Dragon Issue 300: October 2002


part 3/10


All 300 issues so far get their covers shown in miniature in this fascinating double page spread. See the lofty heights they have risen, and the depths they are currently sinking too. When shrunk down to postage stamp size, all the writing that they've sprayed over the covers in increasing density since 1996 is just illegible clutter. It really puts things into slightly depressing perspective. What also seems a bit awkward is that the historical retrospective doesn't cover the whole of Dragon, only the period since Kim Mohan joined, leaving info on the early days which people would really like to know about absent. Even if they'd lost touch with Tim Kask, surely they could get Gary to write a little extra about what it was like back in the day. Still, at least they're fairly candid about the problems they suffered in the recent past, and what they did to fix them. They do have good reasons for choosing to concentrate on D&D, given what happened to more general magazines during that period. But carrying on doing it after the crisis was over? When austerity becomes the new status quo rather than a temporary reaction to a crisis, it leaves you with far less room to manoeuvre next time things go wrong.


The bestiary: Hmm. This is an entry that I remember hearing about before. Aside from Astral Dragons, Bytopia's admantine dragons, and Acheron's rust dragons, the planes are curiously lacking in D&D's namesake. Fixing this would have definite benefits, and they've finally got round to it. Let's see if the results are suitably quirky and inventive or formulaic and predictable.

Howling Dragons are from Pandemonium, and quite quite mad. They're also quite capable of spreading it, with both their breath weapon and spell-like powers working to that end. So far, so predictable.

Pyroclastic Dragons are from Gehenna, and show the typical gehennan love of brute force over charm, as well as lots of fire based powers which far too many things from the same plane will be immune to. Still, they probably won't be immune to their sonic spells, which they also have

Rust Dragons are of course preexisting. Any relation to rust monsters is purely co-incidental, and will be treated as a scurrilous accusation. Unsurprisingly, they get an upgrade to the new formulae for stats, but they'll still ruin all your equipment with one foul breath. Woo. Just when you thought D&D was becoming safe and sanitised.

Styx Dragons of course, get everywhere the river flows, although they can't fly. Just as howling dragons target your wis, these drain your int with their breath, and get water and mindfucking powers.

Tarterian Dragons enjoy a relatively high level of freedom for things in their plane, but ultimately they're stuck there like most other things. And in typical fashion, they get lots of powers to make sure no-one else gets out, and those lovely cycles of bitterness and abuse continue, giving the plane even more power. Doncha just love the lower planes. Course, I doubt we'll be seeing upper planar counterparts for these guys soon. As there have been no great surprises either, I am forced to yawn.  Pretty so-so, I'm afraid.

Dragon Issue 300: October 2002


part 4/10


Bazaar of the Bizarre: Magical items made by hags? I suppose witchy stuff definitely fits the horror mould, and has possibly even being neglected a bit, with undead and their vanquishers stealing the spotlight. Let's take control. Nyahahahaha!

Bone Rattles mess with your mind, causing you guilt and disorientation. Ah yes. Evil can delight in using good against itself, triggering guilt for things you have no control over or responsibility for. Now that's vile and dark.

Black Hour Pillars unhallow the area as long as they burn. And look creepy, of course. Gotta set the right mood in your little crooked house.

Bramble Men are a nasty little way of setting up a delayed action spell trigger. The effect in them doesn't activate until they're broken. This makes them the perfect blackmail device.

Crone's Canes seem to magically age you. They don't actually, but they'll be both crippling and demoralising if used in combat. All the sadism with reduced long term screwage. That's progress for you.

Dead Man's Bottles let you speak with the dead if you pour a drink on their grave. Now your primary limiter is the amount of booze you can afford. Go for cheap rotgut.

The Head of the Loveless was forged in tragedy, and keeps you from being mindfucked. Given it's size and awkwardness of carrying, there are probably better items for that purpose.

Maiden's Hands let you turn into the person they were taken from by putting them on. This is obviously no-where near as good as general shapeshifting, but has it's uses. And it'll be pretty horrific if you once knew the person killed. I think there's some more good stories in here.

The Tomb of Weeds is a rather unpleasant way of putting someone into healing stasis. Evil may be able to heal it's own, but it certainly isn't nice about it. Enjoy being buried underground for a week.

