Different Worlds #7 - Chaosium, Dual Casting II

Magazines are something I can't seem to get enough of. This is not limited to gaming topics either. To me magazines are very much like little time capsules of the world as they exist at that point in time. What this means for me is that there is value in a magazine many years after it is printed and I have stacks of old magazines making me the Smaug of old magazines I guess.

Gaming magazines are especially good at this though. When you open an old gaming magazine in addition to the information still being relevant for at least the version of the game it was published for you get all the other information there as well. There is the fiction which is often hit or miss but some of these stories have stuck with me for years. The other thing that I love are the ads. Here I get to see reminders of items I had, missed buying cheap or reminders of money wasted on things I should have avoided.

The magazine above is the seventh issue of Different Worlds. Different Worlds is a magazine most everyone will be familiar with. It was the house magazine put out by Chaosium. In today's world that would mean it would most likely only feature Chaosium games and articles geared towards that. Back in 1979 when Different Worlds began this was no the case and there was a mix of articles in many cases though the focus was geared towards Chasoium games much of the time.

I have always had a soft spot for Different Worlds. I think it was because my first encounter with the magazine was in 1982 and issue #23. This occurred at the height of my Champions and X-men craze. Different Worlds issues often had themes and they had three great issues if you are a fan of comics. regardless of that there was just something about the magazine itself. It seems to have a little 'zine feel in my mind.

These can be picked up on eBay fairly regularly and there was even a complete run listed a few months back that I will regret not bidding higher on for some time. Below is a listing of the articles in this issue.

    * "Beginner's Brew: The Compleat Adventurer"
    * "Ten Days in the Arena of Khazan: A Tunnels & Trolls Campaign" by Ken St. Andre
    * "Sourcebook Review: Cults of Prax" by Richard L. Snider
    * "RQ/Glorantha: Gloranthan Birthday Tables" by Morgan O. Woodward III
    * "D&D Variant: Vardy Combat System - Part 2" by John T. Sapienza, Jr.
    * "RQ/Glorantha: Foundchild Cult" by Sandy Petersen
    * "Game Review: In The Labyrinth" by Steve Perrin
    * "Better Game Mastering: Power Groups and Player Characters in RPGs" by James M. Ward
    * "Commentary: System Snobbery" by Larry DiTillio
    * "Letter From Gigi: Gossip" by Gigi D'Arn
    * "RuneQuest/Gateway: Oriental Weapons for RuneQuest" by Sean Summers 


Spell:

Dual Casting II

Level: Seventh
Range: None
Duration: Instantaneous
Ares Effect: None
Components: V
Casting Time: Special
Saving Throw: Special

Note: That except for the level differences this spell is identical to Dual  Casting I.

By means of this spell the caster is able to cast two spells at the same  time. This spell requires the utterance of but a single magical word and then  tow caster begins the casting of the two spells simultaneously.

The two spells that are being cast will have to be fifth level or lower. They  must also be spells that the caster have had previously memorized. The spells  may or may not have been cast already. If they are still memorized  or have already been cast will determine how the saves connected with this  spell occur.

If the spells are still memorized they will go off without a problem and no  saves are required to see if they are cast (though any saves connected with  the spells would still need to be made). The caster must then make a saving  through versus magic and if successful they Dual Casting spell is not lost.  This type of save can only happen once per day for each specific Dual Casting  spell.

If one or both of the spells have previously been cast then the caster will  have to roll a save versus magic for each of the spells. This is required for  both even if one of them is still memorized. If the saves are made then the  spells are cast. It is possible with this situation that both or none of the  spells will cast or fail. With this situation the Dual Casting spell is lost  for the day as well.

Disclaimer: The spells that you will see, for how ever long the write ups  last, were all written up or conceived of back in the 80's so the terminology  may not appropriate for anything other than 1e and depending on how well I  did back then it may be slightly off for that as well. If there is any  duplication of spells that exist now it is most likely I wrote mine first :)  Please feel free to comment on them but try not to be too hard on me. If  anyone wishes to use these in anything they print please let me know in  advance and all I ask is proper credit.