Subject: MYSTARA-L Digest - 10 Aug 2004 to 11 Aug 2004 (#2004-163) From: Automatic digest processor Date: 12/08/2004, 17:00 To: Recipients of MYSTARA-L digests Reply-to: Mystara RPG Discussion There are 12 messages totalling 695 lines in this issue. Topics of the day: 1. Hello All (3) 2. Karameikan stories 3. Kiwis and Aussies (2) 4. Adventure Chronicles (3) 5. (Re: Re: [MYSTARA] Kiwis and Aussies) and Dutch (3) ******************************************************************** 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: Wed, 11 Aug 2004 11:12:25 +0300 From: =?ISO-8859-1?Q?Ville_V_L=E4hde?= Subject: Re: Hello All Welcome Keene, This is a highly diverse group: we have oldies who have played continuously or very randomly, and some scary young people who seem to play 10+ campaigns in a year or sumthink. So I should think you'll find interesting company. (We actually had a poll about early Mystara-converts. Someone had started in very early 80's without significant stops. Anyone?) I'd also like to congratulate you on your choice of scenario. Night's Dark Terror is one of the greatest ever written, although it does require a lot of work to go smoothly. Our group played it a long time ago, and I've been itching to DM it again. But as someone already said, too many people know the module by heart. If you are interested in "spicing up" the adventure a bit, there is interesting material in Shawn's Vaults (the starflung address) about the drogon Argos of Dymrak, the Witches of Dymrak, and the goblins of the area. Also if you go through the list archives (address below), you can find several discussions about the module, with a lot of interesting ideas. The search engine is of course a good tool here. http://oracle.wizards.com/archives/mystara-l.html Yours, Ville Lähde Finland ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 11 Aug 2004 11:17:44 +0300 From: =?ISO-8859-1?Q?Ville_V_L=E4hde?= Subject: Karameikan stories For Keene (and anyone who has missed this): Daniel has written a nice continuous story about a Karameikan group which you might find useful. He has made several facets of the society much more lively, especially the religion and muthos that are originally quite sketchy. You might find nice NPCs and stuff there. http://dnd.starflung.com/mchronic.html Yours, Ville ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 11 Aug 2004 18:37:13 +1000 From: shawn stanley Subject: Re: Kiwis and Aussies At 01:17 AM 11/08/2004 -0300, you wrote: > Are there Kiwis in the list other than Chris? Chris, do you know? > What about Aussies other than Shawn? Shawn, do you have any info on that? Jonathan Nolan who was active a while back is/was from Australia I think, I don't particularly know of any others though. > Any "Aussie/Kiwi-Con" or something? What about magazines? All the major cities in Australia have gaming conventions, although in recent years Cancon, the one in Canberra, has goen more back to it's wargaming roots and taken on a lot more M:tG, LAN parties and that sort of aspect on. I don't think there's any locally produced magazines, or not that I know of. shawn stanley what have you done for me lately ... more to the point what have i done for me - mightyfew, "i can't wait" ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 11 Aug 2004 08:34:45 -0400 From: Chris Cherrington Subject: Re: Kiwis and Aussies Okay, the other Chris is not from France, he is from NZ? No wonder we can't vote in Florida ;-) Its a good thing we are not trying to tell if your British or NZ by the accents. Yall might think I am from the South. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 11 Aug 2004 06:28:03 -0700 From: Keene Hammond Subject: Adventure Chronicles Wow, I feel welcomed and the links are inspirational. How do we share our ongoing campaigns? What I mean is do we post stories to the list or do we have a blog or better yet a Wiki, where we can publish our adventures to share with the group. I am interested in sharing our game sessions as stories to help my players and I remember what happened, and to provide entertainment inspiration and ideas with other Mystara lovers everywhere. Also I would like to be able to read about other Mystaran campaigns and hear the tales told by adventures from mysterious world of Mystara. And did I hear that there in a online Mystara campaign? Can I play, please. I am dying to play in this world, but alas in our campaign I am the DM, also fun but in a different way, I long to be an adventurer. -Keene __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Read only the mail you want - Yahoo! Mail SpamGuard. http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 11 Aug 2004 11:00:45 -0300 From: "Vinicius R. de Moraes" Subject: (Re: Re: [MYSTARA] Kiwis and Aussies) and Dutch At 09:34 11/08/2004, you wrote: > Okay, the other Chris is not from France, he is from NZ? From Wellington. But I would better let him speak for himself, such a nice guy! Actually this is an interesting apect of the world (and this list): see, once I bought materrial from Leroy and tried with all my strength to convince him he was not Yankee but DUTCH (any Dutch on the list BTW?). How DARES he? "Leroy Van Camp III"... come on! Now he is going to tell me that Van Halen is American? :-P > No wonder we can't vote in Florida ;-) Of course you can! You voted for "the other guy" (the one who really won, hehehe). > Its a good thing we are not trying to tell if your British or NZ by the > accents. Yall might think I am from the South. Well, I'm Brazilian - not Portuguese. ("But if I was, there would be nothing wrong with that!!!" - Jerry Seinfeld, about not being gay) :-p Regards, vini ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 11 Aug 2004 16:09:06 +0200 From: "Alleblas, Bart" Subject: Re: (Re: Re: [MYSTARA] Kiwis and Aussies) and Dutch RE: [MYSTARA] (Re: Re: [MYSTARA] Kiwis and Aussies) and = Dutch

