hess is the first game I remember teaching myself.Checkers and board games were a breeze, but whenDad tried to teach me to play the game of kings, I failed

miserably.It wasn’t Dad’s fault I couldn’t twig to chess. He had one of

those renaissance sets in which the figures were intricate littlestatues. My problem was that the queens, bishops, and pawnsall looked alike. The horses I had figured out, since they moveddifferently, but the others were confusing. Eventually, Dad’spatience wore thin, and we went back to checkers, where thepieces all looked alike on purpose.

For a while I felt truly stupid. I wanted to play, and I wantedto win. Fortunately, my eight-year-old’s attention span kept myagonizing brief. I didn’t think about chess again until webought the encyclopedia. Inside I found a long article that toldthe history of chess and gave a primer on the rules. Best of all,the icons for the pieces were clear and simple. I could tell thepawns from the bishops from the queen. I was saved!

Reading the instructions, as any gamer knows, is not alwaysthe key to learning a game. Fortunately, Dad also had a paper-back copy of Bobby Fisher Teaches Chess. Wonderful book! It hadbajillions of chess exercises, starting with the simplest andworking up to the brain busters. I read that book front to back.By the time I was done, I was ready to play a real game.

It had been a few years, and I explained that I’d been intraining, so Dad was game. (If you’ll pardon that.) He figured Istill couldn’t tell a bishop from a pawn.

I won that very first game.Of course, surprised and chagrined, Dad beat the stuffings

out of me after that. He even caught me in fool’s mate early on.(Bobby didn’t warn me about that one!) But I learned, and soonI could beat him even when he was trying.

For the next few years, we played hundreds of games. Thecompetition grew fierce, and I felt a cold thrill before and dur-ing every game. Sometimes I’d sit quivering with trepidation,working out four, five, or six moves inadvance for each attack. It wasn’tgood enough to win sometimes. Iwanted to win all the time.

Publisher Associate publisher Editor-in-chiefTSR, Inc. Brian Thomsen Pierce Watters Dave Gross Larry Smith

Associate editor Editorial assistantMichelle Vuckovich Lizz Baldwin

subscriptionsJanet Winters

U.S. advertisingCindy Rick

U.K. correspondent/advertisingCarolyn Wildman

Editor Art director

I played at school, too. Tater Kerns was my homeroomchess nemesis. (Who’d have thought a kid named Tater couldplay great chess?) We worked ourselves into a furious rivalry,with boasting before and excuses after every game. Since wewere so evenly matched, our years-long rivalry fired the com-petitive spirit in each of us. Before long, we weren’t playing agame anymore — we were fighting a war.

Next I took the war to older kids and even a college chesschampion, crushing their forces, rooting them out of theirdefenses, extending my rule by divine right. Boasts becameproclamations; excuses became propaganda. I became a con-quering monarch of the chess board.

It wasn’t long before Dad stopped wanting to play me. Itwasn’t because I won all the time but because he caught meletting him win once or twice, to keep him interested. I’d become smug and terrible, not a king, but a tyrant.

It took two things to save me this time. First, I becameincreasingly interested in role-playing, where cooperation paysoff much more than competition. I played fewer chess matchesand more AD&D® sessions.

Second, a squirrely little physics major thrashed me merci-lessly, three games in a row, upon my arrival at college.Humbled and shamed, I gave up chess for almost a year.

When I did play again, I found that I didn’t care as muchabout defeating my opponent as watching the game unfold.My hand didn’t tremble as I reached for a bishop, wonderingwhether I was walking into a trap. The thrill of war was gone,yet I was having fun for the first time since those early gameswith Dad.

These days, I’m not a great chess player. (Practice makes abig, big difference.) When I do play, it’s no longer a battle.Now it’s just a game.

Printed in the USA

DRAGON #233 3

September 1996Volume XXI, No. 4

Issue #233

Going to CourtLarry GranatoWhere etiquette is morepowerful than blind-fight-ing, and Charisma more

telling than Strength.

Page 8

On Wingsof EaglesJames EstesThe loftiest of the

elves are those thatsoar high above the

forests.

Page 14

FiendishFortressesMonte CookThe infernal bastions of theBlood Warcan be a royalpain to the fiendish lordswho lay siege to them.Page 24

SEPTEMBER 1996

Wyrms of the NorthEd GreenwoodVolo and Elminster warn us of a manipulativegreen dragon who would be queen.Page 32

Campaign Classics:Scions of the Desert

by Jim ParksThe Lund of Fate is the perfect setting for

the bloodlines and domains of regents.Page 40

3..................The Wyrm's TurnHow about a nice game of chess?

6........................D-MailYour compliments, criticism, questions, and...coasters?

49........................BookwyrmsRecommended reading from the staff ofDRAGON Magazine.

89......................Cons & ProsTreat yourself to a convention this summer.Here's where to find them.

90...........................ForumThis month: optional rules, level limits, anddealing with new players.

95..................Network NewsAs we were saying, before we were so rudelyinterrupted...

96...................Sage AdviceStumped on a rule? Need to settle a gamingbet? Ask the Sage.

109.......Role-playing ReviewsHigh-powered campaigns to satisfy the mostdemanding players.

120...........The Current ClackThe Origins awards, online game releases, andnotes from the field.

DRAGON DICE™ GAME:Back to BasicsDori HeinStrategy tips on deploying theoriginal four races in thebattle to rule Esfah.Page 53

Bazaarof the Bizarre:Magical Armor

Robert S. MullinArmor, helms, and shields fit for a king.

Page 82Game Wizards:The Rod of Seven PartsSkip WilliamsWhere in the world are the pieces to this fabled artifact?Well, that depends on the world you’re in...Page 92

Other Material48 ...................................................... Hellbound99 ................... Knights of the Dinner Table100............................................ DragonMirth102 .......................................... Gamer’s Guide104 ........................................................... Floyd116 .............................................. TSR Previews

62 Thunder and Ice(DRAGONLANCE®:Tales of the Fifth Age)Douglas NilesCentaur and plainsman alike must fleetheir homes as the great dragons ofKrynn expand their domains.

DRAGON #233 5

whole world of exciting gaming acces-sories, modules, and settings out there —a world that many newer gamers willnever see.

3) Perhaps a collection of favorite

lf you have a comment, opinion, or ques-tion for the editors of DRAGON® Magazine,write us a letter. We’d love to hear from you.

In the United States and Canada, write to“D-Mail,” DRAGON Magazine, 201 SheridanSprings Road, Lake Geneva, WI 53147 USA.In Europe, send letters to “D-Mail,” DRAGON

Magazine, TSR Ltd., 120 Church End,Cherry Hinton, Cambridge CB1 3LB, UnitedKingdom.

gaming memories. Maybe if people sentin some of their favorites, you couldcompile an article, or series of articles,including the best of them.

4) A feature on creating your owncampaign worlds, or creating new races,classes, deities, etc. Features includingnew items are great, but a “How To”article might be even more helpful.

Thank you for the hours of enjoy-ment I have gotten from reading DRAGON

M a g a z i n e .Dave Wohlriech

2168 Briarlake TraceAtlanta, GA 30345

You can also send your comments viae-mail to tsrdragon@aol.com.

Dear DRAGON Magazine,Despite the excellent work you do on

every issue, I had not seen a true needto write a letter about it. However, thetime has come.

The “Master Thief” article was perfectin its timing, as I am planning a series oflinked adventures involving a powerfulThieves guild. Everything else was, asalways, highly useful and thoroughlyenjoyable.

Things I would like to see include:1) Perhaps a bit or two about online

gaming. Gaming online will never benearly as enjoyable as the “real thing,”but it is an interesting experience.

2) Something about transferring oldermaterials, such as the Basic D&D® game,original Edition AD&D® game, OrientalAdventures, and the original KnownWorld, to fit with 2nd Edition. There is a

DRAGON® Magazine (ISSN 0279-6848) is published monthly by TSR, Inc.,201 Sheridan Springs Road, Lake Geneva, WI 53147, United States ofAmerica. The postal address for all materials from the United States ofAmerica and Canada except subscription orders is DRAGON® Magazine,201 Sheridan Springs Road, Lake Geneva, WI 53147, USA, telephone(414) 248-3625, fax (414) 248-0389 The postal address for materialsfrom Europe is: DRAGON Magazine, TSR Ltd., 120 Church End, CherryHinton, Cambridge CB1 3LB, United Kingdom, telephone (0223) 212517(U.K.), 44-223-212517 (international); telex: 818761; fax (0223) 248066(U.K.), 414-223-238066 (international).

Distribution: DRAGON Magazine is available from game and hobbyshops throughout the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, andthrough a limited number of other overseas outlets. Distribution to thebook trade in the United States is by Random House, Inc., and in Canada

Several recent letters inquired aboutdragon wing armor as presented in issue#230'S “Dragon Dweomers.” Can a PC takethe armor from a defeated foe and have anarmorer craft it to fit him? We asked theauthor for his opinion:

In order for wing armor to functionfor a nondraconic user, it must first bedisenchanted, as wing armor is generallyattuned to a particular dragon species.This can be accomplished in any numberof ways, but a Mordenkainen’s disjunctionspell is the surest method.

Next, the “fabric” must be tailored tofit the new user, as it is assumed that heis considerably smaller than a dragon.Finally, the wing armor must be re-enchanted, attuning it to the new user’sspecies.

Note that, even if the size conversionis successful, one must consider the typeof wings the wearer has. Generallyspeaking, the wearer’s wings must beakin to a dragon’s (i.e., batlike, not feath-ered). This is because draconic wingsoperate more like a pair of sails; thepresence of wing armor is like havingthicker sails. The feathers of avian wingsplay an important role during flight, sowing armor could actually hamper theeffectiveness of avian wings. Wingarmor might work on gossamer wings,

by Random House of Canada, Ltd. Distribution to the book trade in theUnited Kingdom is by TSR Ltd. Send orders to: Random House, Inc., OrderEntry Department, Westminster MD 21157, U.S.A.; telephone: (800) 733-3000. Newsstand distribution throughout the United Kingdom is byComag Magazine Marketing, Tavistock Road, West Drayton, MiddlesexUB7 7QE, United Kingdom; telephone: 0895-444055.

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but those seem too fragile; just slippingon a set of wing armor could very welldamage such wings. In any event, thespecifics are up to the DM.

With regards to Armor Class, wingarmor does not reduce the wearer’s AC. Ifa flying creature loses 50% of its total hp,it can no longer remain aloft and mustland immediately. (See Chapter 9 of theDMG.) A DM might also rule that when aflying creature loses 25% of its total hitpoints, it cannot perform complex aerialmaneuvers and attack forms. Instead ofaltering a creature’s AC, wing armorincreases these percentages by 25%.Thus, a flying creature can withstand theloss of 50% of its hp before losing its abil-ity to perform complex maneuvers, and75% of its hp before being forced to land.

In any case, a captured suit of wingarmor can be used as a model on whichsmaller-sized versions could be manufac-tured. In fact, it would be logical toassume that any spell-casting wingedrace could create similar protection orcommission if if they cannot make itthemselves. Wing armor of any sortshould not function with artificial wings,such as those produced by a cloak of thebat or wings of flying, or spells that createtemporary wings.

Robert S. MullinPerkasie, PA

Dear DRAGON Magazine,I wanted to express how much I

enjoyed the editorial in issue #231,“Remember When.” This was an essay Icould really relate to. Although I missedthe X-Files episode it mentioned, it didremind me of the movie Airheads, wherea similar comment was made about theAD&D game. In the scene, one of thecharacters was trying to point out thathe was once a geek, and he used thefact that he used to play D UNGEONS &DRAGONS® to illustrate his point.

As your editorial mentioned, we havecome a long way to defeat this stereo-type, but for many people, this imagesticks with them. I think back and wonderhow this concept of gamers came about.Most of the people I know who play

made payable to TSR, Inc., or charges to valid MasterCard or VISA creditcards; send subscription orders with payments to TSR, Inc., P.O. Box5695, Boston MA 02206, U.S.A. In the United Kingdom, methods of pay-ment include cheques or money orders made payable to TSR Ltd., orcharges to a valid ACCESS or VISA credit card; send subscription orderswith payments to TSR Ltd., as per that address above. Prices are subjectto change without prior notice. The issue expiration of each subscriptionis printed on the mailing label of each subscriber’s copy of the magazine.Changes of address for the delivery of subscription copies must bereceived at least six weeks prior to the effective date of the change inorder to assure uninterrupted delivery.

Submissions: All material published in DRAGON Magazine becomes theexclusive property of the publisher, unless special arrangements to thecontrary are made prior to publication. DRAGON Magazine welcomes unso-

6 SEPTEMBER 1996

RPG’s are family men with respectablecareers. I think this idea of gamers devel-ops primarily during teenage years.Roleplaying is an intellectual activity, andmost kids who spend time in mind exer-cising hobbies are labeled geeks.

However, I think this aspect of thegame helps to close the generation gap.My gaming group consists of a wide agerange. I have played D&D for 16 yearsnow, which is actually longer than someof our group members have been alive.Just as your article suggested, when theveterans talk about classics like Keep onthe Borderlands, we sometimes get blanklooks from the younger players. But thisdoes not prevent the younger playersfrom coming up with some of the bestgaming ideas and solutions.

Steve BartellOrem, UT

Dear DRAGON Magazine,I just wanted to thank you for send-

ing me the marvelous coaster with mylatest issue of DRAGON Magazine. In a fitof pride, I couldn’t resist showing it to allmy Windows-using friends. You wouldnot believe how bitterly despondentthey became, since they had receivedonly the AD&D Core Rules CD-ROM,instead of the more useful coaster.

So, in the interests of fairness, I mustinquire on their behalf if you plan torelease coasters for the Windows folks(in the form, of course, of Mac CDs). As along-time gamer and a loyal DRAGON

Magazine subscriber, I think it only fair.Once again, thank you for the coaster. Ihave already put it to good use.

PhilVia e-mail

Thanks for what is far and away themost pleasant letter we’ve received on thissubject, Phil. The reason that the CD-ROM isfor Windows is that so many more peopleuse Windows and Windows 95 than otherplatforms. If the demand becomes strongenough to produce a Mac version, you’llread about it here first.

In the meantime, keep those maps andcharacter sheets safe with that handy coaster.

licited submissions of written material and artwork, however, no respon-sibility for such submissions can be assumed by the publisher in anyevent. Any submission accompanied by a self-addressed, stamped enve-lope of sufficient size will be returned if it cannot be published. Westrongly recommend that prospective authors write for our writers' guide-lines before sending an article to us. In the United States and Canada,send a self-addressed, stamped envelope (9½” long preferred) to Writers’Guidelines, c/o DRAGON Magazine, at the above address; include sufficientAmerican postage or International Reply Coupons (IRC) with the returnenvelope. In Europe, write to: Writers’ Guidelines, c/o DRAGON Magazine,TSR Ltd., include sufficient lnternational Reply Coupons with your SASE.

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Dear DRAGON Magazine,I just wanted to let you know that I

have yet to write fan-mail to anyone oranything. This is my first such letter(thanks to e-mail and the internet).

I just wanted to know what kind ofsoftware (and hardware too for that mat-ter) you use for the design, and publica-tion of your magazine? My guess wasPagemaker. I also wanted to know if thepublication of DRAGON Magazine is afull-time job done by one person orwhat? As publisher of my school’s news-paper, I really enjoy desktop publishingbut have never heard about it fromsomeone who is involved with a “seriouspublication” (one that makes money).

I was also wondering if there was anyway that I might contribute to DRAGON insome way, with an article or a set ofmagical items, or whatever.

Thanks for your time,Kent Dezendorf

Via e-mail

PS. I was wondering if there were anyway of getting some earlier issues ofDRAGON Magazine. I have a few older ones,and there are no more RPG bookstoresin my area.

We perform most of the work on DRAGON

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On the Cover

Tom Baxa, an artist who rarelyfalls back on cliched images, wasquick to use our cover assignmentto remind us that royalty can holdcourt just about anywhere theyplease. The wide variety of AD&D®game worlds presents virtuallyendless possibilities for the cre-ative DM in designing courts.

Tom’s painting has evolvedover the past few years into a verypersonal vision (a surprising movefor someone who hasn’t changedhis answering machine messagein over five years). When I firststarted working with Tom, he wasproducing exclusively black &white interior illustrations for us. Ithas been a pleasure to watch hisdevelopment. In spite of all the(good natured) ribbing I give him,I’m proud to present his work onour latest cover.

of TSR, Inc. Therefore, TSR will not be held accountable for opinions ormisinformation contained in such material.

® designates registered trademarks owned by TSR, Inc. ™ designatestrademarks owned by TSR, Inc. Most other product names are trade-marks owned by the companies publishing those products. Use of thename of any product without mention of trademark status should not beconstrued as a challenge to such status.

©1996 TSR, Inc. All Rights Reserved. All TSR characters, characternames, and the distinctive likenesses thereof are trademarks ownedby TSR, Inc.

Periodical-class postage paid at Lake Geneva, Wis, U. S. A., and addition-al mailing offices. Postmaster: Send address changes to DRAGON Magazine,TSR, Inc., 201 Sheridan Springs Road, Lake Geneva WI 53147, U.S.A.USPS 318-790, ISSN 0279-6848

DRAGON #233 7

illustrated by LubovLord Chumley’s attention was drawn toward a commotion at the

door to the royal ballroom.“I want to see the king!” grunted a mighty-thewed barbarian.“Do you have an appointment?” droned the major-domo.“No,” thundered the warrior, “but isn’t he holding court right

now? I’ve thrown around plenty of gold just to get in here. I’m animportant guy!”

“Really? Today’s court function is not open to the... public,”answered the major-domo, looking askance at the sweaty figure.“Would you like to make an appointment?”

“To see the king?”“Of course not. To see the Lord Chamberlain, who decides who

sees his Highness.” “Ok. Where’s the Chamberlain?” the fighter replied.“Actually, you must see his secretary about the appointment." “Well, where can I find him?” the warrior asked, gritting his teeth.The servitor smiled slightly. “You must first talk to the secretary’s

appointment clerk." The barbarian began to emit a low growl. Chumley suddenly rec-

ognized him as one of the heroes who accomplished the nearlyimpossible task of recovering the Saber of Sublime Faith from thedemi-dark lord. He stepped forward.

“My good man, if I may have a word with you?”“Huh?”The well-dressed aristocrat lowered his voice. “You see that tall fel-

low over there? He’s the King’s favorite cousin. If I talk with him, I canget you an audience tonight”

“Great! I’ve got something important I want to tell the King.”“Naturally. Now, perhaps there’s something you can

do for me...”

The court of a ruler is a center not only for government butalso for politics, art, entertainment, social activity, and ofcourse intrigue. Although it doesn’t seem like a place foradventurers — not many monsters — there’s great potential forinteresting endeavors at court. Also, as PCs grow in fame,they’ll be noticed by the high and mighty and could berequired to attend court, even if they’d rather be hacking drag-ons. Defying the wishes of the king can be far worse than fac-ing a few fire-breathing horrors.

Even if the PCs aren’t interested in political adventures, theycould visit court:

to get the latest news and rumors. to become friends with VIPs who can help them out.to meet sages, mages, and priests with knowledge of trea-

sures, monsters, and magic.to acquire preferments, documents, and recognition that

allows them to travel without hassles.to find patrons, loans, and assistance for tasks like castle-

building and running businesses.to meet talented NPCs who may be available as followers.

Performing all of these activities could take years of randomencounters, travel, and searching, but they are usually avail-able at court.

The RulerThe ruler, a court’s raison d’etre, can be a king, emperor,

duke, khan, or other sovereign leader. The personality of theruler is the foremost influence on the court itself.

The DM should play rulers differently than other NPCs. Thisis a character worthy of complexity, subtlety, and develop-ment. Rulers should have a calm, regal bearing. To add to thesense of mystery and majesty, the ruler should rarely be seen

by the PCs. What they hear about him shouldmost often come from NPCs.

DRAGON #233 9

The courtThe court is composed of the ruler,

his family, courtiers, visitors, and anarray of servants and soldiers. The royalrelatives are the most prominent per-sons after the ruler himself. Of these, theheir is the most notable, although theruler’s consort is also important. Whilethe rulers kinsmen often hold govern-ment positions, friction in the familymay decree that some are kept frompower.

Courtiers include officials of the gov-ernment and officers of the royal house-hold, plus knights and nobles who owefealty to the ruler. Every important nobleis expected to appear at court occasion-ally, and many spend most of their timethere. There are many young people;aristocrats send their offspring to court toobtain an education and to learn courtlygraces.

Visitors range from VIPs such as reli-gious leaders, foreign princes, ambas-sadors, famous knights, and scholars,down to ordinary people who havebusiness at court, like merchants whoprovide supplies. Servants and soldiersconsist not only of the ruler’s men butalso of the entourages of all his courtiersand visitors. The courts size varies fromhundreds to thousands. (Louis XIV’s verylarge court at Versailles numbered about10,000.)

PrecedencePrecedence is the customary ranking

of nobles. It determines the arrange-ments for all formal occasions, whatbow or salute must be made, what kindof chair one sits upon, and so on. Withineach category, there are also degrees ofseniority.

The ruler comes first in precedence,followed by his heir, his consort, hisother legitimate children, his parents,the heir’s consort and children, otherclose relatives and illegitimate offspring,more distant relatives, the highest rank-ing nobles and visiting foreign princes,high ranked nobles and top officials,great knights, mid-level ranked nobles,lesser nobles and elite knights, mag-nates, minor nobles, knights, squires,gentlemen, and commoners.

InfluenceEven if they do not already have a

place in the court, PCs may gain influ-ence they can use to gain favors fromNPCs. Influence is rated on a scale ofzero to ten for each character.

Table 1: Influence levelsInfluence Description 0 Unknown1 Recognized2-3 Well-known4-7 Admired8-9 Favored courtier10 Has the ruler’s ear

New members of the court normallystart with an influence of zero, but theDM may choose to determine a higherstarting influence for PCs who haveexceptional social status, precedence,titles, offices, wealth, ownership ofpalaces and castles, military victories,charity, family connections, or reputa-tion. (One’s reputation is not the onlything to precede him to court.) In anyevent, no PC who has not yet interactedwith the court may have an influencehigher than 3 at the start. The DMshould not tell the player his PC’s influ-ence level but track it privately.

Influence gives favorable reaction rollmodifiers, based on the influence of thePC vs. the NPC. As long as the PC hassome influence (a score of 1 or greater),he gains a +1 bonus. As he grows moreinfluential among the court, his bonusbecomes greater depending on whosesupport he must gain. When a PC withinfluence interacts with an NPC withinfluence, check the difference betweentheir influence scores for the reactionbonus:

Table 2: Influence reaction bonusesPC vs. NPC Reactioninfluence Modifier3 or more lower +11-2 lower +2equal +31-2 higher +43-4 higher +55 or more higher +6

Encounter reactions should be rolledon Table 59 of the DMG. A result of“Friendly” earns the PC the favor forwhich he has asked. If the roll just meetsthe friendly result, the PC gains only asmall favor. Results exceeding the mini-mum by 3 or more earn exceptionalfavors.

Example: A PC with a Charisma scoreof 12 (no bonus) and an influence of 4asks an NPC courtier with an influenceof 6 to support his request for a landgrant from the ruler. The DM comparesthe influence scores (4 - 6 = -2) todetermine the reaction modifier (+2)from Table 2 of this article. After a roll of

9 on Table 59 in the DMG, the modifiedresult is a 7 - just barely friendly. TheNPC may offer the PC grudging or luke-warm support. Had the DM rolled a nat-ural 7 or lower, the NPC might offerenthusiastic support or even share a bitof pertinent gossip to help the PC per-suade the ruler.

Role-playing is crucial in determiningNPC reactions, and the DM should notlet modifiers overrule bad manners. AnNPC can grant only favors that are his togive; the gardener can’t arrange teawith the queen mother. The ideas oninfluence levels and impressions aren’tmeant to shackle gamers to a rigid sys-tem but to provide guidelines. They canbe modified as needed.

FavorsFavors can be used in many ways.

Jobs can be hastened or given specialconsideration. Extraordinary requestscan be made. Favors can find peoplejobs, help them out of trouble, gain audi-ences, acquire privileged information,affect the outcome of trials, and helpPC’s deal with the intricacies of courtsand government.

Favors can also be used negatively,by cancelling favors used by others.Examples of favors can be found in“Boons and Benefits” (DRAGON Magazine#219).

Being introduced to the courtWhen a character wishes to go to

court, he must be introduced. A PC whohas performed a notable deed mightreceive an invitation or summons.Otherwise, he must have a patron atcourt to introduce him. Only someone ofconsiderable influence (at least 3) mayact as a patron. Low-ranking nobles(Influence 0-2) are permitted at courtonly once a year, when they presenttheir respects to the ruler; they can’tbring friends along. The NPC who intro-duces the PC is doing him a favor.Naturally, the PC is expected to recipro-cate with a later favor. Everything the PCdoes reflects on his patron.

A day at courtIt’s a courtier’s duty to wait on the

ruler. He must be ready before the rulereven wakes up. Few courtiers are per-mitted to live in the royal palace, so a PChas to travel from his own home.Someone at court always notices a PCslateness and untidiness.

Although it seems that a PC at courtcould talk to the ruler or his ministers

10 SEPTEMBER 1996

any time, this is not the case. They havefull schedules and don’t idly chat withanyone hanging around in hallways.

A courtier spends most of his timewith his patron, overlord, or members ofhis clique. When in the ruler’s presence,courtiers are grouped according to rank,and newcomers are stuck in the back.

The most favored courtiers areallowed to assist the ruler with bothstate and mundane business. It’s a greathonor to attend the ruler personally,even if it means holding his coat or serv-ing his dinner. For one thing, it allowssomeone to murmur a remark in theroyal ear.

Once the ruler is up, he instructs thecourt on his agenda for the day. Courtmoves to a large hall, with only the rulerpermitted to sit. A court announcer regu-lates protocol, proclaiming visitors oractivities. Polite discussion is the mostcommon activity, although some maysneak off to a side room for carousing orgaming. The ruler comes and goes aboutthe palace, accompanied by his senioradvisors. Lesser courtiers might have toremain waiting for hours before an audi-ence, or they might be dismissed until alater date. Sometimes the whole courtfollows the ruler as he makes his rounds.

Mealtimes are stately affairs. Formalmeals are eaten in a grand dining hall. Itis considered very bad manners toexcuse oneself for nearly any reason.Kings have heavy responsibilities andoften want a break from governing.Some rulers don’t permit “serious” con-versation during meals or other socialoccasions. If the monarch or his snitchesoverhear courtiers “talking shop,” therewill be reprimands.

Part of the day is filled with govern-ment business. The sovereign listens toreports, signs documents, and executesother routine business. PCs with officialpositions are expected to provide infor-mation relating to their jobs. Anotherportion of the day consists of privateaudiences. Most rulers spend some timemaking religious devotions. PCs belong-ing to the same sect as the ruler will findattendance at chapel mandatory. Familyand personal affairs are sure to occupysome of the ruler’s attention especially ifthe royal family is large or contentious.

The rest of the day will be filled as theruler desires. Gambling and gaming arevery common interests, especially forcourtiers. Some rulers have a favoritepastime in which they indulge frequently,often on a daily basis. This sets the tonefor the court: is the ruler an avid hunter,

does he spend his time discussing theol-ogy, or will he demand to be enter-tained? The Court Activity Table (on page12) can be used on a weekly basis to seewhat major event is occurring. Theseactivities give the PC a chance to makeimpressions and enhance his influence.

Making an impressionIf a PC makes sufficient impressions,

he is acclaimed and temporarily gainsmore influence. In the ever-changingatmosphere of the court, impressions donot last long — about a month at best. Ifa PC raises his influence by two points ormore for two consecutive months, thenhe receives a permanent increase of onelevel. The number of impressions neededto increase one’s influence is equal to thePC’s current influence. Thus, as the PCbecomes better known at court, itbecomes increasingly difficult for him toincrease his influence.

A PC makes an impression by mak-ing a proficiency roll for the skill thatcorresponds with the current court activ-ity, or by appropriate role-playing forother endeavors. Failure means the PChas blundered (see below).

CompetitionThere are many people vying for

attention at court and the DM must deter-mine the number of competitors andtheir level of proficiency. For example, aPC showing off his singing ability maymake a successful proficiency check, butif an NPC rolls higher without failing, theNPC makes the impression instead.

InterferenceCompetitors may not only try to beat

a rival’s proficiency rolls but also try tomodify them by interfering with thecharacter’s actions. An NPC may affect aPC, or vice versa. For example, a con-tender could stick his foot out as a PCperforms some fancy dance steps. Theinterferer must make an appropriateproficiency or ability check (in this case,a dancing proficiency check or a Dexter-ity check). If successful, the interferencecauses the victim a penalty of up to +6to the proficiency check (a +1 penaltyfor each point rolled under his interfer-ence check). An unsuccessful check onthe part of the interfering charactermeans his action is spotted; this is ablunder.

BlundersStepping on the grand duchess’s toes

or failing to bow to the ruler before din-

ner are just two of the many blundersone might commit. The ever presentgossips spread word of the gaffe, andthe character is ridiculed throughout thecourt. A blunder is the opposite of animpression — it lowers influence. It takesonly two blunders to reduce influenceone level. The decrease lasts for twomonths, but if the PC blunders againduring that time, it lasts for threemonths, and the PC suffers a permanentloss of one point of influence.

There’s also the possibility of com-mitting a major blunder. Major blundersinclude botching some important task,displeasing the ruler, or anything con-sidered insulting to the sovereign. Amajor blunder reduces the PC’s influ-ence to zero until he returns to theruler’s good graces. The PC in disfavormay be banished.

One step below disfavor is disgrace.This strips the PC of his rank, titles, andoffices until he performs some heroicdeed. Disgrace is usually inflicted onlyfor dishonorable or cowardly acts. Moresevere punishments include exile orimprisonment. Exiles are sent into for-eign lands, and their properties are con-fiscated. High-ranking prisoners are usu-ally treated well, but they are alwaysclosely guarded. This varies with thepolitical situation, and its not unknownfor them to be killed quietly after a fewshort years in confinement.

Cover-upsCharacters who commit blunders can

try to cover them up. The DM decideswhat proficiencies and role-playingactions may disguise the blunder. Onemight try to persuade, bribe, or intimi-date witnesses; destroy, lose, or forgedocuments. Blunders that occur in publiccannot be covered up but may be over-come. For example, a PC who trips overhis sword during a parade may try toturn his fall into a graceful somersault. APC who overcomes a public blundermakes an impression instead.

A successful cover-up cancels a blun-der, while the failure of a cover-upcounts as two blunders.

Other ways to makean impressions

Other methods of making impressionsinclude participating in the ruler’s favoriteactivity and socializing with NPCs of highsocial status. If the NPC’s influenceexceeds the PC’s by 4 or more, an impres-sion is made. If the NPC has extraordi-nary influence (8-10), two impressions

DRAGON #233 1 1

Court activities table

The DM should roll 1d100 eachweek to determine the main courtactivity available for PCs who hope tomake an impression — or who plan tointerfere with someone else’s attempt.

01-05

06-10

11-19

20-23

24-28

29-31

32-35

36-43

44-48

49-53

54-57

58-59

60-66

67-70

71-72

73-75

76-79

80-84

85-89

90-91

92-96

97-00

Ball, masquerade, or party

Banquet or feast

Ceremony

Commission or investigation

Concert, performance orentertainment

Embassy, parley, ordelegation

Holiday or religious festival

Hunting or falconry

Inner council meeting

Open court, petitions, andappeals

Paperwork

Parliament or great council

Private audience or interview

Procession, parade,spectacle, display, orpageant

Progression or change court

Public appearance, opening,dedication, or inspection

Reception, presentation,demonstration, or report

Sports and contests

Tournament, joust, or melee

Trial or judgment

No major activity (usually,just gambling & gossiping)

Uproar

are made. It takes many favors to beseen with such a prominent individual.

Associating with inferiors lowersinfluence. If a PC is seen with someonein disfavor or very low rank (0 influenceand of low social class), it’s a blunder.

Role-playing can provide other oppor-tunities for making impressions. The courtis especially fond of witty remarks, cleverput-downs, and sage advice. Heroic

deeds, triumphs over enemies, and daringrescues are also good prospects.

Court activitiesCourt activities occur on a weekly

basis. The following descriptions includereferences to the proficiencies most likelyto make a good impression, when suc-cessful.

Ball, masquerade, or partyCourt balls are much more elegant

than the tavern chug-a-lugs some charac-ters are used to. Any of the following pro-ficiencies may be used to see if a PC canmake an impression: dancing, singing,musical instrument, oratory.

Banquet or feastFine dining is the hallmark of a

refined court. Cooking and oratory pro-ficiencies may be used to make animpression. A PC can chat only with per-sons s i t t ing nearby, and seat ingdepends on precedence.

CeremoniesCeremonies are ubiquitous at court.

They include knightings, marriages,accepting vassals, making vows, attend-ing religious observances, bestowingawards, assigning offices, opening par-liament, granting charters, signingtreaties, etc. A PC may be a participantor an organizer. A participant mustmake an etiquette roll to carry out hispart of the ceremony. He may make anadditional roll for an impression.

The organizer must make three eti-quette rolls. The DM may impose modi-fiers based on the complexity of the for-malities (from a -1 bonus for a simpleceremony to a +4 penalty for the mostelaborate of affairs). Two failed rolls indi-cates a blunder; three failures means afiasco, and the PC is banished.

Commission or investigationCommissions and investigations

include three possibilities. The PC may beappointed to a committee carrying out apublic inquiry, he may be given a com-mission to undertake some private inves-tigation, or he may come under scrutinyhimself. Most committees perform onlynominal work. Occasionally some aresent out to rectify a problem, and themembers are given an entourage androyal writs authorizing them to deal withthe situation. A special commission sendsthe PC on a confidential mission. Thiscould be anything from foreign spying tochecking up on a noble’s loyalty. As tar-

get of a probe, the PC is suspected of sus-picious activity. He can avoid a blunderby clearing his name.

Concerts, performances,or entertainment

Rulers desire quality entertainment.The PC may be a performer, a sponsor,or a spectator.

A performer must make two profi-ciency rolls in singing, musical instru-ments, juggling, or other appropriatecategory. If he fails both, he blunders. Ifhe makes both, a favorable reactionfrom the ruler makes an impression.One success and one failure indicate anambivalent response (neither an impres-sion nor a blunder).

As a sponsor, the PC hires a group ofentertainers. Three proficiency checks aremade. Three failures means the ruler isoffended and the PC is banished. Twofailures indicate a blunder. A single failureincurs no penalty but gains no impres-sion. If all checks succeed, a friendly reac-tion roll from the ruler (including modi-fiers for the PC’s current influence) scoresan impression.

As a spectator, the PC may attempt tomake an impression by giving his opin-ion on the performance. The DM shouldsecretly determine whether the rulerenjoyed the performances. In most cases,a successful proficiency check or two bythe performers should indicate that theruler enjoyed the performance. Rulers arenotoriously fickle in their tastes, however,so there may be other factors, such as thesubject matter of the performance, theruler’s current mood, etc.

If the PC agrees with the ruler’s opin-ion of the show and says so eloquently(by making a successful etiquette profi-ciency check), he makes an impression. Ifthe PC agrees, but the ruler liked a badshow or disliked a good one, he makesno impression — everyone else knowshe’s being agreeable to please the ruler.If the PC disagrees with the ruler andchose the “wrong” opinion, it’s a blunder.If he disagrees and he’s right, peoplesecretly admire him for his courage, buthe still doesn’t make an impression.

Embassy, parley, or delegationForeign relations are a matter of vital

national interest. Permanent embassiesare uncommon, so the arrival of a newambassador is a momentous occasion.Courtiers want to find out as much aspossible about the envoy, his aims, hisstrengths, and contacts (intelligence-gathering is part of a diplomat’s job).

12 SEPTEMBER 1996

Negotiations are usually carried out insmall meetings over a period of months.Delegations from important domesticgroups may also appear in court. Animpression is made by the PC who gath-ers the most information, subverts anenemy spy, gains the best deal whilenegotiating, etc.

GamblingGambling with cards and dice are

popular activities at court. Wagers arerequired (10-40 gp minimum), andthousands of gold pieces can ride on asingle bet. Use the gaming NWP, butthere will be 2-5 opponents to rollagainst, and some will be very proficientgamblers. PCs who are regular big-timewinners make an impression.

GamingPlaying games, such as chess, check-

ers, or backgammon are favorite pas-times at court. Use the gaming NWP todetermine the winner. However, anopponent may be a bad loser. Bad loserswill do anything to win, including dis-tracting their opponent by coughing,humming, idle chatter, etc. The PC mustmake a Wisdom check for each distrac-tion. For each failure, add one to his pro-ficiency roll (to a maximum penalty offour). A PC who defeats a ruler who is abad loser incurs disfavor.

Consistent winners make an impres-sion, but poor losers never do.

Holiday or religious festivalHolidays are a time for enjoyment

and festivities. The court is relaxed; nor-mal rivalries are suspended. It is a timefor reconciliation, marriage arrange-ments, and other cheerful business. A PCwho is irreligious or makes fun of theholiday commits a blunder.

Hunting or falconryHunting is a favorite outdoor activity.

Rulers usually maintain vast tracts ofhunting grounds. A PC on a hunt mustmake a hunting proficiency check toavoid a mishap (accidents are common).If the check is successful, the PC is haspreformed adequately. He may makeanother check at a -2 to -7 penalty,depending on the hunt’s difficulty, toattempt a display of huntsmanship thatmakes an impression.

Inner council meetingThe ruler and his advisors gather to

set policy. It requires many favors to get a

ProficiencyBureaucracyLawOratory

New nonweapon proficienciesSlots required Relevant ability Check modifier

1 Intelligence 02 Intelligence +21 Charisma 0

Bureaucracy. The character under- give legal advice, and present argu-stands the workings of governmental ments before a court. Read/write NWPadministration. The PC knows how to is necessary.get information, what documents are Oratory. Oratory, or rhetoric, is theneeded, how to find out who’s in art of speech-making, persuasion andcharge, etc. Read/write NWP is required. debate, A PC uses oratory to gain favor-

Law. The character is knowledgeable able reaction modifiers in non-combatabout the laws of a particular country. If situations, An eloquent speaker tries tohe’s permitted to practice law, he may influence listeners’ opinions; he doesdraft legal documents, handle lawsuits, not ask for favors.

PC’s proposal on the agenda. If the ideais accepted and successful, the PC makesan impression; if it fails, he blunders.

Open court, petitions, and appealsOpen court allows ordinary persons

to present grievances or requests to theruler. This is done in the form of writtenpetitions, as the ruler doesn’t have timeto converse with every petitioner.Appeals are pleas to change previousdecisions.

