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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 5827625" data-attributes="member: 27780">Dragon Magazine Issue 266: December 1999part 7/7Back to the future: We have two settings for Alternity now, so the floodgates are open to other ones. After space opera and modern day conspiracy, what to do next? 50's B-movies?! Well, ok then. It might be a little cheesy, but that can just make it all the more fun. So here's stats for flying saucers, bug men, rocket suits, and atomic heat rays, along with plenty of advice on how to get the right tone for the era. Sexism, nationalism, nuclear power, robots, radar, giant monsters, strong moral messages, there are some definite tells to 50's sci-fi that have become a good deal less common with time. You might not be able to get it perfect, but an entertaining pastiche for your players a la mars attacks should be entirely doable. The layout guys once again really go to work on this article, having been given an opportunity that doesn't come up very often around here, going for full pulp novel cover mode with all it's stylised drama. Overall, this is pretty neat, and of course very light on the rehash. Funny that D&D pretty much completely skips over this era. Even when they do mix modern day or sci-fi with fantasy, it's rarely of previous 20th century decades. Once again, goes to show how untapped resources can be surprisingly close if you know how to look. Marvel Super Heroes: Mockingbird? I remember her not. Looks like she's dead anyway, and will remain so for a good few years. This means this little article becomes a running commentary on how to bring characters back, either temporarily or permanently. Even comic book writers know this is becoming a joke. They can at least make sure that if they do come back, they're suitably affected by the experience. But then, if they want to tell "classic" stories again, they can't have them too changed. Once again we're bumping up against the flaws ingrained in the system. Not very interesting overall. Dragonmirth puts the puzzles first, and recycles another joke. The KotDT are ridiculously red this issue. They really need to pay more attention to detail. TSR Previews: This december is pretty light on products. The overall rate of releases per month continues to drift downwards in vaguely uncool fashion. Our general AD&D product this month is Bastions of faith. Another one expanding on the way classes organize, with maps of temples so you can break in and do some asskicking. Now what you need is one on fighter companies to complete the symmetry. Ravenloft rehashes this month, with volume 2 of van richten's compiled monster guides. Ghosts, liches and mummies. All an absolute bitch to kill for good. They just keep coming back. Sigh. The Realms get Beyond the High Road by Troy Denning. The princess of Cormyr has daddy issues. Haven't heard that one for a while. Dragonlance gets Chaos spawn. Another dual stat book set in the bridge between the 4th and 5th ages. Awkward backpedaling ahoy. Aha! Here's another statement of ownership. Looks like the spike near the end of last year was just that, as once again they're flatlining around the 50k mark, although subscriptions are still creeping upward. There's a lot of disillusioned people out there that WotC hasn't won back, a lot of copies not distributed. Where is the new blood? How do you hook them and keep them? Very good question. Lets hope the new edition manages to do that. What's new covers shapeshifters too. Oh, the wacky fun they have. And good advice in there as well. Pretty cool. Mostly a pretty good issue, as this untapped topic still gives their writers plenty of opportunities to stretch their creative muscles. You can have a lot of fun with shapeshifting, both as a PC and a DM. The Alternity article also showed that there are some fairly significant untapped topics still out there, waiting for a good themed issue. Course, since they generally play it safe in the annuals, we're unlikely to see anything particularly unusual there. Still, let's not hang around. Anything'll seem uninspired if you stick there too long.</blockquote>

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