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[Let's Read] Polyhedron/Dungeon
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<blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 7996634" data-attributes="member: 27780"><p><strong><u>Polyhedron Issue 12: May/Jun 1983</u></strong></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>part 6/6</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Roles: In Top Secret, as in many games, there are a bunch of secondary roles orthogonal to the basic character classes. Who your loyalties are too is independent of what skills you have, and can change a lot more in game. Sometimes this is willing choice by the player, sometimes they'll be blackmailed, or caught and faced with the choice of becoming a double agent or facing death & imprisonment, and sometimes the government will betray them or send them on a suicide mission, and they have to figure out how to get out alive and whether to go independent or find some other employer. All good plot hooks for an espionage game, in other words. While they might start out episodic, at some point you'll probably lose your stable paycheck and have to go on the run, or deal with some players betraying the others and splitting into multiple groups operating in the same world. Just got to figure out how to make those transitions in a way that doesn't kill the campaign. Definitely approve of this one, as it helps both the DM and players think of new ways they might play the game long-term. </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>White Rabbits: While the number of members is growing exponentially worldwide at the moment, getting enough of them together in one place to form an official club remains tricky. Only 5 places have managed the organisational feats needed to apply for a club membership, and only one of those is big enough to be a guild. There are none at all at the society tier yet. If more people don't take these offers up they might wind up dropping them. That would be a shame. Hopefully network externalities will work more in their favour as they grow, and hopefully I'll get to see what progress they make on this in future issues. </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Tournament Scoring System pt 3: This part of setting up a tournament is less forms and regulations and more about the soft skills of social organising. You still need to gather enough groups to make multiple round tournaments feasible, and enough DM's to put the groups through their paces, a place for them to meet, what the rules for internal scoring are, and what prizes the winners get. They're still allowing you a fair bit of leeway in exactly how you run your games and still have it count for their ranking systems, which is nice. Let's hope they don't have to add too many more petty rules because people are abusing that freedom in quick succession.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Miniature Open: Another amusing single page advert here, as they try to get more entries to their minis competition. Who can paint the most impressive single figure, who can assemble the best military unit, and who can put together the best diorama? If you think you've got what it takes, here's the rules. Get your ass to Gen Con, and figure out how to transport your painstakingly created stuff there and back without it getting damaged. I strongly suspect we'll be seeing the winners of this in a few issues time. </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>The basicness of the last few issues continues to ebb, and the many small format changes this issue keep it interesting to read, even if they are slightly reducing the amount of content. Have they got all the format changes out of their system now? Guess I'd better see what they put in the next one.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="(un)reason, post: 7996634, member: 27780"] [b][u]Polyhedron Issue 12: May/Jun 1983[/u][/b] part 6/6 Roles: In Top Secret, as in many games, there are a bunch of secondary roles orthogonal to the basic character classes. Who your loyalties are too is independent of what skills you have, and can change a lot more in game. Sometimes this is willing choice by the player, sometimes they'll be blackmailed, or caught and faced with the choice of becoming a double agent or facing death & imprisonment, and sometimes the government will betray them or send them on a suicide mission, and they have to figure out how to get out alive and whether to go independent or find some other employer. All good plot hooks for an espionage game, in other words. While they might start out episodic, at some point you'll probably lose your stable paycheck and have to go on the run, or deal with some players betraying the others and splitting into multiple groups operating in the same world. Just got to figure out how to make those transitions in a way that doesn't kill the campaign. Definitely approve of this one, as it helps both the DM and players think of new ways they might play the game long-term. White Rabbits: While the number of members is growing exponentially worldwide at the moment, getting enough of them together in one place to form an official club remains tricky. Only 5 places have managed the organisational feats needed to apply for a club membership, and only one of those is big enough to be a guild. There are none at all at the society tier yet. If more people don't take these offers up they might wind up dropping them. That would be a shame. Hopefully network externalities will work more in their favour as they grow, and hopefully I'll get to see what progress they make on this in future issues. Tournament Scoring System pt 3: This part of setting up a tournament is less forms and regulations and more about the soft skills of social organising. You still need to gather enough groups to make multiple round tournaments feasible, and enough DM's to put the groups through their paces, a place for them to meet, what the rules for internal scoring are, and what prizes the winners get. They're still allowing you a fair bit of leeway in exactly how you run your games and still have it count for their ranking systems, which is nice. Let's hope they don't have to add too many more petty rules because people are abusing that freedom in quick succession. Miniature Open: Another amusing single page advert here, as they try to get more entries to their minis competition. Who can paint the most impressive single figure, who can assemble the best military unit, and who can put together the best diorama? If you think you've got what it takes, here's the rules. Get your ass to Gen Con, and figure out how to transport your painstakingly created stuff there and back without it getting damaged. I strongly suspect we'll be seeing the winners of this in a few issues time. The basicness of the last few issues continues to ebb, and the many small format changes this issue keep it interesting to read, even if they are slightly reducing the amount of content. Have they got all the format changes out of their system now? Guess I'd better see what they put in the next one. [/QUOTE]
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