Dragon Issue 117: January 1987

part 1/3

108 pages. Roger has to confront the problem facing anyone who gets a regular job. You don't have the time to do all the creative stuff you used too. And as he used to be the second most prolific contributer to the magazine, that does suck a bit. Thankfully, these days there are more than enough writers willing and able to step up. The contents page is absolutely jam packed this time. Also, in response to their complaints, we actually have a female adventurer who may not be perfectly dressed for a swamp, but at least looks as though she's had the crap beaten out of her a few times in the past. And given their current situation, this may happen again sometime soon. Will this provoke complaints in itself. The line between equality and misogyny is easily crossed. Neh. Cant please everyone. The important question is, will this issue please me?

In this issue:

Letters: We get a letter asking why the cthulhu mythos has been removed from the god book. Legal crap, my dear. We ain't getting them back any time soon either. Nor will you be seeing the Melnibonean stuff again in this system any time soon. Until the great d20 comes and unifies us, we must remain apart.
A letter asking if they're going to do any more dragonquest stuff. Once again, the answer is no. We're going where the money is, and it aint there.
A rules question about adjudicating attacks on an army with multiple troop types. Fairly simple division. It may slow things down, but still far less than rolling for everyone individually.
A letter saying that presenting sample characters and their histories would be cool. Roger replies that Polyhedron already does this. Subscribe now! Gotta collect 'em all! You know, we really could have a reading thread for that as well. Anyone with the resources and insanity to try out there?
A letter about if something is available in canada. Yes, but it's gonna cost you more, what with currency conversion and shipping and crap. Oh, the woes of being north of the border and a cultural backwater.

Forum: Mark W McClennan may be 14, but he was not sniggering at the cover of issue 114. He also doesn't think that it's going to draw many new people into the hobby either. At the moment, the controversy is more on the satanic implications than the artwork. He seems to have a pretty level head on the matter.
David F Godwin is a forum regular, and he makes a more highbrow argument, pontificating about the difference between nakedness as Art, and as titillation. Entirely different, fnaw. Yeah, right.
Dan Tejes looks at this topic from a more sociological point of view. If both the writers and readers of fantasy are primarily male, then of course what is produced will primarily appeal to them. That's a rather chicken and egg argument. But maybe they could be appealing better to women.
Marc Andressen Is another of our young readers, and is somewhat embarrassed about the idea of his parents seeing some of the magazine's covers. Nor would he prefer the problem solved by more equal opportunity eye candy. Hrmm.
Carl Forhan also subscribes to the view that some things are more acceptable when done for the sake of Art. The magazine's policy doesn't need that much changing.
At this point Roger butts in again to say that he's shutting down debate on this subject. It grows most tiresome to him. Please do not deluge us endlessly with letters when there are other topics we could also be tackling. We don't want a rehash of the dwarven beards debacle.
Russell Taylor goes back to that old topic of the planes, and the mathematics involved in sets of infinity. They can explain quite easily how one infinity can be accessable from another but not other ones. Funny how a good grounding in the way the universe works can help you better conceive of how other universes might function differently.
Jeff Neely tackles another old topic, PvP. His group's characters argue and compete all the time, but they still have fun. Your group can too.
Mae Tanner thinks that grey on black is a bad thing in a magazine, because it makes it really hard for her to read it. I do have to say it's not the most attractive colour scheme, and I'm glad my eyes don't have problems like that.
Stephen Iicata points out just how much stuff you need for an expedition in the real world. This is why you have pack animals and vehicles if at all possible. Encumbrance is a bitch. Don't forget it.
David Sisk is yet another master debater. This time, he tackles the statement that stirrups are an essential part of mounted warfare. They might be helpful, but a good saddle is if anything an even bigger factor in safe riding. Your article does not match up to my 16 years of actual experience! Yes, but have you tried fighting actual battles riding bareback? Yes, I'll bet the other writer hasn't either. Ahh, the joys of realism debates. Never forget that you can actually do some pretty awesome stuff in reality with a little practice.
S.D Anderson dislikes the hit location system because it assumes all hit point damage is actual damage rather than exhaustion and depletion of narrative immunity. Once again, Gamism Vs Simulationism rages through the magazine, with articles trying to influence the implied structure of the game.
Patrick Goodman is fed up with people trying to put realism in fantasy, and thinks 2nd ed cleaning up the system and sweeping away the bad bits from the supplements can't come soon enough. Everything should be much better organized. Another perfectly reasonable desire that may not be satisfied by events to come.

The elements of mystery: Hmm. A topic we've seen before, but only once, from a rather different perspective. I think we can work with this. Robert Plamadon reminds us that they players shouldn't know everything about the setting, and it can be good for the roleplaying if they don't know everything about the game rules either. Rumours are an important part of making an exciting campaign with genuine choices, letting you hint at what adventures are out there, but not giving away the plot. You do not have to stick with the rules for monsters, and even variant classes and spells from other land could be introduced. If your players have misconceptions about the setting, don't correct them OOC, let their ignorance drive the plot by making amusing mistakes happen. Similarly, if they can't remember all the details of their adventures, use it to your advantage. Drama is born of conflict and misunderstandings. Much of the usual rules are not fixed for your game and roleplaying is important advice. Not a bad article, but probably doesn't deserve pole position. I guess they need to push their anti one true way munchikining powergamer agenda.

What are the odds?: You've used this title before as well. That's not good. Another case of a familiar subject updated to reflect new developments. In this case the use of really twinky ability generation methods in UA has people curious just what the chances of rolling a particular ability score with a certain amount of dice using Xd6 keep best 3. At really high numbers you have a better than 50% chance of getting 16-18. Which very much takes the specialness out of getting a roll that good. Oh well. A lot of the time, you don't want to be normal. And if there wasn't a big chunk of the playerbase who didn't want that, I doubt they would have put this stuff in the new books. Another reminder that for all the accusations of power creep in 3e and 4e, 1e had some very definite escalations of power in it's later supplements. Still, statistics are always fun. A nice crunchy counterpart to the very fluffy previous article.

Feuds and feudalism: So your players have reached name level and have set up a domain, and now you're struggling for plot ideas. Or maybe they haven't, but want to go into that sphere anyway. What do you do? If you're struggling for ideas, it's probably because you never really defined who the various rulers around are, their respective resources, and their opinions of one another. A Lord needs servants, and by ingratiating yourself, you can get to be a local knight or some equivalent. And then it's politics all the way. You've got to keep your boss happy, and keep your underlings reasonably happy, but more importantly productive, keep track of who likes and hates who, who wants what, and what they're willing to do to get it, and then choose what side to be on. It may take a bit of effort to set up, but once you set up a soap opera like this, it runs indefinitely with very little further effort. All you need to do is make things react logically and introduce new players every now and then to shake things up and replace people killed. And before you know it, you've got a full on game of generational power politics. Woo. You make it seem so simple. It's all about relationships. Another fairly solid bit of roleplaying advice.

Condensed combat: A load more tables here as they continue their new trend of compiling stuff from multiple books, and putting it all in one place for your playing convenience. Or it least, it would be convenient, if it didn't have some obvious errors. I know accurate copying is hard, but really, what are editors for? If you're gonna be crunchy, you need to be precise. Fail.

Dungeoneers shopping guide: The onslaught of short crunchy articles continues, with a couple of pages of new equipment. If ever there was something inexperienced GM's dread, it's players asking for something which logically should be possible, but isn't detailed in the book. And someone is bound to want to buy something that isn't in the book, and you'll have to fudge prices. Well, now at least you can eat someone else's fudge instead of cooking up your own in a hurry and risking making a charred indigestible mess that upsets your campaign later on. Still, since this is hardly the most comprehensive add-on, I suspect there are still plenty of things that annoying players can ask for that aren't covered anywhere. Thoroughly mehsome.

Adventure Trivia!: Hmm. A set of questions about lots of AD&D trivia. It's been a few years since we had one of those. This is rather trickier than the last one I remember, with lots of questions with answers that are idiosyncratically 1st ed, rather than remaining the same from edition to edition. Plenty of questions are drawn from supplements, plus a few from modules, and even issues of this magazine. You'd have to be a real completeist to get them all. A timely reminder that even as versed in all things D&D as I am now, it would still be possible to attain yet another level of mastery of the rules and settings. Oh, for a photographic memory, so it wouldn't also take another quantum leap in the amount of time spent studying and playing the game to do so.

A touch of genius: So, what's the biggest dump stat in AD&D? Many would say charisma. Quite a few more would say comeliness, post UA. Vince Garcia, on the other hand, thinks that for non magic-users, it's intelligence you can skimp on without it harming your character. After all, you can still play them cleverly. Aside from strict GM'ing and creating situations where intelligence checks are needed, what can we do about this? Vince's solution is to make intelligence factor into training times and saves against illusion spells. The second of those isn't a bad idea, but since training times and costs are generally ignored anyway, I am very leery of the first one. Forcing dumb characters to spend more money, and take more downtime between adventures would annoy everyone, especially if there were also other time related constraints in the game, and everyone else is raring to get back to the dungeoneering and worldsaving. There may be plenty of real world examples of incompetent people in businesses who massively increase the annoyance factor and inefficiency of work for everyone else, yet somehow don't get fired; but in adventuring, people like that will find themselves replaced, terminally if necessary. Like making wizards weak at first, but game dominating later on, this is a form of balance that is very much not conductive to a good game. Oh well. 50% isn't a terrible score.

Dragon Issue 117: January 1987

part 2/3

Sage advice returns, having also taken a three year break.  Penny Petticord takes the reins to reign over and rein in the uncertainties in the rules created by Unearthed Arcana material. Yes, it has been over a year and it's still a big deal. Yet more evidence of how much slower paced things were back then. Anyway, to the questions.
Can name level cavaliers build strongholds and collect taxes. (yes. Use the same rules as for normal fighters, but double the money they get, because of their noble connections. The salary of virtue bleeds the serfs dry paying for it. )
Can you save the magic liquid from the Rainbow spell by decanting it (no. This is basic anti-weasel economics. Changing the location of something does not change what it is. )
When is Withdraw negated by other using spells. Does this ruin the other spell? ( When you actually apply it to the other person, not when you cast it. No, the negation of withdraw does not ruin the other spell. )
Can you use the illusionist rainbow spell as material component for the cleric rainbow spell ( ow, my head. Someone get the boys down in spell R&D a theasaurus. I'm sure Gary has several to spare. Anyway, the answer is yes. Super synergy strategy ahoy!)
What is the material component for phantom steed. ( A small silver horseshoe. I really ought to give a price for these, as that sounds like it'd need to be custom made, but I won't. )
You said in the DMG there's no such thing as magical elfin chain, but there is in UA.  You contradict yourselves! ( That is for the same reason that we also raised the demihuman level limits in UA. Because you lot kept whinging and whinging and whinging at us for the past 6 years! You've got what you wanted. I hope you're happy now. )
How much should elfin chain cost to buy new( shitloads. We recommend at least 5 times the book price, with a waiting list of over a decade. Double that for members of another race. You're not going to follow this advice, are you? I thought not. Bloody munchkins.  )
Since non-evil assassins are now legal, how do you introduce them to the game? ( We at sage advice towers still recommend that you do not. If you do so, we recommend the GM places extra obstacles in their way when it comes to training )
Do you get strength bonuses to damage on thrown weapons (yes. Some things are too obvious to forbid. )
Do high level bards gain hierophant druid powers (No. We designed the bard before we did druid levels above 14. By a strict reading of the PHB, they should, but that would be horrendously broken, so it's time for a bit of backpedaling. )
Can a cavalier use a crossbow. ( if he doesn't mind being looked down upon as unknightly by all his cavalier friends.)
If elfin chain is so fine, why does it still hinder your thieving abilities. (It may be lighter and more flexible than regular armour, but it's not better than no armour at all. It's not some magic cure-all. )
What is the armour class of a weapon  when trying to disarm it. (you use the armour  class of the wielder. Yes, even the bonuses granted by armour. Yes, this isn't particularly realistic. Do you have a problem with this?)
Do you lose all your spells if you change class with a hat of difference (yes. And then you need to rest to memorise spells available to your new one. Quick changes will not be helpful. )
How often can you change classes with a hat of difference (as often as you like, to any class you meet the requirements for. Note that this may play havoc with you experience gaining process, as it is split amongst so many classes. )
Do gray elves get both the race and subrace ability modifiers (yes. This is also the case for all other subraces. )  
Can you cast spells while within an ottilukes resilient sphere. (yes. Yes, this includes dispelling. )

The ecology of the ankheg: Another monster that originated in the magazine returns triumphant, to cause devastation to farmers everywhere. Another of those creatures that is just about plausible enough to work in a proper ecology, this adapts plenty of tricks from real life bugs to create a pretty detailed lifecycle for the creature, full of exploitable points that canny adventurers can use to avoid becoming dinner. The fiction also takes a different tack yet again, as while there may be a pontificating sage, he certainly doesn't have the assurance or detachment of most of his ilk. Interestingly, once again the fiction and the gaming parts of the article are handled by different people. What's with that? Also contains a valuable lesson for adventurers. When you get to the domain management stage, if you don't do some actual managing, beware peasant unrest. Being a ruler has responsibilities. Another pretty good article in this series, full of stuff that would make it into the 2nd ed writeup of the creature.

Hounds of space and darkness: Stephen Innis returns like a dog to his vomit, to cover a topic he's examined twice before. Having handled real world tame dogs and wild canids in pretty decent detail, he now gives us three flavours of fantastic dog. Gith dogs are found among both the githyanki and githzerai, and were created by applying the same techniques to normal dogs that the illithids used on humans to make the gith in the first place, proving that the abused becomes the abuser in fantasy worlds as well. Lets hope they don't turn on their masters in turn, because they're pretty ferocious, and highly resistant to mental control, making them well suited to pounce on mind flayers in a pack, ignoring their primary attacks and ripping them to shreds. They're a pretty good addition to their tactical arsenal, that I'm vaguely surprised I've never seen before. We also get the Xotzcoyotl, or cave dogs, which can be found living with all sorts of underground creatures, in various breeds. With superlative hearing and smell, it's pretty much a waste of time trying invisibility around them. While not very pretty (unless you find hairless bats cute. ) they too can make a loyal companion for an adventurer, helping you deal with hazards even demihumans would be hard pressed to detect until it's too late. A welcome return for one of our regular writers. He's producing content as well researched and solidly designed as ever.

Fun without fighting: Speaking of regulars, here's Scott Bennie again, with another quick reminder that there are plenty of plots you can have without combat, and your personal badassedness and degree of social respect and influence are not always related. Romance, children, business, honour, social climbing. All are valid goals you can have a lot of fun striving for. While not bad at all, this is the third bit of basic roleplaying advice in one issue. I'm feeling a bit tired of that by now, especially as we're not even halfway through yet. I hope there were some more recently started readers that are getting more out of this stuff than I am, because they have been pushing it strongly since 1983, and I think I have it pretty well internalized by now. Course, that doesn't necessarily mean I'll be able to put it into practice, and actually run games any better, but we can certainly hope.

