tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31382023180407497702024-03-15T21:10:17.972-04:00Hidden in ShadowsDHBoggshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02170439175265397893noreply@blogger.comBlogger186125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3138202318040749770.post-76013307782201762362024-02-18T12:57:00.001-05:002024-02-18T13:19:12.239-05:00Xandering, Jaquaysing, or Arneson-ing the Dungeon?<p><span style="font-size: medium;"> Yet another gamer firestorm arose shortly after t<span>he passing of Janelle Jaquays when it was noted that Justin Alexander had changed a rather well known post he had made in 2010 regarding dungeon design attributes he gathered from studying the games made by Jaquays. In late 2023, as Jaquays was breathing her last, Alexander changed the term from Jaquaying to Xandering reportedly at the request of his publisher for his book "So You Want to be a Dungeon Master." Alexander also stated that Jaquays had requested that he change the name, which is true, but the request was only to change the spelling from Jaquaying to Jaquaysing because Alexander had left off the s. Thus the kerfuffle.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Okay, this post isn't a polemic on the rights or wrongs of what Alexander did. In fact it's an old post I dusted off and finished in light of the controversy. Jaquays deserves all the credit in the world for innovative game design. I'm a fan. <i>The Catacombs Sourcebook</i> is a favorite reference of mine and <i>The Hell Pits of Nightfang</i> is dear to my heart. I'm quite sure that Jaquays deserves to be recognized for pioneering creative dungeon design.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">I am going to say though, that seemingly unbeknownst to everybody including Jaquays, Arneson did it first.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">There's a trope in science fiction of the old master years ahead of his time. We see it in <i>Highlander</i> for example in the movies iconic katana impossibly made by a legendary master sword smith, Masamune in 593 B.C., or in <i>Star Trek TNG</i>, with the Master of Tarquin Hill who designed ceramic objects that were three hundred years ahead of their time. This trope doesn't often have real world equivalents, the most obvious real example being Leonardo Da Vinci.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">While Da Vinci was certainly appreciated in his day, the revolutionary and prescient nature of his more creative ideas was unappreciated until more recent times. Was Arneson the Da Vinci of dungeon design?</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Below I've copied all the principles Alexander cites as core to "Xandering" a dungeon and examine each one in light of Arneson's principle early dungeon's - Blackmoor Castle Dungeon (1972), and the Temple of the Frog Dungeon (1975). For good measure I will also throw in a few mentions of Tonisborg (1973) because as creator Greg Svenson will readily tell you, he copied Arneson's methods in designing the dungeon. Here is the list:</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>MULTIPLE ENTRANCES: </b></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Blackmoor dungeon has more entrances than any dungeon I know. Here is a partial list from the top of my head:</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">The Elf Stump</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">The Graveyard</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Basement of the Silver Dragon Inn</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Basement of the Church of the Facts of Life</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">The Wizard's Pit</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">The </span><span style="font-size: large; white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;">Well in the castle courtyard near SE corner of outer wall</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Main Stair in the Throne room</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Western corridor that leads to the hillside west of the Castle</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">The Temple of Id</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Dragon Isle</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Etc. etc.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">The temple of the Frog dungeon has more than half a dozen entrances to the first level and at least 3 that go directly to the second. Tonisborg also has multiple entrances.</span></p><div><b><span style="font-size: medium;">LOOPS: Branching paths hook them together into a loop. </span></b></div><div><b><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></b></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">I mean, have you seen the maps for Blackmoor, or for Tonisborg for that matter?</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Here is a more or less random snip of one level:</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE2vl1tbuFyABfUfLFcMwDo2RdD7_X0wmRL7Ub4zJ9NNuSv-7CzvXcsVURKWHTy_c77KpC4xXNoHeXOoeUpTeAldQOk-g725UooP3cRTOUJZo_HuuDQeN4VxwWQ6AzczAwnOZeEHLn2fvFOnQJ2n-NSPV7E7-sbK1_2cEOGyNntATY6pBiSbRf1S7VpJY/s504/BMHW14.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="504" data-original-width="435" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE2vl1tbuFyABfUfLFcMwDo2RdD7_X0wmRL7Ub4zJ9NNuSv-7CzvXcsVURKWHTy_c77KpC4xXNoHeXOoeUpTeAldQOk-g725UooP3cRTOUJZo_HuuDQeN4VxwWQ6AzczAwnOZeEHLn2fvFOnQJ2n-NSPV7E7-sbK1_2cEOGyNntATY6pBiSbRf1S7VpJY/s320/BMHW14.JPG" width="276" /></span></a></div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /><br /></span></div><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>MULTIPLE LEVEL CONNECTIONS: </b></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">I did quick and dirty count of the Stairs in Blackmoor dungeon and came up with 73. There are also about a half dozen fireshafts, multilevel caverns and so on. The same is true of Tonisborg to a lesser scale. Temple of the Frog dungeon has around a dozen connections between the two levels.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>DISCONTINUOUS LEVEL CONNECTIONS: (connections that skip levels)</b></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Blackmoor dungeon may well be the most vertically complex dungeon in existence to this day. The 73 or so interconnecting stairwells, dozens of shafts and pits, vary from connecting only one level to another, to connecting at least ten levels. Stairs also skip levels, sometimes only one, and sometimes several. Tonisborg dungeon mimics this on a smaller scale. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>SECRET & UNUSUAL PATHS: </b></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Secret and unusual paths? Yes, in abundance. Have a look at the tunnels for instance, secret entrances through the graveyard, the well, the wizards Pit, and various hidden caverns. There is also the hidden elevator shafts in a couple of the pillars of the Main Gallery.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Here is one Unusual Path on the first level:</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQymCyD7qdHLXp-FOFhiflPHBLbGVdN1ItRm2Uq1VdG2CpTP1mnnHsozyXDC5iUeBr8yPhoSJSNt8csYTXKUMvgbbLKDbdcwGixLLrNxd_KciXIcW9UqSyBdsZBQat9g9-eQ63tqEPXmCb-fjx9suRzwkSv0c3SO762btlg4CTBgkjpz9-HGrB4Xlm7RU/s131/Example%201a.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="131" data-original-width="110" height="175" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQymCyD7qdHLXp-FOFhiflPHBLbGVdN1ItRm2Uq1VdG2CpTP1mnnHsozyXDC5iUeBr8yPhoSJSNt8csYTXKUMvgbbLKDbdcwGixLLrNxd_KciXIcW9UqSyBdsZBQat9g9-eQ63tqEPXmCb-fjx9suRzwkSv0c3SO762btlg4CTBgkjpz9-HGrB4Xlm7RU/w147-h175/Example%201a.JPG" width="147" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>SUB-LEVELS: </b></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">This is a little harder to characterize. Blackmoor, and Tonisborg have isolated sections that could be sublevels or not, depending on how you characterize them vertically.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-hDibpx5OyMopaLjWnE0C2THPy0PCrsItK7lbtdBaMq1uqF9Lp4mfYrdHYKipsyMMyIK2sxfOEybjQH3cMdPYcjq3667iU_7ESP23PXsi0nPmJ6Z3i3CGNZTbCynzz3d7FT0XovPyc67gLC7XpbcRHpTeAg3e7App9cN-GFnCRFnJx8oI31L5fHKIIC0/s130/Example%204a.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="108" data-original-width="130" height="140" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-hDibpx5OyMopaLjWnE0C2THPy0PCrsItK7lbtdBaMq1uqF9Lp4mfYrdHYKipsyMMyIK2sxfOEybjQH3cMdPYcjq3667iU_7ESP23PXsi0nPmJ6Z3i3CGNZTbCynzz3d7FT0XovPyc67gLC7XpbcRHpTeAg3e7App9cN-GFnCRFnJx8oI31L5fHKIIC0/w168-h140/Example%204a.JPG" width="168" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>DIVIDED LEVELS: (a level that cannot be completely traversed without going through the levels above or below it)</b></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">There are level sections in both Blackmoor and Tonisborg that can only be entered by going down one stair and up another or by finding, in some cases, a very difficult secret passage or in other cases by digging through a cave in. Here is a small section example from level 2 entered only be secret doors or a stair:</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnUwzTYL8nrGp8JbmTtVpc3x7PbXARQPtDPlGSpkX-BsJHaMz2JubdPxvvv8nRODftc08TAKPpNSarEyUHaH7Ma7lEtK-HJDnW2IPe8sIYPmu3JKT1ENG4qcuntONkOgZb8S9-uBQ0sytZfbeFLOHRJN92Uwf0NqTsWQqW4rBqIpySuSDGP_C25aCpgug/s81/Example2a.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="78" data-original-width="81" height="163" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnUwzTYL8nrGp8JbmTtVpc3x7PbXARQPtDPlGSpkX-BsJHaMz2JubdPxvvv8nRODftc08TAKPpNSarEyUHaH7Ma7lEtK-HJDnW2IPe8sIYPmu3JKT1ENG4qcuntONkOgZb8S9-uBQ0sytZfbeFLOHRJN92Uwf0NqTsWQqW4rBqIpySuSDGP_C25aCpgug/w169-h163/Example2a.JPG" width="169" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /><b><br /></b></span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>NESTED DUNGEONS: </b></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Similarly, there are what one might call nested lairs only accessible through a secret entrance, for example from level 3:</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJSdY3q2A8bnyK4erpVy955I1nrB5IWEAwjdOPGZg3XMtI2at-tbtv_uS0OCq1AqwCZvAkW3M8xQx73-6iUJe8doePupIwKpnjsePkvRoO2sC3tDcf0bNVx9weHTEY9vurnWOtz11GtA8U7uvx0mfOUNd4669hp5b4hsWdkuGBHNglYxVg0-exj8QeEfE/s186/Example%203a.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="120" data-original-width="186" height="174" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJSdY3q2A8bnyK4erpVy955I1nrB5IWEAwjdOPGZg3XMtI2at-tbtv_uS0OCq1AqwCZvAkW3M8xQx73-6iUJe8doePupIwKpnjsePkvRoO2sC3tDcf0bNVx9weHTEY9vurnWOtz11GtA8U7uvx0mfOUNd4669hp5b4hsWdkuGBHNglYxVg0-exj8QeEfE/w269-h174/Example%203a.JPG" width="269" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /><b><br /></b></span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>MINOR ELEVATION SHIFTS: </b></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">There are a couple of sloping areas in both Blackmoor and Tonisborg. Temple of the Frog dungeon has both chutes and a sloping corridor covered with slippery slime.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>MIDPOINT ENTRY</b></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Tonisborg Dungeon's main entrance puts you on level 2. The well entrance to Blackmoor dungeon ends at level 3. If you go in through any of the Blackmoor town entrances it will put you on level 4. If you go in through the Wizards Pit you will enter on level 4 or 5. etc. The temple of the Frog has exterior entrances that put you on the bottom level (2). So yes, not simply a midpoint entry, but multiple entries to multiple levels.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>NON-EUCLIDEAN GEOMETRY</b></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">No this one I have to concede, isn't found in Blackmoor. The references is to upside down rooms and M. C. Escher like passages.</span></p><p><b><span style="font-size: medium;"></span></b></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>EXTRADIMENSIONAL SPACES</b></span></p><div><span style="font-size: medium;">There is really nothing like this in Tonisborg or TotF, but Blackmoor does have one instance technically falling into this category, in that the Orcian Way staircase only goes down from level 1 but if you try to go back up, it will magically extend upward for a great distance to a trap door, which will transport characters to hundreds of feet up in the air above Blackmoor Bay.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><p><span style="font-size: medium;">A final point not to be missed is that all these design elements were incorporated by Arneson in the very first dungeon ever made. I'm not sure sure I can stress the enormity of this fact. Arneson didn't need the years of trial and error that resulted in the design principles of "Xandering" that everyone else did. He intuitively grasped what would make a fun and challenging, repeatable dungeon experience from the moment he first put pen to paper in 1972. I really find it quite amazing. Blackmoor dungeon is truly a wonder of the fantasy world, like finding a digital camera in a 1972 time capsule.</span></p>DHBoggshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02170439175265397893noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3138202318040749770.post-22733794892838438602023-12-31T08:08:00.004-05:002023-12-31T14:11:39.513-05:00Tonisborg Convention Play and Dungeon Lethality<p><span style="font-size: medium;"> I had the pleasure of running Greg Svensons Tonisborg dungeon using the ZED rules at two conventions this year, and the results were interesting.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>Tonisborg is a place not a challenge, so it is up to the DM to decide what, if any, scenario might be in play involving the player characters. I chose to cr</span><span>eate an object centered adventure. In other words, I wanted the players to chase after a specific Mcguffin instead of simply being loot hungry dungeon robbers or some such. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Tonisborg provides ample opportunity for crafting scenarios because there are so many factions and so many curious inhabitants that must have a story behind thejr presence.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Partly because Tonisborg can be so deadly, and partly because it seems that high level play in 3llb style D&D is so rarely experienced. I decided to go with 8-12 level characters, and further spiced the fun by handing out character sheets of original players. For example, someone was playing Lord Oberstar, king of the dwarves.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">For this adventure I picked an unnamed Lord and his small retinue found on level seven, and christened him Lord Kervall. "Kervall" is a name that shows up in one of the MMRPG adventures as a minor noble family of Blackmoor, and I like Easter eggs.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">So Kervall and his fours sons (the unnamed fighters with the unnamed lord) are in the dungeon. I decide, because the Kervall family has fallen out of disfavor with the King and Lord Kervall thinks if he finds the legendary crowns his star will rise. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">They have been gone 6 months when Lord Kervall sends a messenger to lady Kervall with partial dungeon maps and instructions to send reinforcements. Long story short, she hires the party to bring him home instead. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">The first game took place at the Schenectady Wargaming Associations annual "Council Con" at the excellent Proctors Theater venue in downtown Schenectady NY. This convention dates back to the mid 1970's and is a well attended event advertised in Dragon Magazine. Known for years as "The Council of Five Nations" it was suspended during covid and was only just starting again under the shortened name.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">I had a full table of participants and it was an orderly and thoughtful group. Following an audience with Lady Kervall, the group journeyed to Tonisborg, met with a Lord Sheriff of the Order of Draconae, spent some time negotiating and questioning him, </span><span style="font-size: large;">bought their passes and followed their guide to the dungeon entrance.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Now here is where my cheat for the players kicked in. The messenger from Kerval had given them partials maps with the correct stairs marked to get them to the lord more or less directly. This was to facilitate the fact that this was a 4 hour convention game and there was no way they could wander Tonisborg and randomly find him. Further, the route, if followed precisely, would be almost monster free.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">This first group made contact with the Order Draconae guards on the second level, questioned them some more, and then proceeded cautiously into the dungeon. They managed to follow the maps down to level 7 without incident, went around an area of yellow mold (marked on the map), and used an x-ray vision spell to move through a secret door and avoid an oncoming orc patrol.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">An ESP spell outside the marked door helped them identify that they had found Lord Kervall and negotiations followed when the Lord refused to leave the dungeon but insisted they had come to help him. The party agreed and followed Kervall on further exploration. However they soon found themselves in a room with a Cockatrice, which turned Kervall to stone. Someone shouted to douse the lights and a brief combat entirely in the dark saw several wounds inflicted from friendly fire but some lucky strikes also killed the monster. The party then convinced Kervall's sons that they really should leave the dungeon carrying the statue with them.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">The second game was run at this year's Arnecon convention and followed much the same pattern as the first, but did differ in several ways.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Firstly the players, spent a lot more time discussing terms first with the Kervall messanger and then with Lady Kervall than the first group did. Then when they arrived at Tonisborg, spent less time talking to the Order Draconae. However, despite having very high level characters, this group thought that Tonisborg was so scary they needed extra muscle and so hired, following some lucky rolls and intense negotiations, an entire crew of Skandaharian sailors. This proved interesting as the party then formed a very long group as it moved through the dungeon and they Skandaharrians alternated between bravado and skittishness.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">This group avoided the Order Draconae guards on the second level, managed to take the wrong stairs on the fourth level (or was it the third?) and just managed to skirt by a black pudding hiding in the darkness of one of the large rooms they moved through. In retrospect, I should have had them pudding attack them, but I decided it was in a particular place in the room and they didn't go there.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Anyway they managed to find their way to the correct stair after more discussion, and got back on track. They passed through the room with Yellow Mold and one character was damaged. This was the only HP loss of the entire session! They too found lord Kervall, but instead of agreeing to adventure with him they found a way to overpower him and convince the sons to leave with them.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">All in all, nobody died and the objective was achieved in both games.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">What I want to highlight from both these games was that the role-play was constant, cooperation was intense, and smart play minimized combat. Indeed the second game really had no combat at all. Tonisborg can certainly be a deadly dungeon. Old school games can certainly involve a lot of combat, but there is as much opportunity for role play heavy adventuring in Tonisborg or any other traditional dungeon, or in any traditional games, as there is in any "Modern" systems and adventures.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p>DHBoggshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02170439175265397893noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3138202318040749770.post-38026992009994467412023-08-31T20:44:00.000-04:002023-08-31T20:44:03.678-04:00Arnecon<p>I've got a busy gaming schedule coming up. I'm playing in Virtual Greyhawk con and running 2 games (Lakofka's Devils Dung and Lost Dungeons of Tonisborg) at SWA's Council 42 and thinking of also going to PAGE in January, but the highlight is ARNECON in October.</p><p>If you can make it, it will be a great chance for you to meet some of the games earliest players - oh and me if you wanted. Here is the website with the basics:</p><p><a href="https://tabletop.events/conventions/arnecon-i">ARNECON</a><br /></p><p>If you happen to be in the Schenectady NY area and want to play in one of my games, check out the Schnectady Wargamers Council 42 just a few weeks from now:</p><p><a href="http://www.swa-gaming.org/Council.php">Council</a><br /></p>DHBoggshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02170439175265397893noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3138202318040749770.post-57201838345487847002023-07-29T19:22:00.001-04:002023-07-29T19:33:04.295-04:00Locating Chentoufi in Greyhawk<p> <span style="font-size: medium;">Related to my last post, and a fun topic in itself, it is something of an open secret that the recent and ongoing "Chentoufi" series of adventures co-authored by Luke Gygax take place in a setting not unlike that his father Gary created in the western Flanaess. Like the Arabian flavored Baklunish Empire of Greyhawk, the Arabian flavored empire of Luke Gygax's World of Okkorim was decimated centuries previously by a great magical devastation.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">In both settings, the heart of the ancient empire was basically fried by a magical cataclysim, leaving behind a wasteland with a few outposts of struggling civilization at the edges. In Greyhawk, the barren lands are known as "The Dry Steps". In Okkorim, its called the "Blighted Lands".</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">While I don't for a minute think Luke Gygax is trying to be sneaky here and give us Greyhawk with the serial numbers filed off, I do think it is not unreasonable to suppose Mr. Gygax is designing the Okkorim setting in a way that will (and does) make it easy for those who may wish to transplant his adventures into the Greyhawk setting. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">So how might we do that? Chentoufi is the city around which the various adventures take place. It rests on a north-south coastline with ocean to the west and the Blighted lands to the east.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Thus we need to find a portion of the Flanaess of the right size with a north-south coastline, just west of the Dry Steppes which is the Greyhawk equivalent of the Blighted Lands. There is one place, and only one place, that fits - maybe you guessed it - The Gulf of Ghayar. Any further west on the Greyhawk map and you will leave the Dry Steppes behind, not to mention there is not really a suitable coastline.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Remarkably, the eastern coast of the Gulf of Ghayar is mostly undeveloped in Greyhawk lore. The Chentoufi coast can be plopped right in without much fuss. Below is my attempt at doing just that. </span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy69cNQYgAu02IL0hh9I30xfhRjR3w_ncFwUVY2BUAmpR-gqd-1v7BQWN2QEMdLnIluvbrPB8o_kuO46wv1Eyr9iC3lIEqz7C31ptCBgWBZqnUY2DIjQCV7sm0nJsi4ltYidxPOQaLLjKZpYX4gdbinIqLnIQpZ_3FkMKPCQewjRhOd6aMB1uRoWVyqrw/s949/Chentoufi%20on%20W%20Gayar%20map.