Issue # 172 SPECIAL ATTRACTIONS Vol. XVI, No. 3 August 1991 Welcome to the Underdark 9 Our special section on underground adventuring. Publisher Seeing the Sights in Skullport Ed Greenwood and Steven E. James M. Ward 10 Schend. Skullport: A great place to visit, if your insurance is paid up. Editor The Dragons Bestiary The readers Roger E. Moore 16 Caves have the nastiest things living in them, like these three fine fellows. Fiction editor Barbara G. Young The Ecology of the Galeb Duhr Robert Isaacson 20 Just because it looks like a rock doesnt mean it has to act like one. Assistant editor Dale A. Donovan REGULAR FEATURES Art director Larry W. Smith Role-playing Reviews Allen Varney 26 Where have all the miracles gone? A look at super-hero games and Production staff supplements. Gaye OKeefe Angelika Lokotz The Lay of Droone fiction by William B. Crump Tracey Zamagne 34 The lizards had taken the mountainbut, thanks to the dwarves, they wouldnt enjoy their victory. Subscriptions The Voyage of the Princess Ark Bruce A. Heard Janet L. Winters 41 Alphatia and Thyatis face their doom, and the incredible powers of cinnabar are revealed! US. advertising Roseann Schnering The Role of Computers Hartley, Patricia, and Kirk Lesser 55 The gods are not kind in Darkspyre; if you fail them, humanity dies. U.K. correspondent Into the Spirit of Things Michael DeWolfe and U.K. advertising 66 Spirit and divine magic of the strangest kind for your RUNEQUEST* Bronwen Livermore game. Shining Armor Thomas M. Kane 68 When you care enough to send the very best, put an M1A1 Abrams tank in your TOP SECRETIS/S.I. game. Completing the Complete Fighter David Howery 74 Want to play a Viking, Mongol, or assassin warrior? Heres how. Playing the Crowd Thomas M. Kane 78 The peasants are revolting! Rules for mob rule in your AD&D® games. Novel Ideas Marlys Heeszel 95 Two new series of high adventure and Gothic horror are coming. Lone Wolves Ed Greenwood 98 Two powerful wayfarers who travel the Forgotten Realms alone. Through the Looking Glass Robert Bigelow 113 Operation Desert Storm: a look at the gaming side. DEPARTMENTS 5 Letters 50 Forum 102 Dragonmirth 6 Editorial 82 Convention Calendar 104 Twilight Empire 32 TSR Previews 90 Sage Advice 108 Gamers Guide COVER Babette the Barbarian (a fantasy character inspired by the cover artists real-life fiancee, Babette Fletcher) stands victorious over the body of a giant cave dweller. This cover, The Worm Has Turned, should be available soon as a limited-edition print; for further information, write to the artist, Clyde Caldwell, c/o TSR, Inc. 4 AUGUST 1991 ® DRAGON Magazine (ISSN 0279-6848) is published monthly by TSR, Inc., PO. Box 756 (201 Sheridan Springs Road), Lake Geneva WI 53147, United States of America. The postal address for all materials from the United States of America and Canada except subscrip- tion orders is: DRAGON® Magazine, P.O. Box 111, (201 Sheridan Springs Road), Lake Geneva WI 53147, U.S.A.; telephone (414) 248-3625; fax (414) 248-0389. The postal address for all materials from Europe is: DRAGON Magazine, TSR Ltd., 120 Church End, Cherry Hinton, Cambridge CB1 3LB, United Kingdom; telephone: (0223) 212517 (U.K.), 44-223-212517 (international); telex: 818761; fax (0223) 248066 (U.K.), 44-223-248066 (international). Distribution: DRAGON Magazine is available from game and hobby shops throughout the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and through a limited What did you think of this issue? Do you have a number of other overseas outlets. Distribution to the book question about an article or have an idea for a Wheres the SCA? trade in the United States is by Random House, Inc., and in Canada by Random House of Canada, Ltd. Distribution new feature youd like to see? In the United to the book trade in the United Kingdom is by TSR Ltd. ® States and Canada, write to: Letters, DRAGON Dear Dragon, Send orders to: Random House, Inc., Order Entry Magazine, PO. Box 111, Lake Geneva WI 53147, My name is Blaine Rebello, and Im a private Department, Westminster MD 21157, U.S.A.; telephone: (800) 733-3000. Newsstand distribution throughout the U.S.A. In Europe, write to: Letters, DRAGON in Uncle Sams army. Im writing to ask if you United Kingdom is by Seymour Press Ltd., 334 Brixton Magazine, TSR Ltd., 120 Church End, Cherry have heard of an organization that goes by the Road, London SW9 7AG, United Kingdom; telephone: Hinton, Cambridge CB1 3LB, United Kingdom. title of the SCA. This organization performs 01-733-4444. swordplay, competitions, and meets. Subscriptions: Subscription rates via second-class mail are as follows: $30 in U.S. funds for 12 