The-Dungeon-Master-Experience-Chris-Perkins

The Dungeon Master Experience: Big Map Attack

the final blow against the Big Map
reclaim his father’s sword. Attack
to spare the life of Tyzaro’s
n allowed her to retain a 5/5/2011
s estate—one final noble
by Trevor in the moment. WEDNESDAY NIGHT.

earned The Emperor of the Dragovar empire is missing! The
heroes chase a lead to a small island dominated by an
eaves, the campaign stalls. extinct volcano and populated by hill giants. The giants
o make the most of it—to pay homage to the island’s gold dragon overlord, Zeryn-
ayers that the campaign droth, even though the dragon was turned to stone many
till full of surprises! years ago.
vor, his departure has The huge petrified dragon stands proudly atop a rocky
nesday game forward. outcropping south of the hill giant village, and every morn-
t the Emperor has ing the giants leave a cornucopia of fresh food offerings at
aphira Narakhty make its feet. With Zeryndroth indisposed, a black dragon named
ge her family’s destruction? Caustralanth has moved into seaside caves set into the
fare without their faithful northern cliffs of the volcano . . . but she’s not yet powerful
times ahead, but only time enough to impose her will upon the hill giants and assert
herself as the island’s new dragon overlord.
dden departure taught me:
There’s more to the island than meets the eye, as my
rtant to a campaign than players will soon discover. In order to find out what
er characters. happened to the Emperor, the heroes will undoubt-
key to survival—both for edly confront the hill giants, investigate the petrified
mpaign. remains of the dragon overlord, explore the hilltop
cairns in the giants’ cemetery, and perhaps even
maps, which I love, and negotiate Caustralanth’s caves to reach the volcano’s
ricks. The Best Villain caldera. With so many possibilities, I felt it was
ived, so expect another in important to provide my players with a map—and
s well. how I build maps is the subject of this article.

December 2011 | DU NGEON 197 25

My maps are not photorealistic; they’re inspired the paint bucket tool (left
by the works of David “Diesel” LaForce, a cartogra- ground white. It’s like I’m s
pher from TSR who did a lot of the early cartography of blank paper!
for Dungeon magazine (not to mention several old
TSR adventures). My maps tend to be very clean Step 2. Use La
and utilitarian, but they also have an organic hand-
drawn quality that mapmaking software has trouble I like to build my maps in la
emulating. ment I create gets its own la
Sometimes I draw maps the old-fashioned way: to make changes to one laye
freehand on graph paper. On this particular occasion, without affecting the other
I’m using Adobe Photoshop CS4 and giving you an
over-the-shoulder glimpse into my map-making pro-
cess. This is not intended as a Photoshop tutorial, and
I should warn you: I’m not a Photoshop whiz. How-
ever, you’d be amazed what you can do in Photoshop
with just four tools: the pencil, the eraser, the paint
bucket, and the type tool.

Step 1. Say Hello
to Photoshop

I open a new file in Photoshop. This is my canvas, and
I want to make sure the map fits on a single sheet of
8.5” x 11” paper. This map won’t need a grid, so I use

Step 3.
Grab My Penc

My pencil is embedded in
of my screen. Most of the m
this simple hand-drawing t

The Dungeon Master Experience: Big Map Attack

column) to paint the back-
starting with a fresh sheet

ayers

ayers. Each new map ele-
ayer. That way, if I need
er of the map, I can do so
layers.

Step 4. Draw, Erase,
Draw, Erase

Using my mouse and the pencil tool, I draw a rough
outline of the island on the Background layer. I’ve
set the pencil width to 5 pixels, which has a nice line
weight. Drawing with a mouse is hard; sometimes the
lines don’t look exactly right. So, I use the eraser tool

cil

the toolbar on the left side
map will be created using
tool.

December 2011 | DU NGEON 197 26

(in the left toolbar) to erase the sections that offend
me, and then redraw those sections until I’m happy.

Step 5.
Build the Volcano

The volcano on the island will be represented by a
series of concentric contour lines, each one represent-
ing an increase in elevation of 100 feet. These “rings”
are drawn with the pencil. It’s tedious work that will
pay off later.

Step 7. Add Hi

This is an island inhabited b
needs hills! I draw several l
volcano, as well as a rocky r
the island where the petrifi

Step 6. Add Cliffs

Using my pencil and eraser tools, I carefully extend
the 100-foot cliffs around the rest of the island,
except for a short section to the south. I make sure
there are no gaps in the linework, so that I don’t run
into problems when it comes time to paint sections of
the map with color.

The Dungeon Master Experience: Big Map Attack

Step 8. Add a Dock

Using the eraser, I erase a small bit of the island
outline. Then I use my pencil to draw a stone dock
protruding from the island. If it doesn’t look right the
first time, I erase it and try again. Up to this point,
everything has been drawn on one layer.

Step 9. Create a New Layer

I’m ready to start adding details to my map. I create a
new layer and call it “Hill Giant Homestead.”

ills

by hill giants, so I figure it
low hills at the base of the
rise at the southern tip of
ied dragon is perched.

December 2011 | DU NGEON 197 27

Step 10.
Draw a House

My layers appear in the toolbar along the right side of
the screen. Using my pencil and mouse, I draw a hill
giant homestead anywhere on the map; because it’s
on a separate layer, nothing I do will affect the rest of
the map. I draw the house bigger than it will appear
in the final, so that I can get the detail I want. It looks
like something the Flintstones might build, but which
seems appropriate for a hill giant dwelling.

Step 12.
Place the Hous

Using my mouse, I “click an
so that it’s where I want it. I
house is on its own layer, se
map.

Step 11.
Shrink the House

To shrink the hill giant house so that it’s the appropri-
ate size, I use Edit > Transform > Scale (as shown).

The Dungeon Master Experience: Big Map Attack

Step 13. Duplicate
the House

Because I’m lazy, I’m not going to draw different hill
giant houses; I’m going to copy and paste the same
one over and over using Layer > Duplicate Layer.
Each time I duplicate the Hill Giant Homestead layer,
I get a new house that I can “click and drag” wherever
I want using my mouse.

se

nd drag” the resized house
I can do this because the
eparate from the rest of the

December 2011 | DU NGEON 197 28

Step 14. Make a Step 15. Make
Hill Giant Cemetery and Caves

The giants bury their dead under rocky hilltop cairns. Believe it or not, my map is
The cairns are created exactly the same way as the add some details, specifical
giant homesteads: I create a new layer, build one the northern cliffs and som
cairn using my pencil, shrink it down to the appro- entire island. I want to mak
priate size, duplicate the layer over and over, and Background layer, so I mak
“click and drag” each new cairn into place. working on (see the right to
On a whim, I use the same trick to create farm The waves and caves are
fields around the hill giant homesteads. I create a (set at 3 pixels). The waves i
new layer, draw five rows of wavy lines using my if the linework is a bit thinn
pencil (set to 1 pixel width), and then duplicate the island.
layer multiple times. Once the lines are placed, I use
my eraser to “cut the corners.”

The Dungeon Master Experience: Big Map Attack

e Waves Step 16. Just Add Water

75% complete. Time to Before I apply color, I save my map. That way, if I
lly a row of caves along screw something up, I have an unpainted version to
me water lines around the revert to. My color palette is in the top right corner
ke these changes to the of my screen; I’m going to limit myself to the colors
ke sure that’s the layer I’m offered here.
oolbar). I want to make sure I’m applying color to the cor-
e made with my pencil rect layer (in this case, the Background layer). I select
in particular look better the shade of blue I want and use the paint bucket
ner than the outline of the tool in the left toolbar to fill in the desired area. If
there are any breaks in the outline of my island, the
paint will flow into areas I don’t want, so I’m care-
ful to check my linework. If I use the paint bucket
and the color doesn’t fill the desired area, I can undo
it (Edit > Undo, or Command-Z on my Mac) and try
again.

December 2011 | DU NGEON 197 29

Step 17. Paint by Numbers Step 18. Add P
Little Trees
The paint bucket is a poor man’s coloring tool, but
it serves my needs. I select different shades of yellow, I forgot the trees! No proble
orange, and brown to represent the various elevations then draw and paint the tre
and then use the paint bucket to apply those colors map.
to specific layers. For instance, the blue water in the
caldera is on a different layer than the blue water sur-
rounding the island.

Step 19. Transf

I not only want to shrink an
also flip them horizontally,
cific area of the island I hav
use Edit > Transform. The “
easy way to make your map
cutter. In the accompanyin
stands of trees are basically
of which as been horizontal

The Dungeon Master Experience: Big Map Attack

Pretty

em—I create a new layer,
ees wherever I want on the

form the Trees Step 20. Build the Beach

nd relocate the trees but I use the pencil tool (set at 1 pixel width) to make
so that they fit in the spe- stipple marks along the western shore, giving it a
ve in mind. Once again, I sandy appearance. Then I create a new layer, use
“horizontal flip” tool is an my pencil and paint bucket to draw one palm tree,
duplicate that layer six times, and then use my mouse
p elements feel less cookie- to move the seven palm trees where I want them.
ng diagram, the two smaller
y two identical layers, one Step 21.
Add Elevation Tags
lly flipped!
We’re almost finished. Time to add text to the maps.
To make the elevation clear to my players, I add text
tags to the various elevation lines (+100 ft., +200 ft.,
and so on). To make the text more visible, I apply a
“glow” around the text using Layer > Layer Style >
Outer Glow. Not all of the text on the map needs this
treatment, just the text that would be hard to read
otherwise.

December 2011 | DU NGEON 197 30

Step 22.
Save and Enjoy!

