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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 5049368" data-attributes="member: 27780">Dragon Magazine Issue 164: December 1990part 4/6Pages from the mages, part VI: It's been over 5 years since Ed published one of these. What a welcome returnee. Once again, 4 new spellbooks, each of them as filled with both flavour and nifty new spells as ever. Just like new classes, new spells are a perennial favourite of players and GM's. Just the thing to keep people happy for christmas. The book of Shangalar the Black is, unsurprisingly, a nice bit of necromancy courtesy of one of your paranoid liches. Two offensive spells based on manipulating bone, and two defensive spells, which are essentially just conversions of cleric's undead elimination toolkits. Not nearly as fun as the hordes of crawling claws power he hints at in the fluff description though. Guess you'll have to do that one manually. The Glandar's Grimoire also has some fairly effective necromantic capabilities, including one spell that's exceedingly scary and will cause PC's a lot of annoyance if put up against it. Vampiric touch eat your heart out. The Tome of the Wyvernwater Circle is a druidic tome, lost when they were attacked by expansionistic beholders. It's new spells are relatively straightforward offensive, defensive and warding ones, using nature in practical ways to kick butt (although mold touch is a bit underpowered for it's level. ) The Hand of Helm is a spellbook by clerics of said god. It's also pretty heavily inclined towards direct offence, defence and buffing effects, as befits the god's aggressive nature. Ed does seem to be a bit lower than normal on the whimsy this year. Still, I guess that means players are more likely to grab these spells and put them into regular rotation. Whether that's a good thing or not s definitely a matter of opinion. Role-playing reviews: New classes may be popular, but new races are almost as much so. They also fill the craving of players for crunch, and allow for interesting new roleplaying challenges as well. I'm certainly guilty of having my decision to buy a book based on if it has new splats to add to the game, particularly where White Wolf are involved. That trend still hasn't reached it's zenith, but it's definitely well on the path. And as usual, some are good, and some are bad. Which of this recent batch will win Jim's approval? Trollpak is of course an updated version of the classic Runequest supplement, originally reviewed in issue 67. Since it was so popular first time round, this time it's been split into 4 expanded products for maximum milking of profit from their fanbase. Still, the production values have been improved, and they retain their interesting history and characterisation from the original. It's certainly not a waste of money, especially if you're a newer Runequest player. Troll gods adds some of the other stuff from the original Trollpak, plus a bunch of new deities. Much of this is straight rehash, however, making it not particularly great value for money if you have the related products already. One mainly for completists then. PC1 Tall tales of the wee folk does for the fae what Orcs of Thar did for goblinoids, opening up both an area and it's inhabitants. This of course involves things with a wide range of HD and special powers, which can be tricky to balance. There are a few mechanical issues, but a little fudge solves those quickly enough. Adding these guys as PC's or antagonists can spice up your D&D games quite adequately. PC2 Top Ballista moves things into decidedly goofy territory, a flying city filled with techno-gnomes and a bunch of other weird creatures, most of which can also fly. Along with the gnomes, things such as Pegataurs, sphinxes and harpies are made available as PC's. Unfortunately, the slapdash and often rather wonky attempts to balance them continue, with some creatures virtually crippled by their XP progressions. The adventures show a similar degree of mechanical issues, and the whole thing shows signs of not having been taken very seriously. Bleah. GURPS fantasy folk gets a relatively ambivalent review. It's the usual generic stuff, designed to help you build your world rather than put any distinctive spins on the creature. This means it has the usual high quality mechanics with more than a hint of dullness. Don't know why they bother reviewing these when they nearly always say the same thing.</blockquote>

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