Threshold Magazine Issue 27
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#27 Download for Free from www.pandius.com The Mystara Magazine The twenty-seventh issue of Mystara’s premier magazine celebrates the milestone reached by the repository of Mystara treasure managed by Shawn Stanley! A free download from thepiazza.org.uk pandius.com Previous Issues FREE Downloads of Previous Issues Previous issues of THRESHOLD - the Mystara Also available at the same location are higher Magazine, are available for download from the resolution versions of the maps that were Vaults of Pandius website. included in the issue’s PDF, allowing greater detail to be viewed. #1 - “Karameikos” #1 - Oct 2013 #2 - Jan 2014 #3 - Mar 2014 #4 - Jun 2014 #2 - “Vaults of Pandius” #3 - “The Sea of Dread” #4 - “Return to Dread” #5 - “Exploring Davania” #6 - “The Northlands” #7 - “Exploring Norwold” #5 - Oct 2014 #6-Dec 2014 #7 - Apr 2015 #8 - Jul 2015 #8 - “Warlordsof Norwold” #9 - “Hollow World” #10 - “Elven Realms” #11 - “Thyatis & Alphatia” #12 - “Ages Past” #9 - Sep 2015 #'10 - Jan 2016 #11 - Apr 2016 #12 - Jul 2016 #13 - “A Crucible of Creatures” #14 - “the Shadowdeep” #15 - “Mystaraspace” #16 - “Dwarves, Gnomes & Hin” #17 - “Western Brun” #18 - “Savage Coast” #13 - Oct 2016 #14 - Jan 2017 #15 - Apr 2017 #16 - Jul 2017 #19 - “Planes and Immortals” #20 - “Skothar” #21 - “Specularum” #22 - “Adventures & Campaigns” #23 - “Adventures & Campaigns 2” #17 - Oct 2017 #18 - Jan 2018 #19 - May 2018 #20 - Jul 2018 #24 - “Adventures & Campaigns 3” #25 - “Strongholds” #26 - “Heroes, Villains & Organizations” #21- Oct 2018 #22 - Mar 2019 #23 - Aug 2019 #24 - Nov 2019 #25 - May 2020 #26 - Dec 2020 : The Mystara Magazine Issue #27 Contents Contents Issue #27 Editorial..........................................................................3 This Issue’s Contributors................................................5 Call for Contributors.......................................................7 A Mystara Glossary..........................................................8 A Brief History of the Vaults of Pandius Website...........9 Fan Productions Overview............................................16 40 Years of Mystara Maps.............................................25 Mappers of Mystara - Geoff Gander..............................29 Cry Wolf!.......................................................................48 The Isle of Dawn and the Isle of Night.........................69 Mystara Story Generator - part 2..................................90 The Talking Whisker...................................................131 Of Masters and Deceptions - part 1............................134 Threats and Terrors of Returned Blackmoor..............171 Artwork Sources and Credits......................................197 Next Issue...................................................................204 Submission Guidelines................................................205 First Published: July 2021 Threshold: The Mystara Magazine is a non-commercial, fan-produced magazine. There is no intention to infringe on anyone’s rights, and in particular not on those of Wizards of the Coast, which holds all rights to the original material on which the magazine is based. All issues of Threshold are available for FREE download from the Vaults of Pandius website 1 : The Mystara Magazine Issue #27 Editorial Credits Editorial Credits Threshold Editorial Team: Editors Issue #27: Francesco Defferrari (Sturm) Allan Palmer (AllanP) Allan Palmer (AllanP) Giampaolo Agosta (Agathokles) Francesco Defferrari (Sturm) Layout: Allan Palmer (AllanP) Editors Emeriti Art: Andrew Theisen (Cthulhudrew) Dario Odillo Giampaolo Agosta Ashtagon Hasandgo Isabella Calvin Angel Tarragon (The Angelic Dragon) Jeffrey Kosh Jonathan Barker Geoff Gander (Seer of Y'hog) John Calvin LadyofHats Håvard Lost Wooddrake Robin Jesper Andersen (Spellweaver) V Shane William McAusland John Calvin (Chimpman) Joseph Setorius (Julius Cleaver) Leland (Argentmantle) Cartography: LoZompatore Geoff Gander Micky Robin Robert Nuttman (RobJN) Thorfinn Tait Robin Simone Neri (Zendrolion) Thorfinn Tait (Thorf) Additional Reviewers & Proofreaders: Troy Terrell (CmdrCorsiken) Allan Palmer (AllanP) David Finch Giampaolo Agosta Håvard Robin Shawn Stanley Simon Barns Sturm Thorfinn Tait THRESHOLD logo designed by Thorf Thanks To: The Mystara Community, for your support, hard work, and dedication to Mystara. The aims of Threshold magazine: ▪ to provide a venue for community members to present material ▪ to promote the Vaults of Pandius and the material there ▪ to increase the exposure of existing and new articles 2 : The Mystara Magazine Issue #27 Editorial It's really been a long road! The Vaults of Then there is the second part of my own Pandius, the online treasure trove