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Fat Dutchman
Acolyte
USA
7 Posts |
 Posted - 31 Mar 2004 : 04:10:49
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I'm seeking the help of more learned scribes. I've been running the realms since it was first introduced and have now run into a proverbial brick wall. My intrepid adventurers have decided to follow the lure of gold to fabled Maztica. Unfortunatley it seems that the entire continent has been lost. The last significant mention of it is in "Lands of Intrigue" as far as my research shows. Does anyone have any ideas on where to find new material? It doesn't even have to be cannon
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Zimeros
Learned Scribe
Brazil
121 Posts |
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Fat Dutchman
Acolyte
USA
7 Posts |
Posted - 01 Apr 2004 : 00:16:52
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Thanks Zimeros,
This is much appreciated. I have all the printed material that is out there including "Lands of Intrigue". Any ideas or suggestions you have would be welcomed, I'm all out of ideas myself. Its been a month since the adventurers have landed in New Waterdeep and they are chomping at the bit to move on. Unfortunatley I am stumped as to how to proceed next as they want to travel into Old Payit and establish viable trade routes. |
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Steven Schend
Forgotten Realms Designer & Author
USA
1715 Posts |
Posted - 01 Apr 2004 : 17:04:53
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quote:
Originally posted by Fat Dutchman
Thanks Zimeros,
This is much appreciated. I have all the printed material that is out there including "Lands of Intrigue". Any ideas or suggestions you have would be welcomed, I'm all out of ideas myself. Its been a month since the adventurers have landed in New Waterdeep and they are chomping at the bit to move on. Unfortunatley I am stumped as to how to proceed next as they want to travel into Old Payit and establish viable trade routes.
Well, let's see about some brainstorming then....
Rereading what was left as notes for development on The Borderlands around New Waterdeep, here's some new ideas that spring to mind.
A) Depending on how the PCs got to New waterdeep, their captain or the person responsible for getting them there needs a favor; s/he wants them to help the family clear and make defensible one of the first noble estates located a short area outside the stockaded walls of New Waterdeep. The PCs can either help with construction or at least spend the next month or so patrolling the outer jungles around this area to make sure the workmen don't get attacked.
B) Orist Moonbow, assuming the PCs make themselves known as heroes of mettle, hires them to help him watch and capture a group of people recenly arrived from the old world. They're agents of the Arcane Brotherhood (but allegedly traders for the High Captains) of Luskan, and he as a Harper needs their help before they plunder old burial sites or disturb some ancient magics in the jungle to the west.
C) A trio of scholar-monks of Deneir, Oghma, and Mystra want the PCs to provide protection and help them explore and discover more about Maztica, its religions, and its magics. If you've got some players looking for love, make them too attractive to resist.
D) If they want to establish trade routes, that's fine, but the nobles already there will either seek only to hire them as labor to slash away the jungle and/or lay down corduroy road or they'll look to hinder the PCs in all ways (not the least would include character assassination). The town elders/rulers and the Lords will not rock the boat too much, as it relies more heavily on the four families to keep the place alive and will not cross them openly.
E) There's much pressure on the PCs to move more slowly (from any allies including those among the nobles) and to learn how life is here first. While many resist these upstarts wanting to forge straight into the heartblood of the matter, they insist that a cleared and patrolled road between New Waterdeep and Trythosford (and then on to Fort Flame) is vastly more important. And there's a lot of jungle along the way in which a GM can hide many dangers and opportunities.
F) Perhaps the PCs could be hired as caravan guards for one of New Waterdeep's first trade caravans directly with the natives. Send a dozen mules and all the goods they can carry from the mainland into the jungle (can't find Maztica box to suggest nearest native town/village) and try and trade with them. Once they arrive there, a plague has broken out, or Amnian slavers are trying to capture workers and slaughtering others, etc.
G) Just as there are monsters and ancient lurking evils in the wilderness of the North, so should there be within the jungles of Maztica....
That enough ideas to get your campaign rolling? 
Steven |
For current projects and general natter, see www.steveneschend.com
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Fat Dutchman
Acolyte
USA
7 Posts |
Posted - 02 Apr 2004 : 01:54:49
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Steve thanks alot!!
