Dungeon/Poly #95

[EricNoah]

Received Dungeon/Poly #95 today -- here's a breakdown (possible spoilers below):




First cool thing: On the cover, it notes that the mag has been voted Best Accessory for the GenCon/ENWorld.org Awards!

Dungeon:

Sheet of monster tokens

Jackal's Redemption -- an adventure for 9th level characters featuring a trip to Gehenna

Witch of Serpent's Bridge -- wilderness adventure for 3rd level characters featuring gnolls

Critical Threats: A githyanki rog/ftr/illusionist; and an imp wizard

Lust -- a side-trek for 4th level characters featuring an unusual satyr

Porphyry House Horror -- this is the BoVD sealed adventure, by Dungeon regular James Jacobs. It's for 10th level characters, and is a city-based adventure featuring a prostitution operation that is related to a vile ritual to appease a demonic power. Nothing all that horrid overall, in my opinion, but tastes vary. I'm sure we'll see discussion on the particulars soon. We get a preview of some new feats and magic items from the BovD.


Poly:

Countdown to D20 Modern: In May we'll see Urban Arcana, a d20 Modern campaign setting. We get a preview of some "FX equipment" (read: magic items) you might need to fight off the monsters who live next door.

RPGA convention news featuring Winter Fantasy info.

Improved Initiative is an article from Fiery Dragon Productions and Mike Mearls detailing "Alert Factor" which is a mechanic FDP introduced in one of its modules.

Minigame: Mecha Crusade is a big robots game by David Noonan. It actively points you to the "newly released" d20 Modern Rules (they should be out in Oct, right, and this is the Nov/Dec issue). New "advanced classes" presented include the Mecha Shock Trooper, Mecha Ace (pilot), Cyborg (human-machine crossbreed who adds cyberware such as retinal targeters, robotic hands, and blood nanites), Weapon Designer (kind of a scientist type who uses the Craft skill to boost other mecha's weapons, movement, etc.), Sleeper Agent (a spy who doesn't even realize she's a spy and has knowledge "activated" over time), Wing Captain (commander of multiple mechas). New feats include Indirect Fire (hit targets you don't have line of sight to), Improved Transform (your mecha transforms as a move action instead of a full-round action), and several others. New skills are Knowledge (Mecha) and Pilot. There's a chapter on building a mecha (you get a number of Mecha Build Points based on your level to purchase features based on size, materials, and accessories such as weapons). There's a chapter on some modifications to the d20 Modern rules to accommodate mecha combat and movement. And there's a chapter on the campaign setting this all takes place in.

 

[thundershot]

Oh, man, I can't wait! How many alterations do you have to make to d20M to make it work?



Thanks!
Chris (hopefully mine arrives tomorrow!)

 

[SemperJase]

So is Eric on a special distribution where he always get his first?

I subscribe and it seems I always see post from Eric about getting his 2 or 3 days before mine gets here.

Anyway, is it time for Poly to go away? I'd prefer the subscription price drop a couple bucks an issue.

 

[Moon_Goddess]

So is Eric on a special distribution where he always get his first?

I subscribe and it seems I always see post from Eric about getting his 2 or 3 days before mine gets here.

Anyway, is it time for Poly to go away? I'd prefer the subscription price drop a couple bucks an issue.

Yeah, hopefully if we get luckly they can drop all that useless Dungeon stuff and the price of Poly will fall.

Oh well, Poly is so valuable it's worth it even paying for the Dungeon junk I'll never use.

 

[Saeviomagy]

There's been a big discussion about that. It involves some facts

1. A large portion of the price of producing a magazine like this is static - the size of the magazine doesn't matter.

2. The more people buy the magazine, the lower the price will be (because the price is somewhat static - the more magazines you print, the cheaper it is to produce each magazine).

3. Some people buy dungeon/poly for the dungeon half

4. Some people buy dungeon/poly for the polyhedron half

5. Almost no people refuse to buy dungeon/poly because it has dungeon in it.

6. Almost no people refuse to buy dungeon/poly because it has polyhedron in it.

Hence splitting the magazine would have the following effects:

1. Less people would buy dungeon than buy dungeon/poly

2. Less people would buy polyhedron than buy dungeon/poly

3. The price of producing dungeon would be much more than half the price of producing dungeon/poly

4. The price of producing polyhedron would be much more than half the price of producing dungeon/poly

Hence the price of either magazine would, at best, be the same as the price of the two magazines combined. Lots of people would whine about this, and a lot would stop buying either. The price of both magazines would have to rise further.

I dare say it would be the death knell of both magazines

 

[Moon_Goddess]

Oh I realize all that, just I've decided when anyone rally against Poly I'm going to rally against Dungeon. To me Dungeon is useless, I never bought a Dungeon before they added Poly and I have bought every Poly since it was added to Dungeon and have read one bit of Dungeon. So I make sure to let everyone know there is at least on person out here who knows which is more valuable, and would be very upset with WOTC if they canceled it.

 

[EricNoah]

To me, Dungeon and Poly together does something neither could do apart -- it communicates to people who aren't in the loop (like us here at EN World) that D&D = D20 = D&D. On one side you have D&D goodness; on the other, some D20 stuff. That in itself is going to help customers realize that D20 stuff published by other companies is compatible with D&D (usually) even if those companies can't come right out and say it.

I don't use the Poly side, and I probably never will (at least in its entirety) -- but I might steal an idea or two, and it's been instructive watching D20 Modern unfold in those pages.

 

[Darth Biere]

mecha in poly

I'm just hoping that I can use the mecha stuff in D20 fantasy without too much work.

 

[EricNoah]

It'll be interesting to see how much conversion is necessary between D20 Modern and D&D. My guess is the main issues will be hp vs. wound/vitality, AC vs. Defense/DR, and is there a metric vs. standard issue as well? Not sure...

 

[RobNJ]

There's been a big discussion about that. It involves some facts

Tisk, tisk. You oughtn't ignore the guy's main point, which is roughly akin to this:

A child stands in the middle of the room, stamps his foot on the ground, pouts up his face really tight and says, "I DON'T WIKE IT!"

Here's the deal, folks, some things will get put into wide-distribution books you don't want. Quit trying to take everyone else's toys away from them.