TSR [Let's Read] Polyhedron/Dungeon

[(un)reason]

Polyhedron Issue 39: Jan/Feb 1988



part 1/5



35 pages. That bard looks somewhat oddly proportioned. I guess 2e will see a relaxation of what class/race combinations are allowed, even moreso once the Complete Bard's Handbook adds a bunch of radical reworkings on top. Let's see what hints to the future this issue has to offer.



Notes From HQ: They're getting closer than ever to being on top of the schedule, to the point where they've actually put the months on the cover instead of just year x, issue y. Combined with Raven's Bluff finally reaching a fit state for publication and they're feeling quite positive about the upcoming year. But some problems will always be with them. One of those is a few people getting drunk and belligerent at conventions and giving everyone else in the group a bad name. It's bad enough dealing with all the accusations of being satanic, but being an uncouth lout is even worse! Keep on doing it and we may be forced to kick you out! I'll bet that'll be the topic of most of the letters in the next few issues, as it's the kind of thing that provokes plenty of debate from both sides of the issue.



Letters to HQ: Our first letter is an exceedingly long one about people who take the fun out of convention gaming by their determination to score as many points as possible every game. When his game wasn't an Officially Sanctioned RPGA Event™ he actually had more fun. This always happens, doesn't it. You take a recreational activity and put in complex rules around what is a good or bad example of that recreational activity, or worse still, get money involved, and next thing you know, a few people become obsessed with gaming that system, even to the point of breaking it. And unlike speedrunning video games by exploiting glitches, this sucks for everyone else involved when put into a larger social context.

The second letter is shorter, but covers the same topic from another angle. High XP ratings are largely a matter of having the free time, money and living in the right areas to attend lots of conventions. If you think that has much correlation with actually being a good roleplayer, you are sadly mistaken. Jean responds to both of these and reminds us that it's only a few people out of thousands who cause problems. The system still has more benefits than drawbacks, at least for them.

 

[(un)reason]

Polyhedron Issue 39: Jan/Feb 1988



part 2/5



AD&D 2nd Edition Sneak Preview: The cover this issue was indeed hinting at one of the largest changes 2e will make. Bards go from being an overcomplicated proto-prestige class mess requiring multiple class switches before you even start properly back to a regular core class, the way they were in Strategic Review 6 before Gary got his hands on them. The details are subtly different though, both from the original version, and the final one that'll appear in the PHB next year. Spellcasting uses the wizard table at half progression rather than their own unique one at full caster level, inspiration and countersong will get subtle tweaks, and they don't mention the new ability to choose how you advance your thief skills at all. Maybe they're saving that for the main Thief teaser, or maybe they haven't thought of it yet. So this is a pretty interesting snapshot of where development is at the moment, and how important playtesting and editing will actually be to the 2e corebooks. We've already seen several different attempts at a specialist wizard system, all different from the one they'll finally settle on. There's more experimentation going on behind the scenes than you'd think for what turned out to be a relatively conservative update.



Tym's Supple Leather Shoppe: Our second Living City location seems like it was stolen from a sitcom. A shy but talented leatherworker who's perpetually struggling financially because he doesn't have the self-esteem to charge what his work is worth, his loud, fat, nagging wife (who like many a bully, is actually a coward if someone does stand up to her), and the "friendly" local extortionist who drops in weekly to collect protection money and make things even more precarious for them. All you need is a few quirky supporting characters, a new scheme to better themselves or customer with an odd request each week, a jaunty theme song and a canned laughter track and it would have run for well over a decade back in the 80's, before dying sometime in the mid-late 90's when political correctness got going, and those old stereotypes looked increasingly gross and cringy. So this is certainly evocatively written, in that it manages to vividly describe a scenario and set of characters that are full of flavour and could provide years of adventure plots within a single page. It's just that it's also horribly dated, goofy and sexist. I'm definitely going to have to pass on using this one. It's the kind of interestingly bad that gives me plenty to say as a reviewer, but I would hope anyone I'm actually playing with would have higher standards than to revive.