I use a traditional D&D statue icon to represent
Zeryndroth, the petrified gold dragon. This symbol
is part of the Zapf Dingbats font family, as is the star-
like symbol I use for the compass rose. Like all of the
tags, they’re added to the map as separate layers using
the type tool (“T”) in the left toolbar.
With the tags in place, the map is complete. I save
the file.
At some point, remind me to show you the tools
I use to build maps for the ships that crop up in my
nautical-themed campaign.

Until the next encounter!

The Dungeon Master Experience: Big Map Attack

December 2011 | DU NGEON 197 31

The Du

Constellation of
Madness

5/12/2011 Believing that an evil eladr
Evendor has summoned the co
MONDAY NIGHT. purposes, the heroes travel to t
they confer with Lenkhor Krig
The heroes convene aboard their ship, the Maelstrom, who leads the Shan Qabal, a p
before embarking on their next epic quest. That’s when arcane caste. Lenkhor is someo
Melech, Bruce Cordell’s character, notices something have placed their trust. Yet by
strange in the night sky: three unfamiliar stars peering just ity has been altered in such a w
above the southwestern horizon. longer around to help them. To
In the days that follow, more strange stars come into the heroes have no memory of
view, until the entire constellation of thirteen is visible. The means my players must put al
starry array resembles a dragon’s eye, and the writings and Lenkhor out of their minds.
ramblings of ancient mariners and astronomers speak of Welcome to my weird worl
an evil constellation that appears only when summoned—a
constellation with the power to warp the very fabric of real- My campaign is like a snow
ity. Some call it the Dragon’s Eye. Others call it the end of
the world. a good shake.

Buried in my original cam
ing bit of lore: Long ago, the w
to a multitude of powerful drag
of magic made them undispute
by one they died, and with them
day dragons, more driven to ac
arcane power, believe these anc
heavens, becoming the stars in

The above passage was the

level adventure called “Con

which a major campaign vi

Realm summons a constella

to alter reality. What really

ungeon Master Experience: Constellation of Madness

rin warlock named Starlord idea was the prospect of temporarily swapping play-
onstellation for his own fell ers in my Monday and Wednesday night groups, and
the Dragovar capital. There, the Dragon’s Eye constellation was the plot device I
ge, a dragonborn archmage intended to use to make it happen. Unfortunately,
powerful sect within the my players’ schedules made the swapping exercise
one in whom the characters impractical; however, I refused to abandon the alter-
the time they arrive, real- nate reality idea entirely. After twenty-three levels of
way that the archmage is no adventuring, my players understood all too well how
To further complicate matters, the world worked—so what better way to turn things
f ever meeting Lenkhor, which upside-down and change some of the fundamental
ll previous encounters with truths of the campaign!
From the outset, my campaign was built around
ld. the three-tiered structure of 4th Edition. The heroes
spent the entire heroic tier (levels 1–10) exploring
w globe. Sometimes it needs one small island and learning bits and pieces about
the “larger world.”
mpaign notes is the follow- Paragon tier (levels 11–20) was all about leaving
world of Iomandra was home the island and exploring what the larger world had to
gon-sorcerers. Their mastery offer. The heroes became embroiled in politics. They
ed rulers of the world. One meddled in the affairs of others while chasing their
m their great magic. Present- own dreams. They got a ship and plied the Dragon
cquire gold and property than Sea in search of new adventures. By the end of the
cient wyrms ascended to the paragon tier, they’d touched on every major cam-
the night sky. paign arc and understood the world pretty well.
Then came epic tier (levels 21–30), during which
inspiration for an epic- one expects all of the major campaign arcs to wrap
nstellation of Madness,” in up. However, epic tier is more than just “the end of
illain with ties to the Far plots.” It’s also the perfect time to challenge the play-
ation that has the power ers’ perceptions of the world, and turn the campaign
y excited me about this on its head. Like the final season of a television series,
anything can happen and nothing is sacred.
Keeping my players engaged for 20+ levels
isn’t easy. Hell, sometimes it’s hard to keep myself
engaged, let alone them! With the heroes halfway
to 24th level, my players have grown accustomed
to their characters and each other, and think they
know all of my sly DM tricks. To keep things exciting,
I must be willing to take some big-money risks and
shock the players with unexpected twists.

December 2011 | DU NGEON 197 32

The Du

You May Ask A few words of warning:
Yourself, to shift a well-established ca
Well, How Did I directions, you must be car
Get Here? paign into something unrec
to your players. They’ve inv
“Constellation of Madness” does just that—it throws the world to watch it mutate
the heroes into an alternate reality where certain and unrecognizable. Moreo
things that used to be true no longer are. It creates lines aren’t for everyone. Su
weird situations in which the players become aware back dead villains, but not a
of something that their characters don’t know—and handling the metagame im
that, my friends, is the definition of roleplaying. Case reality storyline. No matter
in point: One of the major campaign villains is a
dragonborn wizard named Hahrzan. Throughout the
paragon tier, the heroes clashed with Hahrzan on sev-
eral occasions, even killing him twice before realizing
he had a secret cloning lab. But in this new reality,
he’s leader of the Shan Qabal in place of Lenkhor
Krige, and in this alternate reality, the characters and
Hahrzan have never once fought each other.
My players hate Hahrzan, and they loathe the fact
that he’s risen to a position of power in this new real-
ity, but their characters have no justifiable reason to
attack him. To my players, I describe their characters’
relationship to Hahrzan as “prickly and tense, but not
hostile,” and as much as the players want to slay him,
there’s really nothing for their characters to act on.
Their only recourse is to accept this new reality… at
least until their characters become aware that reality
has been altered. How’s that for an epic roleplaying
challenge?
“Constellation of Madness” is all about my play-
ers knowing more than their epic-level characters. As
the players figure out why certain things are chang-
ing and others are staying the same, no doubt some
event will occur that lets their characters realize their
world around them has changed… paving the way for
the inevitable (and hopefully satisfying) confrontation
with Starlord Evendor.

ungeon Master Experience: Constellation of Madness

their characters always seem to know as much as the
players do! Even my Monday night players—expert
roleplayers all—can accept only so much metagame
torture before their heads leap off their shoulders and
fly screaming about the room.

Lessons Learned

The jury’s still out on whether “Constellation of Mad-
ness” will go down as a high point of the Iomandra
campaign or sink like a stone to the bottom of the
Dragon Sea—I’ll keep you posted. In any event, here’s
what the experience has taught me about epic-level
play:

✦ By the time they reach the epic tier, play-
ers think they know where your campaign is
heading. Show them how wrong they are.

Next week’s column discusses the repercussions of
last week’s poll results. The votes are in, and things
don’t look good for Xanthum the gnome bard! To my
credit, I rarely kill characters on a whim, but you’d be
surprised how much I enjoy torturing them. As you’ll
find out next week, it’s for the greater good.

Until the next encounter!

: While epic tier allows you
ampaign in unexpected
reful not to turn the cam-
cognizable or unfamiliar
vested too much time in
e into something bizarre
over, alternate reality story-
ure, it’s a great way to bring
all players are capable of
mplications of an alternate
r how hard they roleplay,

December 2011 | DU NGEON 197 33

Post characters, and sometimes
Mortem help. That said, I have been
ers’ characters from time to
5/19/2011 Just ask Rodney Thomps
Many levels ago, the We
WEDNESDAY NIGHT. faced a similar situation wh
elemental weapons foundry
This week’s session kicks off with a quick recap of the overwhelmed. The characte
previous week’s game: The heroes assaulted the Black (except for Andrew Finch’s
Candle, a stronghold of Vecna worshipers hidden in a branded as enemies of the D
demiplane that can only be accessed via a secret ritual. “branded” I mean literally s
Fortunately Xanthum (Curt Gould’s gnome bard) had brands that marked them a
mastered the ritual. over to a ship full of private
Unfortunately, the Vecnites—themselves masters of mean pirates). Prior to the s
secret lore—were more than prepared for the party’s arrival. character Vargas had one o
The heroes quickly found themselves surrounded and fight- replaced with a magical one
ing for their lives against evil wizards, assassins, cultists, use Vargas as a “mule” to de
shadow demons, and undead creatures that like to feast on a one-eyed pirate warlord lo
healing surges. To make matters worse, the heroes had an prison.
unexpected run-in with an exarch of the Maimed Lord, who In the course of the jour
banished Xanthum the gnome bard to the Nine Hells. Andrew’s character, the her
deer the ship and avoid inc
In a recent poll, y’all voted to decide which character and mutilation inflicted up
in my Wednesday night campaign should die next. beginning of a new arc for t
The votes were tallied, and Xanthum the gnome bard would carry Vargas through
“won” by a landslide. Perhaps it was fate, but even tiers of play. Rodney seized
before we knew the final results of the poll, events transforming Vargas into an
of the campaign had already conspired against Xan- wiping out those who maim
thum. Curt Gould was forced to wait a whole week gave Rodney a new magic it
to find out whether Xanthum would return from the a new enemy to look forwar
Nine Hells in one piece. His anxiety only grew once pirate warlord, who was rec
the poll results were tallied. and—not surprisingly—wan
Fortunately for Curt, I’m not the sort of DM who A little pain goes a long w
kills characters solely based on poll results; hon- . . . which brings us back
estly, my players are quite capable of killing off their making Curt wait a whole
mate fate of his character,
start of the session and told
in the Nine Hells, Xanthum
a covey of night hags, wher
favorite “plaything.” After

