Kilimanjaro
Explorer
The only Mystara product I own is the 2nd Ed. AD&D Monstrous Compendium. I'm looking for recommendations on where to begin digging into this world. Thanks!
D&D General Where to start with Mystara?
- Thread starter Kilimanjaro
- Start date
Whizbang Dustyboots
Gnometown Hero
The traditional way to go, in either BECMI or 2E, is with Karameikos, which is available as a BD&D gazetteer or in a 2E boxed set, which advances the timeline some. Mystara purists loudly prefer the gazetteer but the boxed set is also a very good product.
Karameikos is a very standard forested region with mountains, some ruins, a villainous wizard (Bargle, who's also featured in the BD&D boxed set adventure), a few mysteries, but a lot of pretty standard D&Disms. There are goblins and a green dragon in the woods, semi-frontier towns that need help, a good-hearted duke in a castle, a few knights, etc.
Both versions of Karameikos will also tease the duchy (or nation, depending)'s connections to surrounding regions and lead you toward checking out the ones you like.
Alternately, there's the Known World map in Isle of Dread which also includes capsule summaries of the various nations. A warning, though, the map doesn't hint at the fact that, when Kingdom of Ierendi finally came out, they decided to make it a joke setting with Fantasy Island and Magnum, PI analogues. The other nations, as I recall, are described simply but accurately.
You can go hog-wild digging into lots of other areas of the world, but I'd start with a single gazetteer, and work out from there.
Let me know if you have questions about any of the specific regions that might have caught your eye.
Karameikos is a very standard forested region with mountains, some ruins, a villainous wizard (Bargle, who's also featured in the BD&D boxed set adventure), a few mysteries, but a lot of pretty standard D&Disms. There are goblins and a green dragon in the woods, semi-frontier towns that need help, a good-hearted duke in a castle, a few knights, etc.
Both versions of Karameikos will also tease the duchy (or nation, depending)'s connections to surrounding regions and lead you toward checking out the ones you like.
Alternately, there's the Known World map in Isle of Dread which also includes capsule summaries of the various nations. A warning, though, the map doesn't hint at the fact that, when Kingdom of Ierendi finally came out, they decided to make it a joke setting with Fantasy Island and Magnum, PI analogues. The other nations, as I recall, are described simply but accurately.
You can go hog-wild digging into lots of other areas of the world, but I'd start with a single gazetteer, and work out from there.
Let me know if you have questions about any of the specific regions that might have caught your eye.
TerraDave
5ever, or until 2024
The Glen
Legend
Okay this is kind of my specialty. First off what edition of the game are you trying to run?
The 2nd edition Mystara books were unfortunately riddled with mechanical issues. If you want to go back to BECMI You can always start with the Gazetteer.
If you want information on the lore then you have a plethora of sources
This is the go-to fan source for all of the discussions regarding the lore and background. Also quite a bit of homebrew.
That is the number one Mystara lore channel on the internet, and possibly the best dungeontuber as well. It is about 500 videos, but I strongly suggesting watching all of them.
They've also got a discord and a Facebook page both of which will be more than happy to talk your ear off about any questions you have. Just remember Mystara is not a fan of continuity. Also between Blackmoor, Known World, Hollow World and Red Steel, there are a lot of sub settings within the game.
There isn't a single world-book for the setting, but rather there was a series of regional sourcebooks, the "Gazeteer" series. This series is why Mystara fandom exists, IMO. They're not all solid hits, but overall the series is pretty good. The Gazeteers are all BECMI D&D.
Chaltab
Legend
Couldn't possibly be a bit of bias in that assessment, right?
The Glen
Legend
It's not bragging if it's trueCouldn't possibly be a bit of bias in that assessment, right?
Tonguez
A suffusion of yellow
B1-9: In Search of Adventure is the 'best' parts of the first 9 Basic adventures and framed as 3 adventure paths in the Grand Duchy of Karameikos (it even has a helpful Adventure Flowchart)
The Veiled Society is set in Specularum, the capital of Karameikos wherein the PCs investigate a murder mystery involving 3 major factions of the cities underbelly.
Nights Dark Terror was designed for Experts Overland Adventure rules and takes you from Karameikos into the mountains wilderness
Vaults of Pandius - huge fansite and very helpful
The Veiled Society is set in Specularum, the capital of Karameikos wherein the PCs investigate a murder mystery involving 3 major factions of the cities underbelly.
Nights Dark Terror was designed for Experts Overland Adventure rules and takes you from Karameikos into the mountains wilderness
Vaults of Pandius - huge fansite and very helpful
CleverNickName
Limit Break Dancing (He/They)
I love Mystara. My advice?
First, pick up a .pdf of GAZ-1, "The Grand Duchy of Karameikos" on DriveThruRPG for like $5. It's the default "staring point" of the Mystara world--but it's also generic enough to shape into anything you want it to be.
While you're shopping around online for PDFs, pick up a copy of B2, "The Keep on the Borderlands" for $8. Run that classic adventure module for your players; it's a good way to introduce them to the starting kingdom and the monsters that they can expect as they explore the Duchy.
When the heroes finish that adventure, pick up B11 "King's Festival" for $5 and its sequel B12, "Queen's Harvest" for another $5. This will deepen their exposure to the Duchy, and prime them for exploring the neighboring lands. By the time the heroes finish those three adventures, they should be about 4th level and ready to travel.
From there, you can go anywhere! I recommend either X1, "The Isle of Dread" ($7) for a seafaring adventure to a tropical island full of pirates and dinosaurs and ancient temples...or the two-part Desert Nomads adventure path (X4 "The Master of the Desert Nomads" and X5 "The Temple of Death," $5 each) for an epic desert campaign to destroy a rising evil in the east. Or both! These adventures will expose the heroes to the rest of the Mystara setting, and will give you a bit of experience on building and running those old-school 'hexcrawl' style of adventures that comprise most of the Mystara catalog.
First, pick up a .pdf of GAZ-1, "The Grand Duchy of Karameikos" on DriveThruRPG for like $5. It's the default "staring point" of the Mystara world--but it's also generic enough to shape into anything you want it to be.
While you're shopping around online for PDFs, pick up a copy of B2, "The Keep on the Borderlands" for $8. Run that classic adventure module for your players; it's a good way to introduce them to the starting kingdom and the monsters that they can expect as they explore the Duchy.
When the heroes finish that adventure, pick up B11 "King's Festival" for $5 and its sequel B12, "Queen's Harvest" for another $5. This will deepen their exposure to the Duchy, and prime them for exploring the neighboring lands. By the time the heroes finish those three adventures, they should be about 4th level and ready to travel.
From there, you can go anywhere! I recommend either X1, "The Isle of Dread" ($7) for a seafaring adventure to a tropical island full of pirates and dinosaurs and ancient temples...or the two-part Desert Nomads adventure path (X4 "The Master of the Desert Nomads" and X5 "The Temple of Death," $5 each) for an epic desert campaign to destroy a rising evil in the east. Or both! These adventures will expose the heroes to the rest of the Mystara setting, and will give you a bit of experience on building and running those old-school 'hexcrawl' style of adventures that comprise most of the Mystara catalog.
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