New issue, same me. We start things quite nicely with a pretty damn cool cover that seems to depict a warrior in cave with a red moon in the background. Pretty gothic. This issue packs a large and interesting variety of content, pretty much having a little of everything. It was actually quite entertaining and has some cool and interesting reads that give you nice ideas for your games. While there’s some self-hugging here and there with the praise towards the DMG and TSR, by them, I still liked it and enjoyed this one. A solid 4 out of 5 in entertainment and education. Heh.
Miniatures, nothing really caught my eye this time.
There are some interesting ads, like the one for Imagination and Stellar Conquest, as well as a large list of upcoming games on page 49, including a game of Dune by Avalon Hill. The comic strips are solid, as usual. I always enjoy the ones featuring dragons.
Content:
Dragon Rumbles: Well, this time Kask seems to open up a bit, with some issues that still plague us every once in a while. He mentions how wargamers/gamers in general are, to the eyes of the mainstream public, ‘weird’ or ‘strange’, and how we should try to at least look less intimidating to the average viewer. Wearing SS uniforms trying to roleplay as a WW2 German officer is probably not the brightest of ideas. I wonder if some serious occurrence happened that made him reflect about this. Today, D&D has become mainstream, while the TTRPG field is still not there, it seems it might reach it. Once, this all seemed like a dream. Where I live, it still is a fantasy. I’m probably not even exaggerating when I say I might be the only person in my entire 100,000 population city to own the 3 main 5E books. Why? Because D&D is expensive, because translations are not common, bilingual people are very rare, there’s only two or three hobby stores in the entire country, and most people are too worried about surviving the day than surviving a TTPK. It is a strange hobby, one that is probably shunned still thanks to some religious bias. Kask also mentions how a good friend of his always looks forward to the next issue of Dragon, even when he doesn’t even play. I think I could get myself around those shoes. I love D&D, RPGs, and fantasy in general, but I don’t have the luck to play. I’ve had a party, and even formed a club, but people either don’t care or outright dislike it. If I’m lucky, I get to play once a month, otherwise is once every semester. It is a hard time and a hard place to love this hobby, thus, I entertain myself by swimming across the ocean of content. I wish I could play it more, but it’s just not that viable, more than a wish.
The Politics of Hell: By Alexander von Thorn. Now here’s the kind of content that would get D&D banned in most households back in the 70s. My kind! Well, this is an interesting article that retells the typical story of Satan and God with a more fantasy-esque tint and some changes. It follows the basic premise but adds more depth to the forces of hell. In a nutshell: Satan rebels against God, prefers Hell, creates its own rule, commands demons, and makes humanity suffer. Some other demons rebel against him le by Beelzebub and then more demons rebel against Beelzebub, led by Asmodeus. The writing is a bit too rustic and tongue-in-cheek, but the story is alright. The article also includes a large list of ‘VIPs’ devils, including Satan, Belial and Astaroth. Overall, a very edgy article but a nice one. The illustration on page 3 is perfect for an early Slayer album.
The Dungeon Masters Guide and a Few Words: By Jake Jaquet. A interview and developers note plus some reviews by different members of staff our outside TSR. It doesn’t really offer anything that new that most AD&D fans know already, other than the way Gary Gygax thinks about his game and how he wanted to design. Mostly, he says that the main goal in creating AD&D was that he felt D&D was designed for a different audience that actually played the game, plus he wanted to create a tighter, sturdier framework with AD&D. There’re also some comments about how the conversion of D&D games to AD&D games is one that’s difficult and probably too complex to try. Don’t know exactly how true that is, but the two games do differ a lot, and it seems that OD&D/Basic was the more relaxing and open version, compared to the more rule-heavy AD&D. The reviews are pretty much positive, of course, and it’s just a lot of praise and some weird nitpicks, like elves being too frivolous.
