DragonMagazine073.pdf

DRAGON 1

Publisher: Mike Cook

Editor-in-Chief: Kim Mohan

Editorial Staff: Marilyn Favar

Same difference

You probably noticed right away that

this issue of DRAGON Magazine

looks different from all the others in

your collection. The fancy phrase for

what weve done is design changes.

The translation, in laymans terms, is

that the magazine looks different. But

rest assured that, despite what you read

in last months facetious policy state-

ment, the only changes weve made are

for the sake of appearance.

The new type face were using for text

is called Baskerville (as in Sherlock

Holmes). The new way of putting it in

columns is called ragged right (as in

right-hand margin). The end result, in

our opinion, is text that is more pleas-

ing to the eye and more easily readable

than the way we used to print articles.

We hope all of you agree with that

opinion and were sure that if you

dont, you wont hesitate to let us know.

Vol. VII, No. 11

May 1983

Roger Raupp

Patrick L. Price

Mary Kirchoff

Business manager: Debra Chiusano

Office staff: Sharon Walton

SPECIAL ATTRACTION

Forest of Doom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41

Prizewinning AD&D adventure

Pam Maloney

Layout designer: Kristine L. Bartyzel

Contributing editors: Roger Moore

Ed Greenwood

National advertising representative:

Robert LaBudde & Associates, Inc.

2640 Golf Road, Glenview IL 60025

Phone (312)724-5860

OTHER FEATURES

The Duelist A new NPC ......... .6

The solo scenario ................. .16

The ecology of the catoblepas ...... 22

The whole half-ogre .............. 24

This issues contributing artists:

Susan Collins

Dave Trampier

Keith Parkinson

E. B. Wagner

Jim Holloway

Edward Atwood

Roger Raupp

Joshua Mittleman

Jerry Eaton

Roger Moore

Relief for Traveller nobility ........ 26

Photo finish. ..................... 28

Mike Carroll

Jim Testa

Phil Foglio

When it gets hit, it gets hurt. . . . . . . . 34

DRAGON Magazine (ISSN 0279-6848) is pub-

Damage to equipment

lished monthly for a subscription price of $24 per

year by Dragon Publishing. a division of TSR

Non-violent Magic Items . . . . . . . . . . 36

Hobbies, Inc. The mailing address of Dragon

Publishing for all material except subscription

orders is P.O. Box 110, Lake Geneva WI 58147.

Its time once again to hand out con-

gratulations to another Module Design

Contest winner. The top-judged entry

in category A-2 is Forest of Doom,

designed and submitted by Scott Butler

of Powassan, Ontario, Canada. We

know we have thousands of readers

from our neighbor to the north; this is

the first adventure weve ever published

that didnt come from somewhere in the

United States, but we dont expect it to

be the last.

The second-place winner in category

A-2, entitled The Gamehalls of

Gyrond, came from Curtis McQuirt of

Nashville, Tenn. Third place went to

The Icon of Palforin by Mark Cutler

of Anaheim, Calif. Somewhere down

the line, you might see either or both of

these adventures in printed form but

first, we have a lot of other first-place

winners to take care of; youll be seeing

those in the center of the magazine every

so often for the next year or more.

New tools of the trade . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

TOP SECRET® paraphernalia

Thiefs climb leveled out. . . . . . . . . . . .60

Adjusting D&D® experience rules

A rare way of viewing the wish . . . . . .62

Patching cracks in Champions . . . . . .66

The Sagittarian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .71

Fiction with a four-legged flair

FILE 13 followup report. . . . . . . . . . . .78

Playing tips, new rules, and more

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 to be sent to an

address in the United States 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.

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 money

order must accompany all orders. Payments can-

not be made through a credit card, and orders

cannot be taken nor merchandise reserved by tele-

phone. No customer can be billed for a subscrip-

tion order or a back-issue purchase unless prior

arrangements are made.

