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58-651: The Mystara planet also has sub-settings. The older Blackmoor setting was retconned to exist in Mystara's distant past. The Hollow World refers to the inner surface contained within the world of Mystara, similar to the real world legends of the Hollow Earth , while some adventures take place on the Savage Coast , a 2,000 mile long frontier coastline about 2,000 miles to the west of the Known World. By

116-570: A fiction shared universe , Schick and Moldvay named their setting as the "Known World" so it could be expanded upon by other players. Schick then went to work at TSR Hobbies as a designer for D&D and other games. After being promoted to director of the Design Department he brought Moldvay in to join the company as a game designer, around the time when the D&;D Expert Set was under development. After being told that they could not use

174-539: A major focus of the game. As demand for Blackmoor increased, Arneson fielded out refereeing duties to other players in his local circle. In the summer of 1972, Arneson famously wrote an article detailing "Facts about Black Moor" for Domesday Book #13, which brought his innovations to the attention of the rest of the Castle & Crusade Society . That fall, Arneson demonstrated the game for Gygax, and work on Dungeons & Dragons commenced. As rule development proceeded,

232-625: A parallel dimension who, like brownies or gremlins , bring good or bad luck to people. An example of a noteworthy halfling character featured in a series of novels based on the Forgotten Realms , a D&D campaign setting, is Regis, a halfling rogue member of the Companions of the Hall led by Drizzt Do'Urden . While he behaves in the stereotypical manner of Tolkien's hobbits, Bricken from io9 noted that Regis "set himself apart

290-644: A party of adventurers into Mystara's past to visit Blackmoor. The first of these, DA1 Adventures in Blackmoor , described in general the geography and politics of Blackmoor and the means by which the characters travel there. DA2 Temple of the Frog expanded the scenario that had appeared in the original Blackmoor supplement. DA3 City of the Gods explored the starship crashed near the Kingdom of Blackmoor, from which

348-600: A series of Gazetteers , many of which originally referred to the setting as "The D&D Game World". The first published use of the name "Mystara" came in 1991 from Bruce Heard in the Letters section of his Voyage of the Princess Ark series in Dragon magazine. While the name was used in official publications after this, it was not until the conversion to AD&D 2nd Edition in 1994 that products were produced under

406-454: A supplement Savage Coast: Orc's Head , and a Monstrous Compendium Appendix. Even though most of the Known World civilizations historically originated from this part of the planet, it did not see much development while the Mystara product line was still in production. The only major appearance of the continent was in Dragon magazine, where parts of it were sketched out during the Voyage of

464-490: A village priest, and then Bishop of Blackmoor. Others chose early in the campaign to side with the forces of evil, such as a wizard played by John Soukup. Early descriptions of the activities of the Blackmoor campaign circulated in a news sheet called the Blackmoor Gazette and Rumormonger . Players became increasingly drawn to the innovative dungeon exploration mechanic that Arneson invented; by 1972, that had become

522-464: Is a moon much like our own, whose phases govern lycanthropy (werewolves, werebears, etc.). Only the Immortals inhabit Matera. They live in a city, Pandius, where they can meet and watch over Mystara. Patera, or Myoshima to its inhabitants, is an invisible moon that cannot be seen from Mystara. Patera's inhabitants have a culture similar to that of medieval Japan. Mystara (like Greyhawk ) incorporated

580-475: Is a rich repository of pre- Dungeons & Dragons material which preserves original rules and campaign events. For example, it contains the entirety of the "Facts about Black Moor" article from Domesday Book #13. It also contains circa-1972 price lists as well as rules dating from the exile of the Blackmoor Bunch to Loch Gloomen in the late Spring of 1972. The 1977 first printing, including its cover,

638-608: Is a word used in Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Northern England for a boy or girl who is not yet fully grown; a youth, an adolescent, and formerly sometimes a boy or young man employed in a junior role in domestic, agricultural, or industrial work. Halflin derives from the Scot word hauflin , which was used before both The Hobbit and Dungeons & Dragons and has the synonyms hobbledehoy and hobby . Haflings are found in some fantasy novels and games . In The Lord of

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696-423: Is in black and white. The cover says "The First Fantasy Campaign Playing Aid" with "Playing Aid" as a subtitle. It shows a large mostly circular picture with trees in the foreground and a fire elemental in the background, below which it says "by Dave Arneson" and "Judges Guild". There is no other verbiage on the cover and the price does not appear on the cover. The back cover has a product list titled "Booty List" with

