D R A G O N 1

Vol. VII, No. 11

Publisher: Mike CookEditor-in-Chief: Kim Mohan

Editorial Staff: Marilyn Favar

May 1983Roger RauppPatrick L. Price

SPECIAL ATTRACTIONMary Kirchoff

Business manager: Debra ChiusanoOffice staff: Sharon Walton

Forest of Doom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41Prizewinning AD&D� adventure

OTHER FEATURES

The Duelist � A new NPC . . . . . . . . . .6

The solo scenario . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16

The ecology of the catoblepas . . . . . . 22

The whole half-ogre . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Relief for Traveller nobility . . . . . . . . 26

Photo finish. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Pam MaloneyLayout designer: Kristine L. BartyzelContributing editors: Roger Moore

Ed GreenwoodNational advertising representative:

Robert LaBudde & Associates, Inc.2640 Golf Road, Glenview IL 60025

Phone (312)724-5860

This issue�s contributing artists:Susan Collins Dave TrampierKeith Parkinson E. B. WagnerJim Holloway Edward AtwoodRoger Raupp Joshua MittlemanJerry Eaton Roger MooreMike Carroll Jim TestaPhil Foglio

When it gets hit, it gets hurt. . . . . . . . 34 DRAGON Magazine (ISSN 0279-6848) is pub-

Damage to equipment lished monthly for a subscription price of $24 peryear by Dragon Publishing. a division of TSR

Non-violent Magic Items . . . . . . . . . . 36Hobbies, Inc. The mailing address of DragonPublishing for all material except subscriptionorders is P.O. Box 110, Lake Geneva WI 58147.

New tools of the trade . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58TOP SECRET® paraphernalia

Thief�s climb leveled out. . . . . . . . . . . .60Adjusting D&D® experience rules

A rare way of viewing the wish . . . . . .62

Patching cracks in Champions . . . . . .66

The Sagittarian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .71Fiction with a four-legged flair

FILE 13 followup report. . . . . . . . . . . .78Playing tips, new rules, and more

What�s New . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .91

Wormy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

Dragon Mirth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .95

. . . . .86Convention schedule . . . . . . . . . .

Game reviews:Moon Base Clavius. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .79Grav Armor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .80Dragonmaster . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .81

Up on a Soap box.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Castles by Carroll . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76V: Leeds Castle

Figure Feature: Weird Monsters . . . . .32

Out on a Limb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

From the Sorcerer�s Scroll . . . . . . . . . . 10The Inner Planes

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DRAGON Magazine is available at hobbystores and bookstores throughout the UnitedStates and Canada, and through a limitednumber of overseas outlets. Subscription rates areas follows: $24 for 12 issues to be sent to anaddress in the United States or Canada; $50 U.S.for 12 issues sent via surface mail or $95 for 12issues sent via air mail to any other country. Allsubscription payments must be in advance, andshould be sent to Dragon Publishing, P.O. Box72089, Chicago IL 60690.

Same differenceYou probably noticed right away that

this issue of DRAGON� Magazinelooks different from all the others inyour collection. The fancy phrase forwhat we�ve done is �design changes.�The translation, in layman�s terms, isthat the magazine looks different. Butrest assured that, despite what you readin last month�s facetious policy state-ment, the only changes we�ve made arefor the sake of appearance.

The new type face we�re using for textis called Baskerville (as in SherlockHolmes). The new way of putting it incolumns is called �ragged right� (as inright-hand margin). The end result, inour opinion, is text that is more pleas-ing to the eye and more easily readablethan the way we used to print articles.We hope all of you agree with thatopinion � and we�re sure that if youdon�t, you won�t hesitate to let us know.

It�s time once again to hand out con-gratulations to another Module DesignContest winner. The top-judged entryin category A-2 is �Forest of Doom,�designed and submitted by Scott Butlerof Powassan, Ontario, Canada. Weknow we have thousands of readersfrom our neighbor to the north; this isthe first adventure we�ve ever publishedthat didn�t come from somewhere in theUnited States, but we don�t expect it tobe the last.

The second-place winner in categoryA-2, entitled �The Gamehalls ofGyrond,� came from Curtis McQuirt ofNashville, Tenn. Third place went to�The Icon of Palforin� by Mark Cutlerof Anaheim, Calif. Somewhere downthe line, you might see either or both ofthese adventures in printed form � butfirst, we have a lot of other first-placewinners to take care of; you�ll be seeingthose in the center of the magazine everyso often for the next year or more.

Lastly, in the �in case it needs to besaid� department, we didn�t mean whatwe wrote in last month�s column.(Believe it or not, we�ve received someletters from outraged readers who tookit all seriously.) This is, quite obviously,not a 32-page magazine, and to the bestof my knowledge, the word �dragster�isn�t used even once.

2 MAY 1983

I�m running out of space long beforeI�ve run out of things to talk about. Butperhaps that�s just as well: Half the funof being a tough fighter in a tame dun-geon is not knowing what�s behind everydoor � but still being sure that whateverit is, it�ll go down easy. �KM

monsters� assembled by Kim Eastland forthis month�s Figure Feature column.

Miniature-figure buffs will appreciate acouple of double-page spreads: �Photofinish,� showcasing the handiwork ofMike Sitkiewicz, and a group of �weird

Lewis Pulsipher and Roland Gettliffehave collaborated to produce �Non-violent Magic Items,� an extensive collec-tion of objects that might be foundaround the house �if you have a veryunusual residence.

As the second installment of what wehope will be a long-running series,offered herein is �The ecology of thecatoblepas.� Just about the only thing thearticle doesn�t address is how to pro-nounce the critter�s name � probablybecause nobody�s ever been able to getclose enough to one to ask it.

Most of the time, an AD&D playingsession is � and should be � a groupendeavor. But there are times, as pointedout by Katharine Kerr, when �The soloscenario� is the way to go.

Speaking of EGG, Gary has a couple ofcontributions in these pages � one directand one indirect. �The Inner Planes,� inhis From the Sorcerer�s Scroll column,puts forth a consistent and colorful the-ory on the structure of the AD&D uni-verse. �The whole half-ogre,� composedby contributing editor Roger Moore,draws on an earlier piece of Gary�s workand fleshes out what Roger calls �the bestdarn door-opener� you ever saw.

Hot on the heels of the cavalier class,presented by E. Gary Gygax in our lastissue, is the duelist � Arthur Collins�concept of a non-player character whohas an entirely different code of honor.

At the head of the parade is �Forest ofDoom,� an AD&D adventure that wasjudged the best entry in category A-2 ofour Module Design Contest. I wish Icould tell you why it won, but that wouldbe giving too much away.

a pup. Inside are 11 articles and featuresdevoted to the D&D® and AD&D� games,plus more than a dozen other presenta-tions designed to appeal to those of youwho are also interested in other facets ofthe hobby of gaming.

What you�re holding is the largest, themost colorful, and the most diversifiedissue we�ve produced since Bahamut was

hy is a reader of DRAGON�Magazine like a 10th levelfighter about to enter thefirst level of a dungeon?Because the biggest problem

either one of them has is figuring outwhere to start.

Priority problemsDear Editor:

The Attack Priority system in issue #71 isgreat! It is easy to understand, but I might getstuck on a few situations. First of all, what if,when closing, the opponents are still not inattack range (due to movement base)? What if acharacter is not closing but his opponent is?Let�s say the character has set a spear to receivethe opponent�s charge.

me that there is no way of determining thingslike, would a charging fighter get in his attackbefore a magic-user could cast a spell? Thepoint I�m trying to make is that not everyone isgoing to attack after winning (or losing)initiative.

Mike DujovneIndialantic, Fla.

And most importantly, what if the characteris a spellcaster and is simply not using a weap-on? The way this system is written, it seems to

I was very pleased with �Who gets the firstswing?� in DRAGON #71. I plan to use theAttack Priority system in my AD&D cam-paigns. But there are two things that puzzledme about the article.

First, there was nothing about missile weap-ons and their attack priority. I found this quite

Dear Editor:

Second, the monsters from the FIENDFOLIO were not included. I don�t know why

disturbing.

� maybe because of space or time.I would appreciate it greatly if Mr.

another writer could arrange an article con-cerning these topics.

Jeffrey BonevichKalamazoo, Mich.

Hall or

The text of the article itself made it clear(but apparently not clear enough) that theAttack Priority system is designed for use inmelee situations � that is, occasions whencombatants are using or intending to usehand-held or �natural� weapons. The rules ofthe system don�t cover the use of missile weap-ons or the casting of spells. It would seem thatany �priority� system that took those attackmodes into account would be unbearablycomplex, and in any event that wasn�t thepoint of the article.

Mike�s question about �what if the oppo-nents are still not in attack range� is hard tounderstand: If �when closing� an opponent is�not in attack range,� then that opponent is,by definition, still closing and not in range,and the closing modifiers for that opponentare used until the opponent is in range. Thatanswer is almost as confusing as the question,but it seems like the only way to address theissue.

Lack of space is the primary reason whycreatures from the FIEND FOLIO� Tome

I feel that Mr. Gygax�s article on social sta-tus was long overdue. It is highly useful increating a more logical and true-to-life cam-paign. However, I disagree on one point. Say-ing that a character born to the Lower lowerclass can only be a thief or assassin isn�t veryrealistic. Of course, they couldn�t be a paladin,and they would have a lower starting moneychance. But they could be pretty much any-thing they wanted. However, this is a smalloversight in such a useful article.

Dear Editor:

Class criticisms

weren�t detailed � it took seven pages just tocover the critters in the Monster Manual, inaddition to the five pages we �spent� describ-ing the system, and that�s about as many pagesas we could afford for one article. Maybe Mr.Hall or another writer will figure out modifi-ers for FIEND FOLIO monsters, and perhapswe�ll use that list as a supplement to the origi-nal article within another few issues. � KM

Esa ClubbAustin, Tex.

Dear Editor:After reading the article on social status by

Gary Gygax (issue #70), I�ve come to the con-clusion that it is overall a good idea, but itneeds a little work. The main change I think itneeds is the rule that says �any character musthave, at the least, a social status of but onerank below that of his or her profession.�

This is totally absurd. Tell me that a lawfulgood fighter, son of a freed slave or peasant(LLC), cannot ever become a paladin.Throughout history, whatever prevented thesons and daughters of proud generals andnobles from becoming some of the mostinfamous of thieves and assassins?

I feel the Social Class Table die roll shouldbe used to determine the class that the charac-ter was born into. This will have a great dealof bearing on that character�s history (whicheach player, according to the DMG, shouldcreate). A high-level fighter lord, Master of theKeep, will probably be more inclined to treatthe peasants who work his land better if hewas, in years long past, a peasant himself. Or,it might make him treat them all the worse!

If the social class rolled up during charactercreation is the one the character occupies atpresent, then why, for example, would a law-ful evil cleric, son of a great noble (UUC) andadvisor to the king himself, be hanging aroundwith a low-life half-orc thief and a couple ofbattle-scarred dwarven fighters? Never happen.Assume, however, that the same evil cleric�sfather was forced to flee the kingdom with hisnewborn son, or die, for plotting to overthrowthe king. He finally puts down roots in someobscure part of the world, hoping to elude his

DRAGON 3

pursuers, and now makes a living as a money-changer in a small town. His son grows upand eventually joins the priestly order of hischoice. If he knows about his father�s past (inwhich case he also knows that �noble blood�flows through his veins), he might not want toadvertise the fact!

Frank Mentzer says, in his article, that �ifthe limitations on professions . . . start messingup your campaign, you should make excep-tions. . . .� Agreed. So why bother makingsuch limitations in the first place?

J. M. DombiererU. S. Navy

Chilly commentsDear Editor:

I recently had the opportunity to read issue#68, containing �Thrills and Chills� by ArthurCollins and �Weather in the World of Grey-hawk� by David Axler. While I found thesearticles interesting and useful, I was ratherstartled to read that �drinking hot beverages attemperatures below -20º F. offers the possibil-ity that the drinker�s teeth may crack from thesudden temperature change� and �No one inhis right mind goes out in a Pleistocene winterif he can avoid it.� These comments raisedsuspicions in my mind that these gentlemenhave lived their lives in mild climates.

Allow me to draw it to the attention of yourreaders that -20° F. is no big deal. Lots of peo-ple live in areas where a daytime high of -20 isnot unusual. Our teeth don�t crack when wedrink our thermoses of coffee outside. (I don�tdoubt that it�s a possibility if one is foolish

enough to expose one�s teeth to the elements,but in practice, people keep them covered withtheir lips in cold weather.)

Mr. Collins uses the weather of the HudsonBay area to simulate the Pleistocene winter. Inthis location, children play outside, peopletake skidoo rides for fun, and life generallycarries on normally � and has for centuries �for those who live in this area.

Dungeon Masters whose knowledge of coldweather is entirely theoretical might be inter-ested to learn a few �atmosphere� details about-20º F. To a person properly clad and out ofthe wind, -20º F. is quite pleasant in a dry cli-mate and horrible in a humid climate. Packedsnow creaks when you walk on it. Loose snowrustles. Frost forms on beards, scarves, collars,or wherever your breath reaches.

Frostbite sneaks up on its victims: After theinitial pain when the affected area gets cold,there is numbness for quite a while beforefrostbite sets in. The first sign is that the areaturns dead white. In severe cases the affectedextremity turns black and may have to beamputated.

Hypothermia is another serious danger. Theinitial symptom is shivering, Later the suffererbecomes drowsy and will eventually lie down,go to sleep, and freeze to death.

At -40º F. it hurts to breathe, it hurts any-where the cold air touches exposed skin, andeven a slight breeze feels like it�s burning youright through your clothing. Characters hadbetter be dressed in furs or wearing a ring ofwarmth to even step outside at this point.

I am pleased to report that anything below-52° F. is beyond my experience. I have beenadvised by others less fortunate in this regardthat -60º F. feels the same as -40º F. except that

frostbite, hypothermia, and death all occursooner. A lot of liquids will freeze at thistemperature, and solids become more brittle. Ametal weapon, for example, is more likely tobreak if it strikes another hard object.

Since I will be designing both an arctic set-ting and an Elemental Plane of Fire in thenext year, I would like to see an article on theeffects of temperature extremes. What are thechances, exactly, of an iron sword breaking inmelee at -60° F.? When will a glass vial melt?When will a scroll burst into flames?

Lois SparlingCalgary, Alberta, Canada

Judging by the first eight paragraphs ofyour letter, Lois, you�re probably as much ofan authority on temperature extremes (well,one of the extremes, anyway) as anyone. Thenext time it gets down to 60 below in yourneck of the woods, take your sword outside,bang on a rock, and see what happens. . . .

Seriously, the effects of temperature extremessounds like a good article topic. Perhapsguidelines could be drawn up as part of alarger discussion of what it�s like to live on theElemental Plane of Fire, or the Para-ElementalPlane of Ice,. or some other extreme environ-ment. Anybody want to take a shot at it?

And, for the record, Arthur Collins lives inthe Indianapolis area and David Axler is fromPhiladelphia � mild climates, perhaps, tosomeone from Calgary, but certainly not placeswhere palm trees and coconuts grow. � KM

Math mistakeDear Editor:

I am writing about a seeming error I noticedin issue #68 in the Sorcerer�s Scroll about theFabricate spell. It says �If mineral material isworked with, the area of effect is reduced by afactor of nine; i.e., 1 cubic yard becomes 1cubic foot.�

I always thought there were 27 cubic feet ina cubic yard, so if the area of effect is reducedby a factor of nine, then it should be threecubic feet instead of one cubic foot.

David PaxsonKalamazoo, Mich.

Right you are, David. There are 27 cubic feetin a cubic yard. But it seems this �seemingerror� should be corrected by changing the�factor number,� not by altering the area

(Turn to page 88)

4 1983

DRAGON 5

6 MAY 1983

who likes to make people payA chaotic non-player character

THE DUELIST

by Arthur CollinsRain fell steadily outside on the balcony, running off to fill

the ruts in the road. The chancellor sat at his desk, his expres-sion as sullen as the sky, but lit by no flashes such as occasion-ally brightened his office. The council meeting had not gonewell. The king had scorned his advice again, and turned to theever-more-popular young Lord Alfstan of Golvring, who keptup his prattle about cleansing the government of corruption.Honest men are dangerous, thought the chancellor. But what todo? Thunder growled in answer to his mood.

After a time, a change came over the chancellor�s face. Honestmen are dangerous to others, he thought, but honorable men �young, valiant, noble, honorable men � they can be made adanger to themselves. Quickly, he fetched writing materials andwrote a brief note, without signature or seal. He called for atrusted lackey, gave him the missive, and said only, �Leave thiswith the innkeeper at the Laughing Trout.� The lackey glancedat the address, which said only Holgim. The chancellor grinnedas the messenger headed for the rain-soaked street below. . . .

�It�s going on right under my nose, Gunnar!� The fat manalmost choked on his outcry. His fellow merchant only sippedhis beer and said, �Calm down, Wulfram. People will notice.�But that hardly seemed likely in the roaring inn. Bawdy songscompeted with three-score drunken men discussing everythingbut the cursed weather. Smoke from the fireplace and steam ris-ing off drenched cloaks hung around the common room, shroud-ing it in a thick haze.

Wulfram continued talking to Gunnar, in an angrier butquieter voice. �I�ve told her, I don�t want that young leecharound. But every time I look, there he is lounging in my chairs,eating my food, and making verses to my wife. And that�s not allhe�s making � I found one of his lute strings in my wife�schambers. She said she only took it there to compare it with herspare strings; she said he needed a new one. But I�m not so oldand slow that I�m blind.� Wulfram ended on a note of self-pity,such as often heard from rich, middle-aged men who marryyoung wives. His friend Gunnar made sympathetic noises, andthen began to give him low-voiced counsel, pausing often tolook around as if he feared being overheard, finally pointing outa figure in a corner booth.

In the corner of the Laughing Trout�s common room sat avery wet man. He looked neither old nor young, rich nor poor.His dress did not particularly advertise his profession. Only thescabbard lying across his knees and his good gloves might giveone to guess that he made his living at arms. At the moment, hewas reading a hastily scrawled note given him a few momentsago by an equally drenched man.

Sipping his wine reflectively, the man named Holgrim musedon the ways of fortune. Not a job in sixteen days, he thought,and now this. . . . Not a bad fee, but how do I find the mannamed in this document?

At that moment a group of young nobles came cascading

through the door, led by the king�s new reeve, Lord Alfstan.Well, well, thought the man. Here comes the rent.

Then Holgrim glanced to the side and saw a rather fat, greasyman approaching him. Wulfram the wool merchant � comingto me? Holgrim thought. It never rains but it pours, they say. Hechuckled to himself, just as old Wulfram cleared his voice andsaid nervously, �Master Holgrim?�

Holgrim invited the merchant to sit, and heard his tale. Theyagreed on a price, and then Holgrim rose, saying, �It may takeme a few days to attend to your business, Master Wulfram, butI�ll see to it as soon as may be. Shortly, I may have to leave townfor a while.� Leaving the merchant to pay his bill, Holgrimstood up, loosened his sword in its scabbard, walked up to thedashing young royal favorite, and announced to the crowd atlarge certain speculations about family life at Golvring Castle.The crowd gasped, the innkeeper began to put his breakablesbelow the bar, and Holgrim the Duelist set himself to practicehis trade.

* * *

For as long as personal combat has been going on, there havebeen specialists who would sell their prowess at it. Some havesold their services as mercenaries; this article has nothing to dowith them. Mercenaries tend to be group-minded and barelyproficient at arms; their place is to fill out a troop of soldiers.The emphasis in soldiering is on maneuver and cooperativeeffort. It is very fitting that most mercenaries in the AD&D�game are permanently 0-level fighters. Repeated and frequentsuccess in one-on-one combat requires something that a meresoldier is not up to providing. The specialists in personal com-bat became not mercenaries, but duelists.

And so evolved a distinct kind of profession. In Roman times,there were the gladiators, who made their way up from ignominyto international honor through their individual skill alone; inRenaissance times, there were the fencing instructors, whotaught young rakes how to duel (and live to brag about it) theway that other specialists taught them how to dance or takesnuff; and in all times, there have been the hired swords (�hiredguns� in the Ole West), who have wandered about, fighting forglory, or money, or for lack of a better calling in life. The duelistnon-player character class for the AD&D system represents thistype of expert � one who makes his living by selling his skill inindividual combat.

Typically, the duelist is of common birth. Serfs are given noopportunity to learn to bear arms, and nobles who take up armsas a profession tend to become fighters or paladins. Sometimes,as with the Roman gladiators, duelists are of the lower class,though they might have wound up that way not by accident ofbirth but by running afoul of the law. Sometimes they are of thelesser nobility � younger sons of younger sons, with no inherit-ance to give them status and no mind to be soldiers. Sometimes

DRAGON 7

they are merely disaffected types, loners or even outcasts, whoseonly claim to fame is their reputation with their blade.

This way of describing a duelist goes far to explain the align-ment preferences of the class. The duelist has little use for law asan ethical principle, whether the law involved is good, bad, orneutral. Besides the fact that their profession is often illegal(though they are sometimes used by the protectors of the law),duelists also shy away from lawfulness because of their generaloutlook on life: They see things in individual terms (me againstyou), not in group terms (us against them). To be sure, mostduelists are scrupulous about fulfilling contracts, but this is nota lawful-minded tendency so much as a matter of professional(by definition, individual) honor. Besides, an unreliable duelistgets no contracts.

Duelists, you see, have something of a code to live by, a parodyof the knightly code of arms. The knightly code is born of law:Arms are to be used to execute justice; fair play (not takingundue advantage of an opponent) should influence behavior; thewarrior is part of an arms-bearing brotherhood pledged to defendthe community.

By contrast, the duelist lives by a highly individualistic (i.e.,chaotic) code. Professional skill is exalted rather than the obliga-tion to do justice: if the duelist�s conscience sometimes accuseshim of being a mere assassin, he tells himself he is just doing hisjob (and doing it well, by thunder!). Professional pride is a moreimportant consideration than �fair play� � a duelist, like aknight, does not take undue advantage of an opponent, but aknight does this to be fair, while a duelist does it lest his reputa-tion be besmirched. (This explains why a duelist will not usepoison or flaming oil in personal combat � these are tools good

Minimum ability scores:Strength: 9Intelligence: 10Dexterity: 15 (17+ = 10% bonus to earned experience)Constitution: 9 (hit-point bonuses as for fighters)

Racial stock: Human or half elfHit die type: d12Spell ability: NoneClass level limit: 15 (Grand Fencingmaster)Armor & weapons permitted:

Armor: LeatherShield: NoneWeapons: Dagger, scimitar (cutlass, sabre), quarterstaff,

bastard sword, broad sword, long sword, short swordOil: NoPoison: No

THE DUELIST

No. of attacks per round:Duelist level 1-4: 1/1Duelist level 5-9: 3/2 Duelist level 10-14: 2/1Duelist level 15: 5/2

Weapon proficiency:Initial no. of weapons: 3Non-proficiency penalty: -2Added proficiency/level: 1/3 levels

Alignment: Neutral good, neutral evil, chaotic good,chaotic evil, chaotic neutral, or true neutral

enough for a cheap assassin or a stupid tavern brawler, but itwould be seen as a failure in the area of his professional skill andbravery for a duelist to do the same.) The duelist is a loner,which means his worth is not measured by his attainments as amember of a warrior class, but by his individual achievements.

And so the world fears, admires, shuns, and brags of acquain-tance with the duelist, all at the same time. He is both hero andvillain. And he does have his place, not only as a hired sword (or,in some cultures, as a professional athlete). Running a fencingschool, as many duelists do, is a very respectable occupation. Itshould be noted that what a Fencingmaster turns out of a fenc-ing school are not necessarily more duelists � it takes more than

8 MAY 1983

just fighting ability to fit that mold, it takes a certain kind ofperson. The Fencingmaster�s customers are young men whodesire to be accomplished at the skills of dueling � but who maybe incapable of actually becoming duelists.

In a society or culture in which a gentleman is expected to beskillful at arms (even if the gentleman is obviously unfit for it),the Fencingmaster�s school becomes a combination hangout,gymnasium, betting parlor, and male gossip-shop all rolled intoone, and the Master himself is a man of reputation who is notonly dangerous to cross but who can expel you from much ofsociety by simply barring you from his hall. A paradox: TheFencingmaster has no place in society (being base-born and hav-ing to work for his living), but he is in many ways one of thekeepers of the keys to society�s door, like the innkeeper of themost fashionable watering hole. And, like inns, there is no betterplace to hear certain kinds of news than a fencing academy.

Athlete, hired killer, or patron of youthful nobility, the duelistplays many roles, but he is always what he is. Grim or merry,devious or straightforward, famous or infamous, he stands on hisown merits.

12-sidedExpe- dice forrience accumulated Level

Experience points level hit points title0 � 2,500 1 1 Beginner

2,501 � 5 , 0 0 0 2 2 Brawler5,001 � 10,000 3 3 Fencer

10,001 � 20,000 4 4 Challenger20,001 � 40,000 5 5 Gladiator40,001 � 80,000 6 6 Bladesman80,001 � 160,000 7 7 Master Bladesman

160,001 � 320,000 8 8 Superior Duelist320,001 � 640,000 9 9 Expert Duelist 1

640,001 � 960,000 10 10 Fencingmaster 2

960,001 � 1,290,000 11 10+2 Fencingmaster, 11th1,290,001 � 1,600,000 12 10+4 Fencingmaster, 12th1,600,001 � 1,920,000 13 10+6 Fencingmaster, 13th1,920,001 � 2,220,000 14 10+8 Fencingmaster, 14th2,220,001 + 15 10+10 Grand Fencingmaster

I � Only duelists with 17+ dexterity can attainthis level or higher.

Experience Level Table

2 � Only duelists with 18 dexterity can attain thislevel or higher.

Grand Fencingmasters are not limited in number, as areholders of top levels in the assassin, druid, and monk classes.

Duelists are regularly engaged to slay people for hire (often by�calling out� their opponents), and the fees for assassins� workare typical of duelist fees, for which the duelist gains experience.

A duelist may have no henchmen until he or she attains atleast 7th level.

Of all fighter encounters in a city or town, 5% (roll of 1 on d20)will be with a duelist.

Likewise, the duelist gains experience points from the Assassi-nation Experience Points Table for every foe he overcomes insingle, open combat. Opponents so sought must be armed with aweapon, as opposed to being armed solely with natural weap-onry (such as many monsters have).

Giving the duelist 12-sided hit dice is not intended to conveythe impression that duelists are monstrous hulks, like sumowrestlers. As the DMG points out (p. 82), hit points �reflect boththe actual physical ability . . . to withstand damage . . . and acommensurate increase in such areas as skill in combat and sim-ilar life-or-death situations, the �sixth sense� which warns theindividual.� And again, �the balance of accrued hit points arethose which fall into the non-physical areas . . . .� In otherwords, a character taking damage in a long fight is not necessar-ily getting cut up so much as he is getting worn out; his concen-tration lags, his arms get tired, his feet begin to drag, until he isdown to his last few hit points. That�s when one simple thrust

might kill him, as it would any man � when he is open to theblow. By definition, a duelist is an expert at hand-to-hand com-bat; his inventory of tricks, his professional skill, and his stam-ina are superior to those of other fighter-types. By giving theduelist 12-sided hit dice, these superior abilities are expressed ingame terms. A 10th-level duelist will average more hit pointsthan a 10th-level fighter, thus giving the former an appropriateedge in one-on-one combat; the duelist can outlast and wear outan opponent who is less skillful than he.

A duelist is surprised only on a roll of 1 on d6, and his code of�honor� makes him dislike attacking by surprise in a one-on-onefight. (But he is no fool; survival is ultimately more importantthan �honor,� and surprising an opponent is certainly not pro-hibited.) However, he only gains experience points on the Assas-sination Table if the fight is entirely conducted in the open �unless his intended victim surprised him. Note that �open�merely means man-to-man, without surprise being used by theduelist. It does not imply a public fight, nor does it entail a chal-lenge conveyed through seconds. The DM will have to adjudicateall situations that require a ruling on whether or not the duelistwill get experience points for a one-on-one fight.

When fighting opponents armed with weapons (other thanmissiles), the duelist gains bonuses to his armor class, simulatinghis superior skill in parrying blows. He also gains bonuses �tohit� and damage (referred to in the table below as the �combatbonus�) when fighting an opponent who is using a hand-heldweapon. This bonus increases when the duelist is fighting anopponent using the same weapon the duelist is using:

Level of Combat Combat bonus vs.duelist AC bonus bonus same weapon

1-3 +1 +1 +14-6 +2 +1 +27-9 +3 +2 +3

10-12 +4 +2 +413-15 +5 +3 +5

Duelists use the combat tables and saving-throw tables for thefighter class, and conform to the specifications of that class withregard to psionics and the use of magic items. In addition, theyare considered as fighters for any other determinations not specif-ically mentioned herein.

When fighting humanoids of size S or M in hand-to-handsituations, the duelist (and his associates) gain a +10% bonus tomorale. The associates get this morale bonus only if they knowthe duelist for what he is � that is, a member of the duelist class.

Duelists� special abilitiesParrying the death blow: If the duelist receives a hit from a

weapon which would finally take him to 0 hit points or lower inthat blow, he gets a saving throw (vs. death). A successful saveindicates no damage. On a second such death-blow attempt madeduring the same melee (but not during the same round; seebelow), before the duelist has regained some hit points throughhealing or other means, a successful save indicates half damagefrom the blow (or the duelist is reduced to 1 hit point, if that isnecessary to keep him alive). A third such saving throw in thesame ongoing melee is not allowed unless the duelist has firsthad some hit points restored. This special parrying ability ap-plies only to attacks with hand-held weapons made by weapons-users. Thus, the duelist gets a save vs. a minotaur�s axe or a hillgiant�s club, but not vs. a dragon�s bite, a pseudo-dragon�s sting,or a scythe-blade trap.

This special ability comes into play when the duelist is downto few enough hit points so that his opponent�s potential maxi-mum damage could kill the duelist with a single blow. Theopponent�s potential maximum damage, for purposes of thisdetermination, is the maximum damage of the opponent�s weap-on, plus any bonuses that apply to the opponent�s damage fig-ure. If the opponent scores a hit, the duelist may attempt to parrythe blow before dice are rolled to determine the actual damage.

Example: An opponent with a strength of 18/03 using a +1long sword could potentially do 12 points of damage � 8 withthe sword, +1 for the magic, and +3 for his damage adjustment

due to strength. The duelist then has the option to attempt hisparry when he is reduced to 12 hit points or less vs. this oppo-nent, after the opponent has rolled a �to hit� die successfully,and before damage is actually assessed. Should the duelist bedown to 5 hit points or less, he must attempt to parry automati-cally, since the minimum potential damage his opponent caninflict with a successful hit is 5 points � 1 with the sword, +l forthe magic, +3 for his damage adjustment.

As long as an opponent�s minimum potential damage is lessthan the duelist�s remaining hit points, the duelist does have achoice in whether or not to attempt to parry the death blow.After all, this is a last-gasp trick, and he might want to keep it asan �ace in the hole� for one more round. Should the duelist befighting more than one opponent, he may be forced to choosewhich of two or more equally deadly blows he will attempt toparry; he cannot try this trick twice in a round. Life is full ofhard choices, isn�t it?

Two-weaponed combat: Duelists take 1 less point off in penal-ties for off-hand weapon swings in two-weaponed combat, butthey will only fight in such a fashion against other two-weaponed humanoids or plain old monsters. The duelists� codeforbids them to seek a two-weapon advantage over a one-weaponed opponent, except in life-or-death situations.

Resistance to fear: Duelists make all saving throws vs. fearattacks at +2.

Identify magical properties: At 10th level and above, a duelisthas a 5% chance per level of identifying the magical properties ofweapons usable by his class. (One attempt per weapon per level.)

The Fencingmaster and his schoolAt 10th level (Fencingmaster) and above, the duelist has the

option of establishing a fencing school. Such an establishmentmust be located in a large town or city, and must have adequatesupplies and sufficient space for the exercises and activities thatwill go on there. Employment of a swordsmith is mandatory forsuch an establishment. The Fencingmaster will then attract stu-dents to his school.

Hiring a Fencingmaster as a teacher will cost 200 g.p. amonth, and one can only be hired for a month at a time. Eachmonth of work with a Fencingmaster gains a student a 10%cumulative chance of gaining a +1 �to hit� with a particularweapon the Fencingmaster employs. Dice are rolled once, at theend of the training, to see if the student gets the +1. This trainingmust be uninterrupted by adventuring, and there is a maximum60% chance of gaining the bonus. If the roll fails, the trainingmust begin all over again. A student earning a +1 with a particu-lar weapon (e.g., a long sword) cannot earn a further bonus withthat weapon by continuing to study with a Fencingmaster, nomatter how long he or she trains � but the +1 �to hit� could begained in this way for more than one weapon, if the studentengages in additional instruction.

The Fencingmaster can handle up to 30 students at a time, butif he goes out adventuring for more than 3 days in any month,his students will suffer from his absence, because their trainingwill have been interrupted for too long � and the Fencingmasterwill accordingly be deprived of the income those students wouldhave provided.

