SPECIAL ATTRACTIONS Issue #179 Magic is Power Vol. XVI, No. 10 9 A treasure trove of magical items youve never seen before. March 1992 Picture This! Nigel Findley 10 Magical paintings that can save your lifeor take it away. Publisher James M. Ward Magic by Candlelight Gregg Chamberlain 16After you light one of these magical candles, be sure you stand way Editor back. Roger E. Moore Something Completely Different Bruce Humphrey 21 Liven up your treasure hoards with valuables that surprise as well as Fiction editor please. Barbara G. Young Seven Enlightening Lanterns Stephen Giles Associate editor 26 If you explore the dungeons of the Forgotten Realms, be sure to have Dale A. Donovan one of these devices in hand. Editorial assistant Wolfgang H. Baur Art director Larry W. Smith OTHER FEATURES Production staff Gaye OKeefe Angelika Lokotz Moonlight fiction by Heather Lynn Sarik Tracey Zamagne Mary Chudada 32 Pure, distilled moonlight, silvery and brightjust the target for two smart thieves. Subscriptions The Voyage of the Princess Ark Bruce A. Heard Janet L. Winters 41 A journey to a kingdom that has gone entirely to the dogs. U.S. advertising The MARVEL® Phile Dale A. Donovan and Steven E. Schend Roseann Schnering 47 Did you ever meet a super villain you wanted to laugh at rather than punch? U.K. correspondent The Role of Computers Hartley, Patricia, and Kirk Lesser and U.K. advertising Bronwen Livermore 57 A look through Eye of the Beholder II and a visit with some Merry Men. Wonders of the Land of Fate Jeff Grubb 66 The AD&D® AL-QADIM setting has flying carpets, efreeti bottles, and much, much more! Role-playing Reviews Lester W. Smith 82 Good things can come from small companies. Here are a few of each. Ladders to the Sky Allen Varney 89 If an anchor drops from the sky, it means a SPELLJAMMER campaign is coming! Through the Looking Glass Robert Bigelow 112 When orcs build a self-propelled howitzer, they start with a dinosaur. D EPARTMENTS 5 Letters 64 TSR Previews 102 Dragonmirth 6 Editorial 79 Convention Calendar 104 Twilight Empire 52 Forum 95 Sage Advice 108 Gamers Guide COVER In the nick of time, Larry Elmores painting arrived at our offices, and it was a magical treasure worth waiting for. Three adventurers cautiously eye a very unusual sword, one that they are obviously not eager to snatch up. We wish them the best with their prize. 4 MARCH 1992 DRAGON® Magazine (ISSN 0279-6848) is published monthly by TSR, Inc., P.O. Box 756 (201 Sheridan Springs Road), Lake Geneva WI 53147, United States of America. The postal address for all materials from the United States of America and Canada except subscrip- tion orders is: DRAGON® Magazine, P.O. Box 111, (201 Sheridan Springs Road), Lake Geneva WI 53147, U.S.A.; telephone (414) 248-3625; fax (414) 248-0389. The postal address for all materials from Europe is: DRAGON Magazine, TSR Ltd., 120 Church End, Cherry Hinton, Cambridge CB1 3LB, United Kingdom; telephone: (0223) 212517 (U.K.), 44-223-212517 (international); telex: 818761; fax (0223) 248066 (U.K.), 44-223-248066 (international). Distribution: DRAGON Magazine is available from game and hobby shops throughout the United States, What did you think of this issue? Do you have Canada, the United Kingdom, and through a limited A number of readers, including Yves Nida of number of other overseas outlets. Distribution to the book a question about an article or have an idea for a Talant, France, wrote in with correct transla- trade in the United States is by Random House, Inc., and new feature you’d like to see? In the United tions of the tombstone. Readers who lack the in Canada by Random House of Canada, Ltd. Distribution States and Canada, write to: Letters, DRAGON® FORGOTTEN REALMS boxed set might also use to the book trade in the United Kingdom is by TSR Ltd. Send orders to: Random House, Inc., Order Entry Magazine, P.O. Box 111, Lake Geneva WI 53147, the article “Runestones,” from DRAGON issue Department, Westminster MD 21157, U.S.A.; telephone: U.S.A. In Europe, write to: Letters, DRAGON #69 (reprinted in the Best of DRAGON Magazine (800) 733-3000. Newsstand distribution throughout the Magazine, TSR Ltd., 120 Church End, Cherry Anthology, volume IV), or FR11 Dwarves Deep. United Kingdom is by Seymour Press Ltd., 334 Brixton Road, London SW9 7AG, United Kingdom; telephone: Hinton, Cambridge CB1 3LB, United Kingdom, All three sources are by our foremost Realms 01-733-4444. scholar, Ed Greenwood. Of course, the transla- Subscriptions: Subscription rates via second-class tion begs one question, asked by John