Vol. V. No. 2 Vol. V, No. 2 August 1980 Well, another “death trip” has come to know where a tournament was being and gone—that is, the entire editorial staff held, someone could tell you for sure. Publisher of The Dragon (myself, Kim, and Bryce) When an event or seminar was supposed to E. Gary Gygax made it to Origins ’80 and back with rela- start, it started. That’s what makes a con- Editor tively little damage, other than a few hun- vention successful, not a fancy exhibit area. Jake Jaquet dred thousand brain cells forever de- stroyed. The fabled Dragon Publishing However, with the recent growth of Assistant Editor vehicle, the “Blue Moose,” a 4-wheel drive gaming as a hobby, and game manufactur- Kim Mohan Chevy Suburban that self-destructed at ing growing along with it, it may be time for Editorial Staff WVU-Con a few weeks back, nearly gave a the larger conventions to consider locating Bryce Knorr repeat performance in Chester, Pa., site of at professional convention facilities. Yes, I this year’s Origins. But, in spite of the Circulation & Sales know, who wants to go to New York or Corey Koebernick truck’s mysterious leaking of fluid and a Chicago or Los Angeles and stay in $75 blow-out on the on-ramp to I-95, we are /night hotels just to go to a convention (and Office Staff still mobile. what about Las Vegas)? But if the “bigger is Cherie Knull Dawn Pekul better” philosophy continues, it looks like This year’s Origins, held at Widener This month’s the only alternative. I’ll be addressing this contributing artists: University (that’s “tiny” Widener Universi- question a little more in the next couple of ty for those of you who remember last issues of the magazine, as we get further David Trampier Jeff Dee year’s reports) was once again the site of a into the convention season and see a few Roger Raupp Lois Gronseth gathering of gamers, manufacturers, and more conventions in operation. But again, the merely curious—about 4,300 bodies I’d like to give a tip of the hat to Hadley, Jack Crane Gail Gierahn altogether, counting convention officials, Carroll, and Carroll for making the best of Tom Wham Brad Parker exhibitors, and a few stray dogs. Kudos to what could have been a bad situation. Jay Hadley, Shawn Carroll and Tom Car- * * * Ed Greenwood roll for their efforts. While it might be ar- THE DRAGON is published monthly by Dragon Publish- ing, a division of TSR Hobbies Inc. The mailing address gued by some that the convention could While I’m on the subject of Origins, I of Dragon Publishing is P.O. Box 110, Lake Geneva WI have been better in some respects, thanks might also mention that once again the 53147; telephone 414-248-6044. to the efforts of this trio and their assistants, Charles Roberts, H. G. Wells, and Game THE DRAGON is available at hundreds of hobby stores Designers Guild Awards were presented at and bookstores throughout the United States and Cana- the merely annoying was not permitted to da, and through a limited number of overseas outlets, or become the disastrous. the conclusion of the convention. Some- can be purchased directly from Dragon Publishing by where in the neighborhood of 500 ballots lndivldual subsciption. The subscription rate within the United States and Canada is $24 for 12 issues. Outside Most gaming conventions are remem- were cast at Origins. A complete listing of all the U S and Canada, rates are as follows: To European bered by their triumphs or tragedies—if winners will appear in next month’s issue of locations, $50 for 12 issues for surface mail, $82 for 12 The Dragon, but of special interest to my- issues air mail, or $45 for 6 issues air mail; to Australia, such is the case, then Origins ’80 will be $40 for 12 issues surface mail, $70 for 12 issues air mail, forgotten tomorrow, and that’s unfortu- self and, presumably to you, was the Wells or $39 for 6 issues air mail. All payments for subscip- nate, because it was really a very decent award for the best magazine covering fan- tions to Canada and overseas must be in U.S currency. convention. Sure, Origins ’80 has its share tasy and science-fiction games. It was given Back issues of THE DRAGON are available from Dra- of problems—but then, what convention to The Journal of the Travellers Aid Soci- gon Publishing for the cover price plus 75 cents for postage and handling for each magazine. Cover prices doesn’t? Most of the hassles can be attribut- ety; Game Designers’ Workshop, publish- of the magazines are $2 for TD-22 through TD-31, $2.50 ed to the physical site of the convention er; Loren