Subject: MYSTARA-L Digest - 6 Mar 2004 to 8 Mar 2004 (#2004-59) From: Automatic digest processor Date: 09/03/2004, 19:00 To: Recipients of MYSTARA-L digests Reply-to: Mystara RPG Discussion There are 9 messages totalling 472 lines in this issue. Topics of the day: 1. [Rules] Regional Feets 2. Stronghold Builders 3. Mystara in Dragon yet again! 4. WotI campaign, at last! (WotI's and MoA's spoilers) (4) 5. The old authors (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, 8 Mar 2004 09:09:17 -0800 From: Joaquin Menchaca Subject: Re: [Rules] Regional Feets > Regional Feets > > > I just made a list of Regional Feets for the Known > > World based on the Forgotten Realms book. While I > > think this is a wonderful idea, it doesnt seem > > balanced or even with enough feets to make it > > interesting. Has anyone had a look at this issue? > > Why doesn't this (regiion feats) seem balanced? Also, how about having regional traits and regional flaws. Flaws are sort of an underground thing, and used in a few d20 games, but recently Unearthed Arcana presented these mechanics as well as other cool things like racial classes and paladin prestige class. __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Search - Find what you’re looking for faster http://search.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 8 Mar 2004 16:04:39 EST From: Alex Benson Subject: Re: Stronghold Builders Did someone mention "Alphatia" and "those barbaric Thyatians" in the same sentence? And how can I be overlooked in any sentence involving "flamewar", "Alphatia", and "thyatis"? I am very disappointed. :-) The MML is typically peaceful, reminding one of those peace loving thyatians and their slaves, sitting around the marble hearth singing koombaya and making s'mores. But seriously, disagreements are common. Calmer heads realize that it is better to agree to disagree. Afterall, arguing about it is pretty wasteful and ultimately has no resolution. Besides, everyone's campaign is different. For example, Alphatia never sank in my campaign. As for concrete, yes the Romans used concrete. Other peoples utilized building materials along similar lines. Perhaps it is coincidence, but this weekend's episode on Modern Marvels on The History Channel was about concrete. I wish that I had paid more attention to it now. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 8 Mar 2004 16:06:19 EST From: Alex Benson Subject: Re: Mystara in Dragon yet again! Are these Mystara works player submitted or are they being penned by WotC? I haven't picked up a copy of Dragon or Dungeon in years and am just a bit curious about the source of these recent works. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 8 Mar 2004 16:16:04 EST From: Alex Benson Subject: Re: WotI campaign, at last! (WotI's and MoA's spoilers) <<3) a Karameikan human clericthat asked me to have no god (????); how nice! He asked me to "believe in a superior power" instead of a god with a name and a symbol. He almost asked me to be a Benekander cleric without even knowing it! He will slowly start to believe and be visited by a bearded man in his dream blablabla... A lot of potential for role-playing! The only problem is "Where the hack do his spells come from?".>> Interesting. You know, this gave me an idea. Play on the premise. When he levels, limit his spells. When he meditates, limit the number of spells. Play on the premise of not having a set "god". You could also work his choice to not commit to a single "god" into his character history. Make him one of those types that seeks a "god" to prove himself/herself to him, validating and earning the cleric's choice to follow. Maybe he saw the local clergy as corrupt and has lost faith in organized religion. Hence, he has remained true to the ideals of a cleric. If the cleric does well, he might garner attention (good and bad) from the Immortals and from clergy wishing to "recruit him". I'd definitely use him as a plot device in a campaign. For some reason this lack of a central recognized diety could work well as a cleric of the Church of Karameikos. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 8 Mar 2004 18:18:28 -0300 From: "Vinicius R. de Moraes" Subject: Re: WotI campaign, at last! (WotI's and MoA's spoilers) Resuming my late, post-gaming answer (answering Francisco V. Navarro V's msg). At 20:14 12/02/2004, you wrote: > Hail Mystaran! > Hail Vinicius! > > Congratulation on your achievements! Thanks, Francisco. Thanks to you guys I had a very nice time with our first session! > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Vinicius R. de Moraes" > To: > Sent: Friday, February 13, 2004 2:16 AM > > > > 3) Would it be nice to read "Castle Amber" as well? > > That is exactly the way to put it: Castle Amber would be *nice* to read for > MoA, but not necessary. > > The CA adventure is a simple D&D "castle crawl." It was set some time in the > past history of Glantri (mentioned in MoA) at features the weird castle and > the weird members of the d'Ambreville family, during its time in the Land of > the Mists. The final part of the adventure (actually, not fully fleshed out) > is set in Laterre (though it's not named as such yet). What's nice about MoA > is it actually revisits the CA adventure! Yes! Much like "Back to the Future II". Really nice when thise happens. > Most of the weirdness is intact, > and some are even