The Classic Dragon Reviews - Take 2

Hussar said:

There is a point to remember too. The modules we played and what was played at the tournaments were pretty different. I can'T recall the G series exactly, but I know the Slaver's series A1-4 bore only passing resemblance to the tournament modules. To play the tournament version, you had to strip out 2/3rds of the adventure.

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That's exactly my point, though: sure, for time considerations you would strip the A-series down to accomodate 4 hour timeslots, but the published adventures expanded upon those to make reasonable, campaign-insertable module products. The core of the adventure (the 1/3 left after stripping out the extra stuff) was tested via tourney play, but TSR saw the value in expanding upon these as a process to develop the module: first draft the module, then playtest it, then adjust and test it further in tourneys, then adjust based on tourney feedback (if necessary), then publish for the masses.

I'm not sure about how your sales comments fit in, Hussar: I'm sure that DCCs are being outsold by WotC adventures, simply due to economies of scale that WotC has that GG can't hope to leverage. I don't think that necessarily says anything about the quality of the adventures, just the strengths/scales of the two companies relative to one another.

FWIW, I don't find the DCC to be very compelling: they seem more old school in form than in substance to me, but I'm not familiar with all of them by any means.

Hussar said:

Sure, the G-D modules are number one. But, then again, how many forgettable modules are there from the era. Without the lens of nostalgia, would you REALLY want to play Tomb of Horrors in a serious campaign? Or, really, any of the S modules?

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Sure, I've used a number of the S modules in campaigns, and would still do so today. That doesn't mean that I'd run them straight---they'd be modified of course, to reflect the context I want to use them in, within my game (which a DM does in general with any module, right?).

But, you didn't "strip the module down for time consideration." The module was the basic form that was then added to for sale. As I said, what got played at cons and what saw bookshelves resembled each other in name only.

Fair enough for those who would use Tome of Horrors, but, for me? No thanks. Not my bag anymore. I loved it at the time, but, I certainly wouldn't buy it new now.

The Dragon #20 November 1978

We have a price increase. The Dragon has leaped to $2.00 per issue from $1.50 per issue for a 33% increase (actually it changed last issue, but is announced now). In today's dollars that would be a like an increase to slightly over $6 from slightly over $4. The reasons were a soaring increase in paper costs (21% increase) and postal increases (increases of up to 60% for some classes of mail).

The Designer's Forum has a Marc Miller article "The Making of a Winner - Imperium - Outstanding Game of 1977." Interestingly enough, Marc says it's not particularly innovative and gives credit to games where he derived ideas. He also follows with a brief rules clarificiations and addenda for the game (there's a term I haven't heard used in a long time - addenda).

We have a long spread of last issue's "Dragon Rumbles" column. Gary and Tim both had section and they got mixed up, so they have reprinted them here better separated. They also mention they forgot to credit the "All-Star Snits" page from #18 to Jeff Dee. Another classic D&D artist, he is probably best known for his work with his game Villians and Vigilantes.

"Distributing Eyes and Amulets in EPT" is another charticle. Essentially it is a treasure table, written because the author found he was giving rare treasures out as often as the common ones.

We have another pantheon in the Gods, Demi-Gods & Heroes format in a D&D Variant article, "The Mythos of Polynesia in Dungeons & Dragons." Some more recognizable names are Pele (Hawaiian Goddess of Volcanic Fires), Maui (mostly because of the island that bears his name) and...that's about it. I have to admit, the Polynesian mythos wasn't my strong suit.

We have another installment of Wormy, Fineous Fingers (where he tortures a peasant for information - a running gag) & more Will McLean strips.

We have a sequel to an earlier article under the D&D Variant header, "Another Look at Witches and Witchcraft in D&D." This is an attempt to take the Witches from issue #5 and work it into a player character class. I have to admit, as popular as witches were in D&D, I'm suprised there has never been a complete and official version of the class in any version of D&D. It's even mentioned as a class in Holmes version of BD&D.

"Demonology Made Easy; or, How to Deal with Orcus for Fun and Profit" is a D&D Variant article dealing with bargaining with demons. It's very detailed, but might be one of those articles that, if viewed by some of D&D's eventual critics, would have set them on the idea that D&D was evil (Jack Chick, I'm talking to you).

