Dragon Magazine Issue 242: December 1997


part 2/8


Forum: Chad Dukes gives us another good reason to recruit new players. It lets you see things through their eyes, enjoy all the old tricks as if they're new, face all the old monsters as if they're a real threat, etc etc. I quite agree. A game is more fun when it's not with the same people year in, year out.

James Thompson dislikes bringing back 1e cavaliers and allowing paladin/bards. But multiclassing for humans is not an inherently bad idea. It's still probably better than the current solution, even with it's flaws.

Brian Frink picks apart the fearmongering over paladin/bards. Like ranger/druid, that's a technically impossible and very hard to qualify for combination. What kind of god could sponsor that?

Timothy Eccles tries to apologize for slavery. Just because we think it's wrong, doesn't mean all cultures think it's wrong. Plus ancient villains ought to learn that reliability (up to a point) is a far better policy that killing your underlings after a first infraction. That will not lead to loyal minions. Unless you live in a universe where the 80's cartoon attitude is what gets you optimum success in life.

Anton J. Uselmann promotes straight talking in dealing with disruptive players. Tell them they're being a problem in no uncertain terms before trying anything else. A lot of the time, that will fix things, particularly if everyone else in the group backs you up and says that behaviour is not acceptable. Peer pressure can be used for good or ill.

Bruce F. Beyers defends his praise of the cavalier. They do have a unique niche to fill, and they can't specialise in weapons, at least not the paladin ones (and who'd want to play any other type) That said, there still some abominations of classes out there.

Daniel Ingraham is another person rebutting Bruce. An ultimate warrior would not be good for the game. The classes are meant to be balanced with one-another, and they should all be able to contribute to a party, albeit in different ways.  

Charlie Martin-Brooks thinks thieves cant should have variants for races other than humans. Really, it's never worked as a separate language, and it's no wonder it's another thing on the chopping block.  

Arthur D. Reynolds analyses how scary issue 238's specialisation rules are. Frankly, what regular monster can face up to that. This is the problem with houserules that grant more power. Once you get to a certain degree, the game ceases to be fun due to lack of decent challenges. You price yourself out of the market. Now you'll have to start again in some other field.


Ushio & Tora? Looks like we're seeing the real takeoff point of the process that'll result in RPG's and anime sharing the same shops, and much of the same fanbase.  Well, since the mainstream shops have abandoned us, It's back to the comic and hobby stores. Still, that also means the ground is laid for Exalted to become a hit, so it's not all bad.

Dragon Magazine Issue 242: December 1997


part 3/8


Sage advice: When you lose your mind due to polymorph do you gain all the HD and special powers of the creature. (yes. This may not be a good thing.)

What happens if new enemies arrive after I cast prayer ( they aren't affected, but you've still got your buffs. It's not so bad.)

I'm still not happy with the question of what elves are resistant to. (Normally, skip would just ignore you. But Skip has been thinking about this one as well, and will grace you with a new improved reply. Be grateful for skip's generosity.)

Can familiars learn spells (Twice no. )

Why do you have a monster list for monster summoning 8 when we can't get that spell level (just in case someone decides to introduce 10th level spells)

How do you turn lower planar creatures (as special undead. It usually isn't worth the bother trying)

If a spell lasts more than a day, can you rememorize it while the previous one is still running (yes)

Can neutralize poison save you from monsters with instant save or death poison. (Only if cast on the same round. Save or die is brutal, and we're really considering reducing the number of things that can do that)

How does herbalism work. (With a lot more work than spellcasting)

Does an injected poison work if you coat a slashing weapon with it and hit someone (yes)

Would a cloaker be surprised if someone tried to put it on (only if it was asleep beforehand. They're evolved around that trick, so of course they have instincts designed to cope with it. )


The laws of spell design: I do believe this is one someone asked for in the letters page a while back. A breakdown of how to figure out what level a spell should be from it's effects, rather than just eyeballing it. Obviously with thousands of existing spells in hundreds of supplements, they won't all stick to those rules. But the same can be said of the class design rules in issue 109 and 2e, and existing classes. So by following this, you won't get anything as badass and efficient as Magic Missile, Continual Light or Stoneskin. On the other hand, it is clearly written, laid out in a logical step-by-step fashion, and should keep players from running roughshod over the DM. People have wanted this for a long time, and it could have been done far far worse. A worthy choice to lead the issue with.


The magic of krynn reborn: Once again it's time to do a bit of backpedaling with the 5th age setting. Albeit the sort that would probably actually happen. Having discovered a new magic system, former wizards would immediately set out to replicate their old spells, with mixed success. So here's 31 conversions of old D&D spells, and 11 new ones. Teleport doesn't come off too great, but Wizard eye actually works a little better. Sleep and charm have been moved from wizards to clerics, and dispelling magic is still not really an option, so a different tack has been developed. This is another of those articles that's really rather interesting from a systems wonk perspective, showing me exactly how to game the new magic system, and what it just can't do. Obviously I'm not going to get to use it in actual play any time soon, but that doesn't mean I dislike this. Actually, I rather enjoyed it. Even though it's making another system more D&D like, it's still a welcome break from it.

Dragon Magazine Issue 242: December 1997


part 4/8


Mage Construction: And if a couple of articles ago we had one inspired by the letters page, here's one born from forum debates. Using magic in the process of building. Which is closely related, but not identical to the one on magical fortifications in issue 224. In both cases, there's a whole lot of ways that magic would logically change things, but in most fantasy worlds doesn't. As this is focussed on the business applications rather than the military ones, it's not quite as interesting or instantly applicable to people's campaigns. Really, it seems intended to sit in the background and lampshade the weird stuff that would turn up anyway. And I guess so when the players want to make their own dungeons, you have an excuse to bleed away their money through hired help when they can't do it themselves. As it's also shorter, yeah, I don't think this one is terrible, but it doesn't quite manage to justify itself. Another example of how they've become more comfortable with frequent rehash these days.


