Orgies Inc.

Others have provided their own observations and critiques of this article, appearing in Dragon Magazine #10, October 1977.

I, likewise, applaud the proposed DnD variant for experience point acquisition.

My purpose in posting this old Dragon article is two-fold: to once again highlight the delicious whimsy of old school Dungeons and Dragons art (the above orgy scene is by the incomparable David Trampier), and demonstrate the inclusiveness and tolerance apportioned to different gameplay approaches during the early years of the hobby.

The idea of rules variants is a big-tent approach to Dungeons and Dragons. The big-tent approach was thrown under the bus as DnD transitioned from game to property (and this happened a lot earlier than some of us would like to admit) and the DnD community was impoverished by it.


Here's the first page from the Dragon article on alternative experience point acquisition. For those of you who are not already familiar with its contents ... enjoy.

The Importance Of Using Protection

And you thought combat in Original Dungeons and Dragons was deadly.

In Avalon Hill's Magic Realm, death comes quickly, and often.

Without armor, most Magic Realm characters are killed by a single well-aimed blow inflicted by any one of several monsters and natives. And that, regardless of how long you have been adventuring nor how proficient you have become.

That's why many Magic Realm characters begin their adventuring days with one, or several pieces of armor. And those that don't begin with armor either rely heavily on being fleet-of-foot and running away from danger, or spend the first couple of days chasing down some protection.

There are two kinds of armor in Magic Realm. The mundane armor, represented by grey counters, is included in your character's starting equipment, or can be purchased from the natives that prowl the valleys and woods of the Realm.

Mundane armor includes helmets, shields and breastplates, all of which are medium weight, are damaged if they absorb a medium blow, and are destroyed with a heavy or greater blow. It also includes suits of armor, which are heavy weight, damaged by heavy blows, and destroyed by tremendous ones. Any of those armor items are flipped over to their "damaged" side when their absorb their first blow. They are destroyed, if damaged a second time.

However, they can absorb lesser blows indefinitely. So a heavy suit of armor can absorb any number of medium blows and be no worse for wear. And the medium helmets, shields and breastplates can absorb no end of light blows without a scratch.

In addition to the grey, mundane armor counters, Magic Realm includes yellow armor treasure counters and armor treasure cards.

While there are several mundane helmets, shields, breastplates and suits of armor available to the players, there is but one of each of the yellow magic armor counters.

The gold helmet, jade shield and silver breastplate are worn by the mouldy skeleton, a special treasure site in the Magic Realm, and are heavy weight and are damaged by heavy (rather than medium) blows.

The suit of tremendous armor is found in the Crypt of the Knight, another special treasure site. The suit of tremendous armor is of little worth and cannot be carried by any but the strongest Magic Realm characters, like the White Knight, Berserker or Dwarf, as characters need to have tremendous strength to wear it. For those who can don this armor, it makes them a walking tank.

In addition to those armor treasure counters, there are three special armor treasure cards.

The first is the golden armband. Only light weight, but providing medium armor protection, this is a handy treasure for the light characters, who must otherwise forgo armor as they adventure in the Magic Realm. The golden armband is worth an additional 3 fame if sold to the Lancers.

The second treasure is the bejeweled dwarf vest. Worth an additional 10 fame if sold to the Soldiers (perhaps because the game designer failed to include dwarven natives to interact with?) the dwarf vest is but medium weight while providing heavy protection to the wearer. The bejeweled dwarf vest is also a great treasure, and so should be kept if the player has selected great treasures as one of her victory conditions.

The final armor treasure card is the golden crown. One third of the imperial regalia (the other items being the royal sceptre and the imperial tabard) the golden crown provides somewhat inadequate protection, being heavy weight and providing only medium armor. Its sale value of 50 gold, plus 20 fame if sold to the guard, and its status as a great treasure would tend to discourage players from using this as armor, unless absolutely necessary.

Tastes Like Chicken

Cold chicken, that is. This is a still photo from a recent article about The Hobbit Movie. You can find the reference at TheOneRing.net.

Victory In The Magic Realm

As I mentioned earlier, winning in Avalon Hill's Magic Realm comes from meeting or exceeding your self-imposed victory conditions.

