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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 8469327" data-attributes="member: 27780">Polyhedron Issue 80: February 1993part 3/5Guarded Wagon: Another caravan guard mission? They do seem to like those in here. I guess it's a good way to make the adventure completely linear in a way that doesn't feel unnatural, as you need to get to the goal to get paid, and there's one obvious quickest route to get from A to B. So here's another of your basic 8 encounters in order, no choices or alternate routes, designed to fit neatly into a 4 hour tournament slot with time to spare, only this time for Dark Sun. A corrupt templar who wants a bribe before you can even set off. Two different tribes of humanoid raiders in quick succession. A merchant that gives you the chance to buy some metal weapons if you're carrying enough money. (or wiling to slaughter him for the lot) An unexpected wagon breakdown near a small ruin that you'll have to explore to get the parts to continue. And an extra large elven raid to finish things off. It's not filled with bad jokes, and it doesn't look like a cakewalk or meatgrinder for the intended party level. The monsters are nonstandard, and use their various psionic abilities intelligently, making it feel suitably Dark Sunish. It's still much more formulaic and linear than I'd prefer, but it's above average for what it is, a way to spend 4 hours at a convention and earn varying amounts of RPGA xp depending on how well you handle the various challenges. Besides, looking at the linearity of most published Dark Sun adventures, it's in the right sort of company. Bestiary gives us a bunch of athasian monsters submitted by readers, as they requested a while ago in one of their many contests.Conashellae are shellfish that have adapted to athas's increasing desiccation by becoming burrowers. Like many arthropods, their digestion is partially external, spitting acid on you to soften you up before slurping up the liquified remains. They're not particularly dangerous by athasian standards, but would give 1st level adventurers from another world a hard time, especially in the large numbers they tend to appear in. Still, if you beat them, that's food sorted for the next few days. Sable Sandcrawlers appear to be cute and friendly caterpillars with enormous anime eyes, turning up at your campfire and begging for food. If you fall for the ruse, they'll snuggle up and lay their eggs in you while everyone's asleep and be gone before the morning. Wham bam thank you maam. The birthing process is typically unpleasant. You'll definitely think twice before cuddling strange caterpillars next time. Sandworms are your basic Dune reference, hundreds of feet long, with hit dice & damage outputs to match. Completely immune to psionics and able to swallow you whole, you do not want to hunt them without a big team and a plan. If you can take them down, that's the whole village sorted for food for weeks. That's a good way to be treated as heroes, at least until the next famine hits and they'll be asking what have you done for me lately?Silt Weirds are what happens to water weirds when they hang around these parts too long. As usual, they're much bigger, and have psionic powers along with the physical ones in case you're immune to suffocation. Probably not very good at coping with undead, but trying to attack them with regular weaponry is a futile task. A poorly equipped party will definitely struggle even at high level. Higher ability scores mean nothing if you can't adapt your tactics to the situation at hand and this collection are a good reminder of that.</blockquote>

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