Learn more about magic: Oh dear. time for another article that splits an existing skill into a whole bunch of more focussed ones, thus making it a hell of a lot harder to actually be a well rounded character. We don't have enough of them. It does have to be said that's one benefit of the Skills & Powers system. It's already more skill friendly than the standard nonweapon proficiency system. And specialising in the theory of a particular school of magic does offer some distinctive benefits that are useful in general play. In the end, this is another of those articles that makes me long for the imminent arrival of 3rd edition, with skills and feats separated out and skill bloat kept mostly under control. Let's keep on moving, trying to keep a groove going.


Jest the Wizards Three: A second instalment in relatively quick succession this year, it seems. Well, the last one was probably one of the many things delayed by the changeover. Still, it doesn't look like they're feeling the trauma. If anything, Dalamar's replacement has moved things even further towards light and fluffy territory. It's all childish hijinks mixed with a bit of innuendo and a surprising amount of food talk. It's actually rather irritating, as if he's getting less mature as the years go by. Let's hope the spells will make up for this drop in the fiction quality.

Coinsharp lets you turn money into daggers and vice versa, and then drop the change at a moment of your choice. A perfect one for con men, assassins, and other roguish sorts.

False Ioun Stone is pretty self explanatory. Just the thing to let a low level illusionist seem to be a lot more powerful than they are. Another quirky little flavour spell from the master of them.

Hither lets you have an item leap into your hands with only a brief verbal component. Another one that sounds pretty useful and multipurpose, applicable whenever you're in a pinch.  

Wizard gong is a cheeky variant on Alarm, with the extra benefit of being immune to standard detection. It does cost 1,000gp per use though, so it's not for everyday use.

Echo lets you record and play back sounds. Amazingly, the recording can be done retroactively, which many musicians would kill for the capacity to imitate. Want.

Fingerblade is yet another method of surreptitiously creating a decent weapon for your wizard. And seriously screwing over low level fighters. Muahahahaha.

Nextremity lets you swap your limbs around. Another low key but awesomely versatile trick in an instalment full of them.

Sortil's Aqueous Transfer lets you move liquids from one container to another with zero wastage.

SPY is another little divination trick, albeit a slightly gross one. Not that great compared to Clairvoyance, really. Still, the fact that all of these are lower level spells, and most are quite useful means this is all the more usable by players. These ones won't break your game, but they will liven up your plots. I think that despite the cheese increase, this series is still proving it's worth.

Dragon Magazine Issue 242: December 1997


part 5/8


Wyrms of the north: Volo isn't much help this time, leaving Elminster to do all the work. Understandable, because while Ed may have held back a bit last time, this one is just insanely powerful. A blue dragon with 20th level spellcasting, and enough extras to take on Phaerimm? This is getting a little excessive. If you make all your NPC's exceptional, then the exception becomes the rules, which devalues the exceptional and makes the normal seems hopelessly inadequate. Which I suppose is a result of having a mainline to way more inspiration than anyone else. You never have to learn how to be economical and make the best of limited resources. So this one does annoy me rather with it's excesses, and doesn't seem like it'd be very easy to use in game. And I was never very keen on this series anyway. So this is one case where Ed doesn't manage to win me over with his whimsical charms. He'll have plenty more chances if I know him.


Bookwyrms: The world of Robert Jordan's Wheel of time by Robert Jordan & Teresa Patterson would be incredibly handy for anyone planning on roleplaying in this setting. Like most companion works of this sort, there is quite a bit repeated from the books themselves, but the new information on their history and villains is worth it for getting a more objective picture of the world. And when the books have as much character switching and descriptive padding as this, collecting the useful setting info you could glean from the books is handy in itself.

Destiny's road by Larry Niven once again sees him create a new world, and use real scientific ideas as a big driver of the story. You know, I don't actually think I've read this one. I ought to get on that, given how much I like most of his work.

The singing sword by Jack Whyte is an attempt at a gritty, realistic take on Arthurian myth. Sounds very 90's. I suppose that's the thing, isn't it. Reinterpretations of existing stories can't help but bear the influence of the concerns of the current age.

The subtle knife by Philip Pullman is the second book in his anti-Narnia trilogy that's going to go on to be quite the breakout hit in a few years. I don't think it's any surprise to say they recommend it wholeheartedly, moral message and all.


Fiction: In the bleak deepwinter by Lynn Abbey. Oooh. A bit of fiction from one of their official writers, for the Forgotten Realms setting. In Ed's tradition, it involves an immortal and exceedingly powerful protagonist which can basically steamroll their way through most challenges. Unlike most of Ed's creations though, she got that way through happenstance, and isn't particularly happy about being immortal. With the number of people in the Realms who do manage to adapt to immortality decently, the old trope of angsting because you've left behind everyone you know, and are afraid to love anyone loses a bit of it's sting. But no-one ever said people were rational, and so that's what we have here. And in classic romantic tradition, despite weird trappings and supernatural obstacles, we essentially have a story of learning to let go and open yourself up to love. How sweet. I think this manages to fit into the realms decently, despite the tone being darker than Ed's writing. After all, it's still pretty cheesy. And as far as I can tell, the continuity is ok. So I'm not going to complain.


Bazaar of the Bizarre: Still in theme, with some Realms-set items designed to give you stories that rival Drizzt's in style. New magical figurines. Another idea we had quite a few of last year, in issue 229. Still, with a different flavour, they could still be fun.

