These are my reading notes of various Dragon Magazine articles. Learn more about the collection here.

Swords Slicing into a Sharp Topic

Author: David Nalle Issue: Dragon Magazine #58 Rating: ★★☆☆☆

A brief historical overview of the sword. Main message is summed up with this paragraph:

Swords weren’t just stamped out by the hundreds. Each one was a unique work, embodying the skill of a bladesmith. Swords of quality should not be sold cheaply and are a warrior’s mark of success.

Or in other words, think twice before hand-waving away a band of 10+ adventurers walking in a hamlet in the middle of fucking nowhere and buying swords, armours, and 100 gallons of oil.

Enchanting Weapons: Putting the “Magic” into Magical Weapons

Author: Mike Nystul Issue: Dragon Magazine #243 Rating: ★★☆☆☆

A series of prompts on how to make magic weapons a bit more unique, divided into following categories:

• Weapon's origin: commission, badge of office, masterpiece, secret society, special purpose.
• Weapon's location: bad guy, in a stomach/digestive tract of dangerous monster, fields of the fallen, test, thieves, twist of fate.
• Assigning abilities: interesting is more effective than powerful, attunement, damage dice, helping hand, initiation, priming, restrictions.
• Associated plotlines: equal but opposite, give it back, it isn't working, one of many, treasure hunt, whatever you desire.

It's a fine article to read once or twice, but hardly a mandatory one.

Always Wear Your Best Suit: Making armor and weapons unique for all characters

Author: Gordon R. Menzies Issue: Dragon Magazine #148 Rating: ★★★★★

Three ways to pimp your arms and armour:

• Decorations: enamelling, simple engraving, complex engraving, and elaborate engraving.
• Plating with precious metals: copper, bronze, silver, electrum, gold, platinum, mithral, and adamantite.
• Making them from different metals: copper, bronze, meteorite iron, mithral, and adamantite.

Everything has cost, impact on value of base item, time required, impact on encumbrance, and functionality. Each metal has brief description, plus reference to an article Fire For Effect! in Dragon Magazine #123 which includes melting points for each.

Now, this is exactly the type of article I am looking for! Just three pages, has fluff, has mechanics & procedures, and tables! perfect. Yes, I will include it in the master collection.

In Defense of the Shield: Shield-using skills in the AD&D game

Author: Tim Merrett Issue: Dragon Magazine #127 Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆ OR ★★★★☆

Do you think shield improving AC is too simple? Do you yearn for CRUNCHY SHIELDS?! Do you agree that shields were historically difficult to use? That they were more important than armour? Ever wished you could spend your proficiency slots on handling a shield?

YES?!

Well, then this is the perfect article for you!!!

Not for me though.

Two Hands Are Better Than One: A handy guide on handling weapons

Author: Donald D. Miller Issue: Dragon Magazine #127 Rating: ★★★★☆

At first I thought that the only good thing about this article is the illustration of cleric bonking some pitiful fool, sporting a big ass grin, a big ass cross, and double wielding maces.

But then I had the following question in one of my game sessions:

“Wait, can dwarves carry polearms? Aren't they huge?”

This article provides and answer in one page of text, and two tables. And I love it! It provides maximum length and weight for secondary (off-hand), primary (prime-hand), one-handed, two-handed, and pole arm weapons for dwarves, elves, gnomes, half-elves, halflings, half-orcs, and humans.

And then, to make it even easier, it lists all AD&D weapons and races and how many hands it takes them to wield 'em. Perfect.

This one might be included in the final collection.

Different Totes for Different Folks: Basic backpacks for every D&D game adventurer

Author: Vince Garcia Issue: Dragon Magazine #191 Rating: ★★★★★

If you are playing any flavour of the classic D&D (B/X, BECMI, RC) or their retroclone, then this is a must-have article.

It replicates and expands adventuring gear from the core rulebooks in just page and a half. All the additions are meaningful, with clear in-game application. In other words, the spirit of simplicity is maintained.