754-699: The Age of Discovery than the fantasy middle-ages/renaissance tone of the Known World. The Savage Coast is complete with gunpowder ("smokepowder") weaponry. The first published information on the area was the module X9 The Savage Coast for Dungeons & Dragons Expert Set . The region was later expanded in Dungeon magazine issues #6 and 7 (1987) with the adventure "Tortles of the Purple Sage". Two series in Dragon Magazine, "The Princess Ark" and

812-539: The Basic Dungeons & Dragons game. For various reasons, TSR published two different versions of their flagship game line. Over the course of several supplements, the Basic Dungeons & Dragons developed its own campaign setting, referred to at first simply as the Known World and later as Mystara . When the history of Mystara was codified, it was established that Arneson's Blackmoor had existed in

870-491: The Blackmoor setting by placing it in the world's distant past. Blackmoor evolved from a feudal kingdom into a highly advanced civilization, using more and more powerful – and destructive – technology. It ended itself in an apocalyptic explosion so devastating that it changed the climate and geography of the entire planet. Five video games were set in Mystara, spanning three different genres. Dungeons & Dragons: Order of

928-525: The Hollow World , inspired by conceptions like that novelized by Jules Verne . This world is lit by an eternal red sun at the center of Mystara, and serves as a "cultural museum", preserving the societies that have become extinct in the outer world, "based on Native American , Aztec , Viking , and ancient Rome . The existence of the Hollow World is not, in general, known to the inhabitants of

986-1011: The Immortal Vanya; the Atruaghin Clans, which have an Amerindian feel; the nation of Sind, based on the Mughal Empire ; the Northern Reaches Kingdoms of Ostland, Vestland, and the Soderfjord Jarldoms, based on Scandinavia at various periods of history; the Dwarven nation of Rockhome; the elven Kingdom of Alfheim; the Halfling lands of the Five Shires; and the Alphatian Empire, ruled by wizards and other spellcasters. To

1044-557: The "Known World Grimoire", described the Savage Coast in more detail. These articles were partially reprinted in the D&;D game accessory Champions of Mystara (1993). The Savage Coast in 1994 was spun off into a campaign setting for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (2nd Edition). This area was published in its own boxed set entitled Red Steel , and later republished online as the Savage Coast. An expansion, Savage Baronies ,

1102-413: The (fictional) metal cinnabryl is worn in contact with the body. The specifics of the "Red Curse" include mutilation of the body and extreme degeneration of physical and mental health. It also imprisons the region's inhabitants, as debilitating effects result if they leave the cursed area. Savage Coast's swashbuckling flavor is very different from that of the Known World, closer in atmosphere to that of

1160-663: The 4th edition of D&D . There was also an ongoing massively multiplayer role playing game campaign organized by Zeitgeist games, which is similar in form to the Living Campaigns organized by the RPGA . The version of the campaign for D&D 3.5 ended in February 2009 at Megacon . Halfling Halflings are a fictional race found in some fantasy works. They tend to be depicted as physically similar to humans , except about half as tall and not as stocky as

1218-470: The Blackmoor campaign continued, and began coordinating with a parallel campaign known as Greyhawk run out of Lake Geneva by Gygax and his circle. After the publication of Dungeons & Dragons , the Blackmoor campaign continued, but as a number of key participants (including Arneson) left Minneapolis to work in Lake Geneva, play of the campaign grew more sporadic. The original Blackmoor product

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1276-538: The Blackmoor campaign, from Magic Swords (1971) up to the Blackmoor dungeons Arneson commonly ran at conventions in 1976. Only a relatively small amount of original material, primarily link text, was written specifically for the First Fantasy Campaign , though all maps and some connected illustrations were redrawn and relettered by the Judges Guild's Bob Bledsaw . Thus, the First Fantasy Campaign

1334-559: The Blackmoor campaign. Other than the "Temple of the Frog", Blackmoor did not include any information on the Blackmoor setting itself. Written by Dave Arneson and published by Judges Guild in 1977, The First Fantasy Campaign added information on the actual Blackmoor campaign setting. It included baronies, citadels, history of leaders and details on the Blackmoor dungeon. It also contained additional rules for creating lairs, character interests and vocations. The First Fantasy Campaign anthologizes material produced at various stages of

