Dragon Magazine - 408.pdf - Dragon Magazine - sensei_13

3 Editorial: FR’eak

By Christopher Perkins

Player’s Option: Heroes of the Elemental

Chaos releases this month, and to support it

we have several elemental-themed articles in

both Dragon and Dungeon .

19 Elemental Patrons and

Palaces

By Claudio Pozas

Looking for a job that pays well and offers

great beneits? Meet four genie nobles in need

of a few good adventurers, and visit their

remarkable elemental lairs.

32 Making Race Count, Part 3

By Matt Sernett and Robert J. Schwalb

Are you playing a dragonborn, a half-orc,

or a tieling? If the answer’s yes, check out

these new racial utility powers.

37 Eye on Dark Sun: Faded Power

By Rodney Thompson

The gods are all gone, but vestiges of their

power remain to be unearthed by wary and

unwary adventurers.

5 History Check: Corellon and Gruumsh

By Jeff LaSala

Why do orcs and elves hate each other? The

answer lies in the tale of two rival gods, Gru-

umsh and Corellon.

28 Bazaar of the Bizarre:

Treasures of the Elemental

Chaos

By Michael Haneline

Here’s an assortment of magic items that trace

their origins to the Elemental Chaos but can be

found in any dungeon.

40 Eye on Eberron: Baator

By Keith Baker

Devils have important roles to play in post-

war Khorvaire, but where do they come

from? Step into this manifest zone and ind

out!

12 Character Themes: Reborn

from Chaos

By Matt Goetz

You have a spark of elemental power inside

you. Let it out!

44 Eye on the Realms: The

Enchanted Painting of

Manyshields Hall

By Ed Greenwood

Whenever moonlight touches

one particular painting pur-

chased at auction, strange

monsters emerge from it. Is it a

portal? If so, to where? Where

did it come from? Who made it,

and why?

48 Confessions of a Full-Time

Wizard

By Shelly Mazzanoble

R&D’s “Player-in-Chief” lets loose

her inner geek.

51 D&D Alumni

By Bart Carroll

Take a trip through past editions

of the D&D game, and see how its

iconic features have evolved over

the decades.

Editorial: FR’eak

Editorial:

FR’eak

By Christopher Perkins

Illustrations by Tyler Walpole, Ralph Horsley, and Wayne Reynolds

Player’s Option: Heroes of the Elemental Chaos ™ hits

stores this month, just in time for players to create

elemental-themed heroes for The Elder Elemental Eye ™ ,

the next D&D Encounters ™ season. To celebrate,

we’re letting gods, primordials, and elemental-

themed heroes run amok in the pages of Dragon and

Dungeon this month. I hope you like what we have

planned!

Rather than dive into the Elemental Chaos, I’d like

to turn my editorial eye toward an unrelated subject,

namely the Forgotten Realms ® campaign setting,

about which more source material has been writ-

ten than any other “swords & sorcery” fantasy world

in history (although one cannot dispute that Middle

Earth is the reigning king when it comes to scholarly

essays and cultural inspiration).

This year in the magazines, we’re taking a break

from the Nentir Vale “points of light” setting to shine

a light on the Forgotten Realms as well as some of

our other popular worlds, past and present. You’ll see

more Eberron ® articles, more Dark Sun ® articles,

and even some content for R av en lof t ® , Planescape ® ,

and the World of Greyhawk ™ . But the Realms, in par-

ticular, will receive a lot of love.

While I’ve always admired the lavish detail of the

Forgotten Realms ® campaign setting, which lends it

a mind-boggling verisimilitude, what draws me to the

setting is that it’s true to the core D&D medieval fan-

tasy experience, and it doesn’t take a degree in rocket

science to repurpose FR content for home campaign

use. I’ve never run a Forgotten Realms campaign,

but I’ve plundered a lot of FR content for my home

campaigns over the years.

If you ask me what I think is the most iconic D&D

story, I’d probably defend the War of the Lance as my

#1 choice. I grew up reading The Dragonlance Chron-

icles , and nothing else in my opinion comes close to

feeling as epic. However, the Dragonlance ® setting

is hamstrung by the fact that there’s one story worth

telling, and every other adventure seems to pale in

comparison. (Feel free to disagree.)

On the other hand, the Forgotten Realms setting

is a place where thousands of stories and adventures

can play out. True, the Realms has seen its share of

world-shaking events, and there are linchpin char-

acters the likes of Drizzt Do’Urden and Elminster,

but for whatever reason, none of that impinges on my

ability as a DM to conjure up new adventure ideas set

in the Realms. Furthermore, FR players rarely feel

as though their characters live in the shadows of leg-

ends. The Realms always seems to make room for the

next great story, the next great hero, no matter how

many articles and novels and game supplements we

publish.

But the thing I like most about the Forgotten

Realms right this very minute is our new board game,

Lords of Waterdeep , which just hit stores this month.

I don’t consider myself a board game connoisseur,

but I know a good game when I play it, and Lords of

Febr uar y 2012 | DR AGON 408

Editorial: FR’eak

Wat e rd ee p immerses me in the Forgotten Realms

world while staying true to the core D&D experience,

and also makes me feel like a Big Man when I win.

It has turned me from an FR fan to an FR freak, and

it’s gotten me excited about the Forgotten Realms

articles we have planned for this year. If you’ve played

the board game and feel inspired to drop us a com-

ment, please do. We’ll be listening.

Febr uar y 2012 | DR AGON 408

Dragon Magazine - 408.pdf

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