Welcome to Mystara: The Orcs of Thar 

When there's a whip, there's a way.

Orc weeb and proud owner of this book.

My cousin loved the Orc Wars board game that came with the module. I enjoyed the funny mini book “Thar’s Book of War”(?) that came with the module.

I've been in past campaigns where a player was a Gnoll or an Orc. Backstory and plot hooks are very important for such characters, especially in Mystara, where certain races are predisposed towards a particular alignment. It's not that you cant play a character of that race, but make the story a good one, and everyone at the table will accept it a lot more. Especially if you stick to the script you make for the character. If you're going to play a humanoid as a hero, make sure that they stumble and hesitate during serious quandaries between their predispositions and the goal they wish to achieve. No one believes a hero that gets everything right--but a hero that picks themselves up when they stumble or make a mistake is far more compelling.

Orcs of Thar is still my favourite thing ever published under the D&D brand.

Come on, a change of pace now and then is fun. That was a fun book.

The _doge_ of the kobolds - that's hilarious! Gets me barking.

0:34 tsk, tsk, tsk. That is not how you fight a skeleton with a trident. You forgot to death spiral with it! Like an alligator! Spin that polearm! Spin it! Bash dem bones against the floor!

I had a rough day at work, I'm glad you posted this when you did.

Orcs were always one of my favorite races

Sillier than dog people, lemur people, and cannibalistic ogre-elves? Not even close.

The artwork at 10:00 is A+. Cavalier fighters might not be the best class, but they're the most on-topic for a fantasy setting imo.

Who all is interested in an open world survival rpg set in the world of dark sun?

3:06 This argument really annoys me. If some asshole broke into my house when I was a kid, killed my parents and then spared me while robbing their corpses, I'd try to shank him with my art project too.

Kobolds, not being a small lizard, is the most alien thing about the Mystara setting. I am so used to thinking of dog kobolds being something from Japanese fantasy settings.

One of the many things I luv about Mystara is how the humanoids are 'beefier' and more dangerous than in the other settings. Yeah this gazetteer ramped up the silly factor but it is like you said, who cares what name it's given cuz no one is going there. At the same time it allows for some in game PC comic relief. My favorite part of this video starts at 15:30. In the other setting everyone wants to be half this or that. Mystara has very firm rules in place to avoid that mess. You breakdown by percentages is perfect. Great job on the remasters and have fun at your wedding.

I always just ignored the silly phase. It’s not hard either, just HAM with those Humanoids! Easy!

1:50 Lol "GONAD"! I bet that valley is something to see.

Perhaps the patron immoral of cartography is the same as comedy and dirty tricks?

where can we get the book?

I was just watching your original Broken Lands/Humanoids video. Funny this.

The High Doge is now the cannon name for the leaders.

Excellent ty

Sounds like a lovely place.

While I've always kept the "dog shape" description of the average kobolds around, I held on to the core concept of a kobold originally being a sprite stemming from Germanic mythology/folklore to really tap into that thick rich lore. In my version of Mystara, to hammer that point home, the Kobolds are essentially "fallen" Fae of sorts, twisted by Thanatos himself, denied their resurrections ability, usually bound in animalistic form, except in those rare cases (Guestimate is 100.000 to 1 odds) where one is born with lessened animalistic features, looking more like a strange dwarf or gnomish creature. These Kobolds are born with a lingering spark of their original fae power, and have the ability to become powerful wizards, but all Kobolds have, unbeknown to all of them the inherent ability to actually kill a Fae permanently (which was what Thanatos's plan was all along) by cutting them off from their reincarnation/ressurection cycle To top that off, any wound made by a Kobold on a Fae will also always leave a visible scar, no matter what form any surviving Fae would ever take, which would give even the more sinister members of the Unseelie court reason to pause, as all it takes is one (very) lucky blow from the lowliest of low humanoids to say, hamstring or partially blind even a high lord of the court. The more animalistic Kobolds usually keep close to the other humanoid races mainly for protection, as there are strength in numbers, should Gwyn ap Nudd decide to go on a murderizer spree. (Yes, he can slay humanoids by the legions for decades without breaking a sweat, but all it takes is one lucky arrowshot from behind a stone to the knee, and his tale might suddenly have a less epic continuation.) "exiling" their more human looking offspring out into the world, when their doglike features gradually begin to recede over time, to prevent them from being mistaken for dwarves or gnomes as they grow up (Think Rafiels doctrines for mutated Shadowelf babies, but only to prevent them from being killed by the next door clan that have a dwarf shaped chip on their shoulder.) These Kobolds may even interact with humans to some degree, or seek out their own kind and create their own small communities, ( if they aren't encountered by those Kobolds brave enough to linger in the Broken Lands for any newly exiled kin) but occasionally tales about their deeds will spread, and thus the all Kobolds sing songs and tell tales of the powerful champions and rulers like King Goldemar, Hödekin and even other subspecies ( from the protective Heinzelmann; Asskicker of burglars and "Uninviter" of Vampires, to the dour, yet adventurous seafaring Klabaudermann)

(Set to the tune of Rage Against The Machine's "Born Of A Broken Man".) "Born of the broken lands, yes we're the broken lands!