The forgotten characters: So hirelings are starting to go out of fashion these days. With the influx of new more badass characters from UA and OA, there's less need for adventurers to travel in large bands with massive supply trains of animals, squires and support troops if they want a decent chance of taking out a monster lair. But we're still a long way from the unaccompanied 4 and 5 person parties of 3 & 4e, and they want to make sure their current love of proper characterization is extended to every part of the game. This means thinking up names, personalities and backstories for your henchmen and hirelings. What's their motivation, likes and dislikes, ambitions beyond following the PC's around, etc etc. Just build it up organically, rather than engaging in tons of work making personalities for people who may die on the first adventure. More ideas to mine, that could be turned to fun or tedium oh so easily. Which will it be?

By magic Masked: Another Elminster article covering a themed set of magic items, in this case m-m-m-m-MASKS! (the mighty power that will save the day. Ahh, the joys of the 80's ) Anyway, once again, we're getting a big batch of stuff from the ruins of Myth Drannor. (What's the betting that when FR becomes a full setting, that'll be one of the first places to get a supplement dedicated to it.)  The horned mask gives you lots of cool perception related powers. The veil mask keeps your mind from being read. The winged mask lets you fly. The Skull mask protects you from undead special abilities, but also pisses them off, so they attack you first. Better make sure a Defender is wearing it then. The mask of magic lets you see magical energies. The fanged mask lets you chomp on your enemies. The mirror mask reflects gaze attacks back. The mask of silence lets you prevent other creatures from making any sound, perfect for assassins. And the mask of winds is basically just a gasmask, protecting you from nasty poisonous gasses and the like. Not a very inspired collection this month. Very few of them have the quirky additional effects we've come to know and love from Ed, and the setting and historical chatter has been almost completely cut to focus on their mechanical properties. You'd barely know it was him at all. Which isn't very pleasing, even if they're still entirely usable. What's up with that? Hopefully he'll get back on form soon.

Bazaar of the bizarre is back as well! This is pleasing. Looks like they're reviving a lot of the old names. Are they back for good, or will they flip-flop on this. Either way, we get to appreciate their abilities at alliteration. Anyway, we get another themed article in quick succession, this time focussed on magical rings. 23 of them, from a whole bunch of different authors. (although there's no big names on the list) I wonder how long some of them have been sitting in the slush pile until they thought they had enough to make a full compilation. While a mixed bag, there are more interesting ones here than in the last article, with funny stuff like the ring of animal magnetism, annoying stuff like the ring of annulment, quirky stuff like the rings of limited telepathy and distraction, and setting tied stuff with inherent plot hooks like the rings of Lolth and Crius. Overall, this is pretty pleasing, and yet more fodder for my random item tables. This should keep them getting repetitive for a few months more.

More power to you: Having given us tons of system light roleplaying advice articles, it now seems that we're getting an onslaught of short sharp chunks of crunch. 5 new skills, 6 new powers, and a new limitation for Champions. Weather control, super flexibility, enhanced senses, greater flexibility, and the great old story device of not being fully in control of your powers. All abilities that have well known comic antecedents, and richly deserve a place in the book. Once again we are reminded just how much development and playtesting it took to produce a system that fills in most of these gaps, and just how big a book you need to cover all this in one place.  Most of these are deserving of a more permanent home in the next edition, whenever that may come.

Tanks for the memories: Hmm. An article for car wars? Now that's something that's been around for ages, and never got any attention here. I guess I shouldn't be too surprised, since TSR  & SJG have recently started collaborating on the gameline. Anyway, tanks are also something that doesn't get a huge amount of attention, probably because modern games aren't very big in general. Anyway, tanks are far bigger and more heavily armoured than all but the most insanely rigged hod rod, but nowhere near as fast or maneuverable. If you want to beat them, you'd better be able to attack them from range and make sure they can't target on you to shoot you back. They're also exceedingly expensive. Whether it be fighting them or building one yourself, this is another thing that seems like it should add a little spice to your game.

Roughing it: This month's Top Secret support is another sideways transferral from another recent release. AD&D recently got the wilderness survival guide, so why not convert some stuff over. After all, the life of a secret agent is not all witty reparte and pristine underground hideouts. Forests, mountains, swamps, deserts, arctic landscapes, ocean voyages, all present their own challenges, and get corresponding rules. Training to handle this may be expensive ( $10,000! Just how much money do secret agents have? I suspect the same bureaucratic inflation that can make a spanner or lightbulb cost $50. ) but it can save your life. Once again, they're making the game feel more complete and comprehensive, which is nice.

Dragon Issue 117: January 1987

part 3/3

The marvel-phile: As Jeff promised last month, here are the Marauders. Another incidence of the increase in brutal villains who actually kill people, these guys have caused much devastation recently and are mostly still at large.  Scalphunter, Arclight. Harpoon, Scrambler, Riptide, Vertigo, Sabertooth, Malice, Blockbuster and Prism. Many of them I've never heard of, three are already dead (for now) and one would become Wolverine's iconic rival, and is still in regular use today. Another case where we get to see the coalface that would be distilled to make up the cartoons and movies. Not every story can be a classic, and deservedly so, but you can still learn something from them. And so it is with this month's installment of this column.

Even the bad get better: Stewart Wieck! One of the future founders of White Wolf gets an article published in the magazine! Now this is definitely one for the footnotes. The actual article isn't that impressive, being basically a single page article on how to advance your villains in a non fiaty way in Villains and Vigilantes. Whether you wind up using it for your PC's (playing the monster? surely not! ) or just for your NPC's (save it for the big ones, because otherwise it'd be too much bookkeeping) this is a pretty cool idea, that shows you how to make characters behave in genre by controlling what they are rewarded for doing. (once again, it's notable in that in a mere couple of years, people are already a lot more open to the idea of killing in comics. Poor FASERIP.) Don't be afraid to houserule it for your game is you want to support different stuff. As ever, I am left curious if we'll see him in here again before he goes off and starts his own club, and becomes too important and busy for that.

Gamma III: So gamma world is getting it's third edition. And unlike their policy with D&D, they have made some quite substantial changes to the ruleset. A leaf has been taken from FASERIP's book, resolving everything using a single table, with odds of success largely based on your ability scores. Ahh, the joys of fashion. Of course this means you'll have to engage in a bit of conversion work to use characters from your old games with the new rules.  It seems that in general they have tried to simplify things quite a bit, making it both quicker and easier to play, and more suited to long term campaigns. Seems both ambitious and laudable. But as we know all to well, such sentiments do not always translate into commercial success. Will we see several more years of good coverage before it dies out, horrible flamewars from a divided fanbase, or an embarrassing flop. This is definitely another interesting thread of history I look forward to following further.

OA3, the spirit warrior strikes gets a very pretty full colour ad.

The role of books: Windmasters bane by Tom Deitz gets a pretty positive review. It manages to combine celtic fantasy with a solid grounding in modern day ohio, with only the protagonist able to see both sides of the equation. Sounds like a good bit of reading for changeling players.  
The architect of sleep by Steven R Boyett is the story of a man transferred to a parallel world inhabited by giant telepathic raccoons. (Run with us, etc etc.) This actually produces a surprisingly serious and well developed world, with extensive attention paid to history and sociological details. Only trouble is, there's so much worldbuilding to do that not as much plot happens as it could. Maybe the next in the series will get straight to the action.
The last knight of albion by Peter Hanratty thoroughly confuses the reviewer.  It may appear superficially to be a tale of post arthurian britain, in which Percivale is tracking down sir Mordred. But there are all manner of anachronisms, presented in way which makes him think that the writer is trying to make some kind of political allegory. In the end, unsure of what's going on, and not that keen on the distant writing style, he is cautiously negative.
A multitude of monsters by Craig Shaw Gardner is a rather funny tale of a group of monsters attempting to form a union, and find a wizard to act as a spokesman. Plenty of stuff occurs that is both fun to read, and could be easily stolen to put in your game. The reviewer looks forward to reading future books in this series.
The troll's grindstone by Elizabeth Boyer is the 5th book in another series. In this case, experience has indeed honed her skill, making her characterization and plotting stronger than the previous ones, and her supporting characters memorable and nuanced. Remember, even if you aren't that good at something, the more you try, the better you'll get.
Her majesty's wizard and The warlock is missing are two new books from Christopher Stasheff. They get a mixed review, as the reviewer is starting to find him predictable, but is still enjoying his work nonetheless. He needs to develop or he'll get stuck in a rut.
The game of fox and lion by Robert R Chase is a sci-fi story of big business intrigue, as genetically enhanced constructs scheme against their creators. Plenty of Xanatos gambiting takes place. Can you figure out who's really manipulating who before it's revealed?
Silverglass by J F Rivkin is a rousing tale of adventure, politics, sorcery and bed-hopping, (all presented in the best possible taste) with just enough of an undercurrent of weirdness and philosophy to keep the reviewer off-balance. This time, he cautiously recommends it, but still isn't absolutely certain if he should. Is this kind of weirdness going to appeal to ordinary people or not?

Profiles: A pair of alliterative profiles this month, for some reason. Clyde Caldwell is another of our most notable artists, responsible for lots of covers in the past few years, plus a couple of cases of authorial insertion. A well educated fella, for him, the route of least resistance somehow led to freelancing for TSR, and then getting a full time staff job. But it seems he would likely be doing art even if he couldn't make a proper living at it. He advises you not to go into an artistic job unless you really love what you do as well. Being a bitter failure is not cool. We also get to find out the name of the model used on the cover of issue 94 (Why am I not surprised that one was painted from life) and the recent Red Sonja module. Intriguing. I wonder if they still have the outfits
Penny Petticord seems rather a perfectionist. Graduating at 15 and going on to get two degrees, she managed to achieve a level of rules mastery in a week that many players never manage. She then rapidly went on to become one of the top convention GM's in the country. (while also having a day job as a rocket scientist) It's no wonder that she's been handling the rules questions for the magazine for the last few years. That kind of precision may not be as essential in roleplaying as it is in aerodynamics, but it certainly doesn't go amiss. I have mucho envy for her talents.

TSR previews: Lazer tag! Fuck yeah! I used to love playing games like that as a teenager! Our pole position product is another incredibly cool live action game. Join the official club and shoot people safely and with style. Now this is a company experiment I can get behind.
Another really weird experiment out next month is the Cheers family game. Of all the things to license. What exactly were you supposed to do with this one, and what were the rules like?
For D&D we have X12: Skarda's mirror. Marauding bandits? Surely a lower level group could handle them. On the other hand, marauding bandits with a magic mirror. Hmm. Interesting. What could lie within.
AD&D is still giving Oriental Adventures plenty of support with OA3: Ochimo, the spirit warrior. Is it an honorable wronged spirit, or a scummy tricksy one? Either way, you'd better lay it to rest.
Gamma world gets GW7: Beta Principle. Venture to a preapocalyptic amusement park and enjoy the easter eggs as the adventure from GW6 develops into a more epic story. Hmm. Combined with the new edition, is this leading to a resurgence for the property?
Finally, we have two anthologies. Amazing science fiction releases a best of covering 1926-35, it's early era. Includes stories from luminaries such as John Campbell and H P Lovecraft. Way to remind us, dude. If you want something more recent, Snarfquest has just finished it's first arc, and gets a compilation of the story so far. Now you can read it all without having to flip from one magazine to the next, spreading them all out on your bed to get a proper feel for the continuity.  

The game wizards: Another format change. With Gary fully gone now (not that they've actually said so yet. ) they need a new column to communicate the intentions of the company top brass. Of course, the new very top brass (Roll of thunder, stab of organ music) is not inclined to dirty her hands by communicating directly with the hoi polloi that buy the products, so that means Michael Dobson, Jeff Grubb, "Zeb" Cook, Doug Niles and Jim Ward all contribute their own scuttlebutt.
Mike handles the personnel news. Tracey Hickman and Margaret Weis are back from computer game land, and ready to rock our settings again. Warren Spector has been poached from Steve Jackson games to work as a new editor. (and top secret is getting a new edition, which is also his first project. ) Jim Ward has also returned to the fold after freelancing for a bit, and Harold Johnson has shifted positions. The usual round of reshuffles then. You can check out any time, but you can never leave.
Jeff reports on his progress through the writing of the Manual of the Planes. He's trying to keep the sense of wonder and infinite scope the planes should have and not explain them too much. If he gets a good response, he'll do a column containing stuff cut from it for size, or thought up afterwards to supplement the material in there. I think this project is in good hands.
Zeb is of course in charge of writing the second edition of AD&D. Send letters in saying what you want! Lots of them! We can't revise it for the better unless we have an idea of what you consider better. Nice to see them still listening to their fanbase.
Doug Niles is also hard at work  on the new top secret edition. Now with a greater emphasis on actual investigation rather than commando raids. Last word in State of the art? Ha. You can always make more improvements.
Jim Ward is most vague of all, with a heavily redacted statement that reveals very little, but hopefully will stoke interest in whatever he's up too.
Well, I guess they're never really going to be able to replace Gary, but they're certainly trying to maintain an air of fun in these missives, with jokes, hints and asides aplenty. Maybe with the superstar writer/CEO gone, the game'll feel like more of a team effort. Maybe it'll give them more chance to establish their individual personalities. Maybe it'll suck. In any case, it seems pretty likely that the vitriol count will be way down compared to the old days. Lets hope they continue to give me something worth talking about in future installments.

Oh noes! Havoc Con III has been canceled. However, Dundracon, Orcon, Folie-con and King Kon :rolleyes: are still going ahead. Once again their names cause me amusement.

Snarf slays the dragon and gets a happy ending. Until next month anyway, when they start a new storyline. Dragonmirth gets newstandalicious. Wormy has a plan to deal with the giants.

Although not longer in actual length than their other recent issues, they really seem to be getting the hang of packing more into each one. With tons of small articles, and relatively few adverts, this really did feel like a mammoth issue, and has produced a mammoth sized review in response. Some of the articles are good, some are bad, and some are merely meh, as is standard by this point, but in this one, I definitely preferred the more crunchy articles. Also interesting is the fact that in some ways they seem to be regressing, reverting to formats not seen since 1981. Guess they meant it literally when they said they were going to try and recapture the spirit of the old issues. All in all, the range of stuff covered here has been so broad that I can't really say if overall it was good or bad. I think I'll return a mildly positive one, as they are definitely still developing and doing new things, even if it is mixed in with lots of routine crap. And once again I am left wondering just how much bigger my reviews will get before this journey is over. The magazine is still going to get bigger, and if it stays this efficient, then each one could wind up going to pages more. This is actually pretty scary. One article at a time. Just keep telling yourself that. One article at a time. That's the way to get through this.

Dragon Issue 118: February 1987

part 1/3

110 pages. A lovely cover from Dennis Beuvais here. Now that's a scheming villain with style. I want that outfit as well. The contents look promising as well. Finally, this month's special topic is PvP! Oh joy, for I have oft dreamed of this day! Well, not quite, as actually it's about other types of competitions within the game. But it's certainly not impossible that multiple PC's would wind up competing against each other in one. And it's nice to see them avoiding the all co-operation all the time mantra that Roger has spouted before. (see issue 73) I am cautiously optimistic. Now, if they could just do something about the chaos in the office, and the reorganizations in the magazine. One thing after another, don't know if I'm coming or going. Forget my own ears if they weren't stuck on.

