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||   DRAGONQUEST Newsletter                        June 1994  ||
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||   Volume 1 / Number 5                                      ||
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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.acs.muohio.edu

    David Nadler (Distribution Coordinator, Archivist)
      dnadler@wtcpost.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.

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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

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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.]

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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

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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

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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

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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.]


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