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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 6271207" data-attributes="member: 27780">Best of Dragon Magazine 3part 1/682 pages. Well, at least they're using a different dragon for the cover this time even if it's still recycled from other products. I suppose that's the point, really. As with the last one, they have a bunch of themed chapters, and I shall have to see if there's enough good material within each for them to make sense, or they should have held back a little longer again. After all, the more best of's they do, the more esoteric the topics will have to become. FINISHING THE RACES: Last issue, Gary got a whole chapter dedicated to his writings. This time, it's Roger Moore's turn, as his series expanding on the various demihuman races and their gods proved quite the hit. By collecting and reprinting them just a year after they first came out, they ensure that these guys would be a mainstay of the D&D cosmology for many years to come, until 3e wiped the slate again and focussed on just the head honcho of each race. Since I mostly liked these first time round, I'm definitely more optimistic now than I was going into the last best of. Let's see if they've held up with age and don't look too dated or cheesy like many childhood favourites from the 80's. The dwarven point of view: Dwarves have appeared in a fair number of books and movies before D&D, and so while dwarves do have a racial stereotype, it's a fairly nuanced one. They might be serious and hardworking, but they also love a good drink. They might be sensible and reliable, but they can have their head turned by shiny things and corrupted by greed. They're suspicious of and resistant to magic, but also produce a quite a few really cool magical items, and more that might as well be magical to anyone else. It means you have plenty of options to choose from for your own character without it them seeming completely uncharacteristic. And fortunately, Roger had enough room to talk about them all here, as well as giving his opinion on the great women with beards debate. (he's all for it, gives you something to hang onto) This still feels both useful, and seasoned with enough lighthearted humour to make entertaining reading, and right away, I can quite understand why they wanted to reprint these. The gods of the dwarves: The gods of the dwarves still look pretty solid too, showing us the good, neutral and evil sides of their nature. Whether they're fighters, miners or merchants, there's plenty of opportunity for them to get involved in adventures, so a priest of any of them save possibly the token female home goddess fits in pretty well with an adventuring party. Even Abbathor's servants make a pretty good addition to a group focussed on killing and taking of stuff, as long as they accept they have to share to some degree for greater long-term profit. So these remain useful as both protagonists and antagonists, even if you have a dwarf in the party, since dwarves are hardly united as a race. Definitely already happier about these than I was about last issue. The elven point of view: While elves do have a fair amount of variety, with a load of subraces, it's all presented in a far more glowing light than dwarves. There's always been the temptation to make them into mary-sues, and Roger was no exception. Their long lifespan gives them the time to have fun, laze around and flit between lots of different projects, because they know they still have the time to get things done. They do have some sadness in their life, because they see so many thing around them die or fade away, but they're equipped to deal with it. So not only are they Better Than You, they make it look easy. It's no wonder they get a fair bit of backlash as well. It's unfortunate to be reminded that Roger is part of the problem in this case.</blockquote>

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