Drmg066, Dragon
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D
RAGON
1
that goes from the first floor to the se-
cond and back again. It may not save all
that much time, but then again, nobody’s
ever fallen down a flight of elevators.
We don’t have to resort to
teleport via
automobile
spells to get in touch with the
rest of the company; no more driving a
mile on a wild-goose chase, hoping to
find someone who “was just here a min-
ute ago.”
As is the case with most old houses,
723 Williams St. had some tenants other
than the people who made and mailed
magazines. There were mice in the walls,
mice in the halls, mice in the floor, mice
galore. We caught and caged some of
‘em for a while, but one dark night there
was a mass escape, and things were
never the same between us again. Some
day soon, when a big iron ball comes
crashing through the front window at
723 Williams, those mice will realize the
error of their ways. And maybe then the
tears will come.
Just about three years ago, yours truly
walked timidly in the front door of TSR
Periodicals, hoping to find gainful em-
ployment. Just about three weeks ago,
the staff of Dragon Publishing walked
back out that same door for the last time.
Don’t worry: DRAGON™ Magazine is
alive and well; this issue is proof of that.
But the building we used to occupy —
which was at one time the site of the
entire TSR Hobbies, Inc., operation — is
not so healthy any more. We’ve moved
across town into newer, sturdier quar-
ters, to a complex that will eventually
house most of the 200-plus people who
work for TSR.
Closing the door at 723 Williams St.
was a bit of a sad occasion. But, if the
truth be known, I didn’t see anyone
shedding any tears. There are lots of ad-
vantages to being located in the same
building as the other people who work
with us to keep DRAGON magazine
coming out month after month — advan-
tages that we hope will translate to ben-
efits for all of our Gentle Readers. We
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ly, making our printing deadlines with a
little time to spare — which means we
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For instance, there’s no more bound-
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Contents
e’ve heard it said that the best way to get ahead in
this world is to keep your ears and eyes open — and
your mouth shut. Certainly, that axiom applies to
the adventurers in Paul Sonju’s cover painting, and
it’s also good advice to follow with some of the
articles in this issue. With languages, for instance, you’ve got
to
look and listen before you can learn to speak. And, when con-
fronted by an illusion, what you see and hear (or don’t hear) is a
lot more important than what you say.
You can enhance the use of languages in your D&D
®
or
AD&D™ adventuring by using this issue’s special inclusion —a
dictionary of Thieves’ Cant vocabulary that you can fold and
trim to fit in pocket or pouch. To go with it, we’ve assembled a
special section of “language lessons” you can use to add more
detail and more flavor to that aspect of your campaign.
By their very nature, illusions (and the characters who cast
them) are always subject to interpretation. Inside you’ll find a
couple of articles suggesting how to keep illusions and illusion-
casters in proper perspective. Immediately preceding those
stories is an extra-long edition of
From the Sorceror’s Scroll,
wherein Gary Gygax unveils twenty-six new, official spells for
illusionists in the AD&D game.
An edged weapon has two sides — and so does the debate
over the weapon-use rules in the D&D and AD&D systems. Both
sides of the topic are examined at the start of our feature
section, with John Sapienza advocating an alteration of the
rules and Bruce Humphrey offering his rationale for why the
rules are fine just the way they’re written.
For the thousands of
ELFQUEST
fans, and the thousands
who have yet to discover Cutter and the rest of the crew, we
present the principal characters in the sage described in AD&D
terms — illustrated with full-color portraits by Wendy Pini.
In
Featured Creatures
this month, Gary Gygax fills out the
SPECIAL ATTRACTION
Thieves’ Cant Pocket Dictionary —
Learn to speak
the way wall-climbers and pickpockets do ........... 37
OTHER FEATURES
Should they have an edge? —
Weapons for spell-users
YES —
Sapienza suggests variant rules
............... 6
NO —
Humphrey supports AD&D™ system
............
7
Elfquest —
Characters adapted for AD&D play
........... 12
Is it
really
real? —
Phantasmal Force examined
..........
31
The ‘familiarity factor’ —
Keep illusionists in line
.........
32
Languages: A special section
Thieves’ Cant: A primer
.............................
35
Language rules leave lots of room
...................
46
Fantasy philology ..................................
50
Old Dwarvish ......................................
52
Dungeon Design Contest rules ..........................
63
An open letter to Rick Loomis ...........................
71
Friends in High Places —
She’s not kidding .............. 73
REGULAR OFFERINGS
Out on a Limb
— Letters from readers and writers ......... 3
Convention schedule ...................................
10
Sage Advice —
Questions & answers on AD&D rules ..... 16
Featured Creatures
— New genies from EGG ............ 20
From the Sorceror’s Scroll —
New illusionist spells ....... 22
Leomund’s Tiny Hut —
More low-level critters ........... 54
Up on a Soapbox —
individuals make a difference. ....... 58
Off the Shelf —
Reviews of the latest literature ........... 67
Dragon’s Augury —
Star Smuggler evaluated ............ 70
What’s New............................................
76
Wormy
................................................
78
family of geniekind with official renditions of the marid, dao,
and jann. In
Leomund’s Tiny Hut,
Len Lakofka offers some of
his creature creations — intriguing low-level monsters guaran-
teed to make even high-level characters use their wits instead
of just their weapons. —
KM
DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, ADVANCED DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, ADVANCED D&D, and TOP SECRET are registered trademarks owned by TSR Hobbies, Inc.
™ designates other trademarks owned by TSR Hobbies, Inc., unless otherwise indicated.
Of course, a new working environment
means a lot of changes in our day-to-day
existence — but we don’t expect them to
be bad changes. We’re giving up some
things, to be sure, but that’s not neces-
sarily unfortunate.
