Drmg039, Dragon
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
July, 1980
The Dragon
The Dragon
Vol. V, No. 1
t may seem like an uncomplimentary thing to say about
ourselves, but it does seem as though
The Dragon
resem-
bles an elephant trodding on thin ice: We can’t help making
a breakthrough with every step we take.
This month, TD is proud to present the first in what
promises to be a long line of modules for use with
Top Secret,
TSR’s
new espionage role-playing game. “The Missile Mission” is the
brainchild of
Mike Carr,
the general manager of TSR Hobbies and
one of the people who helped put Merle Rasmussen’s
Top Secret
game manuscript into its final form.
The colorful cover you just saw for the first time is the work of
Steve Swenston,
a California-based artist whose work we hope to
put on display many more times in the future. And, speaking of art,
how’s this for another first: At the back of the magazine you’ll find, all
together for the first time in one issue,
Finieous Fingers, Wormy,
and
Jasmine.
“The Big Three” will be back as a group on every
possible occasion from now on.
All you DM’s with an evil streak inside will simply adore
The
Dragon’s
latest addition to the panoply of non-player characters for
D&D
or
AD&D:
The Anti-Paladin.
Tim Mesford
and
George Lak-
ing
have collaborated on the definitive version of everybody’s fa-
vorite bad guy—because, we suppose, no one author could think up
all those nasty things.
Other special features this month include an in-depth examina-
tion of the role of women—both as real people and as player-char-
acters—in fantasy role-playing games.
Jean Wells
of the TSR
Hobbies Development Department did the research and accumulat-
ed the information for an overview of the situation, and yours truly
authored the final version of “Women Want Equality—and Why
Not?’ A companion piece is provided by
Kyle Gray,
who makes
some specific suggestions about how women’s inherent advantages
over men, as well as their inherent disadvantages, ought to be
considered when generating player characters. Food for thought, for
gamers of either gender.
This month’s “adventure story” by
Tom Armstrong
is about a
female—coincidentally enough—who comes back from the grave
but suffers some grave consequences in so doing. For the historians
among you,
Bill Fawcett
presents an overview of the types of bows
used in real life and how their characteristics apply for gaming
purposes. In the “charts and tables” department,
Carl Parlagreco
has prepared a new system for determining and describing the
controversial phenomena of critical hits and fumbles.
Remember the little spacemen we pictured in TD-34 with a
request to readers for information about their origin? Well, we got
some answers, and TD staff member
Bryce Knorr
played “private
eye” to provide a solution to the mystery, which is almost as authen-
tic as it is amusing.
Karl Horak
looks at the development of fantasy
role-playing from Chainmail through
D&D
to
AD&D
and wonders
whether uniformity between the various game systems is possible, or
even desirable.
A wealth of inspiratin and information is offered in July’s regular
features.
Len Lakofka
puts forth guidelines for beginning a cam-
paign in Leomund’s Tiny Hut. Then, when you’ve got things rolling,
you can inject a few items from
Bazaar of the Bizarre,
and employ
the awesome Groundsquid,
Larry DiTillio’s
contribution to Dra-
gon’s Bestiary. Larry’s last appearance in these pages is what
prompted
Douglas Bachmann
to address the issue of morality in
fantasy in Up on a Soapbox.
Glenn Rahman
favors us with the story of the barbarians and
their hero, Juulute Wolfheart, in the latest edition of the Minarian
Legends, designed to enhance your enjoyment of
Divine Right.
In a
slight deviation from the norm,
Tom Moldvay
describes two figures
from Norse legend in this month’s installment of Giants in the Earth.
Two real-life personages from the world of gaming are spotlighted in
John Prados’
Simulation Corner; Redmond Simonsen and Rodger
MacGowan. The
Fantasysmith
hopes to help all you painters and
producers of miniature figures get out of the “unfinished” rut by
describing the “Work in Process” method of turning out finished
figures.
The Electric Eye has become a monthly column, for at least as
long as
Mark Herro
can work around his other obligations and keep
the articles coming in. This one is a glossary to help computer
neophytes translate the language that’s tossed around in the world
of electronic gaming. Back after a month’s hiatus is
Sage Advice,
and in The Dragon’s Augury are examined two widely diverse
games,
The Beastlord
and
Intruder.
