The Classic Dragon Reviews - Take 2
- Thread starter Glyfair
- Start date
Mycanid
First Post
Ah ha ... I see the world's greatest thief has acquired a very valuable horde over the years. Do keep up the reviews. We in the Underdark are attentive, amused and informed all at the same time. 
Oh yes ... my first Dragon magazines we read in the high school library in 9th grade. I had no idea they existed before then. And we also had a copier back then....
Oh yes ... my first Dragon magazines we read in the high school library in 9th grade. I had no idea they existed before then. And we also had a copier back then....
Quasqueton
First Post
More proof that the more things change, the more things are the same. Thanks for continuing these threads Glyfair.
It is amazing how "grognards" now adays complain about things being different or changing away from the old ways, when in fact the very things they complain about are actually the same as or are changing back to the old ways.
Quasqueton
It is amazing how "grognards" now adays complain about things being different or changing away from the old ways, when in fact the very things they complain about are actually the same as or are changing back to the old ways.
Quasqueton
Last edited:
Glyfair
Explorer
The Dragon #18 Sept 1978
In "Dragon Rumbles" Tim Kask covers Origins '78. He mentions it's human nature to focus on the negative aspects in the short term, and the positive in the long term. He stays true to this by mentioning the low points. He does stress that he felt the staff did a fine job, and most felt the low lights were minor. He mentions next issue will cover the D&D events will be covered next issue, but that the winning squad had two females on it.
He mentions next years would be in Philadelphia (I wish I had been aware of this con that year, it's only an hour from me). In a quote that is near and dear to me he says; "I can only hope that Origins stays on the East Coast for a few years. There is no need for both Origins and GenCon to be in the Midwest. In fact, I feel it is detrimental to both cons to be held so near to each other and so close together in time." I understand the logisitics issues, but in practice, you get the same people who can make both conventions (although many don't make both). With WotC pulling out of Origins, I can only think finding a new area can only help differentiate them from GenCon.
He lists the H.G. Wells and Charles Roberts award winners. Notably, D&D wins both "All-time best roleplaying rules," "Greatest Contribution to the Hobby, Game or rules 1967-1977" and is inducted into the Hall of Fame along with Empire. Dragon wins best professional magazine (Space Gamer wins best semiprofessional magazine).
In keeping with this era of The Dragon, we have major coverage of a non-TSR game with "Traveller: The Strategy of Survival." It starts with an anecdote that's common in all games with random character generation, he meets someone complaining about having a UPP of 375A99 (in Travellar you would string stats together in order, converting numbers of 10 into letters, thus the A being a 10 - IIRC, the range to start with 2-12 but my memory is fuzzy). He stands aghast at this. He uses this example to point out how to use the stats to create a character, and the finer points of character generation in Traveller. This very thorough article takes up slightly over 2 pages. A lot of detail on using the character generation system, and using it to build up a character's history (with little mention of what to do when you die in the character generation).
This article is followed with a review of Traveller. It's very positive and comments on how much it differs from other RPGs at this time. Also reviewed is Imperium (a board game also from GDW) and The Emerald Tablet (a set of miniature rules), Pellic Quest (a computer moderated roleplaying game, who would have thought?) and Cosmic Encounter (he likes it, but warns that the science fiction element is mostly just "patina"). Later in the issue we have a review of Alpha Omega (a Buck Rogers like strategy game)l.
In a D&D Variant article with have "Insanity, or why is my character eating leaves?" It introduces a saving throw for insanity and charts (of course) to determine what sort of insanity you have. This is years before Call of Cthulhu would make a lasting effect in this area.
Another D&D Variant article, "New Spells for D&D: Cure for an ailing campaign or Killer of a Healthy one?" a list of spells created by the spell research ability from the author's campaign is given. While the title would make it seem this would be about the viability and balancing of this factor in a campaign, in fact the only discussion of this is in an added editor's note.
"Magic: Governed by the Laws of Theory" gives the Game Design forum an interesting discussion of the various magic theories (the law of contagion, similarity, etc) and using them within the game.
The Design Forum gives us "Let Your Town Have a Purpose, or, How to Design a Town in Boot Hill." A basic "dungeon building" type article, it gives advice on which buildings to create, and how to lay them out. Later we have a charticle giving birth tables for Boot Hill.
