TSR [Let's Read] Polyhedron/Dungeon

[(un)reason]

Polyhedron Issue 147: July 2001



part 1/6



64 (47) pages: Another reminder that druids have even more leeway to be ruthless and bloody without losing their powers this edition, and can make very effective and creepy villains for a story by clever use of said powers. The hills have eyes, the corn sees all, and you’d better not go down to the woods today because they can wildshape into every bear that ever there was. Time to see just how wild this issue will get, and if they’ll still have a printing press to recount their story at the end of it.



Network News: The Living City conversions have hit another hurdle. They screwed up a lot of the magic item certificates and had to do a big revision of them, which means they have to send the new versions out at considerable expense. They’re making progress with the custom prestige classes for the various knightly orders, but there’s also a ton of other ones appearing in new supplements every month that they have to look over and decide whether to sanction or not. Can they keep up? Can they also restart the other projects like a mailing list or the Trumpeter’s IC news?

Elsewhere, things are a lot more positive. They’re starting up their first 3rd party d20 campaign, Living Arcanis, courtesy of Paradigm Concepts. Looking ahead, that runs until 2009 under 3e rules and then got relaunched using their own system, so it must have gathered enough of a fanbase of it’s own to be self-sustaining. They also have a big graph of the number of RPGA scenarios ordered each year, which shows just how much their growth has accelerated in the past couple of years. The various international recaps are also pretty cheerful and show how many new people are joining, although the european one is so busy that their entry feels dashed off at the last minute. Overall it paints much the same picture as last time, they’re trying to do more things for more people, but getting less money from WotC due to the pokemon crash at the same time and eventually, something is going to give. What will wind up on the chopping block first when they finally decide to make those hard cuts?



Letters to the Editor: First letter is very pleased with how the living greyhawk journal is making Oerth accessible to newbies and very much hopes they’ll do the same for Krynn. They do a bit of it in the latest Dungeon, but you’ll have to wait a few more years for a comprehensive 3e version.

Second thinks the setting detail in the Creature Collection is awesome and defends it against any naysayers. It’s not just the individual creatures, it’s the picture it paints of the world when you put them together. TSR would never have the courage to go this gross with their monsters and it’s nice to see a less sanitised D&D world.

Third is decidedly annoyed at how inaccurate many of the conversions were in the lengthy list of magic items last issue. Yeah, they’re not happy with how that’s going either. Even with the year long delay, this has all been a big rush job. So much to do, so little time, not enough oversight of all the different people doing the converting. Now they’re going to need to redo big chunks of it, taking even longer. What a nuisance.

Fourth is annoyed that they’re moving not only the location of Gen Con, but also the timing. Doing it late August means some people are already going back to school, meaning a lot of people who could attend easily before will now struggle, given how few vacation days most american jobs allow. If they want to stay the biggest, they should keep it accessible to kids and college students.

Finally, someone asking if they plan to do a digital archive of old Polyhedrons like they did Dragon. They learnt the hard way about second-use publication rights with that, so they aren’t likely to try that again any time soon. Any complete digital collections will only be found on the open seas for the foreseeable future and it’ll be quite some time before there’s even one of those.

 

[(un)reason]

Polyhedron Issue 147: July 2001



part 2/6



Pillars of Raven's Bluff: Despite the setbacks, they’re still working hard on converting the Living City to 3e. Here’s some of the more famous NPC’s from the last decade with suitably beefed up 3e stats.

Lord Mayor Charles O’Kane has gone from 15th to 18th level since 1994, which isn’t a huge amount considering everything he’s been through, but much of that wasn’t CR appropriate challenges. He was imprisoned during the war, lost the last election and needed his arm regenerated, all of which has left some trauma. But when Lady Amber was exposed as Myrkyssa Jelan and they needed a safe pair of hands, guess who the citizens put back in charge. Statistically he’s not that interesting, just a straightforward high level fighter with good all-round ability scores, but the lengthy interesting history more than makes up for that. Don’t get so caught up in tinkering with clever builds that you forget to actually go out adventuring with a character.

