TSR [Let's Read] Polyhedron/Dungeon

[(un)reason]

The Raven's Buff Trumpeter 1-3: May 1997



4 pages. The circus is back in town! Nature is healing. The newspaper can include more silly fluff stories and fewer horrible deaths. Although for many adventurers, hearing that a herd of disenchanters has been sighted in the vicinity is more terrifying than humanoid hordes. Most monsters just kill you, but disenchanters, like rust monsters, take out your gear and leave you alive but disempowered. If you're in the mood for wacky dungeoncrawling, the tomb of the previous minister for wild magic has been discovered. Do you dare to see what unpredictable traps & treasure might be within? They're also demonstrating that the concept of life insurance works far more effectively in the Realms than the real world, with the priests of Lathander setting up a policy that'll get you resurrected as long as you're paid up and your body can be recovered. Probably cheaper than paying the cost post hoc, so if you regularly get close to death's door, look out for their agent at a convention near you! Makes just as much sense as monster grinding marts. There are still some serious matters of state though. The Lord Mayor is still recovering from his 9 month imprisonment, as while magical healing might restore the hit points, it does nothing for the mental trauma. The heavy losses on the council mean some of the old families had no suitable heirs, and their positions were replaced by new money merchant lords. (shock horror, where is my monocle?!) There's still plenty of war orphans that need homes. Until suitable families can be found, the temple of Tempus will be quite happy to take care of them and ensure they're well able to participate in the next one. Lots of different plot threads going on then, some big ones connected to things we've seen in previous issues, some small and submitted by individual players. What adventures will they go on now the war effort isn't occupying the majority of everyone's attention?



Living City Q&A: Does being resurrected cost a con point? (no, but it still counts towards your limit)

Does a character who's been raised before the ability score rules were revised still have fewer points. (yes)

What happens if I'm reincarnated as a different race, polymorphed back to my original one, and fail the intelligence check? (the character forgets their old memories and believes they're a different character which was always of that race. This may get confusing to roleplay.)

Can i be a specialty Ranger & Priest of Melikki at the same time? (no)

How do I join a guild or knightly order? (if you meet the prerequisites, you can do all that online now! No more being stuck until the next big convention and having to wait in line for ages for a judge to be free to do the admin.)

 

[(un)reason]

The Raven's Buff Trumpeter 1-4: June 1997



4 pages. Now the war has been properly over for a couple of months, people have had a chance to sit down and properly discuss what happened where without worrying about it impacting national security. So we get a proper account of the final 6 day final battle to thrill the readers. All sorts of magic played a part, but they couldn't have won it without the stalwart knights of the city leading the charge, because D&D settings can't go full magitech without spoiling the mood. Speaking of which, there are suspicions that the guy from last month selling literal life insurance is a scammer. He's still around for now, but don't be surprised if he makes a hasty exit from the campaign like Chemcheaux did. Further cementing the feeling that they might want to dial the magic level back a bit is the increasing number of Disenchanter sightings. They're here to feed on all the magical residue from the spells used in the war. The church of Chauntea thinks they should be protected & encouraged, because it'll help get rid of the wild magic zones around the city. The wizard's guild is understandably not so keen on them, and has posted a 100gp bounty on disenchanter tails. This gives adventurers plenty of adventure opportunities whichever side of the political conflict they're on in upcoming months. It's not all in favor of low magic though. The potion shop closed at the start of the war is back again. And The Murkos, a powerful merchant from Zakhara plans to make a visit with his ship to resume trade, which I'm pretty sure requires it to fly or teleport some of the way, because I can't see a direct river route between the Sea of Swords and the Sea of Fallen Stars. Maybe it has a halruan skyship engine, or maybe he has a genie to carry it. So it looks increasingly like this year's big metaplot stuff is conflict over the overall level of magic in the campaign. Not quite as dramatic as last year, especially because a lot of people won't see it, but still has potential for both adventures and more philosophical OOC debate about magic levels in fantasy worlds and how they should affect history & day to day life if used logically.



Living City Q&A: Can i be a specialty Ranger & Priest of Melikki at the same time, pretty please?! (Well, alright, but only if your ranger levels are warrior ones, not priest ones)

Do all Living City events have tiered experience? (no, just the new ones that say they do)

Can I play the new specialty priests from Powers & Pantheons? (not yet. Hopefully next year)

What do I do if Knight PC's are naughty words? (subtract from their chivalry points and send it into the appropriate admin. That's why they have that mechanic in the first place.)

