Anarch of Xaos's page

The map on the inside cover is reproduced in issue #139 as a 4-panel poster map, and the key is a LOT easier to read on that map. HOWEVER, there's nothing really missing in the Player's Guide. You'll notice on the map of the city there are two types of tags: one consisting of numbers (which equals the list of locations in the product) and one consisting of a letter and a number (like F4 or W7); these are keyed to the list on the map itself, and represent the major locations detailed in the Sasserine Backdrop in issue #139. SO, in the Champion's District, area 7 and area K3 are both refering to the Sasserine Arena, for example.

As I am still waiting for my #139, is the information in the Sasserine Backdrop article duplicated for the Players Guide, or do both items hold unique information?

Anarch of Broke

..I kept the Chemosh and Hiddukel layers for completeness sake. If you don't want to use them as part of the core cosmology, don't.

I personally hate all of these boutique cosmologies and retcons that have infected the planar cosmology of D&D over the last few years, but your mileage may vary...

--Erik

I would like to start by thanking Mr. Mona for all that he's done for the magazines. Your editorials are the first thing I read with each new issue of both mags.

As for planar cosmologies, as a hardcore Planescape fan, I write off the "new" FR cosmology, the Dragonlance cosmology, and others as simply the only way a Clueless can grasp the planar truth of the Great Ring. They are the Clueless, afterall. Almost all of the FR cosmology fits nicely within the Great Ring, as does most others. Maybe I should submit an article along these lines...

Eberron is a unique animal, but also has it's place in the Wheel. Xoriat is the closest thing to the Far Realm that I've seen in print, so Alienists and others who pull from the realm of tentacled madness are just tapping into the Eberron cosmology. The ECS even mentions that the Daelkyr have devoured whole other worlds that go unnamed, so perhaps Xoriat / the Far Realm serves as that third transitive plane that the Planar scholars have been seeking for so long. Travel between the two is possible, just ill advised. Thank you Bruce Cordell for all of your tentacled deliciousness for providing us with this link.

Anywho, those're my two greens. I just don't think that clueless cosmologies are anything to get worked up over.

Anarch of Tentacled Goodness

...IMO Dragon and Dungeon do a much better job at presenting new material then any other publisher, including WoTC.

nicely done, I'll second that! Eric, James and crew have fewer typo's too ;)

As for Grazz't and Iggwilv, if the Demonomicon stays in character we probably won't see either. Why would the Witch-Queen divulge her secrets, or those of her lover, Grazz't? She writes them to get the dirt out on the other Lords (possibly to weaken their position) and advance her own agenda.

Oh, and to bring us new demons (like the Ice Demon from Kost-chu-tchi's installment) to torment our players with!

Demon's are a DM's best friend,

Anarch of Layer 46,598

I just finished DM'ing round three of the champion's games, and the Froghemoth quite literally ate my whole party!

Round 1: Halfling barbarian charges froghemoth, does some damage. Froghemoth crits on bite, hits twice with tentacle, barb dies. Rest of party uses ranged attacks, Sorc drops a fireball for little effect.

Round 2: Froghemoth swallows barb, advances on party. Sorc lightningbolts the beast. Upset that it didn't do any damage, she doesn't use this spell in latter rounds. Uses greater invisibility on herself.

Round 3: Froghemoth surprises the party fighter with it's reach, grappled by tongue.

Round 4: Froghemoth swallows fighter. Fighter, without a light slashing or piercing weapon, is digested.

Round 5: Froghemoth runs at party cleric but is unable to attack. Cleric tries to quaff a potion of gaseous form, is hit and grappled by attack of opportunity, drops potion. I stop tracking the barb's damage as it nears -150hp.

Round 6: Froghemoth swallows cleric, moves toward party artificer.

Round 7: Froghemoth digests cleric, loses artificer via greater invisibility, is dropped finally by a lot of enervation and magic missile spells.

Luckilly the party had recently messed with the Dreaming Dark, so I played the whole encounter off as the results of a nightmare spell. Round two should go better (I hope).

