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D&D chronologically
The Dragon Vol. II #2
The Dragon is a Science-Fantasy gaming forum.
32 pages, Paperback
Published July 1, 1977
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
June 15, 2020
I dunno about you but I think that’s a pretty darn ugly cover. Apologies to the artist.
The best part of the magazine is a very interesting article by Gygax about the Planes of existence. Although the planes have been mentioned in spells and items in the supplements, this is the first time the concept has been articulated. I found it fascinating to hear the reasoning for why some creatures can only be harmed by magic weapons – because they exist across 2 or more of the planes. And the +1 sword (or other magical item) also exists across the prime and another plane. So it can damage the monster in the other plane. As far as I know, this idea was never developed further. Funnily enough he mentions problems with the concept and says he probably won’t use it. There’s more info about the development of the planes here : http://ontologicalgeek.com/walking-th...
There’s a very good, logical article about how to design a town for your campaign.
Monster & Treasure Assortment Set One gets a mention in the ad for The Dungeon Hobby Shop.
Not D&D related – there’s an interesting sneak preview of Gamma World, which presents the alt-history leading up to the game’s milieu. I mention this oddity, because at the same time, the new Basic D&D set was released in the same month as this magazine and it gets exactly zero mention!
Another one of those realism articles – tables to make your gems more realistic, with attributes like carats and types of stone.
By comparison there’s a funny small article by Brian Blume about ‘rolling’ up your 6 abilities in a more realistic way – eg Wisdom = 20 minus the number of hours you played/prepared D&D last week.
Feature creature : this time just a drawing by Erol Otus and a competition to name and describe it.
4 stars purely for the Planes article by Gygax
The best part of the magazine is a very interesting article by Gygax about the Planes of existence. Although the planes have been mentioned in spells and items in the supplements, this is the first time the concept has been articulated. I found it fascinating to hear the reasoning for why some creatures can only be harmed by magic weapons – because they exist across 2 or more of the planes. And the +1 sword (or other magical item) also exists across the prime and another plane. So it can damage the monster in the other plane. As far as I know, this idea was never developed further. Funnily enough he mentions problems with the concept and says he probably won’t use it. There’s more info about the development of the planes here : http://ontologicalgeek.com/walking-th...
There’s a very good, logical article about how to design a town for your campaign.
Monster & Treasure Assortment Set One gets a mention in the ad for The Dungeon Hobby Shop.
Not D&D related – there’s an interesting sneak preview of Gamma World, which presents the alt-history leading up to the game’s milieu. I mention this oddity, because at the same time, the new Basic D&D set was released in the same month as this magazine and it gets exactly zero mention!
Another one of those realism articles – tables to make your gems more realistic, with attributes like carats and types of stone.
By comparison there’s a funny small article by Brian Blume about ‘rolling’ up your 6 abilities in a more realistic way – eg Wisdom = 20 minus the number of hours you played/prepared D&D last week.
Feature creature : this time just a drawing by Erol Otus and a competition to name and describe it.
4 stars purely for the Planes article by Gygax
November 21, 2022
The "Magic" story/article with the Fintzers took up half the magazine and I disliked it so much, I couldn't finish it.
The MA article seemed pretty... odd. I guess these monsters that the players face are designed simply to kill off everyone. How can you have a fight with monsters that run 100-150mph "for hours." The PCs would simply be flattened before they could react, wouldn't they? I'm not really familiar with that game, but all the plants that were 50' around and had 40 tentacles that attack seemed a little over the top too.
The only interesting thing was the article about Gamma World.
The MA article seemed pretty... odd. I guess these monsters that the players face are designed simply to kill off everyone. How can you have a fight with monsters that run 100-150mph "for hours." The PCs would simply be flattened before they could react, wouldn't they? I'm not really familiar with that game, but all the plants that were 50' around and had 40 tentacles that attack seemed a little over the top too.
The only interesting thing was the article about Gamma World.
June 22, 2018
Fiction heavy, no letters. Gary on Planes. Star Empires, Gamma World preview.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews