Just got Dragon 315 - Campaign Classics

[Kobold Avenger]

I'll eventually get this issue once it actually arrives in stores...

But exactly what's in the next article? I know there's supposed to be another preview of the Expanded Psionics Handbook, but what else is there supposed to be?

 

[thalmin]

Dragon #315 should be in stores now.

The preview of Dragon #316 - Espionage should contain:
Campaign Components: Spies (espionage elements in every game); Spies Like Us (stealth strategies for every character); Smoke and Mirrors (using divination spells); I Scry (magic gear used for spying); Cloak and Dagger (more spy eqiupment); plus Countdown to Eberron #2; Expanded Psionics #2; Elminster's Guide to the Realms; Under Command; Faiths of Faerun; and fiction by Thomas Harlan.

 

[ruleslawyer]

One would think that they did plenty with just the issue, no?

Don't despair too much. Here is what they say about Spelljammer's absence.

"We tried very hard to get Spelljammer into this issue. Truly one of the classic campaigns. Spelljammer deserves a place of honor. Unfortunately, events conspired against us. We might offer a Spelljammer article or two in the future. ..."

Keep also in mind that Paizo did get us an entire issue of Polyhedron dedicated to Spelljammer! A somewhat different setting (and, actually, one I quite like), but at the very least, new mechanics and a framework for extending SJ into 3e!

 

[Achan hiArusa]

I hope they have cannibal halflings and muls

Pretty much, I and almost everyone who I know who played Dark Sun (which has been three different gaming groups with three very different demographics) just payed a passing glance to the Psionics. For my theater and humanities majors it was the campaign setting, for my anime freaks it was the cannibal halflings and muls, and for my video gamers it is (sigh) the sheer power they can amass in the setting (which was balanced by the fact that no matter how much they munchkined it, they still got their butts kicked). Most players I know rarely used their wild talent, even when it was something very useful.

As for phlogiston and crystal spheres, none of these three groups liked the concept. It ranged from "that is so unscientific" (which included my theater majors) to those who just hated the flow because you really couldn't do much while you were in it. Most mages in my game were pyromaniacs, and if there was an encounter the clerics were useless (generally they were sitting at the helm). So I ended up ditching the whole thing in favor of a "hyperdrive" which phased them with astral space, thus multiplying interstellar speeds by x365,000, allowing a speed of 0.6c per SR (I ignore relativistic effects). The fun part was the ships flying in space (which still ticks off my computer programming friend who thinks the entire premise is retarded).

Edit: I almost forgot about the blue collared workers (Bob, Bishop, Mike, and Gyro), but we never played either game, so I can't tell you what they're attitudes were.

Its kind of cool that so many different types of people play D&D, isn't it.

 

[Ranger REG]

CP:

Is DragonFist going to be d20-compatible? I was pretty let down by the kung-fu fighting rules in Oriental Adventures, to be honest and was looking to use something for my Forgotten Realms/Kara-Tur campaign.

So far, Chris Pramas is mum about Dragon Fist. On the Green Ronin's messageboards, a lot of people are expressing that it should be MnM compatible, and there are some of us that prefer it to be d20 (with or without the label).

I don't know if I fully agree with you regarding the martial arts fighting styles in OA. Granted, they should devote more pages to it (if they remove Rokugan), including how to make more style mastery. But I did like the concept.

 

[Olive]

So, any details on the Sha'ir class?

 

[Ranger REG]

Its kind of cool that so many different types of people play D&D, isn't it.

It's cool to me, but not to certain types of people. Sad to say, but there is a level of elitism within the D&D community.

 

[Nightfall]

It's cool to me, but not to certain types of people. Sad to say, but there is a level of elitism within the D&D community.

Yeah this is why I'm glad I play AU.

 

[Staffan]

It already has that. It's called the Rock of Bral, along with campaign specifics such as the Unhuman Wars, the Astromundi Cluster, the Vodoni Empire, and even the Spelljammer itself. What you're talking about is the classic misconception that SJ's detractors always mistakenly tout - SJ was more than just a mish-mash of the existing campaign worlds; they were the icing on the cake, not the cake itself.

I am a Spelljammer fan, but I think that a big reason that it failed was precisely that the core box set it up as a way to connect the three main settings, rather than as its own thing. There's a lot of stuff in the core box about Krynnspace, Greyspace and Realmspace - not just the descriptions of the spheres themselves, but making tinker gnomes a big part of the setting as well as having specific fleets from nations on those planets. Later books went more toward establishing its own identity, but it was too little, too late.

They probably realized that when they made Planescape. There's not much at all in the core Planescape box on using it with other settings - it's all about the Planes.

 

[Alzrius]

I am a Spelljammer fan, but I think that a big reason that it failed was precisely that the core box set it up as a way to connect the three main settings, rather than as its own thing. There's a lot of stuff in the core box about Krynnspace, Greyspace and Realmspace - not just the descriptions of the spheres themselves, but making tinker gnomes a big part of the setting as well as having specific fleets from nations on those planets. Later books went more toward establishing its own identity, but it was too little, too late.

I won't say you're wrong, but that doesn't mean that the setting itself needs to be massively overhauled. A relaunch could keep all of that and just retool itself to not be so focused on the existing campaigns.

One of the problems there is that you can't just spend all of your (characters') time in space...it'd be like having sea-faring characters who never sailed into port. Spelljamming characters have to make land-fall on a planet sometime, and then it becomes rather hard not to mention that the other game worlds' planets are out there.

Another aspect of SJ that seems to be largely ignored is that it often got seen as an extension of a planet-side campaign. Realms characters could get a spelljammer and never want to leave their sphere, or even go too far from their planet. For them, spelljamming was just Forgotten Realms in the sky, etc.

To sum it up, I don't think that SJ needs to be as massively cut-back as that mini-game "Spelljammer Lite" had it, but it might not be a bad idea (were it reintroduced) to retool where the focus of the campaign lies.