The encounter went poorly for a couple of reasons; the party sorc wasn't satisfied with slowing the beast, the fighter wasn't properly equiped, they didn't think their way through the encounter or adapt to the threat, etc... mistakes no veterans should make. Never the less, this beast is a major nasty, and one of my new favorite monsters!

Fear the Froghemoth.

Anarch of RIBBIT!

Thankfully, my party is munchkin free. Unfortunately, we still have the one problem that faces ever munchkin: direct action. Munchkins (and some others) do not look for the way around, or the roleplay solution. Every problem the party comes across must be faced in mortal slugfest. When all a character thinks about is, "my character can kick out X++ damage" they rarely think about if combat is a good idea, or even neccissary. So they dive right in. All the time.

Solution: Make them retreat early in the campaign. Suggest it. Tell them that it doesn't say anywhere that they have to take the whole dungeon at once, and do not penalize them for doing so. Even if it makes good sense to do so. Then, when they get it in their head that they only have to take one encounter at a time (as there are no consequences) give them one heck of a consequence.

IMC this happened in the Sodden Hold. The PC's were hit hard by the mimics, walked over the guards, and then found themselves woefully inadequate against the stalkers. I calmly pointed out that they could retreat, restock, and come back (artificer+scrolls for the win). After defeating the stalkers, they found the way to the bottom level and encountered the octopus. This time they retreated of their own free will, memorizing water based spells for their return. This time they left evidence that they got past the stalkers, so Telakin and crew were prepared for their return. I "warned" them with a firetrap spell on one of the doors, then ambushed them in the main hall.

It resulted in a near TPK :(

When they got to Zyrzog's lair, they took it in two parts. First day was the Drow enclave and the three guards, then they stormed the citadel. After taking a pounding from the museum guard, they debated pulling out and resting. The in game conversation was great, as they debated what Xyrxog would do if given a day of reprieve. They ultimately decided to take him down.

Onto the Champion's Belt. I look forward to their exploration of the understructure.

Anarch of De-Munchkinization

I DM for an eberron group as well.

For the Champions Belt I changed all of the encounters.

For the first round, I nixed Sapphire Squad, replacing them with the Skull of Murq: Female Dhakaani Hobgoblin Bard 8 (Haunting Melody, Song of the Heart, Haste, Cures, Invisibility) and two Male Dhakaani Hobgoblin Fighter 6 (Spiked Chain, etc). I also changed Joren into a Longtooth Shifter with a compliment of shifter feats (Rage+Shift+Greataxe=pwnd).

Round two I replaced Pitch Blade with Revenant Blade, two Male Valenar Elf Ranger3/Fighter2/RevenantBlade5.

Round three stays. What can be better than the Froghemoth? RIBBIT!

Round four I switched the Leatherworks for the Thunderworks, a pair of Warforged Titans (+1 shocking burst axe/+1 thundering maul). 'Forged Titans are too cool not to use, but can be hard to place realistically, so I take any opportunity I can get.

Following the advise of another poster here, I also switched Okoral. No longer the loyal follower, Okoral is a Naztharune Rakshasa Mindspy 5 and responsible for Raknian's decent into wickedness. I look forward to the looks on my players faces when they run into Okoral and a contingent of bodyguards in the service level, and have to run for their lives. Certain combats are not meant to be won, and I think this is a great way to forshadow the Lords of Dust involvement, and the seriousness of it.

Anarch of Dust

Similar to Golbez, I too would use Katashka's reliance on Kyuss's mortal form to his ruin.

IMC, the Dawn is possible because of a rare collaberation of the Planes and Moons of Eberron: Doluurh is coterminous for the entirety of the campaign, Irian is strangely remote for the last few chapters, and Mabar is coterminous for the three days encompasing the Dawn of a New Age.

Lashona uses the Eldrich Machine in her basement to siphon these planar energies, making Alhaster a temporary Manifest Zone to Mabar. Katashka is feeding on this Manifest Zone as detailed in the adventure. By destroying the Machine, Katashka loses this source of power, becoming mortal until the end of Mabar's coterminous phase. By the end of the planar conflux he's gathered enough energy on his own to truely break free of his prison, regains his immortality, and the Age of Worms begins in ernest.

