TSR Inc. published Dragon #102 in October 1985. It is 100 pages long and has a cover price of $3.00. This issue features gully dwarves, gaming styles, and a new AD&D adventure!
The cover, titled “The Pillage of Tantlin,” is by veteran artist Dean Morrissey. It depicts a group of gnomes who appear to be looting a bridge! Interior artists include Larry Elmore, Bob Maurus, Roger Raupp, Jim Holloway, the Marvel Bullpen, David Trampier, Joseph Pillsbury, Richard Tomasic, Lance Foster, and Edward Wagner.
This month’s special attraction is “Valley of the Earth Mother”, a Celtic-themed AD&D adventure by Lise Breakey. The characters must travel to a druidic stronghold to recover a minor relic, but their mission is complicated by a sinister death cult. The focus is very much on combat and exploration. The dungeon encounters are generally conventional, but there is lots of theming in the room descriptions, and the monsters are nicely detailed. Lise Breakey was the designer of the Furry Pirates and Furry Outlaws RPGs, and later published a novel.
In “Realms of role playing,” Gary Gygax suggests that the emphasis in role-playing games has swung away from “game” and more toward “role-playing”, which he thinks is a problem. Tournaments are becoming too theatrical for his tastes. He would like more focus on the gaming aspects, such as problem-solving, exploration, and combat. Years after this column, a designer called Ron Edwards proposed that RPGs could be classified by their focus on Gaming, Narrative, or Simulation. Gygax was always very much into RPGs as a game.
“All About the gully dwarf” by Roger E. Moore describes the hapless comic underclass of Krynn. He explains their origins in the intermarriage of gnomes and dwarves, which resulted in a new race that “lacked all the better qualities of its parents.” He also goes into detail about their clan structure, their chaotic leadership, and their personal traits, especially their legendary stupidity. Moore usually finds some nuance and dignity in the stereotypes attached to the various races, but he doesn’t quite succeed in redeeming the poor gully dwarf. Moore was a staff editor for Dragon.
Stephen Inniss presents “A collection of canines,” which expands the list of AD&D dogs. There are some solid, concise descriptions of each breed, but the new stat blocks overlap a lot, with many virtually identical. It would have been better if each type had a special ability or attack. For example, the coyote could have a hit-and-run attack, while the hunting dogs could deal bonus damage when attacking in packs. Inniss was a frequent contributor to Dragon.
“Nine wands of wonder” by Ed Greenwood describes nine new magical wands from the Forgotten Realms. These range from the prosaic-sounding wand of darkness through to the wand of magical mirrors and the wand of teeth. Each entry contains some Realms-specific lore, such as who made the wand, how many were made, and where they are now. Some of the wands have a single function, whilst others have a package of powers tied together by a theme. These are generally well-executed, though I really wish he included an evocative physical description of each one. Greenwood was a contributing editor for Dragon.
“Now That’s Firepower!” by Desmond P. Varady adds machine-guns and personal rocket launchers to Top Secret. Each weapon is accompanied by a page of rules and multiple tables, no doubt to make it all feel more realistic. Not my idea of fun, though! Varady contributed just two articles to Dragon.
In “Creating a Cast of NPCs,” Jim Dutton describes a method to rapidly generate a large number of supporting characters for your campaign. It feels a little lacklustre compared to other methods I’ve seen. Dutton was president of Entertainment Concepts, which produced a short-lived and controversial play-by-mail D&D game.
“Passing in the Night” by Rob Chilson is a hard-edged military science fiction story. Commander Bazulin is en route to Mars when his light cruiser is attacked by an enemy battleship. The stakes are high, and there’s lots of technical detail about maneuvers and weaponry. The pace does drag a bit, and the characters are underdeveloped, but lots of readers would enjoy this story. Chilson is a science fiction writer and critic with many publications to his name.
The ARES Section returns, presenting about a dozen pages of science-fiction and superhero gaming material. It includes five articles:
The cover, titled “The Pillage of Tantlin,” is by veteran artist Dean Morrissey. It depicts a group of gnomes who appear to be looting a bridge! Interior artists include Larry Elmore, Bob Maurus, Roger Raupp, Jim Holloway, the Marvel Bullpen, David Trampier, Joseph Pillsbury, Richard Tomasic, Lance Foster, and Edward Wagner.
