Issue #12
Winter 2010

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9 February 2010

"What a roleplaying magazine should be."
Ed Greenwood

Bait & Switch: Tempting the Greedy

by Jonathan Palmer

treasureEvery trapsmith knows that a trap is little more than a complicated piece of furniture or decoration until it springs to life and reminds people why no one comes down this way. That is why, over the years, many clever trapsmiths have found ways to bait their traps or even install traps into tempting targets for would be thieves.

(See the “Traps” section in Chapter 13 of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game for costs associated with adding spells to traps.)

Poisoned Gold (CR equal to poison applied)

In a dungeon or community where many of the inhabitants are immune to poison, it’s not surprising to find that many of them coat their coinage in a thin film of contact poison. Handling a single coin is not enough for a harmful dose while five or more is enough for a single dose, and every five coins afterwards is yet another dose. A detect poison spell is more than enough to discover the poison on the coins…

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Monday Monsters: Atropos 13

by Lachesis

FatesAs soon as you lay eyes on this ancient crone, images of the deaths of all those you’ve loved and lost flood your mind. In these visions, you see the crone’s withered hand repeatedly lash out with an elongated pair of terrible shears to sever the gleaming, silver threads rising from your loved ones’ heads. The crone cackles in these visions as your loved ones crumple into piles of thread.

In real life too, she cackles as she approaches, pulling an elongated pair of terrible shears from behind her back…

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Sacred Space: Selket (Part 2)

by Andrew Hind

Scorpion GodIn many cities across the Great Desert, Selket’s cult festers. These are cults of humanoids who have been infiltrated by Selket-worshipping priests who poison their flock with their debased dogma. They promise Selket will protect and aid her followers in ways other gods cannot or will not. Priests target slums and other places of desperation, rewarding allegiance with wealth and protection, while punishing resistance with carefully targeted assassinations or genocidal swarms of scorpions…

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There Be Treasure at Dorkland

by Kobold Staff

Dorkland Anyone like winning stuff? Well if you do, head on over to the blog Dorkland. There just might be 3 free Open Design books in it for you.

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Sacred Space: Selket (Part 1)

by Andrew Hind

Egyptian GodsThe shifting desert sands mask weathered pyramids and ruined temples dedicated to fallen deities and demons best forgotten. Some are blessedly buried so deep beneath the dunes and so far within the recesses of our collective memory to be all but lost, perhaps never to be revived. Others, unfortunately, continue to poison mortals with their dark teachings and twisted doctrine. Selket, the scorpion goddess, is spoken of in hushed tones, her very name causing dread to clutch the stomach of even the stoutest of heart. They know that when the deity and her shadowy followers target them, there is no way to flee beyond the venomous claws…

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