D R A G O N 1

Vol. VIII, No. 3 September 1983

SPECIAL ATTRACTION

KING OF THE TABLETOP . . . . . . .33A new game, not about furniture,

from Tom and Rob and Tramp

OTHER FEATURES

The Tarot of Many Things . . . . . . . . . . . . .6All decked out and ready to play

Curses! .................................................. 18Greenwood at his most devious

Creative cursing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20Magic to make characters sorry

Elemental Gods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22Deities that almost defy description

A new game with a familiar name . . .26Frank words on D&D® game revisions

Spy�s Advice. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32For TOP SECRET® game players

DRAGON Readership Survey . . . . . . .55Fill it out and fill us in

REGULAR OFFERINGS

Out on a Limb ............................................3Letters from readers

The ecology of the Unicorn ...................14Previously known only to a few

Figure Feature ................................................30

Game reviews:HARN campaign package ...................66Plague of Terror module .....................67

Gamers� Guide ................................................68

What�s New..............................................74

Snarfquest ..................................................77

Wormy ....................................................................80

Publisher: Mike CookEditor-in-Chief: Kim MohanEditorial staff: Marilyn Favaro

Roger RauppPatrick L. PriceMary KirchoffRoger Moore

Business manager: Mary ParkinsonOffice staff: Sharon Walton

Mary CossmanLayout designer: Kristine L. BartyzelContributing editor: Ed GreenwoodNational advertising representative:

Robert Dewey1409 PebblecreekGlenview IL 60025

Phone (312)998-6237

This issue�s contributing artists:Jerry Eaton Phil FoglioRoger Raupp Dave TrampierTom Wham

DRAGON Magazine (ISSN 0279-6848) is pub-lished monthly for a subscription price of $24 peryear by Dragon Publishing, a division of TSR,Inc. The mailing address of Dragon Publishingfor all material except subscription orders is P.O.Box 110, Lake Geneva WI 53147.

DRAGON Magazine is available at hobbystores and bookstores throughout the UnitedStates and Canada, and through a limitednumber of overseas outlets. Subscription rates areas follows: $24 for 12 issues sent to an address inthe U.S. or Canada; $50 U.S. for 12 issues sent viasurface mail or $95 for 12 issues sent via air mailto any other country. All subscription paymentsmust be in advance, and should be sent to DragonPublishing, P.O. Box 72089, Chicago IL 60690.

A limited quantity of certain back issues ofDRAGON Magazine can be purchased from theDungeon Hobby Shop. (See the list of availableissues printed elsewhere in each magazine.) Pay-ment in advance by check or money order mustaccompany all orders. Payments cannot be madethrough a credit card, and orders cannot be takennor merchandise reserved by telephone. Neitheran individual customer nor an institution can bebilled for a subscription order or a back-issuepurchase unless prior arrangements are made.

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All material published in DRAGON Magazinebecomes the exclusive property of the publisherupon publication, unless special arrangements tothe contrary are made prior to publication.DRAGON Magazine welcomes unsolicited sub-missions of written material and artwork; how-ever, no responsibility for such submissions canbe assumed by the publisher in any event. Anysubmission which is accompanied by a self-addressed, stamped envelope of sufficient size willbe returned if it cannot be published.

DRAGON® is a registered trademark forDragon Publishing�s monthly adventure playingaid. All rights on the contents of this publicationare reserved, and nothing may be reproducedfrom it in whole or in part without prior permis-sion in writing from the publisher. Copyright©1983 by TSR, Inc.

Second-class postage paid at Lake Geneva,Wis., and additional mailing offices.

POSTMASTER: Send address changes toDragon Publishing, P.O. Box 110, Lake GenevaWI 53147. USPS 318-790. ISSN 0279-6848.

D R A G O N , D U N G E O N S & D R A G O N S , A D V A N C E D D U N G E O N S & D R A G O N S , A D V A N C E D D & D ,TOP SECRET, BOOT HILL, and GAMMA WORLD are registered trademarks owned by TSR, Inc.

� designates other trademarks owned by TSR, Inc., unless otherwise indicated.

We�re listeningHmmm. With 1984 more or less around

the corner, maybe that�s a bad way to starta column. But I�ll let it stand, because itsums up the point of this month�s ser-mon: Why All of You Should Fill Outand Return the DRAGON MagazineReadership Survey (pages 55-56).

As is always the case with a magazineand its readers, you know us, the maga-zine, a whole lot better than we knowyou, the group who reads us. We thinkwe know what you like, and we try to fillup the magazine with Good Stuff. Ifyou�re happy, we all win. If you�re not,vice versa.

We think we know you based on twothings we get a lot of: Letters, and re-sponses to other readership surveys we�vepublished. The letters expressing indi-vidual readers� opinions, numerousthough they are, represent only a smallfraction of you. And it�s been a whilesince we printed a survey; a lot of youweren�t even with us the last time. (Butthose of you who were with us helpedcontribute to a couple of tremendousresponse totals. Keep it up.)

We need to know more, about all ofyou, than we�ve ever known before. Weneed to ask some standardized questions,because that�s the best way to get exactreadings of fact and opinion from a largegroup of people. And the larger, the bet-ter. The more people we hear from, themore sure we can be that you are reallytalking to us.

The picture of you that we get fromanalyzing the returned surveys will beused to shape the future of this magazine.You better believe that � we are listen-ing, and we�ll try to do whatever you sayyou want.

No, I can�t say we�ll be able to handleeverything you, the individual, mightwant us to do. But we�ll try to give thegreatest benefit to the greatest number,because (a) it seems like the lawful goodthing to do, and (b) it�s worked prettywell so far.

We know our readership has changedand continues to change. We try, by pay-ing attention to letters and doing someeducated guessing, to keep changing withyou. But sometimes we have to make areally formal check of our position. Weneed you to help us navigate when thehorizon starts to look too much the same� let us sight on you, like a star, to keepourselves on course. And, to complete thenautical analogy, then we can all reallystart sailing. � KM

2 SE P T E M B E R 1983

ou may have been King ofthe Mountain when youwere a little kid. If you�reone of our older readers, youmay have been King of the

Drive-In once upon a time. But not untilnow has anyone ever had the chance to beKING OF THE TABLETOP.

Our latest game offering, in the centerof this magazine, is a mixture of things: acombat game, an economic game, andabove all a prestige game. (You�ll seewhat we mean.) It is brought to you by amixture of people: Tom Wham, who hasmore game designs in his head than mostpeople have in their houses; Rob Kuntz,known throughout the land for his workon Greyhawk articles and the DEITIES &DEMIGODS� book; and Dave Trampier,author of Wormy, who will illustrateevery counter sheet we publish from nowon if I have anything to say about it.

We�ve heard from people who think thegames we print would be fun, but theynever play them because they don�t wantto �destroy� the magazine by pulling outthe innards. Well, this is one time whenanyone who feels that way should makean exception � it�s a regally good game.

If the scene on the cover reminds you ofsomething from your mind�s eye, thatmeans artist Jerry Eaton did his job toperfection. The painting is his interpreta-tion, using the Players Handbook as aguide, of the appearance and effect of amagic-user�s wall of fire spell. Althoughthis is Jerry�s first cover painting for us,his signature is also on some strikingcolor illustrations done for fiction storiesin earlier issues.

The next time anyone asks your AD&Dcharacter to play cards, you�d better findout exactly what he means before youlook at your hand. Presented across lotsof pages inside is an article on a 78-in-1magic item, The Tarot of Many Things.Every campaign with characters who aregamblers at heart should have one (butonly one) deck of Tarot cards, as de-scribed by author Michael Lowrey forincorporation into the AD&D game.Things may never be the same again. . . .

Obviously, there are times when wecan�t exactly go to the source in prepar-ing an article on �The Ecology of� some-thing. But Roger Moore managed to get afriendly neighborhood dryad to talkabout The Ecology of the Unicorn forthis month�s issue, and he got more thanhe bargained for.

Also inside is a somewhat unusual arti-cle � intended for non-gamers, as well asfor all of you who usually buy this maga-zine. Frank Mentzer tells the story of thenew, improved version of the D&D® Basicand Expert Sets that are expected toattract even more people into the hobbyof fantasy role-playing games. Afteryou�ve read the article, lend it to somefriends who don�t play � and be sure totell �em who sent you. � KM

He or she?Dear Editor:

I enjoyed Mr. Greenwood�s article concern-ing the Nine Hells [issue #75]. However, Ifound one apparent mistake. In the article,Sekolah is described as a female. The Deities &Demigods Cyclopedia states that the deity is amale. Can you explain?

Greg LewisNorth Augusta, S.C.

Yep, the article was � technically � inerror. But I think we can figure out where EdGreenwood was coming from when he referredto Sekolah as a female shark (see page 31 ofissue #75). In the entry for sahuagin in theMonster Manual, it is noted that �the religiouslife of these creatures is dominated by thefemales.� The reference to �females� in thatpassage specifically concerns female sahuagin,who are the clerics of the race.

But, carrying the interpretation of thatstatement a little further, it makes sense for areligion �dominated� by females to have afemale deity at the top of their hierarchy, andit seems safe to assume that this was how Ed�sreasoning worked when he called Sekolah a�she.� In light of the fact that the MonsterManual is part of the official AD&D� rules andthe DEITIES & DEMIGODS� Cyclopedia isnot a rule book in the same sense, it might beargued that the MM takes precedence over theDDG book on this point. Fortunately, for thepurposes of playability, it makes no difference(that we can see) whether Sekolah is male orfemale. We won�t disagree with anyone whothinks the article was in error, and you can cer-tainly change �she� to �he� anywhere the arti-cle talks about Sekolah if you�re more comfort-able with that. � KM

Same module?Dear Editor:

One of the events listed in the insert on GenCon in issue #74 of DRAGON seems to be verysimilar to the AD&D module I entered in theDragon Publishing Module Design Contest.Do you use the modules from the contest thatyou don�t plan to publish in DRAGON forevents at Gen Con and possibly other gamingconventions?

Darren ButlerOrem, Utah

In a word: NO! We do NOT use entries toour module contest for convention tourna-ments or any other purpose. Only a very smallnumber of people, all of them associated withDRAGON® Magazine, even see module contestentries that don�t get published. In this case,Darren�s question is very understandable, sincethe title of his contest entry (The Lair of theMinotaurs) is almost identical to the title of

a tournament event, called �Into the Lair ofthe Minotaur� � but that is where the similar-ity ends. We know that to be absolutely true,and I hope that any of you who might alsohave been wondering about what happens tocontest entries will believe us. A module sub-mitted to the Dragon Publishing contestdoesn�t leave our hands in any way, unless anduntil it is published in the magazine. � KM

Weather wordsDear Kim:

I enjoyed reading the various letters you�vepublished in issues #70 and #73 about my arti-cle on the weather of Greyhawk in issue #68.For one thing, I (like any author) cannot helpbut take pleasure in the knowledge that thereare people out there who have read my work,even if only to then disagree with it. I�d like torespond to some of the comments, both gener-ally and specifically.

The generality is this: My article, like manyothers published in your magazine, is notintended to be taken as gospel truth, butshould be applied with what is termed �DM�sdiscretion.� In short, the DM has not only theright, but also the responsibility to ensure thatall the rules, official or otherwise, are appliedin a reasonable and fair way to the world he orshe presents to the players. If something in myweather system doesn�t work in someone else�sworld, that person should modify the system,remembering to keep things fair for both char-acters and monsters.

Now, the specifics. First, I�m pleased that allthree letter writers complained only about theAppendices, which dealt with topics that, to behonest, deserved detailed articles of their own,done by someone more expert than myself. It�snice to know that the body of the article gotthe approval of DRAGON�s readership.

The issue that received the most comment isthat of developing tidal systems for a fantasyworld. I�m afraid that both Jonathan Robertsand Dan Laliberte have, in part, misunder-stood what I was describing. The article notesthat there are, for a planet with a single moon,a lunar high and low tide plus �. . . a match-ing pair of high and low tides . . .� of a solarnature; i.e., a total of four tides which maycancel and/or reinforce each other, dependingon the relative positions of sun, moon, andplanet. In essence, I was describing all three ofthe varieties of tide (mixed, diurnal, and semi-diurnal) that Dan mentions, though in termsthat were perhaps too general. Since Dan isclearly more knowledgeable on this topic thanI am, perhaps you could get him to write moreon this field, as well as on such related topicsas the development of navigational techniquesin a fantasy environment. (Hmmm, howwould adventurers know where they were atsea if there were no stars at all . . . ?)

Lois Sparling�s letter, on the other hand,

D R A G O N 3

takes me (and another author) to task for a lackof experience with cold weather. Well, thoughI do live in Philadelphia, I happen to be halfCanadian and have spent several winters inToronto, which has weather of the type thatMs. Sparling thinks I ought to get to knowfirst-hand. Will that do?

The unpleasant experience of having one�steeth break while drinking a hot beverage inan extremely cold climate, however, is not afantasy. Several journals of various Arctic andAntarctic explorers actually report such eventshappening to members of their parties.

As for Ms. Sparling�s claim that, in the win-ter, life in the Hudson Bay area �. . . generallycarries on normally . . . for those who live inthis area,� well, I think she�s vastly underrat-ing the effects that several centuries of Euro-pean technology has had on the way all thearea�s residents, Inuit and Caucasian alike,now deal with the weather. Yes, it�s true that�to a person properly clad and out of the wind,-20° F. is quite pleasant in a dry climate andhorrible in a humid climate,� but the itemswhich make today�s Hudson Bay resident�properly clad� are not necessarily thosewhich would be available to a character in afantasy world with medieval technology.

In other respects, though, her comments anddescriptions are right on target. I, too, wouldlike to see an article on the effects of tempera-ture extremes, as well as extremes of other cli-matic phenomena such as moisture, dust, andthe like. Much of the information she men-tions, such as the boiling and melting pointsof various materials, is readily available at thenearest library; perhaps some enterprisingauthor will soon fill us in on the details.Finally, my thanks again to all who took the

time to read and comment on the article.Should it ever see re-printing, these commentsmay lead to a bit of fine tuning.

David M. AxlerPhiladelphia, Pa.

‘Personal survival’After reading Roger Moore�s article in issue

#73 (�All for all, not one for one�), I feel Imust disagree. In many fantasy games, the ideais personal survival. In many instances, playercharacters have tried to work in a group effort,and have found that running into a trap tosave a fighter of low level actually wastes timeand valuable hit points required to fight mon-sters or overcome traps later.

While I can see that Mr. Moore has a pointabout no character being proficient in allfields, this is rarely necessary in the campaign Imaster. Often, when a character survives tomuch higher levels, magic weapons and cur-rent abilities negate the need for a group effort.Even at low levels, the PC is often concernednot with the group, but with individualachievement.

Where Mr. Moore complained of an evilthief killing the paladin at the outset of theadventure and blaming it on alignment, hisfeelings are justified. In my campaign thiswould have been disruptive to play.

As for Mr. Moore�s comments about PCsattacking PCs that were new, outcasts, or trou-blesome, I don�t see his point. In my cam-paign, it always provided a competitive spirit.Often, PCs who no longer served the �head

Dear Editor:

Dear Sirs:

honcho�s� purpose were simply eliminated. Itadded intrigue, rivalry, and mystery to thegaming sessions. And all the people behind thecharacters still get along. After all, Rogershould keep in mind that it�s just a game.

D. KlisiewinEasthampton, Mass.

Roger Moore�s reply:When I wrote the article, I was not trying to

preach to people about how they should con-duct their role-playing games. Everyone hasdifferent tastes and likes in gaming. It has beenmy experience, however, that groups that arecohesive and help their members stand muchbetter chances of survival, and also are able towork more closely and coherently together.Such groups also seem to be more fun to gamewith, from my viewpoint anyway, and whilesome people may find it interesting to havetheir characters compete in some war-to-the-death scenarios, many of those I�ve gamed withhave avoided doing this because of the hurtfeelings and problems it generates. Granted, ofcourse, it is only a game. The article expressedmy views on what in my experience has madethe game more fun, and I hope some peoplefound it helpful in making their games moreenjoyable, too. � RM

‘Extremely accurate’While reading issue #73 of DRAGON Maga-

zine, I came across something peculiar, and Iwondered if you noticed the same thing. If youturn the map of the Lands of Launewt so thatthe top is east, you get an extremely accuratemap of Brittany, including even the scale andthe rivers. It excluded only some canals and thecities (and the name).

Allen TulchinNew York, N.Y.

Congratulations for your perception, Allen.(We hoped someone would notice. . . .) Thecoastline described in the map is Brittany �we�stole� that shape for the Lands of Launewtbecause (a) the map needed to be redrawn and(b) it�s easier to use Mother Nature�s ideas thancome up with our own. Look for other famousgeographical features in upcoming mapsinside your favorite magazine. . . . � KM

Missing addressIn issue #72 you reviewed Myth Directions

by Robert Asprin, published by Starblaze Edi-tions. I want to get all three books in this ser-ies, but the Stars & Stripes Book Stores don�tcarry them. Can you tell me how to reach thepublisher so I can order the books?

Russell McKenzieAPO New York, N.Y.

We got a lot of requests for the address, anddecided to print it in this space in case evenmore of you are wondering. Information aboutStarblaze Editions books can be obtained fromThe Donning Company Publishers, 5659 Vir-ginia Beach Blvd., Norfolk VA 23502. Wedon�t normally print publishers� addresses inbook reviews; we always figure anyone who�sinterested can find it out easily enough � evenif that involves writing us a letter. � KM

Dear Sirs:

4 SEPTEMBER 1983

D R A G O N 5

TAROTOFMANYTHINGS

by Michael J. LowreyAlthough the deck of many things in

the AD&D� game is a powerful and inter-esting device, it is but half a reflection(the other being ordinary playing cards)of the original on which all such objectsare based � the Tarot. This article de-scribes the nature and meaning of theTarot, and of that most potent andhazardous artifact known as the Tarot ofmany things.

The 78-card Tarot deck consists of twoparts. The Major Arcana include the cardknown as the Fool, which is unnum-bered, and the twenty-one numberedcards I (The Magician) through XXI(The World); these twenty-two cards arealso known as the Greater Trumps. TheMinor Arcana, or Lesser Trumps, aredivided into the four suits of Wands,Cups, Swords, and Pentacles; each suitincludes the �pip� cards (Ace throughTen) and the court cards (Page, Knight,Queen, and King).

Although their history and origin areunclear, Tarot decks are known to haveexisted in Europe by the end of the 14thcentury. Their origins have been �traced�to sources as diverse as the lost continentof Atlantis and a sonnet by Petrarch; butlittle hard evidence is available. Theircuriously evocative symbolism hasinspired and intrigued intellects eversince, from Jung to Yeats to T. S. Eliot.Today dozens of decks are in print, someof them reprints of 15th-century versions,others new designs made within the pastdecade. For further historical data anddetailed information concerning the di-vinatory uses of the Tarot, the reader isreferred to the bibliography.

If a Tarot of many things exists in agiven AD&D universe, it will be the onlyone of its kind. Such a deck is normallythe creation and/or the property of themost powerful deity of Fate in that uni-verse, and will certainly expose a user ofthe deck to more than the usual amountof scrutiny from such beings. Under nocircumstances will the deck be leftunguarded, carried around in an orc�sknapsack, or used for sheepshead gamesbetween high-level wizards. It is a most

6 SEPTEMBER 1983

awesome and puissant object, and will betreated as such.

The deck itself is a series of plaques orcards, fashioned of precious and rare sub-stances: ivory, gold, vellum made fromdragon skin, carved bulette scales, or thelike, painted with costly pigments,gilded, or even jeweled. These will bewrapped in silk or other simple but costlycloth, and placed within an elaborate boxor coffer of at least 5,000 gp value, expen-sively decorated with Tarot symbols, andwith the holy symbol(s) of the deity whois the master of the deck. It could be soldunused for 39,000 gp plus the value of thebox or coffer, but if anyone does morethan look upon the backs of the cards, hewill be compelled (no saving throw forany being below a lesser god) to drawfrom it.

A person who wishes or is compelled todraw from the deck will be allowed toannounce an intention of drawing one,two, three, or four cards; when the lastmember of the party who wishes to do sohas drawn, or if one hour elapses withoutany draw, the deck will disappear �unless the party is on the plane of theTarot�s master deity, which is not the par-ty�s own home plane.

It is suggested that if player charactersare at all likely to encounter the Tarot,the DM obtain a real deck which hassymbolism and imagery that harmonizewith his campaign�s cultures, familiarizehimself with it, and shuffle it thoroughly.

The person making draws, hereaftercalled the �drawer,� should shuffle thecards well, in such a manner that theimages on almost one-half of the cardsare inverted or �reversed� in relation tothe others (which are termed �upright�).Each card is then turned over along thelong axis of the card, and presented to theDM (from whose viewpoint �upright�and �reversed� are judged). After eachperson finishes drawing, the drawn cardsare returned to the deck, and it isreshuffled by the next drawer (if any).

[In case the DM cannot obtain a realTarot deck, each card has been given anumber for the use of percentile dice; acard will be reversed or upright on a 50%chance. No card can be received morethan once by the same drawer.]

The effects of the Tarot are instantane-ous unless noted otherwise, and should benoted immediately by the DM (to him-self); characters will not notice anychange until they perceive it in terms ofhow it alters their abilities or activities.The effects are irrevocable unless other-wise stated, short of a full wish for theMajor Arcana, or a limited wish for theLesser Arcana.

If the effects of a card would raise orreduce a characteristic score to a level out-side racial limitations, the change willaffect another characteristic if possiblewithin those same limits, in this order:constitution, charisma, wisdom, dexter-ity, intelligence, strength. If a characterloses 1 point or more from an abilityscore and is therefore no longer qualifiedto be a member of the class he was pursu-ing, then the character loses the right tobe in that class and (if not multi-classedto begin with) must begin anew as a first-level character in some other class. Evenif the lost points are replaced later bysome other means, the character cannotresume study in the class that he wasforced to abandon; but he may re-enterthat class at first level if, and only if, res-toration of the lost point(s) takes placewithin 24 hours of the loss.

[If a player declares that his character isperforming an action whose only con-ceivable motivation is the exploitation ofa card effect which the characters have noway of knowing about, the DM shouldask for an explanation; and if it becomesclear that the player has informationwhich the character should not have, theDM must exercise his right and duty (asalways in such cases) to veto characteractions based on illicit player knowledge(this is colloquially called a �mindbar�).Tricks, traps, and variations, designed todeceive players who remember thingstheir characters shouldn�t �know,� mustbe a part of every DM�s arsenal.]

Above all, bear in mind that this is anartifact, not the tool of a chaotic game forfoolhardy or suicidal characters; it shouldbe handled with respect and gravity.(Whether the random aspects of the Tarotmake its use an act of chaotic nature is amatter decided between lawful characters,their deities, and the DM.)

The effects and values of the individualcards in AD&D terms, given in the fol-lowing text, are based on their divinatoryand symbolic meanings. (The effects ofdraws made by characters are printed initalic type, with �upright� effects alwaysgiven first.) Space does not allow forfuller explanation of details; the inter-ested reader is referred to the bibliographyat the end of this article.

THE MAJOR ARCANA

00: The FoolThe Fool is a quirky and variable char-

acter; he may be clad in the fool�s cap andmotley of a jester (or joker), or in gor-geous, elaborate, and costly (though notcumbersome) vestments. A staff andpouch over his shoulder, a little dogbehind him, he strides blithely into theWorld. The Fool is often seen dancing atthe brink of the precipice, for his is thefolly (and the wisdom) of childhood, theuntrammeled innocence of the babe andthe mischief of a child.

Upright, he signifies unformed poten-tial, the need to make choices and thenecessity of making the right choice, thewisdom of fools and follies of the wise.

Drawer gains one more draw, but thenew draw will not count unless and untilthe card drawn is one with an effect thatis mostly good for the drawer.

Reversed, he signifies thoughtlessaction, folly; choices must be made, butmay well be faulty.

Effect as above, but the subsequent cardmust be mostly bad in effect.

01: The MagicianThe Magician stands by or over a table

on which are various articles: swords,wands, pentacles, cups, dice, balls, bells,or others. One hand holds a double-endedwand toward the heavens, the otherpoints to the earth; over his head is alemniscate curve, the symbol of eterni-ty/infinity. The table, which resemblesan altar, is surrounded by growingthings. Represented here is the rationalmind, confident in its power and right touse the forces of the infinite to reshapethe world of matter.

Upright, The Magician signifies will,mastery, the ability to manipulate theuniverse through rational thought, self-confidence, ability to manipulate others.

Drawer gains 1 point of intelligence,2 points if a magic-user or illusionist.

Reversed, he signifies ineptitude, fail-ure of will, indecision; abuse of power;disquiet; mental illness.

Drawer loses 1 point of intelligence,2 points if a magic-user or illusionist.

