(un)reason
Legend
Another sign that it was originally written before the internet made researching basic facts like that much quicker and easier.
TSR [Let's Read] Polyhedron/Dungeon
(un)reason
Legend
Dungeon/Polyhedron Issue 97/156: Mar/Apr 2003
part 1/10
166 pages. A beholder set against a backdrop of … out of focus spaghetti? Well, that’s considerably more mystifying than the average cover. I guess it is April, so they might have remembered to put in a comedy adventure. Time to see how they kick off the start of their first big adventure path and if they’ll remember to provide room for the smaller, more intimate moments as well between the action.
Editorial: Unsurprisingly, this is all about their new adventure path. They’ve never done a series this big before, and it presents all sorts of logistical challenges, making sure continuity is maintained, making sure the number of encounters in each bit is the right number to get you to the right level for the next instalment, and most importantly making sure it’s fun to play. The characters they created for playtesting are a typically mismatched crew, getting up to all kinds of havoc and jumping straight to violence when they get stuck. Yet the adventure as a whole still help up so hopefully they’ve built it right. Now it’s time for the nerve-wracking business of seeing how the general public react. Oh yeah, and they’re also going monthly next issue, which is dropped ultra-casually after all the building up of the adventure path. So they’re making two big format changes in quick succession after a year of letting the dual magazine arrangement settle in. You’d think they would space them out a bit more, but I guess you need to release the adventures in an adventure path monthly, or make each part massive enough to fill at least 8 sessions, otherwise people won’t be able to run them in real time unless they wait until all the parts are out, which could take a long time. So they really needed to make both of these changes simultaneously for them to have a chance of sticking. Still, readership is at an all-time high so that probably made justifying the change to the bean-counters easier. But will the greater number of adventures they need to release each year affect quality control? Plenty of questions raised here, which leaves me eager to keep on going and see how the final decade of the magazine plays out, albeit maybe at a slightly slower pace due to the greater amount of content.
Letters: First letter is another annoyed about the need to flip the magazine around to read Polyhedron. It’s not just a nuisance, it confuses other people looking at the cover of what you’re reading. They’re still not going to stop doing it though.
Second is from someone in the air force correcting the technical details in PX Poker Night. They don’t even have post exchanges as that’s an army thing! This is the internet age, how hard is it to get basic details like that right?
Third and fourth are both in favour of them putting mature topics into their adventures every now and then. Roleplaying shouldn’t be just for the kids and if they are playing it, the parents ought to know what their kids are getting up to. Sure beats them wandering the streets, where who knows what they might randomly encounter.
Fifth has a couple more suggestions about how to get players to stay enthusiastic and remember all the lore in your campaign. Social contagion can be a powerful force and as long as at least one is heavily invested they’ll pass it to the others.
Sixth and seventh are not so keen on the recent mature topics and may cancel their subscriptions if they overdo it. The jury is still out on whether there are more letters for or against the idea overall.
Eighth is strongly in favour of them continuing to do Polyhedron. Even with the recent price increase, the two magazines together are really good value in offering a wide range of gaming material. Hopefully that remains the case even after they go monthly and the page count goes down again correspondingly.
part 1/10
166 pages. A beholder set against a backdrop of … out of focus spaghetti? Well, that’s considerably more mystifying than the average cover. I guess it is April, so they might have remembered to put in a comedy adventure. Time to see how they kick off the start of their first big adventure path and if they’ll remember to provide room for the smaller, more intimate moments as well between the action.
Editorial: Unsurprisingly, this is all about their new adventure path. They’ve never done a series this big before, and it presents all sorts of logistical challenges, making sure continuity is maintained, making sure the number of encounters in each bit is the right number to get you to the right level for the next instalment, and most importantly making sure it’s fun to play. The characters they created for playtesting are a typically mismatched crew, getting up to all kinds of havoc and jumping straight to violence when they get stuck. Yet the adventure as a whole still help up so hopefully they’ve built it right. Now it’s time for the nerve-wracking business of seeing how the general public react. Oh yeah, and they’re also going monthly next issue, which is dropped ultra-casually after all the building up of the adventure path. So they’re making two big format changes in quick succession after a year of letting the dual magazine arrangement settle in. You’d think they would space them out a bit more, but I guess you need to release the adventures in an adventure path monthly, or make each part massive enough to fill at least 8 sessions, otherwise people won’t be able to run them in real time unless they wait until all the parts are out, which could take a long time. So they really needed to make both of these changes simultaneously for them to have a chance of sticking. Still, readership is at an all-time high so that probably made justifying the change to the bean-counters easier. But will the greater number of adventures they need to release each year affect quality control? Plenty of questions raised here, which leaves me eager to keep on going and see how the final decade of the magazine plays out, albeit maybe at a slightly slower pace due to the greater amount of content.
Letters: First letter is another annoyed about the need to flip the magazine around to read Polyhedron. It’s not just a nuisance, it confuses other people looking at the cover of what you’re reading. They’re still not going to stop doing it though.
Second is from someone in the air force correcting the technical details in PX Poker Night. They don’t even have post exchanges as that’s an army thing! This is the internet age, how hard is it to get basic details like that right?
Third and fourth are both in favour of them putting mature topics into their adventures every now and then. Roleplaying shouldn’t be just for the kids and if they are playing it, the parents ought to know what their kids are getting up to. Sure beats them wandering the streets, where who knows what they might randomly encounter.
