Dragon Reflections #63

Dragon Publishing released Dragon issue 63 in July 1982. It is 84 pages long and has a cover price of $3.00. In this issue, we have bandits, barbarians, and an adventure by Larry DiTillio!

Dragon Publishing released Dragon issue 63 in July 1982. It is 84 pages long and has a cover price of $3.00. In this issue, we have bandits, barbarians, and an adventure by Larry DiTillio!

Drmg063_Page_01.jpg

This month's special attraction is "Chagmat," an AD&D adventure by Larry DiTillio. Spider creatures called the chagmat have kidnapped several women from the village, and the characters must invade an ancient temple to retrieve them. The setup may sound conventional, but the execution is excellent. The temple is well-realized, with many intriguing ideas and fun tricks. My only significant complaint is verbosity. You would have a peerless one-shot adventure if the text were more concise.

Let's have a look at the other features! First is "Where the bandits are," a 1-page overview of the Bandit Kingdoms in the World of Greyhawk. Unfortunately, there is no byline, but it is likely by Gary Gygax or Rob Kuntz.

"A shifty character for your campaign" by Tom Armstrong and Roger Moore introduces the Bandit NPC class. The result is like a fighter/thief with a few of the ranger's outdoor skills thrown in. However, it's not very interesting compared to some of the NPC classes in previous issues.

"Point of View: the humanoids" by Roger Moore describes the "goals and gods" of the kobolds, goblins, hobgoblins, & gnolls. It introduces the deity Kurtulmak and supplies new information about the gods Maglubiyet and Yeenoghu. This article is the last of the "Point of View" series and is slightly more abbreviated than previous entries. Even so, it was still highly influential.

In "Plan before you play," Ed Greenwood encourages DMs to create their own campaign worlds and take the trouble to define things such as politics, trade routes, and social customs. He gives an extended example of world-building with lots of advice. It's all solid, though my preference for world design is a "bottom-up" approach where you start small and grow as needed.

"Jolly good gaming journals" by Gary Gygax is a brief review of two amateur British gaming journals. Dragon Lords is "a well done amateur effort which seems bent on improving itself and the hobby," while Thunderstruck is "solidly aimed at providing material to aid in running campaigns."

Gygax also reviews two movies in "A couple of fantastic flops." Conan the barbarian was "a great disappointment," while The Sword & The Sorcerer "wasn't all that much better." He takes the opportunity to hype the planned Dungeons & Dragons movie, due "sometime in late 1984 or 1985."

In "Computer games have a way to go," Michael B. Bentley reflects on the state of computer game development using what is presumably an alter-ego, Fibber McGee. It is an idiosyncratic piece that ends with the specification for a generic "Game Master's Helper" - a goal essentially realized with modern online campaign organizers.

Following this piece is "The Electric Eye" by Mark Herro, which contains a listing for a Top Secret character generator. This article is the last one in the series and appears to be Herro's final published contribution to the hobby.

"For the sake of change" by David Nallo provides a concise history of coinage in the western world. It's a little dry but is valuable grist for the world-building mill.

On to the regular offerings! "Featured Creatures" by Gary Gygax makes its debut in this issue and will include new monsters from the upcoming Monster Manual II. This time around, Gygax presents the Movanic, Monadic, and Astral Devas.

Also by Gygax is "The big, bad barbarian," which introduces the eponymous class to the game. The barbarian later appeared in Imagine magazine and was published in Unearthed Arcana.

"Greyhawk's World" by Rob Kuntz describes recent events in the eastern and southern Flanaess. It's unclear whether these reflected the ongoing Lake Geneva campaign or were manufactured by Kuntz.

"Leomund's Tiny Hut" is back, with Len Lakofka discussing Charisma. He presents tables that derive characteristics such as facial appearance and vocal quality from a PC's Charisma score and also suggests how it might interact with spells and psionics.

"Dragon's Augury" contains a single review by Tony Watson. Simba Safari, a Traveller adventure from Judges Guild, is "one of the better Judges Guild projects of recent vintage, despite some weaknesses in characterization and animal descriptions."

This month's cover was by James Warhola. Interior artists include Phil Foglio, Paul Sonju, Roger Raupp, Darlene Pekul, David Trampier, Steve Peregrine, Bruce Whitefield, Jim Holloway, Don Polcino, David Larson, and Ataniel A. Noel.

And that's a wrap! Another substantial issue, with my favorite article being the new barbarian class. Next month, we have new weapons, the assassin's run, and a game by Tom Wham!
 

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M.T. Black

M.T. Black


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If Dmsguild let you rewrite a module, rather than update it, there are a ton that could be fixed, shortened, etc. This is one.

I'd gladly give them 50% of the profits if they did a licensing agreement that let me rewrite older stuff. Give everyone who wants it a Crack at the back catalog. Like covering a song.

Sure we would get a million crappy versions of Keep on the Boarderlands and Secret of Saltmarsh but also hundreds of great ones.
 


Zaukrie

New Publisher
I'd gladly give them 50% of the profits if they did a licensing agreement that let me rewrite older stuff. Give everyone who wants it a Crack at the back catalog. Like covering a song.

Sure we would get a million crappy versions of Keep on the Boarderlands and Secret of Saltmarsh but also hundreds of great ones.
Agreed. I don't get it.
 

Whizbang Dustyboots

Gnometown Hero
Agreed. I don't get it.
I suspect the OGL fiasco gives a glimpse into the minds of at least some people at WotC, which presumably includes "but what if they make a better version of Keep on the Borderlands and only give us 50% of the revenue via DMs Guild?"

Which is stupid for a lot of reasons, not the least of which is that they can pull the book off DMs Guild, strike a deal with the creator and publish it themselves for a bigger cut if they wanted to.

Honestly, when the dust settles and they maybe have someone more interested in open content (I don't agree with Matt Colville -- it's too soon to know how this all ends), maybe someone will finally open up all the settings they're never going to use this edition and declare large swaths of the content free to remix. (Thunder Rift, for instance, seems an ideal mini-setting to let people expand, especially if they required it to remain an on-ramp for new players and characters.)
 

Zaukrie

New Publisher
I suspect the OGL fiasco gives a glimpse into the minds of at least some people at WotC, which presumably includes "but what if they make a better version of Keep on the Borderlands and only give us 50% of the revenue via DMs Guild?"

Which is stupid for a lot of reasons, not the least of which is that they can pull the book off DMs Guild, strike a deal with the creator and publish it themselves for a bigger cut if they wanted to.

Honestly, when the dust settles and they maybe have someone more interested in open content (I don't agree with Matt Colville -- it's too soon to know how this all ends), maybe someone will finally open up all the settings they're never going to use this edition and declare large swaths of the content free to remix. (Thunder Rift, for instance, seems an ideal mini-setting to let people expand, especially if they required it to remain an on-ramp for new players and characters.)
I'd like a good version compiling all the Chaos Scar. Or Nentir Valley.
 


Zaukrie

New Publisher
I'd like a good version compiling all the Chaos Scar. Or Nentir Valley.
If I thought it would sell, I'd update all the chaos scar adventures. My novel(s) (not good enough to publish, yet) take place in a world where "godstars" fall from the sky and bad stuff ensues....
 

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