Frostburn in Mystara
by John CalvinWell, I picked up Frostburn a few weeks ago, and have had a little time to go through it. I haven't done a thorough job of reading through it... mostly bouncing around to sections that look interesting to me. With that in mind check out some of my ideas for using the Frostburn material with Mystara.
1) On the Outer World
- Frostburn material is a perfect match for places like Hyborea and the Polar reaches/openings. There are several new terrain types for the arctic wastes including some more fantastic terrains like acid slush and blood snow. Nothing really jumps out as particularly Mystaran about any of them, but they could all be useful.
- Midgard Dwarves = Modrigswerg. Yes, with the most minor of modifications (mostly flavour text) to the Midgard Dwarves description, and perhaps an alignment change? these can be used as our favourite moulder dwarves. They are master craftsmen and artifact makers, and can bestow curses on those that anger them.
- Icerazer City. A mini setting in the back of the book details Icerazer city, a city built on the back of a giant iceberg and devoted to the frozen devil Livustus (sp?). Not very Mystaran, but I was thinking that an enterprising DM could switch out Livustus for some imprisoned Outer Being (or perhaps if used in the HW, even a burrower).
2) In the Hollow World.
This is where Frostburn shines IMO, and I think we can extract a lot of Mystaran info here.
- Once again many lands can be detailed here - Beastman wastes, polar reaches/openings, Icevale lands, Antalian lands, and anything else covered in snow or ice.
- Races. Snow Elves could become the Icevale Elves with very little work. Neanderthals are a new PC race that could be used as brute men. Perhaps the 'ice dwarf' variant could even be used for Kogolor dwarves.
- There are some rules for using primitive weapons as exotic weapons. This is a perfect fit for the SoP cultural limitations imposed on weapons and armour. Basically in the hands of someone raised to use the weapons, they function normally. In the hands of an outsider (who has not taken exotic weapon proficiencies) they tend to break often.
- Lots of lost world type monsters (most with a cold bent of course).
- Delzomin's Iceforge. This is the second mini-setting/adventure detailed in the back of the book, and I think you could pretty much drop it anywhere in the HW. The only trick is in coming up with a reasonable background and history for Delzomin in the HW. Perhaps a deranged Antalian wizard, or exiled Kogolor or Schattenalfen?
3) Non-canon Mystara
- For myself I think that Frostburn will find the most use in detailing other worlds in the Mystaran universe. M-Mars comes right to the forefront. Frozen planes come in at number two.