Fifth has a couple more suggestions about how to get players to stay enthusiastic and remember all the lore in your campaign. Social contagion can be a powerful force and as long as at least one is heavily invested they’ll pass it to the others.
Sixth and seventh are not so keen on the recent mature topics and may cancel their subscriptions if they overdo it. The jury is still out on whether there are more letters for or against the idea overall.
Eighth is strongly in favour of them continuing to do Polyhedron. Even with the recent price increase, the two magazines together are really good value in offering a wide range of gaming material. Hopefully that remains the case even after they go monthly and the page count goes down again correspondingly.
(un)reason
Legend
Dungeon/Polyhedron Issue 97/156: Mar/Apr 2003
part 2/10
Side Treks - Blind Man's Bluff: Even scheming geniuses screw up or can’t be everywhere. An illithid and its grimlock minions were looking for ettin brains as a delicacy. Unfortunately, the ettin they were looking for was attacked by undead and tuned into a wight a few weeks before. Mind flayer powers are pretty useless against undead and it was seriously wounded before teleporting away, leaving the grimlocks to their fate. Some of them managed to escape, and came up with the somewhat less cunning plan of pretending to be dwarves with leprosy and asking the next group of adventurers to deal with the ettin, then backstabbing them while they’re weakened from the fight. Will the PC’s fall for their pretty basic disguise of form covering robes and keeping their distance? As usual, I guess that’s up to you. The kind of encounter that’s short, but has quite a bit of worldbuilding both before and afterwards, giving you enough information to react appropriately if the players do something unexpected and have future encounters that build upon the events in here. Pretty solid way to start things off.
Critical Threats: This is actually the cover story, curiously enough. A beholder raised by humans which adds some rogue levels to it’s already extensive set of powers? Make sure you go for the telekinesis eye first. Despite having a little more understanding of human nature than the average beholder, Xollox is still a somewhat alien creature and has little interest in wealth, instead taking payment in information and exotic foods. (which I guess explains the cover) By default, he lives in the county of Urnst, serving as a freelance information broker for the underworld, which means he could be both a useful service provider for PC’s or a dangerous enemy. So this is a little quirky, but still entirely usable in a serious campaign and has some cleverly unorthodox suggestions for how he might use his powers. Extra pleasingly, it’s finally an external submission. Maybe this column has a future without having to be propped up by the staff after all.
part 2/10
Side Treks - Blind Man's Bluff: Even scheming geniuses screw up or can’t be everywhere. An illithid and its grimlock minions were looking for ettin brains as a delicacy. Unfortunately, the ettin they were looking for was attacked by undead and tuned into a wight a few weeks before. Mind flayer powers are pretty useless against undead and it was seriously wounded before teleporting away, leaving the grimlocks to their fate. Some of them managed to escape, and came up with the somewhat less cunning plan of pretending to be dwarves with leprosy and asking the next group of adventurers to deal with the ettin, then backstabbing them while they’re weakened from the fight. Will the PC’s fall for their pretty basic disguise of form covering robes and keeping their distance? As usual, I guess that’s up to you. The kind of encounter that’s short, but has quite a bit of worldbuilding both before and afterwards, giving you enough information to react appropriately if the players do something unexpected and have future encounters that build upon the events in here. Pretty solid way to start things off.
Critical Threats: This is actually the cover story, curiously enough. A beholder raised by humans which adds some rogue levels to it’s already extensive set of powers? Make sure you go for the telekinesis eye first. Despite having a little more understanding of human nature than the average beholder, Xollox is still a somewhat alien creature and has little interest in wealth, instead taking payment in information and exotic foods. (which I guess explains the cover) By default, he lives in the county of Urnst, serving as a freelance information broker for the underworld, which means he could be both a useful service provider for PC’s or a dangerous enemy. So this is a little quirky, but still entirely usable in a serious campaign and has some cleverly unorthodox suggestions for how he might use his powers. Extra pleasingly, it’s finally an external submission. Maybe this column has a future without having to be propped up by the staff after all.
Last edited:
(un)reason
Legend
Dungeon/Polyhedron Issue 97/156: Mar/Apr 2003
part 3/10
Heart of the Iron God: Here’s an adventure that should have come out a few issues ago to tie in with the giant mecha stuff. It’s time for another high-tech crossover in Greyhawk. Thousands of years ago, the clergy of Hieronious built a 200ft tall golem to smash evil. This worked so well that the land enjoyed over a lifetime of peace and prosperity, until people stopped maintaining the mech and then eventually forgot where it was even stored, so it became just another legend among many. Now, all these years later an evil wizard has found it, tricked it into thinking he’s a good guy and all the people it’s been ordered to smash are evil and deserve it. No questgiver or looking for clues this time though, the first thing you’ll know about it is when it starts smashing up a village near you. Fortunately, it needs a whole load of operators for the secondary weapons systems and you’ll be able to see that there’s people in there, so hopefully it’ll occur to the PC’s that taking it down from the inside would be easier than trying to fight it from the outside. (unless you do have your own mechas or the ability to grow to giant size somehow. ) Once inside, there’s a full 8 floors full of somewhat cramped rooms to fight your way through, which thankfully include not just a toilet (sensibly located in the groinal area) but also a bath in the head for the captain to relax when not smashing things. (that he might or might not share with his subordinates) So there are some humorous touches here, but genuine thought has gone into making this a functional giant robot that doesn’t just run on fiat and gives the PC’s plenty of ways to engage with it and foil the problem. They’ve also thought about how to stop the players from keeping it after beating the evil wizard, with the spirit of the golem talking to them and either initiating self-destruct to keep itself out of the hands of evildoers, or if they convince it that they’re the good guys, initiating self-destruct because it’s depressed about all the destruction of innocent lives it was tricked into doing. Of course, you could always change that in your campaign if you think you’ve got what it takes to run interesting combats for a group of characters piloting a giant mecha and not have it break the game. While it does have some conservative touches, this is still a pretty cool adventure that does stuff no previous adventure in here has done, and opens up some very cool long-term possibilities if you’re willing to take the bull by the horns and draw on various other d20 sources for suitably colossal opponents. That’s gotta be worth at least one and three quarter thumbs up.
