Alphatia
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| Designer(s) | Dave Cook, Frank Mentzer, Bruce Heard, Aaron Allston, Ann Dupuis, et al. |
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| Publisher(s) | TSR Hobbies, Inc., TSR, Inc. |
| Publication date | 1981-1996 |
| Genre(s) | Fantasy |
| System(s) | Dungeons & Dragons, AD&D 2nd Edition |
Mystara is a campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role playing game. It was the default setting for the "Basic" version of the game throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Most adventures published for the "Basic" edition of D&D take place in "The Known World", a central continent that includes a varied patchwork of both human and non-human realms. The human realms are based on various real-world historical cultures. In addition, unlike other D&D settings, Mystara had ascended immortal beings instead of gods.
The Mystara planet also has sub-settings. The older Blackmoor setting was retconned to exist in Mystara's distant past. The Hollow World refers to the inner surface contained within the world of Mystara, similar to the real world legends of the Hollow Earth. And some adventures take place on the Savage Coast, a 2,000 mile long frontier coastline about 2,000 miles to the west of the Known World.
By the mid-1990s, gamers' attention started to shift towards the advanced edition of D&D and its official campaigns. Some Mystara adventures for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons were published between 1994 and 1996. Eventually, official support of the Mystara setting was discontinued by the time the game's third edition was released in 2000.
Mystara originated as a fantasy world developed by Lawrence Schick and Tom Moldvay for their own Dungeons & Dragons game sessions from 1974 to 1976. Their original setting consisted of a large continent with fictionalized nations that were based on real-world historical cultures. Inspired by author H. P. Lovecraft and his work in creating a fiction shared universe, Schick and Moldvay named their setting as the "Known World" so it could be expanded upon by other players. Schick then went to work at TSR Hobbies as a designer for D&D and other games. After being promoted to director of the Design Department he brought Moldvay in to join the company as a game designer, around the time when the D&D Expert Set was under development. After being told that they could not use the existing Greyhawk setting, as it was being reserved for only Advanced Dungeons & Dragons products, Schick and Moldvay got approval to instead use their "Known World" as the standard D&D campaign setting.
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