Dragon 069 (january 1983).pdf

D RAGON

Contents

Vol. VII, No. 8

Publisher: Mike Cook

Editor-in-Chief: Kim Mohan

Editorial staff: Marilyn Favaro

Gali Sanchez

Roger Raupp

Patrick L. Price

Business manager: Debra Chiusano

Office staff: Sharon Walton

Pam Maloney

We’ll say it again

From time to time in the past, this

January 1983

magazine has proclaimed its editorial

independence. “We’re not a house or-

gan,” we have stated before, beginning

in a time when many of our competitors

in the field could justifiably be called

that. We pointed this out because it

seemed the point needed to be made.

SPECIAL ATTRACTION

ARRAKHAR’S WAND. . . . . . . . . . 45

Finders aren’t always keepers:

A new fantasy boardgame

Product design: Eugene S. Kostiz

Layout designer: Ruth M. Hodges

Contributing editors: Roger Moore

We haven't talked about the subject

lately because there didn’t seem to be a

need to. What we did backed up what we

said, and the turn of events in the gaming

industry made the topic unimportant for

comparative purposes; no sense beating

a dead issue.

Which brings us to the recent past —

DRAGON™ issues #65 and #66, wherein

some opinionated remarks by E. Gary

Gygax appeared. We got a lot of letters

about those articles. Those that have the

Ed Greenwood

National advertising representative:

Robert LaBudde & Associates, Inc.

OTHER FEATURES

A special section:

Runes — in history . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Runestones — in fantasy. . . . . 12

Be Quest — and in fiction. . . . 16

2640 Golf Road

Glenview IL 60025

Phone (312) 724-5860

This issue’s contributing artists:

Clyde Caldwell

Jim Holloway

Castles by Carroll . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

II: Wawel Castle

Roger Raupp

Larry Elmore

Mike Carroll

Phil Foglio

Jeff Easley

Dave Trampier

Everybody Eats Everybody

On Sunday’s Planet . . . . . . . . . . . 24

You’II devour this story

Timothy Truman

most impact on me, as the editor of this

DRAGON Magazine (ISSN 0279-6848) is pub-

lished monthly for a subscription price of $24

magazine, are the ones that berate the

per year by Dragon Publishing, a division of TSR

Hobbies, Inc., P.O. Box 110, Lake Geneva WI

magazine for being a “mouthpiece” (one

of the tamer adjectives I recall) for Mr.

Charting the classes. . . . . . . . . . . 31

A point-by-point comparison

53147.

DRAGON Magazine is available at hobby

Gygax and TSR Hobbies because those

articles were printed.

Caped Crusaders

and Masked Marvels. . . . . . . . . . . 38

Superhero role-playing games

stores and bookstores throughout the United

States and Canada, and through a limited number

of overseas outlets. Subscription rates are as

Gary Gygax, the individual, is the fore-

most authority on the two most popular

follows: $24 for 12 issues sent to a U.S. or Cana-

dian address; $50 U.S. for 12 issues sent via

surface mail or $95 for 12 issues sent via air mail

fantasy role-playing games. As the crea-

tor of those games, he writes rule addi-

Ready for anything! . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Take along a few of these

to any other country. All payments must be in

tions and explanations and offers them

advance.

to DRAGON Magazine for publication.

A limited quantity of certain back issues of

More Pages from the Mages. . . . 67

Elminster offers magic lore

DRAGON Magazine can be purchased directly

from the publisher by sending the cover price

I’ll print everything he sends us, just like

any editor of any gaming magazine with

plus $1.50 postage and handling for each issue

a similar opportunity would.

ordered. Payment in advance by check or mon-

Weapon statistics . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

TOP SECRET® facts & figures

ey order must accompany aII orders. Payments

cannot be made through a credit card, and

Gary Gygax, the president of TSR

Hobbies, Inc., is one of the preeminent

orders cannot be taken nor merchandise re-

served by telephone. Neither an individual cus-

tomer nor an institution can be billed for a sub-

figures in the gaming industry. His opin-

REGULAR OFFERINGS

scription order or a back-issue purchase unless

ions are important to others in the field. I

want those opinions, whenever they are

prior arrangements are made.

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

Letters from readers

published, to appear in this magazine

The issue of expiration for each subscription

is printed on the mailing label for each subscrib-

er’s copy of the magazine. Changes of address

— again, just as any editor in the same

position would not turn them away.

