CONTENTS Issue #131 Vol. XII, No. 10 March 1988 SPECIAL ATTRACTIONS 21 The Realm Below: In the Underdark, no one can see you scream. 22 To the Center of the Oerth Vic Broquard A streamlined system for creating caverns and tunnels of every kind. 32 The Folk of the Underworld Eric Oppen Practical jokes with a dark twist: the svirfneblins point of view. Publisher 36 The Ecology of the Aholeth Brandon Crist Mike Cook The masters of the subterranean world have masters of their own. Lords & Legends Steve Seguin and Christopher Jones Editor 40 Two mountain dwarves who made the big time. Roger E. Moore 42 The Ecology of the Hook Horror Michael Persinger Assistant editor Fiction editor Even the fungus-eaters of Deepearth are dangerous. Robin Jenkins Patrick L. Price 47 The Chasm Bridge Desmond P. Varady Editorial assistants A special underworld encounter from DUNGEON Adventures! Eileen Lucas Barbara G. Young OTHER FEATURES Art director Roger Raupp 10 The Role of Books John C. Bunnell Wizards in New York, technology vs. sorcery, and a musical interlude. Production Staff Marilyn Favaro Lori Svikel 16 Illusory Solutions Matt Battison An 8th-level illusionist can cast a 30-HD fireball! Or can he? Subscriptions Advertising 18 Fantasy First Class Michael Gray Pat Schulz Sheila Meehan The Alamaze universe lives in your mailbox. Creative editors 64 Mutations Unlimited Kim Eastland Ed Greenwood Jeff Grubb Ever want eyes in the back of your head? Now you can have them! 68 The Game Wizards Douglas Niles Just declassified: further word on the TOP SECRET/S.I. game. 70 Role-playing Reviews Jim Bambra The Death Star meets the interstellar French Empire and the BattleMech brigades. 78 The Role of Computers Hartley, Patricia, and Kirk Lesser Pilot a Harrier, build an empire, or brave the horrors of the Galactic Museum. 88 The Marvel®-Phile Jeff Grubb Trouble comes in threes in this case, the Warriors Three. DEPARTMENTS 3 Letters 60 Gamers Guide 92 Convention Calendar 4 World Gamers Guide 62 Index to Advertisers 98 SnarfQuest 6 Forum 62 Sage Advice 101 Wormy 59 TSR Previews 90 Dragonmirth COVER Our cover is entitled: What Geraldo Rivera wished he had found in Al Capones vault, which just about says it all. This painting won an award at the 1987 Norwescons Altercon convention, and is the combined work of two artists: Rodayne Esmay and David Kern. Rodayne says he and David are charter members of the Happy Valley Space Academy (a local artists group). Thanks, guys! 2 MARCH 1988 LETTERS Oasis One of the forces that guided my path into games, gaming, and ulti- mately to TSR, Inc., was the Hobbit Hobby Shop in Fayetteville, N.C. I was stationed at Ft. Bragg with the U.S. Army in the late 1970s, and Phantom DRAGONLANCE® eventually found myself in that phantoms chess? shop, wondering if the rows and rows of fantasy figures there had to Dear Dragon: Dear Dragon: do with the D&D® game I had heard I loved the special attraction in issue #126. I know that you are very busy, but I came up about. I asked the manager about it However, I did catch a miscount in Vince Gar- with an idea: a DRAGONLANCE® chess set. I and my doom was sealed. cias article. He only listed 30 undead. The figure even though the chance of you producing A good hobby shop has a variety missing one is the phantom. such a thing is slim, I thought what the heck. I of gaming goods, a location with lots Example: The party settles down for the night have come up with a list of what the pieces of free-spending gamers (military on a wide field. Later on, the characters are might include: bases, college campuses, and malls awakened by loud war cries as two armies White (good) Black (evil) work well), stable suppliers, etc. But charge into battle around them. What the PCs King Ariakas Tanis a legendary hobby shop has some- dont know is that all the warriors are 300-year- Queen Laurana Kitiara old phantoms. Bishops Caramon Lord Soth thing more: people who genuinely I also have a question about Hearts of Dark- Raistlin ? care about gamers. The very exist- ness by Tom Moldvay. On page 17 of issue Knights Flint Toede ence of such people benefits the #126, Mr. Moldvay implies that there might be a Sturm Verminaard whole gaming field. connection between werewolves and vampires. Rooks Tower of the Temple of The Hobbit Hobby Shop was leg- According to all the information I have (mostly High Clerist Neraka endary, and I owe a great debt to Al from movies), werewolves are nearly immortal Dragon of Flying Citadel and Feliet, who special-ordered while vampires are dead. These states seem Ergoth