A PC can use open court to presenthis entreaty. Favors determine whetherthe petition is actually read or just filed,and what leverage is brought on thefinal determination.

PaperworkThe PC is required to perform admin-

istrative paperwork. It could be anythingfrom taking an inventory to writing areport on cheesemaking in the SouthernDales. Usually it is the preparation andcirculation of documents relating to thePC’s court assignment. If he has none,then it’s a job that no one else wants.

The reading/writing or bureaucracynonweapon proficiencies can be used. Agood job rarely makes an impression,but a sloppy effort causes a blunder.Interesting information may turn upwhile perusing archives.

Parliament or great councilA parliament is an assembly of

nobles and commoners for the purposeof considering legislation proposed bythe ruler, or settling other importantconcerns. Parliaments are called onlywhen necessary. Alternatively, theremay be a major council on religious,commercial, or other issues. A noble PC

is seated in the upper house of parlia-ment. Non-noble PCs, including knightsand gentry, may choose to run in anelection for the lower house, as a repre-sentative of their home town.Parliaments provide opportunities for alltypes of politicking. There is usually ten-sion between the legislators and thesovereign, as parliament concentratespowerful leaders into a group whoseprerogatives cannot be denied.

Private audience or interviewThe ruler holds a private meeting.

Favors can be used to get the PC men-tioned. Many favors might actually getthe PC an audience. An alternative is aroyal interview, where the ruler ques-tions a PC to make a personal determi-nation on his caliber and loyalty.

Procession, parade, spectacle,display, or pageant

This event is a combination of publicceremonies and entertainment (lasts1-4 days). A PC taking part must makean etiquette roll and another proficiencycheck (DM’s choice). Organizers makethree rolls (see Ceremonies).

Progression or move courtA progression is a grand royal tour

that travels across the country, allowingthe public to see the ruler and the rulerto check up on the provincials. Theentourage stays at the castle of the locallord. Supplies are requisitioned from thesurrounding area, so everyone hopesthe PCs will move on quickly. Rulers mayalso move their court seasonally. TheDM must determine which and how

Continued on page 38

DRAGON #233 13

by James Estesillustrated by Tom Baxa

y host’s strong arms supporting me through the flight, Ifinally saw what his keen eagle eyes no doubt caughtlong ago: the aerie-city of Myrravin, its graceful spires

reaching upward, bright pennants puttering, its skies filled with thejoyous beating of avariel wings. Enraptured, l finally found the homeI was taken from so long ago, born as I was without the wings of myforebears.

The Complete Book of Elves introduces the avariel, a wingedsub-race of elves. However, the avariel stand somewhat apartfrom the rest of elven society. Little is known of these wingedelves, due to both their relative inaccessibility and their reclusivebehavior. While they do maintain some measure of contact withother races — typically other elves — they are often an invisiblefeature of the elven world. Rare is the avariel who leaves hissociety to journey among the wingless, and equally rare are theavariel who allow strangers into any of their aerie-cities.

Though I was raised ignorant of my blood, I was still controlled byit. My physiology, despite my winglessness, was one of the avariel. Iwas lighter-boned than my peers, and my chest, back, and shoulderswere noticeably broader — designed by nature to carry wings. Myvision, like that of all my kin, was quite acute. Even my psychologywas marked by this blood: I was ever fascinated with the heavensand would spend hours looking skyward, to satisfy some indescrib-able longing. When my foster parents finally taught me of mybirthright, so many unarticulated questions were answered. I imme-diately began my quest for Myrravin, the city of my birth, althoughnone in my community seemed to know where it was located.Regardless of such obstacles, I vowed that I would not rest until I setfoot upon my birthplace.

Here is an overview of the avariel, their culture and lifestyle,and options for introducing them as PCs or NPCs into anyAD&D® campaign. Myrravin, an avariel aerie-city, can beplaced in most of the AD&D worlds. While the avariel can fit inany setting, from the GREYHAWK® setting to the DARK SUN® cam-paign, the descriptions that follow are geared more toward theworlds of Oerth, Ktynn, Toril, or the MYSTARA® setting. Wingedelves in the RAVENLOFT® setting or on Athas should be evenmore rare, if they appear at all.

The avariel are certainly one of the most physiologicallyunique sub-races of elves; while the biological differencesbetween grey, high, and sylvan elves are cosmetic at best, theavariel, like the drow and the sea elves, truly stand apart fromtheir kin. As can be expected, many of their cultural variancesare actually attributable to their physiology.

The avariel are possessed of an almost ethereal beauty.Their wings, often quite majestic, are usually white, althoughsome avariel are born with plumage that ranges from light grayto black. Avariel features are even more exquisite than those ofthe already beautiful elven peoples, with slightly larger eyes,and white or black hair.

The winged onesMy lot in life is a particularly sad one: although an avariel myself,

I was one of the cursed few born without wings. My parents, sad-dened though they were to give me up, realized the disadvantage Iwould have trying to operate wingless in a winged society. Soonafter my birth they arranged for me to be adopted by a High Elvencouple, themselves childless, with the provision that

The avariel are not merely “elves with wings”: their entirebody has been developed to accommodate flight. Their torso istypically larger and stronger than that of their elvish brethren,designed as it is to bear wings. Furthermore, their skeletal struc-ture, composed of light and hollow bones, helps reduce the bur-den of their weight while aloft. When in the air, they tend to bequite fast, mobile, and agile, due both to their lighter weight and

to their graceful flight. On the ground, however,

upon reaching adulthood I would learn of my true they are almost burdened by their wings,sometimes appearing clumsy.heritage.

DRAGON #233 15

Myrravin, the aerie-citySo much of my quest seemed fruitless,

one failure after another. Many clues led tonothing, and I seemed to find only obstacles.The avariel, I have learned, are a private folkand do not leave roadmaps to their cities.After many adventures and seemingly end-less travel, I managed to find representativesof the avariel on a diplomatic mission. I wasstunned to see true avariel in their wingedglory, wrapped in short, loose-fitting tunicsand togas of the purest white. They knew myorigins immediately upon seeing me, andthey welcomed me as one of their own. I felttheir pity immediately, but I was overcomewith joy at finally seeing true avariel; wespent what seemed like an eternity in silentsharing, with me caressing their delicateplumage. When we spoke, I learned of theiraerie-city, Myrravin, and they agreed to takeme there. Apparently they felt that althoughraised away from my own kind, I was stillavariel and should be welcome.

When I was finally taken to Myrravin,borne aloft in the arms of my lost kin, I wasamazed at the sight before me. The avarieldevelop their homes high in the mountains,in places otherwise inaccessible. Their geo-graphic isolation inevitably leads to culturaland psychological isolation, and they havebecome a reclusive people. Their communi-ties typically develop around one centralcity, usually constructed high atop aplateau, with structures built into or along-side neighboring crags and peaks. Althoughthe avariel dislike being underground, theywill build — and even. tunnel — into the sidesof cliffs; such structures, however, tend tohave windows, balconies or perches. Thesecommunities, essentially city-states, areoften impossible to reach through anymethod other than flight. Some aerie-citiesare built with a single road leading downthe mountain, but this road is usually on acliff-side so that it can be constantly moni-tored (and invaders upon it attacked) bywingborne patrols.

Myrravin is one of the oldest avarielcities. It is certainly the oldest occupiedavariel community, with a historystretching back over millennia. Myrravinitself is similar to other aerie-cities, themajority of its urban development builtatop a large, flat plateau. It sprawls onthe highest peak in its area, overlookingmany smaller peaks and structures.Myrravin’s urban planning is representa-tive of typical avariel cities, with manyopen plazas, sparkling fountains, andtall pinnacles.

In the very center of Myrravin is agrand Plaza, with a raised dais as its

focus. The plaza is typically one of thebusiest places of Myrravin; during theday, countless stalls and shops line theperimeter, offering a variety of servicesand goods. The plaza is often cleared forreligious or civic services, when themajority of Myrravin’s population cangather within the plaza or atop the ter-races and roofs of neighboring buildings.

Avariel buildings are built with a focuson both width — a narrow chamber isconfining to the winged ones — andheight. Avariel buildings are also strongon windows, terraces, porches and bal-conies. Very few roofs are gabled orpeaked; typically the roof of a buildingalso acts as an observation deck. As the oldest known inhabited city,Myrravin has often served as the modelfor a host of other avariel aerie-cities. Itshould be noted, though, that ruins ofother aerie-cities have been found, andscholars have posited that some ofthese cities might even be older thanMyrravin. Such ruins are dangerous,often inhabited by creatures who havetaken it for their lairs, while crumblingarchitectures provide yet another threat.Some avariel like to travel to these vari-ous ruins, either to explore what mightbe part of their past or for the adventurethat lies wherein. Avariel scholars haveoccasionally arranged expeditions tosuch cities, but these do not alwaysmeet with success.

Avariel communitiesImmediately upon my arrival at Myrravin,

I was formally introduced to the city's rulingcouncil, which was governed by a poetnamed Lessandra. From my observations, itappears that the avariel have an egalitariansociety, with equal accord afforded to maleand female. My welcome was warm, and Iwas invited to stay in the city as long as Idesired. I was assured that my search for mytrue parents would be assisted by Myrravin'shistorians; it would appear that I was not theonly wingless child to have been born andgiven up for adoption.

I was comforted by their welcome andsurprised as well. For such a reclusive race,they did not display the xenophobic behav-ior one would typically ascribe to a race ofhermits.

Avariel communities have a varietyof governing models, from oligarchy tocomplete autocracy, but the city counciltends to be the most common. This iscertainly the case with Myrravin, with aruling council of nine citizens. Theseindividuals are elected by the populace

at large and serve for a term of onedecade. Each position on the council isopen at a different time (one positionevery year and a half), in order to main-tain continuity. While various councilmembers may be voted out, the city willnever have to face a council of entirelynew, inexperienced individuals at thehelm. Such a government does have itsadvantages, of course, as consistencyand continuity are good, but it doesleave the door open to ennui and evenstagnation.

The avariel are indeed reclusive, andthey do not often engage in communi-cation with other races. They do, moretypically, communicate formally withvarious elven communities, particularlythe grey elves. It is joked that the avarielare the only ones who are not put off bygrey elven snobbery; while not snobsthemselves, the avariel are simply abovesuch behavior. Sometimes trade delega-tions are sent out, and on occasiondiplomatic envoys travel just to see thestate of the outside world. Sometimesvisitors are even invited to Myrravin andtreated with the utmost hospitality.However, the avariel are genuinely con-tent to roost in their aeries and enjoy lifeas only they truly can.

Ways of lifeSoon after my welcome to Myrravin, I

quickly noticed a striking cultural polarity.Avariei community is divided between war-riors and aesthetes, but the division appearsto be peaceful. Entire lineages appear dedi-cated to this cultural system, with familiestypically devoted to one of the two lifestyles.If such tendencies are indeed familial andcapable of being passed on through gener-ations, then I must no doubt have comefrom one of the intellectual dynasties.Although no slouch with a weapon, combathas always been my least concern and mylast recourse.

From my conversation with my guides, Ilearned that Myrravin is unique in that itserves as a common home for the two dis-parate halves. Typically, avariel communi-ties are of one way of life or the other;although in close proximity to each other,they maintain their own lifestyles and theirown pursuits, martial or philosophical.

Avariel culture is indeed splitbetween two modes of activity. On theone side there are the thinkers, theartists, the aesthetes, and philosophers.The other side consists of the warriors,those who protect avariel society, huntfor it as necessary, and preserve the

16 SEPTEMBER 1996

peace. These two halves typically havemutual respect, each confident of thevalue and merit of the other. Most of thesmaller avariel cities cater to one half orthe other, but Myrravin has long been ahome for winged elves of both types.

City planners and architects areamong the most respected individuals inavariel intellectual society, for their pro-fessions require a combination of bothscience and art, engineering and design.Architects, like members of other intel-lectual disciplines, gather in guilds thatmonitor the education and developmentof its representatives. While guild mem-bership is never required, it is highlydesirable, as guilds offer their memberstraining, education, research materials,and steady forums for debate. There arevery few guilds for warriors, as theavariel military often serves the samefunction. One warriors’ guild does exist,though, which actually hires out avarielmercenaries. Most of the guild’s cus-tomers are other avariel — typically theintellectual ones — but a few non-avarielhave been known to pay the steep priceasked in exchange for even one well-trained winged warrior.

Families in Myrravin are often “bred”along. certain lines, with some notabledynasties stretching back over centuries,having produced generations of out-standing family members. Children ofvarious families are educated in aschool, regardless of a particular family’sphilosophical bent, in order to ensure acommon educational grounding. Suchschooling focuses on history, language,religion, and culture, as well as physicalexercise and creative games.

However, families also retain privatetutors, the better to train their children inwhichever type of activity the familyexcels (or prefers). It is not uncommonfor children of one lifestyle to becomecurious about another one, as warriorstry to understand thinkers, and philoso-phers attempt to imagine life as afighter. Exchange programs exist for thebenefit of such endeavors, with familiessponsoring children in order to tutorthem. While it is common for avarielyouth to participate in such anexchange program, it is rare for one tobecome personally devoted to a lifestyleso different from that of his family. Insuch cases, while each subculture appre-ciates the value of the other, there is typ-ically some resentment from the family;while they have not lost a member ofthe family, its dynastic history has lost arepresentative.

While Myrravin does not have a nobil-ity per se, some families consider gover-nance to be their predominant trait, andthey train their children in the political sci-ences. Regardless of whether theseyouths ever attain positions of politicalprominence, they often work in the gov-erning structure on behalf of their city.

Some dynasties have actually managedto produce a number of heirs who haveserved admirably on Myrravin’s citycouncil; whether this will ever become a“natural aristocracy” and produce a rulingclass has yet to be seen. Of course,whether the residents of Myrravin willresist such a trend is an important factor.

DRAGON #233 17

The Hall of EldersSure as I was of my family’s scholarly

heritage, my next visit was to the Hall ofEiders, which contains the collected wisdomand writings of generations of avariel schol-ars. There, in a magnificent glass-domedreading room, scores of avariel perusescrolls and tomes on a variety of subjects.Unable to read the written avariel tongue,which I was only now beginning to speak, Ifelt at a loss, and distant from my heritage. Istrolled around the Hall, marvelling at thebeauty and serenity of the place. Mean-while, scholars researched my lineage,attempting to locate any wingless births inthe past century.

The Hall of Elders is one of the mostprominent institutions in Myrravin. Itsupports the scholarly endeavors of halfof the city’s population. Occupying alocation near the central plaza, its manyspires and domes pale in comparison tothe central dome over the Hall’s readingroom. The actual volumes and scrollsare stored elsewhere in the Hall and areretrieved only as requested by patrons.Many other chambers may be foundwithin the Hall, from debate chambersto small auditoriums, to studies and lab-oratories that may be rented out on amonthly basis.

The Hall of Elders of Myrravin has oneof the finest collections of avariel schol-arship and lore. Because avariel culturesponsors so much intellectual and cre-ative activity, the shelves and storagechambers of the Hall of Elders are filledwith seemingly endless works of science,poetry, literature, and philosophy.Unfortunately, its collections on societiesother than the avariel are sorely lacking,limited as it is by the general avariel iso-lation and lack of interspecies communi-cation. The Hall acts as the officialarchives for Myrravin, containing allrecords generated as part of the city’shistory, from genealogies to tax records.Finally, and most importantly for some,the Hall of Elders also contains manyworks of magical speculation and prac-tice, and mages pay dearly for access tothe collections secreted within the Hall.

The Hall of Elders is, in addition to aphysical structure, a guild of scholarsand sages, priests, and anyone else ded-icated to scholarly acquisition and devel-opment, with the majority of its mem-bers tending to be mages. The avarielare elves, after all, and magic runs intheir blood, inspiring and inciting them.The Hall, as the largest, oldest, and best

supported guild, frequently arrangesmeetings between mages and would-beapprentices; while its members may spe-cialize in particular schools, other guildsfrequently take care of specialist mages.It is not uncommon for a member of theElders to be a member of Myrravin’s rul-ing council, and this fellowship is actu-ally an active force in Myrravin’s life:establishing symposia, sponsoring lec-tures, funding research expeditions, andtraining teachers for the schools that allavariel youths ultimately attend.

Trade and commerceAfter much research, two couples were

established as possible candidates for myparenting, but to my dismay, neither of thecouples resided in Myrravin anymore. Thefirst couple, both members of the Hall ofEiders, died only a decade ago in an expedi-tion to explore the ruins of a nearby moun-taintop city, believed to have been built bygiants. Both husband and wife were fond ofdebate and study, traits that I certainlyshared. I visited relatives of this couple andfelt quite welcome. Although my possible-cousins certainly were not in any position toascertain whether I was kin, their hospitalitywas warm and generous, and indeed wespent many hours discussing the fineraspects of grey elven mythology.

The second couple, much less likely myparents but still worthy of consideration,moved to another aerie-city, and courierswere attempting to contact them. These twoindividuals were warriors, the woman amercenary and the man a member of theTalons, the elite warrior corps. While waitingfor the couriers‘ return — which was antici-pated to take at least a fortnight — I contin-ued my tour of Myrravin.

At the center of the city is the great Plaza,the perimeter of which is lined with a varietyof shops and stalls. I visited these shops tosample the artifactual evidence of Myrravinculture, and I was amazed at what I saw.The Myrravin do not rely heavily uponmetalworking, for the open frame of theforge poses too great a danger to their sen-sitive and flammable wings. Some smithsexist in spite of the danger, but the majorityof metals or metal-shaped objects are usu-ally imported.

Ironically, the majority of avariel craft-work is in fired glass and crystal (the glasskilns apparently do not concern the avarielas much as do forges), with some stunningproducts that seem to capture the light for amoment before releasing it in a colorfulburst. Stone-carving is also a favored craft,with items from beads to statuettes to full-

size sculptures proudly displayed. Rolls ofthe finest cloth were also available, some ofsuch quality that they must have been spunfrom the stuff of clouds. I was soon garbedin the short, loose-flowing tunic of my kin.

Metals are rare in avariel society, andthey are usually products of trade orexploration. Anyone attempting to pur-chase even the most common metalitem can expect to pay anywhere fromtwice to 10 times the purchase price list-ed in the PHB — the high end is particu-larly the case when buying weapons.Most weapons in use by the wingedelves are crafted of glass, but these areamong the greatest glass-works in cre-ation. (Assume that the cost listed in thePHB applies to avariel glass weapons.)Of course, such weapons are moreprone to breakage: on a natural attackroll of 1 with a glass weapon, theweapon shatters. Not all such constructsare fragile — fine glass weapons asdurable as steel are known to exist. Suchweapons are, of course, quite expensive,approximately 200% the cost of stan-dard glass weapons. Currency, inciden-tally, tends to be in the form of orna-mental or semi-precious stones.

Although fond of ornament, theavariel tend to be conservative in choos-ing the colors of their clothing. Whitesand various shades of gray are pre-ferred. When proper dyes are used, thegrays can be quite beautiful. Their cloth-ing ranges from the short one-shouldertunic belted at the waist to longer, toga-like wraps. Cloaks are worn, usuallythick woolen materials that hangaround the shoulders and chest but areopen in the back, just enough for wingsto unfold without releasing too muchbody warmth. The wings of the avarielmake wearing standard clothing impos-sible, of course, and adaptations havebeen developed to make up for this.Leather sandals and low boots are thepreferred footwear.

Avariel religionOne of the many places I visited was

Myrravin’s temple to Aerdrie Faenya, theelven goddess of air and weather. Theavariel are a deeply religious people, utterlydedicated to the veneration of their god-dess, whom they credit with their survival.Unique to the avariel, of course, is her depic-tion with wings. Their temple to AerdrieFaenya is as unique as their iconography ofher: it is located on an isolated crag, requir-ing that her devotees fly to her (I, of course,

18 SEPTEMBER 1996

was carried) and land on one of the manybalconies that encircle the sanctuary. Withinthe sanctuary, beneath an enormous vault-ed ceiling, the avariel sing a joyous harmo-ny of glorification and praise. In their ser-vices to Aerdrie Faenya, the avariel thankher for her protection and guidance, and fortheir creation.

Religion is, in many ways, the focusof avariel society; how it has managedto avoid becoming a true theocracy con-founds its observers. Any avariel may beaccepted into Aerdrie Faenya’s priest-hood, regardless of family or station: infact, Aerdrie Faenya’s priesthood is seenas the great equalizer that bringstogether the children of diverse familiesand draws upon their indiv idualstrengths. While some priests are moremartial, and others more contemplative,they all have their roles to play in thepriesthood.

The origin of the avariel is shroudedin mystery. Three separate origins havebeen posited. The majority of the avarielthemselves believe what their own reli-gion endorses: that they are the first trueelves, and that other elves descendedfrom them bereft of the gift of flight.Strangely, most avariel do not use thisas a means of asserting superiority overother elves. Although the avariel pitytheir wingless kin, they also recognizethem for their own merits and accom-plishments. In spite of this, it must beadmitted that some racism is implicit inavariel society, but it is much more tamethan that of other Elven sub-races.

Other sages believe that the avarielare a strange magical hybrid of standardelves and giant eagles. This theory istypically accepted by the more analyticobservers of avariel society, or otherswho are loathe to automatically ascribea theological origin to everything. Evensome of the less religious members ofavariel society have come to accept thishypothesis.

Another theory about the origins ofthe avariel, one that is usually espousedby the winged elves’ more critical detrac-tors, is that the avariel were created by apermanent magical grafting of wings offlying onto standard elves, who thenbred the feature true into their offspring.Very few avariel accept this theory,although the more irreligious cynicsamong them have come to espouse itjust to irritate their more religiousbrethren.

Wing swordAvariel weapons

This blade, between the lengths of a short sword and a long sword, is a primaryweapon for many winged elves. Because long swords are inherently dangerous toavariel (posing the risk of damaging a wing with a bad backswing), the wing swordwas developed as a more deadly alternative to the short sword.

Eagle-clawThis is typically a leather glove with a series of blades extending past the knuckle.

They may be used either in a fashion similar to a cestus, providing additional damagewhen punching an opponent, or they can be used to rake an opponent when swooping upon them. Eagle-claws may be worn individually or in pairs.

NetsAvariel favor use of nets when attempting to subdue an opponent rather than

slay him. Avariel fly over opponents, dropping weighted nets on them, or they flyin pairs, bearing a net between them and swooping down upon an opponent toentangle him in the netting.

Item costWing sword 12 gpEagle-claws 7 gp

Weight Size Type Speed Dmg (S-N/L)4 S S/P 4 1d8/1d81 s S/P 1 1d3/1d3

Combatl was invited to visit the Arena, where the

members of the Talons trained for theirduties or just exercised for sport, and wherestudents could come to learn the arts of war.There, in an enormous arena — with a cov-ered awning that could be removed to openthe forum to the sky — I saw scores ofwinged elves training in the military arts.Here at last was the second half of avarielsociety, and I could see what fierce warriorsthese normally gentle people could be.

I watched my winged brethren practicea t t a c k i n g t a r g e t s i n f o r m a t i o n , f l y i n gupward and circling back to swoop downupon them. I watched them practice grap-pling mid-air, using their arms and legs tostrike opponents when weapons were notavailable. I even saw a number of avarielpractice ground-based swordplay, and herethe difference was noticeable: some wereactually clumsy and awkward, while othersseemed to fight as naturally on the groundas they did in the air.

Many wingless ones believe thatavariel combat is merely fighting whileflying; they do not take into account thevariety of options that have beenopened up or removed by the presenceof large beating, flapping wings upon awarrior’s back. A number of specialmaneuvers have been created by avarielwarriors, to best utilize the strengths andto mitigate their weaknesses:

Ground combat: Most avariel aredecidedly at a disadvantage when fight-

ing on the ground; their wings tend tohamper them in melee. Any avarielfighting while grounded suffers an auto-matic -2 to hit and a +2 AC penalty.However, some avariel have learned tomanage the difficulties of ground com-bat and are not at all hampered by it.This requires use of the new non-weapon proficiency, ground fighting.

Swoop: Some avariel have mas-tered the art of swooping down on theirenemy, allowing their momentum tocause more damage with minimal mus-cle power. Avariel can attempt this formof attack only once every other round,requiring a full round to maneuver. Theattacking avariel gains a +2 to hit/+2 todamage, in addition to any other modi-fiers. However, they are also flying intoan opponent’s attack, so any attack onthem is at +2 damage as well.

Hovering/Leaping: Contrary topopular belief, avariel do not hover well;too much muscular strain is required.However, they sometimes use theirwings to propel themselves upward fora 10’ leap and then descend quickly; byattacking on the downswing, they gaina +2 attack bonus for the advantage ofheight.

Wing Buffet: Grounded avarielmay strike an opponent with theirwings; targets must be directly beside orbehind them, however, and the buffetdoes not gain any attack or damagemodifiers for Dexterity or Strength. Suchan attack may be performed in additionto any other melee attack and inflicts

DRAGON #233 19

Avariel proficiencies

Glassworking(General/1 or 3 slots/Dexterity)This skill allows for the creation of

glass items from as simple and utili-tarian or beautiful and decorative.The use of this skill requires a furnace.The more complete version of thisskill (3 slots) is necessary to constructglass weapons.

Ground combat(Warrior/2 slots/Dexterity)This skill concentrates on ground-

based fighting, teaching the warrior toovercome natural limitations caused bywings. Knowledge of this proficiencycancels the standard disadvantages forground fighting for avariel.

swoop(Warrior/l slot/Dexterity)This proficiency represents special

training in the swoop maneuver; itprovides the attacker a bonus +1 tohit and to damage.

Wing buffet(Warrior/l slot/Dexterity)This proficiency is special training

in the wing-buffer form of attack; itallows a +1 to attack and damage.

Grab-and-drop(Warrior/l slot/Strength)This maneuver gives a +2 to the

attacking avariel’s attack roll.

1d4 per wing. No more than one targetmay be selected per wing: one target tothe rear may be targeted with bothwings, for 2d4 damage.

Grab-and-Drop: A particularlynasty form of attack is used whenavariel grab an opponent and flyupward, finally releasing the victim tofall to the ground. This is not as easy asit seems. The attacker must grab hisopponent in such a fashion that the vic-tim cannot grab back. This requires asuccessful attack roll. Failure means thatthe opponent has either squirmed out ofthe attacker’s hands or is holding on tothe avariel. Those proficient in this spe-cial maneuver gain a +2 to the attackroll.

Unfortunately, few avariel are able towear armor. Typically, armor is restrictedto padded, leather, or leather studdedwith crystal or glass rivets (AC 7). Elvenmail or steel must usually be specially

2 0

made for an winged elf, and this is bothrare and expensive. Shields are some-times used, but rarely is anything largerthan a medium shield employed.

Final ly, I was contacted by cour iersreturning with news of my possible-parents.The male of the couple had perished just lastyear, defending his c i ty f rom a dragon’sattack. The female had agreed to return toMyrravin, dubious that it was her child whohad returned.

When I was escorted to the tavern inwhich she was staying, I was confronted bya tall woman with long white hair, pulledback severely f rom her face in a s implepony-tai l . She was garbed in the typicalwhites and grays of the avariel, but she alsowore a finely crafted mail breastplate — nodoubt elven steel, specially crafted for her —and she was armed with a miscellany ofweapons, each made of ei ther glass ormetal. When she turned to greet me, thesuspicious look on her face melted to one ofboth joy and sorrow, and the dour warriorbecame the saddened mother: she ran tome, tears rolling down her cheeks, exclaim-ing that I could be none other than her ownchild, for my visage was the exact replica ofmy recent ly-deceased father’s. After wespoke, she was able to conf i rm that myadopt ive parents were indeed the samefamily she had sent her own wingless childto so many years ago. At long last I hadfound my true mother, and I had returnedfull circle.

Avariel attributesAvariel characters, due to their unique

physiology, have a -2 to Constitutionand a +2 to Dexterity. Some DMs mayinsist that avariel lose their Dexteritybonus when operating on the ground.

Ability Minimum MaximumStrength 8 18Dexterity 8 20Const i tu t ion 4 16In te l l i gence 8 18Wisdom 3 18Charisma 10 18

Languages: Avariel elvish, highelvish, grey elvish, common, aarakock-ra, giant eagle. The avariel, like thedrow, also utilize a complex form of signlanguage. This sign language is usefulfor long-distance communication and isemployed when the avariel do not wishto disrupt the natural sounds of their sur-roundings.

SEPTEMBER 1996

Infravision: 60’.Special Advantages: Like birds, the

avariel have keen eyesight and are ableto see clearly for up to a mile.

Certainly the most noticeable advan-tage of the avariel is their wings. Theyare graceful and fast. In flight, theirmovement rate is 18. Their maneuver-ability is type C, and they must followthe standard combat-based flight rulesstipulated within the DMG.

Unlike other elves, avariel do not gainan automatic +1 with swords and bows.Although they do favor swords, they areunable to use any blade longer than along sword when in flight. Even thisweapon presents problems; an avarielwho fumbles in combat with a long orbroad sword will most likely damagedone of his own wings. Furthermore, theavariel do not use bows, because of theopposing muscles used to draw a bowwhile in flight. They have, however,become proficient in crossbow use.

Disadvantages: As said, the wings ofan avariel can be a burden at times;their Movement rate in land-based activ-ity is 9. Furthermore, in spite of their bio-logical adaptations, their weight is stillsomewhat difficult for their wings tocarry, and it can be quite painful: foreach hour of flight, a winged elf mustsuccessfully make a Constitution check;if the check fails, then the avariel mustrest for half an hour per two hours offlight prior to the check.

In combat, if an avariel loses morethan 50% of his hit points, then hebecomes too weak to fly. He can stillglide, however, or jump up to 10’, untilhe loses 75% of his hit points.

Avariel can carry mass equal to theirown body weight before they are tooweak to fly. Each half of their bodyweight causes their maneuverability todrop by 1. Likewise, if they are morethan Lightly encumbered, their maneu-verability drops to D.

Finally, avariel are noticeably claus-trophobic; confined places, particularlysubterranean ones, are decidedlypainful to them. When confined, even“voluntarily,” they must make dailyWisdom checks. A failure produces tem-porary insanity, with behavior rangingfrom the violent to the autistic. Theexact nature of this insanity is up to theDM’s discretion, but it is always debili-tating to the avariel. This behaviorcontinues until the avariel returns toopen air. Four failed Wisdom checksproduces permanent insanity, curableonly by a heal or remove disease spell.

ClassesThe following classes are open to

avariel characters:

WarriorAvariel may become fighters.

Although avariel live in harmony withnature, they are too aloof to becomerangers. As elves, they cannot becomepaladins, but they may become demi-paladins (fighter/cleric multiclasses),according to The Complete Paliadin’sHandbook. Typical paladin kits includethe divinate and envoy.

MageAvariel may become generalist

mages or specialists. Avariel specialiststend to be elementalists more oftenthan not, particularly air elementalists.Fire elementalists are rare, and they areforbidden in most avariel communitiesbecause of the inherent danger that fireposes to avariel plumage.

PriestAvariel characters may become clerics

of any deity, although typically AerdrieFaenya is the chosen one. They maybecome general clerics or specialists.

RogueAvariel thieves do exist, but they are

less common than in other societies.Bards are particularly welcome in avarielsociety, especially heralds, loremasters,and minstrels (see The Complete Bard’sHandbook). Any avariel rogue automati-cally has a 50% penalty to attempts atclimbing walls.

MulticlassThief/mage (particularly spellfilchers

from CBE); fighter/mage (particularly warwizards, from CBE); fighter/thief; fight-er/mage/thief; cleric/fighter.

Avariel KitsThe following new kits are designed

particularly for avariel characters.

CourierThe courier is often dismissed as

nothing more than a glorified messen-ger, but such a description belittles thecommitment and training required tofulfill the difficult duties of these avariel.Couriers may be rogues, fighters, ormulticlassed.

Role: The courier has been trainedfor many miles of uninterrupted flight to

deliver messages (or even rare pack-ages) between various avariel communi-ties and has learned to endure hours offlight, which may be otherwise painfulto most avariel, including through foulweather. Couriers are hardly mere mes-sengers; they are often individualists,rugged and unique, able to survive —and enjoy — days of solitary travel. Mostcouriers belong to their own guild,which ensures training as well as fairpayment policies.

Requirements: Constitution 13.Secondary skills: Scribe.Weapon proficiencies: Wing sword,

short sword, dagger, spear, crossbow:weapons that are either easy to carry oruseful in survival conditions.

Nonweapon proficiencies: Bonus:Endurance. Required: Reading/writingavariel elvish. Recommended: Directionsense; reading/writing, grey elvish, com-mon; local history; navigation; survival(mountains, forests).

Armor/Equipment: Couriers learn totravel light, so each item that one carrieseither has multiple purposes or isabsolutely necessary.

Special Benefits: In times of greatneed, Couriers make their livelihood bytravel, and they have learned to over-come the painful limitations of flight.When traveling, they can travel for fourhours before making a Constitutioncheck, and need only rest a half-hour forevery two hours traveled when such acheck is failed. If speed is an issue, thenthey can travel at faster speeds(Movement 24), but every two hoursthey must make a Constitution checkaccording to standard rules.

Special hindrances: Couriers areloners and do not often interact well ingroups. Although they are able to coop-erate with others, they find it hard tolisten to any authority other than theirown experience. Furthermore, as mem-bers of an active guild, couriers must beprepared to be sent on missions at anytime, regardless of their own currentactivities.

SkywardenThe skywardens are self-appointed

protectors of the skies, the mountain-tops, and anywhere that the avarielmight travel. They are also known tohelp wingless ones who are lost orinjured when in their domain.

Role: The skywardens are anothergroup of individualists in avariel society,who feel compelled to live apart from

their own people in order to protecttheir natural environment. They are theclosest to rangers that avariel can find,and they often cooperate well withrangers, since their missions and dutiesoften overlap. Some particularly devoutSkywardens like to play upon theirexotic appearance and allow people tobelieve that the avariel are the chosenmessengers of the Aerdrie Faenya.Skywardens are often accompanied byany number of avian companions. Thiskit is open to fighters, clerics, andfighter/clerics.

Requirements: Endurance 10, Wis-dom 13, Charisma 13.

Secondary skills: Healer, trapper.Weapon proficiencies: Any allowed

by class.Nonweapon proficiencies: Bonus:

Animal lore, animal training (birds).Recommended: Direction sense, herbal-ism, healing, local history, navigation.

Armor/Equipment: Like couriers,Skywardens tend to travel light, with theequipment only necessary to accom-plish their job.

Special Benefits: Skywardens havelimited empathy with avian creatures.They have the same relationship withbirds that rangers do with most naturalanimals; see the description of rangersin the PHB for a full detailing of this abil-ity, but remember that it applies only tobirds. Furthermore, at 8th level, theygain 2d4 birds (or other flying creatures)as followers. The DM can roll 1d6 todetermine each follower or come upwith a unique list:

Winged companions1. falcon2. eagle3. hawk4. dragonne5. raven6. owl

Special hindrances: Skywardens cannever willingly allow anyone to suffer intheir domain, provided they are awareof it. They must minister to woundedanimals as well as humans, demi-humans, and humanoid visitors to theirlands. While skywardens may live for awhile in cities, they prefer isolatedhomes in the heart of their protecteddomains. Finally, skywardens must be ofa good (lawful, chaotic or neutral)alignment. If any of these criteria arebroken or ignored, they lose theirspecial benefits.

DRAGON #233 21

TalonTalons are elite warriors, trained in

the defense of Myrravin and other aerie-cities. Even communities that are com-posed entirely of intellectuals and aes-thetes tend to have a number of Talonsstationed for their defense. They aremarked by their uniform appearance,wearing distinctive leather harnessesfrom which hang a number of weapons.

for others it is merely training for a lucra-tive mercenary career. This kit is exclu-sively for fighters.

Role: Talons represent the idealavariel warrior, specialists in the militaryarts. Membership in the Talons is a com-mon goal for many young warriors, butonly the best are accepted as full mem-bers, rather than just employees. Theireducation is arduous, involving years ofcombat instruction and character-build-ing exercises as the young Talons-in-training are forged into professionalwarriors. Each individual’s tenureamong the Talons varies; for some, it isa lifetime (and a family heritage), while

Requirements: Strength 13, Endurance12, Dexterity 13.

Secondary skills: Any.Weapon proficiencies: Bonus: Special-

ization in either eagle-claws or wingsword. Required: Proficiency in which-ever of the previous options is notspecialized in, as well as crossbow.

Nonweapon proficiencies: Recom-mended: Blind-fighting, navigation, eti-quette.

Armor/equipment: All Talons wear adistinctive dark leather harness, at thecenter of which is a crest indicating rankand unit.

(reduced to +1 for ex-Talons).Special hindrances: Talons are mem-

bers of a guild that operates very much

Special benefits: All Talons are auto-matically proficient in the players choiceof any two of the special combat maneu-vers: swoop, grab-and-drop, ground-fight-ing wing buffet. Talons are well-respectedamong other avariel, especially the war-rior class. Talons receive a +3 reactionmodifier when encountering any avariel

like a military force, and they are forcedto obey the chain of command as well asa strict code of conduct. Anyone who isdrummed out of the Talons suffers a -3reaction modifier. They can be rather dif-ficult to work with, automatically expect-ing every group to function like a well-oiled fighting machine — which simply isnot always the case. Furthermore,because of the extensive training thatTalons are required to pursue, theyreceive one less non-weapon proficiencyat first level.

Since originally submitting this report forapproval, James Estes has been seennowhere in or around court. The royal advi-sors suspect that he has made his own pil-grimage to Myrravin, but the court wizardhas yet to divine the location of the aerie-city to confirm this rumor.

22 SEPTEMBER 1996

by Monte Cookillustrated by Adam Rex

S ome folks say that fiends — them bashers from theLower Planes — are products of the beliefs of PrimeMaterial berks. I guess that’s probably true enough.

Fiends represent evil and all that. Not a kind word to be saidabout the lot of ‘em.

But then the same screed’ll tell a body that, because fiendsare the offspring of belief, they model themselves after thebelievers. I just can’t twig to that sort of wig-wag. Here’s thechant, and listen good: things on the Lower Planes ain’t likethey are on the Prime. Sure, they’re fighting a big Blood War,but it’s like no war fought anywhere else.

Take the strongholds the fiends build for themselves, forexample. On the Prime (and elsewhere, too, I know), a berkbuilding himself a castle surrounds the whole thing with a walland a moat, hiding his sparkles and jink in a high tower or indeep, dark vault under the ground. Nothing like a fiend’scastle, let me tell you.

See, I was there, all up-close and real-like. I fought in theBlood War for... I have no idea how long, but long enough totumble to a thing or two. I’ve seen sights no mortal should eversee. Tarrek Norstro, mercenary (retired) at yourservice.

