Dragon Magazine Issue 250: August 1998


part 4/8


The dimernesti: Having just upgraded a whole bunch of monsters to PC's in AD&D, now it's time to update the sea elves of Krynn to the SAGA system. And hey ho, despite the supposed departure of magic from the world, things haven't changed much for them. They've had the same kinds of hassles that Ansalon had to deal with Dragon Overlords, but managed to overcome them. And their shapeshifting ability remains fully functional, showing it's an innate power rather than linked to the old form of magic. So this is quite a conservative conversion, changing as little as they can get away with given the massive alterations around them. A mere two years on, and the backpedalling is already very apparent. I'm left wondering how much longer they'll do any coverage on it, and if any new elements will be introduced over the course of those articles. Because this really isn't grabbing my attention.


Warships of the sea: Time for another delve into the real world, old skool style, with extensive lexicons, pretty cutaway diagrams, and lots of crunch. This is one aspect of bringing back the old style features that I fully approve of. Actually, we have had a book on this fairly recently, and this builds upon that, providing stats for ships from centuries after the books medieval cutoff point. Which of course means pretty substantial power creep, but that's the real world for you. Statistically, this is a bit dry, but it more than makes up for it with the excellent presentation and use of colour. It seems like they're finally getting over the novelty and teething problems of their computer editing programs and turning it to better support the articles. Overall, this is one of those articles that's fairly specialised, but pretty invaluable if you do want to cover it's topic in your game. Still, it's no cardboard castle. I know you're trying to be more careful with your money and production costs, but it is the 250th issue. You could stretch a little bit for the occasion.


The world of the mechalus: Our Alternity material this month is a good 10 pages long, and another article that feels like it's trying to be a special feature, but couldn't quite get the right degree of epicness up. Shoulda gone for one 20 page one instead, and you'd definitely have my attention. Instead, this feels like a mini splatbook for the race. Which was cool in the early 80's when Roger Moore was doing them, but now we have thousands of full length splatbooks from various companies competing for our attention, it's not so impressive. Still, it has more new crunch than some splatbooks (White Wolf, I'm looking at you) and a reasonable amount of setting detail squeezed in. However, this goes to show how far behind D&D Alternity is, and by trying to compete in the same ballpark in an established market, it's setting itself up to struggle. And the cybertech seems decidedly dated only a decade later, given the rise of wi-fi and mobile communication devices, so the sci-fi in this article hasn't aged well at all. In the end, this article feels like a bit of a quaint curiosity, less contemporary than some articles decades earlier. And since I don't have much nostalgia for the late 90's, certainly not for the computer technology of the era, I can't say this excites me at all.


Sunken Fortunes: Back to the in theme articles, with a little piece on what kind of treasure you can find underwater. Salt water in particular is very harsh on all kinds of materials, reducing many metals to a pitted mess in no time, and rotting away organics. This also means that while there may be the equivalent of dungeons down there, they may not be as stable, and you have to pay more attention to the 3D aspect of layout design. Still, gold, gemstones and ceramics survive the depths untarnished, so there are some very valid reasons to go and recover lost treasures, and that's not even getting into anything underwater races might create. So this starts off fairly realistic, and then introduces the fantastical elements and solutions afterwards, allowing you to dial up the level of cinematicness by introducing the new spells and item quirks. It contains information I haven't seen in the magazine before, and delivers it in a no-nonsense style. There's definite value in knowing what valuables you can realistically include in your underwater games.


Fiction: Dedrak's quest by Tracy Hickman. In issue 200 we had fiction by Margaret Weis. Here we have the other big name of Dragonlance in a bit of fiction that almost fits into one of their established worlds, but not precisely. A story starring dragons, who have gnome servants, but haven't seen humans in ages, and now regard them as a kind of boogeyman? That has quite a lot in common with Council of Wyrms. But the specifics are subtly different, and the tone is both whimsical and contains a strong moral message. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, given his previous form. The fact that he's also writing sci-fi books at the moment is also apparent, with a magitech underpinning to the setting. Overall, I think I enjoyed this, as it does have a pretty good story and characters, despite being built around the obvious Aesop. The magazine could do a little more tackling of social issues than it does.

Dragon Magazine Issue 250: August 1998


part 5/8


Wyrms of the north: Looks like for a second time, Volo has actually had an interesting love life as a result of his draconic investigations. Just goes to show, a little confidence makes up for a lot of practical shortcomings. Family is once again a strong theme in this article, as we not only have talk about Volo's illegitimate offspring, but another dragon who's decided to form a bond with a family of humans and see what happens to them over the centuries. As a Bronze dragon, he's able to assume human form with ease, and is relatively benevolent in his approach to manipulating them, although as he takes the long view, he won't save individuals from their own stupidity, and may even cull them if it would be for the better. There's some more seriously sloppy editing in this article, with two nasty discontinuities in the writing chopping away parts of sentences. So it seems that Ed is finally starting to repeat himself in this column, and the editors are continuing to make large, easily noticed mistakes. Put that together, and it does drag this article down quite a bit.


Dragon's bestiary: Once again they show that the rate and frequency with which they rehash topics is increasing in this era, with another bunch of aquatic monsters, last given an article a mere 15 issues ago. It's really not good enough, you know. If you haven't got anything of significance to say, you shouldn't say anything at all, and let someone else speak instead.

Black slime brings old skool ooziness to the oceans, turning you into more of it just as green slime does in caverns. And so another previously untouched symmetry was filled in.

Giant clownfish are a pretty direct conversion of the real life creature, only bigger. They're basically an excuse to pass on a bunch of real world ecological info to the rest of us philistines, as if we hadn't been eagerly devouring that stuff for 15 years. This is veering into patronising territory. Johnathan may write good ecologies, but he's not much cop at thinking up new monsters.

Giant diving beetles see the formula wheels churn once again, upscaling an existing creature while hardly changing it to reflect it's new circumstances. Yawn.

Sea cows get somewhat more fantasy info, with people farming them, and plenty of magical uses for their stuff. But they aren't really much use for adventurers, and the whole thing feels like setting-building for it's own sake. It's an excellent example of the stuff that would be brutally purged next edition, and in this mood, I can quite understand why. The pendulum really has swung too far to the froofy side this time.


Arcane Lore: Hmm. An al-qadim spellbook. Haven't had one of those here before, which is surprising, since it's part of Toril, and lots of the most interesting variant wizard types come from there. I suppose sha'irs, clockwork mages, ghul lords, jackals, etc, don't use conventional spellbooks, so they aren't going to be contributing to the greater lore stores of the multiverse. This is interesting for another reason, as it draws upon the same real world vein of lore as the Sons of ether in M:tA. Say hello to the Kitab al-Asfr. The work of a powerful geomancer, it's unsurprisingly focussed on earth spells.

