Magazines 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!

 

[Genghis Don]

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?

After
it's slipped in with illusionist spells in issue 66
it's also given a version in use with cavaliers (removed in the UA) in issue 72

 

[Genghis Don]

As you probably know, Caldwell was quite infamous for his cheesecake art. If you look at his modern paintings, not much has changed! Regardless, I do think this is a particularly beautiful painting - one of his best. I notice that its featured prominently on his home page, so I think he must rate it too.

famous is not infamous
cheesecake is awesome
heh, I don't even eat it anymore (diabetes), but I'm never joining the cheesecake haters, and certainly never going to pretend they have some kind of moral or ethical point (as they do not, only the opposite). Moreover, Beefcake went hand in hand with Cheesecake in art, and always has, and others enjoy it, or even both. As it should be, as is natural.

 

[Genghis Don]

always enjoyed "ecology of" articles

the marvel FASERIP stuff was damned handy for those playing back at the time, the base game needed the support with characters & organizations/stuff. And they put in an effort, such that they really ought have had a dragon magazine add in the box sets.

The best is the creature catalogue 2, of course
Ed has some decent ones, of course, like The bhaergala, or gunniwolf, but he is not superior to others in monster creation, he is superior is spotting good stuff in others & using them, and in making sure stuff gets reprinted in later works. Which is good in it's own way.
Stephen Inniss's Lillend was added to the game ever after, but the Rummele & especially the Viltch are just as good, the Viltch is in fact far more useful/better. WONDERFUL monster!
I used the great wyrm many times, and converted it into other editions too (though dragon power ups limit use in d20). Roger Moore also produces a fun pair of fey, hedgehog-man & goat man: Hurgeon & Urisk.
There is also lesser entries, and those from likely younger members, the Giant Beta is surely due the popularity of the little bowl fish as pets from the time (into the 90's)...but it's still a good entry IMHO, natural critters are lacking or lackluster in current D&D.

you put my little cousin in tiny bowls...now I bite the bling fingers off your characters!

Vilch: you haven't DMed until you enjoy the havoc these chaos critters can deploy into your games!

Great Wyrm gives the 1e AD&D game that classic dragon at kaiju scale

 

[Genghis Don]

Oh, and the cover critter was no "animal companion" to us back in the day; although rangers could have followers, druid spells of animal friendship & charm person or mammal, they also had find familiar as a MU spell.
We'd wonder over the art in such cases. which could it be? or was it a former PC reincarnated? creature met on the happy hunting grounds (beastlands)?

Interpretations will change with time/edition : in d20 era, it sure looks like a familiar all decked out in swag.

Back in the day it was made though, I'm thinking a BEGUILER from issue 58 works. well, sorta. LOL.

Who or what am I? lets make a contest of it

 

[Genghis Don]

a Tarsier(lord)?

 

[Rabulias]

Way too many evergreens and too much snow on those backdrop mountains to convince me she's comfortably warm even with a furred cloak.

Snow can remain on mountain elevations while even slightly lower altitudes can be quite warm, especially on sunny days.

 

[Nikosandros]

Somehow, I don't think the climate conditions were the foremost considerations on Caldwell's mind when painting that cover.

 

[Wofano Wotanto]

Snow can remain on mountain elevations while even slightly lower altitudes can be quite warm, especially on sunny days.

Well aware. I've spent 40-odd years of my life living in sight of the Helderbergs. It can get fairly warm here while there's still a sow cap - but that's at the foot of the mountains proper, about where the green valley behind Cover Girl is on that cover. She's posing at a significantly greater altitude, high enough that despite the distance we're looking down into snow-filled mountain valleys.

She's dressed as cheesecake, pure and simple.

 

[Sketchpad]

Ads for miniatures, Jorune (with its amazing pencil art) and Villains & Vigilantes (with their character stat blocks) were a key part of what made the magazine great back in the day, IMO.

I loved the V&V ads back in the day. I remember using them in the system, and even converting them over to other games. Always wished we'd get more.

