Review & Commentary On an English translation of the Free Hyboria Gazetteer By Omnibius Translated By Colin Wilson For Mystara

 "Hyboria, in Northern Brun is one of the least known areas of Mystara and there is very little information available in more-or-less official accessories or on the web.  The Hyboria Gazetteer By Omnibius covers the vast stretch of icy Sword & Sorcery wasteland & its environs. "


Sometimes one finds Sword & Sorcery goodness in some most unexpected places. Case in point tonight we stumbled upon a Free English translation of the Italian fans of Mystara's Hyboria region on the Piazza website & forum. So tonight between game sessions the printer was going burr getting this lovely piece of Mystara goodness into our greedy little hands. 

Now I can already hear the bitching. What another Gazetter guide book for Mystara?! And its a fan one!? Who cares?! We'll lots of folks actually care & this section of Mystara is almost unknown outside of many of the Mystara fan forums. The Hyboria Gazetteer clocks in at twenty pages of crammed regional goodness information with several key sources of information drawn into its sections. The whole cloth book feels very professionally done, with some solid cartography, goodlay out & some smoking sections of Mystara goodness. 

We get the low down on the region straight out of the gateway here; "Area: 9,554,680 km2 (approximately as much as Canada and Alaska) of which 1,097,140 km2 is frozen surface water and 8,457,140 km2 island. Total population: 2,489,932. The territory and the population of Hyborea varies greatly depending on the climatic conditions, which are dictated by the proximity of the pole. There are four well-defined zones that follow one another away from the far north: • Glaciers – occupy an area of 3.137.252 km2 with a population density of 0.027 per km2 , for a total of 84.706. • Tundra – occupies an area of 3,660,127 km2 with a population density of 0.1 per km2 , for a total of 366,013. • Taiga – occupies an area of 2,614,377 km2 with a population density of 0.5 per km2 , for a total of 1,307,188. • Steppe – occupies an area of 1,045,751 km2 with a population density of 0.7 per km2 , for a total of 732,025. Hyborea is an immense territory, located in the extreme north west of the Brun continent. " This is a densely packed book full of information covering trade, commerice, population background, And even monster placement. The book is very much oriented to the Mystara fan and catters to the region break down, adventure hooks, & has an overall feel of Mystara meets Conan in a dark alley. 

Everything is provided for the DM wanting to use the Hyboria region within their own game of Dungeons & Dragons including several adventure hooks with each section. Each of the regions detailed has the loving attention that they deserve within the pages of this book. 

So is the Hyboria Gazetteer worth the trouble to down load it?! In a word yes! The reason for me saying this is that in twenty pages the Hyboria Gazetteer manages to squeeze out every Sword & Sorcery goodness & regional secret that we need for this area of icy Mystara.





You've got each of the regions of Hyboria broked down & explained including how these regions interact, make war, devide the burden of this area among the clans & families and much more. In twenty pages you get just about everything you need to start adventuring within Hyboria. 

Grab
The English translation of the Free  Hyboria Gazetteer
By Omnibius Translated By Colin Wilson Here