Previews for Dungeon 148 and Dragon 357 (July 2007)

[Mouseferatu]

Savage Tide's canon is self-contained in the continuity of the Dungeon Adventure Paths, but beyond that, it's as "canon" as you want it to be for Greyhawk or Eberron or Forgotten Realms or Mystara or whatever. It's not meant to advance some "world of D&D" timeline unless you, the DM, want it that way.

I figured that was the case, but as I'm sure you can imagine, I--and WotC's/Paizo's other freelancers--had a vested interest in being certain.

Thanks much.

 

[Mouseferatu]

Which is my way of saying Demogorgon's been Prince of Demons for all of D&D, and it's gonna take something bigger than a 12-part adventure published in a magazine to have a permanent affect on that reign.

Maybe.

Oh, sure, answer my question and then get all cryptic and mysterious. I swear, make a guy an editor, and he thinks he runs things...

 

[James Jacobs]

I figured that was the case, but as I'm sure you can imagine, I--and WotC's/Paizo's other freelancers--had a vested interest in being certain.

Thanks much.

Demogorgon's too cool a bad guy to cut loose. I'm certainly not gonna be the one to take him out of the pool.

I'm not afraid to change the pool's water though. Or who's allowed to play in the deep end.

 

[James Jacobs]

Oh, sure, answer my question and then get all cryptic and mysterious. I swear, make a guy an editor, and he thinks he runs things...

The secret is that, since the last adventure's not in yet, I'm honestly not really sure how it's all gonna end. I have my ideas, but every one of the authors we've had work on it have contributed better ideas than mine that have made the campaign better than I'd hoped.

Based on what Rob Schwalb, Eric Boyd, and Wolf Baur did in their adventures, though... well, let's just say that I'm gonna be having fun ordering art for the next few issues of the magazine.

 

[Nightfall]

James,

I forget, which adventure did Rob do for you guys?

 

[James Jacobs]

James,

I forget, which adventure did Rob do for you guys?

Rob's doing part 9, "Into the Maw." Sean Reynolds was originally scheduled to write that one, but he had to back out.

 

[BOZ]

Are those CR scores too low? For some games, absolutely. But if I've learned anything about Demon Lord CRs from my work on FC1, it's that you can't please everyone. Best to aim for myself on this one

sounds like you've figured out the best way to go.

you'll always have some people saying "hey, no fair, he's too tough for my 15th level party and we wanted to kill him!" and some people saying "hey, our 50th level party could kill 12 of him in 2 rounds; that's no challenge!" so, going somewhere in the middle is probably the safe route.

 

[BOZ]

The way I've been setting up these articles so far, the demon lords generally run from CR 24 to 32.

hey, does that mean you'd put even lowly Juiblex at 24, or does "generally" mean he could be lower?

 

[Razz]

It's Demogorgon who claims the title "Prince of Demons," isn't it? Orcus is prince of the undead...

Yeah I knew that, I meant to say Demogorgon and accidentally referred to the post on the talk of Orcus. Was half-asleep when I wrote that, heh

 

[Shade]

Well... no matter WHAT CR Demogorgon ends up being, I guarentee it'll be too low for someone. Same for the others.

The way I've been setting up these articles so far, the demon lords generally run from CR 24 to 32. I suspect Demogorgon'll end up being the lone CR 32 in the series, with Orcus, Graz'zt, and Obox-ob being the only CR 31s in the series (if I ever get to them, which I hope I do).

Are those CR scores too low? For some games, absolutely. But if I've learned anything about Demon Lord CRs from my work on FC1, it's that you can't please everyone. Best to aim for myself on this one, and I like Demogorgon at CR 32, since that fits best for what I've got planned for Savage Tide if the PCs mess up bad.

I really like the range you've chosen because it helps preserve the "suspension of disbelief" that these fellas truly could be lording over the balors and other top-tier non-unique demons.

Demogorgon's too cool a bad guy to cut loose. I'm certainly not gonna be the one to take him out of the pool.

I'm not afraid to change the pool's water though. Or who's allowed to play in the deep end.

Considering that particular pool's waters are infinitely deep, there's room for lots of players.

Based on what Rob Schwalb, Eric Boyd, and Wolf Baur did in their adventures, though... well, let's just say that I'm gonna be having fun ordering art for the next few issues of the magazine.

I love the proto-gator on this month's cover.