================================ || || || DRAGONQUEST Newsletter || || -- Volume 1, 1994 || || || ================================ ------------------------------------------------------------------ NOTE: This file contains all of the 1994 DragonQuest Newsletters. ------------------------------------------------------------------ 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 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/dr/drache] which includes back issues of the newsletter and other articles of interest to DragonQuest players and GMs. ################################################################### ===================================================================== || || || DRAGONQUEST Newsletter February 1994 || || || || Issue 1 / Number 1 || ===================================================================== Welcome to the first issue of the DragonQuest Newsletter. Right now we're just getting things worked out, and formatted, and things like that. We'll see how the contents are received, what sorts of things you want to see, what sorts of things you want to send in for us to include. Feedback, feedback, feedback! Let us know what you want to see in this newsletter, and how you want to see it presented. And to encourage everyone to send in some comments, we have: The DRAGONQUEST Newsletter contest!! How about a name for this thing? Can someone come up with a better name for the newsletter than the DRAGONQUEST Newsletter? Send in your suggestions, and if there's a good idea we'll use it and rename (name it to begin with, more like...) the newsletter. To give you an idea of how many people may still be playing DragonQuest out there, we have almost 30 subscribers to the newsletter! And that's just based on one posting to rec.games.frp.misc announcing that we were going to try to start up a newsletter for DragonQuest. And of the curren subscriber base, more than 2/3 of that number are people who are the only representatives of their gaming group on the 'Net. If you assume each of those people plays DragonQuest with 3 other gamers, that's 120 DQ players we're reaching. Remember, though, that that is just the people who still play DragonQuest who have access to the 'Net. There may be hundreds more out there who aren't connected to the 'Net, or who didn't see the announcement about the Newsletter, yet. Another intersting DragonQuest item came from the letter Joe Gregg sent me along with asking to be signed on to the Newsletter. He has some contacts who are looking into buying the rights to DragonQuest from TSR and republishing it under a new name (subtitled "Formerly known as DragonQuest") in what would be a fourth edition for the game. I've edited the relevant parts of Joe's letter and included it in this newsletter, so rather than trying to further describe what he wrote, I'll let you read it for yourself further on in the newsletter. Lastly, we need your input for this newsletter. Send articles for the newsletter to: psproefr@miamiu.acs.muohio.edu --------------------------------------------------------------------- Weapons Rule Variant The following is a small way to add a little more flavor to your campaign. It doesn't do much, but I found that in my campaign it was something the players really responded to. It can get out of hand, but a good GM should be able to keep this all in check. PSP WEAPON HANDLING (Optional Rule) Depending on their construction, wear, and use, some weapons of a given type may feel more comfortable to a character than others. Each weapon has its own character, and the GM may elect to introduce this feature into play by allowing each weapon a modifier for its Handling for each individual. [WH.1] Each individual who handles a weapon may determine its feel for his particular use of that weapon. To determine a weapon's Handling for a particular individual, roll 2D5 and consult the following chart: Roll BC Modifier 2 -3 3 -2 4 -1 5 0 6 0 7 0 8 +1 9 +2 10 +3 While it may not be at all unusual for a character examining daggers at the bazaar to handle several to compare their heft, the GM should discourage players from swapping weapons around among themselves to see whose hand it best fits. After all, if someone finds a weapon they like, they're going to keep it for themselves, even if it fits someone else's hand better. [WH.2] Only certain types of weapons will reasonably have noticeable Handling characteristics. Only swords, hafted weapons and pole arms should have a modifier for Handling. The GM need not apply this rule in all cases and should use his discretion to keep this rule from turning the purchase of each and every weapon into the search for the absolutely best fitting sword hilt. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Is a DragonQuest Revival Possible? --- Joe Gregg We have an active playing group of DQ fans here in Seattle. Our playing groups range in size from 4 to 11, counting the GM. Boeing has a recreation club, the Boeing Employees Wargame Club, which provides most of the participants as well as a forum for them. There are three different groups meetings each month. We have played long enough to have begun our own rewrite of some of the game parts. We have bought & come to consensus about incorporating each of the changes in editions 1, 2, & 3, along with the TSR module that introduced shaping and summoning magic. One of us is director of research at Wizards of the Coast (WotC). That has led to an interesting possibility. It's pretty clear that TSR does not intend to revive DQ as a game system. After all, they've named a line of AD&D products "Dragon Quest". We were encouraged to submit a proposal to WotC to produce a 4th edition. They would look into acquiring the rights from TSR and the right to subtitle any books as "formerly known as DragonQuest". We aren't being subsidized - all the work is unpaid, for the love of it. We have started the project, barely. We are open to com- ments and suggestions. Our intentions are to tweak the combat system, add a fourth branch of magic and four colleges within it, and improve character generation and rank achievement. If you want us to expound upon this so readers of your newsletter can intelligently react, let us know. Joe Gregg ---------------------------------------------------------------------- New Skill: FENCING --- Larry Barry The decreasing use of armor toward the end of the 16th century led to thee increasing use of the sword for defense as well as attack. A fencer is a swordsman who has been trained to effectively use his sword as a defensive as well as an offensive weapon. A fencer must have a modified Agility of a least 15, and a Manual Dexterity of at least 20, to practive his skill. He must be armed with a broadsword, rapier, sabre, or cutlass. If his fencing skill exceeds his rank in his prepared weapon, he receives his fencing bonuses as if he were the lower of the two ranks. 1) A fencer may perform a strike and evade action in a single pulse. When using this option, his strike chance is normal, and his defense is : [ Modified Agility + (3 x Fencing Rank) + Shield Bonus (if any) ] If an opponent performs a Strike Check against a fencer using this option and misses his Modified Strike Chance by 30 or more, the fencer may attempt a parry-riposte as per 17.4 in the rulebook (2nd edition). 2) When performing a normal melee attack action (not a Strike + Evade), a fencer receive a bonus of [ 1 x Fencing Rank ] to his Strike Chance. 3) When performing a normal Evade Action (not a Strike + Evade), a fencer receives a defensive bonus of [ 1 x Fencing Rank ]. 4) The experience point cost for the fencing skill is the same as for Mechanician. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- That will do it for this first issue of the DragonQuest Newsletter. Next time we'll try to have a little more content for you. A note of thanks to the contributors for their submissions. We need your notes/variants/ rules/monsters/magic/etc. in order for this to be useful and interesting, so send us something! We would also like to see some discussion begin about DragonQuest, so send your questions (as well as feedback about this issue) to: psproefr@miamiu.acs.muohio.edu ###################################################################### ### End of DragonQuest Newsletter -- February 1994 ###################################################################### ===================================================================== || || || DRAGONQUEST Newsletter April 1994 || || || || Volume 1 / Number 2 || ===================================================================== C O N T E N T S Administrivia --- Dave Nadler Letter FROM the Editor --- Phil Proefrock Letters -- Kelly Grant "Re: Weapons Rule Variant" -- Joe Gregg "More about republishing DragonQuest" -- Daniel Allbutt and Andrew Carter "A DragonQuest Magazine" ===================================================================== "Administrivia" --- Dave Nadler Phil (a.k.a. "Ed") has outdone himself this time. In an effort to make up for the "Missing March Edition", Phil has produced an April edition of considerable size. I'm breaking up the April edition into a couple of "printings" so no one's e-mail capabilities are overloaded. You should be receiving over the next week issues v1n2 (this one), v1n3, and v1n4 which will make up the entirety of the April publication. Confusing? Yes. So why am I doing this? Other mailing list administrators have advised keeping a mailing to around 15K in size. Dave Nadler (a.k.a "Ad" the Administrator) --------------------------------------------------------------------- "Letter FROM the Editor" --- Phil Proefrock We are continuing to get subscription requests, so the momentum is building. Hopefully those of you who have been in touch with this since it first was begun haven't completely burned out on the idea since it has been coming a little slowly, so far. That was, hopefully, just a one time thing. For those of you who don't know, I am a graduate student in architecture (my secret identity) and I had the opportunity to go to Luxembourg over my spring break to participate in a project being sponsored by the government of a community in Luxembourg as part of my studio. Preparations for this, plus being out of the country for more than two weeks, all helped to keep the March issue from happening in a timely manner, so it has become the April issue. My apologies to those of you who eagerly check your email to see if any new DQ material has arrived. I know I said I'd try to do this monthly, but circumstances will sometimes interfere. I've also had some inquiries about using the material we are distributing in this Newsletter in other publications (club news-letters, etc.). Although the copyright of the individual authors should be respected, I would imagine most of the authors will gladly welcome a chance to have their work distributed to a wider audience. If you want to reprint an article, I recommend that you contact the author through the 'Net. I will start including the author's email address at the end of their articles for easier reference, although they are also included in the header. David Nadler is our resident expert on Internet protocols and precedents, so I'll ask him to add any other points he feels may be relevant. We also would not mind having a reference to the DQ Newsletter made in your reprint of any article distributed here. The more people who know about what we're up to here, the better. [I'm in strong agreement with Phil's recommendation to get permission from an author BEFORE publishing any submission or letter or anything from this newsletter. Commercial or potentially commercial ideas are being discussed here, and we need to respect the rights of the authors - Ad] Likewise, if there are non-'Net-connected DQ players who want to participate by sending hardcopy of their material, I will gladly consider it for the newsletter (and I'll type it in myself to get it in to the newsletter, if need be). I am also willing to receive DQ related material for review in future issues. My s-mail address is: Philip Proefrock 625 McGuffey #291 Oxford OH 45056 USA (I will also add as a parenthetical note that anyone who playtests any of my rules or variants and sends me some useful feedback, I will add you to the playtesters acknowledgements, should that supplement ever get published.) --------------------------_L_E_T_T_E_R_S_---------------------------- >From Kelly Grant: "Re: Weapons Rule Variant" [Some other material edited] Secondly, I'd like to reply to an article. Can there be a letters page included in the newsletter? I don't mind if people want to respond to my letter via email. [And here it is. I think that feedback and discussion are going to be the lifeblood of this newsletter, so please, do write. I certainly welcome the feedback, and I'm sure the other authors are also interested in how their ideas are received as well. --Ed.] Thirdly, Weapons Rule Variant. Does the Modifier apply to the percentile chance to hit with the weapon or the damage the weapon does? +3 to the damage seems an enormous bonus, if it is the case, given that weaponsmiths take years of time to make weapons that give an equivalent bonus. More details please. I quite like the idea of wearing in a favourite weapon, or pickin up a complete dud. Kelly [That's exactly what I had in mind with this variant. I've had a lot of success with this in my campaigns, and some characters who have developed a real affinity for certain 'favorite' weapons. But I obviously goofed in not making it completely clear that these are modifiers to Strike Chance. (Not to damage or IV or anything else). Sorry it was unclear. -- Ed.] --------------------------------------------------------------------- >From Joe Gregg: "More about republishing DragonQuest" WotC is a startup company that hit it big with one product, the "Magic" card game that's just come out in the last year or so. Each player has a deck that they have thrown together from card sets they purchased or won from other players. Cards are for mana sources, spells, or monsters that can be summoned. Play consists of draws from your shuffled deck, and plays from your hand. Careful attention must be paid to having mana sources available to power your spells (you can even tap the other player's sources). There's quite a bit of thinking that can go into it. But a lot isn't required. That's probably more than you wanted to know. Let's just say that WotC cleared over a million bucks with this product expects to do a lot better this year. We do have "The Shattered Statue" module. We found it somewhat distasteful that third edition DQ bowdlerized the original, and likewise that the Rune and Shaping magics were less than wonderful. We set about correcting what we didn't like, as everyone wants to do. We came up with four branches of four colleges each. That way there was a branch in opposition to some other branch. It also made sense to set some colleges in minor opposition to each other. Finally, we put shaping and summoning into "greater knowledge" available to every college. Hmm, sounds weird. Here are the details. EE | Illusions--- THAUMATURGIES ---Mind | Naming Earth . Starlight | . | Fire-- ELEMENTAL --Water . . . . . . Lunar-- CELESTIAL --Sun | . | Air . Stardark Necromancy | Shadow--- ENTITIES ---Rune | Black Once a mage has mastered his/her college, then one of the two paths of Greater Knowledge are open to him/her. Mastery occurs at some reasonable level - we have selected Rank 10 in all General Knowledge and Rank 6 in all Special Knowledge. As an aside, we allow research at a slightly lesser level of mastery. Greater Knowledge is exclusively either Shaping or Summoning. We allow the given spells and rituals for Shaping and either the old Greater or the new Lesser Summoning, given in the various TSR materials. Our reasons for doing this are from our analysis of what a viable society would have produced. If only Shapers can make investment receptacles, then they are either enormously in demand or are hunted and enslaved. Given the time requirements listed in "The Shattered Statue", a human Shaper would learn the college by age 16, gain Ranks and new magic over a decade, and die of old age