================================================================ || || || DRAGONQUEST Newsletter October 1994 || || || || Volume 1 / Number 8 || ================================================================ The DQ Newsletter is for discussions of the DragonQuest role playing game. The key addresses you need to know are: Philip Proefrock (Editor, Article Submissions, Etc.) psproefr@miamiu.muohio.edu ***** NOTE: New e-mail address for Distribution Coordinator ***** * * David Nadler (Distribution Coordinator) * nadled@uh2297p01.DaytonOH.NCR.COM * ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** Drake Stanton (FTP Site Coordinator) drache@netcom.com All articles are copyrighted property of their respective authors. Reproducing or republishing an article, in whole or in part, in any other forum requires permission of the author or the moderator. The DragonQuest Newsletter also maintains an ftp archive site: [ftp://ftp.netcom.com/pub/drache] which includes back issues of the newsletter and other articles of interest to DragonQuest players and GMs. ----------------------------------------------------------------- C O N T E N T S ================================================================= Administrivia - Dave Nadler Editorial - Phil Proefrock Letters -- Joe Gregg -- Andrew Carter & Daniel Allbutt -- Joe Gregg {The BEASTIARY does not appear this month. We need submissions! Send a description & stats for new DQ creatures to: psproefr@miamiu.muohio.edu -- ED} Cold Iron Debate -- from rec.games.frp.misc Hand-to-Hand Combat Skill -- Dave Leuck Column: DQ ARCHIVE ----------------------------------------------------------------- A D M I N I S T R I V I A ================================================================= Hello all. If I got off my duff and did the "right" thing, I'd set up this mailing list to work from my AoL account. Instead, I'm using my companies e-mail and PC abilities (can you say "misappropriation of corporate fiduciary responsibilities"). Well, this causes a teeny headache every once in a while. I've been moved to a new corporate e-mail server, which has caused my e-mail address to change here. My new address (already incorporated in the netletter header) is: nadled@uh2297p01.DaytonOH.NCR.COM Please route all future correspondence to this address, as mail forwarding doesn't exist for my old e-mail address, and anything sent there is lost forever. p.s. This newsletter is almost a month old, so my apologies to the subscriber base and to Phil "Ed" for the delay. ----------------------------------------------------------------- EDITORIAL: Questions ================================================================= Is anyone out there a journalist? There are a few questions I'd like see someone ask TSR about DragonQuest. DragonQuest has been a "dead" game for more than ten years (when SPI went out of business; TSR's 1989 zombie release did virtually nothing to revitalize the game) but despite the lack of any commercial support, there is still interest in the game, and now even a newsletter on the Internet. But what is the present status of DragonQuest? TSR has no interest whatsoever in doing anything more with the game. They have gone so far as to release a completely unrelated game (I haven't seen it myself, but I'm told it is a kiddies game, not a role-playing game) under the name "DragonQuest," to make sure that the game SPI developed stays buried. For those of us who still play DragonQuest, we want to know what is going on with the game. Does TSR intend to keep DragonQuest (the role-playing game) buried? Does TSR, in fact, still own the role-playing game, since they have published another game under the same name? Is a "Fourth Edition" of DragonQuest, such as that which Joe Gregg and others have discussed, a possiblity? Or could another company come in and buy the rights to DragonQuest? If you interested in interviewing someone at TSR, and then letting the rest of us know what they have to say, I think everyone reading this newsletter would be interested in what you learn. If you have an account on one of the commercial networks where TSR has a corporate presence, and you want to pursue this on behalf of the DQ Newsletter, get in touch with me (just so that we don't have several people doing this; I don't think it would be useful to have several people all asking the same questions). We're all looking forward to seeing what you find out. {Since there are just a small number of people who read this newsletter, if you _are_ interested, please do get in touch, otherwise, no one will end up doing this. --ED.} ------------------------_L_E_T_T_E_R_S_-------------------------- ================================================================= {This is from a letter from Joe Gregg updating his group's efforts with regard to a "Fourth Edition" of DragonQuest. --ED.