In this issue:

Letters: A letter asking them if they plan to do any more cardboard cutout things in the future, and if they'll publish call of cthulhu articles. The answer is yes, and if they get any good ones sent in. Can't publish what we don't have, as they've said before.
A letter complaining about a monty hauling DM. Roger gives his usual advice, that the best thing to do in this situation is to end the game and start a new one, preferably with a new DM.
Another letter asking them to cover more non TSR games (BRP is getting a lot of love. ) and maybe do miniatures reviews again. Roger is once again cautious. You gotta send that stuff in if you want us to cover it. We also intend to keep Dungeon strictly D&D for the time being. All this is subject to change due to demand.

Forum: David Carl Argall points out that due to sloppy math, it's impossible for a horse in barding to carry a fully armed and armoured knight. Encumbrance would make them collapse. Dear oh dear. How very amusing. Will they fix that next edition?
Thomas Kane thinks that if the magazine wants to grow further, the game needs to market itself better. No matter what you do to the magazine, nongamers won't read it. To aid this, the D&D and AD&D games ought to be as simple and compatible as possible. Don't keep fucking around with things. Someone else would probably prefer it if D&D was treated as a perennial rather than a supplement mill.  
Paul Griffin thinks the alignment system is stupidly written. Where's the room for pragmatists who do whatever is most convenient at the time, or people who try to be good most of the time but cave and betray their friends when things get tough? This badly needs fixing.  
Greg Surbeck has a problem with the xp for gold system, as it produces wildly unpredictable results that can really mess up the game, particularly where thieves are involved. What are we to do with these awkward level disparities?
Ethan Sicotte thinks that the ease with which D&D can be modified is actually a strength. If it were a more internally consistent ruleset we wouldn't be able to do that without breaking things. I find this opinion highly amusing. You can't break it if it's already broken, eh? Amazing what you can rationalize.
Chris Lincoln and Ed Friedlander give some fairly solid opinions on how illusions should work. Perception can only do so much.
Nelson E Hemstreet expresses his contempt for the chauvinists out there. They don't know what they're missing.
Dave Robinson thinks that the magazine should have a few laughs in it. Even a serious game needs the tension relieved every now and then.
Peter C Zelinski thinks that multiple weapon specialization shouldn't be allowed at 1st level, as it's too unbalancing. Only higher level slots should be applicable that way. You mean how BD&D does it then.
Slyvain Robert is another writer in favour of greater differentiation of clerics via the god they serve. You know, I don't think I've seen anyone actively against that idea. It's just the implementation that can be problematic.

The fighting circle: Gladiatorial fighting is an interesting business. Amusingly enough, if you want to bypass the crappy wandering around in nasty environments and looking for traps part of adventuring, and just have lots of fights with interesting people and creatures of a similar power level, it's a very good way to go for an aspiring adventurer. You get more fame, controlled encounters, that you (or at least the house) can pace to a reasonable level, and if there are clerics around, you might even get healed up between bouts. You could actually gain levels and fame a lot faster than people wandering the world. (although you'd probably end up with below average treasure & equipment. ) Course, it's not as easy as that, and most people come to the profession as slaves, thrown in and not surviving beyond one or two fights. Even if you do get decent training, your odds of surviving the three year term are not good. This 9 page article goes into plenty of detail on the whole charming business, including historical and sociological details, and plenty of variations to make things more interesting than an endless series of white room fights. A pretty strong start that opens up another campaign style for you to try, be it as a brief diversion, or an entire plot arc. (Once again, paper mario makes good inspiration, amusingly enough ) You get to live.

Illuminati! All these conspiracies to control the world. Who will win? Now with new friends and enemies in the expansion set.

Surely, you joust!: Fast forward a few hundred years, and gladiatorial arenas are no longer in fashion, but instead guys in heavy armour get on big horses and do their best to knock each other off with lances. Course, in D&D, you can take a short trip from Karimekos to Thyatis and do both no problem. But without rules for weapon breakage and unhorsing, it'd just be a standard fight. So here's another fairly extensive article to turn tournament fighting into it's own minigame. Cavaliers are of course the stars of the show, with their slew of riding related bonuses making them better than any other fighter at the same level, but that doesn't mean you can't at least compete. Another pretty good article, even if it does fall into the trap of creating nonunified subsystems to handle each situation, and it's obvious that the writer hasn't read either of the survival guides that roll out nonweapon proficiencies for general use. It happens, especially when an article has probably been in the slush pile for months waiting for enough other stuff on the same theme to build up.

A day at the faire: Once again we follow on fairly logically. You now have rules to fight in a tournament. But plenty of fun can be had simply as a spectator, especially if you already have an in with the upper classes and can engage in a little shopping, betting and politicking while there. Here's a fairly quick article that gives us some descriptive fluff to help you set the mood, a set of map elements for you to take and use, some sample NPC's, and half a dozen plot hooks involving them. In other words, this cuts all the crap, and gives us one thing after another that's useful in actual play with very little work. If anything, it's almost a sample adventure. Which is pretty damn awesome, actually. Even more than the last article, this really makes a good bit of tournamenting seem a fun and accessable option for a session. Very pleasing indeed.

On target: And if you're not too keen on arena fighting or jousting, there's always archery, which allows you to demonstrate your skill with rather less bloodshed, particularly on your part. And once again, we are faced with the abstractions in D&D's combat system, which while normally beneficial to our play, make running a competition like this very hard if you don't houserule. And once again Leonard Carpenter is here to provide said houserules. Once again, he isn't fully integrated with previous books and articles (Completely ignoring the Archer class in a discussion on archery? Shocking. I don't care if it was 6 years ago, and you don't have a copy of that issue ) but most of it makes sense on it's own terms. A solid but unexceptional way to finish off what has been overall, a very good themed section.

Dragon Issue 118: February 1987

part 2/3

ARRRGH!!!: What a header I'm amused already. This is all about PAIN! Wound penalties are one of those things that certain people keep trying to put into the game, but so far, it's never stuck. Mainly because for most people, it's more bookkeeping for less fun. And massively escalating hit points combined with it produce odd results. But here we go again, into the AARRG, my FOOT!!!! territory. Which while it has it's superficial temptations, is nowhere near as nice as marlboro country to live. If you want to add an extra roll and a couple of extra bits of bookkeeping to every single hit, be my guest. But even though these seem pretty solid, and don't neglect the idea that some of D&D hit points are actually narrative avoidance, I still have no desire to actually use them. It also gets cut off at the end without saying where the final few lines are and I can't find them anywhere. Sloppy editing. Curse you, Roger! :shakes fist:

Nibar's keep: CC Stoll pulls an old game out of his files and finally gets it published.  Not really a full-on special feature, this is a quick little game where two players summon various creatures and compete in an arena to settle disputes. They ought to sue nintendo There are 9 different types of counters, all with their own strengths and weaknesses, giving you a level of emergent tactics on a similar kind of level to chess. With an optional advanced version, it should survive a few plays.  This fits the theme of the issue well, and since it has a fairly generic rationale for existing in a larger setting, you could insert Nidar and his keep into an RPG campaign, and use this as a minigame who's results have effects in the larger continuity. Which I might well do, if I get the chance. Nice.

Fiction: Across the fog-gray sea by Lois Tilton. A delightful tale of incest, genocide, ancestral curses, and secret heirs to the throne, set in a wild, somewhat viking flavoured land somewhere in the polar regions. This is the kind of thing that shows why you shouldn't take half measures when oppressing a country, and keeping slaves of a different ethnicity is a very bad idea. They will resent you, and it will come back to bite your ass sometime in the future, often in a way you don't expect. So a surprisingly unbowdlerised little morality play here. Mature themes do not have to involve gratuitous cheesecake. I approve.

Sage advice welcomes Mike Breault onto the team. This month, most of the questions are focused on the Dungeoneers survival guide.
The proficiencies system makes no sense. The better you are, the harder it is. (yeah, we made an editing error. Reverse all the modifiers and it'll make sense. )  
Does blind-fighting help you fight invisible creatures. (Yes. Are you gonna fill your valuable slots with the fluff skill choices anyway? We'll all be sniggering at you.)
Can you fire a bow while riding? ( You can only fire bow from a moving horse if you have the proficiency. That hit and run power is very much worth the investment. )
Can a loud noise disrupt the verbal component to a spell (no. Magical energy is  HOP not HAP in D&D. It can hear the components and respond appropriately even if no-one else could unless you're magically silenced.)
Can you use hold person to hold a person underwater (No. It only prevents them from moving. They're still bouyant. This may not save them, of course, depending what side of them floats to the top.)  
How do I make a bigger map than the blank maps allow.( Photocopy it enlarged and draw new lines between the existing ones. Or buy lots of graph paper. )
What's the cutoff point between shallow and deep descents? (15 degrees. Don't ask us about the level of resonance. I'm a rocket scientist, not a musician.)
Aren't grappling hooks too expensive. (what is this, a modern setting? Have you examined our price lists? Oh, alright, just for you, an 80% discount. I'm not going any lower, though.)
Isn't it too easy to smash a boat to bits underground (no. Crunch our numbers, I think you'll find them quite reasonable. Underground waterways are risky places. )
How do I turn my paladin into a cavalier-paladin if he doesn't fit the requirements or social restrictions. (Don't worry too much about it if you're not playing tournament rules. Gary's left now. You don't have to listen to his pontifications about the one true way to play AD&D anymore. )
Why can't a dwarf pummel a human. (Because they're too short for the basic rules. You'll have to use the expert ones. Shocking sizeism, really.)

A hero's reward: Oooh. Hero points. Narrative coolness finally arrives for D&D! You want to be able to make a choice to put some extra effort into a particular roll? Or have divine favour or the luck of heroes, making your game more cinematic. Well, now you can. In typical D&D fashion, they escalate directly with level, so normal mooks aren't much better, but big heroes are considerably more able to influence their fate. However, these ones only let you influence your own fate in terms of boosting numbers or giving enemies penalties, rather than plot twists, dramatic editing, and other cool stuff that later games would do with this concept. Still, even if it's not brilliantly implemented yet, you do usually have to go through rough versions before you get the really cool polished products. Hopefully several aspiring young game designers got their mind expanded by reading this. As ever, if you are one of those people, I'd love to hear from you.

Out of the stone age: Hee. Neanderthals. One of the monsters that appears in both basic and advanced D&D, they blur the line between human and nonhuman in a similar way to the demihuman races. Only with the additional weirdness that comes from them maybe having existed at some point in reality. Albeit not in this form, which is packed with weird D&Disms, like using rituals to advance their powers. Still, it's not often we get new PC races specifically for BD&D, so this is a welcome occurrence. Like the barbarian cleric, they balance out badassedness with high XP costs and a whole bunch of social requirements. Since their xp costs and max levels are similar to elves, I think that'll actually work out this time. In any case, this was definitely a fun little article to read. They do seem to be having a lot of those this month.

The dragon's bestiary: Opilonid are a swarm hunting breed of underground arachnoids. They get a whole bunch of quirky exception based powers and ecological stuff. Definitely one of the better thought out entries in here.
Spider cats(!) are exactly what they sound like, hybrid predators that stalk you, web you, and string you up for later. Mad wizards get memetastic. Just be thankful none of them have unleashed lolcats on the forgotten realms. That'd fuck it up even worse than the spellplague.
Pheonix spiders take the tenacity of cockroaches and make it even worse, as they reform, bigger and badder every time you kill them. Now that's the kind of thing that provokes HOLY SHIT! reactions in players. I so want to use these. If anything'll make even the dumbest kill everything that moves party stop and think, it's these guys. They also have instadeath poison that still does damage if you save, so even at their smaller sizes they'll still mow through an uninformed party. If you were to take the cap off it's growth, and vary it's weakness to a form harder to find and use, one of these could rival the tarrasque as a country destroying monstrosity that drives an entire campaign arc. Muahahahaha!!!!!!
Polar spiders, like polar bears, are big furry things that camouflage themselves against the ice, and hunt you down. Yet another apex predator in a world absolutely swarming with them.
Giant bolas spiders throw a sticky glob at you and reel you in like a hooked fish. Good luck breaking free before they grab you and apply the standard instadeath poison. To top it off, they're smart enough to be malevolent, and can detect magic by touch, which definitely seems like it could have plot purposes.
Definitely a well above average bestiary this month, with several awesome entries. Their diabolical imaginations are working at full steam, adapting stuff from the real world to their ends. I approve.

Dragon Issue 118: February 1987

part 3/3

The game wizards: Zeb Cook continues to clarify his plans for the next edition. This month, it's the crucial decision of which classes to include. Fighters, wizards and thieves are a shoe-in, although they may be tweaked slightly, and the thief abilities subsumed into the skill system. Too radical a change? Maybe the edition after then.  
Clerics are probably staying, although they do have some vocal opposition, and if they weren't essential for healing, might be ditched (just make another class with healing powers then, so they aren't essential anymore :rolleyes: ) We still want to differentiate clerics of various gods more. This will also have the effect of making druids less unique, and they'll likely be rolled into the general speciality cleric rules.
Assassins are definitely going, we're trying to be a family friendly company now, and they've just caused too much hassle.
Bards are getting completely reworked, to make them more universal, and less mechanically wonky.
Monks are going to be relegated to the oriental supplement where they belong. Barbarians and cavaliers are also likely to be relegated to a splatbook and seriously rebalanced, and maybe paladins and rangers will join them. Or maybe not, as we want to have a few unambiguous hero types.
Illusionists are to be rolled into wizards and new types of specialists created, and thief-acrobats will similarly be constructible using the proficiency rules, and therefore redundant as a separate class.
So his plans as stated aren't too different from Gary's original ones from issue 103. (Although I'm pretty sure the new classes from UA would have got a better deal if he was still around, since they were his babies.) For all his statements that your letters are vital to their decisions, they already seem to have come to a consensus on most of the big issues. Probably the thing that stands out most as a dropped ball was their failure to enhance the skill system, and make it fully integrated with class features, giving all the classes a much greater degree of flexibility, and their various abilities more universal resolution. Guess inertia won out over good intentions on that one. But then again, even the radicals in their office have no desire to make the kind of changes that we saw in 3rd and 4th ed, partly due to inability to conceive of ways the game could be done differently. Another interesting bit of fuel for the flame wars, that I'm sure we'll see responses to in the forum.

