Subject: MYSTARA-L Digest - 11 Apr 2007 to 12 Apr 2007 (#2007-42) From: MYSTARA-L automatic digest system Date: 13/04/2007, 17:00 To: MYSTARA-L@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM Reply-to: Mystara RPG Discussion There are 4 messages totalling 193 lines in this issue. Topics of the day: 1. Freiburg was sold (was: Alphatian...) (3) 2. Alphatian military skyship? ******************************************************************** 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, 12 Apr 2007 10:14:39 +0300 From: Ville V Lahde Subject: Freiburg was sold (was: Alphatian...) Man, our players are a bunch of wusses! They actually sold Freiburg to the Alphatians without a fight. Now Alphatia has a perfect naval depot from which to launch an offensive on the Isle of Dawn. All kinds of things are going to hit the fan. On the other hand, the PCs know that Thyatia will have so much trouble that they don't have so much time to hunt them. In that respect this might have been a good move for them. An interesting session, indeed. 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, 13 Apr 2007 01:07:52 -0400 From: Alex Benson Subject: Re: Alphatian military skyship? Submersibles are expensive. However, they are essentially stealth vessels and depending on their use can make up the costs as well as the crew size. They can be smaller, thus saving on crew numbers, and used to patrol vast sections of the sea. The wolfpack/secret service tactics are fairly. With smaller crews, boarding and capturing vessels is less an option. This is seen in the Nayce submersibles introduced in the Net Almanacs. The exception is the Torpin, but that is a different matter. The downside to submersibles is in weaponry. Undersea changes to missile attacks and magic attacks alter the effectiveness. Unless you add soem super secret developed weaponry (ie; torpedoes) that account for the environment and range standard weapons will prove to be limited. BTW the good old ram prow is a staple on the smaller Nayce submersibles that were introduced in the Net Almanacs. -----Original Message----- From: c_furneaux@ORCON.NET.NZ To: MYSTARA-L@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM Sent: Wed, 11 Apr 2007 8:06 AM Subject: Re: [MYSTARA] Alphatian military skyship? > The Man-o-Wars are the dreadnaught assault & bombardment vessels. I can > easily and reasonably see them being accompanied by other skyship types; > pure troop > transport, swift scouts, pure bombardment, pure logistics, and even small > special forces type vessels. I always kind of liked a modified version of the shark for a special forces role. It is bassically a sub as described in DotE, but give it a fly enchantment as well and you have a heavy steel hulled vessel that is useable both above and below the water. It could sneak up virtually undetected (underwater) cause massive damage to any wooden surface ships etc, and quickly and safely transport spys or small numbers of elite troops behind enemy lines. That and because it is quite small and not designed to engage other high magic vessels directly, is quite economic (as far as that sort of thing goes. I wouldn't call it cheap) Chris. ******************************************************************** 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. ________________________________________________________________________ AOL now offers free email to everyone. Find out more about what's free from AOL at AOL.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, 13 Apr 2007 01:13:57 -0400 From: Alex Benson Subject: Re: Freiburg was sold (was: Alphatian...) > Man, our players are a bunch of wusses! They actually sold Freiburg to the Alphatians without a fight. The handover actually plays quite well. Aphatia's weakness has been in occupation duties..namely their aristocrats' (ie mages) basically ticking off the occupied barbarians. But such trouble generally takes some time to manifest...when it manifests. ALot depends on who is placed as ruler, both as figurehead and the defacto ruler. The latter includes delagated administrators as well. > Now Alphatia has a perfect naval depot from which to launch an offensive on the Isle of Dawn. All kinds of things are going to hit the fan. Well...to put it bluntly... peace sux in a RPG setting. Without trouble the PCs have nothign to really do. As far as the IoD, it's basically a buffer zone between Alphatia and Thyatis. Their sellign Freiburg should result in as many problems....therefore providing lots of game possibilities. Have fun with it. > On the other hand, the PCs know that Thyatia will have so much