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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 8619091" data-attributes="member: 27780">Polyhedron Issue 100: October 1994part 4/5Kre'ketrac: When Dark Sun started, it was obvious that at some point Athas was a more pleasant place, but the precise details of why and how long ago it changed were mysterious. But setting expansions and metaplot have moved fast, and now we know why Rajaat started this in the first place (to kill all humanoids but the original halflings) and seen the cataclysmic results of his recent attempt to escape. We've also seen a few hints of what life was like before arcane magic was invented, with psionics and life-shaping the dominant supernatural powers. Which brings us to the hard to pronounce artifact that makes up most of this article. A very CG lump of amorphous stone that gives it's owner a whole load of psychometabolic powers, but may also activate them to be "helpful" according to it's own whims. It's thousands of years old, but prefers to live in the moment, so getting specific information out of it about the past is near impossible. This article manages to showcase two of the most unwelcome parts of Dark Sun at once, the overbearing metaplot, and writers who didn't really get the memo about the intended tone and kept putting saturday morning cartoon comic relief characters in. It's all very irritating. I'm definitely passing on this one. The cheese is coming from inside the building and they need a different line manager if they don't want to alienate their fans and kill the setting.Crimebuster: No, they're not including a Gangbusters article in here, which is a bit of a shame since that's a very interesting part of Polyhedron's history it would be nice to have a little nostalgia for. Instead, this is your typical batman-esque rich guy fighting crime with gadgets but no actual superpowers for the Champions RPG. It demonstrates just how much flexibility you have in point buy systems compared to D&D, but also how dense the character sheet can get in systems like that, leaving them little room to give him any particularly interesting history or personality details. He's an old-fashioned hero, stalwart and true, who's rich enough that he doesn't have to struggle with the hassles of juggling a day job and costumed crime-fighting. Unless you're deep into the number crunching aspect of point-buy systems, this is a bit boring and cliched as a read. Another one that's mainly here to let RPGA members know about a system they probably haven't ever played before, and hopefully lure in a few new customers. Arms Against the Dragonlords: Don't see a single Dragonlance article for years and suddenly two of them come along at once. This is a more standard collection of magical items sent in by a freelancer though, as are common for the Forgotten Realms. How will these fit into the much smaller history and geography of Krynn?Pathfinder was created for a solamnic knight, and helps suitably heroic wielders navigate the wilderness. Even illusionary terrain won't be able to faze your impeccable awareness of where you want to go. That could save you a lot of time and rations in an epic adventure.Ground Breaker is a warhammer that unsurprisingly lets you cause earthquakes by hitting the ground. A good way to keep your enemies off balance, which won't win the fight in itself, but is very handy if used in the right time and place. (ie, not when surrounded by allies, as anyone who's tried to use a fireball in melee will tell you)Honor's Face is a battle axe with two very useful extra tricks. You can summon it to your hand at any time, and only honorable people are reflected in it's surface. Note that honorable does not always mean nice, but for a warrior without any social nonweapon proficiencies, it's at least a good metric for who might swindle or backstab you, so it's once again much more useful than an extra plus.</blockquote>

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