You are a gods send. I hadn't really thought about having the four families throwing monkey wrenches, but you have a great idea in their reaction to compitition to their monopoly. Also I like the idea about finding a plague stricken village. I think I might combine it with the Luskan plot. Have the baddies introduce the disease and see if the PCs can tie it together with what they've heard in New Waterdeep.
Thanks again this definitely adds fuel to the fire |
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Steven Schend
Forgotten Realms Designer & Author
USA
1715 Posts |
Posted - 06 Mar 2005 : 20:44:34
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Was thinking on things Maztican the other day and wondered about making a pitch to DRAGON re: a 3.5 update on Maztica.
I'd prefer to simply do a "fluff" article, bring NPC stories and plots up to speed since LOI, and perhaps look at something new on the Maztican subcontinent.
I expect that they'll want more crunch, ala restatting Maztican magical powers and the animal knights as Prestige Classes et al.
Then again, what if I were to tinker with the old hoary chestnut of the "lost civilization in the jungles" that predates any civilization on Far Payit? Play the tie to the LOST EMPIRES card and suggest/hint that perhaps the Netherese took a sky city this far west and it crashed in the jungle long ago.
Come to think of it, this off-the-cuff discussion could be something. Think there'd be any interest in doing a Maztica/FR spin-off homage to Expedition to the Barrier Peaks in the jungle with magical stuff? If it needed a modern hook/twist/villain, emissaries from Shade and agents of both the Knights of the Shield and the Rundeen are also closing in on this treasure trove of amazing magics.
Just a few stray thoughts on a Sunday as I wax nostalgic and think about random things to do freelance wise.....
SES |
For current projects and general natter, see www.steveneschend.com
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36804 Posts |
Posted - 06 Mar 2005 : 20:47:28
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quote:
Originally posted by Steven Schend
Then again, what if I were to tinker with the old hoary chestnut of the "lost civilization in the jungles" that predates any civilization on Far Payit? Play the tie to the LOST EMPIRES card and suggest/hint that perhaps the Netherese took a sky city this far west and it crashed in the jungle long ago.
Oddly enough, I came up with a similar idea a while ago... I've even posted it here once or twice... Only I was suggesting the Netherese city came down over one of the "unknown" continents, and not Maztica.
Still, it shows that great minds think alike, doesn't it? |
Candlekeep Forums Moderator
Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
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I am the Giant Space Hamster of Ill Omen!  |
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Steven Schend
Forgotten Realms Designer & Author
USA
1715 Posts |
Posted - 08 Mar 2005 : 02:44:27
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quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
quote:
Originally posted by Steven Schend
Then again, what if I were to tinker with the old hoary chestnut of the "lost civilization in the jungles" that predates any civilization on Far Payit? Play the tie to the LOST EMPIRES card and suggest/hint that perhaps the Netherese took a sky city this far west and it crashed in the jungle long ago.
Oddly enough, I came up with a similar idea a while ago... I've even posted it here once or twice... Only I was suggesting the Netherese city came down over one of the "unknown" continents, and not Maztica.
Still, it shows that great minds think alike, doesn't it?
And after a few mindspiders also landed/crashed there, a full-out war among Netherese survivor state/slavers, neogi, and the remnants of the Melairkyn dwarves who thought they'd fled far enough west, who won? |
For current projects and general natter, see www.steveneschend.com
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36804 Posts |
Posted - 08 Mar 2005 : 03:25:00
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quote:
Originally posted by Steven Schend
And after a few mindspiders also landed/crashed there, a full-out war among Netherese survivor state/slavers, neogi, and the remnants of the Melairkyn dwarves who thought they'd fled far enough west, who won?
Ooh... That's a lot more than I thought of! |
Candlekeep Forums Moderator
Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
http://www.candlekeep.com -- Candlekeep Forum Code of Conduct
I am the Giant Space Hamster of Ill Omen! |
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Skeptic
Master of Realmslore
Canada
1273 Posts |
Posted - 13 Mar 2005 : 21:59:08
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I was thinking to make my player's to do a very quick trip in Maztica to capture a NPC who fled there for "saving his life".
