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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 5608459" data-attributes="member: 27780">Dragon Magazine Issue 238: August 1997part 3/8Gangsters of the underdark: Okay, here we go again with the belated april fools material, in a direct follow-up to last year's article of the same name. Get ready for real world and literary references aplenty, many of which I won't get, and some absolutely terrible puns. Da Pen takes the godfather references to a new level of cheesiness, with a Marlon Brando Aboleth and sufficient metaness to make me groan repeatedly, including a deadline joke that seems very ironic given what's happened to the magazine this year. If these are about getting a reaction, this one is definitely a success so far. "Tommy Gun" Tortello once again makes me go WTF with his mishmash of pop culture jokes, and attempts to lampshade how they could be combined into one character and make sense within the setting. You really don't want to spend time with him, for death by exposition is a terrible way to go. Master Furli is an amalgamation of comical sidekick traits which once again, feels like they're trying to pack as many references as they can into a character that would die exceedingly quickly if the forces of drama weren't on their side. Really, his only purpose is to serve as a stalking horse, and make even sir Elliot of Kness facepalm on a regular basis. Go go gadget cravat. :-/ Vanyard " The Fox" on the other hand is instantly recognisable to me. It's an X-files reference! And oh dear, the lengths they go to make a truth is out there pun is quite considerable. Other than that, he's actually a pretty straight conversion. Course, that in itself makes things all the sillier in a regular D&D campaign. Danna the Skull makes things completely obvious, as if they weren't already. The doctor thing becomes study as a necromancer, and there's another terrible pun worked in with great aplomb. And to top it all off, they even manage to weave Elminster into their web of conspiracy. This has certainly been one of the most elaborately set-up joke articles they've managed, especially when combined with last year. The return of the wizards three: It's been rather longer than they'd hoped since the plane-hopping wizards last got to meet up. Things haven't gone very well for Krynn or Oerth. In fact, since Krynn lost it's magic system, Dalamar can't even get here, and the others are not inclined to risk their hides going to look for him. In the face of metaplot, even the gods themselves can wind up going out like punks. What odds a mere archmage? Still, El has a solution to prevent this column undergoing an awkward name change. He's been training up an apprentice for just this kind of eventuality. Say hello to Rauthene, a rather promising protege. (although I suspect their reasons for focussing on her are not entirely due to her natural magical talent. ) She'll get to be the butt of the jokes (which is where all that ice-cream is likely to go ) in quite a different way to Dal. The lechery content is way up in this one, as is the metaness. Both the 4th wall and the censors need reinforcing. Ed really does have a dirty mind. I wonder if we'll see any more of that under the new management. Spell Echo lets you engage in magical forensics finding out what's been cast in the area recently, and possibly get some hints as to how to cast it yourself. That ought to be worth a decent bonus on your spell research rolls, and short circuit lots of mystery plots. Scourge of Stars gives you a magical whip that gives you the hit points it drains from others. It lasts longer than vampiric touch, but doesn't hurt as much per hit. Seems pretty decent. Ed is building us up a nice collection of spells that make magic weapons over the years. Firedart, on the other hand is one of those spells that's higher level than fireball, but also weaker. Another blah bit of blastage. Turnblade lets you turn a weapon into any other weapon. Just the thing for multiclass wizards and anyone who wants to deal with inconvenient undead. Backshift lets you screw up people's shapeshifting abilities in a rather amusing manner. Just the thing to deal with a Dragon that's been playing you for fools for a whole campaign and has recently decided to reveal itself and finish you. Mystra's Unravelling is a close relation of Mordenkainen's disjunction, only Toril themed. It'll still permanently depower most magic items in it's AoE, so this is very much the D&D equivalent of the nuclear option. Another reason why archmages are scary things that other classes can't even touch if they do it right.</blockquote>

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