[Intro] Teaser & Introduction

[Gawain_VIII]

Source: The teaser is from The Black Vessel novel by Morris Simon. It is the best teaser for Mystara I've ever run across... Unfortunately, this is something we absolutely CANNOT use... plagarism issues and all, so if anyone can writing something just as good, I'm open to suggestions.

Sprawling across the boundaries of the Known World, like a great, serpentine dragon, lies the bustling, ever-startling world of MYSTARA™, a land where the only constant is change.
MYSTARA has managed to survive through three disasters of cataclysmic proportions. The first such disaster, the Great Rain of Fire, came about some four millennia ago. It was then that the ancient Blackmoors, master of magic and technology, loosed their powerful weapons on the land in an Armageddon that forever changed the face of the world.
Although the people of BLACKMOOR™ failed to survive this self-inflicted calamity, they were nevertheless players in the second major disaster some thirteen hundred years later, when unsuspecting elves unwittingly detonated a powerful artifact left behind by the men of BLACKMOOR. The resulting explosion not only wiped out whole races but also brought about a change in climate that spawned a new ice age.
In more modern times, vengeful gods and goddesses brought about a series of cataclysmic events known as the Wrath of the Immortals. A great meteorite struck the land, an entire continent sank beneath the ocean, and a deadly plague began to spread.
MYSTARA is a world of constant surprises. Where else would you expect to find a flying city, a magical mountain, a floating continent, and invisible moon complete with inhabitants, and entire region of the world with its population held under the sinister, body-altering influence of a mysterious magical substance? What other land possesses and entire separate world inside its hollow core, with neither the world’s population aware of the existence of the other?
In MYSTARA, you’ll discover brave adventurers, powerful mages, evil villains, majestic dragons, lurking monsters. An entire civilization that has survived underground for hundreds of years, a nation of halflings, an island kingdom of pirates. Immortals who dabble in the affairs of mere mortals for their own amusement. An entire race that has migrated to MYSTARA from another world.
Fire and air magic…
A blighted, magically enchanted forest…
A sunken continent…
It’s all here, and much, much more, when you dare to visit the magical world of MYSTARA!

[Gawain_VIII]

Source: The introduction (including the next few posts) is slightly modified from Jenni's old M3e site. I have NOT been able to contact her yet for permission to use it. If anyone is in contact with her and can relay a request, I'd be much obliged--otherwise it's just acting as a place-saver for now.

About MYSTARA
So you're new to the MYSTARA campaign settings… or at least you think you are. If you've come to D&D® fairly recently, perhaps with the release of the 3rd Edition rules or maybe even during the 1990's, MYSTARA quite probably is a whole new realm for you and your gaming buddies to explore. However, if you're an old-time D&D player but don't think you've ever encountered MYSTARA before; you may be surprised by some of the information that follows.
Here you'll find a brief overview of the origin of MYSTARA and a discussion of the things that really define the campaign and give it the flavor and atmosphere we love and hope you'll enjoy too.
Long time gamers may already recognize MYSTARA by a different name: the Known World. This was the campaign setting created and developed by TSR, Inc. for its original DUNGEONS & DRAGONS® line, often referred to as BD&D (for "Basic"), OD&D (for "original," or "old") or, more recently, as 0e D&D (for "zero edition"). Developed to an incredible level of detail through TSR's publication of 20+ regional campaign accessories, MYSTARA would eventually include three complete campaign settings, all located on the same planet yet having certain elements that made each distinct in its own right. These three settings are known as the Known World, SAVAGE COAST™, and the HOLLOW WORLD™.
Collectively, and in the humble opinion of the fans, MYSTARA consists simply of the most well developed, world-spanning fantasy campaign settings that TSR ever produced. Unfortunately, the MYSTARA line was canceled in the mid 1990's, just shortly after TSR dropped the 0e D&D line and made a failed attempt to convert it into Advanced D&D® 2nd Edition rules. Even with this abandonment by its originators, MYSTARA has always maintained a strong presence in the online community. Many fans have spent copious amounts of spare time dedicated to continuing the development of completely new material as well as deliberate expansions on original source material. As a result, MYSTARA has remained alive and well to this day.
If you are interested in investigating this great wealth of fan developed material, the place to go is the VAULTS OF PANDIUS, which has the stamp of approval as the "Official MYSTARA Website" from Wizards of the Coast®.