The Dungeon Master Experience: Post Mortem

each other, without my abuse (this being a PG-rated blog, I’ll spare you
n known to torture my play- the horrific details), Xanthum was returned to his
o time. companions at roughly the moment he was spirited
son. away. Curt was stunned, to say the least, but his
ednesday night heroes horror turned to elation—I’d just given him a cam-
here they attacked an paign’s worth of roleplaying material to work with.
y and found themselves Xanthum, the “cheery sing-along gnome bard,”
ers were knocked out would never be the same!

character, who fled),
Dragovar empire (and by
scarred with scorching-hot
as criminals), and handed
eers (and by “privateers” I
ship’s departure, Rodney’s
of his eyes gouged out and
e; the bad guys planned to
eliver this magic item to
ocked away in an island

rney, with a little help from
roes managed to comman-
carceration. Yet the pain
pon Vargas would be the
that character, one that
h many levels and even
upon the opportunity,
n avenger dedicated to
med him. The eye not only
tem to play with, but also
rd to: the aforementioned
cently released from prison
nted his magic eye back.
way . . .
k to poor Xanthum. After
week to learn the ulti-
I took him aside at the
d him that upon arriving
m was taken prisoner by
reupon he became their
six years of torture and

December 2011 | DU NGEON 197 34

Alas, Xanthum died later in the session. Fortu- Lessons Le
nately, he was carrying a potion of life, which another
character poured down his throat in the nick of time. Pain and death are part of t
In what can only be described as a cruel twist of until we experience them in
irony, we managed to make good on the poll results we cannot truly understand
while also keeping Xanthum in the game. means to be human. I don’t
It’s also worth noting that one of the Vecnite assas- toes to count the number of
sins had a quiver stuffed with seven crossbow bolts of and television series that us
slaying—one bolt for each character in the party. (The experiences as catalysts for
Vecnites had plenty of time to study the heroes’ weak- In all forms of storytelling,
nesses and craft these menacing magic items, so this acter development, and D&
didn’t seem beyond the realm of reason.) Here are the development. Without it, pa
stats I created for these busted items, in case you’re meaningless. When I hear
curious: pointlessness of death in th
to the preponderance of Ra
Missile of Slaying Level 30 Rare “cheats,” I wonder if maybe
tant opportunity.
Inscribed in Supernal script upon the razor-sharp tip of this On the other hand, I’m a
crimson-fletched arrow or crossbow bolt is the name of the characters are hard to kill.
creature it aims to kill. ticularly true if all they face
encounters comparable to t
Wondrous Item 125,000 gp give my player characters th
Property harrowing. While I don’t be
kill characters, I do get a m
Inscribed upon this missile is the name of a specific individ- my players scour their char
ual. If the missile hits the creature whose name is inscribed peration, looking for that on
upon it, that creature drops to 0 hit points. If the creature magic item to save their bac
doesn’t die when reduced to 0 hit points, the creature in which the characters mig
must make a saving throw; if the save fails, the creature choices and actions) find th
dies. Whether it hits or misses its intended target, the mis-
sile’s magic is spent once the missile is shot.

Over the course of the evening, the assassin managed
to fire off six of the seven bolts before he was slain.
Thanks to a couple missed attacks, some successful
saving throws, and another potion of life, no one died
(at least not for long). Ironically, the only bolt that
wasn’t shot was the one with Xanthum’s name on it.

The Dungeon Master Experience: Post Mortem

earned than one encounter’s worth of opponents at once. I
run a deadly game of D&D, and yet, more often than
the human condition, and not, the heroes prevail. Desperation begets imagina-
n some form or another, tion, and when it comes to staying alive, my players
d or appreciate what it can be very imaginative.
t have enough fingers and To summarize:
f books, comics, movies,
se death and near-death ✦ Never underestimate the death-defying des-
r character development. peration of player characters.
pain and death fuel char-
&D is all about character ✦ Pain and death can trigger great character
ain and death are largely development.
DMs complain about the
heir D&D campaigns due Those of you who follow the Penny Arcade podcasts
aise Dead rituals and other know what I’m saying is true. The death of Aeofel
e they’re missing an impor- (Wil Wheaton’s character) at the end of the third
series spawned an entire adventure built around his
also told that 4th Edition triumphant return. Ye gods, if you want to see charac-
I can accept that. It’s par- ter development at its finest, check out the PAX 2010
e week-in, week-out are Celebrity Game podcast!
their level. For me, I like to When a character dies, it’s either a momentous
he full range, from easy to event or a momentary inconvenience depending on
elieve it’s the DM’s job to the campaign. My goal as DM is to remind players
morbid kick out of watching that even in a world with Raise Dead rituals, pain and
racter sheets in sweaty des- death can still serve as fodder for good character devel-
ne half-forgotten power or opment. Scars, nightmares, the thirst for vengeance,
con. I often plan sessions the undying enmity of the Raven Queen—these are
ght (depending on their the types of things that can haunt characters for a long
hemselves fighting more time and make them more fun and interesting to play.
So, before you puncture the hearts of your player char-
acters with arrows of slaying, try to remember that the
goal isn’t necessarily to kill them off, but rather to give
them more reasons to live.

Until the next encounter!

December 2011 | DU NGEON 197 35

T

Special Guest Sta

5/26/2011

MONDAY NIGHT. now only because I’m so bu

Paragon tier. The search for a lost artifact leads the remember what an awesom
heroes to a sunken citadel, within which they find an
extradimensional vault. The vault holds many treasures bring in a special guest star
and surprises, including its mysterious architect—an
astral giant driven mad by the passing centuries. Attend- the game and cursing my sh
ing him are two angels: an angel of Erathis named
Mercion the Icereaver, and an angel of Moradin named then, of course, it’s usually t
Kharandar the Firehearted.
Rather than play all three NPCs myself, I invited two It does take some DM pr
special guest stars ( former colleagues visiting from out of
town) to play the angels, namely Steven “Stan!” Brown everyone enjoys the “specia
and Owen K.C. Stephens.
To prepare for the session w
In keeping with my tradition of treating the campaign
typed up three paragraphs
as a television series, I’m pleased whenever I can get
tion for them to sink their t
a “special guest star” to show up for a session or two,
for them to understand the
even though my gaming group is already quite large.
motivations. If they weren’t
It’s a clever bit of stunt casting that can surprise and
spent the past several centu
delight your players. I think it’s refreshing to bring
mensional vault, I might’ve
new faces into the group, and it gives the campaign
summary of the campaign w
a different energy as well as someone other than me
actually served the charact
for the regular players to interact with. It’s also a good
if their players knew very li
way to give friends who can’t commit to joining the
world.”
“regular cast” an opportunity to contribute to the
Here’s what Stan and Ow
campaign, if only fleetingly.
cion and Kharandar:
I started using “special guest stars” in my long
Hundreds of years ago, Erathis
running 3rd Edition campaign when I found myself invention) inspired the servant
ation and the forge) to build an
in the enviable position of having more people inter- within which was hidden the t
The vault’s architect was an as
ested in my game than seats at the table. I would Everlast. After his work was co
remain in the vault as its etern
include special guest stars whenever a player absence Erathis each appointed an ang
him company: Mercion the Ice
meant I had a spare chair, and they appeared often Firehearted. Unfortunately for
has since lost his grip on realit
and with great success. (I use them less frequently

The Dungeon Master Experience: Special Guest Star

ar Many years ago, a small band of githyanki infiltrated
the vault by some means Runor could not ascertain.
usy that I often don’t Fearing that the vault had a flaw in its design, Runor set
me idea it would be to about making “repairs.” Despite his endless toiling, Runor
r until I’m setting up for still believes the vault’s security has been compromised.
hortsightedness . . . but by Although the githyanki invaders were dispatched, the astral
too late.) giant is prone to hallucinations and sees githyanki in his
reparation to make sure mind from time to time.
al guest star” experience. Mercion and Kharandar are obliged to protect Runor at
with Stan and Owen, I all costs, even if the giant puts himself in harm’s way. How-
ever, if Runor is slain, the angels are released from service
of background informa- and harbor no ill will toward Runor’s slayers, and might
teeth into . . . just enough even be persuaded to help them. Both are eager to return
eir characters’ goals and to the Astral Sea, but first they must find a way to escape
t playing angels who’d from the vault. Runor occasionally speaks of a secret means
uries trapped in an extradi- of escape but always stops short of revealing the details.
e also given them a brief
world, but in this case it Ultimately, the only things I felt Stan and Owen
ers of the angels better
ittle about the “outside needed were (1) a reason to oppose the heroes, and

wen were told about Mer- (2) a reason to help the heroes. Realistically, they only

s (the god of civilization and have three hours to make these characters their own,
ts of Moradin (the god of cre-
n extradimensional vault, and more detail wouldn’t have added much to the fun
reasures of bygone empires.
stral giant named Runor of playing these off beat roles. I also don’t feel it’s my
omplete, Runor decided to
nal guardian. Moradin and place to tell them how to play their characters unless
gel to protect Runor and keep
ereaver, and Kharandar the they ask for advice; experienced roleplayers will find
r the angels, the astral giant
ty. something to latch onto. In this case, Stan and Owen

gravitated toward the elemental nature of each angel:

Mercion the Icereaver sounded cold and calculat-

ing, while Kharandar the Firehearted sounded loud

and temperamental. I didn’t tell Stan or Owen to play

their characters that way; they made the call.

However, Stan and Owen were allowed to ask me

questions to fill holes in their player knowledge. For

example, at one point the heroes asked the angels for

more information about the githyanki raiders; I then

stepped into the discussion and revealed some cru-

cial information, but only as much as I felt the angels

would be comfortable sharing with the party based

on how tight-lipped Stan and Owen were playing

them.

