Drmg031, Dragon
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November, 1979
elcome to a format change and a new column in
THE DRAGON. HI, I’m Jake and this
is
Cover to
Cover. Now that the introductions are out of the
way, you’re probably wondering what happened
to Kindly Editor Tim Kask and Dragon Rumbles.
Fear not, you’ll find Tim rumbling on the next page, explaining why
he’s there. Cover to Cover will be in this spot each month, and will be a
review/preview of each month’s contents, an eye to the old crystal ball
and future plans, and a little general BS (or would that be DS?).
This month’s cover is the work of Alan Burton and is his interpretation
of every D&D player’s dream—discovering an entire lost city ripe for
plundering. If that whets your appetite, try our main course,
Jungle
Fever,
where you’ll find out how to set up a jungle campaign.
beauty of the winning entries, but we wanted to recognize them,
nonetheless. Also, in the
Dragon’s Augury,
you’ll find Short Takes
and First Impressions, devoted to a walking tour of the exhibitors at
GenCon XII, and a quick look at the items they had for sale. And
speaking of conventions, we also have a report on
NANCON 88-II.
Those of you interested in space games will find variations on
Alpha
Omega
and
Stellar Conquest
this month. Stellar Conquest, by the
way, has been repackaged in a box, and finally seems to be getting
some of the attention it so justly deserves.
Fantasysmith’s Notebook
this month asks the musical question,
“How tall is a giant?" It contains some very helpful thoughts on the
scale of miniature figures.
Michael Kluever, one of our regular contributors, makes another ap-
pearance this month with his article on
Armor of the Far East,
and we
have another of his manuscripts for next month dealing with weaponry
of the Far East. Michael’s articles are always researched thoroughly,
and should be of great help to any gamer dealing with the period.
Third Reich
fans should take note of William Searight’s article on the
game. Some interesting strategies are presented.
F.C. MacKnight continues his story this month about Fritz Leiber, Harry
Fischer, and the evolution of the game of
Lankhmar.
This month’s
piece was to be the conclusion, but Prof. MacKnight has found the story
has “grown in the telling,” so there will be at least one more installment.
As always, we have our regular features. This month in the
Sorcerer’s
Scroll,
Gary Gygax discusses the relationship between stories, rules,
and roles. Len Lakofka looks at death in AD&D in
Leomund’s Tiny
Hut.
We kick off a new column:
Sage Advice.
Jean Wells of the TSR
design department will be answering questions about D&D and AD&D.
Got a question? Send it to Sage Advice, c/o The Dragon, P.O. Box 110,
Lake Geneva, WI 53147, and enclose a self-addressed, stamped envel-
ope. Jean will answer all questions with personal replies, and save the
“best,” that is, most commonly asked or confusing questions and their
answers for us to run each month.
By the way, some of you may be wondering where the answers to
Dragon Quiz
#3—Name That Author and/or Title.
You say you
didn’t know about the quiz? Did we forget to print that too? Seriously,
though, we (the TSR Periodicals staff and our printer—we’ll share the
blame this month) inadvertently dropped a title and a couple of bylines
for articles that appeared in THE DRAGON #29. Our apologies. Now,
here’s your chance to play editor: Take out your #2 robin’s-egg blue
editing pencil and open your copy of TD #29 to pages 4 and 5—Craig
Bakey’s article—pick a clear spot in the art and in big block letters write
“Of The Gods.” That’s the title that should have been there. Circle it
and spec it for 48 point Souvenir Bold type. See how easy it is? Now
turn to page 6. Underneath the title and just above “Editor’s Note,”
write in “by Deidre Evans,” spec it 18 pt. and underline it with a
squiggly line (the squiggly line means bold face). Ready for another
one? Turn to page 24 and the piece on Inns and Taverns. Want to try
this one yourself? The by-line should be: “by I. Marc Carlson.” All
done? Looks good!
In a more “traditional” D&D vein, we have an excellent piece of fiction
by J. Eric Holmes.
Trollshead,
excerpted from his forthcoming novel.
J. Eric, believe it or not, is not a writer by trade—he teaches neuro-
surgery in Los Angeles.
Space limitations last month did not allow us to complete our coverage
of
GenCon XII.
Winding it up in this issue, we have the winners of the
TSR Periodicals sponsored
Figure Painting Contest
and
Strate-
gists Club Awards.
Please forgive the quality of the pictures of the
Figure Painting Contest winners. The photos do not do justice to the
FEATURES
Trollshead—
New fiction by J. Eric Holmes
...................
3
Jungle Fever—
T.J. Kask and Jake Jaquet
................... 4
Fantasysmith’s Notebook—
How Tall Is A Giant?
.............. 20
Sage Advice—
Questions &Answers on D&D
................
26
Sorcerer’s Scroll—
Gary Gygax
............................. 28
Leomund’s Tiny Hut—
Lenard Lakofka
...................... 30
A Surefire Strategy for Third Reich—
William B. Searight
........
35
Dragon’s Bestiary—
The Ukuyatangi!
........................ 50
VARIANTS
Can Jason Destroy the Dragonship?—
Kenneth W. Burke
.......
