Contents 4 the Maze of Shattered souls 57 the DeCk of Many Things 90 Campaign Workbook: By James Wyatt By Rodney Thompson kaius Dantus A Dungeons & Dragons Eberron adventure for The legendary artifact is back, complete with a By Peter Schaefer characters of 15th level. full-color deck of cards you can print for use in This powerful necromancer seeks mastery of the your campaign! dead, and he’s ready and waiting to torment the 31 Chaos Scar: Eyes in the Forest characters of your campaign. 69 Deities & DemigoDs: Torog By Robert J. Schwalb 95 eye on the Realms A chance encounter in the Chaos Scar allows the By Brian R. James By Ed Greenwood characters the opportunity to avenge another group of The minions of the King that Crawls are some of fallen adventurers—unless the foes that claimed their the most feared in the Underdark. Discover more of The Naerhand family is wealthier than the largest lives prove too much for the heroes! A Dungeons & Torog’s history, secrets, and ambitions for the world. city guilds and weilds more power than many Dragons adventure for 1st-level characters. rulers. 77 realmslore: Vaasa 98 ruling Skill Challenges 36 Chaos Scar: GloWstone Caverns By Brian R. James By Mike Mearls By Jennifer Clarke Wilkes While the Warlock Knights rule Vaasa with fists of Mike continues to educate on the nature of skill The Gnawstubble goblin tribe has stumbled steel, the land is rife with adventure possibilities. challenges, with unique applications and examples. upon a strange series of caverns filled with an Sample file unfamiliar metal—and a dark evil. Now the goblins 84 the MinD’s Eye OpeneD 102 DungeonCraft have found new power in the Scar, as well as a new source of corruption. A Dungeons & Dragons By Robert J. Schwalb By James Wyatt adventure for 4th-level characters. The psionic power source might appear to be James launches a new campaign this month! a problematic addition to your campaign, but 48 nightmares UnleasheD discover several options for psionic incorporation in your home campaign. By Craig Campbell A family’s tortured dreams have become reality, thanks to an ill-timed ritual used in desperation. Now a village is threatened, and the characters on the Cover must act quickly to stop this nightmare from Illustration by Ralph Horsley spreading. A Dungeons & Dragons Side Trek for 4th-level characters, with expansion possibilities for further play. 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 ed i T o r i A l 177 Du ngeon Apr il 2010 Read This Aloud Editor-in-Chief Chris Youngs We have discussions around here that folks in other Bad read-aloud text, on the other hand, can be as Senior Creative Art Director Jon Schindehette sorts of jobs might find odd. one day, we discussed what destructive as good read-aloud text can be helpful. it sort of sensory overload a beholder experiences, what might presume character action. Web Specialist Steve Winter with the eleven eyes and all. Another day, we might As you open the cupboard door and peer inside ... Web Production Bart Carroll have a meeting about the best ways to evoke the feel of a And it might presume monster action. sewer adventure. But the other day, as Bart, Steve, and i ... the goblin inside leaps out and bites your face! Contributing Authors Craig Campbell, Ed Greenwood, sat around avoiding real work, the topic of conversation Both of which are best left in the hands of players and Brian r. James, Mike Mearls, turned to read-aloud text in adventures. DMs. peter Schaefer, robert J. Schwalb, Steve had just read an adventure submission that fea- Bad read-aloud text is clunky and sounds like, well, rodney Thompsen, Jennifer tured an ambush encounter, which opened with some text that’s being read aloud. if i wanted to listen to a story, Clarke Wilkes, James Wyatt read-aloud text. i’d bring my blankie and go find a grandpa. Developers peter Schaefer, Stephen “You know what,” Steve observed. “read-aloud text All of which amounts to more reasons why we need Schubert, rodney Thompson basically tells the players that they’re about to start an to be discerning about read-aloud text. i’ll be the first to encounter. You might as well just drop the 5-foot-square admit that it’s an element of an encounter i often pay the Editors Miranda