Guildmaster Colin O’Lyre is unsurprisingly the head of the city’s Bards. He grew up poor and battled serious illness as a child, which means his singing voice isn’t the greatest, but still managed to work his way to the top by charm and instrumental prowess, as well as being unusually disciplined and law-abiding for a bard. This means his job is about as tricky as herding cats and there’s always plenty to do trying to curb their roguish tendencies. Let’s hope you won’t give him reason to give you a stern dressing down after an adventure.

Lady Lauren DeVillars has turned up in these pages many a time, whether in her role as head cleric of Waukeen, (all 20 levels baby!) founder of the knightly orders or overseer of the challenges of champions that determine who gets many important positions in the city. This means she knows pretty much anyone who’s anyone and can settle a lot of problems with just a word in the right ear. Like mayor O’Kane, she used life extending magic for a while, but has recently stopped, which leaves some people scared that the whole place will fall apart when she’s gone. Knowing how the Realms metaplot goes, even if she’s dead in 4e she’ll be back in 5e so no great worries there.

Lady Penelope Norwood is the ambitious young(er) evoker who’s just got into the head job at the Ministry of Art. She got the job by chumming up to very disgraced ex mayor Amber Lynn, which obviously means there’s more than a little suspicion on her now. Is she actually loyal to the city, or will she sell it out if it looks like there’s greater power to be had that way? Time will tell if she gets to be a hero or villain in future stories. (or neither, because of outside forces on the setting making her irrelevant)

 

[(un)reason]

Polyhedron Issue 147: July 2001



part 3/6



Taking Revenge on Civilisation: Being a druid isn’t all musical numbers with happy woodland animals and easily defeating any despoilers of nature with a smile like Captain Planet. In many worlds, including our own, they’re fighting a losing battle. Under these circumstances, you can’t just keep on using the same old tactics and hope that somehow the balance will restore itself in time. Fortunately, druids are pretty widely accepted to be the strongest core class in 3e, plus there’s plenty of tricks you can use to customise both yourself and others, so while they might lose eventually, it won’t be under this ruleset.

Deepwood Avengers are unsurprisingly a prestige class for anyone who’s lands were destroyed or urbanised. (same difference, in their eyes) They gain both full BAB and spellcasting progression every level, making them very powerful indeed, although not advancing wild shape at all means they still might not stack up to a regular druid in hand to hand combat. On top of that they gain ranger style favored enemy bonuses against civilised creatures, bard style ability to sing a song that buffs all the wilderness creatures on your side when they attack civilised things, a natural armor bonus, and at 10th level, an instadeath effect that turns the victim straight into compost so at least they can give something back to the earth. They don’t seem like a complete waste of time vs sticking with straight druid, even if their effectiveness will vary quite a bit depending on what you’re fighting.

Arborror are tree zombies animated from fallen trunks and stumps. Weapons break on them and their breath weapon infects you with a wasting disease, making them the kind of battle that may permanently deplete your resources even if you win. If only they were a bit faster so they could engage in hit and run tactics effectively.

Cinciut are a particularly sneaky variety of redcap, specialising in gleefully sadistic assassinations rather than straightforward combat and eating nearly anything. Just the kind of dubious ally you only turn to when conventional methods of protecting nature are getting you nowhere and you need someone that’s really good at asymmetrical warfare.

Companions of Flame and Hate are also only going to be used in the worst situations, as they’re a template that involves bonding an animal with a fire elemental to turn them into a short-lived engine of burning destruction. If they’re resorting to things like that, they’ve probably already lost the war and are just trying to make sure it’s as pyrrhic (as in pyre, reminding us of the root of the word) for the victor as possible.

Plague Winds are a construct fusing an air elemental with very earthly muck. Another one that’s designed to leave the opponents suffering long after they win the fight, making them easy prey for whatever comes next unless they have plenty of clerics on their side. Another reminder that the early 3e era still had a good deal more persistent conditions and things that inflict permanent ability drain than 3.5, let alone subsequent editions where you completely heal with a long rest. Whatever happened to the worries about logistics and attrition of yesteryear?

