Blackmoor Convention in October teased by SoB Team

 There has been a lot of talk about  Gaming Conventions connected to Dave Arneson and Blackmoor this year. A few days ago, the idea of a Blackmoor convention in October was teased by the Secrets of Blackmoor documentary team on Twitter. 

This is the same convention a different source told me about back in July, but the follow up tweet reveals a bit more about what may have been planned. 

The mention of the convention being close to Dave's birthday is why I speculate that they are looking for October since Dave's birthday is October 1st which has been celebrated for years here at this blog and the main Blackmoor fan hangout at The Comeback Inn and associated social media accounts. 

Fake autographs sounds a bit strange, but having Dave Arneson's daughter as a guest of honor at such a convention would be awesome. 

My main concern about this is that October is only a little more than a month away. However, for a "small and intimate" event I am sure they can still manage to organize something, especially if many of the locals are already aware of the details.

As I have stated in the past, I will support any project that seeks to honor Dave Arneson's legacy and I hope this convention will come to pass. If not this year, perhaps next year can be an option? Joining forces with DaveCon might help give that convention a boost, but two conventions could also mean twice the fun!

-Havard

MMRPG Authors Talk Blackmoor at Comeback Inn Forum

 

My Website, the Comeback Inn has been hosting the MMRPG Blackmoor Adventures; modules easy to play with any edition of Dungeons & Dragons since 2011 with permission from all involved parties. In March, the final episode was made available as a free download. 

Moreover, we are lucky to have many of the authors of these adventures registered at the forum, eager to answer questions or just chat with fans. This week Gregory S Walker signed up to the forum. Gregory was part of the Terror Inc group of designers and contributed to such MMRPG adventures as Cutty Black Sow, Bug Hunt, Into the Lightless Dephts, The Dawn of Goss, Small Problems and Confectionary King II. Some of these adventures also helped explore the MMRPG created Blackmoor Subsetting known as the Dweomer Realm.

Greg signed up just in time for Blackmoor Week which starts on Monday leading up to Dave Arneson Game Day 2020 which will be arranged worldwide on October 1st as usual. I hope lots of people will take this opportunity to ask him and the other MMRPG authors some questions. 

Join us at The Comeback Inn to talk to the MMRPG authors and to find out more about Dave Arneson Game Day 2020.

JOIN THE FORUM HERE.

-Havard

New Blackmoor Livestreamed Campaign From Blackmoor Author Tad Kilgore and MMRPG Alumni

Live Streamed Dungeons & Dragons gaming is incredibly popular these days, so it is great seeing a live streamed game set in the first D&D campaign setting, Dave Arneson's Blackmoor.

This campaign is hosted by Tad Kilgore who has a long history with the setting. He was campaign organized for the Blackmoor MMRPG and was the author of the Riders of Hak Sourcebook for the Blackmoor d20 line. The players in this campaign are also people with a history of writing for the Blackmoor MMRPG campaign as well as being long time friends of Tad.

The players include:

• Phil Slama, former head of Terror Inc. and MMRPG author. Phil has also released several 5E adventures which are available for free at The Comeback Inn.
• Jenn Barth, former MMRPG author
• Mathew Tearle, former MMPRG author and member of Terror Inc.
• Jimmy, a newcomer to Blackmoor. Which is also awesome! 

This campaign uses the D&D 5th Edition Rules and is centered around the Dungeons of Castle Blackmoor and starts out at The Comeback Inn. It is going to be extremely interesting to follow these adventures!

The Campaign is livestreamed in Twitch and is also available on YouTube. You can also follow the campaign on Facebook via Kilgore's Lair page and the Blackmoor Fans Facebook Group.



-Havard

Announcing Greg Svenson's New Blackmoor Sourcebook, Blackmoor 5E Adventures and More (Blackmoor Week Day 3)

We are already on the 3rd day of Blackmoor Week. As we swiftly approach Dave Arneson Game Day on October 1st, its time to share a bit more of the exciting news we are preparing for you in the days ahead:

The Noble House of Zvenzen

First of all, on October 1st, we will be releasing a brand new Blackmoor PDF book in Greg Svenson's series about the Newgate mini-setting. This will be the fourth book in the series about the lands controlled by Greg's character in Dave Arneson's original campaign, the epic Paladin-like hero known to most as The Great Svenny. I have had the honor of working with Greg on this series of books and have taken it upon myself to work as an editor.

