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|| DRAGONQUEST Newsletter February 1996 ||
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|| Volume 3 / Number 2 ||
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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
David Nadler (Distribution Coordinator)
nadled@uh2297p01.daytonoh.ATTGIS.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/dr/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 [v3/n2]
=================================================================
Editorial
Letters -- Anthony Stanford
-- Michael Hopcroft
Column: The BEASTIARY -- Daoine Sidhe
Faerie Creatures For DragonQuest -- Jacqui & Keith Smith
The DQN Web Page -- Philip Proefrock
Non-DragonQuest 'Dragonquest' Websites -- Philip Proefrock
Magical Items -- Keith Smith
Advertisements
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EDITORIAL: Survey Results (Part 2)
=================================================================
As you saw in last month's Newsletter, about a quarter of the Newsletter
readers replied to the Survey. (Thank you, again, to all of you who
responded.) In addition to the statistical details we compiled, we also
asked a few questions about what people were finding useful and how we
could improve the Newsletter.
Since you are all the writers of the DQ Newsletter (as well as the
readers), here are the responses we got to the question, "Any additional
features you would like to see in the Newsletter:"
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
** The occasional humorous story about a campaign/adventure.
** A discussion on the treatment of religion in DQ might be interesting.
** As above, magic item of the month would be good. Maybe a dangerous
places (dqized generic locations to throw into your campaign).
** More house rules from other readers. Just a few lines about something
they added or changed, and a brief explanation would interest me.
Adventure suggestions/ideas. Character corner - show off your fav pc!
** Keep up the Rogue's gallary
** We are very interested in ownership of the DQ material, because we have
considered publishing our (or a modified) version of the rules.
** can't think of any - still suffering overload. Suspect NL is
contributor driven, therefore will contact the editor if I have some
suggestions.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Some of these suggestions are already being addressed. Keith and Jacqui
Smith have sent a list of several Magic Items, which will begin appearing
in this issue of the Newsletter. Hopefully this will prompt other
submissions so that we can make this a regular feature.
------------------------_L_E_T_T_E_R_S_--------------------------
=================================================================
Digging through my archives, I found this letter. Upon rereading it, it
offers no indication that the author checked to be sure he didn't look up
a box of miniatures as well. Someone might try ordering it to find out,
and let the rest of us know. I took the easier route of waiting until I
next went home (NY) and digging out my copy of 3rd ed.
As I mentioned in my post, the mods to get back to 2nd ed aren't all that
difficult (although you need to xerox a few dozen pages of demons). A
complete list of reverse mods might be useful to the readers of the
newsletter: does anyone have such a beast already assembled? I know the
racial modifiers for stats are significantly altered, and at least one of
the "monster" descriptions (the one for elves) has been changed. I never
played the 3rd ed, though: just used it as a reference for the Arcane
Wisdom sections.
{I haven't run across anything like this, myself. Has anyone else put
together a list of errata to be able to play 2nd Ed. DQ with only a 3rd
Ed. rulebook? It would be a good thing to have. -- ED}
******************************************************************
*Date: Thu, 28 Sep 1995 13:41:25 -0400
*From: TSRInc@aol.com
*To: legion@netins.net
*Subject: Re: DragonQuest (the old SPI game)
*
*Anthony -
*
*That is very odd that you got a set of miniatures - I just called the
*MOHS and they said that they still have it in stock:
*
*DragonQuest 3rd edition (self-contained)
*Item #: 01432-3
*Price: $15.00
*
*Somewhere there must have been an error for you to get some
*miniatures....
*
*- Sean Reynolds
* TSR Online Coordinator
* TSRinc@aol.com
-- Anthony Stanford (legion@netins.net)
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Hello. This is Michael Hopcroft from SCRIBE.
I'd like to put some information on your newsletter in the next issue
of my Web-based electronic role-playing magazine. So if you have any
information you can share, I'd appreciate it.
The current issue can be seen at http://www.greenleafco.com/scribe.
-- Michael Hopcroft SCRIBE (scribe@locally.com)
-------------------_The_ _B_E_A_S_T_I_A_R_Y_---------------------
=================================================================
Daoine Sidhe
-- Jacqui Smith (keith@ihug.co.nz)
Daoine Sidhe (Theena Shee)
------------
Natural Habitat: Woods, Fields.
Frequency: Common. Number: 1-50 (30)
Description: Also known as the Tuatha De Danann. The High or Trooping
fairies. Humanoid in appearance, they are tall, immortal, and in some
cases, preternaturally beautiful. They are not winged, but are fond of
diaphanous clothing, and tend to wear lots of jewelry.