In the Planescape™ setting, the fiends of the Lower PIanes areamong the most feared yet intriguing of foes. These creatures exem-pIify, personify, and even embody evil. Their powers are fearsome,their violence and ferocity unmatched. The places that they inhabit— the Abyss, Baator, the Gray Waste, and the other PIanes of Evil —are spoken of by the canny in hushed tones, for they hold horrors nomortal should ever experience. Nonetheless, planewalkers (thosebold planar adventurers who travel the multiverse) continually findthemselves traversing the nether regions, either avoiding or takingpart in the terrible Blood War fought between the lawful andchaotic groups of fiends — the baatezu and tanar’ri respectively.

In Sigil, one might be surprised at how freely the chant flows. Thenumber of old hands volunteering their own views on tanar’ri,baatezu, and the Blood War can be overwhelming. When a bodytries to weed out the cony-catchers, the peel-masters, the barmies,the screeds, and the out-right liars, however there’s not much left.

Even Tarrek doesn’t know the very latest chant about the BloodWar and the most recent, surprising development concerning thefiends. For this information, interested bloods are going to have tolook at Hellbound. Not to worry, though. These changes are so new

that the vast majority of fiendish fortresses won’t bealtered to compensate for some time — so

Tarrek’s chant is still virtually priceless.

DRAGON #233 25

In the court of the fiend-kingSure, I’ve been in a fiend’s castle. I’ve

assaulted them, I've defended them, I'veeven spoken civilly with the inhabitants afew times. See, there was this yagnoloth— you've heard of them, right? —yugoloth noble, as I understand it. Thesefiends remain neutral in the Blood War,often offering their services to whicheverside’s paying the best that day. Nowthat’s a philosophy I can twig to.

Anyway, I had to go listen to this cut-ter rattle his bone-box about thespecifics of some mission. See, lots ofyugoloths sub-contract their mercenarywork to berks like me — that’s how I gota job attacking a tanar’ri fortress... well,let me get to the yugoloth first. Thisfiend had quite a place, especially thethrone room.

The yagnoloth, whose name wasWhvis (or something like that), heldcourt with a whole gaggle of cutters. Histhrone room was filled with minoryugoloths, like piscoloths and mez-zoloths, but they were among the leastinteresting bashers there. Night hags,shadow fiends, and finely-dressedtieflings came before this noble withpetitions, grievances, and queries. Evena few rogue tanar’ri (with a lone amnizubaatezu sending them deadly glances), asinister and silent githyanki warrior, afoul-smelling shator gehreleth, and asolitary slaadi emissary. (What could ithave been doing there?) lastly, therewere a great many mephits flittingabout like insects. These were atten-dants of the various fiends, messengersgoing to and fro, and others that wereprobably just pests.

But as I waited there, listening tothese monsters hold court and discussissues unfathomable to me, it was thefortress itself that held my attention. See,Whvis had the place constructed in themost unnerving way possible. This is acommon thing for fiendish lords to do,to keep their friends as well as their ene-mies off guard. The entire court wasbuilt over a pool of bubbling and boilingacid and then floored with glass or someother transparent material, so that allstanding before the throne realized howclose they were to destruction.

My mercenary’s eye lookedaround and noted the defensesthat he had placed around thecourt as well. There were theobvious maelephant and yugoloth

guardians, but they were for show asmuch as they were for actual defense(though don’t miss my meaning — a blood

couldn’t find more capable warriors). Theceiling was filled with hidden murderholes, and there were high balconies thatsurely hid archers or crossbowmen oreven spellcasters. Plus, you can be as sureas Sigil that there was some way tounhinge that floor to dump any threaten-ing sod into the acid below — even agreater fiend is going to quake at thethought of that.

Even the way into the throne roomwas designed with both intimidation anddefense in mind. The passage that I anda few of my comrades were escortedthrough was wide and imposing, filledwith terrifying statuary of violent andgruesome images. Again, my peerygazes revealed that these statues hadsmall compartments and notches thatcertainly contained traps like darts orpoison gas or worse.

I finished my business there and gavethe place the laugh as soon as I could.Being a guest in a fiend’s fortress is onlyslightly better (and perhaps not better atall) than being an invading enemy.

Citadels of the lower planesThe fiends aren’t like humans or elves

or what have you when it comes tobuilding their keeps. The reason’s as sim-ple as the point of your blade. They cando things that most folks can’t — teleport,fly, and lots more.

What that means is that a body won’tfind a curtain wall surrounding mostfiendish castles. Walls like that are use-less in the Blood War, since practicallyanyone can simply fly, jump, glide, orteleport past them. So, there are nocourtyards or baileys to muster troops orprotect livestock. Cities are very hard toprotect with walls being useless, butmost Blood War battles aren’t foughtover cities. Besides, there’s always theold saying, “a city full of fiends is farworse to assault than any fortress,” sothey don’t need much protection whenyou get down to it. Interestingly enough,most fiendish cities — as opposed tofortresses — are surrounded by a so-called defensive wall. I figure its just forshow.

Fiendish defensive constructionsalways involve a good deal of intimida-tion. They often’re made to appear to begreat beasts or piles of corpses (’course,some actually are piles of corpses) orsomething similar to frighten their ene-mies. While the opposing fiends aren’tfrightened by this, as a mortal merce-nary who fought in some of those bat-tles, I can tell you now that its plenty

26 SEPTEMBER 1996

unnerving to march into battle to assail were in the first Gloom of the Waste.a place made to look like a giant skull — Xoun had us infiltrate baatezu lines andcomplete with moving eyes still in their scout around. This place is as desolatesockets. I still have nightmares about and dreary as you can imagine. I don’tthat place. know about such things, so I’ve got no

As important as all this is, what’s most idea if it’s so bleak because the fiendsvital about a fiend’s citadel is what a have been fighting there forever, or ifbody can’t lay his eyes on. What that’s just the nature of thewith baatezu, tanar’ri, and place. Seems to me thateven yugoloths being it’s just the way theable to pop anywhere plane is. That gray-they wan t w i th ness, it gets tot e l e p o r t a t i o n , you. Anyway,many fortresses the baatezuare built with had heldsecret this dirtportions for somethat the time —enemy they’dwon‘tthink to tryto teleportto, sincethey don’tknow theyexist. Most

had awhile to

dig them-selves in

andprepare

a fewof thesehidden

surprises.Now,

structuresare under-

here’s away to look at

ground, thoughI’ve heard tell of

the two sides ofthe Blood War. The

sections being hiddenunderwater, made to appear asruins, or even secreted away behind par-ticularly powerful illusions. The hiddenparts of the fortress often hold the mostvaluable elements of the defense, suchas supplies and leaders, as well as jinkand prisoners. They also provideavenues to secretly move into positionsallowing the defenders to strike with sur-prise against the attackers.

Rarely, the baatezu — and less often,the tanar’ri — utilize artillery in eithertheir fortresses or their attacks againstother forts. Catapults and ballistae arecommon — that’s not what I’m talkingabout. The dark is that the fiends haveaccess to bombards that can launchhuge metal rounds at the enemy withexplosive force. Others have strange cat-apult-like devices that hurl spells ofdestruction much farther and withgreater force than the magic’s potentialnormally allows.

The baatezuAll right then. It was about twenty

eight, twenty nine years ago. Me andabout thirty others were working for atanar’ri named Xoun, a real soddingslop-sucker, if you get my meaning. We

baatezu are moremilitaristic. They like

marching around, giving orders, mak-ing weapons, digging trenches and allthat. Now, if you’re Clueless, you’re say-ing to yourself, I suppose that meansthat the tanar’ri are peace-loving paci-fists. Keep up, berk. The tanar’ri are justas horrible and violent as their foes,they’re just not interested in militaryorganization as much. They’re morecrazed — like vicious killers. Basically, theBlood War is a conflict between an armyof regimented, disciplined war mongersand a bunch of psychopathic murderers.

This comes out clearly when you lookat their fortresses. The baatezu installa-tion that we came upon that day in theGray Waste was a tall tower with a hugeglobe on the top (they made it look like alarge scaly arm thrusting up out of theground with a silver sphere clutched in itsclaw — they’ve at least got style). Thewhole thing was at least 300’ high, andthere wasn’t a door or window to be seenon the tower- or arm-part. It was just asupport. The globe, however, was cov-ered with arrow slits, murder holes, andbalconies from which to launch attacksdown upon any offensive strikes. Thearea around the tower — everywhere

Weapons of the Blood WarThe Blood War has produced many

weapons of mass destruction. Here arethree different types of artillery usedby the fiends. These virtually never fallinto the hands of non-fiends, and themortal who does obtain one usuallyregrets it soon after, when the fiendsarrive at his doorstep to collect theirrightful property.

Baatezu bombardThis baatezu weapon looks like a

long barrel of black iron. Whenfiendish magic is applied, it fires a largemetal or stone ball up to one-mile.

It takes 15 rounds to load and firethe great artillery piece, and its aim isvery clumsy, taking up to 15 additionalrounds to effectively change its targetor re-aim. It has no chance of hitting aliving, mobile creature of size S or M,and the attack roll to hit size L crea-tures is at - 4. It inflicts 3d10 hp dam-age. For purposes of hitting enchantedcreatures, this weapon is treated as onewith a bonus of +3.

Levlevor “Spell’s Long Reach”This weapon was made and

named by the yugoloths, who’ve soldthem to both sides of the Blood War.It looks like a standard light catapult,but it is actually a powerful magicaldevice. If a ranged spell is cast into thedevice, the spell can be launched (itmust be fired immediately after cast-ing) as a light catapult missile, givingthe spell a range of 300 yards. In allother respects, the spell is resolvednormally. The weapon can be usedonce every 10 rounds.

Fist of Graz’ztThis tanar’ri weapon looks like a

small bombard, usually mounted on atripod or base, or perhaps even stead-ied on the shoulder of a large and stur-dy fiend. Spells cast through the fist ofGraz’zt are magnified in their ability toinflict damage in order to destroy forti-fications Spells of an immediate, vio-lent nature (such as fireball, lightningbolt, Melf's acid arrow, etc.) inflict twiceas much damage — but only in regardto non-living, inanimate targets.

The fist is extremely useful inblowing holes in things to allowan attack to pass through a barrier.Range, area of effect, and durationsare not increased by this weapon.

DRAGON #233 27

Teleport trapsVery simply, there is a 10% chance

that a fiend teleporting blind into abaatezu fortress with such defenseswill fall victim of the traps. Some typesof trap include:

Acid: This is the most commontype, since it is a universal agent ofharm among fiends and most lowerplanar creatures. Those immersedwithin suffer 5d6 hp damage perround — although a saving throw indi-cates only half damage is sustained.

Crushing Trap: When the enchant-ment within the room detects thepresence of an intruder, the walls ofthis empty room slam shut immedi-ately, while the fiend recovers andreorients itself from the teleport. Theclosing walls deal 3d10 hp damage tothose caught within.

Teleport Bounce: One of the moreinsidious teleport traps, this activatesas soon as a victim enters the area,teleporting it yet again to a completelydifferent location — sometimes faraway, sometimes in a very hostileenvironment, and sometimes toanother teleport bounce location... adinfinitum. The fiendish victim has nochance to save, but magic resistanceapplies.

within arrow or spell range — was a stag-ing ground for the lower-ranking troops,which probably never actually got to somuch as see the inside of the globe. Thismeans the lemures and nupperibo, aswell as various charmed monsters andhired mercenaries, stayed on the ground.There were no ladders or stairs going upto the globe, ‘cause the fiends could justteleport up to where they wanted to go.

Now, then, you might be saying, howdo they keep the tanar’ri from doing thesame and teleporting right insideClutched Victory (that’s what they calledthe place)? Good question. They don’t.Like many baatezu fortresses, ClutchedVictory was segmented into a series ofvery small chambers. There was noplace inside the stronghold into whichthe tanar’ri could teleport a large force.The defenders guarded each of thesetiny rooms, just waiting for a loneattacker (or maybe two) to appear, andthen they’d attack while the teleportingfiends got their bearings.

See, in a Lower Planar fortress, there’sreally not such things as “outer defenses”and “inner defenses.” Something deep

inside a castle is just as vulnerable asanything else. So the fiends are preparedfor attackers to appear anywhere.

If for some reason (such as a spell orsomething), teleportation was preventedfrom occurring on a battlefield, thedefenders could quickly adapt and justmove to the outer edges of the fortress(in this case the outer edge of thesphere) to defend against conventionalattacks. In fact, the fiends of both sideshave such good tactics for defeatingteleporting attacks that conventionalassaults are as common as not. Againstthe segmented fortress defense such asin Clutched Victory, the tanar’ri quicklylearned that mass assaults from the out-side are just as effective as teleportinginside.

Plus, there’s always teleport traps.The traps? Well, they’re a nasty littleinvention. Chant is, it was actually theyugoloths that came up with them, butboth sides of the war use them now. Idon’ t know i f they were used atClutched Victory, but they probablywere. They’re really very simple. Thefiends just place pools of acid or emptyrooms with quickly c losing wal lsthroughout the fortress. When a berkteleports in blind, he’s got just as mucha chance to end up in the trap as a realroom. They’re real useful at discourag-ing such incursions.

In fact, the only advantage to tele-porting into the heart of a citadel is ifsome valuable target (leaders, plans, sup-plies, prisoners, etc.) can be taken, killed,or destroyed. Since the offensive forceshave to teleport in blind, only luck willallow such a find to occur, and becausethe baatezu have compartmentalizedtheir fortress to such a degree, even alucky find can never be reached by alarge force, and by the time that wordreaches the commanders and the attack-ers concentrate their reinforcements inthe area, the lucky find is usually moved.

That’s why stag-turners are such adanger. If the enemy isn’t teleportingblind — if they know where they’re going— the defenders are in real trouble. That’swhat Xoun really wanted us to scout out— he was looking for some basher who’dgive him the dark of the interior of thefortress for a little (or a lot of) garnish.Didn’t work, though, and the tanar’riassailed the place anyway. They gotslaughtered. It wasn’t until the tanar’risacrificed the majority of their forces in amass suicide charge at the base of thefortress, eventually toppling it (right ontotheir own remaining troops no less), that

the battle ended. And the tanar’ri lookedupon that as a victory. That’s Abyssalthinking for you. But I didn’t care. I gotmy jink and took my leave.

I’ve heard that in Baator itself, thereare fiendish citadels with no doors at all.Every room has to be reached by tele-portation. Chant is, there are ways insuch places for non-fiends to teleportaround too, since we weren’t all bornwith that ability. I can’t even imaginehow hard it would be to attack such aplace. If you sent your troops in, even ifthey were winning, they could neverlink up to coordinate their movementsor concentrate their attacks. What anightmare. And I’m sure that’s the idea.

The baatezu like fortresses so muchthat they tortured their engineers intomaking some so that they could be usedon the offense as well as the defense.These mobile fortresses are on hugewheels or rollers and are powered bysome eldritch mechanisms that proba-bly involve the backs of thousands ofslaves in some fashion, if I know thebaatezu like I do. Not only do they trans-port troops but they literally roll rightover the enemy.

The tanar�riTanar’ri fortresses are fewer than

those of their foemen, but they’re no lessterrible to assault. As a body mightexpect, there’s no rhyme or reason to theway that they are built — that’s actuallyone of their main defenses. To most folk,but in particular to the orderly baatezu,tanar’ri fortresses make no sense.

There was a time I worked for theyugoloths, who were working for thebaatezu (at the time, that is — it’s compli-cated). This ride took us to some layer ofthe Abyss, looking for a kidnappederinyes that was being held for ransomby some minor tanar’ri lord. In anyevent, we discovered her on a floatingfortress high above the rest of the layer.

This was an old tanar’ri tactic — butone they still use today. They use power-ful enchantments to hoist their citadelshigh in the air. The inhabitants of suchplaces use flying mounts like hiera-cosphinxes or giant bats or whatever’s athand to get up there if they can’t fly ontheir own or teleport. In this particularcase they used what appeared to begigantic blue hornets. These were veryeffective combat mounts, as they couldhover to allow accurate missile combatas well as defend themselves with theirstingers... but you didn’t come to me tolearn about bugs.

28 SEPTEMBER 1996

Anyway, some of the ’loths I wasworking with could fly, while the rest ofus (my human mercenary company andthe non-flyer yugoloths) “acquired” someof the giant hornets. When we flew up atthe fortress, however, we learned thatwe’d fallen right into a tanar’ri trap.They’re chaotic, not addle-coved. A float-ing fortress needs to be prepared againstairborne attack, and prepared they were.Powerful, magical winds generated fromwithin the citadel tossed us about, send-ing many down to the ground and thedead-book. Like many tanar’ri strong-holds, this one was warded against tele-portation, so none of the yugoloths couldslip in that way either.

Tanar’ri sorcerers apparently havebeen tinkering with powerful teleportwards for some time. Sometimes theywork, and sometimes they don’t, but itseems there’s always a new wrinkle tothis magic that the fiends have uncov-ered. Chant is that the baatezu gave upon this sort of enchantment long agobecause it is unreliable, but the tanar’rihave made a successful enough stab atit to bring tears of regret to baatezueyes. No teleportation means a morestraightforward clash, with less strategyand more bloodshed — just the way thetanar’ri like it.

It takes no graybeard to guess thatwe lost that day. I was lucky to escapealive. I don’t know what the inside ofthat fortress contained, but if I knowtanar’ri, it was worse than what weencountered on the out-

entire decoy fortresses. Whole installa-tions, manned with troops and every-thing, that are complete ruses. This peel iscapped by the existence of the realfortress nearby. A body’ll find that theactual case is hidden by magic, disguisedas a natural feature, deep under a nearbysea, or buried far below the surface. (Ionce heard of one that was thousands ofmiles down on some Abyssal layer wherethe tunnels went on forever. For those ofus sods who don’t like bashing aroundunderground, that place is a real night-mare — imagine the months it would taketo get down there, and the traps in thosepassages leading down to that place.)

Most horrible of all, however, thetanar’ri sometimes imbue their fortresseswith sentience. Through some unknownprocess, they give their fortresses life.Maybe it’s some extension of the abilityof the tanar’ri to advance (or be promot-ed) from one form to the next higher.Maybe sometimes a lesser fiend is alteredinto what appears to be a stronghold.Such places are often characterized byeyes, limbs, and even mouths seeminglybuilt into the walls, floors or ceilings. Suchstructures have practically unbeatablealarm systems, since the fortress itself candetect a cross-trader attempting to sneakin, and can warn the inhabitants.

’Course, a few planewalkers havetumbled to ways to combat these livingdefenses. The whole fortress, as big as itmight be, has a single mind — at least,the ones I’ve heard of do. If a body canget past the fiend’s resistance to magic,

a well-phrased suggestion, charmor other mind-influencing spell

can take care of all yourworries. Further, I’ve heard

of one blood that some-how introduced a

fiendish disease intothe tanar’ri fortress,

slaying it outright.

On the primeSometimes

the Blood War,side. it’s said, spillsThe tanar’ri over into thefortresses I’ve seen Prime Materialare always different, but Plane. Whatalways terrible. folks mean by

An old Baatezu trick, again playing this is thatoff of their teleport traps and compart- sometimes onementalized fortresses, was to leak false side or the otherinformation and create phoney decoy (or both) find that it’s important to go tomaps to trick foes into teleporting into the Prime to gain some important item,the wrong areas. Well, the tanar’ri often tumble to some vital chant, stop thetake this idea a step further and create other from doing some deed, or some-

Teleport ward(Wild magic)Level 6 Wizard SpellRange: 0Duration: 1 hour per levelArea of Effect: five 10’ cubes per levelComponents: V, SCasting Time: 6Saving Throw: None

This is one of many such spellsdeveloped by tanar’ri wizards in anattempt to protect their strongholdsfrom magical infiltration by their ene-mies. It essentially blocks teleport,dimension door, and similar spells with-in the area of effect for the duration.Further, those attempting entrancehave only half their normal chance toovercome the spell using magic resis-tance.

Unfortunately, this wild magic spellis very unreliable. The block usuallyworks both ways — casters can nei-ther enter or exit the area using suchspells. When the spell is cast, use thefollowing chart:

1d10001-10 Failure (wild magic surge

results)11-60 Both ways blocked61-90 Affected spells restricted

only in entering the area91-99 Affected spells restricted

only in exiting the area00 All non-permanent spells

restricted in the area

thing else. These incursions don’t usual-ly last long, and (what most Cluelessdon’t believe) the fiends usually aren’tmuch interested in mixing it up with thelocal primes if they don’t have to. Sure,sometimes a few rogues or two’ll headto a Prime Material World to cause somehavoc and bloodshed, but those focusedon the Blood War don’t have time forfun like that.

So, the fiends never stay long. Thismeans that there’s not time to builddefenses or castles. In such cases asthey’re needed, then, baatezu andtanar’ri both use the same tactic — theyconfiscate an already-existing fortress.Either through force (often in the case ofthe tanar’ri) or guile (the baatezu) thefiends take the castle of local humans,elves, dwarves, orcs, or whatever. Theydon’t care about the alignments of theformer inhabitants — they’re only inter-ested in the strategic value of the bastion.

DRAGON #233 29

Even more than on their homeplanes, fiends on the Prime use othercreatures as guards and t roops.Sometimes a tricky baatezu high up’llstrike up a deal with a dragon, and inexchange for some treasure, the dragonlets the baatezu forces stay with it in itslair for a time. Hardly a safer spot on aPrime world than that, eh, berk? Moreoften, however, the planar invaders sub-jugate lesser races such as orcs, goblins,or trolls and monsters such as basilisks,wyverns, chimerae, medusae, giantinsects, etc., then use them to defendtheir holds. When in the cavernousunderworld (where, unknown to mostbashers, many baatezu and tanar’riincursions take place), they makealliances with the dark elves, the mindflayers, or the aboleths. Any of thesecreatures can be found in a fiend’s Primefortress.

When the local primes discover asmall army of Lower Planar creatures liv-ing in a nearby fortress, they usuallylaunch a holy war against the place.Fiends have no time for crusadesagainst them, and so they usually leaveafter a few of these assaults (unless theattacks are not a threat or are particu-larly entertaining). Thus, the taking of afortress on the Prime is usually donewith as much secrecy as possible — forfear of being exposed to the real threat,their Blood War foes. Whatever the out-come, such incidents are surely the thingof which legends are made on thesebackwater Prime Material Plane worlds.

A word of advice to planewalkersThose of you self-styled adventurers

who go flitting about the planes insearch of a little jink and a lot of notori-ety, take heed. I’m only going to say thisonce. You’re going to run into the BloodWar at some time during your travels —that’s a given. So be prepared.

A body needs to know who’s whoand what’s what. A canny blood’ll keepin mind the nature of the conflict, aswell. Though it might appear to be, thisisn’t a war fighting over land. Sure, thefiends take and re-take plots of groundon the various Lower Planes all the time.They even build all the above-mentionedfortresses to hold that ground. But thereal dark is this: it’s a war fought overideals. The baatezu and the tanar’ri fightto see the ultimate extinction of theother for one reason — because theyeach stand for and exemplify beliefsthat the other despises. It’s a true strug-gle of law versus chaos. It’s a fight to seewhat “brand” of evil is the superior. Asterrible as the war is, woe to the multi-verse if one side ever actually wins,‘cause where do you think the victor’ssights are going to fall if that happens,berk?

The only court that Monte Cook has evervisited is traffic court. Nonetheless, he earnshis living writing about much more fantasti-cal things at TSR, so he is content.

By James C. Martin, Jr

“Why do I feel that all armor designers are male?”

Tanar’ri living fortressesLesser Tanar'ri

CLIMATE/TERRAIN: N/AFREQUENCY: N/AORGANIZATION: N/ADIET: N/AINTELLIGENCE: Low to Average (5-10)TREASURE: NilNO. APPEARING: 1ARMOR CLASS: 10MOVEMENT: N/AHIT DICE: 15-20THAC0: 5NO. OF ATTACKS: 1d6DAMAGE/ATTACK: 3d4SPECIAL ATTACKS: Nil (see below)SPECIAL DEFENSES: See belowMAGIC RESISTANCE: 50%SIZE: variesMORALE: N/AXP VALUE: 12,000 to 17,000

Living fortresses are impossible toharm through normal attacks — onlyarea of effect attacks inflict damageupon them. They fight by means ofmanifesting 1d6 clawed limbs whichextrude from the walls, floors and ceil-ings (wherever needed). These limbscan be harmed by normal weapons,and are destroyed after sustaining 30hp damage. A fortress can only haveas many limbs as it has HD, so theloss of one of these members is notinconsequential. The fortress cansense activity of any kind within itsown confines and within 50’ of itsouter perimeter.

They can’t move or flee, so theyhave no movement or morale ratings.The entire fortress has the same sortsof special defenses and abilities as anormal tanar’ri, except that they can-not teleport. This means that a livingfortress can use the following spell-like abilities at will (once per round):darkness 10’ radius, and infravision.Further, it can gate 3-18 least tanar’ri3 times/day with a 40% chance ofsuccess. Like all tanar’ri, these fiendssustain half damage only from cold,fire and gas attacks. Further, electrici-ty, non-magical fire, and poison dothem no harm (so they’re incrediblyhard to slay).

30 SEPTEMBER 1996

DRAGON #233 31

by Ed Greenwood

illustrated by Storn Cook

he Volo and Elminstersurvey of current dragonrulers of the North con-tinues with one of the

most infamous hero-banes in all Faerûn:the vicious, nasty, venerable green drag-on known as Claugiyliamatar. This wyrmdelights in hunting down and slaughter-ing small armed bands wandering in thewilderlands (in other words: adventurers).From time to time she varies such activi-ties with devouring a field of almost-ripegrain in Goldenfields or tearing apart afood-caravan bound for the northerninterior and eating men, beasts, andcargo alike. Claugiyliamatar usually sig-nals this last sort of triumph by pluckingup a caravan wagon, flying very high (toavoid the attention of griffon-back Citypatrols until it’s too late), and droppingthe wagon down as a lethal missile onthe roofs of Waterdeep.

Some ballads call Claugiyliamatar“Old Gnawbone” for her habit of carryinga corpse dangling from her jaws tomunch on absently from time to time,just as some humans suck on unlit pipesor chew cigars. She is cunning, paranoid,and possessed of a cruel sense of humor:trapped victims have been known to

escape her because she played withthem to watch their pain and sufferinginstead of slaughtering them outright.

Claugiyliamatar lives alone, drivingaway male green dragons who comecourting, but she has always beenrumored to employ several dozen loyalhuman and halfling agents to workbehind the scenes for her in the lesssavory side of business in Neverwinterand Waterdeep. In particular, theseagents make profits on goods madescarce by the dragon’s attacks. OldGnawbone seems to enjoy manipulatingaffairs in the cities for the sake of wield-ing secret power, not for the wealth itbrings her. Little treasure is brought backto her lair; all but the the coins pocketedby her agents — misdemeanors Claugiy-liamatar pointedly ignores if the amountsstay small — is invested in businessesmeant to stir up rivalries and gain herever-more-powerful organizations, allow-ing her more swiftly and thoroughly tocreate trouble in her next scheme!

Claugiyliamatar is fascinated byhuman and elven women who wieldpower, and she spends hours watchingthem from her lair through her array ofcrystal balls. This collection of scrying

spheres marks the second thing that fas-cinates Claugiyliamatar: magic, especiallyitems that allow her to take human formand participate in the things humans do(knifings in alleyways, for example, andpassionate courting, and, well, drinking).Her personal spells are too weak toenable her to take human shape, so shewatches the nobles of Waterdeep and thesorceresses of Neverwinter for hours at atime, learning who has magic and whereit is hidden, before sending her agentsforth to steal it. Woe betide an agent whotries to cheat Old Gnawbone out of eventhe tiniest scrap of magic: he will findhimself nailed to a tree deep in the forest,drenched with blood, and left for thewolves (or other hungry forest denizens).

Claugiyliamatar herself hungers forthe bustle and intrigue of city life in theform of a human, but able to call on herfull range of dragon powers. She wasalmost tricked into servitude once by awizard, Hyrix Greentree of Waterdeep,whom she hired to craft her a shape-change spell. The magic would havetransformed her into a beautiful humanmaiden, yet leave her able to call on hermagic, breath weapon, and immunities.She discovered, however, that while in

DRAGON #233 33

human form she would have beenHyrix’s charmed slave, and he would haveensured that her desire to return to drag-on-shape was firmly quenched. Hyrixdied slowly and painfully, and if thephantom of a screaming wizard silentlyfades into view from time to time abovethe spell scroll Claugiyliamatar keepscarefully hidden in a coffer beneath thefloor of her lair, she ignores it.

Having her own way is everything toClaugiyliamatar. Among other dragons,her reputation for trickery makes herbest avoided. Balagos, for instance, con-siders her a twisted, crabbed thing givento petty silliness and, as such, beneathhis notice.

She is a tireless foe who goes toridiculous lengths to cause even smallharm to someone she regards as anenemy, and this “worry-all-the-bones”trait has made most other dragons leaveher alone. This is just fine with OldGnawbone, as it leaves her free to pur-sue her schemes wrapped in the pre-sumption of her own supremacy overother dragons. It also leaves her greatWaterdeep as part of her territory. Thatmore than a dozen steel dragons andweredragons dwell in the city under hervery nose, and generally regard heractivities with amusement, is somethingshe serenely ignores, even when one ofher agents is imprudent enough to pointit out to her.

How those in authority — in particu-lar, women of power — wield their influ-ence and legal might is somethingClaugiyliamatar never tires of studying.Increasingly she has turned to scryingAlustriel’s Palace in Silverymoon, andeven distant Twilight Hall in Berdusk.She seems unaware that her snoopingwas detected long ago in both of thoseplaces. Junior mages in both cities nowtake turns honing their illusion-weavingskills by spinning false scenes of intriguefor the green dragon to watch. The imp-ish mage Ralderston Tinter ofSilverymoon has even taken to craftingscenes of a handsome young greendragon who takes on human form tocourt ladies of high station. It has beenobserved that Claugiyliamatar’s agentsare visiting Silverymoon in a steadystream these days, looking for a certainyoung man with the emerald eyes of ashapechanged green dragon.

Certain mages of Silverymoon havebeen weaving spells that can be covertlycast on an unwitting agent, to be trig-gered by Old Gnawbone’s presence:spells made to plunge the green dragon

into a long, heavy slumber, so adventur-ers can safely reach her lair for a massedattack. So far, the castings they’veattempted have failed. For her part,Claugiyliamatar seems not to havenoticed. She has explained away theoccasional clumsy images and distor-tions she observes through her crystalballs as defensive magics her scrying ispenetrating.

Claugiyliamatar's lairOld Gnawbone lairs in a cavern in

Kryptgarden Forest, at the end of a deepravine that runs from the base of one ofthe mountains that bounds the old,thickly-grown woods on the north.Several tombs and abandoned dwarf-holds pierce the mountain walls nearby,including the infamous monster-hauntedcomplex known as Southkrypt. Claugiy-liamatar employs both human agentsand woodland creatures as guardsaround her lair, to lead intruders astray(sometimes with the aid of audibleglamers and other spells she casts herself)into waiting traps or into one of the wait-ing perils of another cave.

The green dragon doesn’t seem tohave a name for her abode, but tohumans its Deeping Cave, a name offorgotten origin that it possessed longbefore Claugiyliamatar arrived (in 1303DR, most sages believe).

The cave gapes at the end of agloomy, vine-crossed gully overhung bygigantic old oaks and duskwoods.Within, Old Gnawbone’s lair is a weirdplace of creeping phosphorescentlichens, giant toadstools, and hangingmosses draped over statues of imperioushuman women (warriors, mostly) lootedfrom a dozen tombs.

At the back of the cave, Claugiy-liamatar slithers about in the gloom fromher bed of coins to the alcove where hercrystal balls glow and flicker. She oftenspends hours sprawled before them,watching what befalls far away, while aservant (always a man clad only in man-acles and chains, though these are a dec-orative costume he can remove when-ever desired) oils her soft scales withtree-sap and ointments made to thedragon’s own formulae from crushedand boiled forest leaves, fungi, and roots.

Claugiyliamatar is vain and believesshe will stay youthful and supple if herscales are tended daily, polished withthese healthy substances to a deep,almost blue emerald hue. Those whoanoint her are allowed to scoop up asmany coins they can grasp in one hand

(only!) from her hoard-bed as paymentwhen they leave. Thus, attending thedragon is a popular duty among her ser-vants — though one must be careful todo nothing to make Old Gnawbone sus-pect treachery; she’s been known to rollover with sudden, deliberate speed andcrush a servant beneath her bulk.

Claugiyliamatar’s domainFrom Deeping Cave, Claugiyliamatar

holds sway over a dominion thatstretches from the southern bank of theRiver Mirar down the Sword Coast to thenorth bank of the Dessarin, and alongthe western fringes of the High Forest toabout Dead Horse Ford, where it swingsnorth and west in a wide arc over theEvermoors to take in Nesmé, Long-saddle, and Grunwald, to reach the Mirarsouth of Mirabar. If all of the borders ofher territory are disputed by other drag-ons (particularly northern NeverwinterWood and the land between theDessarin and the High Forest) and herability to waltz into Waterdeep is morefantasy than something she dares do,Claugiyliamatar cares not. She rarely fliesanywhere east of the Long Road and sel-dom leaves her lair in any case, prefer-ring to watch through her scrying-crys-tals and have agents work for her.(Those servants who contemplatetreachery have learned to their cost thatshe does on occasion closely watch justhow they carry out her orders). Thishabitual idleness does not keep her fromjealously defending her dominion whenyoung dragons scout it — and, seeing nodraconic occupant, decide to settle in.

Lance Rock, a landmark west of theLong Road south of Red Larch, looks asif a gigantic boulder were hurled downfrom the sky to strike deep into theground — and that’s just what hap-pened. A brash young adult red dragon,Smergadas, liked the look of the landsaround the Dessarin. After flying aboutunchallenged for most of a day, he filledhis belly with roaming deer and curledup for a nap — whereupon Old Gnaw-bone, who’d been watching himthrough one of her crystals, emergedfrom her lair, plucked a loose boulderalmost as large as herself from atop themountains, and flew over to drop it onhim. Then she landed to fill her ownbelly with foolish red dragon.

The deeds of ClaugiyliamatarThe favorite prey of Claugiyliamatar

is adventurers, particularly humanmales, but she does enjoy the taste of

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DRAGON #233 35

dragon-meat. When orc hordes sweepdown from the mountains, Claugiy-liamatar emerges from her lair andgorges herself, devouring the goblinkinby the hundreds until, too bloated tofight any more, she labors back to herlair and crawls inside to sleep off herfeast. Sages have identified such occa-sions as the time when she’s most vul-nerable. Of course, when orcs arestreaming by the thousands down intothe lands of civilized men, dragon-hunt-ing is a luxury no one can afford.

Claugiyliamatar prefers to huntbetween Westwood and KryptgardenForest (on deer, cattle, or human travelersthat she can catch in the open), or if she’sfeeling more energetic, in NeverwinterWood south of the river. She drinks fromthe mountain streams that empty intothe Mere of Dead Men, or sometimesfrom the moor-mid lake that feeds theLaughingflow, or the Dessarin itself. Mostof her days are spent scrying and sleep-ing but she can break her sloth withperiods of agile, lightning-quick flight andfighting if need be.

Adventurers know Claugiyliamatar forthe grim toll of their ranks she’s exacteddown the years, and in particular for thetime she posed as a silver dragon to dupea Waterdhavian noble (the late SaerlinBrokengulf, head of his house at thetime). In her disguise, she tricked Saerlininto hiring her to rid the Brokengulf graz-ing lands of herself. She learned throughscrying where her payment was beingassembled, used magic to appear as a sil-ver dragon again, and in that guisedestroyed the place, seizing all the coinsand devouring all the guards, and thenflew to the Brokengulf ranch and usedillusions to make it seem as though atitanic midair battle was being fought bya silver dragon and a green. In theprocess, she smashed fences, allowingthe terrified livestock to flee out into theopen grasslands for her later dining plea-sure. The battling dragons disappearedwest over the mountains, and a batteredand angry silver dragon subsequentlyperched atop the Brokengulf abode inWaterdeep and demanded the paymentfor slaying Claugiyliamatar. LordBrokengulf had to scramble to find alter-native funds (as the silver dragon made itclear the alternative was to lose thehouse the wyrm sat upon), and the silverdragon flew away straining to hold alofta Brokengulf boat plucked up from theharbor and crammed full of coins.

Old Gnawbone spent a leisurely ten-day arranging coins in several hidden

mountain caches (emptying her bed inDeeping Cave), then reappeared atBrokengulf Towers as herself — just asangry, and demanding twice the pay-ment the “Silver Slayer” had received tospare the lives of the entire Brokengulffamily. When Lord Brokengulf played fortime (trying hastily to hire a wizard toblast away his dragon troubles forever),Claugiyliamatar toppled the grandesttower of the villa down into its garden,crushing three of Lord Brokengulf’s sis-ters and crippling Saerlin himself. Shegot her payment, though it almost emp-tied the coffers of the noble house. Thenshe flew happily back to her cave, afterwrecking the rest of the villa almost asan afterthought. She then set all thetraps she’d prepared and went off withthe loot to Neverwinter Wood to hidewhile all the angry forces of Waterdeepscoured Kryptgarden for a dragon sobold as to dare to attack a noble of thecity in his very home!

The crowning stroke in Claugiy-liamatar’s plan was her timing of thewhole affair to coincide with the firstcautious foray into her forest ofEndracritar, a rival green dragon fromthe High Forest near Loudwater. Ayoung male already fearful of the forcesof Hellgate Keep, Endracritar had beengrowing increasingly wary of Zhentarimincursions near his own lair, and he hadbeen preparing spells and stratagemsfor a decisive attack on Claugiyliamatarfor some time. Unbeknownst to him, Old,Gnawbone had been scrying on himregularly for some time, too — as she didall the dragons she could find exceptBalagos, whom she didn’t quite dare towatch — and knew all about his plan.The strike force from Waterdeepcharged into the Kryptgarden lookingfor a rapacious green dragon... andthey found one.

Endracritar’s vaunted spells and strat-agems were no match for the fury of theassembled mages and heroes ofWaterdeep. The smoke had barelyceased to drift and curl from his blastedbones when Claugiyliamatar glidedcalmly back across the mountains andreturned to her cave, bringing her bestcrystal ball with her. It was time to spy onanother noble family, to find somethingelse she could exploit for enrichment,power, and pleasure.

