Subject: MYSTARA-L Digest - 28 Aug 2003 to 1 Sep 2003 (#2003-213) From: Automatic digest processor Date: 02/09/2003, 17:00 To: Recipients of MYSTARA-L digests Reply-to: Mystara RPG Discussion There are 18 messages totalling 744 lines in this issue. Topics of the day: 1. Tourney Events (10) 2. Years of Fire Campaign Setting (Long) 3. website updated 4. Mystara's Mystics/Monks (4) 5. Synn's secret in Oceania (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: Mon, 1 Sep 2003 10:41:08 +0100 From: Phil Subject: Tourney Events I'm planning on sending my players to a tourney and fair, but am a bit stuck as to what events would go on there. So far I have an archery competition, a wrestling competition, swords lists, a horse race, a foot race, and of course the joust tourney itself. Can anyone suggest any out competitions that would be run at the fair? ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 1 Sep 2003 12:40:24 +0200 From: Daniel Mayer Subject: Re: Tourney Events Phil wrote: > I'm planning on sending my players to a tourney and fair, but am a bit stuck > as to what events would go on there. So far I have an archery competition, a > wrestling competition, swords lists, a horse race, a foot race, and of > course the joust tourney itself. Can anyone suggest any out competitions > that would be run at the fair? > Hi, Phil! Yeah, remembering the adventure of DSA (don*t know if it ever was translated...), aside of the "standard" competitions, there was a nice poisoning-plot against the duke/king's son the advernturers had to foil. And perhaps a "lifting"-contest? Strong and supid fighters have to win in something, too :) Greetings, Daniel ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 1 Sep 2003 12:42:06 +0200 From: Thibault Sarlat Subject: Re: Tourney Events duel of magic users can be fun for a protected audience (duel shield). bets can be made and the dispute can easily spread in the audience too... Thibault Sarlat. ICQ 16622177. Personal homepage http://www.mystara.fr.st thibault.sarlat@wanadoo.fr ----- Original Message ----- From: "Phil" To: Sent: Monday, September 01, 2003 11:41 AM Subject: [MYSTARA] Tourney Events > I'm planning on sending my players to a tourney and fair, but am a bit stuck > as to what events would go on there. So far I have an archery competition, a > wrestling competition, swords lists, a horse race, a foot race, and of > course the joust tourney itself. Can anyone suggest any out competitions > that would be run at the fair? > > ******************************************************************** > 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, 1 Sep 2003 13:00:57 +0200 From: Giampaolo Agosta Subject: Re: Tourney Events Phil wrote: > I'm planning on sending my players to a tourney and fair, but am a bit stuck > as to what events would go on there. So far I have an archery competition, a > wrestling competition, swords lists, a horse race, a foot race, and of > course the joust tourney itself. Can anyone suggest any out competitions > that would be run at the fair? Depends on the location of the fair. In Thyatis you might have gladiatorial contests (with different weapon classes), but also battle and hunt simulations, in Milenia a "tourney" might look more like the Olympic games then a joust. Actually, since there are pretty few medieval nations in Mystara, the actual makeup of a tourney may vary wildly. Also, the tourney will usually concentrate on one or a few major events (the joust in the european middle age), plus a number of minor events (archery, for example). The basic types of competition are those you listed (fighting, races, archery/throwing) plus magic contests if the nation has enough magicians, as in Glantri. Often, the same general type will be handled differently in different nations, of course, but even the same specific type may have different variants: for example, the joust may be followed by a melee (as in the Ashby tournament in Ivanhoe). For the minor games, you might have punching, weight-lifting and throwing, arm-wrestling, and other "strength sports" (see http://directory.google.com/Top/Sports/Strength_Sports/), plus dexterity games (things like knife throwing, rope running, pole vaulting). However, unless the tourney is a really big event (something unlikely in the smaller nations), there will only be a few of these. Hope it helps, -- Giampaolo Agosta http://digilander.iol.it/agathokles ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 1 Sep 2003 13:15:09 +0200 From: Richard Eckart Subject: Re: Tourney Events On Mo, 2003-09-01 at 11:41, Phil wrote: > I'm planning on sending my players to a tourney and fair, but am a bit stuck > as to what events would go on there. So far I have an archery competition, a > wrestling competition, swords lists, a horse race, a foot race, and of > course the joust tourney itself. Can anyone suggest any out competitions > that would be run at the fair? A bards and/or herolds contest on music, poetry and heraldic knowledge maybe? -- Richard Eckart ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 1 Sep 2003 13:33:49 +0300 From: =?ISO-8859-1?Q?Ville_V_L=E4hde?