The number of students a Fencingmaster has at a given timecan be determined randomly by rolling 5d6 to see how many stu-dents a Fencingmaster has, and adding one student to the resultfor every 3 points of charisma the Fencingmaster has, up to amaximum enrollment of 30.

Fencingmasters, unlike fighters, acquire no followers uponreaching name level (10th), even if they establish a school.

Duelists� reputations have a tendency to get around, and theyare known, or known about, to a greater extent as they becomemore accomplished. Most duelists will be aware of other duelistsof equal or higher level operating in the vicinity. Sometimes aduelist will �call out� another duelist on his own initiative, justto prove himself. Grand Fencingmasters are more often reveredthan challenged, however, and this is also the case with manyother duelists of great reputation and high charisma.

DRAGON 9

The Inner PlanesA new way to look at the AD&D� worldby Gary Gygax

©1983 E. Gary Gygax. All rights reserved.

All Scholarly AD&D� Game Aficionadoes are familiar withthe torus used to illustrate the Elemental Planes. A depiction ofit is printed in the DEITIES & DEMIGODS� Cyclopedia, andthat is reproduced here below (Figure A) for easy reference.

Note that, in the torus, the Para-Elemental Planes (Ice, Dust,Vapor, Heat) occupy too much area. Discerning Students willalso remark that three of these intervening planes are denoted bysome material manifestation, while the remaining one is desig-nated by a condition. Thus, the logical question: Which one inthe series does not belong? Do not blame the Learned Authors ofthe work in which the depiction occurs � I am the one respon-sible for it, and I offer my apologies.

Getting back to the point of this article: Another referenceillustration (Figure B, at right below), also from the DEITIES &DEMIGODS� book, shows the Inner Planes (Material, Elemen-tal, Positive, etc.). Isn�t it interesting to note how the PositiveMaterial Plane sits upon the material multiverse as if it were aplate? Observe also how the Negative one serves as a saucer forthe same body?

If these odd relationships have troubled you, Gentle Readers,half as much as they have disturbed me, you have been sorely putupon. I, for one, could stand it no longer. After several hours ofrooting around in the mess which I laughingly term my files, Idiscovered my notes on the Inner Planes. Atop the heap was anillustration of a tetrahedral structure for the Elemental Planes(Figure C, at the top left of the facing page) proposed by myWorthy Confederate, Steve Marsh.

It is easy to see that this form has the obvious advantage of

10 MAY 1983

The direct intermingling of Air and Earth, or of Fire andWater, is impossible in this system. This isn�t a bad idea, if I maybe so bold as to so state, since they are opposed elements. Directintermingling of the opposed elements should not take place,and with the addition of the Positive and Negative planes intothis system of viewing things (about which more below), it isn�tnecessary to have these opposites do so in order to gain a desiredmaterial. The vertices between the pairs of Elemental Planes arethe Para-Elemental Planes of: Smoke between Fire and Air, Icebetween Air and Water, Ooze between Water and Earth, andMagma between Earth and Fire. These four Para-ElementalPlanes are augmented by the intermingling of the Positive andNegative Material Planes with them, and in addition with the

allowing the four Elemental Planes to touch and interact witheach other. The vertices where the elements meet provide us six(count �em) Para-Elemental Planes, viz. Lightning, Magma,Dust, Ice, Vapor, and Ooze � all material substances, not condi-tions, by the by! The four faces are the Positive Material, Nega-tive Material, and Shadow Planes, plus the infinity of the PrimeMaterial Plane (which occupies the fourth face and is alsoassumed to fill the interior of the tetrahedron). Also existing inthe same space as all of that is the Ethereal Plane, which passesaround, over, under, and through the whole shebang. Got it?Excellent! It is a neat little package. Somehow, though, I am nottoo comfortable with the shape. It doesn�t exactly fit in with therest of the planar depiction, and the elements and para-elementsdon�t seem to be quite right. After sitting and fiddling with thething for some time, I decided to take Steve�s thinking and applyit to a cube. Take a look at this representation (Figure D, at thetop right of the facing page), where the four major faces repre-sent the elements of Air, Earth, Fire, and Water. (Let us leave theother sides for later.)

In order to sum up the �cubic� theory of the Inner Planes, andto assign each plane a designating color, the following list ofplanes and their colors is presented. For the sake of clarity, notall the planes given in the following list are shown on the two-dimensional rendering. This list is useful as a source of informa-tion, and can also be employed to randomly choose one particu-lar Inner Plane when such a determination is needed.

The Steam plane (at the junction with Water), rangingfrom vapor near the Plane of Air, through mists, to super-heated steam near the Plane of Earth.

The Radiance plane (at the junction with Fire), goingfrom dull hues near the Plane of Earth, through rainbowcolors, to a radiance of force near the Plane of Air.

The Mineral plane (at the junction with Earth), rangingfrom metals and gems near the Plane of Fire, through stone,to calcium near the Plane of Water.

Where the Negative Material plane touches the four ElementalPlanes are found the other four Quasi-Elemental Planes:

The Vacuum plane, at the junction with Air.The Salts plane, at the junction with Water.The Ash plane, at the junction with Fire.The Dust plane, at the junction with Earth.

The six sides of the cube are shown �flattened out� in a full-color, two-dimensional representation of this system accompany-ing this text (on the second page following). Remember that thevertices and border areas representing the Para-Elemental andQuasi-Elemental Planes are shown as small areas here, but actu-ally they � just like the Elemental Planes themselves � aremulti-formed and fluid and might manifest themselves, in smallpart or large, virtually anywhere. Similarly, the various elemen-tal areas are themselves virtually as infinite as the Prime MaterialPlane, which is itself composed of their substances, plus theether, plus more (time, for example). Thus, while the diagramshows surfaces and areas bounded by lines, the DiscerningReader must always bear in mind that depictions such as theseare merely tools for display of concepts, not exhaustive atlases ofboundless spaces!

The Lightning plane (at the junction with Air), rangingfrom static electricity near the Plane of Water to sheetlightning near the Plane of Fire.

Consider the Positive Material Plane and Negative MaterialPlane as occupying the two unaccounted-for faces of the cube,each abutting all four of the Elemental Planes. These planesextend into the Prime Material Plane (the interior of the cube),just as do all of the other sorts of Elemental Planes. The borderbetween the Positive and Negative Planes exists in the PrimeMaterial. It is the Plane of Shadow, which waxes and wanesfrom place to place but always permeates the whole.

At the intersections where the Positive Material Plane directlyconnects to the four Elemental Planes are found the followingfour Quasi-Elemental Planes:

four Elemental Planes. By the addition of the two new factors,the Positive and Negative Material Planes, we gain eight new�Quasi-Elemental� Planes. THE INNER PLANES

� Concordant Opposition1 Prime Material

Elemental Planes:2 Air3 Earth4 Fire5 Water

Para-Elemental Planes:6 Smoke7 Ice8 Ooze

OchreTurquoise

BlueBrownRedGreen

PearlAquamarineChocolate

9 Magma MaroonQuasi-Elemental Planes:

10 Lightning Violet11 Steam Ivory12 Radiance Rainbow spectrum13 Mineral Pink14 Vacuum Ebony15 Salts Tan16 Ash Grey (dark)17 Dust Dun

Others:18 Positive Material White19 Negative Material Black20 ¹ Shadow Silver20 ¹ (Time) (Colorless)

-- Ethereal Purple¹� Optional: Either assign 50% chance for each of

the listed results, or ignore this result and roll again ond6, treating 6 as a 1, to yield a result of 1 through 5.

Having proposed a cubic form for the Inner Planes, and giventhem color identifiers in addition, it is high time to get at thenext point. After all, when one is in the ethereal state and travel-ing about, how is it that one locates anything? By color, ofcourse. Assuming that the whole of the Ethereal Plane need notbe identified, since the adventurer is already upon it, then spotsof color in the ether indicate that the substance impinges uponsome other plane at that place. In this manner, the wandererencounters wavering bands of colored mists when trekkingthrough the Ethereal Plane.

Such curtains of vaporous color should occur at time intervalsof every 12 hours, PMP (Prime Material Plane) time. The colorsshould occur at random, as the ether is everywhere and nowhereat once. By identifying the hue, the adventurer is able to deter-mine the proximity of another plane and which one it is. Bypeering into the misty curtain, the viewer is allowed to see theother plane, while he or she remains ethereal and hence invisi-ble. Movement in both planes at once is accomplished simply bybeing in the ethereal state and willing oneself to �enter� the,other plane at the same time. When the traveler so desires, he or

DRAGON 11

she can abandon one or the other of the planes, either decidingin favor of completely entering the particular non-ethereal plane,or turning elsewhere on the Ethereal Plane to see what else canbe discovered. Note that this is somewhat different from travel ofthe astral sort.

To determine which plane is encountered, simply roll atwenty-sided die and read across the table. Both the ConcordantOpposition and Ethereal Plane are reached from either the AstralPlane, or by magical means, from any of the other Inner Planesexcept Time. The latter plane abuts only the Ethereal Plane andPrime Material Plane directly, so the plane of Concordant Oppo-sition cannot be reached from the Plane of Time.

With Roger Moore�s excellent article on the Astral Planehandy (see issue #67 of DRAGON Magazine), the DM can alsohave fun with astral travel. The following list, giving color indi-cators for the planes that border on the Astral Plane, is useful inthis regard.

TABLE OF THE OUTER PLANES(and Concordant Opposition)

1 Concordant Opposition Brown2 Happy Hunting Ground Emerald3 Olympus Sapphire4 Gladsheim Indigo5 Limbo Jet6 Pandemonium Magenta7 Abyss Amethyst8 Tarterus Olive9 Hades Rust

10 Gehenna Russet11 Nine Hells Ruby12 Acheron Flame13 Nirvana Diamond14 Arcadia Saffron15 Seven Heavens Gold16 Twin Paradises Amber17 Elysium Opal18 Extra-dimensional Space Terra Cotta19 Non-dimensional Space soot20 Ethereal Purple

The cubic expression of the structure of the Inner Planesallows for more variety and a broader range of magic. Identifica-tion and travel to these places from the Ethereal Plane is nowwithin easy grasp of the ambitious Dungeon Master. Likewise,the use of travel in the Astral Plane is facilitated by color identi-fication. Pools of color encountered astrally indicate that therethe Astral Plane interlocks with one of the Outer Planes.

Unlike the �peering� method of ethereal exploration, where atraveler can be in two planes at once, a color pool encounteredon the Astral Plane can be examined (but not actually entered)through the use of concentration. The observer thinks of theplace indicated by the color pool while gazing at the surface ofthe pool. This causes a view of the place to appear, with the

Good Readers in a position to make a tax-deductible contribu-tion should consider the fund as a most worthy one. We can eas-ily maintain the effort at its current level, but in order to enlargethe grants and expand the program, some additional help isneeded. Donations should be made out to the TSR Foundation,c/o Bruce Blume, P.O. Box 756, Lake Geneva WI 53147.

All of you should be aware that TSR granted five scholarshipsin 1982. The sums were not vast � $2,100 each. They were, how-ever, the only such awards made strictly to game players, to thebest of my knowledge. This is to remind RPGA� networkmembers that exceptional achievement in high school will placethem in good standing for the potential receipt of such a scholar-ship. Be sure to check into the possibility if you need funding tocontinue your education. (Also, do remember that TSR is seek-ing personnel of high caliber, and will be in the years to come!)

About two years ago, someone was kind enough to put theirmoney where my mouth was. No, a superior amateur publishingeffort was not begun; an anonymous benefactor of adventuregamers contributed a large sum of money to enable TSR tocreate a scholarship fund.

Some Gentle Readers have been reading this journal for a suf-ficient length of time to remember when an eyebrow or two,shall we say, was raised over my expressed opinion of amateurfantasy publications. (Those not familiar with this episode areeasily brought up to date: The materials published are suitablefor many purposes, including a replacement for toilet tissue,starting fires, and assuring that sanitation workers remainemployed.) The amateur publications did not then, nor do theynow, offer a reasonable training ground for aspiring designersand writers.

TSR SCHOLARSHIP FUND

With both more Inner Planes to visit and an easy-identifi-cation system offered for them and the Outer Planes as well, therange of AD&D� adventuring is poised on the brink of newfrontiers. More is needed, no doubt, regarding ethereal travel,creatures of other planes, and so on. Certainly the more venture-some DMs can begin here and now to include broad-scale adven-tures in the Inner and Outer Planes as part of their campaignrepertoire.

The concentration of a viewer upon a pool of color allowsrapid scanning from the broad perspective to nearly any close-range one, and when it is desired, the viewer can even material-ize, going from astral to material form, upon the viewed plane.

Of course, all sorts of factors � magical, monstrous, and oth-erwise � might impede such viewing; a sheathing of impenetra-ble metal, for instance, precludes viewing another plane from theAstral Plane.

viewer �positioned� as if observing it from a great altitude. Themore the viewer concentrates, the closer becomes the prospect. Adirection can be determined, and a point of view can be made toturn to that facing, as well as change perspective from distant tonear and back again, all by continued concentration.

12 MAY 1983

The innerplanes:

A cubeto cut out

This is a two-dimensionalrepresentation of the cubicarrangement of the innerplanes, as described in thearticle by E. Gary Gygaxthat begins on page 10.The Para-Elemental andQuasi-Elemental Planesare identified for easy ref-erence, either on the�flaps� of the cube or justoutside the colored area.(For further clarificationof which plane is which,refer to the list and colorkey on page 11.)

To construct a three-dimensional cube out ofthis page, remove it fromthe magazine (or have thecolor design copied bysome means), mount thedesign on a piece of lightcardboard to give it addedstrength and durability,and trim out the shapealong the outermost blacklines. Also cut along thediagonal lines radiatingout from the corner of thebrown (Earth) cube face.Score and crease theunderside of the designalong the fold lines on allfour sides of each face, andfold the flaps inward. Usetape or glue to fastenmatching flaps together;assembly will be easiest ifthe Radiance, Steam, Salts,and Ash planes (the pairsof flaps closest to the�Earth� face) are broughttogether first.

DRAGON 13

(No, there�s nothing missing from your copy of this magazine. We leftthis page blank on purpose, so that anyone who wants to remove it andassemble the cube design on the preceding page can do so withoutdestroying any valuable information.)

\14 MAY 1903

D R A G O N 1 5

The solo scenariofor twoOne-player parties are fun

by Katharine Kerr

Although it�s more fun and more usualto adventure with a good-sized party ofplayer characters, sooner or later everyDungeon Master needs to work out a sce-nario for a single player. At times, onlyone player of an established group will beable to play in a given session. At others,a new player may want to transfer infrom another campaign and will need tolearn the ways of the new game world.Most commonly, a single-player scenariocan benefit the rank beginner, bewilderedby the rules and starting up a playercharacter far below the experience level ofthe ongoing party. The DM also benefitsfrom running a single-player scenario:Without a large party to keep track of, theDM can do more actual role-playing andless record-keeping.

Given an opportunity to go through asolo adventure, the experienced playerhas a chance to act independently, mak-ing all the decisions (as most of us havealways wanted to do). The beginner canlearn the basic rules without feeling thathe or she is an object of scorn or a frustra-tion to the other players.

Yet despite all these benefits, planninga solo adventure presents certain difficul-ties for the DM accustomed to groupplay. A single player character will have aspecific and very limited (compared to agroup of characters) set of abilities andcharacteristics, and thus will be unable todeal with all the usual circumstances ofthe game world. What�s more, even a veryhigh-level player character can�t beexpected to conquer a vast crowd of ene-mies single-handed. Thus, if the DMwants the scenario to be fair as well aschallenging, he or she will have to lookbeyond the usual sort of adventure � thepre-set area crammed with monsters thatis the staple of gaming aids. This articlediscusses the general principles of design-ing single-player scenarios, as well assome specific suggestions and ideas forone-player adventures.

Consider the character . . .The key to a good scenario lies in

thinking about the player character forwhom the DM is running the adventure,

16 MAY 1983

rather than thinking only in terms of theopposition. The DM must consider whoand what the PC is, then tailor the adven-ture to take advantage of the PC�sstrengths and prey on his or her weak-nesses � without being so unfair thatchallenges become either frustratingimpossibilities or tedious pushovers.

The obvious considerations are thePC�s character class and experience level.The problem to be solved or the dangersto be overcome should be compatiblewith both. Although there must alwaysbe real risk in a scenario, the risk must beone that the PC can overcome with goodgaming skills and a bit of luck. The DMneeds to remember that the single PC haslimited skills and cannot fall back onother members of a party to make up forhis or her deficiencies. A magic-user willbe at the mercy of armed brigands with-out a fighter or two along; conversely, afighter has no way of detecting cursedobjects without a magic-user or a cleric.

. . . and the player, tooNot so obvious a consideration is the

character of the gamer behind the PC, butby taking this into account, the DM cancreate interesting situations beyond thescope of normal group play. If the playeris a rash hack-and-slash type, the DM canpresent a problem that requires thoughtto solve, or enemies that might turn intoallies if the player can compromise.

If, on the other hand, the player isunduly timid, the DM can build up his orher self-confidence by presenting enemieswhom he or she has a good chance ofoverpowering. Without other playersaround who might get annoyed, the DMcan also use these one-to-one sessions toget the upper hand over that constantbane of gaming, the loud-mouthed rulesplitter. The trick, in any case, is todevelop an adventure that goes againstthe player�s natural grain, therebyexpanding his or her gaming skills.

Basically, the plot of the scenarioshould grow directly out of the characterof the PC. Thieves should be given the

Two kinds of plots

chance to steal; fighters, to fight; and soon through the character classes. Fromthis basic slant, the DM can develop aplot for the scenario. Most plots andsituations fall into one of two categories:1) a series of random encounters, and 2) asimple goal with opposition in the way.

The second category of scenario, how-ever, is a lot more fun to run and to play.Here, the DM invents a goal for the PC toreach � an object to acquire, a task to bedone, or a place to visit � and then pro-ceeds to put difficulties in the way ofreaching the goal. The difficulties can benatural dangers of terrain or landscape,direct opposition from hostile NPC�s, oreven a random element of wanderingmonsters.

The first category is of course the eas-ier. The DM merely picks a situation � adungeon, village, forest, or whatever �and fills it with monsters or NPC�s withwhom the PC interacts randomly. If thegaming session is going to be short, or ifthe DM is pressed for time, this solutionmay be the better.

The goal should be consistent with thePC�s character class, alignment, and per-sonality, but other than that, the DM canmake this goal-plus-opposition pattern assimple or as complex as he or she wants.For instance, a simple pattern might bethe goal of retrieving stolen propertyfrom an orc in the same town; a complexone, that of recovering a holy object fromthe ruins of a temple, now the home of amad hermit who wants the object forhimself.

Developing the opposition for a singlePC can be tricky if the goal is to be bothchallenging and attainable. The DMmust consider passive opposition as wellas actively hostile NPCs. If, for example,a PC has to ford raging rivers, climb dan-gerous cliffs, and evade traps just to reacha goal, the active opposition waiting atthe end of the journey should be less for-midable than if he or she merely strollsout of town to a meadow to meet the foe.

Opposition, passive and active

The opposition should also be of a typethat gives the PC a chance. To put a lone

fighter up against a pair of high-levelmagicians would be most unfair, forinstance, as would the converse. As a gen-eral rule of thumb, consider the expe-rience levels (or the hit dice, for monsters)of the NPCs who will be actively oppos-ing the PC. One of those NPCs should beof the same experience level or higherthan the PC, but the total of experiencelevels of the group of opponents shouldnot be greater than twice the PC�s expe-rience level, nor should it be less than thePC�s experience level. The DM shouldalso provide the PC with an opportunityor two to learn about the forces setagainst him or her.

Some DM�s might think that this levelof opposition is too low, but rememberthat a large number of weak opponentscan be deadly in a mass, and that the PChas no one else to fall back on if he or sheis injured early in the adventure. As anexample, I once ran a scenario for a third-level fighter who was hired to guard atemple treasure against thieves. Thesticky fingers in question belonged to apair of gnome thief/illusionists, one thirdlevel, the other second. Although thisdoesn�t sound like much for a well-armedfighter to face, the gnomes nearly suc-ceeded in killing the PC and stealing thetreasure, simply because there were two ofthem. While one made noise in one area,the other attempted to slip into the tem-ple through another location � on andon until the fighter was run ragged. Bythe time he subdued the gnomes, he�dbeen backstabbed and was down to 2 hitpoints.

Once the DM sets the goal and developsthe opposition to reaching it, there arisesthe question of motivating the PC toreach the goal in game terms. If the goalis something that the PC would normallyseek on his or her own, the DM can useNPCs to spread the news that it exists inthe given area. If a druid heard of a par-ticularly rich cache of mistletoe, forinstance, he or she would doubtless go tocut it. Or, a thief would love to hearrumors about the richest man in town.On the other hand, the DM can alsoinvent an NPC to hire the PC to performa task, or request the PC to solve someproblem. The standard example is thelocal worthy who begs a paladin�s aid,but the game milieu offers many otherpossibilities, some of which will be dis-cussed later. If the DM chooses to offerthe PC a job for hire, the DM should keepother booty to a minimum, because thePC is already gaining gold (and thus expe-rience points) from being hired. Into thecategory of hires, of course, falls beingquested or geased by an NPC, but in thiscase the booty can be more generous.

New players have special needsIf the DM is designing a scenario for a

player from an ongoing campaign, he orshe will know the player well enough tohave a fairly straightforward time of

A scenario for this kind of player, then,needs to be as varied as possible, movingthrough different kinds of situations andencounters rather than concentrating onone. It should include both indoor andoutdoor movement, plenty of NPC

A one-to-one game between the newplayer and his or her new DM is the bestway for both to learn each other�s style ofplay. By working things out in private,the DM and the player spare the rest ofthe group the annoyance of hearing themargue things out. Also, if the new playeris simply not going to work in properly,the DM can get this across to the playerwithout embarrassing him or her in frontof the others. In a sense, then, the DM isputting the new player through his or herpaces; at the same time, the playerdeserves a chance to see how the new DMhandles various aspects of play.

Adding a new player to an ongoinggroup is a delicate matter, particularly ifthe new player is a stranger to the othergamers. Since all DMs have quirks andpersonal definitions of ambiguous rules,the new player may be counting on pos-sibilities that don�t exist in the new cam-paign or, conversely, may be unaware ofstringent interpretations of certain rules.

planning and running the adventure.Two other groups of players, however,have special needs: the experienced playercoming from another campaign, and theraw beginner.

encounters of varying emotional levels,and of course combat. Although a ran-dom encounter series might seem best, theDM should introduce some simple goalto be reached in order to see how the newplayer handles problem-solving andplanning. (If the new player can handleneither, it�s best to know this right at thebeginning.)

At all times, the DM should encouragethe new player to say what he or she feelsabout the DM�s conduct of the game;likewise, the DM should be open aboutwhat he or she is thinking of the newplayer. If both parties consider their dif-ferences as friendly problems to be solvedrather than matters of life and death, theirfuture play together will be muchsmoother and more enjoyable.

The absolute beginner represents a dif-ferent kind of problem. It�s too easy forDMs and experienced players alike toforget just how bewildering the rules,mechanics, and minutiae of the AD&D�system appear to someone who�s watcheda game or two and thumbed through asingle book. The key word here ispatience, and it�s much easier for a DM tobe patient in a solo game than in a gamewith a group of players who are eager toget on with the adventure.

By designing the right kind of scenario,the DM can guide the beginner throughthe rules in graded steps, rather like ateaching-machine program. The DM

DRAGON 17

needs to remember that such a scenariocan � and should � be so simple that itwould bore experienced players. Killing agiant rat is strictly ho-hum for a high-level paladin, but for a beginner it�s a realthrill.

The very first game a beginner playsshould never end in the death of the PCunless the DM has placed a convenientresurrecting cleric or some such thingclose at hand. Rolling up a character forthe first time requires too much work forthe beginner to take the sudden death ofthat character with any kind of sports-manlike attitude. Even the first adventurecan have risks, such as being beaten up orrobbed, but the DM should rememberthat the point of the game is to have fun,not to be bitterly disappointed in the firsttwenty minutes of a playing career. If theDM has the time, the ideal way to intro-duce the beginner to the campaign is in aseries of single-player scenarios, startingwith a simple walk-through situation andprogressing to an adventure that doesindeed carry potentially fatal risks. TheDM is also perfectly justified in warningthe player that soon things will get much,much tougher.

Back to basics for beginnersTo design these simple scenarios, the

DM must keep in mind what the playerneeds to learn: everything. The beginnerhas never entered a strange town, cast a

18 MAY 1983

spell or swung a weapon, or even walkeddown a corridor with a torch as the onlylight. The DM must start by explainingthe simplest mechanics, move on to inter-actions between the PC and NPCs, andfinally present combat and complex set-ups like crowded taverns. The first min-utes of the beginner�s first game in par-ticular need to be stripped down to bareessentials to avoid confusion, frustration,and ultimately irritation between playerand DM.

An example of such a beginner�s gameshould make things clear. After the newPC has been rolled up and fleshed outwith some kind of background and per-sonal history, the DM should give the PCsome reason for being in the part of thegame world where the party that the PCwill ultimately join is staying at themoment. Suppose we� have a young fight-er, just discharged from the local militiawith some pay in his pocket (the rolled-up coin). The DM tells the player that hischaracter hears that adventure and profitcan be found in a nearby town.

During the journey to town, the playercan learn about movement rate, the needfor rest, the passing of game time, andother such things in a very simple way.The road can present NPCs and randomencounters in simplified outdoor condi-tions. Along the way, the DM can place asituation to explore: a simple abandonedhut, say, to be explored in daylight,where indoor movement and the indoorturn can be introduced. From there, thePC might find a dark place (a ruinedhouse at night) in order to learn abouttorches and mapping in the dark. In thesesimple settings the PC can have low-levelcombat experiences � a giant rat, a largespider. The PC can also find his first trea-sure, say a hoard of ten copper pieces or abit of cheap jewelry.

After this, the PC will understand thebasic mechanics well enough to try asimple scenario. Perhaps a farmer offersfood and shelter in return for our fighter�shelp in killing a bothersome wolf, or ahermit might ask a young neophyte clericto dispose of a single animated skeletonin a shrine. Such scenarios will introduceclear goals and non-hostile interactionsin order to train the new player to planahead, think through the consequences ofhis or her actions, and to see beyond loot-ing to the possibilities of life in the gameworld.

Ultimately, these beginning scenariosshould integrate the new PC into theongoing group playing in the campaign.By using imagination, the DM can intro-duce new players in game-world termsrather than falling back on the mundane.In our example, the new player finallyreaches town, has a few encounters on hisown as he buys equipment, then hears arumor that an adventuring party is drink-ing in a certain tavern. There the new PCmeets his party for the first time, and it�sup to him to think of ways to introduce

PC and the desirable object can varygreatly, from mindless wild animals toNPCs actively seeking the same objectand determined to keep anyone else fromhaving it. The DM should remember tomake the rewards as well as the dangers

Druids need mistletoe, which the DMcan ensure must be harvested in danger-ous conditions. For other clerics, thedesired object might be a particularblessed mace or an important holy objectthat the cleric seeks not for him or herself,but for the sake of his or her temple.

The obstacle(s) standing between the

spells, but remember that they also haveto gather material components, some ofwhich are rare and can be made hard toobtain by the clever DM. Consider thesmall canine statuettes needed for a repul-sion spell, for instance: The DM mightannounce that the only pair to be had inthe entire area were lost in a ruin someyears ago.

Thieves want riches, and the single-player scenario is a good way for them tosteal without having to muck about indirty dungeons. A big-mouthed NPCcould brag about his riches, or gossipwith the thief about the local miser in hislonely villa, or perhaps the thief merelysees a wealthy individual walk past intown and sets his or her heart on stealingsaid individual blind. Assassins may hearof a rare poison or a particularly fineknife to be had.

Magic-users yearn for magic items and

For instance, fighters will desire magicweapons and magic armor, which may behidden in a ruin, lost in the wilderness,or in the possession of an NPC of oppo-site alignment. An interesting variationfor a ranger is a valuable horse, runninghalf-wild, that has to be tracked andtamed.

1. Acquiring a desirable object: Some-where, on a lonely hill or in a ruin, is justwhat the PC yearns for. This particular .goal is perhaps the most useful scenario-starter, having vast numbers of variations.

With both the general principles ofdesigning scenarios and the specific needsof the player in mind, let�s consider somespecific ideas that can provide the seeds ofscenarios for the overworked DM. Eachgroup of suggestions that follows startswith a generalized goal, then shows howthe general can be turned to the specificfor various character classes. From thesestarting points, the DM can work out par-ticular plots for individual players.

Specific scenario ideas

and ingratiate himself. Perhaps the DMcan arrange a brawl with the local yokelsin which our fighter pitches in on theparty�s side, or some other such dramaticmoment. The approach of �This is Joe,he�s a fighter, and is it okay with youguys if he plays with us?� may work, butit�s a lot more fun to have Joe show offhis fighting skills in a situation where theadmiring adventurers can watch.

dependent on the PC�s experience level.For example, allowing a second-levelfighter to acquire a +5 sword wouldseriously unbalance a campaign; a +1dagger would be more suitable and morelikely to be guarded by the kind of ene-mies that this level of fighter could over-come. A low-level thief had best be re-strained to robbing the weak and thehelpless for a few gold pieces, but a high-level thief could be introduced to thelocal miser�s villa, filled with traps,alarms, and armed guards, with a vaultcontaining jewels and bags of gold.

object� theme is to have the PC quested,geased, or simply hired to obtain theobject for someone else. In this way (if theDM is dealing with an honest PC, at anyrate) the DM can have the desired objectbe most magical and wondrous withoutintroducing it into active play later in thecampaign. Another variation is to havethe desired object be an item of stolenproperty which the PC is retrieving,either for him or herself or on hire. Theopposition (the original thief or thieves)can be easily adjusted to the PC�s capabil-ities. Still another variation is the rescue,where the desired object is another char-acter. Fighters can be hired to free some-one being held for ransom; magic-users,to break evil enchantments; clerics, toexorcise evil spirits; rangers, to trackdown a missing person in the wilderness.

A good variation on the �desired

2. Guard duty: This goal of keepingsomeone or something safe can also bewidely varied. Fighters are the mostobvious choice for guards, either as per-sonal bodyguards or watchmen overthreatened property. A rich merchant mayworry about thieves, or a lord a swornenemy who seeks blood vengeance. A trav-eler going through wilderness may pay aranger a pretty penny to accompany him.A paladin might volunteer to guard acleric from evil enemies. Other classes,however, can also do guard duty if thecircumstances are right. A cleric or druidmight be sent to guard a holy spotagainst desecration by undead or an evilcleric; likewise, some treasure of theirtemple might be threatened. A magic-usermight be hired to turn back a magicalattack against an NPC. The magic-usermight also have a particular magical itemthat others want to steal from him or her.Thieves, by their nature, do not usuallymake reliable guards for someone else,but if they have booty, it might attractother felonious sorts who want anunearned share of it.

In all of these cases, the oppositionwants the property or the person that theguard is looking after. If property is atstake, thieves are most likely the onescoming after it, either on their own orhired by an NPC of another class. If theitem being guarded is a character, theopposition may be a hired assassin, or the

danger may be a band of unskilled brig-ands. The assassin makes a good enemyfor a rash hack-and-slash type player.Part of the player�s job in this case is touse thought and guile in an attempt tofigure out the assassin�s disguise and toanticipate where the attack will come � areal learning experience for the unthink-ingly violent.

3. Acquiring information: This goal ismost suitable for a player in a long-running campaign. If the game world hasa highly developed political situation or awar in progress, the PC can be hired byone side or another to spy. Althoughthieves and assassins make the best spies,a magic-user or cleric might well take ona temporary job of this sort if he or shefeels the cause is worthy of it. Since heav-ily armed strangers look too suspicious tobe successful spies, fighters are unsuitedfor this kind of job unless they can suc-cessfully convince the spied-upon thatthey are mercenaries with no attachmentsto either side.

The opposition to a player who is spy-ing will consist of anyone who discoversthe truth about the spy. The warlord orruler in question will be highly aware ofthe danger from spies, as will his loyalsubjects. Strong rulers will probably havetheir men check out any strangers in theirterritory. The spying PC may well meet acounterspy, too, who will entice him orher with bits of false information, then

DRAGON

ultimately turn the PC over to the author-ities if he or she doesn�t figure out what�sgoing on.

Besides political spying, the playerfrom an ongoing campaign can alsoundertake a scouting mission for the restof the party. The party may have heardan interesting rumor of treasure to begained or a wrong to be righted; on his orher own, the single PC can check out therumor and scout out the possible dangers.The single player can also hear the rumorfor the first time and do the scouting foran adventure that the DM has planned forthe whole party.

For example, a cleric or magic-user ofgood alignment might hear reports of evilactivities in some nefarious temple, or apaladin might hear of a lord who isoppressing the poor and generallyengaged in wrongdoing. After trackingdown rumors of treasure, a thief mightdecide that he or she needs the party�shelp in obtaining it.

In these cases, the opposition consistsof those who have something to hide. Anevil warlord, for instance, would be gen-erally displeased to hear that a paladin ishanging around his fortress, and will nodoubt take steps to have the do-gooderremoved.

