🎲🐲From Imirrhos to Mystara: The Known World

[@williamconnors1510]

Mystara was so much fun to work on. I only got to do a few projects for the line, but they were among my favorites. Good job on another entertaining and informative video!

[@daddyrolleda1]

Thanks so much! It's always a treat when you comment on my videos. I know it's a long video so you may not have gotten to that point yet but I did name drop you!

[@JeffreyJusticeLosey]

What is the proper pronunciation of Mystara?

[@michaellinke6448]

Wow. Googled Schick while watching this, and he's still active. he was "Principle Narrative Designer" for Baldurs Gate 3!

[@daddyrolleda1]

Yes, he is still involved in the community and has had a rather lengthy career in video games as well as being an author.

[@seanferguson-th6ny]

I Just started collecting the Gazetteers now as reprints as I missed them due to my strict adherence to AD&D and AD&D 2nd Edition. I have to say, the Known World setting is pretty amazing and your video is a great look into what I consider one of the best settings for D&D. Like you I am buying them not to play them outright as is, but because it focuses on emulating real-world histories and cultures I find it has just about everything you need to help with your own world-building. You can simply re-skin some things or use the organization of the Gazetteers to help flesh out your own world. Also, lots of great additional options for classes and character ancestries 9 formerly races) spread out amongst the collection. Great video Martin! \

[@captcorajus]

I love Mystara. The Kzinti is a Star Trek reference too.. from the animated TV series. They ultimately became the Rakasta for the Known World.

[@jackbeefus2848]

They originated in Larry Niven's Known Space series. One of his short stories that featured Kzinti was used in the animated series, which is how they ended up in Start Trek.

[@NefariousKoel]

Yeah, the Kzinti cat people are also a space empire in the Star Trek offshoot wargame Star Fleet Battles which also originated in the '70s.

[@captcorajus]

@@NefariousKoel Yep! Played the heck out of that game!

[@daddyrolleda1]

Thank you all so much for sharing this info! I've watched Star Trek: The Animated Series and also now remember them showing up in other Star Trek media, but just totally didn't remember the name or make the connection. So cool of Larry Niven to write that story and use them in a Star Trek episode so they could become part of the canon outside of his Known Space stuff!

[@YouTellemFrosk]

@@captcorajusCaptain Courageous in the house! 😊

[@michaelwest4325]

As a Kent State alumni I find it such a small world that these guys with so much impact on the game walked the same campus! I learned this of course from your earlier video! And as someone who graduated Summa Cum Laude in just 8 semesters, I had no time to play! Thanks for another great dive!

[@ryanmichael1298]

I attended The University of Akron for 13 semesters, including some summers, I had plenty of time for D&D.

[@michaelwest4325]

@@ryanmichael1298 studied at the Akron U library and then went to Luigis for pizzaand beer. Go Zips!

[@ryanmichael1298]

@@michaelwest4325 Mitch's Lounge!

[@daddyrolleda1]

Firstly, @michaelwest4325, thank you so much for watching and commenting! What a small world that you went to college there! And, how cool that all these years later, on the Internet, you "met" another fellow gamer from the same area (@ryanmichael1298) so you could reminisce about some of your old haunts together!

[@michaelwest4325]

@@daddyrolleda1 it is indeed a small world. I now live in Las Vegas, the smallest city of 2 million! You are rarely more than one person seperated!

[@sylvarogre5469]

I'm only at about 38 minutes. Calling it the Known World to keep it "open ended" is much funnier considering the later addition of Hollow World with the North & South poles being literally open.

[@daddyrolleda1]

Oh my goodness, I didn't even make that connection! Well done!

[@Nobleshield]

Mystara is really underrated. Lots of great things, the Gazetteers were amazing resources. I wish they'd reprint those as a collection. I loved Karameikos as a setting because not only was it not typical European (the Traladarans were very Slavic in feel) but you had the political stuff between them and the Thayatians. Plus the Cult of Halav.

[@cms910]

Also loved the Princess Ark series and Glantri, would love a deep dive in either.

[@daddyrolleda1]

Well, you are clearly a person of taste and sophistication, just like me! I will add it to the list! And thanks for watching and commenting!

[@randyandrews1980]

Ooo this is a topic I know very little about. I can’t wait to watch!!

[@daddyrolleda1]

Thanks so much for your continued support! I hope you enjoyed the video and it gave you some new information you didn't already have!

[@coachlarry6773]

Two of my favorite modules X4 Master of the Desert Nomads and X5 Temple of Death are located in Mystara. Thanks for another very cool and informative video.

[@shallendor]

they are my 2 favorite BECMI modules!

