Dungeon Magazine 180.pdf

ISSUE 180 | JUly 2010

A DUNGEONS & DRAGONS ® ROLEPLAYING GAME SUPPLEMENT

Contents

4 thespiralGate

By Scott Fitzgerald Gray

The separatist faction of Bedine desert tribesfolk

known as the Sand Kings have long opposed

the iron grip of Netheril’s restored masters, the

Shadovar. Now the Sand Kings have uncovered a

dangerous and far-reaching Shadovar plot … but

whose side will the heroes join? A D ungeons &

D ragons adventure for 16th-level characters.

48 ChaossCar: Downthe

Goblinhole

By Gareth Hanrahan

In his youth, Urgog the Mangler was a feared

goblin warrior and raider. Eventually, he and his

warband were driven deep into the Chaos Scar

and weren’t heard from again. It was hoped that

Urgog was dead … but he’s not. A D ungeons &

D ragons adventure for 2nd-level characters.

68 eyeonDarksun

By Rodney Thompson

The sorcerer-kings of Athas keep the Dragon at bay by

offering it sacrificial victims at the infamous and well-

hidden Dragon’s Altar.

72 eyeontherealms

By Ed Greenwood

Heldran Rallyhorn is devoted to keeping the nobility of

Faerûn ‘pure’, and his methods have made him both loved

and feared.

34 ChaossCar: thepillar

ofeyes

By Robert J. Schwalb

Not far from the wall bounding the Chaos Scar’s

haunted lands is a crooked stone pillar, standing

alone in an otherwise ordinary field. It resembles

nothing so much as a stack of staring eyeballs.

Thus far, the Pillar of Eyes has remained a hoary

and puzzling edifice. Recent study of the stone,

however, suggests that whatever it contains might

be growing restive. Perhaps someone with special

talents might be able to touch its magic and claim

it. “The Pillar of Eyes” is a Chaos Scar adventure

for five characters of 4th level.

60 aerialbattles

By Robert J. Schwalb

Airships provide swift and relatively safe travel at

a modest price for passengers, but such voyages are

not without danger. Storms can whip and f ling an

airship to the ground. Prowling pirates descend

from the great cloudbanks to strike passersby in

the air or on the ground, while larger, deadlier

monsters may regard an airship as a meal.

75 savemyGame

By Stephen Radney-MacFarland

A home-grown campaign needs home-grown f lavor,

and there are tools available that can help keep things

organized.

78 DunGeonCraft

By James Wyatt

Even when creating your own, unique campaign world,

you can draw on published adventures to keep things

moving.

3 eDitorial

By Steve Winter

Looking forward to Dark Sun , looking backward to

Empire of the Petal Throne .

ontheCover

Illustration by Tyler Walpole

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180

E D I T oR I A L

THE PSURLON COMETH

Dungeon

Ju l y 2010

Editor-in-Chief Steve Winter

The approaching release of the new Dark Sun edition has

my fingers twitching at the thought of holding the new

books in my hands and actually turning pages. of course,

we’ve had final PDFs for a while, so we’ve been able to f lip

virtual pages to our heart’s content and see exactly what

will soon be available in print.

No one should be surprised to hear that I’m a big fan of

the Dark Sun setting. I was involved in early concepting

on the original world, before it even had a name. Beyond

that, I’ve always been a sucker for a) deserts, b) crumbling

civilizations, and c) fantasy settings that are entirely differ-

ent from the norm (whatever you define that to be). So the

Dark Sun PDFs have been getting a good going-over on

my computer, and I must say that I love what I’m seeing.

one side effect of immersing myself in all things Athas

is that I’ve also been led back to Empire of the Petal Throne .

I’d love to know, out of all the people reading this, how

many of you are familiar with EPT, how many have heard

of it but don’t know anything beyond the name, and how

many have never even heard of this legendary game.

