Dragon Magazine Issue 244: February 1998


part 7/8


The ecology of the sphinx: This is amusing. This story manages to weave together a tale of all four main sphinx types, and a wizard who manipulates their various tendencies to get what he wants. Man, their sex lives are even more fucked up than Lamias'. It's a wonder they manage to survive and perpetuate themselves. It's all pretty much as laid out in the monster manual, but of course much more fun to read about when it's happening to specific individuals, rather than some nebulous generic sphinxkind. The footnotes aren't very interesting or useful this time round, making this an entertaining but ultimately inconsequential entry in the series. On we go then.  


Dragonmirth may be playing the wrong game. Swordplay once again fail to kill each other. Floyd draws upon some very interesting magic tricks indeed.


Roleplaying reviews loses it's hyphen. In time, everything gets abbreviated. Fire bad. Space good, though. Rick thinks so, anyway, and he's got no shortage of designers who think likewise to review. So once more unto this topic, just to take things a bit further than the sky theme of the rest of the issue. Up up and away!

Trinity sees white wolf go sci-fi. Well, space opera anyway, as lets face it, it's hard to do psychics in space vs aliens and superheroes turned mutant monstrosities and keep the science particularly hard or avoid thinking of Star Wars. Rick is reasonably positive about it, as the setting and characters are vividly done, and the system streamlined somewhat from the WoD version. But it's still designed very much as the header for a ton of splatbooks, so he's not entirely happy about running a game there yet. Give it a little while, and hope it doesn't die before they get enough books out

Heavy Gear on the other hand, gets an overall negative review. It looks good, but the setting is exceedingly sketchy when contrasted with WW's, and the system has a nice core but huge impenetrable tactical combat rules. Plus they're more interested in mechs than the human scale stuff. One for wargamers who want to add a bit of roleplaying & plot to their epic battles.

The southern Republic tries to fill in the biggest nation of the setting, but the writing fails to enthuse rick, with it feeling as if the writers were struggling for inspiration. Far too many of the things are pretty direct real world lifts for a setting 4,000 years in the future, and some of them are just goofy. Is this what you want to do when not in your mechas?

Jovian Chronicles uses the same system as Heavy Gear, but gets a slightly more positive result because it's setting seems simultaneously closer to home, and with a more interesting setting. Still, that's merely a matter of degree, and it still seems rather tame when compared with Trinity. What was acceptable 10 years ago no longer cuts the mustard.

Mechanical catalog really concentrates on the vehicles of the setting, giving lots of example ones and showing you how to build your own. This actually gets the best marks, because it's the area the writers seem to be most enthusiastic about. So really, it's a case where the system has potentail, but they aren't really applying it to it's full capabilities yet.

Reign of steel is one of GURPS' most interesting settings yet. Ok, the basic theme is essentially that of the Terminator series future, but it's handled with style, and with a whole bunch of competing overminds, there's plenty of room for regional variation, and weird touches keep it from being a one note setting. Plus you can play as either the humans or the robots, in case you get bored. Who doesn't want to hunt down and slaughter human scum.


Re:Views: The Power seems to be an attempt to meld Mage and Changeling, as PC's are initiated into a secret world by eldrich entities where they can tap the dreamtime to manipulate reality through a deeper understanding of how it works. Just as with last month, this is a case of great flavour, but somewhat lacking mechanics. I guess they really are following in the White Wolf spirit. In any case, it's the kind of world that accommodates all the standard archetypes and adventures while not feeling too generic. It gives you another option if you want to do the dark modern fantasy thing.

Dragon Magazine Issue 244: February 1998


part 8/8


The KotDT crew are suckered into endless debate. This gives the GM breathing room to think and recover their sanity.


TSR Previews: Things start to step up in pace again in april. The forgotten realms continues to try and figure out what to do regarding Azoun IV's death. Just put a new king in and get on with things. You'd think they'd never heard the word succession. Also under stress this month is Evermeet: Island of elves. Elaine Cunningham has fun setting Malar against them. Will they have to swallow their pride and ask for help from humanity to survive?

Al-Qadim also gets some attention for the first time in a while. The appropriately titled Reunion compiles three linked tournament adventures where you have to complete some fairly solid objectives. Will you win, lose, or go off the rails?

Ravenloft finally reveals what lurks within The Shadow Rift. Gaping holes in the fabric of reality can only hang around so long without something coming to fill them.  Can your PC's do anything about this dire new menace?

Our monstrous Arcana series turns it's attention to illithids. The Illithiad is our third monster book. They've always been popular in the magazine, and it looks like another generation will get to enjoy being mindfucked and having their brains eaten in the next adventures.

Dragonlance has another anthology. Relics and Omens covers the period immediately after the Chaos Wars, as people adapt to the new world. Who will deal best with the changeover?

Dragon Dice is up to Kicker Pack 8: The Treefolk. Earth + Water = plantfolky goodness. Once again, the balance of power is upset as ever more sides join in the fight.

Looks like they've slipped out another game when we weren't looking as well. Marvel Super Dice? Man, they've missed no time jumping on the licencing. This pack gives us extra coolness for the avengers. Okey dokey.

And finally, they make another attempt at a generic system, 5 years after the last one. Less wacky than the Amazing Engine, Alternity attempts to position itself firmly in the modern day/sci=fi vein. Once again, they will try hard, and fall short of their primary cash cow to the extent that is isn't profitable to continue.


