Champions of Mystara - Preview Thread

[Grandraem]

This is a preview thread I'm starting for my Champions of Mystara mod.

I'll answer first a few quick questions that might be asked:

Is this mod based on the Dungeons and Dragons world of Mystara?
- Yes

Is this a modification of or scenario based on tjedge's Mystara mod?
- Except for the identical world on which it is based, no.

Why bother making a Mystara mod when one already exists?
- I started this mod long before I even joined CFC. It is based on my personal view of how the world of Mystara works and looks. It began as a personal mod for my friends and I because I thought, at the time, that it would be too large to even upload here. With the advent of the Warhammer mod and other huge mods, I discovered that I would be able to upload it here. Even though tjedge's mod was then under development, I wished to make the mod to my personal view of Mystara, and offer an alternative D&D Mystara mod for anyone who wishes to try it. I also owe it to the wonderful people that have created requests of mine to bring it to the CFC community which have helped me create this mod.

Why did it take so long? Is it an enormous mod?
- Although it will be a decent size, the majority of the reason it took so long was the interference of personal life with work on the mod, and an addiction to Final Fantasy XI However, the mod has been restarted and restructured many times to its more final form on which I am now working.

Will I need to know all about D&D (Dungeons and Dragons) and the world of Mystara to play?
Hopefully not. Each nation in the world of Mystara is usually based either heavily or loosely on a real world nation or culture. It is possible to get a feel of the civilization just by looking at their leader, the city names, and civilopedia entry, by relating it to a real world country. Also, I have already included much in the civilopedia about Mystara, its other dimensions and planes of existence, and the immortals. Finally, the mod takes place at the beginning of civilization, so you won't just be thrown in with units you won't know how to use.

Will it have a predesigned map, or random maps?
To enable as much playability as possible, I chose to have a random map to start. I am hoping after the release of that, to work on scenarios with designed maps. The scenarios I'm hoping to create would be a 'Known World' map, a Glantri scenario, and a 'Test of the Warlords' scenario. I'll get into further detail on these when I'm ready to work on them though.

I hope all further questions will be answered as I add previews. They will be added from time to time, starting with the preview of civs below. Of course I welcome constructive criticism of anything previewed, as long as it is constructive.

 

[Grandraem]

Here are all 31 civs. This may change ever so slightly if I feel that sufficient graphics exist to create civs I would like to possibly add as replacements.

The leaders are:
Margrave Miosz II, representing the City-States
Pharoah Ramenhotep XXIII of Thothia
Emperor Thincol I of Thyatis
Tayma Yetunde of Ulimwengu
High Cleric Wulf von Klagendorf of the Heldann Freeholds
King Doriath Erendyl of Alfheim
Baron Jorge de Vilaverde of Vilaverde, representing the Savage Baronies
King Thar of the Broken Lands
King Sigismund III the Great of Eusdria
Prince Etienne d'Ambreville of the Principalities of Glantri
Rajadhiraja Chandra ul Nervi of Sind
Master Hosadus of Hule
Empress Eriadna of Alphatia
Archduke Nurikidu Nuar of the Pearl Islands
Chieftainess Eleya Moonstalker of the Atruaghin Clans
Sheriff Jaervosz Dustyboots of the Five Shires
Golden Khan Moglai of the Ethengar Khanates
Chancellor Corwyn Mauntea of Darokin
King Hord Dark-Eye of Ostland
Jarl Ragnar the Stout of the Soderfjord Jarldoms
Wizard-King Gylharen of Wendar
Sultan Mohammed al-Kalim of the Emirates of Ylaruam
King Everast XV of Rockhome
Archduke Teng Lin-Dieu of Ochalea
King Harald Gudmundson of Vestland
Shadow Lord Landryn Teriak of Denagoth
King Ericall of Norwold
Guild Master Oran Meditor of the Minrothad Guilds
Duke Stephan Karameikos of Karameikos
Mokuba Jibada Yavswano of the Serene Divinarchy of Yavdlom
King Palfrit of Ierendi

 

[Stormrage]

Woooohooo!!! Another fantasy mod! Thanks! I have very limited (or better say non-existing) knowledge of modding, can you please tell me what is that placeholder thingy? Is that a WC orc? Does it mean its just there untill something better comes around? Thanks in advance.

 

[Spacer One]

what is that placeholder thingy?Does it mean its just there untill something better comes around?

Yes...

Also "whoo hoo" Im glad people havent given up on fantasy MODs
...This will definately see play time...

 

[Grandraem]

I was using a poor quality Warcraft animation for my orc leader, King Thar, which I converted to flc. However, the animation isn't very good and Blizzard is against any of their graffics being used for this website. Also, R8XFT was creating a King Thar leaderhead for tjedge for his Mystara mod. This picture is just a 'placeholder' for R8XFT's leaderhead when it's done. There is an orc leaderhead already created based on the LOTR orcs, but in my opinion it doesn't look anything like the King Thar of Mystara does, so I am waiting for R8XFTs, which is more suitable.

 

[Stormrage]

Yeah, I sent a PM to R8XFT about a month ago, asking him if he could finish that one when he gets the time, the WH mod desperatly needs a different orc head also.

 

[Grandraem]

These are the technologies for most of the civs. There will be slight variations for certain civs such as the orcs. They're still missing the arrows showing what leads to what, and most units and buildings aren't on there, but it'll give you an idea of the finished tree. Sorry for the poor quality of the pics.

The eras, in order, are:
Post-Blackmoor Era
Era of Magic
The Companion Age
The Age of Immortals

 

[WildWeazel]

This looks good already. I'll definitely try it.

