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Either that or he is working on a great new project!
Either way need more Chris West maps.
Paizo's current cartographer does a fine job, but honestly I would rather see more Chris West maps in their products.
And another thing, if he did a Maps of Mystery line for Paizo they coul dmake a whole new line of products...
Just an idea I hope someone at Paizo sees!
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I've been busy with a lot of Star Wars work for WotC lately. Poster maps for the miniatures game and starships for the RPG books, mainly.
However, I was recently contracted for more Maps of Mystery for the online Dungeon Magazine content, and it's good to be dipping back into the fantasy stuff.
As for Lands of Mystery, I'd still like to do more with it and get the whole gazetteer published and available. Maybe even expand on it. I'm still undecided if the new Maps of Mystery should be added to the Lands of Mystery map as more are made, or if the print era and digital era should be kept separate with regards to the Lands of Mystery. What do you folks think?
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I'm still undecided if the new Maps of Mystery should be added to the Lands of Mystery map as more are made, or if the print era and digital era should be kept separate with regards to the Lands of Mystery. What do you folks think?
I'd say keep them separate, mostly because I think it would be an insult to the memory of a great magazine. Ultimately, however, it makes no real difference to me, since I don't pay any attention to the new "Dungeon".
RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16
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As for Lands of Mystery, I'd still like to do more with it and get the whole gazetteer published and available. Maybe even expand on it.
My take: Chris, the strength of your Lands of Mystery is that they are not so thoroughly filled in. A map with a lot of dungeons and adventure sites, some thoroughly detailed, but most not, in a world where we aren't given a whole lot about the history or gods of the world, would be a welcome change of pace from products like Greyhawk, Forgotton Realms, Eberron, and even Golarion, the Scarred Lands, Castlemourne, and so on.
There are plenty of campaign settings out there that force us to break them in order to use them. Give us a good solid sketch of a world, over which we can fill in the details and world laws we want.
Keep them separate, I've little use for the new Dungeon and once it actually cost me coin -no use.
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Actually, yeah I am. Those maps were the bomb. I wrote a few adventures just for those maps, most never used! And that World Map was GORGEOUS! I had all kinds of ideas with it.
My big plan at the moment is to use the Golarion world setting but make it a hollow world (like Mystara) and use the Lands of Mystery as the insides. Trick is to get the PCs from the outside to the inside!
The other idea is to make Lands of Mystery another planet linked to Golarion by portal. Essentially the same thing just different location.
I am terribly torn by the tech level I want for Lands though. Do I want it populated by primitive, bronze age cultures, or high sorcery cultures? Decisions! Decisions!
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RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16
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Still interested.
Chris, your map and dungeons are one of the best tools for "sandbox" games that D&D has to offer. There's a lot of exciting places to explore, with some great plot hooks, but open-ended enough to let us make our own ay without feeling like there's a canonical storyline we're breaking.
It just occurred to me: Lands of Mystery is the anti-Forgotten Realms. (The Realms as they became after two hundred sourcebooks and twice as many novels.)
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I've been developing new Maps of Mystery for the online Dungeon, but I also have ideas for similar independent projects that I'd like to publish at some point.
There's not much more I can do with the Land of Mystery since WotC owns all of the maps, but I might create a new incarnation of the concept that's separate from what I've done before. I'm also still hoping to get the full Lands of Mystery Gazetteer available in some more organized fashion.
Just wanted to drop in and let you folks know that this is still on my agenda. :)
Mr. West, it has been a while since anyone told you how much gooey spectacular magnificence bursts forth from every pixel of Lands of Mystery like the satisfactory gush of co-mingled blood 'n pus from a particularly large and stubborn bacne.
Well . . . I might have phrased that better, but it is really sweet.
Anyway, you wanted Lands of Mystery to be worked by DM's in Any Which Way But Loose they wanted and I thought I'd share how much joy my group and I have gotten from it.
I have freely borrowed several ideas from many sources. I’ve noted those I am consciously aware of.
The world is Eyah-Ur, named after its creator, Eyah. It is nothing more than a ball of rock, without air or water. Eyah was fashioning a creation of life. Whilst that was going on, the first dragons, Bahamut (mithril) and Tiamat sprang from Oblivion. As the first beings of Law, they resisted Oblivion's call to return to the chaos of potential. But they required a measure of the length of their resistance.
Eyah offered Time. It wasn't something Eyah needed, but the dragons were welcome to it. In the joy of having a measuring stick, they mated. All dragons that will ever be reside in the planet’s core. Only during world-shaking events do the eggs gurgle forth from the lava to hatch. There will be no further matings and Bahamut's & Tiamat's children, though immortal, are sterile. Dragons power is akin to Vorlons from Babylon 5.
