Projects & Articles This page explains the projects that I currently have underway, as well as various articles I have written about Mystara and OD&D. Thorf's Secret Project (TM) The biggest, most ambitious of my projects, the true nature of which is a closely guarded secret. Stage One of the project has been revealed to be a comprehensive effort to map the surfaces of Mystara, inside and out. Stage Two is already underway, although what exactly it is remains a mystery - for now. For more information on Stage One, see my Cartography section, and also my mapping thread at the Mystara Message Board. As for Stage Two, keep an eye out for the clues. Mystara Database Project The Mystara Database Project aims to create a searchable database of Mystaran facts and figures, which can answer queries and provide accurate information on a range of topics. It started from my settlement list, which I made to check the accents and spelling on my maps. While making this list, it occurred to me that I could use this list to create a database which, with a bit of extra work, could service Stage Two of my Secret Project. Then I heard about Andrew Theisen's NPC database, and the wider project was conceived: a potentially comprehensive database of Mystara. Brian Vendeltorp vounteered to head up the technical side of things, and created a message board specially for the project. The database is now in the design stages. With the help of a few other helpful volunteers, I have laid out the concepts, and Brian is now working to turn that into reality in the form of a workable database. When it gets going, this project has the potential to outgrow even my Secret Project. If anyone is interested in helping out with data entry or with the technical side of things, or just in seeing what we're up to, please get in touch and I can provide you with the URL and a login and password. OD&D Savage Coast Project It has been said many times that the version of the Savage Coast given in the Princess Ark is quite different from that in the Red Steel/Savage Coast AD&D line. I'm very interested in these differences. I am working on creating an OD&D version of the Savage Coast, kept faithful to the information in the Princess Ark series. Currently I am assembling all of the Princess Ark episodes and info. Once that is done, I will look to Red Steel and the Savage Coast online supplements, and see what new information can be brought over without conflicting with the original material. Thorf's OD&D Rules Project Mostly in its earliest stages, this is the most personal of my projects. I have always played with OD&D; it's a system that I know very well and like just as much. However, it occurred to me recently that my rules are actually quite different from OD&D as it is written. This project is an attempt to formalise my rules, mostly for my own benefit, although others may be interested too. One of the first things I will do is define my race/class system, which while rooted in OD&D classes is nevertheless a much freer system. Japanese Rules Cyclopedia Article An article examining the rather different Japanese version of the OD&D Rules Cyclopedia. This is the first in what I hope will become a series of articles covering the Japanese editions of OD&D products. New articles will appear as and when I can get my hands on the books. OD&D Art Project This one is still just a concept for now, although I have laid out a design for incorporating it into the Mystara Database. It's an idea I had a while ago. The plan is to catalogue all of the various art - cover art, interior art, box art, map art - that appeared in Mystara products over the years, and scan as many illustrations as possible into the computer at high resolution, thus creating a library of OD&D art. I'm not sure yet how much of this project will be published online, because of the obvious copyright problems.

Created 14th March 2006. Last updated 4th May 2006.