Confession Sofa Dungeon Master 1980

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CONFESS IONS OF

A DUNGEON MASTERBY JOHN ERIC HOLMES

~t 'Be ye for Law or beye for Chaos?'··~.houtingthe Dungeons &Dragons chlange, my players rush into the tray with their magic war hammers; befgetting an answer, their fantasy selves may indulgs i~ murder, pillag

arson, rape. The Dungeon Muster's world is. sort of a giant Rors chach tes

Fr each Dungeons & . Dragons game. the referee,

O( Dungeon Master ~usually called the DM),,must make upa dramatic- situatien, It :U~llally

con sists of aset o f m ap s that ccrofuHy note ev.ery trap,

treasure, monster, and magical device the heroes ofthe 5~o.ry·an : likely to [ind. The DM and the orhcr plsy~_

ers, OUt' to graJ? a,s much treasure as thl;Y em, eachchoose. one or more characters whu win :play out .the

"scenario." Almost aIWaYsr the personalities of th e

characters turn out to be combinations of people's Ide-alized alrer egos a i i d rheirIess-than-ideal impulses.

Inth e gameI. play every o th er w ee k with friends,each charactaris represented by a.painted metal figure

about one ineh high,' The to p of m y gaming table is

co ate d w ith b la ck bo ard paint, so -Ic an ske tc h infea-tures of the terrain. The players line up their.figures s in

the middleol rhe rabletop and'Ldraw, saY.a pair of par-illellincs Ion either side of them, .

"Y{lu~r(;walkini down the rOAd/1 I.tall them.. "On

either '$ide are the dense trees of the Enchanted For-eat.'},Isetup a couple of plastic trees to represent the

fo~5t. "'At the crossroad, you sec a raven sitting in. apiue tree." Ihave no figure for tberuven, but! set up a .

representstinn of the pine tree,

"Probably a talking raven, IJ.~ uggtstti one of the pia y~~.. '.

eIS. .

"GreetingS, bird of wisdom," .say~another player,"W e arc searching for th e Wined citv I said 'tobe ' some-w-h-erenear here, Have you any .infu:rmationtJJ

"Nevermore," S313 the raven. Of course the: DM hasi :o·spe: ;tkhis l ines t o ; ( him . :"Iusr what we.nee.d/IB:~ysone. of t ' h e . orhercharac-

ee r s ; "A wise-ase raven, Ask him "i f held like to hav e an

< 'Wow: through his. gulh:t. jl

°U'you turkeys areever going toIeam anything in

the Enchanted Foresit'you/te' going to have to

better m.mnerg first," the raven s.EI~, haughtily .Bur-the players know that the Dungeon Master

medical school professor/ and though his chara

havea tendency to deliver lectures on deportmthey are dWl;ly~' more bark than bite. The young

on my left s-ays, "The gnome is going to toni him

invisible and go left down the crossroad.""There goes that damn gnome again," S(Jm

aays.,·iGr.abhim," someone elsesuggests,"Too Iatel j j th e. DM · sa ys, ra kin g the 1icl e blue f

off·the table. "He's invisible."

At this point I figure the raven, ha-ving overhmost o f th is c onve rsa non, is a le rte d t o - what th e gialooking for. He &lk~ a little longer to the gl:O

nominal leader, t l l . c paladin, trying' to persuadet h . a . t helD get something valuable out of the Witch

h cr hu t'dci~ the . d d l : . " road, if he comes alone, wi t

his unruly-lnoki ng companions. The paladui

knight o f religious orders, a.fi.ghting man .of t he ' cll

like S ir Calahad, He is bound hy vows of 6h:a:stitypu:ri.tyt which make him queasy ~bout even negoing with the·Wit~ whom the grout>assumes isTile doctor who plays this character tries hard to.h

his character live up to these high standards; but

paladin's behavior bas; been known to slip. In

meantime, th e twO. thieves illtho group have alsdlcd off down th e road, sensing lo ot. T he paladin.rchas.no buSiness consorting Y i ith thieves, bu t the Dallowed some 'latitude in these matters,Sure enough, th e :taven 'is the' Earnilim' of th e

