Sam

ple

file

August/September Fantasy Issue Publisher: White Wolf Publishing

Editor-in-Chief: Stewart Wieck

Assistant Editor: Stephan Wieck

Art Director: Richard Thomas

Advertiser Index

Alacorn ............... . ......... .. .... .... ..... . . . .. . .... 40 Ark Royal Garnes ................. .. . ... ..... .. ... . ........ 30 Blue Panther Enterprises ..... ...... ... . . . . .. . .. . ...... . . . ... 12 Classified Information .. .. ....... . . .. ...... . ... .. . . .. . . ..... 45 Cosmos Creations .... ....... .... . . ...... .. ... .. . • .......... 39 Creative Keys .... .. . . ......... . . . . .. .. . . ... . ... ...... . .... 38 Cutting Edge Games ....... . .. ....... .•.. .......... ..... . ... II Cyborg Games .. ............ .. ... .. .•.......... . . .. .. ..... 47 Empire Wargames .. . ... . . .. ... .. .. ..... . . . .. . .. .. .. . ... ... 10 Emprise Game Systems . . .. .. . .. .. .. ... . .. .. .. .. . .. . ... .. ... 25 Enchanted Horizons . . . ....... . ...... . .. ...... . . ... .... ... . . 42 FASA Corp. . . . . ......... .. ............ ... ........ . back cover Flying Buffalo . . . . . . ... .. ... . ... .. ..... •• ... .. .. ........ ... 5 I Games by Mail .. . .............. . ............ . .......... . . . 31 Game Designers' Workshop .... .... . . . . . ....... . . .. ... 21 Games Without Frontiers . . ..... .. ...... . . .. . . . . .. . . .. . _ ..... 57 GAMA ... .... .. .......... ...... . . .. .... . . . ... .. . ........ 63 Gamescience . . ....... . . . . . .... . . .. . ... ... . .. .. . ..... . . ..... 35 Graaf Simulations .. . . ... _ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Hastur Hobbies . ...... ... ..... . .. ... .. ................ . .. ... 2 Heathen Thorn .... . ... . .. ....... . .......... . ... . .. ........ 12 Koplow Games .... ..... _ ........ . .. ....... . .... .. .. . ... ... 22 Lance and Laser ........ • ...... . .. . .. .... . _ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Lion Ramp-ant .. ... ... . . . ....... . . •............ . .. . ... .41 & 62 Mail Games, Inc. . .. _ . ... _ . . .... . . . . ... ... .. . ..... . ....... . . 3 Marquee Press . .. ... _ ............ .. .. ....... .. . . .......... . 64 Mayfair Games ..... _ .. .. _ ..... ... . ... .. .. . ..... • .. ... .. 5 & 37 Midnight Games ....... .. ...... . ... _ . .. ....... . ......... .. . 44 Other World Games .. . . .. •. .. . ...... ... .... . ..... _ .... _ . . . . 19 Paper Tiger ............................... _ ..... . ........ . 40 Pegasus Productions ....... _ • . . . . . .. ... . _ ....• _ . ..... . ...... 55 Quest Games ............................ ... __ . ... . ... . . ... 46 Omnigon Games ...... . .. . _ .... .. .. . .. ..... . ... . ..... . . . ... 59 R. Talsorian Games ... . ... . _ ......... . ... . ... . . inside front cover Ral Partha Enterprises .... . ... ...... . . ... .. .... ...... . ... 49-52 Reality Simulations Inc. . . . . .. . . . . .... .. _ ... ... .... . .. ....... 46 Shield Maiden .. . .. ........ _ . .... . .. .. . . . . . .. ... .. ........ . 23 Steve Jackson Garnes .. ..... __ .... . . ... ... ....... . . . .... . .. . 60 TSC ... . ..... .. . . . ...... . . .............. .. .... . . . .. . .... 54 TSR, Inc. . .. . . . ....... . . ... ... _ . .............. inside back cover Twenty-First Century Games . .... . . . ...... . ..... ............. 29 Twin Engine Gaming . .. . ....... . ....... .. . . .... . ..... . ... .. 30 Waterford Publishing ..... .. . . . . . .. . .... .. . .... _ .. . ........ . 43 White Wolf Publishing ... ..... ... .... ...... . .... ... . ... . 17 & 27

Cartographer: Ken Cliffe

Cover Artist: Ed Graves

Editing Assistant: Lisa Stevens

Staff Writers: Ken Cliffe and Jim Trunzo

Printed in the United States of America.

