Dragon Reflections #94

It is 100 pages long and has a cover price of $3.00. This issue features the second creature catalog, Solemnic Knights, and the ecology of the chimera!

The cover art is by Clyde Caldwell. Titled "Female Ranger," it depicts a striking ranger accompanied by her fierce animal companion. It's a lovely painting, and TSR later reused it in PHB11 The Complete Ranger. Interior illustrations are by Bob Maurus, Roger Raupp, Dennis Kauth, Marsha Kauth, Ernest Yates, the Marvel Bullpen, Jayne Hoffmann, Peter Berryman, Dave Trampier, Denton Elliott, Robert Albanese, Joseph Pillsbury, and Larry Elmore.

This month's special attraction is "Creature Catalog II," presenting eighteen new AD&D monsters to challenge your adventurers. It is a follow-up to the first creature catalog, which appeared in Dragon #89. Once more, Ed Greenwood makes an outsized contribution of six creatures, with Roger Moore and Len Lakofka contributing two each. Four of these monsters made it into the official rulebooks: the belabra, bhaergala, firestar, and lillend.

Gary Gygax brings us "Official Changes for Rangers." This article details new ranger tracking rules, which, according to the author, more closely reflect what he uses in his home game. They are rather too detailed for my taste, with modifiers of +2% and so on. Gygax also supplies some minor but welcome enhancements to the ranger's combat ability.

Katharine Kerr's "An Army Travels on Its Stomach" addresses the logistics of moving armies in medieval fantasy settings. She emphasises the importance of food, water, and proper animal care, detailing how such elements can significantly impact the movement of large bodies of soldiers. The article is meticulously researched, but it needed to be more gameable, perhaps via the inclusion of some movement tables. As it stands, it adds little more than a "sour note of realism to play."

"Same Dice, Different Odds" by David G. Weeks presents an alternative method of using dice to introduce more variety. He calls it the "divided roll," where you divide the result of one roll by another. For example, roll a d8 and divide it by the results of a d4. This method can create a low average roll while allowing for sporadic high results. I can see the advantage of the technique, but I think it is ultimately too much math in play to be worth it.

Ed Greenwood returns with "The Ecology of the Chimera," continuing this popular series. Presented as a conversation between the author and Elminster, the article explores the biology, behaviour, and tactics of the three-headed monstrosity. It also presents a new cross-breed, the thessalmera, for the first time. This powerful and hideous creature was included in several official books.

"My Honor Is My Life" by Tracy Hickman introduces the Knights of Solamnia, the chivalric order central to the world of Dragonlance. It explores their history, codes of conduct, internal organisation, and social role. Surprisingly, Hickman published no further articles in Dragon for the next five years.

There are two pieces of fiction in this issue. In "Fortunes of a Fool" by Nicholas Yermakov, a simple peasant gains wealth and a magical bride, only to discover that happily ever after isn't guaranteed. It is a witty, clever, and tightly structured fairy tale satire. Yermakov changed his name to Simon Hawke and went on to publish a string of popular novels.

In "The Gun That Shot Too Straight" by Ralph Roberts, an inventor builds a precision weapon and discovers that perfect aim comes with unexpected consequences. It's a short, mildly amusing tech-fable that delivers one clever idea and exits. The author's credits include a couple of dozen short stories and a single self-published novel.

The ARES Section presents about a dozen pages of science-fiction and superhero gaming material. It includes three articles:

• "S.H.I.E.L.D" by William Tracy details the famous super-agency.
• "The Marvel-Phile" by Jeff Grubb provides character stats and lore for Hobgoblin, Kingpin, and Spider-Man's Suit.
• "From Anarchy to Empire" by David Cook describes interstellar governments in STAR FRONTIERS.

There is one game review. Mercenaries, Spies & Private Eyes by Flying Buffalo is a flexible, modern-era RPG that blends skill- and level-based progression, allowing players to step into the shoes of Bond-like spies or hard-boiled detectives. Its hybrid mechanics, intuitive skill rolls, and focus on character background support deep roleplaying. Supplements like Stormhaven offer richly detailed scenarios, while character folders add convenience. Reviewer Arlen P. Walker concludes, "If you're planning on roleplaying in the modern era... this would be an excellent system to choose." Astute readers will note that Dragon published a much more lukewarm mini-review of the same system just three issues prior.

