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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 5769042" data-attributes="member: 27780">Dragon Magazine Issue 260: June 1999part 5/7Van Richten's legacy: Ah yes, the Foxgrove-Weathermay sisters. Faced with the question of how to replace Van Richten after they killed him in Bleak House, they decided to give his role to two younger nieces, (well, technically not blood relations, but the daughters of one of his adventuring companions.) and continue the story. After all, it's not as if there's brand new monsters appearing regularly that his research would no longer cover. Ravenloft likes to stick to variations on the classics. But anyway, this isn't so much about them, as it is a description of Van Richten's old home. Overflowing with books, more than a few weird magical items, and the requisite secret room where the extra dangerous stuff is kept, this is filled with references to various Ravenloft modules and characters. He even has the sunsword from the original module, and isn't that going to make it a hell of a lot harder for any present day adventurers to finish Strahd off for good. Ravenloft is actually really tiny when you look at the math. I once added up the populations of all the domains, and it comes to around 1.5 million, total. That's small enough that everyone can get personal attention from the monsters that lurk pretty much everywhere, and any name level adventurers will encounter the domain lords along the way. For all they might try to draw upon the same vein as the WoD, you aren't really powerless or insignificant to them, and once you've got a few levels under your belt, you can make a real difference. So this has some moderately useful setting info, and a hell of a lot more you can read between the lines. The gameline still has a few more twists to come before they cancel it and hit the reset button. Nodwick visits another classic dungeon, and finds it's been turned into a tourist attraction. For once, everyone is in agreement on what needs to be done. Fiction: The honor of two swords by Kate Novak-Grubb. (what, was she not getting enough recognition writing using purely her maiden name?) We return to telling stories of Jeff & Kate's personal group, last seen in issue 247. Here, we finally find out how Ishi got dishonoured back in the east, and she gets to make up for that with some serious asskicking. And also learning that while honor is admirable, it doesn't always work, especially when you're dealing with weird supernatural beings. Sometimes you've got to play it smart, and it's ironic that the paladin would wind up being the one teaching that lesson. This is definitely one of their better bits of gaming fiction, as it bucks stereotypes, isn't yet another origin story, and has a stable romance in it that isn't consumed by drama. See, you can make that interesting if you try. Plus Wizard of Oz references. There's room for a few more stories using these characters. Dragon! Guardian of the skies. This deluxe model can be yours for only $195. Ai Carumba. I've got guitars that are worth less than that. The ecology of the Aspis: Aww. It wants to pretend it's people. Only it's not very good at it, unlike dopplegangers or steel dragons. Aspis are one of those intelligent hive creatures that are generally going to stick to the nest. But it's not inconceivable that one might be sent out to acquire information, rebel, or be the sole survivor of their hive, and wind up becoming an adventurer. Once again, Johnathan proves adept at constructing a distinctive voice and mindset for the creatures he's covering, making them both plausible and fairly amusing. With a nicely twisty tale, full of <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 up undertones (stockholm syndrome and love potions, hmm) and rules for making them available as PC's, this is well up to his usual standard. He's really making this series his own. This month's competition is suitably birthdaylicious. And very specific. Design a new greater Drake. Not a new monster, not a new dragon, but a new greater drake. Hmm. I'm really not sure what to say to that.</blockquote>

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