- There's an article on dragon magic that's well thought out and details some new spells just for dragons. The author wisely concludes that dragons wouldn't bother with memorizing offensive spells like Fireball - they would trust to their breath weapon and powerful attacks for offense - so instead they would focus on utility spells. It doesn't seem that much of this content survived, but it is a good example of a high-quality fan submission (still somewhat a rarity at this point, in my opinion).
- As if to highlight that last point, the article is followed by a brief article containing random tables for pits. Like pits a character can fall into. You know, because it's oh-so-freaking-hard to come up with what might be at the bottom of a pit. I'm really, really starting to get tired of this "everything needs a table" mentality. It's a PIT. It can be empty, it might have spikes at the bottom, or it might have a creature - JUST PICK ONE. YOU DON'T NEED TABLES FOR THIS CRAP UNLESS THE PART OF YOUR BRAIN RESPONSIBLE FOR IMAGINATION HAS BEEN LOBOTOMIZED.
- What follows the article on random tables for pits? ANOTHER FREAKING ARTICLE OF RANDOM TABLES. Sorry, I'll calm down now. This one is actually somewhat useful, as it details random events for towns and cities to spice things up when players visit and perhaps provide hooks for action. I still say such things should be driven by the DM's story, or at least his whim and imagination, but to each their own.
- Jim Ward is back with another amusing "The Adventures of Monty Haul", this time describing a miniatures battle between German WWII troops and D&D monsters.
- Jim has another article on wandering monsters for dungeons. It's meh.
- A random fan does a follow-up to Jim Ward's D&D tips article a couple of issues back. He describes how he plays a character who's just a "normal" guy (i.e., no class as such - poor fighting ability, no magic or thief skills, etc.) who gets by with tricks and gimmicks, some of which are quite clever. It's a terrific reminder that a character's success has more to do with the cleverness of the player behind him than it does with stats and powers.
- There's a really bizarre fiction piece that I think was supposed to be funny describing the origin of neutrality in the conflict between law and chaos. Obviously it didn't accomplish it's mission.
- The Sorcerer's Scroll is from Gary again, this time discussing problems arising from the differences in scale of indoors vs outdoors in D&D, and how this affects the area of effect for spells, or something. Being a child of an era when measuring actual inches on a tabletop for roleplaying games had become an artifact of history, I just honestly couldn't be bothered to understand the point at hand.
- One more article of random tables! This one is for weather, and again I'm a little more sympathetic to this one. I still believe that weather should just be set by the DM to match the tone (or perhaps help set the tone) of the current story events, but I understand people who want weather to be a random variable that can help or hinder the characters depending on circumstances.
- There's an excellent article on strategy for the Stellar Conquest game, such that I can tell it's an excellent article even having never played Stellar Conquest or even know exactly how it works. A little research reveals that it was an early 4X-type game in board game form. I'm probably a little biased as I do love a good 4X game.
- The rest of the issue is taken up by the first part of a Harold Shea short story. I've vaguely heard of the Incomplete Enchanter series before, but knew nothing about it. The vernacular the various characters talk in is a little over the top, but it's entertaining enough otherwise. I'm not sure the rest of the stories will make my "to read someday" list though.
Next time we examine a monumental point in D&D's history - the very first Player's Handbook. I'll see you then.
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