Talents, Skills and Magic:
All Daoine Sidhe have the faerie talents of glamour and insubstantiality
(see the accompanying article). Many are mages, usually of one of the
thaumaturgies, or of one of elemental colleges (except Celestial Dark, or
Star). Illusionists and Enchanters are common. They are often highly
skilled troubadors, or courtesans, more rarely healers, astrologers,
mechanicians, or alchemists.
Movement rates: Substantial: 275 Insubstantial: 1750
PS: 10-32 MD: 17-37 AG: 19-36 MA: 15-36
EN: 8-28 FT: 16-38 WP: 15-30 PC: 25-35
PB: 25-35 TMR: 6-9
Weapons: Daione Sidhe use bow weapons, spears, and straight one and two-
handed swords which are frequently magical and never made of iron. The
faerie knights wear golden helms, breastplates and greaves. Combat is for
the Daoine Sidhe a high art, and their heros are highly revered.
Comments: The Sidhe are rarely encountered outside Faerie, but are
relatively common on the Faerie planes, especially their home plane of
Tir-Nan-Og. Immortal beings once powerful as demi-gods, they have now
dwindled somewhat, and live in a timeless past-present. Many are still
exceedingly powerful creatures comparable with demons or angels, but
neither evil nor good. They are amoral, difficult for mortals to
comprehend. Yet they are the highest of the faerie races, most often
encountered in their cites, in solemn processions called faery rades, or
as the wild hunt. The approach of a faery rade is accompanied by the
ringing of bells. The Daione Sidhe are ruled by their faerie kings, but
pass lineage through the female line. Thus the heir is the king's
sister's son.
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FAERIE CREATURES FOR DRAGONQUEST
-- Jacqui & Keith Smith (keith@ihug.co.nz)
=================================================================
{NOTE: The material that Jacqui Sent was as large as an entire
Newsletter. As we have done before, we will be featuring several of her
submissions in the BEASTIARY column over the next few months (the Daoine
Sidhe is this month's BEASTIARY entry), and we will try to make the whole
file available in a single package from at least one of the archive or web
sites as soon as possible. -- ED}
The planes of Faerie have a number of creatures which are native to them,
and rarely seen outside of faerie. Other faerie folk, such as elves, are
similar to their relatives on other planes. Faeries are magical
creatures, and are sensitive to cold iron. Mere contact with the metal
will cause D-2 damage to all faerie creatures excepting elves, daione
sidhe, knockers, firbolg, and fachans.
Many faeries (which includes the equivalents in Tir-Nan-Og of species
known on Alusia) have the following abilities as magical talents:
Glamour: A faery can cast about itself an illusion, which can change its
appearance. This glamour is visible only. It lasts only as long as
someone else is looking at it, and can be disbelieved as an illusion. It
can be activated as often as the faery wishes, but a faery may use only
one appearance a day.
Insubstantiality: A faery may become insubstantial. In this state it can
only be seen with witchsight (or magical infravision) and can travel vast
distances in a short time. It is immune to all but magic, magical
weapons, and weapons composed of iron when in this state. A wound caused
by an iron weapon will cause the faery to become substantial. A faery can
remain insubstantial for D10 minutes, and can cover 10 miles per minute.
Because of the multi-GM nature of our campaign, many of the GMs run
adventures off-plane, instead of Elushia, in order to reduce the risk of
conflicting with what a previous GM has done.
Tir-Na-Nog is one of the alternate planes we use. It's a faerie plane and
as you noted, it is very Celtic in origin. It's also known as 'The Undying
Land'.
We also used a second faerie plane called Lyoneese which is very loosely
based on C.S. Lewis's Narnia chronicles.
Faerie People
=============
Daoine Sidhe Knocker Elf
Gwragedd Annwn Sithiche Bogle
Asrai Beoteine Spriggan
Merrows Pixie Firbolg
Selkies Leprechaun Fachan
Swanmay Brownie Gwyllion
Diacoille Fay Ellylldan {Will O' the Wisp}
Faerie Animals
==============
Kelpie = Faerie horse. These are similar to palfreys, but more
intelligent (having MA 1-4). They have the insubstantiality talent which
is bestowed on their rider (faery or not). Kelpies are able to fly when
insubstantial (TMR = 150).
Cait Sith = Faerie Cat. Big as a dog, with a black coat, and a white spot
on the breast. Has faerie talents. Treat as Wild Cat (p105).
Cu Sith = Faerie Dog. Size of calf, with dark green, shaggy fur, and a
long tail. Has faerie talents. Treat as Wolf (p107).
Crodh Mara = Fairie Cattle. Dun-coloured. Has faerie talents. Treat as
Ox (p106).
