Atlas   Rules   Resources   Adventures   Stories       FAQ   Search   Links



Editorial

by Francesco Defferrari from Threshold Magazine issue 31 The thirty-first issue of Mystara's premier magazine focuses on the lands and people of Undersea!



Under the Waves

This new issue of THRESHOLD Magazine starts our exploration of the Undersea of Mystara! It's just the beginning as we have enough material to fill another Undersea issue, which hopefully will be published as soon as possible.

In this issue we also celebrate the first Ten Years of Threshold Magazine, with an article by Allan. Indeed a lot of time has passed since we started this great adventure and a lot of great material has been produced! Next we start our swim under the waves with the first part of my article on Kingdoms and Empires of the Oceans, which is also enriched by some wonderful illustrations from Jeffrey Kosh and Senarch, who have donated great art for this and the next issue!

The following articles, also by Senarch, explores the ruins of Sunken Taymora, then Cab and Jeffrey show us The Terrors of the Sea of Dread, a wonderful collection of prehistoric monsters. Wing of Coot describes the Magical Bubbles of Undersea, unique magical items for water-breathing wizards, and Not a Decepticon leads us Against the Wizards, Underwater Laboratory of Aquan Archmage, an adventure under the waves off the coast of Sind.

New contributors Eliyah von Llaunas then describes Aloysius Reef and the Nixie community, while Matthew Tullius reveals to us the Hidden Empire of the Kopru. The last Undersea-themed article for the issue is by Karl David Brown, who describes a Gnomish Submarine.

Yet this issue is not done, as we also have A Mystaran Survey of the Mists by Doc Necrotic, one more article detailing the Mystara/Ravenloft crossover that the author began on issues #29 and #30. And finally Fabrizio Nuzzaci gives and explains to the Mystaran community his wonderful Fiefdom Generator which will allow you to detail the economy of your dominion as you were never able to do before.

As we had some enthusiasm from illustrators and authors for Undersea, the next issue of THRESHOLD will hopefully be published by the end of August with more interesting material on the people and regions under the waves! Then onwards to issue #33, dedicated to Dungeons, and planned by the end of 2023. To join the next issues 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 Call for Contributors thread for issue #32 and #33 which will soon appear in The Piazza forum after publication of this issue.
Even if we usually have no shortage of articles, 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. 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 #31



Editorial Credits



THRESHOLD Editorial Team

Allan Palmer (AllanP)

Francesco Defferrari (Sturm)


Editors Emeriti

Agathokles (Giampaolo Agosta)
Andrew Theisen (Cthulhudrew)

Ashtagon

Jesper Andersen (Spellweaver)

John Calvin (Chimpman)
Joseph Setorius (Julius Cleaver)

Leland (Argentmantle)
Shawn Stanley (stanles)

Thorfinn Tait (Thorf)


THRESHOLD logo designed by Thorf


Editing, Issue #31

Francesco Defferrari (Sturm)
Allan Palmer (AllanP)
Hervé Musseau

Layout

Allan Palmer (AllanP)

Art

I. Calvin

Jeffrey Kosh
Sebastien (Senarch)

V Shane
William McAusland

Cartography

Pol Ginés
Francesco Defferrari (Sturm)

Thorfinn Tait

Additional Reviewing & Proofreading

Allan Palmer (AllanP)

Harri Mäki

Hervé Musseau

Jeffrey Kosh
Rob Koper

Sean Kennedy
Shawn Stanley
Simon Barns


Author Blurbs


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.

Cab Davidson is microbiologist and entrepreneur living in Cambridge, UK, and has worked in and studied many different fields over the years. He has been lucky enough to have hunted for the fossils of some of the creatures he has brought back to life for D&D in this issue.

Doctor Necrotic (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.


Eliyah von Llaunas: playing D&D since 2012, he is a big rpg lover. He has tried multiple systems, from Star Wars d20 to Far West, always returning to the good old BECMI. Officially playing in Mystara since 2014, he eventually became both player and Dungeon Master. Taught by Pol Ginés, he sometimes is his player and others his DM, but always a father. As a DM he seeks for cool adventures in Atruaghin... with few results. Instead, he retired to the bottom of the sea and he has become one of the (very) few people to develop a completely underwater campaign. As a final fact, he dedicated his last year to seeing documentaries of sea creatures and Jeremy Wade's River Monsters program for his underwater adventures.


Fabrizio Nuzzaci (fabriziohockey) met D&D BECMI around 1988, which fascinated him until 2007 and, then, from 2018 to today. He lives in Italy and grew up wishing to read all the original information on Mystara, which has remained unpublished in his country. He likes Mystara's game setting and has dedicated much of his time to managing the domains of players and NPCs; first with pencil and paper, then with spreadsheets and digital maps. To this end in the past 24 years he developed the "Fiefdom Generator," a spreadsheet that will permit you to develop your domains, following 99% of the BECMI Rules. Today he is happy to share it here.


