François Marcela-Froideval ( 1958 – 2025)

I was saddened to hear about the passing of François Marcela-Froideval (10 December 1958 – 17 June 2025). I learned about this news via Frank Mentzer who wrote:

Francois Marcela-Froideval has moved on. RIP
He was known for his hobby work in France and came to Gary's attention. He came to Lake Geneva for more than a year, and Gary & he & I got together often for design work and socializing. He proved he could handle a sailboat on the lake, for one thing... Francois produced two trial adventures for AD&D but they were never published by TSR. I still have the manuscripts in my archives. He contributed to Oriental Adventures, and (of greater note in Europe) was founder of Casus Belli magazine. As creator and screenwriter of Black Moon Chronicles series, he began with this preface: "This series is dedicated to E. Gary Gygax, the first dreamer, inventor of the role-playing game, without whom the heroic fantasy and science-fiction genre would only be today a minor, almost forgotten genre. To this quiet giant who made millions of players dream, to my master and friend. May he live forever in the universe he so patiently built." (tnx to Ciro Sacco for the news)

 Froideval also made the global map of Mystara which first appeared in a complete form in the D&D Master Set Rules. This was also the product where the name Thonia first appeared. 

My condolences to his friends and family. 

-Havard

ArneCon 3 Special Events for Oct 2025

 

ArneCon 3 just made an announcement  regarding their special events.The  number of people with real connections to Dave Arneson seems to be fewer than in previous years, but it is especially nice to see David Megarry and David Wesely appearing.

I am sure people attending the convention will have a lot of fun. Are you going to this year's ArneCon?

The Piazza celebrated its 17th birthday this Weekend!

The Piazza website was created for fans who wanted to discuss the worlds of Dungeons & Dragons. 17 years later, the forum is still going on strong! The forum is known for being open to all editions and settings as well as non D&D games. The forum is home to a number of dedicated fans as well as several game designers and is known for its friendly atmosphere. While the most popular D&D settings like the Forgotten Realms and Greyhawk have vibrant fan discussions at The Piazza, you can also find very strong followings for less famous settings like Mystara and Spelljammer and many at The Piazza love digging up the most obscure D&D products they can find. The Piazza takes pride in having fans of the latest editions of D&D enjoying civil discussions with fans of the TSR era aditions. 

This Weekend, from May 30th - June 1st, The Piazza celebrated its birthday. The 17th Birthday Party was celebrated on Discord, both as a voice and text chat. The Discord was opened to non-members for the occasion. Former TSR designer Frank Mentzer dropped by to wish everyone a happy birthday. Thorf (from the Atlas of Mystara) and Ashtagon (creator of The Piazza) both had live streams where they did live fantasy map making. Aulddragon ran a Spelljammer adventure on Twitch where several party guests attended as audience members and players. 

As a special surprise, a new section of the Piazza forum was opened. This one dedicated to Minor D&D Worlds. A typical Piazza birthday party tradition is that a certain number of guests can choose new custom titles. There are more of those that have gone unclaimed this year, so its not too late! 

Overall a very successful online party. Thanks to everyone who came out to say hello. I look forward to many more! 

What are your favorite experiences with The Piazza?

-Havard

Someone made a miniature based on the D&D Master Set Cover

 Someone called Aaron Prati made a miniature that I want so badly. It is based on the cover of the D&D Master Set from the BECMI D&D line. Mr. Prati made this as a hobby project as a tribute to Larry Emore who did the painting for all the BECMI boxed sets.

There have been a lot of unofficial BECMI/Mystara miniatures over the years. This one is excellent. Go here for Aaron Prati's original post on Facebook.

-Havard