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

I believe that Shatterman and Condor stats also appeared in the Villains & Vigilantes comic book from by Eclipse Comics since they were central characters to the story.

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.

Dee and Herman both worked in the indie market here and there. I know that Herman had worked on Elementals with Willingham, and I believe that Dee worked on Justice Machine with Mike Gustovich. But Death Duel with the Destroyers and The Island of Dr. Apocalypse were the best of the V&V modules in my opinion.

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.

IIRC, the folks at Monkey House Games and Willingham had planned on a re-release of his two modules for Mighty Protectors/V&V3e, but things fell through. I thought I'd heard that Willingham was also going to expand his superhero setting from some short stories into gaming material as well at one point.

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.

There are many folks that would've loved to see an Elementals sourcebook (and many still would). Myself being one of them. I've seen a few teasers for a T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents book that was also planned and fell through unfortunately. I'm happy I grabbed my D.N.Agents book back in the day.

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.

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

Sadly I remember both of those. I worked in a shop when they came out and saw the sales tank on Elementals around that time. Ironwood was a bit better, as it actually had some story to it. But the Sex Specials were horrible. Honestly, v2 of Elementals quickly went downhill in content. Unfortunate, really. Some time ago, I'd heard Jim Lee had made an offer to Rev for Elementals, but Rev wanted too much for the property. A few years back, Willingham proclaimed that Elementals are now in the public domain and could be used by anyone, with the stipulation that it would be on them to deal with Rev if a lawsuit came up.

There was a kickstarter for Elementals: Public Domain that was funded a while ago and just went to the printers. This is not by Rev, so we'll see how things play out. I'm looking forward to the book.

 

[Genghis Don]

I loved the V&V ads back in the day. I remember using them in the system, and even converting them over to other games. Always wished we'd get more.



I believe that Shatterman and Condor stats also appeared in the Villains & Vigilantes comic book from by Eclipse Comics since they were central characters to the story.



Dee and Herman both worked in the indie market here and there. I know that Herman had worked on Elementals with Willingham, and I believe that Dee worked on Justice Machine with Mike Gustovich. But Death Duel with the Destroyers and The Island of Dr. Apocalypse were the best of the V&V modules in my opinion.



IIRC, the folks at Monkey House Games and Willingham had planned on a re-release of his two modules for Mighty Protectors/V&V3e, but things fell through. I thought I'd heard that Willingham was also going to expand his superhero setting from some short stories into gaming material as well at one point.



There are many folks that would've loved to see an Elementals sourcebook (and many still would). Myself being one of them. I've seen a few teasers for a T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents book that was also planned and fell through unfortunately. I'm happy I grabbed my D.N.Agents book back in the day.



Sadly I remember both of those. I worked in a shop when they came out and saw the sales tank on Elementals around that time. Ironwood was a bit better, as it actually had some story to it. But the Sex Specials were horrible. Honestly, v2 of Elementals quickly went downhill in content. Unfortunate, really. Some time ago, I'd heard Jim Lee had made an offer to Rev for Elementals, but Rev wanted too much for the property. A few years back, Willingham proclaimed that Elementals are now in the public domain and could be used by anyone, with the stipulation that it would be on them to deal with Rev if a lawsuit came up.

There was a kickstarter for Elementals: Public Domain that was funded a while ago and just went to the printers. This is not by Rev, so we'll see how things play out. I'm looking forward to the book.

I loved those V&V adds too, and likewise never even saw the game back in those days!
Huge fan of Willingham & Dee artwork; they were favourites for TSR era/early art. The style just spoke to me, more so than for most friends I played with.

Palladium games Justice Machine (with their first heroes unlimited effort) indeed has some collabs.

John Byrne too

Bob Layton

if you like I can post more art. People forget about Detroit in general, it's a unique case, no natural disaster or plague destroyed the metropolis, it was...the "American Democratic Capitalist system"(?) and nobody wants to think too much about that...But Detroit was one of the major/top metropolises, and a nexus for arts, in the forms of comic books, and pen & paper gaming in this case. Huge conventions, lots of "talent" from the area, etc, etc.