Witch. of the wood and rues into th e clearing at

wit'ch/s. hut; scream mg, ·"M.other CrilIo! Mo'<;iillo! Strangers a 'coming!" The witch comes to



lady who pLtys this character is a-nurse w ho has a . VeIY

. i nd ep en de nt p erso na li ty but wbo is n ot a ·a :e ck le ss andJoolhudy as her alter ego in the game, The two daringand totally amoral rhievesareplayed by. a.young doe-

tor and a graduate student, both of whom, is far as .Iknow, in real l ife a re s cru pu lous .lY law -a bi di ng ,.: My earhe r gam e con siste d la rge ly of teen ag e .playeU\.

and these young people, caught in the aw.kward :ad)IDI~~

mene to the adult world, produced game characters

who were suave, 0001, deadly, and superbly adj~sted toth.eir world ..-sam.~,mli) elven magicians, and clever

hobbns.Pcrthcse characters, there were few problemsilia tcould. not be qu~ckly solved by hlowing somebody

up with: a fireball spell or slashing themto pieces ' V r i t h. : I - ·shining katana; One 01 these playeIs)- grown older

and wiser" now says wiStfully, "In real life you can .tt

cleave the IRS man with youlbroadsword.' I .

The outlet fur sheer bloodthirstiness continues to

function in.my present game, where m:myof the play-

ers are in their 20,!l.One gentle and kiIldly phys:iciw's

fa verite character Is a flub-moroni c dwarrnamed Grog.About the onl y thing that Grog knowshow to· gay is,

JlKUHKill! , ..This is also what he frequently docs, ~D·

less res trairred hodily by his companions. His pen-

chant makes him a defin.it~ hazard to .th e o th er ch ara c-ters, because although he rarely attacks them, he will

often provoke reprisals against his group by attacking

innocent bystanders, Still! the players'ch..rractcts toler-

ate and evenenjoy hisantisccial behaviO.r.

Lady Kroger once irivited the group to spend. thenight in the castle. At dinner, Grog drank to excess.Gmg never .drinks any other way.

" U Ulfgh; have ddnk," said th~ ugly dwarf; who 'W~s .sit·tipg on Lady Kroger~g left. .

"Certainly not; .; look out, you've spilled it on m .ydress!" the f~lrdamse l cried, .

"Your cempanion, sires, leaves much tn be dl"'-sireil/'remarked Lord. Krogerl who suffers from lYMnthr~but Is otherwise a pretty decent guy.

"Yes, ~l'Oulre right. WeJ.TlC often. thought so our-

selves, Leaves a whole new "dwar f to be desrred, II the

group chorused,

While more wine was beiagbrought from the cellar,

the cleric tried to d isc ern the tiO\t.ure·of tbe ·ev il th at

hung over their host, the magic-user tried. to re ad L ad yKroger's mmd,' and One of the thieves sneaked down

the cellar stairs behind the- wine steward. The thiefsaid he 'Was going to tty to hide in'the shadows. Grog

wisdom! ccnstimrion, dexterity, and chari sma, We announced he was going to .try .tog~t his hand in!D 'the

roll dice at the sbLrt of the first game tndetermine the tup nfLlldy Kmge:r!s dress ..

size of the scores and USe the official rule books for the "Stop him, somehody," hissed .the clerk, but, toopercentage chances ofwhat will happen.to each type in late. The Lady screamed; Guards came running, Thetight circumstances [dice mllsdetermine whether the magic-user and the hobbit began apQlpgi-z:ing.

char-acter "makes" that percentage], But the actual "Ugh, ·figh:tlIIgrunted the dwarf, fallmg backwardconduct of our characters is up to us. Since Dungeons ou t of .hls chair. Righting h.mself.r he managed to