Sheerin, mail are as follows: $30 in US. funds for 12 issues sent of Nutley, N.J.: “What self-respecting dwarven to an address in the U.S. or Canada: £16 for 12 issues sent to an address within the United Kingdom; £24 for 12 A DMs test? smith would carve that into a perfectly good issues sent to an address in Europe; $50 in U.S. funds slab of stone?” for 12 issues sent by surface mail to any other address, or $90 in U.S. funds for 12 issues sent air mail to any Dear Dragon, other address. Payment in full must accompany all I want to know when and where I can take a subscription orders. In the U.S. and Canada, methods of test to make me a certified Dungeon Master. payment include checks or money orders made payable One of my friends is already certified. If you The letter in #173 to TSR, Inc., or charges to valid MasterCard or VISA credit cards; send subscription orders with payments to: can send me a test, please do. TSR, Inc., P.O. Box 5695, Boston MA 02206, U.S.A. In Name and address Dear Dragon, the United Kingdom, methods of payment include withheld by the editor I am writing in response to a letter in issue cheques or money orders made payable to TSR Ltd., or #173 [the second to the last letter on page 84]. I charges to a valid ACCESS or VISA credit card; send subscription orders with payments to TSR Ltd., as per One of the common urban legends about the am a 15-year-old girl, and I have been role- that address above. Prices are subject to change without AD&D® and D&D® games is that there is some playing for about five months and love it. I have prior notice. The issue of expiration of each subscription kind of official certification test for Dungeon one other female friend who feels as I do. When is printed on the mailing label of each subscriber’s copy I talk to guys about playing AD&D games, they of the magazine. Changes of address for the delivery of Masters, given either publicly or secretly by subscription copies must be received at least six weeks TSR, and that “real” DMs must take the test all look at me like I am crazy. I am glad to see prior to the effective date of the change in order to assure before they can ever run a good (or “official”) that some guys don’t mind seeing girls play. I am uninterrupted delivery. role-playing game. This is a bunch of otyugh trying to get other girls interested, but it is Back issues: A limited quantity of back issues is available from either the TSR Mail Order Hobby Shop offal. Anyone can run an AD&D or D&D game, hard. Most of them don’t seem to understand or (P.O. Box 756, Lake Geneva WI 53147, U.S.A.) or from and no certification of any sort is required. just think it takes too long to play, but I like to TSR Ltd. For a free copy of the current catalog that lists It is possible that some gamers believe that the either play or just watch games for a few hours. available back issues, write to either of the above Rebecca Whaling addresses. tournament rating system used by the RPGA™ Submissions: All material published in DRAGON Network is actually a certification system (it Indianapolis IN Magazine becomes the exclusive property of the pub- isn’t—it is simply a system for rating the effec- lisher, unless special arrangements to the contrary are tiveness and experience of players and game Your editor originally ran the letter in issue made prior to publication. DRAGON Magazine welcomes #173 because the image of a male gamer wan- unsolicited submissions of written material and artwork; masters within the Network). It is also possible however, no responsibility for such submissions can be that there are groups that each have a “certifica- dering the streets in search of female gamers assumed by the publisher in any event. Any submission tion” test that must be passed by those who seemed rather humorous (the letter writer, by accompanied by a self-addressed, stamped envelope of the way, was from Brazil). However, that letter sufficient size will be returned if it cannot be published. wish to run role-playing games within those We strongly recommend that prospective authors write groups, as a sort of minimum-competency exam generated a flurry of letters from female for our writers’ guidelines before sending an article to us. to weed out people who aren’t familiar with the gamers, like Rebecca Whaling, who reported In the United States and Canada, send a self-addressed, games involved or would commit DMing errors that they enjoyed role-playing but were often stamped envelope (9½” long preferred) to: Writers’ Guidelines, c/o DRAGON Magazine, as per the above in play.