Ares #10 DragonNotes A Regular Feature For DragonQuestPlayers By Gerry Klug With this issue of Ares, I take over the writing and responsibilty for DragonNotes. The great advantage of being able to write a bimonthly column is that I can communicate with the DragonOuest playing public directly and offer help, suggestions, information, and guidance for all you hardy souls who play what I consider to be the number one FRP game on the market. First, let me introduce myself. By the time you read this, some of you will have seen my name mentioned in the credits for Universe (elsewhere in this issue you will find an article on that game by me) and realize I am involved in science fiction role-playing. But DragonQuest players will not know why I came to inherit this column and take over the spiritual guidance of the DragonQuest line of products. Being a role-player for five years prior to beginning work for SPI, I played many games including D&D, AD&D, The Fantasy Trip, Traveller, En Garde, Gamma World, Runequest and Boot Hill. My emphasis has always been in fantasy role-playing, however, and I was in the process of attempting to design my own game when SPI released DragonQuest. Rapidly I discovered DQ was the best game available and thought SPI might need freelance adventure designs. I offered to do one and they accepted my offer (you will find the results of that assignment in this issue, titled The Camp ofAlla-Akabar). The relationship was cordial and mutually agreeable, so they offered me a staff position to work on the new SPI science fiction roieplaying game, Universe. After a while it became obvious I was the person most familiar with DragonQuest (being the only person here who actually played it regularly) and I was then assigned to write this column. I enjoy DragonQuest immensely, playing the game twice a week. I GM a campaign which has existed since September of last year, and play characters in a friend's campaign which was started last August. Hopefully my experience with the game and the information I have garnered since working at SPI will aid us all in enjoying the game even more than we do now. Recently I attended Michicon, a convention sponsored by Metro Detroit Gamers in Rochester, Michigan. This was my first opportunity to communicate directly with loyal DragonQuest players (and other role-players in general), and also their first chance to let me know their feelings about the game. The message to me was loud and clear: give us more support material (adventures, supplements, etc.) and re-design the original cumbersome combat system. On both counts we are proceeding rapidly. As this column is being written, I am in the midst of a redesign of the combat system, which will replace the old one by the third printing of DragonQuest and should be ready some time this fall. Reaction to the combat system has been good and blind test copies are going out shortly. The third printing means a few very good things: 1) DragonQuest has sold about 15,000 copies in one year and sales continue to rise, 2) it will probably appear in the stores in a new form, as a hard bound book, 3) massive addenda.changes will be incorporated into the new printing. All this became possible because the popularity of the game continues to grow, and I feel very strongly this is because of the enthusiasm the regular DO players are communicating to the "unbelievers." Keep up the good work! Among the upcoming supplements and adventures are Steve Jackson's World Generation and Paul Jaquay's Enchanted Wood, both due out in the fall. Since they have been described in this column before, I won't talk about them again, save to say they are both tremendous designs. Also, we are actively soliciting freelance adventure designs and are continuing the design work for Alusia follow-ups as well as boxed city, boxed world, and the DragonQuestll projects. I feel this column should be a way of disseminating additional rules material to Dragonquest players. Although the rules are certainly not errata free, most GM's I talked to found their own answers to rules questions within the books which already exist. What concerned them most was additional material and rules not covered in the original game which they felt was desperately needed. In partial answer to their request, below is another adventure skill, Horsemanship. This skill is treated in all respects as Stealth, and will appear (in a slightly revised form, thanks to the combat system changes) in the next printing of DragonQuest. [83.41 An adventurer will use horsemanship to direct animals which he rides. An adventurer may use his horsemanship with any animal or monster which he would ordinarily ride (such as horses, donkeys, camels, elephants, etc.). Enchanted or Fantastical monsters do not necessarily fall into this category, and the GM must make rulings governing these situations. The character's player will roll percentile dice whenever his horsemanship is called into play, A character's horsemanship is equal to [(Adjusted Agility+Wilipower)/2+ (Rank x 8)]. In the above equation, round all fractions down. The type of mount a character is riding will modify his horsemanship as follows: Donkey - 10 Mustang - 12. Quarterhorse - 0 DireWolf 1 Draft Horse - 5 Palfrey + 15 Warhorse - 5. Camel - 15 Mule -8 Pony + 10 Elephant - 10 An * indicates a negative modifier unless animal is trained by the rider; in that case, the modifier is 0. The GM should also take into account the familiarity the character has with the individual animal type and apply modifiers thereby (e.g., the first time a character finds himself atop a camel should be worth at least an additional - 15). A character's horsemanship is called into play whenever he wishes his mount to perform an unusual or difficult action. Also, in every Pulse in combat a horsemanship roll must be made. Any mount can be directed into moving at a walking pace or even a brisk trot; an unusual or difficult action would be to break into a gallop (or charge), turn sharply around, come to a halt once goaded into a gallop or charge, jump an obstacle, etc. During combat, horsemanship is called into play during every pulse to: a) keep the mount controlled, b) regain control if it is lost, and c) direct the mount to take any specific Action, whether Maneuver or Martial. Remember, %only a Warhorse can be directed to enter into Close Combat by its rider, and all other mounts will attack only if directly assaulted. A successful roll (equal to or less than the modified percentage) will result in the mount obeying the directions of the riders. A roll above the modified percentage but less than the modified percentage + the rider's Willpower indicates the mount either does nothing or continues to do whatever it was doing. A roll above both of these indicates the mount will either disobey the rider, buck, attempt to throw the rider, or some other unpleasant result. The actual occurrence must be decided by the GM and should become worse the farther the roll is above the modified percentage. , If the GM judges the rider has totally lost control of his mount, the rider may take no other action until he has regained control (presuming he managed to stay mounted). Using horsemanship costs no Action Points while in combat unless no other Action is taken that Pulse, in which case use constitutes a Pass Action. A trained horseman receives certain abilities as he rises in Rank: Rank 3: Pays normal Action Point cost for Martial actions Rank 5: May use weapons of 2 readiness points Rank 7: May use two weapons at once Horsemanship has a maximum Rank of 10 and an Experience Multiple of 125. Every adventurer has it at Rank 0 when beginning play. Rising in Rank is accomplished as Stealth (see 87.6, paragraph 2). When I read the rules for DragonQuest for the first time, I was astounded they had left out (overlooked?) overland movement rates. How did one get from point "A" to point "B?" Aportation? Elevators? Subways? So, one of the first things I did was create an overland movement chart which I have used ever since in my campaign with little modification. What changes were made concerned mounted movement rates, for which I consulted Al Nofi once I began to work at SPI; he provided me with extremely valuable information regarding strategic cavalry movement throughout history. Thus, I believe the accompanying Overland Movement Chart is accurate not only in a "fantasy" sense (working in a campaign) but in a "historical" sense as well. Some of you are undoubtedly asking, "Why do men on horses move at the same rate as men on foot?" Well, it has been shown historically that while horses can indeed move much faster than a man in short bursts, over the long haul the amount of movement evens out. The greater speed is neutralized by the fact horses have to stop and water, graze, etc., while humans need to stop less often. [83.51 OVERLAND MOVEMENT CHART RATEOFEXERCISE TERRAIN LIGHT MEDIUM HEAVY STRENUOUS Cavern 5/- to/- 15/- 20/- Field 15/15 25/25 30/40* 35/50* Marsh(1) -/- 5/5 10/10* 15/15* Plain 15/15 25/25 30/401 40/50* Rough(2) 10/5 15/10 20/15* 25/- Waste(3) 10/5 15/10 20/10* -/- Woods(4) 10/5 15/10 20/15* 25/- Number before the slash indicates movement in miles per day on foot; number after indicates mounted movement (assuming horses). Rates for other animal types must be adjusted by the GM. The day assumes a total of 8 hours marching. The effects of adverse weather must be adjudged by the GM. Notes: -: That type of movement at that particular exercise rate is impossible. 1: Movement rates assume some sort of passable terrain; total swamp is impassable except by canoes (sometimes). 2: If terrain is mountainous, halve rates on foot and prohibit mounted movement. 3: If terrain is desert, the GM should apply strictures regarding effects of heat, dehydration, etc. 4: If terrain is deep woods, halve the movement rates. *: In these rate of exercise categories, the horses' rate will deteriorate 33% per day. They can travel at these rates for approximately 4 consecutive days and then they will die. Any paths or roads negate the effects of other terrain and the Plain movement rates are employed when using them. The main advantage in mounted movement is that the rider does not get nearly as tired and can perform some tasks at the end of the journey; treat the rider of any mounted beast as expending Fatigue at a rate one less than normal (i.e., a rider mounted on a horse which is moving in the Heavy column himself loses Fatigue in the Medium column). In the next issue, I will talk a little about Character Generation, Experience Points and Treasure.