The Premier Magazine of Games and Gaming Several things to touch on this month. No so much personal opinions as magazine policy, but this is as good a place as any. Subscribers take note: We’ve been experiencing some degree of difficulty with a number of subscribers to THE DRAGON. A few points demand clarification: FEATURES 1) Our address is TSR Periodicals, POB 110, Lake Geneva, WI 53147. 4 Of the Gods .............................................. Orders and/or correspondence addressed to TSR Hobbies, Dungeon ................................... 8 Fantasysmith’s Notebook Hobby Shop, Tactical Studies Rules, etc. just slow things down and 12 Sorcerer’s Scroll ........................................... create another chance for possible misplacement of mail. If it pertains to Curses ................................................... 13 21 the magazine, write directly to us. Along these same lines, if you’re Giants in the Earth ......................................... ordering merchandise from TSR Hobbies and subscribing to the maga- Bazaar of the Bizarre ....................................... 43 50 zine, at least make out separate orders and write separate checks, if not Dragon’s Bestiary .......................................... mailing them separately. If orders for merchandise and subscriptions come in together, they both get processed eventually, but the word VARIANTS “eventually” covers a lot of ground. And time. Source of the Nile Flow Charts ............................... 6 Inns and Taverns .......................................... 24 2) If you’re moving, for God’s sake, send us your new address as soon Air War North Vietnam ..................................... 28 as you find out what it’s going to be. Right now we’re getting change of Smaller Than Man-Sized Weapons Table ......................30 address cards from people who moved in February! And then we get The Mythos of Oceania in D&D .............................. 35 complaint letters because they’ve been missing their magazine. And Strain and Spell Casting ..................................... 38 remember, when you give your post office your forwarding address, Trained Animals in D&D .................................... 38 you must check the box that says you’ll guarantee the postage to Aging in D&D ............................................. 39 forward all newspapers and magazines. Otherwise, the post office Non-Playing Characters Have Feelings, Too ....................40 destroys the magazine and sends the label back to us stamped “not deliverable”. You don’t get the magazine, we don’t get the magazine, DESIGN/DESIGNERS FORUM we all lose. And, while we’re on the subject of changing addresses, when Rewarding Heroism in D&D ............................... 23 you do, please enclose the mailing label off of your last magazine envelope. You are filed in our mailing list by address and zip code, for REVIEWS postal reasons. Without your old address, we have to go through 2000 The Dragon’s Augury ................................... 47 cards by hand to find you. Small wonder if your magazine takes a while Short Takes and First Impressions ......................... 48 to catch up to you? 3) When resubscribing, please do so at least a month before your HUMOR present subscription expires! The expiration issue of your subscription is Adventures in the Improbable ................................ 40 printed on your mailing label. Why? Because it takes at least four weeks Wormy ................................................. 52 from the time you write your check until a change is made in our files. Say you mail your subscription on the first of the month; give the postal BACKGROUND service a week to get it here; your envelope is opened, the check is Anatomy of an S.C.A. Battle — The Sleep War ...............32 deposited, and we wait from 10-14 days for the check to clear your Origins of the Norse Pantheon .......................33 bank. That’s not us in Periodicals distrusting you, that’s corporate policy (cont. on page 41) NEWS/VIEWS Convention Schedule .......................... 3 Order of the Indian Wars ........................... 10 Out on a Limb ..................................18 Awful Green Errata .............................. 30 Report on ORIGINS ’79 ............................46 THE DRAGON is published monthly by TSR Periodicals, a division of TSR Hobbies. Inc., P.O. BOX TD Classifieds .................................. 