&. D ra ,gO P s i s p lay ed a s a series of gam es in which th e knock down the chandelrer and flatten a g ua rd sm an .same cast of characters appears time after time, part of with· hi.s Waf hammer before b6ing subdued, dragged

the WClna.tiOll iswatching our alter egos grow and de- down into the castle dungeons, and chained to. the

velop as Ollr imaginations go to Willk, . ·waU,where he kept the other prisoners aiwake all night

The gnome inthis ~e is ·alwayswanderin,goff.and with his drunken shouting and belching, ..getting into trouble, someeimes holding up the game Once, thebrifliant young doetor who-invented-Grog,

or havjng _o be rescued by the rest of the group ..The th e top man inhis g:aduo\l;ting class, hrough t his girl-

door of the hut. The invisible gnome is pokin,g:around

the back of the clearing, investigating the cages where

th e e vil Iad y.kee ps h er victims'. Once again the paladintries to negctlats whh the apposibon for roagicalhelpor iruonna,tiOl'l} behind. him the magician sets off a"charm person" spell eha t fails to affect the witch.

The raven cries out rome warnings, Behind the witch

th e two thieves c limb th roug h the w.indow of thehut,

Avoiding t h e bubbling caldron on the fire, they· start

ransacking merest of th e bou se . When theother char-acters try t o close with the witch

lshe turns one of

them into a duck and rushes back into the hut. The

two thieves·rump on the old lady with d rawn sword s,but she seizes her broom. and flies OUt the window.Outside, one of the characters tries to destroy the

witchls lair by setting the roof of the hut o n fire , theraven flies away screaming into the woods, and an-other character changes himself into an owl and takes

of f inhot pursuit. ~

- :1.QtThis game has been running ·every other Su,nday

nigh t in my house for more than 3. year. The groupr:anges from five to ten, ·andWE ph:y fur four to five

hours. It began after I edited a Dungeons $. Dragonsbook some people at the medical school discoveredmy interest in the game, and asked me to be their regn-

lar DM. I was willing, having run an .faIlle!" game EM t

began after illy two sons mtroduced me to the ho bby I

and that-lasted nearly four .years, ,Our Dungeons &.Dragons cbaracters' have the usual

series O f attribute scores for strength, Intelligence,

,f ier my y~u/ngplayers reached,adolescence, their

characters becameimieresied in sex and;eve:n.tually, .marriaqe.



friend to a ¥lIme. When Crog went into action, several01 the rest of us turned ·to her. "Thar's Grog," we ex-

plained. "You've probably never seen Grog before."

"Oh yes," ah e corrected us sweetly. "I think I've

been ill be d with Grog several times."

~

The level of vinlence in this make-believe world

runs high. There is hardly a game inwhich t he p la y~ r~

do not indulge illmurder, arson, torture, rape, o r high-wily robbery. J have even had players tell me that their

charact rs bad topped on the way to one of my under-ground du.nge ns to spray- paint graffiti on the walls~

I don't think dU t I imagina lY violence is any morelikely to warp the minds of the parnctpanrs than.is the

endless tream of violence inTV, movies, or Iiteraturc,

Quite ibiy i provides 3 bea.Jthy outlet for those

people who are imaginanvc and inclined (0enjoy the

gamc.

10 order lo r the pme to provide vicerious release for

unacceptabl behavi T, the entire group of playersmust go along with tb convention that game roles

are ind pendent of the actual players. One teenager,

who rarely complains, objected with untoward vierlence wben hi .centaur character was robbed and

abused by a character of his stepbrother's.vlr's the

magic-user who did that to you," protested the other

1;4\1;1 didn't do n, he drd, He's G thoroughly despicable

penon I"

This kind of interplny between the characters on the

game table is great fun for the Dungeon Master. Dur-

ing a lull in th acuon.I am apt to receive several notes

from thos present: "My thief:is going to pick the pala-

din's pocket." "My, magic-user is casting a DetectMagic on the : s t a f f the gnome just found." "My dwarf

1 8 going to Up s me of the. unknown potion into the

clf'$ canteen." While 1 do have difficulty, sometimes,. deciding l and remembering ] who did whaeto whom,

the players never erupt into bloodshed ..The characters

do, rather frequently.