REGULAR OFFERINGS

Out on a Limb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

From the Sorcerers Scroll . . . . . . . . . . 10

The Inner Planes

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

30 days prior to the effective date of the change in

order to insure uninterrupted delivery.

Figure Feature: Weird Monsters . . . . .32

Up on a Soap box.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Castles by Carroll . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

V: Leeds Castle

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.

Lastly, in the in case it needs to be

said department, we didnt mean what

we wrote in last months column.

(Believe it or not, weve received some

letters from outraged readers who took

it all seriously.) This is, quite obviously,

not a 32-page magazine, and to the best

of my knowledge, the word dragster

isnt used even once.

Game reviews:

Moon Base Clavius. ............. .79

Grav Armor .................... .80

Dragonmaster .................. .81

DRAGON is a trademark for Dragon Pub-

lishings 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

TSR Hobbies, Inc.

Convention schedule . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . .86

Whats New ...................... .91

Wormy ........................... 94

Dragon Mirth .................... .95

Second-class postage paid at Lake Geneva,

Wis., and additional mailing offices.

DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, ADVANCED DUNGEONS

& DRAGONS, ADVANCED D&D, and TOP SECRET are

registered trademarks owned by TSR Hobbies, Inc.

™ designates other trademarks owned by TSR Hobbies, Inc., unless otherwise indicated.

POSTMASTER: Send address changes to

Dragon Publishing, P.O. Box 110, Lake Geneva

WI 53147. USPS 318-790. ISSN 0279-6848.

MAY 1983

hy is a reader of DRAGON

Magazine like a 10th level

fighter about to enter the

first level of a dungeon?

Because the biggest problem

either one of them has is figuring out

where to start.

What youre holding is the largest, the

most colorful, and the most diversified

issue weve produced since Bahamut was

a pup. Inside are 11 articles and features

devoted to the D&D® and AD&D games,

plus more than a dozen other presenta-

tions designed to appeal to those of you

who are also interested in other facets of

the hobby of gaming.

Priority problems

werent detailed it took seven pages just to

cover the critters in the Monster Manual, in

addition to the five pages we spent describ-

ing the system, and thats about as many pages

as we could afford for one article. Maybe Mr.

Hall or another writer will figure out modifi-

ers for FIEND FOLIO monsters, and perhaps

well use that list as a supplement to the origi-

nal article within another few issues. KM

Dear Editor:

The Attack Priority system in issue #71 is

great! It is easy to understand, but I might get

stuck on a few situations. First of all, what if,

when closing, the opponents are still not in

attack range (due to movement base)? What if a

character is not closing but his opponent is?

Lets say the character has set a spear to receive

the opponents charge.

At the head of the parade is Forest of

Doom, an AD&D adventure that was

judged the best entry in category A-2 of

our Module Design Contest. I wish I

could tell you why it won, but that would

be giving too much away.

And most importantly, what if the character

is a spellcaster and is simply not using a weap-

on? The way this system is written, it seems to

Class criticisms

Hot on the heels of the cavalier class,

presented by E. Gary Gygax in our last

issue, is the duelist Arthur Collins

concept of a non-player character who

has an entirely different code of honor.

Dear Editor:

me that there is no way of determining things

like, would a charging fighter get in his attack

before a magic-user could cast a spell? The

point Im trying to make is that not everyone is

going to attack after winning (or losing)

initiative.

I feel that Mr. Gygaxs article on social sta-

tus was long overdue. It is highly useful in

creating a more logical and true-to-life cam-

paign. However, I disagree on one point. Say-

ing that a character born to the Lower lower

class can only be a thief or assassin isnt very

realistic. Of course, they couldnt be a paladin,

and they would have a lower starting money

chance. But they could be pretty much any-

thing they wanted. However, this is a small

oversight in such a useful article.

Speaking of EGG, Gary has a couple of

contributions in these pages one direct

and one indirect. The Inner Planes, in

his From the Sorcerers Scroll column,

puts forth a consistent and colorful the-

ory on the structure of the AD&D uni-

verse. The whole half-ogre, composed

by contributing editor Roger Moore,

draws on an earlier piece of Garys work

and fleshes out what Roger calls the best

darn door-opener you ever saw.