[Gawain_VIII]

Defining MYSTARA
MYSTARA is a high-magic, high-fantasy, high-adventure world; not unlike Wizards of the Coast's officially supported settings. So, one might ask, why bother with MYSTARA when these other, official settings are available? Well, while MYSTARA may have its roots in fantastic magical adventure, it portrays this theme in its own exciting and unique ways.
A good campaign setting, as every role-player worth his or her salt knows, has a unique style and theme to it. Pause a moment and think about a few different campaign settings. Each setting has an aura or "flavor" to it, which is what makes it stand out, worthy in its own right.
So what makes MYSTARA different from other "high magic, high fantasy, high adventure worlds", and what sort of adventure can you expect to find there?

Diverse Culture
MYSTARA comprises a richly detailed tapestry of cultures that exist side-by-side. Want to play a traditional knight in shining armor in a feudal pseudo-European setting? Fancy trying your hand at a Viking berserker or a Roman gladiator? Perhaps you'd prefer to be a renaissance swashbuckler, a horse-warrior Mongol from the arid steppes, or a Native American shaman? Or perhaps you're fond of the culture of China, or India, or Egypt?
In MYSTARA, there's somewhere with something for everyone, no matter what their tastes are.
Don't, however, think that this means MYSTARA is just a world of copycat non-originality with incompatible settings forced to exist together. Magic has a way of changing things, making the unlikely perfectly plausible and giving what may seems familiar on the surface enough twists to keep even the most jaded players on their toes. The interaction between these cultures is both natural and often fraught with tension and conflict.

Order vs. Anarchy
Unlike most other settings, in MYSTARA "Order" and "Anarchy" are far more often at odds with each other than "Good" and "Evil" necessarily are—though that's not to say that Good and Evil never clash.
MYSTARA focuses on the clash between Order and Anarchy rather than Good and Evil, though few wish evil to befall the entire world.
Order in MYSTARA is found in the many diverse societies and cultures of MYSTARA: the Plutocratic Republic of Darokin, the feudal society of Karameikos, the Mercantile Guilds of Minrothad, and the Principalities of Glantri. Usually lawful (and often good—at least from their own point of view) governing bodies try to keep community and economy strong and stable. But the forces of order are not always good—such as the Heldannic Knights and their subjugation of the indigenous people of the Heldannic Freeholds—and may not even be "Lawful".
Anarchy, on the other hand, is often found in the form of monster hordes: the Broken Lands, the Orclands in Darokin, the wilds of Karameikos, the Great Crater, the Desert Nomads… outside forces preying upon civilization, usually chaotic (and often evil) in nature. It is also seen in certain elements within society: the factions of Glantri, the treachery in Thyatis, the civil unrest in Karameikos. The forces of anarchy are not always evil, and not even always "Chaotic" (in the 3e sense of the alignment)—such as the Alfheim refugees who flood the surrounding countries after their homeland was magically laid to waste—but they are always there.

