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]

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.

With the exception of the "afterthought" beastmaster ranger they worked fine for us in 4e.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

AFAIK many (most?) of the V&V "ad" characters never appeared elsewhere, either. Nice little bonus for readers.

Yeah, I was a V&V GM at the time -- almost as much as AD&D -- and saved all of those write-ups, since some of those characters appeared in some of the art in the game line and this was the only appearance of some of their stats, while others wouldn't show up in roster books for years.

None of these characters were as good as Bill Willingham's from his two adventures, which makes sense, since he'd go off to be an Eisner-winning creator, while the other V&V creators only cracked the Big Two comics a few times, as I recall.

 

[M.T. Black]

I listened to the first episode of Quinns Quest's Play to Find Out Skyrealms of Jorune campaign and it broke my brain. The core idea seems sound -- and lordy, the art is amazing -- but it's buried under such player-unfriendly lore and rules density, I can't imagine many people played it more than once or twice.

Ironically, I think it'd be an ideal case for a D&D setting, where the rules component would be familiar to players and the novelty could just be in the setting, ancestries, monsters, etc.

Yes, I've often thought the same. I don't think the 5E subclass rules fit very well over the Jorune archetypes, but a rules-light/OSR version of D&D could work.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Yes, I've often thought the same. I don't think the 5E subclass rules fit very well over the Jorune archetypes, but a rules-light/OSR version of D&D could work.

It'd make for a wild OSE setting book, for sure.

 

[Wofano Wotanto]

None of these characters were as good as Bill Willingham's from his two adventures, which makes sense, since he'd go off to be an Eisner-winning creator, while the other V&V creators only cracked the Big Two comics a few times, as I recall.

Much as I like Jeff Dee's work, Death Duel With the Destroyers is still hands-down the best looking V&V modules, and the comic panels are well-written and staged as well. I think a lot of Willingham's comics industry success stems from being able to cover multiple bases. For most folks he's much better known for his writing than his art these days, and he hasn't really drawn much in years.

Shame Dee hasn't tried approaching Willingham about doing a new module together, it'd be quite the reunion piece. For extra bonus points, see about getting Otus in on it too and you'd have the same talent trifecta that did the art for Revolt On Antares back in the day.

FWIW, if that new "Here There Be Demons" module that recently came out has your V&V nostalgia stirring, my personal rec is to skip it. It's cheap enough at $4, but the adventure would have been lackluster even in the 80s, and for something released in 2025 its a true disappointment.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I was always disappointed that Willingham didn't end up doing the Elementals sourcebook for V&V that was promised and instead went off and used them to make a go of it in the comics industry. (His biggest success, pre-Fables.)

Not sure how much of an audience there would be for it today, but him coming back and doing something Elementals-adjacent for V&V would be amazing.

 

[Nikosandros]

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.

Those rules are repeated, almost verbatim, in Unearthed Arcana. The only difference I could spot, is that UA takes into account weapon specialization.

 

[el-remmen]

With the exception of the "afterthought" beastmaster ranger they worked fine for us in 4e.

If you read my post about this issue I literally give the caveat that I am not familiar enough with 4e to say if it might be the exception.

Also, regardless of whether there is really a problem with the ranger or just an aesthetic preference, the real point to me is the contention around the ranger among players being a pattern.

 

[Wofano Wotanto]

I was always disappointed that Willingham didn't end up doing the Elementals sourcebook for V&V that was promised and instead went off and used them to make a go of it in the comics industry. (His biggest success, pre-Fables.)

The local comic shop back would disagree with that contention strongly. They sold a lot more Ironwood than they did Elementals back in the day. Yes, even the Elementals Sex Specials.

Not sure how much of an audience there would be for it today, but him coming back and doing something Elementals-adjacent for V&V would be amazing.

AFAIK Andrew Rev still owns the rights to the IP, so that seems a little unlikely.

 

[Voadam]

The other three monsters appeared in MC3: Monstrous Compendium Volume Three Forgotten Realms Appendix.

That makes sense with Greenwood being behind so many new monsters in Dragon.