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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 8050818" data-attributes="member: 27780">Polyhedron Issue 24: May/Jun 1985part 2/6Secrets of Success: Our first non-staff submission is a bit of roleplaying advice. These are often a bit basic and repetitive, especially when submitted by a first time writer, but thankfully this manages to avoid that by being very specifically aimed at the quirks of tournament play, where you're thrown into the scenario with a pregen character and a group of strangers, and have to get through as much as possible in a single sitting. Although actually, under the current scoring system, getting all the way through the adventure isn't the most important part, getting along with the other players and DM is. You need to really engage and communicate if you want to get good ratings, while learning to play off the other players like any good improv actor, not hogging all the limelight. You need to be flexible with what classes, races and sex you play, because you never know what you're going to get, so you can't let yourself get stuck in a comfortable rut like a regular campaign. Pay attention to what the DM says, don't spend ages dithering about your actions, and make sure people know why you're doing what you do, as that generally helps get better ratings at the end. A good reminder that roleplaying advice is not one size fits all, but needs to adapt to the type of game and group you're playing with. This is why it's best to have a wide array of tricks available rather than over-focussing on perfecting one.Unofficial new Magic-user spells: Continuing from last issue, Jon Pickens reverse engineers some more magical item effects into spells. Want to make normally heavy items buoyant in water, stick them together, shoot spark showers & ball lightning, or turn into gas temporarily without using up a consumable magic item? Add one of these to your spellbook. The combat effects are somewhat less dangerous than existing spells of the same level, so using those is mainly interesting for the novelty, but the utility ones can be very useful indeed both for dungeoneering and altering the effective tech level of the world when applied cleverly in the right combinations. That's the kind of stuff inventive players love, and use to completely short circuit a DM's hard laid plans to win an adventure at little danger to themselves. Much more  valuable than any 9th level nuke.</blockquote>

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