Dragon Magazine 189

• Dragon Magazine #189
• Dragon Magazine 189
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The Known World Grimoire

Dragon Magazine, #189, January 1993 (1993) ED by Kim Mohan Dragon Magazine - 1994 - Issues # 201-212 ( 1994 ) ED by Kim Mohan Dragon Magazine - 1995 - Issues # 222-224 (. DRAGON® Magazine (ISSN 0279-6848) is published monthly by TSR, Inc., P.O. Box 756 (201 Sheridan Springs Road), Lake Geneva WI 53147, United States of America. The postal address for all materials from the United States of America and Canada except subscription orders is: DRAGON® Magazine, PO. Box 111, (201 Sheridan Springs Road), Lake Geneva WI. ISIS Magazine The Go Issue November 2011 cover.png 251 × 361; 189 KB ISIS Magazine Trinity 2012 Cover.jpg 400 × 586; 231 KB Issues of Fusion magazine.JPG 1,543 × 1,435; 422 KB.

by Bruce Heard

Just over three years have passed since Iapproached the staff of DRAGON Magazine with some nebulous ideasfor a series of D&D game articles. There was (and still is) aneed for more regular D&D game coverage.

This column slowly grew into what most of you arefamiliar with - the logbook entries of Haldemar's adventures,followed with a Dungeon Master's background section. It grew -then, it grew some more!

Writing these monthly adventures became rathertime-consuming for me. Because of this and because the developmentof the upcoming Princess Ark boxed set demanded an end to theadventure, the time has come for me to catch my breath. Theadventures of Haldemar and company have come to an end.

For the time being, I'll continue to do my best toanswer your letters as usual, and I may include occasional articleson various D&D game topics (perhaps offering more developmentof Mystara). Your letters could spark some new development - as youmay have noted in last November's issue (#187) with the suggestionson dominion economics.

With a new year beginning, it is time to changewhat many of you have become accustomed to. More than ever, I wishto thank you all for your letters, suggestions, and criticisms. I'dalso like to thank the DRAGON magazine staff for its patience andsupport. Let's get to your mail

Letters

I have to comment on one letter in the May 1992issue of DRAGON Magazine (#181); the objections to the use of Irishplace names in the Thyatian Province of Redstone, on the isle ofDawn. The writer is entitled to his or her opinion, but, as one whoclaims descent from Brian Boru, I like the idea. Also, I'm quite astudent of the former Soviet Union, thanks to Uncle Sam's military,and got a kick out of seeing names from old Soviet Central Asiaturn up in game products.

The AD&D game's Oriental Adventures rules are afavourite of mine, too. The adapted Japanese and Chinese settingsare delightful. One of my sons is a student of French, and I enjoydropping him into French-speaking New Averoigne in Glantri, or theSavage Coast's Kingdom of Renardy. If nothing else, it gives him achance to laugh at my accent.

Maybe some gamer tracking down places likeYlaruam's Urst-Urt Valley might learn about the people and cultureof the real-world's Urst-Urt desert in the Kazakh and UzbekRepublics, or one looking into the origins of Karameikos mightlearn something of ancient Greek pottery. Those Irish-soundingnames on the Isle of Dawn could lead some curious gamer toinvestigate their background and learn of the fascinating historyand lore of the Celtic peoples-Irish, Scottish, Welsh, Breton. andall. I vote for using them and the names from any other culture youcan imagine basing a game or a campaign on.

Communication and understanding have to be keys topeace on any level. Whatever catches one person's imagination andleads to further investigation may lead this poor, battered worldone step closer to the understanding and acceptance that we all sodesperately need.

Thanks for your thoughts. Note that the originalletter complained more about misusing foreign names rather than notusing them at all. I can deal with most western European languages(more or less), but I guess I would get an 'F' in Gaelic. Anytime agame setting is inspired at least in part from a real-worldsetting, either current or historical, it is almost guaranteed thatsome totally goofy names will come up (we never intend to offendanyone, though). The point is to make our proud 'creations' soundlike the inspirational source.

Some DMs' favourite method of creating a newsetting is often to grab that ultra-detailed, 30-lb. Atlas of adistant and mysterious nation somewhere in our world, and pickneat-sounding names, complete with accents and other outlandishpunctuation. With luck, they'll be absolutely unpronounceable. Ifthe map is detailed enough, your DM might think, 'They'll neverfind that one!' Your DM might shamelessly tweak what look like nameroots, preserving the same syllable patterns. That's how we endedup with a village in Mystara called 'goat dropping'! (I won't tellwhich one.) At worst, this could still improve your DM's grasp ofworld geography.

