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Editorial

by Francesco Defferrari from Threshold Magazine issue 32 The thirty-second issue of Mystara’s premier magazine returns to the lands and people of Undersea!



Back Under the Waves

This issue of THRESHOLD Magazine continues our exploration of the Undersea of Mystara! The world under the waves proved popular enough to allow us to publish two installments about it. For the next issue, we’ll go delving into a classic D&D location, the Dungeon.

Our content starts with one more swim under the waves with the second part of my article on Kingdoms and Empires of the Oceans, which is again enriched by some wonderful illustrations from Jeffrey Kosh and Senarch, who have donated great art for the two Undersea issues, and some astonishing images also for the Dungeon issue.

The following article is The Alphatian Undersea Expanded by Hausman, an expanded classic from the Vaults of Pandius which will satisfy all your questions about the inhabitants of Alphatia if you decided to sink it as per the events of the “Wrath of the Immortals” boxed set. Then we have a trio of articles by Senarch: how To Build an Undersea Hex and also On the Surface of the Sunlit Sea, and finally Old Mariner’s Bluff, an example hex on the coast of Karameikos where surface and undersea people meet and clash. Then Eliyah Von Launas, after the Aloysius Reef of the previous issue, this time shows us Underwater Dangers: Sharks and Crustaceans of the Sea, just in case Cab’s creatures in the previous issue were not enough for your players!

We have another Mystara Mapper’s showcase by Thorf in Mappers of Mystara: Ricardo Mateus, while Cab returns with two more articles and some fantastic illustrations by Jeffrey Kosh, The Primate Races and Medicine Men of Mystara. Finally Irving Galvez closes the issue with Legends of the Known World Volume I, with some scary creatures to meet in the wilds.

Soon we’ll begin working on issue #33, dedicated to Dungeons, and planned for release by the end of 2023. Following that, for the first issue of 2024, provisionally set for a June release, we’ll have Future and Alternate Mystaras, a theme I am really lookng forward to! Unless of course the Dungeon issue turns into a double feature, as happened for Undersea. That would be obviously further proof that THRESHOLD Magazine is indeed still going quite strong after 10 years!
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 issues #33 which will soon appear in The Piazza forum.
Even though 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 Call for Contributors for issue #33 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 reading this new issue as much as we enjoyed putting it together, and stay tuned for the next issue!

Francesco Defferrari (Sturm)

Editor, THRESHOLD Issue #32



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 #32

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

Layout

Allan Palmer (AllanP)

Art

Cab Davidson
Hausman Santos
Jeffrey Kosh
LoZompatore
Sebastien (Senarch)


Cartography

Francesco Defferrari (Sturm)
Hausman Santos
LoZompatore
Ricardo Mateus

Thorfinn Tait

Additional Reviewing & Proofreading

Allan Palmer (AllanP)

Harri Mäki

Hervé Musseau

Jeffrey Kosh
Rob Koper
Shawn Stanley (stanles)

Simon Barns
Troy Terrell


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.

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.


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.


Hervé Musseau, a former editor of the Mystaran Almanac, is now helping shape THRESHOLD Magazine.


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 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!!!


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 recreate 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)


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).


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 #33—Dungeons!

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

Proposal Deadline: September 21st, 2023

Manuscript Deadline: November 1st, 2023

Issue Published: December 2023

Issue #34—Future and Alternate Mystaras

The first issue of 2024 will focus on other versions of your favorite campaign world!

Proposal Deadline: February 15th, 2024

Manuscript Deadline: May 1st, 2024

Issue Published: June 2024

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 #33—Dungeons!

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


Anticipated contents include:

● Against the Wizards: Moving Mountain Menagerie of Morkhulan Minister

● Islands of Death part II

● Hidden Empires of the Kopru part II
● Mystara in Ravenloft Monsters

● The Reptilian Races of Mystara

● The Revised Mystic Class

● Legends of the Known World Vol II

… and much, much more!



Back Cover

[Image: Back Cover of issue 32]
Back Cover of issue #32 with image done by Midjourney at Senarch’s prompting.
http://pandius.com/Senarch_underwater_coral_city_of_the_tritons_dd_fantasy_underse_7b1f0fa5-e028-490a-a844-a3fba78c4c1e.png

Undersea

In this new issue of THRESHOLD Magazine we return to 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! So enjoy Kingdoms and Empires of the Oceans part II by Sturm, To Build an Undersea Hex, On the Surface of the Sunlit Sea and Old Mariner’s Bluff by Senarch, Underwater Dangers: Sharks and Crustaceans by Eliyah von Llaunas, Mappers of Mystara: Ricardo Mateus by Thorfinn Tait, The Simian Races of Mystara and Medicine Men of Mystara by Cab, and Legends of the Known World Vol I by Irving Galvez; with this and previous issue, you will certainly not lack material for an underwater campaign! And stay tuned for the next issue of THRESHOLD Magazine, dedicated to Dungeons!

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