Small wonders	-	-	-	The wight stuff
1st Edition AD&D	-	Dragon #135	-	Dragon magazine

I asked for FEEDBACK(Rush) in "The Game Wizards
" column in DRAGON® issue #129. So,
what happens when 511 letters come to
my office, all filled with great and not-sogreat
ideas on what should get into the
GREYHAWK® Adventures hardbound
book. I read every one of them. Let me
tell you, most of the handwritten ones,
especially the ones with horrible penmanship,
were a real chore, but every one was
read -- and some of them had ideas that
are being put into the design of the book.
Let me fill you in on the best of these.

Many people wanted zero-level PCs.
Adventurers are not hatched ready to go;
they undergo a bit of training in several
areas before they find their niches. The
rules on this character-creation system
will cover experimenting with different
classes and even keeping some powers
from other classes (at a penalty of losing
experience points on adventures).

A good many people wanted to know
about some of the more unusual geographic
features of the planet Oerth. There is
now going to be an entire section in the
book on this topic. Oerth has islands that
float with the currents of the sea. Each of
these places has become the lair of fierce
monsters that need the islands' traveling 
ability to enter new feeding grounds during 
ing the year. These monsters also have
unusually large treasure hoards. Imagine,
appreciated the thought and effort that
too, a strange magical pillar that greatly
heightens the powers of any magic-user
who touches it -- but the more spellcasters
who touch the pillar, the less
power the artifact gives to each. Naturally,
one person seeks to have all the power;
rivals must be eliminated!

I was very surprised to see that hundreds
of you wanted adventures in the
book. Several sections will now have
adventures patterned after REF3 The Book
of Lairs; these adventures range from
0-level, easy-looking things like loading
a hay wagon to high-level adventures for
only the toughest of heroes. Each one is
designed to provide hours of fun for PCs
and DMs alike. Some letters confirmed my
suspicion that several sections scheduled
to be put into the hardbound would
indeed be popular. There was a clear
majority in favor of putting in new monsters
from the WORLD OF GREYHAWK
fantasy setting; the same went for characters
and spells. I would be in trouble, too,
if I didn't put in magick items especially
designed for the WORLD OF GREYHAWK
setting.

I'll close out this section by saying that I 
appreciated the thought and effort that 
went into all those letters from you, the
readers. My eyes especially appreciated
the typed letters that came in. Yes, I will
send out free copies of the book to those
whose ideas I liked and used. No, I don't
need any more ideas on this project, but I
will still read your letters -- not because I
can use the ideas, but because I think your
effort merits a little work on my part.

Small wonders
I am pleased to announce that Ral Partha 
Enterprises, Inc, will produce a special 
line of FORGOTTEN REALMS miniatures.  
The first sets will come out for the 1988 
GEN CON/ORIGINS Game Fair.  At the 
very least, you will be able to buy a boxed 
set of figures for the FORGOTTEN 
REALMS setting and a boxed dragon especially 
made for the DRAGONLANCE saga.  
I will be talking to Ral Partha in the near 
future and when I know something more, 
you will know it, too. 

The wight stuff
Recently, I was playing in a great
AD&D® game campaign when my character
ran into a monster my DM called a
"white dwarf." I didn't think much of it at
the time because the skin color of a dwarf
had never come up in game play before.
Then my party met lots of the little bug
gers, and much to my horror I discovered
that I wasn't facing a dwarf with white
skin -- I was facing a wight dwarf, an
undead creature with all the powers and
abilities of a dwarf and a wight.

At the time, I wasn't amused to see my
character lose several life levels and have
to run for his very life. After I had time to
reflect a bit, I started to appreciate what
my friendly DM had done. The idea of
using puns of all types in a dungeon setting
started my mind whirling. I would
like to put together a dungeon filled with
all sorts of "punnish" encounters, and I
would like your help in accomplishing this
feat. Just for fun, and if you have the time,
send me some puns based on the AD&D
game. The best 10 will appear in this
column in DRAGON Magazine at a future
date. The best punner also wins a year's
subscription to DRAGON Magazine as well.
You don't have to type out your puns (but
it sure is easier for me to read them that
way). Just send your puns to:

Puns for Jim Ward
TSR, Inc.
PO. Box 756
Lake Geneva WI 53147

The closing date on this minicontest will
be July 29, 1988. If all goes well, I can put
together something by then that can be
put in the GEN CON/ORIGINS Game Fair
tournament schedule for everyone to
enjoy. By the way, I have read all the
Xanth books, so don?t bother using any of
the puns from them.



JULY 1988