What do I do if I was maimed during the war? (Either embrace the new look and get a nice eyepatch (pirates are sexy) or save up and pay for a regeneration spell)

 

[(un)reason]

The Raven's Buff Trumpeter 1-5: July 1997



4 pages. Mayor O'Kane may have been rescued, but now he faces questions about his fitness to rule. He's extremely angry about the council of merchants spinning off from the council of lords in his absence, and still attached to the deputy mayor who betrayed him, saying it must have been enchantment or coercion, so he should be released immediately. This turned into a big row on the debating chamber floor, which nearly came to blows. It was quickly decided that they need to run a new election to settle this with proper state sanctioned competition rather than impromptu fisticuffs. O'Kane and Amber Lynn Theoden immediately became the betting favourites, but Lord Charles Blacktree is a strong contender as well, given how well he performed in the war. The campaigning for that seems likely to provide more news for months to come. The conflict between people who think disenchanters are harmless, maybe even cute and the wizard's guild who want them exterminated and are willing to pay big money to see it happen continues, but feels like a sideshow by comparison. Ecological concerns have never had a particularly strong purchase here, so I'm not surprised it doesn't fill the column inches like interpersonal gossip and true crime stories. Speaking of which, there are also fires uptown, which might well be arson, a whole load of bards getting murdered, the temple of Selune getting attacked by monsters yet again, and the predictable protests by prudes about the idea of a temple of Sharess setting up in the city. None of these are resolved, so they're rich ground for further updates depending on what the public shows interest in and if they're connected to tournament adventures who's effect is based on the result the the majority of parties get in them.



Living City Q&A: Can I play a dwarf specialty priest of Azuth?: It's not explicitly permitted in the books, so it is forbidden.

Can my specialty priest have a kit as well? (no)

Are the deities that appeared in the Forgotten Deities column allowed in Living City? (no)

If a god gives their specialty priests attribute bonuses, can they go over 18 (yes, oddly enough)

Can I have major access to Tome of Magic spells? (no. Not that you're very likely to be high enough level that it matters)

Can I have the spells exclusive to the priesthood in the supplements if I'm a cleric of that god? (no)

How do I ask a question? (either of these email addresses.)

 

[(un)reason]

The Raven's Buff Trumpeter 1-6: August 1997



4 pages. Lady Amber Lynn Theoden and her knights continue to solve problems threatening the city, with absolutely no hints that she's orchestrating many of said problems in the first place. The orphanage next to the Ill Eagle caught fire due to a greek fire deal gone wrong. Thankfully several of her knights were on the scene and both the orphans & the racist bird were saved. The council was stoked into action by people going "Won't someone think of the children?!", passed a hasty law banning greek fire within the city walls entirely and now Lady Amber's political stock & odds of becoming mayor look better than ever, while the city is a little less able to defend itself from future attackers. A perfect synergy of scheming if you read between the lines.

The other two big bits of social news are the building or rebuilding of various temples (gotta squeeze in places for the new gods allowed by the latest supplements) and the annual ball thrown by the Knights of the Golden Rooster. This was obviously one of the interactives, as it lists who played the significant characters and what they wore, some both comical and elaborate. Good to see them running events that aren't based around combat or the acquisition of magic items, giving people more space to actually roleplay.



Living City Q&A: Does a ring of protection stack with an Armor spell? (yes)

What is the knightly code? (each order has their quirks, but showing fair play, honor, nobility, valor, courtesy & benevolence rarely goes far amiss. )

How do I join the Knights of the Lady? (Just email the Knight Commander and follow the orders, even if they don't seem obviously beneficial to the city. All will become clear in time. )

Do I need to create a new character to play in Procampur based events? (Nope, you can travel back and forth as you please)

If I sacrificed my character in Blaze of Glory, can I get them back? (Yes, if you play the right adventure to rescue them, but don't expect it to be easy.)

Who do I complain to if something unfair happens in a tournament? (we have an email for that now too! They just keep on proliferating. )

 

[haakon1]

I’m reading all of Dungeon and writing notes and “ratings” for the content. Done issue 70-127 so far. What a slog but it’s occasionally rewarding.

 

[(un)reason]

The Raven's Buff Trumpeter 1-7: September 1997



4 pages. Lady Amber Lynn Theoden takes the mayorship! This means she no longer has the time to do journalistic work for the paper, so her coverage in here is distinctly less positive than previous issues. Quite a few people are suspicious about her choice of knights, taking a ruthless drow mercenary and making him her lieutenant. Others are concerned by the convenient death of the ex-deputy mayor in prison before they could properly determine if he was traitorous conspirator or magically controlled dupe, and if so, who was pulling his strings. This is very obviously still open to future developments. Even the most popular politician soon gets flak once they start governing, as it's impossible to satisfy everybody no matter how many secret societies they control.

