jez's page

My group is just about to start a new campaign and I'm stuck as to what to play.

We're starting at 2nd level with an 18 point buy. The GM prefers to just use core, but has said that he might allow us to use options from the APG with his permission.

The other characters are:
A human paladin-rogue
An elf fighter-rogue
A half-orc cleric with the sun and fire domains
A dwarf ranger focusing on ranged combat

I think, given that the others have picked characters that are fairly capable in combat, and that my last character (a half-orc paladin) was a bit of a star, that I would like to play a supporting character.

I'm not too concerned about playing an optimised character; I'm more interested in playing a fun character, but I want to be useful.

I have this miniature from Hasslefree that I really like. I was thinking of playing a Dwarf bard, and my initial concept was a middle-aged respectable scribe who could be the voice of wisdom in the party, but now I'm not so sure. I'd also like to have some kind of contrast with the other Dwarf in the party so that we're not treading on each other's toes too much...

Does anyone have any advice?

Mine was issue 172, with a barbarian babe on the front cover. Sad to say it was the scantily clad woman on the cover that caught my eye, but I was only 12 at the time! ;-)

The main arguement against this issue seems to be that too much of the magazine was devoted to his material. Fine. Would you feel the same way if the issue was about an author whose work you had enjoyed? I don't think so.

like i said, if it had been about an author i liked i would be really excited, but i hope that after having experienced what it's like when an issue is dedicated to an author i don't like, i would be very aware that it wouldn't appeal to everyone and lots of people would be as disappointed as i was with this issue.

i think it's cool that dragon try out new directions - i really do - but this seems to me to be putting all their eggs in one basket. even if it is just one issue in 12, that's one issue i wish i hadn't spent a fiver on. if it was a few pages long i could have just flicked forward to the next article.

i know dragon have a difficult task - keeping hold of an existing readership while trying to appeal to new and potential readers and gamers. providing a sense of familiarity without repeating yourself has got to be a tricky thing to do!

all of this is just my two cents, but that's all i can comment on with any authority!

The way you repeated that you aren't a troll is priceless. I like you, Jez.

<grin> right back at you jade!

i find martin scott's thraxas novels a lot of fun - a noir-ish private detective investigates crimes in a vaguely roman influenced fantasy city with orcs and elves and drug abuse! ideal fodder for d&d campaigns.

just started reading philip reeve's mortal engines series, set on a post apocalyptic earth where motorised cities prowl the plains of europe 'eating' smaller towns. nice and quirky with guilds and airships and household gods and the 'barbaric' anti-traction league who walk on the bare earth!

long out of print i suspect but i loved thomas burnett swann's minotaur books. at the same time a whimsical take on greek mythology with a slightly dark undercurrent of adolescent hopes and fears.

and a vote for all my childhood favourites like earthsea and narnia

oh and anything by fritz lieber.

but personally i think any future novel adaptations should really be limited to just a few pages. please!

DMR wrote:

* George R. R. martin's "Game of Thrones" series

Actually Martin's setting already got a Dragon write up some time ago. (I don't remember when exactly and my magazines are not handy.) Also Game of Thrones has it's own setting book put out by Sword and Sorcery if memory serves.

issue 305

thanks jade and aubrey. i was worried i just sounded like a bitter loon, but your replies reassure me that i got my point across without sounding too loopy!

i think i get what you say jade about how some concepts can be tricky to get across in simple language, but i mean, take philip pullman's his dark materials - there's some *way* complex ideas in there - but the books are easy to read in terms of the language used and the style, they just require you to think about what you're reading.

i love the idea of a flirty sauron giving me the eye!

i think aubrey makes the point i wanted to far more succinctly than i managed to.

i probably should also put my cards on the table and say that part of why i'm so conscious of mieville's politics is that i dabble in the british far left myself, but i agree with aubrey, most marxists i've met remind me of a joke in dire need of a punchline...

i've posted on another thread about the mieville thread, but i thought i'd post here too cos this thread seems to be more in tune with my thoughts on the issue!

rather than repeat myself, the key points i made in my other post are:
1. i've only just joined the boards, but i'm not a troll
2. i don't like china mieville
3. i'm really disappointed with this issue

unlike the fortunate photon, i did buy dragon 352 and unlike some other critics of the focus on mieville i have read a number of his books and articles.

