Drmg040, Dragon
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
Vol. V. No. 2
Vol. V, No. 2 August 1980
Well, another “death trip” has come
and gone—that is, the entire editorial staff
of
The Dragon
(myself, Kim, and Bryce)
made it to Origins ’80 and back with rela-
tively little damage, other than a few hun-
dred thousand brain cells forever de-
stroyed. The fabled Dragon Publishing
vehicle, the “Blue Moose,” a 4-wheel drive
Chevy Suburban that self-destructed at
WVU-Con a few weeks back, nearly gave a
repeat performance in Chester, Pa., site of
this year’s Origins. But, in spite of the
truck’s mysterious leaking of fluid and a
blow-out on the on-ramp to I-95, we are
still mobile.
to know where a tournament was being
held, someone could tell you for sure.
When an event or seminar was supposed to
start, it started. That’s what makes a con-
vention successful, not a fancy exhibit area.
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:
David Trampier
Jeff Dee
Roger Raupp Lois Gronseth
Jack Crane
Gail Gierahn
Tom Wham Brad Parker
Ed Greenwood
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 414-248-6044.
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
lndivldual subsciption. 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 subscip-
tions to Canada and overseas must be in U.S currency.
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.
However, with the recent growth of
gaming as a hobby, and game manufactur-
ing growing along with it, it may be time for
the larger conventions to consider locating
at professional convention facilities. Yes, I
know, who wants to go to New York or
Chicago or Los Angeles and stay in $75
/night hotels just to go to a convention (and
what about Las Vegas)? But if the “bigger is
better” philosophy continues, it looks like
the only alternative. I’ll be addressing this
question a little more in the next couple of
issues of the magazine, as we get further
into the convention season and see a few
more conventions in operation. But again,
I’d like to give a tip of the hat to Hadley,
Carroll, and Carroll for making the best of
what could have been a bad situation.
* * *
While I’m on the subject of Origins, I
might also mention that once again the
Charles Roberts, H. G. Wells, and Game
Designers Guild Awards were presented at
the conclusion of the convention. Some-
where in the neighborhood of 500 ballots
were cast at Origins. A complete listing of all
winners will appear in next month’s issue of
The Dragon,
but of special interest to my-
self and, presumably to you, was the Wells
award for the best magazine covering fan-
tasy and science-fiction games. It was given
to
The Journal of the Travellers Aid Soci-
ety;
Game Designers’ Workshop, publish-
er; Loren Wiseman, editor. Congratula-
tions, guys. Tell me, what’s the secret? The
5” x 7” format? Gee, if
The Dragon
did
that, this issue would be 168 pages long.
Then I’d be afraid people might confuse us
with Reader’s Digest. . . .
* * *
This year’s Origins, held at Widener
University (that’s “tiny” Widener Universi-
ty for those of you who remember last
year’s reports) was once again the site of a
gathering of gamers, manufacturers, and
the merely curious—about 4,300 bodies
altogether, counting convention officials,
exhibitors, and a few stray dogs. Kudos to
Jay Hadley, Shawn Carroll and Tom Car-
roll for their efforts. While it might be ar-
gued by some that the convention could
have been better in some respects, thanks
to the efforts of this trio and their assistants,
the merely annoying was not permitted to
become the disastrous.
Most gaming conventions are remem-
bered by their triumphs or tragedies—if
such is the case, then Origins ’80 will be
forgotten tomorrow, and that’s unfortu-
nate, because it was really a very decent
convention. Sure, Origins ’80 has its share
of problems—but then, what convention
doesn’t? Most of the hassles can be attribut-
ed to the physical site of the convention
(which was changed to Widener at the last
minute, due to a scheduling problem with
the University of Delaware, where the con-
vention was originally supposed to be
held). There is just no way to crowd 101
booths into MacMorland Center (the stu-
dent center) and still have room to be com-
fortable (indeed, just to have room for all
the manufacturers—Judges’ Guild and
Commando Games had to set up shop in
other buildings). Narrow aisles, one-way
doors, and (in my opinion) somewhat over-
zealous security guards all conspired to
make the exhibit area less than the most
attractive place to spend any great amount
of time.
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 Hobbles, Inc.
Second class postage paid at Lake Geneva, Wisconsin
53147.
And so, now it’s on to GenCon XIII and
PacifiCon ’80. Dragon Publishing invites
all our readers to stop by our booth at either
convention. We’ll have the new 1981
Days
of the Dragon
fantasy art calendar, a new
fiction anthology of heroic fantasy tales,
and one or two surprises. We’ll look for-
ward to seeing you there. . .
But, on the other hand, there were rela-
tively few complaints voiced. If you wanted
August 1980
The Dragon
n our dictionary, “august” is defined as “marked by majes-
tic dignity or grandeur” — indeed a fitting description of this
month’s issue of The Dragon. There are not one, but two
(or three, depending on how you count ‘em) special attrac-
tions in TD #40.
Tom Wham,
the mind behind
The Awful Green Things from
Outer Space,
presents
Outside the Znutar,
playing pieces and rules
for extending the crew’s battle against the green things into timeless
space. As a bonus, the god Runngus has consented to reveal to Tom
the rules for his very own game, which is found on the same foldout
in the front of the magazine. That material is surrounded by a word
portrait of Tom Wham, prepared by staff writer
Bryce Knorr,
which
is almost as strange as one of Tom’s games.