Profiles: When asked to feature in this series, Ed Greenwood massively overwrote, as usual. It's all because of his enormous, infectious enthusiasm though. He's produced the biggest, most detailed campaign world in the world, and he's still going. Much of this can be credited to his gaming group, which has been going since 1978 with the same core people, and who's questions and input help direct his imagination and keep his enthusiasm going. And he has a full time regular job as well. (although as a librarian, he probably gets plenty of free time to jot down ideas as they occur to him. ) It's not all sunshine, he's not as rich as he could have been if he got royalties from all the FR books, nor does he get as much creative control as he could have if he signed a better contract. But he doesn't seem too bothered (not that the magazine would publish it if he was) and is very happy that so many people have taken his words to heart. Hopefully he has several more decades of insanely prolific writing in him. As enjoyable a read as most of his contributions.


With several old school returnees, and a sufficiently new take on on the issue's topic that it doesn't feel particularly rehashed, plus some more upgrades in the overall presentation of the magazine, I rather like this issue. It shows they were not only reconciling with the obvious big names, but other writers as well, and really thinking about how to bring readers back. Do more epic features that make everyone who reads the magazine talk about it with their friends! Word of mouth is the most important thing for long-term success, and you'll never get anywhere if you don't make new legends to rival the old ones. Do something bold, give me something I can really care about.

Dragon Magazine Issue 245: March 1998


part 1/8


116 pages. It's a dwarf special. We haven't had one of these since 1982! And elves have had at least three I can recall since then. That's a bit of going back to your roots I can get behind. Wonder if halflings and gnomes will have to share theirs again when they next get one. And will goblinoids ever get a turn to shine instead of being mowed down like the mooks they are? Well, I guess we'll have to see. In the meantime, I shall skip shaving for the next couple of days to get into character.


In this issue:


The wyrms turn: Alternity may have been delayed a bit because of all the financial problems, but it's still coming out. And here they ask if they should give it lots of coverage in the magazine, a little, or none at all. A question which is almost guaranteed to result in them taking the middle path and putting maybe 1 article a month in here, given the way it's phrased. Still, hopefully there'll be some more specific suggestions that the writers can take on board. And hopefully they'll do a better job of promoting it than they did many of their other products. The 80's had plenty of variety, with Marvel Superheroes, Star frontiers, Top Secret and Gamma World all doing quite nicely, but Buck Rogers was rather a debacle, and the Amazing Engine coverage halfhearted. So this is a reminder that they used to have more variety and adventurousness in their topics, and could in theory do so again, but it seems unlikely. There are drawbacks to playing it safe.


D-Mail: A letter praising Dragonlance and asking if they plan to make official recordings of the music from the books. Very good question. They might well just leave it to the filkers.

A letter in support of Lankhmar. It's the closest thing they have to a low magic setting, plus the city has more than enough detail to feel alive. It deserves much more popularity than it has.

A letter supporting Greyhawk, but also cagey about the possibility of them adding more to it. The fact that it's still fairly open gives you more room to make it your own without being contradicted by canon niggling. They could ruin it all too easily if they're overenthusiastic.

A letter saying planescape is obviously the most awesome as it encapsulates everything else and then some. Simply in sheer variety of ways you can play, it wins by a long shot. Well duh.

And finally, a letter of general commentary. Most of it is positive, but there's always something you think they could do better.

Dragon Magazine Issue 245: March 1998


part 2/8


Forum starts to really ease into it's new role as airing ground for the edition shift. Our second question is what they should do with the weapon stats. They need some interesting factors beyond damage to distinguish them, make for valid choices. How best to implement that?

Kevin R. Messner attacks the guy saying slavery is just another form of business quite viciously. It's an inherently corruptive and exploitative practice, resulting in much death and misery. How can that not be evil?

Jo Ann Spencer points out how magic low Tolkien actually is in comparison to most D&D games. This does not make it a bad story. Quite the opposite in fact. Learn from that.

Mike Walko thinks that humans ought to have a few extra discretionary points compared to other races to reflect their versatility. Now there's something that definitely made it into both 3 & 4e. Now you know exactly who to blame for that.

Rob Garret also gets right to the point. We need to be able to raise our ability scores as we gain levels. Yeah, we'll yoink that one too.

Tom Kretschmer thinks you ought to get rid of level limits, but give humans slightly lower XP costs so they learn faster. Sorry, you fail. Not every idea is going to be taken up, of course.


Sage advice: How can a bladesinger attack and parry in the same round (secret twinky elven techniques. They can cast spells one-handed, too. Skip doesn't even need to try to make that sound wrong. )

How do you use the monster summoning VIII table for VII. That would be broken. ( only use one monster, instead of rolling for number)

Can dispel magic get rid of summoned monsters.( Usually. If you choose the wrong spell though, it'll just remove the control over the monster, leaving it there to rampage. Know your enemies magic. )

What's the difference between mislead and an image made by spectral force. (you don't need to concentrate, and it can leave the area without disappearing. )

What happens if a shadow mage casts spells on someone in a different lighting condition (the target's condition takes precedence)

What does a ring of wizardry do in the spell point system. (They gain a fixed number of extra spells. No messing around with the extra power. )

Does making a permanent item make you less likely to lose con than a freestanding spell or not (Volo is wrong. What would a 5th level character know about advanced magic technology.)

Does alignment based damage happen if you are forced to touch an item (no, only if you pick it up of your own volition)

How does sleep work (weakest creatures first. )

How do you calculate MTHAC0 (table 77)

I don't understand it when ships have multiple movement rates (sails, oars, and both.)