 

[(un)reason]

Polyhedron Issue 147: July 2001



part 4/6



Talking the Tree Tongue: The druidic themed material continues with a mostly system free primer on Ogham. A written alphabet obviously designed to be carved on stone, wood or other hard materials, each letter is just 1-5 slashes against a stave line, with angle and whether it’s above or below the line multiplying the number of letters out to 20. It’s missing the familiar J, K, P, W, X & Y; F & V are the same thing, (which means stereotypical celts speaking english would mix them up in the same way asian ones do their r’s & l’s) but has a letter just for the NG sound. Each letter also corresponds to a type of tree, which I’m sure can be used for symbolism in some interesting way. If you want to give a bit more real world historical accuracy to your druids (to a certain degree, since some sects were against the whole concept of writing) this is an easy way to do it. As is often the case with a real world subject, there are whole books on it, and they include a bibliography so those that want to delve a lot deeper can. (although the website links have already rotted, like many we’ve seen in the internet 101 column) A decent enough article of the sort that could have appeared in any edition, or even a magazine that’s not about gaming at all.



Elminster's Everwinking Eye: Having done the general overview of the Owlhold last time, Ed now zooms in on a bunch of specific locations within it that you might stay. The Griffon Aflame, a cozy place with excellent wine cellars and stories to tell, only marred a bit by fungi growing where they shouldn’t. The communal campsite of Fallenfalcon, where there’s a stream & plenty of berries to gather nearby and a half-elven family who’ll provide cooked meals as long as the group isn’t too large and unexpected. Trollshead Bridge, which is as close to a post office as you’ll get in these largely ungoverned lands. Tampering with anyone else’s mail is a quick way to become persona non grata, because even without formal laws, some customs are held pretty strongly. Hathlock’s House, a spartan place that mainly serves as a meeting place for hunters & trappers, so watch out for snares in the woods nearby. The Wolf Belt, another campsite where the booze is brewed strong and flows freely, resulting in plenty of drunken brawls. Sabroar’s Hold, owned by priests of Silvanus and serving as the main trading place for all the artisans who spend most of their year at home making stuff. Sounds like a pretty idyllic life, only having to interact with people a few times a year. Finally and most interestingly, Jester’s Hollow, once owned by a sorceress with an obsession for recording sound in gems. If you can find her archive and get past any defences you have not just an immensely valuable collection of precious stones, but a priceless one of recorded music & podcasts in a world where they still can’t mass-produce those. Who knows what lore from centuries past can be found in the voices of people who were actually there. Apart from that last one, this entry is unusually low on adventure hooks, making it distinctly subpar in actual play usability. The cosy worldbuilding is getting a bit out of hand and he could do with a slightly stricter editorial rein to keep him focussed again.

 

[(un)reason]

Polyhedron Issue 147: July 2001



part 5/6



Bestiary: Monkeymen are a real world cryptid that caused panic in New Delhi, monkeys with metal hands that spread mischief before disappearing again just as mysteriously. Given what the mundane monkeys get up to around there there’s probably a scientific explanation, but since when has D&D ever let that get in the way of creating a new monster. They’ll rarely fight to kill, but delight in tricking people into injuring themselves. Whether there’s anything deeper behind that or just generic mischievousness is up to you in your own campaign. Fox Mulder would spend a good week investigating them, no more, no less.



Bare Bones: After doing births and weddings, it shouldn’t come as any surprise that this time they’re doing death. They put a trigger warning on this, despite the fact that you’ve probably been slaughtering animals and humanoids in their dozens every session up to now without batting an eyelid, because this time it’s happening to people you supposedly care about, even if it’s relatives that were never mentioned before in the character’s backstory and will never be significant again. You can get stuff from inheritances that affect whatever plot the players are currently involved with, or find something that sets you off on a whole new quest trying to resolve a challenge they never succeeded at. Other times just getting through the funeral will be challenge enough, depending on who else shows up, their peculiar customs & etiquette and what old grudges they may be carrying. Then there’s the fun of a murder mystery, or finding and properly executing the last will and testament. For each of these examples I can point to specific adventures in Dungeon that use them, so I’m definitely not learning anything new this time around. Very meh.