RUNES ........................... . ................ 2 by Stewart Wieck; The editor-in-chief reports the results of the Reader Survey printed in issue #20. From the Pack ...................................... 4 The debut of the new letters page. Making it Generic ................................... 7 Details of the new system we will use to provide game information in a generic format. ADVENTURE -- Class Reunion ....... . ........... . ... 8 by Thomas Rankin; A one-on-one fantasy adventure. What will the hero fmd when he retums to his home town? Classical Magic . . ..... . ................. __ ......... 14 by Jerold M. Stratton; A spell point system to complement the cur­rent AD&D spell system. Tabletop News ..................................... 18 by Ken Cliffe; Figures of two typical kinds of fantasy monsters are reviewed. People of the Land ......................... . ........ 22 by Greg Stafford and Sandy Petersen; The Scorpion Queen Bagog for use with Runequest . On Your Mark ..................................... 26 by Stephan Wieck; The winners of our magic item contest and the announcement of a new contest. WANTED ......... ....... ....... . . ................ 30 WHITE WOLF Magazine is looking to expand it review sections and we need your help. The Golden Ship ................................... 32 by Lisa Stevens; An adventure for use with Ars Magica. Can the magi discover the secret of the Golden Ship? PBM Game Reviews ................................ 42 by Stewart Wieck; Reviews of two play-by-mail games. PBM Corner ....................................... 45 by Werner Freitas; The moderator of Out Time Days examines role-playing in PBM games. The Scope of Magic ................................. 48 by Benjamin Robbins; New magic spells from an elven school known as the Loft . Feature Review: Legendary Lives ... .... .. ............ 54 by Stewart Wieck; Marquee Press promised an intuitive game sys­tem in their new FRPG, and they delivered. Capsule Reviews ................................... 56 by various authors; Short looks at five new game products from five different companies. The Silicon Dungeon ....... ........... . .. .... . ...... 58 by Jim Trunzo; Three new computer RPGs are reviewed. SF games seem to still be dominating the market. On the Horizon ....... . .... ......................... 64 Information about the features of issue #23 .

WHITE WOLF Magazine (ISSN 0897-9391) is published bi-monthly by White Wolf Publishing. The mailing address for all items is: White Wolf Publish­ing, 1298 Winter Place, Anniston, AL 3620 I . The phone number is (205)-835- 1059. WmTE WOLF is distributed through subscription and distribution ser­

vices throughout the United States. Canada, France, England and Germany. Overseas subscriptions are available. All subscriptions are priced as follows : any

U.S. address= $22, any Canadian address= $32, overseas via surface mail= $45, overseas via airmail= $80. AU rates are for twelve issues. Checks or money­

orders should be made payable to White Wolf Publishing. Subscribers are given constant notification of the last issue of their current subscription by the num­

ber following their name on the address label.

WHITE WOLF Magazine and White Wolf Publishing are both copyright White Wolf Publishing. All material printed in these pages is the exclusive proper­ty of White Wolf Publishing unless p-rior arran,,"1llents have been made with the author/artist. None of the material may be reproduced in whole or in part

without prior written pennission from the publisher. Third Class postage is paid at Carrollton, GA. Postmaster: Please send address changes to White Wolf Publishing, 1298 Winter Place, Anniston, AL 3620 I.

The mention of or reference to any companies or products in these pages is not a challenge to the tnidernarks or copyrights concerned.

Sam

ple

file

by Stewart Wieck

Well, loyal readers, the results of our Reader Survey have been tallied and I'd like to report the results here. Elsewhere in this issue you will find many of the letter that people enclosed with their survey responses. Con­sider that letter column the official launching of a per­manent letter column for the magazine (because of the survey results). If you did not send a survey, or have anything more to say, please write so we can keep that letter column full of opinions.

Below are the tallies of the results. Some people did not answer some of the questions. We handled this in different ways for each section. In the cases where ratings were given, we simply added an extra 3 (average) into the computer. When a person indicated that he did not read a certain section of the magazine, we made note of it and then did not consider part of the total when we divided to reach the final average rating. In the cases of choosing favorite covers or is­sues, blanks were just ignored and the percentages show the results with "x" less people.

1. 84% of the respondents subscribe to WHITE WOLF Magazine.

