Running A Sword & Sorcery Mystery Campaign As A Viable Old School Setting Option

The legends speak of another world of the past, a world where adventure was just around the corner. That world was a long time ago! Things have changed much, the legends & myths foretold by our ancestors came to pass. Now things are very dangerous for there are monsters that come from the Shadowdeep and worse now! Welcome to Mystara Reborn!

Work & real life got in the way but that's another blog post. Let's kick this into epic mythological high gear, And dive right into the Ragnarok spoken of on Mystara! The bell has rang & the darkness has plunged from the City of the Gods!



Let's say that events at the end of Wrath of the Immortals went very wrong & something broke with the spell of preservation in the Hallow World. Ragnorok happened! Numerous pieces of ancient City of the Gods technology have been uncovered by the upheavals of land & oceans boil across Mystara. The Elves & Dwarven Immortals walk the land as numerous human champions return to the world from beyond. Humanoid & Giant races hidden in communities have emerged as Drow tribes & champions rise from within as the sun turns the color of sack cloth. The way has been paved by numerous demonic cults and factions over the centuries.
There is betrayal from within the Immortals court & double crosses.



Engines of destruction are seized & these are used across the face of Mystara & entire populations are laided low. There are swaths of wastelands created as the destruction happens on an unprecedented level. This cracks the local space time continuum & the demon lords such as Orcus & Juiblex run ramrod over parts of Mystara.  Orcus leads the faceless hordes of undead across the world. Demogorgon raises wild in the hills as his cults take village after village.


There are rumors and signs that the Egg of Croot and his forces are behind many of these dire events! Once more the enemy of all Blackmoor has made its presence felt in the world and the world buckles & changes under its ministrations! Ancient orders of paladins & knights are needed to root out the horror of the Egg! The ancient Elemental Evil cult iwith its deep and mysterious ties to the Egg from Threshold Issue 11: Thyatis and Alphatia has deep roots wound around the world of Mystara and in this new world are going to be major enemies and evils.

 Just when all seems lost and world of Mystara is going down that final spin into the Abyss 'The Spell of Preservation' cracks and breaks! From numerous tunnels and byways out pours the ancient heroes & peoples to take back what's there's! The Grand Battle Is Joined! Everything changes!
Nothing is ever going to be the same again. The weather patterns have changed, the land itself is weird and very dangerous! Monsters & ancient prehistoric beasts that have not been seen in centuries except in lost corners of Mystara now stalk the land! Here's where the Issue Nine of  the freeThreshold magazine comes into play!


Now given the numerous weird technological relics & odd artifacts that have been whispered about in legend a forbidden tribe of Elves is needed. They alone now the forbidden ways & means of these secret & dangerous things. Their blood is also needed to help revive the Elven race which is almost extinct because of the blood shed and warfare. The name of Blacklore is curse and a forbidden word in numerous households but they alone know the secrets of these legendary artifacts of myth and forbidden legend.

The nasal filter - Male elf, by David Nash

But this is a world of men, cave men, and humanoid races not seen in centuries! Welcome to a world reborn welcome to a world of magic, super science, sorcery, & pulp adventure!
Welcome to Mystara Reborn!

Running A Sword & Sorcery Mystery Campaign As A Viable Old School Setting Option

The legends speak of another world of the past, a world where adventure was just around the corner. That world was a long time ago! Things have changed much, the legends & myths foretold by our ancestors came to pass. Now things are very dangerous for there are monsters that come from the Shadowdeep and worse now! Welcome to Mystara Reborn!

So this little request appeared on G+ today with the following heads up from Brett Slocum, "You might want to read +Eric Fabiaschi's blog. He has a lot of insight into making a setting more Swords & Sorcery-styled" the gentlemen in question's blog post has a good start but let's go in another direction.
but work & real life got in the way but that's another blog post. Let's kick this into epic mythological high gear, the Ragnarok spoken of in numerous places in Mystara happens!