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="949" data-original-width="703" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy69cNQYgAu02IL0hh9I30xfhRjR3w_ncFwUVY2BUAmpR-gqd-1v7BQWN2QEMdLnIluvbrPB8o_kuO46wv1Eyr9iC3lIEqz7C31ptCBgWBZqnUY2DIjQCV7sm0nJsi4ltYidxPOQaLLjKZpYX4gdbinIqLnIQpZ_3FkMKPCQewjRhOd6aMB1uRoWVyqrw/w296-h400/Chentoufi%20on%20W%20Gayar%20map.png" width="296" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">(Note I did rotate the Chentoufi map about 25 degrees NE in order to make the curving coastline on the bottom of the older line drawn map from the original release fit better to the Gulf of Ghayar coast. I don't think the slight shift affects the geography very much, The newer color maps of the Chentoufi coast don't go quite as far south and thus lack the coastal curve that necessitated the compass shift and it would be possible to re-align to North and still make the new color map fit if that were important to your game. YMMV)</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>DHBoggshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02170439175265397893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3138202318040749770.post-28157853038097189962023-07-16T18:15:00.005-04:002023-07-16T18:17:29.220-04:00The Gulf of Ghayar Gazetteer and Izmer<p><span style="font-size: medium;">Sometimes I find myself moving along and minding my business when suddenly appears a rabbit hole and down I go. Heh. Some of you will remember I did a couple of posts discussing and mapping the idea that Izmer, the realm setting of the first D&D movie, belongs to western Oerik and Greyhawk - the last post on the topic was <a href="https://boggswood.blogspot.com/2020/11/saagards-greyhawk-and-izmer.html">HERE.</a></span> </p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Now a month or two back, a creative commons product came our called <i>Beyond the Flanaess:Gulf of Ghayar Gazetteer., </i>hosted on Anna Meyer's website <a href="https://www.annabmeyer.com/2023/04/19/gulf-of-ghayar-gazetteer/">HERE.</a> If you are not familiar, the Gazeteer attempts to flesh out and expand the westward edge of the Flanaess beyond the Plains of the Paynim into what is variously known as the Sundered Empire Map or Dragon Annual Map. It basically covers some of the NW Flanaess and some of the NE Sundered Empire region - and this is of course the area there I had put Izmer.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">I have a lot of irons in the fire so it takes me a while to get around to looking closely at new products and it wasn't until Friday that I took the time to look closely at this. What struck me are the maps. Troy Alleman has once again knocked one out of the park.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"> However, Troy did something unorthodox, something I agree with 100%. In order to explain the warm currents in the Dramidj ocean, Troy added a channel called the Omarra Straight separating the Flanaess from the Sundered Empire. These maps are so good, I found myself wishing there was a way to fit in Izmer - and then I found one. By creating the Straights of Omarra, Troy actually created the perfect spot - a mountainous peninsular region on the east shore of the new Straight. Surprisingly, all that was needed was to move a few mountains, plant a couple rivers and forests, and viola., the locations transferred pretty much as I had them on the previous map. The resemblance to my previous Izmer map is striking, but I think this works even better. Here you go:</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyAkIYvEKL0f3P6PhKFb7mnvCBDXWzQ6jgTjMa95yXxge-e2B0KJEA3QRFrOA_Stla6ByZud148rvlvC7r4F7M7cGlq3p5xmnBTK_oh5DaN9TFlMehf257LUwuSdTZHvL8pYIzBREa1uGUHlqXgodDLo3H9QVKKSaFt48OyGbiwOAQDy5e9k434nwWdhY/s1419/SagIzOkkHawk%206%20W%20Gayar%20map%20section.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1012" data-original-width="1419" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyAkIYvEKL0f3P6PhKFb7mnvCBDXWzQ6jgTjMa95yXxge-e2B0KJEA3QRFrOA_Stla6ByZud148rvlvC7r4F7M7cGlq3p5xmnBTK_oh5DaN9TFlMehf257LUwuSdTZHvL8pYIzBREa1uGUHlqXgodDLo3H9QVKKSaFt48OyGbiwOAQDy5e9k434nwWdhY/s320/SagIzOkkHawk%206%20W%20Gayar%20map%20section.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Now back to my regularly scheduled programming...</span></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>DHBoggshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02170439175265397893noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3138202318040749770.post-86689882752545733292023-07-08T15:04:00.005-04:002023-07-08T22:05:13.837-04:00Sahuagin: Origins and Inspirations<p>The Sahuagin are perhaps one of the most intriguing entries in Blackmoor Supplement II. The creature was created by Steve Marsh, but here I want to explore the idea I proposed years ago that the Sahuagin story is more complicated.</p><p>Sahuagin is by far the largest entry for a sentient creature in the 1975 booklet. Many of the others are only a few sentences or a paragraph at most. A very good average comparison is Marsh's other creature the Ixitxachitl </p><p><i>"A race of Chaotic Clerical Philosophers, they resemble Manta Rays (i.e. having a flat blanket-like form) with one in ten being a vampire equivalent (affected by any holy or blessed item, not just a cross). They are found in groups of 50–150 creatures with 40–120 being 1st-level philosophers (or clerics) and the rest of 2nd to 11th level (roll 10-sided die and add one). For every 25 such creatures there is a 50% chance of a magic user of the 6th to 11th level (roll 6-sided die and add six). For every vampire they possess one level F treasure, and one class “A” sea treasure for every magic user over 8th level; magic items cannot be used if hands are required (generally that means that only items that can be worn upon the body can be used)."</i></p><p>By comparison the Sahuagin entry is huge. It looks like a double entry, and I think that is just what it is.</p><p>What follows is purely speculative - Let me repeat for clarity PURELY SPECULATIVE - but I think the anomalies found in this entry are best explained as a mash-up created by Supplement II editor Tim Kask of two separate creatures; one created by Steve Marsh and the other created by Dave Arneson.</p><p>First take note that the creature has two titles. The first is "Sahuagin" (Saw-gwin or Sa ha gwin - see Marsh explain <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbn0u9Q-n9A">HERE</a> )</p><p>The second title follows in parenthesis as "Devil Men of the Deep"</p><p>Now, when discussing the origin of the name and creature Marsh explains the name Sahaugin was lifted from that of a Spanish historian cited in the bibliography of a Mormon missionary pamphlet and some of the details of the creature were inspired by a Justice League cartoon and/or comics. This last is hard to pin down, but it is quite possibly the creature from a an Aquaman adventure in Superboy Vol 1 202 - which has a "half-man and half-fish" villain called the Devil-fish with characteristics quite similar to the Sahuagin. see <a href="https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/Devil_Fish_(Pre-Zero_Hour">HERE</a>)</p><p><br /></p><p> THE SAHUAGIN </p><p>Speculative Marsh version: </p><p><i>In the eons past there was a great flooding of the land (although history does not agree when this occurred and it may have happened twice) when the ice caps were melted during a great struggle of the gods to control the planet. When the water rose some of these gods took care that representative portions of all life were preserved and returned when the waters fell and the land became fruitful again. Others sought to change the nature of life so it could adapt to the new face of the world and at the same time preserve its intelligence. Much about the Sahuagin is probably myth but even if half of what is said about them is true then they are, indeed, a terrible threat.With a huge leech-like mouth, large reptilian eyes, and huge ear-like growths on the side of their heads they have an almost alien appearance. On the upper body are two arm-like extensions that act as forward fins and end in two pincer-like protrusions (opposed to each other) which are used to grasp tools and weapons. The main body is reptilian in nature, covered with thick hide, and has a rudimentary tail which is used much like an alligator’s tail for steering and propulsion. The two rear legs are located about 2/3 of the way down the body and are long and frog-like, ending in a six-toed webbed foot which provides great stability when standing on soft sea bottoms and great propulsion when swimming. They have an average underwater speed of 18” with maximum speeds of up to 30” about once every hour. Their tough reptilian hide is similar to leather armor while the body can sustain two hit dice in damage. The mouth can be used to attach itself to or to rend the flesh of the victim with its hundreds of razor sharp teeth. The tail can deliver a pile driver-like punch similar to that wielded by a giant (club damage times two). The powerful pincers will crush anything up to or under bony composition they grasp (as daggers). The back feet can tear apart any victim that is grabbed by the forearms or otherwise act like the claws of a powerful animal. This formidable array is aided by the sensitive ears that can pick up underwater noise as slight as a boat’s oars cutting through the water at ranges of ten miles. The compound eyes are sensitive to light but can see through the darkest depths for up to half a mile (80–90”). Their disadvantages are that their eyes generally keep them 100’ or more below the surface, although at night or during storms they will reach the surface. Their ears are easily damaged by loud noises at close range and they cannot pick out the sound of swimming creatures (of any kind). 10–60 will be found in a single group with a 30% chance they will be in a lair with Class “F” and “A” treasure. The lair will be completely water-filled since these creatures cannot breathe air or fresh water at all. </i></p><p><br /></p><p>Now you may think that seems like a fairly complete entry, and it certainly compares well with Marsh's Sea Elves or the Ixichitl entries I quoted above, but there is quite a lot of text left - Enough for a whole other monster.</p><p>So now we come to what I'm suggesting originates with Arneson. Unlike Marsh, we really have no clue from Arneson regarding Sahuagin. Supposing I'm correct, he may have written about a "creature from the Black Lagoon" type monster, or perhaps an expansion on the lizardman, or, an intriguing possibility I'm going to follow here - a variant of The Sea Devils.</p><p>Sea Devils are in fact an amphibious undersea creature of the Dr. Who series, from episodes released in 1972. Marsh never connected his Sahuagin to Dr. Who, yet the similarities are worth consideration. Let me quote a description of the creature from the Doctor Who RPG:</p><p><i>"...Sea Devils, are ...2.1 to 2.3 meters tall. They are more turtle-like than are the Silurians, and they do not have a third eye. The five Silurian bone ridges have been replaced by two smaller head crests and by a beak-like nose. In addition to these differences, Sea Devils have adapted to underwater life. Although they are amphibians, Sea Devils can tolerate the extremely high pressures found near the bottom of the sea, and they can easily adapt to rapid pressure changes. Their thick, reptilian skin provides protection against extreme cold.</i></p><p><i>...Sea Devils are ruthless and relentlessly militaristic, and they have developed a highly advanced machine culture. They enjoy working with metals and wear protective armor at all times. "</i> Doctor Who RPG (FASA) Fantasy Simulations Associates 1985</p><p>It's curious that these undersea creatures are also called "Devils". It's also curious that the Dr. Who Sea Devils, like what I'm positing is Arneson's contribution to the Sahuagin, has a very hierarchical, cruel and militaristic society. Here is the remainder of the Sahuagin entry - what I'm calling the Arsoninan bit - with the word Sea Devil replacing Sahuagin:</p><p><i>Sea-Devils:</i></p><p><i>A constant threat to man, beast and fish are the voracious Sea-Devils whose only friends seem to be the equally voracious and predatory Giant Sharks. Although of an intelligence equal to the elves in many respects, the Sea-Devils have taken and perverted virtually every aspect of civilization to support their sadistic cannibalistic culture. </i></p><p><i>It is said that the sea elves and the mermen were created by the Great Gods of Neutrality and Law while the Gods of Chaos bent their will to create the Sea-Devils. In every aspect the Evil ones sought to make the Sea-Devils into the most evil of the evil and many agree that they succeeded in making a race that fit that bill. Many individual horrors both on the land and sea may be in themselves worse than the Sea-Devils but nowhere will there be found a comparable race that as a whole retains the worst possible qualities.</i></p><p><i>When found in a lair there is a 10% chance that it is actually an underwater community of 100–1,000 creatures. There is then a further 20% chance that this community consists of 1,000–10,000 individuals. The underwater capital city has nearly 100,000 of these creatures residing within its watery limits. These cities will have great fighters and magic users as well asunderwater horrors that live and fight for the Sea-Devils. The ratio of these is as follows: </i></p><p><i>per ten Sea-Devils there is a 25% chance of a double value fighter (Hero type)</i></p><p><i>per sixty there is a 15% chance of a triple value fighter (Superhero)</i></p><p><i>per one hundred of these individuals there is a 10% chance of a quadruple value fighter.</i></p><p><i>per five hundred of these individuals there is a 20% chance of a quintuple (5) times normal value fighter (Leader).</i></p><p><i>per one thousand individuals there is a 50% chance of a six times normal value fighter.</i></p><p><i>per forty there is a 30% chance of a 2nd-level magic user.</i></p><p><i>per one hundred there is a 25% chance of a 4th-level magic user.</i></p><p><i>per two hundred there is a 10% chance of a 6th-level magic user.</i></p><p><i>per five hundred there is a 25% chance of an 8th-level magic user.</i></p><p><i>per one thousand there is a 40% chance of a 12th-level magic user.</i></p><p><i>per group or up to sixty there will be 2–20 accompanying sharks.*</i></p><p><i>per group of one hundred there will be an additional 10–60 sharks.</i></p><p><i>per group of five hundred there will be an additional 20–120 sharks.</i></p><p><i>per group of one thousand there will be 100–400 additional sharks.</i></p><p><i>*(all totals for sharks are cumulative)</i></p><p><i>These creatures of evil are usually armed with the trident and the net — the former having a deadly poison on its tip and the latter having hundreds of small hooks set into its fabric. The Sea-Devils have become very adept at the use of both these weapons and these weapons also suit their temperament and regular habits. As an example, the small hooks in the net hinder escape while inflicting great pain on the live victims, and when torn from the flesh have the usual accompanying sharks driven into a frenzy from which they may attack the helplessly snared victims.</i></p><p><i>The tridents provide the ability to pin and probe the victims while not inflicting any mortal wounds (when the tips are unpoisoned) and allowing the Sea-Devils to remain at a safe distance.</i></p><p><i>Victims are usually brought to the nearest habitation (although only the ones with over 1,000 in population would have confinement cells for air breathing types) where they are either promptly eaten or penned in with some other predator to provide entertainment. The most common entertainment is to set the sharks on the victim, giving him only a small knife to defend himself. </i></p><p><i>There are dozens of variations on the particular theme. Once captured there is very little possibility of escape and the sadistic nature of the captors has often allowed prisoners to think that they escaped only to be set upon by the sharks and guards when freedom (seemingly) is close at hand.</i></p><p><i>The culture of these creatures allows that there is only one King and he has only nine Princes with lesser positions being held as the situation and population demands. These leaders are always subject to challenge by any other member of the race to their position of leadership. The leaders are usually quite strong and several are reported to be mutations with four arms (this occurs in 1% of the population as a whole) and the fact that the Sea-Devils never cease to grow throughout their lives (much like reptiles) so that the leaders are also usually the older members of the species as well. Unsuccessful challengers are always killed and any cripples that occur in these fights are also disposed of, with especially unpopular types being tortured to death.</i></p><p><i>The disposal of the victims takes place at an after-the-challenge party where they are eaten by the other members of the group or community. This is also done with sickly members and others thought to be unfit to be a part of the community. The females are expected to bear their share of the fighting and are, visually at least, no different than the other members of the species.</i></p><p><i>The young are hatched from eggs and at birth, except for a few days right after birth, no different in size, strength, or viciousness than any other tribal member. The birth rate is about 15% a year and the average death rate about 10% a year.</i></p><p>Thoughts:</p><p>Notice that the original entry has two creation stories. The first, which I'm pegging as the Arneson version specifically mentions the "Great Gods of Neutrality and Law" and "Gods of Chaos", phrases echoing the "Great Gods" mentioned in the FFC (77:21).</p><p>The second creation story involving a flood account I'm attributing to Marsh. It is more detailed than the first and semi-biblical with certain qualities reminiscent to my ear of Marsh's Mormon faith. The detailed creature description also fits best with Marsh's other entries and the " Class “F” and “A” treasure" also certainly does.</p><p>Whereas things like "100–1,000 creatures. There is then a further 20% chance that this community consists of 1,000–10,000 individuals" and "per ten Sahuagin there is a 25% chance of a double value fighter (Hero type)" and " a quintuple (5) times normal value fighter (Leader)" are very Arnesonian.</p><p>In point of fact, Marsh never ever used phrases like "double value" etc. but that is a characteristic and exclusive early Arneson thing in D&D published products as we have talked about several times before. When asked by me about the meaning of this section with its double and triple values, Marsh was unsure what the terms meant. Granted many years have passed, but I think it quite safe to say Marsh did not write this part of the Sahuagin entry.</p><p>Other characteristically Arnesonian features in this part of the entry include the references to captives being eaten and the inclusion of birth rates. Overall it reads a lot like other Arnesonian monsters over the years.</p><p>Are my musings here correct? Is the Sahuagin a mash-up from two different authors? Probably we will never know - but at the very least looking at the entries this way gives us two monsters for the price of one!</p><div><br /></div><p><br /></p>DHBoggshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02170439175265397893noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3138202318040749770.post-56345429304377562352023-06-19T16:24:00.003-04:002023-06-24T08:37:00.138-04:00Things Better Left Alone - a Sad Review<p><span style="font-size: medium;"> <i>Things Better Left Alone</i></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">- Pacesetter Games, 2023 (note this is not the Pacesetter brand owned by Goblinoid Games but an entirely different company owned by Mr. Bill Barsh.)</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">- Designed for Pacesetter's <i>Adventure RPG</i> rules - I do not have these so I can neither recommend or pan them, except to say that these rules use a THAC0 stat, which is rather strange since the THAC0 method was largely unknown by gamers until years after the Holmes Rules were out of publication when TSR released <i>All That Glitters</i> in September 1984, and it wasn't a widely used mechanic until 2nd edition. (edit: see comment by Paleologos)</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Be that as it may, appropriate Homes-esque rulesets that could apply include:</span></p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>BlueHolme</i></span></li><li><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>Wizards, Warriors & Wyrms</i></span></li><li><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>Holmes 77</i> </span></li></ul><p></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Alternatively, gamers can use a Holmes rules expansion guide like <i>Meepo's Holmes Companion</i>, or <i>The Holmes Treasury</i>. Since it gets mentioned from time to time in the interwebs, I'll just add that <i>The Grey Book </i>is another ruleset that nominally draws some inspiration from Holmes, but in my opinion it is quite far removed and not really an appropriate choice for a Holmesian game.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Okay.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">As the person who edited the <i>Holmes to Level 14</i> ruleset back in the day, its a safe bet to guess I'm a big fan of the Dr. J. Eric Holmes "Bluebook" edit of D&D, and as a professional historian and the guy who brought <i>Tonisborg</i> back to life you can imagine my excitement upon learning that Pacesetter Games had teamed with Chris Holmes, son of the good Doctor. to publish Dr. Holmes home dungeon maps with notes for the rooms.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Prior to this we have only three published dungeons from Holmes:</span></p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-size: medium;">T<i>he Dungeon of Zenopus</i> sample level in the Bluebook</span></li><li><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>The Dungeon of Arzaz</i> in the<i> Fantasy Role Playing Games </i>book by Holmes in 1981</span></li><li><span style="font-size: medium;">The unkeyed dungeon of the Lizard King, also in <i>Fantasy Role Playing Games</i></span></li></ul><p></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Historically, early dungeon keys were basically mnemonic triggers for DM creativity. For example, a room might have a note that says "4 Skeletons, 3 hp each, chest with 1000 silver". </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">It is the responsibility and the pleasure of a Game Master to play off those notes to create a unique experience for each session they run. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">For those of you who have it, you will know that this is much the situation with the <i>Lost Dungeons of Tonisborg.</i> When we prepared the published book, I took those bare notes from Greg Svenson, cleaned them up, and added only such mechanical information as was needed to ease the burden on the GM - such as rolling up the stats for the magic swords, values of gems, languages spoken and so on. To this I sometimes added terse descriptions and small notes to aid play such as "The orcs may be working for the balrog in room 3" or "the acolytes in this chapel are preparing for a service" or "What is this werebear doing in here?" and so on. The goal was always to preserve the historical text while aiding the Game Master with a few sparks of creativity so they can run a true piece of history at their table.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">In a discussion on Tenkar's Tavern <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AMWQOOd4lI">HERE</a> Bill Barsh of Pacesetter seemed to express similar views:</span></p><p><i><span style="font-size: medium;">TC 17:51 ...I really worked hard to make sure that this has Holmes in as it could possibly be. You know if you want to play D&D like you play D&D back in 1977 this is this is absolutely the adventure for you. ...I think we took it we took this thing extremely seriously. I mean I think one of the reasons we really really wanted to do this too was we wanted to get J. Eric Holmes Legacy out there for people to be able to acquire today.</span></i></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">and</span></p><p><i><span style="font-size: medium;"> TC 30:48 ...again this should be more Holmes and less me. Unfortunately there's a lot of me in there just because of what what we were handed, but ...I think the whole team worked really hard to make sure that we kept it as Holmes as we could.</span></i></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Promising, but that last paragraph does raise a red flag. Let's take a look at the product and for starters I'll get the potatoes out of the way before dealing with the meat, so to speak.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">It is a standard 8.5" x 11" size product and decently thick at 76 pages - currently only available in pdf.