In other news, the number of temples continues to proliferate. Rather than have it built the regular way, Kelemvor had his new temple simply erupt fully formed from the ground of a graveyard, which doesn't sound very Lawful Neutral, but what are mortal planning permission regulations to a god? The society column goes a little lower class than usual, as they frequent gambling den the House of Thud for a high stakes charity event. Plenty of PC's got to fritter away their adventuring money into the pot. Eventually 140,000gp were used by the winner to found an animal shelter. That should go a long way towards looking after all the creatures who were injured or lost owners in the war. Good to see they continue to have logical long term consequences for events rather than immediately forgetting the damage the war did for the newest shiniest news.



Living City Q&A: Do priests need to pick their spells at the start of the day like wizards. (yes. We'll be having none of that spontaneity crap this edition)

Can I do called shots with Magic Missile? (no)

Can I bring pets or hirelings on an adventure? (yes, but it affects your group's tier so you'll each get fewer XP and may also cost money as well.)

How does the Amulet of Life Protection work? ( see Sage Advice in Dragon 217. )

Is killing a helpless opponent evil? (very yes. If you used hold, sleep or the like to put them out of action you have to take care of them afterwards or risk losing your character to alignment change.)

How do I get a certificate for attribute boosts gained in the course of an adventure? (you should already have done unless the judge screwed up. Which they definitely did if they gave you +4 points instead of just the 1 or 2 it says in the module. )

Which deities can a paladin worship? (most good ones, and also Helm.)

Can a Paladin take the Swashbucker kit? (yes, although it's tricky on the math to meet all the prerequisites for both with Living City point buy. )

Can druids of Eldath turn undead? (no)

 

[(un)reason]

Dungeon Issue 64: Sep/Oct 1997



part 1/5



80 pages. I wonder if one day that, you'll say that, you care. If you say you love me madly, I'll gladly be there. Like a puppet on a string. But these puppets don't look merry at all. How did they end up in that situation? Will the PC's be able to save them, and if so, will they be able to choose how, or will they too be just puppets jerking as the writer pulls their strings? Let's see if this issue scores highly, or the judges will give one round of nul points after another to the Lake Geneva entry?



Letters: Their absence obviously has not made people's hearts fonder, because the letters page is not even a full page long. First praises Night Swarm and To Save a Forest. Both worked quite well with their players.

Second is delighted by the Diterlizzi special. It really enhanced the adventures to have them all illustrated in a consistent way. That boy's got a big future ahead of him.

Finally, another person who wants to step up their mapmaking and wondering what computer program they use. As with the previous times they've been asked this, it's not in the technology, it's all hand drawn. The only way to upgrade your wrist is with lots of training.



Editorial: Every issue since Michelle became editor has had a well above average quotient of whimsical adventures. This is probably the editorial that would have appeared in the april issue, where she explains what she does and doesn't find funny. Her sense of humor strongly inclines towards groan-inducing puns & messing around with answering machine messages and away from dirty locker-room talk, which is good because they don't allow that kind of stuff in TSR books anyway. Looks like it's going to be another issue full of stuff that was already accepted and in the buffer before TSR collapsed. We're still a fair bit of cultural shift away from being able to put Nipple Clamps of Exquisite Pain and feats with prerequisites of having intimate relations with undead in the Book of Vile Darkness. In the meantime, you can look forward to a few more funny moments in this issue. Whether they're the sort I'd use or ones to consign to the lower depths of Castle Greyhawk with Fluffy remains to be seen.

 

[(un)reason]

Dungeon Issue 64: Sep/Oct 1997



part 2/5



Grotto of the Queen: Another year, another watery adventure. That seems to be a reasonable enough frequency to have them. The PC's are hired to retrieve a Lantan ship from a temple of Umberlee. Unbeknownst to them, they're watched invisibility while this happens (perils of recruiting adventurers in taverns) and the clerics are prepared for trouble. However, in a second twist, another adventuring party just happened to be headed their way on the same day and fell into the ambush first, which means the PC's arrive mid-celebration with most of the traps already triggered unless they intentionally delay. This means that you have a fairly standard little dungeon crawl location, but with lots of attention to making it feel non static, with notes about which bits are underwater at high tide but exposed at low, varying tactics from the inhabitants depending on what the PC's do, notes on where the traps were, which can be put back in if you want to scale the difficulty up again, plus possible alternate plots if the PC's are the paranoid sort who constantly have detect invisibility active or something. It's pretty interesting and flexible and I just wish the actual dungeon part was larger and less linear. So this is a case of working really hard on the surrounding parts of the adventure but leaving the centre a bit undercooked. That's what happens when you have 2e writers who are mostly about the plot & roleplaying rather than the actual dungeons & dragons parts of D&D. Still plenty of use to be got out of this one, but I can easily see how it could have been made even better.

