Cover by Dean Morrisey, who also did #16 – it’s ok but he definitely improves with later covers
Articles
- Editorial gives recap of Origins ’78, mentions how huge it was. One mention of the tourney which will be reported on in Dragon 19 and that the 3 modules (ie the G modules) are commercially available
- Article by James Ward about how to crossover D&D characters to Metamorphosis Alpha and vice versa
Design Forum
- Article about magic laws – this is actually quite a cogent description of various laws that govern the multitude of magic systems throughout literature – which you could choose to use to add flavour to your campaign
Variants
- Insanity – saving throw chart based on intelligence and wisdom and an effects table and descriptions
- New spells – bunch of new magic user spells to use as you see fit
- The chamber of the Godgame – uh, this is some sort of puzzle chamber thingy – not to my taste
- Monkish weapons and monk vs monk combat – one of those very detailed things, kind of like the jousting matrix – I guess some people like that
- Poisons – very short article which splits poisons into 3 different types and their effects
- NPC stats – random roll tables for pride, greed, and quality of work
Reviews
- Not D&D related but of note – the new SF game, Traveller, gets a thorough review and description
Comics
- McLean has 3 pieces – all quite funny. He manages to make something funny with just one panel. And they’re nice drawings too. Tom Wham on the other hand is an excellent artist but I really don’t find Wormy funny in the slightest
Ads of note
- Same ad for Players Handbook as last issue