From: "Nadler, David" <[n--dl--d] at [uh2297p01.daytonoh.ncr.com]> Subject: DQN - December 1996 - v3n11 Date: Thu, 09 Jan 1997 20:38:00 EST ================================================================ || || || DRAGONQUEST Newsletter December 1996 || || || || Volume 3 / Number 11 || ================================================================ The DQ Newsletter is for discussions of the DragonQuest role playing game. The key addresses you need to know are: Philip Proefrock (Editor, Article Submissions, Etc.) [d q n] at [ntsource.com] David Nadler (Distribution Coordinator) [David Nadler] at [DaytonOH.NCR.COM] Drake Stanton (FTP Site Coordinator) [d--ac--e] at [netcom.com] All articles are copyrighted property of their respective authors. Reproducing or republishing an article, in whole or in part, in any other forum requires permission of the author or the moderator. The DragonQuest Newsletter also maintains an ftp archive site: [ftp://ftp.netcom.com/pub/dr/drache] which includes back issues of the newsletter and other articles of interest to DragonQuest players and GMs. ----------------------------------------------------------------- C O N T E N T S [v3/n11] ================================================================= Editorial Letters -- Jerry Stratton Water Works Update -- Philip Proefrock Adventure Sequence Rules -- Stephen Martin Column: DQ ARCHIVE -- Archive Update Advertisements ----------------------------------------------------------------- EDITORIAL: Building a Wider DQ Web ================================================================= As many of you have unfortunately discovered, the Archive site has not been recently updated. This has made the Water Works adventure unavailable (although other means of distributing it have been temporarily set up; see following article). The recent problems with the DQ Archive show that collecting everything in a single site is not enough. We need a broader base in order to make things available to the DQ community. Some duplication of files is already present, but sites like the DragonQuest Home Companion and Surge's site are mirrors, rather than actively curated collections. To broaden the accessibility of DQ materials, we need some more active sites to hold materials. Rather than keeping everything at a single Archive site, I think we need to have multiple sites which can hold some of the DQ Archive material. With a number of distributed sites we can develop the redundancy to keep all of the materials available. In order to do this, I would like to solicit some other contributions of server space. If you can set up a publicly accessible folder, you can help make this project happen. Those of you who can help make articles and other things available should get in touch so that we can set things up. I hope that over the next few months we can start seeing other DQ Web (or ftp) sites which have some of the materials available for access. It will be important to keep these sites updated so that a catalog of what is available stays current, and so that active sites can be easily interconnected. In addition to its present role, the Newsletter will serve as the hub to coordinate these materials. Since the inception of the Newsletter, my attitude has been that DragonQuest materials need to be shared and distributed. Now that there is an active and involved online community of DragonQuest players, it only makes sense to broaden the network to make this informaion more easily accessible. ------------------------_L_E_T_T_E_R_S_-------------------------- ================================================================= [This letter from Jerry Stratton, who maintains a set of DragonQuest files on the Web, updates the URLs for those files. Those of you with links to that site should revise your links accordingly. -- ED.] The FTP site and Gopher site {Cerebus or Negative Space} are unfortunately no more. The files are still available via the web: http://www.hoboes.com/pub/Role-Playing/Fantasy/DragonQuest/ and via e-mail: [f t p] at [hoboes.com] (the message "ls /pub/Role-Playing/Fantasy/DragonQuest/" will get a list of the files and directories that exist there) Note that "www.hoboes.com" and "hoboes.com" can be replaced by "nspace.cts.com", and things will also work. The 'nspace.cts.com' address will remain as long as I am with CTS as an Internet provider, but the 'hoboes' addresses should remain forever, or at least as long as this addressing system is in use on the Internet. -- Jerry Stratton ([n s pace] at [cts.com]) ----------------------------------------------------------------- WATER WORKS UPDATE -- Philip Proefrock ([d q n] at [ntsource.com]) ================================================================= The