 

[(un)reason]

Polyhedron Issue 39: Jan/Feb 1988



part 3/5



Fun in Games: After a full year, Rick Reid finally gets around to submitting a second instalment of his column. As we would expect from the writer of the Fluffyquest series, strict adherence to the rules of the game is not on his agenda at all. If you try to rules lawyer or metagame in his adventures you will be roundly mocked both IC and OOC. I think it's fair to say we really can't look to him for advice on how to build your character and select your equipment. On the other hand, if you want someone to take a good look at the assumptions of your setting and put quirky twists on them, he's your man. Picking up gossip and adventure hints in the hairdressers rather than a tavern? Entirely reasonable given how well coiffed many of the people on the magazine covers have been. (If it's good enough for Luke Cage, don't say your adventurers are too macho for a proper haircut every now and then.) Creating guilds for classes other than thieves, so they can get the same kind of benefits in terms of social contacts, training, and hiring people for missions? Also entirely reasonable, even if he can't resist slipping some goofiness into the specific example. Looks like we might actually get something useful out of him after all, even if it will be regularly interspersed with bad jokes and pop culture references. Oh well, I've made enough of those myself. I'd be a hypocrite if I could dish it out but not take it.



The Big Con (and me): They may be less behind than last year, but they're still not entirely up to date, as Skip gives us his perspective on Gen Con 4 months late. While better prepared than last year, there were still a few last minute panics as they tried to squeeze all the scheduled events into the space they had available. A lot of the con crud can be blamed on a single person, not naming names, but you know exactly who you are. One does not simply bring egg salad sandwiches to a convention and leave them around in the heat all day without consequences. On top of that there was the usual playful tormenting of each other by the TSR staff. This reminds us that the crucial thing that decides if any event is fun or not is the other people there. As long as you know and respect each other's boundaries, things can get pretty extreme and still stay fun. If you don't, even something seemingly minor can ruin a whole day. Now if only it were easier to find out where those boundaries were with people without so much trial and error.

 

[(un)reason]

Polyhedron Issue 39: Jan/Feb 1988



part 4/5



The Investigators: Our adventure this issue is a Marvel Superheroes one. Take on the role of the eponymous Chicago-based superteam and … not do a huge amount of investigating, actually. It turns out to be one of those missions where the PC's just get handed an assignment by their leader and from then, it's a railroad from one scene to the next with no real choices beyond combat tactics in the action scenes. It spends only 3 pages on the adventure itself, and a full 11 on the pregen heroes and villains, which seems entirely the wrong way around to me. If they'd put a bit more substance into the scenario part, there'd be enough setting material to give the players a bit more freedom of choice, and actually live up to their name. Rather disappointing, really. Superpowered detective stories are an entirely viable subgenre, as Superman's journalistic career, and the whole of Lois & Clark: TNAoS in particular demonstrate. It really should be possible to write them for RPG's as well rather than just falling back on a series of slugfests.



Arcane Academe: Jeff finishes off his class advice series with Fighters. There's not a lot that you can do with them that you can't do with any other class, but he tries gamely anyway. They get to be the leader! Yeah, they don't have any powers which actually make them any good at it, and their favoured stats don't support it IC, but as the default class all the others deviate from and are measured against, they get to be the straight white male point of view character all the others revolve around anyway! They stand proud at the front of the party, they get the most credit for adventures afterwards, and attract the greatest number of devoted fanboys & girls when they get to high levels, even if they don't really deserve it. Basically, he's trying to push them into the role of party organiser and battlefield tactician, who understands things like positioning, drawing fire from the more fragile members of the party and team strategy. Something that would actually get mechanical support in 3e supplements with the Marshal & Knight, which then rapidly proved popular enough to become a core class in 4e as the Warlord. Like the Wizard/Sorcerer divide, tactical leader fighting characters are something that has tons of literary inspirations, and seems utterly obvious once they've done it, but it took such a long time to get there, and think to give them powers that make them actually good at what they're supposed to be good at. A good reminder of just how far we've come since then, and how some people did see the problem and tried to help, but in a way that didn't actually do anything concrete about it. The article equivalent of sending someone Thoughts & Prayers.

