# Mystara Collector's Guide



## Echohawk (Feb 14, 2011)

The Mystara Collector's Guide has moved to the ENWorld wiki.


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## crazy_monkey1956 (Feb 14, 2011)

Awesome, as always.  

I'm wondering if the Thunder Rift stuff should be separated out into its own subcategory, though.  It is its own distinct mini-setting, though connected to Mystara.


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## Deuce Traveler (Feb 14, 2011)

Great job! I love me some Mystara.


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## Whizbang Dustyboots (Feb 15, 2011)

crazy_monkey1956 said:


> Awesome, as always.
> 
> I'm wondering if the Thunder Rift stuff should be separated out into its own subcategory, though.  It is its own distinct mini-setting, though connected to Mystara.



Thunder Rift seems so ripe for WotC to bring back as a great modular starter setting. Baffling that they haven't, either for 3E or 4E.


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## GreyLord (Feb 15, 2011)

Even after all this time I find something new occasionally.  I didn't realize the Endless quest books occurred in Mystara.  How did you confirm all of those were in Mystara?

Something I didn't know.


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## jonesy (Feb 15, 2011)

Wasn't the D&D RTS made by SSI, Stronghold ('the Kingdom Simulator'), supposedly set in Mystara? It's been way too long since I played it.


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## Echohawk (Feb 15, 2011)

crazy_monkey1956 said:


> I'm wondering if the Thunder Rift stuff should be separated out into its own subcategory, though.  It is its own distinct mini-setting, though connected to Mystara.



Hmmm... I'm not sure there was enough Thunder Rift content to warrant a subcategory. That would basically be the Challenger line, minus _Wrath of the Immortals_, _Creature Catalog_ and _Champions of Mystara_, I think.


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## Echohawk (Feb 15, 2011)

GreyLord said:


> Even after all this time I find something new occasionally.  I didn't realize the Endless quest books occurred in Mystara.  How did you confirm all of those were in Mystara?



I didn't! Those fall firmly in the category of "stuff that just has a D&D logo on it". As I mentioned in the blurb at the beginning, I decided to included those items in this Guide, even though they didn't necessarily have anything to do with Mystara. That said, they _might_ be set in Mystara. I admit that I wasn't diligent enough to check that when making the Guide. I'm not sure most of them have enough setting information in them to establish which world they take place in.


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## Echohawk (Feb 15, 2011)

jonesy said:


> Wasn't the D&D RTS made by SSI, Stronghold ('the Kingdom Simulator'), supposedly set in Mystara? It's been way too long since I played it.



It might have been, but I didn't find any indication that that was the case when researching this Guide (and I don't own the game). If you can find any corroborating evidence that it's set in Mystara, I'll happily add it to the list


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## samursus (Feb 15, 2011)

jonesy said:


> Wasn't the D&D RTS made by SSI, Stronghold ('the Kingdom Simulator'), supposedly set in Mystara? It's been way too long since I played it.




You must be another Mystara true-believer.  I was thinking the same thing when I was looking at the Computer Games section.

OP: I am 99% sure Stronghold is based on Mystara (the other %1 would be only based on the BECMI rules, which I know is a fact)


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## Echohawk (Feb 15, 2011)

samursus said:


> OP: I am 99% sure Stronghold is based on Mystara (the other %1 would be only based on the BECMI rules, which I know is a fact)



Fair enough -- _Stronghold_ has been added to the list


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## havard (Feb 15, 2011)

Excellent work!

Some more magazine articles that could be included:

Dragon # 315 Hollow World, Red Steel, Blackmoor and Cynidicea
Dragon # 318 Children of Ka (Hollow World article)
Dragon # 323 Ecology of the Choker.
Dragon # 325 Winning Races: Lupins. Bringing Lupins into 3.5E.
Dragon # 327 Winning Races: Diaboli. Bringing Diaboli into 3.5E.
Dragon # 339 Dusanu, Nagpa and Phanaton.
Dragon # 343 Nuckalavee and Malfera.

