Dragon Magazine #232
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Sticks & Stones hat is a weapon? The Oxford English Dictionary defines a The sword figures strongly in fantasy fiction and legend. weapon as “an instrument of any kind used in warfare Arthur would never have ruled Britain had he not drawn or in combat to attack and overcome an enemy.” In this Excalibur from the stone. Without Durandal, Roland may never sense, almost all animals are armed. Most vertebrates have have held off the infidels long enough for Charlemagne to teeth, and many have claws. Venom is a highly effective defeat them. weapon that appears throughout the animal kingdom. Long Apart from the sword, there are even more subtle, elegant, before humans first appeared, stabbing weapons appeared and seemingly magical weapons. The pen can defeat the right on the animals. Consider the head of the triceratops or sword. The written word has caused nations to rise up and the tail of the stegosaurus. Even today an elephant has tusks overthrow dictators. Words from beyond the grave, preserved and the rhinoceros a horn. in print, have rallied people to great and noble causes. The original human weapons differed from those of other Only humans can injure or slay with a word or a gesture, a animals only in degree, not kind: they had teeth and nails. The wink or a nod. A word can wound more grievously than any first external weapons probably began with sticks, stones, and mere knife or sword. To be struck by a sword is a kindness bones. Consider the famous scene in 2001: A Space Odyssey in compared to the injury inflicted by a word. The spoken word which the proto-human uses the thigh bone of an animal to is also a mighty defensive weapon. A witty comeback, parry- kill a rival for territory. ing a verbal thrust, has defeated many attacks. A gesture Then rock struck rock, edges were formed, and rocks works as well as a weapon. To “finger” someone is to point him became tools. Sticks were sharpened with the rocks. Rock out for arrest. A nod of feigned complicity to another, indicat- struck rock again, fire was created, and the pointed sticks ing to watchers that a conspiracy exists where there is none, is could be hardened. Fire and iron produced spear heads, then genuinely Machiavellian. the knife and the sword. Weapons are limited only by the imagination. The grossest The sword is a truly magnificent weapon. It is actually a are the fist, the foot, the elbow, the knee, and the head. Some very sophisticated combination of a stick and a stone: a point of the finest are invisible. Warriors should be prepared, for they for stabbing, an edge for cutting, and the flat of the blade for never know what weapons they might face. striking. Part of the beauty of the sword is its simple utility. It is compact, easy to carry, and useful for both attack and defense. Publisher Associate Publisher Editor-in-Chief Editor Art director TSR, Inc. Brian Thomsen Pierce Watters Dave Gross Larry Smith Associate editor Associate editor Subscriptions U.S. advertising U.K. correspondent/advertising Anthony J. Bryant Michelle Vuckovich Janet L. Winters Cindy Rick Carolyn Wildman Printed in the USA DRAGON #232 3 August 1996 Volume XXI, No. 3 Issue #232 Weapons of the Waves Rich Baker Seapower can be the key to conquest in any nautical campaign. Page 8 En Garde! Cindi Rice Shh! Here are the secrets of the deadliest swordsmen in the SAVAGE COAST™ campaign. Page 18 And the Walls Came Down Steve Berman The most famous of siege engines, by way of legerdemain and legend. Page 25 A Flurry of Swords Gregory W. Detwiler A sword is a sword is a sword. Right? Page 29 Sorcerous Sixguns Roger E. Moore What barks over here and bites over there? This ain't your father’s magic missile! Page 34 4 AUGUST 1996 Columns 3 . The Wyrm’s Turn “Sticks and stones may break my bones...” 6 . D-Mail The Ecology of We’ve been reading your mail, and here are the the Roper juicy bits. by Johnathan M. 55 . Role of Books Richards Read any good books lately? John Bunnell has, Discover the nature of these and here’s what he thinks of them. underdark horrors through the strange “visits” of a 89 . Cons & Pros most unusual guide. Where the games are this summer. Page 42 92 . Sage Advice The dos and don’ts of questioning the Sage, and his answers to this month’s questions. 96.......................................... Forum Helpful tips on avoiding a visit from the TSR rules thugs. DRAGON DICE™ GAME: 98 . RPGA® Network News Magestorm! The scoop on LIVING CITY™ interactive events. David Eckelberry 106 ......... Role-playing Reviews Introducing the magical weapons of the This month Rick Swan reviews the quirky, the battle for Esfah, including new minor terrains odd, and the downright weird. and the fearsome dragonkin. Page 76 120 . The Current Clack The latest news of the role-playing industry. Wyrms of the North Other Material Ed Greenwood Elminster and Volo 49 . Floyd describe the depredations . of one of the mightiest 60 Hellbound red wyrms of Faerun. 