Harashuin's Spirit Ally doesn't come to life, but as long as you have one of these little pendants, you'll never be truly alone. Aww. How sappy. And you can trade it up for a familiar of the same kind as your spirit animal easily. No more worrying about being stuck with a toad for a decade.

Quixoro's Knightly Steed is an ultimately chivalric horse that will try and mold it's owner into an exceptional knight. This could be cool, amusing or irritating. You may end up passing this on if you aren't the right sort.

The Urn of the Blue Vishap summons a rather cranky dragon who has to fulfil three tasks for you. Since he doesn't have actual wish-granting, this isn't as cool as a genie, but you take what you can. And the risks are pretty similar. Let the rubber beware.

Lycaeonorukke becomes a wolf with various playful quirks and magic abilities.  Not enormously powerful, it is useful for a good deal more than combat, and once again, may or may not form a bond with it's owner. I guess it's all down to your roleplaying skills. They're not up to Ed's standard, but I can still see myself having fun with these lot.

Dragon Magazine Issue 242: December 1997


part 6/8


Arcane Lore: Ooh, new bard spells. We really ought to have had some of those before. Damn wizards stealing all the publicity, despite not having the charisma. Druids have been pretty neglected in the last few years as well, having to cadge off their irresponsible mates the elementalists for new spells. Still, at least they're not rehashing again.

Apparition makes you look insubstantial and ghostly, allowing you to scare or fake-out people. Always a good way of seeming more powerful than you are, and that's something Bards should pay extra attention too.

Chromatic Crown gives you hot-swappable resistances that scale in versatility as you level. This is quite useful, because you never know what kind of attacks you're going to face beforehand. This could save your life a few times.

Chromatic Rod dazzles everyone it hits, in an interesting variant on color spray. Good thing bards have a lower THAC0 than wizards, for that touch attacky goodness.

Size Disguise is another one for when you can't afford the real thing or wish to take advantage of looking big or small and having hands in a different place. Hmm, that'll take a bit of creativity.

Captain's Voice gives you the projecting power of BRIAN BLESSED without spending years working on your vocal power and stage presence. It even lets you talk through walls. Combine with a little clairvoyance to keep your subordinates from masturbating.

Chorus of Valor forces your companions to join in the singing if they want the buff. This is why people prefer clerics to bards.

Hostile Images is another illusion one that makes things confusing and scary for the enemy but doesn't actually have real effects. But flinch reflexes being what they are, that may waste a crucial few rounds.

Hypnotic Harmonies is a reskinned hypnotic pattern that'll work on grimlocks, but not people wearing earplugs. Like varying energy types, this is useful simply because it keeps enemies from getting smug about their resistances.

Mute shuts your enemy up, making sure they can't cast spells. Seen that before very recently. Well, it's such an obvious avenue of screwage.

Dirge of Despondency spreads Aaaaangst. Meh.

Rumble fakes people out with signs of an earthquake. Seems like that kind of chicanery is going to be a definite theme of this article.

Shrieker Wail imitates said wandering monster attractors, with hil-arious results. God, it's been ages since we've heard about them. They really ought to do an ecology.

Silent Passage is a slightly more focussed silence spell, designed to make your party stealthy but still able to communicate. It's considerably better than the clerical ones of similar levels we've seen in the past. This technology is coming on quite nicely. Soon it'll be as good as Invisibility.

Inspirational Theme is an absolutely hilarious and rather obvious buff spell. Ba baba BA BA Ba bada BA BA Ba baba ba. Arum papa pum papa pum pum pum. Sisters are doing it for themselves! Whatever floats your boat, the mechanical effect'll be the same.

Protection from Light makes you and all your posessions completely light-absorbant. It's not quite invisibility, and so it's substantially higher level seems a bit odd, but it certainly has it's uses for stealth and intimidation.

Echolocation should be an obvious one. It has it's advantages and disadvantages over regular vision. Seen you before.

Infrared Light gives you infravision. Seen that before in this magazine too, possibly twice. Yawn.

Otto's Triple Chime gets rid of traps and opens things up, twice. Possibly overkill, but when you've seen the traps some people put on their stuff, who can blame a bard for a little doublechecking.

Prismatic Shell gives you a single layer of prismatic goodness to shield yourself with, since bards like their pretty colours, but can't afford the whole thing. Any well prepared wizard will penetrate this with a single thrust. Uh! Watch me now!

Aria of Peace keeps people from fighting as long as you keep singing. Keep those vocal chords well exercised and be ready to make a quick exit when you stop. A lot of people get unreasonably pissed off by pacifism.

Dragon Magazine Issue 242: December 1997


part 7/8


The dragon's bestiary: A tied in entry here, as they detail talisman servants from Netheril. Magical automation is a topic that's been covered in here before, but it's not often you encounter a society that takes full advantage of it. If the Realms and all it's lost empires destroyed by malfunctioning magic are any indicator, there may be a good reason for this. Still, they left plenty of cool stuff behind. As long as you only use it, don't try and replicate it & sell it you should be fine.

Caravan Servants serve as both beast of burden and possibly place to live as well. They don't need feeding either and have enough volition and loyalty to act independently to help you, so one of these is a hell of a lot more handy than a mule. If you meet a wizard with one of these don't kill it when you kill him.

Gladiator Servants fight your opponents with style, until they go psycho and attack everything, including you. A textbook example of let the buyer beware.

Mystran servants have a bunch of magical abilities to help them serve as guardians better. They too have their quirks, but are unlikely to be a problem for their masters, aside maybe from adding a little comic relief to proceedings. A quite good set of creatures really.


