Drmg083, Dragon
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D
RAGON
1
Publisher: Mike Cook
Editor-in-Chief: Kim Mohan
Editorial staff: Roger Raupp
Patrick Lucien Price
Mary Kirchoff
Roger Moore
Andria Hayday
A declaration
Vol. VIII, No. 9
March 1984
When in the course of publishing events,
it becomes necessary for one magazine to be
connected with another, so that the two
magazines are no longer separate and
equal, a decent respect for the readership of
both magazines requires that the publisher
should declare the causes which led to the
connection of them.
Subscriptions: Mary Cossman
Layout designer: Kristine L. Bartyzel
Contributing editor: Ed Greenwood
Advertising Sales Administrator:
Mary Parkinson
SPECIAL ATTRACTION
National advertising representative:
The Dancing Hut . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31
A no-holds-barred challenge
for high-level AD&D characters
Robert Dewey
1836 Wagner Road
Glenview IL 60025
Phone (312)998-6237
My apologies to Thomas Jefferson, but I
decided that borrowing the spirit of the
first paragraph of the Declaration of Inde-
pendence was a good way to get into this
months topic. To put it bluntly: TSR, Inc.
will terminate publication of ARES Maga-
zine after issue #17, scheduled for release in
late March. Beginning with the April issue
of DRAGON® Magazine, the ARES name
will be represented by a science-fiction
gaming section inside each DRAGON
issue, and this magazine will expand to 96
pages to accommodate the extra material.
We made this decision based on a couple
of related facts. First, it had become clear to
us that ARES Magazine was not serving its
intended purpose, as a vehicle for science-
fiction gaming articles and features that
would reach a large share of the SF gaming
audience. If ARES Magazine had been able
to boast a decently large readership and an
adequately wide distribution, I venture to
say that we would have maintained it as a
separate title, because then it would have
been performing the service for which it was
intended. But it isnt (performing), so we
arent (keeping it separate).
The second fact is that we can reach SF
gamers with SF articles by incorporating
their kind of material in DRAGON Maga-
zine. We know, based on what youve told
us about yourselves in past readership sur-
veys, that a lot of you play and enjoy
science-fiction games in addition to fantasy
role-playing games. By expanding
DRAGON to 96 pages, we can include an
average of 16 pages per month of SF mate-
rial, without reducing the amount of non-
SF articles, of the sort that DRAGON
issues have carried in recent months and
which you have come to expect. By putting
all of our best stuff in one package, we can
reach many times more readers. In terms of
the greatest good for the greatest number,
well be providing more of the SF gaming
audience with more article coverage than
ever before.
Ive been proud of (and envied, at the
same time) ARES Magazine. Its a class act
in both editorial content and graphic de-
sign. A lot of you who havent seen it lately
will be pleasantly surprised by the new
ARES section in DRAGON Magazine,
because the section will be put together by
the same people who did the magazine for
its last few issues. A lot of you whove never
This issues contributing artists:
Denis Beauvais
Jim Holloway
OTHER FEATURES
Roger Raupp
E. B. Wagner
The many facets of gems . . . . . . . . . . . . .10
Fact and folklore about snazzy stones
Larry Elmore
Kurt Erichsen
Phil Foglio
The ecology of the stirge . . . . . . . . . . . . .20
Its a bird . . . its a bug . . .
DRAGON Magazine (ISSN 0279-6848) is
published monthly for a subscription price of $24
per year by Dragon Publishing, a division of
TSR, Inc. The mailing address of Dragon
Publishing for all material except subscription
orders is P.O. Box 110, Lake Geneva WI 53147.
The test of the twins.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26
A DRAGONLANCE short story
DRAGON Magazine is available at hobby
stores and bookstores throughout the United
States and Canada, and through a limited
number of overseas outlets. Subscription rates
are as follows: $24 for 12 issues sent to an address
in the U.S., $30 in Canada; $50 U.S. for 12
issues sent via surface mail or $95 for 12 issues
sent via air mail to any other country. All
subscription payments must be in advance, and
should be sent to Dragon Publishing, P.O. Box
72089, Chicago IL 60690.
How to finish fights faster . . . . . . . . . . . .55
Simpler and smoother unarmed combat
A look at AOKs, old and new. . . . . . . . .60
TOP SECRET® Companion preview
REGULAR OFFERINGS
A limited quantity of certain back issues of
DRAGON Magazine can be purchased from the
Dungeon Hobby Shop. (See the list of available
issues printed elsewhere in each magazine.) Pay-
ment in advance by check or money order must
accompany all orders. Payments cannot be made
through a credit card, and orders cannot be taken
nor merchandise reserved by telephone. Neither
an individual customer nor an institution can be
billed for a subscription order or a back-issue
purchase unless prior arrangements are made.