Claugiyliamatar may acknowledgeher physical and magical inferiority toother dragons (such as Balagos), but herbehavior and occasional comments toagents reveal that she thinks herself

smarter than all other dragons, able tomanipulate other beings to gain her ownway in situations where rival wyrms canonly charge in and fight or lay waste tothe surroundings, to achieve their endsby force. Lack of sufficient magic is theonly real weakness she seems to beworking at rectifying; however, her para-noia makes finding wizards mightyenough to develop a roster of powerfulverbal-only spells for her, and to enableher to shift freely between dragon-formand human shape, a very difficult taskindeed. She’s recently come to the con-clusion that the only way to find such abeing may be to raise one herself — to“adopt” a magically-gifted and good-aligned child as a mysterious, helpfulbenefactor, helping the human to growinto a mage of power who regardsClaugiyliamatar as a friend whom heowes a tremendous debt. Yet even thislong, exacting process is fraught withperils, and Old Gnawbone is proceedingvery cautiously, scrying until she can finda handful of candidates. If one turns onher, is slain, or otherwise “goes bad,”she’ll then have others without all hertime entirely wasted... and if all of themcome to trust her and to master magic,she’ll have more wizards at her beck andcall than most emperors in the Realmsever manage!

Claugiyliamatar has little use forother dragons. She feels that mating willonly delay or destroy her schemes, forc-ing her to rear offspring who’ll inevitablyturn on her as they grow up, and give amale dragon entirely too much knowl-edge of her lair, defenses, and nature.Fear can win the loyalty of lesser crea-tures, however, and Claugiyliamatar issatisfied that very few of her carefully-selected human agents ever cross herand live to tell the tale. She holds nospecial likes or dislikes of any species,but she finds humans both fascinatingand useful, their wits and dexterityalmost the equal of a dragon’s

In recent seasons, word of her exis-tence seems to be spreading slowly inWaterdeep, and more adventurers andyoung, bored nobles gone a-huntinghave arrived in her forest; Claugiy-liamatar has enjoyed taking the magicthat these puny foes carry, but she isgrowing alarmed that folk of real power(such as the Lord Mage of Waterdeep,Khelben “Blackstaff” Arunsun) will even-tually show up, so she is working hard athaving her agents eliminate folk whospread rumors of her. The flattery of agood ballad, in particular one that

36 SEPTEMBER 1996

speaks of a deadly green dragon coilingtriumphant about Kryptgarden “longago,” would be more welcome...

So Old Gnawbone lies in her cave,watching the schemes and deeds andunfolding lives of humans in brightWaterdeep and the other settlements ofthe North, striving to become ever moresubtle in what she bids her agents do, sothat her power will grow even as knowl-edge of her wanes. She is close to dan-ger, but if she can keep out of its reach,there are centuries yet to grow mighty —and a city just pulsing with magic justbeyond her very snout... magic thatmight all someday be hers.

Claugiyliamatar’s magicThe Dragon of Kryptgarden Forest

considers her roster of spells puny, butshe has a few useful magics, includingthe two spells detailed here.

It should be noted that Claugiy-liamatar has acquired and uses first-level wizardly equivalents of manyminor plant and wood-related magiccustomarily associated with druids.

Talons(Evocation)Level: 2Range: 90 yardsComponents: VDuration: 5 roundsCasting Time: 2 (1 for Claugiyliamatar)Area of Effect: One creatureSaving Throw: ½

This spell creates a translucent line offour black foot-long, razor-sharp nailsthat appear in front of a single creatureand slash at the target once per round,floating along to accompany the victim.The talons strike unerringly, once perround, dealing 2d6 hp damage unlessthe target being successfully saves forhalf damage. Note that a talons spell pre-vents a target from casting any spellexcept verbal-only magics or otherspells that take only one segment.

A dispel magic spell causes the talons tofade away instantly, and a shield spell pre-vents them from attacking for one round(as they destroy the shield). Stronger mag-ical barriers slow them for two roundsbefore failing. An antimagic shell blocksthem completely.

The target of a talons spell can’t bechanged once chosen; the spell ends ifthe target dies and can be ended prema-

turely if its caster wills it — but it requiresno continued concentration to maintain(i.e. the caster can initiate other spellcast-ing once a talons spell is unleashed uponits target, without affecting the talons).The talons follow a target who flees(even if this flight is by means of a tele-port), unless this results in movement toanother plane of existence.

Vaeladaunce(Evocation)Level: 2Range: 30 yds.Components: VDuration: 1 roundCasting Time: 2 (1 for Claugiyliamatar)Area of Effect: SpecialSaving Throw: Special

This spell creates a sudden jet of flam-ing gas that appears out of thin air at alocation chosen by the caster. The loca-tion must be one that the caster can seedirectly during spellcasting. The jet spewsin a direction the caster desires beforefading away as suddenly as it was born.

The gas jet is cylindrical, 6’ acrossand 60’ long. Any being coming intocontact with it (Dexterity checks forclassed characters to avoid, and savingthrows vs. spell for other beings, if thesituation allows avoidance) suffers 4d4hp fiery damage unless immune to, orprotected against, harm from fire. Inaddition, creatures who breathe (that is,most beings who aren’t undead), mustsave vs. breath weapon or take an addi-tional 2d12 hp internal fiery damagefrom breathing the flaming gas. Certainbarriers cause the gas jet to rebound,and a gust of wind deflects it, but the DMmust adjudicate such situations.

A vaeladaunce ignites most paper andalcoholic substances, and some textiles(all such items should make savingthrows vs. magical fire), but it is too sud-den and brief to affect other materials.

Claugiyliamatar’s fate The Dragon of Kryptgarden Forest

dwells too near Waterdeep ever to betruly safe, and if civilization grows in theNorth as most sages expect it to, andsettlement spreads up the coast or(more likely) up the Long Road, Claugiy-liamatar is likely to be discovered withincreasing regularity, and tested byband after band of adventurers.Eventually one will be too strong for her,

or too lucky — or her continuing slaugh-ter of them will bring a foe she can’tdefeat to her door.

She could relocate, of course, butNeverwinter Wood is too cold for her lik-ing and probably soon to be a territorywhere younger dragons regularly showup to make challenges (to say nothingof the white dragon Arveiaturace). TheHigh Forest, with at least three incum-bent green dragons,¹ is likely to becomeher grave if she dares try to lair there.Claugiyliamatar knows of these perilsand would prefer to be able to slip awayfrom unwanted foes by taking humanshape, or otherwise having magicenough to prevail against even themightiest foes.

If she can see a way to achieveundeath herself, without the meddling,manipulative aid of the Cult of theDragon, she may very well do so: theremoval of a need to eat and keepwarm would allow her far more free-dom, and she can continue to enjoy herchief pursuit and entertainment: spyingon humans and demi-humans, andmanipulating their affairs just to enjoyher power over them.

Sometimes, though, she dreams of aneven better fate: ruling Waterdeep as ahuman queen, her dragon nature hid-den. Even more often, she sees herselfas an alluring, mysterious lady all thenoblemen and ambitious merchants ofthe city are wild over, as she glides fromdark alley trysts to gentle jests at parties,with all eyes on her and all tonguesdarting with the news of her latest out-rageous deeds. Her servants say OldGnawbone sighs often as she stares intoher crystal bulls...

Ed Green wood owns four computers,almost a hundred thousand books, a lovelyold house, curs, bouts, and cottages in theCanadian wilderness. He’d trade ihem all fora chance to spend a day in Shadowdale —or a night at a nobles’ revel in Waterdeep.

1. According to Elminster (volo knows nothing of this, having never ventured into the depths of “the Great Everwood”), three mighty green dragonsdwell in the High Forest: the males Elaacrimalicros and Grimnoshtadrano, “the Riddling Dragon,” and the female dragon Chloracridara. More about thesethree can be gleaned from The North boxed set, and Grimnoshtadrano also appears in the novel Elfsong by Elaine Cunningham (TSR, Inc., 1994).

DRAGON #233 37

CourtContinued from page 13

many proficiency checks are required tomake the operation successful for thePCs who are involved.

Public appearance, opening, dedi-cation, or inspection

The ruler appears in public. If a PC ischosen to make a few opening remarks,he makes an etiquette and oration roll.If both rolls succeed, he makes animpression. If both fail, he blunders.

Reception, presentation,demonstration, or report

A character is selected to appearbefore the court. Three proficiencychecks are needed: one for oratory, onefor etiquette, and one related to the areahe will discuss (drop the third roll forsocial occasions). Two or more failuresindicate a blunder; three successesmake an impression.

Sports and contestsSports such as tennis, golf, skittles

(bowling), darts, track and field events,

horse racing, wrestling, and others, areappreciated at court. A PC may partici-pate by using his running, riding, swim-ming, jumping, or other appropriate pro-ficiencies. Members of the court oftenbet on sporting events. Winners makean impression.

Tournament, joust, or meleeThe court enjoys feats of arms per-

formed by valiant knights. MockCombat can be judged by using normalcombat rules with damage being non-lethal. Winners make impressions andwin prizes.

Trial or judgmentThe support of justice is a primary

responsibility of government. Importantnational issues may also be settled bythe courts, certain criminal lawsenforced, and disputes between impor-tant nobles adjudicated. The ruler or hisproxy acts as judge.

The royal court is only concernedwith major crimes, including treason,rebellion, or anything that underminesthe welfare of the realm and the ruler’sstatus. Treachery may be dealt with bythe ruler in a private fashion, with the

accused later receiving a show trialwhen sufficient evidence has beenobtained against him (after a stay in thedungeons, perhaps).

Some cases, however, involve contro-versial issues or popular persons. Underthese circumstances, the ruler will con-vene a court of nobles and justices to set-tle the case. Conflict between nobles arealso brought before a jury of peers. Thereare several ways in which a PC might beinvolved in a case: first as a defendant,second as juror or judge, and third as aprosecutor or defending counsel.

If a PC is a defendant, he or his attor-ney can use law and oratory rolls tosway the court. These proficiencieswon’t change the facts in the case butmay manage to win acquittal for the PCon a technicality, or perhaps reduce theseverity of a sentence. As a juror orjudge, the PC votes against the ruler’swill or public opinion at his own risk.Bribes might be used to gain his support.

If a character is acting as counsel,winning the case makes an impression.

UproarUproar involves outrageous behav-

ior, scandals, murder, accidents, discov-ery of a spy, thievery, duels, use of illicitmagic, or anything that upsets the courtroutine. PCs implicated in an uproarmake a blunder until they clear them-selves. An uproar also occurs when theruler is in a foul mood. No impressionsmay be made, and anyone who blun-ders is likely to be banished, disgraced,thrown in the dungeon, or executed.

When not holding court, Larry Granatoworks as a computer programmer inDenver, CO.

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DRAGON #233 39

40 SEPTEMBER 1996

Scions of the Desertby Jim Parks

illustrated by William O�Connor

Z akhara is the Land of Fate, wherethe humblest beggar might actuallybe a prince. The dashing corsair

could turn out to be heir to a kingdom,or the insane barber the heir to a throne.The rawuns, or storytellers, sing of suchthings. But can they really be true? Wehave no fate but that we are given!

In adapting the BIRTHRIGHT® system ofdomain rulership for the AL-QADIM® set-ting, we can indeed play characters whodescend from noble lines and rise tobecome great sheiks, sultans, or caliphs.The BIRTHRIGHT system gives us themeans to do so. Imagine that each city-state of Zakhara becomes a domain, likethe smaller domains of Endier or llien inCerilia. Caravan and sea routes connectexotic guild holdings. Mosques and tem-ples form networks of temple holdings,which Holy Slayers and Mystic Groupsstruggle to control. Enigmatic SorcerousSocieties control the magical sourcesfound in isolated oases or in the shiftingsands of the deep desert.

To make full use of the informationprovided, you must have the ArabianAdventures rulebook, the CompleteSha’ir’s Handbook, and the Land of Fateand City of Delights boxed sets. You alsoneed the BIRTHRIGHT boxed set.

Children of the LoregiverThe gods of Zakhara were not

destroyed in an epic battle like thatfought at Mount Deismaar in Cerilia, andthey have not given the power of theirblood to mortal men and women. Yetthere are those in Zakhara whose blood

carries special power, and with it theright to rule the land and draw upon itspower. These are the Children of theLoregiver.

It is not known whether the Loregiveractually had children. However, she didhave seven followers: Anwarh, Rahman,Badiat, Basaia, Maneira, Umar, andAasir . These fol lowers were theLoregiver’s companions and cousins.When the scrolls that revealed theLoregiver’s teachings were discovered,the names of her followers were alsorevealed. As if to demonstrate the truthof the Loregiver’s words, a wondroustransformation occurred among theEnlightened. Those who could tracedescent to one of the Sharit, as theChildren of the Loregiver and theirdescendants are known, began to man-ifest great power that flowed throughtheir blood. By the power of their bondwith the land and the will of the people,the Sharit soon came to rule the citiesand tribes of the Land of Fate.

But all was not well among the Sharit.The blood of Aasir was tainted with evil,for he had coveted Fate’s choice of theLoregiver. In a twist of Fate, his bloodbecame cursed. Those strongly pos-sessed of the blood of Aasir becamewarped by evil. Even their bodiesbecame bestial, though possessed of noless power. It was the Sharit of Aasir’sblood who first discovered that bloodtheft was possible. All blooded scionshave learned to beware lest they bekilled for the power that coursesthrough their veins.

In game terms, blooded charactersare related to one of the Children of theLoregiver. The seven Sharit correspondto the seven BIRTHRIGHT bloodlines —Anduiras (Anwar), Reynir (Rahman),Brenna (Badiat), Basaia (Basaia), Masela(Maneira), Vorynn (Umar) and Azrai(Aasir). Those possessed of Aasir’s bloodin Zakhara are like the awnsheghlien ofCerilia. However, they are known onlyas Abominations. Unlike Cerilian abomi-nations, those in the Land of Fate do nottransform into monstrosities so readily.Their evil is reflected in ugliness, border-ing on the bestial, but they still appearessentially human. This more subtle,inner corruption reflects the spiritual cor-ruption of Aasir.

Politics and warfareBecause Zakhara is a desert realm of

nearly independent city-states boundedby vast deserts and trackless seas, thegreat armies that march across Ceriliaare not found here. Battles are stillwaged but wars are less common. Theland makes supporting large armies dif-ficult. The presence of genies and thefantastic magics of the sorcerers andsha’irs make Zakhara a much moremagic-rich land than Cerilia, with theresult that wars are all the more devas-tating as well. In Zakhara, politics is warby other means.

Political conflict in the Land of Fatecommonly takes the place of open war-fare. When wars occur, they are brief.The venomed blade that strikes in thenight, the softly whispered word that

DRAGON #233 41

shakes a kingdom, spies in perfumedsilks —these are the weapons in the sub-tle wars of intrigue fought each day andin every court in Zakhara. Conquest isnot always an obvious force. With con-trol of a city’s law, temple or guild hold-ings, who will say that your rule doesnot extend to that city? Without somuch as a drawn sword, you are assurely the master of the city as is its sul-tan, who may come to you offeringalliance or seeking your favor.

Players who attempt to sustain greatarmies over the vast reaches ofZakhara’s deserts face obstaclesunknown to regents in more temperateclimates. Raids from desert tribesmen,who appear only to vanish into thedesert after cutting your supply lines,dehydration and the need to find ortransport great stores of water, and theconstant scouring of wind and sandassails any army on the march. The DMshould make these facts clear to theplayers and enforce the rules for desertsurvival in the Arabian Adventures rule-book. Without sufficient provisioning,each unit should roll on the dehydrationtable as if an individual character.Raiders and sandstorms should be deter-mined as random events. For Zakhara to

retain its unique flavor, players must notbe allowed to ignore the environmentmerely because they command armies.Even the mightiest sultan covers his headbeneath the scorching desert sun.

Instead of marshalling armies tomarch out into the desert, a far bettertactic is to infiltrate an enemy city. Whenall is in readiness, law holdings havebeen subverted, the populace incited torise against the ruler, the support of theclergy and influential merchantssecured, then your army strikes fromwithin. To prevent such tactics, aZakharan ruler must be ever vigilant ofhis domain and the happiness of hispeople, lest they be taken from him.This is warfare Zakharan style, hand-maiden to politics.

The shariatsEach of the city-states or tribes ruled

by one of the sharit is a domain, knownas a shariat. Each domain is rated as if itwere a single province domain inBIRTHRIGHT. Each shariat has a maximumrating of 10/10, reflecting a land ofdensely populated cities and one filledwith fantastic magics.

The first number represents howdeveloped the city or tribe is as

described in the Land of Fate boxed set.Because of the urban nature of much ofZakhara, the ratings for city-states aremuch higher than those commonlyfound in Cerilia. Similarly, tribal ratingsare very low.

The second number represents howpowerful the magic sources are in thearea surrounding the city-state or tribe.This reflects the fact that once outside acity, the undisturbed vastness of thedesert, or the boundless sea, stretches tothe horizon. Just like other holdings,source holdings in a single city-state maybe split among a number of regents.

All domain ratings in AL-QADIM usethe BIRTHRIGHT rules for elven domains.The first number, or development rating,is separate from the second number, orsource rating. One can be raised or low-ered without affecting the other. Thisrule is in effect because the expanse ofdesert surrounding a city-state is largelyunaffected by the development of thecity, which depends on the availabilityof water. Arabian cities are extremelycrowded and densely built up. They donot sprawl like modern cities becausethey are built around wells or otherwater sources. Where there is no waterin the desert, there can be no cities.

42 SEPTEMBER 1996

Cities of the Heart Holding Levels in theDomain Law Temples Guilds SourcesHalwa 4/4 CoH(2) EV(2) KM(3) CN(1) Land of FateDI(1) WF(2) DF(1) ML(1)

GCH(0) TF(1)SA(1) Domain L a w Temples Guilds Sources

Qadib 4/3 SoQ(2) RD(3) YD(4) CN(2)Hiyal 9/3 SoH(9) GP(7) DF(3) CN(1) RP(2) WO(1)

GCH(0) FW(2) KM(2) RE(1) HR(1)YD(1) TF(1) GCH(0)

Huzuz 10/3 GCH(4) DW(2) DF(4) HG(1) Qudra 8/2 DD(2) EV(3) YD(3) SS(1)DI(1) RD(2) KM(2) TF(1) FF(2) FD(2) DF(2) VZ(1)DN(1) SW(2) IK(1) VZ(1) DI(1) SW(2) KM(2) TF(0)FF(1) EV(1) MS(1) CN(0) DN(1) RD(1) MS(1)HR(1) FD(1) YD(1) SD(1)SD(1) FW(1) VL(1)VL(1) GP(1) GCH(0)

Wasat 5/2 CoW(2) FW(3) DF(3) SW(2) Umara 5/2 CoU(3) WO(3)SD(2) GP(2) YD(1) RP(2) FD(2)WD(1) GCH(0)GCH(0)

YD(2) TF(2)KM(1)

Cities of the PearlUtaqa 4/5 CUQ(1) WF(2) KM(1) YK(4)

RP(1) WO(2) YD(1) TF(1)

VZ(2)

Sikak 4/2

Ajayib 4/2 CoA(3) CM(2)

WD(1) GF(2)GCH(0)

Gana 5/2 SoG(4)WD(1)GCH(0)

Jumlat 7/3 SoJ(4)WD(2)DI(1)GCH(0)

SoS(3)WD(1)GCH(0)

CM(3)GF(2)

GF(4)CM(2)EV(1)

CM(2)GF(1)SW(1)

DF(1)DL(1)

DL(2)DF(1)

DL(3)DF(2)MS(1)

DF(3)DF(1)

SW(2)

SC(2)SZ(1)

RE(1)TF(1)

SD(1)VL(1)GCH(0)

Cities of the PantheonFahhas 5/2 CoF(2) SWD(3) DL(2) HB(2)

DT(2) DW(2) MS(1)DI(1)GCH(0)

Hilm 6/2 CHH(2) DW(3) DL(1) SA(1)EX(2) SWD(2) MS(l) SS(1)DI(1) EV(1)DT(1)GCH(0)

Cities of the NorthHudid 5/2 CHD(3) SWD(3) DL(2) CN(2)

DT(1) FC(2) MS(2)Hafayah 5/3 PoH(2) SW(2) KM(2) RE(2) EX(1)

DI(1) WF(2) YD(2) VZ(1) GCH(0)RP(1) WO(1)WD(1) I’tarif 7/2 Eol(3) SWD(3) DL(3) HB(2)GCH(0) DT(2) FC(2) MS(2)

EX(2) FD(1)Hawa 4/4 CHW(2) WO(4) YD(1) SC(2) GCH(0) SW(1)

WD(2) SZ(2)GCH(0) Mahabba 5/5 CMH(2) FC(3) MS(3) SA(3)

DT(1) FD(2) DL(1) TF(2)Liham 5/3 CoL(2) WO(3) YD(2) TF(3) EX(1)

DI(2) EV(2) KM(1) WD(1)RP(1) GCH(0)GCH(0)

TaIab 4/5 CoT(2) WF(3) MS(3) SA(2)Muluk 5/3 CoM(3) EV(2) YD(3) SA(1) PH(2) RD(1)

RP(2) FD(2) KM(2) TF(1) TF(2)GCH(0) WO(1) VZ(1) GCH(0) CS(1)

DRAGON #233 43

Cities of the AncientsDomain Law Temples Guilds sources

Holding Levels in theDihliz 5/4 EoD(3) FC(5) MS(3) CN(1)

DI(2) IM(2) SA(1) Land of FateGCH(0) TF(1)

Domain Law TempIes Guilds SourcesKadarasto 5/5 KoK(3) FD(3) IM(4) SA(3) House of Thawr 1/4 SHH(1) DD(1) MS(1) RE(2)

DV(2) FC(2) MS(1) ML(1) GCH(0) SS(2)GCH(0) RE(1)

VZ(1) House of Uqab 2/6 SHU(1) EV(2) MS(1) TF(6)TF(0) GCH(0)

Medina al-Afyal 6/5 PMA(4) CR(3) IM(2) VZ(2) AbbreviationsWN(2) MN(3) MS(2) CN(1) Note: Abbreviations in the domain listings are ranked inGCH(0) HB(1) decreasing order based on the size of the holding and alpha-

SA(1) betically thereafter. The abbreviations below are listed alpha-betically by holding type.

Rog'osto 5/8 KoR(3) EV(3) IM(4) ML(2)DI(2) FC(2) MS(1) TF(2) Law Holding Abbreviations: CHD — Caliph of Hudid, CHH —GCH(0) CS(1) Caliph of Hilm, CHW — Council of Hawa, CMN — Caliph of

RE(1) Mahhaba, CoA — Caliph of Ajayib, CoF — Caliph of Fahhas, CoHSS(1) — Caliph of Halwa, CoL — Caliph of Liham, CoM — Caliph ofSZ(1) Muluk, CoT — Caliph of Talab, CoU — Caliph of Umara, CoW —

Tribes of the Haunted LandsHouse of Hanif 3/10 SHF(3) WF(3) DF(1) YK(4)

GCH(0) KM(1) CN(3)YD(1) CS(2)

TF(1)

House of Hotek 1/5 SHO(1) DW(1) DF(1) YK(2)GCH(0) KM(0) CN(1)

CS(1)RE(1)

Tribes of the High Desert

Caliph of Wasat, CUQ — Caliph of Utaqa, DD — DefendersMamluks, Dl — Dutiful Mamluks, DN — Dauntless Mamluks, DT— Devoted Mamluks, DV — Devout Mamluks, EoD — Emir ofDihilz, Eol — Emit of I’taraf, EX — Exalted Mamluks, FF- FaithfulMamluks, GCH — Grand Caliph of Huzuz, HR — HonoredMamluks, KoK — Khedive of Kadarasto, KoR — Khedive ofRog’osto, PH — Parched Mamluks, PMA — Padishah of Medinaal-Afyal, PoH — Prince of Hafayah, RP — Respected Mamluks,SD — Studious Mamluks, SHA — Sheikh of House Asad, SHB —Sheikh of House Bakr, SHD — Sheikh of House Dhi’b, SHF —Sheikh of House Hanif, SHH — Sheikh of House Thawr, SHN —Sheikh of House Nasr, SHO — Sheikh of House Hotek, SHT —Sheikh of House Tayif, SHU — Sheikh of House Uqab, SoG —Sultan of Gana, SoH — Sultana of Hiyal, SoJ — Sultan of Jumlat,SoQ — Sultan of Qadib, SoS — Sultan of Sikak, SoT — Sultan ofTajar, VL — Valiant Mamluks, WD — Wanders Mamluks, WN —

House of Asad 3/7 SHA(3) DM(1) DF(2) CS(3)GCH(0) RD(1) YD(1) SZ(2)

WF(1) HB(1)VZ(1) Wondrous Mamluks.

House of Bakr 1/5 SHB(1) SW(1) DL(1) TF(3) Temple Holding Abbreviations: CM — Chant Masters, CR —GCH(0) SZ(2) Court of Rhythm, DM — Dome Dancers, DW — Dancing

Dwarves, EV — Everlasting, FC — Final Chord, FD — FlamedeathHouse of Dhi’b 2/7 SHD(2) WF(2) DF(1) HB(2) Fellowship, FW — Friendly Word, GF — Grey Fire, GP — Gilded

GCH(0) DL(1) VZ(2) Palm, MS — Moonspinners, RD — Readers, SW — Soft Whisper,CS(1) SWD — Storm Which Destroys, WF — Wind of Fate, WO —SA(1) Wrath of the Old,TF(1)

Guild Holding Abbreviations: DF — Al-Danafi merchantHouse of Nasr 2/9 SHN(2) DD(2) DF(1) CS(3) family, DL — Al-Dalamari merchant family, IK — AI-Ikhusaru

GCH(0) DL(1) HB(3) merchant family, KM — Al-Kamari merchant family, MS — AI-VZ(3) Misali merchant family, YD — Al-Yodfah merchant family.

House of Tayif 1/10 SHT(1) DD(2) DF(1) CS(2) Source Holding Abbreviations: CN — Constellation, CS —GCH(0) HB(2) Cult of Sand, HB — Hands of Badiat abd Ala'i, ML — Mechanics

SS(2) League, RE — Red Eyes, SA — Society of Shifting Sands, SC —TF(2) Sea’s Children, SS — SpellsIayers, SZ — Servants of the Zephyr,VZ(2) TF — Brotherhood of the True Flame, VZ — Viziers, YK — Yikaria

(Yak-men)

44 SEPTEMBER 1996

Thus, the undisturbed desert environ-ment remains a pristine source formagic. Only the presence of traderoutes, an oasis, or desert tribes disturbsthe stillness of the desert.

Each of the Shariats is listed in thesidebars in abbreviated BIRTHRIGHT for-mat. Actual descriptions of each city-state or tribe and their regents are listedin the Land of Fate boxed set. Players andDMs should refer to that set for details.

The Grand CaliphThe Grand Caliph, Khalil al-Assad al-

Zahir, holds court in Huzuz and is thegreatest of all the rulers of Zakhara. Heis the spiritual and temporal leader ofthe Land of Fate. Every other sovereignowes the Grand Caliph allegiance, atleast in theory. In game terms, everyregent contributes one GB each domainturn to the Grand Caliph and the GrandCaliph maintains at least one zero levellaw holding in every domain. For obvi-ous reasons, players cannot start thegame as the Grand Caliph and regent ofHuzuz. It is up to the DM to decidewhether players can ever hope to attainsuch status.

If a regent refuses to pay the one GBtribute to the Grand Caliph, the regentautomatically suffers the effects of theEvil Eye, and the Hand of Fate turnsagainst the regent and his domain. Onlyby first seizing control of the GrandCaliph’s law holding in the domain andsecuring the support or control of alltemple holdings can the regent of thatdomain avoid these penalties.

While the Grand Caliph is immenselypowerful, he rarely flexes his muscles.Instead, the Grand Caliph gives lavishgifts to his friends and holds the mostmagnificent court in all Zakhara, offer-ing hospitality to all who come beforehim. Should he be moved to anger, theGrand Caliph will manipulate the politi-cal situation first or contest holdings.Only as a last resort will he put an armyin the field. Thus, he remains reveredand respected, a figure above pettysquabbles and disputes, courted byevery regent.

The mamluksThe Mamluk slave-warriors are

unique to Zakhara and rule Qudra, theCity of Power. The Emir of Qudra rules inname only. The true powers of the cityare the mamluks, who control the lawholdings of the city. Only through court-ing the mamluks of the military councilof Qudra is the city governed.

Beyond Qudra’s walls, mamluk soci-eties control law holdings in many city-states, functioning as independentarmies. The law holdings of each mam-luk society comprise a domain which canbe controlled just like any other networkof temple, guild, or source holdings.Players gain regency points and GB foradministering such a network. Mamlukregents are militarily powerful. Each levelof law holding is equivalent to one mili-tary unit. If a unit is destroyed, the lawholding it came from is not reduced butcannot function as a military unit untilthree months or one domain turn haspassed, allowing sufficient time to replacethose mamluks lost. After that time, theholding is automatically capable of func-tioning as a military unit again.

The presence of the mamluk societiessignificantly weakens the noble rulers ofZakhara’s city-states by decreasing theirlaw holdings. Some mamluk societiesare actually more powerful than manysultans or caliphs. However, most mam-luk societies in a city willingly serve thatcity’s ruler if asked and the ruler of a cityis usually at least as powerful as any onemamluk group in the city and oftenmore powerful. None the less, a regentmust maintain good relations with themamluk societies in his city or seek toexpel them, a dangerous undertaking.

Holy slayers, mystic groups,and clerics

Tolerance is the unique feature of reli-gion in Zakhara. Enlightened personsrespect others who are Enlightenedregardless of which mosque they attend.With the exception of the PantheonLeague, the mosques do not attempt toexpand their power like the temples ofCerilia. Even the Pantheon League oper-ates on a political not a religious level,spreading theocracy rather than merelyfaith.

Instead, holy slayer organizations andthe mystic groups seek to exercise con-trol over temple holdings to spread theirinfluence and particular beliefs. The tem-ple holdings controlled by a holy slayerorganization or a mystic group comprisea domain which can be controlled justlike any other network of law, guild orsource holdings. Players gain regencypoints and GB for administering such anetwork. Any temple holdings not con-trolled by a holy slayer organization ormystic group are assumed to be adminis-tered by the mosque itself under the pro-tection of the regent. Such holdings func-tion as if controlled by the local regent.

Merchant housesOnly a few merchant houses are

described in any detail in the fund of Fateand City of Delights boxed sets. A fewmore are mentioned in the AL-QADIM

sourceboxes. Presented here are six rep-resentative merchant houses based onthose presented in the boxed sets andsourceboxes. These six houses areexamples and you should create addi-tional houses to suit your needs. Themerchant houses control guild networkswhich are administered by PC or NPCregents using the same rules found inthe BIRTHRIGHT boxed set. Any holdingsnot controlled by these six houses areleft to be assigned by the DM or are con-trolled by local merchants.

The Al-Dalmari merchant family:Led by the charismatic corsair Makbullabint Dalmar, the Al-Dalmari is one of themost wealthy merchant families.Specializing in direct trade between theCities of the Pearl and the Cities of thePantheon, the Al-Dalmari play a danger-ous game. Not surprisingly, they areexcellent diplomats as well as daringmerchants.

DRAGON #233 45

The Al-Danafi merchant family:Khwaja al-Danaf leads this sociallyprominent merchant family that stronglysupports the Grand Caliph. Originallyfrom Gana, the AI-Danafi is the leadingmerchant house in the Cities of theHeart, while still remaining powerfulamong the Pearl Cities. Transportinggoods across the Golden Gulf is the chiefbusiness of this merchant family.

The Al-lkhusaru merchant family:Unlike many merchant families, the Al-lkhusaru concentrate their guild hold-ings in a single area, the Cities of theAncients. Yalister Ikhusaru, head of thefamily, has made the decision to avoidcostly trade wars and concentrate onrecovering relics of the Ruined King-doms, that can be profitably sold to mid-dlemen. If the opportunity for expansionpresents itself, the Al-lkhusaru will beready but until then they will continue tohire adventurers to pry their fortunefrom ruins.

The Al-Kamari merchant family: Thehead of the Al-Kamari is Mu’izzi al-Kamar but he runs the family’s networkof guild holdings in name only. He iscontrolled by the Yikaria. Through theirguild holdings among the Cities of theNorth and the Cities of the Heart, the Al-Kamari truly seek to advance the inter-ests of the Yikaria and not the family’sprofitable silk trade in Huzuz.

The Al-Misali merchant family:Gogol al-Misal controls an extensiveseries of guild holding throughout theCities of the Pantheon and the Cities ofthe Ancients. From headquarters inHiyal and Huzuz, the AI-Misal familycontrols the largest network of slavers inthe Land of Fate. Gogol is also a secretoperative of the sorcerous Brotherhoodof the True Flame, whose resources hecan call on if needed.

The Al-Yodfah merchant family: Thismerchant family is among the newest.Led by Yodfah the Jeweler and head-quartered in Muluk, this family concen-trates on luxury items and exotics, par-ticularly jewels. Taking opportunitywhere he can find it, Yodfah is the lead-ing merchant in Qudra, where he hasworked out a surprisingly good relation-ship with the mamluk societies that rulethe city.

Sorcerous societiesAs, described in the Complete Sha’ir's

Handbook, wizards are better organizedin Zakhara than in many other settings,banding together into sorcerous soci-eties. These societies serve as informa-

tion exchanges but also provide protec-tion for wizards against magical rivals.Feuds among wizards, particularly thoseof opposed elemental schools, are com-mon and the Brotherhood of the TrueFlame seeks nothing less than thedestruction of all forms of magic notbased on fire. Wizards need friends aswell as resources.

In Zakhara, sorcerous societies con-trol the source holdings essential to cast-ing realm magic. These societies com-prise domains which can be controlledjust like any other network of holdingsand players gain regency points and GBfor administering such a network.Sorcerous societies also have almostexclusive knowledge of realm spells, inpart because they monopolize thesource holdings necessary to cast realmmagic and in part because they jealous-ly guard their knowledge. While suffi-ciently powerful wizards, such as theWhite Agate, might individually controlmagical sources and be knowledgeableenough to cast realm magic, they arethe exception to the rule and must beprepared to deal with constant attemptsby Sorcerous Societies to wrest theirsource holdings from them.

Secrecy is the hallmark of the sorcer-ous societies. Rarely will a wizard makehimself known as such, preferring toremain evasive on the topic. Thissecrecy insures that powerful magicalknowledge remains the province of thesorcerous societies and helps guardagainst rival wizards. In their magicalfeuds, the sorcerous societies carefullyplan each move they make. Rivalriesarise over differing magical philosophybut feuds usually involve the control ofthe knowledge of realm magic or sourceholdings. These wizardly wars arealways clandestine affairs and veryoften fought through manipulation ofthird parties. The sorcerous societiesgenerally seek political power only toprotect their magical power, though sul-tans and caliphs regularly seek out mag-ical advice or assistance for their ownends. This relationship works out wellfor all parties, even if they occasionallywork at cross purposes.

The YikariaFar to the north in the World Pillar

Mountains the Yikaria, or yak-men, plotthe conquest and enslavement of theEnlightened lands of Zakhara. With theirformidable ability to possess the bodiesof their victims, the threat the Yikariaposes should not be underestimated.

One can never be certain one is notdealing with one of their agents.

With the rise of blood powers amongthe Sharit, the yak-men have been quickto see opportunity and seize it.Experiments on blooded scions cap-tured or possessed has revealed thatblood powers can be stolen and trans-ferred to yak-men. Though still rare,blooded Yikaria are being more fre-quently encountered. All of thoseencountered have been possessed ofthe blood of Aasir. It is speculated thatblood theft by the Yikaria invariablyresults in the taint of Aasir’s evil, but thishas not been conclusively proven.

Unlike other groups in Zakhara,which control networks of holdings, theYikaria can only control holdingsthrough their possessed victims. Thus,Yikarian domains include law, temple,guild, and source holdings in a unifiednetwork. Only in the World PillarMountains is it speculated that theYikaria control more standard networksof holdings, but information is scarceand notoriously unreliable. Yikariancontrol over the holdings of the Land ofFate is still primarily confined to theareas north of Suq Bay, but the threat isgrowing. Already, the Yikaria control theAl-Kamari merchant family.

GeniesGenies often hold positions of

authority but they do not commonlycontrol any particular type of holding.

Genies are able to recognize bloodedcharacters automatically, as if that char-acter carried a Bloodmark, if the charac-ter meets the genie’s gaze. Veils, masksor other eye coverings prevent this iden-tification. Genies respond to such char-acters cautiously. They know the powerblooded scions possess and they arealways on guard. Genies can never beblooded.

It is within a genie’s power to grant atemporary 1-2 point increase to anysource holding by tapping their elemen-tal plane. After any realm spell is cast,the source rating returns to normal.Genies always drive a hard bargainbefore utilizing this power to help, anybut their favorites. While there is no limitto the number of times a genie canincrease a source holding, any geniedoing so more than once a monthattracts the attention of the genie ruler ofhis elemental plane and is forced toanswer for his actions. Multiple increasesare never cumulative.

46 SEPTEMBER 1996

Scions of the desertBecause Zakhara is so intensely

urban, holdings cluster around the citystates and are more divided among anynumber of power groups than is thecase in Cerilia. This makes cooperationamong PCs and power groups muchmore critical if sufficient money andresources are to be raised against athreat. Politicking and building coalitionsare much more important in the Land ofFate. While one way around this is for aregent to merely seize control of alltypes of holdings within his domain oraggressively seek to expand his domain,this quickly draws the wrath of otherregents, even those unaffected by thepower grab, because such actions arean affront to the Grand Caliph’s power. Itis far better for a regent to make vassalsof the contested holdings, using theBIRTHRIGHT rules for vassalage. This strat-egy insures the regent’s increasedincome and power but also makes himappear generous in victory, increasinghis prestige and avoiding having coali-tions form against him.

Successfully ruling and expanding adomain in the Land of Fate is not a sim-ple matter and calls on different skillsthan those needed in Cerilia. The condi-tions you encounter in Zakhara demandno less. Whether you chose to play amamluk, holy slayer, wealthy merchant,a member of one of the sorcerous soci-eties, or the ruler of one of the manycities or tribes of Zakhara, the Land ofFate holds rewards and challenges forblooded characters like those foundnowhere else. The mystery, intrigue andmagic of the Arabian Nights is yours toexperience and to command. Using theBIRTHRIGHT system of domain rulershlp inthe AL-QADIM setting, you can createexotic adventures that combine the bestof both settings and allow your charac-ters to chart a path from humble begin-nings to the very pinnacle of success.May Fate smile upon your endeavors!

Jim Parks is a freelance writer who hasworked with White Wolf Games Studio,Steve Jackson Games, Shadis Magazineand R. Talsorian Games. This is Jim’s firstarticle for DRAGON® Magazine. Jim is mar-ried to Lisa, to whom this article, and every-thing he does, is dedicated.

