Dungeons and Dragons – Mystara
Design Part 5 – The Reference Material
For the conversion of Mystara to 5th Edition Dungeons and Dragons I have pulled together many difference sources. Here is a list of material I am incorporating into my world building and why.
What Material to Use
There are a broad range of material out there now for D&D 5th Edition, but the main issue is what material should I be drawing upon to build my world and make it unique.
The main criteria for using a sourcebook is that I have it available to me either digitally or physically with a preference for both.
- Physical Book – Allow me to have a texture and a smell associated with reading the book that improves memory retention of what I have read.
- Electronic Copy – Allows for easier cross referencing and incorporation of material in my setting.
BECMI
What does it stand for: Beginner, Expert, Companion, Master and Immortal rules for Dungeons and Dragons. Another instance of the use of the number 5 in the setting.
These are the core of the setting, and beloved by a lot of gamers. This features are series of books called Gazetteers, adventure modules and supplements to support the world. I will be incorporating all this material into my world as the foundations. I might not come out the same as everyone remembers, but that is the fun of having a home game. The most used book in this series is the Rules Cyclopedia. The Hollow World Material will feature in this material as well.
The core of the storyline will be the “Wrath of the Immortals” three part adventure, which will be re-written and stretched out over 20 character levels with each level representing one in-game year. The events that occur in the four years of the core story now cover most of that twenty year timeline.
A majority of the material used for the game comes from this set of rules and products: Gazetteers, Adventures and unique rules. The flavour is also set here as it is where the theme of the five spheres, weapons mastery and secret crafts originated from.
Wrath of the Immortals
Set in the Known World region of Brun, it expands out to Alphatia and into the Hollow World. I have changed the basic timeline of the events to have it broken into three sections, AC 1005 to AC 1009 is the build up, AC 1010 to AC 1014 is the Great War, and AC 1015 to AC 1019 is an Escalated War. I have an Introduction section set from AC 1000 to AC 1004 bringing characters to level 5 before interacting with the main campaign storyline.
AD&D 2nd Edition
Dungeons and Dragons was split into two different lines, D&D and AD&D. The “A” represented “Advanced”. The two rules were similar yet very different in play. Basic had races as classes, while Advanced separated characters into racial and class options.
There was a noticeable quality improvement in some of the material as it moved from class is race to races can have classes too. (one of the core differences used to tell D&D and AD&D apart) In my setting these are set after the Wrath of the Immortals storyline so feature in the games future and won’t be used to help build the campaign material. I may pull in elements of Red Steel and the Savage Coast, depending on story needs.
Wizards of the Coast
The new 5th ed rules and adventures will become the rules set and core storylines of the campaign. I am taking apart all the adventures and instead of having them run one game year apart as hinted at in some of the material, to have them all happening at the same time.
This also means that I will be finding regions in Mystara to match up with regions of the forgotten realms (or other places) so the adventures can be based in similar themed areas.
This will make the main sub plots to be weaving through the storyline, each with their own Immortals involved in the planning, progress and conclusion. This is the timeline of the most immortal plots coming to conclusion in the history of the setting, so much upheaval is expected to happen in the pantheons, immortal hierarchies and of course with the world at large.
Adventures
Acquisitions Incorporated
Mystara location – Set in the centre of Darokin or Minrothad, mainly concerned with the Guild building side of things.
Baulders Gate – Descent into Avernus
Mystara location – Set in the centre of Thyatis, Thyatis City itself as the location for Baulder’s Gate in my Mystara.
Candlekeep Mysteries
Mystara location – Set in the Mountains of Thyatis and the Hollow World, this is the source of Candlekeep liked to the Mystarian repository of knowledge the Lighthouse..
Curse of Strahd (Re-Vamped)
Mystara location – Set in the Glantri Principality of Boldavia, the events of this module are linked to the Great School of Magic in Glantri City as well as to the history of the Grand Duchy of Karameikos as the root of the culture that settled in this valley.
Critical Role – Call of the Netherdeep
Mystara location – The starting location is set around the Alphatian Empire and its various kingdoms.
Ghosts of Saltmarsh
Mystara location – The starting location is set around the Ierendi and Minrothad islands.
Icewind Dale – Rime of the Frostmaiden
Mystara location – The starting location is set around the Norwold region’s upper north.
Journel Though the Radiant Citadel
Mystara location – The starting location is set on the Astral Plane with the various adventures available to pop into any region as needed for the storyline.