TSR previews: D&D is still on an epic kick, with IM2: Wrath of the immortals. Course, it isn't quite as epic as the first immortal adventure, but probably more accessable. Kick the asses of those who dare to meddle in human affairs directly. Woo.
AD&D gets I11: Needle. Frank Mentzer sends the PC's on an epic adventure to retrieve a macguffin and rescue a spider princess. How very amusing. We also get C6: The official RPGA Tournament Handbook. Want to write your own convention legal modules? Now you can without having to pay a load of subscription fees. Technically AD&D, but actually pretty system free, is Leaves from the Inn of the Last home. Tons of stuff to fill out Dragonlance as a setting, rather than just the backdrop for a specific set of adventures.
Marvel superheroes are getting MA3: The ultimate powers book. That sounds like the kind of thing which sells well. Everyone loves new official powers.
Our adventure gamebooks are up to number 12, Curse of the werewolf. Can you cure your lycanthropy before you become nothing but a monster?
Carwars gets it's third gamebook, Dueltrack. All the usual hazards, plus an unreliable experimental robot that's supposedly on your side. I suspect this may be used for comic relief. :shudders:
Another new imprint kicks off, the Windwalker books. The first is Once upon a murder. A detective is bodyswapped and sent back in time. Can he find out what the hell is going on and get home? The second is Bimbos of the Death Sun. I remember that name! I get the impression that this may be a line of less serious books. What was all this about then?
Finally, we have the Chase family board game. Another attempt to diversify, this had a short independently printed run which was a resounding success, and has now been picked up for widespread distribution. Anyone played this one?

Unfriendly fire: Top secret goes military this month. Yes, it may be tricky being a secret agent in areas with an ongoing outright war, but when the stakes are highest, the benefits you can provide for your country are as well. Plus you have a chance of getting to use the really cool toys to blow stuff up that you couldn't normally get away with. So here we have both cool crunch, and GM'ing advice on how to handle it, and build adventures building it. Now you can try and survive mass combat, and die horribly from chemical and biological weapons. A pretty decent article with plenty of actual play applications.

The warlock redux: Jeff takes a break from his Phileing to pay more attention to his planar work. So it's up to someone else to provide us marvel stuff this month. Adam Warlock, Pip,  Gamora, and Her. One of our more cosmically powerful heroes and his rogues gallery. Themes of finding a purpose, responsibility, good intentions gone astray, and the general problems of a universe with time travel, fairly frequent but unreliable resurrection, and an animistic Death. Heavy topics, but they don't forget the comic relief. As with the last time Jeff took a break, more attention is paid to the actual play of these characters, and creating games with a similar style. Curious. As with Ed and the ecologies, this is evidence that even when you have top writers on the case, a little variety is still welcome, producing an overall stronger body of work on a property. After all, the marvel universe is now broad enough that you don't really have to worry about ruining continuity and dilution of themes. So another pretty decent showing all round on this front.

The role of computers: OrbQuest is an adventure game, where you quest to reunite the seven pieces of the shattered macgufin. /so you can enter ganon's tower/ Explore cities, wilderness, and dungeons. (rather easier than in most games, because they've had the innovative idea of making your character head for the point on the screen your mouse clicks on. ) Fight monsters. Reroll your attributes untill you get good ones. (exactly the same as D&D attributes, but not on the same scale. ) While some of the ideas may have been new then, it seems pretty generic now.
Roadwar 2000 is a postapocalyptic survival game. Build a gang, scavenge vehicles, and compete for resources and territory in a burned out future that is now in the past, amusingly enough. It seems to push most of the buttons you would expect a game like that to hit, and certainly covers a pretty wide scope, as you can roam the entire states, and both tactical combat and strategic resource management are crucial to success. Sounds like fun.
World Builder is a general map creation program. This is exceedingly useful for GM's, as it allows you to build 3d environments, show them from any angle, and include descriptive text to go with it. (which you will need, because this is 1987, and the graphics aren't that great. If you have the time and energy to learn a programming language, then you can get quite a lot out of this, or one of it's descendants. If not, just leave it.

Snarf is rapidly getting bored of being king. But loose ends from last adventure will be back to bite him. Dragonmirth is all armored up.

Bloodbowl! The game of fantasy american football out soon. Now where have we seen that before? Oh yeah, back in issue 65. TSR oughta sue .

Spacemaster! Rolemaster in Spaaaace! Another newish game to enjoy.

Looks like Len Carpenter is the real star of this show, in an issue that manages to not only fulfill it's theme better than most, but introduces several other very interesting ideas. This shows that it's usually better to keep track of what's in the slush pile and put together the best stuff you can find, even if it takes a while to build up enough, rather than always existing month to month. The more you buffer the easier things become, even if you're outputting the same amount overall, the ability to smooth out internal fluctuations and engage in longer editing cycles definitely helps. Anyway, this is one of the best issues I've read in a while, in all aspects apart from the editing. Tsk tsk Roger. You're doing too much. Get more help before you burn out.

Dragon Issue 119: March 1987

part 1/3

108 pages. Welcome to a second druid special. One of the classes with a more interesting history in the magazine, they certainly have their fair share of fans. And obviously submissions for them have been building up over the past year or two. So let's let them out to play. Will they be well balanced, as nature should be, or twinky like CoDzilla? Shall we see?

In this issue:

Letters: We have a letter asking what Chainmail was like, and what happened to it. Roger replies that it is pretty scrappy. You gotta be prepared to house rule if you want to use it for a roleplaying game. Not quite a discouragement, but definitely a caveat emptor. They'll be bad-mouthing the old stuff done by Gary before you know it.
Two letters, one asking if they plan to do a sci-fi anthology, and another if they'd do a module anthology. Roger gives the same reply. We're considering it, but we need convincing that there's a big enough market for it. This is very much down to you, Loyal Readers!

Forum: Brock Sides thinks that weapon specialization and nonweapon proficiencies only detract from the game, because people only take the twinky options, rather than using them as intended. Yeah, as they are at that point, they are rather abusable, aren't they. It's your job as DM to ensure crap like that doesn't get out of hand.
Patrick Sieff thinks that people don't take orcs seriously enough. They can be a very real threat. Do more articles on them. But then people wouldn't be so scared of kobolds
Larry Paisley suggests that videotaping a gaming session would be a cool idea, andcould definitely expand peoples minds on how the game is played. I very much agree with this idea.
Jeff Klein points out that the OA races do not have sex discrimination on their strength scores the way PHB ones do. This is wrong! If anything, they should be even more severe, given that the east is even more restrictive about gender roles. Um. Ok then. I understand the logic behind your opinion, but I really wouldn't want to be in your shoes in the forum in the next few months. Really, this is just asking for trouble.
Boyce Kline (no relation) gives a little advice for people still trying to find good models for their Dragonchess set. Interesting. Nice to see that still getting a bit of attention.

Underestimating druids (is a bad practice): Gee, ya reckon? Yeah, they don't have as good weapon and armour options as clerics. But if you're a goddamn polar bear, who cares. But then, this is before the internet, which enabled character optimizers from all around the world to pool their knowledge in seconds. People were less likely to be disabused of their face value impressions then. Really, with their fast spell progression and low mid level XP requirements, druids are one of the most badass classes in the game, and this article goes to considerable lengths to point out just how to make the most of their abilities. Spells, social abilities, companions, special powers, all are pretty effective, even in dungeons. We get mathematical analyses of their spell access compared to other primary casters, showing just how quickly they get their badass powers by comparison. And we get additional justification of why they would become adventurers and work with good people. Expect a big spike in the number of people playing them in the near future, because this is pretty unambiguous. A solid start that hits both the mechanical and flavour buttons just fine.

Is there a doctor in the forest: Herbalism. We've already had an article on this (issue 82), but it seems fitting for the issue's theme, so here's another one. With slightly higher overall power level, and considerably less flavour text and descriptive detail, this is very definite power creep compared to the last one, while also having less of a sense of irony about the quirks of healing in D&D. Once again we see how the game has gradually become taken more seriously, even as it remains just as ludicrous from a purely objective viewpoint. I vaguely disapprove. A definite step towards focussing on the crunchy effects for everything over the flavour.

On becoming the great druid: Booyeah. Druidic battles. Now here's one of the D&D system's quirks they should have examined in detail a long time ago. While it can be inconvenient in troupe play where people are expected to stick together, high level druidic politics is a rich ground for adventures. How big are the areas covered by a particular druidic hierarchy. Can you get around this particular restriction by heading to an area which currently doesn't have the full quota of high level characters? Just what do druidic challenges entail? Remember, they are true neutral, so they are fully entitled to be sneaky and red in tooth and claw in their machinations, even though they have to play fair once the challenge is actually taking place. This is rich ground for interesting setpieces, alliances, betrayals, twists, backroom deals, falls and comebacks, all the things that you should be up too at name level politics. A solid article that doesn't quite match up to the depth the topic is covered next edition in the complete druids handbook, but is still quite adequate as a mind expander for the general population. A solid continuation to this month's theme.

Cantrips for druids - Naturally: We had them for wizards. We had them for clerics recently. Now all the primary spellcasting classes have an additional selection of minor magics to make their everyday life a little more convenient. 12 minor spells that are primarily just for everyday work, but can be used inventively to turn a sticky situation round for adventurers. The somatic components are described as well, and are generally amusingly appropriate. (although as the forum shows, not everyone appreciates this ) A short but sweet article, that you can integrate into your own game easily enough, and hopefully will add to it.

King of the jungle: Ed gives us a new nature focussed class. The Beastmaster. As with the Incantrix, they warn it's overpowered and should not be allowed to PC's at any cost, but it isn't really all that. (apart from the ridiculous post name level hit points. You're supposed to get fewer, not more on average) Any spellcaster with the ability to choose and develop their own powers will be able to outclass them magically, while a decently trained fighter will be able to take them down in a head-on battle. In terms of wilderness dealing powers, however, they massively outclass rangers, with Ed providing a massive, and not particularly well organized laundry list of powers that'll be a bit of a bugger to remember in actual play. This is very much the equivalent for rangers to Gary's introduction of the cavalier for paladins, something that occupies much the same thematic niche, but expresses it in a much more specific and less elegant way. As with the poorly playtested UA classes we saw in here first, I rather disapprove of this. Not Ed's most stellar work by a long shot, mechanically or flavour-wise.

The uldra: Aka pointy hat gnomes, from the far north. Say hello to a new demihuman race for you to play. This is also in theme, just about, as they have strong ties with nature, and make good druids and rangers. Really, this is an attempt to address the fact that neither of our existing short bearded folk are that good at the nature connection thing, despite there being legends featuring them as such. Another demonstration of D&D's tendency to create variants for everything apart from humans. If you made their options a little broader in the first place, we wouldn't have to use kludgy patches like this to fix things. Anyway, despite being symptomatic of a larger underlying problem, this is a pretty decent article in it's own right. They aren't particularly overpowered, and we get plenty of fluff details and stuff on their gods. I would have no particular objection to my players playing one.

The ecology of the korred: Ed turns his attention to one of the less commonly used fae races. Slightly smaller, wilder, and weirder relations of satyrs, Korred live in the wilderness, like to dance and play the pipes waaay too much, and make ropes out of people's hair. It's all good clean fun until someone dies of exhaustion. Another of those cases where D&D's adaption of existing myths has had decidedly idiosyncratic effects, creating several subspecies where one with some cultural variations would probably do. Ed once again is not at his best here, giving us a piece of work that is merely adequate, rather than exceptional. Still, we have stats for their god, which is another first for this series, so it's not all bad. But he does seem a bit distracted somehow. Hmm.

The dragon's bestiary is also on theme this issue, with a whole cavalcade of sylvan creatures. This brings the total up to 8 articles, equalling the psionics issue. Interesting. Will they break that record at some point? As ever, I look forward to reporting statistics like this. But anyway, back to the topic at hand:
Anchu are canid humanoids (with a bad illustration that makes them look more horselike than doglike. Sociable and with a reasonable class selection, they seem pretty well suited to becoming PC's.
Giant capybara are even bigger guinea pigs than we see in the real world, up to 8' long. Aww, innit cute. Mweep mweep and all that. If you're in tropical swamps, there's good eatin on one of these.
Wild halflings are like wild elves, yet another fricken case of conflating cultural variants with racial variants. Most tiresome. They get a pretty big writeup, giving them a whole host of nature related abilities. Seems like the only races that become civilised are those without an array of special powers that let them survive comfortably in all sorts of conditions. Is this diliberate commentary? Is our weakness and sense of insecurity compared to other races paradoxically what drives us on to do great things, overcompensating for our human limitations. It's an interesting premise.
Leshy are another mischevious fae variant drawn from real world mythology. They'll confuse you, misdirect you, and fuck up your equipment. This rarely goes down well, despite it saying that they'll regard you better if you laugh at their jokes.
Luposphinx are of course dog-headed sphinxes. Like the other animal headed ones, they aren't very nice, and like to have humans for dinner. They often gather little bands of marauding followers as well, just to make things even more inconvenient. They'd make good midlevel bosses behind some bigger plot.
Musical spirits are creepy undead that lurk in forests, and can force you to dance until you pass out. If you're clever, you can learn this trick from them. An interesting noncombat challenge here.
Sashalus are cunning ambulatory fungi. As scavengers, they generally won't attack you unless you're already hurt. Another Ed Greenwood creation, these do have some of his customary flavour touches. So he's not totally off form this month.
Wendigo are people who engaged in cannibalism, and have devolved to the level of beasts as a result. It could happen to you too. If you're starving in the woods, eat dubious berries instead first.
Whispering pines are magical trees that mesmerize you if you try and cut them down. You'll need to come prepared if you want to counteract this and not starve to death.
Wood giants, aka Voadkyn, are one of those creatures that would go on to be officially published. Relatively small for giants, and with a slight faeish tint, they hang around elves and treants being agreeably mischievous. Another thing that's more dangerous than they seem, with their shapeshifting, stealth, and skill with missiles.
Wood Golems are created by druids, and do much the same thing any golem does. Big tough thing go smashy smashy, and be really hard to kill. Of course, being made of wood, it's vulnerable to fire. Take advantage of this if you can.

Dragon Issue 119: March 1987

part 2/3

Henchmen and hirelings: Another examination of a seemingly innocuous part of the game. In reality, just getting a decent job is a serious adventure in itself, whether you're an employee or employer. This is another thing that you can introduce into the game, as you try and sort out the serious disciplined followers from the flakes, the powerhungry betrayers, the spies in disguise, the slumming posh kids who'll be useless and complain constantly, but have parents that'll make your life miserable if you let them die, and that guy who says he's a black belt in several martial arts and has saved the world repeatedly, but obviously hasn't washed in months, and openly talks to your tits during the interview. Another case where you'll have to consider carefully if you want this much realism in your escapism, because this would bore a lot of people, and be exactly what they play to forget. But even if you gloss over most of this, you've still got to sort out how many extras the party has, and how much they're getting paid. Or you could just go it alone, keep all the profits for yourself. Your choice, don't come crying to me when you die horribly. Another middling filler article full of perfectly serviceable crunch and roleplaying advice. I can certainly see myself applying this to sadistic effect.

