Accessory - Dragon Magazine #035, MAGAZINES, Dragon Magazine
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March, 1980
Players
Handbook,
and
Dungeon
Masters
Guide
will find here, for the
first time, a complete listing of all addenda and errata that will be
incorporated in all future editions. However, there will be two new
appendices in the
DMG,
only one of which (the encumbrance table) is
listed in the errata section. The other, “Creating a Party on the Spur of
the Moment,” appeared as an article in
The Dragon
#26 (June 1979).
s you know, each issue of The Dragon is planned and
laid out long before the month in which it actually
appears. This is especially true with the selection of
cover art. This month’s cover,
“Snowmen of Doom”
by Hugo-winning artist
Phil Foglio,
was commis-
sioned back in the late fall of ‘79. So, we’re not making any political
statements or commentary, but, you know, the kid does look a little
Afghani. . .
For fiction, this month, we present a writer new to the pages of The
Dragon:
Cynthia Frazer.
We hope you enjoy reading her story
“Oasis”
as much as we enjoy bringing it to you.
Traveller
continues to be one of the more popular science fiction
role-playing games, and each day our mailbox seems to contain a new
variant. So, for you Traveler fans, we have five new variants, from new
branches of military service to the effect of black holes.
TSR President and publisher of
The
Dragon
Gary Gygax
is back this
month with The
Sorcerers Scroll,
having a look at where TSR has
been and where we’re going. And Gary will be back again next month
with a look at Conan a la our “Giants in the Earth” series.
As promised, this month we have the
official errata and addenda for
AD&D.
Those of you with early editions of the
AD&D MonsterManual,
FEATURES
The Official AD&D Errata—
All three books!
. . . . . . .
4
Oasis—
Cynthia Frazer
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Sorcerer’sScroll—
Gary Gygax
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Leomund’sTinyHut—
Lenard Lakofka
. . . . . . . . . . . 14
SageAdvice—
JeanWells.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
17
UpOnASoapbox—
Theron Kuntz
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
16
Angels in Dungeons&Dragons—
William Fawcett
. . . . . . . . . . 18
Giants in the Earth—
L.Schick
&
T. Molduay
. . . . . . .20
Dastardly Deeds & Devious Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23
The AD&D National Player Rating System . . . . . . . . .24
Masters III: The Search for the Armadillo Amulet . . . . .25
Fantasysmith—
The Mystery of
the Bow . . . . . . . . . . .
.26
The History of Hothior—
G. ArthurRahman
. . . . . . . .27
Simulation Comer—
John Prados
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .47
Up on a Soap Box
this month we have veteran gamer
Terry Kuntz.
Terry examines wargaming from somewhat of a philosophical angle,
and his piece should be read by gamer and non-gamer alike.
Of course, we have our regular monthly columns, and this month we
introduce a new one, and have the return of another. New in the
column department is
Simulation Comer
by
John Prados.
Those of
you who read the design credits on your games will recognize John’s
name, and those of you who don’t may be quite amazed at the number
of games you own which were designed or developed by John. Topic of
discussion for John’s first column is the past decade of gaming—where
it’s been and where it’s going.
Returning this month after a brief sabbactical we have
Giants in the
Earth,
featuring Cecelia Holland’s Muirtagh the Bowman, H. Rider
Haggard’s Umslopogaas, and Henry Kuttner’s Edward Bond and
Ganelon.
VARIANTS
Special Traveller Section:
IBIS: Profit and Peril—
Kenneth Burke
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Useful Skills—
Alexander von Thorn
.......................
8
The “Other” Options—
C. Ahner & R. Stuart.
...............
9
More Clout for Scouts—
A. Previte & J. Cavaliere
............ 10
Black Holes!—
James Hopkins
............................
11
Len Lakofka
has more to say about experience points in
Leomund’s
Tiny Hut,
and
Jean Wells,
as always, has more
Sage Advice.
Dastardly Deeds & Devious Devices
continues with more DM
delights and player headaches.
New to the pages of
The
Dragon
this month, but to appear on a
semi-regular basis, is the
TSR Hobbies AD&D National Player
Rating System.
