From: "Nadler, David" <[n--dl--d] at [uh2297p01.daytonoh.attgis.com]> Subject: DQN - September 95 - v2n7 Date: Thu Oct 05 17:00 EDT 1995 ================================================================ || || || DRAGONQUEST Newsletter September 1995 || || || || Volume 2 / Number 7 || ================================================================ 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 [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 ================================================================= Editorial Letters -- John Rauchert -- Russell Whyte Detect Aura -- Dean Martelle Non-Combat Blow -- "Legion" Column: CHARACTER CORNER Column: DQ ARCHIVE Advertisements Addendum: ### Questionnaire ### ----------------------------------------------------------------- EDITORIAL: Who are you? ================================================================= We have made contact with a DragonQuest celebrity, of sorts. As I mentioned in the last Newsletter, we have contacted Chris (Gerry) Klug, the designer of Second Edition DragonQuest. (We will have an interview with Chris in the Newsletter in the next month or two.) But I think that all of the Newsletter subscribers are also important for DragonQuest. After all, you (we) are all the ones who have kept the flame of DQ alive. So while we are talking to Chris, we would also like to take this opportunity to find out about everyone else who is subscribing to the Newsletter, as well. In part, this is also to try to get more discussion about the materials we are distributing in the Newsletter. I would like to encourage more feedback, discussion and debate about the articles in the Newsletter as well as questions about the interpretation and application of the DQ rules. I am explicitly *not* trying to start flame wars, but I would like to see more discussion and dialogue along with the new material, and hopefully this can be the springboard to start this discussion off. Some information from Chris about the demise of SPI was collected and posted to the rec.games.frp.misc newsgroup. I will be posting that article to the Archive soon. I had a couple preliminary questions for Chris, but then Chris had a couple of questions about the DQ Newsletter and its readers, which I will share with all of you. This shows the picture of the Newsletter community at this point, but we would like to find out a bit more about everyone. *How many people are subscribers to the newsletter? Right now, I believe we have about 70-80 subscribers getting the Newsletter (Dave Nadler will have the exact number) [Currently, we have 75 addresses to which the newsletter is sent-DN] each month. There are several subscribers I know of, however, who are representing a number of others who don't have their own online accounts, so I would say we are reaching over 100 DQ players. *Do you have any geographical information about them? We don't have a complete listing of where all of our subscribers are. Some accounts have some information, though, and I know from that that we have subscribers in Australia, Canada, France, Italy, New Zealand, Sweden, and the UK. *Has there ever been a DragonQuest con? I don't know of any, but I've never been that big a follower of cons. Does anyone else have any other information? This brings up the question, who are these people who are still involved in DragonQuest? With this in mind, appended to this month's Newsletter is a DQN Reader Survey Questionnaire. We'd like to find out who is reading the Newsletter and how we can make the Newsletter more useful. Please take a few moments to fill out the questionnaire at the end of the newsletter (or just answer the questions. You don't need to use the form; it's the answers themselves that we're really interested in). If you know someone who regularly reads the Newsletter but who doesn't have their own account (someone who you share the Newsletter with), we'd like to get their feedback, too. [And best of all, it's virtually postage- paid (except, perhaps, for some people who subscribe via commercial services).] We won't publish the entire list, but we will compile the results and let you all know what the online DragonQuest community is like. Also, if there is a con that you are planning on attending, you may want to post an advertisement in the Newsletter, and maybe meet some other DQ players (maybe even a pickup game of DQ?). And, especially, if you are *running* a DQ event at a con (or if you know of one being run), let us know so that we can publicize it in the Newsletter, too. For that matter, anyone interested in starting an online game is more than welcome to post that information in the Newsletter, too. Remember, please take a minute to reply to our survey. We want to know who you are and how we can make the Newsletter better for you. ------------------------_L_E_T_T_E_R_S_-------------------------- ================================================================= Subject: Errata for my article April/95 {Reshaping the Shape-Changer} Well, I'm finally back to what I enjoy doing the most. Believe it or not this is the first time in the past 6 months I can actually sit down and concentrate on gaming. It also gave me a chance to re- read my article in the April newsletter. I must have sent you an earlier version because I noticed two errors in the text. First, under Ability 10. the following line should read -- Similarly, if the shape-changer exceeds the time limits given in Ability *9* [not 7 as indicated] --. Second the last paragraph should read --A shape-changer's characteristics are not modified, though a new set of characteristics must be generated (see Ability *7*) [not 5 as indicated] --. Perfection would be boring :) I personally like your Idea of a FAQ for DQ. Yet, I wonder if there would be a problem with people using different editions when it comes to rules interpretation? I don't mean to harpie on this point but I think we all should be starting from the same basic set of rules and then go from there. Regarding the DQIndex, I have a friend that has most of the Adventure Gaming mags, and he could not find the White Magicke article in any of them, so the quest is still on. -- John Rauchert ([john rauchert] at [sait.ab.ca]) ----------------------------------------------------------------- Welcome back! Hope you enjoyed the summer. Are you planing any more special issues, and what are the topics, if any? I could have used the shapechangers articles a long time ago :-). An issue on naval related items could be fun. I got the Rolemaster Naval Warfare book a couple of months ago, and am trying to convert some of the info to DQ. I'll let you know when I have something organized enough to share. -- Russell Whyte ([russell whyte] at [sheridanc.on.ca]) [We would certainly like to set up more special issues. Of course, they will depend on what topics we can get a broad selection of material for. Your suggestion of a naval related special issue seems like a good one to me, since I've always thought that the Navigator skill was something the original rules left kind of unsupported. Suggestions for any other special issues you would like to see are certainly welcome. Once we get a few, we'll put them in a subsequent Newsletter and then see what responses we get on them and when we can schedule them. -- ED.] ----------------------------------------------------------------- DETECT AURA -- Dean Martelle ================================================================= [Editor's Note: This is the first of a series of articles from the "Dragonquester's Notebook" which originally appeared in a newsletter from Rider's Hobby in Ann Arbor, Michigan. We just recently got in touch with Dean (who is not on the 'Net), and he was very willing to let us reprint these articles. Other articles from this series will be in forthcoming Newsletters. -- ED.] Many times has the Dragonquest GM heard the words, "I'm detecting aura on..." The GM also has to deal with the inevitable question which may have very little relationship to the aura detected. In this article I will explain a little about how I run Detect Aura. What is an aura anyway? An aura is an energy field that surrounds and is part of every living thing. This field grows weaker after an object's or being's death but does not disappear until a lot of time (about 1000 years or more) or a chemical change (such as burning or rot) takes place. What an adept sees when they detect an aura is an image similar to Kirlain photography, an almost ghostly colored image. As per the Dragonquest rules, the adept immediately knows what kind of being they face when they detect its aura. How do I get out of answering silly questions? What I do is this: I don't let a party ask them in the first place. I ask them what sort of information they want to learn; then I tell them what they have found. Some things a Detect Aura can determine include: * Lie Detection -- any insincerity on the part of the speaker shows up instantly in the aura. * Magical College Affiliation -- a Naming Mage, and to a lesser extent other adepts, can detect what college a being belongs to by its aura (I suggest at least Rank 6 for other colleges to try this). * Alignment between Light and Darkness -- this one is a secialty of Celestial Mages. * Health or well-being of a living thing -- Earth Mages are good at this one. * Magic -- If the object is enchanted in any way it shows up in the aura. * How other things are associated with the object -- for example, a Detect Aura may show a trap attached to a door or a hobgoblin leaning up against it, it may even show what last passed through the door, but it will not show exactly what is in the room. Illusions have no aura to detect. If anyone rolls a successful Detect Aura on an illusion they are informed that it is an illusion and get a 5% bonus on attempts to disbelieve (or maybe +10% is better). Are there things you can't ask? Yes there are: An object's individual True Name, anything about the object's future, anything not connected directly to the object (in physical contact with the object), where an object was at a particular place and time (although you can get some ideas about former owners and their sequence), exactly what enchantment is on an item (that's what magic divination is for), or to do other things there are other detection spells for. How often can I detect aura? A good rule of thumb is one die roll every 24 hours on a given object or area. This cuts down on constant re-detecting that would make the percentage chance of the talent a joke... When can I ask for a Detect Aura? Since most colleges of magic that have this ability have it as a talent, it can be used any time. Rune Mages, however, have to cast the Detect Aura as a spell and must announce their intention and perform a cast check. In compensation, a Rune Mage's spell is much more reliable. (All a Rune Mage needs to do is cast the sell and the aura is detected.) If my character has Detect Aura as a talent, is it always on? Yes, it is. In fact, as a GM, I use it to provide information to the players of any nature I see fit (it must be correct, but it can be deceiving). It is a great way to keep things moving along or to give a arty one last warning or clue. If you are a player, inform