December 2011 | DU NGEON 197 36

T

Mercion, Angel of Erathis

Medium immortal humanoid (a

HP 392; Bloodied 196

AC 37, Fortitude 33, Reflex 32
Speed 6, fly 9

Immune fear; Resist 15 cold, 1

Saving Throws +2; Action Poi

Traits
O Negation Aura F Aura 1

Creatures in the aura lose th

Angelic Presence

Attacks against Mercion take

bloodied.

Standard Actions

m Icy Longsword (cold, weap

Attack: Melee 1 (one creature
Hit: 2d8 + 14 cold damage, a

(save ends).

M Double Attack F At-Will

Effect: Mercion uses icy longsw

Move Actions

In addition to the three paragraphs of back- Freezing Teleport (cold, telepo
ground information, I gave Stan and Owen unique
stat blocks for each angel, mostly because I enjoy Effect: Mercion teleports 5 sq
designing 4th Edition monsters so much. I could’ve
easily given them stats for any of the existing variet- Mercion after he teleports
ies of angels, but I wanted the angels to fill different
combat roles, and I wanted to make sure they had a immobilized (save ends).
decent selection of combat options. Had these angels
been designed for less experienced players, I prob- Triggered Actions
ably would’ve cut the triggered action powers to make
them a bit simpler. Anyway, feel free to plunder these Bitter Rebuke (cold) F At-Wil
for your home games:
Trigger: An enemy damages M
Effect (Immediate Reaction): T

cold damage.

Skills Diplomacy +22, Insight +

+18 Dex 20 (+1
Str 22 (+16) Int 16 (+13
Con 20 (+15)

Alignment unaligned Langu

Equipment longsword

The Dungeon Master Experience: Special Guest Star

s Level 21 Elite Soldier Kharandar, Angel of Moradin Level 21 Elite Brute

(angel) XP 6,400 Medium immortal humanoid (angel) XP 6,400

Initiative +16 HP 490; Bloodied 245 Initiative +14

2, Will 34 Perception +19 AC 33, Fortitude 33, Reflex 30, Will 32 Perception +19
Speed 6, fly 9

15 radiant Immune fear; Resist 15 fire, 15 radiant
ints 1; Healing Surges 3
Saving Throws +2; Action Points 1; Healing Surges 3

Traits
O Negation Aura F Aura 1

heir resistance to cold. Creatures in the aura lose their resistance to fire.
e a –2 penalty until the angel is
Angelic Presence

Attacks against Kharandar take a –2 penalty until the angel

pon) F At-Will is bloodied.

e); +26 vs. AC Standard Actions
and the target is immobilized m Flaming Longsword (fire, weapon) F At-Will

Attack: Melee 1 (one creature); +26 vs. AC

Hit: 4d8 + 18 fire damage.

Miss: Half damage.

M Double Attack F At-Will

word twice. Effect: Mercion uses flaming longsword twice.

ortation) F Recharge 5 6 C Vortex of Fire (fire, zone) F Recharge 6

quares. Any enemy adjacent to Attack: Close burst 1 (creatures in the burst); +24 vs.
takes 15 cold damage and is
Fortitude

Hit: 4d10 + 17 fire damage.
Miss: Half damage.
Effect: This power creates a zone of fire that lasts until the

ll start of Kharandar’s next turn. The zone remains cen-
Mercion.
The triggering enemy takes 15 tered on Kharandar and moves with him. Any creature

+10, Intimidate +22, Religion that starts its turn in the zone takes 15 fire damage.

15) Wis 18 (+14) Triggered Actions
3) Cha 25 (+17)
uages Common, Supernal Fiery Rebuke (fire) F At-Will

Trigger: An enemy damages Kharandar.
Effect (Immediate Reaction): The triggering enemy takes 15

fire damage.

Skills Diplomacy +21, Dungeoneering +18, Intimidate +21,

Religion +18 Dex 19 (+14) Wis 19 (+14)
Str 22 (+16) Int 16 (+13) Cha 23 (+16)
Con 25 (+17)

Alignment unaligned Languages Dwarven, Supernal

Equipment longsword

December 2011 | DU NGEON 197 37

T

Lessons Le

Although they aren’t part o
guest stars” hold a special p
never use them as frequent
ever they show up, my playe
in the session’s events, think
thing big is afoot. Also, the
my players on their best beh
players always try to make t
as comfortable as possible,
villains.
My players understand t
ing special guest stars, and
campaign experience more
everyone involved. (That re
story concerning David Noo
Edition campaign as a “regu
sions before his character r
Dave and I were the only on
in fact, making a long-term
paign, and his character’s s
lasting scars. You can’t real
than once before players sta
suspiciously.)
There’s no formula for k
special guest star. My rule i
but not so often that it beco
TV show, it doesn’t cost any
extra talent, and it often ma
because the players aren’t ju
ning. (That said, remember
thing can be poisonous.) Al
willing to play for a session
companion or other charac
and make their own.

The Dungeon Master Experience: Special Guest Star

earned A couple things to keep in mind about special guest
stars in your campaign:
of the regular cast, “special
place in my heart, and I ✦ A good special guest star is like the tiny
tly as I’d like. Still, when- umbrella in a piña colada—a fun little element
ers take special interest to surprise and delight . . . or to give your cam-
king that maybe some- paign a bit of a stir.
new arrivals usually put
havior. To their credit my ✦ If you want your special guest stars to have a
the special guest stars good time, provide only the essential informa-
even if they’re playing tion they need to play their roles effectively,
then give them the same freedom you give
the reason behind includ- your regular cast of players to play their char-
that’s to make the acters as they will.
e surprising and fun for
eminds me of a related Until the next encounter!
onan, who joined my 3rd
ular player” for a few ses-
royally screwed the party.
nes who knew he wasn’t,
m commitment to the cam-
sudden betrayal left many
ly pull that trick more
art to look at each other

nowing when to include a
is: whenever conceivable,
omes the norm. Unlike a
y extra money to bring in
akes my job easier as a DM
ust reacting to me all eve-
r that too much of a good
ll you need is someone
or two, and an NPC, party
cter for them to take over

December 2011 | DU NGEON 197 38

Popcorn gratification; all it takes is o
one magic missile to drop a
6/2/11 area-of-effect power might
of them in one fell swoop. T
WEDNESDAY NIGHT. DM, who doesn’t need to w
points.
Early in the campaign, on the island of Kheth, the heroes The Dungeon Master’s Gu
destroyed a cursed cauldron hidden deep inside an under- for the power level of a min
ground temple. This act triggered a curse that caused the dard monster. I say forget th
dead to rise all across the island. The shambling horde calls for minions, give the p
chased the heroes back to the fortified village of Tyrak’n, got. And I mean everything
where they made their final stand. I drew a map of the vil- could happen? I’ll tell you: T
lage’s palisade wall on a wet-erase battle map, and beyond whelmed and defeated. In m
this wall I arrayed a legion of D&D miniatures—skeletons a showstopper. If you’re the
and other undead critters. There must’ve been at least fifty potential outcome as an opp
of them. paign-ender, then you’ll pro
Many levels later, the village of Tyrak’n was again you can never have too man
threatened, this time by goblins hiding out in the Feywild. ers the fight they’ve been ha
The goblins were using a ritual to create a fey crossing, let the popcorn fall where i
allowing them to surreptitiously invade the village without Don’t get me wrong: Som
having to breach the palisades. When the heroes caught include only a handful of m
wind of the goblins’ scheme, they ventured to the Feywild What I’m referring to are th
and assaulted the goblin stockade, which was filled to the when you want to impress a
brim with nearly one hundred of the villainous little bug- with what they’re up agains
gers (as well as a few dozen hobgoblins and bugbears). the advantage of sheer num
When it comes to throwing monsters at my players, the twice about their conventio
more the merrier. tics; true, a wizard’s firebal
as easily as one, but if that s
I love minions. To me, they’re like popcorn. I can’t get minions on the table, the he
selves in serious trouble. Th
enough of them. Every now and then, I dive into my retreat or (gasp!) surrender
When I build encounter
collection of pre-painted plastic minis and sort them factoring minions into the m
ing with the rules as written
into armies that I can, at some future point, throw to break the rules (as long a
consistently, and openly). D
against my players. Skeletons. Goblins. Gnolls. Orcs. minions are arrayed and w
lot to do with their effective
Ogres. Yuan-ti. Githyanki. Giants. Minions come in If they’re neatly arrayed in
heroes to see, the wizard w
all shapes and sizes.

