Dungeon #130

Alzrius

The EN World kitten
I just got Dungeon #130 in the mail today. Here's the breakdown of what's in store.

From the Editor: The First Time's the Charm - Erik Mona talks about a "How to Play D&D" after-school class he took as a kid, and (as I read it), his first experience with called shots. ;)

Prison Mail - Letters this month talk about improvements to the magazine, the wish for Adventure Path video games, and how Morlin's (from the Vampires of Waterdeep arc) stats didn't live up to his status as a legendary Forgotten Realms villain.

Within the Circle, by Sam Brown - A Forgotten Realms adventure for 1st-level characters. A local Baron asks the PCs to investigate the mysterious group known as the House of the Circlet, who has been backing him for years. Doing so leads the PCs to confront a band of goblins that's been recently poisoning the town's water supply.

The Palace of Plenty, by Tito Leati - This Oriental Adventures adventure for 10th-level characters has the PCs investigating attacks by degenerate beasts in a frozen land. They uncover how the peaceful Yayosei people of the region, when they tried to use the power of the Void Dragon to stop time, caused the energies to cause them to turn into monsters. Now, the PCs must invade Amata Goten and destroy the Timeless Hourglass to end the threat.

This adventure is extremely well done. More than just a question of mechanics, this adventure has an oriental feel to it, with many creatures and locations having evocative proper names, ghosts of varying agendas and powers, and more. Interestingly, a lot of the material here is found in books other than OA, such as the wu jen (reprinted in Complete Arcane) and spirit folk (Unapproachable East). The adventure here is not set on either Kara-Tur or Rokugan, that I recognized. Also, three new powers for ghosts are given in a sidebar. Likewise, seven spells from Complete Arcane are reprinted here: animate water, cobra's breath, ice blast, ice knife, steam breath, swim, and water to poison.

The Spire of Long Shadows, by Jesse Decker - The Age of Worms continues in this adventure for 13th-level characters! The PCs meet with the Archmage Manzorian, as well as several other old friends, to discuss the Age of Worms. The PCs must travel to the Spire of Long Shadows to search for clues to how a man became a god. But delving into the heart of Kyuss's apotheosis is the most dangerous part of the Adventure Path, as new and powerful minions of the Wormgod move to defend their master's lair. Finally, the history behind the rise of Kyuss becomes clear...including the one who gave him his power: Mak'ar, the Harbinger of Worms.

Needless to say, this adventure rocked pretty hard! It was great to see the stunning artwork of Kyuss as a mortal man. Likewise, something that'll tickle most readers is how the various omens heralding the Age of Worms are listed...most of them being previous adventures in Dungeon magazine. At the end of the adventure, seven new monsters are statted out (using the new format, of course): eviscerator beetle, Kyuss knight, overworm, sword of Kyuss, wormcaller, worm naga, and wormswarm. Also, the spell slashing darkness is reprinted from the Miniature's Handbook.

Dungeoncraft: Winging It, by Monte Cook - Monte talks about the mathematics of winging it.

The Cast: Behind Bars, by Michael Kortes - Twenty NPCs are given, one short paragraph per person, for the next time you need individuals to flesh out a jail.

The City: Have You heard?, by Trevor Janes - Twenty-five rumors are given.

The Dungeon: Swords of Legend, by Ashavan Doyon - Six swords are given colorful histories, along with short suggestions for their game stats.

The Journey: Inns and Lodging Houses, by Alec Austin - Five inns are described, giving a description and mention of the staff.

Map of Myster - the name of the artist doesn't seem to be given, but this map displays a jungle trading outpost.

Comics - Mt. Zogon, by Tony Mosley; The Portent, by Peter Bergting; and Downer, by Kyle Stanley Hunter.

NEXT MONTH IN DUNGEON
DUNGEON #131

THE BEASTS OF AULBESMIL

By Skip Williams
Aulbesmil's silver mines are played out and mercantile traffic has grown sparse. Orcs and monsters lurk in the nearby woods, but the real menace hides behind twitching whiskers in the town itself. A D&D adventure for 3rd-level characters.

THE PRINCE OF REDHAND
By Richard Pett
BONUS BACKDROP & POSTER MAP!
Prince Zeech cordially invites you to party with bandits, slavers, pirates, and a mysterious woman who may hold the key to preventing an apocalypse. An Age of Worms Adventure Path scenario for 15th-level charaters.

THE HATEFUL LEGACY
By Greg A. Vaughan
At the end of the Hateful Wars, Lord Sandor led an army into the foothills of the Barrier Peaks in pursuit of a host of goblins and orcs. He and his army vanished, and now a group of adventurers follows his footsteps to discover what doom fell upon him and his men. A GREYHAWK adventure for 12th-level characters.
 
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Haven't even gotten 129 yet...

Seven new monsters? Cool. I'm really enjoying the whole Age of Worms arc, and it sounds like they keep getting better.

Demiurge out.
 

i have to agree. they really have taken a rather obscure villan and made something meaningful out of him. not to mention, the adventure is loaded with other nostalgia bits. :)
 


One thing I was annoyed about was that "The Palace of Plenty" didn't expound on exactly what the Void Dragon was. It seemed like a god, or at least a god-like creature. A sidebar on it would have been much appreciated. Paizo, I don't suppose we could get a web enhancement in that regard?
 

A few other things. First, note the illustration on page 58, where the Paizo PCs are looking at the Spire of Long Shadows. Notice the tiefling girl in the bottom right part of the picture. Notice her left hand. Either she's reaching to pick her comrade's pocket, or she's grabbing his butt, I'm not sure which.

Also, it's worth noting that there's no full-page reproduction of the cover image without the blurbs in the issue.
 

So... what's the new monster statblock like? Is it just the format they've been using for NPC's o is it something else?

Spire of Long Shadows looks really excellent. I was kind of let down by 'A Gathering of Winds' (I sure hope that all the Vaati/Wind Duke stuff ties back into the Age of Worms storyline. Right now, it seems like tidbits of superfluous background material), hopefully 'Spire' returns to the awesomeness of 'The Champion's Belt' and 'Hall of Harsh Reflections.'
 


Alzrius said:
One thing I was annoyed about was that "The Palace of Plenty" didn't expound on exactly what the Void Dragon was. It seemed like a god, or at least a god-like creature. A sidebar on it would have been much appreciated. Paizo, I don't suppose we could get a web enhancement in that regard?

Dragons basically ARE gods in most oriental settings, but are not quite invincible. Anime characters like Goku and Inuyasha seem able to do in a dragon as the climax of a story arc, so it's not inconceivable that dragons might have stats. I'd say it's a DM call - I could easily see it swinging both ways and it's not necessarily something that needs to be dictated to him.
 

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