i have *no* use for any of the articles about bas lag. this is mainly because i deliberately do not want any of mieville's stuff in my games.

i bought the issue despite my dislike of mieville partly because i hoped that the good people at dragon might not go overboard on the mieville lovefest and spare a thought for those of us who don't like his work, but mainly because the thought of having a missing issue in my collection offended my obsessive nature. i will learn my lesson!

my gripe is not because i have traditional tastes in fantasy and mieville is too avant guarde for me. quite the opposite really. i like my fantasy quirky and subversive and i find mieville's work full of a sense of self-importance, and while it may provoke outrage from his fans, i just don't find it very original in style or content.

just why was there so much space dedicated to him?

i know i would be rubbing my hands with glee if there was an issue focussed on an author who i actually enjoyed, but i hope i would still be conscious that it mightn't be everyone's cup of tea and there should be enough other articles to balance it out.

i mean how about if it had been a look at non traditional fantasy, with maybe a nuts and bolts discussion on how to go about incorporating elements of other genres in your d&d game like steampunk and lovecraftian wierdness, with just one article on mieville as one example amoung many.

the blokes at dragon do a bang up job, and i know you can't please everyone all the time, but i am really disappointed.

i started reading dragon in 1991. bought every issue it until the late 90's when i stopped buying it for a couple of years due to lack of money more than anything else, and then started collecting again with 3rd edition. i don't exclusively play d&d, and like most people i don't get to play anything like as often as i used to, but i've always had a real soft spot for dragon and have always enjoyed every issue until this one, but i am seriously considering stopping buying it if this is any indication of the direction its going in. i know i will definitely be flicking through each issue now before i decide whether to buy it or not. sorry.

hi, this is my first post and i hate to come across like a troll cos i'm not, but i really have to get this off my chest about the china mieville 'spectacular' in this month's dragon.

i've been reading dragon since about '91, and i've always appreciated that the guys putting it together have a hard time pleasing everyone, especially as in my experience us gamer geeks can be a tough audience. some issues i've found more inspiring or useful than others, (obviously!) but i've always enjoyed reading each issue... until this one.

i don't like china mieville as an author or a person. there is nothing in the huge amount of pages dedicated to his work that i want to include in my games. and i'm really disappointed with this issue. when i saw the preview in last month's issue i felt a sense of dread and some of my friends told me i should have not bothered buying it, but i didn't listen. i should have done!

see, i get that some people really dig his work and find it very radical and new and that's cool. whatever floats your boat. but it doesn't work for me. i could have happily turned a blind eye to a two-page novel approaches style article - but this was the lion's share of an entire issue!

i thought the novel approach articles were a great idea. really fantastic. i get loads of ideas from them, and odten end up rummaging on my bookshelves for a book i'd almost forgotten about.

and there are so many cool new fantasy books out there! a couple of days ago i started reading philip reeve's 'mortal engine's' series and they're way cool! delightfully imaginative and slightly askew, and real rip-roaring adventures.

but mieville doesn't do it for me.

see, there's a lot of fantasy out there that i don't like. i don't as a rule like tolkien clones (i don't particularly like tolkien), i don't like pretentiousness on the part of the author, i like fresh ideas and new ways of looking at things.

now i know mieville thinks of himself as a revolutionary, both politically and literally, but i don't view him as such. i find a lot of his ideas fairly prosaic, or dusted off from another genre and given a fresh coat of paint to make them look novel. same with his politics really, that he keeps banging on about. he styles himself a radical 'marxist', but really he's a posh boy whose politics are basically just liberalism dressed up in radical language and with a nasty elistist streak. and the unneccessary big words and the clunky prose? it's not big and it's not clever. that's part of the reason i read a lot of children's fiction nowadays - to my way of thinking it takes more skill to write a story that's accessible to as many people as possible.

sigh. sorry now i sound like a troll and that wasn't my intention.

see, i know from the other posts that are on this board that lots of people are really excited by mieville's work and i'm pleased for you. i really am. anything that inspires people to get together and run good fun games is a good thing.

i just wanted to get this rant off my chest (my mates are bored of hearing it already!) and just say that i, for one was very disappointed that so much page space was given over to one author (especially one i dislike ;-) ) when it would be cool to see a wider variety of literary fantasy represented.

cheers and sorry to anyone i've offended