The PC's must use this window to do what no other being has accomplished, dragons and coatl included: Kill a Rajah.

"The children of Siberys were never intended to kill the spawn of Khyber. This task, now as in times of old, falls to the decendants of Eberron. So says Prophesy..."
-Manzorian, Rogue Bronze Wyrm Archmage

Anarch of Backstory

They errata'd the whole thing. Same feel, better balance.

Check the ECS errata.

Anarch of Shifters

So that leaves the Frostfell.

Imagine, if you will, a city carved deep into the ice somewhere twenty miles inland. A city home to thousands of decadent ape-like creatures with blue eyes and white fur, creatures that worship their Rod-wielding ruler as if he were the embodiment of the Fury.

Isn't there a Lord of Dust loose in the Frostfell? I didn't read that particular bit of the Players guide, but I think there's (or has been) a Rajha in the Frostfell. Makes sense that he's the one that Tirra serves, and that he has the last piece. That way, once the PC's have the other six bits, they travel to the Frostfell to collect the last piece, and inadvertantly deliver all seven pieces into the clutches of the Rajha (Or Tirra, who doublecrosses the Rajha and uses the Rod to siphon off his power for her own...)

I would put the Pit Fiend's rod with the Fiend on Shavaresh, the Plane of Battle. High level PC's should plane hop a little, and what's more fun than the Blood War? Nothing ;)

The only thing I would be careful of is distracting the PC's from the real plotline. This would make a great followup to the AoW, however.

Anarch of Fiend on Fiend Wrestling

The other thing that just popped into my head was the Wormhunter prestige class. It has an ability that lets you crit against undead, which means that you can sneak attack as well. Not to mention an equivalent to Favored Enemy: Minions of Kyuss.

See, all you have to do to become a killing machine in AoW is go a little nuts ;)

Anarch of Nutters

There is a cure!

Like with everything true in the multiverse, it has three parts.

1) Like with a toddler, or puppy perhaps, tell them No. Not no, or nope, or maybe, or even know, but No. Twice. Or more. Then rub their nose in it. Twice. At least. Remember, No means No.

2) Show them that the rules are mere semantics, as are their arguements. Explain, at length, that there is no winner. That the game is not about who kicks out the most damage, collects the most stuff, or kills the most deific avatars.* Ask them is they, in fact, know their role.

3)Show them that, in the end, their role is to play, or as the in-the-know refer to as Roleplay. Show them that this role is cooperative, not competitive. Let them meet the other players, with whom they have been playing for months, if not years. Pray the other players are not munchkins as well.** Have them shake hands. Do not share the Mountain Dew.

These three steps are in fact cyclical. The first time you go 'round the ring, the munchkin, noticing that others play the game too, may well realize that one of the other characters has a magic item that they want. Bar brawls are not always a bad thing. After the smoke settles, repeat Step 1.

For those of you keeping track, this public service announcement has followed the three Rules of Existance. Never, and I repeat Never, let these rules fall into the wrong hands, especially those of a munchkin.

*Always remember, God's don't have stats, or hit points, or any need of a Str score. Their avatars do. Killing an Avatar, while quite a feat, only ticks off the deity in question. Ticking off a god is ill advised, because they have, among other things, other avatars. Also, if you ever plan on exploring the planes, avoid the realms of any deities that you have managed to tick off.*** Inside their realm, they don't need a reason, or even a method, to do bad, bad things to those who have ticked them off.

**If this is your situation, it is time to find a new group. Sorry, but Munchkins in numbers are highly dangerous, even to a DM.

***DM's, please laugh maniacally as you plan an adventure around retriving Hextor's Hanky of Nasty Smiting from his realm on Ba'ator, and watching your players squirm as they deal with the Tyrant god's wroth.

This also happens to be the cure for the Rules Lawyer, though they are also a hard nut to crack.

Anarch of *

Does anyone else find it strange that after eleven adventures, we have yet to see a cleric of Kyuss other than Bozal Zahol, the tiefling from Champion's Belt?

