Editorial
by Francesco Defferrari from Threshold Magazine issue 24The twenty-fourth issue of the Mystara Magazine brings you straight into more adventure, from the Hollow World to Karameikos, Glantri and the Slagovich!
Threshold: The Mystara Magazine is a non-commercial, fan-produced magazine. There is no intent to infringe upon anyone's rights, in particular those of Wizards of the Coast, which holds all rights to the original material on which the magazine is based.
Onward to Adventure, for a third issue!
And this is the third issue dedicated to Adventures and Campaigns, a central theme in D&D which has obviously inspired several authors. And some of the articles are not even finished yet, and will have a conclusive part in issue #25. The next issue of Threshold, to be published by end March or early April 2020, will focus on another fundamental theme of fantasy roleplaying, Strongholds!. As any other theme chosen for Threshold, this one too was chosen by readers on The Piazza forum so we hope we will receive many articles to fill the issue. Send your proposal to the Threshold mail (check Submission guidelines and mail on the last page of the issue) or write in the proposals thread of The Piazza forum: http://www.thepiazza.org.uk/bb/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=22287.
Even if we usually have no shortage of articles, as proven by the fact we had enough material for Adventures and Campaigns to fill three whole issues, we always need help for proofreading and editing the submissions. So anyone willing to help the Threshold Editorial Team please come forward and let us know through the mail or in the above thread at The Piazza.
And now to the content of this issue: we continue with the second part of the big tabletop conversion of the classic 1991 Mystara videogame, Warriors of the Eternal Sun, by Kyle Knight (Gravesguardian). A monumental work which we had to split into a third part to be concluded in the next issue of Threshold. Then we will continue exploring the many subsettings of Mystara with the second part of an article by me, Sturm, which will end in the next issue too.
Hausman will then bring us back to the Lands of Erewan in Glantri and Robin from the special inn on the Eastron Road of Karameikos, the Barrel, to explore the whole south eastern Karameikos with a full detailed Gazetteer treatment. The amount of material by Robin indeed is so extensive it will continue on next issue with more information on creatures and monsters, Dymrak goblins, Dymrak dragons, adventures, structures and NPCs of the region.
Last but not least two adventures: Fade to Red part 2 by Argentmantle, a long adventure in the city of Slagovich to pitch the PCs against a Hulean plot with far reaching consequences and Infinite Regress, a short adventure by new contributor John Atom about the particular room and particular spell of an Alphatian wizard!
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,
dedicated to Strongholds!
Francesco Defferrari (Sturm)
Editor, Threshold Issue 24
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 24:
Francesco
Defferrari (Sturm)
Allan Palmer (AllanP)
Giampaolo Agosta
(Agathokles)
Layout:
Allan Palmer (AllanP)
Art:
Hausman Santos
Leandro
Abrahão
Robin
V Shane
William McAusland
Cartography:
Argentmantle
Giampaolo
Agosta
Hausman Santos
Robin
Sturm
Thorfinn
Tait
Additional Reviewers & Proofreaders:
Allan Palmer (AllanP)
Giampaolo
Agosta
John Calvin (Chimpman)
John Atom
Harri
Maki
Rob Koper
Robin
Shawn Stanley
Sturm
Tom Bulls
Eyes
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.
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.
John
Atom was
introduced to gaming via 5th edition D&D and GURPS, so he's
relatively new to the Mystara setting. He is, nevertheless,
meticulously reading through the Gazetteers, eager to find out
whether or not immortals still have to use the bathroom.
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.
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 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
Issue 26 - Heroes, Villains and Organizations
This issue will focus on NPCs and the Organizations PCs can meet as enemies or allies in Mystara.
Proposal Deadline: April 15th, 2020
Manuscript Deadline: June 15th, 2020
Issue Published: By July 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 25 - Strongholds
A third issue focused on the strongholds that dot the Mystaran landscape. Cities, castles, towers, and secret lairs, refuges or obstacles.
Anticipated contents include:
● Warriors of the Eternal Sun, part 3
● A mini Gazetteer of South eastern Karameikos part 2
● The many Mystaran sub-settings, part 3
… 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 made three!
In this third issue dedicated to Adventures and Campaigns, we still wander under the Red Sun with a conversion to tabletop rpg of the classic videogame Warriors of the Eternal Sun. We will then go on exploring the many subsettings of our favourite campaign world, this time in Davania and Skothar, and travel extensively in familiar and unknown lands!
We will continue to explore the Lands of Erewan and its cast of characters, then look at a never before so well detailed South Eastern Karameikos.
Then two more adventures, the second part of Fade to Red, a big adventure set in Slagovich and Infinite Regress, the strange room of a mysterious wizard!
Adventure calls you, just answer its call!