TSR [Let's Read] Polyhedron/Dungeon

[(un)reason]

Polyhedron Issue 23: Mar/Apr 1985



part 6/6



Zee Chef: Two new classes in one issue? With this generosity you are really spoiling us! A chef may not be an obvious choice to go on a dungeoncrawling expedition, but in a large party bulked up with hirelings, morale will be considerably improved by having a dedicated cook in your retinue. Like the Ultimist, this is actually a mechanically functional class, but while that was grossly overpowered, this is mildly underpowered, and not really suited to being a primary PC. Still, it won't break the game, and their powers are interesting and can be handy in a pinch, so I might just include one in a game. You never know when good cooking might be crucial to saving the world, especially if halflings are involved in any capacity.



The Male of the Species: Following on from including amazons in the last issue, they decide to include their beleaguered male counterparts in here. So this is just a string of emasculation gags, finding the concept of men who act like exaggerated female stereotypes inherently humorous. Very tiresome indeed, and not the kind of thing I want to deal with anymore. You can definitely stay in the past where you belong.



Quite a substantial break from the usual fare here, with the humour taking up nearly all the issue. it's pretty hit and miss, but at least it keeps things from getting boring, with even the bad ones at least raising a groan rather than a sigh. In terms of topics, it brings the newszine much closer to being a mini-me of Dragon Magazine, which is something they'd consciously tried to avoid previously. It'll definitely be interesting to see if that trend will continue, or the two will pull apart again, making sure they occupy different niches and serve their different audiences appropriately. Let's see how their audience reacts to the goofiness next issue, and how that in turn will affect next april's offerings.

 

[(un)reason]

Polyhedron Issue 24: May/Jun 1985



part 1/6



36 pages. The family that slays together stays together. Will the half-ogres be able to persuade their parents to employ at least basic tactics against their enemies, or will smash be good enough for Thog, like Thog's father and Thog's father's father before him? They're generally pretty good about putting some kind of twist in, so I'm reasonably optimistic the players will find themselves challenged beyond the effort to just roll dice. Let's find out which way the club swings this issue.



Notes from HQ: More than 8,000 members, and not only do they not get enough submissions to fill the newszine, they aren't even in a position to be picky about the ones they do get. They're going to publish every single one they've got so far! That does surprise me. You'd think an organisation comprised of hardcore players wouldn't suffer so much from the bystander effect. Or maybe it's the not paying at all. There's only so much you can expect people to do for free, especially before the internet came along and devalued all kinds of creative work by making copying effortless. Still, they have at least some now, so look forward to a bit more experimentation in the next few issues as fresh faces get their work published, and we see which ones have the persistence and popularity to become regulars. Hopefully their example will inspire others and they'll get enough regular enquiries to really exercise some quality control around here.



Letters is nice and full again, as the issues people have with the recent issues have given them plenty to talk about.

Our first letter complains that they're too D&D centric. What about all the other games you publish? Particularly Marvel Superheroes, which they haven't touched since it was first released. As usual, they challenge people to send more stuff in. They can't publish what they don't get. And in the case of licensed games, they have to go through approvals for everything, which makes doing articles on it an extra slow and tricky process.

Second, we have someone who's seen a ridiculous satanic panic article in a newspaper and wants to rebutt it. Just keep on setting a good example and spreading the word and we'll win this battle in a few decades.

Our third letter is from someone who fell for a satanic hoax. There's no hidden messages in the books if you read them backwards. What would be the point?

Fourth, we have someone complaining they've turned into a mini Dragon Magazine. They need to put more effort into differentiating them. Quite right too. Now how about a hand with that?

And finally, we have some errata for their tournament scoring system. If they're making basic rookie math errors like that, I don't have much faith in the accuracy of the current ranking tables. Might want to get another set of eyes to run through your paperwork.