Avolakia, lots and lots of Avolakia in Into the Wormcrawl Fissure.

Anarch of Creepy Worm-things

I lucked out, a PC died in EaBK, so the replacement character was a shoe-in for the Dop replacement. They never got to the encounter, however. A near TPK from the doppleganger fighters in the bedrooms gave me too good of an opening. I just looked up to my accomplice and said, "Now's good..." I let him beat up on the other PC's for a round or two before taking over Ixiaxian.

The sorceress in the game (her first character) immediately backed into the cistern room, cast invisibility, and threw the lever to lower the column. The dopplegangers followed, jumping into the water to prevent her assumed escape. Still invisible, she then drank a potion of Gaseous Form (thank you, Faceless One), and drifted back up to the landing, where she revived the party with Cure Light Wounds spells stored in her ring and set about preparing for the Dops return with an Alarm spell.

Kasona, you are my hero!

My PC's are still cursing at me while smiling and asking what comes next!

Anarch of Devious Spell Usage

My point is that, with a bit of tweaking, any character can excel in social encounters and a ranger with maxed-out search and stealth with undead as a favoured enemy can possibly be more useful than a rogue in Age of Worms.

Let's see that Ranger hit a DC 45 Diplomacy check ;)

My group is doing just fine without a Rogue. Artificer is a nice substitute for the iconic trapfinder.

That said, as long as you keep an open mind while making a Rogue you can play a huge roll in AoW. Sneaking around through the TFoE would be a huge help, Sneak attack can play a huge roll (HoHR, TCB, LoLR, KotR), and the oft overlooked interaction skills have handy uses in almost all of the chapters. Read through those carefully, a key Diplomacy, Intimidate, or Bluff roll could be the difference between a tough fight and a powerful ally. If someone wants to play a rogue, gently nudge them towards that Int and Cha score, you both will love the results.

And, BTW Mr. Jacobs, I'm just itching to find out how the PC's will use fame points from PoR in Dawn of a New Age.

Anarch of Kind Flowery Words
AKA Anarch of PleaseDon'tKillMe!

One thing I'm trying to do is increase the presence of the Lords of the Dust. I've already decided to make the rogue elf in Auric's party a rakshasa; she meets up with the party again before Zeech's banquet and tries to worm her way into their good graces.

Mmhmm, fun with Rakshasa!

IMC Okoral (Raknian's assassin cohort) is in fact a Nathrazune Rakshasa from MM3. He's there to oversee things, and has steered Raknian down his dark path. Maruudril is a standard Rakshasa with sorcerer levels to make up the difference in CR. And I replaced all of the Avolakia with Ak'chazar Rakshasa, also from MM3. I have switched the Ak'chazar's spells to cleric spells, so that all of the four 'main' character types are represented by the native fiends.

The only one that I can't fit in are the Zakaya Rakshasa's from ECS. They look like prime candidates for high level grunts, but why any immortal being would throw it's life away as a 'grunt' escapes me...

Anarch of Ashtakala

Meh, a couple scrolls of teleport and the problem is fixed, and as the PC's will never see the scrolls, no need to adjust the treasure for the adventure.

I always try to play my baddies to the level of their intelect. I rarely look at an adventure as "X monster is in Y room." If X monster has an INT score, then it acts/counteracts just as the PC's do. IMC it comes down to who is more resourceful, smarter, powerful, and well equiped (which should usually all lean in the PC's favor). I't okay for cannon fodder to be cannon fodder, but some monsters just beg to be played with a bit of pizzaz!

Anarch of thinkers

I would just like to stand up for all of the Eberron DM's who are not Takasi and say that we are just like the rest of you. We do our own legwork and do not start silly threads about magazine content because we are too lazy to actually DM. I've played for all of a decade, and have gone from Dragonlance to Planescape to Ravenloft to Greyhawk to FR to Eberron. Eberron fits for me best (just like all the rest did) and I have enjoyed transfering the AoWAP over to Eberron for my PC's. I wish Takasi could sit in on some of my planning sessions as I cackle madly to myself at the thought of the Dreaming Dark helping the PC's, or replacing the flesh golems in TCB with Warforged Titans...

