Me? I've pretty much just played Mystara in Texas. That's in the US for Geographically handicapped people. I only say that because someone once asked me if Texas was in Australia. So, I've lived here my whole life and played Mystara here since the mid to late 80's.
What about you guys?
;)
GW
I've always liked how Mystara fans can be found all over the world. I'm not sure, but I think it adds many interesting perspectives to our discussions. I think Mystara was a particularly popular setting in Europe since the Mentzer D&D rules were so widely translated here. In Norway they were the only version of (A)D&D ever to have been translated to Norwegian, and most people I know were introduced to the hobby through that game.
So far, I have seen Mystara fans from Europe, North America, South America and Australia. I'm wondering if we have any fans on the other continents as well?
Good thread idea tjedge
Håvard
;) :P
I pretty much inhertited all my Mystara books from my 10 years older brother and did a lot of reading before I actually had the chance to play. Now Im DMing my own group for a year now and geting the hang of it.
--Ray.
:-) Jesper
Just curious to see how around the world Mystara fans are. What places have you lived and played Mystara there.
:D You wouldn't be asking to see how viable the that whole conquering the world by us Mystara fans is, would you? lol
For me its only been the provinces of Newfoundland and Ontario, Canada. I've been playing with the Known World/Mystara since the mid-80's and with the exception of two home-brew worlds DMed by others (which didn't last very long) it's been totaly with Mystara. My current campaign has lasted 3 years (with several breaks due to life-stuff) and has been among the most enjoyable ever.
It's great to hear where everybody is from - for many years I couldn't find people that played D&D (let alone in Mystara) and I think it's absolutely incredible that I can chat with Mystara players and DMs from around the world. Thanks for the experience! (not the XP kind, the other... never mind)
..Oh, wait, you meant in the real world. :D
Uruguay (South America). Previously, Canada.
RPGPundit
'Unfortunately' to play Mystara I have to run it. It's a very active club and I can only get to run about once a month. I run two Mystara campaigns - one on Fridays and the other on Saturdays.
To give you an idea - I'm playing several other D&D games (Kalamar, FR, Eberron, Harn, Planescape) as well as Conan, d20 modern, Call of Cthulhu, Runequest, d20 Swashbuckling (set in Freeport) and other odd games now and again. We recently played a squad of British Home Guard (think 'Dad's Army') fighting German para's during a fictional German invasion. And thats not counting the games I'm not involved in - mainly Sci-Fi and Cyberpunk style stuff.
Regards,
Gary
The next time I came back to Mystara was in Edinburgh (again Scotland), when I was at University. But I didn't succeed in getting my friends as interested in it as I am, and we only played a few adventures.
And now I'm in Japan. I haven't been able to find anyone who even really knows what roleplaying is here, other than one Swedish guy I met. So for me, Mystara is unfortunately solely my own hobby, and it seems likely to stay that way.
Hmm, in all three places I've been rather unlucky when it comes to meeting fellow roleplayers, actually. Obviously Japan brings that to a new level, but then I wouldn't expect to meet roleplayers here.
:D You wouldn't be asking to see how viable the that whole conquering the world by us Mystara fans is, would you? lol
Well...actually that did get me wondering where all you guys lived.
Don't worry Thorf, someday Japan will embrace the joy of RPG's. I mean, they do make VG's of them don't they?
So really, it's a different category altogether, even though the name would suggest otherwise.
Now I'm in Montreal, Quebec, and not playing for the moment.
There's one set in a hodgepodge Ye Olde England setting, based on myth, legend, fairy tale and folklore. The player characters in that are John Lambton Esq (fighter/cavalier of Lambton Worm fame), Alan-a-Dale (bard/deepwood sniper of Robin Hood's Merry Men fame), Jack (ranger/rogue of giant killing fame), and Ghillie Dhu (the wild elf druid). They've met other famous figures, such as Merlin the Magician and Archimedes the Owl, who's been acting as their patron and guide as they try to lift the curse on Lambton's family.
Maugris, Varnae the Vampire, the Black Annis, Parson Brown, Sir Fergus and Arondiel, the Gypsy King, Moloch and many others have also made appearances.
The other campaign's more complex. It's part of a Cyberpunk 2.0.2.0. campaign, the player characters are investigating suspicious activities in a VR MMORPG set in Thieves' World using the D&D 3E system. Their D&D characters are all tweaked up, min-maxed munchkins, with some meta-game hacks. A half-silver dragon diviner in a 3rd level party, for instance, and the netrunner's also equipped them with a Balron 2005 demon cannon that can attack the game module as well as other players physically. If they get caught by Netwatch, they'll be getting sent down for a looong time.
Can't believe I forgot to mention my D&D message game, run on DreamLyrics. That's set in the default D&D setting, so sort of Greyhawk. Going well so far, it's based on a combination of two wizards.com/dnd original adventures, Windswept Wall and The Vessel of Stars.
