Retro RPG review 10: Part 2 - World of Mystara
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 26 ส.ค. 2014
- My coverage of the Dungeons and Dragons 'basic' game continues with this extensive look at the Gazetteer series. The world of Mystara is a wondrous and magical place. Come explore it with me now!
pandius.com/ - เกม
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Honestly, bro... someone needs to be cutting you a check for your research, in-depth and incredible knowledge. This series is a fantastic asset to the D&D/AD&D historical community. Be blessed in all your adventures!
+Mystic-Realm Oh wow! Thank you! I did it for the love of the game, not the money... but I really appreciate the sentiment!!
Its true. In fact i didnt even know this existed. Not even sure it was released in my country
@@captcorajus he got 19k subs, and 2 commercials running before the video will even play, Im pretty sure he is getting cut a check for his work.
mystara, best d&d fantasy setting bar none. that stuff was the best, and imo worth exploring more than the forgotten realms. and i'm not some old grognard dreaming about ages gone by, i'm at the time of this writing, still fairly young, in my early 20's still. i just grew up with some old books out of used book stores and ebay from helpful family members. Never gotten to play them but hours and hours of reading, and several campaigns i wrote and never got to play, really solidified what ttrpgs and fantasy is to me.
My favorite Fantasy World. I love the pure pulp craziness of the Known World (Mystara). Attention spoilers ahead. Flying ships, Byzantines and Romanians in a Fantasy World (Karameikos), Vikings and Mongols in the East and Indian Empire and Native Americans in the West and Arabians in between, bat eared underground elves following a god who was a Nuclear Scientist before cataclysm, Scottish Liches, Spanish Elves, dimension travelling French werewolves and a nation of Atheist wizards who draw their power from the reactor of a crashed space ship and the planet is hollow and there are Aztecs, Egyptians, ancient Egyptians and Dinosaurs living there!.. Holy shit.
D&D trivia . . . The global map of Mystara is based on the Earth after the break up of Pangea.
You're right! I meant to add that!! lol
Are the cultures in the 'correct' places? For example, are the pseudo-Native Americans in North America?
@@goodlookingcorpse Sort of. The Atraughin Clans are a blend of native american and celtic traditions. Brun, the continent that corresponds to N. America is home to almost all the cultures represented in the gazeteers, so they are hardly dominant.
And it maybe the map of late jurassik or early creataceous if my memories are correct.
I have seen these things floating around for years, but never really understood what they were, now that you have properly explained them I kind of wish that I had picked them up. I was always under the impression that OD&D was just about dungeon delving and more gamy than AD&D which was more story driven, but this doesn't appear to be the case at all! Thank you! I now must question all of reality as I understand it.
Well, Wrath of the Immortals came out along with the release of the Rules Cyclopedia. It replaced the Immortals Boxed Set. I will certainly mention it in Part 3, but it may be a while before it gets its own treatment.
So many videos to do, so little time. lol.
I'm mainly a Greyhawk guy, but now i'm really interested in this one too
I own and play in this RPG system. Love all the gazetteer supplements as well.
This is the world I was playing in before newer editions of the game came along and started getting others confused... to me, this is the original world - and the best. I ended up homebrewing to the point that I left this world and what it was about. Too many other players and DMs were getting confused by different editions of the game. People were having heated arguments. People were quitting the game altogether. I myself quit for a few years in the 1990s. Anyway, it's not Mystara's fault. Everything was so perfect in the beginning.
yeah, Mystara was my 'go to' campaign setting for DECADES. :)
Haven't play this series yet. Before i play it, i can imagine how grand the story is. Very expected, thanks for the video 😊🎉❤
I’m so happy I stumbled upon your channel! I have been playing D&D for about 7 years now, and have just recently begun delving into pre-3.5e rules sets, and your videos have me itching to grab a reprint of the rules cyclopedia and start a basic game!
If you haven't stumbled on my other video yet, the RC is now available at the DM's guild for POD.
A Minrothad Sea Elf Merchant Prince of the Minrothad Thieves Guild sailing on a Pirate Ship. Who says you can't multiclass in BECMI!
Mentioning of the crash of the S.S. Beagle, reminds me of a novel called "The Voyage of the Space Beagle" by A E Van Vogt.
