Forgotten Realms Alternate Dimensions Fan Mag

[dazzlerdal]

Hi all.

I have recently started a fan web magazine called Forgotten Realms Alternate Dimensions. It is dedicated to providing a home for people to show off their unique version of the Forgotten Realms campaign setting as they play it.

Below are a number of links associated with the fan magazine. We are up to issue 2 now (links below available for download) and i am releasing daily blogs on Tumblr about articles in the previous and upcoming issues (these then get forwarded onto twitter and facebook).

One important thing to mention is this work is entirely non canon, and no one makes any money out of it.

Issue 1: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bx2yr4 ... sp=sharing
Issue 2: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bx2yr4 ... sp=sharing

Tumblr Blog: http://faerunalternatedimensions.tumblr.com/
Twitter Feed https://twitter.com/FRAltDimensions
Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id ... 65&fref=ts


I am looking for people to contribute articles or ideas for the magazine. The articles can be on anything to do with the Forgotten Realms. I have written a number of articles including a Wyrms of the North homage, NPC focus articles, alternate timelines, alternate histories, deity focus articles, adventure paths, fan fiction, and just recently for issue 5 i have finished a first draft of a campaign set during the Conquest of Unther.

If you have any work you would like publishing then by all means get in touch. I am on candlekeep every day (my username is dazzlerdal) or you can leave a message for me here or contact me on Tumblr, facebook, or twitter (links above).

Issue 3 will be ready for release end of June and i am trying to release one issue each month so keep an eye out for more news.

If you dont have any articles you want to publish but you are interested in helping in other ways then i am looking for artists, people to help with all the marketing and blog maintenance, proof readers, and generally a few extra brains to work with collaboratively on my own articles. As a bonus, anyone who helps out gets to see the issues in advance and can help it evolve.

Oh and i hope you enjoy the magazine, please let me know what you think

Edit

The project has morphed into a wordpress site which is far easier to maintain and keep track of what I have produced so far

Below are the links to pages containing detail (most of which centre around the Old Empires region at present)
Home Page

Some of my own rules I've been working on
ARRGS Classes
ARRGS Magic
ARRGS Magic Items
ARRGS Options
ARRGS Races
ARRGS Skills


Running the Realms
Divinity

Faerunian Pantheon
Entropy
Tchazzar

Mulho-Untheric Pantheon
Mulho-Untheric Pantheon
Ass-Uraqn
Gil-Geamesq
Horus-Re
Ish-Tarri
Ram-Manu
Set
TiaMa'at


Organisation
The Church of the Sky Father
The Church of Hoar
The Church of Ish-Tarri
The Church of Ram-Manu
The Cult of the Old Gods
The Cult of the Queen of Chaos
The Enclave
The Eternal Claws
The Northern Wizards


NPCs
Old Empires NPCs
Maladraedior
Meiandringolousaert
Nezram
Seh-Om


Races
Humans
Dwarves
Rakshasa
Spellweavers


Regions
Chessenta
Luthcheq
Akanax
Airspur
Mulhorand
Skuld
Raurin
Unther
Dalath
Messemprar
Nissel (Red Haven)
Niz'Jaree (Firetrees)
Shussel
Ssintar
Unthalass

[Seethyr]

Lovely material, thank you so much!

[dazzlerdal]

Glad you enjoyed it.

Issue 1 was a bit of an experiment and only had a few articles.

Issues 2 and 3 are twice the size and focus on Damara and Vaasa.

Issues 4, 5 are focusing on the Old Empires which has been the most fun so far, tying up the stray lore and weaving it into a more complete picture. I have also managed to give FR historical reasonings for many of the real world comparisons. So for instance there is a reason why some of the Mulhorandi gods have animal heads (like the egyptian gods) that has nothing to do with real world history since the event that started it occured around -240 DR. And i also came up with a reason for Set's appearance and association with snakes and jackals, and what happened in Mulhorand shortly after the Orcgate Wars. Plus there is an entire third ancient empire and pantheon of gods that i inserted that in no way contradicts the official lore of the Old Empires (and it is actually hinted at in several sourcebooks).

And if anyone wants an alternate and more friendly version of the many deaths of Tiamat and Gigleam then i have that too.

Issue 6 might wrap up the Old Empires and then i might move onto more historical things like an alternative view of Netheril that i have been working on for some time.

Still need other contributors though. Ryan Rahuba is doing a regular article for me each issue and i have another potential contributor in the works that intends to do spellplague and post spellplague lore.

