ISSUE 169 | AUGUST 2009 A Dungeons & Dragons® Roleplaying Game Supplement CONTENTS 4 H ALL OF THE SNAKE GOD 92 O ASIS OF THE GOLDEN PEACOCK By Robert J. Schwalb By Tim Eagon Legends of the Serpent Wood speak of an ancient A desert oasis once revered by a group of avian- group of primitive humans who dedicated friendly druids holds a secret well of power. Now, a themselves to the dark god Zehir. Several of the power-mad sorcerer seeks to tap the essence of the temples they raised still stand in the wild lands, oasis for her own abuses. The PCs must act quickly and one such place has become home to new to secure the oasis from this villain and her band dangers. This Side Trek makes for an excellent of eladrin bandits. An adventure for 7th-level PCs. respite between adventures, or can be used as a O N THE COVER Illustration by Zoltan Boros springboard for a larger adventure series against 36 D UNGEON DELVE: CROWN & Gabor Szikszai the forces of Zehir. A Side Trek for 11th-level PCs. OF THE TROLL KING 3 E DITORIAL By Daniel Marthaler 01 SORCT M ROW TOR A troll who styles himself king has acquired an 75 R ULING SKILL artifact that allows him to capture the souls of CHALLENGES By Bruce R. Cordell his defeated foes. Do your PCs dare brave his By Mike Mearls Stormcrow Company—an unsavory band of lair to defeat him and retrieve this foul device? A Mike continues to educate on the nature of skill adventurers—haven’t been seen or heard from in Dungeon Delve adventure for 11th-level PCs. challenges, with unique applications and examples. years. Rumors of their accumulated wealth have spread far and wide, and if they have truly been 78 S AVE MY GAME slain, that treasure is just waiting for adventurers 27 CAP M AIGN WORKSHOP: By Stephen Radney-MacFarland to come and collect it. But is anything ever as easy THE BLASPHEMER A DM’s best friend? Stephen Radney-MacFarland, as it seems? An adventure for 4th-level PCs. By James Wyatt back with more advice and letters from the mailbag. The depraved villain of James Wyatt’s Draconic 82 DNGEONU CRAFT Prophecy series of Eberron novels is brought to life By James Wyatt for use in your D&D campaign. James discusses the latest changes to his fledgling campaign. 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. ©2009 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 ed I T O R I A L 169 DUNGEON August 2009 iPhone Angst Editor-in-Chief Chris Youngs Even though D&D is still a tabletop game at its core, the • Character Sheets: We don’t currently offer our own Senior Art Director Jon Schindehette game is now firmly entrenched in the modern trappings—and iPhone apps, but there are a couple cool ones that let you perils—of technology. The message boards, hordes of fan- import your Character Builder data into an iPhone readable Web Specialist Chris Sims generated software, and ultimately D&D Insider have seen character sheet. The site www.iplay4e.com has an app that to that. But in the past couple of years, one particular device people around the office use, for example. Web Production Bart Carroll, Steve Winter has become a bane and boon to D&D games everywhere: the • Twitter: I save this one for last because you’ll see it on the Contributing Authors Bruce R. Cordell, Tim Eagon, iPhone. next list as well. Lots of folks I know twitter during games to Certainly, laptops preceded iPhones to many game tables. post updates to events as they unfold. Done in moderation, I Daniel Marthaler, Mike Mearls, I know several players who’ve brought their characters on lap- think that’s pretty cool. In excess? See below. Stephen Radney-MacFarland, tops, and used them to track their hit points and power usage, Robert J. Schwalb, James Wyatt and store their campaign notes. And of course cell phones The Bad have been in everyone’s pockets for almost as long. But there’s something about the iPhone… • Starting Debates: The curse of having so much informa- Developers Stephen Radney-MacFarland, It’s near-ubiquitous, for one. I know many people who own tion at one’s fingertips makes some feel like the authority on Peter Schaefer, Stephen iPhones but who don’t own laptops. And then there are the everything from hot wings to hot air