Anyhoo, we (Eberron DM's) are not all like him.

Anarch of Baker-sville

Classic!

This is a blunder that should come back to haunt the PC's, one way or another. You can't expect to back a monster into a corner and expect him to stay put while you take your time. Monster's adapt, they use their resources, and they call in buddies... lots of buddies!

Zyrxog, having watched the whole senario go down through his scrying pool, uses the opening left him by the PC's to regroup his forces, including the valuable Tekalin.

Xyrzog Planeshift's into Telakin's Hall (area D17) with an Octopin. Through the night the Octopin keeps tabs on the party, seeing right through the walls of the Sodden Hold thanks to it's Penetrating Sight ability. The next morning, as the PC's are preparing for the day (before they are done memorizing), the baddies strike.

A couple (or more) drow come in from the upper level to cut off the escape route and act as fodder while Telakin and Xyrzog cut them to pieces using their combined spellcasting might. Make it hard, but not too hard, and keep the octopin out of the fight, so the PC's get a rude surprise in Xyrzog's domain. Likewise, keep Xyrzog's spellcasting to a minimum. People expect Mind Blasts and mental attacks, save the Lightning Bolts for the final fight. The Drow are expendable, and ultimately, so is Telakin. When the fight turns against the monsters, Xyrzog Planeshifts away as described under area D19.

The point of the excercise is to show the PC's that the baddies are thinkers, plotters and planners as well, and a lot can be said for having the momentum, or giving it away. Instead of having Telakin cornered, get the PC's penned in and see how they react.

Anarch of Muhahahahahaha!

Schroedinger's lesser-known experiments (kitties always get the spotlight) already proved that all adventures in Dungeon are simultaneously Eberron, Forgotten Realms, AND generic until an outside agent opens the magazine and observes the table of contents. Therefore, if you didn't get what you wanted in this issue, it's your fault.

Nothing short of brilliant!

Takasi, it's Dungeons & Dragons, not Rakshasas & Warforged. Half the fun for me is translating printed adventures into Eberron. It let's me stretch my DM'ing muscles, learn my favorite campaign setting, and make the adventures my own.

They are D&D adventures, after all, and Eberron is part of D&D...

Anarch of Kitties

I think he may be mentioned in the Players Guide as well, in the Lords of Dust entry, but he originally appeared in the pages of Dragon in the aformentioned article. If I'm not mistaken, it is also the issue with the Ecology of the Spawn of Kyuss, though I too have glaring gaps in my memory.

IMC, Katashka lead Kyuss and his followers to Xen'Drik through visions, and they built the original Spire of Long Shadows on top of where he was imprisoned...

Anarch

I really like the AoW adventure path, and I am worried about losing the flavour if I port it to Eberron. I do think that if I run it, it will be after giving Greyhawk some serious thought as the setting.

Maybe I'm the odd man out here, but my Eberron AoW campaign is a smashing success so far. I'm going three or four steps beyond what Keith authors for the conversion notes, but if a DM doesn't do any work can they call themself a DM?

Anyone can name drop, thats the easy part.

Name dropping is also a great tool for 'porting' an adventure into a given setting. Kyuss <eventually> becomes Katashka the Gatekeeper, Uberdemon. Xyrxog becomes Chyrrashk (I spelled it wrong, I don't have S:CoT with me), etc. For players who know their campaign world (mine don't) this can solve some problems.

The rest comes in bringing out the feel of a given setting...

For Eberron, that (to me as a DM) gives me three opportunities to strut my stuff and play around with my campaign:

1) Travel. A 'global' setting like Eberron requires and benefits from the different cultures and locales one can see. I'm just starting HoHR and my PC's have seen rural Breland, Zilargo, Q'Barra, Argonessen, and now Sharn. On the list comming up are Aundair, the towers of Arcanix, Xen'drik (both the jungle areas and the great desert), Droamm, and the Lhazaar Principalities. The world is so vast, make it work for you as a tool to tell the story.

2)Grey Alignments. In Eberron, everything is just a little harder to define. Good can be bad, and the bad guys can be your best friends. Through HoHR and and TCB, my PC's will get an up close view of the Sharn underworld. An operative of the Trust keeps killing off their friends in the name of peace. And the Dreaming Dark is about to give them a big boost in info. Anything is possible, and it is very important to remember that the AoW isn't comming about in a vacuum. That said, it is important to remember point three...

3) Epic, PC centered adventures. The PC's are the only ones who can prevent the comming of Kyuss. Period. Everyone wants a piece of the action, but they have to act through the PC's. The Draconic Prophesy is a great tool to bring this about. Manzorian IMC is a GreatWyrm Bronze who has invested three milennia in preventing Katashka's release, ultimately bringing the PC's together to do the job.

Done right, these three elements can make anything into an Eberron campaign. The beauty of publishing the AoW in Greyhawk is that Greyhawk IS core D&D. Just make Pitch Blade a couple of really angry Valenar (with some extra work on the DM's part, drat!) and spend a month on a ship to Q'Barra and you've got it.

The pro's write the adventures.

You still have to DM, they can't do that for you.

Anarch of Rant.

For me, you don't need to change much to make the AoW fit into Eberron. I accomplish it mostly by changing the locations of the adventures, adding Eberron flavored critters, blurring the line on alignments, and highlighting the Eberron organizations that are taking a part, for good or ill.
-The Trust, the Lord of Blades, House Vol, House Thuranni, various cults of the Dragon Below, and the Children of Winter are all aligned against the PC's in one form or another.
-In their corner stand House Denieth, the Greensingers, the Gatekeepers, the Dreaming Dark, Sora Kell, and the Silver Flame.
-The Lords of Dust and the Chamber, as the principle meddlers in this plot, are on both sides.

As for locations and critters, see below.

(the following is cut/paste from my post on the Kings of the Rift thread.)

One of the key aspects of Eberron for me is the global nature of the setting, so yes, globetrotting is already going on:

WC/TFoE: Breland, along the Droamm/Aundair border. Silver Lake saw a lot of the fighting durring the war, and the mine managers siezed power after Thronehold

EaBK: Q'barra, duh

HoHR/TCB: Sharn. These two see the most revision, switching most of the 'gangers with changlings, the drow with dolgaunts, and the flesh golems of the leatherworks with 'forged titans. Other than that, switching names and places to fit with S:CoT is easy. Eligos is a Provost of Morgrave University. After the frame, the PC's are contacted by the Boromar Clan, who explain that a cell of the Tyrants has been infiltrated by Dask. Everyone wins if the Hall sees some bloodshed, except Dask and Xyrzog, that is... The Boromers are wrong, Dask has no hand in this plot, and Xyrzog is working for the Dragon Below. The Boromar's also serve as the PC's backers for the tourney.

-on a side note, the "Zombie Beetle Swarm" critter (I am getting the name wrong, the book is out in my car) from S:CoT is deliciously Kyuss flavored, and makes for a great scare while looking for Xyrxog's lair.

AGoW: Silver Lake, again

SoLS: Manzorian is a 1337 dragon, agent of the Chamber, and member of the Arcane Congress in Aundair. His "fortress" is a series of chambers tucked into one of the floating towers of Arcanix. The Spire itself is the original site of Katashka's imprisonment, and lies deep in the jungles of Xen'Drik. Kyuss was a human religious leader/explorer at the time of Lhazaar, who landed on Xen'Drik and build his colony in the crater that happens to hold Katashka. Following visions is not always a good idea.

PoR: Alhaster is in the Lhazaar Pricinpalities, as sugested. I've nixed the Avolakia in favor of the necro-shasa's, and our reoccurring bard is a spy for the Sisters of Sora Kell, at least at first ;)

LoLR: The entry is the fabled Cave of Vvarak in the Shadow Marches. I'm replacing the Titan, who doesn't seem to mesh well with the setting, with a CR 20 Daelkyr. Very Eberron, very druid prison, and far more likely to get an "oh, crud" out of my players.

