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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 5544801" data-attributes="member: 27780">Dragon Magazine Issue 231: July 1996part 7/8Role-playing reviews: Shaman sees Rick annoyed because he can't discuss more than half of it due to spoilers. And the name is the least imaginative part of the whole thing, which may cost it sales from those inclined to judge a book by it's cover. It's a damn good idea that could do with a better implementation. Arcane companion is for rolemaster, adding a whole bunch of interesting options for players and DM's to customise their campaign with. It's as crunchy as ever for the system, but rick still finds it surprisingly accessible and concise, packing thousands of spells and items in. If you like the system, it would be silly to pass this one up. Magic: A manual of mystic secrets is for Earthdawn. As with the Rolemaster one, it's pretty tightly tied to it's system and setting, and will take a bit of converting. And even more than Rolemaster, the magic ideas are quirky and interesting, with unique abilities and social ramifications for each magic type. Rick's main complaint is that the system for the planes is a bit of a non-starter. Probably ought to get it's own book to sort that out. TSR Previews: Another busy month coming up. The forgotten realms continues to slant slightly heavier on the novel side. The Heroes lorebook stats out all the various NPC's from books again. How many new ones will there be, and how much will the old ones have changed since they last did this 5 years ago. And how soon will the continued novels render this one out of date? The Mage in the Iron Mash (sic) by Brian Thompson features Volo being his usual nosey and irritating self. Still, as long as it's mainly bad guys he's annoying, that's not a problem. Passage to Dawn by R A Salvadore is another Drizzt novel. He's forcibly returned to icewind dale and has to go through all that crap again. Red steel is rehashed in a rather odd way. The Odyssey line kicks up with another generalised sourcebook on it. Wha. It was less than 2 years ago. Why is this happening? What happened to the Mystara name? I'm confused. They also get a book, The Black Vessel by Morris Simon. Seems generic enough. Really, what's going on here? Birthright gets the Naval battle system. This sounds self explanatory enough. Mass combat is one of the things there is a consistent demand for, yet doesn't quite stick in the core rules. It would be needed in a game where domain management is important. They also try and kick off the Lankhmar line again, with The New Adventures of Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser. Shane Hensley tries to make this boxed set streamlined and truly standalone, to try and lure in more new players. Interesting. What was different about it, and did it bear any relation to his later Savage Worlds stuff? Ravenloft continues the Grim Harvest series with Death Ascendant. Things are about to get even uglier unless you can foil them pronto. Can you keep things from progressing to the next level? Our generic stuff this month is Sages and Specialists, and a Heroes Tale. More stuff on the people you might want to hire, and more mid-range mini adventures to keep your players busy. Not very gripping. Dragon Dice get their 4th Kicker pack. The Feral. Beastie boys join your army ready to fight for their right to party. More weirdly, they start a novel line as well. Cast of Fate by Allen Varney sees a young lava elf concerned about the futility of war. Ha. Like Gundam or Mega Man, as long as your franchise is built on blowing <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=":)" /><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=":)" /><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=":)" /><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=":)" /> up, you're always going to have to fight some more.</blockquote>

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