Book 4 in the series is titled The Noble House of Zvenzen and gives us a more detailed look at this noble family itself. The book is set in Dave Arneson's Blackmoor around the time of the TSR Blackmoor modules and the D20 Blackmoor Books by Zeitgeist Games. In addition, you will find a large number of trivia and historical tidbits about Dave Arneson's Campaign. Also you will find NPCs, Magic Items, Maps, Stores and More!  Even more exciting is the fact that this book will include material by Dave Arneson himself!

If you don't have the previous books in the series, go to the Comeback Inn and download them today!

The bad news is that you will have to wait untill October 1st to get the book. The good news is that it will be available as a free PDF, just like everything else we are sharing with you!

More Blackmoor Week Goodness

You won't have to wait untill Dave Arneson Game Day to get great free stuff for Blackmoor! We have so many things to share with you we need to spread things out a bit:

• New Blackmoor Adventures for D&D 5E: Friend of the Comeback Inn and former writer for the Blackmoor MMRPG adventure series, Phil Slama, has written a series of new adventures set in Blackmoor. Tomorrow, we will be making the first adventure available for you at the Comeback Inn.
• New Tabletop D&D Blackmoor material in the MMRPG series will be appearing sometimes later this weekend. 
• Several people at our different partner sites have shared that they are planning gaming events in the coming days. I hope they will share the stories with us so I can write about them here. 
• And more! What have I missed? What do you want to see? Let me know in the comments below! 

-Havard

Lost Blackmoor Adventure Discovered!

A few weeks ago, we announced that all four seasons of D&D adventures for the Blackmoor MMRPG (Organized play) had been released to the public. While we still have a few surprises left that we are going to share with you over the coming months, we genuinely believed that we had uncovered all the episodes that were written. Some numbered episodes simply do not exist because numbers were assigned and not necessarily written. However when the final episodes had been made available, fans over at the Comeback Inn Forum started asking questions. Something felt like it was missing in the final storyline.

And behold, something was missing! Thanks to MMRPG author Phil Slama, I have obtained a lost episode. The episode is #91 in the series and is called Rolling Thunder. I will be releasing this episode tomorrow, but I can reveal now that it deals with the Dwarves of Blackmoor and some of their most powerful weapons!

So, stay tuned tomorrow for Rolling Thunder! Is this the last time I will spring such surprises on you? I don't know, but I hope not! During my searching for this episode I have reached out to others who were involved with the MMRPG so maybe I will uncover more as well! If you know about anything that is not available as free downloads at The Comeback Inn, please let me know!



PS: Special thanks to Yaztromo for digging into the MMRPG episodes!




Discuss this article here.



-Havard

CBI-2 The Thonian Rand - New Fan Made Thonian Empire Sourcebook Available For Free!

The Comeback Inn is proud to announce the second in the series of Thonian Empire Province Sourcebooks. Written by Havard and friends, this sourcebook details the northwestern border province of the Thonian Empire. Here DM's can find material for campaigns where the players can:

• Take the battle against the Iron Duke, Taha Marcovik to his own home ground.
• Help free slaves forced to work in the brutal mines of the Thonian Empire.
• Visit the dwarven duchy of Evedhur, home of Arkalist Khazakhum, brother of the legendary Regent of the Mines
• Explore the wonderous inventions of the Gnomes and Dwarves of Evedhur
• Explore the shady pirate ports of the Duchy of Rockaway and visit the court of the eccentric Duke Dindlor Dragoneye

Research into the most obscure writings of Dave Arneson have gone into the writing of this sourcebook, while still making it playable and fun!

Compatible with all editions of D&D.

Get this sourcebook at the Comeback Inn

-Havard

Exploring the Valley of the Ancients MMRPG style

Over four seasons of D&D adventures, Blackmoor the MMRPG has explored most of the plotlines ever detailed in the setting. It is not surprising that it would also have its own take on perhaps the deadliest of all of the adventure locations from Dave Arneson's campaign. I wrote about the early adventures Dave Arneson ran with the City of the Gods here.

