Drmg055, Dragon
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November 1981
Dragon
Dragon
Vol. VI, No. 5
Vol. VI, No. 5
November 1981
Publishing a magazine requires the
performance of a myriad of tasks be-
sides editing and typesetting, not the
least of which is complying with a go-
vernment regulation requiring the pub-
lishing of a form called “Statement of
Ownership, Management and Circula-
tion.” In order to keep our second-class
mailing permit, once a year about this
time we are required to show who owns
this magazine, who’s in charge, and what
our circulation is — not that any of these
things are great secrets, and indeed we
are quite proud of the information re-
produced at the bottom of this column.
DRAGON™ magazine is now far and
away the largest publication in the ad-
venture-gaming field. Credit for this must
go to Editor Kim Mohan, who performs
the Herculean task of insuring that there
is a DRAGON magazine each month,
and to you, the readers, who are buying
more copies of each issue than ever
before.
ber of our editorial staff. Also, lest it go
unnoticed and unrecorded, staff member
Marilyn Mays recently became a bride
and is now “officially” Marilyn Favaro.
(In order to keep from confusing her do-
zens of fans, Marilyn has elected to re-
tain her old name for professional pur-
poses.) Congratulations to both, and we
hope Gali’s career and Marilyn’s mar-
riage are both long and happy.
Publisher..
. . . . . . . . . . . . . Jake Jaquet
Editor-in-Chief..
. . . . . . . . . Kim Mohan
Editorial staff
. . . . . . . . . . . Bryce Knorr
Marilyn Mays
Gali Sanchez
Sales..
. . . . . . . . . . . . Debbie Chiusano
Circulation
. . . . . . . Corey Koebernick
Office staff
. . . . . . . . . . . . .Cherie Knull
Roger Raupp
Contributing editors. . . .
Roger Moore
Ed Greenwood
This issue’s contributing artists:
Erol Otus D. R. Elliott
James Holloway Don Penny
Thom Gillis
* * *
Brian Born
Harry Quinn
Bruce Whitefield
Even though Mr. Deadline is beating
on my office door and this piece of writ-
ing must be done in a matter of minutes, I
find myself staring out the window at the
trees of southern Wisconsin as they go
through their annual changing of the
hues. Soon, the snow will return to Lake
Geneva. Thanksgiving is on the way.
Then Christmas...
Christmas? Back to reality, Jake. Soon
we’ll all be inundated with radio, TV, and
print-media ads urging us to buy this doll
or that train set, or whatever. Well, we all
expect that. But something different is
happening this year.
Look in the Sears catalog, and you’ll
see DUNGEONS & DRAGONS® game
sets for sale. Watch the TV, and you’ll see
Mattel’s new D&D electronic computer
labyrinth game advertised. Can you be-
lieve it? Sears, Mattel, television, and ad-
venture role-playing in the same breath!
This is big time, folks. Those guys
don’t waste time and money on anything
less than a mass market that they think
they can make a buck on. Which means
that finally, finally, adventure role-play-
ing is becoming accepted by the general
public.
No more “What kind of a weird game is
that?” questions. No more “Dungeons
and what?" responses from store prop-
rietors. I remember a similar phenomen-
on about 20 years ago (Boy, does that
make me feel old), when a group of long-
haired musicians from England were “a
fad” and “weird.” And how, after about
their third gold album, the general public
started saying, “Maybe there is some-
thing to those Beatle characters....”
It’s been a long time coming.
Roger Raupp
David Trampier
Larry Elmore
Phil Foglio
DRAGON magazine is published monthly by
Dragon Publishing, a division of TSR Hobbies,
Inc. The mailing address of Dragon Publishing
is P.O. Box 110, Lake Geneva WI 53147; tele-
phone (414) 248-8044.
DRAGON magazine is available at hundreds
of hobby stores and bookstores throughout the
United States and Canada, and through a limit-
ed number of overseas outlets. The magazine
can be purchased directly from Dragon Publish-
ing by subscription. Rates are as follows, with all
payments to be made in advance: $24 for 12
issues sent to a U.S. or Canadian address; $50
U.S. for 12 issues sent via surface mail or $95 for
12 issues sent via air mail to any other country.
A limited quantity of certain back issues of
DRAGON magazine can be purchased directly
from the publisher by sending the cover price
plus $1.50 postage and handling for each issue
ordered. Payment in advance by check or mo-
ney order must accompany all orders. Payments
cannot be made through a credit card, and
orders cannot be taken nor merchandise “re-
served” by telephone. Neither an individual cus-
tomer nor an institution can be billed for a sub-
scription order or back-issue purchase unless
prior arrangements are made.
The issue of expiration for each subscription
is printed on the mailing label for each sub-
scriber’s copy of the magazine. Changes of ad-
dress for the delivery of subscriptions must be
received at least 30 days prior to the effective
date of the change in order to insure uninter-
rupted delivery.
All material published in DRAGON magazine
becomes the exclusive property of the publisher
upon publication, unless special arrangements
to the contrary are made prior to publication.
DRAGON magazine welcomes unsolicited sub-
missions of written material and artwork; how-
ever, no responsibility for such submissions can
be assumed by the publisher in any event.
Any
submission which is accompanied by a self-
addressed, stamped envelope of sufficient size
will be returned to the contributor if it cannot be
published.
DRAGON’” is a trademark for Dragon Publish-
ing’s monthly adventure playing aid. All rights
on the contents of this publication are reserved,
and nothing may be reproduced from it in whole
or in part without prior permission in writing
from the publisher. Copyright 1981 by TSR
Hobbies, Inc. USPS 318-790. ISSN 0279-6848.
