Dragon Magazine - 393.pdf - Dragon Magazine - sensei_13

ISSUE 393 | NovEmbEr 2010

A Dungeons & Dragons ® Roleplaying Game Supplement

C ontents

Features

5 MurkroottradeMoot

By Matt Sernett

Somewhere sunken beneath the sodden soil at the edge of the great

Murkendraw Swamp in the Feywild, a secret hides from the angry nobles of

the Summer Court—the Murkroot Trade Moot, where elixirs, mercenaries,

poisons, and slaves are bought and sold in equal measure.

30 cLassacts: cavaLiers’ MouNts

By Richard Baker

The mounted warrior stands at the apex of military effectiveness. The knight

is famed for skill in mounted combat, while the cavalier is renowned for his

or her steed, charger, or warhorse—a loyal companion and ally touched by

the divine favor that follows any paladin in battle.

11 LegacyoFNerath

By Jeff Morgenroth

To most folk living now, Nerath means nothing more than ancient legends in the

shadows of crumbling ruins, but once, the splendor of Nerath lit the world with

its culture and accomplishments. There are those who would see it so again.

35 cLassacts: hexbLadeWarLocks

By Robert J. Schwalb

A warlock’s pact is an invisible thing, intangible and undetectable by one

not accomplished in the arcane arts. Hexblades are the exception. Their pact

becomes a physical thing, a weapon wrought from magic and steeped with

legend.

19 darksuN: graNdMastertraiNiNg

By Robert J. Schwalb

Gladiatorial games are featured across Athas, and gladiators rank among the

land’s most revered heroes. This article presents several gladiator masters

and the grandmaster training they can impart, should they judge you worthy

as a student.

40 WiNNiNgraces: WiLdeNstorMchasers

By Scott Fitzgerald Gray

In places where permanent portals between the mortal realm and the

Feywild also weaken the boundaries to the Elemental Chaos, the fury of the

storm rages unabated. Wilden native to this type of elemental nexus call

such sites storm-homes and themselves stormchasers.

24 cLassacts: hexbLadestarPact

By Matt Sernett

Hexblade warlocks make a pact with powerful entities, and those who engage

in a star pact tie themselves to certain—and uncertain—things beyond the stars.

Such warlocks have good reason to keep a watchful eye upon the heavens.

coLuMNs

43 WiNNiNgraces: veiLWaLkerdevas

By Peter Schaefer

Even though few have seen a deva, most have heard at least one tale about

the heavenly beings who wield blade and magic against evil. Not every deva

matches the heroes of those stories. Some are veilwalkers who choose to tread

as near the rakshasa precipice as possible.

4 editoriaL

By Steve Winter

57 aMPersaNd

By Bill Slavicsek

64 desigN&deveLoPMeNt:

gaMMaWorLd

By Richard Baker and Bruce R. Cordell

The lead designers of Gamma World prepare you

for the rigors of post-apocalypse life with more

insights into the game’s genesis.

49 FictioN: dreaMiNgoFWaterdeeP

By Rosemary Jones

Gustin Bone thought he would die without ever escaping the narrow confines

of his uncle’s farm, until three colorful strangers stumbled out of the forest.

67 coNFessioNsoFaFuLL-tiMeWizard

By Shelly Mazzanoble

D&D’s “Player-in-Chief ” ventures into the Tomb of

Horrors in the company of mutant cats.

JaMesM. Ward

The designer of the very first science-fiction

roleplaying game Metamorphosis Alpha and the

original edition of Gamma World discusses the

origins of Gamma Terra.

oNthecover

Illustration by Dan Dos Santos

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This material is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. Any reproduction or unauthorized use of the material or artwork contained herein is

prohibited without the express written permission of Wizards of the Coast, Inc. This product is a work of fiction. Any similarity to actual people, organizations, places, or events

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com/dnd

72 sPotLightiNtervieW:

E D I T or I A l

393

Achieving Equilibrium

one of the more interesting concepts in game

theory is that of equilibrium. In a competitive game,

everyone follows a strategy that gives them the best

chance to win. Equilibrium occurs when all the play-

ers are making all the right moves. Because everyone

is playing perfect strategy and no one has any reason

to let up, no one is getting any closer to victory. As

long as no one makes a mistake, the game stalemates.*

In some circumstances, the best way to break the

deadlock is for players to take actions which individu-

ally are not optimal for them but which nevertheless

lead to the best outcome for the group . Here’s where it

gets interesting. No one player acting on his own can

bring about that best-for-all solution. All of the players

must participate in pursuing what they know to be

the second-best strategy in order for it to pay off for

everyone. This isn’t just some dry, academic exercise;

the “Nash Equilibrium” and others like it have been

used to model behavior from economic interaction to

war. Equilibrium is a powerful tool for analyzing com-

plex interactions.

Unlike a competitive game, D&D doesn’t stale-

mate when no one makes a mistake. It’s still possible,

however, for what seems to be the best individual

strategy to lead to less-than-optimal group results.

Most characters are built with an eye toward

maximizing their effectiveness in a particular role, a

particular situation, or even a specific attack routine. As

we all know, sometimes in a D&D combat, the action

that contributes the most to winning the battle might

not be the action that the character is optimized for.

