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Dungeon & Mystara

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
spellweaver
Jul 29, 2004 5:15:21 Reading the thread that Eric Mona kindly started to keep us informed about the Isle of Dread adventure in Dungeon #114 (by the way, thanks Eric!!) I had an idea that I thought might inspire some of you - fans of Mystara and writer/editors at Dungeon Magazine:

It occured to me, that the adventures in Dungeon are, or at least have been in the past issues I have read, mostly generic with the intent that it should appeal to all players no matter what their favourite setting is.

Since Wizards of the Coast maintain these message boards covering not only Mystara but all the other current and former game worlds as well, it would be a great asset to us - the fans - and hopefully a sales boost to Dungeon Magazine, if every issue resulted in a post on each of the world forums letting us know how best/most easily to adapt the generic adventures to our favourite world.

Do you understand, what I mean? Say there is an adventure featuring a temple, a thieves guild and a city. An official "Dungeon" post at the Greyhawk board might suggest that the temple was devoted to Boccob, the thieves guild was the Scarlet Brotherhood and the city was Fax. On the Mystara forum the suggestion might be to adapt the adventure so that the temple was to Palartakan, the guild would be the Iron Ring and the city Selenica.

It need not be much - e.g. just a list of 10 changes that would change the adventure from 'generic' to 'Greyhawk', 'Mystara' or whatever.

I realise that this could take some time and cost Dungeon Magazine some man hours but I think it would be really cool. (and maybe sell more magazines).

Alternatively, we will have to rely on Mystara fans buying the magazine, figuring out the best ways to convert the adventures and then posting it to us?

I think I will have to look through my older issues and see if I can come up with some good conversions for you all to begin with. :D

:-) Jesper
#2
spellweaver
Jul 29, 2004 6:48:45 Flipping through old issues I came across these scenarios that could be converted into interesting Mystara adventures:

# 10, 1988:

THE ARTISAN'S TOMB
An Oriental Adventures scenario that fits well into Ochalea

THEY ALSO SERVE...
A king dies without an heir and civil war looms on the horizon. It could be adapted to take place in a duchy or county in Thyatis or perhaps on the Savage Coast somewhere.

MONSTERQUEST
I actually played this hilariously funny scenario. The plot is a group of humaniods going on a quest against the "evil" humans. Put it in the Broken Lands and have great fun!

SECRET OF THE TOWERS
A scenario which takes you teleporting between 12 magical towers to different encounters. Spread them out across the great Alphatian Empire if you want your players to experience a little of everything!

THRESHOLD OF EVIL
Going up against an evil archmage who has his mind set on immortality. Sounds interesting? I recommend adjusting it to the remote mountains of Glantri...

#11, 1988:
THE DARK CONVENTICLE
The heroic rescue of an important merchant's daughter. Place it in Darokin and have the father belong to one of the great Houses.

THE WOODEN MOUSE
A thieving quest for a single player. Adaptable to any major city in the Known World with a thieves guild.

THE BLACK HEART OF ULOM
An intelligent forest with an evil mind. Place it anywhere on the edges of civilization where the local druids could use a hand.

WARDS OF WITCHING WAYS
This adventure actually made its way to my campaign recently. I placed the island between Ylarum and the Isle of Dawn and made Vladizier a Glantrian mage and Natisha a Traladaran sorceress. It was fun the PCs actually claimed the island as their stronghold afterwards.

#15, 1989:
THE WRECK OF THE SHINING STAR
This search-the-shipwreck module can be placed on a deserted strech of coast of Karameikos and Lord Maragorn can be a Thyatian nobleman and perhaps a friend of the Duke.

IN PURSUIT OF THE SLAYER
This scenario might take some geographic adjustment but it features four monsters from the Creature Catalogue that I believe first stared in Mystara scenarios: A Possession (a.k.a. Sword Spirit), a Gakarak, a Sacroll and a Grey Philosopher.