A D&D Variant article, "The Chamber of the Godgame" gives us a puzzle/trap that is inspired by a novel (John Fowles' The Magus) with apparently a dungeoneering feel to it.
Jim Ward and Gary Jacquet take over "From the Sorcerer's Scroll" to give us "Gamma World: First Report; Setting Up a Campaign." They mention that Gamma World was created when they realized a need to create a planet based version of Metamorphasis Alpha. It discussses the Cryptic Alliances, using the map and placing the player characters in an area. He recommends detailing about a 100 mile section initially.
Jim Ward gives us "Guidelines for Mixing Campaigns: Androids, Wizards, Several Mutants, and Liberal Doses of Imagination, Well Blended." In it he discusses mixing D&D and MA.
"Monkish Weapons and Monk Vs. Monk Combat" is a D&D Variant article giving us a system for combat between two monks. This is a system where you each pick your maneuver and consult a chart to determine the result. It also covers a number of martial arts weapons.
Another, brief, D&D Variant article discusses "Effective Use of Poison." It effectively just gives us several poisons to use with little discussion of the actual use of them, just their effects.
In the comics area we have Fineous, Fred & Charly meeting the evil wizard who is after a dragon's palantir. Wormy is involved in a ball game with very interesting balls. Will McLean also has a number of very humerous 1 panel strips throughout the issue. He's someone I wouldn't mind seeing more strips from (for example, the cleric & wizard talking about the change in the fighter since he hit 8th level - he has on a superman costume). Tom Wham gives us a one page "All-Star Snit Review" of variant snits (spider-snit, siamese snit, etc).
Harry O. Fischer gives us a story of "The Childhood and Youth of The Gray Mouser." A friend of Fritz Leiber, Harry actually helped Fritz create the main characters and he expressed dissatisfactin with Fritz' take on the Gray Mouser's youth. Fritz told him to create his own, and this is the story that came out of it. In the introduction Fritz Leiber comments on the story and says it feels very right.
In a final D&D Variant article, "Non-Player Character Statistics" we have some stats designed to help flesh out personalities of NPCs. We are given Pride (Ego), Greed & Quality of Work.
As we can see from this issue, The Dragon is something more than just a house organ at this point in time. You wouldn't see 4-5 pages today on a non-WotC game (and it probably wouldn't sell more issues, either).
In "Dragon Rumbles" Tim Kask covers Origins '78. He mentions it's human nature to focus on the negative aspects in the short term, and the positive in the long term. He stays true to this by mentioning the low points. He does stress that he felt the staff did a fine job, and most felt the low lights were minor. He mentions next issue will cover the D&D events will be covered next issue, but that the winning squad had two females on it.
He mentions next years would be in Philadelphia (I wish I had been aware of this con that year, it's only an hour from me). In a quote that is near and dear to me he says; "I can only hope that Origins stays on the East Coast for a few years. There is no need for both Origins and GenCon to be in the Midwest. In fact, I feel it is detrimental to both cons to be held so near to each other and so close together in time." I understand the logisitics issues, but in practice, you get the same people who can make both conventions (although many don't make both). With WotC pulling out of Origins, I can only think finding a new area can only help differentiate them from GenCon.
He lists the H.G. Wells and Charles Roberts award winners. Notably, D&D wins both "All-time best roleplaying rules," "Greatest Contribution to the Hobby, Game or rules 1967-1977" and is inducted into the Hall of Fame along with Empire. Dragon wins best professional magazine (Space Gamer wins best semiprofessional magazine).
In keeping with this era of The Dragon, we have major coverage of a non-TSR game with "Traveller: The Strategy of Survival." It starts with an anecdote that's common in all games with random character generation, he meets someone complaining about having a UPP of 375A99 (in Travellar you would string stats together in order, converting numbers of 10 into letters, thus the A being a 10 - IIRC, the range to start with 2-12 but my memory is fuzzy). He stands aghast at this. He uses this example to point out how to use the stats to create a character, and the finer points of character generation in Traveller. This very thorough article takes up slightly over 2 pages. A lot of detail on using the character generation system, and using it to build up a character's history (with little mention of what to do when you die in the character generation).
