Editorial
by Francesco Defferrari from Threshold Magazine issue 27The twenty-seventh issue of Mystara’s premier magazine celebrates the milestone reached by the repository of Mystara treasure managed for so many years by Shawn Stanley. !
Vaults of Pandius 25th year!
It’s really been a long road! The Vaults of Pandius, the online treasure trove of Mystara materials created by fans, celebrates its 25th year. I personally recall when I discovered its existence, less than one year after it was created, and how this discovery eventually persuaded me to get a new PC and an internet connection. The story of this wonderful site from 1996 until now is described by Shawn himself in the first article of the issue. Then Havard guides us through the gems of the fan production which makes the Vaults the wonderful place it is.
If
the Vaults is 25 years old already, Mystara is 40 years old, as the
first depiction of the Known World appeared in 1981 in the first
edition of X1, as described by Thorfinn in the next article.
And
starting from this issue, our illustrious Mystaran (and Calidaran)
cartographer will guide us through the extraordinary history of
Mystara Mappers, starting with Geoff Gander, the very first one who
created an online map (which was indeed the scan of an hand-made
map), back in 1997.
In
the rest of the issue Agathokles presents two fantastic works: The
first one is his adventure ‘Cry Wolf!’ set in the village
of Vandevicsny, Karameikos, a classic from the Vaults, while the
second one, ‘The Isle of Dawn and the Isle of Night’, is
a new article building on module M5 and the works done by James
Mishler on the Isle. Then there is the second part of my own Mystara
Generator, in this installment a catalogue of the monsters and
creatures of Mystara products and also a generator of Mystara
animals. Lost Woodrake revisits The Talking Whisker, a tavern in
Thyatis city which was his first creation for the Vaults, while
LoZompatore casts a dark light on Hule, with an Entropic perspective
on the Great War between Hule and the Known World!
Then Brian
Rubinfeld takes us again to the ominous lands of Returned Blackmoor,
which appeared previously in issue #20, #22 and #26, describing its
scaring monsters. Special mention and thanks also to the
illustrators, Dario Odillo and Robin, who provided wonderful original
illustrations for the monsters of Returned Blackmoor, and the other
illustrators in the art credits who have contributed to another
fantastic issue of Threshold!
The
next issue of Threshold, to be published at the end of 2021, will
focus on ‘Trade routes and Darokin’, the next most voted
theme in our recent poll (see
https://www.thepiazza.org.uk/bb/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=25176), after
the Vaults anniversary theme of this issue. To join the next issue as
authors or illustrators please 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,
soon to be updated with the call for issue #28.
Even if we
usually have no shortage of articles, we always need help for
proofreading and editing the submissions. We currently have two
active editors, therefore the issues schedule has been scaled down to
two issues a year. 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. Helping Threshold magazine certainly
needs some time commitment, but is creative and rewarding work!
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!
Francesco Defferrari (Sturm)
Editor, Threshold Issue 27
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)
Robin
Simone Neri (Zendrolion)
Thorfinn Tait (Thorf)
Troy Terrell (CmdrCorsiken)
THRESHOLD logo designed by Thorf
Editors, Issue 27:
Francesco
Defferrari (Sturm)
Allan Palmer (AllanP)
Layout:
Allan Palmer (AllanP)
Art:
Dario
Odillo
Giampaolo Agosta
Hasandgo
Isabella
Calvin
Jeffrey
Kosh
Jonathan Barker
John
Calvin
LadyofHats
Lost
Wooddrake
Robin
V
Shane
William McAusland
Cartography:
Geoff
Gander
LoZompatore
Robin
Thorfinn Tait
Additional Reviewers & Proofreaders:
Allan Palmer (AllanP)
David
Finch
Giampaolo
Agosta
Havard
Robin
Shawn
Stanley
Simon Barns
Sturm
Thorfinn
Tait
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.
Allan Palmer (a.k.a. AllanP) was first introduced to D&D a long time ago (but not quite in a galaxy far away) by a work colleague who set up a gaming group using the last version of the “blue book” rules. While dabbling with RuneQuest and Traveller along the way, he developed a liking for what would become the world of Mystara as the BECMI box sets were released. He has always been fascinated by maps. He is an IT professional and when not indulging in hobbies of panelology, retro tv watching and family history research,uses his various PC skills to consolidate the writings of others into the issues of Threshold.
