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Sample file ® January/February 2003 Vol. XVI, No. 6 Issue #96 EDITORIAL 6 LETTERS 8 CRITICAL THREATS: PANDEMONIUM COLD STORAGE 12 IN THE VEINS 30 DUNGEON Staff Frank Brunner This icy chamber will chill your PCs to the bone. A Life as a gladiator is deadly enough inside the arena. So D&D “Critical Threat.” it’s just unfair when something starts killing the prize fighters outside their matches. It’s up to the PCs to go undercover as gladiators themselves and solve the mys- HOLLOW THREATS 14 terious deaths. “Pandemonium in the Veins” can be used Richard L.J. Pett with “Campaign Components: Gladiators” in DRAGON A dragon turtle is headed the PCs’ direction, having ter- Magazine #303 for extensive gladiatorial mayhem, or rorized towns up and down the coast. Is theSample small fish- played file alone. A D&D adventure for 5th-level characters. ing hamlet of Fogly next on its menu? A D&D Side Trek for 1st-level characters. BEYOND THE LIGHT OF REASON 64 PROVINCIAL PRIOR CAUSE 20 Caine Chandler Johnny L. Wilson The town of Rutherton has lived in peace for years Cultists of Gruumsh have subverted one of the Soldiers thanks to the protective flame of the light of reason. of the Sun, and the PCs must track the traitor down. A When the flame is extinguished, the PCs must race D&D adventure for 1st-level characters. against time to re-light it or the town will be destroyed. A D&D adventure for 13th-level characters. Romeo. Courage, man; the hurt cannot be much. Mercutio. No, ’tis not so deep as a well, nor so wide as a church door; but ’tis enough, ’twill serve: ask for me to-morrow, and you shall find me a grave man. I am peppered, I warrant, for this world.—A plague o’ both your houses! —William Shakespeare Romeo and Juliet. Act III, Scene i COVER Marc Sasso shows us Volpone Venazzi, a gladiator from “Pandemonium in the Veins,” standing ready to face any who would challenge his title of arena champion. YOU CAN LEAD A HORSE TO WATER I’m a pretty lucky fella. I get to play in Chris Perkins’s Wednesday night Arveniar Group Publisher Johnny Wilson campaign, I have the opportunity to enjoy Matt Sernett’s Oriental Adventures Editor Chris Thomasson Art Director Kyle S. Hunter office game, and I’m forced to endure—that is, I am privileged to be a part of— POLYHEDRON Editor Erik Mona Jesse Decker’s office gladiator campaign. But the joy of my gaming existence, the apple of my devilish eye, is the Sunday game I run at home. Contributing Editors Matthew Sernett Stacie A. Fiorito Like most players, I long envied the power of the screen jockey, the uber-mighty Christopher Perkins DM. I ran the occasional game, to be sure, but not until 3rd Edition launched was I able to coerce a few of my gaming compadres to join me in exploring the possibili- Production Director John Dunn Production Designer Theresa Cummins ties of the new system. I began with six players, promptly drove half of them away, Circulation Director Pierce Watters gained a few more, lost a couple, and finally, two years later, settled in with a solid Advertising Sales Director Johnny Wilson group of loyal, hale, slightly off balance, and remarkably juvenile (like DM, like Ad Traffic Manager Dawnelle Miesner Cover Artist Marc Sasso EDITORIAL player, so they say) group of five willing to deal with my idiosyncrasies. We play roughly every two weeks, but frequently my players get scarce for some Contributing Authors reason. I’ve yet to find a pattern to their disappearances, but I’m sure I have nothing to Frank Brunner Caine Chandler Robert Harris Richard L.J. Pett do with it. Anyway, the sporadic nature of our sessions leads to some difficulties in Johnny L. Wilson Hank Woon campaign continuity. In a weekly game, it’s easier for the players to stay focused and keep track of a campaign’s inner workings since fewer days pass between sessions.The Contributing Artists Kalman Andrasofszky Ben Henry same isn’t true of less regular session, which is the conundrum I want to address here. Kyle Hunter Larry MacDougall Often, when my players sit down for a new session, I have to spend the first half Val Mayerick Adam Rex hour reminding them what happened in the previous game. I often layer plots Arnie Swekel Derek Thompson Jonathan Wayshak Christopher West together with intertwining themes and intersecting story threads. It all works in my Aaron Williams Craig Zipse head (that might actually be most of the problem), but when I make a grand revelation concerning said twists, I’m met with blank stares and slack jaws as often as not (Ser- DUNGEON (ISSN# 1526-6391) is published bi-monthly by nett, one