Literature: The Voyage of the Space Beagle
The Voyage of the Space Beagle is a Science Fiction novel by A.E. van Vogt. To be more precise, it is actually the compilation of several short stories that van Vogt had written for a magazine years before (including the first two he ever wrote). All the stories had in common the involvement of the Space Beagle, an Earth starship sent to explore new areas of space, encountering ever more fantastic -and dangerous- alien lifeforms along the way.
Although obscure today, the stories were enormously influential; to the point that some of the creatures Vogt invented have been openly imitated, most notably the telepathic, cat-like Coeurl (which became a recurring monster in the Final Fantasy series) and even the xenomorphs from Alien might have been based on Vogt's work (he certainly believed so.)
-- Note: The D&D creature the Displacer Beast, I believe, is based on the Coeurl (an intelligent cat creature with tentacles).
www.icshi.net/worlds/images/large/voyage_pocket_1981_gerrydaly_large.jpg
I think immortals might fit better as a concept than traditional deities in a game setting where a significant focus is placed on characters becoming more and more powerful.
Loved your review. It brings back memories. My brothers and I never played in the Mystara game world, but we did use many of the Gazetteer products for gaming ideas. Especially the Orcs of Thar, it made for powerful badlands that the players were always trying to tame and eventually lead to much stronger creatures that were in charge of the humanoids or power plays between kingdoms. It was great fun.
I miss Dragon Magazine. Those were great RPG years.
There used to be so many interesting and worthwhile magazines related to tabletop gaming. Whenever I see them out in the wild at cons or on the web I buy them immediately.
Hornblower
Horatio horn blower
They're free online now. Its fun taking a nostalgic trip through them.
This has been my favorite setting since I played Isle of Dread in 8th grade. Top tier review man!
A good chunk of these are available as Print On Demand from Drivethru for dirt cheep.
I had no idea how interesting the Gazetteer series was! Thank you so much for making this video!
💕
Back again to watch some classic goodness .
Welcome back!
@@captcorajus
I love your classic reviews & guides , an would love more B/X / B.E.C.M.I. reviews & how to play / rules guides .
It was your video on HeroQuest that made me buy it and now thanks to your other videos, and how much my son liked HeroQuest, I have bought DCC, OSE, vintage AD&D books and plan to take him on many adventures! Thanks !
Oh, that's great!! Glad I could help!
@@captcorajus I’ve gone mad, I also bought a Cyclopia POD (which is the metzner rules?) and for god and glory (as I played 2e back in my day)
This three parter is my favorite series on TH-cam and I watch it every few months just because it gets me excited about gaming. And seeing as we're all locked in for a while, that's a pretty great thing. Also I never noticed how much the known world looks like our world after a few eons.
You just blew my mind, thx, I will search more about this world!
Man, this takes me back.
I was born on 420.
I am the 420th thumbs up.
Principalities of Glantri is the best Gazateer.
A good review of an exceptional setting. Well done!
Good job on the video. It is interesting to hear about this setting as I've never played in it.
Great review. I love the Gazetteers for this setting.
Hollow World was a fun place for me. I got to revisit it through a Spelljammer game many years later.
It's a nice alternative to the underdark. I see it as a kind of more lovecraftian land of the lost type place. Weird fallen cities and races and mad lonely gods etc.
I’m loving those 80s glam shadow elf stylings!
You've really sold this well. I'd especially like to see the Hollow World supplement.
The Heldannic Knights were based on the
Teutonic Order.
Nice recap! I like the Shadow Elves GAZ a lot too.
(FWIW, Jules Verne wrote "Journey to the Center of the Earth," not H.G. Wells.)
Thank you... and....Holy crap! I can't believe I screwed that up. I had several authors in my head when I was doing this.. I can't imagine why I said HG Wells. Grrrr.
I added an annotation. Thanks for the heads up.
The reading took me years. I have the boxed sets and 12 of 14 gazetters
I loved the Gazeteer series; I remember eagerly awaiting the next volume to eventually come out.
I'm commenting halfway through, so you may have already mentioned the following: With a little work, some of the rules in some of the series could even be used with Modern Day D&D/Pathfinder, particularly the Merchant Trade rules first presented in the Minrothad Guilds (I may try it myself sometime, just need to decide if a player gets any experience from getting income from trade, or is just the income itself enough).
Yea buddy! I was just thinking to myself, " I sure would like to see another Captcorajus video about now." Low and behold here it is!