Do you think that he could be logicaly possible that someone have build a Portal between Faerūn and Maztica ? Helm's church ? Some traders with an hired spellcaster ?
Reading more on Maztica, I have more question.. I can't find no where the time it would take for a boath to start from Waterdeep and reach New Waterdeep (and same thing from Amn). Also, can anyone go on such journey? Or the nobles houses and church of Helm choose them carefully?
I imagine that if a high-level wizard has been there and return, he could then use teleport magic and sell this service for quite an high price with so much risk getting there in a boat...
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Edited by - Skeptic on 14 Mar 2005 13:37:10 |
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TomCosta
Forgotten Realms Designer
USA
971 Posts |
Posted - 16 Mar 2005 : 21:17:20
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| Didn't the animal knights get written up in Dragon already... And there might have been another Aztec or Maztica article in the last couple years too if memory serves.... |
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Master Sylvius
Acolyte
Canada
3 Posts |
Posted - 12 Dec 2005 : 16:06:28
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Greetings all!
I am hosting a Tethyrian campaing taking place in 1374-75. Do to the instability in Amn, some Tethyrian nobles and merchants have decided to embark on a Maztican venture while Amnians are occupied with their ogre mages.
I would like for my players to visit New Waterdeep (many tethyrian nobles aving links to the City of Splendors and its wealthy families). But I can't seem to find it on my FR-interactive Atlas. Where exactly is it??? |
Age Quod Agis Ab Imo Pectore |
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The Sage
Procrastinator Most High
Australia
31774 Posts |
Posted - 12 Dec 2005 : 16:23:39
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quote:
Originally posted by Master Sylvius
I would like for my players to visit New Waterdeep (many tethyrian nobles aving links to the City of Splendors and its wealthy families). But I can't seem to find it on my FR-interactive Atlas. Where exactly is it???
LoI tells us that it's located farther west, off the Gulf of Kultaka.
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Candlekeep Forums Moderator
Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
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Scribe for the Candlekeep Compendium -- Volume IX now available (Oct 2007)
"So Saith Ed" -- the collected Candlekeep replies of Ed Greenwood
Zhoth'ilam Folio -- The Electronic Misadventures of a Rambling Sage |
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Kuje
Great Reader
USA
7915 Posts |
Posted - 12 Dec 2005 : 17:20:55
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quote:
Originally posted by The Sage
quote:
Originally posted by Master Sylvius
I would like for my players to visit New Waterdeep (many tethyrian nobles aving links to the City of Splendors and its wealthy families). But I can't seem to find it on my FR-interactive Atlas. Where exactly is it???
LoI tells us that it's located farther west, off the Gulf of Kultaka.
In case he didn't get that, LoI = Lands of Intrigue box set. :) |
For some of us, books are as important as almost anything else on earth. What a miracle it is that out of these small, flat, rigid squares of paper unfolds world after world, worlds that sing to you, comfort and quiet and excite you... Books are full of the things that you don't get in real life - wonderful, lyrical language, for instance, right off the bat. - Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird
Scribe for the Candlekeep Compendium |
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khorne
Master of Realmslore
Finland
1073 Posts |
Posted - 12 Dec 2005 : 19:28:16
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quote:
Originally posted by Steven Schend
Was thinking on things Maztican the other day and wondered about making a pitch to DRAGON re: a 3.5 update on Maztica.
I'd prefer to simply do a "fluff" article, bring NPC stories and plots up to speed since LOI, and perhaps look at something new on the Maztican subcontinent.
I expect that they'll want more crunch, ala restatting Maztican magical powers and the animal knights as Prestige Classes et al.
Then again, what if I were to tinker with the old hoary chestnut of the "lost civilization in the jungles" that predates any civilization on Far Payit? Play the tie to the LOST EMPIRES card and suggest/hint that perhaps the Netherese took a sky city this far west and it crashed in the jungle long ago.
Come to think of it, this off-the-cuff discussion could be something. Think there'd be any interest in doing a Maztica/FR spin-off homage to Expedition to the Barrier Peaks in the jungle with magical stuff? If it needed a modern hook/twist/villain, emissaries from Shade and agents of both the Knights of the Shield and the Rundeen are also closing in on this treasure trove of amazing magics.
