June 1981 Dragon 1 Dragon Vol. V, No. 12 Vol. V, No. 12 June 1981 Publisher.. Jake Jaquet Editor-in-Chief. Kim Mohan It’s not every magazine that gets the you write to us. First and foremost, any Editorial staff . Bryce Knorr Marilyn Mays chance to celebrate its fifth birthday and writer who requires or expects a reply to Sales.. Debbie Chiusano its 50th issue of publication at the same his or her letter should include a self- Circulation . Corey Koebernick time, but that’s the way it worked out for addressed, stamped envelope for the Office staff . Cherie Knull DRAGON magazine — typical of the way reply to be sent in. Rising postage costs Jean Lonze things have “worked out well” through- and an ever-growing stack of unans- Roger Raupp out the magazine’s lifetime. Today, each wered mail prompt us to take this step, Contributing editors. Roger Moore DRAGON issue enjoys a readership far and we hope it will help those who want a Ed Greenwood greater than anyone could have realisti- reply to hear from us more promptly. cally imagined when the first few thou- People who send in questions for the This issue’s contributing artists: Carl Lundgren D. R. Elliott sand copies of issue #1 rolled off the Sage Advice column should not send re- Corinna Taylor Bruce Whitefield press five years ago. turn postage. It has long been our policy Susan Collins John A. Morgan The first issue was dated June 1976. to not reply to Sage Advice questions David de-Leuw Will McLean The magazine was 32 pages long (in- personally, because of the great amount Roger Raupp Chuck Vadun cluding the covers) and sold for $1.50. It of mail received for that column. Dexter Pratt John D. Olson was started as a bimonthly magazine, Be as specific in the addressing of the Mark Corrington Phil Foglio and on its first birthday (#7, June 1977) letter as you can, and perhaps write a Kenneth Rahman J. D. Webster DRAGON magazine went to 10-times-a- word or two in a lower corner of the enve- John Hart David Trampier year publication. Since issue #13 (April lope to describe the purpose of your let- DRAGON magazine is published monthly by 1978), there has been one magazine a ter. Measures like this will insure that Dragon Publishing, a division of TSR Hobbies, month, except for a one-month lapse be- what you have to say will be read prompt- Inc. The mailing address of Dragon Publishing is P.O. Box 110, Lake Geneva WI 53147; tele- tween #21 (December 1978) and #22 ly by the person best equipped to handle phone (414) 248-8044. (February 1979). your request. Never address something DRAGON magazine is available at hundreds That, in condensed form, is how issue to “Dragon Publishing” when you can of hobby stores and bookstores throughout the United States and Canada, and through a limit- #50 and the fifth birthday of DRAGON address it “Dragon Publishing, subscrip- ed number of overseas outlets. The magazine magazine came to fall in the same month. tion dept.” or “back issue order” or can be purchased directly from Dragon Publish- ing by subscription. Rates are as follows, with all We didn’t try to make it turn out that way, “Sage Advice” or any other specific payments to be made in advance: $24 for 12 but we’re certainly not complaining that phrase which tells us what you want. issues sent to a U.S. or Canadian address; $50 U.S. for 12 issues sent via surface mail or $95 for it did. Hmmm.... According to my quick Don’t send two types of communica- 12 issues sent via air mail to any other country. calculations, we’re going to have to take tion in the same envelope when it is ob- A limited quantity of certain back issues of 10 months off over the next five years in vious that both subjects require treat- DRAGON magazine can be purchased directly from the publisher by sending the cover price order to get issue #100 and our 10th ment by different departments or differ- plus $1 postage and handling for each issue birthday to coincide. See you next April, ent people. For instance, sending a ma- ordered. Note: Postage and handling fees will be increased to $1.50 per single issue after July 1, Jake... nuscript submission and a payment for a 1981. Payment in advance by check or money back issue in the same parcel is sure to order must accompany all orders. Payments cannot be made through a credit card, and Like it said at the start of last month’s cause at least one of them to be delayed orders cannot be taken nor merchandise “re- Rumbles, “Those of you who do not in handling when it arrives at our office, served” by telephone. Neither an