Dragon #370, MAGAZINES, Dragon Magazine
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
ISSUE 370 | DECEMBER 2008
A Dungeons & Dragons
®
Roleplaying Game Supplement
TM
Contents
FEATURES
13
5
HER MAJESTY’S SECRET SERVANTS
By Robert J. Schwalb
Chromatic dragons aren’t the only servants of Tiamat.
13
RIVEN JUSTICE: THE MERCYKILLERS
By Robert J. Schwalb
The Mercykillers return to D&D, complete with information on
how your character can join their ranks.
25
25
LORDS OF CHAOS: MUAL-TAR
By James Wyatt
A new recurring feature that introduces new primordials
premieres with Mual-Tar, the chained serpent featured on
this issue’s cover
.
35
REGIONS OF THE REALMS
By Chris Tulach
Whether you’re playing a Living FR campaign or not,
you’ll want to take a look at these regionally inspired
extras for your character.
DEMONWEB
By Logan Bonner
New monsters fresh from the newest
D&D Miniatures
release,
presented here for inclusion in your campaign.
35
FEATURES
40
BESTIARY: MONSTERS OF THE
40
COLUMNS
4
EDITORIAL
50
DESIGN & DEVELOPMENT: COSMOLOGY
By Richard Baker and James Wyatt
Rich and James discuss how the cosmology of D&D evolved
with the design of 4th Edition.
53
ROLL VS. ROLE: HARBINGER OF
58
CONFESSIONS OF A FULL-TIME WIZARD
By Shelly Mazzanoble
Shelly ponders what she’d like to give the players in her
group … and what Tabitha would like to give her fellow
aventurers.
YULE-TIDEWOE
By Chris Sims
A special holiday Roll vs. Role! Some dragons stock their hordes
through subtle means. Some take a more active role in their
plundering.
62
RPGA REPORT
By Chris Tulach
The Living FR campaign is in full swing. Learn more
about how to get involved!
64
AMPERSAND
By Bill Slavicsek
Bill previews more of the druid, and looks further ahead
to another 2009 release.
ON THE COVER
Illustration by JP Targete
53
DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, D&D, FORGOTTEN REALMS, EBERRON,
D
UNGEON
,
D
RAGON
, d20, d20 System, Wizards of the Coast, all other Wizards of the Coast product names, and their
respective logos are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast, Inc., in the U.S.A. and other countries.
This material is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. Any reproduction or unauthorized use of the material or artwork contained herein is
prohibited without the express written permission of Wizards of the Coast, Inc. This product is a work of fiction. Any similarity to actual people, organizations, places, or events
is purely coincidental. Printed in the U.S.A. ©2008 Wizards of the Coast, Inc.
No portion of this work may be reproduced in any form without written permission. For more DUNGEONS & DRAGONS articles, adventures, and information, visit www.wizards.
com/dnd
COLUMNS
TM
EDITORIAL
370
Ze Planes! Ze Planes!
DRAGON
December 2008
Editor-in-Chief Chris Youngs
Senior Art Director Stacy Longstreet, Jon Schindehette
I’m so excited, I can hardly stand it. I might sound like
a shill this month, but I’m genuinely not trying to. It’s
just that this month, my favorite book of all comes out:
Manual of the Planes
.
memorable. I decided it needed a giant pool in the
middle, which had a connection to the Elemental
Plane of Water (in 4th Edition terms, a connection
to a region of water in the Elemental Chaos). As the
PCs entered the room, they had to deal with yuan-ti
abominations on the shore, water-walking yuan-ti
archers darting across the pool, water weirds that
attacked when the PCs drew near the water or tried to
get at the archers, and best of all, gouts of super-heated
steam that would geyser up occasionally to douse the
heroes. Good times, all around.
Web Specialist Chris Sims
Web Production Bart Carroll, Steve Winter
Graphic Design Bob Jordan, Breanne Miller
Contributing Authors
Richard Baker, Logan Bonner,
In 3rd Edition, I used this book more than any other,
except the
Player’s Handbook
. I used it more than my
DMG, more than my
Monster Manual
. That’s right.
