![]() I was going to mark Games Unplugged downfor this, I mean perhaps a half page or one page with picture but a twopage spread, until I noticed (because I was looking for it) teeny tinylettering (so small it made C&S 1's font look like large print) at thebottom of each page declaring that its true advertising status. Thissection is interrupted by adverts, not least of one is a two page spreadfrom Chessex about Dice, extolling their virtues as a source of dice andtheir commitment to quality. The list of"Hot Products" for GenCon has a rating NOT by how good a product isexpected to be, but by how popular a purchase it is expected to be. This "inside and positive" Film mag approach is continued in a designnote section later on by Robin Laws, but when you know its the authortalking about his own game you can make allowances for it. ![]() As a long standing non-player of TSR/WoTC products I don'tdemand a hatchet job, but more of a mention about some of thecontroversy surrounding this new release, the OFFICIAL return to a morehack 'n' slash related game and the D20/Open Game Licence debate, evenif only mentioned in a boxout would have been, I feel, more balanced asa piece of news, as it is it reads more like an infomercial. ![]() This is not written by a WoTCemployee but it is nevertheless a very favourable and mostly uncriticalarticle in the style of a film magazine article rather than a RPGpreview. ![]() The "Entertainment Weekly" approach is evident as soon as you startreading the articles, the first, by Editor-in-Chief Tony Lee, concernsWizard of the Coast's new D&D 3rd edition. As I writeevents have already rendered some information obsolete, as Last UnicornGames (producers of the eagerly awaited "Dune" RPG) have been bought byWizards of the Coast (WoTC) and the status of that game placed in somedoubt. Living too much of my life on-line I recognize many of the news items asstories that have floated around mailing lists and newsgroups recently,but the items are fairly up to date given the nature of magazineschedules and the off-line folk won't have seen them anyway. They even have an "Ask the Pro" sectionso that us drooling fanboys can ask designers the sort of questions weusually reserve for actors in long running SF/F series. a guy I know) toldme that they are happy to leave that kind of market to any othermagazine that wants to try it. This is an rpg related magazine ratherthan an rpg magazine as we know it, a contributor has compared it to"Entertainment Weekly" and one industry insider (i.e. Noscenarios, campaign hints, encounters or anything actually related tothe playing part of roleplaying. The magazine is news, reviews, articles and one cartoon strip. There are a few typos here and there, but not so muchas to hit the reader in the eye. Firstimpressions are reasonable, the layout is adequate, and the printing ofcolour under text is restricted to boxouts and in no place detracts fromthe text itself. Like Shadis and the laterDragons it is printed on lightweight paper, but it seems sturdy enoughfor the purpose to have survived three weeks in my possession. This is the first issue of the only US RPG magazine, apart from Dragon,that I've seen since Shadis shut up shop. GAMES UNPLUGGED #1 DYNASTY PRESENTATIONS 64 pages including adverts $3.99, £3.00
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