THE DRAGON'S GIFT
Another Oriental Adventure to place in Ochalea.

THE ELEPHANTS' GRAVEYARD
This jungle adventure can be relocated to the Hinterlands or the Savage Coast - anywhere with deep jungle and volcanoes.

#38, 1992:
THINGS THAT GO BUMP IN THE NIGHT
An adventure with elves, giants and a witch. You could place it in Wendar or Norwold.

PANDORA'S APPRENTICE
Taking care of a mischievious little girl with a huge magical potential can be deadly! Admirably suited for Glantri or Alphatia.

HORROR'S HARVEST
One of the scariest scenarios I ever played. It has a real invasion-of-the-body-snatchers kind of feel. Excellent for the dark woods of Karameikos!!

#39, 1992:
THE FIREGIANT'S DAUGHTER
This adventure has a feel like an Icelandic saga, it should be placed in Northern Reaches or Norwold.

LEGERDEMAIN
The PCs take to the stage to solve a mystery. Excellent for swashbuckling adventures in the theatre of Darokin City!!

#43, 1993:
JACOB'S WELL
Snowed in with a slaad who is eating the guests one by one... Set it in a snowy mountain area anywhere!

MOVING DAY
A module featuring elemental-powered boats; set it in Alphatia.

#48, 1994:
THE ORACLE AT SUMBAR
This is a pirate adventure and fits well into Ierendi or Minrothad Guilds and the Sea of Dread.

THEM APPLES
This adventure is actually suggested to take place in Wereskalot in the Five Shires. No conversion needed.

SLEEPING DRAGON
Made for the Council of Wyrms boxed set, it could easily be adapted to the Wyrmsteeth kingdom of dragons.

THE DARK PLACE
Looking for friends lost in an old ruin, you come across a fiend... Can be set in any desolate area of the Known World.

LENNY O'BRIEN's POT O' GOLD
A leprechaun and his treasure - this should be set near the Fey kingdom in Alfheim.

UNHALLOWED GROUND
This adventure of murder and revenge is obviously inspired by Uberto Eco's The Name of the Rose. It fits very well with an abbey of the church of Karameikos in some remote area.

#58, 1996:
BAD BATCH OF BROWNIES
This mystery for a single druid character is really funny and can be placed in any rural area with orchards and brownies.

CHALLENGE OF CHAMPIONS
This adventure I placed in the magical city of Aquas Seashield. It is a high-magic tournament specifically for adventurers.

#78, 2000:
LEAR THE GIANT KING
A fantasy conversion of Shakespeare's King Lear, the giant kingdom in this adventure is best suited for Norwold.

PEER AMID THE WATERS
I relocated this adventure to a lake in Karameikos and placed the tomb in the deserts of Ylaruam.

THE WINTER TAPESTRY
This adventure could be set in Norwold or perhaps Northern Reaches. It features both frost giants and a white dragon.

#87, 2001
GLACIER SEASON
High-level dragonslaying. Excellent for the Wyrmsteeth mountains.

VALLEY OF THE SNAILS
This adventure became part of my campaign. I placed it in the Dymrak forest and transformed the village of Hulvin into Rugalov on the Thyatian border. The goblin Slithering Snails tribe became one of the minor tribes of the dark Dymrak forest.

#88, 2001:
THIRDS OF PURLOINED VELLUM
I also used this adventure IMC. The city of Arthkatla became Specularum, Katkallan became a merchant from the House of Halonica in Selenica and he was in Specularum to buy vanilla from Arrasti, who became a Minrothad merchant. The evil thieves, the Night Masks from Westgate became the Vipers from Athenos, working for the Linton House. It is a great adventure!

#96, 2003:
PANDEMONIUM IN THE VEINS
I haven't had a chance to use this gladiatorial adventure yet but it is excellently suited for Thyatis City!!

I hope this list - although brief - gave you an idea of what I meant!

