Subject: MYSTARA-L Digest - 8 Nov 2006 to 9 Nov 2006 (#2006-179) From: MYSTARA-L automatic digest system Date: 10/11/2006, 19:00 To: MYSTARA-L@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM Reply-to: Mystara RPG Discussion There is 1 message totalling 79 lines in this issue. Topics of the day: 1. Niflheim adventure ******************************************************************** 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: Thu, 9 Nov 2006 09:39:36 +0200 From: Ville V Lahde Subject: Re: Niflheim adventure The notion that the Norse Realms follow a logic of their own was =20 originally born from a campaign-specific concept. In my longlasting =20 campaign I decided years ago (god, nearly 20 years...) to remove the =20 Norse Gods and some other elements of canon Mystara. At that time I =20 had only a few Gazetteers and was leaning heavily on the old modules =20 to construct the campaign world. There were many reasons for the =20 elimination, Crown of Ancient glory was one of them. Anyway, later on we started a secondary campaign that included the =20 Norse Gods, although in a tweaked form. At some point I decided to =20 make the secondary campaign a part of the history of the first one and =20 placed it around 500 AC. (Hence my working title "Twin Campaigns"). The present Niflheim adventure is an attempt to retrospecively justify =20 and explain these choises. I've constructed an era called "The Great =20 Withdrawal" around 500 AC. During that process all those stories - =20 gods and people - who were tied to fate left Mystara. The secondary =20 campaign is supposed to end at that event, as that story is pretty =20 linear and is tied to fate: certain events have to happen as they are =20 the recorded history of the first campaign. There are only a few gates left to those Worlds of Stories in our =20 present-day Mystara (1012). Witch-Queen Carrah is exploiting one of =20 them when she tries to find heroes who can use the metaphysical =20 difference. But the adventure is also a statement to the players. Although I've =20 left linearised scenarios behind years ago, they still often fall back =20 on the idea that some predetermined path is prepared for them. This =20 seems to happen especially when they fail in something and can't =20 deduce the reasons for their failure. And this is understandable: TSR =20 especially had a long tradition for "railroad" adventures. But most of =20 our current scenarios involve complex social relationships and events =20 that are dictated by the information that the NPCs might have, the =20 actions of the PCs, and contingent events. So now I have a character in the story, Carrah, give them hints about =20 the nature of their world. Nothing is certain, and future is in the =20 making all the time. This will be very important for the players and =20 the PCs, as they are about to embark on a dark period of wars. The =20 onset of a war is certain, and there are some plots that have been =20 hatching for a long time. But it is not certain how things will turn =20 out. I have a very loose scheme of possible events and sequences =20 organised in a "branching" schematic - which I might yet have to =20 rewrite completely, if something surprising takes place. GP wrote: > > Interesting concept, indeed. I also like the way you are using it to > give a more "cinematic" spin to the game. In the near future the PCs will start a quest to retrieve certain lost =20 memories of Nithia - and stop other factions from retrieving some =20 memories. They are supposed to travel to the past so they can =20 understand the fate of the memories and the forces that are keeping =20 them from the present world. But time travel is essentially against =20 the metaphysics of our campaign world. I've been thinking of playing =20 the whole Nithian episode as a storytelling game with much more =20 narrative power to the players. It will be up to the players to decide =20 whether those things actually happen or whether they are just symbolic =20 etc. 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. ------------------------------ End of MYSTARA-L Digest - 8 Nov 2006 to 9 Nov 2006 (#2006-179) **************************************************************