DRAGON Magazine (ISSN 0279-6848) Is Gaming Section Inside Each DRAGON the Ecology of the Stirge
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D RAGON 1 Publisher: Mike Cook Editor-in-Chief: Kim Mohan A declaration Editorial staff: Roger Raupp Patrick Lucien Price Mary Kirchoff When in the course of publishing events, Roger Moore it becomes necessary for one magazine to be Andria Hayday connected with another, so that the two Vol. VIII, No. 9 March 1984 Subscriptions: Mary Cossman magazines are no longer separate and Layout designer: Kristine L. Bartyzel equal, a decent respect for the readership of Contributing editor: Ed Greenwood both magazines requires that the publisher Advertising Sales Administrator: should declare the causes which led to the Mary Parkinson SPECIAL ATTRACTION connection of them. National advertising representative: The Dancing Hut . .31 Robert Dewey My apologies to Thomas Jefferson, but I A no-holds-barred challenge 1836 Wagner Road Glenview IL 60025 decided that borrowing the spirit of the for high-level AD&D characters Phone (312)998-6237 first paragraph of the Declaration of Inde- pendence was a good way to get into this This issues contributing artists: months topic. To put it bluntly: TSR, Inc. Denis Beauvais Jim Holloway will terminate publication of ARES Maga- OTHER FEATURES Roger Raupp E. B. Wagner zine after issue #17, scheduled for release in Larry Elmore Kurt Erichsen late March. Beginning with the April issue The many facets of gems . .10 Phil Foglio of DRAGON® Magazine, the ARES name Fact and folklore about snazzy stones will be represented by a science-fiction DRAGON Magazine (ISSN 0279-6848) is gaming section inside each DRAGON The ecology of the stirge . .20 published monthly for a subscription price of $24 per year by Dragon Publishing, a division of issue, and this magazine will expand to 96 Its a bird . its a bug . TSR, Inc. The mailing address of Dragon pages to accommodate the extra material. Publishing for all material except subscription We made this decision based on a couple orders is P.O. Box 110, Lake Geneva WI 53147. The test of the twins.. .26 of related facts. First, it had become clear to A DRAGONLANCE short story DRAGON Magazine is available at hobby us that ARES Magazine was not serving its stores and bookstores throughout the United intended purpose, as a vehicle for science- How to finish fights faster . .55 States and Canada, and through a limited number of overseas outlets. Subscription rates fiction gaming articles and features that Simpler and smoother unarmed combat are as follows: $24 for 12 issues sent to an address would reach a large share of the SF gaming in the U.S., $30 in Canada; $50 U.S. for 12 audience. If ARES Magazine had been able issues sent via surface mail or $95 for 12 issues A look at AOKs, old and new. .60 to boast a decently large readership and an TOP SECRET® Companion preview sent via air mail to any other country. All subscription payments must be in advance, and adequately wide distribution, I venture to should be sent to Dragon Publishing, P.O. Box say that we would have maintained it as a 72089, Chicago IL 60690. separate title, because then it would have A limited quantity of certain back issues of been performing the service for which it was DRAGON Magazine can be purchased from the intended. But it isnt (performing), so we REGULAR OFFERINGS Dungeon Hobby Shop. (See the list of available issues printed elsewhere in each magazine.) Pay- arent (keeping it separate). ment in advance by check or money order must The second fact is that we can reach SF Out on a Limb . 3 accompany all orders. Payments cannot be made gamers with SF articles by incorporating Letters and answers through a credit card, and orders cannot be taken nor merchandise reserved by telephone. Neither their kind of material in DRAGON Maga- an individual customer nor an institution can be zine. We know, based on what youve told Theforum . .4 billed for a subscription order or a back-issue us about yourselves in past readership sur- Opinions and observations purchase unless prior arrangements are made. veys, that a lot of you play and enjoy The issue of expiration for each subscription is science-fiction games in addition to fantasy Convention calendar . .64 printed on the mailing label for each subscribers role-playing games. By expanding copy of the magazine. Changes of address for the delivery of subscription copies must be received DRAGON to 96 pages, we can include an Game review: at least six weeks prior to the effective date of the average of 16 pages per month of SF mate- Good evening, Mr. Bond. .66 change in order to insure uninterrupted delivery. rial, without reducing the amount of non- Assessing the 007 game system All material published in DRAGON SF articles, of the sort that DRAGON Magazine becomes the exclusive property of the issues have carried in recent months and Gamers Guide . .70 publisher upon publication, unless special ar- which you have come to expect. By putting rangements to the contrary are made prior to publication. DRAGON Magazine welcomes all of our best stuff in one package, we can Dragon Mirth . .74 unsolicited submissions of written material and reach many times more readers. In terms of artwork; however, no responsibility for such sub- the greatest good for the greatest number, Wormy. 