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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 5060425" data-attributes="member: 27780">Dragon Magazine Issue 166: February 1991part 3/6The game wizards: So, we have noticed that sales of our biggest product, the D&D basic set, seem to be dropping off. You know what that means? New edition time! Well, not exactly new edition, as the rules are the same, it's only the presentation that's changed. Oh, and the fact that now the basic set goes to 5th level. As they did with every new basic set before it, they try and tell us how much clearer, easier to learn, and friendlier to people who've never played before it is. This time with an emphasis on how they've used scientifically tested teaching methods in their writing to make sure the info goes in people's heads and stays there. Buy sets for all your friends and get corrupting them. The evil overmistress needs more money! A somewhat awkward reminder that their commercial zenith is now over. While they do still have tons of cool products to come, overall sales are starting a gradual decline that'll become quite an issue along the line. Depressing how quality and commercial success do not actually have that strong a correlation factor. Not that I know if this one was actually better or worse than the old Moldvay & Mentzer ones because I never bought it either. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f631.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":o" title="Eek!    :o"  data-smilie="9"data-shortname=":o" /> Any opinions? The voyage of the princess ark: Haldemar gets rather messed up in this installment, as he tries to comprehend the powerful thothian enchantment from last time round. This results in his offending the people he's currently visiting, and once again avoiding death by sheer luck and chutzpah. This is why being a solitary wizard is a bad idea. If you go insane, there's no-one to tell you you've gone mad and help you, so you keep on getting madder. Probably one of the factors that contributes to liches going bonkers, above and beyond not needing to give a <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> about biological matters. This month's crunch is details on the Emerondians, and their unique plant based weaponry. Descended from space pirates, they have exceedingly light and vicious weapons, that combined with their unique fighting style, can really screw you over.  You can bet the players'll want to get a hold of this after encountering it. The letters this month are primarily concerned with the Immortals. How they interact with their clerics, their churches, each other, and people trying to become immortals. We also have some general rules questions, and stuff on recent, and older releases. Seems like Bruce is being turned into quite the sage in his own right. What a job to be saddled with. Dino wars: Another interesting game as our centrepiece this month, courtesy of Tom Moldvay. There were certainly no shortage of plastic or rubber dinosaur toys around in this era (even if some of them were a bit crap at standing up unsupported, as I remember. ) So like Clay-o-rama, let's round a bunch of them up, put them up against soldier minis, and enjoy the carnage. The rules are actually moderately crunchy, with some twists to the turn structure that ensure there will always be plenty of casualties on both sides. While playing this will require that you have a decent box full of toys already, it does look like a pretty fun one, with a lot of variety possible depending on what units you have and how you deploy them. Unfortunately, I don't think I have the stuff needed to try this (unless it's buried somewhere up in the attic, so I guess this is one I'll just have to sigh nostalgicly about, as I think of my own days playing with toy dinosaurs. Grr. Argh. Fiction: Rest stop by J W Donnelly. Another old formula for a story here. Alien comes down to earth, imitates humanity poorly, terror and comic misunderstandings ensue. Course, the earth in this case is a fairly typical superstitious medieval fantasy world, which only adds to the fun, as they mistake the alien for some kind of demon, and react accordingly. The rest follows on entertainingly, but fairly predictably, until it reaches the end, which really rubs the joke in. So it is a bit cheesy, but fits well with the overall tone of the issue, combining humour and sci-fi elements to good effect. I think this counts as another modest success to add to the issue's run.</blockquote>

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