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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 8342840" data-attributes="member: 27780">Polyhedron Issue 62: August 1991part 3/5The Jade Monkey: The adventure this issue is short and silly. Macon the Monkey Mage and Serialla the Snake Sage are having a wizard's duel at his mansion when the PC's call around to get hold of some spells. He's currently losing and trapped in the body of his pet monkey. He's not actually in serious danger, (unless the PC's kill him) but he would rather like to not concede the duel, so he'll try and get them to turn him back. Of course, he can't speak, and in the meantime they're probably blundering through his collection of magical defences and intelligent items (each of which has their own goofy personality. ) All but one of these aren't particularly deadly, but the trick is getting your players to realise that, especially if they've had to deal with more diabolical wizard lairs before. Will they heed the monkey's attempts at mime, or treat the whole thing like a serious dungeon and engage in wholesale killing and taking of stuff? This is less annoying than some of their modules, as it isn't a railroad, but it is close to the edge of being a comedy adventure that would only really work in an april fools issue, so it's definitely not for every campaign. The average quality of adventures in here continues to be a fair bit lower than Dungeon then. The Living City: We've had several pubs before, now they decide to include a more high class wine shop for when the PC's have accumulated a little more wealth, and want to drink in style, or merely convert their cash into a more portable form. As the Vine Twines is a somewhat twee sounding, but very profitable place owned by a Halfling (of course!) cleric of Llira who works hard at being the best winemaker he can be, including custom spells (which they sloppily forget to include levels for so you can't have them) to ensure they can be produced faster and at higher quality. He makes good money but still treats his employees well, gives to charity, and is generally nice and has his life together. There's no dissension in the ranks, no monsters lurking around the edges. It's all very healthy and wholesome. So that puts this pretty low on the rankings of actual in-game usability, particularly with the slipshod editing. Sorry, but you're going to be staying as background detail rather than actually featuring in any interesting plots at this rate. Truly Tacky Treasure: Another quick diversion into lighthearted silliness here, as they talk about ideas for treasure that isn't exactly cursed, and may be quite valuable, but adventurers would still hesitate to load up on it and bring it home with them after clearing out the monsters. Crocheted crossbow coverings. Tiamat night lights with five little glowing heads. (those blue canaries in the outlet by light switch had better watch out) Bell-bottom armor. Ki-rin bobblehead dolls. Polyester cloaks. They might have some practical use, but they're silly looking and frequently anachronistic. It'd take a particularly tasteless world-hopping wizard to latch onto some of these ideas and decide to decorate their lair and accessories accordingly. Not saying it's unusable, and giving your dungeons wacky themes like this will definitely make them memorable, but this is the kind of thing you should use in moderation if you want to keep your campaign's 4th wall intact. Once again, probably would have been better positioned in an april issue. The New Rogues Gallery: The characters this time are a pair of hard-bitten half-elven mercenaries with hearts of gold that simply call themselves The Freelancers. If you have large amounts of cash, or a good cause, they might be willing to solve your problems. They used to be more conventionally heroic adventurers, going into dungeons, killing monsters and taking their stuff, but became disillusioned after losing too many companions, and now go for the more directly profitable gigs while keeping their identities mysterious. The brother can blend into nearly any crowd, and has an evil intelligent sword with lots of cool powers that he usually manages to keep control of, while the sister plays the femme fatale and engages in more attention-grabbing infiltration and information-gathering techniques. It all seems very TV show-ish in feel, with influences like The (non-Marvel) Avengers, The A-Team, Charlie's Angels, Sapphire & Steel and MacGuyver springing to mind as I read it. They're powerful but interestingly flawed, and could work as allies, rivals or enemies, possibly all three if encountered repeatedly on different missions. This definitely seems usable, if on the cheesier end of the plot spectrum. But sometimes you're in the mood for a little cheese, and if you are, this could wind up being an excellent side dish for your campaign. Just don't make it the main course, unless you want bloating and indigestion to follow.</blockquote>

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