Modules and adventures in Mystara
by Bouv
So in my campaign I've used a lot of AD&D 1E & 2E adventures but sometimes figuring out a good place for them can be a bit tricky.
So far I've placed:
(all from Dungeon Magazine)
The Lady of the Mists - island on the Hillfollow River between Penhaligen and Kelvin
Prism Keep - A floating castle originally from Glantri but was floating above Helega in Vestland when the PC's encountered it
Object of Desire - initially set in Surra-Man Raa in the Emirates of Yularm, heading south down the coast along the desert and cliffs, finally ending up in Tameronikas
Twilight's Last Gleaming - I adjusted the mountain range a bit but put it in the mountains between Tameronikas and Fort Zendrol (Thyatis)
The Haunted Lighthouse (DCC 3.x) - Set in a swampy area near the Gulf of Tantruim in Thyatis
Others I'm planning on:
Lost Caverns of Tsjoncath - somewhere in the mountains north of Karameikos/Thyatis or southern Darkon
Nightmare Keep - Still working on this. Set in an improvished farming area near some mountains. Thinking somewhere near the Broken Lands.
by Michael Berry
Granted all of these classic D&D, but suppose some have been converted to later D&D editions.
I'm really digging back in my memory as I haven't played in 5 years (just getting back into it) and the on going campaign started way back.. perhaps 2002 has been stuck in AC 1012 since 2009 haha.
A1-4 set in Peshawar, Sind
C-1 ( I don't think that got played in our campaign. Neat module however. Sort of hard to fit in Known world Mystara though, a good excuse to get players to Davania perhaps?
C2 - Glantri of course!
D1-2 (G1-2-3) - set those in Glantri as well as part of the Great war saga. (the campaign is Glantri centered) The big bad Alphatians threw some gold at the the Giants and told them to raise hell.
I1- The Isle of Dread!
I9 - Ylaruam of course!
L1 - Set that in Wendar
L2 set that (with modifications) in Glantri
N1 (one of my favorite classic low level AD&D modules). Thyatis
T1 Darokin
U1-3 Darokin coast
by David Keyser
L1 The Secret of Bone Hill and L2 The Assassin's Knot I placed on Blackrock Isle, a minor island in Minrothad. I changed the gambling cleric monastery to the mystic training monastery described in GAZ9, and installed a small water elf baron as ruler of the island so L2 could be run without the assassins leaving the island. The old ruin on Bone Hill is an old elf holding dating back to the cataclysm that is cursed.
I then added L3 Deep Dwarven Delve setting it on Fortress Island which is the dwarven stronghold. In all cases the humanoids in the L series were small mercenary bands smuggled from the mainland onto the islands.
U1 The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh I placed just inside The Five Shires near the border of Karameikos, with the smugglers becoming Iron Ring slavers who were using the old mansion and having fooled several halfling patrols in prior years by distracting them from the real operation in the basement. As part of that halfling focused mini-campaign I took a small Battlesystem engagment from the back of I14 Swords of the Iron Legion to finish up that campaign with a battle between halfling and orc forces.
by JTrithen
I placed T1-4 (Temple of Elemental Evil) southeast of Selenica. Hommlet was not far from Reedle; Hommlet and the temple/Nulb area wouldn't be too far from that northeastern spur of the Altan Tepe Mountains there. The campaign ended up in a TPK, unfortunately. I have yet to start establishing more repercussions of their failure to stop that menace, in the game world.
As the temple forces start to branch out, Selenica will be the first obstacle for them to overcome, of course.
Before that, I ran the one-on-one AD&D adventure "HHQ1: Fighter's Challenge" in the same area. The town of Sturnheim was placed north and a little east of Reedle, I believe (and Hommlet would have been further north of that). That fighter ("Sig," by name, short for Sigurd) was a mainstay of the campaign, who went on with a party to the Temple of Elemental Evil.
Also ran "HHQ4: Cleric's Challenge" in Thyatis (northwest of Thyatis City). That Cleric (Tia) went with the party to the Temple of Elemental Evil, with Sig, too.
by Brian Caraway
I put M2, Maze of the Riddling Minotaur on Itheldown Island in Western Darokin
If I ever wanted to run T1-4, that would go into the Broken Lands, without Hommlet as a base.
Fighter's Challenge I put in Southern Darokin, between Fenhold and Nemiston.
I2, Tomb of the Lizard King, Luln.
B5, Horror on the Hill, About halfway between Kelvin and Penhaligon.
by Alex Benson
As far as an adventure, we adapted Greyhawk's "City of Skulls" to the Brokenlands. The prisoner that was to be freed was a Darokin officer. It was our way of delving in to the lands of Thar and fleshing out how he kept order and secured his thrown.
by Giampaolo Agosta
You could drop most of Al Qadim in Ylaruam. It comes already with the Nithian fire worshippers (Brotherhood of the True Flame) and a Kin/Preceptors religious rift (Cities of the Pantheon/rest of the world). I've run a (brief due to TPK) adaptation of the adventures Corsairs of the Great Sea in the Sea of Dawn and Sea of Dread.