[@daddyrolleda1]

Yes! I've had them since they came out and remember one of my first attempts at DM'ing was running a friend through X5 (I had it *before* X4 for some reason). I was really captivated by the Tim Truman art and couldn't wait to run it for him. Sadly, I wasn't a very good DM back then and the game didn't last past one session. Thanks for watching and commenting!

[@coachlarry6773]

@@daddyrolleda1 of the two Temple of Death is my favorite. You should DM your Daughters group through those two someday

[@daddyrolleda1]

I will definitely add them to the list, although they are still only 2nd level!

[@coachlarry6773]

@@daddyrolleda1 wow they finished B2 and they are only 2nd level? (I really liked your video on running B2 by the way)

[@autographedcat]

I love Mystara. I used it when I first started learning to DM when I was 12, and I still use it to this day. (Some of the player characters from that original campaign are important NPCs in the world now.) Of course, my Known World is *somewhat* different from the one presented in the Gazateers, because they hadn't been published yet when I started out, and when they did, I only managed to get a couple of them. But it still feels like home when I return to it. :)

[@anon_laughing_man]

Great video. Good history lesson. I never played in the Known World. It is cool hearing how a D&D setting developed. Good times.

[@daddyrolleda1]

Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it, and thank you for watching and commenting!

[@josiahmartin7019]

Always happy to hear more about Moldvay. He contributed an insane amount to the hobby. My girlfriend and I were once able to track down a second photo of him, in a newspaper covering a gaming event he ran in Ohio. Wish there was more info about him available to the public.

[@daddyrolleda1]

It's sad that he died so young, and I think he would be so happy to know the huge positive impact he had on a whole generation of gamers as well as even new gamers coming into the hobby via the OSR, much of which owes its roots to Moldvay B/X! Thanks for watching and commenting!

[@EstebanCantu]

I've been reading the old dragon magazines for the past couple of months and came across your channel. I love it! Thank you for all the awesome work!

[@daddyrolleda1]

I'm so glad you found the channel, and I'm really glad you're enjoying my content. Thanks for letting me know, and thanks for watching!

[@docsavage8640]

Always thought The Known World was a better name but I imagine for trademark purposes they needed Mystara.

[@daddyrolleda1]

Yes, I 100% agree with you! I feel that "The Known World" is more evocative because it specifically indicates that there may be more stuff out there. "Mystara" feels like a term that a marketing team developed. Bill Connors, who was an employee of TSR during that era and wrote at least one of the Gazetteers, confirmed to me exactly what you are saying - they couldn't trademark "The Known World" so they needed to come up with a name. Thanks for watching and commenting!

[@paavohirn3728]

Nice topic! Certainly nostalgic 😀 Congrats on the successful Kickstarter! Looking forward to reading it! The art looks really cool as well!

[@daddyrolleda1]

Thank you so much. I really hope to get the supplement out soon. My designer and I have been having a really difficult time uploading it to DriveThruRPG. It seems like it should be easy, but my designer is a professional with ~30 years of experience and he said he's never seen requirements like theirs before. We keep uploading files and they get rejected for technical reasons, but we're zeroing in on the problems. Thanks for your patience and support!

[@paavohirn3728]

@@daddyrolleda1 Ah. That's too bad. I'm not in a real hurry personally. I'll enjoy it when I get my hands on it.

[@sirellyn]

I love this deep dive. More of this D&D history. It adds a lot of personality to the original authors and helps replicate the good design methods they've used for new creations.

[@daddyrolleda1]

I'm really glad you like it! Make sure to check out my "D&D History" Playlist for more videos like this about rule books, editions, adventures, and concepts: kzbin.info/aero/PLX6jue56rzl0uAZIFwywJXIMXWVULmTqh&si=eyElgGecPf8mE17J

[@ryanmichael1298]

We used that map a lot while playing at The University of Akron in the early 90s.

[@daddyrolleda1]

Oh, how cool! That's awesome you played there and used the original map!

[@ryanmichael1298]

@@daddyrolleda1 I get the vague impression from over 30 years ago that it might have been a copy of a copy.

[@daddyrolleda1]

Ah, I see. Well, still cool either way!

[@christopherjohnson7133]

Hi. My players and I have been using Mystara for over 30 years. Love it.

[@daddyrolleda1]

Hello! Thanks for watching and commenting! I love hearing about peoples' campaigns like this. Are you playing BECMI or have you changed systems/editions over the past ~3 decades?

[@JamesJoy-yc8vs]

I *LOVED* the old TSR micro-games! Especially Saga and Revolt On Anteres, those two were the go-to games for me & my friends if we only had an hour or so to play. I wish I still had them (or that whoever holds their copyrights would re-release them). I remember in Saga how we'd all shout "Tease the witch!" whenever one would show up in a territory. Similarly, in Anteres, our delight in shouting (in unison) "Ward Serpentine and the Berserkers of the Imperial Guard!" no matter which side of the coup d'etat we were playing Ahh, memories . . .