:-) Jesper
#3
npc_dave
Jul 29, 2004 14:40:23 I agree wholeheartedly, but I would stipulate that care needs to be taken to describe just how easily or difficult it is to integrate into the campaign world. Nothing is more frustrating than to get a recommendation and make a purchase and then find out you need to do more rewrites than you care to.

I would break things into three categories-

The easiest would be those just begging to be fit into Mystara, it requires only minor adjustments and additional background to fit the game into the setting. This may sound too high, but I have found some adventures which do just that. I have used the adventure Spellbook Masquerade from Dungeon #53, placing it in the principality of Klantyre. That adventure fits the setting like a glove, I didn't even have to change the name of the antagonist(Kelsey Kincaid). I just added some local NPCs including a couple of the MacGregor family who stop buy for the Masquerade.

I would make the second category, requiring some adjustments and changes before it will fit. The last category is the kernel of the adventure can fit, but would require some major rewriting.

From some of the examples listed in the previous post-

Legerdemain - I am putting this in Glantri City. The villain gang in the adventure is a wacky and odd group which fits Glantri City. The theatre house is also appropriate for the capital of Glantri, and the nemesis is a wizard and it is a high magic adventure. I put this in the easiest category, just add details like the hobgoblin priestess comes from Ethengar, the hafling pair carry a grudge against the city for being abducted from the Shires, etc.

Sleeping Dragon - This adventure requires you to either modify the demi-humans in the dragon realm to fit the description of Wyrmsteeth, or adjust Wyrmsteeth to fit Council of Wyrms. It also requires you to add lands which have no place in Norworld, or change them to fit Norworld. It also requires adding on a backstory involving a magic item that can invoke a tarrasque, and changing the way dragons can gain Immortality, as laid out by Bruce Heard in Dragon Magazine, or adjust the final dungeon lair. In all, this adventure fits into the third category, the germ of the adventure idea fits, but you will be pounding a square peg into a round hole.
#4
zombiegleemax
Aug 02, 2004 9:14:53 An excellent list, spellweaver. I would just like to add a few.

Since my campaign is set mainly round Karameikos, that is where I have mostly placed adventures.

Of course, isolated towns are usually easy to put in. I have set Caermor (Dungeon #2) just North of Threshold in Karameikos. Similarly Necropolis (#16) went near the Duke's Road.

#7 The Matchmakers
is easy to fit in Specularum between Torenescu, Vorloi and Radu factions. I seem to remember a suggestion that it might have been written originally with this in mind - I ran it to get the party involved with the Veiled Society.

#10 Secret of the Towers
I set the Towers across the Known World. Gets them to different cultures.

#24 In the Dread of Night
I put this on the Westron Road. It fits nicely a day's journey from Specularum.

#42 Ransom
Not run this yet, but will be linked to an important personage in Threshold.

#51 Bandits of Bunglewood
I set this on the Karameikos-Five Shires border, north of the swamp.

#58, #69, #80 #91 Challenge of Champions
These could make the yearly contest to be King of Ierendi.

#58 The Ghost of Silverhill
My players have heard rumours about a place in the Wufwolde Mountains, not far from the Kelvin-Selenica road.

#62 Esmeralda's Bodyguard
Savage Coast/Red Steel?

#72 Plundering Poppof
Kelvin

#81 Skulking Below
Kelvin's legends of lost city of Lavv make this a good setting (although I didn't link it to Lavv in the end)

#85 Ever changing Fortunes
I set this just to the east of the "Unnamed Moor" near Kelvin

#88 Thirds of Purloined Vellum
I set this in Selenica - seemed to fit the Darokin culture.

One thing I've not yet done is to adapt the idea in #86's Anvil of Time to a Mystara setting. This will take some work.
#5
spellweaver
Aug 03, 2004 4:21:33 Thanks for the list, Shadowelf. Some very interesting ideas there and I am sure if people on this forum want to, we could organize a really neat set of nice conversions of some of the all-time best Dungeon adventures.