Oblivion could not deal with Time. Time drove Oblivion mad. And his essence splintered, spiraling ever downward an infinite Abyss, mad bits of himself clawing for dominance. The massive proliferation of so many demons, so unexpected, caught the dragons flat-footed. Out-numbered and overwhelmed, they turned to Eyah.
Eyah offered Titans. They were unfinished versions of Eyah's master creation, but Time is of no matter to Eyah. Titans, too, were sterile. Bahamut felt the Titans should be nurtured as allies. Tiamat felt they were meat shields. Their children divided themselves along these lines and Good and Evil sprouted.
Crosis (MtG), the Decomposer, infested the first gold dragon with a vile worm and possessed her. She nearly extinguished the flame of the core of the world before she regained control of herself long enough to sacrifice herself for the world. Her sacrifice elevated her to godhood, as the diety of Good, Law, Magic, and Knowledge. But the damage was done, the dragons, distracted from the front lines, were again being overrun.
"It is finished." Eyah had completed his design, having cast off discarded versions into his "recycle bin" named Malgarius (Dungeon #122). Magenta, one of the first Elves, cast a fiery red orb into the sky. This new sun blinded the demons and they were feathered with arrows from the shelter of massive trees that had sprung from the soil, air, and water Eyah had provided to nurture them. When the demons had adjusted to Magenta and counterattacked, Cerulean cast her azure orb and the elves, titans and dragons drove off the remaining demons in the warm, rich glow of this second sun (from The Simarillion).
Eyah-Ur even now revolves in a figure eight (called a Cycle and it lasts about 3000 Rounds [years], which are broken down into 50 Tumbles [weeks] of 7 Spins [days]) between these two suns, bathed in their protective light that almost always keeps Night at bay. Stretches are the “S” curve of a Cycle and are the times when the combined light is violet. Twilight is the time when only one sun shines on Eyah-Ur (though, in light of recent books and movies, I might change it to Dusk).
Night follows. It’s a random period of 20 – 200 years when the sky is pitch black. There are no stars, only Cascades. For Night is when the Abyss is connected to Eyah-Ur and the demons launch their assaults on the dragons. The dragons, for their part, take wing to fry the buggers and those Titans that remain act as the ground crew to burn those demons that make it past the dragons (very Pern-like).
Dawn lasts as long as Twilight and follows Night. There are random cloudy times when it is severely overcast during each period. Clouds signify a conduit to the Ethereal plane.
Magenta became revered as the god of Fire, Sun, Strength, War and Cerulean became the goddess of Air, Moon, Protection, Healing.
The Elves were the only intelligent creatures who lived on the surface. The dragons dwelled in their caves that were perfectly straight and bored outward from the core to the surface. Each race has its own secrets that it shares with no other. Elves know how to fashion staffs and the process of making cold iron. Further, only Elves can cast 9th level abjurations, divinations, and enchantments. Lastly, Elves reproduce like the draak from Enemy Mine.
The good times could not last, of course. After some 6,000+ Cycles of tranquility
(~ 18,000,000 Rounds), as Twilight fell, the demon Vorosh, the Worldgorger, progenitor of orcs, managed to snatch the seed of Malgarius from the Abyss and plant it on Eyah-Ur. In those days beyond recall, there was one landmass. After Malgarius was uprooted by PC elves and sent back to the Abyss, the roots tearing out of the land tore it asunder and formed the Lands of Mystery. The Lower Dark tunnels of the dragons were unaffected, the Middle Dark ones suffered some, but the Upper Dark tunnels were twisted and choked far from their lawful origins. Out-raged at the cataclysm wrought, the elves, en masse, marched into the abyss to deal with Vorosh. (that's what the PC's decided). They left only two guardians: one on the continent with Tymbistyne (swap out Town of Deepwatch with Traevantahl) and the other the continent with the Sentinel Mountains.
Dwarves, gnomes, and halflings were those "older" versions sent to the recycle bin but were released with the uprooting of Malgarius. Humans evolved.
Dwarves are on the continent of the Blacksteel Peaks and are called the Blacksteel Dwarves. They craft rods and smith mithril. They are the only race that can cast 9th level evocation; 8th level enchantments and transmutations and 7th in every other school. Male dwarves are standard hairy, female dwarves are devoid of all hair everywhere (ala Deltans from Star Trek: TMP). They are the first race to sexually reproduce. Dwarves use more machines and technology than any other race.
