Mystara: What makes it so great?

[VGmaster9]

Granted, I've seen the two D&D arcade games from Capcom and they look pretty cool. I just wonder, why does Mystara have such a cult following as opposed to other similar settings like Greyhawk, Dragonlance, and Forgotten Realms. While Greyhawk just seems like a smaller version of FR and Dragonlance looks like it has purely a medieval setting. I just wanna understand why many fans find Mystara so unique, I'd be very interested to know.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I just wonder, why does Mystara have such a cult following as opposed to other similar settings like Greyhawk, Dragonlance, and Forgotten Realms.

It predates Dragonlance and Forgotten Realms as a published setting. And while Greyhawk was the setting for the AD&D fork of D&D, Mystara was developed piecemeal (at first) for the BD&D fork, with a very different flavor.

While Greyhawk just seems like a smaller version of FR

The Greyhawk people are going to have your head for that. For starters, it's a lot less over the top than many elements of the Forgotten Realms.

and Dragonlance looks like it has purely a medieval setting.

Dragonlance was the first published setting created more or less wholly as a a commercial product, rather than being developed through play, which gives it a very different tone. A lot of the decisions made for it were made based on what would sell, not necessarily what would have been awesome in actual play. For starters, OMG, WE HAS DRAGONS! LOOK, OVER THERE! MORE DRAGONS, OMG!

I just wanna understand why many fans find Mystara so unique, I'd be very interested to know.

BD&D flavor, different, lighter tone, decades old (and older than DL and the published version of the Realms). Back when the Realms were still mostly fantasy Europe, Mystara had fantasy middle east, fantasy Native Americans and more.

 

[VGmaster9]

I see now, but let's say that Mystara was re-launched in 4e, do you think people may find it too similar to FR?

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I see now, but let's say that Mystara was re-launched in 4e, do you think people may find it too similar to FR?

Given that FR is just a kitchen sink setting and people love Galaron and many other kitchen sinks, it's all about the execution.

All that Forgotten Realms has that really differentiates it from any other kitchen sink is the amount of novels written about it. Beyond that, all kitchen sink settings are really a matter of very subtle distinctions of taste.

 

[AdmundfortGeographer]

Mystara is more than just a kitchen sink setting. Most other D&D settings were "if it fits in the rules, there is a place for it in the setting", with Mystara it was more like "if someone can think of it fitting in the most bizarre fantasy, there is a place for it".

So you end up with

a flying aircraft carrier inhabited by gnomes, gremlins, and nagpa.
an empire run by a council of 1,000 (!) 36 level magic-users.
a nuclear power generator as the source of arcane magic on the planet.
high-tech "artifacts" all over the place ready to explode and cause the next cataclysm.
a city on the ocean floor with a fleet of magical submarines.
a hollow planet serving as the immortals museum of extinct cultures plus floating continents.
frequent enough explicit interdimensional or interplanetary migrations of human nations.

mixed in with bog standard low-magic nations and primitive cultures. Nearly all human cultures are explicitly immitations of real world earth civilizations.

 

[Androrc]

Mystara is the first setting I played, through First Quest. I love it.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Mystara is more than just a kitchen sink setting. Most other D&D settings were "if it fits in the rules, there is a place for it in the setting", with Mystara it was more like "if someone can think of it fitting in the most bizarre fantasy, there is a place for it".

I think you are selling the Forgotten Realms short. There's a lot of crazy-ass stuff there, especially magical stuff, and they have whole continents devoted to emulating real world cultures.

I would say the big point of differentiation is the Hollow World and the overall lighter tone than other settings. (And, arguably, the Immortals, but they have the same level of impact on a low level game as the gods of other settings do -- not at all -- so I think that's a lot less important than it's sometimes made out to be.)

 

[PolterGhost]

From what I know about Mystara, it's a great setting if you like speculative and pulp fiction, especially with the world inside the world that is Hollow Earth which radiates some pretty cool Jules Verne vibes.

 

[ProfessorCirno]

It had two kicking rad arcade games

 

[VGmaster9]

Now it really does sound interesting to me. I bet a 4e version of it would sound pretty interesting, just as long as it also uses Hollow Earth.