Here's to more Known World support!That's great Mike. I'm looking forward to it!
Indeed!
That will be a wonderful christmas present. The Diaboli are quite an interesting race. With them making an appearance in Dragon, I might consider giving them a bigger place IMC.
By the way, I never got around to actually commenting on the Lupin article. But I really enjoyed reading it. I don't like how all the articles in Dragon seem so short these days though. Really well written, but none of them go into the depth that they used to. Still, it was wonderful to see the old dogs again. And the artwork was nice too. The conversions were quite different that what I had done myself, but I think they convey the flavour that was originally intended, perhaps even better than the fan versions out on the web. Great work on that one Mike, looking forward to seeing what you have done to the Nightmare-boys!
Håvard
Indeed!
By the way, I never got around to actually commenting on the Lupin article. But I really enjoyed reading it. I don't like how all the articles in Dragon seem so short these days though. Really well written, but none of them go into the depth that they used to. Still, it was wonderful to see the old dogs again. And the artwork was nice too. The conversions were quite different that what I had done myself, but I think they convey the flavour that was originally intended, perhaps even better than the fan versions out on the web. Great work on that one Mike, looking forward to seeing what you have done to the Nightmare-boys!
Thanks Havard. I could have easily written twice as much for the diaboli as I had space allowance, and probably four times as much for the lupins. Maybe someday...I can always hope, anyway...
So we just got our office copies of issue #327, the one with the diaboli update. That means it should start appearing in FLGS and mailboxes in the next couple weeks (I hope it shows up in mailboxes first as it's supposed to, but that's out of my control). Anyway, let me know what you think. Also, I saw the Vaults of Pandius making mention of the lupin and diaboli articles on the main page. Neat!
I only started to news flashes section on the front page of the Vaults recently when there actually started being news to flash. I hope that this doesn't dry up completely.
And talking about hitting the sheves issue 325 (and funnily enough 326) just hit the shelves of the local gaming store here in cosmopolitan Canberra so I got to read the lupin article.
I only started to news flashes section on the front page of the Vaults recently when there actually started being news to flash. I hope that this doesn't dry up completely.
You and me both. ;)
And talking about hitting the sheves issue 325 (and funnily enough 326) just hit the shelves of the local gaming store here in cosmopolitan Canberra so I got to read the lupin article.
...and what did you think?
Thanks Havard. I could have easily written twice as much for the diaboli as I had space allowance, and probably four times as much for the lupins. Maybe someday...I can always hope, anyway...
Do you (or anyone else) have any idea how much the lisence to publish Mystara for D20 would cost? I doubt it would be that much, as it doesn't do WotC any good just sitting on it.
By the way, if you have ideas or material that wont get published, feel free to share it with us here
Håvard, who is looking forward to reading about the Diaboli!
Do you (or anyone else) have any idea how much the lisence to publish Mystara for D20 would cost? I doubt it would be that much, as it doesn't do WotC any good just sitting on it.
Are you getting any ideas here??
Do you (or anyone else) have any idea how much the lisence to publish Mystara for D20 would cost? I doubt it would be that much, as it doesn't do WotC any good just sitting on it.
I don't know...that information might be hard to find even if I worked at Wizards of the Coast. It certainly wouldn't hurt to email them, however.
By the way, if you have ideas or material that wont get published, feel free to share it with us here
World-specific stuff we tend to commission, but I'll certainly keep that in mind.You and me both. ;)
...and what did you think?
sorry about that Mike, I wrote the message and then went away for a week with work. I enjoyed the article, it was good to see something Mystara related back in print but overall it definitely came across as aimed at the general audience which would have been the point, with the information being light and generalistic - although there's only so much you can do in 3 pages.
I found the first section a bit confusing as it touched on a lot of ideas, a lot of new ideas with rites, white howls and bg'tyr's all sort of brought up and very briefly expanded. It seemed a bit of a disjointed way to start the article.
