Where the good games are As I write this, the past weekend was the WINTER FANTASY ™ slots of the two LIVING DEATH adventures; all the judges sched- gaming convention. uled to run them later really wanted to play them first. That’s a It is over, and we’ve survived. WINTER FANTASY isn’t as hectic vote of confidence for you. or crowded as the GENCON® game fair, so we can relax a bit These judges really impressed me. For those of you who’ve more, meet more people, and have more fun. never played a LIVING CITY, LIVING JUNGLE™, or LIVING DEATH game, It was good meeting designers and editors from other game you don’t know what you’re missing. The judges who run these companies and discussing trends in the gaming industry, but it things are the closest thing to a professional corps of DMs that was also good sitting in the hotel bar (or better yet, Mader’s, I can imagine. Many judges have been doing this for years, and down the street) with old friends and colleagues and just talk- some go to gaming conventions solely for the purpose of run- ing shop. ning games. They really enjoy it, they’re really good, and they Conventions are business, but they are also fun. really know the rules. I came out of WINTER FANTASY with a higher respect for the Now the Network drops into GENCON gear. Tournaments are people who run these things. TSR’s new convention coordina- being readied and judges are signing up. tor, Dee Westman, was everywhere. I couldn’t round a corner If you like to game, you shouldn’t miss GENCON; but if you without seeing her talking to someone or running off on some like to game and also want to be able to sit back and breathe mission. (We’re convinced now there was a clone spell in force a little, you should come to WINTER FANTASY next year, too. somehow.) RPGA® Network coordinator Scott Douglas and his You should also consider joining the Network. I’ve thought staff did yeoman service keeping things going so smoothly about it myself for several months, but after seeing WINTER most people thought the convention was running itself. FANTASY, I’m convinced. I just finally broke down and joined the I saw large groups of people checking out the demos of the RPGA Network. newest card games and the old favorites as well. Do you think I’m going to work all the time and miss out The key attraction, though, was gaming. Straight gaming. All on the fun? day. Virtually around the clock. There were game tournaments galore, including the RPGA Networks popular LIVING CITY™ cam- paign. (For those of you who missed the interactive, Ravens Bluff is under siege. For more information, see the RPGA Network News on page 46 of this magazine.) One of the new things at WINTER FANTASY was the RPGA Networks LIVING DEATH™ campaign, which is based on the fin de siècle RAVENLOFT® game setting of Masque of the Red Death. It looked iffy for getting enough judges for the first few Publisher Associate Publisher Editor-in-Chief Editor Brian Thomsen Pierce Watters Anthony J. Bryant TSR, Inc. Associate editor Associate editor Subscriptions U.S. advertising U.K. correspondent/advertising Dave Gross Michelle Vuckovich Janet L. Winters Cindy Rick Carolyn Wildman Printed in the USA DRAGON #228 3 April 1996 Volume XX, No. 11 Issue #228 Real Jungles Gregory Detwiler Forget those Tarzan movies. Let us tell you about campaigning in the real jungle. Page 8 101 Uses for a Wet Blanket Spike Y. Jones The humble woolen blanket can save your PC’s life. You’ll never look at bed linens the same way. Page 19 The Athalantan Campaign Ed Greenwood What were the Realms like when Elminster was young? Venture to the Kingdom of Athalantar to find out. Page 26 All in the Family Bryan Hudson Give your PCs more depth and your game more motivation by making family ties bind. Page 43 Greater Familiars of Faerûn Jean Rabe Here’s a solution for when your mage’s animal companions become familiar. Page 76 Venturing into the City Paul F. Culotta Sooner or later, you have to deal with a city- based campaign. It’s best to be ready. Page 91 4 APRIL 1996 Final Quest: They deserved it 3............The Wyrm's Turn Fun with the Winter Fantasy™ gaming conven- Roger E. Moore tion and the RPGA® Network. Ten really embarrassing ways to die. Page 15 6....................................D-Mail Readers' letters take on the Sage, odd monsters, The Dragons Worstiary: and the future of Krynn. Golems 46............ RPGA® Network News Coordinator Scott Douglas discusses Network Anne Brown activity and the siege of Ravens Bluff™. They’re new...they’re terrifying...they’re chocolate, chia, and plush golems! 