Regular readers will have surmised that my current fantasy setting is our homebrew Mistamyr. Over the past two weeks, I’ve been working hard to get our first games off the ground while building on the seeds sown in earlier sessions.
Coming To Mistamyr
On April 1st, on a whim, the Friday Night Roleplayers took their first steps into the world of Mistamyr when we played the First Adventure from the 1983 Red Box edition of Dungeons & Dragons. The following week, excited by the experience, I wrote about stocking Level 2 of the same dungeon. On April 15th, we had the second session and again some heroes stepped into the halls of Castle Mistamyr. That was when I drew the first map of the setting, the area around Woodfell, using Richard LeBlanc’s “d30 Sandbox Companion” as my template.
The following couple of weeks saw me solo playing through the same dungeon using characters from Classic Fantasy and discovering how well Mythras‘ supplement can emulate the old school Dungeons & Dragons experience. Alongside this, the Friday Night Roleplayers returned to the previous Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition game I was running, leaving Mistamyr behind… for a time. A foray into Hârn followed.
By the time we got to August it was clear to me that I wanted to play old school fantasy in Mistamyr. In truth, I wanted to play something that would be satisfying as Dungeon Master. The last time I’d felt that was while playing Classic Fantasy solo in Castle Mistamyr. Yet, my group wanted to play Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition… so, if you look at past posts, you can see me begin to plan such a game using that system. I charged into some solo games using 5e and returned to the setting.
The Fire Citadel and Woodfell Reborn
On August 12th, I decided to design my own mega-dungeon around which to inspire some old school play using Dungeons & Dragons. The Fire Citadel of the Dragon Kings fired my imagination and provided an impetus to play. In that blog post you can also see my re-designed local area map for Woodfell. From there, the blog went quiet until my solo post about Goriel Swiftfoot’s first burglary.
The area map for Woodfell.
What is not generally known is how Woodfell itself got an overhaul. Following my experiences with Hârn, I grabbed a village map from one of the many fan supplements and used that as the basis for Woodfell in the adventure I ran both at school and with the Friday Night Roleplayers – “The Lost Tomb of the Dragon Knights” – which was also heavily based on Matt Colville’s excellent Running the Game series from YouTube. I’d posted about this on August 10th, decisions I’d taken just prior to beginning to design the Fire Citadel.
When the Friday Night Roleplayers ran through The Lost Tomb adventure, they used new pre-generated Dungeons & Dragons characters… all, that is, except one player who created Glar for himself. The three players in attendance had a hoot and I was further encouraged to develop my own setting material. Thus, their play inspired the decision on August 12th.
Then I wrote my apologia.
Mistamyr Awakes!
Although we lost one of our best players when I took the decision to play using Classic Fantasy, a moment that deeply affects me even now, it was the other players who very generously encouraged me to do so. September 11th was the big day for Mistamyr and for me as Dungeon Master because this was when four players shrugged and said, “OK”.
Since then I’ve been writing almost non-stop. I have two major adventure strands under development: the original Fire Citadel mega-dungeon, which we have begun to investigate; I’m also designing a second adventure set in the village of Anminster. This has all been further encouraged by Classic Fantasy author Rodney Leary’s generous words and kind support.
I’ve re-written the “On To Orc Tower” adventure, which forms the first part of the investigation focused on “The Fire Citadel of the Dragon Kings”, and began play last week with the Friday Night Roleplayers. That had been loads of fun to prepare, with player investigation already beginning to shape the adventure further.
Work in progress on the Mistamyr regional map.
I’ve started to re-draw the regional map for Mistamyr, which you can see has a distinctly old school style. Alongside this I’ve drawn my first ever village map for Anminster and sketched out the beginnings of an adventure set down there. This being a sandbox campaign setting, I’ve made sure to clearly locate the earlier Castle Mistamyr and Lost Tombs adventure sites on the maps. I’m aiming to open up more of the map as we play, along with rumours to tempt the adventurers further afield.
The Play’s The Thing
Going forward, the play will determine the direction of things in Mistamyr. For example, we’ve already added some unique details from the pen of Aoth’s player on the topic of the local barbarian tribes. As the chaps explore the setting, they’ll ask questions and suggest answers which will further help define the details.
Does anything lie beneath the surface of Orc Tower? A player’s simple question might have any number of answers… perhaps even a “yes!”
For the Dungeon Master, the real joy of design comes from seeing the interaction of that design with the players. Will they delve into the Fire Citadel? Will they choose to ignore or explore the tales of Anminster? Or will they do something else?
Game on!