The game wizards: Jeff Grubb gets to meet Elminster. Finally, the forgotten realms are becoming an official campaign setting. In fact, they're becoming the primary campaign setting for 2nd edition D&D, and co-opting Kara-Tur into being part of the same world as well. Yikes. This explains Ed's slightly subpar work these past few issues. They obviously feel uncomfortable using Greyhawk with Gary gone. Tracy and Margaret must be seething with envy. This really is putting a lot of faith in Ed and his co-writers. Still, I'm sure they'll cope. Jeff obviously isn't as used to this as Ed, as he finds El a rather menacing figure. Well, you are most likely to be killed by someone the first few times you meet them. Anyway, this doesn't quite match up to last month's news in terms of sheer flamebaiting potential, but it's still a very important announcement, that will have huge ramifications, and please a lot of people who've been reading Ed's stuff for years and trying to join together the pieces. And it's entertainingly written as well. They're definitely establishing their own voice, and starting to move the company in new directions now Gary's no longer at the wheel. Hopefully they can keep up the strong standard for these bulletins.

Fiction:The pawns of crux by Steven Saylor. Another hard hitting story this month, as we see the nasty things slavers do to break their captives and get the most out of them. By arbitrarily favouring some, and making others suffer even worse than the norm, they turn their resentment against each other, making a rebellion even harder. How do you deal with this without becoming a monster as well? And if you escape, will you ever really be free? Another pretty good piece of fiction that has some cool bits to steal for your game. Plus the first Darlene illustrations in quite a long time. Interesting. And pretty pleasing as well. Wonder if she'll be around a bit more in the next few issues.

Sage advice is taken over by Skip Williams. I wonder if he'll stick at the job They've been so intransigent of late. Rules lawyering is a hard job. This month, they've decided to set him onto regular D&D, and primarily tackling stuff from the master and immortal sets.
Can you handcuff a creature with a wall of iron (man what. No. )
What benefits do mystics get for weapon mastery with their hands (None! Their hands may be weapons, but they aren't really Weapons, if you get what I'm saying. Allowing that would be a no drawback power boost, as you can't normally lose your hands in D&D. )
Does anti-magic shell impede mystics. (once again, no. )
Do mystics get dexterity bonuses ( For the fourth time, no! I am not in a permissive mood today! )
Can you have thug and headsman PC's ( Can you guess my answer. Here's a hint. It's just the same as the last four questions. NO! It's my first time and I want to get off on the right foot. That means asserting my authority. Respect it, for I am firm but fair.)  
What are bec du corbins and fauchards? ( Polearms. Mi diagram. Let me show you it. )
When do you encounter the dragon rulers (When you need to measure a dragon. Seriously, we didn't put them on the random tables because they're unique, and it would screw up the tables if you killed them. )
I need advice on druid status battles (Nonlethal fight. Prove dominance. How simple do you want it. Hmm. Naked mud wrestling'd be good. Get in an audience, make a little money on the side. Gotta take advantage of that 15 charisma minimum. Oh, wait, that's AD&D. Eh, naked mud wrestling'd be good anyway. Getting close to nature and all that crap. )
Why aren't the outer planes detailed in the master set like the companion set said they would. (because you're still too wimpy to play in the big leagues until you reach immortal level. )
Why don't NPC's have as much money as a player of the same level. (because they spend their money, instead of being total munchkins like you PC's. )
Is casting wizardry frequently an alignment violation (no)
Can create normal monsters be made permanent. (yes. They're still magically created though, and vanish if dispelled. This may result in angst along the line as they try to figure out their place in the world, and if they're really real or not. Do you want a Promethian crossover this early? )
What is a lycanthrope's natural form (Human. The hint is in putting the were before the animal. If you put it afterwards, the animal form is the natural one. )
What are special undead ( What you get if you animate the body of a retarded person. Duh. )
Can undead beholders be turned. (not easily. They're special too, you see. )
Can you turn undead with more than 12 hit dice. (yes. You round up, y'see, so you always affect at least one, no matter how badass they are. )
Can clerics learn how to use edged weapons (no. Your class restrictions still apply. )
Can clerics use shield weapons (no. They do damage with sharp and pointy bits. That's naughty and their god will spank them if they try it.)
I can't find the titanothere (Ahh, begorrah. It's O'there in AC9, me laddie. Now won't ye join me in a quick musical interlude before we tackle the second half'o the questions. And a one and a two and an oidely oidely boo. :riverdances: )
Can Immortals get below AC-20 (no)
What's the maximum PP you can get (15,000)
If time is the fourth dimension, what do immortals look like (time is not a dimension, it's a sphere. Four dimensional creatures look like regular creatures, but with an extra dimension. There are computer programs which can represent 4D objects, but trying to comprehend them has been known to cause brain pain. Even someone as smart as me, who can plot extrapolations of basic polygons in infinite dimensions has trouble with it.)
Can you bring your character back after they become an old one (No. They've won the game. You've gotta start a new one. You should feel happy, not sad. Actually, you probably ought to play a different game, because after playing it from 1st to immortal twice, you've probably exhausted the gaming options D&D provides. )
Can an immortal become a blackball and cross the dimensional vortex (no on both counts)
What is the astral plane (the transitive plane between the inner and outer planes. Not quite the same as in AD&D, but you can cross over ideas anyway. )
When will the old ones return. (Never. Unless we get bored and decide it's time for a big metaplot event. Let's say 5 years. )
What was the great experiment ( Your mom was the great experiment)
What is immortals final fate (none. They're immortal, remember. Unless they get killed or transcend (neither easy to do) they stick around forever. )
What's in the 6th+ dimensions. (I dunno. We're already way outside most peoples comfort zones. I don't want to create rules for that level of cosmic power.)
Where are immortals home planes. (wherever they want them to be. Are you gonna tell them to move?)
Why aren't all immortals powers listed in one place. (because there are too many of them for your puny mortal brain to take in at once. )
Can an immortal create a new form anywhere. (no, only at home. They can take them with them and stash them elsewhere for emergencies, though. Make sure you smite any adventurers stumbling across them, otherwise they might get ideas above their station.)
Which way should I cross the planar boundary (any way you choose. You are an immortal, remember. )
Florble thnorble tetraspace gnorble Ahh, the angles, it burns! (Yes, these rules for planar and dimensional stuff are a bit of a headache, aren't they. Have a hyperspherical asprin.)
What is interdimensional travel ( moving into a place with a different number of dimensions. )
Can mortals percieve 4 dimensions while astral (no, because they lose the ability to see the 1st one. You can still watch them unseen from a right angle and then rearrange their innards at a whim. Play super paper mario, it'll help this make sense.)
How do you enlarge your home plane (lots and lots of PP's)
How do you create things to live in your plane (lots more PP's)
How many PP's, exactly? ( oops, we made a mistake in the table. Third column. )
Do immortals of entropy get more powers than you've detailed (oh yes. Be afraid, Muahahahahaha)
Why isn't there a path to immortality that favours demihumans ( because they already have it way easier, actually, with their lower maximum level. What seemed like a drawback at the companion stage actually isn't anymore. )
 Can I get to immortality with a little help from my friends? ( Within reason. They've gotta do their own quests if they want to become immortal as well. )
How do I find a time travel artifact to become a Dynast when there's none described in the book. ( That is a puzzler. I'm sure your DM will come up with something. )
Can magic walls stop a blackball (no. Nothing can stop a blackball. It all gets eaten up. Nom nom nom. )
Can powerful monsters become Immortals (yes, but it's even harder than it is for humans. The odds are truly one in a trillion)
What's the reward for becoming full hierarch (Removal from play. Haha. Booby prize. Really though, if you worked your way up properly, you already avoided being retired in the domain management part of the game, so you should be able to figure out what to do here. Forcing them to stop here is just lazy rules writing.)
Can PC's join the sphere of entropy. (no. Someones got to be teh evul Villians. And we don't want it to be you. Yah boo.)
Can you become hierarch of multiple spheres (not simultaneously, and it won't benefit you to work all the way up one, then switch to another. If anything, this'll make you into a Benedict Arnold figure, not trusted by anyone in either sphere. )
I still don't understand how the hat of difference works (god, Penny and Mike were useless. Be glad you're in the hands of a real professional now. I'll explain it and I'll explain it good, or my name ain't Skip Williams. I'll explain and explain until you're satisfied baby. And then I'll move onto the next lovely caller and explain it to them. Because my name's Skip and I'm a lean, mean, sageing machine. I can go on and on and on and on, longer than everyone else put together. Uh! Watch me now! )
Do cavaliers get the bonus for exceptional constitution (yes)

Dragon Issue 119: March 1987

part 3/3

Politics amid the rubble: Gamma world's article this month is 5 new Cryptic alliances. The army of the deep is comprised of sailors and mutants who have aquatic adaptations. The Knights of avalon try and use arthurian myth as a basis for their ideals. The road clans jury rig together whatever vehicles they can find and do the whole mad max thing. Can't think of a better setting for that one. The sisterhood of the sword are yer basic female supremacy amazon types. Those who wait are space communication listening nuts. Is there anybody out there? Since the starship warden is canonically in the same universe, I'm gonna say yes. So yeah, another bunch of adapted stereotypes and comedic riffs. Not as funny as the last time they did this. Diminishing returns and all that.

The role of books gets a horrid orange on blue colouring. Colour wheel, people. Tritones are bad, be it in music or light. Lets hope the contents don't show a similar lack of judgement
Bordertown, by Terri Windling and Mark Alan Arnold, markets itself as dungeonpunk, with biker elves, goblin street gangs, and lots of other elements that are going to make Shadowrun and the World of Darkness very profitable in a few years time. It's still innovative at this point though, to the point where the reviewer finds it a bit jarring. True originality does that, y'know. Definitely interesting to report upon.
Angel with the sword by C J Cherryh is another attempt to kick off a bit of shared world storytelling. It has an interesting writing style which the reviewer suspects may be lost if other authors take the reins, and a detailed appendix on the the world that would be useful to other writers, and gamers, but is a bit jarring when contrasted with the fiction. As ever, we'll have to see what comes of this.
The blood of ten chiefs is an elfquest anthology, with a whole bunch of authors and editors. Despite this, it still manages to keep up the general quality of this established series, while providing some new info on the history of the shared world.
Morlac: The quest of the green magician by Gary Alan Ruse is three stories in one book, nicely reversing the current fashion for trilogies. Each is nicely differentiated as well. It has plenty of clever ideas, and stands out from most barbarian adventurer books thanks to them. Sounds pretty good.
At amberleaf fair by Phyllis Ann Karr gets a rather mixed review. Bad poetry, dodgy plotting, and detached narrative vs interesting magic ideas, small, detailed focus, and idiosyncratic design. Hmm. Given my load, I don't think I'll bother to hunt this one down.
Silverhair the wanderer by Diana L Paxton is another post apocalyptic fantasy, where things have mysteriously reverted to imitating an earlier era. The eponymous protagonist becomes a bard and goes adventuring to solve problems threatening the kingdom. So far so cliche. But it still gets a positive review. It's main flaw in the reviewers eyes is that the writer is obviously not a musician, so the technical details of this get glossed over.
The silent tower by Barbara Hambly is another story of magic and science meeting, with tensions on both sides, as usual. Very much familiar tropes, and it gets cut off abruptly in the middle of the plot to sell the next book in the series. Yawn.

The marvel-phile: Jeff still seems to be pretty busy, only stopping in briefly to give us a single page piece on Psylocke. Egads that's a terrible costume. But then, she has had a lot of those in her time. Fashion sense is obviously not one of her special powers. She's currently more psychicey and less martial arts focussed than she would later become, but has already gone through some pretty serious traumas, including a disastrous stint as Captain Britain. :facepalm: An amusing bit of filler, but filler nonetheless. Bring on the manual of the planes! That's what we really want! Ra ra ra to the power of infinity.

This is only a test: Top Secret's article this month is on training missions. A topic we haven't seen since the assassins run. Like then, it's a pretty good idea. Playing out your characters training helps establish their personalities, and gives you a better idea of the tactics that will work in the game without so many PC's dying. Most of this article is devoted to two mini missions for you to run your players through, if you're out of inspiration for this weeks session, or simply want to train them up before sending them on full-on missions in the big bad world. A cool idea, pretty well implemented, apart from the little caveat that it refers you to maps in supplements you may not have. If they were running non D&D stuff in Dungeon, it probably should have gone in there, but their loss is definitely my gain in this case.

Profiles: Dennis Kauth is of course one of our graphic designers. With an extensive background in the stainless steel industry, he's accustomed to creating rather more solid works of art than most of our crew, using sheet metal, cardboard, sculptures, and all sorts of other 3D coolness. He lives in a motor home, so if he needs a change of scenery, he can just up sticks any time. He definitely brings some unique talents to the company. It's no wonder they've been using cardboard fold-up things in so many of their recent modules.
Michael Dobson is the Director of Games Development. Exactly what this job means in contrast with designers and editors is not made entirely clear, but I'm sure he gets to add his own creative input to lots of products as a result. He's another of our real brainboxes, completing his qualifications rather faster than most people do, and then going through a whole bunch of strange jobs before getting in with TSR. Will he move on again? Meh. Not that important.

TSR Previews: D&D continues to tap into it's own history, with DA3: City of the gods. Dave Arneson once again uses technology as a fantastic device. Can your characters get some of the ancient technology and turn it to their own ends, or will the villains beat them too it?
AD&D is also on a retread kick with I12: The egg of the Pheonix. Frank Mentzer compiles his old RPGA adventures, and weaves them together into a single larger plot. Will it become better as a result, or will the compression mess things up?
Lazer tag gets the Official Tournament book. You've had a couple of months to learn the rules for a game, now you can string several together and score the results, forming league tables and other fun stuff like that. Woo.
Dragonlance gets it's first volume of short stories. See, it's not all epic worldthreatening conflicts of good vs evil. More general worldbuilding that Tracey and Margaret probably thought up a while ago, but haven't got a chance to show us before.
Solo gamebooks are the big thing this month. Endless quest is up to book 36: Song of the Dark Druid. Stop the evil wizard from corrupting the fabled song of gold. Greyhawk Adventures gets book 3: Master wolf. Marvel super heroes gets book 4: Dr Strange in Through six Dimensions. Hmm. Were these any good? We haven't had any discussion of them at all.

Snarfquest starts it's new adventure..... In  Spaaaaace! Dragonmirth parties like it's the 1950's. Wormy shows that scary storm giant being manipulative. Not that it's hard to manipulate ogres, especially when you're smarter and more charismatic than the trolls trying it last issue.  

Another pretty strong themed issue, if not quite as tightly focused as the last one. But things continue to progress rapidly in D&D's history at this point, with the forgotten realms finally kicking into high gear, sage advice starting it's classic run, and plenty of other bits and pieces going on. Things seem to be going up again at this point. I'm certainly in the mood to keep pressing onwards. Lets hope next issue is just as full of fun, if not more so. If anything is going to test Roger, it's how he handles our yearly dose of april wackiness.

Dragon Issue 120: April 1987

part 1/3

108 pages. We're approximately a third of the way through this mad adventure. Course, as is the nature of D&D adventures, it was the easiest third. If this was a game, I'd be well into name levels, and trying hard to find CR appropriate challenges, mowing through lots of time wasting encounters intended for lower level characters on the way. Or getting horribly drunk like the people on our april fools cover with my ill-gotten gains. But no. I've got to be the disciplined one, so the rest of you can enjoy yourselves. Lets see what ludicrity they've cooked up this year, and how much longer it'll take to get to the halfway point of this journey. See you on the other side.