Here is a list of all added items: explorer's backpack, waterproof backpack, bandages, bedroll, block and tackle, bow strings, candle, chisel, hand-held climbing hook, disguise kit, hand-drill, heavy gloves, soft gloves, inexpensive holy symbol, vial of ink, blank journal, knapsack, utility knife, bullseye lantern, leather lasso, leather in bulk, lockpicks, magnifying glass, explorers' map, detailed map, general map, stringed musical instrument, wind musical instrument, oil in metal flask, papyrus, parchment, parka, cooking pot, quill pen, quiver (back and belt), salt, waterproof scroll case, sewing kit, blank spellbook, spellbook cover, tents, twine, empty glass vial, and whistle.

Further, each class gets a starting kit as well, which are in essence predefined equipment packs with price and encumbrance.

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These are my reading notes of various Dragon Magazine articles. Learn more about the collection here.

The six main skills: What AD&D game abilities mean in real terms

Author: Jefferson P. Swycaffer Issue: Dragon Magazine #107 Rating: ★★☆☆☆

A verbose description of the six ability scores, from “the most material to the least”:

• Strength: a measure of muscular power, reflected in speed, lifting ability, throwing ability, jumping range, capacity to absorb damage or resist pain, and endurance.
• Constitution: a measure of overall health, endurance, and vigor. Reflected in strong heart, healthy lungs, and a good muscle tone.
• Dexterity: a mix of manual dexterity, coordination, and agility.
• Intelligence: people are perceived as intelligent when they are observant, methodical, or articulate.
• Wisdom: strength of willpower.
• Charisma: a matter of being smooth, suave, positive, persuasive, gentle, and sincere; natural leadership; pride and envy are the primary sins against charisma.

As you can see from the above definitions, Jefferson does well defining physical characteristics but fails short with intelligence, wisdom, and charisma. He essentially uses circular, self-referential logic to describe each.

All in all, I don't regret reading this article, but I probably wouldn't recommend it to anyone but the absolute newcomers who are wondering what does each attribute stand for. And even then, wouldn't you expect that to be described in whatever ruleset you are using?

Realistic vital statistics: A new system for figuring heights & weights

Author: Stephen Inniss Issue: Dragon Magazine #91 Rating: ★★★★★

Awesome and practical article for generating believable heights and weights for characters. In fact, I've extensively used it to generate NPCs.

Stephen finds the following faults with the system offered in AD&D:

• Dwarves, gnomes, and halflings are implausibly heavy and extraordinarily dense for the given figures.
• Human and half-human females weigh less for their height than do their brothers; this isn't the case with real-world humans.
• Human males are 9% taller than females, whereas in the real world the difference is smaller.
• It produces extraordinarily tall humans.
• Height and weight are determined independently.
• Provided tables do not make provisions for all the allowable character races.

Now, Stephen doesn't stop at the critique—he offers a completely fleshed out system contained in seven tables:

• Table A: Average heights (roll for humans, look-up for demihumans)
• Table B1: Variation from average height (roll)
• Table B2: Height adjustment by strength (look-up)
• Table C: Character weight by height (look-up)
• Table D: Weight modifiers by race (look-up)
• Table E1: Variation from average weight (roll)
• Table E2: Weight adjustment by strength (look-up)

Don't allow the tables to discourage you—it doesn't take long to use them. Stephen claims “a minute or less” but it will most likely take you a bit longer the first time.

Final verdict: I will include this article in my “final” Dragon Magazine Collection. I might also include it in the Wilderlands Gazetteer I'm working on for those players that like to have that kind of detail.

Short hops and big drops: Here's how far and how high characters can jump

Author: Stephen Inniss Issue: Dragon Magazine #93 Rating: ★★★★☆

A simple system for determining how far can a character jump. Everything is based on a so called “jump number” which is determined by the character's strength, dexterity, race, and class. Various environmental modifiers are taken into account in order to determine how far can the character jump.

Another great article by Stephen. I've used it a few times to determine if characters could plausibly jump over the chasm. Most notable use has been during a play-by-post session when a sole survivor was fleeing for his life. He stumbled upon an 11-foot wide chasm so I gave him the article and asked him to figure it out.

With that being said, most of the time I default to anything shorter than 5-feet is automatic success, unless there is combat or some other distraction. The procedures here are nice back-up for those special cases.

Yes, this article will also make it into the final Dragon Magazine Collection.

