Currently our group consists of 6. Myself and another alternate DMing in Mystara (seperate but linked campaigns).
When I take the chair the current year is 1016 AC. The Master of the desert Nomads was not defeated during the wrath of immortals and currently has a major foot hold in the known world. This is due to several factors.
1. The party was quite successful in offending most of the nations which in turn either sided with the Master or stayed neutral during the conflict.
2. Several bad decisions during the war lost the 'alliance' territory and massaced many of their troops.
So, to sum it up.
Yluraum, Ethengar sided with Sind.
Glantri and Thyatis stayed neutral (IMC Glantri did not war with Alphati)
I purposely invaded Alfeim with the shadow elvers during the start of the war to keep most of the Alfeim troops from bombarding the nomads.
The result. Darokin fell to the master and is still under his control today.
Autruaghin and the five shires also fall.
Alfeim is overun.
Ethenghar take hold of the lower footholds of rockhome and the northern reaches.
Yluram keep Karameikos at bay.
Much has happened since but I'll leave it for another post.
And now that the Master has a major foothold in the Known World have any of the neutral big players made any change in their position. Do they threatened?
The first adventure I ran is probably also my all-time favorite- Castle Amber. It was good for getting new people into the setting, through meeting & interacting with the most important family in Glantri. This was especially good since only one of the players had ever encountered Mystara before, so I wanted to ease them into things as well as highlight how truly unique the area was.
For the first session, the PCs simply woke up in the foyer of the castle, having gone to sleep somewhere else in the country (but all in transit in one way or another), with no explanation of the change. They'd never met each other, but quickly had to work together to try and figure out what was going on. I started the group off at 10th-level (to match the only legacy character), and it consisted of:
Raphaela, a Belcadiz illusionist/rogue Dream Mistress;
Chen, an Ethengarian monk;
Simon, a Karameikan paladin/hunter of the dead (who had come to Glantri seeking rumors of his long-lost sister);
Lussihia, an Ellerovyn half-elven arcane archer.
Later characters:
Fritz, an Albaanese fire elementalist (only PC from original game);
Ian, a Kaelic abjurer dracologist;
Elspeth, a Norwold priestess of Alphatia (sent to keep an eye on things).
The campaign focused a lot on Glantrian politics- early modules like Castle Amber and Skarda's Mirror (substituting Prince Haaskinz for Duke Stefan) got the group in good with the right kind of people. I also took a detour in the middle of things to do some time-travelling via the Comeback Inn, allowing the party to learn some more of Glantrian history and ultimately discover the Radiance.
There weren't too many changes to the published timeline, but the characters ended up in some neat places- Ian wanted to join the Brotherhood, and therefore had to become a noble, founding a county on the ruins of Huledain (there's a lot of politics and backstory to the reason he didn't start as a baron). Raphaela began an affair with Prince Malachie, whom she'd originally met in the Averoigne past the gate in the module (also, the PC was an albino like him- they made a great couple). Elspeth, as an artisan and enchanter, opened one of the first divinely-based shops in Glantri City (the other being a healing hostel from the clerics of Asterius).
The divine shops were a bit of a change, indicating increased clerical presence in Glantri from the standard history. The party was also riddles with heathens- Fritz had previously become a follower of Rathanos on a trip to Thothia. Lussihia followed elven traditions that were distinctly druidic in nature (pardon the pun). And Raphaela kept having odd things happen to her because some of her affairs attracted the attention of Valerias (another long story).
Another change was sorcerers- they were new to 3e and didn't seem to have much of a place in established Mystara. I made them a new phenomenon- after the Week with No Magic, people all over simply started manifesting arcane abilities (this was due to a backlash of energies during the war). Needless to say, the growing numbers of untrained, commoner spellcasters were not something the Princes were to thrilled with, and there was some oppression and political friction. Sorcerers naturally gravitated toward the People's Spellcasting Company and other radical groups, culminating in several violent incidents during the Arcanium of 1012.
Other changes- the party eventually got wind of the schemes of Dolores Hillsbury, and started trying to subvert her. When their evidence was strongest, they assembled a band of like-minded princes- Isidore, Malachie, and Carolitina- to try and organize resistance against the coming darkness. And, finally, I ended the campaign by converting over Mark of Amber (which, btw, doesn't scale up all that well), and the PCs helped Etienne to finally return from the void to (clandestinely) begin ruling Glantri again.
So that's the last Mystara stuff I did. Any questions or comments, feel free to post.
Currently, it is early summer 1004 A.C. and the players have recently made level 4. They still have no idea what's in store for them and I am looking forward to it.
Recently the PCs rescued a hin spy from the Black Barony, thereby permitting him to warn the Shires of an imminent attack. The hin mobilised just in time and beat off the invasion.
The PCs have just heard the stories about a great battle.
Glantri is slowly becoming aligned to the allies mainly due to the PCs influence. Thyatis however, are stubornly staying neutral in spite of Karameikos declaration of independance.
The PCs are currently involved in the recovery of major artifact,
this artifact will enable the Master to expand his foothold. This has led the PCs to uncover other plots happening in the known world and several other side adventures.
Several Cannon literature I'm not following.
1. Alpahtia doesn't sink
2. The Day of dread doesn't happen
3. Obviously, the master isn't defeated
My campaign is an ever evolving beast (as most of yours would be too). I guess the great thing about Mystara is that there is so much events that you pick and modify to use (cuts down alot of the prep work). The other thing about having the campaign non cannon is that the Pcs never know what is coming even if they read up on Mystara...
Another change was sorcerers- they were new to 3e and didn't seem to have much of a place in established Mystara. I made them a new phenomenon- after the Week with No Magic, people all over simply started manifesting arcane abilities (this was due to a backlash of energies during the war).
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Excellent adaptation, I didn't go to that much effort to explain sorcerors... To those that don't know much about magic, there is no difference between a sorceror and mage...to those who do know, well, they've always known the difference...
I never really did a full-fledge explanation, I think I was actually going to tie it into the Nucleus of the Spheres. The "fixing" of it that occurs at the end of Wrath resulted in extra magical energies being unleashed, and manifesting in people as sorcerous talent.
Since the campaign was mostly wizard-focused (Glantri, of course), then I never really had a sorcerer PC.
My OD&D campaign began in 1991 real time and it's still going on. The game time had been 999 -1024 ac
In 1005 ac, the Black Eagle was defeated and the new barony of Halag was born (ruled by a lawful good cleric of Roauris, a god added by me to the setting)
In 1014 ac Wrath of the Immortals began (my campaign was in 1009 ac when I bought the boxed set, so I had to put the story ten years after). The meteor never crashed on Glantri but on the southern sea, Alfheim was conquered by the Shadow Elves, the Master was defeated even in Sind, Alphatia never sink, but was hit by a disaster that killed one million people... Etienne disappeared and for a short time Thyatis was very weak and Glantri was a sort of alphatian protectorate... but now (1024ac) Thyatis is strong, Etienne is back and there is again a rising tension between Glantri and Alphatia... and that's all, I think
Bye
Francesco
The 3.ed. group has released benekander and is his primary heroes party (currently ready to be wringed through the wrath of the immortals storyline )
the other is left in norwold to deal with the civil war that has broken out.(also briefly mentioned in wrath)
The reason i´ve let them start with the wrath of the immortal storyline instead of letting them start in the year 1019 where i last left the campaign is because i lllooovveee the wrath storyline, and i look forwards to run it again
