Ad for Gencon coming up August 20.
Funny part in the editorial about how some thought fantasy gaming would be a fad.
There’s an article about monkish combat (in order to level up) that made me think of the Apple II game Karateka because of the attacking – kick high, middle, low – and there are even little pictures. It’s one of those things like the jousting in OD&D, where the two combatants write down their moves and then see the outcome – it doesn’t much feel like D&D…
There’s a short snippet from the introduction to the adventure played in the Gencon IX D&D tournament. Later published as a Judges Guild module.
Third instalment with hints for DMs (“judges” they’re called) about dungeons. Some very odd traps and treasure – eg gold pieces that turn into monsters. And other out-there ideas like teleporting your party to the beaches of Normandy on D-Day.
Creature feature: the Remorhaz with a picture by Erol Otus! This was his first ever published piece of colour art.
New class: alchemist. This is quite well developed – kind of like a magic user/cleric but with potions and potion levels instead of spells. In fact most of the potions are just the same as the spells, so in some ways it’s like, what’s the point?
New combat option – for every 3 levels a fighter gains, they can get mastery in a weapon, which means an increased amount of damage depending on the weapon.
Lastly, an ad for Gods, Demi-Gods & Heroes with a curious heading of “The Last Supplement!?!”