It’s July 1983, and Ian Livingstone notices another company (Metagaming) has fallen to liquidation. In this climate many companies seem to be moving into this new market of computer games (I wonder if they will catch on). Ian feels it is a good plan to expand and that there is certainly room for everyone in this expanding gaming market. But he does note that it is not as satisfying to shout at a television screen when you win or lose as to do so at your friends as you do in a board game!
If you want to compare notes, this month’s Dragon is issue #75.
On the Cover
Two warriors ride chariots at full speed past Stonehenge towards the viewer. One may be chasing the other as their clothes and weapons are different, the lead warrior wields a sword dripping with blood, and wears furs where his pursuer is wielding a spear. Hanging from the lead chariot are two severed heads, perhaps the reason for the chase, or a way for both warriors to intimidate the foes they are about to face.
This is the second of Jim Burns’ three covers for White Dwarf. Issue 32 was his first and the next issue will be his last. I can’t find a reference to this picture anywhere else so it may have been painted for White Dwarf. But if anyone knows it as a book cover or the like, make a comment, especially if the piece has a name!
While we are on the subject of covers, I wanted to note the passing of Emmanuel Papadopoulos this year (1942-June 2026) as his last cover was for White Dwarf #40 so we won’t be returning to his work. Emmanuel illustrated six covers for White Dwarf (#14, #23, #25, #34, #37, #40) as well as the covers for the Fighting Fantasy book Citadel of Chaos and the fiend Folio for AD&D.
Features
We’re back to collected monsters again after the Inhuman Gods series, and this month the theme is mounted creatures. We get only three but a lot more detail, although the detail is mainly powers and spell levels rather than more setting and source material:
This month’s reviews are:
If you want to compare notes, this month’s Dragon is issue #75.
On the Cover
Two warriors ride chariots at full speed past Stonehenge towards the viewer. One may be chasing the other as their clothes and weapons are different, the lead warrior wields a sword dripping with blood, and wears furs where his pursuer is wielding a spear. Hanging from the lead chariot are two severed heads, perhaps the reason for the chase, or a way for both warriors to intimidate the foes they are about to face.
This is the second of Jim Burns’ three covers for White Dwarf. Issue 32 was his first and the next issue will be his last. I can’t find a reference to this picture anywhere else so it may have been painted for White Dwarf. But if anyone knows it as a book cover or the like, make a comment, especially if the piece has a name!
While we are on the subject of covers, I wanted to note the passing of Emmanuel Papadopoulos this year (1942-June 2026) as his last cover was for White Dwarf #40 so we won’t be returning to his work. Emmanuel illustrated six covers for White Dwarf (#14, #23, #25, #34, #37, #40) as well as the covers for the Fighting Fantasy book Citadel of Chaos and the fiend Folio for AD&D.
Features
- Cthulhu Now! Part 2 (Marcus L Rowland): Continuing his notes about modern games, Marcus Rowland offers three mini adventures suitable for a modern game. There is a strange dinner party hosted by a television psychic, a hunt for the lesser barbed penguin in the Antarctic, and a plot to stop a group of vigilantes take over a NATO nuclear test. The second adventure “On the Trail of the Loathsome Slime” will be revised and expanded in 1985 by Rowland as a full Call of Cthulhu adventure from Games Workshop.
- Magimart (Lewis Pulsipher): Lew Pulsipher wonders where all the magic items in your campaign are coming from. Who is making them, are they mass producing anything, and where can you buy or sell them?
- Hanufa’s Little Sister (Oliver Dickinson): More Runequest fiction featuring Griselda and what happens when one of the Pavis regulars brings her troublesome little sister to the city. I quite liked this one.
- Irilian Part II (Daniel Collerton): Now we’ve arrived at Irilian we take a look at the buildings near the gatehouse in the North West quadrant. It also offers the player characters a new quest, seeking out a force of evil that is on the rise in the city. There is also a general look at the types of house and the people who live there (mostly craftsmen) with much reference to Paul Vernon’s village and town economics articles (WD 29-33). The style of the city is very much like a Warhammer one, so this series would fit very nicely in a WFRP campaign.
- Happy Landings (Thomas M Price): A very useful article detailing the types of starbase you might come across in Traveller. I’m surprised there isn’t much detail on this already. But then, in these gaming days such ports were more about finding a good fuel price and a patron than a place for meeting strangers and getting into shenanigans. The bases follow the same basic design but range from small scout bases to huge naval installations. Although I’d offer a commercial port would park ships so they can’t leave easily (without paying docking fees) where a naval base will want their ships to blast off as quickly as possible, so the same ship facilities are not quite right for both. But a good article nonetheless.
