I always liked Wrath of the Immortals. I have always bought material for inspiration rather than canon and WotI inspired me. I liked the grand scope of the campaign, spread over the entire known world and six years. I much preferred the relatable immortals in this set as compared to the more conceptual and abstract ideas in the Immortals set. Anything I disliked, I changed, as I have done from the first module I owned, Keep on the Borderlands. I aimed to have the players battling Innocenti, and trapped in a wall of force when the meteor struck Caurenze and buried them deep under the surface of the world - to be a survivor of a direct meteor strike was pretty cool!
Always liked the war itself too, as well as the new rules for Immortals and their magic...the adventures themselves were not very good, though. I mean, seriously....the Principality of Blackhill was certainly the least interesting of all of the principalities
I always considered the timeline to be what would happen if the party didn't do anything. I've DM'd three long campaigns based during this time period. The first one saved the elves. The second failed to save Glantri from the asteroid - but the option was there. And the third one is still in progress. I enjoyed the review - excellent as always
My view is simple: The correct starting point is (shortly) before *any* of the module happen -- its a setting, the modules are a short cut for creating adventures, and none should be seen as inherent cannon. (Setting books and rule expansions likes, like Gazetteers, though technically also optional originally, are different and should probably be called "supplements" instead of "modules.)
Re: reviews. What about reviews of the various Mystara games? Warriors of the Eternal Sun was my entry into DnD and I still love it. Keep up the good work!
I liked the idea of progressing the international and political history of the Known World (which I prefer to call it), because there were a number of enmities and imbalances of power which were likely to lead to wars and changes. I feel like too much was done, and in a world breaking way, especially the imminent death of Magic because of the events of WotI combined with Radiance abuse in Glantri, but parts of it made eminent sense, like a renewed war between Glantri and Alphatia, and Alphatia losing, and like another round of war against the Master of Hule. The Humanoids of the Broken Lands breaking into Glantri makes sense politically, because its internal divisions make for an easier target than Darokin, and because, yes, they have spell casting Wokans, so they could insinuate themselves as another principality. I feel like the Shadow Elf takeover was premature, since they've been preparing very slowly for hundreds of years - they could wait another couple of hundred, but spying and raids could begin, which players could get involved in, and of course I hate the effects, which were basically to destroy both nations. But I absolutely loved tha Almanacs, because of that progressing of the history and the tying of the the Known World together with the daily events, which again, players could get involved with.
For me, it was pretty much the timeline, the feeling that stuff was happening, that the whole world was changing. And then the Almanacs just drove that whole thing onwards. I agree with the video, though, that the Alfheimers gave up too easily.
8:06 I heard that the reincarnation makes the choice in class random in the Path of the Polymath, but is that the case still in 5e Mystara? In OG Mystara there was no race/class separation, so it made sense that when you reincarnated your class was random, as you cannot choose what you reincarnate as. But in 5e there is a separation between class and race. While I see no reason to have the option to choose the race, as this is how the reincarnate spell works. But when I reincarnate, shouldn't I be able to choose which "profession" to go with? Even if it were random, the multiclassing rules still allow one to choose what class levels to take when leveling up.
Alphatia sinking was always a given, especially if you read CM1 Test of the Warlords (1984) carefully, and you found out that the secret name of Alphatia is... wait for it.... spoiler incoming... ATLANTIS. That foreshadowing was almost 10 years in the making... or did everyone else miss that little tid bit? :D
@Eric Saxon Yer not alone! We always play Alphatia like Atlantis, and so they gotta sink. We then have them become part of underwater Mystara (causing their cold wars there instead), along with Alphatia refugees also going into Hollow World (and doing that "survivors from Atlantis" gimmick).
@@SeaOfTides Totally makes sense, and it sounds like a good way of neutralizing their magical power, without turning all of them into junkies. This way, they all have to spend 80%-90% of their power, just keeping the ocean pressure from obliterating their lands, and they can't use their power to keep rolf stomping the rest of the world.
@Eric Saxon That's right! :) They'll be so busy acclimating themselves to underwater life (Water Breathing, Free Action, Speak With Animals, Charm Animals, Sunlight and Fresh Water spells for crops or converting fully to kelp farming, researching magic that works underwater), stopping water from crushing their holdings (Wall of Force), researching ways to resurface their country (would require constructing an artifact, which takes loads of time and effort), and warring with their underwater neighbours that they can't attempt surface world domination. Meanwhile, they're still a threat. They can disrupt navies and shipping and fishing, and they can attack coastal cities with tidal waves and sea creature invasions (like comics version Aquaman's Atlantis). Plus, nobody knows they survived. So their agents can pit nations against each other. And, if anyone DID discover Alphatia survived, they would find directly attacking them with armies neigh impossible. Submerged Alphatia will also be a ticking time bomb, because they will eventually resurface and regain use of their full power. So Thyatis agents have reason to infiltrate and sabotage, to keep that from happening.
