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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 5484635" data-attributes="member: 27780">Dragon Magazine Issue 224: December 1995part 8/8Dragonmirth really ought to move to a better neighbourhood. Swordplay really can't get out of character properly. Yamara ends with a wedding, and a big bang. Curse you, renovators. The ecology of the lammasu: Oh, we have a couple of pages left over at the last minute? Hmm. Let's dig another ecology out of the slush pile and fill it with that. That'll keep people happy. What do we have? Lammasu? The goody-goody lion guys? Well, it's not my first choice, but you've gotta have a few good creatures around. Otherwise players would be justified in attacking on sight, and killing everything that surrenders. So we have a little bit of drama, a load of pontification, a few twists involving their relationships with other creatures, a bit a tactics, a bit of eco-crap, and a happy ending. Ho hum. I see why they put this one so far back in the magazine. TSR Previews: Once again, the new year hangover sees output drop to a fraction of last month. Ravenloft subjects your characters to railroading and body horror as they get captured and turned into animal hybrids by Lord Markov. A dark sense of humour is recommended because otherwise you'd get really mad. Dark sun gives halflings some more screentime in Windriders of the jagged cliffs. There may be plenty of water for a change, but adventuring in an enormous vertical jungle full of cannibal halflings with tamed flying creatures is no picnic. Unless you have serious mobility magic prepared you'll lose out to things of considerably lower level. The monstrous compendia get their second yearly update. This one is black and rather better bound than last year's. But the monsters are probably less interesting. Diminishing returns strike again. Similarly, the solo adventures cycle around a second time, with Cleric's Challenge II. Will they try for another scrape of this barrel? No? That's a relief. There's certainly a lot to hate in this issue. Price raises, rehashed topics, laughable promotion, half-assed excerpts. It far outweighs the good bits, and generally leaves me feeling decidedly cranky, especially as many of the bad bits herald further developments that I know didn't work in hindsight. So it's with a pretty heavy heart I head into 1996, knowing that there's definitely worse to come. It's going to come to a head at some point, but we've still got a way to go, and even if it might not be pleasant, at least it'll probably be more interesting than this year was. Turn the pages with one hand, and hold your nose with the other, and let's take another step forward.</blockquote>

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