Mystara Redux

So while I did not break the Internet, the last entry did give my social meeting (Facebook and Google+) a charlie horse.

First, I'd like to thank everyone who posted something along the lines "I loved the final Karameikos project that you guys did". We got knocked back more than a little from the demanded changes, but everyone rallied and produced a top flight boxed set in Karameikos: Kingdom of Adventure. Kudos to my colleagues at putting it all together!

Second, I'd like to point out that I'm not mad at the Marketing/Sales guy who put us through logo hell. Well, not much. I left months after this particular debacle, and it was primarily my own exhaustion with how things worked plus a new opportunity with friends. This was just the tipping point.

Lastly, there were suggestions of publishing this anyway. The document itself was in first draft state and then abandoned before it was completed, is awash in typos, sarcastic comments, and unfinished sections. It is unplaytested, unreviewed, unrevised, and untouched by human hands. Even with permission, it would need a lot of work. So I have doubts about its usefulness, other than as a historic artifact. But I am posting here a summary of what survived in the files I had printed out at the time.  I'll point out that most of them are just gatherings of previous information scattered about the various Gazetteers, updated and brought into 2nd edition. Here's how it all broke down:

Introduction was our statement of intent, and declared that Mystara as a very new and very old world, gave its history, and stated that this was intended as a useful tool to both fans of the Known World and newcomers who came over from their first Dungeons & Dragons game or Dragonstrike (yes, there are a lot of cross-product plugs in this manuscript). It gives a very short overview of the history of Mystara, including mentioning Blackmoor and Alphatia, which are otherwise absent. The intro notes that is will concentrate on the "Known World" section (from way back in the red box era), and ends in the seasons, months, and days of the Thyatian calendar, which I was using to bring together all the timelines.

Next chapter talks about  the Kits and Characters of  Mystara. These are the kits that are universal throughout the various nations of Mystara, the ones that everyone (mostly) could get. They include Warrior Kits (Rural Hero and Veteran), Rogue Kits (Highwayman and City Rogue), a single Wizard kit (The Mystaran Wizard which hews tighter to the D&D mage, giving them Read magic and 7 spells of their school) and Priest Kits (Priest to a particular Immortal, Alignment Priests, and Druids). It wraps up with the player character races (the standard group from AD&D, with the note that most have their own countries), and multi-classing (which looks like was restricted to non-human races.)

This is followed by the Standard Spell Listings (including some notes about the ones I left off the list, including unkind words for Charm Plants) for Wizards and Priests. Then a slew of proficiencies, incorporating a lot of the ones that showed up in the GAZes, including Groveling (also called Toadying), Bravery, Food Tasting, Hard-Ball, and Piloting (Airmanship). There's a sidebar about how to handle charisma-based proficiencies). And wraps up with a huge summary of all the languages in the Known World, identifying Thayatian as the "Common" of the world.

I broke the nation descriptions into three parts. The first part contains The Core Lands, the most "Standard-fantasy" of the lot - Karameikos, Darokin, Glanti, and Thyatis. Each section had an Overview, geographic desctipion, People/Languages, History (sidebar of imporant dates), Ruling class, how they feel about Magic, Faiths and Philosophies, Cities, Adventuring (what you DO there), and finally kits. Karameikos has the Karameikan College Mage and Karameikan Guild Rogue, and Priests to Halav, Zirchev, and Petra. Darokin has Merchant-Mages, Darokin Guild Rogues, and Diplomats.  Glantri has Glantrian Mages and a Glantrian Guild Rogue (No priests allowed),  Thyatia has Gladiators, Foresters (A wizard kit), and Rakes. The Karameikos section still refers to Specularum at this point, and details the Shearing ceremony.

The second chunk of nation information is the Lands of Adventure, which is much the rest of the Known World with human cultures similar to other parts ofEearth - Atuaghin, Ethengar, Ylaruam, Minrothad, Ierendi, The Reaches, Sind, and the Heldannic Territories. They get the same outline as the Core Lands and their own tailored kits developed from their classes.. Minrothad has Marines, Minrothad Guild Rogues (not a lot of variety in guild rogue names, it seems), and Pirate/Privateers.  Ierendi has Naval Cadets and Marines for warriors, Ierendi Pirates/Privateers for rogues.  Ylaruam (does anyone know where this name comes from?) has Desert Warriors, Ylari Wizards and Battle Mages, and Scholars and Dervishes for priests (Yaruam spell-caster kits have their own spell listings, as they avoid necromantic and fire-based spells). The Reaches (Ostland, Vestland, and Soderfjord). wizard kit is the Norse Wise Woman (also known as the Soul Weaver), rogues get Skalds, and priests get Godi (Thor, Odin, Freya, Loki).

Take a deep breath before we continue on with: Ethengar has Horse Warrior as the only fighter kit available, Hakomon as the wizard kit, Bratak for the rogues, and Priests of Ethengar Immortals and Shamans as the Priest options. Heldannic territories have Heldannic Knights, and Warrior-Priests of Vanya. Atruaghin has Tribal Warrios (broken down into the various Clans), Hallilans (Scouts) for rogues, and Priest of Atruaghin's Servants, Druids, and Shamani for priests. Sind separates classes and kits by caste, and have Rihshyas for its priest kit.

Then we do the same for the Nonhuman Nations - Five Shires, Alfheim/Aengmore, Rockhome, and the Broken Lands. Alfheim is wrapped up with Elf/Shadowelf conflict, Its warriors are Clan Warriors, wizards have Treekeepers, and priests have their Immortals. (Elves only - no Shadowelf PCs). Rockhome rogues can be Undersiders ("Mad" outcasts), and priests are Dwarven Priests of Kagyar.  The hin of Five Shires have a grab-bag of other peoples' kits, and the Broken Lands don't have PC races, so no kits (Though there is a plug for the Complete Book of Humanoids).

Then there was to be a second book in the set, the Spellbook of Mystara, where I was dumping all the unique spells that came out the Gazeteers. It looks like I reformatted them for AD&D, and included the Glantri Secret Crafts. This volume was supposed to include transforming you D&D characters from previous campaigns to AD&D. But it looks like this was the point where the change occurred, or at least there are no other pages in the manuscript. So ends the tale of the Big Campaign Setting of Mystara.

As I said, it was pretty much a grand tour of the Known World (no Savage Coast, no Hollow World), with a lot of kits that are centered on the flavor of the surrounding area. Looking at it, the plethora of kits would probably drive most DMs mad trying to figure out the NPCs, but it was a big attempt. And re-reading it (and ignoring the typos), it is not bad at all.

More later,