Too bad when you start adding things like time travel you can always go back to when that place existed and have those powerful Wizards come along with you and bring them right to the Forgotten Realms that start f****** their s*** up
@@Mr_Welch My point is: you either collect for profitable value or for personal sentiment. I had a friend who once had an immense collection of really rare role-playing books. He then traveled to the big city and got one of his big old suitcases he had filled with books stolen at the trainstation. As for me i used to run campaigns with copies. After testing the stuff for months, would buy the books and place them on the shelf as a fond memory. Maybe it's a generational thing. But there really is a reason and function behind new ways to do things.
any rpg game book for free, including every D&D books, all versions. thetrove.net and yes it has wrath of the immortals. all pdfs. even stuff for your roll20 program.
If they ever do ever bring Mystara into 5e, I really hope they use the pre-Wrath world.
I always liked Wrath of the Immortals.
I have always bought material for inspiration rather than canon and WotI inspired me. I liked the grand scope of the campaign, spread over the entire known world and six years. I much preferred the relatable immortals in this set as compared to the more conceptual and abstract ideas in the Immortals set. Anything I disliked, I changed, as I have done from the first module I owned, Keep on the Borderlands. I aimed to have the players battling Innocenti, and trapped in a wall of force when the meteor struck Caurenze and buried them deep under the surface of the world - to be a survivor of a direct meteor strike was pretty cool!
Always liked the war itself too, as well as the new rules for Immortals and their magic...the adventures themselves were not very good, though.
I mean, seriously....the Principality of Blackhill was certainly the least interesting of all of the principalities
I always considered the timeline to be what would happen if the party didn't do anything. I've DM'd three long campaigns based during this time period. The first one saved the elves. The second failed to save Glantri from the asteroid - but the option was there. And the third one is still in progress.
I enjoyed the review - excellent as always
It's two years later, time for a campaign update
*background noise*... Aaron Allston.
You *now* have my attention.
Also, RIP Aaron Allston.
My view is simple: The correct starting point is (shortly) before *any* of the module happen -- its a setting, the modules are a short cut for creating adventures, and none should be seen as inherent cannon. (Setting books and rule expansions likes, like Gazetteers, though technically also optional originally, are different and should probably be called "supplements" instead of "modules.)
Sounds more like a novel than a campaign setting. Use it as a reference to make changes you might make to your own campaign.
Re: reviews. What about reviews of the various Mystara games? Warriors of the Eternal Sun was my entry into DnD and I still love it. Keep up the good work!
I've never actually played the Mystara video games, save for a map based strategy computer game that was pretty generic.
WotES was awesome!
This takes me back. Thank you so for this. Very gnostic ideas
I liked the idea of progressing the international and political history of the Known World (which I prefer to call it), because there were a number of enmities and imbalances of power which were likely to lead to wars and changes. I feel like too much was done, and in a world breaking way, especially the imminent death of Magic because of the events of WotI combined with Radiance abuse in Glantri, but parts of it made eminent sense, like a renewed war between Glantri and Alphatia, and Alphatia losing, and like another round of war against the Master of Hule. The Humanoids of the Broken Lands breaking into Glantri makes sense politically, because its internal divisions make for an easier target than Darokin, and because, yes, they have spell casting Wokans, so they could insinuate themselves as another principality. I feel like the Shadow Elf takeover was premature, since they've been preparing very slowly for hundreds of years - they could wait another couple of hundred, but spying and raids could begin, which players could get involved in, and of course I hate the effects, which were basically to destroy both nations. But I absolutely loved tha Almanacs, because of that progressing of the history and the tying of the the Known World together with the daily events, which again, players could get involved with.
For me, it was pretty much the timeline, the feeling that stuff was happening, that the whole world was changing. And then the Almanacs just drove that whole thing onwards.
I agree with the video, though, that the Alfheimers gave up too easily.
The Count of Hattias was Thanatos in a mortal identity, and he had been doing that to the Hattians for centuries.
Yeah, I thought he got that wrong. Good catch.
8:06 I heard that the reincarnation makes the choice in class random in the Path of the Polymath, but is that the case still in 5e Mystara?
