========================================================================= Date: Mon, 16 Apr 2001 13:00:29 +0300 Reply-To: Mystara RPG Discussion Sender: Mystara RPG Discussion From: Ville V Lahde Subject: Magic and warfare In-Reply-To: <200104150705.f3F75T626071@uta.fi> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII The short discussion about the pros and cons of Battlesystem and War machine set me thinking about the widepread effects that magic might have on warfare and society in general. Somebody asked me to elaborate on the brief ideas I posed. As someone on the list noted, Battlesystem battles can of course be played out without magic disrupting the whole game concept. But we should remember that this is because the system is made to work, not because it really reflects the effects of magic. Let's take an example. We have a shield-spear formation, one of the most formiddable units in D&D world, with the exception of magic-using units or high level berserkers and such (I once saw a Hinterlander berserker unit run through three spear columns before it was stopped). The strength of such an unit is in its ability to stay in formation and protect itself against attacks from any direction. However, a single fireball is very devastating to a shield formation: you get instant morale checks from troop losses, magical attacks and possibly leader elimination. This in itself doesn't invalidate Battlesystem - let's just think of fireballs like very rare pieces of artillery. But even a 6th level wizard with a fly spell and protection from normal missiles, carrying a wand with a few charges, isn't artillery any longer. She/he is a mobile weapon platform. With some higer levels and clever applications of spells, you have an equivalent of an attack helicopter. Another, even more disruptive element are low-level attack spells such as magic missiles or sleep spells. A unit comprised of 2nd level casters (Darokin, Ierendi, the nomads, Alfheim and of course Glantri have them) can wipe out a couple of units in no time, even stop a heavy cavalry charge. But as was noted in the earlier discussion, tactical effects are only a part of the picture. The possibility of clerics to give instant first aid, eliminate diseases and feed isolated units will have a great impact on supply, no matter how much power the clerics have in your campaign. Prolonged warfare was an impossibility in feudal and early modern times, as armies dwindled quickly due to disease and famine. In Mystara this simply isn't true. Another feature of ancient warfare was that armies simply didn't know where the opponents were. An army could search the countryside for weeks, even months looking for their targets. With divination spells one can find the enemy and learn much about their plans and forces. This of course means that intelligence gathering and countermeasures will have a bigger role. What about very high level magic, such as invisible units and massmorph abilities? In most game worlds this issue has been solved by giving magic-users codes of conduct, their own concerns that "go beyond" the everyday politics and so on. But with so many PCs and evil adversaries around the credibility of this is pretty thin. I've been entertaining an idea od D&D warfare where very mobile, independently acting units that have magic-enhanced camourflage abilities form the backbone of warfare. They are able to decimate bridges, supply depots, cut land communication lines ("pony express") and in effect, make it very hard to see war as clear-cut fronts. Existence of such units will inevitably increase needs for magical communication and magic-enhanced logistics (I once saw a calculation of the amount of troops that could be supplied with a portable hole and a griffon, and I was surprised.) Effects of magic on the rest of the society are even harder to imagine. They depend very much on how widespread the use of magic is, and how common high-level casters are. Here are some ideas that were developed in one satisfying bar evening. - The sophistication fo alchemical and herbalistic science (and the fact that they work too) means that some people are much more aware of basic chemical and physical dynamics. There are various areas where this knowledge might be useful: agriculture (fertilizers and preservation- in the module Skarda's mirror hydroponics were introduced!), metalworking (new alloys), medicine (battling germs), and even warfare, if you aren't scared to introduce things like molotov coctails, napalm ballistae ammo, rudimentary explosives etc. - Weather-controlling magic and magic that aids movement has a great impact on navigation and land travel, hence on commerce. Coupled with the previous ideas this might lead to high dependence on exported reagents. None of these changes are of course necessary to have a good, satisfying D&D game. As I said earlier, I myself am so lazy that I decided to keep the old system and go on having fun with the Nomad wars. But if I start a new campaign some day (unlikely), I think that a new concept of warfare would make life much more interesting and challengind for the PCs. The reasons for the wars would have to be thought out much more seriously, as in this magically affected world the effects of war on any society would be profound. For the "winner" things would be much harder, too. Trade embargoes would have big effects, independent units could go on fighting a long time after the main cities of a nation were conquered. Keeping your spoils of war could be very hard. ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.dnd.starflung.com/ To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 16 Apr 2001 13:03:48 -0700 Reply-To: Mystara RPG Discussion Sender: Mystara RPG Discussion From: Auld Skald Subject: Re: The Mind Flayer In-Reply-To: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit I've been really behind with my MML mail (and a few other things -- sorry Jenn! I'm still working on my article!). Anyway, it's disappointing when I take a random sample of a thread before deleting it in-toto, and I see exchanges like these. I really don't have time to be writing responses like this, as it takes time away from other projects, etc.. Still, I feel it's important and I hope this will help. First, this all getting personal. That's a sign you should take a step back. Ramhog (VVH), the reason you should give a care (note the word change for a public forum) is that this list is for sharing ideas and opinions. Your opinion is /not/ more important to be heard. There doesn't need to be a "winner" in any thread, and I don't think your "my way or the highway" response makes for comity. I don't remember if you were around for the Good/Evil Stefan debacle. But, I learned something profound, yet simple, from it: It's more-or-less pointless to try to be "right" or "win" a discussion about what makes for the best Mystara. *It's a matter of opinion.* In that light, you can say you don't do "such-n-such" in your campaign for these reasons, and still not attack someone else. In fact, I'd encourage you to go one better: If you don't think something fits, you can say so, and then you can suggest some modification or addition to the idea that would help make it work. You're not committing yourself to saying that is "official" or "right" or whatever when you give that kind of response. To clarify what I've taken as the main points in /this/ thread: - Mind Flayers have not historically been a part of Mystara. - G.P. (and others) feel they don't "fit" the setting. - Mind Flayers or something like them /could/ be made to fit the setting if they were treated as a Nightmare Dimension creature. - No-one really feels obligated to use other people's campaign ideas in their own games. And, my tangential point: - What other people do in their campaigns, where they get their ideas, and how they may or may not integrate with Mystara makes for good discussion, but trying to be "right" and shutting down others' ideas because they don't fit with your own does not. -Auld Skald Quoting ramhog : > >> > >>And there you go again! The mind flayer *is* a D&D monster, dag > >>nabbit! And it's just as "appropriate" to Mystara as a cow-headed > >>Archon. > > > >Where did I mention the mind flayer in that sentence? You persist in > >adding mind flayers to my statements even when there is none... > > It's called "staying on topic". You may not have noticed the phrase > "The Mind Flayer" in the subject line, but it's there and it *is* the > topic and that's what I'm here to discuss. > > >The idea is just that I don't mind the rule origin (D&D or AD&D) of a > >monster, as long as it fits the setting (Mystara) *but* I do mind about > >the appropriateness of the creature to the setting, even in the case of > >a natively OD&D monster. Simply put, the system a monster is written > for > >doesn't matter. If I've never used the mind flayers in Mystara it is > not > >because I didn't know that it was an OD&D monster, it is because I > don't > >like having brain-eating octopus-like humanoids on Mystara. > >-- > > > > If you're whole argument is based on personal preference, then why am > I even wasting my time with you? I don't give a crap what you do in > your own campaign. If you don't like what I'm saying, save your > breath and move along! > > > VVH > > -- > > ******************************************************************** > The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp > The Mystara Homepage: http://www.dnd.starflung.