It's not the first time an overseas leader gave usa tap on the shoulder with an 'ahem' comment about our latestfaux-pas in an article here or a module there. Fortunately, it isoften accompanied with a broad smile, if not a laugh! It's all inthe spirit of the game.

Wow! The Wrath of the Immortals set is awesome! Inever intended to run an Immortals-as-PCs campaign, but it doesappear that the rules have been simplified from the old D&DImmortals Set-good move. The descriptions of the game's majorImmortals was also a welcome sight; perhaps you could publish amore detailed list of the lesser Immortals (Ahmanni Turtleriderthrough Yav) in a future D&D accessory. What I liked aboutWrath of the Immortals, however, was the adventure included in theset. The Great War of the Immortals and the resulting shake-up tothe lands of the Known World are a boot in the pants for saggingcampaigns (like my own).

Thanks for the compliments. Some of the minorImmortals may get development in forthcoming accessories. If ourplans hold together and space allows, we may give you more on la vin the upcoming Princess Ark boxed set. By the way, the adventurein Wrath of the Immortals is written for mortal heroes, notImmortal novices.

Are the good and bad magic points of Alfheim (GAZ5,pages 19-23) affected by the elven land's transformation into theShadow Elf realm of Aengmor (in Wrath of the Immortals)?

The good magic points went dormant. They will comeback to life when the forest returns to its natural shape. Treatthese areas as deserted, twisted forest. Immortals 'mothballed' theGood Kingdom of the faeries (see PC1 Tall Tales of the Wee Folk).The whole kingdom has 'disappeared' from Mystara, and remains insuspended animation in a pocket plane. Depending on what happens tothe trees in Aengmor the faeries will be returned to the KnownWorld or relocated to the Hollow World. The bad magic points,unfortunately, remain.

Which elven clans migrated north to Wendar andwhich ones travelled south to Karameikos, after the transformationof Alfheim?

Migrated north: Feadil, Long Runners, Mealidil, andGrunalf. They went through Canolbarth, tiptoed between Yellow Orkiaand Gruuk, skirted the Ethengarian border along eastern BrokenLands and Glantri, fled into Glantrian territory near Estoniarsk(Boidatia) after savage Ethengarian attacks (in the fall of AC1008), continued toward the Barony of Pavlova, moved northwestthrough forested hills of the Wendarian Ranges, and finally wentdue north from there into Wendar. Feadil settled south of Sylvair;Meahdil north of Sylvair; Grunalf west of Woodgate; Long Runnersnorth of Woodgate. Each clan was given a 2,000 sq. mile wooded area(pine forest) in exchange for swearing fealty to the King ofWendar. They had a long, difficult trek, but it was a rewardingone.

Migrated south: Chossum, Erendyl, and Red Arrow.They gathered south of Selenica, then headed south down the Duke'sRoad (now called the King's Road) to Penhaligon and Kelvin. As ofAC 1010, those unable to fight have been allowed to set camp in thewoods east of the Unnamed Moor. Chossum and Erendyl warriors wentsouth into Callarii territory to help them exterminate the goblinsthere. Callarii Elves have greeted them with mixed feelings. RedArrow warriors went east to fight other humanoids in the heavyforest north of the Vyalia Elves. So far, these three clans havethe status of undesirable refugees at best. Frictions between themand the Karameikos elves are beginning to be felt. Erendyl hasbegun petitioning the King for a separate dominion in Radlebb Woodsto help defuse an explosive situation.

I noticed that the villains of Karameikos' BlackEagle Barony were unusually inactive during the events of Wrath ofthe Immortals. Duke Stefan declares himself King, gets an Alphatianwizard (Master Terari) and an advanced magic school, and allowsAlfheim elves to settle in Karameikos. Baron von Hendriks doesnothing to balance this tremendous influx of good?

Before AC 1010, Von Hendriks made a total pest ofhimself with his western halfling neighbours. He also is partlyresponsible for setting up Callarii, Chossum, and Erendyl elvesagainst each other by spreading lies, committing crimes, thenframing one elf or another etc. He hopes for a Callarii revolt.