Water Works adventure (which was supposed to be available at the Archive) is now available via e-mail. I am still working on getting publicly accessible portions on my website, so that these files can be downloaded as well. There was also a problem because the map was drawn up in PageMaker on a Macintosh, and there were file compatability problems. However, thanks to Tom Tucker's diligence and assistance, there is now a TIFF file of the map, so that I can e-mail both the text of the adventure _and_ the map to anyone who wants to get a copy. (For my sake, though, if you don't need the file right now, please wait. I'm still trying to get a public file area set up, and I hope the files will be downloadable fairly soon.) -- Philip Proefrock ([d q n] at [ntsource.com]) ----------------------------------------------------------------- ADVENTURE SEQUENCE RULES -- Stephen Martin ([s--p--n] at [cogita.co.nz]) ================================================================= A few expansions for some fairly minor rules. Eating & Drinking * Rest & Recuperation * Infection * Falling ******************* EATING AND DRINKING ------------------- 1. REQUIREMENTS The amount of food and water required per day is dependent on many factors. These include the person (endurance, weight, build, metabolic rate and race); the activity (light, medium, hard or strenuous) and the environment or terrain. On average 8 lbs of food and water per day is required. 2. STARVATION 2.1 STARVATION OCCURS: when a character does not have at least 1 nourishing meal a day. 2.2 EFFECTS OF STARVATION: the character will have their Fatigue maximum and Endurance temporarily reduced by 1 each day. This decrease will last until the character starts receiving proper nourishment. 2.3 RECOVERY: a starved character's Fatigue maximum and Endurance will recover by 1 point each day, after the first, that they receive proper nourishment. A healer or physician may increase this by 1 (+1/4 Ranks) per day. A herbalist may prepare meals which will increase this by 1 (+1/3 Ranks) per day. 3. DEHYDRATION 3.1 DEHYDRATION OCCURS: when a character does not have at least 2 pints of water a day. This will increase in high temperatures, +1 pint per 10 degrees above 20 (Centigrade). Note: Alcohol counts as 50% water*, liquid foods such as soup count as about 90% water, magical potions count as 100% water. [*NOTE: Alcohol is a diuretic (causing the body to lose water) and would probbly be detrimental in most conditions. I would count beer or weak wine as 50%, normal wine as 25%, and stronger liquors as just 5 - 10%. -- ED.] 3.2 EFFECTS OF DEHYDRATION: the character will have their Fatigue maximum and Endurance temporarily reduced by 5 each day. If the character receives part of their water requirement, the penalty is reduced. For every 20% (or fraction) less than the daily requirement they lose 1 from FT max and EN. This decrease will last until the character starts receiving adequate quantities of water. 3.3 RECOVERY: a dehydrated character's Fatigue maximum and Endurance will recover by 5 points each day, after the first, that they receive adequate quantities of water. A healer or physician may increase this by 1 (+1/4 Ranks) per day. A herbalist may prepare meals which will increase this by 1 (+1/3 Ranks) per day. ********************* REST AND RECUPERATION --------------------- 1. FATIGUE RECOVERY Fatigue is lost through minor damage, exhaustion, spell casting and some spells. Fatigue may be recovered by two main methods. 1.1 EATING: A character may recover Fatigue by eating meals. The amount of Fatigue recovered depends on the quality of the meal: MEAL FATIGUE RECOVERED Filling 1 Hot 1 Balanced 1 These are cumulative, if a meal is Hot and Filling then it is worth 2 Ft. The benefits of a meal may be had not more than three times a day. At least 4 hours must pass between the meals for them to have an effect on Fatigue. 1.2 RESTING AND SLEEPING: The amount of Fatigue that may be recovered due to rest and sleep depends on the restful qualities of the activity. ACTIVITY FATIGUE POINTS/HOUR Relaxation 1 Nap 2 Sleep 3 * RELAXATION: The character may not perform any action that requires physical exertion or uses Fatigue. * NAP/SLEEP: If a character sleeps for less than 3 hours then they are considered to be napping. A character who chooses to Nap may remain half- aware of their surroundings while resting. A character that does not get at least 8 hours of rest and/or sleep per day, will have their Fatigue maximum temporarily reduced by 1 FT per hour (or fraction) of sleep under 8. This may be recovered at the rate of 1 FT per 4 hours sleep. 2. ENDURANCE RECOVERY There are many causes of a character taking Endurance damage. However, once damaged there are two primary methods of recovering. 