Seasonal Greetings

Wishing you a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from the Blackmoor Blog and the guys at the Comeback Inn.

Hope you have been a good froggie this year! :)





-Havard

Image snatched from: http://twinklesandsparkles.blogspot.no/2010/03/christmas-frog.html

All 3 MMRPG Seasons Available!

Fake covers I made for the MMRPG

Just a quick message to let you know that all 3 seasons of the Blackmoor MMRPG are now available at The Comeback Inn. Sort of an early Christmas Present for you there.

Enjoy!

-Havard

Origin of Mystara's Known World

Known World Map Replica by Thorfinn Tait

The D&D fantasy world that later grew into the World of Mystara, originally referred to as the D&D Game World, or simply the Known World first appeared in the module X1 The Isle of Dread (1981) by Tom Moldvay and David "Zeb" Cook. 


It has for a long time been rumoured that Tom Moldvay ( 1948 – 2007) based the setting on elements from his own campaign. However, over at the Mystara Facebook Group, James Mishler just reported the following:

Per Lawrence Schick in a post I just read..."...the Known World was originally based on the shared-world campaign Tom Moldvay and I ran in Akron, Ohio, before we were hired by TSR. I invented most of the names, including Thyatis, Ylaruam, Ierendi, Darokin, Atruaghin, and Glantri."

The origin of the names of the various countries has also been up to some speculation. Frank Mentzer has hinted that Ylaruam was simply the word Morally spelled backwards. This seems to be well in line with Moldvay & Cook's modus operandi. Another location developed by the two in the same setting is the city of Yavdlom, which also reveals a code if spelled backwards. 





-Havard

Rise of the Cumasti: Comelar Ithamis

With the death of King Uhlmar, the Elven Nation fell into chaos. The elves of the Wood Realms of the West followed Ceridrone , the Black Queen, the daughter that Uhlmar had cursed for her betrayal. The eastern elves, known now as the Cumasti split into factions, arguing among themselves. The Elder Council could not agree on which direction they should take, leaving each of the eastern Wood Realms to fend for itself.

In the largest of the Cumasti Wood Realms, the Redwoods, leadership fell upon the shoulders of Comelar Ithamis. The Council of Elders said that  although Comelar was the eldest son of Uhlmar, they would not accept his claim to be king of all elves before he could produce Uhlmar’s Crown.  Unfortunately the Crown had disappeared during the time of duress following the former King’s death.  Because of this there were even those among the Cumasti who would not accept Comelar’s rulership. The Goss Clan was especially noted for their desire for independence.

Comelar was an unusual young elf with an openness towards the world reminiscent of his father in his younger days. He carried the sword Woodhold, and some said that he sometimes talked to the blade. In spite of his strange ways, the elves of the Redwoods were loyal to Lord Comelar.

With the divisions among the elves and the increasing number of humans arriving in the North, as well as the appearance of a new race in the North, that the humans called Dwarves, Comelar did not sit idly by. While he was denied command of the Elven Nation, he began to consolidate what power he had, building up the defenses of the Redwoods. He founded an order known as the Gen’Ri, whose mission was to gather information on the races that lived outside the woods.

The information the Gen’Ri brought back was terrifying. The Goss Clan which had opposed Comelar’s leadership had managed to place one prince in Mithgiliwyr as ruler of their woodland realm, while his half brother Raddan had managed to claim the throne of Blackmoor. Raddan’s hunger for arcane power drove him into becoming a leading force in the Mage Wars. When his brother refused to join his side, Raddan destroyed Mithgilliwyr’s Woodrealm, turning it into the Blood Woods. With these arcane wars raging on, the Cumasti Wood Realms again looked to Comelar for leadership. Gradually they began to recognize him as Lord of the Cumasti.

Seeing that the threats from the outside world could not be ignored, Comelar secretly supported the Archmage Skelfer. With the end of the Mage Wars, Comelar made renewed contact with the Thonians, although he was in no way interested in making the Wizards Cabal welcome in his own lands. Skelfer accepted this, given the aid Comelar had given to the Archmage during the time of strife. Upon Comelar’s death, his son, Menander, continued to expand the contact with the Thonians. Menander Ithamis would often walk among humans in disguise, learning of their ways  through personal experience as well as from the information provided to him by the Gen’Ri.

The first real intervention of Menander’s forces into Thonian lands was after the Egg of Coot had invaded and occupied Blackmoor Town. Only through the aid of Menander’s Army were the heroes of Blackmoor able to drive the Egg out. Menander recognized the dangers of the Egg as too great for one race to stand against alone and continued his efforts to work with the other races, finding allies among Humans, Halflings and even the Dwarves.

***

Notes: 

In previous material, I named Uhlmar's son Noris, but later realized that Menander's father had been named in the D20 Dave Arneson's Blackmoor Sourcebook. 

The Gen'Ri and Mithgilivyr Goss were introduced in The Blackmoor Player's Guide.

King Uhlmar is my creation.

***


Image Source

More discussion of this topic.


-Havard

MMRPG Finale Approaching

Over at the Comeback Inn Forum, we have been releasing Season 3 of Blackmoor the MMRPG this autumn. Now, only a few episodes are left and we plan to release them all in time for Christmans. Season 3 marks the last of these freebie adventure modules which are easy to use with any edition. They are released with the expressed permission of Zeitgeist Games.

Season 3 Fake Tribute cover by Havard

So, stay tuned with us over at The Comeback Inn and make sure that you download these final MMRPG episodes as they are released in the weeks ahead.

Discuss this article and download the adventures here.






-Havard