Subject: MYSTARA-L Digest - 1 Jun 2003 to 2 Jun 2003 (#2003-144) From: Automatic digest processor Date: 03/06/2003, 17:00 To: Recipients of MYSTARA-L digests Reply-to: Mystara RPG Discussion There are 8 messages totalling 268 lines in this issue. Topics of the day: 1. Darokin campaign ideas? (4) 2. Misunderstandings (2) 3. From Stone to Steel 4. Gazetteer collection on auction ******************************************************************** 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, 2 Jun 2003 12:32:14 +0000 From: Giampaolo Agosta Subject: Re: Darokin campaign ideas? Geoff Gander wrote: > > The party dynamics alone make for good roleplaying opportunities! Does > your barbarian player know where they will be from? Perhaps, while they > could be considered a "barbarian" for class purposes, they might be better > described as a "real" rustic? I'm thinking about someone who has nothing > to do with civilisation, and literally lives off the land. That > interpretation might let you mesh the idea better with your campaign. > Just a thought. Or, he can be more of a berserker warrior than a simple rustic: a warrior from Soderfjord might qualify for the role. GP -- di nuovo come un tempo sopra l'Italia intera urla il vento e soffia la bufera ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 2 Jun 2003 15:56:13 +0300 From: =?ISO-8859-1?Q?Ville_V_L=E4hde?= Subject: Re: Darokin campaign ideas? I once started a mini-campaign, where the PCs were employed by a member of one of the Great Merchant Houses. They became entagled in a web of intrigue, where one Merchant House was dealing with general Gilfronden of Alhfeim and his shadowelf cronies to sell elven artefacts to Ethengar and Atruaghin (the idea came from the Alfheim Gazetteer of course). The merchant who employed the PCs had became aware of these activities and was using them to spy on the smugglers (potential trips abroad!) in order to blackmail the other House. The campaign didn't go very far, since the players couldn't find enough time to play - but the plotline seemed fruitful enough. Ville ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 2 Jun 2003 11:06:35 -0400 From: Chris Cherrington Subject: Re: Darokin campaign ideas? I have run several campaigns for Darokin. Much has already been stated, my favorites are the city plotting with thieves guilds and of course the Merchants. (I will be bringing back my PBeM, Spice Road, back also; new and improved of course). One event that I ran dealt with rising tensions between elves and Darokin. An elvish faction, dealing closely with Clan Chossum; was citing old diplomatic papers from the Human Wars with Darokin. Papers in question were that Darokin promised to watch over lands between Alfheim and the Broken Lands to keep the area as a buffer between orcs and elves. Some factions went as far as to say that Darokin could not even keep marauding dwarves from sneaking across their territory into Alfheim. The elven factions were complaining that the Orc Lands where not being kept under control, and that if elves where to keep protecting their borders, they might as well extend those borders and rid the orcs in the Orc Lands themselves. This of course was a ploy to extend territories for Alfheim to allow Shadow Elf refugees to live peacefully next to their long lost cousins, the elven factions being sympathetic to the Shadow Elf cause. The papers were real, but not made by the current gover ! nment of Darokin. Darokin adventurers also found a deposit of a mysterious grey mud that was soon to be found by a local alchemist to be a huge silver deposit, around the same time several Dwarven THORNES found the deposit also. The bad point was, the orcs nearby knew of the deposit, before anyone else, and have been working on getting better provisions from the Broken Lands orcs by trading them the grey cakes of silver for mercs and better weapons. So now we have elves wanting the area for real estate purposes, Darokinians and Dwarves want it for a major boost to the economy as a Silver Rush, and the orcs own it by possession. The situation escalates into a bloody Elf verses the humans and Dwarven allies. Both sides being whittled down by mercenary, well provisioned orcs. Dwarven spies try to rid the harassing orcs by supplying their own mercenaries by calling on their allies the Ethengarians, whom quickly realize how easy it is to travel this southern border, and send word back to the Kahn on its weak defenses. The elves desperately want the bloodshed to end, and so used major magics to raise another forest in the hilly, grassy areas in question. At this time, Denwarf returns, and the Master invades Glantri (the players expected me to run the Master scenario, so I changed it to a big surprise when Hule decided that Darokin will still be an easy target, but to smash the Glantrian allies would be better needed). What the Master did not expect was to have a great big forest appear that would block his Ethengarian allies to attack Darokin for him in the east. When the wars ended, and the Shadow Elves began their explorations into their new forests, they found a new Bad Magic point of stone treants with silver leaves speaking a strange mix of dwarvish and orcish. This was all done years before WotI came out in print. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 2 Jun 2003 16:45:12 -0400 From: Chris Cherrington Subject: Misunderstandings Ever have one of those moments when you just realized that even though you think you just answered the right way, you just made a major mistake? Anyone want to contribute to this line, it would be greatly appreciated. The best examples are when you have to cross language barriers. I had a mage character traveling through Ylari, at one point I received a mysterious bottle with an image of a beautiful woman phantasmal forced inside. When crossing through a rather seedy market, a local, with very bad Thyatian accent, kept grabbing at my arm yelling “Fatma!” Me not knowing the local dialect, or language, inquired about the bottle in my possession. His only response was a very excited exclamation of, “Oh, you like Fatma!” and we haggled a price of 200 Dinari for what I thought would be information on the bottle. Instead I was surprised to learn that Fatma meant woman, and I had just purchased a wife. Other unknown sayings that could be easily misinterpreted are some naval terms used by the local navies and pirates alike. “Kissing the gunner’s daughter” is an old term for being tied to the barrel of the cannon and firing it several times. “Sleeping with the captain’s daughter” is another naval punishment, as the captain’s daughter is a cat-o-nine tails. Why navies insist on female terms for boats, and naming such punishments as daughters, is clear evidence of long voyages at sea ;) ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 2 Jun 2003 17:43:21 EDT From: Shawn Johnson Subject: Re: Darokin campaign ideas? In a message dated 5/31/03 7:00:01 PM Eastern Daylight Time, havardfaa@YAHOO.NO writes: > Anyways, I need campaign ideas, adventure ideas, > anything. I was thinking about using some of the > Westerlands campaign stuff posted by Mystaros a few > weeks ago, but I havent decided yet. Any creative > input is appreciated! :) Something I've always noticed about the Darokin Gaz is that it fails to describe any unsavory parts of Daro society. I can't imagine such a prosperous society without imagining it being plagued by widespread theft, racketeering and organized crime. Just gambling and prostitution alone would likely warrant huge crime syndicates in many parts of Darokin. So my response to your request is to keep adventure or campaign opportunities involving crime syndicates in mind, because the possibilities are almost infinite. Here's a few of them: > A crime family (leaders of a criminal organization) is secretly trying to control/influence the government so that it can become the most powerful trade house in Darokin. > PCs get wrapped up in a crime---a big robbery or a murder and are chased by the authorities. To clear their names, they must uncover the true criminals while avoiding the coppers. Of course, these gets them mixed up in organized crime, either as accomplices or enemies. > A string of assassinations have occured and the PCs are sent to uncover the perpetrators. The crime families/organizations seem to be involved but perhaps, in a strange twist, they are being framed by the true culprit---a high-level government official trying to eliminate his rivals (or take over crime in the area?). Another equally interesting theme for a Daro campaign would be political corruption. The Gaz also failed to even touch on this one either---apparently there is none as TSR envisioned Darokin. But if introduced, it opens the way for situations like these: > One House trying to use espionage to undermine the trade of another (esp. on a large scale), even going so far as to stage monster attacks on large caravans or to frame them with contraband or other elicit activity (or even treason). > Would a trade house that sells iron or weapons be willing to plunge the country into a war (or a smaller border war) simply to improve its profits? Potential targets might be Sind or Ylaruam or maybe just the orcs of the borderlands (whom the trade house has made a secret alliance with & plans to dupe the orc warlord into believing he will win the conflict). Hope the ideas are helpful... ---- Shawn Johnson ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 2 Jun 2003 17:53:38 -0400 From: Jeffrey Quinn Subject: Re: Misunderstandings It appears that you got snookered by the merchant (or the DM). The correct phrase for woman in that instance is not "fatma", but "fatima". It is an Arabic term, meaning "house woman" and more commonly "wise woman". The fatima of Arabic society are the wise women and are occasionally considered to be mystics. So, congrats to your character for an impending wedding. However, if you don't want to marry the woman, be sure to take the following steps: 1) find her father 2) ask for refuge under his roof for three days, so you can determine how good a wife she will be (why three days? Arabic societies believe this adage "guests are like fish, after three days both stink") 3) be sure to eat something with salt, and ask your host to join you in it 4) go to a market and take a piece of fruit without paying for it 5) if captured, tell the authorities that