2.1 NATURAL HEALING: A character will recover 1 Endurance for every 2 days rest. The recuperation will be ineffective and interrupted if the character: - takes any further EN damage - uses more than half their FT - does not receive adequate nourishment. [Ref. Eating & Drinking] 2.2 BEING HEALED: Healers, physicians, and some magics may aid the recovery of Endurance. The exact effects can be found under the appropriate skill or magic. 3. GRIEVOUS INJURIES Endurance loss resulting from Specific Grievous injuries may not be healed normally. The specific injury must be healed, then the Endurance may be recovered. 3.1 NATURAL HEALING OF SPECIFIC INJURIES: Many injuries will not heal naturally. The following states which injuries will heal, and how long it will take. * BROKEN BONES: Will knit in 4 weeks for a simple fracture, or up to 10 weeks for a compound fracture. A bone must be properly set before the bone may knit together. * INTERNAL INJURIES: A character will usually die from internal injuries. If the character is comfortable, unmoving, and kept alive by a healer or physician, internal injuries will heal 1 Endurance point per week. * OPEN WOUNDS: Will heal at half the normal rate, provided that they are kept free of infection. Open wounds will leave scars. * REMOVED BODY PARTS: Will not regrow naturally. However, they will heal over at quarter the normal rate, provided they are kept free from infection. 3.2 MAGICAL HEALING OF SPECIFIC INJURIES: Healers and certain magics may heal specific injuries. The time taken and effects of these magics may be found under the appropriate skill or magic. ********* INFECTION --------- In this world there exists a number of malign influences which cause sickness and disease. A healthy person is rarely troubled by these influences, for they are repelled by a clean mind and healthy body. However, when you are feeling weak or have been wounded, the influences can successfully invade your body. Once they have a foothold, they will not be driven forth easily, nor will they let your wounds heal. Eventually these insidious influences will drain all the life essence from your body, and breed in the lifeless husk. 1. BECOMING INFECTED When an entity is wounded or otherwise suffers Endurance damage, there is a chance that they will become infected. The chance of becoming infected depends on the entities health, the type of injury and the environment the entity is in, modifiers are cumulative but only one from each category. Current Endurance is... Half or more 10% Less than half 20% There is a wound which is... Shallow +5% Deep +10% Exposed bone/Organs +25% Penetrating Abdomen +50% There is a wound which is... Dirty +20% Heavily contaminated +50% The environment is... Dry - 5% Humid +20% The average temperature (Centigrade) is... Below 0 +20% 1 - 5 +10% 30 - 40 +10% Above 40 +20% A roll is made every 12 hours after the Endurance damage was received, until the entity is completely recovered. If the roll is under the infection chance then the entity is infected. If the entity also has Specific Grievous injuries, make an additional infection check for each one. 2. EFFECTS OF INFECTION An entity with an infection will be slowly poisoned by the infection. The damage is [D-4] Endurance per day, until the infection is cured. An infected wound may not be healed until the infection is cured. 3. CURING INFECTION There are two ways to recover from infection. The first is to tough it out. The second is to be healed by a healer or physiker. 3.1 TOUGHING IT OUT: An infected character may make a roll every day to recover naturally. BC: Endurance %. 3.2 HEALING: An infected character may be cured by the arts of a Healer or Physician, or by magic. The rank at which this is possible, and the chance of success can be found under the appropriate skill or spell. ************** FALLING DAMAGE -------------- 1.1 ENDURANCE DAMAGE: The damage taken from a fall is equal to (height in feet)/5 general endurance damage. 1.2 SPECIFIC INJURIES: For every full 10 feet fallen after the first 10, one roll must be made on the appropriate Specific Grievous Table (see Combat - Specific Grievous Tables). Most falls do "C" class damage but falling onto stakes would be "A" class and falling onto sharp rocks might be "B" class. 1.3 LANDING ROLL: Some or all of the above damage can be annulled if the entity can fall in such a way as to do less damage to themselves when landing. The chance of landing well is ((AG +(2/Rank of Acrobat)) x Difficulty Factor) - (height fallen in feet). A Sucess reduces the endurance damage taken by 2 and the number of Specific Injuries by 1. A 'Double Effect' reduces the endurance damage taken by 4 and the number of Specific Injuries by 2. A 'Triple Effect' reduces the endurance damage taken by 6 and the number of Specific Injuries by 3. 