A Short Course In D&D: By Dan Bromberg. An awesome little report about how a student kickstarted a D&D course in his school, that soon evolved into a complete club full of awesome activities, mostly designed around teaching newcomers how to play D&D properly. They organized tournaments where the best players was the one that evolved the most or was the most helpful. Some issues included PC’s death, since it was a course, when a PC died, the player couldn’t just leave, so the organizers created an special dungeon for all the death players to go into, but when that became filled, they had to split between groups, until settling with allowing players to bring to PCs and switch to their servants in case their PCs died. Honestly, a very lovely and cool idea, and fantastic to think a school would allow and even endorse this, considering they created their own club and even had a small fund gathered by a club subscription of $1.50. Cool stuff.
The Cavalry Plain at Austerlitz: By Bill Fawcett. A story article retelling the Battle of Austerlitz with emphasis in cavalry. Personally, I’ve never been that interested in modern period battles between 1,700 and 1,800, such as the mighty Napoleonic Wars. I guess is mostly the style and way that battles took place that never really attracted me that much.
Simulating the Cavalry Plain: By Bill Fawcett. A companion to the previous article but this time with rules, mechanics, and tips on how to bring the battle into a wargame.
EVIL: Law vs Chaos: By Gary Gygax. An explanation of the different evil alignments in Gary’s system. It gives some examples as to what chaos and law are in the evil spectrum, for example: Lawful evil believes that the only way to impose the tyranny of their alignment over all creation is to follow an ordered course of action. And he says that chaos is more engrained in the players personality rather than the alignment of their actions in game. While lawful sees an order and purpose in their actions, chaos sees the actions as the end of things, the purpose of it: to just make suffer. It entertains, and that’s purpose enough for chaos. Oh, and evil alignments aren’t necessarily related to the idea of Hell. A player might create an evil empire that follows its own purposes and motivations, rather than just trying to satisfy or work to the precepts of Hell realms. Interesting read!
Six Guns & Sorcery: By Allen Hammack. Ever wanted to give your fantasy D&D adventures a more western style, with guns and all? Well now you can. Here’s some rules and conversions that you can use to spice your setting and give it some cowboy flair. A disclaimer states that this section is part of the AD&D Dungeon Masters Guide, so this is, indeed, official.
Fantasysmith’s Notebook: By Phil Neuscheler. Ah! Just what I was thinking about. A little guide for miniature enthusiasts. This is the basic of basics, including terminology and how to use your miniatures. It also includes a little list of miniature stores where you can find different kinds of figures. Awesome stuff!
Armies of the Renaissance: By Nick Nascati. The fourth part in the series, this time focusing on the English army during the renaissance era. Something interesting: The English highly neglected their cavalry and instead opted for infantry, especially archers.
Elvish Tactics in Fantasy Miniatures: By Lance Harrop. Lovely article about how to possibly use your elvish armies in a wargame, from organization, formations and type of soldiers, and their different attributes and general tactics. It also includes a painting guide. Quite nice. Since elves aren’t real (heh), you can theorize a lot about the kind of tactics or general strategies they use, so this is a good way to give you some ideas.
Up on a Soap Box: CONVENTIONS: THE MANUFACTURER’S VIEW: By Gary Gygax. A more technical article about what goes behind in conventions, from organization to expenses. TL;DR: Conventions are hard, man. Imagine having to coordinate 60,000 people in a modern day con across a week. Makes me shudder. I want to try it.
Out On A Limb: And the letters. First letter is by Lee J. Struglia, complaining about back issues availability. The answer is pretty simple: Dragon simply doesn’t have the numbers to maintain back issues. And dear gods, I’m so happy that the entire collection managed to be preserved in PDF. How many other thousands magazines are still forgotten, gathering dust? The next letter is by The Big MAK, demanding some changes be made to Cross of Iron, the wargame. Kask answer is just: Not much I can add to this . . . any dissenters? I thought that was funny. Next one is by Ted Purves, regarding a previous article about Metamorphosis Alpha and animals with weapons control and how this actually makes them less interesting and generic than animals that can’t use weapons and instead use their own bodies. Kask agrees with this comment. Next and last one is by Marc Jacobs, a huge rant about damage permanency and forgetting spells. He’s mad about this. I wonder if he knows that Dragon material is, well, supposed to be supplements and not obligations? Kask pretty much tells him this. D&D is not a strict rule system, you can and should use it as a guideline and modify it as a you see fit. And some other stuff.
