From: "Nadler, David" <[n--dl--d] at [uh2297p01.daytonoh.attgis.com]> Subject: DQN - January 1996 - v3n1 Date: Fri Feb 23 16:48 EST 1996 ================================================================ || || || DRAGONQUEST Newsletter January 1996 || || || || Volume 3 / Number 1 || ================================================================ 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.) [p s proefr] at [miamiu.muohio.edu] David Nadler (Distribution Coordinator) [n--dl--d] at [uh2297p01.daytonoh.ATTGIS.com] Drake Stanton (FTP Site Coordinator) [d--ac--e] at [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. C O N T E N T S ================================================================= Administrivia Editorial Letters -- Brent Jackson -- J. Verkuilen Advertisements ----------------------------------------------------------------- ADMINISTRIVIA - Dave Nadler ================================================================= No, your eyes are not deceiving you. This is the January issue that you are receiving at the end of February. I got it from Phil three weeks ago, but due to my own personal reasons (a new baby in my family and a large backlog of work) haven't gotten around to getting this out. In a way, that was fortunate since I've received about six more subscription requests in the past three weeks. One thing that is becoming a problem with nearly 100 subscribers is the number of messages that are returning to me as a bad address. Some of you have given me new addresses, which is most appreciated. If you want OFF the list or if you are losing e-mail connections for a while, please let me know. If you can't get the back issues from the ftp site, I'll gladly send you any issues you may have missed during your absence from this list. And, finally, my own address will be changing again. I'll be going back to the @ncr.com address sometime this year. So stay tuned and be patient in sending me messages. If your message to me bounces, please try sending it to Phil and he'll forward it to me. ----------------------------------------------------------------- EDITORIAL: The Survey ================================================================= We had 24 responses to the DQN survey. Given that there are less than 100 subscribers, that's a pretty good response rate. Based on that sample, this is what we found (although not all of the respondents were subscribers). A fuller breakdown of the responses will be made available in the Archive as soon as I can get it completely cleaned up and organized. Look for it in January, or so. The feedback and suggestions we recieved were extensive and useful. We have a number of new topics which were submitted and which may become special issues eventually. I will publish all of these suggestions to get discussion going about them. If there is a topic you would like to see covered in a special issue, let us know. (Even better, send us what you have on the topic. We are more likely to get a special issue when we have submissions from several sources.) Most respondents have full 'Net access, but only a few are connected to commercial services. To get further participation and growth for the Newsletter, this may be the next area to explore. Anyone who has access to any of the commercial services could help us out greatly by posting a notice in an appropriate location within your service to let people know how to get the Newsletter. I have a DQN FAQ that I have been working on to advertise the Newsletter which you could use, too. Contact me to discuss this further. ##### Online access: ############################################ (e-mail /DQ Newsletter/) -- 22; (internet newsgroups) -- 20; (commercial service discussion groups) -- 4 {CompuServe-1, Other/Unidentified-3}; (ftp /DQ Archive/) -- 19; (gopher) -- 18; (www /DQ HomePage/) -- 19 ##### Geographic Locale: ######################################## Australia [3] Melbourne -- 2; Sydney -- 1 Candada [3] Ontario -- 2; Alberta -- 1 New Zealand [4] Auckland -- 4 Sweden [1] Karlstad -- 1 UK [1] Cambridge -- 1 USA [12] California -- 3; Colorado -- 1; Hawaii -- 1; Illinois -- 1; Michigan -- 2; New Jersey -- 1; Ohio -- 2; Oregon -- 1 ##### DQ status: ################################################ [note: Many people responded as both player & GM. I have classified [these based on their first choice. There are probably several more [people who GM (or have GMed) DragonQuest than this might indicate. (DQ Player)--14; (DQ GM)--4; (Used to play DQ)--6; (Just browsing)--0 ##### How often do you play DQ? ################################# [note: Many of the responses to this question were along the lines [of: "A lot less than I used to..." Weekly -- 7; Twice a month -- 3; Once a month or every other month -- 4; About 4-6 times/year; Not on a regular basis -- 7; Effectively never -- 2 ##### How long have you been a DQ player? ####################### 1 to 5 years --4; 6 to 10 years -- 6; 11+ years -- 12 ##### Number of people in DQ campaign? ########################## The New Zealand group all reported 60-70 in their campaign, which somewhat skews the result. However, among the rest, groups of 3 to 10 were reported. Five to six was the average group size. ##### Number of non-subscriber readers: ######################### Almost half the respondents share the DragonQuest Newsletter with at least a couple of other people (presumably the others in their campaign, although we didn't ask) so the Newsletter does have some additional reach. I have also given a couple of people permission on different occasions to make copies of a Newsletter to distribute at a convention. Among the suggestions for special issues topics was a request for information about pirates/ships/etc. for DragonQuest. I saw a trailer for a pirate movie coming out this Christmas called 'Cutthroat Island' which looks like a good swashbuckling action flick. (I have now seen this ad several more times, so I expect that this is not news to a lot of you, and I expect