Dragon #98

Allegory by Denis Beauvais

This might be my favorite piece of art so far from 1985. There is a lot going on here. You could spend a lot of time looking at this and not catching all the details. My favorite little nods are probably the iquanas in the lower center. Though, that princess in the top left, is an interesting point of focus. Is she a prisoner in some kind of magic cage? Is she teleporting in to the wrong place? The right place? Is she even a princess? Is she a wizardress? No clue, but good art makes you think.

Tailor-made treasure - Roger E. Moore

This entire article takes the idea of dragon’s treasure and reimagines it. How do dragons acquire treasure? How do they get treasure to their lairs? It’s not like a dragon can just pick up 100,000 gold pieces in his hands, and fly it back to his lair. There is also a small section on role-playing a dragon. I like this article a lot. It one of those evergreen articles that transcends games, eras and editions.
Seriously, I know PC’s are heroes, but have you ever thought how hard it would be to actually kill a dragon? It’s an almost impossible task. This is one that that the various TSR novels do a really good job at exploring. Killing a dragon is a damn hard thing to do. Even the mighty Drizzt couldn’t kill Icingdeath in a straight up sword fight.

Think back to Tolkien, did anyone ever kill a dragon in a fair fight? Not that I am aware of.

The Magic of dragon teeth - Gregg Chamberlain

An interesting idea on how you can use dragon teeth to create magical warriors. It is an interesting idea. I have never liked the idea of slaying a dragon, grabbing the treasure and leaving the entire carcass to rot. I always questioned why dragon meat was not more of a staple of high level adventurers meal plans. Why kill a dragon? I mean sure, they kill and slaughter and maim, and are generally evil. But still why not make use of all that carcass? The author gives details on finding enchanted dragon teeth, enchanting dragon teeth, and how to use them. An evergreen article that can be used for any RPG that has dragons to slay.

Dragon Damage Revised - Leonard Carpenter

Do young dragons deal as much damage as ancient dragons? Of course not. A smaller dragon would be less deadly than a larger one. I don’t think so. I never played 1st edition of AD&D, and I didn’t realize that they didn’t give different damage classes for different age groups. Needless to say this was corrected in the 2nd edition Monster Manual. Since this is the ultimate edition of AD&D, you probably need this to fight dragons.

The dragons of Krynn - Roger E. Moore

So far in the Dragonlance saga, we only have two books, and a half-dozen modules. So if you wanted to play a different campaign on the continent of Ansalon, you need more information. This is a continuing theme this year, trying to flesh out the world of Krynn. Now we have all the rich lore and history in book form, but this was a great little article that gave you some much needed information.

Creative magic items - Ken Hughes

Why limit yourself to rings of protection +1, when you can have a brooch of protection +1? Why use a crystal ball, when a shield of crystal ball would work just as well, and be useful for other things as well. Take existing magic items, turn them into new magic items, and surprise your PCs. It’s actually not a bad idea. Ever green, and could be used today.

Detailing a fantasy world - Jim Dutton

This is the 2nd of articles detailing how Entertainment Concepts Inc. set up the first PBM campaign for the AD&D game. This is a really good article for new DM’s and could be useful for old DM’s too who are looking for creating a new campaign world. I enjoyed it. It helped me learn some new things.

It’s a neat idea, but … Not just a gimmick - John C. Bunnell

A review of the first two Dragons of books that set up the entire world of Krynn. I’ve said it in a previous article, but I’ll say it again. I still love these books. I just reread them this year, and I think they still hold up. They are not just an adventure in a book, but a well detailed world with characters that are believable and grow and change through their adventures in the world. If you are interested in what people were saying, read this article, if not, skip it. I enjoyed reading about it, as a part of the historical record.

Knowing what’s in store - Dave Rosene

Part article, part short story, it can help you to decide just what PC’s could find in a town. Smaller towns would clearly have less variety, possibly not even carry swords at the local blacksmith. Another evergreen article that can really help to differentiate your campaign world from the average one.

Auctions aren’t forbidding - Tim Stabosz

I haven’t been to a convention ever. So I have no idea if auctions are still a thing or not. The ideas covered herein though, do work for the modern auction sites like Ebay. Though we do have a lot more real-time information today. The basic idea is know what you want, how much it might actually be worth, and how much you are willing to spend on it.

Mutant Manual - Various

Do you play Gamma World? Do you need giant floating whales? Giant squids? Of course you do. It would be worth printing this out, and adding some new ideas to your old games of Gamma World.

Authentic agencies, part II - Merle and Jackie Rasmussen

More real life agencies for the Top Secret RPG. This one covers the foreign agencies. Some interesting ideas.

The Forging of Fear - Ardath Mayhar

This was a really good little short story about the little guy really getting the big guy. Highly recommend. It was well written and the twist was good.

The Volturnus Connection - Stephen Bonario

If you played the Volturnus series for Star Frontiers, this article is all about the background that you can use to allow the player’s to venture out from there and create a more comprehensive world for them to adventure in. This is a setting that could be used for multiple game systems. There is no real stats, just a bunch of fluff. Not a bad article.

When History Goes Awry - Mark Acres

Have you ever wanted to play a time hopping system that allows players to change history? This is the article for you. It was written for the Timemaster RPG, but the underlying principles could work for multiple games.

Alone against the Asterioid - Stephan James

There was apparently a game called The Asteroid from GDW. I have never heard of it, but if you wanted to play it solo, this is the article for you.

I find the idea of solo play being developed all those years ago as fascinating. So many games these day after the Pandemic are really leaning into allowing you to play solo. It is good to know that this has always been a problem in the gaming world.

Return to the Viper’s Pit - Kim Eastland

Errata for the Pit of the Viper for the MARVEL SUPER HEROES game. Will be useful if you wanted to run some of those old modules.

The MARVEL-Phile - Jeff Grubb

This is a lit of all the heroes and villains that had been detailed at this point in time, and what book/boxed set they came in. Again, useful if you wanted to run the old TSR MARVEL SUPER HEROES.