What's aasimar's movement rate (12)

Can identify detect cursed items (not directly. Most of them are designed to screw you over. Commune'll generally do the job.)

What modifiers affect spell-created weapons (oh, this is a can of worms. It depends on if you physically wield them or not, and a whole bunch of other complicated things. Some fudging may be required. )

Strength provides more benefit to two-weapon wielders than two handed weapon users. This is wrong! (You have a point. We may have to do something about that. )

How do you work out ego points. (with great bravado.)

Can rockfalls hurt creatures that are immune to nonmagical weapons (yes, as they aren't a weapon)  

Can you improve your THAC0 further than the high level table says (you can certainly add more bonuses onto it. You seem to be confusing base and modifiers. So it goes)

Dragon Magazine Issue 245: March 1998


part 3/8


Out of character: Peter puts his own unique spin on the idea of using music to enhance your roleplaying. Rather than just using it as a backdrop, he takes individual artists and adapts their songs and personalities to fit the bards in his campaign, giving them an instant hook for players to relate too, while reducing the work for the DM. That has the potential to get rather cheesy. But it also has possibilities for directing your career path, as if you choose an experienced artist with a hefty back catalogue, but your character starts out new, you can play out the process of them writing new songs as they advance their career. That isn't an idea I've encountered before. So it seems he still has plenty of ideas to contribute, freshen up our games. And they're easily adaptable to most systems as well. Once again he's being a hands-on positive force for them.


Heart of the forge: For a second month in a row, we have an epic feature from the staff with a ton of cool illustrations, including ones from Roger Raupp. Second only to mining, Dwarves specialise in smithing, as after all, they have to do something with all the stuff they dredge out of the ground, and make money so they don't have to resort to farming to eat. And even in a mostly medieval setting, this can involve some fairly sophisticated technology. Other races would be worried if they knew just how big and complicated dwarven forges are. But their prowess isn't purely technological. Smithing is a religious activity for them as much as it is a practical one, and this is given just as much attention, with 18 new spells and 5 new magical items. As one of those articles that gives us a whole ton of setting detail and crunch that is primarily useful in worldbuilding terms, rather than for adventurers, this seems to be aimed at the DM, but people with dwarf PC's can still get something from it, especially as the new spells do have ingenious uses in adventuring situations. This definitely manages to avoid rehash by focussing on an area and providing lots of extra detail, and it a suitable strong start to their theme. So as usual, I just have to hope they'll keep that momentum up this month.


Mindstalkers: It's not just gith who hate illithids. Dwarves might not have a personal animosity with them the way they do with goblinoids, but I'm sure they run across them in their delvings and are not fond of the arrogant mindfucking squidfaces at all. So a society of dwarves dedicated to hunting them down, and developing their own psionic capabilities to counter them is just the kind of practical solution they'd adopt. So here's a new kit, and a whole bunch of powers designed specifically to fight illithids. Many of these can be acquired through multiple methods, either as psionic powers, or nonweapon proficiencies. Of course, the expense of these (one of them costs 5 slots! ) means you're pretty unlikely to be able to buy them if not using S&P rules, plus the fact that they're illithid specific means you'll face the same kind of problems as the dragon-hunting kits we've seen before. You just have to focus your build so much that you're left weak against other monsters. So while this is pretty well written, it's the kind of stuff that you need to approach with caution, because if you buy a ton of expensive powers that you only get to use once or twice in a campaign, you'll feel more than a little gypped. It really makes me long for the introduction of Feats and the 3rd edition version of the illithid hunter, which was done better. (and should be, since they were by the same writer. ) They still have some serious lessons to learn about power budgeting and controlling the size of your characters niche so it's harder for people to make themselves hugely under or overpowered, or useless in far too many situations.

Dragon Magazine Issue 245: March 1998


part 4/8


Little rascals: A little bit of hyperspecialisation here. Dwarf Rogue kits. Since the complete dwarves handbook only gave us 4, adding another 4 gives them a decent number of new opportunities to advance themselves. Or not, particularly if they turn out to be the sort that trade tangible benefits for purely social penalties. Which is particularly a temptation for rogues, given the inherent illegality of their skillset.

Delvers are dwarven indiana jonses, mining to dig up ancient artefacts and quite possibly world destroying monstrosities if they're not careful. They do indeed have substantial benefits in exchange for a mild social penalty. And this does irk me a little.

Hoardsackers specialise in stealing from Dragons. This does seem like a pretty suicidal occupation, and indeed, it doesn't make them popular with older more conservative dwarves. And as with the warrior kits who's benefits are all dragon specific, they'll have to actively work to make them useful. So really, their benefits don't outweigh the risks.

Scurr appear to be dwarven jesters, but they're actually spies for their governments, pretending to be pratfalling merrie pranksters while keeping their eyes and ears open for gossip and state secrets. Other dwarves who aren't in on the secret think they're complete and utter twats, and if they're found out, they can expect terminal dismissal. If you look a little deeper you'll see the tears of a clown.
 
Talebearers are the only popular ones, being another dwarven bard variant focussing on stories and historical info. Amazingly enough, the author once again makes their only penalties social, simply saying their powers don't work as well on nondwarves. So that's 4 for 4, in a shockingly poor bit of mechanical design. That's almost Complete Elves handbook level of benefits exceeding penalties twinkery. I do not approve at all. If you try and fight the mary-sues on their own terms, and in the process become like them, everybody loses, even if you technically win. Bad writer. No cookie for you.