Good guys vs… Good guys?
In most major Mystaran conflicts, it's hard to separate the good from the bad—there is rarely one side that is unequivocally "Right" and another that is unequivocally "Wrong". Sometimes one side is clearly better, but that's more by accident than design: in a world in conflict, it is bound to happen sooner or later. There are a few classic "bad guy" scenarios, and even in those that do exist it's not so much "Good" attacking "Evil" out of principle, it's more like "Evil" attacks a "Neutral victim" (Neutral because they didn't do anything to stop evil until they were personally attacked by it) and then "Good" responds.
But in MYSTARA—well, the fact is, though we gave it some serious thought, we have not been able to think of even a single example of a Good crusader who attacks Evil out of nothing save sheer principle.
Additionally, most plots and conflicts in MYSTARA tend to arise from the personal goals and ambitions of all the various parties. At first glance this may not seem any different than other settings; after all, it's the Evil villain's plans that put everything in motion. But the difference in MYSTARA is that it's everyone who has grand ambitions, not just the Evil villains, and these plans don't always please others. The conflict between Stefan Karameikos and Baron Ludwig von Hendriks is probably the closest thing to a classic Good vs. Evil plot in MYSTARA, but even Stefan made decisions that lead to actions that resulted in significant misery for others. First, he was granted autonomous rule of Traladara—a subject-nation that hadn't exactly been happy about being under Thyatian control to begin with—and immediately invited his fellow Thyatians to help him colonize the country. The Thyatians came in droves and their subsequent land-grabbing actions and contempt for the native Traladarans caused widespread misery and suffering. He also allowed his cousin, Baron von Hendriks, to get away with terrible persecution and tyranny for years simply because he was too naive to believe the reports was hearing which, to him, could only be outrageous exaggerations. He would even abandon his Thyatian allies in their hour of need—breaking a mutual defense treaty that he had signed with his former homeland when he felt that his young country's survival could only be guaranteed by forging a deal with Alphatia, Thyatis' enemy. Stephen is certainly good in comparison to Ludwig but, objectively speaking, he's a far cry from being good 100% of the time, yet he remains one of the shining examples of enlightened goodness in MYSTARA.

All the above is focused on the Known World, the original campaign setting of MYSTARA. Adding even more spice and variety to an already flavorful role-playing meal are the two other campaign settings, the SAVAGE COAST and the HOLLOW WORLD.
The SAVAGE COAST is found to the far west, a long way from where the countries of the Known World are nestled in their small corner on the south eastern tip of the continent of Brun. Few merchants and explorers of the Known World who travel so far venture past the port of Slagovitch and into the regions beyond and those few that do rarely, if ever, return to their homes. Rumors abound about the region, ranging from stories that claim most people from the region have superhuman abilities that seem like arcane magic but are something else, to the existence of a strange metal, that cannot be mined anywhere else, that is as strong as steel but much lighter and has certain innate magical properties. It is a region full of swashbuckling heroes and strange lands that may just as easily be run by civilized societies of monstrous humanoids, such as the feline Rakasta or the canine Lupin, as by humans or demi-humans. It is a place unlike any other you've ever seen—assuming you're brave enough (or foolhardy enough) to actually go and see it.
The HOLLOW WORLD, in its turn, is something else again. There are very few people on the surface world who are aware of the fact that the planet of MYSTARA is a hollow sphere, and even fewer still who suspect that beneath their very feet rests a whole other world full of nations and cultures that were once found on the surface but have not been seen for centuries and even millennia. Although many of those who hear this tale wave it off as pure nonsense, they would be wrong for, unlike most celestial bodies, the planet of MYSTARA is a hollow sphere. Instead of a hot core of magma, there is open space, and it holds another world on the interior surface of the sphere and upon "floating continents" and "islands" that circle a small red-colored sun located at the exact center of the planet. This world is a museum; a store house of lost cultures from the surface world, placed on the inside of the planet by the Immortals, ostensibly to save them from extinction and preserve their ways forever. And, as with any museum, there are checks and balances to preserve and protect what is kept there, and so characters from the surface world who somehow manage to stumble into the HOLLOW WORLD will be in for lots of surprises beyond the most obvious ones.
In conclusion, MYSTARA is a whole world of many diverse cultures with a distant, mythic origin that is based on a techno-magical disaster. It is also a world of peers where a lowly gladiator can rise to be Emperor and where those with the diligence and the courage can even ascend to immortality, transcending the barriers of life itself.
Sounds like just the sort of setting you've been looking for? Then feel free to stay awhile and check it out.

[Gawain_VIII]

