Subject: MYSTARA-L Digest - 21 Sep 2004 to 22 Sep 2004 (#2004-201) From: Automatic digest processor Date: 23/09/2004, 17:00 To: Recipients of MYSTARA-L digests Reply-to: Mystara RPG Discussion There are 5 messages totalling 188 lines in this issue. Topics of the day: 1. Beagle stats for D20 Future 2. Elvish Compass 3. Darokin Thieves Guild Goes Public 4. On that old scourge called canon (was: Darokinian language) (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: Wed, 22 Sep 2004 13:10:12 +0200 From: Havard Faanes Subject: Beagle stats for D20 Future Sheridan over at the ZGG Forum wrote: *** Wizards has released a new downloadable adventure for d20 Modern/d20 Future involving the spaceship Beagle: http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=d20modern/oa/20040921a Thought the nostalgic amonst you might be interested. -Scott Moore *Sheridan *** The module is written by Mike McArtor, assistant editor of Dragon Magazine and an expressed Mystara fan who frequents the MMB. Håvard ===== *** Håvard R. Faanes www.stud.ntnu.no/~havardfa ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 22 Sep 2004 10:00:04 -0400 From: Chris Cherrington Subject: Elvish Compass I was teaching Map and Compass last night to my scouts, and I came up with this idea... Faedil’s Arrows These long slender arrows are fashioned in the style of the Faedil Clan. They are similar to +3 arrows of flight, but unlike most other magical arrows, they can be used over and over again. These arrows always point towards the Sylvan Realm. They can’t be pointed in any other direction, so they are very limited in use against creatures (unless they are standing directly in the path from the user and the Tree of Life that they are bonded to in the Sylvan Realm). When fired, the user innately knows the best path to follow to find the arrow. Other arrows may be found that are bonded to other Trees of Life, but are limited in use, as at each time they are fired they loose a +1 bonus until they become non-magical. A better use for these arrows is their use as a compass, just pulling them out of the quiver and they instantly point in the direction to their bonded tree. Rumors abound that once a Faedil Arrow arrives to its bonded tree in the Sylvan Realm, the arrow becomes a +5 Arrow of Flight that points towards the original Tree of Life gifted from Ordana in the original Elven Homeland. So these arrows are highly sought after by the Verdier in search of Ordana’s Tree. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 22 Sep 2004 12:20:36 -0400 From: Chris Cherrington Subject: Darokin Thieves Guild Goes Public Always looking for legitimacy among the merchant houses, the Darokin Thieves Guild decides to go public with a legitimate business. Of course the new business is not known as a business ran by such an organization, but it sounds very legit. What the public does know is this; several retired DDC members got together to offer insurance to several well traveled routes within Darokin’s borders. The business was so successful; they now offer it to warehouses, merchant stalls, and personal property. The insurance covers the estimated value of wares in question from disasters such as fire, weather, and even theft. What is not covered are acts of war, invasion, immortal intervention, curses, or giant meteors smashing into Mystara. Besides the normal insurance coverage, for additional fees, one could also buy into extras such as private investigation and even prosecution insurance (a service that if something is stolen, the guild will hire special advocates to prosecute a captured thief to the fullest extent of the law). The new guild, made of investors buying into shares, is called Dunning and Wall; named for their location on the corners of Dunning and Wall Streets in Darokin. On a historical note, this intersection is also infamous for a rival guild’s hostile takeover from an outside guild from Thyatis, thus freeing Darokin’s guilds from the notorious Shadow Hand. Darokin thieves can purchase a secret list that lists items and places not to be touched, or they will face a more severe penalty than what the law will allow. This secret list has been called the Dunn’s Numbers, as each client is given an account number to associate their items covered. Rates and fees are relatively low, as this is not extortion, but a legitimate insurance. The main shareholders also get a list, but this list is for research purposes only. This list shows which routes insured have higher than estimated values for trading. Eventually merchants will be offered to sell their route in shares, and in the buyout, brokers are hired to takeover the existing route to allow the original owner to take on a newer route and possibly a higher profit to be insured (and repetition of the process). This process has given this new merchant house a very stable income, as they have a direct personal knowledge of how other merchants are doing. Other merchant houses don’t mind, as the insurance also gives them an outside value to sell their routes for profit to other merchants. Johannes D. Powers, the current Chairman for Dunning and Wall, has even created a highly sought after recommendation for a successful merchant route, known as the Powers Approval Ranking (PAR). His partner, and past Chairman G. T. Fordes, produces a yearly Fordes list ranking all the top routes, highly sought after as it is a main precursor of the Great Reckoning. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 22 Sep 2004 15:20:14 -0700 From: The Stalker Subject: Re: On that old scourge called canon (was: Darokinian language) On Mon, 20 Sep 2004 22:25:49 -0500, Aaron Nowack wrote: > > So you believe the MAs should work on the assumption that the Nucleus of > the Spheres still drains Energy? > When did I say that? Indeed, I stated that those areas where canon should be questioned are those where canon contradicts itself, as was clearly the case here, since G:KoM simply did not take the end of WOTI into account, and instead simply repeated the outdated information from Gaz 3 instead. Somehow I think you already knew that, however, or are you suggesting that the reference to Darokinian as a Thyatian dialect in K:KoA is a similar oversight? I think not, which actually means that your comment here is inflamatory. You can now continue into troll kingdom without me... > I'm not the type to go throwing out canon just because I don't like it. > However, lets be perfectly clear - we're not dealing with a major, > indisputable fact here. > It is indisputable that K:KoA says so. Please remember that this began when Giulio asked why the MA put Darokinian as a Thyatian dialect and if there was canon material in support of this. Why are you getting angry with for pointing to that source? - The Stalker ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 22 Sep 2004 19:24:38 -0500 From: Aaron Nowack Subject: Re: On that old scourge called canon (was: Darokinian language) The Stalker wrote: > On Mon, 20 Sep 2004 22:25:49 -0500, Aaron Nowack > wrote: >> >> So you believe the MAs should work on the assumption that the Nucleus of >> the Spheres still drains Energy? >> > > When did I say that? Indeed, I stated that those areas where canon should > be questioned are those where canon contradicts itself, as was clearly the > case here, since G:KoM simply did not take the end of WOTI into account, > and instead simply repeated the outdated information from Gaz 3 instead. WotI states that the Nucleus of the Spheres switches to drain Entropy in 1009 AC. G:KoM states that the Nucleus of the Spheres drains Energy in 1013 AC. There's nothing explicitly contradictory about those statements. Nothing says that something didn't happen to make the Nucleus of the Spheres switch back to draining Energy, so that's the obvious way to include all canonical statements on the matter. > Somehow I think you already knew that, however, or are you suggesting that > the reference to Darokinian as a Thyatian dialect in K:KoA is a similar > oversight? An oversight? Probably not. What it is, however, is a poorly thought out change in a throwaway line in one of the later products for the line, which are fairly notorious for having less concern for previous canon and less quality control then they probably should have. For instance, as I recall (though I've not got the books near me to check), K:KoA (or possibly Joshuan's Almanac) includes a sidebar that indicates that it's common knowledge that there are other worlds which have gods rather than Immortals, and that this is some fundamental difference rather than just a different word. [I believe it takes the form of a quote from a playwright NPC's plays.] Does it _explicitly_ contradict previous canon? Not that I'm aware of. Does anyone seriously suggest it be considered real canon? No. > I think not, which actually means that your comment here is > inflamatory. You can now continue into troll kingdom without me... Sigh. Stalker, you can't seriously be suggesting that I'm flaming or trolling, can you? >> I'm not the type to go throwing out canon just because I don't like it. >> However, lets be perfectly clear - we're not dealing with a major, >> indisputable fact here. >> > > It is indisputable that K:KoA says so. What is not indisputable is that such a statement is supported by the bulk of canon, which is what I meant. > Please remember that this began > when Giulio asked why the MA put Darokinian as a Thyatian dialect and if > there was canon material in support of this. So? The thread then moved on to the question over whether or not that made any sense or contradicted previous canon. > Why are you getting angry with for pointing to that source? The only thing I'm at all angry about is the implication that I'm a troll. Just because I disagree with you doesn't mean I'm angry. -- Aaron Nowack "Never let reality get in the way of a good hypothesis." http://www.mimiru.net/ ------------------------------ End of MYSTARA-L Digest - 21 Sep 2004 to 22 Sep 2004 (#2004-201) ****************************************************************