Playing Blackmoor in the real Vestfold

Slottsfjell, in Vesfold, Norway

Like many Minnesotans, Dave Arneson and several of his players were of Scandinavian ancestry. As I have mentioned previously, the origin of the name of Blackmoor's city of Vestfold, is probably the Vesfold region of Norway, rather than the Tolkien version. Tolkien most likely got the name for his Vestfold from the same source. It is also interesting that the recent Thor and Captain American movies both have their opening scenes in this area, a fact well appreciated by the locals.

In any case, it was quite cool to be able to go to the real Vestfold this weekend and DM a game of Blackmoor. A member of my original gaming group lives in the region and invited me and other friends from the good old days for a weekend of gaming. We each ran one game, and I chose (surprisingly?) to run Blackmoor.

The game involved exploring the town of Newgate, getting to know a Peshwah Monk, and the quest to find King Uther's lost son. The game was a great success. One of the best games I have run in a while. My players did a great job getting into roleplaying their characters and had alot of fun just talking to NPCs, getting into an epic bar brawl and enduring a petty quarrel with an officer of the city guards. All in all a fun weekend!



-Havard