The ecology of the mongrelman: From one of the sexiest creatures in the D&D universe, to one of the ugliest. Which is a pretty interesting distinction, when most humanoids tend to have an average charisma substantially below human. Awkward, short-lived (even shorter when you consider how many of their children are stillborn or die shortly afterwards because they just weren't viable) and oppressed by everyone, mongrelmen really are the bottom of the kicking pile. Course, much of this is because they just sit there and take it. They have a number of tricks that mean if they were more aggressive, they could easily deal with the likes of goblins and orcs, and their class learning abilities are well above average. But no, they were bred to be stoic, and stoic they shall be. Rather sweet really, and certainly makes them stand out against the usual ravening hordes adventurers have to deal with. This also answers the question of where they come from with a neat little twist that both makes their personalities make more sense, and makes them seem even more tragic. And finally, we get quite a bit of new crunch, good for both players and DM's. Another excellent ecology, hitting both the crunch and fluff buttons square on. The doldrum days of the early 90's seem well behind us in this department.


Ellcia. More bright anime adverts to break up the flow of the magazine.

The statement of ownership is halved in size again, to make it even harder to spot. Not surprising, since this year of chaos has really done a number on reader confidence. Particularly hit has been the number of subscribers, which is down by over a 6th. With average sales of 53k, and last month ones of 49, they seem to be starting to flatline. Lets hope next year brings some serious improvements on this front.

KotDT divides the party. This is what happens when you don't read the instruction manual for dealing with deities. Hiding in shadows is easy when the shadows are big, as they are in swordplay. Dragonmirth also features some serious equipment, but they still can't use it all at once. Floyd has some more serious exposition.  And the plot thickens.

Dragon Magazine Issue 242: December 1997


part 8/8


Role-playing reviews gives us another look at D&D's competition in the fantasy arena. Old Ones is for the Palladium FRPG, and has been updated for the second edition recently. When they say old ones, they of course mean cthulhuesque world eating monstrosities, not geriatrics.   The book is filed with plenty of info on them and the dark kingdom that worships them, and manages to make things suitably strange and gruesome. Kevin certainly doesn't lack in drive and imagination.

Dragons and Gods also sees him pilfering liberally from existing media, but more than putting his own spin on it. There may be plenty of bits of egyptian myth mixed in, but really, no-one could tell it quite like him. Who else would have an intelligent dagger with paranoid schizophrenia?

Adventures on the high seas is scattershot, but also full of interesting details, covering not just the sea, but plenty of coast, trading & economics, and some seemingly unrelated stuff like gladiators and necromancy. As prolific as he is, perhaps an external editor might help make the products more professional.

Monsters and animals, on the other hand, disappoints Rick, being just another load of monsters, only without much descriptive verve, and far too many stats for mundane animals. Do we really need those? I suppose a chipmunk might come in handy at some point, but I can't recall ever using them.

The Earthdawn survival guide is essentially a book of essays, with whimsical, mostly IC writing, and all statistical stuff confined to a few pages at the back. This means it's easy to steal ideas for another system, which Rick is keen on because he's not too fond of high crunch games. There are quite a few supplements like that these days. Might be a fashion thing. Until D20 comes along, people have to try and grab the generic dollar any way they can.

Throal: the Dwarf Kingdom Game is also for Earthdawn. Robin Laws creates a mountain fastness that's a little more chaotic and filled with political tensions than your average lawful good D&D dwarven setup. Which means it should be fun to adventure in. Ricks only complaint is that it needs better maps and maybe a prefab adventure. Since those are falling out of fashion, he may have to keep complaining.

GURPS Dinosaurs is the kind of supplement a comprehensive generic game ought to have. After all, who doesn't think dinosaurs are awesome? Well, unless they were ruined on them by watching all 13 land before time movies. Other lines could learn from this. Still, it is a GURPs supplement, and that means it is a bit dry at times.

GURPS planet krishna is one of their fairly obscure licences, based on L. Sprague de Camp's series. It's a sufficiently strange one that it keeps Rick's interest, and tests the system nicely. Plus there's plenty of humour in there. You could really kick it old school with this.


Aeon has indeed been renamed Trinity. Now their clever aliterative naming system has been messed up.


TSR Previews: February sees things continue at the same pace as last month. The Forgotten Realms finally fills in another place that's been on the map for ages. Hellgate Keep is perfect for another megadungeon. Be careful delving it though, for you may let out even more unspeakable evils to plague the world. Speaking of unspeakable evils, Cyric finally pisses off the other gods enough that they put him on trial. Troy Denning tells another of the Realms' more lighthearted stories, as superdick gets his comeuppance.

Dragonlance concludes it's first 5th age trilogy, with The eve of the Maelstrom by Jean Rabe. Some old favourites are brought back improbably to help deal with the really big dragons. Will they be enough to deal with them for good?

Ravenloft has another adventure in which you are caught between two dubious sides, Servants of Darkness. Will you choose the witches, the inquisitors, or just kill everyone for maximum xp?

Also monstrous, but rather more lighthearted, is Moonlight Madness. Skip Williams once again proves that when you let him lose to write adventures, he doesn't half produce some goofy crap. Stick to the rules lawyering.

And the Wizard's Spell compendium reaches volume 3. No surprise that this one is turning out at least as bulky as the magic item encyclopedias.


