Dragon Reflections #79

Dragon Publishing released Dragon #79 in November 1983. It is 84 pages long and has a cover price of $3.00. This issue features holy saints, adventuring tips, and a new Top Secret module!

The issue's special attraction is "Wacko World" by Al Taylor. The adventure won the recent Module Design Contest in category T-3 (an investigative mission for 4-8 Top Secret characters). Hydra has infiltrated an amusement park in Florida and is using it to front various criminal enterprises. Players must uncover Hydra's activities and prevent the assassination of a visiting VIP. The adventure gates important clues behind Perception and Observation roles, and I wonder how it played at the table. Taylor published no other RPG material.

The feature articles include "The Fights of Fantasy" by Lew Pulsipher, which examines how large-scale battles in a fantasy world differ from medieval warfare and provides guidelines for DMs to run these encounters. The article is particularly concerned with the impact of magic on battles but also covers matters such as fortresses, intelligence gathering, and aerial warfare.

Pulsipher's other piece, "Be Aware and Take Care," offers strategic advice for successful adventuring in fantasy roleplaying games. This lengthy and thorough article emphasizes the importance of preparation, adaptability, and cooperation within the party. Pulsipher published several articles like this in Dragon, reflecting his deep engagement with the gaming aspect of Dungeons & Dragons.

Scott Bennie's "Setting Saintly Standards" notes that AD&D mentions saints but gives no further information. Bennie defines them as "the most powerful servants of a deity on earth, the absolute embodiment of their religion." He explains the requirements of sainthood and the powers saints possess, and he also provides several examples, such as St. Eleador the Survivor. It's a well-crafted article and is the sort of thing I can imagine Gygax writing. Bennie was a prolific RPG freelancer and was one of the original writers on Fallout, amongst other credits. He passed away in 2022.

"Magic Resistance" is an uncredited piece that explores this aspect of AD&D gameplay in depth. It defines magic resistance, explains the mechanics, and then explores certain edge cases, such as scope, voluntary nullification, and the impact on worn magic items. It's a solid article and full of practical advice.

In this issue's "Ecology" article, Susan Lawson delves into the lore of the treant, offering insight into these enigmatic and ancient creatures. Much of the information clearly derives from Tolkien, but there are a couple of nice details, such as the idea that treants make potions from their living sap. Lawson wrote several more articles for Dragon and also wrote an Endless Quest book called Riddle of the Griffon for TSR.

For aspiring game designers, "Page Advice II: Getting Started" provides advice for getting published by TSR. It makes the critical point that "you need the desire to write—not just the desire to see your work in print." It then mentions the importance of knowing the game system, having a reference shelf, editing your work, etc. The article was uncredited but was most likely written by Kim Mohan.

"Blame it on the Gremlins," by Gregg Chamberlain, introduces these notorious troublemakers into the AD&D universe, drawing inspiration from their roots in military folklore. These creatures briefly reappear in 4E but (contrary to my recollection) were never officially published in 5E. Chamberlain had several credits in Dragon.

"The Ordeal" by Atanielle Annyn Noel is a short story about a group of D&D players who devise a creative solution to deal with a troublesome member. Noel, who previously contributed "Be Quest" to Dragon #69, later published several novels. Her brother, Jefferson P. Swycaffer, was also a writer and published several Traveller-related books.

"Off the Shelf" returns and covers an eclectic collection of books:

• The Art of Al Williamson by James Van Hise is a rich tribute to "one of the grand masters of comic art" and blends interviews, essays, and artwork.
• Code of the Life Maker by James P. Hogan is a standout science fiction novel about robots on Titan and is "the best book to date this year."
• The Unteleported Man by Philip K. Dick is a complicated yet compelling novel and "not to be missed."
• Dinosaur Tales by Ray Bradbury is a beautifully illustrated collection of Bradbury's dinosaur stories and "a solid tribute to a well-respected master."
• The General's Wife by Peter Straub is a chilling novella about identity and the supernatural and "a fine example of Straub's talent."
• The Worthing Chronicle by Orson Scott Card is a complex, compelling tale of telepathy and "is the kind of book Card should have been writing from the start."