and Endurance loss by the time one major artifact could be produced! Similar reasoning applied to Summoners. We found limits that were logical in allowing summoning based upon one's original college (animals associated with your bent, etc.), up to the demon-summoning of self-deluding fools. To be more specific would be to use up a lot of net bandwidth. Okay, I hope that has whetted your appetite as well as satisfied some of your curiosity. Joe (gregg@espresso.rt.cs.boeing.com) --------------------------------------------------------------------- >From Andrew Carter: "A DragonQuest Magazine" Greetings from Australia! Enclosed are contributions that the GM's of our group wish to make to this newsletter. [Those will be appearing in a forthcoming issue. --Ed.] I only just recently joined, with my character "Wittya" - an Illusionist mage. Luckily I have access to Internet from Uni so I was able to find out about this newsletter. I had been putting up notices about DQ on Role Playing BBS's in Sydney but with no result. Anyway, as you will read below, the players in our group are happy about this newsletter (GM's especially!). I hope it continues. Daniel Allbutt. Here is Andrew Carter's contribution: - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Hi Phil, Dave and fellow DQ Players. I received your February Newsletter last night from one of our group who has access to the internet. I couldn't disbeleive it! (I checked as Wittya is an Illusionist). Nope! It's still here. I am still recovering from reading it! There ARE more of us around. I knew there was, I just didn't know how to contact others. What a brilliant idea this newsletter is. Let me support you all the way. Our group has played DQ ever since we obtained First Edition in, I think, late 1980. Most of our group has been together some 15 years. The majority of time was spent playing DQ. We played ADD for about a year or so until this new game called DragonQuest came along. That ended our ADD days. After playing DQ for so many years, through three editions, we decided to switch to Rolemaster. Having no new feedback and always having to convert modules, source material, etc, took its toll on our GM's - including me. We always played weekly, so there was a lot of work for our GM's. We still play Rolemaster weekly, however a few of us couldn't give DQ up! We actually went for nine months without playing it! Some of us in the group (including myself) now play DQ every second week along with the weekly now-Rolemaster original group. We also quite often have the ex-DQ players of our group "drop in". With input from your newsletter we could start weekly gaming again with DQ. 2 NIGHTS A WEEK! My wife will kill me! AAH! But it will be worth it. Our new group is "DQ - The next generation" as new players have now joined! I will certainly spread the word of your newsletter here in Australia. I would also like to get your thoughts on production of a DQ Module Magazine similar in setup to TSR's Dungeon Magazine but only catering for DQ modules. This has been a personal frustration to me - always having to convert modules. I don't always have the time or the imagination to constantly create my own. This Magazine of mine would cater only for modules and closely related material. I would in no way want to compete with this newsletter. I'm behind it 200%!! As I said before it would be similar in concept to TSR's Dungeon Magazine, but exclusively DQ. Phil, Dave, Joe Gregg and anybody else - What are your thoughts? Would any of you buy it if it were cheap enough and good enough? Would any of you send me original DQ dungeons? If so, SEND THEM NOW. Is this type of magazine any use? Could it compliment this newsletter? If arrangements could by made would anybody sell, on a commission basis, copies at Conventions, especially GEN CON? These are just some of the thoughts going around in my head at the moment. The concept has been in my mind for the last two years. The first issue could be ready as easily as late June. Maybe even earlier. My final consideration of course is copyright. I want to produce the first edition stating clearly this is _not_approved_ by TSR and TSR owns "DragonQuest DQ" and TSR is in no way linked to me. I will also send TSR a copy of all the published issue. I hope by doing this they will not 'close me down' if the concept works. I am also a bit concerned about my idea's impact on Joe Gregg's discussions with TSR regarding the purchase of the DQ Rules. I want in no way to jeapordize this. Joe, I have written you a message on here. If you have any concerns please contact me and let me know. I would love to see any revival if DQ this newsletter and my mag could be part of it. Would anybody please send any thoughts or comments. I don't care if they are positive or negative - I'm open to both. Above all, if you like the concept, send me original DQ modules or concepts. Please include an international postage coupon if you want a reply. I hope to receive maximum submissions and to constantly pay postage would be a burden. I'm sorry to ask this but I only have one wage to split between a Wife and five children (YES five - got to do something other than work DQ! :) I will try to pay as much as I can for published modules if the mag gets off the ground. So send ideas to me! Now! Long live DragonQuest and this Newsletter! signed ANDON THE GREAT (Arch Ensorcelor and Enchanter) BTW: I sometime live in a fantasy world called Earth under a character name of ANDREW D. CARTER. POSTAL ADDRESS: Andrew D. Carter 27 Fuller Street Mount Druitt New South Wales 2770 Australia write c/o: dallbutt@st.nepean.uws.edu.au (please mention at start of letter that the message is for Andrew) #################################################################### ### End of DragonQuest Newsletter -- April 1994 (part 1 of 3) #################################################################### ===================================================================== || || || DRAGONQUEST Newsletter April 1994 || || || || Volume 1 / Number 3 || ===================================================================== C O N T E N T S Administrivia --- Dave Nadler Letter FROM the Editor --- Phil Proefrock Movement Rules Variant -- David Lind Shield Rule Modifications -- David Lind ===================================================================== "Administrivia" --- Dave Nadler As usual, I have succeeded in confusing people. I mentioned in the last transmission (v1n2) that the April newsletter was coming in three parts (v1n2, v1n3, and v1n4). I received a letter from David Lind (dlind@synoptics.com) asking: "Just recieved the new DQ newsletter but I was wondering how many have there been. I recieved the first on then this one. Has there been another that I have somehow missed?" My reponse was: "There have been 2 DQ newsletters published to date, plus an announcement of a newsletter being established. The newsletters have an identification scheme by volume and number, much like a magazine or newspaper. We are currently Volume 1 (the first year of production). Issue Number 2 was just sent. This is referred to in the header as v1n2 (volume 1, number 2). The next issue you will receive [this issue - Ad] will be Volume 1, Number 3 (v1n3), and continue from there. Thanks for asking for the clarification." I'll work with Phil to better coordinate future issue numbering. Remember, we're going to have some startup problems so please bear with us. Thanks. Speaking of problems, I'm unable to get the letter through to John Kahane and Eliot Wilen. Anyone out there who knows one of these two? If so, can you ask them to send me their address again. Dave Nadler (a.k.a "Ad" the Administrator) --------------------------------------------------------------------- "Letter FROM the Editor" --- Phil Proefrock Thanks to all who sent in ideas for the name for this thing. They were good ideas, but none of them blew me away. And at this point, wouldn't a real name be just a little too pretentious? It's just a little electronic newsletter, after all. --------------------------------------------------------------------- "Movement Rules Variant" --- David Lind Variant 1: Sprinting during tactical phase In combat, the movement rules do not take into account running or sprinting. The base TMR is always used. This is not realistic in the sense that a person can walk at a leisurely pace and in one pulse (5 seconds) a person can cover 25 feet or more (that is a TMR of 5+). Triple or even four times the base TMR can easily be made on a dead straight-ahead sprint (ie. no vector changes during the sprint.) The rule variant is simple, a character can jog (2X TMR) at any time in the tactical phase of the game. A run ( 3X TMR ) can also be attempted but a maximum of one hex side of changing facing may be attempted. A run also means that the character running must move at least 1/2 of his/her TMR on the next pulse with no change of facing. An all out sprint (4x TMR) may also be attempted, but no change of facing may take place, and the character must move is/her full TMR on the next pulse as well, also with no change of facing. A figure using the accelerated movement rules at a rate higher than a jog (2x TMR) must also move his/her full adjusted TMR for that pulse. Failure to do so ( for whatever reason, maybe a wall in the way?) will result in a severe AG roll to be made. ( The figure will at least go tumbling to the floor.) A figure that is moving at an accelerated pace may still close and grapple, but if not repulsed the figures involved will be thrown back 1 - 3 hexes and take D-5 damage due to the jolt of hitting the ground. If the figure who is closing is repulsed then the figure will fly past the target, hitting the ground from 1-3 hexes from the target, and also taking D-5 damage. If the character is carrying in weight the equivalent of -3 to AG then only a jog may be attempted. Weight AG modifier of -2 allows the character to run and a AG modifier of -1 or less allows the full range of accelerated movement. A character weighted down with an AG modifier of -5 or greater may not use the accelerated movement rules. Also, armor itself limits the effectiveness of accelerated movement. Armor agility modifications of -1 allow movement up to a run, -2 allows a jog and a -3 agility modifier disallows any accelerated movement. The restrictions are listed in the following tables: Weight Maximum Modifier Rate -1 No Restrictions -2 Run -3 Jog -5 Regular TMR only - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Armor Maximum Modifier Rate -1 Run -2 Jog -3 Regular TMR only In other words, if a character is using Improved Plate ( AG mod of -3 ), that character cannot use the accelerated movement rules. Also, if a character is wearing Leather Armor (AG modifier of -1) but is physically weak ( weight modifier of -3 ) the maximum rate is jog. This variant represents the fact that during a running maneuver in a short period of time it is hard to stop on a dime (as represented by the movement on the following pulse) and the faster you run the more difficult it is to change direction quickly (the change facing rules). Also it is shown here that excess weight slows down a character and thereby limits the effectiveness of moving faster during the tactical phase. A figure may not attempt accelerated movement if engaged or if rising from a kneeling or prone position or after a combat withdrawal, although a figure with a very high agility may be able to move at jog pace ( GM's discretion). Movement at a jog pace is equivalent to light exercise, a run is moderate exercise and a sprint is heavy exercise. There is a fatigue cost per round or per number of rounds to engage in this type of accelerated movement. The GM may let a character who wishes to stop suddenly or change facings more quickly or even attempt a movement rate that is not allowed by making an AG roll with a multiplier appropriate to the situation. (i.e. A character wants to run straight down a corridor with no facing change, but is limited to a jog, a 4x AG roll is needed, but if the character wanted to change facing, then the roll will go down to a 2X AG roll. A wide range of results are applicable from not succeeding to breaking a characters ankle.) Modification to rule 14.1: Movement through a figures melee zone The rule states that a figure that moves into a melee zone must stop all movement but may change facing. If a figure is walking during the tactical phase ( normal TMR ) this rule holds true, but if a figure is moving using the accelerated movement variant the figure's built up movement inertia will carry the figure past the figure whose melee zone was violated. The following is the modification: The figure moving through a hostile figure's melee zone will be subject to an immediate attack (if the hostile figure is able or chooses to attack). The defender's natural defense is used, but no shield defense is allowed. This attack is in addition to a character's normal attack. If the moving figure is hit and becomes stunned, the moving figure will still move past the character a number of hexes as dictated by the speed of the moving figure, but the moving figure will stand a great chance of falling prone to the ground, as well as being affected by the results of the stun or grievous injury. David Lind (dlind@synoptics.com) --------------------------------------------------------------------- "Shield Rule Modifications" --David Lind Variant 2: Ranks with Shield, for attack and for defense The current rules show shield as being able to attain Rank 4. This is for both combat and defense. This variant splits the skills for shield into attacking Ranks and defending Ranks. For attacking the Ranks are unchanged, Rank 4 maximum but for defense the experience and Ranks are as follows: Rank 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Sh. Attack 25 25 50 100 200 -- -- -- -- Sh. Defend 25 50 100 200 400 600 1200 2400 4000 As listed, the shield used as a defensive tool will advance to Rank 8 while the shield used as a bashing type attack can reach Rank 4. The maximum defense from a tower shield is 48%, this is realistic, for if a shield is used in a skilled manner, it is very hard to hit the target squarely to inflict damage. Rank 4 with this shield only gives 24% and with the base chances of good weapons and high Rank a figure will almost certainly hit. For example: A character with an average AG and a max. Rank tower shield will have a defense of 63 (48% shield + 15% AG) and he is attacked by a bandit lord with a hand and a half sword as a weapon and an average MD but max. Rank, he has a strike chance of 103, his adjusted strike chance is 40%, but if the shield only had a maximum Rank of 4 then the strike chance will go up to 64%. This is not a realistic value. Remember that this is with a tower shield. Most characters will use a round shield type so even at max. defensive Rank the bandit lord will have a 64% strike chance, compared to the max. Rank of 4 adjusted strike chance of 76%. The bandit will hit a skilled user of a shield more than 3/4 of the time! David Lind (dlind@synoptics.com) #################################################################### ### End of DragonQuest Newsletter -- April 1994 (part 2 of 3) ### #################################################################### ===================================================================== || || || DRAGONQUEST Newsletter May 1994 || || || || Volume 1 / Number 4 || ===================================================================== C O N T E N T S Administrivia --- Dave Nadler Craftsman Rules Variant - "Edmund" Martial Artist Skills Variant - "Edmund" ===================================================================== "Administrivia" --- Dave Nadler Well, I'm back from the time warp. Unfortunately I miscalculated my return and missed the past three weeks thereby causing a delay in issuing the third part of the "April" edition. THIS IS PART 3 of the April Edition, so no you didn't miss a netletter since v1n3 (part 2 of April edition). Sorry about the delay. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go work on the date calculator in my time machine. Dave Nadler (a.k.a "Ad" the Administrator) --------------------------------------------------------------------- "Craftsman Rules Variant" --- "Edmund" [This variant is by "Edmund" and was forwarded by John Lambert. It appears to be pretty much just a derivative translation of some DD rules (I must admit I actually don't know enough about DD anymore to recognize whether or not it is derivative) for use with DragonQuest. I think a better approach could be developed specifically for DragonQuest, but I must admit, as well, that I have my own variant for crafts skills, so I am biased here. Nonetheless, this does present a way to deal with crafts skills and to regularize how these skills might be handled in your campaigns. And you may find some of the commentary amusing, too. I have left the numbering "Edmund" used in place, although that would put these rules into the Common Land Mammals' section of my copy of DQ --Ed.] 66.81 A craftsman may choose one ability field when he/she reaches the following Ranks: 0, 2, 5, 8, 10. Instead of selecting a new field, the character, if so desired, may 'specialize' in one area of that ability . ie if he were a potter, he may wish to specialize in making vases . A specialist adds [Rank] to all chances of success . Armourers and Weapon Makers add [1/2 Rank] chances to success however . Here is a list of following ability fields . Armourer , Blacksmith, Bowyer/Fletcher, Brewer, Carpenter, Cobbler, Glassblower, Leather Worker, Seamstress (Tailor), Stonemason, Weapon Smith, Weaver. 66.82 A craftsman can discern for flaws in any item he has an ability field in. For example a potter he could detect for flaws in any item made of clay. The craftsman spend (11-Rank) minutes to detect a flaw and assay its worth (see 66.83). The chance of discovering a flaw is [ [4 x Perception] + [7 x Rank] - [2 x Creators Rank] ]% . Eg Drannor, a Rank 5 Craftsman who has the Weaponsmith ability and a Perception of 10, has a [ 4 x 10] + [7 x 5] - [2 x 2] ] or a 71% to detect any flaws in a weapon manufactured by a Rank 2 Craftsman. 66.83 A Craftsman (while checking for flaws) can assay the value of any item he has an ability field in. Assume the Craftsman is a Merchant of equal Rank, and use the Merchant's assaying rules (ignoring the language restrictions). An example of common, uncommon, and rare goods are as follows: Common : A dagger or horseshoe (etc) . Uncommon : A rapier, or a vase from a different country . Rare : A katana (assuming craftsmen in pseudo - medieval setting) or a suit of antique partial platemail. 66.84 A craftsman must be able to read and write at least one language before attaining Rank 8. Failure to do so increases the experience cost by 10% 66.85 Certain races gain a bonus to chances of success in certain fields. Dwarves add [Rank] to all chances of success involving ability fields to do with metal and stone. Orcs add [1/2 Rank] to all chances of success involving Weaponsmithing. Elves add [Rank] to all chances of success involving Bowyer (bows only), Armourer (When making chainmail), and Tailor. Fire Giants add [Rank]% to all chances of success in any ability involving metal. 66.86 Everyday items have a chance of being flawed. The chance is [10 - Rank]%. If the craftsman has specialized in that item, then divide his bonus by 3. All items have a 1% chance of being flawed. 66.87 A craftsman can attempt to make an item that is exceptional, or uncommon, or of quality (enough to be 'endowed' by magic). To do this, he must resort to a 'Creation' roll. The craftsman can make ordinary items in his chosen ability fields without having to resort to a creation roll . Items such as saddles, jugs, plain sheets of common glass, common work boots etc. But if the craftsman wished to make an exceptional piece eg a saddle commissioned by a noble, a detailed tapestry, an exceptional wine, an extra sharp sword, a roll is required. The chance for success is [ [1/2 x Manual Dexterity] + [1/2 Willpower] + [Rank x 8] ]% . If the GM feels the item would be exceptionally hard to make (say a medieval Weaponsmith attempting to make a katana) then a subtraction of 1 - 25% may be applied. Exceptional items receive ( [base selling price] x [2 x Rank] ). 66.88 The following notes are regarding Craftsman ability fields Armourer : An armourer may make scale mail, chainmail, and partial plate without having to resort to a creation roll . To make full plate and improved plate a creation roll is required. To repair armour, a creation roll is also required (a failure means the item will withstand 1 hit, then revert to its original damaged state). Thus a craftsman attempting to make an exceptional suit of improved plate, would have to make two 'creation' rolls . (One for the armour another to make it exceptional). A flawed item (ie one that failed an 'creation' roll) would mean a reduction of [ [10 - Rank]/5 ] protection rating of the armour. An exceptional work would gain a bonus of 1 protection every 4 Ranks and a reduction in the armour's weight by [5 x Rank]%. Blacksmith : Can make items such as horseshoes, basic tools, supports, and grappling hooks without having to resort to a creation roll. A creation roll would be needed for items such as intricate wrought iron cages, clockwork devices etc. A flawed item (one that failed its creation roll) would break after [Rank] days. Bowyer / Fletcher : A Bowyer chooses to be either a Bowyer, or a Crossbowman. If a player wishes both, an ability field must be sacrificed for it. A Bowyer can fashion all kinds of bows and crossbows, shafts, and fletch arrows. However a blacksmith or weaponsmith would be required to fashion metal arrow heads. If an fletcher wished to cast his own arrow heads, a creation roll would be needed for every batch (say 30 arrow heads) . Exceptionally crafted bows gain a bonus of (2 x Rank) to range, and a bonus of [Users PS - 15]/3 ] to damage. Flawed works (those that failed creation rolls) will break after [Rank] uses ands its range reduced by [ [10 - Rank] x 2 ]. Flawed arrows break on impact, and reduced the SC by [10 - Rank]% . Brewing : Craftsman practiced in the arts of brewing alcohol. A creation role is needed to duplicate another craftsman's formula, or to create an exceptional batch (or new formula). Flawed works mean the alcohol is contaminated, and the batch either goes off (and is undrinkable), or its gives the drinker stomach cramps. "Er gee Conan, didn't you like that ale, well I'm sorry then, look ... don't pull out your sword we can sort this out ARRRRGGGGGGHHHH" Carpenter : This ability involves any woodworking jobs, ie cabinetry, joinery etc. A creation roll would be needed if the proper tools were not available, or upon building a complicated wooden device (such as a catapult). If a mechanician is not available (the 'engineers of DQ) then if the craftsman were building a house, then a creation roll would be needed. Flawed items break after [Rank] uses. In the case of larger constructions, the GM's discretion is applied. Cobbler : Making boots, and shoes etc. A creation roll would be required for items such as nobles footwear, waterproof boots etc. Leatherworker : Fashion stuff from leather such as backpacks, saddles, sacks etc. A leatherworker can also make leather armour . However if this is not done in conjunction with a craftsman skilled in the armourer ability, a creation roll would be required. Flawed works fall apart much earlier than expected . Pottery : Fashion items out of clay, such as drinking vessels. A creation roll would be required for 'artworks' and heavily glazed items etc. Flawed works are much more fragile, and prone to breakage. Seamstress (Tailor) : The craftsman can design pieces, sew, embroider, and do ornamental work. Creation rolls would be needed for items such as weatherproof cloaks, nobles clothing etc. Flawed works are more prone to fall apart, tear, let in the weather etc. "Look Conan, I'm sure it must have been embarrassing having your loincloth fall apart in a fight, but we can work some---- Uhh" [Thud] Stonemason : The craftsman can build stoneworks that are designed to withstand the passage of time . Items such as buildings, archways, bridges, cathedrals, etc. Items such as statues or intricate stonework require a creation roll. Large scale works will require the aid of a mechanician or a creation roll will be needed. If the craftsman is attempting to create an exceptional large scale construction, then take the average of the craftsman's Rank and the mechanician's Rank (the same applies to carpenters). Flawed works are likely to 'wear' out in a much shorter time span. They will also fall apart more easily after taking punishment; eg a dragon sat on it, a fierce storm etc . Weaponsmith : Perhaps the most desired by players of all the ability fields. Craftsmen with this ability can do the difficult and exacting work of making metal weapons . A creation roll would be needed if making an uncommon or unusual weapon : eg a broadsword with a hidden compartment in the hilt, or a rapier. Exceptional works add [Rank/4] to damage and [Rank] to the strike chance. Flawed works break on a 91+ . and do [ [10 - Rank]/5 ] less damage, and subtract [10 - Rank] from the strike chance. Weaver : can fashion items such as garments, tapestries, and draperies, from cotton or wool . A creation roll is required for items such as intricate tapestries etc. Flawed works fall apart, tear, and wear more easily. 66.89 A craftsman must spend (100 + [50 x Rank]) silver pennies per ability field and specialization a year. This sum represents tools, and basic materials, and a place in which to work. Assume that 20% of the final selling price of the items crafted was spent on materials, and extra overhead. A craftsman who does not spend the above amount, operates as if he were 2 Ranks less proficient in that ability field . If the Rank of that ability field is reduced to a negative number, then that skill is temporarily lost . Experience Point Costs : Same as astrologer or Rank 0 = 400, Rank 1 = 150, Rank 2 = 500, Rank 3 = 1150, Rank 4 = 2050, Rank 5 = 3100, Rank 6 = 4400, Rank 7 = 5900, Rank 8 = 7500, Rank 9 = 9400, Rank 10 = 11500 . NB A) If the character is more proficient as a mechanician, then the cost to rise in Ranks in craftsman is halved . The reverse is also true B) If the character is a member of the shaper college, the cost to rise in Ranks in craftsman is halved . The reverse is NOT true. C) A dwarf need only pay three - quarters the experience cost to rise in Ranks in craftsman. D) The experience point cost to rise in Ranks is increased by 10%, if the ability fields principle stat is less than 15. The cost to rise in Ranks is decreased by 10% if the ability fields principle stat is greater than 22 . The principle stat is fairly logical. PS would be then principal stat for blacksmith, MD for a seamstress etc. Notes The descriptions for the ability fields are a direct rip off TSR's 2nd Edition Players Handbook . This is freely admitted. "Edmund" (via John Lambert) --------------------------------------------------------------------- "Martial Artist Skill Variant" --- "Edmund" [This is another submission of "Edmund's" material forwarded by John Lambert. It is another adaptation of DD rules for use with DragonQuest. I think the general sentiment among _all_ DQ players is that the present unarmed combat rules do not completely meet our needs. Certainly some form of advanced hand-to-hand combat rules are called for in the game. The modularity of the DQ system would even allow for several different forms of unarmed combat with different rules for the different methods. I expect that we will see more unarmed combat variants in forthcoming issues of the newsletter as well. --Ed.] This is essentially an adaption of E.Gary Gygax's "Oriental Adventures", published by TSR in 1985 . To understand this adaption a copy will be needed (sorry but there is an awful amount of text involved). Essentially this is what martial arts does. Increases a characters defence, increases damage as he/she progresses in Rank, adds 'special maneuvers' and gives a higher number of attacks. The base strike chance of martial arts is 3 x Mod Agility and the base damage modifier is -4. Defence : Martial arts will increase a characters defence due to the fact that a lot of martial arts is leaning to avoid being hit. To find out the defence modifier of the style, subtract the ADD armour class from 10. Then multiply this by the characters Rank. This defence bonus is halved when fighting with weapons not associated with the style. EG Karate in the 'Oriental Adventures' has an Armour Class of 8. This subtracted from 10 gives 2 . Tim the Rank 5 martial artist is karate has a 10% bonus to his defence when using martial arts, or a 5% bonus to his defence in normal melee (or any) combat. Damage : The base damage modifier for martial arts is the same as it is for unarmed combat, -4. However (depending on the style) this will increase as the character becomes more proficient. To find out when a characters 'damage' increase, subtract the maximum amount of damage (in ADD) terms from 11. The result is the Rank where the damage a character can inflict starts to increase. EG Karate does (ADD) 1d6 points of damage . 11 - 6 = 5 . When a character advances to Rank 5 in karate, for that Rank, and every Rank increase after that, the characters damage modifier will increase by one. Tim the karate character who is Rank 5 has a damage modifier of - 3 . When he is Rank 6 his damage modifier will be - 2 , and so forth up to Rank 10 when his damage modifier is equal to + 2. EG (2) Tae Kwon Doe does 1d8 points of damage . 11 - 8 = 3 . When a Tae Kwon Doe martial artist reaches Rank 3, his damage modifier increases by 1. Thus at Rank 10, his damage modifier is equal to + 4. Attacks : Convert the number of attacks per round to the number of attacks per pulse the character can make without any penalty. EG Karate does 3 attacks per pulse . In ADD karate does 3 attacks per round. Principal Attack : The character can only attack if the principal body part listed is free to move. If hindered but capable of some movement, reduce the number of attacks/pulse divided by 2 . Also give a - 20% modifier to SC. EG a karate dude needs his hands free to attack . If one of his hands happens to be hindered (lets say it just got severed) then he could attack (but 'hindered' as above) . If his hands were in manacles then he could not attack, period. Okay now comes the fun part, the special maneuvers . Special maneuvers are difficult to learn an master . Consequently the character can only start to learn special maneuvers at Rank [10 - Number of special maneuvers] . When he (or she) reaches the Rank where special maneuvers are to be gained, he will gain one of the special maneuvers listed for that style. The next Rank a new special maneuver will be learned and so forth until they are all learned (by Rank 10). However take it as a general rule that special maneuvers cannot be learned until at least Rank 3. The special maneuvers are to be gained in order (as per oriental adventures). EG Karate (Again) has a total of 6 special maneuvers . 