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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 9038731" data-attributes="member: 27780">Polyhedron UK 6: March 2000part 2/5Psionics Revisited: They just can't resist heavily overhauling the psionics system at every iteration, can they? The UK branch gets in on the action with another set of house rules. Rather than dividing powers up into Sciences & Devotions, both of which are accessible from 1st level in varying amounts, they're put into initiate, adept and master tiers, which are only accessible once you reach certain levels. Number of PSPs you have is cut dramatically, but so are activation costs. Psychic combat uses the same power names but works completely differently. Powers work much more like spells in general (and in many cases are simply spells) It all feels like a dry run for the more standardised way they handled psionic powers in 3e, getting rid of mental tangents, tracking maintenance costs and 1st level characters being able to go to the Astral Plane. A character built using this system is much less likely to short-circuit an adventure by using out of context powers. I guess that demonstrates which way the wind is blowing in general design trends - more competent but duller. Still, at least this shows more ambition than the average article. Nice to see them experimenting with bigger rules variants.Working for the Enemy: Speaking of ambition, there's a fine line between being ambitious and veering into self-indulgence. Ian Richards doesn't just occupy more than half the staff roles, he also fills nearly half the issue with a mammoth 31 page adventure also written by him, because who's going to stop him? Himself?! Anyway, the PC's are high level adventurers teleported away from their normal lives for one last big job by their wizardly mentor. (without all their gear, just to make it trickier. Another reason to play a psionicist or monk, you don't get screwed so much by adventures like this.) Only it turns out it's not your mentor, but his teenage daughter. (specifically noted to now be very hot and just barely legal after the last time you saw her was as a kid :sighs heavily, rubs temples: ) Daddy disappeared days ago without warning and she's very worried. Time for you to find out what happened and rescue him. First, you'll have to buy a new set of basic adventuring equipment, dealing with your stereotypical arabian haggling scenes along the way. Then start asking around the town for more clues. This will rapidly attract the attention of the Zhentarim that captured him one way or another, and they'll send thugs to take you out & capture his daughter as well. This will prompt her to reveal info she should have just told you in the first place, that he was carrying half a map when he disappeared, and she can show you the other half. You can either try and follow what you can see of it's directions, or if you didn't kill all your attackers, (the preferred plot option) get them to reveal the location of the Zhentarim hideout. This is typically guarded & trapped, but at least you get to rescue him at the end of it and a proper set of exposition about the main quest. We're off to the tomb of H'orem H'ebb, an ancient Netherese wizard, to find out it's secrets, preferably before the Zhentarim.Of course, this isn't simple either. Not far out, you'll face a quite uncharacteristic rainstorm that washes away all the tracks, then several days of more traditional desert sun & mirages that leave you quite lost & dehydrated until you come across a sacred Bedine oasis. They'll turn up a little later and be extremely rude to you until the spirit of the oasis does a deus ex machina, forces everyone to cool it and points you in the right direction. From there, you still have to face a Laerti ambush, climb a cliff face and deal with some desert zombies before you finally reach the dungeon. Once there, there's also plenty to do. Input the passcode on a 9 digit keypad. Fight or talk down the guardian Crass dragon. (half copper, half brass, all the irritating personality traits of both) Deal with Stone Wolves, Netherese Zombies, a bunch of chaos imps trapped in a magical circle that'll be typically irritating if you're dumb enough to release them, traps aplenty, a Metagolem. If you make it this far, you'll reach the wizard's assistant, a Baelnorn. He'll be very cross with you for breaking all their defences, as that lets the Phaerimm's minions just waltz right in behind you, and geas you to go back and fight them, (with no chance of resisting the spell) then fix everything up and never talk about this again, so you'll never get to talk to the wizard himself, and the only treasure you get to keep is from the other intruders.So this is a lot longer and more ambitious than the average tournament adventure, and gives you some branching bits where your choices are meaningful, but still revels in a strong degree of railroading and whimsy, as well as using a lot of cliches they mostly avoid in Dungeon. There's also a fair bit of casual sexism & racism on top that could easily have been removed without affecting the overall structure of the adventure, which also demonstrates just how much having a decent editor that has a lot of submissions to pick & choose from contributes to making Dungeon the magazine it is. Not absolutely unusable, but definitely something written and edited entirely by one person without anyone looking over it to say um, maaaaybe these bits were a bad idea and could do with a few revisions before publishing. It could have been so much better.</blockquote>

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