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">The first 4 pages cover introductory material. Advice is given for tying this adventure to Zenopus dungeon adventure, and the overall situation within the dungeon is discussed with just enough detail to explain the situation without overdoing it. Overall this is good and useful material. So far so good</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Skipping over the dungeon material to page 39, we have a few very nicely done random monster and treasure tables, and pages 41-52 present a plethora of new monsters and magic items. A few of these are shown to come directly from Holmes notes, but I'm not going to parse these individually for how "Holmsian" each may or may not be. As a whole the section seems perfectly useful and good. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Pages 54 - 60 contain character sheets for potential hirelings. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Page 61 describes a Pacesetter magic item called the Green Flame that ties to other Pacesetter adventures.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">-Pages 63 -75 are maps, including a newly made map in black and white - note a separate blue and white version of this map also comes with the pdf. First impressions of these redrawn maps are that they are rather plain, and don't appear to have taken much effort. but look serviceable.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"> Very fortunately, Holmes original maps are also reproduced in the pdf. Holmes maps are rich with detail and most of the rooms are marked with terse notes to tell you what is in them. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Since we have these originals, its easy to check them against the redraws to make sure the redrawn maps are accurate and haven't missed anything. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Here is where the ugly begins. The new maps don't match the originals. I don't mean there are one or two differences here or there, I mean the new maps are seriously, drastically, and deliberately fucked up. These are no longer Holmes dungeon maps.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Yes you can tell without too much difficulty which sheet of the new maps is supposed to align with which of the old, but details are starkly changed. There are new rooms added and original rooms removed. Steps are missing, stairs are missing and even the original entry stair is completely relocated for no good reason. Corridor sizes are randomly resized, aligned differently, lengths changed and choke points and entire passageways have disappeared. On and on and on.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Mind you, the originals are on graph paper and fairly clear, so it is not as if it would have been even slightly difficult to load them into a graphics program - even a free one like Gimp - and simply create a clean and exact copy to proper dimensions on a new layer. I mean I can do this - have done this sort of thing - and frankly probably will do so with the Holmes maps for my own use, so I can't begin to imagine what excuse there is for an experienced game company with real graphic artists and cartographers on tap for why the new maps aren't faithful copies - especially given that the new maps are so basic.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Unfortunately, bogus maps aren't the end of it.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">The Dungeon</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Pages 5 through 48 cover the dungeon key. This was an opportunity for Pacessetter to clean up the notes on the map, add stats as needed, some suggestions where appropriate and a few bits of obvious detail. Entries could have been writen in a manner that followed Holmes own model, amply demostrated in his <i>Dungeon of Zenopus</i> (Bluebook) and even <i>The Dungeon of Arzaz.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">It was also an opportunity for Pacesetter to add historical information and quotes such as bits and pieces from the <i>Maze of Peril</i> book or Holmes Dragon articles where the events described in the stories correspond with a location in the dungeon, as quite a few actually do. Further we could have had small anecdotes from Chris Holmes or anyone who may have played in the dungeon. That would have been super cool.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">We don't get anything like that. What we do get, on the very first entry, is read-aloud BOXED TEXT. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Now look, I'm not a hater of boxed text per se., but it certainly receives a lot of criticism and more to the point, post dated the Holmes era significantly, so again, the choice to use anachronistic boxed text in presenting someone else's historical and posthumous dungeon design instead of following his own style feels very wrong.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Still I might have forgiven the boxed text if it was not followed by, lets call it "invented" material. Quite frankly, there is paragraph after paragraph of fluff written by Pacessetter. Each room is embellished with an entire storybook of material that springs from the mind of Bill Barsh, apparently, and not Holmes. It is completely unnecessary and so overwrites the true Holmes material that you can't run the dungeon authentically.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Here is a small example. The new map relocates (!) the original entry stair from a corridor into a room designated as 2 on the new map. On the original map there are 12 savages in this room (why move the stair to dump the characters immediately into a big fight is beyond me, but I digress). In the room description we are told these savages are in some kind of religious trance staring at a green flame - a tie in both to other Pacesetter products and to an entirely new Mcguffin added to the dungeon. I'll just note here that this also isn't the last time tie ins to other Pacesetter products completely unrelated to Holmes are found in the dungeon. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Another example, room 7 is a simple locking door and moving wall trap, per the map notes. A true-to-Holmes description of this might have been something like:</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">"Dark stains (from blood) may be observed on the back of this door and the floor immediately beyond it. Unless held, the door will swing shut and lock and the opposite wall begin to move. Anyone in the corridor will be crushed against the door in 2d4 rounds unless the lock is picked or the door is forced by a combined strength of 18 or greater."</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Instead the Pacesetter description adds an elaborate painting, a bowl intended for a blood sacrifice, spear points sticking out and additional falling walls. Come on man.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Each entry is treated this way, as if it is Pacesetter's personal playground to make up whatever nonsense that strikes their fancy. Further the made up fluff is very 1980's - 1990's BECMI in feel. It doesn't read at all like <i>Maze of Peril,</i> it reads more like a <i>Mystara </i>module.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">It is extremely frustrating as a historian of the game to see this mistreatment of Holmes dungeon. These ahistorical changes in map and text to the work of a key figure in D&D history are baffling and unnecessary and a missed opportunity. Its a bit like selling "authentic" copies of Michelangelo's David, where the statue is now wearing sneakers, pants and sunglasses - because, you know, that makes it "better".</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">This was not a happy thing for me to write about. I really really really did not want and do not like to write a negative review, but the subject is too historically important for me not to be honest about the content of this product. I want at least to acknowledge that I certainly appreciate the fact that Pacesetter made the product available.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Would I recommend the pdf - Yes, absolutely - the reproductions of the original maps alone are worth it and the monster stats etc. make a nice bonus. Hey, the cover art is pretty cool too. You should buy this product if you have any interest in Holmes or Bluebox D&D.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">but.. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">I honestly recommend you DO NOT print out the new maps and you rewrite or gut the key entirely using the notes on the map as your guide and removing all the Bill Barsh fluff. Unless of course you would rather play in a 1990 style Pacesetter dungeon than a 1976 Holmesian one. </span></p>DHBoggshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02170439175265397893noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3138202318040749770.post-65861795219455530642023-05-07T08:59:00.001-04:002023-05-07T08:59:19.016-04:00Vecna Rebooted and Greyhawk<p> Having spent most of my life working as an archaeologist and now as a public historian, I suppose it is not surprising that I would be drawn to puzzles involving the ancient past - even when that past is entirely fictional.</p><p>The age of Vecna in the history of Greyhawk is just such a fiction with just such a puzzle swirling about the ancient lich, but I honestly had not thought much about Vecna specifically until recently, beyond reading the research others had done.</p><p>This <a href="http://www.canonfire.com/cf/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1102" target="_blank">Vecna Timeline on Canonfire</a>, for example, covers the character fairly thoroughly - at least to the extent needed for generating backstory in a Greyhawk or Blackmoor campaign. </p><p>But casually watching this <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aksxP2t4fMY" target="_blank">Bob World Builder Video</a> brings up a whole new level of curiosity. The basic idea put forward in the video is that Vecna has played a pivotal role in the stories put out by the owners of the D&D IP each time the game has undergone a revision or edition change. </p><p> The video further highlights that of Jorphdan - another Youtuber - who points out that WotC products going back several years have been seeding mysterious obelisks that were finally revealed to be part of a plan by Vecna to alter history. To quote from a sidebar in Icewind Dale "“These obelisks could alter reality on a grand scale, sending a region or an entire world back to an earlier time, effectively erasing part of history."</p><p>Just last month, we got this tidbit from Chris Perkins "...super excited to let people know that our Vecna adventure is going really really well and you'll get to visit a number of cool places and worlds in the course of this adventure." Vecna, Planescape & What’s Next w/ Christopher Perkins | D&D Beyond, April 14 2023</p><p>Of course I have no knowledge of what WotC is doing, but it would seem particularly strange for a Vecna adventure involving world hoping to exclude the one world most closely associated with the lich.</p><p>One intriguing possibility I mentioned <a href="http://www.canonfire.com/cf/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=9658">on Canonfire</a> last October is that WotC is planning to bring back Greyhawk - sort of - by recasting the setting into the distant past and thus avoiding any concerns they may have with lets say, politically incorrect aspects of the published material. It would further have the advantage of not angering Greyhawk fans any more than they already are, by mucking up the large pool of fan material for the current age.</p><p>Regardless of how one feels about WotC right now, a detailed empire of Vecna in ancient Greyhawk is surely an appealing idea and if WotC doesn't take that path, perhaps someone else will. Could Vecna's goal be to remake history by not giving Kas his famous sword or killing him early or...? Well there are lots of possibilities.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>DHBoggshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02170439175265397893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3138202318040749770.post-53020626517206694902023-03-14T20:41:00.002-04:002023-04-30T08:19:51.316-04:00Arnesonian Time Keeping<p><span style="font-size: medium;">The original Blackmoor game as Dave Arneson ran it between 1971 and 1975 may be described as a living world campaign. - meaning that the world moves through time regardless of play. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">In his grand Napoleonic campaign Arneson had scores of players, including many play-by-post participants such as Gary Gygax, and time in the game had to advance on a regular schedule for the game to work.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Although Blackmoor by contrast was played almost entirely in person, Arneson again had to deal with many players who came in and out of the game at various times and locations of play and he again adopted a "living world" approach reflective of his Napoleonic campaign where time advanced regardless of who made it to the table. Because Arneson had a revolving door of players coming in and out of Blackmoor games, he did not have the "luxury" of pausing the world for a particular player or group of players.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Although this doesn't necessarily mean Arneson would have had to have run Blackmoor with strict 1 to 1 play, i. e. one day of real time equals one day of game time, it does appear that Arneson did something quite close, perhaps even exactly that. Let me provide some </span><span style="font-size: large;">1 to 1 time</span><span style="font-size: large;"> examples:</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>In the summer of 1972, Arneson's most prolific player, Greg Svenson had to leave for a six weeks due to employment at a summer camp. This occurred during the 2nd Coot invasion, after the Egg's forces captured Blackmoor and the group of heroes who were supposed to be defending it got exiled to Loch Gloomin. Greg left for camp, but while he was away The Egg of Coot launched an attack on Lake Gloomin and Svenson's iconic character "The Great Svenny" was killed, having been experimentally placed by the other players as the sole defender of the town gate against an army of orcs. Time did not stand still for Greg or his character, but as a consequence The Great Svenny became almost certainly the first character to be resurrected<b><i> </i></b></span><span>in a fantasy RPG upon Greg's return to the game.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">The next summer Greg again had to leave the gaming table for a while and this time it was decided Svenny went on a business trip to Greyhawk city to explain his absence. Time marched on.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">We can move to one of Dave Megarry's characters for further insight. David Megarry has actually preserved a log he kept of his character HW Dumbo's activities. HW Dumbo was Megarry's 5th character - the others having had much shorter careers. It seems the best way to interpret the dates in the table are that they correspond to the real month and day and that 1072 corresponds to the year 1972. Here is the table:</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR0bBCD0bQvMrn6YGjfiMhfFK_fmo3asXymvxZ8hu3RR1ubrr0_gHq-AeoONQMw0o9f7SoHZgRjR5PbnGZO0jmeEu5J65QTmRt14dagR2h-QAgOmetB-YFNwFfkyhMnMozx1VnqKID08oWJRjqJCvywoYiStKe2b1dgZkvcoNRwH_VF1r7Y-iTaWzt/s1524/HWDumboTimeRecord.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="1524" height="155" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR0bBCD0bQvMrn6YGjfiMhfFK_fmo3asXymvxZ8hu3RR1ubrr0_gHq-AeoONQMw0o9f7SoHZgRjR5PbnGZO0jmeEu5J65QTmRt14dagR2h-QAgOmetB-YFNwFfkyhMnMozx1VnqKID08oWJRjqJCvywoYiStKe2b1dgZkvcoNRwH_VF1r7Y-iTaWzt/w439-h155/HWDumboTimeRecord.jpg" width="439" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>Note that between June and September Megarry's character was on something of a long hiatus building Freehold. Freehold was of course Greg Svenson's tower which had been destroyed during the 2nd Coot invasion earlier in the year. It is apparently not coincidence that while Megarry's character was working on a building, Megarry himself was working on buildings as a house painter and </span><span>too busy that summer </span><span>to participate in the games. Time in the game moved on without him at the table.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">In fact, this way of managing time carried straight over from Blackmoor into the OD&D rules. This isn't especially surprising. There was only roughly 10 months between the time of Gygax's first RPG experience when Arneson and Megarry demoed Blackmoor to him and the actual publication of the three little brown books. Gygax did not fail to draw on Arneson's much longer experience running an RPG campaign. In the TIME section of D&D V</span><span style="font-size: medium;">ol. III (1974) we read:</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">"As the campaign goes into full swing it is probable thot there will be various groups going every which way and all at different time periods. It is suggested that a record of each player be kept, the referee checking off each week as it is spent. Recon the passage of time thus:</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>Dungeon expedition = 1 week </span><span>Wilderness adventure </span><span>= 1 move = 1 day </span><span>1 Week of actual time = 1 week of game time...</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>Actual time would not be counted off for players "out" on a Wilderness adventure, </span><span>but it would for those newed in their dens, hideholes, keeps, castles, etc., as </span><span>well as for those in the throes of some expedition in the underworld,"</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">An entire post could be written about the TIME section, but for our purposes here I only wish to highlight the point of 1 to 1 time being expressed.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">No player was seemingly so important that time stood still for them, not even the DM. In one of my favorite blog posts, <a href="http://beyondtheblackgate.blogspot.com/2011/07/dave-arneson-and-impartiality-in-temple.html">HERE</a> Al of Beyond the Black Gates relates an amusing anecdote about a convention game Arneson ran where, </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">"Once, when the party's boat was a attacked by a horde of lizardmen, he told us how many there were, their armor class, their hit points, what they needed to hit us, and so on. They were stupid, he explained, and fanatic, and would fight to the death, so we should be able to take care of that ourselves, and he was going to go get a coke and he'd be back in a few minutes to check on us."</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">As the quote illustrates, the principle of time continuing in motion in the game and the real world concurrently can be found sprinkled throughout Arnesons' gaming, not just in regard to the passage of days and months but in the passing of seconds and minutes. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Much ink has been spilt in forums, some of it by me, arguing over the intended length of a combat round in OD&D, but whatever the published rules may intend, in early Blackmoor combat took place in the moment. Attack rolls were often called "chops" and there can be little doubt attack rounds lasted only as long as it took to state an action and roll the dice. As Greg Svenson Remembered it on Wandering DMs</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>"At the time I probably thought of it as one </span><span>swipe with my sword; </span><span>one attempt or one chop."</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>Wandering DMs S04 E06 (TC </span><span>50:22)</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span><br /></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>Time at the table was being measured as time in the game, and thus the question of "how long was a combat round" had no meaning for Arneson's players.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium; white-space: pre;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">"The basic scenario is Arneson telling us, "10 feet, 20 feet, room 20x20 with an up staircase in southeast corner, down staircase in northwest corner, a passage on the north wall and east wall and an ugly troll standing in the middle of the room. What are you going to do?" We had about 10 seconds to react and then he would announce, "the troll is attacking..who is in front?" We would be scrambling like mad to figure out a strategy."</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>Pers Comm, David Megarry,</span> <span>Jan 17, 2017</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">We in the traditional gaming community are so used to the carefully sliced time units of our various rulesets of D&D, that the idea of measuring time in the real world as time in the game seems novel and alien, but in fact the idea fit comfortably within the earliest days of play.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">That, by the way, is why you can't waste time arguing and chit chatting at the table without expecting a wandering monster roll...</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">"Usually if they stay in one spot five minutes screaming at each other a (not too powerful) wandering monster shows up to remind then where they are!" Dave Arneson, ODD74 Forum: <i>Re: Rust Busting </i></span><span style="font-size: medium;">« Result #27 on Jan 14, 2009, 6:51pm »</span></p><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><br /></p>DHBoggshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02170439175265397893noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3138202318040749770.post-63268870258270101802023-02-27T11:14:00.011-05:002023-08-31T18:15:10.969-04:00Arneson's Early Thoughts on OD&D<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This month marks the 49th anniversary of a debut demonstration game of the newly published Dungeons & Dragons that </span><span>Arneson ran</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> at the University of Minnesota. He and his friends were clearly eager to showcase "their" newly published game, but as is often the case when more than one person creates a product, there were some things in the booklets Arneson would rather have handled differently. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In a letter Arneson wrote to fellow gamer Scott Rich he asked Rich to send in a paragraph to Jim Lurvey's </span><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 107%;"><i>Great Plains Game Players Newsletter </i>explaining</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> the things in D&D he had different ideas about. Arneson's paragraph was published in Issue 16 on pages 19 and 20. The content provides an all too brief but nonetheless fascinating early look at Arnesons thoughts on the game. </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Arneson to Scott Rich<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">“There was also a certain amount of communication breakdown in
D&D over populating Dungeon Levels and the wandering creatures therein. For
one thing the weaker creatures are on the upper levels but the encounter table
compensates their weaknesses by giving them higher numbers, which is OK out in
the open but not in the Dungeons. Also the wandering creatures are supposed to
be wandering in levels where they would normally be found inhabiting, and again
in somewhat smaller levels. Now Blackmoor was not set up as a totally random
Dungeon originally but with a overall plan and scheme in mind, not just a
meatgrinder for adventurers. This gets me a lot of complaints about lack of
action and no treasure (everyone keeps going to the same rooms and I refuse
refill them to please them). Another point of mixup was that players were not
intended to become harder to hit <u>and</u> take more damage as they progress.
Instead they were to take the same amount of hits all the time (with the
exceptions of spells, magic, etc.) while becoming more talented in inflicting
hits and avoiding the same. This was a great equalizing influence. I should
note that I gave them all about twice the potential number of hits (one die
roll for the number of dice you roll is a three meaning you cast three die 3,
4, 2 meaning that you take nine hits (but you could take as many as 36 hits).