of Mystara Generator, in this instalment a cata- Mystara materials created by fans, cele- logue of the monsters and creatures of brates its 25th anniversary. I personally Mystara products and also a generator of recall when I discovered its existence, less Mystara animals. Lost Woodrake revisits than one year after it was created, and how “The Talking Whisker”, a tavern in Thyatis this discovery eventually persuaded me to city which was his first creation for the get a new PC and an internet connection. Vaults, while LoZompatore casts a dark The story of this wonderful site from 1996 light on Hule, with an Entropic perspective until now is described by Shawn himself in of the Great War between Hule and the the first article of the issue. Then Havard Known World! guides us through the gems of the fan pro- duction which makes the Vaults the won- Then Brian Rubinfeld takes us again to the derful place it is. ominous lands of Returned Blackmoor, which appeared previously in issues #20, If the Vaults is 25 years old already, #22 and #26, describing its scary monsters. Mystara is 40 years old, as the first depic- Special mention and thanks also to the illus- tion of the Known World appeared in 1981 trators, Dario Odillo and Robin, who pro- in the first edition of X1, as described by vided wonderful original illustrations for Thorfinn in the next article. the monsters of Returned Blackmoor, and the other illustrators in the art credits who And starting from this issue, our illustrious have contributed to another fantastic issue Mystaran (and Calidaran) cartographer will of THRESHOLD Magazine! guide us through the extraordinary history of Mystara Mappers, starting with Geoff The next issue of THRESHOLD, to be pub- Gander, the very first one who created an lished at the end of 2021, will focus on online map (which was indeed the scan of “Trade routes and Darokin”, the next most a hand-made map), back in 1997. voted theme in our recent poll (see this topic at The Piazza), after the Vaults anni- In the rest of the issue Agathokles presents versary theme of this issue. To join the next two fantastic works: The first one is his issue as authors or illustrators please send adventure “Cry Wolf!” set in the village of your proposal to the Threshold mail (check Vandevicsny, Karameikos, a classic from Submission guidelines and mail on the last the Vaults, while the second one, “The Isle page of the issue) or post in the proposals of Dawn and the Isle of Night”, is a new thread of The Piazza forum, soon to be article building on module M5 and the updated with the call for issue #28. works done by James Mishler on the Isle. 3 : The Mystara Magazine Issue #27 Editorial Even if we usually have no shortage of arti- The Threshold Editorial Team and the cles, we always need help for proofreading authors hope you will enjoy this new issue and editing the submissions. We currently as much as we enjoyed putting it together, have two active editors, therefore the issues and stay tuned for the next issue! schedule has been scaled down to two issues a year. So anyone willing to help the Threshold Editorial Team please come forward and let us know through the mail or in the above thread at The Piazza. Francesco Defferrari (Sturm) Helping Threshold magazine certainly Editor, THRESHOLD Magazine Issue #27 needs some time commitment, but is crea- tive and rewarding work! From the Mystara Forum at Some features in issues of Threshold carry a “From the Mystara Forum at The Piazza” tagline. Theses Dis- cussion Boards are an active and dynamic home of creativity for the Mystara community and many other game worlds. We hope you will enjoy the articles that have arisen from that website. Some features in issues of Threshold carry a “From the Vaults of Pandius” tagline. As one of our stated aims is “to promote the Vaults of Pandius and the material there”, we hope you will enjoy these re- vised or extended treasures from that website. 4 : The Mystara Magazine Issue #27 This Issue’s Contributors This Issue’s Contributors Giampaolo Agosta (a.k.a. Agathokles) Dario Odillo, class of 73, has always loved agrees with Schiller that “man is only com- the Mystara setting, and considers it the pletely a man when he plays”. Therefore, most original and with the purest D&D he makes a point of taking gaming seri- spirit. After artistic studies and a past as ously, and real life casually. Besides Mys- advertising designer, he has always tara, his gaming interests include (among admired the illustrations of Elmore, Brom others) Dark Sun, Planescape, Ravenloft, and above all Easley, feeding day after day Birthright, Call of Cthulhu, Star Wars and his passion for artistic drawing. In the past Witchcraft RPG. he collaborated with his drawings helping an Italian community of a well-known skir- Allan Palmer (a.k.a.