From the editor-in-chief's description of the issue:
Games we publish in this magazine have to be fun to play. But it's nice when they can also teach us something about the virtues of cooperation and teamwork. An that's what The Baton Races of Yaz is all about - Skadingles, Flibdills, Tarnoses, and Luggants all working together to succeed. Baton Races is the latest game we've published by designer C.C. Stoll, who was also responsible for Flight of the Boodles (issue #60) and Arrakhar's Wand (#69). I don't know where he gets his ideas, but i hope he keeps on getting them.
If this issue's cover painting looks dark and gloomy to you, then artist Jerry Eaton did his job well. The scene portrays what a dungeon would look like if the only significant light source came from the casting of a Mordenkainen's sword spell. It looks like the wizard in the background has matters well in hand - even thought his hand is nowhere near the sword.
Our AD&D game articles in this issue are led off by "The ecology of the peryton," in which Nigel Findley gets to the (ahem) heart of the matter in explaining that strange creature. "Wounds and weeds" by Kevin Thompson suggests ways that characters can use the flora they find around them to make up for the absence of a cleric with a healing spell; and in "Rings that do weird things," a DM can get ideas on how to freshen up a treasure hoard with magic rings that are unlike any of those that players may have "accidentally" read about in the DMG.
One of the most complicated and open-ended aspects of the AD&D rules is the section on spell research. In "Spells between the covers," Bruce Heard does some research of his own on ways in which DMs can moderate their characters' attempts to build up libraries and design distinctive new forms of magic.
The DRAGONQUEST game has a magic system of an entirely different sort, and Craig Barrett has some definite ideas on how to go about "Enhancing the enchanter." Even those of you who don't play that game may get some inspiration from the magical principles and concepts he discusses and develops.
TOP SECRET game players who have waited long and patiently for expansions and additions to the rules don't have to be patient any longer. "New avenues for agents" is the first installment of a short series of articles previewing the contents of the TOP SECRET Companion, soon to be released by TSR.
Our fiction feature this month is "Windwolf," a story that's difficult to characterize without giving away the plot...so I'll stop right there, and just say that I hope you enjoy it.
And that's about the end of the space for this issue. Have a happy Valentine's Day, and may your heart by stolen by something other than a peryton. - KM
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