Dungeon #114 Torrents of Dread
Dungeon #142 Cynicidea 
Dungeon #144 Bargle the Infamous
Dungeon #150 Kill Bargle

I have a list of more 3E/4E era products which have relevance for Mystara here, but I guess I can't claim them to be actual Mystara products.

-Havard


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## rogueattorney (Feb 15, 2011)

This is confusing stuff and emblematic of how poorly TSR marketed the D&D line in the early and mid-'90s, so please bear with me...

The Thunder Rift line is _NOT_ the Challenger Series.  The "Challenger Series" was the name given to the continuing line of Rules Cyclopedia support.  The Thunder Rift line was the Beginners Series, which was the new series to support the Black Box Basic set.

Part way into the production of the "Beginner Series" products, TSR realized that it didn't mesh well with the Known World (as it was still known then) and began to publish the Thunder Rift products.  Thus, the first couple Beginner Series products were set in Karameikos.  Then the Dragon's Den boxed set is set in a thinly disguised Karameikos.  And everything else went into Thunder Rift.

You can tell "Beginner Series" products by the shield in the lower right or left hand corner of the cover.  The emblem on the shield shows whether it's an adventure, supplement, or play aid.  

See DD4 The Dymrak Dread as an example.

You can tell the "Challenger Series" products by the blue banner with the words "Challenger Series" behind the ampersand in the D&D logo.

See PC4 Night Howlers as an example.

The Beginner/Challenger split only lasted about 18 months before both series were canceled and TSR stopped supporting the D&D line, with Mystara being ported over as a 2e setting.


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## samursus (Feb 15, 2011)

Echohawk said:


> Fair enough -- _Stronghold_ has been added to the list




 Well... I guess the memory isn't as good as it used to be.  After finding a copy of the game manual, I have discovered there is NO setting information in it.  So, your original supposition was correct, again... my bad.


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## havard (Feb 15, 2011)

samursus said:


> Well... I guess the memory isn't as good as it used to be.  After finding a copy of the game manual, I have discovered there is NO setting information in it.  So, your original supposition was correct, again... my bad.




It has the Classic D&D logo, which qualified many other products above for this list. 

-Havard


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## havard (Feb 16, 2011)

I thought I owned all the Mystara books,  but this thread proves otherwise! 

-Havard,
off to spend more money!


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## Echohawk (Feb 16, 2011)

havard said:


> Some more magazine articles that could be included:



Thanks for all of those -- they've been added.



rogueattorney said:


> This is confusing stuff and emblematic of how poorly TSR marketed the D&D line in the early and mid-'90s, so please bear with me...



Thanks for the explanation and you are right, that was confusing. I had a hard time sorting those out with all the products sitting in a pile in front of me. I've rearranged the list slightly to eliminate "Challenger" completely as a series, and as an added bonus, there's now a "Thunder Rift setting" heading as crazy_monkey1956 suggested 

Aside to havard: Do you have any idea who I could speak to nicely over at The Piazza to get the copy/pastes of the Collector's Guides removed? I certainly don't mind them being linked to, but I agreed with Morrus that I'd make these Guides an ENWorld exclusive, so I'm a little uncomfortable with the fact that many of them appear to have been copied over in their entirety. Apart from anything else, that means the copied version are drifting slowly out of date, since I've been regularly updating the original versions to fix errors and add things as I research other Collector's Guides.


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## havard (Feb 18, 2011)

Echohawk said:


> Aside to havard: Do you have any idea who I could speak to nicely over at The Piazza to get the copy/pastes of the Collector's Guides removed? I certainly don't mind them being linked to, but I agreed with Morrus that I'd make these Guides an ENWorld exclusive, so I'm a little uncomfortable with the fact that many of them appear to have been copied over in their entirety. Apart from anything else, that means the copied version are drifting slowly out of date, since I've been regularly updating the original versions to fix errors and add things as I research other Collector's Guides.




I will let them know 

-Havard


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## Echohawk (Feb 18, 2011)

havard said:


> I will let them know



Much obliged. I do have a registration for the Piazza boards sitting in someone's queue, but it seems to be in limbo at the moment.