Although hints to the City of the Gods go back to Supplement II's Temple of the Frog and the references to the Valley of the Ancients in the First Fantasy Campaign, this region was first explored in published form with DA3 City of the Gods. When Dave Arneson's company Zeitgeist Games got the lisence to do Blackmoor for Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition, they published a new version of the City of the Gods for that edition. The MMPRG also served to promote the Zeitgeist Games product line so it is not surprising that the time would eventually come for the Valley of the Ancients. This way players could bring their charaters from the MMRPG campaign into this famous adventure location. Over at the Comeback Inn, we are soon approaching the re-release of the last episodes of the MMRPG. Episode 90-L is available now as a free download.

Go here to download the MMRPG adventure!

Let me know what you think! Are you ready to see the remaining adventures of season 4 as well? :)


-Havard

Are You Caught Up on Blackmoor The MMRPG?

Blackmoor the MMRPG was a Living Campaign for Blackmoor that offered free PDF adventures in Dave Arneson's setting. These adventures are now gradually becoming available at The Comeback Inn. Check out the latest installment, The Coming Storm. This episode also offers new monsters and a new town. Let me know what you think?

-Havard

Blackmoor Week: Day One - Announcements, Articles and more!

As mentioned yesterday, this is Blackmoor Week 2016.

Every day this week I will be posting stuff about Blackmoor, leading up to Dave Arneson Day on Saturday.

Dave Arneson Day  2016 Planning: The Source

Already, people are telling me they plan on running games this weekend. One big gaming event is the annual Dave Arneson Day celebration at The Source. The Source was Dave Arneson's local gaming store and many of Dave Arneson's friends will be present. This year's events at The Source include:

• Braunstein #4 run by Dave Wesely himself. 
•  Chirine ba kal will answer questions about Dave Arneson 
• D20 Blackmoor run by Burl Zorn 
• FATE for Tekumel run by John Till 
• "Daleks in the Dungeon" run by Gerald Gagel
• And more!

More details on the events at the Source can be found here. If you have the chance, please drop by the Source. They need all the players they can get. I would love to go myself, but unfortunately I live on the other side of the Atlantic. If you do manage to go, please let me know about your experiences and take photos!

Blackmoor Week Retrospective at The Piazza

Over at The Piazza Gaming Forum, I have posted the first in a series of threads called Blackmoor Week Retrospective. This first article takes a look at the Blackmoor Gaming material from the 1970s. Check out the article here.

Blackmoor Week Planning at The Comeback Inn

My forum, the Comeback Inn is a central part of Blackmoor Week. Take a look at the activities for previous years' Dave Arneson Day arrangements here. More activities for this year's Blackmoor Week and Dave Arneson Day will be posted in this thread.

Now its Your Turn!

Dave Arneson Day and Blackmoor Week is not about me. It is about all of us gamers all around the world. Are you planning to do something for Blackmoor Week and Dave Arneson Day? Have you done something already that I have not noticed? Please let us know in the comments below! What better way to honor the D&D Game Creators than by enjoying gaming together?

-Havard

Return to the Vales of Blackmoor

This week, my PbP campaign started up again this week after a long break. We are now on the third chapter of the Vales Saga. Set in the lands to the west of the Duchy of Ten, Chapter 3 is called Legends of the Vales.

 After such a long break, I was really happy to see that so many from the old group of players were excited to rejoin the campaign. In addition, this chapter sees two new participants as well, making a total of nine players. When I started chapter 1, I was worried about how many players I could handle, but I have found that it is much easier to handle a large number of players in this type of game than say if we were sitting around the same table. For my face-to-face campaigns these days I prefer four players and one Dungeon Master.

 In this chapter, the PCs have been asked to investigate closer the curse that has been placed on the forests of the region. The curse was put there by cultists of the Frog God, and the ritual they used involved the ritual sacrifice of a local druid. In addition to looking for a way to finally rid the Vales of this curse, a powerful rogue magic-user is at large. Will they encounter him again? Well don't ask me what happens next. My players have been known to surprise me, so how this chapter will evolve from here is far too early to even ponder on at this point!




 -Havard

Necromancer Games Modules + Blackmoor?

Over at the Comeback Inn, there has been some discussion about using Necromancer Games modules in Dave Arneson's Blackmoor, including The Lost City of Barakus (2002).

Whenever I adapt other published material to Blackmoor, I like to incorporate some elements that ensure a Blackmooreque atmosphere. For instance, in the Vales Campaign, I used Frog Cultists and Cabal Wizards as recurring elements to emphasize the connection to Arneson's setting.

