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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 4464825" data-attributes="member: 27780">The Dragon Issue 12: February 1978Another year, another reason for celebration, as Dragon finally gets 2nd class mailing approval. Another step away from being a hobby towards becoming a smoothly running industrial machine (well, as close as you get where artists are involved <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" /> ) This also gives us a chance to see the proper figures due to the business requirements. Still nowhere near the numbers that they would attain in its heyday, but still more than equal to most RPG supplements these days. Oh well. Times be hard for poor game designer. Old man row 'cross the river each day. The same number that seemed good on the way up can feel oh so small on the way down. Or something. Also in this issue: They shoot hirelings, don't they: A tale of player's cruelty to the NPC's under their control, and general evil imaginations. The kind of thing that would spawn an epic thread these days, because loads of people can tell a story like this. And people always want to hear drama and gossip. So fun all round.A new look at illusionists:  Yet more buffs and rules clarifications for this class. I can see why specialist wizards of so many stripes were introduced in later editions, the magic user always got loads of attention and cool toys. The Persian Mythos and the lovecraft mythos (oh yes, you know how this story ends) get writeups, (including stats for the gods, so you can kill them, as we are, after all, kickin it old skool style. ) Fairly short entries, (tiny by modern standards) that remind us how rules light D&D was back then. Some thoughts on the speed of a lightning bolt: Another bait and switch, as this actually has to do with the optional action speed and round segment rules, and how much of an advantage they give wizards, due to their lack of armor to slow them down. As a result, if you use them wizards are even more likely to be able to waste their enemies before they can react. As if they needed any more advantages after the first couple of levels. Ship's Cargo: Does exactly what it says on the tin. If you have players of a piratical disposition, you'll need to determine randomly what treasure the ships they raid contain. This helps you do that. The druids: Druids weren't bloody sacrificers of men, that was merely a vile roman slander. They were doctors, philosophers and teachers. Ahh, the joys of neopaganism. Really, given the scarcity and bias of records from that time, can we ever know for sure what they were really like. Most of it's just literary invention and deeply tiresome. An excerpt from the first ever D&D novel, Quag Keep by Andre Norton. Hews surprisingly closely to the spirit of the game (particularly that of the actual plays by Gary and co that I've read. Andre has definitely done her research and tried to emulate the feel of those games), unlike many later D&D novels. Of course, that spirit is somewhat whimsical and has strong character as playing piece metagameing elements, but that doesn't detract from the entertainment. I wonder how hard it would be to get a copy of this book now. It's probably long out of print. Wormy and fineous fingers continue to develop their respective plots. The fantasy trip!: The ancestor of what would become GURPS starts here. Also, their back page is no longer filled with a placeholder saying this space for sale, or ads from TSR themselves. That is a definite step up in terms of looking professional. Another mixed bag of good and bad, important and inconsequential here. They're still trying lots of new things, to see what works. And quite a bit of it is. Which is nice for us.</blockquote>

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