Out of the Abyss
Mystara location – Set in the Shadowlands between the Outer World and the Hollow World within. Part of the storyline takes them to the Dwarves of Rockhome, the Shadow Elves and the Scattenalfen.
Princes of the Apocalypse
Mystara location – Set in the Northern Reaches nation of Vestland on the border of Ethengar. In these rolling hills is the valley of Red Larch, and the setting for elemental confrontation. I have incorporated each of the organisations into their own Mystarian counterparts.
Strixhaven – A Curriculum of Chaos
Mystara location – The starting location is set as rival schools of Alphatia and Glantri as the Great School of Magic every caster wishes to train at.
Storm King’s Thunder
Mystara location – The starting location is set around the Northern Reaches nation of Soderfjord Jarldoms, and have links into Karameikos, Minrothad, Norwold, Rockhome, Thyatis and Ylaruam.
Tales of the Yawning Portal
Mystara location – The stories are spread through various locations including Atruaghin (Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan), Darokin (Yawning Portal), Glantri (Dead in They), Karameikos (White Plume Mountain), Rockhome (Sunless Citadel, Forge of Fury, Against the Giants), Thunder Rift (Tomb of Horrors).
Tyranny of Dragons
Mystara location – The starting location is set around the Melpheggi swamps of Darokin and the border with the Tiger Clan of the Atruaghin. It then moves into the northern area of Norwold to the north of the Known World region. I have used Darokin City as the scene for Waterdeep and incorporated each of the organisations into their own Mystarian counterparts.
Tomb of Annihilation
Mystara location – The starting location is set around the Isle of Dawn that separates the Empires of Thyatis and Alphatia. This location in the centre of the island is a good reason for it to be
Waterdeep – Dragon heist
Mystara location – The starting location is set around Darokin city in the nation of Darokin.
Waterdeep – Dungeons of the Mad Mage
Mystara location – The starting location is set under Darokin city in the nation of Darokin.
The Wild Beyond the Witchlight
Mystara location – The starting location is set in the Planar Travel section, though it can literally pop up anywhere in the storyline.
Sourcebooks
There books are just region lore which I have also incorporated into the campaign setting as follows.
Eberron – Rising from The last War
Mystara location – The location is set in the nations of the Gnomes, Dwarves and Hidden Kingdoms of the Dragons.
Fizbin’s Treasury of Dragons
Mystara location – The location is set in the nation of the Hidden Kingdoms of the Dragons. The dragon variants are not well known outside of the region with mainly the five colours and gold being the only metallic known to the population besides their being rumours of gemstone dragons.
Guidemaster’s Guide to Ravnica
Mystara location – The location is set in the Alphatian Empire. Has a lot of Guild material I am using for dual element organisations.
Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide
Mystara location – The provides information on guilds, factions and various racial options I have incorporated into the Known World region of Mystara.
Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft
Mystara location – The provides information on I am using in conjuction with Curse of Strahd for Glantri. I also intend to use some of this with the various regions of the Hollow World making them all a version of the Domain of Dread in relation to their quirks and limitations.
Other Wizards of the Coast Products set for 5th Edition.
- Plane Shift – Zendikar – Races
Organisation Conversions
The Harpers
In my version of Mystara I have the Rheddrian’s Investigation Bureau doing the same job as what The Harpers would normally be doing. So I have his agents calling themselves RIB Agents as an optional replacement for references to The Harpers a way of linking to this setting without having to rewrite the existing adventures I have been bringing in.
The Cult Of the Dragon
They are spread wherever there are colonies of dragons. In my version of Mystara I have the Hidden Kingdom of Dragons doing the same job as what The Cult of the Dragon would normally be doing. So I have his agents calling themselves Dragon Agents as an optional replacement for references to The Cult of the Dragon a way of linking to this setting without having to rewrite the existing adventures I have been bringing in.
The emerald Enclave
In my version of Mystara I have the Council of Growth doing the same job as what The Emerald Enclave would normally be doing. So I have his agents calling themselves Growth Agents as an optional replacement for references to The Emerald Enclave a way of linking to this setting without having to rewrite the existing adventures I have been bringing in.
The Lords Alliance
The Lords Alliance is a combination of the Merchant Princes of Darokin and the Merchant Guild Leaders of Minrothad under the understanding that it is best to keep trade open for the interest of both nations. They also serves as the Diplomats of the region, knowing how to seek an arrangement between two parties that is fair, respects their cultural identity and provides an advantage to the Lords Alliance in the long term.