Nodwick goes full Black Sabbath once the group get control of the golem.
part 3/10
Heart of the Iron God: Here’s an adventure that should have come out a few issues ago to tie in with the giant mecha stuff. It’s time for another high-tech crossover in Greyhawk. Thousands of years ago, the clergy of Hieronious built a 200ft tall golem to smash evil. This worked so well that the land enjoyed over a lifetime of peace and prosperity, until people stopped maintaining the mech and then eventually forgot where it was even stored, so it became just another legend among many. Now, all these years later an evil wizard has found it, tricked it into thinking he’s a good guy and all the people it’s been ordered to smash are evil and deserve it. No questgiver or looking for clues this time though, the first thing you’ll know about it is when it starts smashing up a village near you. Fortunately, it needs a whole load of operators for the secondary weapons systems and you’ll be able to see that there’s people in there, so hopefully it’ll occur to the PC’s that taking it down from the inside would be easier than trying to fight it from the outside. (unless you do have your own mechas or the ability to grow to giant size somehow. ) Once inside, there’s a full 8 floors full of somewhat cramped rooms to fight your way through, which thankfully include not just a toilet (sensibly located in the groinal area) but also a bath in the head for the captain to relax when not smashing things. (that he might or might not share with his subordinates) So there are some humorous touches here, but genuine thought has gone into making this a functional giant robot that doesn’t just run on fiat and gives the PC’s plenty of ways to engage with it and foil the problem. They’ve also thought about how to stop the players from keeping it after beating the evil wizard, with the spirit of the golem talking to them and either initiating self-destruct to keep itself out of the hands of evildoers, or if they convince it that they’re the good guys, initiating self-destruct because it’s depressed about all the destruction of innocent lives it was tricked into doing. Of course, you could always change that in your campaign if you think you’ve got what it takes to run interesting combats for a group of characters piloting a giant mecha and not have it break the game. While it does have some conservative touches, this is still a pretty cool adventure that does stuff no previous adventure in here has done, and opens up some very cool long-term possibilities if you’re willing to take the bull by the horns and draw on various other d20 sources for suitably colossal opponents. That’s gotta be worth at least one and three quarter thumbs up.
Nodwick goes full Black Sabbath once the group get control of the golem.
(un)reason
Legend
Dungeon/Polyhedron Issue 97/156: Mar/Apr 2003
part 4/10
Life's Bazaar: Our first series of adventures kept each adventure regular size and standalone until the final one, which only narrowly broke the previous record for largest single adventure on top of its other achievements. In sharp contrast, this not only makes a big fanfare about being a lengthy series where you’re supposed to play the whole thing in order, but the first instalment is a mammoth 51 pages long. Now Chris Perkins has both the first and second spots for longest adventure in here. A fitting revenge for all the times they trimmed down or rejected his ideas as a freelancer.
Welcome to the city of Cauldron, so named because it’s built in the inner caldera of an extinct volcano. This means steep streets, limited building space and lots of tunnels underneath the city where who knows what monsters lurk? Why just recently there’s been a rash of kidnappings! It’s about time some brave adventurers solved the problem. A pretty standard hook to start an adventure. The difference is in how long it’ll take and where things will lead after that. If your players aren’t the kind to proactively seek out adventure, you can have them stumble across a cleric of St Cuthbert being roughed up in an alley. He was investigating the disappearances himself and it’s obvious someone really doesn’t want interference if they’re hiring thugs to silence people. Get through that and he’ll take you back to the temple, where they have a cryptic riddle from their attempt to use divination magic to find the missing kids. If you’re good at riddles this’ll let you skip to the next section, but they have detailed other several areas for you to investigate just in case. One way or another you’ll wind up at a locksmiths place, who’s an unwilling accomplice of the kidnappers. They’ve been holding his familiar hostage and forcing him to make them skeleton keys to all the locks he’s made over the years. Persuading him to help will be tricky but not impossible, and if you do it wrong may well wind up with him dead, as he’s under surveillance by his Skulk blackmailers. Whether he lives or not, a good search of his place will reveal a secret door down to a (not so) abandoned gnomish enclave. This has lots of weird gnomish tech, more than a few skulks using it as a lair, and a few items that still carry a particularly nasty and hard to cure but slow acting disease that is the reason it became abandoned in the first place. If they can make it through this, (not guaranteed by any means as it’s both one of the densest dungeons we’ve ever seen in here and filled with puzzles) they’ll find an elevator down to the Malachite Fortress, which is somewhat smaller and less confusing in layout, but much tougher in terms of combat encounters. In there you’ll find the kidnapped kids and main villain of this adventure, along with the person he’s trying to sell them to as slaves. Whether you go straight to combat, try to negotiate, or just wait around stealthily for a chance to rescue them, a beholder (more likely to be our actual cover star than the previous one this issue) will appear after a few rounds, demand the return of one of the kids, as apparently they’re special in some way, then teleport out with just that kid leaving you mystified and still having to rescue the other three yourselves. That concludes this adventure, but you’ll now know there are bigger plans afoot that will be revealed in future instalments if you stick around and investigate.
