Subject: MYSTARA-L Digest - 29 Sep 2002 to 30 Sep 2002 (#2002-255) From: Automatic digest processor Date: 01/10/2002, 17:00 To: Recipients of MYSTARA-L digests Reply-to: Mystara RPG Discussion There are 14 messages totalling 679 lines in this issue. Topics of the day: 1. Back 2. Forbidden Kingdoms d20 3. Back from the grave... Again! 4. The War Conceived-part II 5. Massive update 6. new campaign (9) ******************************************************************** 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, 30 Sep 2002 09:53:41 +0200 From: =?iso-8859-1?q?la=20Volpe?= Subject: Back Hello, fellow Mystarans. After a long and unpleasant hiatus, I am back to work. The revisers of my Mystaran Ethnography can send me their comments, the M-Almanac members can ask for my contribution, and James can contact me if he wishes to do some work on Thyatis again. Greetings, Giulio N. Caroletti aka Iulius Sergius Scaevola ______________________________________________________________________ Mio Yahoo!: personalizza Yahoo! come piace a te http://it.yahoo.com/mail_it/foot/?http://it.my.yahoo.com/ ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 30 Sep 2002 00:54:20 -0700 From: Ohad Shaham Subject: Re: Forbidden Kingdoms d20 Actually, Mystara has such a system, which I beleive predates d20 by several years. In the Dawn of the Empires boxed set- players guide to Thyatis, "Armor Rating" is introduced. Simply put, Armor Class avoids damage (shields and dexterity), and Armor Rating absorbs damage (armor and natural). I don't know anyone who used this system. I tried it for several sessions, and the players vetoed it because we liked to keep it simple back then. BTW- A campiagn based on Pulp Fiction (the movie? or actual fiction novels?)?!?! I have been out of touch for too long. Things have gotten weird... Morphail Darth Darknerd wrote:This campaign is based around pulp-fiction, and so for the current timeline, there's not much use for the Known World or Hollow World settigns, but for the Blackmoor setting, there are some interesting classes and ideas. The reason I want to mention this, is that they had some good ideas for firearms, and how to seperate out hitpoints, which represent luck, stamina, and health, and seperate out Armor Class into Defense and Protection. The hitpoints are called Stamina points, and the player also has Wound points. This seems similar to the Vitality points and Wounds points of Star Wars. I like this for the added realism, especially where firearms are concerned. The Defense represents the characters ability to dodge stuff, and does not include things like leather or chain that absorbs damage. This is the protection, which can absorbe different types of damage. This realistic true seperation of armor and dodge type Armor Classes makes logical sense, and will work across a midevial-renassiance with a tinge of Wild West thrown in, to a more high-tech and/or steam-tech Blackmoor era. Also, magical can be more realistic, as some armor class can be protection (armor) or defense (dodge) , and heal or aid spells can alter wound or stamina/vitality points. This type of system works across the board, where D&D3E, is just simply hard to manipulate across multiple technology levels and magical developments of Mystara. -peace, Joaquin If people want to check out Forbidden Kingdoms, look at http://www.otherworlds.cx/fk2.asp. __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? New DSL Internet Access from SBC & Yahoo! http://sbc.yahoo.com ******************************************************************** 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. --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? New DSL Internet Access from SBC & Yahoo! ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 30 Sep 2002 10:08:33 +0200 From: =?iso-8859-1?q?la=20Volpe?= Subject: Re: Back from the grave... Again! Agh!! MORPHAIL!!!!! Yes, *I* remember you, diabolic fellow from devilish Boldavia!!! Grumble grumble!!!! Alphatian mages, Boldavian vampires, Darokin merchants, Glantrian paparazzi... ...what more on Earth will we poor Thyatians see... Iulius Sergius Scaevola Captain of the XXth Cohort Port Lucinius, Thyatis ______________________________________________________________________ Mio Yahoo!: personalizza Yahoo! come piace a te http://it.yahoo.com/mail_it/foot/?http://it.my.yahoo.com/ ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 30 Sep 2002 14:37:05 +0300 From: =?ISO-8859-1?Q?Ville_V_L=E4hde?