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Message: <blockquote data-quote="AdmundfortGeographer" data-source="post: 3973722" data-attributes="member: 4682">I'm not sure am qualified to speak for all or even most Mystara fans, but following the conversations on the Mystara Mailing List for years I think I can say that many fans looked at as either a mixed bag or a betrayal.A mixed bag because it reprinted a ton of material from the Gazetteers. Indeed it looked like almost 95% of the material in the Karameikos and Glantri gazatteers were reprinted in the AD&D 2nd Ed boxed sets.  However, the boxed sets were done with very high production values of the sort that drove TSR into financial insolvency during TSR's final years.Also, while Mystara grew out of the BECMI rules—which had long had the (incorrect) reputation for being a starter rules set for AD&D—Mystara as a setting grew into remarkable depth, maturity, history, and complexity. Possibly rivaling FR. With the AD&D 2nd Ed box sets, Mystara seemed to be reimagined as a starter setting. Something for new DMs and Players to get their feet wet before moving on to greener pastures.As a betrayal goes, the AD&D 2nd Ed episode seemed to wipe the slate clean with regard to the depth, maturity, history, and complexity that had grown up over the decades. Mystara grew up being known as "The Known World", a cluster of unbelievably (!) diverse nations and people in a small corner of a larger continent. Then as the adventures came out lands just beyond were added to the consciousness. Isle of Dawn immediately to the east, Sind and the Great Waste to the immediate west, Empire of Alphatia on the other side of the Isle of Dawn, Isle of Dread to the far south, Norwold to the north, the Serpent Peninsula beyond Sind, the Savage Coast beyond the Serpent Peninsula. Then the explorations of the Princess Ark travelled to the megacontinent of furthest Davania to the south, then to the moon above, and back to the Hollow World beneath.Mystara was the only world (at the time!) with the entire planet surface mapped out. The Hollow World accessory line mapped out the entire interior as well.With the AD&D iteration of Mystara, all that development was seemingly erased and everything outside the Known World was "forgotten". There was a line of products called the Poor Wizard's Almanacs that came out yearly. Each yearly issue updated the stats of each nation across the surface and interior of the planet. Updates to armies. A calendar of major events for that entire past year. With the AD&D line, the very next year's Almanac only covered the Known World, with no acknowledgement of anywhere else beyond the Known World. Indeed, places outside the Known World were referred to as whispered legends only believed about by madmen. A lot of fans had campaigns in this lands, especially Alphatia, Hollow World, and Savage Coast. Suddenly, it felt like floor was pulled out from beneath.</blockquote>

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