Also the number of hits you could take were partially in relation to the of
points the person possesses.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Analysis<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">"<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">There was also a
certain amount of communication breakdown in D&D over populating Dungeon
Levels and the wandering creatures therein. For one thing the weaker creatures
are on the upper levels but the encounter table compensates their weaknesses by
giving them higher numbers, which is OK out in the open but not in the Dungeons</b>."<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">This letter was really quite a surprise to me when I first was able to read a copy, in the sense that it had been mentioned a few times here and there, leading one to expect a bitter tone from Arneson with a laundry
list of strong complaints about the "communication breakdown" and what was wrong with the first printing of D&D.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That's what the hype had been, painting Arneson as something of a jerk. The truth, as is readily apparent and often the case in life, is much more banal. The paragraph is short and perhaps disappointingly drama free.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Arneson expresses only a "certain amount" of communication breakdown
regarding only the stocking of monsters in dungeons, and a "point of
mixup" regarding how he envisioned Hit Points and Damage in combat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>From the whole game Arneson finds only these
two areas to be important enough to mention that he envisioned them differently
- hardly the wailings of an injured man with a list of complaints.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> What we do have however, is some fascinating ideas, so lets dive in</span>.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 56.2pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 56.2pt;"><b style="font-size: large;"><u>Part 1 Setting up the Dungeon.</u></b><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #222222;"><u> </u> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #222222;">"<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">For one thing the
weaker creatures are on the upper levels</b>" - Arneson is telling us here
he doesn't like that weaker creatures only appear on upper dungeon levels. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We can infer from that that he preferred an
even distribution, or at least a distribution that allowed for the possibility
of any creature to appear on any level.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>That is precisely what we see in the original, pre-D&D levels of
Blackmoor dungeon, where dwarves and goblins might inhabit the same level as
Balrogs and Dragons and lowly orcs could be rulers of the very bottom level.</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">"</b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #222222;"> the encounter table compensates their weaknesses by giving them
higher numbers, which is OK out in the open but not in the Dungeons.</span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">"</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Arneson is telling us that dungeon level should not be a factor
regarding the number of creatures encountered.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Thus the complex formulas such as in the Holmes rulebook for calculating the
number of wandering monsters encountered based upon the size and experience
level of the adventurers was not something Arneson approved of.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">"</b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #222222;">. Also the wandering creatures are supposed to be wandering in
levels where they would normally be found inhabiting</span></b><span style="color: #222222;">"<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Arneson is telling us that only the monsters already
"inhabiting" the level can become<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>wandering monsters. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That's
precisely what one sees in Temple of the Frog.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There the monsters in each room are given a chance to be absent when the
PC's arrive, or encountered wandering nearby.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #222222;">"and again in somewhat smaller
levels</span></b><span style="color: #222222;">."<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is a little tougher to catch his
meaning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think the "smaller
levels" he is referring back to "again" is meant as the
antithesis of the higher numbers he disliked above.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In other words "in somewhat smaller
levels (amounts) than the idea of having larger numbers compensate for dungeon
level".<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #222222;">So rather than talking about the size of the dungeon (smaller
levels) or the Hit Dice of the monsters (smaller levels) he is talking about
numbers appearing (smaller levels of group numbers).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Dungeon size really makes no sense.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hit Dice makes some sense if taken to mean
smaller totals, but no sense if taken to mean only low power monsters should
wander.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So by smaller levels I think he
is trying to express that the overall strength of wandering monsters should not
be jacked up to match that of the Player Characters.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That makes total sense if the wandering
monster is but a subset of some group inhabiting the dungeon level - a trio of goblins wandering out of a room, for example.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is a naturalistic explanation of the appearance
the monster.</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">"</b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #222222;">Now Blackmoor was not set up as a totally random Dungeon
originally but with a overall plan and scheme in mind, not just a meatgrinder
for adventurers."<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Here is the heart of Arneson's objection.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The tables of U&WA create a random,
meatgrinder dungeon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Arneson's point has
been echoed more recently by Dan "Delta" Collins, in a rather intense
analysis he undertook with computer modeling.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> <a href="http://deltasdnd.blogspot.com/2016/05/arena-v111-man-vs-monster-pt-1.html">HERE</a> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;">Delta's analysis shows just how deadly the U&WA methods will
be to parties of an experience level equal to that of the dungeon level they
are on, but I think Arneson's objection wasn't just to the deadliness of it,
but also, and perhaps mostly, to the senselessness of it.</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;"> </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;">He points out that Blackmoor was set up
according to a plan, with forethought, and not just as a monster zoo. </span></span><span style="color: #222222;">Arneson of course, allows for some random input, but expects the result to fall within the confines of an "overall plan and scheme".</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;">Looking at the surviving original keys we have of Blackmoor dungeon, I'm not sure if Arneson's players would agree that </span><span style="color: #222222;">their</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;"> dungeon delves were "meatgrinder free", but at least we know Arneson's ideal, and it may well have been the voice of experience talking in this case.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">" <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">This gets me a lot
of complaints about lack of action and no treasure (everyone keeps going to the
same rooms and I refuse refill them to please them)."<o:p></o:p></b></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Here Arneson equates having an overall plan for the dungeon with
restraint in restocking areas previously cleaned out by the adventurers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>From this we can infer that Arneson was
granting agency to his dungeon inhabitants.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He reasoned that the monsters would avoid an area heavily trafficked by
PC's, and act with some intelligence to the threats occurring in their
environment.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><u><b>Part 2
Attack and Defense.</b></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">Another point of mixup was that players were not intended to become harder to hit and take more damage as they progress. Instead they were to take the same amount of hits all the time (with the exceptions of spells, magic, etc.) while becoming more talented in inflicting hits and avoiding the same. This was a great equalizing influence. I should note that I gave them all about twice the potential number of hits (one die roll for the number of dice you roll is a three meaning you cast three die 3, 4, 2 meaning that you take nine hits (but you could take as many as 36 hits). Also the number of hits you could take were partially in relation to the of points the person possesses..”</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">This
section has a lot of amiguity, but let's start with that first sentence.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">"<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #222222;"> Another point of mixup was that players were not intended to
become harder to hit <u>and</u> take more damage as they progress. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></b><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The </span><u style="font-family: inherit;">and</u><span style="font-family: inherit;">
is underlined in the newsletter on purpose, of course, and I take that purpose
to indicate both these things were not intended to go together.</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Arneson is saying if you have a character who
is harder to hit, then that character should not also be able to take more
damage.</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">It should be one or the other,
not both. Arneson is arguing that both </span>together<span style="font-family: inherit;"> is a "double dipping" of the defensive value.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">"<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #222222;"> Instead they were to take the same amount of hits all the time
(with the exceptions of spells, magic, etc.) while becoming more talented in
inflicting hits and avoiding the same. This was a great equalizing influence."<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Arneson here indicates he decided against the "take more
damage" growth in hit points (except increases that are granted by magic).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Which means he advocated for a combat mechanic
that made characters get progressively harder to hit, while at the same time
increasing the characters damage dealing ability by level.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Note that in D&D character's do not become harder to hit as
they level up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The "hit class"
of a character or monster depends on their Armor Class, so a 1st level
character and a 10th level character are both hit at the same TN depending on
their AC.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nor do they inflict damage at
different amounts when using the same weapon.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">When Arneson coupled "becoming more talented in inflicting
hits" quote with "and avoiding the same", it seems as if he
could well be speaking of a single matrix.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This would be a matrix where level was pitted against level so that a
higher level character could hit a lesser level more easily, and be less easily
hit by a lesser level.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I will note in
passing that "X fragments" apparently had such a matrix per Jon </span></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #222222;">Peterson</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;">, and we do see similar ideas expressed in other games. For example, warriors in Barker's</span><i style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;"> Empire of the Petal Throne</i><span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;"> deal out greater damage against lesser level opponents.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Theoretically, we could also be talking about a ratio here, for
example a Hit Dice ratio, where a 4 HD creature had a 2:1 advantage over a 2 HD
creature.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That method would seem to be
open to a number of complications but may be an idea worth exploring. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Perhaps most intriguing of all, the Adventures in Fantasy system co-authored by Arneson with Richard Snider also conforms to the principals Arneson outlined here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hit points are indeed fixed, being derived
from a formula using 3 ability scores.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>HP can only be increased a bit through physical conditioning. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;">Likewise, one component of the fairly convoluted combat </span><span style="color: #222222;">procedure</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;"> involves the levels of the combatants being compared and the difference between
them applied to the "to hit" chance in favor of the combatant with
the higher level.</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;"> </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;">For example, a 10th
level human fighting a 5th level human (difference of 5) results in an added 5%
chance being given to the 10th level fighter to hit, whereas the 5th level
fighter has 5% subtracted from their chance to hit.</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;"> </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;">Perhaps this AiF system reflects what Arneson
had in mind, but perhaps not quite in the manner it appears in these rules.</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;"> </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;">Level differences between opponents may often
be quite small, especially in D&D style levels, and one or two levels only
equals 1 or 2 percent - hardly worth caring about. </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;"> </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;">Given that Blackmoor, at least at one point,
was restricted to 20 experience levels, we could imagine a d20 system where you
had to get a base 10 to hit (for example) and you subtracted or added level
difference from that.</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;"> </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;">Then even a 1
level difference becomes significant. </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;"> </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;">Such a level difference adjustment would have
to be capped at 10, in this example, but AiF itself has a cap of 15.</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;"> </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;">So it's not impossible Arneson had something
like this in mind. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Whatever the exact method, why is this a "great equalizing
influence"?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think what Arneson
meant here was not that some sort of level vs level mechanic was an equalizer,
but rather, having a fixed HP number was.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The idea, I suppose, being that anybody, regardless of level, could be
killed by a similar blow if it manages to land.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">"<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #222222;"> I should note that I gave them all about twice the potential
number of hits (one die roll for the number of dice you roll is a three meaning
you cast three die 3, 4, 2 meaning that you take nine hits (but you could take
as many as 36 hits).<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Though the language here is ambiguous Arneson is no doubt
explaining a hit point method he envisioned for D&D.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Since the text above indicates he intended
Hit Points to be a permanent number, we can see that characters would range
from 1 to 36 HP with an average of 11 HP.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Maybe this average is what he had in mind when he described it as
"twice the potential number of hits", because a typical 1st level
character had a potential of 6 maximum HP.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">As a final comment I should remind the reader that Arneson wrote
this letter specifically about changes he had in mind for the D&D
rules after the rules had already been published. We should not infer that any of
the things Arneson proposed here were actually play tested or used to any great
extent and we must especially guard against assuming that they bore any particular
resemblance to Arneson's pre-D&D Blackmoor procedures. We know, for example that the HP method he
describes here was not that of 1972 Blackmoor, and we shouldn't expect the
combat method to be either - though it certainly would not be impossible. Arneson, like all of us, continued to think of ways to build and improve his game.</span><span style="font-family: Goudy Old Style, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>DHBoggshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02170439175265397893noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3138202318040749770.post-82914044373721615812022-11-20T19:26:00.000-05:002022-11-20T19:26:03.674-05:00The Arnesonian Sandbox and The First Hexcrawl<p> <span style="font-size: large;">When I looked previously at the Lake Gloomy material <a href="https://boggswood.blogspot.com/2014/08/stocking-blackmoor-wilds-in-1972.html">(HERE)</a> from early summer 1972, I focused on organizing the material in a user friendly manner. The presentation of Arneson's Loch Gloomin material in the FFC seems as if it was typed directly from his notes with little thought of clarity for the reader.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">The focus of this posts relates to the actual nature of the game which the notes describe, that being what we might today label as a sandbox hexcrawl</span><span style="font-size: x-large;">. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">For the first year of gaming in the Northern Marches, play had focused in and around Blackmoor Castle and town surroundings, with perhaps the occasional foray north to Glendower.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">With the exile of a significant portion of the Blackmoor PC's into the western swamp town of Loch Gloomin aka Lake Gloomy, a whole new chapter opened up, and it was a chapter without a large central dungeon.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Yes, there was still a town to call home base, but the town itself did not have an underworld full of treasure. One had to go out in the world to find gold. Arneson was forcing his players to explore the world beyond the dungeon.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">In creating Lake Gloomy, Arneson was again creating a whole new kind of gaming - the Hexcrawl, and mind you this was months before Outdoor Survival was released.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">He set the area up on a 10 * 10 miles per square grid with Loch Gloomen at the center, as if the whole were a wargame board. Then he determined there would be "Twelve Special areas located in random directions... and distances..."</span><span style="font-size: x-large;"> (FFC 77:86)</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">He then created the tables and rolled the rolls to determine exactly what those "special areas" would be, such as haunted cemeteries, abandoned mansions, monster-filled cave complexes and so on - all as detailed in the previous post linked above.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Further, he employed rules he created for overland travel, probably made earlier, but if not, certainly by this time - the same travel rules that morphed into those of D&D as I explained in this post on the 18 pages of notes <a href="https://boggswood.blogspot.com/2014/11/the-mystery-of-18-pages-of-notes.html">(HERE)</a>. Rates are in 10 mile squares. (FFC 77:34)</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiZjpMlyhK0jcrzwMYynInf8-RRI1fypJqz0ygwROp8_XJCEO0BzVJ4Nys3OesICQtsCMwq-jYJ31D7FfjNOfBLfTpUcBVZFmc8yiye0FkEWbJVDvFIfWTSNYr9f5zthZ3Fee-8akoBQhvHJdJImwo-icFJfDMyGiHpM_eynrwp0lqQvBg10U4HmbP/s721/FFChexmovement.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="253" data-original-width="721" height="140" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiZjpMlyhK0jcrzwMYynInf8-RRI1fypJqz0ygwROp8_XJCEO0BzVJ4Nys3OesICQtsCMwq-jYJ31D7FfjNOfBLfTpUcBVZFmc8yiye0FkEWbJVDvFIfWTSNYr9f5zthZ3Fee-8akoBQhvHJdJImwo-icFJfDMyGiHpM_eynrwp0lqQvBg10U4HmbP/w400-h140/FFChexmovement.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Likewise rules for wilderness wandering monsters, as seen here (and previously discussed <a href="https://boggswood.blogspot.com/2014/08/the-howling-wilderness.html">HERE</a>), which again formed the bases of those in D&D, at least in the categories. </span><span style="font-size: x-large;"> (FFC 77:34)</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjpSpKxAVTvvsNih5hoK8FAMxmKGHiqjPOBIyjuu9hDqt9AnpN32-WFVnO0IFuMne_FBjadbZSQKAAIdpKl2-McFe1vOdxl1HTD9U0L__IU7YGWhQzqg3qxLys1-84gKq0JZa77s3KzRvQBVjTsD54lSsnb38EXJwrMl1WizXPZCD3VIupQW4C8VsL/s759/Encounter%20Matrix.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="585" data-original-width="759" height="309" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjpSpKxAVTvvsNih5hoK8FAMxmKGHiqjPOBIyjuu9hDqt9AnpN32-WFVnO0IFuMne_FBjadbZSQKAAIdpKl2-McFe1vOdxl1HTD9U0L__IU7YGWhQzqg3qxLys1-84gKq0JZa77s3KzRvQBVjTsD54lSsnb38EXJwrMl1WizXPZCD3VIupQW4C8VsL/w400-h309/Encounter%20Matrix.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;">One square at a time (usually), Arneson's players could move out of the town and find what adventures may await them. Being outdoors and unconstrained by walls and tunnels, this new kind of adventuring was entirely different from dungeon dives yet it was built on several of the same principles in dungeon design and stocking Arneson had already worked out. The wilderness, in a sense, was a horizontal dungeon level on a larger time and distance scale, but it was free and open in ways a dungeon never could be. In developing the Loch Gloomin hexcrawl Arneson created methods that allowed his players to explore the world - methods used by gamemasters to this day.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></p>DHBoggshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02170439175265397893noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3138202318040749770.post-41334455702919633092022-11-11T10:35:00.008-05:002022-11-12T12:17:25.178-05:00The Egg of Coot - Canon<p><span style="font-size: large;"> A thread on the Piazza <a href="https://www.thepiazza.org.uk/bb/viewtopic.php?t=19113">HERE</a> inspired me to whip out this post. The complaint that there isn't much game information on the Egg of Coot stems less from the lack of information and more, I think from its scattered character. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Yes, the Egg of Coot is mysterious, particularly in origin and exact detail but not really much more mysterious than other characters in D&D lore who amount to little more than names. In fact I'd say we know a lot more about the Egg than we do about any number of figures in D&D. For example, St. Cuthbert. What is his origin story? Yes there is a myth about Cuthbert, as indeed there is about the Egg; or Camazotz from the famous Shrine of Tamoachan adventure - in fact I'd say we have more concrete facts about the Egg than Camazotz, for example.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">So here I present the canon material gathered in one place. Myths and speculation regarding the Egg are not included. </span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIF0qRuTORU6obtgGd2dJWwjZP2QbytObbYawyyEcZhDEfiiQqN_TRAbwkVhaw4OPnh-3BdTc7fxkxXZQdhOnGddUbaivtRSopkAS9jvOWaGaQb4Wngg3kco9qt1ZUaCQL40Zc0FEZwlFgLLhjLnczHbsL0SbfgeANN7pL9AA8NLfsk_iFra0SpMBy/s600/land%20of%20Coot%20close.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="591" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIF0qRuTORU6obtgGd2dJWwjZP2QbytObbYawyyEcZhDEfiiQqN_TRAbwkVhaw4OPnh-3BdTc7fxkxXZQdhOnGddUbaivtRSopkAS9jvOWaGaQb4Wngg3kco9qt1ZUaCQL40Zc0FEZwlFgLLhjLnczHbsL0SbfgeANN7pL9AA8NLfsk_iFra0SpMBy/w315-h320/land%20of%20Coot%20close.JPG" width="315" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-size: large;">In the year 970 the Realm of the Egg is noticed for the first time. (CS 2004:97)</span></li><li><span style="font-size: large;">Few have ever seen the Egg. Those who have seem unable to remember anything about it. </span></li><li><span style="font-size: large;">The Egg's realm is either rocky cliff or nearly impassable fen, points of entry are few and far between. </span></li><li><span style="font-size: large;">At the head of the bay lies the Egg's Nest, a walled town and port of 6,000, inside of which is the Egg's citadel. (DA1 86:42)</span></li><li><span style="font-size: large;">The abomination is known by several names - Egg of Coot, Ogg of Ot, Orrg er Druag, etc. (FFC 77:17).</span></li><li><span style="font-size: large;">The Egg of Coot is a Dark Lord - cthonic like beings inimical to the great gods (FFC 77:20, 24) </span></li><li><span style="font-size: large;">Once, thousands of years in the past, the Egg possessed humanoid characteristics, but no longer.</span></li><li><span style="font-size: large;">The Egg is a complete egotistical narcissist with a juvenile sense of humor, particularly enjoying harmful pranks. In alignment the Egg is Lawful Evil. (FFC 77:17)</span></li><li><span style="font-size: large;">The Egg of Coot ingests magic. (CS 2004:176) It is a an evil entity that feeds on magic itself and keeps its minions in constant search for more. (TWC 15)</span></li><li><span style="font-size: large;">All communications From the Egg are through direct telepathy or by voice transmission from its throne-room which is inside a huge construct described as an ancient war machine.</span></li><li><span style="font-size: large;">Thus no one is known to have seen the Egg directly or know exactly what it looks like.</span></li><li><span style="font-size: large;">The Egg carries out its activities through the use of surrogates under its control.</span></li><li><span style="font-size: large;"> The Egg is able to completely crush the ego of its servants and rob them of free will.