Subject: MYSTARA-L Digest - 2 Dec 2001 to 3 Dec 2001 (#2001-332) From: Automatic digest processor Date: 04/12/2001, 19:00 To: Recipients of MYSTARA-L digests Reply-to: Mystara RPG Discussion There are 11 messages totalling 446 lines in this issue. Topics of the day: 1. Darokin city under siege (2) 2. Hi again! (3) 3. Threshold - under seige? 4. Diplomacy In Traladara, 965 A.C. 5. Dwarves and Halflings 6. Sentient Races list - "Skulk" to "Zombie, Lightning" (2) 7. Threshold ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.dnd.starflung.com/ To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 3 Dec 2001 15:02:40 +0200 From: Ville V Lahde Subject: Darokin city under siege Just asking for your opinions: IMC the Nomads manage to besiege Darokin City in the early weeks of the Nomad war, and are likey to be able to hold it for some time. The Darokinians and their new allies will put increasing pressure on the besieging forces, but it is still unclear whether they can break it (for various reasons, of which more in the coming war updates) before the nomads try to resolve the siege. Right now the nomads are gathering their siege bonuses, that is, building siege machines etc. The question is: How long do you think the Darokinians can withstand the siege before they start getting attrition modifiers? In the Darokin pictured by the Gazetteers this would be a long prosess, as the city should have large supplies (manufactures & intensive farming). Examples of historical sieges don't tell us much, I think. Both the besieging and the besieged should have enough low-level clerics to purify food & water and cure disease, so that the epidemics typical to real-world sieges aren't so effective. (Up to the Crimean war, actually even up to the First World War disease was one of the prime causes of troop losses.) This helps the Nomads more, actually, since sieges have always been more powerful to the besieger. So, the Darokinians are less vulnerable to disease, and they should have a lot of supplies. They have one elite legion and two normal legions in the city. When do you think their BR should start to deteriorate? Should it do that at all? What about the Nomads? How long should they be able to continue the siege? They get supplies over the lake Amsorak, and they can loot the surrounding countryside (the rich wheat belt of the Streel Plains) for additional food - although it IS early summer, and the new crops haven't been grown yet. For dramatic reasons I may yet decide to ignore these things, but I think they might actually add spice to the adventure. Ville ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 3 Dec 2001 11:24:53 -0600 From: Aaron E Nowack Subject: Re: Darokin city under siege On Mon, 3 Dec 2001 15:02:40 +0200 Ville V Lahde writes: > The question is: How long do you think the Darokinians can withstand > the > siege before they start getting attrition modifiers? In the Darokin > pictured by the Gazetteers this would be a long prosess, as the > city > should have large supplies (manufactures & intensive farming). Well, there's two ways to answer that question: dramatically and realistically. Dramatically, you should time it so that Darokin City is on the verge of falling just as the relief arrives (see the Siege of Minas Tirath in the Return of the King for an example where that happens several times). Realistically... it's a tough question. Has Hule managed to completely blockade the Streel River, or is it possible for ships from Corunglain or Athenos to bring in supplies? Is Darokin City crowded with refugees, or is it mostly evacuated? Assuming a reasonable number of refugees, and a somewhat blocked Streel (it's not easy, but it is possible to bring in some supplies) I would imagine that, barring a successful storming of the walls (which would most likely involve a bloodbath of epic proportions... aka a climax :) ), Darokin City could hold out 8-12 months before food started to run out, since you said you considered the city to be well supplied. Now, morale might start to run low well before that, particularly if there's no relief in sight. Although... isn't most of Darokin City outside the walls? I think I recall that from the Gazeteer... that could have a major effect on events... though I ignored it myself in my own War of the Master. :) BTW... IIRC, somewhere on the official site there's a rough outline of my Siege of Darokin adventure. You might want to take a glimpse at that and se if there's anything you want to steal from it. Aaron Nowack "Never let reality get in the way of a good hypothesis." http://www.geocities.com/anowack/ ________________________________________________________________ GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO! Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less! Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/web/. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 3 Dec 2001 17:59:35 +0100 From: Daniel Mayer Subject: Hi again! Hi guys! .. and ladies :) I'm back again on the list. Made a short (3/4 year) timeout due exams. Many of them. Just if I missed that: Has there been a greater collection about GSoM in Krakatos? 