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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 5413465" data-attributes="member: 27780">Dragon Magazine Issue 216: April 1995part 6/8Novel ideas: Oohh. This column again. The unloved stepchild of the books department gets to go out in the sunlight for the first time in over a year. Albeit the nasty blasting red sunlight of Athas. Not sure that's such a great deal. On the plus side, it then gets to go to Cerillia immediately afterwards. Yup, here's our first teaser for the Birthright setting. Slightly more traditional than the other campaign worlds they've released recently, it nevertheless tries to change the gameplay quite a bit by putting you in the leadership role right from the start. But as this is the novel department, this isn't to do with the mechanics side. Instead, it's an interview of the guy hired to write the first novel in it. Simon Hawke. He turns out to be quite an interesting person, who's taken a rather idiosyncratic path to get where he is. A name change from the original Russian proved a good career move, making him a more recognisable brand. He's been a musician & DJ before becoming a writer, and still bounces round the room playing music to warm up before writing. He's got a pretty impressive resume of novels, both independent and working in shared worlds. It seems a fairly enviable life, even if he did have to sell out a bit to get it. Looking forward a bit, it seems like he stops producing novels in 2003, although as far as any of the wiki sites know, he's still alive. Early retirement? Health issues? In any case, this is one I pretty much skipped over back in the day, that's actually rather interesting second time around. This is a pretty good example of how you get to make a living in a creative industry. Elminsters notebook: Kobolds of the Realms get a turn in the spotlight. After Dragon Mountain, it's not as if anyone is going to make the mistake of underestimating them again. Still, they do have trouble going it alone, which is why they work best as minions of something able to do what they can't, mostly spellcasting. (a flaw which will be solved spectacularly next edition) One or two is all you need to massively upgrade their traps, items and general mobility, which is just what you need when using your brains. As usual for this column, there's a ton of little setting details. Various kobold tribes, where they are, how they like to make a living, lots of little bits and pieces for a canon junkie to take advantage of. Pretty standard really. It's still good, but as with anything, sticking to exactly the same formula makes it feel routine.</blockquote>

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