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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 5122518" data-attributes="member: 27780">Dragon Magazine Issue 176: December 1991part 1/6124 pages. Ooh. Elves vs Gnolls riding leucrotta on the cover! Does that mean we're finally going to get a themed issue on gnolls? No, it's just another half-assed double bill of elf features. After the yearly ones on dragons, they're now comfortably in second place ahead of dwarves for racial features. Still, maybe they'll be good ones, even if the topic is getting a bit overdone. Come on, give norkers their turn! <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" /> Or maybe one on the symbiotic relationship between mites and snyads. A special on the quasielemental plane of dust. Push yourself. Plenty of things hinted at in existing books but still unexpanded on. This is what imagination is for. In this issue:Letters: Only a single letter this month, a rather long and grouchy one about the lack of african based game material for D&D, topped off with the fact that what there is so far is mostly egyptian. As is often the case when people complain about the lack of variety, Roger agrees with them, pointing out the few contributions the magazine has made over the years, and begs all you freelancers out there to send stuff in! Hopefully we will get a selection at least akin to the bounty hunter submissions to make up a decent themed issue with in the near future. Once again he tries to stave off rehash by specific appeals to the readership, which is pretty neat. Editorial: Ooh. Continuing on from the letter, Roger finally tackles race and gaming. Well, sorta. No mention is made of non-white people actually roleplaying, but he does talk about the dumbness of other races in fantasy games actually being less different than the many other cultures found in reality, especially once you start going back in time. The values and technology people have can vary widely, even without any significant biological differences, simply due to random variations and the butterfly effect. The same ought to apply to your fantasy cultures. Also, you should learn to live in harmony with people from around the world and embrace their differences in reality. (says an ex-soldier) So an important lesson, made a bit sickly by saccharine moralising. Overcome your prejudices, and learn to think outside your own cultural box, and both your gaming and real world friendships will benefit. You've probably seen this idea often enough before, probably with suitable inspirational material playing in the background. (yes, you again Michael Jackson. ) Like badly played lawful dick paladins, the fact that it might be right doesn't make it any less annoying when handled wrong. Servants of the seldarine: So it's another elven special. How many is that now? Only 3? You surprise me. Not that they haven't got plenty more articles as part of other issues as well, including the fae special that turned out to be nearly all elves anyway. Anyway, here we see them attack a very particular issue. The complete priest's handbook and Legends & lore have been out for a bit now, so people have a decent idea what creating a speciality priest entails mechanically. But demihuman deities haven't got their gods converted over to the new system yet. And by now you should know exactly what this article does. Aerdrie Faenya, Corellon Larethian, Deep Sashelas, Erevan Ilesere, Hanali Cenalil, Labelas Enoreth, Lolth, Rillifane Rallathil and Solonor Thelandira all get their requirements, accessable spheres and granted powers detailed. However, they do have quite significant differences from their later official writeups in Monster Mythology. More attention is paid in particular to their granted powers and extra restrictions, which are far more interesting and idiosyncratic in this version, rather than just being free extra spells. In fact, having given the two a good comparison, I'll say I prefer this one, which feels like it was given more care in design, and not compressed and simplified because they had hundreds of gods to fit in a 128 page splatbook. Finally, we're getting good 2nd edition crunch in the magazine. I have to say I'm quite pleased about this. If you need help - ask the drow!: Another trip down to undermountain in the company of Laeral it seems. Ed and Steven continue to work at making the Realms a living world, with new monsters moving in to occupy cleared out areas, cave-ins and new excavations changing the terrain, and existing characters gaining levels. And in the process encouraging the gotta collect 'em all problem and forcing you to skip between dozens of books and articles to keep track of everything that's going on. It's always so much easier to remember this stuff when you were the one who wrote it in the first place. But as is often the case, my inherent pessimism is won over by the sheer amount of fun Ed is obviously having. Drow aren't all Lolth worshiping psychos. There are actually a (not so, if you read the novels) surprising number of good Eilistraee worshippers amongst them, hiding amongst the cities and trying to do good, or exiling themselves to the upper caverns. And it seems Skullport has a decent number of them, engaging in cautious trade with the surface world, thwarting worshippers of Ghaunadaur, and trying not to be killed by both good and bad guys. It's all crammed to the brim with plot hooks and adventure opportunities, as is often the case with his stuff. Whether you want combat, roleplaying or exploration, he's got you well covered.</blockquote>

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