time of AD&D first edition had a number of adventure modules that were
basically stand alone. They revamped the line to produce the red box edition
of the basic set which was later followed a revised blue copy of the "expert"
rules, followed by a blue-green "companion" set, a black box "masters" set
and a gold (?) "immortals" set (all with Larry Elmore covers I believe). In doing
so they took some of these modules, like X1 the Isle of Dread, and placed it
on a map of an area called "the known world". No real campaign information
at this point just spots on the map where these adventures could be located.
Then they took the steps to take this map that was set out there and started
to provide campaign details in a series of Gazetteers that described each of
the different nations/regions starting with a place called the Grand Duchy of
Karameikos in GAZ1. In the end they had 14 books in the GAZ line plus several
boxed sets including one that described how the world (which had been named
Mystara by this point, by a name the world contest I believe) was hollow.
The different nations are sort of based in different real world cultures.
Karameikos was a sort of medieval eastern europe. Ethengar is like the monguls.
The Northern Reaches are based on Scandinavia/Vikings. Thyatis is like the
Roman Empire. Etc. The products in the Mystara campaign except for the last
few I'll get to in a moment were all set in year AC 1000 and described how the
people in the area being described related to one another. So it kind of had
a place for almost any kind of campaign the DM wanted to run in it. Want
classic dungeon crawls in a feudal society, Karameikos works. Want a Harry
Potter type game with students of magic head to the Principalities of Glantri.
How about some Arabian Nights adventure, go to Ylaruam.
Now geographically, the place is a total hodgepodge mess with all kinds of
different climates and cultures mixed up next to one another. But hey, this
is a fantasy game right?
Mystara is fairly high fantasy, with a high magic level, and powerful NPCs
(in the GAZ series they describe the Empire of Alphatia being ruled by a
council of 1000 36th level wizards!). It also is a place for those who
dream of becoming Immortal someday as many of the world's Immortals (deities
essentially) were once mortals themselves. The old rules had several
incarnations designed to support Immortal level play.
Near the end of the product run for Mystara they put out a boxed campaign
set called Wrath of the Immortals which replaced the older rules for playing
Immortals but more importantly provided a series of adventures and a campaign
outline to cover changes between the GAZ standard of 1000 to ten years later.
Needless to say this is a world changing campaign with the PCs designed to
get caught up in the middle of it. TSR followed this box with 4 almanacs
that served to summarize a lot of the information from the many boxed sets,
provide stats for major NPCs, etc. Each included a year in the life for
Mystara (1010-1013) with events from around the world for the DM to hook their
campaign too. Midway through this process, Mystara was also converted from
the older D&D rules to AD&D second edition. They also released a few final
boxed sets for AD&D2 that were designed as beginner/starter sets to bring
people into the game.
Mystara is really a case of whatever you think you might find in D&D it's in
there. Humanoid hordes, crashed alien starships, hollow planet, lost islands
with dinosaurs, buried pyramids, you name it. It's a place perfect for a
campaign based on exploration but it easily supports one of war or political
intrigue or dominion building.
L
Mystara is really a case of whatever you think you might find in D&D it's in
there. Humanoid hordes, crashed alien starships, hollow planet, lost islands
with dinosaurs, buried pyramids, you name it. It's a place perfect for a
campaign based on exploration but it easily supports one of war or political
intrigue or dominion building.
And only about 30% of the "Normal surface" of the world has been fleshed out. Those countries are all in one tighly packed area and once the DM has the feel for those counties, the rest of the world is there to be fleshed out without having to worry about a world setting that has most things already accounted for.
A brief synopsis. The old version of D&D that was in parallel production at the
time of AD&D first edition had a number of adventure modules that were
basically stand alone. They revamped the line to produce the red box edition
of the basic set which was later followed a revised blue copy of the "expert"
rules, followed by a blue-green "companion" set, a black box "masters" set
and a gold (?) "immortals" set (all with Larry Elmore covers I believe). In doing
so they took some of these modules, like X1 the Isle of Dread, and placed it
on a map of an area called "the known world". No real campaign information
at this point just spots on the map where these adventures could be located.
Then they took the steps to take this map that was set out there and started
to provide campaign details in a series of Gazetteers that described each of
the different nations/regions starting with a place called the Grand Duchy of
Karameikos in GAZ1.
Your synopsis was great, but your description of the way things started out was a little inaccurate. I've been looking into this lately, so let me have a go at writing one...
The original Expert Rules Set in 1981 introduced a "sample" setting, consisting of a short description of the Grand Duchy of Karameikos, and a map of the surrounding region. X1 The Isle of Dread, which was included with the Expert Set, gave a smaller scale map of the "Known World", with very short capsule descriptions of each country.