It will take awhile for the system to become fully
operational (at the moment, only players from the three Invitational
AD&D Masters Tournaments are ranked), but as the system gains more
input, it could possibly become a very significant factor in national
competition.
REVIEWS
Gangster—
Kenneth Burke
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Titan Strike—
Van Norton
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Double Star—
William Fawcett
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
War In The
Ice—
Roberto Camino
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Short Takes & First Impressions—
T.J. Kask
. . . . . .
52
Ever wonder about miniatures and the accuracy of their production in
any other sense than scale? The
Fantasysmith
does! This month’s
Mystery of the Bow
is food for thought even if you don’t have a thing
to do with miniatures.
DRAGON MIRTH
Clarence the Cleric—
L. W. Boelman
.........................
56
Inert Weapons—
D. Patric Shaw
............................. 56
Ripples in the Fabric of the Multiuniverse—
Mark Cummings
...... 57
Finieous—
byJ.D.
.....................................
. ..58
Glenn Rahman
continues the series he started last month on the
history of Minaria (Divine Right). This month he details the history of
Hothior.
NEWS/VIEWS
DragonRumbles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Out on a Limb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3
OK, all you Finieous fans
—Finieous is back!
J.D. winds up the
adventure of Dragonquest in a special two-page spread. Wormy is on a
brief hiatus somewhere on the west coast and will be returning (hope-
fully) soon.
ConventionSchedule1980.................................48
Classified ads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
ORIGINS Update . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .60
Coming attractions:
Next month will see a new Niall of the Far
Travels adventure (including a cover based on the story); another
installment of The Electronic Eye, our computer gaming column; an
excellent Stellar Conquest article; the start of a series of Squad Leader
scenarios: and much, much more—
Jake
If your mailing label says TD 35
this if your last issue . . . resubscribe
Vol.IV,No.9
What was once an esoteric pastime practiced
by an avant-garde few has given rise to the newest
trend in the toy and hobby industries. I refer, of
course, to gaming, whether it is called simulation
gaming, hobby gaming, war gaming, role-playing,
or military miniatures or adventure gaming.
Judging from the 43rd Hobby Industry of
America trade show, held Jan. 27-30 in Anaheim,
Calif., our once lonely pastime has arrived with a
vengeance. According to what the buyers and store
owners were saying, adventure gaming (for want of
another term) is booming, with the heavy emphasis
on fantasy. Sales of
Advanced D&D DMG
bear this
out; it is the best-selling game/gamebook of all
time. The phenomenon is not limited to what is
considered the “hobby” industry; numerous man-
ufacturers were showing at the Toy Show in New
York that ran from Feb. 11-20.
Adventure-gaming materials are now being
sold in every kind of store except grocery stores. I
personally talked to dozens of store owners who
did not carry any toys or hobby items, specializing
in crafts, yet were heavily into games. Virtually
every store owner I talked to who was already into
toys and hobbies was also into adventure gaming
or getting into it at that show. What was once only
available at certain stores, and you had to know
who and where they were, can now be found in at
least 75% of all toy and hobby stores, according to
my own poll at the show.
The commercial success of gaming has given
rise to dozens of companies involved in the manu-
facture of games and figures where once there was
only one game company, and figures had to come
from England for the most part. The Hobby In-
dustry Association of America, in recognition of this
popularity, has allowed the formation of a Hobby
Gaming and Military Miniatures Division within
HIAA. It is now in its formative stages, and a new
generic title for our industry is being sought.
Industry sources cite that our type of merchan-
dise accounted for 5% of every toy and hobby
dollar spent.
Adventure gaming spills over fairly equally into
what is delineated as the ‘toy industry’ and ‘hobby
industry’. There has always been considerable gray
area between these somehwat arbitrary distinction.
Adventure gaming seems most comfortably rooted
in that gray area, impinging upon both. While
metal figures are easily classified as “toys,” board-
games and rules books seem more inclined to be
lumped into “hobbies,” yet in the minds of many
practitioners they are inseparable.