Wyrms of the north: Ed gets round to talking about draconic naming conventions of Toril. He's not just throwing syllables into a blender, there's actually a plan behind them. Or at least, there is now. How much of it is retroactive is hard to tell. Which I suppose is another reminder how many notes he has still to mine and turn into published articles. The dragon itself is another interesting example of how Ed is getting away with rather more than he used too. Imprisoned by a sadistic mother who enhanced her with regenerating spells and used her as her food source, before she was freed when her mother's magical experimentation killed her via Akira style limb growing overdose. That's some pretty high octane nightmare fuel right there. And it has indeed left her pretty traumatised, with huge trust issues and a tendency to go berserk if something triggers flashbacks. But thankfully, it hasn't led to the abuser becoming the abused, with her becoming rather protective towards people who play it straight with her. So this is another rather interesting character study that once again shows us just how much more he can get away with than any other writer they have on the staff. (except possibly the new boss) And precisely because of that fact, it holds the attention more than another rehashed helping of magical items or monsters. It also shows yet again that he's planned quite a bit of this stuff out in advance, with more references to dragons yet to come. I can't dislike this, as it's still just more ambitious and adventurous than anything else the magazine is doing.

Dragon Magazine Issue 245: March 1998


part 5/8


Fiction: Honest and true by Troy Denning. Lest we forget, Cyric is a right asshole. And now of dubious sanity as well, which just makes him all the more dangerous. Who'd want to serve something like that? A snivelling self-deluding little weasel of a man, who gets horribly abused by both friends and enemies, and mostly winds up taking it. You have to pity him, really. So this is a story of several levels, as it shows that the book The Trial of Cyric wasn't just a subjective account for us with a first person narration, but is actually a physical book in setting, albeit one with a very small print run from a vanity publishing house. The 4th wall in the Realms, never particularly strong, just got another hole poked in it. Really, this is a story where everyone fails. Malik winds up beat around and losing tons of money, Cyric doesn't get his version of events read by more than a few hundred people, and Ruha fails to defeat them permanently. So it bucks a whole bunch of normal trends, while sticking to several Realms specific ones with style. It's all very interesting indeed. Troy might not be quite as adventurous as Ed, but he certainly has some very interesting ideas and the mastery of the craft to follow through with them.


Rogues Gallery: Following straight on from the fiction, this column goes on to stat out the characters from it. Well, that ensures that they're instantly accessible to every single reader, unlike when they just publish characters from one of their recent novels. That's a reasonably sensible move. And since I've just been rather entertained by them, I'm already primed to like this article. Course, they could still ruin that. I guess it probably depends on if the cheese overpowers the cool, as with so many other Realms articles.

Ruha has every single ability score at 15 or higher, and a ton of spells from the Al Qadim rulebooks. But not many magical items for her level. Well, that seems to be a common issue with fiction NPC's. They don't have the wealth of onscreen adventures that would let them organically accumulate all sorts of weird bits and bobs.

Malik El Sami yn Nasser, on the other hand, has acquired a whole bunch of weird little abilities and handicaps as a result of his starring role (that he'd really rather not have, I suspect) All he wants to do is serve Cyric and make a decent amount of money in the process. But no, he gets to live the life of Job, beset on all sides, unable to even be as weaselly and deceitful as he'd like. Feel sorry for him, but if you see him, don't trust him.

Avner of Hartwick was a good guy, but has been stuck with being a servant to Mask. This also leads to amusing situations where he follows the letter of his orders rather than the spirit. This does not lead to his powers being taken away, curiously enough, because Mask has a sense of humour about these things. He's also dead, which brings it's own powers and problems. He's once again full of the kind of exceptionalism that seems likely to produce player imitations. I think they're intentionally trying to replicate the success of Drizzt. So yeah, it looks like they aren't scaling back on the cheese and twinkery at all, as they have to compete with existing characters or die horribly. It's a hard life being low level in this world.

Dragon Magazine Issue 245: March 1998


part 6/8


Bazaar of the bizarre: We stay in theme here, with a whole bunch of dwarf-made items. Interestingly, this time they're all not only unique, but focussed on a specific setting, with lots of setting detail.

The Helm of Agate Thorwallen isn't even magical, just lovingly crafted and engraved with tons of gems. Truly a triumph of setting over mechanics. Guess that like the ecologies, that's really reaching it's zenith now.

Moradin's Anvil has no powers other than being apparently indestructible, but that's more than enough to make dwarves love it, and use it as a means of settling disputes. After all, religion is Serious Business to dwarves, just like everything else.

The Tomes of Gideon also do nothing other than recount history. This makes me wonder if we're going to have an entire Bazaar of nonmagical items. That would be a truly bizarre turn of events.

The Banner of Courage is also nonmagical, but at least gives a mechanical effect to the confidence inspired by fighting under it. Once again, pretty craftmanship and culture is serious business.

The Book of Kemalok Kings does for Dark sun what the Tomes of Gideon did for birthright. Course, Dark Sun has both more obscured history and fewer resources, so the final product is rather different.

The Prize of Erackinor may or may not be magical, but they still don't spell out it's powers. Still, it certainly seems to inspire creativity, so Moradin must be doing something right.

The Sarcophagus of Ran is another one that may or may not be magical. Either way, it's creator is no longer stuck in ravenloft, so he may well have done something right. In any case, it's a very curious ending to a very curious article. I wonder if they're going to get any complaints about this one. In any case, it's a not entirely welcome departure from normal procedure that makes me wonder what they're going to try next to get the magazine back on track. There may well be some awkward flailing around to come.