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.dnd.starflung.com/ To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 17 Apr 2001 14:19:47 -0700 Reply-To: Mystara RPG Discussion Sender: Mystara RPG Discussion From: Chris Furneaux Subject: The D&D movie....Alphiatia on the big screen. In-Reply-To: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii I got to see the D&D movie yesterday.... what bolicks. And I was expecting the worst. They seemed to take a fairly average script, and filter it through bad directing and editing. I could have made a better movie and I've only done secondary school Film studies. Even I know you don't go from one side of a person to the other, because it's disorientateing yet in the movie such stuff happens. He falls down a pit and instead of following him down from above, you follow him from beneath. All for the sake of a cheesy fall down a pit. It actually looked like he was sliding horizontally. And that was just the begining. Also, I have nothing against gaurd beholders, good against mages after all, but I do if it's used with no thought like the one in the movie. And what gaurds just run off like that I ask you? what BS. If the distraction had been believeable it might have been ok. And it would have helped if he wasn't the only gaurd monster in the movie. As far as editing goes, they could have at least got the sound right. It was hard to hear what was being said over churping in the background sometimes. We got the picture at the begining, then your ment to make the scene come alive. And all that wispering, well get the gem and then we'll sell it, like the girl didn't hear them. I don't think they're as stupid as they appear. I must say though, I though the computer graphics of the buildings were good, but badly abused. Fly throughs and arounds are dead. They had very little point. The buildings did look cool, but what was with showing them almost always at night (probally more effiecent to render). Generally they looked real enough though, and the forms and designs were cool. But although the building CG looked good, the character animation sucked big eggs. The dragon looked like it was going to fall flat on it's face at the begining. It looked seriously off balance. The dragons while flying were fine, and I did like that, but it was very much "this is a dungeons and dragons movie so lets have some dungeons and lots of pointless dragons." So in many sences the plot was very weak because of this. The actual script and acting wasn't so bad, it's just the shite direction ment it made next to no difference. Mr Irons acted a very apropriate character and played him well, but that was barely noticable and was destroied by shite direction. I was interesting to see alphatia on the big screen. complete with the capitals name and empresses name virtually unchanged. There was even a shot of something like floating Ar. And The idea for the meeting chamber for the ruling council of wizards and the council itself fited, but why is there a child empress when all the other mages were old men with beards. And when you got all these mages with beards, why is profion so important? Why is he Mr Man. That made about as much sence as the gaurd beholder. So in summary the moive sucked big time but it did give me some ideas (other then what not to do's) and here they are, weather or not it's worth stealing from the movie: Erical needs a daughter who becomes a mage. get Zandor out the way and you got a potential child empress who thinks non-mages should be respected (hell erical is completly magically inept and so is most of norworld). There's a large surply of dragons in norworld too, and in one of the master modules one of the outcomes is being able to call on an army of dragons. Get enough mages bage to Alphatia and rename it something other then NACE (we could just use the name in the movie, hell they copied Mystara (although I don't know if I really want to associate that heep of bolicks with us)) rebuild Sundival on the reminants of the alphanian contenentwith batial insparation from floating Ar. Wizard council, dragons, child empress who wants to free the comoners, add a greedy wizard (relitive of zandor or zandor perhaps) and your've got a plot for a good module/campaign, that although draws insparation from the movie, has far more depth and is far more interesting. Chris. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Auctions - buy the things you want at great prices http://auctions.yahoo.com/ ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.dnd.starflung.com/ To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 17 Apr 2001 21:03:09 -0500 Reply-To: Mystara RPG Discussion Sender: Mystara RPG Discussion From: Mischa Gelman Subject: NPC: Nolur In-Reply-To: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII This NPC was inspired by Chesterton's Father Brown mysteries. Anyone familiar with the series should be able to see numerous similarities. Nolar, son of Faric History: Nolar was born 57 years ago, the son of two farmers from the Wyrwarf clan. The youngest of three dwarves, he was not singled out for special attention nor ignored by his hard-working parents. He was due to follow in their bootsteps, living the life of a typical Wyrwarf, until the local cleric discovered that young Nolar had a gift for the mystical. Apprenticed to said cleric, Nolar became a strong advocate for Kagyar and his faith, eventually succeeding his mentor in the position of primary caretaker for the spiritual needs of the community. It was in this role that Nolar was called upon to assist with a murder investigation 4 years ago. Solving this mystery, which had left local authorities baffled, Nolar won even more respect from his flock. Since then, the more insightful residents of the vicinity have called upon him to help solve similar conundrums which arose. Personality: Nolar is a very shy, commpassionate personality. He tends to the needs of his brethren, whether performing his clerical duties or detective work. Throughout it all, he is humble, never acting as if his abilities come from anyone other than Kagyar, who gifted all dwarves with whatever knowledge and skill they may possess. Nolar is also rather gentle, as dwarves go, and has so far shied away from any possible admirers, leading to his remanining single for the forseeable future. Like all dwarves, he enjoys fine craftsmanship, fine ale and spelunking. Appearance: Nolar stands a rather small 3'8", 95#, entirely unimposing. This lack of physical presence is reinforced by his bifocals and dull grey clothing. Nolar truly fits the stereotypical image of a Wyrwarf dwarf, at least as perceived by the other clans - puny and meaningless. Such an appearance leads to adversaries underestimating him, alas, especially given his Detective Columbo-style presentation during his investigations. Combat Notes: He is a 4th-level dwarf-cleric. AC 9 (None); hp 15; at 1; D by spell; save D4 (+3 vs. spells); ML 11; Al L/N; S 8, I 10, W 18, D 9, Co 10, Ch 11. Languages: Rockhome Dwarvish, Ylari, Ethengari, Orcish. General Skills: Mountaineering (D), Honor Kagyar (W+1), Persuasion (Ch). And an appropriate .sig - Mischa - I never said it was always wrong to enter fairyland. I only said it was always dangerous. - Father Brown, "The Sins of Prince Saradine" ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.dnd.starflung.com/ To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 17 Apr 2001 19:00:06 -0700 Reply-To: Mystara RPG Discussion Sender: Mystara RPG Discussion From: The Stalker Subject: Re: The D&D movie....Alphiatia on the big screen. On Tue, 17 Apr 2001 14:19:47 -0700, Chris Furneaux wrote: (snip) > >Also, I have nothing against gaurd beholders, good >against mages after all, but I do if it's used with no >thought like the one in the movie. And what gaurds >just run off like that I ask you? what BS. If the >distraction had been believeable it might have been >ok. And it would have helped if he wasn't the only >gaurd monster in the movie. > I believe several people were rather disappointed by that scene, to say the least. I think it was Jenn Merrifield who stated what she thought of a beholder chasing after a thrown rock... Not that I blame her. If they're going to put beholders in there, then use them for something! Most of us who know D&D well probably freaked when we saw those critters, and then they distract them by throwing a rock!? (snip) > >I must say though, I though the computer graphics of >the buildings were good, but badly abused. Fly >throughs and arounds are dead. They had very little >point. The buildings did look cool, but what was with >showing them almost always at night (probally more >effiecent to render). Generally they looked real >enough though, and the forms and designs were cool. > >But although the building CG looked good, the >character animation sucked big eggs. The dragon looked >like it was going to fall flat on it's face at the >begining. It looked seriously off balance. The dragons >while flying were fine, and I did like that, but it >was very much "this is a dungeons and dragons movie so >lets have some dungeons and lots of pointless >dragons." So in many sences the plot was very weak >because