of the players, is working on the jaw thing, and I’m patient about the drool). Paizo Publishing, LLC, 3245 146th Place SE, Suite 110, Bellevue, WA 98007, United States of America. How frustrating! Here I’ve onioned together a plot of near Shakespearean com- Periodicals Postage Paid at Bellevue, WA, and at addi- tional mailing offices. plexity, but all for nothing. The plans of last month’s villains reach out to touch the POSTMASTER: Please send address changes to DUNGEON Magazine, P.O. Box 469106, Escondido, CA lives of the PCs in this week’s session.The “randomly” dropped item of no discernible 92046. ©2001 Wizards of the Coast, Inc. All rights reserved. value suddenly turns out to be the key to a puzzle on the other side of the world. The No part of this magazine may be reproduced (except for review purposes) without the prior written permission petty evil-doers’ goals are revealed as part of a larger conspiracy that could destroy of the publisher. Material published herein does not nec- essarily reflect the opinions of Paizo Publishing, LLC, its reality. And they never make the connections. All this work wasted! But should it be? employees, or its editorial staff, who are not liable for I realized something early on in my campaign,Sample when we first had file to cancel a game opinions expressed herein. Most product names are trademarks owned by the companies that publish those session due to a lack of attendance: It wasn’t up to my players to remember all the tiny products. Use of the name of any product without men- tion of trademark status should not be construed as a details of the ongoing plots in the campaign; it was up to me to be sure the details challenge to such status. remained memorable. Failing that, I needed to provide them with some way to retain WIZARDS OF THE COAST;DUNGEONS &DRAGONS;D&D; FORGOTTEN REALMS;DRAGONLANCE;PLANESCAPE; the information I fed them, some way they could occasionally be given some sort of RAVENLOFT;BIRTHRIGHT;MYSTARA;GREYHAWK;DARK SUN; SPELLJAMMER;AL-QADIM;COUNCIL OF WYRMS;MASQUE OF direction in the crazy morass of plots I threw at them each week. THE RED DEATH;MONSTROUS MANUAL;MONSTROUS COMPENDIUM;ENCYCLOPEDIA MAGICA;ALTERNITY; Enter the Dungeon Master—you know, that little, bald freak with the creepy STAR*DRIVE;DARK•MATTER;ALIEN COMPENDIUM;FIFTH AGE; voice from the D&D cartoon who made a spot appearance in each episode to tell the DUNGEON MASTER;PLAYER’S OPTION;DRAGON;DUNGEON; POLYHEDRON;LIVING CITY;LIVING GREYHAWK;GEN CON;and kids where they next needed to go. Okay, in my head, I actually first thought of Gan- RPGA are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast, Inc. SUBSCRIPTIONS: Please contact Publishers dalf, but the role is the same. I needed some figure of authority within the campaign Creative Systems at [email protected] or call 1- 800-395-7760. who could show up, lay out the cards for the characters, intimate that he’s much ADVERTISING: Contact our Advertising Sales tougher than they are and knows what he’s talking about (PCs respect nothing more Director, Johnny Wilson, at johnny.wilson@paizopublish- ing.com. All ads are subject to approval by Paizo than a show of chutzpah), then disappear. I needed the Dungeon Master. Publishing, LLC, which reserves the right to reject any ad for any reason. Advertisers and/or agencies of advertisers What my players got was Chogrin Flagonbearer, a dirty, foul-mouthed dwarf agree not to hold Paizo Publishing liable for any loss or with a magic mug who claims to serve the forces of light. He doesn’t need to appear expense from alleged wrongdoing that may arise out of the publication of such advertisements. all that often—my players are pretty sharp (for mere players, of course). But when Northeastern Advertising Representatives: Sig or Scott Buchmayr, Buchmayr Associates, 137 Rowayton they start to look really lost, Chogrin or one of his emissaries shows up, straightens Avenue, Rowayton, CT 06853, (203) 855-8834. out any confusion that has arisen due to a lack of gaming time, then disappears. It’s Distribution Nationally and Internationally by Curtis worked marvelously well. Circulation Company, 730 River Road, New Milford, NJ 07646. Tel: 201-634-7400. Fax: 201-634-7499 I know lots of our fearless readers out there must have similar gaming schedules. OPEN GAME CONTENT: Unless otherwise noted, How do you deal with lapses in player attention span? Send me a letter at this Wizards of the Coast game product contains no [email protected] and let me know. I could use the help! Open Game Content. No portion of this work may by reproduced in any form without written permission.