4. Vengeance: If a trusted friend orhenchman of the PC has recently beenmurdered, or if the PC is foully insultedby an NPC, then vengeance is in order.

5. The random encounter series: Asidefrom the goal-plus-opposition pattern,discussed in detail above, the other typi-cal category of scenario is a series of ran-dom encounters in a given area. If theDM has little time to plan a plotted sce-nario, such a series has much to recom-mend it, but even here the DM should useimagination to avoid the �just anotherdungeon� syndrome. Underground set-tings offer too many unfair difficulties foreven a very high-level PC operating onhis or her own. Besides having to fightenemies, the PC is responsible for all themapping, lighting, and hauling of eithersupplies or booty, which adds up to morethan a single person can handle while

The PC will have to track down theenemy, then challenge him or her tohonorable combat (if the PC is one of thegood alignments) or merely dispatch himor her (if the PC has a more flexible senseof honor). The enemy should be on guardagainst such an attempt, and would haveguards and other obstacles around his orher person. Vengeance makes a particu-larly good single-player scenario for anassassin PC. The master of the assassin�sguild can announce that someone hascheated the guild and send the PC off toavenge the insult. Of course, the assassinmay simply be hired to do away withsomeone as a single-player adventure, butadding the vengeance theme dignifies thecraft.

still enjoying the game. The DM whowants a dungeon-like setting for a single-player game should choose above-groundruins to be explored by daylight. Therecan still be a dark corner, or a tunnel ortwo, in the environment, but the mechan-ics of such a setting won�t interfere withplay.

Perhaps the best setting for a series ofrandom encounters for a single PC is thetown or village, simply because towns arefull of people of varying races who mayor may not give the PC trouble. The PCmay find him or herself cheated by a dis-honest merchant, involved in a tavernbrawl, challenged to a duel by an insultednoble, falsely imprisoned by a scurriloussheriff, seduced and then robbed by ahandsome thief of the opposite sex, andso on. On a brighter note, the PC mayalso meet assorted variant-class NPCs,like alchemists or astrologers, who mayoffer good advice and friendship. Anotherinteresting idea for the DM is to set upthe town gaol and have the unfortunatePC thrown into it for a night. Themedieval-style gaol was generally onelarge room where criminals and vagrantsof all descriptions were shoved intogether. Any number of interestingencounters can arise from such asituation.

The wilderness is another good settingfor a random series of encounters for asingle player, as long as the DM keeps theopposition and dangers fair and compat-ible with the PC�s experience level andcharacter class.

The DM can also give the adventure abit more meaning by suggesting a reasonthat the PC is in the wilderness, such astraveling or a hunting expedition. Adruid gathering mistletoe or a magic-usersearching for material components mightmeet all sorts of interesting things in thewoods besides wild animals and mon-sters: brigands, madmen, hermits, evilspirits, and so on. A cleric might go tovisit a holy (or unholy) spot and find itinhabited by hostile beings. In short, evenwhen the DM has no time to plan anelaborate scenario, the adventure shouldhave some purpose and some game-world�reality.�

Set your standards highAlthough imagination and consistency

should be vital parts of every scenario,they are especially important in thesingle-player version. The interaction of agroup of player characters creates plotand conflict within even the most routinescenario, but with only one player andthe DM involved, the scenario has to bestrong to avoid a kill-and-loot tedium. Ifthe DM starts by considering the charac-ter of the PC, then keeps in mind whatthe game world has to offer for an adven-ture, the task of designing a single-playerscenario will be easy � much easier thanit might seem! � and the result muchmore fun to play.

20 MAY 1983

The ecology of the

by Chris Elliott and Richard EdwardsThe debate about the nature of the

catoblepas did not keep the proverbialman in the street awake at night, but ithad for generations added fuel (as if fuelwere needed) to the intense rivalrybetween the Wizards� and Naturalists�Guilds of To-Zen. The problem was oneof demarcation. The naturalists could notdeny that there were creatures of magic,and magicians could not help but admitthat nature could at times achieve featsworthy of any wizard � but each sidenaturally wanted to claim the mostbizarre beast for its own. And when itcame to bizarre, the catoblepas certainlyqualified.

To the wizards, a beast with the body ofa buffalo, a huge tail and neck, the headof a warthog, and a gaze that slew wasclearly a magical beast, and they bitterlyrejected the jibe of the naturalists thatsuch a beast, magical or not, wouldstrangle on its own contradictions. Thebeasts had been seen, said the wizards,which proved that they existed, but anyobserver rash enough to meet the gaze ofa catoblepas died instantly � and whatmore proof did one need of the beast�smagical origin?

Fair enough, said the naturalists, butthey pointed out that the catoblepas hadbeen sighted in groups. So, how did they

On one side of the hall were tight knotsof black-robed apprentices surroundingsplendidly gowned master sorcerers; hard-faced wizards, many in elaborately chased

On one particular night, earth-shattering revelations were promisedwhen the naturalist Bel-Ami, newlyreturned from an expedition to study thecreature, was to address a capacity crowdin the Alchemists� Guild Hall, chosen asneutral territory. Inside the ancientvaulted hall, with its roof blackened bythe fumes of countless demonstrationsand its air pervaded by the sour reek ofbrimstone, the audience fell into threevery different groups:

And so the debate continued, with eachside having enough evidence to supportits unshakable conviction that it wasright, but neither having proof conclusiveenough to convince the other side.

All right, retorted the naturalists, thenhow come there are so many of them? Issome deranged thaumaturgist turningthem out as an occupation?

A magical creature, the wizardspatiently explained, wouldn�t need tobreed, would it?

avoid killing each other � or themselves,for that matter � with their death-raygaze? And how, in the name of theMnoren, did they breed?

leather and silver armor; and a scatteringof commercial-minded wizards andwizardly priests preserving a dignifiedsilence. On the other side were the natu-ralists, dressed in all shades of brown andgreen, accompanied by almost as manytame hawks, hounds, birds and dragonets.And all around the upper gallery wascrowded a mob of curious citizens, ea-gerly speculating on the outcome of theevening.

Suddenly, as if on a signal, silence fellover the hall. Bel-Ami, a stocky, beardedman in a curiously patterned green robe,came in from the side entrance leading anextraordinary creature. The height of aman, it shuffled nervously on its hugeback legs and muscular tail, whilst itssmall forepaws twitched agitatedly and itsdelicate head swung this way and that,eyes, ears and nose straining in alldirections.

�I expect you�re all wondering whatthis little fellow is doing here,� said thefamous naturalist. �Well, after muchpatient and often dangerous observationin some of the wildest country in To-Zen,I can reveal that, far from being justanother grazing animal, as we had for-merly thought, this is a male catoblepas!�This remark immediately prompted ageneral uproar in the hall.

22 MAY 1983

(or, looks can be very deceiving)

Catoblepas

�No, please � please relax! � no, he�sperfectly safe, but he does hold the key tothe mystery. You must all have read theclassic description of, as we call it, the�cat� in the Bestiary of Xygag, althoughhow he worked out that its eyes are�bloodshot� escapes me, and for a beast�horrible beyonde alle description� hegoes into a fair amount of detail!

�Well, as far as he goes, he�s right, buthe didn�t realize that they were only thefemale of the species. From my studies, Ihave established that the female is a largeomnivore, feeding mostly on ooze andwater plants dredged from the swamps itlives in, but gaining an important part ofits diet from animals it has killed. Andno, she doesn�t kill them with her deadlygaze, but with her breath!

�The female catoblepas secretes a gas,deadly to anything except the femalecatoblepas, that is belched out in aninvisible cloud. The effective range isonly about sixty feet before it disperses,but within that range, the only chance ofescape is to run faster than the cloudexpands. The gas is equally deadly ifbreathed in or absorbed through the skin.

�It was obvious from the time that Istarted to form this hypothesis that the�cat� was immune to its own poison, butit was not for a long time afterward that I

�Six months later, the small, deer-like young are born. Since they are exposed tomild doses of the toxin before birth, theyare immune to it. They are all weanedtogether, but at the end of the first yearsomething very strange happens. Theyoung scatter, and differentiate into sexes� a minority of females which remainimmune to the toxin that they havebegun to secrete, becoming fatter andthicker and eating flesh as well as plants;and the males, which undergo a radicalchange in their body chemistry, losingtheir immunity to the toxin and becom-ing fast-moving herbivores.

�The male, poor fellow, is not immuneto the poison cloud, and normally keepswell clear of the female. But in the mat-ing season, the female exudes a scentwhich drives the male wild with a lustthat frequently overpowers his instinctfor self-preservation. He must try to waituntil a solitary female is feeding with herhead buried in the ooze of the swamp.Then, sprinting up to her, he dodges theheavy tail normally used as a defense,mates very quickly, and sprints off again.

connected the female catoblepas with thesmall herds of grazers that were alwaysfound in the same area, following at adiscreet distance, and realized that theywere two forms of the same species!

sons for this division of the species; itmay ensure a fitter breeding stock, orallow better use of existing food resourcesthan the more conventional way, or both,or neither. Anyhow, enough talk. I�mopen to questions from the floor.�

�As yet I can only speculate on the rea-

During the course of his speech, all themagicians in the audience had beengrowing more and more restless. Now,one of their number burst from theaudience with a horrified cry.

�You can�t be serious! This must beyour warped naturalist�s idea of a joke!�

�Never more serious, I assure you,�responded Bel-Ami.

�But, this is awful! When we heardthat you had an astounding revelation instore for tonight, we were going toupstage you. My apprentices have goneout on an expedition to kill a catoblepasand bring it back as proof of its magicalnature.�

�That�s quite possible. They can bekilled.�

�I know that, and you know that �but how far are they going to get with apolished shield?!�

(An earlier version of this articleappeared in Dragonlords � Yet AnotherFantasy & Sci-Fi Roleplaying Magazine.)

DRAGON 23

Ideas for finishing what EGG startedThe whole half-ogreby Roger Moore

In From the Sorcerer�s Scroll in issue#29 of DRAGON� Magazine, E. GaryGygax discussed the addition of new �and reasonable � character races to theAD&D� game. (Editor�s note: Thiscolumn was reprinted in the BEST OFDRAGON� Vol. II anthology, under thetitle �Humans and hybrids.�) In particu-lar, he outlined the game parameters ofthe half-ogre, the offspring of human andogre parentage.

From what little I�ve heard about thecampaigns other people in the worldhave, I�ve noted, as he has, that half-ogrecharacters do enjoy some measure ofpopularity. Despite the limitations thehalf-ogre has in intelligence, dexterity,wisdom, and charisma, and regardless ofthe other obstacles a half-ogre mayencounter in an AD&D� environment,the race does constitute an enjoyablealternative to humans, dwarves, and thelike. Those who prefer �pure� AD&D

The initial age of a half-ogre when hisor her adventuring career begins is 15 +1d4 years for fighters, 20 + 1d4 years forclerics, and 24 years for fighter/clerics. Anaging table for half-ogres, developedalong the lines of the one on p. 13 of theDungeon Masters Guide, appears below;for the effects of aging, also see the DMG.

Half-ogres range from 7� to 8� in height(80 + 4d4 inches) and weigh between 315and 425 pounds (305 + 10d12). Skin colorand hair color is variable but tends to bebrown, greyish, black, dull yellow (skinonly) or one of the above with a slightgrey-green hue. Most half-ogres havehuman-like eyes, though about 20% havethe white pupils common to ogrekind.

In addition to learning common,ogrish, orcish, and troll tongues fromtheir ogre parent, half-ogres may learnone additional language as well but nomore. The base movement rate of half-ogres is 12�.

Young Adult: 12-18 yearsMaturity: 19-40 yearsMiddle Age: 41-80 yearsOld Age: 81-110 yearsVenerable: 111-140 years

Alignment for player characters is atouchy subject, since most adventuringgroups are full of paladins, rangers,patriarchs, and evil-hating neutrals.Player characters can become true neutralor chaotic neutral to circumvent thisproblem, making a few steps in the direc-tion of chaotic evil when no one is look-ing but generally maintaining a workablebalance of alignments. I would not per-sonally prefer to allow a good-alignedhalf-ogre player character in a game, andif I had to I�d remove all the influence of

Some work is needed to flesh out therace, whether for use as player charactersor non-player characters. Half-ogres maybecome fighters or fighter/clerics only ifused as player characters; NPCs areallowed to be clerics only, in keepingwith the guidelines in the Players Hand-book. Dungeon Masters might amusethemselves with a rare bird who has somevery low level (2nd at highest) thief orassassin abilities, to throw a wrench intoplayers� plans. Half-ogres can advance toan unlimited level as fighters, but clericadvancement stops at fourth level.

rules can exclude half-ogres from beingplayer characters, but can use them asNPCs, henchmen, and hirelings.

the ogre parent � including all knowl-edge of any language but common andother human tongues.

There are a number of advantages anddisadvantages to being a half-ogre thatMr. Gygax�s article did not address. Onthe positive side, their greater size andmass allows half-ogres to use bastardswords one-handed and still get the fulldamage figure of 2-8/2-16 from such aweapon. Greater size and strength wouldalso allow the use of a rod of lordly mightor hammer of thunderbolts to betteradvantage. Like all beings but humans,half-ogres are immune to lycanthropy.Large shields would prove to be easier tomanipulate for a half-ogre than a human,and offer the best protection for such alarge body. Protective rings, bracers, andamulets may be used by the race.

On the negative side, half-ogres arenever psionic. The alignment tendencytoward chaotic evil makes the acquisitionof henchmen and hirelings difficult, andcan lower loyalty scores (as noted in theDMG). The cost of armor and clothing ishigh, perhaps two or three times thenorm for any other humanoid. Half-ogres, once slain, will stay dead unlessraised by a wish or the use of a rod ofresurrection, requiring the same numberof charges as a half-orc of the same class.(However, poisoning may be reversedusing the appropriate cleric spells, aswith any other character.) When struck byany weapon, half-ogres will always takedamage as size L beings (Beware thosetwo-handed swords!). They are also toobig to ride anything but a huge horse oran elephant, neither of which is readilyavailable or of low cost.

Going deeper into the rules, there areeven more factors working against thehalf-ogre. Numerous magical items thatvary in effect with the user�s weightbecome less effective when used by abeing that weighs an average of 370pounds. Magical boots, brooms, armor,robes, cloaks, and magical walking or fly-ing steeds either won�t fit, won�t workvery well, or won�t work at all for a half-ogre. Enterprising DMs may insert apotion of half-ogre control into theappropriate place in the chart on potionsof human control in the DMG, and leavesuch lying about for discovery by enemiesof the half-ogre. The +3 hammer(dwarven thrower) and hammer of thun-derbolts will affect a half-ogre as they willa full-blooded ogre. Even as big as they

24 MAY 1983

are, half-ogres aren�t big enough to fullyemploy either the mattock or the maul ofthe titans. And half-ogres, whether PC�sor NPC�s, are -2 �to hit� against dwarvesand -4 �to hit� when fighting gnomes,because of the skills of those smaller racesat battling bigger folk.

After all that, one wonders why half-ogres as player characters would be anygood � as Mr. Gygax pointed out. Well,in a few words, half-ogres are the bestdarn door-openers in the whole universe.Those wimpy little kobolds clutch theirridiculous little spears and whine in uni-son when 7�6� of solid muscle smashestheir door to splinters and walks in, andeven other larger monsters tend to haveserious reservations about attackingunless they belong to the kamikaze schoolof combat philosophy. Half-ogres mightbe able to cause orcs or half-orcs to calloff attacks, or relate to ogres and trolls ona friendly basis (they all go back a longway together), and can absolutely terrifylocal human populations into leaving thehalf-ogre�s party alone, simply by smilingand revealing those fangs that Daddy orMommy Ogre left them.

These influences and potentials aresubtle things, certainly, and DM�s maynot always take them into account. If theplayer enforces this sort of attitude byemphasizing, in delicate ways, that his orher character is bigger and tougher thananyone else in the party, other peoplewill tend to go along with the idea.Wishes or the appropriate magical man-uals and tomes may bring a half-ogre�sweak characteristics up to more accept-able levels, and help even out some of theimbalance the player might perceive. Itshould be noted that there is no differencein maximum ability scores for male andfemale half-ogres. Both can have up to18(00) strength, though only as fighters orfighter/clerics.

As pointed out earlier, having half-ogres as player-characters is up to the DMand the kind of campaign he or she wantsto run. I believe they have some merit, atleast as NPC�s, and can add interestingnew perspectives to the game. It is tothem (in particular to Gi-Joe and John

The preceding guidelines are para-phrased from information contained inthe original article, �The Half-Ogre,Smiting Him Hip and Thigh� in Fromthe Sorcerer�s Scroll, DRAGON issue #29,by E. Gary Gygax.

III. Special characteristicsInfravision range is 60�.The languages of ogres, orcs, andtrolls are learned only if the ogre par-ent is present.Two hit dice of the appropriate typeare gained at 1st level; progression isas normal at 2nd level and above.Half-ogres have swarthy, dull com-plexions with dark, lank hair.

II. Racial preferencesHalf-ogres are preferred (P).Half-orcs are tolerated (T).Humans are regarded neutrally (N).All others are hated (H).

Note: These work both ways.

² � Use 3-10 if human parent isbelow norm in intelligence.

3 � Use 3-10 if human parent isbelow norm in wisdom.

4 � Use 3-10 if human parent isbelow norm in dexterity.

5 � Roll d6, applying the resultthe same as for strength.

6 � Double the charisma scorefor effective score vs. ogres andother half-ogres.

I. Half-Ogre ability scoresStrength: 14-18 l

Intelligence: 3- 12 2

Wisdom: 2-12 3

Dexterity: 3-12 4

Constitution: 14-18 5

Charisma: 2-8 6

1 � Roll d6: 1 = 14; 2 = 15; 3 = 16;4 = 17; 5 or 6 = 18. Fighters with 18strength add +25% on roll for excep-tional strength, up to 18(00)maximum.

Grond, the two best half-ogres in ourcampaign) that this article is dedicated.Now, go forth and beat those koboldsinto little pieces!

DRAGON 25

Relief for Traveller nobility

Old nobility is considered to be repre-sented by a character who rolled a socialstanding of 11 or 12 initially. If a 12 wasrolled, there is a chance that the actualstanding is even higher. In such a case,roll 1 die: On a result of 1-3, the socialstanding is indeed 12; a roll of 4 is social

The latter are far more common thanthe former, because the nobility isexpected to take an active role in Imperialinterests, and, the Universe being what itis, that implies a fairly high casualty rate,high enough that whole noble lines arewiped out with depressing frequency.

There are two types of noble: new andold. The old nobility are those personscoming from families that have long beennoble and have not necessarily done any-thing to earn their positions. The newnobility are those persons who have beengranted noble standing by a gratefulImperium.

So to provide relief for the nobility, or,more accurately, get the nobility off relief,here are offered some rules additions forpeople with a social standing of 11 orbetter:

What happened to the landed estates,the retainers, the political importance?Even the influence-shorn aristocracy ofEngland are better off � and it canhardly be argued that the Third Impe-rium is more democratic than GreatBritain.

The nobility of the Traveller® universehas gotten kind of short-changed. Thereare a fair number of nobles, but theirexalted social standing is just a hexadec-imal digit in their UPP. It serves nofunction. Even those who enter the Noble�service� in the Supplement 4 rules basi-cally become crackerjack handymen, whomay or may not possess some money andwho might, if lucky, get a ship which canscarcely generate enough revenue tooperate.

by Paul Montgomery Crabaugh standing 13; a 5 is social standing 14; anda 6 is social standing 15.

It should be noted that a Duke does notrun a subsector or sector automatically;that is done by Grand Dukes, who have asocial standing of 16, the equivalent ofthe Princes who rule small client states.

A new noble is any character whobegan with a social standing of 10 or less(a 10 probably indicates that the characterwas an unrecognized but known illegiti-mate relation to nobility), who attainsnoble standing through mustering-outbenefits and the like.

It is also, of course, possible for a per-son to start as a lower-level noble and beadvanced through such benefits. Suchpeople are still considered to be old nobil-ity, although the family is probably notedfor undergoing a resurgence.

All nobles have an estate, generally aminor world. This world generally sharesa system with at least one other inhabitedworld, the one initially mapped. Thereferee should choose a location for theworld and then create it more or less inaccordance with the Book 3 rules: Star-port (usually closed to general traffic),size, atmosphere, and hydrographics arerolled normally. Population is equal tothe social standing of the noble minus 10(new nobility have a 50% chance of hav-ing a population one level lower; oldnobility recently promoted have a 50%chance of population equal to their orig-inal social standing minus 10). Govern-ment type is determined by a roll of 1 die:1-2 is type 3; 3-4 is type A; 5 is type B; 6 istype C. Law level might be initially set to2d-2; however, it may be varied at whimby the noble, who is not subject to it inany event. Technology is determinednormally; however, a wide variety ofimported goods will be present, liftingthe effective tech level substantially.

A noble with a social standing of 11who has a population for his estate of 0 isconsidered to be landless, without retain-ers, estate, or income.

There is, inevitably, a chance that theloyal retainers at the estate will not proveto be all that loyal. Each year, the refereewill (secretly) throw 10+ to determine if arevolt will take place that year. If it does,the timing will be chosen by the referee.DMs are based on the noble�s behaviorduring the previous year: Subtract thenumber of months spent in residencefrom the number of months not in resi-dence and apply this figure as a DM tothe roll. If the noble did not collect taxesat the beginning of this year (see below),a DM of -1 is imposed. If the noble�s heiror spouse spent time in residence whilethe noble did not, a DM of -½ per eachmonth so spent, rounding fractions up, isimposed.

Of course, a character may wish toforego taxation in order to reduce thechance of revolt during the year; just ashaving MCR 100 to play with is a lot ofpower, so can having that money cut offbe quite a fall.

It is up to the refereee and the playersto find ways to disperse these funds, insuch things as investments, supportingImperial interests (e.g., toppling non-loyal governments) and so forth. Therevenue of a Knight requires very littledispersal; it is scarcely more than pinmoney. The tax revenues of a Duke, onthe other hand, will probably require thecharacter�s nearly full-time attention toproperly manage.

In addition to this, the noble mayacquire operating capital for his/her ownventures by taxing the population overand above their normal rate. This tax islevied once at the beginning of the year,and amounts to CR 1000 per inhabitant.This is the average figure for all taxes col-lected, including taxed businesses. Theexact population will have to be deter-mined by the referee; the nominal taxrevenues for the various population levelsare: Population 1, CR 10,000; population2, CR 100,000; population 3, MCR 1;population 4, MCR 10; population 5,MCR 100.

Operating expenses for the estate areinvisible to players; the estate�s economyoperates the same way the economy of anon-estate world of the same size does,including providing official living quar-ters for the ruler; therefore the charactermay assume that a palace suitable tohis/her rank is always on tap. Thisincludes sufficient funding to maintainany ships the noble possesses, and to pro-vide charter transportation, at leastwithin the system, in the absence of suchships.

A revolt must be put down by the fast-est means possible. Failure to do so willresult in the loss of noble rank. (Anestateless knight does not need to worryabout this.) If it is a popular rebellion, itmay be crushed or subverted by anymeans. If it is the above-mentionedreferee�s-option revolt by an heir or aspouse, the rebel must be executed in sin-gle combat, since the rebel has a fairlystrong claim to the title himself (herself)already. (There are no restrictions regard-ing the sex of the person holding thenoble rank; that person�s spouse is theimmediate heir, their first-born childnext, second-born third, and so forth.Unmarried nobles with no children leaveno title when they die; the linedisappears.)

This is assuming that the heir orspouse does not stage a revolt, whichoccurs at the referee�s option.

26 MAY 1983

A noble who enters the Noble �service�may acquire a yacht, the family excursioncraft, as outlined in Supplement 4. How-ever, in addition, there is a good chancethat any noble will have one or moreother ships available to him or her. Todetermine this, roll on the followingtable. New nobles receive a DM of - 1.

Die Social Standingroll 11 12 13 14 150 -- -- -- -- --1 � � � � S Sf 2S, Y2 - - S A2 Y Sf, Y3 S Al Sf R SDB+J4 S A2 Y L 4B, T5 Al Sf R Sf, Y 2CE6 A2 Y L CE *

Abbreviations:� � = noneS = Scout shipSf = SafariY = YachtAl = Free traderA2 = Far traderR = Type �R� subsidized

merchantSDB+J = System defense boat

with jump shuttleL = LabB = Express boatT = Express boat tenderCE = �Gazelle� class close escort* = Free design: 1000 tons of ship

at tech level 15, any cost.

In the preceding chart, a number infront of a ship type indicates multiples ofthat type.

System defense boats, express boats,express boat tenders, and close escorts,although belonging to the noble, areships considered by the Imperium to besemi-official; their use should be consis-tent with Imperial policy, and they maybe called upon by the Imperium duringcrises to perform official tasks.

rules, Supplement 4, and Supplement 7.

To find descriptions of these ships, youmay have to hunt around; although allare described in GDW�s various publica-tions, they were culled from a variety ofsources. notably Book 2 of the Traveller

Using these rules may force a change inthe options available to certain characters� notably the higher-ranking nobles.These characters, possessing private fleetsand enormous financial resources, willfind some of the more common types ofadventures (raids on private facilities,running marginal trading ventures, andso forth) either uninteresting or out ofcharacter. (�Milord, wouldst thou pleaselend me your frag grenades?�) Such char-acters should instead become involved inhigh-level politics, planet-wide economicstruggles, and other similarly large-scaleprojects.

ing in welfare lines. At least it will be a change from stand-

DRAGON 27

Photofinish: Lights, camera, life!

Homecoming is a photographic interpretation of one of myfavorite short stories by Ray Bradbury. The haunted house is awooden HO model that I�ve had around for many years. Twospots cross-light the scene, the one coming from the rightusing a blue gel over the lens to enhance the night effect. Athird spot was used in another variation on this scene, this onecovered with a yellow gel and projected up through a hole inthe base to light the interior of the house.

Many of us who are serious photo-graphers are actually frustrated artists.Not having the talent to draw, we use ourcameras to create �works of art.� But inmost photographic situations, we mustshoot the world as we find it, our artistrybeing limited to selection, composition,and lighting.

Only by creating our own �worlds� inminiature can we have complete controlover all of the elements in our photo-graphs. My interest in this special phaseof photography lay dormant until it was

revitalized by the many new miniature�characters� that became available whenfantasy role-playing games becamepopular.

As a writer-producer of audio-visualprograms, I have spent a lot of time onmotion picture sound stages. My basicapproach and many specific techniqueshave been adapted from the soundstage tothe tabletop. Each background setup iscreated for a specific picture. No attemptis made to make any of the elementspermanent, as is the case in constructing

a diorama. After the photograph is made,the setup is broken down, and often ele-ments in one setup are recombined foranother picture.

Once you get started in creating minia-ture worlds for photographs, you�ll comeup with more ideas for photo situationsthan you can possible develop. A climac-tic episode in a D&D® game may suggesta photo idea. A movie, story, fictionalcharacter, or musical composition mayyield an idea, as was the case in three ofthe photos shown here: Danse Macabre,

Photographs and text by Mike Sitkiewicz28 MAY 1983

Between Two Evils depicts a pair of heroic figures remi-niscent of Fritz Leiber�s superheroes, Fafhrd and The GrayMouser. As so happens so often in those stories, we find ourheroes in a t ight spot, defending themselves back to back.

Danse Macabre was inspired by the �spooky� art compo-sition of Saint-Saens. The tombstones were taken from anHO kit by Bachmann. Two spotlights were used, a whitebacklighted key light and a fill light with a blue filter.

Homecoming, and Between Two Evils. Aphoto idea may �spin off� an unusualminiature figure, like the eagle and riderin Air Attack. Or, a picture may be dom-inated by a photographic technique, as inDragon Fire.

Technical informationThe essential equipment you need to

get started in shooting miniature fantasyphotos includes a single-lens reflexcamera, a �macro� lens, a tripod, andtwo or more small spotlights, preferablywith barn-door closures.

The photos on these pages were takenwith an Olympus OM-2 camera, using aSoligor 35-70 Auto Zoom lens and Kodak

Ektachrome 160 Tungsten film. Theshutter was set on automatic, the lensstopped down to f22, and the basic expo-sure was bracketed 2/3 stop, plus andminus.

Besides your �cast� of miniature fig-ures, you�ll want to have on hand a selec-tion of real rocks, twigs, sand, and earth.Some artificial landscaping products soldin hobby stores for railroad layouts canalso be useful. HO models are smaller inscale than 25mm figures, but can be use-ful as background elements.

Your �grip� kit should include, at theleast, a variety of small �C� clamps, somekind of clay, and masking tape. The clayused by florists is the best I�ve found at

temporarily holding things together andupright.

Probably the most dramatic single fea-ture you can bring to your tabletop pho-tos is a projected background. All of thephotos shown here, except for BetweenTwo Evils, use a projected background. Asuitable rear projection screen can be eas-ily made by taping a sheet of good-quality tracing paper to a wood or card-board frame. For a light source, anystandard 35mm slide projector can beused. If you�re an active and organizedphotographer already, chances are thatmany of the slides you have in your fileswill make good backgrounds for photosof your fantasy worlds.

Air Attack is dominated by a �flying� eagle figure, sus-pended above the terrain by means of a lug on its wingtipthat fits into a notch in the base of the figure. Wedging thisbase between two rocks and swinging the eagle 180 degreescreates the illusion that the bird is in flight. In lighting thisscene, and all scenes with rear projected backgrounds, caremust be taken to keep light from bleeding onto the rear pro-jection screen and washing out the projected image.

Dragon Fire is the result of a double exposure. A piece ofacetate was taped over the original photograph, and the�smoke� was drawn on this acetate with a black markerpen. The �fire� coming from the dragon�s mouth warscratched on a high-contrast piece of black film, covered bya red gel, and double-exposed into the �smoke� area.

DRAGON 29

FIGURE FEATURE:

PINNACLE PRODUCTSTM MINIATURESA division of Grenadier Models, Inc.Price & Pine Sts.Holmes PA 19043

Stegosaurus and Triceratops(Sculptor: Andy Chernak)

Pinnacle has four new products on theminiatures scene, among them a dinosaur set

with eight exquisite creatures suitable for15mm or 25mm play. The prehistoric crea-tures are anatomically accurate, making themequally desirable as gaming monsters or col-lectors� pieces. Suggested retail price is $12 fora set, which includes figures, paints, a brush,palette, and painting guide.

Text byKim East land

Photos byScheibe Studio

RAL PARTHA5938 Carthage Ct.Cincinnati OH 45212

Personalities LinePictured: Armored Giant Mounted on War Elephant(Sculptor: Tom Meier)

Talk about weird monsters � who would have thought ofan ugly giant riding a partially armored elephant? Tom Meierand Ral Partha did, and the result is a remarkable casting thatcomes in only two pieces. The detailing is nice; interestingtouches include tusk, trunk, skull, and leg armor for thepachyderm and Roman-type armor, massive bracers, and astudded club for the �big boy.� Of particular note is thedetermined and belligerent look on the giant�s face. Suggestedretail price: $6.00.

SAXON MINIATURESP.O. Box 121Rockville MD 20850

Cerberus Cat &Attack Cat w/Rider(Sculptor: Conan Scanland)

Once again, Saxon has producedsome really fine, large, one-piece mon-

sters. The Cerberus Cat has all of thestrength and suppleness of an actual�big cat,� yet at the same time seemsperfectly natural with its three snarlingheads. The rider of the Attack Cat is abit slight for 25mm scale, but it could bepassed off as a jockey-sized rider or amember of a smaller race. In any case, itlends a realistic air to the bulk of thepowerful-looking mount. Suggestedretail price: $2.98 for the Cerberus Cat,$3.50 for the Attack Cat.

32 MAY 1983

WEIRD MONSTERSASGARD MINIATURESc/o The Armory4145 Amos Ave.Baltimore MD 21215

Large Sadistic Demon LinePictured: Dragon Lizard w/Sword &Mace and Dragon Lizard w/Lance

Possibly the most creative line of monstersto come along in quite a while is Asgard�sstrange �LSD� line. The bipedal, four-armedlizards all carry weapons (usually multipleweapons) and have well sculpted scaly hides.Figures from this line are ideal for the gamerwho wants to spring a �little surprise� on hisfellow players. Suggested retail price: $1.20each for the figures shown.

CITADEL MINIATURES U.S.P.O. Box 12352Cincinnati OH 45212

Fantasy Tribe OrcsPictured: Orc Riding Giant Wyverm(Sculptor: Tom Meier)

This highly unusual, five-piece figure is the vanguard ofCitadel�s orc line. With his barbed lance and deformedfangs (a delightful feature of all of Citadel�s new orcs), thisfearless rider sits upon his pterodactyl-like mount. You caneven see his provisions slung over the wyvern�s neck. Thisshould be a favorite with fantasy gamers, dioramists, andminiature army gamers alike. Suggested retail price: $7.98.