We have a two page spread of photos from GenCon XI. We see a lot of pictures of well known names, in their younger days. Gary is front and center, with photos of Marc Miller, J. Eric Holmes, Brian Blume, Ed Simalist (Chivalry & Sorcery), Marc Miller (Traveller), Mike Carr, Greg Costikyan (from SPI) and Don Kaye.

"See Africa and Die! or Mr. Stanley Meet Mr. Livingstone" is a review of Source of the Nile. Unlike most articles of this sort, this comes with suggested rules alterations and additions.

We have a new column header, the Travellar Variant. "The Asimov Cluster" begins with a lengthy discussion of various science fiction series and how well their starships fit into Traveller (Star Trek, the Berserker series, Burroughs, Van Vogt & Lin Carter get mention). Then we get a group of planets tied to the early part of Asimov's Foundation Trilogy (yes, it used to be a trilogy ).

We then have another ad that's a landmark, with the solicitation for the D-series. Prices are higher than the G-series, with D1 & D2 being $4.98 like G3 (about $15 today) and D3 being $5.98 (about $18 today). A Judge's Guild ad has an interesting product "the GenCon IX Dungeon" listed as being in the latest issue of the Guildmaster subscription (6 bi-monthly issues plus a Judges Screen for $12, about $37 today). It contains the "preliminary and final rounds of the Dungeons & Dragons tournament at the Lake Geneva Convention."

We get a preview of The Lord of the Rings movie by Bakshi (written by Allen Hammack). It opens with a quote of "You better do it right, or you're DEAD!" from Ralph Bakshi giving the tone of mail he's recieved since starting the project. Interesting because it's generally considered he flopped (not as bad as Hanna-Barbera, of course). This essentially discusses the process from stills they have.

"It's a Good Day to Die (Death Statistics of D&D Characters)" has the author listing the deaths in his campaign and attributing them to various sources. He says there were 600 deaths (including only PCs and their hirelings, not mercenaries and NPCs). The highest is goblinoid races with about 10% of the total, dragons coming second with about 7%.

"War of the Ring Variant -- True Hidden Movement" gives an alternate rule for this game. The author, Allen Hammack, will eventually be involved in Top Secret.

Another demonic D&D Variant article is "Demonic Possession in the Dungeon." It includes discussion of possession and exorcism.

This issue is a hodge-podge of this & that, with little standing out. Demons are getting a lot of attention this issue. As I mentioned, someone whose first impression of D&D came from picking up this issue might have concerns about devil worshipping given the details given on dealing with demons (in the game), being possessed by them and exorcising them.

The Dragon #21 December 1978

"Dragon Rumbles" starts out with Tim stating he's sure the fantasy crowd will be complaining about his issue's focus on Rail Baron. He thinks it's an excellent game, and worth the space. He also mentions that after the price increase was announced for The Dragon, another price hike for paper was announced of 13%. He mentions that 60% of their cost in producing The Dragon comes from the paper costs, so the safety margin they included in the price increase is already gone.

"Search for the Nile Revisited: Designer's Notes, Eratta, Clarifications and Response" was supposed to appear with last issue's article, but didn't arrive in time, so it is included in this issue.

On the ad front, we have an add for a new module, this one called The Tomb of Horrors. Apparently this was the official tournament module for Origins I. The price increases are evident here as well, with a price of $5.49 (about $17 in today's dollars), but maybe not as it's the first fully illustrated module. The blurb clearly hints at the lethality of the adventure, pretty much suggesting you may not want to risk your normal characters in this adventure.

"The Other Humerous Side of D&D: or, You Don't Kill Too Many Characters, Do You?" references an early article about humorous things players do in the author's area, and this is about the things DMs do in this author's area. This is essentially an "listen to what happened in my game article." Also on this page is the first caption contest, with the one-panel strip done by JD (of Fineous Fingers fame) showing a fighter with bow, and a monk with many, many arrows sticking out of him.

"Q: What Do You Call a 25th level Wizard?; A: Whatever He Wants." by Brian Blume is essentially another charticle with tables for generating long, impressive sounding titles (for example, I just generated "Viceroy, his most Majestic, Amazing, Sublimity Honor the Lord...")

