Subject: MYSTARA-L Digest - 17 Aug 2007 to 18 Aug 2007 (#2007-74) From: MYSTARA-L automatic digest system Date: 19/08/2007, 17:00 To: MYSTARA-L@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM Reply-to: Mystara RPG Discussion There are 6 messages totalling 264 lines in this issue. Topics of the day: 1. D&D 4e and Mystara (6) ******************************************************************** 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: Sat, 18 Aug 2007 11:46:57 -0400 From: Joe Mason Subject: Re: D&D 4e and Mystara On 8/18/07, Beau Yarbrough wrote: > Joe Mason wrote: > > >From what I've heard, it sounds like the 4E rules will be much more > > compatible with the BD&D rules. > And here it is again, the very thing that led to the bickering and > from there to the apathy as tons of people gave up in disgust on the > Mystara 3E project: Mystara is distinct from BD&D. Sorry, I wasn't clear - I was thinking about converting modules set in Mystara. If I have a module that has a village of 100 first-level elves, and part of the plot hinges on the fact that it's an entire village of spellcasters, but another part hinges on the fact that they can defend it with swords, how do I convert that to 3E? Do I make them all level 1 fighter / level 1 wizard? That makes a default elf implausibly powerful, since level 1 characters in 3E are already more powerful than in BD&D, so I'm going to have to adjust a lot of other encounters in the module to cover. That's also why I was worried about exact level conversions of higher-level characters. Joe ******************************************************************** 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: Sat, 18 Aug 2007 17:59:19 +0200 From: Havard Faanes Subject: Re: D&D 4e and Mystara --- Joe Mason wrote: > Sorry, I wasn't clear - I was thinking about > converting modules set in > Mystara. If I have a module that has a village of > 100 first-level > elves, and part of the plot hinges on the fact that > it's an entire > village of spellcasters, but another part hinges on > the fact that they > can defend it with swords, how do I convert that to > 3E? Do I make > them all level 1 fighter / level 1 wizard? That > makes a default elf > implausibly powerful, since level 1 characters in 3E > are already more > powerful than in BD&D, so I'm going to have to > adjust a lot of other > encounters in the module to cover. That's also why > I was worried > about exact level conversions of higher-level > characters. Incidentally, 3E 1st level elven wizards are proficient with swords so you'd have no problem there. More importantly I think it is to realize that a module converted to another ruleset will not play out exactly like in the original. The sollution will often be to sit down and think about what is important. Is there any reason why half of these elves could not be fighters with no spells? Or that they could be using daggers instead of swords? Isnt the whole point of that module to have a story with elves defending a village, the rest becoming secondary? Havard _________________________________________________________ Alt i én. Få Yahoo! Mail med adressekartotek, kalender og notisblokk. http://no.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: Sat, 18 Aug 2007 13:21:26 -0700 From: Andrew Theisen Subject: Re: D&D 4e and Mystara Joe Mason wrote:Sorry, I wasn't clear - I was thinking about converting modules set in Mystara. If I have a module that has a village of 100 first-level elves, and part of the plot hinges on the fact that it's an entire village of spellcasters, but another part hinges on the fact that they can defend it with swords, how do I convert that to 3E? Do I make them all level 1 fighter / level 1 wizard? That makes a default elf implausibly powerful, since level 1 characters in 3E are already more powerful than in BD&D, so I'm going to have to adjust a lot of other encounters in the module to cover. That's also why I was worried about exact level conversions of higher-level characters. It's been stated already by the 4E designers that they are ramping up 1st level characters somewhat- whether that means making them more powerful or just giving them more options (I can't be entirely certain from what I've read), it still seems that they'll probably be somewhat tougher than current 1st level characters, fwiw. ******************************************************************** 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: Sat, 18 Aug 2007 16:15:25 -0700 From: Anthony Edwards Subject: Re: D&D 4e and Mystara As for a village full of elves who are first level; but can also use armor and cast spells, 3.5 had the very solution to that (and I think it started in 3.0 as an option for first level characters). --- Joe Mason wrote: > On 8/18/07, Beau Yarbrough wrote: > > Joe Mason wrote: > > > >From what I've heard, it sounds like the 4E > rules will be much more > > > compatible with the BD&D rules. > > And here it is again, the very thing that led > to the bickering and > > from there to the apathy as tons of people gave up > in disgust on the > > Mystara 3E project: Mystara is distinct from BD&D. > > Sorry, I wasn't clear - I was thinking about > converting modules set in > Mystara. If I have a module that has a village of > 100 first-level > elves, and part of the plot hinges on the fact that > it's an entire > village of spellcasters, but another part hinges on > the fact that they > can defend it with swords, how do I convert that to > 3E? Do I make > them all level 1 fighter / level 1 wizard? That > makes a default elf > implausibly powerful, since level 1 characters in 3E > are already more > powerful than in BD&D, so I'm going to have to > adjust a lot of other > encounters in the module to cover. That's also why > I was worried > about exact level conversions of higher-level > characters. > > Joe ____________________________________________________________________________________ Sick sense of humor? Visit Yahoo! TV's Comedy with an Edge to see what's on, when. http://tv.yahoo.com/collections/222 ******************************************************************** 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: Sat, 18 Aug 2007 16:15:57 -0700 From: Boonedale Subject: Re: D&D 4e and Mystara I wonder whats going to happen with Dungeons and Dragons Online...are they going to drop it or are they going to release D&DO2? No telling how the players of DDO feal about this... "Happy Hunting!" ____________________________________________________________________________________ Fussy? Opinionated? Impossible to please? Perfect. Join Yahoo!'s user panel and lay it on us. http://surveylink.yahoo.com/gmrs/yahoo_panel_invite.asp?a=7 ******************************************************************** 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: Sat, 18 Aug 2007 19:40:28 -0400 From: shawn stanley Subject: Re: D&D 4e and Mystara At 12:55 AM 17/08/2007, you wrote: > >Beau Yarbrough wrote:I humbly suggest Mystara 4E not try >to remake 4E into BD&D, which is > >what originally caused the 3E project to bog down and then led to the > >in-fighting that killed it. > > My own suggestion would be that any conversion attempt to 4E should probably be more focused on descriptive elements, and avoid the mechanics (completely, if possible). > > In fact, I think the best thing we could do for a 4E or even just all the extant editions is to work on making the Vaults a more Newbie friendly place- by which I don't necessarily mean organizing and indexing (though a bit of that, which I know Shawn wants to do), but mostly trying to get some basic information up there (Newbie guide, as well as similar concepts) to help anyone with an interest in Mystara, who doesn't have immediate access to the long out of print source material. (IE, enough info to give an overview and provide links/resources for them to get more information if they are so enticed, but without violating any copyrights or stepping into the territory of WotC/TSR.) > > I'd also like to see some of the information we've got up there organized into more download friendly formats (.pdfs, etc.), though that's certainly a long-term project. Maybe someone more reliable than myself could create some templates and resources that authors with info online could use to convert their articles and things for those purposes. yes I think this last idea would definitely help ******************************************************************** 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 - 17 Aug 2007 to 18 Aug 2007 (#2007-74) ***************************************************************