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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 6180960" data-attributes="member: 27780">Dragon Issue 334: August 2005part 4/7Drunkards and flagons: Aha! I presume this is the article that was meant to be in issue 326 so the Ale and Wenches part of the byline would make sense. Although it has to be said that we seem to be rather short of wenches after all the sexism complaint letters in the last few months. (nor can I find any trulls, strumpets, harlots, trollops, tarts, doxys, or procuresses. <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=";)" /> ) Oh well, that just means we can focus all the more on drowning our sorrows. Really, it does seem odd that something that tastes foul and is poisonous to us would be discovered independently in nearly all cultures and go into common use. It has it's uses though, being very much a lesser evil compared to the diseases that proliferated in unhygienic conditions back then. Plus what is self-destructive to the individual can paradoxically turn out to be strengthening for the species as a whole, weeding out the weak so the strong can breed. After all, as any roleplayers should know, the first thing we do if we don't have any immediate and solvable problems to deal with is invent new challenges just to entertain ourselves and test each other so the social order can be properly established. As with the previous article, this is heavily historically based, but also finds room to squeeze in 8 new D&D specific liquors with their own distinct mechanical effects. Be it social bonuses, mitigating the effects of ageing or reinforcing an oathbond, these are mostly enhanced versions of stuff booze is supposed to do in real life. So I do find this article amusing and thought-provoking, but it's not particularly original. And it's very late indeed. This is why it's not a good idea for dealers to sample their own wares. Stuff doesn't get done properly unless at least one person keeps a clear head. The ecology of the kraken: Ahh, the Kraken. Plenty of real world references to draw on for this epic monstrosity. From biblical, to the now obligatory Call of Cthulhu, to Tennyson, to less famous sailor stories. They have enormous brute force, but in D&D, they're also capable of surprising subtlety, controlling both the weather, and other sea creatures and leveraging those powers into further political influence. If they could actually work with each other without constant ego battles and betrayals, they could probably manage even more. Oh well, that's what keeps evil creatures from ruling the world, so be grateful for it. Another so-so and rather predictable ecology here, mostly fluff, with the usual Knowledge DC tables and the reiteration of a neglected 2nd ed god that many of them worship. And so another little shred of my sanity is ground away by this seemingly endless journey. Wormfood: From finding a home, we now move on to the shopping opportunities in your new location. Once again a rather mundane bit of worldbuilding, and you can see why they didn't want it cluttering up the main adventure. On the other hand, there is quite a bit of useful stuff that isn't in the corebooks. How often are you going to want to buy a canary or smelling salts? I guess this means that the linked adventure involves mining in some way. A bit of cheek really. Adventurers are supposed to be delving dungeons at low level, not carving out their own. Still, you get to find out about the local booze, drugs, and healing stuff. While certainly not as extensive as the inn of the last home or Aurora's whole realms catalogue, this exactly the kind of overdevelopment that killed gameworlds in the last decade. Once again, I'm not particularly enthralled by this. I hope the main plot is getting down to action quicker than this.</blockquote>

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