So far, it’s been a large adventure, with each of the two dungeons larger than many a standalone adventure in here, but not exceptional in either direction in terms of quality. While there is a definite linear sequence of events that the players are expected to go through, this does feel like it’s been properly stress tested and contingencies made for if they do something unexpected, with some bits skippable entirely and a whole load of worldbuilding of the city around to draw upon that feels like it will continue to be significant in future issues. The final encounter has some deliberately annoying railroading, but still leaves room for the PC’s action to make a real difference in the lives of some kids and leave some enemies alive (or not) to seek revenge, plus it looks pretty likely you’ll get to encounter the beholder again further along the line when you’re high enough level to have a fair fight with it. Hopefully they’ll continue to design future adventures so the PC’s don’t feel like they’re simply following a path where their choices don’t matter.
part 4/10
Life's Bazaar: Our first series of adventures kept each adventure regular size and standalone until the final one, which only narrowly broke the previous record for largest single adventure on top of its other achievements. In sharp contrast, this not only makes a big fanfare about being a lengthy series where you’re supposed to play the whole thing in order, but the first instalment is a mammoth 51 pages long. Now Chris Perkins has both the first and second spots for longest adventure in here. A fitting revenge for all the times they trimmed down or rejected his ideas as a freelancer.
Welcome to the city of Cauldron, so named because it’s built in the inner caldera of an extinct volcano. This means steep streets, limited building space and lots of tunnels underneath the city where who knows what monsters lurk? Why just recently there’s been a rash of kidnappings! It’s about time some brave adventurers solved the problem. A pretty standard hook to start an adventure. The difference is in how long it’ll take and where things will lead after that. If your players aren’t the kind to proactively seek out adventure, you can have them stumble across a cleric of St Cuthbert being roughed up in an alley. He was investigating the disappearances himself and it’s obvious someone really doesn’t want interference if they’re hiring thugs to silence people. Get through that and he’ll take you back to the temple, where they have a cryptic riddle from their attempt to use divination magic to find the missing kids. If you’re good at riddles this’ll let you skip to the next section, but they have detailed other several areas for you to investigate just in case. One way or another you’ll wind up at a locksmiths place, who’s an unwilling accomplice of the kidnappers. They’ve been holding his familiar hostage and forcing him to make them skeleton keys to all the locks he’s made over the years. Persuading him to help will be tricky but not impossible, and if you do it wrong may well wind up with him dead, as he’s under surveillance by his Skulk blackmailers. Whether he lives or not, a good search of his place will reveal a secret door down to a (not so) abandoned gnomish enclave. This has lots of weird gnomish tech, more than a few skulks using it as a lair, and a few items that still carry a particularly nasty and hard to cure but slow acting disease that is the reason it became abandoned in the first place. If they can make it through this, (not guaranteed by any means as it’s both one of the densest dungeons we’ve ever seen in here and filled with puzzles) they’ll find an elevator down to the Malachite Fortress, which is somewhat smaller and less confusing in layout, but much tougher in terms of combat encounters. In there you’ll find the kidnapped kids and main villain of this adventure, along with the person he’s trying to sell them to as slaves. Whether you go straight to combat, try to negotiate, or just wait around stealthily for a chance to rescue them, a beholder (more likely to be our actual cover star than the previous one this issue) will appear after a few rounds, demand the return of one of the kids, as apparently they’re special in some way, then teleport out with just that kid leaving you mystified and still having to rescue the other three yourselves. That concludes this adventure, but you’ll now know there are bigger plans afoot that will be revealed in future instalments if you stick around and investigate.
So far, it’s been a large adventure, with each of the two dungeons larger than many a standalone adventure in here, but not exceptional in either direction in terms of quality. While there is a definite linear sequence of events that the players are expected to go through, this does feel like it’s been properly stress tested and contingencies made for if they do something unexpected, with some bits skippable entirely and a whole load of worldbuilding of the city around to draw upon that feels like it will continue to be significant in future issues. The final encounter has some deliberately annoying railroading, but still leaves room for the PC’s action to make a real difference in the lives of some kids and leave some enemies alive (or not) to seek revenge, plus it looks pretty likely you’ll get to encounter the beholder again further along the line when you’re high enough level to have a fair fight with it. Hopefully they’ll continue to design future adventures so the PC’s don’t feel like they’re simply following a path where their choices don’t matter.