The Order of the Gauntlet
Each of the Paladin Organisations of the setting will be affiliated with the Order of the Gauntlet keeping the base name, but having branches in many of the Pantheons of the setting. They travel as Order of the Gauntlet when not wanting to advertise their political affiliations.
The Red Wizards of Thay
I am using the Red Wizards of Thay in Mystara as agents of the Great School of Magic. They are centralised in the Principalities of Glantri and wander from that region on tasks for the school, the the princes.
The Zhentarim
Each of the Paladin Organisations of the setting will be affiliated with the Order of the Gauntlet keeping the base name, but having branches in many of the Pantheons of the setting. They travel as Order of the Gauntlet when not wanting to advertise their political affiliations.
Other Publishers
AAW Games
I stumbled across these guys on Kickstarter with their Mini-Dungeon Tome and picked it up with their Underworld Races & Classes. With these two books I have an encounter without the need to plan, and I have a wonderful expansion to the underworld. I am waiting on Rise of the Drow book as I have loved their material to date, and like the concept.
While Drow are not officially in the Mystara setting, there are a group of Underground elves that deal with the Entropic (or Fiendish) Immortals and dabble in sentient sacrifice (not really human sacrifice if they also kill other races) and could use this as a base for their culture.
En Publishing
These guys have made a good collection of comman magical items to help pad out my games and make them more interesting.
- Enchanted Trickets – Many Magical Items
Frog God Games
I have played with their Lost Lands setting since they first started releasing material under the Necromancer Games badge and continued to pick up their Pathfinder material and now most of their 5th Edition books.
I intend to make parts of the Lost Lands migrate to Mystara and fill out one of the other continents with their material. This gives me something I can just drop into place for when my players venture that way in the storyline.
- Book of Lost Spells – Spells
- Borderland Provinces – World Building
- Borderland Provinces – Adventures – Specific adventures for the provinces
- Fifth Edition Foes – Monsters
- Rappan Athuk – Locations
Goodman Games
These guys have released two fantastic Mystara supplements that I am taking as is and dropping into my world where they were meant to sit:
– Into the Borderland – Darokin or Karameikos
– Isle of Dread – actually at the Isle of Dread
I know there is more to come, so will add them as they reach my shelves.
- Into the Borderlands – Expansions for Karameikos and Darokin
- The Isle of Dread – Expansion for Thyatian Territories for Isle region
- Expedition to The Barrier Peaks – Rheddrian investiagion items, Broken Lands
- The Lost City – Expansion for Ylaruam
- Castle Amber – Expansion for Glantri, Domain of Dread
Green Ronin
These guys came to PAX AU (and they didn’t learn from the first one and came back) and are the only company I have met in person. I had a great time talking games with Chris and Nichole and they remembered talking with me the year before. This might have contributed to me buying the Critical Role book and the Book of the Righteous. This was a good thing as these books are amazing and have expanded my game world.
They also gave me the idea and push to rework the gods and make sense of them for my setting. (see the Immortals blog entry)
- Tal’Dorei Campign Setting – Classes, Magical Items, Races
- The Book of the Righteous – Classes, Gods, Magical Items, Spells
Kobold Press
The Midgard setting really gives me a lot of inspiration for building up the Norse mythology that already exists in the Northern Reaches section of the Known World region.
And their material on Deep Magic has been used to expand my worlds spellcasters, and they have a new kickstarter hopefully delivering cleaned up material shortly.
The third thing that have done to make my games better is the Tome of Beasts and Creature Codex. I have players to call out monster stats during the game, even though their characters don’t know this information. Less of an issue with this material, but the players in question are a work in progress as I teach them game etiquette. Also I value their friendship so I am happy to work with them on this. (Sometimes it is “I’m a GM in another game syndrome” and they just struggle to switch off as a player)
- Creature Collection – Monsters.
- Deep Magic – Classes and Spells
- Midgard – Heroes Handbook – Classes, Races and Spells
- Midgard – Worldbook – Classes, Spells, Magical Items, Gods, World Building
- Tome of Beasts – Monsters for the game with a Norse theme
- Tome of Beasts 2 – More mosters for the game
- Tome of Beasts 2 – Lairs – Locations to incorporate
Legendary Games
Some of the nicest people in the industry to deal with (though to be honest I have not found bad ones, just those I no longer deal with). They have a range of books for 5th edition that grew out of work for Pathfinder, which is almost like coming back full circle as pathfinder grew out of dungeons and dragons.