One question about the bg'tyr mates. Do all the young girls of the tribe become bg'tyr mates or only some of them and if so how do you consider that they're chosen? Iwas wondering because you then say that the bg'tyr mates grow to prominence later which presumably not all the women can do, btu do those bg'tyr mates once they enter the child bearing age have to forego motherhood to reach this kind of prominence?
And a small petty niggle, with no 's' in the language does it make it hard for them to call their deities Saints?
Sorry, I wasn't trying to be overly critical.
sorry about that Mike, I wrote the message and then went away for a week with work. I enjoyed the article, it was good to see something Mystara related back in print but overall it definitely came across as aimed at the general audience which would have been the point, with the information being light and generalistic - although there's only so much you can do in 3 pages.
Yeah, I would have liked to have 10-20 pages to write an in-depth look at lupins.
I found the first section a bit confusing as it touched on a lot of ideas, a lot of new ideas with rites, white howls and bg'tyr's all sort of brought up and very briefly expanded. It seemed a bit of a disjointed way to start the article.
The bg'tyr and white howls actually came out of the second edition Monstrous Compendium Mystara Appendix. I just expanded upon them a bit. ;) I agree, though, that the section skips around quite a bit.
One question about the bg'tyr mates. Do all the young girls of the tribe become bg'tyr mates or only some of them and if so how do you consider that they're chosen? Iwas wondering because you then say that the bg'tyr mates grow to prominence later which presumably not all the women can do, btu do those bg'tyr mates once they enter the child bearing age have to forego motherhood to reach this kind of prominence?
Only some of the girls can become bg'tyr mates, who then later go on to become important in the tribe in some manner of the DM's choosing. ;) I wasn't able to expand on this bg'tyr mate section because, again, I only had 1/3 the space I'd like. I would guess that a former bg'tyr mate gives up on childhood to attain her prominence, but that can vary from pack to pack, tribe to tribe, or DM to DM. ;)
And a small petty niggle, with no 's' in the language does it make it hard for them to call their deities Saints?
Two answers for this, take the one you like best. ;)
1. In the lupin language, their word for "Saint" doesn't begin with an "s" sound.
2. Renardy lupins learned to pronounce an "s" sound and speak Renardois instead of Lupin (I think that's true...don't have the materials to back up my claims right now).
Sorry, I wasn't trying to be overly critical.
stanles, you can be as critical of my work as you want. As a writer and a somewhat public figure (exposed to 60,000 people every month), if I couldn't handle a little (or in Dragon's case a lot of) criticism I couldn't survive.
Edit: Wow, look at all those winky smilies. I must have something in my virtual eye.
The bg'tyr and white howls actually came out of the second edition Monstrous Compendium Mystara Appendix. I just expanded upon them a bit. ;) I agree, though, that the section skips around quite a bit.
oops I think I've been caught out, I don't think I've read that entry, in fact most entries in the Monstrous Compendium have remained unread for me.
as to the skipping around of that section, yeah it was a bit off-putting and I just hope that the average reader would have perservered.
Only some of the girls can become bg'tyr mates, who then later go on to become important in the tribe in some manner of the DM's choosing. ;) I wasn't able to expand on this bg'tyr mate section because, again, I only had 1/3 the space I'd like. I would guess that a former bg'tyr mate gives up on childhood to attain her prominence, but that can vary from pack to pack, tribe to tribe, or DM to DM. ;)
righteo, cool
Two answers for this, take the one you like best. ;)
1. In the lupin language, their word for "Saint" doesn't begin with an "s" sound.
2. Renardy lupins learned to pronounce an "s" sound and speak Renardois instead of Lupin (I think that's true...don't have the materials to back up my claims right now).
nah I was just being really finnicky picking this one up, it didn't even bother me
Edit: Wow, look at all those winky smilies. I must have something in my virtual eye.
you should get that looked at by your doctor :D
So we just got our office copies of issue #327, the one with the diaboli update. That means it should start appearing in FLGS and mailboxes in the next couple weeks (I hope it shows up in mailboxes first as it's supposed to, but that's out of my control). Anyway, let me know what you think. Also, I saw the Vaults of Pandius making mention of the lupin and diaboli articles on the main page. Neat!