The Current Clack comes to an end. Whether they continue their gossip under another format or not we shall have to see. But as they've just lost one of their strongest opponents, Patricia Pulling, and let's face it, the amount of media controversy D&D has faced has declined dramatically in recent years, gossip doesn't seem like such a worthy use of their pagecount. So this is a reasonable change, especially as the replacement, bringing back employee profiles, looks like fun. In other cool news, we're getting a new Marvel Superheroes RPG from them. Since the previous one was easily their second strongest game for nearly a decade, this has definite potential to get quite a few articles in the magazine and keep me from getting bored by ubiquitous D&D coverage. I look forward to it. (although I do wish we'd heard more about why they lost the licence last time. )


This issue is nicely focussed and has tons of usable crunch, although it is maybe a bit too Realms heavy. They really ought to be giving their other settings at least at bit more love, rather than blanketing us with ubiquitous coverage of the setting that's already the most covered by a long shot. Still, most of the individual articles are good, it's just that these days they really seem to struggle with getting sufficient variety to make the magazine feel satisfying as a complete package. Instead, it's more for dipping in and out of. I suppose that makes more sense when you're reading over the course of an entire month. Let's hope they can keep at least a little continuity going next year, instead of resetting to basic article topics yet again.

Dragon magazine annual 1997


part 1/8


124 pages. What is this? Featuring articles by Gary Gygax?! Whoa. They'd been talking about reconciling with him this year, but I guess this clinches it. He's back. The rest of the cover seems appropriate as well. A bunch of generic fighter types, with one aging badass( who bears more than a passing resemblance to Gary if he'd kept himself in better shape ) taking centre stage and pointing his sword at the reader. This is significant. Course, since Gary was an unpredictable writer to say the least back in the day, that might not mean it'll be good, but it should be interesting. And they have plenty of other big guns as well. Let's hope this annual really has something to deliver above and beyond a normal issue, unlike last time.


In this issue:


The wyrms turn: Ha. Considering that immediately after they did their first annual, the company went tits-up, they're remarkably positive about the outcome. No deaths were directly attributed to the extra workload? Technically true. Really, they'd probably already scheduled this before they even released the first one, and having missed 6 issues, this'll help them get the slush pile under control a bit more. So it's hello to all the regular columns, and lots of stuff for their various settings. Not too different in principle from last year. So I guess it's all down to whether the articles are any better, since last time was more than a little dull overall. I should stop expecting the editorial to be anything interesting anyway, shouldn't I.


Dragonmirth is at the front for some reason. Swordplay needs reminding that clever tricks only work for so long before the enemy develops a counter.


Arcane Lore: As with last year's annual, it looks like they're going to tackle subjects very similar to ones already covered. So here we go from Bards to Illusionists. Both have a definite tendency towards the larcenous, and seeking indirect solutions. And since they share spell lists in this edition anyway, a spell researched for one is a spell researched for both! Two for the price of one! Careful with the overkill, dudes.

Acquaintance makes people vaguely think they know you. As long as you have basic social skills, this may well work out better in the long run than brute force charming them.

Anasthesia makes you numb. This isn't as nasty as blindness or deafness, but is rather exploitable for your multiclass rogue. If you numb the right place, they might not even notice the backstab until you're gone, possibly with their wallet too.

Anosmia takes out their sense of smell. Looks like we've got another symmetry filler here lads! Ensure he's paid properly for his troubles.

Dancing Shadows is sorta the inverse of dancing lights. Another one that can be creepy and misleading but doesn't do much mechanically. Illusionists still have to use their brains to profit.

Engagement is another cool mindfucking one, making people "remember" that they need to do something important somewhere else. Genius. This is turning more fun than I expected.

Illusory Savor, on the other hand just does the symmetry filling thing creating illusory smells and tastes. Yawn.  

Jannes' Impressive Demeanour makes you look more badass. Meh. That's not hard to do. Backing it up, on the other hand, takes a little more work.

Phantom Touch does the symmetry filling with illusory touch. Itches, taps on the shoulder, slimy things up the legs, the choice is yours. Keep stretching that imagination dudes.

Shadow Cloak is a 4th way of increasing your hide in shadows chance in recent years. That idea really needs to become core next time if that's to be gone by.

False Thoughts is our only second level spell, unobtrusively foiling ESP with a handy decoy screen. Another one that could well become a staple if properly promoted, which would of course make it less valuable as people would get to developing counters for that.

Dragon magazine annual 1997


part 2/8


Deadlands disses boot hill. Are we going to let that lie?


Bazaar of the Bizarre: More bottles? Last seen in issue 194, it seems like there's a few more drops to be squeezed out of that theme. Not that you can squeeze bottles in D&D, as they don't have plastic ones. Well, maybe that will be one of the ideas. They do often pull the magic as technology trick around here.

Bartender's friends can heat, chill, stir and refill with but a word. Keep a few of these in your pub and you can raise the rates quite satisfactorily. (course, some of that'll go into paying for security. )

Cormian's viewing bowl is a classic scrying variant. Crystal balls are getting too ubiquitous? The fashion may shift to these instead. Then you'll look so 80's to all your wizard friends.

Flasks of delusion make whatever's in them look mysterious and magical. Another one with minimal use really, but you can leverage this into more money with a little brains. Just watch out for repeat customers who might want recompensation.

Goblets of the emperor protect you from poisoning, and have a bunch of other suitable awesome tricks. One of these will indeed give a court a good deal more prestige, but adventuring parties may find them a bit of a pain to steal.

Water purifiers are a tiny fraction of the usefulness of the last item, but also only a tiny fraction of the cost. I'd still prefer a decanter of endless water. That's not gonna flake out on you for anything less than a planar rip.

Potion cloakers are the precise opposite of the flask of delusion. Now you can double fakeout everyone around you. Those wacky wizards, always hiding the really valuable stuff in plain sight.