1392-592: The Griffon ( TurboGrafx-16 , 1992) and Dungeons & Dragons: Warriors of the Eternal Sun ( Sega Genesis , 1992) are role-playing video games . Fantasy Empires (PC, 1993) is a strategy game. The plots and development teams of these games are unrelated. Dungeons & Dragons: Tower of Doom (1993) and its sequel Dungeons & Dragons: Shadow over Mystara (1996) are two arcade beat 'em up with minimal role-playing elements. These two games are among

1450-740: The Immortals , an epic adventure which described a massive war involving both heaven and earth, climaxes with the discovery of the preserved control room from the starship that had crashed near Blackmoor millennia ago. After the Basic D&;D game and its Mystara setting were discontinued, Zeitgeist Games, where Arneson worked prior to his death, produced an updated d20 System version of Blackmoor titled Dave Arneson's Blackmoor Campaign Setting , published by Goodman Games in 2004. Goodman and Zeitgeist also produced Blackmoor adventure modules. In 2009 Code Monkey Publishing released Dave Arneson's Blackmoor: The First Campaign , an updated campaign guide for

1508-464: The Mystara title with the official Mystara logo. Each part of the D&;D Gazetteer series treats one nation or empire and has three basic elements: cultural and geographic background, features, and adventures. The cultural and geographic campaign background section offers a brief history and timeline for each nation; basic geography, climate, and ecology; and, fundamental social and political concepts of

1566-426: The Princess Ark series, by Known World Product Manager Bruce Heard . Many Mystara fans have been turning their attention to Davania with fan-made material in recent years. Very little was officially developed for this part of Mystara. Since the Mystara product line was discontinued, fans have created their material for this part of Mystara. Mystara is a hollow planet, with a habitable surface on its interior called

1624-636: The Rings , J. R. R. Tolkien occasionally used the term "halfling" to describe hobbits, since they are beings that are half the height of men. For instance, when the hobbit Pippin Took appears in a royal guard's uniform in Minas Tirith , the people of that city call him the "Prince of Halflings". The term has since been used in other fiction works as an alternate name for hobbit-like peoples inspired by Tolkien's legendarium . Halflings have long been one of

1682-492: The centerpiece of the game, and the various players attached to it (Greg Svenson, David Megarry , Dan Nicholson, Duane Jenkins ), initially represented the forces of good. Duane Jenkins, for example, ruled the Northern Marches, first as a bandit chief, later promoted to Baron as Sir Jenkins. As the game progressed, more of Arneson's Napoleonics players joined in increasingly diverse roles. Mike Carr, for example, became

1740-402: The co-creator of Dungeons & Dragons , as an early testing ground for what would become D&D . Blackmoor began as a development of David Wesely 's " Braunstein " games following Duane Jenkins' Brownstone (Old West) variant and Arneson's own wargaming sessions, into which he had begun to introduce fantasy elements. Initially inspired by Conan novels and gothic horror, Arneson expanded

1798-563: The distant Northwest of the "Known World", across the Great Waste, lies the mysterious lands of Hule, ruled by Hosadus, also known as "The Master". Also on the periphery of the Known World are the Kingdoms of Wendar and Denagoth, the first an elven-dominated nation and the latter a mountainous and dark realm of evil, with ill-intentions towards Wendar. The Adri Varma lies between Sind, Wendar, the Great Waste, and The Black Mountains, forming

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1856-477: The early 1980s, but Blackmoor remained a part of D&D lore and was referred to in many later supplements. In a subsequent re-release of the world of Greyhawk for the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons game, an arctic region of mysterious black ice in the northwestern area of the map was called Blackmoor . However, Arneson's Blackmoor became integral to a different setting and rules system, those of

1914-516: The existing Greyhawk setting, as it was being reserved for only Advanced Dungeons & Dragons products, Schick and Moldvay got approval to instead use their "Known World" as the standard D&D campaign setting. Schick and Moldvay's "Known World" was used as a semi-generic setting in early adventure modules , first mentioned in Module X1, The Isle of Dread . It was then expanded upon in various D&D modules and sources, particularly

1972-631: The far northern reaches of the Great Kingdom, and it was there that he began to stage medieval games that led up to the Blackmoor setting. An announcement in Arneson's fanzine Corner of the Table describes the first game in the campaign, one built on the model of Dave Wesely 's " Braunstein " series of games: There will be a medieval "Braunstein" April 17, 1971, at the home of Dave Arneson from 1300 hrs to 2400 hrs with refreshments being available on