The Polyhedron Review: The Lion in the Ropes is this month’s d20 shovelware they only write about to warn you away from. Railroady, poor mechanics, weak art, it’s just an all-round waste of time.

Relics & Rituals, on the other hand is another excellent collection of ideas from White Wolf, who are adapting very well to the new landscapes opened up by the OGL. There’s still a few mechanical snafus compared to WotC, an absence of costs for crafting the items, some things rather over or underpowered, but on the whole it’s very usable. Just don’t give the players access to everything in it’s pages without any vetting.

Death in Freeport also gets a very positive review. Green Ronin has kicked off their own d20 world with a bang, giving them plenty of room to build on it further, while still making sure that this is primarily a fun adventure that’s easily put in other campaigns. Like White Wolf, you’ll be seeing plenty more from them in the near future.

Vodace is the 6th book in the nations series for the 7th Sea game. If you want Italy, but even more machiavellian, there’s all manner of scheming you could get involved in here. There’s a decent amount of new crunch too: three new swordfighting schools for the melee sorts plus some new fate magic powers for your more subtle spellcasters. There definitely seems to be a decent amount here to use as inspiration even if you’re not planning on using the system.

 

[(un)reason]

Polyhedron Issue 147: July 2001



part 6/6



Web Wanderings: Time for another round of links submitted by readers to test and see which have survived. The website of the Chateau de Rochebaron is still around and being updated, but the internal links have changed and weirdly, it’s lost it’s english language version. I guess we can just use google translate on whole webpages now so why make the effort? Wanadoo has long since rebranded as Orange, so anything on their old site is gone. Crime.com is also gone without replacement, which is odd as I’d expect such an obvious website name to at least have a domain squatter on it. Still, as it was owned by Sheriff Joe Arpaio and features things that would be blatantly illegal in themselves under modern data protection laws like a 24 hour livestream of the jail cells (roll up, roll up, get your real-time police brutality here!) that’s probably for the best. The White Sands Missile Range army base website is still around, as is google.com, of course. (even if many features other than the search engine have been started, then scrapped in the intervening time) www.city-gallery.com is still technically alive, but says it’s down for maintenance. Looking on the wayback machine, it’s been that way since early 2018, which means whoever owns it has been paying to keep the domain name but never actually getting round to fixing it for more than 5 years now. What a waste. Plenty more interesting tidbits of internet history to be gleaned from following up these links, but not a whole lot of stuff useful for your game remaining at the end. They’ve definitely had better months.



On The Trail: This also follows it’s familiar formula of four little convention recaps from around the globe. Ok, it’s only the UK & USA this time but at least they’re still trying. Battlemasters in Loughborough obviously specialises in the competitive PvP part of RPG’s and wargaming, but they are adding some Living tournaments as well now for those that prefer working together. Between the big games, the small games, the computer games and the freely flowing cheap alcohol people had plenty of fun despite most of them being killed repeatedly. (There can only be one grand winner of each tournament, after all) The UK Student National Championships in Leicester was also firmly focussed on scoring high in the various events, but as teams rather than individuals. They gamed hard, partied hard, then got up and did it all again the next day in a way that has our chronicler feeling thoroughly geriatric. Like Eurovision, the winner has to host it the next year, so it’ll be moving to Bangor in Wales next time. Let’s hope they have the budget and space for it. Over in the USA, they cover the debut of Con2001 in Reno. Thankfully there was no shooting a man just to watch him die, but they did get to premiere a significant bit of Raven’s Bluff metaplot. It got fewer attendees than they’d hoped for, but that’s usually the way when you run something for the first time. You have to do lots of promoting and build up a reputation if you want consistent and growing attendance. Ben Con in Colorado was somewhat busier, but still not so much that it was overwhelming. Their unique selling point is that nearly all the games are charity ones, so the tournaments you pick also determine which good cause you’re supporting. It’s cheap to get in, but some people definitely spend a lot here as the big cause raised over $10,000. There’s still plenty of differences in style between conventions so make sure you pick the ones that fit you best.



A fairly average issue, with some good articles, but a greater proportion of boring formulaic ones. It feels like they’ve settled into another familiar rhythm that they could keep up for years, and only in hindsight would you know that’s not going to be the case at all. Time to head on to the final issue before the big merger and see how much of a shock that is to everyone involved.