Sight in the Darkness: An open-eyed look at infravision, the Underdark, and your PCs

Author: Roger E. Moore Issue: Dragon Magazine #211 Rating: ★★☆☆☆

Roger explains what infravision is, how it works above- and under-ground, how it was treated in different game editions (Chainmail, D&D, AD&D 1e, D&D Rules Cyclopedia, and AD&D 2e), and “clever” tricks with infravision.

I'm on the fence for this one. It is not badly written but is very thin on usable stuff, at least for me. As a trained engineering familiar with thermodynamics and thermal imaging, there was little new for me on the scientific side of the article. The gaming side was thin and limited to small gimmicks (e.g. making light bombs).

Actually, I found the historic overview of infravision in various editions of D&D to be the most interesting part of this article. The biggest takeaway for me is that I should remove infravision from elves.

Note: There is an updated version of this article called Infravision & Your Fantasy Hero.

The 7-Sentence NPC: A new way to bring nonplayer characters to life (in game, that is)

Author: C. M. Cline Issue: Dragon Magazine #184 Rating: ★★★★☆

A seven-point checklist for describing NPCs:

• Occupation & history
• Physical description
• Attributes & skills
• Values & motivations
• Interactions with others
• Useful knowledge
• Distinguishing features

Four example to see it in action.

Good article, highlighting what is actionable & gameable information for the Judge. At the same time, today we know better than presenting all of the above in a single god-damn paragraph.

Yes, this article will also make it in my Dragon Magazine Collection.

A new loyalty base: All the tables you need, all in one place

Author: Stephen Inniss Issue: Dragon Magazine #107 Rating: ★★★★★

Man, I love tables. This article has 25 of them:

• Table A: Encounter reactions (roll)
• Tables B: Encounter reaction adjustments (look-up)
  • Table B1: Charisma
  • Table B2: Species reaction
  • Table 23: Alignment difference
  • Table B4: Alignment
  • Table B5: Physical aspect
  • Table B6: Social behaviour
  • Table B7: Social group
  • Table B8: Inducements
• Table C: Loyalty (roll)
• Tables D: Loyalty adjustments (look-up)
  • Table D1: Charisma
  • Table D2: Enlistment
  • Table D3: Association
  • Table D4: Status
  • Table D5: Pay or profits
  • Table D6: General treatment
  • Table D7: Discipline
  • Table D8: Special circumstances
• Table E: Morale check (roll)
• Tables F: Morale adjustments (look-up)
  • Table F1: Perceived odds
  • Table F2: Personal situation
  • Table F3: Leader's situation
• Table G1: Interactions of character species and “humanoids” (look-up)
• Table G2: Interactions of humanoid species (look-up)
• Table H: Reactions between alignment types (look-up)

Stephen reworks the original AD&D 1e system from d00 to d20 with roll-high logic while collating all the reaction, morale, and loyalty rules into one place. There is hardly anything that I could disagree with in this article, but I can see it being dismissed as too crunchy or intimidating.

The reality is that the procedure is simple: a single d20 roll. Where it slows down is referencing all the look-up tables, which are granular. Good news is that any Judge can easily reduce the granularity by shortening the modifier bands. Heck, just keeping Charisma between 3 and 18 removes 17 lines from table B1.

Ultimately, I'd recommend all the Judges to read this article, even if they don't plan to use the rules and procedures within. Stephen peppers it with enough useful advice to make it worth your time, while all the numbers in the table are useful even without ever using them as intended.

Allow me to explain: each table has thoughtful modifiers which you might've not thought of. By reading through them, even once, and their proposed numerical expression, you will at least have an idea how might they manifest in your own game.

Usable, thought-through procedures is what I'm looking for in Dragon Magazine. Therefore, this article will also be included in the final collection.

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These are my reading notes of various Dragon Magazine articles. Learn more about the collection here.

What good PCs are made of: Play characters with more substance than statistics

Author: Katharine Kerr Issue: Dragon Magazine #96 Rating: ★★☆☆☆

Player Characters (PCs) are players' way to contribute and shape the Judge's world. Most players fail to create “true” PCs, i.e. characters that are different than themselves. At least that is what Katharine presents as the core challenge.

She offers solid advice on how to create characters by thinking about social class (random table), family life and background (random table), motivation, way of talking, opinion of the world, and polytheism.

The article is well written and well argued—I especially appreciated brief discussion of medieval upbringing and polytheism—but ultimately doesn't really match neither my play- nor judging-style.