The sexual innu ndos of my teenage Dungeons &

Dragons game did not become manifest until my play-

ers reached tbcir dol cent growth spurt, Before that,

the gam w all back, slasb, loot, pillage, and bum.

Later, cbsracee began co ~Cl interested in sex and,eventually, marn ge.

At lim I the characters' interactions will suddenly

take on new m ning because of the players involved.

My group of tecnag players' characters broke Intc th e

pala gardens and were confrontedby the figure of 8

graocluJ untc m. Properly awed by this magical beast,

they held ~ whisper d conference about howto cap-

. ture the reature. The powers of a unicorn make it par-

ticularly valuable if It can be subdued.Everyone knew

what that required.

"Do we have allY virgin female characters in the

group?" There were female characters present because

there were female players at the game that night. Maie

teenagers never play female characters.

"My Naga is A virgin, of course," said One player.

"Now wait a minute," said one of th e males, "member my magic-user hAS been uyin, to seduce bfor the past three games. Ihink there's a good chan

he may have done it."

There was a minute pause. Everyon~ knew that

same tension existed between the young couple at

table that DOW made it se lf fe lt between the two Un.1

nary personages An the mAgical garden.

"Do you ·th~nk that's possible, Cice1y?" J asked.

"I think she'd refuse."

"Wha t do you think the chance are that she g

talked into W II I asked.I'Fifty percent," Said the young suitor.

"Twenty-five," said Cicciy.To resolve such dt putes in rbe &ame, tbe OM, w

may ask for advice, declares a percent . probabili

n my uiork as aphysician, I endure the

deoihs. of persons 1feelreep onsiole for; in my.farLtasy world, I don'twant that to happen..

that an event might occur. The p la ye r T olls ' two dithat are read as a percentage to see if fhf'\ !'.vr.nt (

occur. When one is attempting to resis t a charm·.O

magic spell this is called a "saving tbrow" and if t

dice come up o t t ;a . lower p erc en ta ge , th e c h. ata ct er.saved from the spell.

"Twenry-ftve percent it IS," I said, exercistng-m

pccjudice infavor of females. "Roll the dice."OccLy easily made her saving throw gdJnst· t

magic-users seductive wiles, and b r Naga was Iknowledged 3S a virgin. She quickly advanced cO,

tempt to tame the uni m. [The Advan ce d Dung eo6J DragOll3 Monsler Manual specifies 2 . S percent o d

for nnicom taming, and again tb Na&a m d e . h ethrow.) M.A.R. Barker, a prole fat rb Univcrsi,,·QMinnesota who i in yen tor of the marvelousJy iou,i

native Dungeons &.Dragons-type gam e, E m pire of ~Petal Throne, has a saymg for such occasions. ·"J

dice," he confides to his pJ~)'ers in t) dramatic v '~

"never lie!'

A nd what about the young IDdy and her 6uitorr· pCicely llilt~ her Naga, a lso m ak e h er sa vlo & tlu ow ,l·ttoo chivalrous to ask. but I think J know thc ~'"t'-

The dice never he.

Twice Ihave had players introduc themselves i~the game. We agree upon the attribute scores for.~q

character, and they are allowed to bring into the ~~

cal, medieval worJd of the game their 20th·cc.~:



can 80 rain bcl re dyIng, of th wounded. When a

charac er is slain, the cry "Cleric!" KOCS up from the

treasur hunte . The II • mblcd clergy ru h to the

fallen e, and amidst the sound roll.iog dice cry: 'f)

rest I three bit p inte!" "I give him six t""Tn re,

now he's bad up to nin points-are. you ~oillg to lethim J vc!" It' agrunst th rules, btl often do..It i possib] to cheat, tas in gam , but it is

not y. 'In my gamc, th Ie roll arc mad ut n the

open, with n chance r dccep On. The greatest

tempt Uon to eat m when the v e r y lif f your

gam fSona i stake. The 0 cries, "The mino-taur charges, horns lev I at your chest. " c rolls a

die and continu & 1 "It's hit. You take Ia n the! die

rollili -more ints dam age." The hap l player

look down at b s recor beet ees that f vc more"hit points" will kill hi charac CT. The calculation,

how vcr, is on that he must s ribble on hi" record

sheet himseU, nd so he uJd JUSt make a m nota-

tion d declare to the er play l' I"I'm till alive."

