The Dragon Issue 4 was published in December 1976. It is 36 pages long, with a cover price of $1.50. This issue focused on a new game that was coming out from TSR: The Empire of the Petal Throne.
This issue is mostly devoted to Empire of the Petal Throne, a new roleplaying game from TSR. EPT (as it was known) was published in 1975, making it the third RPG that TSR had released within two years (the first two being Dungeons & Dragons and Boot Hill). EPT was based on the richly detailed world of Tékumel, created by M.A.R. Barker, a professor of Urdu and South Asian studies at the University of Minnesota and an avid wargamer. Dave Arneson, the co-creator of D&D, was a member of Barker's gaming group at UMN and had introduced him to TSR.
Editor Tim Kask is full of praise for TSR's new game, describing it as "the most detailed fantasy game available; a genuine phenomenon. It is destined to become both a classic and a milestone in fantasy role-playing gaming, and deservedly so." He also notes the "inevitable" comparison between Barker's Tékumel and Tolkien's Middle-earth. Kask judges that "In terms of development of detail, I think EPT has it over Middle Earth in the matters that most concern gamers. This is attributable to the fact that EPT was developed by a wargamer, and M-E was not."
The EPT articles cover setting news and lore, a city encounter table, new monsters, a short story set in Tékumel, a treasure table, and a pictorial spread depicting a model temple. There is so much content, in fact, that the magazine had to expand to 36 pages for this issue.
But it was seemingly all for naught as EPT failed to find a market. At $25 (over $100 today), it was much more expensive than any comparable game. TSR did not follow it up with supplements and eventually sold the license off to Gamescience in 1980. Four more RPGs set in Tékumel would be published by various companies over the following years, none of them achieving much commercial success. Tékumel retains a cult following to this day, however, with many fan-made websites, podcasts, and even a journal devoted to the setting. Barker (who has passed away) is sometimes called "the forgotten Tolkien," and is deeply revered by his fans.
Back to The Dragon. There are two other articles of interest in this issue. In "Notes on the Androids on The Starship Warden," designer James M. Ward introduces readers to an RPG called Metamorphosis Alpha, which TSR had published the previous month, and which may rightly claim to be the first science fiction RPG. Jim Ward was an English and History teacher who met Gary Gygax at a bookshop, and soon after became a regular player in Gygax's Greyhawk campaign. Ward joined TSR full-time in 1980 and worked on numerous projects as he rose to become TSR's VP for Creative Services--he is a genuine star of the hobby.
The other article of note is the sole offering from Gygax in this issue, a list of books entitled "FANTASY/SWORDS & SORCERY: RECOMMENDED READING." This collection is a clear prototype of the famous "Appendix N" that Gygax would include in the forthcoming Dungeon Master's Guide.
In many ways, this was a more successful issue than the previous two, as it provided the pages of quality gaming material that readers were craving. But the content was for the wrong game! Readers wanted articles about D&D, not EPT. The next issue would also be light on D&D material, although it would include one notorious article about a very famous wizard…
M.T. Black is a game designer and DMs Guild Adept. Please follow him on twitter @mtblack2567 and sign up for his mailing list.
This issue is mostly devoted to Empire of the Petal Throne, a new roleplaying game from TSR. EPT (as it was known) was published in 1975, making it the third RPG that TSR had released within two years (the first two being Dungeons & Dragons and Boot Hill). EPT was based on the richly detailed world of Tékumel, created by M.A.R. Barker, a professor of Urdu and South Asian studies at the University of Minnesota and an avid wargamer. Dave Arneson, the co-creator of D&D, was a member of Barker's gaming group at UMN and had introduced him to TSR.
Editor Tim Kask is full of praise for TSR's new game, describing it as "the most detailed fantasy game available; a genuine phenomenon. It is destined to become both a classic and a milestone in fantasy role-playing gaming, and deservedly so." He also notes the "inevitable" comparison between Barker's Tékumel and Tolkien's Middle-earth. Kask judges that "In terms of development of detail, I think EPT has it over Middle Earth in the matters that most concern gamers. This is attributable to the fact that EPT was developed by a wargamer, and M-E was not."
The EPT articles cover setting news and lore, a city encounter table, new monsters, a short story set in Tékumel, a treasure table, and a pictorial spread depicting a model temple. There is so much content, in fact, that the magazine had to expand to 36 pages for this issue.
But it was seemingly all for naught as EPT failed to find a market. At $25 (over $100 today), it was much more expensive than any comparable game. TSR did not follow it up with supplements and eventually sold the license off to Gamescience in 1980. Four more RPGs set in Tékumel would be published by various companies over the following years, none of them achieving much commercial success. Tékumel retains a cult following to this day, however, with many fan-made websites, podcasts, and even a journal devoted to the setting. Barker (who has passed away) is sometimes called "the forgotten Tolkien," and is deeply revered by his fans.
Back to The Dragon. There are two other articles of interest in this issue. In "Notes on the Androids on The Starship Warden," designer James M. Ward introduces readers to an RPG called Metamorphosis Alpha, which TSR had published the previous month, and which may rightly claim to be the first science fiction RPG. Jim Ward was an English and History teacher who met Gary Gygax at a bookshop, and soon after became a regular player in Gygax's Greyhawk campaign. Ward joined TSR full-time in 1980 and worked on numerous projects as he rose to become TSR's VP for Creative Services--he is a genuine star of the hobby.
The other article of note is the sole offering from Gygax in this issue, a list of books entitled "FANTASY/SWORDS & SORCERY: RECOMMENDED READING." This collection is a clear prototype of the famous "Appendix N" that Gygax would include in the forthcoming Dungeon Master's Guide.
In many ways, this was a more successful issue than the previous two, as it provided the pages of quality gaming material that readers were craving. But the content was for the wrong game! Readers wanted articles about D&D, not EPT. The next issue would also be light on D&D material, although it would include one notorious article about a very famous wizard…
M.T. Black is a game designer and DMs Guild Adept. Please follow him on twitter @mtblack2567 and sign up for his mailing list.
A lot of EPT systems were adaptable to D&D as well. The skill system from EPT, critical hits (on a 20), multiple attacks / damage dice by level (a matrix of level vs. level / HD), Clerics using mundane armor and (blunt) weapons (not just magical armor and blunt weapons) all migrated from EPT to our D&D games. A lot of material could be directly ported over.
