![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nortoncreekpress.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/bazaar-of-the-bizarre.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
When I and the world were young, my professional writing career got its start with a tiny piece in The Dragon<\/a>, the D&D magazine from TSR Hobbies. This was my writeup of a humorous cursed magic item, The Rod of Singing, <\/em>appearing in their Bazaar of the Bizarre<\/em> column. They paid me money for it!<\/p>\n by Robert Plamondon, The Dragon #37, May, 1980<\/strong><\/p>\n When discovered, the Rod behaves like some useful rod (pick one from Greyhawk<\/em> or DMG<\/em>, but between five and 30 minutes after picking up this device, the magician or Cleric will begin to wave it as if conducting an imaginary band, singing loudly and off-key. This noise has a one-third chance per turn of attracting wandering monsters and, if the monsters are intelligent, with a -1 reaction penalty due to the poor music quality.<\/p>\n The rod prevents the casting of spells by interfering with speaking and gesturing. It adheres magically to the hand and can be removed only by a Remove Curse<\/em> or Wish<\/em> spell. The person under the rod\u2019s control will continue singing as long as he is conscious and will resist attempts to knock him out.<\/p>\n By Robert Plamondon, Dragon #45, January 1981<\/strong><\/p>\n The rate of salivation is too high to allow speaking and thus makes casting spells with verbal components impossible.<\/p>\n In addition, there is a 20% chance that people affected by the bell will suddenly decide to have a meal, even when currently engaged in combat.<\/p>\n Experience point value: 1,000<\/strong> By Robert Plamondon, Dragon #45, January 1981<\/strong><\/p>\n These magical slippers are bright red in color. They allow the wearer to teleport to his or her home by clicking the heels together three times and murmuring, \u201cThere\u2019s no place like home, there\u2019s no place like home, there\u2019s no place like home.\u201d<\/p>\n Ruby slippers <\/em>cannot be removed intact from the feet (once they are put on) until the owner dies or a Wish<\/em> or Limited Wish<\/em> spell is cast. They are nearly indestructible and save on the Item Saving Throw Matrix <\/em>as Hard Metal, with an extra + 2 on the roll. They also give the wearer immunity to foot ailments.<\/p>\n The Slippers can only be used once per day. They can transport the wearer and up to 2,000 gold pieces in weight of living and\/or non\u00adliving matter; but only to the wearer\u2019s true home (where the heart is). The activation routine takes two segments.<\/p>\n Ruby Slippers<\/em> are usable by all character classes.<\/p>\n Experience point value: 1,000<\/strong> When I and the world were young, my professional writing career got its start with a tiny piece in The Dragon, the D&D magazine from TSR Hobbies. This was my writeup of a humorous cursed magic item, The Rod of Singing, appearing in their Bazaar of the Bizarre column. They paid me money for it! … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/through-dungeons-deep.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/through-dungeons-deep.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/through-dungeons-deep.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/through-dungeons-deep.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/through-dungeons-deep.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/through-dungeons-deep.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20,"href":"https:\/\/through-dungeons-deep.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19\/revisions\/20"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/through-dungeons-deep.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/through-dungeons-deep.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/through-dungeons-deep.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nortoncreekpress.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/04\/tdd_cover_simple.jpg\")
<\/a>In the end, I sold them three magic items in 1980 and 1981, reproduced below. I went on to write many other articles and eventually a whole book, Through Dungeons Deep: A Fantasy Gamers’ Handbook<\/a> (Reston Publishing, 1981, reprinted much later by me under my Norton Creek Press label).<\/p>\nRod of Singing<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nortoncreekpress.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Dragon-037-cover.jpg\")
The Rod of Singing is a magical item usable by both Clerics and Magic-Users, although neither class will appreciate its charms.<\/p>\nBell of Pavlov<\/h1>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nortoncreekpress.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Dragon-045-cover.jpg\")
The Bell of Pavlov<\/em> appears to be a small silver handbell, but when rung it causes those within a 30-foot radius to salivate uncon\u00adtrollably.<\/p>\n
\nGold piece sale value: 3,500<\/strong><\/p>\nRuby Slippers<\/h1>\n
\nGold piece sale value: 5,000<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"