Dragon Magazine #7
TSR Periodicals released The Dragon #7 in June 1977. It is 32 pages long and has a cover price of $1.50. This issue features the D&D origin story, Tekumel's armies, and a mind-controlling monster!
The cover is by "Elrohir" (artist Ken Rahman, who later created Divine Right with his brother). It depicts a red dragon lurking at the bottom of an oubliette, gnawing on the bones of a fallen adventurer, and it kicked off a tradition of dragon-themed covers for June issues. The interior art is by staff artists Dave Sutherland and Tom Wham, with Bradley W. Schenck illustrating his own article under the pseudonym "Morno".
In the editorial, Tim Kask celebrates the magazine's first anniversary by noting a 300% increase in readership and improved artwork quality. He outlines plans to increase the size of the publication to broaden the scope beyond TSR games. Kask firmly maintains that The Dragon was never meant to serve as a "house organ" for TSR.
The issue leads off with a lighthearted piece called "What to Do When the Dog Eats Your Dice" by Omar Kwalish, which is really a pseudonym for Tim Kask. The article offers alternatives for generating random numbers when your dice are unavailable, suggesting spinners, cards, chits, coins, watches and more. Polyhedral dice were challenging to obtain in the early days of the hobby.
Next is the issue's most famous (perhaps infamous) article, "Gary Gygax on Dungeons & Dragons: Origins of the Game." In this short piece, he gives his version of how D&D came into existence. Gygax tells how he and Jeff Perren devised a medieval miniature wargame called Chainmail. Gygax added a "Fantasy Supplement" to these rules, which added dragons, elves, wizards, etc.
Dave Arneson, a gaming colleague, took these rules and made several unique modifications to create a game called Blackmoor, in which players became individual characters who persisted between games and could progress over time. Gygax was impressed and asked Arneson for the rules and received about twenty pages of handwritten notes. He took these ideas and created the hundred-page manuscript of the original Dungeons & Dragons set.
Gygax's article tends to downplay Arneson's contribution, and this matter was ultimately scrutinized in several court cases. Most modern commentators are happy to see them credited as co-creators.
We return to the real world with "Mystery Hill – America's Stonehenge?" by Lynn Harpold. This piece delves into the history and speculative theories surrounding Mystery Hill, a curious New England archaeological site boasting stone structures. Dungeon Masters could easily mine the information for adventure scenarios. Harpold wrote several similar articles early in The Dragon's history.
The issue includes two pieces of fiction. "The Journey Most Alone" by Morno is a surrealist swords-and-sorcery short story. A lone "wysard" journeys through the shifting realities of Elmyr, testing his mastery of magic, will, and self. Morno is the pseudonym of artist Bradley W. Schenck, who also illustrated the story. The prose is overwrought, but the story has some fresh ideas. I liked the illustrations most of all.
"The Gnome Cache" is a serialized novel by Garrison Ernst (the pseudonym of Gary Gygax). Dunstan the Rogue and his band of adventuring companions continue their picaresque travels in a world not unlike Greyhawk. Gygax's fiction is light pulp fun – full of tavern encounters, roadside perils, and hints of a grander quest. But he hasn't yet found his fiction voice, so the story has few things to recommend it.
"Military Formations of the Nations of the Universe" by M.A.R. Barker describes how diverse nations in his exotic world of Tekumel organize for war. He details troop types, unit structures, and battle tactics for various forces. The formations have evocative names, such as "The Five Fingers of Death" and "The Triple Palace of Skulls." At least some of these formations likely emerged from Barker's extensive wargaming in Tekumel.
"Featured Creature" introduces The Prowler, a 14HD predator with an eerily effective method of hunting. This serpentine horror can hypnotize anyone who meets its gaze, turning them into obedient zombies. In a grisly twist, the Prowler injects her eggs into the victim, who becomes their first meal when they hatch. The creature is also physically powerful, coiling around and crushing its enemies for 4d12 damage. There is no byline for the monster stats and description, but the psychedelic artwork accompanying it is by Erol Otus.
Finally, in "Editor's Library," Tim Kask looks at some new gaming releases. OGRE by Metagaming is an innovative and fast-playing sci-fi tank wargame, and Kask "can't recommend [it] highly enough." He then turns his attention to the burgeoning catalogue of Judges Guild, an independent publisher producing third-party D&D supplements and adventures. Kask's verdict: Judges Guild is putting out "great stuff."
And that's a wrap! It was a fun issue with a superabundance of pseudonyms. My favourite article was "Featured Creature." In the next issue, we have gems & jewellery, the planes of existence, and Gamma World!
An earlier version of this column originally appeared in EnWorld. Old issues of Dragon Magazine are available on the Internet Archive. You can view Issue 7 here.