Subject: MYSTARA-L Digest - 2 Nov 2002 to 3 Nov 2002 (#2002-286) From: Automatic digest processor Date: 04/11/2002, 19:00 To: Recipients of MYSTARA-L digests Reply-to: Mystara RPG Discussion There are 9 messages totalling 434 lines in this issue. Topics of the day: 1. Cult of Balthac (7) 2. Essential Reading (2) ******************************************************************** 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: Sun, 3 Nov 2002 17:21:21 +0100 From: =?iso-8859-1?q?Havard=20Faanes?= Subject: Re: Cult of Balthac Interesting stuff Federico! I like how you had Crackle's father (Mr Korrigan, right?) survive. Sounds like an excellent plot hook. With Lillian having a good spot too, you might be in for a family reunion! Howard --- Federico Kaftal skrev: > Here's a different approach to the subject of > Crackle's future: > > IMC First Phase of WotI ended with Cracle being > "adopted" by one of my PCs > as a scribing assistant to be kept at home (very > useful: he never sleeps, > neither he needs food, nor money... just a little > fun from time to time, and > some new books to read). His father was defeated but > left "alive", and > transferred on Itheldown Isle with his surviving > undead followers! > > Cracle will become a very useful exchange coin in > Phase II (not yet played > by my PC): clever PCs might recognize Lillian as his > mother in the picture, > and could gain Lillian's alliance against Calor and > Hel's Fiends in exchange > for freedom, protection and regaining her undead > family for eternity. Either > a powerful "Flashback" spell, or just the power of > Love, could restore the > family's memories once they are again reunited > together with Lillian. > Lillian didn't loose her memory, and might believe > the PCs about Crackle > being still alive, and side with them if they make > her a good offer. > > Cheers, > > Federico > > _________________________________________________________________ > Surf the Web without missing calls! Get MSN > Broadband. > http://resourcecenter.msn.com/access/plans/freeactivation.asp > > ******************************************************************** > 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. > ______________________________________________________ Se den nye Yahoo! Mail på http://no.yahoo.com/ Nytt design, enklere å bruke, alltid tilgang til Adressebok, Kalender og Notisbok ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 3 Nov 2002 17:34:29 +0100 From: =?iso-8859-1?q?Havard=20Faanes?= Subject: Re: Cult of Balthac --- Agathokles skrev: > Perhaps the priest gets a special enemy like a > ranger in AD&D, probably > Dragons. > Or he gets an appropriate offensive spell once per > day (or week). Sounds interesting. Perhaps a sort of Dragon-slayer cult is the most productive idea to go with here. Perhaps an entire Dragonslayer Domain could be designed. Has anything like this beeen done already? In dragon magazine or something? Anyone? > > How did you like my reincorporation of Crackle? > > I like the idea, another option could have been to > make the lightning > zombies able to age as humans, rather than reverting > Crackle to his > previous self. I never was completely comfortable with the Lightning Zombie race. The idea of intelligent zombies itself seems somewhat macabre to me. This is sort of why I changed Crackle. But, especially with the inclusion of the lightning zombies in the Mystara Monsterous Manual, I wasnt sure if changing the entire race would be appropriate... Keep in mind that Krakel (or Crackle) isnt exactly reverted to his former self; rather he is changed into a sort of half-zombie, no longer undead, but retaining his lighting powers... Havard ______________________________________________________ Se den nye Yahoo! Mail på http://no.yahoo.com/ Nytt design, enklere å bruke, alltid tilgang til Adressebok, Kalender og Notisbok ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 3 Nov 2002 17:54:35 +0100 From: =?iso-8859-1?q?Havard=20Faanes?