Yackti Figures are just voodoo dolls, albeit somewhat nerfed for the new edition. Burn them, drown them, bury them, laugh as the person connected to them suffers. Meh.


How far should you go?: Or putting a ratings system on your game. Of course, since D&D makes it very difficult to have adventures without killing things and taking their stuff, even the mildest of the ratings is going to be the equivalent of a PG-13 rather than a U. It's merely that the violence will be glossed over, and the good guys will be firmly good, and the bad guys definitely diabolical, with any shades of grey at least soluble rather than no-win decisions. Of course, we're not talking questions of real maturity here, like the movie ratings system, but the amount of sex, guts, and other icky stuff that appears on screen. After all, Star Wars has ridiculous casualty rates, dismemberment and barely avoided incest as integral parts of the plot, yet still retains a family friendly rating; while Avatar: the last Airbender tackles complex moral questions and goes some quite dark places while never actually showing on-screen death. Meanwhile, you can have torture porn films that gleefully show the full effects of losing limbs with exaggerated bloodsprays, and hentai which grossly overexagerates the sex in the opposite direction, with a distinct lack of actual maturity in the design and writing. So this is a very complex issue, that they once again show they aren't quite equipped to handle an in-depth debate on. They do get marks for trying, especially as I remember all too well the days of Lorraine ( roll of thunder, stab of organ music, etc etc) where even the thought of nipples was an absolute no-no, let alone the thought of some mighty-thewed barbarian nibbling on them while pushing their owner up against the wall and penetrating them with his mighty :CENSORED:

Sorry about that. Where were we? Oh yes. While the editorial and letters showed  how much more conservative they'd become in many ways, this at least shows they've become less so in others at the same time. Still, the overall trend isn't a positive one at the moment. So in the immortal words of Vicky Pollard, I'm forced to give an overall conclusion of yeah but nah but yeah but nah but yeah but NO!

Dragon Issue 300: October 2002


part 5/10


Arcane Lore: Last month, we got paladin spells. This time, it's no great surprise this column is among those going vile and dark. Because after all, most of the big mastermind villains are spellcasters, or psionicists or mad scientists, which is basically the same thing, the triumph of intellect over base physical power. Damn jock culture. Or maybe it's just too tricky to take over the world when all you have is a big sword and the ability to swing it well. Anyway, let's get dirrrrty. The skinscribes have a particularly effective method of copy protection for their secret spells. Skin inscription only! Be that their living skin or taken from others, it does make copying the spells particularly tricky, and a moral dilemma in itself above and beyond what they actually do. Are you ready to load up your kitten powered gun to stop them?

Atrophy withers your limbs, causing you substantial action penalties. The pain can also be used to enhance the caster. Watch out for counterspells using that sympathetic link, sucka. How many villains have lost due to that one?

Blood Siphon also lets you draw energy from the lifeforce of others. Isn't that just, y'know, eating? We all do that. Ok, doing it while they're still alive and conscious is rather gross and morally dubious, but it's all a matter of degrees, not some great abomination.

Blood Blister gives you acne from hell to mess up your day socially. As if we didn't have enough trouble being geeky.

Bone Soften is a weird one that has both benefits and penalties. It looks deeply disturbing, but may be addictive in a sadomasochistic way. Once again, gross=evil in their minds.

Bone Spurs draws upon a rather unpleasant real world disease and accelerates it to combat time. All kinds of vile deformities will twist their way out of your skin, much to your agony and inconvenience. I think this qualifies as sadism above and beyond what's needed to achieve your goals.

Control Blood just seems like unpleasantness over practicality. You'll get better results most times just loading up the AoE blasting effects, particularly when the material component is considered. Drugging yourself up to cast a spell is bad, mmkay.

Corpsebond requires you to engage in necrophilia to get a buff. It's another one that really doesn't merit the extra casting time and components compared to standard spells, so really, it's just an excuse for already sick fucks to indulge just before battle.

Curse of Pain Eternal is one of those decidedly mixed ones. In the short term, it's definitely a penalty, but in the long-term, it's an interesting corruptive tool. Frickin' stockholm syndrome. If it weren't for that, evil would have a much tougher time of things keeping groups together. I think this one counts as a success.