And now I'm in Japan. I haven't been able to find anyone who even really knows what roleplaying is here, other than one Swedish guy I met.
Well, there must be someone playing Mystara there, since someone was translating parts of the Vaults:
http://www1.ocn.ne.jp/~kbkb/index.htm
GP
(from Milano, Italy)
I've been playing since 1990 and had at least 5 groups. I moved twice and have always been able to go on with my favourite hobby (luckily my region seems to teem with roleplayers :D)
Don't worry Thorf: once I get to convince my wife to come to Japan, you won't be alone anymore ;)
I've lived in Utah since 1982 (age 11), and have DMd Mystara up til now, mostly once a week or once a month games (less and less as I get older, which is not unusual, of course).
Nowadays, I just play with my brothers (4 of them, and 1 brother-in-law); half of our sessions are just wise-cracking, family-bonding experiences, and I'm the only real Mystarophile (own about 90%+ of all the products). And, we play Classic D&D, since I've never wanted to invest much (time-wise, etc.) in AD&D or 3.5. Though, I have invested a lot in my game-world (binders and binders full, as a good DM often does).
I have run into about zilch Mystarophiles or Classic D&D players around here in northern Utah, but then I only go the game shop once a month or so to look at old (and some new) books, and miniatures.
Thanks for sharing! And, yes, it has been really neat to see all the players around the world that love Mystara!
Played Mystara in the late eighties along with a Greyhawk campaign. Lost touch with roleplaying for fifteen years but itching to start playing again sometime soon. Currently trying to track down old rulebooks/mods on e-bay.
I'm currently living in Tempe, Arizona, USA, but work and school keep me busy enough that, alas, this is my only current contact with Mystara.
Right now we are playing with two groups one in tuesdays and one in fridays. they are playing an armed conflict between the empires of Alphatia and Thyatis for the plateau on the Isle of Dead. One night is for the alphatian and the other for the thyatians. I have a total of 16 player right now.
Add the Carribbean and Puerto Rico to the places in the Real World that have people who play in Mystara.
This would get us caught up to the other worlds in a heart beat! :D
--Ray.
Thorf? You out there? Your next map should be of the real world in hex format with the locations of all of the players of Mystara.
That would be really cool to see! Is that something you could do Thorf? (I guess it doesn't have to be with a hex grid if that is too difficult). Cool idea Maddog!
On the subject of a world map with the location of each player indicated on it, has anyone ever considered the following (and sorry if this as been discussed previously)?
I've always thought of the Mystara world map has some kind of hybrid between the current real world map and the map of Pangaea (a super continental mass that included all of the Earth’s current continents that existed around 250 million years ago).
When you look at this map of the Earth 150 million years ago, you simply can’t ignore the similarities.
So another interesting thing would be a map of the Mystara (outer) world with the location of all the real world players indicated on it and placed at there current day equivalent locations. For example, the Arm of the God (Arm of the Immortal?) would be Central America, the Island of Dawn would be England, Norworld would be Eastern Canada (including Quebec), etc.
I’m at work right now so I don’t have access to my Mystara maps and I may be making some mistakes in the real-world/Mystara equivalents, but I hope you get the idea.
Francis
I've been a GM of a continuous campaign since 1988, still going on strong. My second campaign just started a year ago. I've never actually played myself.
Finland, Tampere area. Just "Google Earth" down to the mid-southern Finland and you'll find it. (And Finland is in Scandinavia, or Fenno-Scandia to be more precise: Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Norway with Iceland culturally linked.)
I've been a GM of a continuous campaign since 1988, still going on strong. My second campaign just started a year ago. I've never actually played myself.
I'm also from Tampere, Finland. I have played and DMed Known World campaigns since 1986. Had a break from Known World in 2000-2004 (we played 3e set in Greyhawk). I started a new campaign last year with my old buddies (Karameikos, 3.5e rules, we play only 3-4 times per year).
I also DM Eberron campaign (bi-weekly) and play in Warhammer fantasy roleplay campaign (bi-weekly).
Thunhus
Vampire...I've played/larped all across the US. ;)
Im from Vienna/Austria thats in Europe for geographically handicapped people and there are no Kangaroos in Austria!!
;) :P
The wife's from Australia, and has gotten that pronounciation error thrown her way before. :P
The wife's from Australia, and has gotten that pronounciation error thrown her way before. :P
If you think it's bad in English, you should hear it in Japanese. They are pronounced "Osutoria" and "Osutoraria", with the stress on the "O" in both, so the quiet little "ra" is the only difference!
This thread is great, by the way. I am eagerly awaiting to hear from those of us who haven't posted here yet! :D
I got immediately interested and have been playing ever since. Unfortunately nowadays its only a couple of sessions a year for various reasons.
