Editorial
by Francesco Defferrari from Threshold Magazine issue 25The twenty-fifth issue of Mystara’s premier magazine leads you to explore cities, palaces, castles and secret lairs, refuges or obstacles for brave adventurers!
Threshold: The Mystara Magazine is a non-commercial, fan-produced magazine. There is no intent to infringe upon anyone's rights, in particular those of Wizards of the Coast, which holds all rights to the original material on which the magazine is based.
Despite the Covid-19 crisis which as everyone knows is affecting the whole world, we managed to produce another great issue of Threshold magazine. I assure you this was not a small feat as the editors were affected by the lockdown in their countries as everyone else, and I had the virus myself, even if fortunately with very mild symptoms. Nevertheless, we hope Threshold magazine, with your help and contributions, will continue on as we now have reached seven years of publication!
The next issue of Threshold, to be published by end 2020, will focus on another fundamental theme of fantasy roleplaying: Heroes, Villains and Organizations! Send your proposal to the Threshold mail (check Submission guidelines and mail on the last page of the issue) or write in the Threshold proposals thread at The Piazza forum.
Even if we usually have no shortage of articles, we always need help for proofreading and editing the submissions. Indeed at the moment we are left with two active editors, therefore it is likely the issues schedule will have to be scaled back to two issues a year. So anyone willing to help the Threshold Editorial Team please come forward and let us know through the mail or in the above thread at The Piazza. Helping Threshold magazine certainly needs some time commitment, but is creative and rewarding work!
And now to the content of this issue: we look for the first time inside the Imperial Palaces of Thyatis and Alphatia, then we travel to the city state of Saffir in Norwold, the Stronghold district of Specularum, Port Blight in Karameikos, and then to the strongholds of the friendly and not-so friendly inhabitants of the Dymrak forest, continuing the detailed description of this region from the previous issues of Threshold magazine! After meeting a very evil knight, we will continue with the third and final part of the big tabletop conversion of the classic 1991 Mystara videogame, Warriors of the Eternal Sun. And finally we will continue exploring the many subsettings of Mystara with the third and final part of the article.
Special thanks also to Justin Pfeil (aka warriorneedsfood) the famous author of the “Keep on the Borderlands” webcomic and to Dario Odillo, who both provided original illustrations for this issue!
The Threshold Editorial Team and the
authors hope you will enjoy this new issue as much as we enjoyed putting it together, and stay tuned for the next issue!
Francesco Defferrari (Sturm)
Editor, Threshold Issue 25
Editorial Credits
Threshold Editorial Team:
Allan Palmer (AllanP)
Giampaolo Agosta (Agathokles)
Francesco Defferrari (Sturm)
Editors Emeriti
Andrew Theisen (Cthulhudrew)
Ashtagon
Angel Tarragon (The Angelic Dragon)
Geoff Gander (Seer of Y’hog)
Håvard
Jesper Andersen (Spellweaver)
John
Calvin (Chimpman)
Joseph Setorius (Julius Cleaver)
Leland (Argentmantle)
LoZompatore
Micky
Robert Nuttman (RobJN)
Simone Neri (Zendrolion)
Thorfinn Tait (Thorf)
Troy Terrell (CmdrCorsiken)
THRESHOLD logo designed by Thorf
Editors, Issue 25:
Francesco
Defferrari (Sturm)
Allan Palmer (AllanP)
Giampaolo Agosta
(Agathokles)
Layout:
Allan Palmer (AllanP)
Art:
Justin Pfeil
Dario Odillo
LadyofHats
Robin
V Shane
William McAusland
Cartography:
Allan Palmer
Giampaolo
Agosta
Irving Galvez
Douglas Lanford
Robin
Sturm
Thorfinn
Tait
Additional Reviewers & Proofreaders:
Allan Palmer (AllanP)
Giampaolo
Agosta
John Calvin (Chimpman)
Robin
Sturm
Author Blurbs
Giampaolo Agosta (a.k.a. Agathokles) agrees with Schiller that “man is only completely a man when he plays". Therefore, he makes a point of taking gaming seriously, and real life casually. Besides Mystara, his gaming interests include (among others) Dark Sun, Planescape, Ravenloft, Birthright, Call of Cthulhu, Star Wars and Witchcraft RPG.
Kyle Knight (aka Gravesguardian on The Piazza forum) is wandering Thunder Rift dealing with the threats that spring up.