Hi there,

At least one Dutch on the list, long-term Savage = Coast player and DM.

Regards,
Sylver

 -----Original Message-----
From:   Vinicius R. de Moraes [mailto:vinimagus@TERRA.COM.BR= ]
Sent:   Wednesday, August 11, 2004 = 16:01
To:     = MYSTARA-L@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM
Subject:        = [MYSTARA] (Re: Re: [MYSTARA] Kiwis and Aussies) and Dutch

At 09:34 11/08/2004, you wrote:
>Okay, the other Chris is not from France, he is = from NZ?

 From Wellington. But I would better let him = speak for himself, such a nice
guy!

Actually this is an interesting apect of the world = (and this list): see,
once I bought materrial from Leroy and tried with = all my strength to
convince him he was not Yankee but DUTCH (any Dutch = on the list BTW?). How
DARES he? "Leroy Van Camp III"... come on! = Now he is going to tell me that
Van Halen is American?   :-P

>No wonder we can't vote in Florida ;-)

Of course you can! You voted for "the other = guy" (the one who really won,
hehehe).

>Its a good thing we are not trying to tell if = your British or NZ by the
>accents.  Yall might think I am from the = South.

Well, I'm Brazilian - not Portuguese.
("But if I was, there would be nothing wrong = with that!!!" -  Jerry
Seinfeld, about not being gay)   = :-p

