Ambro's page

Robert Head wrote:

Shade wrote:

3.) Compiliation lists. It would be nice for DMs to be able to reference an article that lists all the monsters from official products that can be summoned via a summon monster or summon nature's ally spell. Same goes for spells that can be made permanent. I'm sure other compilation lists could be beneficial.

I love that idea!

There was a Dragon issue that did that. It listed monsters from MMII, MM, and MoF that can be summoned via summon monster and summon nature's ally.

It was issue 302. It listed all Razz mentioned and creatures from the Manual of the Planes.

As someone who has some ecology articles coming out (and hopes to write more in the future), I found this really interesting. I'd like to add more of this type thing to any future articles the editors are kind and benevolent enough to let me write. Are there any more opinions on Ecology articles and what they should contain?

My opinion of the necessary requirements of a great Ecology article:

2) Versus information

3) One or two plot springboards for the DM or player to use in a character history. I know the focus is supposed to be on the player but if the DM is not inspired enough to use the creature then it won’t be very helpful for the player. An Example: Say the medusa race is all female. (I know some people say they are and some say they are not but it is beside the point.) The Ecology article for this would include talk of how they manage to have offspring with humans. Then in a sidebar or right there in the article mention that there is a legend in medusa culture that talks of one day a male medusa being born and he will unite his people or something like that. A small mention but can be used by the DM to make something more out of it.

4) At least one “I did not know that” fact about the creature. Some distinct fact about the creature that you may not know by just glancing at a stat block and a picture. An example of this would be from The Slayers Guide to Troglodytes book. It details that Troglodytes have extreme sexual dimorphism. The male and female members of the race are extremely different. The males are what you see in the MM, but the females are smaller and walk on all fours. It also says that adventurers are usually wondering where the females are because the females will be mistaken as a separate species.

I just want to say that I hope no one was offended by that example about the Troglodytes. I would have found it just as shocking if the genders were switched.

But I think those last two requirements are absolutely necessary to make for an article that will get a second glance from the reader.

Actually, that's kind of good to know as I have a Slaad ecology into Dragon that will hopefully see the light of day. As for some of the others, I think they would be kind of neat, but maybe a little difficult to do in the 2,500 word alotment, particularly the aquatic elves. But who knows, maybe someone has written it and it will appear soon.

A Slaad article would rock. I have been curious about the slaad lords--Ssendam and Ygorl. They were only breifly mentioned in the Manual of the Planes. Not that they would be the topic of the article though, but any information would be cool.

I understand that some creatures would be harder to write for than others, but some of the hardest might make for some of the coolest articles.

You might want to be carefull with that. In my experience, players end up defeating the villain and looting the rings. Then you have a group of player with unlimited rings. Which is probably not what you had in mind...

Thanks, that thought occurred to shortly after I made that post. That would definitely be a problem.

Ambro wrote:

I agree it might be nice once a month or so to do a wild card class and pick one from Razz's list.

Heh, doesn't Dragon only come out once a month?

Yeah, It comes out once a month. But I meant it would be nice for them to cover a non-standard class once an issue, once every other issue, or whenever they can fit it in. Maybe I should of said 'once in a while' sorry.

I decided to start this thread to let people say what creatures they would like to see in Ecology but first I would like to say that usually the Ecology articles have been a little bland.

If the whole article is just a bunch of generic information that any DM would of wrote if given the chance then it can be a very boring read. I am just saying some of the ecology articles need some more 'That is interesting' factors to it. And for those factors not to brushed aside in one sentence but maybe elaborated maybe in a sidebar or something if it would mean making assumptions that the author did not want to make in his main article.

That said. Here is what I would like to see as topics of an Ecology article.

--Aquatic Elves
--Canomorph (FF)
--Chronotyryn (FF)
--Guardian Naga
--Kou-toa
--Maug (FF)
--Phoenix (MM II)
--Ravids
--Sahuagin
--Slaad

Just to name a few.