fleshed out a bit more (such as the personalities of the > mad d'Ambrevilles), so the PCs actually get to the the "normal" > d'Ambrevilles during the early part of MoA and see them at their utterly mad > state in the "Land of the Mists" sequence. There are minor alterations > though (i.e. intsead of a brain-eater, they have a mindflayer), but that > doesn't change the feel and flavor from the original. All of this is inside MoA and CA? Thanks for the hints, Francisco. > Kit Navarro > Glantrian Bureaucrat Ah, Navarro is a kit! Have you made a PrC out of it? :-P vini... magus ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 8 Mar 2004 18:43:00 -0300 From: "Vinicius R. de Moraes" Subject: Re: WotI campaign, at last! (WotI's and MoA's spoilers) (Answering Havard Faanes' msg. Note that cool names such as "Faanes" and=20 "Vinicius" need no "s" after the ' ) :-P At 11:31 13/02/2004, you wrote: > --- "Vinicius R. de Moraes" > > > 1) Is there anything else that deserves to > > be read? Wchich "history" > > books, stories, maps, campaign settings? > > Know as much as you can about Mystara, especially the > Known World. Keep in mind that you have to fill in > alot in between the WotI campaign and the more you are > able to design smaller adventures and tie it up to the > "big picture" the better. :) Good tip! Well, one of my players made an Alfheim wizard and is using the "Elves of=20 Alfheim" which just got and rad in 2 days, hehehe (BTW THANKS, LEROY! THE= =20 MATERIAL IS GREAT!!!). Still there is much I must know better: Glantri,= mainly. Anyway, WotI is pretty "sketchy" (hey! I have jsut learnt that word with=20 Ville and needed to use it!!!!!!), right? I mean, some dozen pages to describe 6 years... 6 years of an entire world. I think that is good because allows a group of passionate fans like=20 ourselves to develop a lot, merge our own personal stories, create=20 something huge and beautiful. Nevertheless, this leaves a lot of *required*= =20 work (if you do not do it, create, fill in, the campaign will be nothing). > > 2) I have never fully understood the TIMES > > and PLACES concerned to ED'A's > > Radiance study and Rheddrian Artifact as a whole: it > > was a spaceship > > engine, then the big implosion came, it got buried, > > was found by a dragon, > > who took it to its lair, was taken from it by a > > Dragonslayer, and then > > what? Has ED'A studied it at the Dragonslayer's > > castle (I can't imagine > > Etienne "working from 8 to 5" no studying the > > Artifact and taking the "bus" > > - teleport w/o error, actually - to and from home > > everyday...)? Or has he > > taken it to the Chateu to do it? What is the > > relation from this to Corran? > > The many references, along the adventure and the > > History part of "The > > Immortals' Fury", are confusing, if not > > incompatible. > > 1)Spaceship FSS Beagle arrives on Mystara. It is > destroyed, its engine turned into the artifact known > as The Radience and moved to Glantri. > > 2)Rheddrian's Shield, another artifact made from the > FSS Beagle is found by a dragon and brought to Corran. > Rad/Etienne does not know about the Shield at all. He > only knows about the Radience, located under Glantri > City. > > > 3) Would it be nice to read "Castle Amber" > > as well? > > If you have the Glantri Gaz that would be more > helpful. I'm ashamed to admit it, but I do not have it. nor the AD&D2ed "Glantri:=20 KoM". :-O :-O :-O Darned 3rd world! I always say that, let me say once more: "You guys want to sell Mystara=20 stuff? I'm buying!". > > 4) Has radiance transformed normal zombies > > (pre-existant, created out of > > the Corran's bodies as well as their servants') in > > Lightinig Zombies OR the > > has Radiance did it all alone? If the 1st is > > correct, who made them zombies > > in first place? > > I cant really remember what made the lightning > Zombies. But im pretty sure it couldnt have been the > radience. Some radioactive energy must have though. > But yeah, they were human first and then transformed > directly into lightning zombies. They weren't simply > Zombies at any stage. Corran family (except for Lillian) and their guards died and were raised as= =20 LZ, that's all. I think the emanations from the shield (not the radiance, forgive me) have= =20 both raised them and given them the extra fetures (when compared to normal= =20 zombies): lightning, glowing in the dark etc. > > 5) What has really happened to Lillian > > Corran (Baron's wife, page 20, > > three last lines)? > > She was abducted by a Vampire and later turned into > one herself. She returns later in the campaign as the > high priestess of Hel. You are totally right. I made a confusion of names here. > > 6) Do I have to ask something special of the > > players? Something like: > > "Please, during character creation, if one of yuo > > are Alpathians, the > > others must not me Thyatians and vice-versa"? I > > think trying to conduct > > players like that is bad for RPGing. Anyway, would > > it be an extra piece of > > adventure, of healthy danger to have PCs from > > countries that are in > > opposing sides during the war? Or would it give tto > > much of a headache, > > more than fun? > > I think it would be preferable to have characters from > the Known World, ie not Alphatia. All of them are: Karameikos, Alfheim and The Broken Lands. > > 7) Any other hints? > > Think