DRAGON #233 47

ability magic (wind walk); healing magic(breath of life); penalizing magic (wall offog); and even a spell that can reduce aterrain die, preventing an opponentfrom winning (flashflood). This last spellis equally useful for Coral Elves tomaneuver a terrain to an action of theirchoice, such as magic or missile.

by Dori Hein

I n recent issues of DRAGON® Magazine,we have covered the strategies, spe-cial abilities, and unique features of

races new to the world of Esfah. But withthe excitement generated by the releaseof the Amazons, Firewalkers, Undead,and Feral, the first four races have beenseemingly forgotten in these discussionsof the DRAGON DICE™ game.

Are we suggesting that their glorydays are over? No!

Are viable armies composed of CoralElves, Dwarves, Goblins, and Lava Elvesthings of the past? Of course not!

Most DRAGON DICE players are inti-mately familiar with the four basic races,so I won’t do an overview of them.Instead, I’ll just detail a few strategies youcan use to run roughshodover your enemies. If you look at one complete set of

Coral Elf units, you’ll find that they haveCoral Elfarmies

59 melee results spread fairly evenlyover their sides (not counting ID icons).

Coral Elves — a When compared to magic results (23)staple, utilitarian race and missile icons (37), you can see that— seem to dot the Coral Elves really are built for bothlandscape in virtually melee and missile combat. They alsoevery DRAGON DICE game. The have a large number of maneuver iconsreason why is clear: Selumari are made (39). What they are sadly lacking in isof air and water elements, which lets saves. When away from their home ter-them cast some of the most powerful rain (where their maneuvers count asspells in the game. As magicians, Coral saves), Coral Elves have only 15 saves.Elves have it all: damage spells (hail- So what do all these numbers meanstorm, lightning strike); protective spells when putting together an army of Coral(watery double, wall of ice); maneuver- Elves?

The Selumari have only one disad-vantage as magicians: Their nativecoastland terrain has few magic faces(available only on face 1 or 8), hence thedifficulty. For this reason, a player maywant to put a swampland on the tableas it doubles green magic and hasmagic on faces 1, 2, and 8 (or theswampland temple, which has magic onfaces 1, 2, 3, and 8). The Coral Elves’home terrain is more suited to fighting amissile war, and Selumari archersbacked with a sufficient number ofmagicians make a deadly force.

Mix your troop rarity. Coral Elves areequally balanced between common,uncommon, and rare dice; that is, eachhas its uses. Coral Elves have the advan-tage of resurrection magic (breath oflife), so lost uncommons and rares canbe restored.

Stay on the coast. Unless you’ve cre-ated and tuned an army that can survivein other terrains, stay in the coastland.You can’t save anywhere else. Ventureaway from the coast only if you have anarmy of magicians using green magic toprovide you with some much neededsaves. None of the other races are anygood in the coastland, so their lives willbe miserable if you force them to cometo you. The same is true if you caninvolve them in either a magic or missilebrawl.

Everyone hates lightning strike.Show your opponent why. Use it to dec-imate opposing magicians. Magic ismuch more powerful when you’re theonly one using it. Do the same with yourCoral Elf sharpshooters and their bulls-eye icons.

Dragon summoning for fun andprofit. Summon as many green dragonsas you can and hope for a breath result.Green dragon breath halves all rollsmade by the target army or any units inthat army — rounding down. Follow agreen dragon breath attack with a bighailstorm, or a major melee or missileattack. You may even want to arrange fora charge. No matter what, it’s sure to bea lethal experience for your opponent.

DRAGON #233 53

Dwarf armiesThe Vagha are made of

red and gold elements,allowing them to use bothfire and earth magic. Access tothese spells allows the Dwarves to castsome highly useful magic — spells thatsupplement their great melee abilities.Dwarf magic ians can cast meleeenhancement magic (burning hands);protective magic (stoneskin); maneuvermagic (transmute rock to mud); healingmagic (spark of life); penalizing spells(ash storm, dancing lights); and even aspell that can bury opponents’ deadunits, removing them from the game for-ever (dust to dust). But the most impor-tant spell in the Dwarves’ arsenal is path,an earth spell that allows units to jumpfrom one terrain to another (withoutgoing to reserve first).

The Vagha’s home terrain is the high-lands, which is a distinct advantage forthe Dwarves. This race is strong in melee,and the highland terrain puts them intomelee on faces 6, 7, and 8. Since theDwarves’ red and gold magic results areboth doubled in the highlands, magic isextremely important to them, and magicappears on a highland die on faces 1, 2,and 3. Only on face 4 or 5 is a Dwarfarmy at a disadvantage, and then onlyfor a short time since they can quicklymaneuver out of missile range.

If you look at a complete set of Dwarfunits, you’d find that they have 77melee results spread fairly evenly overtheir sides (not counting ID icons). Whencompared to magic results (23) and mis-sile icons (24), you can see why Dwarvesare the melee kings of DRAGON DICE.Dwarves are also reasonably maneuver-able (27), and they save extremely well(29 saves).

When putting together an army ofDwarves, keep the following in mind:

Mix your troop rarity. Like CoralElves, Dwarves are well balanced, eachwith its own uses. Dwarves also haveresurrection magic (spark of life), so lostuncommons and rares can be restored.

Go where the action is. Dwarves savewell, deal plenty of damage, and havedecent spells. So why aren’t you outthere making your opponent hate you?For some reason, Dwarves don’t seemas popular a race as Coral Elves, andthat seems odd. Dust off those red-and-gold beauties and take the fight to youropponent. If he’s playing Coral or LavaElves, he wants to sit back and kill youwith spells from a distance. Don’t let

him. Push his forces, make them fight.Go into enemy territory and turn the ter-rain to melee. Laugh at the losses youtake; they’ll be less than his if you can disadvantages inonly get to melee. Keep a group of any terrain.magicians in reserve or protected at I f you look a tyour home terrain to cast protectivespells, transmute rock to mud, and sparkof life.

one complete set ofGoblin units, you’ll findthat they have 59 melee results spread

race, especially con-sidering that theyhave no significant

Path to victory. Many, many gameshave been won when someone is wipedout an eighth face, only to have thedwarves suddenly appear, grab the ter-rain, and announce that they’ve wonthe game. Make it happen for you bywatching for your opportunity andremembering that you (and those peskyGoblins) have the only spell that allowsinstant transport between terrains.

Ash doesn’t hurt dragons. A nastything to do to your opponents is tocover a terrain with as many ash stormsas possible. Then, while they’re trying tofind their swords in the smog, drop adragon or two on them. The dragon isn’tslowed down by the ash storm at all.This is not the case for your opponents,who must suffer through the attack,laboring under substantial penalties.

Goblin armiesThe Trogs are

made of black andgold elements,a l lowing them to

use both death andearth magic. Access todeath spells gives theGoblins some highly useful magic, spellsthat supplement their great melee andmissile abilities. But that ability also lim-its them — they are the only basic racethat cannot restore uncommon and rareunits to life.

Goblin magicians can cast protectivemagic (stoneskin); maneuver magic(transmute rock to mud); healing magic(reanimate dead); penalizing magic(palsy); instant-kill magic (finger ofdeath); and even a spell that sends deadunits to reserves instead of removingthem from play (open grave). They, likethe Dwarves, have the ability to castpath, which allows them to jump quicklyfrom terrain to terrain.

The Goblins’s home terrain is theswamplands. Trogs, like Dwarves, aregood at melee combat, and swamplandterrain puts them into melee on faces 5,6, 7, and 8. Goblins have the advantageof doubled maneuvers in swampland,making their maneuver rolls extremelyhigh there. Goblins are a good all-around

across their sides (not counting ID icons).When compared to magic results (23)and missile icons (25) you can see whyGoblins are considered all-around units.Goblins are also surprisingly quick, hav-ing 40 maneuver results. They have atotal of 33 saves, making them the mostdamage-resistant race out there.

So what’s the charm in puttingtogether an all-Goblin army?

Unless you have trolls, use commonGoblins. It’s depressing not to use themore exciting uncommon and rareunits, but unless you have some way ofrestoring them to life, you should stickto common troops. With a commonGoblin horde, you’ll be assured of get-ting some of anything you roll for. Youwon’t get to use the snazzy specialaction icons, but who needs them whenyou’re winning with overwhelmingnumbers? If you’re lucky enough tohave plenty of trolls and they roll theregenerate icon, you can resurrect thoseuncommon and rare units (up to fourhealth per regenerate).

Go where the action is. Goblins savebetter than any race in the game. Yourtroops are well balanced for melee, mis-sile, and magic combat. So why not takethe fight to your opponents? Other thanlosing your double maneuvers inswampland, you’re not suffering much.Like the Dwarves, Goblins should gointo their enemies’ homelands and dragthem into the war. Don’t allow youropponents the luxury of sitting back andcasting damage spells at their leisure.The moment you stop pushing is themoment you’ve lost the game.

Path to victory. Use path spells todrop your troops into weakly defendedterrains. The Goblins’ motto should be,“Kick ‘em when they’re down, then kick‘em again to make sure they staydown.”

Give ‘em the finger. The finger ofdeath, that is. Add insult to injury by firstburying an opponent’s dead units todouble your black magic, then use thepoints to kill one of their favorite units,with no save. Do this as often as possi-ble and you’ll be the most “popular”player in the game.

54 SEPTEMBER 1996

Lava elf armiesThe Morehl are made of

red and black elements.allowing them to cast bothfire and death spells. Accessto these types of magic make

could help them weather the storms ofcombat at other terrains, so you reallyhave to stay put if at all possible. Rely onyour heavy and light melee units to pro-tect you if the enemy takes the fight toyour home terrain.

the Lava Elves arguably the most power-ful spellcasting race in the game. LavaElf magicians can cast spells to improvetheir battle prowess (burning hands);protective magic (open grave); healingspells (spark of life, reanimate dead);penalizing spells (ash storm, dancinglights, palsy); and that spell guaranteedto make an enemy, finger of death.

Like the Dwarves, the Morehl’s hometerrain is the highlands. Lava Elves aregood at magic, and highland terrainputs them in magic on faces 1, 2, 3, and8. Since red magic ID results are doubledin the highlands (black can be doubledanywhere), its important for the race tostay in the highlands. Lava Elves arecompetent with melee and missileweapons as well.

If things look bad, shut things down.You can drop so many ash storms on aterrain that melee, missile, and magicactions basically come to a standstill. Ifthings start to happen that you don’tlike, shut them down. This tactic canalso work if someone is in your hometerrain and is pressing you. Assumingthat there’s no one in a tower or at thefrontier to attack you with missiles, castash storms on your own terrain. Thespells will keep the damage down, andthey’ll wear off at the start of your turn— allowing you to cast other spellsbefore throwing ash storms again. Keepthis strategy up long enough and yourattacker will get bored and go home.

Take a look at a complete set of LavaElf units, and you’ll notice somethingright off the bat. Unlike the other races,Lava Elf results aren’t balanced. Theycan have five results on one side andonly one result on another — all on thesame die. Lava Elves can be feast orfamine. Your rolls should average out,but occasionally you can get into greatwinning (or losing) streaks with the LavaElves.

Morehl have 62 melee results (notcounting ID icons), making them secondonly to Dwarves in melee. When com-pared to magic results (23) and missileicons (37), you can see why Lava Elvesare many players’ favorite DRAGON DICE

race. Lava Elves have a total of 18 savesspread over the various units, puttingthem just ahead of Coral Elves. Lastly,these elves are also maneuverable (35),which is important since their maneu-vers count as saves in the highlands.

When putting together an army ofMorehl, take into account the following:

Mix your troop rarity. Since LavaElves are balanced between common,uncommon, and rare units, you canhave all types in your army. Lava Elvescan cast spark of life and reanimatedead, so any lost uncommons and rarescan be restored.

Stay in the hills. Unless you’ve createdand tuned an army that can survive inother terrains, stay in the highlands. Youcan’t save anywhere else. Your elvesdon’t have any protective spells, which

Ash doesn’t hurt dragons. Just aswith the Dwarves, the Lava Elves canpull a vicious maneuver by littering aterrain with ash storms and then send-ing in dragons.

Beginners, take heartAre you new to the DRAGON DICE

game, or maybe intimidated a bit by allthe strategies discussed thus far? If so,take heart: TSR has produced a two-player board-game version of the origi-nal DRAGON DICE game. Designed specifi-cally for new players, the BATTLE BOX™game introduces the most basic ele-ments of DRAGON DICE. The product con-tains two sets of dice (identical in break-down and collation to those in theDRAGON DICE basic sets), one for eachplayer; a game board; two referencecards, one for each player; BATTLE Boxrules (filled with photographs detailingplay); and the DRAGON DICE Revised Rulesfor when players are ready to graduateto the full game.

Dori Hein is the Creative Director for theDRAGON DICE product line. Her current pro-ject is co-designing the Dice Commander’sManual, a reference guide to DRAGON DICE.She welcomes input on unusual strategiesor other ideas you’d like to see included inthe guide. Address correspondence to Doriat TSR, or send e-mail to tsrdori@aol.com.

SEPTEMBER 1996

The DRAGON® Magazine staff are, as onemight expect, avid readers of fantasy andscience fiction. Every now and then we’ll comeacross a book we think you’ll enjoy. When thathappens, we’ll recommend it here. lf you tryone of these on our advice, drop us a line to tellus your opinion. Write to “Bookwyrms,”DRAGON Magazine, 201 Sheridan SpringsRoad, Lake Geneva, WI 53147 or send e-mailto tsrdragon@aol.com.

as the Archangel, and you get an excel-lent novel of suspense.

However, this is not just a thriller. Thenovel deals with race and gender preju-dice, greed, and power. Perhaps thestrongest element of the story is thehope and faith with which the charac-ters face fear.

Conner’s book grabs hold of you anddoesn’t let go until the very end. Theperiod research is right on. and the char-acters are real. P.W.

The Forgotten Beasts of EldPatricia A. McKillipMagic Carpet Books $6.00

For a while I read very nearly

a variant of the ebola virus, mayhave sprung from the same labora-tories that produced mustard gasand other air-borne horrors used inthe first World War. The soldierswho survived return home, bring-

ing the Hun with them.

Archangel

Archangel is set in a small Minnesotatown in the 1930s. Despair is a constant.Epidemics of the disease come and go.

Mike Conner The population dwindles, but the Hun is

Tor $6.99 selective. Those of African descent are

In Archangel, Mike Conner creates animmune, and they seem poised to inher-

alternate Earth where World War I comesit the world.

to a different end. A deadly virus knownAdd to this a blood stealer, a young

as the Hun strikes the battlefields ofnews photographer turned detective,

Europe with incredible ferocity. The Hun,and a mysterious woman known only

a book a day, devouring everymodern work of fantasy that Icould find. Still, I’m always findinggreat books that eluded me in myteens. After reading The ForgottenBeasts of Eld, I was at once sorrythat I had missed it the first timearound and glad that I’d discovered

it as an adult.Patricia A. McKillip’s first full novel

has been reprinted under a children’simprint, but that’s misleading. Whilethe simple prose and fairy-tale plot areexcellent for children, the elegance of

the language and the rich, resonantstory appeal even more to an adult read-er (or a canny child). I’m sure I’d have

enjoyed The Forgotten Beasts of Eld had Iread it when I was twelve, but I don’tthink its sparse beauty and wise resolu-tion would have moved me as it did.

The protagonist of the tale is Sybel, ayoung woman who has learned from herfather how to call fantastic creatures toher side. None can resist her magicalsummons, not the Black Swan of Tirlith,nor the the white boar Cyrn, nor eventhe green-winged dragon Gyld. Each ofthese and the other magnificent animalshas a legendary history so convincingthat you may find yourself searching fortheir sources in mythology. Sybel and theanimals live in idyllic seclusion, safe fromthe war between the King of Mondorand the Sirle Lords. That is until a soldierarrives to ask Sybel to raise the child ofKing Drede. As the infant grows to boy-hood and the warring factions want himback, Sybel learns that she can no longerlive apart from the world.

The conflicts Sybel must face through-out the story range from overcoming herfear of the outside world to resisting thepowerful summons of an enemy wizard.The greatest challenge she must face,

58 SEPTEMBER 1996

however, is one of understanding her also deals with the near future and con-desires and defining her morality. The temporary issues, but with a few majorresult is a tale as human and true as it is differences: it’s credible, balanced, andlovely and engaging. I haven’t enjoyed genderly indifferent (as opposed to theand admired a book so much in many militant feminist slant of Atwood’syears. work).

While contemporary fantasy hasmany fine titles, truly magical storiessometimes seem as rare as firebreathingdragons or talking boars. If you wish youcould find another book as timeless andenchanting as The Fellowship of the Ringor The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe,find a copy of The Forgotten Beasts ofEld. Read it for yourself. Then, if theyhave been especially good, read it toyour children. D.G.

The Immortals deals with the arrivalof V-CIDS, a lethal descendant of theAIDS virus that is highly contagious,more lethal, and more indiscriminatethan its ancestor. With the cold efficiencyof the Third Reich, the governmentdeclares martial law and installs a sys-tem to confine the disease by the mas-sive quarantine of the sick in isolatedinternment camps. The truth behind thegovernment’s containment program isdiscovered by a media executive whohas managed to gain access to one ofthe camps in search of his estranged son.

learn more as the series progresses.This is not great science fiction, but it

works well as adventure. If you enjoy agood space opera, Bunch offers enoughin this first book to lead the reader on tothe next. Here’s hoping this series devel-ops as Sten did. P.W.

Though the novel has its fair share ofoccasionally cliched and convenient sit-uations, The Immortals is horrifying inits credibility and filled with memo-rable characters whose fates hold youin emotional thrall. As exciting asThe Great Escape, as emotionallywrenching as The Diary of AnneFrank, and as thought provokingas 1984, The lmmortals is sciencefiction at its most meaningful.

$5.99Chris Bunch is probably best

known as the coauthor of theSten adventures. With The WindAfter Time, he begins a newseries called Shadow Warrior.As the novel opens, we learn

that a devastating war in spacesuddenly ended when the enemy, analien race known as the Al’ar, simplyvanished. Joshua Wolfe spent years with

The ImmortalsTracy HickmanRoc $19.95

Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’sTale, since it deals with contemporaryissues in a perceivable near future, isoften used in high school and collegeclasses as a token science-fiction novel.The fact that it lacks any real credibilityin terms of characterization, plot, oreven its basic premise does not seem tobother the so-called educators whochoose the texts for these classes. Theywould be much better served by teach-ing The Immortals by Tracy Hickman. It

the mysterious Al’ar, first as a guest,then as a prisoner of war, learning manyof their ways. Now, rumor has it, oneAl’ar has reappeared, and Joshua ischarged with finding it.

This adventure novel has many thingsto recommend it. The action is fast-pacedand frequent. Although the weaponrysometimes verges on the cartoonish, itdoes not detract from the story. Joshuapractices a mysterious martial artlearned from the Al’ar. While this fightingstyle is not detailed, enough is revealedto make it intriguing. Wolfe’s ship, theGrayle, is also a curiosity. Judging byBunch’s previous Sten books, we will

B.T.

The Wind After TimeChris BunchBallantine

By Michael Ferman

“Hey, fellas!”

DRAGON #233 59

62 SEPTEMBER 1996

DRAGON #233 63

Warred heard a faint rumble, the sound startlingand uncanny from the cloudless sky. The firstdistant pulse was a slight disturbance in the air,

gone before the barbarian could begin to listen. For longseconds he remained silent, scalp prickling with unease.Heartbeats passed, and he was about to dismiss his firstalarm as imaginary — but then he heard another boom.This one resonated faintly through the ground beneathhis moccasins.

“Did you hear me? I told you I was cold,” Shayne saidpointedly, nudging him in the ribs with a sharp elbow. Theplainswoman leaned close, reminding him of the unusualchill in the spring breeze. Her eyes flashed invitingly as shereminded, “And you said you could warm me up.”

Instead Warred continued to stare to the south, acrossthe tumbling vastness that was the Plains of Dust.

“Did you hear that?; he asked, still straining for arepeat of that distant noise.

“What? she asked crossly. For a moment Shaynefrowned, as if ready to stalk back to the village on herown. But then, apparently sensing Warred’s apprehen-sion, she turned her attention to the distant sky.

Another long interval passed until the thunder pulsedonce more — a rolling, barely audible whump.

“There aren’t any clouds.” The horsetail of her longblack hair swirled as the plainswoman tilted her head tolook north, then east and west. “Not anywhere.”

Together they listened. When the next pulse came, itwas so faint that Warred felt ashamed of his jittery reac-tion.

“It’s got to be fifty miles away. We’ve got some timebefore the storm gets here,” he said, his hand findingShayne’s. A trace of wind whipped the fringes of herleather kilt, momentarily outlining her lithe form.

Belatedly Warred’s thoughts returned to the reason hehad invited Shayne to walk with him to the Lookout, thismassive pile of boulders and gravel that rose from therolling plains several miles from the village of theirSandhill tribe. The natural rockpile was the only source ofgood stones for many miles across the grassy hills anddry, sandy swales of the Plains of Dust — not that theplainsmen had any great use for stones.

As for Shayne, he was still rather surprised that shehad consented to walk anywhere with him at all. ThoughWarred could cast a spear with reasonable accuracy, andrun as fast and as far as any Sandhill warrior, there wereseveral young men in the tribe with considerably moreswagger, strength, and size than the young spearman.

One valiant brave, named Indigo for the deep color ofhis eyes, had shown a great deal of interest in Shayne.He had glowered angrily when she had strolled off withWarred, whose skinny frame and eternally-squinting vis-age gave little suggestion of barbarian masculinity.

Another pulse of thunder resonated, slightly loudernow, but Warred paid little attention, instead turning totake both of Shayne’s hands.

“When you said you could warm me, I don’t supposeyou intended to build a fire,” she teased, her gaze boldand inviting. “After all, there’s no wood around here.”

“That’s just it!” he exclaimed in a rush of enthusiasm.

“I wanted you to be the first to see it. Here — help megather some of these rocks.”

“You’re going to burn them?” Shayne demanded inexasperation.

Warred had blundered too far to turn back. “Not burnthem, exactly.. . kind of transform them into heat. I dis-covered how last year, accidentally, when I was buildinga trail cairn.”

“You mean magic? Warred Stareye, you know thatthere hasn’t been a spell cast on the Plains of Dust sincethe Second Cataclysm! If you made me walk all the wayout here just to —”

“That’s not it!” he protested. “I mean, I know that theold kinds of magic disappeared with the gods and thethree moons. But this is new. It’s like I reach down intothe ground, pull the power right out of Krynn.”

“And you haven’t told anyone else?” Shayne seemedsurprised.

“No!”“How does it work?” If the plainswoman was amused,

she concealed the reaction very well. Indeed, she seemedhonestly curious.

“I’m, well, I’m not exactly sure. I make a cairn, andtouch all the stones, try to get a feel for them. When Ibuilt the pile that first time, of course, I was just trying toset them firmly — but when I touched them I felt some-thing else, something deeper. The stones seem to serveas coals, giving the power focus. And maybe the airgoing between them helps, like a bellows fanning a realfire. As for the heat...” He tried to explain, knowing hiswords weren’t adequate. “It’s just down there some-where, under our feet. When I touch the stones just right,I sort of coax the warmth upward. Then the stones startto glow, and it’s as hot as a real fire.”

“Why don’t you show me?” Shayne suggested.Warred quickly knelt and gathered several dozen fist-

sized stones, enough to form a pyramidal mound beforehim. Now that he was starting, he felt completelyunready, embarrassed that his trembling hands betrayedhis sudden nervousness. Drawing a deep breath, theplainsman closed his eyes and lightly touched the stones.He flicked his hands across the small cairn, allowing hisfingertips to brush each rock as he tried to sense theinner patterns, the striations and hollows that markedeach piece.

This had been a natural, even instinctive functionbefore, but now he couldn’t sense anything beyond therough lichens outlining many of the stones. PerhapsShayne made him nervous, or he might have been dis-tracted by his earlier unease. In any event, the rocksremained dull and lifeless.

Another thud resonated in the distance. Though hiseyes were still closed, Warred was acutely conscious ofthe plainswoman’s presence. His heart pounded andblood pulsed in his temples as his hands moved faster,trying to find the elusive fire.

But the stones were cold, as dead as any other inani-mate objects. He sighed, and then thought of a new fear:had he told her his greatest secret, only to make an utterfool of himself?

64 SEPTEMBER 1996

“Warred?”He raised his eyes, looking at Shayne for a hint of

mockery or contempt. Instead, she frowned with genuineconcern.

“I believe what you’ve told me,” she said gently. “Butperhaps this isn’t the right day.”

With a muttered grunt of frustration he slumped back,reluctantly acknowledging that she was right. Before hecould reply, another wave of dull sound crumpedthrough the air, significantly louder than before.

“That’s the strangest thunder I’ve ever heard.” Shaynecontinued. “Almost like a godly drum, instead of a storm.”

Warred felt the resonance fade while his apprehen-sion returned with growing force. His little feat of warm-ing stones began to seem like a frivolous waste of timeagainst the menace that he sensed through the air andground. Shayne shivered again, and this time he knewthat it wasn’t because of the chill.

“We’d better get back to the village,” he said tightly.“Yes!” the plainswoman agreed.And then they were both running, as only the plains

barbarians could run. The dry grass crunched beneaththeir moccasins, long strides devouring the undulating ter-rain. The pair raced up a ridge and down the descendingslope like gulls soaring above the waters of the surgingsea. The wind of their speed pulled Shayne’s horsetail intoa streaming plume and scattered Warred’s unbound locks— nearly as long as the woman’s — into a floating fan ofdark strands.

The thunder pounded a cadence to their flight, andthe plainsman realized that Shayne’s comparison to adrumbeat was apt: the sound was repeated on a veryregular basis, about once every ten or twelve steps. Thetwo plainsfolk didn’t speak, but Warred saw from thepallor of Shayne’s features that she was frightened, eventerrified. He tried to master his own fear, to be a rock ofstrength for her sake, but he couldn’t hide the terror thatdrove his own steps with grim urgency.

Finally they crested the ridge above the rounded valleywhere the Sandhill tribe had encamped for the dry season.The waterhole was a circle of brackish liquid far below,surrounded by a fringe of cattails and reeds. Two dozenhuts, leather skins supported on frames of lodgepole birch,were gathered in a line along the near shore. Activitychurned the water along the sandy beach off to the side,where the children of the tribe — under the watchful eye ofImma Grandam — frolicked in the shallows. The villagehad always been the keystone of peace and serenity inWarred’s life, yet when he looked at it now he saw it forthe crude and helpless gathering that it was.

“Warred — look!” Shayne’s voice was a moan, and shestaggered against him, her eyes turned to the south.

Spinning, the plainsman saw a darkness against thehorizon — a place where the sky was too dark a shade ofblue. A chill penetrated his guts as he saw that azureshape move, discerned massive wings pulsing regallydownward.

“That’s a dragon,” he whispered, recognizing the shapeeven as his mind tried to cast the identification away. Thisthing in the sky was at least twenty miles away, yet when

the barbarian extended his hand horizontally he couldn’t encompass the vast wingspan.

“But its too big!” Shayne declared, shaking her head.“It isn’t — it can’t be!”

Watching those mighty wings drive downward,Warred recognized the same cadence of the dull thunder.The sound lagged far behind each actual wingstroke, butwhen he counted the pulses, he realized that each beatwas followed by a corresponding thud through the airand ground.

Only after he had watched three cycles of those awfulspans did the plainsman realize that the dragon sweptcloser with unbelievable speed. “The village!” he gasped.

Shayne had already started down the long, grassyincline. “Mama! Papa! Run — everybody!”

Her cries brought all activity in the valley to a suddenhalt. Children stood in the water, looking up the hill,while women paused at the scraping of hides theytanned upon stout racks. Several warriors, sensing theurgency in her cries, snatched up weapons, trotting intothe little lane that ran between the two rows of lodges.

Warred sprinted beside Shayne, his heart locked in anawful certainty: there was no place to hide, no way tofight a beast like this. They could only hope that it passedthis inconsequential plains village, ignored the rude gath-ering as beneath its notice. Thankfully, the monster wasnow out of sight behind the rim of the valley. He prayedthe beasts flight would carry it harmlessly by.

Warriors strung their bows with quick, sure movements,while lmma called the children from the water. All the vil-lagers reacted instantly to the threat of unseen danger,women running into the huts with the tanned hides, orbringing fresh quivers to the dozen warriors in the lane.The thunder pounded again, a shock wave that sent con-centric ripples shrinking and enlarging in the pond.

Warred’s lungs strained. The long slope seemed end-less, the downhill run to the village interminable. Then avast shadow shrouded the valley, like a curtain drawnacross the sun. The massive blue wings spanned thebowl from rim to rim. Those membranes stroked again,and this time the force of the downblast was a crack ofthunder, strong enough to knock Warred and Shayne tothe ground beyond the periphery of the huts.

A cacophony of terrified screams rose from the villageas, struggling to his knees, the plainsman saw the dragon’sneck arch, the deadly maw swoop downward. He won-dered whether the beast were going to swallow the entiretribe.

Then he was blinded by an explosion of bright light, aflash that seared his eyes and seemed to burn its wayinto his skull. The ground heaved violently, tossing thebarbarian into the air as a crushing explosion slammedhis ears. After the first, excruciating onslaught, he heardonly a loud ringing. Blinded and deafened, he crashed tothe ground flat on his back and lay stunned.

The smell of ozone confirmed that the dragon had spita bolt of lightning, but still he could see nothing, heardonly that deafening numbing chime. For an eternityWarred strained to move, flailing with nerveless handsand fingers until he could roll onto his belly and groggily

DRAGON #233 65

push himself to his hands and knees. Echoes of sound stillshrilled in his ears, and his vision was masked by swim-ming spots of darkness, with a fringe of sky and grassvisible around the edges.

In that periphery he saw Shayne, face down and sob-bing. Staggering to his feet, he took her arms and helpedher rise. His vision cleared slowly, though the dark spotsstill danced in the center of his eyes. When he scannedthe sky he saw no sign of the dragon.

And when he looked down, he saw little indication ofthe Sandhill village. The huts were gone, though a fewskeletal lodgepoles jutted pathetically from the ground. Agreat furrow marked the place where the lane had been,and the trench was fringed by many splotches of slick,wet color. Warred gagged when he realized that thesewere pieces of the warriors who had assembled there —all that remained of the bravest men of the tribe.

Staggering forward, with Shayne gasping at his side,Warred moved through the shattered village. Through theringing he began to hear the wails of children, the ago-nized groaning of grievously injured adults. He felt a chilland flinched at returning shadow, fearing that the dragonhad come again. Looking up, he was astounded to see ablanket of thick clouds sweep across the sun, blocking outthe day, churning relentlessly northward.

“How did that happen?” he wondered vaguely, recallingthe pure blue sky of the morning — and then realizing withcold certainty that these stormclouds had come in thewake of the mighty dragon.

lmma Grandam came forward, her weathered facepale, her eyes wet with unshed tears. Warred found herleaning over Indigo. That warrior’s once-piercing eyeswere pale and opaque, and his powerful legs had beenblasted off at the knees.

“He’s alive!” lmma asserted. “Help him!”Numbly, Warred knelt beside the groaning man, while

the matron hobbled into the wreckage to look for moresurvivors. Indigo hissed in pain but remained rigid as theyoung warrior wrapped the blistered stumps of his legsin tattered cloth.

Thunder rumbled from the sky, a steady, rolling drum-beat that once again caused the young plainsman toflinch in fear. Yet this was in fact the angry crashing ofdark, surging clouds, the promise of a violent deluge.

“It’s a storm,” Shayne said, squatting at Indigo’s sideand stroking’s the wounded man’s feverish forehead.“An awful storm.. ..”

Warred shivered under an icy wind. This valley was astrange place now, bleak, desolate... dead.

“We’ve got to leave here, go away,” Warred said,knowing that the tribe’s ancestral plains were no longertheir own. This blue dragon was not so much a creatureas a force of nature, a thing that had altered, evendestroyed, the world the tribe had always known.

“You’re right,” Shayne agreed. Others came numblyforward, women and children who had escaped thebrunt of the explosive attack, some burned or deafened,all of their spirits chilled by a moment of instantaneousdestruction.

In the midst of chaos and grief, it began to rain.

The tracks showed that the ice bear had wandered farfrom its usual habitat. Normally the mighty carnivoresdwelled around the fringes of the great glacier, easily ahundred miles south of this flat tundra. Seals and salmonwere plentiful along the icy coast of the SouthernCourrain Ocean, where the temperature rarely surpassedthe freezing point. Furthermore, the frosty backdrop oflcewall glacier and its attendant snowfields provided thewhite-coated predators with a concealment nearly aseffective as any spell of invisibility.

Yet for two days the hunter had followed the massivepaw prints on a trail leading steadily northward. Thebear’s tracks had proceeded across the tundra in astraight line, almost as if the creature had some pressingengagement somewhere in the Plains of Dust.

Or perhaps some compelling reason to depart itsnative realm.

Kerric stomped his hooves in agitation, tucking hischin in a frown that sent his auburn mane cascadingaround his right arm. His left hand he held high, thepowerful longbow — already strung with a heavy sinewof braided beargut — clenched ready in his brawny fist.His quiver was slung low across his shoulder, easilyaccessible below his belly, while a bundle of sparearrows was strapped across his withers.

Maintaining his steady trot, Kerric reflected on anotherfact. Although he had been following the bear for only twodays, the centaur’s pace was much faster than his quarry's.Thus, the ice bear itself must have maintained this com-pass-hard course to the north for an even longer time.

Strange behavior, to be sure.Hunching forward again, Kerric tried to use his mane

and hindquarters to screen his humanoid back from thechill wind gusting against his skin. He grimaced with thechagrin of the hunter who is forced to allow his scent toprecede him, but he continued along the trail, knowingthat the ice bear presented a terrible menace to the herd.The tracks led straight into the centaur plains, and therethe animal would be a lethal threat, especially to thecapricious and defenseless foals.

Soon Kerric felt stinging prickles against his skin, saw awave of sparkling ice crystals sweep past. The frostyspecks whipped horizontally, driven by the rising wind,and he wished that he’d brought a cloak. Like all centaurs,Kerric disdained the use of clothing as an unnecessaryencumbrance, except during occasions such as this unnat-ural, late-season storm. Huffing noisily, he shivered, think-ing longingly of Darr, and with that he was glad that hehad left their single, shared fur with his mare.

Kerric turned about, snorting as he glared to thesouth, trying to get a feel for this sudden storm. The airwas a haze of murky white, and the icy particles — thestuff was too tiny, too brittle, to be called snow — slashedagainst his face, forcing him to squint. lcewall Glacier wasfar away, yet he had the sense that its polar presencewas an imminent menace.

66 SEPTEMBER 1996

Suddenly the centaur gasped, jolted by an electricsensation. Shivering, he tried to suppress the feeling thatthe great storm had eyes, that it stared at him from theheights of the bright and colorless sky. A vision of amonstrous head, of limbs vast and fanlike spreading toencompass the world, penetrated the chill of the stormso powerfully that Kerric felt as though his hooves werefrozen to the ground.

With an effort of will he tore his gaze away, rearinghigh, pivoting to the north. The tracks of the bear formeda line of regular patches of crushed grass. Outlines of iceclung to the edges of each shallow depression, highlight-ing and underscoring the regularity of the bear’s path.Yet the pelting of the snow grew harder; within an hour,Kerric knew, the brittle missiles would mask the tracksbeneath a blanket of uniform white.

Cantering now, Kerric loped along the ice bear’stracks. He adjusted his quiver across his belly, insuringthat he could reach an arrow in a split second. His darkeyes peered this way and that, trying to penetrate thethickening veil of the snowstorm.

In his vigilance, Kerric began to see that the ice bearwas not the biggest danger facing the herd. There was astrangeness to this storm that boded deep and funda-mental ill, a feeling typified by the ominous presence hehad felt to the south. He wondered again if it had beenthis force that had propelled the ice bear into such anuncharacteristic migration.

Like a silent avalanche, a white shape rushed fromthe gusting storm, charging Kerric’s left side, visible onlyas a flash of movement in the periphery of the hunter’seye. When the centaur whirled, the bear made a noise

like the crumbling of a great iceberg, a thunderous roarthat enveloped Kerric in a wave of sound. The predatorwas a monstrous mound of white fur, jaws gaping toreveal a pink tongue between black lips and long,yellowed teeth.

Kerric’s bow was drawn, an arrow poised for flighteven before the instant of recognition. He shot, thendrew back a second missile as the first shaft penetratedthe bear’s chest. The next arrow plunged through whitepelt and heavy sinew, burying itself to the feathers in thetangle of fur below the animal’s throat.

With a wet snarl, the bear pounced toward Kerric’schest. Casting his bow away, the centaur reared. Twinhooves, shaggy fetlocks trailing like battle pennants,drove into the animal’s wounded breast as the bear’s‘blunt but powerful claws ripped through the skin ofKerric’s forelegs. The centaur tried to ignore the steamingpain as he drew his last weapons, twin daggers, bladesthat would have been called short swords if wielded byman or elf.

Arms extended, the centaur pitched forward with a dri-ving thrust of his powerful rear legs, surprising the bear bylurching straight into the embrace of the wide-swept paws.Kerric drove his hands together with all his strength, stab-bing one keen blade into either side of the ice bears neck.He gasped as fangs ripped the tough sinew of his chest,but the powerful hands maintained their grip.

Desperately the centaur reared back, dragging thekeen-edged weapons sideways through the bear’s gristlyflesh. Kerric’s right hand and foreleg grew warm and wetas the creature slumped, and he knew at last that he hadsliced the throbbing jugular.

68 SEPTEMBER 1996

With a groan the centaur staggered backward, allow-ing the corpse of the bear to fall onto the frozen ground.Kerric gingerly probed the bite wound in his left shoulder,then inspected the scrapes clawed into his forelegs. Withrelief he found that the cuts, though painful, were notdeep.

He packed the gouges with handfuls of ice, noticingas he scooped the frigid stuff that the short grass wasalready obscured by snow. When he raised his head andtried to look south, the icy pinpricks of the storm quicklyforced his face away — and for that brief glimpse, he hadseen only a few paces into the raging blizzard. Pivotingon his rear legs, Kerric shivered, trying to hunch his headbetween his shoulders, to shelter himself in the meagerinsulation of his mane. He thought, fleetingly, of skinningthe ice bear — the tribe had only a few such warm pelts— but the sense of urgency and foreboding within himwould not allow for the delay.

