Subject: MYSTARA-L Digest - 27 Oct 2005 to 28 Oct 2005 (#2005-201) From: MYSTARA-L automatic digest system Date: 29/10/2005, 18:00 To: MYSTARA-L@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM Reply-to: Mystara RPG Discussion There are 14 messages totalling 1174 lines in this issue. Topics of the day: 1. Ville Lähde's X10 run (8) 2. Vanyan Heresies (2) 3. Concerning the factions of the HK (2) 4. 5. [Fwd: [Stilyagi] Sad news in the fantasy art world] ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.pandius.com To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 28 Oct 2005 00:16:35 -0700 From: "David S. Leland" Subject: Ville L=?iso-8859-1?Q?=E4hde's?= X10 run Hi all, I've been lurking for a few years now. :) I'm about to start running X10=20 Red Arrow, Black Shield and have read material on Pandius with great=20 interest, particularly that by Ville L=E4hde. I was wondering if anyone has= =20 suggestions beyond what I might have read on the site about how to make=20 adventures and quests in the module richer and less simple, cheesy, and=20 random. One twist I am putting on this is that in line with the fact that= =20 the Master has certain creatures from the Dimension of Nightmares on his=20 side (Malfera, for instance), the Nightmare Dimension figures a great deal= =20 into his power and how he might be defeated. It's also meant to explain=20 why Prince Jherek of Glantri and his aide, Laran, is so interested in the=20 Master, given that Jherek is the High Illusionist of Glantri and has his=20 own access to the Nightmare Dimension. I was thinking of making the=20 Crystal Dagger of Cymorrak and Soul Gem of Thanatos into something that=20 would fit that theme. Any suggestions or experiences improving the module= =20 would be greatly appreciated. Incidentally, I'm not much of a war gamer=20 and won't actually be running the War Machine and Battlesystem=20 components. Events in the war will happen as I see fit based on the=20 actions of the players, so that it will stay at the party level. Thanks very much, David ---------------------- David S. Leland, Ph.D. Department of Psychiatry University of California, San Diego Email: dleland@ucsd.edu ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.pandius.com To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 28 Oct 2005 10:30:16 +0300 From: Ville V Lahde Subject: Vanyan Heresies Giampaolo wrote: "Well, this may lead to interesting complications, since the two Storm Soldiers will likely join the order, and may well tell their new leaders of his heresy." Indeed. I've been encouraging the player to create his own Vanyaism precisely for this effect. He wrote a very sad background for himself: His father was driven away from his Thyatian order/church because of an embarrassing "package" that was delivered on the steps of the temple. The package proved beyond the shadow of a doubt that this priest had broken his oath of celibacy (distinctive birth mark) and was "sent to spread the word to Thyatian expatriates in Darokin". The father brought up his son in near-complete isolation, hammering Vanyan dogma in his mind for his first 16 or so years. This has led the boy to consider himself to be "a child of Vanya", without clear idea of the details of his birth. The father brought him up to have a puristic respect for women and to emphasise the female aspect of Vanya - one has to respect all women but remain distant, as they reflect the power of the goddess. I gave the player some scattered canon and fan-based material on Vanya (symbolisinc the father's teachings), from which he has drawn the further ideas: 1) He linked the figure of Vanya to the figure of Ixion (present in some Savage Coast versions?) and considers her to be "Sun's Daughter". Through this he has emphasised a "near-montheistic" outlook. Sure, there are other Immortals, but Ixion and Vanya are the only really significant ones. Others seem to lack the strength of the Warrior Queen. 2) However, in his latter sermons to his congregation of mercenaries he has brought in ideas of justice and mercy. So Vanya is a warrior, but a just one. All this will make it very hard for him to meet the Heldannans. - Note: The player of course understands this, but he plays the PC so that the poor young man still considers Heldann to be the promised land. All the vile things said about them must be lies, and the Hattian fanatics must have misunderstood Vanya's creed. - In yesterday's game met the northerner's disqust of Heldanns, when Otkel Arnulfson in Trollheim said that he would never let one of those "bloody-handed murderers" under his roof. Otkel sternly warned the PC against mixing with the HK. ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.pandius.com To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 28 Oct 2005 09:45:55 +0200 From: Giampaolo Agosta Subject: Re: Vanyan Heresies Ville V Lahde ha scritto: > > 1) He linked the figure of Vanya to the figure of Ixion (present in some Savage Coast versions?) Yes, in the Church of Narvaez, Vanya is Ixion's Inquisitor. GP ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.pandius.com To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 28 Oct 2005 00:50:39 -0700 From: Thibault Sarlat Subject: Re: Concerning the factions of the HK Thank you very much for this detailed approach. If you allow me, i might even use that description for my HK Gaz project. I think it might be a great addition to the Players guide. thib --- Ville V Lahde wrote: > Thanks for the speedy intervention, Thib. Yes, I > knew about Bruce's background on the HK, forgot to mention it. I've > looked through most of the late 90's message board stuff that's stored in > the Vaults. > > So Bruce never had time to publish any of this in > any other product than VotpA ? Or the Dragon Articles? > > (Thib: The archives are up again, so you can find > the storyline post there. I neglected to save it myself.) > > IMC I've explained to the player who has never > played in Mystara before the various branches of Vanyaism like this. Of > course the "explanation" has been given bit by bit over the campaign. > > 1) Thyatis is of course the centre of worship > > Vanyan worship was originally incorporated in > "Thyatian pantheon" and like most Immortals didn't have a church of its own > but a "cult" within a wider religious tradition - which later tranformed > into Church of Thyatis as the imperial rule strengthened. > --> I've always pictured the church to be very Roman > in style. Priests are often also politicians etc. --> This Church is > closely related to the imperial agenda, thus Immortals like Halav are > "appropriated" into its Pantheon. I'd imagine that Halav was brought in > after the steady contact with Traladara began in 800, perhaps > earlier? But the point is that such an imperial Church would try to > "Thyatinize" Halav and make him into a general warrior figure who just popped in > to help the Traladara in their past. > > --> "Order of the Gray Lady" is an order of the > Church of Thyatis. They are paladins of a sort, but not ro religiously > militant. They are much more connected to the imperial rule than the orders > mentioned below. > > But due to the cosmopolitan nature of Thyatis, other > Churches and Cults would surely establish missions there and gain > following. So not all religious life in covered by the Pantheon. > > 2) Church of Vanya is such an independent cult, but > it grew domestically as Bruce has written it. > - So Church of Vanya differs from the Vanyaism under > Church of Thyatis in that it puts much more emphasis on the worship of > one Immortal AND it is distanced from affairs of the State. > --> So the original Knights of Vanya, predecessors > of Heldannic Knights, came from this sect. > > 3) Then there are the Storm Soldiers who adopted > Vanyaism from the emerging Church of Vanya, but whose sexual > supremacist ideas and cruel politics repeatedly clash with them. - But many > Storm Soldiers who are forced to leave their home "emigrated" into the > Church of Vanya, very few to the Vanyaist order of the imperial church. > > 4) Then comes the Heldannan crusade (and the term > fits too, as they have a cross as a symbol!) > - Most of the Church of Vanya transforms into the > Heldannic Order, and they lure in some 1) Storm Soldiers, 2) Vanyaists > from the imperial church and 3) Vanya worshippers from Vanyan cults in > other countries. > --> This history creates a basis for the various > sects within the order. > > So during 1000 AC when our campaign takes place, > worship of Vanya can be found in various forms: > 1) Church of Thyatis: "cult" of Vanya, and the Order > of the Gray Lady > 2) Church of Vanya: remnants of the old church, some > Knights of Vanya > 3) Storm Soldiers: Vanyan racists and sexists (still > influenced by Thanatos?) > 4) Church of Karameikos: A heresy created by > Oderbry, includes worship of Vanya. Order of the Griffon is mainly Thyatian, > and its various factions reflect the different sources that Oderbry > "recruited" from. > 5) Idependent cults and missions of the three > Churches: > - So you have some "knight errants" like the PC in > our group, with very different views on Vanya, walking the Known World. > For some, like the PC, Heldann is a place of pilgrimage or a lifelong > goal. > 6) Heldannic knights > > ******************************************************************** > The Other Worlds Homepage: > http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp > The Mystara Homepage: http://www.pandius.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 __________________________________ Yahoo! FareChase: Search multiple travel sites in one click. http://farechase.yahoo.com ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.pandius.com To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 28 Oct 2005 10:31:23 +0200 From: Giampaolo Agosta Subject: Re: Concerning the factions of the HK Ville V Lahde ha scritto: > > So Bruce never had time to publish any of this in any other product > than VotpA ? Or the Dragon Articles? AFAIK, there was a plan to publish gazetteers on areas covered by the VotPA story arc: "PAS1 - The Heldannic Knights, Princess Ark(tm) Gazetteer: This is a successor to the old D&D(r) Gazetteer series. This new supplement focuses on the Heldann Freeholds and the chaotic knighthood that rules the nation. The Heldannic Knights have been long time foes of the Princess Ark. Includes an in-depth look at an order of knights in the D&D(r) Game, an expanded background and new powers for Clerics and Avengers." Other Princess Ark Gazetteers were supposed to cover Sind and Wendar. Unfortunately, none of this ever materialized. BTW, nice