The ecology of the steeder: The dwarven section winds down with a little something for the Duergar. Training giant spiders isn't the easiest of things to do. They will try and eat you if you don't start them young and bond with them carefully. But if you can, you get to ride on the ceiling. How awesome is that! This does a good job of reminding us that while they may be stoic to other races, it takes considerable cultural pressure to mold them into that kind of badass, and they're only that way because the underdark is a bloody harsh place (and their god is too stubborn to let them go elsewhere. ) This clears up a bit of errata, but doesn't present a hugely different spin on it, and actually seems more concerned with the human (well, dwarven) interactions than the actual creature. So it's another one that's pretty good as a story, but not too great as an ecology. Oh well.

Dragon Magazine Issue 245: March 1998


part 7/8


Best Behavior: Our themed material finally comes to an end with a moderately sized piece on dwarven etiquette. Dwarves might seem blunt and taciturn to other races when not drunk, but as a lawful race, there's some definite rules of conduct that they will think less of you for not following. And of course these are pretty counterintuitive to elves, thus contributing heavily to their continuing rivalry with each other. And since they don't talk about them much to outsiders, that puts you at a bit of a disadvantage. No great surprises here, just elaboration on what we probably already know, particularly if you've read their complete handbook. The insult table is quite amusing, but really, this just washes through me without making much of an impression. Well, it's a rare issue that doesn't have some filler these days.


Dragonmirth needs some henchmen fast. Swordplay needs some job security of the pointy kind. Knights of the dinner table take the time to pimp their back catalogue. Floyd comes to an end with a final battle that is both spectacular and funny. Coming next month, Nodwick! What will Aaron deliver us if he can't have obvious continuity in his strips?


Role-playing reviews: Allen Varney takes the review slot for the first time in a while, with a Call of Cthulhu special. It's kinda lost some of it's shine in recent years, but there's still plenty of books coming out for it. In fact, due to it's open domain source material, other companies can release material for it, and they may be doing a better job of it than chaosium. Once again, the simple fact that they've been established for ages with the same staff means they're less inspired and vigorous than the competition. This will lead to further problems along the line. What are we to do? Make the best of what we have.

The new orleans guidebook sees Allen comment on Ricks previous reviews of their other citybooks. While you could look up all the mundane stuff yourself, there is something to be said for having the more obscure bits of information already collected and ready to run adventures with. Really, it's of most value to people who don't actually live there. But no, it's not a classic.

A resection of time: the strange case of Kyle Woodson is one of the best adventures of Chaosium's new crop. It might not be that great as part of a campaign, (and does have some railroading resulting from it's tournament origins) but do you really expect Cthulhu characters to survive that long? In terms of atmosphere and drawing upon real world stuff, but not sticking too it too pedantically, it's pretty entertaining. Just don't expect it to be for everyone.

The dreaming stone is their first lengthy adventure for the Dreamlands. Allen gets a bit distracted here, going into plenty of detail about the tonal issues of including the high fantasy dreamlands in your game. But it is still pretty horrific, and not suited for hack and slash gaming at all. The purists can get stuffed. His main complaint here is that the art and editing sucks. The writers might have some enthusiasm left, but the editors definitely aren't what they used to be. So the real problem is the company, not that the setting is out of niches to expand upon.


Re:Views: Big Eyes, Small Mouth gets a very positive review. It's almost perfectly suited to it's source material, and the artwork is pretty good as well. The system is fairly simple, but highly customisable, and it has plenty of room for expansion. Of course, this expansion will turn out to be an issue in itself, as it becomes more rules heavy and less accessible to new people, before dying slowly when the company had financial issues. But in the meantime there's a whole bunch of amusingly named supplements and licensed properties using the system to come. That's one thread of history I'm definitely interested in, should they choose to follow it.

Dragon Magazine Issue 245: March 1998


part 8/8


KotDT also gets a double page spread. It goes a long way for a rather dumb jab at the artist who temporarily abandoned his name due to legal issues with his record company.


TSR Previews: Our generic product this month is something I'm sure they've done before. The Dungeon Builders Guidebook. Random generation, templates to assemble places with, advice on how to populate them, these are all things we've seen in various magazine articles here, stretching right back to SR1. Let's hope it improves on them.

The Forgotten Realms finally brings back Waukeen. She's been a slave to fiends for all these years and you get to rescue her. That sounds promising, if potentially railroady. Their novels also seem to be business as usual, with Tangled Webs by Elaine Cunningham. Our second outcast drow continues to have her own adventures.

Dragonlance stays in solid second place. A Saga Companion does what books of that name normally do, be a grab bag of new rules stuff and roleplaying advice they've though of since the corebook came out. They also get a new calendar, for the first time in a few years. Illustrations, biographies, a place to write events on, you know the drill.

Greyhawk starts to ruthlessly reverse the changes the last wave of products made in Return of the Eight. You, of course get to play a part. Hopefully, anyway. Can neutrality triumph again?

Planescape sees Monte Cook kick butt with Tales from the infinite stairway. Like well of worlds, you can do these little adventures separately, or linked. Go on, splurge a little.

Alternity imitates AD&D by releasing the Game Masters Guide. Doesn't have quite the same ring as Dungeon Master, does it. Surely you could think up a cooler title. This is why GURPS works. Despite the eminently sensible system, it always has the vaguely amusing title to keep you from getting too blanded out.

Dragon dice gets Champions of Estfah. More heroes fighting for a peace that can never come as long as the line survives. Kinda paradoxical, really.