the GM of circumstances when you would like a Detect Aura roll made. Also ask the GM to treat Detect Aura as another sense that you keep alert, like hearing or vision. Can a character use a Detect Aura to "see in the dark"? Yes, if the character has it as a talent, successfully detects the opponent, and they don't actively resist. This is in keeping with Detect Aura being a magic sense. This can also save a few lives. Is a Detect Aura cumulative with skills or spells? Not in most circumstances. A Ranger's Detect Aura is not added to his chance of detecting an ambush, nor a Thief's to detecting a trap, but it is rolled in both those cases (if possible) as a backup to those. (This would be a separate roll.) Things to remember: A Detect Aura works only on living or formerly living things. You can only roll once every 24 hours. The depth of your reading depends on the effect of your success (you get more information on double and trile effect). If you detect an aura on an item that is not apparently living or formerly living matter, you have got something with a spirit or a demon contained in it (look out!). The Detect Aura is a general purpose detection ability and to be GM'ed as such. It is very handy but has its limits. -- Dean Martelle (no Internet address) ----------------------------------------------------------------- NON-COMBAT BLOW -- "Legion" ([l--gi--n] at [netins.net]) ================================================================= If a target is completely unaware (sleeping or unconscious) and the attacker is not under any physical threat or time pressure (i.e., there is no combat ANYWHERE around him), then the attacker gets to make what is called a "non-combat blow". The attack is resolved normally, including all modifiers for stance, but all damage results are upgraded one class: a miss becomes a hit to fatigue; a hit to fatigue becomes an endurance shot; an endurance shot becomes a grievous injury; and a grievous injury kills the target outright. This rule only applies if the attacker is the same general size as the target (it don't matter how hard you hit the dragon, one shot won't kill him....besides, dragons are never completely unaware, even when sleeping). I would even allow these attacks against conscious but completely unsuspecting targets, subject to a perception check by the target, and possibly a stealth check by the attacker, if appropriate. The rationale for this rule is simple: fatigue damage is done when a target is braced for a blow, expecting it, and doing his best to avoid it. After you've been battered about enough, you can no longer move around as effectively, and start getting cut up much more seriously. Damage then starts going to endurance. If the target is completely unaware ("caught flat-footed"), they will get cut up about as badly. This rule should NOT apply to all surprise situations, where the target may be expecting an attack, but is not sure where it will come from. -- "Legion" ([l--gi--n] at [netins.net]) ---------------------_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])] The Fall of SPI ARCHIVE NAME: SPI.txt This article originally appeared in the rec.games.frp.misc newsgroup, and the content is derived from the author's conversation with Chris Klug (who was an SPI employee when this happened). For those of you who have wondered what happened to SPI (and why it happened the way it did), this article answers many questions. ------------------------ADVERTISEMENTS--------------------------- ================================================================= Visit the DragonQuest HomePage on the World Wide Web! This site has lots of stuff for DragonQuest, including: *Back issues of the DragonQuest Newsletter *New Colleges of Magic *New Skills *A collection of DragonQuest Art by April-Ashlee Rickets The DragonQuest HomePage http://www.st.nepean.uws.edu.au/~dallbutt/dq.html ----------------------------------------------------------------- ADVENTURERS NEEDED -- Master of Water Magics seeks diligent group of individuals to seek out lost alchemical manufactory. Wilderness exploration experience and good references required. Generous arrangements offered to the right group. Meet Mr. Farrago Partienna at the "Three Oars and an Anchor" Inn, Cape Bage (Thursdays) to enquire further. )@( )@W@( )@( ########################################################### ### End of DragonQuest Newsletter v2/n7 -- September 1995 --Questionnaire Follows: # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # DragonQuest Newsletter Reader Survey ------------------------------------ Name:_______________________________ e-mail Address:_____________________ Geograhic Locale:___________________ Your DQ status: (DQ Player) (DQ GM) (Used to play DQ) (Just browsing) How often do you play DQ?__________ How long have you been a DQ player?__________ How many people are in your DQ campaign?__________ How many people (who don't have their own subscriptions) do you share the DQ Newsletter with?__________ Which of the following do you have access to: (e-mail /DQ Newsletter/) (internet newsgroups) (commercial service discussion groups) (ftp /DQ Archive/) (gopher) (www /DQ HomePage/) What topic(s) would you like to see a Special Issue about? Any suggestions you have to make DQ information (adventures, colleges, etc.) more accessible or useful: Any additional features you would like to see in the Newsletter: Any other comments: Please send Questionnaire replies to: [p s proefr] at [miamiu.muohio.edu] # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # End of Questionnaire ###########################################################