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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 8779851" data-attributes="member: 27780">Polyhedron Issue 120: June 1996part 2/5World Under Construction: The metaplot in Raven's Bluff may be really heating up lately, but it's not alone in that. Shadowrun is also busily moving the timeline forward and having new weird things happen. The 2056 election was blatantly rigged and the machinery of justice actually did their job and hastily impeached the president, leading to a new set of elections in 2057. Once again fiction turns out to be less depressing than reality because people still hold onto concepts like love, justice and fairness no matter how often the real world makes a mockery of them. Anyway, there are 6 candidates. James Booth, the former VP, trying to salvage something from the mess. Kenneth Brackhaven, the archconservative. (ie, racist party, who have a lot more fronts to fight on since the emergence of metahumanity. ) Arthur Vogel the dwarf, a skilled lawyer who turns his debating skills towards protecting the ecosystem. Dr Rozilyn Hernandez, the techno-utopian who'll dramatically increase funding for all kinds of cutting edge research. General Franklin Yeats, the tough republican hawk who wants to smash the embarrassment that is Bug City. And last but most definitely not least, familiar face Dunklezahn the dragon, who has a much longer-term perspective on events than everyone else put together and wants to shape humanity to be able to cope with the upcoming Horrors that'll eventually show up as the magic level rises. A reminder that this kind of thing is happening in most big RPG's with settings at the time, and also that these big plans are susceptible to derailment by real world events such as Earthdawn & Shadowrun going to different companies, forcing them to remove any obvious crossovers, or the rise of wifi in the real world creating a big plot hole as to why that technology doesn't exist in the cyberpunk 2050's. Even if the setting survives (which Shadowrun has over the past 25 years, unlike most of it's 90's competitors) it's going to wind up looking quite different to when it started, in a way it's original designers probably didn't expect. Obviously none of the material here is exclusive to the newszine, but it's still pretty interesting anyway, giving us a look at the wider world Dragon has already stopped covering and showing us TSR's actions over the past few years are part of a wider trend. It's just that it'll work out much better for some companies than others, and TSR were definitely hurt more than helped by the embracing of metaplot for all their settings, due to the specific changes they made.Forgotten Deities: Most of the deities detailed here would very much like to become more powerful again, presuming they're still alive and aware enough to have desires at all. Jergal, on the other hand, seems weirdly chill about having been deposed as the lord of the dead, letting Myrkul, Cyric and now Kelemvor take on the high-profile role while he serves as scribe and record-keeper. (with the occasional bit of dry sarcasm if he feels they aren't doing the job properly.) I guess if anyone is going to be aware that everything has it's natural end and be philosophically equipped to deal with that, it's him. Despite his LN alignment, he lives on the Gray Waste and bears a strong resemblance to an ultroloth, which may be a hint as to his ancient pre-ascension origins. As befits a deity of the dead who used to be much bigger in the past, most of his remaining clergy are now undead, sleeping the ages away in obscure tombs until disturbed or working endlessly on creating and preserving records of the dead. They still get a good sphere selection and extensive granted powers as they gain levels, showing that despite his loss of prestige, he might still be stronger than he seems. I wouldn't take a long-term bet against him, particularly with his recent renewed popularity amongst the schemers of Thay. Who knows what ultra long term plans might be subtly set in motion even as we speak. Another entry with plenty of interesting plot possibilities you could choose to use in your campaign, particularly if you're not afraid to depart from the canon Realms timeline.</blockquote>

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