Magazine Issue #126 Vol. XII, No. 5 SPECIAL ATTRACTIONS October 1987 15 The Dead of Night: Not even the grave can keep some people down. Publisher Mike Cook 16 Hearts of Darkness Tom Moldvay Vampires are everywhere you can Count on it. Editor 26 Dead on Target David Howery Roger E. Moore Youll need more than a silver dagger against the enemies of the living. Assistant editor Fiction editor 28 A Touch of Evil Vince Garcia Robin Jenkins Patrick L. Price 31-derful flavors of terror from beyond the grave. OTHER FEATURES Editorial assistants Eileen Lucas Barbara G. Young 8 Role-playing Reviews Ken Rolston Georgia Moore Fantasy campaign supplements: lands of the living and the dead. 37 The Game Wizards Steve Winter Art director The second-edition AD&D® game, from the editors viewpoint. Roger Raupp 40 The Ecology of the Shade Dan Salas Production Staff Life without death, death without life, forever. Marilyn Favaro Gloria Habriga 44 Well Bottled at Slabs John Gregory Betancourt Colleen OMalley Our second visit to a remarkably . spirited tavern. Subscriptions Advertising 50 Bazaar of the Bizarre Gregory W. Detwiler Pat Schulz Mary Parkinson A strange and wonderful assortment of Oriental Adventures treasures. 52 A Ghastly Grimoire Dean Shomshak Creative editors Walking statues, earthquakes, the Yellow Sign, and the CALL OF CTHULHU® game. Ed Greenwood Jeff Grubb 60 The Dragons Bestiary John M. Maxstadt Its mutant round-up time in the lands of the GAMMA WORLD® game. Contributing artists Daniel Horne George Barr 66 There Are Ways of Making You Talk. Kevin Marzahl Richard Bennett Peter Botsis The TOP SECRET® games contact system: Reach out and interrogate someone. Clyde Caldwell Jeff Easley 70 The Marvel®-Phile Jeff Grubb Larry Elmore Francis Mao Drac is back! The unliving world of Marvel Universe® vampires. Dwain Meyer Kyle Miller Bob Muleady Richard Pillsbury 74 A Marvel® Monster-Phile Douglas Lent David Trampier Lawrence Raimonda Three old friends from the Halloween crew come to visit. Valerie Valusek Ken Widing 82 The Role of Computers Hartley and Patricia Lesser Marvel Bullpen The computer column goes monthly and theres more news to come! 94 Gamers Choice Awards 1987 The editors 100 The Wormy Puzzle Tramp Our favorite dragon celebrates his 101st Wormy issue! DEPARTMENTS 3 Letters 88 Index to Advertisers 95 Snarfquest 4 World Gamers Guide 90 Gamers Guide 98 Dragonmirth 6 Forum 92 Convention Calendar 102 Wormy 12 Sage Advice COVER Daniel Horne said the scene on his cover painting takes place on a frozen tundra. The sun is setting, the hoar frost is glittering like thousands of pieces of broken glass. A ranger in the service of the High King has just been attacked by the undead remains of one of her old opponents a frost giant who has waited a long time for this moment of revenge. Having lost her sword and used up her normal arrows, the ranger has a single elven arrow left from which comes the paintings name: Saving the Best for Last. 2 OCTOBER 1987 The games of August The GEN CON® 20 Games Fair is ing miniatures even before learning to play over, and a synopsis of my experi- Wheres the PBM? D&D® games. In fact, miniatures got me inter- ences at the convention follows at ested in the game. The Citadel ad reminded me least, my more interesting experi- Dear Dragon: that you used to have a feature that showcased ences there: I want to ask if you could send me the names miniatures every month. Also, once a year, you Wednesday: Patrick Price, Barbara and addresses of SF and fantasy gaming systems used to show photographs of the winners of the Young, and I arrive at MECCA and that can be played through the mail. A friend of GEN CON® Games Fair Miniatures Open. Is set up the magazines booth in two mine recommended your magazine to me when there any chance that either of these two fea- I told her of my great need to find a sci-fi gam- tures will return to the DRAGON Magazine? hours flat. Barbara then leaves to ing system played by mail. She said your maga- David Howery buy her entire fall wardrobe, Pat zine had such places listed. However, since I Dillon MT goes home to read, and I wander the cant find a copy of the magazine, I wrote in convention hall. I meet some people hopes that you could help me get in touch with When I was at the GEN CON 20 Games Fair, I from Austin, Texas, who Id previ- such mail-gaming systems. was approached by several people who like ously met through a science-fiction Squire Jim G. Styles David Howery wanted to know if we would BBS based in