Days of the Dragon Dungeons Dragons Fantasy Art Calendar

Dragon Publishing released Dragon upshot 48 in April 1981. It is 96 pages long and has a cover toll of $3.00. In this issue, we have a new Tiptop Secret mission, underwater campaigns, and an instant hazard table!

Editor Jake Jacquet is excited to share that Dragon recently commissioned covers from some height-shelf fantasy artists, namely Tim Hildebrandt, Carl Lundgren, and Boris Vallejo. It's another sign of the magazine's growth and success. He also notes the upcoming release of The Best of Dragon Vol. 2 and the Days of Dragon fantasy art calendar.

This months' special characteristic is "Medico Yep," a xvi-folio Top Undercover chance designed by Merle Rasmussen, the author of the original game, and James Thompson. Rasmussen wrote many more manufactures supporting Peak Secret over the coming years and also worked on several D&D supplements. Thompson has only 2 more commodity credits to his name and appears to take done nothing else professionally in the field. The chance itself uses the map of a secret base from the original rulebook, and it seems fondly remembered past fans of the game.

There'due south a small drove of manufactures related to underwater D&D adventuring. In "Watery words to the wise," Jeff Swycaffer addresses some "disregarded aspects of an undersea fantasy sub-entrada," including things similar the relationship between mermen and coastal villages and simulating 3-dimensional battles underwater. Swycaffer was a regular contributor to Dragon mag simply is best known as the writer of the Concordat novels.

"Dragon'south Bestiary" has three new underwater monsters: the Sea Demon past Ernest N. Rowland, Jr., and the Water-Horse and Golden Ammonite past Roger E. Moore. Meanwhile, "Bazaar of the Bizarre" presents us with 8 new water-themed magic items, vii of them past Moore and one by Bruce Humphrey. They are generally pretty obvious (eastward.g., Spear +2/+4 vs. Sharks), but a few of them include some nice details.

Tim Lasko gives us ii overlapping articles, "The Druid and the DM," and "Druid in a dungeon? Why not?" The first aims to dispel several common "myths" almost druids, most notably that they are misanthropic. The 2d discusses how the wilderness-focused druid can exist helpful in a D&D dungeon.

In "Permit a mule do information technology for you!" regular contributor Robert Plamondon (the same fellow who was feuding with banana editor Kim Mohan terminal upshot) discusses the utility of mules in a D&D game and gives a sample equipment pack manifest. "Instant Adventures" by Michael Kelly is the sort of article I love, with a tabular array of D&D adventure ideas (due east.1000., "package delivery," "rescue from natural forces," "big-game chase) and implementation suggestions. This commodity appears to exist Kelly's only RPG-related publication, but it was reprinted in the Best of Dragon Vol. 5.

"New orders for Russian Entrada" by Robert A. Barrow and "Adding airpower options" past Bryan Beecher are variant rules for the Russian Campaign game by Avalon Hill. Together, these articles consume merely a single folio, and it demonstrates how little support Dragon was now giving to wargaming.

Continuing an Apr tradition, there is an viii-folio mini-feature chosen "Dragon #48½," which parodies the magazine. These seem to miss more often than they striking for me. Lowlights include a ii-page RPG chosen "Existent LIFE," which simulates everyday human being existence in the twentieth century. Just I rather enjoyed "Saturday morn monsters," which gave D&D statistics for Bugs Bunny, Popeye, etc.

On to the regular features! "Upward on a Soapbox" has two articles this calendar month. In "When choosing a DM, be choosy!" Fred Zimmerman relates some criteria for identifying "superior" DMs, such as being open to improvisation. In "What is gaming'south function in life?" Karl Horak gives some zen-inspired musings on the relationship between gaming and morality.

Glen Rahman brings the states another edition of "Minarian Legends," this time describing the mercenary fleets of Minaria. Adjacent, in "Giants in the Globe," Tom Moldvay presents D&D stats for two more characters from literature, Sparrowhawk and Tiana Highrider. And in "Leoumnd'south Tiny Hut," Len Lakofka gives some advice nearly creating a sample D&D adventuring party.

"Sage advice" returns, though they are no longer crediting the sages. At that place is just a unmarried folio of questions in this issue, and none of them caught my eye.

"Dragon's Auspice" reviews three new board games. Asteroid by Game Designers Workshop is "a nigh platonic way to introduce scientific discipline fiction gaming to a friend." Next, Titan by Gorgonstar Publications is "a very sophisticated fantasy game with original ideas, clearly written rules and a very playable game system." Finally, Space Fighters by Michael S. Kurtick is "make clean and fast," and features "lots of action."

This month'south comprehend was by Phil Foglio. Interior artists are Steve Swenston, Cheryl Duval, Mike Carroll, Roger Raupp, Dave Trampier, Kenneth Rahman, Darlene, Robert Liebman, J.D. Webster, Jeff Dee, and Susan Collins.

And that'south a wrap! The highlight for me was "Instant Adventures." Next month, we have an extended feature on artist Tim Hildebrandt, Ed Greenwood upwardly on a discourse, and the Samurai class!

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Source: https://www.enworld.org/threads/dragon-reflections-48.681867/

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