I dipped into
Manual of the Planes
more than two of
the three core books. That’s no knock on those fine
books—it’s just that I found more inspiration, more
great ideas, and more adventure potential in
Manual of
the Planes
than anywhere else.
Shelly Mazzanoble, Mike Mearls,
Stephen Radney-MacFarland,
Robert J. Schwalb, Chris Sims,
Bill Slavicsek, Chris Tulach,
James Wyatt
Developers
Stephen Radney-MacFarland,
Using planar concepts and implementing them has
never been easier. One of the goals of 4th Edition
was to make the planes more accessible at all levels
of play. That’s one of the reasons we have several
recurring features in
Dragon
devoted to the planes.
The Demonomicon of Iggwilv will continue to fea-
ture prominently in the magazine, as will the Codex
of Betrayal. This month, we’re introducing Lords of
Chaos, which will detail new primordials, beginning
with Mual-tar the Thunder Serpent. And coming soon,
we’ll bring you the Court of Stars series, which will
detail new archfey.
Peter Schaefer, Stephen Schubert,
Rodney Thompson
You see, for me, there’s just nothing more intriguing
than the possibility of worlds beyond our own. It’s one
of the things that sets D&D apart from other fantasy
properties, to me. Sure, lots of fantasy novels and other
RPGs have utilized the idea that there are multiple
worlds out there, each crazier than the one before. But
D&D took that concept and dialed it up so high, we
broke the knob.
Editors
Jennifer Clarke-Wilkes,
Miranda Horner
Cover Artist JP Targete
Contributing Artists Rob Alexander, Ryan Barger,
Eric Belisle, Wayne England,
David Griffith, Ralph Horsley,
Howard Lyon, Jim Nelson,
William O’Connor, Beth Trott,
Back in the 2E days, we did it with
Planescape
, pro-
posing infinite planes, each infinitely large. In 3E
we made that cosmology the core. And then in 4th
Edition, we took that concept and refined it. Rather
than infinite planes, we have just five (well, six if you
include the Far Realm), but each one of those—and
especially the Astral Sea and the Elemental Chaos—
has as much, if not more, adventure potential than
before.
Eva Widermann, Eric L. William,
James Zhang
So yes, I’m excited. I plan to spend some quality time
with the
Manual of the Planes
in the coming weeks.
But what about you? What’s your favorite supplement
of all time, in any edition? And what’s your favorite
extraplanar adventure story? Send us your favor-
ites at
dndinsider@wizards.com
. And send us your
submissions for new articles in our planar series to
submissions@wizards.com
.
Cartographers
Rob Lazzaretti
Web Development
Mark A. Jindra
D&D Creative Manager
Christopher Perkins
Executive Producer,
D&D Insider
Ken Troop
Director of RPG R&D
Bill Slavicsek
Anything is possible out there in the planes. Anything!
Special Thanks
Richard Baker, Greg Bilsland, Logan Bonner, Michele Carter, Jennifer
Clarke Wilkes, Andy Collins, Bruce R. Cordell, Jeremy Crawford, Rob
Heinsoo, Peter Lee, Julia Martin, Mike Mearls, Kim Mohan, David
Noonan, Stephen Radney-MacFarland, Peter Schaefer, Stephen
Schubert, Chris Sims, Rodney Thompson, Rob Watkins, James Wyatt
I remember one instance in particular. My PCs were
running through a dungeon of yuan-ti cultists, and
I wanted to make one of their worship rooms more
Secret Servants
:
of Tiamat’s mortal servants, but they are by
no means the only ones who venerate the
Dark Lady of Avarice. This article presents
new villainous servants dedicated to Tiamat, all shar-
ing the same greed and evil found in the goddess’s
most vile thralls.
Each entry includes a description of the villain; his
or her background, immediate goals, and underlying
motivation; and tips for incorporating the villain’s
plot into your games. None of these characters are
equipped with magic items, though you can add such
as needed, using items from the expected treasure for
encounters featuring these characters.
Agents of Tiamat
by Robert J. Schwalb
illustrations by Eva Widermann
TM & © 2008 Wizards of the Coast, Inc. All rights reserved.
5
December 2008
|
DR AGON 370
Her Majesty
C
C
HROMATIC DR AGONS are the greatest
Her Majesty
’
’
s
Secret Servants
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]