Accessory - Dragon Magazine #045, MAGAZINES, Dragon Magazine
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January 1981
Dragon
1
Dragon
Vol. V, No. 7
Good-bye 1980, hello 1981. And hello to a
couple of new (and pretty, I might add, if I
won’t get accused of sexism) faces here at
Dragon Publishing. New, or at least rela-
tively new, to our sales and circulation de-
partment is Debbie Chiusano—Debbie ac-
tually has been with us since last October,
but this has been our first opportunity to
formally welcome her in print. The most
recent addition to our organization is
Marilyn Mays, added just last month to our
editorial staff. Let’s hear it for the new kids
on the block!
tain aspects of role-playing and the benefits
derived therefrom. He and his wife, who is
the typist and a behind-the-scenes collab-
orator, have been responsible for more
than a dozen short articles and stories pub-
lished in Dragon magazine within the last
year. Roger’s name is on the alchemist and
astrologer NPC articles in this issue, and in
Dragon issue #44 he became the first
author to have two creatures featured in
Dragon’s Bestiary in the same magazine.
Vol. V, No. 7
January 1981
Publisher. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
E. Gary Gygax
Editor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Jake Jaquet
Assistant editor. . . . . . . . . . .
Kim Mohan
Editorial staff
. . . . . . . . . . . . . Bryce Knorr
Marilyn Mays
Sales & Circulation
. . Debbie Chiusano
Corey Koebernick
Office staff
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dawn Pekul
Cherie Knull
Roger Raupp
Contributing editors
. . . . Roger Moore
Ed Greenwood
This month’s contributing artists:
Morrissey
With the start of a new year, it seems appro-
priate to reflect a bit on the past year and
look ahead a little to the future. Last year at
this time Dragon magazine was 64 pages
long and our circulation was about 11,000
copies per month. Now the size of the mag-
azine is consistently 80 pages or more (last
month’s issue contained 112 pages) and it
looks like we’ll be printing 45,000-50,000
copies of this issue (print runs are never
decided until everything, including this col-
umn, is in type). It appears that Dragon is at
last coming of age.
Jeff Lanners
Roger Raupp
Kenneth Rahman
We’re also happy to welcome two other
people to the official list of those who help
make Dragon magazine the leader in the
field. Their names are Roger Moore and Ed
Greenwood, and they have accepted ap-
pointments as our first contributing editors.
Their names should already be familiar to
regular readers of Dragon magazine, since
the two of them have appeared on these
pages as authors more than 20 times in the
past year. In their new roles, Roger and Ed
will be published as authors at least as often
as they have been in the past, because they
have both established themselves among
the best article writers in the business today.
In addition, they may be asked to produce
articles on special assignment for Dragon to
fill a specific need. Or, they may be called
upon to help our overworked office staff
handle the evaluation and refinement of
manuscripts submitted by other writers. As
the title suggests, they will “contribute” in
whatever way their services are most need-
ed at a given time.
Tracy Lesch
Bill Willingham
Chris Conly
Greg Lloyd
Susan Collins
DRAGON magazine is published monthly by
Dragon Publishing, a division of TSR Hobbies, Inc.
The mailing address of Dragon Publishing is P.O.
Box 110, Lake Geneva, WI 53147; telephone 414-
248-8044.
DRAGON is available at hundreds of hobby
stores and bookstores throughout the United
States and Canada, and through a limited number
of overseas outlets. The magazine can be pur-
chased directly from Dragon Publishing by in-
dividual subscription. The subscription rate within
the United States and Canada is $24 U.S. for 12 is-
sues. Outside the U.S. and Canada. rates are as
follows: $50 U.S. for 12 issues sent surface mail,
or $95 U.S. for 12 issues sent air mail.
Changes you can expect to see in 1981?
Lots of ‘em, from a new type face for body
copy to a complete physical layout facelift.
We are constantly negotiating with new ar-
tists and authors, so don’t be surprised if
you see some “big-name” artists’ works on
the covers and writers’ articles and stories
inside. Our increasing circulation will allow
us to continue to expand the magazine’s
length, so you’ll be seeing expanded cover-
age of all aspects of games and gaming,
including some areas not presently covered.
