Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Dragon Reflections #46
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="M.T. Black" data-source="post: 8318505" data-attributes="member: 6782171"><p><strong></strong></p><p><strong>Dragon Publishing</strong> released <strong>Dragon </strong>issue 46 in February 1981. It is 80 pages long and has a cover price of $3.00. In this issue, we have an all-new <strong>D&D</strong> adventure, fiction from J. Eric Holmes, and the first reviews for <strong>World of Greyhawk</strong>!</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]138916[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p>Editor Jake Jaquet notes that they are giving <strong>Dragon </strong>magazine a "facelift" over the coming issues, starting with the switch to a three-column format. Jaquet also notes the formation of the <strong>TSR Role-Playing Game Association (RPGA)</strong>. The initial goal of this organization was to provide a way for role players to network, but within a few years, the RPGA was strongly focused on organized play. It existed until 2014 when the <strong>Adventurers League</strong> replaced it.</p><p></p><p>This month's special feature is "The Temple of Poseidon," a <strong>D&D</strong> adventure by Paul Reiche III. Reiche, a childhood friend of Erol Otus, was a developer at <strong>TSR</strong>, and "The Temple of Poseidon" was his job application. The adventure is a good mix of combat, traps, and puzzles. Reiche was with <strong>TSR </strong>for only a short period before moving into computer games, where he has worked on titles like <strong>Tony Hawke</strong> and <strong>Skylanders</strong>.</p><p></p><p>"The Sorcerer's Jewel" is a short story by J. Eric Holmes and the fifth in his "Boinger the Halfling" series. It is pretty typical <strong>D&D</strong>-inspired fiction, and the complete series did not find a publisher in his lifetime. Holmes was best known, of course, for writing the original <strong>D&D Basic Set</strong>.</p><p></p><p>"Crane is what you make of it" by game designer Richard A. Lloyd responds to several criticisms leveled at <strong>The Tribes of Crane </strong>play-by-mail game in a recent issue. "Mightier than the pen" by Kyle Gray discusses famous swords from traditional epics such as Beowulf. Gray wrote several other articles for <strong>Dragon</strong>, most with a historical bent.</p><p></p><p>"Minarian Variants" by G. Arthur Raham describes several variant rules for <strong>TSR</strong>'s popular <strong>Divine Right</strong> wargame. The same author shares some more setting lore in "Minarian Legends," which details a hideous lich called the Black Hand. Strangely, the magazine published this second article under a different name, "Glenn Raham."</p><p></p><p>"This here's Tyrannosaurus Tex" by Roger E. Moore is a <strong>Boot Hill </strong>scenario involving a tyrannosaurus rex. Good fun! "How to ease the Boot Hill identity crisis" by Paul Montgomery Crabaugh contains a well-considered occupation table for the game. Crabaugh published numerous articles for <strong>Dragon </strong>and other gaming magazines in the 80s.</p><p></p><p>On to the regular features! "Dragon's Bestiary" presents the Gaund, a typically well-described monster from Ed Greenwood. These three-eyed lizards were later published in the <strong>Forgotten Realms Appendix</strong> of the <strong>Monstrous Compendium</strong>.</p><p></p><p>"Giants in the Earth" provides <strong>D&D</strong> gaming statistics for characters from literature. This month, Tom Moldvay solicits reader submissions for future issues. "Sage Advice" has the usual collection of reader questions. This one caught my eye:</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>The official response is that the full <em>Bag of Holding</em> essentially fills the empty one. Doing this in the modern game destroys both bags and opens a gate to the astral plane!</p><p></p><p>In "Simulation Corner," John Prados summarises the year 1980 in the wargame field. He observes the following trends: a move from micro-games toward larger games, a renewed focus on the Civil War, and a slower release schedule. He also notes a rumor that <strong>Task Force Games</strong> and <strong>Phoenix Games</strong> are going out of business. This rumor proved to be false as regards the former company but true for the latter.