CONTENTS Magazine Issue # 125 Vol. XII, No. 4 SPECIAL ATTRACTIONS September 1987 17 CHIVALRY: Feudal lords, armored knights, brave deeds, and glory. Publisher Mike Cook 18 The Code of Chivalry Mark Easterday Orders of knighthood for medieval AD&D® game campaigns. Editor 22 Meanwhile, Back at the Fief . Thomas M. Kane Roger E. Moore Land is power, and feudal lords want all they can get. 30 Armies From the Ground Up James A. Yates Assistant editor Fiction editor What every new baron needs to know about making war. Robin Jenkins Patrick L. Price 38 Lords & Legends Katharine Kerr Editorial assistants Three knights from the days of King Charlemagne. Eileen Lucas Barbara G. Young 42 Glory, Danger, and Wounds Garry Hamlin Georgia Moore There are three things a cavalier wants out of life. 51 CLAY-0-RAMA David Zeb Cook Art director An incredibly off-beat miniatures game for all ages. Roger Raupp OTHER FEATURES Production Staff Marilyn Favaro Gloria Habriga 10 The Ecology of the Greenhag Nigel D. Findley Some monsters want more from men than their lives. Subscriptions Advertising 14 Woodlands of the Realms Ed Greenwood Pat Schulz Mary Parkinson Magical flora for FORGOTTEN REALMS campaigns. 46 The Best for the Best William Van Horn Creative editors Elite espionage agencies for TOP SECRET® game agents. Ed Greenwood Jeff Grubb 56 The Passing of Kings Lois Tilton Contributing artists What good is mortal vengeance when nothing mortal lasts? George Barr Larry Elmore 64 Bazaar of the Bizarre Lee Ian Wurn Jim Holloway Dwain Meyer Magical maps from the WORLD OF GREYHAWK setting. Richard Tomasic David Rampier 68 Plane Speaking Jeff Grubb Edward Wagner Marvel Bullpen A look at three natives of the quasi-elemental planes. 70 The Game Wizards Mike Breault A new world for role-playing: DRAGONLANCE® Adventures! 73 A Second Look at Zebulons Guide Kim Eastland Troubleshooting in the STAR FRONTIERS® game universe. 78 Role-Playing Reviews Ken Rolston Three game adventures that stand above the rest. 82 The Role of Books John C. Bunnell Alternate and alien worlds collide in these selections. 86 The Marvel®-Phile Jeff Grubb Meet three of the worst foes the Hulk® could have. DEPARTMENTS 3 Letters 78 Index to Advertisers 98 Snarfquest 4 World Gamers Guide 9O Gamers Guide 101 Dragonmirth 6 Forum 92 Convention Calendar 102 Wormy COVER As Camlan burns in the background, a wounded King Arthur prepares to meet the mounted attack of his hated rival Mordred. This painting was carefully researched by Roger Raupp, who based the weapons, armor, and fortifications on those in existence in the British Isles after A.D. 500. The battle shown here takes place at Hadrians Wall, where some sources believe the historical Arthur lived. 2 SEPTEMBER 1987 LETTERS Myths It was the summer of 1964, and we were at my grandparents home in the Kentucky hills. I was waiting for a train to come by (the tracks ran right past the front yard) when ancient Roman deities, but (as Bill Rae notes my dad walked in from town with Wormy is 1OO! above) we feel that giving a campaign a specific one of the new half-dollars. religious background taken directly from real- Everyone crowded around to look. Dear Dragon: world religions is the province of the DM and I could tell by the way they were Hand me a DRAGON® Magazine, and the first players involved. peering at the coin that there was place Ill turn to is the back to read the com- On a related topic, some readers have written ics. And the first comic Ill read is David Tram- to say that their parents wont allow them to something unusual about it. Every- piers Wormy. Ive been a subscriber since play certain role-playing games. A compromise one seemed to be bothered by some- issue #33, and Ive watched the good and the solution to this problem would be to try differ- thing. mediocre make their way in and out of the ent types of games. Super-powered hero games I cant make it out, said my aunt. ninety-odd issues since then, but Wormy has are often quite acceptable to parents, as are It looks like it might be, but I cant always been outstanding. Mr. Trampier is a science-fiction and espionage role-playing tell. master at depicting fast, complex action in a games. Theyre certainly worth a try! What? I walked over, train for- limited number of frames. Considering his many Bill also mentions the DRAGONRAID game, gotten. After a pause, someone endearing characters, spirited dialogue, clever which is produced by Adventure Learning handed the coin to me. wit, fantastic artwork, and great