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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 6261291" data-attributes="member: 27780">Dragon Issue 359: September 2007 part 2/8First watch continues to be of greater than usual size this month, as they try and cram in as much stuff as possible, including things not actually coming out for a while. Still, there are plenty of other sources for finding out what's coming next now. It's not as if the magazine is essential for tying the hobby together anymore, with the internet doing things faster and with more commentary. First up is Exemplars of Evil. Which looks to me rather like Book of Vile Darkness II: DM advice bogaloo. Well, they are increasingly focussing on sequels to things that sell well. As with the other ones, I just have to hope they figured out how to put a different spin on the topic and introduce new ideas. Second is the conclusion of their module trilogy, with Fortress of the Yuan-ti. This looks pretty self explanatory. A mid level adventure starring their well loved genius snake-men hybrids. They're also releasing a new set of dungeon tiles, but don't have the space to tell us about it. Oh well. It's not as if those offered any great surprises either. Slightly more surprising, and quite possibly amusing, is A Grand History of the Realms. An attempt to weave the tangled chronology of the sourcebooks, modules and novels into a coherent tapestry, and resolve inconsistencies, this certainly looks like it has the potential to reveal more than a few things I've always wondered about, and more that I never even thought of. Still, soon this'll be out of date as well,  as the realms progresses ever forward, the biggest and busiest D&D world of all. Long may it do so, for it does still have tons of cool stuff amid the silliness. Paizo do not hesitate to promote their own projects, of course. Old Skool modules with modern production values continue to be one of their prongs of assault. U1: Gallery of evil. J1: Entombed with the Pharohs. E1: Carnival of tears. And J2: Guardians of Dragonfall. They're going to release one a month for the forseeable future, until diminishing returns force them to kill or alter the format. They're also releasing a compilation of their various Game Mastery aids, complete with some bonus extras. Will that help clear out some warehouse space for their next projects. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f61b.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":p" title="Stick out tongue    :p"  data-smilie="7"data-shortname=":p" /> They also continue to support their long time friends. Green Ronin are still doing plenty of stuff with Freeport, with two new books, one providing lots of setting details, and the other focussing on the crunch. Guess which one'll probably sell more. They're also following up their deck of many things with a Deck of Illusions. Another classic item gets a solid representation for players to actually draw from, which adds to the fun. Goodman Games are up to their 50th Dungeon Crawl Classic, Vault of the Iron overlord. And it is indeed a doozy, with the players venturing inside a still active mechanical device who's parts move around, making mapping very tricky indeed. Sounds like the kind of thing I'd enjoy running. On the minis side, we have a decent selection as well. Dwarven Forge return to their Cavernous Lake, filling it with all new items that can be placed in many places. Must have proved quite popular then. And Privateer Press release Hordes: Evolution, letting you do new things with your rampaging warbeasts. This ain't your kid's pokemon. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" /> Can you keep control of all your minis, and the things they represent? Several other games get mentioned as well. Talisman's new edition is now out, another case of repeated spoilage around here. Key Largo is finally completed, despite the death of it's creator, thanks to a little work from familiar name Mike Selinker. Slugfest games release the Red Dragon Inn, a card game where adventurers kick back and have a little fun at the tavern, while trying to ensure they get the most spoils when they're divided up. Sounds like a good game to use as a minigame in a campaign. And Privateer Press release Infernal Contraption, where mad inventors compete to build the scariest machines, just as wizards do with spells. The gap between them isn't that great, really. Computer games get a disproportionate amount of page space, much of which is screenshots. NWNII: Mask of the betrayer gets another piece, which doesn't actually say much more than last time. They also choose the Culdcept Saga, which looks like a cross between Yugi-oh and Mega Man:Battle network. Turn based, deck controlled combat, and grid based movement between events, it also has elements of monopoly, of all things. If you like CCG's, this could well satisfy that itch for a bit. In movies, they promote Beowulf. Ahh, yes, the one where they use CG technology to give Ray Winstone a hypermuscled body and Grendel's mom is a sexy shapeshifter who gives birth to the dragon that kills them at the end. Not exactly a great classic film. Still, they're getting some tie-in products as well, so they have good hopes for this. Beowulf: the movie board game is one of these. Since it's basically an adaption of an existing game, this doesn't seem particularly brilliant either. If I'm wrong, I'd be happy to hear it though. Our final topics are mainly for observing, not buying. Steel Sqwire are producing artwork made of thousands of carefully arranged dice, and are showing an exhibition at Gen Con. You could buy one of these, or even commission something specialy, but it'd be expensive. You could also visit the Mythic creatures Exhibit at the museum of natural history. Of course, that's probably long ended by now, but these things are like busses. There'll be something very similar again in a few years, possibly even now if you know where to look. And I must say I'm quite eager to look around, see what cool new things are going on once I've finally completed this trek through history.</blockquote>

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