Dragon #366 (4e).pdf

CONTENTS

Features

the Feywild

By Rodney Thompson

The eladrin are some of the least understood creatures in

the world, yet their culture is as deep and storied as any.

Get a glimpse into an eladrin city with Mithrendain.

17 wish upon a star

By Bruce R. Cordell

Warlocks are a mysterious bunch, but few are as

misunderstood as those of the Star Pact.

26 ritually speaking

By Peter Schaefer

What caster wouldn’t want more rituals? Dig into this

feature and discover a number of new ritual options.

34 trapped!

By Matthew Sernett

What dungeon doesn’t need a good trap or three?

In addition to new traps, check out the advice and

information on using traps in your game.

41 rose keep: a red wizard enClave

By Bruce R. Cordell

The Red Wizards were once a highly coordinated group,

but those days are gone. Look inside one of the new Red

Wizard enclaves here.

5 Mithrendain, Citadel oF

50 gontal

By Bruce R. Cordell and Ed Greenwood

The Realms of 4th Edition have new life

this month. The region of Gontal, previously

unexplored, is detailed here.

ColuMns

53 Char aC ter s oF war

4 editorial

By David Noonan

Looking to start up your Scales of War

campaign? Consider offering these backgrounds

to your players for their new characters.

the 100 year leap

By Phil Athens and Bruce R. Cordell

Phil and Bruce discuss the philosophy behind the

Forgotten Realms timeline shift, as well as other critical

decisions regarding the new Realms.

63 the bloodghos t s yndiC ate

By Mike Mearls

This cunning bugbear clan is ready to rule the

streets in your campaign.

81 ConFessions oF a Full-tiMe wizard

By Shelly Mazzanoble

Shelly continues to describe her first time as a new DM.

72 roll vs role: troll s

85 rpga report

By Chris Tulach

This month, Chris tells us more about the Living

Forgotten Realms campaign.

By Bruce R. Cordell and Chris Sims

Roll vs. Role’s newest installment tackles one of

D&D’s greatest: the troll.

87 aMpersand

By Bill Slavicsek

Bill gives a breakdown of our Gen Con coverage and plans

for the show.

on the Cover

Illustration by Chris Seaman

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78 de s ig n & de v elopM en t:

EDIToRIaL

366

MUSICAL CHAIRS

Dragon

August 2008

Editor-in-Chief Chris Youngs

Holy crap, is it august already? Where does the time

go? as Gen Con approaches, all sorts of games are

afoot around the office, as usual. Most of RPG R&D

will be at the show, including Bart, Chris, Stacy,

and myself for D&D Insider . Feel free to swing by one

of our seminars or the booth and say hi if you’ll be

in Indy.

my character’s neck at the first opportunity?” It

turns out, my fears were completely unfounded. To

my surprise, not only did they accept my addition to

the group quickly and easily, they asked for another

opportunity to swap seats so I could play with them

another time.

Senior Art Director Stacy Longstreet

Web Production Bart Carroll, Steve Winter

Graphic Design Scott Okumura, Chris Hanis

Shauna Wolf Narciso

Contributing Authors Phil Athens, Bruce R. Cordell,

What I learned is that when it comes to DM/player

relationships, it doesn’t matter where you sat last

week. It matters only where you’re sitting at the

session happening right now. My aggro player? She

had my back from start to finish. and she was

playing a rogue, so a called shot to the groin would

have been well within her character’s reach. But she

saved her sneak attacks for the monsters, and I saved

my healing spells for her and the rest of the group—

they kept my leader good and shielded, as any good

group does.

Ed Greenwood, Shelly

But that’s not the real topic this month. I recently had

a chance to experience something unique—some-

thing I know many of you do frequently in games of

your own. I swapped places with one of my players

in the game I run.

