Glantri, 8 miles per hex (1987)
The Principalities of Glantri debuted in 1981’s X1 alongside the rest of the Known World, but saw little development for some years afterwards. X2 introduced the d’Ambreville family, while X10 gave the names for many of the princes and princesses, but there was really nothing about the nation itself.
All that changed in 1987 and the publication of GAZ3. Bruce Heard’s masterful 8 mile per hex map added rich detail throughout, giving each principality its own character, borne out by the place names. Following X2’s lead, Bruce expanded upon the leader names given in X10 by assigning a real world linguistic and cultural analogue to each region.
GAZ3’s map was already highly detailed, and consistency with the Gazetteer’s text was also very good. As such, there is little to add to this map. I have put in the full title of each dominion, along with a few general terrain labels. The whole area of Glantri is often referred to as The Highlands, so I have added that label in such a way as to imply that it applies to the region as a whole.
Chronological Map (May 2025)
This map is part of the Mystara 1987 series of chronological maps. It is an updated map, incorporating all available sources and made internally consistent with other maps in its series. But it only uses sources published in or before 1987.
For more information, see Appendix C: Cartographic Chronology.
Sources
- Mystara 1983
- Mystara 1985
- Mystara 1986
- GAZ1 The Grand Duchy of Karameikos (1987) (PDF at DriveThruRPG)
- GAZ3 The Principalities of Glantri (1987) (PDF at DriveThruRPG)
- Glantri, 24 miles per hex
- Glantri, 8 miles per hex
- City of Glantri
- Lhamsa
- Trintan
- Skullhorn Pass Camp
- CM8 The Endless Stair (1987) (PDF at DriveThruRPG)
- IM2 Wrath of Olympus (1987) (PDF at DriveThruRPG)
- AC10 Bestiary of Dragons and Giants (1987) (PDF at DriveThruRPG)
Revisions
For detailed notes, see the posts for each individual source map at the links above.
- Dominions — The titles of all dominions have been added to the map. See Textual Additions for GAZ3’s map for details.
References
- Let’s Map Mystara 1987 — the original project thread for this map
- Let’s Map Mystara Together discussion thread at The Piazza (link leads to this map’s post)
- Glantri at the Vaults of Pandius
- WIP Map: Glantri 1987 post at Patreon
Thanks to:
Bruce Heard.
Maps of Glantri, 8 miles per hex, 1000 AC
2 January 2026 @ 2:44 am
I think it’s worthwhile to note that prior to the names from X10 and the Gazetteer, it may be assumed that the original designer’s intent (Moldvay) was that all of Glantri was analogous to the Principality of Wales, having magical Merlinian Welsh culture. Since the very name “Glantri” is Welsh, and all of the associated proper names in the Akronian Known World are Welsh as well, and also given the real-world Welsh association with the title of “principalities.”
By 1987, Bruce was two “editorial eras” removed from the Moldvay era. He did great work, but there was an unintentional shift from the 1981 implied setting of Welsh Glantri, slender though it was. The restoration of Moldvayan Welsh Glantri would basically be a different world and continuity than Heardian Mystara.
2 January 2026 @ 3:16 am
As I said in the article, the primary source for Glantri before GAZ3 was basically X2. X10 then added some names for the rulers. Given this situation, it’s easy to see that Bruce Heard took those things and developed them in a logical direction. He certainly also made it his own thing, but it was Moldvay who inspired him through X2. To the extent that Ambreville is still Bruce’s online handle to this day. If there was a shift, it’s only visible to us now because of recent research (such as your own).
Your thought experiment above is certainly very interesting, and I’d love to see more development on that idea. But your assumption is very much the product of new (old) information that was not available to Bruce or any of the other designers in 1987, isn’t it? So it’s not really relevant to this map, which is supposed to be tracking Bruce’s developments.
I suggest you make a thread about the alternate Welsh-themed Glantri at The Piazza. It would be interesting to see what information could be assembled or extrapolated to give it some more depth.
2 January 2026 @ 3:57 am
I’m not saying the Heard’s development wasn’t logical, just that this is another case where the Moldvayan and Mentzerian and Heardian worlds fundamentally split, due to editorial shifts (unintentional and intentional).
My Welsh placename research is here:
https://pandius.com/metymlgy.html#glantri
https://pandius.com/metymlgy.html#llyntref
https://pandius.com/metymlgy.html#ccdgg
Even In Moldvay’s X2, the French Ambreville names are not necessarily indicative of the native and predominant (Welsh) culture of Glantri, since it is a licensed product (CAS Estate) plopped down into Glantri.
Though you are documenting Bruce’s map here, this is the point where the implicitly Welsh setting was fully overwritten by the multicultural Heardian Glantri. I think it’s worth noting—that’s all.
You’re right that I ought to fully depict the Moldvayan World of The Continent (and the Mentzerian World of Pangaea) someday.