Subject: MYSTARA-L Digest - 16 Oct 2006 to 17 Oct 2006 (#2006-166) From: MYSTARA-L automatic digest system Date: 18/10/2006, 18:00 To: MYSTARA-L@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM Reply-to: Mystara RPG Discussion There are 4 messages totalling 204 lines in this issue. Topics of the day: 1. Ideas for Niflheim (3) 2. Mystara Chronicles ******************************************************************** 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: Tue, 17 Oct 2006 11:00:12 +0200 From: Giampaolo Agosta Subject: Re: Ideas for Niflheim Ville V Lahde ha scritto: > > Ragnar has been captured by a powerful Frost Giant king who originally took him in as a quest. But after having learned about Ragnar's powerful allies he decided to lure them into his court and blackmail them into doing him a favour. > > I'm yet to come up with a good story here. Who is the Giant king up against? Why are humans essential for him? What about the lost elven spouse? You seem to have set up several threads that could be potentially very interesting. At this level, many of the motivations may depend on who the Frost Giants are -- are they native of Mystara or of one of the Outer Planes? In the first case, you might delve into the history of the Cloud Giants and Fire Giants (according to the Book of Giants and Dragons, the Cloud Giant kingdom was defeated by the Fire Giants), or in the history of Gandhar. Anyway, the Frost Giants may need the help of humans to enter places too small for their own kind -- e.g., the home of some Moulder Dwarf or other small creature. Perhaps the Frost Giant king is looking for a gnomish or modrigswerg artifact, hidden in some tomb or underground complex that has drifted to Niflheim? As to the lost elf, you might go with the standard Niflheim/Hades adventure -- get the deader back by outwitting or overcoming the defences of Hel -- Garmr and/or the two servants, Senility and Dotage (Exalted Beings?) 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: Tue, 17 Oct 2006 14:07:53 +0300 From: Ville V Lahde Subject: Re: Ideas for Niflheim Giampaolo Agosta wrote: "Anyway, the Frost Giants may need the help of humans to enter places too small for their own kind -- e.g., the home of some Moulder Dwarf or other small creature. Perhaps the Frost Giant king is looking for a gnomish or modrigswerg artifact, hidden in some tomb or underground complex that has drifted to Niflheim?" Quite a coincidence. Last night I drafted this evening's session. My notes read: "Frost Giant king B=E5hren had ordered a powerful spear from the =20 Niflungur, the moudler dwarves. But he lost the artefact back to its =20 makers in a game of chance. Now he needs the PCs to get into their =20 caverns and recover the spear." Quite a coincidence indeed. As to the nature of my Niflheim and the Frost Giants, the issue is a =20 bit complicated and is linked to my campaign's specific cosmology. In =20 a nutshell: the giants of Mystara and those of the Norse realms have =20 virtually no relation. The Frost Giants of Niflheim are the =20 descendants of the first giant Ymir, and are much closer to gods. In =20 essence, when the PCs travel in Niflheim, they are not following the =20 laws of Mystara but the laws of a saga. (So for example: in order to survive a blizzard they'll have to outwit =20 the Old Man Frost, a personification of a blizzard.) Thanks for the idea on the elf Dunedhel. I might go that way. The only =20 trouble is that Dunedhel was supposed to be a servant of Hel (like =20 Carrah) and he was lost in Niflheim supposedly while doing some of her =20 errands. But: perhaps he wandered too close to the spring of the river =20 Hvergelmir, and the Shore of Corpses where the Seprent Nidhogg is =20 gnawing at the bones of traitors and the root of Yggdrasil? How to =20 outwit the Serpent? 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: Tue, 17 Oct 2006 15:01:30 +0200 From: Giampaolo Agosta Subject: Re: Ideas for Niflheim On 17/10/06, Ville V Lahde wrote: > > "Frost Giant king B=E5hren had ordered a powerful spear from the > Niflungur, the moudler dwarves. But he lost the artefact back to its > makers in a game of chance. Now he needs the PCs to get into their > caverns and recover the spear." :) > Quite a coincidence indeed. I suppose it was the most logical thing. > Thanks for the idea on the elf Dunedhel. I might go that way. The only > trouble is that Dunedhel was supposed to be a servant of Hel (like > Carrah) and he was lost in Niflheim supposedly while doing some of her > errands. But: perhaps he wandered too close to the spring of the river > Hvergelmir, and the Shore of Corpses where the Seprent Nidhogg is > gnawing at the bones of traitors and the root of Yggdrasil? How to > outwit the Serpent? Or one or more of his offsprings -- maybe pitting them one against the other (as Brulefer and Vitriol in X11, say). Maybe they also need first to get directions from one other powerful NPC (either one of the servants of Hel -- who happens to be envious or otherwise opposed to the elf -- or another inhabitant of Niflheim, or of Yggdrasil). 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: Tue, 17 Oct 2006 13:55:26 -0700 From: Daniel Gioffre Subject: Re: Mystara Chronicles Hey Ville, Thanks a bunch for the encouraging words. They are _very_ much appreciated! Mystara forever, -Dan --- Ville V Lahde wrote: > I just read the latest installment in Daniel's > Mystara Chronicles, "Motivations". Great stuff. Daniel has really made > Alexander's "sideline" into a story in its own right. > > It was great to read Alexander's one-liner about > Glantri City: "I hate it here". In both of my Mystaran campaigns that has > been the exact sentiment of the PCs upon running into the > segregation and byrocracy of the Glantrian society. The descriptions of the > city are made very well - shame I didn't have them at hand when our > campaign was in Glantri! > > 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. > __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around 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. ------------------------------ End of MYSTARA-L Digest - 16 Oct 2006 to 17 Oct 2006 (#2006-166) ****************************************************************