"Against the Giants" works well in many areas -- Northern Reaches, Norwold, even Karameikos.
Tomb of Horrors can be set in the Blight Swamp in Karameikos -- actually, I'm planning to run it someday in my campaign (see my "Lords of the Cruth Lowlands" adventure for an adaptation of Tomb of Horrors and other adventures, including "Steading of the Hill Giant Chief").
There is an adaptation of 3E "Red Hand of Doom" in Karameikos on the Vaults of Pandius, and two options for adapting the Savage Tide adventure path to the Sea of Dread in Threshold Magazine.
by Bouv
I'd imagine most of the Desert of Desolation series would place well in Ylaruam as well.
by Giampaolo Agosta
Indeed, although I'd be tempted to try Arypt as an alternative.
Also, I forgot to mention Maztica. Its adventures work well with the Savage Coast (and the character kits are mentioned as applicable in the SCCB as well). I used City of Gold, starting out in Manzanas and going up to the great escarpment.
by Giampaolo Agosta
The modules based on Alice in Wonderland? I'd place the entrance within Castle Amber, it seems to me it would fit well with the weirdness of the castle.
by Bouv
So I'm thinking of tossing some Pathfinder modules into my campaign. Right now, I'm planning of doing:
Gallery of Evil (city-based adventure) - Thyatis
Tower of the Last Baron - Luln
Chimera Cove - coastal region near Fort Doom
by Maladax
I used Gallery of Evil recently (although heavily modified), and also placed it in Thyatis. I changed Ivy District from a city distict to a separate "gated community" for wealthy people, near Thyatis City (even the map works well in this regard, since it doesn't show any neighbouring districts).
The madness of the bad guy seemed a bit extreme given the circumstances, so I decided that he was a victim/ally of the Outer Beings. I could also better explain the magical paintings as OB magic.
As for other Paizo modules, I have also used Tomb of the Iron Medusa (higher level dungeon) in Thyatis (Biazzan). It has a backstory that requires some modification for Mystara, but I recall it was surprisingly easy fit, partly because it has pseudo-Roman flavor. Anyway, I always modify modules quite much to fit my campaign, and this one was no exception, but its high-magic, isolated location made it easy to include anything I wanted.
by Bouv
I'm trying to place the Kingmaker pt. 3 Adventure Path Varnhold Vanishing someplace, probably up near Vestland. I want a lightly populated area.
by Mike Harvey
G1 - northern Karameikos, at the edge of the mountains bewteen Penhaligon and the Castellan River. A local Traladaran lord was having trouble with giants and the PCs provided aid.
Dungeon of the Fire Opal (Dungeon 84) - Malpheggi
Demonclaw (Dungeon 84) - off the coast of Thyatis, near Hillcape.
Barnacus City in Peril (Dragon 80) - Use this city as Bayville, in Thyatis. Or add it as a new city somewhere along the Thyatian coast.
B2 - Fort Fletcher in Darokin. It's very remote, hilly country, there is an implied road north (into Glantri) and a variety of humanoids are encroaching from the Broken Lands. With this placement, Castellan Keep in Karameikos is just a keep, without the town or the caves.
B1 - western Darokin, north of Akesoli. This helps add interest to an otherwise empty area. The barbarian invasion was from the west or north.
Lost Shrine of Bundushathur - Dwarfgate mountains
Idea for the slavers series:
A1 - Highport is on the south side of Narwhal Cape (southwest of Malpheggi) in Atruaghin territory. This is a former Thyatian colony, now an outlaw town in the wilderness, the center of smuggling and illegal slave trading in the western Sea of Dread. Traders here avoid tariffs and meddling by the Ierendi government, and also conduct a brisk trade in slaves and other goods with the Tiger clan. The haven is thick with Thyatians, Iron Ring slavers, Ierendian pirates, Sindhi merchants, and humanoids, but cutthroats of all lands can be found here. The Cougar tribe is paid to look the other way and leave the city alone.
A2 - ??? inland Atruaghin? It is supposed to be on a trade route. don't know.
A3/A4 - uncharted volcanic island near Elegy Island.
by Kilr Kowalski
I'd use the 2nd Ed Sea Devils, Night of the Shark and Sea of Blood set in Minrothad, and the sea of dread.
Sea devils can start on North Island (rework Gapstead from the supplied Angleburg).
Night of the Shark's Seamount and Temple of The Eater would be around 50 miles South of Blackrock Island
Sea of blood's City of Abiding Hunger would be situated in the sea volcano "Crown" 120 miles south of Blackrock Island near "the Abyss" (PC3 underwater map).