attention, to Systems. This role-playing system was created detail, I think his strip is often worth the price to teach Christian principles and ethics through A hammer and sickle, someone of the magazine alone! Yet not once can I ever a gaming medium. Interested gamers should said. Below his collar, right there remember reading a letter in DRAGON Maga- contact Adventure Learning Systems, Inc., P.O. it looks like a hammer and sickle. zine commending him. Well, albeit long over- Box 25909, Colorado Springs CO 80936, or call I looked down at the odd symbol due, I hereby correct this oversight. Long live (303) 590-7818 for more information. The boxed under John F. Kennedys profile. I Tramp, and long live Wormy! DRAGONRAID game costs $29.95. RM couldnt tell what it was. I wondered Timothy M. Klein what a hammer and sickle were Wilmington NC supposed to mean. They didnt sound good. Readers will be interested to know that this A Finieous fan issue of DRAGON Magazine is the 100th one to Years later, I learned that the contain Tramps Wormy. I am a long-time fan Dear Dragon: symbol was just the artists signa- of Wormys adventures myself, and it has been a I am writing to you as an avid fan of ture, which if you were liberal in pleasure to have it with us for so long. DUNGEONS & DRAGONS® games, DRAGON the ways in which you interpreted We have a spectral surprise Planned for the Magazine, and Finieous Fingers not neces- your visual data might be said to next issue of the magazine to celebrate this sarily in that order. The end objective of this is look like a hammer and sickle. I 100th anniversary and Wormys fans will find to replace my lost copy of The Finieous Trea- never did figure out what it was their knowledge of the series comes in handy! sury, and to supply me with any other Finie- supposed to have meant had it actu- Get ready for it. RM ous anthologies. ally been a hammer and sickle. I realize that you cannot supply me with a copy of The Finieous Treasury. However, I am Guess it doesnt matter now. thinking that perhaps the author of the Finie- Christian games ous strips would have a few copies lying My cousin Joe knew everything. around he would be willing to part with. So, if He knew about flying saucers espe- Dear Dragon: you would, please give me the name of the cially, since a few of them had flown Ive just finished reading Matthew Hamiltons author of the Finieous series. I would be one around Wright-Patterson Air Force letter in the Forum of issue #121, and I feel step closer to replacing the best comic-strip Base near his home. He told me that that a generic role-playing game (such as the anthology I have ever read. one night the Air Force chased AD&D® game) should not have any set reli- James L. Mailloux flying balls of light around a hill gion. If a DM wants characters to be Christian, Milton, Fla. Jewish, Buddhist, Taoist, Shinto, or any other near the base but failed to catch any religion, it should be up to the DM and the We were not able to contact J.D. Webster, of them. I was in awe. Joe was 14, players not the game. If one wants a Chris- whom we understand teaches flight school in but I was 12, and he knew every- tian campaign, get the DRAGONRAID game. It the U.S. Navy in Florida, and the Mail Order thing. has an excellent set of rules, and you learn a lot Hobby Shop has no copies left of The Finieous They caught one of those sau- about the Bible. I have played in successful Treasury (published in 1981). The adventures of cers, he said. It crashed, and the campaigns without any specific religions for five Finieous and his friends were continued in a Air Force took it back to one of their years. Its not the game that has the religion; its Adventure Gaming, short-lived magazine called hangars at the base. Its frozen there the players. then in The Space Gamer for a time. We wish Bill Rae you the best in finding copies of The Finieous with the aliens inside it. Timnath CO Treasury; it was wonderful. RM I nodded, eyes full of wonder. Real aliens. I could understand why the A number of people wrote in response to Air Force kept it a secret; this was Matthews letter, some favoring his ideas and big news. I wondered what the some opposing them. In general, it is the policy aliens were like and what they of DRAGON Magazine to avoid publishing mate- wanted here. They were scary but rial that specifically translates a modern and neat. I wished aliens would come commonly accepted religion in to game-specific GAMMARAUDERS™ around Louisville sometime.