</p><p></p><p>"Dragon's Augury" is a little larger than usual this month. Tony Watson reviews <strong>The Complete Book of Wargames</strong> from <strong>Simon and Schuster</strong>, which is "a fine introduction to wargaming for the novice, but of only marginal utility to the veteran." Bill Fawcett reviews three <strong>D&D</strong>-compatible adventures from <strong>Dimension Six</strong>. <strong>Mountain of Mystery</strong> has "a few inconsistencies" but "some very good ideas." <strong>Temple of Athena</strong> has "several outstanding traps and rooms... the adventure is worth the price just for those." Meanwhile, <strong>The Nine Doctrines of Darkness</strong> (great title!) is "less of an adventure than a detailed landscape" but "allows for some fascinating possibilities."</p><p></p><p>Finally, we have two reviews for <strong>The World of Greyhawk</strong> <strong>Fantasy Game Setting</strong>, as well as a formal response from <strong>TSR</strong>. This first edition consisted of a 32-page gazetteer and a 2-piece map in a cardboard folio. Jeff Seiken notes that this product has been "Often promised, but often delayed..." In a thorough review, he praises the maps effusively, describing them as "easily the highlight of the product." He is less enthusiastic about the gazetteer, noting that while it gives you "a pretty good understanding of the world depicted on the map," it has some "surprising omissions." For example, there is virtually no information on religion and famous personalities of the world. However, his most telling complaint comes in the final paragraph:</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Kenneth W. Burke spends most of his review focusing on problems he has with the gazetteer (no roads on the map, no settlement symbols, the use of the word "savages," etc.). It's a little jarring to get to his conclusion and read, "On a scale of one to ten, <em>THE WORLD OF GREYHAWK</em> deserves a rating of nine."</p><p></p><p>Lawrence Schick, Vice President of Product Development at <strong>TSR</strong>, makes a brief response. Where things are lacking, he suggests, it's because "We wanted to give DMs a push in the right direction without doing everything for them." For example, he dubiously asserts that there was no point including religion as "this is an area that almost all DMs handle differently." His final comment seems more credible, "<em>T<em>he World of Greyhawk</em></em> had a long and painful gestation period, but it turned into a child we're all proud of."</p><p></p><p>This month's cover was by Steve Swentson. The interior artists were Ed Greenwood, Jim Roslof, Susan Collins, James Holloway, Roger Raupp, Kenneth Rahman, and Mike Carroll.</p><p></p><p>And that's a wrap! The highlight articles for me were "The Temple of Poseidon" and the <strong>World of Greyhawk</strong> reviews. Next month, we have adventuring on the outer planes, the <strong>AD&D </strong>exam, and a complete RPG by David Cook!</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="M.T. Black, post: 8318505, member: 6782171"] [B] Dragon Publishing[/B] released [B]Dragon [/B]issue 46 in February 1981. It is 80 pages long and has a cover price of $3.00. In this issue, we have an all-new [B]D&D[/B] adventure, fiction from J. Eric Holmes, and the first reviews for [B]World of Greyhawk[/B]! [ATTACH type="full"]138916[/ATTACH] Editor Jake Jaquet notes that they are giving [B]Dragon [/B]magazine a "facelift" over the coming issues, starting with the switch to a three-column format. Jaquet also notes the formation of the [B]TSR Role-Playing Game Association (RPGA)[/B]. The initial goal of this organization was to provide a way for role players to network, but within a few years, the RPGA was strongly focused on organized play. It existed until 2014 when the [B]Adventurers League[/B] replaced it. This month's special feature is "The Temple of Poseidon," a [B]D&D[/B] adventure by Paul Reiche III. Reiche, a childhood friend of Erol Otus, was a developer at [B]TSR[/B], and "The Temple of Poseidon" was his job application. The adventure is a good mix of combat, traps, and puzzles. Reiche was with [B]TSR [/B]for only a short period before moving into computer games, where he has worked on titles like [B]Tony Hawke[/B] and [B]Skylanders[/B]. "The Sorcerer's Jewel" is a short story by J. Eric Holmes and the fifth in his "Boinger the Halfling" series. It is pretty typical [B]D&D[/B]-inspired fiction, and the complete series did not find a publisher in his lifetime. Holmes was best known, of course, for writing the original [B]D&D Basic Set[/B]. "Crane is what you make of it" by game designer Richard A. Lloyd responds to several criticisms leveled at [B]The Tribes of Crane [/B]play-by-mail game in a recent issue. "Mightier than the pen" by Kyle Gray discusses famous swords from traditional epics such as Beowulf. Gray wrote several