[@daddyrolleda1]

Those are great memories! I remember getting Saga as a gift (once again, from my mom) even though I hadn't asked for it, and really liking the cover art. I played it a couple of times with my sister but I beat her soundly both times and she lost interest so it's sat unplayed now for around 40 years!

[@JamesJoy-yc8vs]

@@daddyrolleda1 aww (psst: you're supposed to let them win the second time, so they think they have a chance 😁) All my early stuff got lost during interstate moves over the past 40 years. AD&D, Car Wars, Toon, so many Ral Partha figures . . . Reminiscing about Saga, I recall we had favorite Jarls, like: "Ah man, I got Beowulf and his stupid flexing pose, I wanted Horsa."

[@daddyrolleda1]

Ha! She was my older sister by 3 years, so I always felt like it was cool if I could beat her at something. If you've watched other videos on my channel, I showed her old character sheet in one of my videos and also the "contract" she signed stating that she would play D&D with me "if she wanted to" at a certain date and time. I feel like the "If I want to" completely negates the contract!

[@goldscarab99]

After I listen to these videos I always think about going into the basement to find which of these things I have buried in my old D&D stuff - good job on the videos

[@daddyrolleda1]

Thank you so much for watching and commenting, and for your support of the channel! If you do venture down to your basement to see what's down there, I hope you share! I'd love to hear about your old gaming collection. Cheers!

[@dmxoan]

Tons of great information in this video man, like always, I am also happy to hear about your project coming to market that is exciting

[@daddyrolleda1]

Thank you so much! I really appreciate it, and thanks for watching and commenting. Cheers!

[@davidbrennan660]

BECMI in its pure form.

[@anthonybird546]

I always preferred the Known World, pre-Gazetteer, pre-Mystara. I appreciate settings that feel more wise open and appreciated them selecting world cultures a little different than the defaults selected.

[@daddyrolleda1]

Agreed! You'll probably notice my position if/when you have a chance to watch the video (I know it's super long), but that said I do also really like the Gazetteers (for grabbing stuff for my own campaign) and "Voyage of the Princess Ark" (for storytelling).

[@anthonybird546]

@@daddyrolleda1 100%! I do appreciate that they do put a lot in there for me to draw off of, but I draw the line at 19th Century Prussians in my Eastern Roman Empire. 🤣 That said I will D I E for the Capcom Mystara beat-'em ups

[@daddyrolleda1]

So funny - I had no idea those Capcom Mystara games existed until this video and a few people mentioned it! I'm not a video gamer so that just completely passed me by!

[@Giantstomp]

This was really interesting thank you.

[@daddyrolleda1]

I'm really glad you enjoyed it! Thank you for watching and commenting, and for your support of the channel!

[@HujraadJohaansen]

Bargle and Specularum for the win!😊

[@SamuraiQuigs]

Bro this is the channel I wanted to make. You made it and I love it! I don't have to now.

[@daddyrolleda1]

Always room for more, but I am glad that you are enjoying the channel. Thanks so much for letting me know. Cheers!

[@zanzatbc]

Your channel is fantastic, I love the way you explain things and you are an incredible source of inspiration for my games. Thank you so much for your work and passion.

[@daddyrolleda1]

I really appreciate you saying that! Thank you very much for this nice compliment and for your support of the channel. Cheers!

[@goheen1701]

Tharks in D&D??? "BARSOOM!!!" How'd I never find out about this?!? It wasn't long after discovering a childhood love of mythology that I was introduced to the World of D&D. Thanks for the deep dive into the origins!

[@daddyrolleda1]

I'm glad you enjoyed it. There's much more history type stuff here!

[@michealbohmer2871]

The greatest fantasy setting of all time.

[@daddyrolleda1]

I'm a fan myself! Thank for watching and commenting!

[@NerdyLiches]

I shared your Kickstarter in every OSR discord I'm in on the 8th. I hope it helped. Love your content.

[@daddyrolleda1]

Oh my goodness, that is so awesome! Thank you so much for your support! In looking back at my data, on the 8th I generated +8.23% higher revenue in pledges versus the day prior, so I suspect you sharing it helped a lot!

[@paavohirn3728]

Wow! Super cool to know the world map is based on that stage of our own world! That's a clever way to get an interesting geographic base to build upon. I think the equivalent map is in the C or M set of BECMI.

[@daddyrolleda1]

I thought that was a neat tidbit of trivia, too! Glad you enjoyed it!

[@paavohirn3728]

@@daddyrolleda1 Sure did!

[@ErokowXiyze]

I’m sooo excited for this video!

[@daddyrolleda1]

I really hope it didn't disappoint!

