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Rocket your D&D 5E and Level Up: Advanced 5E games into space! Alpha Star Magazine Is Launching... Right Now!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 5779425" data-attributes="member: 27780">Dragon Magazine Issue 261: July 1999 part 4/7Miscellaneous mishaps: Objets d'Art. But it looks like the next scene is pretty similar. Now it's the turn of the random bits of jewellery and art objects to get a three page expansion table to keep players from getting bored. Which doesn't keep me from being bored, ironically, as it's emblematic of a lack of variety in their approaches and topics. I think they should probably have saved this one for next issue. Once again, this might be useful in actual play, but is completely forgettable to read. Fiction: The fallen god by J. Gregory Keyes. On the other hand, the second Fool Wolf story isn't forgettable at all, and goes quite some way towards building on the interestingly animistic world established in issue 249. A city full of improbable buildings, sustained by blood sacrifices to the gods within, that gradually become warped and trapped by this homage, resulting in a dysfunctional setup all round? Well, not as dysfunctional as it could be. At least they've realised you can get more blood from a human sacrifice by taking a few pints, letting them heal, and then doing it again on a regular basis than killing them. So this is packed to the brim with moral greys and magic as a science, giving you plenty to think about as you read it, while not neglecting the action scenes and plot twists either. It works as both a story and as worldbuilding. Which is just what I want from this magazine. Specific and unique examples along with the general ideas. And there's still plenty of room for other locations and cultures in the same world. He's definitely welcome to visit again. Bazaar of the Bizarre: Shadow related stuff is a very common one in stories. And it certainly isn't neglected in the magazine either, with cool stuff like Issue 213's article on the demiplane it issues from. So It's time for the cycle to bring us another wave of themed magical items. As usual, some of them'll probably surpass their hackneyed theme, while others won't. And I have to see which is which. Roll on, roll on.  Arrows of the Dark Curtain create a wave of blackness beneath where they're shot. Another one useful for both rogues and underdark monsters. Cloth of Shadows has a very amusing bit of history attached to it. If you can get hold of the entire suit, it'll be pretty handy. Sounds like a definite adventure in the brewing folks. Crowns of Shadow Control is another one that seems like it could drive a whole campaign. Armies of Shadows under your command, but a very real danger of transforming into one yourself and losing it all, becoming a slave to the next fool to put it on? Sign me up for grand vizier. Eyes of Soothing Darkness are just magically enhanced sunglasses. They're very predictable in their powers and drawbacks. Not worth getting worked up about unless you're a goblin or drow. Shadowstealers are magic rods which do exactly that. As is often mythically the case, being shadowless is rather bad for the health and sanity. This makes it a good one to extort people with. Shadow pins can be used to trap people by nailing their shadow to the wall. This is also a pain, but can won't last forever. Just wait for the sun to set. No shadow, no problem. Undead Shadows, being insubstantial, are completely screwed. Shadow Puppet Gloves let you animate any shapes you make, and order them around. This is of course limited by your manual dexterity. I recommend you make the player act out the creation of the creature with a torch <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" /> Shadow Snares are special garrottes that can be selectively insubstantial. Another one that'll take some brains to use well. Not a bad collection, really.</blockquote>

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