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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 8973551" data-attributes="member: 27780">Polyhedron UK Issue 4: March 1999part 5/5Writers Guide: Just like the US branch, they always want more submissions, but will only accept them if they meet certain criteria. Send your idea first, through email or a letter with a SASE included. Submissions themselves must include both paper and microsoft word copies for redundancies sake. Use good spelling, punctuation & grammar, but also keep things concise, as they only have so many pages per issue and smaller articles are easier to format in. All pretty similar to the previous times they've said something like this apart from the increasing specificity of computer formats. They may make some parts of the magazine editing and layout process a lot quicker but they also bring new ways things can glitch as well. The more computers are all connected online, the more the same few programs will come to dominate simply due to compatibility requirements and network externalities.The Horror Investigator's Survival Guide: A whole load more self aware lessons on what not to do in a horror scenario, that somehow no-one in the films ever heeds. No matter how much of a bargain it is, never buy the house built on a graveyard. If the power goes out in the middle of the night, don't go down to the basement. Never read eldritch books or solve evil puzzles. Never pull a stake out of a corpse's heart. Never split the party. Attractive members of the opposite sex have a better than even chances of getting you killed one way or another. If your car breaks down in the middle of the night, avoid the spooky mansion nearby. Going into the woods is probably a bad bet too. If your kids start speaking another language in a deep voice, just kill them now and save everyone time & grief. Maybe not the last one because that'll get you in trouble with the law even if you survive the horror scenario and asylums are not usually fun places to run your character. (looking at you, the first half of Bleak House) If you've been playing for a few years you'll probably already know these, but break them sometimes anyway because otherwise the game would stall and be no fun. So this is fairly amusing, but doesn't really teach me anything new. Bare Bones: Our general advice column is another old canard. Think about your character's families. How many relatives do they have, are they still alive, how do they get along with them? Are their siblings on the same side, or will defeating them be one of the most climactic parts of the campaign? Do they have mommy/daddy issues, are there any identical twins in the campaign, any hidden relatives they don't even know about yet? You know the drill, all that stuff that has plenty of potential for drama, but be careful not to overdo it, or everyone'll make emotionally dead orphans for the next campaign so they can't be exploited in the same way. Another instance where there's nothing particularly wrong with the advice, but it's not telling me anything new either. On The Trail: Instead of talking about recent conventions, this column is focussing on the recent push to do game store demos. Apparently it's not just WotC that think that's a good idea, Decipher are also running them for their various CCG's. The RPGA already does Star Wars RPG stuff, maybe it would be a good idea if they joined forces. Most of the gamers on the ground are in favour of it, it's just a question of getting the corporate high-ups on both sides to get over their competitiveness and come to an agreement. Your typical tale of profit motive getting in the way of having the greatest amount of fun. Well, if they can open up D&D to third party supplements solving this is pretty small fry by comparison, so hopefully this idea will get a positive follow-up in future issues.Probably the most british feeling issue yet in both good and bad ways, with plenty of interesting humorous touches and a greater willingness to be honest about the flaws in their parent company, but also a feeling that they're trying to do the job of all three US magazines at once on a limited budget, cramming whatever articles, reviews, and adventures they can get in without much quality control. Still, they're definitely managing to get more out of their money than the US branch looking at the respective sizes and production values. There are lessons to be learned from that. We'll just have to see if they try to learn them before the magazines cease to exist as independent entities.</blockquote>

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