Let's say that events at the end of Wrath of the Immortals went very wrong & something broke with the spell of preservation in the Hallow World. Ragnorok happened! Numerous pieces of ancient City of the Gods technology have been uncovered by the upheavals of land & oceans boil across Mystara. The Elves & Dwarven Immortals walk the land as numerous human champions return to the world from beyond. Humanoid & Giant races hidden in communities have emerged as Drow tribes & champions rise from within as the sun turns the color of sack cloth. The way has been paved by numerous demonic cults and factions over the centuries.
There is betrayal from within the Immortals court & double crosses.



Engines of destruction are seized & these are used across the face of Mystara & entire populations are laided low. There are swaths of wastelands created as the destruction happens on an unprecedented level. This cracks the local space time continuum & the demon lords such as Orcus & Juiblex run ramrod over parts of Mystara.  Orcus leads the faceless hordes of undead across the world. Demogorgon raises wild in the hills as his cults take village after village.


There are rumors and signs that the Egg of Croot and his forces are behind many of these dire events! Once more the enemy of all Blackmoor has made its presence felt in the world and the world buckles & changes under its ministrations! Ancient orders of paladins & knights are needed to root out the horror of the Egg! The ancient Elemental Evil cult iwith its deep and mysterious ties to the Egg from Threshold Issue 11: Thyatis and Alphatia has deep roots wound around the world of Mystara and in this new world are going to be major enemies and evils.

 Just when all seems lost and world of Mystara is going down that final spin into the Abyss 'The Spell of Preservation' cracks and breaks! From numerous tunnels and byways out pours the ancient heroes & peoples to take back what's there's! The Grand Battle Is Joined! Everything changes!
Nothing is ever going to be the same again. The weather patterns have changed, the land itself is weird and very dangerous! Monsters & ancient prehistoric beasts that have not been seen in centuries except in lost corners of Mystara now stalk the land! Here's where the Issue Nine of  the freeThreshold magazine comes into play!


Now given the numerous weird technological relics & odd artifacts that have been whispered about in legend a forbidden tribe of Elves is needed. They alone now the forbidden ways & means of these secret & dangerous things. Their blood is also needed to help revive the Elven race which is almost extinct because of the blood shed and warfare. The name of Blacklore is curse and a forbidden word in numerous households but they alone know the secrets of these legendary artifacts of myth and forbidden legend.

The nasal filter - Male elf, by David Nash

But this is a world of men, cave men, and humanoid races not seen in centuries! Welcome to a world reborn welcome to a world of magic, super science, sorcery, & pulp adventure!
Welcome to Mystara Reborn!

Review & Commentary On the Free OSR Resource - Threshold Magazine Issue #11 for Your Mystara and Old School Campaigns.

I've been wrestling with work and other issues today but had just enough time to check out the latest issue of Threshold magazine issue #11. It so happens that I've been wrestling with the subject of Mystara and Alphatia came up last night. For those of who don't know;

"Alphatia is a continent and empire in TSR's fictional fantasy game setting, Mystara for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. The continent of Alphatia is nearly 2,000,000 square miles (5,000,000 km²) in area and has approximately 7,500,000 inhabitants. The continent of Alphatia is the center of the Alphatian Empire, which is founded on the exploration and exploitation of magic.

Unlike most humans on Mystara, Alphatians are a human race of ancient "alien" origin, having arrived 2,000 years in the past from another world after they destroyed their original homeworld, also called Alphatia (now known as "old" Alphatia), after a war between two factions of wizards devoted to the elements of air and fire respectively. The Alphatian people are the descendants of the faction devoted to air and consist of two sub-races, the pale-skinned, dark-haired "pure" Alphatians and the more common copper-skinned "Cypri" Alphatians."  This issue of Threshold is two hundred and fifty pages of pure sourcebook goodness for these magic wielding conquerors and their rivals Alphatia who clash again in Issue 11 of Threshold Magazine!

