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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 8733108" data-attributes="member: 27780">Polyhedron Issue 115: January 1996part 4/5Forgotten Deities: Eric doesn't have a huge amount to say about his deities this issue, and squeezes two of them onto one page rather than padding things out with an oversized illustration. Lurue the unicorn and Nobanion :cough:Aslan:cough: the lion. Neither have any real organised priesthood (at least in this world) and neither seem particularly bothered about that either, looking after their respective animals, foiling any overt plans by Malar and that's it. One of those little reminders that the 4th wall of the Realms isn't particularly solid, and there were even more crossovers when it was purely Ed's home game and didn't have to worry about Intellectual Property issues. If you want to put more of those back in and have your PC's take a trip to Finland or Narnia you wouldn't be breaking the spirit of the setting, so don't get overly uptight about sticking precisely to the letter of the lore in the published books. Dragon Dice Tournament Rules: Huh, so this is getting proper tournament rules but Spellfire & Blood Wars aren't. That is interesting. It winds up covering 2 pages, half of which is general errata that will apply to any game in subsequent reprints, and half of which is procedures for multiple round competitive games making sure everyone is playing on a standardised number of points, then dividing people up into blocks of 16. (and how to deal with odd ones out) First round is best out of 3, then subsequent ones are single elimination matches. All seems pretty self explanatory even to someone who doesn't know the fine details of the game's rules. Let's hope they actually get used a decent amount before the game disappears from general consciousness. Network FAQ: Looks like this year is continuing straight on from last one in their drive to make the rules more strict and get everyone following them. Yes, you need to bring your membership card with you if you want to play in Living games and get points so don't lose it. Remember to fill out all the forms afterwards properly and don't vote for yourself or you also won't get points. Don't try to get in on an expired card, it may work in the short term but they'll find out as soon as the postgame stuff is put in the database. Don't try to squeeze more than 6 players in as a judge, you may think you're being kind, but again, it's a pain running groups that size, you'll get the whole adventure voided and no-one will get any points. Get certificates for all your magic items and no trading them between characters except through legitimate traders at conventions. Basically just another way of saying what they've already said several times over recent months, plus a few old favourites that have been rules for years, but people keep on forgetting anyway. This grows increasingly tiresome to read repeatedly. A Knack for Adventure: In issue 212 of Dragon, they pushed the nonweapon proficiency system to near breaking point with psychic proficiencies, giving you one minor supernatural power at the cost of pretty much all your mundane skills at starting level. (and who's going to be able to defer gratification for a full 12 levels to buy one after that?) Here they do another variant on that, with various mundane abilities that don't quite fit with the existing skills either. Ambidexterity (which you bought with weapon proficiencies in the complete fighter's handbook, but consistency, in our AD&D?) perfect memory, perfect pitch, light sleeper, speed reading, etc. All cost 2 or 3 slots, making them also pretty hard to pick up beyond starting level in a system where you only gain one new slot every 3 or 4 levels. Another reminder that the Feat system they added next edition was sorely needed, and they probably would have added something like it even if WotC hadn't taken over, as there were so many things introduced in supplements you could customise your characters with in nonstandardised ways, but they didn't give you remotely enough slots to do that properly and the Skills & Powers books showed them that a more point-buy based approach to character generation could be popular with players once the kinks were worked out. In the meantime we have another interesting but not remotely balanced (mostly on the underpowered side of things, since this is also nominally for MotRD) collection. I guess it's like digging up trilobites. All those strange body shapes might not have been optimal for long-term survival, but life had to go through them to get where we are today.</blockquote>

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