writeup of Vanya's cults in the KW! Bye, GP ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.pandius.com To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 28 Oct 2005 13:30:11 +0300 From: Ville V Lahde Subject: "Thank you very much for this detailed approach. If you allow me, i might even use that description for my HK Gaz project. I think it might be a great addition to the Players guide. thib" Sure, everything can be used. I wrote something on MMB also, in the long Immortal line. But I forget if there's anything more subtantial on Vanya. If/when we come up with new stuff on Vanyan heresies in our campaign, I'll drop a line on this list. BTW, the caravan in our campaign will also gross Ethengar, and possibly Glantri. So there are even more fun times for the Vanyan PC :) I've been thinking that perhaps the caravan will be impounded in Freiburg on suspicion of smuggling or something - perhaps the DDC agent "the Cook" will stage this, as the conspirators are becoming more suspicious of him. Thus he - with the help of the PCs returning (hopefully) from Ostland - will have a chance of "saving" the Corun merchants, regaining their trust. This might create a playsibly long timeframe within the HK capitol, and the PCs would have to get involded with the locals directly, not just through the conspirators. A mission against the rebels might be a nice pricetag for getting the caravan back on track? ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.pandius.com To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 28 Oct 2005 13:57:54 +0300 From: Ville V Lahde Subject: Re: Ville L=?iso-8859-1?Q?=E4hde's?= X10 run Glad to hear that the material on X10 has been of interest. When I began planning GMing it, I was searching for tips desperately, and stuff on the Vaults was very helpful. Advice on making the adventure more interesting depends a lot in whis year you are planning to play it. Is it in conjunction with WotI or in Gazetteer-time 1000 Ac, for example. In the latter case I'd suggest bringing in the Shadowelves. For campaign-specific reasons that wasn't an option for me. The Shadowelves shouldn't be direct allies of the Master, as it simply doesn't fit their cultural profile. BUT: their agents in the world may have learned of the coming invasion, and they decide to launch their Plot against Darokin during it - thus depriving Alfheim of much needed allies. The SE invasion doesn't need to be succesfull in order to prevent Darokin gaining help from Alheim, their most powerful allies. - Thus you have much more interesting events in the Alfheim front than the oh-so-novel dragon encounter. Glantri might be made more interesting if you make the situation there more volatile from the start. Perhaps the Master's agents have made a temporary alliance with the Golden Khan of Ethengar, whose Cretian priest agents create a peasant rebellion in some principalities. At the same time Khan's hordes start harrying the eastern lowland holdings of Glantrians (they surely won't be stupi enought to try an attack the mountain passes). - Then you can tie on the Heldannic Knights, if they decide to take advantage of the situation and take revenge on Ethengar. - Anyway, you can activate several Ethangarian plots to make the situation interesting without the events seeming too random. (Like Oktai Khan's alliance with the Glantrians?) I'd definitely suggest changing the whole Soul Gem - Crystal Dagger storyline. Instead of finding the pieces in random places (I had to do a LOT of work to write the original story to be plausible), make the PCs do painstaking research on the Master's background in order to even realise the existence of such artefacts. In any way: The Nightmare Dimension seems to be a nice way of creating the background mythology that the module clearly needs. Nice idea. Ville ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.pandius.com To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 28 Oct 2005 13:09:14 +0200 From: Giampaolo Agosta Subject: Re: Ville L=?ISO-8859-1?Q?=E4hde's?= X10 run David S. Leland ha scritto: > Hi all, Hi, > One twist I am putting on this is that in line with the > fact that the Master has certain creatures from the Dimension of Nightmares on his side (Malfera, for instance), the Nightmare Dimension figures a great deal into his power and how he might be defeated. It's also meant to explain why Prince Jherek of Glantri and his aide, Laran, is so interested in the Master, given that Jherek is the High Illusionist of Glantri and has his own access to the Nightmare Dimension. Good idea. Remember, though, that the Prince's council in Glantri will be quite different than the one in X10, if you're using the Gazetteer. E.g., Jaggar is not likely to side for neutrality. Some ideas: 1) Synn: in the original storyline (see http://pandius.com/refguide.html) Synn was supposed to help the Master by setting up an alliance with Wulf von Klagendorf (i.e., the HK); this may become a major point in a X10 campaign -- you may even try to develop the "Crown of Synn" vaporware adventure, having the PCs join forces with Haldemar to stop Synn and kill Wulf (or, maybe, an evil clone of the HK leader). 