} We are not sure we want to emphasize a *commercial* effort. The DQ group here is like many of the others contributing to your newsletter. Therefore, we are more likely to build a fourth edition to be made available in the DQ repository. We may get as fancy as creating artwork for it. We may even build WorldWideWeb Mosaic pages for it, or ask others to help on that. In short, we are *eager* to provide teasers. Most of our ideas are best expressed in teaser form right now. By providing an out-line of our intentions, perhaps we could even allow a vote by newsletter readers on choices we are faced with. The meat of our possible efforts has yet to come. After all, we are still arguing about most of it ourselves. One of my own additions is about to get the boot because it unbalanced the game. What I see us giving you is an outline of the rulebook. There will be enough detail on most of the items to give the readers some basis for comment. Meanwhile, if you wish to tell them something, mention the possible formats we could publish: a) Hardcopy rules booklets b) Repository text files c) Web files (not for real time play, of course) For options b & c, the readers would be invited to contribute appropriate artwork. We would expect to pay for artwork in option a. We would also hope people would then buy the product! Right now, none of us are prepared to become a semiprofessional publisher & promoter. Option a is thus unlikely. Joe -- Joe Gregg (gregg@espresso.boeing.com) ----------------------------------------------------------------- Please refer to my idea in the DragonQuest Newsletter v1n2 in regards to the DragonQuest Magazine. Rather than a hard copy at this stage, I believe an internet version would be viable. It would be "free", the same as the Newsletter is. My Newsletter would exclusively be devoted to DragonQuest Adventures thereby I am hoping to compliment the Newsletter already in circulation. Your thoughts would be appreciated on how I would get the first issue out - should it be after a notice in the newsletter which would mean that interested parties would send the request to Daniel and then he would send them the Adventure magazine? Andrew Carter & Daniel Allbutt. PS: Just a quick note... I was wondering if you know of any Programs available for DragonQuest to help with Character Generation and/or DQ combat? Maybe a note on the newsletter will generate a response?? {And here it is for everyone to comment on. I think this would be a useful thing to post to the ftp site, if you have developed something like this. Keep your eyes on the Archive column in this Newsletter for news of new things available. --ED.} If not, I will begin work on them myself - firstly concentrating on a combat program to speed things up a bit and then a Character Generation program to help GM's and players alike generate their characters. - Daniel. -- Daniel Allbutt (dallbutt@st.nepean.uws.edu.au) ----------------------------------------------------------------- Philip, I produce two newsletters myself. Getting people to contribute quality stuff regularly is a pain. It has to be done. Congratulations for making the DQ Newsletter work! Joe -- Joe Gregg (gregg@espresso.boeing.com) ----------------------------------------------------------------- COLD IRON DEBATE (from rec.games.frp.misc) ================================================================= {Some of you may have seen this already; in fact, some of you participated in this. I am reprinting this discussion both for the benefit of those who did not see this previously, as well as to open the discussion to the DQ-playing community. How restrictive are you about the 'cold-iron doctrine' in your campaign?} ***Subject: DragonQuest mages and iron ... ***From: bjd12@cus.cam.ac.uk (Ben Davis) In DQ, mages can't do any magic if they're in contact with cold iron (fair enough - fairly standard rule). Unfortunately, last weekend, there was an escallation in the arms race in my campaign. One of the players decided to stock up on weak necked barded iron arrows. Now, as far as I read it, if a mage gets hit by one, and it penertrates armour, they're in big trouble. Major trouble. Like no magic, on the spot, exit the mage stage left. This has kind of irritated my mages, especially the NPC ones, who are having a real hard time of it now. (She'd started using iron arrows as a matter of principle against all my poor innocent mages, but barbed weak necked ones seems to have really hit a spot ...) Anyone come across this sort of (distinctly unsporting, IMHO) behaviour. What I could really do with, I think, is some sort of arms race reply by mages, but none springs to mind. Its probably all that food. ========================================================================= ***Subject: Re: DragonQuest mages and iron ... ***From: crawford@clark.net (D.Schubert) The iron restriction on mages is just a left-over from the sillyishnes of DnD(tm). I allow "mages" to use iron. No big deal. Your problem gone away. Most mages still don't use lots of armor in my campaigns tho, 'cause more armor = more fatigue, and fatigue does impact spell casting. ========================================================================= ***Subject: Re: DragonQuest mages and iron ... ***From: c_king@cc.colorado.edu WHAT? "Just a left-over from the sillyishness of DnD(tm)"? I beg to differ! D&D makes it rather clear that it is not iron which blocks the flow of mana (or whatever), but that mages "don't know how to wear armor" and that it "interferes with movement and somatic components," etc. A DQ mage cannot use a cold-iron dagger because it is made of *iron* -- a D&D mage can, because he "knows how" and it doesn't "interfere with movement". Just a leftover? No way...DQ adepts are restricted from using cold-iron weapons and armor to give a certain advantage to non-adepts (since there is no penalty for choosing to be an adept upon creating a character), and to restrict the use of magic (which is certainly *not* the spirit of D&D). >Most mages still don't use lots of armor in my campaigns tho, 'cause more >armor = more fatigue, and fatigue does impact spell casting. What do you mean? If you are referring to loss of fatigue from carrying the extra weight, perhaps ... but you must have some *very active* adepts running around! Other than that, armor *preserves* Fatigue if anything, by preventing its loss in combat... ========================================================================= From: psproefr@miamiu.muohio.edu (Philip Proefrock) Subject: Re: DragonQuest mages and iron ... The 'cold-iron' restriction is not a throwback to D&D, but to an even older and more revered source: historical beliefs. The people who wrote DragonQuest paid a fair amount of attention to folklore and myth, especially English/Irish. The concept of iron (symbol of technology) and magic as contradictory forces goes back a long long ways. As for the problem of maintaining a reasonable and playable level of balance in my campaign, I require more than just a couple of arrowheads to shut down a mage. A couple of ounces is all that it takes, but that's quite a few arrowheads. (One javelin, however, probably IS enough cold-iron to stop a mage, in my opinion.) A mage cannot wear a dagger, or iron armor, and iron shackles are a really good way to slow down a captured mage. But, in the interest of reasonable play-balance, I don't think you can read this rule too restrictively, or you completely undermine the mage and upset the balance of your campaign. {As a followup to this, it was pointed out that the DragonQuest rules state: "The amount of cold iron that will prevent an Adept from using his powers is relatively small, but not minute. Generally, no more than a few ounces is sufficient to prevent the workings of all but racial Talent Magic." [29.1] --ED} ----------------------------------------------------------------- HAND-TO-HAND COMBAT -- Dave Leuck (ldml@kbbs.com) ================================================================= 100. Hand-to-Hand Combat Hand-to-Hand Combat is a special fighting skill which is learned like a skill in terms of the monetary cost of instruction and Experience Point requirements, but is treated like a weapon in terms of the time required. (see DragonQuest 87.3, 87.5) Hand-to-Hand Combat is not a replacement of the existing Unarmed Combat (DQ 21), but is a more refined skill version of the same. Experience Point costs for Hand-to-Hand Combat are identical to those for Merchant [100.1] A hand-to-hand fighter needs strong Physical Strength and Endurance characteristics. If a character's Physical Strength or Endurance value is less than 15, increase the Experience Point cost to improve the skill by 10% for each characteristic less than 15. At Ranks 0-5, if the character's Physical Strength value is 21 or greater, decrease the Experience Point cost to improve the skill by 10%. At Ranks 6-10, if the character's Endurance value is 22 or greater, decrease the Experience Point cost to improve the skill by 10%. If the character's Rank in Unarmed Combat is greater than the character's Rank in Hand-to-Hand Combat, the character decreases the Experience Point cost to learn the latter by 10%. [100.2] The Base Chance of performing a strike with Hand-to-Hand Combat is (2 x Modified Agility) + 20. The damage caused by a successful strike is [(D-3) + 1 per 3 points of Physical Strength above 15] + (Rank/3). If the attacker's fists are mailed or a cestus is worn (or other hand hardening at GM's discretion) and the defender is not wearing armor, add +1 to the damage. If the strike is made with the character's secondary hand, the Base Chance is reduced -5. Beginning