As more modules were written, some were placed explicitly in the Known World, while others left the location up to the DM. Slowly but surely the setting grew. In 1983, Frank Mentzer's revised Basic and Expert Rules Sets were released, including the original material and a little more on Karameikos.
Various modules expanded the world to cover more of the continent, and then the continent itself was revealed in the Companion Set (1984). The Master Set then revealed the entire world for the first time in 1985, with its "Known World Map" based on maps of the Earth millions of years ago.
But the modules alone didn't provide much depth in their descriptions of the setting. So in 1987 the first of the Gazetteer series was released - a series of books describing the nations introduced in X1 in great detail. Each book covered one nation (or set of nations), culminating in the Dawn of the Emperors boxed Gazetteer set, detailing the Empires of Alphatia and Thyatis, and GAZ14 The Atruaghin Clans, the last gazetteer.
But things didn't stop there: in 1990, it was revealed that the world was in fact hollow. A boxed set, an adventure trilogy and a short series of Hollow World gazetteers brought the interior world to life.
At about the same time, Bruce Heard started his Voyages of the Princess Ark series in Dragon, wherein an Alphatian skyship travelled the Known World, seeking out new civilisations, etc, etc. This series expanded the Known World in new directions, and eventually ended up spawning a spin-off campaign setting: Red Steel, aka the Savage Coast.
The other great legacy of the Princess Ark was the name of the world. At one point, Bruce Heard asked readers for their ideas to give a name to the Known World, and they eventually decided upon Mystara.
(On a side note, it's interesting that the Known World was clearly originally the world name, and not just the name of the familiar Gazetteer series region...)
But things didn't stop there: in 1990, it was revealed that the world was in fact hollow. A boxed set, an adventure trilogy and a short series of Hollow World gazetteers brought the interior world to life.
At about the same time, Bruce Heard started his Voyages of the Princess Ark series in Dragon, wherein an Alphatian skyship travelled the Known World, seeking out new civilisations, etc, etc. This series expanded the Known World in new directions, and eventually ended up spawning a spin-off campaign setting: Red Steel, aka the Savage Coast.
Just to nitpick a bit- Bruce's VotPA series had actually been ongoing before the Hollow World was released. He took the Princess to the HW around the same time as the boxed set was introduced (to provide an intro to that setting), in Dragon #161. The series started in #153, so around 8 months or so. HW was probably in development at the time the series began (8 months doesn't seem like a lot of turnaround time in the publishing game), but I'm not entirely certain if it was or not.
The other great legacy of the Princess Ark was the name of the world. At one point, Bruce Heard asked readers for their ideas to give a name to the Known World, and they eventually decided upon Mystara.
I'm still looking into this one myself for specifics. The actual contest must have begun before VotPA- I know that there was apparently a "name the Known World" contest in Dragon- one of the issues I have specifically mentions the contest is ongoing, but I don't know for certain which issue introduced the contest (nothing I have says "Enter Now!", but I have only a handful of issues before #153).
Also, and I don't recall for certain about this either (I think it is somewhere in the old MML archives, the non-Wizard ones, that I don't think are actually archived anywhere any longer), but I think the Mystara name didn't actually come out of the contest itself (there were never any winners announced), but that it was eventually decided in-house, and derived from the name "Mystery-Star". There was some discussion on the MML about it ages ago, and I'm pretty sure I recall Bruce mentioning the above.
Just to nitpick a bit- Bruce's VotPA series had actually been ongoing before the Hollow World was released. He took the Princess to the HW around the same time as the boxed set was introduced (to provide an intro to that setting), in Dragon #161. The series started in #153, so around 8 months or so. HW was probably in development at the time the series began (8 months doesn't seem like a lot of turnaround time in the publishing game), but I'm not entirely certain if it was or not.
A nitpick of my nitpick, eh? Of course it's most welcome. ;)
The precise timing is, I believe, January 1990 for Princess Ark, and about September for the Hollow World set - pretty much as you say. Anyway I did say "about the same time". :P
I agree it's hard to say which came first development-wise. It seems likely that the Hollow World idea at least was well established before the Princess Ark ever saw print, because it must have taken a fair amount of time for Aaron Allston to write that rather substantial boxed set.
I'm still looking into this one myself for specifics. The actual contest must have begun before VotPA- I know that there was apparently a "name the Known World" contest in Dragon- one of the issues I have specifically mentions the contest is ongoing, but I don't know for certain which issue introduced the contest (nothing I have says "Enter Now!", but I have only a handful of issues before #153).
