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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 5864372" data-attributes="member: 27780">Dragon Magazine Issue 270: April 2000part 7/7Sage advice: A wizard cut a dragons head off with his dagger via a single critical hit and advanced two levels straight away! This can't be right. (If you don't like that kind of thing happening, you shouldn't have introduced the system in the first place. There is a very good reason why we were so reluctant to put critical hits in AD&D, even optionally.) Can crossbows be used as melee weapons any better than bows (not really)Can a boulder deflect lightning bolts if it's thrown at just the right time (While this might be a cool visual, Skip will point out what a terrible idea this is from the game point of view. You allow the monsters to do it, next thing you know the players'll be doing it all the time. )Can you do more damage by using larger increments of holy water (If you pay the price. This will not be as efficient in terms of damage per gold piece as small amounts. ) How much does a human bite hurt (Even less than a housecat's.) Do you still lose stoneskin charges if you have another form of protection up that negates an attack (Yes. Skip never misses an opportunity to rule conservatively on the stoneskin question! )Just what can the scarab of protection protect you against (Spells. That's it, albeit a pretty broad it. Don't try to make it even broader, or Skip will make jokes about how broad yo' momma is and how you're always hiding behind her.) Can an ogre mage teach other creatures how to regenerate (No. Well, maybe younger ogre mages.)How do you really pronounce Drow (Ten cows in a boat, rowing across a moat, to infiltrate a castle filled with stoats. Och, aye the noo, the cows are fools, the stoat's'll see through the disguise and torture them with tools.) How do you tell what a potion is by sipping it if it doesn't have an obvious effect (Comedic experimentation. Oh yes. Skip is going to enjoy this. ) Role models: Once again, this column is used as a promotional tool for their advertising partners as much as it is game advice. This time it's the Diablo minis that are getting shoutouts and substantial amounts of photo space. ZOMG they're turning a videogame into D&D, etc etc. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" /> The framing device is another mini encounter, with a whole bunch of monsters, and several environmental hazards that are facilitated by the minis chosen. Very much of a kind with the short linear dungeons that would become more common next edition. This doesn't really turn me on, so I don't want to spend much time with it. Silicon Sorcery: Our other mostly promotional column with a bit of D&D material is drawing on Planescape: Torment. This does have a neat idea. In a lot of 3D action/fighty games, it's possible to trick bad guys into fighting each other by dodging and having them hit each other. This is an awesome idea to implement in your campaign, albeit maybe with a bit more nuance. Likewise, they represent high Charisma and knowledge skills by only having certain conversation options come up if you meet the stat requirements. Again, this is a relatively mechanistic representation, but it's still a lot better than those DM's who effectively make charisma worthless, which in turn results in players always neglecting it in a point buy option. So this does have some pretty good general advice, and shows us that for all the brouhaha about there being some things live DM's will always do better than a computer game, if the game is trying and the DM isn't, the computer game can still beat them. So don't get complacent, and don't be afraid to steal ideas from unlikely sources. Those are both lessons everyone needs reminding of from time to time. Nodwick gets a four page special mocking star wars, the circle of 8, magic weapons in general, fighting in bars, kittens, and lots of other things. And now we know how badass he really is, he's not afraid to show it. Or something. Coming attractions: Elaine Cunningham enjoys a triple bill of Forgotten Realms books. After Greenwood and Salvadore, she really must be one of the authors who shapes people's perceptions of the setting. The Magehound is set in Halruaa, and involves a wizard hunter in the top echelons of society. Curious business. Elfshadow sees angsty half-elf suffering from sexual tension. Elfsong is set in Waterdeep, and involves her familiar themes of elves and bards. Once again, there seems to be a strong mystery element to her plots.  Dragonlance unleashes a new collection of short stories, Rebels and Tyrants. More little perspectives on the war of souls. Take that, Dragon overlords! Ravenloft finishes rehashing Van Richten's guides. However, this one also features new material, unearthed from the vaults, and annotations by his nieces. Why did he have to be the one to die permanently, while Elminster is still going, a hundred year timeskip later? Greyhawk gets another adventure that returns to familiar grounds, a generation later. Slavers is of course the new version of modules A1-4. Now with more plot and less screwage. Blaaaaaaaaah. Alternity gets two StarDrive products. Nightfall at Algernon by Diane Duane completes her trilogy set there. Alien Compendium II: The exploration of 2503 gives you lots of weird flora and fauna to kill and be killed by. Once again, they'll have a fairly complete line before they die. What's new is unusually hard-hitting in it's humour this month. Guess the thought of religion brings that out in some people. Nice to see Phil was on the scientology is evil bandwagon before it went overground. Oh, and last month's snail hasn't even got off the page yet. So cute. Well, this has indeed been a really awesome issue, easily the best in quite a few years. There's tons of great serious articles, a decent number of silly ones, a strong theme that hasn't been done into the ground, and lots of cool looks backward and forwards. There are quite a few bursts of odious overcommercialisation, but they certainly aren't enough to spoil the overall picture. It's definitely a good way to celebrate the 3/4 mark of my journey, and has plenty of material I might want to use in the future. Now, will I be able to say the same about the 4/5ths mark? Well, from here on out, those kind of landmarks will come quicker and quicker. I wonder what kind of psychological influence that'll have on my writing.</blockquote>

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