Drmg010, Dragon
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Vol. 2 No. 4
GenCon X is history now, and we around here are still recuperating. Elsewhere in this issue, you can find a more detailed analysis of the
four record-setting days we just had. GenCon X was the biggest wargame convention that has EVER been held, by anyone, anywhere.
This issue contains 36 pages, which is up four from the old size. The extra four this issue were used for the SNITS board.
This issue is different from those preceding it in a couple of rather significant respects. Look on this page at the TOC, and you will see a
new sense and system of organization evidenced by the new listings. This comes partially as a result of the problem we’ve had to deal with in
regard to what is ‘official’ and what isn’t. Variants are now marked as
such. When a designer talks about his game, you’ll find it under DE-
SIGNER’S FORUM. Pieces pertaining to game structure that are not
at variance with existing rules will be found under DESIGN FORUM.
The GOOD NEWS is that this issue came to you by Second Class
mail, as did the last. Our permits have finally been approved, which
should mean that your issues should start arriving in about 1/3 the time
it used to take and around the same time that dealers copies get to the
shelves. Subscription hassles over the next two months should signifi-
cantly decrease, freeing us to utilize our time to much better result. Per-
haps we will be able to stay more current with our mail, which is still
backed up in mountainous heaps.
The inclusion of SNIT SMASHING should not mislead anyone.
This does not mean that TD is going to become a board magazine, nor
does it mean that we will publish games on a regular basis. In fact, after
SNITS we have one more fantasy/satire game that we hope to include
in the next issue. After that, the only similar project we have on hand is
DIRT, which seems playable at the present by only the Editor and
The Dragon Vol. II No. 4
Features
GenCon X Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Snit Smashing —
a weird game . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . 16
The Diplomatic
Stellar Conquest
Player
. . . . . . . . . . 23
Final Exam — Wargame Design 202 —
you think this job is easy, eh? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Fantasy Forge
phigure photos . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26-21
D&D — Variations on the theme
Assoc. Ed.
See you next issue, along with Fafhrd and the Mouser . . .
burning up excess loot . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Random Monsters —
defeating the encyclopedic PCs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Weights, Measures, Physical Appearance, etc. ..... 19
Gaining a New Experience Level
...............
. 20
Design/Designer’s Forum
Editor
Unique Wilderness Encounters
................. . 7
Rational Dungeon Design
.................... . 11
Dragonmirth
Westfinster Wargamers . ...................... . 8
Floating in Timeless Space . .................... 15
Wormy . .
...............................
. . 28
Finieous Fingers . .
........................
. . 29
Editor Timothy J. Kask
Assoc. Ed. Gary Jaquet
Staff Artists Dave Sutherland
Tom Wham
Dave Trampier
Cover by John Sullivan
If your mailing label says TD 10 — this is your last issue
Publisher’s Statement
THE DRAGON is published by TSR Periodicals, a division of TSR Hobbies, Inc., P.O. Box 756, Lake Geneva, WI 53147
It is available at better hobby shops and bookstores, or by subscription. Subscription rate is $9.00 per 6 issues. Single copy and back issue price is $1.50, but availability of back issues is not guaranteed. Sub-
scriptions outside the U.S. and Canada are $20.00, and are air-mailed overseas. (Payment must be made in U.S. currency or by in ternational money order.) All material published herein becomes the exclusive
property of the publisher unless special arrangements to the contrary are made. Subscription expiration is coded onto the mailing list. The number to the right of the name, prefixed by “LW” or “TD” is the last
issue of the subscription. Notices will not be sent.
Change of address must be filed 30 days prior to mailing date.
Unsolicited material cannot be returned unless accompanied by a stamped return envelope, and no responsibility for such material can be assumed by the publisher in any event. All rights on the entire con-
tents of this publication are reserved, and nothing may be reprinted in whole or in part without written permission of the publisher. Copyright 1977 by TSR HOBBIES, INC.
Application to mail as second-class postage rates is pending at Lake Geneva, WI 53147 and additional entry points.
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Table Of Contents
Orgies, Inc. —
October, 1977
Too much loot in your campaign?
D&D OPTION: ORGIES, INC.
by Jon Pickens
2) Philanthropy.
Lawfuls only.
This includes aid to the downtrod-
den poor or to any non-player character not a hireling of a player char-
acter. A real need must exist and as above, the treasure may not be giv-
en in payment or as a bribe. If no visible need exists, the treasure may
be given to a local Lawful church or temple for distribution.
