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What do people know about Mystara?

Dragonfolk2000Dragonfolk2000 Member Posts: 388
in Off-Topic
So apparently Mystara was once an actual D&D setting. I thought it was just made up for the arcade games that Capcom put out (turns out they really worked hard to keep stuff legit).

So what's up with this setting? Are there books I can check out to learn about it? What video games use this setting?

Comments

  • IseweinIsewein Member Posts: 572
    edited December 2019
    There's a couple of NWN modules set in Mystara - the Midwinter Trilogy comes to mind. Personally, I only encountered it in those, but I seem to recall it was a name given to the generic fantasy setting of the first D&D adventures after the fact.

    Check here: http://www.pandius.com/index.html
  • themazingnessthemazingness Member, Mobile Tester Posts: 702
    edited December 2019
    Isewein wrote: »
    There's a couple of NWN modules set in Mystara - the Midwinter Trilogy comes to mind. Personally, I only encountered it in those, but I seem to recall it was a name given to the generic fantasy setting of the first D&D adventures after the fact.

    Check here: http://www.pandius.com/index.html

    Indeed, Mystara was the default campaign setting for Dungeons & Dragons back when AD&D and D&D were separate things. I think AD&D was whatever campaign setting you were running since there were many choices. By 3rd edition D&D was discontinued so AD&D became D&D and the default was Greyhawk, but changed to Forgotten Realms in later editions. Now Ravenloft has been retconned into Forgotten Realms and that's just about the only setting except the Eberron materials that are scarce.
    Post edited by themazingness on
  • TarotRedhandTarotRedhand Member Posts: 1,481
    edited December 2019
    I only know it from the 2ed setting. There were some source books for it including 10 gazettas, 2 trail maps, half a dozen adventures and a number of campaigns. It was related to the Birthright campaign and the Savage coast campaign.

    I think it may have been the setting for the Princess Ark articles featured in the Dragon magazine as well.

    TR
  • WarChiefZekeWarChiefZeke Member Posts: 2,669
    edited December 2019
    Never heard of this setting. Now I need to know everything about it.
  • TarotRedhandTarotRedhand Member Posts: 1,481
    Look at the wikipedia page for a good overview.

    TR
  • Mantis37Mantis37 Member Posts: 1,177
    edited December 2019
    Mystara is a very good setting for long term continuity and realpolitik between nation states, though it is a little high magic for me. The Vaults of Pandius have a ton of resources for it. Having a timeline that oozes adventure possibilities is a wonderful backbone for campaigns.

    http://pandius.com
    Post edited by Mantis37 on
  • ZaxaresZaxares Member Posts: 1,330
    themazingness wrote: »
    Now Ravenloft has been retconned into Forgotten Realms

    Waitwhat? O.o Did you mean that Ravenloft actually got put somewhere IN Abeir-Toril or that Ravenloft is once more a supported setting by WotC?

  • themazingnessthemazingness Member, Mobile Tester Posts: 702
    edited December 2019
    Zaxares wrote: »
    themazingness wrote: »
    Now Ravenloft has been retconned into Forgotten Realms

    Waitwhat? O.o Did you mean that Ravenloft actually got put somewhere IN Abeir-Toril or that Ravenloft is once more a supported setting by WotC?

    It's in the Shadowfell. https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Barovia

    As far as I can tell, the only source book for Ravenloft in 5th edition is the Curse of Strahd. The introductory adventure, Death House, is available free.
  • DJKajuruDJKajuru Member Posts: 3,300
    Ive got a couple of mystara corebooks in my shelf but never really paid much attention to them, but now u got me curious!
  • BGLoverBGLover Member Posts: 550
    Meeting up in Threshold to hunt down Bargle the infamous and then journeying to Specularium (spelling?), capital of the Grand Duchy.

    That was my introduction to roleplaying many, many years ago, and I have fond memories of the Dwarves of Rockholme, the vikings of Soderfjord, the nomads of Ylarium, the mages of Glantri, the elves of Alfheim and so on.
  • ZaxaresZaxares Member Posts: 1,330
    themazingness wrote: »
    It's in the Shadowfell. https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Barovia

    As far as I can tell, the only source book for Ravenloft in 5th edition is the Curse of Strahd. The introductory adventure, Death House, is available free.

    Ah, right. So it's in the FR setting, but not actually ON Faerun. That makes more sense. Although... Now it makes me wonder if the Dark Powers of Ravenloft might not actually be one or more of the evil deities of Faerun. (And if so, who?)

