Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 6263578" data-attributes="member: 27780">Dragon Issue 359: September 2007 part 7/8The ecology of the Tarrasque: Hmm. So it's your final ecology. How do you make sure you go out with something big. Something that defines the D&D experience. Something that hasn't been done before. And then it hits you. No-ones done the tarrasque yet. The tarrasque, while not really the most badass monster in the game, has a unique position, seemingly designed specifically to serve as the capstone for an ordinary game, or the gateway monster to an epic one. A monster that you can't kill by simple application of force. A monster that spends most of it's time asleep, and can erupt into any campaign and devastate the land without warning, and then disappear again just as suddenly even if you fail to foil it. It makes for very dramatic stories indeed. And they get in not one, but two of the biggest names in ecologies to handle this one. Ed Greenwood shows up again to do the main part, with a cameo by Johnathan M Richard's association of monster hunters. Since both of these guys like their whimsy, the fiction does have some quite mischievous flourishes, including mention of how the creature has changed in the editions, and a foreshadowing of the big bit of loophole closing screwage that they would institute in 4e. Ed reminds us that he really is the king of weird little biological details and their implications, as well as useful little rules clarifications, which is something they almost totally lost in their drive for big bits of shiny new crunch. Not that they neglect the big stuff either, with a CR30 advanced version of the tarrasque for those of you who get well into the epic levels before encountering it, and want it to stay genuinely scary. They even have a footnote, although it's a bit half-hearted. In other words, they draw from all the best parts of the ecology format from the last 25 years, and combine them in one kickass package. They really ought to have done this before the magazine was about to end. You shouldn't be afraid to try new things, but you also shouldn't be ashamed to go back to old methods if they work better than the ones you're currently trying. It's not nostalgia if it's still very much applicable to now. Savage tidings: Welcome to the end of the adventure. If it weren't for this, the magazine would have come to an end several months sooner, and for that it definitely deserves credit. We finish off this series by looking back at what came before, and forward to what might come ahead. These recaps are actually very helpful to me, because of course I haven't read the Dungeon adventures, so this finally lets me have a better idea of what's been going on between the snapshots. Once again we have advice on how to incorporate new characters, which is of course increasingly awkward at this stage in the game. And they tackle the tricky question of what you do next. Epic levels are problematic in D&D in any edition, and especially when the entire campaign up to that point has been scripted, finishing that plot and suddenly opening things up usually results in anticlimax and grinding to a halt (see Babylon 5 for a great example of this.) You should either make plans even before it finishes, or be ready to say "and they lived happily ever after." and finish on a high. Will I live happily ever after now this is over? No chance. That's the difference between stories and reality. No matter what triumphs you make in reality, the ending is always going to be the same. Deterioration and eventual death. Still, once again, they've shown that they are aware of all the common problems, and taken steps to counter them. They've solved a good number of the problems inherent in the gameplay of 3.5. We can't expect them to solve reality as well. So lets sign off with the knowledge that at least our characters can get a happy ending, even if we don't. Peace out. Volo's guide: This column is one of the few articles that feels like business as usual this month. Still, they probably had to choose which article from their buffer would get to go out this month. And not too surprisingly, they've picked another post metaplot event update. They warn you not to read this if you're playing the adventures and books where this stuff takes place. So let's see how Myth Drannor is coping, another 6 months after it's reclamation. Open violence has subsided quite a bit, but a definite siege mentality is developing, as both the zhents and drow enjoy hit and run attacks taking advantage of the woods and darkness. The really big monsters are pretty much gone, but there's still tons of little bits to unseal, many of which are still trapped. Surely there's only so much to uncover though. Give it 10 years, and the frontier town will become pacified and civilised, and within a century it'll be a thriving city again. What a co-incidence that they're planning a timeslip of that length over the edition change. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> They also include a full history of how we got to this point. As you'd expect, entries increase substantially in frequency once we get to the era we actually lived through. It's a good example of how things develop very differently in fiction when events happen in the present rather than as backstory. How long will the Realms enjoy that kind of attention before it dies, or at least goes on hiatus like all the other D&D settings have at some point. Being made into the living campaign world for the RPGA has pretty much assured it's survival for the duration of 4e, but what then? The novels certainly aren't coming with the frequency or sales they used to, nor are the rules books. Will even the biggest D&D setting die eventually? Or will it outlive it's creator, and still be going centuries of real time and millennia of game time in the future like Oz? Anyone going to offer odds? Lets hope for the best, because it still seems like there's room for tons of cool adventures in the Realms, even after all the cheese and crap it's had to deal with. Dragonmarks: Keith Baker takes the reins personally for the final instalment of his campaign articles, instead of just overseeing things and writing portentous introductions. Another good example of their philosophy to get the big guns in and ensure they go out with a bang. He doesn't disappoint, with a collection of speculations and information about the Mourning. Playing on the fears of both nuclear and biological apocalypse, the city of khorvaire may be ruined, but ...... things lurk in the mist. Some of them insane, some of them incomprehensible, and others just irredeemably sociopathic, but none escaped unscathed. (and this month's influences aaare - Kingdom hearts, and Robin Hobb's Assassin series. ) Why did it happen? Will it happen again? If this was any of the old AD&D lines, these questions would be canonically answered in a few years, but thanks to eberron's frozen timeline, this may never happen. Will this change come next edition. As of writing this, I'm not sure. Still, we have more than enough plot hooks here to run a good few adventures. The rest of the story is up to you. Don't be afraid to take it in directions the original writers never intended. The canon police will not break down your door for doing so.</blockquote>

Verification