GRAB IT RIGHT OVER HERE

This issue starts off with a solid story by Bruce Heard called Once Upon a Time in Ar—Part Six, its a neat little piece which goes into the happenings on the ground of their main characters. If your really a fan of the setting and material its something your going to want to check out. From Alphatia to Calidar by Francesco Defferrari (Sturm) traces down the origins and backgrounds of these two campaign settings by the man who created them whilst contrasting the echoes of this material on the Mystara gaming scene. Spelljamming, portals, and more are laid on the table to combined and trade off these two campaign settings there's some very solid ideas here.
This article includes optional incorporation of these worlds a subject I was both surprised and delighted by.  Next we get this little bit of juicy piece of cartographic slight of hand;"The Atlas of Mystara aims to present a comprehensive set of maps for Mystara, in two flavours: “replica maps”, which faithfully recreate the printed maps as-is; and “updated maps”, which are based on the Atlas’s consistent model of Mystara, and include additions from other sources which include all published products as well as select fan-created works."
Lots of solid stuff here to play around with and get your Mystara DM's hands dirty with.
Here's an example of what we get in this article:
"Blackpoint Citadel — “…the fort of
Blackpoint Citadel … sits opposite from
Karameikos’ Rugalov Keep.” (Dawn of the
Emperors DM’s Sourcebook page 14c)
Blackpoint has a label on the map, but the
symbol next to it is Rugalov Keep across the
border. While it’s possible that the two keeps
are in the same 8 mile hex, this makes the
map unnecessarily complicated. Therefore
the Atlas marks Blackpoint in the hex south
east of Rugalov Keep, where the road meets
it on the Thyatian side of the border. The
population of 1,250 dictates the use of a fort
symbol."
Like I said there's plenty of adventure fodder to play around with in this issue for the Mystara and DM who wants to hook their adventures deep into the history and setting of this campaign world. Then we move on to a very interesting and fun interview. "The idea for this interview with Thorfinn Tait, the master cartographer famous in at least two worlds, Mystara and Calidar, and pillar of the Mystaran community, was introduced in this thread at The Piazza by forum member and Threshold editor Julius Cleaver. The questions were decided by members of the Mystaran community." This interview details the Atlas of Mystara project and some of the efforts of its members, Thorfinn Tait, and their results. There is some damn fine material here if you want to delve deeply into this heady brew of campaign setting.



Next we get into a bit of the Fifth edition background and happenings of the The Elemental Evil in Mystara and this material is worth the price of entry alone there is some very deep background on the doings and goings on of the cult, its works, background,factions,  a metric ton of adventure hooks and more. There is so much material here that it would take a very long time to set this campaign stuff up and use it, much of this background material is stuff you would expect to find in a box set or other professional products. Some of this material dovetails into previously discussed stuff from the Dawn of the Emperors: Thyatis and Alphatia box set. This makes the material easy to use and it lines up with previous issues of Threshold magazine.
Next up is a deep background article about the The Thyatian Language by Giulio Caroletti and it really adds that extra punch to the material here for those players and DM that like that Tolkien level of detail in their settings. Its very well done and there are several adventure hooks sprinkled throughout the text. Then we get a fully functional mini campaign and adventure setting "Thyatian Mini-GazetteeR: THE JUDICATES OF CARYTION by Giulio Caroletti" This is a huge and expansive setting with lots of room for the DM to use and roam as they will with plenty of action hiding below and behind the facade of this setting.
Then we dive into a completely different take on the Forrester PC class and I was really looking for forward to this according to the author; "This article presents a revised forester class, one that allows progression up to 36th level, and adjusts the experience point requirements for the earlier levels. The expanded level progression grants foresters hit point increases from 11th to 36th level, additional general skill slots as they advance, and weapon mastery slots equal to the fighter class. The revision also replaces the forester’s attack rolls and saving throws from the elf class to those of a fighter of equivalent level. The end result is a logically and mechanically balanced forester class; one that is unique from the elf class, yet which falls in line with the other human character classes as presented within the BECMI/RC rules"
I personally like this take on the class and it lines up with BECMI/RC rules and it makes sense.