Out on a Limb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Letters and answers
Theforum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4
Opinions and observations
Convention calendar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .64
The issue of expiration for each subscription is
printed on the mailing label for each subscribers
copy of the magazine. Changes of address for the
delivery of subscription copies must be received
at least six weeks prior to the effective date of the
change in order to insure uninterrupted delivery.
Game review:
Good evening, Mr. Bond. . . . . . . . . . .66
Assessing the 007 game system
All material published in DRAGON
Magazine becomes the exclusive property of the
publisher upon publication, unless special ar-
rangements to the contrary are made prior to
publication. DRAGON Magazine welcomes
unsolicited submissions of written material and
artwork; however, no responsibility for such sub-
missions can be assumed by the publisher in any
event. Any submission which is accompanied by
a self-addressed, stamped envelope of sufficient
size will be returned if it cannot be published.
Gamers Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .70
Dragon Mirth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .74
Wormy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Whats New? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .76
Snarfquest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .78
DRAGON® is a registered trademark for
Dragon Publishings monthly adventure playing
aid. All rights on the contents of this publication
are reserved, and nothing may be reproduced
from it in whole or in part without first obtaining
permission in writing from the publisher.
Copyright © 1984 TSR, Inc.
DRAGON, DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, ADVANCED
DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, ADVANCED D&D, TOP
SECRET, BOOT HILL, and GAMMA WORLD are regis-
tered trademarks owned by TSR, Inc.
designates other trademarks owned by TSR, Inc., unless
otherwise indicated.
Second-class postage paid at Lake Geneva,
Wis., and additional mailing offices.
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to
Dragon Publishing, P.O. Box 110, Lake Geneva
WI 53147, USPS 318-790, ISSN 0279-6848.
(Turn to page 54)
2
MARCH 1984
imply stated, weve never
done an adventure like The
Dancing Hut before. It is,
for purposes of classification,
a module for high-level
AD&D characters. But calling it a high-
level module, and leaving it at that, is sort
of like calling Ronald Reagan an ex-movie
star. Thats true, but it doesnt tell the
whole story. The Dancing Hut is the
product of the imagination of Roger
Moore, loosely based on an adventure he
ran for some unsuspecting participants at
last falls Autumn Revel convention.
Rogers advice goes like this: Tell anyone
who takes a character in there not to be
too attached to it.
Psionics revisited
consider this request seriously; it would be a
tremendous service to your readers, especially
those of us who were not fortunate enough to be
around when issue #1 was printed.
Lance J. Purple
Houston, Tex.
Dear Editor:
Concerning my earlier letter, printed in issue
#81, and your response: We are both in the
wrong. I misused terms from the psionics appen-
dix in both my letter and my article (Overhaul-
ing the system, issue #78). I did say (and I quote
from the published version of the article): Re-
member that
[25 points for psionic ability] trans-
lates into 25 attack points and 25 defense points,
as well as 25 points for the powering of devo-
tions. This is virtually the same as a line found,
as a paragraph in itself, on page 111 of the Play-
ers Handbook: Note that the employment of
these powers (the psionic disciplines
another
case where I put the wrong word in the article)
costs psionic strength points,
the equivalent of 1
point each of attack and defense points. (Empha-
sis mine.)
The point I was objecting to was the fact that
Mr. Collins assumes, for the purpose of all of his
articles in the same issue, a modified system of
psionic strength/ability point allocation. He
admits this on page 9. Where I was attempting to
describe relatively minor modifications with the
same terminology as found in the P H (with less
accuracy than I should have had), Mr. Collins
opted to redefine the relationships of the several
types of psionic points. The result is that, for the
purpose ofpowering psionic disciplines, the
Psionicist is vastly over-powered. And where
combat is concerned, one must remember to use
half the total ability score he gives for each com-
bat strength category or else the Psionicist will
totally demolish an ordinary psionic character.
The ultimate source of this semantic problem is
the confusion of terms in the psionics appendix.
Perhaps Mr. Collins and I would not have had
this conflict if the rules themselves were substan-
tially clearer. As they currently stand, one must
usually read the section several times before he
can understand it. I know this has been the case
with my own players.
I hope that Lance and lots of others will be
happy to hear that TSR, Inc., is now offering a
service for readers to obtain photocopies of artic-
les from old issues of DRAGON® Magazine.
According to Penny Petticord, the head of TSRs
Correspondence Department, these are the rules
and regulations:
Those of you who liked our last cover
painting from Denis Beauvais (issue #78)
have already been appropriately awed by
his latest work. This one is entitled
Checkmate, and if it isnt the most
striking cover painting weve ever pub-
lished, its somewhere in the top three.
