Alzrius
The EN World kitten
It's rather odd to be getting the April issue a week before February ends, but I'm not complaining about getting more D&D goodness. Since no one seems to have done it yet, here's the breakdown for this issue:
Editorial - Associate Editor James Jacobs writes about the difficulty and rewards of writing a humorous adventure (specifically in reference to this issue's adventure "The Devil Box").
Prison Mail - The usual medley of letters, this time focusing on the benefits of more adventures with less space each vs. few adventures with more space each. The editors let slip that in within the next five issues, they're going to switch to a format that involves them printing more adventures per issue, with those adventures being necessarily shorter from now on. Also, they give a very brief description of the location and history necessary to put the city of Cauldron and its surrounding region (from Dungeon's Adventure Path series) into the Greyhawk campaign.
What's most notable though is that the editors mention that, in addition to working on presenting more "classic" characters in the magazine (nothing definite, but examples of what they're thinking of are Tenser or Melf - sorry cartoon fans, but there are no plans for Strongheart or Uni), they reveal what's in store for the 30th D&D anniversary issue: "Dungeon #112 will contain a 3.5-updated version of Maure Castle, the classic First Edition dungeon that first appeared in 1986's Mordenkainen's Fantastic Adventure, by Gary Gygax and Robert J. Kuntz. We've even managed to get Rob to design a never-before revealed fourth level below the infamous dungeon. We're absolutely thrilled to be working with Rob and Gary. Those of you who have not yet ventured past the Unopenable Doors to do battle with the demon-handed Eli Tomorast and the fiend-lord Kerzit are in for a treat that's been 30 years in the making!"
Secrets of the Soul Pillars - Part six of the Adventure Path! Jesse Decker has the characters return to Cauldron, finding that things have grown worse in their absence. The town is now patrolled by a militia, ostensibly to keep things safer with everything that has been happening recently. However, by now the characters have become enough of a nuisance that they're attacked by a group of assassins. Following them back to their source leads them to a confrontation with the Cathedral of Wee Jas, and leads them back under the city to discover the location where the Cagewrights' plans began!
As per usual, I'm incredibly impressed by the work on these adventures. Jesse Decker writes material that is at once both tightly interwoven with previous material, and still loose and flowing with the plot. The campaign seed sidebars continue to be tantalizing and innovative in giving possible hooks for future adventures. This is really a paragon of what a good adventure should be.
Faces of Cauldron - By Jeff Carlisle. This artistic two-page spread shows off twenty NPCs from Dungeon's Adventure Path campaign. A box in the upper right corner identifies all the individuals.
This is a very well-crafted piece of work. My only complaints are that you couldn't show this to a group of players for two reasons. It identifies individuals the PCs might not have met yet in a campaign, and it gives a rather obvious visual clue to the true nature of Orbius Vhalantru.
Map of Mystery - labelled as "Dungeon's Delve part one", by Christopher West. This two-page set of maps shows a connected dwarven stronghold and goblinoid den, with thirty numbered rooms.
The Devil Box - By Richard Pett. In this low-level adventure, a group of kobolds opens a box that contained a shrunken chain devil and it's three imps, long ago sealed away by a kobold spellcaster. Only their descendant, who is a grossly large kobold that is part of a travelling freak show, can seal them away again before the chain devil regains its former size.
I haven't given this adventure much of a read, but it seems quite good. Most of the humor of the adventure comes from the PCs having to visit the travelling freak show.
Unusual Suspects: FEAR - By Rodney Thompson. The first part of this issue's Polyhedron section has a few veiled references to GI Joe made about it in the table of contents, and they're very deserved, since the group described in this article is in the same vein as Cobra. The Fascist Extremist Armed Revolution is a large terrorist group led by an insane but charismatic and brilliant powermonger intent on world domination. This article gives stats to the organizations high-ranking members: Overlord, the leader; Nightmare, the second-in-command with aspirations of taking control; Glacier, an assassin who serves FEAR unwillingly; and Jester, another assassin who revels in death. Also statted out are the phantom troopers, the faceless soldiers who serve as FEAR's agents.
This was the first article I turned to when I opened the magazine, and it did not disappoint! Being a fan of the old GI Joe cartoon, I was delightfully pleased at this article. It captured the same feel that Cobra had, without seeming like it was ripping off ideas. The Overlord, in particular, is done perfectly, with his easily-identifiable costume and helmet that conceals his real face by showing the holographic image of a skull. Kudos to the author of this article!
Hardby: City of the Scorned - By Paul Looby. This article gives a history, current sketch, mapping out, and NPC overview of Greyhawk's city of Hardby. Everything a DM would need to lay out a campaign in the city is laid out here.
Downer, part ten - By Kyle Stanley Hunter and Sean Glenn. Two moe pages of Downer getting into trouble and fighting his way out as the plot thickens.
Global Positioning - By Christopher West. A map of a modern cineplex, with sixteen numbered areas.
