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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 5033400" data-attributes="member: 27780">Dragon Magazine Issue 161: September 1990part 3/6The role of computers: Dragonstrike takes us to Ansalon to ride dragons, flight sim stylee. They do seem to be covering a rather wider set of genres with their krynnish games. Beat-em-up, army based wargame, and now this, while the Realms is stuck with fairly standard conversions of AD&D rules. Wonder what drove that decision. In any case, while it's almost as complicated to control as actual flight sims, they still thoroughly enjoyed it. You get to fight draconians, other dragons, various flying AD&D beasties, and eventually a suitably massive draconic avatar of Takhisis. Ahh, the joys of taking centre stage. Mechwarrior is a game of 3D mecha combat with a strong RPG element and a plotline about trying to avenge your uncle and clear your name. The elements of buying the right upgrades for your mech, choosing your missions, and haggling over their price play as much of a role as the tactical asskicking. As is often the case, they give lots of hints about this one, to help you through the adventure. Budokan is a game of martial arts combat. It doesn't look as sophisticated as SFII, but things are certainly headed in that direction, as you have to master annoying key sequences to unleash various martial art maneuvers. Build up your ki bar and go to town on your enemies. That definitely sounds familiar, and it's curious to realise they haven't covered this genre before in these columns. To extend the sign of the times metaphor, the graffiti is definitely on the bridge. The marvel-phile: Another pair of leftover characters who couldn't fit into this year's big update. Dakota North, the hotshot private detective with enough martial arts expertise to hold her own in superheroic circles. And Stick, the straightfoward yet cryptically named blind sensei who trained Daredevil. Obviously pretty minor characters if they can't find the space to include them in an encyclopedia now pushing 1500 pages. I suppose given it's popularity, trying to consume and catalog everything in the marvel universe would be even more confusing and exhausting than my efforts on this magazine. I should be grateful for small mercies. Still, this does feel rather like formulaic filler. Fiction: Shadow play by John P Buentello. A somewhat different bit of rules lawyering to last month, but rules lawyering nonetheless. Outwitting enslaved supernatural beasties when they have substantially more power than you is a pretty staple part of heroism. Course, yeah, diminishing returns, and this is neither as clever or funny as last time. On the other hand, it's protagonist actually becomes a better person as a result of the adventure, if you like that kind of thing. But on the whole, I'm not particularly enthused by this one. Another bit of filler in my nilla. The role of books: Games end by Kevin J Anderson sees the mediocre reviews turn into an outright slating, as the physics fail to hang together consistently, and the characters act in ways that make no sense. Way to prove the point about their unreality. Black trillium by Marion Zimmer Bradley, Julian May and Andre Norton should appeal to likers of any of their writing. Well crafted, it does still have a bit of fiction by numbers to it. Still, it should keep them in money for a little longer.The queen's head by Edward Maston is an elizabethan murder mystery. It does try and tie in events to the big historical ones too much, but the character building is pretty good. Horselords by David Cook kicks off the Horde trilogy of novels. It's a surprisingly magic light affair, immersing you in their culture and getting you up to speed quickly. Once again, his enthusiasm does a lot of the work, keeping it interesting even if it's not actually that D&Dish. Ironhelm by Douglas Niles, on the other hand, doesn't immerse you in the fantasy american invasion, taking a fast-cut approach to show events across the continent. You'll have to figure out the big picture made by the plot threads yourself. Still, it differs from reality more than Zeb's attempt, with the interesting new magic systems.   Overall, it's obvious that the Realms are building up and diversifying nicely. Phules company by Robert Asprin is an amusing story centering around a sci-fi Red-piss legion. With plenty of humour, swashbuckling, worldbuilding and a setup that's near perfect for adventurer types, the reviewer can definitely see the value in this one for gamers.</blockquote>

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