From the Sorceror’s Scroll . . . . . 20

The thief-acrobat

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.

To suggest that DRAGON Magazine is

a “puppet” (that’s a little worse than

Deities & Demigods

of Greyhawk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Ail material published in DRAGON Magazine

becomes the exclusive property of the publisher

“mouthpiece”) of TSR on the basis of

upon publication, unless special arrangements

these two articles is to ignore the rest of

to the contrary are made prior to publication.

DRAGON Magazine welcomes unsolicited sub-

the evidence. Nothing that appears be-

tween these covers is approved prior to

Featured Creatures. . . . . . . . . . . . 36

More fungus monsters

missions of written material and artwork; how-

publication, by Mr. Gygax or anyone

ever, no responsibility for such submissions can

be assumed by the publisher in any event. Any

submission which is accompanied by a self-

else, unless it came out of Mr. Gygax’s

Leomund’s Tiny Hut. . . . . . . . . . . 54

The entertainer classes

addressed, stamped envelope of sufficient size

typewriter. We’ve printed lots of articles

will be returned to the contributor if it cannot be

published.

that were anything but complimentary to

a TSR™ game. We’ve printed articles that

Convention schedule . . . . . . . . . . 74

DRAGON™ is a trademark for Dragon Publish-

ing’s monthly adventure playing aid. All rights

Mr. Gygax has said — afterward — he

didn’t agree with or appreciate. But he

on the contents of this publication are reserved,

Reviews:

United Nations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

Jasmine card game. . . . . . . . . . 78

The Role of Books, Pt. II . . . . . 81

and nothing may be reproduced from it in whole

or in part without prior permission in writing

has never even suggested exercising

any prior restraint or approval privileges,

Hobbies, Inc.

That’s not the kind of magazine he wants

— and that’s good, because that’s not the

kind of magazine we’re making.

Second-class postage paid at Lake Geneva,

Wis., and additional mailing offices.

POSTMASTER: Send address changes to

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

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

What’s New . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88

Wormy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

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.

J ANUARY 1983

ouldn’t it be nice to have a

magic item that would

keep us from breaking our

New Year’s resolutions?

What a different place this

world would be. . . . Come to think of it,

C. C. Stoll did mention to us that some

of the powers of Arrakhar’s Wand have

yet to be discovered; maybe that’s one

of them — and maybe the forces of

good will prevail in their quest to regain

the wand. You won’t know for sure until

you’ve played the game in the center of

this issue of DRAGON™ Magazine.

Arrakhar’s Wand is the second game

from C. C. Stoll we’ve published; this

one is more complicated, and perhaps

more challenging, than Flight of the

Boodles (from issue #60). Tell us what

you think.

Just about everybody who’s inter-

ested in fantasy role-playing or fantasy

literature knows what runes are — but

perhaps not why they are what they

are, and how they can be used in a

campaign. All you need to know to use

runes accurately and imaginatively in

gaming is summarized in a special

package of articles leading off our fea-

ture section.

EIminster the sage, an old friend of

contributing editor Ed Greenwood, was

in a talkative mood the last time he

stopped by. The result is More Pages

from the Mages, a sequel to Ed’s article

from issue #62, spotlighting four more

volumes of magical and medical lore

that all you treasure-seekers should be

on the lookout for.

Roger Moore, our other contributing

editor, also has some pretty powerful

friends — at least, when he and his

gang sit down to play the roles of

superheroes. Caped Crusaders and

Masked Marvels is Roger’s overview of

superhero role-playing games and how

to get the most out of them. Apparently,

one of Roger’s closest inanimate friends

is his calculator: He’s also responsible

for Charting the classes, a statistical

summary of the different AD&D™ char-

acter types which illustrates just how

different some of them are.

Some characters that Roger’s article

doesn’t consider — but which you

ought to — are the new Thief-Acrobat

“split class,” the latest offering From

the Sorceror’s Scroll by E. Gary Gygax,

and the trio of character types that

make up the Entertainer class, sug-

gested by Len Lakofka in his Leomund’s

Tiny Hut column.

For a change of “scenery,” take a

look at Everybody Eats Everybody on

Sunday’s Planet, a piece of thought-

provoking fiction by Jeff Swycaffer.

After reading it, you might want to

make a resolution to never bite off more

than you can chew. . . . — KM

Cant see the point

Dear Editor:

Issue #66 (October) was very informative

and entertaining. Of special interest were the

articles on the origins and designs of fantasy

languages.