The Baron also tries to establish a diplomaticlink with Thincol (as well as with Von Klagendorf), hoping for somesweet deal if the empire steps in. The Almanac reveals a surprisingturn of event for the Black Eagle Barony by the end of AC 1010.

The Poor Wizard's Almanac

At last, it's here! By the time this sees print,many of you will have gotten your own copies; for those of you whohaven't picked up this supplement yet, let me fill you in. This isa 240-page 'pocket' book ($9.95 retail in the U.S.) packed with ageographic, historical, and political atlas of the Known World,including post- Wrath of the Immortals Thyatis and Alphatia, alisting of the Known World is and Hollow World's armies, awho's-who in Mystara, calendars, and a year's worth of game eventsfor AC 1010. If you're not familiar with the world of Mystara,you'll need to have access to the campaign maps in the D&DRules Cyclopaedia.

After a quick glance, I found no glaring mistakes!All the precious information, the maps, and the illustrations werewhere they were supposed to be. The index in particular (anightmarish feat to put together in this kind of book) seemed towork just fine, as I feverishly flipped through the pages torandomly cross-reference various data.

What quickly caught my eye was the colour map sheetbound at the back of the book. I realised that it wasn't possibleto open it without pulling the whole sheet out of the book.Fortunately, the perforation in my copy was good enough that themap came out easily, without irksome rips and tears. Then followedthe foreboding thought of losing the sheet after pulling it out.For those of you with the same fear, I have a solution. Open themap sheet, and glue the upper left corner of the map to the insidethe book's back cover. Make sure the map corner is properlycantered and aligned with the cover's edges. Then, refold the mapinward, carefully restoring the map's vertical and horizontal foldlines. You'll never lose the map sheet this way, and you also cankeep it unfolded while consulting the rest of book, easilydisplaying seven eighths of the map's surface withoutobstruction.

The book splits into two major chunks, asoriginally planned. The first section deals with past and presentinformation, the second provides the 'future' AC 1010 events(almost 70 pages worth of information). I found the second part themost interesting since it brings to light new developments in thegame world, but unfortunately it also is the shorter of the twosections. I caught myself flipping back to the who's who and thearmies chapters of the first section out of sheer curiosity or torefresh my memory on some of the more uncommon details ofMystara.

Although I reviewed the material in earlier drafts,the second section in its final shape still offered a fun read.Game events are listed in the practical format that had been usedin the Wrath of the Immortals boxed set.

They are guaranteed to offer an unlimited sourceof world-wide adventure ideas. In contrast, the first section doesnot read as smoothly (it was never intended to), but it does itsjob well. It offers a handy, well-organized, and amazingly completedictionary, especially when one considers the amount of spaceavailable in the book versus the mind-boggling quantity of datathat had to be researched or created to fit the Almanac's format.Kudos to author Aaron Allston for a job well done!

Errata

I found some minor glitches in the text. On page163, for example, the Ascendancy label in the Date of Birth chartshould be next to the Week label, above the Sun-Sky column.

Small geographical discrepancies appeared in thedescription of some of the Isle of Dawn's nations. Here are theupdates:

The Northern Province marked on the map sheet isthe layman's version of Provincia Septentriona (Septentrionesreferred to north stars in real-world Latin, thus the NorthernProvince meaning). The Province of Furmenglaive was listed as'Castle' Furmenglaive, which is wrong.

The 'Northern Territories of Dawn' marked on themap sheet aren't listed in the book's atlas section. These bleaklands belong to Thyatis, but are administered by the Grand Duchy ofWestrourke on behalf of Thyatis. It also should be noted that theactual Barony of Caerdwicca is part of the Southern Province(Provincia Meridiona) under Thyatis' control. Furmenglaive isn't,but still claims part of that province is land it legitimately owns(a mapper's Headache).

Part of the vast Dunadale Bogs are marked on themap sheet as Unclaimed, although they are theoretically part of theDunadale Confederacy. This is mostly Tenderness infested withmonsters and Humanoids, especially in the wake of the Great War'stroubled times in Wrath of the Immortals. Finally, areas listed inthe book for some of the Isle of Dawn's nations need to be adjustedto match their borders on the map sheet. The change was because theformat and scale of the new map sheet, and some last-minutemodifications that didn't make it into the book. The surface listedin the Almanac for Dunadale includes the Dunadale Bogs. The surfacelisted for Westrourke includes the Northern Territories of Dawn.Here are the corrected (approximate) areas:

The town of Princetown in Bellissaria is part ofthe Kingdom of Notrion (the border location was ambiguous on themap sheet).

