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\title{Two For the Show}
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{\Large Ed's Guide to Dragon Skinning}
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{\it
{\noindent \Large T}hese are a few guidelines Ed uses when his players get lucky.
Real lucky...\\}


{\noindent \Large T}he following is my adaption
of the AD\&D 2nd Edition rules concerning
the skinning of dragonhide.

The second edition AD\&D Dungeon Masters Guide has some great ideas on this 
topic.  Skinning a dragon is difficult to do.  It might take a series of 
proficiency checks (or some such method) in order to remove the hide without
ruining it.  I would give a base chance of 50\% to remove enough hide to make
each suit of armor.  This could be modified by +5\% by such things as leather-
working or hunting proficiency.  Magical weapons add +10\% per plus of the 
weapon.  Half the age category of the wyrm equates to the amount of usable 
hide for armor construction.  Thus an age stage 8 dragon has enough undamaged 
hide (you don't want sword gashes in your armor) to make 4 size M (man-sized) 
suits, or 8 size Small.

The curing of the hide would be very expensive and must be done with care.
Some GM's might require the armor to be enchanted with the `enchant an item'
spell.  The Armor Class the finished product bestows is 4 worse than the AC
of the original dragon.  Thus the AC of Great Wyrm Gold Dragon Hide would
be = {\em wyrm AC: -12} minus {\em 4} = {\em -8}. 

Normally Dragon hide does not give any bonus to saves or similar things
(i.e. red dragon hide does not give immunity to fire or even a +1 save
as it is assumed that the low AC bestowed is benefit enough).

If you want to give this kind of bonus that I would suggest that you should
give all dragon hides a base AC of 5 (or whatever is the equivalent of scale 
mail).  In all cases, the base AC of any hide should not be worse than this
regardless of dragon age stage.

One of the best things about dragon hide is that while it gives scale-mail like
protection (or better), it is as supple as studded leather. Thus thieves can
wear it with the usual penalties for studded leather.  The same is true for
rangers.  Because it is a ``natural" hide, druids can also don this armor.  
Among high-level druids, usually those going into battle, dragon hide is a 
sign of status.  Note that druids do not kill dragons for their hide, but 
like the American Indians, they will put all remains of a dragon to good use. \\

--- Edward Zeamba

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{\Large Colin's Guide to Killer Characters}
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{\it
{\noindent \Large H}ere's Colin's advice on powergaming. \\}

{\noindent \Large G}reetings mutants and other sentient beings. How goes it? My name
is Colin (Fandora) Kameoka and I have a few funny facts (or dumb and
totally useless pieces of trivia to all those power gamers out there) about people and
their characters.
 
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                  {\bf  THE PROBLEM?}
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     I can say it in one word... POWER! Almost every gamer in the back
of his or her mind must make every character the most powerful in 
existence. It does not matter what game you play; it is the same old thing.
I have long since given up hope that people might change; only people who
have seen the light can really change. For example, the infamous roll dice
for characteristics game. Nearly everyone will cheat their rolls; an ``18"
means nothing. I personally do not like characters like this because
low characteristics build character. High characteristics from what I have seen
mean nothing these days. How can one roleplay all ``18'' characters??? There are
no {\em real} traits to make fun of. On the other hand, I can also see why players
want {\em powerful} characters. It is called the infamous killer GM. In my days
of playing RPGs nothing bugs me more than jerks who run nothing but 
blood baths, (pc that is) and kill as many as they can with the most powerful
junk that they can come up with. Well, let us face the facts; human nature
makes us very destructive.

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                   {\bf THE ANSWER?}
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     I can not tell other people how to run their game; that is their
business. I however, use lots of little squishy baddies for PCs to 
deal with. I don't use too many, just enough that I only have to 
worry about bad die rolling nights for PCs. Reason: it gives players
a good feeling about their characters without hurting their egos.
The big bad guy should be rare and not much more powerful than a 
single player character. These are only steps in the right direction.
I can say no more. If abusing a game system is your cup of tea and
you think it is fun to powergame, then continue to do so. Only make sure to buy your
new game when your last one is no longer fun to play. \\

--- Colin (Fandora) Kameoka

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