The gnomes are on the continent with the Doomfang Peaks. They brew potions (but improved brew potion and supreme brew potion exist to be able to brew potions of higher levels). Gnomes smith adamantine. Gnomes are the only race that can cast 9th level transmutations; 8th level abjuration and illusion, 7th level in everything else. The reproduction of gnomes is a mystery, but it is rumored that mushrooms are somehow involved.
Halflings are on the continent with Tyranor. Halflings make wands and alchemical silver. They cast 9th level illusions, 8th level conjuration and enchantment, 7th in all others.
Gnolls are on the continent with Subricon. They cast 9th level conjurations, 8th level divinations and evocations, and 7th level in other schools. They can make darkwood, but have no special resource.
Humans live on the northern and southern continents, but they are unaware of each other. Humans can cast up to 8th level in all schools, but none at 9th. They write scrolls and fashion dragonhide, being the only non-demonic race to ever kill a dragon.
I scanned the whole map and copied water over the vast majority. And I gave my players the modified version of only the southern half! They’d played as Elves when the world was one land mass, and then marched off to the Abyss. They’re now playing humans and halflings. No need to shoot all my powder at once. It also allows my players the thrill of discovery. Only The Barricades and the Sorrowdowns can be seen on the players map because the Blacksteel Dwarves have repelled and Human attempts to get better cartographical information.
South of the Rainlands are the Heartlands. Think of them as Gilead from the Gunslinger series before it all went to pot. I haven't developed them more than that because there is still everything to the north to explore.
We’re starting with the Savage Tide AP.
Camlin’s Delta = Sasserine
Camlin = Sasserine
Isprea = Teraknia
Blacksteel Dwarves = Sea Princes
Sisterhood of the White Orchid = Scarlet Brotherhood
I’ve interspersed several Dungeon modules in between each AP module. There’s a total of 44 adventures planned. When that’s all done, I’ve mapped out another 40 or so for the Age of Worms AP. Players should get a kick out of the return of Crosis.
By then I’ll be ready for them to explore some of the rest of the world and then I’ll be able to start using the Maps of Mystery in the Lands of Mystery.
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So, just to let you in on what my group did with your beautiful map and locations...
The Lands of Mystery map was used to represent a vast section of a world that was destroyed many years ago.
The Elven deities had their grudge match out, unfortunatly taking their war to the Material Plane. In the end the forces of Corellon and Lloth were evenly matched and to strike the final blow to Lloth, the Seldarine became one entity.
Anyways, that history is pretty long and drawn out, but in the end, the world was ripped apart and the Seldarine granted all their portfolios to Eilistraee. To save the last of the races left on their world, Eilistraee ripped a chunk of the world away and sent it out into the vastness of space.
The Lands of Mystery now move through the darkness of space with Eilistraee keeping the land magically alive and preserved until they can find a new home.
It leaves everything pretty much as you've represented it, with a touch of Spelljammer thrown in and of course threats from other entities, including using the Savage Tide AP. Which only managed to go for the first installment before the group fell apart, but I do hope to resurrect that Campaign again.
Anyways, I pull the binder out that holds all the maps and the main map and look at it fondly, waiting for the day that we get more.
I was moving some things around yesterday and re-found my beautiful Lands of Mystery world map...
I have all the West Maps of Mystery cut out and stored in a binder with page protectors.
Is everyone else still silly excited about the prospect of a Lands of Mystery product? Keep this thread alive.
Sounds like we won't ever see a print version of all the Dungeon-era LoM maps, so I guess I'll have to start collecting duplicate issues so I can cut them out myself, and put them in a dedicated binder like DF did (great idea, thanks!).
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I need to go over my old contracts and see if I can legally reprint the Maps of Mystery in a collected volume. I believe most of them have a clause in the contract that allows the artist to have his or her work reprinted in books profiling the artist.
If that is consistent, I might have the wherewithal to do so.
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I need to go over my old contracts and see if I can legally reprint the Maps of Mystery in a collected volume. I believe most of them have a clause in the contract that allows the artist to have his or her work reprinted in books profiling the artist.
If that is consistent, I might have the wherewithal to do so.
Lord I hope so!
So, in my game I have made the Lands of Mystery a hollow world inside Golarion.
Prior to Golarion my favorite setting was Mystara, so I am transferring those cultures (with some mods) to LoM. I have not yet decided if the two worlds share the same pantheons, nor the reasoning for the hollow world (not going with the Mystara version). Obviously geography is different. :)
I'm playing with an adventure to get Pathfinders from Absalom to explore a great rift and they find themselves in Mystara. Will update later as the idea gels better.
BTW, IF you don't get to publish your LoM, anything new would be awesome. There is NO WAY I am subscribing to DDI, and honestly I expect a LOT of people here feel that way as well.
