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|| DRAGONQUEST Newsletter October 1994 ||
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|| Volume 1 / Number 8 ||
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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.muohio.edu
***** NOTE: New e-mail address for Distribution Coordinator *****
*
* David Nadler (Distribution Coordinator)
* nadled@uh2297p01.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. The DragonQuest
Newsletter also maintains an ftp archive site:
[ftp://ftp.netcom.com/pub/drache]
which includes back issues of the newsletter and other articles of interest
to DragonQuest players and GMs.
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C O N T E N T S
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Administrivia - Dave Nadler
Editorial - Phil Proefrock
Letters -- Joe Gregg
-- Andrew Carter & Daniel Allbutt
-- Joe Gregg
{The BEASTIARY does not appear this month. We need submissions! Send a
description & stats for new DQ creatures to:
psproefr@miamiu.muohio.edu -- ED}
Cold Iron Debate -- from rec.games.frp.misc
Hand-to-Hand Combat Skill -- Dave Leuck
Column: DQ ARCHIVE
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A D M I N I S T R I V I A
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Hello all. If I got off my duff and did the "right" thing, I'd set up this
mailing list to work from my AoL account. Instead, I'm using my companies
e-mail and PC abilities (can you say "misappropriation of corporate
fiduciary responsibilities"). Well, this causes a teeny headache every once
in a while. I've been moved to a new corporate e-mail server, which has
caused my e-mail address to change here. My new address (already
incorporated in the netletter header) is:
nadled@uh2297p01.DaytonOH.NCR.COM
Please route all future correspondence to this address, as mail forwarding
doesn't exist for my old e-mail address, and anything sent there is lost
forever.
p.s. This newsletter is almost a month old, so my apologies to the
subscriber base and to Phil "Ed" for the delay.
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EDITORIAL: Questions
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Is anyone out there a journalist? There are a few questions I'd like see
someone ask TSR about DragonQuest.
DragonQuest has been a "dead" game for more than ten years (when SPI went
out of business; TSR's 1989 zombie release did virtually nothing to
revitalize the game) but despite the lack of any commercial support, there
is still interest in the game, and now even a newsletter on the Internet.
But what is the present status of DragonQuest?
TSR has no interest whatsoever in doing anything more with the game. They
have gone so far as to release a completely unrelated game (I haven't seen
it myself, but I'm told it is a kiddies game, not a role-playing game) under
the name "DragonQuest," to make sure that the game SPI developed stays
buried.
For those of us who still play DragonQuest, we want to know what is going
on with the game. Does TSR intend to keep DragonQuest (the role-playing
game) buried? Does TSR, in fact, still own the role-playing game, since
they have published another game under the same name? Is a "Fourth Edition"
of DragonQuest, such as that which Joe Gregg and others have discussed, a
possiblity? Or could another company come in and buy the rights to
DragonQuest?
If you interested in interviewing someone at TSR, and then letting the
rest of us know what they have to say, I think everyone reading this
newsletter would be interested in what you learn. If you have an account on
one of the commercial networks where TSR has a corporate presence, and you
want to pursue this on behalf of the DQ Newsletter, get in touch with me
(just so that we don't have several people doing this; I don't think it
would be useful to have several people all asking the same questions).
We're all looking forward to seeing what you find out.
{Since there are just a small number of people who read this newsletter, if
you _are_ interested, please do get in touch, otherwise, no one will end up
doing this. --ED.}
------------------------_L_E_T_T_E_R_S_--------------------------
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{This is from a letter from Joe Gregg updating his group's efforts with
regard to a "Fourth Edition" of DragonQuest. --ED.}
We are not sure we want to emphasize a *commercial* effort. The DQ group
here is like many of the others contributing to your newsletter. Therefore,
we are more likely to build a fourth edition to be made available in the DQ
repository. We may get as fancy as creating artwork for it. We may even
build WorldWideWeb Mosaic pages for it, or ask others to help on that.
In short, we are *eager* to provide teasers. Most of our ideas are best
expressed in teaser form right now. By providing an out-line of our
intentions, perhaps we could even allow a vote by newsletter readers on
choices we are faced with.