Last but not least, you’ll find inside the rules for the second
International Dungeon Design Competition,
which were
printed for the first time in TD-38. Time is of the essence for anyone
who wants to be considered for a top prize, because the entry
deadline is Sept. 1. We hope to have your adventure here by
then.—Kim
SPECIAL ATTRACTION
The Missile Mission:
A
Top Secret
module
—Mike Carr
. . . . .M1
REGULAR COLUMNS
Out on a Limb ........................................... 4
Fantasysmith’s Notebook Work in Process ..................
6
Up on a Soapbox: Morality in Fantasy—
D. Bachmann ........
10
Minarian Legends: Juulute Wolfheart—
G. Rahman ...........
12
Leomund’s Tiny Hut: Starting from scratch—
L. Lakofka ......
20
Giants in the Earth: Norse heroes—
T. Moldvay
............... 28
Sage Advice—
J. Wells
....................................
30
The Electric Eye: What it all means—
M. Herro
............... 40
Bazaar of the Bizarre—
various authors .....................
.41
Convention schedule 1980 ................................ 43
The Dragon’s Augury
The Beastlord—
W. Fawceti ..............................
46
Intruder—
T. Watson
....................................
46
Simulation Corner: Redmond and Rodger—
J. Prados
....... .48
Dragon’s Bestiary
Groundsquid—
L. DiTillio
..............................
.57
Dragon Mirth
...........................................
.58
Finieous Fingers—
by J.D.
.................................
60
Wormy—
by Tramp .......................................
61
Jasmine—
by Darlene .....................................
62
OTHER FEATURES
Try this for Evil: The Anti-Paladin NPC
—T. Mesford & G. Laking
. 8
Women want equality—and why not?
—J. Wells & K. Mohan . .
16
Points to ponder
—K. Gray
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Next Time, Try a Cleric
—T. Armstrong. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
24
Bows
—W. Fawcett . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26
Good hits and bad misses
—C. Parlagreco
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .34
Uniformity, conformity, or neither?
—K. Horak . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
My encounter with the Aliens from Beyond
—B. Knorr . . . . . . . .
37
What are the odds?
—W. Keely
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Imperium research
—Michael Crane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
.44
IDDCII:The new rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
The second fantastic adventure of Reginald Rennup . . . . . . . . . . 59
If your mailing label says TD 39
this is your last issue. . .resubscribe
2
July, 1980
The Dragon
Vol. V, No. 1 July, 1980
With some trepidation, I’d like to say
“Happy Fourth of July.” The question is,
are you reading this before the Fourth, or
should I have said, “Happy belated Fourth
of July”? We’re shooting for picking up
about ten days in our production schedule
this month, so in theory, you should have
this magazine in hand in time to read it
before it gets dark and the fireworks start.
And while we here at Dragon Publishing
are celebrating the Fourth, we’re also cele-
brating the start of our fifth publishing vol-
ume. We hope you’ve enjoyed the last four
years of THE DRAGON, and we promise to
continue to bring you the best magazine of
games and gaming we possibly can in the
future. As always, it is you, the reader, who
ultimately determines the success or failure
of a publication, and I’d like to take this
opportunity to say “Thanks” on behalf of
the Dragon Publishing staff for helping
make us what we are today.
* * *
If you read the “Eye of the Dragon”
column in the May issue (TD #37), you saw
the notice that TSR Hobbies has estab-
lished a United Kingdom branch, directed
by one Don Turnbull. Don was credited
with founding a gaming journal, “Perfidi-
ous Albion,” when in actuality, Don found-
ed another publication entirely, called “Al-
bion. ” “Perfidious Albion” is a much more
recent publication than “Albion” and is un-
der the editorship of Charles Vasey. I’m not
sure if we’ve insulted and/or complimented
anyone, but at least now you know who did
what.
* * *
Snap! Crackle! Zap! THE DRAGON
computes! Recently, we’ve acquired a
TRS-80 computer here at THE DRAGON
(for those of you into home computers, it’s
the Level II with 16K memory, a 16K ex-
pansion interface, two floppy-disc drives,
and a printer). In addition to using it in
conjunction with Mark Herro’s ‘Electric
Eye’ column, we’ll now be able to look at a
few of the plethora of game programs now
available on the commercial market, and
(hopefully) do some reviewing on our own.