 

[(un)reason]

Living Greyhawk Journal 05: July 2001



part 1/4



33 pages We’re going to need a longer spear, as that Chuul is quite capable of doing serious damage with it’s claws even if you do manage to impale it mid-leap. Then again, all those dramatic descriptions have always been pretty unimportant in a system built on undifferentiated hit points. Time to see how much story and how much gamism they manage to squeeze into this issue.



State of the Campaign: So things didn’t turn out the way they planned. The Living Greyhawk Journal was folded into Dragon, Polyhedron was folded into Dungeon and this final issue was released posthumously with the date on the front being very inaccurate indeed. They became the victim of their own success, not having the resources to handle all the admin that came with the influx of new players and keep up the magazines. They did eventually get through the Fright of Tristor paperwork and figured out processes to make it quicker next time, but dealing with the constant supply of new material in the supplements and the players that figure out broken combinations of it is taking up all their energy. Reading between the lines, half the problem is that most tournament adventures are designed so linearly in the first place, so they have a fixed plot you’re meant to go through in order and if someone does something unexpected the whole thing falls apart. 3e offers more opportunities for characters to be stronger or weaker than intended at a particular level with the right build, particularly once they start crafting their own magic items so of course that’s going to be a persistent problem for the whole of the edition. In response, they’re really stepping up the Dungeon Master program, trying to make sure they’re better trained and have a clear avenue of communication to keep people on the same level. Will they be able to come up with plots diabolical enough to stump the cleverest of players? Will they also be able to keep the adventures flexible enough that they don’t slaughter the less astute groups? So this definitely falls into the category of not particularly satisfying endings where it’s obvious there’s a lot more history that hasn’t been properly chronicled. Since LG continues until the end of the edition they obviously get enough of a handle on things that it doesn’t collapse, but this demonstrates that the very flexibility and fast advancement that makes 3e interesting for players in a home campaign is also what makes it a nightmare to administrate in a larger scale one. It’s no surprise after reading this that they’ll cut down your options again in subsequent editions, particularly at higher levels. The squeaky wheel gets the grease and the RPGA is one of their largest and most consistent sources of playtesting feedback.

 

[(un)reason]

Living Greyhawk Journal 05: July 2001



part 2/4



Gem of the Flanaess: The big look at Greyhawk City is not only never going to be finished, but they aren’t even going to get all the way through the Clerk’s district. This article takes us from C4 to C12, but it’s obvious that it could have gone on happily for several years like Ed’s looks at various countries before reaching its natural conclusion if conditions had been better. The things we do get a look at are:

The Black Dragon Inn, where students cut loose and out of towners stay in one of the many bedrooms. If you think the people in charge of the city are corrupt and incompetent you’ll find plenty of agreeing voices here. Careful, because some of them are government informers themselves, which proves they’re not as incompetent as they seem.

The Jewelers & Gemcutters Guildhall, which is obviously one of the most well guarded places in the city. Despite this, a mysterious thief recently managed to break in, taking only a single gem and leaving a monogrammed initial in it’s place. Zorro is first suspect, but it could also be one of the Lupin family, or perhaps the Leverage crew.

The University of Magical Arts is a massive 9-leveled pyramid, with each one devoted to teaching particular levels of magic spells. They prefer teaching wizards, but the number of sorcerers is way up lately and they’re having to adapt to the times. Another place where there’s vast amounts of very valuable things if you have the skill and foolhardiness to make it in and out alive.

The City Mint completes the trifecta of treasure troves only the canniest of adventurers will be able to get away with raiding. Even if you succeed in the raid itself, you can expect high level private eyes investigating it for many years to come, so best to get out of town, maybe even relocate to another plane for a human lifetime or two to let the fuss die down.

The New Mill isn’t nearly as big as the old mill, and is more a college for new cooks than a commercial bakery. Tuition fees are expensive, but as cook is a more common and reliably paying job than adventurer, plenty of people are willing to pay them. Just watch out for food poisoning, both from basic incompetence and intentional saboteurs.