02: The High PriestessThe High Priestess sits enthroned in

her temple, dressed in flowing robes thatobscure the scroll or book of secret lawsand wisdom she holds securely. She is themother of wisdom, sometimes identifiedwith Isis or Diana; the queen-protector ofhidden knowledge and occult mysteries.

Upright, she signifies serene knowl-edge, sagacity, intuition, foresight, inspi-ration; the power of the inner mind toheal, create, enlighten, and inform.

Drawer gains 1 point of wisdom,2 points if a cleric or druid.

Reversed, she signifies superficiality,conceit, shallowness, a lack of depth, ofperception, or of understanding; anacceptance of external and superficial�knowledge,� of trivialities.

Drawer loses 1 point of wisdom,2 points if a cleric or druid; in the lattercase, the drawer will receive one newsecondary skill from the Secondary Skillstable (DMG, page 12).

03: The Empress�Royal and matronly, the Empress sits

enthroned among rich fields, clad in richgarments, and crowned with a starry opencrown. Befitting her position, she bears a

sceptre, for hers is the realm of universalfecundity and wealth.

Upright, she signifies material wealth,productivity for farmers and creativeworkers, profitability for merchants; prac-tical application of knowledge.

The next time treasures are divided, thedrawer will receive some item which willturn out to be worth an extra 3d6 thou-sand gold pieces; but even the drawer willnot notice until at least three days later.

Reversed, she signifies poverty, sterility,inability to produce; waste or dissipationor resources.

The next time treasures are divided, thedrawer will receive an item which willprove to be worthless (a seemingly magi-cal mace which actually has Nystul�smagic aura on it, a �ruby� which is actu-ally cut glass, etc.) as the largest part ofhis treasure share, but will not notice forat least three days.

Regal and fatherly, the Emperor sitsupon his throne, with open space sur-rounding him for a domain. He wearskingly robes, and in his hands bears asceptre and/or orb of rulership. Hiscrown is simple but majestic. He is theactive principle, the ruler of the visible,material world through law.

Upright, he signifies leadership,strength of mind, dominance, law, con-trol of natural drives, stability, power,conviction, protection, and the like.

A lawful drawer gains 2 points of cha-risma; a chaotic drawer must successfullysave vs. poison or suffer confusion for 2d4months; a neutral drawer is unaffected.

Reversed, he signifies immaturity, con-fusion or loss of control, ineffectiveness,lack of self-control, irrationality, attemptsto destroy one�s authority or rights.

Unless the drawer saves vs. death magicat -4 (-2 for neutral characters, nopenalty for chaotics), over the course offour days he will gradually becomeinsane in one of the following ways:manic-depressive, schizoid, dementiapraecox, or hebephrenic.

05: The HierophantEstablished in state within his temple,

the Hierophant is the embodiment of thechurch in the world, the external pomp

04: The Emperor

D R A G O N 7

and circumstance of organized religion;his elaborate crown, ornate robes, andsceptre of power establish him as a hier-arch and potentate. He is the link be-tween deity and worshiper, his is the roleof mediator and medium. As the HighPriestess is mistress of the hidden myster-ies, The Hierophant is the master ofexternal, manifest religion, law, andmorality, usually depicted ministering to,

adventure he will be demoted for �ineffec-tuality� and �lack of authority.� Ifdrawer is a chaotic cleric, he will gain 1point of intelligence.

06: The LoversA winged supernatural being hovers

over a man and a woman, behind each ofwhom flourishes a different tree. Theman looks at the woman, but she, though

or being attended by, two lesser clerics,upon whom he bestows a blessing.

Upright, he signifies the outer form ofreligion; social relations with the world,ritualism; conformity, traditionalism, andorthodoxy; retention of outmoded ideasand attitudes; orderly hierarchies; mercyand forgiveness.

Drawer gains 1 point of charisma (2points if a lawful cleric); clerics also gain1 point of intelligence. If drawer is acleric who belongs to any body of a hier-archical nature, religious or secular,which does not base rank solely on levelsof ability, he will be promoted thereinsoon (5-25 days) after returning from thisadventure/expedition. The Hierophantalso serves as a remove curse spell for adrawer who is in need of one.

Reversed, he signifies overkindness,weakness; unconventionality, openness tonovelty, unorthodoxy.

Drawer gets a permanent -2 on savingthrows against charm, suggestion, andother mental attack forms involving willforce; he will also have a permanent +20%on his reaction roll to all persons andbeings. If drawer is a member of any hier-archic body (as described above), within5-25 days of returning from the current

open to him, looks up at the supernaturalmessenger. The Lovers are emblematic ofthe necessity for the conscious mind(�intelligence�) to approach the super-natural and transcendent through theunconscious (�wisdom�), for a harmoni-ous and loving life depends on the coop-eration of both ports of the mind.

(In older decks the Lovers are oftenshown as a young man standing betweentwo women; some different divinatorymeanings relate to this older symbolism.)

Upright, they signify attraction, ama-tiveness, love; difficulties overcome, testsand trials passed.

The drawer�s charisma increases by 1point for every 6 points of wisdom orintelligence (whichever is lower), round-ing down; in addition, the drawer�s reac-tion rolls increase 1% for each point ofwisdom or intelligence (whichever islower), toward all persons (now known orencountered later) to whom she or hemight be romantically inclined (based onrace, gender, etc.).

Reversed, they signify tests failed; fick-leness, unreliability, infidelity; a need tostabilize and harmonize the self, the pos-sibility of a wrong choice.

The drawer�s charisma is reduced by 1point for every 6 points by which his wis-dom or intelligence (whichever is lower)falls short of 18, rounding losses up; reac-tion rolls increase as above, but based onwhichever ability score is higher, and ifthe drawer already has a loved compan-ion or spouse, the reaction roll towardher or him is reduced by half the amountthat other reaction rolls are increased by(round reduction up).

07: The ChariotA youthful and triumphant figure (a

conqueror rather than a hereditary ruler)stands in a chariot, covered over by astarry canopy and drawn by two steeds

(horses or sphinxes) of opposing colorsand pulling in somewhat opposing direc-tions. The charioteer bears a sceptre ofdominion, but no reins; the Chariot mustbe controlled through dominion of mind.Here is represented the conqueror of theouter world, victorious yet not truly incontrol of the fullness of reality.

Upright, the Chariot signifies triumph,success, conquest over the physical plane(including illness and one�s own weak-nesses) by the rational mind, intelligencerather than wisdom; also travel in com-fort, state visits.

Drawer is cured of all diseases, lycan-thropy, deafness, blindness, curses,charms, etc., of which he is a victim, andwill be 15% less susceptible to themhereafter. Also, the drawer will be able tocoax an extra 3� of movement out of anyvehicle, mount, or other mode of travel,as long as his mind is clear and free toconcentrate on doing so.

Reversed, it signifies decadence, illhealth, restlessness, victory through foulmeans, disputes, failure.

Drawer, over the next seven days, willbegin to manifest a severe and chronicdisease, which can only be cured by apotion made from the brains of two dif-ferent kinds of sphinxes. The disease willnot prove fatal for at least 49 days.

08: StrengthA calm and self-contained, yet clearly

quite human, woman controls the jaws ofa lion with her bare hands. Strength isboth hers and the lion�s. They are notstruggling, for she has already subduedthe beast, and they are now in a harmonyof opposites: Hers is the Strength of themind at one with itself; his is theStrength of passion and the carnal needs,which is unable to withstand a con-sciousness aware of its link with the infi-nite, and must submit to its control.

Upright, the card signifies spiritualpower overcoming material power, thefortitude of the self-aware mind; courageand magnanimity; the triumph of loveover hate.

The drawer gains +4 to saving throwsagainst fear, charm, suggestion, illusionand other mental attack forms involvingwill force.

Reversed, it signifies the dominance ofthe material and physical, lack of faithand moral force, failure of self-control,giving in to temptation, failure of will.

Drawer suffers a -4 to saving throwsagainst the attack forms listed above.

09: The HermitA robed figure, the archetypal �Old

Wise Man,� the Hermit stands alone. Heleans on a pilgrim�s staff and holds upthe lantern of wisdom, offering light tothose who are humble enough to seek it.He illuminates the path to wisdom forthose who want to emerge from darkness..

Upright, he signifies prudent counsel,receiving wisdom or instruction from one

8 SEPTEMBER 1983

D R A G O N 9

more knowledgeable, guidance on thepath to one�s goal; circumspection andcaution; a solitary nature.

Within nine days of returning homefrom this adventure or expedition, drawerwill meet a visiting cleric of his ownfaith, of a level higher than his own, whowill offer religious instruction to thedrawer, �for the improvement of themind,� with a warning that the instruc-tion will not be quick. After one monthof study (if the drawer accepts the offer;this should be a decision of the player),the drawer will emerge with a 2-pointincrease in wisdom, but a 1-point loss incharisma. The cleric will then give thedrawer a hint to the location of a magicitem, and depart for places unknown.

Reversed, he signifies immaturity,folly, refusal to accept aging and growth.

Drawer loses one third of his accumu-lated age, gains 1 point of charisma andloses 2 points of wisdom. When thedrawer next seeks to gain a level, the pro-cess will be three times as long andexpensive as usual, because of his refusalto heed the instructor.

bringing the great to naught and thehumble to power, for a time. Descending(on the left) is an evil creature (often iden-tified with Typhon or Set); ascending is acanine-headed being (often identified

10: The Wheel of FortuneThe Wheel of Fortune rotates eternally,

with Anubis, or Hermes Trismegistus);yet with another turn of the Wheel, theascendant will descend and the descend-ant will ascend. Resting atop the Wheel(yet undisturbed by its rotations) is asphinx casually holding a weapon,emblematic of the equilibrium which theenlightened mind manifests even in themidst of fortune�s everchanging rounds.The sphinx, like the four winged beingsof the apocalypse which occupy thecorners of the field, is also a denial of theapparent randomness of the universe, andof the fatalism such false beliefs induce.

Upright, it signifies success, fortune,felicity, an unexpected bit of luck, achange for the better.

Reversed, it signifies unexpected badfate, ill luck, setbacks or interruptions inplans, unwanted change.

Drawer suffers a -2 penalty on all sav-ing throws; in addition, one magic item

Drawer gains a permanent +2 on allsaving throws; in addition, the next trea-sure discovered by the party will include amagic item of not less than 800 nor morethan 8,000 experience-point value, onwhich the arms, image, and/or name ofthe drawer are ineradicably engraved orotherwise incorporated, in such a way asto mark it as predestined only for thatperson. If the drawer sells the item, boththe card and the materials used to pur-chase it will disintegrate, and the drawer�ssaving-throw bonus will be negated.

10 SEPTEMBER 1983

(at random) belonging to the drawer willdisintegrate (if he owns no magic, thiswill not apply).

11: JusticeLike the High Priestess and the Hiero-

phant, Justice sits crowned andenthroned between pillars. In her righthand she bears a two-edged sword, itspoint toward the heavens; in her lefthangs a set of balances. Firm and reso-lute, hers is the power of moral strengthand integrity, of righteousness (good)rather than rectitude (law).

Upright, she signifies justice, virtue,right judgments, the triumph of thegood, just rewards, purity.

Drawer of good alignment gains 8,000experience points; drawer of evil align-ment loses 8,000 experience points orthree fourths of all experience points,whichever is greater; neutral drawer willbe unaffected. The DM may reduce thesegains or losses by up to 50% if the drawerhas not been entirely consistent in follow-ing his alignment.

Reversed, she signifies bias, injustice,excessive severity; legal complications.

Unless drawer has been acting in verystrict conformance with his alignment(the DM should be very rigid in this eval-uation), he is stripped of all property,effects, wealth, allegiance or loyalties offollowers (those over 50% base loyalty),etc., except for non-magical clothingbeing worn; and all but one eighth of hisexperience points. Drawer will also forgetall spells received or memorized.

12: The Hanged ManFrom a gibbet or tau-cross of living

wood a youth is suspended by one leg; hisarms form a triangle behind his back, andhis free leg is placed behind his first oneto form a cross (if viewed upside down, heseems to be dancing a jig). He representsEveryman, suspended by his own consentas a pause and decision point in the crea-tion of an enlightened self. He is clearlyin a contemplative state, not one of suf-fering, suspended between the old life andthe new; he must create his new selfknowingly and willingly.

Upright, he signifies a pause, or sus-pension of ordinary activities; transcen-dence of material temptation; surrenderto the purification of the self; spiritualwisdom, prophetic power; regeneration.

Drawer goes into a contemplative statefor 24 days, in which he is open-eyed, canwalk (at 3� rate), drink, and eat (lightly),but will not fight or otherwise interactwith the mundane world; during thisperiod he will also regenerate as if wear-ing a ring of regeneration. At the end ofthis period, the drawer will lose 1 pointof strength, but will gain 2 points of wis-dom. For a year and a day thereafter, hewill refuse all wealth, whether earned oroffered, except that necessary for his mod-est needs and those of his henchmen.

Reversed, he signifies absorption in the

ego and material matters, unwillingnessto sacrifice; false prophecies.

Drawer goes into a trance as describedabove, but will �snap out of it� after 5d5rounds, having lost 2 points of wisdom,but gained 1 point of charisma. He willseem to show a new ability to prophesythe contents of rooms, intentions ofstrangers, etc., but after five such detailed,correct �visions,� the supposed new abil-ity will go tragically awry (and will com-pletely vanish after being discredited).

13: DeathDeath, represented as a skeleton,

regards a desolate plain strewn with hisvictims, who are of all ages and condi-tions, for Death has no favorites. He is

sometimes shown wielding a scythe,sometimes �terrible with banners.�

Upright, he symbolizes transit to thenext stage of being, transformation;abrupt and unexpected change of the oldself (not usually physical death), the endof security and old situations and thebeginning of a new kind of life.

Drawer dies. Body and effects burst intoflame (which will do l0dl0 points ofdamage if a character is foolish enough togo into it; after 1-8 rounds the flames willdie down and from the ashes the characterwill step, reborn according to the follow-ing table (roll d%):01-02 bugbear 31-36 halfling03-08 dwarf 37-42 half-orc09-14 elf 43-44 hobgoblin15-16 gnoll 45-94 human17-22 gnome 95-96 kobold23-24 goblin 97-98 orc25-30 half-elf 99-00 ogreNote: A very good or very evil person

will not be reborn as a creature whosealignment is the opposite. Regardless ofthe form in which the character is rein-carnated, allow the new form to progressas far as possible in characteristics andabilities. Someone reborn as a gnollmight eventually gain hit dice up to 3,4,or even 5, plus bonus points for a highconstitution; the figure would be eligibleto wear armor, could use magic itemsavailable to fighters, and would have theintelligence level of its former incarna-tion (or racial minimum), If the newform is of a player-character race, thecharacter must be generated as a new

character; the new form may be a memberof any player-character class for which heis eligible, except the old character�sformer class (unless that is the only pos-sible choice), and will be of 1st level, withno experience points.

Reversed, he signifies stagnation, mereexistence, inertia or immobility, lethargy,sleep, petrification.

Drawer falls under a permanent slowspell and will receive no experiencepoints for this adventure (while slowed,drawer will age at half the normal rate).

14: TemperanceA solemn angelic figure, a flower or

sun emblem on its forehead, pours a fluidfrom one of a pair of different-coloredchalices to the other; behind the figureare growing plants, and distant hills. Thecard represents the inner self, enablingone to balance the forces of the mind, toilluminate intelligence by wisdom and toclarify wisdom with intelligence.

Upright, it signifies control of self,adaptation, tempering of extremes; har-monious and fruitful combinations, wisemanagement of resources; cooperation.

Drawer will gain 2 points of intelli-gence or wisdom (whichever of the two ispresently the lowest) but will lose 1 pointin whichever of the two is higher. If thetwo scores are equal, he will gain 1 pointin whichever of his other characteristics isthe lowest, with ties settled by playerpreference. Also, the drawer will neveragain injure a companion through care-lessness, ill timing, bad luck, or the like.

Reversed, it signifies discord, hostility,failure to communicate, conflicts of inter-ests, unfortunate combinations.

Drawer gains 1 point in whatever char-acteristic is most useful for his class (cler-ics and druids gain wisdom; fighters,paladins, and rangers gain strength;magic users and illusionists gain intelli-gence; thieves and assassins, and monksgain dexterity; and bards gain charisma),but loses 2 points from whichever of hischaracteristics is the lowest. If there is atie for lowest, the loss will be from theone of the lowest characteristics whichthe DM judges to be most generally use-ful for the drawer�s class. In addition,from now on the drawer will have a reac-tion roll adjustment of from -10% to -15%(ld6+9) to all persons.

15: The DevilBat-winged, horned, donkey-eared,

with hairy legs and eagle�s feet, the Devilstands or squats upon a blocky pedestal(which sometimes resembles an altar,sometimes an anvil). His right hand givesa cryptic salute; in his left is a weaponheld in a bizarrely useless manner (asword held by the blade, a torch which isupside down or burnt out). Connected byropes to the altar are two figures (usuallya man and a woman), mostly human butwith certain animal characteristics suchas horns and tails; they are much smaller

D R A G O N 1 1

than the Devil, and appear strangelyserene about their bondage.

Upright, the card signifies the bondageof human nature to its own lowest needsand impulses, desires of greed and domi-nation, sensation without understanding;fatality, disaster, violence; weird and de-structive experiences; evil influences.

Drawer is attacked by the Devil of theTarot (see below).

Reversed, it signifies release from bond-age to the material; conquest of pride andgreed; the first steps toward spiritualenlightenment; freedom.

Drawer gains 1 point of wisdom and isfreed of all charms, suggestions, posses-sions, and other spells subjecting him tothe will of another; he will give away allnonessential possessions at the end of thisexpedition (clothing and jewelry items ofless than 500 gp value may be given toplayer characters or NPCs; all else will goto religion and charity).

THE DEVIL OF THE TAROTFREQUENCY: UniqueNO. APPEARING: 1ARMOR CLASS: See belowMOVE : 9�/15�HIT DICE/POINTS: See below% IN LAIR: NilTREASURE TYPE: NilNO. OF ATTACKS: 4 or by weapon typeDAMAGE/ATTACK: 1-4/1-4/1-2/1-2SPECIAL ATTACKS: Feet claw for

1-4/1 -4; surprise (see below)SPECIAL DEFENSES: Can be attacked

only by drawerMAGIC RESISTANCE: 15%INTELLIGENCE: See belowALIGNMENT: Neutral evilSIZE: See belowPSIONIC ABILITY: Nil

Attack/Defense Modes: NilThe Tarot Devil appears as shown on

the deck being used except that it has theface and gender of the drawer. It has thearmor class, hit points, �to hit� rolls,weapons and magic items, intelligence,and size of the drawer as well. If thedrawer fails to save vs. death magic, hewill be surprised by the Devil, for asmany segments as the saving throw wasshort. The devil fights with a claw/claw/horn/horn routine, and if it scores twoclaw hits during a single round of meleeit will also rake with its feet claws in thatround for 1-4 points each. When eitherthe drawer or the devil is slain, the devilwill disappear with all of its effects, butthe drawer will receive 15,000 experiencepoints. If the drawer is killed in thiscombat, the experience-point gain is ap-plied to the character�s total if and whenhe is raised from the dead.

16: The TowerA tall square Tower topped with a

crown is being struck by lightning, whichtopples the crown but leaves the towerstanding. Hurtling (from its windows; ithas no doors) earthward are two persons

(presumably a man and a woman) in richgarments, along with showers of sparksand debris; they are stunned to see theirTower of isolation and pride broken openby a stroke of fire from the heavens.

Upright, it signifies the overthrow ofexisting notions, the fall of pride; suddenand unlooked-for change; a perceivedcatastrophe which may bring enlighten-ment in its wake; the destruction of falseconcepts and ideas.

Drawer loses one level (from the mostadvanced if a multi-classed character ofuneven levels, choose randomly if equal;first- level drawer has experience pointsreduced to zero), all magic items, and allwealth, but drawer gains +1 to savingthrows in a column of player�s choice.

Reversed, it signifies the same to alesser degree; but also oppression, falseimprisonment or accusations; living in arut, inability to effect worthwhile change,being stuck in an unhappy situation.

Reversed: Drawer loses one level (asabove); also, for a year and a day he willnot be able to gain a new level, regardlessof experience points accumulated.

A vast, flamboyant Star of eight pointsis surrounded by seven similar stars. Inthe foreground, a young woman rests onefoot on land and one upon the waters, asfrom two identical jugs she pours theWater of Life both upon the land andinto the larger body of water. Behind heris rising ground and a tree with a bird init; in the distance are mountains.

Upright, it represents inspiration freelyflowing, the gifts of the spirit, the fruitsof meditation, understanding, hope; goodhealth and pleasure; granting of wishes.

The next time the drawer, after havingearned enough experience points toadvance to the next level, spends an houror more under a clear and starlit sky, hewill feel inspiration pour down uponhimself from the very stars, and will findthat the next level has been gained with-out formal tutoring. Drawer also gains a+2 to saving throws vs. mental illness.

Reversed, it signifies pessimism, doubt;chance of illness; arrogance, haughtiness,stubbornness; lack of perception.

Drawer becomes so smug, arrogant,and skeptical a pupil, he will require

17: The Star

twice the usual amount of tutoring beforeany new level can be obtained. Thischange is permanent.

18: The MoonThe crescent Moon radiates its decep-

tive brightness upon a dim and forebod-ing landscape. In the pool which fills theforeground lurks a crayfish (or other crea-ture from the abyss); beyond this twodogs (or a dog and a wolf) bark and howlat the Moon, which sheds a cryptic dewupon them. In the background are twotowers, and a path leads from the pool tothe goal beyond these towers.

Upright, it signifies the �dark night ofthe soul�: trickery, deception, secret foes;unforeseen perils; bad luck for a lovedone; danger, darkness, terror, occult forc-es; danger of falling into a trap or beingmisled, great danger of making an error.

Drawer must make a saving throw vs.death magic or fall prey to lunacy at thenext full moon (see DMG, p. 84). If thesave is made, drawer must then save vs.polymorph or succumb to lycanthropy(as a werewolf) upon the next full moon.If both saves are made, a henchman orservitor (at random) will become disloyalover the next five turns (reduce loyaltyand reaction rolls by 21-54% [3d12+18]).

Reversed, it signifies peace gained at acost; instability; lesser degrees of decep-tion or betrayal, trifling errors.

The best magic item in the possessionof the drawer is permanently drained ofall magical properties; if drawer has nomagic, he will lose 20% of all experiencepoints earned on this adventure.

19: The SunThe Sun in its splendor shines benevo-

lently down, either upon a pair of chil-dren playing blithely and simplytogether, or upon a single child riding awhite horse and waving a scarlet banner.The innocent children (pair or single) areplaying in front of a walled-in gardenwhich they have left behind.

Upright, it signifies happiness, success,contentment (particularly in marriage);achievements and studies completed, lib-eration to enjoy the simple pleasures;devotion, friendship.

Drawer receives enough experience(Continued on page 50)

12 SEPTEMBER 1983

D R A G O N 1 3

The ecology of the unicornby Roger Moore

�You would know about the unicorn?�asked the dryad. Her green eyes widened.�You are a hunter?�

After I assured her that I bore no weap-ons or armor, and sought to learn aboutthe unicorn for my own curiosity, thedryad looked at me with head tilted.�Most of the mortal folk hunt the FreeOne for its horn, the magical horn, theywould slay it, take its horn, iron in theirhands and ice in their hearts, and we wholoved it are left with the body, such is theway of the mortal folk. Long the FreeOne runs, far the Free One travels, deepthe Free One hides from the mortal folk.The horn is its heart as the unicorn is theforest�s heart, would you run if mortalschased you for your heart?� In such a waydid the dryad speak, her words and sen-tences running together like water in astream.

I bowed my head to hear this; I was nota killer. It seemed the dryad saw this: shebade me sit with her on a mossy stone fora while, and she told me of the unicorn.

The unicorn, she said, is many things.No two people will see the same unicorn,though one may be seen by many. Mor-tals see it and call it shy, fierce, proud,free, the spirit of magic, the spirit ofunconformity, the symbol of purity,truth, change, goodness, chaos, inno-cence, grace, beauty, secrecy, and a thou-sand other things. There is truth in eachof these, but each of them alone is notenough, and all the words that could bespoken would not a unicorn describe.

To human eyes the unicorn is less likea horned horse than is generally believed;it is smaller and more graceful than ahorse, and far more beautiful. Unicornsare generally white in color, though someclaim to have seen gray, black, silver andgold ones, and one or two adventurersspeak of spotted ones. Their horns aremost often a mother-of-pearl color, giv-ing off a rainbow of hues in the sunlight;again, there are reports of silver, gold,and black horns as well. The clovenhooves of the creature are gray or silver.All unicorns have a wild silken mane thatflashes in the wind as they run, a tail likea lion or wild boar, and a beard like agoat. Some say, though, that the strangestpart of a unicorn is its eyes, for they aremany colors at once and change even asone looks at them. No one can wellremember the color of a unicorn�s eyes.

