PixlBit

 Continuing my obsession with Dragon Magazine. These are my notes to the articles within.

                             

Note 5: The very first words in this magazine say this: "Has it ever occurred to you how much big-time football resembles a fantasy adventure game?" I had to laugh because she means, "how much it is like D&D". I could only think about Fantasy Football as it is "played" today by millions of people and not at all like a medieval age adventure.

The "fantasy football" in this issue is a full pen and paper game, Monsters of the Midway. It is more like Mutant League Football for the Genesis than today's Fantasy Football. It's just regular football rules but with D&D monsters as players.

                              

I don't know where the artist for this gets off giving an orc two heads. I couldn't find that character on the cardboard player sheets included either. Still, it's neato! Look at that Hydra referee!

Note 6: A really interesting article by Forgotten Realms creator Ed Greenwood was, Law of the Land, about legal systems and how you might handle them in your campaigns. He mentions that D&D play "occurs in a quasi-feudal society that is perhaps best described as 'romantic Medieval', spiced with enough individual freedom to account for widespread trade, party and individual adventuring, strife, and the bearing of arms." He goes on to argue this ideal environment can make most adventures too similar and boring and that limiting factors like local customs and legal systems can make for a more realistic and interesting game. I thought it interesting to read how the reality of medieval society differs from the game world and how you might account for that in a D&D adventure.

Note 7: At the end of the issue are two reviews for computer games that got me all excited: Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord and Richard Garriott's Akalabeth. The review for Wizardry by Bruce Humphrey was glowing and repeated something I always enjoyed about the game, "Generating characters can be a game in itself." Rolling up a unique set of characters to go adventuring with was half the fun of the game.

Akalabeth was Ultima creator Richard "Lord British" Garriott's first game and it got a pretty harsh review from Mr. Humphrey. His final words were, "A veteran role-player will laugh off the program quickly and return to his AD&D manuals." No one compares role playing video games to D&D anymore, that's for sure, but in these early days, every fantasy adventure game on computer would have to measure up to the D&D experience. Let's watch The Spoony One review this game.

                       

                                      Darn those Gremlins, always stealing food!

The last computer game reviewed was Crush, Crumble and Chomp. This time you roll-play a monster from the monster movies like Godzilla or King Kong and have to destroy as much of the city as possible and stay alive as the military tries to stop you. It gets a glowing review from Mr. Humphrey, let's take a look.

                      

Neat! This reminds me of the PS2 game War of the Monsters, but there you fight other player controlled monsters within a destructible city. 

And that's it for Dragon #65 notes. What an issue! Lots of great thought provoking articles and a review of my favorite video game of all time, Wizardry!