After twenty years of sheepishly trying to ex-
plain my fascination with what once was simply
known as “wargaming” to skeptics, it is a real treat
to see that more and more people share my fas-
cination, and that we can reasonably expect tens of
thousands more to soon join our ranks.
* * *
Examine carefully, if you will, the box on the
right side of this page. Having done so, you will
notice yet more changes, indicative of our own
ongoing metamorphosis.
Starting at the top, I am no longer the Editor of
The Dragon.
TSR Periodicals’ interests have be-
come so diverse, and we have so many irons in the
fire, that I am no longer able to spend the majority
of my time on
TD.
In fact, I now spend only a tiny
fraction of my working hours on
TD.
This has not
been an easy or pleasant transition for me.
TD
will
always be my magazine, in that I had the pleasure
of starting it on its way. Today, though, the plain
fact is that it has become our magazine; each of the
staff members has reason to claim part of it as his.
There is an old newspaper joke that when the
editor does more managing than editing, it’s time to
kick him upstairs to Managing Editor.
So now I pass on my gilded blue pencil to Jake,
confident that he will continue to put out the finest
magazine possible each month. He is ably assisted
by Kim, and I have every confidence that they will
continue to please you, our readers. In some ways,
there will be no change at all, as I do retain the final
say over what is printed.
Moving farther down the masthead, there is yet
another change evident, in the listing of artists.
From now on, we will list all artists whose work
appears in that issue.
In the future, this column will be used solely to
make policy statements or to address some inter-
esting or noteworthy problem or article in the par-
ticular issue. My strange wanderings will be appear-
ing in another place from now on, unless it deals
with a matter of TSRP policy, or a philosophy that
the magazine wishes to address. Titled, appropri-
ately enough,
Off the Wall,
the new column will
serve as my personal vehicle to address matters of
interest to the hobby, as well as some of the more
bizarre and esoteric workings of my mind. In the
first one, next month, I will offer a personal essay
on the subject of TV vs. Imagination; the dangers of
passive entertainment. In
OTW,
I plan to get
out-
rageous on occasion, and perhaps voice feelings
that many of us have had at one time or another
concerning this avocation of ours that so sets us
apart from the mainstream of contemporary life
and leisure pursuits.
As I turn over
TD
to Jake, I am confident that he
will continue our course of excellence, and con-
tinue to provide interesting and provocative read-
ing of interest to the gameplayers of the world.
Certain things that we have printed recently
have cost us some support in the form of lost
advertisers. Rather than apologize, or consider
changing, we intend to call them as we see them. If
that entails hurting some feelings along the way, so
be it. As along as we continue to sell more maga-
zines each month, we figure we must be doing
something right.
Vol. IV, No. 9
March, 1980
Publisher
E. Gary Gygax
Managing Editor
T.J. Kask
Editor
Jake Jaquet
Assistant Editor
Kim Mohan
Circulation & Sales
Corey Koebernick
This month’s
contributing artists:
Phil Foglio
Robert Garcia
Erol Otus
Dave LaForce
Jeff Dee
Kenneth Rahman
Alan Burton
THE DRAGON is published monthly by TSR
Periodicals, a division of TSR Hobbies, Inc.,
P.O. Box 110, Lake Geneva, Wisconsin 53147.
Phone: 414-248-8044
THE DRAGON is available at better hobby
shops and bookstores, or by subscription. Sub-
scription rate within the U.S. and Canada is
$24.00 for 13 issues. Subscription outside the
U.S. and Canada are $28.00 for 6 issues, and
are air-mailed. Single copy price, including back
issues, is $2.75 per copy. All payments must be
made in U.S. currency or by international money
order. Subscription expiration is coded onto the
mailing label. The number to the right of the
name, prefixed by “TD” is the number of the last
issue of the subscription. Changes of address
must be filed 30 days prior to the mailing date of
the magazine to be sent to the new address.
All material published in THE DRAGON be-
comes the exclusive property of the publisher
unless special arrangements to the contrary are
made.
Editor
While THE DRAGON welcomes unsolicited
material, such cannot be returned unless ac-
companied by a stamped return envelope, and
no responsibility for such material can be as-
sumed 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 written permission of the publisher.
