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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 8487550" data-attributes="member: 27780">Polyhedron Issue 83: May 1993part 2/5Take A Byte: This column switches campaign worlds, to talk about their upcoming Ravenloft game. It's actually really early in development, so they don't have a huge number of details for it, or even a name, so they're mostly trying to sell it on it's improved tech specs over previous computer RPG's, and on it being more family friendly than unlicensed horror games, any scares coming from atmosphere rather than overt displays of gore. Doesn't sound like much of a selling point to me, but I guess that's working under the TSR code of conduct for you. Doing a bit of googling, this was eventually called Strahd's Posession, and gets decent reviews, but more than a few complaints about various bugs and a clunky interface. Moving from 2D to 3D was a steep learning curve for games of all genres, and the early 3D ones often aged worse and are more annoying to play than the polished 16 bit 2D ones. Does anyone have any memories of playing this one?The Living City: While last issue's instalment was nastier than most, giving you something to foil rather than merely interact with & buy from, it was relatively small-scale and easy to ignore. This one is much more significant. Zeb Cook shows that in house writers can do things freelance submitters can't or wouldn't think to do, and moves the meta forward by introducing a significant villain socially entrenched in the city's power structure, so exposing & defeating him will not be easy. Anton Paere (the dashing fellow with the monocle on the cover) is the head of the Office of Lost Property. If you suffer a robbery, you can go there and post a reward for the return of your stuff, and there's pretty good odds you'll get it back in a few days. Of course, there's a catch. The reason he's so successful in his day job is that he's also a crime kingpin who knows most of the thieves in town, and actively orchestrates the flow of crime in the city. Smart criminals will make a deal with him to return the stuff anonymously and split the reward money. Anyone who doesn't have the right connections will face the full force of both official and thieves guild justice if they get caught. (which they will if they try to fence the stolen goods in town) Anyone else who gets on his wrong side will also find themselves arrested, on trumped up charges if necessary, and put through a corrupt and rigged court system. Even if you find out about his dark side, you can't just go to the guards. You'll need to either build up your own political power before taking him on legally or be prepared for the consequences if you do the traditional adventurer thing of killing him & taking his stuff regardless, which will not be easy, as he has plenty of minions, and if you haven't done your homework first, you'll just wind up changing the name at the head of the organisation and missing most of the best treasure stashed in various safehouses around the city. So this is an expose on the things that can go wrong with for profit law enforcement, drawing heavily on real world history of systems that were tried before the establishment of police forces. You had a mix of private guards and mercenary thief-takers, neither incentivised to follow the letter of the law and honestly investigate crimes rather than do what would make them money. Compared to that, even the more corrupt and racist modern police forces are an improvement. It's the kind of structural evil even the highest level heroes will struggle to fix, particularly in a shared setting where the impact regular players can make on history is limited. This is an interesting development, particularly if they ever follow up on it in future books or adventures. Will he ever get his comeuppance, or will Raven's Bluff remain riddled by corruption? Or will we see another take on their underworld that completely ignores it in a year or two's time, since their editorial continuity has never been the strongest? Who knows.</blockquote>

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