trouble that they don't have so much time to hunt them. In that respect this might have been a good move for them. Not really, at least as long as Alphatia controls Freiburg. The ALphatia/Thyatis Cold War scenario probably won't allow the matter to escalate beyond a few episodes of "sabre-rattling" and maybe soem adventurer based retribution enacted in the background. You could probably work a treaty or somethign between Thy and Alphatia to secure Freiburg's safety. Maybe in exchange for trade use by Thyatian merchants or maybe Freiburg being made semi-autonamous. Stranger things have happened. Actually, I think the PCs actions (sellign Frieburg) offers you soem pretty nice opportunities. The PCs are seen as Alphatian allies so they should benefit from the initial Alphatian occupation; land, wealth, power, etc. There should be some loose ends to take care of; either by force or through diplomacy. The PCs could serve the Alphatian occupation well in either of these. The surroundign countryside shoudl retain hosyility, as well as Heldannic forces should be ready to retake the city. Freiburg could serve as a kingdom builder campaign with the PCs servign a developmental role in it. Like Karameikos, post Wrath, Freiburg could benefit highly from the ALphatians in terms of magic and "technology". After a period of occupation, Freiburg could be set up as a semi-autonomous kingdom allied to Alphatia. If there are any clerics and mages among your PCs, you can demonstrate the varying treatment that the spellcasters recieve as opposed to the nonspellcasters. For that matter, the spellcasters may embrace and be embraced by the Alphatians, causing a social rift between them and the nonspellcaster PCs. It just depends upon how you want to depict the various ALphatian mindsets and to what extent you want to introduce Alphatia into your Known World campaign. Lot's of possibilities. I'd go with a form of kingbuilder campaign. Seems liek it offers the best game opportunities for the PCs as well as keeping the Aphatian influence limited liek you want. /it's late. ******************************************************************** 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. ________________________________________________________________________ AOL now offers free email to everyone. Find out more about what's free from AOL at AOL.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, 13 Apr 2007 09:32:41 +0300 From: Ville V Lahde Subject: Re: Freiburg was sold (was: Alphatian...) For me it was all the same how Freiburg ended (independent, contested, =20 occupied...) I had made a conscious choice not to rewrite the =20 scenario as a battle etc. In the end it was up to the players which =20 way the thing turned. But as it happened, we were eventually all a bit =20 surprised that the PCs ended giving up Freiburg. There was nothing =20 wrong with it (DM-wise, story-wise), but it was surprising, even to =20 the players as a group. > Aphatia's weakness has been in occupation duties..namely their =20 > aristocrats' (ie mages) basically ticking off the occupied barbarians. Well, my intention was to rewrite the Alphatian colonial policy a bit =20 to make it more interesting (the Alphatian creed-thread). It worked =20 quite nicely. The PCs didn't of course buy into the Alphatian tirade =20 about their benevolent master plan, but they totally rethinked their =20 apporach to the Empire. (Anyway, the thief-PC whose guild was ousted from Freiburg during this =20 trade is thinking about retribution, so he's sure to come up with something =20 interesting.) > The ALphatia/Thyatis Cold War scenario probably won't allow the =20 > matter to escalate beyond a few episodes of "sabre-rattling" and =20 > maybe soem adventurer based retribution enacted in the background. Our campaign has moved beyond the cold war constellation - many events =20 have contributed to this - so it is most likely that a colonial war =20 will become a permanent feature for some time (on Isle of Dawn). In =20 that respect Freiburg will become an interesting hotpoint, as do the =20 fresh Thyatian-occupied areas (Soderfjord and Ylaruam, gained in the =20 Nomad War). But due to campaign-specific developments and the already existing =20 political attachments of the PCs, a Freiburg-centered sub-campaign is =20 not an option at this stage. Alphatia-Thyatian relations will add =20 spice to the campaign and of course have very tangible effects to =20 peoples' lives. 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 - 11 Apr 2007 to 12 Apr 2007 (#2007-42) ***************************************************************