A soft-skinned leader or controller might need to step

into the danger zone to set up a f lank so the striker can

get the most out of her daily attack. The striker might

need to forego that devastating daily attack or use it in

a less-than-ideal way (attacking only one target instead

of three, for example) in order to lock an enemy into

a vulnerable location so that someone else can trigger

Dragon

No vemb e r 2010

Editor-in-Chief

Steve Winter

a more important effect. There’s an element of trust

in doing this. The druid with the lousy Armor Class

risks stepping next to the ogre because he trusts that

the rogue will kill it if he has combat advantage. If the

rogue doesn’t follow through, then the druid player is

right to wonder why he’s taking so much risk for others.

This idea that what’s best for the individual isn’t

always best for the group is part of what makes D&D a

compelling game. It creates dramatic tension within the

players and the group. Sometimes it even leads to trag-

edy when a character pays ‘the ultimate price’ for the

good of others. You won’t find that in Uno or Parcheesi.

Before wrapping up, I want to mention something

that we’re adding to Dragon articles in conjunction

with organized Play. Starting with last month’s

compilation, you’ll notice little icons in some articles

indicating one or more D&D rulebooks. These indi-

cate what D&D product an article is most closely

related to. If an organized Play event is limited to,

say, Essentials-only characters, then Dragon magazine

content which comes with an Essentials icon (for now,

those are Heroes of the Fallen Lands and Heroes of the

Forgotten Kingdoms ) can also be used at that event.

Senior Art Director

Jon Schindehette

Web Production

bart Carroll

Contributing Authors

richard baker, bart Carroll,

Scott Fitzgerald Gray, rosemary

Jones, Shelly mazzanoble,

Peter Schaefer, Stephen Schubert,

robert J. Schwalb, matt Sernett

Developers

Jeremy Crawford,

Stephen Schubert

Editor

miranda Horner

Cover Artist

Dan Dos Santos

Contributing Artists

Sam burley, Warren mahy,

Aaron miller, Craig J. Spearing,

Spikytiger, brian valenzuela

Publishing Production

Specialists

Angelika Lokotz, Erin Dorries,

Christopher Tardiff

Web Development

mark Jindra

Executive Producer,

D&D Insider

Christopher Perkins

Director of RPG R&D

bill Slavicsek

Special Thanks

Josh Dillard

* If you’ve watched the film A Beautiful Mind , then you

saw a whimsical explanation of this principle in a par-

able about a group of men, each trying to get a date

with the most beautiful girl in the room. If all of the

men talk only to her, she’ll turn them all down and no

one gets a date with anyone. If all of the men talk only

to her friends, they’ll all get dates, although none will

be with the most beautiful girl. You really ought to

watch the film. It’s not about math.

Trade Moot

By Matt Sernett

Illustration by Sam Burley

Severed from its twin and accessible only through

quirks of fate and wrinkles in time, the Feywild

holds many mysteries for the people of the world. Yet

even residents of the magical realm struggle with its

many unknowns and closely held secrets. Known

trails twist in new directions. Spatial mirages make

distant desires seem close and nearby dangers far

away. Passages to and from the plane open or close

based upon the blossoming of f lowers, the direction

of wind, the presence of fog, the phase of the moon,

or the seeker’s mood. In such an uncanny place, is it

any wonder that well-known locations remain lost to

most who seek them?

Somewhere sunken beneath the sodden soil at the

edge of the great Murkendraw Swamp in the Feywild,

a secret hides from the angry nobles of the Summer

Court. lost to all but those who’ve been there before,

this place remains beyond the reach of those who

would destroy, conquer, or exploit it—at least until

someone who has been there betrays it. Fortunately,

the keepers of the place guard it from such duplicity:

The entrance to its warren of tunnels is changed fre-

quently. Thus, a guide entrusted with the knowledge

must first meet those who seek it.

Suppliers of slaves, purveyors of poisons, concoc-

tors of uncertain elixirs, merchants of mercenaries,

innovators of unusual items—all meet at the Murkroot

Trade Moot to sell their wares. When an eladrin

chokes upon wine at a ball or falls in the forest after

the scratch of a dart, poisons purchased at Murkroot

might be held responsible. When a princess swoons

at the sight of a pauper or a priceless jewel vanishes

from a vault, the potions of Murkroot frequently take

the blame. The curse that cripples the hero might

have its origins in Murkroot, as might its cure.

The Bogbottom goblins run the Murkroot Trade

Moot. Goblin guides seek out both buyers and sellers,

leading them to the latest entrance. Bugbear bounc-

ers lurk in every shadow of the Trade Moot and its

entrance. The few hobgoblins of the tribe administer

fees upon sellers, act as arbiters in disputes, and

serve as translators for those who need it. Unlike

many goblin tribes, the smallest of the goblin family

occupies the highest caste, and the bugbears act as

bodyguards and servants. The hobgoblins that have

found their way into the tribe make little headway in

fighting this system, since the goblins and bugbears

vastly outnumber them.

No vemb e r 2010 | Dragon 393

Murkroot

Dragon Magazine - 393.pdf

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