Brian
Rubinfeld: despite
never being as intense of a fan as much of the fandom, Brian has had
a fondness for Mystara stretching back as many eons as the stars!
Whether coming up with zany ideas or diving into the earthiness of
the setting's lore, he always finds something to love about the Known
World and beyond. When not writing for Threshold, Brian is an amateur
writer and game creator looking into freelance options, as well as
currently working in a pharmacy.
Dario
Odillo, class
of 73, has always loved the Mystara setting, and considers it the
most original and with the purest D&D spirit. After artistic
studies and a past as advertising designer, he has always admired the
illustrations of Elmore, Brom and above all Easley, feeding day after
day his passion for artistic drawing. In the past he collaborated
with his drawings helping an Italian community of a well-known
skirmish game. At home, in addition to being invaded by a myriad of
miniatures and manuals, he alternates his free time between painting,
drawing and the conquest of Alphatia.
Håvard (aka Håvard Blackmoor) does not, contrary to popular theory, have six arms. When he is not writing about Mystara at The Piazza or is working on his Blackmoor Blog, he goes out raiding neighbouring villages like any true Norwegian. He also runs The Comeback Inn, a forum dedicated to Dave Arneson's Blackmoor.
Lost
Woodrake's first
encounter with Mystara in the early 90's was GAZ12: The Golden Khan
of Ethengar, which led to the next gazetteer and downhill from there.
He hadn't played in Mystara for many many years, but that doesn't
stop him from still actively imagining the place.
Michele
“LoZompatore” C. played
BECMI for most of his life, starting way back in 1987. He likes, most
of all, mixing and matching canon and fanon material about Mystara to
see how many new adventure hooks can be churned out. In the little
spare time he has away from Mystara he helps other guys in designing
oil and gas pipelines around the (real) world.
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”.
Shawn
Stanley
is the webmaster of the Vaults of Pandius, http://pandius.com, the
official website for the Dungeons and Dragons setting of Mystara. The
representation of the Vaults underneath Pandius in this issue should
not be taken as a conscious or subconscious view of his work on the
website.
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.
Thorfinn Tait hails from the Orkney Islands in northern Scotland, though he has lived in Japan for many years now. Growing up with BECMI and the Known World, he learnt to type by compiling a database of Mystara’s timeline. He joined the Mystara online community in 1997, but his true contributions began with the Atlas of Mystara project starting in 2005. Recently he has made the jump to become a published fantasy cartographer, working on Bruce Heard’s Calidar series. You can follow his work on his cartography site (www.thorfmaps.com) and the Atlas site (mystara.thorfmaps.com).
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 28 - Trade routes and Darokin
The second issue of 2021 will focus on trade, the lifeblood of nations and the fortune of the Merchant Houses of Darokin!
Proposal Deadline: August 15th, 2021
Manuscript Deadline: October 15th, 2021
Issue Published: December 2021
Issue 29 - Vampires and Undead
The first 2022 issue will focus on horror themes and undead!.
Proposal Deadline: February 15th, 2022
Manuscript Deadline: April 15th, 2022
Issue Published: June 2022
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 28 - Trade routes and Darokin
The
second issue of 2021 will focus on trade, the lifeblood of nations
and the fortune of the Merchant Houses of Darokin!
Anticipated contents include:
● The adventurous travels of goods and people
● Taxes
of the Known World
● Myconids of Mystara
● The
Mystara Generator part 3
● Alphatian bastions of the untamed east
● People from Thorn's Chronicles
● One more Specularum's District
… and much, much more!
BackCover
25 years of treasures in the Vaults of Pandius!
In this new issue of Threshold magazine we celebrate the 25th year of the Vaults of Pandius and its treasure of Mystara material!
Shawn will guide us through an overview of the Vaults’ history and Havard through the wonderful fan material stored in its pages. Then Thorf, after celebrating also the 40 years of X1, the first official ‘Mystara’ product, will start a new series on Mystara fan mappers, covering in the first installment the marvellous works by Geoff Gander.
Then with Agathokles in the wilderlands of Karameikos and through the history of the Isle of Dawn, a very big generator of Mystara monsters and animals by me, a rakasta tavern in Thyatis city by Lost Wooddrake, a look behind the history of Hule by LoZompatore and a catalogue of the scaring monsters of Returned Blackmoor!
All this can be found only in the last issue of our favorite magazine!