10 - 6 = 4 . oops here we have an error !!!! . From no on special maneuvers are gained at [11 - Number of special maneuvers] . There that's better . Karate has 6 SM's. 11 - 6 = 5 . At Rank 5 the first special maneuver will be gained. At Rank 6 the second SM will be gained and so forth until they are all gained (At Rank 10) Oh yeah, this is optional, but in regards to stunning opponents assume the damage modifier was doubled . ie Tim does - 3 damage at Rank 5. When in combat in regards to stunning he has a damage modifier of (-3/2) - 1. Sur the Rank 10 Tae Kwon Do master has a normal modifier of + 4. With regard to stunning it's + 8 . Will that's about it, I think. Experience Cost : The same as astrologer (Or if the GM wishes the same as spy). Each style must be bought separately . ie If Tim wishes to learn Tae Kwon Do he must gain Rank 0 in Tae Kwon Do and so forth . However if a martial artist has a style of a greater Rank than another style, experience costs to progress in the lower Ranked style are halved until the same Rank is reached. Sue wishes to learn karate . Her cost to progress Ranks is halved until Rank 10 ('cause she is a Rank 10 Tae Kwon do person). If a character has an agility or willpower (or both) of less than 15 . Then the experience cost to progress Ranks is increased by 10% . (20% if both less than 15) . If their agility or willpower is greater than 22, then their cost to progress Ranks is decreased by 10% (or 20% if both over 22). I know this is vindictive against dwarves (cause of their low agility) but when was the last time you saw a dwarven black belt (Okay, Okay, Puck from Marvel Comics "Alpha Flight" is an exception). Any problems just mail me . Edmund PS I would like peoples comments on this honestly, and you wont get an ear in the mail if you do. John says: "There they are; all that I've found so far. Also, I have no idea what Edmund's email address is." "Edmund" (via John Lambert) #################################################################### ### End of DragonQuest Newsletter -- May 1994 (part 3 of 3) ### #################################################################### ================================================================ || || || DRAGONQUEST Newsletter June 1994 || || || || Volume 1 / Number 5 || ================================================================ ---------------------------------------------------------------- C O N T E N T S Editorial -- Phil Proefrock Letters -- Drake Stanton -- John Kahane -- John Kahane Gambling Skill -- Kelly Grant Announcing the DragonQuest FTP Archive -- Drake Stanton ---------------------------------------------------------------- EDITORIAL: Phil Proefrock I am still trying to work out the details of the format for this newsletter. I am more used to desktop publishing than this form of mere data concatenation, and it is hard to get things as clear and workable as I would like to be able to. We will be experimenting with the format of the newsletter over the next few months. Your comments on the format of the newsletter (as well as all other submissions of material) are requested. You will notice that we have a third personality added to the masthead. Drake Stanton has helped get a DragonQuest FTP site setup, and will be serving as the FTP administrator. See the enclosed article about this for more information. ------------------------_L_E_T_T_E_R_S_------------------------- From: Drake Stanton (drache@netcom.com) Subject: "DQ Archive, DQ republish, and Future Submission" First, I am glad to see this project get off the ground! I was a little worried when only one newsletter showed up and no more came. But, it looks like there are enough DQ fans out there to keep this going. Good work guys! I was wondering if there is an archive available for past issues of this newsletter (as well as other DQ stuff, like Arcane Wisdom!). If not, I may be able to provide such an archive at my site. Also, I recently saw a Usenet posting saying that someone had bought the copyrights for several SPI boardgames (I don't remember who, or what company). Have you heard anything about whether or not this will effect SPI's role-playing systems? Or any more about the effort to republish DragonQuest? Finally, I am working on a submission to the Newsletter that should be finished "real soon now". It is a suggestion for handling Priests in the DragonQuest system (the biggest hole in an otherwise elegant game). Should I do anything special to submit this (besides mailing it to you, of course) like special heading, formatting, etc.? Once again, kudos to you for this idea! Bye! Drake [Note to all: Drake's letter prompted some discussion between Drake and Dave and I. The end result is that, with Drake's help, we now have an FTP site for back issues, large articles, and so forth. See the enclosed article for more details. -- Ed.] ---------------------------------------------------------------- From: John Kahane (John.Kahane@p5.f198.n163.z1.fidonet.org) Subject: "RE: Martial Arts Skills and Craftsman Rules Variants [v1n4]" Hullo, Phil! I've been a player and GM of DRAGONQUEST for well over 13 years now, having been running this game since it first came out in 1980. (Long time, huh? ) I was delighted to hear of the DRAGONQUEST Newsletter that you've got going and am pleased to tell you that I've read all four issues of the Newsletter that have come out. To this point, I've been rather pleased with the material that I've read in the newsletter, but there has been nothing really earth-shaking about it. One of the things that you should bear in mind is to present material that enhances the game in various ways. I was disappointed to see the article on the Martial Arts in Issue #4, since it was nothing more than a rip-off of material from TSR's product. While the author of said piece acknowledged this, I feel that this kind of piece doesn't fit all that well into the world of DRAGONQUEST for a variety of reasons. One of the main reasons that the guys at SPI didn't bring martial arts into the roleplaying game was because they wanted to avoid some of the stuff that other game companies were doing at the time. Personally, I feel that martial arts as a skill doesn't really belong in DQ, since the game is more traditional in its fantasy approach. The article that dealt with Craftsman skill was one that I was interested in; I've been working for a long time on something for that particular skill, given that my DQ campaign is one that's been going on for quite some time, but I came up with a slightly different approach. I am considering sending you that one for submission to the Newsletter, but don't know whether I can get it to you through the Fidonet-Internet gateway. Any thoughts on this? [HELLO!! Call me nervous, but let's make sure this doesn't develop into a 'flame-war'. An opinion was expressed here about an idea, not a person, so no one should take offense. Please do respond, but keep the discussion focused on the idea. - Dave"Ad"] That said, I think you're doing a super job on the Newsletter, and both you and David should be congratulated on your efforts. Keep up the good work, guys! John ---------------------------------------------------------------- From: John Kahane (John.Kahane@p5.f198.n163.z1.fidonet.org) Subject: "DQ articles in Dragon Magazine" Once again, I thought that I would drop you a line to let you know what a wonderful job you've been doing on the DRAGONQUEST Newsletter. But I do have a couple of queries that I'd like to present to the folks out there. Back before TSR decided to drop the game system like a hot potato after they bought it from the collapsing SPI, they published several articles on the game in Dragon Magazine. This is the one thing that I need to complete my collection of DQ material, and some of this stuff is vital for me to obtain, since it would aid in my campaign right now. Does anyone out there have these articles, and if so would they be willing to make photocopies for me of each and every one of them? I would be willing to pay for these copies, and the mailing costs of course. John ---------------------------------------------------------------- From: Kelly Grant (grantk@insted.unimelb.edu.au) Subject: "Gambling Skill" Here is a short article that you might use, detailing a new adventure skill. GAMBLING Gambling is a skill which may be used by players to while away an evening between adventures or which may be pursued as a semi professional skill as a means of turning a profit. Gambling includes games of chance and skill, such as cards and dice, but can be extended to any situation where a calculated bet can be made, based on knowledge of the odds. 1.0 A players skill is equal to (Rank x 5 + Perception). 1.1 In cases where a gamble is made more on chance than skill, the G.M. may be required to make a judgement as to whether a player character has sufficient knowledge to make a calculated judgement and may modify their success chance as a result. 1.2 Using the gambling skill, a player receives the following bonus/penalty on games of skill, such as cards: If they are a healer with ranged empathy +10% If they are a courtesan with feign emotion +10% If they have a dexterity of 15 or more +1% per point above 14 If they have a dexterity of 10 or less -5% 1.3 A player with the gambling skill is proficient in games of cards and dice. Cards The player knows the rules and rules variants for all common card games. In addition, from Rank 3 on they can shuffle expertly and deal a loaded deck. The chance that they will sucessfully deal a loaded deck is equal to (Rank x 5 + Manual Dex + Perception)%. The chance that they will perceive being dealt a loaded deck is equal to (Rank x 5 + Perception)%. Their game partners have the same chance to notice that the deck has been stacked. Dice The player knows the rules and rules variants for all common dice games. In additon, from Rank 3 and on they can manufacture and detect loaded dice. The chance that a player can make a set of loaded dice which are not immediately noticable is equal to (Rank x 5 + Manual Dex + Perception)%. The character's chance to recognize that a set of dice is loaded is (Rank x 5 + Perception)%. In both cases, dice or cards, the presence and detection of either loaded dice or a rigged deck of cards is sure to lead to violence. 1.4 Players may find themselves bitten by the gambling bug. The more often players indulge in gambling, the likelier they will become addicted to the thrill of risk and chance. As a rule of thumb only, players who settle into an evening of gaming and fail a Willpower x 5 should be told that they feel an urge to test their luck or recover their losses. If they play on and fail another willpower roll, they begin to gamble more and more obsessively. The worse the failure on their willpower check, the more likely they are to take bigger and bigger risks. Players may pull out of this spiral by making a big win (add +10% to their next Willpower roll). By the end of an evening they could either be fabulously wealthy, with drawn daggers all around or, if the gaming has been disasterous, have incured serous debts. This could provide the opportunity for an interesting adventure. 1.6 Alcohol and gaming don't mix very well. For that reason, many gaming houses provide free drinks! Players who are knocking back the beer or spirits will become more and more careless when gaming, and may be read more easily by other gamblers. Drunk players loose their bonuses, if any, and their Rank with gambling is halved (round up). 1.7 The profit, if there is one, from a nights gambling, is for the G.M. to determine. It will depend largely, however, on what the player is willing to risk and what those they are playing with have to loose. In a low dive pub, a few coppers might be a good nights profit. In a fancy salon, a gambler might walk away with the title deeds to a house. 1.8 The gambling skill may be bought at a cost of 150 exp per rank. Kelly Grant ---------------------------------------------------------------- From: Drake Stanton (drache@netcom.com) Subject: Announcing the DragonQuest FTP Archive I have enabled access for the ftp archive. After some deliberation, I have decided to keep the Arcane Wisdom material in. However, I have put a copyright disclaimer in the README file. The following are the instructions for use of the archive: To access the archive, ftp to ftp.netcom.com. Type "anonymous" for a login, and your complete e-mail address for a password (if using ncftp, this is not necessary). From there, cd to pub/drache. The README file will tell you what is in the archive and other important information. The best way to tell people about this is probably to put an announcement in the next issue of the newsletter. Be sure to include the above paragraph in that announcement. Please note that the archive is currently READ ONLY! That can change if necessary, but for security reasons I would prefer to leave it as it is. Any submissions directly to the archive can be e-mailed to me. Also, if anyone has information about how I can make this accesable via gopher/archie/WWW, I would be interested in knowing. Of course, any questions/problems with the archive should be directed to me. Happy DQing! Drake - - - - - - - - - README from the ftp site: This ftp directory contains the following: **aw.XX -- The playtest version of SPI's Arcane Wisdom supplement for their DragonQuest fantasy role-playing game, rules section XX. NOTE: This was produced, but never published, by the folks at SPI. Some of this material appeared in a modified form in the Third Edition of DragonQuest, Copyright 1989 by TSR, Inc. Its appearance here should in no way be considered a challenge to that copyright. **news.announce -- The initial announcement for the DragonQuest Newsletter, an electronic forum for fans of the DragonQuest fantasy role-playing game. **news.vXnY -- Volume X, issue number Y of the DragonQuest Newsletter. All of these files are ASCII, compressed using the unix "compress" command. [Call for FTP submissions: With the ftp site, we can now distribute larger submissions (things that wouldn't fit into the newsletter comfortably). This is a distribution opportunity for those of you who have an adventure in electronic form, an entire new college of magic, or other large submissions for the DragonQuest audience. When you send submissions to the ftp site, you should also send a synposis of your submission to the newsletter. That way, everyone reading the newsletter will know about the new arrivals in the ftp archive. -- Ed.] ##################################################### ### End of DragonQuest Newsletter -- June 1994 ### ##################################################### ================================================================ || || || DRAGONQUEST Newsletter July 1994 || || || || Volume 1 / Number 6 || ================================================================ ----------------------------------------------------------------- C O N T E N T S ================================================================= Editorial -- Phil Proefrock Letters -- Joe Gregg Column: The BEASTIARY New Spells -- David Novak SPI's DragonQuest Feedback Questionnaire Column: DQ ARCHIVE ----------------------------------------------------------------- EDITORIAL: ================================================================= The DragonQuest Newsletter just keeps growing! This issue of the DQ Newsletter includes *two* new columns which will appear regularly in the newsletter. The _Archive_ column will announce new arrivals in the DQ Archive, our ftp site. Each announcement will include a capsule description of the contents of the item by the item's author, or a review of the item (or maybe both). The other column, _The Beastiary_, will present new creatures for you to use in your DQ campaigns. I'd *really* like to get some new submissions from some of the rest of you who haven't yet submitted anything to the newsletter, yet. Here's a chance to send in a small item and share it with the rest of the DQ community. ------------------------_L_E_T_T_E_R_S_-------------------------- ================================================================= I wanted to relay some disappointing news to the readers of the DRAGONQUEST Newsletter, and follow it up later with more details. We were notified by Wizards of the Coast that DQ is not considered a project they want to pursue. Their Head Honcho of Development would like to go after NEW game systems. After all, that's what led to their current commercial success. Additional reports that TSR has no intention of letting go of the system trademark have surfaced. WotC recommended that we choose a new name for whatever we come up with in a "fourth edition" & try to buy the right to put "Formerly known as the DragonQuest system" on the box or rules cover. Our group is pushing ahead with the fourth edition project. However, things are going a lot more slowly. Money as a driving force is a powerful incentive to action. Hmm, sounds like something I learned while adventuring. We are looking at the variants put in the Newsletter; we may choose to have a section of optional rules that would include them all in some form. As we complete the various sections, we may send them out for review to the subscribers of the Newsletter. As long as contributions keep rolling in, there