DRAGON Magazine
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DRAGON 1 77 30 SPECIAL ATTRACTION 47 The House in the Frozen Lands James Adams An AD&D® game adventure for investigative characters 47 Publisher OTHER FEATURES Mike Cook 8 The Cult of the Dragon Ed Greenwood Editor-in-Chief Dragons can be liches, too heres how Kim Mohan Editorial staff 16 For better or Norse: I Joel McGraw Patrick Lucien Price Expanding one of the most popular pantheons . Roger Moore 24 For better or Norse: II Carl Sargent Editorial assistance . and re-examining some of its most famous members Eileen Lucas Art, graphics, production 30 All about Elminster Ed Greenwood Roger Raupp Several pages from the life story of our favorite sage Kim Lindau 38 The role of computers Hartley and Pattie Lesser Subscriptions The debut of a column covering computers and game software Pat Schulz Advertising 44 Dragon damage revisited Leonard Carpenter Mary Parkinson Finishing the job we started a year ago Contributing editors 66 The Wizards Boy Nancy Varian Berberick Ed Greenwood A young thief learns about life and magic, the hard way Katharine Kerr This issue's contributing artists Kevin Davies THE ARES SECTION Larry Elmore Marvel Bullpen Valerie Valusek 78 Knowledge is Power John M. Maxstadt Jim Holloway Roger Raupp Skills and areas of knowledge for the GAMMA WORLD® game Richard Tomasic David LaForce Denton Elliott Bob Eggleton 84 The MARVEL®-Phile Jeff Grubb David Trampier Joseph Pillsbury Meet Ghost Rider . and three more of the same 88 Going for a Swim? William Tracy Deep sea adventuring guidelines for STAR FRONTIERS® characters 92 Piece of the Action Ken Tovar Gangsters and gats in PARANOIAs Alpha Complex DEPARTMENTS 3 Letters 64 TSR Previews 97 Dragonmirth 4 World Gamers Guide 94 Gamers Guide 98 Snarfquest 6 The forum 96 Convention calendar 101 Wormy COVER For the second issue in a row, we welcome a new artist to the cover of DRAGON Magazine. The name of the painter is Kevin Davies, and the title of the painting is The Vanquished Cavalier, a scene that somehow manages to be exhilarating and unsettling at the same time. The painting won the Amateur Best of Show award at the 1984 World Fantasy Convention and now, the next time Kevin enters a contest, hes going to have to do so as a professional. 2 JUNE 1986 The first decade is behind us My attitude about anniversaries isnt what it used to be. I used to like to dwell ing the swarm as a monster unto itself. In either on where weve been and how far weve Ranger skills case, the end result is basically the same; either come whenever we reached some mile- one hit kills x pernicons of the swarm (reduc- stone. Nowadays Im more inclined to Dear Dragon, ing the swarms hit points accordingly), or x look forward instead of backward. Thats In The Ranger Redefined (#106), the hits considered one by one kill an equal number why this Tenth Anniversary Column isnt terrain, climate, and skills section gives percent- of pernicons. going to be filled with reminiscences like ages to determine if a ranger is specially profi- While were on the subject, another pernicon- the Issue #l00 Column was. cient in a given skill. Over in the miscellaneous related question has come up. Some people skills section, it says rangers have a base 75% noticed the references to field plate and full plate Oh, sure, the occasion does deserve to chance of success in physical skills. Id like to armor, and are wondering exactly what were be recognized. And Im not trying to know how special proficiency affects this base talking about. Space doesnt permit a detailed make light of the fact that DRAGON® chance; the article didnt say. description of each type, but we can say this: Magazine has been in existence longer Owen Kelm Both were introduced to the AD&D® game than some of its readers have been alive. Ft. Thomas, Ky. system in Unearthed Arcana. Field plate bestows But at a time like this, contemplation armor class 2 on the wearer and someone decked seems more appropriate than congratula- A few people seem to be having trouble seeing out in full plate has a base armor class of 1. tion. We know where weve been, and we Field plate can absorb one point of damage per how the two % chance figures work together know where were at. The big question is, Heres the way I interpret it, and the way I think die, up to a maximum of 12 points. Full plate can Where do we go from here? the author intended for the system to work: absorb two points of damage per die, up to a According to Table 3 in Section I, a ranger maximum of 26. When the maximum is reached, That big question encompasses several who is native to a certain kind of terrain has a the armor loses its absorption ability and also smaller ones, such as: How many subjects chance of possessing exceptional ability in one or becomes one step worse in armor class until it is are left to be covered? How many subjects more physical skills. So far, so good. Now, over repaired. For more details, pick up a copy of that weve already covered deserve to be in Section III, it says theres a 75% chance of a Arcana or borrow it from a friend. KM re-examined? What new topics can we ranger succeeding when he tries to do something pursue to keep the magazine at least as that involves the use of an exceptional physical interesting and attractive to you as it is ability Special proficiency as Owen put it, now? Or should we forget about new doesnt do anything to the base chance be- Computer query cause the base chance doesnt apply unless the topics altogether and just keep on doing ranger has special proficiency in the first place. Dear Dragon: what were doing? For example: A ranger with exceptional ability While recently looking through some of my For starters, I can answer that last in swimming has a base chance of 75% to per- back issues, I wondered what ever became of question. One of the features in this issue form some feat that is beyond the capability of The Electric Eye. I think that this feature is a step in a new direction for us. And I someone without exceptional ability The exact would still be an interesting part of the magazine, dont want to tantalize you (well, not too nature of such an exceptional feat is up to the and I hope that you revive it some day. much), but there are more changes com- DM to determine; for swimming, it might in- Kevin Lyman ing. When we finish wading through all volve endurance (negotiating the English Chan- New Orleans, La. nel) or speed (a world-class time in the 100-yard the responses weve received to our reader freestyle). Someone without exceptional swim- Funny you should ask, Kevin. The role of survey, were going to put all of that feed- ming ability would have no chance at all of computers, which begins on page 38 in this back to good use. accomplishing such a feat, and someone with that issue, represents our re-entry into coverage of We could probably keep going for an- exceptional ability can accomplish such a feat computers and computer games. Its been almost other ten years, at least, by not doing three-quarters of the time. KM four years since the last appearance of The anything differently. If our circulation Electric Eye, our first venture in this area, and figures are any indication, for the last two as we all know, the scope and quality of computer or three years the number of people who games have both increased dramatically in the have become actively involved in role- Group effort meantime. Responses from the reader survey we published playing games is roughly equal to the Dear Dragon, in #107 are still being tabulated, but weve been number of people who have lost interest in In the article The pernicon: a new version able to draw some definite conclusions already the hobby. We could assume that this (#108), wouldnt the colonel and his henchman One of those conclusions is that most of you do trend will persist, and well keep on gain- get a number of attacks equal to their levels want the magazine to cover computer gaming, ing one reader for every reader we lose. because the pernicon is a monster of less than one and particularly role-playing game software. But nobody ever got anywhere by treading hit die? If not, why? Fortunately, we were recently approached by water; the best that can be said about that Bruce Roberts, Jr. Hartley and Pattie Lesser with a proposal to tactic is that it keeps you from drowning. Yakima, Wash. provide us with just such a column, and the result of their first effort is inside. Thats certainly better than the alterna- Multiple attacks are already accounted for in Hartley and Pattie are a husband-and-wife tive, but its not the best we could do. We the revised mass combat system given for team from California who have been doing this want to make progress, we want to move, pernicon swarms, on page 25. Any attack against kind of writing for a few years. They make it and we want you to keep coming along for a swarm kills as many pernicons as there were their business to keep up on whats happening in the ride.