You know, I could have sworn that the whole "competition" was just in the letters of the Princess Ark series... I don't remember there being any kind of actual competition or anything - there were few enough articles about D&D, so I think I'd remember it - but then again like you I haven't got many issues predating the Princess Ark series. I do have the CD collection of PDFs, but I haven't read the older issues.
Also, and I don't recall for certain about this either (I think it is somewhere in the old MML archives, the non-Wizard ones, that I don't think are actually archived anywhere any longer), but I think the Mystara name didn't actually come out of the contest itself (there were never any winners announced), but that it was eventually decided in-house, and derived from the name "Mystery-Star". There was some discussion on the MML about it ages ago, and I'm pretty sure I recall Bruce mentioning the above.
That seems likely too. Are the old lists gone completely, then? That's a shame... I wish I had downloaded a copy of them.
You know, I could have sworn that the whole "competition" was just in the letters of the Princess Ark series... I don't remember there being any kind of actual competition or anything - there were few enough articles about D&D, so I think I'd remember it - but then again like you I haven't got many issues predating the Princess Ark series. I do have the CD collection of PDFs, but I haven't read the older issues.
Since it came up (and I'd been meaning to look anyway, due to my work on the FAQ), I checked my back issues of Dragon just now.
The first (and only) mention I see of the Name That World contest is in Dragon #132, on p. 32, in the "Dumb Idea Winners!" box. The text there states:
"No winner has yet been chosen in the "Name That World" contest for the D&D game's Known World," and encourages readers to keep sending in names.
Dragon 132 came out sometime between Gaz4: Kingdom of Ierendi and Gaz5: Elves of Alfheim (there is a brief review of Gaz4 and a preview for Gaz5 in the magazine). So sometime prior to 132 is when the contest must have been announced. I have issues 121, 122, 125, 126, 128, and 129, and there is nothing in those issues about the contest. So, presuming the contest doesn't go back any further than that, it must have been announced in one of the 120's. Anyone have copies of Dragon #s 120, 123, 124, or 127 that could check on that?
Also, and I don't recall for certain about this either (I think it is somewhere in the old MML archives, the non-Wizard ones, that I don't think are actually archived anywhere any longer), but I think the Mystara name didn't actually come out of the contest itself (there were never any winners announced), but that it was eventually decided in-house, and derived from the name "Mystery-Star". There was some discussion on the MML about it ages ago, and I'm pretty sure I recall Bruce mentioning the above.
This is correct. Bruce was the one who made the final decision about the setting name. Apparently no good names came out of the contest itself.
Håvard
Sprawling across the boundaries of the Known World like a great, serpentine dragon lies the bustling, ever-startling world of Mystara, a land where the only constant is change.
Mystara has managed to survive through three disasters of cataclysmic proportions. The first such disaster, the Great Rain of Fire, came about some four millennia ago. It was then that the ancient Blackmoors, master of magic and technology, loosed their powerful weapons on the land in an Armageddon that forever changed the face of the world.
Although the people of Blackmoor failed to survive this self-inflicted calamity, they were nevertheless players in the second major disaster some thirteen hundred years later, when unsuspecting elves unwittingly detonated a powerful artifact left behind by the men of Blackmoor. The resulting explosion not only wiped out whole races but also brought about a change in climate that spawned a new ice age.
In more modern times, vengeful gods and goddesses brought about a series of cataclysmic events known as the Wrath of the Immortals. A great meteorite struck the land, an entire continent sank beneath the ocean, and a deadly plague began to spread.
Mystara is a world of constant surprises. Where else would you expect to find a flying city, a magical mountain, a floating continent, and invisible moon complete with inhabitants, and entire region of the world with its population held under the sinister, body-altering influence of a mysterious magical substance? What other land possesses and entire separate world inside its hollow core, with neither the world’s population aware of the existence of the other?
In Mystara, you’ll discover brave adventurers, powerful mages, evil villains, majestic dragons, lurking monsters. An entire civilization that has survived underground for hundreds of years, a nation of Halflings, an island kingdom of pirates. Immortals who dabble in the affairs of mere mortals for their own amusement. An entire race that has migrated to Mystara from another world.
Fire and air magic…
A blighted, magically enchanted forest…
A sunken continent…
It’s all here, and much, much more, when you dare to visit the magical world of Mystara!
And don't forget the fourth cataclysm, the (almost) complete erasure of a dominant culture in the known world, including memories of that culture. Unfortunately, since this isn't player-knowledge, it's not something that can be advertised as a selling point.
Given that various Known World nations are exploring the Hollow world, it might well be.