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## havard (Feb 18, 2011)

Echohawk said:


> Much obliged. I do have a registration for the Piazza boards sitting in someone's queue, but it seems to be in limbo at the moment.





How long since you registered? Our dear admin had some R/W issues to take care of, but she is back now. If its a couple of weeks back, I would suggest registering again. 

-Havard


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## Echohawk (Feb 18, 2011)

havard said:


> How long since you registered? Our dear admin had some R/W issues to take care of, but she is back now. If its a couple of weeks back, I would suggest registering again.



Not so long ago, maybe a day or three.


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## Nebten (Feb 18, 2011)

What exactly are these types of files within the .zip?

Shadow Elves: The Official DM Book for the D&D Game (1995)
Shadow Elves: The Official Player's Book for the D&D Game (1995)


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## Echohawk (Feb 18, 2011)

Nebten said:


> What exactly are these types of files within the .zip?



I'm not sure, but if you just change the file extension to ".txt" you should be able to open them just fine. (At least, that's what worked for me.)


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## havard (Feb 18, 2011)

Nebten said:


> What exactly are these types of files within the .zip?
> 
> Shadow Elves: The Official DM Book for the D&D Game (1995)
> Shadow Elves: The Official Player's Book for the D&D Game (1995)





IIRC Those are text files (txt) containing the text from from the Gazetteer.

-Havard


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## crazy_monkey1956 (Feb 20, 2011)

Going through the list and I noticed the 1999 D&D Adventure Game was included.

Are you aware of the related Fast Play supplements?

D&D Fast Play Rules
Eye of the Wyvern
Wrath of the Minotaur
Crypt of the Smoke Dragon

As I recall, the rules of these and the '99 D&D Adventure Game were derived from the AD&D 2nd Edition rules, not the OD&D/BECMI rules.  They also had a relatively self-contained setting, though I don't recall the details.


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## havard (Feb 20, 2011)

crazy_monkey1956 said:


> Going through the list and I noticed the 1999 D&D Adventure Game was included.
> 
> Are you aware of the related Fast Play supplements?
> 
> ...





The fact that it was derived from 2e rather than BECMI makes it more removed from Mystara IMO. The setting is calle *the Vale.* I tried to connect it to Thunder Rift at one point, but I am not sure if that was a good idea or not...

-Havard


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## Echohawk (Feb 21, 2011)

crazy_monkey1956 said:


> Are you aware of the related Fast Play supplements?



Yes, in addition to those four, there was also a Diablo II edition of the Fast-Play game, a PDF-only D&D: The Movie Fast Play release and _Caves of Shadow_ which isn't labeled as "Fast Play" on the cover, but talks about itself as "fast-play" inside. (The last two were loosely based on the 3.0 rules, and were included in the 3rd Edition Collector's Guide.)



> As I recall, the rules of these and the '99 D&D Adventure Game were derived from the AD&D 2nd Edition rules, not the OD&D/BECMI rules.  They also had a relatively self-contained setting, though I don't recall the details.



Ah, yes, the 1998-1999 period where WotC had decided to merge D&D and AD&D under one "D&D" brand but hadn't yet fully committed to it .

The 1999 D&D boxed set would definitely fit better as an offshoot of AD&D2 than BECMI D&D. (Trivia: It's also the only D&D product to include "Vampire, Lesser" as a creature, as well as the "Xvarg". In case you are wondering, xvargs are exactly the same as xvarts, just spelled differently, because, hey, that's a word than needs fewer common letters...)

That boxed set might well move into the "Miscellaneous" section of guide #20, when I get that far.


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## havard (Feb 26, 2011)

You list Pandius.com as the official fan website. Might it also make sense to include the Mystara Forum at the Piazza, as that is sanctioned by Pandius? 



			
				Vaults of Pandius said:
			
		

> You may become a part of the process by joining in on discussions at the Mystara Message Boards, on the Mystara Mailing List or in a more active forum at The Piazza.




-Havard


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## havard (Oct 29, 2011)

Didnt this list originally include Endless Quest books?

