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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 5482471" data-attributes="member: 27780">Dragon Magazine Issue 224: December 1995part 6/8A history of the rod of seven parts: Ohh. Now this is something they foreshadowed ages ago, but never filled in. What exactly were the Wind Dukes from the description of the Rod of seven parts. Well, wonder no longer, because not only are they being detailed here, but there's a whole adventure featuring them coming out next year. That is interesting. It would make sense that if you make an adventure from an idea they've already mentioned in the books, it would sell more than one delivered cold. This is especially the case when it's appeared quite a few times, each with slightly different details, thus building up curiosity in the kind of people who like to analyse apocrypha. So this is as much as history of the Rod IRL as it is in game, particularly as this is a generic module, so you may have to adapt it to any world. Unfortunately, this is the kind of article that is rendered superfluous if you actually buy the book, which I do rather disapprove of. But at least it's interesting and the information excerpted is self-contained. Another case of the magazine being used primarily for self-promotion. :mutter grumble mutter: The chronology of krynn: Or let's get round to doing for krynn what we did for the Realms in issue 196. Take a good look at all the novels and short stories, and figure out exactly where they all fit in the timeline. Of course, since Krynn started earlier, it has been several years since that, and Krynn has had more short story anthologies, we have a lot more ground to cover. It takes nearly two and a half pages of rather dense type and spans thousands of years, a far more impressive timescale than the Realms' mostly present based stories. Well, it's a smaller area, so they have to expand outward in the 4th dimension instead. A little dry, but this is invaluable for completists and continuity obsessives. I don't object to this, although it would work better in an online format. Have fun keeping it up to date with all the stuff they're planning to add next year. Rumblings is cut down to fill the half a page left by the chronology, with only 4 news items. News regarding Winter fantasy and Gen Con. A collectible card game about Waterloo, obviously by wargamers trying to capture some of that CCG dollar without quite getting it. And a particularly silly licence. TSR making limited edition mobile phone sim cards? Buh. I am truly boggled as to how they thought that was a good idea. You do not think of your gaming company when you want to top up your talk time. Admittedly, it is a profitable and rapidly growing market at the moment, but you are not equipped logistically to take advantage of it. All I can do is shake my head in utter bemusement. Even Buck Rogers and Dragon Dice make more sense as company projects than this. Fiction: The law of third power by Richard Parks. A sequel to the story in issue 209, this once again presents a very interesting lesson, that applies not only to fictional magic, but to real life as well. When it comes to authority, it matters not who you are or what you can do, but who other people believe you are, and how much esteem they give your credentials, and so much of social life is front and illusion. And if you can get into power and fake it well enough, then chances are you're actually doing the job anyway, particularly if it's not one that actually requires technical knowledge. Important life lessons aside, this also manages to juggle the tasks of maintaining continuity without making the story inaccessible to newcomers, and establishing atmosphere. It all seems ripe for a continuation of the story. Unfortunately, as with Slab's, a little looking ahead shows this isn't going to happen. So much for continuity. I have to wonder if that's an active decision by the editors, or merely a lack of suitable submissions.</blockquote>

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