..2i~Th Dungeon Master' ob .is to p .de . teeest-

ing game. Not to easy tile characters should always

feel a s en se of danger and lurking til naco+but uoc toodifficult-me aract hould be able [0 waggc

throu h much uf theu world wi tb r knowl d~ th.a

they are heroe . For th uncertain or neophyte DMJ

TSR obbics, th e Hrm.that invented the game and its

fran ed Judg t Guild, provld prcmap d dun-

geon Odvcntll . f find, w~v. that CT~ rln~ myown dream world is mu more tun, although much

more work, Ipend at le st as much tim iXt:pariOIt

each 'on 'do p' y nit. r ver, in t Dun-

geon. Ora playcrs s mctim begin t think

their characr 3S .rcal persons with a separate exis-

ten I their wn, tb ungcon Master mctim .

begins to think, ~'jwonder what I. really· yond ch·

Southern Jun~c," forgetting that he alone bas th·

POW! to put omerhing there. he malt -bchcvc

world um an ecri .c of r Uty.-

Tbi "alrem tc univer e" feel to the world Dun-

geon and Dragons is produced by ts social r ality. It

is a hared II I y, not a O}italY ne , and the group

th t ~a phy icitn J w uld be ured to d th, but e spirit: contrib t to the rremen us tap of thn verse is tr . Inro y workaday existence I ave to eo- gam . You a lw ay s w an te d :I \V0l'1 f magi d O1yS '

dure the dca of persons I know and feel responsible tery to explore, and now B group 0 your Irie d gathers

f or, b ut: inmy fa nta sy w orld 1don't want this to h p- every two or t e week to explo it with you. For a .

JHm, and my playcn IW I . te to sc e of thei few urs, everyone agre to accept that w rid, to ac-

t' ['SOMekilled, Other OMs play ~ very different c rn- cept your pret ise that you :I1"C a magician who canpaign-for many, a gmne is successful only when half throw cxplodin balls ui fire Irom one hand. he fanra-

the player:s killed sy become reality, sort o f glsnt/oUe a deux. orl usually provide ,e sonably easy all rives t share jnsan! . -

doth, like wish rings and resurrection: Then, too, y 1h ve never mapped more than a man p ec h of my

ends 1cnow that. th can often persuade me to twi t dream world. Professor Barker , inventor of The Empire

eroles to rmit a J thally mitten char: cter to - of Petal e. ba created an entire pi ct with

vi via healing. M e fmy ad~ It player LIre doctors, its races, culture r religi ns, and, since he is ltngirist,

m weal students, or nurses.sn they have a touching all its langu , 8. What 1 have d ne, Andwhat mostfaith in th magic of caliilg. In unge n Dragons, DM' have done, is u c the 1m3 native ations ofthe art of h allng is the province 0. the <:1 y, and nly my Isv .. uthors to m9p my ds, .

such miraculous healing, by the: laying 00 tf . hands, t . Th Adventurers step down through the apparentlyores the lose "hit points" [or number of.injuries one solid rock floor of the crater and e the [ungle-fillcd

knowledge, but no art I ( Ct3.1n neither case hilVC the ~

ChUUlctCIS , In my opinion, been very sue 'ssfuL DUly

gc us & . Dragons advenrureracntieth-ccntnry haractcr tty to hi c pow

by u ing th ir modem know Je< ij( , like th Conne d-

cut Y ankee. They w a ttl a lo t of time trying to discover

m4gJ1ctiml, nvenr gunpowder, or build a pring-load-

missile thrower. the 1 : r n ork the game,much of this pecialized know ledge is u e1CSS1 only

rarely does i benefit their fellow .treasure hunter.