KotR: This lies in the mountains overlooking the great desert on Xen'Drik. Too many giants to put it anywhere else. I'm adding another large group of dragons. Dragotha has his followers, but Argonessen wants the phylactery as well, to put Dragotha's madness and corruption down, again. Dragons fight giants, giants fight dragons, dragons fight dragons, everyone fights the PC's.

WCF: This is going to be in the Shadowcrag Mountains on the border of the Eldeen Reaches and the Wastes. Even I can't bring myself to subject the PC's to the Wastes in good conscience.

The final battle, as printed, takes place in Alhaster.

To make this all possible, the PC's have come into posession of a new airship, equiped with the prototype Cannith teleporter-drive, which will teleport the entire ship, assuming that the PC's take the time to figure out how it works..

Anarch of Eberron

Thanks James! We are, afterall, the DM's :-D

Thanks again for a great campaign!

-Anarch

For our campaign, the Spire of Long Shadows will be in Q'barra, Alhaster one of the Lhazaar Principalities, and unless there's unworkable issues (i.e. the giant fortress absolutely needing to be near the next adventure site), the Wormcrawl Fissure is likely to be in the Demon Wastes, site of Kyuss-Katashka's imprisonment.

Anarch, will your heroes be doing similar globe-trotting?

Edit: I can't quite figure out the Quote system, the above is from Golbez57, the following is my response...

One of the key aspects of Eberron for me is the global nature of the setting, so yes, globetrotting is already going on:

WC/TFoE: Breland, along the Droamm/Aundair border. Silver Lake saw a lot of the fighting durring the war, and the mine managers siezed power after Thronehold

EaBK: Q'barra, duh

HoHR/TCB: Sharn. Eligos is a Provost of Morgrave University. After the frame, the PC's are contacted by the Boromar Clan, who explain that a cell of the Tyrants has been infiltrated by Dask. Everyone wins if the Hall sees some bloodshed, except Dask and Xyrzog, that is... The Boromar's also serve as the PC's backers for the tourney

AGoW: Silver Lake, again

SoLS: Manzorian is a 1337 dragon, agent of the Chamber, and member of the Arcane Congress in Aundair. The Spire itself is the original site of Katashka's imprisonment, and lies deep in the jungles of Xen'Drik. Kyuss was either an elf exile from Aerenal or a human religious leader/explorer at the time of Lhazaar, who landed on Xen'Drik and build his colony in the crater that happens to hold Katashka. Bad placement ;)

PoR: Alhaster is in the Lhazaar Pricinpalities, as sugested. I've nixed the Avolakia in favor of the necro-shasa's, and our reoccurring bard is a spy for the Sisters of Sora Kell, at least at first ;)

LoLR: The entry is the fabled Cave of Vvarak in the Shadow Marches

KotR: This lies in the mountains overlooking the great desert on Xen'Drik. Too many giants to put it anywhere else.

WCF: This is going to be in the Shadowcrag Mountains on the border of the Eldeen Reaches and the Wastes. Even I can't bring myself to subject the PC's to the Wastes in good conscience.

The final battle, as printed, takes place in Alhaster.

To make this all possible, the PC's have come into posession of a new airship, equiped with the prototype Cannith teleporter-drive, which will teleport the entire ship, assuming that the PC's take the time to figure out how it works..

Anarch of Eberron

I run AoW in Eberron, and one of the major changes I have made is Manzorian's role in the campaign. Manzorian is an extremely well placed member of the Chamber (as a member of the Arcane Congress) and uber-dragon. He witnessed Kyuss/Katashka's apotheosis as a young dragon, and has been working against the AoW ever since. He set the party up with Allustan (we had a TPK in TFoE) and has been running the whole show, following a portion of the draconic prophesy.

As 4 of the 5 characters that met Alastor are dead and the connection would be lost, IMC Manzorian will appear at this point and fill them in with the info that Alastor would normally provide. I am also dropping the Vaati/Order of the Storm bloodline, as the Draconic Prophesy fills this predetermined greatness role nicely.