Harri
I was running two weekly Mystara campaigns - one set in 1014 AC and one based around WotI but real life has meant that we've had to cut down to just the one
.A Czech friend of mine actually has bootleg versions of the D&D rulebooks translated into Czech that he used as a kid, under communism, when the official versions were banned... though it had been quite easy to find dice, he said, since the communists never quite figured out how the game was played.
Pax,
KRad
it had been quite easy to find dice, he said, since the communists never quite figured out how the game was played.
Those silly communists...I kid! I kid! :D
Currently contemplating a Air Force wide "Gamers' Club"... prolly not, but an idea
I'm currently in Washington State, USA - on the opposite side of the continent from Washington DC. So if we use the Mystara map and project my current location on it, it would be the Sylvan Realm of CM7 (The Tree of Life) fame - WooHoo!
I'm from Italy, which means, on the Mystara Outer World Map, somewhere between the Pearl Islands and the Western Alatians. No campaign running at the moment.
Take a look on where you are: ;)
Me? I've pretty much just played Mystara in Texas. That's in the US for Geographically handicapped people. I only say that because someone once asked me if Texas was in Australia. So, I've lived here my whole life and played Mystara here since the mid to late 80's.
Aha! So that's the name of the 13th state. :P
I'm from Italy, which means, on the Mystara Outer World Map, somewhere between the Pearl Islands and the Western Alatians. No campaign running at the moment.
Take a look on where you are: ;)
What the ...
I never knew they based it on the late Jurassic, but looking around at other maps of the period, its certain that they did! This is a bit amazing.
Here's some others:
http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~rcb7/Late_Jur.jpg
http://www.medioambiente.cu/museo/imagen/jurmap.gif
Even the major mountain ranges are roughly in the right spots.
I come from the Orkney Islands, and since it looks like the Isle of Dawn includes Britain (possibly somewhat exaggerated in size), I may come from Helskir. But the geology of northern Scotland and the isles is complex, and it seems likely they did not originate in the same place as the rest of mainland Scotland. In that case, perhaps I am from Oceansend, or one of the islands close to there.
Hmm, that brings up interesting possibilities for me top develop those islands as Mystaran versions of Orkney and Shetland...
My current location is Japan, but it's hard to see exactly where it fits in. It looks as if it might be part of the Tangor Chain or the Nentsun Plateaux in northeastern Skothar.
I was born in Virginia- which, near as I can figure, is somewhere around Ylaruam/Soderfjord. Moved to Arizona at age 4 (underneath Yalu Bay?), then to Indiana at age 10 (Great Northern Wildlands NW of Glantri/Wendar region), back to Arizona for college, and now I'm living on the Arm of the Immortals (sunny California) somewhere near Suma'a.
Andrew, it looks to me like Florida is the Serpent Peninsula, and New York is somewhere near Sind or Atruaghin. Although that part of the map is definitely open to interpretation, and you may be right. But I think that most of the Known World is Canada.
Arizona is probably in the plains south of the Endworld Line, Indiana is close to Hule, and California is not the Arm of the Immortals but in fact the Endworld Line; the Arm of the Immortals is Mexico and Central America.
Interestingly, Alphatia is Scandinavia and the Baltic states, while a lot of Europe seems to be either broken up into different places, or below sea level.
But I think that most of the Known World is Canada.
:D That's the way it is for me, anyhow! Actually, it looks like Newfoundland is much of the Known World! Ah, the world is all as it should be! ;)
Interestingly, Alphatia is Scandinavia and the Baltic states, while a lot of Europe seems to be either broken up into different places, or below sea level.
Europe is fragmented, but many real countries are represented anyway. Here is what I found:
1) Ochalea is bigger than the size showed on the Jurassic map and so it should correspond to Western/central Spain and Portugal (maybe that's why it is considered arid and rugged in DotE and PWAs?).
2) The true size of the Isle of Dawn encompassess three of the four island east of North America in the Jurassic map. Considering its full dimensions it seems to me that:
- Dunadale/Westrourke corresponds approx to England
- Redstone to Ireland (maybe that's why they have Scottish/Irish names, respectively?)
- Septentriona and the Shadow Coast to Bretagne/Normandie
- Thothian Plateau to north central France and the Rhein valley
- Ekto to Belgium/Luxembourg
- Thothia to Switzerland/Austria
3) As you noticed, Alphatia corresponds to Sweden, Norway, Finland and the whole Baltic area (northern Poland and Germany, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonai). Moreover, the Alphatian kingdoms of Theranderol, Arogansa, Randel should correspond to northwestern tip of European Russia.
If I remember correctly, "Sundsvall" is a city in Sweden, while Moscow should be located somewhere in Randel. What if the "aggressive" attitude of this Alphatian kingdom reflected the "cold war" prospective transposed in game terms???