Putrefaction brings you rapid aging and death, and then makes both a zombie and ghost slave out of you. Now that's efficiency. I strongly approve of this approach.

Searing Seed impregnates the victim with demon-jizz, which grows into a full-grown evil copy of them in less than 30 seconds. Lovely. That'll really ruin everybody's day. I suggest making a sharp exit after pulling a stunt like that.

Vileblade hurts, corrupts, and is generally rather nasty too. Mind you, damaging someone then making them your ally seems a bit counter-productive really. You don't want your new minion going down embarrassingly easily.

Vile Rebellion makes all your limbs split off and become servants of the caster. This isn't fatal, but is very bad for the sanity indeed. A very tricky one to deal with indeed, as Ash will attest.

Wall of Maggots is pretty self explanatory. You try pushing through this one, you get stripped to the bone. A lot harder to get through than a wall of fire.

Writhing Ruin is another way of killing people and then making their body into a further hazard for friends. Tons of bugs bursting out of them should ruin their body for raising pretty well, and make you clear the area. Yup, I think that's pretty evil. They haven't done too badly after all, even if they do get a bit silly at times.

Dragon Issue 300: October 2002


part 6/10


The minions of darkness: Well, transformative prestige classes have obviously proven both popular and easy to write, because here's another 4. After all, you just need to pick a monster, take their iconic powers and squeeze them into a roughly balanced level progression, write a few requirements and flavour bits, and presto! You could keep that running almost as long as the ecologies if you were so inclined. Let's see what gribleys they've picked this time, and if the resulting transformations are sufficiently vile and dark for the issue.  

Faceless Ones are doppleganger wannabes, and tend to be even more organised and malevolent than the real thing, infiltrating and taking over places because they want to control, rather than just to survive. Since they only get mindreading a limited number of times a day, rather than at will, they'll still be more vulnerable to being caught out than the real thing, even at max level. But then, I guess that's where backup comes in handy. If you have someone pretending to be you while you pretend to be someone else, figuring out your real secret identity becomes a hell of a lot harder. And if there's a group of you controlling the government and law enforcement, it doesn't matter how much evidence they gather, they'll be the ones on the wrong side of the law, not you.

Deep Thralls are scarred by Kraken and used as their eyes and mouths on land, which means they're stuck with a close relationship with their masters that makes them particularly ill-suited as PC's. They gradually become aquatic, tentacular and able to grapple with great brutality, and also get an intelligence boost, which they'll probably need, since their powerset isn't very strategically powerful. Still, just the threat of weather manipulation powers can buy you a lot of help with a few ranks in bluff and diplomacy.

Shoal Servants are humans that worship Blibdoolpoolp, and acquire a bit of the innsmouth look along the way. They also become aquatic fairly quickly, setting us up for some nasty turf wars between the fish men and the squid men. Since Kuo-Toa have some pretty unique but not overpowering abilities, this prestige class turns out quite cool. The ability to see things in neighbouring dimensions and generate co-operative lightning bolts will certainly come in handy.

Tiger Masks are the biggest suckers of all, serving as lackeys and cannon fodder for Rakshasa. This means they actually attract bolt attacks that would seriously inconvenience their masters, and have to deal with their finger joints painfully inverting. The illustration is appropriately gruesome, and the whole package is something I'd design if I was a rakshasa. So I think this article comes as close as any to putting actual mature consequences for taking the dark path amongst the gross stuff.


Dork tower once again holds off on a punchline that is more than worth the wait.

Dragon Issue 300: October 2002


part 7/10


Class acts returns after a two month absence. They really aren't as reliable as I remember this year. Anyway, as it's his baby, Monte misses no time including a vile and dark prestige class in here. The flesheater, cannibalistic halflings who want you for dinner. Don't laugh, because they have full BAB and sneak attack progression, stealth skills, can inflict Con damage with their claws, and track you by scent. Like many of the BoVD classes, they are slightly overpowered, on the assumption that there's no way a PC should be allowed to take them. How very patronizing. It also suffers from the conflation of evil with gross that the BoVD was prone too. I really do not approve. You are failing to build something that seems genuinely realistically evil here, and instead going for cartoonish maniacal laughter instead. Not very mature.  


