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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 6220437" data-attributes="member: 27780">Dragon Issue 344: June 2006part 5/6Dreadhold: Eberron hasn't been around long enough to pull out any nostalgic big guns, but they're still giving us a big article full of plot hooks. Maybe they will have something to call back to on the 60th anniversary issue, you never know. I suppose that depends how well Alcatraz survives as a folk legend, with Guantanamo taking it's place in recent years as the prison of horrors that plays on people's minds, for quite different reasons. Because yeah, this is very much Eberron's equivalent of Alcatraz, an island prison that's full of both the most dangerous prisoners from around the world, and a few innocents put there for political reasons. Unsurprisingly, it's not a place that adventurers can just waltz in and out of, slaying liberally as you go, with plenty of high level guardians and magical wards to match the inmates. With plenty of interesting named NPC's, this is flexibly designed so the PC's could take all sorts of roles, both as prisoners and visitors. I can't help but wonder if it might have been more appropriate as a feature in Dungeon than here, but I'm certainly not objecting to seeing something a little different. And as always, you can easily swipe the new crunch for your own games, as magical warding tricks are always welcomed by the paranoid wizard. The ecology of the dracolich: How very appropriate. The Dracolich was first introduced in the 10th anniversary issue of this magazine, by Ed Greenwood. Seems fitting that they should be revisited and expanded upon in the 30th. Unsurprisingly, this article is very aware of it's antecedents, and talks about them in a sidebar. Quite a bit of effort is gone into establishing the mentality that leads an already near immortal being to cheat death, and they do remind us that curiously, not only are they more powerful than regular dragons, but they're also usually more goal driven and socially connected as well. There may be more creatures that work on a similar epic level than there were 20 years ago, but that just means you can have richer and more convoluted intrigues and rivalries. Not as epic as last year's birthday gift, this is still a fairly solid ecology, with an unusual amount of campaign specific details and alternative ideas for you to try. After all, every dracolich should be a customized unique individual. Keeping them fresh is going to take a bit of effort. Wormfood: We finish our adventure path with a column full of advice on moving into epic levels. As with the rest of 3rd ed, you have to plan your build ahead carefully if you want an optimal character. And of course, you'll want to pick differently depending on if the campaign is likely to end shortly, or continue with further plot arcs. This is another article that's nicely done and helpful, but also feels way too short, barely scraping the surface of the awesome things you can do, or the commonsense things you should do when you have that level of power. In a funny way, half doing things like this is worse than not doing them at all, because it just leaves you wanting more, knowing you're unlikely to see it anytime soon. Why they wound up both reducing the page count and increasing the font spacing when there's so much still to do this edition is still a mystery. Unfulfilled potential. It's all gone by so fast compared to the 2e days.</blockquote>

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