about the ending. > I really _hate_ the Day of Dread- > I dont like what happened to the Alfheim elves. Yes. It's like Sauron winning, it does make me said. My player chose to be an Alfheim Elf *knowing* their fate. Well, I'l have to work hard on that one, hey? > I dont like Clerics being allowed in Glantri. Why not? > I'm not sure how I feel about Alphatia disappearing. What else could have happened? Do you also feel that Glantri suffered - too much - less than Alphatia? > (Although I am planning on returning it IMC) > > H=E5vard Wow! How? When? Why? Thanks for all the input. vini ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 8 Mar 2004 18:55:06 -0300 From: "Vinicius R. de Moraes" Subject: Re: WotI campaign, at last! (WotI's and MoA's spoilers) (TNow it is Andrew Theisen's turn. Tsc, tsc, now "s" ath the end of his name...) ;-) At 04:44 14/02/2004, you wrote: > Most of the rest of these questions have already been answered, but I > thought I'd give my take on this one... Thanks, Andrew. > "Vinicius R. de Moraes" wrote: > 4) Has radiance transformed normal zombies (pre-existant, created out of > the Corran's bodies as well as their servants') in Lightinig Zombies OR the > has Radiance did it all alone? If the 1st is correct, who made them zombies > in first place? > > The radiance is indeed responsible for transforming the corpses into the > Lightning Zombies- much like a lot of campy horror films have > "radioactive" zombies roaming the countryside in post-apocalyptic > storylines and things. They were not previously zombies. > > However, for myself, I preferred to play these things as zombies, not as > intelligent, self-aware zombies (as they are presented). Well, intelligent, yes, self-aware, a little, yes, but the boy - who "used to be" Corran's son - does not realise he is an undead: he wants to leave the keep, grow (???) like a normal child (???). Weird as it is, that introduces drama and a nice chance for role-playing. Have any of you guys let him accompany the party out of the keep? Then what? > I find the whole "opening" sequence to the WotI works a lot more > interestingly (and creepily) as a mindless dungeon-crawl, except with > radioactive zombies (as opposed to necromantic ones). These glowing, > mindless, shambling undead hulking around and clawing at the PCs- yet > proving strangely immune to the cleric's turning undead attempts (my > rationale: rather than negative, entropic energies animating them, they > are animated by the radiation of the shield, and thus are not > "conventional" undead). Ah, man, how nice is "making old monsters new" (phrase from the great "Creative Campaigning" book). You know, kobolds and orcs with classes and levels, mosntes with one or two additional ofrms of attack, magic resistance, a couple less weaknesses etc. Imagine the cleric's face after saying "Go back to the hell you came from!" and the zombies muffling "Kill him, but the golden symbol is mine!", hehehe. BTW is the boy dumb as well? Resistant to turn, dumb enough for never turning tail, grasping and discahrging bolts... you have no heart man? What are you? A DM? :-P > Makes for a different twist, and I dunno, I've always had a soft spot for > zombie movies, so this is my way of working them into a fantasy setting > (as opposed to the more sci-fi conventions that they are found in movie-wise). Agreed. Another question: how can we we justify the existance of LZ in other parts of the KW? Maybe a couple of the LZ from Corran Keep escaped and started breeding? Of course not! So... what? vini ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 8 Mar 2004 19:00:32 -0300 From: "Vinicius R. de Moraes" Subject: The old authors Chris Furneaux and I were talking, he said something about Blackmoor and it came to my mind: Is Mr. Arneson writing it? If not, what has he been doing? What about Aaaron Alston? And the other authors? Are them working for WotC? With RPG at least? Does any of them belong to this list? Wouldn't they appreciate to? vini ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 8 Mar 2004 17:28:42 -0500 From: Dustin Clingman Subject: Re: The old authors Hi Vini, Dave Arneson has written/designed a large chunk of the upcoming Dave Arneson's Blackmoor. I and several other writers were very pleased to be able to help with the return of Blackmoor. I know that Dave is not on this list, but I am sure he would be happy to answer any questions you might have. I may also be able to help in that department too. Dustin -- Dustin Clingman Zeitgeist Games, Inc. www.zeitgeistgames.com -----Original Message----- From: Mystara RPG Discussion [mailto:MYSTARA-L@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM] On Behalf Of Vinicius R. de Moraes Sent: Monday, March 08, 2004 5:01 PM To: MYSTARA-L@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM Subject: [MYSTARA] The old authors Chris Furneaux and I were talking, he said something about Blackmoor and it came to my mind: Is Mr. Arneson writing it? If not, what has he been doing? What about Aaaron Alston? And the other authors? Are them working for WotC? With RPG at least? Does any of them belong to this list? Wouldn't they appreciate to? 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. ------------------------------ End of MYSTARA-L Digest - 6 Mar 2004 to 8 Mar 2004 (#2004-59) *************************************************************