2

I-lastu..- l1()bbtes "New and Rare Games and Miniatures"

Come to us to fmd that game that has

Either eluded you or has just come out

Ask for "He who is not to be named"

Hastur Hobbies 825 North 300 West Ste 250 Salt Lake City. Utah 84110

(801 )359-3802

2. Every issue of WHITE WOLF Magazine is read by 1.8 people. TIlls makes the total readership anywhere from 15,000 to almost 20,000 depending on the issue.

3. Most of the respondents have been with us a while since they have read almost 10 copies of the magazine.

Favorite issues varied widely. Issues which could not tally at least 1 % of the vote are not listed. Values are rounded normally (yes, believe it or not, a few of the B&W issues prior to #8 received some votes).

#8=12%, #9=11 %, #10=6%, #11=13%, #12=4%, #13=2%, #14=4%, #15=4%, #16=15%, #17=7%, #18=4%, #19=7%, #20=9%.

4. Each reader owns almost 9 RPGs and plays 3.25 of them.

5. The percentage of WHITE WOLF Magazine readers who play each type of RPG genre are:

Cyberpunk= 29% Espionage= 14% Fantasy= 94% Horror: 30% Science Fiction= 54% Superhero= 39%

6. The average reader of the magazine spends $41.72 every month on game products.

7.40% of the readers buy theirRPG products ex­clusively from local shops, 6% use mail order only and the remaining 54% use both sources.

8.55% of the readers have purchased a product be­cause of ads they saw in WHITE WOLF Magazine. 52 % of those who purchased a product because of an ad ordered the product through the mail.

9. Reviews in WHITE WOLF Magazine have prompted 49% of our readers to purchase or playa game. 27% have not purchased or played because of a review, and 28% say that they have not been in­fluenced by reviews.

10. 75% of our readers own a computer and 72% play computer games.

11. Most readers of WHITE WOLF Magazine also read other game magazines.

Challenge= 18 % Dragon= 81% Dungeon= 53% Flagship= 8% GM=7%

Sam

ple

file

Paper Mayhem= 16% Strategy and Tactics= 2 % .

12.70% of our readers were familiar with PBM games before reading about them in WHITE WOLF Magazine. Of those who did not know of them, 64 % said that they do now. 37% of ourreaders now play PBMs as opposed to 24 % before reading WHITE WOLF Magazine.

13. The art and layout of the magazine were rated as follows (l is the lowest, 5 is the highest):

cover art= 3.59 interior art= 3.04 generallayout= 3.73 advertisements= 3.36

14. Sections of the magazine were also rated (same scale as above). The percentage given is the percent of readers who do not even read the section in question. The rating is based on those who do read the section.

Adventure Scenarios= 3.76 (6%) Capsule Reviews= 3.83 (6%) Demon Killer serialization= 3.27 (35%) Feature Reviews= 3.67 (5%) On Your Mark= 3.57 (22 %) PBM Corner= 3.77 (42%) PBMreviews= 3.96 (42%) People of the Land= 3.30 (23%) RUNES= 3.52 (14%) Scope of Magic= 3.76 (6%) Silicon Dungeon= 3.50 (30%) Tabletop News= 3.29 (39%)

15. The percentage listed indicates how many people would like to see the feature in question in the magazine:

Convention Listing= 50% Fiction= 57% Letter Colunm= 73%

The remainder of the questions were asked purely to satisfy the curiosity of the staff. The results are too varied to report here. (Though 52 % of you would like to see a Be..'5t of WHITE WOLF Magazine).

Our Conclusions Next issue, I will report the decisions that we have

made based on the results of this survey. Until then, enjoy this wonderful fantasy issue of WHITE WOLF Magazine.

Quest GAMES

P.O. BOX 4402 CLIFTON, NEW JERSEY 07012

(201) 365-4019

• DISCOUNTS ON NEW GAMES FROM: TSR, GDW GAMES WORKSHOP, STEVE JACKSON CHAOSIUM' COLUMBIA, FANTASY GAMES, FASA, 'HERO, IRON CROWN , LEADING EDGE MAYFAIR NOVA PALLADIUM, TASK FORCE, AVALON HILL VICTORY' WEST END AND MORE. "

• WE HAVE OUT-OF-PRINT GAMES FROM : S.P.I., G.D.w. , O.S.G., BATTLELlNE:YOQUINTO, INTERNA­TIONAL TEAM, AVALON HILL, WEST END & MUCH MORE.