Mark Humphries Wow! Thanks a lot. You'll be happy to know that the final video of this series will be up next week and I'm going to try and get out two next week if I can.
That would be awesome. You would probably have great success also reviewing old modules and giving advice on how to run them using 5E.
Mark Humphries
wow... you're reading my mind. I was thinking of doing just that for the Hollow World Boxed set.
Make a series out of the box sets and modules. I bet your subscription numbers shoot up.
One of the greatest channels about D&D.
Impresive, you totally sell me the world of mystara.
Man, now I definitely understand all the hype about Mystara. This set looks so amazing I'm actually thinking on using it in my Pathfinder adventures! I wish I could play using the original rules, but I think the high mortality rate of that set would spoil my players interest in the game
Actually, 5E is GREAT for Mystara. Please, check out my review on 5E, and how to 'OSR' your game. That might just give you the 'feeling' of old school' with the cool upgrades of new school.
ALSO, drivethru rpg is currently having a bundle sale on the known world. EVERY supplement on PDF for just $14.95!!
www.drivethrurpg.com/product/211032/Known-World-Megabundle-BECMI-BUNDLE?src=salepage
captcorajus Wow! Thanks a lot! I'm definitelly getting that!
My fav D&D setting!
I tumbled on mystara last year.... I will use some of these country in my own next campaign setting (changing a few names of course) but I liked your review. !
I would love to see a review of Old School Essentials when it is out (currently on Kickstarter). It is a beautiful reorganization of the BX rules that will add more in the future.
I'm a backer, so you can bet I will when i get it.
I heard of a Known World supplement which was two maps folded like roadmaps and put cardboard pouches (somewhat thicker than a regular module cover) to resemble how leather maps were stored in the old days. About 5' x 3' when unfolded, and they joined together to show Brun and Skodar side-by-side! They had a particular name or terminology. Bought one but then lost it, I can't remember where I put it.
Mystara trail maps. Yeah... those go for a lot of money on ebay these days.
@@captcorajus Just sold my two mint copies for £110. They are so big you can't really use them practically, and because they were folded don't look great as posters. Plus Mystara is a not very well disguised version of bits of Europe with added countries for demihumans and too derivative for my taste as a grown adult.
Because of your reviews the next large book purchase I will make is castles and crusuades
As you are my favorite reviewer and Mystara is my favorite setting, let me encourage you to pick parts of it and dive deeper.
Your wish is my command. Coming up this weekend: Dawn of the Emperors, and next Saturday: The Orcs of Thar. Over the next several weeks I will be delving deep into the Gazetteer series. I ran a Mystara campaign for years.
@@captcorajus awesome news, and great vid. recently started playing again, a plus side to having plenty of covid-time on my hands. but used to use and love the gazetteer series.
i have a memory of another, that i thought was in the hollow world gazetteer, which introduced biplanes. do you know of this? my mind is a tad fuzzy these days.
@@gringodingo2602 I'm pretty sure you're talking about PC2 Creature Crucible: Top Ballista which introduced the sky Gnomes.
www.drivethrurpg.com/product/16983/PC2-Creature-Crucible-Top-Ballista-Basic?src=also_purchased
@@captcorajus the cover does indeed ring a bell. well done for finding it. i will check it out in the future, along with more of your videos.
I ran an entire campaign based on the information in the Grand Duchy of Karameikos. It was epic, no joke. The Three Heroes were the Immortals Halav, Petra, and Zirchev reborn, destined to fight an army of beastmen (gnolls).
That does sound epic!! I love Kingdom of Karameikos.
@@captcorajus Hey, thanks for the nod. I even started the campaign off with Keep on the Borderlands... the players were attacked by gnolls during their village's spring festival and one of their friends was kidnapped. They had to follow the gnolls' trail back to the Caves of Chaos and explore several of the caves to find clues as to where exactly she was taken. Turns out that the evil wizard that ordered the gnolls to capture the girl was the girl's father. Too bad he was turned into stone by the medusa that the heroes rescued from that same lair! (I've always thought the idea of a medusa turned good would be awesome.) After that, it launched into a quest to find the 12 missing artifacts that Halav, Petra, and Zirchev had left behind when they had ascended into godhood. (I didn't use the term Immortal in my campaign, sorry.) It eventually ended with the assassination of Duke Karameikos and the ascension of his daughter Adriana (?) to the throne, just before a huge gnoll army invaded. Probably the best campaign I've run from start to finish.
