Accessory - Dragon Magazine #054, MAGAZINES, Dragon Magazine
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October 1981
Dragon
1
Dragon
Vol. VI, No. 4
Vol. VI, No. 4
October 1981
An open letter to the editor and
the fans of Finieous Fingers
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
(The following is the complete text of a letter received by DRAGON magazine from
J. D. Webster along with the episode of Finieous Fingers which is printed on
page 80.)
Dear Editor and fans of Finieous Fingers:
Alas, alas, the long tenure of F.F. and DRAGON magazine is drawing to a close. For
over four years Finieous and his provincial gang of nitwits and associated villains have
graced the pages of DRAGON at (albeit irregular) intervals. Hopefully, my strip and
the characters portrayed in it have given you fun and laughter and livened up your
D&D campaigns with its jokes and silliness. But now Finieous Fingers is leaving
DRAGON. I would like to thank the various editors that I’ve worked with for their
support and for putting up with my irregular scheduling. Both Kim Mohan and Jake
Jaquet have been good to me and have literally crawled to me to get F.F. in on time. But
flying A-7’s for the Navy doesn’t give me much hobby time. Therefore I extend my
apologies to those fans out there who have followed the strip from the beginning and
wait patiently when those monthly gaps occur.
Why is F.F. leaving DRAGON? This was a hard decision to make I’m not giving up
the strip. . . I am moving. I’m moving it to a new magazine called “Adventure Gaming,”
published by Manzakk Publishing, Inc. The editor of this magazine is Mr. Timothy
Kask, who was the founding editor of DRAGON in its early days and with whom F.F.
first started and worked with for two years until Tim left TSR. Tim is probably the main
reason I’m leaving. He and I are good friends from years before and we have a good
working relationship. I’m pleased to see Tim back in the magazine business, especial-
ly since his magazine will cover all types of gaming, historical and fantasy, and pick up
where so many other magazines have left off or become specialized in one subject.
Finieous Fingers will start off a brand new story line and should appear monthly (no
promises). In addition, you can expect to see some 25mm F.F. figures soon to be
followed by a fun Finieous board game based on the strip. So fans, don’t despair; there
are good things coming and will be available in the same hobby shops where you buy
your DRAGON.
Finally — DRAGON is an excellent magazine and I will miss the fun I have had
working for it. However, I will be doing a lot more than just Finieous in Adventure
Gaming — I will be involved in the internal art and being doing some aviation gaming
articles and such, So you can expect to see more of me in the hobby.
Best,
J.D.
An open letter to J.D. and Finieous fans
This issue’s contributing artists:
Jack Crane Ataniel A. Noel
Roger Raupp Bruce Whitefield
James Holloway Brian Born
Harry Quinn
David Trampier
Ellie Mooney
J. D. Webster
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; tele-
phone (414) 248-8044.
DRAGON magazine is available at hundreds
of hobby stores and bookstores throughout the
United States and Canada, and through a limit-
ed number of overseas outlets. The magazine
can be purchased directly from Dragon Publish-
ing by subscription. Rates areas follows, with all
payments to be made in advance: $24 for 12
issues sent to a U.S. or Canadian address; $50
U.S. for 12 issues sent via surface mail or $95 for
12 issues sent via air mail to any other country.
A limited quantity of certain back issues of
DRAGON magazine can be purchased directly
from the publisher by sending the cover price
plus $1.50 postage and handling for each issue
ordered. Payment in advance by check or mo-
ney order must accompany all orders. Payments
cannot be made through a credit card, and
orders cannot be taken nor merchandise “re-
served” by telephone. Neither an individual cus-
tomer nor an institution can be billed for a sub-
scription order or back-issue purchase unless
prior arrangements are made.
The issue of expiration for each subscription
is printed on the mailing label for each sub-
scriber’s copy of the magazine. Changes of ad-
dress for the delivery of subscriptions must be
received at least 30 days prior to the effective
date of the change in order to insure uninter-
rupted delivery.
All material published in DRAGON magazine
becomes the exclusive property of the publisher
upon publication, unless special arrangements
to the contrary are made prior to publication.
DRAGON magazine welcomes unsolicited sub-
missions of written material and artwork; how-
ever, no responsibility for such submissions 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 to the contributor if it cannot be
published.
DRAGON™ is a trademark for Dragon Publish-
ing’s 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 prior permission in writing
from the publisher. Copyright 1981 by TSR
Hobbies, Inc. USPS 318-790. ISSN 0279-6848.
Second class postage paid at Lake Geneva,
Wis., and at additional mailing offices.
Thanks for the letter, J.D., and our best
wishes to you and Finieous.
It’s always a sad occasion when a fea-
ture is removed from these pages —
either by the choice of the author or ar-
tist, or by a decision of the editorial staff,
based on reader reaction. In this case,
it’s an especially difficult task since Fi-
nieous has been one of our longest-
running and most-appreciated features.
J.D. has personally assured me that
his decision to move Finieous was not
based on his relationship with Dragon
Publishing, but that he wants to work for
his long-time friend Tim Kask. We’re sor-
ry to see it go, but we can’t prevent it.
As an aside to fans who are interested
in the proposed Finieous products J.D.
mentions, his statement that they will be
available where you buy DRAGON mag-
azine is in no way endorsed or guaran-
teed by Dragon Publishing.
