Subject: MYSTARA-L Digest - 24 Feb 2004 to 25 Feb 2004 (#2004-50) From: Automatic digest processor Date: 26/02/2004, 19:00 To: Recipients of MYSTARA-L digests Reply-to: Mystara RPG Discussion There are 11 messages totalling 581 lines in this issue. Topics of the day: 1. Promoting Mystara (2) 2. Disunity through Varient Rule Systems (3) 3. [Ethengar] Steppe Halflings (5) 4. 3.0/3.5 MYSTARA project ******************************************************************** 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, 25 Feb 2004 00:20:02 -0800 From: Joaquin Menchaca Subject: Promoting Mystara Hi. I just thought of something. Actually, honestly, someone else gave me this idea. One way to drum up some Mystara interest is to run some games at a convention. I was thinking to do Vieled Society that I converted to D&D3e as a sort of mini-adventure to get RPGers apetites wet. Another possible fun one would be to run would be an adventure in the gladiatorial pits of Thyatis. :-) - Joaquin __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail SpamGuard - Read only the mail you want. http://antispam.yahoo.com/tools ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 Feb 2004 00:31:25 -0800 From: Joaquin Menchaca Subject: Disunity through Varient Rule Systems Hi. The d20 system is so popular these days with published games like Call of Cathulhu, DragonStar, StarGate SG1, Babylon 5, Star Wars, Wheel of Time, Gamma World, SideWinder, SpyCraft, FarScape, and naturally of course D&D3e and D&D3.5e. D&D3e enjoys many published campaigns including Ravenloft, Greyhawk, Forgotten Realms, Kalamar, Arcanis, and more. In Mystara, the community is fragmented into many different gaming systems ranging from the orginal boxed sets to D&D3.5e. I wish there was more collaboration on creating modules and developing material for D&D3e, and also collaboration on moving Mystara to 3e. I look at RPGA, and there are so many modules being created all the time for a variety of systems. Players can play one game, be certified with items, and then play in another game. I wish Mystara was coordinated so well (LivingMystara anyone? :), where one can play in a module, and seemlessly move their character to another game with thier certified character... For other gaming systems, they have the advantage of published d20 systems, so many modules are being created within each major genre, and likewise many games are being played in those genres, e.g. LivingSpyCraft, LivingForce, LivingGreyHawk, LivingArcanis, LivingDragonStar, etc. - Joaquin __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail SpamGuard - Read only the mail you want. http://antispam.yahoo.com/tools ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 Feb 2004 12:58:30 +0100 From: Jacob Skytte Subject: Re: Disunity through Varient Rule Systems From: "Joaquin Menchaca" > In Mystara, the community is fragmented into many > different gaming systems ranging from the orginal > boxed sets to D&D3.5e. I wish there was more > collaboration on creating modules and developing > material for D&D3e, and also collaboration on moving > Mystara to 3e. I believe that many Mystarans are as I am: Playing an old campaign by old rules sets (whether they be OD&D or AD&D 2E) and uninterested in ever going to 3E. I will always write my Mystara adventures/articles for OD&D exclusively. If collaborating, I will always leave it up to others to translate to 3E, if that is desired. I, for one, simply have no interest in moving to another rules system. But having said that, in general, it would be nice to see more collaboration on adventures and other things Mystaran. But a little bird told me there'll soon be a couple of adventures out. ;) Am I saying too much, little bird? Jacob Skytte scythe@wanadoo.dk ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 Feb 2004 09:02:17 -0500 From: Dustin Clingman Subject: Re: Disunity through Varient Rule Systems In order for that to happen, you would need to have Mystara added as a new campaign in the RPGA. To my understanding, they are not opening any new campaigns with the exception of Eberron. Several of the current campaigns are actually being dropped. It might be possible to obtain 3rd party permission to make a Living Mystara campaign. That could be really cool, but there is a lot of work that goes into a Living anything. You need to have coordinators, module writers, etc. It can take a full time person to handle a chunk of this stuff. Not saying it's not possible, just pointing out the organizational challenges. Dustin -----Original Message----- From: Mystara RPG Discussion [mailto:MYSTARA-L@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM] On Behalf Of Joaquin Menchaca Sent: Wednesday, February 25, 2004 3:31 AM To: MYSTARA-L@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM Subject: [MYSTARA] Disunity through Varient Rule Systems Hi. The d20 system is so popular these days with published games like Call of Cathulhu, DragonStar, StarGate SG1, Babylon 5, Star Wars, Wheel of Time, Gamma World, SideWinder, SpyCraft, FarScape, and naturally of course D&D3e and D&D3.5e. D&D3e enjoys many published campaigns including Ravenloft, Greyhawk, Forgotten Realms, Kalamar, Arcanis, and more. In Mystara, the community is fragmented into many different gaming systems ranging from the orginal boxed sets to D&D3.5e. I wish there was more collaboration on creating modules and developing material for D&D3e, and also collaboration on moving Mystara to 3e. I look at RPGA, and there are so many modules being created all the time for a variety of systems. Players can play one game, be certified with items, and then play in another game. I wish Mystara was coordinated so well (LivingMystara anyone? :), where one can play in a module, and seemlessly move their character to another game with thier certified character... For other gaming systems, they have the advantage of published d20 systems, so many modules are being created within each major genre, and likewise many games are being played in those genres, e.g. LivingSpyCraft, LivingForce, LivingGreyHawk, LivingArcanis, LivingDragonStar, etc. - Joaquin __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail SpamGuard - Read only the mail you want. http://antispam.yahoo.com/tools ******************************************************************** 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, 25 Feb 2004 15:57:57 +0100 From: =?iso-8859-1?q?Havard=20Faanes?= Subject: [Ethengar] Steppe Halflings Hello! I have rediscovered Ethengar and have decided to have some fun with that setting. One of the things I am working on in a small culture of Ethengar Halflings. This is a work in progress, so feedback will be very useful for me. 1) this is a really small culture, consisting of just a few clans. They are a proud and arrogant people, who will never refer to themselves as "Hin" as they despise other Halflings. I need a good ethengar-sounding name for them. Ideas? 2)They are a subrace of halflings with slightly different racial abilities, including bonus to using short bows rather than slings, and bonuses to the Ride skill. I imagine them to be quite deadly due to their skill with the bow, high dex, and the fact that their war ponies make up for their small size. 3)Physically, they are similar to other halflings, with some asian/mongolian features mixed in. Culturally they are very similar to Ethengars in general. 4)Historically, I imagine that these Halflings may have been refugees from Glantri, fleeing persecution there. When would a good time for this have been? Having been driven onto the Steppes, they were forced to learn the ways of the Ethengars or die. This made their culture rough, and made them excellent warriors. Ideas, comments? Havard ===== *** Håvard R. Faanes havardfaa@yahoo.no www.stud.ntnu.no/~havardfa ______________________________________________________ Få den nye Yahoo! Messenger på http://no.messenger.yahoo.com/ Nye ikoner og bakgrunner, webkamera med superkvalitet og dobbelt så morsom ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 Feb 2004 10:37:27 -0500 From: Chris Cherrington Subject: Re: [Ethengar] Steppe Halflings > > From: Havard Faanes > > I have rediscovered Ethengar and have decided to have > some fun with that setting. One of the things I am > working on in a small culture of Ethengar Halflings. > This is a work in progress, so feedback will be very > useful for me. LOL, “small” culture of Halflings… > > 1) this is a really small culture, consisting of just > a few clans. They are a proud and arrogant people, who > will never refer to themselves as "Hin" as they > despise other Halflings. I need a good > ethengar-sounding name for them. Ideas? Sarni is the Mongolian word for Moon; I am figuring that maybe this sub race is more nocturnal than the average Halfling. (See later) > > 2)They are a subrace of halflings with slightly > different racial abilities, including bonus to using > short bows rather than slings, and bonuses to the Ride > skill. I imagine them to be quite deadly due to their > skill with the bow, high dex, and the fact that their > war ponies make up for their small size. > Why war ponies? Is there something else a Halfling