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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 5568230" data-attributes="member: 27780">Dragon Magazine Issue 234: October 1996part 4/8Wyrms of the north: Ahh yes, a dracolich for halloween. How very appropriate of Ed. An exceedingly scary one that's modified itself further, so it has half a dozen breath weapons, magical abilities that match up to a decent archmage, and the usual array of minions and traps built up through several centuries of planning and paranoia. This really is not the kind of creature you want to mess with, for even nuke it from orbit may well miss the phylactery, and then you'll definitely be having nasty repercussions down the line. This is a particularly highly concentrated article, repurposing and modifying stuff left, right and centre, providing a decent amount of new stuff as well, and showing once again that no-one does high level challenges like Ed, particularly pre 3e where you don't have to worry about obvious EL mathematics. And the ability to melt someone's bones and turn them into a vaguely humanoid ooze is worth the price of admission alone. He's brought more than enough awesome here, including plenty of bits which could be plundered and used individually, to overcome my misgivings about the overall format of the series. Network news: Another non-surprise, the RPGA column is devoted to what happened at Gen Con. As the busiest time of the year, that's when they really justify their existence. And good god were they busy this year. Over 900 tables over the course of the weekend, with more than 90 playing at once at the peak point?! That's pretty impressive. Once again, it seems that despite the troubles in the company as a whole, organised play is still thriving and even building new avenues for itself. And that means not only supporting the big events, but the smaller ones as well, for that's how you build up a playerbase, especially if you're doing the persistent world thing where people want to play frequently so they can competitively advance their characters. So this is another pretty positive column that may even get a few people to join in itself. That's definitely worth a page of the magazine a month to them. Artifacts of athas: Time for another setting specific bazaar. Yet another example of how the player appetite for crunch is seemingly neverending, and they're working harder to satisfy it these days. Which given the drop in readership, may be working, but there you go. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f641.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":(" title="Frown    :("  data-smilie="3"data-shortname=":(" /> Giving people everything they want means they don't need you anymore. It's like seduction really. You always make sure you have something more to offer …… maybe, if they're extra good; if you want them to keep coming back. The Chatkcha of the Great One is a +5 vorpal weapon that lets you summon and command thri-kreen. Ironically, when it takes control of you, it makes you preach a message of peace and love. Well, peace needs to be enforced with a sharp blade, especially when you're proselytising to giant carnivorous insects. <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" /> The Crown of the Dwarven Kings is a second race focussed artifact, able to summon and command dwarves, but unable to harm them without being feebleminded. So you're pretty much obligated to be a decent king if you have this. Of course, you could always be political and give people you don't like the harder and more unpleasant jobs, as that's not against the rules. <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" /> I mean, that's practically expected of a ruler. The Dragonskin is an artifact that raises some very interesting questions, given how dragons are created on Athas, and how rare they are. It's not really powerful enough to justify the rigamarole of it's creation though, and leaves it's wearer completely vulnerable to psionics. On Athas, that's a pretty hefty hindrance. In fact, it's probably better for it's noncombat benefits than it's melee ones. The Eye of Psurlon goes back to the race-focussed theme. It is pretty cool though. 80% discount on psionics and the ability to create a null magic zone a mile in diameter? That's some impressive scale discounts. You'll be able to punch well above your weight, and the curse is pretty easy to bypass. You could have a long and interesting career with this on if you don't get careless. The Rvk'choel is a rather gross looking organic artifact from the blue age that protects you from other life-shaped stuff and gives you regeneration, but takes over your body while you're asleep. Better get into bondage then, like an infected werewolf, if you want to keep your friends alive. You know, it's hard to see a downside to that. <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=";)" /> Despite a tendency towards underpoweredness, this collection have in general been a pretty interesting read, with distinctive powers, not too onerous curses, and plenty of setting integration. You don't have to worry about ruining the whole game if you introduce one.</blockquote>

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