You will find in the world learnedsages who tell you the unicorn is notexceptionally bright, and that if youcould converse with one you would get

14 SEPTEMBER 1983

little more than if you�d spoken with anaverage man who had lived in the woodsall of his life. Yet little do mortal folkknow of what a unicorn truly thinks.They are older than the calendars mostmortals keep, and wiser than most sages.Their knowledge is not of building firesand laying stone, but of the nature of liv-ing things, the wisdom learned fromwatching the stars pass in the night, theendless cycle of nature repeated again andagain yet differently every time. Theyknow what is in the heart of a man or awoman, and can read meaning into theturn of the wind, the fall of a leaf, thesigh of a child, meanings no one elseknows. Dearly they love secrets, anddearly they keep them.

It may be said that a unicorn lives foritself. It will defend its wood and itsfriends, but it exists for its own sake andserves no one but its own will. Evenmagic is powerless to control them; theirwildness is too great to be constrained bya dweomer. They eat when it pleasesthem and sleep when they like; they feaston tender grasses and honeysuckle, sweetroots and bark, and some say they candraw energy from drinking the winds ifthey need. It is known that the best placeto see a unicorn is near a still pond, forthey love to look at themselves reflectedtherein; a vanity, perhaps, but they areentitled to it as well as anyone.

It is true, too, that unicorns are strong.Theirs is an endless strength; they mayrun for days without tiring at full speed,passing the winds and flashing througheven the densest forest growth. �Chasingthe unicorn,� the common folk say whenthey mean someone is wasting time;�catching a unicorn,� they say of some-one doing the impossible.

The powers of the unicorn�s horn aredebated by serf and king alike. It isknown that unicorns cannot be poisoned,and that the horn will protect a man,though to lesser effect, from toxins of allkinds. Yet there are always tales of other,hidden magicks that the horn can per-form. A ranger will remember a unicorncoming upon him as he lay dying in thewoods of a goblin�s arrow; the unicornbut touches the infected wound and it ishealed at once. A lost child, when found,will tell of seeing a �one-horned deer�who cured his sicknesses from eating wildmushrooms or berries with a tap of itshorn, then guided the child home again.There is even a legend that two lovers,chased into a forest by their enraged fami-lies, fell from a low cliff and one of them

was slain; the survivor would have died ofgrief but heard a low sound, and beheld aunicorn coming, who touched the otherone once and restored the lost one to lifebefore fleeing. What can be made of allthis is beyond even the sages to say; butclearly, one should never take a unicornfor granted.

A unicorn runs more like a deer than ahorse, travelling in great leaps that clearthe height of a man at times. Because oftheir speed, there are precious few crea-tures who will ever get close to one with-out its permission, and fewer still sinceunicorns have a magical intuition aboutthe approach of anyone who has evilthoughts or has the intention of harmingthem. Unicorns avoid all but those ofgood heart and those who love the forests;the rest see little more than their tailsflicking as they leap into the distance,and often they will see nothing of them atall; unicorns love to hide and can be morequiet than an empty cathedral when theywant to be.

No one knows how old unicorns be-come. The dryads say that it is rarer forthe moon to turn blue than for unicornsto mate, and the birth of a foal is causefor riotous joy among all the inhabitantsof a unicorn�s wood. Some elven folkremember tales of their ancestors of gen-erations before, telling of the same uni-corn those elves see now, which if truemeans that unicorns live for thousands ofyears. The dryad I spoke with had knowntwo unicorns, and neither of them knewhow old they were, much less how muchtime had passed since the week before. Iftime means little to elves, it meansnothing at all to unicorns, and each dayto them is special and new. The chaos inthem casts boredom aside; a unicorn canwatch the same event over and over, andeach time will see something new about itto hold its interest.

Who befriends a unicorn? Everyoneknows that a maid, old or young, who isgood at heart will stand a fair chance ofseeing and perhaps even touching a uni-corn. Sometimes it happens that the maidmay even gain the unicorn�s agreement toserve her as a steed, and the unicorn willbe faithful to her for as long as the maidis good; the unicorn will suffer no oneelse to ride it, however, and may not evenlet the maid ride it if the maid comes tobelieve she is the unicorn�s master. Noone is the master of a unicorn.

Druids also like unicorns, not so muchfor their goodness (druids also like greendragons) but because unicorns are so

much a part of the forests the druids pro-tect. At times a unicorn may give aid to adruid, but always it is because the uni-corn chooses to do so, not from any com-pulsion the druid may exert by charm.Rangers and unicorns seem to do welltogether, and unicorns will even let them-selves be seen by male rangers andtouched by them, though only femalerangers may ride them. Good bards areknown to chase after unicorns, and madchaotic bards as well; the sight of a uni-corn brings bards to tears, and they willwrite volumes and volumes of poems andtales and songs about their beauty, andrecite them every chance they get.

Of the true woodland folk, faeries andelves are among a unicorn�s closestfriends, and some of them even havespeech with unicorns. Dryads, satyrs,nymphs, pixies, and sprites see themoften enough, and it is said that treants,who may be the only beings to live longerthan unicorns, know more unicorns per-sonally in their lifetimes than any humancould guess at. All of the true wood folkexcept the evil ones love the unicorn andwould throw down their lives for it, andeven the evil ones would not cause itharm; unicorns are fearful when arousedfor fighting, and have slain ogres andworse with a single thrust of theirwhorled horns.

Who is a unicorn�s foe? It is true that

they avoid all who are evil, and whowould cause them harm. Yet it is alsotrue that those who are selfish and petty,who desire dominion over their fellows,and who are blind to the goodness andinnocence of childhood will never see thehorned one. If one cannot see beyond thereach of his own grasping hands, he willwander the forests of the world and seenothing at all but trees.

Such was the tale the dryad told me,and I was utterly silent as I heard it, andafterward. I felt the wonder in me risingand my thoughts were adrift; the dryadseemed to know it and she laughed.

�Stranger, I have told you that a thou-sand words could not say what the sightof one unicorn can, and you look as ifyou�ve seen one a�ready.�

�Your story has caused it,� I replied,embarrassed. �I am no one like a bard ora prince or a ranger; I am a wanderer andthe road is my home. I have heard manytales and seen many strange beings in myyears, but never such a creature as youhave told me.�

The dryad�s eyes twinkled merrily.�And if you were to see one, what wouldyou do?�

I thought for a moment and laughedmyself. �In truth I have no idea. Perhapsall in all, I would do nothing but wonderat it. Beautiful things are rare in theworld, and, for myself, to be lucky

enough to see a unicorn would be all Icould ask.�

�Lucky thou are, then,� said the dryad.�Look over your shoulder, slowly andwith care.� Her eyes were shining likestars and her face glowed with awe. Shewas looking behind me.

For all of my life I remembered thatmoment, as I watched her face and itdawned on me what she meant. In thatmoment I had an awareness of someonenear me, very close to me, someone I hadsought all my life. Even though I amolder now than almost any man, I stillremember the last few seconds before Iturned around, and in the light filteringthrough the leaves and in the silence ofthe primeval wood, beheld the unicorn.

APPENDIXUnicorns are also known as alicorns,

monocorns, and have the technical nameof monoceros in sages� texts.

If desired, the awe effect of seeing aunicorn may be simulated by giving thema charismatic power that causes all crea-tures and beings with less than one hitdie to be rendered immobile upon seeingone for 1-3 rounds; more powerful crea-tures will be able to act normally, but thesight of a unicorn will still affect themdeeply in some manner. Good beings willlove and admire them, neutral ones willseek to control or capture them, and evil

D R A G O N 1 5

ones usually hate them, for the unicorn�sbeauty reminds them of the ugliness oftheir souls.

Unicorns may be treated as having a 25wisdom for purposes of immunity tocharm and hold spells or powers, as perthe DEITIES & DEMIGODS� Cyclope-dia; animal friendship, snare, trip, andsleep spells, as well as any otherenchantment/charm spells, do not affectthem either. They will note a hallucina-tory forest for the illusion that it is. Beingimmune to death spells covers allenchantment/charm, conjuration/sum-moning, or necromantic spells that causedeath with or without saving throws(including finger of death, destruction,symbol of death, and power word, kill).

If desired, a unicorn may be able (onceper day or less often than that) to simu-late one beneficial clerical spell of anylevel with a touch of its horn. The effectof this touch will take place instantly.Unicorns will only use this power ifanother creature or being is in extremis;DMs should use this power with care.

The dimension door power of a uni-corn will only rarely be used, but it takeseffect instantly at the unicorn�s desire. Aunicorn could, for instance, vanish just amoment before being struck by an arrowor weapon if it was aware of the object�sapproach, and could even evade a fireballas it travelled on its way.

The druid spell call woodland beings is

not considered a charm-type spell; it doesnot put the unicorn under any compul-sion to obey the druid, any more than anyother creature called must obey the druid.A summoned unicorn will be aware thata druid is �calling� for assistance andmay decide to help (represented by thesaving throw vs. spell). In no case will aunicorn approach nearer than 24� from adruid if the presence of any enemy (anevil character or a hunter of unicorns) issensed, and a unicorn will dimensiondoor away if necessary to escape a trap.

Interestingly, lower-level druids have amarginally better chance to summon aunicorn for aid (using call woodlandbeings) than higher-level druids; this sayssomething (indirectly, at least) about theunicorn. The way the spell is moderated,a lower-level druid has a better chance offailing to attract those woodland crea-tures mentioned ahead of the unicorn onthe list, which means the chances for thatdruid to succeed in calling a unicorn (thelast entry in the sequential list of possiblecreatures) are correspondingly better. Andin the long run, a unicorn is more liableto heed the summons of a lower-leveldruid because (a) the druid is relativelymore likely to need help and (b) a lower-level druid would not be seen as much ofa potential threat to a creature as power-ful and versatile as the unicorn.

�for Cassandra and all the others,with our love

16 SEPTEMBER 1983

D R A G O N 1 7

CURSES!by Ed Greenwood

The excitement of curses in the AD&D�game � danger and uncertainty for char-acters, and fun for the Dungeon Master �can contribute much energy to humdrumdungeon exploration, and unsettle thoseall-powerful, �expert� characters (to saynothing of their players!).

But, some of the curses suggested in therules are more grim than exciting (cf. be-stow curse spell description), and manyothers, such as those suggested for cursedscrolls and the flask of curses, are a mitetoo powerful for low-level characters,tending to be instantly fatal or havinglong-lasting effects on play. Here aresome suggested curses of lesser power, forDMs who wish to be relatively fair andwant to continue to be tolerated by theirplayers:

1) Recipient of curse (character read-ing scroll or otherwise directly activatinga curse, or who is touched by a bestowcurse) is surrounded by a vivid yellow ororange faerie fire that lasts up to 2 turnsunless dispelled (for which dispel magic,limited wish, or similar magic isrequired).

2) Most valuable magic item(s) ofparty (DM�s choice as to which and howmany) teleport away. These items shouldnot travel far, and their new location �in the same dungeon, or perhaps in anearby but unexplored area � should berevealed in hazy visions to charactersemploying augury, etc. A locate objectspell would have its usual effect.

3) All drawn or held weapons aresnatched from every character�s grasp andlevitate upward to the ceiling (if no ceil-ing, continue upward for 100 feet ormore, at the DM�s option), remainingaloft there for 1-4 turns. If a creature is hitby a falling weapon, the item should do

Twenty good ideasfor bad tidings

considerable damage (5d6 base suggested,more if falling from a great height; thosewho save vs. dexterity on d20 by rollingtheir dexterity or less take no damage).

4) Reverse gravity takes effect on curserecipient (one character), lasting for2 rounds, with attendant injury (ld6 per10 feet fallen, or refer to issue #70 ofDRAGON® magazine for the �new,�more severe damage system) unless fallavoided.

5) One (or more) spell casters in theparty �forget� a spell (DM�s choice), los-ing it instantly from their minds.

6) A slithering tracker close by isalerted to the party�s presence andlocation.

7) Any gold carried by the party whenthe curse is activated turns instantly tolead; anything inside a magic item suchas a bug of holding, Bucknurd�s everfullpurse, or Leomund�s tiny chest isunaffected.

8) One piece of paper (scroll, map,page of spell book, etc.) carried by theparty (or in the same room at the time) iserased, becoming instantly blank.

9) A familiar or similar animalaccompanying the party (pack mule,paladin�s warhorse, etc.) is promptlyinjured in a freak accident such as a fall,being struck by aerial debris or driveninto an obstruction by a gust of wind,pricked and/or torn by thorns, struck byfalling stones or caught on collapsingpavement or stairs. This accident shoulddisable the beast, inconveniencing theparty.

10) One charge is lost from a magicitem (perhaps with a visible aura burstinginto light about the item to give away theevent or, conversely, the loss can occurwithout warning or apparent effect).

11) One character (DM�s choice or atrandom) is confused (6 rounds) orfeebleminded or loses consciousness (2-8rounds) immediately, in all cases withtotal spell loss if the affected character is aspell caster.

12) One or more characters (DM�schoice or at random) begin to halluci-nate. Such visions will include at leastone monster (treat as illusionist spellshadow monster, of up to 12 hit dice, butinvisible to others).

13) Constant noise accompanies partyfor 1-4 turns (or days!); for example,thunderous echoes of any words anyonein the party speaks.

14) Any one magical item (of the DM�schoice) carried by the party will act as awand of wonder (see table in DMG foreffects) when next activated.

15) Recipient of curse is turned tostone. (This state lasts only 1-4 turns, butto withstand the initial transformation,the recipient must make a system shocksurvival roll.)

16) One magic item in the party�s pos-session (DM�s choice or at random) isactivated and/or animated to attack theparty or members thereof, for one dis-charge or one successful �to hit� � withfull normal effects.

17) One or more protective magic items(i.e. ring of regeneration, ring of protec-tion, bracers of defense, magic armor)will cease to magically function for 2-12rounds.

18) One party member will blink (as inthe third level magic user spell) for 5-20rounds, unable to stop and with no con-trol over locations reached.

19) If individual or party is in open ter-rain, an uncontrollable storm is broughtinto being within 3-6 rounds; it willbreak with multiple lightning bolts (3d6variety) discharging at random. Roll d6once per round for 8 rounds; on everyresult of 5 or 6, a bolt comes to earth;every armored party member must savevs. breath weapon at +2 to avoid beingstruck. A bolt may fork and strike morethan one party member in a round.

20) One member of the party isinstantly paralyzed for 4-16 rounds (rig-idly immobile, can breathe and blinkeyes, but not speak).

The possibilities are endless; each DMknows his own players best, and candevise curses that are intriguing and addcolor and flavor to play. Don�t let a cursebe simply gloom and doom; make itinteresting!

18 SEPTEMBER 1983

D R A G O N 1 9

Nasty additions to a DM�s arsenalby Richard Fichera

Have you as a DM ever spent your crea-tive energies putting a really fun (for you)cursed magic item in your dungeon, onlyto be faced with a player who can giveyou a complete inventory of them fromthe Dungeon Masters Guide? Even with-out this problem, there are so fewmalignly charmed articles that you couldconceivably run out of tricks �from thebook� to pull on your players. To fill thisvacuum, here are a few additional itemsto pop into your campaign:

Ring of gaseous form � What wouldnormally be a boon in potion formbecomes the opposite when in the shapeof a ring. It will operate exactly like theliquid, turning any character and all ofhis equipment, carried or worn, into anindefinable mist. While at first the playermay be excited, his enthusiasm willquickly wane once he realizes that hecan�t find his finger to remove the ring.He will remain in gaseous form until theproper magics can be cast. While wearingthe ring, the affected character will haveall the abilities, and lack thereof, that areusually attributed to the potion, i.e., basemovement at 3�/round; unharmable

except by magical fires, lightning, orwhirlwinds; no combat ability; no spellcasting abilities. The only way to removethis cursed ring is to cause the characterto return to solid form by a remove cursespell cast upon the gaseous character(which will suppress the ring�s effect forone turn) followed by a second removecurse before the character turns gaseousagain. A single wish spell, properlyworded, will also suffice, as will twolimited wishes or a pair of castings ofalter reality.

Medallion of protection from thieves,30� radius � This ornately jeweledmedallion, an item no greedy thief couldpossibly resist, is actually quite beneficialto the party � everyone, that is, exceptthe thief. It is most effective if the filcherof the group is the first to spot it anddecides to lift a little extra treasure forhimself. Regardless of who is carryingthis item, it will cause the thieving abili-ties (including back stabbing) of any thiefor assassin character within 30� to drop tozero percent. Under no circumstancesshould the players be told of this predic-ament; all attempts by thieves to use their

abilities should be rolled by the DungeonMaster as normal, but all dice resultsshould be ignored. Note that thieves willstill have the usual 20% chance over thebase rate (now zero percent) of goingundetected on a pickpocketing attempt,although the actual attempt will still fail.Back stabbing becomes a normal rearattack (at +2) for purposes of the medal-lion�s effects. It is always possible to takethis item off, although it functionswhether it is worn or carried.

Helm of enemy nondetection � Thishelm radiates magic if such is detectedfor, and is curious only in the fact thatwhile it has a hinged visor, the visor isimmovable, apparently stuck in the �up�position. The helmet can easily be put onand taken off until it is �triggered,�which happens the first time any fighterwears it into actual combat. At this point,the visor will snap shut, and since it hasno slits in it, this leaves the wearerblinded. Attacks will be made at -4 �tohit,� and all attacks against the user areat +4 �to hit.� The visor will automati-cally open once the battle ends or thecharacter loses consciousness; however, at

20 SEPTEMBER 1983

this point the helm is not removablewithout a remove curse spell.

Dagger of monster calling � This littleweapon operates just like a standard +ldagger until it comes within sighting dis-tance of any evil-intentioned monster.Then it will begin calling out, in a veryloud, high-pitched voice, to these nearbyevil creatures in their native tongue, andwill curse and insult them intolerably. Ifthe encountered creature does not speakany language, the dagger will emit ascreaming wail sounding remarkably likea poor, defenseless animal waiting to beeaten. This dagger can easily �teleport�into a character�s possessions, like anycursed weapon, if the owner makes asimple attempt to discard it.

Ring of hypochondria � This ringmay frustrate the most thorough of trial-and-error examinations, since it will donothing for one week after the owner be-gins wearing it, although it will radiatemagic (an identify spell may work toreveal its talents). Unlike most cursedrings, this ring is always removable. Afterthe wearer has had the item on for therequisite week, he will believe himself tobe suffering the symptoms of a randomlydetermined disease (see page 14 of theDMG). The symptoms will continue tobe felt for one entire week once begunwhether the ring is worn or not; note,however, that the disease itself is notactually present. If the ring is still worn

after the second week, a new randomlydetermined disease will be believed toplague the individual, but as before noactual disease will be present. This pro-cess will continue indefinitely, with thesymptoms changing each week until thering is taken off and left off permanently.Of course, there won�t be a doctor any-where who will be able to find anythingwrong with the character. Other rings ofthis sort might provide +l protection orsome other minor magical benefit, mak-ing them of debatable usefulness.

Arrows of conscientious objection �These magical arrows absolutely refuse tofight. Once placed in a quiver or con-tainer with a character�s regular arrows,they will transmute themselves to lookexactly like the other arrows. Their dif-ference will become obvious as soon as anarcher attempts to use them. When one isfired, it will vanish only inches beforestriking a hostile target (doing no damageto the target). Since the cursed arrowshave changed their appearance, it shouldbe impossible to separate the mundanefrom the magical without a detect magicspell (and not even then, if the cursedarrows are in the same container withregular magical arrows). Twenty percentof these arrows will not vanish, but willturn into daisies just before reaching theirdestination (also doing no damage, ofcourse, unless the creature has an allergicreaction).

D R A G O N 2 1

ElementalgodsA four-partapproach tocampaign deities

by Nonie Quinlan

Most role-playing game referees, in laying out their cam-paigns, have no trouble finding suitable gods. For �good-bloody-fun� campaigns, which include most FRP worlds, the generalrule is: The more gods the merrier, and the more wars betweenthe gods the better. In these warlike universes, gods should bekillable by high-level characters and they should be clearly rec-ognizable as belonging to one race and one alignment, On theother hand, campaigns designed for medieval authenticity willtend to reproduce the medieval church: a highly organizedclergy, with a single abstract deity who never takes a direct partin the action.

But there is a third, rarer type of campaign that could be calledthe �high fantasy� style. It tends to involve consistent, non-anachronistic worlds; you will never hear �Frodo�s Pizza Parlor,may I help you?� or �You . . . you mean this whole dungeon isone big pool hall?� The characters have real motivations, andwill not jump into an abyss just to see how deep it is. They arepart of an ongoing history which they respect; upon discoveringa great hero�s tomb, they will pour libations and pray for him,not try to figure out how to loot the tomb. The role-playing iswell thought out, consistent and realistic, and the highest part ofthe game is not the loot and experience, but the sense of wonder.

Gods for such a campaign are hard to find. It is necessary thatthey be of a kind that a real person could take seriously, becausethe characters are going to be serious about their religiousbeliefs. The gods must be more than super-powered beings,because a strong and independent adventurer is not likely toworship a god just because the deity has more hit points thanany others and better powers. On the other hand, it must beremembered that in the campaign world the gods are real, notsimply manifestations of cultural religious beliefs; why wouldthere be one god for gnomes and another for orcs? Fire is fire.

For the gods to be taken seriously by both the players and theircharacters, it is necessary that they be all-powerful, all-knowing,and truly immortal. For this reason they should not be assignedformal attributes; they need no armor class or hit points, becauseno creature of this world could harm them. They have infinitestrength and unlimited power, and only the nature of what theyrule constrains them; a god of fire will rarely control water.

22 SEPTEMBER 1983

Because they are so powerful, it is clear that they must not behostile toward each other, or the world would have been de-stroyed in their first conflict. Their powers must be balanced,equal, and approximately at peace. For this reason, the four ele-ments seem a good model for the nature of the gods, because theelements have always existed together without serious conflict.(Certainly water and fire, for example, may be mutually destruc-tive on contact, but neither seems dedicated to locating and de-stroying the other, and both still exist as they always have.)

The requirement that the gods be at peace with one anotheralso calls into question the assumption that a god has an abso-lute alignment. If there are truly good gods and truly evil gods,they will not endure each other�s existence. But the elements, likeany force of nature, unite both positive and negative aspects inthemselves; without fire, civilization would barely exist, and yetfire is the great destroyer. And what could be more ambivalentthan the life-giving, life-taking sea?

It is for these reasons that our local D&D® gaming group hasdeveloped a pantheon based loosely on the four elements andgiven them the characteristics described below.

There are four gods: those of Earth, Air, Fire, and Water. Theyare not hostile to each other, or to each other�s followers. Eachmay be worshipped by someone of any race or alignment; theyhave many natures, and every worshiper may see them differ-ently. They encompass opposites; good characters and evil onesmay worship the same god, even if they pray at different fanes.

The gods are not limited in gender any more than in align-ment; they may tend to be associated with one sex, but certainaspects will be of the opposite gender, or both, or none.

The nature of the gods

They rarely take an active hand in matters; they give power totheir clerics and may answer prayers, but they do not wake up inthe morning and decide to start a war. They are all-powerful,non-corporeal beings, but once in a while one aspect of a godmay take apparently physical form and walk on the earth; evenin that form they cannot be injured or constrained. The averagecharacter stands a good chance of seeing a god at least once inhis life, which may seriously affect his religious beliefs.

The nature of religionIn developing religion within a culture in a campaign using

elemental gods, it must be remembered at all times that the godsare real and the people know it. Oaths sworn to the gods must behonored, or retribution will fall on the oathbreaker; this is anabsolute law, as certain as a law of nature.

The gods do not demand worship. It is the nature of men toworship the divine, and so most men will perform religious ritu-als, offer prayer, and otherwise deliberately affirm their relation-ship to the gods. Other men may never perform an act of wor-ship in their lives, but they too are aware that the gods exist.When the gods are clearly real, there can be no atheists.

In my campaign, I assume that each character has a closer tieto one of the gods than to the rest. It is to this god that the char-acter prays most often, and this god is most likely to help thecharacter in times of need. However, characters are not thereforehostile to the gods they don�t worship, or even to other aspects oftheir own gods. They know the gods exist and they honor them,but each character�s greatest devotion is given to his own deity.An analogy to this in our own world might be the tradition ofpatron saints.

Members of the priesthood, both spell-casting clerics and thelittle village priests who perform marriages and bless the crops,must be sincere in their beliefs, not hypocritical and avaricious,because the gods know the truth of their oaths of service. This isalso true of such people as knights, kings, and judges; they maybe mistaken or misled, but they must be true to their vows.

Details of religions vary from culture to culture, but the aver-age man�s life is much like what we would expect. He asks thepriest�s help with the rituals of birth, marriage, and death, andthe priest�s blessing on the spring planting or the launching ofthe fishing fleet, and he will later offer thanks for the harvest orthe catch. With his family, he shares the lesser rituals of the tableand the day�s task, and alone in the night, or when he is greatlymoved, he will speak to his god in spontaneous prayer. Beliefwill not dominate his life and his actions, but it will always bepresent, because he knows the gods are real.