We have a short review of The Dragonlords, a board game by FGU. Later we get a review of Olympica, a microgame from Metagaming. King Arthur's Knights by Greg Stafford of Chaosium is reviewed. This is more boardgame, and not the RPG that Pendragon will eventually be.

The Design Forum tackles "Cure for the 'Same-Old-Monster' Blues." It basically discusses using creatures from nature as your monsters.

A D&D Variant article "Inflation in D&D???" which quickly discusses the idea of supply in demand. Essentially he points out that if gold is valuable, it should be rare.

Next to it we have "Prophet Proofing or How to Counter Foretelling Spells." It's a DM trick-type article, with such things has having medusa in the area where a clairvoyance spell is used, etc.

"Sensible Sorcery" is a D&D Variant article discusses spell research, and ways to keep it to a minimum and not allowing players to abuse it.

We have yet another charticle, "Boot Hill Encounter Chart or What to do Between Bank Jobs." The interesting thing about this chart is it seems to assume you are an outlaw (2 deputies are after you, deputy shoots at you, etc).

"Encounters with Personality or How to Amuse the Dungeon Master" has some nice examples of NPCs with brief personalites, even if the names are a bit trite (Blarg, Tarky Helm-Splitter, Gary Benderlack).

From our British friend we have "The Hall of Mystery: A section deep in the Greenlands dungeon" from Don Turnbull (the primary person behind the original Fiend Folio.) It has the description, and map, for a level in a dungeon.

Gary Gygax covers one of TSR's new games in the aforementioned "Rail Baron, A Short Course for Empire Builders" with tips for the game. The warning in "Dragon Rumbles" was because this article hits 5 pages.

In another contest, The Dragon announced the first "International Dungeon Design Contest" (with "dungeon" defined as "a generic term for modular adventures"). 1st place is $100 Gift Certificate (about $300 today), 13 issue subscription to The Dragon and payment for publication. 2nd & 3rd get lesser prizes, as well.

In an oddity a D&D Variant article "That 'Other' Dungeon' gives the alternate rules for Dungeon! used in the Gen Con XI tournament. It's odd because it's not D&D, but the boardgame based on it.

Here we also have a brief review of The Silmarillion, which is reasonably on topic.

We have another adventure of Monty Haul in Jim Ward's "Monty Strikes Back." In this episode we have a typical adventure with their group about about 20th level characters. For the final encounter they are described as unlimbering their magic items that are rarely used "Tim took out his 'Eldest Worm Orb'; Jake took out his, 'Sword and
Eye of Vecn'; Robert took out his'Rod of Seven Parts', Brian summoned his 'Servant of Leuk-O'; Dave (II) grabbed his “Horn of Change”; Dave (I) summoned his flying (“'Throne of the Gods'; Tom took out his 'Sabre of Kas'; just to follow suit and not be shown up by the rest of the boys; Ernie grabbed his 'Orb and Sceptre of Magic', and I took out my 'Stokes Co’Agulator'."

For our comics, we have a few strips in the issue, and an episode of Fineous Fingers (with Mergatriod the Dragon making his first appearance). Wormy is MIA this issue, however.

"It's a Good Day to Die (Death Statistics of D&D Characters)" has the author listing the deaths in his campaign and attributing them to various sources. He says there were 600 deaths (including only PCs and their hirelings, not mercenaries and NPCs). The highest is goblinoid races with about 10% of the total, dragons coming second with about 7%.

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Whips out his calculator - FORTY TWO dragons in a single campaign? Now that's something.

Hussar said:

Whips out his calculator - FORTY TWO dragons in a single campaign? Now that's something.

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I guess I wasn't clear, that was causes of death. So, 42 deaths attributed to dragons. That could have, in theory, been one dragon that the players kept throwing their PCs at.

Oops. My bad. GOOD GOD! SIX HUNDRED DEATHS! HOW!?!?!

how. Because we were heroes back then and did not whine when we got chopped up and came back as stinking badger.
Where do think "We don't need no stinking badgers" came from? It is also the most misquoted line.

Hey, I played back then too. Lost loads of PC's. But Six Hundred? I suppose it depends on how long the camp had been going, but, even to assume 2 years, at twice a week, that's 100 sessions. That's SIX PC'S per session. O.O I like da hack, but, I just gotta say, "Buh?"