Dusting the Rock makes any small particles of dust and gravel in the vicinity all fly towards you. This is obviously not very pleasant to experience, and may be immobilising in the right terrain.

Cone of Earth is a reskinned cone of cold, doing plenty of damage, and impeding the victims. You could also probably make use of the raw material created. It's certainly more lasting than a fireball.

Entombment sucks you in, but doesn't preserve you for eternity like the 9th level version. No, it's a slow suffocating death for you, unless there happens to be a dungeon immediately beneath where you're standing. And what are the odds of that?

And that's your lot. Rather short compare to most of these articles. Oh well, better to leave you wanting more than to wear out their welcome with repetition like far too many of the department articles do these days.

Dragon Magazine Issue 250: August 1998


part 6/8


Bazaar of the Bizarre: Hmm. This month's topic here is items that can only be used by a particular class. Yeah, we haven't had that one before. Does seem likely to produce a rather disjointed collection. Plus, you could easily have concentrated on one class at a time, spin it out 4 times as long. Curious.

Soldier's armor has a whole bunch of minor extra benefits for fighters. Really, that's just to give clerics sour grapes, isn't it. I guess they get more than enough of their own.

Knight's lances make you less likely to be knocked off your horse. Probably a good idea. After all, accuracy and damage are not the only indicators of skill.

Boots of Marching are another great example of how much their editorial filters have lowered their standards for rehash recently. They're a good deal crapper than last month's Marching Boots too. Really, what were you thinking when you approved this?

Swords of Destruction break enemy weapons. And we know how much people hate that. At least it's not energy draining.

Necklaces of Success give you rerolls. Bah. Don't see why this one is class specific at all.

Staves of High Magery let you perform minor magical effects casually, and ignore those of others. Wizards shouldn't have to constantly engage in careful resource management once they get to high level. Just don't expend that last charge.

A Talisman of Power lets you cast spells as if higher level. The kind of thing that would become standard next edition, this is always a useful little booster.

Orbs of Protection give you saving throw bonuses, but you need to have it in hand to get full benefit. Choose lots of verbal component only spells to take full advantage of this.

Robes of the Specialist let you switch your spell specialities for ridiculous versatility. They even let specialists double-dip. Huge amounts of power at the cost of double the school restrictions. Now that is potentially problematic.

Rings of Escape let you run away at double speed. Another one for which the class restriction seems pretty unnecessary.

Vestments of Safety give priests of a particular god permanent Sanctuary. You can just sit back and buff your minions in safety, and then walk casually away if you lose. Way to make truly loathed recurring villain. A kender might actually come in handy for a change, as taunting would be a good way to get them to break the needed pacifism.

Symbols of Purity boost your undead turning level. Like spell level boosters, this is very familiar from 3e. It's not just what you can do, it's how well you can do it.

Divine Armor gives you permanent protection from evil. Just as useful, and less likely to be irritating to players than the sanctuary one.

Helms of Holy Might let you resist mindfucking. Not as well as some previous items though, in what is becoming a familiar refrain. Blah.

The Hammer of Bablas is more powerful against evil creatures. Also very familiar. Clerics don't get the most interesting items, do they?

Burglar's gloves help you detect secret compartments and traps. But not doors though. Oddly specific that. Better than nothing I suppose.

Silent Blades are another variant on an already introduced weapon. Not only do they make no noise, they also silence the victim as well, which does seem like a good perk.

Assassin's Armor lets you obscure yourself and go insubstantial. Maybe Ninja armor would be a better name for it

Dust of Blinding is basically souped-up glitterdust. Perfectly normal trigger item.

Bard's Spellbooks let them store their magic and music in the same place. Another of the very minor conveniences that seem to be increasingly common in this column.

Dragon Magazine Issue 250: August 1998


part 7/8


Dragonmirth gets all monty python on us. Now that's vaguely surprising. Swordplay is also unusually culturally aware this time.

Alternity is also having a competition. Send in your spaceships. Once again, all rights are signed away, and the prize is free stuff, rather than money.


Roleplaying reviews: Ray again takes exactly the same topic the previous reviewers already did a few months ago. Sci-fi gaming. Zzzzz. How did we get here? Why can't we leave? Surely there must be some more oblique and specific topics to cover? Are those not selling well enough for you? I guess it's another serving of bread and butter then. Careful. Too much of that can be very fattening, especially when it's white bread.

Alternity players handbook gets a positive, but certainly not glowing review. It's a pretty game attempt at repurposing AD&D to fit sci-fi gaming, although trying to fit it into a class/level structure raises issues in itself. Ray's main issue is in their attempt to create a generic set of aliens and technology that definitely won't fit every setting.  Sci-fi universes don't tend to have as many common tropes as fantasy ones, and it'll take some serious supplements for this to approach the depth and variety AD&D has managed, and become truly universal.

Blue planet, on the other hand, gets praised highly for it's setting, which manages to be both specific and focussed, and leave plenty of room for exploration. There might be a whole universe out there, but it's the mysteries of the planet Poseidon that get center stage, just as Planescape had Sigil as a place that you may never really need to leave. This time it's the rules Ray isn't entirely satisfied with, being a bit overcomplicated and very lethal. Why people still write rules like that is a very good question.


Amazing magazine is back! Buy it now or it'll go tits up again! Life can be so cruel sometimes.

KotDT engage in tawdry negotiations without the full information. Man, they are so going to regret that.

Dragon Magazine Issue 250: August 1998


part 8/8


Previews: AEG release Tomb of Iuchiban for L5R. An evil wizard's tomb full of scary things. A boxed set adventure? Sounds just like home. Suit me up, honey, we're going adventuring! They also get Way of Shadow: The ninja investigations of Kitsuki Kaagi. Looks like another gameline has taken the IC approach to setting development deployed by Volo and Van Richten.

Archon Gaming release Unknown Armies. Woo. Another kickass approach to horror gaming who's influence will filter through the system over the next decade.

Armitage House release A guide to the Cthulhu cult. The kind of people who really need foiling, now you can find out a little more about them, before going mad.

Atlas Games give Ars Magica the Wizard's Grimoire Revised Edition. Old info is refined, new stuff is added. And you know what wizards are like for spell research. More power is always welcomed.

Basement Games unleash Forge: Out of chaos. Another medieval fantasy heartbreaker, it looks like. A new slant on magic indeed.

Chaosium are also busy with Cthulhu stuff. Before the fall: Innsmouth adventures prior to the great raid of 1928 seems pretty self explanatory, if possibly too verbose a title. Sounds like they don't want you to be the ones who get to call in the army and purge the nasty place for good though.