 

[(un)reason]

Polyhedron Issue 24: May/Jun 1985



part 2/6



Secrets of Success: Our first non-staff submission is a bit of roleplaying advice. These are often a bit basic and repetitive, especially when submitted by a first time writer, but thankfully this manages to avoid that by being very specifically aimed at the quirks of tournament play, where you're thrown into the scenario with a pregen character and a group of strangers, and have to get through as much as possible in a single sitting. Although actually, under the current scoring system, getting all the way through the adventure isn't the most important part, getting along with the other players and DM is. You need to really engage and communicate if you want to get good ratings, while learning to play off the other players like any good improv actor, not hogging all the limelight. You need to be flexible with what classes, races and sex you play, because you never know what you're going to get, so you can't let yourself get stuck in a comfortable rut like a regular campaign. Pay attention to what the DM says, don't spend ages dithering about your actions, and make sure people know why you're doing what you do, as that generally helps get better ratings at the end. A good reminder that roleplaying advice is not one size fits all, but needs to adapt to the type of game and group you're playing with. This is why it's best to have a wide array of tricks available rather than over-focussing on perfecting one.



Unofficial new Magic-user spells: Continuing from last issue, Jon Pickens reverse engineers some more magical item effects into spells. Want to make normally heavy items buoyant in water, stick them together, shoot spark showers & ball lightning, or turn into gas temporarily without using up a consumable magic item? Add one of these to your spellbook. The combat effects are somewhat less dangerous than existing spells of the same level, so using those is mainly interesting for the novelty, but the utility ones can be very useful indeed both for dungeoneering and altering the effective tech level of the world when applied cleverly in the right combinations. That's the kind of stuff inventive players love, and use to completely short circuit a DM's hard laid plans to win an adventure at little danger to themselves. Much more valuable than any 9th level nuke.

 

[(un)reason]

Polyhedron Issue 24: May/Jun 1985



part 3/6



Needle part I: Our centrepiece this time around is Frank Mentzer's tournament module from last Gen Con. While the Prophecy of Brie got half published as standalone modules, then the other half in here, making it rather tricky to see the full picture, this gets a considerably better deal, appearing fully as both instalments in here and a compiled module in 1987. Guess it was more popular with the staff and/or players. The first instalment is the shortest, as half of it is devoted to giving us full stats, personalities and a relationship map for the 7 pregen characters, (all of whom have silly nicknames rather than proper ones) leaving only 8 pages for the actual adventure. The adventure itself is evenly split between getting to the dungeon, and the dungeon itself, a maze in the middle of a jungle that turns out to be a crashed spaceship. So I guess this is Frank's version of the Barrier Peaks, just as Bigby's tomb was clearly drawing from the same well as Gary's Tomb of Horrors. As with those, this is not an adventure that pulls punches. Incautious adventurers will die abruptly without a saving throw in multiple places if they make the wrong decision, and it's literally impossible if you don't have certain key spells and bits of equipment the pregens are equipped with. So I definitely can't recommend using it outside of it's original tournament environment, for if you put it in a regular campaign, with players who've worked up to mid-level the hard way, they're not going to be happy about abruptly losing a character because they didn't poke everything with a 10 foot pole before proceeding, and stalling the adventure because they built their characters wrong and the DM didn't doublecheck their sheets. That's a quick way to a very pissed-off party.



How Game Reviews Are Done: Reviews aren't a thing polyhedron has really done so far, but that's due to lack of people sending them in, rather than any particular objection to the idea. To encourage this, they publish a page full of guidelines to the format and style they're going to use. Whether other people will stick to it, or indeed, whether anyone else will send any in remains to be seen, but it's good to see them trying new things. It gives me more variety in what I read, and connects them more to the outside world, and those are both positive changes to make.

 

[(un)reason]

Polyhedron Issue 24: May/Jun 1985



part 4/6



The New Rogues Gallery: Curiously, the characters on the cover don't have a scenario associated with them this time, instead being just a collection of stats you can use as you see fit. 4 half-ogres with full statblocks and class levels, and two full ogres, which also have near max hit points and collections of magic items that make them considerably more of a threat than the average member of their species. On the other hand, they're also somewhat smarter and nicer than the average ogre, so they can be used as allies or enemies depending on how you encounter them. All of them have distinct personalities, histories, and detailed relationships with the other 6, so if you run across them separately over the course of a campaign, they can reference each other and make the world seem more solid and interconnected. So despite being quite different in format to most of their cover stories, it's still well written and full of different potential uses in actual play. I approve.



