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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 5339013" data-attributes="member: 27780">Dragon Magazine Issue 203: March 1994part 2/6Terribly twisted technology: Over the Edge gets in on the gadgetry market. And if you though gamma world got a little silly at times, you ain't seen nothing yet. Where that is starting to get a little embarassed about it's past, this still embraces the weird and makes it core in it's assumptions. And we know now this one won't be diluted by future editions and committee writing. It's also by Robin Laws, which piques my interest a little further. Just how impressive is his imagination really? Brainostats disguise your brainwaves. This is only of use in a setting which has psionics and brainwave scanners, but there seem to be plenty of those around in Al  Amaraja. There are plenty of quirks and dangers to this process, the biggest of which is coming to believe your own illusion. This is the kind of technology that's in a constant state of arms race, giving you a good excuse to have it not work every time. Hotlines are an alien tool for manipulating would be bead wearing hippies. Those voices in your head? That's not psychic powers or angelic advice. This is why you should rely on your own problem-solving abilities wherever possible. It might be harder work, but you won't get screwed over as often. Very ingenious. Moonlight is exactly that, moonlight in a torch. Simple, easy to recharge, perfect for detecting werewolves and facilitating magical rituals. Not quite as handy as stored sunlight would be though. NDE Helmets simulate Near Death Experiences. Some people can get addicted to anything, while others just want to finally hear that their daddy loved them. Either way, it's a new high that may not be illegal, but that's just because no-one's though to ban it yet. You can bet the national enquirer would love to run a stary on how near death experiences are corrupting the nation's youth. Normalenses are used by government agencies to send people into weird situations without them realising the trouble is supernatural. As we know from the X-files and Men in black, they have no compunction about misdirecting and 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 their own people for the greater good. Reptilisers lampshade another RPG and videogame trope, that of monsters just sitting in their room, attacking mindlessly and fighting to the death. Put these little babies on your minion's heads, and you too can enjoy that kind of fanatical loyalty. Sheer genius. Watch out for brain damage though. You probably want to restrict use of this one to your mooks. Yeah, this collection is a lot more interesting and impressive than the gamma world one. Existing in the boundary between conspiracy theories, tabloid culture and the 4th wall gives them a quite different set of tropes to play with. Looking for work, chummer?:You should know which system this is for from the title alone. Yup, it's time to go shadowrunning, across seattle's streets. You can never be sure what kind of people you'll meet, but chances are, they'll want to screw you over in one fashion or another. The thing about mission based games is that you need employers. And the nature of employers is to want maximum profit for minimum outlay. And if that means it's betraying time, so be it. This is one of those basic adventure-building articles, adapted for a different system. One reason for shadowrun's success is that it's basically D&D meets cyberpunk, and the adventures reflect that. Killing people and taking their stuff frequently works the other way around, with bursting in and kidnapping people while blowing <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=":)" /> up spectacularly being a surprisingly good career choice. And information has tremendous value, despite being easily copied and disseminated, with corporate espionage and hacking putting a very distinct spin on things, as you can take their stuff without them ever knowing it's gone if you do things right. So this is another article that definitely benefits from tackling the same subject in a different game, with all it's quirks and new opportunities. This is why covering 3rd party games is a real benefit to the magazine long-term. Arcane lore: Back to the Realms for yet another rifle through a spellcaster's personal collection. Must be several for every village. I'm sure they lose them deliberately to increase their legend. This lot have a definite lightning theme, which means there's a certain amount of overlap with the stuff from the last AL column. Still, the history stuff in this one is well above average, feeling like it would actually be fun to incorporate into your game, rather than something the writer added to fit into the format. And as the new spells are split between three books by the same author, you can have a good adventure tracking down the other two after hearing the rumours. Normal Aura gives you the ability to emulate the recent Al-Qadim items, and temporarily disguise your magic items. Essentially the reverse of Nystul's magic aura, this is of course particularly useful when combined with it, to keep thieves and rival adventurers off-guard. Lightning strike is a level lower, single (or possibly double) target lightning bolt. Another unpretentious attack spell that'll fill the gap between magic missile and the big boys of blasting while you're 3-4th level. Charge is an electrical version of fire trap. Curiously, it's probably better, despite being only 2nd level again. But then, it's probably fire trap that's underpowered, with most of it's strength going into the extended containment bit. Electricity is obviously more amenable to being stored and discharging on touch, as you can do that in real life. Staffspell is basically an electrical variant of shillelagh. I'm shocked that they're resorting to filler material like this. <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" /> Lightning shield is another basic energy type substitution. Yawn. Just don't try and cheat and stack it with Fire Shield, as they react explosively. No double damage reflection for you. Static field is slightly more interesting, sticking to an item, and keeping you from getting in or out for an extended period of time. It won't be nearly as hard to deal with as the prismatic walls, but I think it's about right for it's level. In fact, I'd say the whole balance of this article is just right, which is nice. Electric Bow is another one that lets you emulate the D&D cartoon, albeit quite impressively, as at higher level you can create a whole electric ballista to bombard the enemy with. The material component is very nicely flavourful too. It shouldn't be too hard to get if you still have good relations with your adventuring party, but isn't the kind of thing you can mass produce either. Storm allows you to show off to and help out low level druids limited by existing weather conditions for their smiting. It has an interesting compromise between duration of the spell and number of lightning bolts called. It's casting time makes it not really suitable for unexpected combats though. Save it for the big castle assaults. Again, it's fairly familiar, but a nicely written, and more importantly, nicely balanced variant on existing spells.</blockquote>

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