Subject: MYSTARA-L Digest - 23 Apr 2006 to 24 Apr 2006 (#2006-78) From: MYSTARA-L automatic digest system Date: 25/04/2006, 17:00 To: MYSTARA-L@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM Reply-to: Mystara RPG Discussion There are 7 messages totalling 529 lines in this issue. Topics of the day: 1. Where are the Qauriks (2) 2. New Dungeon Adventure Path: The Savage Tide 3. Ratlings 4. Has anyone ever... 5. The Lay of Almarand (LONG) (2) ******************************************************************** 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: Mon, 24 Apr 2006 09:48:40 +0200 From: Havard Faanes Subject: Re: Where are the Qauriks --- Andrew Theisen skrev: > As for specifics, if you do a search on the Vaults > for > Qauriks, you should get a bunch of hits on ideas for > where to place them. I think a general consensus is > to > place them in some frozen valleys in the Hyborean > reaches. There was also some recent discussion of > them > on the MMB, too, so you might check there. I decided the Hyborean reaches were too far away for the Qauriks ever to become involved IMC, so I decided to move some of their cities to the northern part of Norwold. They can be placed anywhere in icy parts of the world really. AFAIK, Andrew is right that they were not taken from any module, but their description, as well as the description of a few other CC monsters suggest that they were taken from some unpublished module or possibly simply from the campaign of the author... Traianus, over at the MMB just converted the Qauriks to 3E here: http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?p=8995879#post8995879 Håvard ******************************************************************** 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: Mon, 24 Apr 2006 01:42:16 -0700 From: Chris Cherrington Subject: Re: Where are the Qauriks > From: Andrew Theisen > > Considering the > extent of the collections and knowledge of the > Mystara-philes here, I'd say it's a pretty safe bet > then that the Creature Catalog entry is their sole > entry anywhere in D&D lore. > I believe the Qauriks were first encountered in either Dungeon or a very old tournament game for Gen-Con. It may have even been from an RPGA network article. Either case, I do remember encountering them from a tattered photocopied module/article. I was a player then, so it must have been pre-1984. Placing them in an isolated valley between Adri-Varma and Norwold seems like a good fit, I don't remember if it was discussed before here or if there was an actual reference made in cannon. _________________________________________________________________ Don’t just search. Find. Check out the new MSN Search! http://search.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200636ave/direct/01/ ******************************************************************** 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: Mon, 24 Apr 2006 12:00:52 -0300 From: Steven Carter Subject: Re: New Dungeon Adventure Path: The Savage Tide It's very smart of them to appeal to various markets like this. They are probably also fully aware that Mystara-philes are rapacious plunderers and use anything and everything from other settings. I would like to say that they are warming up the other markets toward possibly reissuing Mystara - and I think Paizo would be a good party to do so - by gradually exposing the other markets to Mystara material. But I don't think that's very likely. Still, once can dream. I'll probably pick up all the magazines anyway of course but this will make me a lot happier. Especially if they make it easy for me to say one place or another is Ierendi, Thyatis, the Hinterlands, Ochalea or Minrothad. On 23/04/06, Andrew Theisen wrote: > > Thought I'd post this information here on the List, > for those of you who don't frequent ENWorld.org or the > MMB. It is information all about the next giant > Adventure Path appearing in Dungeon magazine, and it > has particular relevance to us Mystarans: > ******************************************************************** 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: Mon, 24 Apr 2006 12:34:20 -0300 From: =?ISO-8859-1?Q?=C1tila_Pires_dos_Santos?= Subject: Re: Ratlings On 4/22/06, Gilles Leblanc wrote: > > Concerning Ratlings, I have the Quest for the Silver sword module is then > is > praticly no information given about the ratlings from what I remember No? Hm, i guess no cannon source have this kind of information, then... But that's ok, i'll use the bugbear (thanks Havard =3D) ) and Kulma ideas then (by the way, no one has anything to say about the kulma? the idea is that terrible? hehe =3DD) ( I > DMed the module when it came out so my memory is sketchy, but skimming > over > it now there doesn't seem to be a lot of stuff in there ). > > ******************************************************************** > 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: Mon, 24 Apr 2006 18:57:14 +0200 From: Matteo Subject: Re: Has anyone ever... > Done a MULTIPLE sect campaign? > > Such as in The Ebon Triads, followers of The Yellow Sign and say The Scarlett Brotherhood in one campaign? How do the groups interact with each other? Do they get in each others way? How do you as GMs handle it? > I've never done a multiple cult scenario, not sure how it would work. Anyone with an experience like this? Yes, I have experienced something like you describe! And it was fun beyond belief! :) It was a three-day long epic adventure specifically written for this purpose in a home-brewed ad hoc setting, and played