[dazzlerdal]

Here are the contents for Issue III

Deities With a Difference: Tiamat
Ryan Rahuba Presents: Shifters – A Racial Description
Alternate Dimensions Focus On: Damara – Higenzi the Witch
When is a House Rule Not a House Rule: Skills
Deities With a Difference: Bahamut
The Bloodstone Lands Adventure Path: Episode 2
Alternate Dimensions Focus On: Damara – Order of Fallen Princes
Laerakond: The Barrier Mountains
Rulesword: Trimming 3rd Edition One Step at a Time
Alternate Dimensions Focus On: Damara – The Bloodfeathers Lineage
The Knights Below: Adventure Path – Episode 3
The Knights Below: Campaign Journal


This Issue ends the look at the Bloodstone Lands with a focus Tiamat and Bahamut, a feature on the main antagonist of Damara's history, as well as a new organisation and a look at the entire Bloodfeathers lineage.

I am doing a brief intro into each article on Tumblr, Facebook, and Twitter. And once the issue is released then i will do another focus on each article and go through the inspiration for the work (citing sources for information) and how i came up with the alternate version.

[dazzlerdal]

Issue 3 of Forgotten Realms Alternate Dimensions is now available here

Issue 3:https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bx2yr4 ... sp=sharing

This issue signals an end to my focus on the Bloodstone Lands and shifts towards the Old Empires.

Please leave any feedback you may have (positive or not - although constructive feedback is more helpful).

Hopefully for issue 4 we should have two more contributors so if you want to get involved or get an article published you wont be alone.

The download link is also available from Candlekeep, paizo, Enworld, WoTC forums, and Tumblr so you should have no trouble in obtaining a copy if you want it.

[dazzlerdal]

A snippet of one article from issue 4.

This article focuses on the Mulhorandi-Untheric pantheon that were merged together by continuing the development of the Mulhorandi conquest of Unther.

This new much stronger pantheon should be able to better resist the Faerunian pantheon and should now be able to properly contest for worshippers in Chessenta.

Rollcall of the Gods
Anhur: War, Battle, Conflict, Thunder, Rain, the Sky, Weather, Storms, Lightning
Bast: Hedonism, Sensual Fulfilment, Lust, Excess, Cats, Pleasure Seekers, Festhalls
Enlil: Unther, Law, Order
Geb: The Earth, Miners, Minerals, Mines
Gilgeam: Madness, Physical Prowess, Undeath
Hathor: Childbirth, Motherhood, Fertility, Children, Music, Dance, Poetry, Fate
Hoar: Revenge, Retribution, Poetic Justice
Horus-Re: The Sun, Rulership, Kings, Life, Mulhorand
Isis: Magic, Marriage, Rivers, Love, Good Magic
Marduk (Bahamut): Good Dragons, Metallic Dragons, Wisdom, Enlightened Justice
Nanna Sin: Protection from Evil, Defence, the Moon
Nephthys: Grief, Wealth, Trade, Commerce
Osiris: Harvest, Nature, Agriculture, Underworld, Death, the Dead, Justice
Sebek: Hazards, Crocodiles, Werecrocodiles, Wetlands
Set: Darkness, Evil, Desert Storms, Drought, Snakes, Murder, Destruction, Rot, Predators, Carrion, Betrayal, Evil Magic, Ambition, Poison
Thoth: Knowledge, Learning, Neutral Magic, Scribes, Science, Engineering, Secrets, Invention
Tiamat: Evil Dragons, Chromatic Dragons, Greed, Rebellion

[dazzlerdal]

Just thought i would add another teaser from issue 4, and one of my reasonings why the capital of Mulhorand is called Skuld (meaning city of shadow).

Matet and Semktet: The gods of the Mulhorandi, Untheric, and Akanic pantheons all travelled to Toril in separate space barges constructed in a joint effort between their most skilled gods. The Akanic pantheon travelled in the Galley of the Gods as constructed by Enki. The Mulhorandi pantheon travelled in a great war galley named Matet and led the way for the three space barges using the artefact known as the Beacon of Light.
The Matet means “Light of the Stars” in the Mulan language, and it was a wondrous sight to behold. A huge metallic galley filled with armaments and defences enough to take on any threat they encountered in the void above. It was also blessed with an intelligence all of its own and possessed the ability to repair itself of the damage it sustained.
Travelling through the great void was not without its own trials, and the pantheons faced centuries of peril and epic adventures. Along the way their spacecraft suffered much damage so that once they reached the planet Toril their vessels were but a shadow of their former glory.
The Muhorandi vessel was renamed Semktet (“Shadow of the Stars”) as it neared it’s destination it passed through a dark nebula that had once been the home of Shar long ago. Something within this nebula infested the barge giving it a dark and evil personality of its own, the ship’s form changed to a simpler, plainer, shadowy vessel more befitting its new name.
Upon reaching Toril the Mulan gods liberated their people and set them free wandering the land for a new home. Unwilling to leave Semktet behind, the Mulhorandi gods dragged it across the plains for miles before settling on the eastern shores of the Alamber Sea.
There they thrust Semktet deep beneath the earth and set atop it Re’s great tower with the Beacon of Light atop it so that Semktet would be forever under guard. Unfortunately great tragedy struck the Mulhorandi over the years, Re was killed in the Orcgate Wars, and the Beacon of Light was stolen from its sentinel position.
Now Skuld, the City of Shadow is in danger of becoming closer to its name than the inhabitants could imagine.

