[...]... more interesting game Enjoy! Other helpful articles on maintaining mystery in fantasy RPGs include: “‘Keep ‘Em Guessing,” by Ed Greenwood, in the Best of DRAGON Magazine anthology vol V; and “Also Known As the Orc,” by Ethan Ham, in DRAGON issue #158 DRAGON 29 Old AD&D® modules neednt die young! by Marc Newman Recently I discovered all of my old AD&D® modules, which had been sitting in a box since... given in the books And while any alterations made by the DM should not be completely off the wall, they should keep characters guessing For instance, to take a variation on an example from an old DRAGON Magazine article, consider a goblin with 18/76 strengthnot an extremely big change, but the characters may have pause when the creature does up to 10 hp damage with its short sword When the goblins... origins of the AD&D game DRAGON 33 Worlds beyond our own ©1990 by Jim Bambra Fantasy gaming worlds are now available in abundance and cover a wide variety of cultures and settings Some recreate historical periods of Earth history, some reproduce the fictional worlds of successful authors, and some draw their inspiration from a diverse number of sources Game systems like Chaosiums PENDRAGON* game and I.C.E.s... mustangs near the mountains have been decimated as the result of an influx of griffons in the area Whos going to drive the griffons out? The adventurers, of course Markets would also be more profitable DRAGON 13 by Tom Schlosser, Adalind Adventures The DM sat in his chair and sorted through the paperwork from the evenings adventure, wondering how to motivate the players for the next session All of the... acquaintance whose lover gives more to the acquaintance than the PC has even given to the NPC; thus the acquaintance is better regarded, causing more hurt feelings and anger for the NPC The DM can also use DRAGON 17 such mood and personality swings to try to change the PC from the pursued to the pursuer It is worth noting that this kind of disruption in the romance should be used sparingly, as it is an exercise... tough but not too easy or too hard; the magical items are reasonable and did not upset game balance In fact, the DM did an admirable job of avoiding all the usual game-balance pitfalls So what's missing? DRAGON 21 Artwork by Jim Holloway The answer is mystery The players know everything They know exactly what their player characters magical items can do and what their PCs limits are, how skilled the... equivalents hold sway are liable to contain better records and perhaps even something akin to a local Doomsday Book (which listed landowners and land values for England in 1086) The historical stereotype is DRAGON 11 that lowly priests were upright, honest, Godfearing people who were all but incorruptible, while bishops, archbishops, and the like were political manipulators with the moral scruples of a Borgia... thought were such pushovers This doesnt have to be done very frequently (in fact, once often suffices) to make the players far more wary about what their PCs attack which is as it should be A fighter who DRAGON 23 attacks everything he sees is a very shortlived fighter Given monsters that the characters have previously encountered, it is probable that the PCs will know what they face (any 2nd-level idiot... are common knowledge (there isnt much you can do with a unicorn), but even these often have lesserknown relatives that just add to the confusion (how many people, even adventurers, know how to tell a dragon from a wyvern?) Even the ranger who knows goblins inside and out (literally speaking) might not realize that nilbogs exist and look exactly like goblins, and so would have no idea why his sword... have on them will be worth an equivalent number of platinum pieces! There are endless variations on this theme, enough to keep the campaign challenging even to the richest characters Continued on page 28 DRAGON 27 Another problem the characters may encounter is that of hauling all their loot around; carrying thousands of gold pieces is hard work! The characters may get it into their heads to change their . the United States and Canada, write to: Letters, DRAGON Magazine, P.O. Box 111, Lake Geneva WI 53147, U.S.A. In Europe, write to: Letters, DRAGON Magazine, TSR Ltd., 120 Church End, Cherry Hinton,. orders is: DRAGON Magazine, P.O. Box 111 (201 Sheridan Springs Road), Lake Geneva WI 53147, U.S.A.; telephone: (414) 248-3625. The postal address for all materials from Europe is: DRAGON Magazine, . material published in DRAGON Magazine becomes the exclusive property of the pub- lish& unless special arrangements to the contrary are made prior to publication. DRAGON Magazine welcomes unsolicited