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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 5297792" data-attributes="member: 27780">Dragon Magazine Issue 198: October 1993part 5/6Soul-swords & Spirit-slayers: Back to 1e for the first time in a while for another oriental flavoured article. Like the Al Qadim article, this has an interesting mix of ideas, giving you some nicely flavourful alternate uses for your honor points. You can gamble your honor in crafting an item, or invest part of your soul to make it permanently magical. However the mathematics on this one are rather iffy, especially since AD&D nonweapon proficiencies are roll low anyway, so the system they use for determining success simply doesn't work. This means I'm really not sure what to make of this one, as I want to like it, but it'll need ripping apart and reworking before actually using. Rather a pain, really.Kamigoroshi are also a fascinating idea, but a bit of a headache mechanically. A monster that survives by consuming honor points? That raises the question of exactly what they represent. How can a monster absorb the degree of esteem others hold you in? I suppose it's magic, you shouldn't think about it too hard or it unravels. But combine that with the fact that they have no actual damage inflicting powers, and are perfectly vulnerable to normal weapons, and they become like rust monsters, an irritant that will wind up being killed fairly easily, it's merely a question of how much you'll lose in the process. That's a bit wonky in actual play. I think this makes this article qualify as a failed experiment, albeit an interesting one. Novel ideas: A real bit of showing off this month, as they celebrate their hardcover releases. It's a step towards being Serious Literature, something that will endure for the ages. Or something like that. There are worse things to aspire too, even if it can be funny to see people trying too hard, I can't say I wouldn't want to be in their position, able to write and publish multiple bestselling hardcover books every year. Drizzt continues to go from strength to strength. And my god P. N. Elrod is having way too much fun with the Strahd gig. We must get inside the heads of these dark sexy brooding vampires. And I must force my husband to cosplay as him! She's basically just a squeeing pervy fangirl made good, isn't she. What are we to do with her? Aw hell, let's just rake in lots of money and keep the angst purely IC for a change. This one's just too much fun to dislike, even if it is basically just promotion. Fiction: The dark warrens by Lois Tilton: An interesting spin on I am Legend this month. In a world where vampires are supreme, the few remaining free humans are a primitive and ignorant bunch, struggling to survive and stay free against creatures smarter and more powerful than them. Some people are immune to being turned, and obviously as the years have gone by, this proportion has grown simply due to the intensity of the vampire depredations. This kind of info is presented in a textbook example of show not tell, which lets you figure out a good deal about the setting and metaphysics without spelling it out via heavy exposition. It's pretty good gaming inspiration too, giving me an idea of how to combine horror with Dark Sun-esque survivalist struggles. Horror really can be a spice that mixes well with all sorts of other genres. And as long as they have stuff like this, that popularity will be justly maintained. Swordplay is distracted by internal monologuing. Ogrek gets joe out while the drow are distracted by searching for the vampire's weakness. Dragonmirth gets in on the horror theme. Twilight war'll need to do some fast talking to say everything it needs to say while fighting. Maybe they should take lessons from Wolverine.</blockquote>

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