Gladiators: Part 2


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I wonder if all future dragon articles are going to have this high level of crunch. (And if so, what does that mean for fluff?)

I think we're going to see a mixture. Lets look at the features in Issue 368, "Playtest: Barbarian," "The Gladiator," and "Fight: Battles in the Gladiatorial Arena" are extremely crunch heavy. "Backdrop: Graywall" is almost pure fluff, and I would hazard to guess that "Domains of Dread: Sunderheart, the Funeral City," also falls on that end of the spectrum. "Campaign Items" is pretty much pure DM'ing advice a la the 4e DMG, while "Items of Legend," falls pretty squarely in the middle of the crucnh-fluff mix. Its looking good to me.
 

I just printed this back-to-back with the Gladiators one (two screens per page). I'm liking this very much, my only gripe is with the substandard art.

The Work the Crowd and Death Race are two events that were never truly replicated until we got the Skill Challenge mechanics. Bravo!

Plus the Angry Mob can be reskinned as a wide range of creatures, from "torch-n-pitchforks" to "modern zombie horde".
 

I think we're going to see a mixture. Lets look at the features in Issue 368, "Playtest: Barbarian," "The Gladiator," and "Fight: Battles in the Gladiatorial Arena" are extremely crunch heavy. "Backdrop: Graywall" is almost pure fluff, and I would hazard to guess that "Domains of Dread: Sunderheart, the Funeral City," also falls on that end of the spectrum. "Campaign Items" is pretty much pure DM'ing advice a la the 4e DMG, while "Items of Legend," falls pretty squarely in the middle of the crucnh-fluff mix. Its looking good to me.

I agree.. the Gladiator articles have been a fine start for the subscription issues. If they can just have a few articles like this every month, mixed in with some fluff, its going to be worthwhile.

I had some apprehensions after the Ziggarat of Time adventure, which was 'okay', but these two Gladiator articles are rock solid cool.
 
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The two article are 30 impressive pages.

As for crunch vs fluff, I thought this one was a nice balance.

In any case, between the two, there is a bunch of crunch pcs or dms could use, without ever running an arena combat.
 

I agree.. the Gladiator articles have been a fine start for the subscription issues. If they can just have a few articles like this every month,

I was very suprised that out of the gate the first article I read was such a jump i quality...I hope it is not a fluke...I atleast want a group of articles like this every other issue...then my money was well spent
 



It is almost like a burst attack. The animal can move up to 3 squares from the iron spike it is tied too, and make a melee attack against anyone each round it can reach (on the first attack it rolls Initiative).

You can use a Nature Skill-Challenge to calm it down, kill it like a normal monster.

What is also neat, you can let it loose and it becomes a roaming angry animal travelling 8 squares per turn (or two if you make it elite).
 


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