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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 9017775" data-attributes="member: 27780">Polyhedron Issue 138: October 1999part 3/5Elminster's Everwinking Eye: Our seemingly endless wandering of the Border Kingdoms takes us to Oeble, which firmly fits into the den of scum & villainy mould. Like Automata in the Outlands, it exists as much underground as aboveground, with a bunch of little stairways in various places leading you down to the unmapped tunnels where you can indulge any vice for the right price. Unlike it's planar counterpart, the surface parts are pretty grimy and dangerous as well, with dead bodies regularly being found in the streets in the morning. Still, they don't care about your race or sexuality as long as your money's good and you're not a snitch, so plenty of creatures that are seen as monsters in other countries and attacked on sight rub shoulders here. Since the editorial code is looser than it used to be, Ed can go into plenty of details on what those vices are, with strip clubs, massage parlors with extras, streetwalkers all making appearances, along with the magical defences they use to make sure the rougher clients don't get out of hand. If you just got a big haul adventuring elsewhere, coming here is an easy (but hopefully fun) way to blow it all. Or you could keep your guard up and have a whole load of adventures without ever leaving town, maybe even come out with a profit. Nothing particularly new here, but another stylishly delivered combination of elements which manages to be distinct from all the other settlements he's covered already. Long may he manage to mix and match them in different ways. City Stories: This column takes a break not only from temples, but the Living City entirely, as we’re off to Gothic Earth for some seasonal spookiness. The real world history of subway systems has enough literal and figurative darkness in it, with plenty of overworked, underpaid workers killed due to lack of proper health & safety procedures while digging them. In a world filled with hidden monsters, it's even worse. There's the ones buried for centuries who react poorly to their lairs being disturbed. Then there's the smarter ones like vampires who see the value in a place where you can be active any time of day and filled with prey. These cancel out in terms of actual progress, so while the digging process might have been even bloodier, it still got done on time, but there are probably more hidden rooms off the public parts of the network and sealed up bits where they hit something nasty and had to make a detour. This turns out to be about 50/50 real world history and supernatural embellishments, and unusually, it's the real world bits that are more interesting and less formulaic, showing just how much drama goes into the creation of these places, between the financial wranglings to fund the construction, figuring out where to dig and labour relations along the way. It'd probably be possible to create a good game based on that premise alone. A good example of how doing lots of real world research can make for a better adventure than just making stuff up wholecloth. I approve of this, and the bibliography at the end can definitely go on my list of other things I'd like to read at some point if I ever get the time.</blockquote>

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