Dragon (Issue 79 - Nov 1983)

Vol. VIII No. 5 of Dragon Magazine.

Cover Art by Jack Crane.

This issue featured Wacko World - a TOP SECRET Adventure, winner of the Module Design Contest, category T-3 (TOP SECRET, Investigation Bureau)
It also listed the "Gamers' Guide", which was an index of all the advertising in the issue.

From the editor-in-chief's description of the issue:

What do an amusement park and a role-playing adventure have in common? Obviously, they're both designed with enjoyment in mind. So, it logically follows that a role-playing adventure set in an amusement park is doubly enjoyable. In the hope that all of you TOP SECRET players out there will feel the same way, we present Wacko World, the first scenario for spies we've published in about a year and a half.

After you've gone on all the rides and sampled the Florida Fried Frog at Wacko World, shift back into "fantasy mode" to enjoy the rest of this month's issue.

The longest feature article inside is actually two companion essays. In "The fights of fantasy," veteran author Lew Pulsipher explains how big-scale battles in a fantasy world wouldn't work the same way as they did in medieval days. Then, on a smaller scope, Lew sets forth guidelines for how a group of adventurers should think and act to best assure themselves of living to fight another day. "Be aware and take care" is the title of this piece, and that phrase is a pretty good summation of what the article's about - words to live by, you might say.

For AD&D game tips of a more concrete, rules-oriented nature, check out Scott Bennie's description of saints, and our home-brewed message on magic resistance. The former article is designed, as Scott says, to fill a gap in the rules: The AD&D books mentions that there are such things as saints, but not until now have we seen an attempt to define just what those characters can and can't do. The latter article was a collaborative effort by three TSRians: Penny Petticord, Jon Pickens, and Roger Moore, with some final-version fiddling courtesy of yours truly. It's not official, but until something else comes along, we hope it will help answer some questions and clear up some confusion on the subject.

In our continuing effort to add depth and detail to the AD&D universe, this month's "ecology" article talks about the treant. We don't know if author Susan Lawson actually talks to trees, but it would seem that at least she listens.

With a salute to the thousands of our readers who are in the armed forces, we somewhat nervously present Gregg Chamberlain's manuscript on gremlins, those little critters who have been perplexing to pilots and nasty to navigators ever since aerial warfare, so to speak, took off. Here's hoping that they don't decide to start making mischief with magazines.

And, as a diversion from our regular column on unpainted miniatures, we hope you'll like seeing what some first-class finished figures look like. It's plain to see that the winners of the GEN CON Miniature Open didn't have any gremlins grabbing their brushes when they turned out their colorful creations. - KM