We’re back from Origins, and the official release of the Shackled City
Adventure Path hardcover is less than a month away! With that in mind, now seems
like a good time to take a look at how we put together this unprecedented compilation.
At 416 full-color pages, it’s the largest official Dungeons & Dragons
campaign ever published, but how in the world did we make it happen?
The Shackled City Adventure Path debuted in the March, 2003 issue of Dungeon
magazine (#97). The brainchild of then-editor Chris Thomasson, the series of
11 linked adventures appeared irregularly over the course of the next 20 issues.
Chris started off the series with pulse-pounding adventures by Christopher
Perkins and James Jacobs before departing Paizo Publishing for an editing position
at Wizards of the Coast. Enter Dungeon’s new editor-in-chief, me, and
my newly hired able assistant, Managing Editor James Jacobs (who knew a thing
or two about the Adventure Path after writing its second installment).
Over the next year and a half, we continued Chris Thomasson’s legacy
with spectacular installments from Dave Noonan, Tito Leati, and Jesse Decker.
Both the Chrisses (Thomasson and Perkins) contributed multiple episodes to
the endeavor, and by Dungeon #116, we published “Asylum,” the last
in the series.
But the last words of “Asylum” were far from the end of the Shackled
City. The Adventure Path proved to be one of the most popular features ever
printed in Dungeon magazine, generating more mail and more online discussion
than anything we’d ever seen before. Back issues featuring Shackled City
adventures sold far in excess of other issues, and we knew we had a hit on
our hands.
We also knew that the series was becoming more and more difficult to track
down as back issues sold out in game stores across the country and at paizo.com.
In order to satisfy this demand, we had an interesting thought. “Hey,” we
thought, “why not compile all 11 adventures into a full-color hardcover
format?”
“Great,” replied management. “Can you have it done in two
weeks?”
Well, no. We couldn’t. There was simply too much to do. In order to
make the book a worthwhile pick-up for readers who already owned the issues,
we decided to pack in all sorts of new material that bridges the gaps between
adventures, improves foreshadowing and continuing subplots, and fleshes out
the fantastic city of Cauldron, where merchants and cultists scheme from the
terraced streets of a great volcano’s tremulous caldera. A new poster
map reveals Cauldron as it has never been seen before, and a 24-page detachable
map booklet showcases some of the finest work of superstar cartographer Christopher
West’s brilliant career. We even convinced Chris Perkins to write an
all-new Shackled City adventure, “Drakthar’s Way,” which
now serves as the campaign’s second installment. It took a bit longer
than two weeks, but I think you’ll find it’s been well worth the
wait.
But what the heck is the campaign about? Good question. This preview
PDF, a selection from the book’s enormous introduction that includes
a complete table of contents, should give you a pretty good idea. So, please
download and enjoy.
And watch out for Lord Vhalantru.
--Erik Mona
Editor-in-Chief
Dragon & Dungeon
July 6th, 2005