Just a few stray thoughts on a Sunday as I wax nostalgic and think about random things to do freelance wise.....
SES
Looks like things are going to get interesting in the jungel.......Go for it, Steven! Good ol`Maztica really needs to get updated. |
If I were a ranger, I would pick NDA for my favorite enemy |
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KnightErrantJR
Great Reader
USA
5402 Posts |
Posted - 12 Dec 2005 : 20:01:38
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| Steven, in last year's Campaign Classics issue of Dragon Magazine they already statted up the Jaguar Knights and Eagle Knights, so that would be two less that you would have to deal with, if indeed they wanted you to do anything along those lines . . . |
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scererar
Master of Realmslore
USA
1618 Posts |
Posted - 13 Dec 2005 : 04:43:00
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| Steven, make it work and you got my money. An updated Maztica would be very cool. I was always interested in more, but it seemed to kind of, go quietly to the backburners over the years |
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ShadowJack
Senior Scribe
USA
350 Posts |
Posted - 13 Dec 2005 : 17:31:40
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Mr. Schend,
Would it helped if I begged? Players have been stating (rather emphatically...) that they would love updates to both Maztica and Zakhara... Good to see that these desperate pleas are being received! Great ideas for Maztica adventure hooks. I would love to take my players there sometime soon, an update on the Eagle and Jaguar Knights would be great.
Wasn't there something in 2nd edition stuff about a group of Jaguar Knights in Faerun, mercenaries or something? |
ShadowJack |
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Jamallo Kreen
Master of Realmslore
USA
1537 Posts |
Posted - 13 Dec 2005 : 22:29:09
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quote:
Originally posted by Steven Schend
Was thinking on things Maztican the other day and wondered about making a pitch to DRAGON re: a 3.5 update on Maztica.
I'd prefer to simply do a "fluff" article, bring NPC stories and plots up to speed since LOI, and perhaps look at something new on the Maztican subcontinent.
I expect that they'll want more crunch, ala restatting Maztican magical powers and the animal knights as Prestige Classes et al.
Then again, what if I were to tinker with the old hoary chestnut of the "lost civilization in the jungles" that predates any civilization on Far Payit? Play the tie to the LOST EMPIRES card and suggest/hint that perhaps the Netherese took a sky city this far west and it crashed in the jungle long ago.
Come to think of it, this off-the-cuff discussion could be something. Think there'd be any interest in doing a Maztica/FR spin-off homage to Expedition to the Barrier Peaks in the jungle with magical stuff? If it needed a modern hook/twist/villain, emissaries from Shade and agents of both the Knights of the Shield and the Rundeen are also closing in on this treasure trove of amazing magics.
Just a few stray thoughts on a Sunday as I wax nostalgic and think about random things to do freelance wise.....
SES
GOFERIT!
My campaign is currently in 1360 DR and (presumably) in another game year Maztica will be "discovered." There are many things there which would be attractive to my PC/NPCs, including ancient lore, new magical systems, new (?) deities, acting as diplomats or mercenaries, and -- of course! -- heaps of gold and gems. (Apropos of the latter, when one considers that each earring or nose ring or lip plug is a potential spell component ... waaaaah hoooo!)
Of particular interest to them shall be the Hishna spell which records events as moving pictures.
Steven, there needs to be a smooth 3rd edition way for a contemporary character from Faerun to learn Hishna and Pluma spells, and you are eminently qualified to do the write-up. (Yet another adventure hook to add to your own list -- a Maztican servant or slave agrees, seemingly reluctantly, to teach his Faerunian "master" the local magic, but instead uses him as a pawn to unleash some very bad mojo on the Faerunians.)
I read J. Frank Dobie and others when I was a kid, and I really, really liked the 2E adventure Cities of Gold when I read it. (I even sent an e-mail of admiration for it to Jonathan Tweet.) I think it would be great fun to do a Torilian version of the quests of Coronado or Cabeza de Vaca, but I know that when my high level wizzes learn the secret of the "City of Gold" they will definitely want to go there themselves.
