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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 8935496" data-attributes="member: 27780">Polyhedron Issue 132: October 1998part 2/5Table Talk: Gen Con may have raised the most for charity, but other conventions are still doing good in their own way. Mega-Con helped give kids with leukemia computers, because surfing the net is one thing you can do no matter how terminally ill you are. (although it gets even easier in the future as laptops and smartphones get smaller and generally more ergonomic, so you can do so from bed) Speaking of the internet, the RPGA is getting into the new trend of webrings, so if any clubs have their own pages, email us and we can all get hooked up and improve our SEO situation. Now there's a part of the old internet I definitely miss, as it's a much more organic way to discover cool related things than search engines that now point almost exclusively to the big sites. But these bits of general news are small fry compared to their ongoing attempt to rank the best of the best in campaign players, classic players & judges and invite them to participate in the most exclusive of tournaments next year. Even if you're not on the list now, there's still time. All you need to do is participate in at least 7 tournaments in a year and get decent scores to be in with a chance. Think you're hardcore enough? There's always got to be another smaller tier at the top of the pyramid as an organisation gets bigger and older. Let the games continue.Virtual Seattle Screamsheet: Shadowrun is releasing it's 3rd edition. That means Virtual Seattle players have to update their characters to all the niggly little changes. Metahuman allergies and astral projecting don't work in the same way in the new edition, but existing characters can have them grandfathered in. Quite a few edges & flaws are banned for various reasons, particularly the more crippling flaws that make a character tricky to run in a standardised tournament. Initiation is now common knowledge, so you no longer have limits on it, but the more powerful you get, the more likely the megacorps are to notice you and make an offer you can't refuse. If you regularly play with the same group of people, you can register as a team and collectively keep items that would normally be over the nuyen limit and have to be sold after a run. Unlike Living City, where they pretty much always use the most conservative possible interpretation of the rules, they do give you some more leeway to design the character you like and keep them even when new stuff comes out. Let's hope they can keep that up through 4th edition and beyond.Elminster's Everwinking Eye: Ed continues his progress through the alphabet, reaching the city of Luthbaern. One obviously written before the recent rescue of Waukeen, as the priests there are still struggling to make themselves useful without spells. It's one of those rich walled cities filled with merchants, with a bunch of magical protections on the walls that divides property values sharply between insiders and the muddy ring of stables and ad hoc shanty buildings surrounding it. Inside, you never have to worry about fires, rain or shapeshifted creatures sneaking around causing trouble. (except the mysterious Belted Mage who's responsible for them, who obviously leaves an exception for himself and can be found in many guises wandering around subtly keeping the place stable & working to his liking) This, along with a strong system of worker rights and welfare leaves people free to get good at various crafts and invest profits in business ventures without worrying about losing everything in a disaster or all the money flowing to a few people and the economy stagnating because they've formed a monopoly. A reminder that capitalism needs a certain degree of regulation to remain a free market, as otherwise it'll wind up free for those at the top in charge of essentials and everyone else trapped underneath them. So this place isn't perfect, particularly for visitors without any money to spend, but it's another place that's fairly decent to live as long as you can accept that it's ultimately a benevolent dictatorship and trying to take it over without similar magical ability would make it much worse even if you succeeded. Another good example of how the wizards are the ones that are really in charge in the Realms, and how they accomplish that.</blockquote>

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