will be things we can add. I'm sorry that we will be without commercial backing for our efforts. -- Joe Gregg (gregg@espresso.rt.cs.boeing.com) -------------------_The_ _B_E_A_S_T_I_A_R_Y_--------------------- ================================================================= Panther Monkey -- by Philip Proefrock(psproefr@miamiu.acs.muohio.edu) The panther monkey is a very fast monkey whose preferred mode of walking is on all fours. They tend to be carnivorous hunters, but like other monkeys, they are also fond of fruit. They are black or grey colored, with very thick fur. Packs of panther monkeys can (and do) take on much larger prey, even other predators such as lions. Panther monkeys average 4-5 feet in length. Running: 500 PS: 15-22 MD: 20-24 AG: 28-32 MA: None EN: 15-20 FT: 25-32 WP: 8-10 PC: 12-18 PB: 5-12 TMR: 10 NA: Thick fur absorbs 4 DP Weapons: Bite has BC 35% and does D10 damage. Claws have BC 45% and do +2 damage. Both bite and claw may be ranked up to Rank 6. They may use either a bite or both claws in Melee. In Close Combat, they may use both attacks at the same time. GM's Notes: I used a small band of "attack" monkeys in an adventure a few years ago, when the party traveled to the Southern Continent (clever name, eh?). Even though there were several members in the party, and they were Adventurer and Hero level characters, the monkeys gave them a great deal of trouble, and afterwards the players told me they thought that the panther monkeys were some of the most difficult opponents they had had to deal with in combat. ----------------------------------------------------------------- NEW SPELLS -- David Novak (trumpet@csos.orst.edu) ================================================================= **Charm Ritual (R-1) E&E Range: Touch Duration: 1 week + 1/Rank Experience Multiple: 750 Base Chance: 5% Resistance: Active and Passive Effects: The effects of this ritual are identical to S-1 (p 44) in the college of Naming Incantations. The target of this ritual must remain in the center of the pentagram for the entire 3 hours the ritual takes to perform. Besides drawing the pentagram, the adept expends 3000 sp on materials. If the Generic True Name of the target is known, the base chance of the ritual is increased by 15%. Knowledge of the entities Individual True Name adds 25% **Fire Walking (S-17) Fire Magics Range: Caster only Duration: instantaneous Experience Multiple: 550 Base Chance: 1% Resistance: None Effects: The adept may cause himself to be instantly transported from one spot which is engulfed in a medium or larger source of flame to another spot which is similarly engulfed in flames. The destination may be in sight or it may have been carefully observed before hand. The destination may be up to 5 miles (+1 additional mile per rank) from the spot the adept currently occupies. If the destination source of the fire has gone out, the spell will automatically fail. **Flames of Vision (S-18) Fire Magics Range: 1 foot Duration: 1 minute + 1/Rank Experience Multiple: 300 Base Chance: 10% Resistance: May not be resisted. Effects: After casting the spell over a small or larger source of fire, the adept will cause visions to appear (usually precognitive in nature) in the flames. At Rank 5 and above, he may use this technique to spy into an area to see what is going on there. The distance from the character to the area being spied into is 5 miles (+15 additional per Rank). **Drowning (S-13) Water Magics Range: 5 feet + 5 additional/Rank Duration: Immediate Experience Multiple: 350 Base Chance: 5% Resist: Active and Passive Effects: The Adept is able to cause the water in the air within the lungs of one target to solidify causing D+Rank/2 damage. The target must also roll under 3 x WP else fall unconscious for Rank pulses. Resistance negates all effects. -- David Novak (trumpet@csos.orst.edu) ----------------------------------------------------------------- SPI's DRAGONQUEST FEEDBACK QUESTIONNAIRE ================================================================= I was a subscriber to SPI's 'Ares' magazine a number of years ago, when SPI was still around. One thing some of you may recall is that they were always very interested in customer feedback. Every game they sold, as well as every issue of 'Ares' and their other magazines, had a number of questions and a feedback card. I still have a rather lengthy feedback form that came with my copy of the First Edition of DragonQuest which I have kept, and which I periodically refer to for inspiration. This is, more than anything else out there, a peek into the developers' plans for the development of DragonQuest. I am including this now to solicit your reactions, since you are the hardcore DQ players, as well as because I think it is of interest to DragonQuest players. What do you think of these ideas? Which do you think you would find most useful in your campaign(s)? Which ones do you find the most intriguing? As someone who still produces material for DragonQuest, I would find your responses most interesting. And I am sure I am not alone in wondering what other DQ players would find most useful. Perhaps, the responses will be of interest to other authors of DQ material from the Newsletter. I will summarize the responses in a forthcoming Newsletter (probably in the next one) for everyone's information. "The following are proposals for DragonQuest supplements, accessories and adventures. DragonQuest Supplement #1: Magical Research and Spell Construction The supplement would include 3 new Colleges of Magic (The College of Lesser Summonings, The College of Rune Magics, and The College of Transformations), material on Magical Items, Grimoires, etc., and a system for constructing spells to supplement those already provided. [This sounds like a description of "Arcane Wisdom," the unpublished "Fourth Book of DragonQuest." I am not sure if the College of Transformations is the College of Shaping Magic, or if it was going to be another College altogether. --Ed.] DragonQuest Supplement #2: Advanced Monsters The supplement would include additional monsters not listed in basic DragonQuest, additional rules for multi-hex monsters, etc. The monsters would be taken from literature or mythology. DragonQuest Supplement #3: World Generation A handbook on the creation of detailed social systems, economic and political structures, religious and racial interrelationships, etc. DragonQuest Supplement #4: Castle Building and Estate Management The supplement would include all of the details necessary to build, staff and manage a medieval estate. DragonQuest Supplement #5: Handbook of Advanced Skills Would include 12-15 new skills and detailed equipment lists and expanded capabilities for existing skills. (Plans for workshops suitable for use in the pursuit of all skills would also be included.) DragonQuest Supplement #6: Heroic Combat and Martial Arts Would include a section on supernormal combat abilities along with a detailed system for incorporating Martial Arts into combat. DragonQuest Supplement #7: Would deal with the creation of supernormal beings, discovery of legendary places and entities and the generation of detailed prophecies around such figures and legends in a manner which would expand play value. Would also include ratings and descriptions for historical and literary heroes not under copyright. DragonQuest Supplement #8: Randomized Dungeon Generation Kit Would include a brief set of rules covering an expanded version of the DeathMaze game system of generating a dungeon. The various types of rooms, encounters, etc. would be keyed to the original DragonQuest rules. DragonQuest Supplement #9: Handbook of the Dimensions Would include details on some of the near dimensions that impinge on the DragonQuest universe and how to travel back and forth between them as well as rules for moving back and forth between fantasy worlds (and games) without having to create a new character. DragonQuest Supplement #10: Creating Urban Adventures This supplement would feature detailed rules for creating and stocking realistic cities and running adventures in them. (Also included would be a sample city with key.) DragonQuest Supplement #11: Creating Wilderness Adventures Extensive rules for exploring terra incognito and meeting cannibals, headhunters, slaves, lost kingdoms of amazons, and various other savage societies. Would include a section on Voodoo and Shamanistic magic and a pantheon of primitive gods, heroes and devils taken from South American, Caribbean, African, Polynesian and Melanesian mythologies. DragonQuest Supplement #12: Creating Wasteland Adventures Rules for such primitive environments as the sub-arctic tundra and the Sahara. Would include extensive survival rules, lists of flora and fauna, gods, legends and social customs of the wasteland peoples. DragonQuest Supplement #13: Conducting Undersea Adventures Special rules for functioning in an undersea environment with flora, fauna and treasure lists and descriptions included. (Also included would be a map of a sunken treasure ship and the surrounding area.) [DragonQuest Accessory #1 was the GM's screen, which was produced.] DragonQuest Accessory #2: Pregenerated Character Cards A series of cards containing a single pregenerated character or monster on one side and a drawing of the monster or character's species on the other. (Each deck would include 500 cards. Possible decks would cover Monsters, NPC's and Summonables.) Other accessories ideas were for DQ miniatures, a DQ dice set, a DQ T-shirt, DragonQuest adventures and a DragonQuest magazine. ---------------------_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)] College of Time Magics by Mike Shepperd (review by Philip Proefrock) ARCHIVE NAME: time.magic This file contains a new college of magic. Time Magics seems to be a very popular college of magic for DQ players to develop, and I am almost surprised that the designers didn't include a College of Time Magics in the original system. In addition to this version of a college of Time Magics, I am familiar with at least three other versions (including my own). This version takes the interesting approach of placing Time Magics into the Entities branch of the Colleges of Magic. As such, the college focuses on the effects of time on sentients, and on controlling those forces. Most of the spells have effects on individuals, with such spells as Slowness, Lightning Reflexes, Remember, Age, Youth, Hyperquickness, and so forth. While the college allows travel only into the past (R-6), the notes state that the past cannot be changed, and thus the GM will have to prevent the characters from doing anything that might disrupt events from their preordained course. Most GMs will probably want to keep this ritual from the players, especially since there are other spells and rituals which allow examination of the past. On the other hand, since the future is indeterminate, this college does not allow travel into the future, although there are also spells and rituals which allow the examination of the future. (It is an odd imposition on the GM to have to manage the past, without allowing changes to the time line, while allowing no travel into the future.) Mike notes that this is a first draft of the college. I think that, while it may be a little out of balance yet, it is an interesting and useful approach to Time Magics. Hopefully Mike will continue to work on this college, and we will see a revised version at some point in the future. ########################################################### ### End of DragonQuest Newsletter v1/n6 -- July 1994 ### ########################################################### ================================================================ || || || DRAGONQUEST Newsletter August 1994 || || || || Volume 1 / Number 7 || ================================================================ ----------------------------------------------------------------- C O N T E N T S ================================================================= Editorial Letters -- Bruce Lee-Shanok Column: The BEASTIARY Magical Plants, Part I -- Philip Proefrock Warrior Skill -- Mike Shepperd Column: DQ ARCHIVE ----------------------------------------------------------------- EDITORIAL: ================================================================= Those of you who follow the rec.games.frp.misc newsgroup have seen a recent series of postings about DragonQuest in the past couple of weeks. It is great to see that discussion of DragonQuest still takes place, and the curiosity of other people reading the newsgroup is piqued as well. (For those of you who don't have access, or who haven't seen all of the DQ postings, a compiled file of the recent discussion is being posted to the ftp site.) And, at the same time, we have seen an upswing in subscription requests for the Newsletter. For those of you who are keeping score, we are now up to somewhere over 60 subscribers. The interest of the subscribers is certainly there, but we are not getting a lot of new material for the newsletter. So I continue to ask you to send us your letters, house rules, adventure ideas, new material, character ideas, magical items, additional creatures, and other DragonQuest related things for the Newsletter. There are no formatting or content requirements for submissions. We will take care of getting it to fit. Share your ideas with the rest of us! ------------------------_L_E_T_T_E_R_S_-------------------------- ================================================================= [I wrote to the editors of a proposed RPG electronic magazine to inquire about their project and to see if they were interested in cross-posting some of our material. Here is the reply I got, along with my inquiry note. --Ed.] > I am interested in your proposal for a Role-Playing Games >electronic magazine. Currently, I am the editor of a 'Net >Newsletter for the DragonQuest game. We might be interested in >cross-posting some of our articles to your magazine. > > Please send me any information you currently have, and keep us >posted as this develops. I will post a notice in a forthcoming >newsletter and we'll see if our contributors are interested in >sending their articles to you as well. > Yes, I am interested in cross posting. I've received numerous similar offers, I assume you are also interested in articles from our potential authors? :). If so, I was wondering if I could get some more information on your newsletter? If you need to know about REM, it's run by myself and an Adam Nevraumont of the local area, we're compiling our first issue, and it will definetly be coming out, but due to the nature of the project (or some other big fancy phrase to that extent) we want to make sure this issue is great. Therefore, we'll probably be releasing it around the end of august at the very earliest. If you decide to reply to this, keep in mind that Adam hasn't got his internet account yet, and I will be unable to reply for the next two weeks, but I will reply. :) -- Bruce Lee-Shanok (aw001@freenet.carleton.ca) ================================================================= -------------------_The_ _B_E_A_S_T_I_A_R_Y_--------------------- Spider Monkey -- by Philip Proefrock(psproefr@miamiu.acs.muohio.edu) Spider monkeys are 6-limbed monkeys with large fangs. They are extremely clever and able. Even locked food containers may not stop them (treat as Rank 3 Thief against locks up to Rank 5 construction). Their coloration is usually brown or black, although there are also reds, greys, and rarely, albinos. Running: 300-400 Climbing: 200-300 PS: 9-12 MD: 20-25 AG: 18-22 MA: None EN: 8-15 FT: 15-18 WP: 8-10 PC: 16-21 PB: 8-15 TMR: 6-8/4-6 NA: Fur absorbs 2 DP Weapons: Bite has BC 40% and -4 damage. Claws are BC 25% and -6 damage. Both may be ranked up to Rank 6. They can also use small, undersized daggers which are BC 35% and -1 damage, and they may be up to Rank 7 with these. GM's Notes: Spider monkeys and panther monkeys (see July 94 issue) may sometimes be found working together. Especially clever packs may distract a group of travellers with a feint attack, while sending a couple of spiders in to steal food and trinkets from packs, bags and tents. Spider monkeys and panther monkeys are