Vanishing City by Allen Varney, is based on module M4.

-Havard


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## Echohawk (Oct 29, 2011)

havard said:


> Didnt this list originally include Endless Quest books?



It may have done.  A few months ago, I moved a few miscellaneous D&D items that don't have anything to do with Mystara into the 20th Collector's Guide (which I haven't yet published). I don't remember offhand if that included the _Endless Quest_ books, but that's where those are now.

I'll take a closer look at _Vanishing City_ shortly. I only recently completed my set of EQ books, and that was one of the last ones I picked up!


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## Alzrius (Oct 29, 2011)

I doubt this is enough for inclusion, but the AD&D 2E product _Warriors of Heaven_ had an appendix where it listed a large number of good and neutral deities from various campaign settings that were appropriate for a celestial to serve/worship.

Among these were the Immortals from Mystara, translated into AD&D deities.

It's a small reference, but perhaps not an unimportant one.


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## AdmundfortGeographer (Oct 29, 2011)

I'd think that qualifies!


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## Big Mac (Mar 4, 2012)

Echohawk said:


> crazy_monkey1956 said:
> 
> 
> > Awesome, as always.
> ...




There is enough Thunder Rift content to warrant a Thunder Rift subforum at The Piazza. That should be enough to keep a TR fan happy. 



Alzrius said:


> I doubt this is enough for inclusion, but the AD&D 2E product _Warriors of Heaven_ had an appendix where it listed a large number of good and neutral deities from various campaign settings that were appropriate for a celestial to serve/worship.
> 
> Among these were the Immortals from Mystara, translated into AD&D deities.
> 
> It's a small reference, but perhaps not an unimportant one.




I think that qualifies too. I think that core books with multi-setting support are far more important to collectors that generic books.

On another note, I see that some, but not all First Quest products are not here and think that the rest should be looked at. The First Quest CD boxed set is something I know about (as it has a Spelljammer/Mystara link to it) but there are also a couple more novels that you have not listed.

EDIT: Actually you have the other three First Quest novels, but have them under the heading "Quest Triad". Maybe they should be listed as "First Quest: Quest Triad", as they have the First Quest logo on them and Quest Triad is in much smaller text. I think that Quest Triad is just the name of the trillogy.


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## Echohawk (Mar 5, 2012)

Big Mac said:


> On another note, I see that some, but not all First Quest products are not here and think that the rest should be looked at. The First Quest CD boxed set is something I know about (as it has a Spelljammer/Mystara link to it) but there are also a couple more novels that you have not listed.



Is there Mystara specific content in the _First Quest_ set? First Quest is based on the the AD&D rule-set rather than D&D, but if it has Mystara content, it should be listed here too.



> EDIT: Actually you have the other three First Quest novels, but have them under the heading "Quest Triad". Maybe they should be listed as "First Quest: Quest Triad", as they have the First Quest logo on them and Quest Triad is in much smaller text. I think that Quest Triad is just the name of the trillogy.



Good suggestion, I'll fix that next time this one gets an update.


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## Alzrius (Mar 5, 2012)

I haven't read my old _First Quest_ boxed set in years, but while one of its four adventures was a Spelljammer one, I don't recall anything _Mystara_-specific in it.


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## havard (Mar 6, 2012)

Echohawk said:


> Is there Mystara specific content in the _First Quest_ set? First Quest is based on the the AD&D rule-set rather than D&D, but if it has Mystara content, it should be listed here too.




Yes it does: The Piazza • View topic - First Quest Boxed Set

Even the Spelljammer Adventure mentioned by Alzrius starts on Mystara. 



-Havard


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## havard (Mar 6, 2012)

You might also be interested in this list of Mystara related products in the 3E/4E/Pathfinder era.

-Havard


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## havard (Mar 25, 2013)

*bump*

While we have to wait until June, Chronicles of Mystara has been announced. It is effectively an updated version of  the two arcade games Tower of Doom and Shadow over Mystara, but it seems there is enough added material to consider it a separate product, at least in terms of the product list. 



