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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 8046176" data-attributes="member: 27780">Polyhedron Issue 23: Mar/Apr 1985part 2/6Why Gargoyles Don't have Wings (but should): The pedantry about whether gargoyles have wings or not, if they can fly even without them, and why all this happened in the first place gets expanded and parodied. Maybe they're detachable. Wait, that rings a bell. That's the plot of WG9, one of the worst modules TSR ever released! And that module was written by the same guy responsible for this article. So this bit of humour seems relatively innocuous in itself, but it's probably responsible for inspiring one of the most irritating and goofy adventures they ever tried to sell to the general public. What is amusing to read as a few pages of magazine becomes insulting as a full adventure you paid money for as a standalone product expecting something you could actually use without ruining the tone of your campaign. Which makes this article interesting from a historical perspective, but also a terrible warning to be careful what you laugh at, for you never know when it may spiral out of control and wind up becoming something you have to take seriously. The Rod of 7 Parts and A Paladin in Hell were cool even before being expanded out to full adventures. This is not nearly so auspicious a piece of inspiration.The Lighter Side of Encounters: This column get two different mini-adventures this issue, neither connected to the cover. A comical chase scene as a ranger tries to catch up with an irksome Slaad, barreling across the party's path. Or you could run across a wizard that's polymorphed herself into a green slime for scouting purposes. As long as you don't attack on sight, you could make an ally here, but how many players will be that open-minded? While whimsical, both have fully functional statistics and take themselves seriously on a internal level, making them usable in a serious game without completely ruining the tone or breaking the system. That's the kind of humor I prefer. A fantasy game is always going to throw up absurd moments, but as long as the 4th wall remains mostly unbroken and the internal logic remains consistent, you can go with it and keep on building, see where it takes you. Punnishments to fit the crime: Frank adds another couple of shaggy dog stories that are basically just buildups to terrible puns. Seen them before, likely to see them again. At least they're mercifully short this time. Nothing much to say about these.</blockquote>

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