This month’s special attraction is “Valley of the Earth Mother”, a Celtic-themed AD&D adventure by Lise Breakey. The characters must travel to a druidic stronghold to recover a minor relic, but their mission is complicated by a sinister death cult. The focus is very much on combat and exploration. The dungeon encounters are generally conventional, but there is lots of theming in the room descriptions, and the monsters are nicely detailed. Lise Breakey was the designer of the Furry Pirates and Furry Outlaws RPGs, and later published a novel.
In “Realms of role playing,” Gary Gygax suggests that the emphasis in role-playing games has swung away from “game” and more toward “role-playing”, which he thinks is a problem. Tournaments are becoming too theatrical for his tastes. He would like more focus on the gaming aspects, such as problem-solving, exploration, and combat. Years after this column, a designer called Ron Edwards proposed that RPGs could be classified by their focus on Gaming, Narrative, or Simulation. Gygax was always very much into RPGs as a game.
“All About the gully dwarf” by Roger E. Moore describes the hapless comic underclass of Krynn. He explains their origins in the intermarriage of gnomes and dwarves, which resulted in a new race that “lacked all the better qualities of its parents.” He also goes into detail about their clan structure, their chaotic leadership, and their personal traits, especially their legendary stupidity. Moore usually finds some nuance and dignity in the stereotypes attached to the various races, but he doesn’t quite succeed in redeeming the poor gully dwarf. Moore was a staff editor for Dragon.
Stephen Inniss presents “A collection of canines,” which expands the list of AD&D dogs. There are some solid, concise descriptions of each breed, but the new stat blocks overlap a lot, with many virtually identical. It would have been better if each type had a special ability or attack. For example, the coyote could have a hit-and-run attack, while the hunting dogs could deal bonus damage when attacking in packs. Inniss was a frequent contributor to Dragon.
“Nine wands of wonder” by Ed Greenwood describes nine new magical wands from the Forgotten Realms. These range from the prosaic-sounding wand of darkness through to the wand of magical mirrors and the wand of teeth. Each entry contains some Realms-specific lore, such as who made the wand, how many were made, and where they are now. Some of the wands have a single function, whilst others have a package of powers tied together by a theme. These are generally well-executed, though I really wish he included an evocative physical description of each one. Greenwood was a contributing editor for Dragon.
“Now That’s Firepower!” by Desmond P. Varady adds machine-guns and personal rocket launchers to Top Secret. Each weapon is accompanied by a page of rules and multiple tables, no doubt to make it all feel more realistic. Not my idea of fun, though! Varady contributed just two articles to Dragon.
In “Creating a Cast of NPCs,” Jim Dutton describes a method to rapidly generate a large number of supporting characters for your campaign. It feels a little lacklustre compared to other methods I’ve seen. Dutton was president of Entertainment Concepts, which produced a short-lived and controversial play-by-mail D&D game.
“Passing in the Night” by Rob Chilson is a hard-edged military science fiction story. Commander Bazulin is en route to Mars when his light cruiser is attacked by an enemy battleship. The stakes are high, and there’s lots of technical detail about maneuvers and weaponry. The pace does drag a bit, and the characters are underdeveloped, but lots of readers would enjoy this story. Chilson is a science fiction writer and critic with many publications to his name.
The ARES Section returns, presenting about a dozen pages of science-fiction and superhero gaming material. It includes five articles:
- “Sticks & Stones & Death Machines” by John M. Maxstadt describes how to balance encounters in Gamma World.
- “A Thousand in One” by Mark Graham Jones is all about balkanising your science-fiction campaign worlds.
- “The Marvel-Phile” by Jeff Grubb presents Marvel Super Heroes stats for the Impossible Man.
- “Active Duty” by Jefferson P. Swycaffer shows how to continue your career in Traveller.
- “Silvertwin!” by Michael Therrien describes two new vehicles for Star Frontiers.
