OD&D What is Mystara?

[Sword of Spirit]

I think it is interesting how people newer to D&D seem to equate "pseudo-Medieval European focus" as being "vanilla" without an appreciation for the distinctions within the various settings.

 

[Urriak Uruk]

I think it is interesting how people newer to D&D seem to equate "pseudo-Medieval European focus" as being "vanilla" without an appreciation for the distinctions within the various settings.

I'm doing my best trying to differentiate the various pseudo-Medieval settings by genre/tone, despite my newness. There can be a lot of nuance between them, my problem is when people are trying to argue a setting "Can do ALL of the genres!" I think that is a quick way to water a setting down.

 

[gyor]

You can, but part of the point of this thread is if you were to gestalt these settings into a line or two, what would the best tonal definition be.

That is my point, these setting are too deep, diverse, and complex with long histories to summarize these Settings into a line or two.

 

[Wiseblood]

Since it was largely untouched for the last three decades the last time it was played it was, what we today would call Nightmare mode. Hit points were low first level casters probably had one spell. So you could amp the difficulty and run the whole setting like that. Mwahhahaha!

 

[The Glen]

You can, but part of the point of this thread is if you were to gestalt these settings into a line or two, what would the best tonal definition be.

For the B/X modules go take out the dungeon crawls and its about going to parts unknown. Isle of Dread, Nights Dark Terror, Desert Nomads series, or Crown of Ancient Glory personify this.

C series is all about domain management as the party gets important enough to become nobility. Master level is about exploring the Multiverse.

 

[gyor]

I didn't mean it in a negative (or positive) way. There are some sexual elements, hinted at fetishism, bloodlust, and torture in FR that I don't think you'd find in Mystara. Drow; Loviatar; "Sharess is a goddess of lust, free love, and sensual fulfillment"; the "Courtesan Larissa"; Lliira is "sensuous"; Sune is a "stunning redhead of incredible charms"; Umberlee is the "Bitch Queen" which I think refers to her character rather than female animals; Ilmater can manifest in those being tortured; in Amn doxxing a merchant king has a sentence of "slow torture and death"; "Moruene is Eltan's... occasional lover"; "The witches [of Rashemen] are said to take male lovers for brief periods... It is believed that these males are used for some form of planned breeding program"; Malar, god of bloodlust, "is the patron of those who exult in it [killing] endlessly, sensually"

This is all from the 1987 grey box campaign setting.

I don't know enough about Dragonlance to comment on it.

I love the Realms, but it's the closest D&D setting to porn. You have fleshed out sex worker Guild/gangs, enough sex Themed gods/goddess to fill out a pantheon, massive sex temples, sex crazed Archfiends, a magic stripper class (Spelldancer/Spellsinger), several BDSM themed Elf races (Shadar Kai and Drow), it's own terminology for brothels (Festhalls among others), Sex Workers (Coin Lads and Coin Lasses), major Succubi characters, and brothels/orgies/rape and other adult suggest matter in a lot of it's novels. You could make a drinking game out of how often a male character ends up in a threesome with two women in Salvatore's novels. A setting where we find out a lot of Tieflings go into sex work, because other occuptations discriminate against them, If they turned Pornhub into a D&D setting, it'd be the Forgotten Realms. And that is just the sex, not the gory, bloody elements like serial killers stalking the streets of Baldur's Gate, sacrifice males on Drow alters, vivid descriptions of savage torture and multilation, eternal damnation graphically depicted, more acts of magical genocide then you can shake a stick at and that is just the Elves. And people think Ravenloft is the Horror setting.

If they made movie from the novel Elminister in Hell for example, you'd have people puking in threatres. I'll spare you the details.

And the funniest part is that the least family friendly setting is the default setting the gets presented to families. Honestly FR is my favourite D&D setting, but it's the LAST setting I'd encourage kids to play. Greyhawk as heavily connected to FR as it is (they are super close even in physical proximity and share a lot of demihuman Gods and even NPCs), would be the second most graphic. Third most Graphic would be Planescape or Ravnica (mostly because of Rakdos). Ravenloft Fourth most graphic setting.

Mystara, Nentir Vale, Spelljammer or Eberron would be the most family friendly Settings IMHO. If I had kids, those are the setting I'd encourage them to play. When they because adults, then I'd introduce FR. I love FR.

Birthright, Darksun, and the rest would be right in the middle.

Someone mentioned that Golarion was super twisted and graphic at times, but that is because it was the Forgotten Realms, not Mystara that was the core inspiration for Golarion, (although I can see Mystara's influence cultural/geography wise).

 

[Shiroiken]

I'm doing my best trying to differentiate the various pseudo-Medieval settings by genre/tone, despite my newness. There can be a lot of nuance between them, my problem is when people are trying to argue a setting "Can do ALL of the genres!" I think that is a quick way to water a setting down.

I think the problem is an attempt at oversimplification. Most pseudo-Medieval settings are going to have most/all of the genres as an option, but I think that the overall presented tone is an important distinction. Of the official D&D pesudo-Medieval settings, I'd describe them as the following:

Greyhawk - gritty sword & sorcery fantasy in the vein of Jack Vance, Fritz Leiber, and Micheal Moorock; world is barely detailed, allowing the DM to fill in gaps as needed for their individual campaign

Mystara/Known World - pulp/comic fantasy in the vein of H. G. Wells and Edgar Rice Burroughs; world is very detailed, giving the DM a ton of information to base their campaign around; note: contains Hollow World and Blackmoor (historical), which are non-pseudo-Medieval settings

Dragonlance - epic/low fantasy exactly in the vein of Margret Weis and Tracy Hickman; world is detailed haphazardly, with some information detailed and others undefined; works primarily during the epic War of the Lance timeline, but magic is low fantasy except for major characters

Forgotten Realms - high/heroic fantasy that modern D&D is based on; world is overly detailed, especially due to the numerous novels set in the world, which can overwhelm a DM, especially when they have a player that's read more than they have; note: contains Kara-Tur, Zakhara, Maztica, Osse, Anchorome, and Katashaka, which are non-pseudo-Medieval settings

Birthright - historical/low fantasy setting in the vein of the Arthurian and Robin Hood legends; world is moderately detailed, and generally focused on politics; additionally there is a Highlander undertone, with "Blooded" people able to take the Blooded powers of each other by stabbing them in the heart

 

[The Glen]

Hollow World is largely ancient cultures, Greeks, Egyptians and nomadic African tribes along a few others. Savage Coast is mostly Iberian with some Gaulic/Celtic nations along with French dogmen and Victorian catmen. The Known World is a complete mishmash, with everything from Serbia, Scandinavia and Italian City States next to Arabia, Mongolia and American Indians. The one glaring aspect is the nations can go from silly magical adventures like Ierendi or Serraine to serious and grim like the Northern Reaches or Ethengar. Mystara is also plagued badly with continuity errors because of the way it was written.

 

[JacktheRabbit]

Fantasy Kitchen Sink - TV Tropes

What happens when All Myths Are True is turned Up to Eleven? You get a Fantasy Kitchen Sink! Everything is true, even if it comes from vastly different origins. So not only are there really dragons, there are fairies, ghosts, vampires, werewolves …

tvtropes.org

I think the "kitchen sink" criticism can be fair, though I don't understand when it's used for Forgotten Realms....

You really think so? What trope is missing from the Forgotten Realms? There is a FR version just about everything you can think of up to and including a FR version of the Mongolian Horde, Great Wall of China, and more. Look long enough and you find everything in FR.

 

[Azzy]

Mystara is pretty gonzo and rife with anachronisms, humor, and shenaigans.