Dungeon No. 118 cover/details

[Mighty Halfling]

That's the image of the new issue of Dungeon.
Here's what Paizo says about the contents ...

Dungeon Issue #118
Paizo Publishing, LLC

Price: $7.00

(Preorder, expected 12/14/04) Cover Date Jan 2005
Shipped to Subscribers Nov 23, 2004
Appears on Newstands Dec 14, 2004

This issue presents the first of four eight-panel poster maps of the World of Greyhawk, one of D&D's most beloved campaign settings. This first quadrant unveils (among others) the location of the Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth, the expanse of the Land of Black Ice, much of the demon-haunted lands of Iuz, and the expansive Vesve Forest, the location featured in this month's adventure, "Throne of Iuz." Also in this issue, our regular columns "Dungeoncraft" and the Campaign Workbook offer more helpful suggestions for your game, including a new Critical Threat. Plus, a new Wil Save, "Mt. Zogon," "Portent," "Downer," and these three adventures:

Box of Flumph
by Tim Hitchcock
It had to happen. Of all the creatures in the history of Dungeons & Dragons, the lowly flumph has perhaps the worst reputation. Can Tim Hitchcock and the Dungeon staff revive this lovable loser in a way that won't fill Prison Mail with hate mail? Drop by and see! A D&D adventure for 1st-level characters.

Shadow of the Abyss
by Greg A. Vaughan
On the trail of Ilkharis, frost giant cleric of Kostchtchie and pawn of the Malgoth, the PCs venture out of Istivin to a mountain border fort inhabited by giants and a nasty blue dragon. Part Two of the Istivin: City of Shadows campaign arc. A D&D adventure for 11th-level characters.

Throne of Iuz by John Simcoe
At the heart of the Vesve Forest lies the warped, twisted region of deadly bogs, acidic gasses, and treacherous terrain known as the Defiled Glades. And from these glades comes King Bog One-eye, a titanic toad gifted with an appetite for destruction and the intelligence to carry it out by none other than Iuz himself, one of the greatest villains from the World of Greyhawk. A D&D adventure for 14th-level characters.

=============
And why do I care? Because I wrote Throne of Iuz. I can't wait to see the final version, see the maps and hear your comments on it.

 

[GlassJaw]

a titanic toad gifted with an appetite for destruction

Brilliant! Sounds cool.

This looks like a good issue.

I'm really looking forward to the new Adventure Path but I don't think that starts until 2005.

 

[takasi]

The cover art for both Dungeon and Dragon has been excellent in the last few issues.

I'm still very disappointed with the content of Dungeon though. They might as well change the name to Greyhawk Dungeon. Is this two Greyhawk specific setting adventures now? Yes, yes...it's the "default" D&D setting (whatever that means). Do they offer any suggestions for porting these adventures for the majority of D&D players who don't play in Greyhawk?

I'm looking forward to Keith Baker's sidebars for the Adventure Path. When someone gets an issue, can they post a preview of #119?

 

[Arnwyn]

Shadow of the Abyss
by Greg A. Vaughan
On the trail of Ilkharis, frost giant cleric of Kostchtchie and pawn of the Malgoth, the PCs venture out of Istivin to a mountain border fort inhabited by giants and a nasty blue dragon. Part Two of the Istivin: City of Shadows campaign arc. A D&D adventure for 11th-level characters.

Hee hee! Cool. I'm definitely interested in seeing that Throne of Iuz, too.

I'm still very disappointed with the content of Dungeon though.

Not me. Dungeon is the best it's ever been now.

They might as well change the name to Greyhawk Dungeon. Is this two Greyhawk specific setting adventures now? Yes, yes...it's the "default" D&D setting (whatever that means).

Because it's fairly "generic" and thus easily portable to different campaigns that rely on the core (read: PHB) rules. Thought that would be pretty obvious. Whether it's Greyhawk or totally generic, it's the same thing except for a couple of names (which would need to be changed in a homebrew anyways). Greyhawk = core = generic = easily portable.