"The Role of Books" returns with reviews of the latest speculative fiction:

• Secret of the Sixth Magic by Lyndon Hardy explores magical chaos through inventive world-building and clever plot mechanics, making it "original and fascinating."
• The Land Beyond the Gate by Lloyd Arthur Eshbach is a classic portal fantasy filled with quiet wonder and shows "that the familiar need not necessarily be dull."
• Raphael by R. A. MacAvoy is a philosophical fantasy about angelic identity and is "unlike virtually anything else in the spectrum of contemporary fantasy."
• The Darkangel by Meredith Ann Pierce is a richly detailed and imaginative vampire epic that defies cliché and "is worth reading."
• The Song of the Axe by Paul O. Williams is a thoughtful and immersive post-apocalyptic journey through a richly imagined North America and is "excellent."
• The Harem of Aman Akbar by Elizabeth Scarborough is a witty Arabian Nights-inspired adventure featuring practical djinni lore and spiced with "the cheerfully sly humor that has marked [her] work."
• Exiles of the Rynth by Carole Nelson Douglas is a meandering and overly convenient middle volume in an otherwise promising trilogy and is "a serious disappointment."

And that's a wrap! It was an enjoyable issue, though none of the gaming articles rose to great heights. Next month, we have new demi-human rules, a tournament module, and Gygax on Tolkien!

 

[Wofano Wotanto]

The cover art is by Clyde Caldwell. Titled "Female Ranger," it depicts a striking ranger accompanied by her fierce animal companion.

If by "striking" you mean "showing an awful lot of skin for her environment" then sure, you bet. Way too many evergreens and too much snow on those backdrop mountains to convince me she's comfortably warm even with a furred cloak. Maybe its magical items at work and she's relying on that +2 Armor of Cheesecake that was so popular in the TSR days.

Also not so sure that companion is an "animal" in the sense usually meant. Not only is it carrying a weapon that appears scaled more or less to its size (her hands are far too large to wield that blade), it's got ornamental jewelry on and its own satchel. That screams intelligent tool-user to me, not trained beastie. Were Awakened critters a thing yet in 1985?

Yermakov changed his name to Simon Hawke and went on to publish a string of popular novels.

He'd just started going by Hawke the year before this, and had already put out the first four or five Time Wars novels by the time this issue came out. The guy was a prolific writer of hack scifi and fantasy novels throughout the 80s and 90s, dropped off a lot in the 2000s, and after almost ten years' silence cropped again in the early 2020s with a new 4-book series of scifi mysteries featuring characters named after the leads in the Robin Hood myths - which feels like a weirdly appropriate mashup of everything from Time Wars to his "historical" William Shakespeare mysteries.

Pretty much a pulp magazine author who was born after his time, much like Ron Goulart (who Hawke has been compared to occasionally, which is high praise IMO).

In "The Gun That Shot Too Straight" by Ralph Roberts, an inventor builds a precision weapon and discovers that perfect aim comes with unexpected consequences. It's a short, mildly amusing tech-fable that delivers one clever idea and exits.

This one still stands out in my memory despite never having re-read it (it doesn't need revisiting, the central premise is all there is to it). As I recall, the problem wasn't that the "bullets" shot straight, it was that they got perciptably larger the farther they travelled, could shoot through a planet, and had no established range limit or duration of flight. You were effectively firing what could eventually grow to be the size of a star somewhere down range with every pull of the trigger.

Exiles of the Rynth by Carole Nelson Douglas is a meandering and overly convenient middle volume in an otherwise promising trilogy and is "a serious disappointment."

It's actually the 2nd book in a five-book series, and it's really quite good, outdated review notwithstanding. And yes, it is that Carol Nelson Douglas, the one with all the "Cat" and "Irene Adler" mystery novels. She started off with scifi and fantasy before settling into the Midnight Louie stuff and (toward the end) paranormal mystery.

Secret of the Sixth Magic by Lyndon Hardy explores magical chaos through inventive world-building and clever plot mechanics, making it "original and fascinating."