 

[(un)reason]

Polyhedron Issue 39: Jan/Feb 1988



part 5/5



With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility: So far, Polyhedron's Marvel output has been mostly adventures. This time, they do one that's more like Dragon's Marvel-Philes, giving us the stats and brief history for a fairly obscure set of characters. The Crimson Commando, Stonewall and Super Sabre, patriotic war heroes turned murderous far-right vigilantes, who when beaten and exposed, then got put on the decidedly morally grey government-sponsored superhero team Freedom Force, where they continued to be generally unpleasant people and get in the X-men's way until finished off in the Gulf War. An excellent example of how the "right sort of people" can fail upwards and do all sorts of horrible things with token punishments at the most when caught, because the way they're bad aligns with the way the system is corrupt and discriminatory. Gee, that's totally not political or incredibly relevant in the modern era at all, is it now? A strong reminder that the USA has always had serious issues with police/military brutality and corruption, and ubiquitous camera phones merely made it much harder to sweep under the rug. The Marvel writers have known about and been commenting on that social injustice since the 60's, and it's still not fixed. If only we had some proper superheroes in the real world who could do something about it without becoming corrupted by that power and winding up worse in the long run than the system they replaced. Then there wouldn't be a need to keep on telling these kinds of stories.



The Critical Hit: This column ventures out into the wider realms of roleplaying again, to look at MERP, the current official licensed game for if you want to play in Tolkien's world. But not particularly in the same style as his writings, as it takes a lot of liberties with the design like putting in D&D style clerics when nothing in the source material even hints at them. The core system is a simplified version of Rolemaster, and is still considerably heavier than AD&D, retaining the love of large and brutal critical hit tables, and granular spell lists with lots of escalating versions of the same effect. Surviving a long-term campaign in it seems difficult. While he tries to be positive as usual, this is the closest he's come yet to a negative review. It could definitely be both more fun, and more faithful to the source material, possibly even at the same time with a bit of a redesign.



Convention Judge Appeal: We finish off with another attempt to get more people actively involved in running officially sanctioned convention adventures. They never seem to have enough for the number who want to play, and really want to get up the number running non-D&D systems in particular. They keep the form pretty simple, so hopefully people won't be intimidated by the idea. I guess we'll see in the september issue or so if they managed to increase their turnout yet again, and if their system can handle all the scoring and xp tracking in a timely fashion now.



An issue that feels particularly of it's time, both in covering a lot of current events, and in it's somewhat dated attitudes. Many of those problems have been solved, but some are still all too present, or could crop up again at any time. Quality-wise, it's also a very mixed bag, with both good, interestingly bad, and boringly bad. Let's see if next issue is more progressive, regressive, or merely closer to the present by a linear amount.

 

[(un)reason]

Dungeon Issue 9: Jan/Feb 1988



part 1/5



64 pages. Both Dragon & Polyhedron have had aerially themed issues. No surprise at all that Dungeon is also doing a cloud island adventure, as this rather good cover indicates. Let's see just how much freedom the skies have to offer this time, and if they'll try to take it away afterwards so players can't skip big chunks of subsequent adventures.



Editorial: Barbara Young has been doing the editorial for several issues now. Here's where they formally make her lead editor, so Roger can put his full attention on Dragon instead of exhausting himself setting policy for both. Since Dragon definitely got it's groove back this year, hopefully Dungeon will also benefit from the better spread workload. In addition, they congratulate Tracy & Laura Hickman on the birth of their child. Not sure why they're saying that here in particular, when he hasn't done anything in the magazine yet. Oh well, it's still an interesting little bit of trivia. Wonder what they're doing now. :googles: Oh god, she's followed in her father's footsteps, has a horror themed podcast, and released a filk album. Song titles include Dragon Named Larry, My Best Knight, Fake Irish Pub Song :shudders: and worst of all, Ukulele Music. :recoils and hisses like a vampire facing a cross: Do not want! Not listening to that, no way, no how! Moving swiftly on then.