that there will be an upturn in interest about things piratical in general. This is one area that DQ briefly addresses, but then does not follow up with. I would dearly love to gather an extensive Special Issue devoted to sea/sailing/pirates/etc. so maybe now is the time to start thinking about that? Please send your submissions to me, and we will see if we can get a special issue along these lines pulled together for the spring. ------------------------_L_E_T_T_E_R_S_-------------------------- ================================================================= -- Reviving DQ -- The comments of Anthony T. Stanford regarding DQ was quite interesting. There are people currently negotiating with TSR for the rights of DQ. Also, I have it on good authority that TSR sold the rights for all SPI products except DQ for US$10,000. This would seem in direct contrast to what Anthony was saying. However, we approached TSR in 1986 regarding DQ and got a firm "No" so maybe things have changed. -- Namers Counterspells -- We too have the problem that Andrew South talked of regarding Namers having to learn two new counterspells for each new college that is introduced. It is as yet unaddressed, but his suggestion is a good one. An alternative would be to have six counterspells, General and Special for each Branch (although I must admit I recently failed in an attempt to throw away branches in our campaign because they only add complexity). With the number of counterspells reduced to a manageable level, Namers special MA requirement rule could be dropped, thus requiring them to have 7 MA (or 3 for Andrews suggestion). Note that our campaign is magic rich. -- Mages and Iron Projectiles -- Anthony T. Stanford's comments on this subject were good. Our campaign also plays that an Endurance hit or Grievous is required for an A-class projectile to stick into a target. -- Brent Jackson ([b--e--t] at [hypercom.co.nz]) ----------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: composite/compound bows Here are a few further notes on composite/compound bows in response to Anthony Stanford's article in the last issue: Given precision technology that a really good Mechanician might be able to use, a compound bow wouldn't be _that_ tough. The physics is not particularly tough as far as I know. However, little game advantage should result except for an aimed shot bonus, since compound bows don't allow the archer to pull a heavier draw, they allow the archer to hold the draw back longer and fire the arrow with more even pressure, i.e., they're useful for modern-day hunters but of little use as a combat weapon. They're a lot more like a sniper's rifle than a battle weapon. Hunters in a fantasy world who could afford one might use a compound bow, but are more likely to use a crossbow. Crossbows are actually more effective than compound bows, so much so that they are largely banned for hunting purposes in the US. > "It really should have been purged with all the other exotic weapons." Maybe. There's nothing particularly odd about this technology, and elves, being short, might desire to use composite bows rather than longbows. The Arabs and Byzantines used composite technology--it was a way to get more power in a bow when good wood like yew or ash was scarce or nonexistent. Composite bows are certainly not as odd as, say, boomerangs and most bow-using cultures requiring powerful bows lacking wood would arrive at this innovation. > "It too was a Mongol device, made of a composite of horn and wood (thus > it's name)." Not just Mongols. It was common all throughout Asia and predates the Mongols, I believe. > "It looked just like a normal bow except that it was shorter (it was > made for use from horseback), usually recurved, and it wasn't made > entirely of wood." Longer staves were also made for the Byzantine infantry bow. These, and the derivative Jannissary infantry bow were extremely powerful, similar to the English longbow. -- J. Verkuilen ([j--v] at [uiuc.edu]) ---------------------_D_Q_ _A_R_C_H_I_V_E_----------------------- ================================================================= [Archive ftp site is at: ftp.netcom.com in the pub/dr/drache directory. [ftp://ftp.netcom.com/pub/dr/drache] Archivist and ftp Guru: Drake Stanton ([d--ac--e] at [netcom.com])] {There has been no activity in the DragonQuest archive for a while. I don't know if Drake is still maintaining it or not, although the files are still accessible. This list is the most current inventory of what is contained in the Archive. -- ED} The Archive Index folder: AW folder: Adventures aw89.Z README aw90.Z crypt.zip aw91.Z aw92.Z folder: Misc aw93.Z README aw94.Z dqindex.Z aw95.Z rgfmnote.Z aw96.Z aw97.Z folder: Races README README oaerth.pcs.Z folder: News README folder: Software dqnvol1.Z README news.ann.Z armor.dta newsv2n1.Z charstat.xls newsv2n2.Z dq.com newsv2n3.Z dq.pas.Z newsv2n4.Z dq_tally.com newsv2n5.Z dq_tally.pas.Z newsv2n6.Z dqreadme.txt.Z newsv2n7.Z expchart.xls magic.dta folder: Magic npctypes.dta README shields.dta monk.Z weapons.dta timemage.Z whitemag.Z folder: Zip README archive.zip ------------------------ADVERTISEMENTS--------------------------- ================================================================= Your ad can appear here for only a few Silver Pennies. Adventurers seeking employment, patrons seeking new contacts, merchants with fine wares to offer are all welcome to place their advertisements in these pages. Contact 'Poor Brendan'--Publisher, Antherwyck --------------------------- 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 :) --------------------------- Able-Bodied Sailors Wanted: Apply with full credentials and descriptions of prior experience to Captain Adler of the ship 'THANNEMEER' presently at the docks in town through the end of this week. ########################################################### ### End of DragonQuest Newsletter v3/n1 -- January 1996 ###########################################################