Dragon Reflections #88

Dragon Publishing released Dragon #88 in August 1984. It is 100 pages long and has a cover price of $3.00.

The cover is by Jim Holloway, one of my favourite RPG artists, and depicts a rogue hiding from an orc patrol. Interior artists include Keith Parkinson, Jeff Butler, Brian Born, Roger Raupp, Kurt Erichsen, Tom Wham, Dave Trampier, Mark Nelson, and Larry Elmore.

This month's special attraction is "Elefant Hunt," a light-hearted board game by Tom Wham. The players are big game hunters who explore the African interior in search of wild animals and other valuables. The cute art and interesting hunt mechanics elevate this above the typical roll-and-move game, but it will most likely appeal to kids.

There are three articles on falling in AD&D, and old-timers will know this was a real chestnut back in the day. "Physics and falling damage" by Arn Ashleigh Parker argues for a more realistic velocity-based falling system. He follows up with "Scientific facts behind the system," which uses natural-world physics to derive a falling damage equation. All the math boils down to "the number of d6 damage dice equals 5 times the square root of the distance fallen in feet, divided by 4." Parker was a physics major with a handful of published credits in Dragon.

In a brief rebuttal called "Kinetic energy is the key," Steve Winter argues that velocity is less important than kinetic energy and that the original falling damage system in the Players Handbook (1d6 points of damage for every 10 feet fallen) is pretty good. Winter was an editor working in the TSR game department at this time.

"The Ecology of the Rust Monster" by Ed Greenwood delves into the biology and behaviour of this favourite D&D monster. In the voice of Baerdalumi the sage, Greenwood describes the monster's temperament and biology and gives some practical tips for dealing with it. The game notes detail the effects of certain spells on the creature and address edge cases around their antenna attacks.

"Beyond the Dungeon: Part 2" continues Katharine Kerr's exploration of wilderness adventures. She explains how to create engaging encounters by pitting players against harsh terrains, environmental obstacles, and the challenge of resource management. The article also emphasizes the integration of non-dungeon settings into the broader campaign world to deepen storytelling. I enjoyed this much more than the first article, which was a bit pedantic for my taste.

"Key to Ramali" is a short story by Ardath Mayhar. A weary intergalactic negotiator needs the help of his malfunctioning mechanical camel to secure a trade deal. It's a humorous little tale with patches of creativity, but it is no more than light entertainment. Mayhar published dozens of science fiction, fantasy, and western novels.

Len Lakofka brings us a diverse trio of new "Gods of the Suel pantheon." This month, we have Syrul, Goddess of False Promises and Deceit, Fortubuo, God of Stone, Metals, and Mountains, and Wee Jas, Goddess of Magic and Death.

"Off the Shelf" returns with reviews of the latest sci-fi and fantasy:

• The Chaos Weapon by Colin Kapp is a rousing tale of space marshals confronting a chaotic menace and is "well worth reading."
• The Paradoxicon by Nicholas Falletta is a comprehensive exploration of paradoxes and is of great use to "those who like including puzzles and riddles in their game campaigns."
• The Sword and the Chain by Joel Rosenberg continues this series about college gamers transported to a fantasy world and is "delightful."
• Across the Sea of Suns by Gregory Benford, a tale with confusing dual plots about an interstellar mission and an alien invasion, is "a disappointing book."
• Salvage and Destroy by Edward Llewellyn, about aliens awaiting the end of human civilization, is "a good science fiction tale from a talented writer."
• Neuromancer by William Gibson, a dark and gripping vision of our cyberpunk future, is "a novel worth reading."

There is a feature-length game review in this issue. Rolemaster by Iron Crown Enterprises is a comprehensive RPG system offering exceptional player flexibility and detailed mechanics, but it is burdened by inconsistency and complexity. Reviewer Arlen P. Walker says, "If you want a freer, more open game than you are currently playing, I'd say it is probably worth it."

Finally, the Ares Section includes four articles:

• "Before the Dark Years" by Jim Ward and Roger Moore is a detailed timeline of the Gamma World universe.
• "The Marvel-Phile" by Jeff Grubb details the diverse inhabitants of the Marvel Superheroes RPG.
• "The Battle at Ebony Eyes" by William Tracy is a Star Fronters game scenario.
• "Yachts and Privateers Return" by Douglas Niles has revised statistics for various Star Frontiers ships.

And that's a wrap! There was a little too much physics in this issue, but I did enjoy Katharine Kerr's article on wilderness adventures. Next month, we have new monsters, special shields, and war words!

 

[Celebrim]

That's wild, because it comes to either 4d6 or 8d6 for 10 feet, depending on how you read that sentence.

Arn goes so far as to take it out to decimal places, so he calculates it as 3d6+1d5 for a 10 foot fall.

 

[Mannahnin]

I liked Dan Collins' takes on these articles. He even took a swing at factoring in air resistance. Although IIRC his big oversight was not factoring in surface hardness.

One thing I took away from his analyses is that allowing a saving throw for half makes sense, due to the bimodal distribution of falls where the person hits their head or not. Doing so is much more consistently lethal.