Mo useful t all han 21'C . tcllccrual pursuit:

chmbing h er waIls, elng th key 1 ,ca t . i . n J tllghtning boles, or cl ving pc pie in two with one'bro d word.

Modc:rD A mean teenager , when c)' thru t

them selves In to a w o ld of mit cl e and magic, tend t

h ld back, stand in the rear, and hour h 1 IuL advice.Th fant y selves, be they h ro or mon tUJ, arc more

likely to r b mro h fray oon lng their magic w r

ham mers, an houu th e c haUC J 18 e:''8 ye for [. wor be ye lor Chaos!" Frequently, they bo somebody

the h d before th y get an answer. The char -

from th ,trcal" orid survi in t r world, bu t

they did nor earn rnu h of a r putatlon r heroism.

When one r f thes alter eg gets killed, the gameplayer sometimes stili psychic shock and mayant deprc in ..As ungeon stet', I d' like situ .

dons in which charact 'fS get killed. YO\l might think

or a feio hours, thefantasy world of magico m d mystery exploredby a group if friendsis a reality; a sort ofgiant hared insanity.



valley deep he1rnv._Now th~ sky everheadfills wi'ih Iu-

minousgreen mis t. In the distance thc)' hear the ami-

nons' beat of drums. Faint in·the·misty distancethey

ace the great yellowstone, the giant topaz, set into the

black dills. Now, .softly on the breeze; comes theSOUI id o f human voices, chanting,

M y players, I am bcttihg, have never read A. Mcr-titt's THa Dwellers in the Milage. Tht:'y Ul] rint bmw

the. terriblesecreta of the. worsbipof Khalk'ru; the.Dis-

Solver, and they do not.know the dreadfuirisks of in-

vading his realm.

At other points in the game, my players have wan-deled through bits of Barsonm and Hypcrberca,

through wtlrlds 'created hy ·:E.dwrr.RiceBurrouahs, ·Roh~

c r t .E. HOW!l.Td, H..Rider Haggard, A. . Merrittl H ..P,

Lovt~! and Clark Mhtnn Smith. Sometimes theyrecognize where they are, sometimesthey do not. One

p f the disappointments · o f a . " OM · is .to prepare what

seems H ke a . particul arly beau tiful or dramatic scenar- .

10 and then have the player characters walk through it,

not seeing the subtlcrlce, not -:5haringthe referee-s

sense of wonder.

S]ogglng across the barrensends of the Desert of

lrem, .oneparty seeain the distance the shattered ruins

of .a i l i , g a n t i . c stone: statue, The caravan roure they arefollowing hrjhgs. them closer, As theY P3SS the basalr

f(a,gm,e¥l..fJhey come to the base of the fallen statue.and make out; the hteznglyphs carved there-the nsmc

Ozyniandia~. They travel nn, uncaring.The Dungeon Mitsterts world is a sortof giant Ror-

schach Tcst~

p~ o f th e e xc ite me nt qf being the J: :)J .rtg:eon"M,1stcr

-is that the .players Will often do scrmetbing lHJ unex-

pected that it takes all the DMj:;. wits to keep up with

them. E very g oO d.DM , .nomatter haw compulsively.he or she plots, plans, and .maps each ad v ; enture inad-

vance; has h a d OCCBS.{on to Improvise wildly.

Dave IS paladln.had incurred the enmiryof one .o f mysorceresses, She held him responsible, With some jus-

tification, fur the. death. ( I f bel' n u s band and swore un ~holyrevenge, shesouglrr.oue a particularly dangerous

· book of magic and succe ss fu ll y summoned th e Mi-Gojthe Fungi from Yuggoth, some of H vP. Loveerarr's

:mo :re h id eo us I nte rs te lle r demons, It was a moonh t

- night. The p.al4dithmd hlsfrieads were busily engaged

infighting a t r i b e of gremlins. in another pa-rt o f the

.forest ..The awful Fungi sw;ooped dawn on the unsus-

peeting knight, snatched hlminto the .ii:t and van-lshedlnto the night sky- l : l e f u r e his companions ruld

time to react.