= Subject: The War Conceived-part II The House of Thrakius Marius Thrakius is the leader of one of the lower noble families of Specularum. That is, lower compared to the Vorloi, Radu, Torenescu and other more powerful families. He is a knight appointed by Stephan Karameikos during the early years of the present reign, and he has been given land on the eastern side of the river. (North of the Barnoy of Vorloi are some smaller estates that have been allocated to lower nobles.) Marius is an experiences fighter who won his spurs especially in the streetfighting during the Marilenev rebellion. His coat-of-arms symbol is a fox, holding an eagle in it's teeth. Marius has been able to keep his resentment towards Stephan secret, and lately he has been withdrawing from state politics, so he propably won't be the first one who is suspected. In secrecy he has however raised a private army on mercenaries, and many weapon and munitions caches have been hidden inside and outside the city. Marius has also been forging alliances with the nearby river brigands. Marius is not only a warrior, but also skillful in intrigue. He has employed four "diplomats", men with silent footsteps, poison rings and sharp daggers. He plans on using them to disrupt the relations between Karameikos and the neighbouring country (see above). These four men are totally ignorant of the relationship to the Cult of Ruul the Rapist. The inflitrator Flavius contacts Marius always directly. The Thrakius family has also one ace up their sleeve, although right now they don't understand its real significance. Six months ago they got their hands on some evidence of illegal activities of a prominent merchant, who is a member of the Merchants' Club. Right now Marius doesn't know about the existence of the club or of its relationship to the embassy (see above). But if he finds out about this, he is sure to blackmail the merchant to report on the activities of the club. The Traladaran Militants The liberation movement of the Traladarans was originally called "the Spring of the Streets". The name belies its relatively peaceful character. After the Marilenev rebellion the movement has been using mainly peaceful and legal means (with the exception of some burglaries or theft of documents - like the activities of Valdo Tisza). The movement is connected to the Torenescus, and has no direct link with the more militant Marilenev faction, whose leaders were killed in the rebellion. Lady Magda has remained distant to this pacifistic group. In the original movement there were some veterans of the rebellion, but it consisted mainly of ordinary people. Since the last years have been prosperous and peaceful, and the Traladarans have been relatively happy and well-treated, at least in Specularum, the movement hasn't been able to rally substantial support. It is very possible that the PCs have never even heard of it. At the moment the movement has a few hundred members, many of them being lower nobles and city bourgeoise of the Traladara. The splitting of the movement began a few years ago, when Stephan Karameikos gave some tax examptions to Thyatian merchants. This was due to powerful lobby from Thyatian merchants who felt that their position was unfair, as many of them had to pay taxes to their home country too - Stephan profited from substantial bribes. A few veterans of the liberation movement, along with some religious fanatics, separated from the Spring of the Streets and founded their own cell, "the Spring Flood". Their long-term goal is to restore Traladaran rule and to root out the church of Karameikos. Of course this goal is very far right now, but a war with a neighbouring country might open up possibilities. The methods of the militant faction are very brutal. They assault "collaborators", torch fields of Thyatian nobles, and have even assassinated some knights and merchants. These activities have caught Stephan's attention, but until now his city guard hasn't managed to catch any members. Innocent blood has of course been spilled. One should remember however, that Stephan is a skilled politician who isn't provoked to excessive violent reactions. Thus the real results of the Spring Flood have remained small, as reactions of the ruler haven't raised the commoners' anger. The leader of the faction is Vladimir, a veteran of the original rebellion. From time to time he has been working as an enforcer for the local criminals, but now has higher goals. He originated the separation of the movement, but the leaders of the Spring of the Streets don't know of his criminal businesses. When the movement split, Vladimir was able to draw in most of the old veterans, except one who bears a grude. The faction has about forty members now. There are very few supporters in the city itself, but they have some safe houses in the countryside and the Nest (there have been some brief conflicts with the Veiled Society, but now they are living in a state of an uneasy truce). Lady Magda Marilenev knows Vladimir from the old days, as he served under her family then. She is secretly supporting the faction. The Spring Flood has connections with the Cult of Ruul the Rapist, as was mentioned. The two groups came into contact because they both operate in the Nest and fight over territory with the Veiled Society and the smaller mobs. These short conflicts were the original