FASA release stuff for a whole bunch of gamelines. Battletech gets Technical readout: 3060. Technology and timelines continue to advance, which means new mechs for both sides to kick butt with.

Earthdawn fill in more details on their Dragons. They may not have elves, but they can't resist putting a load of elaboration and variation on this fantasy cliche.

Shadowrun gets a triple bill. Renraku Arcology: Shutdown sees an explosive bottleneck adventure take place. Just how much of the population will make it out alive, and will your PC's be among them? If they do make it out, it's time for them to convert to the Third Edition rules. Prepare to see the canon outcome of the previous adventures incorporated into the timeline. And if that's not enough, there's a novel too. Psychotrope by Lisa Smedman. Trapped in the matrix by an evil AI, they need to work together to escape with their lives. What lessons will they learn in the process?

Flying Buffalo have a slightly unseasonal offering. Grimtooth's Halloween special. I suppose it'll take a few months to get to the shops. They also compile their citybooks. More generic stuff for all to use.

Guardians of Order give us the Sailor Moon RPG. Ah yes, the days when BESM was not only healthy, but got a load of official licenses. Now you too can have teenage girls doing nude transformation sequences for great justice. Hee.

Hogshead Publishing release another well remembered game. The extraordinary adventures of Baron Munchausen. The exaggeration extends to the description of the corebook, amusingly. They're also bringing out Marienburg: Sold down the river. WHFRP must also be doing reasonably well then.

Inner City Games gets Gary Gygax in to make a module. The Ritual of the Golden Eyes. Exactly what system it's for, if any, is not disclosed. Any more info available on this one? They also release A Very Large Campaign. Take control of giant monsters for fun and profit. Sounds fun, and more than a little whimsical.
 
Pagan Publishing are a third company doing Cthulhu stuff. What's with that? What are the licensing arrangements here? They release Mortal Coils. 8 more adventures for a system already well catered for in that area.

Steve Jackson Games have a nice little pair for us. Killer gets it's 4th edition. God, I remember when that caused a dirty great controversy, back in issues 53 and 58. Good to see it's still going. GURPS is also doing pretty well for itself, with Egypt the subject their latest supplement. Will you be a pulp hero unearthing the ancient ruins, or travel back to the era they were made in?


Profiles: Unlike Margaret Weis, Tracey Hickman doesn't appear to have aged much since his last appearance in issue 120. (although I wouldn't be surprised if a bit of hair dye was involved. ) Like her, he's kept busy since then, churning out dozens of novels, including a few solo ones, and doing his best to promote his message of a strong morality and influence people's real life behaviour by the messages he puts in his writing. Which I do find slightly dodgy, especially when that morality involves mormonism, and of course, deriding the whole concept of escapism in writing. Gotta be family friendly and set a good example. Bleh. Trouble is, I don't disapprove of the methods, just the specifics. After all, you should try to accomplish something with your creativity. He gets my respect, even if we are ideological enemies in many ways.


After two pretty good issues, this one sees them slip back into dullness again, with a whole load of sensible, realism heavy articles that might be useful, but don't light up my life. You wouldn't think going underwater would bring out the sensible conservative side in people, but I guess knowing you'll be dead in minutes if something goes wrong kinda brings out the desire to prepare carefully. In any case, it means the end of the Archive doesn't feel like anything special in terms of quality, despite having a little more non D&D RPG coverage than they've had in a while. It's making me feel that 2e really did drag on several years beyond it's natural lifespan, and they should have started preparing something earlier. Still, this does feel like a real landmark in that I'm now way closer to the end than the beginning, and the standardised format in which the issues have been indexed is about to stop with the next one. This means that exactly what future issues contain takes a little longer to find out, which maintains a bit more mystery. Whether I'll find them more interesting or not, we shall have to see.

Dragon Magazine Issue 251: September 1998


part 1/8


142 pages. So we've reached the end of the issues in the archive. From here on in, I've had to hunt the magazines down from various sources. Any missing parts are unfortunate, and if you spot any gaps, inform me and I will do my best to fill them in. This also means I'll be adding a new category to these reviews, looking at the scan quality of the issue, and identifying any problems with the transfer. Any trends in this over the years will be noted with interest.

Anyway. Looks like once again we have a case of celebrating a big number a little too late, as the page count is boosted by a 16 page quick-play booklet in the centre, making this our third biggest issue ever. They're also making extra effort to distribute it to new venues, bring in new people. So this feels like them again trying to make this issue a new beginning, hopefully bringing in some new players. Of course, if the other articles aren't good as well, they may have problems keeping them.


Scan quality: Good quality & resolution, colour slightly oversaturated. No indexing.


In this issue:


The wyrms turn: Here, we talk about the intersection of nostalgia and their new recruitment drive. Part of the D&D experience is the shared memories and the people we played with. As an inherently social hobby, the people and the way we interacted with them is inextricably linked to your memory, even if you played the same modules as millions of other people. And for a social hobby, word of mouth and player network are even more crucial than they are for other forms of entertainment. So get out there and recruit new people, create your own legends. Otherwise this hobby will slowly fade away, no matter how hard they try to promote it. Which really is just as pertinent a message today. Go to the effort, let today be as nostalgic as 20 years ago when you're another 20 years older. Are you ever too old to make a new beginning? For my own sake, I'd like to hope not.


D-Mail: Our first letter is a complaint about books which need a whole load of other books to fully make sense, and a request that they do more straight AD&D articles. Ahh yes, the back to basics crowd. Given the direction they take in the next edition, I'm not surprised to see complaints like this mounting up.

A letter from someone who really enjoyed seeing Jeff Grubb's PC's in action again and wants more, preferably prequels. I think that's an achievable request with him working for them again.

Two little nitpicks about real world stuff. Aint physics a bitch. We can't constantly elaborate on all the disclaimers when we're trying to fit an article in a few pages.

A letter of generalised praise from new zealand. They can be a bit cut off from the world there, so it's a good way to keep in touch with the rest of the gaming community. I'm guessing you haven't quite got the hang of the intarweb thing yet.

A letter from someone else who doesn't entirely approve of Alternity articles in their D&D magazine. Is there really any demand for it? That's a very good question. It's becoming apparent that the negatives outweigh the positives. People here are more conservative about their roleplaying than a decade or so ago.

Of course, they're still getting mixed messages, and the next letter is one from someone eager to see more Alternity material. It needs help to prove it's versatility, and that won't happen unless freelancers get in on writing articles for it as well. Bring back the ARES section!

A letter from someone who's very happy with issue 248, and thinks it's the best one they've done in ages. If they keep this up they deserve to win new customers.

A letter that thinks people who feel betrayed by the magazine because they included one non D&D article are being overdramatic. Get over it, get a life, grow a thicker skin, or you'll never be able to cope with the things the rest of reality throws at you.