2) Glantrian politics: there's plenty of space for high-level heroes to interact with the glantrian nobles; some will be already in favor of intervention (e.g., Jaggar and Jherek, maybe Harald if he is already Prince of Sablestone), some will side for neutrality (Morphail, Brannart, maybe Innocenti and/or Volospin, and Synn if she's already Princess of Fenwick), others could well sell their vote for some significant favor (e.g., removing some political enemy). If the council doesn't reach a clear majority, the parliament will step in, and then the PCs will have quite some work to do to bring minor nobles to their side. 3) Espionage: Glantri is the most likely place where the PCs can interact with spies from Hule, the Shadow Elves, Alphatia, Thyatis and Darokin. Esposing a SE spy may bring the elven clans to the PCs' side. OTOH, discovering deals between Agostino di Malapietra and the Thyatians, or the Erewan and Alfheim, may be useful to blackmail them into supporting the war (dangerous, and not so useful in Agostino's case, of course). 4) Not all is magic: even though Glantri is a magocracy, there are other forces -- e.g., the merchants or the free farmers. PCs may persuade the merchants to push for intervention. Also a good time to use the "Reds" adventure from the GAZ, presenting an interesting ethical issue -- will they side with the FFF proletarians, who are basically in the right, even though this may ruin their efforts to bring more wizards to the pro-war side? 5) The Brotherhood of Radiance: this secret society, as well as other societies of the same kind, can move votes in the Glantrian parliament. Moreover, the PCs may get access to a Prince through a minor noble. This way, you may weave some Glantrian small adventures into X10 (e.g., the dracologist's one). One of the main problems with diplomacy is that the PCs would not undertake all those missions -- the DDC will certainly send its operatives to the different nations ASAP, and the PCs will be sent to a single country, or maybe two (e.g., Rockhome and then Vestland). Some countries may be visited later (e.g., the PCs may go to Atruaghin as advance scouts, preventing a reaction by the clans to a Darokinian "invasion") because they happen to be in the conflict area. Anyway, IMO it would be better to concentrate on a single, important nation (e.g., Glantri or Thyatis) at first, assuming that others are visited by NPC diplomats -- or even playing out shorter diplomatic missions with different parties. Later, the PCs may still return to some diplomatic mission -- e.g., a former ally may be in danger of defecting due to internal discord, or a neutral country may be turning to the Master's side. There's also the possibility that a previously unknown nation appear on the scenes -- e.g., the PCs may be called to negotiate with Serraine for badly needed aerial support. Most of the diplomatic missions in X10 are anyway too silly to be used as they are -- why should the rulers of Ierendi or the Five Shires commit to a possibly devastating war just to have a few monsters killed, when obviously both nations possess the resources to deal with those threats? The basic plot for most diplomatic missions would IMO run as follows: 1) Reach the target nation (may involve surviving attacks set up by Hulean agents) 2) Assess which parties are in favor of/against their nation being involved in the war (may require contacting local agents, or gathering information from the locals, etc.) 3) Turn as many local power blocks to Darokin's side by: - Helping them in a significant way (e.g., promising exclusive trading privileges with Darokin, solve longstanding feuds, or bring proof that the person/power block is in danger, and the cause is Hule) - Forcing them (by blackmail, for example) - Proving that the Master and Hule are a real danger for the nation (difficult for far regions) - Buying them out (very, very costly, but may work with the Northern Reaches, for examples) 4) Remove Hulean agents, if present; in case of nations that may be already allied with the Master, assassination of key figures and/or dealing with rebellious vassals may be in order (e.g., killing the Khan of Ethengar would lead to a civil war, reducing the threat of Ethengar joining the Master). Bye, GP ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.pandius.com To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 28 Oct 2005 04:45:01 -0700 From: Ray Allen Subject: Re: Ville L=?ISO-8859-1?Q?=E4hde's?= X10 run I recently ran elements of X10 in conjunction with X4/X5. I used the Dagger and Soul Gem as a way to make the Master's avatar (the young man) killable. The PCs don't know it but they only slowed the Master's plans as the body of Hosadus awakened after the avatar was killed. As for the war, the invasion as written never really worked for me. I decided to make a change that would make it more interesting. The Master attacks Darokin and Karameikos! :) The idea is to open a second front. The Master sends forces to the Black Eagle Barony and marches almost to Specularum before the Duke is aware of the invasion. Previous to the landing von Hendricks has agents in the capitol. On the second day of the seige, the city gates are opened to the enemy and the city falls. Duke Stefan escapes to Kelvin. The Black Eagle becomes Duke of Karameikos. The southern part of the Duchy falls quickly to the Master's forces. Only Kelvin, Verge, and Threshold are still free. This is the situation when the PCs get