cause of the loose alliance. Vladimir knows Selver very well, and has often talked about war against a neighbouring country. Selver is warming to the idea. The DM should note that Marius will learn of these discussions through Flavius! During the course of the adventure Vladimir tries to engage the Cult in the insurrectionary activitites, although he has no illusions about Selver's character. He simply tires too use the madman. The Spring of the Streets and the nobles that support it now very well the dangers of a war, and if they learn of this they are sure to try to intervene. The best chance that Vladimir has is to turn public opinon against Stephan, and thus break the ranks of the original movement. If the situation get dire enough, the Spring of the Streets might even contact the Embassy or the Club. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 30 Sep 2002 14:21:55 +0200 From: =?iso-8859-1?q?Havard=20Faanes?= Subject: Massive update Hello, just a note to let you know that my Blackmoor website has been updated again. I have added several new articles aswell as a new separate Map section with several new maps aswell as the ones which were already at the site. www.geocities.com/havardfaa/blackmoor.html is the place to be. As usual, comments, feedback and contributions are welcome! Håvard ______________________________________________________ Se den nye Yahoo! Mail på http://no.yahoo.com/ Nytt design, enklere å bruke, alltid tilgang til Adressebok, Kalender og Notisbok ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 30 Sep 2002 10:06:18 -0300 From: "Jonathan L." Subject: new campaign Hello. I'm starting a new campaign (from first level). I always started in Frontier (Karameikos). But this I wanted to change a = little. Any idea? Also I always start in 1000 AC. But maybe this is the chance to change a little. Thank you, Jonathan ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 30 Sep 2002 15:28:37 +0200 From: =?iso-8859-1?q?Havard=20Faanes?= Subject: Re: new campaign --- "Jonathan L." skrev: > Hello. > I'm starting a new campaign (from first level). > I always started in Frontier (Karameikos). But this Its usually a good idea to start your campaign somewhere where you are most familiar with the setting. However, maybe you'd like to change the style of your campaign and maybe move it into a major city? Specularum or Kelvin for instance? > I wanted to change a little. What kind of a campaign do you want? Basic hack and slash? Epic adventure? Political intrigue? I usually stick to a small location in the beginning. This means I can introduce recurring NPCs and have a location that the PCs will want to return to. Gradually, the campaign will expand into unknown territory, but the center will remain unchanged. > Any idea? > Also I always start in 1000 AC. Personally, I still prefer to start out in AC 1000, because everything seems most stable at that time, and I dont have to force my players into familiarizing themselves with the last decade of events to understand whats going on. Just a couple of ideas. Håvard ______________________________________________________ Se den nye Yahoo! Mail på http://no.yahoo.com/ Nytt design, enklere å bruke, alltid tilgang til Adressebok, Kalender og Notisbok ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 30 Sep 2002 11:40:49 -0700 From: "Jenni A.M. Merrifield" Subject: Re: new campaign My personal favourite starting place is Darokin -- mostly because I don't own the Karameikos Gaz or even the Boxed Set. :-P However, I also like it because of the mercantile nature of the area and the fact that it's kind of a "polyglot nation" (in the sense that people of all heritages, national background and religious leanings can be found there), and has one of the widest selection of ecological and geographical variety. This makes it a very convenient place for dumping in almost any non-Mystaran adventure (say from Dungeon, or another campaign setting). Pretty much anything can be tweaked to fit in somewhere in Darokin without even changing the names of the NPCs -- just so long as it's not set in a dessert or a tropical jungle. I actually started my most recent campaign out of Minrothad, but quickly shipped them off to Darokin via Ierendi (modified to be Freeport). They are currently in Port Tenobar with plans to eventually cross the bay to Athenos and most of the PCs expect to move go on to Darokin City from there (and those that don't will hopefully have such plans soon ;-). I also always start around AC 1000, but that's because I don't like what WotI does to the world and never plan to run it through any of my campaigns -- at least not in its entirety. My current campaign officially started in 1003, just so I could fit in a few social and political changes to the various nations of Mystara (In addition to Freeport for Ierendi, I've used quite a bit of stuff from the 2E "Lankhmar" setting for Minrothad City). Jenni -- Jenni A. M. Merrifield User Experience PM - Microsoft Content Management Server jennim @ microsoft.com | ph. 425/707-8150 | fax 425/936-7329 Designing to Requirements and Walking on Water is EASY. . . . . . So long as both are Frozen. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jonathan L." To: Sent: September 30, 2002 06:06 Subject: [MYSTARA] new campaign Hello. I'm starting a new campaign (from first level). I always started in Frontier (Karameikos). But this I wanted to change a little. Any idea? Also I always start in 1000 AC. But maybe this is the chance to change a little. Thank you, Jonathan ******************************************************************** 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, 30 Sep 2002 18:11:34 +0000 From: Agathokles Subject: Re: new campaign "Jonathan L." wrote: > > Hello. > I'm starting a new campaign (from first level). > I always started in Frontier (Karameikos). But this I wanted to change a little. > Any idea? Good starting points, if you have the appropriate Gazetteers, can be Ylaruam (for a different flavor of frontier) or Glantri (for a city-based campaign). As Haavard suggested, Specularum is your best choice for starting a non-frontier campaign in a setting you know well. > Also I always start in 1000 AC. > But maybe this is the chance to change a little. Some easy choices would be either AC 1010, right after the WotI, and following the Almanacs timeline, or some years before AC 1000, allowing the character to make some experience before facing the events of the Millennium. If you keep Karameikos as the base setting, then you could shift the starting time to 968-970 (right before the arrive of Duke Stefan) or at the time of the Thyatian occupation. This if you only want to change a little. If you're ready for a major change, you might choose any of the various subsettings and/or start at a very different age. Some examples: *A colonization campaign in the Savage Coast, around 900 AC; *A Taymoran/Nithian campaign, around 1800 BC; *A campaign in Northern Davania, either at present time or at the height of the Milenian Empire; *A campaign in Hule, using Christian Constantin's materials; *A monster PCs campaign, using any of the PC Crucibles or Orcs of Thar; *A Shadow Elven campaign; *A Myoshiman campaign (Oriental Adventures in Mystara, more or less); *A campaign set at the age of the great lycanthropic purges; Hope it helps, -- Giampaolo Agosta agathokles@libero.it agosta@elet.polimi.it http://digilander.iol.it/agathokles ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 30 Sep 2002 16:50:55 -0300 From: "Jonathan L." Subject: new campaign Ok. Thanks for all of you... I haven't decided yet, but it did really help. Now I have another question. Any ideas for low level adventures? Maybe you can give some very original ideas. Thank you very much, Jonathan ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 1 Oct 2002 08:42:46 +1200 From: Chris Furneaux Subject: Re: new campaign > > Any idea? > > Also I always start in 1000 AC. > > Personally, I still prefer to start out in AC 1000, > because everything seems most stable at that time, and > I dont have to force my players into familiarizing > themselves with the last decade of events to > understand whats going on. my 985AC setting is pretty stable but as time progresses I've found some really cool things that happen around that era that make for great adventures. Offically in about 980AC (IIRC from the almanacs[1200AC in the gaz but it doesn't change anything much]) is when X13: Crown of ancient glory is set which is a really good lure into the northern reaches. (I pulled it foward ~4 years to make my campaign fit better but there isn't that much info on vestlands history and rulers in the gaz IIRC). Also between 985 and 995 is the main founding of norworld as we know it in the gaz's. That means that there is a lot of adventure potential there. Karameikos is just settling down, it is only 15 years since Stefan took control and there should still be some anamosity between the two cultures, whereas by 1000AC there is almost a new generation running about who have had time to adjust. It is very much a transition time. Stefan has only just married and is having children in this period. There is definately a lot of stuff happening in the dutchy, so much that the black eagle can avoid much of the attention I should imagine. Most of the savage coast is still unaffected by the red curse, so it is still open to visitors (although getting there might be another story). I'm begining to feel that 1000AC is in many ways one of the less interesting Mystarian times to play in as in some ways you have to find things for the players to do until 1004 if you play WotI. 15 years earlier and things seem to find them (or the players run up against them). There is some more stuff too thats good in the following years, which means that you can give the