However, I take exception to the article on

Thieves’ Cant. There is no evidence in fantasy

fiction, historical parallels, or in any of the

AD&D™ books to suggest that Thieves’ Cant

is anything more than a complex jargon. I

equate Thieves’ Cant to the kind of conversa-

tions that gamers often get into. Sometimes

specialization words get so thick that those

listeners who aren’t gamers can’t make heads

or tails of what’s being said.

Why would thieves bother developing their

own grammar system? Naturally, they would

borrow the grammar and vocabulary of their

locale. Most importantly, Thieves’ Cant would

be very contemporary, and fluid, easily assim-

ilating words and phrases brought in by

migrating thieves, and connections with for-

eign traders.

A typical conversation should sound some-

thing like this:

“Got some part time comin’. Interested?”

“What is it? A box-top job? Taking

boarders?”

“No, I’m gonna visit the Auntie. She’s got

some rocks worth a coupla tons of crack-

ers, each.”

“What’s the bind? She got a breadbox?”

“No, just bony cur. Look, meet me at

home at two before The Hour. There we’ll

pick up tripa or quad more boys to take out

the cur. We should be done by two before

the glowin’.”

Translated, that says:

“I got a job planned. Interested?”

“What is it? A second-story theft? A

kidnapping?”

“No, a robbery. There are gems worth

2,000 gold pieces each.”

“What’s in the way? A safe?”

“No, just one guard. Look, meet me at

the local hang-out at midnight.” (“The

Hour” is 2 a.m. You tell time by adding to or

subtracting from The Hour.) “There we’ll

get three or four more thieves to disarm

the guard. We should be back by 4 p.m.

(two hours before the dawn).”

Contrary to the author’s introduction, it

would be unreasonable, if not impossible, for

linguists to write down Thieves’ Cant. There

would be thousands of versions and dialects

— one for each community or organization.

You might as well try to make a comprehen-

sive language by combining Encino Valley

talk and Pennsylvania Dutch.

Thieves’ Cant will always be based on the

local language, with some cross-over jargon

by which thieves can identify each other. But

they will barely be able to communicate on an

intelligent level until the newcomer learns

both the local language and the local slang.

Finally, there is never a good reason to

invent a sophomoric pseudo-language, which

does nothing but waste the learner’s time. If

you must have language, why not use some-

thing that will be of use outside the game?

Esperanto is one of many easy-to-learn lan-

guages that would be perfect for this use. It

has a German/Spanish flavor that is guttural

enough to be a street jargon, yet universal

enough so that non-thieves will be able to

understand words here and there. At the same

time, the learner will be gaining a usable lan-

guage that actually has literature and a

society. Don’t you think that a playing aid

should give the gamer a real-world edge? I

thought that was what gaming was all about.

Scot Fritz

Allentown, Pa.

Spelling if out

Dear Editor:

In reading the new illusionist spells devised

by Mr. Gygax (issue #66), I came across the

spell Read Illusionist Magic. But on page 39 of

the Dungeon Masters Guide it states, “lllu-

sionists do not need the spell read magic or

anything like it in pursuit of their profession.”

W as this merely an oversight on the part of Mr.

Gygax, or is this a definite rule change?

Larry Smith

Montreal, Quebec, Canada

It’s not an oversight, Larry. Using what

Frank Mentzer likes to call the “latest pub-

lished” principle, the creation of the new spell

Read Illusionist Magic means that the state-

ment you cited from the DMG no longer ap-

plies. When the participants in an AD&D™

campaign adopt the new official illusionist

spells, they should use Read Illusionist Magic

(for illusionists) the same way that the Read

Magic spell is used (for magic-users). When

you’re in doubt about how to interpret an

apparent contradiction that springs up in

“official” material, you can assume that the

“latest published” information takes prece-

dence over what was written earlier. If the

Players Handbook and the DMG, for instance,

appear to be in disagreement about a point,

go by what the DMG says, since it was pub-

lished after the Players Handbook. If official

material from the pages of DRAGON™ Maga-

zine (from issues published since the DMG

came out) seems to be in conflicf with any of

the hardbound rule books, you can assume

(unless we say otherwlse) that the magazine

material supersedes the book.

The only “oversight” involved in this in-

stance was committed by the person Mr.

Gygax likes to call the Kindly Editor, who

should have thought to point out this rule

change in a short note when the new spells

were published. — KM

D RAGON 3

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