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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 5469478" data-attributes="member: 27780">Dragon Magazine Issue 223: November 1995part 2/8First Quest: Tom Dowd? Google is not very helpful, due to both names being fairly common. Had to get to the third page before something pertinent came up. Still, with tons of Shadowrun credits, and a part in writing the original Vampire:the Masquerade book, perhaps I ought to know more. And indeed, his primary interest seems to be in sci-fi games, although he did play D&D as well. Curiously enough, he doesn't talk about the events of his first game at all, although he goes into plenty of detail about the circumstances that led up to it, and then the subsequent ones that got him into the gaming industry. Maybe time has blunted his memory. Or maybe it's the fact that he seems more interested in rules tinkering than the lives and times of individual characters. So I do find this vaguely dissatisfactory, as it's light on the kind of amusing life details you only get in this column. I wouldn't normally say this, but we want to hear about your characters, not you. <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" /> The lords of the nine: Oh dear yet again. Now this is another very sad reminder of the worst aspects of 2e. In both 1e and 3e, while the lords of the nine might possibly have been mysterious to the characters, they were fully known and statted out for any DM which had the right book. Trying to make them mysterious here is very much a case of closing the door after the horse has bolted. Although actually, this is already less mysterious than the Baator book in planes of Law, where only a small fraction of them were named. This time, everyone but the big boss As:urk: Excuse me for a second, GET THE HELL OUTTA HERE! I NEVER SIGNED YOUR NDA CONTRACT IN THE FIRST PLACE! AND IF YOU LOOK AT THE DIMENSIONAL TREATIES YOU'LL FIND THIS PLANET IS ALREADY CLAIMED BY ANOTHER HELL. UNLESS YOU WANT TO GET INTO A TURF WAR WITH SATAN I SUGGEST YOU ACT A LITTLE MORE CIRCUMSPECTLY. And really? Knife in the back? This will not wash and loses you several points for style. MUIRBOPPO NI OTREVER!As I was saying, while it's fairly apparent that a majority of the company want more openness in the handling of fiends, and they have made some progress, we're still a long way from the openness and usability of the stuff they were making 12 years ago. Which is a shame, because they're trying so hard here. Yet both the descriptions and statistics are damnably vague, making them generic and difficult to use without further DM planning, and this whole article concentrates strongly on trying to establish atmosphere over in game usefulness. Presenting them as avatars rather than regular creatures further enhances the impression that you're not meant to be able to do stuff to meaningfully oppose them, and the whole thing has the air that the best thing you can do is avoid getting their attention in the first place. How deprotagonising. Which is especially odd given several of the lords have changed since 1e, so those keeping track will know they can be beaten. This is an excellent example of 2nd edition fail caused by overall politics in the company. Still. it couldn't have happened to a more ironically appropriate group of creatures, could it? The dragon's bestiary: Hmm. Gargoyles haven't had as much attention as some of the other monster types around, but they haven't been completely absent from the magazine either. (see issues 101 & 131) But they certainly seem like they have room for quirky variants, and that's what this issue has to offer. Just the thing for a cleric who needs an unobtrusive guardian for their church. Spouters lurk on the eaves of a building and send acidic jets of fluid at anyone who doesn't give the password. Make sure you pack them away if you're planning on holding a service then. Archers look cherubic, but they're little psychopaths who'll shoot up a whole town if not stopped. One of these could be the driver for quite a nice horror story/murder mystery as long as they make sure they only struck when no-one else is around. After all, who's going to suspect the statue? Muahahahaha!!Stone Lions generally come in pairs, guarding the front of a building, as you'd expect. They're relatively unlikely to cause problems for their creator, so they seem like a good investment, unlike so many other created beings which are more trouble than they're worth. Grandfather Plaques are another variant on the old talking door theme. We've seen plenty of these before, so I simply say meharoo to this one. Can't win 'em all.</blockquote>

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