Aaron Allston was awesome. Also Clyde Caldwell was a great artist.

I started my newest Mystara campaign in the grand duchy. Started off simple enough, hunting bounties in and around the caves of Chaos, getting into a street fight in Specularum, and now they've defeated underlings of the Iron Ring in Threshold, while also fighting something every day because the dice most likely hate the Sidhe gallowglass. But all good must come to an end eventually, because now the party heads north to Ostland, because the king is dead and his crown is missing. Good campaign, can't complain

What do all the Glantrian princes do when they get together? They tell Bargle stories.

I read this in high school, back in the 90s, because my friend wanted to run a campaign here. The campaign never happened and I actually remember nothing about it, sadly.

Wow, one the oldest and coolest dnd settings is based on my own small country's history and I'm just now finding out about it. Thanks for these awesome introduction videos!

@bozidarsavicnt114

2 жыл бұрын

znam buraz to i ja sad gledam, jako je kul

Ah yes, the Gazeeter that I did not get until after I loved the setting.

Mr.Welch I just wanted to let you know that this series and your passion has really gotten me into mystara. I am currently planning my own campaign set in this wonderful setting with admittedly a few tweaks here and there cause my group is a 5e group who all have their own preferences. I just wanted to say thank you for showing us this extremely interesting setting.

@viktord2025

3 жыл бұрын

How's the campaign going?

CURSE YOU BARGLE!!!!!! I yell, shaking my fist. On the plus side, in the 5e game I am running in Karameikos, I get to use Bargle as a recurring villain that they get hints & 2nd hand info about so they can't pin anything on him to the authorities. For some reason I had always thought the blonde on the cover was Duke Stefan's daughter.

The characters on the cover are named in the D&D trading cards... good luck finding those.

I always find easy to compare Mystara with Forgotten Realms comparing Karameikos with Cormyr. One wants your characters to develop, take care of the land and finally prosper and change it. The other is a setting graved in stone, that constrict PCs actions with rules and stupid powerful NPCs that provide what they must do.

Great Vid. Great Gazeteer. We never really used this one though, just because by the time we got it we had this area pretty well hashed out. One of my favorite things about Mystara is the room they leave the DM to make it their own.

I think of the blonde woman with jewellery on the cover as being the daughter of Duke Stefan and the dark haired woman (in armour and with sword and shield) on the left as being that woman who acts as a leader of Luln.

@DolFan316

2 жыл бұрын

I wouldn't mind giving her a pearl necklace 😉

I always thought the blonde on the cover was supposed to be Aleema.

Karameikos was the home region for almost every campaign I ran in Mystara (except the one we did in Ierendi, which was also very fun). So many fond memories of those adventures, and I still have the Gazetteer!

I have to say, Mr Welch, that while I always fondly remembered Mystara from the few AD&D adventures of young adulthood to the novels... watching your videos is bringing the world to life for me like an old friend. I am laughing and waxing nostalgic. Your videos are some of the moist enjoyable ones that I have ever watched. I was only told about your channel today, and I am incredibly greatful for the recommendation. I cannot wait to watch many more. I'm sure many others have said, this, but from one more old gamer.. "Thank you" for keeping the world we all have loved alive for more people to discover and enjoy.

Just got my print on demand copy of this can't wait to get a chance to read this!

If there had been 96 pages, what I'd most like would be more history to explain why Traladara took 1200 years to begin to recover from the Gnoll Horde rather than the more traditional two or three generations for a population to lrecover from a plague or a mass slaughter, and the couple of hundred years for them to largely end a dark age. To me that's just a load of timeline needing filling in, and to explain the cultural changes from the ancient Greek cultural style of the ancient Traldar (as seen in the Hollow World) to the very Slavlike culture of the modern Traldarans. Plus how and when they began settling over by the Savage Coast. I feel there should be some historical relationship, and cultural influence from the Lupins, just because the Tralaldaran forests are such a hotspot for lycanthropes as well as vampires. A good place for young Lupins to win their spurs hunting werewolves, at the least.

@docnecrotic

3 жыл бұрын

Sounds like an interesting project, similar to the revised Atrughin Clans.

@korge1184

2 жыл бұрын

Check out the Vaults of Pandius and grab Threshold #1. Might have some answers.

And the remastering continues? Well that is my guess about this video.

@Mr_Welch

3 жыл бұрын

Yes people ask me to stop announcing that these were remasters and just get on with it.