The cover art is by Jack Crane with interior art by Dave Trampier, Steve Swenston, Roger Raupp, and Phil Foglio.

And that's a wrap! There was a lot of good material in this issue, with my favorite being Bennie's "Setting Saintly Standards." In the next issue, we have castle inhabitants, rare treasures, and the keys to DM success!

 

[PHATsakk43]

First, the fiction this month is something else. I don’t know if it would even get published even a few years later in Dragon. Although in a lot of ways, the characters in the story are almost more modern than I think the author may have imagined. Granted, I have no idea how common LARPing and so-forth was in 1983, as I was only 4 at the time.

As for the article on saints, I sort of wonder if that came to influence Mr. Greenwood and especially the later editions Realms authors with their rather overindulgent use of “Chosen” of the various deities. They also seem mechanically similar to 2E’s heroes from Legends & Lore.

 

[Marc Radle]

It's a guess, based on Mohan's position and also the fact that he's written articles like this before (IIRC).

I had the honor and privilege of both meeting and working with Kim Mohan - he was a pretty amazing guy!

 

[Wofano Wotanto]

First, the fiction this month is something else. I don’t know if it would even get published even a few years later in Dragon. Although in a lot of ways, the characters in the story are almost more modern than I think the author may have imagined. Granted, I have no idea how common LARPing and so-forth was in 1983, as I was only 4 at the time.

What, the Ordeal story? They were dressing up for a Halloween party, not LARPing, and outside of Crystal's acting as part of the...prank? intervention? whatever you want to call it...no one's playing in character. There was some LARPing going on, but it was on a smaller scale and often overlapped with historical recreation and the SCA more than roleplaying games.

I was 17 in 1983 and to 2024 me the story manages to be both old-fashioned and accidentally futurist at the same time. Cruel stupidity like nicknaming someone Wart based on their vocabulary was certainly a thing back then, and every D&D player in a small town knowing each other well enough to get together for a party rings pretty true from my own rural youth - although 1980s Voorheesville couldn't have scraped up four tables of players if the world depended on it.

Trying to "fix" player behavior (if that's even what they were really trying to accomplish) in such an absurd, indirect fashion is also something that feels like the past, but I question whether anything like this was ever done IRL. Never ran into or even heard about anything like it back then. Problem players usually just got tolerated until you could find a replacement, then told to go find another group.

OTOH, the POV character's group (especially going by the illustration) is far more diverse than the all-white-male gaming community that was dominant in many areas during Reagan's era, and there's no indication any of them get hassled just for being gamers. Weirdly, that gives them less reason to put up with "Wart" simply because he's one of them, annoying habits or no. BADD was still a couple of years off in 1983, but the more general Satanic Panic was already in full bloom in the US and depending on where you were roleplaying was definitely seen as suspect by the uptight and clueless majority.

On a more general note, Dawn (the POV character - easily missed since the author only uses it once) has a level of emotional maturity that would surprise me in any era. They're never properly described but the implication seems to be that they just started college recently, and they're still a better analyst of other folks' behavior than 99% of the 18-20 year olds I've ever known.

And if this was 1983, all those gender-neutral pronouns in that last paragraph would have been feminine based their name - and, I suppose, the fact that "Wart" kissed them. Default assumptions about gender identity and sexual preferences were very much the norm 40-odd years ago. So that's another change. The past is an alien place if you didn't live through it.

 

[PHATsakk43]

What, the Ordeal story? They were dressing up for a Halloween party, not LARPing, and outside of Crystal's acting as part of the...prank? intervention? whatever you want to call it...no one's playing in character. There was some LARPing going on, but it was on a smaller scale and often overlapped with historical recreation and the SCA more than roleplaying games.

