Subject: MYSTARA-L Digest - 23 Dec 2001 to 24 Dec 2001 (#2001-5) From: Automatic digest processor Date: 25/12/2001, 19:00 To: Recipients of MYSTARA-L digests Reply-to: Mystara RPG Discussion There are 3 messages totalling 225 lines in this issue. Topics of the day: 1. mystara3e.starflung.com (2) 2. What can a cat see from the moon? ******************************************************************** 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, 24 Dec 2001 16:04:07 -0600 From: Frank Subject: Re: mystara3e.starflung.com I think the new site looks great! I can think of a couple of other sections that might be useful. A section on the layout of the multiverse ala Manual of the Planes. A section on mind-tricks ala the Psionics handbook. A section on using non-WOTC 3E books with Mystara. I'm thinking of Moongoose Publishing's Slayers Guides or Mythic Races from Fantasy Flight Games or the Creature Collection from Sword & Sorcery Studios. Which creatures have a "Mystara Feel", etc. or where to possibly place non-Mystara modules. Frank ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 24 Dec 2001 16:19:02 -0600 From: Frank Subject: What can a cat see from the moon? Greetings! I have been working my way through the Panidus site and have been reading the info on the moons. I especially like the Hollow Moon info. Jenni recently posted the mesage below where Patera rotates around Mystara directly above the poles. So obviously the rakasta on Patera know that the planet is hollow and may have guessed that the moon is too! As anyone had them invade the Hollow World in force? I think they might be able to give the Heldanners and Alphatia some competition Frank At Sunday, 16 December 2001, Alan Antholz wrote: > >> I would like to know if there is an established Mystaran ephemeris. In >> particular, I am interested in the duration of the cycle of the Mystaran >> moon(s) in relation to the Mystaran day, and the dates of the full moon. >> > > A Mystaran day is a standard 24 hours. > > The year of Mystara is exactly 336 days long. This leads to several > regions having calendars with 12 months of exactly 28 days, each > divided into four weeks of seven days -- Thyatis, Alphatia and (I > think) Sind each have their own calendars in this format. The one > major exception I can think of is Minrothad, which has a calendar > with 11 months of 30 days, each divided into five weeks of six days, > followed by one extra six-day week (called "mitwok") which accounts > for the extra six days in the year. > > The visible moon (Matera) has a cycle which is exactly 28 days > long(*). On calendars with the twelve 28 day months, the new moon > always falls on the 1st of the month and the full moon always falls > on the 15th of the month. > > (*) How convenient, eh? ;-) > > The invisible moon (Patera) isn't really of much relevance to ephemeris > time, since it's invisible. :-) In any case, I don't know that there > is necessarily anything that provides a definitive description of > it's phases. On one of the large trail maps (the Western one?) there > is a table for sun and moon rise and set times, but the details for > the visible moon are entirely inaccurate. Because a full moon can > only physically occur when the moon and sun are directly opposite > from each other with the planet in the middle, it is simply impossible > to have a full moon rising in the morning and thus crossing the sky > during the middle of the day (that would be a new moon). This table > may include details for the invisible moon (I don't remember off > hand), but even if it does, given the problems with the description > for the visible moon, I certainly wouldn't put a lot of faith in > it. > > IMC, however, I have set Patera in a near-perfect polar orbit that > is always tangental to Mystara's orbit around the sun. Heres an > ascii illustration: > > Top View > > ----------- > / ----- \ <---- Mystaran orbit > / / \ \ > | | @@@ | * <--- Patera > | | @sun@ | O <--- Mystara > | | @@@ | | > \ \ / / > \ ----- / > ----------- > > Front View > ----- > / * <---- Patera > | @@@ | > ---+--@-O-@--+--- <--- Mystaran orbit > | @@@ | > \ / > ----- > > > I have it take 56 days for Patera to complete one full orbit, thus > it travels from the north pole to the south pole in 28 days and back > again in another 28 days. Because of it's orbitally tangental position, > it technically only has one of two possible phases which, (if it > were visible) would be a quarter moon (which occurs as it travels > from north pole to south pole) and a three quarter moon (which occurs > when it travels from south pole to north pole). > > Hope you find this information to be useful to you. > > Jenni ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 24 Dec 2001 22:04:45 -0800 From: "Jenni A. M. Merrifield" Subject: Re: mystara3e.starflung.com On the Mystara RPG Discussion Frank wrote: > > I think the new site looks great! Thank you for saying so. :-) > I can think of a couple of other sections that might be useful. > > A section on the layout of the multiverse ala Manual of the Planes. That's a very good idea, thanks for catching that oversight. And it's even a topic that has been brought up from time to time on the Project Team mailing list. And as the organization of the planes in Mystara is quite different than all the other TSR/WotC D&D Campaign worlds, it's something that's rather important about the Mystara Campaign. I don't own the Manual of the Planes (yet), so I'll have to confer with some of the other M3E Dev-Team members who do have it about how this section could be organized and try to get a placeholder in place soon. > A section on mind-tricks ala the Psionics handbook. Ah yes. Psionics. That is one of the great "Oh no, not this again!" debates that comes up on this list from time to time -- whether or not Psionics has any place in a Mystara campaign or not. I've no intension of starting that argument up again -- as far as I'm concerned a DM can do whatever a DM likes, and I'll leave it at that. However, with respect to the M3E conversion: One of our primary aims is to be a "descriptive" conversion, rather than a "prescriptive" one. In other words, we want to /describe/ what exists in the "baseline" sources for Mystara, with all it's errors, contradictions and whatnot, and not /prescribe/ how things "should have been". Of course, it's a narrow path to walk, since we have to decide what things are truly part of the descriptive flavour of Mystara and what things are nothing more than side effects of the 0E Rules system that Mystara was based on. Obviously, Psionics does not exist in the Known World because the 0E rules never had Psionics. On the other hand, the Known World also never had Sorcerers, and the 3E Conversion allows for their existence. On yet another hand, Bruce Heard, the man managed the Mystara line for TSR for many years, and who was the author of the VotPA articles in Dragon where the nations of the Savage Coast were first described, has made statements on this list and in other Mystara-oriented forums to the effect that Psionics were never meant to be a part of the Mystara campaign. But, when the Savage Coast material was developed for publication as a boxed set, it was done using the 2E rules rather than the 0E rules that the original material was written for, and that source material does mention incorporating the use of Psionics into the game. Until the dev team touches on the issue specifically, I can't really say what we're going to do about it. There is a chance that the Dev-Team will decide that in the "official" conversion, Psionics don't exist anywhere in Mystara, coupled with a mention that Psionics are, in fact, discussed in the 2E Source material for the Savage Coast. There is probably an equal chance that the Dev-Team will decide that, in the "official" conversion, Psionics and the Psionics classes are definitely found on the Savage coast and then leave it up to the DM to decide if Psionics are commonly found outside of those areas. (And if we do the latter, I'm sure we'll consider whether the standard mind-tricks from the Psionics book are suitable or if there is a need for "Mystara Specific" mind-tricks.) I will be honest, however, and admit that I believe it is very unlikely that the Dev-Team will decide that Psionics are commonly found throughout all regions of Mystara in the "official" conversion. > A section on using non-WOTC 3E books with Mystara. > I'm thinking of Moongoose Publishing's Slayers Guides or > Mythic Races from Fantasy Flight Games or the Creature > Collection from Sword & Sorcery Studios. Which creatures have > a "Mystara Feel", etc. or where to possibly place non-Mystara modules. Well, because of our "descriptive" approach, this would fall somewhat outside of the scope of this conversion project. However, I agree that such a section would be a useful resource for DM's choosing to run a campaign in Mystara. Perhaps, after we've gotten most of the actual "converting" done, we'll consider adding such recommendations. Thanks for your comments -- it helps to hear what others think about what we're working on :-) Jenni -- Jenni A. M. Merrifield :: strawberryJAMM strawberry@jamm.com Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup. ------------------------------ End of MYSTARA-L Digest - 23 Dec 2001 to 24 Dec 2001 (#2001-5) **************************************************************