Blackmoor Foundations contains two reports of dungeon crawls into Blackmoor dungeons. Both of these appear to have been typed by Arneson himself (judging by his tell-tale foibles with typewriters). The first of these is titled The Dungeons of Black Moore Castle (reprinted on pages 63-67 of the Blackmoor Foundations book), and the second of these Into the Dungeons of Blackmoor Castle and Back (pages 69-75) begining with the date "May 25" - no year.
The first of these reports, "The Dungeons..." is the oldest tabletop RPG fantasy game narrative describing a dungeon adventure in existence. It predates D&D by over 2 years.
Although the poker game under the troll bridge announced for April 17, 1971 in COTT Vol 3 #4 is generally acknowledged as the first known Blackmoor game, that is the first game on record, the only player known to have participated in that short and deadly outdoor foray into the world was Bob Meyer.
Researchers have often thought of the the first Blackmoor RPG game with multiple players as the game session remembered by Ross Maker and Dave Weseley - known as "The Icelandic cave adventure" which took place later that summer of 1971. Now we have the original narrative Arneson typed up for this same adventure, interestingly titled as "Return to Black Moor". (Blackmoor Foundations pp 42-60) Note the spelling of Black Moor is still given as two words, as it often is on those earliest documents.
In telling the story of the creation of Blackmoor in later years, Arneson always began with a popcorn and monster movie fueled weekend, leading to the creation of a dungeon map and dungeon dive adventure. Researchers have since cast doubt on this, suggesting dungeons did not develop until 1972, almost a year after the Blackmoor game began.
We can be certain that the story Arneson relates in Return to Black Moor, AKA the Icelandic Cave Adventure, took place after his June 1971 trip to Europe, surely within a matter of weeks. Return relates a "wilderness adventure" with overland travel, skirmishes, and even a pitched battle taking place at Black Moor Castle (no e). In this story Dave Wesely, who in real life is in the US Army at that time and only home on leave a few times a year, is introduced to Blackmoor play, along with Dan Nicholson, Ross Maker, Dale Nelson and David Fant. Furthermore, Fant is portrayed as a native of the place, involved in separate incidents from the other four.
Note that these are not the same players mentioned in The Dungeons of Black Moore Castle. Those players are Duane Jenkins, Bill Heaton, Kurt Krey, Scott Belfry, Mel Johnson, and an un-named narrator I will have much more to say about later. Arneson is the only common denominator in these two stories.
One of these adventures obviously comes before the other. Some researchers have taken it as a given that Blackmoor Dungeon didn't exist until 1972, when it gets explicitly mentioned in CoTT, and therefore Return must be the oldest narrative we have. But is this correct? Could the unfinished "Return" instead be a follow up to the Dungeons adventure?
I think it is a question worth asking.
One approach to sorting things out is to look at the characters in charge of Blackmoor in the various stories. Arneson tells us in the FFC that "the Weasel" was in charge initially and got replaced by Lord Fant after the Weasel defected to the baddies. Meanwhile Jenkins in the FFC is a bandit leader who was placed in charge of Glendower.
We can take our research a step further back to the March 1971 Northern Marches letter where we find yet a different situation: "The area known as JENKIN’S LAND is ruled by Sir Jenkins while Bill Hoyt rules Williamfort."
We know from a map Arneson drew (see page 14, Blackmoor Foundations), That Blackmoor Castle was originally called Williamsfort and the name was relocated elsewhere later.
We also know, that Hoyt could not reasonably participate in this campaign in 1971, having moved to Elsworth Wisconsin in late 1970 to take a High School librarian job. Arneson clearly expected Bill to be around, and Bill recalls a conversation in which he told Arneson he would not be able to participate in the game and Jenkins could take over his castle.
Is Arneson just changing who the baron of Blackmoor is depending on who shows up to games? What the heck is going on? Researchers have guessed that "in world" continuity was not something of much importance early on and whoever showed up to the game made it into the story. But did the story really flip flop all over the place for the first few months or could there be a simpler explanation?
What if what we are really seeing here is not a jumble of inconsistency, but a linear evolution of Arneson's conception of the world?
It is important to consider the real time line when we ask these questions.
- We know "The Northern Marches" exists by March of 1971, with a castle called Williamsfort ruled by Bill Hoyt.
- Because of Blackmoor Gazette And Rumormonger #1 We know that by October of 1971 this exact same castle is called Black Moor and is ruled by Lord Fant. We also know Lord Jenkins rules Glendower, but has been in Blackmoor Castle since fall, having fled an invasion.
- From the FFC we know that Fant became lord of Blackmoor after the previous lord, nicknamed "the Weasel" turned traitor in the first Coot Invasion.
