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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 5513937" data-attributes="member: 27780">Dragon Magazine Issue 228: April 1996part 2/8Real jungles: Hello again, Mr Detwiler. I see you've done your research and want to show up a few people's misconceptions again. Is that worth putting in pole position? Actually, yes, as it's a very interesting topic, as it's a great place for adventures, while also being counterintuitive enough to someone raised on media portrayals that you can get it completely wrong easily. Some of these can be worked out via examining more conventional forests and applying logic, such as the fact that while the vegetation is really thick and verdant on the edges, once you get past that into areas where sunlight is blocked out, it's surprisingly empty and quiet. What's less intuitive are the somewhat disturbing ways life can parasitise off itself, growing intimately interconnected as things compete to get more sunlight, and thus more energy to grow Grow GROW! It definitely doesn't make for neat right angled walls and flat floors that are easy to draw maps for. Tricks like how to blend in with the animals, the way the diurnal cycle becomes even more critical without significant seasonal variations, and the dangers that are mainly a problem for nonnatives, with their excess clothing and flashy, easily detected and rusted metal equipment. This is presented with a pleasantly conversational tone with some neat bits of humour slipped in. The main thing that raises my eyebrows is a reference to their Living Jungle campaign, yet another bit of subtle RPGA promotion. Still, I suppose that's a further positive in their book, so this does indeed deserve to be first, as it's both entertaining any useful in any system. Final Quest: For two years, we've had people talking about their first game. Wouldn't one about people's last games make just as much sense. Well, we're in luck! April fool. Roger Moore finds the time to tell us about the amusing ways characters have died in games he's known, and also some ways in which they haven't, but it would be really embarrassing if they did (so don't go getting ideas <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" /> ) He also takes the piss out of the silly red triangle graphic, but that's merely an aside in a massive barrage of schadenfreude that is oh so aware of the game's tropes and how to subvert them. After all, long years of reading letters from the magazine mean he knows more than nearly anyone how people are actually playing their games, and the stupid things they think are cool. This is indeed pretty hilarious. Let anyone trying to play a half-elf who's grandfathers are Drizzt and Elminster and dual wields staff/swords be warned. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" /> The DM can always find new ways of killing you, and if they can't the other players can. 101 uses for a (wet) blanket: Remember the Miller Milk Bottle? (issue 51) I said at the time that it was a pretty blatant rip-off of Douglas Adams' hitchhiker jokes. Well, here's an even more blatant one. Why? Who knows. April fool. This does exactly what it says on the tin, giving you another example of just how versatile a seemingly innocuous household item can be, while also making quite a few bad jokes. And just like the original, about the best response I have is Oooookay. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f635.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt="O_o" title="Er... what?    O_o"  data-smilie="12"data-shortname="O_o" /> <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f635.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt="o_O" title="Er... what?    o_O"  data-smilie="12"data-shortname="o_O" /> They say that when all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail, so what does everything look like when all you have is a blanket? Or a bottle. Or a spoon? Answers can be sent in written or sewn on a blanket please. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> The Athalantan Campaign: Ooh. Milieu opening time again. The Forgotten Realms is already the most detailed and furthest ranging campaign setting in terms of geography and variety of environments by quite some way. But of course, as in reality, every expansion reveals a new frontier. New continents have dropped off in recent years, but they can't keep just repeating the same places again with different perspectives, so what are they do do? Historical settings! The realms already has quite a few prequels, and Elminster's origin story has driven up demand for details of the past quite a bit. And Ed Greenwood is all too enthusiastic to help, with 9 pages on the long destroyed country of his youth and it's notable people and events. As befits a country ruled by mage-kings, most of the significant NPC's are spellcasters, which means the tendency for them to seem the most important part of the setting (maybe because they're the ones telling the story to the writers of this world <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" /> ) is even more exaggerated than normal. It does seem a pretty interesting place to adventure, and of course, you'll have a freer rein to avoid running into canon than you would in the present day Realms. And even better, it isn't an obvious real world analog of something. While not as fizzy as many of his articles, this is a pretty ambitious one that once again shows us new things to do with the Realms. Once again he's produced something that I really enjoyed consuming on it's own, that also fits into a larger picture and makes the world ever more complete.</blockquote>

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