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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 8489793" data-attributes="member: 27780">Polyhedron Issue 83: May 1993part 4/5Playing By Mail: We've seen more mention of the internet in Polyhedron than we had in Dragon at this time. So it's mildly surprising that we have another article promoting PbM games, soon to be one of the big casualties of the internet doing it both faster & cheaper. Who's going to keep on spending several dollars per move on games that update monthly, or fortnightly at best when you can just send an email, or do things in real time with a MU* client? Strangely enough, many of the PbM's back then were increasingly relying on computers to adjudicate them, particularly the ones that fall more on the wargame end of the spectrum than RPG, and have strictly proscribed options of what you can do per turn. This did at least mean you could have hundreds of participants in the same campaign at once, but your ability to communicate was limited unless you spent a load more money on letters or phone calls to other individual participants to discuss & co-ordinate your actions. It shows that they were making incremental improvements in running them over the years, but like digital vs film cameras, they couldn't compete with something that changed the paradigm. As with previous times they've covered this, it's interesting to look back, but a good reminder of just how much more money and hassle gaming at a distance was back then. I wouldn't want to go back to that. Into The Dark: No introduction this month, as we continue on with more medically themed movies, in the loosest of senses, as these doctors definitely do not adhere to the hippocratic oath. Dr. Tarr's Torture Dungeon is a mexican film based on an Edgar Allen Poe story. As might be expected, the doctor is insane, the inmates are mostly running the asylum unchecked, and the reporter who investigates becomes another victim of the madness. There's plenty of trippy imagery and interesting setpieces if you like that sort of thing, but not too much in the way of plot. Sounds very much a product of the psychedelic era and the impact is probably improved if you partake a little while watching. Dr. Cyclops sees a myopic doctor subject snoopers in his laboratory to an experimental shrinking process. They have to escape the now terrifying mundane hazards of the area, survive and figure out how to get back to normal. The special effects are actually really good, particularly for 1940. It might actually be worth checking out. Doctor Butcher, M.D. on the other hand is just gross cannibalsploitation. Explorers in the southeastern asian jungle have to deal with savage tribes which are probably mostly just white people in makeup. James finds it thoroughly stupid and gratuitous even then, and I dread to think how badly it's aged. Hard miss.</blockquote>

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