Dragon #40 is one of my favorite issues of that venerable institution. The cover is rad, for starters. I've always liked frogs, but bat-winged frogs are even more awesomer. Two articles in the magazine are well worth looking at today: George Laking's "Funerals and other deathly ideas" and Douglas Bachman's "Believe it or not, Fantasy has reality". The former is a keen set of rules for making the player think twice about looting the corpse of a comrade, while the latter is much more high-falutin' and artsy-fartsy than my normal modes of gaming. But I'd rank Bachman's ideas about fantasy gaming as quite possibly the best article I've ever read in Dragon.But today I just want to share a random die chart out of an old Top Secret article. Here's 100 locations for your next spy game, just click for a bigger, legible version.
In general, RPGs are a source of constant joy to me, and of course they're the focus of most of my waking hours.
ReplyDeleteBut one constant note of sadness is how much I miss gaming magazines.
We still have a fairly thriving fanzine scene, of course (both electronic and otherwise), but the loss of RPG magazines in the professional sense is the one I feel most keenly of all the hobby's little losses over the years.
Let's not forget Knights of the Dinner Table Magazine. It's not the old Dragon, but it's not bad.
ReplyDeleteStill, I generally agree. How cool was Dragon?
The old Dragon was awesome! You could find articles on any game, whether it was from TSR or not. Those were the days.
ReplyDeleteAnd also the The Space Gamer!
Obligatory "I miss the old White Dwarf whinge"!
ReplyDeleteThat chart might also come in useful for a globetrotting Call of Cthulhu adventure.
Ha ha - Canberra makes it to the list of the top 100 interesting?/exciting?/espionagy? cities in the world. Most Australians would scoff at the notion, but anyone who's lived there knows better. I'd like to think that this is an ordered list, so Canberra comes in 40 spots above Sydney.
ReplyDeleteOld Dragons are great. I still read mine and I haven't gamed in 20 years. (my verification word is "flart" - awesome!)
Did they happen to print the stats for the Bat-winged Frogs in there?
ReplyDeleteDo you guys remember the Top Secret module Dragon ran back in the day?
ReplyDeleteI recall it involved scuba diving past some mines to get into a villain's lair.
That was Dr Yes
ReplyDelete