The meat of our possible efforts has yet to come. After all, we are still
arguing about most of it ourselves. One of my own additions is about to get
the boot because it unbalanced the game.
What I see us giving you is an outline of the rulebook. There will be
enough detail on most of the items to give the readers some basis for
comment. Meanwhile, if you wish to tell them something, mention the
possible formats we could publish:
a) Hardcopy rules booklets
b) Repository text files
c) Web files (not for real time play, of course)
For options b & c, the readers would be invited to contribute appropriate
artwork. We would expect to pay for artwork in option a. We would also
hope people would then buy the product! Right now, none of us are prepared
to become a semiprofessional publisher & promoter. Option a is thus
unlikely.
Joe
-- Joe Gregg (gregg@espresso.boeing.com)
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Please refer to my idea in the DragonQuest Newsletter v1n2 in regards to
the DragonQuest Magazine. Rather than a hard copy at this stage, I believe
an internet version would be viable.
It would be "free", the same as the Newsletter is. My Newsletter would
exclusively be devoted to DragonQuest Adventures thereby I am hoping to
compliment the Newsletter already in circulation.
Your thoughts would be appreciated on how I would get the first issue out
- should it be after a notice in the newsletter which would mean that
interested parties would send the request to Daniel and then he would send
them the Adventure magazine?
Andrew Carter & Daniel Allbutt.
PS: Just a quick note... I was wondering if you know of any Programs
available for DragonQuest to help with Character Generation and/or DQ
combat? Maybe a note on the newsletter will generate a response??
{And here it is for everyone to comment on. I think this would be a useful
thing to post to the ftp site, if you have developed something like this.
Keep your eyes on the Archive column in this Newsletter for news of new
things available. --ED.}
If not, I will begin work on them myself - firstly concentrating on a
combat program to speed things up a bit and then a Character Generation
program to help GM's and players alike generate their characters.
- Daniel.
-- Daniel Allbutt (dallbutt@st.nepean.uws.edu.au)
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Philip,
I produce two newsletters myself. Getting people to contribute quality
stuff regularly is a pain. It has to be done. Congratulations for making
the DQ Newsletter work!
Joe
-- Joe Gregg (gregg@espresso.boeing.com)
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COLD IRON DEBATE (from rec.games.frp.misc)
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{Some of you may have seen this already; in fact, some of you participated
in this. I am reprinting this discussion both for the benefit of those who
did not see this previously, as well as to open the discussion to the
DQ-playing community. How restrictive are you about the 'cold-iron
doctrine' in your campaign?}
***Subject: DragonQuest mages and iron ...
***From: bjd12@cus.cam.ac.uk (Ben Davis)
In DQ, mages can't do any magic if they're in contact with cold iron (fair
enough - fairly standard rule). Unfortunately, last weekend, there was an
escallation in the arms race in my campaign. One of the players decided to
stock up on weak necked barded iron arrows. Now, as far as I read it, if a
mage gets hit by one, and it penertrates armour, they're in big trouble.
Major trouble. Like no magic, on the spot, exit the mage stage left.
This has kind of irritated my mages, especially the NPC ones, who are having
a real hard time of it now. (She'd started using iron arrows as a matter of
principle against all my poor innocent mages, but barbed weak necked ones
seems to have really hit a spot ...)
Anyone come across this sort of (distinctly unsporting, IMHO) behaviour.
What I could really do with, I think, is some sort of arms race reply by
mages, but none springs to mind. Its probably all that food.
=========================================================================
***Subject: Re: DragonQuest mages and iron ...
***From: crawford@clark.net (D.Schubert)
The iron restriction on mages is just a left-over from the sillyishnes of
DnD(tm). I allow "mages" to use iron. No big deal. Your problem gone away.
Most mages still don't use lots of armor in my campaigns tho, 'cause more
armor = more fatigue, and fatigue does impact spell casting.
=========================================================================
***Subject: Re: DragonQuest mages and iron ...
***From: c_king@cc.colorado.edu
WHAT? "Just a left-over from the sillyishness of DnD(tm)"? I beg to
differ! D&D makes it rather clear that it is not iron which blocks the flow
of mana (or whatever), but that mages "don't know how to wear armor" and
that it "interferes with movement and somatic components," etc.
