Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 zombiegleemax Feb 13, 2006 22:43:29	Okay, I have the first two Poor Wizard's Almanacs and can download the Mystara world maps from a website. I also have an issue of Dragon Magazine that details the Lupin race. What else would I need to run a campaign in Mystara?
#2 rhialto Feb 14, 2006 0:58:54	I'd say as a bare minimum, you need... A set of rules. D&D, AD&D, whatever. but something. Sme imagination. If you've found these forums and liek RPGs, you probably already have that. Books-wise, I'd say the almanacs aren't the best resource to kick-start a new campaign. They work great for an ongoing campaign that wants some historical direction because the party has been going on a while in game time, but for a new campaign, not so amazing. Decide which region of Mystara you want to play in, and beg/borrow/steal the appropriate gazetteer or background book. For most of the known world, that will be the appropruiate gazetteer. For anywhere in the Hollow World, the boxed set alone would be enough, although the HWR series of gazetteers helps if your campaign is based in the appropriate region. For Alphatia or Thyatis (and their colonies), Dawn of the Emperors is pretty essential reading. Anything involving skyships should require Champions of Mystara, and Top Ballista (PC4) and Dawn of the Emperors would also be useful. For Savage Coast campaigns, I believe the series of Dragon magazine articles are still the best resource. Red Steel also covers the region, and I believe there are some downloadable materials from WotC. I could probably be a bit more specific if you say where your campaign is likely to start. Right now, the situation reminds me of the holidaymaker in a travel agent whos says "I want to go abroad. How much does it cost?"
#3 zombiegleemax Feb 14, 2006 1:05:47	Where are you going to play? Mystara is a so big place... Are you going to play in Graakalia or in Myoshima? In Old Alphatia or in Ostland? In year 1000 AC or in 1014 AC? Will your PCs be natives? Humans? And what kind of Humans? Thyatians? Antalians? Tanagoro? Ochaleans? Guardianos? Oltecs? As you can see there are lots of diversity in Mystara. It is not a simple fact to play there. But, if you want to know, I played my first adventure in Mystara in a ruin near Threshold, in Karameikos, where Bargle the Infamous kidnapped the beautiful, innocent looking Alina. And my only D&D knowledge was a red box titled "Basic Set" with a picture with a red dragon defending his hoard from a human fighter.
#4 agathokles Feb 14, 2006 2:50:17	Okay, I have the first two Poor Wizard's Almanacs and can download the Mystara world maps from a website. I also have an issue of Dragon Magazine that details the Lupin race. What else would I need to run a campaign in Mystara? You can also get a few very useful downloads from the Vaults: - The Savage Coast Campaign Setting - The Orc's Head expansion - The Savage Coast MCA - The Shadow Elves Gazetteer With this material, if you plan to play in the Shadow Elves Territories or in the Savage Coast, you don't need much else, as the PWAs offer a reasonable coverage of the other areas. If you want to play in one of the Known World nations, OTOH, you should get the appropriate Gazetteer, as Rhialto said. From the VoP, in addition to the maps, I'd recommend to get a few more reference works: http://pandius.com/timeline.html http://pandius.com/immortal.html http://pandius.com/sentrace.html Other material could be useful as well, but mostly depends on where you want to set your campaign (Gazetteers, HWRs, adventure modules), or which set of rules you're using (Creature Catalog, Mystara MCA).
#5 Legendarius Feb 14, 2006 22:06:39	Deciding on the type of game/setting you want to play will help narrow your search too. The Gazetteers are the main source of Mystara information. Karameikos and Glantri are the two nations that probably have the most material in terms of supplements and adventures. Both have gazetteers written for old D&D and both have Boxed Sets with Audio CDs that update the earlier gazetteers to AD&D 2nd edition. The former is a classic feudal type setting with an interesting cultural mix (the Traladarans who've been there and the Thyatians who took over) and a basically good Duke/King (depending on the timeline) and his evil, meddling cousin the Black Eagle Baron. The latter is a kingdom of magic built above an ancient artifact (the Radiance) ruled by magicians, some who came from an alternate Earth. Kind of Ravenloftian a bit with some powerful creatures of the night (who are also wizards) ruling the principalities. Both would work well with a dungeon delving campaign or one of political intrigue. The Wrath of the Immortals boxed set is a nice source of Mystara background material and takes the timeline from the original Gazetteer line (set in year AC 1000) to the year AC 1010. Poor Wizard's Almanacs I, II and III and Joshuan's Almanac basically cover the 1010-1013 years and provide stats for major NPCs in both D&D (the first two) and AD&D 2nd Edition (the latter two). The Hollow World boxed set also has a lot of good "fluff" about the Mystara timeline and the Immortals. L