In this issue, Ian Livingstone defends the price of games, which given the price they are now in comparison this does raise a smile. White Dwarf remains 60p per issue (these days much more pages but £6.99 per issue) and the new AD&D Dungeon Master’s Guide is £9.95 (compared to £41.99 today). Even so, his points in the editorial still remain valid. RPGs remain incredible value for money given how long they last and how much use you get out of them, more so if you compare them to trainers and barista coffee.
What is especially noteworthy is the list of what games are being played. Unsurprisingly Dungeons and Dragons is the front runner, with just over half the readership. Traveller is its closest rival with 16% and then with between 7-9% are Gamma World, Runequest and Chivalry & Sorcery. Gangster and Boot Hill bring up the tail end with 2% each. En Guarde, Superhero ’44 and Starships & Spacemen get honourable mentions.
On the Cover
The skeletal remains of a space explorer lie buried in the sand. His vast spacecraft lies broken and falling apart behind him. This cover is by Angus McKie whose work is iconic of the time, especially as a contributor to the “Terran Trade Authority” books and “Heavy Metal” Magazine.Features
There are also the results of the questionnaire from last issue. Not much has changed in terms of what readers want, with Fiend Factory still the most popular feature. Barroom Brawl (Lew Pulsipher #11), Expanding Universe (Andy Slack #13-16), and The Lichway (Albie Fiore #9) are the favourite articles so far.What is especially noteworthy is the list of what games are being played. Unsurprisingly Dungeons and Dragons is the front runner, with just over half the readership. Traveller is its closest rival with 16% and then with between 7-9% are Gamma World, Runequest and Chivalry & Sorcery. Gangster and Boot Hill bring up the tail end with 2% each. En Guarde, Superhero ’44 and Starships & Spacemen get honourable mentions.
- Greg Stafford Interview: Somewhat bittersweet to read this interview with a young and now sadly missed Greg Stafford. He was not only one of the fathers of the industry but (certainly for me at least) one of the greatest games designers of all time. He talks about his influences and what he hopes to see The Chaosium and Runequest develop into. I also note with a wry smile he mentions they are negotiating for a new RPG based on H.P. Lovecraft’s work…
- My Life as a Werebear (Lew Pulsipher): How to run monsters as player characters. This is something of a quick and dirty option to get you started, and covers an eclectic selection of potential PCs, mostly to cover the possibilities: Lammasu, Werebear, Blink Dog and Stone Giant.
- Perception (Barney Sloane): A tiny article introducing a new Perception attribute to AD&D. Not a lot there and most of it is already covered in the sense that in 1st edition, Elves, Dwarves and Thieves were the ones you relied on to spot stuff. But having said that, every other RPG lets anyone have a go at spotting stuff so why shouldn’t D&D?
- The Magic Brush (Shaun Fuller): While I gave up on figure painting many years ago this is a good guide to getting started. This article mainly details setting up your new hobby in terms of what brushes, varnishes and paints etc. work best, essential information that you don’t see very often.
- The Sable Rose Affair (Bob McWilliams): It’s nice to see Traveller getting some love with this full adventure. The downside is the graphic artist goes a little wild with the layout so it’s hard to photocopy and cut out the various files to hand out to players as it suggests. It very detailed, even giving you the altitude layers flying cars on the planet drive at depending on their direction and details the launderette next to the bar you are attacking. I did wonder if it did all that but didn’t tell you what was in the safe in the bar office, but that detail is in the GM’s file. The information is great if the players go wildly off track, but the adventure is simply “go into the bar/nightclub and get the files”. But given you don’t often see such a fully detailed sandbox style adventure at this point it is noteworthy in its design. Not sure we really need quite so much detail though. I could probably improvise how many stalls each toilet has.
Regulars
- Letters: Everyone is still rather excited about Fiend Factory and how good (or not) the monsters are in it. Few people seem to realise their style of play and preferences might be subjective. Yet again the focus from many letter writers is “your rules are wrong, so here are some more rules, because I understand them much better than you” rather than how creatures got used in encounters. One interesting letter asks if there are two versions of the newly released Monster Manual, having found discrepancies between early and later print runs. Apart from notes on some changes to the cover between printings I can’t see any details on such a variance. Perhaps the next letters page will have an answer.
- Molten Magic: Gone again this issue, and now officially alternating since the questionnaire results.
- News: Not a vast amount of news this issue, except that Avalon Hill seem to be outsourcing their games to freelancers and republishing older games rather than increasing their in-house design. As it’s a slow news day there is mention of Star Trek: The Motion Picture and The Black Hole competing at the box office. But I must take issue with the suggestion that you shouldn’t bother with The Black Hole. It’s one of Disney’s best films of all time as far as I’m concerned.
- Treasure Chest: Six new magic items, some of which are very odd. I especially like the bones of an enlightened monk that have special power when crushed or eaten! All six are fun and interesting with a strong history and background, which always makes an item stand out.
Fiend Factory
A collection of new monsters created by readers. There is also a note with some amendments from previous versions. Man Scorpions have a lawful alignment and just in case they hadn’t massacred your entire party, Wreckers can now see invisible creatures and magic items as well!- Bodach (Michael Roberts): A new style of goblin style creature, in case you needed more of those.
- Goom (Nigel Proudfoot): A very sticky amoeba-like creature designed to adhere your player characters and cause trouble if more monsters are about.
- Green Worm (Ghee Bowman): Its worm week in Fiend Factory! This one is designed as a low powered version of the Purple Worm if you party like underground adventures but don’t want to die.
- Heat Skeleton (Nicolas Riggs): A pretty standard skeleton that can heat up metal objects for no particular reason.
- Night Rider (Chris Morris): A rather cool species drawn heavily from the Nazgul in Lord of the Rings but with enough of a twist to make them a little more interesting to encounter (and possible to talk to!).
- Spice Worm (Dave Tant): Its clearly “steal from the best” day with Night Rider’s followed by this smaller version of Dune’s Sandworms. Well, we had Fremen a while ago (Desert Raider WD#12) so it’s nice to be quietly developing the setting for D&D!
Open Box
This month’s reviews are:- Time War, Board/War Game (Yaquinto Publications): One of the first products from a new company run by two respected games designers that would become quite renowned over the 14 years it would operate. This game involves players trying to adapt history to create the future they need to win.
- Under the Storm Giant’s Castle, Dark Tower, The Caverns of Thracia, Operation Ogre, Adventure Modules for AD&D (Judges Guild): A pile of Judges Guild adventures, which are coming out thick and fast. So fast there seems little time to proofread apparently. Don Turnbull considers these a mixed bag, and not a patch on TSR’s module quality. However he does note that Caverns of Thracia and Dark Tower are both a significant cut above the others and worthy of TSR’s standard. So it’s worth noting that the author, Jennell Jaquays, would soon be working for TSR and many other companies.