(un)reason
Legend
Dungeon/Polyhedron Issue 97/156: Mar/Apr 2003
part 5/10
Demonblade: Time to go back to the old formula of finding an ancient artifact that goes on to cause all manner of trouble in the modern age. Only this time it’s not a giant mecha, but just your basic evil intelligent magical sword with a demon bound in it. Another idiot thought they could get the upper hand and wound up being turned into a meat puppet. Now they’re attracting more lower-planar creatures to their service and turning the land into a messed up hellscape. Guess who’s going to have to stop them, then figure out a way to hide away or destroy the artifact so this doesn’t happen again. You’ll be attacked by a patrol of humans & trolls with a leader riding a nightmare, who will initially fight to capture rather than kill, so if you lose you have a second chance as prisoners before being sacrificed to summon more demons to the area. If you also don’t kill them all at once you can easily get some exposition about what’s going on, although sensitive info like the password to get into the castle will take a little more persuasive effort. Pressing onwards, you’ll soon get to the abandoned village of Manderaun, which as usual for these things holds further clues, a few hiding survivors, bits of treasure and plenty of monstrous patrols if you hang around in the open like dumbasses. Eventually you’ll have to figure out how to assault the castle where the big bad lairs, which is filled with demons, undead, human minions and lots of gruesome tableaus of the people who weren’t so amenable to conversion. Eventually you’ll fight the big bad in a dramatic confrontation on the rooftop, his body fully transformed into a Balor and able to use his flight and ranged blasting powers to full effect. If you beat him, any surviving monsters flee, but now you have the twin questions of what to do with the sword and how to deal with the power vacuum in the area & attract people back to the village, either of which could make up an adventure in itself. The kind of adventure that doesn’t do anything new or unexpected, but does at least do what it it does quite competently, isn’t afraid to get dark and twisted to show you just how nasty the demons involved are, and has a new prestige class in the appendix to sweeten the deal. Sometimes you’ve got to use the old classics despite everyone knowing how the story goes and at least the editorial regime now lets them show a bit more gore.
Table Talk: Having announced that they’re going monthly in a comically throwaway manner on the other side of the issue, this side talks about what this will actually mean for the contents. Things will be going down to around 100 pages an issue, which means you’ll still be getting slightly more content per year than before. (albeit at a much higher price) They’ll be favouring each side 60/40 in alternating issues, and you’ll only be getting minigames every other month, with the alternate ones used to do more existing D20 game and RPGA articles. So it’s not quite a full return to the pre merger Polyhedron days, but it is definitely a step backwards aimed at mollifying the people who were previously subscribed to Polyhedron but not Dungeon and felt a bit cheated by what they got over the past year. Looking at how few issues there are left it obviously still doesn’t work out long-term, but we’ll see which side the strongest complaints come from as we get there.
part 5/10
Demonblade: Time to go back to the old formula of finding an ancient artifact that goes on to cause all manner of trouble in the modern age. Only this time it’s not a giant mecha, but just your basic evil intelligent magical sword with a demon bound in it. Another idiot thought they could get the upper hand and wound up being turned into a meat puppet. Now they’re attracting more lower-planar creatures to their service and turning the land into a messed up hellscape. Guess who’s going to have to stop them, then figure out a way to hide away or destroy the artifact so this doesn’t happen again. You’ll be attacked by a patrol of humans & trolls with a leader riding a nightmare, who will initially fight to capture rather than kill, so if you lose you have a second chance as prisoners before being sacrificed to summon more demons to the area. If you also don’t kill them all at once you can easily get some exposition about what’s going on, although sensitive info like the password to get into the castle will take a little more persuasive effort. Pressing onwards, you’ll soon get to the abandoned village of Manderaun, which as usual for these things holds further clues, a few hiding survivors, bits of treasure and plenty of monstrous patrols if you hang around in the open like dumbasses. Eventually you’ll have to figure out how to assault the castle where the big bad lairs, which is filled with demons, undead, human minions and lots of gruesome tableaus of the people who weren’t so amenable to conversion. Eventually you’ll fight the big bad in a dramatic confrontation on the rooftop, his body fully transformed into a Balor and able to use his flight and ranged blasting powers to full effect. If you beat him, any surviving monsters flee, but now you have the twin questions of what to do with the sword and how to deal with the power vacuum in the area & attract people back to the village, either of which could make up an adventure in itself. The kind of adventure that doesn’t do anything new or unexpected, but does at least do what it it does quite competently, isn’t afraid to get dark and twisted to show you just how nasty the demons involved are, and has a new prestige class in the appendix to sweeten the deal. Sometimes you’ve got to use the old classics despite everyone knowing how the story goes and at least the editorial regime now lets them show a bit more gore.
Table Talk: Having announced that they’re going monthly in a comically throwaway manner on the other side of the issue, this side talks about what this will actually mean for the contents. Things will be going down to around 100 pages an issue, which means you’ll still be getting slightly more content per year than before. (albeit at a much higher price) They’ll be favouring each side 60/40 in alternating issues, and you’ll only be getting minigames every other month, with the alternate ones used to do more existing D20 game and RPGA articles. So it’s not quite a full return to the pre merger Polyhedron days, but it is definitely a step backwards aimed at mollifying the people who were previously subscribed to Polyhedron but not Dungeon and felt a bit cheated by what they got over the past year. Looking at how few issues there are left it obviously still doesn’t work out long-term, but we’ll see which side the strongest complaints come from as we get there.
(un)reason
Legend
Dungeon/Polyhedron Issue 97/156: Mar/Apr 2003
part 6/10
First Watch: The order of things is slightly shifted around, but this continues to be long and multi-segmented. First up, promotion for d20 Future, one of the most obvious supplement choices for d20 Modern. They should have no trouble filling several hundred pages with new equipment, prestige classes and campaign ideas to put them in.
They haven’t dropped Urban Arcana entirely for the next hot new thing though, with another page full of previewed equipment. Spy cams, hidden microphones and video shades, oh my. The kind of thing that are much cheaper and more omnipresent since the smartphone revolution, which means the price lists would need to be tweaked if they ever did a new edition.