All in all, this was a great issue! Keep up the fantastic work Paizo!
Editorial - Associate Editor James Jacobs writes about the difficulty and rewards of writing a humorous adventure (specifically in reference to this issue's adventure "The Devil Box").
Prison Mail - The usual medley of letters, this time focusing on the benefits of more adventures with less space each vs. few adventures with more space each. The editors let slip that in within the next five issues, they're going to switch to a format that involves them printing more adventures per issue, with those adventures being necessarily shorter from now on. Also, they give a very brief description of the location and history necessary to put the city of Cauldron and its surrounding region (from Dungeon's Adventure Path series) into the Greyhawk campaign.
What's most notable though is that the editors mention that, in addition to working on presenting more "classic" characters in the magazine (nothing definite, but examples of what they're thinking of are Tenser or Melf - sorry cartoon fans, but there are no plans for Strongheart or Uni), they reveal what's in store for the 30th D&D anniversary issue: "Dungeon #112 will contain a 3.5-updated version of Maure Castle, the classic First Edition dungeon that first appeared in 1986's Mordenkainen's Fantastic Adventure, by Gary Gygax and Robert J. Kuntz. We've even managed to get Rob to design a never-before revealed fourth level below the infamous dungeon. We're absolutely thrilled to be working with Rob and Gary. Those of you who have not yet ventured past the Unopenable Doors to do battle with the demon-handed Eli Tomorast and the fiend-lord Kerzit are in for a treat that's been 30 years in the making!"
Secrets of the Soul Pillars - Part six of the Adventure Path! Jesse Decker has the characters return to Cauldron, finding that things have grown worse in their absence. The town is now patrolled by a militia, ostensibly to keep things safer with everything that has been happening recently. However, by now the characters have become enough of a nuisance that they're attacked by a group of assassins. Following them back to their source leads them to a confrontation with the Cathedral of Wee Jas, and leads them back under the city to discover the location where the Cagewrights' plans began!
As per usual, I'm incredibly impressed by the work on these adventures. Jesse Decker writes material that is at once both tightly interwoven with previous material, and still loose and flowing with the plot. The campaign seed sidebars continue to be tantalizing and innovative in giving possible hooks for future adventures. This is really a paragon of what a good adventure should be.
Faces of Cauldron - By Jeff Carlisle. This artistic two-page spread shows off twenty NPCs from Dungeon's Adventure Path campaign. A box in the upper right corner identifies all the individuals.
This is a very well-crafted piece of work. My only complaints are that you couldn't show this to a group of players for two reasons. It identifies individuals the PCs might not have met yet in a campaign, and it gives a rather obvious visual clue to the true nature of Orbius Vhalantru.
Map of Mystery - labelled as "Dungeon's Delve part one", by Christopher West. This two-page set of maps shows a connected dwarven stronghold and goblinoid den, with thirty numbered rooms.
The Devil Box - By Richard Pett. In this low-level adventure, a group of kobolds opens a box that contained a shrunken chain devil and it's three imps, long ago sealed away by a kobold spellcaster. Only their descendant, who is a grossly large kobold that is part of a travelling freak show, can seal them away again before the chain devil regains its former size.
I haven't given this adventure much of a read, but it seems quite good. Most of the humor of the adventure comes from the PCs having to visit the travelling freak show.
Unusual Suspects: FEAR - By Rodney Thompson. The first part of this issue's Polyhedron section has a few veiled references to GI Joe made about it in the table of contents, and they're very deserved, since the group described in this article is in the same vein as Cobra. The Fascist Extremist Armed Revolution is a large terrorist group led by an insane but charismatic and brilliant powermonger intent on world domination. This article gives stats to the organizations high-ranking members: Overlord, the leader; Nightmare, the second-in-command with aspirations of taking control; Glacier, an assassin who serves FEAR unwillingly; and Jester, another assassin who revels in death. Also statted out are the phantom troopers, the faceless soldiers who serve as FEAR's agents.
This was the first article I turned to when I opened the magazine, and it did not disappoint! Being a fan of the old GI Joe cartoon, I was delightfully pleased at this article. It captured the same feel that Cobra had, without seeming like it was ripping off ideas. The Overlord, in particular, is done perfectly, with his easily-identifiable costume and helmet that conceals his real face by showing the holographic image of a skull. Kudos to the author of this article!
Hardby: City of the Scorned - By Paul Looby. This article gives a history, current sketch, mapping out, and NPC overview of Greyhawk's city of Hardby. Everything a DM would need to lay out a campaign in the city is laid out here.
Downer, part ten - By Kyle Stanley Hunter and Sean Glenn. Two moe pages of Downer getting into trouble and fighting his way out as the plot thickens.
Global Positioning - By Christopher West. A map of a modern cineplex, with sixteen numbered areas.
All in all, this was a great issue! Keep up the fantastic work Paizo!
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