Referee
Option:
Reaction roll for favor if substantial aid has been rendered.
3) Research.
Magic Users and Alchemists.
Up to 250 GP per level
per day may be expended on “general research” each day the MU/Al-
chemist spends in his chambers. Treasure spent for spell research as in
Book I also counts. Expenditures for the production of magical items,
potions, or poisons do
not
count toward experience. Production and re-
search may not be carried on simultaneously.
4) Clan Hoards.
Dwarves and other Clannish Folk (probably
Neu-
trals).
Experience is given to clan members only for contributions to the
public hoard. Such a hoard is heavily guarded, and under no circum-
stances is a private individual allowed to make a withdrawal (the trea-
sure is, in effect, out of the campaign). A player desiring to contribute
to his clan hoard must journey to the hoard or to its keepers, of course.
5)
Orgies.
Fighting Men (excluding Rangers and Paladins), Bards,
Thieves, and all Chaotics (excluding Monks).
Lusty indulgence in wine,
women, and song. Maximum expenditure is 500 GP per level per night
(250 GP if recuperating and under 50%). A player may orgy con-
tinuously as many days as he has constitution points, but then must rest
for as many days as he orgied. (For effects on Psionic Powers, see Ap-
pendix II.)
Many referees will be able to come up with similar ideas for expen-
ditures. Potential problems with this system are minor. Unearned trea-
sure giving “freebie” levels is not really a factor due to the divisor,
since a Level 10 Lord with eight villages of 400 people each (the maxi-
mum holding) will only pick up 3400 experience points out of 240,000
he needs for the next level; this is provided he
only spends his income
for experience.
As a matter of fact, I like to beef up fief income by reducing the
cost of speialists by a factor of 10 for fiefholders (with the exception of
Assassins and Spies). This brings their pay more into line with the
average man-at-arms. I also allow fixed investments along the follow-
ings lines: A water-powered mill costing 500 GP might return 100-600
GP annually per 100 people within a day’s march of the mill. (A list of
similar investments can easily be drawn up.)
Income from gambling should not be a factor either. See Appendix
I for some general guidelines and ideas. However, a factor that may
cause trouble is the increased importance of monster kills. At the high-
est levels, fighters may tend to do better and thieves may tend to do
worse than currently. Some fine adjustments may be needed, but these
are left up to the individual referee.
The advantages of the system are substantial. It not only achieves
rapid and easy elimination of large quantities of treasure from the cam-
(Author’s Note: To avoid confusion later, in this article Lawful equals
Good and Chaotic equals Evil and you can make your own extrapola-
tions from there.)
This article suggests one answer to a vexing problem that appeared
in local play: too much treasure in the scenario. After the players
amassed a few thousand GP equipment costs became irrelevant, though
the players had nowhere near enough money for luxuries like private
towers or galleys. But there was far too much cash for the players to
simply leave in their rooms at the local inn. This couldn’t be right;
Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser never had it so good! And the poor har-
ried ref had to continually devise sneaky ways to divest his players of
their ill-gotten gains.
The best solution would have been a simple method for removing
large quantities of treasure from the game; releasing the referee to
spend more time developing and managing the scenario. The solution is
simple:
“Instead of receiving experience for gaining
treasure, players would receive experience
only as the treasure is spent.”
The expenditure in GP is divided by the level of the character to
determine experience. The divisor is limited to the number of hit dice
allowed for the character class. The divisor is used only for experience
from treasure and has nothing to do with experience for monster kills
or miscellaneous experience awarded by the referee.
Only special expenditures reflecting the characteristics of a charac-
ter class count toward experience (see partial list below). Funds spent
for general maintenance, upkeep, advertisement, hireling salaries, and
equipment yield NO experience. Neither do luxuries (fine accommoda-
tions, castles, etc.) or investments, though income from the latter may
be used to increase experience. Hirelings may use their pay to gain ex-
perience, but such experience is halved for non-player characters.
Among expenditures used to increase experience are the following:
1)
Sacrifices.
AN Classes.
This is treasure offered directly to a god
or demon, or to his representatives. The offering may be made once per
week, and must be made within one week after the treasure has been ac-
quired (though special dispensation for long wilderness journeys should
be granted). The offering may not be a payment for services rendered
or a bribe, though it may have been the object of a Geas or Quest.
Tithes count as sacrifices also.
Referee Option:
If the sacrifice was at
least 100 GP per level of the giver, the recipient will grant a wish or fav-
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