Attraction number two (or three) should be a
Dragon
collector’s
dream: The first index ever compiled and published of all articles
appearing in
The Dragon
and
The Strategic Review
is resting be-
tween pages 54 and 55, just waiting to be thumbed through. We
hope you enjoy using it a lot more than we enjoyed compiling it.
The colorful flying frogs on this issue’s cover are the product of
the imagination and skill of
Dave Trampier,
a.k.a. Tramp, who is
normally seen on these pages as the author of Wormy. Alas, Tramp’s
next installment of the strip hadn’t arrived by deadline time, and
Wormy is not found within. Double alas, neither is Finieous Fingers,
but creator J.D. has promised to get another adventure to us for
TD-41.
Only slightly less special this month, occupying the premier
position at the head of the article section, is The Dueling Room by
Jeff Swycaffer,
in which is offered the once-and-for-all way
to
settle personal disputes between characters.
Fantasy must have “rhyme & reason,” says
Douglas Bach-
mann,
before games about fantasy can have any real meaning. His
lengthy treatise on the structure of a fantasy milieu is offered for your
examination.
Holy Prax! No sooner did we send out an impassioned plea for
Runequest articles (Out on a Limb, TD-39) than
Jon Mattson
sent
in just what we were looking for. Artifacts of Dragon Pass is the first
RQ article TD has ever published; we hope it’s just the first of many.
For our Top Secret offerings this month, we present another
edition of the Rasmussen Files by
Jerry Epperson,
plus
Paul
Crabaugh’s
suggestions for turning TS into a game of global scope.
Mark Cummings
takes a player’s-eye look at Tribes of Crane, and
explains why he’s no longer in the PBM game.
In the “short subjects” department,
Robert Plamondon
offers
everything you need to know about throwing oil grenades;
Roger
Moore
adds some leaves to the lycanthropes’ family tree;
Steve
Melancon
suggests a fairer (to the bad guys) way of determining a
Cleric’s success against the undead; and
Daniel McEwen
favors us
with a report on Canada’s major annual convention, CANGAMES
'80.
SPECIAL ATTRACTIONS
Outside the Znutar:
Awful Green Things
expansion kit
—
T. Wham
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Front foldout
Runngus’ Game
—
T. Wham
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Front foldout
Index for The Dragon and The Strategic Review . . . . . . Rear foldout
CANGAMES
'80 — D. McEwen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . .
58
REGULAR COLUMNS
Out on a Limb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . .
4
Squad Leader scenarios
—
B. Beecher
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . .
34
Fantasysmith’s Miniature Spotlight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . .
43
Bazaar of the Bizarre
—
various authors
. . . . . . . . . . . .
.
44
The Electric Eye: Talking BASIC
—
M. Herro
. . . . . . . .
.
46
Simulation Corner: West End Games
—
J. Prados
. . .
. . .
48
Convention schedule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . .
58
Dragon’s Augury
Annihilator
—
G. Williams
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . 59
High Guard
—
R. Camino
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . 59
Swordquest
—
T. Watson
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . 60
The Drawing of the Dark
—
D. Cook . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . 60
The third fantastic adventure of Reginald Rennup . . . .
. . . . .
. . .
62
Dragon’s Bestiary
Fire-eye Lizard
—
J. Susser
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . .
63
Flitte —
P. Rankin
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. .
64
Wingless Wonder —
E. Greenwood
. . . . . . . . . . . .
. .
64
Huntsmen
—
L. Pulsipher
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. .
65
Jasmine
—
by Darlene
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Voyages of E. S. Znutar
—
T. Wham, J. Dee .
. . . . . . . . 68
OTHER FEATURES
The Dueling Room
—
J. Swycaffer
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Believe it or not, Fantasy has reality
—
D. Bachmann
. . . . 10
Funerals and other deathly ideas
—
G. Laking
. . . . . . . . . 12
Tom’s revenge: his games
—
B. Knorr
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Don’t drink this cocktail —
R. Plamondon
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
The wolf in your paint pot
—
M. Jannotta, C. Hundertmark .
.20
The fatal flaws of Crane
—
M. Cummings
. . . . . . . . . . 24
Artifacts of Dragon Pass
—
J. Mattson
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
The Other Were? Right here!
—
R. Moore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. 32
IDDC II: The new rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Giving the undead an even break
—
S. Melancon
. . . . . . . 36
From Spy World to Sprechenhaltestelle
—
J. Epperson
. . . . . . 38
—And from Sprechenhaltestelle to . . . ?
—
P. Crabaugh
. . 41
If your mailing label says TD 40
this is your last issue . . . resubscribe
3
There’s something “irregular” about this month’s regular col-
umns. First, the Bestiary has been expanded, and now covers three
pages which contain four new monsters. When space permits in
future issues, we’ll continue to present Bestiary creations in multi-
ples, if reader reaction indicates we ought to pursue that course.
The E. S. Znutar takes another one-page voyage on the last page
of this issue, and this is the first time the cartoon has been done in
color (thanks to the talents of artist
Jeff Dee).
It’s listed as a regular
feature, even though the Znutar hasn’t appeared in TD since
last
August, because we hope that’ll persuade Tom and Jeff to do
another one before
next
August.
Rounding out TD-40 are some other regular items—more good-
ies from the Bazaar of the Bizarre; The Electric Eye; Simulation
Corner; Dragon’s Augury; and a two-page
Jasmine.
How can we top this next month, you ask? Tune in then and see.
Right now, I have to go find out what September means. — Kim
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]