Security vials are the perfect preserver, and nearly impossible to break or open accidentally. Yeah, this is magic as technology alright. :shrugs: Store up a few of these for your health and safety.

Martyr Glass, on the other hand is very nicely idiosyncratic. You can get substantial benefits if you smash it in the right way. It'll make sure you have the fortitude to carry through on your good intentions, regardless the sacrifice.

Courtier's Bane is a nicely tricksy variant on poisoning your enemy. With but a word, you can turn the liquid in it to healing instead. Way to pull xanatos gambits, methinks.


Campaign Classics: Well, if Athas is appearing here, I think that makes it pretty certain it's dead now. Actually, this is an example of how their rules and setting stuff got entangled when they really needn't have been. They introduced a revised psionics system in the new Dark Sun Campaign set. This was not compatible with the Players Option stuff, despite that being well out at this time. And here's errata for both of these versions. Confused yet? I am, trying to penetrate this morass. Once again I am left with the feeling that while a bit unbalanced at times, the original 2nd ed psionics rules were easier and more fun than the revised ones. Gimme a break. :wrinkles nose: At least the 3.5 rules definitely work, even if they do encourage novaing 15 minute workdays.

Dragon magazine annual 1997


part 3/8


Ew. Eating spaghetti through your armour. What delightful imagery. Aaron Williams again brings the funny.


The dragon's bestiary: Ooh. An arctic themed collection of monsters. Haven't had one of those since christmas 1980. We could probably do with some more of these to fill out our encounter tables. Let's get a cataloguing.

Snow spiders are a lot more social than you'd expect, hunting in packs to keep warm. Thankfully, they don't have instadeath poison, so it'll just be a fairly standard fight as long as you can keep from falling down on the ice.

Crystal skeletons are another skeleton variant with a low malevolent intelligence. Like Dust skeletons from last year, they're even more dangerous if you kill them. The undead equivalent of suicide bombers, they should be most annoying to fight, especially if there are civilians around.  

Tundra lizards are pretty self explanatory. They're not too scary in combat, but may drain the heat from you while you're sleeping. I bet the players'll suspect vampires.

Growlers look like icebergs and use that disguise to let their prey get close. Another cool idea I'm surprised they haven't got round to before. A quite decent end to a fairly average entry in this series.


Dungeon mastery: Oooh, a back conversion of an idea from Oriental Adventures. It's been ages since they tried something like that, partly because they simply ran out of enthusiasm for Oriental stuff in general after 1991. This time, it's the random events table for regions. So whether you're doing the domain play thing, or just passing through a town and need a little help figuring out what happened recently, roll on this and see what it throws up. It's not innovative, but it's useful, and that counts for quite a bit. Plus, y'know, nostalgia callback, which adds an extra frisson of excitement. If you're going to be unoriginal, it helps if you steal from good sources, which OA definitely was. So this is the kind of article I hope I'll remember when the right time comes in actual play.


The ecology of the shambling mound: The monster hunters association are all nicely raised after their debacle with the nymph, and this time, they're after a creature which will simply kill them by bashing them to bits, rather than narrative fiat. But since shambling mounds can grow infinitely if you cast the wrong spells at them, this can be a risky business for the dumb. And this ecology ends rather comically, with the association in disarray again. How will they stave off bankruptcy with a showing like this? It is marred a little by having a bit too much pure pontification, with the personalities of the people talking not quite managing to keep me interested the whole way through. Still, it is pretty solid, and gives the creature a few new tricks to surprise adventurers who think they can beat it by sticking to a formula. A perfectly decent way to finish off the year in this department.

Dragon magazine annual 1997


part 4/8


Rogues Gallery: Hey ho. Time for another instalment in this column statting up the characters of their recent novels. How's that working out for ya? Cheesily, if the past  is anything to go by. And since this involves a newly ascended Forgotten Realms demigod, I don't have great expectations. The things they do with their powers. :shakes head:

Joel the rebel Bard is an illegal alignment for a bard, so I guess his name makes sense. From a long line of talespinners, this makes his a major disappointment to his family. Like many young protagonists, he's managed to rack up a list of heroic deeds in an improbably short period of time. Course, he'll only keep that up if the writers stay interested and produce another book starring him, which seems less likely under the current climate.

Jas is a fighter who's acquired wings under embarrassing circumstances. Yes, they are fairly beautiful, although the precise details vary from plane to plane. Joking about them may result in abuse or dive-bombing. This is of course extra funny and meta in the internet age. Jeff is truly ahead of the times here.

Holly Harrowslough is a 16 year old 5th level paladin. Another alumni of the fast track adventuring advancement system, including the stereotypically tragic loss of her parents. She's a little less naive than the average 16 year old or paladin though. Guess she gets to be the voice of reason for this party, which is indeed fairly cheesy. They know their audience, and hit those story points pretty regularly.


Dragonwyr: Well, this is a welcome bit of continuity. We not only have another module in the annual this time, but it's a follow-up to last year's one. I strongly approve. Not only does it let us have more info on the conflicts hinted at last year, but it also caters for higher level parties than most of their adventures. There does seem to be a stronger default path for the plot to go in this one, but you could probably still go off the rails and give this a rather unexpected outcome. It certainly makes allowances for the PC's to fail, and things to go horribly wrong for the village they're supposed to protect and the plot to go on from there, so it's not a railroad. The fact that the two combine together makes me especially keen to use them in actual play, as that's the kind of thing I encourage. And maybe they'll even make a trilogy out of this next year. Guess that's another pretty good incentive for me to keep reading.