The ElementsA system of gods based precisely and exactly on the four ele-

ments is actually likely to be both dull and confusing. Howworked up can someone get about the divinity of granite? Andon the other hand, what element is a thunderstorm? The rain isWater, the wind Air, the lightning Fire. Is a volcano Earth orFire? And what possible element is a human?

In our local gaming community, we have three establishedDungeon Masters using a system of elemental gods, and severalothers just beginning. In no two campaigns are the gods entirelyalike, because no DM uses a technically pure elemental system; ifit were not colored by the personality of the gods and of theirworshipers, it would be not a religion but a science. In the de-scriptons of the mythologies below, two campaigns� versions ofeach god are given to show how they can be varied according toeach referee�s desires.

A word of caution, from experience: Be careful about the ten-dency to use standard god-figures. It is almost automatic toassume that the Earth is a fertility god, the Fire a sun god, and soon. But these set-ups will degenerate quickly into monotony forplayers and DM unless the DM has a complete understanding ofhow they work, what opposed natures they represent, and how tomake these �facts� real to the players. While I have had successwith an Earth fertility goddess myself, it is an uphill struggle,and I have never seen a sun god well and interestingly handled

in a fantasy campaign. A certain amount of originality, ifhandled consistently, will yield a much richer and more fascinat-ing system.

The aspects of the godsThe Earth: In my campaign, the Earth is the goddess of birth

and growth. She is primarily a deity of live soil rather thanstone, and is responsible for farming and fertility. Called theMare, she rules most animals except the wildest beasts thatbelong to the Air, and the animals of highest intelligence thatshare man�s ability to choose their own gods. She is most wor-shipped by humans and halflings, but the elves know that shegives them their beloved forests, and the dwarves know that it isher strong hand that holds the stone roof over their heads andshelters them.

In her evil aspect, she rules the darker side of fertility; plague,poison and decay, and on the other hand sterility and famine.

Animals particuarly associated with her are the mare, the bull,and the serpent, and her tree is the apple. Religious symbols andother objects made in her honor will often be made of copper orbronze, set with jade, carnelian, or amber. Her colors are green,brown, blood red, and harvest gold. In prayer, she might beaddressed as Allmother, Giver of Gifts, Earthshaker, Bearer ofBurdens, Mother of Horses, Shepherd of the Trees; in her darkeraspects, Pourer of Poison, Barren Field, Mother of Vipers.

Another campaign in our group has a very different Earthgoddess called the Bear, who is primarily a protector anddefender; she is the goddess of good warriors (who in this worldare gentle rather than fanatical), and she is the youngest andmost personal and friendly of all the gods; not a mother goddess,but a beloved sister.

The Air: The Air god of my campaign is called the Raven, andhe has two natures; even in his good aspects, he is the god ofboth the still air and the storm. In the first, he is the god ofthought and speech, and thus of learning and music. Clerics whoworship this aspect of the Air god tend to live contemplativelives of meditation.

In his second aspect, he is the god of storms and of wildthings; stags and hawks, werewolves, berserkers, and the WildHunt. It is not far from this to his evil aspect, which rules insan-ity and the love of destruction. (It may seem difficult to unitepoetic wisdom and cruel violence in one god, but a close look atOdin�s character in Norse mythology will show a similarcontradiction.)

The Raven�s animals are primarily the wolf, the stag, and thehawk, and his tree is the pine. His metal is iron, his tones greyquartz and obsidian. His colors are grey and black; midnightblue in his sky aspects, pine-green and red as the Hunter. Someof his titles are: Shapeshifter, Teacher, Father of Wolves, Mask,Masterbard, Hunter, the Dark-Winged One.

In contrast to the wolf-like, masculine aspect of the Raven,another campaign sess the Air god more as a cat-figure, moreDionysus than Odin. This Air god is androgynous, playful, oftenmalicious, and treacherous when angered.

The Fire: The Fire god in my campaign is worshipped as theDragon, god of the forge. He is the patron of craftsmen, andespecially of smiths. Dwarves have a particular love for theDragon, but he is also responsible for the human�s plowshareand the elf�s harp. The Fire god is in many ways the god of civil-ization, because he is the god of tools; not just the hammer butalso tools such as the loom, the saw, the net, and the cookfire.The Earth may be the goddess of creation, but the Fire rulescreativity.

In his evil aspect he is the volcano and the forest fire; blind,uncaring destruction that can overwhelm a man or a city with-out noticing.

The animals of the Fire god are the dragon, the griffon, andthe nightmare; his tree is the oak. Gold is his metal, and hisstones are ruby, topaz, and all clear fire-colored gems. His colorsare red, gold, and white. The Fire god is sometimes called Master

D R A G O N 2 3

Craftsman, Forgefather, Goldenhand, the Maker, and also Fire-fang, Flaming Horse, Eater of Cities.

Another campaign has a very similar god, but he also rulesmagic and all the ways of the wizard, because magic is seen as ahuman act of creation and an act involving the use of skill, andthe essence of magic in this campaign is fire.

The Water: Because of the connection of the moon and thetides, the Water goddess of my campaign is the ruler of light, andtherefore of darkness. Called the Moon, she is the most revered ofall the gods. She is the goddess of magic, worshipped most of allby elves and unicorns. Of all the gods, she is the most purelygood and the most purely evil; both the holiest and unholiest ofcharacters are her followers. She is the goddess of healing, theprotector of the innocent, the goddess of justice and thus of war,when it is undertaken for noble reasons.

As the Dragon is the god of the hands of civilization, so she isthe goddess of its heart and mind, and of the things that makehumans more than mere beasts with tools. Thus, her evil aspectis the destroyer of civilization � not blind destruction, but care-ful, reasoned, and deliberate evil. One of the two greatest cities inmy campaign world was brought to ruin by the deliberatedesigns of the Moon's evil worshippers, and a conflict fosteredbetween two innocent races still smoulders centuries later.

The Moon�s animals are the unicorn, the dolphin, and thegull; her tree is the birch. She is often represented as a hornedhippocampus. Her metal is silver (mithral is said to be madefrom her tears), and her stones are pearl, sapphire and onyx. Hercolors are black, white, blue, and green; as the goddess of magic,grey and purple are also her colors. Her titles include: Shepherdof Unicorns, White Lady, Silvershield, Protector, Lady of theWaters, Wavemantle, Shipbearer, and Fairest. In her evil aspectshe is Deathgiver, Shipbreaker, Mother of Demons, Night�sQueen, Drinker of Blood, and Mistress of the Abyss.

Another campaign has a different Water goddess. Called the

Old One, she is the goddess-of the ocean, in a world where theonly land is a scattered group of islands. It is she, not the Earth,who gives men food and life, and she who withholds it. She isthe creator and destroyer, the most terrible of elemental forces;oldest and strongest of the gods, she is the least human of themall, and to anger her is fatal. Even her clerics fear as well ashonor her.

ConclusionIn the examples above the world has clearly shaped the gods,

as the gods should shape the world. The details of these mytho-logical systems are given only as an example of two such pan-theons, not as a rule for all to follow. The great advantage of theelemental pantheon is flexibility in a framework of consistency.

If adapting such a system to your own campaign, considerseriously the geography and cultures involved. It can become anexercise in anthropology: If these people worshipped a fire god,how would they picture him? How are their beliefs like thebeliefs of other cultures and races?

Above all, remember that in the campaign world the gods arereal. Their worshipers are real. If the players are to maintainconsistent characters within the world, then the gods must alsobe consistent, believable, and interesting, not just names andattributes to which a character pays lip service when necessary.They must be a living part of a living world.

Each campaign has its own style, and everyone thinks theirown the best, but it seems safe to say that few players whose 50th-level characters manage to find and kill the evil god of gnomeshave ever felt anything like the awe and the chill felt, not only bythe characters but by the players, when, in troubled times in mycampaign, the city of Arna looked out across its great bay andsaw on a cold early morning, a long-forgotten masculine aspectof the Moon rise up from the waters to tower high above theworld � his pearl-skinned body still waist-deep in the oceanwhile his streaming hair was crowned with clouds.

24 SEPTEMBER 1983

DRAGON 25

A new game with a familiar nameby Frank Mentzer

This summer and fall, TSR will release

�This one is different!� I reply.�So were the others!� retorts the gamer.

�Why change it again?�

the newest version of the DUNGEONS &

Why indeed?

DRAGONS® game, revisions of the cur-

First and foremost: With the old set,you had to find someone to show youhow to play. If you merely bought the

rent Basic and Expert Sets.

rules and tried to learn. . . . Well, all kid-ding aside and facing the brutal, blunt

�Again?� groans the hobby gamer, hav-

truth, the big problem was that after buy-ing the game, you couldn�t learn to play.

ing seen the original �brown box� orwhite box� set evolve into the �bluebook� edition which became the latest�red book� set.

A few experienced gamers could (anddid) learn the game from the rules, butthey were rare. While this fact would befatal to the sales of an ordinary newgame, it proved to be a minor obstacle inthe case of the D&D® game. It was offsetby a devoted following, people who

taught newcomers the ways of role-playing; it was bypassed by the extraordi-nary nature of this new type of gaming,and its incredible impact on the hobby.And so it grew, essentially unchanged, for

And the game inspired others. Theman known as EGG (either E. GaryGygax or Excellent Good Guy, depend-

years; one major effort to reorganize this

ing on your point of view) wrote thedetailed, highly technical ADVANCED

mass of evolving, growing game data was

DUNGEONS & DRAGONS® game.Many other fantasy role-playing games

made by the noted author J. Eric Holmes,

appeared, dealing with the topic in a va-riety of ways. Other topics were also

who edited the 1978 �blue book� edition.

addressed; we now see a wide spectrum oftopics: wild west, science fiction, sciencefantasy, spies and espionage, gangsters,and other themes in role-playing form.

Enough of history; why another editionof the D&D game? Simply, the previouseditions were not revisions. They werenew attempts at using the same methodsof organization applied to the original

data plus evolution. They were not�revised,� merely �reorganized.� Thisone is different.

For openers, you can play the gamealone. That�s a big step forward in itself;up to now, you had to have someone torun it, and someone else to play it. TSRis working on solo modules to supportthis technique; the M-1 module is alreadyout. (Yes, I realize that other FRP gamescan be played solo. Agreed, this is just foropeners. Stay with me.)

Secondly, you can start playing with-out learning the rules. (Huh?) There aretwo booklets in the set, one for beginningplayers and the other for novice DungeonMasters. Everyone starts with the PlayersGuide; it begins with a tale about a fight-er. You pretend that you�re this character,and he/she comes equipped, ready to go.

During the adventure, many thingshappen � a giant snake bites you, acleric is found; the cleric cures you,explains a few things, and turns someundead. An impassable locked doorshows the need for a thief, and a magic-user attacks you in the grand finale. Andby the time the story ends, you�ve seenhow most of the game system works. Youhaven�t read pages of rules, and youhaven�t been swamped by charts andtables; you�ve merely read an entertainingfantasy story.

From that point, the booklet explainshow to use a character sheet, describingeach part. Then you can start anotheradventure � but for this one, you makethe decisions. A small dungeon settingcontains a variety of monsters, tricks andtraps, incorporating an easy introductionto mapping. By the time you�re done, youknow how to play, when and what toroll, and so forth. Lastly, the PlayersGuide explains how to play in groups, afew more options for your character, andpre-made characters of other types.

The Dungeon Master�s Rulebookbuilds on what you learn in the PlayersGuide. To play in a group, the new DMuses a step-by-step adventure given there;it includes what things you should sayand ask, and when and what to roll. Alater section called �Procedures� coversmost details that are needed. The DMrulebook also contains the �usual� mon-sters and treasures, gives a complete firstlevel dungeon with maps for the rest (andguidelines for filling it), and explainshow to make more dungeons.

Of course, it took a lot more than theprevious 64 pages to do all this; it tookover 100, counting both booklets. Forfinancial reasons, the module had to go;EGG�s �Keep on the Borderlands� is not

26 SEPTEMBER 1983

in the revised edition, nor is any othermodule. But the �play value� remains;the solo and group adventures offer greatamounts of playing time, and weredesigned specifically to help you learn toplay. And with the redesigned set, morepurchasers will be able to use the rules inthe first place. We could have kept themodule in and kicked the price up, butwe�d like to keep the cost down whereeveryone can afford it.

It�s not really a set for experiencedgamers. It�s for those friends of yours, theones who just haven�t gotten around totrying the game. It�s for that younger (orolder!) brother or sister who might like totry it, or even for parents, (Hey, parentsare people, too. They might want tounderstand those terms you keep using,like �a-cee� and �hit points� and soforth. Don�t expect them to play as oftenas you do, or necessarily as well; but ifthey read the new Basic Set, they mightsurprise you!) This set is for the non-gamer novices who might play a few cardgames or board games, but who seem tothink that role-playing is too compli-cated. Well, it is a lot more complex thanOld Maid, but it�s a heckofalot simplerthan it used to be � with the revisedD&D Basic Set.

The artwork is outrageously good. Iremember seeing those cute little sketchesin the Original set, and the �great newpictures� in the �blue book�; and the

�red book� was even better. Well, hangon to your eyeballs, because a couple ofguys named Larry Elmore and Jeff Easleydid most of the art in the Players Manual.Elmore�s the guy who did the cover forDRAGON® magazine (issue #62) show-ing the paladin facing the three orcs, withthe mountains in the background . . .state-of- the-art fantasy graphics. He alsodid the covers for the first few ENDLESSQUEST� Books. And Mr. Easley is aboutthree brush hairs behind Mr. Elmore inquality, and moving up fast.

And we�ve got a new department atTSR, a group called �Product Finish-ing.� In the old days, we just slapped thegames on paper as best we could, androlled �em out the door. But the big-timegame makers do it right; they make thegames as pretty as they are playable. Thebest chefs make food look as good as ittastes; it then tastes even better (a bit ofapplied psychology). This applies toeverything that people buy; we like tobuy pretty things. In the publishing biz,there are professionals at this sort ofthing, called �Product Finishing� people.So they got to work on Basic and figuredout ways to make it all look delicious.

I changed almost nothing in the actualBasic game rules. The spell progressionsfor clerics and magic-users were a littlelopsided, so I fixed those, but they�ll onlyaffect Expert-level play and up. I invertedthe game mechanic for �opening doors�;

now they open on 5-6 (on ld6), and youjust add your strength bonus to the roll.So minor things like that have beenchanged, for easier play, but the reststands. It�s just presented differently, abite at a time, until you find that you�vedigested the whole thing, and it�s easy. Orat least edible.

The D&D Expert Set should be out inlate summer or early autumn. I took thefantasy world from module X-1, as de-scribed by Dave �Zeb� Cook, shook itonce or twice, and got the basis for a fan-tasy world for the whole D&D game sys-tem. (You could call Zeb a game designer,much as you could call an artifact a�magic item�; technically correct, but not

D R A G O N 2 7

forceful enough. With a foundation likehis, the thing almost builds itself.)

The Expert Set includes spells andcharacter details for levels 4-14. It de-scribes a �Home Town� for the charac-ters, and gives a few plot outlines forDMs to develop in to interesting adven-tures. It covers the same things it used to,plus a few more details on campaign-typegames. As for rules � instead of just say-ing �here they are,� the book tells youhow to apply them.

All the �B� and �X� modules can belocated on the territory map, and futuremodules should all fit nicely � a ready-made campaign. Notes on designing yourown areas are also included. The guide-lines are general but thorough, enough sothat existing AD&D game DMs may wantto get the set.

All of this material has been crammedinto the same amount of space; Zeb�s �Isleof Dread� module will still be in the set,and the rules booklet will still be 64pages. No price increase is expected in thenear future. But I wouldn�t count on thatfor long; you�d be wise to get a set soon,before paper and printing costs force anincrease. There hasn�t been a pricechange for a good while, but all thingsmust pass.

Now I�m working on the rest of theD&D game system, planning and outlin-ing what is to come in Set #3, Compan-ion, and #4, Masters. The old Gods,

Demigods & Heroes book is due for revi-sion, too. I�m lucky enough to get largechunks of EGG�s time, for brainstormingsessions and design approvals, and Fran-cois Froideval is adding his creativity tothe projects. He�s already done a map ofthe globe, with all the continents andthings, and the area described in Expert isin one small corner of the world, thestarting point for epic adventure.

Humans can work their way up to level36 (15-25 in the Companion Set, 26-36 inMasters). All characters can either travelor settle down to rule their domains, liv-ing in and running their own castles. Thedemi-human Clanmasters have ancientsecrets to be shared with their deservingPC kinfolk; magic-users consult withtheir brother wizards and discover newdetails of magical power. Paladins,knights, and druids roam the land, butare very different from their AD&D coun-terparts. And the Overlord reignssupreme � but only until deposed bysome lucky, clever, and powerful playercharacter.

At the highest levels of power, thecharacters may strive for the greatest ofgoals: immortality. Details and proce-dures will be provided, and the adventuredoes not stop even at that high point, forthe Immortals have their own adventuresand methods of progression.

A universe awaits, and more. ThePlanes of Existence float as islands in the

vast astral sea; strange and wondrousexperiences beckon to the brave.

Every journey begins with the first step,and this journey starts with the Basic Set.The DUNGEONS & DRAGONS game isa way for us to imagine together � likewatching the same movie, or reading thesame book. But you can write the stories,without putting a word on paper�justby playing the D&D game.

You, along with your friends, willcreate a great fantasy story. You will putit away after each game, and go back toschool or work, but � like a book � theadventure will wait. It�s better than abook, though; it will keep going as longas you like.

It�s nearly the most popular game evermade. And you�ll see why, shortly afteryou get into it. When you bought someother game or book, did you ever think,�Gee, that�s nice, but it�s not quite what Ithought it would be. . . .�? Well, yourD&D adventures will be just what youwant, because you�re the one makingthem up!

And it�s not hard. It takes a little read-ing and a little thinking, but most of all,it�s fun.

It�s fun when you and your friends gettogether, isn�t it?

It�s fun when you discover that nobodyloses, and everybody wins!

It�s fun when you get good at the game� for example, knowing what to expect

28 SEPTEMBER 1983

in a kobold cave, and which dragons areon the side of the good guys.

And you don�t have to put in a coineach time, as is true with many othergames. Once you have the rules, youdon�t need anything else.

There�s more, of course, if you want it:exciting adventures to play, miniaturefigures of monsters and characters, expertrules For more experienced players, andlots more. But you�ll already have every-thing you need to start: the Basic Setpackage, and your imagination.

Ah, yes; it does cost one more thing,which you also have, right now � a bitof time. It takes a few minutes to learnthe basic rules, and another hour or twoto play a full game. You�ll probably wantto spend more time, and might even makeit a hobby; millions of people have.

But for now, just sit back and let yourimagination run: Your character standsatop a grassy hill. The sun glints off yourgolden hair, rippling in the warm breeze;you absent-mindedly rub the gem-studdedhilt of your magic sword, and glance overat the dwarf and the elf, bickering asusual about how to load the horses. Themagic-user has memorized her spells, andsays she�s ready to go. A dangerous dun-geon entrance gapes at you from themountainside nearby, and inside, a fear-some dragon awaits. Now, it�s time to getmoving. . . .

Have fun!

DR A G O N 29

FIGURE FEATURECASTLE CREATIONS1322 Cranwood Sq. S.Columbus OH 43229

Villains & Vigilantes� LinePictured: Crushers & Crusaders(Sculptor: Russ Coddington)

There are currently many superherorole-playing games on the market.Castle Creations is filling the need forgood guys (Crusaders) and bad guys(Crushers) with a total of 6 blisterpacks. Each pack contains three heftyfigures who work well in the comic-book genre and can also be used as�crossovers� into fantasy or science fic-tion. The photo displays a large, brut-ish Crusher, a winged Crusader, and aneutral-looking robot that could be agood guy or a bad guy. Suggestedretail price: $3 per pack.

ESSEX MINIATURESDistributed by The Reiter3440 S. Monterey Dr.New Berlin WI 53151

English Civil War LinePictured: Highlander Chieftain, New

Model Army Officer, Royalist FootOfficer w/Cane

The problem with most fantasy fighter fig-ures is that they are the standard fare: medieval-style knights and men-at-arms that may or maynot look like adventurers. For those gamerswho want an unusual identity or flair for theircharacters, we suggest they look into some ofthe historical miniatures on the market. Essexhas a broad line of historical fighters, and somefit into fantasy games nicely. The English Civil

GRENADIER MODELS, INC.Price & Pine Sts.Holmes PA 19043

Call of Cthulhu� Adventurers,Call of Cthulhu Monsters

Pictured: Gentleman, Adventurerwith pistol & whip, Professorwith tome, Serpent People,Great Race of Yith

(Sculptors: Andy Chernak, John Dennet)The popular Cthulhu genre joins forces

with Grenadier�s creativity in the first twosets of a new line. The 12-piece set ofAdventurers (samples shown at right)includes characters that can be used for anyrole-playing game set in the Roaring 20�s.The detail is quite nice, and the �costum-ing� is authentic. The 10-piece Monsters

30 SEPTEMBER 1983

War period also offers some interesting-lookingfigures to use as thieves or bards. All the figuresshown are one-piece castings. Suggested retailprice: 65¢ each.

set (samples shown on facing page) gives casting!). It�s obvious that both sculptorsus a glimpse into the unusual imagination researched their subjects well, and the setsof H. P. Lovecraft. The monsters are both are valuable either as gaming figures or asbeautiful and horrid at the same time, and collector�s items. Suggested retail price: $10very well crafted (the Yith is a one-piece per set.

FASA CORP.P. 0. Box 6930Chicago IL 60680

STAR TREK® II, The Wrath of KhanPictured: McCoy, Spock, Scotty, and

Kirk, all in dress uniforms(Sculptor: Scott Penn)Although the Star Trek characters have

been attempted in figure form a couple oftimes previously, no one has captured thefeel and detail of the crew members likethe FASA line has. The photo shows fourof the pieces in the boxed Collector Set#1, which includes a figure of the USSEnterprise and eight members of thebridge crew. Collector Set #2 contains theUSS Reliant, Khan, and seven of his fol-lowers. The same figures are also availa-ble in more animated poses for use inrole-playing games. All uniforms andpersonal items are based on those foundin the Wrath of Khan movie. Suggestedretail price: $10 each for the CollectorSets, $1 each for single character figures.

TASK FORCE GAMES1110 N. FillmoreAmarillo TX 79107

Swordplay Figure LinePictured: Musketeers

(Sculptor: Richard Kerr)Swashbucklers and pirates are spe-

cifically needed for some role-playinggames, and many of them can be usedin a fantasy context as well. To meetthis demand, Task Force Games isnow producing a line of figures duel-ing and brawling in typical ErrolFlynn fashion. Each pack containsfour figures, and most packs have fourweapons cast separately that easily fitinto a swordsman�s gloved hand. Notethat the bases are hexagon-shaped,making them easy to use with some

gaming map sheets, and are alsofashioned with cobblestones, planks,and the like, for added realism. Themost common poses are parrying,

lunging, and, in the case of the gentdoffing his chapeau, just plainshowin� off. Suggested retail price:$3.95 per pack.

Text byKim, Eastland

Photos byScheibe Studio

D R A G O N 3 1

Spy’s Advice by Merle Rasmussen

Answers to Questions for TOP SECRET® playersWhat would be the effects of someone

being exposed to 1 cubic inch ofuranium?

More data is necessary to completelyanswer this question. The proximity ofthe uranium, the duration of the expo-sure, and the type of shielding, if any,must all be taken into consideration. As ageneral rule, anyone with severe radiationsickness will suffer 1-10 injury pointseach day until killed or cured.

How much does a thermite bomb cost?How much is needed to burn a man-sizedhole through different surfaces?

A thermite bomb (grenade-type canis-ter) costs $30. Thirteen of these thermitegrenades set around the perimeter of a 30�diameter circle will melt through ½� ofany metal in 40 seconds. This process willcreate a man-sized hole. The same ar-rangement will burn through ½� of woodand/or plaster in 40 seconds. Thermitebombs are not effective against brick orconcrete. Some Administrators allowagents to have thermite paste; when thispaste is applied in a ½� wide strip and

32 SEPTEMBER 1983

detonated by flame or electricity, it burnswith intense heat along the length of itspath. Thermite paste comes packaged liketoothpaste, with a 12-ounce tube (enoughto lay a 10-foot-long strip) costing $30.

How long would a flash grenade blinda character?

Official statistics for flash grenades arenot currently available. The Administra-tor might roll a random value from 1-100,which is the number of minutes the vic-tim is temporarily blinded by any non-permanent damage.

How much would a tripod add to thePWV of a rifle?

If an agent was using a two-handedshooting stance, would it increase hischance to hit? By how much?