</span></li><li><span style="font-size: large;">In addition to mental ability, the Egg has some ability to create spells. (FFC 77:17)</span></li><li><span style="font-size: large;">The Egg is not simply magical but makes use of scientific technology, techno-magic, and the like. (FFC17, DA1 86:55) </span></li><li><span style="font-size: large;">The Egg uses devices, such as amulets, to enhance its mental control ability. One commonly worn by thralls is called the <i>Eye of the Egg</i>, which allows the Egg of Coot to see and hear through the wearers' senses. (DA1 86:55) The Egg’s eyes are hidden throughout Blackmoor. The Egg uses these to continuously spy. (CS 2004:176)</span></li></ul><p></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Those under the mental control the Egg of Coot are called Thralls - as in Thralls of Coot, or Thralls of the Egg. Thralls of Coot gain the following advantages:</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">"<b>Magical Puissance</b> (Ex): A thrall of Coot casts </span><span style="font-size: large;">all spells and uses all spell-like abilities at +2 </span><span style="font-size: large;">caster level.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span><b>Mage’s Sight</b> (Sp): The thrall’s eyes glow an </span><span>eerie blue and allow it to see magical emanations from all objects and creatures. This ability </span><span>continually duplicates the detect magic spell. This </span><span>ability aids the thrall in retrieving magic items </span><span>for the Egg of Coot.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span><b>Fast Healing</b> (Ex): A thrall heals 1 point of </span><span>damage each round as long as it has more than 1 </span><span>hit point. If reduced to 1 hit point, it attempts to </span><span>flee to the Island of Coot. It must reach the Island </span><span>of Coot within 1 week or be utterly destroyed. </span><span>Once it is allowed to rest on the Island of Coot, </span><span>the thrall gains 1 hit point after 1 hour and then </span><span>resumes healing at the rate of 1 hit point per </span><span>round.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span><b>Resilient</b> (Ex): The Egg of Coot’s domination </span><span>toughens the creature’s vital areas. A thrall takes </span><span>1d6 less damage from a successful sneak attack </span><span>and takes one-half the additional damage normally dealt by a critical hit.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span><b>Immunities</b> (Ex): A thrall of Coot is immune </span><span>to mind affecting effects, poison, charm and sleep </span><span>effects, paralysis, and stunning." (DoCB 2006:140)</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span>In summary then, the Egg was once a human or human-like person, but is now something like a computer download or a brain in a jar with tremendous telepathic power, magical skills, and technical, scientific knowledge all of which it uses to manipulate, control, and rule. The Egg derives sustenance from consuming magic, derives pleasure from juvenile pranks, and cares for nothing but itself.</span></span></p><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">That's it for official canon but that's plenty to game with Imho. There is one more source worth mentioning. The 90+ MMRPG adventures tends to be treated as semi-canon by Blackmoor fans. There are so many authors and directions in the adventure collection that it tends to be treated more as a source for cherry-picking ideas than a hard and fast part of lore. There is one adventure of particular interest for Coot lore however because it was co-written by Arneson's Zeitgeist games partner Dustin Clingman and by MMRPG coordinator (and Blackmoor Youtuber) Tad Kilgore. In other words, it is not "canon" has a bit more cred than the usual MMRPG adventure. This adventure is Episode 35 All the Egg's Men. It should be mentioned that the episode appears to have never received a final edit and also weirdly refers to the land of Coot as "the Isle of the Egg" and "the Isle of Omsfet". Omsfet is a city, and the land of Coot is a peninsula, not an island. <shrug></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Most of what we have gone over regarding the Egg is repeated in the adventure, but we do learn</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"> - The land of coot is gridded with eight-ten foot tall crystalline pillars. These are the entrapped bodies of spellcasters totally drained of their magic. Together, these pillars constitute a communication network whereby the Egg and thralls tapped in to the network can instantly communicate together. This allows the Egg to communicate telepathically with multiple thralls at once instead of just one at a time.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">- Thralls wearing an amulet are part of the network - it isn't clear if this amulet is an Eye of the Egg amulet but that seems a reasonable assumption. In any case these amulets are organized by rank. The higher a leader is the more valuable the metal out of which the amulets are made. Lesser value amulets must obey greater values - save vs 10 to resist. The ranks are bronze, copper, silver, gold, mithral. Platinum is reserved for the Egg. Non thralls may use the amulet but must save vs 12 or be tainted. Each use of the amulet (save or fail) increases the saving throw difficulty by 1.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">- Taint - exposure to this network may lead to a mind taint where the victim will sometimes hear whispers and suggestions from the Egg. Presumably this taint can happen various ways. The tainted character must save vs 10 any time an action is taken against a servant of the Egg and the character will suffer a -2 on saves vs. spells cast by Thralls of Coot, and, if they are a spell caster each time they fail they will loose one spell slot from a single spell level, low to high. Loss of one spell slot in all spell levels results in the victim becoming a thrall. In exchange for the loss of a spell slot, the victim can take an automatic detect magic but if they do their eyes will turn blue. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">- The ground itself in the land of Coot is "geometric" meaning it can move and grow and has weird effects on gravity. It can be telepathically controlled. In game - this translates to balance checks when running.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">- teleportation spells don't work in the land of Coot</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Sources</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">FFC - First Fantasy Campaign</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">DA1 - TSR Adventures in Blackmoor</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">CS - Dave Arneson's Blackmoor Campaign Sourcebook</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span>TWC - </span><span>Dave Arneson's Blackmoor The Wizards Cabal</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span>DoCB - </span><span>Dave Arneson's Blackmoor Dungeons of Castle Blackmoor</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></p><div><br /></div>DHBoggshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02170439175265397893noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3138202318040749770.post-49154130651138766522022-11-02T08:02:00.005-04:002022-11-02T08:05:32.024-04:00Tonisborg News and More<p><span style="font-size: large;">Less than a week to go on the latest Kickstarter for the deluxe hard cover copy of Lost Dungeons of Tonisborg!</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/secretsofblackmoor/the-lost-dungeons-of-tonisborg?ref=profile_created" target="_blank">HERE IS THE LINK</a><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">These are seriously nice books folks. They contain my most recent Zero Edition Dungeoneering rules, new maps for Tonisborg, and Greg Svenson's entire 1973-1974 stocking key retyped and cleaned up by yours truly. There's also lots of Arneson and company quotes, an entire section on gaming advice, some great art including pieces by original Twin Cities gamer Ken Fletcher and by Walter Moore who did the art for Arneson's Garbage Pits of Despair. On top of all that, the book itself is a limited production work of art, sure to grace any gaming shelf it sits on for many, many years.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">In other news, well I rarely clutter the 'blog with updates but there are some things coming up you all will likely be interested in.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Perhaps the most exciting is the work that is being done with the Lenard Lakofka archive material through <i>Canonfire</i>. Len's last completed adventure <i>The Ravages of the Mind</i> is in the final layout and looks absolutely great. My own pastiche of some of Len's orphaned material <i>The Lanthorn of Velzarkis</i> is on the que for maps and art now that I've finished typing in and Len's material. I've been doing a lot of work on that lately which is largely why I haven't put out any posts in a while, but fear not I currently have five half finished or less posts that will make it onto the blog soon.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Other projects are in the works and it looks like the next couple years are going to be exciting ones for traditional gamers and D&D enthusiasts in general. Nice to have some good news for a change, right?</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p>DHBoggshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02170439175265397893noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3138202318040749770.post-10968823365350012852022-08-03T08:11:00.000-04:002022-08-03T08:11:02.791-04:00An Easy and Fair way to handle XP<p><span style="font-size: large;">Here is a quick post to tide you over till I get back from vacation. Upcoming we are going to look at the age of ID in Blackmoor, the oddities in Garbage Pits of Despair, and continue our dive into the Supp II monster lists among other things. :)</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;">Calculating XP is certainly an issue in D&D. While the methods of adding up treasure, and/or monsters killed and/or specials works, it does require significant bookeeping, and hardly anybody likes doing that.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Popular alternatives have included counting number of adventures or setting milestones or simply handwaiving the whole thing. I'm not going to go through the downsides of these alternatives, except to say they are subjective, unfair, and kinda suck.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Fear Not! There is a way to avoid all the bookeeping and still hand out XP objectively and fairly and it has to do with the law of averages. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">What I'm proposing here is something like the gaming equivalent accounting for machine hours, meaning the play equivalent of the time that a machine spends in active operation and the associated "cost" of that time.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">So many D&D games have been played for so many years now that we have a fairly good idea of how much play time it takes for level y to get x number of points, on average. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">There is a thread on Enworld that discusses this in length. Here is the link: <a href="https://www.enworld.org/threads/how-often-should-pcs-level-up.484883/">https://www.enworld.org/threads/how-often-should-pcs-level-up.484883/</a></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">There is also this very useful quote by Gary Gygax from The Strategic Review Vol II, No. 2, April 1976, p. 23:</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">"It is reasonable to calculate that if a fair player takes part in 50 to 75 games in the course of a year he should acquire sufficient experience points to make him about 9th to 11th level, assuming that he manages to survive all that play. The acquisition of successively higher levels will be proportionate to enhanced power and the number of experience points necessary to attain them, so another year of play will by no means mean a doubling of levels but rather the addition of perhaps two or three levels. Using this gauge, it should take four or five years to see 20th level. As BLACKMOOR is the only campaign with a life of five years, and GREYHAWK with a life of four is the second longest running campaign, the most able adventurers should not yet have attained 20th level except in the two named campaigns. To my certain knowledge no player in either BLACKMOOR or GREYHAWK has risen above 14th level." </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Therefore, knowing that across the average OD&D/Classic/AD&D campaign, the average player of an X level fighter will accumulate the XP to reach the next level after Y amount of play time, WE CAN SIMPLY USE THE AMOUNT OF PLAY TIME AS THE GOAL, and skip all the bean counting of XP.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">The natural and best way to measure this, I think, is in hours. In fact, in the real world, that's exactly how we often measure experience. For example, going back to machines, we talk about how many operator hours a person has on a machine as a gauge of their experience.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">In short we assign a certain amount of character XP for each hour that a player spends playing the game.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">One benefit of measuring play hours that immediately springs to mind, is incentivising your players to come to games!</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">A natural objection a DM might have is not wanting to award the same amount for players who spend all game session shopping in town, verses the session where they kill a dragon, but that misses the point. Since the system is an average of all play, it absolutely doesn't matter what the players did during any given hour of play. It all averages out. It's the long term average of play over time.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">The only other objection I can think of is that counting time played instead of actual XP might seem to disincentivize players from carrying out specifically XP related activities. That might actually be a good thing though since XP related activities usually means monster massacres for XP or railroady dangling XP carrots. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Charging ahead then, if we look at the poll on the Enworld thread I mentioned above, the biggest chunk of votes went to 15hrs worth of gaming between levels (although if the last two options of the poll were combined (20 hours or 25+ hours) they would be equal)</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">I'm going to assume (yeah that word) the conceptual model is something like going from 4th to 5th level or maybe 5th to sixth, because everyone seems to agree (cf Gygax quote) that lower levels go fast and high levels go slow and that 4-6 is smack in the middle for most campaigns.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">So with all that in mind - and of course, the usual rules of level up only one level at a time and excess xp earned vanish after leveling -looking at the three classes in Men & Magic, to go from 5th to 6th level takes 16,000 xp for a fighter, 15,000xp for a Wizard, and 13,000xp for Clerics. So 14,666 points on average - lets call that 15,000 to make it easy.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Going back to the poll, if we divide that by 15 hours we get 1000. So obviously I'm picking these as middle of the road numbers that divide well and we could look at some of the other figures but this seemed a good place to start.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Anyway, if players were awarded 1000xp per real time hour of gameplay, they would go from 5th to 6th level in 15 hours. Higher levels would take much longer, lower levels much faster.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">For Players who don't show up, I'm thinking if their character participates in the adventure anyway, they would be treated like a hireling and receive half XP.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">In looking a little deeper, I notice that Gygax in his quote specifically says 50 to 75 "games", not sessions, however that might be defined. By "games", I think it is safe to assume he means get-togethers at table. In other words, 50 to 75 evenings of play, for example.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">If we take the high number there, and not the low number, the formula becomes</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">300,000/75 = 4000 per game. And if we assume a typical game lasts 4 hours, then we are right back at the 1000 XP per hour figure.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Of course we can tweak our numbers all over the place, for example by averaging Gygax game numbers and making the game session longer:</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">300,000/63 =4762</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">4762/5hr "game" = 952</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">In the end, I'm getting pretty comfortable with the 1000 XP per hour figure. It seems "about right" from several different angles and it is an easy figure to use.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Now, awarding 1000 xp for every hour will mean that low level characters will advance quite quickly at first - much as they do in 5e, while higher levels will get progressively slower. I personally think this is a good thing, but I can see how some DM's may want at least to slow down the lower levels to a more traditional pace. That can be accomplished quite easily by simply cutting the XP award in half to 500 point per hour played for "veteran" tier characters - meaning levels 1-3 for fighters, 1-5 for M-us and 1-6 for Clerics. Hero tier characters and above can then be bumped to the 1000p figure. However you want to handle it is fine as long as it is consistent.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Next, it is important to specify the time period at which XP awards are given to the players. I mean exactly when do you hand out the reward.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">I think the likely options would be:</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">a) at or after the close of the game when everyone leaves the table</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">or</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">b) when the party has a safe place to rest</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">or</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">c) only when the party has left they adventure and returned to their base (town presumably)</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">All of these would work, and I think it is up to the DM. They don't need to be mutually exclusive either, but can be done as to what is most convenient at the time for everyone.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Finally, it is worth noting that I've been using this method for a few years now and have been extremely happy with it. The players seem to like it just fine and it is sooo much easier to keep track of. Give it a try.</span></p><p> </p>DHBoggshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02170439175265397893noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3138202318040749770.post-59981553289536565752022-07-10T13:35:00.000-04:002022-07-10T13:35:03.738-04:00How many actual editions are there?<p> <span style="font-size: large;">People talk about D&D editions generally with the idea that an edition reflects a version of the game with substantive rules differences. By that it is generally meant you couldn't simply port a character over, or an adventure without making changes that would alter a lot of how things work. Adding rules, such as new character class doesn't count as a new edition, changing core rules does.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">When we look at the list of numbered editions people commonly use, we don't really see that however. Theoretically, 5th edition, for example should be, well, the 5th revision of the D&D core rules, but it plainly isn't. People have to talk about "zero" edition to refer to OD&D and Basic D&D isn't even in the equation. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">So for fun, and without any of these being hills to die on, I took a stab at what the numbers should be, in my educated opinion, if we went in chronological order and numbered the rulebooks according to having substantive rule differences from previous releases. Basically, what I mean by substantive is that you can't play adventures from a given era using only a previous rulebook without running into major problems that would need to be addressed during play.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><b><span style="font-size: large;">1) A</span><span style="font-size: x-large;">lpha </span></b><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>edition</b> - 1974 OD&D</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><b><span style="font-size: large;">2)</span><span style="font-size: x-large;"> Beta </span></b><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>edition</b> - Supplements 1-4. Supplement 1 significantly changes core rules in OD&D, adds new classes, and creates a more complex game. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><b><span style="font-size: large;">3) G</span><span style="font-size: x-large;">amma </span></b><span style="font-size: large;"><b>edition</b> </span><span style="font-size: x-large;">- </span><span style="font-size: x-large;">Basic D&D (Holmes, B/X, BECMI, Rules Cyclopedia, Black Box)</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">The Holmes Bluebook rulebook largely adheres to "Supplement" D&D and it is tempting to lump them together. However Holmes notably introduces new movement and time rules that are carried into the rest of the Basic line. While all these editions of Basic continue to grow the rules base, the core rules are in substantial agreement throughout.</span></p><p><b><span style="font-size: large;">4) </span><span style="font-size: x-large;"> D</span><span style="font-size: x-large;">elta </span></b><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>edition</b> - </span><span style="font-size: x-large;"> AD&D, 1st and 2nd editions. Many may balk that I have placed the entirety of 1st and 2nd edition under one heading, but the simple fact is that the core rules of both "versions" are nearly identical. Flavor issues and class tweaks aside the actual rule differences between 1st and 2nd are so minor they rarely even come up in play. Sure, new rulebooks came into the game throughout both these editions that kept adding things, and 2nd edition had loads of splatbooks and rule variants, such as in Ravenloft and Dark Sun, but those are all in the orbit of the core rules, without which none of the add-ons would function. These aren't separate editions in the sense of significant rule change.</span></p><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><b>5) </b></span><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>Epsilon edition</b> - 3.0 D&D</span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><b>6) Zeta edition</b> - 3.5 D&D. While 3.5 D&D billed itself as being only a revision, the truth is that the changes between 3.5 and 3.0 were quite substantial - far more than say between AD&D and OD&D + Supplements.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><b>7) Eta edition</b> - 4th edition D&D</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><b>8) T</b></span><span style="font-size: large;"><b>heta edition</b> - 5th edition and D&D next. I've put these two together since "Next" was a free playtest that led to 5th but maybe one could argue otherwise?</span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;">Anyway, there you have it. I see 8 distinctive "editions" of D&D to date. Let me know what you think.</span></p><p><br /></p>DHBoggshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02170439175265397893noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3138202318040749770.post-2603508087523627532022-05-31T21:53:00.001-04:002022-05-31T21:53:32.106-04:00Education, Fleshing out a System<p> <span style="font-family: Baskerville Old Face, serif;">A little over I year ago I posted on the value of an education system in your old school game. What follows is some further exploration of the idea and a set of straightforward yet powerful rules to give your OD&D game a boost.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%;"><span style="font-family: "Baskerville Old Face", "serif";">In his notes
in preparation for the creation of AiF, particularly the December 1977 session,
Arneson talks a good bit about an education system.</span><span style="font-family: "Baskerville Old Face", "serif";"> </span><span style="font-family: "Baskerville Old Face", "serif";">These notes are free form discussions spoken
into a tape recorder where Arneson is just spitballing varying ideas, many of
which are then developed in to what we see in AiF.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%;"><span style="font-family: "Baskerville Old Face","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Doulos SIL";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%;"><span style="font-family: "Baskerville Old Face","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Doulos SIL";">Here, I'm
cherry-picking and simplifying a few of his ideas on skills and education that
I've found work really well with an OD&D game, but first let me say that over
the course of years of gaming I have developed a couple different
"Skill" methods and they worked fine, but involved new subsystems
that just further complicate the game.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Complication gets in the way of immersion, and we like immersion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The method I give here avoids added
complexity and works just as well as any of the methods I have tried.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%;"><span style="font-family: "Baskerville Old Face","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Doulos SIL";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%;"><span style="font-family: "Baskerville Old Face","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Doulos SIL";">Basically,
I'm advocating the "Skill Check" method from the Rules Cyclopedia -
which is nearly the same in principal as how it works in 5e too, and combining
that with an Arneson-inspired education system.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The end result, as I've mentioned before allows endless character
customization without endless class bloat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>A few tailored subclasses may still be the most desirable way to handle
certain specializations, (like paladins, or druids) but the need for dozens of
full fledged, cookie cutter classes is obviated.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%;"><span style="font-family: "Baskerville Old Face","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Doulos SIL";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%;"><span style="font-family: "Baskerville Old Face","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Doulos SIL";">In his AiF
notes Arneson proposed a flat 6 month education system: <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%;"><span style="font-family: "Baskerville Old Face","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Doulos SIL";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%;"><span style="font-family: "Baskerville Old Face","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Doulos SIL";">"Now, if
you have no other problems, then you progress at a six month interval...<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Each six months spent in random
education...<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>improves your chances by
one...<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One chance in six per month
