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Dragon Magazine #234 Boo! t the right moment, that’s all it takes to scare someone. Or Scares are easy. They work on the player and have little to something like, “You didn’t have a black Nissan in the park- do with the game itself. Fear is a whole ‘nother animal. Where ing lot this morning did you?” That’ll scare ‘em. A scare is a quick a scare widens your eyes, fear squeezes them shut. You don’t triple-shot of adrenaline. It wakes you up, makes you shriek. want to see what frightens you. Scares evoke a shriek; fear Donna played in our campaign mostly, I think, to be with swallows your voice. Rick, her fiance. As a relative newcomer, she was the one I tar- Bruce Nesmith wrote a number of truly frightening RAVENLOFT® geted for the scares. When Donna’s elf wanted to pull a ring tournaments. His theory was that the only way to frighten a from the finger of a limed-over skeleton lying in a subter- player is to threaten the thing he most cares about in the game ranean pool, I laid my arm on the table and said, “Show me — his character. Bruce must have something there, because his how.” You know what I did, of course. When my fingers tourneys frightened hundreds of people (including me) at con- clasped her wrist, her shriek nearly summoned the police. vention tables, a decidedly un-frightening environment. But scaring the newbie is cheap and easy (though it was fun, Fear has to be more than that, though. You fear the things and I’d do it again in a heartbeat). Scaring a veteran player is you can’t see or that you don’t understand. The worst fears are different. indescribable. Every Halloween, we’d play a horror adventure. While DMing I didn’t manage to frighten my own players very often. The the game, I liked to sit in the window sill, partly for the cool only time I can remember seeing real fear in their eyes was October air, and partly so I could see everyone in the big group. when I described not their dragon enemy but the scars he’d Mike, one of my housemates and a veteran player, thought it left in a stone wall for them to discover. That one worked, I would be fun to slip outside, sneak around the apartment, and think, because there was so little for them to visualize. lay a cold hand on my neck from outside. Unfortunately for him, Everything else came from that vague pool of imagination that I saw Mike slip outside, listened carefully for his feet upon the spawns the night terrors that leave you cold, damp, and trem- gravel, then gently dropped a hand in front of his face just bling — but which you can never remember. before he’d have rounded the corner and gotten to me. How do you frighten players when the most frightening His shriek was magnificent. things are indescribable? I resort to tricks these days. One of Of course, it isn’t fair to tell on Donna and Mike without my favorite is to seat all the players so that their backs are to telling on myself. Those Halloween sessions almost always an open window. At night. In October. transformed into story-telling sessions, often with me sitting Try this one. If you don’t have a window, open a closet, or alone on the couch, facing the six or eight players who gradu- any door behind the players. Just be sure to leave the lights off ally huddled closer in the dark, airy room. Another Mike, much in that other room. And don’t let the players look behind them. smaller, slipperier, and just downright sneakier than the other Make ‘em look at you. Then while you describe what their PCs one, managed to get out of the room without my noticing. Just can see, they’ll be wondering more about what’s behind them, as I was getting to the most tense moment in the Bear Story, what they can’t see. inhumanly strong fingers clamped my ankles from under the And they’ll be afraid. couch. I flew up with a terrific shriek, scaring the hell out of all my players, who joined me in an unholy chorus that would have shriveled Great Dave Gross Cthulhu itself. Publisher Associate publisher Editor-in-chief Editor Art director TSR, Inc. Brian Thomsen Pierce Watters Dave Gross Larry Smith Associate editor Editorial assistant Subscriptions U.S. advertising U.K. conespondent/aduertising Michelle Vuckovich Lizz Baldwin Janet L. Winters Cindy Rick Carolyn Wildman Printed in the USA # DRAGON 234 3 October 1996 Volume XXI, No. 5 Issue #234 Nocturnal Crusade Jay Knioum In the war against the undead, the wise crusader arms himself. Page 8 The Draconomicon Jamie Nossal The draco/ich isn’t the on/y form of undead dragon, on/y the greatest. Here are the “lesser evils.” Page 14 The Book of Souls Robert S. Mullin Some books really should be banned. Page 20 Crypt Rangers & Defenders Ross Allen Clifton It’s one thing to stay overnight in a graveyard on a dare . Page 24 Undead Again Steven Brown Death has never been the end to a hero’s career, but this isn’t what you probably had in mind. Page 28 Artifacts of Athas Kevin Melka The magical artifacts of the DARK SUN® setting are just as dangerous as they are powerful. Page 40 O CTOBER 1996 Columns 3 ........................ The Wyrm’s Turn Wanna see something really scary? Wyrms of the North: 6 ............................................. D-Mail Daurgothoth Your comments, our corrections. Ed Greenwood 38........... RPGA® Network News The most fearsome of the great wyrms Conventions come in all sizes, but all of them can offer great gaming with Network tournaments. are those that just don’t know when to die. Page 32 49..................................... Forum Magic, weapons, spellbooks, game balance, Dragons Bestiary: optional rules ... you name it. A Necromancers Armory 73 ......................... Role of Books Rudy Thauberger The newest reviews of fantasy and science- The necromancer’s weapons fiction novels by John C. Bunnell. are walking nightmares. Page 52 84 ........................... Cons & Pros Coming soon to a convention near you. DRAGON DICE GAME: 91 ........................ Sage Advice Swampstalkers Answers to your game questions, including some hopeful tips on unarmed combat using the David Eckelberry Player’s Option™ rules. Add some cold-blooded killers to your armies. Page 59 109......... Role-playing Reviews High-powered campaigns for your most Bazaar of the Bizarre: puissant PCs. Lich Magical Items 120 ................ The Current C lack The Gen Con® Game Fair generates much of this Johnathan M. Richards month’s work. Why should the good guys have all the wonderful toys? Page 79 Other Material 99 . Knights of the Dinner Table 100 . DragonMirth 102 ..................................... Gamer’s Guide 104 . Floyd 116 . .TSR . Previews 62 Firstborn (DRAGONLANCE®: Tales of the Fifth Age) Dave Gross Old assassins never really retire, especially when they work for the Dark Knights of Palanfhas. # DRAGON 234 5 alternate civil war . .” In the real world, interested in writing for newspapers. I the British Empire outlawed the slave just want to write fantasy stories. trade in 1807, and the institution of slav- Can you suggest some classes that ery itself was outlawed in 1833. Not much might help? I have the imagination and of a mystery there, save for why it took the ideas. I just need the knowledge and the Empire a year longer in the book than help from professionals. in real life. I was recently going through my Again, the magazine is getting better COUNCIL OF WYRMS™ boxed set and won- every month. I’ll be reviving my sub- dered why you haven’t continued this. I scription. Good luck! have already played all the adventures Brad Johnston in the boxed set, plus some that I made Newfoundland, Canada myself, but I would like to play some more professional games. Help! It would also be nice to see some The Ravenloft® Players encoun- novels about this land. Fantasy itself tered technical difficulties while video- was originally dragons and dragon slay- taping their two performances of the ers, and you have both of these on the 7th Annual Night of Terror — The Blood Isles of lo. lf you have a comment, opinion, or ques- Treasure of Granville Manor at this year’s Shawn Morley tion for the staff of DRAGON® Magazine, Gen Con® Game Fair. If you videotaped Oakville, Ontario write us a letter. We’d love to hear from you. one or both of the shows and are will- In the United States and Canada, send ing to provide us with a copy, we To start, you can learn much about writ- letters to “D-Mail,” DRAGON Magazine, 201 would greatly appreciate it. Please ing by reading — and not only fantasy novels. Sheridan Springs Road, Lake Geneva, WI write to: Thomas M. Reid, c/o TSR, Inc., Of course, you’re probably already doing 53147 USA. In Europe, send letters to 201 Sheridan Springs Road, Lake that You can find good creative writing “D-Mail,” DRAGON Magazine, TSR Ltd., 120 Geneva, WI 53147, or send e-mail to c/asses at most colleges or locate a nearby Church End, Cherry Hinton, Cambridge CB1 [email protected]. writers’ group. Most importantly, write every 3LB, United Kingdom. day, and have a friend read your writing back You can also send “D-Mail” submissions Dear DRAGON Magazine to you. We’d love to see some good COUNCIL to us at [email protected].
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