The related process of selecting victory conditions is performed at the start of the game. Each player assigns five points to any combination of Great Treasures, Usable Spells, Fame, Notoriety and Gold.

At the end of the game, you measure your performance against those self-imposed victory requirements.

Victory points require that you sometimes collect multiple points in the category, If you assigned one victory point to Gold, you would need to collect 30 Gold to satisfy that objective. For Notoriety, one assigned victory point equals 20 Notoriety. Similarly, for Fame, one victory point equals 10 Fame. One victory point in usable spells means you need to find at least two spells, and for Great Treasures, there is a one-to-one relationship between victory points and treasures possessed.

When I play the Black Knight, for example, I will either assign 1 point to Fame, 2 to Notoriety and 2 to Gold (if I intend to combat native groups) or 3 Fame and 2 Notoriety (if my goal is killing monsters). In the case of 3 Fame and 2 Notoriety, I would need to collect 3x10=30 fame points and 2x20=40 notoriety points to achieve victory.

For someone else, playing the Swordsman, they might assign points to Great Treasures and Gold. Another person, playing the Wizard, might assign most of their points to spells. The choice of victory conditions is left entirely to the player. They might even assign all their points to one category, if they were bold (or especially reckless).

It is critical that you play Magic Realm in keeping with your self-imposed victory conditions. While it's tempting to be opportunistic, straying from your original plan will not result in victory. For example, if the Sorceror player selects Fame and Notoriety as his only victory conditions, he should resist the urge to search for usable spells, even if treasures come into his possession that would yield spells.

Thus Magic Realm really is a player-skill game. You are not competing against the other players, nor against the Dungeon Master. Instead, you are competing against yourself. Can you meet the victory conditions you have set for yourself?

Great Treasures

Although Avalon Hill's Magic Realm is a competitive multi-player game, victory is not achieved through the defeat of other players.

Instead, victory depends on how much fame, notoriety and gold you collect, how many spells you discover, and how many Great Treasures you control.

In Magic Realm, each player pre-selects their victory conditions. They can choose any combination of victory conditions, from five categories: Great Treasures, Spells, Fame, Notoriety, and Gold.

At the end of the game, each player's performance is measured against their pre-selected victory conditions. If they meet or exceed their pre-selected victory conditions, they win.

Players can select Great Treasures as one of their victory conditions. However, while there are roughly 80 magic items in the Magic Realm, only seventeen of those are "Great Treasures". Great Treasures have a large red spot on them, to denote their Great Treasure status.

Let's have a look at the some of those Great Treasures.

The Cloven Hoof is coveted by the Witch and Witch King (Warlock), as the Cloven Hoof acts as a continuous supply of Black magic. It is worth 40 notoriety points if kept, and subtracts 20 fame points from your final game score.

The Cloven Hoof is a boon for the Witch and Warlock, but for the rest of the characters, its in-game effect (of adding one to die-rolls) is a bad thing ... the equivalent of walking under a ladder, crossing paths with a black cat, or breaking a mirror. That's because lower numbers are usually better than higher numbers in Magic Realm. Since the Cloven Hoof adds one to your dice rolls, you'll never roll a 1, and will more often roll a 6.

And once you have discovered the Cloven Hoof, you can't turn off it's in-game effect: you are saddled with back luck for the rest of the game. So unless you are playing the Witch or Warlock, the best thing to do with the Cloven Hoof is trade this to the Witch or Warlock, or travel to one of the safe valley clearings (no dwellings and not in the valley with the ghosts) and discard it.

You may think that selling the Cloven Hoof to the natives and collecting 4 Gold is preferable to discarding it. The problem is, you (and every other character) must add 1 to your dice rolls when subsequently interacting with that native group, so selling this is really not worth it, unless you intend never to visit those natives again, or wish to impede the other characters' interactions with them.

The Sacred Grail is sought after by both the White Knight (Magic Realm's version of the Paladin) and the Pilgrim (the equivalent of D&D's Cleric). For those two characters, the continuous supply of White Magic provides a way to activate their otherwise moribund spell-casting abilities.

The Sacred Grail is also a Large Treasure. This has no in-game effect: Large Treasures are simply the treasures that, during game set-up, are placed at the bottom of the treasure hoards, and are therefore more difficult to obtain.

