they'll follow through on that. Our theme this month is Aerial adventuring. Something we've had the odd article on, but never a whole special feature, so hopefully there won't be too much rehash. Not a bad start. Lets see what else is new and shiny in the world of dragon publishing.  In this issue:Letters: Another letter from people interested in breaking the world record for playing continuously. Roger tells them that we don't do that any more, due to the health hazards. Oh, for the halcyon days of 1980, when people played 100 hours at a a time. <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" /> A letter suggesting some more regular columns. Hmm. As ever, we'll certainly consider these ideas. Another of our regular questions. Someone wants to become a writer for the magazine, and wonders how you do it. The usual response follows. Get the writers pack, read the guidelines, and then practice practice practice, making sure you listen to constructive criticism along the way. No surprises here. Forum: Rad Jorgensen is one of the many people who thinks that the game is actually less fun when you incorporate the new stuff from Unearthed Arcana. The characters are more powerful, which means they have to fight higher level monsters, and get gold and XP more quickly, which means you don't get to enjoy the early stages of the game. Lest we forget, many people like the bit where one good hit can kill you, and you need to be cautious if you want to survive. Kim Eastland pops in to do a shill piece on gamma world and it's supplements. If you want more material to come out, buy the existing stuff! If it isn't profitable, we can't produce it. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f644.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":rolleyes:" title="Roll eyes    :rolleyes:"  data-smilie="11"data-shortname=":rolleyes:" /> This is even worse than Frank Mentzer's dragon thing. At least he offered a debatable point for people to run with along with his shilling. Brock Sides suggests that magic items ought to be given power levels, so dumb DM's can know approximately what level they should start giving them to their characters at. Rather a good idea, really. Uriah Blatherwick shows up for a second month in a row. This time he makes the point that there is no one true way of running games. It's all about what's fun for both players and DM. And since variety is the spice of life, one group can and should experiment with multiple playstyles to keep things fresh. A viewpoint I very much agree with. Clark Timmins reminds us not to sweat the small, everyday stuff when roleplaying. Daniel S Huffman wants to play the beastmaster as a PC, but doesn't want them to overshadow other PC's. So he suggests a whole bunch of nerfs for them to bring things back under control. Woo. Nerfs. :deadpan: I'll keep these in mind for if I ever get to try the class. Dan Fejes is another returning forumite. He points out that he wasn't being sexist when he said that the proportion of female players, and female lead characters in fantasy books, is not very high. It's the truth. Go to any bookshop, do a random sampling, prove it for yourself. Don't shoot the messenger, maaaan. Provable statistics will not shield you from the flames, especially where sexual and racial identity is involved. Even something as simple as " A larger proportion of people of non caucasian descent are lactose intolerant" can spawn hundred post flamewars. Pam Parisi is also against sexism in fantasy on the grounds of it's escapism, damnitt. Let us play really badass women and don't worry about it. Seems a rather popular viewpoint. Role-playing reviews returns, due to popular demand. There's lots of games out now, many of them diverging quite substantially from D&D, and it would be a foolish company which ignored them and the ideas they have to offer. They start off with a look over the current big competitors. Runequest is currently in decline, due to 3rd edition taking a number of dumb design and setting choices. fantasy Hero and GURPS are perfectly decent systems, but you'll have to do most of the world building yourself, as they don't have much of a supplement base. Harn has a well developed world, but a woeful lack of adventures. Pendragon is kickass at what it does, but has a very narrow focus that may not be for everyone. MERP is fairly good, but a bit too crunchy to really keep many of the inexperienced gamers it's big license attracts. All of which leaves things open for another system to move in and become number two. Which is where our review really starts in earnest.Warhammer fantasy roleplay is of course the attempt of Games Workshop to compete with TSR in fairly generic fantasy. Classes are replaced by careers, combat has an exceedingly brutal critical hits chart, magic is relatively limited, and the setting is well developed, with an interesting mix of grimness and humour. It already has it's first module series, the enemy within, in full flow. For someone who dislikes how characters increase exponentially in power in a few levels in D&D, it seems a pretty good choice for your fantasy gaming. Another interesting development. While still partisan, and presenting the D&D system as the best all around game, they are acknowledging that other games do certain things better. This definitely helps me get a better idea of what things were currently like in the world of roleplaying as a whole. Good to see them looking outwards a little more again.</blockquote>

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