"We still love Duke Stefan"? Not me. I intend to end Thyatian domination and make the land one where the ordinary people enjoy more power and where a paradigm of conflict with humanoids is replaced with more peaceful relations. We will cooperate with Traladaran noble families in their campaigns to regain power, but we will go beyond that, to make the new system much more of a republic, like medieval Venice or the Hussites. As DM, I am inspired by watching The Last Kingdom to have Duke Stefan die and have a struggle for power involving the most powerful forces in the realm (e.g. Von Hendricks, Stefan's children, local Thyatian nobles, Traladaran nobles, the Iron Ring, guilds, peasant uprisings, etc.). E.g. Baron Von Hendricks will claim that the children of Stefan are, or would be, weak, ineffectual rulers and that he (Von Hendricks) is the one most skilled at leading the humans of the realm against humanoid bandit raids and humanoid invasions from the north, etc..

@viktord2025

3 жыл бұрын

You want the grand duke? You have to get past me first.

@DolFan316

2 жыл бұрын

@@viktord2025 #metoo

@SwordlordRoy

Жыл бұрын

If Darokin's army of Ambassadors can't negotiate a peace with Thar's army, I'm not sure what some upstarts with ideals bigger than their self-preservation instinct can do...but go ahead, you might just surprise everyone...but I'm placing my bets that Darokin and the Five Shires will be posting some long-term contracts for Dwarven Mercenaries before long...

I'm gonna take a wild guess and say your favorite actress is Wynona Rider lol. Great video!

Are you re-doing the Gazeteers? I love your videos. They have rekindled an old love for this amazing setting.

@rolanejo8512

3 жыл бұрын

I ordered the POD a couple of days ago inspired by your videos.

@Mr_Welch

3 жыл бұрын

Yeah since I started the Channel I've upgraded my equipment and I wanted to improve the quality of the earlier videos

@rolanejo8512

3 жыл бұрын

@@Mr_Welch keep 'em coming. They are greatly appreciated.

Id love to see you run this model at some point, i actually started playing a second edition campaign in mystara and just arrived in the dutchy.

11:14 House Atreides is also there? NICE!

Years later the first Dungeons and Dragons movie gave us a dumb-down Mystara setting.

Huh. Guess I am a bit naive since I never had a problem with Specularum and never associated it with anything else. Even now, after the comments in the video, I am only guessing that people think it sounds like speculum. That would have never crossed my mind if I hadn't heard it here. I had several Gazetteers many years ago. This, my Rules Cyclopedia, the first Poor Wizard's Almanac, and the Hollow World book are all that I kept. I threw away my original boxed sets and all my modules. If only time travel was possible...

@DolFan316

2 жыл бұрын

I thought it had something to do with SJWs being offended at the name somehow and getting it cancelled, so you're not alone.

@Braxgar

28 күн бұрын

I was racking my brain to try and figure what word Specularum was close to that would make people laugh, thank you for answering

A fun game I was taking part in was set in Karameikos. Sadly, it fell into hiatus. is it just me or do quite a few games love to kill Duke Stefan?

I like to imagine the Blonde on the Cover is Aleena, who was our first companion in BECMI D&D and whose fate has spawned at least one game on it's own, "Kill Bargle vol 1". If I recall correctly, they do mention that she was related to nobility in the Karameikos region (with a note that the character could be changed if you didn't want that connection.

@jcraigwilliams70

2 жыл бұрын

She is the niece of Baron Haralan, who resurrected her after her encounter with Bargle.

Well, that last comment was throwing a torch into a gasoline covered tinder house! Bargle has yet to do anything against a character of mine and I am already looking forward to my Barbarian/Fighter Racasta ramming a greatsword through that fell wizard. So this is the place where you can get your own pad and lands. Wonder what it would take to invite some fellow Racasta in to bash the monsters and get some Hen in to help get the agriculture going.

Can you imagine a 5E version of this book? It would be a hardcover sourcebook with an adventure not unlike Princes of the Apocalypses. Or may be even an honest to god sandbox!

3:18-3:47 What painting is that from? Is that supposed to be Stephan Karameikos? Looks like a nice work. Thank you BECMI Forever! Long Live King Elmore!!

@Mr_Welch

Ай бұрын

That was a commissioned piece from Rick Hershey for the Mystara players guide. It's the Baron and Bargle. I've repurposed it for other works but that was the origins

eyoo finally setting that is inspired by serbia, im glad that someone has noticed our rich culture and histoy, it would be kinda wierd playing serbia inspired setting when we are all serbs but idk maybe it will be kinda cool, cant wait, great video tho, veliki pozdrav iz srbije

The woman looks like early Kitiara? (from Dragonlance)

Is the Mystara book any closer to being released? Maybe a Kickstarter?