 

[Stormrage]

Yeah, well, another WOOOHOOOO from me
"Very good. Very nice." - to be pronounced like Apu from the Simpsons

 

[Grandraem]

The mod will be able to be played as usual, with or without King units. However, D&D campaigns, no matter how detailed the campaign worlds are, revolve around the players and their nations. I chose to make this mod's King game as if they are D&D players. As a result, each nations' 'King' will be upgradeable a few times throughout the technology tree, representing the characters 'gaining levels' and growing in power. This will make an early king easily threatened by a minor opponent, but as the king grows in power (upgrades), he will be harder to kill.

Also to represent more the idea that each nation is lead by a hero, the Spaceship Victory is replaced with the Quest for Immortality. A civilization wins if their leader achieves Immortality. In the original rules D&D, characters that reached near or to maximum level (level 36) could go on a long and difficult journey, with many tasks and dangers, in an attempt to please an immortal sponsor. If the character pleases the immortal, they are eventually able to themselves become immortal. There is a difference with what I am able to do in Civ III. Instead of an individual character facing tasks and completing trials, it will be represented by the Civilization completing the ten prerequisites to achieving immortality. The ten spaceship parts are replaced by:
1. Selecting the sphere of power/choosing an immortal sponsor
2. Obtaining a gift for the immortal sponsor.
3. A test of dedication to the sphere of power.
4. A test of Bravery
5. A test of Wisdom
6. Petitioning the immortal.
7. The Quest
8. The Trial
9. The Testimony
10. The Task

This may sound a little confusing for now, but hopefully it will be understandable through the civilopedia.

Here is a pic of how it will look. Obviously some things still need changing, such as labels and such, but it is generally all there. Each of the 10 things to complete above is represented on the spaceship screen by a picture.

 

[Grandraem]

I've added 2 questions and answers to the first post and put in the list of rulers on the second post.

Thanks for the support so far.

 

[WildWeazel]

that spaceship screen looks amazing!

 

[Stormrage]

...my head hurts... fantasy overload...I...I....I love it! Oh man, I can`t wait for this to come out!

Rajadhiraja Chandra ul Nervi of Hule

... ?....slow down your typing

Aslo, that soderfjord dude...isn`t he supposed to be more like norse? I know nothing of the D&D world (but my axe learns quickly ) but his name sounds nordic to me... and he doesn`t quite look that way... maybe its just me...or maybe you should check out R8XFT`s LHs for his AD mod

 

[flamescreen]

Your mod looks like it will be highly commented.
Great initial concept. Let's hope the materialisation will be as good as you wish it.

 

[Grandraem]

Thanks.

I'm hoping it can turn out as I wish it. Stormrage, that first title and name are correct. About the leader of Soderfjord, I admit he's not ideal, but I felt he was the closest leaderhead that I was comfortable using. Obviously, I'm perfectly fine with changing him if I find something that I think suits better. Even Vestland is supposed to be more norse, but I didn't feel as though there were enough leaderheads that suited the profiles of how the leaders are supposed to look. As for Anno Domini, I was hesitant to use any of the leaderheads from that mod to replace any here at least for a while, as I know R8XFT's hard work on that mod leads to an understandable preference of his that units and leaderheads not be used for a little bit so that his mod had something new and different upon its release, and not every mod using the leaders or units just yet. How's that for a run-on sentence. There are however, quite a few leaderheads I'm using that I don't think are perfectly suitable, and before the mod is released I would like to replace them if possible. If you have and suggestions for replacing Ragnar or any leader just let me know which ones and I'll look into it.

 

[Stormrage]

King Sigismund III the Great of Eusdria
Prince Etienne d'Ambreville of the Principalities of Glantri
Rajadhiraja Chandra ul Nervi of Hule
Empress Eriadna of Alphatia
Archduke Nurikidu Nuar of the Pearl Islands

Rajadhiraja Chandra ul Nervi of Hule - !!!!
It should be Rajadhiraja Chandra ul Nervi of Sind, and Master Hosadus of Hule.

And for R8XFT...he did give the writen permission for his units to be used in the WH mod straight away... dunno bout the LHs..
You mean if I have suggestions that aren`t related to Rob`s work or? Cause if I can suggest his work, then I suggest the Norse dude for one of the norse type civs...

 

[Rob (R8XFT)]

To clarify, any artwork from Anno Domini can be used - I'd be delighted to see it used elsewhere. I had requested that the playtesters didn't use any graphics whilst it was still in production, but now it's been released, use whatever you want .

 

[Plotinus]

This looks an excellent mod. The choice of LHs is really good, and that "Quest" victory screen seems splendid. If the rest of the mod is as well thought-out as these it should be one to watch for. I haven't played Tjedge's Mystara mod (in fact I know nothing of Mystara), although I keep meaning to. As far as I know, Lord of the Rings is the only non-historical setting to have received multiple mod treatments so far (although there are probably various Star Wars ones, but I haven't been counting), so Mystara is clearly heading "up there"... How far advanced is the mod, and how much work is there still to do? Will it have a set map or be random map?

 

[Stormrage]

Yeah well, I can just see this is gonna

I`m all about it,

,

 

[Grandraem]

Stormrage, now I see what you mean. You're right. I edited the leader list.

R8XFT, thanks for the permission, I'd love to use stuff from Anno Domini.

Plotinus, the mod is pretty much fully planned. I have all the units, buildings, wonders, etc. all written down and set up on research notes and papers. It took me a long time after that just to sort through all the many, many graphics I've downloaded from CFC. Now I am starting to add all the units to the editor slowly, followed by the buildings and wonders. As I said, they are all planned already, it just will take me time to double check ini files, add and test units, and add civilopedia entries. As for the maps, I added an answer to that in the first post.