3E? I own 3E since few weeks and try my brain at the new rules. Hi to Stalker, the evil 1,4m large guy with a prickly nose, two much too large ears and that mind-affecting curse bestowed onto him... :) And Hi to that footman of the thyatian army, Iulius Sergius Scaevola and his brain. Wherever it is ;))) :) Yes. Any interesting topics I have to read? Greetings to all Daniel Mayer aka Laren Nightmaster, Tower of Dreams ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 3 Dec 2001 15:05:41 EST From: Alex Benson Subject: Re: Threshold - under seige? > On the flip side- PCs are tasked (or hired) to cause > an uprising among the Traldaran around Threshold. > It's isolated and its surroundings would make > support from Mirros diffcult. As a frontier town, > the locals will be predominently Traladaran. They > will be more self sufficient and more detached > from Stefan's Court. Threshold's defenses are > relatively minor (wooden palisade) and the rulers > are young. A successful Traladran coup could see the > town used as a Traldaran enclave stronghold. > A few coments on this, As a frontier town I imagine it would be relitively free from a lot of the hardships faced by the rest of the country after the thyatian invasions. It's just too far out in the wilderness for most "self repecting" thyatian to be particually concerned with inforcing thyatian rule. As long as everyone behaves that is. Stefans "road building" should be seen as extremely benificial to the town as well as any extra military surport sent their way. I agree that a Traldarian uprising could be posible but the questions would be whats the point of just Threshold. The con's seem worse to me. The wooden palisade is primarally to keep monsters out, I doubt it would prove too difficult for a seasoned army. As for being self sufficient, I didn't think that was the case. My understanding is that it was primarally a logging town that trived off sending the logs down river (and of course the new minted coins) under the new karamiekian economy. Without the connection to the outside this town would strugle. I do however have a limited sugestion, and that would be it could be subverted (for all those "civilisation" players). First start cutting off/controling the arteries into and out of the town, only letting out that which is deemed benificial, bring about a change in power structure and then send an altermatium to the duke saying that Threshold is now a Traldarian state but will pledge alegence and suport to the duke in exchange for the right to run itself as it sees fit. If the duke tries to quell them, wage a gurrela war on armies as they come up the road, etc.>> Uhm...it was a suggestion for a campaign based on the evil PCs premise. I was briefly mentioned with. What did you expect to get from that small passage? At best it is a basic plotline. The original poster asked for information and suggestions. I offered them. I know nothing of his campaign. But I guess I should feel priviledged that a mere paragraph drew five paragraphs in response. My apologies if I sound a bit harsh. But I think it a bit harsh to go to such extremes to bash a very bare and basic plotline. If you want a more thorough adventure based on this plot I can oblige given time. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 3 Dec 2001 20:37:15 +0100 From: Agathokles Subject: Re: Diplomacy In Traladara, 965 A.C. Kevin Powers wrote: > > In Traladara, circa 965 A.C., how would the dwarves and gnomes of > Highforge (respectively, not collectively) react to requests by > Thyatians for assistance in resolving a humanoid menace of some sort > (actually, it's a bunch of Rocs flying around and snatching up farmers, > but that's a long story...)? Would the dwarves or gnomes be hostile or > friendly, or just plain neutral toward such a request? Would they be > more or less receptive to Traladarans? I think both would be friendly, especially if the Duke is going to give them some bonuses (like reduced trading taxes, or favored merchant status, or just buying gold from them). The Thyatians might employ diplomats from the Dwarven Barony in Thyatis, in order to easen the contacts. Dwarves are traditionally less friendly to the Traladarans than to the Thyatians (who are more pragmatic), while Gnomes would probably be more receptive to the Traladarans (less stiff-necked). -- Giampaolo Agosta agathokles@libero.it agosta@elet.polimi.it http://digilander.iol.it/agathokles ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 3 Dec 2001 12:51:42 -0800 From: Joe Kelly Subject: Dwarves and Halflings For the upcoming conference IMC would the Five Shires send Five representat= ives? or just one. Don't forget this conference is also a Trade Conference.= So who all would be sent. considering it is for trade, How many dwarves would attend? One again from = each clan?=20 And finally, what of the Heldanners? Would they consider going? Any help would be much appreciated. JK Wolf ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 3 Dec 2001 22:19:33 +0100 From: la Volpe Subject: Re: Hi again! > And Hi to that footman of the thyatian army, Iulius Sergius Scaevola and > his brain. Wherever it is ;))) > Welcome back. - Iulius Sergius Scaevola Welcome back from me too! - Scaevola's Brain 8-) ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 3 Dec 2001 16:14:13 -0800 From: The Stalker Subject: Re: Hi again! On Mon, 3 Dec 2001 17:59:35 +0100, Daniel Mayer wrote: > Hi guys! .. and ladies :) > > I'm back again on the list. Made a short (3/4 year) timeout due exams. > Many of them. > Welcome back. Hope you passed them all. > Just if I missed that: Has there been a greater collection about GSoM in > Krakatos? 