Cry Havoc: We're having another extensive set of articles for each of their campaign worlds this annual, but thankfully this time they aren't wasting an extra page just talking up the settings for noobs. Instead it's straight into the action with an article showing us how to convert between Birthright's War Cards mass combat system and the old Battlesystem mechanics. Since it's been years since we saw anything on that, and I suspect it's out of print now, that's quite welcome in a quirky way. Unfortunately, as I'm not really familiar with either system, I'm not really in a position to judge the quality of the crunch, but as with many of the old non D&D articles, that's really not the point. It still makes for more interesting and varied reading than another wodge of monsters and magic items and reveals quite a bit about both. And if it gets people to buy one or both of these, then it's been a success for them in a larger financial sense.

Dragon magazine annual 1997


part 5/8


Hark, the herald!: Or Converting Bards to the 5th age system. Never mind that they might or might not have not had Bards in the first place, as some amusing Sage Advice questions showed, they're here now, and they have an iconic NPC to back them up. Where the last age had Astinus and his huge great library cataloguing the history of Krynn, now we have a mysterious wandering Herald showing up to tell stories of it's past, present and possible future. Which I suppose is symbolic of the same changes magic has gone through in general. No longer is it controlled by the gods, and regulated by a stuffy council which tests everyone seeking it, instead it's become more low-key and everyday, and goes to them instead of having to be sought out. So this fits nicely into their setting, and provides us with some new crunch for both the 5th age system and AD&D. My main issue with it is by tying an entire class to a single character, they risk making the world seem too small. But then, that's a mistake that's also very much in keeping with the setting's tone in general. Does that make it better or worse in the big picture?


The magic of Myth Drannor: Ed only takes one article this special, although we know he probably could have done more if he wanted too. But then, wouldn't want to upstage the guy with top billing, would we? So it's time for another bunch of magical items and spells. Exactly the kind of thing that we're oversaturated on, so it's particularly hard to impress me with. Still, if anyone can manage it, it's Ed. And as usual, he's going for it with gusto, and making use of IC fiction.

Mantles are magical gems that drain your hit points to power a quite extensive set of magical abilities. They need to be bathed in your tears to activate, and are generally unique in their precise abilities. They're really another excuse for elves to be better than you in all sorts of annoying little ways, and make it trickier for you to just kill them and take their stuff.

Spell-Webs are a prettier and easier to trigger means of storing spells than scrolls. Unfortunately, they're very much a lost art. Anyone who figures them out could make a pretty penny selling the secret to modern mages, for they let you build up contingencies quite handily. And in Faerun, that's what really makes the difference once you have 9th level spells, not a few more hit points and spells per day.

Araemyths are scary spells/devices capable of destroying magical items with ease, and converting the energy to unpredictable but powerful beams of destructive force. When a magical civilisation develops something like this, you know it's on the path to imploding sometime soon. After all, that's the standard cycle of development in the Realms. Get more magically badass until someone loses control of their massive magics, and then blows it all to pieces, creating lots of interesting dungeons for later generations to explore in the process.

Body Switch isn't as cool as it could be, essentially just teleporting each person involved to the other's position. Still, it seems like the kind of magic Ed could find many inventive uses for in his fiction. Muahahaha.

Gargajaws has impressive and quirky visuals, but is basically just a way to destroy inanimate objects and leave people unharmed. This will of course piss people off, especially if they have lots of magical items. Once again, it seems the Drannoreans have mastered destructiveness to a degree that makes you glad they're a lost civilisation.

Lifequench lets you kill something with a touch, and use its energy to double the power or uses of another spell. Scary and efficient. Once again, you're glad this one got lost, for overuse can make a spellcaster positively obscene.

Blood Dragon, on the other hand, kills it's caster, which makes it the kind of spell that only gets used when the caster has nothing to lose. It's not actually that scary for a 9th level spell though. A good meteor swarm would be preferable unless they're immune to fire.

Avarphyn are another item with a whole array of powers, but quirky limitations upon their use that may result in you permanently ruining them through ignorance. Oh, if only identify were a little cheaper and faster. Then we wouldn't have to worry so much about DM screwage.

Storm-Swords protect you from lightning and let you shoot lightning bolts and teleport. They seem positively mundane given the company they're keeping.

Wyrmtongue Scepters, on the other hand finish us off with another lovingly described weird item that has plenty of utility, but expresses it in an unusual way. Well, that must have been the cultural norm back then. Look how fashions have changed in reality, after all. So once again it looks like his imagination is functioning on a whole different league to most of their writers, and our gaming experience is all the better for it.

Dragon magazine annual 1997


part 6/8


Founding greyhawk: Gary's back! Now this is a way to make this special really special, and a good sign in general. Now the people in charge of TSR are gone, the new folks start the reconciliation process with the old guard who'd been driven away by Lorraine's ( single raindrop, chihuahua yaps, kazoo tootles) policies. And he's going right back to the start, to talk about his early campaign before D&D was even published. This demonstrates that even before it was finished, the game had plenty of people enthusiastic about it, and was already growing via word of mouth, as people told their friends about this fun new game Gary was running, and they wanted in as well. And as a result, the castle was built up from session to session, with big chunks made up in play or just before it. And so when it was released, it was thoroughly playtested, and ready to surprise people wherever they wandered in it. And so the stage was set for years of people dying horribly in conventions, and speculating what the full map of Castle Greyhawk might look like. A question that never would be answered in full, with Gary's death and legal crap leaving it unpublished, and so much of the details being cryptic notes that were merely guidelines to be played around with and changed on the fly in response to a party's actions. Really, this shows that D&D wasn't meticulously planned from the top down, and much of it's best work was created in a social context. This is more evidence that sequestering yourself away to work on something for years in the hope it'll change the world and make you a fortune isn't a particularly natural or easy method of creativity. You've got to immerse yourself in the world if you want to change other people's lives. This article is pretty cool, but it's really what it represents that's critical. It says that the new company is really drawing a line in the sand and making an effort to change things. And hopefully it means we'll be seeing more articles from classic writers in the future as well. That's worth a lot in terms of making me anticipate reading through the rest of the magazine.