49............................. Cons & Pros Page 38 We let you know where the conventions are Rogues Gallery: and who's going to be there. 61............ Role-playing Reviews Gangsters of the Underdark Rick Swan plays some wierd new games Keith “Pinball” Strohm Can adventurers survive against these members of 70............................Forum the real underworld? Only Sir Elliot of Kness knows. Letters contain comments on the new Skills & Page 52 Powers book and women in gaming. Dungeon Mastery: 84......................... Sage Advice Skip Williams answers some very odd ques- The DMs Quick Random tions. Yup...it's April, all right. Campaign Generator Serge Stelmack 120................. The Current Clack One d12 is all you need to create truly Allen Varney reports on the industry. memorable campaigns. Page 67 Other Material 73 73 Whats so Funny? ................................Yamara Map 98 ..............................Gamer’s Guide Ed Stark 100 ....................................... DragonMirth Can serious games be fun, too? 102 ......... Knights of the Dinner Table 104 ..............................................Floyd 116 ......................................... TSR Previews 108 Mission from Kendermore Part Two (DRAGONLANCE®:Tales of the Fifth Age) Harold J. Johnson The remaining kender struggle on to Ogrebond. Will any of them succeed? DRAGON#228 5 spell may well have intended only to pro- are on their side, they will become dis- tect his valuables, but that doesn’t mean gusted and disinterested. that is the only way the magic will work. Neil McGarry I’m sure that when Alexander Graham Philadelphia, PA Bell invented the telephone, he never anticipated the fax machine, but his tele- We passed your letter on to Skip Williams phone plus a little ingenuity and techno- for his response. It follows below. logical sophistication led to this advance. “Magic is not technology, so the telephone History has proven that scientific discov- metaphor just doesn’t work. Read Chapter eries rarely remain confined to the inten- One of DM™ OPTION: High-Level Cam- tions of their discoverers. Similarly, magi- paigns for a more in-depth discussion of why cal discoveries in the AD&D® game made treating magic like technology is a bad idea. by wizards and priests will constantly be “In any case, a technological device does applied in ways their inventors never what it does because that’s what it must do. imagined. I imagine the wizard Tenser When you dial a telephone, the phone at Flumph? What’s a flumph? never expected his floating disc to be used your friend’s house rings because that’s what Dear DRAGON® MAGAZINE: as a magical stretcher for a wounded it must do. It makes no difference what the Okay, I’ve been patient long enough. companion or as a makeshift ferry across user intends or what the circumstances are. I’ve bought pretty much every monster a trapped floor. Would Mr. Williams bar Knowing what a telephone must do, any supplement that’s come along. What is a these uses, even if they did not violate bright person can adapt the telephone to per- flumph? The CASTLE GREYHAWk® module the parameters and limitations of the form all sorts of tricks. A message spell, on mentions them several times. It’s just spell, since the “obvious” intended use of the other hand, does what it does (transmit a about the only monster there you this spell is to transport valuables? An spoken message from the spellcaster to haven’t reprinted. Just a short descrip- unorthodox use of a spell is not neces- another creature) because that’s what it was tion will do. Please tell me what a flumph sarily an abuse. created to do. A message spell can never is before I have to make up my own def- As for a DM-imposed weight limit to transmit a picture or written missive, because inition. (And that won’t be pretty.) the frisky chest spell, I wonder how many all it does is transmit speech. It also will never Rip Van Wormer other spell descriptions will be altered deliver a message to a recording device, Midlan, Ml mid-game by flummoxed DMs. Players because it transmits messages only to crea- depend on certain spells functioning in tures. Technology is adaptable, magic is not You have impeccable timing. Look on certain ways, and if the DM places new, One could create a spell that transmits writ- page 16 of this issue for a bit of background unanticipated restrictions upon these in ten messages, but it wouldn’t be a message on the rather pathetic flumph. (You must the heat of play, he will cause more dam- spell and wouldn’t transmit spoken mes- have been skimming pages, because the age to the game than misuse of a 2nd- sages. flumph also appears on page 58 of the level priest spell.