Discover Top Posts Tagged with #princess ark

Catmen from the moon attack the skyship Princess Ark (Jim Holloway, Dragon 160, August 1990)

#D&D #Dungeons & Dragons #Jim Holloway #Mystara #catmen #Princess Ark #The Voyage of the Princess Ark #dnd #flying ship #skyship #Dragon magazine #Dungeons and Dragons #TSR

Where do I even start with this glorious beast?

So, this is Champions of Mystara: Heroes of the Princess Ark (1993), and it is all Bruce Heard’s fault. Heard basically developed the Known World for a decade, guiding the creation of the beloved Gazetteer series and penning a 35-part serial storyline in Dragon Magazine about the adventures of the crew of a flying airship traveling to all corners of Mystara. This box set is essentially the culmination (and end) of the Known World that Heard shepherded and it marked the end of the Challenger line (with the exception of the second Poor Wizard’s Almanac). Which is a bummer, because this box was intended to be a relaunch of a sort. It reprints all the previous Princess Ark stories, but lays the ground work for a new series of explorations of the Known World, by air ship! Sort of a Spelljammer-lite. I love it dearly, but it doesn’t really surprise me that it was a kind of death knell — TSR habitually killed the stuff I loved.

I have always been puzzled by the popularity of the Gazetteers and the Princess Ark articles. People really LOVE this world and Heard’s work on it. So do I! But there is something about it that always felt like a well kept secret. Surely no one else loved this thing I love! And much as I enjoy the 2E Mystara, a series of new, airship-centric gazetteers feels like a massive missed opportunity. God, a flying Viking longship pulled by white dragons? COME ON, TSR! You’re gonna cancel that world?

#RPG #TTRPG #Tabletop RPG #Roleplaying Game #D&D #dungeons & dragons #TSR #Challenger #Bruce Heard #Champions of Mystara #Mystara #Princess Ark #Basic D&D

Propelled to dangerous heights by a raging storm, the Alphatian skyship Princess Ark breaks through the skyshield into the airless void between worlds (Jim Holloway, Dragon 160, August 1990)

#D&D #Dungeons & Dragons #Jim Holloway #flying ship #Dragon magazine #Princess Ark #Mystara #The Voyage of the Princess Ark #skyship #space #dnd #Dungeons and Dragons #TSR

Menacing storm (Robh Ruppel, box cover for Champions of Mystara: Heroes of the Princess Ark, TSR, 1993, reproduced in The Worlds of TSR, 1994)

#D&D #Dungeons & Dragons #Robh Ruppel #fantasy art #flying ship #Mystara #Princess Ark #Champions of Mystara #Champions of Mystara: Heroes of the Princess Ark #aerial encounter #airship #dnd #Dungeons and Dragons #TSR #The Worlds of TSR #storm #lightning

The Alphatian flying ship Princess Ark sails above danger (Jim Holloway from “The Voyage of the Princess Ark, Part 4” by Bruce Heard, Dragon 156, April 1990) Dragon published 35 “Princess Ark” articles across 3 years exploring the Known World of Mystara and the Hollow World.