This month, editor Ian Livingstone notes that Origins had just finished with a record breaking 4,000 attendees. Surly Gen Con the next month will do something similar. Well, those records have been somewhat shattered. Amazing to see how the hobby has grown. The magazine also announced the first ‘Dragonmeet’ in London, the new name for Games Workshop’s previous ‘D&D Day’.
On the Cover
A statue blasts a crowd with a gust of wind at the behest of a red robed mage. The scene is based on the Valley of the Four Winds story and accompanying miniatures. The artist is Derek Hayes who is now a BAFTA award winning animator and director.Features
- Monster Modelling (Mervyn Lemon): How to build your very own figures out of wire and plaster when miniature ranges don’t have you covered.
- The Man Beast (Greg Foster): A new D&D character class where the character can shift to a beast form for combat. This is the first of what will eventually become a regular character class feature.
- The Asbury System (Brian Asbury): The fourth and final part of this new experience system. That was a lot of tables.
- Valley of the Four Winds, Part 1 (Rowland Flynn): The first part of a short story introducing the setting of a new Ral Partha figure range.
Regulars
- Responses: While not a feature, there is also a summation of the responses to the questionnaire last issue, an interesting look at what gamers wanted in 1978. Fiend Factory, Open Box and Treasure Chest all prove very popular, less so Molten Magic and even less so, Kalgar. There is a resounding call for more adventures and most people want more articles on RPGs and board games (which the magazine already does, so odd question). Fiction isn’t a popular option though. Finally, 80% of readers find the adverts useful, but this is a time when finding out what games were out there was a lot harder.
- News: Mostly very excited about the new range of Advanced D&D books about to be released. Dungeons and Dragons moves from boxed set to hardbacks. Also a note about new John Carter of Mars and Star Trek miniature lines, but it’ll be a while before we see an RPG.
- Letters: This month the conversation replying to the replies of the previous replies continues about the article in WD#6 on armour class and hit points. There is also a very specific letter about the exact damage a crossbow should do. Finally a letter explains a journal setting for D&D called Midgard (arguably a precursor to Harn) isn’t as dead as people supposed.
- Treasure Chest: This week Lew Pulsipher takes a look at critical hits in D&D. He not only offers options for locations, but suggests after rolling a 20 you should confirm the critical with a second hit roll, a rule that will become standard in 3rd edition.
- Molten Magic: Example photos of the new figure releases from Heritage Models, Greenwood & Ball, Asgard Miniatures, McEwan Miniatures, Miniature Figurines, Starcast, Dragon Miniatures, Archive Miniatures, and Ral Partha.
- Kalgar: Shortened to half a page, Kalgar questions an old man to no avail about what happened last issue.
Fiend Factory
A collection of new monsters created by readers. This month we have:- Stinwicodech (Eamon Bloomfield) a froglike creature that can increase your stats.
- Tween (Ian Waugh) a possessing spirit that can see the future.
- Chaoticus Symbiocicus (Roger Musson) an ooze that makes monsters look less dangerous than they are.
- Rock Beast (Callum Forbes) a big rock that doesn’t like you.
- Carbuncle (Albie Fiore) an armadillo with a valuable jewel in its forehead that crumbles if it dies.
- Coffer Corpse (Simon Eaton) an undead creature that lurks in crypts.
- Whirler (Simon Muth) a minor air elemental who also doesn’t like you.
- Turling (Thomas Benson) a huge clawed tentacular beast thing.
Open Box
This month the reviews are:- Space Marines, Wargame (Fan Tac Games) Space Marines | Board Game | BoardGameGeek
- Monster Manual, D&D Supplement (TSR) Monster Manual - Wikipedia
- Starships and Spacemen, Corebook (FGU) Starships & Spacemen - Wikipedia
- War of Wizards, Two player duel game (TSR) War of Wizards | Board Game | BoardGameGeek
