Accessory - Dragon Magazine #092.pdf - Dragon Magazine - Surenae

An adventure for D&D ® game characters.

OTHER FEATURES

Clerics live by other rules E. Gary Gygax

The author of the AD&D ® game shares his thoughts on how clerics and druids

can be treated specially in a well-run campaign.

First, spread the faith Paul Vernon

Advice from a British author on how to put more into and get more out of

the role-playing of cleric characters.

The more, the merrier Bruce Barber

A system for clerics who want to convert non-believers and get credit for doing so.

A better Open it figures!

Writer Kim Eastland and photographer Dan Sample team up to help us showcase

the best painters in the 1984 GEN CON ® Miniature Open.

Gods of the Suel pantheon Lenard Lakofka

Last of the series: Lydia, Bralm, and Jascar.

Let the horse buyer beware Robert Harrison

Different steeds for different needs.

The ecology of the ettin Ed Greenwood

Two heads may be better than one but not that much better . . . .

Pages from the Mages III Ed Greenwood

More lore from Elminster on mysterious magical books of the Realms.

New heights(?) in silliness Michael Dobson

A review of TOON, the game that rewards ridiculousness.

Going up and getting wet Paul M. Crabaugh

DRAGONQUEST rules for climbing and swimming.

The Multi-dimensional Caper Mark Acres

This months fiction: Everything is relative, including reality.

Publisher

Mike Cook

Editor-in-Chief

Kim Mohan

Editorial staff

Patrick Lucien Price

Roger Moore

Graphics and production

Roger Raupp

Subscriptions

Melody Knull

Advertising

Lee Hein

Contributing editors

Ed Greenwood

Ken Rolston

Katharine Kerr

This issue’s contributing artists

Jeff Butler

Roger Raupp

Bob Maurus

John Gilmore

Marvel Bullpen

Jeff Easley

Dave Trampier

Joseph Pillsbury

Denton Elliott

Richard Tomasic

Larry Elmore

DEPARTMENTS

Letters

69 The ARES section

91 Wormy

The forum

86 Gamers Guide

93 Dragonmirth

Coming Attractions

88 Convention calendar

94 Snarfquest

The Role of Books

COVER

Bridge of Sorrows, by Denis Beauvais, captures a classic battle at the height of

its fury: Will the wizards spell stop the dragon, or will its flaming breath claim

even more victims?

Telling the future without a crystal ball

We dont plan ahead very often, or very far, when it, comes to deciding what goes in each

issue of DRAGON ® Magazine. Thats why I got a funny feeling in my stomach the other

day when the marketing department asked for a summary of the major features we were

planning for the next six months. Between my stammering, I was able to get across that I

could do such a thing, as long as no one took the predictions too seriously — in other

words, dont expect em all to come true.

Now that youve received the same disclaimer, Ill use the rest of this space to tell you

what I told the marketing people. Heres what wed like to do with the next few issues, if

(Turn to page 21)

2 D ECEMBER 1984

SPECIAL ATTRACTION

The Sword of Justice

nunciation? Also, where is the alternate Prime

Material world called Midgard?

Tim Hale

Westland, Mich.

Equation damage

thing I do not understand: five of the bats have

infravision. It is a fact that bats are blind and that

they screech to find objects as their screech

bounces off the objects and they hear it. So if bats

are blind, how can they have infravision?

Tim Evenson

St. Louis, M O .

The correct spelling of the throne hall is the

first usage on p. 37. As for pronunciation, you're

on your own; we couldn’t find a phonetic spelling

for the word in any of our references.

The same goes for getting to Midgard — you'll

have to find your own way. The usual plane-

traveling methods should work for getting to an

alternate Prime Material Plane as well as they

work from the Prime Material to another type of

plane. -KM

Dear Editor:

I have noticed that in Scientific facts behind

the system (issue #88) three mistakes were

made. Two which appear to be typographical

errors can be found in equation #2 and a refer

ence to this equation afterward. Equation #2

should read:

Dear Dragon,

In the Aesirhamar module, you use Dwalin

as the name of Brokkirs brother. I have never

known you to copy a name before, but Dwalin is

the name of a dwarf in the Tolkien trilogy, Lord

of the Rings. Why have you tarnished your

record?