Letters: Our first letter bemoans how many adventures are purely about seeking treasure rather than doing good deeds because virtue is it's own reward. Not in a universe where you gain XP by killing things and taking their stuff it isn't. Unless you change those incentives next edition, this will be a constant tension even if you do write adventures with more lofty goals.

Second, since the Manual of the Planes just came out, we have someone asking if they can submit outer-planar adventures. Sure. Just don't get too overambitious, because the usual page count limits still apply.

Third, we have some errata for the non-euclidean dungeon, and a request for more interlinked city-based adventures in a persistent setting. They've just started doing that in Polyhedron. Subscribe now, get in on the ground floor! :teeth ting:

Fourth, David Carl Argall turns up again, complaining that the challenge ratings on their adventures are not scientifically done at all, and two that say they're aimed at the same level can vary hugely in difficulty. Now there's a problem that's never going to go away.

Fifth, some generalised praise. You're doing a great job so far, keep it up!

Finally, someone complaining about large dungeons with empty rooms. Lengthy exploration and random encounters are boring. Everything you put in the adventure should have a purpose! That's not how the real world works at all, but I guess you've got to find the right balance between pure sandbox and railroad for your group.

 

[(un)reason]

Dungeon Issue 9: Jan/Feb 1988



part 2/5



Our second statement of ownership shows that Dungeon has indeed increased it's sales substantially since it went on general release, rocketing from 5,000 to slightly over 20,000 over the course of last year. Particularly notable since Dragon & Polyhedron both declined slightly, and means Dungeon is already more than twice as popular as Polyhedron. If that trend continues, it's no surprise at all that it wound up the dominant partner when they merged.



The Lurkers in the Library: P. N. Elrod starts things off with another small, low-level adventure which is as much about giving you a bit of prefab setting material to slot into your world and reuse when they pass through the area again as it is the actual challenge. A librarian has disappeared in the basement. Can you navigate the labyrinthine bookshelves down there and find out what's happened to him? It's pretty short, and not that difficult, but full of amusing flavour bits, making sure all the NPC's have personality details that could be useful in play for the DM. Maybe a bit too whimsical if you prefer your grimdark epics, but you can't please everyone. Could pay off well if used at the start of a campaign and the PC's need to do research later.

 

[(un)reason]

Dungeon Issue 9: Jan/Feb 1988



part 3/5



The Crypt of Istaris: Another Finnish-influenced tournament adventure where the PC's are on the clock to finish the mission or face dire consequences? How very odd. It's not an obvious combination of elements at all. One of the joys of the arctic circle in real life is the several months a year when day or night becomes constant, and you don't have to keep your body clock bound to the insistent 24 hour rhythm the rest of the world imposes on you. But anyway, you have 4 in-game (and real world) hours to find and destroy two macguffins before the planets align, and untold destruction is delivered on the land. Are your characters up to the job?! Fortunately, it's only a single-round adventure, so the actual dungeon itself isn't a railroad pushing you from one encounter to the next with no room to deviate from the story like the Maiden of Pain series. There are multiple objectives, and you could succeed or fail in each of them independently of the others. Like many tournament adventures, it has a scoring system so you can directly compare how you did overall to all the other groups that have been through it. Overall, I think it falls somewhere in the middle of the pack quality-wise, neither particularly good or bad, which is still an improvement from the last time they went here. I can live with that.



The Djinni's Ring: Ooh. Another interesting experiment here, as they try out a solo chose your own path adventure like the Fighting Fantasy series. That's a good way to keep up variety, and particularly good for people who haven't got a group, and would otherwise just be collecting the magazine to read. They take pains to make sure everything in here works even if you haven't read the full rules, simplifying the stats somewhat. Of course, since it's only 11 pages, not a full book like those, it won't occupy you more than an hour or two even if you roll through all the encounters legitimately, explore every branching pathway and go all the way back to the start each time you make the wrong choice and die horribly. (of which there are a fair few, as is the nature of Fighting Fantasy books) Take the role of an elf trying to free a genie in an ancient abandoned palace. While you can try to leave, you'll die of dehydration before you can get back to civilisation. Other than that, you do actually have plenty of meaningful choices, tracking your equipment really matters, and you'll both expend resources and gain new ones that could be crucial later on. It's a pretty decent dungeon crawl, and I just wish it was longer. Hopefully there'll be some more of these over the course of the magazine to come.