A limited selection of DRAGON back issues is
available by mail from Dragon Publishing for cover
price of a particular issue plus $1.00 per issue
ordered for postage and handling. No issues prior
to #22 are available. The cover price for issues #22-
31 is $2.00, for #32-36, $2.50, and for #37 to
present, $3.00. Payment must accompany all
orders. If one or more issues in an order is sold
out, a credit slip will be substituted which may be
exchanged for cash or merchandise from Dragon
Publishing.
It would be nice to have them actually in the
office with us, but unfortunately neither Ed
nor Roger is even in the U.S. at the mo-
ment. Ed is a resident of Don Mills, Ontario,
Canada. He is a student in journalism at
Ryerson Polytechnical Institute, and has
been “hooked” on
AD&D
since the
Players
Handbook
was published in 1978. He has
done many types of writing for the maga-
zine, including several contributions to
Dragon’s Bestiay and Bazaar of the Bizarre
as well as longer articles such as “From the
City of Brass to Dead Orc Pass,” an exami-
nation of the potential uses of gates in
AD&D (Dragon issue #37).
It is a great feeling to be able to sit here as
editor of Dragon magazine and report such
success and look forward to new plans, but
being editor of a magazine is something like
being captain of a ship: you can’t do any-
thing without a crew. The combined efforts
of Kim, Bryce, Marilyn, Debbie, Dawn,
Corey, Cherie and Roger deserve the lion’s
share of recognition, along with the free-
lance artists and authors who provide us
with our material, the advertisers who buy
space in our pages, and, of course, you, the
reader, who ultimately keeps us in busi-
ness
The issue of expiration for each subscription is
printed on each subscriber’s mailing label.
Changes of address for subscriptions must be re-
ceived
by Dragon Publishing at least 30 days prior
to the effective date of the change in order to
guarantee uninterrupted delivery.
All material published in DRAGON becomes the
exclusive property of the publisher upon publica-
tion, unless special arrangements to the contrary
are made prior to publication.
DRAGON welcomes unsolicited submissions
of written material and artwork; however. no
responsibility for such submissions can be as-
sumed by the publisher in any event. No submis-
sion will be returned unless it was accompanied
by a self-addressed, stamped envelope of suf-
ficient size.
DRAGON™ is a trademark for Dragon Publishing’s
monthly adventure role-playing aid. All rights on the
contents of this publication are reserved, and nothing
may be reproduced in whole or in part without securing
prior permission in writing from the publisher. Copyright
1981 by TSR Hobbies, Inc.
Roger is stationed in Mannheim, Germany
with the U.S. Army and works as a be-
havioral science specialist—a job which,
not coincidentally, has a lot to do with cer-
Second class postage paid at Lake Geneva.
Wisconsin 53147.
2
January 1981
Dragon
e’ve put it all together for our first issue of
Dragon
magazine for 1981—and now it’s up to you, our
readers, to take it apart and put issue #45 to good
use. In the center of this month’s presentation
you’ll find the Dragon Dungeon Design Kit—
cardboard reproductions of walls, furniture, and accessories which
can be arranged by a referee to give players a two-dimensional look
at what their characters have gotten themselves into. The kit also
includes a two-sided grid sheet (squares and hexes) and instructions
and suggestions on how to put the components to their best use.
Our first cover painting of the new year comes from an old
friend— Dean Morrissey. This most recent piece represents his fifth
appearance on the magazine’s cover — making him, quite logically,
the dean of all our cover artists.
Leading off the article section this month is a pair of pithy pieces
from the pen of Robert Plamondon on how to put poison gas into
your dungeon— and how to get it out, by incorporating a ventilation
system into your subterranean world.
Next in line are a couple of essays by Roger Moore in our
continuing series of non-player character classes for use with
Ad-
vanced D&D™,
the Astrologer and the Alchemist. Actually, the new
NPCs in this issue number three, counting the Archer subclass which
is detailed in Leomund’s Tiny Hut as part of Len Lakofka’s examina-
tion of missile combat.