Please hold off on sending us your own
home-brew programs for a bit yet; we’ll
have our hands full with what’s on the mar-
ket already. But electronic gaming is loom-
ing on the gaming horizon, and THE DRA-
GON is going to be ready for it.
* * *
And by the way, as you probably know,
Dragon Publishing is the sole North Ameri-
can agent for WHITE DWARF magazine,
but did you know we also are the agent for
THE WARGAMER, published by Simula-
tion Games in England? And we’re proud
to be in that role, too. THE WARGAMER is
going to give Strategy & Tactics a run for
the money, at least in the quality of the
game included in each issue. Physical qual-
ity of the game components is excellent,
and the game design itself is always of the
highest caliber. Check out a copy the next
time you’re in your favorite hobby store
(and if they don’t have it, tell them to talk to
us, hint, hint).
Publisher
E. Gary Gygax
Editor
Jake Jaquet
Assistant Editor
Kim Mohan
Editorial Staff
Bryce Knorr
Circulation & Sales
Corey Koebernick
Office Staff
Cherie Knull Dawn Pekul
This month’s
contributing artists:
Steve Swenston Gail Gierahn
Cindy Miller Jeff Dee
Kenneth Rahman Dave LaForce
Jamie Graham David Sims
Jean Wells Jim Roslof
Roger Raupp
THE DRAGON is published monthly by Dragon Publish-
ing, a division of TSR Hobbies Inc. The mailing address
of Dragon Publishing is P.O. Box 110, Lake Geneva WI
53147; telephone 414-248-8044.
THE DRAGON is available at hundreds of hobby stores
and bookstores throughout the United States and Cana-
da, and through a limited number of overseas outlets, or
can be purchased directly from Dragon Publishing by
individual subscription. The subscription rate within the
United States and Canada is $24 for 12 Issues. Outside
the U.S. and Canada, rates are as follows: To European
locations. $50 for 12 issues for
surface mail. $82 for 12
issues air mail, or $45 for 6 issues air mail; to Australia.
$40 for 12 issues surface mail, $70 for 12 issues air mail.
or $39 for 6 issues air mail. All payments for subscrip-
tions to Canada and overseas must be in U.S. currency.
* * *
Going. . .going . .gone! department:
Every day here at THE DRAGON we re-
ceive requests for back issues that are out of
print—requests that, at times, are only
slightly to the right of demands! OK, here’s
the chance you’ve been waiting for. We
have managed, through collection of file
copies, personal collections, etc. to put to-
gether a collection of issues of THE DRA-
GON from #1 to present (#39) and they
are going up for auction as a package! The
auction will exist from now through August,
23rd with the winner picking up/being
mailed his copies on August 25th. Bids will
be taken by mail and in person at Origins
‘80 and GenCon XIII at the Dragon Pub-
Back issues of THE DRAGON are available from Dra-
gon Publishing for the cover price plus 75 cents for
postage and handling for each magazine Cover prices
of the magazines are $2 for TD-22 through TD-31, $2.50
for TD-32, 33, 35 and 36, and $3 for TD-37 and there-
after. Payment for all individual orders must be made In
advance.
The issue of expiration for each subscription is printed
on each subscriber’s mailing label. Changes of address
for subscriptions must be received by Dragon Publish-
ing at least 30 days prior to the effective date of the
change.
All material published in THE DRAGON becomes the
exclusive property of the publisher upon such publica-
tion. unless special arrangements to the contrary are
made prior to publication.
While THE DRAGON welcomes unsolicited submis-
sions of written material and artwork, submissions can-
not
be returned unless accompanied by a self-
addressed, stamped envelope, 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 permission in writing from the publisher.
Copyright 1980 by TSR Hobbies, Inc.
Second class postage paid at Lake Geneva, Wisconsin
53147.
3
lishing booth. Rules for this sealed bid auc-
tion are very simple: Submit your sealed
bid to us by the deadline, and if yours is the
highest bid, you get the magazines. We ab-
sorb all sales tax. So, here’s what quite
likely is going to, be the first and last chance
for you to acquire
a
complete collection of
THE DRAGON magazines. Going. . .go-
ing....
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]