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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 9069949" data-attributes="member: 27780">Polyhedron UK Issue 8: August 2000part 3/5In Defence of the Realm: A bit of light relief as we head off to Castle Falkenstein for some steampunk fun. How could the British Empire protect itself from an invasion of Bavarian airships? What new technological tricks could they employ with their current arsenal of raw materials and magic? An early warning system of giant stone pillars along the coast, each with a massive compass on top to detect any magnetic disturbances? Then a rapid response train system that gets to the intrusion point fast and launches rockets carrying equally massive nets to ensnare and ground those pesky zeppelins? That’ll definitely do the trick, but only if money is no object, because the prices are ridiculous even at 1800’s numbers. So this serves as a demonstration of just how gonzo you can go with their crafting system, creating pulp superscience that functions on an army scale. That’s actually a pretty decent incentive to get me to want to play. D&D very rarely lets you go that big with your imagination and sometimes you want a lighter system and a setting that encourages higher power ridiculousness. The sheer breadth of games they cover in here continues to be very pleasing even if not all the individual articles are hits like this one.Iron Will: Nothing to do with one of the most commonly taken feats in 3e, this turns out to be an adventure for the Hercules & Xena RPG, in another good example of the UK branch covering systems their other magazines didn’t. King Theseus wants lots of iron ore to make weapons with (secretly encouraged by Ares because y’know, more & better weapons means more interesting wars) and hires the PC’s to get it. This turns out to be more complicated than expected and sends you from one greek city-state to another in pursuit of your ultimate goal. From Athens to Piraeus to get hold of a ship & supplies. Depending on their route they could face sirens, ( which are another Spice Girls reference, because they were absolutely inescapable in the UK in the second half of the 90’s) a cyclops, pirates, or the trojan badger. (the history books say it was a horse because that sounds more dignified, but we know the truth) They can stop at Byzantum, which has plenty of interesting sights to see, but no iron ore, or press on to Synope or Trapezus, which do have it, but you have to deal with high prices or hostile natives to get some. Then you head back to Athens, with the warmth of your welcome depending on how good a deal you managed to get on the iron and if you question the suspiciousness of the whole premise. A lighthearted little adventure that’s both very nonlinear and very low on combat for a tournament adventure, with a lot of emphasis on the roleplaying of trading, the costs of buying and selling at various places and the amount you’ll consume on the journey. Not exactly what I was expecting when I heard the names Hercules & Xena but it’s definitely a nice change of pace from the usual kind of adventures you see around here, with plenty of opportunity for amusing repartee if you get into character. I can definitely see the value in this one and wish Dungeon would do at least a few trading chain based adventures, since those are becoming increasingly common as side quests in console RPG’s.</blockquote>

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