This article is followed with a review of Traveller. It's very positive and comments on how much it differs from other RPGs at this time. Also reviewed is Imperium (a board game also from GDW) and The Emerald Tablet (a set of miniature rules), Pellic Quest (a computer moderated roleplaying game, who would have thought?) and Cosmic Encounter (he likes it, but warns that the science fiction element is mostly just "patina"). Later in the issue we have a review of Alpha Omega (a Buck Rogers like strategy game)l.
In a D&D Variant article with have "Insanity, or why is my character eating leaves?" It introduces a saving throw for insanity and charts (of course) to determine what sort of insanity you have. This is years before Call of Cthulhu would make a lasting effect in this area.
Another D&D Variant article, "New Spells for D&D: Cure for an ailing campaign or Killer of a Healthy one?" a list of spells created by the spell research ability from the author's campaign is given. While the title would make it seem this would be about the viability and balancing of this factor in a campaign, in fact the only discussion of this is in an added editor's note.
"Magic: Governed by the Laws of Theory" gives the Game Design forum an interesting discussion of the various magic theories (the law of contagion, similarity, etc) and using them within the game.
The Design Forum gives us "Let Your Town Have a Purpose, or, How to Design a Town in Boot Hill." A basic "dungeon building" type article, it gives advice on which buildings to create, and how to lay them out. Later we have a charticle giving birth tables for Boot Hill.
A D&D Variant article, "The Chamber of the Godgame" gives us a puzzle/trap that is inspired by a novel (John Fowles' The Magus) with apparently a dungeoneering feel to it.
Jim Ward and Gary Jacquet take over "From the Sorcerer's Scroll" to give us "Gamma World: First Report; Setting Up a Campaign." They mention that Gamma World was created when they realized a need to create a planet based version of Metamorphasis Alpha. It discussses the Cryptic Alliances, using the map and placing the player characters in an area. He recommends detailing about a 100 mile section initially.
Jim Ward gives us "Guidelines for Mixing Campaigns: Androids, Wizards, Several Mutants, and Liberal Doses of Imagination, Well Blended." In it he discusses mixing D&D and MA.
"Monkish Weapons and Monk Vs. Monk Combat" is a D&D Variant article giving us a system for combat between two monks. This is a system where you each pick your maneuver and consult a chart to determine the result. It also covers a number of martial arts weapons.
Another, brief, D&D Variant article discusses "Effective Use of Poison." It effectively just gives us several poisons to use with little discussion of the actual use of them, just their effects.
In the comics area we have Fineous, Fred & Charly meeting the evil wizard who is after a dragon's palantir. Wormy is involved in a ball game with very interesting balls. Will McLean also has a number of very humerous 1 panel strips throughout the issue. He's someone I wouldn't mind seeing more strips from (for example, the cleric & wizard talking about the change in the fighter since he hit 8th level - he has on a superman costume). Tom Wham gives us a one page "All-Star Snit Review" of variant snits (spider-snit, siamese snit, etc).
Harry O. Fischer gives us a story of "The Childhood and Youth of The Gray Mouser." A friend of Fritz Leiber, Harry actually helped Fritz create the main characters and he expressed dissatisfactin with Fritz' take on the Gray Mouser's youth. Fritz told him to create his own, and this is the story that came out of it. In the introduction Fritz Leiber comments on the story and says it feels very right.
In a final D&D Variant article, "Non-Player Character Statistics" we have some stats designed to help flesh out personalities of NPCs. We are given Pride (Ego), Greed & Quality of Work.
As we can see from this issue, The Dragon is something more than just a house organ at this point in time. You wouldn't see 4-5 pages today on a non-WotC game (and it probably wouldn't sell more issues, either).
Glyfair
Explorer
Yeah, it figures that the issue after I decide to start crediting the cover artist The Dragon would stop listing the cover artisted in the issuegrodog said:
I'm tweaking the way I'm doing these (as you'll note from the insertion of covers). It's not going to be professional quality, because I'm not spending that much time on it. However, I do want to get them in a way I'm comfortable with them.
