Dragon Magazine #117
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Magazine Issue #117 REGULAR FEATURES Vol. XI, No. 8 10 The Elements of Mystery Robert Plamondon January 1987 Players dont need to know everything! 14 What are the Odds? Arthur J. Hedge III Publisher Mike Cook What are your chances of rolling an 18? Theyre all here. 16 Feuds and Feudalism John-David Dorman Editor One answer to four old gaming problems Roger E. Moore 18 Condensed Combat Travis Corcoran Streamlining the to-hit tables in the AD&D® game Assistant editor Fiction editor Robin Jenkins Patrick Lucien 22 Dungeoneers Shopping Guide Robert A. Nelson Price More supplies (and costs and weights) for adventurers 26 Adventure Trivia! Tom Armstrong Editorial assistants Torment your AD&D® game players with these tidbits Marilyn Favaro Georgia Moore Eileen Lucas Debbie Poutsch 28 A Touch of Genius Vince Garcia Putting intelligence to work for player characters Art director 32 Sage Advice Penny Petticord Roger Raupp 33 The Ecology of the Anhkheg Mark Feil An interesting species for your bug collection Production staff Linda Bakk Gloria Habriga 37 Hounds of Space and Darkness Stephen Inniss Betty Elmore Kim Lindau A githyankis, githzerais, and drows best friends Carolyn Vanderbilt 40 Fun Without Fighting Scott Bennie Creative adventures in which you never draw your sword Advertising Subscriptions Mary Parkinson Pat Schulz 43 The Forgotten Characters Thomas M. Kane Henchmen, hirelings, and followers in the AD&D® game Creative editors 46 By Magic Masked Ed Greenwood Ed Greenwood Jeff Grubb Nine magical masks from the Forgotten Realms 48 Bazaar of the Bizarre The Readers Contributing artists Jim Holloway Diesel 52 More Power to You Leonard Carpenter Larry Elmore Brian Maynard More skills, more powers, more CHAMPIONS gaming power Robert Maurus Joseph Pillsbury 56 Tanks for the Memories Dirck de Lint Roger Raupp Mark Saunders Flattening your CAR WARS® game opponents the easy way Bruce Simpson Richard Tomasic David Trampier Marvel Bullpen 62 Roughing It Thomas M. Kane Lawrence Raimonda Taking TOP SECRET® agents into the wild country 68 The Marvel®-Phile Jeff Grubb A Marauder a day keeps the Morlocks away 74 Even the Bad Get Better Stewart Wieck Improving criminals in VILLAINS & VIGILANTES games 76 Gamma III James M. Ward and Harold Johnson Converting your GAMMA WORLD® campaigns to the third edition 81 The Role of Books John C. Bunnell 90 The Game Wizards TSR Games Division DEPARTMENTS 3 Letters 86 TSR Previews 97 Snarfquest 4 World Gamers Guide 94 Gamers Guide 100 Dragonmirth 6 Forum 96 Convention Calendar 102 Wormy 84 TSR Profiles COVER It was difficult to get Jim Holloway to volunteer information on his cover painting the fifth one hes done for us. What can you say about the picture? Uh . um . Were there any amusing stories behind this picture? (Yes, but we couldnt print them.) Is there anything else youd like to add? Gimme a lotta money. There he is, Jim Holloway. 2 JANUARY 1986 LETTERS More and Moore Once in a while, I receive a letter from a reader who asks that I write more articles like the ones I used to write for DRAGON® Magazine. Its distributed, and will any further supplement always nice to inflate the old ego Deities disappear work continue to be done for the game? with things like that (I have those A final question: To my knowledge, only one letters bronzed and placed over my Dear Dragon: article on the DRAGONQUEST game appeared computer terminal), but things This letter is a public petition of sorts, con- in DRAGON® Magazine; was there a reason for arent that easy now. this? cerning the Cthulhu mythos. The original edi- I like to write articles, and Im glad James Comingore tion of the DEITIES & DEMIGODS Cyclopedia some of you like them. However, included this group of deities and associated Bloomington, IN one cannot edit two magazines and creatures. In the second edition, however, and in Legends & Lore, it was absent. I imagine that It is possible that TSR, Inc., will produce an write much at the same time. It is the rationale behind this change (if not made for occasional DRAGONQUEST game module, also much more important to get financial or other mundane reasons) was that no printed with dual statistics allowing its use with more of you, the readers, into print character would choose to worship a 600-tall the AD&D® game. This project is still in the than it is to get more of me, the heap of slime. planning stages, however. Presently, there are editor, into print. Its been a long I, however, have found this assumption to be no plans