individual cus- normally read that tall skinny box to the regardless of how it’s addressed. tomer nor an institution can be billed for a sub- scription order or back-issue purchase unless right of this column should do so at this prior arrangements are made. time.” In an effort to keep improving our Enough people took us seriously about The issue of expiration for each subscription is printed on the mailing label for each sub- service of our customers and to keep the “Lirpa Loof” contest in #48½ that we scriber’s copy of the magazine. Changes of ad- slightly ahead of the great inflation mon- decided to take it seriously, too. We con- dress for the delivery of subscriptions must be received at least 30 days prior to the effective ster, we’ve made (or are about to make) ducted a random drawing from the large date of the change in order to insure uninter- some changes and added some more stack of sdractsop we received (the con- rupted delivery. specifics in some of our procedures and test was just a joke, guys...), and hereby All material published in DRAGON magazine becomes the exclusive property of the publisher costs. Many of those changes and addi- hesitantly proclaim Mason M. Aldrich of upon publication, unless special arrangements tions are outlined in the text of the pub- Bradenton, Fla., as the random winner. to the contrary are made prior to publication. DRAGON magazine welcomes unsolicited sub- lisher’s statement. Because we’d rather That’s not much of a prize, Mason, but missions of written material and artwork; how- devote the magazine pages to “real” arti- then again it wasn’t supposed to be ever, no responsibility for such submissions can be assumed by the publisher in any event. Any cles, we’re not inclined to trumpet this much of a contest... submission which is accompanied by a self- sort of information across a half-page of addressed, stamped envelope of sufficient size space to be sure you see it. The informa- will be returned to the contributor if it cannot be published. tion in the statement to the right is impor- DRAGON™ is a trademark for Dragon Publish- tant and useful, even if it is printed in ing’s monthly adventure playing aid. All rights on the contents of this publication are reserved, little bitty type. and nothing may be reproduced from it in whole or in part without prior permission in writing from the publisher. Copyright 1981 by TSR One change not included in the pub- Hobbies, Inc. USPS 318-790. ISSN 0279-6848. lisher’s statement is a new procedure re- Second class postage paid at Lake Geneva. garding how to address personal cor- Wis., and at additional mailing offices. respondence and what to include when 2 June 1981 Dragon provided the information and opinions for “The ‘Zines” — in- cluding what we think is a fair assessment of his own magazine. Robert Plamondon’s adaptation of Kzinti, the cat-like race which originated in author Larry Niven’s series of Ringworld novels, is the longest Bestiary-type article we’ve ever published. And there’s a regular Bestiary besides — Alan Fomorin’s des- cription of Giant Vampire Frogs, which are AD&D adaptations of the flying toad, a creature that exists in nature. The author’s inspiration came from an article by SF writer Norman Spinrad in ep, it’s our fifth birthday. But you don’t have to an issue of OMNI magazine. worry about sending a present right away. Howev- One of the “little” ways to make a campaign distinctive is er, a small remembrance would be appreciated the described and demonstrated by Larry DiTillio in “The Glyphs of next time your subscription is about to expire Cerilon.” Bazaar of the Bizarre, which is usually composed of (What? You don’t have a subscription?), so we can several short items, is devoted this time entirely to a new artifact be sure that DRAGON will be around for birthday number six. created by Mark Corrington called “Barlithian’s Mirror.” The In the meantime, we have a present for you — Issue #50. prolific Mr. Pulsipher makes another appearance with a short At the head of the parade is the striking piece of dragon-art but complete suggestion for how to determine whether or not a which adorns the cover. The painting was commissioned espe- character can successfully avoid looking at a monster or into its cially as a frontspiece for DRAGON magazine from Carl eyes. The “Ups and Downs” of having and keeping a flying Lundgren. A nationally famous fantasy artist, Carl has provided mount are listed and examined by contributing editor Roger cover pieces for many paperback books.