Marvel Super Dice releases two games in one using the same pieces. Variety variety variety. Just what's needed for replayability.


Profiles: Troy Denning is our profilee this month. He may not be quite as prolific as Ed, but he has got a considerably better groomed beard. He's also been involved in considerably more worlds, having co-created dark sun, and written books for there, FR and planescape. He seems a thoughtful sort, full of introspection on different approaches to try new things, and how he would do older works better if he had the chance. Certainly an attitude I can agree with.


Another issue that mostly plays it safe, but does so with pretty high quality material. Exactly how long they've been building up these submissions I'm not sure, but they've evidently been able to save up plenty of articles in the time since they last gave dwarves the spotlight. Still, it does leave me wondering if the new company is going to bring any new ideas into the pot any time soon, or merely handle the old ones in a better way than the old company did in it's dying years. I guess once again it's onto april, to see what's happened to their sense of humour. After all, they considered it important enough that they kept most of the material in their august issue last year. But they have changed several policies since then, so who knows.

Dragon Magazine Issue 246: April 1998


part 1/8


124 pages. So, we meet again, impractical spiky helmets. Getting caught in doors and taking people's eyes out when they stand too close. And ew, what have they done to that guy's face? That's some serious uncanny valley stuff right there. So, I can find stuff to laugh about in the cover, but not that much. No theme it seems, although there's three articles on the topic of henchmen & followers, to tie in with their new comic featuring one. So individual articles will take us here and there, flitting from topic to topic at their whim. Tra la la la la. Pages rise and fall like particularly skinny ocean waves. Will the information within soak my brain more than water soaks my body? Or will the oily residue of previous knowledge make it slide off like a ducks back?


In this issue:


The wyrms turn: Love slave of the kobold queen? Well, this editorial both serves as a dose of april humour, and an explanation as to why they don't have a full theme this issue. It's all Jesse Decker's fault, and he has been made to pay suitably for it.  Never miss a deadline for people who can have your character humiliated in ways that will leave you wishing they'd simply killed you quickly. So they certainly haven't lost their sense of sadism around the offices, despite the management changes. You'd better watch out, because in these politically correct times, this can turn into accusations of workplace bullying all too easily. And that would just suck. Don't want to be replicating the things we escaped from when we left school behind.


D-Mail: A letter from someone who is finding their recent emphasis on the regular columns for monsters, magic items, and spells is getting a leetle repetitive. He may have a point, but they'll need a few more good articles to fill the magazine if they want to avoid that.

A fairly lengthy bit of commentary, mostly positive, but with some constructive criticism as well. This is hailed as exactly what the editors want to see, so they can make changes. Carrot plus stick is better than either individually.

A letter from someone who's created a politician class. You know, they already did that in issue 74. You are very scooped. Well, that's another thing it might be long enough that they decide to repeat it.

And finally we have letters asking for more Al Qadim and Spelljammer material. They're quite happy to publish articles if you write good ones. Supply and Demand is a two-sided coin.


Nodwick gets hired. At least this group are honest about viewing him as nothing but cannon fodder and hired help. I'm sure they'll get along great.

Dragon Magazine Issue 246: April 1998


part 2/8


Forum now moves onto the balance between the PHB and the DMG. In 1e, things were definitely slanted towards the DM's side, while they moved a big  chunk of that into the PHB in 2e. What now? Tee hee.

Joe Goranson wants D&D completely converted into a skill based system. Levels are a clunky and outmoded concept! Hardly anyone else in roleplaying uses them. I think not. Plus less railroading, more player control. No argument there.

Cameron McKee has lots of suggestions for the new edition, most of which will not be followed up. If anything, this is the kind of stuff they'll move away from, particularly things like rules for weather and mining. We want to concentrate on the asskicking.

Mark E. Greene thinks that the proficiency system is the part of the system most in need of a complete rewrite. Your wish is our command!

Robert Hertel wants to go back to the 1e collection of core races. All the current lot, plus the reinstatement of the Half-Orc. Seems like a fairly conservative choice. That it is then! Your class suggestions, on the other hand, heed will we not.

Joe G. Kushner pushes it a step further, wanting the current core lot, plus the half orc and half ogre. Too much? I guess so.


Sage advice: Can you throw an entire necklace of missiles at an opponent. (yes, but if you haven't taken the beads off, it'll do as much good as throwing your gun at the enemy.)

Lathander is neutral good. Are vampires scared of his priests (yes. They aren't scared of his holy symbols on their own though. )

Can good priests rebuke/control paladins (Chance'd be a fine thing)

Why can't a thief hiding in shadows be seen with infravision (They can. The trick is in convincing people not to look in the first place. )

Is a flame tongue sword any good against a red dragon (no more than a regular +1 sword)

Could you clear up the rules for immature giants ( Suuure. Skip is glad to clear up after an incompetent editor. (no names, but looking very hard at))

Are creatures that need magical weapons to hit immune to phantasmal killer (no. You infer things that are not there.)

How does levitation work in a place without gravity. (pick an axis, any axis. This is not a 3 card monte. Skip is not forcing your hand. )

Surely the best way to incapacitate a wizard is to strap them up inside a suit of plate mail. (you'd think so. However, Skip recommends finding a way to screw over players who use this trick repeatedly. Skip is not a fan of other people using rules exploits in the face of realism.)