The original Empire of the Petal Throne was pub-

lished by TSR in 1975, making it a true trailblazer in

RPGs. It had its own game rules, although they were

familiar to original D&D players. It was EPT’s setting of

Tékumel that made it legendary.

Tékumel was the fiercely unique creation of Professor

M. A. R. Barker, who had been imagining and writing

about it for

decades before

D&D was a

glimmer in

Dave’s and

Gary’s eyes.

Very brief ly,

in the far

future, man-

kind perfected

the science

of traveling

between stars.

We moved out

into the galaxy, exploring and settling new worlds and

meeting many other races of intelligent beings. The planet

Tékumel was a crossroads between alien races, many of

whom had cities there—including some of humanity’s

most implacable enemies.

Then came “the Time of Darkness.” Inexplicably, Téku-

mel fell through the fabric of space and time into a pocket

dimension where it was utterly isolated from the universe

we know. Even the laws of nature were different in this

new realm. As the shattered world clawed its way back

toward civilization, failing technology was replaced by

magic and science was replaced by powerful, inscrutable,

and often cruel gods. Vicious beasts were twisted into

cosmic horrors. After tens of thousands of years, Tékumel

became a completely different place—except that the ani-

mosity of humanity’s ancient enemies persisted, and the

ruins of its star-spanning empire were entombed beneath

crumbling, dead cities.

That’s Tékumel. Interesting parallels can be drawn

between it and Athas; most are no more than artifacts of a

common heritage, I’m sure, although a few homages cer-

tainly crept into the younger setting. What really struck

me on rereading EPT, however, was the cold-blooded

deadliness of Tékumel.

In 1975, D&D in general had a fatality rate approach-

ing that of Left 4 Dead, but Tékumel was especially lethal.

It abounded with creatures such as Thúnru’u, the Eater of

Eyes, and spells such as the Silver Halo of Soul-Stealing.

Death came in many forms on Tékumel, and it came

frequently.

Dark Sun has a well-earned reputation as a place that’s

hard on player characters. Still, we can all be grateful that

game designers have learned that no matter how enjoyable

you make the process of creating new characters, that’s

not why people play the game. Soon, we’’ll once more

stride the dusty streets of Tyr with trikals in our fists and

adventure in our souls.

I’m ready. Are you? Let us know at dndinsider@wiz-

ards.com.

SeniorArtDirector

Jon Schindehette

WebProduction Bart Carroll

ContributingAuthors Scott Fitzgrerald Gray,

Ed Greenwood, Gareth Hanrahan,

Stephen Radney-MacFarland,

Robert J. Schwalb, Rodney

Thompson, James Wyatt

Developers

Jeremy Crawford, Stephen

Schubert

Editors Miranda Horner

CoverArtist Tyler Walpole

ContributingArtists Empty Room Studios, Mclean

Kendree, Jeffrey lai, Chuck

lukacs, Tyler Walpole

Cartographers

Jason A. Engle, Mike Schley

PublishingProductionSpecialists Angelika lokotz, Erin Dorries,

Christopher Tardiff

WebDevelopment Mark A. Jindra

ExecutiveProducer,

D&DInsider Christopher Perkins

DirectorofRPGR&D Bill Slavicsek

SpecialThanks

Richard Baker, Greg Bilsland, Michele Carter, Jennifer Clarke

Wilkes, Andy Collins, Bruce R. Cordell, Jeremy Crawford, Peter

lee, Mike Mearls, Kim Mohan, Cal Moore, Peter Schaefer, Stephen

Schubert, Matthew Sernett, Rodney Thompson, James Wyatt

THE

SPIRAL

GATE

By Scott Fitzgerald Gray

illustration by Tyler Walpole F cartography by Mike Schley

All Faerûn’s fate is being shaped in Netheril.

You can hide behind your belief that this is all

about other lands, other people, other lives,

but in the end, your lands and your people will

be caught up in this struggle like all the rest.

So decide now. Which side are you on?