MASTERPIECE MINIATURESP.O. Box 8986Salt Lake City UT 84108

Air Elemental, Griffon, andFire Elemental

Masterpiece Miniatures has beenaround for a while, but has recentlyexpanded its efforts. Almost all of thecompany�s offerings are packaged

separately, which is a big help to col-lectors on a limited budget. The ele-mentals are cast in innovative posesand are quite easy to paint. The grif-fon comes in three easy-to-assemblepieces, and is a good-sized miniaturewith nice detail. Suggested retail price:Elementals $1.99 each, Griffon $2.50.

For the record . . .Diligent dragon-lovers should have

noticed that the descriptions for theSuperior Models and Saxon Miniaturesdragon photos in last month�s FigureFeature were accidentally reversed. Unfor-tunately, we didn�t spot the error in time.Our apologies to all parties involved.

D R A G O N 33

by Arthur Collins

it gets hurtA system for equipment damage

When it gets hit,

Why don�t heroes ever seem to spendtime sharpening their swords? Everybodyelse has to. How come Theobald theMagnificent never gets his shield bangedup, or his sword notched, or his helmcloven? Wear and damage to equipmentare concerns of every fighter making hisway in a mutable world, but not, it seems,of characters in the AD&D� world.

The simple fact is, though, thatnothing lasts for ever. And without spe-cial care, nothing lasts as long as itshould. Arms and armor are not excep-tions. Sharp edges, to stay that way, mustbe honed occasionally. Nicks and dentshave to be fixed. Rust will get you sooneror later, even if you sent all your equip-ment to Z-Bart. Following are some sug-gestions for easily implemented rules toadd this dimension to your game.

Damage to armorWhen a combatant rolls a natural 20 in

melee, his or her opponent (if armored)must roll a saving throw for his armor vs.crushing blow. The armor gets magicalplusses (if any) as bonuses to this save,plus any other bonuses that might apply.A shield, if one is being used by the char-acter or creature that is hit, will takedamage until it is rendered useless; afterthat, the armor itself will absorb theblows. Failure to make this saving throwmeans one�s shield is broken (or at leastseverely damaged), or one�s armor is rent.

Armor and shields can absorb as manydents and rents as the number of AC fac-tors the item provides. Thus, a shield willtake one good blow before it is broken

34 MAY 1983

When a combatant rolls a natural 1 incombat, his weapon is adversely affected.An edged weapon becomes notched eachtime a 1 is rolled, and it takes a -1 penalty�to hit� and to damage. A normal swordbecomes a sword -1. A magical sword +1becomes a magical sword +0. Magicaledged weapons get a saving throw vs.crushing blow (non-magical edged weap-ons do not). No edged weapon can be

Damage to weapons

Each time a piece of armor absorbs ablow, by failing to make the save, its ACprotection drops by one factor. Chainmail (AC 5) becomes chain mail -1 (AC6), then -2, and so on. A shield +1 doesnot cease to be magical, but it drops to ashield +0 after taking such a wallop, andthen is a ruined, unmagical shield afterone more damaging blow. Damagedarmor will stay so until repaired bysomeone skilled in the craft. The cost, ingold pieces and time, of such repair is aminimum of 3 days and 25 g.p. for eachdamaging blow the armor has absorbed.Magic armor cannot be repaired by anordinary armorer or smith without its los-ing its dweomer.

(same for a helm); leather or paddedarmor will absorb two such blows beforeit is useless for protective purposes; ringmail can take three blows, studded leatherthree, scale mail four, chain mail five,splint mail or banded mail six, and platemail seven. Magic armor adds absorptionability according to its magical bonuses;for instance, chain mail +2 will absorbseven blows before it becomes useless.

reduced to the point where one cannotpossibly hit with it, nor to the pointwhere it can do no damage. Thus, it can-not take any more �hits� beyond thepoint where it takes a roll of 20 to hitwith it, or below the point where it doesat least 1 point of damage.

A character who rolls a natural 1 whileattacking with a blunt weapon will findthat the weapon has slipped from hishand.

A pole arm or staff will crack on a rollof 1. A saving throw must be rolled eachround thereafter vs. crushing blow. Fail-ure to save at any time means the haftsnaps.

A strung weapon will snap a string,and thus misfire, on a roll of 1. A weaponwith a wet string need only roll a natural2 for the string to snap.

A hurled weapon is not damaged theway other types might be, but rolling anatural 1 means that the wielder(thrower) of the weapon may be tempo-rarily off balance. Unless the wielder(thrower) rolls his dexterity or less ond20, he is off balance, loses all dexterityand shield AC for bonuses that round,and is -(1-4) in rolling for initiative.(That is to say, he loses 1-4 segments fromwhatever his party rolls for initiative.)

A fighter engaged in combat withoutweapons occasionally might not use theweaponless combat table. In this case(when, essentially, the fighter�s bare fist istreated as a weapon), a roll of natural 1 isconsidered the same as a result for ahurled missile, described above. That is,the fighter is off balance, and must rolld20 vs. his dexterity or suffer the samepenalties as for a hurled weapon that goesawry.

The ravages of rust and timeIf a character neglects to have his

swords and such attended to, or his armorgone over by an armorer at least fourtimes a year, then the DM can assess theuser of that equipment a penalty of -1 onevery saving throw rolled for the equip-ment, due to neglected rust and wear andtear. This deficiency can be remedied bysimply having the equipment seen to(cleaned, polished, etc.). At the DM�soption, the same penalty may be appliedfor every week spent in a tropical ormarsh environment (or the like) withoutthe character cleaning his equipment. Ittakes a full day to go over an entire suit ofarmor and all of one�s weapons � but it�sa day well spent.

D R A G O N 3 5

Non-violent Magic ItemsOne hundred ways to keep players guessingby Lewis Pulsipher and Roland Gettliffe

In most FRP campaigns, virtuallyevery magic item found is more or lessdirectly related to domination or combat.Yet in a non-technological society, itfollows that some magical items would beconstructed to serve the rich and powerfulin other ways, for practical or luxuriousreasons, rather than as a means to gainpower or wreak havoc. In a way, magicalitems might take the place of moderntechnological conveniences � but onlyfor those who can afford them.

If one forgets �realism� and looks atthis from a referee�s point of view, suchnon-violent or luxury items are a mostdesirable addition to the campaign. First,these are magic items that player charac-ters can acquire and enjoy withoutincreasing their power, unless they�remost ingenious. Second, adventures canbe built around characters� attempts tosell or otherwise dispose of luxury itemswhich the characters don�t want to keep.A rich and interested buyer must befound; for some specialized items, thistask might not be at all easy. Then theitem must be taken to the buyer, with allthe potential dangers that entails. . . .And the buyer may be less than honorablewhen buying time arrives.

Non-violent items are not hard todevise, especially if you don�t mindduplicating modern convenience itemssuch as toasters or hair dryers. For thosewithout the time to do this, below isgiven a list of items (roll d% for randomselection), some of obvious derivation andsome unique. Game referees can have fundescribing items literally, with elabora-tion added as requested by players. Forexample, don�t blurt out, �It�s an abacus�(item #70) � let the players figure thisout. Command words can also be fun � afew examples are given in the text.

01: A small black scarab. Anyone carry-ing it will not be bitten or stung bycommon insects.

02: An intricately carved mahoganyminiature bed in a bag of woven string(netting). When placed underneath a bed,it drives away all bedbugs and mosquitos.

03: A round, iron 9-inch pan with arunic �F� on the handle. It will automat-ically heat anything placed therein to fry-ing temperature (and it�s non-stick).

36 MAY 1983

06: A rune-covered brush of dragon-bone and animal bristles. Upon the utter-ance of a command word (written inelvish runes), the brush will begin togroom the hair of the speaker, responding

05: A glass ball (several colors possible)about two inches in diameter. Whensomeone breaks the ball, places his or herface and upper body in the resultingcolored smoke, and thinks about the kindof cosmetic treatment he or she desires, itwill� be instantly accomplished. One per-son per ball, cosmetic effect only (not anactual disguise). Generally found in lotsof 3-18. Different colors may signify dif-ferent capabilities.

04: A normal-looking straw broom.Upon the utterance of the proper com-mand word (written in common on theend of the handle), it will sweep out theroom it occupies. It does not operate out-doors. It will attempt to sweep out allunprocessed organic material such as dirt,leaves, and living and dead animals andinsects, even humans. The reverse of thecommand word, or completion of thetask, stops the broom.

to the speaker�s telepathically expresseddesires.

07: A white stone of a material resem-bling marble. It is about the size andappearance of a stone in the game of�Go.� When it is thrown against or ontoa hard object inside a room, it�explodes,� and all dirt and dust in theroom � non-living matter only � disap-pears. The command word �clean� mustbe spoken as the stone is thrown. Foundin lots of 10-100, packed 12 to a box inwooden boxes similar to largematchboxes.

08: A dark green glass bottle, about thesize of a half-gallon milk carton, with ascrew top. Any liquid placed in the bottlewill maintain its current temperatureindefinitely while inside. The bottle islight and fairly fragile.

09: A large wood-and-glass hourglassfilled with yellow particles. It records thepassing of eight hours when turned over,after which a deep chime rings out tentimes.

10: A mechanism of gears, a projectinglever, and three broad wooden �leaves�emanating from a hub, a little like aclover but with each �leaf� tilted out ofline with the next (like a modern electricfan, in other words). When someoneturns or pedals the lever-handle, the fanpushes forth air which is magicallycooled to a temperature 20 degrees lowerthan the surrounding environment.

11: A 9-inch round iron pan with therunic S embossed on the handle. Anyfood fried in this pan is magically spicedto the cook�s taste � quite a boon inareas where spice is scarce.

12: A carved miniature wooden chair.At a command word (carved in an ancientlanguage on the underside of the seat), itexpands to a full-size chair. Useful fortravelers and some officials.

13: As above, but a padded couch ratherthan a simple chair.

14: A one-inch cube of a hard, whitish,translucent material, with slightlyrounded edges and corners. When placedin no more than 16 ounces of liquid at aninitial temperature of no more than 130degrees, it will slowly cool the liquid to35 degrees and maintain it at thattemperature indefinitely. It will not affectmore than 16 ounces, and if placed in a

15: An ordinary-looking oil lampwhich, by use of the proper commandwords, may be programmed to light andextinguish itself at a specific time eachday (with a variable of up to half an hourper day). Used to convince outsideobservers that someone is present in aroom. The command words become vis-ible when a little wine is placed inside theotherwise empty lamp.

16: An ordinary-looking needle. To use

liquid hotter than 130 degrees it willdisintegrate.

the needle magically, a person says�sew,� and it will continue to sew a stitchon a straight line until ordered to �stop.�

17: A quill pen. Anyone using it canwrite twice as fast as normal, with no lossof legibility. These pens are usuallyfound in lots of 2-12, since the quills dowear out. The pens are appropriate fornormal writing tasks, but not for themagical scribing of (for instance) scrollsor spell books.

18: A clay plant pot (size varies). Anyinsect entering the pot, or alighting on aplant growing in the pot, will die if it is aspecies harmful to that plant. Usuallyfound in groups, not singly.

19: A one-inch obsidian cube and ametal tuning fork four inches long. Whenthe fork is struck, the sound is reproducedfrom the cube as well as from the fork,provided the cube is no more than threemiles away.

20: An eight-sided lantern. Each sideshines with a different color, and thecolors periodically rotate from face to faceat intervals of 10 seconds to 5 minutes,depending on how far a button on thebottom is pushed in.

21: A hollow wooden tube, closed atone end, with a slot in the side. This is aherding whistle. Each type attracts a dif-ferent herd animal and has a distinctivenote. When an animal of the appropriatespecies hears the whistle (which is quiteloud), it must move to within 25 feet ofthe whistler and maintain that position,following him or her if necessary.

22: Two miniature metal blacksmith�sanvils, one red, the other black, eachabout one inch in all dimensions. If theblack one is placed in a fire, the red onewill heat to the temperature reached bythe black one. The anvils are useful forboiling stews or for keeping food warm atsome distance (maximum range 30 feet)from a fire.

23: A wooden drawer, about 12 by 18 by9 inches high, which may be inserted intoa suitable desk, wall, etc. When anyonewho opens the drawer speaks the name ofan object inside it, the object pops up atthe front of the drawer, within easy reach.If several similar objects, such as sheets ofpaper, are placed in the drawer, the per-son placing them may speak a wordwhich becomes the code word for oneparticular object in the group. The draw-er�s magic works only when it is in aproper receptacle of the correct size.

.

25: A hemisphere (circumference about10 inches) of hard but flexible materialsimilar to tire rubber. A steel hook isembedded in the round side. When theflat side is placed against a fairly flat,smooth surface, and the command�adhere� is spoken, the object sticks tothe surface with a strength equal to awizard�s lock. The command �dishere�(diss-here) causes it to cease sticking.

24: A miniature tree, about three incheshigh, made of an unidentified material.When carried, it adds 20% to a person�schance of successfully climbing a tree. (Itwas made for a lame sylvan elf.)

semblance of whatever it faces. Normallythis is used for extremely accurate por-traits. The result looks like a very realisticpainting � not like a photograph shotwith a wide-angle lens.

29: Appearing to be an ordinary leatherbackpack, this one contains an other-

28: A bedroll sewn along the edges so asto make it a large bag (in other words, azipperless sleeping bag). Anyone sleepingin this bedroll will remain dry, regardlessof rain, snow, or other moisture, unlessthe bedroll comes to lie in more than oneinch of water. It remains dry inside evenif covered with snow.

Smaller versions are often found. Thiskind of item has obvious uses in a kitchenor closet, but could also be useful to athief. It will not work in extremes of heator cold, however.

26: A blue pill about the size of anaspirin tablet, usually found in a groupof 2-20. When covered with spittle, thepill expands and changes within 10seconds, becoming a gallon of water. Cus-tomarily, one would dab the pill in one�smouth and then quickly pop it into awaterskin or bucket to expand. If the pillis left in the mouth, the water may (5%chance) drown the victim as it expandsand is forced into the lungs. (This chancerises to 50% if no one is present to helpthe victim. Back-slapping or some similaraction will help the victim to expel mostor all of the water out through hismouth.) If the pill is swallowed, the vic-tim�s stomach may burst (10% chance),killing him, but in any case it will causeincapacitating discomfort.

27: A canvas stretched on an ordinaryartist�s frame. When a magic word isspoken, the canvas magically takes on the

30: An ordinary-looking canteen. Anywater which has been in the canteen forat least 24 hours will be purified; how-ever, deliberately concocted poisons willbe unaffected.

dimensional space which allows up to 30cubic feet of material to be placed in it,provided that no single object is morethan five feet long. The backpack offersno reduction in the weight of the mate-rials carried, however.

31: A leather drawstring purse aboutthe size of a small fist. Whether it is fullof coins or holds only a few, no noiseemanates from the purse. (Other objectsin it make a normal amount of noise.) 32: A pair of wooden knitting needles

that enable the user to knit at double hisnormal speed.

33: This is a box of gears and cogs,with a crank handle protruding from oneside. When the crank is turned, heatemanates from the top of the box, moreheat as the crank is turned faster.Through magical means, the energy ofmotion of the crank is magnified andturned into heat sufficient (with steady

DRAGON 37

cranking) to heat a medium-sized room inwinter.

34: This is a box about 12 by 12 by 2inches. When a person steps onto it,numerals indicating his weight appear inhis mind�s eye. Only the user can see thenumbers; they do not appear on the boxitself.

35: This blanket automatically main-tains a comfortable temperature foranyone sleeping under it. It cannot main-tain a temperature difference of morethan 30 degrees, however, from theambient atmosphere.

36: This is a 6-inch-long stick in theshape of a miniature candle snuffer � astick with a hook at the end, ending in abell without a clapper. When it is pointedat a candle while the word of command isspoken, the candle will be snuffed out,regardless of the range as long as the can-dle is visible. It will not work on lanterns,torches, lamps, etc. � only candles.

37: This object, made of an unknownsubstance, is formed in the shape of anebony candle with a flame atop it, thewhole being about 4 inches high. When-ever an excessive amount of smoke ispresent (even just from cooking), it emitsa wailing, ululating beep. (Naturally, thiscannot be used in rooms heated by poorlymade fires!)

38: This is a bronze miniature bucket,complete with a bronze inner surfacewhich looks much like water. If thebucket is brandished at a fire, as thoughwater were being thrown from it, the fireacts as though a normal bucket of waterhad been thrown on it, except that nochemical reaction (such as the reaction ofsulfur with water) takes place. The bucketcan be used repeatedly on the fire. It hasno effect on anything except ordinaryfire.

39: An ordinary-appearing set ofcutlery which enables the user to eat inaccordance with the standards or mannersof the group he is eating with.

40: A thick, creamy-oily concoction,which may be in virtually any type ofcontainer. If a quantity is used to cover ascar, within a few days the scar willslough off and the skin will appear to beexactly like the skin around it. This ismuch sought after by the vain �uppercrust,� and is fairly common, because it isdifficult to avoid acquiring scars fromchildhood diseases, if nothing else, in anon-modern world.

41: A robe of chamois-lined naturalwool or fur which keeps the wearer 10degrees warmer than would be expectedof a non-magical robe of similarmaterials.

42: Black arm wrappings. An insom-niac (or anyone else) wearing these sleepssoundly and comfortably.

43: A piece of jade carved in the shapeof an insect one inch long, suspendedfrom a light chain. This amulet keepsfleas and other insects of similar size fromapproaching within three feet of the

38 MAY 1983

wearer. It does not force them out of anarea or location, however, so it could notbe used, for example, to clear a bed offleas.

44: Two black flexible oval objects,each about an inch long, connected by aninch-long flexible white strap and, fromopposite sides of the ovals, by anotherstrap about ten inches long. (In otherwords, like a pair of swimming goggleswithout the transparent plastic.) Whenthe ovals are placed over the eyes, held onby the straps, the wearer can see underwater twice as well as expected, and nowater touches his eyes.

49: An ordinary horse�s nose feedbag.Many horses can feed from this nosebag,yet it will continue to be full of grain.However, if more than 10 different horsesfeed from the bag in one day, the magic islost forever. No grain can be poured fromthe bag.

50: A wine cup. Once per day this cupturns ordinary water within it into high-quality wine. No magic word is required.

51: A strongly constructed metal box(size can vary) with a key. When the userutters the word of command (�heel�), thebox stays exactly where it is presentlylocated, even if the user lets go. It is

45: This carved stone miniature door,about 4 by 1½ by ½ inch, can be tuned to aparticular door, set of doors, or gate byuse of the proper magic words. Thereaf-ter, when its knob is pressed, any suchdoor or gate within 20 feet will swingopen by itself.

46: This is a large leather glove. Whena person puts his or her hand into it, thefingernails of that hand are painted andpolished to a color that will most suit hisor her present attire. (A matched pair isneeded to do both hands.)

47: This is a wooden ladder 10 feetlong. The user may at will cause it toexpand to a maximum of 50 feet inlength; it will retain the same strength ithad at the 10-foot length, but rememberthat it is a wooden ladder, not metal.

48: This 9 by 5 by 3 inch box containsseveral miniature metal figures playinginstruments. When the command word isspoken, the figures emerge from the boxand play simple popular tunes for fiveminutes, then return unless the magicword is spoken again. The music is aboutas loud as a person speaking normally.

anchored to the ether, and any forcestrong enough to move it will inevitablydestroy it in the process.

52: This is a black, covered pitcher orcylinder with one button on it. Objectsare placed in the cylinder, the button ispushed one or more times, and the lid isclosed; the item then blends, smashes, andbreaks up whatever is inside. However, ifanything harder than food or similarlysoft materials is blended, the item willprobably permanently cease to function.Chunks of ice are about the hardest usa-ble material, and only if they are in asupporting liquid. The number of timesthe button is pushed determines howlong the smashing goes on.

53: A large oil lamp. Although itappears to be nothing more than an ordi-nary flame, the light of this lamp is equiv-alent to ordinary-strength sunlight forpurposes of growing plants indoors.Without the special oil or without thelamp itself, there is no magic. Generally,the lamp will be placed in the center ofan array of plants. The wick and oilextend far up a slender cylinder in order

to be above the plants, yet shed lightdown on them.

54: These leather, calf-high dress bootscan be brought to a brilliant shine by asingle swipe of a cloth. Events violentenough to break through the leather willdestroy the shine permanently.

55: A pair of onyx dice. The dice willgive whatever result the roller desires.

56: A wooden log about eight inches indiameter and two feet long. Regardless ofhow often this log is burned, it remainswhole and ready to burn again the nextday. (It burns out as a normal log would,but leaving a large husk rather than a

64: This appears to be an ordinarystone oven. There is no place for feeding

62: A gold-colored metal pen with areplaceable quill tip. Only statementsbelieved to be true by the writer can bewritten with this pen.

63: Any item of clothing (but notarmor). This magically fits any personwho tries it on. It wears out throughnormal use.

bird, its magic prevents the bird from get-ting out of the building it occupies,except when carried out by someone. Theband is too small to fit any bird largerthan a hawk or a macaw.

simply won�t understand. The harness isparticularly useful for mules and camels.

68: A horse�s saddle. This saddle willnever fall off a horse, even if the straps areundone and the rider is inexperienced. Itcan be lifted off in the ordinary way.

69: Another saddle. This one enableseven a novice rider to remain on a speed-ing horse, provided the rider is in controlof his own faculties.

70: This is a wooden frame, about 8 by10 inches, across which several heavywires are �strung� parallel to oneanother. On each wire are ten woodenballs. (In other words, an abacus.) When

pile of ashes, and then �regenerates� overthe course of the following 18 hours.) Asa bonus, it is very easy to ignite.

57: A bone-and-bristle brush of untidyand uninviting appearance, this imple-

58: A blank parchment scroll. Anythingwritten upon it can be read only by the

ment nevertheless immediately untangles

writer and by those whose names are writ-ten on the scroll. It can be reused several

the hair of anyone who uses it, without

times, until the scraping required to

pain.

remove the old ink has worn through theparchment.

59: Any woman wearing this necklaceof polished non-precious stones appearsto be attired in elegant, expensive clothesappropriate to the place and time of day.

60: An ordinary rug. When a commandword is spoken, the rug rises up andshakes itself free of dust and dirt. (It doesnot take itself outside.) The rug may be ofany form, from a small throw rug to alarge carpet.

61: This is a very small flexible strip ofmetal. When placed around the leg of a

the fire, however; the oven is heated via aconnection with the elemental plane offire. A small number (10%) of these ovensare defective, however, such that a crea-

65: This looks like a curved metal pipeclosed at one end. When the command

ture from the fire plane may come

word inscribed on the side is spoken, hotair streams from the open end. It is ordi-

�through� the connection (5% chance per

narily used to dry things, especially hair.

month, non-cumulative, for any defectiveoven).

66: A soft chamois cloth one footsquare. This cloth magically polishesanything it is rubbed against, imme-diately, provided that it is possible to pol-ish the object. Human faces, for example,cannot be polished.

67: An animal harness/bridle. Whenplaced on a recalcitrant beast, it forces thecreature to obey the ordinary commandsof its master. It will not, however, forcean animal to do something it is afraid of(for example, run into a fire), nor will ithave any effect when unusual orders aregiven � the beast being given the orders

71: A stuffed chair. Although this chairlooks and is extremely comfortable,anyone sitting in it cannot go to sleep. (Itwas made for a doddering family patri-arch who didn�t want to embarrasshimself.)

mathematical formulae involvingnumbers and simple operations (add, sub-tract, multiply, divide) are spoken nearthe object, the balls shift about and theanswer to the equation is spoken aloudby a disembodied voice.

72: Any article of clothing. This neednever be washed because it sheds dirtwhen left in a dark place overnight.

73: Any kitchen knife. This utensilalways retains a sharp edge.

74: This is any prosthesis (artificialarm, leg, etc.). The item magically ena-bles the �wearer� to hide the fact that hehas lost a limb, eye, etc. It won�t necessar-ily allow full use of the body part asthough it were �real,� but the magic willprevent any observer from noticing thewearer�s inability to use it fully.

75: A flat oval stone, about half an inchthick and four inches long. When placed

DRAGON 39

between two hands, the stone becomesvery warm.

77: A miniature brass boot. Whenrubbed against the worn heel or sole of ashoe or boot, restores it to its originalstrength and thickness (but without a�new� appearance). Usable once per day.

76: A chess set or other game set. Thisitem plays against a person, moving thepieces magically. It gives a creditable butnot truly expert game.

78: A small, dark-crystal, covered bowl,rather like a sugar bowl. When the userplaces both hands on the covered item,and speaks the name of a delicacy (e.g.,

to sweep any room it is in when themagic word is spoken; it stops whenanother word is spoken.

82: A lady�s fan. At a command word,the fan will continue to move in the samepattern (if any) it was moving in justbefore the word was spoken; typically, tocontinue to fan the lady while she attendsto other things.

83: An ordinary lamp which igniteswhen the proper command (�let-there-be�) is spoken within 15 feet of it.

84: A leather rectangular case about 12by 9 by 5 inches, capable of holding manyseparate scrolls or papers. Any scroll or

�caviar�), the bowl fills with one ounceof same. The magic may be used 10 timesa week, whether all 10 times for the sameitem or for a mixture of items. Onlydelicacies �implanted� in the bowl maybe produced. Such bowls usually areimplanted with 1-6 delicacies; a particu-lar one might produce caviar, frog�s legs,fried ants, gooseberry jam, and port salutcheese.

79: A dull gray stone ball the size of achild�s marble. When placed in open air(as opposed to a bag, pocket, or otherclosed container), the stone attracts allunintelligent avians which pass within 50feet. Each avian will approach the balland stay within five feet for five minutes,unless frightened away, as (for instance)by the obvious presence of unfamiliarhumans. (This is used by the rich toenhance bird feeders, rock gardens, etc.)

80: An ebony flute. When a magic wordis spoken, the flute plays a haunting tune(something like Greensleeves) for fiveminutes, without human participation.

81: A broom. Like the classic broom ofSorcerer�s Apprentice, this one will begin

sheaf of papers put into the case is magi-cally inserted among the contents inalphabetical order, if the person puttingthe item in the case enunciates a word torepresent the item.

85: This looks like a wooden sundialwithout numerals, about four inches indiameter. Close examination will revealthat there are 16 marks rather than 12.When the command word is spoken, the�fin� or �hand� of the dial points duenorth. It does not work underground.

86: A wooden wand. When used withthe proper words, the wand points towardany animal lost by the person holding thewand, or by his employer. The wandcannot detect any animal over thehorizon.

87: An elegant wooden pipe. A personsmoking this pipe can blow beautiful,perfect smoke rings at will.

88: A glass half-gallon open pitcher.Each day up to five gallons of water canbe poured from this pitcher, provided ithas not been tightly covered at any timein the preceding 24 hours.

89: A ceramic object shaped like a scroll

two inches long. When it is placed on anopen scroll, it holds the scroll open andflat, regardless of any tendency in thescroll to roll itself up.

90: A metal box the size of a breadbox.Anything put into this box is magicallypreserved from the effects of time. Forexample, food therein will be as fresh,when removed, as the day it went in.

91: An ordinary oil lamp. This lamp,however, needs no oil in order to burnindefinitely.

92: A short hollow wooden tube with aslot cut out of it. This whistle attracts allanimals of a given type, usually someherd animal, within hearing.

93: An oil lamp. This lamp automati-cally ignites whenever any personapproaches within 10 feet of it, going offwhen no person is within 10 feet.

94: A soft suede leather pouch (size var-ies). Any glass or ceramic item in thepouch will not break as long as thepouch itself is not penetrated or des-troyed. For example, a hammer blow onthe pouch would not affect the glass,unless the hammer blow was so powerfulthat it broke through the leather.

95: A small pouch containing 2-12pills, each shaped like a huge teardrop. Ifa pill is dissolved in water, and the wateris immediately consumed, any effects ofalcoholic hangover being experienced bythe drinker will disappear.

96: A nondescript small box. Forapproximately eight hours after a buttonon the side is pushed, this item is set tomake a cacophony of noises similar to theapproach of a large group of peoplewhen, and only when, a person comeswithin five feet of it. (The idea is to scareoff burglars.)

97: Two circles of glass, in the sameplane, connected by an odd-shaped pieceof metal with projections; from oppositesides of each glass circle, perpendicular tothe plane of the glass but parallel to eachother, extend thick metal wires whichhook at the end. This contraption (whichwill obviously be understood to be spec-tacles, to characters in a world wherespectacles are known to exist) enables thewearer to see at night twice as well aswould be expected. (This is enhancedvision, not infravision.)

98: Any utensil or plate. When left in abucket overnight, the object sheds all dirt,which gathers on the bottom of thebucket to be discarded. While in thebucket, the object cannot be reached byinsects, and no odor is emitted.

99: A cloak (for outdoor wear) or ring(for indoors). Anyone wearing this itemappears to be 5- 10% lighter in weightthan actual. Generally, the effect is tomake overweight people look normal ornormal ones look quite slim.

100: A simple silver band ring. Thewearer of this ring is able to speak and actin a courtly manner, regardless of hisupbringing or familiarity with socialconventions.

40 MAY 1983

ofFOREST DOOMAn adventure for AD&D� playersDesigned by Scott Butler

For as far back in time as the tales ofhistory stretch, the area bordering what isnow the Lands of Launewt has been aforeboding, practically impenetrableforest. When the lords who ruled the var-ious borderlands united to form theCouncil of Launewt a century ago, theforest was in the same physical conditionas it is now: thick, dark, and expansive,said to be so dense at the center that sun-light pervaded the foliage only on thebrightest days.

The forest is also, as it has always been,home to all manner of vicious animalsand evil-minded denizen. The animals aregenerally only dangerous when oneintrudes on their territory. The moreintelligent evil creatures of the forest,however, often come out to the border-lands to make trouble. In even the oldesthistorical accounts, mention is made ofsporadic raids by the evil creatures on vil-lages and outposts in the borderlands.These tribulations have long been a factof life for the citizens of the Lands ofLaunewt � bothersome, sometimes to theextreme, but usually not mounted by alarge enough force to do any lastingdamage.

On rarer occasions, the forest dwellershave collaborated in organized massassaults. The provinces and communitiesof the Lands of Launewt have defensesthat are not easily breached � but largevillages have been known to be overrunand plundered by hordes of attackers. Thecumulative effect of a series of theseorganized assaults can be devastating �stripping from an area the size of anentire province virtually all the area�smaterial wealth and a good portion of itsable-bodied citizenry.

Two generations of men have comeand gone since the last time a group ofsuch assaults took place � but now thereis evidence, at least in some people�sminds, of a conflict that threatens toescalate into another costly war. A minor-ity faction in the Council of Launewtbelieves that the so-called sporadic raidshave, of late, become systematic and pur-poseful; several villages have been plun-dered in a short time.

But most of the council members haveturned a deaf ear to the assertions of theirmore cautious fellows, insisting that theraids do not fall into a pattern and main-taining that occasional conflicts of thisnature are not worthy of the Council�s

42 MAY 1983

None of the evidence gathered so farhas swayed any of the other councilmembers, though. They assert that thedarts are simply ordinary objects, andsince the fungus coating is harmless, itmust be symbolic, and not dangerous, innature. As support for their position, theycite examples of strange short swords andother weapons recovered from the sites ofbattles � their blades so pitted andpoorly worked that they bear mute wit-ness to the inferiority of the creatures whoforged them. The tales of dark shapes inthe trees they dismiss as nothing morethan fable, stories invented by terrifiedpeasants and soldiers as a way to gain acertain measure of notoriety � or to hidetheir cowardice.

In hopes of obtaining conclusive evi-dence to support their position, severalmembers of the minority faction havesought the aid of small groups of adven-turers who would be willing � for aprice, of course � to brave the evils of theforest and get at the truth of the matter.During the last few weeks, several bandsof explorers have set out on missions intothe forest. So far, none of them have beenheard from � meaning, perhaps, thatthey have met and fallen to strongeradversaries, or perhaps that they havethought better of the whole idea anddecided to not enter the forest after all.

The council members predicting amass invasion have gathered physicalevidence and information to support theirposition: items like small, strange dartssmeared and smudged with a harmless,fungus-like substance; stories like thosetold by men who claim to have venturedclose to the forest�s edge in pursuit of anevil band, and then turned back afterglimpsing dark, shadowy shapes in theunderbrush.

Such differing opinions don�t mix well.As a result, the Council of Launewt is inturmoil, its normally well-ordereddecision-making process now paralyzed.Nothing is being done, even to the extentof preparing a contingency plan just incase the minority turns out to be right.

militias to deal with. A splinter groupwithin this majority has a neutral out-look; its members realize the dangerouspotential of a united enemy, but hesitateto believe that there is a single force capa-ble of consolidating and unifying all theevil humanoids of the forest.

attention, and should be left for the local Now, another such opportunity isbeing offered to a band of adventurerswho seem more stalwart than any whohave gone before them. A young lord ofthe Council of Launewt, after seeing hisfather die in a recent raid on his family�shome village, has collected a few scraps ofinformation that he hopes will demon-strate that the threat of an evil invasion isindeed real, and will encourage this newgroup of adventurers to seek even moreinformation � and avenge his father�sdeath at the same time.