Fletcher's Corner: Another bit of reader submitted roleplaying advice, this time intended to be the start of a regular column. Michael Przytarski starts off, as these things often do, by talking about his first time gaming, and how to make sure other people's first time experiences don't suck so they're more likely to stick around. You've got to make sure it's fun, and strike the balance between not overloading them with mechanical complexity and confusing them, and patronising or overprotecting them and removing their sense of agency. All pretty familiar stuff, but presented with a good sense of humour and individual voice. Good signs that he'll burn through the obvious stuff every instance of this does and get to the more complex and idiosyncratic takes fairly soon. Fingers crossed for next issue.

 

[(un)reason]

Polyhedron Issue 24: May/Jun 1985



part 5/6



Dispel Confusion:

D&D

The fluff & crunch about bow & crossbow ranges disagree with each other! (you really expect us to care?)

Can a thief use any weapon (Two-handed melee weapons cramp their style)

What happens if everyone falls asleep in room 25? (Cheat to keep the adventure on it's rails. )

AD&D

Why is studded leather the same AC as ring mail, but cheaper (because life isn't fair or consistent.)

The PHB and DMG are inconsistent in their healing rules! (The DMG was published later, so it takes precedence.)

What level do magic items cast at? (Scrolls work at their creator's power level. Everything else, you need to eyeball)

What level do artifacts cast at (at least 20, often higher)

How high can ability scores go? (25, but it's very hard indeed, and there are several points of diminishing returns along the way)

Can I combine class abilities in one attack? (If you're also abiding by both sets of restrictions)

Do you need gauntlets and girdle to stack your bonuses with warhammers even if you have a natural 18(00) strength? (yes. It's a special case that requires all parts of that highly specific combination to work.)

Marvel Super Heroes

Can you make DC characters with this system? (Not officially. If you do in your own personal games, keep quiet about it)

Can I make my own characters? (yes)

How quickly do I regain health? (depends on your endurance)

Can I buy character sheets? (why would you want too? What's wrong with photocopying or good ol' pen and paper?)

How much damage do I do when transformed into energy? (up to your rank in the power)

How do I find out all the character's origins. (these days, wikipedia. Back then, you'd have to pay for a big guidebook that would soon be out of date again.)

The official characters don't follow the rules for character creation! (Ahahaha! Did you really expect them too? What game have we ever done that in? You must be new here.)

Can I make up new powers? (as long as they aren't gamebreaking. Only NPC's are allowed to do that. )

Nightcrawler's strength is inconsistent! (It's all the editor's fault)

Wolverine's cutting power is inconsistent! (yeah, he's better at slicing through objects than he is at killing people for reasons of dramatic licence)

Do unique weapons have bonuses to hit and damage? (no, just to hit)

 

[(un)reason]

Polyhedron Issue 24: May/Jun 1985



part 6/6


Review: Following on from the review guidelines posted earlier, Star Trek: the Roleplaying Game gets a generally positive review here. It's a pretty detailed review, breaking things down into subcategories and giving each aspect numerical ratings. It doesn't hesitate to call out flaws in the system despite it's overall enthusiasm. As reviews go, it's pretty solid. Whether it'll be a one-off, or this will lead to another long-term shift in content for the newszine remains to be seen. Will other people bother to send in their reviews? Can one person's enthusiasm keep a column running without any financial renumeration? (As if this very thread doesn't prove that pretty conclusively) Is this what the readers want to see from them, or will there be complaining letters? It is interesting to see them trying new things, not knowing how it's going to go.



Lots of experimentation in this one, which definitely helps to keep it fresh and push the average quality level up. Which ones will they drop as failures next time, and which ones will carry on for years and outstay their welcome? I think I'm fairly optimistic heading into the next one, as they've got more choice of material than they had before. Let's see if my optimism is misplaced or not.

