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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 5449440" data-attributes="member: 27780">Dragon Magazine Issue 221: September 1995part 1/8124 pages. Larry Elmore turns up again, with a summer themed cover that's as pretty as ever. Summer's over now, my dear. Dark clouds are gathering, and both the protagonists are looking pretty pensive and brooding. Even the horse doesn't look like it's in a frolicking mood, despite it's expensive looking accoutrements. Very fitting, really. As is standard this year, there's no particular theme or hook in the contents page to grab us, focus our attention and sway those on the fence about picking the magazine up. Turning the page to see what's next is once again proving to be quite the effort. In this issue:Letters: A letter complaining that they should do more fiction. Ironicaly, they're skipping it this month. It seems unlikely this particular request will be honored. A letter grumbling about having to pay extra for the bonus CD, especially as the product itself was so lackluster. Don't do it again. They make no promises, apart from not to charge subscribers extra. (So subscribe now. Save money! Tee Hee. ) Another request for a complete index for the magazine. It's all on the internet, being regularly updated. Get with the times man! A letter complaining about the unprofessional behaviour of their computer games columnists. Fear not. They're being shown the door as of this issue. That'll teach them! I think this is following the path of what they were going to do anyway. A letter pointing out the nostalgic callbacks in the new corebooks. The artists have had fun updating, and in many cases improving on old favourites like a paladin in hell and Emrikol the chaotic. Course, it's the originals that'll still get most of the glory. Will any of the new ones enjoy the same memorability and longevity? Editorial: After a mere 4 months as head editor. Wolfgang decides this job isn't for him, and buggers off to become a full-time writer. This is really not what he saw himself doing. Which is understandable. Very few people go into any field with the intention of becoming the wind beneath someone else's wings. Course, he will wind up in this position again in a decade's time when he sets up Kobold Quarterly, but hey, he gets to be his own boss there and top of the masthead. Plus 12 years of experience and maturity can change someone's viewpoint in all sorts of ways. But back to the past. This probably means the period of transition and uncertainty will be extended by several months more, as they get the new guys up to speed. '95 really is not being a good year for them. It's a good thing they still have the rest of the team working away stalwartly in the face of changing orders and budget cuts, or they'd start missing months. First quest: Michael Stackpole? Once again it seems like they're choosing writers who haven't done much in D&D before. In fact, he seems to be primarily a novelist rather than a gaming writer, which I find very curious since they cut coverage of that in recent years. In fact the main game he's written for is Tunnels & Trolls. And in fact, that was the first game he played as well. He then leapt straight into writing an adventure, and sold it back to the publishers, which goes to show, it was much easier to get into roleplaying back in the 70's. He then had to sink or swim, GM'ing with much more experienced players and realising just how much freedom the RPG medium offers.  He did resort to a little fiat attack when the players outsmarted him, but hey, what can you do. Actually, you can go the complete opposite way to me, and wind up playing virtually dicelessly for long periods of time, making most of the setting up on the fly, but that's not a bad thing as long as the players are having fun and you can keep a hold on continuity. It is roleplaying, after all. So this is probably completely different from most people's early experiences, but still very interesting for it.</blockquote>

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