= Subject: Re: Tourney Events One of my favourites in our campaigns has been the pie-eating contest for those PCs who lack the interest or the inclination for more serious exploits. Pie-eating contests are great for introducing NPCs of a lowlier social standing. For example, at a contest in Specularum you could have: - Garrnak Rumblegumble, a quest star from the yearly gnome caravan. A small but surprisingly gluttonous guy. - Ivan and Yuri, the rather "slow" miller's sons. Lovable persons altogether. - Pjotr (Kropotkin?), a local spokesman of the stevedores' union. You'd better not best him, or you might find your kneecaps in peril. - Reinhart Dorfen, "an errant knight" from Darokin - surpisingly enough, since knights don't exist there. That doesn't stop Reinhart from obeying the code, though. Since his "equals" seem so rude and uncouth, Reinhart likes to mingle with the people. And what's wrong with getting your stomach full at the same time? (Note. Reinhart doesn't seem to come from a Borderlands Magistrate family, the old nobility. He pays heed to the Kingdom of Darokin...) - "Uncle" Fedja, an innkeeper from the Nest. Due to his tendency to cheer on his competitors, Fedja rarely fares well in pie-eating contests. Nonetheless, he is the life of the party. As you might gather, I also think that a contest like this might add some humour to the seriousness of jousting. On a more serious note: if you are planning the tourney in a country with a feudal or semi-feudal social setting (otherwise the jousting has to be explained in a novel way), you should really add THE GRAND MELEE! Think of it: scores of fighters gather around nobles' banners - market for ablebodied mercenaries. "Armies" rush to the field and fight it out. Usually some lethalities occur, but not too much. Ville ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 1 Sep 2003 12:36:23 +0100 From: Colin Davidson Subject: Re: Tourney Events ----- Original Message ----- From: "Phil" To: Sent: Monday, September 01, 2003 10:41 AM Subject: [MYSTARA] Tourney Events > I'm planning on sending my players to a tourney and fair, but am a bit stuck > as to what events would go on there. So far I have an archery competition, a > wrestling competition, swords lists, a horse race, a foot race, and of > course the joust tourney itself. Can anyone suggest any out competitions > that would be run at the fair? This really depends on the culture of the people having the tourney. Thinking about it, there have been races (clothed and unclothed, with or without horses or chariots, some even being in full armour), tonnet fights (wearing specially tough armour and standing on the opposite side of a barrier to ones foe, taking it in turns to hit each other and being scored on how good the blows are), boxing (anything from Marquess of Queensbury rules right through to bare knuckled prize fights resulting in inevitable unconsciousness), poetry contests, singing, contests to see who can grow the larges marrow or leek, who makes the best wine, who has the best cow and calf, and anything else that might go on at an English 'village show'. You could have highland games like tossing the caber, hammer thowing, even silly things like hurling haggis. Or you might have a game of 'bladder', the ancestral game of football (alarming called 'soccer' by our strange cousins on the wrong side of the Atlantic :-) that has different rules depending on where it's played. There could be fights between teams of fighters and monsters/animals, there could be conjuring contests, in fact there could be pretty much anything that fits in with your campaign. May I ask, where is your game set? ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 1 Sep 2003 14:50:46 +0200 From: =?iso-8859-1?Q?Andr=E9s_Piquer_Otero?= Subject: Re: Tourney Events A good RPG source of inspiration is the Warhammer module Power Behind the Throne. It includes a nice system (WH, but easy to adapt) for archery competitions, arena duels with beasts (you can just bet or actually participate), duels for a coveted position of Count's Champion and, besides, quite a lot of sideshow activites which normally did spring around tourneys, like setting up business during a fair, etc, etc... For a more realistic outlook of jousts, the Pendragon RPG has some nice info too. That's where I found out that quite a few middle ages tournays were about groups of knights fighting, something quite different from the face-to-face jousts... Andrés ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 1 Sep 2003 15:00:05 +0200 From: =?iso-8859-1?q?Havard=20Faanes?