51 110, Lake Geneva, WI 53147 It is available at better hobby shops and bookstores, or by subscription Subscription rate is $24 per 13 issues. Single copy price is $2.10, back issue $2.60. but availability of back issues is not guaranteed. Sub- Publisher E. Gary Gygax scriptions outside the U.S. and Canada are $28 per 6 issues, and are air-mailed overseas. (Payment must be Editor T.J. Kask Art Dept. Dave Sutherland made in U.S. currency or by international money order.) All material published herein becomes the exclu- Assistant Editor Gary Jaquet Staff Kim Mohan Tom Wham sive property of the publisher unless special arrangements to the contrary are made. Subscription expiration Circulation Jake John Baillie Darlene Pekul is coded onto the mailing list. The number to the right of the name. prefixed by “TD” is the last issue of the subscription. Notices will not be sent. Change of address must be filed 30 days prior to mailing date. Unsolicited material cannot be returned unless accompanied by a stamped return envelope, and no responsibility for such material can be assumed by the publisher in any event. All rights on the entire contents of this publication are reserved, and nothing may be reprinted in whole or in part without written If your mailing label says TD 29, permission of the publisher. Copyright 1979 by TSR HOBBIES, INC. this is your last issue . resubscribe Second-Class Postage paid at Lake Geneva, WI 53147 September, 1979 Convention Schedule 1979 WVU Simulation Games Con (September 29-30). 18 tourneys, five ROCK CON V dealers, flea market, and painting competition. Contact: B. Bullinger, 240 McLane Ave., Morgantown, WV 26505. Council of the Five Nations (October 5-8) at The Studio of Bridge October 27-28 and Games, Schenectady, NY. D&D tournament, board games, minia- tures, SF games, Diplomacy, etc. Also a Masters Tournament for DMs and sand table miniatures baffles. Preregistration by mail prior to Sep- Ramada Inn tember 30: $8.00. For more information contact: Schenectady War- Rockford, IL gamers c/o The Studio of Bridge & Game, 1639 Eastern Ave., Schenec- tady, NY 12309. Phone (518) fin-esse. (see ad in this issue) Located at Bus. 20 (State St.) Exit on I-90 Northwest Tollway Y-Con (October 12-13) at Kilcawley Center, Youngstown State Uni- versity, Youngstown, OH. Boardgames and miniatures. $1.00 admis- $1.50 PER DAY FOR ADULTS sion. Co-sponsored by Armchair Strategists and YSU Student Govern- $2.50 FOR BOTH DAYS ment. For more info, contact: Armchair Strategists, c/o Youngstown State University, 410 Wick Ave., Youngstown, OH 44555. Wargaming Grim-Con (October 26-28) at the Hyatt Hotel, Oakland, CA. SF and many scales and, periods including fantasy games. For more information contact: Grim-Con, 1749 Sono- ma Ave., Berkeley, CA 94707. Napoleonics, Micro armor, Dungeons & Dragons RockCon V (October 27-28) at the Ramada Inn, Rockford, IL. Spon- sored by the Blackhawk Military Society. $1.50/day, $2.50 for the Board games weekend. Napoleonics, Micro armor, D&D, board games, and painting contest. For more information, contact: Royal Hobby Shop, 3806 E. Painting competion with awards for: State St., Rockford, IL 61108. Phone: 815-339-1771. (See ad in this issue) Display figures: single - diorama WINTERCON VIII (November 16-18) The winter version of Michi- Armor conversion Con. WinterCon is sponsored by the Metro Detroit Gamers. Has all the Wargame: army - unit usual features. Contact: MDG, 2616 Kenwyck, Troy, MI 48098. Fantasy 3 by Craig Bakey interpretations describe them as 24 hyper-physical padrones which manifest themselves as coloured jewels of six different disciplines. It is Divine intervention is often met with a hearty ‘Forget it!’ Yet the assumed that the concepts of Law and Chaos originated in these jewels, complex intrigues characteristic of cosmic struggle can provide one of as did the gods themselves. the most stimulating aspects of a campaign. The first discipline governs abstract relation—existence, relation, Often one of the greatest obstacles to including deities in the game is quantity, order, number, time, change and causation. These are the deciding which superior beings are applicable in the scenario being blue gems. The second, the purple gems, govern space, dimensions, developed. Of course Gods, Demi-gods and Heroes gives excellent form, motion and space in general. The greens govern matter, both accounts of most mythos but there is always that definite flavour en- organic, inorganic. Intellect is governed by the yellows, including the forced on the campaign when a particular group of deities is in power. formation and communication of ideas. The fifth, the oranges govern Adopting a Grecian campaign or one based on Cthulhu or whatever volition, namely individual and intersocial volitions. The final discipline can severely limit imagination and invite arguments that scholars have manifests itself as red gems that govern affections: personal, sympathet- debated for centuries to little avail. To increase the mystery of the ic, moral, religious and affections in general. mythos (as well as allowing an