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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 5053333" data-attributes="member: 27780">Dragon Magazine Issue 165: January 1991part 2/6The role of books: In the net of dreams by Wm Mark Simmons looks like another holodeck gone wrong story, as people get trapped in a computer game. (heavily based upon D&D) It's not perfect technically, but the reviewer finds it a lot more fun than Kevin Anderson's similar efforts. Fire on the border by Kevin O'Donnel Jr takes us to the 24th century, to deal with some rather awkward politics, with the fate of planets in the balance. The destruction of worlds is handled with a bit more seriousness than, say, the Hitchhikers guide, and it all seems pretty positive, even if it doesn't quite manage to capture the galactic scope it sets up. Thousands of worlds is a tricky thing to manage, isn't it. The black throne by Roger Zelazny & Fred Saberhagen draws upon the works of Edgar Allen Poe to make a rather strange bit of sci-fi. Maybe it's a bit pastichey, but it's a lot more interesting than another straight fantasy story. Voyage of the star wolf by David Gerrold also gets a less than perfect review due to it's use of in-jokes and name-dropping from other sci-fi series. That caveat aside, it is a pretty entertaining bit of sci-fi, mixing drama and humour pretty well as the characters respond to the strange things that happen. Sounds pretty familiar. Most ancient song by Casey Flynn gets picked apart by the pedant in the reviewer for being a butchering of mythology. This does not mean it's a bad book, merely that it triggers his personal buttons. Ahh, yes, often interesting when that happens. Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay is a shakespearian flavoured bit of fantasy. While not written in iambic pentameter like another novel reviewed in here, it still has both story, character-building and symbolism in spades. If you're looking for a world to base your game off, you could do a lot worse. Scorpio rising by Alex McDonough is much more episodic than most of the books reviewed, with the uncontrolled time travel device serving as a good way to keep things focussed on the current plot. This makes for a refreshing change for him after multi-volume doorstops with cliffhangers at the end of each one. TSR Previews: Well, you didn't hold out long. First out the gate this month is MC8: outer planes appendix. Welcome back to our unpronouncably renamed summon cascading pains in the ass. Please don't overuse them. Also in the generic side, we have PHBR5: The complete psionics handbook. We've filled in the core 4. Now lets introduce a new class, and a seriously reworked system for their powers. Issue 78 gets a little more vindication. For the first time in a while, the forgotten realms gets nothing this month. Instead, it's spelljammer that gets a double bill of sourcebooks. SJR2: Realmspace, and SJR3: Dungeon master reference screen. Oops. Looks like I spoke too soon. Welcome to crossover central. See yet more areas surrounding the ones we know well, albeit rather larger areas covered more sketchily. Oh, and Elminster's hidden moonbase. He just gets more and more cheesy, doesn't he. Dragonlance starts a new year with another trilogy. 3 3 3. This is why they wound up mocking this stuff in planescape. Anyway, it's another historical one. See the rise and fall of the silvanesti nation, in Firstborn. Even with their enormous lifespans, elves still have squabbles over inheritance. Weak. Our evil overmistress tells the staff to stop abbreviating the XXVc game. It's Buck Rogers, damnit! :roll of thunder: You will respect my authority and pay the licencing money into my coffers! 25CS1: Deimos mandate! 25CREF1: Character record sheets! You will pay for the official ones of these as well, not use some scrawled bits of paper! Ahahahahaha!!! Another wargame for you this month. A line in the sand is a game of middle eastern conflict over oil. How very topical. Who will control the resources that power civilization itself?! And unsurprisingly, another standalone book is put at the end. Jeff Swycaffer continues to be a quirky contributor, with Web of Futures. A man is plucked from his normal life by a strange alien to be a cosmic saviour. As is often the case, he seems completely unsuited to the job, and therein lies the fun.</blockquote>

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