during a sort of summer "home-convention" at a friend's place. There were 14 players and 3 dungeon masters. The adventure background was the typical (but nevertheless very appealing) situation in which the world is at peril, and only the brave heroes can save it, if they act swiftly and wisely. As you can expect, there was some powerful artifact to unearth, some ancient sigil to destroy and some mystical ritual involving an elven princess to carry out, but - at variance with the tipical heroic-fantasy plot, there was definitely no time to do all of these thing in a progressive way. Therefore, the heroes were divided into 3 groups, each best suited to fulfill one of the quest, and they effectively acted simultaneously. On the practical side, the groups were playing on 3 different rooms (it was very fortunate that our most kind host, which was also the author of the adventure and one of the Dungeon Masters, could count on his quite big villa to organize all of this faultlessly). Of course, the characters from different groups could not communicate among each other, unless they had some magical way to send messages (and there you see how important the 25 words of the spell "sending" can be!). The players also were forbidden to share information with people from different groups, obviously to make the whole thing more thrilling, although during the common social events there was some involuntary RL "information gathering" simply looking at the faces of the other guys! :D In the end, all of the three groups managed to achieve their goal, although displaying very different degrees of, let's say, "success rate". However, in the end there was an unexpected coup de theatre which brought all of the characters to gather again for the final stand and desperately fight in an really majestic epic battle against overwhelming forces. This was to become one of the longest Dungeons & Dragons battles I have ever witnessed, as there were fourteen 12-th level players characters (fully D&D 3E compliant, with all sort of abilities, feats, arcane and divine spells and magical paraphernalia) against challenging and cunning enemies including a powerful Red Dragon (of great wyrm age category) and evil outsiders basically analogous to the Balor and the Pit Fiend. The fight went on basically most of the day (although of course it was only a bunch of rounds in the D&D-world), and ended with the PCs being triumphant, but not without losses and casualties. The battle saw all kinds of heroic and desperate deed on the part of the characters including: - the dwarven defender being vorpalized by the Balor's sword after an outstanding a solo confrontation - our cobold sorcerer shielding himself under a wall of force in the middle of an area of Evard's Black Tentacles waiting for the enemies to exhaust their most powerful area spell (which would have immediately killed the poor reptile) - the paladin jumping with his warhorse beyond a wall of fire and riding with his lance all the way through the vast threatened area of the red dragon in a heroic attempt to open the way for the clerics to try to Harm the dragon (you know, dragons tipically can do a single attack of opportunity per round...) - Blade Barriers and Mirage Arcana being casted in the most creative and nasty ways just to reduce the maneuverability of the flying monsters. - The pragmatic wizard on the verge of death which, with all the clerics gone or out of reach or grappled by the dragon, chose to heal himself draining his unlucky rat familiar with a maximized Vampire Touch (the rat survived, although barely, and the wizard in the end saved the day). All considered, it was a really fantastic and formidable game, one that none of the involved players will easily forget. On the other hand, all of this has undoubtedly required an awful lot of preparation and a terrific effort on the side of our brave DMs, and even with three of them simultaneously at the table things like the final battle can easily evolve into a logistic nightmare (just think to the initiative, with all characters preparing actions, delaying and so on, and to the spells' duration timetable!) However, if you ever have the opportunity to organize or to take part into something like this, well, simply DO IT! It is a unique game experience, I tell you! :) Cheers, Matteo ******************************************************************** 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: Mon, 24 Apr 2006 14:15:40 -0700 From: Geoff Gander Subject: The Lay of Almarand (LONG) Hello all, It's been a long time, but I thought I would post my latest writeup - yet=20 another piece of literature DMs can use as a campaign hook for their=20 unsuspecting players! ***************** The Lay of Almarand Description: The Lay of Almarand is a narrative poem, almost 2,000 lines in length,=20 composed in AC 810 by Tohm Galadin (AC 786 - 828), who is remembered among=20 Darokinian bards as being the greatest sword singer in Almarand, and=20 perhaps in the entire Streel Plains, in his day. Although not well known=20 today, the Lay of Almarand was very popular during the 9th and early 10th=20 centuries, and it was published numerous times by different publishing=20 houses. The most commonly found edition is the version published by T.