I'll second this, specifically in reference to Al-Qadim.
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Um, yeah . . . looking at his post again, it suddenly seems very obvious that he was being tongue in cheek. I'll just get my coat then.
As far as what maps would be useful (acknowledging of course that one can never have too many maps at hand, and that they will all become useful sooner or later), I would say maps of urban areas; there are already so many maps available for wilderness and dungeon settings, but surprisingly few for city advenuters. Examples are the aforementioned tavern (a variety pack of taverns would be nice, since they are the launching pad of so many adventures and the site of countless egotiations), a prison and/or city guard barracks, temples, hotels, some small business spaces which could be tailored to represent anything from an exchange house to an alchemist's shop, even some generic city layouts. These are the sorts of things that invariably come up in campaigns, and which require a lot of DM time putting together. Aids of this sort would go a long way towards cutting down my prep time, letting me focus on NPCs and the needs of the narrative.
Though at times confusing, Downer is one of the sections of the magazine I'm most intrigued by. It's always interesting, and I think the art is terrific. I always read it. I was a bit stunned when Kyle said his drafts are edited from 6-9 pages down to 2. That would go a long way towards explaining the abrupt pacing. Once this story runs its course (assuming it's not an open-ended comic) is there any chance that we would be able to see the whole series collected, either in print or on the Web? The point has been made that a story of this nature is ill-served by Dungeon's format restrictions, and I for one would love the opportunity to read the story at a more natural pace. Maybe with some of those space edits reinstated.
My gaming group likes to cycle through different games. Aside from D&D, others that we've played and enjoyed include Space: 1889, The Burning Wheel, All Flesh Must Be Eaten, and Call of Cthulhu. We've played others that we haven't enjoyed so much (Shadowrun, I'm looking at you), but I'd recommend any of them very highly. I find it's good to introduce a variety of rules systems and settings to the group; it keeps things fresh, and allows you to import ideas from other systems into D&D. Also, I'm one of those guys who will buy an interesting book or supplement from another system even if it doesn't seem likely that we'll play it, just because I love reading them. I have AEG's The World's Largest Dungeon, West End Games' D6 Adventure, Frank Chadwick's Cadillacs and Dinosaurs . . . so, yeah, my bookshelves groan beneath the weight of a variety of systems, too. |