I was 17 in 1983 and to 2024 me the story manages to be both old-fashioned and accidentally futurist at the same time. Cruel stupidity like nicknaming someone Wart based on their vocabulary was certainly a thing back then, and every D&D player in a small town knowing each other well enough to get together for a party rings pretty true from my own rural youth - although 1980s Voorheesville couldn't have scraped up four tables of players if the world depended on it.

Trying to "fix" player behavior (if that's even what they were really trying to accomplish) in such an absurd, indirect fashion is also something that feels like the past, but I question whether anything like this was ever done IRL. Never ran into or even heard about anything like it back then. Problem players usually just got tolerated until you could find a replacement, then told to go find another group.

OTOH, the POV character's group (especially going by the illustration) is far more diverse than the all-white-male gaming community that was dominant in many areas during Reagan's era, and there's no indication any of them get hassled just for being gamers. Weirdly, that gives them less reason to put up with "Wart" simply because he's one of them, annoying habits or no. BADD was still a couple of years off in 1983, but the more general Satanic Panic was already in full bloom in the US and depending on where you were roleplaying was definitely seen as suspect by the uptight and clueless majority.

On a more general note, Dawn (the POV character - easily missed since the author only uses it once) has a level of emotional maturity that would surprise me in any era. They're never properly described but the implication seems to be that they just started college recently, and they're still a better analyst of other folks' behavior than 99% of the 18-20 year olds I've ever known.

And if this was 1983, all those gender-neutral pronouns in that last paragraph would have been feminine based their name - and, I suppose, the fact that "Wart" kissed them. Default assumptions about gender identity and sexual preferences were very much the norm 40-odd years ago. So that's another change. The past is an alien place if you didn't live through it.

There was also a cast off reference to a suicide as well some, I suppose problematic but not completely inaccurate POV from Dawn regarding a guy preferring shoving and hitting to talking as a motivator from the opposite sex.

Again, it’s definitely as you said in many ways more modern feeling and yet placed within its own time simultaneously. I also can’t recall any other Dragon fiction that was from a RW player’s POV either. Seems like a very unique story in the scope of Dragon fiction.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

The saints article was tremendously influential on my campaign. It's also quite curious (and probably due to religious concerns) that the concept doesn't appear more often. Gygax used saints (notably St. Cuthbert) but D&D skews much more toward "deity has an avatar" vs. "humanoid elevated to sainthood." I prefer less avatars and more saints to make the gods a bit more mysterious.

Looking at the cleric, putting intermediaries between them and their deity makes plenty of sense rather than them having a direct hotline.

 

[PHATsakk43]

Looking at the cleric, putting intermediaries between them and their deity makes plenty of sense rather than them having a direct hotline.

According to Gary in the DMG, it’s not until 6-7th level spells do they actually come from the deity. 1-2nd are innate, 3-5th are via an escalator of intermediaries.

One of those things that was less generic than it probably should have been in a core book, but whatever.

 

[Zaukrie]

I always thought in a fantasy world like most of us play in, that saint like beings made total sense. Like from Deeds of Paaksanarion

 

[R_Chance]

According to Gary in the DMG, it’s not until 6-7th level spells do they actually come from the deity. 1-2nd are innate, 3-5th are via an escalator of intermediaries.

One of those things that was less generic than it probably should have been in a core book, but whatever.

My campaigns main religion has 3 deities and dozens of saints. Combination of lower-level religious bureaucracy to act as intermediaries / spell sources and a quasi-medieval church design.

 

[Lidgar]

Saints could also make great patrons for celestial warlocks.

 

[SprayPaintAffiliate]

As a 12 year old, I remember buying this issue, or more accurately, Dad giving me the pocket money for it, in addition to buying I6 Ravenloft from Krackers Game Store in Taunton, Somerset, UK.
Ah, memories.
Do wonder what happened to that 12 year old?