involved. They meet the Duke during the retreat from Specularum and join in a meeting with the Duke and the Amabassador of Darokin. After the meeting they are teleported to Pramayama and I ran X4/X5 from there. Although, X4/X5 could have been run as is at that point, I decided to make a couple more changes. Gola Keep was moved north to the mountains and renamed to Gola Abbey and used as the "Evil Abbey" from X4. Greatrealm was placed in Sayr Ulan and Hule was moved to replace Sind. Magden was placed just north of the Great Salt Swamp. We've been running this for about two years now. The PCs have killed the Master's avatar by attacking the Soul Gem with the Dagger. They escaped by stealing one of the Master's flying boats that was moored to the top of the tower. I used the Alphatian flying yacht from CoM. The Master should have something better than one of those little lifeboats! :) Now they are flying east into new adventures. --Ray. --- Ville V Lahde wrote: > Glad to hear that the material on X10 has been of > interest. When I began planning GMing it, I was searching for tips > desperately, and stuff on the Vaults was very helpful. > > Advice on making the adventure more interesting depends > a lot in whis year you are planning to play it. Is it in conjunction > with WotI or in Gazetteer-time 1000 Ac, for example. > > In the latter case I'd suggest bringing in the > Shadowelves. For campaign-specific reasons that wasn't an option for me. > The Shadowelves shouldn't be direct allies of the Master, as it simply > doesn't fit their cultural profile. BUT: their agents in the world > may have learned of the coming invasion, and they decide to launch their > Plot against Darokin during it - thus depriving Alfheim of much > needed allies. The SE invasion doesn't need to be succesfull in order to > prevent Darokin gaining help from Alheim, their most powerful allies. - > Thus you have much more interesting events in the Alfheim front than > the oh-so-novel dragon encounter. > > Glantri might be made more interesting if you make the > situation there more volatile from the start. Perhaps the Master's > agents have made a temporary alliance with the Golden Khan of Ethengar, > whose Cretian priest agents create a peasant rebellion in some > principalities. At the same time Khan's hordes start harrying the eastern > lowland holdings of Glantrians (they surely won't be stupi enought to try > an attack the mountain passes). > - Then you can tie on the Heldannic Knights, if they > decide to take advantage of the situation and take revenge on > Ethengar. > - Anyway, you can activate several Ethangarian plots to > make the situation interesting without the events seeming too > random. (Like Oktai Khan's alliance with the Glantrians?) > > I'd definitely suggest changing the whole Soul Gem - > Crystal Dagger storyline. Instead of finding the pieces in random > places (I had to do a LOT of work to write the original story to be > plausible), make the PCs do painstaking research on the Master's background > in order to even realise the existence of such artefacts. > > In any way: > The Nightmare Dimension seems to be a nice way of > creating the background mythology that the module clearly needs. > Nice idea. > > Ville > > ******************************************************************** > The Other Worlds Homepage: > http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp > The Mystara Homepage: http://www.pandius.com > To unsubscribe, send email to > LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM > with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. > WAG, BFC, EBT..... Shortlines are the most interesting! ---------------------------------------------- If you have to choose between books and computers, there's no doubt which you should choose. You should choose books. --Bill Gates of Microsoft ---------------------------------------------- Geek Code: GLS$ d- s:+ a C++ UL++++ P? L++ E---- W++ N+ o-- K- w--- O? M- V-- PS+++ PE Y PGP- t+ 5-- X+++ R++ tv-- b++ DI- D---- G-- e+++ h--- r+++ y+++ ---------------------------------------------- Warriors and Wizards OGL Rules http://home.psknet.com/allenr/Dark_Coast.html ---------------------------------------------- __________________________________ Yahoo! Mail - PC Magazine Editors' Choice 2005 http://mail.yahoo.com ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.pandius.com To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 28 Oct 2005 14:11:42 +0200 From: Havard Faanes Subject: Re: Ville L=?iso-8859-1?Q?=E4hde's?= X10 run Hi, So much great advice has already been given and this thread has been a really interesting read so far! One thing that hasn't been mentioned yet (AFAIK) is discussing the role of the PCs. Rather than have then be recruited by the Darokin Govt. at the beginning of the adventure, it could be interesting to have them be long term DDC agents. This would have the advantage of the PCs having connections within each countries political scene and resources of their own. If you are running the adventure with already existing PCs, you could simply let a year pass where the heroes do other work within the DDC. Then, once the adventure starts going, you can hand out some info to each player about what they know about the individual country, where they may have connections etc. Its more interesting