100 .............................................. DragonMirth Page 80 102 ......................................... Gamer’s Guide 104 ............... Knights of the Dinner Table 116 ............................................. TSR Previews 62 The Gift of Fire (DRAGONLANCE: Tales of the FIFTH AGE™) William W. Connors & Sue Weinlein Cook The sundering of the ancient Swordsheath Scroll is only the start of Thorbardin’s tragedy. DRAGON #232 5 interesting articles. They are well John Rateliff replies: Since “Dragons of thought out and cover interesting topics, Legend” appeared in June, several letter not to mention well written. The artwork writers have queried my use of “Glorund” is, of course, astounding. The retooling rather than “Glaurung” as the name of the of DRAGON Magazine has definitely dragon in The Silmarillion. In fact, these renewed my interest in the AD&D® are two different names for the same char- game. Keep up the good work! acter. In the early versions of the Turin story Jeff Weinberger (The Book of Lost Tales, “The Lay of the Via e-mail Children of Hurin”) the dragon is called Glorund; in later versions, including the We loved “Orbs,” too, and many of this published Quenta Silmarillion, he is month’s letters let us know that we were by Glaurung. Working with Tolkien’s manu- no means alone. So you can bet that we’re scripts as much as I do, I'm afraid I uncon- keeping Roger as busy as we can. Tell us sciously used the earlier version of the what you think of his “Sorcerous Sixguns” in name. (By the way, I highly recommend the Tell us what you think. this issue, and keep an eye on the coming manuscript series edited by Christopher In the United States and Canada, send attractions box for more of his work later Tolkien, The History of Middle-earth, for any mail to “D-Mail,” DRAGON® Magazine, this year. anyone interested in Tolkien's writings.) 201 Sheridan Springs Road, Lake Geneva, As for other points, by “the Fellowship” I WI 53147 USA. In Europe, send mail to Dear DRAGON® Magazine, was referring to the Nine Walkers, not to the “D-Mail,” DRAGON Magazine, TSR Ltd., 120 I enjoyed reading your 20th anniver- book The Fellowship of the Ring. The Lord Church End, Cherry Hinton, Cambridge CB1 sary issue from cover to cover. The spe- of the Rings is not a “trilogy,” but simply 3LB, United Kingdom. cial focus on dragons is always appreci- one book split into three volumes. (Tolkien ated, and Roger Moore’s article on “The himself hated the term “trilogy” and refused Dear DRAGON® Magazine, Orbs of Dragonkind” was particularly to use it to describe his work.) One corre- Having just picked up issue #230 and good. I do however, have a small bone spondent argues that St. George merely sub- finding another GREYHAWK® setting article to pick with John Rateliff’s article dued his dragon rather than killing it, thus within its pages, I felt it was time to write “Dragons of Legend: Dragons in Myth anticipating Grahame’s “The Reluctant you. “The Orbs of Dragonkind” is one of and Literature.” Dragon” by several centuries. I don’t doubt the best articles I have seen in this mag- Dr. Rateliff makes several references for a minute that among the hundreds of azine in my 14 years of playing the to the work of J.R.R. Tolkien and retellings of his legends there aren’t at least a AD&D® game. Maybe I am being a bit describes Smaug as “the standard by few bowdlerized in this fashion; neverthe- biased, seeing as how the article deals which all other fantasy dragons should less, the fact remains that for centuries St. with artifacts of the GREYHAWK campaign, be judged.” I heartily agree! However, it George has been renowned as a dragon- my personal favorite. I had almost given is unfortunate that Tolkien’s work was slayer, not a juvenile probation officer for up looking for new GREYHAWK material incorrectly cited. There is no work enti- wayward lizards. after the lvid the Undying sourcebook tled “Fellowship of the Rings”; The Finally, two addendum: The Zelazny ended up spliced into two different Fellowship of the Ring is the first book of story “The George Business” appears in issues of DRAGON Magazine (#204 and The Lord of the Rings trilogy. More strik- Margaret Weis’s recent anthology of #206), and I am guessing that those ingly in an article about dragons, there dragon-tales (A Dragon-Lover’s Treasury were just the best parts.