Of Glantri and Time-Travel

I got a tap on the shoulder yesterday about GAZ3 Principalities of Glantri getting translated into French.  Thanks to the good work of the fans at Donjon du Dragon, the D&D Game fan site east of the Channel, and in particular of the mysterious translator by the name of Squilnozor.  Thank you!  I rushed to peek at the result—a most impressive PDF at first glance, free for registered members.  Nearly thirty years ago, the French market was blessed with official hardcopy translations of the Basic and Expert sets, IIRC, and the first two Gazetteers—barely enough to whet a gamer’s appetite.  Since then, the fans have taken over, filling the gaping void left by TSR.  Seems strangely familiar, doesn’t it?

You might wonder why I post this here, given that the majority of this blog’s readers are English speakers who already have access to the original print or to the PDF recently released by WotC on DTRPG.  It’s a source of nostalgia for me to find both the American and French versions on an equal footing, sort of, at least as far as PDF files are concerned.

I wrote GAZ3 on a freelance basis while employed at TSR.  This meant feverishly designing and giggling maniacally in my office at home, late into the night.  Details of how I generated this much material in a few short months, besides being married and having a full-time job, faded amid the fog of decades past.  I do remember being awfully busy.  All things considered, I also recall some pointed comments from my ex about not paying quite as much attention to her as she felt I should.  In retrospect, she was probably justified.  This in part explains why I didn’t go into turbo mode and write a whole lot more Gazetteers.

Happy Easter!

Calidar Moving Ahead

Concept work from John Dollar

It's been almost a year since my most-viewed-ever blog post "Bye-Bye Princess Ark" went online.  Since then, a lot has been accomplished.  The Kickstarter succeeded, and the Calidar project is now nearly complete.  I had started with the idea of adopting much of the feel and general themes from Mystara and, more specifically, the Voyages of Princess Ark published in Dragon Magazine back in the 80s and 90s.  I think I have accomplished this goal, without running roughshod over WotC's IPs . . . and then some.  It's very hard to tackle something as deeply ingrained and as much beloved as Mystara, which has benefited over the years from a wide array of published material and fan work.  Where did I start, you might wonder.  Many supporters of the popular game world may look at Calidar with a certain amount of doubt, if not indifference.  However, this new fantasy setting has now developed into something that clearly goes beyond what Mystara accomplished, at least regarding the initial themes and the general scope of the first book, "In Stranger Skies."  The present work certainly exceeds the boundaries reached by the Princess Ark.

So where are we at, as of today?