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[Let's Read] Polyhedron/Dungeon
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<blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 7964709" data-attributes="member: 27780"><p><strong><u>The Polyhedron Issue 5: Mar/Apr 1982</u></strong></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>part 2/4</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Letters: Our first letter asks what kind of articles they'd like to see from the public. They're not in a position to be picky yet, so send them all, then we can grab the best. You have a chance to influence the direction of the RPGA! The joys of being in on the ground floor. </p><p></p><p>The second letter is in favour of the RPGA, but from the skewed perspective that someone needs to keep young players from being ridiculous power-gamers. Yeah, they'll pretty much have to do that as soon as they get into the Living Campaign stuff to keep things from breaking down.</p><p></p><p>The third letter asks how D&D got started. Gygax did it. There's a lot of places that retell the story in more detail by now. </p><p></p><p>And finally, we have a request for more high level adventures. They are planning some, but hindsight shows that in the long run, they'll always be a minority of published stuff simply because only a minority of groups ever get that far. It's just mathematics. The ridiculously powerful stuff may look cool, but it won't be used nearly as often as the bread & butter staples. </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>RPGA Interview with Jake Jaquet pt 2: The second half of Jake's interview concentrates on his ideas for Dragon magazine. The importance of maintaining enough independence that you can criticise other products by the same company, and not just be a promotional house organ, as well as making sure you cater to all RPGers, not just D&D players. Both things they'd eventually lose, and which were sorely missed when they did. The importance of listening to your fanbase and giving them what they need, not just what they say they want. This applies even more to the RPGA, where the membership is what really makes the games fun, and the rules are just there to facilitate that and keep a few naughty words from ruining it for everyone else. If you don't keep listening they'll drift away before you know it. That's definite foreshadowing. There will be rough times ahead, and I'll have to go through them again from this perspective as well. Let's hope they're the interesting kind of bad, not the boring kind.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Where I'm Coming From: Huh. Just a year in, and Frank is already being moved to another department and off the editor's job on the Newszine. I knew he'd be busy with the BECMI series at some point, but I didn't think he'd leave here this quickly. His replacement is Mary Kirchoff, who also worked on the TSR issues of ARES, and googling says she stays in the company in one job or another until 2004. We shall see how much of that is with the newszine, and how much she stamps her own personality on it in future issues. </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Notes For the Dungeon Master: This column moves away from random sadism, encouraging you to pick a number of monsters that would be a fair challenge for your party rather than roll the No: Appearing which often varies by many orders of magnitude. That way you can pace sessions better, putting regular ones in the middle, and the big climactic battle that might actually consume some resources at the end. And if you are going to keep that degree of swinginess, make sure they have a chance to run away if they're overmatched. Fair enough. Most DM's don't really want to kill their players, and if they really wanted too, there are quicker ways than slightly too many common monsters wearing them down in a lengthy fight. Another reminder that the truly old school phase of D&D didn't actually last that long, and we're already reaching the end of it. 3e and strictly defined CR ratings'll be here again before we know it.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="(un)reason, post: 7964709, member: 27780"] [b][u]The Polyhedron Issue 5: Mar/Apr 1982[/u][/b] part 2/4 Letters: Our first letter asks what kind of articles they'd like to see from the public. They're not in a position to be picky yet, so send them all, then we can grab the best. You have a chance to influence the direction of the RPGA! The joys of being in on the ground floor. The second letter is in favour of the RPGA, but from the skewed perspective that someone needs to keep young players from being ridiculous power-gamers. Yeah, they'll pretty much have to do that as soon as they get into the Living Campaign stuff to keep things from breaking down. The third letter asks how D&D got started. Gygax did it. There's a lot of places that retell the story in more detail by now. And finally, we have a request for more high level adventures. They are planning some, but hindsight shows that in the long run, they'll always be a minority of published stuff simply because only a minority of groups ever get that far. It's just mathematics. The ridiculously powerful stuff may look cool, but it won't be used nearly as often as the bread & butter staples. RPGA Interview with Jake Jaquet pt 2: The second half of Jake's interview concentrates on his ideas for Dragon magazine. The importance of maintaining enough independence that you can criticise other products by the same company, and not just be a promotional house organ, as well as making sure you cater to all RPGers, not just D&D players. Both things they'd eventually lose, and which were sorely missed when they did. The importance of listening to your fanbase and giving them what they need, not just what they say they want. This applies even more to the RPGA, where the membership is what really makes the games fun, and the rules are just there to facilitate that and keep a few naughty words from ruining it for everyone else. If you don't keep listening they'll drift away before you know it. That's definite foreshadowing. There will be rough times ahead, and I'll have to go through them again from this perspective as well. Let's hope they're the interesting kind of bad, not the boring kind. Where I'm Coming From: Huh. Just a year in, and Frank is already being moved to another department and off the editor's job on the Newszine. I knew he'd be busy with the BECMI series at some point, but I didn't think he'd leave here this quickly. His replacement is Mary Kirchoff, who also worked on the TSR issues of ARES, and googling says she stays in the company in one job or another until 2004. We shall see how much of that is with the newszine, and how much she stamps her own personality on it in future issues. Notes For the Dungeon Master: This column moves away from random sadism, encouraging you to pick a number of monsters that would be a fair challenge for your party rather than roll the No: Appearing which often varies by many orders of magnitude. That way you can pace sessions better, putting regular ones in the middle, and the big climactic battle that might actually consume some resources at the end. And if you are going to keep that degree of swinginess, make sure they have a chance to run away if they're overmatched. Fair enough. Most DM's don't really want to kill their players, and if they really wanted too, there are quicker ways than slightly too many common monsters wearing them down in a lengthy fight. Another reminder that the truly old school phase of D&D didn't actually last that long, and we're already reaching the end of it. 3e and strictly defined CR ratings'll be here again before we know it. [/QUOTE]
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