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Prior to Golarion my favorite setting was Mystara, so I am transferring those cultures (with some mods) to LoM.
Oh wow. Your Golarion doesn't just sound crazy awesome, it sounds bat@#$% insane awesome. (Mystara really is the most gleefully insane D&D campaign setting ever)
And best of luck to ya on those rights, Mr. West!
I need to go over my old contracts and see if I can legally reprint the Maps of Mystery in a collected volume. I believe most of them have a clause in the contract that allows the artist to have his or her work reprinted in books profiling the artist.
If that is consistent, I might have the wherewithal to do so.
!!!
Chris, please do look into this. Those maps are freakin' awesome and I would buy a collection of them in a heartbeat! Thanks so much for at least giving me a sliver of hope!
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No news on the idea of a collected volume, mainly because I spent just about every penny I had to print up a double-sided sci-fi poster map to sell at Gen Con and online and thus don't have the funds to think about a book right now.
It's still very high on my to-do list, but for now I need to focus on selling my posters; if successful, that will build up enough financial latitude to think bigger about map books and the like. :)
Is anyone still interested in the complete gazetteer of the Lands of Mystery? Now that I've updated my website, I'm thinking about posting it there.
No news on the idea of a collected volume, mainly because I spent just about every penny I had to print up a double-sided sci-fi poster map to sell at Gen Con and online and thus don't have the funds to think about a book right now.
It's still very high on my to-do list, but for now I need to focus on selling my posters; if successful, that will build up enough financial latitude to think bigger about map books and the like. :)
Is anyone still interested in the complete gazetteer of the Lands of Mystery? Now that I've updated my website, I'm thinking about posting it there.
Well then I will wish you luck selling those posters! Thanks for checking back in.
I don't know enough about the complete gazetteer to answer your question, though. Is it similar to the Living Greyhawk Gazetteer (i.e., you write up the history & political boundaries of what was on your map showing the locations of all your individual Maps of Mystery)? If so, that'd seem the natural complement to the (printed!!!) compilation of the Maps!
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This post may be a little off-topic, but for those still following this thread who want to see what I've been up to more recently (this year): My first direct-to-consumer RPG product is now available right here at Paizo!
http://paizo.com/store/byCompany/m/mapsOfMastery
The first offering is a sci-fi product (complementary to the body of work I've done for the Star Wars miniatures games over the years) but if this does well I'll be releasing a broader range of stuff, including some decidedly fantasy-themed poster maps.
Thanks again for the support, folks! Someday I'd like to create a new world like the Lands of Mystery, but one that I own and can do with as I wish. I feel one step closer to that today. :)
Loved your Maps that came up in Dungeon Mag. I was wondering if you ever thought of working together on a product with (forgot name,DUH!) of the person who does the Map Packs and the Flip Maps? A series of Map Packs and Flip Maps the link to each other. I would be interested in purchasing just those.
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Kevin beinhoff: I've not worked with Corey Macourek at this point, but I'd enjoy doing so. I have a passing acquaintance with him, but we haven't had an opportunity to collaborate on any projects in spite of having worked for the same publishers and same product lines for years.
Rol-oeste: No news, I'm afraid. I still have the document and would like to release it, but I haven't had a chance to give it a nice page design, and in the meantime I keep hoping that I'll have some good news for the Maps of Mystery series that relates to it. Since nothing seems to be happening with that, though, it will probably appear on my website (http://www.mapsofmastery.com) in the future.
In related news, though, I just published my second independent poster map product, and this time it crosses genre boundaries to become very useful in fantasy games as well as sci-fi. It's a Desert Sanctum on one side and Swamp Caves on the other. Check out my site, above, for more details.
Has anyone compiled all this information into a single doc yet? And is willing to share?
I've created a hex-based map of the southern half of the Lands of Mystery for a new homebrewed AD&D 2E setting I'm calling Odyssey World.
You can see the map on my Otherwords blog: Odyssey World: Lands of Mystery (South)
Chris, I'm really enjoying using your map as the basis for the world's starting point. And the gazetteer entries you've posted here has helped me considerably.
Cheers!
Robert B.
a.k.a. Knightfall
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I miss seeing West maps and Dungeon mag (the print version). That said I am gonna use Lands of Mystery as my campaign world in an upcoming series of campaigns and was wondering if there is a good quality download of it somewhere and maybe a download that has the labels removed (or some of them, don't really mind the regional stuff like "The Inner Sea" and cities but would like ruins and such to disappear). Glad to see I am not the only one with a Maps of Mystery folder of all Dungeon Mags old offerings. It was a Golden Age.
