Thursday, January 27, 2011

Mining Mystara #3: Glantri

So. The Principalities of Glantri.

I like the Gazetteer, and the insight that they give on spellcraft and wizardly culture, despite their distance from my preferred core location (Karameikos). I doubt I'd let people travel there in-game, but would allow flashbacks for any spellcasters who might've chosen to originate from that land.

The reasons I'd use them for a campaign are:

Mad Science / Mad Wizards

It's a wonderful place for strange Magic McGuffins. All sorts of brand-spanking new spells and magic items (that don't quite work that well) could potentially be offloaded to NPCs or PCs. Rumors that the way that most people understand magic aren't really how it works can be based on this land -- kind of like how cutting-edge research people would look at mere technicians and end-users of technological products.

Playing God With The World

In fact, some of these research efforts may have uncovered some sources of power that weren't really meant to be in mortal hands. Gateways into other realms, imprisoned evils unleashed, potentially catastrophic magical fallout -- many things that adventure hooks and interesting dungeon-delving locations can be based on.

You and what army?


In addition, they reinforce the feel that Mystara isn't necessarily a totally stable geopolitical environment. Glantri is a major political power who doesn't have 'politically correct views' and in fact has very hostile attitudes to most character classes (clerics are criminals, Halflings and Dwarves are potential experimental subjects, Elves could be spies, and all non-mages = second class citizens). Should be a blast if a liberally-minded party ever meets a delegation from there.

The Radiance
The Radiance is a mega-macguffin for the campaign, especially if you plan on using the "Wrath of the Immortals" storyline.

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That's my side of things. Let me know what you think, my friend.