=20 Lynnell & Sons in AC 909 =96 several copies are known to exist in museums,=20 bardic conservatories, and private collections, and it is more than likely=20 that reputable book sellers will have a copy or two for sale. The Lynnell=20 edition is bound in red leather, measuring 8 inches wide and 10 inches=20 tall, containing 135 pages. The title is stamped in gold along the book=92s= =20 spine. This edition is notable in that it contains numerous woodcuts=20 depicting scenes described by the poem. This epic poem is essentially the history of the Kingdom of Almarand, from=20 its founding in AC 699 until AC 795. The opening verses describe Korlim=20 Strellard, the Duke of Almaren, who declares his dominion=92s independence=20 during the turmoil that followed the decline of the Darokin kings. =20 Renaming his land Almarand, King Korlim pursues aggressive policies to=20 preserve his kingdom as an oasis of stability. This early period is=20 described as a glorious one, and King Korlim is portrayed as a decisive,=20 insightful monarch. The king=92s death during a skirmish with bandits from = the Streel Marches in AC 713 is described very evocatively. The next section describes the creation of the Maiden of Ansimont, a statue = of almost incomparable beauty that now rests in Darokin City. A strangely- garbed man, claiming to be a famous sculptor from the east, comes to the=20 court of King Korlim II, offering to create for him a sculpture that would=20 enchant all who viewed it, and protect the realm. The king, portrayed as=20 being very greedy, and fearful of his neighbours, agrees, and the statue is = carved. After the maiden is unveiled, the sculptor is captured by the=20 king=92s guards, and left to die in the dungeons, taunted all the while by=20 the king, who never intended to pay for the statue. The dying sculptor=20 curses the king, promising him that his realm will fall should the statue=20 ever be taken from Ansimont. The third section describes the feats of Prince Lorennal, who is portrayed=20 as a man more in the image of his grandfather. Eager to bring more glory=20 to Almarand, Lorennal embarks on a quest to find the fabled ruins of=20 Comaelle, a legendary Eraedan city of old that was lost centuries ago. =20 After many trials, Lorennal and his companions find the city, and face many = more perils as they seek its riches. Eventually, Lorennal finds a gem of=20 incredible brilliance, but is forced to flee an evil sorceress, who kills=20 his remaining companions. The prince escapes and makes his way back to=20 Ansimont, presenting the gem to his father as a tribute. King Korlim II,=20 overcome by the gem=92s beauty, gazes within its depths and is seized by=20 fright, dying on the spot. Lorennal ascends the throne, claiming the gem=20 for himself and naming it the Star of Comaelle. The fourth section describes the long and glorious reign of King Lorennal,=20 who, purportedly aided by the magical powers of the Star of Comaelle, is=20 able to foretell his enemies=92 moves and observe events in their lands. =20 Although Almarand prospers under his leadership, Lorennal becomes=20 increasingly fearful of a vague menace, which he does not describe save for = calling it a =93foul treachery that spawned the Marches=94. Despite his=20 lingering fear, the kingdom remains strong, and Ansimont becomes known as=20 one of the =93Jewels of the Streel River=94. In describing Lorennal=92s pea= ceful=20 death, and the great tempest that ravaged Ansimont that night, the poem=20 foreshadows the darker days to come. =93And at last he expired, Almarand=92s glory, Dying as the setting Sun Doth cast ribbons of light=20 Over a darkening Land. Thus passed the Kingdom=92s summer, Its rich blooms sadly mourned, yet fondly remembered. And with Summer=92s passing Come the storms, the chill winds,=20 And the pall of the long Winter that must come.=94=20 The fifth, and final, section of the poem describes the =93fading summer of = Almarand=94. Although King Lorennal II tries initially to maintain the=20 successful policies of his father, it becomes clear that the political game = has changed, and Darokin is ascendant once more. Although he averts=20 disaster =96 likely due to the Star of Comaelle =96 Lorennal II is killed in= =20 battle only a few years into his reign, and a power struggle between his=20 brother, Maragil, and his young son, Orrendol. Orrendol triumphs, forcing=20 his uncle into exile, but he inherits a divided realm. Most evocative is=20 the description of the Battle of Favaro, in which the doings of King=20 Orrendol, and the exploits and heroic death of Jaenelle Lynnwith, sword=20 singer of Daelbar, are detailed. =20 The poem ends with a chronicle of the final years of the great campaign=20 against Irum, which had become such a menace to its neighbours that several = nations banded together to defeat it. Orrendol, still a relatively young=20 king, played a decisive role, and was present at the final battle at=20 Greenlee. The poem closes with a note of praise for the defeat of the Red=20 Duke of Irum: "Ne'er a Man so foul Hath a Blade so ill-omened bore, As the Man who was named the Red Duke, Praises be that his Realm Endures no more." DM Notes: Although the Lay of Almarand is a fine work of poetry, its main value to=20 players lies in the potential campaign hooks it contains, and the spellsong = hidden within its pages. Tohm wrote this work with the intent to praise=20 his nation and its rulers; but he had another motive entirely. While=20 writing his poem, he came across people who had either witnessed the events = he described, or who had heard accounts of them, passed down through the=20 generations. Relatively few of these tales, which in some cases deviated=20 considerably from the more popular accounts, were widely known, and Tohm=20 realised that what he understood to be Almarand=92s