Happy Dave Arneson day!
Blackmoor, of course, dates back to the beginnings of Dungeons
and Dragons. The introduction of the
Original Dungeons and Dragons (ODD) booklets mention it in conjunction with the Great Kingdom
Chainmail campaign (circa 1971) and cites it as the start of Dungeons and
Dragons.
Although there is a great deal of controversy how much Dave
Arneson’s role-playing game derives from Chainmail, the Great Kingdom Map seems
to be the first appearance of Dave Arneson’s Blackmoor. The second supplement of
Original Dungeons and Dragons Blackmoor is the next appearance. Like the first
Greyhawk supplement Blackmoor is in the majority extra rules and magic, and
magic items. However, unlike it does contain a complete Dungeon in the Temple of
the Frog. The Temple of the Frog is a high-level dungeon with an emphasis infiltration
as when it is on high alert there are hundreds of troops available. Please note, however, in the original games I played Magic-Users with spells of missile
deflection, Fireball, and Cloudkill routinely handled hordes of 100 to 400
bandits by themselves. I was glad to see the Dungeon in the book since it gave
more insight into how the designers of the game played it. There are large quantities
of sea creatures in the monster section and underwater combat rules which are
useful if you’re into that thing. However, Monk and Assassin are some of the
worst classes mechanically of ODD.
The next appearance of Blackmoor is the First Fantasy Campaign
supplement from Judges Guild in 1977. It is one of my most treasured modules being
a collection of Dave Arneson's campaign notes including both the actual
Blackmoor dungeon, as well as the campaign map. The module includes
instructions for how to connect Blackmoor to the Valley of Ancients in the
Judges Guild’s Wilderlands of High Fantasy campaign. The map itself is based
on a Renaissance map of the Netherlands so it is very soggy. The map scale always
seemed a bit off things described as mountains barely covering the area of foothills.
Cultures changing from Vikings to Steppe Nomads in the space of less than 200
miles.
The actual dungeon of Blackmoor itself is fascinating. I am always
amazed at how many different ways dungeon designers can start with a piece of quadrille
paper and draw unique things. Blackmoor contains lots of diagonal corridors and
very few doors. Most of the monsters seem to be just standing around in the
hallways. Note that the monster population is the Dave Arneson convention loadout, updated to the published ODD rules rather than his original population. The
staircases between levels needed some sort of key. I spent a week with a piece
of tracing paper trying to line them all up. Some of the levels have tunnels
that lead off the map, something which I used in my campaign. The random yearly
events table was completely fascinating as well. Some people object to the lack
of organization, however, it is not significantly worse the ODD books. The ODD
trained me to hop, skip, and jump around the rules picking up the parts I
needed rather than reading rules cover to cover. This has served me well
through all the editions since.
In 1980 the Greyhawk Gazetteer includes a region known as Blackmoor,
although whether this is Dave Arneson’s Blackmoor is unclear. There an
interesting analysis and comparison between the First Fantasy Campaign and the
Greyhawk Blackmoor’s on this
blog.
In 1986 Dave Arneson got another chance at Blackmoor with
DA1 Adventures in Blackmoor. Other than the weird linkage to Mystara it is one
of the best Blackmoor modules. However, the weird properties of the Comeback Inn
definitely reflect the Jokey Gonzo style of early D&D. DA2 Temple of Frog
revisits the adventure from the Original Blackmoor supplement. If you are going
try running the Temple of the Frog run this version. DA3 City of the Gods reveals
one of the dark secrets of Blackmoor, a crashed alien spaceship. DA4 The Duchy
of Ten explores western Blackmoor. These modules intrigued me although most of them were higher level than I was running at the time. Their Jokey Gonzo style
is not for everyone, and several items in the modules are campaign breakers (especially
City of the Gods). However, they finally give a complete view of several key
elements of the Blackmoor campaign. The Egg of Coot remains unexplained. I find Gary's invitation to Dave to write Blackmoor modules a refutation of the eternal rivalry narrative between Gary and Dave current on some websites. It seems the bitterness of the lawsuit of the late '70s (mostly about royalty payments) had faded by the mid-'80s. After
DA4 due to upheaval at TSR after the departure of Gary Gygax. Blackmoor goes radio silent.
The 2000s saw another revival of Blackmoor. The D20 open
license led to a joint venture between Zeitgeist games and Dave Arneson.
Blackmoor and Blackmoor Dungeons are re-visitations of the material in First
Fantasy campaign. Several other expansions were published but these were
written by others than Dave Arneson and jarred with my sense Blackmoor. I
remember being annoyed that the “Riders of the High Hak” shifted the Hak from
Mongolian to Native Americans. I was intrigued by the “Living Blackmoor” living
adventure, but was too tied up running “Living Greyhawk” to be able to do much
with “Living Blackmoor”. Unlike “Living Greyhawk” all the “Living Blackmoor”
Adventures have been archived on the Blackmoor.Mystara.net
forum. Follow the instructions here
to gain access. Unfortunately, Dave Arneson’s death in 2009 followed by the
third to fourth edition transition debacle seemed to have taken all the wind
out of this effort. Several very active fan efforts continue to the present
day.
Blackmoor remains an important touchstone to the early days
of Dungeons and Dragons. The limited range of the campaign map has led it to be
shoehorned into other campaigns rather than having it as its own campaign. It, however, packs a great deal of content into a small area being able to match
much larger campaigns in depth. If you have the adventure sense for notes in
the raw get the First Fantasy Campaign( perhaps hard to find). If you like a
more modern approach get the DA adventure series(all available on Drivethrurpg). The Zeitgeist
publications(also available on Drivethrurpg) didn’t quite click with me, although I should give them another
look.