Your Administrator may rule that bi-pods, tripods, and a two-handed shootingstance may be considered as a weapon atrest on a solid object. The miscellaneousHit Determination Modifier for each shotwould be +10.

The Life Levels of player characters inmissions I administer are around 140, butthe average NPC has a LL of 15. Whatam I doing wrong? What can I do?

Life Level is equal to the total of Phys-ical Strength plus Willpower divided by10. All fractions are rounded to the near-est whole number. See the rules for Char-acter Construction on page 5 of the TOPSECRET rule book. The �Life Level�line on the Agent�s Dossier in the back ofthe rule book does not make the propercalculation clear, which is probably whythe LL figures for your player-agents areso high.

How do you determine if an agent hasmade a successful parachute jump?

It is far more likely that a parachutewill open improperly than not at all.Square chutes are more than six timessafer than round chutes. When the rip-cord is pulled, roll percentile dice: 01-99,chute opens; 00, roll again. With a squarechute, on a second roll of 01-97, the chuteopens; on a roll of 98-00, the chute mal-functions. With a round chute, on asecond roll of 01-80, the chute opens; on aroll of 81-00, the chute malfunctions.Always pack a back-up chute, and whenpossible always pack your own parachuteto avoid sabotage.

When you gain points in Knowledgethrough experience, does your basic AOKgo up accordingly?

Yes.

Is there a limit to AOKs?Yes, an AOK score for a player charac-

ter can never exceed 150.

If you have a 99 Knowledge and yougain 2 more points in it, do you getanother superior AOK roll?

No, you only have the superior Areas ofKnowledge you start the game with. It ispossible by applying experience pointsthat any AOK value can increase in valueto 150 whether it started out as a superiorAOK or not.

Can NPCs have Fame and Fortunepoints?

Generally, no. The only way a non-player character could have Fame andFortune points is if he was formerly aplayer character who is now being playedby the Administrator.

When a character�s Life Level isreduced to zero from drinking alcohol, isthe character dead or unconscious?

Since alcohol is a depressant poison,the character has literally drunk himselfto death.

How can I run a campaign with mul-tiple groups of investigators, confiscators,or assassins without the players findingout about each other�s major objectives?

Have you considered handing everyplayer a note telling him his agent�s truemajor objective? Each agent could alsohave a cover objective that players mightreveal to each other. You can request thatthe agents� Bureau designations (underClassified Information on their Agent�sDossiers) be left blank and are onlyknown by the Administrator. No agent,or the player of an agent, will be sure ofanyone else�s true major objective, sincesome will reveal it and others may lie ornot tell anyone anything.

Are the correct prices for many of theOther Weapon Types found on the�Weapons Chart� or on the price listunder �Equipping the Character�?

The correct prices for Other WeaponTypes are listed on the Weapon Chart. Amanual speargun costs $50. A CO, spear-gun costs $100 and pressurized CO, cap-sules cost $1 each. A sword ($30) and asword cane ($50) are used much the samebut are concealed differently. Dart gunscan cost $250. A boomerang that returnsis only $5. If it hits anything greater thanits weight (½ pound) it will not return.Boxing gloves cost $25 a pair, and karatepadding for both hands and feet costs $50a set.

T his is a fantasy game played with a largeassortment of cardboard tiles. You begin thegame as a landed aristocrat in a strange kingdom(you wouldn�t really want to live there). Youhold great territories of land and guard themwith large armies that defy description.

You are given a Player Chart on which toorganize your holdings. You begin the gamewith a random selection of wealth, allies, cities,villages, and willing warriors. The inhabitants

of this world are all small bits of thin paper(hopefully, you glued them to some cardstock)that come to life in your imagination.

All of this activity occurs on a wooden plat-form in the middle of an enclosed space, sur-rounded by large bipedal creatures who don�tknow any better. The large mass of protoplasmthat is reading these very words is only nowcoming to realize that this is her, or his, chanceto become . . .

Inventory of Game PartsYour KING OF THE TABLETOP

game should contain the following parts:1 Rules booklet276 small square cardboard tiles (youmust glue these down and cut themout yourself), consisting of:

54 Terrain tiles60 Gold piece tiles (money)11 Special Character Tiles27 Fortification tiles (9 Towers,

7 Keeps, 7 Castles, 4 Muniments)124 Playing Deck tiles, including:

90 Character tiles (5 sets of 18 each)5 Mines (1 Gold, 2 Silver, 2 Copper)14 Settlements (5 Cities, 9 Villages)9 Magic Items6 Treasures

4 Player Charts (must be cut out)Lots of 6-sided dice (you must

provide these)

The Playing PiecesThe playing pieces of KING OF THE

TABLETOP are divided into three maintypes: those that constitute the Playingdeck, those in the Land deck, and theSupport Tiles.

Support Tiles

Gold

The number indicates the value. Goldis kept in a �bank� on the table andwatched over by an honest banker/player.

Fortifications

The number in parentheses indicatesthe defense value of the fortification. Onefortification may be built on each landtile. One level, starting with a Tower,may be built per turn. Thus, it takes 4turns to build a Gran Muniment. Eachlevel costs 10 gold pieces.

Special Characters

The numbers represent the combatvalue of the tile. Most have special abili-ties which are explained later in the rules.These pieces represent the upper crust of

34 SEPTEMBER 1983

the fighters and nobles in the land. Theyare kept face up in the bank. Each playerin turn may try to get one of these charac-ters to join his army

The Land Deck

by a roll of two dice.

The Land Deck consists of two types ofpieces, land tiles and instruction tiles. Oneach turn, a player draws from the deckuntil he draws a land tile. If no instruc-tions have been drawn, the player gets theland for free. Otherwise, the last instruc-tion drawn must be followed before theplayer can claim the land tile.

Land tiles form the basis of each play-er�s holdings. The characters drawn fromthe Playing Deck are keyed to differenttypes of terrain. Cities, villages, mines,and fortifications may only be built onland tiles.

The Playing Deck

Characters

Most of the Playing Deck consists ofcharacters. Each character is coded to aspecific type of terrain. If a player hasthat type of terrain, characters keyed tothat terrain may be placed in the player�sstanding army. The number on a charac-ter tile represents its combat value. Sym-bols and letters preceding the combatvalue indicate special abilities, explainedlater.

Cities and Villages

One city or village may be played on aland tile. The number represents thedefense value, prestige value, and goldvalue. The more cities and villages aplayer has, the richer he becomes.

value of the mine. A mine has no defensevalue. Mines may only be played in themountains.

Treasures

The six treasures in the playing deckmay be concealed in a player�s hand.When he decides to spend one, the trea-sure is returned to the deck, and theplayer is given the listed gold piece valuefrom the bank.

Magic Items

The Playing Deck contains nine magicitems. When drawn by a player, thesemust be kept in the player�s hand until hedesires to use them. Magic can be used atany time, even if it is not your turn. Themagic tiles are explained in more detaillater.

Some Terms Explained

Defense Value � Fortifications, cities,and villages each have a defense value.This is the number of hits the tile mayabsorb before defenders within sustaindamage. In addition, it is the number ofcombat dice the owning player may rollagainst attacking characters.

Combat Value � Special Charactersand characters from the Playing Deck allhave a combat value. This is the numberof combat dice the character may roll dur-ing a battle, either on attack or defense.

Gold Value � At the beginning of eachturn, a player collects gold from the bank,according to his holdings. Each land tileis worth 1 gold. Mines, cities, villages,and fortifications have a gold value equalto the number printed on the tile.

Prestige Value � Each land tile isworth 1 prestige point. Mines, cities, vil-lages, and fortifications have a prestigevalue equal to the number printed on thetile. Each Special Character in a player�sstanding army is also worth 1 prestigepoint.

MinesPreparing for Play

One mine may be played on a Moun-tain tile, instead of a city or village. Thenumber indicates the gold and prestige

All players should help sort the varioustiles. The Playing Deck, consisting ofcharacters, magic, cities and villages, andthe mines, are all placed in a clean, drycup. The Land Deck, made up of landand instruction tiles, are all placed in aseparate cup. The fortifications, Special

Characters, and the gold tiles are allorganized at the edge of the table to forma �bank� for easy use during the game.

Once the sorting is completed, eachplayer takes a Player Chart and places iton the table in front of him. Everyonenow rolls two dice and collects theamount shown in gold from the bank.The high roller is the first player. In caseof a tie, roll again, but do not collect anymore gold.

The first player now draws (withoutpeeking) 10 tiles from the Playing Deckand places them face down in front ofhim. This is his hand. He then draws 4tiles from the Land Deck in the samemanner, but places these face up acrossthe top row of squares on his PlayerChart. If any of the 4 tiles drawn areinformation tiles, push them off thePlayer Chart to the center of the table (donot put them back in the cup yet) anddraw tiles to replace them. Continue thisprocedure until the player has 4 landtiles.

The other players, proceeding clock-wise around the table, draw 10 tiles fromthe Playing deck, and 4 land tiles in thesame manner. Players may look at thetiles in their hand, after they have beendrawn. Once all players have their start-ing tiles, put any instruction tiles thatwere drawn back in the Land Deck.

Before play begins, all players shouldlook through their hands and place asmany or as few tiles as they wish, facedown, in the standing army box on theirPlayer Chart. Only characters keyed tothe types of terrain a player holds may beplaced in his standing army.

Once all players have placed theirstanding armies, play is ready to begin!

Example #l: Rob�s land tiles consist of 2Forest, 1 Mountain, and 1 Plains tile. Inhis hand, he has 1 City, 1 Village, 1Magic Scroll, 1 Ruby, 2 Elves (forest), 1Sphinx (desert), 1 Centaur (plains), and 1Crocodile (swamp).

Player Chart, to avoid confusion.

Cities, villages, mines, magic scrolls,and treasures cannot be part of his army.He does not have any Desert or Swampland, so the Sphinx and the Crocodilecannot be placed in his army. Therefore,Rob puts his 2 Elves and 1 Centaur, facedown, in his standing army box. The restof his hand is kept face down, off the

Gold

Sequence of PlayKING OF THE TABLETOP is played

in turns that are divided into four phases.During each phase, all players (beginningwith the first player and proceedingclockwise around the table) perform theactions indicated for the current step.

When all four phases have been com-pleted, the turn is over. The person to theleft of the first player then becomes thefirst player for the next turn. Play con-tinues in this manner until someone hasaccumulated 30 prestige points and builta Gran Muniment, thus becoming Kingof The Tabletop and winning the game.

Turn Sequence:Phase 1, Collection & Constructiona. Collect goldb. Count prestigec. Roll for Special Characterd. Build (forts, cities, mines, villages)

Phase 2, Events (roll 2 dice, consult chart)Phase 3, Acquire Tilesa. Draw from Land Deck (follow

instructions, if any)b. Purchase extra tiles from

Playing Deckc. Free draw from Playing Deck

Phase 4, Wara. Select & pay attacking army (option)b. Determine initiativec. Line up for battled. Roll dice for each battle

and remove losses

No player may go on to the next phaseuntil all players have completed the cur-rent phase. If a player forgets to take anaction, and play has proceeded to the nextphase, tough luck!

At the beginning of a turn, each playercollects gold from the bank, according tohis holdings. Each land tile is worth 1gold. Fortifications, villages, cities, andmines are all worth their printed value ingold.

Example #2: Tom has 7 land tiles, 3 Vil-lages (1 each), 1 Copper mine (1 gold), 1

= 7 gold; 3 villages = 3 gold; 1 copper

Tower (1), and 2 Keeps (2 each). His totalholdings are calculated as follows: 7 land

mine = 1 gold; 1 tower = 1 gold; 2 keeps =4 gold. 7 + 3 + 1 + 1 + 4 = 16 gold thatTom collects during phase one.

A player�s gold must be kept face up byhis hand. The total amount cannot bekept a secret. Treasures held in a player�shand, however, need not be revealed untilthey are cashed in for their gold value.

PrestigeAfter collecting gold, a player counts

his prestige points. This is done todetermine whether he is entitled to abonus on the roll for Special Characters.

Prestige is counted in the same manneras gold: 1 point for each land tile, theprinted value for all forts, villages, cities,and mines. In addition, a player also gets1 prestige point for every 10 gold he has,and 1 prestige point for each SpecialCharacter in his standing army.

Example #3: In Example #2, Tom col-lected 16 gold from his holdings. He alsohas 1 Special Character (the Thief) in hisstanding army, and had 5 gold before hecollected 16 more. For his holdings(counted in the same manner as gold), hegets 16 prestige points. His 21 gold giveshim 2 more prestige points, and his oneSpecial Character is worth another point.Tom�s prestige point total is 19.

Players should be constantly aware ofprestige point totals once anyone�s scorereaches 20 points or more. Any time, dur-ing any phase, that a player can provethat he has 30 prestige points and a fin-ished Gran Muniment, he wins the game.

Roll for Special CharacterAfter collecting gold and counting

prestige, a player has a chance to get oneof the Special Characters (those left in thebank) to join his standing army. First, theplayer states which character he is tryingfor. Then he rolls 2 dice. If the dice totalequals or exceeds twice the combat valueof the character wanted, the player getsthat Special Character.

A player may add 1 to his dice total forevery 10 prestige points he has. If no Spe-cial Characters are left in the bank, noroll may be taken.

Example #4: In Example #3 Tom counted19 prestige points. This gives him a +1 tohis dice total. (If he had just 1 more pres-tige point, he could add +2 to the dice.)Tom decides to try for Guilliame Tell,who has a combat value of 5. Ordinarily,a roll of 10 or better on 2 dice is needed toget him.

Tom rolls a 9 on two dice, and adds his+1 bonus to make 10 � success! Tomtakes the Guilliame Tell piece and placesit, face up, in his standing army.

D R A G O N 3 5

Special Characters must always be keptface up in a player�s standing army.When a special character is killed, his tileis returned to the bank.

BuildingAfter rolling for a Special Character, a

player has a chance to improve his landsthrough construction, by constructingfortifications and/or by playing a city,village, or mine in the land tile.

Note that the Player Chart allows roomfor one fortification and one �other�improvement for each land tile held.Only one fortification and one �other�improvement is allowed per land tile.

Fortifications are paid for with goldand taken from the bank. Cities, villages,and mines must be drawn from the Play-ing Deck and played from your hand.

Building Fortifications

Fortifications come in four sizes: Tow-ers (l), Keeps (2), Castles (3), and GranMuniments (4). Only 1 fortification maybe built in a land. Each level of fort costs10 gold. Only one level may be built in agiven land tile per turn.

Example #5: Tom builds a Tower in aMountain area, to protect a mine. On hisnext turn, he may pay 10 additional goldand replace his Tower with a Keep. Onthe next turn, 10 more gold replaces theKeep with a Castle. Finally, on a laterturn, Tom pays 10 more gold to converthis Castle to a Gran Muniment.

A player may build as many fortifica-tions as he wishes, provided he builds

only one level per land tile per turn.However, no player may ever have morethan 1 Gran Muniment.

Players are limited to the number oftiles provided with the game. If a playerwishes to build a Keep into a Castle, butno Castle tiles remain in the bank, hemust wait until a Castle tile becomesavailable before he can make theimprovement.

Building a City, Village, or Mine

Cities, villages, and mines are not keptin the bank; they are only found in thePlaying Deck. They may only be placedon land tiles during the Build segment ofthe first phase of each turn.

Only one city, village, or mine may beplaced in a land tile. Cities and villagesmay be placed in any type of land. Minesmay only be placed in Mountains.

For each city, village, or mine that aplayer puts onto his Player Chart, he maydraw an extra tile from the Playing Deck.If the new tile is a city, village, or mine, itmay be immediately placed, and anothertile drawn from the deck.

If a land already has a village on it, anda player wishes to replace it with a city ormine, he may do so, but the village is dis-carded. Similarly, mines may be replacedby cities or villages, and cities may bereplaced by mines.

Roll For EventsOn every turn, each player rolls two

dice of different colors, stating which isthe first die and which is the second die.He then consults the Events Table andtakes the appropriate action.

Events TabIe1st 2ndDie Die

11,2 Forest Fire3,4 Prairie Fire5,6 No Event

21,2 Floods3,4 Earthquakes5,6 No Event

31,2 Sandstorms3,4 Willing Workers5,6 No event

41,2 Good Omen3,4 Mother Lode5,6 No event

51,2 Pennies From Heaven3,4 The D6 Tax Law5,6 No Event

61,2,3,4 Good Harvest5 Black Plague6 Smallpox

Result

Events Explained

FOREST FIRE � Point to each Foresttile in play (including your own), androll two dice. If the result is 7, a forest firehas broken out in that land tile. Anyother result has no effect.

If a fire occurs, any fortification in theland tile is reduced by one level. If a cityor village is in the tile, the owning playermust make a saving roll (roll 1 die; even =saved, odd = lost). If there is no survivingfort, city, or village, or there were none tobegin with, the burned Forest tile isreturned to the Land Deck.

PRAIRIE FIRE � Point to each Plainstile in play (including your own), androll two dice. If the result is 7, a prairiefire has broken out on that land tile. Anyother result has no effect.

If a fire occurs, any fortification in theland tile is reduced by one level. If a cityor village is in the tile, the owning playermust make a saving roll (roll 1 die; even =saved, odd = lost). If there is no survivingfort, city or village, or there were none tobegin with, the burned Plains tile isreturned to the Land Deck.

FLOODS � Point to each Swamp tilein play (including your own), and rolltwo dice. If the result is 7, a flood occursin that land tile. any other result has noeffect.

If a flood occurs, any fortification inthe land tile is reduced by one level. If acity or village is in the tile, the owningplayer must make a saving roll (roll 1 die;even = saved, odd = lost). If there is nosurviving fort, city, or village, or therewere none to begin with, the floodedSwamp tile is returned to the Land Deck.

36 SEPTEMBER 1983

D R A G O N 3 7

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D R A G O N 3 9

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D R A G O N 4 1

D R A G O N 4 3

44 SEPTEMBER 1983

EARTHQUAKES � Point to eachMountain tile in play (including yourown), and roll two dice. If the result is 7,an earthquake occurs in that land tile.Any other result has no effect.

If an earthquake occurs, any fortifica-tion in the land tile is reduced by onelevel. If a city, village, or mine is in thetile, the owning player must make a sav-ing roll (roll 1 die; even = saved,odd = lost). If there is no surviving fort,city, village, or mine, or there were noneto begin with, the Mountain is lost to theearthquake and returned to the LandDeck.

SANDSTORMS � Point to eachDesert tile in play (including your own),and roll 2 dice. If the result is 7, a sand-storm occurs in that land tile. Any otherresult has no effect.

If a sandstorm occurs, any fortificationin the land tile is reduced by one level. Ifa city or village is in the tile, the owningplayer must make a saving roll (roll 1 die;even = saved, odd = lost). If there is nosurviving fort, city, or village, or therewere none to begin with, the land tile isreturned to the Land Deck.

WILLING WORKERS � Your wellpaid construction crews finish one levelof fortification for you. Improve any fortby one level (even if you built orimproved it this turn). If you have noforts, build a Tower. Remember, you mayonly have 1 Gran Muniment. If there areno tiles available to improve any of yourforts, or to build a Tower, collect 10 goldfrom the bank instead.

GOOD OMEN � Draw a free tile fromthe Playing Deck!

MOTHER LODE � Collect doublethe gold value from all your mines!

PENNIES FROM HEAVEN � Collect1 gold!

THE D6 TAX LAW � Roll a die. Col-lect that many gold!

GOOD HARVEST � Collect yourgold (as though you were just beginninga turn) again!

SMALLPOX � This affects all play-ers. With a neighbor watching, playersmust point to each piece in their standingarmy and roll 2 dice. If the result is a 7,that character dies.

Magic may not be used to save charac-ters from smallpox. The magic bow orthe magic sword may be destroyed if theyare in the standing army.

THE BLACK PLAGUE � This affectsonly the player with the largest standingarmy. He must point to each character inhis standing army and roll 1 die. If theresult is an even number, the character

lives. If the result is an odd number, thecharacter dies. Magic may not be used tosave characters from black plague.

Draw from Land DeckAfter the events phase, each player has

a chance to obtain new land.Draw one tile from the Land Deck. if it

is a land tile, you may add it to yourholdings for free. If the first tile you drawis an instruction tile, keep drawing fromthe Land Deck, taking one tile at a time,until you draw a land tile. All instruc-tions except the last one (if more than onewas drawn) are returned to the deck. Youmust follow the last instruction drawn ifyou wish to obtain the land tile.

If you acquire a new type of land, youmay play characters of that terrain typefrom your hand into your standing army.

FOR SALE � You must pay (to thebank) the amount shown in order to gainthe land tile. If you don�t pay, the tile isreturned to the deck.

LAND AUCTION � The land tile isput on public auction. All players withgold may bid. Proceeds are paid to thebank. If there are no bidders, you maytake the tile for free.

FIGHT � The player on your leftdraws 4 tiles from the Playing Deck. Anycities, villages, mines, or treasures drawnare returned to the deck. These tilesrepresent the current owners of the landtile. If no owners remain, you may takethe land tile for free.

You must defeat these owners in oneround of battle (see War) to claim theland tile. You may use as much of yourstanding army as you care to commit.You need not pay gold to use your armyin this instance. If you do not kill all theowners, or if you choose not to fight forthe land, the tile is returned to the deck.

Purchasing TilesAfter the draw from the Land Deck,

you may buy 1 to 4 tiles from the PlayingDeck. You must pay in advance, and sayhow many tiles you want to buy:

Draw 1 tile, pay 2 goldDraw 2 tiles, pay 5 gold.Draw 3 tiles, pay 10 gold.Draw 4 tiles, pay 20 gold.

Free Draw

Whether you buy extra tiles or not, youmay alway draw 1 tile from the PlayingDeck each turn for free.

When a player receives a new tile fromthe Playing Deck, he places it in hishand. You may also play a new tiledirectly into your standing army.

WarIn the last phase of the turn you may, if

you wish, send all or part of your stand-ing army to attack the holdings of anyone other player. If you choose not to doso, your part of the turn is over.

Wars are fought in this sequence:1. Select & pay attacking army2. Determine initiative3. Line up for battles4. Roll dice for each battle and

remove losses

Select Attacking Army

To send an attacking army, you mustfirst pay your warriors 1 gold for every 2tiles you send. You may send all or partof your standing army. Put the attackingpieces out on the table in front of thelands of the player you intend to attack.All but the Special Characters mayremain face down. The attacking army isnow considered to be �in the field.�

Determine Initiative

Once your attacking army is in thefield, you and your opponent must countthe number of tiles in your armies. Thedefending player must count his entirestanding army. You (the attacker) countonly those forces sent to war. The playerwith fewer tiles may add one to his Initia-tive Die Roll. If both sides have an equalnumber of tiles involved, no bonus isadded to either player�s die roll.

You and the defender both roll one die.This is called the Initiative Die Roll. Theplayer who rolls the highest number (rollagain in case of a tie) is called the firstplayer, and must line up his army first.

Lining Up for Battle

The first player must now place each ofhis tiles opposite (or behind) one or moreland tiles in the defending country. Whenhe is finished, there should be one ormore rows of character tiles by the landtiles. When lining up, all but the SpecialCharacters may still be kept face down.

The second player must now line uphis tiles, on the opposite sides of the landtiles (attacker lines up in the field,defender lines up in his homeland).When all tiles have been placed, you areready to resolve the battles.

Roll Dice for Each Battle

Each land tile of the defending playerthat is being attacked is considered to be aseparate battle. The attacking player maychoose the order in which each battle isresolved. As each battle is resolved, alltiles in that land are turned face up.

DRAGON 45

A battle is fought in two stages. First,all ranged weapons (labeled �R�) arefired, and losses extracted. Then the sur-viving characters have hand-to-handcombat (rolling dice) and losses are againremoved.

In each stage of a battle, first the attack-ing player and then the defending playerroll their combat dice. Keep track of hitsscored on a piece of paper. Once bothplayers have rolled their dice, first theattacker and then the defender mustremove one character for each hit madeon his forces. The player suffering theloss decides which characters are killed.

Capturing Land

If all attacking forces in a battle arekilled, the defending land tile is safe (evenif all defenders were also killed). If alldefending pieces in a land tile are killedand at least one attacking piece survivesthe combat, then the land tile is capturedby the attacking player and transferred tohis Player Chart.

If a land tile is not defended, andattacking forces are present in that land,it is captured without a fight.

A land tile containing a city, village, orfortification cannot be captured unlessthose pieces have been neutralized (seeFortifications in Battle) and no defendingcharacters remain. If these conditionshave been met, the capturing player mustmake a saving roll for each structure (rollone die; even = saved and captured,odd = lost).

Mines have no combat or defense value.If the Mountain tile in which one islocated is captured, the attacking playermust make a saving roll for the mine, justas for a city, village, or fort.

If a player already has a Gran Muni-ment and captures another, the capturedone is reduced to the next lower level offortification available in the bank.