= Subject: Re: Tourney Events You should check out the Pendragon RPG and the supplement to that RPG Lordly Domains. It gives great details to Tournaments and other related Knightly activities (no pun indended). A few things that havent been mentioned: Mock Battle (The Melee): This is an event that both knights and other warriors can participate it. A huge battle between two armies (usually hosts vs. guests), using wooden swords and lances. The Hunt This is not neccesarily connected with tournaments, but a favorite pastime among nobles. Hunting for wildlife, either Hawking (using trained hawks to catch birds) or hunting for boars is possible. The nobles are usually mounted so it will be a test of riding and hunting, and can sometimes be dangerous! It should be restricted to knights and other nobles though. Again, both of these activities are given great detail in the Pendragon RPG, well worth the money :) Havard PS: Green Knight publishing, please send money for this PR stunt ;) --- Phil skrev: > I'm planning on sending my players to a tourney and > fair, but am a bit stuck > as to what events would go on there. So far I have > an archery competition, a > wrestling competition, swords lists, a horse race, a > foot race, and of > course the joust tourney itself. Can anyone suggest > any out competitions > that would be run at the fair? > > ******************************************************************** > 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. > ______________________________________________________ Få den nye Yahoo! Messenger på http://no.messenger.yahoo.com/ Nye ikoner og bakgrunner, webkamera med superkvalitet og dobbelt så morsom ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 1 Sep 2003 10:27:44 -0400 From: Christopher M Cherrington Subject: Re: Tourney Events Another good contest for noble and commoner alike is the Farmer's Run. The contestant needs to run through an obstacle course carrying a bucket of milk in each hand. Obstacles can be slippery ground, balance beams, poles buried in the ground at varying heights and distances from each other, tunnels to duck through, and fences to hurdle. There are other more, fair type contests. Greased pig race for the kids, greased pole contest, even the May Pole. Some tourneys will attrack sideshow contests, much like our modern day sideshows. While the landed gentry try their skills at jousting, the common folk can spend a copper at a game of chance or skill with darts or rings on the milk bootles. -----Original Message----- From: Mystara RPG Discussion [mailto:MYSTARA-L@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM]On Behalf Of Phil Sent: Monday, September 01, 2003 5:41 AM To: MYSTARA-L@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM Subject: [MYSTARA] Tourney Events I'm planning on sending my players to a tourney and fair, but am a bit stuck as to what events would go on there. So far I have an archery competition, a wrestling competition, swords lists, a horse race, a foot race, and of course the joust tourney itself. Can anyone suggest any out competitions that would be run at the fair? ******************************************************************** 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, 1 Sep 2003 20:10:26 +0200 From: =?iso-8859-1?q?Havard=20Faanes?= Subject: Years of Fire Campaign Setting (Long) Below is an idea for a campaign setting which connects Mystara and Blackmoor. Let me know what you think! Mystara Campaign Setting: Years of Fire The Years of Fire Campaign setting describes the years following the Great Rain of Fire and the destruction of the Blackmoor Civilization. This is an ideal period for running a post-apocalyptic game. The World The Blackmoor Civilization is completely wiped out, the planet’s axis has shifted and new continents have formed. By now the continents have settled, but the climate is continually changing due to the planet’s new axis. Blackmoor itself, the heart of the Blackmoor Civilization is lost under the polar ice. Most of the remains of Blackmoor are now gone, but artifacts and advanced weapons and even vehicles from that civilization is much more common than in later years. The People Already Blackmoor is becoming something of a myth, and the few scattered survivors try to forget the horrors of the even now known as The Great Rain of Fire. People are slowly beginning to revert back to their original cultures. This is a strange phenomenon. The various peoples, who have been assimilated by the culture of Blackmoor, now find themselves returning to ancient customs of their ancestral past such as the Skandaharians, Peshwa, Valemen and even a few Afridhi. The reasons for this reversion are unknown. It may simply be that cultural heritage is so strong, perhaps even genetically connected. Another explanation, may be immortal intervention, either direct interference with the development of the survivors cultures, or perhaps indirect, as a defense mechanism that was built into the minds of the peoples in case of a breakdown of civilization. Later, these cultures will develop and change again, as the