Contents 4 Revenge of the maRauDeRs 47 o exPl Ring gauntlgRym e 56 ey on the Realms: CiRCle of fangs, PaRt 2 By Bruce R. Cordell By Bruce R. Cordell By Ed Greenwood The raider lord Yarnath prowls the wastelands in Gauntlgrym is an ancient dwarven city sealed Mysterious, magic rings have been found in scattered his crawling, undead citadel called Slither. Now he away from the world so completely that for locales. Sages understand what the rings do, but not why. possesses a tiny fragment of an artifact with which generations, even its location was forgotten. Then All of them are mystically linked together and, it seems, he intends to unleash a godslayer. An adventure dwarves returned from the mountains claiming bound to some other, unidentifiable entity. for characters of levels 5-7. to have found Gauntlgrym and describing its wonders ... until they were murdered. 59 save my game 24 mete Pl of the RaDiant moRn By Stephen Radney-MacFarland D 3 e itoRial Whether you want to become a better DM in general or By Daniel Marthaler you need help now, “Save My Game” is the place to be. By Steve Winter The Temple of the Radiant Morn opened its It seems that a lot of people want to write adventures for doors near the Chaos Scar to spread its message Dungeon Magazine. Here’s what we’re looking for. 63 D&D alumni: of comfort and salvation. Now the congregation n1, against the Cult of the RePtile goD whispers of lost treasure and forgotten lore. An e 53 ey on DaRk sun: magma elementals adventure for characters of levels 6-8. By Bart Carroll and Craig A. Campbell By Rodney Thompson Our archivist looks back fondly at the first adventure in Magma elementals arise where the warped and defiled the N (novice) series, from 1982. 38 C e ology of the sCaReCRow landscape of Athas is subjected to intense heat and seismic force. TheySample appear as shifting masses file of superheated rock By Steve Townshend and chunks of stone. Fear is the scarecrow’s purpose and its grimmest weapon. Fear binds it together and draws it like a hunger. Those who gaze into a scarecrow’s formless, canvas face see fear and death smoldering like corpse candles in the scarecrow’s sackcloth eyes. o n the CoveR Illustration by Wayne Reynolds Dungeons & Dragons, D&D, Dungeon, Dragon, 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, LLc, 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. ©2010 Wizards of the coast, LLc. 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 eITORIAD l 183 DUNGEON October 2010 Adventures Wanted Editor-in-Chief Steve Winter The very best part of my job is selecting adventures for Put the proposal in the body of the email, not attached Senior Art Director Jon Schindehette publication in Dungeon and working with authors to as a separate document. develop them into the best excursions they can be. In the Provide your name; I prefer beginning a letter of response Web Production bart carroll final analysis, the entire point of a Dungeons & Dragons with someone’s name rather than their email address. Contributing Authors craig A. campbell, session is adventure. Players don’t gather around the If you have prior publishing credits, especially with bruce r. cordell, table to ooh and ahh over one another’s characters. They Wizards of the Coast, mention that. assemble to stomp monsters, explore dark places, gather Finally, be creative. We like to work within established Ed Greenwood, Daniel loot, and protect the world against evil. formats but not within thematic constraints. “Rescue the Marthaler, Stephen If you’d like to write adventures for Dungeon Magazine, kidnapped farmer from the goblins” has been done. And radney‑MacFarland, rodney here are some tips to get you started and to maximize your it’s mundane. We’re actively looking for ideas that carry thompson, Steve townshend odds for landing a contract. players into fantastical realms. That doesn’t need to be the Feywild or the elemental Chaos, although it can be. Some Developers Jeremy crawford, First, know the market. Currently, we deal in four types of adventures: of the best proposals we’ve seen lately (and which we hope Stephen Schubert ✦✦ Features run 6-12,000 words and can be on just to publish in 2011) involve Feywild crossovers run amok, Editor Miranda Horner about any topic or theme; devices that disrupt time, astronomers who puncture the ✦✦ Chaos Scar adventures follow the dungeon delve Far Realm, and a tower half-submerged in a bog. Cover Artist Wayne reynolds model (mostly), run 