of this. > I liked the dragon fights at the end. The rest wasn't so hot, though. >The actual script and acting wasn't so bad, it's just >the shite direction ment it made next to no >difference. Mr Irons acted a very apropriate character >and played him well, but that was barely noticable and >was destroied by shite direction. > I thought Profion was uninspiring and boring to say the least. I mean, they have Jeremy Irons and he doesn't even get to say any cool lines!? Bruce Payne *so* stole the scene in that respect ("Oh look... I've cut her. What a shame!") >I was interesting to see alphatia on the big screen. >complete with the capitals name and empresses name >virtually unchanged. Well, let's see: Alphatia: Empress Eriadna - Izmer: Empress Savina Alphatia: Sundsvall - Izmer: Sumdall No, there is no doubt where the inspiration came from. It's not all the same, though. > There was even a shot of >something like floating Ar. Damn! I missed that one! ;) > And The idea for the >meeting chamber for the ruling council of wizards and >the council itself fited, but why is there a child >empress when all the other mages were old men with >beards. There are reasons for that only they were cut from the film. IIRC, the original version had a bit in the beginning where the emperor suddenly dies, leaving the power of the empire in the hands of his young daughter. This is, of course, Profion's doing, since he conspired with Damodar, the Captain of the Crimson Guard (charged with protecting the emperor's life, it seems), to poison the emperor! There were things cut from the film that caused problems like this. > And when you got all these mages with beards, >why is profion so important? Why is he Mr Man. That >made about as much sence as the gaurd beholder. > True. You would have thought that all those wizards would be different, but apprently they're all just one wizard who cloned himself too many times. Then again, canon Mystara Alphatia is little better - the only member of the council ever described there is Tylion and that's just because he is Eriadna's father :( >So in summary the moive sucked big time but it did >give me some ideas (other then what not to do's) and >here they are, weather or not it's worth stealing from >the movie: > > >Erical needs a daughter who becomes a mage. get Zandor >out the way and you got a potential child empress who >thinks non-mages should be respected (hell erical is >completly magically inept and so is most of norworld). > > >There's a large surply of dragons in norworld too, and >in one of the master modules one of the outcomes is >being able to call on an army of dragons. > >Get enough mages bage to Alphatia and rename it >something other then NACE (we could just use the name >in the movie, hell they copied Mystara (although I >don't know if I really want to associate that heep of >bolicks with us)) > >rebuild Sundival on the reminants of the alphanian >contenentwith batial insparation from floating Ar. > >Wizard council, dragons, child empress who wants to >free the comoners, add a greedy wizard (relitive of >zandor or zandor perhaps) and your've got a plot for a >good module/campaign, that although draws insparation >from the movie, has far more depth and is far more >interesting. > I've been considering something like this myself, but I don't think we can fit this into the way things are now on Mystara. Sundsvall cannot be rebuilt, for example, because it's a ruin at the bottom of the sea. If this was to be put into Alphatia (and that is possible), then it would have to be in the past, I think. Even so, I would certainly have my doubts about something like the Royal Rod of Dragon Control or the Rod of Savrille. It's bad enough to give the Alphatians something like this (particularly when one considers how dragons seem to hate Alphatians in the Dragonlord Chronicles), but how about the players? Let Profion have it any day of the week, I say, but for the love of all that is good and holy - KEEP IT AWAY FROM THE PLAYERS!!!!! ;) - The Stalker ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.dnd.starflung.com/ To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 18 Apr 2001 04:17:04 +0200 Reply-To: Mystara RPG Discussion Sender: Mystara RPG Discussion From: =?iso-8859-1?Q?Andr=E9s_Piquer_Otero?= Subject: Re: The D&D movie....Alphiatia on the big screen. MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit hi, D&D is now in theaters here in Spain too... I refrained from seeing it in NY last fall, but now boredom and living alone may win over me... I guess for all posts so far that it's Bad with a capital "b"... may I expect to laugh for a while or is it just a bland attempt without the redeeming humor qualities of B rated movies?? are there any inspiring characters, ideas or nuances to D&D players or is it just plain and awful?? i remember a classic fantasy film, Krull: it was kinda awful: plot, design, some effects, but it had some kind of charm... Andr�s ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.dnd.starflung.com/ To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 17 Apr 2001 20:36:08 -0700 Reply-To: Mystara RPG Discussion Sender: Mystara RPG Discussion From: Chris Furneaux Subject: Re: The D&D movie....Alphiatia on the big screen. In-Reply-To: <001c01c0c7ae$a14a1e40$7f6d99c1@uchicago.edu> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii > D&D is now in theaters here in Spain too... I > refrained from seeing it in NY > last fall, but now boredom and living alone may win > over me... I guess for > all posts so far that it's Bad with a capital "b"... > may I expect to laugh > for a while or is it just a bland attempt without > the redeeming humor > qualities of B rated movies?? Well I don't regret seing it. And there was "some" comic humor, but bad direction ruins most of it. > are there any > inspiring characters, ideas or > nuances to D&D players or is it just plain and > awful?? I thought that the non-heros were far more interesting then the heros. The queen was totally flat and I don't mean in the chest. The character was just lifeless and boring. Profion and his goon were quite cool, and had definate potential but it was almost all squanded. The theives guild and the bar fight were tipical, and a lot of the stuff that happened I could see happening in a game...but...not as easily as it happened in the movie. It just needed a little more depth and thinking. It was like a bunch of players running around with a DM that goes really easy on them. The magic use was cool and the elves were quite mysterian/tolken/OD&D like. Most spells were fairly apropriate, but dragons were underpowered, overrated, and used to the point of overkill, for no apparant reason. I did like some of the other characters like the wise old sage (mage advisor) to the empress. And the head of the thieves guild was ok, but went way too easy on everyone (easy DM syndrome). The graphics were gennerally good and the sets were quite impressive, but they were abused/misused a bit. > i remember a classic fantasy film, Krull: it was > kinda awful: plot, design, > some effects, but it had some kind of charm... The D&D movie is not going to go down as a classic like krull I'm sure. Ironically it was on TV not long ago. I've been thinking about borrowing the tape and watching it. I enjoyed it for what it could have been far more then what it was, and I'm glad I went even though it was crap. And I did get some good ideas out of it, especally on how to hinder my PC's. Like when they say "I'm searching for traps" I think I'll be asking how and what they are expecting (after giving them some himts from what they can see). Just a little more depth over and above the norm. Chris. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Auctions - buy the things you want at great prices http://auctions.yahoo.com/ ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.dnd.starflung.com/ To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 17 Apr 2001 23:19:29 -0700 Reply-To: Mystara RPG Discussion Sender: Mystara RPG Discussion From: "David S. Leland" Subject: Re: The D&D movie....Alphiatia on the big screen. In-Reply-To: <001c01c0c7ae$a14a1e40$7f6d99c1@uchicago.edu> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable At 07:17 PM 4/17/01, Andr=E9s Piquer Otero wrote: >hi, > >D&D is now in theaters here in Spain too... I refrained from seeing it in= NY >last fall, but now boredom and living alone may win over me... I guess for >all posts so far that it's Bad with a capital "b"... may I expect to laugh >for a while or is it just a bland attempt without the redeeming humor >qualities of B rated movies?? are there any inspiring characters, ideas or >nuances to D&D players or is it just plain and awful?? > >i remember a classic fantasy film, Krull: it was kinda awful: plot, design, >some effects, but it had some kind of charm... My friends and I agreed that it was too good, by which I mean it was= so bad, that if was just a bit worse, it would be completely laughable, but= since it wasn't quite THAT bad, it was just unlaughably terrible. Weapons= and props were often hokey looking, and something I just have to say= because I don't see this sense from others--I think the dialogue was= HORRENDOUS and drawn-out. You won't be emotionally scarred if you see it, but I frankly= wouldn't have paid money to see it if I knew what I was getting into. Magus Coeruleus ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.dnd.starflung.com/ To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 17 Apr 2001 23:34:34 -0700 Reply-To: Mystara RPG Discussion Sender: Mystara RPG Discussion From: Chris Furneaux Subject: Re: The D&D movie....Alphiatia on the big screen. In-Reply-To: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii > I thought Profion was uninspiring and boring to say > the least. I mean, they > have Jeremy Irons and he doesn't even get to say any > cool lines!? Bruce > Payne *so* stole the scene in that respect ("Oh > look... I've cut her. What > a shame!") true. Don't forget "you want to play do you?" I don't think it was Jeremy Irons that was flat but the directing. Amp up his voice and frame the shots a bit better and he'd be good I think. > > There was even a shot of > >something like floating Ar. > > Damn! I missed that one! ;) Well the islands wern't quite floating, but it's a very similar impression I got. They were actually a series of castles atop eroded pillars of dirt. Like floating ar but with the differince that there isn't any problem with building bridges. Still hunks of dirt in the sky. Chris. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Auctions - buy the things you want at great prices http://auctions.yahoo.com/ ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.dnd.starflung.com/ To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 18 Apr 2001 15:08:29 -0700 Reply-To: Mystara RPG Discussion Sender: Mystara RPG Discussion From: Brendan Corliss Subject: Re: The D&D movie....Alphiatia on the big screen. In-Reply-To: <4.3.2.7.1.20010417210510.00ba9530@cogsci.ucsd.edu> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii --- "David S. Leland" wrote: > My friends and I agreed that it was too > good, by which I mean it was so bad, that if was > just a bit worse, it would be completely laughable, > but since it wasn't quite THAT bad, it was just > unlaughably terrible. Agreed. It didn't even have the cheese factor of a B-movie like Sinbad with Lou Ferrigno. First of all, I think they took themselves *way* too seriously... especially considering what a tremendously horrble script they had. > Weapons and props were often > hokey looking, and something I just have to say > because I don't see this sense from others--I think > the dialogue was HORRENDOUS and drawn-out. I was tempted to get up and leave several times... I still don't know why I didn't. Not only was the dialogue worthless but the delivery was consistantly melodramatic as well. Ironically, I found Jeremy Irons to be embarassing in his role while Marlan Wayans gave just about the only tolerable performance (even if it was a bit anachronistic). > You won't be emotionally scarred if you see > it, but I frankly wouldn't have paid money to see it > if I knew what I was getting into. No, it won't do any permanent damage to anyone who sees it. But, it may do a *whole lot* of damage to the image of D&D. We're already fighting an uphill battle with people who are unfamiliar with the game considering all the prejudices out there. If people see this and think "so that's what that game is all about" then you have that many less people willing to give it a chance. OK, sure I'll never get that two hours of my life back but I did save a few bucks on the matinee. More than anything, though, was the question I had leaving the theater: Why did they have to attach the D&D name to something so completely horrible? Especially in light of the recent release of 3rd Edition. Anyway, that's just my two Daros worth. -Damon AKA Brendan Corliss ===== May all your endeavors be Gold! __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Auctions - buy the things you want at great prices http://auctions.yahoo.com/ ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.dnd.starflung.com/ To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 18 Apr 2001 16:57:29 -0700 Reply-To: Mystara RPG Discussion Sender: Mystara RPG Discussion From: The Stalker Subject: Re: The D&D movie....Alphiatia on the big screen. On Wed, 18 Apr 2001 04:17:04 +0200, =?iso-8859-1?Q?Andr=E9s_Piquer_Otero?= wrote: >hi, > >D&D is now in theaters here in Spain too... I refrained from seeing it in NY >last fall, but now boredom and living alone may win over me... I guess for >all posts so far that it's Bad with a capital "b"... may I expect to laugh >for a while or is it just a bland attempt without the redeeming humor >qualities of B rated movies?? are there any inspiring characters, ideas or >nuances to D&D players or is it just plain and awful?? > Well, I fully expected the film to be absolutely horrible, so in that context it actually came off as a bit fun, entertaining, and silly. There are good effects in it, but knowing that it would be a "children's D&D" experience before I began watching, it was actually rather innocent and funny. The lost potential cuts much deeper wounds, though! This film is just so full of lost opportunities. Like I said before, they hire Jeremy Irons to play the evil archmage and then they don't even give him any cool lines!? How disappointing! Most of the characters are pretty much what you expect from a bad movie - they do what they are supposed to, but nothing more. I actually think the Ridley character could have been fun, but he was so busy being the reluctant good guy it's a pain. He starts off hating all the mages and refusing to help Marina (the goody little girl mage he is, of course, doomed to fall in love with), yet she somehow convinces him to help her. How? We don't know, as the whole thing takes place off-screen! Grrrrr :( Damodar is the best character in this movie. Bruce Payne is perfect at playing the bad guy and he is so much more the villain than Profion - probably because Damodar actually gets to say and do evil things. The worst character, IMNSHO, is definitely Snails (Marlon Wayans). As comedy side-kicks go, he has to be one of the most annoying and intolerable I've yet seen in a movie. There is one redeeming part to the movie in this matter, though - he gets the fate we all wished for Jar-Jar Binks ;) The dwarf is another mystery. According to Dragon magazine his name is Elwood, which sounds really strange to me. He proves he is a dwarf by having a constantly bad attitude and swinging his axe three or four times during the movie (hitting only once, I think)... And that's it - that's all he does throughout the entire movie! I wonder why they even bothered to put him in the movie, because he doesn't do anything at all. One character I just have to mention is Norda, the elf. She's looking for the scroll the heroes are accused of stealing, but when she catches them, she immediately believes their story. As if that wasn't bad enough, she has the most annoying habit of saying something along the lines of "Only you are meant to enter" or "We were never meant to enter this place" all the time. The effective result of which is that Ridley gets to sneak into all the dangerous places himself while his 'heroic companions' hide outside - so much for team-work (and this in a movie supposedly based on the basic concepts of D&D)! >i remember a classic fantasy film, Krull: it was kinda awful: plot, design, >some effects, but it had some kind of charm... > Actually, I think the D&D movie will be remembered about as much as Krull, Willow, or similar movies. It won't be one D&D-players will remind other people about, though. I'm *so* looking forward to "The Fellowship of the Ring"! - The Stalker ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.dnd.starflung.com/ To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 19 Apr 2001 03:30:22 +0100 Reply-To: Mystara RPG Discussion Sender: Mystara RPG Discussion From: Phillip Jones Subject: Re: The D&D movie....Alphiatia on the big screen. MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > The dwarf is another mystery. According to Dragon magazine his name is > Elwood, which sounds really strange to me. He proves he is a dwarf by > having a constantly bad attitude and swinging his axe three or four times > during the movie (hitting only once, I think)... And that's it - that's all > he does throughout the entire movie! I wonder why they even bothered to put > him in the movie, because he doesn't do anything at all. He does have the best line in film though. When they were on their way to the Thieves Guild through the market, and Marina stops to admire some of the wares. He grabs her and says "If I'm not drinking, you're not shopping!" A classic line. :) Then again, I like really cheesy statements like that :) Apart from the "Guard Beholder" that can be fooled by a thrown stone, the most ultimate waste was the "Undead Guardian" type of the Red Dragon Rod. He mumbles some pathetic warning then gives it up without even a fight! If I tried that with my players it would be "Cheers mate! That was easy." Also when the guardian "died" why didn't Ridley loot the place? I thought he was supposed to be a thief? My players would barely be able to walk, they would have carried out so much treasure. Even if only one of them could go in, the character would just simply shuttle out the treasure to the waiting party. Ok I know his friends were captured outside but how did he know that? I mean he didn't even take a single gp out of the place. Criminal I tell you! :) For what its worth, I actually enjoyed the film. It was so bad, it was actually good. I don't think there was one section I could keep a straight face whilst watching it. Btw did anyone notice the casting of Richard O'Brien (think thats his name anyway) as the Thieves Guild Master. Considering he used to host the game show "The Crystal Maze", I thought having a maze in the film too was just so funny! Phil (a.k.a Alexander Korrigan: humble student of the Great School of Magic) "I'm not evil, just practical." ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.dnd.starflung.com/ To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 19 Apr 2001 08:25:13 -0400 Reply-To: Mystara RPG Discussion Sender: Mystara RPG Discussion From: Christopher Cherrington Subject: Re: D&D Movie MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" I never went to see it, my players were allot younger than me and they all went together. At my next game nobody mentioned anything about the movie, that was my hint. I believe Gary Gygax once mentioned that there would never be a D&D movie (dating myself). He did not like the cartoon either. Gary said it distracted from the imagination and would take away too much from the game. Maybe the producers of the movie did this on purpose, to keep players from trying to role-play their heroes. I heard the Dwarf in the movie was the only person who ever played D&D, maybe that is why he had the best line. ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.dnd.starflung.com/ To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 19 Apr 2001 10:18:19 -0400 Reply-To: Mystara RPG Discussion Sender: Mystara RPG Discussion From: Geoff Gander Subject: Re: The D&D movie....Alphiatia on the big screen. Speaking of fantasy movies (OT, I know.....), did anyone see Kull the Conqueror when it came out a couple years ago (1998-99)? If so, was it any good? Geoff -- Geoff Gander, BA 97 Cartographer/Game Designer/Government Peon Carnifex Loremaster au998@freenet.carleton.ca : www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Realm/2091 ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.dnd.starflung.com/ To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 19 Apr 2001 09:26:58 -0700 Reply-To: Mystara RPG Discussion Sender: Mystara RPG Discussion From: John Calvin Subject: Call to join MA Artwork team! MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Hi all, I'm putting out a call for artists to join the MA Artwork team. There is an endless supply of potential projects (and so far only 2 members)! It doesn't matter what your artistic medium or skill level is. If you enjoy drawing (or painting or sculpting or whatever) and you have even the tiniest amount of free time to spend doing some Mystara related artwork, then drop me a line. chimpman.geo@yahoo.com We want more artists! Thanks, John ===== Rule #53. If the beautiful princess that I capture says "I'll never marry you! Never, do you hear me, NEVER!!!", I will say "Oh well" and kill her. from "A Guide to Becoming an Evil Overlord" by Peter Anspach __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Auctions - buy the things you want at great prices http://auctions.yahoo.com/ ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.dnd.starflung.com/ To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 19 Apr 2001 12:41:55 -0500 Reply-To: Mystara RPG Discussion Sender: Mystara RPG Discussion From: ramhog Subject: Re: Call to join MA Artwork team! In-Reply-To: <20010419162658.23867.qmail@web1202.mail.yahoo.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ; format="flowed" > >Hi all, > >I'm putting out a call for artists to join the MA Artwork team. What's MA? Mystara A...? VVH -- ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.dnd.starflung.com/ To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 19 Apr 2001 20:52:27 +0200 Reply-To: Mystara RPG Discussion Sender: Mystara RPG Discussion From: Agathokles Subject: Ylari Kits - Barber MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit This kit is based on the Barber kit from the Al Quadim setting, though the balance of proficiencies and requirements is different. A few other kits from that setting could be used for Ylari characters, notably the Desert Rider (I'll post an adaptation of this one in the near future) and perhaps the Askar (city warrior) and Beggar-Thief. I think most others aren't really fit, or there are already Mystaran kits that would work better for that role (f.e.: I think that Faris could be handled as a Defenders of Al Kalim). However, here is the kit: Barber ------ (This kit is adapted from the Al Qadim Barber kit) Role: the Barber is a roguish character, who performs his art in the suq of one of the Ylari towns or villages. He serves as a minor physician and surgeon, and has a knowledge of herbal remedies as well. The Barber spends his time hawking his skills, telling long-winded tales, and bargaining with his customers. Requirements: Barbers are always Rogues. They often show streaks of madness, though this is more an effect of their unconventional mindset (non-Lawful alignment) than of an actual mental disease. They are always charismatic and intelligent (min 10 each). Class Modifications: Barber Thieves are more apt at decoding maps and reading ancient languages, and at skills which require a firm hand and fast fingers, while they are lacking in those skills used to evade the attention of others, since they actually like to attract it. Therefore, they get a +5% bonus to Read Languages, Find/Remove Traps and Pick Pockets, and a -5% penalty to Move Silently, Hide in Shadows and Climb Walls. Barber Bards have no modifications. If the DMs allows so, the Barber Thief can take the Detect Illusion skill instead of Move Silently and Hide in Shadows. In this case, however, the Barber Thief has no bonus to the Find/Remove Traps and Pick Pockets skills. Weapon Proficiencies: Barbers must select the razor as their first weapon proficiency. Non-Weapon Proficiencies: the Barber performs also small surgery and healing, therefore he gets Herbalism for free and must take Healing at the cost of 2 slots. As many other Ylari characters, the Barber is literate, and must take the Reading/Writing proficiency (at the reduced cost of 1 slot, for the Alasiyan script). A Thief Barber must take Local History as well (Bards have it as a class skill). All Barbers have the Fast-Talking proficiency as a bonus proficiency. Equipment: a Barber needs a stall, or at least a carpet and a portable chair to perform his job, obviously in addition to a barbering kit, including razors. Special Benefits: Barber Thieves get the Bards' ability to know the origin and purpose of items, though at the reduced rate of 3% per level. Special Hindrances: due to their concentration on diverse skills, Barber Thieves get less skill points to spend at first level: their allotment is reduced to 50 points. Starting Wealth: Barbers get the usual funds, and are free to spend them as they wish. -- Giampaolo Agosta agathokles@libero.it agosta@elet.polimi.it http://digilander.iol.it/agathokles ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.dnd.starflung.com/ To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 19 Apr 2001 16:06:20 -0400 Reply-To: Mystara RPG Discussion Sender: Mystara RPG Discussion From: Christopher Cherrington Subject: Curiosity MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" I am curious, only 267 people with internet access are interested in the Mystara Campaign? I just recently found out about this place, but I have told everyone I know about it. How many in this listing are DM's? I have been a DM for the Mystara Campaign for many years, but the only way I can get new players is by converting the OD&D to 3rd Edition. Any help can be greatly accepted, I can also give out campaign advice on several scenarios with the Mystaran timeline (14 years and 12 different campaigns on the same material) Currently I am running a campaign with the Wrath of the Immortals, except the players caused the destruction of Alphatia 5 years earlier, now the hook is Thyatis is looking west instead of going east to pick on the remnants of Alphatia. Heldann's can't do anything as a power as they are at war with Ethengar... It's a giant Risk game at the moment. ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.dnd.starflung.com/ To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 19 Apr 2001 15:54:03 -0500 Reply-To: Mystara RPG Discussion Sender: Mystara RPG Discussion From: John Polacek Subject: Re: Call to join MA Artwork team! Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed Hi, After reading your post to Mystara-L, I may be interested in helping out. But first, I was wondering: 1. What is the MA Artwork team? (Is it the Mystaran Almanac, or something else? 2. What types of projects? >From: John Calvin >Reply-To: Mystara RPG Discussion >To: MYSTARA-L@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM >Subject: [MYSTARA] Call to join MA Artwork team! >Date: Thu, 19 Apr 2001 09:26:58 -0700 > > >Hi all, > >I'm putting out a call for artists to join the MA Artwork team. There is >an >endless supply of potential projects (and so far only 2 members)! It >doesn't >matter what your artistic medium or skill level is. If you enjoy drawing >(or >painting or sculpting or whatever) and you have even the tiniest amount of >free >time to spend doing some Mystara related artwork, then drop me a line. > >chimpman.geo@yahoo.com > >We want more artists! > > >Thanks, >John > > >===== >Rule #53. >If the beautiful princess that I capture says "I'll never marry you! Never, >do you hear me, NEVER!!!", I will say "Oh well" and kill her. > >from "A Guide to Becoming an Evil Overlord" by Peter Anspach > >__________________________________________________ >Do You Yahoo!? >Yahoo! Auctions - buy the things you want at great prices >http://auctions.yahoo.com/ > >******************************************************************** >The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp >The Mystara Homepage: http://www.dnd.starflung.com/ >To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM >with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. > _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.dnd.starflung.com/ To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 20 Apr 2001 01:06:52 +0200 Reply-To: Mystara RPG Discussion Sender: Mystara RPG Discussion From: Jacob Skytte Subject: Re: Curiosity MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Christopher Cherrington = wrote: > I am curious, only 267 people with internet access are interested in = the > Mystara Campaign? There may be some people who just pick the best of this list on the = Official Mystara Site, rather than sitting through all the mails, I = guess. > I just recently found out about this place, but I have > told everyone I know about it. Welcome, and keep spreading the word! > How many in this listing are DM's? Who knows? I am, and have been since I started playing some 15 years ago = or so. > Currently I am running a campaign with the Wrath of the Immortals, > except the players caused the destruction of Alphatia 5 years earlier, Sounds interesting. Just out of curiosity, how did the players destroy = Alphatia? > now > the hook is Thyatis is looking west instead of going east to pick on = the > remnants of Alphatia. Heldann's can't do anything as a power as they = are at > war with Ethengar... How does Heldann and Ethengar manage to get in touch with each other, = and who's invading who?!? Jacob Skytte scythe@wanadoo.dk ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.dnd.starflung.com/ To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 19 Apr 2001 19:26:49 EDT Reply-To: Mystara RPG Discussion Sender: Mystara RPG Discussion From: Dennis Pascale Subject: Re: Curiosity MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hello and Welcome! To answer some questions, I too am a DM who runs a Mystara campaign, although I don't post too much to the list, but do appreciate the debates and info other posters have given me (so another tip of the hat to you all). Currently, with all the 3E conversions going on and all, I actually took a step back and I'm about to begin a "New...Old" campaign using the OD&D rules system. I've been playing a current Ravenloft 2E campaign with great results and though I like the new 3E rules, I'm just not ready or have the time to convert. So instead, with the help of fellow gamers and Ebay, I've tracked down many OD&D products. I was an unfortunate DM who actually started Mystara during TSR's ill-fated 2E conversion and got caught with a campaign setting that had very little info. Everything else was out of print. But thanks to this online community, that all changed. Now having grabbed all the Gazetteers and many accessories, I have a full world ready to explore. My players have been creating characters and it will take place in the year 1000 AC. I do plan incorporating WotI into the campaign, however the real underlying plot line will involve the forces of Entrophy trying to take over the world. This will eventually lead to a giant conspiracy headed by the Night Dragon Synn. I'm slowly working out the details and when the story is more pact I'll see about posting it here. It should be a very story oriented campaign. Fleshed out with lots of details and I plan on sending the group all over the world during the course of many years. I don't know how much the world of Mystara will stay "cannon" as my plot line develops but with such a rich setting, I'll have no problems or shortage of ideas. Again, thanks to everyone on this list and happy gaming everyone! :) ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.dnd.starflung.com/ To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 19 Apr 2001 16:36:53 -0700 Reply-To: Mystara RPG Discussion Sender: Mystara RPG Discussion From: Ramses Ramirez Subject: What was Synn's "soul-stealing" ability in VOTPA series again? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii It has been a while since I read the VOTPA series in Dragon magazine (and I do not have access to it, since I'm away from home) and just needed a refresher on how Synn the Night Dragon converted human souls into undead while on Oceania. I know that at the time of Haldemaar, Synn had some undead spirits that served her on Oceania. I just can not remember.If someone can answer any (or all) of the below questions... 1) Where/how those servants came from? (I THINK they were island natives that were transformed to undead servants when Synn arrived) 2)How was Synn exactly able to turn these people into undead? 3) Lastly, (this might be the most difficult) does anyone know why Synn went to Oceania in the first place? If anyone can fill me in it would be most appreciated.. Thanks! Lancer __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Auctions - buy the things you want at great prices http://auctions.yahoo.com/ ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.dnd.starflung.com/ To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 19 Apr 2001 16:41:26 -0700 Reply-To: Mystara RPG Discussion Sender: Mystara RPG Discussion From: The Stalker Subject: Re: Call to join MA Artwork team! On Thu, 19 Apr 2001 12:41:55 -0500, ramhog wrote: >> >>Hi all, >> >>I'm putting out a call for artists to join the MA Artwork team. > >What's MA? Mystara A...? > Mystaran Almanac. It's the big net-event every year. After TSR stopped publishing stuff for Mystara, a few fans continued the timeline after AC 1013 (described in the dreaded Joshuan's Almanac) in a new effort more along the lines of the PWAs. So far that has resulted in MA 1014, MA 1015, MA 1016, and MA 1017 a few months ago. The project has also grown rather large - the last MA was 825 pages long, and more than 30 people are currently working on the project planning the events on Mystara for AC 1018. If you need to study it, there is a link at Shawn Stanley's official site (the Vaults of Pandius - link at the end of this message). You could also go to the official MA site and download the various almanac. www.geocities.com/gallidox - The Stalker ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.dnd.starflung.com/ To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 19 Apr 2001 16:47:41 -0700 Reply-To: Mystara RPG Discussion Sender: Mystara RPG Discussion From: Ramses Ramirez Subject: Re: Curiosity In-Reply-To: <30.13ab6a8f.2810ce39@aol.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Hello Chris and welcome to the list! I am also a Mystara DM though I have not gamed as long as many others on this list have as I started Mystara (and roleplaying in general) in '94. In that short time, however, I have been able to gather quite a complete collection. :) Just goes to show how much I got hooked on the setting! Sounds like you probably dislike 2e if you are converting to 3e instead.. But I run 2e Mystara campaigns and found the conversion between OD&D and 2e to be quite trivial to my delight. The two systems are VERY similar and I am happy with the slightly added detail. I imagine that the vast majority of those on this list are indeed DMs.. it would not surprise me :) Again, I'd like to welcome you on the list. Lancer __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Auctions - buy the things you want at great prices http://auctions.yahoo.com/ ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.dnd.starflung.com/ To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 20 Apr 2001 08:56:37 -0400 Reply-To: Mystara RPG Discussion Sender: Mystara RPG Discussion From: Christopher Cherrington Subject: Re: MYSTARA Curiosity part 2 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" To answer a few questions on my current campaign... The players stepped on a few toes in Alphatia when they proved the innocence of the Glantrian 'Spies' (This goes along with The Wrath of the Immortals boxed set) Several of the players did not like being Glantrian puppets, they believed they were being used. 2 Players in the group were of Alphatian descent, and had access to Alphatian mercenaries from Thothia on the Isle of Dawn. They used an ancient Nithian device to transport these mercs into Glantri City itself, at the same time as several Mages from Alphatia teleported in to harass the Glantrian mages, for the fire damage that destroyed several sky ships in the pc's escape. (again from the timeline in Wrath of the Immortals) This all happened by accident, 2 members in the party did not know what the artifact could do, but they inadvertently made it look like Alphatia had launched a ground invasion and mage invasion on Glantri. D'Amberville would have no choice but to retaliate using his doomsday weapon a whole 5 years earlier than the timeline and sink Alphatia to the bottom of the ocean. This was a long story line and this is very little detail on what actually happened, but because of the early ending to the Wrath of the Immortals timeline, Alphatia still had not prepared most of her forces for the upcoming war with Thyatis. Which means most of her forces would have gone to the Hollow World with the rest of her country. ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.dnd.starflung.com/ To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 20 Apr 2001 08:57:13 -0400 Reply-To: Mystara RPG Discussion Sender: Mystara RPG Discussion From: Christopher Cherrington Subject: Re: MYSTARA Curiosity part 3 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" The Heldanns are caught in a war from their neighbors on their southern border (the Ethengarians). Again from the Wrath of the Immortals timeline. This was a small war over some border raiding that always occurs between the 2 nations. Normally a few small battles and the 'war' ends. When this event was happening, is when the pc's inadvertently started the final outcome of the Wrath of the Immortals. With no magical backup (clerical included because of the suddenness of Alphatia sinking) Heldannic Knights with their dependence of their war birds were inoperable. The Ethengarians would have noticed this, and made a very unusually large push deep into the Heldann Freeholds. The Ethengarians are numerous, and don't need supply lines as they carry everything with them (women & children included). Because of this unusual event (no magic), the Ethengarians saw this as a sign that the current Kahn was part of their legends and destined to rule the world. So now the Ethengarians have turned this small border raid into their holy horde war with the idea they deserve to take the world. This event would have demoralized a large portion of Heldann Freeholds, most of their population at home is of Antalian stock and they looked up to their Hattian cousins as their religious superiors. ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.dnd.starflung.com/ To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 20 Apr 2001 09:35:23 -0400 Reply-To: Mystara RPG Discussion Sender: Mystara RPG Discussion From: Christopher Cherrington Subject: Re: Lancer MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" I don't dislike 2ed, I have always been a DM with OD&D, this way I can play 2ed as a player with no DM knowledge of the Realms, and my players would have no inside knowledge of Mystara as they preferred 2ed gaming products. I took a 6 year hiatus from playing (work, wife & kids; the biggest killers of RPs). Now my wife lets me out once a week to play, but nobody in my area wanted to play OD&D when they wanted to learn 3ed (as it just came out, at the time). With the new rules in 3ed, it has not changed much for the campaign. Mystara has always been a powerful NPC and PC world, Alphatia had a ruling council of 1000 36 level mages, and Thyatis boasted they had at least 20 36 level mages on one island! That is allot of magic power, and sometimes it makes the players feel inferior, but then they realize these mages want nothing to do with their actions. 3ed will tone this down a little, especially when advancing in several different classes makes a character more rounded, and you can never really tell who is the rogue in the party anymore (we are all a little rogue at heart). ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.dnd.starflung.com/ To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 20 Apr 2001 10:01:59 -0400 Reply-To: Mystara RPG Discussion Sender: Mystara RPG Discussion From: Geoff Gander Subject: Re: Curiosity Chris wrote: >I am curious, only 267 people with internet access are interested in the >Mystara Campaign? I just recently found out about this place, but I have >told everyone I know about it. How many in this listing are DM's? Hello Chris, and welcome! >From what I've seen, most members of this list appear to be DMs, since a lot of DM-only information passes through here (most of which should not be seen by players). That said, there are a number of players here, and some members are people who don't play or DM right now, but who enjoy Mystara anyway. I've run across several people who used to be on the MML, or who decided not to join, because of the message volume (which can be quite heavy at times); many of these people find it sufficient to browse the Vaults of Pandius (Shawn's site) to get what they need, and the messages posted here are also archived somewhere on the WotC site. I think the total Mystara community is probably quite a bit larger than the population represented here. :-) Geoff -- Geoff Gander, BA 97 Cartographer/Game Designer/Government Peon Carnifex Loremaster au998@freenet.carleton.ca : www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Realm/2091 ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.dnd.starflung.com/ To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 20 Apr 2001 10:22:07 -0500 Reply-To: Mystara RPG Discussion Sender: Mystara RPG Discussion From: ramhog Subject: Modules reviewed In-Reply-To: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ; format="flowed" Believe it or not, some guy is reviewing a bunch of old Basic modules at RPG.net!! Go to http://trio.rpg.net/ and click on the "reviews" button in the sidebar- there are a few new ones right at the top and more (you know what to look for) if you scroll down. Funny, ain't it? VVH -- ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.dnd.starflung.com/ To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 20 Apr 2001 09:36:06 -0700 Reply-To: Mystara RPG Discussion Sender: Mystara RPG Discussion From: John Calvin Subject: Re: Call to join MA Artwork team! MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii >> Hi, After reading your post to Mystara-L, I may be interested in helping out. But first, I was wondering: 1. What is the MA Artwork team? (Is it the Mystaran Almanac, or something else? << Yes, it is the Mystaran Almanac. I should have been a bit more explicit in my original posting, but Stalker filled in the gaps so I'll leave it at that. >> 2. What types of projects? << Ahh...this is the question! I'm currently working on correspondent protraits/NPC portraits. Another team member (and fellow MMLer) - Damon Brown - is working on Norwold heraldry (and has already pumped several coats of arms out!). We'll also probably start working on generalized event illustrations (things that might be used by any entry - a picture of an undead, skyships flying through the air, an ominous warrior, a battle...things like that). Later in the year will be a mad dash to do more specific event illustrations. We have to wait until those events get written though. So those are pretty much the standard projects. I've got a few others that I want to keep secret right now (if you join, you'll find out what they are ;D). We're still one of the smaller groups on the MA, so we're pretty flexable. If you have any ideas for sprucing up the MA's artwork we would sure love to hear them. If you want to lend us a hand in implementing the MAs artwork, that would be even better! ;) Of course I'm not guarenteeing the completion of all of these projects. With a team of 3, well... you just have to pick and choose. More members will mean that more artwork gets done for the 1018 MA, so anyone who is interested please drop me a line. On a related note, I've just had another MMLer (Dan) send me some pictures that his wife had drawn. Due to time constraints, she didn't want to join the team, but she did think that some of her campaign specific artwork might be useful to us. She was right! If anybody else feels like sending me some art (without actually becoming a member of the team) then please do so - just drop me a line first so that my mailbox doesn't fill up (images can be large after all). Although I would prefer more members, I certainly won't turn away any artwork. I can't promise that it will be used in the MA, but chances are (especially if it is generic enough) that it will be. I hope I answered your question. I'll be glad to chat more with anyone who is interested in joining the artwork team. John ===== Rule #53. If the beautiful princess that I capture says "I'll never marry you! Never, do you hear me, NEVER!!!", I will say "Oh well" and kill her. from "A Guide to Becoming an Evil Overlord" by Peter Anspach __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Auctions - buy the things you want at great prices http://auctions.yahoo.com/ ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.dnd.starflung.com/ To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 20 Apr 2001 19:29:51 +0200 Reply-To: Mystara RPG Discussion Sender: Mystara RPG Discussion From: Jacob Skytte Subject: Re: MYSTARA Curiosity part 3 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Christopher Cherrington = wrote: > The Heldanns are caught in a war from their neighbors on their = southern > border (the Ethengarians). Again from the Wrath of the Immortals = timeline. Yes, of course. I mistook Heldann for Helskir, and couldn't figure out = how the Ethengarians got to the Isle of Dawn. My mistake! :) Jacob Skytte scythe@wanadoo.dk ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.dnd.starflung.com/ To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 20 Apr 2001 13:33:01 -0400 Reply-To: Mystara RPG Discussion Sender: Mystara RPG Discussion From: Christopher Cherrington Subject: Re: MYSTARA Curiosity part 3 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" That would be an interesting scenario, the Ethengarians do have standing treaties with Dengar. Could the dwarves build ships for the Ethengarians to start pirating from the Ostland Reavers and Helskir? ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.dnd.starflung.com/ To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 20 Apr 2001 19:54:55 +0200 Reply-To: Mystara RPG Discussion Sender: Mystara RPG Discussion From: Jacob Skytte Subject: Re: MYSTARA Curiosity part 3 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Christopher Cherrington = wrote: > That would be an interesting scenario, the Ethengarians do have = standing > treaties with Dengar. Could the dwarves build ships for the = Ethengarians to > start pirating from the Ostland Reavers and Helskir? LOL! Dwarves building ships for a Mongol horde? That's = certainly...different. :) It would shake up the Mystaran Known World for = sure, but would deviate quite a bit from "regular" Mystara. The = Ethengarians would need a pretty good reason for attacking Helskir or = Ostland, and since they are not exactly familiar with sea battles, they = wouldn't stand a decent chance, I think. A little magic would go a long = way, of course. Let's say Glantrian mages manage to redirect the = Ethengarians to attacking Helskir by creating a Gate to the Isle of = Dawn, so the Ethengarians can attack from land with their cavalry. That = could certainly be entertaining. :) Jacob Skytte scythe@wanadoo.dk ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.dnd.starflung.com/ To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 20 Apr 2001 13:50:39 -0400 Reply-To: Mystara RPG Discussion Sender: Mystara RPG Discussion From: Christopher Cherrington Subject: Re: MYSTARA Curiosity part 3 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" LOL! Dwarves building ships for a Mongol horde? That's certainly...different. :) The Dwarves have been building roads and siege machinery for them, why not ships! They would have to be fitted with horse shaped seats, and maybe a foot powered cranking mechanism to produce rowing. This way the Ethengars could still use their bows. They would be very effective long range archers on rough seas. The Ethengars would not need a reason to attack Helskir, except to prove to the rest of the world that they could. I hear the Kahn yelling "Fear me in my paddle boats!" LOL! ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.dnd.starflung.com/ To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 20 Apr 2001 20:15:38 +0200 Reply-To: Mystara RPG Discussion Sender: Mystara RPG Discussion From: Agathokles Subject: Re: What was Synn's "soul-stealing" ability in VOTPA seriesagain? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Ramses Ramirez wrote: > > 2)How was Synn exactly able to turn these people into > undead? "A greater dragon may wrap its wings around an unconscious foe, which causes the victim�s soul to be trapped in the plane of entropy. The body is either destroyed or, more likely, possessed by the dragon. It retains its intellect and memories, and becomes a fanatic follower of the dragon." In addition, a greater night dragon can use spells up to 5th level, so it can animate dead. > 3) Lastly, (this might be the most difficult) does > anyone know why Synn went to Oceania in the first > place? "after the destruction of Oceania, Synn (a greater dragon) was allowed to remain and guard an ancient secret in her lair" So, she probably went there to destroy the Oceanian civilization and take control of some secret which that nation had. -- Giampaolo Agosta agathokles@libero.it agosta@elet.polimi.it http://digilander.iol.it/agathokles ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.dnd.starflung.com/ To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 20 Apr 2001 20:16:24 -0700 Reply-To: Mystara RPG Discussion Sender: Mystara RPG Discussion From: Andrew Theisen Subject: Re: MYSTARA Curiosity part 3 In-Reply-To: <71E277A7F4FCD2118A700008C79F7255890F4A@JOSHUA> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" At 01:33 PM 4/20/01 -0400, you wrote: >That would be an interesting scenario, the Ethengarians do have standing >treaties with Dengar. Could the dwarves build ships for the Ethengarians to >start pirating from the Ostland Reavers and Helskir? Part of the plot of X13: Crown of Ancient Glory was for the Ethengarians to gain a swath of land in the southeast of Heldann/Northwest of Vestland from which they could begin to raid the seas. ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.dnd.starflung.com/ To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 20 Apr 2001 20:18:12 -0700 Reply-To: Mystara RPG Discussion Sender: Mystara RPG Discussion From: Andrew Theisen Subject: Re: MYSTARA Curiosity part 3 In-Reply-To: <004301c0c9c3$02cf0020$ceef61d4@skytte> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" At 07:54 PM 4/20/01 +0200, you wrote: > >LOL! Dwarves building ships for a Mongol horde? That's certainly...different. :) Not entirely without RW precedent, though (aside from the dwarf factor ;) The RW Mongols had navies, and twice attempted to invade Japan, but both navies were destroyed by winds, rains, and tides. ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.dnd.starflung.com/ To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 21 Apr 2001 10:42:38 +0200 Reply-To: Mystara RPG Discussion Sender: Mystara RPG Discussion From: Jacob Skytte Subject: Re: MYSTARA Curiosity part 3 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Andrew Theisen wrote: > The RW Mongols had navies, and twice attempted to invade Japan, but = both > navies were destroyed by winds, rains, and tides. Cool! I wasn't aware of that. But the fact that the elements themselves = destroyed their navies should show that they wouldn't have stood much of = a chance if they encountered a hostile navy that had a greater knowledge = of the sea, and naval tactics. Btw, has anybody considered which of the sailing vessels of the Rules = Cyclopedia or Expert Rules belong to which nation? Apart from the = obvious "Longships belong to Ostland and Soderfjord" (and perhaps = Vestland unless they have become so "civilized" that they have abandoned = them for merchant ships), I don't have much knowledge of the naval = history of RW nations. As another viking example, the vikings didn't = have Lifeboats in their vessels, which could be significant in some = scenarios. And individual nations might deviate slightly from the = regular vessels. Anybody given this any thought? And, on a more personal note, Andrew, did you get my personal mail on = Ostland? I seemed to have some trouble sending it. Jacob Skytte scythe@wanadoo.dk ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.dnd.starflung.com/ To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 21 Apr 2001 12:41:10 +0200 Reply-To: Mystara RPG Discussion Sender: Mystara RPG Discussion From: Caroletti Subject: Re: NPC: Nolur MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mischa Gelman wrote: > This NPC was inspired by Chesterton's Father Brown mysteries. Anyone > familiar with the series should be able to see numerous similarities. > > Nolar, son of Faric Heh heh heh.... And if anyone wonders why I am overflowing their mailbox with this stupid comment, I'll answer that "feedback is always welcome". Good work, Misha! Iulius Sergius Scaevola Captain of the XXth Cohort Port Lucinius, Thyatis ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.dnd.starflung.com/ To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 21 Apr 2001 07:06:40 -0400 Reply-To: Mystara RPG Discussion Sender: Mystara RPG Discussion From: Dan Eustace Subject: Re: Ships MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit >Btw, has anybody considered which of the sailing vessels of the Rules Cyclopedia or Expert >Rules belong to which nation? Apart from the obvious "Longships belong to Ostland and >Soderfjord" (and perhaps Vestland unless they have become so "civilized" that they have >abandoned them for merchant ships), I don't have much knowledge of the naval history of RW >nations. As another viking example, the vikings didn't have Lifeboats in their vessels, which >could be significant in some scenarios. And individual nations might deviate slightly from the >regular vessels. Anybody given this any thought? I'm planning on further detailing the individual ship types for the MA and the MP Seas GAZ that I'm (slowly) working on. I'd like to get it so that ships types and individual ships can have more "character" due to maneuverability, speed, etc. I'm trying to review all of the canon sea-faring (and skyship) rules to come up with a workable system for customizable ship stats and a simplified ship to ship combat system (that more closely resembles std PC combat). If anyone else has ideas, especially anyone with experience in nautical matters, I'd be interested in hearing from you. Dan ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.dnd.starflung.com/ To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message.