Dragon Magazine 019.pdf

— The Magazine of Fantasy, Swords & Sorcery, and Science Fiction Game Playing —

Guest Editorial

MDG SHOWS ORIGINS

(AND GENCON) HOW TO RUN

A CONVENTION

GenCon XI, by fifth GenCon, is now memory. It

was an unusual GenCon, for a number of reasons.

For the first time, GenCon was held on the

beautiful campus of The Univ. of Wisconsin-

parkside, between Racine and Kenosha, WI, about 35

miles from the traditional Lake Geneva. The site was

by far the best ever enjoyed by any GenCon. UW-

Parkside was completely air conditioned, and all of

by Gary Gygax

A few months ago in an exchange of letters

between Don Greenwood and me regarding the

relative merits of Origins and GenCon (carried in

CAMPAIGN magazine), I said to the effect that the

fellows in the Detroit area — and the gals too, of

course — were very well organized, and it was quite

likely that they would put on a bigger Origins, and

Origins bigger than past ones and larger than

GenConXI also. I am both happy and sad to tell you

that I proved to be an oracle.

TSR was at Origins in force, and that was all to

the good, for we had some 3,500 or so paid attendees

for company. That amazing turnout was handled

superbly by the MGD staff, despite last minute

changes by the university, an unexpectedly huge

crowd, and the usual run of minor difficulties which

always plague a convention staff but are seldom

known by the conventioneers. There were plenty of

games and other events for the attendees, an ACW

recreation by uniformed “troops” firing blank

charges from muskets and a cannon, on the lovely

campus in Ann Arbor, and gamers still going strong

at all hours of the night (and early morning). As the

Kindly Editor of Dragon pointed out, there were

some lows, but they were of no import when the

overall impact of Origins 78 is considered! The MDG

deserve the thanks of the game hobby industry and

game hobbyists alike for their superb management of

what was undoubtedly the largest convention our

hobby has seen! I recommend without reservation

any convention sponsored by the MDG, for they

certainly know their stuff. (Wintercon is always held

on the first weekend in December, and if you can

make it, you will certainly not be sorry. For details of

dates, times and place see the regular DRAGON

convention calendar schedule.)

GenCon weekend rolled around, and we were all

filled with happy excitement and ready for four days of

hard work. The gods did not smile. . . Torrential rains

hit the area both Thursday and Friday. The Parkside

Campus site was not affected, as the superb facilities

there are all under one roof, but attendance was

certainly hurt. Add that to the proximity of Origins in

time and space, the facts that maps to the new

location were not abundant, and some nasty people in

Lake Geneva actually misdirected people or told

them that GenCon was canceled this year! You have

a fair picture of what was shaping up. There were

certainly plenty of things to do, for attendance was

Cont. pg. 11

the GenCon facilities were under a single roof, long

though it was. This was a far cry from the old days in

Horticultural Hall in LG, and far superior to even last

year’s con at the Playboy Convention Center at the

Playboy Resort. The huge facilities swallowed up the

crowds, for a pleasant change it wasn’t the other way

around GenCon XII will be there again.

Some of the other “firsts” caused some problems.

For the first time, TSR people did not do all the work.

We were ably assisted by the Parkside Association of

Wargamers, a very large group of avid gamers who

devoted thousands of man-hours to the con. There

were some coordination problems, but no more than

can be expected by a first-time sponsoring group, and

none of them serious. All of the problems encountered

were solved, and have already provided object lessons

for future cons. While by no means perfect (are any of

us?), PAW did a commendable job, especially

commendable in light of their inexperience.

Another problem “first” was this year’s

attendance: for the first time in many years, the

attendance was down from the previous year. There

are a number of factors to be considered in this

matter. First, and foremost, was the wretched

weather on Thurs. and Friday. The skies opened up

and dumped an incredible amount of rain in two days.

On Friday night, it rained so hard that there were

flashfloods all over the county, and I talked to

numerous attendees who were caught in the storm

and had horror stories of having their cars drown out,

losing brakes, roads closed, etc. I even talked to one

unfortunate fellow that was forced to spend Friday

night in his car, pulled off of the road. Nowhere is it

more evident what the weather did to GenCon than in

the computer lists of attendees. All conventions

depend heavily on a certain large proportion of their

attendees from the surrounding area. (I can’t help but

sympathize with anyone that awoke on Friday

morning to the downpour in progress and simply

rolled back over and made other plans.) The

computer lists show a distressing dearth of these

local-radius attendees.

Features

The Battle for Snurre’s Hall —

O 78 D&D tourney ........................

How Many Ettins is a FireGiant Worth? —

scoring D&D Tourneys .................... 6

GAMMA WORLD — New Treasures .........