Then we get a complete adventure setting background to plunk these PC's into with Korro Zal's Thyatian Guild of Foresters. We get history, recruitment, training, details, past, present, and future material for this order and ideas for using these PC adventurers. There is a metric ton of material for PC's to dive into.
Francesco Defferrari (Sturm) gives a swath of information on A short list of the most famous Alphatian
and Thyatian explorers, compiled in AY 2020 by Thiserstian of Alphatia, magician and scholar of the Imperial University.'  There's lots of material here to add in and mix with your players. Francesco Defferrari (Sturm) also gives us the goods on the Lost Civilizations of Thyatis and Alphatia. Use this material carefully because some of this stuff can give away potential secrets, add ons and history for these empires. Alphatian Alphabet by Jacques (Jack) Riesling gives that incredible level of detail for your Mystara adventures when the specter of these empires is needed for an adventure especially when their magic lurks in the adventure foreground and beyond. Hausman Santos and Alexandre de Luna give us even more adventure and campaign fodder with A Gazetteer of Limn.
Warbirds Add-Ons has more options, equipment, and material for your Warbird skyships! There is some great stuff here including more deck plans and maps. 20 Years of History in the Sea of Dawn by Francesco Defferrari (Sturm) is a time line of A timeline of the Isle of Dawn, the
Alatian Islands, Ochalea and the Pearl Islands as detailed in Wrath of the Immortals boxed set, the Poor
Wizard’s Almanacs I, II and III. Again we get that superior level of detail that we've come to expect from Threshold. This is followed by An Atlas of the Isle of Dawn which dovetails nicely with the previous article by the same author.
Sure there's plenty of campaign, adventure background, and more but is there a dungeon here in this issue of Threshold? Yes there is and if you like D&D's Stylvan and Fey races your going to want this issue especially with the level of detail in Koskatep level 9: Krystallac, crystal heart! Its very well done indeed! Time’s Travels rounds out this issue and I can honestly say that this is a real winner in my estimate! Nicely done and with some solidly done articles! Pick this one up!

Review & Commentary On the Free OSR Resource - Threshold Magazine Issue #10 for Your Mystara and Old School Campaigns.

So I decided to take a break from the post apocalyptic wastelands of my imagination and migrate to far more familiar fields of imagination. This was from a conversation last night with friends on the phone in far away places and about some of the options in their B/X Dungeons and Dragons game campaigns. The subject of Elves came up and its a bit of a sour spot with Michael my friend from out West.
He needed PC options and fast for his games and wanted to know if I knew of any quick, dirty, and well done B/X options for his mostly Elven group of players? I at first suggested The White Lady from the Lamentations of the Flame Princess line but even though this was a wonderfully twisted adventure it wasn't what he was looking for. It really did fit the bill for his needs and I'll go into why I think you should download it.
GRAB IT RIGHT HERE
WITH ADDITIONAL MAP SUPPORT





Then it hit me, early in the day I had read through issue number #10 of Threshold magazine. What's in issue number ten; "

"Issue #10 of the Threshold Magazine is available now from the Vaults of Pandius! In this issue you will find alternate elven histories, calendars and holidays; new elven class variants; the future of Canolbarth forest and the secrets of the Stalkbrow Bad Magic Node! In addition; the mysterious Vesper elves of the Hollow Moon; the fourth in depth installment on the Wrymsteeth; the next level of Koskatep, a Norwold adventure and a foray among the pirates of the Savage Coast round out the issue. "

This issue starts off by taking  an alternative look into Elven holidays and what they mean and how they can be applied to campaigns in Mystara. The work is very well done; the article fills in a very narrow issue of fluff and history with a nice quick overview. But why should you care? Well there are two reasons, one this material could be used as background history for a PC as to what a month means that they were born into in Elven culture for background info. and two it could be used to provide fodder for adventures and key times for Elven events. The article "A short treatise on the Elven clans of Mystara, with a history of their migrations" is another piece that adds lots of history and fluff for an alternative take on the Elves of Mystara and gives a good background for dungeon masters to add in that extra dollop of campaign prep and times for adventuring. None of this material contradicts any previous material published in Threshold this includes James Mishler's Blackmoor timeline. That's important if you want to maintain internal campaign consistency. Its all very well done. Next we get into Elf Class Variants and Sub-Classes for BECMI/Rules Cyclopedia D&D and for me this is why I downloaded the pdf. We get background, level limits, reasons, rules and more all done pretty well as a B/X outline. We've got Elven Clerics, Elven Druids, Elven magic users, Elven warriors, mages, thieves, bards, paladins/avengers, and more. Its all very well done and fits the B/X mold pretty solidly. There are several surprises in the mix with this PC material but I'll let you read that. All in all I think that Michael was pleased with the material but we're not done.


