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2015-03-15, 03:24 PM
Hi everyone
In the Dungeon Masters Guide, there are a lot of great things in there, and much of it is wonderfully illustrated, with concepts back from the 2nd edition that have made a triumphant return to the game, and all the better for it. The great wheel, modrons, flumphs all back to the game officially.
One of the best is the inclusion of classic campaign settings from the early editions, ones that WotC seemingly forgot about, or thought weren’t cool enough to be included in 3rd and 4th edition, or bastardized.
In the return of the settings, perhaps a campaign setting will be released for each in time. Ill be starting a thread every week on a campaign setting, taking a glance at the history, the races, the rules and other aspects of the setting, and seeing what everyone thinks should be included in a 250+ page campaign setting. We will discuss potential updates to the setting and what should be focused on, such as timelines, races, regions, magic and other aspects that should be included in a new tome on the setting.
So, let’s start with Mystara, the Known World and the Hollow World.
One of the earliest settings, and incorporating Blackmoor as an ancient kingdom, Mystara was a setting on the planet of Mystara, which had a continent layout not entirely unlike Earth 150 million years ago. Over the two plus decades of publication, the setting focused on a number of areas around the known world, with places such as Karameikos, Thyatis and the Alphatian Empire. The setting also included the Hollow World, a world that existed inside the planet and was a preservation area for old cultures and extinct creatures, as well as lunar areas of the setting, and floating continents inside the planet. The setting had no gods, but Immortals, former mortals who had become beings of great power and presided over spheres of influence.
So, if they were updating Mystara, I would love to see –
Areas – the continent of Brun would probably be focus of the update, considering it’s the area of the savage coast and many of the kingdoms, with sections on parts of the world that were not all that well detailed added, such as the area of Vulcania and other parts of Davania.
Timeline – Moving the setting forward, shaking things up (Such as collapsing empire of the Great Khan, Alphatia or Thyatis) would add a level of intrigue and aspect to the setting, with new powers rising to fill gaps. New migrations of races, and colonisations of other setting areas would be nice.
PC Races – By the time 3rd edition came around, Mystara had loads of playable races. For me, My updates races for 5th would include Lupins, which would come in three sizes linked to the type of breed. In addition, there would be lots of options for abilities linked to those sizes, and a section on the nation of Renady and the seafaring Lupins. Other races would be the Diaboli, Tortles and Gatorfolk from the savage coast.
For other settings, I would include Catfolk as a PC race for other settings and flavouring them as Rakasta for Mystara would be great, especially if they had setting specific fluff and abilities.
Classes – A new magic class for spellcasters, and a note on The Radiance would be nice, as well as details on magic use in regards to cinnabryl and the red curse. Power has a price indeed. Paladins should have a new class in regard to the immortals and the spheres of power, and new options for combat classes could include Gaucho, Swashbuckler, Bandit, War Priest. For Bards, Skald and Herald could be new pathways.
One of the complaints for 5e has been the lack of options for the martial classes compared to spellcasters. I would include a number of options for the martial classes. Oh yeah, there would be a setting specific path for the Warlock, with an option for a patron from the Demiplane of Nightmares.
Setting Mechanics – having mechanics detailing the Red Curse and the magic rules in the setting would be great, as well as mechanics on seafaring, duels, and other aspects of the setting. Also notes on the Skygnome technology and rules on biplane fights would be awesome.
Monsters – An update on Iconic monsters such as the brain collector, the Law and Chaos elementals, the various dragons (with the alignments mostly being neutral for most dragons), the unique and pretty imaginative undead and the Bhuts.
Artwork and feel – a combination of the artwork included in the Red Steel and the Kingdom of Karamaikos splatbooks would be great, with watercolours and different artists to set it apart from the DMG and PHB.
So, if WotC announced an update for Mystara consisting of a 250+ page splatbook, what do you think should be in it?
In the Dungeon Masters Guide, there are a lot of great things in there, and much of it is wonderfully illustrated, with concepts back from the 2nd edition that have made a triumphant return to the game, and all the better for it. The great wheel, modrons, flumphs all back to the game officially.
One of the best is the inclusion of classic campaign settings from the early editions, ones that WotC seemingly forgot about, or thought weren’t cool enough to be included in 3rd and 4th edition, or bastardized.
In the return of the settings, perhaps a campaign setting will be released for each in time. Ill be starting a thread every week on a campaign setting, taking a glance at the history, the races, the rules and other aspects of the setting, and seeing what everyone thinks should be included in a 250+ page campaign setting. We will discuss potential updates to the setting and what should be focused on, such as timelines, races, regions, magic and other aspects that should be included in a new tome on the setting.
So, let’s start with Mystara, the Known World and the Hollow World.
One of the earliest settings, and incorporating Blackmoor as an ancient kingdom, Mystara was a setting on the planet of Mystara, which had a continent layout not entirely unlike Earth 150 million years ago. Over the two plus decades of publication, the setting focused on a number of areas around the known world, with places such as Karameikos, Thyatis and the Alphatian Empire. The setting also included the Hollow World, a world that existed inside the planet and was a preservation area for old cultures and extinct creatures, as well as lunar areas of the setting, and floating continents inside the planet. The setting had no gods, but Immortals, former mortals who had become beings of great power and presided over spheres of influence.
So, if they were updating Mystara, I would love to see –
Areas – the continent of Brun would probably be focus of the update, considering it’s the area of the savage coast and many of the kingdoms, with sections on parts of the world that were not all that well detailed added, such as the area of Vulcania and other parts of Davania.
Timeline – Moving the setting forward, shaking things up (Such as collapsing empire of the Great Khan, Alphatia or Thyatis) would add a level of intrigue and aspect to the setting, with new powers rising to fill gaps. New migrations of races, and colonisations of other setting areas would be nice.
PC Races – By the time 3rd edition came around, Mystara had loads of playable races. For me, My updates races for 5th would include Lupins, which would come in three sizes linked to the type of breed. In addition, there would be lots of options for abilities linked to those sizes, and a section on the nation of Renady and the seafaring Lupins. Other races would be the Diaboli, Tortles and Gatorfolk from the savage coast.
For other settings, I would include Catfolk as a PC race for other settings and flavouring them as Rakasta for Mystara would be great, especially if they had setting specific fluff and abilities.
Classes – A new magic class for spellcasters, and a note on The Radiance would be nice, as well as details on magic use in regards to cinnabryl and the red curse. Power has a price indeed. Paladins should have a new class in regard to the immortals and the spheres of power, and new options for combat classes could include Gaucho, Swashbuckler, Bandit, War Priest. For Bards, Skald and Herald could be new pathways.
One of the complaints for 5e has been the lack of options for the martial classes compared to spellcasters. I would include a number of options for the martial classes. Oh yeah, there would be a setting specific path for the Warlock, with an option for a patron from the Demiplane of Nightmares.
Setting Mechanics – having mechanics detailing the Red Curse and the magic rules in the setting would be great, as well as mechanics on seafaring, duels, and other aspects of the setting. Also notes on the Skygnome technology and rules on biplane fights would be awesome.
Monsters – An update on Iconic monsters such as the brain collector, the Law and Chaos elementals, the various dragons (with the alignments mostly being neutral for most dragons), the unique and pretty imaginative undead and the Bhuts.
Artwork and feel – a combination of the artwork included in the Red Steel and the Kingdom of Karamaikos splatbooks would be great, with watercolours and different artists to set it apart from the DMG and PHB.
So, if WotC announced an update for Mystara consisting of a 250+ page splatbook, what do you think should be in it?