DaveCon 2026 happening this Weekend

 

DaveCon 2026 takes place this weekend, April 24th-26th. Organised by its founder Victor Dorso, the list of special guests include Blackmoor alumni such as Dave Megarry, David Wesely, Bill Hoyt, Mike Carr, Ken Shepro and Ken Fletcher as well as other well known names from the hobby and industry. 

TSR legend Frank Mentzer was also announced as special guest, but had to cancel due to health reasons. Hopefully, he is doing okay. 

I hope the people attending the convention will have a great time this weekend. If you are at the convention, please let me know about your experiences!

-Havard

Louis Zocchi Has Passed

 

I am sad to learn that Louis Zocchi has passed away. Perhaps best known for his dice and his Gamescience company, Zocchi was a well known hobbyist, game designer and publisher. His passing was reported by Victor Dorso who shared that the gaming legend passed away on April 16. 2026. 

My thoughts go to his friends and family

ArneCon 2025 is a success organiseres say

 ArneCon 3 is a big success say organizers! The convention honoring the legacy of Dave Arneson took place this weekend in St. Paul Minnesota. 

Special Guests at this weekend's convention included:

Dave Arneson Alumni:

• David Megarry
• Malia Arneson Weinhagen
• David Wesely
• David Ross

Other special guests inlcude, but not limited to:

• Sandy Petersen (Call of Cthulhu, Civilization, Doom, Quake), 
• Ken St. Andre (Tunnels & Trolls, Monsters! Monsters!), 
• Alexander Macris (Adventurer Conqueror King, Adventurer Conqueror King II, Ascendant, and Modern Spearhead)
• Ronin Wong
• Greg Gillespie
• Paul Stormberg

Will try to share some more photos if people send them to me. In addition to the Arneson Alumni, I think it is awesome to see Sandy Peterson attend as he is a real legend in gaming. 

I don't know how many people made it there this year, but the organisers said they wanted to keep this a small and personal convention. 

Did you attend to ArneCon 3? I would love to hear about your experiences there!

More discussion of this topic and other Blackmoor News in this Comeback Inn Forum topic.

-Havard

How was Your Dave Arneson Game Day?

 Yesterday was Dave Arneson Game Day! At this blog we recognise the fact that there were two co-creators of Dungeons & Dragons, the game that launched the hobby ot tabletop gaming into the mainstream and brought joy to millions of gamers all around the globe. Many other wonderful people contributed to the hobby over the years, including Dave Arneson's friends in the Twin Cities of Minnesota, the group gathering around Gary Gygax and TSR as well as countless of other professionals and fans. 

Dave Arneson Game Day is about celebrating every aspect of gaming and the great things it has given this wonderful fandom.

We celebrate this day at The Comeback Inn, the Blackmoor Fans Facebook Group, On Discord, The Piazza and many other corners of the Internet. 

Did you do anything in gaming this week? Please share!

-Havar

The MN Gathering 2025

 

The MN Gathering 2025 is the annual meetup of Minnesota Gamers, including several of the original Blackmoor Bunch.This year the event took place last night. 

Looks like people were having fun! :)

Did you attend the event last night? I would love to hear from you!

Photo: Castle Blackmoor

-Havard

Frank Mentzer Announces New Company Temporal Studios

Just the other day, the Youtube Channel of Philadelphia Area Gaming Expo Organizer Ron Meischker had TSR game designer legend Frank Mentzer on their show. Frank made the announcement that he was setting up a new company that would be called Temporal Studios (link to website). The project sounds ambitious as there are plans to delve into gaming history, conducting interviews with other RPG legends (Frank name dropped a few in the interview) and print and PDF publication. 

Frank has previously worked for TSR, Gary Gygax' New Infinities and Eldritch Enterprises. In 2017 he unsuccessfully launched a Kickstarter for his D&D campaign Empyrea (also known as Aquaria).

In recent years, Frank has had some health problems, but in the youtube interview he seemed optimistic, saying that modern medicine had helped him avoid the fate of some of his good friends like Jim Ward. 

-Havard

Scott Haring, Game Designer, has passed at 67

Scott Haring, a veteran game designer passed away on July 1 from pneumonia.  I just learned via my friend Ciro Sacco and Dungeonmaster Magazine.

Scott Haring, a veteran game designer and editor that started working in the game industry in 1982 has passed away, wrote Steve Jackson in his Daily Illuminator newsletter. Steve Jackson worked many years at Steve Jackson Games as Car Wars line editor, Autoduel Quarterly editor, Pyramid editor and Internat Sales manager. Here is the announcement: "Scott Haring, for many years a member of our staff (most notably as the Car Wars line editor in its most glorious days), passed away on July 1 from complications of pneumonia. He was 67. Scott was always fun to be around. His desk was covered with toys and baseball paraphernalia (as Andrew was to football, so Scott was to baseball). He also had a great singing voice, a talent which rarely crossed over with game design. Too bad office karaoke was not a thing back then! But when he put on the editor hat, he was one of the few people I would trust, without checking, to write or edit good copy. He was a pro". He worked at TSR too where he designed products for Classic D&D (The Republic of Darokin was a fine product), AD&D and Marvel Super Heroes. For the last twenty years he vas a freelance. The magazines he edited were always very interesting to read and he tried, along other brave people, to produce an independent gaming magazine - The Gamer - that lasted very little but it as a fine read.

My favorite work by Haring was Gaz 11 the Republic of Darokin, which was one of the first of the gazetteer series that I owned. It is always sad to learn about the passing of so many of the creative people who helped shape our hobby. 

Rest in peace.

-Havard