Editor's summary of content:
This month's main attraction (at least, in our opinion) is "The Halls of Beoll-Dur." which was the third-place winner in the first International Dungeon Design Contest. The 16 pages of perilous paragraphs, masterful maps and illustrious illustrations can be found in the center of the magazine, and can be easily removed if you so desire.
Making his debut as a cover artist is James Holloway, who demostrates that the first day of school can be exciting, if you haven't seen the new kid in town yet. We hope to show you more of Jim's color work in the months to come.
After Arthur Collins wrote the piece on neutral dragons that we published in TD-37, we found out that he's a Methodist minister. After we found out he's a Methodist minister, we asked him to produce the article which leads off the feature section of this month's issue.
Metagaming's Microgame Melee is one of those game systems that easily lends itself to variations. You'll find four supplements to the basic game, two each by Roberto Camino and George Paczolt, occupying seven pages inside.
The popular Giants in the Earth feature is bigger than ever this time around, featuring three famous females from fantasy and two Norse heroes besides, plus a pair of auxiliary articles on the magical effects of dragon's blood. Also bigger than ever this month is Dragon's Augury, which is led off by Tom Wham's extensive look at four of Avalon Hill's new game programs for home microcomputers. Computer buffs will also appreciate The Electric Eye, in which columnist Mark Herro offers three programs designed to make the DM's job easier. And for more information about Avalon Hill, check out John Prados' Simulation Corner, which puts forth the observations of veteran gaming executive Tom Shaw. Three of the most dastardly and devious designs in our DD&DD file await you inside. If any characters are still left standing after contending with these, we'll whip up some more tantalizing traps in the near future.
Tom Moldvay, who wrote Giants in the Earth and also contributed half of the debate on dragon's blood, also produced The Silkie, which leads off this month's Dragon's Bestiary. It is followed by the Tomb Tapper, another of Ed Greenwood's creations. You'll also find Ed's name on some of the items in Bazaar of the Bizarre.
This month's "charts & tables" offering is by Holly Lovins, who offers a system to determine the physical appearance of elves, dwarves and halflings. Terry Ford goes Up on a Soapbox to talk about the virtues of good generalship, and Glenn Rahman's series of Minarian Legends continues with a look at the history of the Trolls.
Military miniatures buffs will have fun shoving soldiers around a table to the tune of Bill Fawcett's skirmish rules for Napoleonic figures. Miniature figures also occupy a large part of Eye of The Dragon, a look at the latest happenings in the hobby gaming industry.
Two of our regular color comics are included for your enjoyment - the continuing saga of Jasmine and the first installment of another Finieous adventure. More chuckles can be found in Snitz, another entry by the versatile Mr. Wham.
The last thing in this month's "CTC," but the first thing you'll see when you turn the page, is the most interesting Out on a Limb section we've published in many a moon. And now that I've finally mentioned the first thing, it's time to make this the last line.
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