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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 5364149" data-attributes="member: 27780">Dragon Magazine Issue 208: August 1994part 2/6The sound of adventure: Once again with the audio CD cheese. I do have to wonder if their commitment to this format was one of the things causing Mystara to die so quickly once it went AD&D. After all, even if the products sell the same amount they used too, creating stuff like this pushes up costs quite a bit. So as soon as their finances start dipping into the red, these'll be the first to be flagged up as problems. Actually, how did the Mystara stuff compare in sales to the old basic D&D gazetteers and modules? There do seem to be quite a few people peeved by the rebranding, and possibly not buying the new products because of that. So this is an irritating promotional article that is very indicative indeed of the problems growing within the company. Silly gimmicks drive away regular buyers and attract people who then don't become long-term fans. Plus the audio CD's were pretty lame in general, which certainly didn't help. At least this is mercifully short. Masterbook! WEG makes their own shot at an universal system, with worldbooks for indiana jones, and bloodshadows (I smell WoD clone) coming soon. Get motivated!: Contrasting with Dale's character creation advice earlier, this article thinks the most important part of a character is not who they are, or their past, but what they intend to do now and in the future. Interesting thought. It's certainly the case that far too often, players will come up with an elaborate backstory, but in the end, become just another cog in the party, doing exactly the same dungeoncrawls that they always do, unless they make a conscious effort to adjust their natural playing habits. Course to make that work, you need to co-ordinate with the other players to make sure they don't have contradictory goals, otherwise you'll tear the party apart. This is a bit of advice that they haven't given us before, and it's one of the good aspects of the characterisation-heavy era, so I quite like this one. Like method acting, there are various other cool ways you can approach the same problem. If you think up a new one, don't hesitate to share it. Bazaar of the Bizarre: Another article on horses here. If an experienced adventurer wants a mount, they've got to be prepared to upgrade it for it to stay battle competitive. If you don't want to switch to dragons or something, then you'll have to start making magical items for your horse. Bridles of Equine control do exactly what they say on the tin. Magic enforced loyalty for those who can't be bothered to form a proper bond with their animal. Bridles of fearlessness, intelligence or strength are also pretty self explanatory. How do you want to buff your mount today? Make sure you're badass enough to keep up with them, whichever way you choose. Feed bags of plenty ensure you don't need to load up with grain and water. You'll still need to remember to put them on and take them off each day. Maybe you should just get a golem, if that much maintenance is too much for you. Grooming kits of disguise let you change the appearance of your mount. After all, if you're going undercover, you don't want to be given away because you forgot a basic detail like that. Riding crops of speed let you push your mount extra hard. It has it's limits, of course. Killing your horse through pushing it too hard is not a good idea. Riding crops of teleportation, on the other hand, dispense with all that sweat and effort and just get you there. I know which I'd prefer in most situations. Saddlebags of holding are for the adventurer who still can't carry enough despite all their own extradimensional spaces. Jeez, that's gonna hold a lot of treasure. Saddle blankets of comfort are for holding while you suck your thumb. Or something. Your horse needs environmental protection too you know. Shoes of Combat are the horsey equivalent of magical weapon, Your basic bonus to hit and damage. Yawn. Shoes of Flame are like a flaming sword, a nice upgrade to the previous idea. They also protect both the horse and rider, which definitely seems useful to me. Ride across that magma Trigger!Shoes of Leaping are the equivalent of boots, which reminds us that the horsey item slot situation is a bit more competitive than for humans. Shoes of Flight make the previous item look thoroughly unimpressive. Flight vs jumping. No competition really. Shoes of Obscurity are the horsey equivalent of rings of invisibility. They'll let you disappear mysteriously when needed elsewhere. With billowing mists too. Neat. Shoes of Protection are another straight conversion. Some protect the rider as well, some don't. either way, you're not going to kick them out of bed for wearing them. <_<  >_>Shoes of Swimming should also be pretty obvious in effect. Speeding through the waves, faster than a flashing dolphin.You'll still get wet though. Shoes of Weakness are the usual cursed item in the batch, to keep you paranoid. You didn't think making equine items couldn't go wrong, did you? Spurs of command are another means of ensuring obedience. Once again I have nothing much to say. Trappings of displacement let you imitate a displacer beast. Not very useful if in formation, obviously, but pretty nasty for hit and run combat. Trappings of elvenkind remind us that the nature loving ponces provide for all animals. While not as good as the shoes of obscurity, they once again have quite decent concealment capabilities. Trappings of protection are yet another direct conversion. They'll even stack with other compatible garments. A decidedly unimaginative end for a really rather boring article. Man, that was a serious grind to do.</blockquote>

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