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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 7977674" data-attributes="member: 27780">The Polyhedron Issue 9: Nov/Dec 1982part 1/632 pages. Last christmas they doubled in size as a special gift. This time around, they do so and it sticks. Soon it'll be the new norm that people take for granted. (and it's still only a fraction of the size of Dragon through most of it's lifespan) Let's see if they've got enough material in the slush pile to keep up quality control, or if it'll turn this into a filler heavy slog. ESP: The editorial confirms that not only have they doubled the size of the newszine, the number of members has also more than doubled compared to the same time last year. Which means they have somewhat more money to work with, but still not enough to do everything they want, so buy from their gift catalogue now! :teeth ting: Got to make sure those whales have things they can spend their money on, so they can exploit them to their fullest, especially in a club which already tends towards the hardcore gamer. On a less cynical note, Star Frontiers arrives! That got a fair few articles in Dragon, so I suspect there'll be a fair few in here as well. Other than that, it's the usual introduction reiterating the contents page. On we go to the articles. Holiday Greetings: Gary pops in again to deliver a State of the Union address. Much of this is stuff we already heard in the last issue, like Frank being moved up the ladder, and Mary & Kim taking over different parts of his job. He's happy with how much they've grown in the past year, but still has plenty of plans to get bigger and provide more varied types of gaming in the future. They've got a solid partnership going with their UK counterparts, now they're trying to do the same with their French ones. Hopefully in the future they'll have branches in every country, all able to work under the same tournament scoring system and send the best of the best to compete in the international grand finales like pro sports leagues. An ambitious dream, but not an impossible one. We shall see what kind of progress they make towards it over the years.  Confessions of a Greenhorn Gamer: One of the big changes as TSR expanded was going from hiring friends of friends because they're enthusiastic gamers, to recruiting people because they're properly qualified for a specific job, even if they aren't gamers. Mary Kirchoff is one of those, and still getting the hang of the odd combination of mathematical equations and creative writing skills that make up playing D&D. It seemed pretty weird at first, but now she can see why people find it fun, as it scratches an itch other forms of recreation just can't touch. Obviously she gets the hang of it eventually, otherwise she wouldn't stick around in the industry for over 20 years when she could get a better paid job elsewhere. So this illustrates the changes that take place in a company when it goes from a hobby to a big operation, and how the best way to recruit new people to gaming is by regular exposure, showing it's not some weird cult but a normal form of entertainment people of any age, sex, race etc can do. Hiding it will be counterproductive in the long run, so don't bother.</blockquote>

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