Why MYSTARA d20™?
MYSTARA is being converted to the d20 SYSTEM™ primarily for two reasons.
The first reasons is that, as a truly open-ended system, d20™ is an ideal window through which to look upon a world where all kinds of adventure are possible and an adventurer may one day do more than just dream of becoming an Immortal.
The second reason is the far more prosaic one of pragmatism; Since the 3.5 revision is the most recent edition of the D&D rules, it is also the one to which most people will have access, and so it only seemed logical to convert the setting.
It is the hope of the MYSTARA d20 Project team that this conversion will pique the curiosity of DMs and players who are unfamiliar with the settings that make up MYSTARA and the wealth of both official and unofficial information available for it, ultimately encouraging them to try their hand at a MYSTARA campaign of their own.
It is also our hope that existing fans of the MYSTARA setting will be inclined to use this conversion effort as their baseline for doing future MYSTARA development and conversions of their own. By starting from this conversion as a baseline for the majority of MYSTARA d20 campaigns, it should reduce the amount of work a fan has to do to convert from 0e D&D to D&D 3.5 and can, instead, concentrate on the new and creative aspects of her work. One need only reference this site, and provide details where exceptions to this conversion are assumed and all future developments for MYSTARA become easier, both for the developer and for the DM who wishes to add them to a campaign.

[Big Mac]

I'm pretty sure that most writers say an introduction (at least a book introduction) should be written last. So if this is going to become the introduction of a Mystara 3e Netbook then it would probably be good to have the rest of the information available before you write the final draft of this.

One thing I like about the style of The Black Vessel introduction is that it is short enough to be the "back cover blurb" of a Mystara Campaign Setting PDF. It cuts out all of the politics* of D&D and describes the world.

* = I think that anyone who comes to like Mystara is going to be interested in the politics of why it wasn't pulled more into the mainstream, but that is a bit heavy for something that is supposed to be a "hook".

However, on the negative side, the Black Vessel doesn't really say anything that makes me want to use Mystara as a game world. And the multiple references to Blackmoor** could be a bit confusing now that Dave Arneson's Blackmoor setting is out. I'm guessing The Black Vessel was a novel, because this only seems designed to make me want to read about Mystara.

** = At some point, "newbies" need to be told about Blackmoor and how it relates to the Known World, but you probably want to get people interested in the world first and come to that sort of detail later on.

The M3e introduction style helps to explain the (real world) history of Mystara. The fact that this setting has been around for several decades, has excellent support from Vaults of Pandius and is part of the early D&D line gives you the feeling that there are a lot of Mystara fans out there. Adding in a bit of a "namecheck" for Mystara probably will make a person who has never heard of it before give it a second look. So a bit of that sort of thing could work really well as a "hook"***.

*** = "Hook" is a term that I saw in one of the "how to write..." books that I read while trying to boost my skill at writing LARP stories. The author said that the hook would be a sentence that made you read the rest of the paragraph of a novel. And then that paragraph would make you read the entire chapter. Then before you knew it, you would be pulled right into the story. I've become a lot more interested in Mystara in recent times, but it is competing for "shelf space" with a lot of other gameworlds, and it doesn't matter how good your Mystara Campaign Setting is if people don't actually get past the cover blurb or introduction. So a really good hook would be worth its weight in gold.

On the negative side, there is a fine line between saying "Mystara has been around for decades" and suggesting it is great and looking like you are overhyping Mystara. I don't think that the "About Mystara" section is hype, but the section is mixing up several concepts (the various subsettings within Mystara, the "failed" 2nd edition conversion, the fan interest and Vaults of Pandius). (Thunder Rift and Blackmoor don't even get a mention here.)

I think you should replace the "About Mystara" section with a "History of the Mystara Campaign Setting" section (that gives an overview of the published products) and a "About Vaults of Pandius" section (that explains what VoP is and how long it has been supporting the setting). That will divide the information up into "official" and "fanon" stuff (and will hopefully make this less of an "infodump").

From what I've picked up about Mystara:

• It was originally called "The Known World",
• There have been several subsettings (rather like Forgotten Realms),
• Different Mystara products have been set in different eras,
• Most Mystara stuff was made for original D&D and
• The AD&D Mystara line didn't last very long.

I would be a bit worried about suggesting that the AD&D Mystara stuff was a "failure" for several reasons. Firstly, it introduces a "negative impression" into what is supposed to be a "hook". Secondly, there may be some people out there who started out with the 2nd edition Mystara and who actually like it - they might think this sort of statement is a put down on "their" game. Personally, I think that the TSR management structure was a little bit nuts by the time Mystara got converted to AD&D and that under different circumstances, it might have done a lot better and been one of the cornerstones of AD&D. But my sort of opinion doesn't really have a place in something that is essentially "selling" the concept of Mystara to people. (People who already like Mystara probably won't even bother to read this sort of stuff.)