4) Bellissaria corresponds to Ukraine, northern Romania, Caucasus, Turkey and
Iran (even if the latter two - corresponding to Surshield Kingdom - are not European countries - European part of Turkey seems to be underwater in the map)
5) Aegos should correspond to southern France, while Aeria seems to coincide with the Alps; the other two Alatian islands don't seem to have a correspondence with Jurassic world landmasses (maybe to some regions in the Balkans, even if they seem out of place).
6) The Pearl Islands should correspond to some places in Northern Italy and to the isles of Western Mediterranean Sea (maybe Corsica, Sardinia and the Balearic Islands, with a bit of northern Tunisia).
So, most of Western Europe is "represented" anyway on Mystara. Germany and eastern Europe, instead, seem to miss at all from the map.
Hope this helps other users to find themselves on Mystara ;)
Andrew, it looks to me like Florida is the Serpent Peninsula,
Well,...we do have alligators, snakes, and sun-baked-leathery-skinned retirees...so we Floridiots ARE in the the Serpent Peninsula!.
Andrew, it looks to me like Florida is the Serpent Peninsula, and New York is somewhere near Sind or Atruaghin. Although that part of the map is definitely open to interpretation, and you may be right. But I think that most of the Known World is Canada.
Hmm... I guess I can see what you are saying. It looked more to me like Thyatis was Florida, and the Serpent Peninsula = Texas, but I think the map is a bit deceptive. I think it is because on the map, Africa's continental drift is much more northerly than the Davanian coast is on the Mystara maps. What looks like the Serpent Peninsula on the map looks suspciously like the Thyatian peninsula to me. Now I'm not sure, though...
Arizona is probably in the plains south of the Endworld Line, Indiana is close to Hule, and California is not the Arm of the Immortals but in fact the Endworld Line; the Arm of the Immortals is Mexico and Central America.
Don't let anyone here in California hear you say that we don't live on the Arm of the Immortals! (or, as it was formerly known, the Arm of God).
Which brings up an interesting point- exactly where does the Endworld Line begin and the Arm of the Immortals end? They look like they are the same continuous chain of mountains (the Rockies)?
I'm Giovanni, new here.
I play Mystara in Rome, Italy. So it seems I come from some unknown merrow kingdom somewere south of Bellissaria and north of Cestia.
Vern
:D That's the way it is for me, anyhow! Actually, it looks like Newfoundland is much of the Known World! Ah, the world is all as it should be! ;)
Pah! Spoken like a true Known Worlder! You folk think you're better than the rest of us. What conceit! :D
As near as I can tell, I'm originally from somewhere just north of Sind, around the Adri Varma Plateau. After spending a couple of years in Ethengar, I then moved to the region of Akesoli, where I currently reside. It's hard to tell when I have to guess as to where the Great Lakes would be.
I, too, play Papers and Paychecks my character is named Geoff Gander, who resides in a place called Ottawa.
West Virginia ~= the Black Mountains or Plain of Fire west of Sind (I used to think it was Glantri, but I was correlating Brun's southeast coast incorrectly.)
Montana ~= the Great Midlands east of the Endworld Spine
Shane
I was born and raised in California, so, somewhere along the Arm of the Immortals, but I moved to Texas (somewhere along the Savage Coast..?) almost ten years ago.
I've been tinkering with several Known World/Mystara/Red Steel ideas during that time (some of which you can read about over at the Vaults of Pandius)
Good gaming!
Rob
My current campaign is situated (at the moment) in Ylaruam, east of Cinsa-Men-Noo.
Btw. didn't we do this sort of thread already, it is feeling a bit Deja-vu 'ish....
Btw. didn't we do this sort of thread already, it is feeling a bit Deja-vu 'ish....
I beleive it's the same thread - just resurrected with newer members posting on it. ;)
Or, you might also be thinking about the 3E Mystara Petition thread that had similar content. What I really like about this one however is the way we are placing ourselves geographically on Mystara for comparison.
my name is Hausman Santos and i live in
Joao Pessoa (PB) Brazil. I have been playing mystara since 1995 and never left!!!!
(Glantri , Karameikos , Alfheim , Rockhome and Savage Baronies)
Johanas :angelhide
I'm currently in Washington State, USA - on the opposite side of the continent from Washington DC. So if we use the Mystara map and project my current location on it, it would be the Sylvan Realm of CM7 (The Tree of Life) fame - WooHoo!
Hey, I'm also running a Mystara game in Washington state. I'm from Snohomish for those who are local to the area, or just north of Seattle for those who aren't.
I've been playing the Mystara setting pretty consistently since the early 80s (or in other words since it was nothing more than the map in X1).
My current group meets in Bristol, UK. I previously ran a campaign in the West Midlands (Warwickshire).
Our campaign is set in AC 989. That gives me a useful knowledge of the future. I am currently planning the death of Baron Desmond Kelvin. Amongst other things.