Clearly the bear had been fleeing the source, themaster, of this storm. In attacking, the animal had merelyreacted by instinct to the hunter on its trail. Kerric felt apowerful regret that he had killed the mighty creature,had forced it to fight when in fact it had wanted only toescape.

Why hadn’t the centaur seen the truth sooner? Hecould have spared the bear and gained for his herd anextra day or two of warning. No matter; the icy gale wasupon them, and the time for action was now.

He galloped toward the low vale where he knew therest of the herd would gather to wait out the storm. Hismission was clear, his task urgent. To remain on thetundra was to perish.

Like ice bear, the centaurs would flee from the comingice.

“Your magic... wit.h the rocks... . You’ve got to try!”Shayne’s voice reached Warred from somewhere

distant, a place that was warm and safe. Yet, as hisawareness returned and he heard the howling wind, sawthe white blast of the snow, the plainsman knew that nosuch place existed.

At least, none that was within reach of the tribe.Shaking his head, Warred tried to move, realizing that

he had fallen headlong into a snowdrift. His hands andfeet were numb, the stinging pain of frostbite at lastgiving way to a deeper chill. While he could see thelashing needles of ice, no longer did he feel their stingagainst his face.

In the murk of the storm, the rest of the tribe was afile fading into gray. Naturally, they had stopped whenhe, the trail-breaker, had fallen in the increasingly deepsnow.

How many days since they had left the ruined village?Warred couldn’t even remember, although the eventsimmediately following the attack remained etched insharp, mental relief.

The devastation had been brutal, but not universal.

Besides himself and legless Indigo, two other warriors,Tarn Elkhorn and Blak Eaglewing, had been on thefringes of the lightning blast and had survived. Theformer had been burned badly, and the latter, whileunmarked on the skin, had been knocked unconsciousby the attack. When Shayne had pressed through theruins to find him, Blak’s breathing and pulse had beenshallow but stable.

The children who had been swimming in the water-hole gathered nearby, silent and wide-eyed, but physicallyunharmed. Likewise lmma Grandam and several womenwho had been tending to chores beyond the village —they, too, survived the ruinous blast. Using the few lodgepoles left, working in an icy rain, the villagers had builtlitters so that the three wounded warriors could bedragged along.

“Go... go on with haste, while you can!” the grievouslyinjured Indigo had gasped. “Leave us!”

He had gestured to the side, and Warred knew thatthe bold plainsman spoke for Tarn and Blak as well asfor himself. Indeed, he said no more than any barbarianwarrior would have in the same situation. Life on theplains was hard, and the tribe had long ago realized thatthey could not drag along those who could not care forthemselves.

“We are too few to leave anyone behind,” Warredreplied. “We remain together.” He spoke with the certaintyof leadership, and no one had thought to question him.

All of them sensed the need to flee, the reality that theirtribal home was gone forever. Thunder continued tosmash from the sky, lightning lashing the crests of therolling hills. Chilly winds whipped sheets of rain as themiserable band departed across the muddy ground.

The rain had changed to snow on the second day ofthe migration, and the storm had grown progressivelyworse since then. Now the icy blanket on the flatlandswas nearly waist-deep to Warred, tallest of the survivors.He had been forcing his way through the drifts, followedby Shayne and the other women, all of whom took turnsdragging the travois bearing the three injured warriors.Though Blak had shown no sign of regaining conscious-ness, the Sandhill survivors were determined to carry himas long as he breathed. Then came the file of children,plodding miserably through the trough the adults pressedinto the snow. lmma Grandam brought up the rear, urg-ing the youngsters to keep pace. Her normally stridentvoice was uncharacteristically tender as she encouragedeach flagging boy or girl to find the strength to continue.

They had trekked for long, numbing miles until, atlast, the storm had overwhelmed them. Warred hadstumbled forward, bringing the whole column to a halt.Nearly buried in the drift, he had been willing to restthere, to surrender to the eternal frost. He realized thathe must have been unconscious for some time, since allhis tribemates had gathered behind him.

“Look!” Shayne was trying to attract Warred’s attention.With an effort, he forced himself to focus upon her words.“This is why you fell — it’s a rockfield!”

Warred pushed himself out of the shoulder-high driftand saw that Shayne had kicked the snow away from

DRAGON #233 69

several boulders. Such swaths of stony ground, similar tothe Lookout near the former village, were not uncommonon the plains — though this one had been renderedinvisible beneath the wintery blanket.

Three sturdy boys, their ruddy faces raw and blisteredby frost, were already pulling at several rocks. A few of thestones came free, but most were frozen solidly in place.

“The tribe knows about your stone magic. I toldthem,” Shayne said. “And we’ll help you.”

Warred looked hopelessly at the rimed boulders,remembering his failure the last time he had tried towork the stone magic — in warm weather, with small, dryrocks. Again the allure of oblivion, of utter surrender,threatened to draw him down.

Then he saw the desperation, the fear, on the faces ofShayne, of the boys, of the rest of his mute tribesmates.

Huddled against the snow, they watched him silently,and he knew that he had to move.

Warred forced himself to his feet. “I’ll try,” he said. Hegestured to the patch of flat ground he had crossed justbefore reaching the rockfield. “We’ll put the stones here.”

“How many do you need?” asked Shayne, as thethree youths pulled another boulder from the snow-covered rockfield.

“As many as we can get.” He turned to lmmaGrandam. “I need some of you to stomp a clearing in thesnow around here, around the cairn. Just walk back andforth enough to pack it.”

While the matron formed her young charges into amarching rank, Warred turned to help with the rockgathering. He, Shayne, and the trio of willing boys kickedthrough the snow over the rockfield, clearing awayenough of the powdery blanket to find stones of auniform size, a little bigger than a human skull. Pushing,prying smashing with their feet, they tried to break theboulders free. Warred broke his dagger chipping againstthe frost, and all of them were staggering with weariness,but after an hour they had gathered enough rocks tomake a respectable cairn.

The deep snow had been stomped flat in a largeswath surrounding the pyramidal mound. For a momentWarred paused, acutely aware of the many eyes, hopefuland uncomprehending, that watched him. Indigo waveda hand weakly, and Warred knelt beside the leglesswarrior who was still strapped to his travois.

“I tell you again — leave us behind!” hissed thewounded man. “You can go on, get through the stormwithout us.”

Warred shook his head. “We might make it for anotherhour, maybe two. But then we’d be stopped again, andfor what? No, my friend. We shall stick together.”

The injured warrior fell backward with a gasp of pain.He waved a muscular hand, the feeble gesture incongru-ous from a man who had once been so powerful.

“And you really have hopes in this... this toy magic ofyours?”

“There’s no wood for a fire, and no way we can keepgoing through this storm. We need warmth — or none of uswill live out the night. My magic is our only hope.” Hewished he were as confidant as he tried to sound to Indigo.

“You hope to survive for now, and then move onwhen the storm lets up?” asked the warrior, his cloudyeyes unfocused, yet unsettling.

“Yes,” Warred replied, knowing that Indigo sensed thesame truth as he himself: this storm would not soon berelaxing its grip on the plains. Like the thunder of theblue dragon, the icy gale from the south signalled achange that was far more permanent than any errantlate-season blizzard.

“Good luck, then,” replied the wounded man. “Youalways were a dreamer, Stareye. May your dreams keepus warm through a very cold night.”

“Thank you, my friend.”Again Warred felt the eyes of the children upon him.

He sensed Shayne at his side as he knelt before the cairn.The pile was as high as his head, and he reached widewith his arms, embracing as many of the frost-coatedstones as he could.

Trying to relax, he groped for the glimmerings ofmagic, the power that had allowed him, on those fewprevious occasions, to bring a wash of warmth from amuch smaller mound of stones. Always before it hadbeen an engaging and amusing trick, one he had nevershared with anyone else — until his ill-fated attempt toshow Shayne. Now he felt a deep, gnawing fear, as if thefeat had been a mere trick of his imagination, a delusionfor himself alone.

His fingers were numb. The rocks were frozen, utterlylifeless through the stiff leather of his mittens. The funda-mental power of the world, the arcane heat he had earliertapped, might have been the lingering haze of a dream forall the promise he felt now.

With an angry gesture, Warred tore the mittens fromhis hands. He heard Shayne gasp as he pressed his barefingers to the stone. Almost immediately they froze fast.

He leaned forward, pressing harder, as if to sink hisfrozen digits right through the solid surface of the rock.Toppling, he saw a great pit open below him, a holelined with frost, with icicles dangling like white fangs intothe darkness. The pit was very, very deep, a dangerousplace to go...

But in the bottom was fire.Desperately straining, Warred reaching for that heat,

mumbling incoherently. A great well of black spacesurrounded the spark he sensed, and that darkness wasa void that threatened to swallow him.

I will not fall! He commanded himself, gritting histeeth, reaching for the hint of lifegiving warmth. Theforce before him was a dangerous thing, a dark andpotent power that yawned wide, an invitation tingedstrongly with menace.

His fingers closed around something painful, somethingthat burned like a stab of hot metal. Crying out, he pulled,as the shadows rose up to engulf him.

This is what it is like to die, he saw with a sense ofpure, bleak horror.

And then the darkness devoured him.

70 SEPTEMBER 1996

Kerric pulled Darr close, felt the proud mare shiveragainst him. Though her torso and shoulders werewrapped in a heavy fur, her strength had been sappedby the relentless fury of the storm. For days the brutal,unnatural cold had assaulted the herd. The tracklesstundra was buried by sweeping drifts, and the slashing ofwind and snow was an assault of metallic barbs, cutting,jabbing, hacking.

Still the centaurs pushed forward. The snow coverreached passed their knees, but the powerful stallionsbreasted through even the highest drifts, breaking a trail.Heads down, diligently keeping the colts and fillies intow, the band pressed through the plains that had beentheir ancestral home.

Now they were plains that none of them recognized.Even in the deepest winters, the snow had never

lashed them like this. Manes and beards were coated withfrost, and the few cloaks possessed by the tribe — such asthe bearskin now protecting Darr — were passed amongthose with the greatest need. Even so, there were notenough to shelter more than a dozen at a time, barely athird of the tribe.

The strongest, such as Kerric, had gone without clothingthrough the entire course of the storm. Now the stalliontried to flex his powerful hands and found with dismaythat his fingers were numb. Stinging pain shot through hisarms and shoulders as he clapped his palms together.Relentlessly the wind howled in his ears, lashing the thickmane of hair about his face.

Snorting angrily, Kerric squinted as he tried to see therest of the herd through the white fury of the storm. Hedetected a few huddled shapes plodding miserably in hiswake, and he had to take it on faith that the rest of thecentaurs were coming along behind. Each face was amask of numb misery, lacking hope, bewildered andfrightened by the vicious onslaught of this sinister winter.He knew that, one by one, the centaurs would graduallysuccumb to the enveloping ice.

Their only hope of survival lay in starting a fire, butthere was no fuel to be seen — and no way to igniteeven dry tinder in the midst of this gale. The scrubbybrush that provided most of the tribe’s firewood wasburied by drifts, and the gently rolling ground offered noteven the hope of an effective windbreak.

Darr moaned softly behind him, and the misery in thesound broke Kerric’s heart. But there was nothing hecould offer, no hope of succor. Around them was onlysnow and ice and wind and darkness.

“Someone else should have the cloak, now. I canmake it for a while without,” Darr declared, raising herhead and bravely tossing her long, ice-coated mane.“Give it to Glendinna.”

“We lost her a few hours ago.” Kerric shook his head sadly.“Her bad hoof gave out, and she limped off to the side.”

Darr’s huge eyes grew moist, the tears freezing on hercheeks. They all knew there was nothing to be done fora lame centaur, not when the rest of the band wasforced to migrate. Still, the loss of the elder mare onlyserved to highlight the desperate condition of the herd.

“You keep the cloak,” Kerric encouraged.

“No!” Darr said, with an angry shake of her head. Sheshrugged the bearskin from her shoulders, turned to seethe gray-maned form of Wander plodding through thesnow just behind. “Your turn!” she called, pausing toallow the elder male to reach her side. Gratefully Wanderpulled the skin over his own shoulders, which werealready white with frost.

Resolutely, Darr put her head down and ploddedalong close behind Kerric. His heart swelled with admira-tion for her courage, while at the same time he wasdragged down by a sense of consuming sorrow. Heknew that, at best, the cloak meant a difference of a fewhours in the short future spans of their lives.

“What’s that! Kerric — look!” cried Darr, pointing.He saw it immediately: a glow of orange-red light,

powerful and radiant through the ice storm, gleaming inthe darkness. “Could it be a fire?” he asked.

With another step he answered his own question: ofcourse not, for there were no flames. It was more like theglow within a forge, the coals within the ovens that cen-taur smiths used to fashion their fine steel. But it was analluring sight nevertheless, a beacon summoning themfrom the frost and storm. As if drawn by a lodestone thecentaurs veered toward the phenomenon, and as theydrew closer Kerric actually felt the heat against his face!

Then the wind and snow faded, as if the stallion hadstepped through a doorway into a sheltered chamber.Though there were no walls, the sensation of a roomwithin the storm remained. A patch of snowless groundsurrounded the source of the radiance, and the windseemed almost balmy, damp with steam.

And it was a warm room! The glow emanated from alarge pile of rocks, a wave of palpable heat accompaniedby a pale, surreal brightness. The boulders at the top ofthe mound glowed red, and yellow heat radiated fromthe depths of the stony cairn, brightly shining from thegaps between individual boulders.

So intent was he on the glorious warmth that not untilDarr tugged at his wrist did Kerric notice the warm placewas occupied. A small band of humans, ragged, weary,and frostbitten, clustered on the far side of the glowingrocks. Wide-eyed, they stared at the centaurs, and Kerricwas startled to see that most of them were mere children.

Instinctively the centaur reached for his bow — andwas shocked to discover that his numb fingers couldn’tclose around the wooden shaft. A strapping boy rosefrom the midst of the huddled humans, and Kerric sawthe glint of his steel blade. More of the herd pressedforward, stomping and snorting in the face of the strangeheat and this ragged band of humans.

“No!” The word was croaked by a prone man who,though clearly weakened, struggled to a sitting position,aided by a young woman whose beauty shone eventhrough the hunger and frostbite of a long march. Theyouth with the sword hesitated but still held his weaponready, while the woman kept a hand on the man’s shoul-der as she glared at the centaurs with dark, wary eyes.

“Hold!” urged Kerric as two young stallions pushed for-ward. Either could have crushed the human lad with astrong kick, but they reared back at his own command.

DRAGON #233 71

“These are not our enemies,” he concluded.“Please... come ahead,” said the man, gesturing

toward the glowing mound of rocks.“Will you... will you share our warmth?” asked the

young plainswoman. She held her firm chin high as shegreeted the centaurs from her seat on the ground.

“We are grateful,” Kerric said, bowing formally fromthe waist, then sidestepping to allow other centaurs topress forward, to close on the lifegiving warmth. Shiver-ing and stomping, with the foals huddling between theelder’s forelegs, the entire herd emerged from the storm.The clearing was large enough — barely — for them all.

The storm raged beyond the circle of warmth, butsomehow the snow that swept toward the fire melted,evaporating into steam as soon as it entered the radiusof comfort. Even the ground, rendered muddy by theinitial snowmelt, had dried and hardened.

Kerric found himself beside the man and woman whohad invited them forward. The centaur leaned down,murmuring his thanks, looking closer at the young manwho, though standing now, swayed unevenly on his feet.His ailment was clearly the result of something otherthan the cold — from the haunted look in his eyes, thesheen of perspiration on his skin, Kerric guessed that itwas a deeper, more dangerous affliction. With a groan,the fellow sank to his knees.

“Your friend — is he ill?” asked the centaur, as thewoman again cradled the fellow’s pale head.

“Warred is weakened certainly, and perhaps woundedas well. It was he who called up this magic fire. The costto his spirit and his body was dire.”

“Yet because he paid it, two tribes shall live throughthis dark night,” Darr said.

The young man turned his face upward, his eyes fixedwith a gaze that seemed to stare right through the loom-ing centaur. Kerric shuddered at a realization that theyoung man was truly, fundamentally haunted, menacedby a horror mankind was not intended to know.

“You are welcome to stay here with us, to share thewarmth of my magic for as long as it lasts,” said the plains-man called Warred. “It is good that we shall not die alone.”

“You are so certain that you will die here?” Kerric asked.“We can’t go on,” he replied, shrugging resignedly at

the thick blanket of snow coating the ground beyondtheir warm cocoon.

“Perhaps there is a way,” Kerric replied. He had takenin the children, and the three injured men on their litters.They must have been dragged, at tremendous cost,through the growing drifts. “Our endurance failed becauseof the frost and chill — and your fire will certainly give usthe stamina to go on. Now, our backs may give you thestrength to come along.”

“That is a brave offer, and kind,” Warred replied. Hiseyes flickered with growing hope, meeting Kerric’s in apiercing gaze. “The Dustplain River lies to the north...and beyond we may find safety.”

“I know that river — we can reach it in a day’s marchfrom here,” the centaur replied.

“But even then we can’t be sure that we’ll passbeyond the storm,” Shayne noted.

“This magic of yours? Kerric gestured at the magicalfire. “Can you do it again?”

For a moment fear welled upward in the young bar-barian’s eyes, but then he blinked, drew a ragged breath,and nodded. “Yes,” he replied, straightening. “Yes, I can.”

“Then we shall carry you to the river and cross on theice. If the storm still assails us, you must warm our tribesagain with your magic. And we will continue as far asnecessary — our strength and your fire will keep us allmoving.”

“Could you carry all of us?” Shayne asked.“And your belongings,” replied Kerric, looking at the

leather cloaks, blankets and furs borne by the plainsfolk.“A human rider on a centaur, both wrapped in one ofthese pelts, can only help each other withstand the cold.”

The young barbarian pushed himself to his feet, stand-ing more strongly as he took the centaur’s brawny hand.

“Let us go then,” he said.“It is agreed.” Kerric nodded. Together we shall survive.”

For the past twelve years, Doug Niles has been riding theroller-coaster that is the history of Krynn. He has helped to craftthis unique fantasy realm in novels, role-playing adventures,board games, and short stories. Now, as Ansalon enters the FifthAge, he is delighted to continue the ride — and would Iike towarn the other passengers to tighten their seat belts.

72 SEPTEMBER 1996

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Round Table GamingSocietySeptember 7 SC

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tooth Enterprises, 46 High-land St., Reading, MA 01867.

Shorecon �96September 27-29 NJ

Berkeley Carteret, AsburyPark. Events: role-playing,card, board, and miniaturesgames. Other activities: amasquerade, auction, artshow, anime, a dance, etc.Registration: $20 preregis-tered, $25 on site. MultigenreInc., 266 Spruce Drive, Brick,NJ 08723.

Nuke-ConSeptember 28-29 NE

Holiday Inn Central,Omaha. Guests: Tom Prusaand Fredd Groham. Events:role-playing, card, board,and miniatures games. Otheractivities: tournaments. Regi-stration: varies. Nuke-Con,13115 Josephine Circle,Omaha, NE 68138, or e-mail:nuke-con@synergy.net.

Organized Kahn Fusion� BattletechSeptember 28-29 PA

Newberry Town Fire Hall,Etters. This is a Battletech*-onlycon featuring single, lance,free for all, and mechwarriorgames. Other activities: deal-ers and a miniatures paintingcontest. Registration: varies.M. Forner’s Games OnlyEmporium, 230 S. 8th St.,Lemoyne, PA 17043.

OctoberConventions

AtCon IIIOctober 3-6 TX

Ramada Inn, Austin.Special guests: Allen Varney,Scott Haring, Jeff Dee andAaron Allston. Events:AD&D® role-playing. Otheractivities: win ticket to AtSea.John Paul Carney, 3816 S.Lamar #901, Austin, TX78764.

Archon 20October 4-6 IL

Gateway Center and adja-cent Holiday Inn, Collinsville.Special guests: Ray Bradbury

and Ray Harryhausen. Events:panel discussions, art showand gaming. Other activities:24-hour videos. Registration:varies. Archon 20, P.O. Box483, Chesterfield, MO 63006-0483, or e-mail: http://www.ecc.cc.mo.us/~randy/arch20.html.

CangamesOctober 4-6

Ottawa Congress Centre,Ottawa, Ontario. Events: role-playing, card, board, andminiatures games. Otheractivities: auction, seminars,dealers, and miniatures paint-ing contest. Registration:varies. Cangames, 6930Sunset Blvd., Greely, ONT,K4P 1C5, Canada, or e-mail:cangames@iosphere.net.

Westward Ho 1October 5 TX

Best Western, Midland.Events: role-playing, card,board, and miniatures games.Other activities: dealers andopen gaming. Registration: $4preregistered, $5 on site.Westward Ho 1, P.O. Box9805, Midland, TX 79708.

Necronomicon �96October 11-13 FL

Camberly Inn, Tampa.Guests: Tim Powers, MichaelStraczynski, and BrinkeStevens. Events: role-playing,card, board, and miniaturesgames. Other activities: Ygorparty, panels, art show, deal-ers, and masquerade.Registration: $18 preregis-tered, $25 on site. Necronom-icon, P.O. Box 2076, River-view, FL 33569 or e-mail:74273.1607@compuserve.com.

Knight Games �96October 11-13 NY

Berkeley Carroll School,Brooklyn. Events: role-play-ing, card, board, and minia-tures games. Other activities:tournaments. Registration:$15 preregistered. KnightGames, P.O. Box 3041,Brooklyn, NY 11201 or e-mail:DSamuels@aol.com.

NovaCon �96October 11-13 TX

The Memorial StudentCenter of Texas A&MUniversity, College Station.Events: role-playing, card,board, and miniatures games.Other activities: tournaments,anime, open gaming, and artshow. Registration: $12.Alison Tashima, Director ofPublic Relations MemorialStudent Center, Texas A&M,Box J-l, College Station, TX77844-5117, or e-mail:mscnova@tamu.edu.

PensaconOctober 11-13 FL

Pensacola Grand Hotel,Pensacola. Events: role-play-ing, card, board, and minia-tures games. Other activities:tournaments and auction.Registration: $30. Pensacon,P.O. Box 9350, Pensacola, FL32513.

TolCon XIVOctober 12-13 OH

Scott Park Campus of theUniversity of Toledo. Events:role-playing, card, board, andminiatures games. Otheractivities: dealers, an auction,and a miniatures paintingcontest. Registration: $8/weekend, $5/day. TolConXIV, c/o Mind Games, 2115 N.Reynolds, Toledo, OH 43615.

HorrorconVOctober 18-20 TX

Seven Oaks Resort, SanAntonio. Events: role-playing,RPGA tournaments, boardgames, miniatures, computerand collectible card games.Registration: $20/4 day pass,$11/day. GMSA, 12205Valley Oak, Live Oak, TX79233 or e-mail: agriego@stic.net.

Kettering GameConvention XVOctober 18-19 OH

Charles I. Lathrem SeniorCenter, Kettering. Events:role-playing, RPGA Networktournaments, board games,miniatures and collectiblecard games. Other activities:

movies and game auction.Registration: $3. Bob vonGruenigen, 804 WillowdaleAve., Kettering, Ohio 45429.

Totally Tubular Con IVOctober 18-20 CA

Days Inn, Fullerton. Events:role-playing, card, board, andminiatures games. Otheractivities: a LIVING CITY™ tour-nament. Registration: $25preregistered, $30 on site.Totally Tubular Con, P.O. Box18791, Anaheim Hills, CA92871-8791, or e-mail:partdragon@aol.com.

FantaconOctober 26 IN

Por te r County fa i r -grounds, Valparaiso. Events:role-playing, card, board,and miniatures games. Otheractivities: a card and comicshow, tournaments. Regis-tration: $2. Atlantis Pro-ductions, 2654 Forest ParkDr., Dyer, IN 46311, or e-mail:atlantis@tsrcom.com.

Frontier Wars 11October 26-27 IL

Miller Park Pavilion,Bloomington. Events: role-playing, card, board, andminiatures games. Otheractivities: an auction and apainting contest. Registration:$10/weekend, $6/day. BeckySpenser, 218 Kaiser Ave.,Normal, IL 61761.

Gamma ConOctober 26-27 TX

Four Points by Sheraton,Texarkana. Guests: RoxanneLongstreet, Cat Conrad, JoyMarie Ledet, and ElissaMitchell. Events: role-playing,card, board, and miniaturesgames. Other activities: deal-ers, tournaments, art showand auction, and costumecontest. Registration: $25/weekend, $15/day. OutpostProductions, 503 CourthouseAve., New Boston, TX 75570.

Sibcon �96October 26 PA

Days Inn ConferenceCenter, Butler. Events: role-

78 SEPTEMBER 1996

playing, card, board, andminiatures games. Otheractivities: dealers, demos, andtournaments. Registration: $5preregistered, $7 on site.Circle of Swords, P.O. Box2126, Butler, PA 16003.

NovemberConventions

Ork Con �96November 1-3

Panorama Hotel, Amoberen Marienbach 1.Schweinfurt. Special guests:Larry Elmore, Lester Smith,Mike Tinney, Ash Arnett,Brom, Jeff Grubb, KenWhitman, Oliver Hoffman.Events: AD&D German Cham-pionship, DRAGON DICE, Rage*and Magic: the Gathering* tour-naments. Registration: $7, allweekend $18. Robert Moore,Ruckertstr. 15, D-97421Schweinfurt, Germany.

Novagcon �96November 2-3 VA

Kena Temple Hall, Fairfax.Events: role-playing, paintingcontest, historical and sci-ence fiction miniature war-gaming and card games.Registration: $8 NOVAGmembers/$10 general admis-sion, free admission to gamesponsors preregistered byOctober 1. Send SASE to:NOVAG, P.O. Box 7158,Reston, VA 22091.

Sci-Con 18November 8-10 VA

Holiday Inn ExecutiveCenter, Virginia Beach.Special guests: artists LarryElmore and Melissa Benson,SF author Charles Sheffield,and others. Events: StarfleetBattles*, Magic: the Gatheringand live-action games. Otheractivities: charity auction andworkshops. Registration: $20thru October 1, $30 at door.Hampton Roads ScienceFiction Association, Inc., c/oMark Shaffer, P.O. Box 9434,Hampton, Virginia 23670, ore-mail: scicon@earthlink.net.or http://www.earthlink.net/~scicon.

Configuration 7November 8-10 OK

University of Oklahomacampus, Norman. Events:AD&D, role-playing, VampireInteractive theater, Conven-tion Suite, and art show.Registration: $9 weekendpass, $9 Vampire pass, $15for both. War and RolePlaying, 215-A OMU, Box304, 900 Asp Avenue,Norman, OK 73019.

Fields of HonorNovember 8-10 IA

Adventure Lane Inn,Altoona. Contact ScottFriedmeyer, Comics Plus, 6501Douglas Ave., Urbandale, IA50322.

Chimaeracon �96November 15-16 IN

French Lick Springs Resort,French Lick. Events: role-play-ing card, board, and miniaturegames. Other activities: StarTrek Con, dealers, home filmcontest, costume contest andball. Tentative guests: GraceLee Whitney, Bjo Trimble andNASA. Registration: varies.Send SASE to: Chimaera, P.O.Box 42, West Baden Springs,IN 47469.

Pentacon XIINovember 15-17 IN

Grand Wayne Center,Downtown Fort Wayne.Events: role-playing, RPGANetwork tournaments, col-lectible card games, boardgames, auction, miniaturespainting contest, charity raffleand art show. Other activities:seminars and computergames. Northeastern IndianaGaming Association, P.O. Box11174, Fort Wayne, IN 46856,or e-mail: 102654.230@compuserve.com.

Garden State GamesFaireNovember 21-24 NJ

Ramada Inn, East Windsor.Contact Andrew Dawson, 470Ironstone Dr., Boyertown, PA19512.

ShaunCon XXIIINovember 22-24 MO

Holiday Inn, Kansas City.Events: LIVING CityTM, LIVING

JUNGLE™, and LIVING DEATH™tournaments, Masters andGrand Masters events. Otheractivities: Amber*, Call ofCthulhu*, GURPS*, Necro-munda*, Shadowrun*, StarWars* and many more.Registration: $23 at door, dis-counts for pre-reg and/orRPGKC members. RPGKC, P.O.Box 7457, Kansas City, MO64116-0157, or send e-mail:ShaunCon@aol.com or web:http://users.aol.com/RPGKC/RPGKC.html.

Pittsburgh ComiconNovember 23-24 PA

Pittsburgh Expomart,Monroeville. Special guests:John DeLancie, artist WilliamStout, and Marvel/DC artistScott McDaniel. Events: Magic:the Gathering, Star Wars CCG,charity auctions and more.

Other Activities: free auto-graphs, comic and gamesales. Registration: $7 single-day pass. Michael George,1002 Graham Ave., Windber,PA 15963.

SyndiCon �96Nov 29-30, Dec 1 IN

Ramada Inn, Portage.Events: role-playing, cards,comics, miniatures, boardgames, painting contests,and RPGA Network events.Other activities: AD&D ArenaCombat event, Friday the13th, all-weekend PhotoKiller game and interactiverole-playing. Registration:$15 until October 15, $20 atdoor. SyndiCon ‘96, P.O. Box1602, Portage, IN 46368.

* indicates a product produced bya company other than TSR, Inc

By Edward B. Wagner

“Hey, I smell smoke!!!”

DRAGON #233 79

Magical armor,helms, and

shields

by Robert S. Mullinillustrated by R.K. Post

The armor, helms, and shieldsdescribed below appear in a widevariety of shapes, sizes, and styles.

Armor types can appear in the form ofleather to full plate; helms can rangefrom simple skullcaps to helms that fullyenclose the head; and shields may besimple bucklers or elaborate kite shields.Any contradictions to this rule are notedin the text of individual descriptionswhere applicable. Furthermore, althoughthe items presented here are writtenassuming the users are generallyhuman-sized, DMs should also assumeversions exist that are sized for creatureswho are larger or smaller.

All of these items may be used by anycharacter, unless their use is restricted byclass. Again, any examples to the con-trary are noted in the text.

Armor

Avian armorSometimes called bird armor (or a

“chicken suit” by less flattering observers),avian armor appears to be leather armorcloaked in thousands of feathers, the col-ors of which vary according to the whimsof individual creators. The combinationof leather and plumes bestows AC 7upon its wearer, but it confers no furtherprotective bonuses. In addition, avianarmor is impossibly light, and is regardedas non-bulky armor for encumbrancepurposes.

Avian armor has several abilitieswhich are at the disposal of its wearer,detailed as follows:

The armor’s plumage completelyinsulates the wearer from extreme natur-al cold and imparts a +2 bonus to savingthrows against cold-based attacks.

Once per day, the wearer maytransform into any normal, non-fantasticbird. This includes a bird as small as ahummingbird to as large as an ostrich.Otherwise, this power is identical to the

82 SEPTEMBER 1996

shape-shifting ability possessed bydruids, excluding the healing of damage,which is not gained.

Three times per day, the wearermay fly (as the wizard spell) at the 10thlevel of ability.

Avian armor also possesses severallimitations, detailed as follows:

Because of the armor’s extensiveplumage, the wearer is twice as suscepti-ble to heat exhaustion and dehydrationcaused by extreme natural heat.Furthermore, the wearer suffers a -2penalty to saving throws vs. all fire-based attack forms.

The wearer is considered an aviancreature when confronted with a magi-cal flametongue sword or similar item oreffect.

Needless to say, avian armor oftenmakes its wearer look quite silly (hencethe term “chicken suit”), which in turncauses most observers to have a difficulttime taking the wearer seriously,although children seem to like it. Unlessthe wearer is in the company of bird-lovers, his Charisma suffers a penalty of-4 until the armor is removed.

This armor can be used by druids, butit is of particular use to avian-basedpriesthoods, as well as to swanmays.

XP Value: 4,000

Armor of FaithArmor of faith may be manufactured

only by priests, including clerics anddruids. When created, armor of faith isconsecrated and dedicated to the reli-gion of its maker. It always bears thealignment of the faith to which it islinked. Thus, if the creator is devoted toa lawful good religion, the armor of faithbears a Lawful Good alignment whendetected; if the maker is chaotic evil, thearmor is Chaotic Evil; and so forth.

Armor of faith may be worn only bythose who share the same alignmentand religion as the suit in question. Ifdonned by anyone who does not meetthese requirements, the wearer suffers 4hp damage per step of differencebetween the alignment of the armor andthe alignment of the wearer. This dam-age occurs each round until the armor isremoved (the DM must decide howquickly a given suit of armor can beremoved), and no saving throw isallowed.

If the wearer follows the proper faithbut possesses a different alignment(some deities have followers of differentalignments), the wearer is allowed a sav-ing throw in order to reduce the damageby half. Note that this save must bemade each round the armor is worn, andany successful save reduces damageonly for the round in which the save was

made; full damage occurs each roundunless subsequent saves are made.

The breastplate or chest protector ofarmor of faith usually bears the symbol ofthe faith to which it is dedicated, but notalways. If the symbol is present, however,the wearer need not possess a holy sym-bol, as that on the armor serves the samepurpose (e.g., for spell-casting turningundead, etc.).

When worn, armor of faith producesan aura that is clearly visible to those ofthe same alignment or faith. If of thesame faith and alignment, onlookers willknow that the armor-wearer is an allyand serves the same cause as them-selves. If of the same alignment but a dif-ferent faith, onlookers will know that thearmor-wearer is of a similar mind,though this does not necessarily pre-clude friendship or alliance, as differentfaiths (even if of the same alignment)may oppose one another. If of the samefaith, but of a different alignment, thesameness of religion will be noted by thespectator, though like different faiths ofthe same alignment, differing align-ments within the same religion oftenimplies differences in interpretation ofthe “holy word,” and as such, the armor-wearer and the onlooker may not seethings eye-to-eye.

Armor of faith conveys magical protec-tion as per the more common forms ofmagical armor (i.e., AC bonuses of +1 to+5), and normal protection according tothe class of armor it assumes (e.g., leather, chain, plate, etc.).

Obviously, armor of this sort is of par-ticular use to priests, clerics, and druids,and even paladins and rangers, in somecases.

XP Value: 1,000 +500/plus of magi-cal protection

Armor of groundingArmor of grounding is invariably of the

metal sort (e.g., chain, plate, etc.), and italways conveys a magical AC bonus of+2.

When armor of grounding is worn, itgives its wearer a unique protectionfrom lightning- and electricity-basedeffects, including lightning bolts, light-ning breath weapons, electrical shocks,and so forth. When such effects makecontact with the armor (or its wearer),they are immediately absorbed into thearmor and scattered harmlessly into thesurrounding environment as static elec-tricity. Note that some creatures (e.g.,shockers) collect static electricity in orderto perform certain attack modes, and

84 SEPTEMBER 1996

scattering electricity in this fashionallows such creatures to collect theenergy twice as quickly. The wearer ofarmor of grounding has no choice but toallow electrical discharges to be scat-tered in this manner.

XP Value: 2,500

Armor of swimmingAt first glance, Armor of swimming

appears to be some form of scale mail,but in actuality it is a type of magicalleather armor made from the hide of ascaled, aquatic creature. The type ofcreature is not important, so long as it isscaled and aquatic (e.g., fish, sahuagin,dragon turtle, etc.).

Armor of swimming conveys magicalprotection up to and including +5 powerand allows the wearer to swim as pergauntlets of climbing and swimming. Thearmor also confers water breathing (as thepotion) three times per day.

Armor of swimming is common amongpirates, mariners, and similar ocean-going peoples. Friendly tribes of aquaticelves are known to manufacture armorof swimming as gifts for their land-basedallies.

XP Value: 2,500 +500/plus of magi-cal protection

Helms

Helm of horrorHelms of this sort are always of the

fully enclosed variety. They are fash-ioned into the likeness of a fiend, rottingcorpse, or another grisly visage. The eyeslits shine with a continuous infernallight when the helm is worn. In addition,a helm of horror possesses the followingpowers and effects:

When worn, the helm conveysinfravision out to a distance of 60’ uponits wearer.

Three times per day, the helm-wearer can cast a spook spell.

Twice per day, the helm-wearer cancast a scare spell.

Once a day, the helm-wearer maycast a fear spell.

The latter three powers affect onlysingle creatures who must meet theglowing gaze of the helm-wearer. In anycase, saving throws and immunities tofear-based attacks still apply if normallypermitted.

While usable by characters of anyalignment, helms of horror radiate an evilaura, making them quite loathsome togood beings. Paladins and lawful goodclerics will seek to destroy them.

XP Value: 2,500

Helm of thought protectionWhen this helm is donned, the wearers

mind is protected from mental intrusionsuch as ESP, telepathy, or similar mind-reading powers, both magical and psionic.In addition, the helm prevents the wearerfrom projecting his thoughts, so a thoughtcapture (see the 1st-level priest spell of thesame name in the Tome of Magic fordetails) or similar spell will not work, as thehelm-wearer’s thoughts do not escape hisbrain.

The helm is not equal to an amulet ofproof against detection and locution or aring of mind shielding; the wearer is stillsubject to scrying, charming, magicaldetection, psionics, etc., and some ofthese powers could very well be used tocoerce the wearer into removing thehelm so that his mind could then beprobed.

Helms of thought protection are oftenmade of padded leather so that excep-tionally paranoid individuals can wearthem while sleeping, for the helm alsoprevents the scrutiny of dreams (whichare essentially random subconsciousthoughts).

XP Value: 500

Shields

Shield, dweomerbaneShields of this sort are highly prized

by warriors, and despised by most (if notall) spell-users. The reason for thesesentiments is obvious once the shield’spowers are examined.

A dweomerbane shield does not con-vey to its bearer an Armor Class adjust-ment beyond that of a normal shield,though it does possess a magical aura.Furthermore, its true powers do not func-tion unless strapped on the arm or heldin the hand for purposes of defense incombat situations; its powers do not acti-vate if secured to one’s backpack,mount, or elsewhere. When properlyused, the powers of a dweomerbaneshield come to the fore.

If any spell (including spell-like effectsand magical item discharges that dupli-cate spells) is cast into, through, or withina 10’ radius of an active dweomerbaneshield, it is immediately and harmlesslyabsorbed, even if the shield-bearer is notthe target of the spell. This absorptionincludes partial contact with area spells,as well as contact with a pre-existing spelleffects (e.g., a previously cast barrier spell).

For every five spell-levels absorbed, adweomerbane shield conveys a +1 bonusto the Armor Class of its bearer. In any

86 SEPTEMBER 1996

case, the shield can absorb a maximumof 25 spell-levels (excess spell-levels arelost, and further spells affect the shield-bearer normally), providing defenseequal to a shield +5. Absorbed spell-levels vanish at a rate of five per turn.

Note, however, that the absorptionability of a dweomerbane shield does notdistinguish between potential sources. Itdevours magical energies from friendlysources as surely as that of foes, includ-ing spell effects discharged from theshield-bearer! Furthermore, a shield ofthis sort cannot absorb magical effectsthat do not duplicate a spell, and sucheffects harm (or aid) the shield-bearer asusual.