This is actually the 2nd book in what is currently a 7-book series that started in 1980 with Master of the five Magics. If you're into "hard" magic (as Sanderson would describe it - magic systems with firmly established rules) the series is hard to beat, and arguably the root of the whole concept. 43 years to write seven books isn't pulp fiction speed, but the ones I've read were well-crafted.

The Song of the Axe by Paul O. Williams is a thoughtful and immersive post-apocalyptic journey through a richly imagined North America and is "excellent."

Keeping with the theme of outdated reviews, this is the 7th of the 8-book Pelbar Cycle novels, which was a serious but generally optimistic look at human civilization gradually recovering about 1000 years after a nuclear apocalypse. Worth a read for a more contemplative study of whether humanity is doomed to repeat its mistakes than you usually find in PA fiction.

 

[el-remmen]

I'm going to need to re-read my own overview of this issue and compare it to your points. I'll be back with a more specific response!

You can find mine here: Dragon Mag Monday: #94

 

[sevenbastard]

Gygax also supplies some minor but welcome enhancements to the ranger's combat ability.

Could you eloborate please?

 

[el-remmen]

Something in this issue I noted in my own overview that you didn't mention, is Kim Mohan's self-contradictory editorial about non-D&D/non-TSR material in the mag, that actually helps to demonstrate how the insular and homogeneous nature of the gaming industry worked (works?). If you give preference to people you already know, the chances are you are not including people from different backgrounds and perspectives.

And for me, the stand-out bit in this issue are the photos from the 1984 GEN CON Miniature Open, showing the winning diorama, "Reptiliad Attack!" Those photos alone were a huge inspiration to a young world building el-remmen.

As for Gygax and his "Official Changes for Rangers," I have a lot to say about that regarding the downside of an authoritarian figure in gaming whose home game rules become "official" (esp. when the chances are he never actually used these way too fidgety rules), and how ranger has always been a problematic class needing constant tweaking from 1E up through 5E.

 

[Wofano Wotanto]

And for me, the stand-out bit in this issue are the photos from the 1984 GEN CON Miniature Open, showing the winning diorama, "Reptiliad Attack!" Those photos alone were a huge inspiration to a young world building el-remmen.

Very famous image back in the day, that. Still bemoaning the sudden and unexpected closure of RAFM earlier this year.

 

[David Howery]

don't think I used any of the info in this issue, but I really liked the cover....

 

[Voadam]

Could you eloborate please?

Looks like stuff that was later added to the 1e Unearthed Arcana ranger update, mostly expanding the giant class list for FF and MM II stuff. UA has provision for rangers with specialization though.

From the CD:

Humanoid/giant class opponents
Following is an expanded list of those
humanoid creatures that are considered
giant class, qualifying the ranger for a
damage bonus (+1 hit point per level of the
ranger) when such a creature is engaged in
combat. The roster includes all giant
class creatures mentioned in the Players
Handbook, plus other similar creatures
from the FIEND FOLIO
® Tome and Monster Manual II.
bugbear
goblin
cyclopskin
grimlock
dune stalker
hobgoblin
ettin
kobold
flind
meazel
giant
norker
gibberling
ogre
gnoll
ogre mage
ogrillon
orc
quaggoth
tasloi
troll
xvart

The ranger's weapons
Of the ranger's three initial weapons of
proficiency, one must be either a bow (any
sort) or a light crossbow. However, the
ranger cannot have both a bow and a light
crossbow as weapons of proficiency until
attaining 7th level (at least), when the
weapon type not already taken could be
counted as the fifth weapon of proficiency.
By the time a ranger gains a fourth weapon
proficiency at 4th level, the character's list
of weapons must include:
either a bow or a light crossbow,
a dagger or a knife,
a spear or an axe, and
a sword (of any type).
The initial weapon selection for the character must be made so as to take these
requirements into account.

 

[fuindordm]

Gary was kind of obsessed with using the weapon proficiency system to enforce archetypes, while famously not bothering to use the weapons vs AC table (the main source of distinction between weapons). The cavalier is even worse in this regard.
Did this appear before or after he introduced weapon specialization?

 

[Voadam]

Four of these monsters made it into the official rulebooks: the belabra, bhaergala, firestar, and lillend.

Lillend I recognize from 2e and 3e but not the other three, where did they show up later?