1.4 DIFFICULTY FACTOR: This is largely based on the surface which is being landed on. Some guidelines follow: Water or a Pile of hay 5x Even surface 4x Uneven surface 3x Steep slope -1x Hard, unforgiving surface -1x Ex. Landing on the side of a rocky mountain would be 1x (Uneven, Steep, Hard surface). -- Stephen Martin ([s--p--n] at [cogita.co.nz]) ---------------------_D_Q_ _A_R_C_H_I_V_E_----------------------- ================================================================= [Archive ftp site is at: ftp.netcom.com in the pub/dr/drache directory. [ftp://ftp.netcom.com/pub/dr/drache] Archivist and ftp Guru: Drake Stanton ([d--ac--e] at [netcom.com])] The Archive seems to be in temporary hiatus since we haven't heard from Drake in a while. All of the old files are still available, but the Archive is not being actively maintained, so new items haven't been getting added. We are looking towards developing a distributed network (see this issue's editorial) which will make it easier for DragonQuest materials to be available and accessible, without relying on any single individual to carry the entire load. If you are interested in getting involved in the Archives Project, see the editorial, and then get in touch. The Barrow of Calimendil ARCHIVE NAME: not yet archived There is also a small adventure by Tom Robinson which was waiting for the DragonQuest Adventures Newsletter. Since that has been delayed, I wanted to make to available through the Archive, but since we are having problems with that, too, I am going to have to email it to people by request. This adventure is really just a capsule adventure. Its author states, "This adventure was designed as a 'filler' or 'starter' for use in a larger campaign." A GM could use this as a small adventure to start a larger quest, as an adventure in itself, or even just as an involved encounter in the midst of a larger, unrelated adventure. I particularly like the scale of the adventure because of this. A GM could easily elaborate on what is given in the adventure, turning it into something more than it is. I also think that the smaller size of the adventure makes it more useful to more campaigns where different GMs may want to use it in different ways. It would be easy to substitute a different history for the Barrow, or a different treasure, or to use it as a means of introducing a larger adventure. This flexibility makes it very useful and very worthwhile. The adventure has been put together using Adobe Acrobat, so it is cross- platform compatible. [To display the files, you will have to have the Acrobat reader (which can be downloaded for free; you can find it at http://www.adobe.com). -- ED.] It is also available in Word 6 format with an EPS map file. (The same problem we had converting the Water Works map may occur here as well. However, it seems to work in the Acrobat format, so that may provide a working solution.) Overall, the production values in this are equal to what you might expect of a commercially produced module (were such still being produced for DQ). I applaud Tom Robinson for this effort, and encourage everyone who finds this adventure useful to email him with their feedback and their thanks. This kind of authorship should be supported as strongly as possible. Because of the current Archive problems, this file is not in the Archive. However, it can be emailed to you, and we are working on getting it accessible from another site. We'll let you know as soon as that happens. If you don't need a copy of this adventure right away, wait for us to get it into a downloadable site, rather than having my mail clogged up with a lot of requests. Review by: Philip Proefrock [d q n] at [ntsource.com] ------------------------ADVERTISEMENTS--------------------------- ================================================================= DragonQuest URLs: (If you know of any other DragonQuest related sites, please let us know.) --DragonQuest Home Page http://www.st.nepean.uws.edu.au/~dallbutt/dq/index.html --DragonQuest Newsletter Page http://www.ntsource.com/~psproefrock/dqn.html --DragonQuest Archive ftp://ftp.netcom.com/pub/dr/drache --DragonQuest Home Companion (and other files) http://www.hoboes.com/pub/Role-Playing/Fantasy/DragonQuest/ --Shannon Appel's RPG Archives (DQ Index) ftp://ftp.csua.berkeley.edu/pub/rpg-index --Surge's (Unofficial) Mirror Archive http://www.cqs.washington.edu:80/~surge/gaming/dragonquest/ ########################################################### ### End of DragonQuest Newsletter v3/n11 -- December 1996 ###########################################################