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<blockquote data-quote="Ruin Explorer" data-source="post: 8413608" data-attributes="member: 18">Whilst amusing, that does kind of demonstrate the problem with Mystara, which is that an awful lot of the places in it are basically nonhuman race + human culture (not always even a particularly historical culture - some of them are quite recent/extant), which can not only seem kind of lazy, but it can also seem kind of inappropriate/dehumanizing. It's obviously not the intention, but the optics at the very least, are not great.And whilst there is some explanation for this, the basic setup doesn't really allow it to have much in the way of worldbuilding or depth, just a lot of variety and stuff that often borders on &quot;LOL so random!&quot;. It's got more in common with Spelljammer, as a result, than, say, the Forgotten Realms (there's some similarity to Planescape too but not really, because it doesn't have the same kind of central conceit to work things around).It's certainly very redolent of a certain era of RPGs, but perhaps not entirely in a good way. I think we've seen &quot;kitchen-sink&quot; fantasy done an awful lot of times now, and whilst I have a certain fondness for Mystara, I don't think it has much to say in, y'know, 2021, let alone 2022 or later.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Ruin Explorer, post: 8413608, member: 18"] Whilst amusing, that does kind of demonstrate the problem with Mystara, which is that an awful lot of the places in it are basically nonhuman race + human culture (not always even a particularly historical culture - some of them are quite recent/extant), which can not only seem kind of lazy, but it can also seem kind of inappropriate/dehumanizing. It's obviously not the intention, but the optics at the very least, are not great. And whilst there is some explanation for this, the basic setup doesn't really allow it to have much in the way of worldbuilding or depth, just a lot of variety and stuff that often borders on "LOL so random!". It's got more in common with Spelljammer, as a result, than, say, the Forgotten Realms (there's some similarity to Planescape too but not really, because it doesn't have the same kind of central conceit to work things around). It's certainly very redolent of a certain era of RPGs, but perhaps not entirely in a good way. I think we've seen "kitchen-sink" fantasy done an awful lot of times now, and whilst I have a certain fondness for Mystara, I don't think it has much to say in, y'know, 2021, let alone 2022 or later. [/QUOTE]

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