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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 5337234" data-attributes="member: 27780">Dragon Magazine Issue 202: February 1994part 6/6Swordplay once again engages in some money related treachery. Yamara goes into spaaace. Watch out, it gets cramped up there. Dragonmirth points out the drawbacks in getting crystal balls from PBS. It all seems to be a happy ending in twilight empire. OR IS IT? (dun dun der) Through the looking glass: This column temporarily changes hands this month, with Ken Carpenter taking over. This is probably a good idea, as he seems noticeably less ground down by the ongoing troubles in mini land than Robert. We also get a bit of preamble in which he goes into detail on molding lines, and the things you have to do to make a stable mini that doesn't bubble and crack at the slightest provocation. Since this includes some technical details they haven't elaborated upon in the magazine before, I quite approve of this. New ideas and perspectives are important to keep us from getting bored. The star system that Robert uses is gone, but there is a new emphasis on the prices of the various minis reviewed, and the scales that they are in. Since those are varying a lot more lately, this once again seems like a good thing. You don't want to see something cool, and then find out too late you can't afford or get good use out of it. Funny how tiny organisational changes can improve the usability of a column so much. So anyway, back to the minis. A 10-piece official menzoberannzan set, featuring, drizzt, his panther, and 4 other drow of each gender. All glossily mass produced to high standard, even the animal is properly proportioned. A second set of minis based on the artwork of Larry Elmore, who continues to tower over the fantasy genre. These'll be a challenge to paint, but worth it if you can. A duo of rather forcedly "street" vampires, the sort beloved of Bradstreet & co. A trio of female rogues, ready to break the bank and your heart. A genie taking people on a magic carpet ride. Careful assembling this, as with most flying stuff, a small area for weight distribution can lead to instability. A knight with a mace, and an elf with a sword, ready to duel. And finally, a dwarf champion and a goblin launching catapult  from the warhammer universe. An odd pairing, and once again likely to be in opposition to one another. TSR Previews:  The Forgotten realms returns to milk another proven topic some more. The ruins of undermountain II, the deeper levels. More maps, more monsters, more screwage from Halaster. Have you exhausted the previous stuff and still want more? Dark sun also gets a deluxe adventure set. Black Spine has 3 books, and 2 maps. More strangeness threatens Athas. Who'd want to conquer this dump? Oh well, guess it's up to the PC's to foil them anyway. It may be a dump, but it's our dump. Dragonlance sees the original authors return after quite a bit, The second generation is 5 stories showing what happened after the war of the lance. About time. Good to see new heroes taking on the job of fighting evil. Ravenloft has done Dracula, sorta. Now it puts it's own spin on Jekyll and Hyde in The Enemy Within by Christie Golden. See Sir Tristen and Malken try to live their lives at cross-purposes. Will their secret be discovered in this story? And finally, the Amazing Engine combines arthurian legend with fantastical sci-fi in The once and future King. Arthur is back, but my has the world changed. Sounds rather comical and cultureshocky. Could work.   They also add a coming next month in the magazine's sidebar here. Guess they want to push a little harder to make sure they retain their readers by hooking us with the cool stuff they're planning. Makes sense, with their readership starting to slip. Shame it didn't work. There is such a thing as looking like you're trying too hard to please. Dragonlance, the second generation? Once again they put adverts right next to the previews to make sure you get the point. Can they recapture the magic of the original? An issue that really makes me feel like I've got past the stage where most of the articles are aimed at me. I guess this is compounded by the large number of recent departures. The new guys that have replaced them are noticeably less experienced, and this is where it's really starting to show. On the positive side, it means they've got more enthusiasm than Roger had in the last year or so, but on the negative, it means I have to listen to them saying things I already know as if it's some great new discovery. I'm starting to see why generation gaps cause problems in relationships. It's the gap in experiences and cultural references as much as the physical differences that become issues. Which is a very odd thing to be learning from reading a magazine. Guess there are still further layers to discover, even after the obvious ones have been peeled back. The question then becomes how you relate them to people, and indeed, relate to people who have no idea what you've been through after learning them. Looks like I might go completely nuts from this after all. <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" /> And I thought the biggest challenges in doing this thread were over already.</blockquote>

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