 

[(un)reason]

Dungeon Issue 64: Sep/Oct 1997



part 3/5



Bzallin's Blacksphere: Chris Perkins remains as unstoppable as ever, once again delivering the longest adventure in the issue. A solid black sphere that consumes everything it touches has appeared in the middle of the small town of Horizon and is slowly growing. If it continues at the same rate, it'll swallow the place in a week, and might eventually threaten the whole world if not stopped! It's going slow enough that no-ones in any imminent danger of dying unless they intentionally touch it, but someone needs to do something about it fast before property values in the whole region are ruined! Consulting the local high level wizard reveals two possible solutions, but both cause large explosions in the process, so they're not desirable unless the town is already completely gone. The only person who might have the knowledge to stop it noncatastrophically is his rival Bzallin, who might also be responsible for it's appearance in the first place anyway. The first place to look would be his old citadel, which was mysteriously destroyed by fiends 10 years ago.

At this point, you may think the talky stuff has gone on a bit long. Apparently Chris thought so too, because it's time to go full Raymond Chandler and have a gang of yugoloths teleport in to kill the wizard, leaving no doubt that Bzallin was indeed responsible and being surprisingly loose lipped about his plans because Yugoloths hate being summoned and will undermine their binders wherever possible. If they manage to get him they'll teleport out leaving the PC's behind and highly motivated to get revenge, while if you beat them you'll have a little more assistance in subsequent parts of the adventure. Exploring the ruined citadel and beating the undead guards eventually reveals a portal to Bzallin's true lair, an extradimensional demiplane that reminds us Chris has read the Dragon articles on tesseracts and other space-twisting places. From there on in, you'll have a distinctly confusing wander through it's halls, facing various extraplanar beasties and Bzallin's apprentices until you finally reach the big bad himself. If you do beat him, you'll find out he made himself a loadbearing boss, so you'll need to escape fast before the extradimensional space implodes or die as well. But whether you got out or not, the sphere stops growing and the town is safe. This feels like Chris is doing a pastiche of Steve Kurtz's style, a long plot heavy adventure with fairly smart but overdramatic villains, a love for driving the adventure with unique macguffins and a big explosion at the end which prevents you from keeping most of the treasure. Still, it is less linear than most Steve Kurtz adventures, allowing you plenty of routes and lots of degrees of success or failure without closing off further parts of the adventure. As with his continuation of the hidden immortal adventure, he actually manages to improve on the ideas of his inspiration and make those tropes work better as a D&D adventure. Not every adventure he does is great, but he's continuing to show both flexibility and a good batting average as a writer.

 

[(un)reason]

Dungeon Issue 64: Sep/Oct 1997



part 4/5



Last Dance: Our cover story turns out to be just as creepy inside as out. The PC's are hired by a wealthy eccentric lady to deal with a monster in the basement of her mansion. Turns out she's not just eccentric, but completely insane and has been poisoning people to death, then turning their corpses into marionettes to dance eternally for her entertainment. You need to survive the deathtrap set for you, then figure out how to escape and either get away from the place entirely, or fight your way through the rest of the mansion's weirdness, find the control room and get revenge. A distinctly creepy scenario that's actually made moreso because it's all accomplished by mundane means rather than magic. Of course, since this is D&D, not scooby-doo, that doesn't last. If you kill her instead of taking her alive, she becomes a ghost straight away, able to control all the inanimate objects in the mansion, so her puppets no longer need any strings to hold them up and each room has a new set of more dangerous encounters added. So this does for gothic mystery what Grotto of the Queen does for dungeoncrawling, work hard at making the location reactive to the players and scalable to suit the needs of different groups. The difference is that this mansion is actually a decent size as well, giving you plenty to explore, much of which is optional rather than sending you through a linear gauntlet of challenges. That makes it more satisfying overall as both a read and an adventure. This is definitely well into the range of ones I'd use in quality and sufficiently different from the previous evil puppet adventure in issue 14 that it doesn't feel like diminishing returns to have both.