Jeffrey Kosh is the pen name of a writer and graphic artist specialized in book covers and movie posters. He collaborates with various publishing companies and authors. His covers range from dark horror to space opera, from thrillers to fantasy. Inspired by great fantasy artists, such as Clyde Caldwell, Larry Elmore, Keith Parkinson, and more, Kosh likes vibrant colors and heavy use of light and a dark contrast. His graphic tends to be moody and evocative. He also likes to work on 'era-specific' movie posters and book covers, trying to re-create the style used in those years, from the 1920s to the 1990s. As a writer he has been published various times.

(https://jeffreykosh.wixsite.com/jeffreykoshgraphics/home)


Karl David Brown is a biologist living in Melbourne, Australia. He has been writing RPG material since he was twelve. His output includes material on the DM's Guild, RPG Review fanzine, The Piazza Forum, the Vaults of Pandius, and now THRESHOLD. His conversion of Top Ballista' to D&D 5th edition is available on the Vaults of Pandius. He was a playtester of "Papers & Paychecks" and was interviewed by The RPG Academy Podcast for his knowledge of the "Council of Wyrms" setting. His own game "Gulliver's Trading Company" has been in beta for too long.


Matthew Tullius is a math teacher on the east coast that has been playing and DMing classic BECMI games since the 5th grade. He has DMed for the first MystaraCon a revamp and rework of the classic adventure Elwyn the Ardent that he created. He is a frequent attendee at various renaissance fairs, drinker of meade, and teller of tales. One of two of his favorite memories of the game was when Frank Mentzer made a call on his game in between sessions. The other is when he gifted his son his first printing Player's Manual knowing it would be seen as a treasure to pass on to the next generation.


Not a Decepticon has been in love with RPGs since seeing an advert for D&D in a comic book at the age of six. But an opportunity to DM and play regularly only revealed itself recently, with the exception of a brief attempt in college. Now he combines a love for classic campaign settings and the latest edition of the game.


Sebastien Martineau (Senarch) started playing D&D again in early 2022, and dusted off his prized GAZ1, promptly falling in love with Mystara again. While he drew all the time as a child, as a teen he was not encouraged to pursue his artistic interests and they faded until a few years ago, when he discovered Daz 3d rendering. He now combines Daz, Ai and digital painting in his artworks, and has started drawing again. A keen OSE/BECMI player, he enjoys the emergent storytelling from random tables found in some OSR games. This, and his love of underwater settings and lost, sunken civilisations, inspired his articles and art for this issue. Some of his work can be found here: https://www.deviantart.com/senarch/gallery and he can be contacted here: senarchpublishing@gmail.com


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).


Wings of Coot: I found the old red box Basic set at about 8, and that classic solo adventure was my introduction to D&D and the entire concept of RPGs. A few years after graduating from college I got back into D&D, and soon after that I found the Piazza and discovered the modern online Mystaran community and THRESHOLD Magazine. I have always had an interest in the wilderness areas (Isle of Dread, Serpent Peninsula, etc.) and exotic aspects of Mystara (Immortals and the multiverse, Hollow World, unusual PC types, etc.) so this Undersea issue was a natural fit.

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 #32—Return to Undersea

The second issue of 2023 will focus on the dominions and peoples below the waves!

Proposal Deadline: July 15th, 2023

Manuscript Deadline: August 1st, 2023

Issue Published: August 2023

Issue #33—Dungeons!

The third issue of 2023 will focus on a cornerstone of the D&D game!

Proposal Deadline: September 15th, 2023

Manuscript Deadline: November 1st, 2023

Issue Published: December 2023

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 stats block may be included.


Next Issue

Issue #32—Return to Undersea

The second issue of 2023 will continue our exploration of the realms under the waves


Anticipated contents include:

● Realms of the Mystaran Oceans part II

● Alphatian Undersea expanded

● To Build an Undersea Hex

● Blackmoor Deep-Six Station
● Mappers of Mystara

● The Simian Races of Mystara

● Legends of the Known World Vol I

... and much, much more!



Back Cover

Undersea

In this new issue of THRESHOLD Magazine we explore the regions under the waves and the peoples, and monsters, who inhabit them, also thanks to the lavish illustrations of so many creatures by Jeffrey and digital and AI art by Sebastien! We also celebrate the first Ten Years of Threshold Magazine, then Kingdoms and Empires of the Oceans by Sturm, Sunken Taymora by Senarch, Terrors of the Sea of Dread by Cab, Magical Bubbles of Undersea by Wing of Coot, Underwater Laboratory of Aquan Archmage by Not a Decepticon, Aloysius Reef and the Nixie community by Eliyah von Llaunas, Hidden Empires of the Kopru by Matthew Tullius, Gnomish Submarine by Karl David Brown; more than enough to enrich any underwater campaign, with more gems to come in the next issue! And finally one more visit to the Mists of Ravenloft with A Mystaran Survey of the Mists by Doc Necrotic, and the wonderful Fiefdom Generator by Fabrizio Nuzzaci!

All this can be found only in this latest issue of our favorite magazine!