The cover art to me always looked like a painting of miniature figure than the typical fantasy painting. Not sure why.
Paul Cockburn discusses how hard at work the WD staff have been and how next month will be bigger magazine, 8 more pages, with no extra ads and no extra charge.
Open box kicks off with the D&D Immortals set. Graeme Davis calls it an interesting and well thought out addition to the D&D rules, but not an indispensable one. The infamous Warlock of Firetop Mountain Boardgame is reviewed. Infamous at least to me since I have always wanted to try it out but can never get my hands on one and they go for big bucks at my local auction. Spawn of Azathoth for Call of Cthulhu is next. Peter Green says it has some nice ideas but lacks the "Oommph" that would make it a classic. The 2nd Edition of ICEs Middle Earth Role-Playing is also covered. Graham Stapplehurst calls it a better introduction to new players. I will admit to not knowing very much about the 2nd edition. Continuing on the 3rd page we get a new idea, GURPS Basic Set from Steve Jackson games. Marcus Rowland calls it ambitious but can't recommend it. We also get a number Open Box "Quickies": Cities by Chaosium, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures, Revised Recon, Talisman the Adventure and Introduction to Star Fleet Battles.
Big two page ad for Warhammer Fantasy.
Critical Mass covers the Postman before Kevin Costner got a hold of it. More interesting to me is the review of William Gibson's Burning Chrome. Funny how Gibson's work is looked at these days. 28 years ago it was science fiction, today the review sounds more like the review of a modern day spy novel.
A Day in the Life Sector 255 is a Judge Dredd "Patrol Adventure". Reading this over I get a much better idea of how the game should work. I have no idea if this is a good adventure or not, but it is unique and it tracks with what little I know about Judge Dredd. Followed by a strategically placed ad. I might need to give this game a try one day.
20/20 Vision covers some movies. In particular is a favorite of mine, Big Trouble in Little China. This would make for a great game and I have though so for years. Of course the best system to use for this is the Army of Darkness RPG with Jack Burton taking the "Schmuck" Quality. Aliens is also reviewed. Saw that movie a hundred times at least. Vasquez and Hudson would late make appearances in my big end-game mentioned above as Katrine and Kiev, two fighters that hated each other in the roster of NPCs I created for the war. They died fighting side by side and were recorded as having loved each other. The idea was I'd use them to haunt other characters as ghosts until their bodies were separated in their shared tomb.
Up next is a Paranoia adventure. Paranoia is a game I can only take in small doses. After a while the jokes get really thin with me.
Carl Sargent goes over the costs and the role-playing of training between levels. The central thesis here is that with the advent of the "new" proficiency system that training between levels is more important than ever before. I get what he is saying here and it was certainly something "in the water" back then. I remember our group suddenly becoming very aware of training and no longer leveling up midst-game, but only after games. We did spend some time seeking out trainers, which became interesting when our characters were in the 30th level range (it was the 80s) and we did not know anyone higher level. Sargent's system is very detailed but for me these days I prefer something a little simpler.
The Crude, The Bad and The Rusty is a Warhammer Battle and it is up next. I have no experience to judge this one by. It has a set up and a map. Maybe that is all you need? I think it is. I do *GET* why games like Warhammer are popular and by that extension any war game with minis. Then I never had the money to put into these games properly and now I don't have the time or the skills at painting to do it right.
Everything Went Black has some rule options for Call of Cthulhu. House rules mostly.
Up next our Warhammer Fantasy/AD&D adventure. The Black Knight is an interesting beast. As a Warhammer Fantasy adventure it seems to have more dungeon delving than I normally associate with WF. As an AD&D adventure, more fighting. I guess that is fitting when you think about it. Course it has me wondering was a Warhammer/Tunnels & Trolls adventure might be like.
Psionic Combat expands on the Psionic articles from WD #79. I have always wanted a good psionic or even magical battle system. This one is good, but no where near simple. D&D combat is simple really, even AD&D. Roll your d20 and see what happens. That is a feature of the game. Psionic/magical combat should be the same. This one isn't but it certainly works with the bolted on psionics system in AD&D1. I will admit I am not a fan of mixing my psionics and magic.
Ads...Thrud...'Eavy Metal. The pages for Eavy Metal are not in color which strikes me as odd. Granted nothing is painted in this one so maybe they were saving the color pages...for the Wilderness Survival Guide ad.
More ads. The letters page has a splash of color. Odd.
Fracas covers Games Day 86.
We end with ads.
Again, not a terrible issue, and actually a good one. We are getting into the age where the complexity of AD&D is beginning to weigh it down. More books, more optional rules more opinions.
Not a mention of Traveller or Runequest really. Though AD&D and Call of Cthulhu rule the roost still, other games like Judge Dredd and Warhammer are seeing more and more space. While I knew players trying out Warhammer and Paranoia at this time, not really anyone one in my little corner of the world was playing Judge Dredd.
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