For characters other than the White Knight and the Pilgrim, there is no reason to hold on to this Great Treasure, unless you need it for your Great Treasure victory conditions. Selling the Sacred Grail to the Order provides you 12 Gold and 50 Fame, while keeping it, instead, actually costs you 25 Notoriety.

Whenever I think of the Golden Icon, I think of the image from the front of the AD&D Players Handbook, or the primitive but valuable statues described in any number of Conan and other pulp fantasy tales.

The Golden Icon is a Tremendous weight treasure. Unless a character has tremendous strength, or a horse that can carry tremendous weight, she cannot move nor take possession of this Great Treasure.

That will be doubly frustrating for those weaker characters, as this is also the most valuable treasure in the game, worth 100 Gold if sold to any of the native groups.

The Druid, the Magician, and the Wizard would all benefit from the Golden Icon's continuous supply of Grey (Nature) magic, but none of those characters have tremendous move chits to carry the Golden Icon with them.

This is where cooperation in the Magic Realm becomes important: when cooperating with the Dwarf, Berserker, and perhaps even the White Knight, all of whom can carry the Golden Icon, the magic-using characters gain access to Grey Magic, while the fighters benefit from having a potent spell-caster at their side.

Because the Golden Icon represents a more primitive religious sensibility, you gain notoriety but lose fame in the possessing.

Let's call the Dragon Essence, "Cloven Hoof Junior".

Like the Cloven Hoof, the Dragon Essence has a baleful effect: it acts as a SMOKE chit, thus attracting dragons to your location. That is not entirely bad, for those few characters that can defeat Dragons; nor for the Sorceror, Witch and Warlock, all of whom have the ability to possess the Dragon so arriving.

As the Dragon Essence supplies continuous Purple (Elemental) magic, it is much sought after by the Sorceror, who can thereafter more easily rain down fire and lightning, storms and hurricanes, disappear, transform himself into monstrous creatures, and provide underground lighting to assist him and his compatriots.

Another notorious Great Treasure, Dragon Essence reduces your Fame by 10 points, while simultaneously increasing your Notoriety by 20 points.

This last treasure, the Flowers of Rest, is really not a Great Treasure at all, as you can see by the absence of a red "Great Treasures" spot.

However, in the interest of completeness, I wanted to include all of the five treasures that supply magic. In this case, the Flowers of Rest supply continuous Gold (Faerie) magic, of considerable value to the Elf and the Woodsgirl.

For the rest of the Magic Realm characters, the Flowers of Rest are more annoying than useful. The Flowers are annoying because they cause any fatigued character in the same clearing as the Flowers to fall asleep at the beginning of their turn, and wake up, fully rested, the next day.

That would be convenient if your character was seriously fatigued. But when the character has only minor fatigue, and the player loses her entire planned turn to the unavoidable effects of this magic item, it can cause some frustration.

Well, there you have it. Four of the Great Treasures, plus one. Many of the above Great Treasures are of specific benefit to one or more characters. We will look at the rest of the Great Treasures, in subsequent posts.

Things You Can't Say On The WOTC Fora

I have discovered, from sorry experience, that you cannot talk about the following things on the WOTC Dungeons and Dragons fora.

Nine-fold Alignment System

Realism

Save Or Die

World Of Warcraft

Random attribute generation

Vancian Magic

XP for GP

Fragile entry-level characters

Role-playing

Player-skill challenges

Narrative combat

Heterogenous classes

Appendix N: January 2012

One of the more convenient uses I find for this blog is as a repository for various lists. I maintain three lists, Appendix N, Microgames, and Dragon Magazines, and I access my blog from my wireless devices when shopping at second-hand bookstores.

Maintaining my Appendix N list recently allowed me to identify 10 books at a local second-hand bookstore that were highlighted in red, and were thus on my "to-buy" list. Those included E.C. Tubb's The Winds Of Gath, and A. Bertram Chandler's The Road To The Rim, both of which were recommended (as Traveller-related Appendix N resources) by Chevski.

I keep rolling this Appendix N list forward, as it's a nuisance to have to dig through my posts to find this list.