The Rise and Fall of the Canolbarth Forest focuses primarily on that adventure campaign location and does a fine job of charting out the history, events, battles, and more that surround that area; we get a full overview of the region and its surroundings. This is a must for those who want to use the material for adventures and campaign flow. This is some very well done stuff with lots of details and ideas that can keep a campaign going for years to come. I love the maps in this article and the material is very well done for an Elven campaign.



For those seeking to situate a campaign in the Canolbarth Forest this is a must for the download alone. The maps, artwork, and history are very well done for the region and I was impressed with the breath and depth of detail in this article.
Next up we get into The Stalkbrow Bad Magic Node which is an extensive article on modifying the module for use with the Alfheim region. I know a thing or two about this module and this was a welcome addition to my DM arsenal of articles. The article states something that I have long suspected in my mind; "This module has some fantastic locations, locations that have stuck in my memory even though it has been many years since I played the game: The Elephants Graveyard, The Devil’s Staircase, Fallen Glory... But it is
unfortunately also a module with some pretty cheesy ideas in it. Trolls crying lakes of
tears, a troll living under a bridge and anything to do with the annoying Gyerians. Then there are some math problem sections which just seem out of place – all in all a very mixed bag. The idea behind this re imagining
is to take the best parts of the module and locate them somewhere in the Known World so the adventure can be more easily used as a one-on-one adventure with one DM and one player."  The article goes into some pretty nice details for modifying and setting up this adventure for use in your own Mystara gaming campaigns.



Then we dive into the Vesperlands Atlas by John Calvin and this is a solid article on using the Mystara moon as an adventure and campaign setting ala the Hollow World and should be of interest for those who love Spelljammer. Seriously there is a ton of potential here for some serious adventuring in this location. You get some amazing adventure resources in this one including this map and all of the regions are detailed in a brief outline with plenty of room for the DM to fill in as needed for campaign use.


Then we crash back into the Savage seas of Mystara with a look at the PIRATES, CORSAIRS &
BUCCANEERS of the setting and its a nice overview with plenty of campaign potential here for adventures, history, PC background and more. Very well done stuff here.
Then we get right into the humanoids of this issue with Whose Who in the Worm's Teeth.  This article follows the; "In the Name of the Dragon adventure published in issue #7 of Threshold and the Who’s Who in the Wyrmsteeth” part 1 and part 2 articles published in issue #8 and #9 of Threshold magazine, which described the dragons of the Wyrmsteeth kingdom and Norwold and the dragons of the Outer and Hollow worlds."
This article describes NPC's, regional politics, and what its like living under the watchful gaze of these dangerous and magnificent creatures. Very interesting stuff indeed.
Next we get into The Skars’ Legacy is a short campaign for low-level PCs, set in the Frothulf Vale area ; and here we're treated to a wide range of material and its pretty solidly done. There is a ton of potential with this section of the magazine for adventures in this area for PC's.
Then we are treated to a full blown level for the on going Mystarian megadungeon of doom; KOSKATEP and there is a ton of good stuff there. Seriously well done and might be worth your attention to track down the other issues detailing this adventure location.



Do I think that this is a challenging level for PC's for a mega dungeon? In a word yes this is an amazing piece of dungeon crawling with an Egyptian style theme and some solidly done tricks, traps, and encounters.

So do I think that Issue #10 of Threshold magazine is worth the download in a word yes, its very well done and free as well as being on of the best produced fanzines that still available on the OSR interwebs.