Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 5443075" data-attributes="member: 27780">Dragon Magazine Issue 220: August 1995part 3/8Things I learned at E3: It's Zeb Cook's turn to do some post convention reporting for us. Seems like he's actually been around more since he left the company. Anyway, E3 is a computer games convention, but since quite a few gaming companies are licencing out their properties, he has quite a bit of stuff relevant to our interests. Baldur's Gate and Torment, Gary Gygax's new game Hunters of Balk, (another one I've never heard of, once again showing how he failed to bottle lightning twice) and several star trek games. Fairly short, this mainly drops names, without talking too much about the events. I guess the computer gaming crowd aren't so likely to kidnap you and hold you for ransom. <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" /> As a result, there's not much I can say about it apart from that I found it vaguely dissatisfactory. He ought to read Roger's reports, pick up some pointers. Dice Advice: As they did with the two CCG's, now it's time for twinking tips for Dragon Dice. Single theme decks are dumb and easy to counter, a mixed team will usually do better. He who dares wins. Terrain is important. Plan ahead. Make sure you finish a defeated enemy completely. Don't forget to recruit and heal troops, otherwise you'll lose via attrition. If it looks like victory is within your grasp, then is the time to go all out and sacrifice resources. It does look like this is a game which can go on for quite a long time if you have competent players, since you can replenish your forces, and conservative players could get into an extended standoff  as they try to build up an advantage. Once again, it shows that playtesting is going on in the TSR offices, and fun is being had. After all, you want people to keep on buying the booster packs to upgrade their forces. If they stop playing after a few tries, they won't do that. The thought police: Muhahaha! Or how to make sure players don't steamroller over the militia. While wizards are squishy and can only cast once or twice a day at low levels, psionicists start off with a decent selection of powers, can use moderate weapons & armor, and can recharge with an hour or two off before going back on the beat. In addition, the whole telepathy and synergistic abilities angle, combined with their subtle disposition towards disciplined thinking in general, makes them much more able to work together than any spellcasters apart from priests of some particularly orderly gods. It all makes a good deal of sense, even if the requirements for the class might be an issue. This article approaches telling us this in a pretty entertaining way too, with some ecology style fiction with rules notes afterwards. The ramifications of their common powers are examined logically, and with a nice bit of humour as the hapless thieves come up against powers beyond their ken. It all makes it into an option that could be used not just one, but several times with different variants in a psionics heavy campaign. I strongly approve. Role-playing reviews: Don't look back: Terror is never far behind gets one of those reviews that is less about the game at hand than it is a look at the history of rules evolution in RPG's. In particular, the examination of how mechanics affect mood. The eventual conclusion is fairly positive, but it doesn't seem too exceptional in setting or system. It has to compete in a pretty busy market these days, and modern conspiracy horror is a pretty well run genre. It really needs something extra to make it stand out from the crowd. Shattered dreams puts you in the role of dreamwalkers, exploring the dreams of others and defending them from creatures of nightmare. This cool premise is not followed up though, with clunky mechanics and cliche-ridden setting design. There are far better games which can do the same thing, so why bother? Psychosis: Ship of foo(a)ls is a more successful experiment in RPG design. All the players begin amnesiac and completely detached from reality, and the fun is in realising just how screwed up they actually are in reality, kinda like a reverse Changeling the Dreaming where sanity is the goal rather than something to avoid at all costs. It's a limited game designed to last around 6-8 sessions, and makes a highly amusing diversion for a group.</blockquote>

Verification