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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 8989095" data-attributes="member: 27780">Polyhedron Issue 136: June 1999part 2/5Member Spotlight: Our profilee this time is Jeffrey M. West. (Not the same one recently put away for several decades for making child porn if you google the name, thankfully, unless he's also lying about his age here.) Not one of the volunteers maintaining the Living stuff, he's just a regular guy who's been roleplaying even before the term was formally invented and going to tournaments since the late 70's. All this practice has obviously worked, as he made it to the final table of the Best of the Best tournament last year. (only to be scored worst at that point, but that still leaves him number 6 in the overall rankings.) He is a member of a particularly large club called Magma Gamers though, which have raised over $5000 for charity over the past couple of years. His day job is similarly compassionate, deciding what charities get federal funds, which probably involves some tough choices, but is still much more satisfying than working retail. There are many ways to be a hero in real life, few as spectacular as in D&D, but without anyone doing them, society would be in far worse shape. See if you can find your own little unique niche as well.Internet 101: This column is in theme, as it gives links to all the RPGA websites of the time. This makes it particularly depressing to read now, as all of the links here have long since been redirected to the WotC front page with their contents deleted, or simply ceased to exist in the case of the third party websites. Even less useful than the average one of these, and a reminder of how much D&D history from that era is now lost, as it was all websites with no print version.There is still a bit of useful advice though. General warnings on trading or selling secondhand material through sites like these. Make sure addresses are accurate, there's a real person at the other end of them, and if possible get references of other successful transactions they've made. All still valid even if it is a bit easier to find records like that now, with ebay still going strong and many people having accounts stretching all the way back to then. As long as we sell and buy stuff, some people will want to make a quick buck by delivering substandard goods or taking the money and running.Elminster's Everwinking Eye: After last issue's urban dystopia, time for some good old fashioned wilderness crawling dangers in the Neth Stand. Apparently, this is where a lot of the people from Netheril fled just after that was destroyed, which is a long way to go, but when you have all that magic, you can fly or teleport where you want. This didn't work out too well for them long-term though, as it's now abandoned, with a large dead magic zone that moves around the area making it rather unpredictable what resources you'll have available when exploring. There are plenty of carnivorous plants and giant spiders that'll be just as dangerous either way, and quite possibly more intelligent creatures at the centre, probably backed up by one of the Realms' many Deepspawn that keep the monster population above what a realistic ecology could support. Plenty of challenges here, but no new ideas. It's all just variations on a theme from other places we've already seen. A somewhat subpar entry by his standards.</blockquote>

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