If you lose the only tile of a certain typeof land from your Player Chart, charac-ters keyed to that type of land are takenfrom your standing army and returned toyour hand.

If you gain a new type of land, youmay immediately play characters keyed tothat land from your hand into yourstanding army.

A player who loses all of his land is outof the game and must return his holdingsto the decks and to the bank.

Combat Dice

All character tiles have a numberprinted on them. This is their combatvalue, representing the number of dicethey may roll in battle. A character suchas the Cyclops, with a value of 5, may roll5 dice in a battle.

A result of 6 on a die roll is a hit. Usu-ally, one hit kills one enemy piece.

46 SEPTEMBER 1983

Special Abilities

Character tiles with a star infinitysymbol , C, or R printed before theircombat number have special abilities.

RANGED WEAPONS (R) � Charac-ters who use ranged weapons (bow andarrow, spear, thrown rocks) roll theircombat dice first. Losses due to �R� dicerolls are removed before combat con-tinues with hand- to-hand battles betweenthe other characters. A character killed byranged weapon fire does not participatein the hand-to-hand battle.

Characters who have already usedranged weapons do not roll again duringhand- to-hand combat (but they may bekilled during either ranged weapon fireor the hand-to-hand battle).

CHARGE BONUS (C) � Knightsmounted on war horses are all able tocharge into combat and receive a bonusfor this ability. Each time a knight goesinto battle, roll one die and add the resultto the knight�s combat value. Thus, theBlack Knight (value 4) always rolls from5 to 10 dice in combat (4 + 1 to 6).

MAGIC ABILITY � Characterswith a star printed next to their combatvalue have magic ability. They score hitson a roll of 5 or 6 (instead of just a 6).

FLYING CHARACTERS � Crea-tures that are able to fly are somewhatharder to kill than other characters. Afterranged weapon fire and again after hand-to-hand combat, a hit flying character isallowed a saving roll (even = saved,odd = lost).

A flying character hit during rangedfire may be saved with a successful savingroll and still participate in hand-to-handcombat. If a flying character that is thelast remaining defender of a land tile ishit but saves by rolling an even number,the land tile is also saved.

Fortifications in Battle

Cities, villages, and fortifications pro-vide protection to all characters defendingthe land in which they are located. Forthe purpose of battle, cities, villages, andfortifications are all called forts. Thedefense value of a fort is the number ofcombat dice that may be rolled against anattacking force.

The defense value of a fort is also thenumber of hits that the fort absorbsbefore defending characters can be hit.Once a number of hits have been scoredequal to the combined value of all forts ina land, the forts are neutralized. After afort has been neutralized, hits apply todefending characters in the land.

If a land tile is defended only by a fort(or forts) and no characters, all forts inthe land must be neutralized for the

attacker to be able to capture the land. Ifthis happens, the capturing player mustmake a saving roll for each fort (even =saved and captured, odd = lost, return tobank).

Example #6: Tom is defending in a Forestarea with a city (2) and a Keep (2). In theland he also has a Wildcat (3) and a Bear(2). Tom has no ranged weapons. Hisforts will absorb the first four hits scoredagainst him.

Rob attacks, first with 6 dice of rangedweapons, followed by 15 dice in hand-to-hand combat. Rob rolls all of his combatdice first (since Tom has no ranged weap-ons) and scores a total of 5 hits. Tomfights back with 9 dice (2 + 2 + 3 + 2), andscores only 2 hits.

Rob�s first 4 hits neutralize Tom�s forts.His fifth hit kills one of Tom�s characters(Tom chooses the bear). One defendingcharacter remains, so Rob has no chanceto capture Tom�s land tile or the neutral-ized Keep and city. Rob selects two of hischaracters to be killed, and the battle isover.

Applying Hits

In battle, after both players have rolledtheir combat dice, each player mustremove a number of his characters equalto the number of hits scored by his oppo-nent. The owning player always chooseswhich of his characters are to be killed.Casualties are removed after ranged weap-on fire, and again after hand- to-handbattle.

All characters except the Swordmasterare killed by one hit. Dead characters arereturned to the Playing Deck. SpecialCharacters that are killed are returned tothe bank.

If the defending player has a city, vil-lage, or fort, hits are first applied to thesestructures until they are neutralized (seeFortifications in Battle).

Flying characters get a saving roll ifthey are hit (even = saved, odd = lost).However, flying characters are lost ifmore than one hit is applied to them. Ifmore hits are scored against a player�sforces than he has characters to applythem to, extra hits must be applied evenlyto any flying characters in the player�sforces.

Example #7: Neil attacks Rob with agiant snake (combat value 3) and twoghosts (flying characters, combat value 1each). In the battle, Rob scores 4 hits onNeil�s forces. One hit is applied to each ofNeil�s three characters, and one hit is leftover.

The extra hit must be applied to one ofthe ghosts, killing it without a savingroll. Neil may make a saving roll for hisremaining ghost. If Rob had scored 5hits, neither of Neil�s ghosts would havebeen able to attempt a saving roll.

Special CharactersThere are 11 Special Characters in the

world of KING OF THE TABLETOP.They represent people of great impor-tance or talent, or both. Initially, theirtiles are kept in the bank. During the firstphase of a turn, players have a chance toget a Special Character to join their army.

If a player rolls a number on 2 dice thatis equal to or greater than double thecombat value of the Special Character, hegets to put the tile for that character inhis standing army. A player may add 1 tothe result of this dice roll for every 10prestige points he has (see PrestigePoints).

When Special Characters are in a play-er�s army, they must always be kept faceup. If a Special Character is killed, eitherin battle or by other causes, the tile isreturned to the bank and may be re-used.

The Elf Lord and Guilliame Tell areboth great archers, the Arch Mage andArch Cleric are pretty hot with magicability, and Sir Launcelot is the greatestknight in the land. The others have spe-cial features that need some explaining:

DWARF KING � If the Dwarf King isin your standing army, you receive 1 extragold when collecting gold at the begin-ning of a turn.

SWORD MASTER � The Sword Mas-ter is the only character in the game thatrequires two hits to kill. In a battle, youmay apply one hit to him, and he willstill survive.

If he gets into a battle where too manyhits are thrown against the side he is on,the first excess hit (one hit greater thanthe number of characters with him in thebattle) must be applied to the Sword Mas-ter, killing him. You may, however,apply extra hits to flying characters inorder to save the Sword Master (see Spe-cial Abilities, Flying Characters).

BARON MUNCHAUSEN and THEGRAND DUKE � Both of these gentle-men are military geniuses. Their skill inthe art of siege warfare is amazing. Whenone of them is in a battle, attacking anytype of fortification (including a city orvillage), one hit is automatically appliedto the fort. If both are in the same battle,

they apply two hits to any fort with avalue of 2 or more. In addition, they may,of course, roll their normal combat dice.

THE MASTER THIEF � The thiefmay try to steal gold from the treasury ofany other player. His attempt comes afterthe resolution of combat, just before theend of a turn. If you send the thief intobattle, he cannot try to steal gold at theend of that turn.

To find out if the thief is successful,you and the player from whom you aretrying to steal gold both roll one die. Ifyou roll higher, the thief steals anamount of gold equal to the differencebetween the two die rolls. If you rolllower than your opponent, the thief failsto steal anything. If there is a tie, the thiefhas been caught in the act, and you andthe other player must roll again. Thistime, if you tie or roll lower than youropponent, the thief is killed, and if youroll higher, the thief escapes with his life.

ASSASSIN PRIMUS � Usually themost sought-after Special Character, theAssassin may be sent to attempt to kill amember of the standing army of theplayer of your choice. As with the MasterThief, this attempt is made after combatis resolved, just before the end of a turn.If you send the Assassin into battle, hemay not attempt a killing in that turn.

You and the player you choose to sendthe Assassin against both roll one die. Ifyou roll higher, the Assassin has killed acharacter in the other player�s standingarmy. If you roll lower, the Assassin fails,and if the die rolls result in a tie, theAssassin has been caught in the act. Inthis case, both players roll again. If youtie or roll lower, the Assassin is killed,and if you roll higher, he escapes.

If the Assassin succeeds in his deadlydeed, your opponent must randomlydetermine which character in his stand-ing army has been killed. (This includesSpecial Characters.) This can be easilydone by dividing the army into halvesand rolling a die (even = one half,odd = the other half), and keep dividingthe army into equal parts, by roll of a die,until 6 or fewer pieces are left �in therunning.� Then assign a number between1 and 6 to each piece, and roll a die untilone piece�s number is up.

MagicThere are 9 pieces of magic in the Play-

ing Deck. When you draw these, youmust keep them in your hand until youuse them. Generally, magic may be usedat any time, even if it is not your turn.You may use the magic on your own forc-es, or to aid a friend or stop the playerwho is winning. A description of eachpiece, its effects, and when it may beplayed, follows:

LUCKY CHARM � This lucky littleshamrock may be played any time youwish to modify any die roll in the game.You may change that die roll by +1 or -1.It may be the first or second die of anevent, an initiative die roll, or a combatdie roll during battle. The choice is up toyou.

You must play the charm within areasonable amount of time after the die inquestion has been rolled. If another die isrolled before you invoke the charm, youhave missed your chance.

TALISMAN OF DELIVERANCE � Asmall green stone, fabled to have comefrom some other tabletop, this device mayonly be used after a war has been com-pleted. During the war, set your dead toone side, instead of returning them to thedeck or the bank. When the war is over,roll a die. The result is the number ofcharacters you may bring back to life andreturn to your standing army.

Characters saved by the talisman are allsaved too late to help in the capture, orprevent the capture, of land tiles. Oncethe talisman is used, it is returned to thePlaying Deck.

DUST OF DEFENSE � You mayblow this stuff into the face of an enemy,and end any one battle, before it begins!The attacking characters go home, andthe land tile is saved. Once used, thispiece is returned to the Playing Deck.

GOLEM � A part clay, mostly magic,monster. When called, the golem joins aplayer�s army. It is immune to rangedweapons and may only be killed in hand-to-hand battle. The golem may defend orcapture land for its owner. When the waris over, the golem is returned to the Play-ing Deck.

SCROLL, THE MIST � When read,this scroll causes a fearsome mist tospread over the countryside. It stops awar, in progress, or before it begins. Allwarriors go hame and the gold they werepaid is lost. Once read, the scroll isreturned to the Playing Deck.

SCROLL, DISPELL MAGIC � Whenread, this scroll cancels all magic of anyone player. It may be read at any time,but the effects last only to the end of thecurrent player�s phase of the turn. Whileunder dispell, the player may not castnew magic, and any magic he has alreadyplayed does not work. Characters in hisarmy with magic ability only hit on a 6.As soon as the dispell wears off, the scrollis returned to the Playing Deck.

D R A G O N 4 7

SCROLL, WALL OF FIRE � Whenread, this scroll creates a magic fort inany one land. The wall may be played inan undefended land, or added to anyexisting fortifications. The value of thewall is determined by the roll of one die.It may only be cast during a war. Onceused, it is returned to the Playing Deck.

MAGIC SWORD � The magic swordis given to any character in a player�sarmy. It cannot function alone. Thesword imparts magic ability to its user,scoring hits on a 5 or 6. It does notimprove ranged attack ability (R), but ifit is given to someone with magic ability( ✩ ), that character hits on a 4, 5, or 6.

The magic sword may be killed by a hitin battle (owner�s option), by the assassin,or by disease. It remains in a player�sstanding army until it is killed, at whichtime it is returned to the Playing Deck.

MAGIC BOW � Like the magicsword, the bow is used by a character in aplayer�s army. It cannot function alone.The bow gives magic ability to any char-acter who has ranged weapons (R). Ifgiven to someone with magic ability ( ✩ ),they can make ranged attacks, but still hitonly on 5 or 6. If the bow is given to anon-magic, non-ranged character, itsimply imparts the ability to make aranged attack (hit on 6 only).

The bow may be killed by a hit in bat-tle (owner�s option), by the assassin, or bydisease. The bow remains in a player�sstanding army until it is killed, at whichtime it is returned to the Playing Deck.

Game EtiquettePlayers may not trade tiles with one

another, nor may they loan gold to eachother. They may, however, make alliancesand attack the player who seems to bewinning. Magic may be given to allies, orused against a common enemy.

If a player sends his army into the field,then loses the initiative die roll anddecides he doesn�t want to fight, his armywill run away. They return home, shame-fully, without fighting. The gold theywere paid is lost.

Any die that goes off the table, bouncesinto in an ashtray, or lands on anythingbut a flat surface must be re-rolled.

Cups are used to randomize draws fromthe two decks of tiles. When a player is todraw from either cup, someone elseshould take the cup, put his hand overthe top, and give it a good shake. Thatsame person should then hold the cup sothat the drawing player cannot see intothe cup.

How to WinThe moment any player proves that he

has 30 prestige points and a finishedGran Muniment, he wins the game. Or, ifall other players are eliminated by loss oftheir lands, the remaining player is thewinner.

The Contents of the Playing DeckDESERT MOUNTAIN FOREST1 Sphinx ✩ 4 1 Cyclops 5 2 Walking Tree 51 Old Dragon 4 1 Giant R4 1 Green Knight C31 Dust Devil 4 1 Troll 4 1 Wyvern 31 Baby Dragon 3 1 Blue Knight C3 1 Druid ✩ 31 Yellow Knight C3 1 Giant Roc 3 1 Elves R31 Sand Worm 3 1 Dwarves R3 1 Elves 31 Camel Corps 3 1 Dwarves 3 1 Elf Mage ✩ 21 Griffon 2 1 Dwarves R2 1 Elves R22 Dervishes 2 1 Dwarves 2 1 Elves 21 Nomads 2 1 Great Eagle 2 1 Wildcat 32 Nomads 1 1 Ogres 2 1 Forester R21 Buzzards 1 2 Mountain Men 22 Vultures 1 1 Great Hawk 1

2 Bandits 2

3 Skeletons 11 Bear 2

4 Goblins 1 1 Dryad ✩ 12 Pixies 1

PLAINS MAGIC1 Great hunter R4 1 Lucky Charm SWAMP1 Wolf Pack 4 1 Dust of Defense 1 Black Knight C41 Lion Pride 4 1 Talisman 1 Vampire 41 Buffalo Herd 4 1 Golem 1 Slime Beast 41 White Knight C3 1 Scroll � Mist 1 Basilisk ✩ 31 Buffalo Herd 3 1 Scroll � Dispell 1 Giant Snake 31 Plains Eagle 2 1 Scroll � Fire Wall 1 Cutthroats 21 Ranger 2 1 Magic Sword 2 Giant Lizard 22 Tribesmen 2 1 Magic Bow 1 Huge Leeches 21 Villain 2 2 Crocodile 21 Centaur 2 TREASURE 4 Ghosts 11 Gypsies ✩ 2 1 Chest (40)1 Gypsies ✩ 1 1 Diamond (20)

3 Poison Frogs 1

4 Farmers 1 1 Emerald (20)1 Sapphire (10)

MINES1 Gold (4)

SETTLEMENTS 1 Ruby (10) 2 Silver (2)5 City (2) 1 Gold Nugget (5) 2 Copper (1)9 Village (1)

Optional RulesYou probably should play the game

once before adding any of these optionalrules. I like all of them except the tradingrule, which was put in for all you wheelerdealers out there.

Royal Influence

The Elf Lord and Dwarf King com-mand great respect and loyalty from theirfollowers. When the Elf Lord is in a bat-tle, all elves fighting in the same landwith him add one to their combat value.Any elves fighting against the Elf Lord ina battle must subtract one from theircombat value. The Dwarf King has thesame effect on dwarves.

Terrain Bonus

Everyone fights better on his home turf.Any character fighting in its own terrain(either on attack or defense) adds one toits combat value.

Army Reserves

Once an attacker�s army has taken thefield, but before the players roll for initia-tive, each player sets aside his reserves, ifdesired. Only flying creatures and SpecialCharacters may be placed in reserve. Thereserves must all be placed face up.

Roll for initiative, and set up armies inthe normal way, but do not touch thereserves. Once both sides have lined uptheir armies, they roll again for reserveinitiative. There is no die roll modifica-tion for this. The player who rolls highermust line up his reserves first.

Trading

During the last phase of a turn, aplayer may announce that he wishes totrade instead of going to war.

A player may trade anything he wishes,but remember that structures are built onland. If land is traded, any city, village, orfort on that land must go with it. Playersmay buy and sell characters and magicitems. The trading player may only strikea deal with one other player in a turn.

CreditsGame design: Tom Wham and

Robert J. KuntzCounter art: Dave TrampierEditing: Kim MohanDevelopment, playtesting, and other

venerable aid: Tom, Rob, FrancoisMarcela-Froideval, Bruce A. Heard, JeffLeason, Neil Christiansen, Tim Everett,Ralph T. Williams, Dave Conant, BrianBlume, Mike Gray, James M. Ward, JimPierce, Tom Champeny, Kim Mohan,Ernie Gygax, and Jeff Perren

48 SEPTEMBER 1983

Tarot(From page 12)points to enable him to reach the nextlevel, but not more than 19,000 in anycase. Also, drawer will have a +5% reac-tion roll toward all persons met later orknown presently, and they will have a+5% reaction to him.

Reversed, it signifies unhappiness,loneliness; plans and triumphs delayed;broken friendships or engagements; pos-sible loss of a job or home.

Drawer will lose all henchmen and ser-vitors after returning from this expedition(they will leave town, take another leader,or otherwise leave for �personal reasons,,;they will not become hostile). If drawer isa henchman or vassal of another, he willbe dismissed, or stripped of his offices,unless he makes a saving throw vs. deathmagic. Also, drawer is stripped of enoughexperience points to reduce him to thebottom of present level, but not morethan 9,500 in any case.

20: JudgmentAn angel sounds forth the call to

Judgment from a trumpet to which is at-tached a banner bearing a cross; theclouds from which it emerges radiatepower. Below, a figure rises from a tombwhile on each side a man and womanalso rise; all these figures are as one in thewonder, adoration, and ecstatic awewhich their whole bodies express as theyanswer the summons.

Upright, it signifies rebirth, renewal,awakening; rejuvenation, change of per-sonal consciousness; a life well lived anda work well done; atonement, judgment,the need to forgive and to seek forgive-ness, sincere self-appraisal.

Drawer becomes a young adult over thecourse of the next hour (if not onealready) but without any changes incharacteristics. To determine exact age,select a young-adult age randomly, thenadd half the difference between that ageand maximum young-adult age, round-ing down. If drawer is already a youngadult, he will become 90% of the min-imum young-adult age. If the drawer�sbehavior is judged by the DM to havebeen strictly consistent with his align-ment and religion (observance of taboos,sacrifices, donations, etc.) he will alsogain 2-12 hit points, determined ran-domly, but the gain can only be up to themaximum possible number of hit pointsfor that character.

Reversed, it signifies weakness; stupid-ity; a sentencing; disillusionment, disap-pointment; indecision leading to procras-tination and delay.

Drawer is affected as if struck by a rayof enfeeblement from a magic-user of 3rdlevel or the same level as the drawer(whichever is higher); the drawer is alsohenceforth subject to a penalty of -1 oninitiative rolls, due to his inability tochoose between alternatives.

50 SEPTEMBER 1983

21: The WorldSurrounding by an elliptical wreath of

living foliage is a female figure dancingjoyously, a short wand in each hand. Inthe four corners of the card are the headsof the four beings of apocalypse, hoveringprotectively outside the wreath. Her legsform a cross, as do those of the HangedMan, but she stands upright, supportedby the ether, the very fabric of the World;her dance is of the sensitive life, of joyattained in the body, of the soul�s intoxi-cation in the World- turned-paradise.

Upright, it signifies completion, suc-cess, triumph in all things, perfection,fulfillment; the path of liberation andenlightenment; the admiration of others.

Drawer gains 1 point to each of hisability scores which is two or more belowracial maximum.

Reversed, it signifies imperfection,failure, lack of vision, failure to completetask; fear of change or travel, fixity, per-manence, stagnation.

After 1-4 days, drawer will begin todevelop an increasing distrust of strangeplaces: other cities or countries, dun-geons, wildernesses, new taverns, etc.Within an additional 2-8 days this willbecome full-blown paranoia, with drawerbelieving that everyone and everythingoutside his home (eventually, hischambers) is out to get him, and that anyso-called �friend,, or �loved one�, whotries to get the drawer to come out intothe world is clearly part of the conspiracy.

T H E M I N O R A R C A N A

WandsWands generally represent enterprise

and growth, progress, advancement, ani-mation, inventiveness, intelligence, andenergy. This is the suit of the magic-user,and of the laborer.

22: Ace of WandsA hand issuing from clouds grasps a

still-verdant branch in the shape of awand. In the background may be a city orcastle on a hill.

Upright, it signifies creation, begin-ning (of an adventure, a journey, or anendeavor), invention, enterprise.

Drawer (affected automatically) andcertain party members (those who fail to

save vs. spell at -2) are freed from allexisting geas and quest spells andcharms, and will be placed under a com-pulsion (equivalent to a combined geasand quest) to kill a single monster of7,000 xp value (or a single group ofmonsters of 21,000 xp value) or more.Fulfillment of the task will gain each par-ticipant an additional 1,000 xp, over andabove the xp reward for the monster(s).

Reversed, it signifies false starts,clouded joy, ruin, decadence, cancellationof projects, failure, retreat.

Effects as above, but the compulsionwill be to cancel the expedition andreturn to base as quickly as practical.While returning to home or headquarters,the party will have -2 to armor class (twoplaces better) and +2 to saving throws,but will receive no experience points foractions performed during this retreat.

23: Two of WandsA majestic figure wearing crown-like

headgear regards the broad world from aheight. He holds one wand, and regards aglobe; another wand is nearby.

Upright, it signifies boldness, courage,rule over others; and also the anguish andsorrow that may accompany power.

Drawer gains 1 point of charisma; andif he is in danger of becoming insane,that possibility is increased by one fourth(i.e., a 4 in 10 chance becomes 5 in 10)anytime during the next year; the insanitywill take the form of melancholia.

Reversed, it signifies trouble, fear, sad-ness, surprise.

Drawer�s saving throws against fearand hopelessness are reduced by 1.

24: Three of WandsA calm personage, his back turned,

leans lightly upon one of three wandsplanted in the ground, and looks outupon a sea, beyond which are mountains.

Upright, it signifies establishedstrength, wealth, enterprise, discovery,partnership in undertakings.

When the drawer next seeks to go on anexpedition or adventure, a non-playercharacter of 1-3 levels higher will offer tocome along, and to loan equipment andsupplies. (This should be an establishedNPC already friendly to the drawer.)

Reversed, it signifies cessation of adver-sity, an end to or suspension of difficul-ties; assistance with an ulterior motive.

Effects as above, but the NPC will beplanning to trick or betray the drawer.This could be by stealing a magic itemfrom him, robbing him and strandinghim on an island, or whatever; generally(80%), the betrayal is not meant to be fatalto the drawer.

25: Four of WandsFour great wands are garlanded with

chains of flowers, two women bear flow-ers, and behind them is a bridge over amoat, leading to a castle or manor.

Upright, it signifies repose, peace, rural

D R A G O N 5 1

52 SEPTEMBER 1983

refuge, country domesticity and felicity.When drawer returns from this expedi-

tion to his home or headquarters, afterhealing is finished he will feel a strongdesire to rest a while at home; for everymonth of rest thereafter up to fourmonths, the drawer will (unknowingly)receive 1,000 xp. The desire may be re-sisted (roll for sawing throw vs. spell, at-2, not more than once a week), but cancontinue beyond the four-month period.

Reversed, the meaning is the same butless intense.

Effects as above, but only 500 xp aregiven per month, and saving throws toresist the desire are at -1.

26: Five of WandsFive youths are apparently battling

with huge wands, yet there is no sign ofactual bodily injury.

Upright, it signifies competition, strife,differences of opinion, non-fatal struggle.

The effects of discord (as per the sym-bol) will befall the drawer�s party after 4-7turns; grappling and other non-lethalcombat techniques will be used, butserious in juries are nonetheless possible.

Reversed, it signifies victory after sur-mounting obstacles, contradiction ortrickery.

All characters involved in the party�snext victorious combat will receive dou-ble experience points for the action;thieves in the party will have a 10% bettersuccess rate in thefts attempted upon theirown companions until the end of thisexpedition or adventure.

27: Six of WandsA laurel-crowned rider bears a wand

adorned with a laurel wreath, and isaccompanied by five staff-bearing figureson foot.

Upright, it signifies victory, triumph,good tidings, the successful completion ofa struggle.

Drawer will be doubly effective (doubledamage for weapon-wielders) in attacksagainst his next foe; magic-users and illu-sionists� spells will be of three times�normal duration, and saving throwsagainst such spells will be at -3.

Reversed, it signifies indefinite delay,disloyalty, the success of an enemy, fear.