I have very little experience with Necromancer Games Products except for the excellent Wilderlands of High Fantasy Boxed Set and Player's Guide to the Wilderlands. Although not a NG product, I recently ordered City State of the Sea Kings by two prominent NG authors, Chris Bernhardt and Rob S. Conley.

Last year on this blog, I mentioned another module, the Tomb of Abysthor.I finally got my hands on this module. Turns out there is more Blackmoor related material here than I first assumed. An entire dungeon level is dedicated to the Frog God. In addition there is the new monster race, the Tsathar (pronounced "su-Thar"). Although similar to Blackmoor's Froglin, they are sexless and their origins suggest they are related to the Outer Planar Slaad.If anything they could be used as a Deep Froglin type race.

There are also a couple of references to Hel in the module, including with a magic item. The Goddess Hel is of course known as Hella in the D20 Blackmoor line. Overall, much goodness for Blackmoor fans in this 2002 module!


-Havard

Hackmoor: Blackmoor meets Hackmaster!

Totally fake cover!

I finally got around to picking up Hackmaster 4th edition last week. I never bought the game when it first came out because I thought it was just a funny, but expensive joke. I later realized that it is a well designed fully functional AD&D-like RPG, but it was not untill reading though the Players Guide that I realized how many cool ideas can be found within its pages.

One of the reasons my interest in Hackmaster was rekindled was the Hackmaster Blackmoor Game, dubbed Tracy's Hackmoor that poster Tracy has been writing about at the Comeback Inn. The campaign is set in the Duchy of Ten and based on the module DA4.

If you are interested, check out the Campaign Journal and Story Hour forum (at the CBI) where you can read about Weasel, Snizzlephish, Elefus and the rest of the gang as they take on the Afridhi Empire!



 -Havard

How the Paynim became the Afridhi

I have previously looked at how Dave Arneson picked up the bare bones setting presented by Gary Gygax in the Domesday Book fanzine and turned it into a full roleplaying world for his Blackmoor Campaign. Over at the Comeback Inn we have been discussing whether some of the antagonists of Dave Arneson's Campaign could have had their roots in the C&C Setting as well?

The main enemies of Blackmoor were the Egg of Coot and the Temple of the Frog, creations of Arneson and his players alone. But there was another group that could go back to the Domesday Book. Domesday Book #9 establishes an enemy of the Great Kingdom called the Paynim Kingdom. Few details are given on the Paynim Kingdom except that they have a strength of 150% of any of the other kings of the Great Kingdom. Paynim, apparently is a term used in medieval literature to describe Islamic antagonists during the Crusades.

Originally, I thought that references to the Paynim could also include the Peshwa, but I now suspect this is not the case. Greyhawk still has its Plains of the Paymin, but in Blackmoor I suspect that the Paynim evolved into the Afridhi. The FFC mentions The Treasure of the Paynim Princess*. I now believe that the Paynim Princess could be no other than Toska Rusa.

 *=Actually the text in the FFC says "Treasure of the Payme Princess" which could be either a typo or a pun.

How I imagine Toska Rusa, Queen of Afridhi, Mistress of Zugzul.

I have previously discussed how the Afridhi as they became known were further fleshed out when one of MAR Barker's friends took on the role as the Afridhi Queen. This could have been the time when Dave Arneson invented the God Zugzul, patron of the Afridhi. These nomadic invaders were even further fleshed out in DA4 where they are the main antagonists of the adventure, seeking the mysterious Well of Souls. David Ritchie's wife is attributed to providing more detail on Afridhi culture. So even though alot was changed over the years, the Afridhi could have seen their first little spark in the Domesday Book.



Image Source: Nomad Warrior, by N*Deed
Image Source: Barbarian Chick, by Maciej Kuciara

-Havard

Greyhawk goes to Blackmoor!

Greyhawk and Blackmoor. The connection between those two realms goes back to the home campaigns of Dave and Gary. However, when Greyhawk was reorganized in order to become a published setting, the name Blackmoor and was included without much thought to what Arneson's campaign actually had been like. Since that time, both Greyhawk and Blackmoor have changed and grown. This gives us a lot to talk about! For this reason, we have opened a Greyhawk Blackmoor Section at the Comeback Inn. We already have a few Greyhawk experts along with the diehard Blackmoor loonies like myself. Lets hope more join in the days ahead! :) -Havard

A Sexier Temple of the Frog by Monte Cook

Aegir over at the Comeback Inn forum pointed me in the direction of this stunningly beautiful painting by artist Matthew Stawicki.