[@jarrettperdue3328]

"Adults, Age 10 and Up." on the Moldvay box. 😊

[@daddyrolleda1]

I always loved that as a kid. And, I think it's smart marketing. It helps the kids think, "Ooh, I know/play something that adults do!" Thanks for watching and commenting!

[@dvosburg1966]

I don't play basic, but I do respect it. Good for you!

[@daddyrolleda1]

Thanks for watching and commenting! Which edition/version are you playing currently (if at all - I know quite a few of my viewers are folks who aren't currently playing)?

[@paulmiller996]

I like this channel dude

[@daddyrolleda1]

I'm so glad to hear that! Thank you so much for taking a minute to let me know. I really appreciate it. Cheers!

[@Davenofs]

Fantastic. Thanks for sharing all this.

[@zenmaster6780]

You’ve got a great channel going. I appreciate not doing edition wars and politics. Please keep it up!

[@daddyrolleda1]

I'm glad you are enjoying it. Thank you so much for letting me know!

[@gigemruss]

Love your videos. LIKE 👍 them all. Keep it up. Hope you take over KZbin!

[@daddyrolleda1]

Taking over KZbin would be amazing! I think I have a long way to go, though, since I don't do "outrage." 😀 I appreciate your support! Thanks for watching and commenting!

[@NefariousKoel]

Vids on the TSR micro-game(s) would be wonderful! I remember very little about them, it's been so long. I recall having Antares and one or two others but those memories have long gone to the recycling bin in my head.

[@daddyrolleda1]

I will add it to the list of potential future topics. Thanks!

[@jeremydurdil556]

If you love the known world the most, where is all your known world content? I looked but didn’t find much. If Becmi Berserker’s videos ran on cassette tape, I would have worn them out by now. More BECMI please More Mystara please Thanks. Love your stuff. You keep me entertained during long hours of farming grapes. BECMI Forever! Long Live King Elmore!!

[@williamconnors1510]

BTW - we always pronounced it as "MIST-ahra" - not sure if that changed after the buy-out. Sorry...nerdy me.

[@daddyrolleda1]

Not nerdy at all! Thanks for correcting me. It makes sense, since that's closer to "mystery" which is what I assume the name was trying to evoke. I've just pronounced it the other way for so long that it's hard to correct myself now!

[@Giles29]

I always pronounced it like "mystery"

[@autographedcat]

@@daddyrolleda1 I'm not sure there are "correct" pronucniations of these, since you very rarely if ever heard them spoken, only read them in print and you then make your own guess at it. Another YTer (I forget which one) was doing a set of videos on Mystara, and consitantly procounced Darokin as da-RO-kin, which made me flinch everytime it came up. :)

[@ViviBuchlaw]

Is it Brun as in Run or as in Rune?

[@Giles29]

@@ViviBuchlaw I always said that one like "rune" to go with the more mysterious theme of Mystara

[@KabukiKid]

Revolt on Antares was a genuinely good little minigame wargame. Good one maybe even for a reprint today with modern polish.

[@daddyrolleda1]

It's interesting that I think most of those old licenses/trademarks *should* belong to Wizards of the Coast now, unless they decided to let them revert to the original creators. I know that James Ward had the license for Metamorphosis Alpha, but *not* Gamma World, for example. But they *should* technically have a bunch of old licenses they could do things with, but they are just all about Dungeons & Dragons and nothing else these days.

[@anarionelendili8961]

The description of Law leading to stagnation and Chaos needed for change is very Moorcockian. The Eternal Champion of Balance, etc.

[@daddyrolleda1]

Yes, I agree! Lawrence Schick did mention that Tom Moldvay was a big Moorcock fan, so that totally tracks. Thanks for watching and commenting!

[@shellbackbeau7021]

Wish I had heard of this KS a day earlier!

[@daddyrolleda1]

It's okay! After all the backers get their materials, I'll be offering it on DriveThruRPG and I'll send you a link when it's ready! Thanks for your interest!

[@shellbackbeau7021]

@@daddyrolleda1 awesome!

[@HujraadJohaansen]

I still use the Mystara monsters manual for 2e in my 5e HiBRiD game!

[@daddyrolleda1]

Fantastic! I love when people are open to using products across editions and just modifying them as they need!

[@spartaninvirginia]

"dog people" I usually call them kobolds 😂

[@daddyrolleda1]

I always preferred dog-like kobolds versus the lizard-like ones from later editions!

[@chameleondream]

AH-HAH!!! I thought I had heard Imirrhos somewhere before! Revolt on Antares was released in 1981 and was designed by Tom Moldvay, probably at the same time as B/X D&D. It even includes a guest appearance from Black Dougal (who dies from a poison needle trap in the basic book, if I remember right). B/X promised us a third Companion set which if it was anything like the C set from BECMI would have included a mass combat system. I'm thinking that Moldvay did develop one but the Companion set was cancelled and the mass combat system was quickly re-skinned with a Sci-Fi trapping to make it a different game, which makes Revolt on Antares the missing B/X mass combat system. At the very least, this does make Antares the star which Mystara revolves around, which also adds a very strange and eerie element to the world seeing as Antares is a red super giant. The entire place should be bathed in red light.