Mike Dujovne

Indialantic, Fla.

Dear Editor:

I was very pleased with Who gets the first

swing? in DRAGON #71. I plan to use the

Attack Priority system in my AD&D cam-

paigns. But there are two things that puzzled

me about the article.

First, there was nothing about missile weap-

ons and their attack priority. I found this quite

Esa Clubb

Austin, Tex.

Most of the time, an AD&D playing

session is and should be a group

endeavor. But there are times, as pointed

out by Katharine Kerr, when The solo

scenario is the way to go.

Dear Editor:

After reading the article on social status by

Gary Gygax (issue #70), Ive come to the con-

clusion that it is overall a good idea, but it

needs a little work. The main change I think it

needs is the rule that says any character must

have, at the least, a social status of but one

rank below that of his or her profession.

This is totally absurd. Tell me that a lawful

good fighter, son of a freed slave or peasant

(LLC), cannot ever become a paladin.

Throughout history, whatever prevented the

sons and daughters of proud generals and

nobles from becoming some of the most

infamous of thieves and assassins?

I feel the Social Class Table die roll should

be used to determine the class that the charac-

ter was born into. This will have a great deal

of bearing on that characters history (which

each player, according to the DMG, should

create). A high-level fighter lord, Master of the

Keep, will probably be more inclined to treat

the peasants who work his land better if he

was, in years long past, a peasant himself. Or,

it might make him treat them all the worse!

If the social class rolled up during character

creation is the one the character occupies at

present, then why, for example, would a law-

ful evil cleric, son of a great noble (UUC) and

advisor to the king himself, be hanging around

with a low-life half-orc thief and a couple of

battle-scarred dwarven fighters? Never happen.

Assume, however, that the same evil clerics

father was forced to flee the kingdom with his

newborn son, or die, for plotting to overthrow

the king. He finally puts down roots in some

obscure part of the world, hoping to elude his

DRAGON 3

disturbing.

Second, the monsters from the FIEND

FOLIO were not included. I dont know why

As the second installment of what we

hope will be a long-running series,

offered herein is The ecology of the

catoblepas. Just about the only thing the

article doesnt address is how to pro-

nounce the critters name probably

because nobodys ever been able to get

close enough to one to ask it.

maybe because of space or time.

I would appreciate it greatly if Mr.

another writer could arrange an article con-

cerning these topics.

Hall or

Jeffrey Bonevich

Kalamazoo, Mich.

The text of the article itself made it clear

(but apparently not clear enough) that the

Attack Priority system is designed for use in

melee situations that is, occasions when

combatants are using or intending to use

hand-held or natural weapons. The rules of

the system dont cover the use of missile weap-

ons or the casting of spells. It would seem that

any priority system that took those attack

modes into account would be unbearably

complex, and in any event that wasnt the

point of the article.

Mikes question about what if the oppo-

nents are still not in attack range is hard to

understand: If when closing an opponent is

not in attack range, then that opponent is,

by definition, still closing and not in range,

and the closing modifiers for that opponent

are used until the opponent is in range. That

answer is almost as confusing as the question,

but it seems like the only way to address the

issue.

Lack of space is the primary reason why

creatures from the FIEND FOLIO Tome

Lewis Pulsipher and Roland Gettliffe

have collaborated to produce Non-

violent Magic Items, an extensive collec-

tion of objects that might be found

around the house if you have a very

unusual residence.

monsters assembled by Kim Eastland for

this months Figure Feature column.

Im running out of space long before

Ive run out of things to talk about. But

perhaps thats just as well: Half the fun

of being a tough fighter in a tame dun-

geon is not knowing whats behind every

door but still being sure that whatever

it is, itll go down easy. KM

Miniature-figure buffs will appreciate a

couple of double-page spreads: Photo

finish, showcasing the handiwork of

Mike Sitkiewicz, and a group of weird

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