Accessory - Dragon Magazine #077, MAGAZINES, Dragon Magazine
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D
RAGON
1
Publisher: Mike Cook
Editor-in-Chief:Kim Mohan
Editorial staff: Marilyn Favaro
Roger Raupp
Patrick L. Price
Mary Kirchoff
Roger Moore
Business manager: Mary Parkinson
Office staff: Sharon Walton
Mary Cossman
Layout designer: Kristine L. Bartyzel
Contributing editor: Ed Greenwood
National advertising representative:
Robert Dewey
1409 Pebblecreek
Glenview IL 60025
Phone (312)998-6237
Were listening
Vol. VIII, No. 3
September 1983
Hmmm. With 1984 more or less around
the corner, maybe thats a bad way to start
a column. But Ill let it stand, because it
sums up the point of this months ser-
mon: Why All of You Should Fill Out
and Return the DRAGON Magazine
Readership Survey (pages 55-56).
As is always the case with a magazine
and its readers, you know us, the maga-
zine, a whole lot better than we know
you, the group who reads us. We think
we know what you like, and we try to fill
up the magazine with Good Stuff. If
youre happy, we all win. If youre not,
vice versa.
We think we know you based on two
things we get a lot of: Letters, and re-
sponses to other readership surveys weve
published. The letters expressing indi-
vidual readers opinions, numerous
though they are, represent only a small
fraction of you. And its been a while
since we printed a survey; a lot of you
werent even with us the last time. (But
those of you who were with us helped
contribute to a couple of tremendous
response totals. Keep it up.)
We need to know more, about all of
you, than weve ever known before. We
need to ask some standardized questions,
because thats the best way to get exact
readings of fact and opinion from a large
group of people. And the larger, the bet-
ter. The more people we hear from, the
more sure we can be that you are really
talking to us.
The picture of you that we get from
analyzing the returned surveys will be
used to shape the future of this magazine.
You better believe that we are listen-
ing, and well try to do whatever you say
you want.
No, I cant say well be able to handle
everything you, the individual, might
want us to do. But well try to give the
greatest benefit to the greatest number,
because (a) it seems like the lawful good
thing to do, and (b) its worked pretty
well so far.
We know our readership has changed
and continues to change. We try, by pay-
ing attention to letters and doing some
educated guessing, to keep changing with
you. But sometimes we have to make a
really formal check of our position. We
need you to help us navigate when the
horizon starts to look too much the same
let us sight on you, like a star, to keep
ourselves on course. And, to complete the
nautical analogy, then we can all really
start sailing. KM
SPECIAL ATTRACTION
KING OF THE TABLETOP . . . . . . .33
A new game, not about furniture,
from Tom and Rob and Tramp
OTHER FEATURES
This issues contributing artists:
Jerry Eaton
Phil Foglio
Roger Raupp
Dave Trampier
The Tarot of Many Things . . . . . . . . . . . . .6
All decked out and ready to play
Tom Wham
Curses! .................................................. 18
Greenwood at his most devious
DRAGON Magazine (ISSN 0279-6848) is pub-
lished 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.
Creative cursing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20
Magic to make characters sorry
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. or 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.
Elemental Gods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22
Deities that almost defy description
A new game with a familiar name . . .26
Frank words on D&D® game revisions
Spys Advice. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32
For TOP SECRET® game players
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.
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 subscriptions must be received at least
six weeks prior to the effective date of the change
in order to insure uninterrupted 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 if it cannot be published.
DRAGON Readership Survey . . . . . . .55
Fill it out and fill us in
REGULAR OFFERINGS
Out on a Limb ............................................3
Letters from readers
The ecology of the Unicorn ...................14
Previously known only to a few
Figure Feature ................................................30
Game reviews:
HARN campaign package ...................66
Plague of Terror module .....................67
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 prior permis-
sion in writing from the publisher. Copyright©
1983 by TSR, Inc.
Second-class postage paid at Lake Geneva,
Wis., and additional mailing offices.
Gamers Guide ................................................68
Whats New..............................................74
Snarfquest ..................................................77
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to
Dragon Publishing, P.O. Box 110, Lake Geneva
WI 53147. USPS 318-790. ISSN 0279-6848.
Wormy....................................................................80
DRAGON, DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, ADVANCED DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, ADVANCED D&D,
TOP SECRET, BOOT HILL, and GAMMA WORLD are registered trademarks owned by TSR, Inc.
designates other trademarks owned by TSR, Inc., unless otherwise indicated.
2 S
EPTEMBER
1983
ou may have been King of
the Mountain when you
were a little kid. If youre
one of our older readers, you
may have been King of the
Drive-In once upon a time. But not until
now has anyone ever had the chance to be
KING OF THE TABLETOP.
Our latest game offering, in the center
of this magazine, is a mixture of things: a
combat game, an economic game, and
above all a prestige game. (Youll see
what we mean.) It is brought to you by a
mixture of people: Tom Wham, who has
more game designs in his head than most
people have in their houses; Rob Kuntz,
known throughout the land for his work
on Greyhawk articles and the DEITIES &
DEMIGODS book; and Dave Trampier,
author of Wormy, who will illustrate
every counter sheet we publish from now
on if I have anything to say about it.
Weve heard from people who think the
games we print would be fun, but they
never play them because they dont want
to destroy the magazine by pulling out
the innards. Well, this is one time when
anyone who feels that way should make
an exception its a regally good game.
If the scene on the cover reminds you of
something from your minds eye, that
means artist Jerry Eaton did his job to
perfection. The painting is his interpreta-
tion, using the Players Handbook as a
guide, of the appearance and effect of a
magic-users wall of fire spell. Although
this is Jerrys first cover painting for us,
his signature is also on some striking
color illustrations done for fiction stories
in earlier issues.