�Goblins are not the most reliablesource of information one could want,�says the young lord, �but there seemsgood reason to heed something I heardabout just three days ago. Several of thesevile creatures were killed during one oftheir raids into our countryside. One ofthem, just before it died, became deliriousand babbled almost incoherently aboutsomeone or something called �Arron� �perhaps the name of a leader, or the nameof a ruling order the goblins pay homageto. One of the goblin�s babblings trans-lates roughly as �victory will belong tothe noble.�

�We know that goblins are certainlynot �noble� � and, from what we havelearned about them, they do not see them-selves as noble. These words, if they aremore than just the ravings of a mad gob-lin, seem to point to the existence of anevil force stronger and more devious thanthe goblins themselves. But the exactnature of this force is still unknown to us.

�I strongly suspect,� continued theyoung lord, �that the creature or organi-zation called �Arron� is responsible forpulling together the evil creatures of theforest into a fighting force that threatensthe life and property of every resident ofthe Lands of Launewt. As revenge for myfather�s death, I want proof that the evildesigns of Arron have been ruined andthe threat to our homeland destroyed. Ioffer you 5,000 gold pieces as a reward,plus the gratitude of everyone in theLands of Launewt. Even those who havefoolishly refused to recognize the threatwill see the wrongness of their viewswhen your proof is put before them.�

After the adventurers accept the younglord�s offer, he concludes his instructionsto them with a brief description of how toget to the edge of the forest. It is at thispoint, on the fringe of the unknown terri-tory, where the adventure begins.

For a party of 4-8 characters,each of 4th-7th levelFirst place, Module Design Contest category A-2GENERAL INFORMATION

The preceding background informa-tion will give players sufficient facts tounderstand the history of the area, inaddition to providing a purpose for thejourney into the forest. The backgroundincludes some hints that dark elves (drow)are behind the organization of the evilforces within the forest.

A general description of the motives ofthe drow will be helpful to the DM ingiving the adventure a logical foundationand, if desired, incorporating this adven-ture into an ongoing campaign. The rul-ing forces in the drow underworld arenoble houses, whose actions are some-times influenced by the merchant clansthey are allied with. Inter-house rivalriespervade drow society; one faction oranother is always trying to demonstrate

The fortress took years to build, but thepassage of time has little significance toelves; the end result is something that

One noble house has gone to greatlengths to formulate a scheme designed toassure its rise to the top of the noble hier-archy. This house, led by a noble namedErihn (�Arron�), has achieved the con-struction and occupation of a hugeabove-ground fortress, deep inside the evilforest. It serves as a base from which thedrow, and various evil creatures in theirservice, can raid the prosperous Lands ofLaunewt, stripping the country of itsvaluables and riches and funneling pris-oners and possessions by caravans back tothe dark elves� underworld home.

its superiority over the others by wreak-ing more havoc and plundering moretreasure than its competitors.

might be called a masterpiece, were itsorigin and purpose not so shrouded inevil. While the construction was proceed-ing, dark elves from the house of Erihnbegan to methodically make subjects andallies out of the evil humanoids who livein the forest, working toward the daywhen they could consolidate enough evilpower to overrun every community in theLands of Launewt.

The raids that have taken place inrecent weeks were disguised to appear asisolated incidents, but their increasingfrequency and ferocity suggest to somemembers of the council that they arereally the first skirmishes in a massiveassault which could descend upon theLands of Launewt at any time. As themembers of the adventuring party willdiscover when they reach the site of the

DRAGON 43

fortress, the threat of an all-out assault isa very real one indeed.

Except where otherwise specified, thedrow encountered in the forest andwithin the fortress conform in all respectsto the description of the dark elves in theFIEND FOLIO� Tome.

THE FORESTThe Forest of Doom is a thick, dark

curtain bisecting a peninsula, cutting offthe Lands of Launewt (located at the tipof the peninsula) from the rest of the con-tinent. It is a band 30 miles wide andmore than six times that long. There isno way to go anywhere on foot from theLands of Launewt without passingthrough the forest. (Player characters andother adventurers new to the Lands ofLaunewt are assumed to have approachedthe country by sea.)

The forest, in addition to providing thesurrounding environment for the drowfortress, can also be built into anextended wilderness adventure. Thisexpansion is particularly appropriate ifthis adventure is being integrated into anongoing campaign � several parties ofadventurers may go into the forest, butperhaps not all of them will come out.

It is a thoroughly evil place. No good-aligned creatures will be encounteredinside the forest; otherwise, treat it as afaerie/sylvan forest setting in a temperateclimate. A suggested random encountertable is given below. The chance of arandom encounter is a roll of 1 on d6,and should be checked every hour.

Encounter tabled% roll Creature type Number01-02 Al-mi�raj 1-10

03 Ape, carnivorous 1-604 Bas i l i sk 1-2

05-11 Bear, brown 1-212 Beetle, bombardier 1-813 Beetle, boring 1-814 Beetle, stag 1-8

15-20 Boar, giant 1-321-27 Bugbear 5-12

28 Cockatrice 1 129 Dragon, green (young) 1

30-35 Drow Patrol 2 — — 2

36-41 Goblin 5-3042-43 Gorgon 1-2

44 Groaning Spirit45-48 Hobgoblin 2-12

49 Lycanthrope, werebear 1-250 Lycanthrope, wereboar 1-2

51-52 Minotaur 153-55 Ogre 2-856-59 Orc 3-2460-63 Quaggoth 2-1264-65 Skunk, giant 166-67 Snake, giant, poisonous 1-368-78 Spider, huge 1-1279-86 Stag, giant 1-287-89 Stirge 2-20

90 Su-monster 1-491 Tick, giant 3-792 Toad, giant 1-6

93-95 Troll 1-4

44 MAY 1983

Cross-sectiond i a g r a mof tree

97 Whipweed 1-298-00 Wolf, dire (Worg) 3-8

1 � 75% likely to be encountered

96 Weasel, giant 1-4

2 � A drow patrol encountered inthe forest will be composed of 2- 12male drow fighters, all of 2nd level,sometimes (20%) accompanied by 1-8bugbears. Commanding the patrolwill be either a fighter of 4th-7th level(70%) or a magic-user of 5th-8th level(30%). Note: All drow encountered out-side the fortress will be using ordinaryarmor (chain) and weapons, not spe-cial items of drow manufacture.

while airborne.

The forest springs up abruptly at theedge of the Lands of Launewt. It is thickand dark, with no patch of land within itthat could be called a clearing. There areno paths, and the forest floor is coveredwith a thorny underbrush that inhibitsmovement (two-thirds normal movement

rate for overland travel). Negotiating theunderbrush entails a great deal of noise,so that any creature�s or party�s chance ofbeing surprised is halved � unless thoseattempting to surprise remain motionlessand quiet.

The thick overhead growth starts toblot out daylight almost as soon as onesets foot inside the forest. At a point onlya few hundred feet inside the forestperimeter, the light conditions are similarto twilight on a cloudy day. The darknessgradually deepens as one moves closer tothe center of the forest until, for a radiusof five miles around the drow fortress, theforest is as dark as night. Even on thebrightest day, the sun produces no morelight than a full moon.

The center of the forest�s evil activity islocated, logically enough, in the exactcenter of the forest. If the adventurers areactively seeking the drow fortress buthave wandered far from its location, theDM can point them in the right direction

by the use of subtle clues: a deepening ofthe darkness as they move toward the cen-ter, and vice versa; the fact that encoun-tered creatures (intelligent ones, at least)will tend to retreat in the general direc-tion of the fortress; and other indicatorsof this sort.

Any time the adventurers are withinone mile of the fortress, there is a 20%chance per turn of movement that theywill discover one of the many trails thatradiate into the forest from the drow for-tress. There are 18 such radiating trails,spaced at roughly 20-degree intervals.They have been cleared to make it easierfor slaves to forage raw materials (for thepurpose described below) from the imme-diate area around the fortress.

THE FORTRESSThe headquarters for the house of

Erihn�s evil campaign is a phenomenallyhuge tree, with a trunk measuring 180feet in diameter at the base. The tree,most likely related to the sycamore fam-ily, is made of relatively soft wood. Largesections of the inside of the trunk havebeen hollowed out to form rooms andpassages, but the tree is so massive thatthese cavities have not weakened it struc-turally. The tree is alive; it is nourishedby a wide, shallow river that passeswithin a few hundred feet to the south ofthe trunk, and in addition it is being con-tinually fertilized by a procedure devisedby the drow which is carried out throughthe efforts of several dozen slaves.

On the north side of the tree, oppositethe river, are two semicircular trenches,each 15 feet wide and 10 feet deep andseparated by a 50-foot-wide walkway.These trenches are always kept at leasthalf full of fertilizer, which consists ofdecaying organic matter gathered fromthe surrounding forest as well as acompost-like mixture that is manufac-tured inside the tree. For most of everyday, all except for the darkest hours of thenight, slaves are kept busy gathering rawmaterials from the forest, hauling waterin buckets from the river to inside thetree, and bringing out buckets of sludgeto deposit in the fertilizer trenches.

If a party approaches the fortress byway of any of the foraging trails, there isa 10% chance every 3 turns, cumulative, ofencountering a group of 3-6 slaves. Theslaves will be supervised by 1 bugbear, ifthere are 3 or 4 slaves in the group, or by2 bugbears if 5 or 6 slaves are workingtogether. (For detailed descriptions ofthese creature types, see the notes follow-ing the Fortress Encounter Table below.)The bugbears are not especially bright,and not overly anxious to engage in com-bat. They will probably (60%) believe anyplausible reason for the party being in thevicinity of the tree, and in that event theywill be willing to let a party advancetoward the fortress unopposed.

The chance of a random encounterwithin the tree is a roll of 1 on d6, with

There are no stationary light sourcesinside the fortress. Servants and slaveswill carry lanterns or torches for illumi-nation when such equipment is neces-sary. The fortress has no stairs as such;chambers located at different elevationsare connected by rough-hewn, slopingpassageways.

Bugbears will only be encountered onthe first level (ground level) of the for-tress; for random encounters on the otherlevels or in the passageways between lev-els, roll d8 instead of d10 to determine thecreature type. Each bugbear in a randomencounter will be armed with a longsword or a mace (50% chance for each).

Slaves are various human, demi-human, and humanoid creatures whohave been captured and put to workmaintaining the fertilizer system, servingfood, and doing other sorts of mainte-nance. Slaves encountered randomlyinside the fortress will not be working onthe fertilizer pit (see the descriptions ofarea 6 and area 7 in the first level), butwill be engaged in other sorts of activi-ties. Slaves are all AC 10, MV 9�, HD l-l,HP 3, and unarmed (usually carryingbuckets or sacks, if anything) and con-nected at the waist by 5-foot-long chains.A group of 4 or fewer will be guarded byan unarmed quaggoth; a group of 5 ormore will be guarded by a single bugbearwith a wooden club.

Drow random encounters inside thetree will be with groups of 2-4 plus aleader, with a 30% chance that each char-acter in a group is a female. The non-leader types are all 2nd level fighters (AC2, MV 12� or 15�, HP 11 each, #AT 2, Dsword 1-6, dagger 1-4). The leader of aparty who is male will be a 3rd levelfighter/magic-user (AC 2, HP 13) whocan cast burning hands, shield, and mir-ror image in addition to the innate magicability possessed by all dark elves. Theleader of a party who is female will be a3rd level fighter/cleric (AC 2, HP 20, Dmace 2-7) with the ability to cast curelight wounds, remove fear, and chant inaddition to the innate spell abilities pos-sessed by all female dark elves. Any drowencountered inside the tree, randomly orotherwise, will be using the special drowweaponry and armor.

d10 roll Creature type Number1-2 Quaggoth 2-83-5 Drow 2-4 + leader6-8 Slaves 2-8 + guard

9-10 BugbearsQuaggoth groups encountered inside

the tree will be unarmed. These creaturesare servants of the drow whose main pur-pose is to shepherd and supervise slavesworking inside the fortress.

Fortress Encounter Table

checks made every turn after the partygets inside. If an encounter is indicated,refer to the table and notes below todetermine the creature type involved:

FIRST LEVELElevation ranges from -5 feet (below

ground) to +65 feet (above ground)

1. Sentinel Posts: If adventurersapproach the fortress from the north, theywill be spotted by drow sentinels locatedbehind concealed doors that are 10 feetabove ground level. There is a secret doorat ground level between the two sentinelposts.

Characters approaching the tree will befired upon as soon as they are withinmedium range if they do not give theproper signal, which consists of droppingone�s weapons and continuing to advanceempty-handed. If a party attempts to bluffits way into the fortress, the female elf atsentinel post (b) will use her detect lieability to try to determine the truth of thecharacters� statements. If a full-scale bat-tle breaks out at the base of the tree, thefighters at each sentinel post will firetheir missile weapons at the rate of oneshot per round. Meanwhile, thefighter/magic-user will go inside the treeand attempt to sound an alarm inside thebugbear barracks (area 2). The bugbearswill arrive on the scene via the secret doorin 10 rounds after the sentinels start theirmissile fire. When the bugbears engagethe party, the two sentinels will dropdown from their elevated posts and jointhe melee.

A. This post is occupied by a 3rd levelmale drow fighter (AC 3, HP 20) whobenefits from 75% cover as long as he is atthe post and protected by the half-openconcealed door. He has a + 1 buckler, +1sword and dagger, and a light crossbowplus 10 darts coated with sleep poison.

B. This post is occupied by two elves: amale fighter/magic-user of 2nd/3rd level(AC 4, HP 14, #AT 1, D sword 1-6) and a3rd level female fighter (AC 2, HP 19)armed identically to the sentry at post A.The magic-user can cast magic missile,hold portal, and detect invisibility inaddition to his innate magical abilities.

2. Bugbear Barracks: All of the bug-bears in these three chambers who areable to do so will respond to a generalalarm within 10 rounds, donning scrapsof armor and taking up weapons as theygo. All of the doors leading between thesechambers and into the corridor are closedbut not locked.

A. These sleeping quarters containeight sets of sturdy double bunks aroundthe walls. Seven of the beds are occupiedby sleeping bugbears (AC 5, MV 9�, HD3+ 1, HP 14 each, #AT 1, D 2-8 or weap-on). They will awaken instantly ifintruders enter the room without beingabsolutely quiet, and will fight fiercely,using their natural attacks. Each bugbearhas the equivalent of 1-8 g.p. somewhereon its person or nearby in its personalbelongings.

B. This is a common kitchen and din-ing hall, currently occupied by three

D R A G O N 45

Cross-sectiond i a g r a mof sludge pit

groups of bugbears, classified accordingto their states of inebriation: five coma-tose bugbears (effective AC 8, MV 0�, HP6 each); six highly inebriated bugbears(AC 5, MV 6�, HP 10 each, +3 due to stateof inebriation = 13, #AT 1, D 2-8) whostrike at -5 �to hit�; and four moderatelyinebriated bugbears (AC 5, MV 9�, HP 10each, +1 due to state of inebriation = 11,#AT 1, D 2-8) who strike at -1 �to hit.�Those who are able to move will start afight at the slightest provocation. If char-acters sample the drink the bugbears areconsuming, they must save vs. poison toavoid suffering paralyzing cramps andsickness for 1-3 rounds thereafter.

C. This is another sleeping area identi-cal in configuration to chamber 2A. Nineof the bunks are occupied by comatosebugbears (effective AC 8, MV 0�, HP 6each) who will not awaken even underextreme provocation.

3. Spider Lair: This chamber, ear-marked for possible future use as slavequarters, is presently the home of a giantspider (AC 4, HP 22) which hangs sus-pended from webbing attached to the 20-foot-high ceiling. It will scuttle silentlyalong the webbing and drop down on anycharacter who advances more than 10 feetinside the door to the chamber. The floorof the chamber, except for a 10-footradius right inside the door, is coveredwith tough, sticky webbing that willentrap a character who comes into con-tact with it.

4. Slave Quarters: This �barracks,�nothing more than a hollowed-out areadevoid of furnishings, is where slaves arequartered when they are eating or sleep-ing. At any given time, from 11-30 slaves(d20 + 10) will be present, overseen by apair of quaggoth guards stationed at theopening in the southeast corner. If theguards are attacked or threatened, theywill run outside, abandoning the slaves,and attempt to re-enter the fortress by wayof the secret door at area 1 or the doubledoors leading to the storeroom (area 6).

46 MAY 1983

6. Storeroom and Sludge Well: Stackedalong the walls of this large chamber arevarious sacks and crates of foodstuffs andtrade goods, but not gems or jewelry orother valuables. This material is bootyfrom various raids that has not yet beentransported back to the drow underworld.

Also in the room are several sets ofordinary armor and weapons (chainmail,bucklers, short swords, daggers, lightcrossbows) used by the drow when theygo outside the fortress.

Inside the chamber is a storehouse ofweapons and armor. The following areall of drow origin: five javelins, two lightcrossbows, 30 crossbow darts, four +1short swords, two +1 daggers, two suits of+1 chainmail, three +1 bucklers, and twopackets of drow sleep poison, each suffi-cient to coat 10 crossbow darts. One of thepackets is trapped with a needle mecha-nism that will be activated by anyonewho handles the packet without first dis-arming the trap. The handler must savevs. poison at -4 to avoid being affected bythe sleep poison.

5. Armory: This chamber is separatedfrom the corridor by a thick wooden doorbound with iron and closed with a large,intricate metal lock (-10% to any thief�schance to pick it). A glyph of wardinghas been cast on the door; anyone whopicks the lock and attempts to open thedoor without neutralizing the glyph willtake 1-10 points of damage unless a savevs. paralyzation is made.

action and will not flee except in a life-or-death situation, realizing that theirchances for survival outside in the forestare virtually nil.

The slaves will not take any aggressive

In an alcove in the northern part of theroom is a 5-foot-diameter hole that leadsto the lowest depth of the fertilizer pitlocated beneath this level. Slaves draw fer-tilizer up from the pit by loweringbuckets into the hole on ropes andwinches, then pulling them back up withfull loads of the sludge. The buckets arethen carted outside, and their contentsdumped into the trenches that ring thenorthern edge of the fortress complex.

The two sets of double doors betweenthis area and the outside of the fortressare wide open any time slaves are onduty. The slaves work in pairs, fillingtheir buckets with sludge and then goingout through the northern doorway, head-ing for the fertilizer trenches. Once every1½ turns, two different slaves return fromthe trenches, entering through the north-ern doorway, with buckets to be re-filled.It only takes one turn for a pair of slavesto load their buckets and leave again,which means that for five minutes out ofevery fifteen the northern end of thisroom is vacant.

The southern doorway opens onto ashort corridor leading into the storeroom;directly across the room at this point isanother corridor which leads to area 7.Once every 1½ turns, two slaves enters thesouthern doorway, laden with sacks ofraw materials or buckets of water fromthe river, and disappear into the longcorridor.

The slaves who work in this area are

First level (ground level) Scale: 1 square = 10 feetDRAGON 47

not strictly supervised or even necessarilywatched over. However, bugbears andquaggoth are constantly roaming therooms and corridors of this level, and canbe expected to rush to the scene if theyhear sounds of excessive activity, or somesort of disturbance.

7. Fertilizer Chamber: This featurelessroom, in the exact center of the treetrunk, is located at the end of a steeplyascending corridor that rises to 65 feetabove ground level. The corridor isseparated from area 6 by a set of woodendouble doors that (like the doors in area6) are only closed and locked during thefew hours each night when the slaves arenot working.

The floor of the chamber itself is level.In the center of the room is a 10-foot-diameter hole that serves as a receptaclefor the water and raw materials (dumpedinto it by slaves) that combine anddecompose into sludge. It is this sludge,which settles to the bottom of the pitbeneath this area, that is hauled upthrough the hole in area 6 and taken outto the fertilizer trenches. (See the cross-section diagram on the preceding page.)

Pairs of slaves come up the corridorand into this chamber every 1½ turns. Ittakes only a moment for each twoworkers to dump their burdens into thehole, and the return trip down the corri-dor and into area 6 takes only a round ortwo. Consequently, the corridor and thechamber are unoccupied more often thannot. As with area 6, the slaves working tokeep the sludge pit full of raw materialsare generally unsupervised, but there areguards continually roaming around thearea who might be (randomly) encoun-tered, and there is almost always at leastone quaggoth in area 8, which is adjacentto the fertilizer chamber.

8. Quaggoth Quarters: This chamber is�decorated� with large, strange-lookingfurs that cover most of the floor. The onlyother objects of note are two woodenchests on the westernmost wall. Thelarger of the two is unlocked and holdsseveral more of the strange furs. Thesmaller chest is locked; it contains anabundance of wood shavings with 80copper pieces and 50 silver pieces scat-tered throughout the pile. The chest canbe unlocked with a key which is foundbeneath one of the furs on the floor.There are 10 such furs, and there is a 10%cumulative chance that the key will befound under any one of them.

There will be from 0-7 (d8-1) quaggoth,unarmed and asleep, in this room at anygiven time. The door to the chamber isalways closed, but never locked. However,it is a very noisy door � if precautionsare not taken by anyone opening it, themovement of the door will disturb anyquaggoth inside the room. If the creaturesinside the room are outnumbered, theywill try to flee into area 7 and down the

48 MAY 1983

corridor. If the quaggoth outnumber theintruders, they will fight ferociously untiland unless the battle seems to be goingagainst them, and the survivors will thentry to escape the area.

9. Stirge Nests: This chamber is reachedafter passing through a locked door onthe south wall of area 6, going up a nar-row, curving corridor, and opening anunlocked door in the northwest corner ofthe chamber. The door in the southwestcorner of the room is locked.

The northern wall of this room is lit-tered with holes about six inches indiameter each. (The holes also open ontothe outside surface of the tree, as indi-cated on the map; however, the passagesare so twisted and convoluted that nolight gets through them from the outsideworld to the inside of the chamber.)These are the nests of a swarm of angrystirges (AC 8, MV 3�/18�, HD 1+1, HP 5each, #AT 1, D 1-3 plus blood drain).Every round that at least one character orcreature is in this room, 1-3 stirges willcome forth from their nests and attack thenearest target. Any character bold (orstupid) enough to thrust an arm into oneof the holes will have equal chances offinding a stirge, 1-3 gems of 20 gp valueeach, or both. If a nest is occupied in sucha case, the stirge therein gets an imme-diate attack and automatically hits theintruder.

10. Water Trap: This irregularlyshaped chamber is located behind anunlocked door and at the end of a curv-ing, gently descending corridor which isvery smooth and has a thin film of waterover most of it, making it even moreslippery. The walls of the corridor arecovered with a mass of thorny material.Characters who attempt to negotiate thesloping passageway without taking someprecautions against the slipperiness mustroll their dexterity or less on d20 everyround to stay on their feet. Failure tomake this roll means the character haslost his balance and hit the thorns for 1-4points of damage. The corridor levels outover the last half of the distance betweenthe door and the chamber, so that move-ment becomes considerably easier: In thissection of the corridor, a character mustfail two consecutive saves vs. dexterity (asdescribed above) in a single round to takeany damage from the thorns.

If characters travel to the end of thecorridor, they will see a chamber of nospecial note, except that the floor iscovered with a semi-transparent mem-brane. Hung on a single large thorn, justabove the floor right at the end of the cor-ridor, is a pouch which will be spotted byanyone who examines the wall. Thepouch contains a ring of swimming.

This chamber is relatively close to theriver, at a spot where the water table isexceptionally high. The membrane isholding back a large pool of water. If any

character weighing more than 120pounds (including his or her possessions)steps onto the membrane, or if it is hit orpunctured with a weapon, the membranewill rupture. Water will cascade out, fill-ing the chamber and quickly rising toinundate the level part of the corridornearest the chamber. Characters must savevs. strength on d20 to avoid being sweptoff their feet and back down the corridor.Failure to save means that the victimtakes damage equal to his or her armorclass rating, plus 1-4 points (but neverless than 3 points altogether), from con-tact with the thorns. A character wearingthe ring of swimming when the mem-brane is ruptured will be able to swim tohigher ground (further back in the corri-dor) without taking any damage.

11. Drow Barracks: All of the doorsleading off the corridor to this three-section area are closed and secured withsimple latches � not locks. Opening anyone of them, or making any measurablenoise anywhere near a door in the levelpart of the long corridor, will alert all ofthe occupants of the section in question.

A. This is a barracks for drow females.Six living areas, each containing a cotand a wooden chest, are along the walls,partitioned off from each other with silkcurtains. One curtain, in the northwestcorner of the room, is open. Sitting onher cot (if the party achieves surprise) willbe a female dark elf preparing to go onguard duty. She is a 4th level fighter (AC2, MV 15�, HP 25, #AT 2, D sword 1-6 ordagger 1-4) with +1 chainmail, a +1buckler, and +l weapons.

If she is not aware of the party�s pres-ence before they open the door to thischamber, she will immediately scream analarm which will be heard by the occu-pants of section B. If she has been alertedto a possible disturbance, she will bepoised for battle when the party opens thedoor (and perhaps will have been ready-ing a spell in the meantime). The elvesfrom section B will arrive to assist her onthe round after the party enters thebarracks.

Each wooden chest that is investigatedwill be found to contain ordinary (non-magical) clothing, personal items, andthe equivalent of 2-12 platinum pieces.

B. This is a cooking and eating areacontaining two large tables and a total of12 chairs. The doors leading to sections Aand C are closed but unlocked. Seatedaround one of the tables are three maledark elves, two of them wearing blackchainmail and the third one more casu-ally dressed. The two elves in chainmailare 2nd level fighters (AC 4, MV 12�, HP17 and 12, #AT 2, D sword 1-6 or dagger1-4). If they are intruded upon, they willimmediately draw their +1 weapons andattack.

The third elf is a fighter/magic-user of4th level (AC 8, MV 12�, HP 15, #AT 1, Ddagger 1-4). At the first sign of any sort of

disturbance, he will shout an alarm thatwill be heard by the occupants of sectionsA and C, and those elves will join thefight on the second round thereafter.Instead of getting into the melee, thethird elf will attempt to stay away fromthe action and cast spells. In addition tothe innate magical abilities possessed byall male drow, this magic-user can castforget, shatter, burning hands, shield, andpush.

This room contains little of value �some miscellaneous foodstuffs and ordi-nary utensils; plus a set of dinnerwarespread out on the table the elves areoccupying. The plates and cups are madeof hammered silver and are worth a totalof 75 gp.

C. This is a barracks for drow males,identical in configuration to the femalebarracks (section A), except that there areno partitions separating the sets of cotsand chests. Sitting on a bed in the south-east corner of the room is a 3rd levelfighter who is unarmored (AC 7, MV 12�,HP 18, #AT 2, D sword 1-6 or dagger 1-4),but with his weapons close at hand. Hewill shout for help if the room is brokeninto, and then will attempt to hold off theinvaders until the elves from the kitchenarea arrive to join the fight one roundlater.

Each of the chests in this room con-tains ordinary clothing and personalitems, plus the equivalent of 1-10 plati-num pieces.

The sludge is not harmful in itself, butthe stench of such a large quantity of thestuff can be overpowering. A character offive feet or less in height will be sub-merged in the sludge within five seg-ments after the door bursts open, and willsuffocate within a number of segmentsthereafter equal to his or her constitutionscore, unless the victim can get back tothe sloping corridor in time, or unless hisor her head is lifted above the surface of

13. Sludge Chamber: The door leadingto this room is securely bolted. It alsohappens to be watertight � a fact thatwill become obvious when anyone liftsthe single bolt. As soon as the door isfreed, it will burst open, releasing astream of thick, black liquid that willcover the floor of room 12 to a depth offive feet before the flood subsides. Thisroom was the original outlet for thesludge pit, where slaves went to fill theirbuckets with fertilizer for the trenches.The outlet was poorly engineered, how-ever, and the sludge backed up into theroom, making it necessary to block thechamber off from the rest of the complexand build another outlet (in area 6).

12. Anteroom: The corridor leading tothis chamber is sealed off from the maincorridor by a locked door. The passageslopes gradually downward until openingonto a room that is little more than anextension of the corridor. The chamber isempty and featureless.

the liquid by a taller companion. A char-acter who is not immediately submergedmust save vs. constitution on d20 or beovercome by the stench. Failure to savewill cause the victim to become dizzy andkeel over into the liquid, with the samechance for suffocation thereafter as forshorter characters who becomesubmerged.

14. Tentamort Lair: If characters stayon the main branch of the long corridorand do not notice and pass through thesecret door, they will attract the attentionof a tentamort (AC 3/1, MV 1�, HD 8, HP10 per tentacle, 20 for body, #AT 2, D1-6/1-6 plus special; see FIEND FOLIOTome) that resides in the chamber to thesouth. This chamber is separated fromthe adjacent corridor by a curved wallrunning the length of the corridor at thispoint � except for a two-foot-high open-ing between the wall and the floor. It isthrough this opening that the tentamortwill attempt to attack with its tentacles.To attack the body of the monster, char-acters must slide themselves through theslot and carry the battle into the room.The tentamort will not try to movethrough the slot to escape an attack, andcan draw its tentacles back into the roomif it desires to attack an intruder.

If characters detect the secret door,move through the passage that leads offit, and exit through the other secret door,they can avoid the tentamort and gain

DRAGON 49

50 MAY 1983

There are 15 of these rats (AC 7, MV12�//6�, HD ½, HP 2 each, #AT 1, D 1-3plus disease). They are used as food forthe giant owl nesting in area 17. The slid-ing panel at the bottom of the door opensto reveal a chamber large enough to holdone rat at a time. This panel works in

16. Rat Cage: The door to this room isdifferent from all the others in the for-tress. It is made of metal mesh reinforcedby wood strips, with a sliding panel inthe bottom of the door. (The entire dooris also hinged and can be unlatched andopened wide if anyone cares to enter theroom.) By looking through the mesh,characters can see a large number of giantrats inside the chamber.

The rope of entanglement will remainstretched out to its full length and willnot attempt to entwine other charactersunless they try to grab it or sever it. Thisrope can entangle up to four man-sizedcreatures before its length is �used up,� atwhich point the first character grabbed byit will have been pulled back up to apoint just below the branch. If the rope issevered or untied from its mooring withinthe false doorway, any characters beingheld by it who aren�t also anchored to thebranch will plummet to the ground.

The rope is 50 feet long, with its otherend anchored to a post inside the falsedoorway. A victim who, is pulled off thebranch by the rope will dangle in the airagainst the side of the tree, roughly 40feet below the branch and more than 150feet above the ground.

Pulling open the false door will triggera trap. A rope of entanglement will lashout from inside the false doorway, wrap-ping itself around the legs of the charac-ter in front of the door and continuing topush outward until it �shoves� the victimoff the branch. This activity all takesplace virtually instantaneously � the vic-tim being held cannot react quicklyenough to grab a handhold, and no oneelse in the vicinity is able to keep theentwined character from falling off thebranch.

15. Snare Trap: The ascending, spiral-ing passageway ends at an archway thatopens into the outside air. A smallwooden door (actually a false door) is inplain sight along the inner wall of thecorridor right at the end of the ascent,and seems to lead back into the tree.There is light here in the outside area �just enough illumination to make outgeneral features, such as the door.

SECOND LEVELElevation ranges from 200 feet to 300

feet above ground level

access to a small, empty chamber with alocked door on its west wall. This door-way leads to an ascending passagewaythat spirals up inside the trunk and even-tually leads to the second level of thefortress.

conjunction with another panel at the rear of the chamber � when the doorpanel is closed, the rear panel is open,and vice versa.

The way to get a rat out of the roomwithout actually entering the chamber isto open the panel on the door, place asmall amount of suitable food in thechamber, and slide the panel shut again.This action opens the rear door to thesmall chamber, allowing one rat to moveinto the feeding area. Characters will beable to see through the mesh covering thepanel and know that this has occurred(always within one round of the timefood is placed in the chamber). Thensomeone must slide the panel open again,kill the rat before it can escape, and throwthe carcass to the owl to allow the partyunimpeded access to the rope bridge.(Once they figure out what the rats arefor, characters may also figure out thatit�s a good idea to kill two rats and saveone to give to the owl on their returntrip.)

17. Owl Nest: The passage leading pastthe rat cage opens onto a large branch.Thirty feet from the opening is anassortment of twigs and small branches� the nest of a giant owl (AC 6, MV3�/18�, HD 4, HP 25, #AT 3, D2-8/2-8/2-5).

Twenty feet from the opening and tenfeet away from the owl�s nest, an 80-foot-long rope bridge is anchored into thebranch, extending across to anotherbranch that allows access to area 18. Ifcharacters approach the rope bridgewithout first tossing a dead rat in thedirection of the owl, the bird will screecha warning and move toward the party,attempting to cut off their access to thebridge. It is possible for one character, ortwo at most, to run to the bridge andbegin to move along its length before theowl gets within attacking range � but insuch a case, the character(s) on the bridgewill be the owl�s preferred target, andthey will be hard pressed to keep theirfooting on the bridge while the owl ishovering over them and swiping at themwith its claws and beak.

The bird will try, first and foremost, toforce characters to retreat back along thebridge to the branch containing the nest.If the characters do not retreat, the owlwill make a direct attack, attempting toeither disable the invaders or knock themoff the bridge (a fall from this heightwould almost certainly be fatal). If no onetries to move immediately onto thebridge, the owl will take up a defensiveposition at the entrance to the bridge andtry to keep the party from moving anyfurther into the fortress.