The risen dead: Once again we see how popular templates are. Even monsters that have already been statted out as regular creatures are being redone as templates, so it's even easier to turn PC's into one, or reflect that the original source wasn't the usual one for the creature. So Mummies, Wights and Wraiths follow in the path of Vampires and Liches here, making PC's turned into one all the scarier as adversaries. In addition, they include a new one for ghostly animals, since the regular ghost template doesn't really work for them. All are designed to be pretty close to their original version, and have ECL's several levels greater than their CR boosts, which means they'll be playable, but might be a bit fragile long-term. especially since they'll also have lost all their Con bonuses. Still, D&D becoming more of a toolkit is not something I object too, so this article gets a thumb up from me.


The ecology of the mummy: God, it's been a while since we had one of these. It's been mostly VS's, and even they've been thin on the ground lately. I guess these things come in cycles, because the early 90's was pretty thin ground for ecologies as well. This is a very dry ecology, almost completely removing the fiction for a combination of dry historical stuff, and ideas aimed towards creating interesting encounters for players. Creature combos, tactical notes, treasure suggestions, a sample map, this is a big step away from the old ecology style, and one I'm not sure I like. Guess it's going to be another dry spell here then.

Dragon Issue 300: October 2002


part 8/10


Elminster's guide to the realms: Ed is naturally neither grim nor dark, with even his nine hells material operatic as much as it is harrowing, so thankfully he doesn't even try to be in theme. However, he can be pretty sneaky when he chooses too, creating characters who really know how to use their everyday surroundings to best effect. Here's another one of those, a canny old Harper who's probably a bit underpowered for her CR due to having lots of NPC class levels, but since she also has tons of potions and bits and pieces, and knows the terrain around her home, I can see unprepared PC's getting their ass handed to them. Along with the highly specific NPC and terrain info, there's also several new minor potions and oils that should come in handy in any campaign, and more info that we really want to know on how to smoke and cure meat, which is such a typically Ed bit of worldbuilding it makes me laugh. While not that great by his standards, this is still a nicely refreshing break from the overall tone of the magazine, and shows why they keep him around. He fills up page count reliably, and can still do things no-one else can get away with. When he's gone, the magazine will gain yet another few points of banality.


Campaign news: We've finished this year's big events, so this column is looking ahead to next year, and telling us about the new adventures and organisational changes in store. They're putting individual circle members in charge of particular metaregions, which'll  speed along the decision making process for everyday rulings and hopefully won't make them more arbitrary. There's lots more adventures to come, including higher level ones where you might be able to make a dent in Iuz's dominion, and more options for you to travel to get involved in them. Oh, and another little bit of skill bloat, just to keep this from being purely positive. As with the last time, it feels like these changes are probably the direct result of issues encountered in play and complained about, which is a good thing to see. I do think a general knowledge (the planes) skill would make more sense than knowledge (ether creatures) at 3e's general level of skill granularity though. That just feels like it was written to punish metagamers, or by someone who preferred the haphazard way 2e did things. What was the lead up to that weirdly specific ruling?


Playing Pieces: This is in theme, as it was a couple of months ago, and follows on directly from that revisiting of the vault of the Drow. After all, they are both vile and dark, so it fits perfectly. So here's 7 new Drow NPC's, plus a good old fashioned vampire who hangs around the vault because hey, even if the company sucks, you don't have to worry about sunburn, and elvish blood is pretty sweet. All of them are pretty morally dubious, and the last three are outright unhinged, a trio of murderous mimes that'll chill the blood of anyone with a hint of clown fear. So there is some silliness here, and also a healthy dollop of darkness, sex, drugs and rock & roll to keep the grimdark from taking itself too seriously, sticking it's head up it's ass and snacking on it's own faeces. Mixed message, certainly, but still more entertaining than being one thing all the time, regardless of the situation.