learning.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%;"><span style="font-family: "Baskerville Old Face","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Doulos SIL";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%;"><span style="font-family: "Baskerville Old Face","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Doulos SIL";">...this (is)
in a base six month block... for ease and simplicity of play, based on the fact
that six months seems to be about the longest time it takes to really learn a
skill; the actual physical manipulation of skill, even though perfecting that
skill (gaining additional experience) may take longer... The purpose of the
game is to represent the amount of time required to learn the basic skill, not
how to gain a great deal of proficiency within the skill. " December '77<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%;"><span style="font-family: "Baskerville Old Face","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Doulos SIL";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%;"><span style="font-family: "Baskerville Old Face","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Doulos SIL";">In a later
passage he gives the example of the Merchant skill, and there's more here that
I also think is worth adapting.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%;"><span style="font-family: "Baskerville Old Face","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Doulos SIL";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%;"><span style="font-family: "Baskerville Old Face","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Doulos SIL";">"Merchant
Skills: There will be ten courses of instruction in merchant skills. Merchant
1, Merchant 2, Merchant 3, 4, etc.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Each
of these will give a defined increase in your chances... The actual content of
Merchant's class 1 through 10 is not defined; only a percentage chance of
completing a deal successfully...<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This
will avoid a lot of interpretation as to what exactly... is contained within
the course of instruction.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>...it is
beyond the scope of the game... and is indeed, detrimental as it add
complication without adding understanding." December '77<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%;"><span style="font-family: "Baskerville Old Face","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Doulos SIL";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%;"><span style="font-family: "Baskerville Old Face","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Doulos SIL";">And Lastly:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%;"><span style="font-family: "Baskerville Old Face","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Doulos SIL";">"If a
player is interrupted during his six month period of education, one half of all
preceding time,... is lost and must be added on to the end of the six
months." December 1977.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%;"><span style="font-family: "Baskerville Old Face","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Doulos SIL";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%;"><span style="font-family: "Baskerville Old Face","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Doulos SIL";">So putting it
all together, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">here is how it works</b>:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%;"><span style="font-family: "Baskerville Old Face","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Doulos SIL";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%;"><u><span style="font-family: "Baskerville Old Face","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Doulos SIL";">Weapon
Specialization<o:p></o:p></span></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%;"><span style="font-family: "Baskerville Old Face","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Doulos SIL";">Weapons, as
with AD&D proficiencies, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>are their
own category - lets just go with "Weapon Specialization".<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For each course of study completed a +1 bonus
accrues to attack rolls, damage rolls and possibly AC.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%;"><span style="font-family: "Baskerville Old Face","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Doulos SIL";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%;"><u><span style="font-family: "Baskerville Old Face","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Doulos SIL";">Proficiency
Level<o:p></o:p></span></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%;"><span style="font-family: "Baskerville Old Face","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Doulos SIL";">For
everything else, the Referee should have a course list.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some skills or areas of learning will grant
particular advantages as detailed in their description - Gambling, for example.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For all others each 6 month course of study
completed successfully grants a "Proficiency Level" of +1.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A character can continue to complete 6 month
courses of study in the skill up to a maximum Proficiency Level of +10, that
is, they can complete 10 courses of study and no more. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%;"><span style="font-family: "Baskerville Old Face","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Doulos SIL";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%;"><u><span style="font-family: "Baskerville Old Face","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Doulos SIL";">Skill
Checks<o:p></o:p></span></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%;"><span style="font-family: "Baskerville Old Face","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Doulos SIL";">For
"checks" each skill is tied to an ability score and provides a bonus
to the score for the check.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Checks are
roll under, as usual with saving throws and virtually all non-combat rolls in
OD&D.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%;"><span style="font-family: "Baskerville Old Face","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Doulos SIL";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%;"><span style="font-family: "Baskerville Old Face","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Doulos SIL";">"Each
skill is based on one of the character's ability scores (Strength,
Intelligence, Wisdom,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%;"><span style="font-family: "Baskerville Old Face","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Doulos SIL";">Dexterity,
Constitution, and Charisma). Whenever the DM feels a character's selected skill
is appropriate to a game situation, (they) will ask the player to roll 1d20
against the corresponding ability score. This is called a skill roll or skill
check. If the roll on the 1d20 is equal to or less than the ability score, the
skill use succeeds." Rules Cyclopedia page 82<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%;"><span style="font-family: "Baskerville Old Face","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Doulos SIL";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%;"><span style="font-family: "Baskerville Old Face","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Doulos SIL";">Characters,
of course, add any Proficiency Level or other bonuses to the ability score,
raising the target number and their chances of succeeding.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%;"><span style="font-family: "Baskerville Old Face","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Doulos SIL";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%;"><span style="font-family: "Baskerville Old Face","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Doulos SIL";">In essence,
aside from roll under instead of roll over, this is very similar to the 5e
method, however the range is far greater, and by using this method you can
quite literally replicate any class ability you want, so long as it is a
learnable skill, and because it isn't tied to character level or class, each PC
is truly unique.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%;"><span style="font-family: "Baskerville Old Face","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Doulos SIL";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%;"><u><span style="font-family: "Baskerville Old Face","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Doulos SIL";">Learning<o:p></o:p></span></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%;"><span style="font-family: "Baskerville Old Face","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Doulos SIL";">For every
month spent learning a given skill there is a 1/6th cumulative chance of successful
learning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If 6 months pass the skill is
acquired automatically.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Each successful
period of study grants a either +1 bonus or other ability as specified under
the skill description.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maximum bonus
obtainable is +10.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Each time,
cumulatively, learning is suspended for a month or more, half the time already
spent in study is lost and must be made up with more study.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%;"><span style="font-family: "Baskerville Old Face","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Doulos SIL";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%;"><span style="font-family: "Baskerville Old Face","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Doulos SIL";">Costs will
vary and may be assigned as the Referee sees fit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bargain basement instruction is a minimum 1.5
gp per month and the sky is the limit from there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rare and specialized skills could easily cost
thousands of gold pieces to learn.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yes,
education, as in real life, is an excellent way of parting people from their
gold.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%;"><span style="font-family: "Baskerville Old Face","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Doulos SIL";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%;"><span style="font-family: "Baskerville Old Face","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Doulos SIL";">Learning can
also only take place where and when there is actually opportunity for it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some types of skills could be acquired with
daily practice or through a book, but many will require an instructor - these
situations are case by case and up to the Referee.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A merman couldn't for example, learn how to
ride a giant eagle while living on the bottom of the sea or without an
instructor or at the least a textbook for doing so.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%;"><span style="font-family: "Baskerville Old Face","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Doulos SIL";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%;"><span style="font-family: "Baskerville Old Face","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Doulos SIL";">More than one
skill can be learned at the same time, possibly at a package discount, but all
courses must still be paid for.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
number of courses a character can learn simultaneously depends on Intelligence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The character needs to have 3 full points of
Intelligence per course being attempted simultaneously.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thus a character with a 12 Intelligence score
could learn up to 4 skills in one six-month period.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A character with an 18 Intelligence could
learn up to 6 skills simultaneously, but a character with a 17 Intelligence
could not learn more than 5 skills at once.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%;"><span style="font-family: "Baskerville Old Face","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Doulos SIL";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%;"><u><span style="font-family: "Baskerville Old Face","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Doulos SIL";">Starting
Education<o:p></o:p></span></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%;"><span style="font-family: "Baskerville Old Face","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Doulos SIL";">Social
standing is often left up to the players in most RPGS, and that's fine, but
when it comes to starting education, status cannot be ignored.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here I've taken the fine grained social chart
in AIF and reduced it to the three major categories.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Players in my game will choose their
character background and social position, but the % given in the table can also
be used to determine social standing as needed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>At character creation, the player will get the Proficiency Level points indicated
in the last column to distribute as they please, either all to one skill or all
to several skills of their choice depending on opportunity as usual.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%;"><span style="font-family: "Baskerville Old Face","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Doulos SIL";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<table border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoTableGrid" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-yfti-tbllook: 1184; width: 595px;">
<tbody><tr style="mso-yfti-firstrow: yes; mso-yfti-irow: 0;">
<td style="border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 41.4pt;" valign="top" width="55">
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Baskerville Old Face","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Doulos SIL";">%<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-left: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 112.5pt;" valign="top" width="150">
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Baskerville Old Face","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Doulos SIL";">Status<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-left: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 76.5pt;" valign="top" width="102">
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Baskerville Old Face","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Doulos SIL";">Starting Gold<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-left: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 3.0in;" valign="top" width="288">
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Baskerville Old Face","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Doulos SIL";">Proficiency Level Points<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 1;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 41.4pt;" valign="top" width="55">
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Baskerville Old Face","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Doulos SIL";">01-20<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 112.5pt;" valign="top" width="150">
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Baskerville Old Face","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Doulos SIL";">Peasant or Barbarian<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 76.5pt;" valign="top" width="102">
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Baskerville Old Face","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Doulos SIL";">2d6 x 10<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 3.0in;" valign="top" width="288">
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Baskerville Old Face","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Doulos SIL";">2 Proficiency Levels per 10 years of life
lived<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 2;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 41.4pt;" valign="top" width="55">
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Baskerville Old Face","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Doulos SIL";">21-85<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 112.5pt;" valign="top" width="150">
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Baskerville Old Face","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Doulos SIL";">Burgess<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 76.5pt;" valign="top" width="102">
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Baskerville Old Face","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Doulos SIL";">3d6 x 10<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 3.0in;" valign="top" width="288">
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Baskerville Old Face","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Doulos SIL";">4 Proficieny Levels per 10 years of life
lived<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 3; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 41.4pt;" valign="top" width="55">
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Baskerville Old Face","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Doulos SIL";">86-00<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 112.5pt;" valign="top" width="150">
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Baskerville Old Face","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Doulos SIL";">Nobility<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 76.5pt;" valign="top" width="102">
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Baskerville Old Face","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Doulos SIL";">4d6 x 10<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 3.0in;" valign="top" width="288">
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Baskerville Old Face","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Doulos SIL";">8 Proficiency levels per 10 years of life
lived<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%;"><span style="font-family: "Baskerville Old Face","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Doulos SIL";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%;"><span style="font-family: "Baskerville Old Face","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Doulos SIL";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%;"><span style="font-family: "Baskerville Old Face","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Doulos SIL";">Note:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%;"><span style="font-family: "Baskerville Old Face","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Doulos SIL";">In this
method (unlike Arneson) I have not taken the character's ability scores or any
other factors besides time into account regarding their ability to learn.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For game purposes, it is assumed that even a
low starting ability score will not hinder the dedicated individual from
completing a course.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The low ability
score will however remain a limiting factor to successful skill checks.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 110%;"><span style="font-family: Baskerville Old Face, serif;">You can download the complete list of skills I use <a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/mmsmsv6lltx3uvq/List%20of%20Skills%20for%20Character%20Customization.docx?dl=0">HERE</a></span></p>DHBoggshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02170439175265397893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3138202318040749770.post-86009958171548414482022-05-08T07:51:00.000-04:002022-05-08T07:51:25.033-04:00Monsters of Blackmoor Supplement II - part 2<p><span style="font-size: large;"> <span>Mermen are the first monster described in Supplement II, and one of the most interesting for the key role they appear to play in the underwater ecology of their environment. As mentioned in the previous post in this series, mermen first appear in the Naval Combat section of OD&D book III, <i>Underworld and Wilderness Adventures</i>, under "SPECIAL SUGGESTIONS FOR MONSTERS IN NAVAL ADVENTURES".</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">We aren't told much about them in this entry - the key bits are:</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span>"...</span><span>have a l0% chance per </span><span>10 Mermen of grappling any ship which is within 1" of them. They may remain </span><span>submerged indefinately... </span><span>If they grapple a ship they must </span><span>be on the surface."</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Mermen in U&WA thus appear to be a serious threat to shipping and maritime activities - basically they are the sea equivalent to bandits on land. Quite possibly these "sea bandits" represent only a fraction of mermen society, the roguish types perhaps. It seems likely Blackmoor sailors would have developed a means of mitigating this threat, with convoys perhaps, or prepared bribes. But while the text in SII is silent on this point it does reiterate the threat mermen pose to ships, going into greater detail on their use of grapples and combat.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span>Interestingly, the entry in SII begins with a curiosity. </span>Lets take note briefly of the very first thing SII says about mermen: "More intelligent than lizardmen..." Lizardmen are nowhere else mentioned in SII. We will come back to this fact in a later post. (hint Sahaugin). </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span>Leaving that for the nonce, another point of interest is the attack mermen are given - "1 bite/2 hands, </span><span>1–8 bite/1–4 hand".</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Bite?, for up to 8 points of damage?! This strongly implies sharp, perhaps shark like teeth. So much for Ariel's pearly whites...</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Nevertheless, this fits with their diet as given, which is fish, making mermen carnivores - carnivores who have an underwater civilization that "rivals that of humans." </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">There is so much gaming potential in these simple descriptions in SII, it is a shame it remains largely untapped. We can flesh out this underwater world of the mermen of Blackmoor by looking at the connections with other monster entries and see what creatures commonly interact. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Mermen are mentioned in the following:</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Giant Crabs - a menace to mermen fish farms</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Giant Frogs - hunted by mermen</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Giant Shark - "hereditary enemies of mermen"</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span>Seahorse -</span> (giant?) seahorses are ridden by mermen ride and use as horses are used by humans.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Next, looking at the monsters referenced in these entries we can add:</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Giant Octopi - feed on giant crabs</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Giant Squid - also a danger to ships</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Sahaugin </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Aquatic Elves</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">We could of course also look at the encounter tables, but that doesn't really tell us what creatures are actually interacting with each other (and they are also nothing more than a list of all the monsters in the book), but using the list above as a starting point gives an "accurate" base to work from when creating underwater adventures in the seas of the north.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Next we will move on to the "giant" series of creatures.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p>DHBoggshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02170439175265397893noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3138202318040749770.post-80784627152086989242022-02-27T17:49:00.003-05:002022-03-14T19:59:43.760-04:00Ancient Mysteries of Old Blackmoor<p><span style="font-size: large;">Was there an ancient, technologically advanced civilization in Blackmoor? Tavis Alison wrote a piece a</span><span style="font-size: large;"> long while back</span><span style="font-size: large;"> on the <a href="https://www.escapistmagazine.com/dd-is-the-apocalypse/" target="_blank">Apocalypse Trope</a> in D&D, and in that article he mentions the gigantic pipe organ found in the original (1975) Temple of the Frog. The pipe organ was Steve Rochford's (Saint Steven) idea, but one that Arneson happily ran with. To explain the existence of a mechanical modern-era musical instrument in an otherwise medieval setting, Arneson called it the last surviving example of its kind, detailed only in a "cryptic manual on artifacts found amongst </span><span style="font-size: large;">the volumes in the Library." The pipe organ then, is not some alien technology installed by the visitors from outer space who had taken over the temple, but a remnant of a distant time when there were builders with the technical skill to produce such a thing. Does that mean Blackmoor once hosted a more technically advanced civilization? Tavis wondered the same thing, so a year before Arneson's passing, Tavis asked him that question at a Gen con. He asked "</span><span style="font-size: x-large;">...</span><span style="font-size: large;">whether this pipe organ implies a previous high-tech fantasy civilization or whether Blackmoor is a post-apocalyptic Earth." Typically cryptically, Arneson answered "yes" to both, implying that he wasn't fully committed to either view, and that may be, but we can say with surety that back in the 1970's when they played John Sniders Star Probe games or Arneson and Barker's crossover Tekumel games, Blackmoor was </span><span style="font-size: large;"><span>considered</span><span> to be a place distinctive from Earth. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Now a single reference to a pipe organ may seem like pretty thin sauce, you might say, ah but there's more juicy bits to be had.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span>For example, we have this description in the FFC of the throne room of the Egg of Coot, "...w</span><span>hich is </span><span>dominated by a huge old world artifact said to be an ancient war machine." (77:18)</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">What is this "old world" of which Arneson speaks? It's a mystery of course except that undeniably there was once a civilization capable of building advanced machine artifacts, somewhere and somehow tied to present day Blackmoor.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">The secrets of such technology might not be entirely lost either, at least, not all. William of the Heath, an original Blackmoor character played by Bill Heaton, had among his possessions three blue items: the magical sword Blue, a mechanical horse named Bill, and mechanical blue armor. Once again, neither the horse nor the armor appear to be space alien technology. They are items with a history, having once been in the possession of a wizard and a dragon, and neither rely on rechargeable batteries or power packs as Arneson's alien tech usually does. The text does not make it clear, but seems to hint the wizard made all three of these items, and if so he must have some bits of ancient knowledge. There's really nothing definitive on the exact nature of the armor, but we do know the horse "never seems to eat anything and drinks lamp oil." Drinking refined kerosene pretty clearly implies a mechanical creature, not an electronic one.