Abbey, Lynn:

Adams, Richard: Watership Down

Alexander, Lloyd: The Book of Three 1; The Black Cauldron 2; The Castle of Llyr 3; Taran Wanderer 4; The High King 5
Anderson, Poul: Ensign Flandry; Flandry Of Terra; Agent of the Terran Empire; The Long Night; Three Hearts and Three Lions; The Broken Sword; The High Crusade; A Knight Of Ghosts And Shadows

Anthony, Piers: A Spell for Chameleon; On A Pale Horse
Ariosto, Ludovico: Orlando Furioso

Asprin, Robert A.: Thieves World I; Tales from the Vulgar Unicorn II; Shadows of Sanctuary III; Storm Season IV; The Face of Chaos V; Another Fine Myth

Barker, M.A.R.: The Man Of Gold; Flamesong

Baum, L. Frank: The Wizard Of Oz, Emerald City Of Oz, Land of Oz
Beagle, Peter S.: The Last Unicorn

Bellairs, John: The Face In The Frost

Bellamy, Francis R : Atta

Bloodstone, John: Thundar Man Of Two Worlds
Bok, Hannes: The Sorcerers Ship

Brackett, Leigh: Eric John Stark, Outlaw Of Mars; The Best Of Leigh Brackett; The Sword Of Rhiannon; The Ginger Star 1; The Hounds Of Skaith 2; Reavers of Skaith 3
Bradley, Marion Z: Sword and Sorceress Anthology
Brooks, Terry: The Sword of Shannara

Brown, Fredric:
Burroughs, Edgar R.: Pellucidar; Tanar of Pellucidar; A Princess Of Mars 1; The Gods Of Mars 2; Warlord Of Mars 3; Thuvia, Maid Of Mars 4; Chessmen of Mars 5; The Mastermind of Mars 6; A Fighting Man of Mars 7; The Moon Maid; Out of Time’s Abyss; Jungle Girl, Land of Hidden Men; Tarzan Of The Apes 1; The Return Of Tarzan 2; The Beasts of Tarzan 3; The Son Of Tarzan 4; Tarzan and the Lost Empire 10; At The Earth's Core
Campbell, J Ramsey: Demons by Daylight

Carter, Lin: Thongor and the Dragon City; Thongor and the Wizards of Lemuria; Thongor Fights the Pirates of Tarakus; Zanathon; Tower at the Edge of Time; The Black Star; Beyond The Gates Of Dream; Down To A Sunless Sea; Journey to the Underground World; Warrior of World’s End; Flashing Swords 1; Flashing Swords 2; Flashing Swords 3; Flashing Swords 4; Flashing Swords 5; New Worlds For Old; The Young Magicians

Cervantes, Miguel: Don Quixote
Chalker, Jack L.: Midnight at the Well of Souls 1; Exiles at the Well of Souls 2; Quest For the Well Of Souls 3; The Return of Nathan Brazil 4, Twilight at the Well of Souls 5
Chandler, A. Bertram: The Road To The Rim; The Hard Way
Chant, Joy: Red Moon And Black Mountain

Cherryh, C.J.:
Cook, Glen: The Black Company

Daley, Brian: Han Solo At Star’s End; Han Solo’s Revenge; Han Solo And The Lost Legacy
Davidson, Avram: The Phoenix In The Mirror; The Island Under the Earth
deCamp, L. Sprague: The Complete Compleat Enchanter; The Compleat Enchanter; Lovecraft, A Biography; Warlocks and Warriors; The Fallible Fiend; Conan The Barbarian; Conan And The Spider God; Lest Darkness Fall; The Carnelian Cube; The Emperors Fan; The Reluctant King; The Goblin Tower; The Clocks Of Iraz
Derleth, August: The Trail of Cthuhlu
Dickson, Gordon R.:

Donaldson, Stephen: Thomas Covenant The Unbeliever
Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan: The Lost World

Dumas, Alexandre: The Three Musketeers
Dunsany, Lord: The King Of Elfland’s Daughter; Over the Hills and Far Away; The Charwoman's Shadow

Eco, Umberto: The Name Of The Rose

Eddings, David: Pawn of Prophecy, Queen Of Sorcery, Magician’s Gambit, Castle of Wizardry, Enchanter’s Endgame

Eddison, E. R.: The Worm Ouroboros; Mistress of Mistresses; A Fish Dinner In Memison