if each PC has a speciality within different countries, so they will have to rely on each PC in turns when they come to that country. Also, you could make the politics in each country a bit more complex. IIRC most adventures consist of talking to the country's ruler and then having him agree that if the PCs perform some task for him he will agree to send aid. Instead you could have the PCs have to work through the rulers advisors. The local Darokin Ambassador will be helpful in offering advice on how to influence the individual country's ruler. Perhaps the ruler is undecided, but that by helping a noble whose word weighs heavily in the Ruler's council will be what makes him rule in Darokin's favour. This will lead them onto the quest involved rather than having the ruler himself make this request of the party. Also, I found that it is a good idea to think about what the rulers of each country will say. Why will they want to refuse sending troops, what reasons will they give for this, and how will they respond to reasonable arguments from the party? Håvard --- "David S. Leland" skrev: > Hi all, > > I've been lurking for a few years now. :) I'm about > to start running X10 Red Arrow, Black Shield and have read material on > Pandius with great interest, particularly that by Ville Lähde. I was > wondering if anyone has suggestions beyond what I might have read on the > site about how to make adventures and quests in the module richer and less > simple, cheesy, and random. One twist I am putting on this is that in > line with the fact that the Master has certain creatures from the Dimension > of Nightmares on his side (Malfera, for instance), the Nightmare > Dimension figures a great deal into his power and how he might be defeated. It's > also meant to explain why Prince Jherek of Glantri and his aide, Laran, is > so interested in the Master, given that Jherek is the High Illusionist of > Glantri and has his own access to the Nightmare Dimension. I was > thinking of making the Crystal Dagger of Cymorrak and Soul Gem of Thanatos > into something that would fit that theme. Any suggestions or > experiences improving the module would be greatly appreciated. Incidentally, I'm not > much of a war gamer and won't actually be running the War Machine and > Battlesystem components. Events in the war will happen as I see > fit based on the actions of the players, so that it will stay at the > party level. > > Thanks very much, > David > > ---------------------- > David S. Leland, Ph.D. > Department of Psychiatry > University of California, San Diego > Email: dleland@ucsd.edu > > ******************************************************************** > The Other Worlds Homepage: > http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp > The Mystara Homepage: http://www.pandius.com > To unsubscribe, send email to > LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM > with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. > ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.pandius.com To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 28 Oct 2005 14:57:29 +0200 From: Giampaolo Agosta Subject: Re: Ville L=?ISO-8859-1?Q?=E4hde's?= X10 run Havard Faanes ha scritto: > > Rather than have then be recruited by the Darokin > Govt. at the beginning of the adventure, it could be > interesting to have them be long term DDC agents. This > would have the advantage of the PCs having connections > within each countries political scene and resources of > their own. Of course, this make the whole plot much more believable -- since it would be otherwise unlikely that PCs not related with the Darokin government be sent to take critical diplomatic missions, when Darokin is known to have the best diplomatic corps in the KW. > Perhaps the ruler is undecided, but that by helping a > noble whose word weighs heavily in the Ruler's council > will be what makes him rule in Darokin's favour. This > will lead them onto the quest involved rather than > having the ruler himself make this request of the > party. This also makes it more likely that the help be obtained by performing a quest -- persuading a minor noble or an advisor would take much less effort than bringing a king to enter war. > Also, I found that it is a good idea to think about > what the rulers of each country will say. Why will > they want to refuse sending troops, what reasons will > they give for this, and how will they respond to > reasonable arguments from the party? And what they want for their help! Most rulers would try to raise the price for their help even if they were aware of the need to join with Darokin to preserve their own throne. Bye, GP ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.pandius.com To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 28 Oct 2005 19:51:13 +0300 From: Ville V Lahde Subject: Re: Ville L=?iso-8859-1?Q?=E4hde's?