Regards,
vini

***************************************************************= *****
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: Wed, 11 Aug 2004 11:19:38 -0300 From: "Vinicius R. de Moraes" Subject: Re: Adventure Chronicles At 10:28 11/08/2004, you wrote: > Wow, > I feel welcomed and the links are inspirational. > > How do we share our ongoing campaigns? What I mean is > do we post stories to the list or do we have a blog or > better yet a Wiki, where we can publish our adventures > to share with the group. A Wiki is a VERY powerful tool. I'm currently writing a book - about solar racing, not RPG - with Peter, a guy from Adelaide. It works like magic! It seems the is in the room next door. I first tried to mimic the way material is produced in THIS community: topics are discussed, sometimes it is posted here as chronicles (and fine-tuned by the author with the help from all the guys)... after it is settled (sort of) it goes to Shawn's site. Peter then proposed we do it the same way but not using the solar racing Yagoogroup but a WIKI. My first thought was "What the hell is it???". Now I'm a big fan of the thing. I'm pretty sure that both the yearly Almanac and Shawn's site would find benefits in trying such a marvelous tool, a Wiki. Of course the Wiki would SUM with this group, not substite it: the group is better for discussions; the Wiki, for iterative material creation by many distant people. Our Wiki is at its very beginning, but I'll allow you to take a look: http://scg.levels.unisa.edu.au/src/pmwiki.php/ > I am interested in sharing our game sessions as > stories to help my players and I remember what > happened, and to provide entertainment inspiration and > ideas with other Mystara lovers everywhere. > > Also I would like to be able to read about other > Mystaran campaigns and hear the tales told by > adventures from mysterious world of Mystara. > > And did I hear that there in a online Mystara > campaign? Well, I proposed one. > Can I play, please. I am dying to play in > this world, but alas in our campaign I am the DM, also > fun but in a different way, I long to be an adventurer. > > -Keene I know exactly how you feel, Keene! :-) Hey, could we try playing "Neverwinter Nights"? My friends are beggining a game this very week. But it's Darksun and it sux. Many guys from Sao Paulo and another from southern Brazil, some 600km to the south (and that's why they are doing it via NWN). We could have people from all around the world playing an experimental Mystara adventure over a NWN server. Beautiful interface, lots of possible customisation, detailed rules etc. Kind regards, vini ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 11 Aug 2004 12:11:08 -0300 From: "Vinicius R. de Moraes" Subject: Re: (Re: Re: [MYSTARA] Kiwis and Aussies) and Dutch COOL! Where from? Is Sylver your PC's name? I was wondering why no Dutch participated on the thread about a Dutch kingdom in Mystara. Around middle-May this year, remember? BTW that was one of the MOST amazing threads on this list ever - and that is saying a lot! How cultured and creative are the guys on this list! For the guys who like the XVI century as much as I do*: Maurice de Nassau's birthday was exactly 400 years ago. He changed many things on that century by himself. Today we have many descendents of Dutch in NE Brazil, Bahamas' capital city is clled Nassau and Aruba (and of course Dutch Antillas) is to this day Dutch possessions. Suriname not anymore. ABN/AMRO is having a big exposition about it him in Brazil (maybe in Holland as well). * And the Iberic, Dutch, English navigations and discoveries etc. If you, Sylver, are a SC DM you love it to! I do because it is the beginning of my country as we know it. Other interesting guys worthy of research: Pedro Alvares Cabral (Portuguese, discovered Brazil), Cristovao Colombo (I'd like to know how the ITALIAN call him), Americo Vespucio, Pizarro, Montezuma... Yours, vini At 11:09 11/08/2004, you wrote: > Hi there, > > At least one Dutch on the list, long-term Savage Coast player and DM. > > Regards, > Sylver > > -----Original Message----- > From: Vinicius R. de Moraes > [mailto:vinimagus@TERRA.COM.BR] > Sent: Wednesday, August 11, 2004 16:01 > To: MYSTARA-L@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM > Subject: [MYSTARA] (Re: Re: [MYSTARA] Kiwis and Aussies) and Dutch > > At 09:34 11/08/2004, you wrote: > >Okay, the other Chris is not from France, he is from NZ? > > From Wellington. But I would better let him speak for himself, such a nice > guy! > > Actually this is an interesting apect of the world (and this list): see, > once I bought materrial from Leroy and tried with all my strength to > convince him he was not Yankee but DUTCH (any Dutch on the list BTW?). How > DARES he? "Leroy Van Camp III"... come on! Now he is going to tell me that > Van Halen is American? :-P > > >No wonder we can't vote in Florida ;-) > > Of course you can! You voted for "the other guy" (the one who really won, > hehehe). > > >Its a good thing we are not trying to tell if your British or NZ by the > >accents. Yall might think I am from the South. > > Well, I'm Brazilian - not Portuguese. > ("But if I was, there would be nothing wrong with that!!!" - Jerry > Seinfeld, about not being gay) :-p > > Regards, > vini ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 11 Aug 2004 10:24:11 -0700 From: Keene Hammond Subject: Re: Adventure Chronicles > A Wiki is a VERY powerful tool. No doubt about that. > I'm pretty sure that both the yearly Almanac and > Shawn's site would find > benefits in trying such a marvelous tool, a Wiki. Of > course the Wiki would > SUM with this group, not substite it: the group is > better for discussions; > the Wiki, for iterative material creation by many > distant people. Again, No doubt about that. I am a Java developer on earth and I use wiki all the time to as user generated documentation and group web site design. We communicate via email and include links to Wiki topics to specific items, FAQs, Tutorials, rapidly changing information and the like. I certainly would not suggest Wiki as an alternative to this list or the Official Mystara site, but rather as an enhancement or a place where many of us could share information and stories that others could add to, edit, enhance or correct if the information was inaccurate, outdated or just plain wrong. > > Our Wiki is at its very beginning, but I'll allow > you to take a look: > > http://scg.levels.unisa.edu.au/src/pmwiki.php/ > Yeah you know where I am coming from, cool site by the way, is it for real? if so awesome, I want a solar car. > Well, I proposed one. Count me in, Although, I have not played any rpgs online except dungeons seige. > Hey, could we try playing "Neverwinter Nights"? Ok, what do I need to join in, software, version etc... I think I hear that it was very customizable. __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Read only the mail you want - Yahoo! Mail SpamGuard. http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 11 Aug 2004 12:33:24 -0700 From: The Stalker Subject: Re: Hello All On Wed, 11 Aug 2004 00:11:12 -0300, Vinicius R. de Moraes wrote: > At 22:25 10/08/2004, you wrote: >> On Tue, 10 Aug 2004 16:19:30 -0700, Keene Hammond >> wrote: (snip) > > Not bad, but not very informative... if one is used to Gaz info, FRealms > books etc you just can't take books whose level of info is shallow. > I don't think the AD&D books were shallow, really, but they didn't exactly shed light on new information we hadn't read in the gaz either. The illustrations were a big bonus, though - we never had a picture of what Specularum/Mirros looked like coming into the harbor before K:KoA, and I really loved all those illustrations. They are often very practical in describing the setting. The lack of new information is very disappointing, though. Indeed, it is inexcusable when rules for use of the radiance and the NotS fail to take the events of WotI into account for material after 1010, as was the case in G:KoM :( > Besides that the OLD Amber adventure is better than the newer one, right? > No CD but cooler. > Actually, I don't know those adventures well enough to make a judgement. I own both of them, but I've never been a DM for them, nor played them. Then again, the sequel is always worse, right? ;) >> >I now have a game here in western New York where I am >> >the DM. >> > >> >> Cool. I'm a DM in my own campaign too, though it's going to end before too >> long. > > WHY? Pls do not tell me that you are stopping! > > (Chicken, McFly?) > Tsk, tsk - "Meddle not in the affairs of Wizards, for they are subtle and quick to anger", as Frodo would say. Still, my reasons for considering a stop is that the characters are all fairly high-level. When all characters are around level 15, it becomes difficult to challenge them without straining campaign credibility (I mean, orcs suddenly don't disappear from Mystara because the characters can plow through 100+ of them, right?). Besides, my campaign has been running without stop for eight years straight now, so I'm beginning to have my fill of Mystara as a DM, in which case I find it best to take a break from it before I begin a new campaign with new characters on level 1. In the meantime I'm considering playing some classic Call of Cthulhu, but I'm just quitting Mystara - I'll still be here on list, adding stuff here and there, and probably doing stuff for the Mystaran Almanacs as well. (snip) > > I'm starting to miss the lovely house rules discussions... > What are you talking about? I *hated* those. I wrote *all* of my (entirely too extensive) house rules down for my players because I hated the way my previous DM made house rulings that depended on which day of the week it was, which way the wind was blowing, etc. I was looking forward to 3e mostly so I could throw all my own boring house rules away. Alas... (snip) > >> Then again, most >> of the characters are around levels 12 to 15, so I don't exactly need to >> pull punches. I still managed to have Bargle capture the entire party last >> time, though ;) > > Mwahahahahaha!!!!! > Man, I like Bargle so badly! (No pum intended... damn it!) > Bargle is always a good bad guy (!). He may be insane, but that can be a real boon for the DM, since you postpone his