both warm climate creatures, and are primarially found in jungle environments. ================================================================= MAGICAL PLANTS, Part I -- Philip Proefrock (psproefr@miamiu.acs.muohio.edu) The following are a couple of magical plants which I have used in my camaign. The frequency with which they can be found will vary depending on the amount of magic present in your campaign world, but in any case they should be extremely rare. High mana locations will be more favorable places for magical plants, but if the high mana location is known, it is likely that magical plants will have already been harvested. Bloodberries -- Bloodberries are the fruit of a small flowering plant which have useful healing properties. The bloodberry plant looks like a small (up to 12") single stalk with many tiny white flowers (something like a snapdragon) which have blood red veins. The root of this plant is a soft, mushy mass with the appearance of coagulated blood. This is the bloodberry. Bloodberries ripen throughout the summer and can be found in all moderate climate zones. They will last for up to 30 days after they are harvested, unless they are specially prepared (see below). One bloodberry will cure either D10 fatigue, D5 endurance, or all damage due to blood loss (this makes them especially valuable to vampire hunters and victims of "bleeder" grievous injuries). An alchemist or herbalist can render two doses of bloodberry elixir from one bloodberry. The cost for this is (600 - 40/Rank) silver pennies, and the elixir will last for (20 + Rank) months. Each dose of elixir will heal D10 + (2 x Rank) fatigue, or D5 + Rank endurance damage, or all blood loss damage (similar to the unprepared bloodberry). Iron Mushrooms -- Iron mushrooms are hefty 6" diameter rust colored mushrooms. They tend to grow in caves near streams or ponds with a high iron content. Once picked, they can last up to a year if kept dry, but if they get wet they will begin to rust and loose their effectiveness within just a couple of weeks. These objects provide a skin hardening effect causing a Natural Armor of 2 points, but causes a slowing of -1 TMR and a loss of 5 points from Manual Dexterity and/or Agility (the player may allocate how the 5 points effect the character). The effects of iron mushrooms last for 5 minutes. -- Philip Proefrock (psproefr@miamiu.acs.muohio.edu) ================================================================= WARRIOR SKILL -- Mike Shepperd c/o (dallbutt@st.nepean.uws.edu.au) The Warrior skill is designed for the specialised fighter character. A Warrior character is trained to be a successful fighter in ALL situations (hence the various weapons the warrior is required to be skilled in), knowing the subtleties of combat that a non-fighter will be unaware of. A Warrior must have a Physical Strength and Manual Dexterity at least equal to the average physical strength and manual dexterity for that character's race (eg. for a human - 15). In order to advance past rank 2, a Warrior must have rank in the following: - Unarmed combat - a sword or hafted weapon, other than a quarterstaff, that does at least D+2 damage. - A shield (other than a Main Gauche) - A close combat weapon - A missile weapon The warrior must keep all of these weapons at a rank equal to or greater than half his rank with the warrior skill. (This applies only when the warrior advances past rank 2 in the Warrior skill.) In order to speacialise in a weapon (qv), the warrior must be at least rank 0 in all of these compulsory weapons. The warrior may choose a weapon (which does not have to be one of the compulsory weapons listed above) in which to specialise. He receives certain bonuses when using his specialised weapon (qv). He may choose one weapon at rank 0, another at rank 5, and another at rank 10. After rank 10, he may NOT specialise in any more weapons. He may change a specialised weapon at the cost of 750 experience points for each rank he has with the NEW weapon, and 1 week of practise for each rank he has with the NEW weapon (he then loses all bonuses for specialisation with the OLD weapon). Instead of a weapon, the warrior may choose to specialise in mounted combat, in which case he adds [1.5 x Rank]% (round up) to any horsemanship roll whilst in combat, and, for those actions which require a certain rank in horsemanship to be able to perform (see rule 87.2), the warrior acts as if he has Rank/5 (round UP) ranks more to his current horsemanship ability. A Warrior cannot be a Mage or a Healer. The GM may wish to rule that a Warrior may not be any of the following either: Courtier, Troubador, Merchant, Mechanician, Astrologer, Alchemist. The reasoning behind this is that these skills require a certain delicacy or intellectual skills that a rough soldier is unlikely to have (but the decision is ultimately up to the GM). A Warrior adds [Rank]% to any strike chance ([2 x Rank]% for a specialised weapon). A Warrior adds +[Rank/4] (round down) to damage (+[Rank/3] (round down) for a specialised weapon). A Warrior adds [Rank]% to the chance of scoring an endurance hit ([1.5 x Rank]% (round up) for a specialised weapon). A Warrior adds [1/2 Rank]% to the chance of scoring a grievous injury ([Rank]% for a specialised weapon). A Warrior adds [Rank]% to his defence, and [2 x Rank]% when evading. A Warrior adds his Rank to his Endurance when calculating the amount of damage needed to stun him, and he adds [1.5 x Rank]% (round up) to his chance of recovering from stun. A Warrior adds [Rank]% to his chance of succeeding in the Willpower roll of rule 68.1 (when encountering creatures with a physical beauty less than 6). If he fails the Willpower roll, the GM subtracts the Warrior's Rank from the dice roll he makes for the Fright Table. For any grievous injury caused by a Warrior, the Warrior's Rank is added to the dice roll for the Grievous Injury table. A Warrior always adds his Manual Dexterity to the Strike Chance of using any weapon listed in the weapons chart, ie. he effectively can use all the weapons at rank 0 (but if he wishes to learn a weapon, he must still first learn it at rank 0). This does not apply to any new weapons introduced by the GM. (ie. it applies only to weapons listed in the weapons chart: not new, unknown, exotic weapons.) When a Warrior takes the Military Scientist skill, he spends three-quarters of the required experience points cost to advance in the Military Scientist skill while his rank with the Warrior skill is greater than his rank as a Military Scientist. The reverse is NOT true. EXPERIENCE POINTS: Rank/Exp: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 800 350 1200 2650 4350 6500 8650 11100 12750 14500 17000 In addition to the 'Warrior Alternative' (see 'Dragon' Magazine June, 1984, page 24), a similar alternative should be introduced called the 'Professional Alternative'. This is in all ways similar to the 'Warrior ALternative', but, instead of learning 3 weapons and 2 skills, the character may choose to learn 2 weapons 3 skills. The character choosing this alternative may learn one weapon at rank 2 and one at rank 1, and 1 skill at rank 2 and 2 skills at rank 1. The experience points restrictions are unchanged, except that no experience points need to be spent increasing a characteristic - all experience points may be spent on skills and weapons. Also, instead of 'saving' only 500 unused experience points, 1000 may be saved. Making these changes opens the way for a new 'class' of character. In the past, all characters are basically mages or fighters, and skills have been learnt as extras. The 'Professional Alternative' encourages some characters to be second rate fighters and to specialise in skills. NB: If a warrior is also an Assassin, any increases to damage or the chance of a grievous injury is NOT cumulative. That is, the player must choose to use the bonuses from either the Warrior skill or the Assassin skill (whichever is greatest, obviously) but not both. -- Mike Shepperd c/o (dallbutt@st.nepean.uws.edu.au) ================================================================= ---------------------_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)] DragonQuest Discussion from rec.games.frp.misc ARCHIVE NAME: rgfm.notes1 [Name not verified at time of publishing - DavAD] This is a collection of some of the recent postings about DragonQuest which have appeared recently in the rec.games.frp.misc discussion group on the 'Net. They are compiled here for your reference if you didn't see all of them, or if you want to go back through them. There's not a lot to say about it other than that. ############################################################# ### End of DragonQuest Newsletter v1/n7 -- August 1994 ### ############################################################# ================================================================ || || || DRAGONQUEST Newsletter October 1994 || || || || Volume 1 / Number 8 || ================================================================ ----------------------------------------------------------------- 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 ### ############################################################## ================================================================ || || || DRAGONQUEST Newsletter November 1994 || || || || Volume 1 / Number 9 || ================================================================ ----------------------------------------------------------------- C O N T E N T S ================================================================= Editorial -- Philip Proefrock Letters -- John Kahane -- Editors Column: The BEASTIARY -- Likshara -- John Kahane -- Ahl-at-Rab -- Charles Summerhill The Races of Oaerth -- Charles Summerhill Luck Characteristic -- Charles Summerhill Column: DQ ARCHIVE -- Character Generation Spreadsheet -- Dave Nadler ----------------------------------------------------------------- EDITORIAL: The Canonical DQ Index ================================================================= I have a begun a project and I need everyone's input, even the lurkers out there. I am trying to gather an index of all published DragonQuest related material, both SPI's material as well as third party items. I am _not_ going to try to catalog all of the 'zine and private material in this index; that's a separate task. (Although I certainly wouldn't mind getting copies of that material as well. I am just afraid that that list will always be much more incomplete, whereas the Commercial Index may be fairly complete in its coverage.) I think all of us would find it useful to have a complete index of published DQ material. Perhaps we can even come up with a way of making copies accessible at some point. I know that, in addition to the two SPI editions and the TSR edition of the game itself, there were several adventure modules (mostly by SPI), a GM's Screen, and the Frontiers of Alusia map/campaign setting. And then Judges' Guild produced a couple of DQ items (which I have never seen, myself), SPI's Ares magazine ran articles and a couple of smaller adventures, and Dragon magazine had some articles, too. I also know that there must be more than that. I'm sure there are some of you who have old magazine back issues with DQ related articles I don't know of. Let me know what you have, or even articles you've seen, but don't have copies of. We will try to track things down in order to get as complete a resource for everyone's use as we can. I hope to have a preliminary draft of the Index posted to the Archive in a month or two; then we will continue to update it periodically as needed. Personally, I would like to get photocopies of these articles (especially articles from SPI's _Ares_ magazine which I don't already have) for my own archives, so perhaps we can work something out if you have an article I don't have. Send article sightings to: psproefr@miamiu.muohio.edu (Philip Proefrock) ------------------------_L_E_T_T_E_R_S_-------------------------- ================================================================= I saw the reprint of the posts that came out of the Internet side of things about the business with DRAGONQUEST and the Cold Iron issue, and just thought that I would comment on it. You were quite right in that the designers of the game took an approach to this that stemmed from the English/Irish mythologies and how magic was interfered with by cold iron and all. The DQ rules state, as you mentioned as well, that it's a minute quantity of cold iron that prevents a mage from casting spells, and I think this is where part of the problem lies for some folks. The rules don't state specifically *how much* iron will interfere with casting, but the guideline of "a few ounces" of iron is a good one. I've never really had a problem with this issue at all in any of the campaigns that I've run (and I've been running DQ now since the game first came out on the market); my players have always accepted this, and feel it's a small price to pay in order to play a Mage, and fits well with the faerie fear and vulnerability to cold iron that is present in the game (and mythology). Besides, if a Mage wants to avoid this, he or she can purchase a weapon or set of armour that is silvered or truesilvered (although it will be a bit more expensive), and the magical properties of silver and truesilver more than make up for the extra cost. I think the limitations that cold iron place on magic use and spellcasting is something that the GM can control, if he or she wishes. If one feels that it's a "silly" rule (which I do not), then one can always discard it, but as has been pointed out, this places a very small limiting factor on magic, one that is plausible and fits in well with the mythologies from which the DRAGONQUEST game is derived. -- John Kahane (John.Kahane@p5.f198.n163.z1.fidonet.org) ----------------------------------------------------------------- There have been some recent discussions on DragonQuest topics in the newsgroup rec.games.frp.misc. As John's letter (above) mentions, an earlier discussion was included in last month's newsletter. But I know that not everyone who gets the newsletter has access to the newsgroup. Our question for all of you is: should we try to collect these discussions and circulate them as newsletter supplements, or just compile them for the archive, or is it not worth the bother? Let us know. -- Editors (psproefr@miamiu.muohio.edu) (nadled@uh2297p01.daytonoh.ncr.com) -------------------_The_ _B_E_A_S_T_I_A_R_Y_--------------------- ================================================================= Likshara -- John Kahane Just thought I would send along another little beastie that I came up with the for the DragonQuest campaign that I run. This one, obviously, is classed under the Felines category, and is quite dangerous. My players have told me over the last couple of years that the liksharan is one of the more dangerous feline predators that they've encountered in their time, and its natural speed and magical resistance are what give this beastie the edge. As you'll see below.... LIKSHARA Natural Habitat: Plains, Hills Frequency: Uncommon Number: 1-8 (3) Description: Likshara (sing.: liksharan) are a form of carnivorous cat. They are light brown, snub-snouted animals, and can grow as large as six feet in length (but average around 4 feet). Their hides are specked with small, dark rings, they have short tails and very rounded ears. Likshara weigh several hundred pounds apiece, but are highly agile for their mass and size. Talents, Skills, and Magic: While likshara do not have any talents or magic, they do have the natural ability to see at night with a range of 150 feet. In addition, likshara are very sure-footed, and rarely trip or fall (requires an AGx5 or less roll). Likshara are naturally magic-resistant, and increase their Magic Resistance values by +15%. Movement Rates: Running: 450 PS: 22-26 MD: 25-30 AG: 28-34 MA: 1-6 EN: 17-24 FT: 22-30 WP: 10-14 PC: 19-24 PB: 8-11 TMR: 9 NA: Fur absorbs 2 DP Weapons: The likshara can attack with its bite, with a Base Chance of 32%, and doing +1 damage. The claws of the creature have a Base Chance of 65%, and do +3 damage. The creature can attack with bite and claws in both