I was hoping that Eric Mona would respond to this thread, but perhaps he hasn't read it yet or is too busy. It would be interesting to hear his point of view, though... :D

:-) Jesper

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 spellweaver Jul 29, 2004 5:15:21	Reading the thread that Eric Mona kindly started to keep us informed about the Isle of Dread adventure in Dungeon #114 (by the way, thanks Eric!!) I had an idea that I thought might inspire some of you - fans of Mystara and writer/editors at Dungeon Magazine: It occured to me, that the adventures in Dungeon are, or at least have been in the past issues I have read, mostly generic with the intent that it should appeal to all players no matter what their favourite setting is. Since Wizards of the Coast maintain these message boards covering not only Mystara but all the other current and former game worlds as well, it would be a great asset to us - the fans - and hopefully a sales boost to Dungeon Magazine, if every issue resulted in a post on each of the world forums letting us know how best/most easily to adapt the generic adventures to our favourite world. Do you understand, what I mean? Say there is an adventure featuring a temple, a thieves guild and a city. An official "Dungeon" post at the Greyhawk board might suggest that the temple was devoted to Boccob, the thieves guild was the Scarlet Brotherhood and the city was Fax. On the Mystara forum the suggestion might be to adapt the adventure so that the temple was to Palartakan, the guild would be the Iron Ring and the city Selenica. It need not be much - e.g. just a list of 10 changes that would change the adventure from 'generic' to 'Greyhawk', 'Mystara' or whatever. I realise that this could take some time and cost Dungeon Magazine some man hours but I think it would be really cool. (and maybe sell more magazines). Alternatively, we will have to rely on Mystara fans buying the magazine, figuring out the best ways to convert the adventures and then posting it to us? I think I will have to look through my older issues and see if I can come up with some good conversions for you all to begin with. :D :-) Jesper
#2 spellweaver Jul 29, 2004 6:48:45	Flipping through old issues I came across these scenarios that could be converted into interesting Mystara adventures: # 10, 1988: THE ARTISAN'S TOMB An Oriental Adventures scenario that fits well into Ochalea THEY ALSO SERVE... A king dies without an heir and civil war looms on the horizon. It could be adapted to take place in a duchy or county in Thyatis or perhaps on the Savage Coast somewhere. MONSTERQUEST I actually played this hilariously funny scenario. The plot is a group of humaniods going on a quest against the "evil" humans. Put it in the Broken Lands and have great fun! SECRET OF THE TOWERS A scenario which takes you teleporting between 12 magical towers to different encounters. Spread them out across the great Alphatian Empire if you want your players to experience a little of everything! THRESHOLD OF EVIL Going up against an evil archmage who has his mind set on immortality. Sounds interesting? I recommend adjusting it to the remote mountains of Glantri... #11, 1988: THE DARK CONVENTICLE The heroic rescue of an important merchant's daughter. Place it in Darokin and have the father belong to one of the great Houses. THE WOODEN MOUSE A thieving quest for a single player. Adaptable to any major city in the Known World with a thieves guild. THE BLACK HEART OF ULOM An intelligent forest with an evil mind. Place it anywhere on the edges of civilization where the local druids could use a hand. WARDS OF WITCHING WAYS This adventure actually made its way to my campaign recently. I placed the island between Ylarum and the Isle of Dawn and made Vladizier a Glantrian mage and Natisha a Traladaran sorceress. It was fun the PCs actually claimed the island as their stronghold afterwards. #15, 1989: THE WRECK OF THE SHINING STAR This search-the-shipwreck module can be placed on a deserted strech of coast of Karameikos and Lord Maragorn can be a Thyatian nobleman and perhaps a friend of the Duke. IN PURSUIT OF THE SLAYER This scenario might