Return of Mystara?
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Dragongirl
First Post
I am not familiar with what Mystara became. I did enjoy the previous Gazeteers just because they represented such different types of nations and were good to get general ideas from. If the later version of Mystara was consistant with the Gazetters, I would have to say I would have little interest in gaming there. It was like a patchwork quilt of solid colors placed willy nilly. There was no feel for how all this could have evolved, simply toss out a lot of nation types and see where they land.
Dahak
Explorer
Dragongirl said:
The evolution was more clearly laid out in the Hollow World setting, but the Gazetteers themselves did explain quite a bit if you read the timelines. While certain things do seem quite hokey (Ylaruam surrounded by temperate and subarctic regions, albeit explained away by 'magic'), the actual evolution of the cultures within isn't all that farfetched. Ylari was a Nithian colony for example, and when Nithia fell, the culture gradually became more like medieval Islamic kingdoms.
Dahak
Explorer
trancejeremy said:
The key here is that Mystara is not being ruined. Mockery it may be, but all good satire contains an element of mockery. The Hackmaster version is being called Mystaros, not Mystara itself. At worst, it's a shadowy reflection of Mystara on another world altogether, and certainly can't damage the original setting's credibility and consistency to the degree that the 2nd Edition boxed sets did.
I'm personally looking forward to the Hacklopaedia Mystarica. In fact in may be the first RPG product I've been this excited about in a couple of years.
Chauzu
First Post
Yeah, it is kinda weird, that is why I changed Ylaruam from a desert to forests/clear and Ierendi from jungle to forest. I changed all the races of humans into white boys (except for the Atruaghins).
P.S. Why does everybody not like the 2nd edition box sets? I have the Karameikos Box Set, and nothing bad seems to be in it.
P.S. Why does everybody not like the 2nd edition box sets? I have the Karameikos Box Set, and nothing bad seems to be in it.
Last edited:
Mystaros
First Post
Hacklopedia Mystarica will rock!
Then again, I may be biased...
I'm James Mishler, the guy writing the Hacklopedia Mystarica. I've played in Mystara since Day One, when it first was revealed in the Red Box Basic Set/Blue Box Expert Set. I've followed it through all its permutations and evolutions. I've read every Gazetteer back and forth. I eat, breathe, live Mystara.
Much of my fan-based Mystara material can be found on the official Mystara website, the Vaults of Pandius, at www.dnd.starflung.com. I am no stranger to Mystara or its intricacies.
No one is more concerned with making sure that the Hacklopedia Mystarica represents Mystara as the best it can be than I. No one has a greater stake in the success of the Hacklopedia Mystarica than I (well, okay, maybe the Kenzer guys have a greater financial stake.)
One of the concerns I have heard, here and on the Mystara Mailing List, is whether Mystara will be buried in HackMaster parody. Do not fear! Though the Hacklopedia Mystarica will be thoroughly a HackMaster product, the parody therein will primarily in making the HackWurld of Mystaros (the "Known World of Mystara") MORE Mystaran than Mystara.
Fans of Mystara know that Mystara is known for the depth of cultural characterization in each individual nation. This will be taken to greater heights. The barbarian nations of Ethengar, Atruaghin, and the Northern Reaches will be even more barbarian. The Thyatian Empire will be even more Byzantine in nature. The wilds of Karameikos will be even wilder, and veritably crawling with goblins, werewolves, and vampires. The merchants of Darokin and Minrothad will make the Ferengi of Star Trek seem like veritable Socialists by comparison. The major thrust of the parody of the HackWurld of Mystaros will be making it everything that Mystara was, but even more so.
This will be a huge tome. This will be the Mystara all Mystara fans had hoped for back when they brought out the so-called "Karameikos: Kingdom of Adventure" for 2nd Edition AD&D. This will be the Mystara that Jeff Grubb wanted to do, but wasn't allowed to do. The Hacklopedia Mystarica will do for Mystara what the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting book for 3E did for the Forgotten Realms. It will bring it all together, in a comprehensive, cross-indexed tome that creates the structure of internal consistence that we began to see with the Hollow World boxed set.