[@daddyrolleda1]

Lots of really fun connections! Yes, Moldvay designed Revolt on Antares like I mentioned in the video, but I never had that game. I do recall it being advertised a lot! Since you mentioned the promised Companion Set for B/X D&D (instead of the one we got for BECMI), Steve Marsh (who worked with Dave Cook on the B/X Expert Rules) has a Facebook group in which he is sharing ideas for *his* version of the Companion Book, all these years later. Looks like it's going to be really fun! Thanks for watching and commenting!

[@manowarviriathus889]

I could look at older D&D illustrations all day long. So nastaljic

[@NicholsonNeisler-fz3gi]

I thought Mystara was like all the odds and ends of the modules that weren’t in a real setting

[@daddyrolleda1]

It might have seemed that way at the time, but no, it was a planned world that expanded and grew beyond its original designs, just like Greyhawk, Forgotten Realms, etc.!

[@CanadianNavyVeteran]

I have my books since the late 80s, some are pretty beat up. I still use them when I DM even in 5E.

[@daddyrolleda1]

That's great! I used the Gazetteers quite a bit for my 3E/3.5/PF1E campaign (that's technically still going but we're on a long hiatus).

[@wusuosaltchannel4922]

I remember seeing a game adapting Imirrhos into an rpg as we know them; called Uprising on Antares-9. Its free on itchio.

[@daddyrolleda1]

Oh, very cool! Thanks for sharing!

[@johnmagowan6393]

I steal so much from Mystara when I need a nation trope on the fly!

[@johnmagowan6393]

I even have an area I haven't named yet called Tropistan

[@daddyrolleda1]

Tropistan! Love it!

[@spartaninvirginia]

I started D&D in the 3.5 days, so I missed most of the heyday of Mystara. (Curse you, linear time!) But it's quickly become one of my favorite settings. Greyhawk and Eberron round out the other two favorites.

[@lexington476]

The Mr. Welsh channel has done many may videos on Mystara.

[@shallendor]

Mr Welch has also updated some of Mystara to 5E, and released the Players handbook for download!

[@lexington476]

@@shallendor exactly. to say he is passionate about this setting is an understatement.

[@daddyrolleda1]

Yes, for sure! I've watched a lot of his videos on the specific cultures and nations. Really great stuff!

[@keithulhu]

Akron, OH was also the home of Devo and Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders.

[@daddyrolleda1]

I had forgotten about Devo, but someone else pointed it out. I did remember Chrissie Hynde and the Pretenders but didn't mention them because I didn't want the entire bonus content to become a 30 minute segment of me mentioning every band from Ohio! But... I sincerely appreciate you watching through the bonus content! Thank you so much, and cheers to you!

[@keithulhu]

@daddyrolleda1 You're welcome, your videos are fascinating and well done. It's one of the highlights of my week.

[@cragland94]

good vid

[@daddyrolleda1]

Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it!

[@NefariousKoel]

I always thought of Karmeikos as having a rather Slavic inspiration due to a few of the town names in later modules. Since it has some ties to the Byzantine analog, perhaps it was more of a Balkan & southern Slavic inspired place. Since the Balkans were often under the rule or influence of Byzantium in the medieval period and consisted of it's northern frontier.

[@daddyrolleda1]

Totally makes sense. Someone else pointed out the reason Karameikos sounds "Greek" is because its founder was formerly a duke of Thyatis and he basically just turned his territory into a self-governed Grand Duchy, so thematically it still fits the Thyatis Byzantine mold. But your comments on the Slavic/Balkan influences I think are spot-on. Thanks so much for watching and commenting!

[@ljmiller96]

I'm running a game in Mystara based on a couple of classic adventures for b/x.

[@daddyrolleda1]

Fantastic! Which adventures are you using? I ran my daughter and her friends through "most" of B2 (they fled Cave K and didn't return, so there will be consequences!) and thought about trying to figure out how to incorporate B4 but instead moved to U1: Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh, where they are right now.

[@ljmiller96]

@@daddyrolleda1 I started with B6 The Veiled Society, which I ran pretty much straight, had the Grand Duke induct the PCs into his road wardens, gave them a side mission to Shepherds of Pineford (a BFRP adventure), and now they're in B10 Night's Dark Terror. Mystara (we're in Karameikos) has a better set of factions and works better for faction warfare than the Forgotten Realms, at least to me. That's been the theme of the campaign so far.

