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|| DRAGONQUEST Newsletter Winter 2002
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|| Volume 7 / 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:

Rodger Thorm (Editor, Article Submissions, Etc.)
dqn@earthlink.net

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 website is (still) in the process
of being updated. It will be part of the list site:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dqnewsletter

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C O N T E N T S [v7/n02] =================================================================

Editorial -- New Content

Letters

Dragon Magazine Articles, Intro -- Rodger Thorm

Travel & threads for DragonQuest -- Paul Montgomery Crabaugh

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EDITORIAL: New Content =================================================================
Things have been very slow on the DragonQuest front for the last few months. I, myself, have been remiss in getting new Newsletters out because of some technical problems here at my end. Things have been recovered now, with a bit of free time, and I have unearthed the old Newsletter templates to produce some new Newsletters.

Until now, the Newsletter has only published original works, and while that is certainly the direction that we want to be the primary focus of the Newsletter, we're going to divert from that for the next several issues. The purpose of the DragonQuest Newsletter has always been to preserve and promote DragonQuest. Although the articles we will be publishing over the next few months were previously published in 'Dragon' magazine, they are not readily available to most players.

As is explained in the article below, there were nine DragonQuest related articles that were originally published in 'Dragon' magazine in the early- to mid-eighties. Over the next few months, we plan to reprint all of these articles in the DragonQuest Newsletter in order to make them available.

Rodger Thorm
DQN Editor


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LETTERS =================================================================
[This was originally posted at the WebRPG discussion board. -- ED]
Subject: RE: DQN summer issues
Posted by: Brett
Date: 07/29/2002 23:12
Hi everyone,

I have been out of touch for a while and probably will be again shortly. Which makes me feel bad because I have a slightly contrary thing to point out... If you prefer the pure fantasy/heroic rules over more "realistic" rules then reading farther isn't necessary...

I love the newsletter, keep up the great work!

Anyways, I was looking at the newsletter and the rules for horsemanship. Despite the glorious appearance or horsemanship in movies, history actually points out the repeated difficulties and losses experienced by cavalry attacking infantry. Cavalry were adept at running down fleeing infantry but mostly avoided serious combat with similarly armed/trained infantry men. One disadvantage was the shear number of opponents capable of surrounding a horseman but mostly it was due to the additional complexities of handling a horse in addition to fighting. Horseman were limited to attacking the heads and shoulders of the attackers (the easiest areas to defend!) while restricting their own ability to dodge and protect their lower halfs.

A rule I propose instead of the bonus X horsemanship is a
(10-horsemanship%) penalty. This makes a rank 10 warrior as skilled from horseback as from the ground. I also propose a skill check for riders wishing to attack from horseback until they reach rank 4. Here is a link to my long since updated website. It is just another horsemanship rule to consider... I would already modify it again myself but maybe you will find parts of it useful.

http://www.geocities.com/dragonquestlives/HorsemanshipSkill.htm

Brett


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DRAGON MAGAZINE ARTICLES, INTRO
-- Rodger Thorm =================================================================

In the early- to mid-1980s, when DragonQuest was still present and viable, there was enough interest in it that Dragon magazine ran several articles on the game. These articles addressed different aspects of DQ and suggested some additional rules that were though to be missing from the original rulebook. Some of these included rules for swimming (two different articles), hunting, and learning magic.
The authors were not part of the SPI team (although they may have been playtesters), and their articles all seem somewhat at odds with SPI's style. Nonetheless, some good material is present, even if it needs further modification to be used in a DQ campaign.

An anonymous contributor recently made .PDF files of all nine Dragon magazine articles available. These files are now posted as individual articles in the Files section of the DQN-list group
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dqn-list/files/
as well as in a single .ZIP file containing all nine .PDFs which is in the Files section of the DQ-rules group

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dq-rules/files/documents/DQDragonArchive.zip

The nine articles are:
Travel & threads for DragonQuest
The versatile Magician
The thrill of the hunt
Enhancing the enchanter
The warrior alternative
Learn magic by the month
Going up and getting wet
Getting in over your head
For a fuller background

These articles are also being converted into plain text files by a few other dedicated members of the DQ community. These articles will be included as a regular part of the DragonQuest Newsletter for the next nine issues (starting with this one) to make the files accessible to as many people as possible. As soon as we have the entire set of text files ready, those will be made available as well.

Thanks to the following individuals for their help in collecting and preparing these articles for the Newsletter: the anonymous contributor for supplying the .PDF articles; John Rauchert, John Kahane, and Steven Wiles for text conversion and proofreading.