So I incorporate their Forest Kingdoms, Pirates and Kingdom material in my campaign designs.
- Forest Kingdom Campaign Compedium – Classes, Downtime, Magical Items
- Pirates Campaign Compendium – Classes, Magical Items
- Ultimate Kingdoms – Classes, Kingdom Management
Rite Publishing
These people have quite a few interesting products that can add to your game. One of those is the ability to play a dragon in the game that plays fair at level.
- In The Company of Dragons – Classes, Races
References by Type
- Known World
- Broken Lands
- Darokin
- Karameikos
- Thyatian Empire
- Ylaruam
- Mystara Expanded
- Alphatian Empire
- Rheddrian Investigations
- Domain of Dread
Classes:
- Deep Magic
- Forest Kingdom Campaign Conpendium
- In The Company of Dragons
- Midgard – Heroes Handbook
- Midgard – Worldbook
- Pirate Campaign Compendium
- Tal’Dorei Campign Setting
- The Book of the Righteous
- Ultimate Kingdoms
Downtime:
Encounters:
Gods:
Locations:
Magical Items:
- Enchanted Trickets
- Forest Kingdom Campaign Compedium
- Midgard – Worldbook
- Pirates Campaign Compendium
- Tal’Dorei Campign Setting
- The Book of the Righteous
Races:
Spells:
- Book of Lost Spells
- Deep Magic
- Forest Kingdom Campaign Conpendium
- Midgard – Heroes Handbook
- Midgard – Worldbook
- Pirate Campaign Compendium
- The Book of the Righteous
World Building:
- Acquisitions Inc
- Borderland Provinces
- Borderland Provinces – Adventures
- Midgard – Worldbook
- Ultimate Kingdoms
Known World – Atruaghin Clans
Known World – Broken Lands
Known World – Darokin
- Acquisitions Inc
- Into the Borderlands
- Tales of the Yawning Portal
- Tyranny of Dragons
- Waterdeep – Dragon Heist
- Waterdeep – Dungeon of the Mad Mage
Known World – Ethengar Khanattes
Known World – Glantri
Known World – Ierendi
Known World – Karameikos
Known World – Minrothad
Known World – Northern Reaches
Known World – Rockhome
Known World – Shadowlands
Known World – Thyatian Empire
Known World – Ylaruam
Mystara Expanded – Alphatian Empire
Mystara Expanded – Norwold Region
Rheddrian Investiagions
Domain of Dread (Ravenloft)
Web Resources
The first place for anyone to stop by is the Vaults of Pandius. They are a fantastic resource for all things Mystara. Not everything is cannon to the setting, but great resources there.
- DnD Wiki – Good Base resouce
- Mystara Players Handbook – A 5E Suppliment by one of the original writers
- Vault of Pandius – Mystara bible of information
Hopefully my blog posts, which I intend to update as I go, will become another good reference. I had a website, but it was become to unwieldy to manage with all the references I needed to keep straight.
Personal Game Notes
I had moved to offline documentation and started creating a series of PDF’s for my players to help organise the games better. These were not working as well as I would like so I have started to move them all over to the blog and expanding things as I go. So far I have:
- Player’s Guide – see Classes Page, Races Page
- Dungeon Masters Guide – see Adeventures Page, Gods Page, Pantheon Page
- Stat Blocks (Monster Manual) – see GM Stat Block
- Downtime – see Downtime Page
- Weapons Mastery – see Weapons Mastery Page
- Secret Crafts – See Secret Crafts Page
- Rewards – See Magical Items Page (Still a work in progress)
- Timeline – See Timeline Page
- Karameikos – See Gazetteer Karameikos
- Glantri – See Gazetteer Glantri
- Darokin – See Gazetteer Darokin
I would have to say that most are still a work in progress and refer to each other at times. And I have brought these back online as part of an in-development blog (this site) to enhance and develop the material in a place players can find things.