[@daddyrolleda1]

That sounds like a lot of fun! I used B6 The Veiled Society as the base for m 3E campaign that started way back in May 2001. I changed the names (I placed it in my home campaign, not Mystara) but I really like that adventure.

[@ljmiller96]

@@daddyrolleda1 Professor DM also likes B6 though he emphasizes the thieves guild piece. I like the whole faction warfare aspect since it works for any type of campaign.

[@sirfishslayer5100]

Wait...wait....there is a Castle Amber module? I am a huge fan of the Amber series! Can you dive into that at some time?

[@daddyrolleda1]

Yes indeed! The short summary is that it's, in part, an adaptation of Clark Ashton Smith's Averoigne stories, and it's actually set in the fictional medieval French province of that name. There's a haunted mansion, interdimensional portals, a "slightly" demented family, and more. Moldvay drew not only on CAS, but also Edgar Allan Poe and Roger Zelazny. After this module, the Amber family became a main part of the Known World and they show up as one of the ruling families in Gazetteer 3: Principalities of Glantri (the principality is ruled over by a bunch of magic-using houses including two elf family factions, a family of medieval Scots [some undead!] from the same world as the Ambers, and a bunch of others). You can pick up a PDF and/or POD at DriveThruRPG here: www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/17088/X2-Castle-Amber-Basic Goodman Games also put out one of their "Original Adventures Reincarnated" versions a while ago but those are going for a lot of money on the secondary market now that they've discontinued them.

[@keithulhu]

If you want to learn more about Mystara than you ever really wanted to know, I recommend Mr. Welch's channel.

[@daddyrolleda1]

Absolutely. Great stuff there about all the different nations and cultures!

[@quantus5875]

Another good one for Mystara is a guy I think called the "Digital Dungeonmaster". Sadly the guy passed away a few years ago. Covid I think. The guy and the most unbelievable collection of AD&D 2e material. It's almost like he owned everything TSR published on 2e. An unbelievable connection. Guy was a total badass with his knowledge of D&D 2e. Never seen anyone better in terms of D&D 2e knowledge.

[@sylvarogre5469]

bonus content: Isley Bros. and a paper airplane. sounds fun and a bit whimsical.

[@daddyrolleda1]

You should give them a go! Although, to make a Paper Plane, you would have to buy a few ingredients you probably don't already have (specifically Aperol and Amaro Nonino). Cheers! And thank you so much for staying through the bonus section. I always like when people watch it!

[@alanrickett2537]

The only one I bought was the 5 shire and it was great had access to most of the others at one time or another but the 5 shire was my favorite

[@daddyrolleda1]

Very cool! I'm not a huge fan of halflings myself so I skipped that one (but later got it as a PDF). What specifically did you like about that one?

[@alanrickett2537]

@@daddyrolleda1 the village of retired adventures, mainly

[@daddyrolleda1]

Ah, yes! Nice call!

[@jacobstein9549]

I first found this channel through a setting video. Love your videos @daddyrolleda1. I am excited to see this one.

[@daddyrolleda1]

That's awesome - so glad you found the channel, and thanks for sticking around. I hope you enjoyed this Mystara video. Thanks for watching and commenting. Cheers!

[@anarionelendili8961]

Karameikos sounds Greek because its founder, Stefan Karameikos, was a duke in Thyatis before switching his duchy for a Grand Duchy, naming it for himself. Karameikos would map better with Slavic kingdoms in the Balkans/Eastern Europe, with a heavy Byzantine influence on top, while the actual dynamics and society would likely be closer to England after the Norman Conquest: Thyatian (Norman) upper class/soldiery ruling over the native Traladarans (Anglo-Saxons). Thyatis moved more to the Imperial Rome in subsequent publications.

[@daddyrolleda1]

Thank you so much for this additional context and background! I really appreciate it, and now it all makes sense. As I mentioned in the video, I'm not really all that up-to-speed on the specific history of the cultures and nations of the setting as much as I am just the general history of how and when the setting was created for game purposes. So I appreciate you sharing this. Cheers!

[@SkullMan616]

Was anybody else's first exposure to Mystara the two arcade games from Capcom?

[@daddyrolleda1]

Somebody else mentioned that as well, but as someone who doesn't play video games (even back in the day), I had no idea! What characters did they use?

[@SkullMan616]

@@daddyrolleda1 I think it was mainly generic characters they made up for the game. It's based off of basic D&D since the Elf and Dwarf in the game are considered classes. I know the final boss of the first game is a Lich, though I can't remember the name. Check out gameplay of it sometime, they're called "Tower of Doom." And "Shadow over Mystara."

[@daddyrolleda1]

Thanks for this - I was going to say "I don't know how I missed this!" but I really do know how. It's because I just don't really do video games, and never did. It's one huge gap in my knowledge of gaming and it's funny often times when people mention things that are very well-known in that "world" and I have no idea what they're talking about!

