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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 5066986" data-attributes="member: 27780">Dragon Magazine Issue 167: March 1991part 4/6The voyage of the princess ark: It's psychodrama time as Haldmar finishes his incantation, and upgrades the Ark. He meets Berylith, the spirit of the dragon that would be bonded to the Ark, and journeys through the dimension of nightmares with her. Meanwhile, the rest of the crew have to fend off spectral hounds. Once again, it ends on a cliffhanger as the Ark's magic is complete, but it still needs to restructure itself. What will it's new form look like? We also get another 4 of the ark's crewmen statted up this month. Ashari Sunlil, a navigator. Ramissur Zumrulim, a boltman. Tarias of Arogansana, a midshipman. And Leo of Le Nerviens, an irritating gnome. (Do they give tax breaks for having a comic relief sidekick in Mystara?) They haven't played particularly important parts in the story so far, but maybe they will now. Not a very interesting installment this month, despite the dramatics. Hopefully it'll pick up again, as this feels a bit formulaic. Such is the problem with episodic pulp produced to a deadline. Sometimes the magic just isn't going to be there. The role of computers: Tunnels & Trolls shows that other RPG's are getting computer conversions as well. The sound and visuals aren't that great, but it still gets a 5 star rating. They give us a review full of hints, revealing in the process that it has quite a bit of depth in terms of character generation and roleplaying, with knowing languages playing an important part of the game. It looks like another game where you can pull a whole bunch of system exploits to get the most out of your characters. I wonder if we'll be seeing this one further spoiled in the clues system. Bettletech: The Crescent Hawks Revenge also lets the conversions flow, even though it draws more upon the wargame side than the RPG add-ons. You can control a whole squad, and adjust the speed to allow yourself time to give all the orders needed. Once again, it seems pretty decent, if not as open ended as the T&T game. Hard Nova is another big, openended adventure, this time a sci-fi one where you have a whole bunch of playstyles, going from ship flying to indoor puzzles and shooting, with a good bit of roleplaying thrown in. Another one where you have plenty of choices on how to play the game, and actually get some control on what you say to people. Stellar 7 is somewhat less complex, but still a good bit of sci-fi fun. Pilot a hyperadvanced tank, and blow stuff to bits. Now with massively improved 3D graphics. Well, not brilliant, but they're getting there. We also get to enjoy the Beastie Awards for the last year, maybe a little late. No great board-sweepers this time round, with different winners for each game system,  and no overlaps in genre categorizations either. Unsurprisingly, Ultima VI and Might of Magic II score high, along with other RPG's. Nothing particularly leaps out at me here. Sage advice: Does being immune to nonmagical attacks make you immune to falling (No. The earth is an infinite HD monster, and can therefore hurt things requiring up to +4 to hit. )Can a vorpal weapon sever a thing that's too tall for you to reach the neck of (Recycled question. Skip is going through hard times right now. Skip does not need this. It's the sagely equivalent of being parked outside someone's house all day watching for signs that their wife is being unfaithful)Can I Charm a shambling mound and then use lightning bolts to give it hundreds of extra HD ( Yes, but the charm will wear off. And given it's new saving throws, you'll have a very hard time recharming it. Better be prepared for a quick exit.)Do specialist wizards lose their speciality if they suffer ability drain (once again, no! God, this sucks ) Can conjurers cast evocations and lesser divinations ( And this is why skip is in the doghouse. Skip has failed to consider the implications of preventing wizards from using lesser divinations. So Skip is going to make a stupid ruling that Skip will later have to retract. )How can I find a gaming club (Noticeboards. Also, recruit your friends. It's the best way to grow the hobby. Use the new D&D Basic set. :teeth ting: ) Fiction: Dragon's blood by Bryan Haught. One of the shortest pieces we've had in a while, this is one of those ones that is basically just a lead-up to a punchline. A bit insubstantial really, this is amusing the first time, but doesn't really hold up to repeated reading. Given the way it's formatted, this definitely feels like a filler piece picked out of the slush pile because they had a couple of pages not quite filled at crunch time. Mehness.</blockquote>

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