If the charts in the Dungeon Masters Guide for determining
magic items in the possession of a randomly created party don’t go
far enough to suit you, look into Philip Meyers’ “Magic Items for
Everyman,” an expansion of those charts which is more suited for
assigning magic items to individuals or parties of a certain level.
Creativity is the topic of a pair of articles in the “Up On A
Soapbox” section. Kristan Wheaton addresses the general subject
of being a creative game-player, and Lew Pulsipher attacks the issue
from a specific angle — namely, what should a DM do about charac-
ters who have become too powerful to be handled in a “normal”
fashion?
Have you ever wanted to try your hand at writing for Dragon
magazine or one of the other gaming publications, but didn’t know
what to do and how to do it? Author Robert Plamondon and assis-
tant editor Kim Mohan have “teamed up” on an article which, one
way or another, should answer any general questions a would-be
writer might have.
Top Secret
players will enjoy rummaging through another one of
the Rasmussen Files, wherein
TS
author Merle Rasmussen puts forth
rule additions and modifications to make spying more satisfying.
Castles weren’t nearly as rare in their heyday as most people
think they were, according to author Michael Kluever, and there’s no
reason why they need to be scarce in an adventure or a campaign.
either. His descriptive and historical essay will allow a player or DM
to choose and “construct” the type of castle which best suits the
environment and circumstances.
Regular features which can be found inside this issue include
another installment of Minarian Legends by
Divine Right
author/
designer Glenn Rahman; another of Bryan Beecher’s scenarios for
Squad Leader, John Prados’ discussion of “gamespeak” in Simula-
tion Corner, a dice-rolling program for the pocket calculator, de-
scribed and listed in The Electric Eye, Mark Herro’s computer-gam-
ing column, and a batch of strange new magic items—some of which
may seem familiar to you— in Bazaar of the Bizarre.
We’ve added three more cages to the Dragon’s Bestiary, and this
time the new creatures are all desert dwellers. The next pile of
shifting sand you see may be a lizard in disguise!
This installment of Dragon’s Augury takes a look at three games
that are about as varied in theme as three games can be —
Bloodtree
Rebellion, Space Marines
and
Grail
Quest
All in all, there are more than 30 different articles and features on
the pages which follow this one. Unless you’re a very fast—or a very
finicky—reader, this issue of Dragon magazine ought to last you
until we put the next one together —Kim
SPECIAL ATTRACTION
The Dragon Dungeon Design Kit. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
OTHER FEATURES
Gas ‘em up and smoke’em out —
Underground air pollution
. . . . .
6
Dungeon ventilation clears the air. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
NPCs for hire: One who predicts . . .—
The Astrologer.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
and one who seeks the perfect mix—
The
Alchemist.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Magic Items for Everyman—
“Goodies” arranged by levels.
. . . . . . 14
The write way to get published. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Castles, castles everywhere . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Hop, hop, hooray! —
Variant rules for B&B.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
How to have a good time being evil. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .60
You can jump HOW far?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
REGULAR OFFERINGS
Out on a Limb —
Readers write, we respond
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Up On A Soapbox
Be a creative game-player. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Ways to handle high-level headaches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Bazaar of the Bizarre —
Six new magic items
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
The Rasmussen Files —
More Top Secret
suggestions . . . . . . . . . . . .
28
Leomund’s Tiny Hut —
Missile-fire rules and The Archer
. . . . . . . . . 32
Minarian Legends —
History of the Dwarves
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Simulation Corner —
What makes a bad rule bad?
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Squad Leader scenario —
Skirmish
in
Austria
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Convention schedule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
The Electric Eye —
Dice-rolling via calculator
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Dragon’s Augury —
Bloodtree, Space Marines, Grail Quest
. . . . . . . 63
Dragon’s Bestiary
Skyzorr’n . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Sand Lizard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Dust Devil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
DragonMirth..................................................70
Finieous Fingers —
by J.D. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
73
Jasmine —
by Darlene . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
74
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