campaign a sense of scale and if the PC's start young (ie ~15/16) then they will be in their 30's in 1000AC and just reaching their 40's at the end of WotI. Which gives nice timing for it all I think. If you can keep it going that long. It also means that events like the millenium are much more important from the players perspective. Just some thoughts. Chris. P.S. The list has been very quiet recently, must be crunch time... or maybe it was just Giulio going away. I mean he goes away and nothing really happens, I remember when Stalker went away for a weekend and came back to 600 new messages ;) [a few too many really] ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 30 Sep 2002 14:10:07 -0700 From: John Calvin Subject: Re: new campaign >> I'm starting a new campaign (from first level). I always started in Frontier (Karameikos). But this I wanted to change a little. Any idea? Also I always start in 1000 AC. But maybe this is the chance to change a little. << There have been some realy god ideas so far. I'll just throw a few of my own out as well. For litle Change: Karameikos before 970 - during the Duke's occupation. Give the PCs a chance to either help (or thwart) the Duke. This could change Mystaran history (as we know it) radically. Karameikos just after 970 - after the Duke's occupation. Give the PCs a chance to play through Thyatian vs. Traladaran relations after the Marilenev Rebellion. Karameikos after the WotI - tensions should be high with Thyatis. This might be a dangerous time for Karameikos (both the Duke and the nation). For more Change: I'll throw my vote in for a Taymoran/Nithian campaign. That would be interesting. Other historical Mystaran settings could include: - (BC 4000) Blackmoor - (BC 3000) post cataclysmic Mystara. people strugle to stay alive during and after the Great Rain of Fire. - (BC 1700) Lots of stuff happening during this time - humanoid invasions and occupations across Brun, Elves find blackmoor device and blow themselves up, - (BC 1000) Alphatian landfall - how do the natives react to an alien invasion, and which side are the PCs on? - (AC 0) Alphatian vs Thyatian conflicts. ===== Rule #85. I will not use any plan in which the final step is horribly complicated, e.g. "Align the 12 Stones of Power on the sacred altar then activate the medallion at the moment of total eclipse." Instead it will be more along the lines of "Push the button." from "A Guide to Becoming an Evil Overlord" by Peter Anspach __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? New DSL Internet Access from SBC & Yahoo! http://sbc.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 30 Sep 2002 17:50:00 -0500 From: Stone Marshall Subject: Re: new campaign > From: "Jonathan L." > Reply-To: Mystara RPG Discussion > To: MYSTARA-L@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM > Subject: [MYSTARA] new campaign > Date: Mon, 30 Sep 2002 10:06:18 -0300 > > Hello. > I'm starting a new campaign (from first level). > I always started in Frontier (Karameikos). But this I wanted to change a > little. > Any idea? > Also I always start in 1000 AC. > But maybe this is the chance to change a little. > > Thank you, > > > Jonathan > > ******************************************************************** > 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. Here lately I have the house rule that its 1002 AC or 2002 AY! ;) next year if I start a new campaign it will be 1003/2003. Multizar the Mage _________________________________________________________________ MSN Photos is the easiest way to share and print your photos: http://photos.msn.com/support/worldwide.aspx ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 30 Sep 2002 16:29:01 -0700 From: The Stalker Subject: Re: new campaign On Tue, 1 Oct 2002 08:42:46 +1200, Chris Furneaux wrote: >> > Any idea? >> > Also I always start in 1000 AC. >> Yes, 1000 AC is good because you can use the Gazetteers without changes (if you have them...). It also gives you time to decide whether to run WOTI or not. A lot of people seem to hate WOTI, so I just want to speak up as one of the people who liked it. I guess I just like those large complex stories, and my players had a blast running through it as well... Just one DM's opinion on that, though. > > P.S. The list has been very quiet recently, must be crunch time... or maybe it > was just Giulio going away. I mean he goes away and nothing really happens, I > remember when Stalker went away for a weekend and came back to 600 new > messages ;) [a few too many really] > Actually it was longer than that, about a week or so, and I left just as people were beginning to discuss the recurring theme of whether Stefan Karameikos is a hero or a villain, so that's your explanation right there :D - The Stalker ------------------------------ End of MYSTARA-L Digest - 29 Sep 2002 to 30 Sep 2002 (#2002-255) ****************************************************************