Message:Here's the contents --
* Fritz Leiber on his characters.
* Tim Cask introducing his writing goals.
* Order of battle for Tolkien's battle of Five Armies to run in figures using Chainmail.
* Method of fairly resolving stat based actions to get around all the things in DnD that aren't combat. Functional yet a step too complicated; roll dice to find the dice to roll for your final roll. Three steps, rather than easier D20 under stat and let the chips fly.
* James Ward asking if technology in DnD should be allowed and answering yes. You can see where he was hinting at Metamorphasis Alpha; self serving?
* Lee Gold speaking on langauges; rather intense and complicated article on adding confusion to dialog. Game was already difficult enough without adding translation errors dealing with NPCs. At least it was written in gamer perspective with percentage mistakes that could be diced.
* Story by Jack Jaquet that seems filler.
* Spell failure tables which suggest already that magic in DnD was never properly balanced with play. Results being produced do resemble the Mixed and Mishap tables of the original Conrad's Fantasy. But still adhere to strict spells by name conventions.
* Creature Feature on landshark; Saturday Night Live inspired no doubt. Bad creature concept and would end farming on the campaign surface. Armor Class neg two suggesting the game had already exhausted all the small monsters for most play. On to impossible rebalance of weight on the teeter-totter.
* DM Listing of names and addresses, proving gamers always have problems finding games. Paul Jaquay is even listed in a college dorm address.
* Hints for Outdoor adventures. Here's an excerpt: "For the first attempt it is best to stay small; map out a barony or dukedom or an area of equal size. That way the map is detailed, less ideas are needed for strange areas, (truthfully, how many weird things can you find in the average barony?)" Showing DnD never did know what to do with itself in those arenas. Also included a key to color coding maps. Anyone who needs to know green is forest needs to sit in on a Kindergarten class (again).
* Introduced the Illusionist Class. The start of all DnD going forward, more classes, more monsters, more oddball magic winkies.
* Article on Hyborean age army.
* Gygax on hobbits and thieves in Dungeon boardgame. I remember trying this when I was I read it. 30,000 gps to win seems high for ability to steal a few treasures without fight.
* Press releases on games being published. Not really reviews.
* First chapter of a novel by serial written by Garrison Ernst, Gary Gygax under a pseudonym.
Yours,
IronRed
31-Aug-2021