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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dr Simon" data-source="post: 5949289" data-attributes="member: 21938">Part Two: Consolidation (Issues 11-20)<a href="http://index.rpg.net/display-entry.phtml?mainid=5923" target="_blank"><img src="http://index.rpg.net/pictures/show-thumbnail.phtml?picid=6799" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" /></a> <a href="http://index.rpg.net/display-entry.phtml?mainid=5925" target="_blank"><img src="http://index.rpg.net/pictures/show-thumbnail.phtml?picid=6808" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" /></a>OverviewThe Dwarf is still bi-monthly over this period from February 1979 to September 1980, and the cover price rises to 75p. I’ve called this period “consolidation” because it is during this run that the magazine begins to be divided into regular “Departments” such as Fiend Factory, Treasure Chest and Open Box, and “Features” that are particular to each issue. Lew Pulsipher continues to be a prolific contributor but Don Turnbull moves over to run TSR UK, leaving Fiend Factory in the capable hands of Albie Fiore. Other rising voices are Bob McWilliams who gets his first Starbase department devoted to all things Traveller, and the Rogers Musson and E. Moore, prolific designers of monsters. Generally, the quality of production and writing continues to improve, with a better balance between the sensible articles and ideas and the silly ones.<a href="http://index.rpg.net/display-entry.phtml?mainid=5927" target="_blank"><img src="http://index.rpg.net/pictures/show-thumbnail.phtml?picid=6810" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" /></a> <a href="http://index.rpg.net/display-entry.phtml?mainid=5929" target="_blank"><img src="http://index.rpg.net/pictures/show-thumbnail.phtml?picid=6812" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" /></a>GamesConsolidation is the key again. TSR’s D&D output stabilises to a steady stream of adventures, including Tomb of Horrors and playing aids such as Rogues Gallery, with the most notable releases during this period being the hardback Dungeon Masters Guide and UK-produced Fiend Folio. Chaosium continue to put out new RuneQuest material such as Balastor’s Barracks, slowly but surely, and GDW unleash a fair torrent of Traveller books including Mercenary, High Guard, The Kinunir and The Spinward Marches. Judges’s Guild churn out scenario packs for all three games, but their more amateurish quality is already beginning to lag behind the professional standard of the three main publishers. There are few new games – Boot Hill and Top Secret from TSR and The Fantasy Trip, one of those generic fantasy games that hung around without ever making a true impact.<a href="http://index.rpg.net/display-entry.phtml?mainid=5930" target="_blank"><img src="http://[url]http://index.rpg.net/pictures/show-thumbnail.phtml?picid=6813[/url]" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" /></a> <a href="http://index.rpg.net/display-entry.phtml?mainid=5933" target="_blank"><img src="http://index.rpg.net/pictures/show-thumbnail.phtml?picid=6814" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" /></a>ScenariosTop of the heap is Albie Fiore again, this time with The Halls of Tizun Thane. Like The Lichway this is a large setting occupied by a mix of existing and new occupants, with a logical and sensible layout, multiple paths and a great decadent feel remniscent of Golden Age fantasy (I think it’s the black lotus and slave girls that does it…). I remember finding it daunting when I first came across it back in Best of White Dwarf Scenarios I. Although designed for 1st level characters (albeit the inevitable 1e horde of 6-10 players) the first encounter areas include a stone golem in one and 50 inhabitants in another. It shouldn’t really pan out, though, that PCs would have to face either set of opponents in a fight. A truly excellent adventure, worth digging out today.D&D-wise there are a few other adventures that made it to Best of White Dwarf Scenarios I, including Grakt’s Crag (by Will Stephenson), which is much more linear and belongs to the “dungeon as series of puzzles” school of adventure design and doesn’t make much logical sense, with such tricks/traps as the elevator rooms. The Pool of the Standing Stones (by Bill Howard) is also to be found in Best of White Dwarf Scenarios 1. This adventure sets itself up as having a druidic theme but quickly becomes a series of “orc-and-pie” dungeon rooms with little relevance to druids, although the Big Evil Boss is a good design, a kind of skeletal half-fiend. Issue 20 features the first of a run of new-style Fiend Factories, adventure outlines designed around thematically-linked monsters. The first is swamp-based, but most of the creatures are not far off others. John Gordon’s Creeper, for example, is pretty much a shambling mound variant, and there’s not much between Phil Masters’ Frog-Folk and bullywugs. Michael Wilkinson’s Melodemon is quite good, a kind of singing snake with a range of song-based spell-like abilities. I do love the Cauldron Born, though; zombie-like creatures where the survivors get stronger as each one is killed off (by Tim Walters). Lew Pulsipher’s Bar-room Brawl is a D&D-based mini-game. I’ve played that one, it’s good fun and I think was used