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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 5562690" data-attributes="member: 27780">Dragon Magazine Issue 233: September 1996part 8/8TSR Previews: The Forgotten Realms ploughs ahead getting ever more overfilled. Volo gets in yet more trouble by publishing a guide to all things magical. Trade secrets man. Becoming a wizard is actually pretty easy in D&D, but if everyone realizes that, we're in deep <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=":)" />. We'll end up like Halruaa, which is the subject of one of the novels. Murder in Halruaa by Richard S Meyers. Pretending to be a wizard? Not a good idea. Unless you're a bard, in which case you can be even better than actual wizards at being mysterious and impressive to common people. Oh well. Ed Greenwood is also busy writing his own novels. This time, he focuses on Storm Silverhand, and some of the things from her past.  Dark sun gets into the perilous goodies business, with Psionic Artifacts of Athas. Be prepared when you handle these, because they'll touch your mind in return. Planescape goes into more detail on the gods, in In Hallowed ground. Do you have what it takes to fight their proxies ..... or become one? Unlikely, given their current editorial policy. Ravenloft takes the horror one step further. They've transmogrified you into a part animal in Markovia. They've utterly <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=":)" />ed your mind in Dominiani's asylum. Now you're transformed into an undead monstrosity, and have to try and defeat, or at least escape from Death himself. And this is one where canonically, you fail, and the land remains <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=":)" />ed in future supplements for years to come. Ouch. Truly metaplot taken to it's most horrifying extreme. Dragonlance gets The Dragons by Doug Niles. New, far bigger, scarier dragons. The people of krynn can say oh <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=":)" />, thankya no matter who wins their epic fight. The generic stuff is no cakewalk either, with our second Beholder focussed module. Eye of doom reveals another plot. Well, with double charm rays, they can get control of lots of things should they be so inclined. Not all of them want to destroy everything. And Spellfire gets another booster pack, focussed on things that lurk in the night. Well, it is october. The current Clack: Allen has obviously been to Origins last month, because more than half this article is devoted to it. The history of the convention is first, including it's rocky recent past, and then he goes into the winners of this years Origins awards. TSR isn't doing too badly in the nominations, but White Wolf and WotC really stand out more. And Shadis takes best roleplaying magazine. Given that Dragon & Dungeon normally have a lockdown on that, that's particularly worrying for them. Also interesting is some substantial Palladium drama. C J Carella has now struck out on his own, with Myrmidon Press. It seems like they were trying to maintain a relationship with Palladium, with talk of licensing out Rifts Manhunter, but that's gone south, and been cancelled. What happened this time? Has Kevin been making enemies and alienating people again. Still, we got Witchcraft out of the deal, so I'm certainly not complaining. The gaming world would be a duller place without them. The articles are well above average quality this month, but the reviews are horrid, and the promotional ones are as annoying as ever. After having dropped minis and computer games last year, it now looks like the days of book and RPG reviews are numbered as well, with the size, rigor and objectivity making a real slide. So while their core competencies are better than they've been in a while, they are definitely getting more repetitive and self-centered. I suppose there are worse tradeoffs to make. But it does mean they'll run out of new things to say all the quicker if they don't revise their style regularly. So this leaves me with mixed feelings.</blockquote>

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