As for a section about Vaults of Pandius. I'd go for saying the year that VoP started and the number of articles or netbooks it has online at the date of writing the introduction of your MCS PDF. Make sure that the person writing the introduction includes the date, so that people can add up the years in their heads and see how much work is being done. "Showing" that VoP is better than "telling" people that it is good. Hopefully, VoP will pick up some awards (like ENnies) at some point, so that you can namedrop something that instead of making a vague claim that people like Mystara.

I'm not sure that the "History of the Mystara Campaign Setting" or the "History of Vaults of Pandius" are bits of information that deserve top billing. People need to be told this stuff, but I don't think either of these things is a good hook. And if you put something people don't want to read into the first paragraph, you might loose them.

Moving onto the "Defining Mystara" section, there is some great stuff in there ("a high-magic, high-fantasy, high-adventure world"), but also a few things that could be taken in a negative way ("...why bother with MYSTARA when these other, official settings are available?") Negatives aside, this sort of information is the sort of thing that is going to be a great "hook" for your product.

If any sort of thing is done with the "...why bother with Mystara..." concept, I'd say that it should be a new "Why Mystara?" section, that explains how the world works to 3e fans. (I also think that you should include a "Why 3rd edition?" section that explains the conversion to old school Mystara fans. If you make both of these sections have equal page coverage, you can try to push for a feel that "this product is a bridge between a classic D&D world and a (fairly) modern D&D system". If you can do that, then maybe you can make your fan conversion a bit more successful than TSR's AD&D conversion. But again, this sort of thing isn't really the best sort of "hook", so I'd shunt this right down the page and reduce focus on it.

The "Diverse Culture" section is a really great section to mine for your own introduction. Finally after 8 other paragraphs, I'm getting to see a really great hook that sells Mystara well. This is exactly the sort of thing that should be moved up the page (or made into back cover blurb). However, I suggest you try to drop any real world names and replace them with the names of the appropriate Mystaran cultures. I would also suggest that you drop stuff like "...is just a world of copycat non-originality with incompatible settings forced to exist together." because (again) people can read this in a negative way. (If I haven't decided that Mystara is a poor-quality copy of Earth, you shouldn't be putting the idea in my head in a defensive way.) If you drop the defensive stuff (and assume that people are reading because they are interested in Mystara) then you can cut this down in size and still say more great stuff about the world.

The "Order vs. Anarchy" section gives some very important information. This sort of thing is going to be very important in the way that the game plays. People are either going to be "turned on" by this "difference to other campaign settings" or decide that they don't want to play with Mystara. So this is very important to someone's "purchasing decision". I'd say this needs to be far up the page. (Maybe not quite at the top, as it isn't the best hook. But after you have your initial "capture of interest" this is the sort of thing that can help to continue to "reel people in".) This information is definately more "important" than the history of Mystara or Vaults of Pandius.

The "Good guys vs...Good guys" section is also powerful information that will help reel people into playing in the world of Mystara, but I think it is twice as long as it needs to be.

The sentence "But in MYSTARA—well, the fact is, though we gave it some serious thought, we have not been able to think of even a single example of a Good crusader who attacks Evil out of nothing save sheer principle." introduces "we" into the mix. That is the sort of thing that will make the reader ask who "we" is, so probably should be avoided in your introduction. One of my own personal bugbears was getting everything into the same tense and avoiding sudden switches in writing style. They can draw people's attention to the wrong thing. This is a minor niggle - the main thing is to get across the "good isn't there to fight evil" message. But then that is part of the same message as the last paragraph, so maybe it can all be crunched up when you do it.

The section starting "All the above is focused on the Known World..." explains about the Mystaran subsettings (although, as I already said, it misses out Thunder Rift and Blackmoor). But unless you are sure that your Mystara Campaign Setting PDF is going to only be about the Known World, you can't really decide to write this sort of thing now. It probably makes sense to stick to the "core" part of Mystara and make Red Steel/Savage Coast a suppliment, but if things go well, you might decide you can add another 30 or 40 pages and "get it done now". Hollow World is another thing that is also more logical as a suppliment. But you are not going to be sure right now. In fact, if you struggle, you might even decide you would be bettter off cutting down the Known World into a smaller area. That is why it is probably best to do this introduction at the end.