The paladin came t o · in a bate stone. cell, ~ tiny win-

dow showed. him a black starlit cyclopcancity. His

.WE!apQIl s and armor had been removed YUggoth i

modeled on the planet Pluto in the outermost reaches

of ·our solar. $ y s t e m . The ponr paladin unsuccesslufly .

tried forcing his way out of his' prison and tried .s~ve.t.alspells, w.ithout result.The window showed I D S cell tobe thousands of "feetup . i : : h e sheer side. Of.~ black stone

, building. The door opened and three - o f the Mi- Go en"

tered, Although Dave has. neverread Lovecraf t, he

·knt:w, he. was in.·big· trouble. confronting a fate th·a

really wcrse.than death.

'lWhott ·are you going. to do~H I asked. His fellow

venturers .back-on earth shouted encouragement 1

advice, which, sadly, the p a J a . d : i n ·co .uld not hC~J.

"I'rn go.i . .ng to get d ow . n. .p n,·my ·k ;o ec s a nd pray

hard. 'I Irwas an entirely appropriate response fill

virtuuus.killghtlhut it wa:s.utu.: Ihall nut ant.idp~t~t. .

ql1id~Jyopened my Dungf;lOD Mastet's Guide tq ,me Intervention." The b . : l& i ,t di e roll fo:r success b

percent, .that Is, it happens. once every one hundf

times. These terrible oddsMesoftene dilone is a cleofthe deity evoked, has been particularly devout-or

r _"

in a situation the Divine wm would be sure to disprove, All ot these cunsideratirms.applied, although

.my opinion.the paladin had na t been exemplaryin

conduct recently, which wag how he. 8m futo·troub

I mcata.lly decided to give him. at least a lO~PQ

lee~ay. .

1explained that a . die loll near IQOwas required.an answer to. his prayers. With the playet5 hold

their breath, Dave threw the polyhedmns: 9 - } ) !

. . . . . . .. : . .. . .. .. . - . .. .

he-paladin. prayed6 .With only seconds to

consider, Iinvented·an angel to s.ave himand u ia rn f}d : "NOuJ

keep ·your nos e clean;

The challenge was now mine, I had on] y 'secondsconsider what 'Would hapPen. I took a d eepbrearh

"There i,s a crash O f thunder an d a Hash o f ljghtI 'd

from the black: cloudless sky G I l > the outer wall of

cell :is b lown .awa y .. P ois ed - i n - th e : ! l i t ' is . ; 1 ) huge : a r

with. gian twhite wings .and a golden halo. B.ef01~

creatures can move, the angel seizes you H ; i hts a i Q

and flies up and away. There is asensation ol dark$l

col d . aad · gr ea t ru sh ing flight. Yo]] ~ lodkplg ~ownthe forest in.:moonlight llg the angelgeatl y .de"S~F\-ID

earth. fie puts you onyour feet and· says, 'There N ('keep your nose· clean.iHe's gone.H .

To my dc.llght the players said, IIWow~·nIhad :rru

aged to successtull yobey the impersuves. of ou t ~ilI1Jl.ginlirycreation. The dice never lie.

Jofln Er1( )Ho lmes lsa stalt· physlc lan -a t Los ~hg.~es Co~Hospital anoassoe late pro(~sor. o f rieurollmY at-me Unive~

Q f SouttJem Catifomia S c ' n o o of Medfcl

He taach·es neurotoq i cal s(:ierl(:e". c l in

fleurology, introdJlCtion to medidne asex educatJon. A lit elo ng s de nGe -f iC Ua nd f at l1 a sy ra n, h e ad itad !he! Duoged'lo ra ga ns B as ic Sat ru le book : r or ·TSR Hbias of Lake Geneva,Wisconsin. Hcl~

aJ so ths a othor of Fantasy- Hale PlaJ

G~, to be publistied later,this y e a r .

Documents

Confession Sofa Dungeon Master 1980