take some geographic adjustment but it features four monsters from the Creature Catalogue that I believe first stared in Mystara scenarios: A Possession (a.k.a. Sword Spirit), a Gakarak, a Sacroll and a Grey Philosopher. THE DRAGON'S GIFT Another Oriental Adventure to place in Ochalea. THE ELEPHANTS' GRAVEYARD This jungle adventure can be relocated to the Hinterlands or the Savage Coast - anywhere with deep jungle and volcanoes. #38, 1992: THINGS THAT GO BUMP IN THE NIGHT An adventure with elves, giants and a witch. You could place it in Wendar or Norwold. PANDORA'S APPRENTICE Taking care of a mischievious little girl with a huge magical potential can be deadly! Admirably suited for Glantri or Alphatia. HORROR'S HARVEST One of the scariest scenarios I ever played. It has a real invasion-of-the-body-snatchers kind of feel. Excellent for the dark woods of Karameikos!! #39, 1992: THE FIREGIANT'S DAUGHTER This adventure has a feel like an Icelandic saga, it should be placed in Northern Reaches or Norwold. LEGERDEMAIN The PCs take to the stage to solve a mystery. Excellent for swashbuckling adventures in the theatre of Darokin City!! #43, 1993: JACOB'S WELL Snowed in with a slaad who is eating the guests one by one... Set it in a snowy mountain area anywhere! MOVING DAY A module featuring elemental-powered boats; set it in Alphatia. #48, 1994: THE ORACLE AT SUMBAR This is a pirate adventure and fits well into Ierendi or Minrothad Guilds and the Sea of Dread. THEM APPLES This adventure is actually suggested to take place in Wereskalot in the Five Shires. No conversion needed. SLEEPING DRAGON Made for the Council of Wyrms boxed set, it could easily be adapted to the Wyrmsteeth kingdom of dragons. THE DARK PLACE Looking for friends lost in an old ruin, you come across a fiend... Can be set in any desolate area of the Known World. LENNY O'BRIEN's POT O' GOLD A leprechaun and his treasure - this should be set near the Fey kingdom in Alfheim. UNHALLOWED GROUND This adventure of murder and revenge is obviously inspired by Uberto Eco's The Name of the Rose. It fits very well with an abbey of the church of Karameikos in some remote area. #58, 1996: BAD BATCH OF BROWNIES This mystery for a single druid character is really funny and can be placed in any rural area with orchards and brownies. CHALLENGE OF CHAMPIONS This adventure I placed in the magical city of Aquas Seashield. It is a high-magic tournament specifically for adventurers. #78, 2000: LEAR THE GIANT KING A fantasy conversion of Shakespeare's King Lear, the giant kingdom in this adventure is best suited for Norwold. PEER AMID THE WATERS I relocated this adventure to a lake in Karameikos and placed the tomb in the deserts of Ylaruam. THE WINTER TAPESTRY This adventure could be set in Norwold or perhaps Northern Reaches. It features both frost giants and a white dragon. #87, 2001 GLACIER SEASON High-level dragonslaying. Excellent for the Wyrmsteeth mountains. VALLEY OF THE SNAILS This adventure became part of my campaign. I placed it in the Dymrak forest and transformed the village of Hulvin into Rugalov on the Thyatian border. The goblin Slithering Snails tribe became one of the minor tribes of the dark Dymrak forest. #88, 2001: THIRDS OF PURLOINED VELLUM I also used this adventure IMC. The city of Arthkatla became Specularum, Katkallan became a merchant from the House of Halonica in Selenica and he was in Specularum to buy vanilla from Arrasti, who became a Minrothad merchant. The evil thieves, the Night Masks from Westgate became the Vipers from Athenos, working for the Linton House. It is a great adventure! #96, 2003: PANDEMONIUM IN THE VEINS I haven't had a chance to use this gladiatorial adventure yet but it is excellently suited for Thyatis City!! I hope this list - although brief - gave you an idea of what I meant! :-) Jesper