A DQ mage cannot use a cold-iron dagger because it is made of *iron* -- a
D&D mage can, because he "knows how" and it doesn't "interfere with
movement".
Just a leftover? No way...DQ adepts are restricted from using cold-iron
weapons and armor to give a certain advantage to non-adepts (since there is
no penalty for choosing to be an adept upon creating a character), and to
restrict the use of magic (which is certainly *not* the spirit of D&D).
>Most mages still don't use lots of armor in my campaigns tho, 'cause more
>armor = more fatigue, and fatigue does impact spell casting.
What do you mean? If you are referring to loss of fatigue from carrying the
extra weight, perhaps ... but you must have some *very active* adepts
running around! Other than that, armor *preserves* Fatigue if anything, by
preventing its loss in combat...
=========================================================================
From: psproefr@miamiu.muohio.edu (Philip Proefrock)
Subject: Re: DragonQuest mages and iron ...
The 'cold-iron' restriction is not a throwback to D&D, but to an even
older and more revered source: historical beliefs. The people who wrote
DragonQuest paid a fair amount of attention to folklore and myth, especially
English/Irish. The concept of iron (symbol of technology) and magic as
contradictory forces goes back a long long ways.
As for the problem of maintaining a reasonable and playable level of
balance in my campaign, I require more than just a couple of arrowheads to
shut down a mage. A couple of ounces is all that it takes, but that's quite
a few arrowheads. (One javelin, however, probably IS enough cold-iron to
stop a mage, in my opinion.) A mage cannot wear a dagger, or iron armor,
and iron shackles are a really good way to slow down a captured mage. But,
in the interest of reasonable play-balance, I don't think you can read this
rule too restrictively, or you completely undermine the mage and upset the
balance of your campaign.
{As a followup to this, it was pointed out that the DragonQuest rules state:
"The amount of cold iron that will prevent an Adept from using his powers
is relatively small, but not minute. Generally, no more than a few ounces
is sufficient to prevent the workings of all but racial Talent
Magic." [29.1] --ED}
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HAND-TO-HAND COMBAT
-- Dave Leuck (ldml@kbbs.com)
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100. Hand-to-Hand Combat
Hand-to-Hand Combat is a special fighting skill which is learned like a
skill in terms of the monetary cost of instruction and Experience Point
requirements, but is treated like a weapon in terms of the time required.
(see DragonQuest 87.3, 87.5) Hand-to-Hand Combat is not a replacement of
the existing Unarmed Combat (DQ 21), but is a more refined skill version of
the same. Experience Point costs for Hand-to-Hand Combat are identical to
those for Merchant
[100.1] A hand-to-hand fighter needs strong Physical Strength and Endurance
characteristics.
If a character's Physical Strength or Endurance value is less than 15,
increase the Experience Point cost to improve the skill by 10% for each
characteristic less than 15.
At Ranks 0-5, if the character's Physical Strength value is 21 or greater,
decrease the Experience Point cost to improve the skill by 10%. At Ranks
6-10, if the character's Endurance value is 22 or greater, decrease the
Experience Point cost to improve the skill by 10%.
If the character's Rank in Unarmed Combat is greater than the character's
Rank in Hand-to-Hand Combat, the character decreases the Experience Point
cost to learn the latter by 10%.
[100.2] The Base Chance of performing a strike with Hand-to-Hand Combat is
(2 x Modified Agility) + 20.
The damage caused by a successful strike is [(D-3) + 1 per 3 points of
Physical Strength above 15] + (Rank/3). If the attacker's fists are mailed
or a cestus is worn (or other hand hardening at GM's discretion) and the
defender is not wearing armor, add +1 to the damage.
If the strike is made with the character's secondary hand, the Base Chance
is reduced -5.
Beginning at Rank 4, the attacker also learns to make kicking attacks. The
Base Chance of performing a kick with Hand-to-Hand Combat is (1.5 x Modified
Agility). The damage caused by a successful kick is [(D-3) + 1 per 5 points
of Physical Strength above 15] + (Rank/2) This can also be used to make a
Trip attack, using the normal rules. (See DQ 16.5)
[100.3] Hand-to-Hand Combat can be used against a non plate-armored
defender.