Gnollistan is a rough place to visit

Interesting.

I keep picturing the monsters from Keep On The Borderlands as refugees or maybe even the vanguard of an invading army from the Broken Lands, except it doesn't make a lot of sense since there'd be so much else they'd have to go through first.

Is there a place that we can see these remasters your talking about? Time is sparse in college but I have been dying to run my friends through a campaign in Mystara with my Rules Cyclopedia.

@Mr. Welch 13.46 Who do they trade with? This section says they have a stable economy. Is it with The World Above humanoids? I think I may have missed it.

I had no idea that Castle Greyhawk, was written with so much spite. It is one of my all-time favorite adventures (up there with Dungeon Land 1 & 2). Part of its charm was how goofy and funny it was. I had so much fun as a player, and later as a DM running it. When I think about the AD&D experience, I start with this memory. It brought me so much joy. Now, I learn that joy is tainted. sigh.

how did larger races affect the game mechanically in previous editions?

"The Fight of their lives", Parody of Beetlejuice the Musical's "Fright of their lives" by Matt Stine, Alex Timbers, Eddie Perfect, and Kurt Deutsch Abridged Version [KING THAR] Okay Listen up, I'm not gonna lie Right now, you couldn't frighten a fly the soft people warriors break your ranks and you die You ever stop to ask yourselves "why?" All of you are super rude and mean disorganized, subterranean, and green Well, all of that is finished this scene Except for the green part Obviously Our unity rises I want trust exercises Now go! Closer Further Harder Not bad Sever a head Preferably NOT someone you know [BARBELLIA the Orc berserker, offering a bouquet of severed goblin feet to another goblin] Look at me, I'm being friendly. [KING THAR] Don't knock down that pillar Would a little comradery kill ya? C'mon, drop your morningstars I'm trying to fill ya With discipline and skill And to redirect the instinct to kill [A-DAMN, the Gnoll nihilistic doom cultist] Again, we want to kill EVERYONE! [KING THAR] Fine! But somehow, someway, you gotta outmaneuver 'em. I'm talkin' jump-scares, night raids, flanking attacks Plus-sing marching songs! Join the collective! Subsume your identity! [A-DAMN, spoken] Now THAT is cool! I wanna brainwash people to do that! [KING THAR] Whatever it takes to make 'em go crazy Raising the stakes by punching a baby Scare 'em awake till they break They'll be quaking in fright 'Cause you've got some good deep down inside you Learn to trust the soldier behind you You've gotta work Gotta train till it hurts Through the night And give those guys the fight of their lives Yeah yeah! [TIME CUT] [KING THAR] I want world conquest But to get my conquest, I need them To get together and slay in my name [A-DAMN AND BARBARELLIA] Dead Kobold, Dead Hobgoblin, Dead Bugbear? [KING THAR (A-DAMN AND BARBARELLIA)] I know that beggars can't be choosers But do they have to be such losers? All of them friendly fire, cull, and maim Ugh, these dopes are utterly hopeless How will I ever survive? Unless they get the fight of their lives (Yes yes, we're feelin' it, they're gonna feel it, we're killin' it! ) They gotta get the fight of their lives (We're the last two alive, so long auxillary!) They'll never get the fight of their lives (Yeah!) Ugh

Yeah; I'm really not a fan of the Orcs of Thar. They did such a good job making the Shadow Elves antagonists but not necessarily evil that this book feels kinda disappointing in retrospect.

Why the middle finger to gygax?

Oinkmar?

I have a feeling I will have to write the lore almost from the ground up if I ever get my party to Broken Lands. A lot of this is just cringeworthy, not silly in the slightest. And this is coming from a guy whose use of Orcs on Butterskull ranch had their leader carry a small parchment with literally missing step plan and a picture of getting headpats from King Thar. Also, I kinda like Goblins being cutesy comic reliefs. Been trying to play a Goblin for multiple editions. Also, I yeeted the idea humanoids can mix into hybrids from my version of Mystara anyway.

Another solution for kobolds is to raid Warhammer and replace them with Skaven.

1:55 Why hello there, Middle-Earth. There's acknowledging that all modern fantasy is basically watered down Tolkien fanfic and then there's literally just plagiarism.