And finally, we have two more letters on the subject of Alternity coverage, one positive and one negative. This looks like it's settling down to be a long haul of a debate. We never used to have this problem about Gamma world, Marvel superheroes, and all the other bits and pieces they also covered. What changed?

Dragon Magazine Issue 251: September 1998


part 2/8


Nodwick once again punctures his employer's egos. Oh, he's going to suffer for that.


Forum:  We take a break from soliciting for the next edition to do a little alternity promotion here. Cross promotion! It gets everywhere! I wonder if it'll actually get any responses. After all, the SAGA debate hasn't exactly set the forum alight.

Matt Wilson disagrees that so many spells need to be moved out of Alteration. I know you can justify it from an IC perspective, but there's still the OOC balance one to consider as well.

Jeremy W. Burks wants psionics kept in the next edition, but any inconsistencies carefully cleaned out. I think everyone'll agree that inconsistencies in the rules are a bad thing. Even the ones that otherwise want everything kept the same won't complain about that one.

Greg Jensen draws upon his philosophy classes to analyze alignment. As ever, there should be room for plenty of variations within a single alignment, as there are only 9 of them, and billions of creatures. Relative morality falls apart when analyzed a lot quicker than picking an objective moral system, and applying it to everything though.

Stephen D'Angelo wants poison and energy draining seriously nerfed. Now you're definitely in luck! Enjoy.

Tim Newman subjects us to nearly 2 pages of weapon related tedium, with a bibliography. This really should have been an article. It's longer than many of them.


Sage advice: How does detect life interact with blocking spells (Perfectly normally. Direct counters stop it. Irrelevant counters don't.)

Can a ring of vampiric regeneration get power from a spectre. (Yes. We have not clarified the way negative energy interacts with living creatures. )

Are illithid vampires intelligent or not (no. They go all feral and raar. That is not conductive to logical thought)

Is spellfire one of the energies energy containment can stop (That is up to your DM. )

How do true dweomers interact with chronomancy and wild magic. (perfectly normally. No, you don't get true wild surges. That would make an awful mess)

Can you use split personality and astral projection to go world-hopping and stay home at once (no)

Can you gain proficiency in a shield by specializing in another weapon (man what. Skip doesn't know how you thought that one up. No.)

When do you get the benefits from a deck of many things (straight away. You can't defer the good or bad effects to a more convenient time. Such is the nature of these random screwage items.)

How high level can demihuman speciality priests get (rather higher in the forgotten realms than anywhere else. Doncha wish your planet was twinky like Ed's. Don'cha)

Can feat help a signer imagine his way to the top (no. You've been doing it wrong for months. Skip recommends you scrap your game and start again. )

Can dweomerkeepers cast inside a beholder's ray (no)

Can dispel fatigue restore spell points (hell no!)

How often does the great modron march take place (once per 17 years. Exactly which planet's year this is judged from is not made clear. )

Can you open a book of infinite spells to more than one spell a day (yes, but you can only use one of them. And luck is a cruel master)

What gives you immunity to chlorine gas ( Immunity to gas in general. Or immunity to chlorine, but I know no monster that has that specific immunity.)  

How much do the new armor types cost (some of them cost lots, other little)

Rainbow only produces 6 colours (Oh noes. Pretty colours not properly matched. Skip must make errata. That's better. Ooooooh. :Bats: 7 pretty colours, tied in a bow.)

How fast does telekinesis let you move things (20 foot per round, no matter how heavy. Newton would have a fit)

Do unused magical items count towards a paladin's limit. (As long as they own them. Pass de dutchy on the left hand side. Sharing makes everyone happier)

Is an owlbear's hug normal damage (yes)

What's the 4th power 16th level hierophants get (permanent healthiness. Their connection with nature is strong enough all the diseases politely give up and go away to harass someone else.)

Dragon Magazine Issue 251: September 1998


part 4/8


By any other name: Our elvish section ends with a short article on elven names, and how to create them. We already know to make them melodious and multisyllabic, but this gives us a bunch of sample elven words and the way they can be made to fit together to form a descriptive name.  The kind of article that's ok when taken in isolation, but frustrating when you try and plug it into a larger continuity, and makes me wish for a full length book on fantasy linguistics to do this definitively in a final way instead of messing around with little articles with minimal overlap.


Dragonlance gets another calendar. People must keep buying them, otherwise they wouldn't keep making them.


AD&D core rules 2.0 Sneak preview: Hmm. A straight up promotional article. I'd forgotten just how annoying I found them a few years ago. For all my frustration at their reduced variety of articles these days, that's one thing I don't regret them reducing the number of, instead going for more subtle tie-in articles. Of course, this is an exception, simply telling us about the new computer version of their rulebooks. It now contains all the info from 9 books, fully searchable, plus the character generator, mapmaker, and support for houseruling the game. In some ways, thats better than the official 4e DDI tools, all this time later. And of course, it's not dependent on being online or paying a regular subscription. It does make me wonder a little about their current direction. We've already seen evidence that pathfinder is outselling 4e. Is the attempt to grip their IP too tightly part of what's causing people to slip through their fingers at the moment? It is very worth thinking about. What lessons can the people running the show now learn from those taken in then?


Fiction: The lizard shoppe by Neal Barrett, Jr. Hmm. This is a fairly complicated story with several layers, combining the magical, political and romantic. This makes it a little tricky for me to figure out what aspect to focus upon, as they interact with one-another. I'm not absolutely sure it's a good story, as they don't always mesh together perfectly, but it is a pretty interesting one, that I had to reread a few times to take in all the details. And like many of their writers, it's obvious that the author has thought about the world and built it up beyond what we see in the story. So it looks like although this isn't a regular writer, he fits in here and is probably a roleplayer. That's a decent use of their pages. It's nice to see they're still giving plenty of fiction despite variety dropping in other areas.


Wyrms of the north: Music has the power to soothe the savage beast? Not that anyone but his typewriter would call Ed savage. But he's certainly shown an interest in music before. (issues 94, 115, 123) So here we have a dragon that's obsessed with music, and will spare the life of anyone who plays for him. Of course this being the Realms, this doesn't so much become a singular legend as a regular thing with established relationships with various Bards from around the realms being the majority of his social life, and his hoard filled with music boxes and magical instruments, many of which can play on command. So this isn't an original idea, but demonstrates that despite being a kitchen sink, the Realms retains a distinctive flavour, partly because it's original creator remains such a productive force for the world, and any ideas he steals will still wind up sounding like him once he's through with them. In the Realms, you won't be the first, you won't be the last, and you won't be the best. Just be thankful that you can play a part without getting abruptly eaten.