XP Value: 4,000

Shield of FaithA shield of faith essentially functions as

armor of faith (q.v.) with regards to abili-ties and limitations, but it takes the formof a shield. Note, however, that the faceof a shield of faith always bears the sym-bol of the deity to which it is dedicated.

XP Value: 1,000 +500/plus of magi-cal protection

Shield of missilesShields of this sort appear in as many

different shapes and sizes as do othershields. A shield of missiles functions as do

other magical shields, offering protectionof +1 value to as much as +5 value.However, a shield of missiles also possessesthe ability to fire a volley of magic missiles(as the first-level wizard spell) if the bearerso wishes. The exact number of missilesin each volley, and the number of timesper day this power can be employed,depends on the protective ability of theshield, determined as follows:

AC Bonus Missiles/Use Uses/Day+1 1 5+2 2 4+3 3 3+4 4 2+5 5 1

In addition, a shield of missiles automat-ically absorbs any magic missiles directedat its bearer (even if from another shield ofmissiles), which are assumed to be used inorder to rejuvenate its powers (though itneed not absorb magic missiles in order tocast them). No harm is therefore inflictedupon the shield-bearer by the absorbedmagic missiles.

XP Value: 4,000

Shield of shatteringThese shields come in all shapes and

sizes but appear to be constructed of anarcane mixture of metal, wood, andstone. Despite these materials, a shield of

shattering is virtually weightless and evenfloats in water or other liquids (it can sup-port 25 Ibs. of weight when floating thus).It is entirely impervious to harm, whethermagical or otherwise; a property directlylinked to its purpose.

When a shield of shattering is firstcreated, it always offers protection as ashield +5, though specimens of lesserdefense have been discovered (seebelow).

A shield of shattering gains its namefrom the effects it has upon objects thatstrike it with considerable force (i.e.,enough force to inflict damage upon itsuser). Whenever an object strikes theshield, it must save vs. crushing blow. Ifthe save fails, the object shatters. In thecase of attacks with claws, teeth, tails,wings, or other natural body weapons,the attacker must save vs. death or thelimb/extremity is broken. Obviously,creatures such as oozes, slimes, and jel-lies cannot be affected by a shield of shat-tering. If an object or extremity is broken,the shield decreases one point in protec-tive value (i.e., +5 becomes +4, +4becomes +3, etc.), hence the existence ofshields of shattering with lesser defensiveability. If an object striking the shieldmakes its save, the shield does not losea plus. However, when the shield’s last“charge” is expended, it is shatteredalong with the striking object.

To determine if the shield is struck,attack rolls against the shield-bearer aremade as usual. If the resulting numberindicates a miss due solely to the pres-ence of the shield, the attack has struckthe shield and must save as above. Forexample, if the shield-bearer has an AC 2with the shield, but an AC 5 without theshield, an attack roll against the shield-bearer that-would hit an AC 2, 3, or 4 isassumed to hit the shield of shattering.Note that for purposes of this determina-tion, the protection of a shield of shatter-ing is computed after any other protec-tive effects (e.g., magical armor, swordsof defense, etc.).

XP Value: 4,000

Robert S. Mullin has become a frequentcontributor to DRAGON® Magazine. Judgingby the number of interesting article propos-als he has sent us recently he’ll continue thattrend for some time to come.

88 SEPTEMBER 1996

Forum welcomes your comments andopinions on role-playing games.

In the United States and Canada, sendany correspondence to “Forum,” DRAGON®Magazine, 201 Sheridan Springs Road,lake Geneva, WI 53147 U.S.A. In Europe,send mail to “Forum,” DRAGON Magazine,TSR Ltd., 120 Church End, Cherry Hinton,Cambridge CB1 3LB, U.K. You can also sende-mail to tsrdragon@aol.com.

We ask that all material be neatly typed orhandwritten. You must give us your full nameand mailing address if you expect your letterto be printed (we will not consider a letter sentanonymously), but we will withhold yourname if you ask us to do so, and we will notprint your full address unless you request it.

I would like to comment on several let-ters in issue #229. First, I agree withAndrew Pearce. Humans should be

able to be multi-classed. I have alwaysconsidered it unnecessarily restrictivethat they cannot. The level limits ondemihumans should also be discarded.Most demihumans live many moreyears than humans, so it is expectedthat they can achieve levels of skillabove that of humans. However, giventhe extra racial abilities that demi-

am sure that you will be able to getsome good ideas from professional writ-ers to that age group. It is nice to see anelder sister encouraging her siblings.Keep up the good work, Jessica.

Next, I would like to address theproblem of introducing a new player toa group. Many of the problems seem tocome from new players trying to intro-duce characters created elsewhere. Thegroup I adventure with allows only thecreation of new characters specificallyfor that campaign. Imported charactersare not allowed under any circum-stances. New characters are usually alevel behind the lowest existing PC.

lastly, I would like to commend thearticle by Christopher Byler. Many tech-nological advances have come about tomake life easier, allegedly. The samewould hold true of magic, as Christopherobserves so well. Any DM running acampaign that involves magic, whetherit is the AD&D game or not, should heedthis article.

Yours Faithfully,Roger Smith

11 Chedworth CloseNettleham park

LincolnLN2 4SNEngland

I have been astonished, to say theleast, at some of the solutions my fellowDMs have proposed to the “problem” ofnew players. My solution, which hasworked nine times out of ten, is to havenew players bring in freshly-roiled-upcharacters at first level. It doesn’t matterwhether they are experienced playerswith folders full of characters or whetherthey’ve never played before: they allstart at the bottom. I adjust the adven-tures to make sure that the new guyshave a chance to contribute. My other

�If we treated the main art of Faerûn in the samehistorical vein, we would have people trying to burn

Elminster and all other witches at the stake...�

humans have, there should probably besome sort of bribe to play human char-acters. One possible method of doingthis is in the PLAYER’S OPTION™: SkilIs &Powers book. I would suggest thathumans be allowed one free Trait of theplayer’s choice.

Second, a word to Jessica Beals. Whynot take a look at some of the literature,films, and TV shows your sisters enjoy? I

players have always been more thanwilling to help the newbies to learn thelaws of the land.

The more experienced characters geta break, because their players know thatfor a little while they won’t be going onquite so deadly missions. They usuallytake this time to strut, show off a little,and openly reminisce about past adven-tures. This gives the new guys a chance

to become acclimated and learn moreabout my world.

On to other matters. I agree withPeter Heyck’s letter (in issue #230)about switching the elven subracesaround. As to Tim Nutting in the sameissue, I agree that if I tried to allowPLAYER’ S OPTION rules, I would waste awhole session just hammering out rulesissues. Therefore, I don’t use them at all.The AD&D® rules are quick and simple,which is precisely why it is my game ofchoice. Different strokes for differentfolks, I always say.

As for Michael Brock’s lament in theletters section, I can only say that theother sections of Faerûn deserve to gounexplored. TSR made the mistake oftrying to be historically accurate withcustoms of the Orient, Hordelands, andMaztica. I felt that I had stumbled ontoan issue of National Geographic morethan an invitation to adventure withtheir boxed sets. If we treated the mainpart of Faerûn in the same historicalvein, we would have people trying toburn Elminster and all other witches atthe stake, the priests of the different reli-gions constantly on crusades to burn orconvert the heathen, anyone carryingweapons would be constantly moni-tored any time he rode into town with-out a caravan, and thieves would atmost have one Fagan-like character anda bunch of young thieves-in-training, noguilds.

All these changes might make for anintriguing game concept, but it wouldn’tbe the game we all know, which is themost successful RPG going. If theseother parts of the Realms had beencrafted less with an eye toward historyand more with an eye toward good sto-rylines, they would have prospered asthe main setting has.

Finally, I agree with Gary Stahl. As aDM, any rule that the PCs have to followshould be equally enforced against theNPCs. Personally, I think TSR shouldpublish only products with NPCs that fol-low their own rules. If they don’t followtheir own rules, why should anyoneelse? I’ve done away with special“Chosen of Mystra” statuses, spellfire,and any other “special talents” that noPC could ever hope to achieve. I hopethat others will chime in and share whatthey think about these subjects in“Forum” or by sending letters to medirectly.

Steve Shawler3306 Radiance RoadLouisville, KY 40220

90 SEPTEMBER 1996

I am writing in response to StevenShaffer’s letter in issue #231 on the ques-tion of level restrictions for demihumans.The level limits rule can seem nonsensi-cal for many of the same reasons that hebrings up, but removing these limits cancreate as many inconsistencies in a cam-paign world as will using them. However,implementing some of the optional rulesoutlined in the DMG and employing a lit-tle creativity can solve most of theseproblems.

In general, level limits are treatedmore like obscure rules that have beenincluded to preserve balance in the cam-paign than as the reflections of culturaldifferences between the races. Humans,as explained in the DMG, are moreambitious and versatile than demihu-mans, and their ability to advance with-out restriction in any class is the productof these tendencies. Elves, halflings,dwarves, and gnomes are assumed tolack the degree of ambition and dedica-tion that allows humans to become sopowerful in their chosen class, but thereis very little explanation as to exactlyhow these races differ from humans. Ifcultural and psychological details areadded behind the rule, however, theconcept of level limits becomes a greatdeal more palatable.

Perhaps the elven psyche undergoeschanges such that an elf becomes moreinterested in admiring nature, philoso-phy, or cultural activities as he ages,while halfling thieves begin to tire of allthe excitement of an adventuring lifeand spend more of their time longingfor the simpler pleasures of a snug bur-row, a tidy little flower garden, and quietwalks in the sunny fields of their home-lands. Dwarves might start to questionthe value of the glory obtained in battleand think about returning to their clanto devote their time to metalworking,stoneshaping, and raising a family inorder to insure that their ancestors willcontinue to be venerated after their ownlives have ended. In each case, thesedemihumans would begin to neglecttheir class in favor of these other inter-ests, and their advancement in terms oflevels would slow or even stop.Unfortunately, I have rarely seen thesekinds of psychological changes effec-tively portrayed in a PC. On the contrary,most demihuman PCs who reach theirlevel limits continue to be just as ambi-tious and focused on perfecting theirclasses as any human PC, and few DMsbother to discuss the psychology behindlevel limits with their players.

In any event, I don’t think that limit-ing the advancement of demihumansnecessarily means that they will be lesspowerful than humans in any class theychoose. An elven wizard normally stopsadvancing once he reaches 15th level,but if the rule for exceeding level limitswith exceptional ability scores is used,an elven wizard with an 18 Intelligencecan attain 18th level and cast those cov-eted 9th-level spells. He will be able tocast only one of these spells each day,but if slow advancement is allowed afterthat, he can eventually become as pow-erful as any human wizard. Of course,not every wizard is lucky enough tohave an 18 Intelligence, but without itno wizard, human or not, can compre-hend the complex formulas required touse 9th-level spells. Advancing moreslowly after reaching 18th level doesforce the elven wizard into a slightly dif-ferent role, however. In my own cam-paign world, elven wizards are knownnot so much for thundering battle magicas for their ability to craft unique andpowerful magical spells and items. Ahuman wizard might throw aroundmeteor swarm, prismatic sphere, and wishspells in less time than it takes an elven

wizard to learn such spells, but an elf’slong life span provides the time neces-sary to experiment and investigate prob-lems in magical theory more complexthan most humans will ever consider.Elves are known as powerful wizardsnot because they can tear Orcus’ palaceapart faster than can a human wizard,but because the elves designed most ofthe spells that humans are now flingingat each other.

The problem with level limits, as I’vecome to understand it, is not in the ruleitself but in the fact that so few DMstake the time to devise a rationale forthese limits in the culture and history ofthe different races. If this is done, and ifthe players are encouraged to portraythese traits in their characters, level lim-its can preserve the advantages of play-ing a human while adding a unique fla-vor to demihuman characters.

Josh HeckmanArcata, CA

DRAGON #233 91

The Rod of Seven Parts, world by world

by Skip Williams

The Rod of Seven Parts boxed adven-ture officially hits the shelves this month.Though the Rod has been part of AD&D®game lore for years, (see “The GameHistory of the Rod of Seven Parts” inDRAGON Magazine® issue #224) this marksthe first time the infamous artifact hasplayed center stage in a product. Long-time fans of the game know the Rodwell; it’s been the subject of two multi-part (naturally) tournaments and hasbedeviled players in countless local cam-paigns. The new Rod of Seven Partsadventure also marks the beginning ofthe TOMES™ line for the AD&D game.TOMES products update classic ideas fromthe AD&D game’s rich past and reintro-duces them to new generations of play-ers and game masters; today’s playerscan tap into the same vein of experi-ences that old timers share.

Keeping the Rod’s legacy in mind, Icreated an adventure that could work onany standard AD&D game world. Thismeant I had to keep certain elementsvague so that individual DMs could tailorthe adventure to their own campaigns.As a consequence, the boxed set says lit-tle about how the Rod’s appearancemight affect the world at large, the exactlocations of the major events within theadventure, or how the waves of chaosthat afflict the world during the course ofthe adventure might alter the landscape.

If you’ve set your campaign on aworld of your own creation, only you

can fill in the missing details. Here aresome suggestions, however, for con-ducting the adventure on some of TSR’sestablished game worlds. DMs who runcampaigns on worlds of their own mightfind some of these ideas useful, too.

The GREYHAWK® settingThe lands of the Flanaess have long

been subject to brooding evils and toextra-planar meddling. After the eventsof Greyhawk Wars, ancient evils domi-nate the land, especially in the northand west. All in all, The Flanaess is a per-fect setting for a quest for the Rod. TheGREYHAWK setting also has the twin dis-tinctions of being the land of the Rod’sorigin (according to the Book Of Artifacts)and the site of many of my own earlyforays into role-playing games. Accord-ingly, I had some specific GREYHAWK loca-tions in mind as I wrote the variousepisodes in the adventure (see theAdventure Summary in Book I of theRod of Seven Parts box for an explanationof what each adventure is all about), asfollows:

Night Raiders: Hex F5, 96 northwestof Veluna.

At the Sign of the Golden Cockatrice:The City of Creyhawk (where else?)

Incident at a Footbridge: Any moun-tainous or hilly terrain; the Abbor Alz orthe Cairn Hills fit the bill nicely.

Spelunking: Hex X5, 119 under theinfamous Barrier Peaks.

Uninvited Guests: Hex M5, 142 with-in the Hellfurnaces. (The diplomatic mar-riage that provides the backdrop of the

Uninvited Guests adventure could signalthe beginnings of a new wave of giantattacks on the western and centralFlanaess).

Hospitality: Hex K6, 131 at the east-ern end of the Dry Steppes.

The Forgotten Temple: Any city butGreyhawk. Somewhere in the GreatKingdom would be the most appropri-ate. (The temple might have once beendevoted to Nerull.)

The Citadel of Chaos: Portals to otherworlds abound in the Flanaess, so thisportion of the adventure could beginalmost anywhere. The ruins of GreyhawkCastle or the Valley of the Mage wouldbe good choices for DMs who want tomake their players work a little for theprivilege of visiting the citadel.

No matter where the party goes insearch of the Rod, it’s a good bet that luzand the Scar let Brotherhood wi l lbecome players in the drama. As an arti-fact of law, the Rod poses a seriousthreat to the chaotic evil luz and hisplans for conquest. On the other hand,luz might also wish to use the Rod as abargaining chip in some infernal negoti-ation with the Queen of Chaos. TheScarlet Brotherhood would likewise findthe Rod a useful tool for maintainingorder in their own ranks and furtheringtheir ambitions for subtle conquest,including using the Rod to help defeatluz if necessary.

A group seeking the Rod might alsofind some forces of Good arrayedagainst them. Some members of theCircle of Eight, especially Rary, might

92 SEPTEMBER 1996

question the party’s motives in seekingto recover the Rod and might try to keepthe Rod from them or to manipulate thePCs after they get it. The more activistmembers of the Circle, wizards such asMordenkainen and Tenser, could act assponsors or advisers to the party. Theclerics of Veluna or the Theocracy of thePale could play a similar role either tothe benefit or detriment of the party.

Once chaos waves strike the world,you might want to assume that some ofthe Flanaess’s more notable residents,such as members of the Circle of Eight,luz, and other political leaders, mightnotice the changes. luz, being a minordeity, certainly would note the alteredlandscape, as would the plane-hoppingMordenkainen. To randomly determinewhether other important NPCs notice,just roll an unadjusted saving throw vs.spell. If the saving throw succeeds, thecharacter in question remembers howthings are supposed to be. Note thatanyone not taken in by the changesbecomes an alien in his home world,just as the PCs do, and becomes subjectto damage each day (see Book III in theRod of Seven Parts box). Note also thatfolk who are taken in become part ofthe altered landscape and suffer nodamage from the environment. Need-less to say, even the most evil NPCs willsee the wisdom of sending the Rod onto another world and ending the chaoseffects. Specific chaos effects couldinclude:

The transformation of the Nyr Dyvinto a dense forest. The Rhennee nowroam the area in caravans of wagons.The Nyr Dyv remains a dangerous placefull of hidden canyons where huge ser-pents lurk. Enclaves of other dangerousmonsters are scattered throughout theforest.

The flooding of the Sea of Dust,which becomes a shallow sea of salty,polluted water.

The transformation of the AzureSea into a sea of tall grass where cara-vans of elephants make their way to thePomarj and the Iron hills from the depthsof the Hepmonaland Jungle, whichbecomes known for its verdant purpletrees and venomous, flying reptiles.

The BIRTHRIGHT® SettingThe continent of Cerilia seethes with

conflicts, some ancient, some morerecent. The appearance of the Rod ofSeven Parts on Cerilia is quite likely tospark a new wave of strife as feudingregents try to seize the Rod and use its

power to further their own ambitions. ACerillian quest for the Rod should be nosideshow, but a major event in the livesof regent characters struggling to movetheir domains forward. Possible loca-tions for the various episodes in theadventure include:

Night Raiders: The Five Peaks areahas the right terrain for this adventure;however, the adventure is best placednear or within a landed regents territory.The prelude to the adventure is easilydisguised as a “monsters” random eventduring a realm turn; use the most ruggedforested area you can find in a low-valueprovince for the actual location.

At the Sign of the Golden Cockatrice:This is a good adventure for introducingnon-regent characters to the quest forthe Rod. Place the adventure within anylarge city (perhaps in an “enemy” king-dom’s capital). If you’re willing to do alittle extra work, you could place theevents of this adventure into a fair ortournament, where several regent char-acters are in attendance.

Incident at a Footbridge: This shortadventure can take place just aboutanywhere, but the province valueshould be low to reflect the adventure’s

wilderness setting. A regent who hastaken time out from ruling to have anadventure might stumble across Eudora,the adventure’s central figure, on hisway home. If non-regent characters areinvolved, you might replace Eudora withthe kingdom’s court wizard (or make herthe court wizard).

Spelunking: The Silverhead Moun-tains would be a fine setting for thisadventure. Tichthys, the adventure’smain villain, might have some relation-ship with the Gorgon, which could posean additional problem for the party.

Uninvited Guests: Anywhere in theSpearmarch mountain range would be agood location for this adventure. Onceagain, the diplomatic marriage inprogress here could have serious impli-cations for the neighboring kingdoms.

Hospitality: Aftane or the TarvanWaste would be good places to set thisadventure. If the adventure could takeplace along a trade route a regent PChas established, so much the better.

The Forgotten Temple: It would bebest to place this adventure in somehostile (or at least suspiciously neutral)city. The temple itself might once havebeen dedicated to Belinik.

DRAGON #233 93

The Citadel of Chaos: Gates to otherplanes should be rare in Cerilia, and thePCs should have to work a little to findone, even if Arquestan (an NPC from theadventure) helps. Perhaps the staff atthe Royal College of Sorcery in Anuirecould provide some information (for aprice). The only available portal might liein an awnshegh’s territory, requiringsome diplomacy or stealth from the PCs.

Just about any regent could makegood use of the Rod, though gaining theenmity of the Queen of Chaos mightprove to be more trouble than the Rod isworth. In any event, chaos waves wouldplay havoc with the crucial relationshipbetween blooded characters — especiallyregents — and the land. This is notmerely a matter of confounding the PCsby rearranging some familiar landmarks.A chaos wave represents a blight on theland. Feel free to reassign the terrain thatprevails in every province a PC controls.Transformed provinces lose productivity,so reduce the base value of eachprovince and each holding within it byone. If this results in too many holdingsin a province, consider all holdings in theprovince contested until somebody man-ages to eliminate one. After the PCs sendthe Rod on, you can restore the originalterrain and value to the provinces, butdamaged holdings stay that way untilrebuilt. It’s a good idea to assume thatany blooded character remains aware ofthe changes wrought by a chaos wave.Such characters become subject to dam-age from the altered environment.

The FORGOTTEN REALMS® settingOn magic-rich Toril, even an item as

powerful as the Rod of Seven Parts won’thave a world-wide impact, at least notinitially. Nevertheless, the Rod couldbecome the focal point of a broad powerstruggle as many different organizationsand individuals try to seize it or at leastaffect its fate. Locations for the variousadventures might include:

Night Raiders: This adventure is bestplaced on the outskirts of an establishedkingdom, such as Cormyr. The easternStormhorns seems a likely site. King Syril(a legendary figure introduced in theadventure) might be a distant ancestorof King Azoun. If so, King Azoun mightregard the Rod as a family heirloom.

At the Sign of the Golden Cockatrice:The streets and alleys of Waterdeepcould easily hold this adventure, even ifthe Golden Cockatrice isn’t listed in Volo’sGuide to Waterdeep. The DM could assumethe redoubtable Volo simply overlooked

the establishment, or the whole adven-ture could be moved to a location that islisted in the Guide. Alternately, any large,cosmopolitan city, such as Ravens Bluff,could hold the Golden Cockatrice.

Incident at a Footbridge: This adven-ture could happen just about anywhere.

Spelunking: The Shadowdale-MythDrannor area is a natural setting for thisadventure.

Uninvited Guests: Any moderatelyremote mountainous area will suffice forthis adventure, the Galena Mountains, forexample. Again, the diplomatic marriagefeatured here could be a sign of largertroubles brewing.

Hospitality: This adventure couldtake place along a trade route spanningsouthern Anauroch, or in Calimshan. Italso could give the DM an excuse totake the party away from Faerûn for avisit to exotic Zhakhara.

The Forgotten Temple: This adven-ture could take place in just about anycity except Waterdeep. Yulash or one theMoonsea cities would be quite appropri-ate. The temple itself might have beendestroyed during the Time of Troublesand could have been dedicated to one ofthe evil dead gods, such as Bane.

The Citadel of Chaos: The portalleading to the citadel could be just aboutanywhere, as portals abound on Faerûn.It’s just possible, however, that one ofthe area’s major personalities (seebelow) might control the portal.

Although Faerûn is no stranger topowerful artifacts, the Rod is sure to cre-ate some excitement among the conti-nents many wizards, sages, bards, andcabals. Certainly, Elminster and his alliesthe Harpers will take a keen interest inthe Rod’s ultimate fate, as will the SevenSisters, the Magister, the Cult of theDragon, the Zhentarim, and many rulersand adventuring companies. Possessingthe Rod even for a short time mightmean the success or failure of somescheme or another.

The affects of chaos waves should bequite spectacular. Perhaps the Sea ofFallen Stars transforms into a scorchedbowl similar to the Death Valley area ofthe western United States. Perhaps theMoonsea drains into this basin via athunderous torrent that rages for weeks.The elves of Evermeet might find thesudden appearance of a land bridgefrom their island to the Sword Coast veryinconvenient. Once these kinds ofchanges begin occurring, its a sure betthat Elminster and company will do theutmost to intervene and reverse them.

The PLANESCAPE™ SettingAlthough the adventures that make

up the Rod of Seven Parts saga are setmostly in worlds on the Prime MaterialPlane, the City of Sigil could provide aconvenient base for a party searchingfor the Rod. It would be best if the DMplaces individual sections of the Rod ondifferent worlds. Locating and activatingportals to these worlds would provideadditional challenges for the party.

The nature of Sigil requires a majoralteration to the way the adventureworks, because the Queen of Chaos’sgate power does not function there. Thatdoes not mean that the PCs needn’t fearattacks from spyder fiends. The queencan send individual fiends into Sigil toharass the party. Under no circum-stances will chaos waves ever affectSigil, though they could affect any worldthe party visits.

Several of Sigil’s factions will becomeinvolved in the quest for the Rod. TheFraternity of Order certainly will be fasci-nated by the Rod’s powers of Law. Whilethe chaos factions, the Doomguard, theRevolutionary League, and the Xaosi-tects regard the Rod as completely anti-thetical to their goals (and rightly so).They’ll do whatever they can to preventanyone from assembling it.

Various lords of the Abyss and Baatorwould be very interested in the Rod’sfate, as it could profoundly affect theBlood War. Though the Rod of SevenParts boxed set says the baatezu’s mainconcern about the Rod is assuring thatit’s ultimately used to destroy Miska theWolf Spider, a baatezu army with theRod at its head could prove very dan-gerous to the tanar’ri. If the Rod appearsin Sigil, especially after Miska is slain,acquiring the Rod as a weapon mightbecome a priority for the baatezu. In asimilar vein the tanar’ri will wish toassure that the Rod is not used againstthem, and may seek it as a bargainingchip to get the Queen or Chaos andMiska involved in the Blood War.

In any case, bringing the fully assem-bled Rod into Sigil invites disaster, as itsaura of fearsome law is likely to disruptthe city so extensively that the Lady ofPain places the wielder into the mazesfor his presumption.

As the royal sage of DRAGON Magazine,Skip WiIliams is no stranger to these pages.Well, no stranger than he is to the rest of us.

94 SEPTEMBER 1996

for the FORGOTTEN REALMS® setting rightaway. It’s hard to get that kind of jobright off the street. Start with fanzines,magazines. I know a number of peoplewho got into the industry by startingwith DUNGEON® Adventures. The RPGANetwork is another good place. Andwriting Earthdawn tournaments is anexcellent way to begin. A couple of myauthors started that way,” he added.“And I tell people not to give up. If acareer in gaming is what you want, do it.Commit to it. Give it your all.”

by Jean Rabe

As a few of our more astute readersnoticed right away, the “Network News”column from DRAGON® Magazine issue#231 ended rather abruptly. We think ifmade a rather exciting cliffhanger, but we‘retoo embarrassed to pretend we did it on pur-pose. In any event, here now is the rest ofJean Rabe's interview with Lou Prosperi, thisyear’s RPGA® Network Guest of Honor at theGEN CON® Game Fair.

For more information about theNetwork's programs, write to: RPGANetwork, 201 Sheridan Springs Rd.,Lake Geneva, WI 53147, or send e-mail to: rpgahq@aol.com.

* indicates a product produced by a companyother than TSR, Inc.

Prosperi considers the Game Fair plea-surable and painful. “It’s this four-dayextravaganza I look forward to withanticipation and dread. I started worryingabout this Game Fair in January. I coordi-nate all the events FASA sponsors. I han-dle the seminars, the paperwork, sched-uling — as well as all the booth demos. Soonce a week from January on I spendhalf a day on the Game Fair in someregard. But at the same time, the conven-tion’s really a thing I look forward to. I getto meet with all the people I know in theindustry. I can talk to my freelanceauthors face-to-face. I walk around andsee what everybody’s up to. And I rungames. It’s work, but I love to run games.It’s exhausting but its wonderful.”

He schedules at least an hour a dayto chat with Earthdawn fans. Many ofthem ask how to break into the industry.“The first thing I tell them is to be pro-fessional. If gaming is a hobby, and theyintend to work at it as a freelancer inaddition to a regular job, I tell them totreat it as a profession anyway. Get acompany’s submission guidelines andfollow them. Inquire what companiesare looking for. Don’t try to reinvent thewheel or send a company a proposal onhow to fix their game.” That only leavesone impression with the company, headded — a bad one.

“It’s not easy to get into the industry.I believe you have to pay your dues.And one of the best ways of doing thatis playtesting. If you can review a prod-uct for a company, offer constructiveways to fix it, offer solutions — well, thatshows you have the right aptitude forgame design. I encourage anyone inter-ested in the industry to try. We’re look-ing for new authors all the time. Peopleplay the AD&D® game and want to write

Jean Rabe is a freelance novelist andgame designer, us well us the former RPGA®Network coordinator.

DRAGON #233 95

by Skip Williams

If you have any questions on the gamesproduced by TSR, Inc., “Sage Advice” willanswer them. In the United States andCanada, write to: Sage Advice, DRAGON®Magazine, 201 Sheridan Springs Road,Lake Geneva, WI 51347, U.S.A. In Europe,write to: Sage Advice, DRAGON Magazine,TSR Ltd., 120 Church End, Cherry Hinton,Cambridge, CB1 3LB, U.K. You can also e-mail questions to tsrsage@aol.com.

We are no Ionger able to make personalreplies. Please send no SASEs with yourquestion. SASEs are being returned withcopies of the writer's guidelines.

This month, the Sage looks at the newPLAYER ’S OPTION™: Spells & Magic tome andother optional rules for the AD&D® game.

The Spells & Magic rulebook, on page77, paragraph 3, gives an example thatreads: “For instance, a 7th-levelInvoker... could choose as many aseight bonus 1st-level spells.” Is this atypo? Because according to the WizardSpell Point Progression table on page78 (Table 17), it says that a 7th-level spe-cialist wizard can memorize a maxi-mum of 6 spells per spell level.

Table 17 is right; the example iswrong.

Table 30 on page 95 of the Spells &Magic book appears to be in error.Although ritual prayer can accumulateonly 0, 1, or 2 spell points a round (firstparagraph on page 95), the initiativemodifiers in Table 30 go up to 29 spellpoints in the final round of prayer.However, the text on page 95 (bottomof the first column) says only the pointsaccumulated in the final round countagainst initiative. Which is right, thetable or the text?

They both are. First, priests are notalways limited to 2 or fewer spell pointsa round when using ritual prayer. It’spossible to accumulate 9 or even 10spell points a round using the bonusesfrom Table 31, Modifiers to RitualCasting Times, also on page 95.

Table 30 goes up to 29 spell points tocover situations in which the DM decidesthe caster’s deity really wants the priest

to cast the spell. For example, Spells &Magic author Rich Baker suggests that ifmultiple priests collaborate in ritualprayer, the spell caster gains one extraspell point each round for each assistant.That is, a caster backed by 30 otherpriests could gain 32 spell points a roundunder normal conditions. Every priest insuch a group must be of the same faith.

The DM might also grant additionalspell points each round for offeringslarger than 2,000 gp. For example apriest might gain +5 SP/round for anoffering worth 5,000, gp +6 SP/roundfor an offering worth 10,000 gp, +7SP/round for an offering of 20,000 gpand so on. Likewise, a priest might get 1,2, or 3 extra spells points each round ifthe spell being cast furthers the deity’sethos or is cast to thwart the interests ofan opposing deity. For example, if ser-vants of the deity’s greatest enemy areabout to break into the inner sanctum ofthe temple, the caster would gain +3SP/round in addition to modifiers forlocation, faith, and offerings.

The arrow of bone spell from theSpells & Magic book has a duration list-ing of “special.” The spell descriptionsays nothing abut how long the spellactually lasts. Is the missile enchantedfor a certain amount of time per level ofthe caster? Until it’s fired? Or what?Also, do undead or non-living targetsget a saving throw against the extradamage the arrow inflicts on them?

The spell’s basic duration is one dayor until somebody fires the missile; if thecharacter firing the missile misses thetarget, the spell still ends. Non-living tar-gets gain no saving throw; they just suf-fer the extra damage.

What is the effect on a necromancerwho has both a heart of stone spell (an8th level necromancy spell from Spells& Magic) and has a persistent spelleffect optional ability operating on atrollish fortitude spell (a 7th level necro-mancy spell from Spells & Magic)?

I figure that either the trollish forti-tude will function minimally, regener-

ating one hit point per round, or thatthe trollish fortitude will attempt toregrow the caster a flesh heart andnegate the heart of stone spell. What’syour call on this one? All in all this is apretty gross combo. (Almost as bad asthe combination of OttO’s irresistibledance mixed in with a nearby bladebarrier.)

A heart of stone spell completelynegates any form of regeneration — per-manent, persistent, or otherwise. Nor canthe spell recipient benefit from the accel-erated healing effects provided by peri-apts of wound closure, potions of vitality, orany benefit from other effects that repairdamage over time.

Note that the spell recipient also doesnot suffer extra damage from bleedingwounds, such as those inflicted by asword of wounding.

How does the mind flayers mindblast power work in campaigns thatdon’t use psionics? Can a character usehis saving throw bonus for high Wisdomor Dexterity (or both) to defend againstthe mind blast? Are there any magicaldefenses that affect the non-psionicmind blast? For example, can anantimagic shell, a wall of force, or globeof invulnerability stop a mind blast?

A mind flayer’s mind blast is a mentalattack, and as such the targets Wisdomadjustment applies to the saving throw;Dexterity adjustments do not apply. Anantimagic shell completely blocks themind blast, as does a wall of force. If thewall of force is shaped into a plane, how-ever, the blast circumvents the wallunless the wall is large enough to blockthe entire width of the mind blasts coneat the point where the two effects inter-sect. If even a fraction of the cone getsaround the wall, the whole effect winsthrough. A globe of invulnerability has noeffect on the mind blast.

I’m wondering how to change certainpsionic powers from the system used inthe Complete Psionics Handbook to theMAC/MTHAC0 system used in thePLAYER ’s OPTION rules. All the powers havespecial effects when certain numberscome up during the power check Thepowers are Spirit Lore, ClairsentientScience: Bone Reading, ClairsentientDevotion, from The Will and the Way; andRetrospection (originally a Metapsionicdiscipline, now a Clairsentient Devotion)from the CPH.

If nothing else, some kind of formulafor converting would be rather helpful.

96 SEPTEMBER 1996

Most of the ones that had things happenon specific rolls were changed with theSkills & Powers book and new release ofthe DARK SUN® boxed set, but these seemto have slipped through.

Okay, here’s a formula: Subtract thepower score modifier from 11 to get apower’s MAC. (If you apply this methodto powers already converted to the Skills& Powers system, you won’t get the sameresult. That’s deliberate.) For powerswith special results based on the powercheck result, just invert the table includ-ed in the power description. That is,assume effects that happen on a roll of1 now happen on a roll of 20 and workbackward from there.

The formula gives the followingresults when applied to the powers inyour question:

Spirit Lore: MAC 819-20 The spirit doesn’t know the

answer and lies.17-18 The spirit knows only part of

the answer and embellishesthe truth, hoping to deceivethe psionicist.

15-16 The spirit doesn’t know theanswer but admits its igno-rance.

13-14 The spirit knows the answerbut attempts to disguise thetruth in deceptive riddles.

12 or less The spirit knows the answerand gives it truthfully.

Bone Reading: MAC 1019-20 Deceased’s race.18 Deceased’s sex.17 Deceased’s age.16 Deceased’s identity.15 Deceased’s appearance in

life and alignment.14 The date of death.13 or less The method of death.

Retrospection: MAC 720 Extremely vague and frag-

mentary.19 Vague or incomplete.16-18 Complete but not specific.15 or less Reasonably complete and

specific.

Do the monstrous traits from theComplete Book of Humanoids allow acharacter to exceed racial ability scoremaximums? If so, than can a characterwith the correct traits have, say, aStrength score of 26?

Apply ability score modifiers fromtraits after applying racial ability score

modifiers and checking the adjustedscores against racial ability score limits.(The racial requirements tables in theComplete Book of Humanoids apply afterracial adjustments, not before as they doin the Player’s Handbook.) Once the char-acter qualifies for its race, ability scoremodifiers from traits can take it beyondracial limits. However, no humanoidcharacter can have a score higher than24 or lower than 1. Note also that sometraits establish minimum and maximumscores of their own. If a characterexceeds or falls short of a trait’s mini-mum or maximum, adjust the abilityscore in question to match the new limit.

For example, a player rolls up a lizardman character with the following scores:Strength 17, Dexterity 4, Constitution 13,Wisdom 10, and Charisma 14. There areno racial modifiers to apply. However,the character’s ability scores fall withinracial limits anyway. Now, the playermust apply trait modifiers. As a lizardman, the character automatically hasthe monstrous appearance, bestial fear,and bestial habits traits. The DM alsoassigns the character the monstrousStrength 2 and monstrous Dexterity 1traits. The combined traits give the char-

acter a -5 reaction adjustment (the char-acter started out with a +2 for itsCharisma of 14, but suffers a -7 from itstraits). The character’s Dexterity scorerises to 6, which is the minimum for acharacter with the monstrous Dexteritytrait. The character’s Strength score risesto 19 by virtue of the +2 bonus from themonstrous Strength trait.

Can you combine a martial art orpunching specialization with the close-quarter fighting, natural fighting, orwild fighting proficiencies from theComplete Book of Humanoids?

The close-quarter fighting proficiencyworks with martial arts or punching spe-cialization. The natural fighting and wildfighting proficiencies, however, don’twork with martial arts or punching spe-cialization.

Skip Williams wryly notes that he is themysterious “Williams” whose quotesappeared in the article on the DRAGONLANCE®FIFTH AGE™ game in issue #231. [And the edi-tor adds, with much chagrin, that HaroldJohnson was the mysterious “Johnson."]

DRAGON #233 97

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DRAGON #233 101

104 SEPTEMBER 1996

DRAGON #233 105

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DRAGON #233 1 0 7

296-page softcover bookPrecedence Publishing Inc. $25Design: Ran Ackels with S. SoervingEditing: uncreditedIllustrations: Ran Ackels, Dee Beckwith,

and Steven S. CromptonCover: Ran Ackels

Pilot Pack

The universe has made a horriblemistake. As a result of a bureaucraticoversight, I have been consigned to thestatus of a lowly human, a mere mortal,when it’s blatantly obvious I was sup-posed to be a god. Or, at the very least,a godling. I’m positive I could solve theworld’s problems just like that, given theproper resources and half a chance. Hey,I already know virtually everything thereis to know. Ask my friends. Ask my fam-ily. They will confirm that I am, indeed, aknow-it-all.

Alas, godhood doesn’t appear to beimminent; you know how sluggishbureaucracies can be. So until the uni-verse gets its act together, I’ll contentmyself with role-playing games like theones under the microscope this month,RPGs that allow deity wannabes likeyours truly to sample the lifestyle of thedivine.

