Issue 1 read-though HERE.
Issue 2 has a great cover by Stephen D. Sullivan, with a dude being polymorphed into a tree. Harsh.
The Letters section is pretty standard, but it is revealed that the awful D&D Computer Labyrinth game retailed for $40-60 bucks! No wonder my parents wouldn't buy it for me. They weren't suckers. Apologies if you loved it.
There is a notice about Dragon subscription discounts and then the Sage Advice-ish "Dispel Confusion" column. The biggest takeaway here is that Carrion Crawler paralysis lasts 5d4 rounds, which is of course brutal as hell, but preferable to indefinite.
We get part two of the Gygax interview. He seems to have chilled out a bit since part one, but still takes a pot-shot at Bakshi's Lord of the Rings. Given the dubious quality of the script for the never-realized D&D movie, he was probably better off leaving it alone. He talks a bit about miniature licensing, even though to this day I still see posts here and there around the net insisting nobody used minis with AD&D.
The newsletter is very young and doesn't really have a name, so there is mention of a "name the newsletter" contest, along with a call for submissions to "Spelling Bee", a future column that will seek to clarify spell use and terminology.
There is a preview of Dawn Patrol, which I am completely ignorant of and likely always will be.
"White Rabbits" aims to become a forum to communicate about RPGA membership issues, especially in regards to errors and oversights.
Jean Wells has a decent article on monster creation that I might have found helpful back in the day. Turnbull pens a short essay on current gaming trends, extolling gaming clubs and dissing D&D knock-offs.
Probably the best article of the issue is Jim Ward's "Mutants", a Gamma World article containing new creatures and robots purported to originate from the chronicles of "Random of the Many Names". Gurosh the mutated feline requires three times its body weight in food per day, while the Wess Reel (mutated grape vines) have been known to protect secret societies in exchange for fertilization.
There is a list of RPGA products for sale, including R-Series modules such as Doc's Island.
"Notes for the Dungeon Master" has more trick and trap ideas, none of which really bear repeating. Allen Hammack offers some sensible Top Secret GM advice about keeping missions varied. There is a blurb about the world of Rocksnoz, he of the Tom Wham comic. The issue ends with an article about the RPGA tournament system.
Not a lot of meat on the bones in this issue, but it was still an interesting snapshot of a lost moment in time.
Thanks for the overview of this pub. I read it back in the day but forgot all about it.
ReplyDeleteDo people really claim no one used minis with AD&D? I and my dozens of minis (out of ~1200) that date from 1979-1982 laugh uproariously at them!
Dawn Patrol was the second edition of Fight in the Skies, the WWI fighter aircraft boardgame. Great game.
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