Wizards of the Coast has produced a new map of Greyhawk where Blackmoor has been removed. I first learned about this when I saw a post by my friend Big Mac at the Piazza the Piazza D&D Worlds forum where he discusses the lastest youtube video from Greyhawk Grognard video from Greyhawk Grognard going through the new WotC produced map.
The map in question is the Greyhawk map that is going to appear in WotC's upcoming 2024 D&D Dungeon Master's Guide. Greyhawk is from what I understand going to be used as a default setting in the new D&D core rulebooks. The new map looks somewhat reminiscent of the beloved map made by Darlene back in the days, but there are some interesting changes. Greyhawk Grognard's excellent video goes through these changes and speculates to reasons why these changes have been made and what might be possible consequences of the large and small changes.
The change that will likely be of most interest to the readers of this blog is probably the removal of Blackmoor. Removal may be a strong term. Rather, Blackmoor has been renamed Arn. Now Arn is a name that could be familiar to hard core Blackmoor fans as it also appears in several of Dave Arneson's writings.
Why has this change been made? Could it be linked to rights issues? Could it be to reduce confusion with the other Blackmoor product lines available that are less compatible with Greyhawk? Could it be linked to this map detailing a different part of Greyhawk's timeline? Or is there another reason?
In any case, the original intent of paying homage to Dave Arneson is retained in the new name.
What do you think of this new Greyhawk map and the changes made?
-Havard
I'm personally okay with this because these days I associate Blackmoor with Dave Arneson's campaign. Blackmoor in Greyhawk may have had a similar name but if it was an attempt to include Arneson's campaign into the world of Greyhawk, it didn't seem a very good attempt. The surrounding geography of the northern Flanaess just doesn't match with Arneson's Blackmoor. So breaking any tenuous connections between the most northerly realm of the Flanaess and Dave Arneson's Blackmoor is understandable, especially if this 2024 DMG is introducing a new generation of dungeon masters to Greyhawk.
ReplyDeleteGood point John!
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