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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 5294811" data-attributes="member: 27780">Dragon Magazine Issue 198: October 1993part 3/6The dragon project I: Along with his new computer game column, Sandy contributes a little something to bolster his old RPG's position in the magazine. Mr Josh Wellmeat, a largely sessile, but still very scary creature from millions of years in the past that stretches the definition of dragon somewhat visually, but fits in perfectly from a thematic point of view, with his truly machiavellian level of scheming and hoarding, taking a long view with his plans to an extent that humans can't match because they simply don't have the lifespan. The way that he maintains a human facade is both clever and pretty horrifying, with lovingly crafted details to give it that truly cthulhu-esque san destroying air. He can be used as either an adversary or a rather dubious employer and provider of info, and either way, can be behind a good long adventure arc. This is a joy to read about, fulfilling all the several overlapping remits this column has with aplomb. He's really earned his keep here. Role-playing reviews: Rick looks like he's facing the same kind of problem I sometimes have to deal with in coming up with introductions. How do you say something pretty similar to what you've said before and keep it both entertaining and informative? In this case, it's talking about what makes a good fantasy setting for him. Just because it's an RPG, doesn't mean you should forget the Chekov's gun principle. Keep your focus, and make the adventures fit the setting. Because there's a lot of settings out there now, and you have to make yours distinct if you want to get anywhere. From the ashes gets a pretty positive review. Greyhawk finally has a consistent tone, rather than being a patchwork quilt of adventures sewn together into a setting post-hoc. This may displease some people, but you have to try. And you do wonder exactly how someone else could have done things differently so this didn't alienate so many people while still moving things forward. If only we could actually see parallel universes. GURPS fantasy II sees the debut of Robin Laws, bringing a decidedly silly air with him. The giant moose and gopher gods stamp across the setting, throwing the utopian human culture into stark relief. Well, if you lived in a world that was virtually cartoonish at times, you'd come to throw away greed (as very little has enough permanency to really value) and treasure boredom where you could get it. It's a clever idea, but the theory is better than the execution. Guess that's why he got into theory in a big way later. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f61b.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":p" title="Stick out tongue    :p"  data-smilie="7"data-shortname=":p" /> Eidolon: city in the sky is a sourcebook for Rolemaster's Shadow World. It's a cool setting idea, with the distinction between the haves and have-nots pretty obvious. The visuals are the best part of it though, with the adventure ideas and details on the inhabitants a bit lackluster. Once again, the concept exceeds the execution. Eye of the monitor: Sega vs Nintendo. Mac vs PC. Computers vs Console. These interlocking wars are raging right now, with the great number of competitors that were flooding the market a few years ago being ruthlessly narrowed down. As we know now, the economics of scale where game development is involved means any advantage will rapidly tip further in the favour of the winning side, and push the others out of the market. Unless you can find a slightly different niche to target, as Apple managed to do, and then Nintendo a decade later, you will not survive for long outside the conglomerates. This is one of those topics that can run and run, and I don't doubt that we'll be seeing more unexpected twists and turns in future years too. What will the next generation of consoles bring, now the Wii has proved playability sells over the latest graphics cards and screaming processors? Will another company manage to come from no-where, or are computers pretty much entrenched now? Will the iPad take over the world. For all my examination of the flow of the past, I still can't predict the future. A link to the Past is of course a stone-cold classic, both instantly accessible (none of the frigging cutscenes that really bog down the later instalments) and full of little hidden bits to discover. I can do it all in around 4 hours, including getting every single heart piece, but it'll take you a while to get that good. Playing around with the large quantity of magical items is called out as a particularly fun part, and I must admit there is a certain joy in sprinkling magic dust and making the beansprouts talk, or the pink skulls turn into fairys, or freezing monsters and throwing them at other ones. I'm sure you don't need me to tell you to get this one. The Legend of Zelda doesn't do quite as well, simply because it is a bit dated now, and I must admit the saving is a bit clunky (but he would know there is a trick to it if he'd read the manual properly. ) And of course, there's the massive replay value, with the second harder quest and mass of really hard to find (albeit because there's no clues, and you have to burn every tree and bomb every bit of rock to find them) bits and pieces. (You must pay the door repair charge <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f61b.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":p" title="Stick out tongue    :p"  data-smilie="7"data-shortname=":p" /> ) The Adventure of Link is well known as being a bit of an odd one out amongst the Zelda series, both stylistically and in terms of quality, and it seems Sandy agrees with the general consensus, giving it only 3 stars. The description is a bit sparse, and there's not as much to riff off. But you're going to buy it anyway, because you're completists. Doom is previewed here, in it's own shareware incarnation. It of course manages to improve on wolfenstein in terms of graphics, and more importantly, the size and variety of your weapons. Even using your fists is more fun than usual, and as for the BFG's, my oh my you've just got to love them, and what they do to the enemy. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" /> \m/ So it's a full house of classic games this month. Haven't seen that before. Sandy is definitely making his mark as a reviewer and writer this time round.</blockquote>

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