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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 5607459" data-attributes="member: 27780">Dragon Magazine Issue 238: August 1997part 2/8Villains, like fine wine: Or let's make having characters who are centuries old actually mean something. What have they accumulated over the years? Is there a particular era they've got stuck in in terms of morals or fashion. How does that affect their behaviour. What unorthodox tricks have they developed with their abilities over the years? What goals do they pursue, and how do they stave off the boredom and ennui of the years pressing down upon them? It's a complicated question, but the answers are generally pretty similar to those already given for dragons in recent birthday issues. To believably live that long, they need to have plenty of contingencies set up, contacts all over the place with favours owing or owed, and vintage gear that they'll be very annoyed if you break. This means work building the character, and making sure they don't go down like punks in their first encounter with the PC's, wasting all that effort. So this is a more general application of a principle we've seen used before for a specific case. Normally it's the other way round, but either keeps things from getting too tediously rehashed. You can have plenty of fun doing this, so it's not bad to be reminded of it. Bard on the run: Obviously april is long come and gone. But the filks must be heard!   This time they name not only the artists they're parodying, but also the specific songs, which makes things much easier for me, as I can just go to youtube and find out exactly what tunes they're meant to be sung too. In any case, here's a full 8 songs, including a full length parody of American Pie about the loss of magic and discovery of Sorcery in Dragonlance, plus songs for both sides of the blood war. It's actually a pretty good collection, and I have no objection to the presentation this time around either. So I think they've actually improved on things this time around, even if the songs still aren't very up to date. Well, I guess they've had extra time to think about exactly how they want to run this. Bazaar of the Bizarre: Buh. Once again they do a close recycle of a very recent theme indeed. Their editorial control is really going out the window. Villainous items that'll be rather inconvenient for PC's to profit from (unless they read issue 215) Ok, the undead focus has been removed this time, but it still turned up just 4 issues ago. It's almost like their writers are echoing each other. Buh and buh again.  Betrayers shrouds let you mind<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=":)" /> people into doing nasty stuff to other people. This is obviously easer if they're already naturally inclined that way. Black crystal balls put a dreadful slant on all the news they deliver. Just like real TV then. <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" /> This has a corruptive effect over time, which means you'll become paranoid and preemptively treacherous. Just a normal day at the TSR office. Chains of command are a bad pun with an obvious effect. Wrap someone up, they obey. Simple, handy and eyeroll-inducing. Darkfire lanthorns burn the fat of innocents, and shed light or darkness at your whim. Neither are very pleasant for enemies caught in them.  Bloodbane inflicts a slow unpleasant death by destroying all your blood. Perfect for suiciding if you think you're about to be vampire chow then. <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" /> See, these things can be useful for good guys too. Gravebringers suck the lifeforce of everyone around you to make you into a near unstoppable juggernaut of destruction. As usual with AoE stuff, this will not make you popular with your friends. Still, singlehanded army slaughtering definitely has it's perks. Brightstar daggers make you incredibly powerful for a very limited time, then kill you. Obviously only for those who want to die, or care nothing for their minions. Very cool idea though. This is a trick you see quite a bit in media, but not so much in gaming. Enchanter's knives let you transfer the Con loss from making magic items to some other sucker. Given how annoying that is, this will be pretty tempting even to good characters. Ebony helms are another highly ingenious trick. You think you're getting a badass skull mask. Really, you're signing away your independence to an evil wizard. Not cool at all. Honeydrops make you susceptible to mind<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=":)" />ing. Mmmm, sweet sweet mind<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=":)" />ing. Still, booze would probably be cheaper and almost as effective. Iron Maiden's Plate gives you a quick spiky death if you put it on. Yet another Sucker! item with no use other than leaving in treasure hoards as a trap. A Shield of the faithless is useful for bad guys, cursed for good guys, but still a lot broader in it's applicability than the one religion shields from a little while ago. Another near direct recycle then. Staves of bones multiply your undead creating powers 10 fold. Finally, undead armies you don't have to spend months painstakingly digging up and animating a few a night! Another one certain adventurers will find very tempting.</blockquote>

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