We have a pleasing return of the Polyhedron Review, looking at Traveller d20 and the Nocturnum supplement for Call of Cthulhu. Both get fairly positive results, although the rules design is definitely better and more customisable in Traveller than CoC, which has some sloppy editing.
The Release Roundup continues to give us more by various companies than any one person could use. Bastion Press give us Faeries, another self-explanatory book with a single word title. Fantasy Flight Games try their hand at steampunk, with Sorcery & Steam, a gaming niche that isn’t filled to saturation point yet. Green Ronin support multiple game lines, with Tales of Freeport, Cartographica and Testament: Roleplaying in the Biblical Era. More grist for the wackiest of multiversal crossovers. Malhavoc release the Book of Hallowed Might, which gives divine casters at least a fraction of the spotlight time they’ve already given arcane ones. Mystic Eye Games deliver the very generic Tournaments, Fairs & Taverns, your basic expansion on mundane medieval life, and the very specific Heart of the Machine, an adventure for Dragonstar. Paradigm Concepts release the Essential Guide to Mindflayers, another instalment in the series they’re now sharing with Green Ronin to reduce the amount of toe-stepping. Mongoose continue to be so prolific they get their own sidebar that still can’t fit everything in, instead concentrating on their recent Lone Wolf and Conan licences and speculating what other ones they might have picked up. Good luck finding the time to not only read them, but make them functional for actual play with all the editing issues this hurried approach causes.
News from the Top continues to talk about the complete overhaul to the point system and the rewards you can get for earning them. You have until the end of June to redeem any rewards or spend any dice bump certificates you earned under the old one so time to stop the hoarding and cash out fast. Get to those conventions and let your characters do the wild and improbable things you’ve wanted to do for ages because you won’t get another chance. As irritating as these big changes can be, it is good to give the turtlers a good kick up the ass every now and then, keep them from getting too stuck in their ways.
Bolt & Quiver also have to deal with a beholder, bringing our count up to three this issue. Another new record.
part 6/10
First Watch: The order of things is slightly shifted around, but this continues to be long and multi-segmented. First up, promotion for d20 Future, one of the most obvious supplement choices for d20 Modern. They should have no trouble filling several hundred pages with new equipment, prestige classes and campaign ideas to put them in.
They haven’t dropped Urban Arcana entirely for the next hot new thing though, with another page full of previewed equipment. Spy cams, hidden microphones and video shades, oh my. The kind of thing that are much cheaper and more omnipresent since the smartphone revolution, which means the price lists would need to be tweaked if they ever did a new edition.
We have a pleasing return of the Polyhedron Review, looking at Traveller d20 and the Nocturnum supplement for Call of Cthulhu. Both get fairly positive results, although the rules design is definitely better and more customisable in Traveller than CoC, which has some sloppy editing.
The Release Roundup continues to give us more by various companies than any one person could use. Bastion Press give us Faeries, another self-explanatory book with a single word title. Fantasy Flight Games try their hand at steampunk, with Sorcery & Steam, a gaming niche that isn’t filled to saturation point yet. Green Ronin support multiple game lines, with Tales of Freeport, Cartographica and Testament: Roleplaying in the Biblical Era. More grist for the wackiest of multiversal crossovers. Malhavoc release the Book of Hallowed Might, which gives divine casters at least a fraction of the spotlight time they’ve already given arcane ones. Mystic Eye Games deliver the very generic Tournaments, Fairs & Taverns, your basic expansion on mundane medieval life, and the very specific Heart of the Machine, an adventure for Dragonstar. Paradigm Concepts release the Essential Guide to Mindflayers, another instalment in the series they’re now sharing with Green Ronin to reduce the amount of toe-stepping. Mongoose continue to be so prolific they get their own sidebar that still can’t fit everything in, instead concentrating on their recent Lone Wolf and Conan licences and speculating what other ones they might have picked up. Good luck finding the time to not only read them, but make them functional for actual play with all the editing issues this hurried approach causes.
News from the Top continues to talk about the complete overhaul to the point system and the rewards you can get for earning them. You have until the end of June to redeem any rewards or spend any dice bump certificates you earned under the old one so time to stop the hoarding and cash out fast. Get to those conventions and let your characters do the wild and improbable things you’ve wanted to do for ages because you won’t get another chance. As irritating as these big changes can be, it is good to give the turtlers a good kick up the ass every now and then, keep them from getting too stuck in their ways.
Bolt & Quiver also have to deal with a beholder, bringing our count up to three this issue. Another new record.
(un)reason
Legend
Dungeon/Polyhedron Issue 97/156: Mar/Apr 2003
part 7/10
V for Victory: After last issue padded out a short setting synopsis that somehow still wound up much shorter than a regular minigame, we return to regular service. We’re off to WWII, not as a superhero who’s actions can turn the tide of a whole battle as we’ve seen in Godlike, but as regular grunts doing their best to survive and maybe take out a few nazis on the way. Chris Pramas from Green Ronin is the head writer on this one, with Erik doing the editing as usual and a mix of regular art by Tom Fowler and archive photos from the WWII era selected & formatted by Kyle Hunter. There’s a vast amount of very detailed books already covering what happened in the real world, so they can keep the intro short and move onto the crunch.