Vol. VII, No. 5
October 1982
Rahman’s rebuttal
Publisher:
Jake Jaquet
Editor-in-Chief:
Kim Mohan
Editorial staff:
Marilyn Favaro
Gali Sanchez
Roger Raupp
Business manager:
Debbie Chiusano
Circulation:
Cherie Knull
Contributing editors:
Roger Moore
Ed Greenwood
tendencies instill “neuteristic values, This
produces unhappiness and frustration for
both sexes” (Savages of Gor, page 199). He
believes that since an average woman cannot
outfight nor outrun an average man, it is natu-
ral for her to obey and serve him. This seems
to me the classic expression of the strong
being served by the weak.
Mr. Norton throws up a few ideas to support
his point of view, but he is unintentionally
being ironic. He speaks of Tarl as being de-
moralized. Tarl was in fact much more of a
Chaotic Neutral during those months or years
of demoralization than later, when he re-
gained his spirits. His first act when so doing
was to impulsively enslave a loyal, hard-
working, and harmless employee — his ac-
countant Luma, the same girl whom he had
befriended and freed from servitude at the
height of his demoralization (Marauders of
Gor, page 23). Neither does the protest that
Tarl did not take enough ships to be classed
as a pirate hold up under a careful reading of
Raiders of Gor (page 196). In fact, he was
such an innovative and brilliant pirate (or pri-
vateer) that the insurance rates forced upon
his victims were nearly running them out of
the competition.
In the last half of the series, Tarl’s behavior
ought to be considered Evil, at least where
women are concerned. It is true that many of
these persons were his or Gor’s enemies, but
many were acting within their rights when
they offended him and some were entirely
innocent. A good number of the women he
has subjected to abduction, forced prostitu-
tion, compulsive labor, uncomfortable impri-
sonment, chaining, flogging and worse were
of a character which no doubt would have
been protected or championed by a hero of
any kind of Good alignment. Some of us
could stretch the concept of Neutrality to
cover such actions, but many can’t.
It is not uncommon to emotionally equate
“likable” or “enviable” with “Good.” It is true
that the career of a colorful and daring rogue,
thief, outlaw, or gangster makes fascinating
and enjoyable reading. The planet Gor is a
marvel of inventive detail and ingenious crea-
tion. Nonetheless, the ledger of Tarl Cabot
can be credibly said to come down on the Evil
side, as most of us play AD&D. To argue oth-
erwise is like saying that Al Capone only sold
beer.
Dear Editor:
I would like to address the “Cabot com-
plaint” (Jeff Norton’s letter in issue #63).
I assure Mr. Norton that I have indeed read
the entire series of Tarl Cabot’s adventures. In
fact, I have recommended the books to many
of my friends and consider myself a fan, not a
critic, of the series.
Mr. Norton takes strong objection to my
classification of Tarl Cabot as an Evil charac-
ter (large E). After considering what he says, I
maintain that in AD&D terms Lawful Evil is
still a more accurate description of Tarl Ca-
bot’s character than is Chaotic Good or Neu-
tral, which he proposes.
Tarl Cabot is a very complex character and
a two-word descriptive phrase is admittedly
an oversimplification. Is a man who saves the
world Evil? Is one who habitually commits
acts which our society ranks among the most
heinous Good? I considered the matter of
alignment (within the confining space of
AD&D’s nine possibilities) very carefully. I
called in the opinion of friends who were fa-
miliar with both the books and the game be-
fore I made my choice.
On page 23 of the Dungeon Masters Guide
it says, “Lawful evil creatures consider order
as the means by which each group is properly
placed within the cosmos, from lowest to
highest, strongest first, weakest last. Good is
seen as an excuse to promote the mediocrity
of the whole and suppress the better and
more capable, while lawful evilness allows
each group to structure itself and fix its place
as compared to others, serving the stronger
but being served by the weaker.”
I consider Tarl to be Lawful because he
upholds the laws of his caste (the Warriors)
and serves the interests of his city. When he
can, he helps bring order out of strife and
chaos, as when he led the action to replace
Port Kar’s collection of rival Ubars (warlords)
with an oligarchy of rich and powerful mer-
chant-pirates, the Council of Captains. He
has worked to bring harmony to the tribes of
the South Plains, of the Tahari and of Tor-
valdsland. Moreover, he is an agent of the
Lawful Neutral Priest-Kings. So much for
Lawful. Is he Evil?
Tarl Cabot seems to support wholehearted-
ly the Gorean caste system, by which (to
quote AD&D again) “each group is properly
placed in the cosmos.” Who can deny that he
is also an ardent supporter of the Gorean
slave system, which is fully as harsh as that of
the Roman Republic? True, he is indifferent to
enslaving men, but he positively asserts that
by nature and biology women are most fitted
for a life of slavery. Tarl commonly makes
categorical statements such as: “Slavery is
good for a woman” (Explorers of Gor, page
210). He is as critical of the Good tendencies
of Earth’s western democracies (in which he
was reared, remember) as any AD&D Lawful
Evil person would be, believing that these
This issue’s contributing artists:
Paul Sonju
Ray Williams
Robert Allen
Roger Raupp
Jim Holloway
David Trampier
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Roger's reason
Dear Editor:
Some comments on issue #64:
In response to Gary Gygax's question (Out
on a Limb), green dragon armor (when prop-
erly prepared) possesses some qualities sim-
ilar to a Necklace of Adaptation. Dragon ar-
mors have an innate resistance to the breath
DRAGON
3
W endy Pini
Phil Foglio
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