[@originaluddite]

I find it amusing that The Known World and The Forgotten Realms mean almost the reverse of each other. :) I always admired but never purchased any of the Gazetteers. However even just glancing at them in the games store might have influenced me, because my own setting tends to have analogues of particular west Eurasian cultures. I might have taken it a little far, however, because I abandoned the use of one 'Common' language. Whoops.

[@daddyrolleda1]

It sounds like we approach our settings somewhat similarly! I definitely got sucked into the Gazetteers by virtue of flipping through them at my local game store. I bought two and sadly to this day, those are the only two physical copies I own, but I have almost all the rest as PDFs. I created a "continental trade language" for my campaign, so there isn't *really* a "Common" language, and for the trade language, you can't really use it to discuss anything other than trade routes, value of goods, etc. Thank you so much for watching and commenting!

[@crapphone7744]

I had the original wood grain box edition. I remember looking down on people who were stuck with that white box. I thought the packaging was definitely meh compared to the faux wood grain. Sadly my original copy is long gone.😢

[@daddyrolleda1]

Oh wow! You were there right at the beginning! How did you hear about it? I feel like it had to have been pretty isolated to just a small group of people especially given the small print run. Too bad you don't still have it!

[@ryanmichael1298]

Kent State!

[@daddyrolleda1]

Did you ever happen to game with Lawrence or Tom (or their contemporaries)? I see you played at the University of Akron (from another comment you made). Thank you so much for watching and commenting!

[@ryanmichael1298]

@@daddyrolleda1 I don't recall a Lawrence or a Tom in our groups. I was there off and on from 1990-1996.

[@FatalDevotee1]

More Mystara please.

[@daddyrolleda1]

Thank you so much! I will add it to the list! Anything specific, or just any Mystara content? And, thanks again!

[@FatalDevotee1]

@@daddyrolleda1 What ever strikes your fancy. Seems you really like the magacracy.

[@hallavast]

"Centowers"... right. Those things.

[@daddyrolleda1]

Ha! I've mispronounced a thing or two here on the channel and people are always helpful (and very quick) to point it out and now I'm almost gunshy! I've pronounced it "sen-TOR" my whole life but right as I was saying it, I second guessed myself and wondered, "Have I been pronouncing it wrong this whole time?" But turns out I was right and should've gone with my gut. Anyway, thanks for watching and commenting!

[@crapphone7744]

They had Kzinti?!!? Wing Commander goodness!!!

[@IbnShisha1]

I don't know why, the two artworks don't really look all that similar, but for some reason I can't see that Karameikos cover without thinking of the infamous Lord of Chaos cover (often referred to as 'Passion of the Aes Sedai')

[@BX-advocate]

I don't think there was ever an official way to get the orange Palace of the Silver Princess but I think someone uploaded a pdf with the original art and some of the text had to be retyped.

[@daddyrolleda1]

Wizards of the Coast did "officially" put the PDF up for a while online as a free download back in 2000 (I remember snagging it at the time while at work!) and it's now housed at the Vaults of Pandius Official Mystara site.

[@BX-advocate]

@@daddyrolleda1 ah okay I think that's the copy I have. You can still find it online.

[@quantus5875]

I can back Daddy rolled a 1. Yes it was officially available for free on WotC web site for a time. Also -- of interest -- if you own a real copy of B3 orange cover. It's technically an illegal copy, because they were all supposed to be destroyed. It was impossible to legally purchase one. Super expensive module -- there is a site called The Acaeum that will give you an idea of the price. Last time I looked at the site a physical copy went for ~$10K.

[@BX-advocate]

@@quantus5875 Yeah one recently sold for that much it's nuts. I do have a pdf of it I just thought it wasn't official because it seems some of the text inside is not scanned in but rather typed. However if that's the official version then fair enough, I do hope there is a way to get a better pdf of an original scanned in one because I would love to have one and print it out to run.

[@quantus5875]

@@BX-advocate You're ok -- it was officially available for free from WoTC for a period of time -- so yeah -- it's not an illegal scan. I can check my copy if you'd like. I actually prefer the Jean Wells version over the Moldovay version (both are good -- and really Moldovay didn't change that much -- I think what they did to Jean Wells was criminal. She was just the fall girl for a few of those Erol Otus illustrations that were in the orange cover.

[@kurtperiolat8276]

You mention devolution and bands from Akron and no love for Devo?

[@daddyrolleda1]

Oh my goodness, that sure was a brain lapse! Would've made total sense. But, also, alas, I don't own any Devo on vinyl. Cheers, and thank you so much for watching through the bonus content. I really appreciate it!

[@nicklarocco4178]

I really enjoy Mystara. It uses tropes to quickly convey the setting to players, so as GM you don't need a ton of player buy-in for something like Empire of the Petal Throne. When someone asks "what's X?" You can pretty easily say "It's kind of like Y." It's not TSR, or strictly for D&D, but any chance of doing something like this for Harn?