*sigh* So fun to dream....
In the interim, those with a penchant for historical strategy games may want to try out Europa Universalis II and see if they can have the expedition which discoveres the gold fields of Sacramento or Cuzco (or the spice orchards of the Celebes). |
I have a mouth, but I am in a library and must not scream.
Feed the poor and stroke your ego, too: http://www.freerice.com/index.php.
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Purple Dragon Knight
Master of Realmslore
Canada
1796 Posts |
Posted - 14 Dec 2005 : 01:58:09
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I skipped the whole Maztica aspect of the Forgotten Realms back in the 80's, so I for one would love a 3.5 update (read: introduction) to Maztica published in Dragon.
I am strongly in favor of a mixed crunch/fluff article, if you're asking for our vote: my reasons are many, but let it be said that there is no game without players, and a DM cannot completely sway his crew with honeyed words and pixie dust... :)
A DM requires the big bad crunch to hook his/her players towards certain cultures of the Realms! (case in point: I would never have dreamed of seeing one of my players interested in playing a Mulhorandi before they published a few Prestige Classes and feats from that country... now I'd be ready to wager that at least one FR party in 10 has or had an Eye of Horus-Re in their group, if we take a FR gaming population sample over the last year and a half...) |
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sleyvas
Skilled Spell Strategist
USA
11829 Posts |
Posted - 14 Dec 2005 : 15:45:15
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| Just a thought about the neogi/netherese thing. How far off is Nimbral... and might they have an illusion covered enclave. |
Alavairthae, may your skill prevail
Phillip aka Sleyvas |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36804 Posts |
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Rinonalyrna Fathomlin
Great Reader
USA
7106 Posts |
Posted - 17 Dec 2005 : 20:28:52
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| Yuck, I don't like Maztica. It can stay on the backburners as far as I'm concerned. I don't like it because it strikes me as too "real-worldish" (not only in setting, but in history) for a place that is supposed to be a fantasy world. |
"Instead of asking why we sleep, it might make sense to ask why we wake. Perchance we live to dream. From that perspective, the sea of troubles we navigate in the workaday world might be the price we pay for admission to another night in the world of dreams."
--Richard Greene (letter to Time) |
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Crennen FaerieBane
Master of Realmslore
USA
1378 Posts |
Posted - 17 Dec 2005 : 22:24:12
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Go for it, Steven! We always can do with more Realmslore! Even if it is Maztica!
C-Fb |
Still rockin' the Fey'ri style. |
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Brian R. James
Forgotten Realms Game Designer
USA
1098 Posts |
Posted - 18 Dec 2005 : 01:10:47
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| Rinonalyrna, do you know a history of Maztica that I do not? The history I have pieced together of that region does not resemble the real world at all. |
Brian R. James - Freelance Game Designer
Follow me on Twitter @brianrjames |
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scererar
Master of Realmslore
USA
1618 Posts |
Posted - 18 Dec 2005 : 01:53:00
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I would agree with RF, in the fact that Maztica does indeed have similarities with the real world. I am thinking of an Earth time frame of the discovery of the new world, Mr. Columbo, Horses to the america's, and gold - lots of gold  . Of course there is enough high fantasy to be it's own realm, with it's own stories. I do though like the area and would very much like some updated info. |
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Rinonalyrna Fathomlin
Great Reader
USA
7106 Posts |
Posted - 18 Dec 2005 : 02:20:05
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quote:
Originally posted by Brian R. James
Rinonalyrna, do you know a history of Maztica that I do not? The history I have pieced together of that region does not resemble the real world at all.
I said it strikes me as too real-worldish, and that's kind of a personal thing. I dislike the idea of Maztica being the "New World", complete with New Amn and New Waterdeep. I don't expect everyone to agree with me, but by the same token my feelings on this matter will not change too quickly, if at all. |
"Instead of asking why we sleep, it might make sense to ask why we wake. Perchance we live to dream. From that perspective, the sea of troubles we navigate in the workaday world might be the price we pay for admission to another night in the world of dreams."
--Richard Greene (letter to Time) |
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Maztica? Where are you Now?
