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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 5194667" data-attributes="member: 27780">Dragon Magazine Issue 184: August 1992part 2/8The 7-sentence NPC: Another attempt at formularising the mass production of NPC's. The title says it all really. 7 sentences, only one of which is concerned with statistics. As the writer shows, you can fit 3-4 characters on a single page using this method, possibly a couple more if you don't include sketches as well. The illustrations are probably the most entertaining part of this article, which doesn't really spark my interest. It looks like it works, but I still cannot help but say meh. Another day, another variation on a very familiar theme. And unlike the works of Wagner, these liefmotifs are not acquiring more power and resonance through their  repetition. You again!: Oh yes, recurring enemies. One of the things RPG's struggle with, and D&D in particular due to it's hit point system encouraging quick deaths, and complete lack of drama mechanics. The closest thing is Dragonlance's rather heavy handed "they never find the body" rule. This is a big problem for people who want to make their games more like stories. And unfortunately, while this has plenty of roleplaying advice, it completely fails to tackle the mechanical ones, apart from a brief bit on resurrection. Since I think those of us who grew up on 80's cartoons don't need help with the character building bit of creating amusingly interesting recurring villains, this is not very useful to me, and may result in more people trying it and running into problems themselves. And that's not a very pleasing idea at all. Still, hopefully if they identify the problem, that'll mean fewer games suffer from it in the future. The referee's code of honor: Back to the basics of GMing here, with one of those little lists of useful advice. Treat your players with respect. Don't take their characters away from them. Don't take on more work than you can handle. Be reliable in scheduling. Make sure both you and they are having fun. And Take pride in your work. Hmm. This is approaching it from a different angle to most of the previous articles on this topic, with the emphasis more on how you relate to the players than how you run the game. This is something that hasn't been done too much, and is written in a clear concise likeable manner, so I'm giving this article good marks. If you forget the real world human elements, no matter how good your plot and worldbuilding, your game will not be fun. R E S P E C T, find out what it means to THEM.  TSR Previews: The Forgotten Realms is back to getting multiple books in a single month again. FR14: The great glacier lets PC's penetrate another distant and inhospitable corner of the Realms. After the desert hijinks of last year, this should make a nice contrast. As usual, the novel is somewhere completely different. Doug Niles is still in the moonshaes, telling the story of The Coral Kingdom. Well, nearby, anyway, as the heroes venture under the sea. Will we get a supplement on that some time? D&D got one, why shouldn't AD&D?Ravenloft goes somewhere a little out of the ordinary too. RQ2: Thoughts of darkness sees you face illithid vampires. Double the consumption, double the mind-<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=":)" />ing. Now that's scary, if a bit over the top. Dragonlance gets up to part 5 of their meetings sextet. Soon even their bits of carpet lint will all know each other. Does that even make any sense? Anyway, Steel and stone lets us see Kitiara and Tanis bicker and try and have a relationship while engaging in the usual heroics. Mixing business with pleasure? Like that ever turns out well. AD&D returns to the idea of cardboard cut-outs in GR2: Dungeons of mystery. Dennis Kauth helps you represent the places you adventure in again. Look after them, because they aren't the toughest creations ever. D&D has a mixed bag. HW3: The Milenian empire covers the exotic worldbuilding side, taking you to another dead culture transplanted into the hollow world. Sword and Shield is for the people who are not only amateurs, but can't find a group either. They seem to be doing a lot of that lately. I do have to say I feel a little patronised. It's a laudable goal, expanding your fanbase, but saturating the market with too many of the same type of product will be particularly confusing to new people, and destroy that sense of shared experience the likes of B1+2 created. Marvel Superheroes keeps up to date with current events, with MU8, our 4th yearly add-on to the gamers handbook. I hope they made sure the binder was big enough to handle all these extras, because it'll really be bulging now.</blockquote>

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