I've been enjoying your videos... I'm always fascinated with the history of old school RPGs. I'm actually putting my 5e group through the old Dragonlance modules right now, with some heavy revision. I think Dragonlance had some really good ideas mixed in with a lot of silly ones, so I'm focusing on what I think made DL1 cool: exploring an ancient city that was swallowed up by the earth, and trying to figure out why the "evil empire" has so many troops protecting it. We ended last session with the players being chased through the city by a swarm of soldiers because they had blown their cover. Good times, good times.
Anyway, your channel is making me want to put them through Against the Giants series next, though I'll have to put them through a couple low-level modules to get them up to speed first. Your channel has some good ideas for that as well. Keep up the good work!
@@Seoulwanderer I'm getting to do an abridged version of that. I'm going to run Glacier rift, with the Jarl being mind controlled by Mind Flayers. The players intervene, and discover a map on one of the Mind Flayers that leads to the underdark. The passage is the one that in the module is suppose to be the Jarl's secret escape route. That of course leads to Descent into the Depths of the Earth, but instead of pursing drow, I have them pursuing Ilithids. :)
Have you ever run, "Hail the Heroes"? Its really a great adventure, with lots of culture and flavor of the setting. Its a CD adventure.
@@captcorajus Niiice. I've always loved the look of Illithids, especially since the cover of Dungeon Magazine #25. I've never used them in a campaign, though, strangely. I like your idea of swapping out the drow for illithids, though I might stick with the drow for the Against the Giants campaign and maybe fit the illithids in at some point during a Ravenloft campaign, whenever I get around to that.
My Dragonlance campaign is hugely different from the source material... I have the "Dragon Empire" which at this point is just a fascist empire of mostly humans (I dropped the idea of draconians almost completely), dedicated to controlling the entire world. They're not evil for the sake of being evil, but often do evil things in the pursuit of world conquest. My players came up with some really cool characters to be involved in the story, too, so completely ignoring the original Heroes of the Lance pre-made characters:
- human archaeologist from Palanthus, on an expedition to find the ruins of Xak Tsaroth (his character class is Rogue)
- half-elf cartographer, also from Palanthus (his class is Bard, though his "spells" are more like social skills he can use to manipulate the people around him, when he gets to higher levels, I think I'll find a more arcane way to describe how he gets his abilities)
- elf wizard, from Qualinesti but studying at the Tower of High Sorcery in Palanthus
These three characters are all on the same expedition. The Lord of Palanthus financed part of the expedition, while the head of the Cartographer's Guild financed the rest. The Tower of High Sorcery was also involved because the Cartographer's Guild commissioned a magic item that will allow the PC cartographer to send updated maps back to the guild over a long distance.
These three characters were joined later by:
- a hill dwarf barbarian, whose entire clan was wiped out by the Dragon Army
- an elf cleric, who currently has no powers but feels a strong calling coming from the ruins of Xak Tsaroth
- a gnome inventor, who had been working with the Dragon Army to develop weapons of war until he had a change of heart. (this character is actually a ranger, and his "spells" will be explained as his inventions)
The group was ambushed by the Dragon Army and interrogated. (The Dragon Army would do anything to prevent people from discovering the Tome of Divinity that the god Gilead left in the ruins of Xak Tsaroth so the gods could be rediscovered.) The heroes managed to escape, and this only made them more determined to figure out why the Dragon Army had so many troops protecting some old ruins in the middle of a swamp.
Anyway, sorry for the long ramble!
I had never even heard of Hail the Heroes. I might look into that. For my campaign, I read the gazeteer on Karameikos and then read a lot of Russian folklore to get the flavor. Just looking through the old Gazeteers, I feel like I should return to the Known World at some point. Wondering if the Desert of Desolation series could be dropped into the Emirates of Ylaurum somehow. Hmm...
I always pronounced it - Al (as in You Can Call me Al) - Fay (rhymes with hay) - she -a.
+ColTaylorDyath According to Bruce Heard, who I happened to talk to a while back on his Facebook group, your way is correct. :)
Again another reason to have a grudge against WOTC.
Mystara was my favorite kitchen sink universe and the excuse they gave to us was that was too unrealistic.