The loss of Finieous does not mean
that the Dragon Mirth section of the
magazine will be cut in size or quality.
We are presently considering several
new ideas—and you can be sure that the
successor to F.F. will be a worthy one.
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Phil Foglio
October 1981
Dragon
We’ve tried to score some points with you this
month by including a special module; how many
points you score when you undertake Cavern
Quest remains to be seen. The adventure, created
and written by Bill Fawcett and specially designed
for point-by-point competition between groups of players, re-
ceived an enthusiastic response from those who “playtested” it
as part of a Cavern Quest tournament at CWA-Con ‘81 in July.
And the player who won the competition, Peter Lundberg of
Maywood, III., was the only contestant to complete the entire
quest. It may be an unusual module, but it ain’t easy.
Halloween’s just around the corner, and our observance of
that scary occasion comes in the form of an eerie cover painting
by Jack Crane and “Abomination,” a piece of short, spooky
fiction by D. Aaron Achen which fits the mood of Jack’s painting
to a “B” — for boo, that is.
Our feature section is led off by an extra-long treatise, cour-
tesy of contributing editor Ed Greenwood, on the theory and
method of developing a powerful and playable pantheon for a
campaign using many of the personalities from the DEITIES &
DEMIGODS™ Cyclopedia — the first in-depth examination that
we know of concerning how the DDG book can be used to best
advantage.
If length is strength, then Arn Ashleigh Parker’s essay on ruins
is pretty powerful, too. Abandoned cities (above-ground dun-
geons, if you prefer) offer a wealth of, so to speak, unexplored
possibilities for adventuring. You can start to explore them by
turning to page 10.
Weapons are just as breakable as the characters who wield
them, says John Shaw, and thereby was born his article on how
to incorporate rules for weapons that wilt. And if your sword
happens to snap while you’re jousting with a Jabberwock, watch
out. Mark Nuiver’s adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s fearsome mons-
ter for use in an AD&D™ game appears on page 30.
This issue’s edition of Sage Advice is designed to clear up
questions about all those spooky, scary creatures we love to
hate. Richard Meyer and Kerry Lloyd, the designers of the
Thieves Guild products from Gamelords, Inc., describe how
playing the “bad guys” can be fun, and offer some inside infor-
mation in their designers’ notes written especially for DRAGON.
The second appearance of Larger Than Life spotlights a Chi-
nese crew known as the “Righteous Robbers of Liang Shan P’o.”
Righteous robbers? If you can accept that, check out Giants in
the Earth for a quartet of “demons” who are (gasp!) lawful good!
How’s that for giving the good guys equal time?
Lots more of our regular features can be found inside: The
latest chapter of the Minarian Legends by Glenn Rahman, au-
thor of the DIVINE RIGHT™ game; part three of John Prados’
short course on game design in Simulation Corner; and Mark
Herro’s computer quiz to have fun with in The Electric Eye.
As evidence of his versatility, Glenn Rahman also appears
inside as the author of a price list for BOOT HILL™ gear, and the
author of a review on Barbarian Prince. Holding down the lead
position in this month’s review section is Bill Fawcett’s evalua-
tion of the Thieves Guild line.
It just occurred to me that a boggart would probably be the
world’s greatest trick-or-treater, if you could control one long
enough to get the candy from him. You’ll find the boggart and
two more new creatures in the Dragon’s Bestiary, beginning on
page 28.
Our Dragon Mirth section is five pages big this time, including
(sniff) the last episode of Finieous Fingers.
Please accept our apologies for all the little critters you’re
liable to find sprinkled from here to who knows where inside
these pages. Things got a little bit out of hand last month in
“What’s New,” if you’ll recall, and it took until just before dead-
line this time until we got the “overflow” problem licked. Never
again, Phil . . . — KM
Contents
SPECIAL ATTRACTION
Cavern Quest — Special competition module
for AD&D™ adventuring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Giants In The Earth ..................................... 24
Dragon’s Bestiary: Boggart
..............................
28
Stroan .............................................
28
lncubus.......................................... 29
Dragon’s Augury
Thieves Guild products ............................. 33
Barbarian Prince. . .......................... ........ 34
Convention calendar
....................................
48
Minarian Legends
.......................................
58
Simulation Corner ...................................... 64
Bazaar of the Bizarre .................................... 67
The Electric Eye ........................................ 74
Dragon Mirth
What’s New? ....................................... 76
Orcwardness — Has it happened to you?. ............ 77
Cartoons ........................................... 78
Wormy ............................................. 79
Finieous Fingers
....................................
80
OTHER FEATURES
Down-to-earth divinity — Creating a playable pantheon .... 6
Ruins: Rotted & risky but rewarding
...................... 10
These are the breaks — Damaged weapons. .............. 14
The winners!
— Trophy takers at Gen Con XIV............ 26
Beware the Jabberwock
— AD&D in Wonderland ......... 30
Thieves Guild: Designers’ notes
.......................... 32
“Abomination” — Spooky fiction
......................... 49
Cash & carry for cowboys — BOOT HILL™ prices
......... 62
REGULAR OFFERINGS
Out on a Limb — Letters from readers
..................... 4
Larger Than Life — The Righteous Robbers
.............. 16
Sage Advice
............................................ 20
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