Drmg058, Dragon
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February 1982
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Vol. VI, No. 8
Vol. VI, No. 8
February 1982
In the September 1981 issue (#53) of
DRAGON™ magazine, I editorialized
against “assassin” and “killer” games,
expressing my fears for potential tragedy
to players and potential damage to the
image of the hobby of role-playing gam-
ing. Unfortunately, those fears are being
realized.
On the evening of December 5, 1981, a
student at California State University at
Long Beach was shot by campus police
during a game of “Assassin.” According
to the Los Angeles Times Service and
United Press International, Mike Reagan
and a companion, Julia Gissel, both 19
years old, were seen by campus police
getting out of a car, carrying what ap-
peared to be rifles. (In actuality, the “ri-
fles” were simulated M-16s that used
rubber-band ammunition.)
Sgt. Stephan King of the university po-
lice observed the couple moving along a
walkway rattling doors, and shouted,
“Freeze, police!” The woman stopped,
but Reagan turned around, assumed a
squatting position and pointed the toy
gun at King. The sergeant fired his real
gun three times, wounding Reagan in
the chest and leg. Reagan was admitted
to the intensive care unit of a Long
Beach hospital and listed in guarded
condition, but was released from inten-
sive care and listed in in stable condition
as of December 9. University officials
said King apparently believed the couple
were burglars. There had recently been
more than a dozen break-ins in the area
where the shooting occurred.
In retrospect, yes, the policeman was
wrong, the couple were not a pair of bur-
glars, and their guns were not real. But
what would you have had the policeman
do? Wait to see if he gets hit by a burst of
slugs or
just
a rubber band? I’m sure
proponents of “Assassin” or “Killer” or
any of the other so-called “live” role-
playing games (and I still disagree with
that term: “live” role-playing as opposed
to what, dead role-playing?), would say
that the area should have been declared
off limits to the players because of the
high crime rate, or that Reagan should
not have acted as if he were going to fire
when ordered to freeze. And they’d be
right. But might not Reagan have as-
sumed that the order to freeze was com-
ing from his “assassin”? Can one foresee
every possible circumstance in advance
and write every contingency into the
rules of the game?
My point is, simulation of acts of vio-
lence will inevitably be interpreted as the
real thing by those not aware that the
action is only simulation. That’s why
someone holding up a bank with a plas-
tic replica of a pistol may be charged
with armed robbery, even though no real
weapon was used in the crime. It is the
perception of the simulation that matters.
Beyond the potential for tragedy (I will
not even go into the reports I’ve received
of idiotic antics like climbing out third-
floor windows on ropes made of bed-
sheets to avoid “assassination” — stu-
pidity is stupidity, no matter what the
context), there is the problem of how the
non-gaming public perceives this type of
game and those who play it. At St. Am-
brose College in Davenport, Iowa, an
assassin-type game (they call it “God-
father”) has been organized. A St. Am-
brose professor, John Greenwood, has
sponsored a resolution circulated among
faculty members that criticizes the game,
and a Davenport newspaper reported,
“...he (Greenwood) thinks it (Godfather)
can easily get out of hand — much like
the ‘Dungeons and Dragons’ game.” It’s
bad enough that Mr. Greenwood appar-
ently has a misconception about the
D&D
®
game in the first place, but now it
is being reinforced in a negative manner
with the “Godfather” game, and further
he is being quoted by the media as
equating the two.
Now, the only result of a D&D game
“getting out of hand” I can think of is
oversleeping the next morning from play-
ing late into the night. And certainly no
one is going to mistake a group of people
sitting at a card table rolling dice and
talking for doing anything more than
playing a game. But since both “conven-
tional” games (those played with paper,
pencil, dice and imagination) and these...
these...these things involving players run-
ning around with rubber-band guns are
viewed the same by people with good
intentions but not all the facts, I’m afraid
some day you’ll hear, “Fantasy role-
playing? Oh, yeah, some kid in Califor-
nia was playing that and got shot, didn’t
he? They don’t allow that dragons and
dungeons stuff at my son’s school....”
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:
Clyde Caldwell
Donna Barr
Harry Quinn
Larry Elmore
David Larson
Phil Foglio
Roger Raupp
David Trampier
James Holloway
DRAGON magazine is published monthly by
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from the publisher. Copyright 1982 by TSR
Hobbies, Inc. USPS 318-790. ISSN 0279-6848.
Second class postage paid at Lake Geneva,
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February 1982
laying an AD&D™ adventure is, as we so often say,
an exercise in imagination. But all the imagination
in the world isn’t going to help when you (or worse
yet, the DM) can’t remember which spells you’ve
cast and which ones you have left. What is going to
help is SPELLMINDERS, our latest AD&D playing aid, which
you’ll find in the center of this magazine.