[dazzlerdal]

Forgotten Realms Alternate Dimensions Issue 4 is available here

Forgotten Realms Alternate Dimensions Issue 4


The contents of the issue are as follows.

Alternate Dimensions Presents: Old Empires - Mythology
The Adventures of Aytros Falconwing: On The Run (Part 1)
Alternate Dimensions Presents: The Mulhorandi-Untheric Pantheon
When is a House Rule Not a House Rule: Skills
Alternate Dimensions Presents: Old Empires – A History of Akanu
Deities With A Difference: Gilgeam
The Bloodstone Lands: Adventure Path - Episode 3
Alternate Dimensions Presents: Old Empires – An Alternate Timeline
Deities With a Difference: Tchazzar
Rulesword: Trimming 3rd Edition One Step at a Time
Laerakond: The Sea of Fire
The Knights Below: Adventure Path – Episode 4
The Knights Below: Campaign Journal


Enjoy, and as always please feel free to leave any feedback you may have or ask any questions.

If you want to get involved then let me know. It doesnt matter how big or small your contribution is, a single magic item, an NPC writeup, a short story, a new organisation, a regional overview. If you have homebrew realmslore that you want to get out there to people then let me know.

[dazzlerdal]

For those of you that have been waiting. Forgotten Realms Alternate Dimensions Issue 5 is now available.

Forgotten Realms Alternate Dimensions: Issue 5

The list of contents is as follows

Dragons of the South: Alasklerbanbastos “The Great Bone Wyrm”
Welcome to the Jungle: The Magic of Maztica
When is a House Rule Not a House Rule: Skills
Alternate Dimensions Presents: Old Empires – A History of Thay
The Bloodstone Lands: Adventure Path – Episode 4
Alternate Dimensions Presents: Old Empires – A Modern Timeline
Deities With a Difference: Set
Laerakond: The Hundar Isles
Rulesword: Trimming 3rd Edition One Step at a Time
Alternate Dimensions Presents: The Church of the Dark Lady
Alternate Dimensions Presents: The Conquest of Unther Campaign
The Knights Below: Adventure Path – Episode 5
The Knights Below: Campaign Journal


I'm proud to announce the addition of Seethyr's Maztica related articles to the magazine entitled "Welcome to the Jungle", starting off with the pluma and hishna magic schools for 5th edition.

As always if anyone wants to get involved with articles of their own, or proof reading, or artwork, or any other skills they have then I would be glad of the help.

If anyone has any feedback that would also be greatly appreciated. In particular I'm looking for feedback on "The Conquest of Unther Campaign" article as I hope to write more articles for RSE's that until now have been spectator events only. In particular I'm looking for ideas on the layout and content and what information is helpful or not.

If anyone wants to contact me about any of the above then PM me with your email address and we can talk.

[Seethyr]

Awesome work Dazzlerdal. Thank you for including me.

[froglegg]

Thanks for the links and the work.




John

[dazzlerdal]

I'm glad you liked it Froglegg. I will hopefully be releasing a deluxe version of the old issues when I get some artwork finished, and that will give me a chance to add a few extras to the early articles as well.

I might have to slow down releases to once every few months though (instead of every month).

My next big project is an alternate version of Netheril that will appear over issue 7 and onwards.

And if you want to get involved yourself or know anyone that does then let me know. The more contributors I have the less work for me which means the more constant I can release them.

[dazzlerdal]

Forgotten Realms Alternate Dimensions Issue 6 is now available. Release of the issues will have to slow down for a while so i can work on more articles (Netheril is the next area of focus)

Forgotten Realms Alternate Dimensions: Issue 6

The list of contents is as follows.