Fantasy, too unrealistic? Who I need to punch in the face?
I created my own words and adventures, but I take a lot of stuff from the adventures and modules.
One thing that I missed until Paizo brought back, is the maps and paper pawns.
Always had something funny and interesting, another thing that I loved was the cds with adventures in audio and musics to create a better mood in the games.
Top Ballista was my favorite. A flying city built by gnomes. I wish Wizards would make a Mystara book.
+Redfeild RE LOVED top Ballista!!
+captcorajus You should do a review on it. And since I have your attention I'd like to request you do the entire B series of modules. My top favorites of these were Keep on the Borderland, which you have already done, The lost City, and Palace of the Silver Princes. Fair warning though, many encounters make no since when you look at were they are on the maps. An updated rewrite for 5E would be most welcome but I love these modules as they are, warts and all.
Wow I had no idea.. I've got to go read these now
Adoro Mystara! Muito bom este video
Players always complain I have to get to 9th level Cleric to become a First Level Druid. Yes! However I can start you out 1st level as a Shamani or Shaman from Atrugan.
I dont know how you know all this and how it fits together. You should open an online museum.
Huzzah! top notch information sir.
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed!!
Great video! I came across it via the Mystara Reborn Group on Facebook. Someone else mentioned that Wrath of the Immortals was not mentioned. Will you be doing something on that boxed set later? :)
I was curious about something. I know that the Campcom Dungeons & Dragons beat'em-ups were set in Mystara. So the Dark Warrior boss and the Fiend - the devastating mosnter that villain in "Shadow over Mystara" tries to rouse from its sleep - do they appear in Mystara supplements or ar they original Capcom creations.
Dragon was the best! I loved the Voyage of the Princess Ark.💫
Has anyone ever played the Orc Wars game that comes with Gaz10: The Orcs of Thar?
+ColTaylorDyath Yep.. me! Its a lot of fun!
Orcs of Thar does not have to be a tongue in cheek slap stick adventure either, I have had many campaigns that were based with these rules using PC monsters that were very serious.
The pronunciation on some of the regions' names is... curious :-P
Anyway, GREAT video. Thanks for this.
So since Blackmoore is part of the world of Greyhawk, does that mean Mystara is the planet Oerth 4000 years after some sort of apocalypse?
No, the Greyhawk Blackmoor is a completely different Blackmoor. :)
The Gamma World game-setting must figure in there somewhere.
In the novel WORLD ENOUGH, AND TIME (James Kahn, 1980, first book of a series of 3), a technologically advanced but jaded society modifies themselves genetically to resemble vampires and other monsters of legend. Then there is a cataclysm and they lose the ability to use this technology, but the humans already modified breed true. Possibly that leads to a primitive "fantasy" setting.
So The Blackmoor Empire created advanced tech and basically nuked the world and created magic. Man that's cool
Actually, a spaceship from another galaxy crashlanded in Blackmoor. Blackmoor reverse engineered the tech there, and used it for 100s of years, until a scientist messed with the ships nuclear reactor, and inadvertently blew up the kingdom.
The Immortals couldn't react in time to save Blackmoor, but then did manage to save several species by transporting several cultures to the Hollow World.
So yeah, its epic
Dragon Magazine gave us 2 versions of Rangers and the Emperor of Thyatis can allways send you to Vyalia to learn Forester.
It is debatable which class sucked more in BECMI, the thief or the halfling. TSR usually foisted their painful attempts at humour into BECMI products, Book of Wondrous Inventions, Top Ballista, The Orcs of Thar which is what gave it a game for kiddies vibe to those who were not familiar with it.
You should definitely do more campaign setting reviews! i'd like to see you review planescape and Ravenloft in particular
Well, it is Hallooween, and I've got a Retro Review of the original Ravenloft module in the works. Should be out this week. :)
Hello captcorajus, I've seen your video about Mystara and I liked it a lot :)
I would like to make an adventure in Mystara with the rules of Pathfinder.
My native language is Spanish but I understand written English a lot.
If you could I would like you to guide me through where to start reading to make a campaign in Mystara and what books you recommend me to read to begin with. Also if you know how to do the D & D to Pathfinder conversions, it would help me a lot.
Thank you very much and continue with your reviews that are great :)
I would love to play again even now at age of 44 maybe we should do an online group among us?