No stone will be left unturned. History, races, languages, geography... all will be presented in a consistent fashion. Historical paradoxes will be corrected (or explained in full). Geographical oddities will be fixed (or given a rigorous magical explanation). Each nation will be detailed, moreso than was included in the Almanacs, but naturally not quite as much as was done in the Gazetteers. It will also, for the first time, include Wendar and the Heldannic Territories fully alongside the other nations, as they always should have been. Areas that were given short-shrift in the earlier sets (the Isle of Dawn, Bellissaria, Davania, the Midlands, Norwold, the Savage Coast, Ochalea, Nuar, and so forth) will be fleshed out.
Did I forget to mention that the map is going to rock?
I firmly believe that when you pick up and read the Hacklopedia Mystarica at yourn FLGS, you will wish you were playing HackMaster.
Then again, I may be biased...
I'm James Mishler, the guy writing the Hacklopedia Mystarica. I've played in Mystara since Day One, when it first was revealed in the Red Box Basic Set/Blue Box Expert Set. I've followed it through all its permutations and evolutions. I've read every Gazetteer back and forth. I eat, breathe, live Mystara.
Much of my fan-based Mystara material can be found on the official Mystara website, the Vaults of Pandius, at www.dnd.starflung.com. I am no stranger to Mystara or its intricacies.
No one is more concerned with making sure that the Hacklopedia Mystarica represents Mystara as the best it can be than I. No one has a greater stake in the success of the Hacklopedia Mystarica than I (well, okay, maybe the Kenzer guys have a greater financial stake.)
One of the concerns I have heard, here and on the Mystara Mailing List, is whether Mystara will be buried in HackMaster parody. Do not fear! Though the Hacklopedia Mystarica will be thoroughly a HackMaster product, the parody therein will primarily in making the HackWurld of Mystaros (the "Known World of Mystara") MORE Mystaran than Mystara.
Fans of Mystara know that Mystara is known for the depth of cultural characterization in each individual nation. This will be taken to greater heights. The barbarian nations of Ethengar, Atruaghin, and the Northern Reaches will be even more barbarian. The Thyatian Empire will be even more Byzantine in nature. The wilds of Karameikos will be even wilder, and veritably crawling with goblins, werewolves, and vampires. The merchants of Darokin and Minrothad will make the Ferengi of Star Trek seem like veritable Socialists by comparison. The major thrust of the parody of the HackWurld of Mystaros will be making it everything that Mystara was, but even more so.
This will be a huge tome. This will be the Mystara all Mystara fans had hoped for back when they brought out the so-called "Karameikos: Kingdom of Adventure" for 2nd Edition AD&D. This will be the Mystara that Jeff Grubb wanted to do, but wasn't allowed to do. The Hacklopedia Mystarica will do for Mystara what the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting book for 3E did for the Forgotten Realms. It will bring it all together, in a comprehensive, cross-indexed tome that creates the structure of internal consistence that we began to see with the Hollow World boxed set.
No stone will be left unturned. History, races, languages, geography... all will be presented in a consistent fashion. Historical paradoxes will be corrected (or explained in full). Geographical oddities will be fixed (or given a rigorous magical explanation). Each nation will be detailed, moreso than was included in the Almanacs, but naturally not quite as much as was done in the Gazetteers. It will also, for the first time, include Wendar and the Heldannic Territories fully alongside the other nations, as they always should have been. Areas that were given short-shrift in the earlier sets (the Isle of Dawn, Bellissaria, Davania, the Midlands, Norwold, the Savage Coast, Ochalea, Nuar, and so forth) will be fleshed out.
Did I forget to mention that the map is going to rock?
I firmly believe that when you pick up and read the Hacklopedia Mystarica at yourn FLGS, you will wish you were playing HackMaster.
johnsemlak
First Post
It looks very good. I'm excited about it. It's on my 'to buy' list.
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