For better or worse, the main campaign I'm running has had quite high death toll. To follow Katharine's advice to the letter would be frustrating, for it does take more effort than rolling six attribute scores and picking your class.

On the other hand, I could see myself using her guidance to create name-level and other NPCs of importance. I could also see it used after PC hits level 4 or above. You know, when they don't die from a single slap anymore.

Notes From a Semi-Successful D&D Player

Author: James Ward Issue: Dragon Magazine #13 Rating: ★★★★★

Ten tips in ten paragraphs! In order, they are:

• Make Continual Light wand light-sticks as soon as possible.
• Carry around a small potted rose plant, Growth/Plant Spell, and Potion of Plant Control.
• Get a ten foot pole and a five foot steel rod.
• Invest in steel potion bottles.
• Carry freshly squeezed garlic juice in small vials (kept in steel pouches, of course).
• Polymorph cockatrice into a snail, throw the snail at adversaries and cast Dispel Magic on it.
• Get all Magic-User poison for the dagger, no matter the price.
• All Magic-Users should start creating new spells as soon as possible; trade and sell them.
• A set of extra spellbooks for Magic-Users is a must.
• Get Permanent spell as soon as possible, for it is as good as Wish. Make Fly permanent on fragile characters, Infravision and Protection from Evil on Fighters, and Charm on foes.

I think I understand why Gary got to increasingly dislike Magic-Users.

And now I know what I'll start spending money on in The Keep on Yeoldelands campaign.

Be aware and take care: Basic principles of successful adventuring

Author: Lew Pulsipher Issue: Dragon Magazine #79 Rating: ★★★★★

Absolutely amazing article, should be mandatory reading for players trying to get into OSR play-style as well!

“The qualities that characters, and the players of those characters, must exhibit to succeed in a fantasy adventure are founded on the ideas of common sense and cooperation...”

The article is well written and very practical. The advice is broken down into following buckets:

• Generic: elementary precautions, whom do you trust, know your objective and stick to it, gather information, keep a monster chronicle, provide for rescue/escape, equipment, security in camps.
• Behaviour during the adventure: avoid mental passivity in battle, coordinate efforts, keep reserves in reserve, don't take separate routes, concentration of attacks, you can't beat everything, get out while you have some “bottom,” never flee into unknown areas, don't back yourself into a corner, guard your spell casters, make lists, other precautions.
• Staying alive after the adventure: search for enemies, search for hidden treasure, examination of items.
• Using magic wisely and well: deception in place of magic, phantasmal forces and illusions, imaginative use of spells.
• Adventuring and referees: know thy referee.

The only controversial advice might be the last section, which in essence encourages players to understand the Judges' behaviour and then exploit it. For example, if your Judge is willing to fudge the dice in your favour, you should leverage that.

I can understand that advice in a more adversarial Player-Judge relationship, which was perhaps more common back in the day. Today I'd say that collaborative play-style is more prevalent.

Either way, this is a truly evergreen article, which I'll definitely include in the final Dragon Magazine Collection.

Assessing, not guessing: How PCs can make their own value judgements

Author: Lionel D. Smith Issue: Dragon Magazine #104 Rating: ★★☆☆☆

Lionel offers a simple procedure for PCs to randomly determine value of treasure items. It takes into account class, race, and level to determine base probability for successful estimation, and then uses d20 and a control die to determine the result.

Although the procedure and advice are solid, I see them more fitting for a Sage or NPC than PCs. The closing sentence is an important reminder to those who struggle with traditional gold-for-XP systems:

“The business of buying and selling can and should be an adventure in itself.”

Just because the players returned with a large haul of jewellery, gems, and who-knows-what doesn't mean they are rich. Give them XP, and then let them figure our how to liquidate all that wealth in a world where most don't earn a single gold coin in a single year.

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Last year I collected 143 most recommended Dragon articles into a reading list. Given the size, I divided them into three collections: Player Advice, Judge Advice, and Setting Advice.

Now I'll begin reading the first collection, Player Advice, with the intention of noting anything interesting and worthwhile. I plan to share my notes as I go, since others might benefit from them.

