Editorial
by Francesco Defferrari from Threshold Magazine issue 18To the Savage West!
Here it is the second issue dedicated to Western Brun, as the material submitted by contributors for issue #17 was too much to fit it in just one magazine. A bit of pride for the editorial team that our fanzine is still going so strong in its fifth year, with 18 issues produced and more to come. And obviously most of the praises go to the contributors in the Mystaran community, who enjoy writing and reading this magazine !
The current issue is focused on the Savage Coast, the region of the continent presented in the original module X9 The Savage Coast, developed in the Voyages of the Princess Ark by Bruce Heard, and then gathered in the Savage Coast and Red Steel boxed sets. As we said in the previous editorial, the region was heavily inspired by the American West, Northern and Southern, with pistols, cowboys and gauchos, plus a mashup of cultures inspired by other regions of the real world, including the cat-like rakasta, the dog-like lupins and the tortles. The prominence of humanoid animals is indeed an important feature of the setting and the first article of this issue will in fact look at them, in particular the less known intelligent humanoids which were featured in the Red Steel Monstrous Compendium.
Then
we will explore in details one of the Savage Baronies with a Torreon
mini Gazetteer, and go to uncharted lands with a the description of
the mysterious Trident Isles and an in depth examination of the great
Northways Lands, the region of the Savage Coast as it was originally
presented in the module X9.
The last installment of the Unknown
World Trail Map will take us to the wilderlands of the Atruaghin
lands, Sind and the Adri Varma plateau.
To complete the issue one
article which continue from issue #16: Dwarven families extended,
presenting the most prominent clans and families of Rockhome, and the
third installment of the BC 2300 adventure path, Engdyr’s Game
part II, continuing from issues #16 and #17.
Enjoy your voyage to
the Savage Coast and always remember that Here Be Dragons!
Francesco Defferrari (Sturm)
Editor-in-Chief, Threshold Issue 18
Editorial Credits
Threshold Editorial Team:
Allan Palmer (AllanP)
Giampaolo Agosta (Agathokles)
John Calvin (Chimpman)
Francesco Defferrari (Sturm)
Editors Emeriti
Andrew Theisen (Cthulhudrew)
Ashtagon
Angel Tarragon (The Angelic Dragon)
Geoff Gander (Seer of Y’hog)
Håvard
Jesper Andersen (Spellweaver)
Joseph Setorius (Julius Cleaver)
Leland (Argentmantle)
LoZompatore
Micky
Robert Nuttman (RobJN)
Simone Neri (Zendrolion)
Thorfinn Tait (Thorf)
Troy Terrell (CmdrCorsiken)
THRESHOLD logo designed by Thorf
Editor-in-Chief, Issue 18:
Francesco Defferrari (Sturm)
Layout:
Allan Palmer (AllanP)
Art:
I.
Calvin
Leandro Abrahão
V
Shane (C) 2001-08
Cartography:
Thorfinn Tait
Irving Galvez
John Calvin
Leandro Abrahão
Matthew Fleet
Francesco Defferrari (Sturm)
Additional Reviewers & Proofreaders:
Allan Palmer (AllanP)
Brian O’Carroll
Caroline Regina
CmrCorsiken
David
Finch
David Insley
Harri Maki (hihama)
Nicola Valpiani
Robin
Simone Neri
Shawn Stanley
Author Blurbs
Giampaolo Agosta (a.k.a. Agathokles) agrees with Schiller that “man is only completely a man when he plays". Therefore, he makes a point of taking gaming seriously, and real life casually. Besides Mystara, his gaming interests include (among others) Dark Sun, Planescape, Ravenloft, Birthright, Call of Cthulhu, Star Wars and Witchcraft RPG.
Hausman Santos is an art educator and drawing professor. An enthusiast in Mystara since 1995 when he met in Brazil the AD&D boxed set of Karameikos.
He has narrated campaigns for game groups in Thyatis, Alphatia,
Rockhome and Glantri and keeps some of these groups since 2002. He
manages a page for Mystara Brazilian fans on the internet. Currently
he has gathered much of the material that he developed into game
sessions with his group from projects like the Mystaran Almanac and
discussed with the members of the Old Almanac Team about the old and
unfinished plotlines (around AC 1016-1017) in order to resume
them.
Irving Galvez (a.k.a. Oleck) Mexican player since
the early 80s, amateur Mystara writer since 1996. The time passes and
when the days of fantasy flew away with the age and you reach the
stage of responsibilities, work, family and everyday problems, you
look back and take those dusty books of D&D, and escape a moment
to your childhood. Keep on playing!!!