- News: There are a lot of figures coming out this month. More floor plans are coming from Games Workshop, a new Star Fleet Battles adventure book from Task Force Games and an adventure for Yaquinto’s Man, Myth and Magic called “Werewolf”. Traveller will be getting a big boxed adventure called Tarsus from GDW along with a new supplement (14) called “Veterans”. Battlecars is on the way from Games Workshop, to be closely followed by the first edition of the Talisman board game. Get ready to fight over who gets to play the Prophetess! Iron Crown has the rights to Lord of the Rings and is doing a board game. This will soon lead to their RPG and excellent line of area supplements. TSR has a host of new modules, including one of my all-time favourites “Dungeonland” and they will be creating a “Monster Manual II” for AD&D. Radio Nottingham is also hosting an adventure phone in called “The Tower of Doom”. No idea how that turned out though. Did any of you phone in?
- Letters: We’re back to gripes and grumbles again this month. The Necromancer argument refuses to die (pun intended) with another grumble about Don Turnbull’s comments. Lew Pulsipher takes issue with his critics about the accuracy of his Moria adventure (WD#38). Quite rightly as well, given it wasn’t meant to be a simulation of Middle Earth so much as a recognisable way to introduce beginners to D&D. Oliver Dickinson drops in to reference the particular drinks and troll abilities in his Griselda stories and note a misprint. Marcus Rowland once again mentions a few errata in his last article. Come on White Dwarf! I think all his articles have had some sort of misprint so far. Finally Dave Morris responds to his critics about his Japanese Runequest conversions. He points out he wasn’t wrong and does know what he’s talking about. Stay tuned, as there is undoubtedly more pedantry to come next issue!
- Critical Mass: Some of Dave Langford’s reading pile involves fake psychics this month, with an expose about Uri Geller (“The Truth About Uri Geller”) and another book (“Flim Flam”) involving Issac Asimov, detailing scams like the Cottingley Faeries and the Bermuda Triangle. He has enjoyed Christopher Evans’ “The Insider” about a vampiric entity moving from one body to another. But he isn’t very impressed by Alfred Bester’s “The Deceivers” especially not its cover.
- Microview: This month is one of Microview’s off weeks.
- Runerites: If you love a new combat rule, this is the Runerites for you. Oliver Dickinson takes a look at what sort of damage you should take through armour as well as what damage that might do to the armour itself. Very much of the time but these sort of over detailed simulationist rules rather put me to sleep.
- Starbase: If Runerites wasn’t enough extra rules for you, don’t worry, Traveller fans aren’t left behind this issue. We take a look at vehicle combat, but mainly how to run it without using the Striker rules. To be fair, it is fast and easy being on a single page, but I’d rather improvise if I was running the game as it’s still a lot of highly specific rules.
- Treasure Chest: We’ll have some letters about this I imagine as Graeme Davis offers a similar weapons list to “Zen and the Art of Adventure Gaming” (WD#40) but for AD&D. I’m no stranger to Japanese weapons and it looks a solid article to me, but I imagine someone will insist they know better on the letters page.
- Cartoons: Gobbledigook, the adventures of a dungeon goblin, begins this issue, and there will be more to come. This issue our hungry goblin tries to pick on a hobbit but is unprepared for a reversal of fortune.
We’re back to collected monsters again after the Inhuman Gods series, and this month the theme is mounted creatures. We get only three but a lot more detail, although the detail is mainly powers and spell levels rather than more setting and source material:
- Bug Riders (Jack Rick) Human sized bug people who ride giant insects. Extra points for a variety of mounts offered: giant versions of Daddy long Legs, Wolf Spiders, Black Ants and Red Ants.
- Lich King (Daniel Lukacinsky) A nightmare riding sickle wielding skeletal lich warrior. There is apparently only one, but with an AC of -8 (the maximum in 1st edition was -10) psychic abilities and the option to gate in 1-4 Liches, you don’t want to meet him.
- Vanith Vadiren (Phil Masters) A species of angelic Pegasus riding elves who dwell in the Twin Paradises plane of existence. They are powerful, come in force and do not like the Drow. I suspect they are a good “deus ex machina” rather than an encounter.
This month’s reviews are:
- Warhammer, Wargames Rules Core Boxed Set (Games Workshop) So it begins! The first product for the Warhammer setting that will prove exceptionally profitable for Games Workshop. Love it or hate it, its influence on the industry is undeniable.
- Questworld, Setting Supplement for BRP (Chaosium) Designed as a “non-Runequest” fantasy setting for Chaosium’s BRP system, this box set doesn’t seem to set the world on fire. The reviewer feels it’s rather rushed out, but maybe people were just happy playing Runequest. I wonder if, given that BRP is an established system for more than just Runequest, whether a return to this setting might be worth a try.
- The Tribes of Crane, Play by Mail Game (Mitre Wargames) This has been out for a while but nice to see the PBMs getting some love. Like the previously reviewed “Crasimoff’s World” (see WD#37) Tribes of Crane involved you posting a turn once a week/month to the game’s head office who collated everyone’s actions and posted a response. Tribes was more in the Barbarian/Gor mode but one of the more popular games. It was notable for mainly having human Gamemasters running the game as opposed to computers. It began in 1978, and ceased trading sometime in the early 2000s. At its height in 1983 it had over 2000 players.