There should be a trail between Cairnport andAlchemos in Bellissaria.

There is a mislabelled 'Whalers' Island' northeastof Oceansend (due to a wandering map tag originally intended forthe island south of Qeodhar). This island should be called 'WalrusIsland' instead. Likewise, the unmarked island in Dobar Bay shouldbe named Dobar Island.

On the north edge of the map sheet, the label 'ToQeodhar (700 miles)' refers to the small arrow on its left. Thearrow on its right refers to the 'Flying Islands' label (theKingdom of Floating Ar in case you wondered).

Despite the glitches, the Almanac provides astaggering amount of information, and its map sheet is the mostdetailed version so far of the Isle of Dawn/Bellissaria region. Nodoubt, new material and corrections will be added to a possibleVolume 11 of the Almanac next year. We may start pushing westwardtoward the Savage Coast, on the trail of the Princess Ark. We hopeAC 1011's events will be as exciting as AC 1010's. As usual, yourcomments on this first Almanac will be greatly appreciated andwould certainly affect the development of a second volume.

More economics - population and food

In DRAGON issue #187, I responded to one letter oneconomics. I gave an example of how to figure out dominion incomeand some of the ruling costs to be expected. I did not give asystem of determining the population per hex.

If you're not interested in researching historicaldata on medieval population densities, here's a quick system thatshould help you. The first thing to do is to divide the land intogeneral categories - Suburban, Rural, Borderland, and Wilderness.Simply mark which hexes belong to which categories on your map,using the guidelines below (remember, this system is based on8-mile hexes).

The actual population figures for urban centres(villages, small towns, large towns, and cities) are those given inthe Rules Cyclopaedia, and are repeated here for your convenience.Note that population in a hex is always in addition to peopleliving inside villages, forts, towns, or cities in that hex. Peopleliving inside these urban centres are considered 'urban'population. Those living outside urban centres are considered'agricultural' population (food-producing, farmingcommunities).

Rural: These are settled areas supporting farmingfamilies, loggers, hunters, and possibly villages, fortifications,and small towns. Rural areas should separate urban areas fromborderland or wilderness territories.

Borderland: These areas are in the process of beingsettled. Laws are often poorly enforced there, and the localpopulation is low. Borderland hexes may support villages, keeps, orfortifications.

Wilderness: These areas are uninhabited for themost part. Very few people may be found there. Wilderness cansupport the villages of primitive hunter-gatherer tribes only.Medieval military garrisons and other non-agricultural settlerswould need to receive regular food supplies from agriculturalareas.

Basic population per hex

Once the various land categories have been definedon the dominion's map, it is possible to assign a Basic Population,as follows (with 1 hex = 56 sq. miles).

Example: We have a borderland oasis (two hexes),with a fort of 50 soldiers.

The terrain is borderland (basic pop. = 50). It isin the desert, so the terrain modifiers starts at X 1. The oasisadds + 2 to the terrain modifier, which then becomes X 3. The localpopulation should be: 50 x 3 x 2 hexes = 300, plus the 50soldiers.

The total population of the two oasis hexes adds upto 350 people. if there had been a trail crossing both hexes, thetotal population would have then reached 450 people instead.

There are limitations on some terrain types as towhat basic population categories they can support. Heavy forest,jungle, forested hills, mountains, badlands, and desert hexesshould be limited to wilderness or borderlands. Suburbs should beeither on flat or hilly terrain (no forests, no swamps, etc.).Finally, forested hills are considered 'heavily forested'(Gazetteer map symbols do not differentiate rightly forested hillsfrom heavily forested hills.) Note that wood elves ignorelimitations imposed on forested areas, and dwarves ignorelimitations on mountains.

Real-life comparisons

To give some comparative insight to populationlevels, we could compare these numbers to current standards. Today,the real-world Netherlands support 910 inhabitants per square mile,compared to 36 people per square mile in Zaire, or 13 people persquare mile in Saudi Arabia. Nowadays, it is common to see 80% ormore of a nation's population concentrated in urban areas. Inmedieval times, it is likely to be just the opposite, with a least80% living outside urban centres.