Characters who are still on the branchwill not be able to offer any direct assis-tance to those on the bridge, except possi-bly through magical means or by attack-ing the bird with missile weapons. Ifcharacters on the bridge demonstrate an

Second level (upper level)

intention to retreat back to the branchcontaining the nest, the owl will break offany direct attack it may have made andallow the retreat to take place.

All of these possible problems can beavoided if the bird is fed one of the rats. Itwill snatch up the carcass and retire to itsnest, taking five rounds to devour its

The owl�s nest contains two eggs whichthe bird will defend to the death. If char-acters move toward the nest, the owl willabandon any characters on the bridge andmove to protect its eggs instead.

The rope bridge is somewhat rickety,

meal. During this time, the party can

but strong enough to support a fullyarmored human (or any smaller creature).

move onto and across the bridge without

Characters who attempt to negotiate it attheir full normal movement rate have a

resistance.

5% chance per point of dexterity to makeit all the way across without losing theirbalance and possibly falling. If a charac-ter loses his balance while on the bridge,he or she must save vs. dexterity on d20 to

Scale: 1 square = 10 feet

avoid falling off. The danger of slippingand falling can be negated if charactersmove across the bridge cautiously, goingat half their normal movement rate �which should still give them plenty oftime to get across the bridge and throughthe passage into area 18 before the owlgets hungry again.

18. Corridor of Captives: This long,curved corridor has no features except formany pairs of wrist and ankle shackles setinto the walls � and the unfortunate

DRAGON 51

creatures connected to those shackles. It isa �holding hall� for prisoners of thedrow, humanoids who have been cap-tured out in the forest as well as insidethe fortress and who, for one reason oranother, are unsuitable for slave work.

The door leading to this area is lockedon the inside but can be opened easilyfrom the outside. It will swing shut andlock behind any character or group whoenters the corridor if it is not proppedopen. The corridor has no light sourcesof its own; as soon as the door is opened,much wailing and whimpering can beheard coming from the darkness ahead.

After ascending the ramp up to themain part of the corridor, characters willbe able to see (if they have a light source)the first of the prisoners. He has beenhere longer than any other prisoner, andhe looks it: emaciated, near death, anddelirious � of no use to the party, eitherfor assistance or information. His wristsand ankles are shackled and bound to thewall by foot-long chains imbedded intothe wood, holding him in something of aspread-eagle position.

The chains and shackles are ordinaryiron. The shackles cannot be broken openwithout causing fatal injury to the pris-oner being held by them. (They can beopened by using the key possessed by theguard in area 19.) The chains can besnapped by repeated blows with an edgedweapon at least as long and as heavy as along sword. Each chain takes 24 points ofdamage before breaking.

Additionally, a chain cannot be dam-aged at all unless it is struck while drapedacross a surface harder than the surround-ing wood � the stone or metal head of ahammer, for instance, would suffice. If achain is struck while it is simply lyingagainst the wood wall or floor, the forceof the blow will dent or splinter the woodbeneath the chain, and the iron will nottake any damage. The ends of the chainsare imbedded so deeply into the woodthat any attempt to loosen them by chop-ping away at the wall or floor will befutile.

Sets of chains and shackles are spacedabout 20 feet apart along both the outerand inner walls (at the places marked onthe map), staggered so that no two pris-oners are closer than about 10 feet fromeach other. There are a total of 17 sets ofshackles, and 10 of them are currently inuse.

Seven of the other nine prisoners thatcharacters will encounter on their waythrough this corridor are almost as badoff as the first victim � able to donothing but scream and wail, begging fortheir release. They are unarmored, in verypoor health, and would not be of anymeasurable benefit to the party if theywere released. Some of them may actuallybeg the adventurers to end their suffering,instead of screaming to be freed.

The two healthy prisoners � capturedmost recently of all � are shackled in the

52 MAY 1983

last two spots in the corridor, at the footof the ramp that leads to area 19. The firstis a female dwarven fighter (AC 5, MV 6�if freed, HD 1, HP 7) who is armored butweaponless. She will follow the adventur-ers if freed, and will be willing to assistthem in any way she can that does notinvolve a direct threat to her life. Thesecond is a 3rd level female humanmagic-user (AC 10, MV 12� if freed, HP 9)whose only remaining spell at this time ismagic missile. If freed, she will react thesame way as the dwarf.

19. Guard Room: This sparsely fur-nished, irregular chamber, located behindan unlocked door, is occupied by a 2ndlevel male drow fighter (AC 2, MV 12�,HP 15, #AT 2, D sword 1-6 or dagger 1-4)who is �guarding� the prisoners. Thecaptives in the corridor don�t need to belooked after closely; basically, the guardin this area is only responsible for mak-ing sporadic checks of the corridor to seeif any prisoners have died. When he findsa body, he unlocks the shackles holding itand arranges for the remains to be trans-ported to the fertilizer pit. A key, whichfits any of the shackles in the corridor, ison a cord around his neck.

The guard is accustomed to hearing thedelirious moans and groans of the pris-oners, and will not be alerted to the pres-ence of intruders by any sounds or state-ments the captives might make. He willbe automatically surprised if the partyapproaches the door with caution andpulls it open quickly.

The guard will be able to hear if anyattempt is made to release a prisoner fromany of the five sets of chains closest to thedoor of this room. If this occurs, he willburst from the room, attacking only if alone character is the adversary. If out-numbered, he will try to flee in a counter-clockwise direction, heading back out ofthe corridor and toward the first level tosound an alarm. He will only engage incombat if an opponent stands in his way,and under no circumstances will he leadthe party clockwise through the corridorand deeper into the fortress.

20. Shadow in the Shadows: Thisroughly square chamber lies behind aheavy wooden door that can be lockedfrom the outside but is not locked at thepresent time. The room is pitch dark, andeven if the chamber is illuminated bylight sources carried by characters, thenortheast corner will remain shrouded inshadow. This is because a four-foot-highpartition of wood (indicated on the mapby dotted lines) has been built up, closingoff access to the corner except through anarrow passageway along the north wall.

Characters who advance close enoughto the partition to see over the top of itwill spot a gem in the corner of thechamber, glowing with a faint red colorand seemingly suspended in the shadowsa few inches off the ground.

The shadows cast by the partitions aredesigned to conceal the presence of ashadow demon (see the FIEND FOLIOTome), whose inert body lies in thecorner (at the spot marked �x�). Thedemon has cast a magic jar, causing itslife force to be contained within the gemthat is hung around its neck.

The demon will try to take over themind of the first character whoapproaches to the outer edge of the parti-tion, or who comes through the narrowpassageway and moves toward the gem. Ifno one heads for the northeast corner andcharacters decide instead to move to theopening to area 21, the demon willattempt to magic jar into the mind of thefirst character who moves through thenarrow opening.

For purposes of determining the specif-ics of the victim�s saving throw, considerthe demon�s combined intelligence andwisdom scores to be 28. If the victim (orintended victim) of the magic jar makes asaving throw after being possessed, thedemon�s life force will be cast out of thecharacter�s mind and back into the gem,and the demon will not be able to attemptthe same feat again.

The character whose mind is taken overby the magic jar will act accordingly,doing its best (as the demon would do) tofoil the party�s attempts to proceedfurther inside the fortress. The demonwill have access to its darkness and fearspell capabilities while in the body of thepossessed character, and will also use thecharacter�s available physical attack abil-ity to best advantage. The demon will notimmediately reveal its presence inside themind of the possessed character � unlessanother character tries to steal the gemwhich is being used as the magic jarreceptacle. The possessed character willfight to the death to prevent this.

21. Farther from the Jar: If the demon�smagic jar takes effect, no matter wherethis occurs, the possessed character willimmediately begin to try to get the rest ofthe party to turn around and leave thefortress the way they came. The resis-tance will be somewhat passive at first, asthe possessed character tries to talk the �others into abandoning the adventure,but the possessed character will put up nophysical resistance right away if the partykeeps moving through the entrancewayinto area 21. This chamber is empty andhas no distinguishing features.

(If the player of the possessed characterdemonstrates a desire to do somethingelse, the DM may have to indirectly revealto all the players that something is amiss,by making it clear that the actions of thepossessed character are now being con-trolled by the DM and not the player ofthat character. But in no case should it benecessary to reveal the exact nature of thesituation; the fact that a character is pos-sessed is something that the playersshould have to figure out for themselves.)

The demon, acting through the charac-ter it has possessed, will employ its spellabilities and the physical attack abilitiesof the possessed character in order to haltthe party�s progress at this point. (Thedemon does not want to move any fartherfrom the magic jar gem than it hasalready, for fear of getting out of range ofthe gem and making it impossible for thedemon to transfer its life force back to thereceptacle.) Unless the possessed characteris knocked unconscious or otherwise re-strained, he or she will fight fiercely in anattempt to disable or destroy the party ifmore gentle forms of persuasion have notproduced the desired result.

The possessed character will reluctantlymove along with the rest of the charactersinto area 21, all the while trying to per-suade the party to turn back. If thesepleas fall on deaf ears and the rest of thecharacters persist in their desire to movedeeper into the fortress, the conflict willcome to a head when the first partymember reaches the bottom of the narrowramp that ascends into area 22.

If the party is somehow able to neutral-ize or immobilize the possessed characterand force him or her to keep moving withthe group, the demon will voluntarilyabandon the possessed character when thecharacter�s body reaches the top of theramp leading into area 22. The demon�slife force will travel instantaneously backinto the magic jar gem in area 20, and theonce-possessed character will regain con-trol of his or her mind. The demon�s lifeforce will be back in the monster�s physi-cal body if and when the party comesback along this route on its way out ofthe fortress, and will attack ifencountered.

22. Perilous Pool: The only noteworthyfeature of this oblong chamber is a shal-low pool containing what appears to be ashimmering liquid. Any and all charac-ters who move to within 5 feet of the edgeof the pool while facing toward the poolwill see their reflection in the surface, andwill soon discover that the pool is actu-ally a type of mirror of opposition.Duplicates of characters who look intothe pool will come into being one roundlater, so that the mirror�s true nature willnot be immediately evident to the party,and more than one character mightapproach the pool before its delayed-action magic goes into effect.

Any duplicate created by the magic ofthe mirror will attack only the characterwho was duplicated, ignoring the pres-ence of any other party members whomay be in the room, unless or untilanother party member joins in the attackagainst someone else�s magical adversary.

23. Cleric�s Chamber: This room,located behind an unlocked door, is thestudy and living quarters of a femaledrow cleric of 4th level (AC 7, MV 15�,HP 21, #AT 1, D mace 2-7). She will be

DRAGON 53

oblivious to the presence of characters inthe area outside her chambers, becauseshe is deep in meditation, praying forreplenishment of her spells. Her medita-tion will end at precisely the moment acharacter pulls open the door to her quar-ters (but she is susceptible to beingsurprised).

In addition to the innate magic abili-ties possessed by all female drow, thiscleric has the following spells: cure lightwounds, protection from good, sanctuary,silence 15� radius, and spiritual hammer.If outnumbered, she will attempt toescape into area 22 and from there intoand through area 24, using her superiormovement rate to outdistance the intrud-ers and warn the occupants of theuppermost level.

The room contains ordinary furnish-ings of no particular value, plus awooden chest that is locked and protectedwith a poison-needle trap. Anyone whoopens the chest without finding and re-moving the trap will take 2-8 points ofdamage from the needle and must save vs.poison or fall unconscious for 2-5 turns.The chest contains ordinary clothing andpersonal items, a suit of +1 chainmailsized to fit a female elf, 20 gold pieces in aleather pouch, and three gems worth 10,25, and 125 gp.

24. Catwalk Challenge:. After going upthe ramp leading from area 22, characterswill find themselves on a narrow catwalkelevated slightly off the floor of thechamber and set off from the surroundingarea by a wooden ledge three feet highand six inches thick. The catwalk is toonarrow to allow anything other thansingle-file passage through this chamber.The terrain on either side of the catwalkappears to be overgrown with mush-rooms and other sorts of fungus. Thecatwalk twists around, following the pathindicated by the dotted line on the map,and eventually leads to the base of a rampthat ascends to the third and uppermostlevel of the fortress.

The area around and beneath the cat-walk has been magically altered by a hal-lucinatory terrain spell. The surface ofthis chamber is actually covered by a se-ries of jagged wooden spikes that havebeen chiseled out of the floor. The spikesare all between 2 and 3 feet tall and arevery closely packed together. If a charac-ter vaults over the ledge framing the cat-walk, the hallucinatory terrain will bedispelled as soon as that character dropsdown on the outside of the ledge and fallsonto the spikes below. A character willalways take damage from the spikes, buthas a chance to make a saving throw forhalf damage. The chance for taking fulldamage (4-16 points) is a base 100%, mod-ified downward by 10% for each armorclass factor the character possesses � notcounting bonuses for dexterity or otheradvantages. (For instance, a characterwith a �real� armor class of 7 has a 70%

54 MAY 1983

chance of taking full damage and a 30%chance for half damage.) Any characterwho lowers himself carefully into the areaof the spikes, once they have been �discov-ered,� will not take damage from thedescent.

Twenty feet from the foot of the rampleading up to the third level, the catwalkopens out into a clearing. Right at theedge of this clearing (at the locationmarked �x� on the catwalk), the party�sprogress will be impeded by a powerful(32 hit points) giant spider that has beentrained to attack any non-drow characteror creature who advances this far into thechamber. The spider will begin its attackby dropping a bundle of webbing on thefirst character in line, and on the sameround will then drop itself down from thedarkness above and attack either the char-acter ensnared in the webbing or the nextcharacter in line (50% chance of each). Acharacter holding a light source above hisor her head and actively scanning theceiling of the chamber has a 20% chanceof detecting the presence of the spider justbefore the creature drops its webbing,thus negating the spider�s chance to sur-prise the invaders.

Any character in the area of the spikesmust move slowly (at a 3� rate). In addi-tion, characters in the spikes must save vs.dexterity on d20 every round to avoidstumbling and taking 1-6 points ofdamage.

Elevation ranges from 300 feet to 350feet above ground level.

THIRD LEVEL

25. Drow Barracks: This chamber isused by male drow for sleeping and stor-ing their personal belongings, but is onlyoccupied when the male barracks on thefirst level is filled beyond capacity. Thedoor is unlocked.

The room contains six cots and thesame number of wooden chests, plus asmall table and two chairs. Only two ofthe six living areas are presently beingused; each of the (locked) wooden chestsin those two areas contains ordinary cloth-ing and personal items, plus (in one) 7-12 platinum pieces and (in the other) twogems of 25 gp value apiece. The roomwill be unoccupied, unless any of thedark elves from area 29 have retreated intothis chamber.

26. Drow Barracks: This room, forfemales, is identical in contents and con-figuration to area 25, except that curtainsdivide each living area from the others.As in area 25, only two of the six livingareas are currently being used, and theonly items of value in the chests in thoseareas are (in one chest) 11-20 gold piecesand (in the other) a pair of non-magicalnecklaces worth 30 and 50 gp apiece. Aswith area 25, this area will only be occu-pied if any of the elves from area 29 haveretreated into this chamber.

27. Erihn�s Chamber: This is the livingquarters for the drow noble Erihn, thecommander of the fortress, and hishenchman Tarmar. The room containstwo beds strewn with silk coverings, oneof them set off from the rest of thechamber by silk curtains; two desks; and asingle wooden chest.

The desk on the north wall belongs toErihn. In its compartments and drawersare material components for Erihn�sspells, plus a set of ledger books in whichthe commander keeps track of plunderedgoods that have been transported back tothe drow underworld. The books are writ-ten in drow language, which is unintel-ligible to anyone not familiar with thedark elves� secret writing. Inside a drawerthat is wizard locked are Erihn�s spellbooks, plus a letter signed by Erihn andbearing his personal seal. The spell bookscontain instructions for all the spellsErihn currently carries (see the descrip-tion for area 29) plus jump and fire trap.

The other desk, against the west wall,belongs to Tarmar. In its drawers are ajeweled dagger (non-magical) worth 200gp, some writing implements, and a par-tially completed report on the recentactivities of the drow which includes asection relating how three promimentmembers of the Council of Launewt havebeen bribed into siding with the drowand trying to discourage concern on thepart of other council members.

The wooden chest bears a fire trapwhich was cast upon it by Erihn. Insideare 200 silver pieces, 150 gold pieces, 300platinum pieces, a scroll with ESP andjump inscribed on it, a small pouch con-taining 500 gp worth of gems, and a +1dagger of drow manufacture. The door tothe room is wizard locked.

28. Meronal�s Chamber: This room,slightly smaller than the quarters occu-pied by Erihn and Tarmar, contains alarge, round bed with silk coverings inthe center of the floor; a desk and chairalong the east wall; a small wooden altarin the southeast corner; a small, free-standing closet along the north wall; andtapestries of silk on all the walls. This isthe living area of Meronal, a female whois Erihn�s consort and (for the moment, atleast) his second in command.

The door to this room is trapped with aglyph of warding that will explode for 16points of fire damage if it is not bypassed.The closet contains ordinary clothing andclerical vestments owned by Meronal.The desk holds incense and other sorts ofclerical items of no particular value. Thetapestries are all of no great value, exceptfor one behind the altar bearing a portraitof a huge spider with a female head thatis worth 200 gp. The altar has a secretcompartment in the front (same chance tolocate as for a secret door) that contains agold statue of Lolth, the drow spider-goddess, that is studded with gems andworth a total of 3,000 gp.

Third level (uppermost level) Scale: 1 square = 5 feet

DRAGON 55

29. Hall of Homage: This spaciouschamber is located at the top of a wind-ing ramp that leads up from the secondlevel. The double doors at the top of theramp are not locked, but they have aLeomund�s Trap cast on them, and theyare so massive that a strength of at least13 is needed to pull one of them open.

The room is principally used for wor-ship ceremonies and celebrations. It ismostly open space, with massive pillarsof wood arranged in a rough circlearound a center clearing where the activi-ties are conducted. These pillars are inte-gral parts of the tree that were notchopped away when the cavern was hol-lowed out, primarily so that the treewould not be overly weakened by a full-scale excavation of the chamber. They aregently curved and tapered at the top andbottom so that they blend smoothly intothe ceiling and floor of the chamber.

In the center of the chamber are twoornately carved and engraved woodenthrones. The one to the west is Meronal�s,and the one to the east is Erihn�s. Boththrones are currently occupied by theirowners, and each seat is flanked by a pairof guards. Under no circumstances willthe dark elves in this chamber be sur-prised by the arrival of invaders; as soonas even a single character advances to a

point between any of the surroundingpillars, the drow guards will stand at theready, prepared to beat off any assaultdirected toward them or the occupants ofthe thrones.

The guard on Erihn�s left is hishenchman Tarmar, a 5th level fighter(AC -4, MV 12�, HP 33, #AT 2, D sword1-6 or dagger 1-4). His chainmail, sword,and dagger are all +2 items of drowmanufacture. The other three guards areall 3rd level male fighters (AC 2, MV 12�,HP 24, 20, 16, #AT 1 or 2, D crossbowdart 1-3 plus poison, sword 1-6, or daggerl-4) with +1 weapons and +l chainmail ofdrow manufacture.

Meronal is an 8th level cleric (AC -1,MV 15�, HP 55, #AT 1, D mace 2-7) whohas the following spells in addition to herinnate magical abilities: bless, command,cure light wounds (×2), protection fromgood, chant, detect charm, hold person(×2), snake charm, resist fire, cause blind-ness, feign death, remove curse, cureserious wounds, and speak with plants.

Erihn is a fighter/magic-user of 7thlevel in each class (AC 0, MV 12�, HP 45,#AT 1 or 2, D crossbow dart 1-3 plus poi-son, sword 1-6, or dagger 1-4) who has thefollowing spells in addition to his innatemagical abilities: friends, hold portal,magic missile (×4), message, feather fall,

detect invisibility, ray of enfeeblement,shatter, lightning bolt, protection fromnormal missiles, and wall of ice. Hewears a ring of wizardry which doubleshis first-level spell ability. Erihn wears +2chainmail and uses +1 weapons, all ofdrow manufacture. Around his neck is apouch, attached to a string, which con-tains 5 platinum pieces, a gem worth 100gp, and a metal stamp that produces aseal identical to the one found on the let-ter inside his desk (see the description forarea 27).

Starting on the tenth round after a con-flict breaks out in this chamber, any andall dark elves from the lower levels whoare still alive and able to fight will arriveon the scene, entering the room at the rateof one per round thereafter. The �rearguard� will attempt to block off the exitback to the ramp, while at the same timemounting enough of an offensive todirect the invaders� attention away fromthe occupants of the thrones. Erihn andMeronal will refrain from physical com-bat as long as possible, staying behindtheir guards and using their spell-castingpowers to complement the fighters�attacks. If the battle goes against them,the dark elves will try to flee through thedouble doors and down the ramp � butin no case will they surrender.

56 MAY 1983

DRAGON 57

As the saying goes, it�s a poor workmanwho blames his tools � and, to tarry thatreasoning one step further, it�s a poolagent indeed who doesn�t even have thetools to put the blame on. Weapons andbasic equipment are, obviously, essentialparts of any TOP SECRET® agent�s pos-sessions. But firepower and everydayitems don�t go nearly far enough to fillthe needs of an agent, or group of agents,assigned to perform a mission. What fillsthe gap are the many and varied objectsknown as �tools of the trade.�

The Character Construction section ofthe TOP SECRET rule book includes ashort list of such tools. Suggestions forexpanding the roster of available equip-ment are offered below. Agents shouldrealize that the availability of any of thesenew �tools� is up to the discretion of theAdministrator � and, conversely, theAdministrator should appreciate anagent�s need for certain special items thatwould enhance his or her chances for suc-cess on a particular mission. After all, anagent and the agency employing that per-son are supposed to be working towardthe same goal � the successful comple-tion of a mission. It is unfair, and may bedownright foolhardy, for an agency todeny a piece of equipment to one of itsoperatives if the need for that equipmentis obvious.

With all of the foregoing in mind,Administrators are invited to look overthe following list of �tools� and include

any or all of them in the agency�s inven-tory. Of course, this list may be added to,or some of the specifics regarding a cer-tain item may be modified to bring themin line with other particulars of the agen-cy�s activities and procedures.

The following list gives the name,weight in pounds (if significant) and costin dollars of each item, all printed inboldface type, plus any other pertinentinformation about the item.

Some of the items (those with namesprinted in italic type) are special, for onereason or another, and thereby are diffi-cult for the agency to obtain. The Admin-istrator should inform agents desiringspecial equipment that a wait of 1-5weeks (generate a number randomly orspecify a certain length of time) will benecessary before such equipment can bedelivered. In general, the agency will notattempt to obtain special items for low-level agents unless they are involved in avery important mission.

Acid � � $75Price is for 1 gill (4 fl. oz.). If used as a

weapon, unprotected skin suffers type Xdamage; clothing being worn on or overthe affected area reduces this to type Wdamage.

Bolt cutter 8# $25A heavy-duty tool primarily used for

cutting the shafts of padlocks and heavychains.

58 MAY 1983

Bottle with secret 2# $ 3 0compartment

Looks like an ordinary bottle full ofliquid with the lid still sealed. The bottlewill twist apart to reveal a space about1½� in diamater and 5� in height.

Calibration control 3# $85This device is used to set and reset

timers, either for time locks on vaults ortimer detonators on bombs.

Camouflage fatigues � � Includes cap but not boots.

$40

Coat/jacket with 6# $40secret pockets

Pockets are hard to find unless youknow where to look; impossible to pickthis kind of pocket.

Code/cipher books 1# $10Each book contains different codes and

ciphers used by different countries.Ciphers are distinguished by type: uni-literal, multi-literal, keyword mixed, re-versed alphabet, double keyword, etc.

Doctor�s bag 5# $120Includes stethoscope (useful for listen-

ing through walls), scalpels, syringes,needles, sutures, anesthetic, and otherassorted paraphernalia.

Ether, bottle 2# $35Price is for a 10 oz. bottle; normal dos-

age is 2 oz., which can be effectivelyadministered with a handkerchief, Whenthe handkerchief is held over a person�snose and mouth, the victim�s Willpoweris reduced by 5-50 points (d10 × 5) foreach round the victim is disabled.

First aid kit 4# $20Contains six roll bandages, gauze, tape,

disinfectants, alcohol, plus ammoniainhalants or smelling salts.

Flare, hand-held ½# $4Self-igniting cap; burn duration of 30

minutes.

F l o o r p l a n s / b l u e p r i n t s - - $20Available for most buildings, except

military installations or special privatebuildings.

Glass cutter ��

Grappling hook 20#Comes with 150 feet of rope.

$3

$40

if they�re counterfeit, and (of course) forestimating the value of gems and jewelry.

Jeweler�s glass �� $30Useful for examining documents to see

Lie detector 25# $175Can be carried in a suitcase or the

trunk of a car. Persons tested must rolld%; a result greater than the person�sDeception score minus 50 indicates that alie was detected � but there is always aminimum chance of 5% that a lie is notdetected.

Lock 2# $3Either a combination or keyed lock,

useful for re-locking gates, etc. after anagent has cut off the original lock andpassed through the barrier.

Map, ci ty/country �� $1Useful to facilitate travel in and around

the strange places that agents are alwaysbeing sent to.

Mechanical tool kit 20# $15Contains a dozen assorted screwdrivers,

Shoes with hollow �� $30heels

Compartments useful for concealingvery small items.

Portable radio with 2# $25police band channels

Will only monitor police channels.

Pocket language �� $4dictionary

Provides translations for most commonwords from one specific language toanother specific language.

Pen flashlight �� $3Battery life of 6 hours.

Nitroglycerin 2# $175Price is for 1 quart (32 fl. oz.), equiva-

lent in explosive power to six ounces ofplastique. If detonator is attached, there isa 15% base chance (-5% for an agent withWeaponry knowledge of 60 or higher) ofaccidental explosion if the item isdropped or handled roughly.

Much better for reconnaissance orblackmail than a standard 35mm camera.

Movie camerawith sound

8# $160

a hammer, a set of 10 open-end or boxwrenches, a hacksaw, pliers, and 100assorted screws, nails, nuts, and bolts.

Skin graft, fake —— $120Looks and feels like a 6� square (max-

imum size) patch of skin; can be used toconceal small-sized and small-bulk items(knives, wires, etc.) by placing graft overobject. The material will adhere to realskin until pulled off.

Spray paint �� $4Useful for all sorts of mischief, such as

leaving death threats on walls and paint-ing windows so they can�t be seenthrough.

Starlight scope —— $730Adjustable from 3x to 9x magnifica-

tion. Usable outdoors only; +90 to PWVduring daylight hours, +70 to PWV atnight.

Straitjacket 5# $125A person being held in a straitjacket

must roll his or her Evasion score minus100, or lower, to escape.

Super glue �� $3After this adhesive sets properly, the

surfaces it joins are virtually impossibleto separate without a solvent (such as ace-tone). It can be used to fill keyholes, gluepapers to a desk, and so forth.

Wig or false beard �� $40Adds +30 to Deception value while

worn.

DRAGON 59

Thief�s climb should be leveled out

The DUNGEONS & DRAGONS®Expert Rulebook adopted a more uni-form set of experience scales for the var-ious character classes than was containedin previous editions of the game rules,starting with a given figure for secondlevel (L2) and doubling that figure atevery level thereafter until L8 (with anunexpected rounding down for fighters atthat point). The L8 experience-pointtotal is then used as the figure to be addedfor every level thereafter. This systemworks well in keeping the different classesspaced evenly apart in their progressionto higher and higher levels of ability.

by John T. Sapienza, Jr.

The major exception to the regularityof the system is the scale for thieves.Because the thief�s starting figure at L2(1,200 points) does not directly correlateto the figures for that level for otherclasses, the XP scale for thieves produces�odd� numbers from L3 through L6,when it is rounded up to what it wouldhave been had the starting number beenin accord with the starting figures for theother classes.

(Editor�s note: Thieves need 1,200points to reach second level; that figure

doubles at every level from third throughfifth, when it reaches 9,600 � and at sixthlevel, the point requirement is 20,000.The author�s contention, brought outmore specifically in the text that follows,is that the progression would have beenregular, like all other classes, if the thief�srequirement for second level was 1,250instead of 1,200, so that doubling thatfigure at every subsequent step would stillhave brought the figure to 20,000 at sixthlevel, but without the uneven jump fromfifth to sixth level that presently exists inthe thief�s experience-point table.)

After L6, the thief�s experience-pointrequirement then doubles evenly up to L8like the other scales, and for the transi-tion to L9 the L8 figure is used, as thesystem seems to call for. However, at L10and above the increment between levels isnot the 80,000 XP one would expect, butrather the 120,000 XP increment used alsofor fighters!

This produces unexpected results. Athief�s progression in the combat table isin groups of four levels, so that at levels1-4 the thief needs a 15 to hit an oppo-nent in chainmail and shield, at levels 5-8the thief needs a 13, and so forth. Forconvenience, a group of levels used asunits of progression on the combat tableis referred to hereafter as a �combatclass.� A cleric also progresses in groupsof four levels to reach higher combatclasses, but the cleric is on a more expen-sive XP scale than the thief, and so youwould expect a thief to hit more accu-rately on average than a cleric. This istrue for combat classes 2 and 3, which arereached by a thief at 9,600 and 160,000 XPrespectively, and reached by a cleric at12,000 and 200,000 XP. But because of thechange in the XP cost for thieves at L10,the thief falls behind the cleric in reach-ing combat class 4 and above.

One might think that the reason forthis arrangement is the decision of thegame designers that the thief should not

This change in the thief�s combat abil-ity advancement will keep the thief�s prog-ress consistently behind that of the cleric,which is the design goal.

Progress for thieves on the combat tablewould be in units of five levels per com-bat class, instead of the present four lev-els. (For consistency, thieves would alsodrop their current saving throw table, anduse the magic-user saving throw table,which is similar to the current thief table,but is in units of five levels perprogression.)

This can be provided for in the rules bymaking only a few changes. The mostobvious changes are in the XP scale,which would now start at 1,250 XP at L2and double evenly up to 80,000 XP at L8.Thereafter, thieves would add 80,000 XPper level. Thieves would receive one four-sided die for hit points at each level up toL9, and +1 hit point per level thereafter.Clerics would receive one six-sided die forhit points per level up to L9, and +2 hitpoints per level thereafter.

Thieves are basically not a fightingcharacter class. The last thing a thiefwants is to get into a fight, since the poorthief carries light weapons that are easilyconcealed but are no match for a fighter�sheavier armament. And the thief wearspractically no armor, so getting into amelee with an armored and heavily armedopponent is plain folly. The proper func-tion of a thief is to steal things by stealthand quickness of wits, not to engage infrontal assaults. The thief, when operat-ing in a party of fighters, properly func-tions as a scout. All of this leads to theconclusion that the thief should fight lesswell than the cleric, for the latter wearsheavy armor and is trained for combatalmost as well as a fighter. The cleric is asecond-line fighter as a primary functionof the class, and this is reflected in thecleric�s protection, in the form of thearmor the class is allowed to use and thehit points a cleric receives.

It seems that the treatment of thieveswith respect to their rate of progression inthe D&D® Expert Rulebook shows confu-sion of purpose. Accordingly, below isgiven a suggested new policy for thetreatment of thieves in combat:

fight as well as the cleric, at least at highlevels. This sounds reasonable enough,until the progression in hit points for thetwo classes is examined. The thief startsoff his career getting four-sided dice forhit points up to L9, while the cleric getssix-sided dice up to that level. Clearly,this indicates that clerics are intended tohave greater staying power in melee thanthieves. But at L10, this analysis reverses,for thieves are given +2 hit points perlevel, while clerics receive only +1 hitpoint per level.

60 MAY 1983

A rare way of viewing the wishHigh-level help comes once in a lifetimeby Lewis Pulsipher

In many campaigns, wish spells areextremely rare. In the known world in mycampaign, for example, there is only onegood magic-user able to cast a wish spell,and perhaps one evil M-U as well � noone is certain. And these are non-playercharacters, of course. No player characterwill ever reach such exalted heights, buteven if one did, he would be so involvedwith other affairs that as DM I would notbe concerned with the details of grantingwishes to him.

A few wishes do exist in the world,occasionally on scrolls but usually onswords or rings. A player character wouldbe very fortunate to have the use of onewish spell for himself by the time hereached tenth level. Or, to put it anotherway, one might expect all players in thecampaign to acquire a total of one or twowishes per real year. In these circumstanc-es of scarcity, I believe that the wishspell can be more powerful, and less sub-ject to failure, than in worlds where theirfrequency is considerably higher.