that city, and I also Post Falls ID start covering miniature figures again. This is meet some familiar faces from certainly a possibility; we would like to hear Games Workshop, Ral Partha, and Though DRAGON® Magazine does not cover from you on this topic. Do you use miniatures in other companies as they set up. play-by-mail games very often, there are several your role-playing games? Would you like more other magazines that do. If you want to learn coverage of new releases, painting tips, and Later that evening, I go out with more about PBM games, write to: Paper Mayhem other miniatures-related topics? Write in and some friends from TSR to a Chinese 1518 Adams Street, Ottawa IL 61350-4764; or tell us. restaurant, and during a lull in the Gaming Universal, PO. Box 81573, Lincoln NE conversation, I cheerfully suggest 68501. These two magazines are devoted exclu- that we find a place to have a D&D® sively to PBM games, and it would be worth Final frontiers game. Barbara kicks me in the knee asking for subscription information from them while everyone laughs and immedi- if you cannot find other sources of information. Dear Dragon: ately forgets what I said. I am a STAR FRONTIERS® game referee and enjoy the game immensely that is, I did until Thursday: Thursday has a bad No news? November, 1985, when Volume I of Zebulons moment when a small girl falls on Guide to Frontier Space was released. Dont get an escalator and requires about 30 Dear Dragon: me wrong I loved Zebulons Guide and found stitches. Barbara and I run our Why not include half a page or so devoted to it an excellent expansion of the original rules. DUNGEON Adventures seminar, I the latest news in the gaming world? I know However, the new rules in the guide were not meet more familiar faces, and game that the mechanics of such a column would be complete. Things like robots, spaceship rules, designers from several companies difficult to work out, since each issue is planned etc., were to be expanded and detailed in fur- run the Dungeons & Refuseniks far in advance, but information like this would ther volumes. seminar on life as it actually is inside interest many gamers. It seems like a lot of the But in the two years since Volume Is release, other gaming magazines carry or used to carry the follow-up volumes have not come out. Will a game company. The people from such information, but DRAGON Magazine never Zebulons Guide be continued, or will I have to R. Talsorian Games (who make the has. I think that the gaming community has a make up all those other rules on my own or TEENAGERS FROM OUTER SPACE right to know things. Try to create a short worse yet, will I have to switch to another game) reveal that they have devel- column discussing the headlines of the gaming companys sci-fi games? oped a one-shot Goop Gun (more world; it would give a chance for those gamers Kevin Armstrong like a medium bazooka) for use who do not attend conventions and who are not Cheshire, U.K. against their own office personnel. extremely close to any of the major companies Everyone turns green with envy. to learn some of the happenings within their As noted in the Sage Advice column in this Do we have anything like that to hobby. issue, TSR, Inc., has no further plans to publish Michael Lach material on the STAR FRONTIERS game. How- use on our game designers? a TSR West Chicago IL ever, we have a number of articles left to run in co-worker whispers to me. Three this magazine, and some of them may cover people come by the magazines booth Weve been fairly good about covering TSR- areas missing from earlier rules supplements. looking for Bruce Heard, our acqui- related news in this magazine, but we havent sitions man. Business is good. had a lot to say about the rest of the industry Finally, after a long first day, the except for whats mentioned in the advertise- Collectible copies group Im with decides to run off to ments, of course. A game-industry news column see the Safe House, a Milwaukee bar is not a highly requested feature. If more inter- Dear Dragon: with an espionage theme (secret est in it develops, we may consider it. Any I own a number of old copies of DRAGON doors, checkpoints, a telephone- thoughts from the readers? Magazine. All are in fair condition and I am interested in what these issues are worth as booth exit, etc.). I dont drink, but collectibles. Could you please send me a list of the bar sounds like it would be Mini-features what these issues are worth? Thank you very interesting to see anyway.