As a general thematic comment, I do notice a strong trend right now in the magazine to mix science fiction and fantasy together. I suspect it's because the writers are working on science fiction projects (with Gamma World having just been announced) and fantasy projects at the same time.
Glyfair
Explorer
The Dragon #19 October 1978
I'll start with one note here. Last issue's rant by Gary about protecing TSR's IP seems to have been taken to heart with a very large use of the registered trademark symbol next to "D&D" everywhere in the issue. D&D is used often in titles and the symbol is quite intrusive in the titles.
The "Dragon Rumbles" column focuses mostly on GenCon XI, along with a side column by Gary Gygax lauding the people behind Origins '78. For comparison purposes, it's noted GenCon had attendance of about 2000 people, and that was down from last year. He attributes part of poor weather, part to it's closeness to Origins and also to the lack of cheap dorm facilities. He also mentions the bad taste from a number of people dressed up in WWII uniforms with at least on exhibitor doing so when they weren't a wargame or figure company (hints imply that some Nazi overtones were present, but it's not clear).
"The Battle for Snurre's Hall - The Origins '78 D&D Tournament" gives a synopsis of the first two rounds of the tournament, and details of the last round by two members of the team that won the event. This was a West Virginia group who describes their style as "slash and hack with a large dose of planning and cunning tossed in to insure our escape." It should be noted the winners are listed and the group had 9 players.
Round one had the group assaulting a hill giant's stronghold, round two had them enter a frost giant's lair and the final round lead them to a hall of fire giants. Hmmm...this sounds somewhat familiar. Actually, it's noted by the editor (and DM of the second round) that they will be amazed at how much they missed when they read Glacial Rift of the Frost Giant Jarl. All three modules are "pimped" in this article, noting they cost $4.49 each (which is $13.72 in today's dollars) except for G3 which is $4.99 ($15.25).
"How Many Ettins is a Fire Giant Worth: Competitive D&D" discusses methods for scoring D&D tournaments. It's mentioned that the Origins tournament was scored giving points for killng giants, examining rooms, finding clues and multiplying that value by the number of survivors.
It's also mentioned that GenCon XI used D2 & D3 as their modules and used a different system. The parties had to go from G3 to follow the drow. The most points were awarded for finding the one path around the Shire of the Kuo-Toa that allowed them to pass unscathed. However, points were awarded for killng Kuo-Toa and also for finding information about this new race. However, in round 2 all but one team was decimated by a demon encounter (the surviving team only lost one party member in that encounter), thus creating a problem choosing which teams to fill the other slots.
"A Compendium of Diverse D&D Personalities, or a Pigeonhole for Nearly Everyone You Ever Adventured With" is an early attempt to pigeonhole certain player types. This list consists of the poor loser, the doomsday predictor, the masochist, the smug player, the genius, the real-lifer, shy people and the dominant player.
Gary puts together a charticle on "Gamma World - A List of 'Treasures' to be Found." Not much to say here, just a list of things to find, something he was good at putting together (as the AD&D DMG shows).
Gary Jacquet takes over "From the Sorcerer's Scroll" this issue to bring us "Gamma World: More Excerpts from the Journal of Hald Sevrin." He describes the long road in developing Gamma World (Hiero's Journey is mentioned as an inspiration). It also describes the background of the game as from a Journal of a character in that time (thus the title).
Wormy, it should be noted, takes up two pages this issue, although not consecutive ones. Fineous Fingers focuses on a paladin attacking a dragon in the "Prelude to Dragonquest."
A D&D Variant article discusses "The Lowdown on Wishes." The problem of dealing with wishes has been around for quite a while, and this is just one article on the problem. Along with some normal comments, he recommends breaking wishes down into 4 classes with variant effects.
"Planning Creative Treasures" is a Design Forum article discussing...well, the title covers it pretty well. Nothing groundbreaking focusing on having themes and having treasures connected.
Yet another GD&H listing appears in a D&D Variant article "The Mythos of Australia in Dungeons & Dragons." This covers the mythos of the aborigine.
"Systemic Magic - Revised Magic Tables" discusses breaking up spells into themed lists. It breaks up the various classes spell lists into themed tables (Control, Summoning, etc.) It has new mechanics that govern such things as spell fatigue, etc.