First, I treat a wish not as something tobe spoken into the void. Who grants awish? Is it just another spell, arcanelypulling energy from the fabric of the uni-verse? No � despite the existence of wishas a ninth-level spell, I believe that it ismore reasonable (or at least more believ-able) to think of the wish as an extraordi-nary event caused by some non-mortalpower in conjunction with the mortalmaking the wish. But if one followsAD&D� rules, even the greater gods arerarely able to cause wishes, so there mustbe some higher, disinterested Power (orPowers) which grant the wish, and whichcertainly will not manipulate the wish toserve its own ends. After all, if a mere god� �mere� in AD&D terms at any rate �grants a wish, won�t he manipulate the

The person contemplating a wishnegotiates, in effect, with the Powers, todetermine what is likely to be possibleand what is not. In practice, this meansthat the player may discuss the possibleuses of the wish with the DM, who willgive more or less information in his replyas he likes. Oblique rather than directanswers are common. The DM�s objectiveis to guide the player so that he won�twaste the only wish he may ever use. Afoolish player may still foul up his wishby ignoring the hints of the Powers, but amore cautious player can usually get agood idea of what the wish might do. Inmany cases it will not be necessary for thecharacter to give exact wording to thewish; the Powers will know what hewants.

Because the wish is so rare, and derivesfrom the most powerful beings in theuniverse, I permit the traditional usegiven as an example in the original D&Drules, but not in the newer versions:Someone may wish that a party of adven-turers had never set out, or had taken adifferent route, thereby avoiding a trap ora fight which killed many or all of them.In such cases, the players are not allowedever to return to the scene of the disasterwith a party, because they know whathappened � although, in their charac-ters� minds, it never happened. (A cleverplayer might wish that the event had notoccurred, but that the characters wouldknow what would have happened; but Iusually rule that this is stretching thewish too far.) It is sufficient to say thatthe wish has the effect of subliminallywarning the party never to go that wayagain, because the same disaster mightoccur.

Consequently, borrowing from MichaelMoorcock�s Elric/Corum series (fromwhich, presumably, the struggle betweenLaw and Chaos was borrowed for theD&D® and AD&D systems), I prefer tothink that a Cosmic Balance, a personifi-cation of the balance between alignments,grants wishes. The Balance being a dis-tant and terrible entity, not merely a god,it is unlikely to grant more than a fewwishes a year, but they will be powerful.Other explanations can be put forth; atany rate, the Powers who grant wishes arenot akin to the anthropomorphic gods weknow from such sources as the DEITIES& DEMIGODS� book.

wish to serve his purposes? Or, approach-ing from another direction, why wouldthe god somehow store in an item theability to force him (the god) to grant awish to whomever possessed the item?The wish as a form of divine interventionjust doesn�t make sense.

These methods work well in my cam-paign, where the wish as a mere spell isvirtually nonexistent; on the other hand,my methods would ruin a campaign inwhich wish spells and 18th-level wizardsare plentiful. Each DM must adjustmethods to suit his world.

I (as the Powers) discourage other usesof wishes, such as gaining experiencepoints. If a player is unwise enough to sethis wishes against the suggestions of thePowers, he�ll deserve whatever punish-ment or failure you mete out to him.

The other use of a wish in my cam-paign has been to raise the level limits ofa non-human character. For example, anelven magic-user with 18 intelligencecannot rise beyond 11th level. With awish, he is able to rise to 13th level whenhe acquires sufficient experience. Noactual experience is awarded.

Occasionally a player will, perhapsfoolishly, wish to increase one of his abil-ity numbers. The Dungeon MastersGuide states that a wish can raise a char-acteristic above 16 only by increments ofone tenth, so that ten wishes would berequired to raise one from 16 to 17. Thisis obviously a means of limiting power inthose worlds in which wish spells are rel-atively common, and I do not think itshould apply to rare wishes. Look at itthis way: A player�s character abilitynumbers are pure luck (and I require one3d6 roll per ability, not any of the super-methods described in the Dungeon Mas-ters Guide). A player presumably earns awish, but he doesn�t earn or necessarilydeserve his ability numbers. Conse-quently, if a player is willing to use uphis life-saving wish, I will allow him toraise almost any characteristic to 18. Gen-erally, this characteristic will be his primeability (intelligence for a magic-user,strength for a fighter, etc.) or his constitu-tion, to increase his hit points and there-by his chances of survival. The actuallimits of the increase depend on the char-acter�s other numbers and on how deserv-ing he is (in my subjective judgment, aswell as the judgment of the Cosmic Bal-ance). Generally, the higher a character�snumbers are, the smaller the increase.

Obviously, this is a most powerful tool,and players tend to hold on to wishes (orbury them where their friends can get atthem) for dear life, because a wish is asgood as life when used this way. I havenever seen a wish used merely to resurrectone person, or for the minor purpose ofchanging one round of melee, or fortransporting a party from one place toanother � it is too valuable to be wastedthis way. But if someone tried any ofthese, I would probably allow it.

62 MAY 1983

D R A G O N

64 MAY 1983

D R A G O N 6 5

Patching the cracks in ChampionsFrom creating a character to keeping a job

One problem at the beginning ofadventures is that people don�t alreadyhave a character generated. They may nothave the ability to come up with a com-plete conception of a superhero on thespur of the moment, especially if theyhave little interest in the comics to beginwith. One fast solution I�ve found is toappropriate another game: Villains & Vigilantes from Fantasy Games Unlim-ited. That game has the saving grace thatyou can actually roll a superhero upquickly, with no imaginative input. Doprecisely that; then, when you�ve got aV&V hero, convert him or her into the

Hero Games, is marvelous news for all uscomic-book fans: finally, a superherogame that actually sets out to simulatewhat occurs in comic books � the pow-ers, the fights and so forth. For the mostpart, Champions does its job quite well.Only some minor problems, most ofwhich are easily solved, have come up inthe course of play.

by Paul Montgomery Crabaugh

CHAMPIONS, the flagship product of

Champions system, buying powers andattributes to match.

Another problem is the various Hunt-eds and Dependent NPCs attached to thevarious characters. A strict reading of therules generally results in each of perhapshalf a dozen heroes having a couple ofdependent NPCs apiece and one to threehunting groups, since nobody has thesame dependent NPC and almost nobodyoverlaps the Hunteds. This can get con-fusing, not to say hazardous. Rather thaneverybody rolling for their various hunt-ers and dependents showing up, the ref-eree should select one or two heroes atrandom and roll only their hunteds and NPCs, holding down the number ofextraneous elements that stir themselvesinto the scenario. (Don�t worry, AuntMay will undoubtedly get hers nextweek.)

generating their attributes so as to pro-Speaking of dependent NPCs, a way of

vide a bit more variety is to roll theattributes rather than assume they�reaverage across the board unles otherwiseindicated. For incompetent NPCs, roll

1d12 per attribute; for average NPCs, roll1d20; for very competent NPCs, roll 3d10and add 1d4 × 5 points of power or abili-ties. An exception should be made forComeliness, which should be 1d20 + 10.

Another problem is timing. It�s some-times difficult to figure out how the var-ious characters can get together in oneplace at one time for a scenario. Forbookkeeping purposes, try borrowingfrom another game, Superhero 2044 byGamescience. As is done in that game,require characters to plot out their activi-ties for the week in four-hour blocks,showing what time is allotted to sleeping,to work, to patrol and so forth. There arecertain requirements for upkeep in termsof time per week; the hero can�t patrol thestreets 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Interms of four-hour �blocks,� therequirements go something like this:

ter must set aside 14 blocks per week forFirst and foremost, the basics. A charac-

sleep, +1 block of sleep for each period ofwakefulness exceeding 5 consecutiveblocks (20 hours), +1 more block of sleepif there are more than 4 sleep periods of

66 MAY 1983

less than 8 hours (2 blocks) each. Nomore than 3 blocks (12 hours) of sleep canbe taken consecutively. In addition, acharacter must devote 1d6 blocks perweek to socializing and mundaneresponsibilities.

The question of allotting time leads into the most noticed omission in theChampions rules: the lack of systemsgoverning money, work, and so forth.How much equipment can a characterafford? How much time is spent at work?Other questions turn up along the samelines.

It would probably be possible to comeup with a list of jobs, income from thosejobs, shopping lists of equipment and soforth, but the existing Champions rulesprovide a way to include day-to-day liv-ing more painlessly.

The way it works is that a certainstandard of living is �purchased,� justlike a power or talent. The various life-styles are non-specific, so that exactlywhere the hero lives and whom he or sheworks for are left to the players to define;however, the general social level, degreeof wealth, and available methods oftransportation are specified. The betteroff a character is, the higher the pointcost of his or her lifestyle. The variouslifestyles are these:

Poor � The character is constantly indanger of eviction. All money goes tofood, clothing, and rent; none is available

for equipment. Transportation is limitedto bus or taxi. Time required per week tosupport this lifestyle is 1d10 blocks (rolleach week for the amount of timeneeded). This standard of living is sopoor it is actually treated as a Disadvan-tage, worth 5 extra build points that canbe applied elsewhere.

Average � The character has a typical,middle-class lifestyle. The character canoccasionally (once a year) make a majorpurchase of equipment or whatever, ofabout $5,000 in value. Transportation isby car or taxi. Time required to maintainthis lifestyle is 10 blocks per week. This isthe �default� lifestyle; it costs nothingand is worth nothing in build points.

Above average � This is the realm ofthe upper middle class. The character canmake one major purchase per year of$15,000 (or, of course, several smallerpurchases). Typically, the character ownsa home. Transportation is by a car of rea-sonably good quality and recent vintage(the character may own two cars, or per-haps only one). This lifestyle requires 10blocks of time per week to maintain. (Alifestyle which requires 10 blocks perweek is normally an 8-to-5 job.) The costof this lifestyle is 5 build points.

Wealthy - The character is very com-fortably well off. Transportation is typi-cally by any one of several cars, or onegood car and one yacht or aircraft. Thecharacter owns a good-sized home. Up to

$50,000 per year may be expended onlarge purchases. In addition, the characteris assumed to have limited computerand/or lab facilities and specialized train-ing facilities. The character can supportseveral other characters indefinitely at agood standard of living, barring secretidentity conflicts and such. This lifestylerequires 5 blocks of time per week andcosts 10 build points.

Very Wealthy � The character is posi-tively rich, and lives by clipping stockcoupons. Owns several cars, as well as atleast one aircraft (possibly a jet) and oneboat. This lifestyle requires 2 blocks perweek and costs 20 build points.

Extraordinarily Wealthy � Your basicbillionaire. The character owns anythingin the way of transportation short ofspace shuttles or aircraft carriers � andmaybe them, too. This is a very high-profile lifestyle. It requires 1 block oftime per week and costs 30 points.

Student � Similar to �Poor,� but astudent has limited access to lab andcomputer facilities. Requires 8 + 1d8blocks per week; costs 5 build points.

Instead of merely being wealthy (orpoor) as a result of some more or lessordinary endeavor, a character can own abusiness, industrial plant or other suchfacility. This provides a standard of liv-ing equivalent to one of the lifestyles de-scribed above, depending on the size ofthe business involved. In addition, the

DRAGON 67

character has access to all the facilities thebusiness (or whatever) owns, at least tothe extent that use of those facilities doesnot devalue or damage the business. Thehours are longer for a self-employedcharacter, as a general rule, and thosehours are variable from week to week, buton the other hand they are also more flex-ible; the character is less constrained byan 8-to-5 routine. Also, he or she can tosome extent modify working hours bytaking long lunches, refusing all calls fora while, closing the shop, and so forth �although excessive use of this privilegewill damage the business. This flexibilityalso reduces friction with the character�ssecret identity.

The four types of business endeavorsare these:

Small Business � Similar to �AboveAverage� lifestyle, with the characterbeing the owner of a shop or personalbusiness. This option requires 10 + 1d10bIocks per week and costs 10 points.

Medium Business or Small Factory �Similar to �Wealthy� lifestyle. Thisendeavor requires 3d6 blocks of time perweek and costs 15 points.

Large Business or Medium Industry �Similar to �Very Wealthy,� this optionrequires 3d8 blocks of time per week andcosts 30 points.

Large Industry or Ruler of SmallCountry � Similar to the �Extraordinar-ily Wealthy� lifestyle, this optionrequires 3d10 blocks per week of time andcosts 40 points.

One final note: Something missingfrom the original rules is the concept ofofficial sanction. Some heroes are affil-iated with the government (at some level)and garner extra brownie points that way.A license, badge, or ID card can be veryhelpful when dealing with recalcitrantauthorities or annoyed citizens.

There are four levels of official sanc-tion. Each successive step up the ladder ofauthority brings an increase in theamount of power that can be brought tobear in the above-mentioned situations.

Local Sanction is generally somedegree of attachment to a city�s policeforce. This sanction costs 5 build pointsand allows the superhero to do suchthings as poke around in areas the policehave secured.

State Sanction can indicate somethinglike membership in the state militia, orperhaps the possession of a private inves-tigator�s license. Benefits are similar tolocal sanction, but can be used in mostplaces within the state giving the sanc-tion. It costs 10 points.

Federal Sanction can be a wide varietyof things: membership in an �official�superhero group, �Q� clearance, mem-bership in the CIA (or some fictitiousorganization), and so forth. This is help-ful in dealing with authorities at all lev-els of government, and can even be usedto impress authorities in other countries� to a degree. It costs 15 points.

International Sanction is relativelyrare, and typically indicates membershipin some supranational organization,which can be helpful in dealing withauthorities anywhere, any time. It can bea hindrance if the authorities view themember as a nuisance (actually, this canbe a drawback to any of the sanctions).One such organization in the comics hasits headquarters in a vehicle that appearsto combine dirigible and helicopter tech-nologies in one ungainly whole; there areothers. This costs 20 points.

That should do it; your heroes can nowfeel completely fleshed out and free tojoin the colorful, if dangerous, world ofthe comics.

68 MAY 1983

The SagittarianFiction by Jessica Amanda Salmonson

For many days the greatest hunteramong mortals stalked the most fabulousstag to dwell on Earth. It was fitting thatthese two should meet: Ain of the Arrow,who killed nine wolves on his first huntwhen still a child, and the stag Elo,whose antlers were a nest of thorns uponwhich many a would-be slayer had beenimpaled, tossed into the air, and impaledagain.

Ain followed the crafty spoor overgrassy meadows, into reedy cypress-shadowed swamps, across scrub plains,through highland forests, onto MountPilak, and eventually into the stonycanyons of the craggy mountain itself.Along the way, he had lost and found thetracks of Elo a hundred times. Over mostof the trek, the signs of the stag hadremained continuously two days old. Oflate they had been fresher, meaning thatAin was finally closing the distancebetween them. The tracks he found onthis day were made within the hour.

With his aurochs-horn at his lips, Ainarched his back and blew a fierce chal-lenge like that of a warrior stag. Beforethe echo of Ain�s long hoot had diedaway, he was answered by a call of equalferocity.

Ain blew once more upon the curvedhorn, then tossed it over his back to hangalongside his quiver. He strung his bowand felt for the placement of the daggerson his hips; everything was secure. Ainstood with his bow in one hand, an arrowin the other. Clattering hoofbeatsresounded from several directions, at firstfaint but soon becoming nearer. Elo hadnever fled from a challenge, and it seemedhe would not flee this time.

The sound of hooves stopped beforeAin could discern their origin from theecho. He looked about at the crags andfissures of the canyon�s stone walls andwondered from which place the stagwould bound. He stood fast, ready. Hisgolden beard fell like a woman�s locksupon his broad chest. His stone-grey eyeswere bright like winter skies. His yellowhair was bound in a linen headband. Heseemed calm, but the muscles high on hisbare arms tensed and twitched, evidenceof his impatience.

�Come out, Elo!� His voice was reso-nant, yet the pitch was fairly high. �Donot be a coward!�

Ain heard hooves directly behind himand reeled about. Within another instant,

On seeing his unwilling mount�sintent, Ain stopped his laughter. His eyesgrew round. He sought to untangle him-self from the antlers, to leap upon thestag�s back, but Elo�s suicidal dash wastoo swift. With a terrific jolt, the stag ranhead-on into the stone wall. Parts of theantlers shattered, Ain screamed whatsounded like his name: Aaaaiiinnn!

The stag ceased its wild antics and raninto a wind which howled up the canyonlike a wave of an unexpected flood. Thepowerful legs of the beast beat upon theground, against the wind. Then, to Ain�ssurprise, the purposeful charge turnedabruptly toward a solid wall of stone.

Elo tried to scrape his antlers on theground, but could not loosen theunwanted passenger. Ain was mad withecstacy in his ride and, feeling theaurochs-horn flopping against his longbeard, held tighter with his legs, so thathe might snatch up the horn in bothhands and blow it aloud. His boast wasbigger than a bellowing stag�s! Heboasted to the wind and the gods, tellingthem to see how he rode. He laughed,even while knowing he was in perilbecause he had no way to dismount �except in death.

Ain clung to the huge pair of antlers,refusing to be shaken off or thrown intothe air, weighing down the head with hisbody�s considerable bulk. He was in pain,but ignored it. He entwined his legs inthe branches of the antlers, so Elo couldnot hope to easily unseat him.

The unusually sudden wind was blow-ing directly in Ain�s face. Flying duststung his eyes. He furrowed his thickbrow as he brought another arrow overhis left shoulder. The stag was now toonear to dodge the second arrow as easilyas the first, and Ain let the shaft speedforward. Though it did not fly on a fataltrajectory, the arrow pierced Elo�s neck;however, the stag rushed on, seeminglyundaunted. Ain�s bow went flying fromhis grip as he was caught on the stag�santlers. He was pierced multiply, butsuperficially, in the chest and belly.

he had nocked his arrow and let it fly.The great stag veered with speed match-ing that of the mountain wind that sud-denly blew through the canyon. Elocaught the arrow on a part of one antler,where it stuck as if shot into the limb of atree. The animal bellowed, and Ainthought it sounded like a boast.

After the blow, Ain could neitherbreathe nor see. The antlers had provideda cushion against his being crushed, yethe was too jarred to take any kind ofaction. He clung blindly to those antlers,fighting for his breath and his vision.

Stunned as well, Elo backed away fromthe wall, staggered, and charged again �this time with less of an impact, butenough of one to break off more of theantlers� points. One more blow like thatand Ain would certainly be killed, for toofew antler-branches remained betweenhim and the wall. Ain�s legs held fastaround the stag�s wet muzzle. As hisvision and senses returned, he moved hishands near his thighs to grasp a dagger ineach hand. Then the third impact came.

A piece of shattered antler burstthrough Ain�s back and out his belly, sev-ering his spine. Yet it hurt less than theother, less damaging blows. He knew thewound was fatal, yet he felt neither fearnor sorrow. It was a fine death for a hunt-er � and it would be a fine death for Eloas well. Ain brought both daggers downin clenched fists and thrust them to thehilts into Elo�s eyes, wrenching the bladesup into the stag�s brain. Then Ain fellfrom his perch.

He was paralyzed in the legs from hisbroken spine. He was a mass of blood, thepiece of antler still protruding from hismiddle. Even in this state, he rememberedhis training in the temple gymnasiumswhere perfect muscle tone and mastery ofthe body were religiously pursued. Therewas no reason to this remembering, fordeath was certain; but for however longhe remained conscious, Ain was bound tostrive for every added moment of life. Hewilled his wounds to cease bleeding andhis pain to fade. Untrained folk mighthave called it sorcery; but it wasn�t that.Yet, not even the vast will of Ain of theArrow could hold death forever at bay.

The hunter lay quietly, breathingslowly, his mind calm, waiting for theend. His vision was clear now. He lookedto where the stag was standing tall andregal. An arrow pierced its neck; itsantlers were ruined; its eyes dripped withblood and gore. Yet it was a strong beast,its body still drawing heavy breaths whiledripping rivulets of blood and sweat. Itsmind had been destroyed by the knives;the stag was unable to think or move.Though unaware of the fact, Elo awaiteddeath, too.

DRAGON 77

Ain noticed the terrific wind had gone,but was uncertain when it had passed. Ithad come only for the duration of the bat-tle, perhaps sent by some elk-god to aidthe stag in the initial charge. Now therewas quiet, except for the snorting of themindless stag and the heartbeat of thebroken hunter.

�Elo,� the man whispered. �You havekilled me.� He tried to move his legs, butthey were stone. He tried to raise hishead, but could only turn it slightly andthen could not move it back. His armscould still move, but the only thing hecould think to do with them was crossthem over his chest. He added, �But Ihave killed you, too.�

The world became a blur. The stagbefore him appeared to be covered withpleasant fuzz. Then, to Ain�s surprise, theshape of a man, blurred like everythingelse, walked up and stood beside the stag.It seemed to be a ghost. An angel,thought Ain. An angel come for my souland that of Elo. He tried to clear his eyesto see the apparition better, but his visiongrew worse. Ain thought, Can it be twi-light so soon?

The angel came nearer, moving like adoddering old man. He seemed to be car-rying a barbed staff, but Ain could not becertain in the growing darkness. Angel orghost, it was talking to him; however,Ain could not understand, for waves ofocean-sound roared in his ears.

Then, all was darkness and darknesswas all. An eternity seemed to passquickly, during which there was peacefulsilence. Ain walked through a tunnel athis leisure, seeing a light far ahead.

�Shall I come to the light?� he askedthe dark.

�To the light,� the darkness answered.The darkness spoke like an old man. Yes,Ain thought, darkness was old.

Ain sauntered; there was no hurry. Hewanted to whistle, but his mouthwouldn�t pucker, so he hummed. Thelight in the distance grew brighter andnearer.

�It�s not much further,� the old voiceof darkness said with odd compassion.

�Shall I go more swiftly?� Ain asked.�No, no. There is time,� said the dark.The tunnel was long. He had first

thought the light was at the other end.But he reached the light and saw that itwas only a candle flame; the end of thetunnel was still lost in darkness. Theflame hovered in limbo, no wax beneathit. So! It was not the darkness that spoke,but the flame.

�I am here,� he told the flame.�Almost, yes,� the flame encouraged.The aura of the flame grew, expanded.

Ah-ha, thought Ain. There was waxbeneath it after all! And a fist clutchingthe candle. Who is that clutching thecandle? It was a stranger, Ain saw: an oldman.

�Are you the angel?� asked Ain.The old face smiled toothlessly, then

72 MAY 1983

�Elo was my oldest friend � howcould I let him wander mindless until hestarved or stepped blindly from a cliff? Icould not allow him such a fate; I owedhim too many favors. He bore me toMount Pilak after I was cast from mycountry for what others believed were evilpractices. Since then, in my solitude, Ihave written books of magic for future,

�I did what I thought best,� the oldman said. �You could have lived, butwithout the use of your legs. Would thathave been better than this?

The sorcerer rubbed his throat,coughed, then clutched his way up thewall until he stood at the place wherehe�d been thrown. He limped to a nearbyspot to fetch his staff, a pole which wasbarbed at one end. Ain tried to back away,thinking he was to be attacked by thatspear-cane. But he could not work hisfour legs very well, and he stumbled.Before he caught his balance, he saw thatthe old man used his weapon only as awalking staff and did not mean to fight.

The old sorcerer did not fight. He madeno attempt to speak a spell, nor to weaveone with his fingers, nor even to strugglelike an ordinary man. The villain�s eyesbulged red. His face turned bluish-purple. Ain had never killed anythingpassive, and he felt repulsed that evensuch as a sorcerer should die without rais-ing a finger. Ain threw the old man hardagainst the wall.

His stone-grey eyes were suddenly wideand awake. Hatred blossomed in hisbreast. �Sorcerer!� he cried. His longarms reached forward and grabbed theevil magic-doer by the throat. �Turn meinto a beast, shall you!� Ain�s teeth werebared, the white standing out against hiscurly beard. His fingers clenched thewizard�s throat tightly.

Ain was suddenly weary. Although hehad no desire to lie down, he had a desireto sleep � to sleep standing up. Hebowed his head upon his golden beard �and before his eyes closed, he saw belowhis torso the legs of a stag! His head shotup. He looked over his shoulder � andsaw the body of a stag!

�For what you are about to see,� theold man said, �you must have no fear.�

The expanding light shone upon grey,wooden walls. The old man blew out thecandle, but the light remained, and theblue smoke from the wick wound aboutlike a stinking worm.

The light continued to grow. Ain felthis chest heaving, as though he had runto the flame rather than walked casually.He remembered for the first time that hehad broken his back. He wondered how itcould be that he was standing. No physi-cian could mend a man with a brokenback. Curious, he tried to raise his leg �and he succeeded. But when he put itdown, it made an odd clack, as thoughhis foot were made of wood.

the smile instantly vanished. �No,� hesaid. The word was profound.

He knew this bitter wizard had per-formed his wicked sorcery as punishmentfor the slayer of his pet. He had doomedAin to walk with the flesh of the creaturehe hunted and killed. All the same, therewas truth to the old one�s demented rea-soning: Four legs were better than noneat all. It was better to be a man-stag thanto never walk. At least this way he wasstill a hunter!

Ain moved his legs � one, then thenext, then the next, and the last, experi-mentally. He felt power in those limbs,but power not yet at his command. Stepby careful step, he neared the table thatheld his quiver of arrows, his knives, hisbelt, bow, horn, and scarf. These, one byone, he retrieved: The belt he fittedaround his waist; the knives he attachedso that they hung against his stag�s lowerhalf; the horn he hung around his neck;the quiver filled with arrows and the bowhe slung across his back; the bandana hetied around his long hair.

Tears sprang from the old man�s sulleneyes. In a burst of fury, the aggrieved sor-cerer raised his staff. Ain caught the de-scending weapon by the shaft with onestrong hand and twisted it from the sor-cerer�s gnarled fist. He threw the spear-cane aside. The sorcerer turned to balancehimself against a table and hide his tears.

A strange look came into the old man�seyes. It might have meant hatred, sadness,horror, or any number of emotions dis-guised by the leathery webbing time hadetched upon his face. The sorcerer beganto tremble. He continued: �Elo, dead.Elo, whom I raised from a yearling.Whom I rode into exile. Who was wild toeveryone but me. . . .�

�Hate me if you will; kill me if youmust. I no longer care for life nor love,now that my books are written and hid-den deep in a cave, and now that youhave slain Elo.�

more understanding generations. I�ve hadfew visitors beyond the Great Stag, whosebody is now yours.

With slightly better mastery of his legs,Ain backed into the doorway. His hoovesclattered on wood. Before he turned to goout and away, he said, �I thank you formy life and these legs. I will walk withpride! From this day on, I will go by thename of Elo-Ain. Even in your retreat,you are bound to hear tales about me, ifonly from the birds and the wind. Youmay have intended revenge, but I think itis a favor.�

Though he loathed his new form, Ainwould not reveal his true feelings to thesorcerer. Having said his piece, the man-stag bolted from the door, following apath into the canyon.

The sorcerer retrieved his staff andhobbled to the doorway in time to see thefamiliar rump of an old friend vanisharound a large tree, the short tail raised asa flag.

�We will see,� whispered an old voice.�You will see. . . .�

All for all, not one for oneSelfish motives have no place in gamingby Roger E. Moore

There is a peculiar practice (peculiar tome, anyway) going on in the role-playingworld in which contests are held to giveout an award to the best individualplayer, instead of to the best-performingteam of players. Granted, it�s nice to con-gratulate someone who has done a superbjob of role-playing, problem solving,leading the group, or even just keepingthe atmosphere light and enjoyable. Onthe other hand, this practice tends tomisplace the more important emphasis ofa role-playing game, and can lead tomore problems than one might expect.

It could be argued that nothing is

wrong with recognizing players for theirpersonal ability; one could draw a paral-lel with the Olympics, if one wanted tostretch it that far, and point out that mostawards there are for individual effort.Unfortunately, role-playing games arenot structured by and large for individualcompetition. While any one player mayhave a character who is quite powerful,nearly all role-playing games aredesigned so that it�s difficult for just onecharacter to successfully resolve any onescenario. It takes the combined skills andefforts of all the group members to meetand defeat the obstacles that the gamereferee cares to put in the way of achiev-ing the adventure�s goal. Most role-

playing games have character-generationsystems which split up the various skillsand abilities into �character classes� or�prior service tables� (like the AD&D�and Traveller games, respectively) topromote interdependence among groupmembers; no one character can have allthe powers needed to accomplish a mis-sion. If this were so, it would tend tomake group adventures unnecessary; whysplit treasure with someone when you canget to it by yourself? Instead, in theAD&D� game system there are fighters,magic-users, rangers, paladins, thieves,and so forth, each with their own skillsand talents. In Traveller there areMarines, Doctors, Scouts, Pirates, Mer-chants, and other services. Even game sys-tems like Runequest and Call of Cthulhu,which allow any one character to developany number of skills, are set up so that itis impossible to be an expert at every-thing; someone may be good at thieving,another good at fighting, and someoneelse good at spell-casting, but no one cando everything. (If so, then someone iseither cheating or has played continuallyover several years, working their skillsup.) Combat in particular calls for coor-dinated effort; one person, even a Conan-type, cannot stand long against a horde oforcs, baboons, Zhodani, or Fungi fromYuggoth without some help from friends.

Of all the games in which I�ve partici-pated, as a player or as a referee, group cooperation has been the one elementthat most affected whether or not a groupwas going to succeed on a mission. Peo-ple tend to have an exaggerated idea ofhow important their individual charac-ters are in a game, and often lose sight ofthis point. Some will do all they can tobecome the �shining star� in the group,making themselves obnoxious with theirinsistence on not cooperating.

If this sort of individuality is toostrongly encouraged over group effort,there is an excellent chance the adventurewill disintegrate into petty bickering andheavy-handed struggles for the positionof King of the Heap. in the extreme, thiswill produce assassinations and fightingamong group characters even in the mid-dle of a critical adventure. One scenario I

74 MAY 1983

refereed, an expedition into a fire giant�slair, was aborted at the outset when onegroup member had his character kill offanother character; this act could bedefended by the player�s claim that heplayed his character within his align-ment, since he had an evil thief and thevictim was a paladin. But now the groupwas in no shape to carry on the adven-ture, the guy playing the paladin quit,and the adventure was over for the daybefore it had begun. Another group, moretightly coordinated and more determined,played the same adventure on a later dayand had the honor of smashing the lair.

Players generally want to cooperatewith each other, and people who don�tplay by the rules (the unwritten onesabout cooperating) can find themselvesfacing down the most dangerous of allopponents in any game: an enragedgroup of player characters. It is trulyamazing just how effectively and com-pletely one character, regardless of poweror level can be greased by everyone else(unless the DM decides to pull strings andprevent this somehow). One of the mostpersonally satisfying incidents of this sortI�ve heard of involved some players(friends of mine) who were having trou-ble dealing with one player�s characterwho always seemed to try to dominate thegaming sessions, break group rulings,and so forth. Matters came to a head oneevening, and an epic battle ensued in

which many-dice fireballs flew and tech-nological weapons, long hidden ongroup members from previous expedi-tions, were pulled out and used. The bat-tle ended in the disintegration of theoffending character and a spontaneousten-minute celebration by the survivingmembers. It is one thing to be an outlawfrom society; it is another, and more fatal,thing to be an outlaw from a group.

The other extreme is possible, too. Ihad a character introduced into onegroup and then discovered that the otherplayers were in the habit of killing newcharacters, so their characters could takethe newcomers� gold and magical items.My character got lucky and escaped, withthe help of the character of a friend ofmine (who was also almost slain by theother characters). But we never gamedwith that group again. Months later, oneof the cutthroat players saw me and askedwhy I never came back. Some people havea difficult time seeing the obvious.

How many times can you recall havingyour character play second fiddle toanother character in a role-playing game?How many people can you recall whoplayed as if this game was some kind of�survival of the fittest� competition, inwhich they intended to be Numero Uno?What about adventures in which no onewanted to do the same thing, and cooper-ation was hard to get without a lot ofhurt feelings and comments like, �Okay,

my wizard will go with you to the Cav-erns of Doom, but he isn�t gonna helpanybody out of trouble. . . .�? Do youremember those times as being particu-larly entertaining?

Try the other viewpoint. Think ofthose adventures in which everyoneseemed to be having a good time, not justone person by himself. Was everyoneinvolved in the adventure in some way?Did people have a chance to use theirskills, to share in the combat, and get ashare of the loot at the end? Did peoplework together, or was it dog-eat-dog?Sure, we all recall someone who showedan aptitude for figuring out traps, direct-ing the group, giving needed advice, ortelling jokes that had everyone rolling onthe floor. But didn�t other characters havetheir moments in the sun, too?

The true mark of a good role-player, inany game system, is the ability to workwell with others. It is all well and good tohave a +5 Holy Sword, and 18�s in all ofone�s characteristics, but if one cannot getalong with other players and interacteffectively with them, one might havetrouble finding groups who will accepthim to game on a regular basis. At worst,one might find that his character is beingeyed as another potential enemy to beeliminated. Groups are made up of indi-viduals, but individuals must learn to actas a group if they plan to get anywhereon a role-playing adventure.

DRAGON 75

76 MAY 1983

DRAGON 77

Time,Money,

and theGoonShow

(not necessarily in that order)

A Bad Review, or any card that moves a game in Sales down

78 MAY 1983

Strategy hints: It never pays to be the front runner. Success liesin looking like you�re losing, so that other people play their badcards against each other, but not on you. If you have a choicebetween moving a game of yours forward (with a card) that isclose to Sales or a game that is in Cost Analysis, move the one inCost Analysis. Don�t be in too much of a hurry to go into Salesuntil you can hit it with several titles at once.

The Building Fire card will only send a game submission backto the �game box� if you have been energetic enough to make abox for your copy of the game.

