I received #346 last night ... great issue! I'm really enjoying the "Core Beliefs" series and want to see it go on as long as there are deities to cover. I'm particularly looking forward to Wee Jas, just because she happens to be a particular power in my current campaign, but they're all interesting! I did think the illustration of Pelor was a bit odd ... what's the deal with the '80s hair? I always pictured Pelor looking a bit more roof-of-the-Cistene-Chapel-ish, myself.
The "Class Acts" article for Scouts is quite handy too. My Legolas-clone is very likely to take advantage of a few of those feats in the not-too-distant future! Nice illo, too.
While I'm praising the art, I'd like to single out the cataphracts, too -- very nice!
-The Gneech
PS: Oh, and the upcoming Princes of Elemental Evil? YES. Between those and the avatars in MM IV, my players are in for some big, big trouble!
The guy with the 80s hair is meant to be a representative cleric of Pelor
Ah. Sort of a cross between Jozan and David Lee Roth, then? ;) That makes more sense.
-The Gneech
The guy with the 80s hair is meant to be a representative cleric of PelorAh. Sort of a cross between Jozan and David Lee Roth, then? ;) That makes more sense.
-The Gneech
Aww c'mon- make David Lee Roth a paladin of Olidammara! I could TOTALLY see it!
Yes #346 was very satisfying minus the Core Beliefs article (but I agree, you Greyhawk fans need lovin' too). At least I can steal those divine spells for Lathander/Amaunator in my FR campaign, though. Heh heh.
Thank you again for supporting non-Core Classes in "Class Acts". It's very pleasing to know that Dragon supports them even if WotC has turned their backs on them.
I enjoyed the Impiltur article immensely, since I run an FR campaign and have taken more of an intertest in that particular nation.
And here's to #347! Elemental stuff rules! Can't wait to see the material in there.
If you have a Three Dragon Ante deck, give the Three Dragon Readings article a try. It really is a interesting way to come up with PC or NPC statistics and backgrounds. I know the concept of using Tarot cards as a character background springboard has come up, but the Three Dragon version is very cool.
For example, when I laid out my cards, I managed to get Tiamat on the "Nature" spot, so I figured the character was probably selfish and greedy. When Red Dragon showed up in the Strength and Wisdom spots, it confirmed it. A selfish, greedy person who was used to getting their way by overwhelming force.
Give it a whirl - you may like it.
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Yes! I absolutely LOVE 346. The Dragon Reading and the gambling articles were great (Though I could have sworn there were 3 ways of doing 3 dragon readings in the previews from 345. Maybe I just misread it) The only thing I thought was bizarre was the Impiltur article. Holy GEEZ that's a lot of paladins (I mean, I like paladins, but when a not yet 16-year old is 9-somethingth level? Come on). And the illustration of that Helimbraun guy just freaks me out.
A very useful article all around.
When I think back to my favorite era of Dragon (waaaay back from about issue 86 to 110 or so), almost every issue had a good mix of "fluff and crunch" - something I could either plant into a game I was in at the moment or something I could save and use for another game.
Issue 346 harkens back to issues of that era, so I'm very happy with it.
I'm also happy with the gambling article!
One of my favorite issues of Dungeon featured "At the Spottle Parlor", an OD&D adventure where the PCs --- gambled. Fought some werebeasts at the end, too, but mainly chucked dice all night and won or lost money.
I've run that adventure over and over again, sometimes for the same parties, since the "game within the game" feel to a gambling session is a fun change of pace.
Finally I have more games to offer at the Spottle Parlor!
And to George Krashos: WOW! I thought only Ed Greenwood or Eric Boyd could produce Realmslore in such detail and grace! Nice job, sir!
Great issue, all around from cover to cover.
Article should read issue above. Fingers working faster than my mind was.
This was a great issue. The whole magazine is useful. I really enjoyed Impiltur by George Krashos, more articles like this one would be welcome. Also core beliefs was great any chance of Fharlanghn or Wee Jas getting a treatment and time soon?
Three Dragon Readings was inovative. I'll be trying it out later today(my day off) to help create afew NPC's.
Thanks for the great work, just keep on doing what your doing i wouldn't change anything.
I´m just reading through the Scale Mail section.
If you ask me, BRING BACK THE PRINCESS ARK. Ahem... sorry for yelling, but I really loved that series. It is basically setting-specific, but the idea behind the series is still great, and the writing was very entertaining to read.
On another note, I can well do without more rule content. I have no use for the umpteenth prestige class, feat, monster variation etc., but rather short settings, elaborate descriptions of places, people, items, collections of ideas - ideas and tidbits to be used, modified, twisted - whatever. Inspirational reading, not "yet more number crunching". So, VotPA just fits my tastes perfectly.
Stefan
I love backdrops and the Impiltur article was great! I don't even run the Realms and I enjoyed it a lot. More fluff is fine with me as well--I find inspiration in almost anything. Voyage of the Princess Ark was always one of my favorite Dragon columns.
I'd also love to see more Cities of the Realms articles.