For simplicity's sake, let's assume medievalpopulation is a mere tenth of our modern population levels. Inother words, 'medieval' Netherlands - a highly populated, mostlyurban area - would show a population of 91 people per square mile.Zaire, largely jungle, would have a population of about four peopleper square mile. Ancient Saudi Arabia, a vast desert, ends up witha mere one person per square mile. Although this may not behistorically correct, it is conceivable in game terms.

In the oasis example above, the total populationreached 350 people in the oasis, which breaks down to about threepeople per square mile (350/112 = 3, rounded down). Throw in 10extra hexes of true, wilderness desert without trails, and we endup close to ancient Arabia's population.

Feel free to tweak these numbers to get desiredresults. Although this system may not cover all eventualities, itshould get you on the track to establishing predictable populationlevels.

Now you can start collecting those dominion taxesand build your armies! Assuming a provost can collect taxes fromtoo people a day and there are 28 days in a Mystaran month, you'llneed one provost and his armed guards for each 2,800 people in thedominion to collect all the monthly taxes. These are handy, averagestatistics for the game, which should be applied to the entirepopulation (agricultural and urban put together) and not tospecific segments of the population.

Food

We know at least 80% of the total population livesoutside urban centres. These are the people producing food. Urbanand other non-food-producing population relies on services for itssurvival (commerce, military, manual trades, etc.) and purchasesthe food it needs from nearby farmland. Any kind of serious miningalso wipes out farming in that hex. Note that wilderness populationshould not be counted as an agricultural force in this contextsince the infrastructure does not exist to collect and transportany 'surplus' food from wilderness to settled regions. Wildernesspopulation only produces what it needs to sustain itself. For thesame reasons, wilderness population cannot be taxed.

In the case of the borderland oasis mentionedearlier, all its civilian population, 300 people, qualify asagricultural (farmers). They can produce food for up to 75 peoplein addition to themselves 300/ = 75. This is more than enough tosupply the 50 soldiers inside the fort.

Dragon Magazine #189

Had the oasis covered only one hex, the civilianpopulation would have included only 150 farmers - enough to supportno more than 37 soldiers (150/4 = 37 rounded down). As a result,food supplies would have to be regularly carted in from otherregions of the dominion to feed the remainder of the oasis'smilitary garrison (13 soldiers). This little detail implies eitherthat this garrison's military strength should be reduced to becomeself-sufficient, or that a trail be built to consolidate the fort'ssupply lines. This is an example of how economic considerations canaffect military strategy.

Fishing

Dragon Magazine 189

Ports, either on a lake or a sea, may change the80/20 urban to agricultural balance. Part of the urban populationcould count on maritime resources, such as fishing, as way to feeditself and generate extra revenue. The number of fishermen in anurban area varies with the region's traditions and naval skills.The name table provides guidelines on how much of an urbanpopulation may rely on fish to feed itself, as opposed to fooddrawn from the land.

Land-oriented: This would be people relying mostlyon agriculture, either because of their culture or poornavigational and shipbuilding skills. This would include desertraiders, mountain dwarves, wood elves, orcs, Ethengarians,Darokinians, etc.

Dragon Magazine 189 Pdf

Average: This would be people with reasonablenavigational and shipbuilding skills (Karameikos, Five Shires). Themajority of human cultures living on mainland coastal areas belongto this category.

Sea-oriented: This would be people with generallygood maritime skills, or a tradition of reliance upon produce ofthe sea or of the lakes. These would include civilisations nativeto islands and such notorious seafaring people as Ostlanders,Ierendians, Minrothadians, or Pearl islanders. If agriculture isabundant, the surplus could be traded to another region lackingthese resources. This, in turn, fuels urban commerce as well as thepolitics.

Make a list of the urban centres that can draw uponfishing resources. Apply the percentages listed in the chart aboveto find out more exactly how many people rely on fishing. Treatthat part of the population as 'agricultural' rather than 'urban'when dealing with the food factor. The same kind of reasoningapplies for entire nations. If the agricultural population of anation is unable to provide enough food for its urban dwellers,several things could happen. Either townspeople starve (with riotsand revolts ensuing), or they import food from a neighbouringkingdom. This can happen only if their neighbours have a sufficientfood surplus (they have more than 80% of their own populationliving outside urban centres.) Otherwise, it may be time to invadethe neighbour's farmland.