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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 5793957" data-attributes="member: 27780">Dragon Magazine Issue 263: September 1999part 1/7116 pages. BING! After a couple of years of being a bit up in the air, <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=":)" /> just got real at Wizards of the Coast. 3rd edition is now officially announced to the world, and the countdown starts now. You can bet the volume of letters and forum posts will skyrocket in the next few months. And it already looks like they're going to make a bigger deal of this than they did the 2e update. Still, there are other things being announced on the cover as well, so it doesn't look like the magazine will be nothing but promotion. I can definitely say I'm interested in seeing how fast they dole out the teasers, and in what order, so this is not one issue where I'm going to hang around the contents page for long. Scan Quality: Generally good, whitespace around pages, no index. In this issue:The wyrms turn doubles in size, to do some serious elaboration on the cover announcement. Just a year from now, your system will be completely renovated. And we'll do our best to incorporate your suggestions into it, to make it better. We've already been watching the forums with great interest, taking note of your suggestions. Obviously they're not revealing everything, and may still change things around, but they do slip more than enough details to get everyone talking. There's going to be a unified mechanic, the average character gets a fairly substantial power upgrade, there's more focus on action and high level stuff, and exceptional strength is scrapped like the speedbump it is, letting you get to superhuman prowess far more easily. They're practically baiting people to erupt in a fury about how 3e is going to be for powergamers and munchkins. <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" /> This should be fun to watch. So this is quite a playful beginning, showing they're going to make some serious changes, but are fairly confident about them, having already done a whole lot of arguing and playtesting in-house. Let the flamewars commence. D-Mail: No edition wars yet here, as they're still 2-3 months behind the new releases. Patience, my dears. In the meantime, we have the usual rollplaying vs roleplaying argument subverted. They're independent axes that you can be better or worse at, like chaos and evil.  Master them both and you can WIN THE GAME!!!!! Our second one is someone complaining about the probability of producing intelligent dragons under Greg Detwilers model. You know, many mythical dragons weren't that smart. That didn't stop them from being legends. D&D has if anything, inflated their overall competency. A request for more specific setting based articles. Unlike in the old days, where they said they'd publish more if people sent them in, they now say screw that, we're going to concentrate on generic stuff. Well, that and the forgotten realms, which is practically generic anyway. You want more specific flavour, you need to put it in your own campaign yourself. Another big sea change that comes with the next edition, already being put into implementation. Some serious naming niggles. Unfortunately, this is one area where reality is often weirder than fiction, partly because some parents are just plain cruel to their children, and partly because what sounds perfectly natural in one language can be rather silly when directly translated. Plus there's the problem with famous names that would actually be common, but also break immersion in game. Jesus christ that can become a headache. <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" />And finally, we have someone wondering what's happened to the mini line. Ral Partha's licence has expired, and they going to do it in house from now on! Which also means they're already making minis based on the classes and races that'll be core next edition. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f60e.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":cool:" title="Cool    :cool:"  data-smilie="6"data-shortname=":cool:" /> So this response shows how much they already have finalised and moving ahead. If they'd stayed with another company, that'd add extra weak links where info could get out early. Very interesting indeed. Where else will we be able to get extra teasers that aren't simply handed out. Nodwick is used as cover. Oh woe. Just kill him and stick him back together like you usually do.</blockquote>

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