Ju l y 2010 | Dungeon 180 4

THESPIRALGATE

In “The Spiral Gate,” the characters find them-

selves caught up in a power struggle inspired by

the new Netheril. The separatist faction of Bedine

desert tribesfolk known as the Sand Kings have long

opposed the iron grip of Netheril’s restored mas-

ters, the Shadovar. Although Sand King tactics are

typically limited to hit-and-run skirmishes against

Netherese patrols and supply convoys, a faction led by

a desert mystic named Ashurta has uncovered a dan-

gerous and far-reaching plot.

The Shadovar seek the secret to reactivating a

wide-reaching and powerful portal network centered

around a magical location known as the Spiral Gate.

Led by a shade captain named Durbela, the Shadovar

are dangerously close to reclaiming a secret ritual

scroll whose power will reactivate the dead network. If

they are successful, the Spiral Gate will give the Sha-

dovar control of countless reactivated portals across

Faerûn—and that could be the tipping point in Neth-

eril’s quest to become the continent’s dominant power.

“The Spiral Gate” is an adventure for five charac-

ters of 16th level. It can be played as a stand-alone

adventure or can be used as a framework on which

to build a longer adventure or a section of your ongo-

ing campaign.

This adventure centers around three linked and

partially functioning portals, the last of which holds

power that Netheril seeks. The Spiral Gate was a leg-

endary portal nexus built around a conf luence point

of the Weave. Its power extended into a wide network

of gates, but they were shut down by the Spellplague

like all other portals. Now the Spiral Gate and its

network have been all but forgotten. The Shadovar

of Netheril, however, have uncovered lost lore that

promises to restore the Spiral Gate to power and leave

its network under their control.

An ancient ritual scroll holds the secret to restor-

ing and reclaiming the power of the Spiral Gate,

and that could potentially tip the balance of power

in Faerûn by granting unprecedented mobility to

Netherese spies, assassins, and armies. The scroll was

divided into four fragments that the Shadovar and

their sworn enemies the Sand Kings are desperately

searching for. The Netherese seek to reactivate and

control the portal; the separatists hope to use the

ritual to permanently disable the Spiral Gate and put

its power out of Netheril’s reach. The characters are

caught in the middle and must decide which faction

to support—or how to effectively manipulate both

sides to their own advantage.

This adventure can take place in any part of

Faerûn, but it is best situated in one of the border

realms caught up in conf lict with Netheril. It begins

in a city the heroes are passing through or in which

they are resting after their previous adventures.

THEQUESTS

If played as a short adventure, “The Spiral Gate”

focuses on the characters’ part in the activation

or disabling of the master portal and its network.

If you expand this adventure, add minor quests as

appropriate. Consider making it more difficult for the

characters to discover the locations of Encounters T1

and T2 or creating a minor quest around their efforts

to establish a detente with the Sand Kings, the Sha-

dovar, or both.

majorQuest—activateorDestroythespiralGate

Depending on which side of the Shadovar/Sand King

conflict the adventurers end up on (or even if they

play both sides against one another), their focus in the

final encounter is on the activation or destruction of

the Spiral Gate and its connected portal network by

using the power of the scroll fragments.

reward: 7,000 XP.

ADVENTURESYNOPSIS

BACKGROUND

As the adventure begins, two of the four scroll frag-

ments have been found and are in the possession

of the Shadovar and Sand King factions. A squad of

Sand King agents in with one fragment targets the

party in a crowded marketplace—not because they’re

looking for a fight but to clandestinely slip the scroll

fragment into the heroes’ possession. The desperate

Sand Kings need to keep the fragment away from a

superior force of Shadovar hot on their heels, and

they hope that it will be temporarily safe hidden

In the aftermath of the Spellplague, the portal net-

works that once made Faerûn synonymous with

magical power were shattered. With the breaking

of the Weave, most of Faerûn’s portals remain inert

or unstable, and only the bravest arcanists engage in

the dangerous rituals required to bring a dead portal

back to life.

Ju l y 2010 | Dungeon 180

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