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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 8208798" data-attributes="member: 27780">Polyhedron Issue 48: July 1989part 2/5On Your Feet: Having recently inspired a whole load of kerfuffle in the letters pages, Peter goes for a less controversial topic this time. How he got involved with the RPGA in the first place. Like these things often are, discovering it existed was a happy accident, and signing up was a spur of the moment decision to get access to new tournament options at a convention. But once he did, he definitely hasn't regretted the choice. He's made good friends, and got to play in adventures that are better written and more consistently adjudicated than the independently run ones. Seems like preaching to the choir to me. Perhaps this would have been better placed in Dragon, where a big chunk of the readers aren't RPGA members. In any case, it's another reminder of how much of our life events like relationships and social groups are based on luck, and a difference of a few minutes going somewhere or choosing a different table to sit on at an event can throw your life onto a completely different track long-term. Don't overestimate the degree of control you actually have in your life. Cataclysm part 1: Fresh from doing a sequel in Dungeon, they decide to stretch their limits for the first time in a couple of years with a multi-part adventure in here as well. The title is a pun. There's a plague of cats in Claxton. Cats, cats, everywhere, as far as the eye can see. People are both perplexed and peeved. The high priest is allergic and wants them all exterminated. This is a bad idea! They're the only thing protecting the city from an even worse plague of literal plague carrying rats. Hopefully your PC's will decide they couldn't possibly slaughter that many adorable felines and look for another solution. The pregens are pretty free of the wackiness many old adventures were suffused with, but the adventure itself is still quite lighthearted in general, with lots of encounters where you should really ham up the roleplaying element. It's pretty interesting, but would have been even better if it was done in Dungeon, with their greater focus on setting building that allows players to make their own choices in a nonlinear fashion. The need to wrap things up in 4 hours once again makes them rush things along at the expense of fine detail, leaving it in the middle of the road in terms of overall quality. Let's see if it gets better or worse as it goes on. By The Book: Another bit of convention season advice to remind both DM's and players how they should be handling things in their tournament sessions. House ruling is strictly forbidden, as the title says, and you should lean conservatively in any interpretation of grey areas. Work together, figure out what actions you're going to take before your turn comes in combat so you don't bog things down, don't forget to map the dungeon if you want to get out alive, make sure all the players get approximately equal spotlight, ensure the voting forms are filled in legibly afterwards. All pretty familiar really, with a few twists that don't apply to regular groups. We've seen this stuff before, and I'm sure we'll see it again in a year or two to catch the newbies once again.</blockquote>

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