Mr. West, it has been six years and you did request an update:
It has been 50,000 years since the Elves marched into the Abyss. The demon lord responsible for the Malgarius Incident has been vanquished, his avatars slain, his aspects obliterated, his last vestiges are being pursued to the ends of the Abyss.
So the Elves are returning to the world to reassert their rightful place. And there are Orcs present. Orcs, the creation of the demon lord responsible for Malgarius.
While the Elves haven't made up their mind about the other races, they have targeted the Orcs for genocide, because so long as one of his creations lives, the demonlord can possess a body and live again.
The nice thing is that in one of the current 3 games I'm running, a guy is playing an Orc. I told him he'd be 'ultimately doomed' (like a White Wolf 5 point dark fate flaw) but nothing more than that. He's fine with it.
At the end of the campaign, assuming the orc lives, he'll be the LAST orc on the planet. He'll be confronted by the Elf who urged all of the Elves to march to the Abyss in the first place.
The best part? The guy who choose 6 years ago IRL to march the Elves to the Abyss is now playing the Orc.
Wow, that is remarkably epic. I'm very impressed! Please keep us informed about how it works out! :)
So, I'm starting Jade Regent soon and am using Jaquarta as the capital city. They'll be starting in the Cauldron area, which is in the mountain range south of Base Camp.
The distance involved is about 2 Soars (or about twice the width of Asia). And, yes, I've devised new systems of measurements:Lengths: Toe, Step, Hop, Stride, Bounce, Jump, Leap, Vault, Cruise, Flight, Soar.
Volume: Drip, Drop, Dribble, Trickle, Squirt, Splash, Gush, Creek, Brook, Stream, River, Flood
Mass: Mote, Dust, Granule, Grain, Pebble, Gravel, Stone, Rock, Slab, Boulder
Also Time.
One Spin (day) is 25 hours. The hours have names. The Hour of Dawn, the Hour of Scampering, etc.
Eleven Spins is one Tumble (week).
100 Tumbles is one Yearn (the new calendar measures the number of Yearns from when the crimson sun, Caran, was destroyed during the Savage Tide). Now, only Cerulean shines in the sky.
10 Yearns is a Loop (decade)
10 Loops is a Coil (century).
But you want to know about the Map of Mystery. About Jaquarta. People born and raised in Jaquarta may choose one of the following traits: Artist, Cosmopolitan, or Education. The city itself? Using the settlement rules, Jaquarta is a LN metropolis governed by a dynasty. It has the qualities of Artist's Colony, Cruel Watch, No Questions Asked, Planned Community, Restrictive, and Royal Accommodations. Marriages are pre-arranged in Jaquarta and seeing feet is considered taboo. One is considered guilty until proven innocent, and while trial by combat is an option, champions are not allowed. Both sexes attain their majority at 16, but in this patriarchy, women live with their parents until they are married. Slavery is eternal.
I have also taken all of the Paizo prestige classes and assigned them to various affiliations. One must become a middle ranked member before the affiliation will teach the secrets of the prestige class (they are prestigious after all, no?). One must become a Ashigaru in the Jaquarta Palace affiliation (score between 11 & 15) to gain access to the Battle Herald or Duelist prestige classes. The executive powers of Jaquarta Palace are Gift, Law, War.
The History (as written in my previous post) has changed a little bit. I use Azahn instead of Bahamut and Zahna instead of Tiamat. And then there's the Storms of Raumo and how he almost destroyed the world in his rage. And how his child . . .
Anyway, I'm still building off of your beautiful map. If you are interested in what I've done to any part of it, just ask and I'll tell you what I've done.
No news on the idea of a collected volume, mainly because I spent just about every penny I had to print up a double-sided sci-fi poster map to sell at Gen Con and online and thus don't have the funds to think about a book right now.
It's still very high on my to-do list, but for now I need to focus on selling my posters; if successful, that will build up enough financial latitude to think bigger about map books and the like. :)
Is anyone still interested in the complete gazetteer of the Lands of Mystery? Now that I've updated my website, I'm thinking about posting it there.
Well then I will wish you luck selling those posters! Thanks for checking back in.
I don't know enough about the complete gazetteer to answer your question, though. Is it similar to the Living Greyhawk Gazetteer (i.e., you write up the history & political boundaries of what was on your map showing the locations of all your individual Maps of Mystery)? If so, that'd seem the natural complement to the (printed!!!) compilation of the Maps!
Did you ever get the Gazetteer of the Lands of Mystery done and posted somewhere for download, Chris? I'd love to buy it if it was every completed. Tony