-- Jaccqui & Keith Smith (keith@ihug.co.nz)
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DQN WEB PAGE
-- Philip Proefrock (psproefr@miamiu.muohio.edu)
=================================================================
FLASH! FLASH! FLASH!
There is now a DragonQuest Newsletter Web Page, which will only be
up for a few months (it will go away when my university account
goes away; it may get moved someplace else after that, but that
will remain to be seen). It is very much still under construction,
and some parts of it are not yet working, but you are welcome to
explore it at:
http://miamiu.muohio.edu/~psproefr/dqn.html
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NON-DRAGONQUEST 'DRAGONQUEST' WEBSITES
-- Philip Proefrock (psproefr@miamiu.muohio.edu)
=================================================================
There are a number of sites with the name 'Dragonquest' in their titles
out there on the World Wide Web which are not related to the role-playing
game designed by SPI. Searches using some of the various Web-Search
engines recently turned up a whole host of things with 'Dragonquest' in
the title, but only a few were related to the game. I am trying to
compile a complete list of all DQ game related sites (and if you know of
more, or if you put up material of your own, please let me know). {A list
of the URLs to these resources will appear the Newsletter (in the
Advertisements) beginning with this month's issue. -- ED} But there are
a couple of other things you are likely to run across if you are hunting
for more links about the role-playing game.
First, there are Anne McCaffrey fan pages and Pern pages which refer to
her fantasy novel 'DragonQuest.' These are fairly easy to recognize as
soon as you look at the extended description, though. If you like Anne
McCaffrey, great, otherwise, don't bother. Secondly, there is a Nintendo
video game called 'DragonQuest.' Even if you included the word 'game' as
an additional qualifier in your search, you would still find these
references, too. And thirdly, there is an Japanese anime series called
'DragonQuest' (which may also be the inspirational source for the Nintendo
game, but I have no information about that one way or the other).
The number of RPG DragonQuest related online resources is growing, but
there are other things out there, which use the name 'DragonQuest' too.
It would be good for us to compile a complete list of the online DQ
resources that relate to the role-playing game.
-- Philip Proefrock (psproefr@miamiu.muohio.edu)
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MAGICAL ITEMS
-- Keith Smith (keith@ihug.co.nz)
=================================================================
Pearl of Waterbreathing
-----------------------
This object looks like an ordinary pearl, but instead is a receptable for
a WaterBreathing spell. The pearl has to be placed near the wearer's skin
in order to function.
Currently the pearl is empty. When a Water Mage holds the pearl and casts
a WaterBreathing, the spell is immediately absorbed by the pearl and split
into a number of charges equal to the number of hours that the spell would
normally run (doubles and triples do apply). Each charge lasts for an
hour and has a base chance of 45% + 3/rank of spell initially installed.
The pearl can only be recharged when it is empty. If a backfire occurs
when charging there is a 5% * spellrank chance that the pearl will crack
and be rendered useless.
As a safety feature, if the current charge runs out while the user is
still underwater the next charge, if present, automatically activates.
The user will be aware that this occurs.
Value: 4000sp.
Belt of Floatation
------------------
A plain leather belt containing 1 charge of rank 8 bound Floatation. This
can be recharged with any rank of the spell. The belt can only contain
one charge. Current BC = 92%
Value: 2400sp
-- Keith Smith (keith@ihug.co.nz)
------------------------ADVERTISEMENTS---------------------------
=================================================================
NEW AND slightly IMPROVED DQ WEB SITE!
URL
---
http://www.st.nepean.uws.edu.au/~dallbutt/dq/index.html
The web page is looking a little better now for those
of you who use Netscape.
The Page's offerings include:
* Past and Current Newsletters.
* New Colleges and Skills.
* Canonical DragonQuest Index.
* Art.
* DragonQuest FAQ - nothing much there yet.
Waiting for submissions (hint hint :)
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DragonQuest Icons for Macintosh
I have created a DQ document icon (which can be used for any text file)
and a DQ folder (to replace plain folders) for the Macintosh. If you use
a Macintosh computer and would like to have copy of these, contact me and
I will arrange to send you a copy. (I haven't tried to send icons before,
but I think that it can be done...) If someone can convert these from Mac
to IBM format, that would make it useful to almost everyone who reads the
DQ Newsletter.
-- Philip (psproefr@miamiu.muohio.edu)
----------------------------------------------------------------
----- DragonQuest URLs ----- ----- ----- -----
DQN Archive:
ftp://ftp.netcom.com/pub/dr/drache
DQ Homepage:
http://www.st.nepean.uws.edu.au/~dallbutt/dq/index.html
Cerebus:
Surge's:
http://www.cqs.washington.edu:80/~surge/gaming/dragonquest
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### End of DragonQuest Newsletter v3/n2 -- February 1996
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