other articles for [B]Dragon[/B], most with a historical bent. "Minarian Variants" by G. Arthur Raham describes several variant rules for [B]TSR[/B]'s popular [B]Divine Right[/B] wargame. The same author shares some more setting lore in "Minarian Legends," which details a hideous lich called the Black Hand. Strangely, the magazine published this second article under a different name, "Glenn Raham." "This here's Tyrannosaurus Tex" by Roger E. Moore is a [B]Boot Hill [/B]scenario involving a tyrannosaurus rex. Good fun! "How to ease the Boot Hill identity crisis" by Paul Montgomery Crabaugh contains a well-considered occupation table for the game. Crabaugh published numerous articles for [B]Dragon [/B]and other gaming magazines in the 80s. On to the regular features! "Dragon's Bestiary" presents the Gaund, a typically well-described monster from Ed Greenwood. These three-eyed lizards were later published in the [B]Forgotten Realms Appendix[/B] of the [B]Monstrous Compendium[/B]. "Giants in the Earth" provides [B]D&D[/B] gaming statistics for characters from literature. This month, Tom Moldvay solicits reader submissions for future issues. "Sage Advice" has the usual collection of reader questions. This one caught my eye: The official response is that the full [I]Bag of Holding[/I] essentially fills the empty one. Doing this in the modern game destroys both bags and opens a gate to the astral plane! In "Simulation Corner," John Prados summarises the year 1980 in the wargame field. He observes the following trends: a move from micro-games toward larger games, a renewed focus on the Civil War, and a slower release schedule. He also notes a rumor that [B]Task Force Games[/B] and [B]Phoenix Games[/B] are going out of business. This rumor proved to be false as regards the former company but true for the latter. "Dragon's Augury" is a little larger than usual this month. Tony Watson reviews [B]The Complete Book of Wargames[/B] from [B]Simon and Schuster[/B], which is "a fine introduction to wargaming for the novice, but of only marginal utility to the veteran." Bill Fawcett reviews three [B]D&D[/B]-compatible adventures from [B]Dimension Six[/B]. [B]Mountain of Mystery[/B] has "a few inconsistencies" but "some very good ideas." [B]Temple of Athena[/B] has "several outstanding traps and rooms... the adventure is worth the price just for those." Meanwhile, [B]The Nine Doctrines of Darkness[/B] (great title!) is "less of an adventure than a detailed landscape" but "allows for some fascinating possibilities." Finally, we have two reviews for [B]The World of Greyhawk[/B] [B]Fantasy Game Setting[/B], as well as a formal response from [B]TSR[/B]. This first edition consisted of a 32-page gazetteer and a 2-piece map in a cardboard folio. Jeff Seiken notes that this product has been "Often promised, but often delayed..." In a thorough review, he praises the maps effusively, describing them as "easily the highlight of the product." He is less enthusiastic about the gazetteer, noting that while it gives you "a pretty good understanding of the world depicted on the map," it has some "surprising omissions." For example, there is virtually no information on religion and famous personalities of the world. However, his most telling complaint comes in the final paragraph: Kenneth W. Burke spends most of his review focusing on problems he has with the gazetteer (no roads on the map, no settlement symbols, the use of the word "savages," etc.). It's a little jarring to get to his conclusion and read, "On a scale of one to ten, [I]THE WORLD OF GREYHAWK[/I] deserves a rating of nine." Lawrence Schick, Vice President of Product Development at [B]TSR[/B], makes a brief response. Where things are lacking, he suggests, it's because "We wanted to give DMs a push in the right direction without doing everything for them." For example, he dubiously asserts that there was no point including religion as "this is an area that almost all DMs handle differently." His final comment seems more credible, "[I]T[I]he World of Greyhawk[/I][/I] had a long and painful gestation period, but it turned into a child we're all proud of." This month's cover was by Steve Swentson. The interior artists were Ed Greenwood, Jim Roslof, Susan Collins, James Holloway, Roger Raupp, Kenneth Rahman, and Mike Carroll. And that's a wrap! The highlight articles for me were "The Temple of Poseidon" and the [B]World of Greyhawk[/B] reviews. Next month, we have adventuring on the outer planes, the [B]AD&D [/B]exam, and a complete RPG by David Cook! [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Dragon Reflections #46
Top