Thanks guys,

I never saw that on the chart before.

I appreciate the help!

I can't wait to surprise my group with a villain with two hands full of magic rings. They will flip.

Is it also possible to do a Dragonlance article? Now I know someone is going to say there was one in Dragon 315.

But how about a new one?

With the current developments on Krynn and according to the Wizards Conclave novel, wizards and sorcerers are going to becoming into major conflict. This could make for an interesting versus article that if written just right should be easily transferred to any campaign setting. Just a suggestion though. Any Dragonlance article would be nice.

Also, in case anyone did not know there was bonus content for the Dragonlance article from Dragon 315 posted at http://www.dragonlance.com/products/enhancements/10001.aspx

And another thing I'd like to see is CLASS ACTS covering the other core classes besides the Player's Handbook normal 11. In the new Class Acts series, I would like to see articles on the following classes published by WotC:

---Psion, Psychic Warrior, Soulknife, Wilder (Expanded Psionics Handbook)
---Samurai, Shaman, Shugenja, Sohei, Wu Jen (Oriental Adventures)
---Healer, Marshal, Warmage (Minatiure's Handbook)
---Hexblade, Samurai, Swashbuckler (Complete Warrior)
---Favored Soul, Shugenja, Spirit Shaman (Complete Divine)
---Erudite, Ninja, Urban Druid, Sha'ir (pages of Dragon)

I agree it might be nice once a month or so to do a wild card class and pick one from Razz's list. I would like to see more on the Urban Druid, Psion, and Shugenja. In that order.

Awsome suggestion Razz.

Favorite Issues:

Dragon 280: It had an article with a bunch of cool Alchemy items.

Dragon 289: The article about Leveled Treasures is a favorite in my group.

Dragon: 297: It had an article about para-elemental planetouched.

Dragon: 298: A Drow issue. Now I am one of the first to say that Drow usually get too much attention and I was thinking it when I got this issue in, but it was a really good issue all together.

Dragon: 300: The Minions of Darkness article was awesome. It had monster cultist prestige classes. My favorite was the Deep Thrall.

Dragon 313: It had an article about a new race--Ghost Elves.

Dragon 317: Lots of great articles. True Names and Fetishes, Using Power Components, Body of Knowledge, and the Urban Druid. I love the artwork for the Urban Druid. I really gave me a sense on what the class was. Also the ability to eventually have a gargantuan monstrous spider as a companion is just awesome.

I will stop there. There are many more that I would label my favorite articles and issues but these are the ones that came off the top of my head.

OK, this has been bothering me for awhile now and maybe someone can help me by shedding some light on this.

In Dungeon issue 107, there is a Critical Threats article about Evard. THE Evard of Evard's black tentacles.

In his stat block he is wearing 7 rings! There is then an asterisk saying these rings have no space limitation.

What I am confused about is why. The DMG says you can only get the benefits of two magical rings at a time.

No where else in the article is this explained.

My only guess is that Evard must have had special rings made that do not take up a space slot.

Does anyone else have a better suggestion?

Maybe the Dungeon staff since they wrote the article?

Any info would be great. I have just been curious about this one for a while.

Unlike Dragon, I think Dungeon got it right on the first try.

A low, medium, and high adventure in each issue is perfect.

The addition of some articles to help support the DM was a good idea.

So everything is perfect but that does not mean that I do not have requests.
1. Tokens. Bring them back.
2. How about doing just once a solo adventure. I think the idea of a solo adventure can make for very different playing opportunities that normal adventures could not provide. And it could show people while it may be traditional to play with a large group of people it is still possible to do it with just a player and a DM.

Thanks again for the changes.

Oh, I am sorry about the Untitled thread. I am not sure how that happened.

Sorry again.

With the first book in her new Dragonlane trilogy Amber and Ashes, I had to add her.

I am looking forward to how Mina will progress and seeing which god will come to power after what happened at the end of the War of Souls.