I just got my hands on this issue of Dragon and I really enjoyed the diaboli article. It flowed a lot better and I think that it would be much more accessible to non-Mystaran players than the earlier lupin article. Good stuff.
I've even gone so far as to do a new conversion for Rakastas for my campaign, and I used the Diaboli and Lupin articles as inspiration. Thanks for throwing us Mystara fans a bone once in a while!
Did you intend for there to be any differences between the three types of diaboli, other than cosmetic physical differences?
Did you intend for there to be any differences between the three types of diaboli, other than cosmetic physical differences?
Because of space consideration I never had room to contemplate diaboli subraces, so the three types only have cosmetic differences. If I had more pages it would have been fun to explore each one as slightly different.
Opened my Dragon right in the Diaboli page as soon as i got it, and i wasn't disapointed, great job Mike!!!
Now, couldn't you toss in these boards some ideas on the racial traits of several other Mystarian races? Your work on other races seems quite good to me...
Thanks
Now, couldn't you toss in these boards some ideas on the racial traits of several other Mystarian races? Your work on other races seems quite good to me...
That sounds like it might be cool. I don't know what I'm allowed and not allowed to do in that regard, however. I must bow before the wills of both Paizo and Wizards of the Coast, so I'd want to check with them before I did anything like that.
Now, couldn't you toss in these boards some ideas on the racial traits of several other Mystarian races? Your work on other races seems quite good to me...
That sounds like it might be cool. I don't know what I'm allowed and not allowed to do in that regard, however. I must bow before the wills of both Paizo and Wizards of the Coast, so I'd want to check with them before I did anything like that.
I should also point out that every racial trait I designed went through the developmental filters of either Matthew Sernett and Wesley Schneider or Jason Bulmahn and Wesley Schneider. I can't take all the credit for how balanced they turned out to be. ;)
Now, couldn't you toss in these boards some ideas...
Call it a "Web Enhancement" :D
I got the Diaboli issue some time ago, but didn't have time to comment on it before. But man does it ROCK! :D
I liked the Lupin article too, but this one is alot better! The artwork is fabulous too. I never liked the illustration of the Diaboli in the 2eMC Appendix, but these illustrations made me really want to include the Diaboli in my next campaign!
The conversions have been commented on before, but I like your take on them. A bit different from what I'd expected, but I think I'm gonna go with this version rather than make my own.
I liked the cosmology part aswell. I still don't like the name "Demiplane of Nightmares" because of its ties to 2E Mystara, where they changed the name without giving any explaination or description of it, but the 3e Cosmology is much easier to accept with Mystara than the 2E one. Also, as much as the idea of Dimensions is interesting, it seems that other dimensions should be so far away that they will never be included in play. And the Diaboli and their other Nightmare fellows are far too interesting to leave out!
As usual the article is way too short for my liking. Perhaps a follow-up article, detailing the Neh-Thalgu or Malfera could be linked to this one, so as to flesh out the Nightmare realm further?
Call it a "Web Enhancement" :D
That is a mighty fine idea Hugin. Paizo has done that in the past. With the internet, there is really no longer any space limit to how long the articles could be since what cant be printed can be placed on paizo's site. Ofcourse, I'm sure you are a busy man Mike, but if you have notes and scraps of things that will never be printed you know we'd love to see it. And we'll wanna buy more Dragon magazine issues.
Anyways, so what is this about another restructuring of the magazine that someone mentioned? What does that mean? Longer articles? Where can I read about this?
Keep up the good work Mike, and let us know when you have more Mystara stuff for us!
Håvard