White Dwarf Reflections #33

This month Ian Livingstone notes that times are changing in the industry. In the 70s you could pretty easily create a game and get it out there, and expect sales in a small market with a growing customer base. But now the quality in terms of design and production are increasing, as well as the quantity of games out there, so customers are getting more discerning in their purchases. Will this squeeze out the smaller publishers or will good ideas still get traction? Personally, I’d like to think that even in such a vast market today, truly excellent games often still get their voices heard. Both Fate and Powered by the Apocalypse started as very small indie games, and we’ve had more recent indie releases like Fabula Ultima, Stars Without Number, Blades in the Dark and Mothership proving very popular. Many companies grew from indie publisher to major publisher with either determination or a good idea that caught the imagination the right way. These days streaming shows can also publicise an otherwise lesser known game as well (such as Daggerheart).

Also of note this issue is that the classified ads are becoming more entertaining. White Dwarf charged to advertise for products, but you could advertise a club for free or have 40 words of personal ad for free (such as ads looking for new players or selling old games). It seems people have started to find fun ways to use those 40 words and are getting more imaginative with their adverts.

On the Cover​

A full moon looks over a stone road that leads along a canyon to a strange alien lighthouse. Huge stone statues line the sides, carved in the shape of gigantic birds and other creatures. A lone traveller prepares to embark along the path, over the world and snake mosaics inlaid into the stone. This is the second of Andrew George’s two covers, his other being White Dwarf #29. I still can’t find out much about this artist, so comment below if you know more about his career.

Features​

• Arms at the Ready Part II (Lew Pulsipher): A quick extra page of to hit charts organised by weapon instead of class for 1st edition AD&D. If you liked the previous version in White Dwarf #31, you’ll like this one.
• Brevet Rank for Low Level Characters (Lew Pulsipher) This is a quick article on how to fairly grant temporary levels and the following XP to a character who isn’t advanced enough for a dungeon offered at (for instance) a convention. This is an odd one as I’d just make up a character of that level, or play a pregen. I used to do that all the time when we played a published module. Having a character of the right level was a bonus, as working one up from level 1 just didn’t work. But what was your experience? Did you run lots of one off modules or mount campaigns from level 1? If the latter, what happened when a new character joined and the others were at a higher level?
• Rumble at the Tin Inn (Michael Cule): An admitted adaptation to Runequest of Lew Pulsipher’s “Bar Room Brawl” from White Dwarf #11. It’s a solid melee scenario but the characters aren’t anywhere near as fun as the originals.
• The Town Planner Part 3: Running Towns and Cities (Paul Vernon): This series continues with a look at running a large town or city, not as a GM but as a mayor or lord. It looks at the various medieval positions of responsibility and what they do.
• Weapons for Traveller (Bob McWilliams): More of a “double page Starbase” McWilliams presents a wide variety of weapons readers have sent in for Traveller. Some are odd, some obvious, but good to have stats for the more obvious ones to save you the trouble!

Regulars​

• Letters: Not so much computer argument for a change, but still some. There is faint praise for Runerites with a reader saying how he likes more Ruenquest stuff but the offerings haven’t been much good. The editor replies that he (and other RQ fans) should submit more stuff in that case. More usefully there is a long letter with several Runequest rules questions, which get very solid answers from the team.
• News: Midguardian becomes Mega City News this month with the release of the Games Workshop Judge Dredd board game coming up for Games Day ’82. The con scene is growing it seems with Treasure Trap doing live combat demonstrations at Dragonmeet in July. Could that be the first British LARP appearance at a con? There are a lot of releases across the board, with no single company dropping a ton of stuff this month. There are more Dungeon Floor Plans sets from Games Workshop. Chaosium have just released Cults of Prax for Runequest. Flying Buffalo will be releasing a new RPG called The Morrow Project which will be quite popular. Star Fleet Battles is getting more expansion sets, as is Car Wars from Steve Jackson with a new set called Sunday Drivers. There is a new high school RPG on the way from Oracle Games called Alma Mater. RPG Inc is releasing a Vietnam RPG called Recon. Palladium will pick this one up in 1986 with Revised Recon much later on.
• Runerites: We take a look at Invisibility with some magic items, GM advice and a note from Greg Stafford as to why he doesn’t allow it in his campaigns. It’s an interesting point, essentially saying that Invisibility allows characters to avoid conflict and confrontation, which makes for less interesting stories. There is also a bit more space now they have taken away the long terms and conditions for Runerites submissions!
• Starbase: It’s a big weapons issue for Traveller this month, with Starbase offering “Guns for Sale”. It’s an excellent and simple system that might fit any similar game. There is a set percentage chance for the availability of each weapon at its minimum tech level and maximum legality. Then you get a bonus or penalty if the planet you are on is more lawless or more advanced etc. Very nicely done.
• Treasure Chest: In possibly it’s most mixed bag yet, we get a wordsearch, a magical Rubik’s cube, a potion, a spell, and a short system for armour dilapidation damage.

Fiend Factory​

Still no mini-adventure, which makes me wonder if that’s a thing of the past. But the theme this month is “psionic creatures” and it’s a very mixed bag:

• Giant Mole (Roger E Moore): A big mole, as you’d expect. Not quite sure why it needed to be psionic.
• Grimp (L. Barton): A gargoyle/Imp creature with some tricky spell like powers. Not very psionic, but armed with psionic defences.
• Psi-Mule (Phil Masters): A carnivorous psychic donkey who wears a few jewel laden packs to tempt adventurers close. A very nasty surprise! I really shouldn’t like this idea but I really do.
• Psitan (Andy Wouldham): A species of Mekon-like brainiacs with powerful psionic abilities and little or no physique.
• Zytara, Lord of the Mind Flayers (Charles Stross): The biggest, scariest and most dangerous Mind Flayer there is, as if they needed to be more dangerous!

Open Box​

This month’s reviews are:

• Elric, Boardgame (Chaosium): This is an update of the of the 1977 game of the same name. It’s still a popular game and one with a lot of potential endings and will see another new version in 2022.
• Grimtooth’s Traps, Generic Supplement (Flying Buffalo Inc): The first of what will become an exceptionally popular, often reprinted, and long running series. Pretty much the standard GM “go to” for those who want fiendish traps.
• Slaver’s Series AD&D Modules, AD&D Adventures (TSR): One of the most popular early module campaigns (like “Against the Giants”) which were developed from convention competition adventures into four standalone modules: A1 Slave Pits of the Undercity, A2 Secret of the Slaver’s Stockade, A3 Assault on the Aerie of the Slave Lords and A4 In the Dungeons of the Slave Lords. They have been reprinted several times, including as a collected campaign for 2nd and 3rd edition. Like White Plume Mountain and Keep on the Borderlands, if you’ve ever played D&D you’ve probably played at least one of them.
• Striker, Miniature Rules (GDW): While GDW isn’t short of Traveller related wargames, this one will be more familiar to the RPGers as it will often partner together. It has some interesting and realistic options, mostly in the form of giving orders to troops who may, or may not, understand them properly.