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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 5832785" data-attributes="member: 27780">Dragon Magazine annual 1999 part 5/7Bazaar of the Bizarre: Once again they go with the more everyday items over the big flashy ones, with this selection of food, drink and shelter. Is this the kind of thing you have for a big celebratory issue? I have to say I'm a little disappointed in you. Moonwater Gourds refill themselves with water on a daily basis if treated right. As ever, I am forced to examine them in comparison to the Decanter of endless water and pronounce them lacking. Water Seeds produce springs if planted, but also have a complicated procedure that needs to be followed to work properly. Needs moar development to make user-friendly. Water Witching Staves are another way of getting hold of water that follows a moderately fiddly procedure. Sweet Bladders turn water into nutritious cream that fills all your dietary needs. Use quickly and regularly, for the cream will not only go off, but ruin the bladder if left to go sour. Man, these are easy to ruin by accident. Stone Cheese, on the other hand, can be preserved nearly forever, and is really easy to cook, like a magical pot noodle. Hell, you could probably make something much like this in reality. Everloaves also riff off a biblical trick and take it in a different direction. As long as it's left at least half full, it regenerates. This is another one you'll probably wind up ruining by accident at some point and regretting it. A Satchel of Nourishment is another not so fiddly one. Just make sure it doesn't get damaged and keep eating the replenishing food up. Centurybloom Trees give you tons of fruit regardless of conditions for 100 years before dying. The kind of thing you give to your home village after adventuring rather than keeping for yourself. Tent Ribs get off the food theme and give us shelter instead. Magical temperature stabilisation is always handy. It can be easy to take air conditioning for granted. Haven Seeds are yet another one that requires a specific procedure to use. As the name implies, you plant them right, they grow into a good bit of temporary accommodation. Just watch out for the long term ecological damage. Pebble Walls are another laboursaver that still doesn't completely negate your need for materials and intelligent design thoughts. Looks like they're maintaining the strongly low key air throughout the article. This magic won't be solving all your problems with a wish and a wiggle of the nose. What if the crackpots are right: Ahh, so this is where that extra page count really went. A 32 page Alternity Fast-Play game, the size of a full old school module. I think that may be the largest article they've ever done that wasn't divided up over multiple issues. While the previous fast-play games were designed for a single player, and in many cases would work just fine without a DM, this is actually pretty near a full adventure, although much of that is filled by the pregens and explanation of how the system works. Interestingly, it's more forgiving of attempts to explore the environment and try different ways of accomplishing your goal than the other adventure this issue, and I think I prefer it for that. It's certainly worth noting for posterity that they gave such a large portion of the issue to Alternity adventures, and more evidence that they really did like it within the company and try their best to get people to play it. If only they'd released this first instead of the earlier smaller and more linear attempts, they might have had a better shot. Or maybe if they'd released the Dark Matter setting a few years ago, before the X-files went downhill and bled away it's fanbase.</blockquote>

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