I. "Meandrathel" Calvin enjoys drawing fantasy,
and animals that can kill. Namely wolves, dragons, horses, and most
large felines. Human animal hybrids are not excluded either; she
often draws human versions of her favorite animals. She does,
however, despise drawing things that are unbearingly cute. It's a
pretty awful thing to do.
John Calvin is fascinated by the depth of Mystaran history, and has always wanted to share that more fully with players. To that end he has been developing sub-settings like The Hollow Moon and Mystara 2300 BC.
Matthew Fleet lives in the United Kingdom, and has been
playing RP games since 1984, when he got the D&D red boxed set
for Christmas. His favourite RP systems include D&D and
Warhammer. He is an active member of the Piazza Mystara community,
and posts there under the name of Carillion. In his spare time, he
enjoys cartography, reading about the classical world, studying
economics, and avoiding Twitter.
Even though Sturm (a.k.a. Francesco
Defferrari) loves any alternate world, he believes
Mystara is incomparably the best for its vibrant community endlessly
delving into ethnography, linguistics and history just to make a
little sense of it. Something like the real world, but with dragons.
Call for Contributors
The Threshold editorial team invites all fans of the Mystara setting to submit contributions to the magazine’s next issue.
We are especially looking for contributions fitting the following themes:
Issue 19 - Planes and the Immortals
Immortal plots and schemes may drastically alter the lives of those living on Mystara, but their reach extends far beyond the imagination of mere mortals. Roam through the infinite planes of the multiverse, stepping into the homes of the immortals themselves… and whatever else lurks beyond!
Proposal Deadline: January 15th 2018
Manuscript Deadline: February 10th, 2018
Issue Published: By April 21st, 2018
Call for proposals for main themes of forthcoming issues (2018):
Issue 20 - Skothar
Immortal plots and schemes may drastically alter the lives of those living on Mystara, but their reach extends far beyond the imagination of mere mortals. Roam through the infinite planes of the multiverse, stepping into the homes of the immortals themselves… and whatever else lurks beyond!
Proposal Deadline: April 21st, 2018
Manuscript Deadline: May 15th, 2018
Issue Published: By July 21st, 2018
Issue 21 - Specularum
Discover the history, personalities, organizations and locales of
Specularum, the city on the mirror bay, capital of the Grand Duchy of
Karameikos. This issue aims at giving a new life to the vaporware
"Fantasy Cities #1: Specularum" supplement.
Proposal
Deadline: July 15th, 2018
Manuscript Deadline: August 10th, 2018
Issue Published: By October 21st, 2018
Articles about other topics are still welcome and the editorial team will evaluate their publication for any upcoming issue, taking into account available space and the issue's theme.
Threshold accepts and invites submissions of extended or revised versions of works having appeared on The Piazza or Vaults of Pandius.
Contributions may include, but are not limited to: Articles-- short stories, short adventure modules, NPCs, historical treatises and timelines, geographical entries, new monsters and monster ecologies, etc.; and Illustrations-- portraits, maps, heraldry, illustrations, etc.
The Threshold editorial team strives for edition neutrality, but edition specific articles (e.g., conversions) are also accepted. Statistics for new monsters and NPCs may be included in articles (e.g., adventure modules, new monsters or NPCs) in any version of Dungeons & Dragons. The editorial team also offers help in providing conversions to some specific rules set. Including BECMI/RC, 2nd Edition, 3rd edition/Pathfinder. However, they should be limited to a minimum -- for most NPCs, it is sufficient to mention class, level, and alignment. For important NPCs, a one or two line stat block may be included.
Next Issue
Issue 19 - Planes and the Immortals
Immortal plots and schemes may drastically alter the lives of those living on Mystara, but their reach extends far beyond the imagination of mere mortals. Roam through the infinite planes of the multiverse, stepping into the homes of the immortals themselves… and whatever else lurks beyond!
Anticipated contents include:
● Planar Cosmology
● Immortal Strongholds and Plots
● Adventure ideas for churches and religions
… and much, much more!
BackCover
[Back
Cover Blurb: Issue 18]
To the Savage Coast
A new land for the people who came from the east - the Espans, the
Traldars and the traders braving the western seas..
An ancient
land for the people who have called it home for centuries or
millennia. This is the Savage Coast, a land of freedom, opportunity
and diversity. A land under the grip of the Red Curse, where the
precious cynnabryl can be mined and turned into the deadly weapons of
red steel, used to cure afflictions and inherit great powers. A land
vast and mysterious, where the Lawful Brotherhood keeps watch to stop
the spreading of chaos.
The Savage Coast is still very much an unexplored land which needs workers, cartographers, colonists and heroes to defend the frail bastions of hope against the unknown.
Images
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[Image:
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[Image: Back
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[Image:
Mockup Cover of issue 19] https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BxbFl59TcUwLdl9jRFpILVhqYTQ/view?usp=sharing |