2030-476: The few D&D video games developed by a Japanese company, in this case by Capcom . These rulebooks are designed for the BECMI edition of Basic D&D by Frank Mentzer . Blackmoor (campaign setting) Blackmoor is a fantasy role-playing game campaign setting generally associated with the game Dungeons & Dragons . It originated in the early 1970s as the personal setting of Dave Arneson ,

2088-432: The fictional halfling race are often depicted as similar to humans except about half as tall, and are not quite as stocky as the similarly sized dwarves . Similar to the depiction of hobbits in the works of J. R. R. Tolkien , which are sometimes called halflings, they have slightly pointed ears , their feet are covered with curly hair with leathery soles, and they tend to be portrayed as stealthy and lucky. Halfling

2146-518: The film The Black Room , as inspiration for Blackmoor as it was aired twice before the first game, and it was mentioned by Dave Arneson as a film he was possibly watching while reading Conan. The origins of the Blackmoor setting lie in the Castle & Crusade Society , a subgroup of the International Federation of Wargaming specializing in medieval miniatures combat; the group was initially driven by Gary Gygax . Dave Arneson

2204-552: The future 3rd edition of Mystara, and Wizards of the Coast support was discontinued by the time the game's third edition was released in 2000. Mystara originated as a fantasy world developed by Lawrence Schick and Tom Moldvay for their own Dungeons & Dragons game sessions from 1974 to 1976. Their original setting consisted of a large continent with fictionalized nations that were based on real-world historical cultures. Inspired by author H. P. Lovecraft and his work in creating

2262-494: The highest number being 35 and "New Non-Sub Items" listing product numbers 36–39. It comes with the first printing of the First Fantasy Campaign Maps. This book consists of 92 numbered pages plus the cover, inside cover, back cover and table of contents for a total of 96 total pages. The dark red cover was used for the reformatted later printings that used a smaller font and fewer pages. Arneson left TSR in

2320-525: The mid-1990s, gamers' attention started to shift towards the second edition of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons and its official campaigns. Some Mystara adventures for AD&D were published between 1994 and 1996. Eventually, official support of the Mystara setting was transitioned to the Official Fan Site system wherein the Vaults of Pandius fansite was selected to become the official site for

2378-715: The module X1, " The Isle of Dread ," plus Norwold, the Isle of Dawn, and (pre Wrath of the Immortals ) Alphatia. As the name implies, the "Known World" covers the most notable nations of Mystara, the ones most commonly used in Mystara-based campaigns and featured in fiction. It includes the Thyatian Empire, which could be compared to the Byzantine Empire ; the Grand Duchy of Karameikos (which includes

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2436-553: The northern border of Glantri and defining the northwestern limits of the region. Mystara includes the Savage Coast, a coastal area located in the south-central part of the Brun continent, to the south and west of Hule. The area is a 2000-mile frontier coastline about 2000 miles west of the Known World. This part of Mystara is affected by the Red Curse. This sinister enchantment eventually kills its inhabitants through mutation unless

2494-449: The officially published material, the Known World concentrated on the eastern portion of Brun along with the islands of the Sea of Dawn. Nations of the Known World display a great range of government types. Some countries are populated entirely by demihumans and/or humanoids. By standard convention, the boundaries of the "Known World" are those covered in the world map as initially published in

2552-470: The officially published material, the Known World concentrated on the eastern portion of Brun and the lands of the Sea of Dawn. The continents of Mystara were designed to be similar in appearance to the continents of Laurasia and Gondwana on Earth approximately 135 million years ago. In addition to human races, several archetypal fantasy races were included on Mystara: these include elves , dwarves , halflings , orcs, and dragons . Nations created for

2610-409: The outer world. The poles are actually huge, subtly curving holes that allow passage between the outer and inner world, although it is a long, hard trek through a cold, unlit, stormy and anti-magic area. The curvature of the holes is so subtle that explorers from either surface do not notice the transition until after it is already made, causing quite a shock for most. Two moons orbit the planet. Matera

2668-469: The playable humanoid races in Dungeons & Dragons (D&D), starting with the original 1974 Men & Magic, where the term hobbit was used. Later editions of the original D&D box set began using the name halfling as an alternative to hobbit for legal reasons. Besides licensed D&D novels, halfling characters have appeared in various tabletop and video games. Some fantasy stories use