Drawer will learn upon returning fromthis adventure/expedition that his mosthated and feared opponent(s) have had agreat success and are said to be intentupon attacking the drawer soon. (Theopponent(s) can be anyone from a profes-sional rival to an entire tribe of orcs �anyone the drawer has defeated, attacked,injured, or merely outshone. Even a first-level character will have had a rival fel-low apprentice, a traditional family orclan enemy, or something of the sort.)

28: Seven of WandsA youth brandishes a staff from the top

of a hill, and is confronted by six morewands in opposition from below.

Upright, it symbolizes a stand againstunfavorable odds from an advantageousor superior position, the need to hold anunpopular stand or defy seeminglyunbeatable opposition.

In the next combat where drawer andparty are outnumbered 2:1 or worse, thedrawer�s party will have +4 on initiativerolls; they will also have a bonus of +1 onsaving throws and AC (one place better).

Reversed, it signifies indecision, igno-rance, perplexity, anxiety, embarrass-ment, doubt, hesitancy.

Drawer becomes indecisive; he willhave a permanent -1 on all initiative rollsfor drawer and any party he leads.

29: Eight of WandsEight wands fly through open space,

but near the end of their flight; they willclearly fall to ground soon.

Upright, it signifies swiftness, haste;that which is moving; approach to goals;travel by air; too-rapid advancement.

When next attacked, drawer will behasted for 2d4 turns, rest of party for 8rounds; those who make their savingthrows vs. death magic will not sufferaging (the drawer�s throw will be at -1).

Reversed, it signifies delay, stagnation;quarrels and disputes.

When next attacked, the entire partywill be slowed for 8+1d8 rounds; after-ward, those who do not save vs. spell willsuffer discord (as with the symbol), butthey will not attack with lethal weapons.

30: Nine of WandsA sturdy muscular figure, with a minor

wound (already bandaged) grasps or leanson one staff and expectantly regards thesurroundings. Behind are eight otherwands, arranged as for a palisade or othersturdy boundary.

Upright, it signifies a pause in strug-gle, strength to meet opposition, powerin reserve, discipline, preparation for anencounter, delay or suspension.

One time before the end of this adven-ture/expedition, drawer and party will beable to return to a designated sanctuary(as per the cleric spell word of recall) for9-12 turns. They may bind their wounds,refresh themselves, and the like, but maynot pick up or drop anything, or com-municate with anyone; at the end of theduration, they will reappear at the timeand place they left from, in the same posi-tions and carrying the same equipment.

Reversed, it signifies obstacles, adver-sity, opposition, weakness, ill health,even calamity.

Drawer�s strength will be reduced toracial minimum when next confronted byan opponent, and will remain reduced for8 turns.

31: Ten of WandsA weary figure stumbles toward a city

or castle, oppressed by the weight of tenwands he is trying to carry.

Upright, it signifies oppression, testing

by work and pain; also force, energy, orpower misused and applied to selfishends, the burden of ill-controlled power.

An employer, liege, ruler, supervisor,or other person with power over thedrawer, will soon (2-20 days) begin tooverwork and overburden the drawer. ifthe drawer bears up under the oppression(which will not be unendurable, merelyirksome in the extreme) for 1d10 weeks,he will be relieved of the oppression, andwill receive a reward of 1,000 xp per weekof suffering.

Reversed, it signifies loss, separation,immigration; intrigue.

Drawer is teleported a distance of 1-4levels in a dungeon-type setting, or 2-20miles in a city or wilderness setting, to aplace he is not familiar with at all. Atleast one party member will urge that therest of the party consider the drawerdeceased, and that his possessions (if any)being carried by party members be con-sidered extra treasure for the �survivors.�

The Court Cards of each suit (King,Queen, Knight, and Page) signify a beingwho will aid or attack the drawer,depending on whether the card is drawnupright or reversed. Each of these beingsis a material form of that which is sym-bolized by the card (their appearance willbe exactly that of the person depicted onthe card) rather than a natural being

The Court Cards

32: Page of Wands

(human or otherwise); thus, they maypossess combinations of classes or otherattributes which might be forbidden toplayer characters or NPCs. They willmaterialize the next time the drawer isattacked by another creature or character,and will engage in combat until the com-bat is resolved by the defeat of one side orthe other, or by the successful evasion ofone party by the other, or until the card-being is slain. Upon this resolution orslaying, the being will dematerializealong with all its effects. Stated armorclasses, damage figures, and the like, takeaccount of the magics with which thesebeings are equipped, and of dexterity orstrength bonuses. Ability scores for eachindividual in a set of court cards are asgiven for the Page in each case: 16 in theprime requisite score and 12 in all otherabilities. All of the card-beings are neu-tral in alignment.

The Page is a fair youth with blondhair and light eyes, who stands boldlyupholding a wand as if ready to deliver amessage or proclamation (the Page isoften a bearer of tidings, good or ill).

The Page of Wands: 3rd level magic-user (AC 8, HP 12, #AT 1, D 4-9 (d6+3), S12, I 16, W 12, D 12, C 12, Ch 12); wearsboots of speed and carries a staff of strik-ing (15 charges). The Page�s spells aremagic missile, shield, stinking cloud.

34: Queen of Wands

33: Knight of WandsA handsome young man in plate

armor, the Knight, wand in hand, ridesacross the plains in haste. His hair isblond, his eyes pale, and he is fair ofcomplexion.

The Knight of Wands: 4th/4th levelmagic-user/fighter (AC 2, HP 26, #AT 1,D 4-11); wears plate mail +1 and carries arod of smiting (30 charges). His spells are:sleep, burning hands, push, mirrorimage, scare. If the setting is suitable(open meadow, city street, etc.) theKnight will be riding a light warhorse (16hp) which wears horseshoes of speed.

The crowned Queen sits on her throne,a wand in her hand, a black cat (herfamiliar, with 7 hp) at her feet. She is afair blonde with pale eyes.

The Queen of Wands: 7th level magic-user (AC 9, HP 28, #AT 1, D by weapon);wears a ring of protection +1, a ring offire resistance, and a brooch of shielding(70 points left) and carries a wand of fire(40 charges). Her spells are: enlarge,magic missile, shield, sleep, mirrorimage, scare, web, dispel magic, protec-tion from normal missiles, confusion.

35: King of WandsThe King sits in royal robes upon his

throne, a crown and cap of maintenanceupon his head. A staff is in his right

hand; a little alchemical salamander is athis feet (it has 4 hit points and is asimmune to fire as a standard salamander;so, therefore, is the King), which lookslike a small black lizard. He is a matureman, blond and fair with pale eyes.

The King of Wands: 7th level magic-user (AC 8, HP 28, #AT 1, D by weapon);wears a ring of protection +2 and a neck-lace of adaptation, and carries a wand offrost (35 charges). His spells are: burninghands, shield, sleep (×2), invisibility,stinking cloud, web, blink, fireball, wallof fire.

Cups generally represent love, happi-ness, deep feelings, gaiety, joy, and wis-dom. They hold water or wine, symbolsof pleasure and happiness. This is thesuit of the cleric and the minstrel.

36: Ace of CupsA large and ornate cup, usually shown

accompanied by flowers and other livingcreatures. The incidental aspects of thecard vary from deck to deck. The Waitedeck shows the cup supported by a handissuant from a cloud; pouring from thecup are five streams flowing into a bodyof water on which floats water-lilies; awhite dove drops a communion waferinto the cup.

Upright, it signifies joy, nourishment,content; opulence, fulfillment, abun-dance; joys of faith, �my cup runnethover�; fertility, productiveness.

This draw serves as atonement, curecritical wounds, cure disease, dispel evil,dispel magic, exorcise, or remove curse(any two of the above needed by thedrawer within the next 21 weeks) at the16th level of clerical ability.

Reversed, it signifies change, alteration,instability, bad faith, false love, erosion,inconsistency.

The next two spells from the list abovecast upon the drawer will be ineffective.

37: Two of CupsA young man and young woman share

cups, perhaps in pledge; above them is acaduceus, surmounted by a wingedlion�s-head.

Upright, it signifies love or friendshipbeginning or renewed; union; under-standing, cooperation, and partnership.

Drawer will fall in love with themember of the party most attractive to heror him (based on charisma, racial prefer-ences, etc.) over the next 24 hours; drawergains 4 points of charisma at the sametime � in the eyes of the beloved only.

Reversed, it signifies misunderstand-ing, crossed desires, violent passion, dis-appointment in love, disunity.

Drawer will fall violently, passionatelyin unrequited love with the member ofthe party most attractive to her or him,over the next 24 hours; drawer loses 7points of charisma � in the eyes of thebeloved only.

Cups

38: Three of CupsThree cups are lifted up, in a setting of

flowers and other growing things.Upright, it signifies victorious and

happy conclusions, success, abundance,pleasure and hospitality, solace, fulfill-ment, and healing.

Before the drawer appear three largecups or chalices (which are of wood, butresemble those on the card), on which arecarved the drawer�s name. In each of thesethe drawer can create food and water, onecubic foot of either, 7 times, after whichthey become simple cups worth 2 goldpieces each. If the drawer is a cleric, eachcup will work 21 times. These items arenot salable for more than the 2 gp, sincethe spell will only work for the drawer,and only if all three are together; theirexperience point value is 1,000 for the set,3,000 for a cleric.

Reversed, it signifies achievement; end-ing; overindulgence in drink and thepleasures of the senses; excess.

Drawer becomes more susceptible tointoxication from alcohol and otherdrugs: slight intoxication (normally)becomes moderate, moderate becomesgreat, great becomes �beyond great.� Thischange will first become evident after theend of this adventure or expedition.

39: Four of CupsA youth sits contemplatively on the

grass beneath a tree. A hand from a mys-terious cloud offers a cup; but the youthseemingly ignores both it and the threeother cups upon the ground nearby.

Upright, it signifies weariness, surfeit,disgust with earthly pleasures and thingsof this world, boredom and discontent, are-evaluation of lifestyle.

Drawer will decline any nourishmentbut water for the next seven days (�toclear the mind and system�); at the end ofthis expedition, drawer will give all foodand drink and 10% of his wealth to thepoor, and give half of his gains from thisadventure to his faith (100% if a cleric,druid, monk, or paladin). These dona-tions will go to public institutions, not toany player character or NPC. The drawerwill then withdraw from the active worldfor 4 weeks + 4d4 days, emerging only forreligious services which cannot be carriedout at home.

Reversed, it signifies novelty; reawak-ening to new goals, new relationships, ornew ambitions; refreshment.

Drawer breaks free of any charm, insan-ity, beguilement, or the like by which heis afflicted. Drawer will move afoot at anextra 3� for 4d4 weeks, and will gain abonus of 25% on all experience pointsearned for the rest of this adventure.

40: Five of CupsA gloomy, cloaked figure in a hilly set-

ting looks sideways at three spilled andfallen cups; two full ones stand behind.In the background is a body of water.

Upright, it symbolizes partial loss,

failure to come up to expectations, disap-pointment or disillusionment, dissolu-tion of a friendship or marriage.

Drawer will lose the affections of a cur-rent lover or, if none, those of a hench-man to whom drawer might be attracted(they will not become hostile, merelyindifferent) over the next five days; draw-er's morale and reaction rolls will be at-5% for 5d5 weeks.

Reversed, it signifies return of pleasure,of an old friend or loved one, new part-nership or alliance.

Drawer will gain or regain an old loveror henchman to whom drawer might beattracted, within five days of returningfrom this adventure or expedition; draw-er�s morale and reaction rolls will be at+5% for 5d5 weeks after this.

41: Six of cupsTwo young children stand in a garden

or village green, playing with one of sixcups filled with flowers; the ambience isbucolic and nostalgic.

Upright, it signifies remembrance ofthings past, the joys and happiness ofdays gone by.

Drawer sees a clear vision of a belovedfriend and companion of days gone by(one who is still alive). Within 1-8 days ofthe drawer�s return from this adventure,he will receive a parcel from this friend,passed on by an obliging merchant orother appropriate courier. In addition toa letter of reminiscences, the parcel willinclude either a gem of 4,000 gp value orless (49%), an item of jewelry of 4,000 gpvalue or less (40%), or a minor (gp and xpvalues of 4,000 or less) miscellaneousmagic item usable by the drawer (11%).

Reversed, it signifies renewal, thoughtsof the future, that which is to come.

Drawer has a clear vision of the nextbeing or group of beings the party is toencounter after they have finished withthe Tarot (although he will not know themeaning of this vision, of course).

42: Seven of CupsA startled figure is confronted by seven

cups overflowing with fantastic visions:castles, dragons, jewels, and other sightsmore bizarre.

Upright, it signifies daydreaming, dis-sipation, wishful thinking, ephemeral orillusory success.

Drawer has a -2 penalty on savingthrows vs. illusions from now on.

Reversed, it signifies resolution, deter-mination, strength of will, intelligentchoice.

Drawer will save at +2 vs. illusionsfrom now on; illusionists will gain onelevel instead.

43: Eight of CupsA dejected figure with a pilgrim�s staff

leaves eight neatly stacked cups behind,and trudges up a barren moonlit moun-tain into the distance.

Upright, it signifies abandonment of

54 SEPTEMBER 1983

D R A G O N 5 7

success, disappointment in materialgains, the discarding of what has beenachieved for a higher goal; journeyingfrom place to place.

Over the remainder of this expedition,drawer will feel an increasing discontentand an increase in religious interests.Within eight days of returning homefrom this adventure, he will sell all non-portable properties, abdicate (or at leasttake leave from) all official positions, andenter a religious retreat for at least 8 + 4d8weeks (after donating half of all hisworldly goods to the faith). If drawer iseligible, he will become a cleric, druid, orpaladin of his deity (allowing for align-ment, gender, and racial requirements,and the restrictions listed in, the PlayersHandbook). Clerics, druids, and paladinswill stay in religious retreat for a year anda day, emerging with 4,000 additionalexperience points. Those who fall intoneither of these classifications willemerge from retreat with renewed spiritu-ality and 1,000 extra experience points.

Reversed, it signifies feasting, joy, striv-ing for material success, gaiety, a lessspiritual outlook.

While healing and resting after the endof this expedition, drawer will be feelingincreasingly restive and frivolous. Assoon as it is safe to do so, he will spend atleast 8% of his wealth on a feast or seriesof feasts and carousals, stopping onlyafter money starts running low or a dailysaving throw vs. death magic (at -2) issuccessful. Depending on alignment,deity, and profession, this debaucherymay require atonement by the drawer.

44: Nine of CupsA prosperous figure, having feasted

happily, rests before a counter on whichnine cups, plenteously filled, have beenneatly arranged.

Upright, it signifies success, satisfac-tion, all the good things of life, wellbeing, the granting of wishes.

Drawer gains one immediate wish,which can only be used for physical ormaterial matters (thus, it could be used torestore hit points, but not to raise anintelligence score).

Reversed, it signifies misplaced confi-dence, false assurance, material loss,imperfections, mistakes, disputes, failureto fulfill a wish.

Effects as above, but the wish will gowrong in one of various ways; thus, awish to bring a character back to lifemight result in the deceased becoming azombie (as per the spell animate dead), ora wish to transport the party into the for-tress of an enemy might transport theminto the cells of his dungeon, withoutkeys. The mistake or flaw may be disas-trous, but should not be fatal per se.

45: Ten of CupsTen cups in a rainbow appear as in a

vision; beneath it a couple raise theirarms in joy and ecstasy and two children

49: King of cups

dance together blithely; a home stands inthe background.

Upright, it signifies contentment,repose of the heart, perfection of love andfriendship, peace.

Reaction/loyalty scores of the drawer�sfriends and associates increase by +20%.

Reversed, it signifies betrayal, loss offriendship, waste, criminal behavior,strife, hatred, resentment.

Reaction/loyalty scores of the drawer�sfriends and associates decrease by onethird of their present amount (roundlosses up), but at least 10% in any case.

46: Page of CupsA fancily dressed youth of medium col-

oration, the Page stands lightly, contem-plating the fish or other curious image(s)emerging from the Cup being carried.

Page of Cups: 3rd level cleric (AC 4,HP 24, #AT 1, D 2-7, S 12, I 12, W 16, D12, C 12, Ch 12); has bracers of defense(AC 4) and a mace +1. The Page�s spellsare: command, cure light wounds, holdperson. The Cup is his holy symbol.

47: Knight of CupsStately but not martial, the Knight car-

ries his Cup firmly as he approaches astream. He wears Plate armor, with awinged helmet; he is a young man, ofmedium coloring.

Knight of Cups: 4th/4th level cleric/fighter (AC 1, HP 42, #AT 1, D by weap-on); has plate mail and a cloak of dis-placement. His spells are: cause fear, curelight wounds, light, chant, hold person.The Cup is his holy symbol. If the settingis suitable (plains, highway, etc.) theKnight will be riding a medium warhorse(18 hp) with horseshoes of a zephyr.

48: Queen of CupsBeautiful and dreamy, the Queen con-

templates an extremely elaborate cup; sheis quite capable of turning those dreamsinto actions. She is of medium coloring.

Queen of Cups: 7th level cleric (AC 7,HP 56, #AT 1, D 2-7 or 1-6 +3); wears aring of protection +1 and a cloak of pro-tection +2 and carries a sceptre which isalso a mace +3. Her spells are: command,sanctuary, cure light wounds, hold per-son (x2), silence 15� radius, animate dead,dispel magic, cure serious wounds. TheCup is her holy symbol.

Solemn, level-headed, and responsible,the King sets the great Cup upon hisright knee, Of medium coloring, he is afair and lively-minded man.

King of Cups: 7th level cleric (AC 2,HP 56, #AT 1, D by weapon); wears brac-ers of defense (AC 5) and a ring of protec-tion +3; and his Cup is also a decanter ofendless water. His spells are cure lightwounds, light, sanctuary, hold person,slow ,poison, resist fire, prayer (×2), cureserious wounds. The Cup also serves ashis holy symbol.

swordsSwords generally represent courage,

boldness, violence, force, strength,authority, aggression, ambition, activity,accomplishment of goals (for good or ill);sometimes misfortune and disaster. Thisis the suit of fighters, and of the ruler.

50: Ace of SwordsIssuing from a cloud, a hand grasps an

upright sword, topped by a crown fromwhich hang branches of olive and laurel.

Upright, it signifies conquest, the tri-umph of brute force, championship,excessive use of power.

Drawer will hit his next opponent inphysical combat on every attempt (unless21 or more is required to hit); but he can-not strike to subdue that opponent.

Reversed, it signifies debacle, disaster,lack of productivity, Pyrrhic victory.

The next time drawer hits an opponentin physical combat, his weapon will do2d4 + the normal points of damage butwill then shatter irreparably. If the blowis with a body part, said part will suffer asevere break, requiring a heal spell andfour weeks of immobility to become use-ful again. This applies even if the drawerwas attempting to strike to subdue.

51: Two of SwordsA blindfolded female figure balances

two swords upon her shoulders beneath anew moon; behind her is a turbulent orrocky sea.

Upright, it signifies balance of forces,expedience, conformity, alliance of arms,indecision or tension in relationships,stalemate, harmony, concord, affection.

Loyalty and reaction rolls of friends,henchmen, and servitors will change 2dl2points toward 60%, going up or down asappropriate, over the next two turns.

Reversed, it signifies treachery, disloyalty, duplicity, release, movement ofaffairs in the wrong direction.

Loyalty and reaction rolls of friends,henchmen, and servitors will change 2d12points toward 20%, going up or down asappropriate, over the next two turns.

52: Three of SwordsAgainst a turbulent background, a

heart is pierced by three swords.Upright, it signifies division, quarrel-

ing, separation, upheaval, civil war orpolitical struggle, arguments.

Those members of the party who donot make successful saving throws vs.spell (at -3) will start a violent fightwithin the party in the next 1-4 turns; thedrawer does not get a saving throw. Thebasis of the fight may be philosophical,racial, political or religious. Those quar-reling cannot be stopped (except force-fully, by those who made the savingthrow) until at least one party member isunconscious or dead.

Reversed, it has much the same mean-ing but to a lesser degree.

Effects as above, but saving throws will

58 SEPTEMBER 1983

be at +1, and those party members with awisdom of more than seven will be usingnon-lethal combat methods. (Note: Inboth these cases the effects of the card willwear off in 4-7 hours, but the animositiescreated or revealed may linger.)

53: Four of SwordsThe image of a warrior lies upon a

tomb or altar; alongside it is one sword,and three more hang in the background.

Upright, it symbolizes repose, release,hermit�s retreat, solitude, exile, replen-ishment (not death).

After this adventure is completed,drawer will refrain from adventure andexcitement for an extra 4 weeks + 1d4days after healing and other recovery arecompleted, regardless of inducementsoffered. The period of repose will bespent in solitary study and meditation, atthe end of which the drawer will roll 4d4;if the resulting number is less than thedrawer�s wisdom, he will gain perma-nently 1 hit point, 2 in the case of fighters(including paladins and rangers).

Reversed, it signifies circumspection,precautions, a need for careful adminis-tration, economy, prudent action.

Drawer gains a permanent 10% increasein the chance of success of precautionarymeasures (listening at doors, attemptingto detect evil/good, casting augury, andthe like); but if the drawer is careless, thechance for him to be surprised is 2 in 6

greater. Thus, an elven drawer listeningat a door behind which a band of orcslurk will have a 5 in 20 (instead of 3 in20) chance of hearing noise; a drawerchecking an alley for danger with amedallion of ESP will suffer a malfunc-tion on a 2 in 30 (rather than 5 in 30)chance, etc.; but a drawer who blithelyenters a presumably empty woods with-out drawing weapons and taking similarprudent measures will be surprised on a 5in 6 (instead of 3 in 6) chance by thewerewolf therein.

54: Five of SwordsA scornful youth watches as two

dejected figures slouch away; two swordslie on the ground, two more are slungover the youth�s shoulder, and he holdsthe fifth confidently, pointed toward theground. The sky is clouded and stormy.

Upright, it signifies defeat, dishonor,loss, degradation, infamy, destruction,conquest, cruelty, failure.

In their next conflict with beings notevil in alignment, drawer and party willbe defeated and will surrender rather thanbe slain. They will be stripped of allweapons, valuables, and supplies, but nolives will be lost.

Reversed, it signifies more or less thesame, plus sorrow, weakness, funerals,loss of a friend.

Effects as above, but the drawer willsuffer some form of humiliation or

D R A G O N 5 9

injury, possibly including the slaying of afamiliar, henchman, or servitor.

55: Six of SwordsA ferrykeeper conveys solemn pas-

sengers to a further shore across calmwaters. Six swords stand hilt-up along theedge of the boat.

Upright, it signifies a departure, break-ing away, travel, success after anxiety,voluntary separation, water journey.

The next effort by drawer and party toflee, avoid, or evade opposition thatwould normally fail, will succeed, unlessthe chance for success was zero (but alsoeven then, if there is a body of waterbetween the party and the pursuers).Drawer has a permanent 5% bonus chanceof evading pursuit, etc., if he can cross abody of water ahead of the pursuers.

Reversed, it signifies outcry, lack ofimmediate solution, staying in place.

The next time the drawer and partyseek to flee, avoid, or evade, they will failbadly because of slow speed, an involun-tary outcry that alerts the opponents, orinability to get across a body of water.Drawer also becomes permanently sensi-tive (-1 on saving throw) to attack formsbased on loud sounds or outcries.

56: Seven of SwordsA scurrying figure rushes away with

five swords, while two other swords areleft behind.

Upright, it signifies partial success, aplan that may fail, plots and schemes,tricky endeavors.

The next encounter in which thedrawer takes part will be a partial success:some opponents will escape with part ofthe treasures, valuables will be damagedin the fighting, etc. Any attempt to makethe encounter more nearly a total successwill bring the whole effort to ruin (i.e.,while sacking up the last copper piecesand checking the chests for false bottoms,the Party is surprised by returning oppo-nents � and their allies).

Reversed, it signifies wishes soon to befulfilled, chance of unexpected success;sound counsel, instruction.

The next plan devised in part or wholeby the drawer which involves at least 7%but no more than 49% chance of failure,will be a success, if the scheme is based onstealth, cunning, or deception (ratherthan a �smash and grab� operation).

57: Eight of SwordsA female figure, her eyes covered,

stands alone, surrounded by the swords ofthe card.

Upright, it signifies restriction, bond-age, betrayal, imprisonment; chagrin;calumny or censure; temporary sickness.

Drawer will be taken captive (andstripped of gear, weapons, etc.) by thenext opposing group the party meets ofgreater power than their own.

Reversed, it signifies prior treachery,disquiet, unforeseen mishap, fatality.

Drawer will encounter wanderingmonsters at twice the normal chance untilthe end of this adventure.

58: Nine of SwordsA woman, racked with despair, is sur-

rounded by the swords of the card; she isblanketed with roses, but feels only theirthorns.

Upright, it signifies utter desolation,despair, misery, death, failure, disap-pointment, miscarriage or delay, decep-tion, doubt, illness, loss.