Alternate Dimensions Presents: Old Empires – The Scribes’ Guild
The Bloodstone Lands: Adventure Path – Episode 5
Welcome to the Jungle: Races of Maztica
Alternate Dimensions Presents: The Dragon Empire of Unther
Alternate Dimensions Presents: The Brotherhood of the Griffon
Alternate Dimensions Presents: The Science of Divinity
Alternate Dimensions Presents: The Time of Dragons
Laerakond: The Sea of Corynactis
Alternate Dimensions Presents: Chessenta – The Empire of Tchazzar
Alternate Dimensions Presents: The Free Republic of Unther
The Knights Below: Adventure Path – Episode 6
The Knights Below: Campaign Journal

Again there is another fantastic article from Seethyr about Maztica, and in the future there might be some collaboration between myself and Seethyr on areas of Maztica.

As always if anyone wants to get involved with articles of their own, or proof reading, or artwork, or any other skills they have then I would be glad of the help.

If anyone has any feedback that would also be greatly appreciated, and finally if anyone wants to contact me about any of the above then PM me with your email address and we can talk.

[dazzlerdal]

Forgotten Realms Alternate Dimensions Issue 7 is now available.

Forgotten Realms Alternate Dimensions: Issue 7

The list of contents is as follows:

Alternate Dimensions Presents: Maztica
The Watch Lineup
Welcome to the Jungle: Cult of the Viperhand
Deities With a Difference: The Masked Lady
Deities With a Difference: Qotal
Welcome to the Jungle: Maztican Beastmen
Welcome to the Jungle: The Jaguar Knights and Eagle Knights
Deities With a Difference: Zaltec

There are a few articles created from a collaboration between myself and Seethyr. The Masked Lady was developed with considerable help from Irennan of Candlekeep. Finally The Arcanamach of Candlekeep has provided a writeup of a recurring villain from his own campaign.

As always if anyone wants to get involved with articles of their own, or proof reading, or artwork, or any other skills they have then I would be glad of the help.

If anyone has any feedback that would also be greatly appreciated, and finally if anyone wants to contact me about any of the above then PM me with your email address and we can talk.

[dulsi]

Having Maztica invade the Realms instead of the other way around might be an interesting alternate setup. For my new world setting, I have snake knights instead of jaguar knights. (I wanted to tie them to the Coatl.) Could perhaps create a new type of knight for this that aids in the attack perhaps crocodile knight. Maybe they develop the plumestone spell that Seethyr created earlier so they have better weapons. I'd have them use spelljammers to reach the main land.

Just a quick thought.

[dazzlerdal]

Well my primary goal with this project is just to reinterpret the realms in subtle ways, rather than rewrite it completely.

Almost all the information in the Alternate Dimensions is already found in an existing sourcebook or article. Admittedly with the Maztica stuff I went a bit further away from that than normal in order to work with Seethyr on his stuff (by the way anyone seen him lately), but again all the future stuff was built entirely from lore already found in the sourcebooks.

I personally couldn't see Maztica invading Faerun (even though I love the Sunset Invasion scenario in Crusader Kings 2), but I did build off the idea that the Maztican gods themselves arrived from another planet and therefore their spelljamming ship is still on Maztica somewhere (I put it in the city of the gods where Qotal and Zaltec had their first big fight). Great thing about the realms is anything is possible, I personally wouldn't go along an invasion route because my imagining of the Mazticans doesn't work with that scenario, but if you like the idea of an invasion then there is a great big functioning spelljamming vessel right in the middle of the desert for someone to find.

[dazzlerdal]

Forgotten Realms Alternate Dimensions Issue 8 is now available.

Forgotten Realms Alternate Dimensions: Issue 8

The list of contents is as follows:

Alternate Dimensions Presents: Moonshae Isles – Kazgoroth the Beast Alternate Dimensions Presents: Moonshae Isles – The Druids of Moonshae Deities With a Difference: The Earthmother
Alternate Dimensions Presents: Moonshae Isles – The Dynasties of the Ffolk
Alternate Dimensions Presents: Moonshae Isles – The Heralds of the High King
Deities With a Difference: Grond Peaksmasher
Alternate Dimensions Presents: Moonshae Isles – An Alternate History
Alternate Dimensions Presents: Moonshae Isles – The Cults of Fury
Alternate Dimensions Presents: Moonshae Isles – The Greystone Pack
Alternate Dimensions Presents: Moonshae Isles - High Lady Ordalf Moonshayl
Alternate Dimensions Presents: Moonshae Isles – The Banshrae

This series of articles is very much a reinvention of the Moonshaes, removing the novel events in favour of a much more interactive version of the return of Kazgoroth (which will be revealed in issue 10). Hopefully it will act as a teaser for issues 9 and 10. As such it is only partially compatible with the canon Moonshae material and for issue 9 i will be releasing an alternative Moonshae sourcebook that expands on the life, the geography, and other things pertinent to the Moonshae Isles.