In this issue:

Letters: A letter from Vince Garcia with some errata to one of his recent articles. Once again, it's problem fixing time.
Another letter, about some errata in the adventure trivia. Ahh, the joys of rules lawyering and down not being equal to dead.
A letter saying that they ought to split off the non fantasy RPG's to their own magazine. Um, they tried that 4 years ago. It died a horrible death in less than a year. I don't think they're gonna do that again anytime soon.

Forum: Richard Wiedeman is not particularly in favour of clerics getting to hyperspecialize in weapons in issue 115's article. Logic will not make your D&D game better. Keep it simple.
David van Domelen thinks training costs are a big problem, particularly for classes that are supposed to not value money and figure things out for themselves. There really ought to be more flexibility in this area. And just what are those trainers doing with that money themselves? Where is that goddamn unionbreaker?
Kristin Marquardt is surprised to find that some people think fantasy is a male-dominated genre. Where she lives, it's always been pretty well balanced. Funny how local variations like this happen. What can we learn from this?
Randy A Donohue thinks that Dan Tejes was reinforcing outmoded and stupid stereotypes. The best thieves don't look unsavory, (all the easier to steal if no-one suspects you) long beards get in the way of mixing chemicals and stuff, and women can fulfill both roles with aplomb.
Candace Miesen has had to deal with sexist crap, both of the patronizing, and the over polite kind. Can't a girl just engage in a little wholesale killing and taking of stuff  with everyone else? We are not some delicate flower that will faint at the merest hint of rape and other unsavoury activities. Leave worrying about that for when you meet some real mythical creatures.
Jeanne McGuire thinks that the reason girls don't become roleplayers more often is because of peer pressure. They're under more pressure than boys not to be "nerdy" as a teenager, and to be ostracized if they do. Hmm. How things have changed. I guess in an odd way, this corroborates Kristin's view. If something becomes seen as normal in an area, it becomes much more accessible to other people. Our most important advice, once again, however, is not to stereotype people. It helps no-one.
Drew Martin reminds us that no social order is unbending and perfectly adhered too, especially in D&D, where a whole set of the alignments imply disobedience to established order. Playing it like that, and never bending the rules for prices and social order simply isn't realistic or fun.

Spells for everyone: The april fools section this year starts with another case of the non-spells. Is this rehash I smell? I suppose like the filks, as long as they mock different things, it's ok. So yeah. It's amazing what you can do if you put a little effort in. Dig tunnels, talk to animals, drown underwater, check people's pulses, and escape from trouble via groveling and running away. Laugh? I nearly raised an eyebrow. Well, I wasn't particularly amused first time either. Not surprising that it would have even less impact this time round.

The pun is mightier than the sword: So, how are jesters to prove their superiority to other jesters? Comedy is a serious business. If you fail to amuse, then you will make no money, get no bookings, and then before you know it, you'll be a mere street performer, barely a step up from a mime. You must pun! Or no other jester will respect you! Of course if you do, the rest of the world won't respect you, but such is life for a jester. So who'll be the butt of your jokes when you battle? Who will you pick to prick at their ego? Now this is more like it. A joke article that also has workable, if not particularly balanced crunch. If you're playing a jester PC, this is a perfectly valid addition to their repertoire. I may well allow this in my game. Muahahaha!!! The illustration is pretty amusing as well. Are you ready to have some pun?

The ecology of the picklebug: Hmm. A creature that pretends to be a normal pickle and lives in the brine jars eating the other gherkins? How very strange. I guess in the D&D universe, there have been many stranger creatures adapted to equally small and improbable ecological niches. Like many an april fool, this has an interesting message, in this case listen to those pontificating sages, for even if what they say seems random, there is usually some valuable stuff contained therein. Also, wizards are not inclined to save people from their own stupidity. Muahahahaha!!!! and all that. An entertaining but inconsequential read.

Dining out in the hells: Mocking Ed Greenwood's seminal work? Blasphemy!!!!!1! This outrage must be avenged!!! But yeah, eating on other planes can be a tricky business, with corruption and death resulting with painful frequency. Beware the dread franchise of Maughdonnell's and it's equally dread proprietor. Just about the only thing worse than being forced to dine there while stuck in the hells would be having to get a job there to survive. (Wage slavery's a bitch. Still better than soul slavery though.) Once again this is a humorous article that could be stripped of it's obvious goofiness, and turned into a serious scenario, with the new monster stats being entirely usable as well. Just don't reveal where you got the idea from, or you may be pelted with pretzels. I believe another evil cackle is in order. Muahahahahaha!!!!!!

Not found in any stores: Magical items that don't work as they should. Another thing that can be played for laughs, but can also be turned into a deadly serious topic, especially when a previously perfectly fine item goes bad in a dangerous situation. So here's 8 magical items. Most of them resemble some other item, and then parody it in some fashion. Once again, thanks to 1st ed's fairly loose mechanics, most of these are legal, but using them will cause masses of annoyance. This issue is definitely turning out to be a sadistic DM's delight. Turn your dungeons into a funhouse, and watch the characters run away as fast as their little legs will carry them. (particularly if they have been chibified or muppetized, and their legs really are that little.) You know you want too. Muahahahahahaha!!!!!!!

Urban blight made easy: More mockery of a previous article. Need a little help with your off-the cuff encounters? Here's five prefab ones to spice up your game. While technically humorous, like clowns and little girls skipping merrily along singing a happy song, these are actually rather creepy, with an off-kilter, sadistic edge to them. This one didn't make me laugh, but actually put me on edge slightly. Which I guess is a promising sign, really. If I can accomplish that kind of thing in my own game, (and not have the players respond with wholesale slaughter of the offending encounter) then I can probably count this as a success as well. Ah, the joys of the uncanny valley. It's been a good year for comedy, all in all.

Scorpion tales: Back to the serious stuff with a single pager on a real animal. Trying to get past a scorpion with invisibility? Not gonna fly, as it's primary sense is of your footfalls, and that's how it knows when you're in the right position for the blinding fast strike and stab routine. This is the kind of thing that resulted in tremor sense becoming one of the standard monster powers in 3e. It's common enough in reality, and easy enough to define, that it makes a good way of screwing over a whole load of player strategies, while not being completely impossible to bypass. An article that probably seemed inconsequential at the time, but is actually pretty significant in hindsight. Interesting.

Dragon Issue 120: April 1987

part 2/3

Sage advice finishes off the companion set questions. Must have been too many of them to fit in last month.
What are the costs for the new armours ( 30 and 50 gp. You could probably work it out by adding and halfing the costs of the adjacent armour types. )
Can PC's create holy water (yes, but it won't save them money. Churches may be altruistic, but they still have to cover costs)
Can multiple characters share a domain. (I don't know? Can your characters share a domain without fighting? If so, then yes. If not, then ha ha.)
Can paladins and avengers use wands and staves. (not unless fighters can use them. Their magical training isn't that good. )
What's an umber hulk (see AD&D. We forgot to keep our gamelines properly separated. )
Where is the will o wisp (cut for space. Like the umber hulk, you'll have to go get AD&D to find it. )
Why don't characters that are immune to enemy attacks autowin (because there are ways to beat an enemy even if you can't hurt it. And you still have to find out how badly you lose. Some people will get away. Otherwise how would the PC's find out about the problem and come to save the day?)
How do you make a gargantuan manticore (just follow the formula in the gargantua entry. I know you're not used to the concept of applying templates yet, but it's really pretty simple. )
What does a potion of super healing do. (Triple the power in the same small package. Perfect for when facing high level monsters and you don't want to worry about overloading your backpack. )
What do druids do with money if they don't like it (spend it on stuff they do like. They aren't paladins. They don't need to tithe, give useful stuff away and generally be suckers for any kid with a sob story. )
Does protection from evil work on a drolem (yes, oddly enough. It's not as if they're even evil, since they're constructs, but there you go.)
How does table 10c work (ultimately customisable magical items. Any combination of armour type, plus and special abilities, all determinable with random roll! Step right up folks, your treasure options just expanded a hell of a lot)
Can we have some more info on the planes. (Nah. This is D&D. You're Freeeeeeeee to make it up for your campaign as you please, wheeeeee! This isn't AD&D, where you're limited to a set cosmology of 26 planes, plus a sprinkling of demi, para and quasi ones. Your imagination is your limit. You can venture great infinities away, and deal with ever more scary immortals and dimensional weirdness. Now go on, get out of here. If you stick around in our Cage after being offered the multiverse, you're a berk. )

First impressions are deceiving: Say hello to the Charlatan. Not quite as comical as the Jester, but even more annoying, this lovely thief variant makes money via social fraud and flashy legerdemain, taking advantage of people's greed and stupidity to get something for very little. Minor magicians, and capable rogues, they aren't too brilliant in a dungeon crawling situation, but as a social character, they can really bewilder and bamboozle. With several quirky D&D'isms, this isn't a perfect class either in design or organization of powers, and seems very likely to cause player tensions if handled wrong, but it's still an entertaining read, and doesn't seem too overpowered either. Once again, I get to add another class to my big list of ones I'd like to try out at some point, both as NPC's and PC's. I think I'll skip the maniacal laughter this time, as that might tip people off that something is amiss. Let's just move on, shall we :whistles innocently: Don't check your backpacks. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.

Bazaar of the Bizarre: Yet another quick little article here, as they try and clear out stuff from one of their contributors. The ring of rapid regeneration gives you healing on a combat useful scale, which is pretty scary really in this era. The rings of para and quasi elemental command offer substantial abilities related to each of these 12 subplanes. As pure extrapolations of existing items, there is very little creativity involved in these, making the article as a whole thoroughly mehsome. Filling in all the symmetries is one of the easiest ways to make up page count. So it goes. Still, crunchy filler like this is still useful in game, so it's not a total waste.

The ecology of the gas spore: Now this is one of the more amusing D&D creatures. As I said earlier, it's amazing the niches they can fill. A fungal monster which imitates one of the deadliest monsters in D&D as a form of protective camouflage? It makes perfect sense, really. Ironically, the tactics that work well on beholders are probably the best thing to deal with Gas Spores as well. Keep well away, spread out, and pepper them with missiles from all sides, preferably with some cover as well. Do not let them corner you, or rush in hacking, for this never ends well. Try talking before you attack, as this will help you figure out if you're dealing with the real thing or not. Ed doesn't call in any help to finish things off this time around, but as with beholders, this is one of his below average entries in this series, relatively predictable, and not really giving us any cool new ways to use the monster. Becoming a line developer is definitely eating up a lot of his creative energy these days, and these articles are feeling the fallout. He's moved on to bigger and better things, and it's looking increasingly like he's no longer going to be dominating the magazine the way he once did. Oh well. All things must change. Lets hope there'll be some more shining stars along to fill his rather large shoes.

Higher aspirations: Hmm. Rules for apprentice druids and their orisons? That's a double rehash. Len did the first one in issue 51, while Orisons were tackled last issue. And the rules are incompatible as well. Peh. Oh well, they did say they were going to provide alternatives. If you weren't down with the humorous material components of the last one (Um, er, wait a minute. Do you think they put these two in the wrong way around? That might have made more sense Roger.) or simply want to slow down our most overpowered class a bit, (but not as much as len did) then you may choose to use this one instead. And you can probably mix and match the cantrips anyway. Still a bit tiresome from my perspective though.

Who watches the Watchmen, a module for DC heroes. Hmm. I smell a tie-in. Isn't this interesting. Can it live up to it's source material?

Plane speaking: Another eagerly awaited upcoming book finally gets talked about. And as they had so many universes to cover, they do have some leftovers. Here we have info on the materials and pitches of the tuning forks you need to get to a particular plane and layer. Just the thing to slow down adventurers who want to go bouncing all over the universe, as they need to do proper research and quite possibly commission expensive stuff from a skilled smith. (who makes gold tuning forks for any other reason? ) Don't just generate random chords, because odds are this will send you to an equally random layer of the abyss, where death is quite probable. I can see why they cut this out, as it is rather tedious crunch, that would only be useful in the kind of games where the DM tracks all the food rations, number of arrows, spell components and other little bits and pieces of the adventuring life, and delights in screwing over players who don't keep themselves stocked for every eventuality. (while of course making sure they suffer full encumbrance penalties if they do) That playstyle is definitely starting to go out of fashion. Still, at least we got to see it in this form, even if I'm unlikely to ever use it. Going extraplanar shouldn't be a cakewalk, or everyone would be doing it.

GURPS has horror, bestiary, oriental, space and horseclans books planned for this year. And they're on their second printing. They seem to be doing quite well for themselves. Let the supplement treadmill grind ever onwards.

Fiction: Dragon meat by Robert Don Hughes. Now the writer of this has definitely read revenge of the nobodies and taken some serious notes. The funny, but still fairly logical tale of the poor muggins who was assigned to clean up a dragon's corpse after the big hero had swooped on in, saved the princess, and buggered off to his lah de dah pointy spired castle. The corpse is starting to stink, the taxman wants paying, and the bureaucrats are gonna take every opportunity to poke their nose in. Thankfully, you can make a lot of money from selling dragon bits. If the neigbours start to complain, give them a job. When the big hero comes back to complain about your profiteering, point out that this dragon won't last forever, and if we make it into a franchise, everyone can make tons of money from this endeavour. Before you know it, the draconic race'll be extinct. Ok, so that'll then cause an economic crash, and possibly mess up the ecosystem by removing an apex predator, but humanity as a whole benefits. Woo. And there are plenty of other supernatural creatures to profiteer off. An entertaining tale that is still full of ideas that could be used in a sensible game. Just what the april issues should have.

Operation zenith: Now this is one that's been lurking in the slush pile for ages, apparently. When the Ares section was doing pieces on the moon for various systems, Merle wrote one for Top Secret. But he massively overwrote in terms of size, then they canned that idea, and it's been just sitting around. Until now. Originally intended as a 3 parter, here we get a full 10 pages on adapting the rules of the game to handle spacefaring spy adventures, a la Moonraker. Learning how to function in zero g is an expensive and rather icky proposition. It's obvious that this was done before they started work on the new edition, because the emphasis is very much on a fairly realistic crunchy representation of the real troubles spacefarers face, and the bureaucracy surrounding it. This'll definitely slow even experienced characters down until they spend a good deal of xp. And unlike D&D, you can't cast a quick spell and then wander around in incredibly hostile environments unhindered. You can see why they wanted to publish it now, because that's a lot of work that would otherwise have gone to waste, but it's still not that useful to me or enjoyable to read. And what's more, there's plenty more to come next month. Ho hum. Not nearly as fun as the gamma world lunar stuff.