Dragon Issue 300: October 2002


part 9/10


DM's toolbox: This column changes writers, and takes on a topic that feels more like a Dungeoncraft one than a DM's toolbox one. How to recruit a new player, particularly one who hasn't played RPG's before at all. Still, it approaches the topic in the list based, step by step way that makes this column particularly useful for the socially inept. It's all about making the idea seem fun and accessible. Of course, one problem here is that like the rest of the magazine, they have to aim this towards 3e D&D, which doesn't have a really good basic set, unlike previous versions, and the three books put together are thicker than most of the old boxed sets as well. But even that's solvable as long as you guide them through character creation. After all, they only have to read the Player's handbook, and big chunks of that will be irrelevant depending on which class they pick. A one-to-one introductory session in which they're the centre of attention and all the challenges are tailored to their character is often a good way to start, especially as it gets the explaining part done without the clamour of contradictory voices that can be very offputting. Basically, start simple, and then gradually unveil all the multifold possibilities roleplaying games offer, that you simply can't manage with any other form of entertainment. Hint at the possibilities and invite them to explore them themselves, rather than shoving hundreds of supplements at once in their faces. So it seems this column has survived a writer change without being hit in quality or usefulness, although the topic is a little rehashed. Like the writer submission guidelines being reiterated every year or so, it's an important measure to keep bringing in new blood.


Silicon Sorcery: Age of Wonders 2 is another computer game that to be honest, owes a fair debt to D&D in terms of classes, spells, and monsters. Which of course, makes it all the easier to convert the few bits that are original. A couple of new elemental blast spells, hurting the enemy with geysers of steam and sticky clouds of poisonous gas. Nothing too groundbreaking, but as usual, the slightly different secondary characteristics will help you catch the enemy off guard, and hopefully bypass their resistances. Couldn't they convert utility powers instead, or isn't there many of those in computer games to convert? Overall, this is a definite meh, as we already have more than enough blasty powers. Once again, this shows the flaws in only doing the popular stuff and cutting the rest. You sacrifice the versatility that makes you adaptable to new situations, and make yourself more vulnerable to change.


Nodwick faces a time traveling enemy. Fortunately, he's no more competent than any of their other foes:

Dragon Issue 300: October 2002


part 10/10


Sage advice: Can I be a human cleric of bahamut (Yes, actually. He's progressive.)

Do greater deities do everything perfectly. (Almost. They still don't always crit. Small mercy though.)

How do you stat out your own deities. (Read the book, follow the formulae. )

Where do paladins of helm get their spells from (Good question. There is some definite metaphysical drama there. )

What's the point of voice of the siren (Even more bonuses. Rockaroo. )

How many domains does an oracular adept have (The usual. You lose your old ones. Don't try and double up like a twinky monkey boy.)

What happens if you get arcane domain spells (They're simply divine for you, pouffles.)

How does slime wave work on large creatures (Lots of surface area = lots of suffering. Take that tarrasque down.)

Does divine might take up an action and use up a turn attempt (no, yes)

If a domain spell boosts caster level, can you use that to make powerful magic items ( Yes, at the usual extra cost.)

Where in the roll do you apply turn resistance (All points. Break the powah!)

Can command set someone up for a coup de grace (No. Self preservation is stronger than a puny 1st level spell.)

Do you need a hand free for a divine focus. (No, you can just be wearing it. Isn't faith a wonderful thing. )


What's new has Dixie take charge, still on a heroic kick. Seems to be going pretty well for her at the moment.


This issue is very disappointing indeed, especially when compared to the breakout experimentation of issue 100, and the turn everything up to 11 extravagance of issue 200. It makes it very clear how much more limited the topics they cover have become, and how much more formulaic the ways they approach them are. Top that off with the specific theme being approached in a manner that simply doesn't give it the gravity it needs, and you have a complete damp squib. Not one I have any real desire to come back too later. Let's hope that with the pressure off, the next issue won't choke quite so badly.

Dragon Issue 301: November 2002


part 1/10


83 (116) pages. Whaaat. Are they actively trying to make their covers bad now? This one looks like someone was drawing from a claymation model. An edgy, badass claymation model, to make things even more ridiculous. And they've given up all pretence at backdrop. This is even worse than the very first issue's cover. Really, what the hell were you thinking, letting this one through. Hoo boy. The transition to the new company continues to be a rough ride, it seems.


