04-03-2023, 11:08 AM | #1 |
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Gothenburg, Sweden
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Anyone run a campaign in Mystara?
Thinking about starting a campaign in the Grand Duchy of Karameikos - the Mystara setting for Dungeons & Dragons Rules Cyclopedia. Has anyone thought about this or run such a campaign?
Probably start the campaign at 62 points (thanks Delvers to Grow) for that delicious 1st-level feeling. Anyone have any tips around low-power play?
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“When you arise in the morning think of what a privilege it is to be alive, to think, to enjoy, to love ...” Marcus Aurelius |
04-03-2023, 10:12 PM | #2 |
Join Date: Jun 2022
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Re: Anyone run a campaign in Mystara?
I ran a few Mystara campaigns back in 3e's days, mostly as I have the Gazeteers...
AS for lower powered play, that's not really my forte, but I'd be ready to have enemies flee when below 1/2 HP instead of standing and fighting and make sure you allow for capture of the PCs as a setting default. If you can stress surrender instead of 'fight to the death', combat will go better for you. Also be prepared for the PCs to try to be super cautious and always go for stacking the deck against their foes as hard as they can, it's really the only way they'll survive. |
04-05-2023, 01:03 PM | #3 | |
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Saint Paul, MN
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Re: Anyone run a campaign in Mystara?
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When I design scenarios for relatively low-skill PCs, I always think about keeping the story going regardless of success or failure. Not to say that their actions don't matter, but I'm prepared to handle the story either way. Maybe they want to steal something from a shop. If they succeed, I've got an idea for how things might play out. If they fail, I might have prepped a jail scene and a trial or something like that. Moreover, as with the combat ideas above, I try to set realistic-but-non-lethal stakes. Many challenges are about their reputation or their money or their relationships with NPCs or their interactions with the law rather than life or death every time. |
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04-05-2023, 01:04 PM | #4 |
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Saint Paul, MN
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Re: Anyone run a campaign in Mystara?
Oh, as for Mystara, I dimly recall the old maps and whatnot, but it's been decades since I've interacted with the setting. I don't remember what, if anything, would make it different from a more typical DF setting.
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04-05-2023, 11:48 PM | #5 | |
Join Date: Jun 2022
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Re: Anyone run a campaign in Mystara?
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And it doesn't suffer from the "reboots" and "progress of history" that the Forgotten Realms does (the other well fleshed out prototypical DF setting). |
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04-06-2023, 01:51 PM | #6 |
Join Date: Jan 2006
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Re: Anyone run a campaign in Mystara?
I have mostly run this setting in various flavors of that other game, but there was someone (D'ellorto? Brackin?) who ran a GURPS game there. I seem to recall an ostrich with laser eye beams.
There is an online community for Mystara at http://pandius.com/ that is devoted to Mystara. Amongst other things I think they have hex maps of a lot of Karameikos at a 1 mile per hex scale. Game wise, The Veiled Society is a good starter adventure that should be easy to convert, and Night's Dark Terror is set there and is a partularly fun adventure. |
04-07-2023, 01:52 AM | #7 |
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Gothenburg, Sweden
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Re: Anyone run a campaign in Mystara?
I've found the pandus society and have ordered a compilation of B1-B9, with instructions on how to set them all in Karameikos. And we'll go from there.
__________________
“When you arise in the morning think of what a privilege it is to be alive, to think, to enjoy, to love ...” Marcus Aurelius |
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