Dragon Magazine Issue 251: September 1998


part 5/8


Dragon's Bestiary has lost it's definite article as well? Really, this is getting to be quite the habit. Familiarity breeds contempt and all that. This also seems rather familiar in another way, as Johnathan creates some more hybrids of existing creatures, this time with less comic and more fantastical elements. Whether they're common ancestors of the existing ones or products of magical experimentation in your campaign is for you to choose. In any event, it lets him fill up another article without needing much actual inspiration.

Bloodstingers are somewhere between pseudodragons and wyverns. With cute little tyrannosaur paws and save or die poison, you might be tempted to tame them, but it ain't going to work. Stick to the regular ones.

Boneslithers seem to be the primitive ancestors of nagas. With no magical abilities, they can't do much with their intelligence. Like the many dumb near dragon things, they seem like an excuse for someone who wants the visuals of a particular encounter type without the hard to manage versatility.

Marble pudding could be the common ancestor of mimics, ropers, and some other pudding types. Their disguise abilities might not be as sophisticated, but really, in a natural cavern, all you need to do is look like stone and people won't question odd shaped outcroppings and stuff until it's too late.

Shadow panthers look pretty similar to displacer beasts, but also have centaur like properties. Curious business. Just how does a creature go from quadrupedal to bipedal anyway? This set of creatures has definitely given me something to think about, even if they're not that imaginative in themselves. Combining existing elements in odd ways is a useful technique when your inspiration is running dry.


D&D fast-play game: Now this is the kind of special feature they should have had last issue. A 16 page adventure designed to get complete newbies playing without a DM. Of course, for experienced players, this is a ridiculously tiny and easy dungeon, that'll take less time to do than most of the 8 page adventures back in the day. So it's really the kind of thing you give to someone else, rather than play yourself, especially if you're a regular reader of the magazine, rather than someone caught by their new marketing push. As such, I am a bit ambivalent towards it, as it involves a level of hand-holding I did fine without when I first learnt to play, and worry that it might slip too far into patronising elementary school territory. I may have to test it out on someone so as to get a fresh perspective, rather than simply judging by how it reads.


The ecology of the wererat: Hmm. Lycanthropes have been curiously absent from the ecologies before now. I guess that since they have official books on them going into greater detail, people haven't felt the need to send them in. Still, this does better on the crunch front than I'd expect, giving them several more new tricks. They may be the weakest lycanthropes in head-on combat, but they more than make up for that by numbers, deviousness, the variability of their weakness, spell-like abilities, capacity to replace themselves, ability to spy and live in cities, right under your feet. Compared to that, who's afraid of the big bad wolf? I pity the thieves guild that doesn't maintain a cordial relationship with the local wererats. I seem to have drifted off topic a bit, so this one can't have been that interesting. It follows ecology formula number 4, that of the writings of someone who died facing the creatures being discovered later. And that's all I can think to say about it. Just seems to have slipped through my mind without making much of an impression, good or bad.

Dragon Magazine Issue 251: September 1998


part 6/8


Rogues gallery: Ah yes, the Harpers series of books, their largest numbered series of books, making the trilogies and pentads look tame. And Elaine Cunningham has been responsible for more than her fair share of them, in the meantime showing that she's one of the few people who can outcheese Ed in his own world. So can you guess who's converting their characters so you can use them as well? Here's a hint. It's not Jeff Grubb. On with the show.

Bronwyn is a Harper Bard with the Loremaster kit. She has a magical bag that instantly sends any treasure she finds home, where she has a shop. Which means she's even richer than most adventurers, as she's getting to play both ends for her own profit. Plus she gets to hear all the best gossip. Seems to have it all worked out until she makes the wrong enemies with her discoveries.

Dag Zoreth is her older brother, and as a priest of Cyric, is pretty much on the opposite end of the moral spectrum. This is further reinforced by the fact that he's part of the Zhentarim. What would their parents think? I'd bash their heads together and send them to their rooms.

Algorind of Tyr is a naive young paladin, the kind of guy who trusts his clerical superiors wholeheartedly, and doesn't realise how complicated moral choices in the world can be. This is of course the writer setting him up for future drama. Dance, my little puppets, dance! I'm sure you'll get to read about it at some point.

Ebeneezer Stoneshaft is a dwarf who shaves. Blasphemy! Actually, it seems like we're getting more dwarves who buck the stereotypes than elves in this column over the years. That is curious to note. Any ideas why?


AD&D game aliens: Looks like the drive for Alternity material will be cutting more ways than one, with what looks like an attempt at a new column converting Alternity races to AD&D stats. This seems like the kind of thing that'd be good for a single article, but doesn't really merit 4 or 5 pages for every single race, spread out over the course of months. Like Wyrms of the North, it feels like over-pushing a very specific idea to the point where people will get sick of it all too soon.

So this one strips the technological trappings away from the Seshayans, recasting them as animistic primitives with a unique shaman class. Or not so unique, since it's all about getting favors from ancestral spirits, which is about as rare in roleplaying as rice is in food. They can fly, but not for long enough for it to be useful in overland travel, giving them a good excuse to stick with the rest of the party. They have low-light vision rather than infravision, which is unusual for D&D races at the moment, and makes me wonder if that was a 3e change imported from Alternity. They also have a pretty substantial penalty in daylight that may make for conflict with a party that prefers daytime activity. So this is mostly made up of conventional elements, but with a few weird quirks that deserve noting for posterity. It does indeed feel like the company promoting their pet projects over what the public wants though, justifying the earlier letters complaints. So I have mixed feelings about this, with the negative ones narrowly taking the lead.

Dragon Magazine Issue 251: September 1998


part 7/8


PC portraits: Wait, what? not one, not two, not three, but four elves with beards? That's not sloppiness, that's wilfull contrariness on the part of Rebecca Guay, who's responsible for the first instalment of this new column. Are they actively trying to provoke a rash of complaints on the letters pages? I'm not sure, but it's interesting, and definitely gives me something to talk about here, where I suspect I may struggle to find something to say if this becomes a regular thing. In the meantime, it's a pretty good way to fill out a single page, and not something they've done before, so it's convenient for their editors; and it's system free, so it's the kind of thing that'll remain useful after the edition change. We already know they're thinking about that, so this kind of thing makes a lot of sense. Now to sit back and see if any flame wars come from it.


Dragonmirth has more knight-eating jokes. Swordplay reprints the strip from issue 249 for no apparent reason. Is this the fault of the cartoonist or the editor?

Another contest asks us to design an inn for them. Give us the best possible location for adventurers to start their careers, and then come back too once they've finished an adventure. You have the power! But you don't get to choose the name. Well, I suppose it gets people writing in that wouldn't otherwise. And maybe some of them'll stick around, become regular freelancers.