Melee and Close Combat. If the likshara attack with claws in Close Combat, the Base Chance is increased by +15%. Comments: Likshara are a form of feline creature that are said to have been created or formed during the time of the Wars of Binding, since they were not seen in the world before this time. Carnivorous by nature, the likshara evolved in plains but gradually adapted to slightly mountainous terrain. With their natural bonus to magical resistance and their great speed and skill with claws, the likshara are feared throughout the continent by lone travelers who will usually avoid the mountainous and hilly terrain where the likshara dwell. The hide of a liksharan is quite unusual and is worth 150 Silver Pennies for one in good condition. -- John Kahane (John.Kahane@p5.f198.n163.z1.fidonet.org) ----------------------------------------------------------------- Ahl-at-Rab (from the Races of Oaerth) -- Charles Summerhill (charles.summerhill@grapevine.lrk.ar.us) {For some additional background on this new character race, see the article on "The Races of Oaerth" in this issue. -- ED} XX.XX Ahl-at-Rab are a warlike species of saurians who populate deserts and other wastelands throughout Oaerth. They are a nomadic race, continually moving from place to place in search of food. They are believed to be distantly related to the sea-dwelling Makara. Sometimes called 'Sand Devils,' they are humanoid in form. They are slow moving, but powerful creatures averaging about six-and-a-half feet tall, though seven foot tall males are not uncommon. They have scaly hides which range in color from tan to dark brown. A fin-like crest runs from the center of the forehead to the base of the neck, and is believed to help maintain body temperature. Like all reptiles, the Ahl-at-Rab are cold-blooded. These 'Sand Devils' live for combat and have a strong sense of honor and constantly seek glorious death in battle. They will almost never retreat unless hopelessly outnumbered. The Ahl-at-Rab are believed to be distant relatives of an extinct race of super-intelligent saurians, known only as the Old Ones, that once ruled most of the world. The Ahl-at-Rab rarely practice Magic. There is usually only one Shaman (plus assistant) per tribe. [Average Tribe Size: 20 to 100 individuals; children would be at the rate of 1.5 or so per couple.] A shaman would not always be found in the smaller tribes, and still only one per larger tribe (they are jealous of their secrets and power over the Tribe). Those who do perform magic will almost always choose the College of Earth Magics (and always the Druidic branch). However, rumors have been heard of some of the Ahl-At-Rab practicing magic of a College of one of the Entities (Black Magics, Necromancy, Greater and Lesser Summonings). Special Abilities: 1. The Ahl-at-Rab possess poor sight, but this is more than made up for by two extra senses: the sense of infrared smell (like some types of snakes) and the ability to sense ground vibrations. Range on "infrared smell" is similar to what a snake possesses. They would have a range of about 30 feet in calm weather, less if lots of wind. Ground Vibration sense should vary great depending on terrain. Useful over distance only if the Ahl-at-Rab "put their ear to the ground". Otherwise very short distance (good for fighting blind or against invisible foes). 2. If an Ahl-at-Rab character possesses the Ranger skill and chooses to specialize in Deserts/Wastelands, he pays one-half the Experience Points to progress Ranks. 3. If an Ahl-at-Rab character takes the Beast Master skill, and he chooses to specialize in Reptiles, Avians and/or Humanoids, he spends three-quarters the Experience Points to progress Ranks. However, should he choose to specialize in other Animal types, he pays the normal Experience Points for that Rank. Should he choose to train any animals outside that group (Reptiles, Avians, or Humanoids) it will take twice the usual time to do so. Characteristic Modifiers: Physical Strength +2 Dexterity -1 Agility -2 Endurance +2 Willpower -1 Fatigue +2 Tactical Movement Rate -1 Natural Armor +1 Average Life Span: 40 to 60 Oaerth years. Experience Multiplier: 1.1 -- Charles Summerhill (charles.summerhill@grapevine.lrk.ar.us) ----------------------------------------------------------------- RACES OF OAERTH -- Charles Summerhill (charles.summerhill@grapevine.lrk.ar.us) ================================================================= I have added several new races to my DQ campaign, and changed some of the others in various ways. What follows are those new and changed races (ones not changed are not included.) The GM should carefully read the changes to the shape-changer; they are the most significant -- strangely enough they resulted from my original gaming group and the way that we all read the rules. To be honest, I stole the Ahl-at-Rab and the Druas from a game supplement book called "Bestiary" from Bard Games. Oaerth is a co-creation between me and two other GMs over the last twelve years. It is an unmapped, mostly undefined world that is not quite the same as Earth (duh!). Most of our characters began in an alternative-history Earth, but after a few years they managed to travel to this world. We have used it in all of our campaigns since. And BTW, it is spelled Oaerth (with the 'a' and 'e' as one letter), so it is different than Gary Gygax's Greyhawk world as well. Oaerth Races Experience Point Multiplier Table -RACE- -MULTIPLIER- Ahl-at-Rab 1.1 Druas 1.3* Elf 1.2 Giant 1.5 Halfling 1.1 Human 1.0 Runir (Dwarf) 1.1 Shape-Changer 1.6 Sylvari (True Elf) 1.4 Uruku (Orc) 0.9 [*Note that the Druas have a different Experience Multiple when learning Magic: 0.85] {Rather than including the entire set here, we will include a few of these races in the Beastiary column over the next few months. The Ahl-at-Rab are included in the 'Beastiary' column in this issue. A complete set of Oaerth character races will be posted to the Archive soon. --ED} -- Charles Summerhill (charles.summerhill@grapevine.lrk.ar.us) ----------------------------------------------------------------- LUCK CHARACTERISTIC -- Charles Summerhill (charles.summerhill@grapevine.lrk.ar.us) ================================================================= [The following *optional* ability score is currently under playtesting. The characters have used their Luck points very sparingly, and so far it seems to be working fine. However, this could have unbalancing effects in a game and should be introduced with caution.] XX.XX Luck is a measure of a character's ability to cheat what fate has in store. The Luck characteristic in an optional rule that allows the characters a chance to change certain _random_ events to something more in their favor. Luck, like Fatigue, is a characteristic that will regularly increase and decrease during game play. Each character (when initially generated) will start out with two points of Luck. A character will gain one additional point of Luck at the completion of a successful adventure (unsuccessful adventures do not add Luck points). A character may spend Luck points at any time to cause an unfortunate random event to either turn their way or not to happen at all. It is even possible to spend more than one point at a time to get a particular event to occur (or not to occur). Some of the purposes that Luck can be used for include: *Cancel the effects of being Stunned; *Cancel the effects of a backfire; *Add +10% to the chance of success per point of Luck spent; *Add +10% to Magic Resistance per Luck point spent (including Active Resistance); *Any other reasonable purpose that the GM approves. In addition to any of the other specific uses of Luck described above, a player may simply either re-roll, or have re-rolled, the results of the last die roll. For instance, if a character is struck for a Grievous Injury, s/he may immediately call for a re-roll of the dice which would nullify the Grievous Injury (unless the re-roll is also a Grievous Injury, at which point the character in question could spend more Luck points or simply accept his/her fate). However, only the last die roll can be re-rolled. If a Grievous Injury was rolled, but the player chose not to change that result with Luck, and then the specific Grievous Injury result was the instant death of the character, only the particular Grievous Injury could be re-rolled; the fact that the attack was a Grievous Injury is then unchangeable with Luck. Luck points are accumulated at the conclusion of each successful adventure (not unsuccessful adventures), as a bonus to each character. The exact amount has yet to be determined though Play Testing, but for the moment it is assumed to be 1 point per adventure. Under no circumstances can a player accumulate more than 4 Luck points total. Any other points normally gained are simply lost. The GM should not feel obligated to allow the use of Luck in all situations. Anytime that they are used, the use itself, as well as the effects provided, are completely up the GM. The player should let it be known what s/he is trying to accomplish, and the GM will determine exactly what can be done. Luck points are intended primarily to prevent the death of a character by the roll of a die. Remember that when a character's Luck points are all used up, the character is effectively *out of luck*. -- Charles Summerhill (charles.summerhill@grapevine.lrk.ar.us) ---------------------_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: CHARSTAT.XLS This is in response to Daniel Allbutt's request for an automated tool to help in character generation (Letters: v1n8). I created a spreadsheet (in Excel 4.0) to simplify but not completely automate the character generation process. In reality, the spreadsheet simply lists all of the skills (weapons & trades) along with their experience point cost by rank. In column A, the skills are listed. In column B, one can enter the rank desired, and in column C the total experience point cost is listed. Columns D and out contain the point cost per rank for a skill. On the bottom of the spreadsheet are three "summary" numbers. The first "Used" is the sum of experience points to achiee the desired ranks entered above. The second "Allowed" is manually input to show the number of experience points that can be spent to create a character. The third "Available" shows the difference between "Used" and "Allowed" thus showing how many points one can yet spend in finishing the character. The spreadsheet doesn't take into account some items like the first skill not having any cost for rank 0, or the halved cost of thievry if one is a superiorly ranked spy. I started working on a second spreadsheet (which I'll also place on the FTP site) which is the character sheet. My intent was to somehow link the selected skills from the EXPCHART.XLS file into the CHARSTAT.XLS spreadsheet. Perhaps sometime in the future. ########################################################### ### End of DragonQuest Newsletter v1/n9 -- November 1994 ########################################################### ================================================================ || || || DRAGONQUEST Newsletter December 1994 || || || || Volume 1 / Number 10 || ================================================================ ----------------------------------------------------------------- C O N T E N T S ================================================================= Editorial -- Philip Proefrock Letters -- John Kahane -- Dave Selinger -- Jonathan O'Donnell Column: The BEASTIARY Minor Magic Modifications -- Charles Summerhill Complex Cantrips -- Philip Proefrock Column: DQ ARCHIVE ----------------------------------------------------------------- EDITORIAL: ================================================================= One of the other mailing lists which I subscribe to recently had a fairly heated debate over the issue of hardcopy distribution of the digest. Someone was going to print out copies of the digest, make photocopies, and distribute them to people who didn't have Internet access, but who were interested in the topic. The problem arose because this individual was getting money for the distribution. Granted, he is only getting paid to recoup the cost of copies and mailing, but some people were outraged about it. I bring this up because I know that the gaming community is large, and while there are a lot of DQ players on the 'Net, there are others who don't have access. We've thought about making a hardcopy version of the Newsletter available, for which we would have to recoup photocopy and mailing costs. But, if there are objections to this, we will have to reconsider. What do you think of the idea? At this point, the issue is only hypothetical. We don't have a list of people asking about getting the Newsletter by mail. We had a request to make hardcopies of the Newsletter to be distributed (without charge) at a convention, which we agreed to. But there is a fine line here, and I think we need a group consensus and understanding about this. I would like to add a disclaimer to the Newsletter that would allow us to print out hardcopies of it (or to give permission to allow others to print out and distribute copies of specific Newsletters) in order to broaden awareness of DragonQuest and to give more people access to the information. ------------------------_L_E_T_T_E_R_S_-------------------------- ================================================================= {Note: This letter was received before the last newsletter, but due to our size limit, we weren't able to include it in the last issue. Our apologies to John. -- ED} Hullo, Phil! Just thought I'd drop you a note to let you know that I recently received the DragonQuest Netletter v1n8, and was quite pleased by it. I see that you folks are making constant improvements to the Netletter, and hope that this continues. You're doing a really fine job with this, and I like to think that the DQ Netletter will continue to be a regular thing. {We hope so, too. -- ED} Just one question, though...I've noticed that with the exception of me, most of the folks who "subscribe" to the Netletter are doing so through Internet, whereas I do so through Fidonet. I've been waiting for the Internet feed that I'm supposed to get for a while now, and there's been a delay on this. In the meantime, how am I (and other Fidonet subscribers (if any) supposed to access the DQ ftp archives for materials and the like? -- John Kahane (John.Kahane@p5.f198.n163.z1.fidonet.org) {Editors' Reply: {I have been struggling with the issue of how to get Archive material to those without ftp. I am working on trying to set up an automated mail- system, which will automatically e-mail files from the Archive to users. I can't tell you when (or even if) this is going to be implemented. In the meantime, if any user wishes something from the Archive, and cannot get it via ftp, they may mail me and I will mail the material to them. There is obviously a limit on how many users I can do this for, so please do this only if you CANNOT get it via ftp. Thank you, and apologies for any problems. Drake (drache@netcom.com) --Archive Coordinator} ----------------------------------------------------------------- Phil, I meant to write this several weeks ago in response to the letter expressing interest in a DQ character generation program. I wrote one a while ago in Turbo Pascal. It allows the generation of a character by either randomly generating the vital statistics or by choosing them. It then allows the user to modify these points and to choose weapons, armor, shields and a magic college. It will calculate the percentage chances for spells and weapons given rank and the primary characteristic for that ability. I have used it to create NPC's, particularly mages. I also have another program which will produce and keep track of the stats for up to ten NPC guard types. At first we used this quite a bit to speed up combats. However, we found that our fights became monotonous. Its biggest attribute is that it will randomly generate a series of similar characters within a range specified by the user. I am willing to deposit the source codes for both programs in the FTP site. {Dave has sent these to the Archive