The Bardschool, which is pretty self explanatory, covering a wider but shallower curricula than the wizard or expert focussed universities, because being a jack of all trades means not having time to master everything.

The Bridge of Entwined Hearts, where lovers meet and bardic students go to practice playing suitably romantic music. If your adventurers are planning on settling down and starting a family, this seems a suitably symbolic place to do the proposal.

The Savant Tavern, where students and alumni from these other places can browse books without having to shush so much. Rary’s alcoholic brother can be found here most nights, drinking away his sorrow and wishing there was a way to turn his bro back to the side of light, but lacking the gumption to do it himself.

And last but definitely not least, the Free City Arena, where all comers can test their skill against beasts, summoned creatures from the planes and condemned criminals who have a shot at freedom if they win frequently and with style. They tried banning the bloodsports for a while but it was just too popular (and expensive on the prison system) to keep down. If your adventurers are the sort to get in trouble a few bouts in here sounds a lot more interesting than years mouldering in some cell. Good thing there’s a gladiator special coming up in Dragon 303 to help out with running that kind of campaign arc.

 

[(un)reason]

Living Greyhawk Journal 05: July 2001



part 3/4



The Rock of the West: We still have one massive 13 page article to go before this is merged into Dragon and eventually dropped entirely. We’re off to the Sultanate of Zeif. While it does technically have one guy in charge of everything, in practice it’s somewhat less unified than it’s torilian equivalent Al-Qadim, with lots of scheming and sometimes open war between the various nobles. It’s a big place, but given it’s inspiration, it’s not surprising that most of it is desert, with settlements clustered around the coast and a couple of large rivers. Famous names Daoud and Kwalish have places named after them, showing that their impact on the world is greater than just a few magical items and they actually did significant things with their power over the years. There’s plenty of both geographical and historical information packed in here, making it feel quite dense despite it’s size. It could easily be expanded out to a whole sourcebook then, in which they could further differentiate it from the various other arabian expy countries in different D&D settings. I guess if it leaves me wanting more it’s probably a good one. Like the previous article, this just shows how much more there was to do with the setting that’ll now never get done. If even Toril & Mystara still have multiple continents that are just outlines on an atlas what hope do any other settings have of being truly completed?



Enchiridion of the Fiend-Sage: I already know that this column makes the transition into Dragon mostly unchanged, so this is less of a loss than seeing the other regular column go unfinished. We get another little peek into how villainous scheming makes the world go round, as it hires adventurers to solve one problem, then another group to steal the reward it gave to the first set. Whether it’ll pay the second one fairly or keep on screwing down the line remains to be seen, but it’s another good example of why you don’t just blindly trust mysterious quest-givers. Even if you don’t intend to betray them, it’s still a good idea to do independent research and take precautions. Still, it’s own research remains pretty interesting reading, even if it has some obvious biases.

Beastfolk, like Lizardfolk, get gender neutral pronouns under the new edition, reminding us that trend actually started quite a while ago now. They’re pretty similar to last edition and quite usable as PC’s, but the fact that their SR doesn’t scale when they gain levels means their stance of not believing in magic will be somewhat harder to sustainably justify under the new edition. You’ll probably want to houserule that if you want them to continue to function as intended. Even though Molydeus have even better magic resistance that they can actually consciously control, the Fiend-Sage is still eager to find out how the mechanism of theirs works, so it can make items from their bodies that retain that property and give them to it’s minions.

Crypt Things are also a faithful conversion, although the save DC of their signature teleporting power is a bit low. Still, it only takes some of the party failing the save to mess up your usual tactical formations and put everyone on edge until they’re reunited and able to recharge. If you’re alone several dungeon levels down you could have a lot of interesting times in the middle.

Dakon get a lot more emphasis on the fact that they’re intelligent apes, with a favored class of wizard and hints that they had a big civilisation in the distant past. Was it destroyed, or was going back to nature a conscious choice that just underscores how smart they are? Either way, their Str + Dex are way above human average, as is their sense motive skill, so you don’t want to test the limits of their reclusiveness & pacifism. The fiend-sage is not impressed by their attitude at all, unsurprisingly, as it makes them more hassle than they’re worth to get any use out of them alive or dead.