Character Creation: The character creation rules get quite an interesting tweaking by replacing the usual race and class with Pre-War Career and Basic Training. Your career provides the usual plus and minus 2 to various ability scores, but also makes three skills count as in-class ones no matter what you advance in after that, plus a unique career ability each, which generally fall in the low-key but useful range of powers. There are 21 different careers to choose from, which does give you a fair bit of customisation choice. This is compensated for by the reduced training options, which function just like classes. You have just 4 choices, Combat, Intelligence, Leadership and Recon training. Each gets the usual variations in attack, defence, skill points and which saves are good, but the only powers they get are a bonus feat every other level, putting them at about the same power level as D&D fighters, distinctly below their D20 Modern equivalents. Rather than worrying about money, you get a choice of a few basic equipment packages, depending on your role. So with a generally quite low power level and relatively few character customisation options, it’s definitely aimed towards the gritty end, where life is cheap, but it’s also quick to create a new character after losing the previous one and get back into the action. (but still not as lethal or as quick to create characters as previous editions of D&D) Better not get too emotionally attached then.
part 7/10
V for Victory: After last issue padded out a short setting synopsis that somehow still wound up much shorter than a regular minigame, we return to regular service. We’re off to WWII, not as a superhero who’s actions can turn the tide of a whole battle as we’ve seen in Godlike, but as regular grunts doing their best to survive and maybe take out a few nazis on the way. Chris Pramas from Green Ronin is the head writer on this one, with Erik doing the editing as usual and a mix of regular art by Tom Fowler and archive photos from the WWII era selected & formatted by Kyle Hunter. There’s a vast amount of very detailed books already covering what happened in the real world, so they can keep the intro short and move onto the crunch.
Character Creation: The character creation rules get quite an interesting tweaking by replacing the usual race and class with Pre-War Career and Basic Training. Your career provides the usual plus and minus 2 to various ability scores, but also makes three skills count as in-class ones no matter what you advance in after that, plus a unique career ability each, which generally fall in the low-key but useful range of powers. There are 21 different careers to choose from, which does give you a fair bit of customisation choice. This is compensated for by the reduced training options, which function just like classes. You have just 4 choices, Combat, Intelligence, Leadership and Recon training. Each gets the usual variations in attack, defence, skill points and which saves are good, but the only powers they get are a bonus feat every other level, putting them at about the same power level as D&D fighters, distinctly below their D20 Modern equivalents. Rather than worrying about money, you get a choice of a few basic equipment packages, depending on your role. So with a generally quite low power level and relatively few character customisation options, it’s definitely aimed towards the gritty end, where life is cheap, but it’s also quick to create a new character after losing the previous one and get back into the action. (but still not as lethal or as quick to create characters as previous editions of D&D) Better not get too emotionally attached then.
(un)reason
Legend
Dungeon/Polyhedron Issue 97/156: Mar/Apr 2003
part 8/10
Skills and Feats: As usual, there are a few changes to the skills list, then a considerably larger list of new feats. New skills are Command, for getting NPC’s to follow orders that put them in imminent danger, Demolitions, as has turned up in many of these minigames, Logistics, and Research. Speaking multiple languages is made substantially more expensive, taking a full 5 points to reach native level fluency rather than the one or two in regular D&D, and the list of knowledges also gets tweaked. If you want to be a good spy you’ll really have to specialise. The list of feats also has a mix of new and tweaked ones. Skill focus has been upgraded to the 3.5 version. Weapon proficiencies have a new set of categories, and you also suffer an unfamiliarity penalty for using firearms from another country unless you take the appropriate feat. Many D&D class features like flurry of blows, sneak attack and favored terrain are available as feats. New feats tend to be fairly low key, such as dazing people with the ferocity of your charge attacks, being able to use a parachute properly or shoot guns while driving without penalties. Once again it’s heavily on the gritty end, restricting lots of fairly basic things unless you specifically buy a feat saying you can do it instead of letting everyone do the basics and the feats providing bonuses. Not really my preferred playstyle but at least it’s a consistent design choice.
Weapons: The list of new weapons is quite extensive, spanning a full 9 pages. Five different types of flamethrowers, which all do the same damage but have different weights, ranges and fuel capacities. Four different types of grenades, coming in both thrown and rifle shot varieties. 14 different types of machine guns. 10 new melee weapons, all of which only do a small fraction of the damage of the ranged options. 11 types of pistol. 10 types of rifle. 8 types of sub-machine gun. Many of them are specific to certain countries, while others are more generically described and it’s assumed everyone has a version. This feels like they wanted to write more, but were limited by the overall limit of their page count, forcing them to keep things concise, which is probably preferable for me as massive lists are one of the easiest things to glaze over, particularly when it’s just variants of range and damage rather than any unique special effects.
part 8/10
Skills and Feats: As usual, there are a few changes to the skills list, then a considerably larger list of new feats. New skills are Command, for getting NPC’s to follow orders that put them in imminent danger, Demolitions, as has turned up in many of these minigames, Logistics, and Research. Speaking multiple languages is made substantially more expensive, taking a full 5 points to reach native level fluency rather than the one or two in regular D&D, and the list of knowledges also gets tweaked. If you want to be a good spy you’ll really have to specialise. The list of feats also has a mix of new and tweaked ones. Skill focus has been upgraded to the 3.5 version. Weapon proficiencies have a new set of categories, and you also suffer an unfamiliarity penalty for using firearms from another country unless you take the appropriate feat. Many D&D class features like flurry of blows, sneak attack and favored terrain are available as feats. New feats tend to be fairly low key, such as dazing people with the ferocity of your charge attacks, being able to use a parachute properly or shoot guns while driving without penalties. Once again it’s heavily on the gritty end, restricting lots of fairly basic things unless you specifically buy a feat saying you can do it instead of letting everyone do the basics and the feats providing bonuses. Not really my preferred playstyle but at least it’s a consistent design choice.
