Wednesday, October 19, 2016

Blackmoor Player Duane Jenkins (1948 - 2016) RIP


Duane L. Jenkins (August 21, 1948 - October 17, 2016) just passed away. He was 68 years old. I learned recently that he was hospitalized and two days ago he passed. I am reporting this because Duane was one of the original players in Dave Arneson's group. I regret that I never managed to get into contact with him.

My impression from reading the First Fantasy Campaign is that Duane played in the early stages of the campaign when David Wesely also participated. There is a place in Blackmoor called Jenkins Hill that was named after him.  Dave Arneson once told a story about how Duane wanted to play a Vampire in the game and how they were all laughing about that. Most likely the Barony of Glendover was the realm that he founded and was later passed on to other players. I would have loved to ask Mr. Jenkins about his memories from the game.

Jenkins Hill on an early draft of Blackmoor Town


Right now though, my thoughts go to his friends and family and the remaining gamers from the old Blackmoor group.



Read more about Duane Jenkins here.

-Havard

Tuesday, October 4, 2016

Blackmoor Documentary Text Description



On October 1st (Dave Arneson Day) this blog revealed that the trailer for the Dave Arneson documentary, Secrets of Blackmoor, had dropped. Now the following description has been added to the trailer:

Blackmoor is the name of a fictional world created by David Arneson. It is also the prototype of a game called Dungeons and Dragons, the first published role playing game. Unlike other fantasy worlds, such as J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle Earth, Blackmoor is a living world that is being explored to this day. Secrets of Blackmoor tells the story of the evolution of the role playing game, In 1964, David Wesely becomes a founding member of a club that includes history buffs, model makers, and miniature collectors. Hiding within the group, however, are a bunch of college students who are interested in war gaming. Within a year, the gamers meet a high school kid named Dave Arneson who is playing war games with his friends in his parents' basement.

These gamers have no idea that they will change the face of this hobby forever. Their only concern for now, is how to simulate the reality of war, and above all, they just want to have fun. Their voracious hunt for new rules and knowledge leads them to the University of Minnesota Library where they discover an old manuscript, Strategos; the American Game of War. Within the dense pages are a few sentences that inspire them.

The influence of Strategos changes how they play their war games. But are they really following these old rules, or have they stumbled onto something truly unique by misinterpreting what it says? Should a game be constrained by rules, like Monopoly, or should there be no boundaries at all, like a game of make believe? One thing is very clear--something magical was going on in the Twin Cities. Secrets of Blackmoor investigates the origins of the role playing game, through candid interviews, archival footage, and newly discovered artifacts.

A few comments of my own: Although I am very excited to learn about this documentary and really look foward to seeing the final product, I think the phrase "prototype of a game called Dungeons & Dragons" is an unfortunate choice of words. The phrase lends itself to multiple interpretations and would probably suggest to many that the documentary aims to dig into old wounds from the Dave vs. Gary debate. I am not sure that this is what we need right now.

What actually intrigues me a lot more than that is that Secrets of Blackmoor offers to tell the story of the Twin City Gamers. Just seeing the faces of the players in Dave Arneson's group live on camera was such an awesome thing to behold. I think that those of us who have been reading about Dave's campaign for decades really will get a kick out of hearing them tell new stories in their own voices.

I learned yesterday that according to the producers the film is already fully financed and that they expect to release it sometime during 2017. My hope is that the movie avoids playing up unnecessary controversy, but instead tells us the amazing story of the Twin City Gamers, an amazing group of creative gamers during a very important time in the development of our hobby. The text description is right. Something magical was going on the Twin Cities. That's something I am excited to learn more about.


How do you feel about all of this? Let me know in the comments! Your feedback means a lot to me :)




-Havard


Monday, October 3, 2016

Dave Arneson Day 2016 - What did you miss?

Major David Wesely and Jeff Berry talking about past games.
Dave Arneson Day 2016 was a huge success! This year we managed to take Blackmoor Week to a new level. Spreading activities over the whole week leading up to October 1st was a good idea since it gave us more time to create contents and for others to read the different posts instead of being swamped with tons of information in a single day.

Many different bloggers and forum posters contributed both on the day itself and the Week leading up to Dave Arneson day.

Some of the websites contributing with online material included:


In addition several people across the globe were running games. Personally I had a board game session at my house. Several other gaming events are mentioned in the Dave Arneson Game Day thread. The biggest gaming event was undoubtedly the games ran at The Source where many of the players from Dave Arneson's gaming group showed up.


Dave Arneson's daughter getting a hug from the most powerful wizard in Blackmoor. Robert the Bald. 

The biggest announcement from Dave Arneson Day 2016 outside the games was undoubtedly the reveal of the trailer for a planned Dave Arneson documentary called The Secrets of Blackmoor.  You can read about that one here if I have not seen it yet.

Some lessons for the next year: Several Blackmoor enthusiasts said they had not been aware of Blackmoor Week before it came upon them. This is quite understandable as few warnings had been given in advance. I know that many would have liked to do more if they had had  more time to prepare. That is something to keep in mind.

Overall it was an amazing event though. I can't wait for next year's Dave Arneson Day! :)



-Havard



Photos by Kevin McColl

Saturday, October 1, 2016

The Piazza Reach 1K Likes on Dave Arneson Day

The Worlds of Dungeons & Dragons discussion forum called The Piazza reached 1000 Facebook Likes today. The above is the image they chose to use for celebrating it! I am a junior admin at that forum so I may have helped a little with the graphics ;)

If you want to be number 1001 to like that forum, click here.

Congratulations to our friends at The Piazza and a happy Dave Arneson Game Day to everyone! :)


-Havard

Blackmoor Player Bill Hoyt Shares Campaign Notes in Free PDF

  Bill Hoyt is one of the surviving members of the Blackmoor Bunch, the group that played in Dave's Blackmoor campaign and parttook in o...