A Thank you to Authors on these products
- Aaron Allston – GAZ1 The Grand Duchy of Karameikos, GAZ6 The Dwarves of Rockhome, GAZ Dawn of the Emperors, Hollow World, Wrath of the Immortals
- Jim Bambra – GAZ12 The Golden Khan of Ethengar
- Deborah Christian – GAZ9 The Minrothad Guilds
- William W. Connors – GAZ14 The Atruaghin Clans
- David Cook – B1-9 In Search of Adventure, B6 The Veiled Society
- Kim Eastland – GAZ9 The Minrothad Guilds
- Ed Greenwood – GAZ8 The Five Shires
- Gary Gygax – B1-9 In Search of Adventure, B2 The Keep on the Borderlands, Book of Marvelous Magic
- Scott Haring – GAZ11 The Republic of Darokin
- Bruce Heard – GAZ10 The Orcs of Thar, The Book of Wondrous Inventions
- Tracy and Laura Hickman – B1-9 In Search of Adventure, B7 Rahasia
- Michael Malone – B1-9 In Search of Adventure, B8 Journey to The Rock
- Anne Gray McCready – GAZ4 The Kingdom of Ierendi
- Frank Mentzer – Book of Marvelous Magic
- Tom Moldvay – B1-9 In Search of Adventure, B3 Palace of the Silver Princess
- Douglas Niles – B1-9 In Search of Adventure, B5 Horror on the Hill
- Harry Nuckols – B1-9 In Search of Adventure, B9 Castle Caldwell and Beyond
- Steve Perrin – GAZ5 The Elves of Alfheim
- Ken Rolston – GAZ2 The Emirates of Ylaruam, GAZ7 The Northern Reaches
- Carl Sargent – GAZ13 The Shadow Elves
- Gary Thomas – GAZ13 The Shadow Elves
- Jean Wells – B1-9 In Search of Adventure, B3 Palace of the Silver Princess
Conclusion
I think I have a lot of material to draw upon before I start to look for more, but I will incorporate new ideas as I clean up the exiting concepts. I am enjoying working on the game, and writing these so I will continue while it is still fun.
Content Updates
- 2022-07-28 – Added in Candlekeep Mystries.
- 2022-07-24 – Done some work linking in the published adventures.
- 2021-03-09 – Work on layout and content.
- 2020-04-18 – Restructure and cleanup.
WRATH Design
Setting Design:
Part 1 – Five Elements,
Part 2 – Five Spheres,
Part 3 – Pantheons,
Part 4 – Divine Features,
Part 5 – Reference Material,
Part 6 – Races,
Part 7 – Secret Crafts,
Part 8 – Weapons Mastery,
Part 9 – Setting,
Part 10 – Timeline,
Part 11 – Magical Item,
Part 12 – Classes,
Part 13 – Downtime,
Part 14 – Immortality,
Part 15 – Elemental Aspects,
Part 16 – Immortal Patrons,
Part 17 – New Directions,
Part 18 – Symbols
Kingdom Building:
Part 1 – Mapping
D&D 5E in Mystara
D&D Menu – Adventures, Artefacts, Backgrounds, Classes, Dominions, Downtime, Feats, Gazetteers, Gods, Magical Items, Monsters, Organisations, Pantheons, Races, Ranks & Titles, Rune Magic, Secret Crafts, Settlements, Spells, Timeline, Weapons Mastery
Game Management – Annotated Stat Block, Character Creation, Choosing a New Campaign, Gaming over Skype, GM’s Luck Roll, Tracking Experience
Class Builds –
Artificer – Bombardier (Tinkerkin),
Barbarian – Totem Warrior (Plamin, Camdu),
Bard – College of Valour (Sunfey),
Druid – Circle of Dreams (Woodfey), Circle of the Tree of Life (Seasonfey),
Fighter – Battlemaster (Seashire), Eldritch Knight (Kerendan), Weapons Master (Lani), Weapons Master (Stonebound),
Monk – Way of the Elements (Tidal),
Paladin – Oath of Radiance (Sunfey), Oath of Vengeance (Firechild),
Sorcerer – Wild Magic (Shadowfey),
Warlock – Celestial (Llewell),
Wizard – Bladesinger (Nerye),
Dragon – White (Calcryx).
Multiclass – Cleric/Wizard (Xhall), Rogue/Cleric (Dracnomir), Rogue/Sorcerer (Yodrey), Wizard/Rogue (Traladaran)
Floorplans – Thyatian
Session Recordings – Campaign Journals
Library of Books
B5, d20 System, Pathfinder, SW
This site is constantly under revision, no blog posts are final as this is a work in progress place for me to develop my game settings and rules. Some posts might be placeholders for future content, so feel free to check back later for updated information.
General Links
Basic Links: Who Am I?, Home, Game Tools, Game Session Videos, My Campaigns, My Library, Site Map, Subscription Information
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