Scan Quality: Excellent, indexed, ad-free scan.


In this issue:


Wyrms turn goes back to a full page in size, as they actually have a decent amount to say this time. While they may only cover official 3e material in the magazine these days, they do have a ton of stuff by other companies, and no problem with trying out deranged hybrids of options from different books. Once again it's clear that some of the restrictions the magazine works under are due to the management, rather than the creative staff. If they weren't constantly worrying about cross-promotion and relevancy to current product, they would put more weird stuff in. And of course, nothing's stopping you from doing that in your game. As they've said before, you do not have to worry about all the things they do, and should just concentrate on having fun. The compromises needed to make a system that works for everyone mean it may not be perfect for your particular game style, but hopefully it'll require fewer hacks to get there than one that was designed for a specific purpose only.

Dragon Issue 301: November 2002


part 2/10


Scale Mail: The first Campaign Components may have been a little too obvious to please my jaded tastes, but plenty of people did like both it's content and format, and they have several more in the pipeline, including swashbuckling this issue, and gladiators in a couple of months time. Both low magic options, interestingly enough. I wonder how much work they'll put into D&Difying them.

Amusingly, we have complaining letters about issue 300 sent even before it came out. Won't someone think of the children, especially those who are already subscribed, so their parents won't get a chance to vet it before it arrives. Since I'm pretty darn sure most of those kids are now fully capable of finding porn on the internet in seconds, even if their parents try and put controls on the computer, the horse is long gone from this barn door. And since the final result wan't even that gruesome or mature, especially compared to the stuff White Wolf is putting out around this time, this all seems pretty pointless.

The readers haven't completely lost their sense of humour though. First we have someone who's obsessing over little details of their logo design, then we have someone who wants to tattoo the No SASE Ogre on their breast. The only suitable reply I can think of that is a no SASE ogre filk set to the tune of "No Scrubs", and I really can't be bothered to write two full verses for a single joke response.

A rather more weighty question is why they don't do OGL articles. It basically means everything they publish is just being kept by the company, never to be built further upon. They feel that they have already been more than generous with their intellectual property. Now it's everyone else's turn to give back to them. I suspect that whatever the individual writers think, the lawyers at WotC are already having morning after regrets and trying to look for ways out of the deal. Peter Adkison & Ryan Dancey have both left the company by now, but thankfully their influence lingers.

Finally, there's the issues involved when you make too many things templates. Firstly, there's the silly combinations, and secondly there's the annoying twinked ones where one negates the weaknesses of the other, and a creature can become virtually unkillable, which means it's way more powerful than it's supposed CR. Such is the nature of a modular system. There's always going to be some breakable edge cases, no matter how tightly you design it.


Zogonia loses it's sense of perspective.

Dragon Issue 301: November 2002


part 3/10


D&D Previews comes to an odd end, with lots of stuff this month, but only one thing for next month. Guess like the forum, they felt it had become obsolete in the fast moving world of digital communication. That and the preponderance of novels over gamebooks doesn't look good here, does it.

Our only RPG product isn't even D&D. The D20 modern corebook sees them try and do generic action adventure. They hew even closer to the D&D model than they did with Alternity, with 2 of the sample settings being basically modern day D&D done as Buffy and Shadowrun, respectively. Of course, the irony is that worked, as it enjoyed a longer run than Alternity or the Amazing Engine. Still, White Wolf continues to really hold the crown for modern day supernatural roleplaying.

T. H. Lain continues to produce generic D&D novels "singlehandedly" at great speed. City of Fire gives Krusk centre stage.

The Forgotten Realms gets a ridiculous number of novels out for christmas.  The Sorcerer by Troy Denning. Insurrection by Thomas M. Reid. Sands of the Soul by Voronica Whitney-Robinson. All familiar names both IC and OOC. Continuity like a thick glutinous paste envelops everything. Where is the room for PC's to make their mark?

Dragonlance is almost as busy, trying to keep up, but not quite managing as usual. Bertrem's guide to the war of souls gets a second volume, obviously the first one sold well. Jean Rabe delivers The Eve of the Maelstrom. And Steven D Sullivan starts to open up another area of Krynn next month. The Dragon Isles. Well, those horrible dragon overlords that were the primary antagonists last product cycle had to come from somewhere. They don't get that big and powerful overnight.


