I have been published again.

A fellow blogger who's read a great deal more than I, Christian of Destination Unknown, produces a rpg 'zine One Square Equals Five Feet and he was kind enough to include an frpg adventure starter which I designed in a recent issue.

The adventure is simply titled The Forgotten Ruins and is intended for use with Labyrinth Lord or other Basic frpgs. I've posted it over at Scribd.
I intend to add more details about the creatures which in habbit the ruins, add a random encounter table and such. Perhaps I can get this done this week?

For now, enjoy it as ya like.

The Imperial Stars by E. E. "Doc" Smith

Doc Smith is often credited as a major influence upon George Lucas and the characterization in The Imperial Stars could easily be developed into movie or television personalities. The Imperial Stars is one of Smith's later works, published in 1976, co-written with Stephen Goldin. The tone of this tale reminds me of the works of Alfred Bester. Like Bester's The Demolished Man, The Imperial Stars reads like an old pulp mystery or espionage plot set in a sci-fi or advanced technological society.

Just a plan ol’ quick and fun read and it's avaliable from Paperback Swap.

The Crystal Prince by K. H. Scheer

Where did June go? Well, let me attempt to resurrect the ol' Polyhedral Dicebag with a few notes this week. In my absence I've been doing my usual amount of reading, one short novel a week. I am beginning to feel that I've read enough pulp sci-fi for quite some time but I still have plenty of these old books on my shelves. Here's one I enjoyed recently.


"The Crystal Prince is a subplot of the Perry Rhodan series and Rhodan's name is never mentioned in this tale. This fact certainly doesn't detract from the adventure packed into the 131 pages of pulpy Sci-Fi. In fact, this brief novel contains the entire plot of all six of the Star Wars films, an odd fact since the book was published in 1977.

Atlan, the Crystal Prince is subjected to a life threatening test after which his "second brain" is activated. The second brain is the source of psychic abilities and recipients of these powers traditionally wear flowing white robes. Atlan is also in exile because his uncle usurped the empire from Atlan's father, thus Atlan is given an ancient weapon to help protect himself from his uncle's secret police.

Polyhedral Newsbag: Not rpg related

Over at my other blog, Fanatical Recycling Inc, I'm attempting to write about 52 beers in 52 weeks. I'm trying to focus on the micro breweries of Tennessee and Western North Carolina and, may venture into Georgia and other Southern states. I didn't have time to write the blog last week and hope I can write an additional entry this weekend.

Okay, here's some rpg news; in our Nightwick Abbey game, my M.U. has finally reached level 2!
I hope to write about more items from Saki's Varied Menagerie soon too.

The Fuchsia Feline of Saki the Satirist

Of all the lack of knowledge that has survived the ages about Saki, the master magician known as The Satirist, it is certain that he had a keen since of irony and obscure since of humor. Scholars suspect that the items of Saki's Varied Menagerie where probably most useful to Saki while mysterious and annoying results accompany modern attempts to use these items.

Saki's Fuchsia Feline, a grouping of five pink beads, allows Warlocks to summon and communicate with a domestic cat. The cat, when summoned, has never, reportedly, been fuchsia or pink in color. The purpose of summoning the cat is to employ it as a spy, because who would suspect that a house cat could reveal their most intimate secrets? Scholarly attempts to employ the Fuchsia Feline and subsequent house cat have mostly failed. The cat generally reports on the contents of a grocery list, the idle desires of young princesses or the cat has taken a nap when it should have been spying.

Stats: The color of the cat summoned is: roll 1d6
1. Black
2. White
3. Gray
4. Yellow Tabby
5. Calico
6. Tortoise Shell Tabby

All other stats for the Fuchsia Feline are up to the individual GM.

The Varied Menagerie of Saki the Satirist

Saki the Satirist is an ancient Vanthian Warlock from millennia before the Fall of the Sky Monsters of the Galaxy. Certainly, Saki developed his skill, veritable mastery in the mystical arts, ages before the Waepeta Sorcerers and may have been a founder of the Mummified Bards. His legacy still exists in the remaining contents of his Varied Menagerie, including the Granite Gray Wolf, the Fuchsia Feline, The Cream Jug of the Cosmos, The Ransom Note of the Grim Reaper and, among others, The Playwright's Quill.

The Granite Gray Wolf is a simple, crude, gray carving of wolf. A Warlock or other practitioner of the mystic arts, while in posession of the Granite Gray Wolf, may summon, at random, a small pack of wolves. Once the summoning is concluded, in keeping with the satiric arts of Saki, the pack of wolves will appear at some random time in the future. Tradition holds that the wolf pack is unlikely to appear while the Warlock and friends are beset by highway men, rather the wolves are most likely to appear when the Warlock is holding court with some noblemen or religious officials.

Stats: The Granite Gray Wolf will randomly summon as many as 2d10 wolves. The number of wolves summoned and time of their arrival is left to the GM's determination.

The Enchanted Bandolieers of Oop'Oop'Aru

The Enchanted Bandolier of Oop' Oop' Aru is another of many legendary items associated with this, one of the most famous, Ape Sultan, Diplomat and Military Leader. The Bandolier of Sultan Aru, appears rather plan but is reputed to enchant the marksmanship of the warrior lucky enough to possess it. As with most Vanthian relics of legend, the Enchanted Bandolier is often duplicated by under skilled craftsmen from Blackhawk to the Mercenary Coast. Unfortunately neither the craftsmen nor historians know if Commander Aru wore a bandolier of single or double belt design.

Stat: Ordinary leather Bandolier, or two, provides 5 to 10% bonus for ranged attack in Encounter Critical or +1 or 2, GM's choice, in d20 based games.

--This post inspired by the More Magic Weapons Please! request by Arcadian at No Signals! (Insert Dave Chappelle comment here.)