I would be happy to use the sahuagin despite them not being a mystara-themed race.
by Bouv
Just because they are in Thyatis now, I'm going to run the Pathfinder Module, "Tears at Bitter Manor" so it will take place somewhere between Thyatis and Karameikos.
by Demos Sachlas
I "tweaked" the canon locations of B1-3, and added B5, to my homebrewed B/X Grand Duchy of Karameikos map
However, I've also considered running B5 west or northwest of the Adri Varma plateau. The module states that Guido's Fort is the "end of the traders road" and the trade routes on Frank's map of the continent in the Expert rulebook go off into terra incognita to the northwest. This is a much more effective location, since players really get the feeling that west of the river is a chaotic no-man's land. The civilized lands of the Known World are all far away to the southeast.
I personally love the hills north of Akesoli for B7 Rahasia - the Indonesian influences mesh better with the Sind than with Ylaruam. Akesoli also makes for a great base town. B8 works best north of Lake Amsorak, making for a couple of starting adventures in western Darokin.
B9 can work to kickstart a Northern Reaches campaign.
I've been re-reading Caverns of Thracia, lately, and this could work well in Thyatis - the northwest corner, perhaps. Alternately, an uncharted island in the Thanegioth archipelago could also work, or one of the large islands adjacent to the Isle of Dread.
I want to find a good location for White Plume Mountain, given the tenuous link to Mystara. Any suitable volcano icon will do!
by Robin
I found another old map of the AD&D2 Ravenloft Adventure "Light in the Belfry" which I placed in the Republic of Darokin.
This seamed a logical place without too much meddling of Canon and Fanon stuff.
In my idea there was a alternate dimensional border (temporarily) that did hide the whole barony from visiting. After the hero's finished the adventure, the borders broke down and the whole barony reappeared.
Here is the map. The adventure did fit nice.
One important remark... The map is tilted, the North is pointed towards the upper left corner.
This was done, as the original map and the placement in Darokin had to fit.
(see the small map inset)
And for those questioning the name of the Baron...This was the PC (Wallace Willoughby) who saved the maiden in this adventure and was given the land as a thankyou. This was in 1011AC, when Avonleigh returned to Mystara after the dimensional walls broke down.
He later switched to the Church of Darokin.
by Dartamian
Here's my placement from a 3e campaign based in Glantri, set in 990 (before the return of Etienne in this campaign).
Scourge of the Howling Horde - Placed in Glantri on the map from Night Howlers. The hamlet of Barrow's Edge was placed at the fork in the road on the trail from Varenne to Forteresse d'Ylaourgne. The Howling Caves are located near Etang des Fleurs.
B5 Horror on the Hill - Placed up the River Varenne heading towards Mont d'Ire. Used the wilderness part of the adventure with the first floor of the monastery. Replaced the dungeon with the Dungeon of the Fire Opal from Dungeon Issue 84. The Fire Opal is going to be an artifact related to the Secret Craft of Fire Elementalism. Party currently in the Dungeon of the Fire Opal.
When they return to Barrow's Edge it will be obliterated and the party will trace the attack to Forteresse d'Ylourgne which is where A2 Secret of the Slavers Stockade will be run. Markessa will be a Belcadiz or shadow elf trying to take over the abandoned d'Ambreville lands.
After the murder of a Glantri official the party will flee into the mists of X2 Castle Amber in New Averoigne (or soon to be restored New Averoigne).
That's the placements, have to see if it unfolds as planned.
by Dartamian
Here's my placement for a 3e campaign based in Corunglain.
Funeral Procession (Dungeon Issue 135) set in Corunglain.
Escape from Meenlock Prison (Dungeon Issue 146) placed Dissident Estate in the light forest south of the trail to Fort Nell.
Wrath of the Immortals (Phase I) set as written.
Kill Bargle (Dragon Issue 150) place Mistamere as the ruins north of the village of Lakeside on Lake Amsorak on the wonderful 2 2/3 mile hex map by Bonetti. Party currently adventuring through Mistamere (swapped out Bargle for Eldara, villain from Funeral Procession).
Plan on setting Automatic Hound (Dungeon Issue 148) somewhere between Lakeside and Corunglain on the party's journey home.
by Bouv
Been reading some of the Advanced Adventures line (for OSRIC) and they can easily fit into Mystara
AA3 - Curse of the Witch Head - easily placed almost anywhere. With some slight story modification, the main BBG could be Bargle!
AA9 - The Lost Pyramid of Imhotep - an upside-down pyramid? Easily in the Emirates.
AA10 - The Lost Keys of Solitude - an abandoned mountain pass in a temperate climate fits nicely
by Brian Caraway
N1 - Against the Cult of the Reptile God; in a village west of Rifllian, currently rewriting it.
by Bouv
Not too sure if I would end up using it, but the Pathfinder Module Plunder and Peril? I'm thinking somewhere around Ierendi or the Minrothad Guilds
I've put Realm of the Felnight Queen in Western Thyatis