Weapons: The list of new weapons is quite extensive, spanning a full 9 pages. Five different types of flamethrowers, which all do the same damage but have different weights, ranges and fuel capacities. Four different types of grenades, coming in both thrown and rifle shot varieties. 14 different types of machine guns. 10 new melee weapons, all of which only do a small fraction of the damage of the ranged options. 11 types of pistol. 10 types of rifle. 8 types of sub-machine gun. Many of them are specific to certain countries, while others are more generically described and it’s assumed everyone has a version. This feels like they wanted to write more, but were limited by the overall limit of their page count, forcing them to keep things concise, which is probably preferable for me as massive lists are one of the easiest things to glaze over, particularly when it’s just variants of range and damage rather than any unique special effects.
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(un)reason
Legend
Dungeon/Polyhedron Issue 97/156: Mar/Apr 2003
part 9/10
Combat: There are a good 6 pages of tweaks to the combat rules, most once again on the gritty side. Armor has pretty much stopped being a thing, so don’t forget that defence bonus, which is admittedly on the generous side here even compared to d20 modern classes. Lengthy artillery barrages are condensed down to two saving throws, the first to see if you take any damage and the second to see if you suffer from shell shock afterwards. Cover ratings are made more granular, being calculated in 10% increments rather than the standard 25. Fear checks are imported from Ravenloft to make sure that you can’t just play the PC’s as utterly blasé to the dangers around them. Flamethrowers, grenades and machine guns all have special rules about how they work. The massive damage threshold is dropped to 10, or 20 if you want things a little more cinematic. (which is still a far cry from the D&D standard of 50) Regular guns also have their own rules variants compared to melee weapons, mostly around ones capable of firing multiple times in a round. It all adds up to a situation where even high level characters always have to worry about dying from a single shot. I think that’s definitely things working as intended.
Enemies: All your enemies are humans of various levels, so they can keep this part down to 4 pages. Half a page on basic unit organisation, so you get your grunt to officer ratio right. Another half a page on finding good minis for your battles. While most fantasy games use 25mm scale models, you’ll probably find it easier to use 20mm ones for your WWII action, particularly if you want to mix up infantry and vehicles. If you are determined to use 25 or 28 scale even though it’ll reduce the size of battle you can run on a tabletop they suggest three websites you can order from. 2 out of 3 (The Foundry and West Wind Productions) are still going today, which is a better batting average than most of the internet 101 columns, and even the third (Black Tree Design) is still active as a company, just at a different website address. Historical wargames might not be as big as RPG’s anymore, but they still apparently have a stable core of players to keep them going. The remaining 3 pages are filled with 6 statblocks, taking us from 1st to 6th level. All are single-classed and quite compact for d20 statblocks, as there’s no lists of spells or stacking buffs to worry about calculating. You’ll still need to come up with higher level ones if the game lasts but it won’t be anything near as much bookkeeping as high level D&D.
part 9/10
Combat: There are a good 6 pages of tweaks to the combat rules, most once again on the gritty side. Armor has pretty much stopped being a thing, so don’t forget that defence bonus, which is admittedly on the generous side here even compared to d20 modern classes. Lengthy artillery barrages are condensed down to two saving throws, the first to see if you take any damage and the second to see if you suffer from shell shock afterwards. Cover ratings are made more granular, being calculated in 10% increments rather than the standard 25. Fear checks are imported from Ravenloft to make sure that you can’t just play the PC’s as utterly blasé to the dangers around them. Flamethrowers, grenades and machine guns all have special rules about how they work. The massive damage threshold is dropped to 10, or 20 if you want things a little more cinematic. (which is still a far cry from the D&D standard of 50) Regular guns also have their own rules variants compared to melee weapons, mostly around ones capable of firing multiple times in a round. It all adds up to a situation where even high level characters always have to worry about dying from a single shot. I think that’s definitely things working as intended.
Enemies: All your enemies are humans of various levels, so they can keep this part down to 4 pages. Half a page on basic unit organisation, so you get your grunt to officer ratio right. Another half a page on finding good minis for your battles. While most fantasy games use 25mm scale models, you’ll probably find it easier to use 20mm ones for your WWII action, particularly if you want to mix up infantry and vehicles. If you are determined to use 25 or 28 scale even though it’ll reduce the size of battle you can run on a tabletop they suggest three websites you can order from. 2 out of 3 (The Foundry and West Wind Productions) are still going today, which is a better batting average than most of the internet 101 columns, and even the third (Black Tree Design) is still active as a company, just at a different website address. Historical wargames might not be as big as RPG’s anymore, but they still apparently have a stable core of players to keep them going. The remaining 3 pages are filled with 6 statblocks, taking us from 1st to 6th level. All are single-classed and quite compact for d20 statblocks, as there’s no lists of spells or stacking buffs to worry about calculating. You’ll still need to come up with higher level ones if the game lasts but it won’t be anything near as much bookkeeping as high level D&D.
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