Wednesday, September 4, 2013

White Dwarf Wednesday #78

Big changes are in store for White Dwarf in issue #78.  But first a point of reference.  When I started these so long ago they were meant as a retrospective.  That is going to get harder here on out since I didn't own any of these issues when they first came out and some I didn't even own till I started doing this and found the gaps in my collection.  So that makes a retrospective a little harder to do really.  So instead of out and out reviews or "read mes" I am going to focus on what I know was going on at the time.  These last 20 or so issues might even go by pretty quick if I choose to double up on them near the end.
So let's get into it.

Issue #77 takes White Dwarf to their new address and new team.  The cover is different too. Still the same price, but now it reads "GAMES WORKSHOP PRESENTS" instead of "THE ROLE-PLAYING GAMES MONTHLY".  Not a subtle reminder.
The editorial/toc page is resigned as well.  While Paul Cockburn, late of Imagine is the new editor, it's a familiar name on the editorial, Ian Livingstone.  Said editorial is just saying what I have said here.

Open Box gets a facelift and some color.  Among other things the */10 rating is now gone.
Covered is B/X1 Night's Dark Terror module for D&D and DL11 Dragons of Glory Play-aid for AD&D.  The treat in this batch is a look at Cthulhu by Gaslight by Chaosium for Call of Cthulhu.  This book became something of a Holy Grail for me back in the late 80s.  I loved Victorian gaming even then so this seemed like the perfect game to me.

Dave Langford takes over a redesigned Critical Mass.  Notable is the review for Gygax's own "Artifact of Evil".  Noting that it is nothing more than an adventure writeup and commenting on the "brutalities visited on the English language.

Graeme Drysdale looks into coming back from the dead in AD&D.
Wow. a bad review for Gygax and bringing characters back to life? This is not the Grognard's White dwarf anymore.

The Pilocomayo Project is an adventure for Golden Heroes.  I can't comment on the adventure but the NPC "Powerchord" a rocker turned super could be fun to use.  Mr. Magic is just a poor-mans Zatara.

After that we get an adventure for Judge Dredd, The Sprung Ones.

Fracas is the new rumors or news department.

The rest are mostly ads.

Ok. Not a great issue by any stretch of the imagination.

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