already. See this issue's Archive section for more information about these programs. -- ED} If anyone is interested but does not have Turbo Pascal I would be willing to send them a disk copy of the object code for a few dollars to cover the cost of the disk and mailing. It will run on any IBM PC compatible including the original 8088 machine all the way up to 486 machines. -- Dave Selinger (DSELINGER@MOLBIO.uoregon.edu) ----------------------------------------------------------------- To: Editors Thank you for an excellent magazine. I would really enjoy seeing the collated discussions included in the Newsletter (either as articles or as supplements). I do not read news anymore because it was too hard trying to maintain a kill file, a .newsrc file, keep up with new groups and read the relevant old groups. I just didn't have the time. However, if other people do have the time, I would be quite willing to go with the majority vote. Here's a thought. Would there be enough interest to maintain two lists? That way, Group A could receive the newsletter and Group B could receive the newsgroups supplements, with a large amount of overlap between the two Groups. Both the newsletter and the supplements end up in the archive. I don't know anything about the workload involved, so when I say "...enough interest...", I mean from the editors, not the readers. -- Jonathan O'Donnell (jono@oak.bf.rmit.edu.au) {We got several other responses on the topic of including DQ-related material from the rec.games.frp.misc newsgroup. The responses we got indicate strong support for continuing to collect DragonQuest-related discussions and to include them in the Newsletter. Since the discussion of DQ in r.g.f.m is only occasional, I do not think it will start overwhelming the Newsletter, but if it does, we will have to reexamine things at that time. {All of us have problematic 'Net servers, so some things may slip past us inadvertently. If you are involved in a discussion about DragonQuest, and can keep copies of the discussion thread and forward them to us, we would appreciate it. -- ED} -------------------_The_ _B_E_A_S_T_I_A_R_Y_--------------------- ================================================================= MOREDHEL -- by John Kahane (John.Kahane@p5.f198.n163.z1.fidonet.org) Natural Habitat: Hills, Mountains, Woods Frequency: Uncommon Number: 10-40 (20) Description: The moredhel or dark elf (also called the Brotherhood of the Dark Path) is a lithe humanoid, slightly smaller than man-sized, but like their elven kindred, can also reach heights in excess of humans. Elves and moredhel appear almost identical to the untrained eye. The moredhel have a tendency to dark hair and eyes than their elven cousins. Talents, Skills, and Magic: See DragonQuest, Section 6.5. The moredhel are capable of running for periods of up to six (6) hours without suffering the loss of more than 2 Fatigue per hour as per the normal Encumbrance rules. In addition, the moredhel excel at the use of bows and are automatically treated as if they are Rank 4 with a bow of their choice for the purposes of additional bonuses to Strike Chance, damage, and range with these weapons. If a moredhel takes the Hunter or Ranger skills, he expends one-half the Experience Points necessary to progress Ranks. Those moredhel who are Mages and Adepts will belong to the Colleges of Black Magics, Earth Magics, Witchcraft, and the like. They will not be Star Mages or belong to the College of White Magics. Unlike the elves (also called eledhel), the moredhel only live around 10,000 years or so, not the typical 30,000 years that elves live. Movement Rates: Running: 275 PS: 10-22 MD: 5-23 AG: 6-24 MA: 4-22 EN: 6-28 FT: 8-32 WP: 6-24 PC: 6-24 PB: 8-26 TMR: 6 NA: None Weapons: The moredhel, like their elven cousins, have a preference for bow weapons, and will have Ranks 4-6 with them. They also tend to use spears, slings, knives, and shortswords, and are fond of using nets to trap unwary prey. They are usually Rank 3-6 with these weapons. Comments: The moredhel are the long-lost, banished cousins of the eledhel, who chose to follow the path of the Valheru in ages past. For this reason, they are called the Brotherhood of the Dark Path by humans. Elves and moredhel do not get along, and the moredhel and the dwarves have a great antipathy towards one another as well. They are generally thought to be without mercy and, if no escape is possible, they will fight to the death rather than surrender. There is much more that one could say about the moredhel here, but this is detailed much more in Raymond Feist's novel, _Magician_. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- The Moredhel are based upon the "nice little guys" that are found in Raymond Feist's Midkemia novels and material, and as such are rather interesting when compared to standard elves and the like. You'll also note references to a couple of new Colleges and one new Skill in their description, as well. White Magics was one of the Colleges that was supposed to be part of the original "Arcane Wisdom" supplement for DQ, but got cut when the number of Colleges in the supplement were reduced down to three. The College of Witchcraft is all my own, and is quite an interesting little one. Hunter Skill is one that I've added based on a number of my players who wanted it in the game, and is different than the variant that appeared in one of the issues of the Dragon. {In his letter accompanying this submission, John indicated that he will send these in for the Newsletter in the near future, too. -- ED} -- John Kahane (John.Kahane@p5.f198.n163.z1.fidonet.org) ----------------------------------------------------------------- MINOR MAGIC MODIFICATIONS -- Charles Summerhill (charles.summerhill@grapevine.lrk.ar.us) ================================================================= [This slight modification to Minor Magic makes a reference to Minor Skills, something else I am proposing for a major change to DragonQuest. In essence the skills presented in DQ at the moment are really packages of skills -- Minor Skills are single individual skills that characters can purchase, somewhat like what is found in GURPS and Champions as well as the NWP in AD&D. They have not replace the DQ skills packages, just enhanced them.] XX.XX Increasing chance to perform Minor Magic. A character, for reasons of his own, may attempt to study Minor Magic, and become more proficient at using it. Each of the three type of Minor Magic, Glamour, Cantrip and Trance is treated as a separate Minor Skill [see Minor Skill rules, XX.XX] and can be increased through practice and the expenditure of Experience Points. Each Minor Skill has a Experience Multiple of 150 and each rank (not including Rank 0) gives the character a +3% chance to successfully use that Minor Magic type. The maximum rank in any case is 10 for each one. -- Charles Summerhill (charles.summerhill@grapevine.lrk.ar.us) ----------------------------------------------------------------- COMPLEX CANTRIPS -- Philip Proefrock (psproefr@miamiu.muohio.edu) ================================================================= Introduction and Note to GMs: This allows for an expanded system of minor magic, and for magic to take on a greater presence in the "flavor" of a campaign. My campaign world is fairly magic-rich, and it only made sense to me that mages would have worked out how to do simple tasks with minor magic. If this method of adding more complex minor magic seems too out of line with 'regular' DragonQuest for your campaign, you can instead use this as an idea list of some further things Adepts might do with minor magic. This section is adapted from a larger collection of my DragonQuest material, and is Copyright (c) 1987, 1990 by Philip S. Proefrock. Permission is given for distribution through the DragonQuest Newsletter. 108. COMPLEX CANTRIPS Complex cantrips are a form of minor magic more difficult than regular minor magic talents, but less difficult than spell magic. While general minor magic is a spontaneous use of magical talent, complex cantrips are more difficult feats of minor magic which require a rehearsed trigger. For this reason they are sometimes also called TKey Magics,U because they use a mnemonic key in order to be triggered. These are some of the Tnickel-and- dimeU stunts that surround an AdeptUs life. [108.1] Because of their more complex nature, an Adept must spend Experience Points, time and perhaps money to learn a complex cantrip. Complex cantrips require 1 day of instruction from another Adept who knows the cantrip or one week of study if learning from books only. The cost of instruction is equal to (Experience Point Cost + 30) Silver Pennies. [108.2] The Base Chance to cast a complex cantrip is 4 x CasterUs Magical Aptitude. Modifiers for the casterUs particular college of magic do not apply to the casting of complex cantrips. As with other minor magic, the GM may add modifiers or vary the Base Chance at his discretion. Casting a complex cantrip costs one Fatigue Point, whether the spell is successful or not. Complex cantrips operate in essentially the same fashion as does minor magic (see DragonQuest 4.2 for more information). [108.3] An Adept may learn an unlimited number of complex cantrips. All complex cantrips the adept knows count collectively as one spell for purposes of having sufficient Magical Aptitude to learn them (see 34.6 and 34.7) Complex Cantrips are not Ranked like spells. Once a character has learned the TkeyU to the cantrip, there is nothing else to master. [108.4] (Optional Rule) A character who is not an Adept may learn complex cantrips. Normal minor magic may be performed by any character (see DragonQuest 4.1). However, depending on the character of the campaign, the GM may wish to limit the access to complex cantrips to Adepts, or the GM may allow all characters to learn complex cantrips. A character who is not an Adept must spend one week of instruction, or two months of study if learning from a book, in order to learn a complex cantrip. The Experience Point Cost for a non-Adept will be [100 + (2 x listed Experience Point Cost)], and the monetary cost will usually be higher for non-Adepts as well. [108.5] Complex Cantrips List Each complex cantrip is followed by its Experience Point cost in parentheses. The descriptions of these cantrips are left rather broad, and they will require interpretation by the GM depending on the situation in question. BUG - summons a few insects to a point within (2 x Magical Aptitude) feet from the adept. (15) CALL - summons a horse, dog or other non-magical familiar animal from up to (Magical Aptitude V 3) miles. (40) CHILL - cools a bottle, cup or other small quantity of material by (Magical Aptitude x 2) degrees. (45) CHIMNEY - protects a bare candle or other small flame from gusts. (30) CLEAN - lifts dirt, dust, liquids, etc. from a small area. (55) COLOR - temporarily shades or colors a surface. (80) CURE - heals one point of Fatigue and serves as a PhysikerUs Kit or Rank 1 healer skill to staunch bleeding, etc. Can only be used once on a wounded individual. (150) DAMPEN - covers an area with dew or dampness. (30) DRY - removes dew or dampness from an area. (30) DUST - stirs up a small dustcloud. (25) GATHER - collects like objects or material from a localized area. (85) IGNITE - causes a flammable object (such as a candle, dry kindling, lamp wick, parchment corner, etc.) to ignite. (50) KNOT - magically tangles a knot making it more difficult to untie or loosen. Takes (2 x Magical Aptitude) minutes to untie by hand. (70) LUCK - allows the player to make one die roll (no more than once every game day) which may be substituted for any other die roll at any time. The player does not see what number he has rolled, and it may sometimes be worse than what he had rolled initially. (70) POLISH - shines objects and removes tarnish. (35) PRESERVE - slows or stops decay or rotting. (90) PROD - causes a shocking jolt. (50) RAVEL - unsews a seam or unravels a piece of cloth from a broken thread. (60) SPILL - tips small containers and otherwise encourages spills. (30) STITCH - causes a thread or string to sew itself into a seam, attach a button, etc. (60) TANGLE - snarls thread, hair, string, vines, etc. (20) TEMPERATURE - protects the Adept from extremes of temperature. {Wizards donUt sweat} (150) TIE - ties two threads, two cords, etc. together. (50) UNTIE - undoes a knot or removes a snarl. Can be used to reverse the effects of oneUs own TKnotU cantrip instantly, or will untie another AdeptUs TKnotU in ([30 - Magical Aptitude] x 5) seconds. (50) WARM - heats a small object. (45) This list is not exhaustive. Other cantrips may be introduced by the GM or may be researched and developed by player-characters. However, the GM should be careful to limit the effects of Complex Cantrips to stay within the guidelines of the DragonQuest rules for Minor Magic (see DQ 4.2). More powerful effects should be developed as spells, rather than as cantrips. -- Philip Proefrock (psproefr@miamiu.muohio.edu) ---------------------_D_Q_ _A_R_C_H_I_V_E_----------------------- ================================================================= [Archive ftp site is at: ftp.netcom.com in the pub/dr/drache directory. [ftp://ftp.netcom.com/pub/dr/drache] Archivist and ftp Guru: Drake Stanton (drache@netcom.com)] Dragon Quest Character Generation Program and Point Tallying Program ARCHIVE NAMES: dq.pas dq_tally.pas ***Dragon Quest Character Generation Program (dq.pas) The Program is relatively straight forward. It is menu driven and relatively crash-proof (although I won't guarantee that). Basically it can generate character stats in two ways. The first is to randomly assign points into the six stats. The second option is to enter the stats manually. In either case they may be modified up or down later. After selecting race, armor and a shield (the last two may be modified later) the user is shown the main screen along with a menu. The user may now choose up to 5 weapons and a magic college. The character may then be printed out and saved to a character file, from which it may be recovered and further modified. The one notable omission of this program is Skills, which I deemed too difficult to deal with. A possible problem with this program is printing. Turbo Pascal version 3.0 had relatively crude output procedures (or at least what I could figure out was pretty crude) so it may be difficult to print on deskjet or laser printers. It does work fine on dot-matrix printers. ***Point Tallying Program (dq_tally.pas) The second program is much simpler in scope than the first. It was designed to simplify large combats with troops or wandering monsters as combatants. Its two redeeming features are the ability to generate opponents with a range of stat values above a user selected minimum and the ability to keep track of fatigue and endurance values during a combat. In addition it will keep track of the NPC's status and subtract the armor value from any damage entered. It also shows values for defense and COS which is an abbreviation for "come-out-of-stun." The program was meant to overcome the clonal problem of wandering monsters and guard type combats in which the GM, for simplicity's sake assigns the same EN and FT as well as SC and DM to all NPCs. Its one drawback is that it can speed up combat so much that D&D type adventures can result, with waves of guard types being dispatched by characters, and one final combat with a worthy opponent. **Notes on both programs: I have provided the source and object code for both programs. They may be freely modified and used. I simply ask that my contribution be mentioned in any future revised versions if they are distributed. Since I don't foresee any great monetary value attached to these programs now or in the future, I'm not going to worry about copyrights and such. Have fun with them and don't get too angry with me when the programs don't work right. You may e-mail me at "dselinger@molbio.uoregon.edu" with any questions or problems. ################################################################ ### End of DragonQuest Newsletter v1/n10 -- December 1994 ### ################################################################