Roleplaying reviews continues on it's sci-fi special, giving long reviews to a relatively short list of products. This really seems to be to drive in that Sci-fi is a big thing right now, with two active Star Trek series, and other stuff like Babylon 5 and Farscape enjoying both commercial and critical success. At that point it seemed like it would just keep getting bigger. But that's not how fashion works. Things may stick around longer than you expect (reality TV, I'm looking at you) but the public always gets bored eventually, especially as technology does things that make old sci-fi look dated. So let's see how these offerings have held up over a decade later.

Fading suns gets a second review. (Rick did this in issue 238) Once again, the fact that this is heavily influenced by classic White Wolf aesthetics is mentioned, probably even more than WW's own Trinity around this time. Ray goes into more detail on the system and less on the setting than Rick, but comes up with the same overall mark. It's a good system, and the game is full of adventure hooks. Plus it's an original setting in a genre dominated by licences, which is also worth supporting.

The babylon project, on the other hand is a licence of Babylon 5. It gets a rather ambivalent review, with it's odd licensing restrictions and crunch heavy system. It won't be of much interest to people not already interested in the property, and whether hardcore fans will like it is also uncertain. On balance, it seems like a probably not to most readers.

Star*Drive: is Alternity's first setting, and I'm not sure why this is being reviewed the month afterwards rather than with it. It gets a mostly positive review, but also one that points out it's all very generic and kitchen sinky, consciously engineered with the intent of becoming the Forgotten Realms of it's system. Of course, that could well be interpreted as bland. Still, I'm sure it's very playable, should you choose to dig the old game up for a spin.


KotDT face their deadliest foe yet. Squirrels! Lenard Lakofka would be proud.

Dragon Magazine Issue 251: September 1998


part 8/8


Previews: We're finally caught up to the point where they're showing new D&D products in this section. They change things around, so they're in the front, which makes sense.

Our generic product this month is the Wizard's spell compendium, part 4. Like the magic item compendium, this means that you now have far more official stuff at your fingertips than you could ever hope to use.

Technically generic, but also sorta a planescape project, is A Paladin in Hell. Only without the cant, but with the return of the things our old evil overmistress forbade, and a whole bunch of other nostalgia inducing elements that they hope will draw in the casual buyer. Man, this feels contrived.

The Realms get a double bill, as usual. The Shadow Stone by Richard Baker sees another young character go through a coming of age story. No change there. On the other hand, it looks like Raven's Bluff is finally out of the RPGA's hands, because Ed Greenwood does a supplement on it. Hmm. Looks like the new management is really starting to make some changes, as they bring out books that weren't planned before the takeover.

Greyhawk gets The Star Cairns. The start of a new series of old skool dungeon adventures. Put on your boots, we're going back to our roots. Don't forget your encumbrance rules.

Dragonlance also does some fairly familiar stuff. The 5th age game gets it's own bestiary, so you have plenty more things to challenge your players with. Most of them probably also appeared in AD&D. They also rerelease The Art of the Dragonlance Saga. This line is no stranger to coffee table books, calendars, and other such frippery, and this continues their attempts to get money for old rope.

Alternity gets Dataware. Details for sci-fi stuff like AI, netrunning, cybernetics, playing robots, etc. Trying to steal shadowrun's playerbase, eh?

And finally we get to see something from another department of WotC advertised. Planeswalker is a Magic: the Gathering novel by Lynn Abbey. Man, we really are seeing the management changes from the takeover hit the release schedule this month.

Onto the stuff by other companies. AEG release The way of the Phoenix for L5R. I know a splatbook series when I see one, and this certainly fits that bill. Since many of them are spell users, this has lots of new magic stuff to lure in players.

Basement games unlimited release The Vemora. New system, same old macguffin retrieval adventures. So much for that plan.

Chaosium move into the novel business, publishing Nightmare's Disciple by Joseph Pulver. Since the Cthulhu mythos was a literary universe before it was an RPG, this seems a little recursive. Not sure what to make of this.

FASA follow up their recent big releases with smaller support ones. Record sheets for Battletech 3060, and the gamemaster's screen for shadowrun. Another company is following D&D's product model pretty closely. They also release a novel, Warrior: Coupe. The conclusion of a trilogy? This all seems very familiar.

Gold rush games try and release a magazine devoted to LARPing, called Metagame. Interesting. Well, thanks to White Wolf, it does seem to be on the up again. How long did this last for?

PEG continue to pump out the deadlands products. The Wasted West gives you lots of info about the hell on earth setting, in all it's grimness. Shane also unleashes Leftovers, their first Dime novel set there. He does seem to be a busy bunny.

The Scriptorium, whoever they were, release a trio of CD's full of stuff that would probably be useful to a fantasy gamer. Fantasy and horror fonts and art, and a mapmaker. This feels like they're pushing the boundaries of what they should be covering a little. Strange.

White Wolf, once again, are comfortably second in terms of prolificness. Their general WoD product is The Bygone Bestiary. Even they're getting into the general monster book business, even if they do describe rather fewer creatures in greater detail than D&D. These really are perennial good sellers.

C:tD gets Inanimae: The secret way. A bunch of new kiths get opened up for PC's, albeit not with very solid mechanics. One that needs a little houseruling to hold together. Also, watch out for the eco-crap. It's almost as bad as werewolf.

Speaking of W:tA, they compile 3 of their old tribebooks, just like mage did a couple of months ago. Red Talons, Shadow Lords and Silent Striders. Long term demand  keeps outstripping print runs, it seems. Good for them.

Minds Eye Theatre unleashes Secrets of Elysium. Elder rules for LARP? Oh boy. This is going to get diableriffic. Get ready for much bitching as people want to use them, but the camarilla only lets a few people do so.

Trinity continues their odd combination of region books and splatbooks with America Offline. Electrokinetics and north america get the spotlight. See why they're no longer the preemminent power around here. And hopefully learn from those lessons in reality.


Profiles:  Tony DiTerlizzi is another of our artists who got where he is by sheer enthusiasm, and a desire to live up to the works of the people who influenced him, and produce works that makes other people feel about him the way he did about them. An ambition I think we can safely say he's achieved. Dave Trampier, one of our great vanished artists, gets a big shout-out, as do a whole cavalcade of other artists. Having achieved cult success with TSR and white wolf, he's now gone back to his very first love, children's books. This is another profile that is both amusing and helpful, giving you some definite hints on how to produce your own cool stuff. Be vocal in your love of other people's stuff, and often, they will return the favour, thus aiding both your careers. Give, and you shall get back. Don't be put off by the idea just because it's a cliche.