miniatures and games for me, let me opposed to each other and, as such, lycan- Pawns Warrior on Draconian thropes and vampires should be enemies under dragon display my Star Trek models in the normal circumstances. store, and directed me to other As long as the subject of werewolves is up, I The board would be a map of Ansalon with gamers in the area who were run- have a question about the MARVEL SUPER important spots labeled. ning campaigns. The shop had dis- HEROES® game article by Douglas Lent. Since Mike Strane play cases for miniatures and Jack Russell is a supernatural werewolf, is he Pittsburgh PA models that gamers created, and contagious? Ive been wondering about this ever always had a good word for your since he managed to claw Iron Man through his Though TSR, Inc., has no plans to produce a work even in cases like mine, in helmet. DRAGONLANCE chess set, we are producing which the modelers enthusiasm Douglas Burik the DRAGONLANCE board game, which will be exceeded his skills. (Your orcs are Cincinnati OH released in July. The game features 3D aerial combat, numerous plastic playing pieces, and certainly the most colorful ones Ive Our count of the undead in Vince’s article fast, easy-to-learn rules. Those who want to try ever seen, Al once told me.) shows 31 types (we listed sheet phantoms and making a DRAGONLANCE chess set for their I was pleased to recently learn sheet ghouls in the same heading on page 32 of own use might try using 25mm miniatures for that the Hobbit is still around that issue). The article pins down a few mon- playing pieces. (Our seventeenth year, said Al), sters not previously known to be undead (such and it put me in mind of other leg- as the crypt thing and vampiric ixitxachitl), but endary hobby shops Ive known and Monster Manual II phantoms are stated in the to A brief message loved. The Rusty Scabbard still sits be neither alive nor undead. Your example is only a few blocks from the Univer- appreciated, however. sity of Kentucky campus in Lex- Tom Moldvay used more traditional sources of Dear Dragon: information than modern movies in writing his Robert: How many gamers does it take to ington, Ky. The Something To Do article. A number of European legends and change a light bulb? shops hang on in Louisville. Napo- folktales connect vampires with werewolves in H.P.: I dont know, how many gamers does it leons in Milwaukee is still filled with some manner as Tom notes on page 17 of that take to change a light bulb? games. Others exist, but they are issue. Whether you use this information in your Robert: Eighteen; three to build a pyramid to few and far between. the socket, three to devour all chips, soda, fantasy campaign or not is up to you — but it If you find such a shop, let the popcorn, and stray house pets, one to put in the makes exciting reading. people there know you appreciate We checked with Jeff Grubb, and he said Jack bulb, and the rest to argue about a six-month- them. Al and Feliet thank you! I Russell’s lycanthropy was the result of a super- old DM call. was lucky to have found your oasis. natural curse placed on his genetic line, starting Michael Cecil with his ancestor Gregory Russoff. As such, this Belleville IL lycanthropy cannot be transmitted in the same fashion as “classical” cases of lycanthropy, and is Thanks. confined to Russoffs male descendants. This information comes from The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe® — which, interestingly enough, also makes the vampire-werewolf connection you mentioned above. D RAGON 3 The World Gamers Guide With this issue of DRAGON® Magazine, SN J. (Steve) Hudak (AD,MSH,TS) Antonio Marcelo F. da Fonseca (AD,SF,DD) The World Gamers Guide will come to a P.O. Box 37-611 NSGA Rua Hadock Lobo 131 casa 7 close. No further listings will be taken. Our (NSA Naples, Italy) Tijuca, Rio de Janerio, RJ increased distribution and circulation FPO NY 09521-4000 BRAZIL CEP 20260 worldwide are responsible; because of the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA great increase in international sales, we Kevin Armstrong (AD,SF) will soon not be able to cope with the Bill McQuillan (AD,CH,CW) 25 West Way increase in WGG entries with our small 042-74-1095 Holmes Chapel, Crewe staff size. HHC 7th SUPCOM, Box 43 Cheshire CW4 7DG However, we are always open to submis- APO NY 09712 UNITED KINGDOM sions for the Letters and Forum UNITED STATES OF AMERICA columns, as well as regular gaming artic- Rene Rasmussen (AD,DD,OA,SL) les, and we welcome contributions from Waye Mason Sondergade 15 anywhere in the world.