 

[(un)reason]

Dungeon Issue 9: Jan/Feb 1988



part 4/5



The Golden Bowl of Ashu: The Oriental Adventure this issue once again sees the forces of heaven treating earth like straw dogs. Someone or something pisses off the spirits, and they punish the entire region with months-long drought. Obviously, it falls to the PC's to figure out what it'll take to make reparations before everyone starves to death. The result is a fairly linear trek through a series of mythologically inspired setpiece encounters that are definitely a rather too high CR for the intended player level they give. So this is one where you're not supposed to fight some of the encounters, but are supposed to fight others, it's often intentionally unclear which tactic you should take due to the creatures being tricksters, and if you chose wrongly, you'll fail the adventure. Somewhat irritating really. If you are going to use it, wait until the PC's are at least 5th level, and have both the strength, and the improved information-gathering toolset 3rd level spells offer so they have better odds of not screwing themselves over through making a wrong choice they could never have had the information to solve without guessing luckily anyway. Not very keen on this one at all.



The Ghostship Gambit: Ruh-Roh Raggy. A g-g-g-ghost?! Jinkies, we'd better investigate this. Yes, this adventure is straight out of a Scooby-doo cartoon, as it doesn't actually involve undead at all, merely people pretending to be undead with the help of various magic spells & items and highly water-resistant makeup for profit. Fortunately, it's flexible enough to set anywhere, so I'm not spoiling anything, as there are plenty of real ghost ship adventures out there and your players won't know it's this one unless they can see your notes. All the spells and items are preexisting ones, and this serves as a rules exercise as much as it is an adventure, showing you how one thing can pretend to be another in a entirely rules-legal way under the D&D system, and the limits to the accuracy they can achieve. So if you're into that kind of system wonk rules exploit stuff, this is a very entertaining read as an article as well as an interesting adventure. Like the non-Euclidean dungeon, you can apply the principles in here to create other adventures that do interesting and unusual things with highly specific combinations of creatures and spells. It's good that they're trying to teach you how to be a better DM in here, not just become reliant on the prefab adventures they're providing.

 

[(un)reason]

Dungeon Issue 9: Jan/Feb 1988



part 5/5



The Plight of Cirria: As usual, we have to wait until the end before we get our cover story, the longest and highest level adventure in the issue. The PC's are hired by a female cloud dragon (with newborn babies to look after to explain why she doesn't just do it herself) to rescue her husband, who's been captured by an evil wizard that's trying to figure out how to control and expand the cloud castle he's recently taken over. The PC's had better follow the clues to find it before he figures out how to move it, and discards his captive as of no further use. This involves a fairly substantial trek through jungle, that will be made massively quicker and easier if they have long-distance flight capability, but you'll still have to deal with a fair few flying monsters as random encounters. There's a decent number of setpiece encounters across the area, including a dungeon large enough that it could have been a whole other adventure, but the biggest challenge is saved for last, with multiple powerful spellcasters and their summoned monsters inhabiting the cloud castle, and plenty of treasure if you succeed. While it's neither as broad in scope or freedom as Tortles of the Purple Sage, which continues to set the high water mark for sandbox adventures in here, it's still large and interesting enough to fill a month or so of sessions. Seems like a pretty good use of their page count to me.



Several interesting experiments in here that make the adventures useful not just as adventures, but in building your campaign in other ways as well. They're now publishing more adventures in here every year than they are standalone modules, and they have room to push the limits of their formats in a way that they wouldn't if they were trying to sell them individually. Just how much can they push the formula before they either get slapped down by the corporate suits, or complaints from casual players who prefer their adventures more vanilla since they don't have to worry so much about staving off ennui? Better keep going and see.