Drawer falls prey to melancholia (see�Insanity� in the DMG) after 9 turns; ifhe saves vs. death magic (at -2), themelancholia will last for 3-12 (ld10+2)months; if not, it will be permanent. Dur-ing this period, he will be doubly suscept-ible to illness and parasitic infestation,

Reversed, it signifies doubt, suspicion,shame, patient suffering, �time heals allwounds,� timidity, reasonable fear.

Drawer will have a -25% to morale andreact at -10% for 3-9 (2d4+1) weeks; hewill heal at half speed until fully recov-ered from this adventure/expedition, andwill then require an additional 4-7 daysof rest.

59: Ten of SwordsA body, pierced by ten swords, lies

upon a desolate plain beneath a black-ened sky.

Upright, it signifies defeat, darkness,disaster, woe, loss, and desolation (butnot death).

Drawer loses the affection of all lovers,henchman, and associates (reaction andloyalty rolls will be reduced by 11-30points, with a new maximum of 55%),with the rest of the drawer�s party feelinguneasy around him and wishing to getrid of the drawer as soon as they can do sowithout endangering the party. Anyhome the drawer owns will be destroyedor taken from him, as will 80+ld20% ofhis material wealth.

Reversed, it signifies benefit, profit,success, favor, etc., but of a passing andimpermanent sort.

60 SEPTEMBER 1983

Drawer will have 1d10 additional hitpoints for the next ten days.

60: Page of SwordsAn alert, lithe, and energetic youth of

dark coloring, the Page holds the Swordready for action while walking brisklyover rough ground.

Page of Swords: 3rd level fighter (AC 6,HP 30, #AT 1, D 1-8 or 1-12 +2, S 16, I 12,W 12, D 12, C 12, Ch 12); wears bracers ofdefense (AC 6) and wields the Sword,which is +1 (a long sword) with no spe-cial abilities.

61: Knight of SwordsA dashing and chivalric young man of

dark coloring, the Knight rides full tiltacross open storm-swept country. Braveand proud, he brandishes his Sword atunseen foes, or from sheer spirit.

Knight of Swords: 5th level fighter (AC2, HP 50, #AT 1, D 1-8 or 1-12 +3); wearsplate mail +1 and wields the Sword,which is +2 (a long sword) with no spe-cial abilities. If the setting is suitable(heathland, plazas, etc.) the Knight willbe riding a roan medium warhorse (18hp) and will appear already charging (seep. 66, DMG).

62: Queen of SwordsDark and grim, the Queen sits on her

throne beneath a clouded sky and bran-dishes her Sword as if to say �Approachwho dares!�

Queen of Swords: 7th level fighter (AC2, HP 70, #AT 3/2, D 1-8 or 1-12 +4);wears a ring of protection +1 and bracersof defense (AC 3) and wields the Sword,which is +3 (a long sword) with no spe-cial abilities.

63: King of SwordsThe crowned King, dark and stern-

looking, sits on a throne of judgmentbeneath stormy skies; his Sword is held ina manner which makes it menacinglyclear that he is familiar with its use, forgood or evil.

King of Swords: 7th level fighter (AC 1,HP 70, #AT 3/2, D 1-8 or 1-12 +4); wearschain mail +4 under his robes, and wieldsthe Sword, which is +3 (a long sword)with no special abilities.

PentaclesPentacles represent material and finan-

cial matters, money, occupation, materialgain, business development, and involve-ment in the world. This is the suit of thethief, and of the merchant.

64: Ace of PentaclesA single pentacle takes the form of a

large coin or other piece of preciousmetal or jewelry; it is usually held by ahand or hands. In the background areflowers, butterflies, and the like.

Upright, it signifies gold, contentprosperity, the happiness and pleasurethat wealth can bring.

Concealed in or on some item acquiredduring this expedition, drawer will dis-cover a gem worth at least 10,000 gp.

Reversed, it signifies greed, miserliness,that prosperity which gives no happiness,misused or corrupted wealth.

Effects as above; also, for 2d4 months,all wealth gained by the drawer has noexperience point value whatsoever.

65: Two of PentaclesA youth in frivolous costume dances

and juggles two pentacles; in the back-ground ships are tossed on the high sea.

Upright, it signifies gaiety, light-heartedness, grace under pressure; butalso difficulty in launching new venturesor adapting to additional burdens; varia-bility of moods.

Drawer gains 1 point of dexterity, butwill receive only half the experiencepoints actually earned until he hasenough experience points for the nextlevel. At this point, drawer will take twicethe usual time for training and study, inorder to gain the new level.

Reversed, it signifies enforced or simu-lated gaiety and enjoyment.

The next time the drawer is underattack, he will suffer the effects of Otto�sirresistible dance for 4-7 rounds.

66: Three of PentaclesA master artist or mason carving penta-

cles in stonework is regarded approvinglyby two robed figures (probably clerics),one of whom holds a set of plans fromwhich the crafter has been working.

Upright, it signifies skill, craftsman-ship, glory or renown (particularly in acommercial matter), mastery, rank andpower in one�s profession; it also is usedto signify matters relating to secret socie-ties, guilds and the like.

Drawer will receive a 30% bonus on allearned experience points until the nextlevel is attained; thieves will also gain apermanent 3% bonus in all their profes-sional skills. In addition, if drawer is amember of a society, guild, or the like,whose ranks are not based on characterclass levels, he will soon (3-36 days) bepromoted therein.

Reversed, it signifies mediocrity andlack of skill, ineptitude, sloppiness, mer-cenary attitude, lack of distinction.

Drawer will function in all skills of hisclass as if one level lower, until the nextlevel is attained. In addition, if he is amember of such a group as is mentionedabove, drawer will not be promoted there-in for 3 months after the customary time,�having failed to distinguish himself.�

67: Four of PentaclesA hunched-over figure, crowned with

one pentacle, grasps another ferventlywith hands and arms, and stands firmlyupon two more; he clings avidly to whatis already held.

Upright, it signifies making sure ofmaterial gains; worldly gain leading to

D R A G O N 6 1

nothing beyond it; sometimes (notalways) miserliness and a lack of generos-ity, but always a monetary, mercenaryconcern and point of view.

Drawer will receive no experiencepoints for any material gains made dur-ing this expedition, except thieves andassassins, who suffer only a 10% penalty.

Reversed, it signifies material setbacks,opposition, delay, hindrance, chance ofmaterial losses.

From 4-16% (4d4) of the drawer�s totalwealth will disappear or be stolen in thenext four days, never to be recovered.

68: Five of PentaclesTwo ragged figures (one on crutches), a

man and a woman, pass beneath a lightedwindow in a snowstorm. They are clearlyin distress.

Upright, it signifies loss of home, desti-tution, joblessness; affinities discoveredthrough mutual suffering; generally,troubles in the material-financial realm.

Within 5 weeks of returning from thisadventure/expedition, drawer will lose allhomes, savings, jewelry, magic items andother valuables, and job (includinghenchman status), if any; for 5d10 weeksafter drawing this card, drawer will bedoubly susceptible to illness, and to para-sitic infestations. If drawer has a lover orspouse, they will each increase in loyaltytoward each other by 5%.

Reversed, it signifies disorder, discord,severe toil, overcoming of ruin; newinterest in spirituality; need for charity.

Drawer will quarrel with the rest of theparty over division of the proceeds of thisexpedition, and will receive only one fifthof his rightful share. He will spend atleast 5 days in retreat and/or meditationunder the tutelage of a cleric of his faith.

69: Six of PentaclesAn opulently dressed figure, probably a

merchant, gives money to the distressedfrom a balance or scales, giving out ofgoodness of heart from present wealthand plenty.

Upright, it signifies just and righteouscharity, gifts and inheritance, wealthreceived for good reason, just desserts.

When the proceeds of this expeditionare divided up, drawer�s share will be6d6% larger than it normally would be;drawer will give at least half of this bonusto a good religious body, or to a charity(these monies are not to be given to aplayer character, NPC, or ruler, regardlessof alignments). The effects of this goodact, if done by an evil or neutral charac-ter, must be adjudicated by the DM.

Reversed, it signifies greed, jealousy,pride or arrogance of wealth, envy, self-ishness, refusal to give.

When the proceeds of this expeditionare divided up, NPCs will swindle thedrawer, so that his share will be 12%-72%(Id6 × 12%) of what it ought to be. Thedrawer will not realize this for at least sixdays afterward.

62 SEPTEMBER 1983

70: Seven of PentaclesAn intense young man leaning upon

his staff hovers protectively near sevenpentacles attached to the greenery of thegarden-like space he is tending.

Upright, it signifies speculative pauses,fretting, anxiety, success not yet attained,disappointment.

During the next project the drawer isengaged in which takes a long time(training for a new level, enchanting anitem, etc.; anything requiring 10 days ormore for completion), he must save vs.death magic once each week. Failure tomake a successful saving throw meansthat the drawer has ruined the processthrough overanxiousness, and must beginanew or pay whatever penalty is imposedfor such interruption. Such interruptionsbecause of this card will not exceed sevenin number; and on each saving throwafter the first, the drawer will have acumulative +1 on the roll (thus, thesecond roll will be at +1, third at +2, etc.).

Reversed, it signifies impatience,apprehension, suspicion, especially inmoney matters.

Drawer will have a permanent -7%reaction to strangers and casual acquain-tances who ask for favors or act in anyway �suspicious�; this penalty will dou-ble for loans or other financial favors.

71: Eight of PentaclesAn artist sits happily carving out a

pentacle; other completed examples areracked neatly nearby.

Upright, it signifies work, craftsman-ship, skills (perhaps still at an apprenticelevel); job or commission to come.

If drawer is less than 3rd level (or lessthan 4 total levels, for a multi-classedcharacter), he gains 3d8 hundred expe-rience points; if higher, the gain is 30-240(3d8 × 10) experience points.

Reversed, it signifies vanity, thwartedambition, greed, usury, skill in cunningand intrigue, sharp practices.

Drawer will soon (8-64 days) be short-changed or hoodwinked in a major trans-action, losing at least 8,000 but not morethan 80,000 gold pieces. If drawer is athief, he will gain 1d12 hundred expe-rience points; if an assassin, 3d8 hundred.

71: Nine of PentaclesA stately woman stands in a flourish-

ing vineyard, presumably part of hermanorial domain. On her wrist is a tamehawk; she is otherwise alone, and seemsserene in her isolation.

Upright, it signifies security, prudence,wealth, self-sufficiency, love of gardensand home, comfort in material matters.

For the rest of this expedition or adven-ture, any pickpocketing attempts uponthe drawer will fail (although the thiefwill not be caught); and until the drawerreturns, his home will be safe fromrobbery, burglary, and banditry. Draweralso gains a secondary skill in gardening.If he is a magic-user with no familiar, the

next time the drawer is in an outdoorssetting a hawk will come to him tamely,to serve as a familiar; it will be fullytrained for hunting as well.

Reversed, it signifies robbery, loss ofthings treasured, roguery, danger fromthieves. Caution is advised.

There will be a burglary, robbery, orbandit raid on the drawer�s home orheadquarters during his present absence;much but not all (60-90%) of the drawer�sproperty therein will be stolen, includingat least one item precious to the drawer,but not necessarily intrinsically valuable.

73: Ten of PentaclesA man and a woman stand in the

entryway of a house; a child and anelderly man each pet a dog contentedly.

Upright, the card symbolizes gain,security, riches, family, home, stability.

Drawer will soon (5-50 days) gain asmall but sturdy home, free of encum-brance; this may be gift of a ruler orpatron, an inheritance or dowry, or what-ever is natural for the campaign.

Reversed, it signifies loss, robbery, fam-ily misfortunes; elderly people maybecome a burden,

Drawer will soon (5-50 days) becomeobligated for the care of his parents, clan/guild/village elders, feudal dependents,or other aged persons to whom drawer isobligated (whether he knew of the obliga-tion or not).

74: Page of PentaclesA Pentacle rests lightly in, or hovers

over, the hands of the Page, a very darkyouth who moves slowly through a flour-ishing field, his gaze seemingly fixedupon the lone symbol in studious reverie.

Page of Pentacles: 3rd level thief (AC 3,HP 18, #AT 1, D 1-4 or 1-3, S 12, I 12,W 12, D 16, C 12, Ch 12); wears bracers ofdefense (AC 5) and has a hidden dagger.

75: Knight of PentaclesSturdy, laborious, and patient, the

Knight rides placidly through a freshlyplowed field. A thorough-going material-ist, he looks upon but not within thePentacle of his suit. He is very dark andearthy in coloring.

Knight of Pentacles: 4th/4th levelfighter/thief (AC 0, HP 44, #AT 1,D 1-8 +1); wears plate mail +1 and a ringof invisibility, and carries a scimitar +1with no special abilities.

76: Queen of PentaclesVery dark of coloring and meditative of

expression, the Queen contemplates herPentacle on a throne in a fertile bower;her serious, even, melancholy mien sug-gests that she sees curious things indeedwithin that symbol.

Queen of Pentacles: 7th level thief(AC 4, HP 42, #AT 1, D special); wears aring of protection +4 and carries a daggerof venom (D 3-6 vs. S, 2-5 vs. M, 2-4 vs.L, + poison), fully charged.

77: King of PentaclesA dark and courageous, yet somewhat

lethargic figure, the King sits stolidlyupon his throne within a flourishinggarden, and placidly the Pentacle heholds upon his knee; a short rod or wandis his sceptre.

King of Pentacles: 7th level thief (AC 3,HP 42, #AT 1, D 1-4 or 1-3); wears leatherarmor and a cloak of protection +3, andcarries a wand of magic missiles(70 charges) and a dagger.

A note on effects and descriptionsObviously, with literally dozens of dif-

ferent Tarot decks on the market, descrip-tions (and interpretations) are going tovary to differing extents; when wide dif-ferences exist, this writer has relied on theWaite deck (also called the Rider deck),which is perhaps the standard in theEnglish-speaking world.

Also worthy of consideration (simply asan art collection, if nothing else) is theFantasy Showcase Tarot, assembled andpublished by Bruce Pelz (15931 KalisherStreet, Granada Hills, CA 91344; attn:Elayne Pelz). With original cards com-posed by 84 fantasy artists, includingmany Hugo winners and nominees, it is adistinctive approach indeed, includingsome thought-provoking innovations(such as two added Major Arcana, Separa-tion and The Farrier; and four Ladys tobalance the genders of the court cards).

Many other sorts of decks are available,and the interested DM should investigatethem. Certain decks will seem especiallyappropriate to certain campaigns; and thesymbol(s) of your chosen deck should bemirrored in the broader campaign inomens, beliefs, legends, and songs.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Balin, Peter, The Flight of the Feath-ered Serpent, Wisdom Garden Books,Venice, Calif., 1978.

Butler, Bill, Dictionary of Tarot,Schocken Books, New York City, 1975.

Cavendish, Richard, The Tarot,Harper & Row, New York City, 1975.

Crowley, Aleister, The Book of Thoth:a Short Essay on the Tarot of the Egyp-tians, Level Press, San Francisco, 1974.

Douglas, Alfred, The Tarot: the Ori-gins, Meaning, and Uses of the Cards,Taplinger Books, New York City, 1972.

Grey, Eden, A Complete Guide to theTarot, Crown Publishers, New York City,1970.

Grey, Eden, Tarot Revealed, Signet(N.A.L.), New York City, 1971.

Kaplan, Stuart R., Tarot Classic,Grosset & Dunlap, New York City, 1973.

Papus, The Tarot of the Bohemians,Arcanum Books, New York City, 1958.

Waite, Arthur Edward, The PictorialKey to the Tarot, University Books, NewYork City, 1959.

D R A G O N 6 3

64 SEPTEMBER 1983

D R A G O N 6 5

Harn universe is worth the priceIn recent years a number of detailed

role-playing campaign universes haveappeared. Many have been packaged asgaming aids, most notable being theJudges Guild universe of the City States,the WORLD OF GREYHAWK� fantasysetting from TSR, Chaosium�s Quest-world and Glorantha universes, and IronCrown Enterprises� series of modulesdepicting Tolkien�s Middle Earth. A newentry into the field of such universes isHARN, by Columbia Games Inc., ofVancouver, B. C.

Advertisements for Harn have claimedthat it represents the state of the art inplaying aids, that the environment isauthentically �medieval,� and that themodule has a high degree of complexityand detail. Harn also costs $20, fairlysteep for a campaign world (though try-ing to purchase all of the I.C.E. MiddleEarth modules or Judges Guild universemodules would be much more expensive).

The Harn campaign package comeswith a full-color map of the island ofHarn, which is the size of Madagascar;the map covers an area of about 625 milesby 1,516 miles, an adequately large terri-tory for many adventures. Two booklets,the Harndex (indexing major features ofHarn and important aspects of the cul-tures and lives of its inhabitants) and theHarnview (giving a general overview ofthe history and societies of Harn, andnotes on how to referee the campaignworld) are also enclosed in an attractivecover folder.

The Harnview booklet describes Harn�skingdoms, cultures, religions, economy,

charts, time and movement scales, andpast history, and geography; weather

encounter tables are provided, as well astables to determine characters� past histo-ries and social classes. The character-generation section recommends that allplayer-characters on Harn be human;non-human races are very limited inpower and number on Harn. The sectionon determining the sex of player charac-ters is also rather irksome, but neither ofthese points is serious in any way, and thesections of the booklet in question may beignored safely. There is also a sectionincluded on getting campaigns started onHarn, telling what information may begiven to new characters and what shouldnot, but this section is unfortunately alltoo brief.

The Harndex is a sort of encyclope-dia/index listing various geographical,historical, political, cultural, economic,and religious terms in common use on ordirectly related to the isle of Harn. Likeall world indexes, the Harndex is addic-tive; flipping through it, one reads of theKhuzdul (Harn�s dwarven race), thenturns to read about Kiraz, then about theCarnage of Kiraz, then Lothrim, and soforth. This sort of booklet-thumbing willkeep one going for hours, even thoughthe Harndex is only 64 pages long. TheHarndex is well illustrated and has anumber of tables and charts, but notexcessively many. Some of the references,particularly the one for Kethira (theplanet, upon which Harn is found), areinteresting but not the sort of thing thatthe players would have any knowledge of.

access to the Harndex (or any of the restThe referee should carefully control

of this material, for that matter) by play-ers in a campaign.

A number of unusual aspects of theworld of Harn stand out after reading thetwo booklets. Some of these things arecuriosities; the monetary system consistsof pence, shillings, and pounds, measuredin, silver pieces (gold coins are very rare).The influence of Tolkien can be seen insome places, particularly in the descrip-tions of the dwarves (Khuzdul), elves(Sindarin), and the deity Morgath. Gamereferees who don�t care for close Tolkienties like these may eliminate them with-out great difficulty. Harn is a magic-pooruniverse; there are mages, but not muchis said of magic items. Again, this may bemodified by referees if they so desire. Salttakes on an exceptionally important rolein the economics and politics of Harn,and the ramifications of this logical con-cept are worth exploring in the Harndex.One of the nations, Kanday, is apparentlythe home of some of the hard-pressedgood guys on the isle, and the reader istempted to try drawing parallels between�Kanday� and �Canada� (in a tongue-in-cheek way). Some interesting new mon-sters not found in other game systems arenoted in the Harndex, adding local colorto the isle.

The map of Harn, finally, is beautiful.If you are a fan of fantasy cartography,the map makes a wonderful addition toone�s collection, having lots of legibledetail and a well worked out ecologicalsystem and geography. The map is over-laid with a thin-lined hex grid andincludes all major topographical featuresdown to �points of interest.� The overalleffect is very impressive. It would berather sad for players to not have access tothis map, and game referees may allowthem to use it as �general knowledge� ifso desired.

What sort of role-playing game systemsbest fit the Harn campaign? With minormodifications it will serve well for D&D®and AD&D� gaming, and other fantasyRPGs that use races like dwarves, elves,and orcs should also find Harn usablewith some changes. Chaosium�s BasicRole-Playing game family (Runequest®and Magic World in particular) mayrequire a bit more alteration and adjust-ment, but will do well nevertheless.

In short, if Harn is to be used at all, itshould be used thoroughly. Small sec-tions of it may be dropped or altered, andthe referee will still feel like he has spentthe $20 well. One should not worry aboutusing all of this material at once, sincemost of it will initially be irrelevant tothe players and their situation; in time,however, the whole interlocking system

66 SEPTEMBER 1983

will start to fall into place, and this addsconsiderable depth to any campaignbased here.

In designing scenarios, the referee isadvised to use the suggested list in theHarnview for high-level campaigns only,and should create appropriate scenariosfor adventurers of lesser power and abil-ity. Little is said about making up �every-day� adventures, but most referees shouldhave little trouble doing this.

I recommend Harn for experiencedreferees who don�t mind using a largelyprefabricated universe with a few minoralterations to suit their own campaigntastes. It is not a good idea to purchase

Harn if you like to extensively alter gamematerial, unless you don�t mind spendingmoney. The map is almost worth theprice of the whole product alone, and thebooklets that go with it even out the dif-ference well. In comparing this to a uni-verse like that of the GREYHAWK pro-duct, one gets a smaller campaigning areabut with much more detail in Harn;characters do not need to have a wholeplanet mapped out for them to adventureacross, and Harn should be more thansufficient for most gaming needs.

State of the art? It could be better, but itis very good.

� Reviewed by Roger Moore

Plague has its problemsPlague of Terror is a role-playing

adventure module (price: $8.50) producedby The Companions, designed as ageneric product for use with a number ofrole-playing systems. The action in themodule centers around a small villagecalled Wentworth, which is undergoingsome bad changes of fortune when theadventurers are scheduled to arrive. Themodule provides for a large number ofsubplots and scenarios to get the adven-turers involved in the tangled web ofintrigue in Wentworth, and gives all therelevant maps and NPC descriptions thatare necessary to run the scenarios as agame referee.

Unfortunately, Plague of Terror isplagued by some terrible problems. Thesubplots seem to be too interwoven, andpulling the threads apart can be very dif-ficult for inexperienced referees (and forsome experienced ones as well). There is asuperabundance of detail in the module,and cutting through it all is very time-consuming; the module might have beenbetter with about one-quarter of thematerial cut away and the rest stream-lined to ease reading. The printing in themodule is small and densely packed,which makes one feel overwhelmed withthe amount of material to be gonethrough.

The most serious problem with Plagueof Terror, however, is the graphic vio-lence that goes on within Wentworth.This is not really a module that gamersin their early teens might enjoy, orgamers of any age. It is one thing to havemodules in which player characters cheer-fully hack their ways through hordes ofgoblins, zombies, trolls, and so forth. It isanother thing to have a module thatdetails torture, child abuse, sexualassault, sadistic vengeance, and othersuch activities. To make it worse, the pic-ture of the guardsman killing the peasantgirl for Encounter 11 doesn�t match at allthe way he is supposed to have killed her:a careless oversight.

In its favor, Plague of Terror has someamusing names for some of the towns-people; my favorites are the Gaullobrothers.

I cannot recommend this module forinexperienced role-players, for refereeswho like to do their own creative think-ing in role-playing NPCs and setting upscenarios, or for those who feel uncom-fortable with violence, torture, etc., etc. Ifthe module is ever revised, it should bepruned carefully and printed in largertype, and the picture for Encounter 11should match the text. Caveat emptor.

� Reviewed by Roger Moore

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D R A G O N 7 1

Index to advertisersName of firm or product Page(s)Advanced Graphics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69American Creative Games, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32Armory, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70,71Bard Games . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63Broadsword Miniatures, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24Castle Creations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61Chaosium Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60,67Character Portraits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69Citadel Miniatures US. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59Clash of Arms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69Columbia Games Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Inside front coverCompanions, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21Compleat Strategist, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68DB Enterprises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61Dragontooth, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53Dragon Tree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68Dungeon Hobby Shop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4Dunken Company, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16Endless Games . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18Entertainment Concepts, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17Fantasy Games Unlimited . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10,20,29Fantasy Unlimited . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69Fantasy Worlds Unlimited . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68FASA Corporation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21Flying Buffalo Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27Game Designers� Workshop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16Gamelords, Ltd. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67Gamemaster Hobbies, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10Grenadier Models Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Name of firm or product . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page(s)Hco . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69Hero Games . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52Hobby Game Distributors, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64,65Indicia Associates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59Imaginative Mail Order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68Iron Crown Enterprises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1, Back coverJandeL Products, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68Judges Guild . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63Knights of Chivalry, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68McKelvie Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69Morgan-Milwaukee Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68Midkemia Press . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26Nova Games Designs, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28Palladium Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51RAFM Co. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13Ral Partha Enterprises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25RPGA� Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44Science Fiction Book Club . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9Schubel & Son . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69Steve Jackson Games . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57Talisman, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69Task Force Games . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19Tin Soldier, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60TSR Hobbies, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73Victory Games . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5Wargames Warehouse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68Wargames West . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68Wizard�s Corner, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27Yaquinto Publications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

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