I also heard there was going to be a new Death Knight in the book.

I agree with Cymraegmorgan, SG-1 managed to pull it off after I thought they wrote themselves into a corner with promoting Jack.

Atlantis IS showing promise, but I am concerned that the Wraith lack the depth to make for a long standing recurring villain.

But only time will tell.

Besides does every major villain have to have a symbiotic relationship with humans on the StarGate shows?

One of my favorite shows is Nip/Tuck on FX. While not SF, it is a dark satire. No one on that show every gets to experience happiness for very long. It is definitely worth at least one watch.

I would LOVE to bring tokens back. First I would like them to come with the magazine again, but a download in a pdf would be better than nothing. I know everyone is pushing minis and I do own a few boxes but I have been screwed pretty badly with multiples. At least with tokens I know what I am getting, I will have a greater variety, they are easy to store, and is easy to transport in mass quantities unlike minis.

Maps for the players would be great.

Also, any player handouts would be a big help.

Throwing some of the art in there might be helpful for visual aids, especially if it is of the NPCs in the issue.

Lastly providing NPCs stats in a text file would be helpful. So I could just cut and past them in to my game notes and make any necessary changes right there.

First I want to say I love Dragon and I have faith that you guys will fine to the Magazine to so that as many people as possible are happy.

That said, here are my opinions:

Liked:
• The Comics.
  
• Silicon Sorcery. I always fine interesting things in these articles and this issue was no different. It should also be noted that until now with Final Fantasy I have never played any of the video games from the previous articles, but always found the interesting.
  
• Seven Deadly Domains. What can I say? It was just a great idea for an article.
  
• See No Evil. After looking at this article, it made me wonder why these weren't original spells in the PHB. They just make sense.
  
• Force Spells. Any arcane magic user should find these new spells useful.
  
• Heroic Feats. This was a short article done right. Just a good crunch and you can move on.
  
• Winning Races--Cyclopeans. I must say that I am skeptical about doing a new race every month. This one was great, but it will be very hard to keep it up.
  
• Magic Shop. What can I say magic items rock.
  

Has Potential but did not care for this issue:

• Ecology—Chokers. I love the idea of the Ecology articles, but more often than not it leaves me thinking “Someone got paid to write this.” Too often the ecologies are just so generic. One of the few actually inspiring things in this article was the mention that Choker numbers are increasing and no one knows why. But that was it. How about a For Your Campaign sidebar with some campaign/adventure ideas pulling on these tidbits in these articles? I mean I see these Ecology articles as ‘This monster is cool and here are the reasons why and ways to use it.’ At least that is how I wish it would be.
  
• Class Acts. I like this idea and some of the articles were pretty good, but I agree that doing all the classes in one issue with only a page to work with does not give me hope for it. I believe a rotation of a few classes an issue would be better.
  
• Gaining Prestige—The Spirit Speaker. This prestige class looks similar to a couple of others I have seen. IMHO there have been few Prestige Classes recently that I have thought were very original, but with how many there are now I bet it is getting tough to do that.
  

Did not like:

• Demon Stone article. Don’t get me wrong I want this game, but if I want to just read up on a video game I will read a video game magazine.
  
• Samurai vs. Knight. Now I liked this article but like someone said earlier it is on the internet. http://www.thearma.org/essays/knightvs.htm There are some editing differences but it is the same article. It is a good article but I pay for this magazine. I want new content. How about instead of reprinting the same article, hiring John Clements to write a similar article on a different topic and give a link to this one for extra reading. Also, he did a pretty good Katana vs. Rapier article in case anyone is interested. Hope that was not a future article in the magazine.
  

I know there were a few more articles but I only wanted to talk about the ones that I liked, disliked, or saw potential in.

Thanks for listening to what I had to say. I know that the guys at Dragon can fine tune their changes. I am definitely curious on how it will affect the upcoming issues.

One last opinion: Themed Issues Rock!!! Bring them Back.