Convention Schedule 1979: Edain Rally II (August 4), GENCON XII (August 16-19), WVU Simulation Games Con (September 29-30), WINTERCON VIII (November 16-18), WarCon ‘80 (February 1-3,1980), Simcon II (March 22-23, 1980).
GenCon XII Status Report: Gas is $1.00 a gallon. Wouldn’t it be nice? Anyway. Just a little update on where and how to get to GenCon and the events, sadly, the Avalon Hill Classic has to be discarded due to a lack of judges.
The Awful Green Things From Outer Space: By Tom Wham. The promised boardgame. It’s pretty much that Snits game in style but slightly more RPG-like, with inventory management and more rolls. Two players can play. One represents the Awful Green Things, while the other takes on the crew. Not my kind of game but sounds fun for a little of cartoonish gaming.
Bazaar of the Bizarre: By Len Lakofka. A selection of new magical items to use in your games: The POTIONS OF FORGETFULNESS, RINGS OF SILENCE, HORN OF HADIES, APPARATUS OF SPIKEY OWNS, BOOK OF A MAGIC USER (that’s a generic name) and LEOMUNDS PLATE & CUP. Out of all, I think the Horn of Hadies sounds quite cool. It allows you to summon 1-4 lesser devils or 1 greater devil, and the devil is bound to obey you for 1-6 hours, unless he’s attacked or forced to give up treasure.
Level Progression for Players and Dungeon Masters: By Jon Mattson. An alternate way to level up, instead of your PCs, you, as a player. It’s pretty much a vanity title… and I love those things haha. It has different XP according to the games and deeds you make, for both players and DMs. According to this chart, I’d be a… 0 level, because I’ve never played OD&D or AD&D. Dammit. This is the kind of OCD thing that makes my gears grind. Love/hate it.
Giants in the Earth: By Lawrence Schick and Tom Moldvay. We continue with this little feature. This time we have Eric John Stark and Northounds, from the Eric John Stark series by Leigh Brackett and we have Welleran by Lord Dusany. Reading this feature makes me realize I know shit about old/classic pulp characters from fantasy.
Monty Strikes Back: By James M. Ward. And another report-turn-story feature by Ward. If I’m being honest, I didn’t feel like reading this. I just don’t enjoy them and the drag on for a while. This Monty guy is like the most extraordinaire and creative DM ever, and the gimmick has already started to wear out. It’s pretty much the adage of: ‘Ah! Bet you didn’t expected that *evil laugh*.’ I’m not even sure if it’s actually based on a real game, or maybe just a fictionalized series of meta stories. If it’s indeed real, well, at least they sound like fun games.
Game Review: Divine Right: By Tim Kask. Yeah. This is a positive review, what the hell did you expect? Kask argues that he’s qualified because TSR Periodicals is a different entity from TSR Hobbies… yeah right, I don’t think the bias ends there. But still, Divine Right is a good game and is beautifully presented. So, it looks like.
Book Review: America B.C.: Ancient Settlers in the New World: By Barry Fell. Well, according to the reviewer, this book claims that the Vikings weren’t the first ones to come into contact with the Americas, but that many other before them did, including the Egyptians. The reviewer believes this and makes sure to note a lot of dates and facts to sound more verifiable. However, a little bit of research seems to show that this book is considered to be, by most reliable historians and archeologist, well, pretty unfounded, almost falling into conspiracy-like. It does sound, sketchy, to say the least. Kinda says something that the 2nd source cite out of three in Wikipedia is actually from a fantasy magazine, this one.
Dragon’s Bestiary: Slinger: Well, it’s a bit sad that there are no illustrations for the latest creature features, but still. Here’s the slinger. This is an iguana with a lot of tricks, attacks and even tips on how to react to a slinger. There’s also a disclaimer that states that all the creatures in Dragon’s Bestiary are to be considered official, ladies and gents. I can already see some people sending complaints because of this, somehow.
Endless Questing 