Horner, Steve Winter grid down over the characters’ heads. if you’re reading text least attention to. i want to dig into the nitty gritty of the Cover Artist ralph Horsley to your players, they should just roll initiative. read-aloud encounter, check the setup, make sure the tactics and ter- text is one of the ultimate metagame tip-offs.” rain make sense. But DMs everywhere need to remember: Contributing Artists Wayne England, Christina And he’s right. Sure, there might be other ways to When you’re running a published adventure, the first con- MacTernan, patrick McEvoy, metagame an encounter. Most of the time, that doesn’t tact a player will have with an environment or encounter raven Mimura, William O’Connor, matter much. Players are often already expecting the next is nearly always the read-aloud. Craig J. Spearing, peter Tikos, encounter. But it can certainly wreck the mood if you’re If you’re running a game, always read the text quietly to Tyler Walpole, Kieran Yanner trying to lay Samplean ambush or spring a trap file on the characters. yourself before reading aloud to your players. Try to sound Cartographers Sean Macdonald, Mike Schley As soon as you break into read-aloud-text voice, the players natural. Even better is taking a highlighter to it and focus- know something is up. ing on the key elements of the text so you can paraphrase Publishing Production Specialists Angelika lokotz, Erin Dorries, That’s a bummer. and make it sound less stuffy, less story-timey. Maybe Christopher Tardiff Read-aloud text can be evocative, if done well. When best of all, throw some evocative text into non-encounter Web Development Mark A. Jindra executed perfectly, it sets the scene, gives the characters areas or roleplaying encounters. Give the read-aloud text information relevant to the encounter, and evokes the treatment to your area descriptions whether there’s an D&D Creative Manager Christopher perkins proper mood. Good read-aloud text can help an encoun- encounter brewing or not. Not only will your adventures Executive Producer, ter the same way a good soundtrack can help a scene in (published or home-brewed) feel more immersive with a D&D Insider Chris Champagne a movie. greater focus on evocative descriptions, but your characters In organized Play events, especially competitive ones, will likely be lulled into falling prey to more ambushes! Director of RPG R&D Bill Slavicsek it’s a great way to level the playing field and ensure a fair How do you feel about read-aloud text? When you run experience is had by all the players. i remember playing published adventures, do you use it as written? Do you Special Thanks in the D&D open at Gen Con many years ago, and more paraphrase? Do you generate the equivalent of read-aloud richard Baker, Greg Bilsland, Michele Carter, Jennifer Clarke experienced players in my group made everyone at the text for your home-brew adventures? And tell us about a Wilkes, Andy Collins, Bruce r. Cordell, Jeremy Crawford, peter table listen closely to the read-aloud text. Sure enough, if we time when using evocative, descriptive language improved lee, Mike Mearls, Kim Mohan, Cal Moore, peter Schaefer, Stephen were paying attention, the read-aloud text almost inevitably your game. You can send your feedback and answers Schubert, Matthew Sernett, rodney Thompson, James Wyatt revealed some clue that helped us in the ensuing encounter. to [email protected] or post them on the D&D insider community page. theMaze of Shattered Souls An adventure for 15th-level characters By James Wyatt illustration by Patrick McEvoy F cartography by Jason A. Engle TM & © 2010 Wizards of the Coast llC All rights reserved. Sample file The Demon Wastes: a blasted land cursed for countless ages by the taint of ancient evil. A land of ash and rock, harsh and unforgiving, and its few mortal residents are equally harsh. The Ghaash’kala guard the Labyrinth, preventing anyone from entering or leaving the Demon Wastes lest the taint of evil spread to the world beyond ... Apr il 2010 | Dungeon 177 4 The Maze of Shattered Souls The Maze of Shattered Souls is a Dungeons & Drag- Deep in the heart of the labyrinth stands an order to leave the labyrinth and return to the world ons® adventure for five characters of 15th level.