Up on a soapbox: Gary's reminiscences stray to an idea that was very much in fashion during the 70's, and has since slowly fallen out of it. Going to the moon. With the Apollo landings fresh in everyone's minds, it's not surprising that people wanted to put that in their RPG's. And equally unsurprisingly, Gary decided to put some amusing obstacles in their way. What is slightly surprising is that they did then let those obstacles deter them, not wanting to risk their lives to a method of getting to the moon that would only work in a warner brothers cartoon. You know, real researchers had to do decades of research, which often blew up in their faces, before they made it there. You'd think fantasy characters could stand one or two before giving up on their dreams. This is especially sad because he probably would have let them go there if they tried hard enough. (and if he had the time to prepare an adventure for them to play once they were there ) Oh well, it's not as if there weren't other chances to get to the moon, as those playing in Jim Ward's campaign found out. Oh well. Not every group of heroes has what it takes to overcome insurmountable odds, and even in the brutal days of the 70's, not everyone just shrugged and rolled up a new character when their existing one fell. If they did, things wouldn't have changed over the years in the first place.

Dragon Issue 301: November 2002


part 4/10


Campaign components: Ah yes, swashbuckling. Since that was the theme of their very final 2e issue, this is a fairly quick revisiting, and shows it remains a pretty popular game style. Unfortunately, they don't have Robin Laws providing the genre emulation ideas this time around, and a dry, point by point listing of all the core classes and races, and how you get get them to fit into a swashbuckling campaign, is not a good way to get me in the mood, as well as eating up a good 10 pages with the kind of waffle you could probably come up with yourself if you felt like it. Guess even with the cut in setting material, they still have writers padding things out because they're being paid by the word. The second half of the article is more interesting to me, with a pretty decent selection of new feats and equipment, and a few new adventure ideas involving putting D&D monsters in the swashbuckling milieu. But still, we have another case where this material is so 3e specific that it doesn't have much utility anywhere else, while the previous special has quite a lot of adventure ideas that would still be good when applied in 3e, or indeed any other system. It makes me think that I might enjoy those mammoth issues in the first half of 2000 all the more in hindsight, since they did cram so much in to make sure we had a good store of material. In the meantime, I have far less to say about this than I should for a 19 page article that eats up a good 6th of the magazine, which irritates me. That's the problem with being dry and competent, but also highly specialised. It means I can't even slate it interestingly. Let's hope Gladiators is more interesting. At least I won't have a previous themed issue to compare it too, so it'll have to have more unfamiliar material simply by necessity.


Meter and measure: Or new shiny crunch specifically for Bards, as if they weren't already one of the most flexible classes in the game. Masterpiece performances are a way for them to gain new uses for their bardic music at the cost of a fair chunk of time and money, plus a small permanent investment of skill points. As a way to balance the permanent acquisition of new powers, it makes sense. But it does mean they're never going to challenge the tier 1 classes who can get an unlimited selection of spells if they can find the time (and OOC supplements) to do the research. Still, it is a good diversion from yet another collection of new spells, and both the performances and their creators are pretty amusingly described. If it was a standard Arcane Lore I'd still like it. It's just it throws into relief another problem with their attempts at making the game more balanced.

Dragon Issue 301: November 2002


part 5/10


From Field to Cauldron: Another article of the uses of mundane alchemy? You surprise me. Yup folks, herbalism is actually getting a decent amount of attention this edition, so someone who maxes out their alchemy skill can feel like it's a valuable contribution to the party arsenal. It's certainly a lot cheaper than the stuff in the previous article, although since you'll be paying each time, it might add up over the course of an adventuring career. While more limited than actual spells, this stuff is actually pretty cool, with tricks like ice adhesive, waterproof ink, and several different types of specialised injury relief that make hunting down these herbs very worthwhile for tactically astute adventurers. They may not ever become as ubiquitous as flaming oil and 10 foot poles, but these are another solid bit of stuff to fill up your backpack with.