descendants from the Peshwa gradually become the Ethengars and the Jennites, the descendants of the Valemen become the Littonians and the Skandaharians become Antalians. At this stage, however, the scattered refugees of Blackmoor haven’t even fully reverted to their original cultures; they are merely a stage in-between. Technology is often blamed for the Great Rain of Fire and is often distrusted. Some simply don’t use atomic-powered devices, others try to refrain from using technology altogether. If you want Mad Max type adventures, you can have cars and motorcycles and even the occasional laser rifle. However, fuel, energy chips and bullets cannot be manufactured at this stage, so they gotta be saved. Many devices are now increasingly unstable as well, like the ones the Shadowelves later blow up in the Glantri area. Mutants and Monsters Ofcourse, you gotta have Mutants in post-apocalyptic settings! Mutants gang together with Beastman races (Orcs, Goblins etc) and prey upon small groups of humans who try to gather enough resources to survive. Lightning Zombies (From WotI) are much more common in this age due to the radiation, as are other radioactive undead (Radiation Specters, Atomic Wraiths etc…) Many other monsters emerge in this age, no longer curbed by any human civilization. Dragons, Chimeric monsters, Owlbears, Hydras are plentiful. Elves and halflings follow the patern of humans, those who survive try to return to their old ways. Dwarves are on the verge of extinction and are believed to be lost in this age, with the exception of a few unique individuals searching for their lost race. (The dwarves are not gone, however, simply spirited away by Kagyar for remodeling. He will return them to Mystara later on). Magic Magic has always been around on Mystara. However, when Blackmoor was wiped out, the Great Magic Academies were destroyed and most arcane knowledge was lost. Individual wizard hermits must be sought out to learn wizardry. Due to the strong presence of radiation and mutations, Sorcerers are much more common in the Years of Fire. However true arcane knowledge was greatly reduced and isn’t restored to its former level until the founding of Taymor and Nithia. (In fact modern Mystaran knowledge is mainly based on Alphatian magic and whatever survived of Nithian wizardry.) Due to secularization in the Blackmoor era, many immortals had been nearly forgotten even before the fall of Blackmoor, and the chaos that followed, caused the disappearance of many cults. Several immortals faded because of this. (This explains why many immortals of Blackmoor, including many of those that may be introduced in the upcoming D20 Blackmoor products are not around anymore in modern Mystara.) However, those cults who survived begin bringing the message of hope and faith into a desolate and broken world. Sadly though, few temples exist and Clerics lack organization and training and Clerical magic is also no longer as powerful as it used to be. According to the Ethengar Gazetteer, it was the Blackmoor incident that called the spirits of the Otherworld to Mystara. More likely, it seems that it was the despair and the search for powers to worship that drew these extraplanar creatures, including more fairies to Mystara. Shamans flourish in the Years of Fire. Adventure Ideas. Protecting the Community Survival could be an adventure on its own. Whether the PCs are a small group trying to make it on their own, or whether they are part of a larger group; trying to find enough food, avoid radiation, find medicines to cure sickness and plague, and fighting off Mutant and Humanoid raiders can be an adventure of its own. The style of the game may vary from more or less standard D&D-style to more Mad Max meets Gamma World style, depending on how much apocalyptic stuff the GM wants to include. Search for the Past The Great Rain of Fire and Blackmoor are becoming myths. What happened to Blackmoor? Was it experiments of combining magic and technology that caused its destruction? Was it internal war (as detailed in Mystaros’ Timeline)? Was it an act of magical terrorism? Or was it a long-term plot by the powers of Entropy, perhaps Thanatos’ greatest achievement? A campaign can be centered around searching for knowledge about the past, perhaps it is also related to the origins of the PCs? Search for Magic Magic is weak in this age. The potential is there, but so much knowledge has been lost. Rediscovering magic, finding new Immortals to worship, building new temples and new magical academies could be another focus for a campaign, easily combined with the two above. Håvard ______________________________________________________ Få den nye Yahoo! Messenger på http://no.messenger.yahoo.com/ Nye ikoner og bakgrunner, webkamera med superkvalitet og dobbelt så morsom ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 1 Sep 2003 20:13:13 +0200 From: =?iso-8859-1?q?Havard=20Faanes?