The 1 hit point minion is one of 4th Edition’s

great contributions to the D&D legacy. Minions are

fun for the players insofar as they provide instant

The Dungeon Master Experience: Popcorn

one good sword swing or around very long. On the other hand, if they’re spread
a minion, while a good out, or if they only appear when certain conditions
annihilate an entire group arise, they can truly change the complexion of the
They’re a godsend to the battlefield and force the players to reconsider their
waste time tracking hit tactics. For example, I sometimes keep minions in
reserve until the bad guy summons them, and I often
uide has a simple formula keep extras behind my DM screen in case the player
nion compared to a stan- characters are having too easy a time.
he math! When a battle
players everything you’ve Lessons Learned
g. What’s the worst that
The heroes might be over- When I think of minions, I think of the big fight
my campaign, that’s never scenes in all three films of The Lord of the Rings trilogy.
e type of DM who sees this For some reason, the image of Aragorn fighting orcs
portunity and not a cam- always springs to mind, and I think to myself, “I will
obably agree with me that never get tired of watching Aragorn kill orcs.” Most
ny minions. Give the play-
ankering for all week, and
it may.
metimes it makes sense to
minions in an encounter.
hose momentous occasions
and terrify your players
st. When an enemy has
mbers, players start to think
onal monster-slaying tac-
l can kill twenty minions
still leaves twenty more
eroes could find them-
hey might even be forced to
r.
rs, I balance them without
mix. That’s not in keep-
n, but the DM has license
as he or she does so fairly,
Depending on how the
when they show up has a
eness on the battlefield.
tight clusters for all the
will make sure they’re not

December 2011 | DU NGEON 197 39

The Dung

of my players are the same way: They long to play out The W
battles against seemingly overwhelming numbers of Exper
foes and watch their heroes carve and blast their way
through enemy lines. 6/9/2011

✦ Wading through waves of minions makes the MONDAY NIG
heroes feel like heroes.
Jeremy Crawford plays a hum
✦ Minions in large numbers terrify and excite began the campaign as an orp
the players. water island of Kheth. There,
under the tutelage of an eladri
Although minions come with specified XP values, it’s In the first episode of the ca
ultimately up to the DM to decide how much XP the face with Serusa, a dragonbor
characters receive for defeating them (and don’t let Shan Qabal (an imperial sect
any rulebook tell you otherwise). I tend to “ad hoc” cal research). Little did Alex re
the XP awards for minions. If the minions prove to be the island to kill him.
instrumental, then I might award full XP for them. In due course, Alex learned
On the other hand, if the minions aren’t terribly effec- children were part of a magica
tive, I might award none. spirits of mighty dragon-sorce
If you follow my advice and start bombarding your them. In a story inspired by T
players with veritable armies of minions, be advised Alex and the other children—d
that the goal should not be to annihilate the party. If were to be used as weapons ag
that’s your objective, it’s a lot simpler just to drop an Dragovar Empire. However, a
asteroid on them and be done with it. No, your goal as landscape resulted in the sudd
the DM is to entertain the players by creating in-game ect. The Shan Qabal then sou
situations that are perilous and fun, and minions Wyrmworn, quietly and with
are merely tools toward that end. If the heroes start managed to smuggle several o
dropping like flies, consider that the bad guys might aboard two merchant ships. T
stabilize them and take them prisoner. Many great several other children was lost
adventures begin with just such a setback or defeat. destroyed. It took the Shan Qa
there were survivors.
Until the next encounter! By the time he hit paragon
world with his adventuring com
nothing more than XP in the b
orphans in fiction, however, A

geon Master Experience: The Wyrmworn Experiment

Wyrmworn
riment

GHT. orphan after all. His father, Vincent van Hyden, was dis-
covered to be an influential member of a worldwide trade
man wizard named Alex, who consortium. From his father, Alex learned that he’d been
phan shipwrecked on the back- given over to the Shan Qabal willingly, in exchange for
he studied the magical arts money and the promise of power. Like everyone else, Vin-
in recluse. cent presumed his son had been lost at sea and spent years
ampaign, Alex came face-to- wallowing in fatherly guilt. After making amends with his
rn wizard in the service of the father and tired of the sect’s constant attempts to end his
of wizards dedicated to magi- life, Alex took it upon himself to confront the leader of the
ealize that Serusa had come to Shan Qabal: Lenkhor Krige.

d that he and several other
al experiment in which the
erers were bound within
The Manchurian Candidate,
dubbed the Wyrmworn—
gainst the enemies of the
a change in the political
den termination of the proj-
ght to eliminate all of the
hout fuss, but opposing forces
of the children to safety
The ship bearing Alex and
t in a storm and presumed
abal fifteen years to learn

n tier, Alex was exploring the
mpanions, and Serusa was
bank. As happens with many
Alex discovered he wasn’t an

December 2011 | DU NGEON 197 40

The Dung

Lenkhor was an ancient, bedridden dragonborn arch- the Wyrmworn Experimen
mage clinging to life by means of a magical crystal acting even have a last name. Thes
as a life support system. To his surprise, Alex learned that cocted and doled out over t
Lenkhor was the one who secretly arranged for the Wyrm- I’d be lying to you if I said I
worn children to be smuggled to safety, for he could not Alex’s story from the very b
bear to see his handiwork destroyed. Taking fatherly pride ous facts would come to ligh
in Alex’s many accomplishments, Lenkhor also offered to Alex’s story was dreamt up
help the young wizard contend with Hahrzan, Lenkhor’s the outset, I knew three thi
apprentice and political rival. Alex comes to learn that
Hahrzan not only despises Lenkhor and seeks to wrest ✦ Alex survived a shipw
control of the Shan Qabal, but also conspires to destroy his knew nothing about h
master’s legacy. Thus Hahrzan, it turns out, is behind the mation I got from Jere
attempts on Alex’s life. creation.)
Anticipating a confrontation with Hahrzan, Lenkhor
tells Alex how to awaken his dragon spirit, believing him ✦ Alex and several other
powerful enough to control it, but so far Alex hasn’t dared over to a group of drag
do so. Alex has witnessed others like him dominated or bound the spirits of an
destroyed by their awakened dragon spirits, and it remains within them.
to be seen whether he has the will and fortitude to do what
no other Wyrmworn has been able to. Maybe awakening ✦ Ironically, the same w
the dragon is part of his epic destiny. . . . dragon spirit in Alex w
him.
The Wyrmworn Experiment was something I
The truth about Alex’s fathe
dreamed up at the start of the campaign. The seed of (whose last name I stole fro
ing actress Alice Krige) cam
the idea was a simple character background: one or something would happen in
home the need to give Alex
more characters are survivors of a shipwreck. Of the The decision to make Lenk
acter was a spontaneous de
eight players in my Monday night group, only Jeremy the middle of a session, whe
cool it would be to give Alex
Crawford selected this background. As I began repentant for different reas
cal father who gave him aw
plotting out the first few adventures, I started to con- archmage who made him in
Also, I was wary of the “evil
template the cause of the shipwreck and eventually wanted the leader of the Sh
unique and unexpected.
settled on a magical storm. I surmised that the storm The heroes stormed int
expecting a big fight, and
was a deliberate attack on the ship, but why would withered husk of a mighty
his deathbed. The image o
someone want the ship destroyed? I made the logical

leap that maybe, just maybe, the ship was transport-

ing something dangerous to the Dragovar Empire…

something that had to be destroyed at all costs.

For the sake of good drama, this clearly had to be

Alex.

When Jeremy chose “shipwrecked orphan” as the

hook for his character, he didn’t know anything about

geon Master Experience: The Wyrmworn Experiment

nt. His character didn’t simultaneously powerful and weak appealed to me,
se are elements I con- as did the idea that Lenkhor would do anything—
the course of many levels. magical and otherwise—to prolong his life, if only
I knew the full extent of to aggravate his apprentice.
beginning, or how the vari- For Jeremy, who enjoys a good roleplaying chal-
ht. As happens, a lot of lenge, it was an opportunity for Alex to confront the
along the way. But from architect of the Wyrmworn Experiment and realize
ings were true: he’s not dealing with a monster but a wizard whose
lifelong quest for knowledge and power matched his
wreck as an infant and own. This decision to portray Lenkhor as something
his parents. (This infor- other than a threat also opened the door to the possi-
emy during character bility of Alex becoming a member of the Shan Qabal,
which is basically what happened at the end of the
r children were turned paragon tier.
gonborn wizards, who
ncient dragon sorcerers Lessons Learned

wizards who bound the I’ve been watching Mad Men on DVD. It’s another
were now trying to kill one of those ensemble shows I like so much, where
every character receives a measure of growth and
er and Lenkhor Krige development. (Sounds like my D&D campaign!)
om the wonderfully allur- As is typical for me, I’ll watch an episode and then
me much later, whenever immediately watch it again with the commentary
n the game that drove track, and what occurs to me over and over is that
x’s story a forward push. the show’s writers and creators don’t map out every-
khor a sympathetic char- thing from the beginning. They give the actors just
ecision that happened in enough understanding of their characters to be
en it occurred to me how effective in their roles, put them in dramatic situ-
x two father figures, each ations, and then watch and see what happens. As
sons: his conniving biologi- each character’s story comes into focus, the writers
way, and the dragonborn add new layers of complexity. They pay attention to
nto the man he’s become. what the actor does and give the actor new things to
l archmage” cliché and play with. Along the way, they look for surprises…
han Qabal to be something and sometimes the things they thought were true
in the beginning turn out to be false, or—better yet—
to Lenkhor’s tower lead to deeper truths.
what they got was a The Wyrmworn Experiment is an example of
y archwizard lying on an evolving character arc. It starts with something
of a figure who was simple (“Your character is a shipwrecked orphan”)
and grows into something epic (“Your character was
sold to dragonborn wizards and transformed into a

December 2011 | DU NGEON 197 41

The Dung

vessel for a mighty dragon spirit that the Dragovar another? Maybe one day Ba
Empire intended to unleash as a weapon against its a Dragovar settlement, inn
enemies”). It’s a difficult thing to pull off for every with his uncle’s knife, whe
character, and frankly, not all players are hankering the emblem takes notice. It
for something so intricate. For the invested roleplay- first brush with the Knight
ers in your group, you can develop similar character govar secret police. The po
arcs by asking two questions at any point in the lifes- smile and clap my hands li
pan of your campaign: Next week we’ll check o
nificent Minion contest.
✦ What’s true about the character?
Until the next encounter!
✦ What’s really true about the character?