Phalanx Vermin are new. Eusocial human sized insects, who’s weapons are slightly smaller specialised insects, they don’t have an intelligence score, but are still very capable of communicating and working together amongst themselves to form tactical units. Whether they have a queen or other castes directing them or run entirely on instinctive responses to stimuli is still unknown, but the fiend-sage is definitely keen to find out and see if it can crack the code to issue orders, because it would be nice to have minions with better military discipline than other tanar’ri.

 

[(un)reason]

Living Greyhawk Journal 05: July 2001



part 4/4



Dispatches: This column limps to the finishing line, going back to a mere 10 bits of news over 2 pages. The Ahlissan missions to find dragon statuettes has a fairly satisfying resolution, but one that leaves things open for further adventures. Bissel has two major festivals in quick succession and the inns are absolutely packed. Dyvers is having lots of problems with both pirates and bandits, so supplies are sporadic by both land and sea. The forces of Geoff manage to repel the giants again. I’m sure they’ll be back sometime, maybe not next year, but that conflict is too baked into D&D history to resolve for good. The Gran March experiences significant turnover in it’s top military ranks. Will the replacements be more competent than the old ones? A man is mysteriously murdered in the free city of Greyhawk after bragging about his latest big treasure haul in the Patricians club. Well, that just leaves tons of suspects, given how loud he was being about it. What happened to the remaining treasure though? Highfolk town was nearly destroyed by a massive forest fire. Remember kids, don’t summon elementals without proper safety precautions or Smoky the bear with a Companion of Flame and Hate template will have strong words with you. Iuz is aggressively recruiting for his army again. The Wolf Nomads are harrying his forces, but it’s going to take help from other countries to tip the odds in their favour long term. Civil unrest continues in Keoland while the king’s attention is elsewhere. Ket also grows increasingly unhappy about trade route disruptions. If it’s not fixed soon they may take their money elsewhere and that’ll cause further knock-on economic problems. Still, whatever happens next, I won’t be hearing so much about it unless another treasure trove of old adventures is unearthed, and even then it’ll take more sorting to put it all in the right order and boil down the key plot points and their impact on the setting.



The Living Greyhawk Contact List also reflects the dramatic changes that have been going on in the company, as the entire circle of six is gone from the top, replaced by just Stephen Radley-MacFarland and David Christ trying to do all their jobs at once. There’s been plenty of turnover in the regional directors as well. Jason Covitz takes the Bandit Kingdoms from Tim Marling. Rijk Stofberg takes Dullstrand from Andre Vermaak. Phil Thompson replaces Andrew VanHooreweghe in Dyvers. Brian Lamprecht takes Geoff from Sholom West. Michael Eshleman takes the Gran March from Pete Winz. Sam Weiss takes Keoland from Frank Timar. Tyler Bannister takes Ket from Steve Campey. Craig Hier takes Nyrond from Steve Hardinger. (the secret society of Steves is definitely slacking this month.) Creighton Broadhurst takes Onnwal from Sean Connor. Brian Hannock takes the Pale from Catie Martolin. Maurizio Vaggi replaces Marco Digennaro as the top Sea Baron. Bradley Fenton takes Tusmit from Philip Wrobel. Russ Taylor takes the Duchy of Urnst from Chris Jarvis. Victor Long takes charge of Veluna from the now promoted David Christ. Finally, Kevin Freeman takes the Yeomanry from Ernest C. Mueller. That’s 15 out of 28, a more than 50% turnover. I know it’s been somewhat longer between this issue and the last than the date on the front says, but it still shows just how unstable things have been behind the scenes. Not a particularly positive note to end this series on, but unexpected endings before you even finish your first season rarely are.



The general quality and density of game-useful material is maintained here, which definitely makes this particular ending feel like a sad and undeserved one. It was all forces out of their control and no amount of being more popular would have stopped it. (And in fact, might have just made the administrative logjam worse.) So much for all their ambitious attempts at expanding what they do. Now I guess I’ve just got to hit stop, rewind the tape a little, and catch up to the same point in the other threads of this journey to see the other perspectives on the same event.