This month’s particular attraction is “Citadel by the Sea” by Sid Fisher. The journey received Dragon’s latest Module Design Contest in class A-1 (dungeon for AD&D characters of ranges 1-3). Characters discover a ruined coastal stronghold deserted after a collection of mysterious occasions. This detailed journey consists of many traps, tips, and tactically attention-grabbing combats. My major criticism, as at all times, is that the journey background is overly lengthy, however in any other case, it’s a polished providing; it’s a disgrace that Fisher has printed nothing else.
The primary function is a collection of articles exploring the psionics system in AD&D. First launched within the 1976 Eldritch Wizardry complement, psionics had been and stay a controversial a part of the sport. Arthur Collins, a frequent Dragon contributor, acknowledges this in his “Psionics is Totally different” article. He notes that psionics are totally different from spells in a number of methods: they draw their energy from the thoughts fairly than the multiverse, they’re a latent expertise fairly than a talent, and they’re extremely random when it comes to incidence and energy. He then lists quite a few issues with the psionics guidelines in AD&D and provides steering to beat them.
Collins continues with an AD&D adaptation of the Deryni, a psychic race of people from Katherine Kurtz’s collection of historic fantasy novels. In “The Deryni” and “Heroes & Villains of the Deryni,” he describes their talents, tradition, and notable characters. The human subspecies trope is well-trodden (see books like “The Tomorrow Folks” and “The Chrysalids”) and offers a method of incorporating psionics into an RPG marketing campaign.
Lastly, Collins proposes the “psionicist,” a brand new AD&D class devoted solely to utilizing psionics. It addresses the issues of psionic steadiness by wrapping the talents in a regular class development framework. It additionally provides a number of new psionic talents to these outlined within the AD&D Participant’s Handbook.
“Overhauling the System” by Robert Schroeck discusses points with the present psionics guidelines, principally associated to steadiness and rule ambiguity. He proposes a brand new psionic development and atrophy system to handle these issues, and it makes an excessive amount of sense. In observe, it might most likely lead to characters intentionally searching out psionic monsters to maintain their powers sharp. Schroeck contributed to a number of RPG merchandise within the 90s, primarily associated to GURPS.
“Spells Can Be Psionic, Too” by Kim Mohan examines the similarities between magic and psionics. He’s notably all for a Dungeon Masters Information desk suggesting that sure spells will seemingly entice psionic monsters to the social gathering. Mohan offers in-game rationales for why this would possibly occur, although the web impact is to indicate how a lot overlap exists between psionics and arcane magic.
A particular three-page version of “Sage Recommendation” is devoted to answering the quite a few queries TSR had collected concerning the psionic guidelines. Following is among the extra eclectic questions: “If a fighter positive aspects the self-discipline of domination after which switches to the thief class (as a bard would do), would this character lose the domination energy?” The reply is sure, by the best way!
In “The Ecology of the Thoughts Flayer,” Roger Moore delves into the lore of this iconic psionic monster, providing insights into its behaviour, society, and ways. The article is framed as an interview with a githyanki and provides some useful new concepts to the data discovered within the authentic Monster Handbook and Fiend Folio.
This problem additionally consists of a number of non-psionic options. “Be Thy Die Unwell-Wrought?” by David Weeks explains learn how to check the randomness of cube utilizing the chi-square check. It will likely be of curiosity to statisticians, each novice {and professional}. Ed R. Teixeira’s “Pop the Clutch and Roll!” introduces automobile chase guidelines for the High Secret sport. They’re fiddly, and gamers would have been higher off utilizing the vastly extra elegant traditional Automotive Wars guidelines. These are the one RPG publications by Weeks and Teixeira.
In “The Thrill of the Hunt,” Paul Montgomery Crabaugh introduces searching guidelines for the DragonQuest sport. These mechanics allow characters to seek out meals within the wilderness and embrace modifiers based mostly on terrain, gear, and talent stage. On the time, TSR owned DragonQuest and printed a supporting article each few months. Crabaugh was a frequent contributor to the journal.
The duvet artwork is by Denis Beauvais. Inside artists embrace Denis Beauvais, Phil Foglio, Roger Raupp, Dave Trampier, Timothy Truman, and Larry Elmore.
And that is a wrap! Many of the common choices had been absent from this problem, and I missed them. My favorite function was “Citadel by the Sea.” Within the subsequent problem, we’ve got magic resistance, adventuring ideas, and a brand new High Secret module!
