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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 7965604" data-attributes="member: 27780">The Polyhedron Issue 5: Mar/Apr 1982part 3/4The Round Table: Oh, now this is an interesting but of crossover between their various publications, as it follows on from Dragon issue 49, and their assessment of the Slaver modules. As with that, it's a detailed assessment of the flaws in their current tournament system (while acknowledging that it is still fun overall) and what they could do to improve it. As with it's precursor, Frank then replies to point out that while some of those are ideas worth taking on, others are logistically impractical or don't fit his vision for how they should best grow and improve. As with any big organisation, it's going to be a big messy body politic even when it's running smoothly, as everyone has different ideas and experiences. The trick is being able to filter out the bad ideas, and make the good ones commonly used. Definitely looking forward to seeing how they handle it over the next few decades, and what dramas crop up in the process.Dispel Confusion: What happens if enlarge is reversed and shrinks you over 100% your size? (Your math is wrong. It's 1/x, not minus x.)Does dragons breath get weaker as they're injured? (Varies by edition. Very exception based design here.)How much can you fit in a saddlebag? (A fair amount, but not as much as some treasure hoards you'll encounter. You'll soon be craving upgrades if your DM tracks encumbrance strictly. )How do you handle clones and dopplegangers? (Muahaha. It's most fun if you keep the player replaced in on it, but don't tell the others.)Bag of Tricks: To complement the sadistic tricks aimed at the DM, here's another column of them aimed more at the players. Stockpiling of continual light and darkness spells to disorient your opponents. Taking doors off their hinges to use as cover or battering rams and facilitate quick escape later. Use of Druid & Ranger magic to make friends of things you wouldn't normally be able to communicate with and use them both tactically and logistically. Have a travelling spellbook so your full one doesn't get destroyed by fire or water in your misadventures and render the wizard helpless. So as usual, some ideas that would go into common use, and some that would be mostly left behind with the passage of time because they're too specific, labor-intensive or out of genre. Like it's counterpart, this makes for very entertaining reading indeed, at least in small portions.Spelling Bee: Instead of picking at existing spells, this column has a good look at some new spells (that would go on to appear in official books in a few years) This is even more important to do, as you can actually change them if they're too strong or weak for their level. Crystalbrittle could probably be dropped a level or two, as it's useful, but very specialist, and no-ones going to use one of their valuable 9th level spells on it unless they know they're facing something powerful but weak to it that day. Energy Drain, on the other hand, fully deserves to stay at 9th level, as level drain is one of the most hated and mechanically fiddly powers in the game, and they've been making it weaker and rarer with every edition change. Who wants to give the players access to that and have to recalculate your big bad's stats mid-battle when they use it? Once again, I approve of this message. Playtesting and revision is vital to making a game solid and functional, and ensuring rules lawyers can't turn themselves into virtual gods via unintended loopholes. (which is not to say they shouldn't be able to become gods if they work at it and get enough XP.) It's good to see these spells go through that development process, not just flung out into the world for us to cope with them on our own.</blockquote>

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