at a convention.Notably, the other scenarios are all for a range of systems. Paths of the Lil is for Gamma World by Drawmij himself, Jim Ward, featuring the eponymous pixie-like mutants in their hedge lair. Functional, but no interesting twists. RuneQuest gets Jorthan’s Rescue ( by Steve Marsh and John Sapienza Jr.) and Lair of the White Wyrm (by John Bethell). Wyrm is a fairly simple “zoo” dungeon, not overly exciting but the duck barbarian Quincy, Master of Quack-Fu, is an entertaining NPC if you are of the kind of RQer who likes rather than hates the ducks (I am unashamedly pro-duck. I think Quincy may have been an influence on Al Orange, the recurring duck NPC in my old RuneQuest campaign. And to think I complain about “silly” ideas…). Jorthan’s Rescue is a simple raid scenario against trollkin but is set up to showcase the RQ combat a lot better than Wyrm. I’ve played this one, it’s brief but fun with trollkin getting flung down staircases and the like. For Traveller there is The Sable Rose Affair (Bob McWilliams), a very detailed scenario that allows for plenty of scope for player and referee freedom but ultimately feels very low tech (it really comes down to a bar fight). The presentation, laid out as if the adventure elements were notes from a file, is one that is used for Traveller adventures for some time to come. Chivalry and Sorcery gets a little wilderness scenario, Ogre Hunt (by Tom Keenes); a simple but pleasant adventure with seven encounter areas that goes for mood over problem-solving and combat but is none the worse for that.<a href="http://index.rpg.net/display-entry.phtml?mainid=5951" target="_blank"><img src="http://index.rpg.net/pictures/show-thumbnail.phtml?picid=6830" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" /></a> <a href="http://index.rpg.net/display-entry.phtml?mainid=5957" target="_blank"><img src="http://index.rpg.net/pictures/show-thumbnail.phtml?picid=6835" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" /></a>ArticlesOver this period the magazine moves away from the more whimsical (or just plain silly) material (such as the Weakling Class in issue 11) to a more predominantly serious tone, with just a touch of whimsy instead. It also sets up the regular “Departments” such as Fiend Factory (new monsters), Open Box (reviews) and Treasure Chest (miscellany) as separate from Feature articles.The Fiend Factory continues to offer much of the same, although I think the new editor Albie Fiore prefers creatures that can play a multitude of roles as opposed to the gimmicky creatures favoured by Don Turnbull. A readers poll reveals that the top 10 monsters are (from 1-10), Necrophidius, Russian Doll Monster, Svart, Needleman, Hook Horror, Githyanki, Imps (who later became mephits), Volt, Urchin, Dahdi. Note that many of those have survived through multiple editions, mainly because they are well-thought out and not just a joke or a bad pun. The Russian Doll Monster is a Hill Giant, which when killed opens to reveal an Ogre, then a Bugbear, a Hobgoblin, a Goblin and finally a Leprechaun who has been controlling the whole thing. A gimmick, but quite a fun one. The Dahdi, as you may recall, is an inverse Mummy that heals you (apparently it was thrown out of the pyramid for trying to wear the trousers). The worst 5 were voted as (from 1 (worst) to 5) - Nas Nas, Dahdi, Withra, Stinwicodech, Pebble Gnome. Two of these; the dahdi and the withra, are “inverse” undead. The nas-nas (half a person) and the stinwicodech (which randomly raises or lowers one of your ability scores) are simply unimpressive creatures that are more likely to cause scorn than fear, and the pebble gnome is a species of gnome who don’t fight, have no magic and don’t adventure.Good creatures to come out of this period include the aforementioned Githyanki (by Charles Stross). We all know about them. Also the Cauldron Born, Mandrake People (by Glen Goddard) and the Phung (by Simon Tilbrook), which has a great picture. This latter is adapted from The City of the Chasch, part of Jack Vance’s Planet of Adventure series. Tilbrook also invented the necrophidius. The mandrake people have quite a well-developed life cycle with added adventure fodder – their young, acorn-like things known as bantlings, can be used as an aphrodisiac by humans, setting up a source of conflict.<img src="http://www.enworld.org/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=51991&stc=1&d=1340092578" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />The Phung, by Polly WilsonTreasure Chest similarly moves away from whimsy to sensible. During this period it has themes each issue – this might be new spells, artefacts and relics or NPCs. Notable examples include the Swords of Meryn Caradoc by Roger Coult; which aren’t that well thought-out in terms of their mechanical effects but I like the idea that they function as magic items but aren’t magic, they’re simply from another world. The potions special seems to bring out the worst in vindictive or abitrary DMs, with loads that are harmful and only one or two that are beneficial. The follicle philtre (by James Meek) might be fun; it causes the imbiber to grow hair uncontrollably. The potion of wall delusion by Marc Gascoigne is just a very bizarre exercise in messing with the players. It causes the imbiber to think that all doors are walls, and they