    Oh, and did the other domains of Ravenloft come along for the ride? Or is it just Barovia? (I saw on the wiki that other domains that were created by Faerunian natives are also present, but I wonder what happened to all the other noteworthy realms that came from other D&D settings, like Sithicus, Darkon, Falkovnia, Har'Akir etc.)
  • BelgarathMTHBelgarathMTH Member Posts: 5,653
    I read the thread title as "Mystra" and was expecting a discussion about the goddess. :(
  • BelleSorciereBelleSorciere Member Posts: 2,108
    Mystara started out as the rather generic Grand Duchy of Karameikos in one of the basic or expert editions (forget which one) and grew into a fairly distinct setting in its own right. A relative lack of oversight ensured that the development lead could make it actually cool.

    The first basic D&D set was an introduction to AD&D and not connected, however.
  • TarotRedhandTarotRedhand Member Posts: 1,481
    edited December 2019
    The odd thing is that apart from "Champions of Mystara" (which was part of the challenger series of source books) all the source books (including the savage coast, red steel and birthright campaigns) are for AD&D (both 1ed and 2ed).

    TR
  • BelleSorciereBelleSorciere Member Posts: 2,108
    What? Mystara has loads of D&D sourcebooks. The gazetteer series, the Hollow World supplement, and multiple adventure modules came out to support the BECMI/Cyclopedia game.
  • TarotRedhandTarotRedhand Member Posts: 1,481
    Well here is what I have come across -

    Adventure (AD&D 2nd)

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    Campaign (AD&D)

    fyhq4lhi70b4.jpg

    Monstrous Compendium Appendix (AD&D 2nd)

    88bdxb8xwy8r.png

    TR
  • Dragonfolk2000Dragonfolk2000 Member Posts: 388
    All very interesting. Thanks for responding!
  • BelleSorciereBelleSorciere Member Posts: 2,108
    I know those exist.

    The Gazetteers: https://1d4chan.org/wiki/Known_World_Gazetteers

    This is a list of D&D modules. Search the page for Mystara, Basic, Expert, Companion, Master, and Immortal. Those are all Mystara. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Dungeons_&_Dragons_modules

    The Hollow World was the interior of the Known World, aka Mystara. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollow_World_Campaign_Set

    This was an entire line in the mid-late 80s and early 90s.

    Oh, google the BECMI (Basic, Expert, Companion, Master, Immortals) boxed sets and the D&D Rules Cyclopedia as well.
  • Dragonfolk2000Dragonfolk2000 Member Posts: 388
    I've been reading up on it. I can see why it was dropped for other settings since this type of fantasy is so normal. I'm still reading into it but so far the only really unique thing I've found here is the stuff surrounding the Savage Coast.

    I'm really interested in making a low-level NWN adventure that uses Mystara but Savage Coast stuff would require more work than I can put into it. For now, Karameikos looks like a good spot to start any adventure. They really encourage creating and adding your own stuff but I want to see how much of the original content I can use before having to make things up.
  • TarotRedhandTarotRedhand Member Posts: 1,481
    Your first decision will have to relate to the date you are setting it then. Karameikos started out as The Grand Duchy of Karameikos. After Alphatia ceased to exist Karameikos became it's own kingdom.

    TR
  • ZaxaresZaxares Member Posts: 1,330
    Do you happen to know if the Mystara setting is the brainchild of any one particular person/author? For instance, Greyhawk was largely Gary Gygax's baby, Ed Greenwood is probably the primary creator of the Forgotten Realms, Margaret Weiss and Tracy Hickman did most of the heavy lifting for Dragonlance etc. etc.
  • Dragonfolk2000Dragonfolk2000 Member Posts: 388
    @TarotRedhand
    The book I'm using refers to Karameikos as a kingdom. Thyatis was dealing with some kind of internal problem and couldn't stop Stefan from declaring independence in A.C. 1006. Now in 3.0 terms that's an impressive AC but remember that this book was written for 2nd edition so this means that my blind grandmother could hit Karameikos from a mile away.

    I'm joking. But anyway the module would likely take place sometime after that. If you're wondering what book I'm getting most of my info from it's called Mystara - Karameikos, Kingdom of Adventure.
  • TarotRedhandTarotRedhand Member Posts: 1,481
    @Dragonfolk2000 I presume you mean this one -

    j6cdq210wg1i.png

    You might find this Mystara fan site to be of interest too.

    TR
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