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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 4900396" data-attributes="member: 27780">Dragon Magazine Issue 138: October 1988part 5/5Role-playing reviews is doing horror again. No surprise at all there.GURPS Horror shows yet again how solidly designed and flexible the GURPS system is. With three sample settings, and plenty of elements, it can certainly be used to build a horror game, but the utilitarian writing means you'll have to add your own atmosphere to actually make games scary. Seems fairly par for the course for them. Beyond the supernatural, on the other hand, has plenty of atmosphere, but not very well designed rules. Ken makes it pretty clear that you'll have to tinker with this one a bit, but the setting is quite cool, offering a consistent explanation for all kinds of supernatural weirdness in the same game. The GMing advice and sample adventures are also not the best, but there are more than enough cool elements for you to create a good game from. Looks like palladium are the same as they ever were then. Cthulhu Now, on the gripping hand, gets an unreservedly positive review. Both system and setting work together to update the mythos hunting to the modern day. (or at least, the late 80's <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" /> ) With lots of odd little real world details, and several excellent adventures, it keeps things scary and challenging even with the extra equipment.  S. Petersen's field guide to cthulhu monsters also gets plenty of praise. The sly humour that pervades the book goes down a treat with Ken, and the illustrations are generally of high quality. Once again, they merge the IC and OOC perspectives to entertaining ends. TSR Previews: Not a very impressive list of releases this month. Most of the attention is on last month's products, including one they missed last time. Prince of Thieves is the 18th AD&D adventure gamebook. You steal so much, how are you supposed to figure out what's made someone REALLY mad. Time for a little swashbuckling derring-doo. Anyway, this month, AD&D gets another bunch of prefab design assistance in the Dungeon master's design kit. Lots of blank sheets and advice on how to use them. Marvel gets the second installment of it's epic guide to all the superheroes out there. E to M, 256 pages of bizarre creations. I wonder how much errata that'll need. The rest of this month's stuff is all on the literary side. Dragonlance is getting it's first trilogy reprinted in a single compiled book. 928 pages of papery goodness. Wouldn't like to read that in the bath. Agent 13 also gets a new format, with his original story turned into a graphic novel. Pulpilicious. Bimbos of the death sun is also being reprinted, having massively exceeded expected sales. Is a reprint really worth mentioning again? The game wizards: A newbie takes the reins here. Scott Haring is eager to talk about his first completed project, get his name out there. Empires of the Sands might have had it's map borked in the first printing, but they're fixing that, and sending out replacement copies to people who ask for them. He also engages in some errataing and justification of his decisions. And here we run into some fairly substantial controversy, as he reveals his belief that NPC's should not be bound by the rules PC's are. Yes, quite a few of them are impossible for you to replicate. Suck it up. Hmm. This is interesting as another snapshot of where company policy is currently at. They might care about their customers, but they aren't particularly concerned with maintaining editorial control over rules minutinae. The scene is very much set for the onslaught of contradictory splatbooks the next edition will bring. Time for another crap filter upgrade. Dragonmirth continues the cruel jests, some where the jesters get to be the butt of the joke. Yamara and co waste time talking when they should be killing. Incidentally, Barbera Ward ought to sue paper mario. Snarf strikes gold at last. The I think you think I think boardgame? That's rather a tonguetwister. Imagine having to ask for that in a shop. No wonder I don't remember it. A pretty strong issue, particularly in the themed section. In addition, the general quality of the presentation seems to be improving again, with more colour bits, better incorporated photography, neater layout. They're still trying hard to please us. And still succeeding at least some of the time. Question is, are they pleasing more or less people than last year? Not long until we find out again. On we go.</blockquote>

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