Second class postage paid at Lake Geneva,
Wis., and at additional mailing offices.
* * *
In the “better late than later” depart-
ment, this is the time to “officially” wel-
come Gali Sanchez as the newest mem-
2
November 1981
Dragon
he highlights of DRAGON #55, to a veteran reader,
may well be the re-appearance of two authors
whose work hasn’t been in these pages for many
months. Those of you who have joined the ranks of
our readership in the last 11 months will be seeing
one of DRAGON’s specialties — a Niall of the Far Travels story
by Gardner Fox — for the first time. Gar hasn’t had a story
published since ’way back in #44 (our fault, not his), and the tale
that resumes the Niall series is, fittingly enough, the story of
Niall’s first adventure away from his homeland and how he came
to possess his great sword. “The Coming of the Sword” begins
with Thom Gillis’ full-page illustration on page 24.
Gary Gygax has been “gone” even longer than Gar Fox. It’s
been more than a year since the creator of the AD&D™ game and
former publisher of DRAGON has penned an edition of his
column, “From the Sorceror’s Scroll.” But there’s one inside
(page 17), and we have the promise of many more words to
come in the immediate future from the master of Dungeon
Masters.
So much for the triumphant returns. Now let’s take it from the
top: The cover painting you just got done looking at is an Erol
Otus original — and original is certainly the word for that bizarre
monster. Erol also provided the idea and the color art for the
devil spider, which leads off this edition of Dragon’s Bestiary.
All in all, this is perhaps the most colorful issue of DRAGON
magazine ever. You’ll find a small-size rendition of the cover of
the FIEND FOLIO™ Tome on page 6, leading off a short section
about the latest official AD&D volume. Contributing editor Ed
Greenwood and reader Alan Zumwalt offer their views on what’s
good and bad about the book, and FF editor Don Turnbull takes
the better part of a page to respond to their criticisms.
The next step along the way is Lawrence Schick’s essay on
revising the AD&D dinosaurs— unofficial recommendations on
how to change the creatures’ statistics to conform with new
Contents
scientific discoveries about the big lizards. (Or were they liz-
ards?) That feature is accompanied by a couple of striking
color plates from “The Dinosaurs,” a new release from Bantam
Books, and a review of that same book prepared by professional
literary critic Chris Henderson.
Katharine Kerr, a frequent contributor to our “Giants in the
Earth” column, is responsible for this month’s “celebrity charac-
ters” — none other than Robin Hood and all the other men of
Sherwood Forest, plus the nasty Sheriff of Nottingham.
The center eight pages of DRAGON #55 contain The Creature
of Rhyl, Kevin Knuth’s adventure for the D&D® Basic Set rules
which won second place in the Basic division of our Internation-
al Dungeon Design Contest. You need ingenuity, but not neces-
sarily a lot of playing experience, to overcome the obstacles this
adventure presents, which makes it ideally suited for beginning
players and player characters as well.
Also to be found inside are Pat Reinken’s courageous look at
the ways and means to conduct a successful escape, when
running away becomes the best course of action, and Jon Matt-
son’s multifaceted examination of the “skill” system in
Traveller.
Glenn Rahman, designer of the DIVINE RIGHT® game, des-
cribes famous monuments of the land in the latest installment of
“Minarian Legends,” and John Prados’ series on game design in
“Simulation Corner” continues with an examination of the con-
cept of “state of the art.”
Our review section covers a lot of bases — taking in the whole
Universe, not to mention the entire Third Reich, and a diverse
collection of other new products in the gaming marketplace.
Returning after a two-month absence (our fault, not Bill’s) is Bill
Fawcett’s “Figuratively Speaking” feature.
And just ahead of our usual hodgepodge of humor at the back
of the magazine, you’ll find “Da Letter.” If it isn’t the most inter-
esting communication we’ve ever received at this office, it’s in
the top two. — KM
SPECIAL ATTRACTIONS
The Creature of Rhyl — Second place winner,
Basic D&D® Division, IDDC II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
The Coming of The Sword — Latest Niall of the Far Travels
story from Gardner F. Fox . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
REGULAR OFFERINGS
Out on a Limb — Letters from readers. .................... 4
From the Sorceror’s Scroll — EGG returns ............... 17
The Electric Eye — Quiz answers ........................ 48
Minarian Legends — The monuments of Minaria .......... 56
Dragon’s Bestiary: Devil spider .......................... 59
Surchur .............................................. 60
Dyll .................................................. 61
Poltergeist
............................................ 62
Simulation Corner — Defining “state of the art” ........... 63
Dragon’s Augury
Universe — New SF role-playing game from SPI ........ 65
Third Reich — Old classic revised from AH ............. 66
Game accessories — Odds & ends from all over ........ 68
Figuratively Speaking — More miniatures ................ 70
Wormy ................................................. 78
What’s New ............................................ 79
Dragon Mirth ........................................... 80
OTHER FEATURES
FIEND FOLIO Findings
Bad taste didn’t go away — Ed Greenwood speaks out . . . 6
A semi-satisfied customer — Alan Zumwalt has his say. . . 8
Apologies and arguments — Turnbull tackles both . . . . . . 10
DINOSAURS
New theories for old monsters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
A book even T. rex would like . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
13
Robin Hood — AD&D™ portraits of Sherwood’s men . . . . . . 20
The many ways of getting away — Escape tactics . . . . . . . . . 50
Filling in skills — Variant Traveller system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
“Da Letter”
— From Larry Elmore to you . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
3
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