Mystara 3e--Anyone else following this?

[johnsemlak]

Some developments on this were reported a little while ago. It's happening at this site:
http://mystara3e.starflung.com/home.htm

They now have basic rules for converting 0e characters to 3e.

Anybody else following this? I'm curious to see it develop. I might like to give it a try sometime, if not just for nostalgia.

 

[Treebore]

Perfect timing. One of my fellow gamers wants to start DMing a 3e game in this world. He should be happy to see this.

 

[Estlor]

Personally, no.

They spent so much time dickering over elves and gnomes that they're about three years behind me as far as my campaign goes. I've already got a whole host of races, prestige classes, Immortals, spells, the red curse, and magic items converted on my PC.

Too little, too late.

And honestly, I'm not happy at all with that elf they came up with

I've got my reasons for why I generally ignore their work. I think it's nice what they're doing, yeah. I'm impressed with how much they've gotten done considering how many cooks are in the kitchen of that project. I just think, IMHO, they're spending too much time converting 3E to OD&D and not enough time converting OD&D to 3E.

 

[Davelozzi]

They spent so much time dickering over elves and gnomes that they're about three years behind me as far as my campaign goes. I've already got a whole host of races, prestige classes, Immortals, spells, the red curse, and magic items converted on my PC.

Too little, too late.

I feel the same way about the conversions at Birthright.net. They spent 3 years arguing, finally released a playtest document a few months ago (which seemed pretty slick me) and now it's gone again, as far as I can tell. I know that they mean well and that they're working for free, but at some point you just loose so much momentum it's not worth it anymore.

 

[Byrons_Ghost]

I'm with Estlor on this one. I mean, we're already into like the third incarnation of 3e- what's the point? I revived my Glantri game the minute the core books came out, and I didn't have much trouble converting. Just used the 3e rules, dump everything into the Mystara setting, add some flavor et voila! Instant conversion.

It certainly wasn't balanced (at least not with those secret crafts... yeesh!). It definately didn't mirror the OD&D rules. But if I wanted to mirror those rules, I'd just use the Cyclopedia instead.

Mystara's always been my main world, but these older settings like it and Greyhawk worry so much about "official" stuff that I'd rather just do my own thing with it. I don't see how you can have "canon" on a world that's been out-of-print for seven years or so.

As for resources, dnd.starflung.com has a lot of random 3e things that people have done that aren't part of the actual project.

My main source in the early days was http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/6011/ - especially for spell and monster conversions.

I've also got some classes and other things written up from my campaign, I'm in the process of getting a site together.

 

[johnsemlak]

quoted by Estlor

And honestly, I'm not happy at all with that elf they came up with

How do you do the elf?

Personally, I do find their elf a bit confusing. They're not clear how the character levels are distributed between the classes. Is a 0e 10th level elf a 3e Level 8 Wizard/5 fighter according to their system.

I know that there is a reworked elf class for 3e in Paradigms Eldest Sons that is supposed to be modeled afterr the 1e/oe elf, I'd like to see how they did it.

They spent so much time dickering over elves and gnomes that they're about three years behind me as far as my campaign goes. I've already got a whole host of races, prestige classes, Immortals, spells, the red curse, and magic items converted on my PC.

You know what they say, better late than never. Personally, I haven't played in Mystara in a long time so I'm not to bothered. Of course, if you already have your own rules for playing in Mystara, that's great

As for resources, dnd.starflung.com has a lot of random 3e things that people have done that aren't part of the actual project.


My main source in the early days was http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/6011/ - especially for spell and monster conversions.

I've also got some classes and other things written up from my campaign, I'm in the process of getting a site together.

Those are some cool links. Make sure you post your site here

It certainly wasn't balanced (at least not with those secret crafts... yeesh!).

The seven secret crafts of Glantri were one of my favorite Mystara ideas. I'd love to see them all converted to 3e. I suppose you could use the Encyclopedia Arcane series for most of them. Any ideas on how to do the Cryptomaster or the Alchemist?

 

[Kilmore]

Numerous things were beyond cool with Mystara: the Gazateers, the Lupins, the Rakasta, and the Tarantella spider. The Dragon magazine article on Rakasta was invaluable. I hope that if the world never makes a true comeback, at least these creatures do.

 

[johnsemlak]

Numerous things were beyond cool with Mystara: the Gazateers, the Lupins, the Rakasta, and the Tarantella spider. The Dragon magazine article on Rakasta was invaluable.

Which issue was that?

 

[Ezrael]

I downloaded some of the old school PDF's when they came out, including several of the Gazeteers, and I have to say that even 15 years later some of those books would make perfect campaign tools. It's a shame no one's done for Mystara what was done for Spelljammer in Polyhedron or the Dark Sun guys did for Athas (even if it did take them a couple of years as well, it's a nice document they put together).

I agree that if I were using Mystara as my game, I'd just drop 3E classes in it. The Elves of Alfheim would be Elves, and I wouldn't worry if they were all Fighters and Wizards. Same with the Dwarves of Rockholm, the Five Shires, etc. I probably wouldn't use the stuff from Wrath of the Immortals.

Plus Mystara has the Hollow World. That's cool enough for a whole game right there.

 

[johnsemlak]

It's a shame no one's done for Mystara what was done for Spelljammer in Polyhedron or the Dark Sun guys did for Athas (even if it did take them a couple of years as well, it's a nice document they put together).

Uh, it is being done, albeit very slowly as several posters have pointed out. Check the link at the top of the thread.