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TRAVEL & THREADS FOR DRAGONQUEST
-- Paul Montgomery Crabaugh =================================================================
(originally appeared in Dragon Magazine Vol. V, No. 11 pg. 68)

It is very easy to work up enthusiasm for SPI's DragonQuest. Although by no means the most complete fantasy roleplaying game available, it is probably the best in its $10 price range. Combined with the usual SPI-quality rules, it is excellent, and promises to become moreso as supplements become available.

However, until the supplements are actually written, players and GameMasters will find a need to fill in some of the gaps -- like overland movement. The other aspects of an adventuring life are covered, including the chance of encounters, the effects of exhaustion, and the need for supplies. The speed the characters can travel at is left open, which, as you may have guessed, is the subject of this article.

First, the assumptions. Scale is assumed to be 10 miles to the hex.
Movement is defined in terms of number of hours required to cross a hex. The players have the choice of moving at a given rate of exercise (See Case 82.9 in the rules), and are either on foot or mounted on horses. If on horses, the players suffer Fatigue loss at one level less than they are moving at, while their mount suffers the Fatigue loss at the normal level; for example, if a party pushes forward at a Hard pace, the characters become fatigued at the Medium rate, while their mounts suffer the Hard rate. Sea movement is not covered -- that's another subject.

Two types of terrain exist: features which fill a hex completely, and those which follow the hex sides. Hex-filling features are: Clear Terrain (including Field and Plain), Woods, Hazardous Terrain (Cavern, Crypt, Rough, Ruin and Waste), Mountain, Volcano, and Marsh.

                               Movement Table
Terrain           Light    Med.   Hard   Stren.     Lost**
Clear             4/2      3/1�   2/1    1/�        10
Woods             5/4      4/3    3/2    2/1        8
Hazardous         6/4      5/3    4/2    3/1        9
Mountain (1)      10+1/p   8+1/p  6+1/p  4+1/10+1   5
Volcano (2)       12+1/p   10+1/p 8+1/p  6+1/14+1   6
Marsh             5/5      4/4    3/3    2/2        7
Stream (3)        +�/+1    +�/+1  +�/+1  +�/+1      na
River (3)         +1/+2    +1/+2  +1/+2  +1/+2      na
Slope* (3)        +2/+2    +2/+2  +2/+2  +2/+2      na

Explanations
(1)-- Visible in adjacent hex (normally, to map a hex, a party must actually move into it).
(2) -- Visible 2 hexes away.
(3) -- Hex-side feature; all others are hex-filling.

* -- Cast is for movement up the slope only, and is in hours, not dice; an exception to the usual rule for hex-side features.

**-- In each hex, roll the value listed or greater on a D10 to become lost; subtract one for each Rank of Ranger skill for that terrain type (but an unmodified 10 is always lost).  When a party is lost, throw a 6-sided die to determine which adjacent hex it will move into, paying double the usual entry cost.

p-- Prohibited
na-- Not applicable.
f/m-- Hours to cross, foot/mounted
f+x/m+y -- Foot crosses in f+(x dice) hours, mounted in m+(y dice) 
f+hours.
+x/+y-- Additional penalty to cross hex-side: x dice hours for foot, y
dice for mounted; however, see * above.

'Minimum Clothing'
One of the reasons for my fascination with DragonQuest is that the combat system provides encouragement for sword-and-sorcery heroes in the classic style. In most systems, armor is almost exclusively a benefit, so that characters walk (or trundle) into battle surrounded by their very own Sherman tank. This can be lethal in DQ, where armor cuts agility down twice: once for being armor and once for being encumbering. You may end up almost invulnerable -- but with your action points reduced to where you can only get in one blow to your opponent's three or more.

Going without armor carries its own hazards, but at least it is plausible to follow the lead of minimally clothed heroes such as Conan, John Carter, Red Sonya and Rifkind.

However, some shopping for the latest styles quickly reveals that the DQ shopping list caters to fairly ordinary street clothes -- not tuxedos and formal gowns, but moderately heavy clothing that can, under the proper circumstances, cost an action point or two that might be needed someday.

Therefore, herewith is provided a list of "minimum clothing": items of apparel sufficient to avoid violations of any indecent exposure laws, but much lighter than regular clothing (and, incidentally, more in line with most of the 25mm miniature figures available).

Harness: made of leather, worn by either sex, weighs 2 pounds, costs 8 SP; equivalent to a weapon belt. Favored by John Carter and (in a metallic version) Red Sonya.

Ribbons: female option only; a collection of barely adequate silk ribbons and such; weighs 1 pound, costs 1 SP. Worn by Elinore of Montagar.

Body Stocking: either sex, one pound, costs 4 SP. Worn by Rifkind of the Asheera, Oscar Gordon and the Empress of Twenty Universes.

Loincloth: male option only, one pound, costs 1 CF. Worn by Tarzan of the Apes, Conan of Cimmeria and others.

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