become frenzied if anyone tries to make them walk through what they think is a solid wall. Odd. I liked Daniel Adler’s spell, Jebanself’s Eye of Back-Seeing when I misread the name as Eye of Black-Seeing, implying some kind of Vancian artefact that allows you to see in the dark but with dangerous consequences. As it is it grows an extra eye, and tries to use Science! to explain it, not as interesting as I’d hoped.There are some interesting ideas on new character classes, so much so that a new department, Character Conjuring, is set up. The Berserker (by Roger E Moore) seems redundant next to the already existing barbarian, but its powers are remarkably similar to modern barbarians; I think it’s an upgrade from the earlier class as its by the same author. The Alchemist NPC class (Tony Chamberlain) is quite limited in scope, not far off the modern Adept. More interesting is an article by Lew Pulsipher which basically predicts Savage Species, with character classes for the Lammasu, Stone Giant, Werebear and a pack(!) of Blink Dogs (as you increase levels you gain more dogs – I’d love to know if/how this worked in play). It includes some 1st Ed.-style arbitrary rulings (monsters can only heal naturally, not with spells) but contains some good ideas. The Houri class (by Brian Asbury) is a good old-fashioned sexist idea and useless for dungeoneering (her powers revolve around seduction and magical charms). You could do the same with a Beguiler these days; the various kiss spells are a good idea, though.Traveller gets a lot of material, pretty much something each issue with new rules or rules expansions, mostly in an ongoing series of articles called The Expanding Universe by Andy Slack. Since GDW are also publishing at a rate of knots some of this quickly gets superceded by official material but it is generally well thought-out and was probably useful at the time. The Criminal career, for instance, becomes largely redundant with the publication of Citizens of the Imperium, but there is an expanded Scout career (along the lines of Mercenary and High Guard) that lasts a long time before GDW get around to releasing Book 6: Scouts. So prolific is the Traveller material, in fact, that it leads to Starbase, a regular Traveller department edited by Bob “Sable Rose” McWilliams.Other articles tend to give crunch rather than advice on “playing the game”. Phil Masters’ Dungeons and Dragoons is a useful discussion on the armaments and tactics of various historical troops, from Aztecs to Carolingian franks, good in that it moves the focus away from standard knights-in-armour fantasy. Roger Musson’s “How to Lose Hit Points and Survive” article essentially predicts the Vitality/Wounds variant, and he also attempts rules for clerical conversion which are okay – I tried to incorporate them into my game once but they never really saw much use. Also of interest are interviews with Gary Gygax and Greg Stafford where they outline how they got started in the RPG writing business. Both seem like nice blokes.<a href="http://index.rpg.net/display-entry.phtml?mainid=5958" target="_blank"><img src="http://index.rpg.net/pictures/show-thumbnail.phtml?picid=6836" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" /></a> <a href="http://index.rpg.net/display-entry.phtml?mainid=5959" target="_blank"><img src="http://index.rpg.net/pictures/show-thumbnail.phtml?picid=6837" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" /></a>General ThoughtsThe rise in quality of production and writing continues. I for one am glad to see the reduction in just plain silly ideas. There’s a place for whimsy (in a game that include the Gelatinous Cube and the Rust Monster) but it’s a finely drawn line between whimsy and stupid, and I think that the Fiend Factory Readers’ Poll shows that I’m not alone (with some creatures like the Dahdi demonstrating that the line between them is often a personal one). I think one of the problems with the silly ideas was that they were largely vindictive, along the lines of cursed magic items. You can play a game like that, but it palls quickly. What’s also good to see is the opening up of the gaming world to different settings and game systems. I have to confess that I’ve never been big fan of Traveller but it’s interesting to see how quickly it takes off. Granted, some of that perception of speed is due to the contracted timescale of re-reading these magazines, but there’s a lot of material released by GDW on a regular basis. By issue 20 it is roughly 2 years since the release of Traveller, which Don Turnbull predicted would be of only marginal interest to roleplayers…The "answers" to Fred Hemmings’ riddles (from Issue 3) “What would you do with a flying door?” Smoke it (Condor, a brand of cigar).“Someday...Judy Garland.” Opened by wishing upon a star. (Surely that's Jiminy Cricket? Shouldn't it be something to do with over the raindbow?)“What fruit grow on pylons?” Electric Currants“This street is closed.” Open Sesame“State that you stand as did Maude’s suitor.” I stand at the gate alone.I wonder why the players had such trouble with those…. On re-reading this, it occurred to me that this intrusion of real world things (such as cigar adverts and Tennyson) is another area of whimsy that was indicative of the early years.</blockquote>

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