The "Why MYSTARA d20™?" is something that I've got several issues with, but you do want to have this sort of thing in there somewhere. As I said before, your two target audiences are existing Mystara fans (who want to try using 3e rules) and existing 3rd edition fans (who want to try out a new campaign setting).

That whole section is out of date now, because 3e is not the "current" edition of D&D and "d20 System"**** is probably not a good term to use (because WotC are using it for 4e).

**** = I personally think it is a bit nuts that after building up the association of d20 System with 3rd edition WotC are introducing ambiguity by adding in a new association with 4th edition. But that doesn't help you introduction. The main thing is that "d20 System" is now a "polluted" term that might be something you want to avoid.

I have one major niggle here (that is a legal niggle). WotC have declaired "d20 System" as a trademark, but are now trying to muscle in on the generic term "d20". The M3e introduction includes several things that could help their lawyers push their claim that people think that "d20" means the "d20 System". ("Why MYSTARA d20™?", "d20™ is an ideal window...", "...the MYSTARA d20 Project..." and "MYSTARA d20 campaigns" all confuse "d20" for "d20 System" and two of the namechecks for d20 declare it as a trademark. This is exactly the sort of thing that WotC could be citing in a court case if they attempt to take further control of the generic term "d20") So please ensure you don't help WotC claim ownership of the term that rightly belongs to everyone. (As far as I am concerned d20 is the name of a 20 sided die and if WotC are stupid enough to use it as half of their trademark, any confusion is their own fault.)

But, I would guess that all of this is irrelivant now, because your conversion is going to be targeted at 3e grognoids (and maybe Pathfinder fans). Given that WotC 3e is now a closed book (and the d20STL has been yanked to slow down or stop third party 3e campaign settings) your 3e Mystara Campaign Setting will be entering an entirely new environment. Some of the people tempted by your product are going to be 3e fans who have exhausted a lot of the stuff in the shops and are looking for something new. They might be fans of Forgotten Realms or Eberron who want to play in a new world (for a change). Or they might even want to use your conversion as a sourcebook and put a few Mystaran elements into a homebrew world or another campaign setting. (I don't personally think that would be the best way to use Mystara, but a punter is a punter even if they are a non-paying punter.)

Thinking about who is going to be attracted by this product is probably the best way to rewrite this sort of information. But the most important thing is the meat.

I've already said before that this should probably be done at the end of the project. But I do have one last bit of advice. If (when you finish the rest of this) you can get anyone with any sort of reputation to write you an introduction, it would be better to get them to do it, so that you could get a namecheck from someone the fans will know. However, you will need to turn out a quality product if you want to get anyone official to put their name to it. So good luck getting this all done!

[Giorgio]

Big Mac brings up many good points in his feedback and I hope you take his comments in the constructive way it is intended.

After reading this whole section my first response was “Ok, why do I want to play in a dead setting?” and my second response was “So what makes this setting different from the others?”.

I wasn’t sold on this setting based on the teaser/introduction above, I thought I was reading a research document someone was doing for a wiki article.

Here is what I got from my reading:

1-Too many negative references and lack of a good hook to get me interested in playing.

2- To much upfront history of the game, and not enough reason to PLAY in this setting.

3- The Order vs Anarchy and Good vs Evil sections are too long for an intro, but are GREAT as a starting point for the GM “how to run a Mystara campaign” section of the book.

4-The reference to D&D 3.5 as the latest rule is no longer true, it has been out of publication since D&D 4Ed came out. D&D 3.75/Pathfinder (free online, just like the d20 SRD) is the current active rule set.

In all other aspects I agree with Big Macs post almost point by point. Not trying to sound negative or harsh, but if the goal is to get newbies (which I am) interested in this setting, I don’t feel it accomplished that.


Big Mac, since Roger is busy overseas, how about you re-write the teaser/introduction to make it more newbie friendly and with a stronger “hook”? Perhaps between all of us we can work something more attention grabbing?