Do they offer any suggestions for porting these adventures for the majority of D&D players who don't play in Greyhawk?

Why bother wasting Paizo's limited resources for no benefit? Greyhawk is pretty much as generic as they come. Since you brought up "the majority", well, the "majority" of D&D players homebrew - not much value in suggestions to porting a generic setting to a myriad of homebrews, obviously. Strange that someone would make such a suggestion.

Though I can see the use of an "Adapting the adventure to Eberron" section in the web enhancements, due to the wackiness of Eberron.

 

[Darrin Drader]

Looks like another amazing issue. I really need to renew my subscription. I've been having to pick them up at cover price from my local gamestore recently.

 

[The_Gunslinger658]

The cover art for both Dungeon and Dragon has been excellent in the last few issues.

I'm still very disappointed with the content of Dungeon though. They might as well change the name to Greyhawk Dungeon. Is this two Greyhawk specific setting adventures now? Yes, yes...it's the "default" D&D setting (whatever that means). Do they offer any suggestions for porting these adventures for the majority of D&D players who don't play in Greyhawk?

I'm looking forward to Keith Baker's sidebars for the Adventure Path. When someone gets an issue, can they post a preview of #119?

Oh please give me a break from such hyperbolic musings. Just switch out the name of persons and places and viola, your set. I play in the Forgotten Realms and right off the cuff I can switch out Iuz for Velsharoon or Szass Tam then place the adventure in the shining south. Perhaps Mount Talath.
There conversion done in under 10 minutes.


Scott

 

[takasi]

Generic...or watered down? There are a lot of campaign specific items from FR and Eberron that are missing from Greyhawk, and it would be nice to see suggestions for incorporating them into the adventures.

I don't believe Greyhawk is a watered down setting. A setting is more than just replacing names. There is history and political content to consider. I don't have #118, but I do have #117. If an adventure like "Touch of the Abyss" is so easy to convert, then can someone who has done it please post here? How easy was it to do? The adventure background has a pretty involved story. It's race dependent (drow). It's pantheon dependent. It's even cosmos dependent. The adventure hooks reference proper places and events.

It's Turkey Day so I can't post everything I'd like, but I have a lot to say about how Greyhawk isn't generic just because the stat blocks for its adventures are mainly from the core books. I've had to avoid running them because it is a lot of work to move them to other settings, specifically Eberron. As a DM, I'm just asking for a little help.

 

[talinthas]

You think its hard converting GH adventures for the realms? Try converting ANY dungeon adventure for dragonlance! It's just not possible! If it doesnt refer to orcs, it refers to drow, or to halflings, or to other untranslatable issues that don't exist on krynn. At least you can use GH adventures in the realms with simple cosmetic surgery. Converting to dragonlance is like trying to repair a human with dolphin parts.

 

[Arnwyn]

*shrug* All I know is that, like Doomed Battalions above, I can insert a GH adventure into my FR campaign in a very short time. (I'm still reading #116, but when I get to #117 I'll be adding "Touch of the Abyss" to my FR world as well.)

I can't imagine it being difficult ('cause it's not, for me at least) to add the adventure's history into the local history of a different campaign setting or even to tweak it to something as nicely detailed as the FR setting's history. Political content in Dungeon adventures also seems to be mostly local. When you're dealing with thousands of years of history and millions of square miles of land, inserting a GH adventure into FR is a breeze.

GH is generic. I see there being no difference between a GH adventure and a 'generic' adventure. Not one. (Okay, one - a generic adventure actually needs a tiny touch of work to put it into GH. How 'bout that? Looks like simple logic dictates which is best.) Like I said above, I can insert it into my FR game in a very short time. With ease.

Now, I do agree with you that GH would be more difficult to put into Eberron - but let's face it - everything would be more difficult to put into Eberron. And, like I also said above, that's due to Eberron's wackiness. (And, may you note, I did agree with you that an Eberron sidebar might be a good addition to the monthly web enhancement.)

 

[coyote6]

That's a great cover.