Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
White Dwarf Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Nest
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
EN Publishing
Twitter
BlueSky
Facebook
Instagram
EN World
BlueSky
YouTube
Facebook
Twitter
Twitch
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
[Let's Read] Polyhedron/Dungeon
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 7995873" data-attributes="member: 27780"><p><strong><u>Polyhedron Issue 12: May/Jun 1983</u></strong></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>part 5/6</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Basically Speaking: This column reminds us that a big part of Basic D&D, which AD&D does less of, weirdly enough, is becoming a domain ruler at Name Level, and getting to command armies. It's somewhat of a problem, then, that they don't have a native system for mass combat yet, and won't until the Companion set is released next year. So they suggest you use the Swords & Spells miniatures combat rules (Also by TSR :teeth ting<img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> and build your army in that if you really want to do larger scale battles. If not, just abstract most of the NPC's, and use the battle as a backdrop for the actions of the characters. So this illustrates that the rules really aren't there to support some of the things they want to do yet, and also that you shouldn't use the game rules as physics of the universe, because they're not designed with enough rigour and flexibility, and will throw up stupid results or break. Give it a few more editions. They will get better, honest guv!</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Knight Hawks - A New Dimension: A couple of issues ago, we had someone complaining that there were no rules for ship-to-ship combat in Star Frontiers. They said then there was a supplement coming for that, and here it is! Interestingly, it's not just a supplement, but a standalone minis game as well, that can combine with the RPG to create a greater whole, as presumably they think it'll sell better marketed that way. As usual for their core products, it's a boxed set with dice, counters, mapsheet, introductory adventure, and everything else you need to get going in one package. A fairly standard bit of promotion. They may not have paid averts in here, but this serves essentially the same purpose. </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Mapping from Square One pt 3: The final part in this series is somewhat of a postscript, not giving us any new symbols for our maps, but serving to remind us that the map is not the territory. While you need to get the angles right, especially if it doesn't follow the grid precisely, you don't need to include every tiny knobbly bit in a cave system. As long as you describe things accurately enough to map, it's the players fault if they fail to do so and get lost later because they weren't paying attention. A DM should be fair, but not nice. Nothing essential here, unlike the first two, you can skip it without feeling you're missing anything. </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Notes for the Dungeon Master: Gary takes this column over from Frank, and changes the topic completely. In the old days, he used to design things starting with a big dungeon, and then gradually going outwards as the players levelled up and needed new challenges. Now, he finds things work better long-term if you start with basic postulates, and then zoom in, creating details about the universe, solar system, world, continent, country, and then the first town & dungeon. It takes a bit longer that way around, but you're less likely to paint yourself into a corner and make something that falls apart when PC's start poking the physics, economics, demographics, weather patterns, etc. As with his last bit of advice, this is actually pretty good, if somewhat padded out by the verbosity of his distinctive writing style. Think big and shoot for the stars, because even if you fail you'll still get further than if you'd set a small goal in the first place.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="(un)reason, post: 7995873, member: 27780"] [b][u]Polyhedron Issue 12: May/Jun 1983[/u][/b] part 5/6 Basically Speaking: This column reminds us that a big part of Basic D&D, which AD&D does less of, weirdly enough, is becoming a domain ruler at Name Level, and getting to command armies. It's somewhat of a problem, then, that they don't have a native system for mass combat yet, and won't until the Companion set is released next year. So they suggest you use the Swords & Spells miniatures combat rules (Also by TSR :teeth ting:) and build your army in that if you really want to do larger scale battles. If not, just abstract most of the NPC's, and use the battle as a backdrop for the actions of the characters. So this illustrates that the rules really aren't there to support some of the things they want to do yet, and also that you shouldn't use the game rules as physics of the universe, because they're not designed with enough rigour and flexibility, and will throw up stupid results or break. Give it a few more editions. They will get better, honest guv! Knight Hawks - A New Dimension: A couple of issues ago, we had someone complaining that there were no rules for ship-to-ship combat in Star Frontiers. They said then there was a supplement coming for that, and here it is! Interestingly, it's not just a supplement, but a standalone minis game as well, that can combine with the RPG to create a greater whole, as presumably they think it'll sell better marketed that way. As usual for their core products, it's a boxed set with dice, counters, mapsheet, introductory adventure, and everything else you need to get going in one package. A fairly standard bit of promotion. They may not have paid averts in here, but this serves essentially the same purpose. Mapping from Square One pt 3: The final part in this series is somewhat of a postscript, not giving us any new symbols for our maps, but serving to remind us that the map is not the territory. While you need to get the angles right, especially if it doesn't follow the grid precisely, you don't need to include every tiny knobbly bit in a cave system. As long as you describe things accurately enough to map, it's the players fault if they fail to do so and get lost later because they weren't paying attention. A DM should be fair, but not nice. Nothing essential here, unlike the first two, you can skip it without feeling you're missing anything. Notes for the Dungeon Master: Gary takes this column over from Frank, and changes the topic completely. In the old days, he used to design things starting with a big dungeon, and then gradually going outwards as the players levelled up and needed new challenges. Now, he finds things work better long-term if you start with basic postulates, and then zoom in, creating details about the universe, solar system, world, continent, country, and then the first town & dungeon. It takes a bit longer that way around, but you're less likely to paint yourself into a corner and make something that falls apart when PC's start poking the physics, economics, demographics, weather patterns, etc. As with his last bit of advice, this is actually pretty good, if somewhat padded out by the verbosity of his distinctive writing style. Think big and shoot for the stars, because even if you fail you'll still get further than if you'd set a small goal in the first place. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
[Let's Read] Polyhedron/Dungeon
Top