Well, this is certainly more of a stand-out issue than no 250, with it's new columns, extra pages and special features. The repeated attempts at calling this a new beginning are getting a little frustrating though, as they aren't quite sticking, and in the process the magazine keeps drifting further away from catering to long-term readers. They may hit on the right changes to make eventually, but it's not easy when the feedback they're getting isn't the best. Still, they're trying hard, and that counts for a lot. No complacency here. And despite my own battles with boredom, I'm certainly not going to assume that the next hundred plus issues'll be a shoe-in. There's plenty of time for the articles to make me experience all sorts of emotions, and I just hope there'll be a decent variety of them in each issue.

Dragon Magazine Issue 252: October 1998


part 1/8


124 pages: Ahh. Back to good old fashioned horror, after a year off. Can't say it's been quite long enough to properly miss you yet. Even more than Elves, our unliving friends are pretty much the definition of overexposed. Still, they also have vast quantities of variants to spread the love around, and new ones appearing every year, so even vampires don't seem quite as stale yet. It looks like this year will be no exception, with new monsters coming to terrorise your neighbourhood and old ones being expanded upon. Turn the pages cautiously, and let's see what leaps out at us this month.


Scan quality: Excellent. Articles indexed in sidebar.


In this issue:


The wyrms turn: The editorial is nostalgic this month, getting in with the general trend. Ravenloft has long been their biggest selling module ever, and so it's not surprising that they revisit it regularly. The fact that it's laden with cliches did not hurt it at all. If anything, exactly the opposite. The reason Avatar became the biggest grossing movie ever is not because of the innovation of the giant blue cat-people. The reason Ravenloft became a success is because people want a dark brooding vampire adventure, and this fits the bill. The fact that it's one of the most replayable adventures they've ever done, however, is what really makes it stand out when there's plenty of adventures from the same era that haven't had the same kind of longevity. So yeah, this is a bit of a lovefest. I do wonder why more adventures haven't imitated it's methods to make themselves more replayable. I suppose it's easier to copy the trappings than to go to the effort to give things the same spark.


D-Mail:  Dewain Higbee isn't very keen on Alternity stuff in Dragon magazine. This is a Fantasy Magazine. Get your own!

Greg Foster gives the opposing view, wanting plenty of info on other products. As usual, they take the middle ground, because they want to please as many people as possible. Wishy-washy lot.

Mark Papina wants some stuff from out of print books covered again, quite possibly in the magazine. Since the one they tried worked pretty well, they certainly won't reject submissions like this out of hand.

Frank Troise wants to see the characters from the Double Diamond series statted out, and articles for the new Marvel superheroes game. Maybe and yes, we already have one for you this issue. As with Alternity, it's certainly worth a try, to see how long it sticks.

S. Hopkins nitpicks the hell out of the recent article on ships. I think this may be part of why they do those sorts of articles less and less as time goes on. It's just less hassle all round for their regular writers and editors to stick to their own fantasy worlds.


Nodwick is rather twee. That's what happens when you have a lawful whitewash cleric in your party.

Dragon Magazine Issue 252: October 1998


part 2/8


Forum: Leon Chang wants a greater degree of flexibility, but not a complete abandoning of the class & level system that makes D&D so easy to pick up and get going in. As is often the case, he suggests some more esoteric details that they wouldn't pick up, but the basic idea is sound.

Greg Whyte wants to cut down on the number of languages, and make it non-obligatory for smart people to learn them. More flexibility in how you spend your slots next time would be a very good thing.

Trevor V. Swanson thinks we don't need a new edition. Another person who thinks we're fine as we are. Um, the company collapsed recently. I think that's a pretty strong indicator things aren't fine. Changes need to be made.

Greg Detwiler puts his oar in on the weapons issue. As a writer of an article about this for the magazine, he know's what he's talking about. So he talks quite a bit about what weapons were actually used for in medieval armies. The reason there are so many types of weapons is due to rock-paper-scissors interactions. It'll take quite a bit of work to model that in D&D

Matthew Seibel gives his houserule that ensures everyone has all ability scores of average or above. Make all the PC's big dam heroes.  Bah. No flaws at all is boring.

Doug Ironside is against a 3rd ed. There's not that much that needs fixing, and it'll invalidate so much, and cost so much. You know, charging them extra is a bonus from the company point of view. That's not going to dissuade them. Plus finishing something when it's just looking complete ruins half the fun. It's the old coming of age thing. A fully mature system is a boring system, with nothing left to do but fade away.

Dana Aquandro wants all the options kept in and new ones added too. What, all of them? How big do you think that'll make the books? Practicality people.


Sage advice: Do sha'irs cause defiling on athas (no)

Can you beat a wall of force down (no)

Does immunity to illusions mean spell level or caster level (recycled question. Same as it ever was. You're the dream operator. )

What encyclopedia magica items can a witch have at chargen (anything from tables ACDEFGHIJKLMNOPQ. That's a lot of choice)

How do you determine what level a spell is. (Like we said before, rough comparisons combined with lots of fudge. Spells are not easy to quantify. Skip will have to deny your request with a sneer. The day D&D spells can be boiled down to a perfect formula is the day Mage becomes obsolete.)

Can subjective reality penetrate an anti-magic shell (sorta. Remember, it's purely soliptistic. )

Does a multiclassed fighter get a save against Chaos (not usually)

Does free action protect you from Chaos (no. Very little does. )

Does dispel magic do all 3 functions at once (no. Decisions decisions. Oh, the worries of only having memorized a spell once)

Can true dweomers be held in focal stones. (no. If they were alive they'd go all veiny, and then their head would explode from the strain.)

How does weighty chest save if someone else is already holding it (Automatically. If they've already grabbed it, it's too late to use precautions)

Is there anything to stop you from using the mount spell to run scams (Traders who know about magic and react accordingly. Depends if magic is common in your game world. Still, if you fool them once, word will get around. You'd better have used change self or something while making the sale. )

What happens if you cast feather fall on another creature or object. (it can't go down fast. This may foul up it's aim if that was intended)

How does a ring of x-ray vision work (Idiosyncratically. We really should standardize the system for healing temporary ability damage)

Does resisting magic against guards and wards collapse the whole thing (nope. Modular, decentralized parallel processing is a brilliant innovation. )

My player thinks the pressure from a fireball ought to knock down a succubus (Damnit, Skip is only going to say this once. Fireball does not have the logical concequences real fire does. It's magic. It does what it says it does, no more, no less. Air is not consumed. There is no outward pressure. Only burnination. Capiche?)

