In This Issue “By day the sun cast a wan maroon gloom across the land; by night all was dark and still, with only a few pale stars to post the old con- stellations. Time went at a languid pace, with- out purpose and urgency, and folk made few long-range plans.” Jack Vance Rhialto the Marvellous 14 22 42 Editorial 6 Quadripartite 20 Critical Threats: Phyx 42 Letters Peter Aperlo 8 A minion of chaos has come to the Seth Spencer Critical Threats: Prime Material Plane from the void of The drow train marvelous servants, but Colossal Crypt the Far Realms to terrorize and con- when one of their minions grows a 16 quer inSample the name of its file masters. The spine and escapes, it makes for a Scott Peterson PCs must act quickly to assemble a deadly encounter. The choker Phyx is This tall chamber is composed of rings legendary artifact powerful enough to just such an enemy. His assassin train- of ancient crypts. Do they hold the weaken the minion so it can be ing combined with his natural choker heroes of old? Or possibly the villains? defeated. A D&D adventure for four abilities make him a potent foe. A D&D Maybe the giant headless statue that 14th-level PCs. “Critical Threat.” serves as the crypt’s centerpiece holds Maps of Mystery the key. A D&D “Critical Threat.” (Githzerai Monastery) 48 On the Cover: Mark Zug paints Hu’shurish the efreeti bar- barian and artisan. He rules his brass tower, guarding one of the relics needed to assemble the primal anchor in “Quadripartite.” v.158 f8 f46 42 Maps of Mystery (Temple of Boccob) 50 First Watch 3 Global Positioning (Bank) 5 Bonus Subscriber Section! Hijinx 8 Fish Story 54 Global Positioning Jeff Quick (Nightclub) Adam Jortner Former PolyhedronSampleEditor file Jeff Quick 35 Locathah have invaded, or so it seems. drops by to deliver the most daring Downer But why, after all these peaceful years, Mini-Game yet. Try out nonviolent 46 have the fish creatures abandoned their conflict resolution with Hijinx, a rock Our resident drow dungeon guard home? The PCs must journey to the ‘n’ roll lollapalooza inspired by the faces off against Tagget the halfling flooded village of Waterford and delve fun-loving musical cartoons of our and runs afoul of a new enemy. into the past to discover the cause of youth. Strap on a guitar, hire an the current commotion and uncover the annoyingly intelligent pet, and get secret history of the region. A D&D ready to meddle. adventure for four 5th-level PCs. June 2003 On the Flipside: Cover artists Jason Martin and Heather McCollum of Artplaymix bring us a colorful rendition of Vol. XVII, No.3 rockin’ crimesolvers to commemorate Hijinx, this issue’s Issue 99 Polyhedron Mini-Game. Erik and Kyle will be touring with the band until next issue. View from the Other Side Dungeon Group Publisher Johnny Wilson or the past few months, Editor Chris Thomasson has regaled you with Dungeon Editor Chris Thomasson Polyhedron tales from our weekly playtest of the new Adventure Path: Shackled City, which Editor Erik Mona Dungeon Art Director Sean Glenn started with “Life’s Bazaar,” in issue #97 and continued with “Flood Season” last Polyhedron Art Director Kyle S. Hunter issue. The next installment will appear in issue #102, which gives me a chance to Contributing Editors Penny Williams Christopher Perkins sneak in and tell you about the campaign from the perspective of one of the players. Chris likes to focus on our mistakes, mentioning twice now that we were, in fact,“industry Production Director John Dunn Prepress Manager Matt Beals professionals” who should know better. I’d like to point out that there’s one very good reason Production Designer Theresa Cummins Circulation Director Pierce Watters why Chris focuses on these mistakes in his editorials. Messing up is pretty much the only Advertising Sales Director Johnny Wilson thing we do reliably or well. Ad Traffic Manager Dawnelle Miesner Dungeon Cover Artist Mark Zug Dragon Polyhedron To bring you up to speed: Editor Jesse Decker replaced the lost druid Hallan with a Cover Artist Jason Martin & Heather McCollum cleric of Fharlanghn named Podo, friend to Matt Sernett’s new character, Kodo (Dragon editors Contributing Authors sure love them some Beastmaster). Newbie Web Developer Rob Head replaced the departed Peter E. Aperlo, Adam Jortner, Scott Peterson, Jeff Quick, Meechee with Brien, an elven barbarian.The rest of us kept on keeping on with the same old Seth Spencer characters from the first installment.To make a long story short, the villainous Tongueater ate Contributing Artists Tom Baxa, Peter Bergting, Jeff Carlisle, Dave Crosland, Brien and Podo, proving that his tastes extend far beyond what his name suggests. Kyle S. Hunter, Rey Lewis, C. Scott Morse, Jake Parker, My