I protest about your rulings on poison with instant onset times. (Are you dissin Skip? Have you forgotten that skip is the badass private sage who puts the pages in the mages and the broomstick between the witches legs. Just because Skip went through some tough times last year, does not mean Skip's lost it. If anything, they gave Skip a chance to get back to his roots, hustling for info on the mean shores of lake geneva. If you think Skip won't cap yo ass for this impertinence, you've got another thing coming. )

Are Golems affected by retributive strikes (hell no)

Can dispel magic cure lycanthropy (Not a hope in hell.)

Dragon Magazine Issue 246: April 1998


part 3/8


Knights of the dinner table advertises the RPGA. Two great tastes that taste great together!


Out of character: Peter gives us his first bit of writing that isn't particularly consequential after all. Happens to every writer sooner or later. This is why many epics stop at a trilogy, as that's about the longest you can ratchet up the tension before having to take a break to let things plateau. Anyway, this feels like a companion piece to their longer henchman feature a little later, a selection of random personality quirks that you could give them. Since we've had longer, more detailed personality lists in the past, this isn't a game changer. If anything, it feels like filler. So I really don't have much to say here. I don't actively dislike it, but I don't like it either. Having the boss talking to us every month again means the novelty is starting to wear off.


The wizard's companion: Hmm. We've had a good half a dozen articles on familiars by now. That's getting a little played out. So let's put the spotlight on homunculi instead. Well, it's about the equivalent of focussing on grimlocks rather than the regular orcs for your low level monster encounters. Still, it follows pretty much the same formula. Several pages of extrapolation on the nature of homunculi, their creation, their relationship with wizards and possibly their familiars if they have those as well, and what happens if they become independent. Then it details a whole bunch of alternate homunculi types with their unique appearances and abilities. The illustrations are all in colour and not too bad either, and it gives you some obvious avenues to develop these ideas further. It's a pretty good starter, if rather formulaic. Looks like they're going for a safe option that'll retain it's value for a while.


The Omega Variant: Oooh. So this is our first proper Alternity article. A 10 page quick-play solo adventure that introduces the basic concepts of the rules, and then takes you through a little choose your own path adventure that'll take maybe half an hour if you're lucky. (although if you're not, it could take several tries, as they give you plenty of opportunities to lose.) This is definitely better than the Amazing Engine's similar attempt, which they didn't do until well after it was released, and then didn't really show you what to do with the system once you had it.

Straight away, I can see that they're using mostly the same abilities as D&D, but with some noticeable differences. Charisma has been renamed Personality, while wisdom has been renamed Will, and has taken the Perception role that would be shoehorned into Wisdom in 3e. So it looks like we can already say that this'll have some influence on the development of D&D. This highly swingy, roll under resolution mechanic, on the other hand, I think we can safely say was discarded because of the weird way it scales and interacts with the difficulty modifiers as you increase your stats. The action phases system also seems like an interesting experiment that might have been kept on, but was instead replaced by the full/standard/move/free system and cyclical initiative that takes slightly less rolls and bookkeeping. And the wound system was obviously an intentional change because they didn't want characters to become unstoppable tanks as they gained experience in this system. So there's plenty to analyse here. The adventure itself is pretty linear, but there are several nice touches of humour that make it fun reading, and it shows us some setting details that I assume will be expanded upon in the main books. This definitely feels like a good introduction that'll get a few more people to buy the system. My main lingering question here is how the system handles advancement. Does it have the potential for campaigns as long as Basic or Advanced D&D, or does it run out after a while?

Dragon Magazine Issue 246: April 1998


part 4/8


A few good henchmen: More than a few in fact. 101 to be precise.  As with the dirty tricks list, you'll never have thought up everything on this list. And unlike the tricks, you could get plenty of sessions of use out of every single one of these, presuming you aren't too cavalier. There's a definite slant towards humans and fighters, but all the basic classes and races are covered, plus there's a few ones from odd races  as well. They also have short but effective personality notes that'll make them easy to pick up and play by any actor. I'd use them without hesitation.


Wyrms of the north:We're now halfway through the alphabet, which means we're probably slightly more than that through this series. And here we venture a little out of the usual geographical remit, with a trip to Sembia. We get to find out quite a bit more about the Cult of the Dragon in the area, and why they're very much the poor third party as a villainous organisation when compared to the Zhentarim and Red Wizards. They're blinded by their ideology, and put it over profit, and that makes them very open to manipulation, especially by dragons themselves. Like many Sapphire dragons, our subject this month tends to be a bit of a shut-in geek, but the magical equivalent of the internet lets him see what's going on, and undead servants wait upon him to make sure he has plenty to eat. And of course, you're much more likely to run across the results of his machinations than you are to meet him. This makes him another fun one for long-term play, and while as powerful as any dragon, he's not so twinked out as to be unbeatable, like so many of the Realmses contingency fetishists. You might actually get to beat him, or save him from the Cult when they actually realise they've been played for fools. And really, since PC's should always get to make a difference in the adventure, I approve.  


Fiction: The great hunt by Elaine Cunningham. Our great elf-lover stretches herself a little to show us both sides of an elf-orc conflict. Both of these races are of course able to interbreed with humans, and that does become significant here, showing them that really, they're not so different. But the elves are the good guys, of course. Not really sure what to make of this, as it's virtually all description around a plot that could be boiled down to a single sentence effortlessly. I think it's more evidence for the fact that they're relying on regular authors a lot more these days, and spending even more time in the Realms than they used too. I'm not really satisfied with this at all. Ed may get away with it, but his followers? Sorry, no dice.