The idea for SPELLMINDERS came from Bill Fawcett, one of
our regular contributors, and his associate Lance Davenport.
They compiled the information which appears on the counters
and made the sometimes difficult decisions about which spells
should be represented more than once. Only magic-user and
cleric spells are included in this original set, but if we get
enough positive feedback from you, we’ll print up illusionist
and druid spells in the same form sometime soon. Let us know
what you think of the idea — either way.
And we might even throw in the new, official cleric spells from
the latest edition of Leomund’s Tiny Hut. Yep, I said official. Our
esteemed columnist, Len Lakofka, thought that clerics de-
served more spell abilities than provided for them in the AD&D
rules. So he wrote up some new spells and sent them to Gary
Gygax for his evaluation and approval — and Gary sent them to
us, along with his permission to portray them as new rules.
This month’s cover, “Escape from Skull Keep,” was painted
especially for DRAGON™ Magazine by Clyde Caldwell, whose
first appearance as a cover artist was on the front of issue #53.
At that time, I didn’t see how he could do any better — but now
that I’ve seen Clyde Caldwell painting number two, I can’t wait
for number three.
Dwarves may be, ahem, a short subject. But we’ve gone to
great lengths inside, starting on page 23, to give the little guys
their due. Contributing editor Roger Moore supplied most of
the material for a special section on dwarves and the deities
they worship. This is the first set of articles in a series of studies
on non-human races which will appear over the next several
issues. We’ll get to your favorite sooner or later.
Mythical monsters and fictional figures from ancient Greece
occupy a big part of our feature section. “The Blood of Medusa”
is Michael Parkinson’s description of the legendary creatures
and characters spawned by the lady with the strange hairdo.
Following that piece are four portrayals of NPCs from the same
era, but certainly not the same family tree.
Surrounding the SPELLMINDERS section in the center of the
magazine is “In the Bag,” another tale of the tribulations of
Boinger and Zereth from the pen of J. Eric Holmes, who is both
a well-known fiction writer (check out your local bookstore)
and the author of a new book on fantasy role-playing (ditto).
Next in line is a trio of treatises on archery. Robert Barrow
offers some facts and figures based on real experience, con-
cerning how far an archer can shoot and how easily he can hit
what he’s aiming at. Carl Parlagreco presents a short system for
“Making bowmanship more meaningful,” and the third article in
this section proposes a way to differentiate between bows of
different strengths and the varying amounts of damage their
arrows can cause. But if hand-held weapons are more your
character’s style, forge ahead into David Nalle’s essay on the
design and development of the sword.
“Being a bad knight” is the first article we’ve ever published
on the KNIGHTS OF CAMELOT™ game, and it comes straight
from the source — Glenn Rahman, the author of the game’s
original rules. And, for Traveller fans, there’s “Anything but
human,” Jon Mattson’s system for creating alien characters.
Topping off issue #58 is a special two-page “What’s New,”
Phil Foglio’s whimsical tribute to Valentine’s Day, and a one-
page “Wormy” which is, as usual, a tribute to the talent and
imagination of Tramp. — KM
SPECIAL ATTRACTION
SPELLMINDERS — Counters for keeping magic-user
and cleric spells straight. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Being a bad knight — KNIGHTS OF CAMELOT™ variant. . 61
Anything but human — Making aliens in Traveller . . . . . . . . 65
REGULAR OFFERINGS
Out on a Limb — Letters from readers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4
Leomund’s Tiny Hut — New spells for clerics . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5
Dragon’s Bestiary:
Sull
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
8
Beguiler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
9
Magenta’s Cat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
10
Dragon’s Augury:
Griffin Mountain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Star Patrol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Trillion Credit Squadron . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
69
Paranoia Press products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Off the Shelf — Book reviews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
What’s New . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Wormy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
OTHER FEATURES
The Blood of Medusa — Family tree of monsters . . . . . . . . .
11
Four myths from Greece — A sharp shooter, a high flyer,
a know-it-all, and a centaur . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
18
Dwarves: A special section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
23
The dwarven point of view . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
24
Bazaar of the Bizarre — Magic items for dwarves . . . . . . .
27
Sage Advice — Questions and answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
28
The gods of the dwarves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
In the Bag — Fiction by J. Eric Holmes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Aiming for realism in archery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Bowmanship made more meaningful . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
50
A long bow isn’t always a strong bow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Swords: Slicing into a sharp topic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
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