Of course, actual godhood may bewithheld from me indefinitely if I keepmaking bonehead mistakes like the oneI made in DRAGON® Magazine issue #230.Reviewing the Star Wars CustomizableCard Game: I said, “Each player begins

with a 30-card deck, the Light Sideplayer using gray cards, the Dark Sideusing black.* I got the gray and blackpart right, but the number was way off.As eagle-eyed reader Mike Mistele ofBrookfield, Illinois points out, the rulesclearly and repeatedly state that a deckconsists of 60 cards, not 30. As temptedas I am to palm it off as a typo, in truth,I was just plain sloppy.

I suppose the universe is gonna holdthat against me, too.

Immortal: The Invisible War*game

Immortal: The Invisible Wargame supplement

One 32-page booklet, 12 color recordsheets, three-panel referee screen

Precedence Publishing Inc. $15Design: Paul W. Brown III, David

Hewitt, Randy L. Lindsay, and BreannaVan Gries

Editing: Paul W. Brown III and DaveHewitt

Illustrations: Ran AckelsCover: Kane Clevenger

Lost TrinityImmortal: The Invisible War

game supplementOne 128-page softcover

book, one 17’x11’ mapsheet, one audio compact disc

Precedence Publishing Inc. $20Design: Ran AckelsEditing: Ken St. AndreIllustrations: Ran Ackels and Dee

BeckwithCover: Ran AckelsSoundtrack production and composition:

David Watson

DRAGON #233 109

The ShapeshiftersManual

Immortal: The Invisible Wargame supplement

96-page softcover bookPrecedence Publishing Inc. $14Design: Ran Ackels and Brianna Von

GriesEditing: Ken St. Andre and Shane

AlfordIllustrations: Ran Ackels and Dee

BeckwithCover: Ran Ackels

Attention, fellow godlings! Althoughits been around for a while, lmmortalhas yet to attract the audience itdeserves, this despite an aggressive adcampaign, a terrific concept, and stellarexecution. What’s it about? Designer

Ran Ackels describes the game as an“experience arising out of Lethe, a stateof forgetfulness in which past memoriesof immortal life have been submergedbehind a facade of mortal personality.”Further, as “a cast member in the everunfolding drama of Perpetual Society,you will now take your place in themidst of the Strategem, the political webof intrigue which dominates immortalaffairs.” Hokum? Well, yeah. But it’shigh-class hokum, a design of mind-boggling invention and almost unprece-dented ambition.

At first glance, Immortal looks likewarmed-over White Wolf, a not-too-distant cousin of such World of DarknessRPCs as the Vampire:. The Masquerade*and Werewolf: The Apocalypse* games. Forexample, both Immortal and the Worldof Darkness rely on overwrought prose;from the intro to Werewolf: “Now theWyrm rises to eclipse the moon, devour-ing all within its grasp”; from the intro toImmortal: There is a symbol, the Null,that represents the eye; with it we shallmark all that is profane.” Both assign PCsto groups; Vampire has the Brujah,Gangrel, and Nosferatu; Immortal has theArahne, Magdelen, and Eremites. Bothpresent their protagonists as tortured out-siders, soldiers in a secret war; theVampire player characters battle in theendless Jyhad, Immortal PCs struggleagainst the Sanguinary, a malicious force

‘working for their destruction. But the dif-ference in tone is dramatic. The World ofDarkness takes an edgy, even brutalapproach in its portrayal of a grim reality.Immortal strives for a soothing, surrealatmosphere where violence is secondaryto the cerebral. Put another way, the

World of Darkness is as disturbing as anightmare; Immortal is as enticing as adaydream.

The PCs of Immortal are unlike anyI’ve ever seen, more like things than peo-ple, although they have personalitiesand physical forms — sort of. Known asIngenue, the, er, things came into being65 million years ago, evolving from thelife essence of extinct animals. Forminga synergetic relationship with theSanguinary, the dreamworld entity des-tined to become their enemy, theIngenue acquired immortality and extra-ordinary power.

At the outset of the game, a PC existsas a set of 15 motes of immaculum (aunit of energy) and 100 motes of mem-ory (a unit of yet-to-be-rememberedexperience). The player constructs anenergy mix — called a Halo — from theimmaculum motes by assigning them tosix color categories. Each color repre-sents a different characteristic; red rep-resents intelligence, for instance, andorange represents strength. Memorymotes can be used to purchase (1) freeimmaculum (which are shifted amongthe various Halo colors at the playersdiscretion), (2) talents (routine skills, likemathematics and archery), and (3) sere-nades (mystical powers, such as creatingillusions and levitating objects.)

In short, an Immortal PC is less a flesh-and-blood entity than a metaphysicalchameleon. By juggling his free immacu-lum, a PC can adjust his basic attributesmore or less at will. Latent abilities maybe discovered on the spot; by expendingmemory motes, he can “remember” askill he didn’t know he had. Further, a PCmay be tormented by the Babbler, aninner voice representing spiritual conflictthat can trigger neuroses, delusions, andsensory deprivation. And then you havethe Avatars, sentient personality frag-ments capable of revolting and turningthe PC into a puppet. Immortal's take onthe player character is so radical, it’s likehaving your skull unscrewed and yourbrains stirred up.

Unfortunately, I hit a brick wall whenI tried to get the PCs actually to dosomething. Task resolution involves sixlo-sided dice, each representing a differ-ent color of the Halo. The gamemasterdetermines a rank number applicable tothe task at hand; the more difficult thetask, the higher the rank. He also deter-mines the hostile, a rating that corre-sponds to the PC’s relevant Halo charac-teristic. Breaking down a door, forinstance, might involve an orange hos-

tile. If a roll of the relevant hostile dieequals or exceeds the rank number, thetask succeeds.

So far, so good. After all, its essen-tially the difficulty level system employedby umpteen other RPGs, including theConspiracy X* and Masterbook* games. ButImmortal muddies the water with jargon-laden rules that border on the incompre-hensible. A sample: When playing sere-nades, any null on the hostile can causeone of the immortal’s immaculum motesto become tainted.” Thanks to the gener-ous number of examples, I figured outmost of it — I think — but Ackels couldhave made life a lot easier by using plainEnglish. Though Immortal deserves fivepips, easy, I’m docking it a pip for jargonabuse.

Combat is even more involved. Alongwith hostiles and rank numbers, com-batants must deal with initiative rolls, hitlocations, and a host of modifiers. Thecomplexities make battles more realisticand arguably more exciting, but theyalso encourage lengthy combat encoun-ters, which seems to violate lmmortal'sprimary themes of self-discovery andenlightenment. Still, thanks to the PCs’strange physiology, Immortal combatcan be a jaw-dropping experience.Because a PC quickly recovers from allwounds delivered from a distance, he’smore vulnerable to clubs and knivesthan arrows and bullets. He also resistsdamage from explosions and falls; con-sequently, he’s better off throwing him-self out of an airplane than facing anattacker armed with a baseball bat. Atthe same time, a PC has difficulty metab-olizing poisons; a dose of arsenic mightdebilitate him for centuries, even millen-nia. And because his power derives fromhis Vox, a mystic link between his brainand his Halo, there’s only one sure-fireway to kill him: cut off his head.

The game takes place in the contem-porary world, although history as weknow it has been somewhat modifiedby the war between the Ingenue and theSanguinary. The French Revolution, itseems, was spawned by a magical arti-fact. A struggle among the Eremites cat-alyzed the outbreak of World War II. Theworld currently exists as eleven regions,including the Habitat, occupied by regu-lar guys like you and me, and the BlueAir, an expanse of ethereal energywhere deceased Ingenue hang out. Anoverview of Nivalea, a secret city inAntarctica which can serve as a cam-paign base, sets up an introductoryadventure titled “Tool of the Crime.”

110 SEPTEMBER 1996

Problem is, the introductory adventureis little more than an outline, taxing thecreativity of even the most experiencedreferee. As an alternative to “Tool,” I sug-gest opening your campaign with ProjectLooking Glass, a detailed scenario that notonly serves up a fair number of surprisesbut also teaches the rules to new players.It’s basic in the strictest sense; the adven-ture opens in the actual living room ofone of the actual players. Bundled with agamemaster screen and a pack of char-acter sheets, it’s also a pretty good buy.Lost Trinity, a series of three linked adven-tures, mixes political intrigue and super-natural shocks with remarkable finesse.The text sparkles with memorableencounters and characters, supplement-ed with narration and special effects fromthe compact disc. As good as the Call ofCthulhu* game in its prime, though with-out all the gaudy monsters, Lost Trinity is abreathtaker . Not so good is TheShapeshifters Manual, the latest Immortalsupplement, which details the animalpowers of favored PCs. The powers them-selves are okay — mostly spell-like stuffalong the lines of control fire and tempera-ture tolerance — but an excess of filler (likethe l - o -n -g i n t roduc t i on ) makesShapeshifters non-essential.

Evaluation: In all probability, Immortalwouldn’t exist if White Wolf hadn’tshown the way. But it’s so much funspending time in a setting this luxurious,who cares if Precedence didn’t invent theformat? Playing a construct of wispymemories, navigating the spirit grave-yards of the Blue Air, doing battle withrogue immortals in the Underworld . . .well, it’s an experience without parallel.The only RPG that comes close isChaosium’s Nephil im* game, andImmortal makes it seem tame. Despitethe steep learning curve and the mudfield of jargon, lmmortal deserves moreattention. Especially from us godlings.(Information: Precedence Publishing Inc.,PO Box 28397, Tempe, AZ 85285.)

Warlock of theStonecrowns

ADVANCED DUNGEONS &DRAGONS® game supplementfor the BIRTHRICHT® setting

64-page softcover bookTSR, Inc. $10Design: Wolfgang BaurEditing: Dan WengerIllustrations: Matt Cavotta and Alyce

Bucker-CosartCover: Roger Loveless

Sword and Crown

Cover: Tony Szczudlo

ADVANCED DUNGEONS &DRAGONS game supplementfor the BIRTHRIGHT setting

64-page softcover book, one 21’x32’map sheet

TSR, Inc. $10Design: Colin McCombEditing: Anne BrownIllustrations: Ben Otero and John

Dollar

Cities of the SunADVANCED DUNGEONS &

DRAGONS game supplementfor the BIRTHRIGHT setting

96-page softcover book, one double-sided 21’x32’ map sheet, six informa-tional cards, 112 playing cards, boxed

TSR, Inc. $18Design: Rich BakerEditing: Sue WeinleinIllustrations: John Dollar and Les

DorscheidCover: Tony Szczudlo

The Rjurik HighlandsADVANCED DUNGEONS &

DRAGONS game supplementfor the BIRTHRIGHT setting

96-page softcover book, one double-sided 21’x32’ map sheet, six informa-tional cards, 112 playing cards, boxed

TSR, Inc. $20Design: Anthony PryorEditing: Anne BrownIllustrations: Ed TadielloCover: Tony Szczudlo

The Book ofMagecraft

ADVANCED DUNGEONS &DRAGONS game supplementfor the BIRTHRIGHT setting

Cover: Tony Szczudlo

128-page softcover bookTSR, Inc. $20Design: Jean Rabe with Ed StarkEditing: Carrie A. BebrisIllustrations: Ellisa Mitchell and Ben

Otero

If you’re intrigued by the BIRTHRIGHT

setting but have no idea how to get acampaign off the ground, I suspect youhave plenty of company. BIRTHRIGHT

stands as the AD&D game’s most chal-lenging variant to date. Not only do youhave to assume the identity of a heroicpersona, you also have to function as asurrogate for an entire nation; that is,you’re both a player character and a play-er country. Add a host of tricky concepts —domain actions, regency points, bloodlinescores — and you’ve got a formula forconfusion, especially if you’re a novicewho has yet to master the nuances of sav-ing throws and proficiency slots.

Of course, snobs might sneer thatnovices have no business foolingaround with BIRTHRIGHT in the first place,as it’s intended for veteran players whoknow the Player’s Handbook inside out.To the snobs of the world, I offer my pro-truding tongue and a big fat raspberry.BIRTHRIGHT isn’t all that tough. You justhave to know where to begin.

And what better place to begin thanwith an official adventure, where the

112 SEPTEMBER 1996

design team takes you by the hand andshows you what they consider theessentials of a BIRTHRIGHT campaign?

Here we have two first-rate examples,Sword and Crown and Warlock of theStonecrowns, both well-organized,clutter-free, and easy on the brain. Swordand Crown, the simpler of the pair,involves the search for a lost princess.The PCs bounce from elven laboratoriesto slave pens to fungus lakes and faceoff against an exceptionally nasty adver-sary called the Spiritrender. ColinMcComb, co-designer of the originalBIRTHRIGHT rules, supplies plenty of stag-ing tips and helpful NPCs — too helpful,some might say. At one point, a banditconveniently volunteers, “My parentsdon’t know if I’m alive or dead. They’reAlain and Miliene Cooper, near the river.”

Deadlier and a bit darker than Swordand Crown, Warlock of the Stonecrownssends the PCs on a mission to clean outthe crud in an gloomy citadel. A battlewith the orog infantry gives the War Cardrules a good work-out. Encounters with atroll priestess and the Cube of Doom leadto a memorable climax starring theTemptations of Greed, Power, and Pride.

Admittedly, neither adventure breaksnew ground, relying instead on suchAD&D conventions as booby-trappedcastles and swarms of bloodthirsty mon-sters. In fact, they initially struck me asglorified dungeon crawls; where, I won-dered, was all the BIRTHRIGHT stuff?BIRTHRIGHT does indeed ride in the backseat — with a few nips and tucks, theseadventures could’ve taken place in theFORGOTTEN REALMS® setting — but I thinkthat’s the point. Sword and Warlock arebridges, intended to ease the transitionfrom standard AD&D to the more sophis-ticated BIRTHRIGHT setting. HardcoreBIRTHRIGHT players might squawk, expect-ing something more grand and demand-ing. But for novices, these modest offer-ings will do just fine.

With an adventure or two under yourbelt, you may be ready to get to knowthe world a little better. Two excellentboxed sets, Cities of the Sun and TheRjurik Highlands, familiarize playerswith some of the most interestingregions of Cerilia and provide DMs withideas galore for campaigns of their owndesign. Virtually identical in format, bothsets feature lavish color maps, usefulnew War Cards, and well-written guide-books discussing the history, culture,and personalities of their respective ter-ritories.

Cities of the Sun, the more user-friendly of the two, focuses on Khinasi, aland of sunny hills, lush forests, and jun-gled mountains, populated by an honor-able race of artistically inclined seafarerswho value scholarship over materialwealth. The book also includes a work-able system for staging naval battles,with rules covering wind strength, navi-gation, and shipwrecks. The RjurikHighlands explores northern Cerilia, aregion of harsh weather and unforgiv-ing terrain. Populated by hardy, inde-pendent settlers, it’s a rugged frontierfraught with risk and reward, made toorder for high adventure. Rjurik tends tofavor people over geography — Rjurikprofiles 16 NPCs, Cities profiles only six— and for that reason, I prefer it to Cities.But the differences are slight, and youcan’t go wrong with either one.

Ironically, the best BIRTHRIGHT supple-ment to date, The Book of Magecraft, isalso the least useful. As it says on pagefour, “Spellcasters are rare in Cerilia.Though the land teems with magicalenergy... few know how to access it.And fewer still understand how to con-trol it.” Since hardly anybody gets to useit, Cerilian spell lore wouldn’t seem tomerit 128 pages of attention.

But Magecraft’s a winner, a near-flawless performance from ace designerJean Rabe. It illuminates some of themost fascinating aspects of BIRTHRIGHT

lore and makes me itch to play aBIRTHRIGHT wizard — and I don’t care howrare they’re supposed to be. Rabe openswith a discussion of the differencesbetween lesser, true, and realm magic,then explains how to locate and protectsources of magical energy. Key concepts— ley line networks, caerbhaighlienenchantments, sielshegh gems — aredefined and analyzed. Notably, Rabeavoids sweeping generalizations andfocuses on practical applications; this isa book for role-players, not theoreti-cians. Thus, we get insightful advice onborrowing power sources (via ley links),using domain actions (including warn-ings to avoid the Agitate and Contestactions), and acquiring apprentices(which is a good way to make money).With nary a wasted word, Rabe hascooked up a deceptively straightfor-ward, highly readable treatise on a topicI didn’t think deserved more than amagazine article.

Evaluation: So if you’re a beginner ona budget, what should you buy? First, ofcourse, you need the original boxed set(which, if you’re interested, I discussed at

length in DRAGON® Magazine issue #224).You also need a few domain source-books; I recommend Roesone, Endier, andAriya (and if you want the lowdown on‘em all, check issue #229). Then I’dspring for an adventure; go with Swordand Crown if you can’t make up yourmind. A territory set will round out youreducation. If you’re the tranquil type,pick Cities of the Sun; aggressive playersare better suited to The Rjurik Highlands.If you’re a seasoned BIRTHRIGHT playerwho already has a campaign underway,you can skip the adventures; instead,consider investing in both territoryboxes. Finally, any player interested inCerilia spellcasting, regardless of hisexperience, owes it to himself to investi-gate The Book of Magecraft

Short and sweetFoxbat Unhinged, by Alison Brooks.

Atlas Games, $8.GURPS Supers, by Lloyd Blankenship.

Steve Jackson Games, $18.The super hero genre has fallen on

hard times, what with the demise of theDC Heroes* and Marvel Super Heroes*games and the suspended animation ofnewcomers like the Underground* game.That pretty much leaves the long under-wear crowd with two options: theChampions* game and GURPS Supers, thesuper hero supplement for the GURPS*game. Champions, now well into its sec-ond decade, remains the connoisseur’schoice, due in part to its elaborate com-bat system. Foxbat Unhinged, from thecompany that gave the world the twistedOver the Edge* game, is a brisk action-stuffed adventure that captures the zani-ness of early Marvel Comics. It featuresFoxbat, bad guy supreme, as well as ani-mated mannequins and the too-coolCentipedemoblie. GURPS Super takes amore realistic route, stressing personalityover punch-outs. That’s not to say it’sstodgy; a typical chapter is titled“Unnatural Multiple Limbs from AnotherWorld.” The Second Edition streamlinesthe occasionally awkward mechanics ofthe First Edition and adds some nifty newpowers. And if you tweak a few rules,you can even cook up a GURPS versionof Foxbat, complete with counterfeitCentipedemobile.

Treasure Companion, by BobMohney. Iron Crown Enterprises, $18.

If nothing else, Treasure Companionsecures the reputation of the Rolemaster*game as the most detailed fantasy RPG

DRAGON #233 113

on the planet. Crammed with charts andlists, loaded with more numbers than atelephone directory, Treasure Companioncovers every conceivable aspect of magi-cal item fabrication. The Semi-PreciousGem Table, to pick a random example,contains 135 entries. The alchemy sec-tion includes 22 spell lists — not 22 spells,mind you, but 22 lists of spells. Doeseverything make sense? Sony, I ain’tsmart enough to figure it all out. Let’s justsay that for Rolemaster adepts, TreasureCompanion is indispensable. For us meremortals, it’s a head-scratcher.

The Thrawn Trilogy Sourcebook, byBill Slavicsek and Eric S. Trautmann.West End Games, $25.

This entertaining supplement for theStar Wars* game compiles, updates, andstreamlines all the essential informationfrom Heir to the Empire, Dark Force Rising,and The Last Command, three previouslypublished supplements based on theTimothy Zahn novel trilogy. If you nevergot around to buying the three originals,your procrastination has paid off. Heir,Dark Force, and Last Command each cost$18 in softcover, $22 in hardback. TheThrawn compilation costs $25. You dothe math.

The Risen, by Elizabeth Ditchburn andHeather Grove. White Wolf GameStudio, $12.

Call me an old softie, but I’m a suckerfor any cover showing a rotting corpsehauling itself out of the ground. ThisWraith: The Oblivion* game sourcebookexplains how to join the ranks of thewalking dead, and it’s not as easy as itlooks. First, you have to find an inhabit-able body, preferably one that hasn’tbeen autopsied. Then you have to dealwith the frustration of being mistaken fora vampire, detailed in the section titled“The Undead Identity Crisis.” And youhave to watch your diet; Risen with upsetstomachs may have to consult the regur-gitation rules. An essential guide for thediscriminating cadaver. (Uh, can I get aposter of the cover?)

RIFTS Index, by Craig Crawford, KevinSiembieda, Jolly Blackburn, KevinKirsten, and Julius Rosenstein. PalladiumBooks, $13.

This overdue supplement for the Rifts*game features five full-blown scenariosand close to 30 campaign springboards,most of them terrific, a few of them evenfunny. “About Face,” for instance, starsan adversary that’s half-skeleton, half-robot. (Hey, it made me laugh.) As a

bonus, a 40-page index logs the appear-ance of every major monster, weapon,and archetype in 14 previous Rifts books.For guys like me who’ve been whiningabout the absence of adventures inPalladium sourcebooks, well, now wecan shut up.

Insecta* game, by Philip Eklund.Sierra Madre Games/Fat MessiahGames, $20.

As I write this, it’s the middle of asticky Iowa summer, which is murder onhumans but ecstasy for insects. Ants areholding conventions in my kitchen, andmosquitoes the size of helicopters arecarrying away the neighborhood chil-dren. I say, if you can’t beat ‘em, join‘em. This bizarre board game casts play-ers in the roles of mutant insects battlingfor domination of the Hive, their hometerrain. As intricate as a military simula-tion, the rules cover ammunition supply,ranged attacks, and spontaneous muta-tion. Bizarre? That’s putting it mildly. Notonly does Insecta reward you for dous-ing your enemies with pheromones, it’sthe only game I’ve ever seen that uses alife-size rubber cockroach as a playingpiece. (Information: Fat Messiah Games,PO Box 341136, Los Angeles, CA 90034.)

Rick Swan, a former medical studentnewspaper editor, and hot dog vendor, hasdesigned and edited nearly 50 role-playingproducts. You can write to him at 2620 30thStreet, Des Moines, IA 50310. Enclose a self-addressed envelope if you’d like a reply.

* indicates a product produced by a companyother than TSR, Inc. Most product names are trade-marks owned by the companies publishing thoseproducts. The use of the name of any product with-out mention of its trademark status should not beconstrued as a challenge to such status.

DUNGEON® Adventures #61Cover and all adventure

illustrations by Tony DiTerlizzi

Jigsaw (RAVENLOFT® Adventure)by Dan DeFazio & Christina A. Stiles

To Save a Forest (AD&D®Adventure) by Dovjosef Anderson

Storm Season (FORGOTTEN

REALMS® Adventure) by Paul F. Culotta

And more!

$4.95 U.S./$5.95 CAN./£1.95 U.K.TSR Product No. 8200-09

S E P T E M B E R 1 9 9 6

NEW FOR SEPTEMBER

MagestormDRAGON DICE™ expansion setby Lester SmithThis deluxe expansion set introduces

magical items and artifacts to theDRAGON DICE game.

$12.95U.S./$18.95CAN./£9.99U.K.TSR Product No.: 1505ISBN: 0-7869-04682

The Rod of Seven PartsAn AD&D® TOMES™ adventureby Skip WilliamsThe heroes face the incredible chal-

lenge of finding and piecing togetherthe Rod of Seven Parts, then harnessingits power to defeat the Queen of Chaosand Miska the Wolf-Spider. This boxedset includes adventure

hooks, reference cards, a book of mon-sters, and poster maps. For levels 10-12.

$30.00U.S./$39.50 CAN./£18.50 U.K.TSR Product No.: 1145ISBN: 0-7869-04186

AD&D CD-ROM Core RulesAn AD&D electronic accessoryEvery aspect of the AD&D game’s

Player’s Handbook, DUNGEON MASTER®Guide, MONSTROUS MANUAL™, Tome ofMagic, and the Arms & Equipment Guideis incorporated into a fully cross-refer-enced, interactive electronic manual.You can easily generate characters,making every crucial decision alongthe way without overlooking a bonusor forgetting a step. The program won’tlet you make a mistake or misplace arule!

TSR Product No.: 2167ISBN: 0-7869-06022

Legends of the Hero KingsA BIRTHRIGHT® adventureby Ed StarkA collection of kingly adventures that

can be set in any region of the BIRTHRIGHT

campaign world. For use with all charac-ter levels.

$20.00 U.S./$26.00 CAN./£11.99 U.K.TSR Product No.: 3125ISBN: 0-7869-04194

Khourane Domain SourcebookA BIRTHRIGHT accessoryby Anne BrownThe third Khinasi domain players can

rule is a costal land controlled by wiz-ards. This player’s secrets pack includesdetailed information on the mariners ofKhourane, their culture, the geographyand history of the land, and adventurehooks.

$7.95U.S./$10.00CAN./£4.99U.K.TSR Product No.: 3123ISBN: 0-7869-0397X

DRAGONLANCE®: The FIFTH AGE™core rulesby William W. Connors & SueWeinlein CookMagic has been transformed, the

gods have left, and the dragons rule!The DRAGONLANCE: The FIFTH AGE gamehas a revolutionary new storytellingrules system that emphasizes adventureand drama over combat and numbercrunching. Key features of this boxed setinclude fate cards, a flexible system forcreating your own magic spells, andnew character races.

$25.00 U.S./$34.00 CAN./£18.50 U.K.TSR Product No.: 1148

_ISBN: 0-7869-05352

Undermountain Trilogy II:Maddgoth’s CastleA FORGOTTEN REALMS®DUNGEON CRAWL™ adventure

by Steven Schend Maddgoth’s Castle is a great

vault beneath the earth,dominated by a huge,

levitating castle. Your PCswill discover wondrous

treasures andhorrifying terrors!

$7.95U.S./$10.00CAN./

£4.99 U.K.TSR Product No.:

95281SBN:0-7869-04232

1 1 6 SEPTEMBER 1996

Planewalker’s HandbookA PLANESCAPE� accessoryby Monte CookThis definitive guide for PLANESCAPE

players covers vital information aboutthe planes and introduces new charac-

human’s struggle for survival in a war-torn landscape where new threats arealways looming.

$5.99 U.S./$6.99 CAN./£4.99 U.K.TSR Product No.: 8376ISBN: 0-7869-06162

ter roles and races. It also defines thenew character kit of Planewalker forevery class, offers advice for successfulcharacter creation, and features newproficiencies, spells, andplanar equipment.

$20.00 U.S./$26.00 CAN./£11.99 U.K.TSR Product No.:2620ISBN: 0-7869-04607

A Guide toTransylvania

A RAVENLOFT® accessoryby Nicky ReaThis is the only traveler’s

guide to Transylvania—

Daughter of the DrowA FORGOTTEN REALMS

novelby Elaine CunninghamLiriel Baenre finds a way

to bring her magic to thesurface world and mustflee for her life fromMenzoberranzanor face afate worse than death.

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the heart of darknessin Gothic Earth! Herein horrifying detail isthe setting for infiniteadventures in thehunting groundofvampires and werewolves,and the scene of the mostgruesome crimes of the19th century.

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The Spider’s TestA BIRTHRIGHT RealmBook #4by Dixie McKeoneA grant of a land claim to

Richard Endier leads to a confrontation with the denizensof the Spider. What starts out asguerrilla warfare escalates into adeadly battle of wits with theSpider itself! Includes abackground appendix.

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Pages of PainA PLANESCAPE

hardcoverby Troy Denning

Discover the painfultruth of the Lady of

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To SIeep with EvilRAVENLOFT book

#14by Andria

CardarelleThe mystical

Trail of DarknessA TSR novelby Darlene D. BolesnyAn elf-like humanoid named Morticai

seeks to upset the plans of evil DarkFiends in order to drive a wedgebetween his people and the humans,who are already divided under a merci-less inquisition.

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NEW FOR OCTOBER

SPELLFIRE®: Night StalkersA SPELLFIRE booster pack

by Bill OlmesdahlThis booster pack introduces

more fearsome undead and anew thief champion class with

new abilities that let playerspit their champions against

previously unattackablerealms. Each packcontains 12 cards.

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TSR Product No.: 1153ISBN: 0-7869-06111

Eye of DoomAn AD&D MONSTROUS ARCANA�

adventureby Thomas Reid

The evil net of beholdersis wider than anyone eversuspectedand their trail ofhorror leads deeper into theabyss of the beholder under

world. This is the secondadventure in a three partseries that can be played

Vistani fortune- individually or linked together.tellers are the 7.95 U.S./$10.00 CAN./£4.99 U.K.

focus of the story TSR Product No.: 9530of a young bride who ISBN: 0-7869-04275becomes involved in

a deadly plot ofvengeance when a

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over and begins the saga of the

reaches out frombeyond the grave.

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The Dawning of a New AgeA DRAGONLANCE: The FIFTH AGE novelby Jean RabeThe first book detailing the reborn

world of Krynn finds the Chaos War

DRAGON #233 117

Murder inHalruaa

A FORGOTTEN

Realmshardcoverby RichardS. Meyers

DarlingtonBlade, a

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man, triesto pass

On Hallowed GroundA PLANESCAPE accessoryby Colin McCombThe inside World of the gods of the

outer planes in revealed in this deluxeaccessory. Also included is detailedinformation on the deities and theirproxies giving players new foes andpowers to contend with.

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Requiem:The Grim Harvest

A RAVENLOFT accessoryby William W. Connors &

Lisa SmedmanThe Grim Harvest series

culminates with an explo-ration of Necropolis, the newLand of the Dead. The darknightmare of Ravenloft takesa grim twist as the heroes,now renegade undead them-selves, must battle againstthe minions and pawns ofthe Reaper to find a portal tofreedom!

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himself offas a

wizard.Unfortunately,

the real wizard’sdaughter is out to

expose him as a fraudand a group of assassins

have targeted him for theirnext hit!

$18.99 U.S./ $23.99Psionic Artifacts of Athas

A DARK SUN® accessoryby Bruce Nesmith & Kevin MelkaIn ages long past, incredible psionic

powers burst forth on a unready world.Now these relics are discovered forplayers of the DARK SUN campaign,including remnants of Athas’s Blue Age.This complete book of psionic magicalitems and artifacts is ideal for use in allAD&D campaign worlds.

$20.00 U.S./$26.00 CAN./£11.99 U.K.TSR Product No.: 2446ISBN: 0-7869-03902

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ISBN: 0-7869-05212

The DragonsA DRAGONLANCE novelby Douglas Niles

From the archives of Dragon

Unless otherwise noted:® designates registered trademarks owned by

TSR, Inc.TM designates trademarks owned by TSR, Inc.©1996 TSR, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

history comes the story of tworival dragons who face each

other in a showdown toVoIo's Guide to All Things Magical

A FORGOTTEN REALMS

accessory determine the future ofthe world.

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TSR Product No.: 8374ISBN: 0-7869-05131

by Ed GreenwoodThis is thelegendary

guide thatgot Volobanned by everypowerful mage andmade himinfamousthroughout the

StormlightHarpers #14

DRAGON® Magazine #234Beyond the Grave

Cover by Tony DiTerlizzi& Allan Pollack

❖ Undead Againby Steven Brown

❖ The Book of Soulsby Robert S. Mullin

❖ Crypt Rangers & Defendersby Ross Allen Clifton

Plus "DragonMirth," "Role-PlayingReviews," "Forum," "Knights of theDinner Table," "Wyrms of the North,"and much more!

$4.95 U.S./$5.95 CAN./£2.95 U.K.TSR Product No. 8113-10

Realms. Discoverinformation thatwizards of the Realms

by Ed GreenwoodStorm Silverhand,

the legendarydon’t want you to Harper of

Shadowdale must battle

know — including instructions’or the construction of newgolems and other magicalcreations!

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enemies froma shadowy past!

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ISBN: 0-7869-05204

118 September 1996

ClackContinued from page 120

W itchcraft game will cost $22.95.(Contact: CJCarella@aol.com)

DUNGEON® Magazine has a new editor,Michelle Vuckovich. Michelle has been aneditorial assistant and then associate edi-tor on TSR’s magazines for almost twoyears. The magazine department recentlyhired a new assistant, Lizz Baldwin, whosearrival “should help everything get back tonormal within the month,” according toDRAGON Magazine editor Dave Gross.

The spectacular success of tradingcard games has brought with it an insti-tution new to gaming: the press junket. Acompany promoting a new product fliesin reporters and reviewers from acrossthe country, puts them up at a hotel,throws a lavish party, etc. SkyBox (MountLaurel, NJ), previewed its new Star Trek:The Card Game at Veterans Stadium inPhiladelphia. Reporters received a T-shirtwith the slogan “Dammit, Jim, I’m a doc-tor, not a gamer,” and they watched aPhillies baseball game at the stadiumafter the preview. At this year’s GEN CON®Game Fair in Milwaukee, SkyBox plans tobring in actor Walter Koenig, Star Trek’sChekov. (By the way, former TSRdesigner Jeff Grubb co-designed the StarTrek game along with Don Perrin andDRAGONLANCE® novelist Margaret Weis.Contact: topdogm@aol.com)

On a still grander junketing scale,Decipher, Inc. (Norfolk, VA), publisher ofthe Star Wars Customizable Card Game,promoted the release of its A New Hopeexpansion set with a June cruise on athree-masted ship down Norfolk’sElizabeth River, past the U.S. NavalShipyard. Decipher even brought inBritish actor David Prowse, who playedDarth Vader in the Star Wars movies.Reporters received notebooks, poloshirts, and backpacks embossed withthe game’s Rebel Alliance logo. “CurrentClack” is frankly dubious of the value ofsuch junkets — products based on popu-lar media licenses automatically sellwell, regardless of promotion or quality— but hey, the food was great. (Contact:DCustServe@decipher.com)

Freelance writer and game designerAllen Varney also writes regular columns forDuelist and InQuest magazines. Sendnews and invitations to lavish press junketsto APVarney@aol.com.

DRAGON #233 119

©1996 Allen Varney

Origins* convention a successOver 7,500 people attended the

22nd annual Origins national gamingconvention in Columbus, OH, July 4-7.Gamers reported satisfaction with thecon’s organization and events, and withthe Columbus Convention Center (partic-ularly the attached food court). Thoughsome publishers of historical war gameshad weaker sales than at last year’sOrigins in Philadelphia, most dealersand publishers reported strong sales —for example, Iron Crown Enterprisestripled its previous Origins sales record.

Origins is sponsored by GAMA, theGame Manufacturers Association. The1996 Origins convention continues lastyear’s strong rebound after severalyears of decline. For most of its long his-tory Origins was known for its emphasison historical war gaming. In recent yearsthis emphasis decreased — or at leastwas perceived to decrease — as minia-tures gamers and some wargamersmoved to the East Coast’s Historicon. Fora time Origins seemed to lose focus, andattendance dropped.

Two years ago the situation began toimprove when Andon Unlimited tookover management of Origins. UnderAndon’s direction, Origins has begun tochange focus, a trend that acceleratedwhen Wizards of the Coast (WotC), thepublisher of the Magic: The Gathering*card game, bought Andon. The newlyresurgent Origins focuses largely ontrading card games and board games,with lesser emphasis on role-playing.WotC held the U.S. National MagicChampionships at Origins.

Next year’s Origins will take place inearly July at the same site, and prospectsare excellent that the convention willcontinue to grow. In years to come,Andon officials hope that Origins maydraw 15,000 attendees.

Origins awardsThe second edition of White Wolf’s

Mage: The Ascension RPG won this year’sOrigins Award for Best RPG, and the

same company’s Vampire adventure,Giovanni Chronicle: The Last Supper, wonBest Role-Playing Adventure.

TSR, Inc., picked up two OriginsAwards. The AD&D® BIRTHRIGHT® cam-paign world won Best Role-PlayingSupplement, and the DRAGON DICE™ gamewon Best Fantasy or Science FictionBoardgame (a catch-all category thatincludes frequent non-board nominees).

ICE’s Middle-Earth: The Wizards* gamepicked up the award for best card game.A Battletech* game novel by William H.Keith, Tactics of Duty, won Best Game-related Fiction. Shadis took BestProfessional Gaming Magazine, and BestAmateur Adventure Gaming Magazinewent to Berg’s Review of Games, RichardBerg’s wargaming newsletter.

Danforth in Hall of Fame: This yearthe Adventure Gaming Hall of Fameinducted artist and designer ElizabethDanforth. Danforth is an accomplisheddesigner (two Interplay Star Trek* com-puter games and the Tunnels & Trolls*computer game) and until last year wasa part-time reference librarian at thePhoenix (Arizona) Public Library. But sheis best known for her beautiful artwork,which has graced many Middle-earthRoleplaying* and Twilight: 2000* gamesupplements, many (perhaps most)products in Flying Buffalo’s game lines,and several trading card games, includ-ing the Magic: The Gathering* andMiddle-earth games. Danforth is nowpainting art for a Middle-earth expansionand WotC’s forthcoming Battletech cardgame.

Danforth, who worked for FlyingBuffalo, Inc., from 1978 to 1985, joinsBuffalo president Rick Loomis and fellowFBI alumnus Michael Stackpole in theHall of Fame, giving Buffalo by far thehighest Hall-of-Famer-to-employee ratioin the industry. Stackpole and Danforth,who have been housemates for years,also have the highest Hall-of-Fame ratioof any pr ivate home in America.Stackpole says, “One of our dogs is achampion, too, so there’s a lot of pres-sure now on the other one.”

New miniatures rulesgo online

In another sign of the times, a new setof rules for tabletop miniatures is beingmade available solely in electronic form,both on disk and on the Internet.Crunchy Frog Enterprises, publisher ofthe Star Corps* and Critter Commandos*games, is publishing its new DigitalEmpires* miniatures rules system entirelyin Adobe Acrobat format, a means ofpublishing electronic text so that it looksidentical on Windows, Macintosh, andUnix computers.

A “universal” rules system, the DigitalEmpires game covers skirmish battles,mass combat, vehicles (land, sea, air,and space), giant robots, and evenmagic and psionics. “The constructionsystem allows you to customize stats forany figure you own,” says Crunchy Frogpresident Paul Lidberg. An abridged ver-sion of the rules is available for freedownload from Crunchy Frog’s WorldWide Web site (www.io.com/~frog-god/)and from the Download Annex ofAmerica Online (users.aol.com/froggod).

This online rules set follows severalearlier moves into electronic form bysmall publishers. Hero Games (Aptos,CA), whose paper Hero System* game linerecent ly moved f rom Iron CrownEnterprises to R. Talsorian Games (seeDRAGON® Magazine issue #231), hasdelayed the start of its announced elec-tronic line, Hero Plus. The first Hero Plussupplement, The Ultimate Super-Mage,was announced for March but willappear this fall in a three-disk Acrobatversion representing 400+ pages of text.(Contact: herogames@aol.com)

Notes from the fieldIn May Palladium Books cancelled the

RIFTS* Manhunter license it granted toMyrmidon Press. Myrmidon will nowconcentrate on its Cosmic Enforcers* gameline and its forthcoming Witchcraft* RPG,due in September. Written by MyrmidonEditor-in-Chief C. J. Carella, the 192-page

Continued on page 119

120 SEPTEMBER 1996