Phlegmatic - More White Dwarf

I appreciate that this isn't of interest to most of you. I'm recording this as much for my own reference as anything.



Issue 26
An article on "Space Travel in AD&D" by Marcus L. Rowland. I happened across his LJ account the other day (ffutures - he's on the friends list of at least one of you). Traveller Book 5 'High Guard' (second edition) reviewed (9 out of 10). There's a letter from Don Turnbull (craetor of Monstermark and by then head of TSR UK) praising Roger Musson's 'Dungeon Architect' articles. This was bridge-building, after Gary Gygax had slagged off an earlier Musson article.
Traveller scenario "Amber to Red" was the winning entry in a Traveller scenario design competition - and was set in the official Traveller universe, a first for a WD scenario.

Issue 27
Citadel's advert on page 6 includes the announcement of their new range of official Traveller miniatures in 15mm. Conventional wisdom at the time was that SF game miniatures needed to be very small scale because of weapon ranges. 15mm scale is too small to easily paint, so fortunately, this silliness has now largely disappeared.
Reviews of Star Trek space combat game 'Star Fleet Battles', Deluxe Traveller (basically Traveller with an introductory booklet and a small adventure in a slightly nicer box) and the first of Games Workshop's own officially licensed Traveller products 'IISS Ship Files'.

Issue 28
Advert on page 7 for a shop selling what it calls "personalised computers", that is, Acorn Atoms, Sharp MZ 80Ks and Atari 400s and 800s. Reviews include the AD&D 'Fiend Folio' (including many monsters from White Dwarf), and Ley Sector, Library Data A-M and Marooned / Marooned Alone for Traveller. Interesting how in this era, there are more Traveller products being reviewed than D&D or AD&D.
A critical hit system for Traveller. An AD&D science fiction scenario 'Operation Counterstrike' by ffutures. There's a letter complaining about the trend of releasing more and more expensive supplements and the accompanying pressure from fellow gamers to own them. The back cover is a TSR advert. One of the products is the Basic D&D scenario 'Palace of the Silver Princess'. This module was the first TSR product to be written by a woman, but was later withdrawn because of internal concerns over one piece of artwork. This was a drawing of a fully clothed female character captured and being threatened by tribesmen in a dungeon.

Issue 29
Big advert on page 6 for a 'Treasure Trap', a live-action RPG based at Peckforton Castle in Cheshire. "You've fantasy role-played on the table...NOW PLAY FOR REAL!" Wikipedia identifies this as the UK's first LARP. A serious article 'Designing a Quasi-Medieval Society for D&D'. Traveller still featuring strongly in the reviews section with 'SORAG' and 'Fifth Frontier War' ("On the bottom of the box it claims it is playable 'in 4 to 6 hours'...From my one experience of play, with a war I would describe as short, it took 11 hours to complete, not counting setting up (about one and a half hours). I'm not knocking the game for being too long, I'm just saying don't believe what you read."
Good Traveller scenario "Weed War: Vinorian" which I seem to remember having run once. A letter asking for more coverage of "micro-computers" in the magazine and their "applications in Fantasy / Science Fiction wargaming". "...but don't ignore the Sinclair ZX-81; at £69.95 it's the most affordable micro-computer available (it's so good, we are selling it to the Japanese, a real turnabout!)".
An announcement in the news page that TSR had signed a deal with British Telecom to have D&D played over the Prestel network (remember Prestel?)

Issue 30
Signs of the hobby becoming mainstream: Ian Livingstone's editorial mentions Mattel's 'Dungeons & Dragons computer labyrinth game'. "There is also, believe it or not, an AD&D colouring book!"
An article on androids in traveller. A review of the Thieves' World setting (a boxed set I should really try to buy at some point because one of the systems it was licensed for was Traveller, so strictly speaking it counts as a Traveller collectible). Reviews also of the superhero RPG 'Champions' and the Traveller wargame 'Invasion Earth' ("This game seems realistic. Unfortunately, I can't say I enjoyed it.")
An article on where to draw inspiration for Traveller campaigns suggests some unusual sources, including 'Training Dogs the Woodhouse Way', but doesn't expand on this idea. Something involving Vargr presumably.
The first advert for Oxford's famous game shop The Gameskeeper, on Cowley Road.