....and a thanks to Paul Leach for cleaning up my Scout article. I didn't have PH II when I wrote it and I didn't know about the new format for alternative class features. Thanks to Mike and Jason or whoever is responsible for those decisions at Paizo for letting Paul clean it up rather than rejecting it--you guys are so cool to new contributors!!
Congrats to you, F2K for appearing in Dragon! Was that your first (paid) article?
In Dragon, yes...I had a campaign workbook published in Dungeon #135 a couple of months ago...thanks--hope you liked the article. I never heard back from Dragon after sending in an adventure to 1982's adventure design contest, but considering that it was handwritten by a 15 year old on college ruled paper torn out of a school notebook, I guess I can forgive them now that they've published something of mine 24 years later ;)
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In Dragon, yes...I had a campaign workbook published in Dungeon #135 a couple of months ago...thanks--hope you liked the article. I never heard back from Dragon after sending in an adventure to 1982's adventure design contest, but considering that it was handwritten by a 15 year old on college ruled paper torn out of a school notebook, I guess I can forgive them now that they've published something of mine 24 years later ;)
My first queries to Dragon never warranted a response, either. I'm assuming, almost five years later, that they are rejected. :D
I was only kidding of course, Mike...I'm sure my crudely submitted adventure was the source of some minor hilarity back in the day...I took typing the following semester and worked odd jobs to buy my first typewriter soon afterwards--mainly so I could actually "read" my own campaign notes, not because I wanted to send more articles to Dragon.
Then....in 1984.....I got my first PC....5 1/2 " double floppy drives, no hard drive...I was able to store all my game notes electronically and print them out on dot matrix paper, alternating green and white rows.....it was the 2nd most awesome moment of my gaming life.
(I also used it for college and to do the books for my mom's flower shop, which justified her springing the $1700 it cost to get it back then)
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....and a thanks to Paul Leach for cleaning up my Scout article. I didn't have PH II when I wrote it and I didn't know about the new format for alternative class features. Thanks to Mike and Jason or whoever is responsible for those decisions at Paizo for letting Paul clean it up rather than rejecting it--you guys are so cool to new contributors!!
Now I know why I was confused about this post.
Paul didn't do the "clean up" of your article. What happened was, we had to cut one of your feats for some reason (no, I don't recall now), and so I threw in a feat he had written for his article. Which is why he got a "with" instead of an "and" in the byline. It's a tricky thing, that byline. :\
Your article seemed pretty clean to me, IIRC. I had no trouble editing it (i.e., cleaning it up). I look forward to seeing more queries from you. :)
Oh okay...I thought that because my article referenced PH II ("alternate class features first appeared in PH II") and there were some minor changes, I thought that's what Paul Leach had done to the article--make it follow the PH II (which I still don't have yet) and make some minor rule revisions. There was an unintended negative connotation to the words "clean up"--I thought that the format I had used for the article wasn't in line with PH II and that's why it was "modified to match PH II format," which is what I meant when I said "clean-up." Sorry for the confusion and thank you for the compliment, Mike. I can totally understand how those two words would have a totally different meaning to a professional editor...my bad.
I did like it. I thought it reflected your previous military training. The two variants reflect modern army tactics, ie high mobility (Light Cavalry) and striking from distance (Sniper).
To me, scouting means keeping your distance and gathering intelligence on the enemy. Since the scout class is designed to be a "hit and run" (literally) character, I felt it was logical to create a variant that used extreme mobility (being mounted) or distance (sniper).
Worg riders would make good light cavalry scouts. Horse nomads would be composed primarily of light cavalry scouts. Scout snipers are the silent guardians of lonely frontiers, the backwoods assassins who stay silent in the foliage, camouflaged, watching and waiting for that "perfect" shot.
Congrats to you, F2K for appearing in Dragon! Was that your first (paid) article?In Dragon, yes...I had a campaign workbook published in Dungeon #135 a couple of months ago...thanks--hope you liked the article.
Both were very good, and in-game, while I will use the Scout material more, I also got some interesting ideas for possible future use from the defenses article in Dungeon.
Great work!
(And are you a Rush fan?)
Great work!(And are you a Rush fan?)
Thank you very much!....and yes, I'm a huge Rush fan (I've seen them in concert about 14 times since 1981)
F2K – Good material on the scout in the roles of light cav and sniper. My thanks to Mike for tweaking one of my cavalry feats and including it with such a good CA article. I love horse nomads and this one went a good ways towards justifying the sacrifices those kinds of characters have to make to be true light horsemen. Offering a special mount instead of class features that may not be used or are not true to form is a good option. The sniper feature brought some good choices to the table as well.
As for the rest of the issue, this is one of my recent favorites. While good articles are necessary, an issue seems better when there are some related themes. Good v. Darkness and Chance/Mystery appeared throughout #346. It seemed to evoke the stoic, practical, and secretive nature of Impiltur. With this one magazine you have an interesting place to play a campaign (regardless of whether or not you use the FR campaign setting), a major religion (could a sun deity be any less universal?), professional advice for contracting cohorts (you’ll need help fighting the evils of the world), and social activities (gambling and fortune telling). The CA articles make a good fit – the Sacred Enforcers, True Name feats, Horse Nomads, and Cataphracts could easily appear in a land embattled by cabals of conjurers and fiends at the edge of the Unapproachable East. To top it off we also get the Ecology of the Rust Monster, a bizarre creature that has been around about as long as D&D.
