by Robert J. Kuntz

Greetings my fellow D&D’ers! This is a first for both me and you;
namely, a column (regular, I hope) dealing with Dungeons and Dragons.
The growing need for such a column has been long existent and, I
might add (being a Dungeon Master myself), long overdue. I hope to
do many things in this column and you can help by first filling out, or
in some way answering the questionnaire at the end of this column, and
secondly by wishing me luck and giving me as much cooperation as is D
&D’ingly possible. Now to the progress of D&D as of late . . .

TSR’s latest project to date is the MONSTER MANUAL. As I
write this the printers are having their difficulties with it but it should
be around shortly. The MONSTER MANUAL, as conceived by Gary
Gygax with stupendous art by David Sutherland, David Trampier, and
Tom Wham with extensive editing from the ‘boys’ at TSR, will be this
company’s greatest achievement since Empire of the Petal Throne.
Listing all monsters alphabetically, the author includes those that appeared
originally in D&D, its supplements, those from the old Strategic
Review as well as The Dragon and those that he has added to round
out this truly extensive work. The artists have added immensely to it
and most explanations are followed by an illustration. Its arrangement
is such as to make finding a monster, finding out all about it, and in
most cases what it looks like that much easier and fun to boot!

More news is that Brian Blume is involved on an outdoor map for
D&D. For those of you that might not know, Brian is an accredited
author and did all of the map graphics for Little Big Horn and Lankhmar.
The map looks to be a dandy. Also, Monster & Treasure matrices
for levels 7-9 are in progress right now. The big wait still continues over
the final release date of ADVANCED DUNGEONS & DRAGONS. A
“guesstimate” brings the work to a final conclusion early next
summer, but who knows? Gary continues to work upon this humoungus
project daily and many changes and additions are being injected
into it to make it more playable and interesting for those that have waited
so long. Fighters will now take 10-sided dice to determine their hit
points and clerics 8-sided, etc. The magic system has undergone some
alterations, as well as an addition of new spells, bringing the total spell
count to 180! These are just some of the changes and it is hoped that the
people who play the game support this effort, for it is aimed at making
D&D game-playing that much more easy and fun for the beginner as
well as the hard core ‘addict’.

Away from the home front, Judges Guild continues to saturate the
D&D market with new variants. New material, such as prospecting,
cave formations, keen sighting, determining types of ruins, assorted
monsters and other detailed material appear within their publications.
Judges Guild, in cooperation with TSR, has undertaken to make their
new rule variant/additions that much more refined and interesting to
the hard core D&D player.

It is worth mentioning that many attempts have been made to rival
D&D. The closest yet may be Fantasy Games Unlimited’s Chivalry &
Sorcery. This jam-packed work does well in its representation and mechanics
but falls short due to its “smallish” print . . . A notable success
none-the-less.

D&D abroad continues to do quite well. Notably, Games Workshop
out of London maintains an incredible sales distribution of D&D ma,
terial as well as publishes a magazine dealing exclusively with D&D
TSR has distributors located in Switzerland, Australia, Canada and has
licensed some game companies abroad to produce D&D and its supple,
ments.

I have gone to some extent to inform the masses of the business/
buyer aspect of D&D as well as to whet your appetites about up
coming D&D line products. This was, in part, what I had in mind to
do. It sets the stage for me to better ascertain what you want out of this
column. You tell me. A list of sorts is appended below. Rate each selection
0 for low to 9 for high. This will give me an idea on how to proceed
in the future. If this column is to be based upon reader response I will
need all of your letters, be they good or bad. Send them to THE SORCERERS
SCROLL c/o The Dragon. Do not include any other business
or material in these letters; just stuff for this column. May you never be
caught in a dead end by an iron golem!

Rate 0-9:
New magic items
New non-player classes
New player classes
New combat systems (fighter or
m a g i c a l )
New gods or demi-gods
New monsters
Question-answer
Combinations of the above
New psionic additions
New artifacts
Mapping the dungeons
Others (list your suggestions)