you are your soon-to-be-father-in-law's guest and have taken the Bond of Salt 6) admit to your host that you have taken the piece of fruit 7) be sure your belongings are packed, because you'll be thrown out of the house and not allowed to marry the man's daughter 8) go back and pay for the piece of fruit you stole 9) leave town quickly Why are these things so important? The Bond of Salt dictates that your host will take all responsibilities for your actions. Admitting to theft makes him legally responsible for the action and will get him into trouble. Since theft in an Arabic society is just about as close to murder on the punishment scale (even petty theft), you will be ejected from the bond by your host, since you are obviously a thief that will continually get him into trouble. At this point, he will make sure that the money you paid is returned to you for his daughter's hand, and he will make sure that you never see her again. Don't just run out on the situation though. That invokes the Law of Blood in your father-in-law's favor. Meaning you abandoned his daughter to the streets and she cannot take care of herself. He will hunt you down with every resource he can muster. While this would make a great plot twist in the game, dodging a jilted lover's assassins at every corner can get to be very tedious. (I've done this to many players.) Enjoy the experience! Jeffrey Quinn Freelance Writer/Game Designer http://jpquinn.mortality.net/ ----- Original Message ----- From: "Chris Cherrington" To: Sent: Monday, June 02, 2003 4:45 PM Subject: [MYSTARA] Misunderstandings > Ever have one of those moments when you just realized that even though you think you just answered the right way, you just made a major mistake? Anyone want to contribute to this line, it would be greatly appreciated. The best examples are when you have to cross language barriers. I had a mage character traveling through Ylari, at one point I received a mysterious bottle with an image of a beautiful woman phantasmal forced inside. When crossing through a rather seedy market, a local, with very bad Thyatian accent, kept grabbing at my arm yelling "Fatma!" Me not knowing the local dialect, or language, inquired about the bottle in my possession. His only response was a very excited exclamation of, "Oh, you like Fatma!" and we haggled a price of 200 Dinari for what I thought would be information on the bottle. Instead I was surprised to learn that Fatma meant woman, and I had just purchased a wife. > Other unknown sayings that could be easily misinterpreted are some naval terms used by the local navies and pirates alike. "Kissing the gunner's daughter" is an old term for being tied to the barrel of the cannon and firing it several times. "Sleeping with the captain's daughter" is another naval punishment, as the captain's daughter is a cat-o-nine tails. Why navies insist on female terms for boats, and naming such punishments as daughters, is clear evidence of long voyages at sea ;) > > ******************************************************************** > 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, 2 Jun 2003 18:10:02 -0500 From: Magister Mystaros Subject: From Stone to Steel Hi all! I'm afraid I don't have the time for a full-fledged review, but I wanted = to drop a note here about an excellent D20 resource. "Fromm Stone to = Steel," written by Aaron Stimson and published by Monkeygod Enterprises = (MKY2100, $39.95, 352-pages) is an *incredibly* comprehensive book of = weaponry, literally from the Stone Age to the Renaissance, broken down = by region and culture. While I have noted a few minor problems here and = there, it is for the most part spot on, and would be tremendously useful = for any Mystara campaign, D20 system most notably, though it would also = be useful for OD&D as well. Ya'll ought to check it out if you can... James =20 ****************************** James "Mystaros" Mishler Freelance Writer and Troubleshooter mystaros@earthlink.net ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 2 Jun 2003 23:18:40 -0400 From: "grail_quest@excite.com" Subject: Gazetteer collection on auction GAZETTEER COLLECTION UP FOR AUCTION Gazetteers 1-14Creature Crucibles 1-4Hollow World Gazetteers 1-3Boxed Sets- Dawn of the Emperors- Champions of Mystara- Hollow World Campaign SetTrail Maps- Eastern Countries- Western CountriesModules- DDA1 Arena of Thyatis- CM 7 The Tree of Life- M5 Talons of Night Note:* over 50% of items in virtually new condition* Some maps laminated* A few older Gazetteer covers in poor shape, but books are in at least good shape* Seller is in Burnaby, BC, CanadaPreference will be given to collectors who want the entire set (or everything except the Modules).Viewing of entire set will be arranged only for serious bidders.Contact information: Simon, at "grail_quest@hotmail.com"Please e-mail privately for more information, to arrange a viewing, or to make a bid.Referrals appreciated. _______________________________________________ Join Excite! - http://www.excite.com The most personalized portal on the Web! ------------------------------ End of MYSTARA-L Digest - 1 Jun 2003 to 2 Jun 2003 (#2003-144) **************************************************************