Ende, Michael: The Neverending Story

Farmer, Philip Jose: The Maker Of Universes 1; The Gates Of Creation 2; A Private Cosmos 3; Hadon Of Ancient Opar

Fiest, Raymond: Magician
Finney, Charles: The Unholy City; The Circus of Dr. Lao
Foster, Alan Dean: Nor Crystal Tears, Splinter of the Minds Eye; The End of the Matter; The Tar-Aiym Krang; Bloodhype; Orphan Star; For Love Of Mother-Not; The Time Of The Transference

Fox, Gardner: Kothar Barbarian Swordsman; Kothar and the Conjurer's Curse; Kothar and the Wizard Slayer; Kothar and the Magic Sword; Kothar And The Demon Queen; Kyrik Warlock Warrior; Kyrik Fights The Demon World; Kyrik and the Lost Queen; Kyrik and the Wizards Sword; Warrior Of Llarn
Funke, Cornelia: Inkheart
Gardner, Craig Shaw: A Malady Of Magicks

Garner, Alan: Elidor; The Moon Of Gomrath; The Weirdstone of Brisingamen
Gemmell, David: Legend
Goldman, William: The Princess Bride
Glut, Donald F: The Empire Strikes Back

Gygax, Gary: The Samarkand Solution; The Anubis Murders; Infernal Sorceress, Death In Delhi
Haggard, H. Rider: The People Of The Mist; The World's Desire; When The World Shook; She And Allan; King Solomon Mines; She
Hambly, Barbara: The Time of the Dark, The Walls Of Air, The Armies of Daylight, The Ladies of Mandrigyn, Dragonsbane
Harrison, Harry: The Adventures Of The Stainless Street Rat; The Stainless Steel Rat

Heinlein, Robert: Glory Road

Hickman, Tracy:

Hodgson, W.H.: The House On The Borderland

Holmes, John Eric: Mahars of Pellucidar

Howard, Robert E.: Sword Woman; Almuric; The People Of The Black Circle; Red Nails; Shadow Kingdoms; People Of The Dark; Beyond The Black River; The Hour Of The Dragon; Black Hounds Of Death; Conan 1; Conan Of Cimmeria 2; Conan the Freebooter 3; Conan the Wanderer 4; Conan the Adventurer 5; Conan the Buccaneer 6; Conan The Warrior 7; Conan The Usurper 8; Conan The Conqueror 9; Conan The Avenger 10; Conan Of Aquilonia 11; Conan of The Isles 12; Solomon Kane, The Hills Of The Dead; Skull-Face; Black Canaan; Swords Of Shahrazar; Marchers Of Valhalla

Hyne, C J Cutliffe: The Lost Continent

Jakes, John: Brak The Barbarian; Mark of Demons; The Sorceress
Jackson, Steve: Fighting Fantasy

Kline, Otis Adelbert: Swordsman Of Mars, Outlaw Of Mars, Planet of Peril
Kuttner, Henry: The Mask Of Circe; Elak Of Atlantis, The Dark World, Robots Have No Tails
Kurtz, Katherine: Deryni Rising; Deryni Checkmate; High Deryni

Lanier, Sterling: Hiero’s Journey; The Unforsaken Hiero

L’Engle, Madeleine: A Wrinkle In Time

Le Guin, Ursula: A Wizard Of Earthsea; The Left Hand Of Darkness; Tehanu; The Farthest Shore

Lee, Tanith: The Book Of The Damned I; The Book Of The Beast II; The Storm Lord, The Birthgrave, The Dragon Hoard, Night’s Master, Death’s Master

Leiber, Fritz: Swords and Deviltry 1; Swords Against Death 2; Swords In The Mist 3; Swords And Wizardry 4; The Swords of Lankhmar 5; Swords and Ice Magic 6

Lindsay, David: A Voyage To Arcturus

Lovecraft, H.P.: The Doom That Came To Sarnath; The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath; The Shadow Over Innsmouth; At The Mountains Of Madness; The Lurker At The Threshold; The Tomb; The Watchers Out Of Time; Waking Up Screaming; The Dunwich Horror
Martin, George R.R.: Dying Of The Light; A Song Of Ice And Fire

Matheson, Richard: I Am Legend
McCaffery, Anne: The Ship Who Sang; Dinosaur Planet