75 missions can be assumed by the publisher in any well be providing more of the SF gaming event. Any submission which is accompanied by a self-addressed, stamped envelope of sufficient audience with more article coverage than Whats New? . .76 size will be returned if it cannot be published. ever before. Ive been proud of (and envied, at the DRAGON® is a registered trademark for Snarfquest . .78 Dragon Publishings monthly adventure playing same time) ARES Magazine. Its a class act aid. All rights on the contents of this publication in both editorial content and graphic de- are reserved, and nothing may be reproduced sign. A lot of you who havent seen it lately from it in whole or in part without first obtaining DRAGON, DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, ADVANCED permission in writing from the publisher. will be pleasantly surprised by the new DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, ADVANCED D&D, TOP Copyright © 1984 TSR, Inc. ARES section in DRAGON Magazine, SECRET, BOOT HILL, and GAMMA WORLD are regis- because the section will be put together by Second-class postage paid at Lake Geneva, tered trademarks owned by TSR, Inc. the same people who did the magazine for designates other trademarks owned by TSR, Inc., unless Wis., and additional mailing offices. otherwise indicated. its last few issues. A lot of you whove never POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Dragon Publishing, P.O. Box 110, Lake Geneva WI 53147, USPS 318-790, ISSN 0279-6848. (Turn to page 54) 2 MARCH 1984 imply stated, weve never done an adventure like The Dancing Hut before. It is, for purposes of classification, a module for high-level AD&D characters. But calling it a high- level module, and leaving it at that, is sort of like calling Ronald Reagan an ex-movie star. Thats true, but it doesnt tell the whole story. The Dancing Hut is the consider this request seriously; it would be a product of the imagination of Roger Psionics revisited tremendous service to your readers, especially Moore, loosely based on an adventure he those of us who were not fortunate enough to be ran for some unsuspecting participants at Dear Editor: around when issue #1 was printed. last falls Autumn Revel convention. Concerning my earlier letter, printed in issue Lance J. Purple Rogers advice goes like this: Tell anyone #81, and your response: We are both in the Houston, Tex. who takes a character in there not to be wrong. I misused terms from the psionics appen- too attached to it. dix in both my letter and my article (Overhaul- I hope that Lance and lots of others will be Those of you who liked our last cover ing the system, issue #78). I did say (and I quote happy to hear that TSR, Inc., is now offering a from the published version of the article): Re- painting from Denis Beauvais (issue #78) service for readers to obtain photocopies of artic- member that [25 points for psionic ability] trans- les from old issues of DRAGON® Magazine. have already been appropriately awed by lates into 25 attack points and 25 defense points, According to Penny Petticord, the head of TSRs his latest work. This one is entitled as well as 25 points for the powering of devo- Correspondence Department, these are the rules Checkmate, and if it isnt the most tions. This is virtually the same as a line found, and regulations: striking cover painting weve ever pub- as a paragraph in itself, on page 111 of the Play- Photocopies are not available from issues of lished, its somewhere in the top three. ers Handbook: Note that the employment of the magazine that are still being offered for sale As a belated followup to an article on these powers (the psionic disciplines another through the Dungeon Hobby Shop mail order gems we published almost a year ago, case where I put the wrong word in the article) department, or of any articles that appear in our Mike Lowrey put his research skills to a costs psionic strength points, the equivalent of 1 BEST OF DRAGON® anthologies. point each of attack and defense points. (Empha- tough test and came up with The many Your request must be accompanied by a sis mine.) check or money order. The charge for photocopy- facets of gems, a chronicle of the valuable The point I was objecting to was the fact that ing is $2.50 per article, plus 40¢ per page.