= Subject: Re: Cult of Balthac --- la Volpe skrev: > > Personally I think that this could be a good example > of how some Immortals may have multiple > personalities. Yes, but unlike some immortal identities, Balthac was actually a separate and real person. > I was thinking about something on the same lines for > other cults. Example: Minoides, Beast King of > Minotaurs, worshipped by them and thought to be an > Immortal. In fact he is an Exalted being that > provides > spells through Protius. Sounds like a good idea. Any special reason why Protius is his "sponsor"? I thought he was more interested in sea creatures.. > > leadership of Lillian Korrigan, a Vampire > > I don't remember if she was connected somehow with > the Korrigan of Karameikos. This Korrigan comes from Korrigan keep in Darokin. Im not sure if this was disgussed on the list, but there probably is a connection between these two Korrigan families. Probably, the two branches both emigrated out of Thyatis at least 30 years ago. Or perhaps Alexander Korrigan comes from Darokin? Håvard > > himself entered the battle. The Immortal Donar > > (Thor), > > had been investigating the matter himself and had > > raised Balthac into a Titan, an Immortal Servant > and > > together with Zerben’s allies, the real Balthac > > killed > > Calor and Lillian. Now the cult sprang into bloom > > again as it was proved that Balthac was real even > > though Hel had manipulated the priesthood. New > > leaders > > took place of the old ones and the Cult of Balthac > > became a religion of Warriors all over Darokin. > > Donar > > provides spells for Balthac’s Priests, and the > Cult > > of > > Balthac is in many ways a Subcult of Donar. > > Exactly along the lines I mentioned above! Cool! > > > > ===== > Iulius Sergius Scaevola > Captain of the XXth Cohort > Port Lucinius, Thyatis > > "We poor few forged as brothers in this furnace > will emerge as the steel of future generations" > -- from "Legionary's Prayers", by Ionaos > Nolan > > ______________________________________________________________________ > Mio Yahoo!: personalizza Yahoo! come piace a te > http://it.yahoo.com/mail_it/foot/?http://it.my.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. > ______________________________________________________ Se den nye Yahoo! Mail på http://no.yahoo.com/ Nytt design, enklere å bruke, alltid tilgang til Adressebok, Kalender og Notisbok ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 3 Nov 2002 17:38:04 +0000 From: Agathokles Subject: Re: Cult of Balthac Havard Faanes wrote: > > Sounds interesting. Perhaps a sort of Dragon-slayer > cult is the most productive idea to go with here. > Perhaps an entire Dragonslayer Domain could be > designed. Has anything like this beeen done already? > In dragon magazine or something? Anyone? Dragon Magazine had some dragonslayer kits for AD&D, but not one for Priests (it had a kit for priests and wizards who challenged dragons with speech and riddles, though). > I never was completely comfortable with the Lightning > Zombie race. The idea of intelligent zombies itself > seems somewhat macabre to me. Well, they're not really "zombies", they're more like flesh golems or something like that: not much like decayed bodies animated by some kind of force. I don't even know whether they can be considered undead, strictly. > This is sort of why I > changed Crackle. Ok. -- Giampaolo Agosta http://digilander.iol.it/agathokles ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 3 Nov 2002 00:07:04 -0800 From: Andrew Theisen Subject: Re: Cult of Balthac At 05:54 PM 11/3/02 +0100, you wrote: > > This Korrigan comes from Korrigan keep in Darokin. Im > not sure if this was disgussed on the list, but there > probably is a connection between these two Korrigan > families. Probably, the two branches both emigrated > out of Thyatis at least 30 years ago. Or perhaps > Alexander Korrigan comes from Darokin? I'm not entirely sure without checking, but wasn't the name of the family in WotI called Corran, not Korrigan? Is it different in overseas versions of the adventure? Not that it needs to affect any of your work at all- perhaps the Corrans were originally related to the Korrigans, but the name changed somewhat over time. Or even if you change the name, it doesn't really matter. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 4 Nov 2002 09:36:06 +1300 From: Chris Furneaux Subject: Re: Cult of Balthac > Well, they're not really "zombies", they're more like flesh golems or > something like that: not much like decayed bodies animated by some kind > of force. > I don't even know whether they can be considered undead, strictly. If vampires are then they are I think. And they are classified as undead but with some changes to turn attempts. Golems are made from that which is never alive (I assume that includes flesh golems, but they would not come from a single person anyway). They were once living and not now, but they are not "dead", so they are undead. I agree though that zombies is an odd term for them, as zombies tend to be mindless and evil, but they are not (thus the phrase "mindless zombie"). However I just re-read their description and they are not the people they were in life but very well animated versions that can think, and they are not decayed as they were all animated soon after death (within an hour). Thus they are animated simmilar to zombies, but are far less dead and more interegent. Oh and in my WotI Crackle thinks he was a Corran (or whatever, but with the "C"). Chris. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 3 Nov 2002 20:42:05 +0000 From: Agathokles Subject: Re: Cult of Balthac Andrew Theisen wrote: > > I'm not entirely sure without checking, but wasn't the name of the family > in WotI called Corran, not Korrigan? Is it different in overseas versions > of the adventure? No, it's Corran, AFAIK. -- Giampaolo Agosta http://digilander.iol.it/agathokles ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 3 Nov 2002 17:32:06 -0500 From: Falconer Subject: Essential Reading What, in anyone's opinion, is "required reading" for getting a feel for the Known World? Which products are essential and central parts of the common culture of Mystara fans? (Assume that out-of-print is no problem.) Wrath of the Immortals? GAZ1 The Grand Duchy of Karameikos? Hollow World Campaign Set? I really have no clue where to start. If it were Greyhawk I would say the 1983 World of Greyhawk boxed set by Gary Gygax. If it were Dragonlance I would say the 1987 Dragonlance Adventures hardcover by Tracy Hickman. If it were Forgotten Realms I would say the 1987 Forgotten Realms Campaign Set ("Old Gray Box") by Ed Greenwood and Jeff Grubb. Those are the classic, definitive sources for those worlds, revered by their respective fans, penned by the worlds' original creators, featuring maps and histories and gods and various world information. Mystara doesn't have an equivalent of that, does it? If you could name up to four (say) products that give the essence of Mystara, what would they be? Many responses welcome. Thanks! -- Michael Falconer "Because by fate even the gods are cast down, weep ye all with me." ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 3 Nov 2002 21:14:35 -0500 From: Mischa Gelman Subject: Re: Essential Reading On Sun, 3 Nov 2002, Falconer wrote: > What, in anyone's opinion, is "required reading" for getting a feel for > the Known World? Which products are essential and central parts of the > common culture of Mystara fans? (Assume that out-of-print is no problem.) > > Wrath of the Immortals? > GAZ1 The Grand Duchy of Karameikos? > Hollow World Campaign Set? > > I really have no clue where to start. It all depends on what region you want to know about as there is no great "1000 AC" overview of the Mystaran setting. It all started (IIRC) with a one-page description of 15 or so countries in X1 So if you want to do a HW campaign, then get the HW set, HWR1 and HWR3. HWR2 is far less helpful If you want to know about Thyatis, Norworld and Alphatia, then CM1, M1, M2 and Dawn of the Emporers are most valuable For Karameikos, B10, B6, the old expert boxed set and GAZ1 are valuable For the isle chains and oceania, X1, X8 (Drums on Fire Mountain? Or is that X6?), PC4 and the Ierendi and Minrothad GAZs are most valuable For the Savage Coast, there is free material available online and the Champions of Mystara boxed set For Ostland, Soderfjord and Vestland, GAZ7 and X3 are helpful For Glantri, Rockhome, the Ethengar Khanates, Darokin, Ylaruam, the Atruaghin Clans, Alfheim, the Shadow Elves and the Shires the individual GAZs work well in most cases For the other cultures of Mystara, PC1, PC2, GAZ 10 and the bestiary of dragons and giants (AC10?) are handy For the history of Mystara (the Blackmoor setting) DA1 is great and DA2-4 are useful And of course there is a bounty of non-canon material on-line - Mischa The truth is it has become ridiculous in Mr. Jefferson and his supporters to pretend that, in the present system of hunting the Federalists like wild beasts, they are governed by any principle or principles which will bear avowal or can for a moment be supported under any pretence whatsoever. - New York Evening Post, 6/29/1802 ------------------------------ End of MYSTARA-L Digest - 2 Nov 2002 to 3 Nov 2002 (#2002-286) **************************************************************