Copyright 1980 by TSR Hobbies, Inc.
Second class postage paid at Lake Geneva,
Wisconsin 53147
2
March, 1980
The Dragon
Character inflation
age that conflicts between players, but experience.
When I was an
AD&D
ref at the last WinterCon, the
people playing seemed to be acting out the “kid
stereotype,” that is, acting foolishly in most every-
thing they did, until I realized that they were acting
out of a lack of knowledge, not just out of being a
kid.
strength of 20 to human strength of 18/91-99, etc.,
because I felt like doing it that way. Hargrave and
Gygax do it differently with their tables. So what?
My article was clearly labeled a variant and specifi-
cally stated that some changes had been made
from
AD&D.
Nor is
AD&D
consistent; the
Monster
Manual
does say that giants have strengths of
21-30 but the
Dungeon Masters Guide
gives them
strengths of 19-24.
(The
Monster Manual
figures
are wrong and should agree with the
DMG—
see
Monster Manual
errata elsewhere in this issue—Ed.)
You can find inconsistencies in everything if
you look hard enough. The rules of
AD&D,
and
those of any other fantasy role-playing games, are
just that, rules. They merely provide a means
whereby the players can act out roles within a
fantasy world of the referee’s creation (though
some FRPG rules are tied to specific backgrounds,
such as
Empire of the Petal Throne, Runequest
and
Chivalry & Sorcery).
As such, FRPG rules are
at best attempts to simulate a realistic “feel” in
events such as melee combat. Game designers
have a difficult enough time devising melee mech-
anics that are truly realistic when only humans are
involved, without adding impossibly large mon-
sters to the fighting.
Giants cannot exist as given in
AD&D,
for
physiological reasons. Their legs would have to be
much broader in proportion to their height and
their cardiovascular system would be a nightmare.
Giants would not look at all human and probably
could not exist at all. Some game designers make
arbitrary assumptions and write arbitrary rules just
to make things work. Many points have to be com-
promised along the way in any game and especially
in a fantasy role-playing game. The difference
between a good and bad FRPG is the skill with
which the designer has made the unavoidable
trade-offs between playability and the “realistic
feel” of play.
My article represented my own gropings in this
direction almost two years ago. I was one of the
outside commentators for the DMG draft (second
behind Len Lakofka in nonsense submitted) and I
learned a lot about FRPG game design in working
Dear Editor,
I have been enjoying
D&D
for over three years
now, and in that time I have watched the game
change. Yet the players have changed more. I am
speaking of Character Inflation.
To begin with, it is refreshing to hear that others
see the same problem I do. Three cheers for Andy
Laska, whose letter appeared in TD #32. I can
sympathize with his frustrations; my highest-level
character is a Ranger of level 6. In my opinion it is a
matter of integrity, and I find it lacking in too many
players.
Both the problem and the solution lie with the
DMs. It requires only one “overly generous” DM to
start character inflation in a group. All Dungeon
Masters take heed. If you allow unreasonable char-
acters into your dungeon, don’t expect help from
rules when one claims his wand kills dragons. Don’t
be upset when they crash through your best trap
with no chance of its taking effect. Don’t be sur-
prised if they bring their “new” character to play
next time, the one with the AC-0 leather, the vorpal
blade with 13 wishes, their want of infinite fireballs,
and their magic backpack from which any explor-
ing item may be drawn.
I have found that many of these high level
characters received many of their levels from
wishes. Dungeon Masters Unite! Go ahead, raise
them 8 levels. . . in your dungeon. Too bad if that
would put them 100 feet in the air. I think I’ve made
my point.
Let me finish by saying that a DM’s purpose in
the game is to interpret the rules and apply them
justly. A DM who interferes with the natural play
and is inconsistent can cause more trouble then
almost any player. As a DM, keep your emotions
out of the game. Remember, it’s their fantasy.
Howard Cohen-Stockton, CA
All I’m asking is that if you can’t find someone
your age to play with, why not try some of us
younger people — we could both benefit.