4-6,000 words, and need to have That’s everything you need to know to get started, Contributing Artists Adam Gillespie, some association with the Chaos Scar and its story; except where to send your ideas, which is submissions@ ✦✦ Side treks run 3-5,000 words and should either be wizards.com. Begin your subject line with “Dungeon” so William O’connor associated with a print adventure or suitable for we know which magazine the proposal is for and give it a Cartographers Jason A. Engle, Mike Schley insertion into a longer adventure; short, descriptive subject. ✦✦ encounter sites run 2-4,000 words and detail a single We hope to hear from you soon.. Publishing Production Angelika Lokotz, Erin encounter in an unusual or especially challenging locale. Specialists Dorries, christopher tardiff Those aren’t set in stone; we’ve broken the frames before and will againSample in the future (in December, file for example, Web Development Mark Jindra we’ve scheduled a Rob Schwalb extravaganza that’s nearly Executive Producer, christopher Perkins the size of a printed, 32-page adventure). A proposal needs D&D Insider to be compelling to step outside the format. Suggesting a 10,000 word Chaos Scar adventure does not by itself Director of RPG R&D bill Slavicsek qualify that proposal as something new and different. Second, provide enough information in your proposal Special Thanks Greg bilsland, Josh Dillard to get the idea across without going into too much detail. We like to see ✦✦ A statement of the adventure’s theme in a sentence or two; ✦✦ A synopsis of events in however many paragraphs are needed; ✦✦ An estimate of new material (monsters, magic items) that you’d like to include. Aim for a proposal that’s no more than a few hundred words long. Keeping it short saves you work if the idea you’re proposing is something we’re not interested in or if we already have someone else writing a similar adventure. It also shows us that you can write effectively. Revenge of the Marauders by Bruce R. Cordell illustration by Wayne Reynolds tM & © 2010 Wizards of the coast LLc All rights reserved. The raider lord Yarnath prowls the wastelands in his crawling citadel called Slither. Not long ago, Sample file Yarnath bent all his effort toward recovering an artifact fragment known as the Crown of Dust. But someone beat him to it. Yarnath did not come away empty-handed. Though he did not find the fragment he sought, his raiders located the crown jewel of the ancient artifact. This red stone, called the Blood Jewel, is the crystallized blood of an ancient primordial. With it, Yarnath might unlock the power of a being mighty enough to slay the ancient gods. Does anyone dare to oppose him? October 2010 | NGEON DU 183 4 Revenge of the Marauders “Revenge of the Marauders” is a Dungeons & DC 15 Arcana or Religion: The Sea of Silt is Adventure Synopsis Dragons® adventure for five characters of levels home to a dormant beast of great elemental power Kivrin, a Veiled Alliance agent looking for a group 5-7 set in the Dark Sun world of Athas (5th-level known as the Dust Kraken, Ul-Athra, or the Mouths of adventurers, finds the player characters. Assum- characters may have a harder time completing the of Thirst. It is likely the silt horrors that hunt in the ing terms are reached, Kivrin guides the characters adventure, but they should be able to accomplish their sea are the spawn of Ul-Athra. Over the centuries, a across the desert to where Slither rests. One desert objective if they make few mistakes). number of elemental cults have risen to worship the encounter later (encounter S1), the heroes must Dust Kraken, seeking to rouse the beast from its slum- undertake the delicate challenge (S2) of slipping ber and use its power against their enemies. These Background inside the animate but undermanned fortress, over- cults perform strange and unnatural rites in the name come various challenges inside, and finally snatch the If characters become entangled in this adventure, of their god. Blood Jewel before the raider lord realizes that thieves they can learn the following information. The time DC 23 Arcana or Religion: Sometimes, those are in his stronghold (S3–S6). involved in gathering this information can vary especially favored by Ul-Athra’s dreaming awareness NOTE: Characters visit only one of Slither’s from a few hours to several days, depending on the are rewarded with secrets of powerful elemental towers before they find what they came for and sneak source.