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Mystara 1983

Mystara 1983

In contrast to its sleepy second year, Mystara’s third year of publication saw a sudden flurry of activity, with the mapped extents of the world almost tripling in size.

First, the revised Expert Rules Set and X1 provided a few updates to the Known World area. Most important of these was surely the introduction of the town of Threshold. Its appearance in the famous red box, and its association with the characters of Aleena and Bargle, ensured that it would be one of the most well-known and beloved towns in the setting. Even today, it remains one of Mystara’s most iconic features.

Next came the Desert Nomads duo of adventures, X4 and X5, which expanded the world to the west of the Known World in two big leaps. The areas covered were painted with a far bigger brush than X1’s map, presenting the vast Sind Desert and the mysterious Hagiarchy of Hule, separated by the formidable peaks of the Black Mountains. Slagovich made its first appearance on X5’s map, peeping onto the corner.

All in all, 1983 was the setting’s first year of major expansion — the beginning of a long process that would continue for the next ten years.

The Maps

These maps have been made internally consistent, adopting the most detailed shapes and positions of each element.

  • Art — the printed style from 1981’s Expert Rulebook‘s Legend, with additional symbols from the 1983 Expert Rules Set‘s Legend.
  • FontsBaskerville. 1983 saw a major change in typography for the whole line, discarding the Souvenir of the past couple of years in favour of the more elegant Baskerville, both in the main text as well as in most of the maps. Baskerville would continue to be used extensively until the next major design shift in 1987.
Baskerville was the most iconic font for Mystara maps from 1983 until early 1987.
Baskerville was the most iconic font for Mystara maps from 1983 until early 1987.

References

1983 Product Lineup

This table lists all the relevant products published in 1983, with links to each map’s individual page here at the Atlas. Product titles link to PDFs at DTRPG where they are available.

Mystara Geographic Maps 1983

MapNameHexYearMSourceReference
8The Wilderness Map of the Great Waste2419834X4 Master of the Desert Nomadsp. 7
9Map of Hule2419837X5 Temple of Deathp. 31
10Map 6 The Continent2419838X1 The Isle of Dreadp. 16-17
11Map 1 The Isle of Dread619838X1 The Isle of Dreadp. 13
-[Isle of Dread Players' Map]619838X1 The Isle of DreadCover Gatefold
12Map 10 Central Plateau119838X1 The Isle of Dreadp. 20
13Map #2 The Lands and Environs of the D&D Wilderness2419838Expert Rules Setp. 33
14Map #1 The Grand Duchy of Karameikos619838Expert Rules Setp. 32
-[Legend]-19838Expert Rules Setp. 31

1983 Map Gallery

This gallery shows all of the geographic maps published over the course of the year. These are replicas of the original maps. For full details, please check out the post for each map, linked to in the table above. For corrected and expanded versions, use the maps near the top of this page.

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