Here is the table of contents for the Player Advice collection:

• Player Advice
  • What good PCs are made of: Play characters with more substance than statistics (Katharine Kerr, Dragon 96)
  • Notes From a Semi-Successful D&D Player (James Ward, Dragon 13)
  • Be aware and take care: Basic principles of successful adventuring (Lew Pulsipher, Dragon 79)
  • Assessing, not guessing: How PCs can make their own value judgements (Lionel D. Smith, Dragon 104)
• Characters
  • The six main skills: What AD&D game abilities mean in real terms (Jefferson P. Swycaffer, Dragon 107)
  • Realistic vital statistics: A new system for figuring heights & weights (Stephen Inniss, Dragon 91)
  • Short hops and big drops: Here's how far and how high characters can jump (Stephen Inniss, Dragon 93)
  • Sight in the Darkness: An open-eyed look at infravision, the Underdark, and your PCs (Roger E. Moore, Dragon 211)
  • The 7-Sentence NPC: A new way to bring nonplayer characters to life (in game, that is) (C. M. Cline, Dragon 184)
  • A new loyalty base: All the tables you need, all in one place (Stephen Inniss, Dragon 107)
• Equipment
  • Swords Slicing into a Sharp Topic (David Nalle, Dragon 58)
  • Enchanting Weapons: Putting the “Magic” into Magical Weapons (Mike Nystul, Dragon 243)
  • Always Wear Your Best Suit: Making armor and weapons unique for all characters (Gordon R. Menzies, Dragon 148)
  • In Defense of the Shield: Shield-using skills in the AD&D game (Tim Merrett, Dragon 127)
  • Two Hands Are Better Than One: A handy guide on handling weapons (Donald D. Miller, Dragon 127)
  • Different Totes for Different Folks: Basic backpacks for every D&D game adventurer (Vince Garcia, Dragon 191)
• Magic
  • “Oops! Sorry!” Spell interruptions can spell disaster (Donald Hoverson, Dragon 163)
  • Spells between the covers: Details for delving into magical research (Bruce Heard, Dragon 82)
  • The Laws of Spell Design (Ted Zuvich, Dragon 242)
  • Paths of Power: A variant magic system for the AD&D game (Wolfgang Buar and Steve Kurtz, Dragon 216)
  • The Color of Magic: Specialized spells for D&D game spellcasters (Dan Joyce, Dragon 200)
  • Even Wilder Mages: If your wild-mage PC isn't strange (Joel E. Roosa & Andrew Crossett, Dragon 202)
  • Good stuff for a spell: Magic focusing: a new dimension for possessions (John M. Maxstadt, Dragon 111)
  • Charging isn't cheap: How to make and fix rods, staves, and wands (Peter Johnson, Dragon 101)
  • The Mystic College: Magical academies for AD&D game sorcerers (James A. Yates, Dragon 123)
• Psionics
  • Psionics is different... And that's putting it rather mildly (Arthur Collins, Dragon 78)
  • Overhauling the system: A three-part remedy for problems with psionics (Robert Schroeck, Dragon 78)
  • And now, the pscionicist: A class that moves psionics into the mainstream (Arthur Collins, Dragon 78)
  • Spells can be psionic, too: How and why magic resembles mental powers (Kim Mohan, Dragon 78)
  • Psionics: Sage advice (Dragon 78)
• Procedures
  • Credit where credit is due: Elaborating upon the experience-point rules (Katharine Kerr, Dragon 95)
  • New charts, using the 5% principle (Lenard Lakofka, Dragon 80)
  • You've always got a chance: Using ability scores to determine success or failure (Katherine Kerr,  Dragon 68)
  • When the rations run out: Characters don't live on hit points alone (Paul Hancock, Dragon 107)
  • Wounds and weeds: Plants that can help keep characters alive (Kevin J. Anderson, Dragon 82)
  • Good Hits & Bad Misses (Carl Parlagreco, Dragon 39)
  • Magic resistance: What it is, how it works (Penny Petticord, et al, Dragon 79)
  • A Hero's Reward: The hero-point system for the AD&D game (Leonard Carpenter, Dragon 118)
  • The fighting circle: Gladiatorial combat in the AD&D game (Dan Salas, Dragon 118)
  • High Seas: Ships, fore and aft, in fantasy gaming (Margaret Foy, Dragon 116)
  • Same dice, different odds: Divided rolls add variety and uncertainty (David G. Weeks, Dragon 94)

More to come soon...

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