Dragon 359

[The Giamarga]

Dragon 359 has some Ravenloft material. Strahd is among the Top 20 Villains, Ezra in Forgotten Faiths.

Does anbody have this already? I'd like to hear more esp about the second article...

[LordGodefroi]

Dragon 359 has some Ravenloft material. Strahd is among the Top 20 Villains, Ezra in Forgotten Faiths.

Does anbody have this already? I'd like to hear more esp about the second article...

I've been looking for it. Has it hit the newsstands yet ? From what I gather from the link you posted, the subscribers have received theirs but no one else indicated they bought theirs off the rack.

[Catman Jim]

It's not out in my area yet, I looked for it tonight.

[Matthew L. Martin]

Picked it up this weekend. Strahd is the top villain; like all the villains, he gets a basic biography (and artwork that looks much more like the classic version than the EtCR one) and a piece of game material--3.5E writeup of Strahd's skeletal steed. The article also acknowledges Soth and Vecna's stays in the Dread Realms. The Ezra material is a summation of the BoS/3E material with a slight difference in domains--she's given Good, Law, Protection, and Healing.

And while the Secrets of D&D article talks about the Dark Powers, it doesn't answer who or what they are.

[cure]

Who is the author?

[Matthew L. Martin]

Who is the author?

For the "Class Acts: Divine: Forgotten Faiths" article? F. Wesley Schneider . . . who had articles in the Book of Secrets, Book of Shadows, and Book of Sacrifices.

"1d20 Villains" was by Jason Bulmahn, James Jacobs, Mike McArtor, Erik Mona, F. Wesley Schneider, Todd Stewart and Jeremy Walker. The new Strahd art's by John Gravato--and he and Tiamat look to be the only villains in that article who got new art.

"Unsolved Mysteries of D&D" is compiled by the editors. I forgot to mention that it brings up the Serpent, too, although again, it leaves the question unanswered. (Theories put forth for the Serpent are the embodiment of magic, one of the Elders/Ancient Brethren, Asmodeus, or Vecna's own genius/insanity.)

[LordGodefroi]

No Dragon 359 in Wichita, Kansas yet.

[Joël of the FoS]

Not arrived here yet either...

---

But I got an email from Paizo saying they shipped the first issue of Pathfinder (what replaces Dragon mag, and Dungeon mag), and that I could download a PDF version of it.

I browsed quickly throught the PDF (I prefer to read actual books), and I found a new critter, the Attic whisperer :

The thing in the corner of the attic resembles an emaciated child.
It is a gray, forgotten remnant with cobwebs and dust covering the
leering, fox skull that serves as its head. In tiny, claw-like hands it
grasps a stuffed child’s toy—a ratty dolly with pins in its eyes. Worse
are the voices, the calling whispers that haunt the air, filling it with
nursery rhymes, sobbing, and laughing at the same time, as if the air
around the creature were alive with lost invisible children.

It's some kind of a cross between a children undead and a bogeyman. Fun idea!

Joël

[Jonathan Winters]

Hey Joël!

Reading actual books?!?!?
Wow, you really must be old...

Actually, just reading books period seems to be going out of style lately...
But I digress.

How would you rate Pathfinder at first glance?
I am really on the fence about this one. Expensive, but I really like Paizo and Eric Mona.

Patrick

[Joël of the FoS]

Hey Joël!

Reading actual books?!?!?
Wow, you really must be old...

Actually, just reading books period seems to be going out of style lately...
But I digress.

I mean it's easier and much more portable than a computer screen And you can add notes and all. A book is a wonderful technology!

How would you rate Pathfinder at first glance?
I am really on the fence about this one. Expensive, but I really like Paizo and Eric Mona.

Patrick

I've just browsed through the PDFs, didn't really read the text. The look is OK, with the art a bit cartoonish. I should be able to say more in a week or two, when I receive it and read it.

Joël

[Jonathan Winters]

A book is a wonderful technology!

One of the funniest lines in a while!

Yet so true.

Thanks for the reply!

Pat P

[Catman Jim]

Picked it up this weekend. Strahd is the top villain; like all the villains, he gets a basic biography (and artwork that looks much more like the classic version than the EtCR one) and a piece of game material--3.5E writeup of Strahd's skeletal steed. The article also acknowledges Soth and Vecna's stays in the Dread Realms. The Ezra material is a summation of the BoS/3E material with a slight difference in domains--she's given Good, Law, Protection, and Healing.

And while the Secrets of D&D article talks about the Dark Powers, it doesn't answer who or what they are.

Finally got the issue; Strahd also appears in the final Dragon magazine "Nodwick" comic strip.

[Matthew L. Martin]

Finally got the issue; Strahd also appears in the final Dragon magazine "Nodwick" comic strip.

Forgot about that. Callback to his appearance in the strip in DRAGON #264.

Acererak, Lolth, and Zuggtmoy show up as well, along with their fiendish master . . .



Gary Gygax.

[Wiccy of the Fraternity]

Nowhere near me carries Dragon anymore and they can't seem to be able to get it in either which is really annoying

[LordGodefroi]

Considering the price tag is $11 and Paizo's own web-page said 'super-sized issue,' I was pissed to find a standard page count issue on the newsstand. So, I haven't bought the issue yet and, unless the issue is advert-free, I'm not sure if I will.