#3 npc_dave Jul 29, 2004 14:40:23	I agree wholeheartedly, but I would stipulate that care needs to be taken to describe just how easily or difficult it is to integrate into the campaign world. Nothing is more frustrating than to get a recommendation and make a purchase and then find out you need to do more rewrites than you care to. I would break things into three categories- The easiest would be those just begging to be fit into Mystara, it requires only minor adjustments and additional background to fit the game into the setting. This may sound too high, but I have found some adventures which do just that. I have used the adventure Spellbook Masquerade from Dungeon #53, placing it in the principality of Klantyre. That adventure fits the setting like a glove, I didn't even have to change the name of the antagonist(Kelsey Kincaid). I just added some local NPCs including a couple of the MacGregor family who stop buy for the Masquerade. I would make the second category, requiring some adjustments and changes before it will fit. The last category is the kernel of the adventure can fit, but would require some major rewriting. From some of the examples listed in the previous post- Legerdemain - I am putting this in Glantri City. The villain gang in the adventure is a wacky and odd group which fits Glantri City. The theatre house is also appropriate for the capital of Glantri, and the nemesis is a wizard and it is a high magic adventure. I put this in the easiest category, just add details like the hobgoblin priestess comes from Ethengar, the hafling pair carry a grudge against the city for being abducted from the Shires, etc. Sleeping Dragon - This adventure requires you to either modify the demi-humans in the dragon realm to fit the description of Wyrmsteeth, or adjust Wyrmsteeth to fit Council of Wyrms. It also requires you to add lands which have no place in Norworld, or change them to fit Norworld. It also requires adding on a backstory involving a magic item that can invoke a tarrasque, and changing the way dragons can gain Immortality, as laid out by Bruce Heard in Dragon Magazine, or adjust the final dungeon lair. In all, this adventure fits into the third category, the germ of the adventure idea fits, but you will be pounding a square peg into a round hole.
#4 zombiegleemax Aug 02, 2004 9:14:53	An excellent list, spellweaver. I would just like to add a few. Since my campaign is set mainly round Karameikos, that is where I have mostly placed adventures. Of course, isolated towns are usually easy to put in. I have set Caermor (Dungeon #2) just North of Threshold in Karameikos. Similarly Necropolis (#16) went near the Duke's Road. #7 The Matchmakers is easy to fit in Specularum between Torenescu, Vorloi and Radu factions. I seem to remember a suggestion that it might have been written originally with this in mind - I ran it to get the party involved with the Veiled Society. #10 Secret of the Towers I set the Towers across the Known World. Gets them to different cultures. #24 In the Dread of Night I put this on the Westron Road. It fits nicely a day's journey from Specularum. #42 Ransom Not run this yet, but will be linked to an important personage in Threshold. #51 Bandits of Bunglewood I set this on the Karameikos-Five Shires border, north of the swamp. #58, #69, #80 #91 Challenge of Champions These could make the yearly contest to be King of Ierendi. #58 The Ghost of Silverhill My players have heard rumours about a place in the Wufwolde Mountains, not far from the Kelvin-Selenica road. #62 Esmeralda's Bodyguard Savage Coast/Red Steel? #72 Plundering Poppof Kelvin #81 Skulking Below Kelvin's legends of lost city of Lavv make this a good setting (although I didn't link it to Lavv in the end) #85 Ever changing Fortunes I set this just to the east of the "Unnamed Moor" near Kelvin #88 Thirds of Purloined Vellum I set this in Selenica - seemed to fit the Darokin culture. One thing I've not yet done is to adapt the idea in #86's Anvil of Time to a Mystara setting. This will take some work.
#5 spellweaver Aug 03, 2004 4:21:33	Thanks for the list, Shadowelf. Some very interesting ideas there and I am sure if people on this forum want to, we could organize a really neat set of nice conversions of some of the all-time best Dungeon adventures. I was hoping that Eric Mona would respond to this thread, but perhaps he hasn't read it yet or is too busy. It would be interesting to hear his point of view, though... :D :-) Jesper