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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Glyfair" data-source="post: 2896058" data-attributes="member: 53">The Dragon #20 November 1978<img src="http://paizo.com/image/product/magazine_issue/dragon/20/cover_180.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />We have a price increase.  The Dragon has leaped to $2.00 per issue from $1.50 per issue for a 33% increase  (actually it changed last issue, but is announced now).  In today's dollars that would be a like an increase to slightly over $6 from slightly over $4.  The reasons were a soaring increase in paper costs (21% increase) and postal increases (increases of up to 60% for some classes of mail).The Designer's Forum has a Marc Miller article "The Making of a Winner - Imperium - Outstanding Game of 1977."  Interestingly enough, Marc says it's not particularly innovative and gives credit to games where he derived ideas.  He also follows with a brief rules clarificiations and addenda for the game (there's a term I haven't heard used in a long time - addenda).We have a long spread of last issue's "Dragon Rumbles" column.  Gary and Tim both had section and they got mixed up, so they have reprinted them here better separated.  They also mention they forgot to credit the "All-Star Snits" page from #18 to Jeff Dee.  Another classic D&D artist, he is probably best known for his work with his game Villians and Vigilantes."Distributing Eyes and Amulets in EPT" is another charticle.  Essentially it is a treasure table, written because the author found he was giving rare treasures out as often as the common ones.We have another pantheon in the Gods, Demi-Gods & Heroes format in a D&D Variant article, "The Mythos of Polynesia in Dungeons & Dragons."  Some more recognizable names are Pele (Hawaiian Goddess of Volcanic Fires), Maui (mostly because of the island that bears his name) and...that's about it.  I have to admit, the Polynesian mythos wasn't my strong suit.We have another installment of Wormy, Fineous Fingers (where he tortures a peasant for information - a running gag) & more Will McLean strips.We have a sequel to an earlier article under the D&D Variant header, "Another Look at Witches and Witchcraft in D&D."  This is an attempt to take the Witches from issue #5 and work it into a player character class.  I have to admit, as popular as witches were in D&D, I'm suprised there has never been a complete and official version of the class in any version of D&D.  It's even mentioned as a class in Holmes version of BD&D."Demonology Made Easy; or, How to Deal with Orcus for Fun and Profit" is a D&D Variant article dealing with bargaining with demons.  It's very detailed, but might be one of those articles that, if viewed by some of D&D's eventual critics, would have set them on the idea that D&D was evil (Jack Chick, I'm talking to you).We have a two page spread of photos from GenCon XI.  We see a lot of pictures of well known names, in their younger days.  Gary is front and center, with photos of Marc Miller, J. Eric Holmes, Brian Blume, Ed Simalist (Chivalry & Sorcery), Marc Miller (Traveller), Mike Carr, Greg Costikyan (from SPI) and Don Kaye."See Africa and Die! or Mr. Stanley Meet Mr. Livingstone" is a review of Source of the Nile.  Unlike most articles of  this sort, this comes with suggested rules alterations and additions.  We have a new column header, the Travellar Variant.  "The Asimov Cluster" begins with a lengthy discussion of various science fiction series and how well their starships fit into Traveller (Star Trek, the Berserker series, Burroughs, Van Vogt & Lin Carter get mention).  Then we get a group of planets tied to the early part of Asimov's Foundation Trilogy (yes, it used to be a trilogy <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=";)" /> ).We then have another ad that's a landmark, with the solicitation for the D-series.  Prices are higher than the G-series, with D1 & D2 being $4.98 like G3 (about $15 today) and D3 being $5.98 (about $18 today).  A Judge's Guild ad has an interesting product "the GenCon IX Dungeon" listed as being in the latest issue of the Guildmaster subscription (6 bi-monthly issues plus a Judges Screen for $12, about $37 today).  It contains the "preliminary and final rounds of the Dungeons & Dragons tournament at the Lake Geneva Convention."We get a preview of The Lord of the Rings movie by Bakshi (written by Allen Hammack).  It opens with a quote of "You better do it right, or you're DEAD!"  from Ralph Bakshi giving the tone of mail he's recieved since starting the project.  Interesting because it's generally considered he flopped (not as bad as Hanna-Barbera, of course).  This essentially discusses the process from stills they have."It's a Good Day to Die (Death Statistics of D&D Characters)" has the author listing the deaths in his campaign and attributing them to various sources.  He says there were 600 deaths (including only PCs and their hirelings, not mercenaries and NPCs).  The highest is goblinoid races with about 10% of the total, dragons coming second with about 7%."War of the Ring Variant -- True Hidden Movement" gives an alternate rule for this game.  The author, Allen Hammack, will eventually be involved in Top Secret.Another demonic D&D Variant article is "Demonic Possession in the Dungeon."  It includes discussion of possession and exorcism.  This issue is a hodge-podge of this & that, with little standing out.  Demons are getting a lot of attention this issue.  As I mentioned, someone whose first impression of D&D came from picking up this issue might have concerns about devil worshipping given the details given on dealing with demons (in the game), being possessed by them and exorcising them.</blockquote>

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