character, Mestiphar the Magnificent, survived the way he’s always survived when the Wayne Reynolds, Stan Shaw, Stan!, Chris West, Mark Zug going gets tough—by not coming to the dangerous sessions. Even though the playtest has scored one of the highest kill-rates of any campaign I’ve ever played, I’ve been lucky enough to be on vacation or tight deadlines each time a character has been killed.Whether my char- Paizo Publishing, LLC 3245 146th Place SE, Suite 110 acter’s survival comes from pure luck, karma, or insider knowledge is, of course, a private Bellevue, WA 98007 matter between me, my boss, and the DM. Chief Executive Officer Lisa Stevens Here are some things I’ve learned along the way. A “Diary of a Survivor,” if you will. President Johnny L. Wilson Director of Marketing Mary Franklin Technical Director Vic Wertz Come Early, Come Often Corporate Administrator Wailam Wilson When you miss a session, no matter the reason, you’re putting your friends at risk. That’s not Dungeon to say you should enslave your life to the schedule of the game, but it’s worth factoring the (ISSN# 1526-6391) is published monthly by Paizo Publishing, LLC, 3245 146th Place SE, Suite 110, Bellevue, WA 98007, United States risk to other players when you decide not to show up to a session. DMs often plan expecting of America. Periodicals Postage Paid at Bellevue, WA, and at additional mailing offices. everyone to be there. By the time you’ve gotten stuck in traffic or decided to blow off the POSTMASTER: Please send address changes to Dungeon game, it’s likely too late for the DM to scale down his encounters.Sample Nearly every file time a fellow Magazine, P.O. Box 469106, Escondido, CA 92046. ©2003 Wizards of the Coast, Inc. All rights reserved. PC has died in the last two campaigns I’ve played, it’s been on a day when a couple players No part of this magazine may be reproduced (except for review purposes) without the prior written permission of the publisher. were absent. Material published herein does not necessarily reflect the opinions of Paizo Publishing, LLC, its employees, or its editorial staff, who are not liable for opinions expressed herein. Most product names are trade- Initiative Cards Help marks owned by the companies that publish those products. Use of the name of any product without mention of trademark status should When we playtest at work, we generally go for about an hour and a half. That’s not a lot of not be construed as a challenge to such status. Wizards of the Coast; Dungeons & Dragons; D&D; Forgotten time, so it’s best to cut away anything that’s not actually playing the game. Chris used to Realms; Dragonlance; Planescape; Ravenloft; Birthright; Mystara; Greyhawk; Dark Sun; Spelljammer; Al-Qadim; Dark•Matter; Dungeon track initiative on a whiteboard, scrolling through turns in a fairly clumsy fashion that Master; Dragon; Dungeon; Polyhedron; Living City; Living Greyhawk; slowed down the game. We finally convinced him to use initiative cards produced by The Gen Con; and RPGA are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast, Inc. Star Wars and Lucasfilm are registered trademarks of Lucasfilm Ltd. Game Mechanics (www.thegamemechanics.com) and the difference is remarkable. Check All rights reserved. × SUBSCRIPTIONS: Please contact Publishers Creative Systems at them out online or just make some cards of your own with ordinary 3 5 inch index cards. [email protected] or call 1-800-395-7760. You won’t be sorry. ADVERTISING: Contact our Advertising Sales Director, Johnny Wilson, at [email protected]. All ads are subject to approval by Paizo Publishing, LLC, which reserves the right to reject The Fiend Folio is an Enemy to All Players any ad for any reason. Advertisers and/or agencies of advertisers agree not to hold Paizo Publishing liable for any loss or expense from The first couple Shackled City adventures used creatures from the recently published Fiend alleged wrongdoing that may arise out of the publication of such advertisements. Folio. The book’s very popular around the Paizo offices, since four of our editors participated Northeastern Advertising Representatives: Sig or Scott Buchmayr, Buchmayr Associates, 137 Rowayton Avenue, Rowayton, CT 06853, in writing it. It’s also been very unpopular because creatures from it have killed almost a half- (203) 855-8834. Distribution Nationally and Internationally by Curtis Circulation dozen PCs. Last week, the combination of a particularly nasty pit trap and a swarm of blood- Company, 730 River Road, New Milford, NJ 07646. Tel: 201-634-7400. bloaters almost took out half the party. All of us have been anxiously awaiting meeting our Fax: 201-634-7499 OPEN GAME CONTENT: Unless otherwise noted, this Wizards of own creations in combat.