-Havard


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## Echohawk (Mar 25, 2013)

Thanks, I've already added that to my local version of this Guide 

I'm generally updating the Collector's Guides on the ENWorld wiki about once a week with new additions, but my local copies change almost every day!


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## Calion (Aug 5, 2017)

Delete this post


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## NeVeRLiFt (Sep 3, 2017)

Is the link not working right now?


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## Echohawk (Sep 3, 2017)

NeVeRLiFt said:


> Is the link not working right now?




All the Collector's Guide links were broken during the last Wiki upgrade, and I haven't yet tracked down and fixed them all. The Mystera Collector's Guide seems to be available here though.


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## Morrus (Sep 3, 2017)

Echohawk said:


> All the Collector's Guide links were broken during the last Wiki upgrade, and I haven't yet tracked down and fixed them all. The Mystera Collector's Guide seems to be available here though.




Oh, sorry - I didn't realise. There's probably a quick way to fix them all. I'll take a look!


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## Thorf (May 18, 2018)

Echohawk — thanks for putting this wonderful guide together. While I've seen many over the years, this is the first that includes release months for almost every product. I find this especially useful, because I haven't been able to source the release months for many of the early D&D releases, especially those from 1981-1985. May I ask where you found this information? It would be even more useful if you could detail the sources.

Thanks!


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## Echohawk (May 23, 2018)

Thorf said:


> Echohawk — thanks for putting this wonderful guide together. While I've seen many over the years, this is the first that includes release months for almost every product. I find this especially useful, because I haven't been able to source the release months for many of the early D&D releases, especially those from 1981-1985. May I ask where you found this information? It would be even more useful if you could detail the sources.



One of my major regrets from the time I spent compiling the Collector's Guides is that I didn't document the sources of all of the release dates better. In general the priority order for setting those was: 1. TSR catalogs. 2. Dragon Magazine previews/adverts/mentions. 3. Any online sources including the US copyright office records of publication date. 4. My own notes and records of when I added items to my collection. 5. Guesswork.

The early eighties are a particularly tricky period as TSR didn't release annual catalogs as reliably as they did from the mid-80s onward, but those releases are late enough in the D&D lifespan that there is less interest in documenting release dates on online fans sites. (The Acaeum does a great job of dating the first ten years of releases, for example.)

So, all that said, I'm confident that the release dates in the Collector's Guides are about 90% accurate. Where they are not, dates are unlikely to be out by more than a month. But alas I didn't keep good enough records of where I sourced each product's release dates to now be sure exactly which dates are confirmed and which ones are educated guesses.

My second major regret is that I haven't been properly maintaining these for the last five years, and they have become a little stale, and also don't include all of the late 4th edition and 5th edition mentions of all of the campaign settings. I could really use an extended sabbatical from work to revamp them all, but that's not likely to happen soon .


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## TBeholder (May 24, 2018)

Some of this stuff is on Pandius. Including "En Garde!" article.


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## stanles (May 27, 2018)

hello Echohawk

My name is Shawn Stanley, I run the Vaults of Pandius, the official website of the D&D of Mystara.  It was recently pointed out in on of the Mystara Facebook groups that I should host a copy of your Mystara Collector's Guide, http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?332819-Mystara-Collector-s-Guide, on the Vaults.  Since I have a history of extracting things from places like The Piazza or Facebook for the Vaults, and I do not have a history of using the ENWorld forums, I like to reach out to people before doing that.

Therefore, would you be okay for me to host a copy of the Mystara Collector's Guide on the Vaults?

cheers
shawn


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## Echohawk (May 28, 2018)

stanles said:


> Therefore, would you be okay for me to host a copy of the Mystara Collector's Guide on the Vaults?



You're welcome to host a copy on the Vaults. I will make a mental note to let you know as and when I finally get around to updating it with late 4e/5e mentions of Mystara.


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## stanles (Jun 10, 2018)

Echohawk said:


> You're welcome to host a copy on the Vaults. I will make a mental note to let you know as and when I finally get around to updating it with late 4e/5e mentions of Mystara.




thanks Echohawk


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