Alex is an orphan (no, he’s not). The Shan Qabal is
trying to kill him (yes and no). He has the spirit of a
dragon-sorcerer locked inside him (absolutely true,
but maybe that’s not such a bad thing after all).
Not all characters have or need as much built-in
mystery as Alex van Hyden. Consider another char-
acter from my Monday night game: Matt Sernett’s
character, Bartho, began the campaign as a “local
yokel,” a dull-witted youth who fishes all day and
drinks all night. All we knew about Bartho (and all
there was to know about Bartho!) was that he wasn’t
particularly bright, and that he was taught how to
fish by his uncle, who also happens to be the village
drunk.
When a character is bereft of mystery, it’s incum-
bent upon the DM to get creative and look at all of
the elements that make the character what he is,
including inf luential NPCs. Why is Bartho being
raised by his uncle? Who is his uncle, really? Maybe
the “village drunk” is a role he plays to divert sus-
picion. Maybe there’s more to Bartho’s uncle than
meets the eye. In fact, what if he’s secretly an agent
for the Knights of Ardyn, a radical group led by a
politically motivated silver dragon who seeks to
overthrow the corrupt Dragovar Empire? What if
the uncle realizes that Bartho might make a great
fighter someday and gives the lad a gift—a silver
dagger that the Knights carry around to identify one

geon Master Experience: The Wyrmworn Experiment

artho will find himself in
nocently skinning an apple
en someone familiar with
t might lead to Bartho’s
ts of Ardyn… or the Dra-
ossibilities alone make me
ike a schoolboy.
out the winners of the Mag-

December 2011 | DU NGEON 197 42

Th

Magnificent Min

6/16/2011 Masked Disciple of Vecna

WEDNESDAY NIGHT. Medium natural humanoid, hu

Nacime’s regular character is a defective warforged named HP 1; a missed attack never dam
Fleet. Several sessions ago, a group of Vecna-worshiping
wizards abducted Fleet with the intention of dismantling AC 35, Fortitude 36, Reflex 35
and studying him. Fleet’s sudden and somewhat unex-
pected disappearance afforded Nacime the chance to roll Speed 6
up a new character and try something different for few
sessions. Standard Actions
Recently, however, the heroes located and stormed the m Staff (necrotic, weapon) F
Vecnites’ secret lair and rescued Fleet from his captors.
(Now Nacime has two characters, which presents a different Attack: Melee 1 (one creature
sort of challenge.)
To get to the main bad guys, the heroes had to carve Hit: 15 necrotic damage, and
through Vecna’s disciples, which included plenty of minions.
The disciples’ main “shtick” was that they uttered a terrible ing surges until the start of
curse when killed. The curse made whoever killed them
temporarily vulnerable to necrotic damage, which—as you r Stolen Secrets (psychic) F
might imagine—is particularly troublesome when fighting
agents of the undead god of secrets. Attack: Ranged 5 (one creatu

Here’s the stat block I created for the disciples of Hit: 15 psychic damage, and

Vecna, which you’re free to plunder for your home ter or daily powers (save en

campaign: Trggered Actions

Curse of the Whispered One

Trigger: An enemy’s attack dr

points.

Effect: The triggering enemy

until the end of the encoun

Str 15 (+13) Dex 11 (+1

Con 20 (+16) Int 18 (+15

Alignment evil Langu

Equipment staff, skull mask

Because of their curse of the
these minion cultists are be
creatures that deal necrotic
“bwah-haha” better than a m
the damage long after it’s de
players realized that the cu
they got smart and let one c
out the minions so that the
cursed.

he Dungeon Master Experience: Magnificent Minions

nions “Magnificent
Minion” Contest
Level 23 Minion Brute
Thanks to everyone who submitted minion ideas
uman XP 1,275 and stat blocks for the “Magnificent Minion!” contest.
Not surprisingly, we received a ton of fun and wacky
mages a minion. Initiative +11 ideas, with brutes and skirmishers by far the most
popular monster roles represented. (Not a whole lot of
5, Will 34 Perception +14 love for artillery and lurkers, however.)
I’ve picked my three favorites and have a few
At-Will things to say about each one. A cautionary note: No
e); +28 vs. AC real effort has been made to develop or edit these
d the target cannot spend heal- monsters. In a couple cases, I made some formatting
f the disciple’s next turn. changes and filled in some accidental omissions, but
At-Will that’s it.
ure); +26 vs. Will
the target cannot use encoun- Blood of Torog
nds).

F At-Will

rops the disciple to 0 hit

gains vulnerable 10 necrotic
nter.
11) Wis 17 (+14)
5) Cha 15 (+13)
uages Common

Whispered One power, By Chris C., U.S.A.F. Academy CO
est combined with undead
c damage. Nothing says Torog is the god of imprisonment, torture, and the
minion who keeps dealin’ Underdark. This particular critter likes to crawl
ead! Of course, once my inside your body, mingle with your blood, and control
urse’s effects don’t stack,
character focus on taking
rest of them wouldn’t be

December 2011 | DU NGEON 197 43

Th

Blood of Torog Level 10 Minion Skirmisher you like a meat puppet. Inva
plex power for a minion, bu
Medium immortal animate (ooze) XP 125 I might change the enco
when the attack misses” po
HP 1; a missed attack never damages a minion. Initiative +11 scarier), and while its basic
seem low at first glance, its
AC 24, Fortitude 20, Reflex 21, Will 17 Perception +10 The change shape power i
Speed 6, climb 6 Blindsight 10 little bit of flavor that doesn
combat but gives the monst
Traits mirrors the mutilated form
O Essence Drain (necrotic) F Aura 1 times even the most experie
the impact that these sorts o
An enemy that starts its turn within the aura takes 2 game table. It also reinforce
can be more than the sum o
necrotic damage.
Clobbermob N
Ooze
By Robert P., Toms R
While squeezing, the blood of Torog moves at full speed
Try saying this monster’s na
rather than half speed, it doesn’t take a –5 penalty to attack For those who don’t know, t
backward) traces its origins
rolls, and it doesn’t grant combat advantage for squeezing. of D&D. Its original shtick w

Standard Actions
m Slam (necrotic) F At-Will

Attack: Melee 1 (one creature); +15 vs. AC
Hit: 6 necrotic damage, and the blood of Torog can shift 1

square and pull the target into the space it just vacated.

M Invade the Blood (healing, necrotic) F Encounter

Effect: The blood of Torog shifts a number of squares equal

to its speed and must end its move adjacent to a blood-

ied enemy.

Attack: Melee 1 (one bloodied creature); +13 vs. Reflex

Hit: The blood of Torog grabs the target (escape DC 18).

Until it escapes the grab, the target takes ongoing

necrotic damage equal to its level. If this damage reduces

the target to 0 hit points, the target regains hit points

equal to its bloodied value and is dominated (no save),

and the blood of Torog is removed from play. While

dominated, the target acts in accordance with the blood

of Torog’s wishes. When the dominated target drops to 0

hit points, it is no longer dominated or grabbed, and the

blood of Torog appears in a square adjacent to the target.

Minor Actions

Change Shape (polymorph) F At-Will

Effect: The blood of Torog can assume the form of any crea-

ture it kills, though it appears tortured and mutilated.

While in this form, it loses the ooze trait.

Skills Stealth +14

Str 10 (+5) Dex 18 (+9) Wis 10 (+5)
Cha 10 (+5)
Con 16 (+8) Int 10 (+5)

Alignment chaotic evil Languages —

he Dungeon Master Experience: Magnificent Minions

ade the blood is a fairly com- the nilbog while healing spells wounded it. One of
ut undeniably scary. my all-time favorite Dungeon adventures (“Pearlman’s
ounter power to a “recharge Curiosity” in issue #32) featured one of these little
ower ( just to make it even buggers, and I’ve been favorably disposed toward
c attack damage might them ever since.
aura makes up for it. Clobbermob nilbogs resemble regular goblins save
is a particularly nice for their greasy, violet-red skin, black eyes, and back-
n’t have much impact in ward hands and feet. They speak a hideous mishmash
ter a disturbing aspect that of Elven and Goblin, and are inclined to sing grisly
m of Torog himself. Some- choruses as they swarm victims. Also, check out their
enced designers forget equipment—gotta love a minion that carries around
of powers can have at the three goose eggs and a roasted pixie!
es the idea that monsters I’m guessing that “AC 1” is not an error but an
of their statistics. attempt to reflect the idea that nilbogs are “damage
magnets.” I think I’d change its Thievery bonus to +17
Nilbog to account for training, but its other defenses and its
damage are spot on.

Clobbermob Nilbog Level 14 Minion Brute

Small fey humanoid XP 250

HP 1; a missed attack never damages a minion. Initiative +14
AC 1, Fortitude 27, Reflex 26, Will 26 Perception +12
Speed 6

Immune attack powers with the weapon keyword

Traits

Healing Aversion

The nilbog loses its immunity and all temporary hit points

if a creature adjacent to it uses a second wind or heals from

a power with the healing keyword.

Tough Little Bugger

Whenever the nilbog is hit with an attack power that has

the weapon keyword, it gains 5 temporary hit points.

These temporary hit points are cumulative.

Standard Actions
m Knucklebone Cudgel (weapon) F At-Will

Attack: Melee 1 (one creature); +19 vs. AC

Hit: 14 damage.