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">It's also worth noting that the d20/3.5 era Blackmoor books freely dip into steampunk, as exemplified by </span><i style="font-size: x-large;">Clock and Steam</i><span style="font-size: large;"> wherein we find that "the titanium </span><span style="font-size: large;"><span>charger represented the peak of technological development </span><span>in that it nearly perfectly replicated a horse, all the way </span><span>down to its behavior and mannerisms, but improved upon </span><span>the technology that powered mechanimals by making it a </span><span>valuable companion in combat." (p124) </span><span>To my ears, the mechanical titanium charger seems meant to be an homage to</span><span> "Bill".</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span>While it is certain Arneson did see Blackmoor as having some sort of a lost "old world" advanced civilization, he never really pursued the idea beyond references like those above or to ambiguous "</span><span>Technical Manuals" and "ancient books and manuscripts"</span><span>. Even the steampunk creations in the 3.5 era Blackmoor books were attributed to gnomish and dwarvish inventors, perhaps a bit inspired by alien tech, without mention of an ancient, advanced civilization.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span>However, the idea of a lost ancient technological society in the region of Blackmoor was picked up by Greyhawk writers - eventually. Perhaps the first hint of this was in <i>The Living Greyhawk Gazeteer, </i>"</span><span>It is not known what, if any, civilization existed in the far northern land before the </span><span>Ice claimed it, but the rumor of evil in the north was </span><span>old even when the Oeridians and Suel were new to </span><span>the Flanaess." </span><span>(2000:34)</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">However it was Wolfgang Bauer who really ran with the idea in two adventures published in <u>Dungeon Magazine</u> <i>The Land of Black Ice </i>(#115) and <i>The Clockwork Fortress </i>(#126).</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">In the former adventure, we find a nimbleworks who is "a strange construct from an ancient realm that predated the Black Ice." (p32) In the latter an entire fortress of this ancient civilization is detailed, and we learn that long before the Oridian migrations, "...a small fiefdom in the northlands reached the heights of civilization - its craftsmanship and knowledge of artifice were unmatched." (43).</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Bauer goes on to conflate this ancient civilization with the City of the Gods in the second adventure, but we know that label usually refers to a crashed spaceship, not a lost civilization and attributing it to an incredibly old civilization causes a dating conflict with the information from the Codex of Infinite Planes in <i>Eldritch Wizardry.</i> Of course, there certainly can be more than one City of the Gods, or the name of one could have been carried over to the other by people who didn't know the difference easily enough.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Whatever the role of the City of the Gods may be, the advanced ancient technology of lost civilizations found Bauer's two Blackmoor adventurers isn't coming out of nowhere but is rooted in a tradition that goes back to the earliest days of our hobby.</span></p><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></p>DHBoggshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02170439175265397893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3138202318040749770.post-89999258313577712182022-02-07T08:05:00.002-05:002022-02-07T08:05:44.941-05:00Monsters of Blackmoor - Supplement II, part 1<p><span style="font-size: large;">I'm going to start this series looking closely into the monsters in D&D Supplement II, published by TSR in 1975.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Unfortunately I have to begin by discussing a confusion over authorship that has more to do with personal conflicts and internet drama than reality. Simply put, there are folks whose negative assessments of Mr. Arneson finds expression in this case in asserting with no evidence beyond hearsay that Arneson wrote little of the booklet, instead ascribing it to various other authors including the editor Tim Kask or even Gary Gygax.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">I'm not interested in any of that shit slinging. The fact is that most of the text is Arneson's. Some parts are all his (TheTemple of the Frog) and other parts received more or less revising as the editor felt was needed to produce the product TSR wanted - as per usual. I've touched on this topic before and it doesn't make gaming more fun to re-hash it.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">What is certainly true is that the final editor Tim Kask cut certain section of Arneson's manuscript which he felt were not consistent with the published D&D rules (too Arnesonian). Some of these cut pieces were apparently later recycled into the Judges Guild First Fantasy campaign booklet, but regardless, this cutting left room for more material, and provided opportunity to add several pages of cool underwater material that had been submitted to TSR by freelancer Steve Marsh.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">For our purposes this presents a problem if we want to distinguish what monsters may be Arnesons and what may be Marsh's. On the other hand, as far as the "official" setting goes it doesn't really matter who wrote what monster since they were all published as "Blackmoor" monsters, and since at the time, anything Blackmoor was considered a part of the Greyhawk setting - as was everything published by TSR for D&D up to that point. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">So we will take a look at all of it, but since we are all naturally curious about what sprang from the mind of D&D co-creator Dave Arneson, here is my take:</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">The Supplement II booklet provides us with a list of all the monsters on page 14.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">This list is interesting because there is no apparent rhyme or reason to its organization; it's not alphabetical or ordered in any way, and it's definitely an interesting and curious mix. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">The arrangement of the monsters look like two or three separate lists that were simply tacked on to each other - and I think that's just what it is. Tim Kask has said the giant creatures were Arnesons, which certainly fits with his style and other monsters he created. All of these giant creatures are listed before the entry for Sahaugin. Indeed, most, if not all the monsters before Sahaugin have similar wording and often reference each other.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">When one entry references another it is a pretty strong indicator that they come from the same author.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">The first monster in the list is the Merman. We know that the material Steve Marsh wrote was predominantly, perhaps entirely about underwater adventure. But while Steve has said he *might* have contributed the Merman but wasn't sure, we can actually be pretty sure it was from Arneson. First the Merman reads like an Arneson entry. A good bit of it is devoted to mermen attacking and grappling ships – an Arneson hallmark, and Mermen are closely referenced several times in Arneson’s giant monsters section, so there's that tie in. Importantly we also have a short list of monsters from Arneson in the 3LBB that includes Mermen. This list can be found in the Naval section Arneson wrote on pages 34 and 35 of The Underworld and Wilderness Adventures. Of course Gygax edited this section so we can't be sure he didn't add one or two of the monsters himself, but of course Gygax could have - and did - put monsters he came up with in the regular monster list so there would be no reason for him to put extra monsters in this section. Here is the list:</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Mermen</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Nixies </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Dragon Turtle </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Water Elemental</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Giant Leeches:</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Crocadiles (Including Giant Crocadiles) (yes, misspelled)</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Giant Snakes:</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Giant Octopi and Giant Squids: </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Giant Crabs</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Giant Fish </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">It is apparent that Arneson fleshed out this list as part of the material he created for Supplement II. In fact, only four of the monsters listed here aren't repeated in Supplement II - Giant Snake, Giant Fish, Water Elemental and Dragon Turtle - and only the last one of these is actually a specific monster not covered elsewhere. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">In any case it is apparent that some of the water monsters are from Arneson, which no doubt made it easier to integrate Marsh's material. I think that there can be little doubt that the monsters in the list from Mermen to Fire Lizard are Arneson’s. The others after this are more problematic. The water monsters between fire lizard and Sahaugin do not have the exotic names Marsh used for his other monsters - like Ixitxachitl, nor do they have the within-type variations he favors, and there’s none of his unique wordings like “class VII armor”. I don’t think they are all his. They look like more of Arnesons, especially as some of them are more “giant types, but being mostly underwater creatures, its also possible that some come from other TSR sources. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Giant sharks, for example, have a classic Arnesonian wording (such as hobbits being bite sized) and reference Mermen. Portuguese MOW have hit location (tentacles 1 point each) and Arneson favored hit location gaming, but being non-standard D&D it seems not so likely Marsh would have included it. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Dolphins, on the other hand, are the first entry to mention Sahaugin and are followed by sea elves. We know for a fact that both Sahaugin and sea elves came from Steve Marsh, so if I had to bet, I’d peg Dolphins as Marsh’s too and break apart the list this way:</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Mermen to Portuguese Man of War – Arneson</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Dolphins to Mashers – Steve Marsh</span></p><div><span style="font-size: large;">Okay, next we will look at the monsters more closely.</span></div>DHBoggshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02170439175265397893noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3138202318040749770.post-23790883124532127482022-01-15T10:59:00.001-05:002022-01-15T10:59:21.966-05:00Tonisborg Second Printing<p><span style="font-size: large;"> For those who may not have heard, Greg Svenson's Tonisborg dungeon, brought back to life by yours truly and Griffith Morgan with additional commentary by Greg himself and plenty of gaming goodness besides is heading for a second printing through The Fellowship of the Thing.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">These are very high quality books well worth a few extra dollars and you get a really terrific 1973! dungeon from one of the game's founding players. How cool is that!? Here is the link to the page where they are taking <a href="https://store.secretsofblackmoor.com/collections/t-shirts/products/the-lost-dungeons-of-tonisborg-book-first-edition-second-printing?fbclid=IwAR2hwA3VQ-Djd8YBORL7WL8B9GG6y-mdxUGOssO8P4qvI9Jkp3hCaDuh-bk">pre-orders.</a></span></p>DHBoggshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02170439175265397893noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3138202318040749770.post-69681995864779863232021-11-10T20:32:00.009-05:002022-03-22T11:26:24.336-04:00A Greyhawk Guide to Blackmoor <p> <span style="font-size: large;">I think it is time to put down the pen on this one. Thank you all for your patience over the past year+ that I have been head-down buried in work on this. Greyhawk and Blackmoor began their journey together and bringing them back in harmony, while a daunting task, has been a true pleasure.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/4z3jgn6lsdu4jp1/The%20Weird%20Enclave%20of%20Blackmoor.pdf?dl=0">Here is the promised Greyhawk guide to Blackmoor.</a><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">It is a dropbox link so hopefully will work for you all, but if not I will be posting it elsewhere in the coming days.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">In a nutshell, this book serves as a guide to people, locations, history, and geography of Blackmoor for Greyhawk players, including a deeply researched timeline. It brings Arneson's traditional Blackmoor back to the Flanaess where it started.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">UPDATE</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">For those (like me) who enjoy having real books, I've created some print-on-demand friendly files. This includes a cover you can upload to a service like Lulu, if you like, and have your own premium color copy printed as a book.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/9353cx921321qim/WEoB_print_cover.pdf?dl=0" target="_blank">Cover</a><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/goqjwhgv9xeckq9/WEoB_print_interior.pdf?dl=0" target="_blank">Interior file</a><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">The most up-to-date version is 2c.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Enjoy.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p>DHBoggshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02170439175265397893noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3138202318040749770.post-51152988111406079972021-07-31T12:42:00.003-04:002021-07-31T21:26:15.005-04:00The Blackmoor Greyhawk Map, an Anniversary Gift<p> <span style="font-size: large;">Ten years ago I started this 'blog. To celebrate I have a gift for all of you.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Below is a new, top quality map of Arneson's Blackmoor set within the Flanaess, continent of Oerik, world of Greyhawk, drawn by professional mapmaker Daniel Hasenbos of the Netherlands - where better to find a mapmaker for Blackmoor! For more of Daniel's Maps <a href="https://www.patreon.com/danielsmaps">look here</a>.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Last fall I began to create something I realized was sorely needed. Blackmoor, as my readers will know, and Greyhawk started out together as locations on a shared world. Blackmoor belongs to the world of "Oerth" as much as Greyhawk does, yet few Greyhawk fans know anything of Arneson's Blackmoor and those who may be interested can't be faulted for not knowing where to start the journey, being bombarded with an array of products from OD&D supplement II to current day fan works.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">So I took it upon myself to write a free guidebook to Blackmoor for Greyhawk fans. To that end I commissioned this fantastic map.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNgFBywCkpHCEASxXBSPQaUUb-FYakDVKWGZSXLH5w_1YRb1rgg7pQKj7uUoqsg1U_Y_j7vn8pXTDbIihh-vtFom0hBQKIEnLx264FCcFha9ZlDyFCRpHeZVtl3KG2nSXRZ6aWCEEskIo/s2048/Blackmoor+-+Final2.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1583" data-original-width="2048" height="309" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNgFBywCkpHCEASxXBSPQaUUb-FYakDVKWGZSXLH5w_1YRb1rgg7pQKj7uUoqsg1U_Y_j7vn8pXTDbIihh-vtFom0hBQKIEnLx264FCcFha9ZlDyFCRpHeZVtl3KG2nSXRZ6aWCEEskIo/w400-h309/Blackmoor+-+Final2.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Interestingly, and coincidentally Daniel finished the map in March of this year - the fiftieth anniversary of the letter Arneson sent to Rob Kuntz with his first map of "the Northern Marches" enclosed. That map formed the bases of our new map, along with some input from the "sketch map" of Blackmoor found in the FFC. All the later maps were also drawn upon for fringe areas, particularly to the south. For more see these posts:</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://boggswood.blogspot.com/2019/09/mapping-greyhawk-on-blackmoor.html">10a/2019</a><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://boggswood.blogspot.com/2019/09/post-apocalyse-blackmoor.html">10b/2019</a><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">I'm releasing the map now because I am nearly finished with the guidebook and will have that out shortly. You all may freely use this map as you please as long as you ALWAYS acknowledge where you got it.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">I cannot begin to explain in this blogpost all the care and research that went into the maps production but let me reassure you all that this map is as true as I can make it. I'll even venture to say no Blackmoor map has been so exhaustively researched for accuracy and fidelity to the 1972 Blackmoor and Castle & Crusade society originals while simultaneously designed to fit directly onto the popular Greyhawk map of Anna B. Meyer as shown below. </span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinyucVvt3yUcOY3lIVsGMeMgYMUgJQ0qCQxO3KQaXd05LMB7VjVaQVaP5VYmPqPbiv-jq-De7Ih3qNEXCnbMfqedNr3WXNdpETMfssRI_0j6OirQtlM3MmPQCjr6vMz5Z48e1XhqU3yCg/s2048/Blackmoor+-+Final2+w+Anna+Myer+map_Cropped.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1309" data-original-width="2048" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinyucVvt3yUcOY3lIVsGMeMgYMUgJQ0qCQxO3KQaXd05LMB7VjVaQVaP5VYmPqPbiv-jq-De7Ih3qNEXCnbMfqedNr3WXNdpETMfssRI_0j6OirQtlM3MmPQCjr6vMz5Z48e1XhqU3yCg/w400-h256/Blackmoor+-+Final2+w+Anna+Myer+map_Cropped.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">And a better resolution version on the 2017 hexmap:</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjry_AR0vpd8a7u5phCCOWfXuOKbN6QRD4Gs-Ix4EkbZwb2vRpcaWPqaZ0sgjcihWKdVy3uUJAcpWtGby-bJr20ZIt_4DyDVduXoUNyWpG7hT8kZe8oOQRzAZ0ipF-CD5i1hQ1VQQ5fp9A/s2048/Blackmoor+-+Final2+w+AnnaHex.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1378" data-original-width="2048" height="269" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjry_AR0vpd8a7u5phCCOWfXuOKbN6QRD4Gs-Ix4EkbZwb2vRpcaWPqaZ0sgjcihWKdVy3uUJAcpWtGby-bJr20ZIt_4DyDVduXoUNyWpG7hT8kZe8oOQRzAZ0ipF-CD5i1hQ1VQQ5fp9A/w400-h269/Blackmoor+-+Final2+w+AnnaHex.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;">As can be seen, rivers, trails and coastlines match up directly, with the exception of the (inconsequential) Tusking strand in the north, which was a deliberate choice on my part to align with a bay shown on the Darlene map at that point. Anna deviated a bit from Darlene here and I wanted our new Blackmoor map to fit on either Anna's or Darlenes maps:</span><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWP7EoAvAhPPdPzXJcTOg0fBc90cFP7-FVayIzhwuXx7Uy742y6SQBIdPQxl2G2p1PHXVA_DcwL2GG-LW3aFvFTxr1TDeMIH_iJG5mliZv5N4VSlYk02ti6FfRKI3B3K-cXFMSZbm-E8g/s2048/Blackmoor+-+Final2+w+Darlene.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1128" data-original-width="2048" height="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWP7EoAvAhPPdPzXJcTOg0fBc90cFP7-FVayIzhwuXx7Uy742y6SQBIdPQxl2G2p1PHXVA_DcwL2GG-LW3aFvFTxr1TDeMIH_iJG5mliZv5N4VSlYk02ti6FfRKI3B3K-cXFMSZbm-E8g/w400-h220/Blackmoor+-+Final2+w+Darlene.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Happy Anniversary everybody.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p>DHBoggshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02170439175265397893noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3138202318040749770.post-2295992722785869662021-05-04T17:27:00.019-04:002023-03-11T07:16:50.758-05:00How Big is Blackmoor?<p><span style="font-size: large;"> Surprisingly, nobody really knows. In the <i>First Fantasy Campaign</i> Arneson described drawing his first Blackmoor map:</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><i> "The basic campaign area reproduced on a large mapsheet outside this book, was originally drawn from some olden Dutch maps. Much of the rationale and scale was based on data found with the Dutch maps."</i></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span>We have copies of that original map - its the one we have discussed that was enclosed with a letter to Rob Kuntz in March of 1971. </span><span>However when we look to that original map, no scale is given, nor is there a scale on the next map we have from Arneson, the "Sketch map" reproduced as an illustration in the FFC.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">We can get a rough idea - a very rough idea - if we take Arneson at his word and plop his March 1971 map onto a map of the Netherlands as shown below:</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvQL52hEElPdoimnnY3-_NtJ2IUmT5yJMkRMpj4QDbzIkpcAhqd0fT6cFESW_PZ65fDMg1tZLeFa8CcCUiPRdpFl86TlK4Cn9tbeIzr9OJUDfSF3_0MK4BW7FxO9nGGRIgDpXFKX7egiQ/s2048/Blackmoor+on+Holland+new.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1528" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvQL52hEElPdoimnnY3-_NtJ2IUmT5yJMkRMpj4QDbzIkpcAhqd0fT6cFESW_PZ65fDMg1tZLeFa8CcCUiPRdpFl86TlK4Cn9tbeIzr9OJUDfSF3_0MK4BW7FxO9nGGRIgDpXFKX7egiQ/w299-h400/Blackmoor+on+Holland+new.jpg" width="299" /></span></a></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /><span><br /></span></span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Of course there are a lot of assumptions here. The map of the Netherlands I used is probably not the one Arneson used. I just picked an older but modernish map with clear borders to serve the purpose. Further I placed the Blackmoor Map/Northern Marches map in what seems to be the likely location based on a few coastlines. In any case, the Blackmoor map stretches pretty much across the width of Holland and those coastline features do fit quite well.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Alright then, using the scale of the Netherlands map, from side to side the Northern Marches map is somewhere in the ball park of 120 kilometers, or about 75 miles.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Possibly Arneson was focused on a smaller area and the distance should be less, but it is hard to see where that could be in terms of analogous features in the Netherlands. Possibly he meant the map to be bigger, although if we stay inside the borders of the Netherlands there's not a lot more room, perhaps another 25 miles at most, and that would mean moving the Blackmoor map to an area where there are no matching features, so we can be reasonably sure the 75 miles end to end scale, give or take a few miles, is about right for the original Blackmoor/Northern Marches map.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Of course, that scale is not at all what we find with later maps. Instead, as we will see, scales are all over the place.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span>The first Blackmoor regional maps to be published came with Judges Guild's First Fantasy Campaign, and were drawn by Bob Bledsaw. These maps do have a scale, and they also encompass a much larger area of the Northern Marches than what we see in Arneson's </span><span>original</span><span> map. Indeed, as we will see, maps of Blackmoor have sometimes taken in less, sometimes more, of the surrounding area. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">On the JG maps themselves, the scale is given as 10 miles per hex, and on the same page as the "sketch map" of Blackmoor, Arneson writes:</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><i>"In redrawing the first campaign map, I have decided that it would be advantageous to make some minor changes along the south and west borders to link it with the Judges Guild's "Known World" area (as shown in the Guide to the City State). My map is twice the scale, 10 miles per hex, and fits into the northeastern corner, bordering the Valley of the Ancients."</i> </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Ten miles per "square" was a favorite scale Arenson used in a number of instances, so ten miles per hex here isn't surprising. What is a bit more confusing however is the "twice the scale." statement - twice the scale of what? Neither of Arneson's earlier maps have any scale on them. Possibly he is merely referring here to the fact that D&D used 5 mile hexes and that was a change Gygax had made late during the D&D draft process. (Edit: see comments below for the explanation)</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">In any case, I'm not convinced that the Judges Guild maps give us a "true" scale, whatever the hex size. Possibly they do, but just as possibly it was Bledsaw who determined the physical size of the hexes he overlaid on the map. Arneson notoriously deferred on details, allowing others to set things up however they wanted. Arneson clearly told Bledsaw to make the hexes ten miles across, but probably did not give much direction on the actual physical size a hex should be on the map. In other words, I think it likely Bledsaw laid a hex grid on top of the map as he pleased and called the hexes 10 miles across.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Whatever merits or faults they had, these maps from Judges Guild are the first scaled maps of the area. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">The next publication that to have a map of the whole of Blackmoor is DA1. The DA1 map has the hexes marked now as 24 miles across, even though the hexes appear to be physically about the same size they were on the JG map. Twenty-four miles is in keeping with the new 6 mile hex system introduced by Steve Marsh in the Expert set rules and carried through to all the later Basic D&D sets.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">So Blackmoor appears to have grown - a lot - more than double in fact. Interestingly however, when a new map was created for DA4, the scale was changed again, but reduced by half, so that the DA4 map was now down to 12 miles per hex, and this scale was apparently retconned to new printings of the earlier modules. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">If this isn't confusing enough, new maps at new scales appear during the d20 Zeitgiest games era. The principal map was released as a fold out with the Campaign Sourcebook and had hexes slightly larger than the previous Judges Guild and TSR iterations. These were given as 12.5 miles per hex. The accompanying scale bar has 25 miles per inch.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGGIHj3U4tQ1riIxDOYs7zA8mx9gnrp0bmZdL4F0UGMqf6GN4ncVqwNQgzV_sYfIh9oM0_mes3jmL108rMjTBtnZS062pXKxYU0AxqoX6iBmbLbPctv3yMRaPns7v5PSpjv524AP4xsBM/s1600/ZGmap.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1236" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGGIHj3U4tQ1riIxDOYs7zA8mx9gnrp0bmZdL4F0UGMqf6GN4ncVqwNQgzV_sYfIh9oM0_mes3jmL108rMjTBtnZS062pXKxYU0AxqoX6iBmbLbPctv3yMRaPns7v5PSpjv524AP4xsBM/s320/ZGmap.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /><span><br /></span></span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">ZG also produced a hand drawn, hexless map by Clayton Bunce. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"> Here it gets interesting because two different scales - again - are given for this map at different releases. Though both versions are identical and use the same scale bar, one iteration of the Bunch map has the bar marked 0-80 in 20 mile blocks with the other is 0-40 in 10 mile blocks. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Thus the era of "official" Blackmoor publications ended with as much scale confusion as it started.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Now, given that these various maps cover differing amounts of territory, perhaps the best way to grasp these differences in scale, is to consider two points on the map. In the table below I compare the differences in distance between the towns of Blackmoor and Jackport, These two locations were chosen because they are on most of the maps and have a fairly straight, close-to-horizontal road between them. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">We can use the scale bars on the ZG maps to give us a pretty good sense of the distance between our reference points, like so:</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirUs_xmfBA0AAzHwlLnSGLVLyR3m9jEuiKFm8dYrPsDY5TBsv4ue61glPHZ-fK1L098xe0ez3JxQsWP5rfpsw5VftSNe09WLcSaIMY8LGSul6pSoLJVCWCxqA6NTCVKPUt-q2MwnoDEf8/s334/ZGmap+scale+clip.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="126" data-original-width="334" height="151" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirUs_xmfBA0AAzHwlLnSGLVLyR3m9jEuiKFm8dYrPsDY5TBsv4ue61glPHZ-fK1L098xe0ez3JxQsWP5rfpsw5VftSNe09WLcSaIMY8LGSul6pSoLJVCWCxqA6NTCVKPUt-q2MwnoDEf8/w400-h151/ZGmap+scale+clip.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large; text-align: left;">ZG hex map</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large; text-align: left;"><br /></span></div><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJDZ2CoCZahBJ7A_aVfwJ4kITYMEs8dioz3CygVPRrVvBPpK5sb12mhwIjKuA1oBnLmrGdIV94Rvk7HiPGvJnUhVMK-NzXyGQ_2xZaKP-ZG4p_2buhm0Tnu6MXsFrpU0pKHcLw3yiVHYE/s522/BlackmoorBuncescaleJackportl.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="186" data-original-width="522" height="143" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJDZ2CoCZahBJ7A_aVfwJ4kITYMEs8dioz3CygVPRrVvBPpK5sb12mhwIjKuA1oBnLmrGdIV94Rvk7HiPGvJnUhVMK-NzXyGQ_2xZaKP-ZG4p_2buhm0Tnu6MXsFrpU0pKHcLw3yiVHYE/w400-h143/BlackmoorBuncescaleJackportl.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: center; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">ZG Bunce Map</span></div><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span> </span><span>Roughly speaking, looking at the various maps and scales yields these figures for the distance between Jackport and the town of Blackmoor:</span></span></p><table border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoTableGrid" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-yfti-tbllook: 1184;">