= X10 run Giampaolo Agosta wrote: "Of course, this make the whole plot much more believable -- since it would be otherwise unlikely that PCs not related with the Darokin government be sent to take critical diplomatic missions, when Darokin is known to have the best diplomatic corps in the KW." Indeed. The module makes a pretty feeble attempt to explain this by the "prophesies" of the Glantrians - which else remain pretty distant in the whole story. All in all the role of Laran is irritating with his need-to-know policy working against the PCs all the time. (But still, I had to use the "Laran gets suddenly disintegrated" idea, since I knew that it would really freak the players out. It did ;)) I tried to solve the problem of the PCs being recruited by making the Master's agents much more powerful than in the module: The Agents make several destructive attacks on DDC embassies and kill key diplomats. The Darokinian Headquarters and Laran decide to enlist the aid of a powerful group of mercenaries who have survived worse. During the course of their travels the PCs were actually nearly killed several times by the Agents or their allies. Two of the PCs were actually caught pants down (literally) while having some questionable "recreation" at a Dengar back-alley. This all created a nice sense of paranoia. --> I also created a Master Agent named Weyhoon (modeled after a character in Star Trek DS9), whom the players hated more than any other NPC ever, and still compare every adversary against him. IMC the players seemed to find their recruitment plausible, since the PCs had gained a lot of fame in Glantri especially - they had liberated Etienne D'Amberville in "Chateau d'Amberville". Also they had just wiped out a hivebrood infestation in Akesoli, so they had fresh fame in Darokin. Also the PCs were already influential political figures, so I had the advantage that Havard suggested in his excellent advise of DDC "pregame". One PC was a noble of Karameikos, one a Vestland duke, and one an influential citizen in Minrothad. - In Minrothad I involved the PCs in intrique following the assassination of Oran Meditor. - In Karameikos I created a plot in which Hendricks tried to get help from the PCs against Bargle, who was going to overthrow him with the Nomad leaders. This idea was given to me on this list, by the way. There were many good & long discussions on X10 a few years ago here. (Maybe all this could be collated to a coherent article for Shawn's Vaults??) Byt the way, Giampaolo: I've also always liked the FFF plotline in Glantri. Funny how both of us suggested it at the same time! I had some basis written for it IMC, but the PCs didn't have time to go there. (FFF was gathering funds by raiding tax collectors with the help of Khan's Fists. Since the PCs didn't intervene, they are going to run against a full-blown rebellion in a future war, with the same difficult choice facing them.) Ville ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.pandius.com To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 28 Oct 2005 15:42:49 -0400 From: Libramus Subject: [Fwd: [Stilyagi] Sad news in the fantasy art world] -------- Original Message -------- Subject: [Stilyagi] Sad news in the fantasy art world Date: Fri, 28 Oct 2005 10:33:52 -0400 From: Randy Asplund Reply-To: randy@randyasplund.com To: Stilyagi Hi everyone, One of the really great painters in the Fantasy & SF genre passed away just the other day. His name was Keith Parkinson, and he was a hell of a guy. You would know him as one of the solid TSR illustrators, as he worked as a staff illustrator there for many years. I remember being at a convention, I think it was World Fantasy Con, when we were at a party and I heard someone say "Oh! You're Keith Parkinson? We have been wanting to get in touch with you. Do have your portfolio book handy?" It was a couple of editors from a big NYC SF publishing house. I think it was TOR, but it was so very long ago. As he pulled out his book and they tore through it with enthusiasm I realized I was watching a great artist get his really big break. It felt really good to see it happening right before my eyes. One of the really wonderful thing about being such a successful artist is that you leave a trail of visual memories in your wake. I know I won't be the only one who misses seeing more of that. Here are a few words from Donato Giancola: I just received word that Keith has passed away late Wednesday afternoon. He had been battling leukemia since early last year and had undergone a bone marrow transplant and chemotherapy. Keith was an extremely talent artist and provided visions on Dungeons & Dragons modules, game material, and numerous book covers which were a major inspiration for me to pursue a career in the arts. He was the guy I looked to for how to do it right. The liveliness he brought to characters, narrative story telling and masterful illusionistic renderings will never leave me. He was always willing to offer advice and share in his knowledge. I will miss him greatly and owe a debt to him for my success. Donato Donations in Keith's memory can be made to The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society: http://www.leukemia-lymphoma.org/all_page?item_id=8477 Donato Giancola -- VISIT RandyAsplund.com To see a Universe of art ranging from Magic: The Gathering to Star Trek and Medieval Manuscripts: Original Art & Prints for sale! Randy Asplund (734) 663-0954 Science Fiction and Fantasy Illustration 2101 S. Circle Dr., Ann Arbor, MI. 48103 _______________________________________________ Stilyagi mailing list You can unsubscribe using the form at http://stilyagi.org/mailman/listinfo/stilyagi ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.pandius.com To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 28 Oct 2005 16:04:02 -0700 From: "David S. Leland" Subject: Re: Ville L=?iso-8859-1?Q?