Mad Gaming Madness

So, this one comes from the Arcane Lore column in Dragon #270 (April 2000). Authored by Robert S. Mullin, “Greyhawk Grimoires: Zagyg’s Comedicon” introduced a new spellbook by Gary Gygax’s in-game alter-ego, Zagig Yragerne, one-time mayor of Greyhawk city, then the demigod Zagyg the Mad. As Arcane Lore columns go, it was kind of disappointing. None of the spells were as broadly useful as the ones in The Crazed Book of Mog , and I felt the flavor was a little bland. But I like the idea of a spellbook which might have much more powerful magics, that no one has yet encountered because of the innate dweomer of chaos and confusion around the object.

I've been rereading old Dragon and Dungeon magazine for ideas I can rip off for 5th edition. One of the features I always loved were the tomes of forbidden and magical lore. These were usually just literary framing devices for the introduction of new spells, but some authors actually described interesting books that dripped with plot hooks and other elements a DM could use in her game. While the first to do this in the pages of Dragon was probably Ed Greenwood, with his popular "Pages from the Mages" features, the column I remember most vividly is "The Fire-Eye Scrolls" by Harold Dolan, from issue #129 (July 1987). It described eight new spells and a magic item, all that remained of the "Academy of Fire Magic" from the "Valley of Lanshaw." These scrolls were the only ones recovered from the Academy's destruction, and reside in the "Mages’ Guild of the city of Val Dalya." For the most part, people used these articles for n...