In the beginning there was...the story. Myths, fables, and legends that make up the stuff of dreams, and of nightmares.
It is the dawn of the Ninth Age by elder reckoning. More than ten thousand years after the cataclysmic War of the Rift, change is once again brewing in the Land. The Children of Fire and Earth drive technology forward, the Rethysian Empire and Liir Halantir clash in the west, and in the north civil war engulfs the once-serene vales of misty Khedan. Dark forces are at work across the Land, their agents searching out the fragments of shattered relics from the last Age in hopes of gaining an upper hand in the coming times.
Mythic OGL is a stand-alone setting for the OGL game engine, and is compatible with most published material for the 3.5 edition rules of the world's most popular roleplaying game. New races and classes replace the standard races and classes of the Player's Handbook. Newly streamlined and integrated combat rules, a new magic system, and new items expand the arsenal of players, while the worldbook provides all the details a Dungeon Master needs to keep players on their toes. Revised classic monsters have been updated for the Land, and they stand alongside a host of new creatures specific to the unique environments and cosmology of this setting.
A Word from the Author
Perhaps you're wondering why, with Fourth Edition available, a new release of material for the seemingly obsolete 3.5 rules set would be appropriate.
Forgive me for saying so, but while I support Wizards of the Coast for their ongoing pursuit of a broad audience, and I understand that they need to continue pushing the game line in order to keep it and themselves alive, I don't plan on embracing Fourth Edition soon. For one thing, the Third Edition rules are some of the most complete, open, comprehensive, and easily modified rules ever published for any pen-and-paper roleplaying game.
For another, the very strong influence of MMORPGs on the new edition is quite evident, and that market does not and has never appealed to me. Not because of some snobbish world view, but simply because nothing about those games has ever caught and held my attention or ever really impressed me. Between overbuilt graphic design (chainmail bikinis and pro wrestler shoulderpads all around, guys!) and a game model that really just comes down to in-game grinding, I'm just not interested. The direction of the new art and class design seems very strongly derivative of current MMORPGs, in particular World of Warcraft, and I'm not really satisfied with it.
However, some features of the new rules, particularly the more open structure of classes as it first appeared in d20 Modern and Star Wars Saga Edition, have some appeal. I understand that major class revisions would necessitate a fourth edition, and I can see the advantages. But in many cases the designers seem driven to change things just for the sake of being different...and in the process they're producing a result I'm not 100% happy with. So I'm writing and releasing game material that is intended to bridge the gap by tweaking the d20 D&D 3.5 rules set, allowing players and DMs to continue to use most of their existing books.
I sincerely hope that Wizards of the Coast is able to bring in a wider audience with the new edition, but I've found a rules set that works for me, and with some careful adjustment it's pretty much exactly what I want. I hope that you can find some use for this material in your own games.
-John Wesley Thompson