Merritt, A.: The Ship Of Ishtar; The Seven Footprints Of Satan; The Moon Pool; The Face In The Abyss; Dwellers In the Mirage; Creep Shadow Creep
Miller, Walter: A Canticle For Leibowitz

Moorcock, Michael: Legends From The End Of Time; The Jewel In The Skull; The Mad God’s Amulet; The Sleeping Sorceress; The Runestaff; The Lord of the Spiders; The Masters of the Pit; The City of the Beast; The Warlord of the Air; Stealer Of Souls; Stormbringer; Elric of Melnibone; The Sword Of The Dawn
Moore, C.L.: Northwest Smith; Jirel Of Joiry

Morris, William: The Well At Worlds End I; The Well At Worlds End II; The Wood Beyond the World; The Water of the Wondrous Isles

Mundy, Talbot: Tros Of Samothrace; Avenging Liafail 2; Liafail3; The Praetor's Dungeon 3; The Purple Pirate 6
Niven, Larry: The Man-Kzin Wars; A World Out Of Time; A Gift From Earth; Tales of Known Space; Neutron Star; The Magic May Return; The Magic Goes Away; The Flight of the Horse
Norman, John: Tarnsman Of Gor 1; Outlaw Of Gor 2; Priest-Kings Of Gor 3; Nomads Of Gor 4; Assassin Of Gor 5; Raiders Of Gor 6; Captive Of Gor 7; Hunters Of Gor 8; Marauders Of Gor 9, Tribesmen Of Gor 10, Slave Girl of Gor 11; Time Slave

Norton, Andre: Quag Keep; Exiles of the Stars; Warlock of Witch World; High Sorcery; Witch World; Sargasso Of Space; Lord Of Thunder

Nowlan, Philip F.: Armageddon 2419 A.D.

Offutt, Andrew J.: Demon In The Mirror; Eyes Of Sarsis; Web Of The Spider; Conan, The Sword of Skelos; Conan The Mercenary; Swords Against Darkness I; Swords Against Darkness II; Swords Against Darkness III; Swords Against Darkness IV; Swords Against Darkness V; The Iron Lords; Cormac Mac Art

Piper, H. Beam: Space Viking

Pratchett, Terry: The Colour Of Magic, The Light Fantastic, Equal Rites, Mort
Pratt, Fletcher: Land Of Unreason; The Blue Star; The Well of the Unicorn; The Carnelian Cube
Saberhagen, Fred: The First Book Of Swords; Second Book Of Swords; Third Book Of Swords; Empire Of The East

Schmitz, James: The Witches of Karres

Shea, Michael: Color Out Of Time; A Quest For Simbilis; Nifft The Lean

Sims, John:
Sirota, Mike: Master Of Boranga

Smith, Clark Ashton: Lost Worlds Volume 1; Lost Worlds Volume 2; Out Of Space And Time 1; Out Of Space And Time 2; The Abominations of Yondo; Genius Loci; Poseidonis; Zothique; Hyperborea; Xiccarph; Tales Of Science And Sorcery; Other Dimensions 1; Other Dimensions 2
Smith, L. Neil: Lando Calrissian and the Midharp of Sharu; Lando Calrissian and the Starcave of Thonboka; Lando Calrissian and the Flamewind of Osean

Smith, E.E. ‘Doc’: Triplanetary

Springer, Nancy: The White Hart
St. Clair, Margaret: The Shadow People; Sign of the Labrys

Stasheff, Christopher: The Warlock Wandering; A Warlock's Blade; Warlock And Son; The Warlock Is Missing; Her Majesty's Wizard; King Kobold
Stewart, Mary: The Crystal Cave; The Hollow Hills; The Last Enchantment

Swann, Thomas: Green Phoenix; Day Of The Minotaur; Cry Silver Bells; Moondust
Tolkien, J.R.R.: The Hobbit; The Lord Of The Rings

Tubb, E.C.: The Winds Of Gath 1; Derai 2; Toyman 3; Kalin 4; Jester Of Scar 5; Lallia 6; Technos 7; Veruchia 8; Mayenne 9; Jondelle 10; Zenya 11; Eloise 12;