Sometimes I wish they wouldn't have named the Known World....it took all the Mystara out of it. :D
Journey to the center of the earth is not by hg wells it is by jules vern !
So basically collecting each level of the soul spheres is like being a Scientologist and moving up the ladder to be clear ?
Cool. This is my very favorite published campaign world. :D Great presentation. Subscribed. :D
Where did you get the giant hex map of Brun at 3:25?
Glad you enjoyed!!! Check out pandius.com/
Our group plays Mystara and I love this video so much. Could you do a followup video on the Red Steel set?
+James 0 Hmmm.. Red Steel, boy is that an obscure bit of D&D lore. I kind of liked it myself, but TSR only made a few supplements and canceled the line. We'll see. I've got a new string of videos I'm getting to put out.
+captcorajus A Red Steel video would be just the coolest thing; you've got yourself a new subscriber!
James 0 That sounds fun.. however, what I've got in the cue for this month is my part 4 on how to play D&D, a castles and crusadesrevisit, a D&D5e review and a G1 to 3 retro.
James 0 But what a great excuse to break out my Red Steel CDs!!
captcorajus Honestly, regardless if you do a Red Steel video, I just want to thank you for making this one. It's a nice long run-down of Mystara's Known World; I've honestly watched it like 4 times over.
Oh, also, if you do decide to make a Red Steel video sometime in the near future, I thought I'd point out that the area in which it takes place was previously described in the adventure module X9 - The Savage Coast. You may have already known this. :)
i still have alot of this stuff....its a shame noone i know wants to play anymore
Loved the thorough review. Just a nitpick, though: "Journey to the Center of the Earth" was written by Jules Verne, not H.G. Wells
lol, yup. :) that's been pointed out in the comments multiple times over the years.
@@captcorajus Yep. Kinda noticed the date of the video after the fact. :P
Any chance of getting a look at Gamma World/Metamorphosis Alpha?
Wow... That would make a great video.... would definitely require at least 3 parts to cover everything. Perhaps eventually, but not anytime within the next month or so I'm afraid.
captcorajus
No worries. Really like what I've seen here. All in good time. No rush.
I agree, the Gazetteers were an excellent, detailed world with tons of history, notable NPCs and mystery to spark many games. The idea of Blackmoor, a technologically advanced time in the past, was awesome, and maybe ties in to the Gamma World game.
The pronunciation of the titles of the Gazetteers was not good. The Emirates of Ylaruam, well you even mispronounced "emirates". We have a country in reality called the United Arab Emirates, and Emirates Airlines. The Soderfjord Jarldoms are pronounced as if j were a "y" sound.
If you're here for correct pronunciations you''re in the wrong place. Yes, yes, I know its pronounced 'Yarl"... 4:23 you might want to check the date, this was a 2014 release.
I always pronounced Alphatia as (all-FAY-sha). I never questioned that until now.
YOU are correct in your pronunciation, I was wrong. :)
Mystara is not remotely like Tolkien, it does however resemble the everything and the kitchen sink approach of the Pathfinder 1e world Golarion.
If I’m starting keep on the borderlands in mystara, where do I go from there of these modules?
Try the Grand Duchy of Karameikos. That's where keep on the borderlands is located
I'm curious if you know where in the timeline the Shadows over Mystara videogame take place and are they referencing Mystara D&D lore with the BBEG Synn or was that just for the videogames?
I'm sorry, I do not.
@@captcorajus no worries man. Was just curious. Thanks for the reply
I've only played a little of that game, but I know Synn is described in the 2nd edition Mystara supplement called "Glantri: Kingdom of Magic." She first appeared after all the world changing events of the Wrath of the Immortals box set, around 1010 AC, I believe. I think she's also mentioned in the Champions of Mystara boxed set and she's definitely in the Poor Wizard's Almanac series of supplements.
@@dereknolin5986 Huh thanks for the knowledge, I was always curious about that.
As a DnD noob, how accurate is the arcade game to Mystara's universe and lore?
The LORE is pretty accurate. The game play is nothing like the game, but it was fun. I have both Mystara games on MAME myself. :)
@@captcorajus I got the Chronicles of Mystara collection on Steam. Love the games. Apparently it was made by the same team who made Dragon's Crown.
@@v.emiltheii-nd.8094 Oh nice! I didn't even know that Steam had made that available. Very cool
@@captcorajus Its been there since 2013, if I remember correctly.
