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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 5835284" data-attributes="member: 27780">Dragon Magazine annual 1999 part 7/7Rogues Gallery: Troy Denning continues to tell us about the characters in his new novel. Still, as these are the heroes, I wouldn't be surprised if they're less interesting than the monsters. They certainly wont redefine the rules in the same way. Tanalasta Obarskyr is the crown princess, trying hard to level up so she isn't caught with her pants down when the succession comes calling again. After all, to be screwed over and manipulated in one assassination plot can be considered bad luck. To be caught in another demonstrates incompetence that will not let you hold the throne long if you do get it. Fortunately, she has Vangerdahast to help her survive CR inappropriate encounters and get that practical experience quickly. Rowen Cormaeril is the youngest son of a disgraced minor noble. He hasn't let this make him bitter, and is now working his way up through the purple dragons, hoping to get a decent commission. Since he's now 12th level, he really ought to get it sometime soon. But when have the novels followed the game rules? Owden Fowley is a priest of Chauntea who guards an imprisoned unspeakable evil being underneath a remote mountain monastery. Not an obvious occupation for someone serving the god of the harvest. But given Helm's recent reputation, I can see why they'd want to sort it out themselves. As a good priest should, he may act nice, but he's nobody's fool. Queen Filfaeril actually looks younger than her daughter from the way she's drawn. And is exceedingly similar statistically. The apple does not fall far from the tree. And since her husband is renowned for his philandering, she might not be completely averse to a little payback, possibly with the court wizard. The Realms really is a hotbed of sexual intrigue these days, isn't it. So yeah, this isn't as interesting as the Ghazneths, but it's still quite entertaining, and very revealing about the plot of the book. Now, when will they kill off some major characters for real without them being resurrected or cloned later? Nodwick gets his most epic comic yet, as his crew tackle the dragonlance chronicles. Four pages of messing with someone else's railroad. Possibly the only group who deserve it. Roleplaying Revivus: And so we finish off the special with another teaser for what the next year and edition hold. More action, more generally focussed material, more complex rules, more minis. They're nailing their colours to the wall, and they want things big, flashy and commercially successful. Charts and tables are so 80's. Niche products can get stuffed. And who wants to waste time drawing up big maps with multiple routes and secret bits for your dungeons? So yeah, once again they're making hard stands on a whole bunch of issues, and saying things that seem likely to cause flamewars. Which in the internet age, is good publicity. And as long as you convert most of the people, or create enough new fans that the holdouts are outnumbered, you have a positive result overall. Which I seem to recall they managed. You win this time, Wizards of the Coast. Next time you may not be so lucky. This issue does stand out reasonably from the surrounding ones, but unlike issue 200, it does feel rather padded out, and could easily have lost a good 8-16 pages and still had the same amount of useful content. The overall air of self-congratulation also grates on my nerves quite a bit, particularly where I know they won't exactly follow up on their promises next year. Still, it has both some useful articles, and does reveal a surprising amount of further info on their plans for 3e. So as a lead-in to the new millennium it isn't bad, but it loses quite a bit with hindsight. The real spectacular may well come next gen con. So let's keep going, find out exactly when these promises are fulfilled or broken.</blockquote>

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