@Mr_Welch

3 жыл бұрын

All wizards has to do is open up the guild. Book is ready. Can't crowdsource it, that's against the rules.

@rolanejo8512

3 жыл бұрын

@@Mr_Welch C'mon Hasbro, this would make money.

3:22 Meh, sometimes breaking omelets is necessary for the making of eggs, yada yada.

Great video! This Gazetteer was my first official entry into Mystara and after reading it, I was hooked like a fat kid with a birthday cake. My copy is VERY worn from years of use, and the map is nearly disintegrating from constant folding and refolding. That really sucks that drive thru RPG doesn’t include the map. Like I said, mine is in sorry shape. I’m embarrassed to ask but, who is these Elaina person? This is the second time I’ve heard you mention her. Sorry to ask, because by the tone of your voice and how you mention her it sounds like there’s a great story behind her. So, any chance you could relate that story, or point me to where I can read about it? Thanks again!

@juancholo7502

3 жыл бұрын

Aleena is a cleric that is introduced in the Red Box Basic D&D set from the 1980s BECMI D&D. In the first part of the players guide/rules is a short "Choose your own adventure" style mini adventure where you go through a small dungeon & it teaches you the basics of RPG gaming/dungeon crawling. In the dungeon you meet the beautiful Lawful cleric Aleena, who joins you on your adventure. The final encounter against Bargle is tragic, leading to a generation of D&D players having a hate on for Bargle.

@johnbalk6091

3 жыл бұрын

@@juancholo7502 Great! Thanks for letting me know! I have most of the original BECMI books, but they're no longer complete sets. That was so long ago that I just didn't realize or remember. Thank you again!

@DolFan316

2 жыл бұрын

@@juancholo7502 Aleena didn't die, dammit! Bargle used a sleep spell on her! (Whispers.) Yeah, a sleep spell... That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

will you consider adding the gazetteer cover characters as NPCs?

@Mr_Welch

3 жыл бұрын

I have repurposed cover characters multiple times in game. They have been heroes and villains and they're not necessarily the same person every single campaign

Is there a 3rd party sourcebook for 5e yet?

@Winterydee

3 жыл бұрын

Currently that I know of, No. However I believe that Mr. Welch is currently working on fixing that. I believe he may even be trying to get it approved by WotC... but I could be totally wrong about that.

@jasonitaliano8631

3 жыл бұрын

It is not open to the DMsGuild and Wizards tries to forget it exists. Mr Welch has put together a rather large Mystara Players Guide for 5e and is just waiting for the Guild to open up

I don't get it. what's so funny about the name specularum?

@ForeverYoungKickboxer

2 жыл бұрын

It's too close to the name of a gynecological instrument

@danacoleman4007

2 жыл бұрын

@@ForeverYoungKickboxer OIC! I wonder which came first. 😆

Call me dumb, but I don't get the Specularum joke.

@ForeverYoungKickboxer

2 жыл бұрын

It's too close to speculum

Specularum? Don't see the joke.

@stephenclements6158

3 жыл бұрын

Look up the word speculum.

1:50 aged badly? Why, in what way? Maybe because I am not a native speaker but I do not understand

@Mr_Welch

2 жыл бұрын

It sounds a lot like speculum

In my ideal world Bargle conquers all of Mystara, even forcing The Master to bend the knee. *MUAHAHAHAHA!!!* 😈

Duke Stefan? Yeah, that's Serbian alright lol

@Mr_Welch

2 жыл бұрын

Byzantine actually. He's not native

@voxlknight2155

2 жыл бұрын

@@Mr_Welch hehe I know. Im Serbian myself, im just commenting on the fact that that is a perfect name for a Serbian ruler. Seriously, like 90% of our historical rulers were called some mixture of "Stefan", "Dushan" and "Lazar".

How many people do you think actually get that joke about Specularum? The name isn't even that close to what you are alluding to, and somehow I doubt it was as big of a joke as you make it seem. I never even would have thought of it before this video, because its so dumb. Its like saying "wall sounds like hall, isn't that funny" No, its not.

@Mr_Welch

Жыл бұрын

According to my friends that worked at TSR it was the female employees that made them change it. I got that story straight from the woman that wrote champions of mystara