= Subject: website updated My Blackmoor website has been updated. It can be found at www.geocities.com/havardfaa/blackmoor.html New stuff include a special report from this years Gen Con aswell as articles on my Years of Fire campaign aswell as a few other minor updates. Thanks for your time :) Havard ______________________________________________________ Få den nye Yahoo! Messenger på http://no.messenger.yahoo.com/ Nye ikoner og bakgrunner, webkamera med superkvalitet og dobbelt så morsom ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 1 Sep 2003 11:51:26 -0700 From: Ramses Ramirez Subject: Mystara's Mystics/Monks HELLO! Would anyone happen to know which mystaran nations have mystics? AFAIK, Sind (from Champions of Mystara) seems to be the only country that has mystics but I could be in error. Lancer --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 1 Sep 2003 13:12:59 -0700 From: Ramses Ramirez Subject: Synn's secret in Oceania In the CoM boxed set they state that Synn was allowed to stay in the fallen nation of Oceania to defend a secret in her lair.. Does anyone know what that secret is? Was it ever stated in the Voyage of the Princess Ark series? Lancer --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 1 Sep 2003 23:10:35 +0200 From: Thibault Sarlat Subject: Re: Mystara's Mystics/Monks i remember reading that there was a monastary in Glantri, high in the mountains... Thibault Sarlat. ICQ 16622177. Personal homepage http://www.mystara.fr.st thibault.sarlat@wanadoo.fr ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ramses Ramirez" To: Sent: Monday, September 01, 2003 8:51 PM Subject: [MYSTARA] Mystara's Mystics/Monks > HELLO! > > Would anyone happen to know which mystaran nations have mystics? AFAIK, Sind (from Champions of Mystara) seems to be the only country that has mystics but I could be in error. > > Lancer > > > --------------------------------- > Do you Yahoo!? > Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software > > ******************************************************************** > 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, 1 Sep 2003 23:12:52 +0200 From: Thibault Sarlat Subject: Re: Synn's secret in Oceania i don't remeber reading anything about that secret, but recently Chis made a proposal for a this really big secret in Oceania. feel free to search the digest, it was just two weeks ago. Thibault Sarlat. ICQ 16622177. Personal homepage http://www.mystara.fr.st thibault.sarlat@wanadoo.fr ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ramses Ramirez" To: Sent: Monday, September 01, 2003 10:12 PM Subject: [MYSTARA] Synn's secret in Oceania > In the CoM boxed set they state that Synn was allowed to stay in the fallen nation of Oceania to defend a secret in her lair.. Does anyone know what that secret is? Was it ever stated in the Voyage of the Princess Ark series? > > Lancer > > > --------------------------------- > Do you Yahoo!? > Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software > > ******************************************************************** > 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, 1 Sep 2003 19:42:45 -0400 From: Mischa Gelman Subject: Re: Mystara's Mystics/Monks On Mon, 1 Sep 2003, Ramses Ramirez wrote: > Would anyone happen to know which mystaran nations have mystics? AFAIK, > Sind (from Champions of Mystara) seems to be the only country that has > mystics but I could be in error. The Milenia HWR mentions their presence. Dawn of the Emporers mentions some in Thothia and Champions of Mystara states they are in Sind. You could fit them very easily into some other cultures as well. Is there still a list archive? I think this topic came up a few years back. - Mischa One begins to experience faith and conversion when one has the heart of the poor, when one knows that financial capital, political influence, and power are worthless, and that without G-d we are nothing. - Oscar Romero ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 2 Sep 2003 09:08:12 +0200 From: Giampaolo Agosta Subject: Re: Mystara's Mystics/Monks Ramses Ramirez wrote: > HELLO! > > Would anyone happen to know which mystaran nations have mystics? AFAIK, Sind (from Champions of Mystara) seems to be the only country that has mystics but I could be in error. Bellayne and the Tortle Tribelands would qualify, even though there are no OD&D rules for non-human mystics, AFAIK. I would assume that at least Ochalea and the Myoshiman empire have a tradition of unarmed fighting and monastic cloisters, but I don't remember any canon mention of mystics/monks there. IIRC, Marco Dalmonte had written a long article on martial arts schools in Mystara, with additional rules for non-human mystics and a list of schools and famous masters. -- Giampaolo Agosta http://digilander.iol.it/agathokles ------------------------------ End of MYSTARA-L Digest - 28 Aug 2003 to 1 Sep 2003 (#2003-213) ***************************************************************