vengeance on the PCs to whenever convenient on the basis that he suddenly remembered and decided to act on it. Still, he's not as mad as the Black Eagle himself, of course. My players are going to have a rough time soon. I basically going to play a reverse version of The Eye of Traldar, where the players begin in the dungeons of Fort Doom and then have to escape after they find the Eye. The adventure is for characters of levels 1-3, and all my characters are around level 15, but they're all hurt and have none of their equipment or usual resources, since they have no weapons, no armor, and no spells (spellbooks and holy symbols are all gone), and I've spiced up some of the enemies as well to even out the odds a little. Of course, that merely begins to plotting. One of the characters has had a strong Geas spell placed upon him, which instructs him to kill King Stefan. The character is a hated enemy of the Black Eagle and a knight of Karameikos, so they want him to shoot Stefan with arrows of slaying created for this very purpose. So clearly he is intended to escape, but the other PCs naturally won't know anything about this and will have to pick up on the clues. Best of all, even if they stop him, the assassin also has a Programmed Amnesia spell (from Player's Option: Spells & Magic) placed upon him, which prompts him to forget all about the whole thing if he is stopped, meaning that the PCs will end up with no proof of the ordeal. Yes, I'm horrible, aren't I ;) >> >In our campaign, we are in Karameikos and it is early >> >summer of 1000. The party has just cleared out the >> >Wolf Skull Goblin lair and is pondering on who "ole' >> >skinny legs" is. >> > >> >> Oh, "Night's Dark Terror" - one of the best D&D adventures ever writen, if >> you ask me. Yes, definitely one to run, if the players don't know it by >> heart already, which have been a problem for me for a while. Still, I have >> an awful lot of fond memories about that particular adventure. I've been >> thinking about running it again sometime (players totally botched it up >> the last time), but I'll have to start over if I do, > > Man, I'd give my right arm to play it! > Guys have been speaking of online playing... have any of us - in this list > - played together, online or on the table? > I've played it twice as a player and once as the DM, though we didn't finish it because the players made some really stupid choices that got them all killed or captured. Naturally this was all only as table top fun. >> since it requires the >> characters to be rather low level (certainly not 12+), and my campaign in >> currently in the autumn of AC 1010 (and the Black Eagle is about to have >> his tail severely kicked). > > The girl from the tavern in Mirros (Black Lilly?) is also a very special > char for me. > Yolanda of Luln. Yes, the Geased character mentioned above also has her as a special ally against the Black Eagle. I plan to use her and her sister Sascia in the attempt to raise the population against the Black Eagle when the halflings begin their war soon. - The Stalker ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 12 Aug 2004 00:39:36 -0400 From: Dan Eustace Subject: Re: Hello All (We actually had a poll about early Mystara-converts. > Someone had started in very early 80's without significant stops. Anyone?) That would be me. Campaign started in 1984. Three main PCs, Ftr, Cl & MU made it to L36 and are dominon rulers in Norwold. Lots of poltical type stuff mixed in with high adventure. None of them has made it to Immortality, but 1 has actually petitioned sucessfully. Been bogged down in WotI for far too many years now, in what would be 1007 AC (my timeline is pretty different from the GAZ's). A sub-group of PCs went to the HW and the 1 who is still alive is still trying to make it back to the surface. That campaign has been going since ~1995. There is a 2nd Generation campaign, consisting of the grown children of the original PCs, and run my totally different players. They have been running around Norwold as the events of WotI build up around them. Started this group in '96 and they are now L8 on average. But, it has now been over 2 years since we've last played. I'm trying to put together a major adventure which links both generations of PCs, with different roles and sub-plots for each of the groups, but I've not made much progress. All I have is an outline! I'm trying to get inspired to put in some serious work on it. I have the Next Gen campaign totally documented in a chronicle/log format. I've meant to post it hear before, but never pulled the trigger. I will do so, soon, segment by segment, but I'll need to write a background 1st, to put everything in context. The overall campaign log is more like notes with some significant gaps. The HW is pretty well documented, but only on paper, and there is nothing at all for the last stretch of games. So, look for the 1st of this series by the end of the month. And btw, just what the hell *is* a WIKI? Dan ------------------------------ End of MYSTARA-L Digest - 10 Aug 2004 to 11 Aug 2004 (#2004-163) ****************************************************************