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<p class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span face=""Maiandra GD","sans-serif""><span style="font-size: medium;">Map<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
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<td style="border-left: none; border: 1pt solid windowtext; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 0.75in;" valign="top" width="72">
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span face=""Maiandra GD","sans-serif""><span style="font-size: medium;"># of Hexes Between<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-left: none; border: 1pt solid windowtext; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 1.5in;" valign="top" width="144">
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span face=""Maiandra GD","sans-serif""><span style="font-size: medium;">Jackport
to Blackmoor Town in Miles<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="border-top: none; border: 1pt solid windowtext; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 203.4pt;" valign="top" width="271">
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span face=""Maiandra GD","sans-serif""><span style="font-size: medium;">March
1971 Map at 75 miles E-W<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 0.75in;" valign="top" width="72">
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span face=""Maiandra GD","sans-serif""><span style="font-size: medium;">n/a<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 1.5in;" valign="top" width="144">
<p align="center" class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-align: center;"><span face=""Maiandra GD","sans-serif""><span style="font-size: medium;">27<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="border-top: none; border: 1pt solid windowtext; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 203.4pt;" valign="top" width="271">
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span face=""Maiandra GD","sans-serif""><span style="font-size: medium;">Bledsaw
1977 Maps<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 0.75in;" valign="top" width="72">
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span face=""Maiandra GD","sans-serif""><span style="font-size: medium;">12.5<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 1.5in;" valign="top" width="144">
<p align="center" class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-align: center;"><span face=""Maiandra GD","sans-serif""><span style="font-size: medium;">125<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="border-top: none; border: 1pt solid windowtext; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 203.4pt;" valign="top" width="271">
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span face=""Maiandra GD","sans-serif""><span style="font-size: medium;">TSR
24 mile hex<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 0.75in;" valign="top" width="72">
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span face=""Maiandra GD","sans-serif""><span style="font-size: medium;">12<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 1.5in;" valign="top" width="144">
<p align="center" class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-align: center;"><span face=""Maiandra GD","sans-serif""><span style="font-size: medium;">288<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="border-top: none; border: 1pt solid windowtext; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 203.4pt;" valign="top" width="271">
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span face=""Maiandra GD","sans-serif""><span style="font-size: medium;">TSR
12 mile hex<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 0.75in;" valign="top" width="72">
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span face=""Maiandra GD","sans-serif""><span style="font-size: medium;">12<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 1.5in;" valign="top" width="144">
<p align="center" class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-align: center;"><span face=""Maiandra GD","sans-serif""><span style="font-size: medium;">144<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="border-top: none; border: 1pt solid windowtext; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 203.4pt;" valign="top" width="271">
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span face=""Maiandra GD","sans-serif""><span style="font-size: medium;">ZG
12.5 mile hex<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 0.75in;" valign="top" width="72">
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span face=""Maiandra GD","sans-serif""><span style="font-size: medium;">9<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 1.5in;" valign="top" width="144">
<p align="center" class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-align: center;"><span face=""Maiandra GD","sans-serif""><span style="font-size: medium;">112<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="border-top: none; border: 1pt solid windowtext; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 203.4pt;" valign="top" width="271">
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span face=""Maiandra GD","sans-serif""><span style="font-size: medium;">ZG
Bunce map 0-40 scale<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 0.75in;" valign="top" width="72">
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span face=""Maiandra GD","sans-serif""><span style="font-size: medium;">n/a<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 1.5in;" valign="top" width="144">
<p align="center" class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-align: center;"><span face=""Maiandra GD","sans-serif""><span style="font-size: medium;">37<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="border-top: none; border: 1pt solid windowtext; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 203.4pt;" valign="top" width="271">
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span face=""Maiandra GD","sans-serif""><span style="font-size: medium;">ZG
Bunce map 0-80 scale<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 0.75in;" valign="top" width="72">
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span face=""Maiandra GD","sans-serif""><span style="font-size: medium;">n/a<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 1.5in;" valign="top" width="144">
<p align="center" class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-align: center;"><span face=""Maiandra GD","sans-serif""><span style="font-size: medium;">74<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="border-top: none; border: 1pt solid windowtext; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 203.4pt;" valign="top" width="271">
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span face=""Maiandra GD","sans-serif""><span style="font-size: medium;">Greyhawk
Dungeon mag<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 0.75in;" valign="top" width="72">
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span face=""Maiandra GD","sans-serif""><span style="font-size: medium;">.8<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 1.5in;" valign="top" width="144">
<p align="center" class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-align: center;"><span face=""Maiandra GD","sans-serif""><span style="font-size: medium;">25</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table><p><span style="font-size: large;">Note that I included a Greyhawk map estimate for fun. Jackport isn't on the Greyhawk maps but we can plot it useing Mosshold/Maus and it comes out to a scale comparable to the 1970 map estimated scale.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Whats' interesting to note is that either version of the Bunce map, but especially the smaller scale is closer to the scale we got above for the original March 1970 map, and the Greyhawk map came out virtually the same.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">The other scales measure the distance in hundreds of miles and make for a rather large Blackmoor, and this would seem to be at odds with Arneson's own characterization of Blackmoor in an interview published in Pegasus 14 in 1999. He said, "There are certainly worlds out there with far more depth and creativity in them than Blackmoor had or has. It was just my little fantasy campaign, in an area not much bigger than a couple of large states put together, maybe Montana." </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">We can compare the various scales given to real world US states. Conveniently, the distance between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh is quite close to the largest scale of 24 miles per hex. When the Blackmoor 24 mile per hex map is </span><span style="font-size: large;"><span>superimposed</span><span> on the Eastern United States with Philadelphia and Pittsburgh as reference points, here is what you get</span></span><span style="font-size: large;">:</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijqDB9lZlPS5e3r8GFVDbCrCq7J_Zwbq00QqNYquwHlXfHCuzjk5ldjEFS8-Y0D4Yrv9qi7iL0a0KCsJ6M7jGy2FbIib8_eFXPkV9caKXN21Tyg4dOxMgaHyqIvETvNlC3LwKqyEJ5gwk/s904/Philly+to+Pgh+scale.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="816" data-original-width="904" height="361" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijqDB9lZlPS5e3r8GFVDbCrCq7J_Zwbq00QqNYquwHlXfHCuzjk5ldjEFS8-Y0D4Yrv9qi7iL0a0KCsJ6M7jGy2FbIib8_eFXPkV9caKXN21Tyg4dOxMgaHyqIvETvNlC3LwKqyEJ5gwk/w400-h361/Philly+to+Pgh+scale.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /><span><br /></span></span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">At that scale, Blackmoor is literally half a continent. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Downsizing to the 125 mile distance between Jackport and Blackmoor town (roughly Philadelphia to Gettysburgh) leaves us with a Blackmoor about this big:</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmqRQHCCokmxHl80q3AnDBsVub3Q_3I_7mVqEssDoSfr4GpglXP2-HYUyDyToZKMt3CiW8L27-PBCSg4_Wxi-r9s6KQyShNrYb3uyRtt9ZzeASUKdMAaC1XLfRE0uHnGOdUeyen988yM8/s1279/Philly+to+Gettysburgh1.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1279" data-original-width="1124" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmqRQHCCokmxHl80q3AnDBsVub3Q_3I_7mVqEssDoSfr4GpglXP2-HYUyDyToZKMt3CiW8L27-PBCSg4_Wxi-r9s6KQyShNrYb3uyRtt9ZzeASUKdMAaC1XLfRE0uHnGOdUeyen988yM8/w351-h400/Philly+to+Gettysburgh1.JPG" width="351" /></a></div><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">In this case Blackmoor covers the size of five or six American states. Depending on how you view Blackmoor, that could be just right, but if your idea of Blackmoor is an isolated northern land akin to Ireland or Estonia or Montana, you may find this still to be overly large. As an interesting comparison, here is a similar map of with four European countries in roughly the same location:</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCJeisrJ00dZ0fCxliUNnsZw50c60LBTA3jiVJjEv_FbVXrYEW1_RZUekifqlJHcRLW2NugwO92WFfFqp5xLuJg4H5DLOlFMh_PzMJ9f5yP1NkglE1zRHVi5GnMgY2OjIZWhPPwgxdnfM/s1268/countires+comparison+to+us.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1268" data-original-width="1080" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCJeisrJ00dZ0fCxliUNnsZw50c60LBTA3jiVJjEv_FbVXrYEW1_RZUekifqlJHcRLW2NugwO92WFfFqp5xLuJg4H5DLOlFMh_PzMJ9f5yP1NkglE1zRHVi5GnMgY2OjIZWhPPwgxdnfM/w341-h400/countires+comparison+to+us.jpg" width="341" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: large;">At the scale of ten miles per hex used on the Judges Guild map, Blackmoor is about equivalent to three Great Britains, side by side.<br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"> On the other end of the spectrum, matching the real world with our scale of 27 miles between Jackport and Blackmoor town results in this: </span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHs1IdmbeC5pUVh3Afelp5gN_kFEVLUNFrBjHe0nc7roIoO3qj-98oyEdJeZsCQIjSnhPYEB_J88UzIjuRvipMfDWiEnOnc-mFpWkbqJjhy-uOfKSy6GfVAjOGUnL3OrxPCSb-HhIRfbo/s2040/Philly+to+Pgh+scale.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1552" data-original-width="2040" height="304" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHs1IdmbeC5pUVh3Afelp5gN_kFEVLUNFrBjHe0nc7roIoO3qj-98oyEdJeZsCQIjSnhPYEB_J88UzIjuRvipMfDWiEnOnc-mFpWkbqJjhy-uOfKSy6GfVAjOGUnL3OrxPCSb-HhIRfbo/w400-h304/Philly+to+Pgh+scale.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /><span><br /></span></span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span>Even at this smaller scale, Blackmoor is still quite a large area - larger than the state of New Jersey with plenty of room for adventure at perhaps a bit more manageable size. For me, this is just about right. It is also convenient that Greyhawks' Blackmoor appears to be at about the same scale. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span>Ultimately however there is no definitive answer to the question of scale for Blackmoor, and game masters can choose from the various scales for what works best for their campaign.</span></span></p>DHBoggshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02170439175265397893noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3138202318040749770.post-15976124668452818532021-04-17T17:40:00.007-04:002021-08-03T08:17:46.159-04:00The First PC to Die, Ever.<p><span style="font-size: large;"> According to Dave Arneson's <i>Corner of the Table</i> newsletter, Vol. III, #4</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">"There will be a medevil "BRAUNSTEIN" April 17, 1971 at the home of David Arneson from 1500 hrs to 2400 hrs with refreshments being available on the usual basis. Players may come at any time and any number are welcome to attend what should prove to be an exciting time. It will feature mythical creatures and a poker game under the Troll's bridge between sunup and sundown."</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Of course, this is only an announcement, but we have no reason to think the game did not take place as planned.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">That game, you may note, therefore took place 50 years ago to the day this essay is being posted. Was it the first ever Blackmoor game with Player Characters engaged in a tabletop medieval fantasy adventure? Or maybe another way of asking that, was it the first game of what we would now recognize as a </span><span style="font-size: x-large;">kind of "D&D"?</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">There is a very good chance the answer is yes.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Our earliest record tied conclusively to Blackmoor is the Northern Marches map the Areneson mailed to Rob Kuntz in March of 1971 - just weeks prior to the Troll Bridge poker game. To recap briefly, that map accompanied a letter introducing Arneson's Northern Marches campaign. He also mentions 4 players (Duane Jenkins, William Hoyt, Edward Wernecke, and Marshal Hoegfeldt) from whom he apparently had commitments to play, as stated in the letter: "The area known as JENKIN’S LAND is ruled by Sir Jenkins while Bill Hoyt rules Williamfort, Ed Werncke rules Swampwood, Marshall Kieston."</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Bill Hoyt, from whom we have the map, has made it clear that the campaign as planned in the letter never happened and he played in no games there. What we are seeing with the letter and map to Kuntz is Arneson's initial planning, at a time before he has a copy of CHAINMAIL with its Fantasy Supplement.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">As far as we know, of these persons mentioned only Jenkins actually played in Blackmoor during the pre-D&D period. Marshall Hoegfeldt very shortly got kicked out of the group, and Bill Hoyt decided to join the Gregg Scott/Randy Hoffa group, and all of them got written up as the "Infamous Characters" Marfeldt the Barbarian, Lord WhiteHead, The Egg of Coot and the Ran of Ah Foo. (Note that later, after D&D was published, Bill did finally play in Blackmoor.)</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Within a few weeks then of sending his Northern Marches map to Kuntz, Arneson places the notice in COTT for the for the "medieval Braunstein" Troll Bridge Poker game.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">The next issue of COTT, (Vol. III, #5) promises the start of "reports from the Black Moors" medieval setting and announces another medieval game on May 22, after the general meeting. This is the meeting where Dan Nicholson received the Spanish Royals character sheet. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">The picture emerging with the two COTT entries and the March letter to Kuntz, is of the initial development of a new campaign, not even yet "officially" named Blackmoor until the May entry. The picture is further reinforced when we consider that the first Blackmoor experience remembered by several of the Blackmoor bunch is an adventure that takes place seemingly after Arneson returns from a European vacation in mid July. This would be the "Icelandic Cave" adventure I've mentioned in previous posts wherein Dave's players are on a mission to find none other than Dave himself, after his plane crashlands in Iceland apparently on its way back from his trip to Europe. and somehow Arneson stumbles through a cave there into the land of Blackmoor.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">What game, if any, may have taken place on May 22 isn't clear, possibly it was the first Castle/Dungeon game inspired by a monter movie binge that Arneson reported so often (see <a href="https://boggswood.blogspot.com/2018/08/follow-up-thoughts-on-cinematic.html">here</a> for related discussion) but in any case it seems the</span><span style="font-size: large;"><span> </span><span>players involved in the </span><span>Icleandic Cave adventure don't recall the earlier Troll Bridge game in April - probably because they weren't there. Arneson's basement was a veritable revolving door of games and gamers and people showed up when they could.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Nevertheless, there is one gamer who remembers the Troll Bridge Game, or at least what he remembers certainly seems to be that game. That player is Bob Meyer, whom many of my readers may know as the person who took over as Game Master of the Blackmoor campaign after Arneson's passing. Bob has recounted his initial and brief encounter with the land of Blackmoor several times, most recently in the <i>Secrets of Blackmoor</i> documentary. I won't repeat the whole story, but here is some of what Bob has to say about it:</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">"I was in the game that had that troll, and I did not care for the rules. The troll killed me in no time at all, and I was a hero! I refused to have anything to do with Blackmoor for a very long time after that."</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">"I claim to have the first character killed in Blackmoor. How is that for a claim to fame?" From <a href="https://blackmoor.mystara.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=83&t=638&p=32407&hilit=meyer#p32407">The Comeback Inn Forum</a></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Claim to fame indeed. Fifty years ago today, Bob the Hero appears to be the first of a very long line of PC's </span><span style="font-size: large;"><span>in our beloved hobby </span><span>to die fighting monsters. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p>DHBoggshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02170439175265397893noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3138202318040749770.post-87996178862860971142021-02-20T13:41:00.005-05:002021-02-23T07:00:13.692-05:00Fifty Years of Fantasy Role Play Table-top games.<p> <span style="font-size: large;">Today marks an interesting, possibly momentous, anniversary. It has been 50 years since the Boris Karloff movie <i>The Black Room</i> aired as part of a double feature with <i>Werewolf of London</i> on Channel 5's Saturday run of <i>Horror Incorporated </i>in the Twin Cities<i>. </i></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span>This marks the second time that the Minnesota station had shown </span><i>The Black Room</i><span>, but it may be the most significant. Lets take a step back and remember what Dave Arneson said:</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span>"</span><span>Some months after Mr. Wesley left, a local TV station had on several old monster movies, which </span><span>I watched while eating popcorn and reading old Conan novels. It was then that Blackmoor </span><span>Dungeon was first conceived. Starting with a few sheets of graph paper, the upper levels </span><span>took shape. The next week was spent laying out my wargaming table to represent the castle </span><span>and countryside around Blackmoor." Wargaming </span><span>#4 Jan/Feb 1978</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">The quote above is perhaps the oldest telling of a tale told many times, with much the same detail. He could never seem to remember the exact books he read or movies he watched, but it seems far to great a coincidence that the pun-loving Arneson called his land the Black Moors in his May 1971 <i>Corner of the Table Newsletter Vol 3 #5</i>, at a time when <i>The Black Room</i> had already aired twice on his beloved Horror Incorporated (January 16, 1971 and February 20, 1971).</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span>So why am I calling particular attention to the February 20 showing? We have talked before about the Northern Marches map and accompanying letter Arneson mailed in March of 1971 to Rob Kuntz as king of the </span><i>Castle & Crusade</i><span> society. This letter represents t</span><span>he earliest datable record connected directly to Blackmoor.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span>It is also a matter of only two or three weeks after the February 20 showing of the </span><i>The Black Room </i><span>that Arneson mailed this letter.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">It's the closeness of the Feb 20 airing date to the composition of the letter that makes me wonder about the precise details of Arneson's genesis story. Mind you, I'm only speculating, but what if, in trying to call up how he started the whole thing some 7+ years afterward, Arneson muddled it a bit. What I'm suggesting is that watching movies and reading Conan novels inspired the creation of Blackmoor, just as he said, but perhaps it wasn't the dungeon maps he drew that first weekend, but the Northern Marches map sent with the letter to Kuntz? Perhaps the dungeon maps came a few months later, as seems to be the case from the scant records we have.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">There is another hint in the letter itself suggesting this may be the case. In telling his story Arneson always made sure to point out the influence of Conan novels. Looking at the early descriptions of Blackmoor Castle, village, and dungeon, there is nothing suggesting a connection to Conan or the Hyborian Age. We could suggest that those initial connections were lost, overwritten by the Tolkienesque material of <i>Chainmail, </i>but that seems at odds with Arneson's habit of recycling gaming ideas. We'd expect those hints to still exist in the dungeon if ever they were there. However, when we turn to the short March 1971 letter to Kuntz accompanying the Northern Marches map, we see a different picture:</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span>"...</span><span>to the east </span><span>lay the forested domains of the ERAKS, a breed noted for their cunning </span><span>and banditry. To the North lie the domains of the SKANDANARIANS, a </span><span>savage band of sea raiders whose ferocious nature brings them into </span><span>constant conflict with all their neighbors. To the [northwest] lie the </span><span>accursed lands of the unholy RED WIZARDS COVEN, whose lands are </span><span>more dangerous than even the wizards themselves. Finally, to the west </span><span>and south west lie the lands of PICT'S, a savage band of uncivilized </span><span>barbarians noted for their cruelty and fierce loyalty to the abomination </span><span>they call king."</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">The influence of Conan on the Northern Marches map is abundantly clear in that paragraph.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span>Whether </span><i>The Black Room </i><span>really had anything to do with the genesis of fantasy roleplaying games or not, or whether it was really the Northern Marches map and not dungeon maps Arneson drew after his movie, novel, and popcorn binge, there is one thing we can say with absolute certainty: by March of 1971, David Lance Arneson had created the idea for a game that would change the cultural landscape of planet Earth.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">For more fun on movies and the genesis of Blackmoor, have a look here: <a href="https://boggswood.blogspot.com/2018/08/follow-up-thoughts-on-cinematic.html?fbclid=IwAR1xtwqIon9h8_E2Nj8m9roo-RB41OYNhw2grqMRvK6rgKtlhM5TsLbC7ZM">More Thoughts on the Cinematic Influence</a></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></p>DHBoggshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02170439175265397893noreply@blogger.com7