Allen Hammack gives us a sequel "The Fastest Guns that Never Lived III." This article focuses mostly on the characters from the Magnificent Seven and the Maverick brothers/cousin (of particular interest to me, as a James Garner fan).
"A Mixture of Magic and Technology: Gamma World" is a review of Gamma World. This article is postive, but focuses on Clarkes Law using technology/magic comparison to compare D&D to Gamma World.
"Spell Determination for Hostile Magic-Users or Why Did He Throw that Spell," a D&D Variant article, consists of charts to determine which spells a magic-user is throwing in a round (if an inappropriate spell is rolled, you can reroll). A solution to avoiding that bookkeeping intensive role of putting together a D&D magic-users spell list.
"Charts for Determing the Location of Treasure" is a true charticle with absolutely nothing besides the chart.
"Footsteps in the Sky" is an uncredited fiction piece that finishes up the magazine.
In notable ads we have the first Runequest support materials advertised (Balastor's Barracks & Trolls and Trollkin). Heritage models has some posable Star Trek figures listed describing "Star Trek Adventure Gaming Rules.' I was unaware of any Star Trek game before FASA produced one, so this suprised me. The tagline was "When you buy Star Trek figurines from us...you get the real McCoy!" They are $10.95 each (about $33 today) for the 75mm figures and $2.95 (about $9) for the 25mm dioramas. The rulebook is $5.95 (about $18). Tribes of Crane also has a full-page advertisement. This is one of the few play-by-mail games I ever considered trying.
This issue gives us a look into the D&D convention scene. In those days the adventures from the major D&D tournament is reproduced as a commercial product and becomes a classic. Last year's D&D Open adventures were reproduced in Dungeon and is given a big thumbs down. Has the gaming public become jaded, or has the quality of those adventures taken a nosedive?
I'll start with one note here. Last issue's rant by Gary about protecing TSR's IP seems to have been taken to heart with a very large use of the registered trademark symbol next to "D&D" everywhere in the issue. D&D is used often in titles and the symbol is quite intrusive in the titles.
The "Dragon Rumbles" column focuses mostly on GenCon XI, along with a side column by Gary Gygax lauding the people behind Origins '78. For comparison purposes, it's noted GenCon had attendance of about 2000 people, and that was down from last year. He attributes part of poor weather, part to it's closeness to Origins and also to the lack of cheap dorm facilities. He also mentions the bad taste from a number of people dressed up in WWII uniforms with at least on exhibitor doing so when they weren't a wargame or figure company (hints imply that some Nazi overtones were present, but it's not clear).
"The Battle for Snurre's Hall - The Origins '78 D&D Tournament" gives a synopsis of the first two rounds of the tournament, and details of the last round by two members of the team that won the event. This was a West Virginia group who describes their style as "slash and hack with a large dose of planning and cunning tossed in to insure our escape." It should be noted the winners are listed and the group had 9 players.
Round one had the group assaulting a hill giant's stronghold, round two had them enter a frost giant's lair and the final round lead them to a hall of fire giants. Hmmm...this sounds somewhat familiar. Actually, it's noted by the editor (and DM of the second round) that they will be amazed at how much they missed when they read Glacial Rift of the Frost Giant Jarl. All three modules are "pimped" in this article, noting they cost $4.49 each (which is $13.72 in today's dollars) except for G3 which is $4.99 ($15.25).
"How Many Ettins is a Fire Giant Worth: Competitive D&D" discusses methods for scoring D&D tournaments. It's mentioned that the Origins tournament was scored giving points for killng giants, examining rooms, finding clues and multiplying that value by the number of survivors.
It's also mentioned that GenCon XI used D2 & D3 as their modules and used a different system. The parties had to go from G3 to follow the drow. The most points were awarded for finding the one path around the Shire of the Kuo-Toa that allowed them to pass unscathed. However, points were awarded for killng Kuo-Toa and also for finding information about this new race. However, in round 2 all but one team was decimated by a demon encounter (the surviving team only lost one party member in that encounter), thus creating a problem choosing which teams to fill the other slots.
"A Compendium of Diverse D&D Personalities, or a Pigeonhole for Nearly Everyone You Ever Adventured With" is an early attempt to pigeonhole certain player types. This list consists of the poor loser, the doomsday predictor, the masochist, the smug player, the genius, the real-lifer, shy people and the dominant player.