2726-483: The region. Each Gazetteer also offers a list of scenario ideas appropriate to the campaign setting. Trenton Webb for the British Arcane RPG magazine described Mystara as "a traditional Tolkienesque world". Three principal land masses are described on Mystara's outer surface: the continent of Brun, the continent of Skothar, the continent of Davania, and the island continent of Alphatia (up to AC 1010). In

2784-537: The setting around the eponymous town, castle, and multi-level dungeon using ideas borrowed from The Lord of the Rings and Dark Shadows and made use of the Fantasy Supplement rules from the Chainmail game. Blackmoor was a campaign centered on individual player characters capable of continuing progressions, which encouraged cooperative play to succeed. D. H. Boggs suggested a possible influence of

2842-445: The setting's intentional anachronisms derived. DA4 The Duchy of Ten dealt with a horde of invading barbarians, but was the only work not derived from Dave Arneson's original campaign notes. A fifth installment, DA5 City of Blackmoor , was announced but was never written or published. There were no further direct explorations of Blackmoor, although later Mystara products continued to make reference to it. For instance, The Wrath of

2900-563: The similarly sized dwarves . Halflings are often depicted as having slightly pointed ears along with leathery-soled feet which are covered with curly hair. They tend to be portrayed as stealthy and lucky. The term is derived for the word used in Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Northern England for a child who is not yet fully grown. Halflings are found in many fantasy novels and games , including as an alternative term for hobbits in J. R. R. Tolkien 's Middle-earth and as playable humanoid races in Dungeons & Dragons . The members of

2958-548: The term halfling to describe a person born of a human parent and a parent of another race, often a female human and a male elf . Terry Brooks describes characters such as Shea Ohmsford from his Shannara series as a halfling of elf–human parentage. In Jack Vance 's Lyonesse series of novels, "halfling" is a generic term for beings such as fairies , trolls and ogres , who are composed of both magical and earthly substances. In Clifford D. Simak 's 1959 short story "No Life of Their Own", halflings are invisible beings in

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3016-748: The town of Threshold, the default setting of many classic D&D adventures); the Principalities of Glantri, ruled by wizard-princes; the Ethengar Khanate , a Mongol -like society; the merchant-run Republic of Darokin, which is based loosely on the mercantile states of medieval Italy; the Emirates of Ylaruam; the Heldannic Territories, ruled by an order of religious knights similar to the Teutonic Order devoted to

3074-563: The usual basis. ... It will feature mythical creatures and a Poker game under the Troll's bridge between sunup and sundown. The next issue of Corner of the Table promised "the start of the 'Black Moors' battle reports, a series dealing with the perils of living in Medieval Europe". Initially, The Northern Marches was set up to be an ongoing multiplayer wargame, with the potential for Braunstein games. The Barony of Blackmoor formed

3132-662: The world of Mystara include the Thyatian Empire , the Grand Duchy of Karameikos, the Principalities of Glantri , the merchant-run Republic of Darokin, the Emirates of Ylaruam, the Dwarven nation of Rockhome, the Elven Kingdom of Alfheim, Halfling lands of the Five Shires, and the chaotic Alphatian Empire. The most commonly known land mass on Mystara's outer surface is only a tiny portion of Brun. In

3190-468: The world's distant past, achieved a technologically advanced civilization, and then destroyed itself in a global catastrophe that shifted the planet's axis. Its influence was now central to at least one of TSR's published worlds, but the actual setting of Blackmoor as Arneson described it had yet to be presented. This was finally remedied in the mid-1980s through the DA series of adventure modules , which carried

3248-573: Was among the first to join the Society in April 1970, and many other members of his Twin Cities gaming group followed, including Duane Jenkins, Bill Hoyt, Ed Werncke, Mike Carr , and Marshall Hoegfeldt. Within months, the leadership of the Society had decided to form a fictional "Great Kingdom", with parcels of land awarded to and contested by members of the organization. Arneson assumed responsibility for

3306-460: Was published by Tactical Studies Rules (TSR) in 1975, as the second supplement to D&D (the first being Greyhawk ). The booklet was named for the original role-playing campaign world by Dave Arneson, who also wrote this booklet. It added rules, monsters, treasure, and the first published role-playing game adventure, the "Temple of the Frog", a scenario from the Loch Gloomen section of

3364-474: Was released the following year. These supplements were for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd edition , as all the previous material had been for the "Classic" version of D&D . In 1996, the setting was revised and re-released under the AD&;D: Odyssey line as three fully online products available for free download. This range included the base Savage Coast Campaign Book by Tim Beach and Bruce Heard ,

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