As always if anyone wants to get involved with articles of their own, or proof reading, or artwork, or any other skills they have then I would be glad of the help.

If anyone has any feedback that would also be greatly appreciated, and finally if anyone wants to contact me about any of the above then PM me with your email address and we can talk.

[dazzlerdal]

Just for those that followed the Alternate Dimensions fan mag, I finished issue 9 (should be easy to find on candlekeep), I also released a free pdf on the dms guild focusing on the first age of netheril (which was what I intended for issue 10). After that I got thoroughly disillusioned with the dms guild and with pdfs in general (having to update them was a real pain).

So I've morphed my alternate dimensions project into a wordpress page that will eventually show case an alternate version of the forgotten realms (starting 1356) and that develops it over time to allow people to take part in the major story arcs.

Im not sure which of the links below works, and I'm rather new to wordpress so if anyone has any advice on the site or the content I'd be most grateful to hear it.
At the moment I'm building up the old empires (starting with Unther) so the only pages with any content are Unther, Dalath, Tiamat, and Cult of the Queen of Chaos, but I'm working on it each day and its growing.

https://alternaterealmsblog.wordpress.com/
https://wordpress.com/read/blogs/125303490/posts/2

[Sturm]

Thank for posting, interesting resource as always.
Word press is fine, but note that Open Office (and I suppose Liber office too) have a button to automatically create a pdf from a doc (odt in Open Office) file which is easy to use and allow you to create professional looking pdf with little effort.
I have a wordpress site myself but I'm not really using it much so I'm afraid I cannot be of much help. I can tell you the first link works while the second sends to wordpress login.
Note that wordpress has tons of themes you could use to add images to the site, even if it is a bit of a pain to search for the best one...

[dazzlerdal]

Thank you Sturm, I've not looked at pictures yet mostly because I'm not an artist and so have no pictures available without pinching a few from existing sites and pdfs (don't really want to get closed down either), but i'll look into it as I finish a few pages.


I've just detailed the relics for the Cult of the Queen of Chaos. Now to work on the important NPCs and important sites

I've only alluded to TiaMa'at's mask being one of the Imaskarcana rather than outright state it. Hints include being able to converse with the mask and having to speak Roushoum to do so and in doing so being able to learn many secrets of transmutation magic.
The mask is currently lost following TiaMa'at's death during the Orcgate Wars (she was wearing it), which means it could have been carried off by the orcs, the Mulhorandi, the Narfelli, the Raumathari, or just some battlefield scavengers. Or it could still be hidden in Thay where the battle was fought (I imagined the final battles being held between the Thayan and Surague escarpments - the orcs got trapped between mountains and the lake and were slaughtered while TiaMa'at and her forces sneak attacked the god-kings.

[Sturm]

Wikimedia commons has tons of free images which can be appropriate for fantasy, if you look in the right category or the appropriate wikipedia page. That's what we mostly use for Threshold, the Mystara fan magazine (http://pandius.com/thrs_mag.html)
Also many artists on deviantart could be willing to allow the use of their fantasy drawings in free products if given proper credit, but you obviously need to contact and ask them, so it's more time consuming.
Anyway, just an idea, your content is interesting enough without images

[dazzlerdal]

Good advice, cheers. I will check out that site immediately.

I'm hoping that within a year I will have a fairly complete version of Unther 1356 DR that you could adventure in without any other source. Then I will work on advancing Unther through the timeline with big playable events (Time of Troubles but very different, Alasklerbanbastos' conquest of Unther and then finally the Mulhorandi invasion of Unther).

[Sturm]

Well for Unther could be quite easy to find on Wikimedia appropriate Babylonese art, as Sumer and Babylon are the main visual/cultural/mythological inspirations for Unther.

[dazzlerdal]

Anyone got any wordpress skills i can borrow. Im having trouble getting a link to go to an anchor on another page to work. I can do it fine in normal pages but the html code on wordpress isnt working so i was wondering if anyone else had managed it.

Oh and i added some npcs from the cult of tiamaat, tiglath, shudu ab, and kedrak gilbane.

[dazzlerdal]

Sorted my anchor issue (wordpress sometimes removes html if you switch between visual and html view

Working on Niz'Jaree now. Hoping to make it a bit of a mystery as to why the town in so happy

https://alternaterealmsblog.wordpress.c ... firetrees/

The outline is finished. Will add specific npcs and more places as I get some ideas.