The next time anyone asks your AD&D
character to play cards, youd better find
out exactly what he means before you
look at your hand. Presented across lots
of pages inside is an article on a 78-in-1
magic item, The Tarot of Many Things.
Every campaign with characters who are
gamblers at heart should have one (but
only one) deck of Tarot cards, as de-
scribed by author Michael Lowrey for
incorporation into the AD&D game.
Things may never be the same again. . . .
Obviously, there are times when we
cant exactly go to the source in prepar-
ing an article on The Ecology of some-
thing. But Roger Moore managed to get a
friendly neighborhood dryad to talk
about The Ecology of the Unicorn for
this months issue, and he got more than
he bargained for.
Also inside is a somewhat unusual arti-
cle intended for non-gamers, as well as
for all of you who usually buy this maga-
zine. Frank Mentzer tells the story of the
new, improved version of the D&D® Basic
and Expert Sets that are expected to
attract even more people into the hobby
of fantasy role-playing games. After
youve read the article, lend it to some
friends who dont play and be sure to
tell em who sent you. KM
He or she?
a tournament event, called Into the Lair of
the Minotaur but that is where the similar-
ity ends. We know that to be absolutely true,
and I hope that any of you who might also
have been wondering about what happens to
contest entries will believe us. A module sub-
mitted to the Dragon Publishing contest
doesnt leave our hands in any way, unless and
until it is published in the magazine. KM
Dear Editor:
I enjoyed Mr. Greenwoods article concern-
ing the Nine Hells [issue #75]. However, I
found one apparent mistake. In the article,
Sekolah is described as a female. The Deities &
Demigods Cyclopedia states that the deity is a
male. Can you explain?
Greg Lewis
North Augusta, S.C.
Yep, the article was technically in
error. But I think we can figure out where Ed
Greenwood was coming from when he referred
to Sekolah as a female shark (see page 31 of
issue #75). In the entry for sahuagin in the
Monster Manual, it is noted that the religious
life of these creatures is dominated by the
females. The reference to females in that
passage specifically concerns female sahuagin,
who are the clerics of the race.
But, carrying the interpretation of that
statement a little further, it makes sense for a
religion dominated by females to have a
female deity at the top of their hierarchy, and
it seems safe to assume that this was how Eds
reasoning worked when he called Sekolah a
she. In light of the fact that the Monster
Manual is part of the official AD&D rules and
the DEITIES & DEMIGODS Cyclopedia is
not a rule book in the same sense, it might be
argued that the MM takes precedence over the
DDG book on this point. Fortunately, for the
purposes of playability, it makes no difference
(that we can see) whether Sekolah is male or
female. We wont disagree with anyone who
thinks the article was in error, and you can cer-
tainly change she to he anywhere the arti-
cle talks about Sekolah if youre more comfort-
able with that. KM
Weather words
Dear Kim:
I enjoyed reading the various letters youve
published in issues #70 and #73 about my arti-
cle on the weather of Greyhawk in issue #68.
For one thing, I (like any author) cannot help
but take pleasure in the knowledge that there
are people out there who have read my work,
even if only to then disagree with it. Id like to
respond to some of the comments, both gener-
ally and specifically.
The generality is this: My article, like many
others published in your magazine, is not
intended to be taken as gospel truth, but
should be applied with what is termed DMs
discretion. In short, the DM has not only the
right, but also the responsibility to ensure that
all the rules, official or otherwise, are applied
in a reasonable and fair way to the world he or
she presents to the players. If something in my
weather system doesnt work in someone elses
world, that person should modify the system,
remembering to keep things fair for both char-
acters and monsters.
Now, the specifics. First, Im pleased that all
three letter writers complained only about the
Appendices, which dealt with topics that, to be
honest, deserved detailed articles of their own,
done by someone more expert than myself. Its
nice to know that the body of the article got
the approval of DRAGONs readership.
The issue that received the most comment is
that of developing tidal systems for a fantasy
world. Im afraid that both Jonathan Roberts
and Dan Laliberte have, in part, misunder-
stood what I was describing. The article notes
that there are, for a planet with a single moon,
a lunar high and low tide plus . . . a match-
ing pair of high and low tides . . . of a solar
nature; i.e., a total of four tides which may
cancel and/or reinforce each other, depending
on the relative positions of sun, moon, and
planet. In essence, I was describing all three of
the varieties of tide (mixed, diurnal, and semi-
diurnal) that Dan mentions, though in terms
that were perhaps too general. Since Dan is
clearly more knowledgeable on this topic than
I am, perhaps you could get him to write more
on this field, as well as on such related topics
as the development of navigational techniques
in a fantasy environment. (Hmmm, how
would adventurers know where they were at
sea if there were no stars at all . . . ?)
Lois Sparlings letter, on the other hand,
Same module?
Dear Editor:
One of the events listed in the insert on Gen
Con in issue #74 of DRAGON seems to be very
similar to the AD&D module I entered in the
Dragon Publishing Module Design Contest.
Do you use the modules from the contest that
you dont plan to publish in DRAGON for
events at Gen Con and possibly other gaming
conventions?
Darren Butler
Orem, Utah
In a word: NO! We do NOT use entries to
our module contest for convention tourna-
ments or any other purpose. Only a very small
number of people, all of them associated with
DRAGON® Magazine, even see module contest
entries that dont get published. In this case,
Darrens question is very understandable, since
the title of his contest entry (The Lair of the
Minotaurs) is almost identical to the title of
D
RAGON
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