Known as Le Temple De Frogue (I don't know French, so I guess it could mean anything ;) ), this fantastic location is part of Monte Cook's latest endevour of Numenera. According to the Numenerea website Le Temple De Frog is located in the Caecilian Jungle. With its many crosses between fantasy and science ficiton, I could have sworn I had brought up Numenera earlier on this blog, but I guess I never got around to it.

Automaton by Guido Kuip

Ever since Monte Cook walked away from D&D Next, I have been curious to see what this game designer was up to. Running side projects such as the Unbegotten Citadel with James Raggi (LotFP) and lately the news of the Planescape Torment Computer game Sequel set in Numenera with Colin McComb are all things that sound great in my book!

From the start I thought Numenera had a Blackmoor vibe to it with Automatons and other sci fi references tossed into its fantasy(?) setting, but with the Temple included as well, I know I am going to check it out :) By the way, if you like Matthew Stawicki's art you can find more of it in his gallery here.

More discussion of this topic here.

-Havard

All 3 MMRPG Seasons Available!

Fake covers I made for the MMRPG

Just a quick message to let you know that all 3 seasons of the Blackmoor MMRPG are now available at The Comeback Inn. Sort of an early Christmas Present for you there.

Enjoy!

-Havard

MMRPG Finale Approaching

Over at the Comeback Inn Forum, we have been releasing Season 3 of Blackmoor the MMRPG this autumn. Now, only a few episodes are left and we plan to release them all in time for Christmans. Season 3 marks the last of these freebie adventure modules which are easy to use with any edition. They are released with the expressed permission of Zeitgeist Games.

Season 3 Fake Tribute cover by Havard

So, stay tuned with us over at The Comeback Inn and make sure that you download these final MMRPG episodes as they are released in the weeks ahead.

Discuss this article and download the adventures here.






-Havard

Exploring the Vales of Blackmoor

Heroes of the Vales is the second chapter in my Play by Post Campaign. Hosted at the Comeback Inn, this game is  set in the Vales, a remote region west of Blackmoor. It has been great running this game for a group consisting of some of the most hard core Blackmoor fans on the Internet, including Greg Svenson who was a regular in Dave Arneson's original campaign.

One of the great things about the Vales is that it is a region where very little has been detailed in published sources. This offers a lot of creative freedom. On the other hand, one of my goals is to preserve a certain Blackmoor atmosphere for the campaign. Most recently I revealed to my players a map of a much greater area of the region than they had seen before...




-Havard

Mystara Tuesday!

Mystara Monday would have sounded better. Maybe that is a plan for next week?

Anyway, a lot of people assumed Mystara had disappeared back in 1996. However, locations and characters strongly associated with Mystara keep showing up in every edition. Most recently the Isle of Dread is revealed to be included in the latest installment of the D&D Next Playtest Package!

The Mystara fan community has always been a strong one of course, currently with its main base at The Piazza. If anything this fan community was strengthened by the return of Bruce Heard earlier this year. After a brief break, Bruce, who also is a member of the Comeback Inn, has now resumed posting Mystara material at his blog, where he just completed his article series on the Alphatian Kingdom of Bettelyn.

So if you are a Mystara fan like I am, this is a good time to be on the Internet!


-Havard

Scourge of the Mage Wars

One of the bloodiest times of Blackmoor's history is known as the Mage Wars. As more and more mages learned to make use of the strong magical energies of the North, the rivalry between them gradually grew into  open hostilities. Among the Wizard Warlords, the most ruthless at this time was probably the Half-Elf known as Raddan Goss. It was only with his defeat at the hands of the Skelfer the Arch Mage that the Mage Wars came to an end. I have previously speculated that the energies released in battling Raddan Goss was what eventually awakened an ancient evil, sleeping in the deep waters near Blackmoor.

The legacy of Raddan Goss lives on even in later day Blackmoor, as revealed in Night of Goss, a recently released episode of Blackmoor the MMRPG over at the Comeback Inn.

Image Source



-Havard