• SPORTS GAMES AND GENERAL INTEREST GAMES • MAGAZINES FROM: THE DRAGON, DUNGEON , WHITE

WOLF, GATEWAYS, SPACE GAMER, CHALLANGE, BATTLETECH, ANIMAG , BREAKOUT, WHITE DWARF & AUTO DUEL QUARTERLY NEW AND OUT-OF-PRINT.

• WE BUY GAME COLLECTIONS • WE SPECIALIZE IN OVERSEAS SHIPMENTS • FOR HISTORICAL GAMES ASK FOR A CATALOG

FROM OUR AFFILIATE:

~RECONCO.

When was the last time you played

MONOPOLY® and took a walk on the Boardwalk?

Can't find the time anymore? ~ Or anyone to play with? 1P'o"Po~

Take a Walk to your Mailbox and Play" • Monopoly® by Mail!

Just Pennies 8 Week! Mail Games, Inc. will put you in touch with players

across the country who are eager to play Monopoly just like you.

Send $8.95 and we'll send you our rule book and put you in a new game of Monopoly

r------------------~ I f$\ Mail Games, Inc. Dept. W2 Q$ I I V!) P.O. Box 2746 ~ I I Gaithersburg, MD 20886 I I Name I I ® Address ® I I City, ST, Zip I L Mono I is a istered trademark of Parker Brothers Inc. ...

3

Sam

ple

file

From the Pack Here are a few letters which we selected almost at

random from those we received along with the Reader Surveys. They express a variety of viewpoints and should interest you.

Don't Underestimate Reader Intel­ligence

Dear WHITE WOLF Magazine, You need to focus on more intricate aspects of

FRPGs. Concentrate articles on alignment systems, spells, city encounters, governments, etc. Also, please do not ever underestimate the intelligence of the readers. (Dragon Magazine does this and some of us readers do not like to read articles on a third grade level.) Please try to reach a more adult audience. Another difficulty that magazine has is that it's so diversified. This insures that only about 20% of the magazine will cover anyone given interest. Why should a FRPer want to have 80% of bunk. If you covered more generic aspects of the games, the articles could cover all RPG systems.

David Wolf

[For some reason it seemed appropriate to start this section off with David's letter ...

I disagree with your contention that only 20% of the magazine is useful to a player of a single game system. In most cases, material which does not exactly suit your game of preference can be converted and still used. However, I do agree with the need to communi­cate on a level above grade school. One of our goals from the beginning has been to treat readers as equals. The only place you'll find denigrating remarks is in the Contributor Byline section, and "mere" writers and artists are talked about there (though presumably they take the pokes in good humor). -- Stewart Wieck]

Articles a Good Way to Introduce Games

Dear WHITE WOLF Magazine, Okay, a few short comments. First, please understand that I like your magazine: I

wouldn't have subscribed otherwise. I hope that it

4

does well and that you continue to offer broad coverage of the role-play hobby. Yours is not my favorite magazine, as Dragon and White Dwarf tie for that honor; but WHITE WOLF Magazine is certainly worthwhile.

With that in mind, let me say what I liked best, first. I subscribed because I liked WHITE WOLF Magazine broad coverage of the RPG hobby. I've been RPGing since 1975 and I'm always looking for new ways to broaden my experience. Yours is the only magazine in which I can expect to read about lesser-known but still interesting games, such as Talislanta, Jorune, and High Colonies. These articles and modules have sometimes prompted me to give a game a second look when I'm in my local hobby store.

Of these articles, the best have been those that have given me a picture of the game's universe, even if only in the form of background for a module. A couple of the Segment Jorune articles were like this: the glimpses of the game world were enough to intrigue me into buying the game. This is much more interest­ing than reading articles that are nothing more than rules additions.

An example of an article that did not intrigue me was a recent (issue #15) adventure for the Manhunter game, the Turzig Jousts. The plot and set-up themsel­ves were interesting, but at the end, there was nothing in it that convinced me to play Manhunter. The adven­ture would work as easily in GURPS Space or Space­Master.

I'm glad to see Demon Killer ending: it's really been awful. More reviews would be nice, and it would be helpful

if the reviewers would state their criteria for judging a product. Also, how many times do your reviewers play the game in question before they review it?

A letter's column would be nice, too. My only complaints about WHITE WOLF Magazine

have to do with the number of typos (too high for a professional magazine), and with the variable quality of the module offerings. The recent Call of Cthulhu was excellent, while Splendors of the Past was hor­rible. I hope for more consistently high quality in the future.

Anthony Ragan

Sam

ple

file

Sam

ple

file