=E4hde's?= X10 run Wow, Amazing ideas! Let me give some background on what's going on so far and what I'm taking from what I'm hearing. First, it's coinciding with WotI. The year is currently 1006 so the war between Glantri-Thyatis-Heldann vs. Alphatia is in progress. The PCs were all based in Karameikos. One is a halfling rogue/fighter, Kellen "Stubby" Bumbletoes, who immigrated from the Shires not long ago (he is the nephew of Stubbs Platterman, proprietor of the Silver Swan Inn in Rifflian). One is a human wizard/cleric/seer, Court Lord Herodotus "Rodl" Lucian, a "half-breed" (Traldaran/Thyatian) who is the Seer of the Eye of Traldar, i.e. he has a mystical connection with it that gives him divination powers as part of a prestige class. Thaden, son of Theldon, a Hinterlands fighter who earned his freedom from slave-gladiator status in Thyatis and came to Karameikos to escape those not pleased with that development, been there awhile too. Irina Sukiskyn is a human cleric of the Church of Traladara--yes she is the the same one as from X10 Night's Dark Terror. The group has had many on and off contacts with Emilio the Great in the past. They did X4 and X5 (heavily modified, no actual going to Greatrealm itself) as part of rescuing Kuzma, Irina's grandmother, a slave in Hule, as well as collecting intel for the Darokinians. After destroying a teleportation portal in Hule using Rheddrian's staff (changed to have dispel-related powers in line with the incompatibility of Blackmoorian tech and Mystaran magic), thus slowing the movement of troops from Hule to Sind, they came back to find the invasion in progress, with Akesoli fallen. I'm using the prophecy business to explain why they, rather than the DDC, is doing the negotiating, but at least giving it a feel of something that's been working in that the DDC is assigning them an advisor who won't do the actual negotiating but counsel them. Who? Emilio the Great, of course, come out of supposed retirement as a senior DDC agent. The prophecy has been known for years, although only gradually made more clear over time, and he had been following the PCs given that they seemed to be matching the description. Their success against the Master in Hule was the last sign that they are the ones. Certain elements to each character figure into this as well, for instance, they have had multiple encounters with Nightmare creatures and phenomena (e.g. the Malakaz) and one PC (Thaden) actually was sent there for a short time, so they have some knowledge that they do not yet realize will become pivotal in defeating the Master. Their first stop is Karameikos, since they feel it's only proper to approach their own King (Stephan) first. I like the idea that Bargle conspires with the Nomads to off the Black Eagle. The PCs HATE the Black Eagle, the Iron Ring, etc., and I plan to have him approach them with a deal in that he is over his head and wants to rule Karameikos independently and can be patient about that, but does not want to become a lackey of the Master, whose Nightmarish associations are too much even for him. He wants to cut a deal where he betrays the Nomads in exchange for being secure in his Baronial title (for the time being anyway). I also like the idea that the PCs are negotiating because lots of DDCers have been killed off, and I think I'll incorporate that. While the DDC is fine right now, they can start to get killed off, thus helping validate and explain the prophecy, which foresaw that the DDC would be going down, and that Darokin would need to depend on outsiders with a record of success vs. the Master. I want to do other things so that, in retrospect, the prophecy makes more sense than it does at first. For instance, it would be good if Rodl is able to use the Eye to locate part of the puzzle within Karameikos so that perhaps only he could have accomplished that. Something else can be done for Kellen when they go to the Shires. Thaden has crafted a sword gilded with metal from the claws of a Green Hag they once defeated, that went to the Nightmare Dimension with him and back--it's going to become an intelligent sword that is tained by the Nightmare Dimension, somewhat malevolent and a problem but powerful and somehow important to defeating the master. I'm not sure yet what Irina's key role will be, but there's time to figure that out. I need to figure out the first adventure they go on in Karameikos after the audience with the king. I'd like to draw it out a little and not have the Nomads' invasion from Fort Doom start right away. I think I might steal that idea of having them do well enough to capture Specularum and force Stephan into exile in Kelvin. Perhaps that will be what it takes to unify the Church of Karameikos in the face of Jowett's failing health and prevent or end the upcoming religious civil war... Thanks for all of your great ideas and I look forward to reading more. Cheers, David ---------------------- David S. Leland, Ph.D. Department of Psychiatry University of California, San Diego Email: dleland@ucsd.edu ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.pandius.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 - 27 Oct 2005 to 28 Oct 2005 (#2005-201) ****************************************************************