[...]... in touch with the “hard core” of hobby gaming Most of these players are only vaguely aware that Gary Gygax 30 had anything to do with D&D Only a relative handful read THE DRAGON, and fewer still have any idea that there are other magazines which deal with the game Frankly speaking, they don’t care, either They play D&D or AD&D as leisure recreation These are games to fill spare time, more or less avidly... are, of course, a number of ways to surmount the problem, and you can count that steps will be taken to do so-the first is actually in progress now, involving an increase in readership of this magazine, for DRAGON has always been the major vehicle for D&D and AD&D, and it will remain so in the foreseeable future Conformity to a more rigid set of rules also provides a better platform from which to launch... publication in this column Articles must be in manuscript form, of course Be certain to send them to me directly, c/o THE DRAGON * * * * * * For those of you who wondered why I took certain amateur publishing efforts to task, it was because they were highly insulting to TSR, D&D, this magazine, and myself That sort of invitation is not likely to go unanswered by me It does not seem reasonable that returning... Location Chart is the best chart to use A rule that has been missing for a long time is a rule governing if a character is left or right handed I suggest using the following chart (swiped right out of Dragon #10): Roll Handedness 3 3-5 6-12 Ambidextrous Left Right An ambidextrous may now fire two pistols with the following modifiers: one shot fired from each gun 0, two shots fired from each gun -10,... strength and have any lost hit points restored But a fighter has his strength raised to 18, and may then roll for additional benefits and pluses-to-hit on the tables found in Greyhawk or Advanced Dungeons & Dragons XII Le Pendu - The Hanged Man: Suggests life in suspension, readjustment, transition, sacrifice Player drops one level of experience, losing all affected spells, hit points, modifiers, etc Naturally,... dungeon level 25 XVIII La Lune - The Moon: Implies deception, false pretense, trickery, dishonesty The player’s alignment changes to Chaotic Evil If already Chaotic Evil, the player goes insane (See The Dragon #18, Sept 1978 for insanity chart and rules by Kevin Thompson.) XIX Le Soleil - The Sun: Symbolizes success, triumph, achievement The drawer gains 100 to 600 G.P (roll one 6-sided die) and is automatically... gains two miscellaneous magic items from the Greyhawk tables and gains 100 to 800 G.P (roll one 8-side die) The Tarot card system is, of course, wide-open to expansion and improvement within a Dungeons & Dragons context Readers familiar with Tarot may wish to enlarge the scope by devising rules governing the Lesser Arcana, with its 56 cards and four suits (Epees, Batons, Coupes, and Pentacles), the forerunner... computer can and should only speed up the mechanics The computer provides the skeleton for gaming, and the DM still creates the flesh of the campaign Rick Krebs While the subtitle to the original Dungeon & Dragons rules set states that it is a fantasy role playing game playable with paper and pencil and miniature figures, to many fanatics of the game and its genre, the equipment used has gone far beyond... of five years salary in advance In relatively safe encounters, such as a few Goblins or a Kobold or two, these purely mercenary hirelings will not act with outstanding courage; but when they face the dragon, or the Balor demon steps into the corridor, snaps his whip and ignites, these warriors-for-money are going to question the wisdom of their decision to go along and in most cases they will take... never be trusted So treat those you hire well and maybe you will not wind up with a knife in your ribs Design Forum Notes from a Very Successful D&D Moderator by Michael Crane In recent issues of The Dragon we moderators have had to listen to the cute tricks of various D&D players who were apparently successful This is all fine, but I think that it’s about time that we moderators share some of our . improve the quality of the magazine and to sell more copies of it. This issue marks the introduction, or re-introduction in some cases, of some different components of the magazine. We have returned. convention brochure. The Dragon (which has already donated much time and space to promoting GENCON XII) has agreed to include the brochure as an insert in the July issue of The Dragon. This, added. — who has done several The Dragon covers, and the box cover art of TSR’s new release Divine Right) uses the same art as our full page GENCON XII ad appearing in The Dragon. Any person who would