I look forward to more issues like this one – a good mix of geography, the fantastic, and the mundane.
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As for young Imbrar's stats, I wasn't responsible for them - just copying stuff out of the "Champions of Valor" sourcebook - but I will say that Imbrar is rightly considered the bright hope of the kingdom. Since he was old enough to walk he's been honed and trained into a holy warrior with (hopefully) the skills to rule a realm. He was an early maturing type - you know, the kids with the moustaches at 13 years old - and cut his teeth on fighting humanoid and bandit raiders on the fringes of the kingdom (with appropriate safeguards and healing readily available) from an early age. For a real world archetype, consider him an "Alexander the Great" figure, poised to do great things.
Enjoying the Impiltur article myself, and may use it quite soon in one of my campaigns.
I was glad that they included a map of the area, that's always helpful. But the map is so full of city/area/site names that it's VERY difficult to identify what goes where. Any chance that Paizo could release either a larger version of the map so the place names doesn't run into each other, or a version with a numbered key system instead? Either would be really valuable.
Also, where's Mal? I can't find it on the map.
Finally, a couple of place names are spelled differently in the text and on the map. Is it Thelnam (map) or Thelnarm (text)? Is it Songhall (map) or Songhal (text)? There may be others, but those are the two I've found.
Thank you very much!....and yes, I'm a huge Rush fan (I've seen them in concert about 14 times since 1981)
Great work!(And are you a Rush fan?)
I first saw them on the Hemispheres tour - they did Spirit of Radio (in a somewhat slower form, I think) as a try-out during the show I saw. Seen them several times since then, too.
My fingers ache trying to play some of Geddy's parts on the bass.
I love #346. I do. The articles are all interesting and will all be getting a re-read. Heck, it even has me out looking for a Three Dragon Ante deck! The Scout class-act was an especially welcome surprise - and I love the fact that the author is someone I enjoy listening to on the board! I'm going to come back and really lay it on later, once I have time to really read and digest everything, but between the Scout class-act, the Impiltur article, the Pelor core beliefs, and the gambling games, #346 just handed me a buffet of campaign-useful goodies in a neat shell!!
Oh, and the cover-art is something I would buy poster-sized and hang in a heartbeat!!
I have to say, the Pelor article was really interesting. I'd imagine that Pelor is the top deity PC clerics tend to pick what with Jozan giving him all that good PR, so this is a long-awaited article.
Also, where's Mal? I can't find it on the map.
Serenity baby, Serenity.
Mal (adj.): Bad, in the latin. :-)
You can't take the sky from me.
I love #346. I do. The articles are all interesting and will all be getting a re-read. Heck, it even has me out looking for a Three Dragon Ante deck! The Scout class-act was an especially welcome surprise - and I love the fact that the author is someone I enjoy listening to on the board!
Thank you Doc :)
Oh, and the cover-art is something I would buy poster-sized and hang in a heartbeat!!
Yes, I thought the cover was one of the most "true to game" illustrations of an adventurer yet--all that equipment, the gritty feel to it. Very nice cover.
Eco of the Rust Monster was very well done. I admire Nick and Nic's ability to get paid for words I wrote. :p
(I kid, I was more than happy to provide the anecdote. But it's amusing when you think about it. And the guys really did an excellent job!)
-Amber S.
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If you have a Three Dragon Ante deck, give the Three Dragon Readings article a try. It really is a interesting way to come up with PC or NPC statistics and backgrounds. I know the concept of using Tarot cards as a character background springboard has come up, but the Three Dragon version is very cool.
For example, when I laid out my cards, I managed to get Tiamat on the "Nature" spot, so I figured the character was probably selfish and greedy. When Red Dragon showed up in the Strength and Wisdom spots, it confirmed it. A selfish, greedy person who was used to getting their way by overwhelming force.
Give it a whirl - you may like it.
I'm glad this aspect of the article came through. I wanted to do more with the background generation part of the readings, but was constrained by two things. 1) The more detail I gave, the more campaign specific it would be. 2) I was given a limit of 4000 words and already rolled in at 3994.
In any case, thanks for the kind words (the same to the others who commented as well). I haven't got my copy of the magazine yet, so I still have to see how it looks in print!
Craig Shackleton
The Rambling Scribe
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Thank you very much!....and yes, I'm a huge Rush fan (I've seen them in concert about 14 times since 1981)
Great work!(And are you a Rush fan?)
Just got the new ish, turned right to the scout class acts. What a great piece. Lotsa crunchy goodness.
Been thinking about what would be the best class for a mongol cav archer. I think this scout variant might fit the bill.Kudos to a class act, on a class act.
Thank you Heathansson...I appreciate it :)