at Rank 4, the attacker also learns to make kicking attacks. The Base Chance of performing a kick with Hand-to-Hand Combat is (1.5 x Modified Agility). The damage caused by a successful kick is [(D-3) + 1 per 5 points of Physical Strength above 15] + (Rank/2) This can also be used to make a Trip attack, using the normal rules. (See DQ 16.5) [100.3] Hand-to-Hand Combat can be used against a non plate-armored defender. If the character is using bare hands (no gloves) against a defender in scale or chainmail, the attacker suffers one point of Fatigue damage for each successful hit. (At the GM's discretion, some forms of natural armor may have a similar effect.) Hand-to-Hand Combat can only be used against a figure wearing plate armor if the attacker's fists are mailed or the character is wearing cestus. [100.4] In combat, when effective damage is done by a Hand-to-Hand attack, there is a chance the defender may be struck unconcious. The percentage chance that a defender will fall unconscious is (1/2 of the effective damage) + (1/3 of all cumulative damage from Hand-to-Hand combat). Example: If Maxmillian has already taken 10 points of damage from Hand-to-Hand Combat and then is struck for another 6 points of effective damage, there is a [(1/2 x 6) + (1/3 x 10)] = 6% chance that the blow will render him unconscious. A character using Hand-to-Hand Combat to try to perform a Knockout (DQ 16.5) against a figure who is not wearing metal armor increses his chance by 1% per Rank. There is no bonus for attacks against figures in metal armor. [100.5] Beginning at Rank 7, the attacker may make 2 attacks per Pulse. There is no penalty for this multiple strike. However, combining Hand-to-Hand Combat with other weapons is subject to normal multiple-strike penalties. The attacker may not combine a hand strike and a kick in the same Pulse unless that character has an Agility value of 22 or better. [100.6] A figure who knows Hand-to-Hand Combat may try to damage an opponent who has a strangle hold on him. The Base Chance for this attack is equal to the character's Physical Strength + Modified Agility. The damage caused by this attack is equal to that caused by a normal Hand-to-Hand strike. [100.7] A figure gains an additional defense against a Restrain attempt (DQ 16.5), if both hands and arms are free (i.e. no weapons in hand). At Ranks 0-2, increase the figure's defense by 1/5 of the character's Physical Strength value. At Ranks 3-5, increase the figure's defense by 1/4 of the character's Physical Strength value. At Ranks 6+, increase the figure's defense by 1/3 of the character's Physical Strength value. -- Dave Leuck (ldml@kbbs.com) ---------------------_D_Q_ _A_R_C_H_I_V_E_----------------------- ================================================================= [Archive ftp site is at: ftp.netcom.com in the pub/drache directory. Archivist and ftp Guru: Drake Stanton (drache@netcom.com)] Title of Archive ARCHIVE NAME: crypt.zip 1.0 Introduction "Crypts of the Dark Ones is intended for five to eight characters of mixed Mercenary and Adventurer level. "The adventure proper will take from 20 - 30 hours of gaming time and the characters will have to apply problem solving skills. This is not a 'hold the party's hand as we go through the dungeon' adventure. It will take all the skills that the characters have and all the intelligence also to complete it." -- An adventure set in the Forgotten Realms. Rescue a Lord's daughter from a fell creature which has kidnapped her. This adventure is also posted on the AD&D Archive at ftp.mpgn.com. (Courtesy of David Lind, dlind@synoptics.com) *****Announcement from the Archivist***** Hello, this is your friendly archive keeper. As you may have noticed, the structure of the archive has changed a bit. It will continue to change, with the addition of subdirectories. This is because if everything goes right, we will get a lot of new material soon. To keep it all straight, I will categorize submissions into their appropriate subtypes. There is already an Adventures subdirectory, where all adventures will appear. There will be others, perhaps a Colleges directory, Skills directory, News directory (for the Newsletter back issues), and a Miscellaneous directory. Eventually, everything should be in a subdirectory. Keep watching the README files, I will keep them updated with information about the layout of the archive. And as always, any questions can be directed to me at drache@netcom.com. Happy DQing! ******************************************** {The name "rgfm.notes1.Z" is the correct name for the file discussed in last issue's Archive. It is now available in the Archive --ED.} ############################################################## ### End of DragonQuest Newsletter v1/n8 -- October 1994 ### ##############################################################