balloons. So if someone Schubert, Rodney Thompson apps. Cool apps have become so accessible for gamers, and at the table engages in any sort of harmless speculation, some they’re mostly so cheap that few people who own iPhones, in iPhoners bust out I’mrightandyou’rewrong.com just to prove Editor Miranda Horner, Gary Sarli my experience, haven’t indulged themselves with one or two. a point. That crashing sound you just heard was your session Or fifty. jumping the tracks. Cover Artist Zoltan Boros & Gabor Szikszai But mostly, it’s just that they’re cool. Full disclosure: I don’t • Youtube: I love a funny video as much as the next guy. And I love some in-game movie quotes even more. What I Contributing Artists Thomas Denmark, Empty Room own one, but I wish I did (stupid two-year contract). And most people I know who don’t have one also wish they did. They’re don’t love? Someone busting out the movie clip for the movie Studios, Rob Alexander, Wayne handy, they’re fun, and yes, they can do so much cool stuff just quoted. It’s overkill, it’s distracting, and it’s not welcome, England, Patrick McEnvoy, Raven out of the box that they can turn into a bigger time suck than thank you very much. Mimura, William O’Connor, Techmobowl was for 12-year-old boys in 1987. With some- • Twitter: Here it is, back for round two. Twittering during the exciting moments of a game: Cool. Twittering your life as Sam Wood thing so snazzy and now so common, DMs have to find ways to deal with iPhones at the table. Some have just banned them it unfolds: Lame. Has celebrity Twitteritis taught us nothing? Cartographers Jason Engle, Kyle Hunter, outright, adding them to the list with cell phones, portable I’m sorry, but no one’s life is that interesting. Not to mention, doing so during the game is just less attention paid to the Sean Macdonald, Mike Schley TVs, and durian (or maybe that’s just me). As with any tool, iPhones can be used for good or evil. I’ve game and your fellow players. That leads me to… Publishing Production Specialists Angelika Lokotz, Erin Dorries, thoughtfully attached a list in each category, so maybe you • “It’s My Turn Already?”: And last, but certainly not least, the iPhone can be a never-ending source of one distraction Christopher Tardiff DMs can rethink those blanket bans you may have already put in place. after another. I mean, it’s the Interwebs. Of course there’s stuff to do, games to play, and message boards to lurk (or Web Development Mark A. Jindra The Good troll). Take comfort: Those players who have their eyes glued D&D Creative Manager Christopher Perkins to their iPhones, oblivious to the world around them, will be • Settling Debates: iPhones allow you to quickly and easily the first to fall when the zombie apocalypse happens. Executive Producer, access information. Sometimes you’re not near a computer or D&D Insider Ken Troop a wireless network when you really want to access, say, IMDB What it all boils down to is, as with everything, iPhones to quickly settle those movie quote debates that have derailed are best in moderation. In the case of this particular piece of Director of RPG R&D Bill Slavicsek many a D&D session. For something like this, nothing is technology, a little goes a long way, but the benefits can defi- handier than an iPhone. Look it up, move along. nitely outweigh the negatives if you set up some easy ground • Music. Sometimes, such as around our office, you’re rules. Have a favorite iPhone app or iPhone horror story? Let playing D&D and just hankering for someone to fire up the us hear about it at [email protected]. We’d love to Conan the Barbarian soundtrack to accompany your current hear from you! Special Thanks battle. But there’s not a stereo or iPod dock in sight. Sure, the Richard Baker, Greg Bilsland, Logan Bonner, Michele Carter, speakers on the iPhone are tiny, but sometimes any music is Jennifer Clarke Wilkes, Andy Collins, Bruce R. Cordell, better than none. Jeremy Crawford, Rob Heinsoo, Peter Lee, Mike Mearls, Kim Mohan, Cal Moore, Stephen Radney-MacFarland, Peter Schaefer, Stephen Schubert, Matthew Sernett, Chris Sims, Rodney Thompson, James Wyatt A Side Trek for 10th-Level Characters By Robert J.