If the character is using bare hands (no gloves) against a defender in
scale or chainmail, the attacker suffers one point of Fatigue damage for
each successful hit. (At the GM's discretion, some forms of natural armor
may have a similar effect.) Hand-to-Hand Combat can only be used against a
figure wearing plate armor if the attacker's fists are mailed or the
character is wearing cestus.
[100.4] In combat, when effective damage is done by a Hand-to-Hand attack,
there is a chance the defender may be struck unconcious. The percentage
chance that a defender will fall unconscious is (1/2 of the effective
damage) + (1/3 of all cumulative damage from Hand-to-Hand combat). Example:
If Maxmillian has already taken 10 points of damage from Hand-to-Hand
Combat and then is struck for another 6 points of effective damage, there is
a [(1/2 x 6) + (1/3 x 10)] = 6% chance that the blow will render him
unconscious.
A character using Hand-to-Hand Combat to try to perform a Knockout (DQ
16.5) against a figure who is not wearing metal armor increses his chance by
1% per Rank. There is no bonus for attacks against figures in metal armor.
[100.5] Beginning at Rank 7, the attacker may make 2 attacks per Pulse.
There is no penalty for this multiple strike. However, combining
Hand-to-Hand Combat with other weapons is subject to normal multiple-strike
penalties. The attacker may not combine a hand strike and a kick in the
same Pulse unless that character has an Agility value of 22 or better.
[100.6] A figure who knows Hand-to-Hand Combat may try to damage an
opponent who has a strangle hold on him.
The Base Chance for this attack is equal to the character's Physical
Strength + Modified Agility. The damage caused by this attack is equal to
that caused by a normal Hand-to-Hand strike.
[100.7] A figure gains an additional defense against a Restrain attempt (DQ
16.5), if both hands and arms are free (i.e. no weapons in hand).
At Ranks 0-2, increase the figure's defense by 1/5 of the character's
Physical Strength value. At Ranks 3-5, increase the figure's defense by 1/4
of the character's Physical Strength value. At Ranks 6+, increase the
figure's defense by 1/3 of the character's Physical Strength value.
-- Dave Leuck (ldml@kbbs.com)
---------------------_D_Q_ _A_R_C_H_I_V_E_-----------------------
=================================================================
[Archive ftp site is at: ftp.netcom.com in the pub/drache directory.
Archivist and ftp Guru: Drake Stanton (drache@netcom.com)]
Title of Archive
ARCHIVE NAME: crypt.zip
1.0 Introduction
"Crypts of the Dark Ones is intended for five to eight characters of mixed
Mercenary and Adventurer level.
"The adventure proper will take from 20 - 30 hours of gaming time and the
characters will have to apply problem solving skills. This is not a 'hold
the party's hand as we go through the dungeon' adventure. It will take all
the skills that the characters have and all the intelligence also to
complete it."
-- An adventure set in the Forgotten Realms. Rescue a Lord's daughter from
a fell creature which has kidnapped her. This adventure is also posted on
the AD&D Archive at ftp.mpgn.com.
(Courtesy of David Lind, dlind@synoptics.com)
*****Announcement from the Archivist*****
Hello, this is your friendly archive keeper.
As you may have noticed, the structure of the archive has changed a bit.
It will continue to change, with the addition of subdirectories. This is
because if everything goes right, we will get a lot of new material soon.
To keep it all straight, I will categorize submissions into their
appropriate subtypes. There is already an Adventures subdirectory, where
all adventures will appear. There will be others, perhaps a Colleges
directory, Skills directory, News directory (for the Newsletter back
issues), and a Miscellaneous directory. Eventually, everything should be in
a subdirectory.
Keep watching the README files, I will keep them updated with information
about the layout of the archive. And as always, any questions can be
directed to me at drache@netcom.com.
Happy DQing!
********************************************
{The name "rgfm.notes1.Z" is the correct name for the file discussed in last
issue's Archive. It is now available in the Archive --ED.}
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### End of DragonQuest Newsletter v1/n8 -- October 1994 ###
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