Jeff Wagner—Rochester, MI
Age of the DM
Dear Editor:
I am in favor of listing both the age of the DM
and his/her age preference of players in the DM list.
It seems to me only fair and a convenience for
those who do have a strong preference (or aver-
sion) for different age groups. I see it as an item of
information which could be helpful to many
people, whereas its exclusion might create prob-
lems for some.
I hope that your magazine continues to grow
and maintain the excellent quality it has exhibited
so far. . . .
Mario Pardillo—Bronx, NY
Reader Pardillo has had an interesting sugges-
tion and a valid point—especially if one is looking
for players older or younger than oneself. How-
ever, such a listing could be looked at from a differ-
ent viewpoint and labeled discrimination. Any one
on the project. My present thinking on the subject
of my earlier articles is that distinctions should be
made between damage due to weapon size (and
weight) and wielder strength, and also between hit
points due to body size and hit points due to skill.
Inconsistencies
Dear Editor,
This means, however, that we would be talking
Craig Stenseth had some comments on my
about an entirely different game than
AD&D
and I
I agree. —Jake
Strength Comparison article in the Out On A Limb
have in consequence started working on my own
section of TD #30 which merit a reply. First, I hope
FRPG.
Lack of Knowledge
answered some of his questions (the articles were
erroneously published separately). Second, it ap-
Thomas Holsinger—Turlock, CA
I hope this reply from the author of the articles
Dear Editor,
Having just finished the December issue of
The
Dragon
I’d have to say that it is another fantastic
issue. I found nothing to rumble about this time,
although you might have detailed the price hike a
little more, but no problem, I’m not complaining.
Getting on to other things, I read Sonia Brock’s
letter and I have to say that it was very informative. I
myself may be able to relate, in a sense, to her idea
of playing with younger people. The difference
between us is that I am one of the younger
D&D
players that a lot of you older people frown upon,
without reason to, because, you see, I have been
playing
D&D
for about four years and I have writ-
ten one article on wargames that was published by
the American Tolkien society last July. I do not
claim to be a
D&D
expert but I do consider myself
to be a good player, both in the way I play and in
the way I conduct myself at gaming sessions.
If some of you are afraid to try us “kids” in your
gaming sessions, then your fears are unfounded.
My opinion on player compatibility is that it’s not
pears that those points of my article which he dis-
in question clears up any misunderstanding
liked most are due to a failure of my ideas to mesh
fully with other parts of
D&D, AD&D
and other
created when the two were run in different issues of
The Dragon.
However, I will take issue on one
articles in
The Dragon.
My tables were written in
March of 1978 when most of the other matter he
referred to had not been published. I rewrote them
and broke the tables into two articles at the urging
of the staff of
The Dragon
when I submitted them to
TD
in the spring of 1979. So by the time they were
published in the summer of 1979, much had come
out that contradicted what I had written 15 months
before.
Mr. Stenseth almost answered his own ques-
tion about the relative strengths of the smaller than
man-sized creatures compared to humans, in his
earlier comments about giant strength. The crucial
point is known to armored warfare types as the
horsepower-to-weight ratio. A 35 kg goblin is much
stronger proportionately than a 65 kg human who
has been afflicted with a girdle of goblin strength.
I assigned an equivalent monster strength of 19
to human strength of 18/76-90, and monster
3
point.
There seems to be some sort of movement
towards “realism” (whatever that means) in
fantasy role-playing game rules. Why? And how
are these new rules less arbitrary than the so-called
“unrealistic” rules?
Fantasy, by the definition of the word, is un-
realistic or improbable. A set of rules for role-
playing using nothing but the laws of nature (What
would one call such rules? Reality role-playing?)
would prohibit 75% of the material in any currently
available set of rules.
The point is, fantasy role-playing rules are
designed to create a structure in which players can
role-play or “act out” or fantasize, or whatever you
want to call the act of play,
actions otherwise
impossible or improbable in reality.
Sure, it’s
physiologically impossible for an AD&D giant to
(Turn to page 53)
else have a suggestion?—Jake
that TD #29 with the second part of my article
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