The Fastest Guns That Never Lived —

TV heroes for BH ........................

Footsteps in the Sky —

future fiction .........

aborigines in D&D .... 14

New Magical Logic ........................ 18

Spell Determination for Hostile MU’s ......... 24

Reviews

Fantasy Forge phigure photos .......... 16-17

GAMMA WORLD ........................ 23

Design/Designer’s Forum

Sorcerer’s Scroll

designing Gamma World .... 9

Creative Treasures ......................... 13

Treasure Locations ........................ 25

Dragon Mirth

Diverse D&D Types —

a pigeonhole for everyone ................. 7

Wormy .............................. 10&30

Finieous .... .............................. 22

While there were some 2000 present at GenCon

XI, it was much smaller than anticipated. We figure

that we lost some 500 attendees to the weather alone.

We didn’t supply enough maps of the site in a

Publisher E. Gary Gygax

Art Dept. Dave Sutherland

Managing Ed. T.J. Kask

David A. Trampier

good deal of our pre-con publicity, which must also

TD Editor T.J. Kask

Tom Wham

have had its effect on attendance.

LW Editor Joe Orlowski Circulation Mgr. Joe Orlowski

If your mailing label says TD 19

— this is your last issue

Publisher's Statement

THE DRAGON is published monthly by TSR Periodicals, a division of TSR Hobbies, Inc., P.O. Box 110, Lake Geneva, WI 53147.

It is available at better hobby and bookstores, or by subscription. Subscription rate is $24 per 13 issues. Single copy and back issue price is $2.00, but availability of back issues is not guaranteed. Subscriptions outside the U.S. and

Canada are $28 per

Variants

The Lowdown on Wishes ................... 12

Mythos of Australia

issues, and are air-mailed overseas. (Payment must be made in U.S. currency or by international money order.) All material published herein becomes the exclusive property of the publisher unless special

arrangements to the contrary are made. Subscription expiration is coded onto the mailing list. The number to the right of the name, prefixed by “LW” or “TD” is the last issue of the subscription. Notices will not be sent.

Change of address muat be filed 30 days prior to mailing date.

Unsolicited material cannot be returned unless accompanied by a stamped return envelope, and no responsibility for such material can be assumed by the publisher in any event. All rights on the entire contents of this publication are

Second-Class Postage paid at Lake Geneva, WI 53147

THEBATTLE FOR SNURRE’S HALL

The ORIGINS ‘78 D&D® Tournament

The D&D tournament at ORIGINS '78 involved over 275 players and

judges in two days of grueling, torturous fun honed sharp by the nature of

the competition. Teams of nine each adventured through up to three

rounds slaying giants and other fearsome monsters and searching for clues

as to the power behind an unusual collaboration of giants preying upon

man and his allied races. All of the groups who made it into the second and

third rounds displayed a commendable mixture of foresight,

thoughtfulness, and just plain “guts it” daring in their play of the game. It is

this winning combination of brains and brawn which ultimately provides

the most enjoyable gaming for both players and DM's. Here now is a

synopsis of the first two rounds and a blow-by-blow of the final round

provided by the first place team, with notes appended by the third round

judge and Your Kindly Editor (who also happened to be their second

round judge). Though there were a couple of substitutions due to people

not showing up for later rounds, the group was essentialy the same all

through the tournament, and the following people played the final two

rounds:

Bryan & Kathy Bullinger, Morgantown, WV

Bill Holcomb, Morgantown, WV

Paul Blythe, Morgantown, WV

Dale Patton, Morgantown, WV

Burce & Carol Ruttan, Inkster, MI

James Griffin, E. Lansing, MI

Ed Pistole, Trenton, MI

Bryan and Kathy Bullinger did most of the writing. This is their story.

(DM’S notes are added in italics.)

surrounded this room from two sides and sent the charmed giant into the

Hall with the order to point out the chief by kissing him on the cheek. This

was also to be the signal for our two groups to attack. Two fireballs, a

javelin of lightning, a confusion spell, and a good deal of slashing and

hacking later, the giants were wiped out to a man and the Steading was

aflame. The group, still intact, cut off the hill giant chiefs head and

quickly left by the front gate. The cleric blocked pursuit by casting a blade

barrier across the entrance. We then cast a speak with dead on the head,

and subsequent questioning revealed the next step to be taken on our

quest.

Kiss on the cheek, indeed! Still, the extent of the group’s on-the-spot

planning ability is already apparent. The setting for round one is

available from TSR. Called DUNGEON MODULE G1 (STEADING

OF THE HILL GIANT CHIEF) it costs $4.49. There is, of course, much

more to be uncovered in the module than was possible in one four-hour

adventure.