Van Arnam, Dave: Star Barbarian

Van Vogt, A.E.: The Voyage Of The Space Beagle; Quest For The Future

Vance, Jack: The Languages Of The Pao; The Dragon Masters; The Best of Jack Vance; The Dying Earth; The Eyes of the Overworld; Cugel’s Saga; Rhialto The Marvelous; Trullion, Alastor 2262; Wyst, Alastor 1716; Marune, Alastor 933; The Faceless Man 1; The Brave Free Men 2; The Astura 3; Lyonesse 1; The Green Pearl 2; Madouc 3; The Face 4; The Blue World; Galactic Effectuator; Big Planet; City Of The Chasch 1; Servants of the Wanhk 2; The Dirdir 3; The Pnume 4; Suldrun's Garden
Verne, Jules: The Mysterious Island

Wagner, Karl E: Bloodstone, Death Angel’s Shadow, Dark Crusade

Weinbaum, Stanley; The Black Flame; A Martian Odyssey
Wellman, Manly Wade: The Old Gods Waken; The Hanging Stones; The Lost And The Lurking; After Dark; Silver John; Who Fears The Devil?

White, Theodore: The Once and Future King
Williams, Robert M.: Return of Jongor

Williamson, Jack: The Trial Of Terra; The Legion Of Space
Zelazny, Roger: Nine Princes In Amber; The Guns of Avalon; Sign of the Unicorn; The Hand of Oberon; The Courts of Chaos; Jack Of Shadows; Dilvish, The Damned; The Changing Land; Isle of the Dead; Trumps of Doom; Blood Of Amber; Sign Of Chaos; Knight Of Shadows; Prince of Chaos

It's No "Living In A Box" But It'll Do

The Sights And Sounds Of Magic Realm

I should probably add smells and treasure sites to that list, as there are multiple sense-evoking clues regarding monsters inhabiting the Magic Realm, as well as eight treasure sites scattered across the kingdom, just waiting to be looted by enterprising characters.

While the valleys in Magic Realm are relatively safe (except for one valley, haunted by a pair of ghosts), the caves and mountains are both dangerous and rewarding.

There are eight treasure sites in Magic Realm, as well as the lost city and lost castle, hidden in the mountains and caves. When setting up the Magic Realm board, the treasure sites are distributed secretly and randomly, so that none of the players, not even the person setting up the board, knows where the treasure sites are at the start of the game.

The above treasure and location chits include both the name of the treasure site and the clearing it will be located in. For example, the Altar is found in clearing 1. You may recall, from my earlier blog on the Magic Realm map, that each clearing on a map tile is numbered. That allows these treasure sites to be placed in a particular clearing of a map tile.

As the characters travel throughout the Magic Realm, they will discover these treasure sites. Some of them are more rewarding than others. For example, the Dragon Hoard and the Pool Of The Octopus each contain nine treasures. Others, like the Altar, Shrine and Statue (guarded by Demons and Imps) have only 3 or 4 treasures each.

The Lost City and Lost Castle are special locations. They signify large concentrations of monsters and treasures, as a map tile with either contains five monster and treasure chits, rather than the usual one chit.

In addition to treasure sites, you're likely to hear strange sounds as you venture through the mountains and caves of the Magic Realm. Those sounds are clues to the types of monsters you will eventually encounter in that map tile. For example, you may here the slithering of a giant serpent, the pattering of goblin feet, or the howl of the giant bats, long before those monsters appear. These sound chits are accompanied by a number, indicating in which clearing the lair of these monsters is located, so it is relatively easy to avoid them, at first.

In addition to the sound chits, there are the above warning chits. They are perhaps more aptly named the no-warning chits, because these chits represent clues indicating monsters are very near. The above chits all have the letter "C" indicating that these are warning chits found in the caves, attracting such monsters as the goblins, trolls and serpents.
And the above warning chits are placed in the mountains, signified by the capital "M" under the warning description. The mountains are where the spiders, giants, and bats are most likely to be found.
While most of the deadliest monsters are found in the mountains and caves, the woods are home to packs of wolves, poisonous snakes, and a pair of unpleasant ogres. It is often wise to hide before ending your turn in the woods, at least until you have determined who inhabits it.

There's Only One Artist For The ADnD Reprints

The question is, can Wizards Of The Coast convince him to abandon his self-imposed exile and complete three manual covers?