Glantri was nice with a lovely map. The whole radiance/radiation thing sucked balls though. I liked the Emirates of Ylaruam, and the Ierendi one was different and interesting. The rest were badly clichéd, with the possible exception of the Shadow Elves which to me, were more interesting than Drow. Thyatis and Alphatia is a dire copy of the Roman Empire which jars badly with the mediaeval setting of the others. Great cover art by Clyde Caldwell, the man likes a great rack and curvy thighs!
Great review as always I just can't hear you unfortunately
Had you ever played MERP back in the day? Or V&V?
Once or twice. I love Middle Earth, but was less than thrilled with the game system itself.
So...if the nucleus of the spheres is a nuclear reactor and the Great Rain of Fire was a reactor exploding then...the Great Rain of Fire was basically Chernobyl? And the soul crystals are pieces of fuel rods? Or am I being way too literal with this? :P
Nope, that's basically it.. but keep in mind, that the Nucleous of the spheres was modified by the immortals. The FULL story of what the soul crystals are is in the shadow elves book.
I was more into AD&D during this era. One of the things I thought did the series no help was the art - all that Jim Holloway art (which was very cartoony and generally dreadful) and the Clyde Caldwell covers (which always had eyes and smooth gems which looked the same and were always too much of a piece). It often gave me an unfair prejudice of the campaign setting as a whole.
Where do i find these
If I buy castles and crusades can I then buy these gazetteers and build Mystara with the castles and crusades rule set.
+Mark Madrinan9 Absolutely you can, with very little major changes. C&C is essentially a D20 version of AD&D. I did the very same thing myself, and it wasn't hard at all.
+captcorajus , Thanks for your reviews, I really enjoy them and I never played A d and d and was a collector of the boxed sets when I was in middle school, matter of fact, I used o think advanced d and d was a collection of books that came after the immortal set.I never played the immortal set, but enjoyed a lot of basic and expert adventures.There was a psionic supplement from mayfair games for psionic powers, Can I transfer that to castes and crusades as well.
Mark Madrinan9 Probably not without a LOT of work. Psionics isn't part of Mystara anyway.
Journey to the Centre of the Earth by who?
Nice content btw ;)
"Dialetic"? Do you mean dialectic?
Here in Alphantia we don't care about such nitpicking.
Dude, it is not Elephantia. Their is no "N" anywhere in there.
(Al Fat E Ya)
Dude, you are incorrect.. and correct at the same time! That being said, I totally murdered the pronunciation myself. I should probably add a note to the video. lol.. I've actually spoken to Bruce Heard about this as he liked this video, but chastised me for my destruction of some the names. lol.
The correct pronunciation is actually, Al - Fay - shia. The T is silent. Who knew?
I knew. just wish i'd seen this sooner. I was pulling my hair out at how you were completely butchering some of the pronunciations. Set my OCD sky high
Great to see a good review of the setting. Just wish you had mentioned Wrath of the Immortals and the Almanacs that have the continued time line for world events running concurrently with your party's adventures. The day without magic was a fantastic curve ball for my players
Only quibble. Why does he keep pronouncing "The Empire of Alphatia" as "The Empire of Elphantia". It has no "n" in it. It's bizzarre.
In the 6 years since this video was made I have leaned the correct pronunciation. :)
@@captcorajus Yay. Considering how old the was, I didn't really expect a response. I played D&D on this world up to about 1990, and then my group graduated high school and went different directions. I only started looking at DnD stuff again in the last few months as my brother mentioned his kids starting to play.
I can't find "Red Arrow, Black Shield" in your reviews. Have you done that one yet? To me, it's really the definitive Known World adventure module - pre Hollow World (which I never got to play anyway).
@@bskec2177 Up until I the OSR movement happened I'd never really spoken to anyone else who had these modules and supplements for D&D. Now I talk occasionally to Bruce Heard and Frank Mentzer.
The internet is a cool place. :)
@@bskec2177 I haven't review that one yet. Coming up on the D&D review roster is "Palace of the Silver Princess" and "Lost City"
Back before Wizards of the Coast destroyed TSR's fantasy lore.
WOTC hasn't destroyed anything. Its all still there. Perhaps you would have preferred it if TSR went bankrupt and the game fell out of print and faded into obscurity?