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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 5010740" data-attributes="member: 27780">Dragon Magazine Issue 157: May 1990part 5/6TSR Previews changes their system so the dates should be the release dates rather than the shipping dates. Which is more convenient for those of us on the recieving end, isn't it. It also means they finally look like they're covering this month and the next again, even though nothing's really changed timewise. Since I already covered this month last month, I shall have to stick to the next month previews. First up, completely unsurprisingly for this special, is XXVc™: the 25th century roleplaying game. Curious that Buck isn't actually in the title. Anyway, Mike Pondsmith is the person who took this mugs job, giving us the chance to join in the grim battle for freedom in the 25th century. Any volunteers? Oi! What do you think you're playing at, all taking one step back and leaving me on my own?! If you wanna do AD&D generically, you can get PHBR3: Complete priests manual. Course, you may regret it, because it nerfs clerics to buggery if they worship the gods in it, and the kits are nothing to sing about either. One of the weakest ones in this series, in both senses of the word.  Dragonlance gets a double helping this month. DLA2: Dragon knight sees Taladas continue to get attention. Kaz, the minotaur is the star of this month's novel there, which probably isn't a co-incidence. Having been hordeariffic last month, our Toril installment goes past them to Kara Tur again. OA6: Ronin Challenge sees intrigue at a martial arts tournament. So much for cosmic enlightenment. Spelljammer gets a second module. Nigel Findley combines piracy with undead in Skull & Crossbones. Arr. Aha mateys. Let's get that adventurer booty! Sounds very promising indeed. Greyhawk is also getting novels which tie into their modules, with Night Watch, by Robin Wayne Bailey. Course, with no PC's around, it's up to the captain of the guard to figure out why the city is in danger in the official version of events. D&D goes underground, to reveal GAZ13: The shadow elves. Not quite the drow you know, they give yet more options for adventures, both as PC's and NPC enemies. And Top Secret starts another module series, TSA1: The web. They've had this villainous organisation lurking ever since the start of the new edition. Now you get an official chance to strike at them, foil their plans. Go for it. The role of books: Carmen Miranda's ghost is haunting space station three, edited by Don Saker (How would you know? Or is that Carmen Sandiego I'm thinking of?) is a decidedly quirky set of short stories based on the song of the same name. You wouldn't think it, but there were a lot of submissions for this anthology, and the ones that got accepted run the gamut of genres and tones. Sounds very amusing. Eye of the world by Robert Jordan is one of his enormous books where very little actually happens. His continued megasales for this kind of workmanlike product baffles the reviewer. Get the animators of Dragonball Z to adapt the wheel of time, then it'll really be done justice. <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" />The halfling's gem by R A Salvadore gets substantial accolades for it's high paced, well described swashbuckling fun. Drizzt and co are rapidly becoming not only popular, but influential. If this is what the next generation will be copying, then god help us all. Ice dragon by Richard A Knaak is an enjoyable but insubstantial bit of generic fantasy. The reviewer compares it to eating fast food. It'll keep you alive until the next gourmet classic can be unearthed. The mutant season by Robert Silverberg and Karen Haber takes a rather more gritty approach to the same issues that the Marvel comic books have been wrestling with for some time. The characters on both sides of the divide are pretty well fleshed out, and the plotting and worldbuilding is smartly done. As long as it doesn't hit too close to home, it should be enjoyable. Too, too solid flesh by Nick O'Donohoe posits a world where androids that can perfectly play a role have taken over from human actors. Shakespearian and other theatrical references are the order of the day as this odd setting becomes the backdrop to a murder mystery. One for the literary reader. The apprentice by Deborah Talmadge-Bickmore gets a slightly baffled review. Just what is it that she's making that no-one else is? Anyone? Bueller? Oh well, if you write books to please yourself, you shouldn't be too surprised if other people don't get it.</blockquote>

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