10
Spicing Up Stellar Conquest—
Tony Van Liew
................ 12
A New Profession for EPT: The Adventurer—
Glenn Rahman
... 27
REVIEWS
The Creature That Ate Sheboygan—
Karl Mems
..............
47
Indian Ocean Adventure—
Mike Carr
........................
47
4th Dimension—
Richard Forsten
...........................
48
Battle of Maiwand—
Glenn Williams
......................... .48
HUMOR
Wormy—
by Tramp
......................................
52
BACKGROUND
Armor of the Far East—
Michael Kluever
..................... 23
Lankhmar: The Original Game and What It Became—
F.C. MacKnight
....................................... 32
NEWS/VIEWS
Dragon Rumbles
......................................... 2
Figure-Painting Contest Champs ........................... 6
Strategists Club Banquet photos
............................ 7
D&D Is Alive and Well—
NANCON 88-II report
...............
8
Convention Schedule, 1979-80 ............................ 22
Out on a Limb ........................................... 38
That’s about it for this month. In closing, for those of you who keep
writing to us asking about the irregular appearance of
Finieous
Fingers,
please be patient. J.D., the artist who does Finieous, is in the
Navy and has recently had much of his time taken up with flight school.
THE DRAGON is not quite big enough yet to tell the government to
give him more free time, so bear with us. Finieous will be back soon.
Vol IV, No. 5
The Premier Magazine of Games and Gaming
THE DRAGON has been undergoing a
VOL. IV No. 5
slight. Undoubtedly, we have published arti-
gradual facelift in recent months, and making
cles that some readers had no interest in at
Publisher
E. Gary Gygax
some policy changes as well. In this issue we
all. Hopefully, there were enough that were
have initiated two of the more significant
sufficiently interested in any given article to
alterations with the introduction of Cover to
Cover, and the redefining and movement of
make it worth publishing. It is very difficult to
get a handle on how the readership is receiv-
Editor
T.J. Kask
this column.
ing us when we get so little feedback, and so
In the past, Rumbles was the catch-all
few letters to the editor commenting on that
Assistant Editor
Jake Jaquet
column for the magazine, containing infor-
aspect of our magazine.
mation concerning the contents of the issue,
If there are games or areas of gaming that
upcoming plans, policy statements, personal
you feel that we are neglecting, please write
Editorial Staff
Kim Mohan
John Baillie
statements and editorialsa rather diverse
to us and let us know. Contrary to popular
recipe.
misconception, we do read every bit of mail
In the future, Cover to Cover will deal
that we receive. (The operative word here is
with the contents of the issue, going into
receive. If one of the harbingers of the de-
Art Staff
Dave Sutherland
Erol Otis
Greg Fleming
Darlene Pekul
greater detail than was possible in the past. It
cline of a civilization is the deterioration of the
will highlight the articles themselves, and
postal system, our civilization is
sometimes tell you about the authors, and
doomed. . . .)
where they are coming from, their creden-
We are never able to process submis-
tials, or lack thereof, and other information
sions as quickly as wed like to; right now
useful to the reader.
Rumbles will remain my place to sound
we're about seven weeks behind our already
slow schedule. Both articles and art, particu-
THE DRAGON is published monthly by
TSR Periodicals, a division of TSR Hobbies,
Inc., P.O. Box 110, Lake Geneva,
Wisconsin 53147 Phone: 414-248-8044
off, make statements regarding policy or pol-
icies of TSR Periodicals, ask pointed rhetori-
larly the latter, are piling up on us. By the
time you read this, we will be caught up
cal questions, make personal statements, and
again. Magazine publishing is a business of
editorialize.
fits and starts of activity.
THE DRAGON is available at better hobby
shops and bookstores, or by subscription.
Subscription rate within the U.S. and
Canada is $24.00 for 13 issues. Subscrip-
tion outside the U.S. and Canada are
$28.00 for 6 issues, and are air-mailed.
Single copy price, including back issues, is
$2.60 per copy. All payments must be
made in U.S. currency or by international
money order. Subscription expiration is
coded onto the mailing label. The number
to the right of the name, prefixed by “TD” is
the number of the last issue of the subscrip-
tion. Changes of address must be filed 30
days prior to the mailing date of the
magazine to be sent to the new address.
We have more changes in the works that
There are some new areas that we intend
will be implemented as time allows, and we
to get into in the next few months. We hope
are able to initiate them. We have completely
to get a column started on gaming with com-
revised our layout and design policy, and
have some graphics changes that will prob-
puters, if we can ever line up enough know-
ably manifest themselves in the next two
ledgeable writers and interesting articles that
dont sound like gibberish.
issues. As we grow, we are trying to both look
Soon we will have a column dealing with
and act somewhat more professional.
Most of these changes have become pos-
gaming and how its done in England. While I
dont expect it to be very regular at first, we
do have high expectations for it once John
sible due to the expansion of the staff. While I
certainly enjoyed the total control I once ex-
Baillie gets established for us.
ercised over this magazine, it has been much
There are a good number of games that
easier to produce a quality product every
month since Jake came to work with me, and
dont get the analysis and coverage that they
deserve. There are many games that dont fit
it got even easier and more enjoyable when
the traditional image of wargames that we
Kim Mohan joined us this past summer.