on the steps can ride? War Dogs instead of wolves? Maybe even something in the Blinkdog family? Halflings riding Displacer Beasts? > 3)Physically, they are similar to other halflings, > with some asian/mongolian features mixed in. > Culturally they are very similar to Ethengars in > general. > > 4)Historically, I imagine that these Halflings may > have been refugees from Glantri, fleeing persecution > there. When would a good time for this have been? > Having been driven onto the Steppes, they were forced > to learn the ways of the Ethengars or die. This made > their culture rough, and made them excellent warriors. > I would say their introduction was much earlier than Glantrian persecution. The first Hin could have been from the Shires, brought as slaves from the humanoid invasions, captured in the times of Akkila Kahn. They may even have been captured as stragglers from the Halflings that moved further north to Leeha in Norwald. Because of the many years living with orcs, they developed a more nocturnal schedule, sleeping in the day and being active at night. This would also account for their “not being noticed until now”. They also would have been liberated soon after the death of Akkila Kahn. They would not be as nomadic as the Ethengars, preferring to build turf shelters that hide readily into the country side. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 Feb 2004 17:46:33 +0100 From: =?iso-8859-1?q?la=20Volpe?= Subject: Re: [Ethengar] Steppe Halflings Haavard: > > 3)Physically, they are similar to other halflings, > > with some asian/mongolian features mixed in. > > Culturally they are very similar to Ethengars in > > general. > > Giulio: To explain this you could have them mingled with some of the hobgoblin tribes in the past. This could explain why they are not widely known, nor mentioned in the Gaz. It would be "canon-consistent" to have them as a very "small" (pun not intended) group, maybe 300-400 halflings with 10% hobgoblin blood, so that they are not considered very different from other humanoid tribes and thus mainly ignored among the other cultures of the Known World. Haavard: > > 4)Historically, I imagine that these Halflings may > > have been refugees from Glantri, fleeing > persecution > > there. When would a good time for this have been? Chris: > I would say their introduction was much earlier than > Glantrian persecution. The first Hin could have > been from the Shires, brought as slaves from the > humanoid invasions, captured in the times of Akkila > Kahn. They may even have been captured as > stragglers from the Halflings that moved further > north to Leeha in Norwald. Because of the many > years living with orcs, they developed a more > nocturnal schedule, sleeping in the day and being > active at night. This would also account for their > “not being noticed until now”. They also would have > been liberated soon after the death of Akkila Kahn. > They would not be as nomadic as the Ethengars, > preferring to build turf shelters that hide readily > into the country side. Giulio: I don't know...maybe 2700 without being noticed are a little too much. But, who knows, maybe 500-600 years. The halflings could have been dispatched by the arrival of the Flaems. Maybe they lived near the Wendar/Heldann border. Let us know how it goes, sounds cool. Giulio ______________________________________________________________________ Yahoo! Mail: 6MB di spazio gratuito, 30MB per i tuoi allegati, l'antivirus, il filtro Anti-spam http://it.yahoo.com/mail_it/foot/?http://it.mail.yahoo.com/ ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 Feb 2004 09:47:15 -0800 From: Thibault Sarlat Subject: Re: [Ethengar] Steppe Halflings Yes! i really liked the idea. I'm even jealous not having it first.. JRR must have made a 360 in his grave when you typed that the mingled with goblin...but maybe they were hippies hins and they were into some "make love to Goblins and not war"... thib --- la Volpe wrote: > Haavard: > > > 3)Physically, they are similar to other > halflings, > > > with some asian/mongolian features mixed in. > > > Culturally they are very similar to Ethengars in > > > general. > > > > > Giulio: > To explain this you could have them mingled with > some > of the hobgoblin tribes in the past. This could > explain why they are not widely known, nor mentioned > in the Gaz. It would be "canon-consistent" to have > them as a very "small" (pun not intended) group, > maybe > 300-400 halflings with 10% hobgoblin blood, so that > they are not considered very different from other > humanoid tribes and thus mainly ignored among the > other cultures of the Known World. > > Haavard: > > > 4)Historically, I imagine that these Halflings > may > > > have been refugees from Glantri, fleeing > > persecution > > > there. When would a good time for this have > been? > > Chris: > > I would say their introduction was much earlier > than > > Glantrian persecution. The first Hin could have > > been from the Shires, brought as slaves from the > > humanoid invasions, captured in the times of > Akkila > > Kahn. They may even have been captured as > > stragglers from the Halflings that moved further > > north to Leeha in Norwald. Because of the many > > years living with orcs, they developed a more > > nocturnal schedule, sleeping in the day and being > > active at night. This would also account for > their > > “not being noticed until now”. They also would > have > > been liberated soon after the death of Akkila > Kahn. > > They would not be as nomadic as the Ethengars, > > preferring to build turf shelters that hide > readily > > into the country side. > > Giulio: > I don't know...maybe 2700 without being noticed are > a > little too much. But, who knows, maybe 500-600 > years. > The halflings could have been dispatched by the > arrival of the Flaems. Maybe they lived near the > Wendar/Heldann border. > > Let us know how it goes, sounds cool. > > Giulio > > ______________________________________________________________________ > Yahoo! Mail: 6MB di spazio gratuito, 30MB per i tuoi > allegati, l'antivirus, il filtro Anti-spam > http://it.yahoo.com/mail_it/foot/?http://it.mail.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. > ===== Thibault SARLAT a.k.a Clenarius www.mystara.fr.st ICQ 16622177 MSN Messenger: clenarius@hotmail.com __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail SpamGuard - Read only the mail you want. http://antispam.yahoo.com/tools ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 Feb 2004 19:40:19 +0100 From: Richard Eckart Subject: Re: Promoting Mystara > I just thought of something. Actually, honestly, > someone else gave me this idea. One way to drum up > some Mystara interest is to run some games at a > convention. Some years ago an "aged" DM hosted a round of AD&D on a game convention here in Germany. He was running "Castle Amber" and I remember I liked it very much. Unfortunately we didn't have enough time to play it through. I never saw any DM host a Mystara sesson at a convention after that. -- Richard Eckart ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 Feb 2004 14:52:47 -0500 From: Geoff Gander Subject: Re: [Ethengar] Steppe Halflings I think this is a neat idea! IIRC, the Glantrian purges took place in the first decade of the 9th century AC (ie, 800-810 or so), so we would be looking at about 200 years of living amongst the Ethengarians. This would certainly be enough time for the halflings to adopt some of their neighbours' ways, but I think (given the hins' longer lifespans) we would need to have more time for them to integrate fully into the Ethengarian culture. Perhaps they have lived in the region for 400-500 years? Another thing we would have to consider would be the clans - would the steppe hin be scattered amongst all of the clans (and adopting their individual idiosyncracies), or would they form a clan of their own? I suppose the answer to that question would lie in how they were treated when they first arrived - if they were attacked, or treated with scorn, the hin would probably have banded together to survive, and formed their own clan. I hope this helps, Geoff -- Geoff Gander, BA 97, MPA 02 Carnifex Loremaster/Mad Roleplayer Master of the Elemental Plane of Bureaucracy au998@freenet.carleton.ca : www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Realm/2091 ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 Feb 2004 14:59:19 -0800 From: Larry Subject: Re: 3.0/3.5 MYSTARA project ty... --- Joaquin Menchaca wrote: > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mystara3E/ > > __________________________________ > Do you Yahoo!? > Yahoo! Mail SpamGuard - Read only the mail you want. > http://antispam.yahoo.com/tools > > ******************************************************************** > 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. > ===== "Happy Hunting!" My web site: http://www.geocities.com/boonedale/ __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail SpamGuard - Read only the mail you want. http://antispam.yahoo.com/tools ------------------------------ End of MYSTARA-L Digest - 24 Feb 2004 to 25 Feb 2004 (#2004-50) ***************************************************************