We never gave this “problem” a second

thought when preparing Ed’s manuscript for

publication. The bats he describes are obviously

not native to our real world, and as such they

could have attributes that normal bats don’t

have. Maybe these bats aren't blind, but whether

they are or not makes very little difference in

game terms. The important thing is that they are

able to move around without bumping into

things; exactly how they accomplish this is not a

critical issue.

We can take another approach: Maybe infra-

vision isn't “vision” in the true sense of that

word. Creatures with infravision have the ability

to detect the location of living bodies or other

objects that give off heat. That doesn’t mean they

also must have the ability to see in what we know

as the visible spectrum.

Heck, what it comes down to is this: The bats

have infravision because that’s the way they are.

Before you take it away from them for “logical”

reasons, ask yourself how “logical” it is for the

sinister to throw up a wall of force, and how it’s

possible for the azmyth to know alignment. If you

eliminate everything about these creatures that

isn't logical, you'll end up with a lot of boring

bats. - K M

Equation #8 has a more severe mistake. It

should read:

Brian E. Geppert

Lacey, Wash.

The equation for finding the number of dice of

damage would then read as follows:

The name Dwalin was chosen without our

awareness that it was used by J.R.R. Tolkien,

and the Dwalin of the adventure obviously has

nothing to do with Tolkien’s character. After

checking with the people at Iron Crown Enter-

prises, we ascertained that the name “Dwalin”

the dwarf is considered the exclusive property of

Elan Merchandising, the company licensed to

produce Tolkien's materials in game form.

We thought we were being original in the

choice of Dwalin for a name. We regret the

unintentional intrusion, and we hope it won't

happen again. — RM

It is true that this has no significance when the

initial velocity is zero. However, when it is

greater than zero (as in the example of a giant

throwing a PC off a cliff) the error is evident. The

example has a PC taking 17d6 + 1-2 [damage]

when in reality he only takes 12d6 + 1-4.

Dan Redder

Otsego, Mich.

We conveyed Dan's observation to Arn

Ashleigh Parker, author of the article, and Arn

readily agreed that his manuscript had an error in

calculation — namely, the transition from equa-

tion #7 to equation #8. It’s not legal to take the

square root of part of a compound expression,

unless that part happens to be zero. Fortunately,

the equation is correct as originally printed for

any simple fall, where initial velocity is zero, and

that covers the great majority of cases. How often

does someone get tossed around by a giant,

anyway?

Arn also pointed out a detail that Dan didn’t

take into account. He calculated damage correctly

for a fall of 90 feet, but forgot to include the

giant’s 12-foot height, as in example two from the

article. Arn, using a distance of 102 feet instead

of 90, computed the damage as 13d6 + 1-3. Is this

a minor point? Well, maybe, but try to look at it

from the thief’s point of view.

The error in equation #2 is relatively minor,

and should not hamper someone who under-

stands the concept. The line above the V means

“average” — in this case, average velocity over

an interval of time z. See the intermediate equa-

tion between #2 and #3 for an example of the

correct use of this symbol. — KM

Plane answers

Dear Dragon,

In the article on the Plane of Gladsheim (issue

#90), it is stated that magical weapons and armor

are lowered by 2 of their plusses. The article

also says that weapons and items used by the

Norse deities are multiplanar and are not subject

to this effect; however, no mention is made as to

if these items will increase in power on the Prime

Material Plane.

If adventurers managed to return to the Prime

Material Plane with a weapon or item used by the

Norse deities (a very dangerous and probably

suicidal venture to undertake indeed), would this

item increase in its plusses?

Julian Rodriguez

Los Angeles, Calif.

No; immunity to this effect means just that.

Multiplanar weapons have the same “numbers”

no matter what plane of existence they are taken

to. —RM

Out of sight

Dear Dragon,

In issue #90 there seems to be a typographical

error of some sort. On page 37, Odins throne

hall is called Valaskialf. However, in the map of

Gladsheim on p. 55, the name is written as

Valasrialf. What is the correct spelling and pro-

Dear Dragon:

The article Bats that do more than bite by

Ed Greenwood was excellent, but there is one

D RAGON 3

Accessory - Dragon Magazine #092.pdf

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