Dragon #278

Alright, the last Dragon Magazine of the year 2000, and as you can see from the cover, this is a dwarf-centric issue. Multiple articles about dwarves, so let's dive right in, shall we?

And right off the bat, I discover that someone actually cut a page out of this magazine. Or maybe two. Yes, it's two; the first page is the table of contents, which is actually page 5. All I'm missing is the initial ad for a Dragonlance book, as well as the unlettered cover art page. Too bad. Still, I have the rest of the magazine; it doesn't look like any other ads were cut out. At least, I hope not.

So, a quick look at the TOC shows no fewer than eight articles about dwarves here. Well, that's certainly thematic. But they don't start until page 40, so we've got a ways to go before we get to them. The first thing is Dave Gross' editorial, which of course is about dwarves. Specifically, 'reinventing' them. Well, I suppose not everyone wants to play a Gimli clone. It's not anything extreme like making dwarves a twisted, evil race that dwells at the center of the earth and plotting to take over the surface. Although that would be a cool campaign idea. No, this is just little things like giving dwarves cultural quirks through gameplay; the example given is that dwarves like 'mustard pastries'. Um...yuck. But then, I'm not a dwarf.

Yep, they definitely didn't cut out any more ads. I almost wish they had; there's a SIX PAGE ad for a single video game called 'sacrifice' that I never heard of. I really hope it did well, though, considering how much they must have shelled out to get six whole pages to advertise it.

Scale Mail is next, which is mostly discussions about the new look of the game and the magazine. However, it also includes four of those 'Power Plays' that have appeared in earlier issues in Sage Advice. Things like a barbarian raging with a bull's strength spell on him and the Great Cleave feat; as they say, total carnage, and it's unlikely anything will be left standing at the end of this nightmare. Or a human monk (2nd level) with an 18 Dex and Weapon Focus and Finesse (unarmed strike), plus the Flurry of Blows ability, which means they attack twice a round with a +8 to hit bonus. Impressive. It's actually a little scary how quickly people are coming up with ideas to min-max the game already.

This month's Preview is Julie Martin, who was an editor for Wizards (and earlier, TSR) who worked mostly on the Forgotten Realms setting, working on the Volo's Guides as well as the deity books from 2nd edition. Her main contribution to 3rd edition was as an editor of the core rules, also adding a few bits and pieces here and there such as the example gems and art objects in the Dungeon Master's Guide Treasure tables. I'd never heard of her, but she's obviously an important cog in the 3rd edition wheel.

Nodwick gets in on the issue's theme and gets pummeled by a dwarf without any assistance from his employers. Well, variety is the spice of life.

More ads, and previews. I forgot to mention the Diablerie, which is basically a conversion of the awesome Diablo II video game to 3rd edition D&D rules. Yeah, I'm not touching that one. Not even in PDF. When they boast about having over a million magic items, it's just going to be the same random tables that create the Diablo II magic items in-game. No, thanks.

The Hero Builder's Guide has already been covered. The other two items, Caves of Shadow and The Fright at Tristor, don't get mentioned in the previews at all; I can understand why for Tristor, since it was a Living Greyhawk product and thus part of the RPGA family, but Caves of Shadow was a product that looks like it tied in with the Dungeons & Dragons Adventure Box Set from way back in the beginning. I'm surprised it doesn't get mentioned. I'll do a review of that one later on.

Our Forgotten Realms countdown continues with a look at the new Regional Feats, which are feats that can only be taken if your character is from a certain region or city. There are a few here, such as Discipline (bonuses to Will saves and Concentration checks), Luck of Heroes (bonuses to all saves), and Treetopper (bonuses to Climb checks and retain your Dex bonus to AC while climbing), which are all available to characters from Aglarond. Not Waterdeep, not Cormyr...just Aglarond. Of course, no one would dream of abusing that restriction, right?

We also get a hint or glimpse at the idea of Epic-Level abilities, which might be discussed in the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting when it's released. We shall see. Finally, the ability adjustments and other racial skills for the different subraces of dwarves and gnomes are included. (Look! More dwarf stuff!)

Dork Tower takes us to the lovely world of gaming cons. PC Portraits gives us...you guessed it, dwarves. And, speaking of dwarves...

We finally get to the special articles, starting with A Short History of Dwarves. This covers dwarves in literature. Not in-game, but real-world. Dwarves such as Rumplestiltskin and Alberich of the Ring of the Nibelung are name-dropped, and the origins of the dwarven characteristics we are all so familiar with are explored. For example, the idea of dwarves being underground blacksmiths of incredible ability comes from The Prose Edda, an old Icelandic myth cycle. Fairy tales involving dwarves are briefly looked at, and we get some info on the dark dwarves, the Duergar. We also get a recommended reading list that would be quite handy if you want to really emphasize dwarves in your game. Not a bad article, although it has no game application.

Next up is something that definitely has some game application: A Dwarven Lexicon. We get a long list of words in both the Common tongue (English) and Dwarvish. We also get a lesson in dwarven grammar, as well as several examples of how it works. Not too shabby, and I note that the author is Sean K. Reynolds, who did plenty of work on demihuman linguistics in this magazine's run. I approve.

Next, we have a dwarven battle-cry generator. Well, that's handy. Like the inns and taverns or the businesses from the Dragon Annual, this gives us plenty of tables to roll on, along with 20 stock phrases to populate with the results from the tables. As a result, we get battle cries such as 'My hammer seeks your destruction!', or 'Face the might of the Dwarf-Father!' Not bad, and I don't see too many ways to make the battle cry silly from the tables, so bonus points there. I would definitely be using this if I was playing a dwarf.

Forge and Hammer, the Secret Life of Dwarves follows. This, again, isn't a crunch article; it's entirely fluff. But it's good fluff for dwarves, giving a lot of information on how dwarven children grow up, rites of passage for maturing dwarves, the naming process for dwarves, courtship and marriage, fostering fees for apprentices, dwarven professions, and more. A very helpful article if you want to get into a dwarf-style campaign, or just get into the mood of playing a dwarf.

And that takes us past the halfway mark of the magazine, so I'll cut it short here and complete the rest of the magazine next time. Until then, The fists of might are upon you!