- We also know that Arneson spent a month or so in Europe from June into July. The Return story takes place as an event happening over Iceland on the way back from that trip, but in that story evil Lord Hyde is in charge of a place already named Blackmoor Castle.
The pieces of this puzzle are falling into place, and they break around Arneson's European trip. Control of Blackmoor appears to go from the "The Weasel" ruling the castle straight to Fant, The first successor after Fant is Rob Kuntz, who says Arneson made him lord of the castle around 1973/4 which would have been long after Dave Fant had left the game because of work.
Bill Hoyt, who I game with and I must says has proven to have a remarkable memory, tells us a story that can be seen in the Secrets of Blackmoor documentary. Sadly Duane Jenkins, who surely knew almost as much as Arneson did about the earliest development of Blackmoor, was suffering from dementia by the time he was interviewed for the film. However, he and Bill discuss a story he had told Bill years before. In summary, as Bill recalled it, Duane had gone on a solo, "test" adventure prior to the rest of the Blackmoor Bunch experiencing the dungeon for the first time.
The Dungeons story begins with a history of Blackmoor dungeon and relates a funny vignette - an adventure in Blackmoor Dungeon in which Jenkins is the only player, along with some guards and amusingly, a stable boy and peasant girl. Griff Morgan suggests this solo adventure vignette and the story Duane told Bill about a test solo adventure are one and the same. I agree. They match up surprisingly well for something half remembered and told second hand.
This being the case, Dungeons would be a re-counting of the first ever tabletop RPG game with a group of players taking characters into a dungeon. (more on this in the next post)
But when?
The Dungeons story makes it clear that the adventurers have never been in the dungeon before, except for Lord Jenkins, who went in once, the day before.
The May 25 Into the Dungeons story clearly follows the first, as the characters, who are still fairly low level, are now somewhat experienced.
Could May 25 be 1971? Could both these dungeon stories found in Blackmoor Founations have taken place before Arneson's June/July 71 European trip and before his "Return to Black Moors" story? That would seem to accord with Arneson's contention that Blackmoor began with a dungeon game after an inspirational weekend of popcorn, monster movies and Conan stories.
If we turn back to the Blackmoor Gazette And Rumormonger #1 from 1971, we find it reported that Lord Jenkins first comes to stay in the castle in early "Fall" - presumably late September or early October.
There is also the matter of the baron. In the Return story Lord Hyde is in charge of Blackmoor castle and lord Fant is "Master of Hyth" which seems to be a territory connected to Bramwald, but in both the Dungeon narratives Fant is already the baron of Blackmoor.
None of this tells us for certain if Dungeons predates Return, but it appears not if Jenkins isn't in Blackmoor until fall and Fant is the Baron in charge.
The sequence that logically follows is:
- Arneson creates the fictional lord Hyde to be in charge of Blackmoor after realizing Bill couldn't play and won't be Baron of Blackmoor - presumably this realization occurs after the March 1971 letter to Kuntz. (I hedge here, only because I don't know when the letter was written, only when it was mailed, which was March).
- April 17, 1971 Bob Meyer attacks the troll under the bridge and becomes the first PC death in Blackmoor.
- June/July 1971 - Arneson flys to Europe
- Early August 1971 - Upon returning, he comes up with a new story idea/skirmish game to introduce Blackmoor to Wesely, who is briefly on leave from the army, and some other new players including Fant who's gaming has become intermittent due to work. Arneson types these adventures up as Return to Black Moor placing Blackmoor under the leadership of an evil NPC character called Hyde - later to be nicknamed "the Weasel" (possibly a dig at the often absent Dave Wesely). This identification of Hyde with The Weasel is the only leap we have to take.
- Mid-Late August 1971 - First Coot Invasion. Fant becomes the Baron of Blackmoor after a game in which he is victorious against the baddies in the castle. This story is the continuation of where Return to Black Moor left off unfinished.
- September 1971 "Fall" - Lord Jenkins arrives from Glendower and begins exploring Blackmoor Castle where Fant is now Baron. Arneson draws up a dungeon and has a test game with Jenkins, followed by a larger game with a group of players. He types it up as The Dungeons of Castle Black Moore.
I can't claim this sequence is certain and questions remain. What if the Blackmoor calendar was not in sync with the real world calendar. If the Dungeons story took place in the fall of 1971 and the Into the Dungeons follow up takes place on May 25 1972 as much as 9 months later, why do they seem to indicate a much closer time between them? Could Jenkins have been visiting Blackmoor Castle in May, gone back to Glendower, in June, and then been chased back to Blackmoor that fall? Could Fant have been ret-conned to be "Master of Hyth" for story purposes in Return?
The later-date sequence given above explains the facts considered so far in a sensible way without supposing anything, so for now at least I think the later dates are more likely than the earlier ones - but I do wonder.