River NJ Skills Thievery +12

ame quickly three times! Str 23 (+13) Dex 20 (+12) Wis 20 (+12)
the nilbog (“goblin” spelled
s back to the earliest days Con 20 (+12) Int 20 (+12) Cha 20 (+12)
was that attacks healed
Alignment evil Languages Elven, Goblin

Equipment knucklebone cudgel, burlap sack (tunic), wine

bladder, three goose eggs, spit-roasted pixie

December 2011 | DU NGEON 197 44

Clockwork Wasp Drone Clockwork Wasp Drone

By Beren Ross S., Fort Collins CO

Beren reports that this particular minion was used Small natural animate (constru
during a fight where the heroes had to climb a tower
with moving floors (shaped like Tetris pieces) while HP 1; a missed attack never dam
being attacked by a hive of clockwork wasps, leading
to a boss battle with their queen at the top. That’s one AC 27, Fortitude 25, Reflex 25
battle I would’ve loved to see!
Being small of brain, I like minions that are simple Speed 6, fly 6
and straightforward. However, the best minions have
a signature power or trait that embodies what the Immune disease, poison
monster is all about. In this case, it’s the extra damage
that the drone deals when it’s adjacent to allies; it Standard Actions
makes the DM want to group these minions into tight m Stinger (poison) F At-Will
swarms, and how appropriate is that?
As is true of many minions, the clockwork wasp Effect: The drone can shift 1
drone explodes when it drops to 0 hit points. This
particular critter unleashes a burst of lightning that Attack: Melee 1 (one creature
targets enemies only, so the poor drone doesn’t have
to worry about killing all of its buddies like an explod- Hit: 8 poison damage plus 1
ing can of Raid insecticide.
ally adjacent to the drone.

Triggered Actions
C Clockwork Burst (lightning

Effect: The drone drops to 0 h

Attack (No Action): Close burs

vs. AC

Hit: 8 lightning damage.

Str 11 (+6) Dex 18 (+1

Con 18 (+10) Int 2 (+2)

Alignment unaligned Langu

Honorable Me

Props also go to Rane S. of N
“flying eyeball” (each minio
beholder eye ray) and Kend
the “troll whelp” (which a tr
takes damage and then eat
points).

Until the next encounter!

The Dungeon Master Experience: Joy and Sorrow

Level 13 Minion Joy and
Sorrow
Skirmisher

uct) XP 200

mages a minion. Initiative +12
5, Will 21 Perception +6

square before it attacks. 6/23/2011
e); +18 vs. AC
extra poison damage for each WEDNESDAY NIGHT.

g) F Encounter Chris Youngs’ tief ling character, Deimos, came close to
realizing his dream of becoming a Sea King (a powerful
hit points. sea merchant) when tragedy struck. He had assembled
st 1 (enemies in the burst); +16 a f leet of loyal ships, and spent a staggering amount
of party gold to “trick out” his f lagship, the Morrow
10) Wis 11 (+6) (named after his surrogate father, Captain Denarion
uages — Cha 10 (+6) Morrow). However, as happens in my campaign, the
winds of fate blew ill one game session and the Morrow
entions was blown to smithereens. The details aren’t relevant;
what’s important is that I could hear Deimos’s dreams
Nokesville VA for the of world domination shatter like a dropped mirror, and
on comes with a random Chris was not a happy camper.
dall B. of Toronto ON for The explosion that obliterated the Morrow also killed
roll can spawn when it Deimos and all but one of the other player characters,
to gain temporary hit but their deaths were but a temporary inconvenience.
Once he was raised from the dead, Deimos (a.k.a. Sea
King Impstinger) was far more concerned about his pre-
cious ship lying in pieces at the bottom of the Dragon
Sea than all of the actual party quests combined. What
followed was a largely improvised game session during
which Deimos, his companions in tow, approached vari-
ous NPCs in the hopes of finding some way to “undo” the
ship’s destruction.
Deimos eventually corralled the other heroes into help-
ing him obtain a time-travel talisman, but that endeavor
ended badly. The details aren’t relevant; suffice to say, the
talisman slipped through their proverbial fingers. What’s

December 2011 | DU NGEON 197 45

more important is that Deimos was thwarted, desperate, off without a hitch, when th
and broken. because they have the adva
Okay, not quite broken—Chris had one card left in the campaign also needs th
his hand. As one should expect from a wrathful tief ling, when the players are convi
Deimos turned to the Nine Hells for aid. Without con- some unspeakable reason.
sulting his adventuring companions, he used a ritual to when nothing seems to go
summon an aspect of Dispater and entered into a binding ward pulls them two steps
contract with the archdevil, whereby Dispater would help the loss of something impo
Deimos raise his ship in exchange for Deimos taking an I like it when my player
infernal consort and protecting her with his life. Once the ful, and I like it when they
agreement was signed, Dispater released the soul of a long- wits’ end. Without these hi
dead tief ling archwizard of Bael Turath named Samantia the campaign would lose it
Carnago, who used her formidable magic to raise the to see a movie where the go
Morrow from the depths. always loses. We want to se
As the ship broke the water’s surface, it became clear race, but only after knockin
that the vessel had been transformed into an infernal or lose the race, but only af
aspect of its former self—iron rails lined with everburning tree.
torches, sails of black smoke, a f lag of burning fire, and I know many DMs who a
the stench of brimstone throughout. It became a constant players ships, strongholds, a
reminder of the contract that Deimos had brokered. Her that the campaign will run
work done, Samantia returned to the Nine Hells, leaving like a train carrying rocket
the other characters to ponder what Deimos had gotten who give their players a ver
them into. then stand back and watch
In the end, Deimos’s ship was returned to him… but not blow their campaigns to du
in the way the players imagined. Chris changed the name lem giving my players really
of the ship from the Morrow to the Sorrow, and Deimos because ultimately I know t
set about hiring a new crew to replace those he’d lost. Sev- campaign can be used to te
eral sessions later, having left his ship brief ly to complete contract I have with my pla
an important quest, Deimos returned to find a tief ling ibility to do nasty things to
woman curled up in his iron-wrought captain’s bed. She sat the Morrow explodes, Deim
up, smiled, and introduced herself as Tyranny, his infernal ship; he also loses his mora
consort. As Chris pondered this latest development, the wins back the ship, which i
other players squirmed in their chairs. in the world to him—but ask
they’ll tell you: He never fou
The DM giveth, and the DM taketh away . . . and vice That realization, coupled w
infernal consort, sets the sta
versa. in future sessions.
Ultimately, my job as th
Every campaign needs moments when the story forward and make m
brutal and savage to the ch
heroes feel like they’re on top of the world—times

when things seem to be going their way. These are

the moments when their carefully laid plans go

The Dungeon Master Experience: Joy and Sorrow

he battle is made easier players know that the winds of fate will eventually
antage. As a counterpoint, blow in their favor. It’s part of the social contract
hose deep, dark nadirs that you “sign” with players at the start of your cam-
inced you hate them for paign, the same social contract that says everyone
at the table will respect one another. If the social
These are the moments contract you have is anything like mine, your players
right, when every step for- will accept a certain amount of torment and abuse
back, and where they feel in exchange for the promise of happiness, however
ortant to them. f leeting.
rs feel mighty and power- There’s a certain amount of improvisational skill
feel helpless and at their required to pull off great drama in a game session.
igh points and low points, Case in point, when the Morrow blew up, I had no
ts drama. No one wants idea that Chris Youngs would have his character
ood guy always wins or make a deal with the devil. I was just as surprised as
ee our heroes win the everyone else around the table. It took a fair amount
ng down some hurdles— of improvisational skill to devise the terms of the
fter saving that cat in the

are terrified to give their
and other “gifts” for fear
off the rails and explode
fuel. I know other DMs
ritable Death Star, only to
helplessly as the heroes
ust. I don’t have any prob-
y cool toys to play with,
that everything in my
ell a story, and the social
ayers allows me the flex-
fuel “good drama.” When
mos loses more than his
l compass. He eventually
is the most important thing
k the other players and
und his moral compass.
with the presence of the
age for even more drama

he DM is to propel the
my players happy. I can be
haracters, as long as my

December 2011 | DU NGEON 197 46

contract on the spot. An expert DM embraces those Lessons Le
wonderful moments when the actions of the player
characters propel the story forward, and anytime Good storytellers understan
I can introduce a new NPC for the heroes to inter- drama: joy and sorrow. Yo
act with, I jump on it (even if she’s an vile succubus out laughter and tears, just
passing herself off as a seductive tief ling). hotdog without mustard an
I won’t lie to you: Narrative improvisation comes terrible analogy, but all you
with experience. However, when I’m stuck and lovers out there can keep yo
nothing springs to mind, I turn to TV’s storytelling Before you blow up the h
masters and ask myself, “What would Joss Whedon start layering on the drama
do?” “What would Alan Ball do?” or “What would social contract of your camp
Ronald D. Moore do?” You’d be surprised how well agreement you have with yo
that works. promise to be entertaining
ise to respect your campaig
to enjoy the experience. Som
drama in their normal lives
monsters and take their stu
the agreed-upon social cont
social contracts are doomed
feels dysfunctional, chance
being respected or acknowl
the table.
In the end, a campaign c
heights or descend to its dra
a sturdy social contract betw
players. Some players (part
recognize specific dramatic
their characters are punish
actions. They get upset whe
thrown in jail for murderin
and they start throwing dic
away their magic items. Ma
ate the intricately layered d
their eyes and aren’t patien
stuff to happen. In that case
players that all is not lost, an
characters’ actions are the r
determine the course of the
hand, if your social contrac

The Dungeon Master Experience: Joy and Sorrow

earned players through heaven and hell with impunity, go for
it! Just don’t leave them in either place for too long.
nd what makes good Time for a quick gut-check:
ou can’t have drama with-
✦ Are you happy with the social contract you
like you can’t have a great have with your players?
nd meat. (Okay, that’s a
u mustard-haters and tofu- ✦ When was the last time the players in your
our arguments to yourself!) campaign felt powerless and defeated? When
heroes’ stronghold and was the last time they felt like they were in
a, stop and consider the control?
paign—the unspoken
our players whereby you Until the next encounter!