In OG Mystara there was no race/class separation, so it made sense that when you reincarnated your class was random, as you cannot choose what you reincarnate as.
But in 5e there is a separation between class and race. While I see no reason to have the option to choose the race, as this is how the reincarnate spell works. But when I reincarnate, shouldn't I be able to choose which "profession" to go with? Even if it were random, the multiclassing rules still allow one to choose what class levels to take when leveling up.
The elven immortals were too busy doing their hair and polishing their pointy ears to be bothered.
Alphatia sinking was always a given, especially if you read CM1 Test of the Warlords (1984) carefully, and you found out that the secret name of Alphatia is...
wait for it....
spoiler incoming...
ATLANTIS.
That foreshadowing was almost 10 years in the making... or did everyone else miss that little tid bit? :D
@Eric Saxon
Yer not alone! We always play Alphatia like Atlantis, and so they gotta sink. We then have them become part of underwater Mystara (causing their cold wars there instead), along with Alphatia refugees also going into Hollow World (and doing that "survivors from Atlantis" gimmick).
@@SeaOfTides Totally makes sense, and it sounds like a good way of neutralizing their magical power, without turning all of them into junkies.
This way, they all have to spend 80%-90% of their power, just keeping the ocean pressure from obliterating their lands, and they can't use their power to keep rolf stomping the rest of the world.
@Eric Saxon
That's right! :)
They'll be so busy acclimating themselves to underwater life (Water Breathing, Free Action, Speak With Animals, Charm Animals, Sunlight and Fresh Water spells for crops or converting fully to kelp farming, researching magic that works underwater), stopping water from crushing their holdings (Wall of Force), researching ways to resurface their country (would require constructing an artifact, which takes loads of time and effort), and warring with their underwater neighbours that they can't attempt surface world domination.
Meanwhile, they're still a threat. They can disrupt navies and shipping and fishing, and they can attack coastal cities with tidal waves and sea creature invasions (like comics version Aquaman's Atlantis). Plus, nobody knows they survived. So their agents can pit nations against each other. And, if anyone DID discover Alphatia survived, they would find directly attacking them with armies neigh impossible. Submerged Alphatia will also be a ticking time bomb, because they will eventually resurface and regain use of their full power. So Thyatis agents have reason to infiltrate and sabotage, to keep that from happening.
I dunno if anyone brought this up.
But I got it for free on Drivethru.
WOW Thanks for the info, I I just downloaded it, and its still free.
I remember reading about how to become an Enthropy Immortal, where could it have been?
Orcs of Thar Gazzetteer.
@@bskec2177 thanks!
Mr Welsh, please forgive me, but I think you made a mistake. The Ruler of Hattias, I believe, is an avatar of Thanatos, not Atzanteotl.
You would be correct. I did make a lot of mistakes in these early ones
Thanks for sharing .
Do you have a link to your new classic RPG reviews?
Bryan Davidson I'm working on it. Having some issues with the sound recorder
Cool! Real looking forward to it. :)
Did those classic RPG reviews come out yet?
SeaOfTides if they did come out I’d love a link, though he recently said he’s working on Cyberpunk reviews.
Wow, I should sell mine!
Pretty sure this is now free on drivethrurpg
Oof learning my favorite SW author's responsible for something so divisive and well, railroady. Is pretty sad.
Too bad when you start adding things like time travel you can always go back to when that place existed and have those powerful Wizards come along with you and bring them right to the Forgotten Realms that start f****** their s*** up
I found it at drivethrurpg.
Wtf i got this one on my shelf. It was 100 dollars worth in 2018? Aren't we in the age of internet with free copies everywhere?
Only PDF copies. Hard copies still require some scratch
@@Mr_Welch My point is: you either collect for profitable value or for personal sentiment. I had a friend who once had an immense collection of really rare role-playing books. He then traveled to the big city and got one of his big old suitcases he had filled with books stolen at the trainstation. As for me i used to run campaigns with copies. After testing the stuff for months, would buy the books and place them on the shelf as a fond memory. Maybe it's a generational thing. But there really is a reason and function behind new ways to do things.
any rpg game book for free, including every D&D books, all versions. thetrove.net
and yes it has wrath of the immortals. all pdfs. even stuff for your roll20 program.
Are these legal?
@@wilm3864 I will Make it Legal.
I've said it before, I will say it again...I hated the Adventure. But I liked the lists and "fluff" that came with it .
Yeah; I ignored the events and just used the other info. And we played X4-5 & 10, which did plenty of damage to Mystara already.