to re-release the DQ game. time since I wrote those articles on decidedly untrue at least in the case of a An editorial decision was made to discontinue the demi-humans and their deities, group of characters that I both DM and adven- printing DRAGONQUEST game material in the and its probably better to close the ture with. Some of the most exciting characters magazine, since the reader interest level in such book on that. The more authors we (and campaigns) that I have encountered deal material was quite low. We have printed mate- with the eerie spirits and situations invoked by rial on this game in issues #49, 57, 78, 82, 86, have writing for DRAGON Magazine, the use or worship of the beings in this mythos. 89, 92, 96, and 97. The last DRAGONQUEST the better the magazine. For instance, one group of witches, controlled game material left in our files is the College of This issue is a case in point. We by a friend of mine, are the consorts and shape- Lesser Summonings, which dates from the SPI have no particular theme for this shifted spawn of Yog-Sothoth, and they are days of the game. This may appear in a future month, but we have more variety slowly corrupting and taking over an entire module as an added bonus. — RM and more articles on gaming than nation. weve had for some time. You have Our actual petition is that you have a feature the chance to read material from in an upcoming magazine about the Old Ones some of the best people we have and their cohorts. If possible, you might include new material, such as Brown Jenkin from The Multiple targets writing for us. Dreams in the Witch-House. Ultimately, per- If you have a list of favorite topics haps, TSR, Inc., might bring the mythos back to Dear Dragon: you would like to see covered in this mainstream AD&D® gaming, but a feature in I am writing about an article that you pub- magazine, by all means, send it to your magazine would make a fine start. lished in your magazine entitled, One roll, to us. We can commission articles from Marc Spraragen go (#113). The system has a slight flaw. For our better writers on occasion. We Schenectady, NY example, suppose two opposing armies are can also list the most-wanted topics, facing each other, each with 100 men and the letting everyone get in on the act. Many readers have asked that TSR, Inc., add following breakdown: There are a few things we cannot both the Cthulhu and Melnibonean mythoi to 25 men with plate mail, shields, and cover, however. We have no way to the new editions of the Legends & Lore vol- long swords; evaluate computer programs for umes, but this is not possible. TSR, Inc., was not 25 men with leather armor and long licensed to use this material when the first bows; gaming use, so we ask that you not edition of DEITIES & DEMIGODS Cyclopedia 25 men with ring mail and crossbows; send any of them to us. We gener- was printed, so these mythoi have been re- and, ally avoid board games, but we moved from later editions. At the present time, 25 men with padded armor and large might cover certain particularly Chaosium, Inc., has the gaming license for these shields (serving as shield bearers). popular ones if they are of interest mythoi, and has produced two excellent games The 50 archers from one side fire into the to fantasy or science-fiction gamers. from them (the CALL OF CTHULHU® game and mass of the other. If the one army is mixed Weve also dropped our coverage of the STORMBRINGER game). TSR, Inc., has the together, what armor class would I use to look many of the less-popular role-play- gaming license for the Lankhmar stories of Fritz up the to hit number on the table? Dont get Leiber, so the Nehwon mythos has been me wrong, though; the article was work of ing games, even those made by TSR, retained in Legends & Lore. — RM brilliance, if you were firing into 100 orcs. Inc. If few people play them, why Elliott Jackson run them? Our license on some Seattle, WA games has expired as well (i.e., no more Indy Jones stuff). DQ in Limbo Take the total number of missile attacks fired Otherwise, the sky is the limit. Tell by a particular group of archers and divide it up us what you want, and well see Dear Dragon: among the various groups of targets, resolving what we can do about it. This is I am a very big fan of the each attack separately. In the above example, your magazine, after all. DRAGONQUEST® game, as are many of my the 25 crossbow bolts fired in one round are As Arnold Schwarzennegger friends, and we believe it to be an excellent divided into the four groups in the enemy army, and Bubba say, Lets party.