The ecology of the troll: The new fashion for dry, encounter-focussed ecologies continues in this issue. While there is some info on their lifecycle and mating habits,  the majority of the article is once again about fighting them, just like the vs articles. Might as well not use the old name for this one. This one doesn't provide a lair, but puts quite a bit of attention on their potential class capabilities. Yes, we get it now. Nearly anything can become anything in 3e, but some things are better suited to some classes. Ho hum.


Guild secrets: Another thieves guild for this column, this time focussing on long-term scheming. This is helped by the fact that the leader is an elf with dragon blood, which gives him a pretty extended lifespan in which to gradually develop ideas, pick the right people, and groom them for greatness. Course, this kind of long term planning means they're actually pretty vulnerable to a direct application of force, and a high level party with decent divination spells might be able to get the resources together to do it. Since a group can go from 1st to 20th level in a matter of months if they're lucky in 3e, blindsiding them and leading to a dramatic ending where the villain goes "NOOOOO!!!! This can't be happening!!!" definitely sounds like fun to me. Plus since they're good investors, I'm sure the haul you can get from this adventure'll be huge. So this column is short, but pretty usable.


Dork tower fails to realise why it's contributing to the problem.

Dragon Issue 301: November 2002


part 6/10


Elminster's guide to the realms: Sometimes Ed's characters play it smart. Sometimes, though, they're just dumb, and kept alive by fiat. Such as this one. Another character that's given special powers because Ed wants a more literary feeling character than the D&D rules accommodate. Let's face it, D&D diviners are THE most badass speciality of one of the most badass classes, especially at high level, where they're the kings of xanatos gambit long plans and always having the right counter to any challenge. No, it's just a woman who has visions when she touches magical items, and any attempts to majorly inconvenience her have resulted in obnoxious feebleminding direct from Mystra herself. Really, what can you do with a setup like that. It automatically turns the character from an adventure in themselves to a mouthpiece for the DM to give you cryptic plot hooks. So yeah, this is the kind of railroading plot device character I really wish we'd outgrown by now. Sure, the Realms has a whole load of legacy ones baked in, but you don't need to keep adding more! Sigh.


Fiction: Cause and Effect by Paul Kemp. Our other bit of Realms material this month, on the other hand, is pretty good. Paul once again brings a darker, more morally ambiguous edge to the Realms. While the high wizards may be pretty much untouchable, the cities are still full of rogues and scoundrels both guild affiliated and independent, and they're constantly engaged in backstabbing power games with permanent gruesome consequences. Still, as with the Erevis Cale stories, he doesn't make the protagonist of this an outright monster. He may be sorely tested, but in the end he takes the merciful path. Of course, that may come back to bite him in the ass later, because no good deed goes unpunished, but that's a story for another time. In the meantime, it sets up another character who has a good deal of potential, and shows you how to create a good story with minimal dialogue. I object to neither of those things.


The ad free scan fails to excise everything. The complete guide to dopplegangers by goodman games gets a rather entertaining before and after picture.

Dragon Issue 301: November 2002


part 7/10


Campaign news: Still trying to maintain a degree of continuity between adventures here, despite the headaches it causes. Advancing the metaplot based on the average of the module results, while making sure that characters don't become unplayable forever if they did things out of order, and changing the rounding rules so groups wind up even closer to the correct challenge level for their size and composition. Pretty dull stuff really. The big ship requires constant small corrections, to make sure it doesn't go off course and wind up in big trouble later. Let's see what feature they've cooked up this time.


Greyhawk's beggars union: We've already had a thieves guild this month. Including a beggar's one too feels a little overspecialised. But then maybe that's the point, since swashbucklers are urban adventurers and likely to encounter both, and if the two conflict, it makes for good adventures when you're caught in the middle. And with plenty of history to draw on, the history of the City of Greyhawk beggars & thieves guilds turns out pretty interesting, with plenty of back and forth and ambitious gambits. It even includes the first canon gay Greyhawk character as far as I know, which is definitely something you wouldn't have seen in the TSR days. While this could have been longer, the fact that it's interesting, sneakily progressive, and well tied into existing history makes it pretty cool. They'll never catch up to Exalted (or even the Realms for that matter) in terms of pansexual antics, but at least it's something. Kudos to Erik Mona for doing that when he really didn't have too.