Mazzanoble, David Noonan,

Mike Mearls, Peter Schaefer,

Matthew Sernett, Chris Sims,

Bill Slavicsek, Rodney Thompson,

Chris Tulach

Developers Stephen Radney-MacFarland,

See, I run a weekly game for a rowdy bunch of

co-workers, and a couple weeks back, I rolled up a

character of my own and swapped places with one

of my players. The results? Much, much better than

I expected.

Peter Schaefer, Stephen Schubert

Editors Miranda Horner, Julia Martin

Cover Artist William O’Connor

The experience also gave me the opportunity to

really learn a lot about the relationship dynamics

in my group of players. and I feel like knowing how

my players play, and why they make the choices they

do, will only make me a better DM when I’m back

behind the screen.

Contributing Artists Rob Alexander, Stephen Crowe,

I don’t have an adversarial relationship with my

players. Far from it. We have a great time. They

know it’s their job to solve the puzzles and defeat

the monsters I throw at them. and for the most

part, they know it’s my job to try and kill their

characters. So we get along. But coming into this

game—where I’m trading seats with one of my

players—I was still a little nervous. I mean, one of

my players can be a little, well, aggressive during

a normal session. Maybe aggressive is the wrong

word—let’s say she sometimes seems to take the

attacks of monsters personally.

Ryan Barger, Wayne England,

Austin Hsu, Rock Niu,

Chris Seaman, John Stanko,

Anne Stokes, Sam Wood,

Tina Young

Cartographers Robert Lee, Robert Lazzaretti

So if you haven’t given this a try yet, consider swap-

ping seats with your DM (or one of your players, if

you’re normally the DM) for a session or two. Run

something short—one or two sessions max—and give

the switch a try. You might find that the change of

pace, the change of DMing styles, and the change

from your normal routine make your experience in

your normal role that much more rewarding.

Director of RPG R&D Bill Slavicsek

Web Development Mark A. Jindra

“What will happen when I’m sitting elbow to elbow

with these people?” I thought. “Will they accept me?

Will they shun me? Will they tap some secret reserve

of rage I’m unaware of and wrap a garrote around

Special Thanks

Richard Baker, Greg Bilsland, Logan Bonner, Michele Carter, Jennifer

Clarke Wilkes, Andy Collins, Bruce R. Cordell, Jeremy Crawford, Rob

Heinsoo, Peter Lee, Julia Martin, Mike Mearls, Kim Mohan, David

Noonan, Stephen Radney-MacFarland, Peter Schaefer, Stephen

Schubert, Chris Sims, Rodney Thompson, Rob Watkins, James Wyatt

CITADEL OF

T HE FE Y WILD

by Rodney Thompson

illustrations by Anne Stokes

and Rob Alexander

uum storms of the plains of Valdrennai, stands one

of the most magnificent cities ever constructed by

the eladrin: Mithrendain. the city’s name is derived

from the elf phrase “wall of the fortress,” but the

word has become synonymous with the beauty and longevity of

the eladrin. home to nearly 40,000 people, almost all of them

eladrin, Mithrendain is a beautiful city resplendent with soaring

towers and graceful architecture. in addition to its proper name,

Mithrendain is often referred to as the Autumn City, since most

of its towers are colored like autumn leaves, with yellow, gold, and

bronze being common.

Mithrendain was founded several hundred years ago in the

waning days of the eladrin empire. during a particularly brutal

campaign against the forces of the fomorian kings, a contingent

of eladrin soldiers discovered a place in the Feywild where the

fomorians had carved a path from their deep kingdoms to the sur-

face, creating a large hole that allowed thousands of vile beings

to f low upward from the Underdark each day. After a bloody

battle between the eladrin soldiers and the fomorians, the surface

forces pushed their enemies back through the opening and into

the Underdark once more. with the help of powerful wizards, the

eladrin sealed the hole to the Underdark, shutting off one of the

August 2008 | Dragon 366

MITHRENDAIN,

D eep in the Feywild, beyond the swirling resid-

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