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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 9146411" data-attributes="member: 27780">Polyhedron Issue 147: July 2001part 5/6Bestiary: Monkeymen are a real world cryptid that caused panic in New Delhi, monkeys with metal hands that spread mischief before disappearing again just as mysteriously. Given what the mundane monkeys get up to around there there’s probably a scientific explanation, but since when has D&D ever let that get in the way of creating a new monster. They’ll rarely fight to kill, but delight in tricking people into injuring themselves. Whether there’s anything deeper behind that or just generic mischievousness is up to you in your own campaign. Fox Mulder would spend a good week investigating them, no more, no less.Bare Bones: After doing births and weddings, it shouldn’t come as any surprise that this time they’re doing death. They put a trigger warning on this, despite the fact that you’ve probably been slaughtering animals and humanoids in their dozens every session up to now without batting an eyelid, because this time it’s happening to people you supposedly care about, even if it’s relatives that were never mentioned before in the character’s backstory and will never be significant again. You can get stuff from inheritances that affect whatever plot the players are currently involved with, or find something that sets you off on a whole new quest trying to resolve a challenge they never succeeded at. Other times just getting through the funeral will be challenge enough, depending on who else shows up, their peculiar customs & etiquette and what old grudges they may be carrying. Then there’s the fun of a murder mystery, or finding and properly executing the last will and testament. For each of these examples I can point to specific adventures in Dungeon that use them, so I’m definitely not learning anything new this time around. Very meh.The Polyhedron Review: The Lion in the Ropes is this month’s d20 shovelware they only write about to warn you away from. Railroady, poor mechanics, weak art, it’s just an all-round waste of time. Relics & Rituals, on the other hand is another excellent collection of ideas from White Wolf, who are adapting very well to the new landscapes opened up by the OGL. There’s still a few mechanical snafus compared to WotC, an absence of costs for crafting the items, some things rather over or underpowered, but on the whole it’s very usable. Just don’t give the players access to everything in it’s pages without any vetting. Death in Freeport also gets a very positive review. Green Ronin has kicked off their own d20 world with a bang, giving them plenty of room to build on it further, while still making sure that this is primarily a fun adventure that’s easily put in other campaigns. Like White Wolf, you’ll be seeing plenty more from them in the near future. Vodace is the 6th book in the nations series for the 7th Sea game. If you want Italy, but even more machiavellian, there’s all manner of scheming you could get involved in here. There’s a decent amount of new crunch too: three new swordfighting schools for the melee sorts plus some new fate magic powers for your more subtle spellcasters. There definitely seems to be a decent amount here to use as inspiration even if you’re not planning on using the system.</blockquote>

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