3E? I own 3E since few weeks and try my brain at the new > rules. > Not that I've seen... > Hi to Stalker, the evil 1,4m large guy with a prickly nose, two much too > large ears and that mind-affecting curse bestowed onto him... :) > I certainly don't like that! And my mind is just fine... and so is mine :) > And Hi to that footman of the thyatian army, Iulius Sergius Scaevola and > his brain. Wherever it is ;))) > Well, he's a Thyatian... I wonder the same question about all of them... ;) > :) > > Yes. Any interesting topics I have to read? > You mean right now or in the time you've been gone? No major subjects ring out right now, but then I might just have forgotten... - The Stalker ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 3 Dec 2001 16:18:27 -0800 From: The Stalker Subject: Re: Sentient Races list - "Skulk" to "Zombie, Lightning" On Mon, 3 Dec 2001 08:14:46 -0500, Giampaolo Agosta wrote: > Eric Anondson wrote: > >>> Xvart >>> I think this is a sort of Kobold, and an Underdark monster as well. I >>> don't think it is present on Mystara (at least as a canon monster). >> >> Believe it or not, this is another Greyhawk monster. It even has it's own >> god over there, named Raxivort (his followers are were-rats, xvarts and >> kobolds) And you are correct that they are related to kobolds. > Thank you. I only remembered this monster from some PC game (can't > remember which one, though), and IIRC it was a blue kobold. Yes. It was in Baldur's Gate (the first one). You ran into hordes of them, but it wasn't a great problem since they died like flies. No idea what the point was, since kobolds are just the same sort of annoying little pests. What was *really* annoying about them was the game's "feature" to constantly generate new ones no matter how many you killed. I hate that sort of thing... > Anyway, it still isn't a Mystaran monster (though one might want to > introduce it as a mutated kobold, perhaps). > Sure, but then what are they needed for? They don't seem like much of an addition in the sense that they don't seem to me to add much to the campaign. - The Stalker ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 4 Dec 2001 00:07:06 -0800 From: Rich Guth Subject: Threshold I am currently running a campaign using the Karameikos boxed set. Since = I don't have a lot of access to Mystara modules, but I happen to have a = lot of the original modules including the Greyhawk ones, I have = basically dropped a lot of Greyhawk towns and such into the Karameikos = setting for my game. (I know, all of your are probably shocked and = dismayed at this.) We started with the boxed set's first adventure with = Juster Dainworth being captured. The adventure went well and was very = fun. We then continued by jumping into a few of the Greyhawk based = modules, and hit a little on the Temple of Elemental Evil series. I = simply dropped Hommlet and such towns into the Karameikos setting and = made them nearby Threshold. Now we are playing the new D&D 3E adventure = "Speaker in Dreams" and I am using Threshold for the city rather than = Brindinford as it is meant to be. I also plan to use some of the Desert = Nomad series soon since I bought a few on Ebay recently. I was wondering = if any of you have done some of the things I am doing with dropping = things into the Mystara campaign, or if you're all what you seem: = die-hard purists. Also, I was wondering if there is any information out = there on the Iron Ring other than what I have, mainly the Karameikos = boxed set. I noticed from the Wizards D&D website that the Iron Ring is = mentioned in a book called "Cloak and Dagger." Is that the same Iron = Ring? Also, I am using the Kingdom of Thieves information from your = group website, and I was wondering if anyone else has good information = on that group since two of my players are supposed to be members of the = Guild. Thanks for you time, and happy holidays early. Rich =20 --------------------------------- "Here are beauties which pierce like swords or burn like cold iron." - = C.S. LEWIS=20 -------------------------------- ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 4 Dec 2001 07:55:42 -0500 From: Giampaolo Agosta Subject: Re: Sentient Races list - "Skulk" to "Zombie, Lightning" The Stalker wrote: > >> Anyway, it still isn't a Mystaran monster (though one might want to >> introduce it as a mutated kobold, perhaps). > > Sure, but then what are they needed for? They don't seem like much of an > addition in the sense that they don't seem to me to add much to the > campaign. Sure. I just take the Sentient Races list and try to guess why certain monsters have been included. Then, the xvart itself is not an especially worthy addition, so it gets the one-line entry "It's not a canon Mystaran monster" plus perhaps a minimal explanation of what it is (a blue kobold), and, if possible, why/where it could appear (obviously, wherever you want kobold-like monsters but you don't have kobolds--kobolds don't appear, for example, in Western Brun). -- Giampaolo Agosta agathokles@libero.it agosta@elet.polimi.it http://digilander.iol.it/agathokles ------------------------------ End of MYSTARA-L Digest - 2 Dec 2001 to 3 Dec 2001 (#2001-332) **************************************************************