Does wearing two cursed rings on the same hand cancel them out (no. The first one just takes precedence over any others. Two wrongs don't make a right, didn't you momma ever teach you that? )

How many giant insects can you control (as many as you have time too. This is not such a great deal, as Skip just nerfed the duration. Ha ha. And you thought you could pull the infinite army trick. )

Do elemental based spells work in the outer planes (usually)

Can you make wands and staves produce reversed effects (not unless it says you can. Skip'll bet Elminster knows a way though, the sneaky old rulebreaker )

Does heat metal evaporate an poison coated on a weapon (probably)

Does a potion of vitality let you re-memorize spells instantly (no)

What do ioun stones do when you sleep or die (They're smart enough to orbit above your head without colliding with things when you lie down or lean against a wall. If you die, they fall to the ground. It's free for all scramble time between all the remaining combatants. Yay! )

Dragon Magazine Issue 252: October 1998


part 3/8


Grim Callings: We kick things off with a horror themed collection of kits. We've had a couple of those before, but not a complete collection covering all classes and giving them multiple niches, so there's still room here. Of course, too much choice of powers gives you room to twink out and reduce the horror aspect, so you might not want that many kits as a DM. So let's see if it's desirable to add this collection to your game.

Keepers of the Veil are paladins that specialise in kicking undead ass. This means they sacrifice their normal healing abilities for a suite of more specialised ones that'll be good in a few situations, but not nearly as in demand as restoring HP always is. So this kit'll only be beneficial in an undead heavy game.

Dirgists are Bards who specialise in goth music, comforting the miserable living, and entrancing the dead. This is not as effective as clerical turning as it only makes them stay still, not run away. They're good for an adventure but suck at the afterparty. Sounds like my kind of adventurer. I'd much rather just get onto the next bit of business.

Lethean are priests concerned with saving souls, literally. They lead an ascetic lifestyle, and their turning powers are subtly altered to reflect the fact that they liberate the souls of the dead rather than repel them. This is mainly flavour, and their hindrances are mostly flavour behavioural restrictions as well. Meh.

Moribunds are necromancers with a particular obsession with feeding off negative energy to sustain themselves. This means they are undead hunters, but for completely different reasons to everyone else. It also means normal magical healing is useless on them, which is a pretty nasty hindrance. Overall, I think their penalties outweigh their benefits, but in an interesting way, that might make them still desirable if gamed right. So I think this collection is perfectly suited to their milieu, with class variants that are interesting, but won't break your game in the slightest. Now you just need to persuade people to pick them over the more powerful options.


Legacy of decay: The Realms tries to prove it can do horror as well, giving us a whole selection of nasty magical items and spells recovered and sealed away by the Harpers in their pursuit of evil. And since the Realms has far more high level characters than Ravenloft and less natural justice, that means more opportunities for villains to make a genuine impact with their diabolical creations. Well, that's the theory anyway. It's a generic setting. Who knows what we'll get.

The Black Satchel is one of those items that really isn't worth the price. It may let you heal, and even raise people from the dead, but the number of people you have to kill to power it far outweighs the number you'll save. Of course, if you're an adventurer slaughtering your way through enemy territory, that might not be an issue, but you'll still face the requisite alignment change. Caveat emptor, etc etc.

The Intellect Syringe allows you to drain the brain of others and temporarily boost your own, making it another one that'll eventually be your downfall, either due to creeping insanity or the murders you commit to power it catching up with you.

The Needle of Fate lets you create tattoos that murder people, and then transfer their remaining good luck to you. Of course, if they resist the attack, it'll turn on you, so this again seems fiddly and not worth it in the long run. Who designs these evil artifacts anyway? They really ought to pay more attention to what they're doing.

We now move onto new spells. Decay ages inanimate objects in a fairly impressive way. Obviously the effect of this will vary quite a bit, but even metal and ceramics don't deal perfectly with the passage of time. This seems like the kind of spell that rewards imaginative usage.

Undead Ward is slightly disingenuously named, as it only protects you against strength draining attacks. Very much the kind of specialist spell that only gets prepared when you know that's what you'll be facing today.

Contact the Dead is essentially the clerical speak with dead, only crap and evil, inflicting pain upon the spirit contacted and harmful backlash upon the caster. Torture doesn't work in the long run, and this is the kind of spell no-one would take if they knew about the alternative, which in the Realms should be all but the most uneducated spellcaster.

Lesion causes the victim to bleed profusely. In certain circumstances it could wind up doing more damage than fireball or lightning bolt, but most of the time in real adventuring situations it won't. Still, at least it's less likely to destroy their stuff in the process of killing them.

Spirit Attack, on the other hand, is much more powerful than the similar higher level spell Nightmare, as it has a decent chance of permanently draining the victim's Wisdom. It looks like we're going to have quite a few balance issues in both directions with this collection.

Candle-Life allows a sick person to act normally for a few days, before dying for good. This can be used compassionately, if they want to do some important final task, or by scammers selling a cure and then moving on before the consequences arrive. Gee, which do you think is more common in this context?

Drain Vitality is another nasty one that permanently drains someone else to give you a temporary ability score bonus. Eat the rich. How glamorous. The greatest possible long-term benefit is if you then use the drained points in creating magic items. Just tell yourself they were going to die anyway. It'll all be dust apart from what you create.

Suspended animation is your basic sleeping beauty effect, if not quite as long lasting. Not as good as the version in issue 221.

Age affects living creatures, although not as well as the much lower spell affects objects. Such is the joy of actually having decent resistances to magic. Of course, one ghost touch'll do as much as half a dozen castings of this, so it's not really that impressive. Some things just come so much easier to the real monsters, try as a wizard might.

Preserve Youth is yet another spell that permanently drains another to temporarily keep you going. They're building up quite the selection of those, aren't they. Hope they have somewhere suitably capacious to hide the bodies.

Summon Ghost is pretty self-explanatory. Watch out, because if they get loose, you know how much even a single hit'll hurt you. Maybe you should stick to elementals, as they don't tend to hold grudges as much.

Transplant is another permanent spell, letting you nick body parts from someone else to replace your own. As in reality, rejection is a bitch. So this isn't quite as evil as the others, but it'll still wind up killing you if overused.

Revenant lets you trap someone's heart, making them temporarily undead, nearly indestructible, but vulnerable to whoever owns it. Similar to the Al-Qadim heart removal spell on steroids with a more gruesome slant, and another case where I'm not sure how well it balances with the previous version.

Summon Night Hag is another one that'll turn on you if you let your guard down for a second. Honestly, given how greedy and vindictive they are, this seems like a losing game even if you don't mess up and pay their price. Two sacrifices before you even get down to business? I'll hold out for a pit fiend who you know'll stick to the letter of their bargain.

Final Struggle takes the stealing theme of this article to it's logical conclusion, with a contingency effect that lets them take over the body of someone else permanently when they die. Well, they've certainly had a strong agenda and stuck to it, even if many of the spells aren't something sensible PC's would want even if they were evil. Overall, I think I'll give a positive result to this article, even if I have misgivings about many of the individual entries.