Rogues gallery: This month, we're not covering the subjects of recent books. No, we're going all the way back to the turn of the decade, and the Forgotten Realms comic books published back then. What? They didn't get round to giving them full stats in a book? Well, I suppose it's more evidence that the Realms is way too big to keep track of properly. So anyway, time for the usual plot compression before we get to the characters. And with three big adventures with a 16 year gap between the first and last, it's obvious these guys are no rookies or flash in the pan. But they still probably won't have realistically large sets of equipment.  

Vajira Valmeyjar is a badass warrior woman who's been promoted to nobility as a result of her leveling up, but isn't particularly comfortable with the courtly lifestyle and gossiping crap that comes with it. This of course makes her the subject of more gossip. Pay them no mind and keep having adventures.

Timoth Eyesbright is a centaur with a double sword. Well, having all that extra mass allows them to wield weapons that would be flashy but impractical for humans. He's the trusting dumbass of the group, which means he may be both subject to trickery and the Worf effect in adventures. Well, it seems like he'll keep the banter interesting.

Onyx the Invincible is a dwarf fighter/thief who's smart enough to use blowdarts, and hot tempered enough enough to get into adventures regularly. He sometimes rides the centaur, which makes perfect sense tactically, and gives the impression that these guys were actually PC's at some point, for NPC's tend to be sniffy about that kind of thing. He also has relationship issues, which is generally something they're rather taciturn about. I like him.

Kyrani of Waterdeep is the mage of the group, and in typical Realms style, is not shy about using her looks and lifespan to have as much fun as possible with a whole bunch of different men of various races. Tut tut, etc etc. What are we to do, with the celebrities of this world setting such a bad example to other adventurers?

Dragon Magazine Issue 246: April 1998


part 5/8


The ecology of the flumph: It would be an april episode that features these guys. The unjustly mocked lawful good flying jellyfish. Flip them upside down, and they're helpless. Well, it's no bigger a weakness than vampires dying horribly in sunlight. Fortunately, the association of monster hunters' antics are comical enough on their own, so they make perfectly credible foils for them. At least this time they get off with just a bit of dignity lost, rather than having to rez dozens of people. The footnotes are better than they've been for the last few issues as well, with theorizing on how they are related to several other D&D monsters, and quite a bit of stuff that doesn't appear in the original monster entry. Not perfect, but probably far better treatment than it would have got under some other writers.


Bazaar of the Bizarre: This month's theme is kitchen based. Lots of items which ordinary people'll get use out of. Another bit of setting heavy frippery, or genuinely cool items? Pretty typical question here.

Bowls of plentiful porridge condemn you to crap food for the rest of your days. Still, at least you'll never run short. Tempting and nasty, this is a very real and difficult choice as a possession.

Cauldrons of dreams are another one that's almost as much bother as it is benefit. You could get a cool prophecy, you could get traumatic nightmares. It's all rather random. Like most random items, even though more of the options are good than bad, it'll probably backfire on you nastily in the long run.

Cauldrons of gateways allow you to go somewhere by jumping in them. This is of course one way and leaves the cauldron behind, so it might not be a great one for PC's. Leave it with your friendly neighbourhood witch.

The Cauldron of the Magi offers magical powers at quite substantial cost and risk. Assembling the ingredients you need to brew in it looks like an entire adventure in itself.

Cauldrons of Planar Travel let you go anywhere in the multiverse, presuming you can get soil from it in the first place. This of course rules out quite a few planes, but hush you pessimist.

Chamber pots of concealment have an extradimensional space in them. This means they can be used for ages without needing emptying, or have stuff hidden there where no-one would look. Clever.

Cleavers by Grog are nasty blades that make you bleed profusely, like Barbazu pikes. They're a good example of tools being useful weapons as well. Don't mess with the cook.

The Cookbook of Uzul gives you a bonus to your cooking checks. Not flashy, but like many items, surprisingly profitable.

Cormac's Wonder Butter is a bit rancid, but what doesn't kill you makes you better. Another decidedly mixed benefit in a article full of them.

Hypnotic Cauldrons are another perfect witchy stereotype. The right brew will have everyone in the room subliminally implanted to do something for you and not remember it. I believe this merits an evil cackle. Nyehehehehehe.

Everfull jugs of Lard are like decanters of endless water, only much thicker and greasier. I look forward to seeing people find good non-cooking related uses for this one.

Jan Jo's Tea Bottle keeps you awake better than any coffee, can cure lycanthropy, and heal you. One of those ones that'll really boost an adventuring parties performance, especially at lower level.

Medicine Spoons are another one that may cure you, but it'll be as unpleasant as real medicine. You'd think when clerics can do this stuff easily enough, it wouldn't be so hard to replicate.

Pepper of the Pyrolisk is just too damn spicy. One for X-treme high level characters with a masochistic edge. Can you take the heat?

Salts of Dehydration do to you what ordinary salt does to slugs. A painful shriveling death to the consumer. Good assassination technique, really. It'll certainly make other people think twice about crossing you. Crisp?

Salt and Pepper shakers of Ogg are a paired set that can poison you, or cure poison. You really really do not want to get them mixed up.

Seame Cauldrons are rather interesting scrying devices that work via sympathetic magic. This'll make using them practically an interesting challenge, and not game-breaking at all. You could do a lot worse than including these if you want divination.

Spatula of lifting let you flip up to 500lb items. Another useful tool with fun combat applications.

Spirit Cauldrons let you summon up ghosts to answer questions. This may or may not go well, but works in a nicely narrative way. I quite approve. A very fun collection of items, overall.