Gary puts together a charticle on "Gamma World - A List of 'Treasures' to be Found." Not much to say here, just a list of things to find, something he was good at putting together (as the AD&D DMG shows).
Gary Jacquet takes over "From the Sorcerer's Scroll" this issue to bring us "Gamma World: More Excerpts from the Journal of Hald Sevrin." He describes the long road in developing Gamma World (Hiero's Journey is mentioned as an inspiration). It also describes the background of the game as from a Journal of a character in that time (thus the title).
Wormy, it should be noted, takes up two pages this issue, although not consecutive ones. Fineous Fingers focuses on a paladin attacking a dragon in the "Prelude to Dragonquest."
A D&D Variant article discusses "The Lowdown on Wishes." The problem of dealing with wishes has been around for quite a while, and this is just one article on the problem. Along with some normal comments, he recommends breaking wishes down into 4 classes with variant effects.
"Planning Creative Treasures" is a Design Forum article discussing...well, the title covers it pretty well. Nothing groundbreaking focusing on having themes and having treasures connected.
Yet another GD&H listing appears in a D&D Variant article "The Mythos of Australia in Dungeons & Dragons." This covers the mythos of the aborigine.
"Systemic Magic - Revised Magic Tables" discusses breaking up spells into themed lists. It breaks up the various classes spell lists into themed tables (Control, Summoning, etc.) It has new mechanics that govern such things as spell fatigue, etc.
Allen Hammack gives us a sequel "The Fastest Guns that Never Lived III." This article focuses mostly on the characters from the Magnificent Seven and the Maverick brothers/cousin (of particular interest to me, as a James Garner fan).
"A Mixture of Magic and Technology: Gamma World" is a review of Gamma World. This article is postive, but focuses on Clarkes Law using technology/magic comparison to compare D&D to Gamma World.
"Spell Determination for Hostile Magic-Users or Why Did He Throw that Spell," a D&D Variant article, consists of charts to determine which spells a magic-user is throwing in a round (if an inappropriate spell is rolled, you can reroll). A solution to avoiding that bookkeeping intensive role of putting together a D&D magic-users spell list.
"Charts for Determing the Location of Treasure" is a true charticle with absolutely nothing besides the chart.
"Footsteps in the Sky" is an uncredited fiction piece that finishes up the magazine.
In notable ads we have the first Runequest support materials advertised (Balastor's Barracks & Trolls and Trollkin). Heritage models has some posable Star Trek figures listed describing "Star Trek Adventure Gaming Rules.' I was unaware of any Star Trek game before FASA produced one, so this suprised me. The tagline was "When you buy Star Trek figurines from us...you get the real McCoy!" They are $10.95 each (about $33 today) for the 75mm figures and $2.95 (about $9) for the 25mm dioramas. The rulebook is $5.95 (about $18). Tribes of Crane also has a full-page advertisement. This is one of the few play-by-mail games I ever considered trying.
This issue gives us a look into the D&D convention scene. In those days the adventures from the major D&D tournament is reproduced as a commercial product and becomes a classic. Last year's D&D Open adventures were reproduced in Dungeon and is given a big thumbs down. Has the gaming public become jaded, or has the quality of those adventures taken a nosedive?
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Hussar
Legend
While I don't know the answer to the quality bit, I would hazard a guess that the early Con modules did well because they had zero competition. It's easy to be on top when you're the only game in town.
I think that most groups demand a little more in the way of story and background from adventures now which makes tournament modules somewhat separate from what is actually being played around the table. But, sorry, I'm pontificating. I'll go away now.
I think that most groups demand a little more in the way of story and background from adventures now which makes tournament modules somewhat separate from what is actually being played around the table. But, sorry, I'm pontificating. I'll go away now.
Glyfair
Explorer
Which would explain why they did well at the time. It doesn't explain why they still did well as the market changed.Hussar said:
\
Nah, I want discussion
Nothing is quite so disappointing as posting these and having no discussion of The Dragon I'm covering. Especially when the topic is so rich (indeed, maybe a thread would be appropriate.Similar Threads