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(Rant Time)

The Whispering Cairn doesn't fit into the Kyuss plotline, and that is one of the things that makes it great. Not only is it one of the best, most challenging first level dungeon crawls I've ever seen, but it starts the campaign off on a completely different front. The characters motivation goes from "Treasure? Get it!" to "We are the only things that stands between salvation and complete ruin." This sets the stage for a lot of character growth, as the players find how deep in they actually are. Whispering Cairn also sets the stage for A Gathering of Winds, in which the PC's get a powerful weapon for the endgame.

Whispering Cairn sets the difficulty level for the AoW at "Wow, nasty," serves to get the PC's involved on a very basic level "We need coin to get out of Diamond Lake," and sets the stage for a more involved higher level adventure. It almost has a Planescape-esque unity of rings feel to it. As a relatively nasty DM (I seek an "Oh, crap" from my PC's every session) Whispering Cairn is what drew me to the AoW. I just wish it was followed by an equally engaging adventure.

TFoE was really a pace / tone / buzz-killer IMC. But then again, not every adventure can be as great as Whispering Cairn, The Champions Belt, The Spire of Long Shadows, A Gathering of Winds, Library of Last Resort, and Kings of the Rift...

To the designers and writers, keep up the great work! I drool over every new copy of Dungeon and my PC's are as engaged and happy as I've ever seen them (when they are not ducking for cover)

Rant over, I think thats six or seven coppers I owe you all...

Anarch of AoW

What a week I had. Monday I recieved Dragon 341 a full four days earlier than normal, Tuesday saw the arrival of my missing Dungeon 132, and on Thursday I found Dungeon 133 in my box, a full two weeks early.

It's like christmas in Ann Arbor!

Thank you Paizo for printing such quiality material, such prompt customer service, and for Erik's editorials. You'll be seeing my business for a long, long time.

-Anarch of the 'Burbs

I'm sure that reading through "Against the Giants" would give you warm fuzzies when it comes to some of the NPC's and monsters included in "Kings of the Rift." That said, I'm not going to go searching for my copy. The connections for me would be minimal, and for my players noexistant. I think to fully appreciate the "Against the Giants" connection your players will have had to play through it, and IMO they should be focusing on worms.

Big, nasty, world eating worms.

On a side note, I'm DM'ing my AOW crew in Eberron, and this adventure just screams Xen'Drik. I'll be adding a second flight of dragons to fight against the giants and the first flight of dragons. Dragotha has his followers among dragonkind, but the mainstream dragons see him as an abomination and seek the phylactery so that they may destroy Dragotha once and for all.

It'll feel like the PC's have fallen through time to the destruction of the giant empire ;)

-Anarch of... Hellcow

Hello Customer Service!

My issues usually arive like clockwork: Dungeon, (wait two weeks) Dragon, (wait two weeks) Dungeon, etc. Dungeon 132 never came! I am going nuts waiting for the "Library of Last Resort." Can you please check to see if it was actually shipped mid January as the website says?

I'm longing for fun with Titans...

Anarch of Saox

The Silver Aniversary copy is pretty good, and as the Keep consists of pretty classic monsters it shouldn't be too hard to update. Four gnolls is still pretty much four gnolls, etc. Great adventure for new gamers and old timers who want something a little more fun than scary...

Anarch of Sxao

Is there an official timeline for the events that happened pre-Adventure path?

What I've pieced together is that Kyuss became a god at the Spire of Long Shadows and was sumarilly captured circa ~2000 years before the campaign, and then escaped and fought a war in the Rift circa ~1500 before the campaign. Why didn't this first escape spark the Age of Worms? Was Kyuss actually present, or was it just his minions?

Any help would be great. We are playing the campaign in Eberron, so the more details I can nail down the better my conversion will be.

Thanks!

Anarch of Oaxs

I know that there are a few of us suscribers from the wonderful grey state of MI. Has everyone recieved their latest Dungeon? The mag hits "newsstands" on Wednesday and I am still waiting for my copy...

Must... have... Dungeon!

Anarch of Axso