 

[(un)reason]

Polyhedron Issue 25: Jul/Aug 1985



part 1/6



28 pages. Hulk Smash puny 4th wall! I thought that was more his distaff counterpart's schtick? Well, that instantly tells us there's at least one Marvel article in here, maybe more if we're very lucky. They have been cutting down on their coverage of non-D&D material recently, so that's good to see. Let's find out what else is going on this time around.



Notes From HQ: Looks like my joke about them screwing up their ranking tables was actually all too on the nose, and they're still trying to get their computer to tabulate everything properly. It's been 4 months. You could have done it all as a Pen & Paper spreadsheet by now. Technology once again proves to be a hassle as often as a help. More positively, and much more significantly, they float the idea of doing a bit of collaborative worldbuilding. Let's make a city together! Everyone's invited to send bits and pieces in and we'll fit it all together somehow. Looks like this is the first stirrings of what would eventually become Raven's Bluff, their shared world setting for 2e. That's one thread of history I'm very excited about seeing develop month by month, in all it's twists and turns. (We know it doesn't wind up in Greyhawk, for one thing.) How much arguing and compromising will it take to reach it's final form, and how much of that will happen behind the scenes, not in here? Let's hope it's a fun ride finding out.

 

[(un)reason]

Polyhedron Issue 25: Jul/Aug 1985



part 2/6



Unofficial new Magic-user spells pt 2: A few more high level spells based on magic items to fill out this series. X-ray vision, cursing anyone who reads your papers, two different ways of reflecting magic back on the caster, emulation of a basilisk, and an enhanced variant of wizard lock that affects all the doors within range at once. As before, the damage dealing spell is grossly underpowered for it's level, but the others are pretty cool, with a multitude of uses when applied cleverly. If you make it to the levels needed to get them, you really shouldn't be engaging in fair fights with your opponents, when you have so many better ways to neutralise their danger, many of which turn those dangerous magical beasties into an asset on your side for further world-building fun. Can't do that in 4e.



The RPGA Network Player and Judge Standings: After 6 months of additional data and correcting existing entries, they print this list again, only longer and better. They also make Gary's rankings even more artificially inflated than he already was, not just a 10th level judge, but an 8th level player as well, when the highest legitimate entries are only level 4. If it ever looked like anyone was going to catch up, they'd probably just give him more levels to put him ahead again. Seems somewhat insecure that he feels his genuine accomplishments don't stand on their own. Power does silly things to people.

 

[(un)reason]

Polyhedron Issue 25: Jul/Aug 1985



part 3/6



Needle part II: The second part of this adventure is completely different to the first part. Having penetrated the spaceship, they now have to get it's central computer back to the king who sponsored the expedition in the first place. There are a lot of trials and tribulations on the way, as it's huge and heavy, the jungle is full of ferocious beasts & disease, and the natives are not happy at all about having their sacred place despoiled. Once again, this is very much a tournament module, with a fairly linear set of challenges finely tuned to the PC's capabilities, and using characters other than the pregens may well make the module either impossible, or really short and easy, (especially if they have some of the new spells in the last few issues.) depending on the player's resources and ingenuity. So once again, I really can't recommend using it outside it's original context, as putting it in a campaign with long-term characters will more likely just be irritating for everyone involved unless you're willing to change big chunks of it in response to the player's actions and capabilities.



Fletcher's Corner: Following on from the adventure, this column talks about the challenges of high level adventuring in general. If you do it right, it's not just about fighting enemies with the same old claws and bites, just with bigger numbers, but a whole new set of tactical and logistical challenges. You can have armies, but so can the enemy. Death is not the end, as both sides can have resurrection, clones, phylacteries, and other contingency plans that let you make a comeback after the other side seems to have won. It all gets a lot more complicated than going down a hole in the ground and killing whatever you find in there. Which illustrates precisely why it's tricky to create prefab adventures for high level characters in anything but the broadest strokes, as they can combine powers to pull out all sorts of weird tricks. Yup, this is a familiar bit of advice, because that's what naturally happens in D&D. In an extended campaign, it gradually becomes a very different game as you go up in levels. If you want a game which doesn't do that, you want a completely different system, (or these days, a different edition at least.) Can't disagree with any of this advice.