Pox of the Planes: We've had a whole boxed set on fiends, plus another book on top of that recently. But they've been pretty light on details about Night Hags. Which is probably just how they want it. For all the Yugoloth work behind the scenes to orchestrate the flow of the blood war while pretending to be purely mercenary, it's the hags that are really making the huge profits, despite not having any overarching organisation or plan, beyond a mean spirited vindictiveness against anyone else who tries to muscle in on the larva trade. Still, they have some pretty nasty tricks up their sleeve, and can call in favours from all sides, since without them, the lower planes would go into a serious recession. And the most important of these is that they hold the key to turning Yugoloths into singular badasses to rival Baatezu and Tanar'ri lords. So this article actually fills in details on the setting that are rather important in the larger picture, including bringing back Anthraxus from the original 1st edition MMII. Whether these details will stick in future supplements I'm not sure, since unlike the demiplane of shadow, Yugoloths & Night Hags never really got much spotlight time in 3e. Still, this is another ambitious and rather good article from Ed Bonny. This is exactly the kind of thing we need to keep the planes alive and growing.

Dragon magazine annual 1997


part 7/8


Villains of gothic earth: Ah yes, James Wyatt doing a Red Death article. He's doing quite a lot to keep people from forgetting this otherwise pretty minor subline. This time, it's a collection of antagonists. We've already had one rogues gallery this issue. Will this be sufficiently different to keep me from getting bored?

The Abomination is a british gentleman that's been transformed into a yuan-ti by a curse. In classic darklord fashion, that means he now has a nice little domain with plenty of slaves and everything he needs, but the things he wanted are now forever out of reach. Well, without hands, that's quite literal. Shouldn't be a slavedriver in the first place.

Grepik is a jermalaine hillbilly with a sweet tooth. Don't laugh, you don't want to be sleeping in a creaky shack when he's around. I think someone's been reading some steven king for their horror ideas. Not sure how well that fits with Ravenloft's flavour.

Grethiyn Greymalk is a githyanki trapped on Gothic Earth. As his learning comes from offworld, he doesn't have to worry about most of the crap PC spellcasters have to go through here. He explains his odd features by pretending to be lithuanian, which I once again find hilarious. Really, in the long term, he's not getting away, and it's his own fault, just like most other bad guys here.

Musaf ibn-Talir is a thief who got transformed into a jackalwere for his sadism. He'd like to think of himself as a hunter, but really, he'll always be a scavenger, and isn't that ironic punishment enough?

Ndrionhary is a beholder that pretends to be a god that just happens to look like a beholder. Wait a second. That sounds familiar. Ah yes, issue 215, as part of our african deities articles. Cool. And really, given how powerful beholders are, are you in any position to claim it's not, when you're a nerfed gothic earth PC? I'd like to see how their scientists would even go about testing it.

Juliette Preduit is a badass wererat gunslinger (with total fart control ) She's originally from paris, and currently trying to take over montreal. Once again, I'm not sure if I should be laughing or not, but it certainly isn't helping establish a horrific atmosphere. All the incongruous bits just come off as silly.

Sheldra is a sahuguin who's been scarred in such a way that she can pretend to be a person wearing a fish-person mask, which is amusingly meta. She's also developing a drinking problem from her raids which she's trying to hide from her clan. I'm still being amused by the offbeat way these ideas are being presented.

Praskovia Voronov is a russian ghost who feeds off anger by possessing people and provoking an argument. This isn't inherently comical, but when the DM starts acting out a thick russian accent in actual play, it may well become so. So yeah, this article is pretty much a failure as horror, but it's still pretty entertaining reading.

Dragon magazine annual 1997


part 8/8


Afterword: A little earlier this issue, we got our first bit of writing by Gary in over 10 years. Now we get to see the first bit of direct communication by our new boss, Peter Adkison. This really is a very special issue, far more than last year's. And no surprise that he seems pretty excited to be here. Quite a bit of this is repeated from issue 242's editorial, but we get a bit more info on how these plans are to be implemented. The new Marvel Superheroes game is going to be diceless and use a version of the SAGA System, while Greyhawk's first new adventure will involve putting the old gang back together IC after their embarrassing demise at the hand of Vecna a few years ago. Whether they're getting older people in to write for the line as well is not certain yet. Rather than releasing a whole new world, they're going to try a mini-series, and see how that does. And of course, there's the desire to do more electronic stuff. Once again, I know a few of their plans won't pan out, but that just keeps this interesting as a record of their historical progress. While pretty breezy, Peter doesn't seem to have a particularly distinctive writing style as of yet, which means I doubt we'll be seeing comedy gold moments from him like we did from Gary. Still, it's better than Lorraine's disdainful detachment by a long shot.


This annual is far better than the first one, in terms of organisation of articles, quality of individual articles, and of course, it's quality of special guests.  They've been promising change since the start of the year, but sticking mostly to formula. This shows them really making their formula work for them and proving that when they have the articles it can be great. Now I just hope they still have a decent number of freelancers sending stuff in. After all, relying on staff writers is a quick way to push things too far in the formulaic direction. So things might get better next year, or they might get more average. At least it seems unlikely that they'll get worse, with all the extra self-examination they're putting in.