As a belated followup to an article on
gems we published almost a year ago,
Mike Lowrey put his research skills to a
tough test and came up with The many
facets of gems,
a chronicle of the valuable
stones listed in the AD&D Dungeon Mas-
ters Guide. To show you what some of the
more uncommon types look like, Roger
Raupp did some research of his own and
conjured up the paintings that are dis-
played on the first two pages of the article.
Our ecology article this month puts the
spotlight on that little blood-sucker that
nobody likes, the stirge. If youve ever
tried to moderate a combat sequence
involving a couple dozen of these things,
or if youve ever had a character do an
impersonation of a pincushion while try-
ing to fight them off, youll appreciate the
facts Ed Greenwood has come up with.
In the back end of the book, Mr. Moore
makes another appearance with How to
finish fights faster, a suggested revision of
the weaponless combat system in the
AD&D rules. It will always take longer to
play a fight than to actually fight a fight,
but we think these rules will cut the time-
consuming aspect of unarmed combat
down to a minimum.
Secret agents in the crowd (you dont
have to raise your hands) will appreciate
our second installment of previewed mate-
rial from the upcoming TOP SECRET®
Companion, this time concerning Areas of
Knowledge and what an AOK enables an
agent to do.
Our fiction feature this month is some-
thing different: The first public appear-
ance of a story involving the new
DRAGONLANCE saga. The test of
the twins gives you a glimpse into the
background and character of two of the
central figures in the overall story. Well
introduce you to more of the principal
characters in the issues to come. KM
Photocopies are not available from issues of
the magazine that are still being offered for sale
through the Dungeon Hobby Shop mail order
department, or of any articles that appear in our
BEST OF DRAGON® anthologies.
Your request must be accompanied by a
check or money order. The charge for photocopy-
ing is $2.50 per article, plus 40¢ per page. (For
an article that runs across six pages in the maga-
zine, the total charge would be $4.90.)
If you need a copy of an article youve
never seen, and you dont know how many pages
are involved, you can find out by calling Penny at
the TSR phone number, 1-414-248-3625. (Shell
probably also be able to tell you if the issue you
want the copy from is still for sale or not.)
Send your photocopy request, along with
payment, to Penny Petticord, c/o Correspon-
dence Department, TSR, Inc., P.O. Box 756,
Lake Geneva WI 53147.
Heres hoping this will help. KM
Record breaking
Dear Dragon,
In issue #80, you spoke of four guys who
played D&D for four days, four hours straight,
right? Well, you also said that they took a five-
minute break every hour. If so, they didnt play
for 100 hours, but 92. How did it go down in the
Guinness Book of World Records, as 92 hours, or
didnt the breaks count?
Also, how would I go about finding out how to
break this record? Who should I contact?
Wendy Wallace
St. Charles, M
O
.
Robert M. Schroeck
Princeton, N.J.
Article copies
Dear Editor:
Regarding the problem of readers demanding
As I understand it, the Guinness rules for
world records allow short breaks of this sort when
people are trying to set marathon records. (It
would be difficult, to say the least, for anyone to
literally remain seated at a table for 100 hours in
a row.) We dont know if the record-breaking
attempt has been officially recognized by the
Guinness people, or if it ever will be; well proba-
bly all find out one way or the other when the
next edition of the Guinness Book of World
Records is released.
How to break the record? Well, first get a lot of
sleep beforehand....Seriously, I dont know the
exact procedure, but anyone whos interested can
probably find out by looking in the world record
book, or by asking your local librarian. KM
Regarding the problem of readers demanding
back issues, has anyone ever suggested offering
back issues, has anyone ever suggested offering
photocopied reprints of single articles, similar to
photocopied reprints of single articles, similar to
Readers Digest? (After all, DRAGON is sort of
Readers Digest? (After all, DRAGON is sort of
a role-players digest . .
. .) This would be inex-
pensive, would not lower the value of anyones
pensive, would not lower the value of anyones
collection, and would be much easier than re-
collection, and would be much easier than re-
issuing entire magazines.
issuing entire magazines.
Admittedly, it would be difficult to photocopy
Admittedly, it would be difficult to photocopy
and mail thousands of different copies, but some
and mail thousands of different copies, but some
of the more asked-for articles could be offered.
of the more asked-for articles could be offered.
The three BEST OF DRAGON collections are
The three BEST OF DRAGON collections are
great, but there are more articles left out than
great, but there are more articles left out than
included in them. The index in issue #76 only
included in them. The index in issue #76 only
serves to show us what is not available. Please
serves to show us what is not available. Please
DRAGON
3
A
Dear Editor:
a role-players digest . .
. .) This would be inex-
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