and fair, and they prom-
gn and each other’s right
me players have enough
s; all they want is to kill
uff. That’s okay if it’s part of
tract. Campaigns without
d, and if your game group
es are your contract is not
ledged by everyone around

can’t rise to its dramatic
amatic depths without
ween the DM and the
icularly those who can’t
c tropes) don’t like it when
hed for their decisions and
en their characters are
ng innocent bystanders,
ce around when you take
aybe they don’t appreci-
drama unfolding before
nt enough to wait for good
e, it never hurts to tell the
nd assure them that their
rudders and sails that
e campaign. On the other
ct permits you to drag your

December 2011 | DU NGEON 197 47

All Talk implant the necrotic heart in Y
the following week with a new
6/30/2011 using the new vampire class fr
of Shadow as a chassis.
MONDAY NIGHT. The heroes, not fond of the
by the audacity of the lich, Ost
In the previous session, the heroes fought a death knight tressed to learn that Yuriel nee
armed with a soul-draining sword. Two of them fell prey to living creatures to “survive” in
the weapon. widow, a genasi named Pearl,
Once the death knight was destroyed, the surviving tion between the lich, Yuriel, a
heroes sought to free their companion’s souls from the by offering her own life’s breat
hungry blade. They turned to one of their dubious NPC husband.
allies—Osterneth, a lich with connections to the god Vecna— Then, as the Maelstrom m
and she assured them the souls could be freed by bathing Severasa, a group of dwarves
the sword in the blood of a virtuous god. Fortunately for Cartel approached them for a
them, she happened to have the blood of a slain lawful good seized an important mine tha
deity in her workshop. finish building an iron ship—a
Unfortunately, things did not go as planned: The hoped would earn them a lucr
blood completely destroyed the sword and the souls along tract with the Dragovar Empi
with it. The lich apologized profusely and tried to make and redeem herself in the eyes
amends. She offered to instead implant an artificial heart used her apparent omniscienc
in one of the fallen heroes: Nick DiPetrillo’s character, consortium, the Winterleaf C
the swordmage Yuriel, but the heart was designed to frost giants to delay the comp
pump necrotic sludge through the veins of its beneficiary. enough to swoop in and steal
Implanting it would effectively transform Yuriel into an Ironstar Cartel’s nose.
undead creature. Convinced that the lich wa
The heroes considered and rejected Osterneth’s heroes confronted the Winterl
offer—but they did bring the lich and their dead friends to expose their plot if they didn
back to Yuriel’s ship, the Maelstrom, and consoled Yuri- from the mine immediately. T
el’s distraught widow. They also conferred with a more
trustworthy NPC ally, a dragonborn priestess, and asked My Monday night group is a
her to petition Bahamut for advice on how to save the
souls of their dead friends. A Commune ritual bore no from my Wednesday night
fruit—the priestess concluded that their souls were well
and truly lost. players don’t get to kill som
Meanwhile, left to her own devices, the lich gently per-
suaded Yuriel’s widow that “undead Yuriel” was better think I’m punishing them.
than no Yuriel at all; and so, the lich obtained permission to
other hand, is more willing

a “diceless” session. They al

entertaining NPCs of consp

Osterneth the lich was r
of Open Grave: Secrets of the

made a few tweaks to her h

The Dungeon Master Experience: All Talk

Yuriel’s corpse. Nick returned my campaign. As the thousand-year-old ex-wife
w version of his character built of the archwizard-turned-god Vecna, Osterneth
rom Player’s Option: Heroes is a tremendous source of information—and the
Monday night group is naturally hesitant to make
“new” Yuriel, were troubled an enemy of her. I’d like to say her heart’s in the
terneth. They were also dis- right place, but in truth, she’s a lich with bones of
eded the “life’s breath” of bronze, and the desiccated black heart hovering
n his undead state. Yuriel’s inside her hollow ribcage actually belongs to her
, diffused a tense confronta- ex. Her connection to the God of Secrets gives her
and his former companions access to information the heroes need to complete
th to sustain her undead their quests, and she’s courteous enough to conceal
her true form behind the illusion of a beautiful and
made port on the island of charming Vhaltese noblewoman.
in league with the Ironstar But, to the point: The events described above
assistance. Frost giants had played out over two game sessions, during which time
at the dwarves needed to the players made zero attack rolls. It was a roleplayer’s
a prototype vessel that they bonanza, and the hardest part for me was keeping
rative shipbuilding con- all of the player characters involved. Even those who
ire. To save her own “skin” don’t typically take center stage during roleplaying
s of the heroes, Osterneth encounters were on the hook.
ce to ascertain that a rival Case in point: Jeff Alvarez’s character, the sword-
wielding elf ranger Kithvolar, is the “silent killer”
Coster, was employing the of the group. Whenever I noticed that Kithvolar
pletion of the iron ship long had dropped out of the spotlight for too long, Oster-
neth would exchange playful banter with him, or
the contract from under the a member of the Maelstrom crew would try to split
a bottle of rum with him and offer an unsolicited
s speaking the truth, the opinion about recent events. When the heroes were
leaf Coster and threatened threatening agents of the Winterleaf Coster, I tried
n’t withdraw the frost giants to establish a relationship between Kithvolar and
hey were very persuasive. the villainous Talia Winterleaf, the elf daughter of
the Coster’s founder. It’s fun to watch a character
a very different animal known for his brutal savagery confront an enemy he
group. If the Wednesday can’t kill—at least not without foiling the party’s plans
mething every session, they and earning the enmity of a politically powerful
The Monday group, on the organization.
g to entertain the notion of Although everyone seemed to be having fun, I
lso have more tolerance for always feel like I should apologize to my players
picuously evil bent. when we have a session that’s “all talk.” At the end
ripped from the pages of the session, I told them, “Next week you’ll get to
Undead™, although I
history to accommodate

December 2011 | DU NGEON 197 48

Lessons Le

There’s no shortage of D&D
so back when I was buildin
tried to put “birds of a feath
group thinks the Wednesda
uncouth savages, while the
the Monday players get all t
rather than combat challen
mostly false—the two group
but running two different g
me that despite their subtle
I can get away with combat
of the players are pulled int
I also believe that the pla
to decide when the talking
begins. I’m never disappoin
“Enough talk! Time to die!”
leads to two of the sweetest
con: Roll initiative.
Any DM can survive the
but it’ll be most fun for all c
to the following suggestions

kill something, I promise!” The players gave me dis- ✦ Pull all of the players
missive gestures, and Peter Schaefer (who currently (kicking and screamin
plays Metis, Osterneth’s treacherous changeling man-
servant) exclaimed, “Are you kidding, these are my ✦ Let the players decide
favorite sessions!” over.
More than once during these sessions, I was cer-
tain a fight would break out, but the players never
went there. Things probably would’ve played out dif-
ferently on Wednesday night. I guess that’s why the
players in the Wednesday group often joke that the
Monday players “sit around the table drinking tea”
while they’re busy cracking skulls and fart jokes.

The Dungeon Master Experience: All Talk

earned As a quick footnote, I would like to give props to
Calvin K. of Lincoln NE for his “Magnificent Minion!”
D players in Renton, WA, entry, which came in at the tail end of the contest: the
ng my two game groups, I wacky wall of f lesh. Each wall minion comes with
her” together. The Monday one random graft: an eye that projects a psychic bolt,
ay group is comprised of a mouth that roars, an arm that delivers a real punch,
or a tentacle that slides you around. It doesn’t get
Wednesday group thinks much weirder than that, folks!
their XP from story awards Next week we’ll discuss the cinematic art of bring-
nges. These perceptions are ing back dead heroes and villains and the wonderful
ps are more alike than not— havoc that can ensue if you time it just right.
groups of players has taught
e differences in play styles, Until the next encounter!
t-free sessions provided all
to the roleplaying fray.
ayers—not the DM—get
stops and the fighting
nted when a player shouts,
” because that invariably
t words in the D&D lexi-

e dreaded “all talk” session,
concerned if you hold fast
s:

into the roleplaying fray
ng if necessary).

e when the talking’s

December 2011 | DU NGEON 197 49

It’s About whereupon he calls forth a Leo
Time offers them the talisman insid
With it, he says, they can tr
7/7/2011
This week, I’d planned to d
MONDAY NIGHT. impact of bringing back lon
NPCs. However, a question
The heroes have traveled to the Feywild in search of a concerning last week’s artic
knowledgeable archwizard, only to discover that a lamia veer off on a tangent. The q
has taken over the wizard’s tower in his absence. Having How do you keep player
seduced the wizard’s apprentice, she’s convinced him to help once their characters are ki
her locate a talisman hidden somewhere in the tower. My stock answer is, “Hav
The heroes defeat the lamia, break her spell on else—anything else.” Have th
the apprentice, and wait for the archwizard to return, panion, hand them a monst
them return as ghostly appa
party until Raise Dead ritu
is better than having the pla
game table. In the case of o
I decided it was time to brin
that the game group had al
The Monday group recen
ters: the genasi swordmage
DiPetrillo) and the eladrin
by Michele Carter). They fe
with a soul-eating sword. Fo
backup character among th
the Maelstrom. Michele’s si
complicated. She didn’t hav
character—or so she though
Earlier in the campaign,
wizard’s hourglass talisman (
item of my own invention) t
“meet themselves” in the pa
to escape their present pred
them the rare chance to tea
and effectively play twins fo
two identical parties joined
threat—but Andraste was th
vive the adventure with a li
want to play two identical c