Editorial
by Francesco Defferrari from Threshold Magazine issue 23This issue is fully dedicated to the life blood of role playing, adventures and campaigns, again! The theme indeed had a certain appeal on our contributors, enough to fill three whole issues of Threshold. This is therefore only the second one, and a third one will be published soon, probably by next October or November.
While contributions continue to arrive to Threshold magazine after five (!) years of publication, we are a bit short on the Editor’s job, as the few of us have very limited personal time to dedicate to our beloved Mystara magazine, certainly much less than we would like to. For this reason, anyone willing to help us in the editing and proofreading tasks necessary to bring you new issues of Threshold is more than welcomed! Just write to us in the Threshold mail or let us know in the threads dedicated to Threshold Magazine in The Piazza Mystara subforum!
And now to the content of this issue: we start with a big tabletop conversion of the classic 1991 Mystara videogame, Warriors of the Eternal Sun, by Kyle Knight (Gravesguardian). A monumental work which will be concluded in the next issue of Threshold.
Then we will start exploring the many subsettings of Mystara with the first part of an article by me, Sturm, and continue our Escape from Hule guided by Dave Keyser, third part of the adventure which began in Threshold issue #22 to conclude in a wonderful way the storyline of classic modules X4 and X5.
Hausman will then bring us to the Lands of Erewan in Glantri and Robin to a special inn on the Eastron Road of Karameikos, the Barrel. Irving Galvez leads us to discover Harbourlee Rock, an important island on the border between the Five Shires and Karameikos. Last but not least two adventures: The Khan and the Duchess by TheGlen which involves a very special Ethengarian ambassador to Karameikos, and Fade to Red by Argentmantle, the first part of a long adventure starting in the city of Slagovich to pitch the PCs against a Hulean plot with far reaching consequences.
The Threshold Editorial
Team and the authors hope you will enjoy this new issue as much as we
enjoyed putting it together, and stay tuned for the next issue, the
third installment dedicated to Adventures and Campaigns!
Francesco Defferrari (Sturm)
Editor, Threshold Issue 23
Editorial Credits
Threshold Editorial Team:
Allan Palmer (AllanP)
Giampaolo Agosta (Agathokles)
Francesco Defferrari (Sturm)
Editors Emeriti
Andrew Theisen (Cthulhudrew)
Ashtagon
Angel Tarragon (The Angelic Dragon)
Geoff Gander (Seer of Y’hog)
Håvard
Jesper Andersen (Spellweaver)
John
Calvin (Chimpman)
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
Editors, Issue 23:
Francesco
Defferrari (Sturm)
Allan Palmer (AllanP)
Giampaolo Agosta
(Agathokles)
Layout:
Allan Palmer (AllanP)
Art:
Argentmantle
Justin
Pfeil (warriorneedsfood)
Hausman Santos
Leandro
Abrahão
Robin
V Shane
William McAusland
Cartography:
Argentmantle
Carillion
(Matthew Fleet)
Dyson Logos
Giampaolo Agosta
Glen
Welch
Hausman
Santos
Irving
Galvez
Gabriel Packard
Robin
Sturm
Two Minute Table
Top
Thorfinn Tait
Veris Design Roleplay
Additional Reviewers & Proofreaders:
Allan Palmer (AllanP)
Chris
Seabrook
Giampaolo Agosta
Robin
Shawn
Stanley
Sturm
Thorfinn Tait
Author Blurbs
Argentmantle - commonly referred to as Leland, this author is a graphic and web designer by day and an avid gamer by night. Besides lounging on the sunny beaches of the Savage Coast, he explores the world of Mystara. He has written for Louis Porter Jr. Designs in the past on supplements like Magic of Neo-Exodus, written for the Silven Trumpeter magazine, and cleaned up after a slew of greyhounds.
David Keyser has run four long-term campaigns set in Mystara since the 1980s, using published adventure and support materials as much as possible. He denies having any creative talent himself. It's just that if you put him with a group of friends who are willing to work with him to provide an evening of entertainment, there's a momentary spark like the scratch of flint on steel...and then something magical happens.
Kyle Knight (aka Gravesguardian on The Piazza forum) is wandering Thunder Rift dealing with the threats that spring up.
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!!!
Justin
Pfeil draws
comics, is a historical fencer in the Italian tradition, makes armor
for his friends, and has played D&D since the Red Box was first
published. His current project is a webcomic about characters
attempting to survive The Keep on the Borderlands module from the
players perspective.
Robin (at The Piazza, Robin D elsewhere) Female from 1962, she began playing D&D since its earliest days as far back as 1978, soon after becoming “addicted”. Ultimately, she was intimately bound to the world of Mystara, because of its complex diversity. A current compiler of massive materials available on Vaults of Pandius & her “Breath of Mystara” blog; and former Teacher of Biology, Ecology, Chemistry, Physics, once travelling all over Europe as a stage dancer including house parties. Once called “The Fletcher” at UK GenCon by Bruce Heard for her extensive compilation in “Revenge of the Little Ones”.
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.
Glen Welch is a historian and theatre critics from Houston, Texas who in the gaming world is best known for the 2500 Things Mr. Welch Can No Longer Do In an RPG and the Mystara Player’s Handbook. He is currently working on returning Mystara to print and expanding knowledge of the setting.
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 24 - Adventures and Campaigns III
A third issue focused on adventures, campaigns, and other materials directly useful for your Mystaran games.
Proposal Deadline: August 15th, 2019
Manuscript Deadline: October 15th, 2019
Issue Published: By November, 2019
Call for proposals for main themes of forthcoming issues (2020):
Issue 25 - Strongholds
This issue will delve into the myriad of strongholds that dot the Mystaran landscape. Cities, castles, towers, and secret lairs. These strongholds may serve as anything from bastions of refuge, to adventure obstacles waiting to be overcome by Mystaran PCs.
Proposal Deadline: December 15th, 2019
Manuscript Deadline: February 15th, 2020
Issue Published: By March, 2020
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 24 - Adventures and Campaigns III
A
third issue focused on adventures, campaigns, and other materials
directly useful for your Mystaran games.
Anticipated contents include:
● Warriors of the Eternal Sun, part 2
● A mini Gazetteer of South eastern Karameikos
● The many Mystaran sub-settings, part 2
● On the Lands of Erewan part 2
● Fade to Red, part 2
… and much, much more!
BackCover
Infinite adventures!
Mystara is a world of adventures, and as just one issue dedicated to them was not enough, we will make three!
In this second issue dedicated to Adventures and Campaigns, we will wander under the Red Sun with a conversion to tabletop rpg of the classic videogame Warriors of the Eternal Sun, We will then explore the many subsettings of our favourite campaign world and travel extensively in familiar and unknown lands!
The final part of Escape from Hule will bring us on a ship from Hule to Athenos, menaced by sea dragons and Hulean Sea Reavers.
we will explore the Lands of Erewan, a particular inn in South Eastern Karameikos, the Barrel and the island of Harbourlee Rock.
Then two more adventures, an intrigue in Karameikos involving a special Ethengarian ambassador and the first part of Fade to Red, a big adventure set in Slagovich.
Adventure calls you, just answer its call!
Images
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[Image:
Cover of issue 23]
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[Image:
Back Cover of issue 23] |
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[Image:
Mockup Cover of issue 24]
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