history was not=20 necessarily correct. He knew that a divergent account of the kingdom=92s=20 history would not go over well, and could cause him problems. Thus, in composing the Lay of Almarand, Tohm added new information to each=20 section in the form of metaphor and eloquent writing, which would be passed = over by all but the most critical, and educated, readers. Anyone familiar=20 with Darokinian history will have a nagging thought that something does not = seem right with a casual reading, but nothing more. To obtain the hidden=20 information in each section, a thorough reading =96 taking 1d4 hours and=20 requiring a quartered Intelligence check, or a halved Darokinian history=20 check =96 is required. Extracting all of the hidden information will requir= e=20 five such checks. The additional pieces of information are as follows: First section: During the battle that cost King Korlim I his life, his=20 sword, Greatfang, was lost. The descriptive account of the battle will=20 provide the reader with enough information to locate the blade=92s likely=20 resting place =96 roughly 20 miles northeast of Ansimont. It is up to the D= M=20 to determine Greatfang=92s properties, but it should be a normal sword +2 or= =20 better, with at least one special ability. Second section: The Maiden of Ansimont is fully described, allowing=20 players to locate it in Darokin City, where it has rested since AC 910. It = also provides the name of the artisan who carved it, allowing the PCs to=20 track down his descendants, who now live in Wrasseldown. The crafter=92s=20 magical technique, a gift of the faeries, remains in the family. This=20 knowledge may lead the PCs to seek out the faery court, as well. Third section: Some hints are provided as to the possible location of=20 Comaelle, in the southwestern fringes of the Canolbarth Forest. Also=20 contained are some indications of the creatures, most of which are undead,=20 thought to inhabit the ruins. PCs using this information will have a=20 reasonable chance of locating the ruins, at the DM=92s discretion. Also=20 significant is the description of the Star of Comaelle, a powerful magic=20 item that was lost in the years following the conquest of Almarand by=20 Darokin in AC 914, and which is now believed to have never existed. The=20 star is a very useful tool for divination, and it allows its possessor to=20 wander the world of dreams =96 definitely an item worth seeking. Fourth section: Tohm identifies the menace that stalked Lorennal as=20 Lowetha, the former princess of Dirnath who caused that realm=92s downfall i= n=20 AC 686 - an event that led to the creation of the Streel Marches. Widely=20 believed to have died in the turmoil that followed, Lowetha wandered the=20 region for many years before discovering the ruins of Comaelle, using her=20 powers as a sorceress to dominate the local undead. She had been seeking=20 the Star of Comaelle for her own purposes, and stalked Lorennal in his=20 dreams for many years afterwards. It is up to the DM to decide whether=20 Lowetha is still alive today; although she would certainly have the=20 resources to prolong her life. Fifth section: This section indicates that Prince Maragil lived out his=20 exile in Daelbar, and his descendants may live in that region still, if=20 they were not killed or driven forth when that kingdom fell to the orcs. =20 It is entirely possible that Maragil=92s family might know other secrets of = Almarand that the PCs would be interested in learning. This section also=20 describes Winnower, the fearsome battle axe wielded by the Red Duke of Irum.= Bards who read this poem may also find the hidden spellsong, which has been = divided among the sections, and whose musical score has been concealed=20 within the illustrations. Tohm had heard of this spellsong during his=20 travels, but had learned it after meeting the family of the artisan who=20 crafted the Maiden of Ansimont. The Maiden=92s Guard Level: 3 Range: Special Duration: 1d6 rounds, +1 round per level of caster Effect: Summons 1d10 warrior spirits to protect the bard. When sung within 20 feet of the Maiden of Ansimont, this spellsong summons=20 1d10 spirits of Eraedan warriors who died honourably, who will protect the=20 bard so long as he or she remains within sight of the statue. While the=20 spellsong is in effect, the spirits may be directed to attack any creature=20 desired, so long as the target is within sight of the bard. =20 In combat terms, the spirits should be treated as spectres, and may be=20 turned by a cleric. No other spirits may be summoned until all of the=20 existing warriors have been killed, or until the spellsong runs its=20 course. Should the bard and the Maiden of Ansimont somehow be obstructed=20 from being in view of each other - by a wall, the bard falling down a hole, = etc. =96 the spellsong expires immediately. Geoff ******************************************************************** 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, 25 Apr 2006 01:27:11 -0400 From: Angelo Bertolli Subject: Re: The Lay of Almarand (LONG) Geoff Gander wrote: > Hello all, > > It's been a long time, but I thought I would post my latest writeup - yet another piece of literature DMs can use as a campaign hook for their unsuspecting players! > > Quite excellent. This is the kind of stuff I like. ******************************************************************** 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 - 23 Apr 2006 to 24 Apr 2006 (#2006-78) ***************************************************************