Dragon Issue 120: April 1987

part 3/3

Space-age espionage: Top secret just went orbital. Now Traveller goes espionage, with a new career path for spies. What an amusing convergence. I'm sure that's why they put them next to each other. Anyway, whether you're working for the government, or secretly plotting to overthrow it, these paths are some of the trickier ones to get onto. And there's plenty of risk of dying or rotting in jail for years. But as with the more apolitical larcenous path a while back, it's full of skills that are just perfect for the adventuring life. Pretty useful, and a good example of the editor connecting things up in a pleasing way. Kudos to Roger.

The game wizards: Doug Niles writes the column this month to talk some more about thew new edition of Top Secret. As I said a bit earlier, they're planning to dial back on the crunch a bit, making all the really detailed bits optional, and try to emulate espionage movies and tv shows more, rather than the real deal. Luck points are in, to make sure the heroes can act like big damn heroes and not die horribly if they run in guns blazing. And like FASERIP, they've taken to resolving everything with a single D100 roll and consulting a table. Interesting. This definitely sounds like they're trying to make the game appeal to a wider audience, but may also cause flame wars from people annoyed at perceived dumbing down. I definitely look forward to seeing what happens next in this thread of history. Hopefully they'll support the new game as reliably as they did the old one for a good few years yet. Just because D&D is getting seriously revamped, doesn't mean we should ignore the other stuff.

Here comes the cavalry: Hmm. Not enough rules for ground warfare in star frontiers? Like swimming, I guess this is because the game knew what it wanted to focus on, and cut out all the extraneous stuff. Fortunately, since their rules for space combat are already mostly 2D for simplicity reasons, it's not that hard to adapt them for land vehicles. So here's 7 new vehicles and a bunch of optional rules to make the system work better at a ground based scale and speed. Another article I have no objection too, but at the same time, can't get particularly worked up about. Once again, they seem to be just running through a checklist of systems to cover each month.

Born in the ruins: Gamma world's article this month is on social class. Even after the apocalypse, the family you are born into massively influences your prospects in life.  Exactly how that might be expressed may vary from area to area, but even in yer basic stone age tribe, the bosses kid gets the best food. So here's yet another quick article giving us a table to roll on, and the mechanical effects of said social classes. Since it's pretty much all positive for being higher class, this will probably not be good for player harmony, with yet another reason for one to simply wind up better than another due to random rolls. Still surmountable, but not really a very useful one.

Welcome to the machine: Jeff once again cedes the floor on the Marvel article due to more pressing commitments.  So they throw in a Pink Floyd reference, and give us stats for Machine Man and the Midnight Wreckers (tm, etc etc.) Not to be confused with Iron Man, because they approach this superheroing thing from completely opposite directions. Once again we see some time jumping weirdness in their story, and the depiction of a possible future that is probably well out of date and retconned by now. Nothing particularly great or terrible about this entry. You know, you don't have to cover the same games every month. There are plenty of others who would love to get a few pages in the magazine.

The role of computers: We return to Bards Tale to deliver some extensive hinting. Due to the pressures of review time turnover, it seems our writing duo didn't find many of the secrets, or figure out the most optimal ways to configure their characters. Fear not, their loyal readers have wasted no time in writing in to help out. And once they've shown it once, you can bet that more people'll join in, in the hope of getting their name published. They may have to make this a regular part of their columns.
Following on directly, their main review is of Bards Tale II: The destiny knight. Considerably bigger than the original, it introduces new spells, ranged combat, brutal puzzles, animated 3d graphics, and to top it off, you can bring in your old characters from the previous game to kick butt with. They give it a pretty positive result.
Lots of other smaller reviews as well. Steve Jackson games continues it's multimedia push with Autoduel and Ogre computer games. Design your locations and arsenals and engage in a little postapocalyptic violence.  Explore the underground mazes of the Zork trilogy. Solve puzzles in your dead uncles mansion in Hollywood hijinx. Explore the epic Might and Magic (more on this next month) Play star trek tie in The Promethean Prophesy and save Kirk and co's lives. And check out the new improved Atari version of Phantasie. Rather a scattershot column, overall, as they tinker with their format. Well, it's still been less than a year since they started. Lets hope they come out of this bit of self-examination stronger.

TSR Previews: D&D gets CM8: The endless stair. An archmage has died? We have to take his stuff! For great justice! And because if we don't some evil wizard will. Course, wizards being wizards, the place is not unguarded. And since this is a companion adventure, the tricks should be pretty tricky. Otherwise, how are we to level up? More importantly, we also have GAZ1: The grand duchy of Karimeikos. Finally, they've decided to put out info on the Known World setting beyond the minimum of  what is needed for the current adventure. This is a very big sea change in their worldbuilding style. Before you know it, we'll be in the early 90's in all their richly tapestried glory. Let's do this.
AD&D is not quite as interesting, but is still trying something new REF4: The book of lairs. A whole onslaught of little encounters that you can throw in fairly easily. It's a definite step up from just having tables. And some of them, such as the rakshasa and spectre ones, are quite cool, not just combat encounters. One I do not regret buying.
The art of the Dragonlance saga arrives. Coffee table books, peh. Well, I guess it's fairly easy to produce, since it's mostly recycled art. But is it profitable?
Marvel superheroes gets MX1: Nightmares of futures past. Mutant internment
camps come to your hometown. Will your characters fall prey to the inquisition? How very dystopian.
Gamma world gets GW8: Gamma base. Welcome to the new edition! However, its the same old /Dungeon full of magic items/ ruined base full of ancient technology to explore and loot. Not very inspired sounding.
Amazing magazine gives us it's third anthology, covering 1936-45. Understandably, WWII looms large in the consciousness. Introduced by Issac Asimov, who also has stories in it. Magazines really have fallen quite a bit in general with the coming of the internet, haven't they. The cultural zeitgeist moves ever onwards.
One-on-one gamebooks is up to number 9, Daredevil and Kingpin in The King takes a Dare. I think this is pretty self explanatory. Question is, will the good or bad guy win, and how much zap, pow, kersplating will it involve? Their fate is in your hands.
And finally, we have the start of a new adventure gamebook series. Catacombs. Apparently closer to a real roleplaying experience than any solo gamebook before, this advert fails to explain exactly how, which isn't very helpful. Anyway, the first in the series is Faerie mounds of dragonkind. I suspect whimsy may be involved. Approach with caution.

Profiles goes up to covering three people this month. Karen Martin is one of our newest arrivals, having been here barely a year. But she's certainly been busy in that time, editing dozens of products. And maybe moving house again. Watch out for that commute. She seems more than geeky enough to fit in around there.
Margaret Weis is of course one of the creators of Dragonlance. Assigned to co-ordinate it, she took command, churned out 5 chapters in a couple of days, and it's been non stop work since then, producing several full novels plus a whole load of short stories every year. Goes to show what you can do when you don't spend ages fiddling around with the small stuff. Can they bottle lightning twice and top that with their next project? Hee.
Tracy Hickman is the other half of the dynamic duo who created Dragonlance. Thick as thieves, they even interview each other for this article. Not likely to produce a very objective result is it. Still, his career is a great example that writing is much quicker and more fun when done collaboratively, instead of chaining yourself to a desk alone, slogging away at a typewriter. First with his wife Laura, then with Margaret, he has increasingly assembled a great team around him to produce stuff with. Living the dream and creating family friendly entertainment with a strong moral message. That's the life.

Robots grasp sarcasm in snarfquest. And then there is pointless comedic bickering again. I don't think I'd enjoy playing in Larry's game. Dragonmirth mocks disney (deservedly). Wormy shows off the giant's talents. Do not fuck with them. Good, bad, they're all scary when you're on the other side.

A pretty good april fools issue, full of stuff that is both useable and amusing. They've definitely used the year off to make sure that they have the best material for this one. The non comedic parts of the issue are rather weaker though, particularly the non D&D articles. If I was reading at the time, I'd be complaining about them wasting their space on them. Are they not getting the good articles, or are they deliberately sabotaging them so they can claim public demand when they cut down even further on the number of them they include each month? In any case, it averages out to produce an, um, average issue. But I'm sure there'll be plenty more ups and downs to come in the other 2/3rds of this journey, both in the magazine, and my emotional state. Lets hope I can finish it, preferably without going completely mad.

Dragon Issue 121: May 1987

part 1/3

111 pages. Looks like they've accumulated enough Oriental Adventures material for us to have an oriental special. Well, it has been a year and a half, and it was pretty popular. So Ninjas, samurai, and other less well known roles get some more cool stuff, oh my. They are definitely having way more themed issues lately. A development I can definitely get behind, as long as they don't repeat the same theme, as it means they can cover a topic in more depth. So let's fire up our stereotypical oriental riff, do the horribly politically incorrect eye thing (me so solly), and head for the rising sun.

In this issue:

Letters: Two letters from people who are having problems with GM's. One wants to encourage more people to GM, as they're sick of always being the one to do it, and another from someone who wants to DM, but doesn't know how. Both think that there need to be more articles on this in Dragon. I sense the dread hand of foreshadowing passing over. Give it a few months, Roger'll be swimming in articles, and then they can do a themed issue on it. Woo.
A letter asking them do do more regular columns. Once again, Roger says he'll definitely consider it. It does help make up page count, having a bunch of topics that you know will be covered reliably each month. But it can also increase boredom, as they blur into one another. We shall see what he decrees.

The overseas military gamers guide: Now this is an interesting development. They've been showing general ones of these for years now. But it looks like they want to give extra support to the troops. Well, job where you're a long way from everyone you know, with lots of time spent just sitting around watching and waiting. Plus an emphasis on combat and tactical thinking. Army people are a great target demographic for roleplaying. A subject that is obviously dear to Roger's heart, as he devotes the editorial to talking about this as well. Now that's giving back to the community. Warms your heart, doesn't it.

Forum: Brian S Chase disagrees with the ecology of the harpy in an in character manner. That sage was charmed! He is obviously an unreliable narrator, and his facts are equally unreliable. See, that's how you do this kind of thing. Remember, these ecologies are not set in stone. You can change them for your campaign if you don't like them.
Jeanne McGuire engages in some rather longer and less interesting ecological talk, correcting us on the real world details of snakes. Your article in issue 115 was not properly researched! Same as it ever was.
Jim Vierling Weighs in on the old illusions debate. Unless the creatures have a good reason to disbelieve your effects, you ought to err on he side of generosity, otherwise illusionists become horribly weak compared to regular magic-users, and no-one wants to play them. A very sensible statement, really. We must consider the metagame ramifications of what we do.
Bob Hughes reminds us that if we're unsatisfied with the arcane details of AD&D, you can go and play regular D&D instead, which is much simpler, and can be easily houseruled. Chances are, you'll actually have more fun.
David Carl Argall returns to say that the game should be assumed to be realistic as possible, except where the rules specifically make it different from reality. It makes things less confusing that way, and you can apply lessons learned in the game to your own life if that is the case. Um, ok then. I can see how you would come to that conclusion. Can't say I agree with it though.
Micheal Lambert agrees with Vince Garcia that intelligence should be more important to characters of all types. He is, however, baffled as to why rangers have a high int requirement to join the class. Perhaps something ought to be done about that. Is he just being prescient, or is this a more direct bit of cause and effect, as Zeb reads this and takes note of things to change next edition? Good question, albeit one even Mr Cook himself probably couldn't answer, given the vagaries of time, memory, and all the crap he sifted through at the time.
Robert Waldbauer points out that if you do stuff from all sorts of alignments, it should average out as neutral, even if they aren't conciously trying to maintain a balance.
S Kunz points out just how heavy magic-user's spellbooks are by the RAW. They ought to have backpacks at least as big as the average modern kid's schoolbag. Poor magic-users, lugging that stuff around. It's no wonder they wind up all stooped over.
Mathew Hamilton wonders why the AD&D game avoids christianity so, if it's supposed to be set in a medieval world. You really ought to do more articles on it and incorporating it into the game. Oh, that's a biiiig ugly can of worms there. Will any trolls bite on this bait?
Adam Morris reminds us just what the body can do to itself psychosomatically in the real world. When illusions are brought into the equation, even greater feats of self-deciet should be possible. Don't make illusionists useless, please.

The game wizards: Zeb Cook returns, having received a ridiculous amount of mail on the matter of which classes to cut for the next edition. Hoo boy. When they started, they thought this would be a simple editing job. Then you had to go and get emotionally involved. In any case, though there is vast amounts of nerdrage on both sides, he's not changing his plans that much. Bards and druids are definitely staying now, and the UA stuff and assassins are still superfluous to requirements.  His desire to focus more on proficiencies is still causing some controversy as well. No, D&D is not going classless. My primary goals are still fun and flexibility, and the game should still remain as compatible as possible with the previous edition.   Please, everybody, calm down. We really do care. Another interesting snapshot of history as it developed, full of quotable stuff. Let's see what his next step will be.

Whaddya mean, jack the samurai: Random name generation. Just the thing for when your mind goes blank, and you don't want to make an inappropriate name up and get laughed at. We've had ones for tekumel (issue 24) native american-esque (34) pseudomedieval (72), and probably some more I can't remember offhand. So here's three pages of D% tables and the guide to using them. An above average example of it's kind, and obviously useful, but still not hugely interesting to read. Just a warm up really, rather than a pole position spectacular.

