ArneCon 2024 Reports Are Coming In

As mentioned, ArneCon 2024, took place this weekend, from October 4-6. Managed by the creators of the Secrets of Blackmoor documentary (Griff Morgan and Chris Graves), the convention honoring the legacy of D&D Co-Creator Dave Arneson was held at The DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel, in Minneapolis MN. Although I haven't seen any numbers of participants for this year's events, organisers stated early on that the plan was for this to be a small and cozy event. Morgan stated that the convention was a highly successful and my impression is that everyone had a great time. 

It is also nice to see photos of Morgan hanging out with Vic Dorso of DaveCon. It seems that any rivalry that may have existed between the two conventions is now ancient history and Morgan stated that he plans to attend at DaveCon next year. 

I know that some announced guests did end up not showing up and a few events may not have occurred according to the program, but it looks like they had more than enough games and activities to keep the attendees busy. Some of the games were live streamed and can be viewed here. Among the Blackmoor Bunch who were present were Dave Wesely, Ross Maker, Dave Megarry, Bill Hoyt and possibly others. 

In particular, I have to say I found Rob Kuntz adventure particularly interesting, involving legendary Blackmoor characters like Marfeldt and the Wizard of the Woods as well as reference to places like the Duchy of the Peaks and the Realm of the Egg of Coot. 

Did you attend the convention? I would love to hear from you!

More discussion about this article at The Comeback Inn.

-Havard

Photo by: Marianne Wong

ArneCon 2024 This Weekend

 

ArneCon 2024 takes place this Weekend. This convention is organized by Griff Morgan and Chris Graves, often referred to as the Fellowship of the Thing. In this photo we see Dave Wesely. Dave Megarry, Griff Morgan and Rob Kuntz as they prepare for the convention. 

I wish the organizers and guests a wonderful weekend!

Are you going to ArneCon? Let me know about your experiences!

-Havard

Dave Arneson Game Day 2024 As Fans Share Oldschool and New School Goodness

 

Blackmoor Week is over. Dave Arneson Game Day is today! On October 1st, we celebrate the love for our hobby on the birthday of the D&D Co-Creator. 

So many things related to Blackmoor and Dave Arneson have been happening these past days and the activity is still going on!

I really like that we are seeing fans of the early editions and fans of the most recent editions of D&D all joining in to celebrate together. Gaming should bring people together, not divide us. We have too much of that going on in the world. 

Let's look at some highlights so far:

• Over at The Piazza, Coronides is making conversions for Blackmoor to D&D 5E and has just added the Noble Class.
• Zenopus posted his overview of the Blackmoor Foundations Book at his blog. 
• Did you make sure to get the free PDF of the Dragonborn of Blackmoor Sourcebook by Jon Gómes that I posted about the other day?
• The Gnomish Embassy has posted two NPCs, the latest seems to be linked to the Dragonborn sourcebook

Let us add to this list as the day continues! 

-Havard

Dave Arneson Game Day 2024 is Tomorrow! (Blackmoor Week Day 7)

 We have been getting messages from fans all week and it has been great! I can't believe tomorrow is October 1st, the birthday of D&D Co-Creator Dave Arneson! 

I hope you are ready to join in the massive celebrations of our hobby that are taking place world wide, like every year. You can sign up for the Facebook Event here. 

Just today, I was told about this post over at the Gnomish Embassy Blog with a brand new character profile for Blackmoor Week, an Aarakocra no less! Yesterday with Dragonborn and today with Aarakocra, I can hear some say. Heresy? But lets remember that there is no right or wrong way to play D&D as long as everyone is having fun around the table. Younger gamers are discovering Blackmoor and that can only be a good thing. I am sure Dave Arneson would enjoy knowing that the game he helped bring into the world will bring joy for decades to come. 

What are you doing for Dave Arneson Game Day? Its a party, so everyone is invited! As long as you love gaming that is.

-Havard

Dragonborn of Blackmoor: Free Fan Sourcebook by Jon Gómez (Blackmoor Week Day 6)

 I love that Blackmoor Week can inspire fans to add their creativity to the world of Blackmoor. Over at The Piazza,  Jon Gómez (aka Zeromaru X) has created a fan sourcebook called Dragonborn of Blackmoor.

Jon has been working on this project for years and he has really put his soul into this fan sourcebook. He has even added his own hand drawn illustrations which is pretty amazing. This is a 27 page document packed with information. 

You can download this document for free here.

What is Blackmoor Week and how can you join in? Glad you asked!

-Havard

Dave Arneson Material in the Catalog of Rebellion Games? (Blackmoor Week Day 3)

 I have thought about not covering copyright or Trademark ownership discussions on this blog anymore. It tends to create a lot of drama every time and it just makes me tired. However, we need to talk about this. 

Last year we learned that Rebellion Games had acquired the entire catalog creatred by Flying Buffalo Games. Flying Buffalo were founded in 1975 by Rick Loomis. When Rick sadly passed away back in August 2019, the company briefly passed to Webbed Sphere (Jason Kingsley OBE)  who sold the Flying Buffalo games catalog to Rebellion. 

Based in their press releases at the time, Rebellion seemed to be most focused on Tunnels and Trolls. However, another part of their press release may be of particular interest to readers of this blog:

"As part of the acquisition Rebellion have taken over Flying Buffalo’s entire line of roleplaying games, including the cult classic Citybook, Grimtooth, and Merchants Spies and Private Eyes series. The entire back-catalogue of Flying Buffalo PDFs will remain available to purchase online, with future releases coming directly from Rebellion Unplugged. "

 Now, we know that Dave Arneson contributed to a couple of gaming books linked to some of these series. In 1984, he contributed to City Book II: Port o' Call. For Merchants Spies and Private Eyes, Dave Arneson wrote the adventure The Case of the Pacific Clipper (1991). 

At one point Dave Arneson told me that he had sold his company Adventure Games to Rick Loomis. Adventure Games also made several games whose current ownership is unknown to me. When I asked Rick about the status of Adventures in Fantasy, which is one of the games Adventure Games produced, he was not able to confirm that story at the time. 

Do you own a copy of City Book II or Case of the Pacific Clipper? Please leave a comment below!

Find out more about Blackmoor Week here?

-Havard

Blackmoor Foundations Arrived (Blackmoor Week Day 2)

 

My copy of Blackmoor Foundations finally arrived. I decided I wanted to get this one from Amazon, but even though I ordered it immediately after it was announced there, it took quite some time for them to get the stock to send out to customers. Once shipped, it got here really fast so that is nice. And guess what, just in time for Blackmoor Week! I will be looking over this one over the next few days. Sadly, the cover got a bit bent as you can see in the photo, but oh well. 

What is Blackmoor Week and Dave Arneson Game Day you say? I'm glad you asked!

What are you doing for Blackmoor Week so far? :) Leave a comment! 

-Havard