The Strategic Review, Winter 1975

Let's see, what did we get in the latest Strategic Review:

• Even more polearms!  Apparently Gary Gygax felt he hadn't exhausted the topic in the last issue, so we get another article discussing more varieties.  I'm sorry, I get it from a wargaming perspective, but from a roleplaying perspective it's just funny to me.
• The first add for the Dungeon! game appears in this issue.  I've never played it (or even seen it), but I would be interested, because material elsewhere makes it basically seem like a board game version of D&D.
• The upcoming relaunch of TSR's magazine line with The Dragon is teased in this issue.  There's no context or explanation that that's what's happening, just a box with the line, "The Dragon is coming!"
• The illusionist is detailed as a new class for D&D.  Being only familiar with specialist wizards in 2nd edition, I was not aware that previously the illusionist was actually its own class.  All new illusionist spells are detailed here, most all of which ended up becoming regular mage spells (in the illusion school, of course) in later editions.  I'll be interested to see down the road if there's any informative material on the switch to the specialist concept, and why the same concept was not applied to paladins and rangers, for example, making them "specialist fighters".
• Finally, the article that readers have been begging for ever since the magazine launched - a detailed etymology of Tsolyani names!  What in the world is that, you ask?  It's a fictitious language from the Empire of the Petal Throne roleplaying game, which I've never personally encountered but would be interested to learn more about.  The setting sounds fascinating - a post-apocalyptic "future past" type setting where a previously highly technological society has degenerated down to primitive technology and magic.  However, if you've ever struggled through the appendices to The Lord of the Rings, you know that nothing says tedium like a detailed phonetics lesson on a made-up language.
• A truly classic D&D magic item is introduced here - ioun stones (although technically they were borrowed from Jack Vance's novels).  I've always loved the idea, although sadly none of my D&D characters have ever gotten to possess one.