issues sent I was first told about this group by a fellow to an address in the U.S. or Canada: £16 for 12 issues ® private. He does not know if the SCA has any sent to an address within the United Kingdom; £24 for 12 households in the Massachusetts area. Do you issues sent to an address in Europa; $50 in U.S. funds D&D articles! for 12 issues sent by surface mail to any other address, think you could help me out? or $90 in U.S. funds for 12 issues sent air mail to any Dear Dragon, PV2 Blaine Rebello other address. Payment in full must accompany all I recently took great pleasure in investing $20 APO NY subscription orders. In the U.S. and Canada, methods of ® payment include checks or money orders made payable in the new, easy-to-master D&D set. It delivers to TSR, Inc., or charges to valid Mastercard or VISA everything it promised, and I like it a lot. The Society for Creative Anachronism, Inc. credit cards; send subscription orders with payments to: However, a lot of articles in DRAGON Maga- (the SCA) sponsors many activities for those TSR, Inc., PO. Box 5695, Boston MA 02206, U.S.A. In ® interested in medieval times, from fairs and the United Kingdom, methods of payment include zine pertain to the as yet more-popular AD&D cheques or money orders made payable to TSR Ltd., or game. Most of the articles explore monsters and banquets to jousting tournaments and “wars.” charges to a valid ACCESS or VISA credit card; send treasures that would do me a lot of good in my Information on the SCA can be obtained by subscription orders with payments to TSR Ltd., as per still-young campaign, but they were written writing to: The Society for Creative Anachro- that address above. Prices are subject to change without prior notice. The issue of expiration of each subscription with the AD&D game in mind. They would also nism, Inc., Office of the Registry, P.O. Box is printed on the mailing label of each subscriber’s copy work well with the D&D game, if some notes 360743, Milpitas CA 95035-0743. Send a of the magazine. Changes of address for the delivery of were given for conversion. stamped, self-addressed envelope. subscription copies must be received at least six weeks prior to the effective date of the change in order to assure What I am suggesting is that either you print uninterrupted delivery. a lot more articles on the D&D game, which I Back Issues: A limited quantity of back issues is feel is going to make a comeback soon, or print Apologies in available from either the TSR Mail Order Hobby Shop an article that tells how to convert some of the (P.O. Box 756, Lake Geneva WI 53147, U.S.A.) or from order TSR Ltd. For a free copy of the current catalog that lists articles giving advice, treasures, and monsters available back issues, write to either of the above for the AD&D game into the D&D game. addresses. Along with the D&D set came an order form Dear Dragon, Submissions: All material published in DRAGON for DUNGEON® Adventures and DRAGON The organizers of Pocono Games Day wish to Magazine becomes the exclusive property of the pub- express sincere apologies to anyone who may fisher, unless special arrangements to the contrary are Magazine. I would be willing to take multiple- made prior to publication. DRAGON Magazine welcomes year subscriptions to both if these changes not have been aware of our sudden cancel- unsolicited submissions of written material and artwork; could possibly be made. It would really help my lation. Time was not available to retract or however, no responsibility for such submissions can be change our most recent listing in the Conven- assumed by the publisher in any event. Any submission campaign take off in a big way, and I would accompanied by a self-addressed, stamped envelope of really appreciate these improvements. Im sure tion Calendar section of DRAGON Magazine, sufficient size will be returned if it cannot be published. that those who buy the new D&D game would and we fear that some of our potential guests We strongly recommend that prospective authors write like these improvements, too. may have been in for a big disappointment if for our writers’ guidelines before sending an article to us. they arrived at the hotel only to find out about In the United States and Canada, send a self-addressed, No name or address given stamped envelope (9½” long preferred) to: Writers’ the bad news. Again, we apologize. All possible Guidelines, c/o DRAGON Magazine, as per the above measures were taken to alert the public about address; include sufficient American postage or Interna- We have been running an article series for a tional Reply Coupons with the return envelope.