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.

30 Day D&D Challenge, Day 4: Favorite Game World

Day 4: Favorite Game World

Mine is a tie.  My first and nearest to my heart was "The Known World" later called Mystara. But I quickly adopted Greyhawk.  So when I ran games it was Mystara, but playing it was Greyhawk.  Around 1986 or so my then DM and I decided to merge our worlds.  We called "Oerth 3", not very original I know.
Many years later I discovered this map by Chatdemon based on an idea by James Mishler.  It was exactly what I was trying to do.  Plus this map was so much better than mine.

So my favorite game world of all time is Mystoerth!

30 Day D&D Challenge, Day 3: Favorite Playable Class

Day 3: Favorite Playable Class

Well this one is no surprise.  The Witch.
I started out playing clerics and paladins which was fun.  I did indeed play the cleric like Van Helsing (all those Hammer films).  But for me the Witch was always the best of both the Cleric and the Wizard with a bit  of dark anima as well.  I wrote my first witch class close to 30 years ago and I am not tired of playing them yet!

30 Day D&D Challenge, Day 2: Favorite Playable Race

Day 2: Favorite Playable Race

This one is easy, if predictable. I prefer to play humans.  I just always felt that despite all the perk the other races got, humans still got the best deal.  Plus in the days of AD&D humans were the only race that had unlimited advancement.  Also in the AD&D1 days I liked Dual Classes.  I had a number of characters that started out as one thing and then went on to be something else.  I liked the character building implications.

If I were to pick a second favorite it would be half-elf.

30 Day D&D Challenge, Day 1: How You Got Started

Day 1: How You Got Started

I got started in 1979. I was in "silent reading" and a buddy had a copy of the new AD&D Monster Manual.  WOW. IT blew my mind.  I loved mythology and had already read everything in the library on Greek and Roman myths.  Seeing all the same creatures, plus demons, devils and things I never heard of.
After that I looked for the rules, but to no avail.  It wasn't until I got a hold of a badly xeroxed copy of Holmes D&D.  The rest was as they say history.
Around this very same time I discovered the Hobbit, having seen it recently on TV.  I was in the right place at the right time for this to happen.  Like many my "first" D&D was a combination of Basic and Advanced. Still today that is the same experience I look for in D&D. Also recapturing that thrill of first holding that Monster Manual in 5th grade.

Zatannurday: The Fishnets Brigade

It looks like the oft-rumored Zatanna-Black Canary team-up is going to happen.
The news comes from Paul Dini himself.

Here is the link,
http://comicsalliance.com/black-canary-zatanna-graphic-novel-preview-paul-dini-joe-quinones-announcement/

And here is the awesome Joe Quinones cover.  Yup. These are the pre-52 continuity.

Black Canary is another fave of mine so I am really looking forward to this one.   Visit the link above to see more great art.  I am looking forward to the background story of when Zee and Canary were younger.  Plus seeing a pre-dead John Zatarra (and not brought back to life) is also fun.

Dini will do a great job. He is the only guy that loves Zatanna more than me.

Sucks I have to wait till May 2014.

The Quests of the Ancients / Forgotten Realms connection

I just discovered something neat.

A character from this:

Makes an appearance in this:

Raven TenTolliver, the woman on the QoA cover in the dark cloak, is also known as Rhiannon and Whisper.

According to a source I just found she is supposed to look like Victoria Principle.  That's cool I can get behind that.

I'll have to investigate some more!