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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 5044811" data-attributes="member: 27780">Dragon Magazine Issue 163: November 1990part 6/6Dragonmirth reminds you that a good DM is essential. Yamara reminds us that there are better ways to clear a dungeon than going in hacking and slashing. Grognards may disagree. We get an enemy introduced and a flashback in Twilight Empire. Sage advice goes from peach to yellow. This is what happens when you expose scrolls to too much sunlight. Still, as long as it doesn't affect the legibility of the writing, it's not a problem. Why is it so hard to change your gender back after donning a girdle ( Hee. Because  Gary found it amusing, back in the day. You might as well just enjoy your new gender. A lot of people would pay a lot of money for a complete, fully functional sex change. ) How do you choose a spell's school (logic and common sense, based on what it does and how it does it. ) If a spell is of multiple schools and one is banned, can a specialist use it (Yes. This is very exploitable if you're designing custom spells. ) How do you determine a multiclassed characters ego (use the best level )Can grease counter spider climb (Probably. )Are immortals immune to mortal magic or not? (Not entirely. So it goes)  I'm confused by the prices in the castle guide ( Yeah, accountancy's a bitch, particularly when you don't have proper editors and leave some pages behind. Skip has had Words with the writer, and will cap him if he makes a mistake like that again.)Through the looking glass: Back to the reviews in time for christmas. A battlemat with a forest background. A pair of odd little figurines that aren't really that great for wargaming, but still look pretty neat. A rancor pit from Star Wars, which isn't very well done. And some more generic fantasy and sci-fi miniatures. Business as usual here. A hoard for the Horde: Another bit of cut material from a recent Realms supplement here. Why do we never see stuff like this for dragonlance or greyhawk? So Zeb overwrote this time, and here's the monsters they decided to cut. Ironically, my second hand copy of the Horde boxed set came with this pull-out included, courtesy of whoever had it before, so I've already seen this. Dzalamus dragons are three headed grouches that'll swoop upon you and temporarily reduce your level with their breath to soften you up. Fortunately, that's their only magical trick. They'll never make a good ruler of nations like some other dragons I could mention.  Manni are humanoid crow things. Probably related to tengu somehow, only with considerably less style and magic. They're basically another thing in the goblinoid niche, only tougher and able to fly. Which can make all the difference with a little cunning. Still, I can see why they weren't considered essential. Morin are strange ugly little burrowing things that look very similar to a creature we'll see later in Orpheus. Ahh, the joys of body shape squick. They're not hugely dangerous individually, but come in reasonable sized swarms. Whoever they pick on is in trouble. Probably the coolest of the monsters here. Sand cats are pretty bland, and another thing that I can see why they got cut. Course, they can still kill your average 1st level character easily enough, with the whole claw/claw/bite/rake thing. That's D&D for you. Redundant monsters aplenty amongst the cool ones. A somewhat odd progression this issue, as they go quite from forward-thinking articles to out of date and tired ones over the course of it. They also seem to be increasing the number of articles which are simply cut bits from upcoming books, which I'm really not sure if I like. Well, I suppose I'll see a hell of a lot more of that if I ever do the 4e Dragons, and much of it isn't even cut material, just sneak previews. Anyway, overall, this is a fairly average issue in terms of quality, with a fairly even mix of cool stuff and crap. They're definitely an overcommercialised juggernaut now, but they are still acting as an airing ground for quite a few cool ideas. As ever, you'll have to keep your filters ready, and don't forget to read between the lines. On we go to the season of snow.</blockquote>

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