Falling Revisted

Math, history, and design of old-school D&D.

deltasdnd.blogspot.com

Falling Re-Revisited

Shouldn't we have at least considered air resistance in our models of falling in D&D and other RPGs?

deltasdnd.blogspot.com

 

[Mannahnin]

One of the things I enjoy about The Nightmares Underneath is how its replacement for hit points, Disposition, only applies to defending yourself from violence (can also be reduced by things like fatigue, fear or pain). Damage from things like falling or poisons goes directly to your Health (Constitution-equivalent) ability score.

 

[M.T. Black]

I've enjoyed the discussion about falling damage greatly - it takes me back to 1985!

We used to agonize over such matters ("why can my 10th level fighter survive a 100 foot drop onto rock? that's ridiculous!"). And then someone would find a story about a WWII pilot who somehow survived a 3,000 foot fall from a plane, and the argument would rage on.

These days, I'm very casual about such matters. I used the 1d6 per 10' rule, and explain it in the fiction if necessary ("wow, you landed in a small pile of volcanic ash on this otherwise obsidian plain.") Heroic warriors are not just tougher than ordinary people, they are generally much luckier too.

 

[R_Chance]

Holloway was my favorite artist. Always love his stuff. And falling... never was satisfied with various attempts at "realism". I kept 1d6 / 10' and added a saving throw. Make it and its stun damage, fail its real damage. Stun damage fades at 1 point per turn) with the player unconscious until they get back to 1 hp. Penalties to the save based on distance fallen. Bonuses or penalties based on surface you fall on. My games have never involved super high levels, so falling was dangerous.

 

[talien]

I've enjoyed the discussion about falling damage greatly - it takes me back to 1985!

We used to agonize over such matters ("why can my 10th level fighter survive a 100 foot drop onto rock? that's ridiculous!"). And then someone would find a story about a WWII pilot who somehow survived a 3,000 foot fall from a plane, and the argument would rage on.

These days, I'm very casual about such matters. I used the 1d6 per 10' rule, and explain it in the fiction if necessary ("wow, you landed in a small pile of volcanic ash on this otherwise obsidian plain.") Heroic warriors are not just tougher than ordinary people, they are generally much luckier too.

Exactly, and the issue isn't necessarily the damage, it's how players (and thus their characters) treat the threat of it. Because we know the upper limits of damage ("30 feet? I can handle 18 damage easily!") it's a bounded threat. If the damage range was much wider (one of the solutions I believe proposes exactly this) or the PCs didn't know how much damage they might take because it was the DM's fiat, that changes things quite a bit, and PCs would not just automatically assume they're that WWII pilot.

Falling damage is also tied to how the game evolved. As @lewpuls often points out in articles, it used to be dying (or nearly dying) from a fall was character growth and part of your PC's backstory at lower levels, back when dungeon-crawling was the norm and filled with traps.

Nowadays PCs tend to come with detailed backstories, and dying from a fall would probably enrage someone who spent hours crafting a nemesis they hoped to kill-or-be-killed by.

Resistances also come into it, which weren't a thing originally. PCs resistant to bludgeoning damage can hurl themselves off cliffs; PCs immune to bludgeoning damage can fall off mountains. Conversely, we now have massive damage rules. It's all about the style of game you want to play, and the simple but elegant 1d6/10 feet is for those of us who would much rather develop NPCs than traps.

 

[Steven Winter]

As the guy who wrote the rebuttal, I'm amazed and pleased that the article can still kick up interest 40 years later. I'll only point out here that, as far as Kim Mohan knew, Arn Ashleigh Parker is a she, not a he. Could be wrong, but that was the impression Kim had and what he told me, based on his correspondence with the author.

 

[M.T. Black]

As the guy who wrote the rebuttal, I'm amazed and pleased that the article can still kick up interest 40 years later. I'll only point out here that, as far as Kim Mohan knew, Arn Ashleigh Parker is a she, not a he. Could be wrong, but that was the impression Kim had and what he told me, based on his correspondence with the author.

It's great to hear from you, Steve!

Regarding Arn's gender, when I was writing the article, I googled and found his obituary. He sadly passed away in 2008 at the youngish age of 47.

Obituary of Arn Ashleigh Parker: Arn Ashleigh Parker

 

[Steven Winter]

It's great to hear from you, Steve!

Regarding Arn's gender, when I was writing the article, I googled and found his obituary. He sadly passed away in 2008 at the youngish age of 47.

Obituary of Arn Ashleigh Parker: Arn Ashleigh Parker

Sad news, but thanks for tracking that down. I stand corrected.

 

[Voadam]

As a DM I didn't want to have to have 70 foot pits to be a reasonable trap threat to PCs. I have a fear of heights and climbing 20 feet up a tree was scary. I eventually houseruled to compounding falling damage to share a bit of my fear of heights with my players but kept 20d6 falling damage as terminal velocity. So 1d6 from 10', 1d6+2d6=3d6 for 20 feet falls, and 1d6+2d6+3d6=6d6 for 30', 10d6 for 40', 15d6 for 50' and 20d6 for 50'+.