[@googiegress]

For that link to Dungeon Craft's B4 notes: kzbin.info/www/bejne/g3jIiY2Zqq5mhNE

[@jonothanthrace1530]

Sog-Morthoth isn't the prime deity of Devolution, that's Booji Boy.

[@jonothanthrace1530]

Coincidentally, Devo was also formed by Kent State students, though they were probably out by the time Moldvay and Schick went there.

[@anderwood6005]

You think Batman is lawful? I would definitely say he's chaotic good. He is a vigilante and vigilanteism by its base his chaotic as it is not uphold the law. Basically everything Batman does is illegal

[@cpmf2112]

Sometimes I wish they wouldn't have named the Known World, took all the Mystara out of it 😂

[@crimfan]

LOL!

[@williamconnors1510]

The reason is simple enough. Any intellectual property really needs a name you can trademark. Sorry.

[@joshjames582]

@@williamconnors1510 Ok so what's the name of the Galaxy that Star Wars is set in.

[@daddyrolleda1]

This cracked me up!

[@bugslayerprime7674]

Good question, I never thought to ask before, but the first answer I got from Google was "Skyriver".

[@stevenkennedy4130]

Tasty bite

[@cdfreester]

The whole Basic D&D and Advanced D&D games being kept up and maintained over an extended period of time kind of smacks to me of Apple computer coming out with the Macintosh but maintaining the Apple II computer. I think nowadays, corporate-think would say to consolidate your resources and focus on just 1 of those products because your essentially cannibalizing your sales by having 2 similar but separate products, and neither product is getting the full attention it needs to maximize the quality and profit. Not saying I agree or disagree with that; just an observation.

[@daddyrolleda1]

Oh, for sure! I don't see any modern companies trying to do this. It's confusing, and it was even confusing back then for D&D/AD&D! There's a huge overlap but then there are significant differences, despite the names being nearly identical. And, why *wouldn't* someone assume that they should "start" with regular ("Basic") D&D and then move to Advanced? It was bad marketing and business decision making by TSR back then (at least, to me). However, the bonus that came from it is that I think the B/X-BECMI line ended up coming out with some of the most innovative and unique products at the time that wouldn't have seen the light of day had they been proposed for the AD&D line. What I've read is that the TSR "suits" kind of ignored the B/X-BECMI line, and that let the folks managing them games to make their own decisions and be more flexible with the content they released. Thanks for watching and commenting!

[@cdfreester]

@@daddyrolleda1 Thanks, Martin. That all makes sense. Once my friends and I started playing AD&D, we never went back to any of the basic rules. Sounds like we migh have missed some good stuff.

[@Demonskunk]

Nice video, thank you for making it! I hate being that guy, but I think you're mispronouncing Magocracy. It should be pronounced like Mage-Ocracy Majocracy.

[@daddyrolleda1]

I can see that! I was thinking of it more like how "magic" is pronounced, but I just looked it up and in a video I saw on how to pronounce it, it's like a combination of both our thoughts. It's the long A like you suggest (as in "Mage") but a hard G (as in maggot). So, may-GOCK-ruh-see. Interesting!

[@andyenglish4303]

Why do you say Mai-stara? Never heard anyone else use that.

[@daddyrolleda1]

It was on purpose to see if you were paying attention. 😀 I've just always said it that way to myself and never heard of said outloud but Bill Connors who worked on it dropped into the comments to tell me how they pronounced it when they worked at TSR and I will try to remember that. When you've said a word for 30+ years a certain way, it's difficult to change!

[@andyenglish4303]

@@daddyrolleda1 Too true, I have a friend who still says "Orcarina" of Time.

[@quantus5875]

Yeah -- I've always heard it pronounced Mis-tara. Like the word "Myst".

[@michaelmorton6566]

Surprised warhammer never got sued because they basically took this idea and flushed it out to make warhammer fantasy

[@thespider1481]

No no.. my campaign is called the Known World. It is all the countries developed by Judges Guild for their Wilderness of High Fantasy campaigns. Includes all CSIO, Tegel Manor and all the other countries they made up. its SUPERIOR to THIS crap you are talking about. And its 1st edition. Premiered in 1974.

[@daddyrolleda1]

The Judges Guild stuff is great and I've spoken about it before here on the channel (such as my video on the earliest campaign settings). But D&D's "Known World" created by Lawrence Schick and Thomas Moldvay predates the Judges Guild stuff by a few years. And I quite like both, myself.

[@xzanman]

Would have been cool to watch this, but 1 min Ads are a piss take. DaddyrolledaAd. Why not make your videos accessible to all rather than premium only or Ad block users?