What’s new?
A wraparound cover image! So normally I really like Dave Trampier’s art, but I’m gonna say, this cover is not his finest work. I mean, everything’s fine, it’s just the faces are kind of creepy.
Also the centrefold of the magazine is a backgammon table drawn by Tramp. You can’t see it in the pdfs on archive.org but there’s a picture of it here on Dungeoneers Syndicate: https://dungeonsyn.blogspot.com/2018/07/the-dragon-magazine-15-1978-david.html
The editorial mentions that Quag Keep is out. Also that a “Best of” Dragon should be out in time for Gencon in August.
An ad announcing the AD&D Players Handbook will be available at Gencon! And on the same page the announcement of Gamma World at Origins has it in the logo typeface.
Articles
- James Ward talks about wandering monsters and how, as a DM, you can prepare things ahead of time – he provides an example table of monsters with pre-rolled hit points etc
- Gygax talking about the origins of using feet in dungeons vs yards outdoors – most of the article is pretty tedious but the first couple of paragraphs are some great history about the Castle & Crusades Society and the progression from that through to Chainmail and then D&D
Variant articles
- dragon magic – a bunch of special spells just for dragons
- randomised tables for determining what’s in a pit – if you’re lucky, you may find a hatmaker or beer merchant! What the?
- randomised tables for settlements – perhaps there was recently a flood or an uprising in the town your PCs are travelling through – can add a lot of flavour
- randomised tables for weather and possible outcomes like flu – yep, we’re all about the randomised tables in this issue!
- notes from another barely successful D&D player – a very small list of dubious ideas