The message on a card speaks to the owner of the game onwhich it is played. The Vice President Hates Your Syntax cardrefers not to the holder of the card, but to the syntax of the gameagainst which the card is played.

A move forward from the Product Review Board can only goto Cost Analysis. A move backward can never take a game intoFile 13. In similar fashion, a Bad Review card played against aTurkey game has no effect. When a choice of paths exists, theperson who plays the card makes the decision on which directionto send the game affected by the card.

tives cards can cause a bit of consternation, because not everymove is simply forward or backward � there are shades of gray.Therefore, it is ruled that both cards move all games out of thePlaytesters area (either �forward� or �backward� to the ProductReview Board, depending on your point of view).

Just as I was really afraid that all was lost, my players rallied,the game got close, and someone won. The four-player versionhad taken more than two hours to play. Out of this great exper-iment (and others) came the following clarifications, strategyhints, and � of course � the inevitable optional rules.

Clarifications: The 36 Hour Work Week and 35 New Execu-

As the game wore on, I was alarmed to discover that everyone�sgames were dying dreadful deaths. For two hours it looked asthough the evening would end with all our precious little inven-tions stacked in File 13. It was at this moment that I realized thatthe cosmetic changes Kim and I had made also changed the flowof the game. The game we were playing had only been playtestedin the solitaire version!

Anyway, some friends who work in the darkest recesses of theDungeon Hobby Shop asked me to teach them how to play thegame. Obligingly, I cut out a game and mounted all the pieces.The night of the big game, we all chuckled at the improbablethings that were happening to our inventions.

II. FILE 13 (the game, not the wastebasket)

Recently TSR employees got their copies of DRAGON� issue#72 with the FILE 13 game therein. Fortunately, nobody took ittoo seriously, and I have not yet received any death threats. I fig-ure this is mostly because the game is about what TSR used to belike three years ago. Nowadays life is more complicated � thepath a game takes these days is so complex that no one personcould hope to describe it in a lifetime. All my games usually endup in a new place they call �storage.�

I. TIME (more properly, the passing thereof)

by Tom Whamone level, has a more deadly effect against Steady and Slowgames than it does against Fast sellers and Hot Items.

If you are losing, sandbag (save) the following cards: NewProduction Employee Hired, TV Advertising Push, and anyother cards that move a game up in Sales.

If you are winning, you would be well advised to sandbag theCopyright Dispute, Complete Revision, Building Fire, and Lostin a Sea of Paper cards. If these are in your hand, they can�t beused against you!

Running out of ideas, by submitting all 13 of your games assoon as possible, will give you more �card power,� since you caninstantly replace all Game Submission cards you draw.

III. MONEY (the new rules)Don�t worry, the changes are minimal. Play a normal game as

outlined in the rules. (Editor�s note: Is there such a thing as anormal game??) Each time the deck is exhausted, play stopsmomentarily, and all players collect royalties on their gamesaccording to the following schedule:

For each game in: Collect:2 players 3 players 4 players

Hot Item $60,000 $45,000 $30,000Fast $48,000 $36,000 $24,000Steady $32,000 $24,000 $16,000Slow $20,000 $15,000 $10,000Break Even $12,000 $ 8,000 $ 4,000Turkey $ 4,000 $ 3,000 $ 2,000

One player should keep a running score on a sheet of paper.The player who drew the last card from the deck gets to move hisor her games before royalties are counted up. When the gameends, royalties are counted one last time. The player with themost money is the winner. (Lest you think you�re getting rich,remember that once through the deck represents two years of realtime � and don�t forget to pay your taxes!)

IV. THE GOON SHOW (or, the True True Story)It has rightly been pointed out to me, by a fellow fan of the All

Leather Goon Show, that Eccles is spelled Eccles and not Echols.Thanx to my electrocution teacher and the BBC.

Kim Mohan�s flattering article about the �true story� of FILE13 was, like most good journalism, mostly true. Actually, I didn�tthink up all those silly names. An early version of the game con-tained blank counters, and players, as they submitted games,wrote their own names on the blanks. Credit must therefore goalso to people like Brian Blume (whose Foxcrap & Bantam gotthe axe), Bob Waldbauer, and an old copy of The StrategicR e v i e w .

And, in conclusion: The way to my bedroom is not throughthe computer room. (I include this correction for the sake of anyinterested single women.) You go through the back porch, entervia the back door, cross the kitchen and the kitty poop room, goup the back stairs, through the back hall, open the door and godown to the end of the main hall. Knock at this point; if there isno answer, take the door on the left, pass through my office, andturn left. I should be in the next room sawing logs.

Moon BaseReviewed by Tony Watson

The date is Oct. 28, 1996. The setting isthe American mining and colonial facili-ties of Moon Base Clavius. Just at Earth-rise, the forces of the Soviet SavyetskayaLunaya Armia attack the installation.Armed with small arms (modified for thelunar environment) and dreaded nuclearmortars, the Soviet troops push back theU.S. Air Force defenders. The siege con-tinues, the attackers ever tightening thering, until Nov. 1 and the landing of theelite U.S. Marine Corps First SpecializedBattalion. Within a few days, the Soviets�morale failed and all Soviet forces outsideEarth surrendered, leaving America thedominant force in space.

While the above paragraph may soundlike something of a neo-conservativedream, it is actually a brief summary ofthe introduction and rationale for TaskForce Games� MOON BASE CLAVIUS.The situation described certainly has thepotential to be a very interesting andexciting game situation. Unfortunately,Clavius fails to deliver on these counts.

The product is typical of Task Force�szip-lock games in its physical aspects.The components include 108 die-cut

Clavius is too basic

Clavius has four scenarios. The first

The game�s mechanics are pretty sim-ple. Since only one type of unit usesground movement, and those pieces arenot in play for most of the game, move-ment is extremely easy to play since ter-rain usually has no effect. In effect, thevast majority of the units in the game canmove 10 hexes a turn. Combat proceduresare more involved and actually somewhatinnovative. Infantry- type units mustattack from adjacent hexes, while mortarsand self-propelled batteries can bombardopponents from two hexes away. Thetotal strength of the attacking units,except for nuclear mortars, is divided bythe number of defending units. Nuclearmortars, if available, are added to thistotal (and thus are very useful units in thegame), and the resultant strength pointtotal is indexed with the type of terrainthe defender occupies to yield a numberthat must be rolled to kill the target. Eachunit in a defending stack is rolled forseparately.

counters, an 18-page rules booklet, and a21� × 16� map. The latter is appropriatelydull, given the terrain in question, and isdone in white and shades of gray, withred for the installations.

three correspond to the main phases ofthe large battle: the initial assault, thefighting around the colonies within theClavius crater, and the landing of theMarines. The fourth scenario is a cam-paign game that links the others together.The shorter games play very quickly (30minutes or so), and the campaign gamecan be knocked off in a couple of hours.

I was a bit disappointed in Clavius.The situation seems to be one that couldbe dealt with in a very exciting manner,

but the game comes off rather flat. Whilethe combat system is nicely crafted, it�snot very decisive, and the game generallyturns into a series of little slugfests.

Some of the more interesting aspects ofthe rules are rendered rather impotent inactual play. For example, the map has anumber of mining installations, but theydo not affect combat or serve as objec-tives. Their main purpose seems to be toanchor the ends of the US. monorail sys-tem � which itself is another problem.Ostensibly, its purpose is to speed theAmerican troops around the map, sincethey can move an unlimited distance perturn on the system. However, the unas-sisted movement rate of a unit usuallyallows it to get where it needs to be with-out the monorail. Also hindering themonorail�s usefulness is the fact thatunits using it cannot enter an enemy zoneof control.

Perhaps the biggest disappointment inthe game is the �big event,� the landingof the Marines. In the third scenario andthe campaign exercise, they arrive withtoo few turns left in the game to be ofmuch use.

The idea behind Clavius is a good one,but the game begs for some chrome,something to spice it up meaningfully.As is, it quickly becomes a dull exercise.

MOON BASE CLAVIUS was designedby Kerry Anderson. It sells for $4.95 inmost game stores.

Grav Armor: A gameto give tanks for

Tanks just never seem to go away inwargaming; the armored fighting vehicleremains the object of a perennial loveaffair with game players. This romancehas fostered such a strong sentimentalattachment that a number of games havestretched the longevity of the tank far intothe future. Titles such as Helltank andthe very populare Ogre spring to mind.

Reviewed by Tony Watson

The latest entry into this derby of futur-isitic AFV games is Heritage�s GRAVARMOR. By many standards, from thesize of units simulated by the counters tothe geomorphic map pieces, GRAVARMOR is �simply� Panzerblitz set inthe 31st century.

This is one of Heritage�s �Dwarfstar�line of pocket-size games. The compo-nents include six card-stock, full color, 4�× 7� geomorphic map pieces, 154 countersin three basic colors, two dice, an infor-mation sheet and a twenty-four-page ruleand scenario book. All the componentsare attractive and of good quality, and inthis respect the game is certainly worth its$5 price tag.

Most of the counters in the game eachrepresent a company, consisting of eitherten vehicles or a hundred infantrymen;other counters are included for fightercraft, cities and forts. The units havequite a variety of ratings on them: elec-tronic warfare value, attack and defensefactors, range and movement points. Inaddition, there is a silhouette and a nota-tion indicating the type of weapon theunit is equipped with. These weaponsinclude missiles, particle beams, gatlinglasers and magnetic bolts, each of whichhas its advantages in certain circum-stance. The countermix includes a sizableselection of models of anti-grav tanks andhovertanks with various combinations of

weaponry, defense, range and EW (elec-tronic warfare) capability.

As mentioned before, the game�s mapsare geomorphic, and with six separatesections, that means an amazing amountof configurations are possible. Five kindsof terrain types are included, but theirexact nature and effect upon play varywith the scenario. For example, hexescontaining green markers could beforests, icefalls, or rough terrain, depend-ing on the scenario being played. Thisrather clever system allows the map tosimulate the surfaces of a host of differentplanets. Each hex is fifty kilometers inscale, so the entire map surface representsa very large area.

GRAV ARMOR uses a rather distinc-tive sequence of play that keeps bothplayers involved throughout the turn.Basically, one player moves while theother fires. The player who is movingdeals with one unit at a time; the firingplayer can halt that unit�s movement andfire at the unit with any unit of his ownthat meets the conditions for combat.This system allows for a high degree ofsimultaneous activity and neat little tacti-cal tricks, such as having one unit drawfire so that other units can rush or bypassa position. It also requires players to con-sider possible attacks beforehand, sinceunits must move into position, bravingenemy attacks, before getting the oppor-tunity to fire themselves.

A unit can fire only at those units thatare both within the firing unit�s rangeand have been detected by that unit.Detection is a function of the firer�s EWrating and the terrain that lies betweenand in the defender�s hex. Each hex has arating for the type of cover it provides; ifthe would-be attacker�s EW rating isgreater than the cover of the interveningterrain, he may attack. The detection con-cept is an odd variation on the more tra-ditional line-of-sight rules used in mosttactical games. However, in GRAVARMOR, the path of fire does not neces-sarily have to be a straight line!

The rules for resolving attacks are sim-ple enough, but manage to consider theimportant factors of terrain, weaponstype, and electronic warfare equipment aswell as attack and defense strengths. Theattacker totals his EW value, his attackfactor and any bonus for weapon type(such as firing particle beams at infantryor hovercraft). The defender subtracts thetotal of his defense value, EW rating, andthe value of the terrain he is in. One caneasily see the importance of a good EWrating; it not only helps in detection ofenemy units, but aids in both attack and

80 MAY 1983

defense. To resolve the attack, the columnrelating to the final differential (rangingfrom -10 to +10) on the results table isconsulted and two dice are thrown to seeif the target is hit. A hit destroys anythingexcept infantry or forts; the former can bedisrupted for one move, while the lattercan take partial damage.

As befits a science-fiction game, GRAVARMOR does include some space forces.The most potent of these are space fight-ers and �ortillery� � orbital artillery.The fighters are represented by countersjust like tank units, and since they canmove anywhere, they are pretty handy lit-tle devils. Ortillery consists of invulnera-ble weapons placed in orbit that can firedown on enemy targets in much the sameway as ground units fire. Rounding outthis section are rules for drop ships tocarry units down from space, jumptroops, and grav descent from orbit forsome armored units.

GRAV ARMOR comes complete withfive scenarios, set on as many worlds, thatpit the forces of the Lerlim Empireagainst the rebels of the PanumaticLeague. One of the weak points of thegame is its lack of context; exactly whothe two sides are and why these battles areimportant is glossed over. Still, the scenar-ios are interesting tactical situations andare reasonably well balanced. The struc-ture of the game would allow for addi-tional scenarios to be constructed fairly

easily. With a little work, enterprisingplayers could even come up with somesimple campaign versions of the game,linking scenarios together.

GRAV ARMOR is not a particularlyinnovative game, but it is certainly solid,well thought out, and quite playable.

lend the game a real tactical feel. Thewealth of different units and the versatil-ity of the maps and terrain rules allow thesimulation a number of different situa-tions on any type of world. While not inthe classic mode of Ogre, GRAVARMOR is certainly a worthy addition to

The catchy graphics, the variety of unittypes, and the unusual move/fire phasing

the genre, and is recommended for thoseinterested in futuristic tank games.

Dragonmaster

A classy-looking card gameDRAGONMASTER, published by

Lowe, a division of Milton Bradley, is afantasy card game for three or four play-ers, ages twelve to adult. Its componentsare of the highest quality, consisting of adeck of thirty-three character cards, fivespecial �hand� cards, one rank-ordercard, four score charts, a thirty-four-pagerule book, sixty plastic �jewels� (repre-senting diamonds, emeralds, rubies, andsapphires), and a cloth drawstring pouchto store the jewels in.

The cards are printed on thick paperstock and are exceptionally handsome.There is one dragon card and four suits,each of which has a king, queen, prince(or princess), wizard, duke, count, baronand fool. Each of these thirty-three cards

Reviewed by Glenn Rahman has individual artwork. The colors arerich; the detail and poses are imaginative,powerful, and evocative. This artwork isthe best selling feature of the game.

The object of the game is to accumu-late the greatest value in jewels after acertain number of hands are played. Athree-player game has fifteen hands; afour-player game has twenty. The dealerof a round is called the Dragonmaster;each round consists of five hands. Thedealer has the first lead, and subsequentlythe lead passes to the player who takes thetrick. The leading player presents a cardof one of the four suits; the other playersmust follow suit if possible. The highest-ranked card of the suit led wins the trick.

The Dragonmaster/dealer examines thecards he has dealt himself, then choosesone of the �hand� cards. This hand card

DRAGON 81

describes certain prohibitions (such as“Don’t take any wizards”). After the firsthand is played, the Dragonmaster selectsa different “hand” card to affect thesecond hand of the round, and so on untilfive hands are played. At that time theDragonmaster/dealership passes to theplayer on the dealer’s left.

These “hand” cards are the key to theaction. Each time any non-dealer takes acard that violates the prohibition in effectduring a hand, he must pay a fine in jew-els to the Dragonmaster. Naturally, theDragonmaster attempts to manipulate thetricks to force as many prohibited cards aspossible on to the other players.

The Advanced game features the addi-tion of a “powerplay” rule. The dragoncard is added to the deck; the player whoreceives the dragon must either discard itor declare that sometime in the round hewill attempt a powerplay. If he chooses todiscard it, the Basic game is played forthat round; if he declares his intention topowerplay, he must during one hand ofthe round select a “hand” card, thereverse side of which describes the termsfor a successful powerplay. (Thesepowerplays are usually a simple inversionof the “hand” card’s basic rule. He might,for instance, opt to try to capture all thewizards during the round). If successful,the player immediately receives a contri-bution of jewels from all the other playersand becomes Dragonmaster for the rest of

Yet, this reviewer is reluctant to com-pletely write off a game of such high pro-duction values. The game’s first-classcomponents can easily be cannibalized foruse in any of a number of sword andsorcery role-playing games — the jewelscan be used for currency, or for awardsgiven by the game master, and the cardscan be used to represent the player char-acters or the NPCs encountered in thecourse of play. Unfortunately, as a gamein itself, DRAGONMASTER cannot berecommended.

Unfortunately, powerplays of any typeare so hard to bring off successfully thatthey are seldom attempted. This is notimportant, however, because even thepowerplay rules cannot disguise the factthat DRAGONMASTER is a bland andsimplistic cardgame. It would have beenfar better had the designers tried to worksome real fantasy features into the courseof play. As it is, there are no duels, noquests, no magic objects, no heroics — inshort, nothing to justify the fantasytheme of this game.

The Expert game is like the Advancedgame, but allows a “secret powerplay”. Ifno player wants to declare a formal pow-erplay, any player (except the Dragon-master) may try to covertly attain the cardrequirements for one of the powerplays,with the same rewards and risks.

the round; if unsuccessful, he pays a fineto the Dragonmaster.

82 MAY 1983

DRAGON 83

4. The publisher reserves the right to refuse advertis-ing for products or services considered to be inappro-priate or unsuitable.

3. If a time period for delivery is specified in an adver-tisement, the advertiser must make every effort to delivermerchandise within that period. If no time period isstated, delivery must take place within 30 days of thetime an order is received. The customer must beinformed of any delay beyond the stated period, andmust be given the option of taking a refund if such adelay is undesirable.

2. Products must be delivered exactly as advertised. Nosubstitutions will be allowed without permission fromthe customer and with the option for a refund.

1. Customer satisfaction must be guaranteed. If a pro-duct is unsatisfactory, the customer must be allowed toreturn it within 10 days for a complete refund.

Federal regulations:

Advertisers who are interested in obtaining space inthe Gamers� Guide should be aware of the followingpolicies and procedures:

The Guide will offer a wide selection of advertise-ments and notices directed specifically at the ever-growing audience of game hobbyists. It will be a placefor growing businesses to tell readers about their wares,and a place for established businesses to publicize pro-ducts of interest to gamers. All of the advertisements inthe Gamers� Guide will be grouped on one or morepages, so that readers and potential customers will get agreat deal of information without having to leafthrough a lot of pages.

Beginning with the June 1983 issue (#74) ofDRAGON� Magazine, our readers and our advertiserswill benefit from a new feature � the Gamers� Guide.

Dragon Publishing rates and policies:Payment for space purchased in the Gamers� Guide

must accompany an advertiser�s insertion order. Sincerates for space in this section already reflect a 20% reduc-tion over regular display rates, no further pre-paymentdiscount is available. Rates are as follows:

Per column inch 1x 6x 12x(column width = 2 5/16�) $52 $48 $44

Sizes available in the Gamers� Guide range incolumn-inch increments from 1 column ×2� (min-imum) to 1 column ×5� (maximum).

All display advertising in the 1/12 page size will bediscontinued effective with issue #74 of DRAGON Mag-azine � except for advertisers who are currently undercontract for display space of that size. In such cases, con-tracts will be honored until they would have normallyexpired.

Advertisers purchasing space in the Gamers� Guidemay not combine it with regular display space for thepurpose of obtaining a greater discount for frequency.

All physical materials for advertisements in theGamers� Guide must be furnished camera-ready. Illus-trations, if any, must be in the form of line drawings.No photographs or illustrations which require halftonereproduction will be allowed.

For information on insertion deadlines or any otherdetails, write or phone Bob Dewey, c/o Robert LaBudde& Associates, Inc., 2640 Golf Road, Glenview IL 60025,phone (312)724-5860.

Index to advertisersName of firm or product Page(s)Adventure Games . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4American Creative Games, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .80Armory, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30,31Avenue Artworks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68Bandersnatch Leathers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58Berkeley Game Co. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88Castle Creations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88Cbaosium Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25,74Chicago Style Products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4Citadel Miniatures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67Columbia Games Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Inside front coverCompanions, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17DB Enterprises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82Dragontooth Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20Dragon Tree Press . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60Dungeon Hobby Shop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66Dungeon Quest Publications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24Dunken Co., The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66EastCon convention . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85Entertainment Concepts, Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77Fantasy Engineers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80Fantasy Games Unlimited . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27,59,82Fantasy Worlds Unlimited . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 0FASA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75Flying Buffalo Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

Name of firm or product Page(s)Fox Games . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5Game Designers� Workshop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19Gamelords, Ltd. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12Gamemaster Hobbies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4Game Systems, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27GEN CON® XVI convention . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87Grenadier Models Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21Gryphon Games . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62Hobby Game Distributors, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .63Indicia Associates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18Iron Crown Enterprises. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Back cover, 1Judges Guild . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68Mayfair Games . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25Middle Hawk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68Order of Maninga, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26Palladium Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83RAFM Co. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35Ral Partha . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73RPGAW Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65Task Force Games . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61Tin Soldier, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12TSR Hobbies, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Inside back coverViking Games Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 1Wizard�s Comer, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 9

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DRAGON 85

Convention schedule

HUNTCON II, June 16-18 � This second convention effort ofthe Dragon Hunters� Guild is sponsored by the Fountain HobbyCenter in Winfield, W. Va. Several AD&D tournaments arescheduled, plus other contests and special events. Admission is $1

X-CON 7, June 10-12 � Author Poul Anderson will be amongthe guests of honor at this SF convention, to be located at theOlympia Spa and Resort in Oconomowoc, Wis. Registration feeis $10 until May 10, $15 thereafter (half price for children under12), payable to X-Con 7 at P.O. Box 7, Milwaukee WI 53201. Aconvention brochure and other information can be obtained bywriting to the above address.

UNICORN I, June 10-12 � The first fantasy gaming conventionever in Lexington, Ky., to be staged at Lexington Catholic HighSchool. For registration information, contact convention coordi-nator Steven J. Isert, c/o Unicorn Adventurers, P.O. Box 12666,Lexington KY 40583.

R. F. MICROCON III, June 10-12 � Sponsored by the ForestGamers Club, to be held at the River Forest Community Center,414 Jackson, River Forest IL 60305. For more information, writeto the above address.

DALLCON �83, June 4-6 � A convention for gamers at the Dun-fey Hotel in Dallas, Texas. For information, write to Dallcon �83,P.O. Box 345125, Dallas TX 75230.

WARGAMERS� WEEKEND, June 3-5 � The seventh annualevent staged by the Newburyport (Mass.) Wargaming Associationand Chris�s Game and Hobby Shop. Pre-registration fee (dead-line June 2) is $2 for Friday, $3 for Saturday or Sunday. Fordetails, contact Chris�s Game and Hobby Shop, 1 Hales Court,Newburyport MA 01950, phone (617)462-8241.

M. I. G. S. IV, May 29 � The fourth annual gamefest sponsoredby the Military Interests and Games Society, slated for theKitchener-Waterloo Regional Police Association RecreationalCentre, RR2, Cambridge, Ontario, Canada. The event will runfrom 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., and admission is free. For information,write to Les Scanlon, President M.I.G.S., 473 Upper WentworthStreet, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada L9A 4T6.

CONQUEST IV+10, May 27-29 � Author Kate Wilhelm will beGuest of Honor at this SF convention, to be staged at HowardJohnson�s Central in Kansas City, MO. Membership fee is $12until April 30, possibly higher thereafter. For details, contactConQuest IV+10, P.O. Box 36212, Kansas City MO 64111.

C. W. I. CON �83, May 20-22 � A gaming event, sponsored byChicago War Gaming Inc., to be held at The Odeum in VillaPark, Ill. Role-playing games, board games, seminars, an auc-tion, and a dealer area will be among the attractions. Moreinformation is available from Chicago War Gaming Inc., P.O.Box 217, Tinley Park IL 66477.

TEXARKON 1983, May 13-15 � A SF/fantasy/gaming conven-tion to be held in Texarkana, Ark. Scheduled guests includeAndrew Offutt, Richard and Wendy Pini, and Robert Asprin.For more information, send SASE to Texarkon, 1021 East 29th,Texarkana AR 75502.

MARCON XVIII, May 13-15 � Author James P. Hogan will beguest of honor at this SF/gaming event at the Quality InnColumbus, 4900 Sinclair Road, Columbus, Ohio. Membershipsare $12.50 until April 15, $15 thereafter. Contact: Marcon XVIII,P.O. Box 2583, Columbus OH 43216, phone (614)497-9953.

86 MAY 1993

per day or $2 for all three days. For more information, send aself-addressed, stamped envelope to Keith Payne, Rt. 1, Box 794,Winfield WV 25213, or call (304)757-9519.

GENGHIS CON V, June 17-19 � A gathering for gamers inDenver, Colo., featuring board games, role-playing games, mini-atures, and computer gaming events. Reasonable on-campushousing is available. For details, contact the Denver GamersAssociation, P.O. Box 2945, Littleton CO 80161, phone(303)798-1404.

KOMMAND CON �83, June 18-19 � At the Ohio NationalGuard Armory in Mansfield, Ohio, this event has something forevery type of gamer. For more information, write to the Kom-mander�s Wargaming Club, P.O. Box 2235, Mansfield OH 44905.

STARS, SPELLS & SHELLS, June 18-19 � A mini-con stagedby the Game Masters� Guild of Waukegan, to be held at the ZionIce Arena in Zion, Ill. Admission is $2 per day or $3.50 for theweekend. Contact the Friends Hobby Shop, 1413 Washington St.,Waukegan IL 60085, or call (312)336-0790 after 2 p.m.

SEAGA �83, June 24-26 � A wide range of gaming activities isscheduled for this event to be held in Norcross, Ga. For informa-tion and registration details, write to SEAGA �83, P.O. Box930031, Norcross GA 30093.

EASTCON, June 24-26 � More than 3,000 gamers are expectedto attend this gathering at Glassboro State College in Glassboro,N. J. The organizing group is a combination of the people whohave helped stage Origins, GEN CON® East, and PennCon con-ventions over the past several years. Seminars, demonstrations,and tournaments will be offered involving most major gamesand gaming activities. The convention also includes many eventsof particular interest to science-fiction enthusiasts. Plenty ofspace for open gaming will be provided, and food and housingare available on the site. For a pre-registration form and moreinformation, send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to EastCon,P.O. Box 139, Middletown NJ 07748.

POLYCON �83, June 24-26 � Sponsored by the Society ofWizards and Warriors of Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, this eventpromises a large variety of games and related activities. Moreinformation can be obtained by writing to the Society of Wizardsand Warriors, P.O. Box 168, Julian A. McPhee U.U., Cal Poly,San Luis Obispo CA 93407.

TEXCON 1983, July 2-4 � An extensive schedule of games andrelated events will be offered at this convention in Austin, Tex.For details, send SASE to David Ladyman, 8028 Gessner #1805,Austin TX 78753.

ARCHON 7, July 8-10 � A SF and gaming convention slatedfor the Chase Park Plaza Hotel in St. Louis, MO. Gene Wolfewill be Guest of Honor, and the list of other guests includesnames such as Joe R. Haldeman, Ed Bryant, and Wilson �Bob�Tucker. Memberships are $12 until June 1, $18 thereafter. Topreregister or obtain more information, write to Archon 7, P.O.Box 15852, Overland MO 63114.

NANCON 88-VI, July 29-31 � Another running of the conven-tion that has become a tradition in the Houston area. To be heldat Stouffer�s Greenway Plaza Hotel in Houston, and featuring afull range of role-playing, board game, and miniatures events,plus more. For further information, send SASE to Nan�s GameHeadquarters, 118 Briargrove Center, 6100 Westheimer, HoustonTX 77057, or call (713)783-4055.

DRAGON 87

(From page 4)(volume) of effect. It�s our feeling that Mr.Gygax meant for the area of effect to bereduced from one cubic yard to one cubic foot,which should have been stated as a factor of 27instead of a factor of nine. � KM

Just one more tideDear Editor:

I feel that some further clarification of tidesas set forth in David Axler�s article (issue #68)and commented on by Jonathan Roberts (issue#70) is called for. First of all, my experience asa seagoing officer in the U.S. Coast Guardcaused me to cringe upon reading Mr. Roberts�comment that �. . . anyone who�s spent timenear or in the ocean knows that there are twohigh tides each day.� I�ve spent considerabletime �on or near the ocean,� and I know thatnot all areas experience the semidiurnal tidepattern he is obviously familiar with. Thelunar gravitational effects he describes areaccurate as far as he has taken them.

If lunar gravitational effects were the onlyforces affecting a planet surrounded by anenvelope of water having a uniform depth, wemight expect to see the textbook semidiurnaltide pattern described by Mr. Roberts. Tides,however, have not read the textbook. They areinfluenced by the gravitational effects of notonly the moon, but also the sun, acting in con-junction with the centrifugal force arisingfrom the earth�s rotation. They are further dis-torted by the ocean basins and their continen-tal boundaries. This gives rise to not one, but

However, there are two other recognizedpatterns known as diurnal and mixed tides. Inhis article on weather, Mr. Axler described adiurnal tide pattern. This pattern is observedalong the northern shore of the Gulf of Mex-ico, the Java Sea, and the Tonkin Gulf. Theseareas experience only a single high and a sin-gle low water each day. A mixed tide is a blendof semidiurnal and diurnal tides, characterizedby large variations in heights of successivehigh and low waters. Its tide cycles are alsolonger than the semidiurnal cycle. Mixedcycles may be observed on the U.S. Pacificcoast and many Pacific islands.

three recognized tide patterns. Mr. Axler�s tidepattern description could easily be accurate,and would not necessarily have to conform toMr. Roberts� experience. A good explanationof tides is given in Chapter 11 of Marine Navi-gation I: Piloting, by Richard R. Hobbs.

Dan Laliberte. Miami, Fla.

Art advocateIn issue #71 of DRAGON, I especially

enjoyed the Deities & Demigods of the Worldof Greyhawk. I was also greatly impressed bythe artwork that accompanied the article. Mr.Easley did an outstanding job. His drawingsmade me think to myself, �Not only does thismagazine include an abundance of relevantgame playing information, but it also featuressome of the more outstanding artwork andillustrations in magazines such as this one.� Iwould like to commend Mr. Easley, Mr.Trampier, and the many others who havedrawn for DRAGON, for their visual contribu-tions. After all, some pictures are worth morethan a thousand words.

Dear Editor:

Jim ParksLebanon, Tenn.

Our sentiments exactly, Jim. Illustrationscan be and should be more than just stuff thatfills the spaces between blocks of type. We�reproud of the artwork we use � and of the peo-ple who create it � and it makes all of us feel alot better when we know people are noticingand appreciating the pictures we print. � KM

88 MAY 1983

1983 Strategists Club Awards

Readers of DRAGON� Magazine are invited to casttheir votes for the most deserving entry in each ofseven categories. The award recipients will beannounced at the Strategists Club Banquet, to beheld on the evening of Thursday, Aug. 18, at theGEN CON® XVI Convention.

For the ninth consecutive year, Dragon Publishingwill honor outstanding members of the hobby gam-ing industry by presenting the Strategists ClubAwards. And, as always, we need your help todetermine who the award winners will be.

Only new products released during 1982 are consid-ered eligible for the 1983 Strategists Club Awards.This does not include second (or subsequent) print-ings, or re-releases of products which were firstmade available in 1981 or earlier.

After all eligible ballots have been counted, six willbe picked in a random drawing, and the voters whofilled out those ballots will receive free one-year sub-scriptions to DRAGON Magazine. (Winners whoare subscribers at the time of the drawing willreceive extensions on their current subscriptions.)

This printed form need not be used to vote if you�d rathernot damage your copy of DRAGON Magazine; a photo-copy or a reasonable facsimile (handwritten or typewrit-ten) of the ballot is acceptable. Only one person can vote

The seven categories in which Strategists Club Awardswill be given are listed and described below, along withshort definitions (when necessary) of what sorts of pro-ducts qualify for those categories. Write the name (and themanufacturer, if you know it) of the product(s) you wishto vote for in the space(s) provided � and note that it isnot necessary to vote for a product in every category.

on a single ballot, and each voter is only allowed to turnin one ballot. Every ballot must include the voter�s signa-ture and mailing address. Illegible or improperly markedballots will be discarded as soon as they are received.

Mail your ballot to Strategists Club Awards, c/o DragonPublishing, P.O. Box 110, Lake Geneva WI 53147. Do notinclude a ballot in the same envelope with any other cor-respondence. Ballots must be postmarked no later thanAug. 1, 1983, in order to be eligible for the tabulation andin order for the voter to be eligible for the drawing for freesubscriptions to DRAGON Magazine.

OUTSTANDING BOARD GAMEFor any game designed to utilize a playing surface to regu-late or record position or movement of playing pieces dur-ing play � not including games which have a playingsurface but use such a surface only as a graphic device orvisual aid:

OUTSTANDING GAME PLAY-AIDFor any product designed to assist, expand, or otherwisefacilitate the playing of an existing game (excluding mag-azines, newsletters, and other periodical publications):

OUTSTANDING ROLE-PLAYING GAMEFor any game designed to require role-playing on the partof game participants, and which does not need a playingsurface (like that of a board game) to be played:

OUTSTANDING GAME, OPEN CATEGORYFor any game which does not qualify for either the BoardGame or Role-Playing Game category:

OUTSTANDING MINIATURES RULES:

OUTSTANDING MINIATURE FIGURE LINEFor any line of figures for which the entire line or themajor portion of it was released in 1982:

OUTSTANDING GAMING MAGAZINE

Name:

Address:

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