John Baillies contributions to the magazine
would like to cover. Wargamers play other
games besides wargames, and many of them
All material published in THE DRAGON
becomes the exclusive property of the
publisher unless special arrangements to
the contrary are made.
should improve it even more. I feel fortunate
to have assembled such a quality crew for
are damned interesting. How many of you
have ever heard of a game called Cartel? It is
TD. Most importantly, we all enjoy whatever
one of the more interesting financial strategy
While THE DRAGON welcomes unsoli-
cited material, such cannot be returned un-
less accompanied by a stamped return en-
velope, and no responsibility for such
material can be assumed by the publisher in
any event. All rights on the contents of this
publication are reserved, and nothing may
be reprinted in whole or in part without
written permission of the publisher. Copy-
right 1979 by TSR Hobbies, Inc.
it is that we do. Nearly as important is the fact
games that I have ever played, and taught
that all of us are gamers, and never lose sight
me a number of economic lessons. How
of that reality. We feel that we are producing
about ACQUIRE, the financial strategy game
a magazine for our peers, and as such one of
by 3M? When was overseas on board an
I
our most important criteria for selecting ma-
aircraft carrier for eleven months, about nine
terial is our own collective interest in the
or ten of us wore out three sets. I still find it
subject matter. Judging from our pleasing
one of the most challenging parlor games
growth rate, we must assume that a good
that I play.
many of you share our interests and tastes,
There are games from antiquity that we
most of the time. As evaluating any given
are looking into, and others more modem as
Second class postage
Wisconsin 53147
paid at Lake Geneva,
game is a very subjective thing, there are
well.
* * *
bound to be games that some of you feel that
we overlook, or areas of gaming that we
(cont. on page 22)
2
An excerpt from an upcoming novel by a master of fantasy
©
John Eric Holmes
She was half-elven, her blonde hair in disarray, clutching a purple
velvet robe tightly around herself. The eys that met Zereth’s, however,
were clear and fearless.
“My Lady Avernoine?” asked the dark elf softly. The girl nodded.
“My name is Zereth,” the elf continued, “and my halfling companion is
called Boinger.” He gestured at his friend, who rose tardily to his feet
and made a clumsy bow. “We have been commissioned by your father
to negotiate for your ransom.” The blonde head lifted a moment. Her
eyes were green, Boinger noticed.
“He said you would know from this that we were to be trusted,”
Zereth continued, extending his right hand to show her the heavy gold
ring with a twisted red rune.
“I recognize it,” she answered, her voice only a whisper.
“Aerin doth brethil ellous a tirion broth dimil...”
“Hey, you, elf!” snarled the bandit leader. His hand went to a
dagger hilt and the armored troll at his back shambled forward, its
mouth open, fangs shining in the firelight.
Zereth stopped. “You speak Common, or not at all!” the angry
man shouted.
“To be sure,” Zereth replied soothingly, “to be sure, an oversight.”
“You be careful, you unhumans,” the bandit continued, still sullen.
“or you won’t go back. Avernoine can send another set of
messengers.”
The elf turned his attention to the girl. “Your father said we were to
make sure of your identity as well as your welfare,” he said. “He said
we were to ask certain questions that only you could answer...”
“You had a pony, when you were first taught to ride,” Zereth
began, “named...”
“Jingles.”
The campfire cast flickering shadows into the surrounding trees and
across the face of the lean man squatting opposite. He wore an iron cap
with a leather lining which cast a shadow over his thick brows. A ragged
scar ran from the comer of his left eye down the cheek to vanish in the
folds of a woolen tunic at his neck. A tough customer, Boinger thought
to himself.
“Sit down.” the man said. “Did you bring the gold?”
Boinger stepped closer to the warmth of the fire and sank down on
his haunches, pulling the folds of his cloak under him to ward off the
chill of the bare earth. His companion, the black elf Zereth, crouched
on one knee, adjusting the scabbard of his long sword as he did so.
“Nonsense,” said the elf. “The gold is under guard back at the
bridge. We want to see the Lady Avemoine. Is she here?’
The bandit chieftain gestured with his left hand. “Bring the bitch
out,” he said. Behind him Boinger could make out the somber opening
of a cave mouth in the rocky hillside. Two guards stepped back from
either side of their leader and walked over to the shadowed portal.
They had been gnawing on a leg of mutton Like the two brigands
who had guided them to this forest rendezvous, they were half-orcs, tall
and ugly. Behind the right shoulder of the human chieftain, however,
loomed an ominous shape clad in chainmail. Long arms hung nearly to
the ground as it rocked back and forth on bare taloned feet. Out of a
dill-green face, deep black eyes seemed to gleam hellishly in the orange
firelight.
Troll,
Boinger thought with a shiver, wondering how such a
one was ever bound to service.
The half-orcs reappeared with a small, slender figure between
them. Zereth rose to his feet as the girl was brought into the circle of
firelight.
(cont. on page 40)
3
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