Round Two

The second leg of our quest, the frost giant’s lair, proved to be an icy

maze of caves surrounding a windy, snowbound glacial rift. We found a

war party preparing for a raid and once again used fireballs to good

effect — killing all of them. In this realm, fireballs proved to be the most

effective weapon available as they almost completely obscured all vision

and allowed our thief to strike from behind (which almost always

guaranteed a kill). After killing two snow leopards we then proceeded to

kill every giant we could find. A search after one such slaughter revealed a

chest with special armbands and treasure which we took with us. Once

again, the questioning of a dead giant guard provided the information we

needed to continue our quest to the next giant stronghold.

What is truly amazing about this second round is how much they

didn‘t kill and still managed to get into the third and final round. I’m sure

that they mentally kicked themselves for what they missed when they got

a chance to read over the material in DUNGEON MODULE G2

(GLACIAL RIFT OF THE FROST GIANT JARL), which is also

available from TSR for $4.49. DM.

[I had them for this round, and indeed, they missed a lot. However,

clever questioning led to clues which compensated for the low kill ratio.

— K.E.!]

Five members of our team all came from West Virginia University in

Morgantown, West Virginia, and we had all played together for at least

two years, with three having played together for four. Two of these three

are husband and wife. Another two team members were also husband

and wife; they live in Michigan and have been playing only a few months.

The other two team members also came from Michigan, but they had

never met before Origins.

The WV group’s philosophy has always been that of slash and hack

with a large dose of planning and cunning tossed in to insure our escape.

Discussions with the rest of the team members revealed that this was also

their approach to D&D. Throughout all three rounds we all felt our

primary purpose was to wreak total destruction while allowing a

reasonable chance for escape. We all felt that we displayed a great deal of

cunning and a good bit of (sometimes) intelligent planning in all three

rounds. We managed to kill more and do more than almost every other

team every round. We did this and still managed to keep everyone on our

team alive. We are happy, proud, and satisfied.

Luck helps, too. Seriously,, though, this team displayed a remarkable

ability, to work together. Playing together for a number of years certainly

helped, but even those that didn’t know the others worked well together.

They all knew how to follow their appointed leader when necessary, how

to disagree with him quickly and accurately, so that the flow of the game

was not slowed unnecessarily. As many teams lost by following a self-

appointed leader slavishly as lost due to constant bickering.

Round Three

The third round led us to the entrance to the hall of the fire giants.

After using the dust of invisibility we quietly entered through the main

gate and snuck down the hall. A small amount of exploration led us to a

meeting room where several hundred parchments were kept in curtained-

off alcoves. These were taken and placed in our bag of holding to be read

and searched later for clues. In another alcove off this room, we found

three treasure chests which netted us several thousand silver and gold

pieces and six batons which were passes for those “on official business on

behalf of King Snurre the Fearsome.” Unfortunately, our thief was

feathered with poison arrows while picking a lock, but a quick neutralize

poison saved him from the embarrassment of death.

Our activities in this room brought us the unwanted attention of two

fire giant guards whom the ranger attacked with reckless abandon. When

the rest of the party noticed the crossbow bolt sticking in one of the giant’s

chests, we all jumped into the fray. Our invisible status and superior

numbers made the battle brief and one-sided. Once again, our thief well-

earned his nickname of “Giant Killer.”

Allowing the party to sneak past the door guard was a spur-of-the-

moment decision on my part. The poor fire giant had seen so much

coming and going and strange goings-on that I decided he would not

leave his post until something happened. The two guards who came into

the Council Chambers should have been stationed outside the door.

Unfortunately, due to what is sometimes known as a “FITS-lapse", they

must have been off wandering around somewhere. When they returned,

they naturally checked in on the room and an entertaining (to me,

anyway) sequence of events involving the lighting and extinguishing of the

torches by the guards and the party developed. The “Battle of the Council

Round One

The first round led us to the hill giant’s stronghold charged with the

dual purpose of punishing the giants and of finding out who or what was

behind their alliance. We gained entry through the east side entrace,

which turned out to be the kennel. After casting a silence 15’ radius spell,

the dire wolves inside were quickly dispatched. We then searched a major

portion of the upper level and killed four or five giants in the process,

including an old matron whose potions and treasure we took.

We made a brief and fruitless entrance into the lower level only to set

off a trap which left six members of our party locked in combat with four

insane manticores. The manticores were killed without serious injury to

the group, and a passwall spell brought about an escape from the room.

We returned to the upstairs and charmed a hill giant into pointing

out which giant at the feast going on in the Great Hall was the chief. We

DM.

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