Irving Galvez (a.k.a. Oleck) Mexican
player since the early 80s, amateur Mystara
writer since 1996. The time passes and
when the days of fantasy flew away with
the age and you reach the stage of responsibilities,
work, family and everyday problems,
you look back and take those dusty
books of D&D, and escape a moment to
your childhood. Keep on playing!!!
Allan Palmer (a.k.a. AllanP) was first
introduced to D&D a long time ago (but
not quite in a galaxy far away) by a work
colleague who set up a gaming group using
the last version of the “blue book” rules.
While dabbling with RuneQuest and Traveller
along the way, he developed a liking for
what would become the world of Mystara
as the BECMI box sets were released. He
has always been fascinated by maps. He is
an IT professional and when not indulging
in hobbies of panelology, retro tv watching
and family history research,uses his various
PC skills to consolidate the writings of
others into the issues of Threshold.
Justin Pfeil draws comics, is a historical
fencer in the Italian tradition, makes armor
for his friends, and has played D&D since
the Red Box was first published. His
current project is a webcomic about characters
attempting to survive The Keep on the
Borderlands module from the players perspective.
Robin (at The Piazza, Robin D elsewhere) Female from 1962, she began playing D&D since its earliest days as far back as 1978, soon after becoming “addicted”. Ultimately, she was intimately bound to the world of Mystara, because of its complex diversity. A current compiler of massive materials available on Vaults of Pandius & her “Breath of Mystara” blog; and former Teacher of Biology, Ecology, Chemistry, Physics, once travelling all over Europe as a stage dancer including house parties. Once called “The Fletcher” at UK GenCon by Bruce Heard for her extensive compilation in “Revenge of the Little Ones”.
Even though Sturm (a.k.a. Francesco Defferrari) loves any alternate world, he believes Mystara is incomparably the best for its vibrant community endlessly delving into ethnography, linguistics and history just to make a little sense of it. Something like the real world, but with dragons.
Call for Contributors
The Threshold editorial team invites all fans of the Mystara setting to submit contributions to the magazine’s next issue.
We are especially looking for contributions fitting the following themes:
Issue 26 - Heroes, Villains and Organizations
This issue will focus on NPCs and the Organizations PCs can meet as enemies or allies in Mystara.
Proposal Deadline: July 15th, 2020
Manuscript Deadline: October 15th, 2020
Issue Published: December 2020
Issue 27 - Theme to be determined
2021 issues themes are still to be determined, so we will soon create a poll on The Piazza! Let us know your preferences!
Proposal Deadline: January 15th, 2021
Manuscript Deadline: April 15th, 2021
Issue Published: June, 2021
Articles about other topics are still welcome and the editorial team will evaluate their publication for any upcoming issue, taking into account available space and the issue's theme.
Threshold accepts and invites submissions of extended or revised versions of works having appeared on The Piazza or Vaults of Pandius.
Contributions may include, but are not limited to: Articles-- short stories, short adventure modules, NPCs, historical treatises and timelines, geographical entries, new monsters and monster ecologies, etc.; and Illustrations-- portraits, maps, heraldry, illustrations, etc.
Please refer to our Submission Guidelines on the inside back cover of this issue.
The Threshold editorial team strives for edition neutrality, but edition specific articles (e.g., conversions) are also accepted. Statistics for new monsters and NPCs may be included in articles (e.g., adventure modules, new monsters or NPCs) in any version of Dungeons & Dragons. The editorial team also offers help in providing conversions to some specific rules set. Including BECMI/RC, 2nd Edition, 3rd edition/Pathfinder. However, they should be limited to a minimum -- for most NPCs, it is sufficient to mention class, level, and alignment. For important NPCs, a one or two line stat block may be included.
Next Issue
Heroes, Villains & Organizations
Our next issue will focus on NPCs and Organizations that PCs can meet as either enemies or allies in their exploits across Mystara.
Anticipated contents include:
● Ra-hotep the lich
● Adventurers and Mercenaries
● Alphatian bastions of the untamed east
… and much, much more!
BackCover
A refuge or a trap?
Strongholds can be safe refuges for the party or nightmarish trap to escape from. In this issue of Threshold, you will find some examples which can be either, depending on you role in the story, are you the owner or the intruder?
After exploring the Imperial Palaces of Thyatis and Alphatia, the city state of Saffir, the hideout of Port Blight and discovering the last remaining secrets of the Dymrak region, we will end our wandering under the Red Sun with the completion of the conversion to tabletop rpg of the classic videogame Warriors of the Eternal Sun. We will then finish exploring the many subsettings of our favourite campaign world, this time well beyond the surface of Mystara in space and time!
Storm the walls, or prepare yourself to defend them!