Sage advice helps out with oriental themed questions.
How do you determine height, weight and starting age (humans are same as ever (yes, I know, IRL, asians do tend to be a bit shorter, but if we can gloss over sex differences to abilities we can certainly ignore that) Korobokuru use the dwarf tables and spirit folk use the elf one. Recycling made fun and easy. )
Do dual classed characters get all their new classes proficiency slots (Yup.  Twinkitude! (sage advice reserves the right to change it's mind at any point in the future.))
Can women join the oriental classes ( By default, yes. You'll have to decide how sexist your individual setting is. )
Can oriental characters become multi-classed. (No. Feel the social stratifications confining you. Oh, the pain! You'll have to run away! )
Do oriental characters get Xp for treasure (Yes. Money is a great motivator, wherever you are. )
Do characters that attack 3/2 get their extra attacks on odd or even rounds (Even. It makes them a little less scary. )  
Do magical crossbows extend your point-blank range. (not unless they specifically say so. Stop trying to twink out)
Can western characters learn martial arts (What. Would you make the karate kid illegal in D&D? Can't say I'd blame you But anyway, yes, they can. )
Why do forest barbarians get rhetoric (because they're good at talking bullshit. It's not quite the same as civilized debate techniques, but still not to be sneezed at. )
Where do I find stats for the harpoon (Unearthed Arcana. Did you miss the memo that it's effectively the new corebook, and all subsequent books assume you have it. )
When do bushi get AC bonuses (every 5 levels. Not a patch on modern defence progressions, is it. Give them time. The progression of class technology is slow. )
How much honor do they lose for learning ninja weapons (same as kensai)
Speaking of kensai, how do they learn MA (how do you think. They spend their proficiency slots. )
Shouldn't kensai get fast-draw (It would be advisable, but they still need to spend the proficiency slot. We don't want to make them overpowered, do we? )
Does the higher level kensai always win a psychic duel (no. They still have to roll, they just get a bonus. Go stand in the corner, and pay more attention next time.)
Which attack table do monks use (The cleric one. I though we cleared that up way back in 1980. Some people just don't keep track of errata.)  
Do monks get Str and dex bonuses to AC and attacks (no. They're like monsters. They get trained so hard the normal PC rules cease to apply. )
Do monks get dex bonuses to their thief abilities (yes)
Do monks get damage bonuses on missile weapons (if they're legal and proficient. Take the test, be the best. Kick the ases of the rest. )
 Can ninja be dual classed (They already are, sorta. No, they can't change class again. And if they tried their clan would kill them. )
Do ninja have to pay training costs (yes)
Do high level ninja get followers (not automatically. They'll have to please the clan leader, or go off and found their own. )
Why don't ninja get dex mods for their powers (cos we didn't think of that. )
What are ninjas base chances of picking pockets (none, unless they're dual classed with yakuza. Thievery is not an automatic part of their training, nor should it be.
Can you dual class into ninja after starting play (no. The clans wouldn't trust an already established adventurer enough to train them. Give me a boy until he is seven and he will be mine for life and all that.)
How do you determine how much stuff a samurai's fief has (Fiat. Pray your DM is in a generous mood. Bribe him with noodles if you have too.)
Can a samurai specialize in the Daikyu with only one slot (no. Even the benefit you thought you would get isn't there. )
Do shukenja get full XP for subduing enemies (No. They only get half, however they beat them. You may find your advancement slower than you expected)
How do sohei get the 5-7th level spells indicated (they don't, unless we choose to add some epic rules later. The designer was just so enthusiastic he forgot when to stop. )
Do wu jen need to study for 6 hours to regain EACH SPELL! (no. That investment lets them regain all their spells. This will put them at an advantage over standard wizards at high level)
Does the wu jen's second ki power give you extra spells (no, it only enhances the ones you have )
Can you use verbal only spells while fire wings is active (yes. Drive by power words are the shiz)
Is scry a flat circle or a sphere. (A circle. Volume calculations would be too complicated for my tastes. )
How do you use grenades (pull pin, count to three, no more, no less, and throw them)
What are the encumbrance values for the new equipment (oops. Our bad. Use their nearest western equivalent.)
What does standard intelligence mean (normal human. 8-10. Average. Mundane. Don't make me set the theasaurus on you. He's been cranky ever since Gary left. )
Do kappa get a damage bonus for their strength. (yes, but we've precaclulated it into their stats so you don't need to worry your pretty little head over it. )
How do you get special MA Maneuvers (each one costs one proficiency slot. Ya don't get many, so choose carefully.)
Why does Karate get more attacks per round than you can create (because the standard styles aren't created using the custom rules and are better than them. The wisdom of the ancients surpasses your puny ingenuity. )
How do you learn weapon related MA (Same as it ever was. Spend the slots. If you want to learn a new weapon, learn a new MA as well. )

Dragon Issue 121: May 1987

part 2/3

The deadliest perfume: Ahh, this is more like it. Lotus dust. The rare flowers of the orient can be harvested and refined into powders with mystical effects. Really, this is basically just a bunch of reskinned poisons, potions, lotions, incenses and dusts, but the concept of organizing items by their use type (single use, charged, daily, constant, worn, etc) hasn't really caught on yet. But this is still 8 flavourful new magic items that you can use as written, or convert into another shape while keeping the basic effects.  Perfect for ninjas, assassins, and anyone else who likes being sneaky and poisoning people. Putting the flavour text first and then the mechanical effects in ecology style footnotes may not have been the wisest writing decision, requiring a bit more annoying flipping back and forth to get the full info on an item, but other than that, I quite like this one.

The anywhen universal roleplaying system now available, along with two game-world books. Anyone remember this one, because I certainly don't.

The life and death of a castle: Hmm. This is a topic we've seen covered before in plenty of detail for western stuff. (issues 80 and 89, among others) So it seems perfectly reasonable to examine how japanese ones differ from them. They may differ somewhat architecturally, but the basic tactical and socioeconomic pressures are much the same. You need to be able to see. You need to be able to defend your walls. You need to be able to dominate, tax, and protect the local population. You need to be able to live there fairly comfortably. And so forth. As with personal armour, they tend less towards singular big hard defenses (no castle can withstand a big earthquake) and more on an array of moats, trenches, and irregular wooden barriers that provide you plenty of cover and are a bugger to get through for enemy troops. It's no wonder they turn to ninja to penetrate these places and kill the bosses without huge losses on both sides. A pretty solid article that describes it's topic in an evocative, easily visualized way, this gives me some more evil ideas for designing my own world with. Mix and match tactics from various cultures to make your players decidedly miserable. Muahahaha, etc etc. Keep on building those fortresses. We'll keep on tearing them down. Lets loot and pillage the best bits and roll ever onwards.

Palladium apologize for the long delayed release of book III, adventures on the high seas. Same as it ever was. Nice pic of a cyclops and griffon though.

The geisya: Ha. Missing your bard role for eastern games? Take a courtesan adventuring. While certainly not badasses, with minor spellcasting and roguish abilities, and pretty good general and social skills, they'll be less useless than you'd think, especially if they're also ninjas. Don't neglect your social and support classes. Probably best suited to troupe play, where each player is controlling multiple characters and sometimes focussing on one or another of them, these are rather underpowered in combat, but also have extremely low XP costs at mid level. If you have the obscene ability scores needed, dual-class into them, then out of them after reaching 8th level if you want to remain a competitive adventurer. This fills a niche they didn't cover before, and maintains ideals of flavour over balanced mechanics, so even if it's not suitable for every game, and possibly a bit obvious, I don't object to it. After all, if you don't cover the obvious stuff, you don't have a solid base for other people to build upon. And you can nick the new spells for your bards and wu jen.  

The Genin: There's always someone not satisfied with the established order, isn't there. For whatever reason, the writers of OA decided that all ninjas would be split-class characters, maintaining a convincing front as some other class, and ensuring they have a broad base of skills to draw upon to accomplish their missions and keep people fighting them off balance. But this writer wants to play a character who has been trained in nothing but the ninja arts since childhood, and has not bothered with such petty distractions. So here we have the Genin, which does exactly that, gaining all the powers of the regular Ninja, plus a few extra for being a specialist. They'll obviously advance faster than a character splitting their XP, as they have lower XP costs, and they'll probably have slightly better hp as well, but not be as versatile or able to operate independently for extended undercover missions. There's nothing obviously wrong with this mechanically, but like the barbarian cleric, this is very definite theme dilution, and is probably slightly overpowered as well (more tricks for less xp? shurely shome mishtake.) I mildly disapprove, as this doesn't display a huge amount of creativity. Give us something we couldn't whip up in a few minutes ourselves please.

Sun dragon castle: This month's centrepiece is another build it yourself cardboard model. And the surroundings, in another attempt to push their boundaries. This is bigger than their previous attempts, and the instructions are considerably longer and more detailed as well. I doubt many people managed to put it together successfully, and in any case, this eats up a total of 14 pages in the .pdf version that I can't get much use out of. So it's another worthy special feature that'll get oohed and ahhed over for a bit, and then forgotten, when more practical articles are still being used years later. So it goes.

Fiction: Love and ale by Nick O'Donohue. A Dragonlance story here. Been a while since we had one of those. This is one of the ones from Leaves from the inn of the last home, designed to show the softer, small scale side of krynn. See young Tika go through romantic woes, kender be their usual pestilent selves, and the small tragedies and triumphs in general of running an inn. Will this year's ale be a good batch? Will we be able to avoid having the place trashed by drunkards? Will we be able to spot thieves and con men? Not very dramatic stuff, but it has a certain twee charm. But then, Krynn has always done twee well, and the palatability of that is very much a matter of taste. I'm afraid it does not tempt me to pick up the full book.

The marvel-phile: Jeff returns, rather apologetic for his frequent absences of late. This time, we have another case of a new character taking an old character's name. Ms Marvel is now Sharon Ventura, daredevil, wrestler, another recipient of the super-soldier serum, and currently a member of the fantastic four. (yeah, that's not going to last long) Jeff has obviously taken notes from his substitutes, because he includes advice for using the new super-soldier serum in your own game. A bit of a gamble, it could make you badass, or cause you to degenerate into a bestial monstrosity. Don't be too attached to your character concept if you try it in game. But it does make for good drama, and a good excuse for lots of super-powered mooks to challenge your team with. In a genre where you're supposed to be one of a special few, if you don't stick to genre conventions and continually kill your enemies, you'll run out of suitable challenges way too soon, so that's probably a good thing. A change has obviously been as good as a rest for jeff, as this is definitely an above average entry.

Dragon Issue 121: May 1987

part 3/3

TSR previews: D&D gets M4: Five coins for a kingdom. Another epic adventure spanning planes, and ending in a battle inside the sun. Sounds like a suitable challenge for players that level. At least the world doesn't hang on their success this time.
D&D gets an attack of rehash, with I3-5: The desert of desolation. Tracey Hickman's early modules get complied and revised in light of his new popularity. Venture into the desert and face ancient undead foes. You know the sort. They generally wear bandages. It also gets I13: Adventure pack one. A collection of short OA featured adventures, it seems rather appropriate for this issue.
In the solo gamebook realm, we have book 13: The gates of death. Prove your paladinhood by saving a princess? All in a days work, really. At least, if you survive to become an experienced hero. So many don't.
Lot's of novels this month. We get our first forgotten realms novel even before the rulebook comes out. Doug Niles delivers Darkwalker on Moonshae, an epic tale set in the Realms' britain analogue. Be afraid, for the stakes are high, and the writing of questionable quality. Lets get this treadmill of endless trilogies rolling. We also get 2 Windwalker books, Rogue Pirate, and Trail of the Seahawks. John Gregory Betancourt and Aradath Mayhar continue to work for TSR. Life is hard for a jobbing writer.
Lazer Tag also continues to roll out the supplements. Book 1 is High spy, and book 2 is Danger, second hand. Looks like they're bringing plotting and character arcs to what could be just a simple game of competitive violence. I wonder how these'll do.
And finally, we have an SPI imprint wargame, Onslaught. In an attempt to stem the decline of wargaming, they're going for simpler games that you can complete in a single sitting. Ha. If you don't market it right to attract new people, all this'll do is irritate the grognards, who will then ignore it after a bit of bitching. And that's no good for anyone.

The role of books: Hmm. Red and yellow-green. Much better than last installment, but certainly not perfect. But this should really be about contents, not the wrapper. This is the equivalent of bitching about what some starlet is wearing on the cover of her new single, and completely ignoring the merits of the music. Don't judge a book by it's cover, and other such cliches.
The folk of the air by Peter S Beagle is a rather well crafted and unorthodox bit of fantasy, with much of the weirdness remaining purely in the mind, while creating a mythic air. Seems like another one that would be good for Changeling: the Dreaming players.
The maze of peril by John Eric Holmes isn't an official D&D novel, but it is obviously based on a D&D game, with spell levels, dungeons, and other such metagame conceits showing up and playing integral parts. This does not translate to novel form too well, and indeed, the fact that it's only a small press work, even though he did manage to get an official D&D novel published in the past speaks volumes of it's quality. Boinger will struggle on regardless!
The burning stone by Deborah Turner Harris is the start of another trilogy. It has the same editor as Tolkien's LotR. Wait! Come back! It's actually quite good, with a nicely thought out magic system and social order developed to regulate that magic, realistically ruthless villains, and several plot threads that weave together to create a fast paced story full of cliff-hangers. The reviewer certainly wants to read the next two books.
Stalking the unicorn by Mike Resnick is a tale of a new york private eye who travels to an alternate reality at the behest of his new employer, an elf who has lost his unicorn, and needs it back fast. (don't snigger) It applies logical thought to a distinctly fantastic setting, to create a nicely plotted, suspenseful mystery.
A voice for princess by John Morressy is a tale of a wizard's attempts to completely reverse the transformation on a princess formerly turned into a frog (hence the title) Originally a series of short stories in a magazine, it doesn't quite work as a full length novel. Hopefully future books in  the series will avoid that problem.  
Dragon's pawn by Carol L Dennis is another fairly meta fantasy novel. While it uses lots of cliches, it's characters are aware of this, and manage to twist them to their own ends. Another one that seems likely to spawn additional follow-up books.
Cybernetic Samurai by Victor Milan is the story of a supercomputer programmed with the knowledge of an ancient samurai ruler, and how it deals with the conflicts of the modern day business world by applying those values and lessons.  Seems like the kind of thing real geeks would do. In any case, it seems an entirely valid bit of oriental styled cyberpunk.
Wild cards, edited by George R R Martin, is another of our shared world anthologies, a series of stories about superhumans in WWII. Not nearly as comic booky as you'd expect, this has lots of strong characterisation, is well presented, and the stories meld together well, thanks to the editing. An idea that would go on to spawn an RPG, this is definitely an interesting one to report upon.

Operation Zodiac: We continue the series on Top Secret adventures in spaaaace with a whole bunch of extrapolative future history and plot hooks based around this. As is often the case, these seem sadly out of date these days, as we've actually gone backwards in terms of space exploration capability since those days. A sad state of affairs, really. If only the cold war hadn't ended. Now that was a nebulous media excuse for fearmongering and directing our tribalistic hatreds you actually had a hope of beating. Still, as an excuse for lots of weird and wonderful adventures, this isn't bad at all, pushing the boundaries of (then) modern tech, without going into outright sci-fi territory. If only it had turned like that. Life would be rather more interesting than it is.

Profiles: Michael Breault is one of those names that seems like they've been around forever, when actually, they haven't. Curious, that. He's been around quite a bit of interesting stuff, seeing half his class flunk out due to overaddiction to gaming,  working on a far right magazine (whether he subscribed to their beliefs is not revealed), and getting a degree in astrophysics. And he's already edited lots of TSR's recent big books. Having just become a dad, he's going to be a busy bunny in the next few years. Another familiar name finally gets a face.
Robin Jenkins has considerably more style than the average editor. Snappy dresser, party animal, movie buff, excellent dancer, he's got so much fashion sense he regularly gets mistaken for a woman. (along with several other members of the crew ) One of our best written interviews, most of the attempts at humour in this one hit the mark nicely. He obviously applies his lesson of learning how to communicate to himself.
Barbara G Young's article, on the other hand, doesn't quite work for me. Much is made of her hippyish tendencies, but this is a bunch of life snapshots that doesn't really help me get into the head of the person behind them. Hmm. Never mind. Plenty more where that came from.

Snarfquest jumps into the future. Can the adventurers use their anachronisms, or will they just blunder around amusingly as usual. Dragonmirth gets in on the oriental stuff. Wormy is full of hostility, racism, and possibly treachery.

A very smooth issue, that went down easily, with plenty of mildly positive articles, but no real radical highs or lows. The big central feature meant that there was less text to digest than usual these days, which resulted in me finishing this one quickly. It fulfills it's thematic remit quite reasonably, and there were far fewer articles that seemed tacked on purely to make up the numbers than the last one. They seem to be back on track again, and getting the hang of their new remit. Lets hope they keep that up.