Wiseman, editor. Congratula- for TD-32,33,35 and 36, and $3 for TD-37 and there- tions, guys. Tell me, what’s the secret? The after. Payment for all individual orders must be made in (which was changed to Widener at the last advance. minute, due to a scheduling problem with 5” x 7” format? Gee, if The Dragon did the University of Delaware, where the con- that, this issue would be 168 pages long. The issue of expiration for each subscription is printed on each subscriber’s mailing label. Changes of address vention was originally supposed to be Then I’d be afraid people might confuse us for subscriptions must be received by Dragon Publish- held). There is just no way to crowd 101 with Reader’s Digest. ing at least 30 days prior to the effective date of the change. booths into MacMorland Center (the stu- * * * dent center) and still have room to be com- All material published in THE DRAGON becomes the exclusive property of the publisher upon such publica- fortable (indeed, just to have room for all And so, now it’s on to GenCon XIII and tion, unless special arrangements to the contrary are the manufacturers—Judges’ Guild and PacifiCon ’80. Dragon Publishing invites made prior to publication. Commando Games had to set up shop in all our readers to stop by our booth at either While THE DRAGON welcomes unsolicited submis- other buildings). Narrow aisles, one-way convention. We’ll have the new 1981 Days sions of written material and artwork, submissions can- doors, and (in my opinion) somewhat over- of the Dragon fantasy art calendar, a new not be returned unless accompanied by a self- addressed, stamped envelope, and no responsibility for zealous security guards all conspired to fiction anthology of heroic fantasy tales, such material can be assumed by the publisher in any make the exhibit area less than the most and one or two surprises. We’ll look for- event. All rights on the contents of this publication are reserved, and nothing may be reprinted in whole or in attractive place to spend any great amount ward to seeing you there. part without permission in writing from the publisher of time. CopyrIght 1980 by TSR Hobbles, Inc. Second class postage paid at Lake Geneva, Wisconsin But, on the other hand, there were rela- 53147. tively few complaints voiced. If you wanted August 1980 The Dragon settle personal disputes between characters. Fantasy must have “rhyme & reason,” says Douglas Bach- mann, before games about fantasy can have any real meaning. His lengthy treatise on the structure of a fantasy milieu is offered for your examination. Holy Prax! No sooner did we send out an impassioned plea for Runequest articles (Out on a Limb, TD-39) than Jon Mattson sent in just what we were looking for. Artifacts of Dragon Pass is the first RQ article TD has ever published; we hope it’s just the first of many. n our dictionary, “august” is defined as “marked by majes- For our Top Secret offerings this month, we present another tic dignity or grandeur” — indeed a fitting description of this edition of the Rasmussen Files by Jerry Epperson, plus Paul month’s issue of The Dragon. There are not one, but two Crabaugh’s suggestions for turning TS into a game of global scope. (or three, depending on how you count ‘em) special attrac- Mark Cummings takes a player’s-eye look at Tribes of Crane, and tions in TD #40. explains why he’s no longer in the PBM game. Tom Wham, the mind behind The Awful Green Things from In the “short subjects” department, Robert Plamondon offers Outer Space, presents Outside the Znutar, playing pieces and rules everything you need to know about throwing oil grenades; Roger for extending the crew’s battle against the green things into timeless Moore adds some leaves to the lycanthropes’ family tree; Steve space. As a bonus, the god Runngus has consented to reveal to Tom Melancon suggests a fairer (to the bad guys) way of determining a the rules for his very own game, which is found on the same foldout Cleric’s success against the undead; and Daniel McEwen favors us in the front of the magazine. That material is surrounded by a word with a report on Canada’s major annual convention, CANGAMES portrait of Tom Wham, prepared by staff writer Bryce Knorr, which '80. is almost as strange as one of Tom’s games. There’s something “irregular” about this month’s regular col- Attraction number two (or three) should be a Dragon collector’s umns. First, the Bestiary has been expanded, and now covers three dream: The first index ever compiled and published of all articles pages which contain four new monsters.