David "Zeb" Cook and Frank Mentzer to Attend Italian Conventions in 2024

Two legends from the TSR era are coming to Italy this year as is being reported on  the dmmagazine blog:

David "Zeb" Cook will be a guest of honor at the Play Festival del Gioco in Modena, to be held in May, 17 to 19 in 2024. Frank Mentzer will be a host during Napoli ComiCon. This convention tales place in Naples from April 25 to 28 and is said to be one of Italy biggest pop culture events. Yet to be confirmed are rumours that Frank Mentzer will also attend to the Lucca convention, also in Italy. This convention takes place sometime in the fall.

Are you going to any Italian gaming conventions this year?

-Havard

New WotC Survey Has Questions About Dave Arneson

 Wizards of the Coast keep sending me these surveys and I am not sure if there is much point to me answering any of them since, even though I play 5th Edition (I play and enjoy all editions of D&D), I don't think they particularly care about my answers. 

Many of the questions this time around were, not surprisingly related to the Covid-19 situation and to virtual platforms/tools for gaming. However, I was surprised to see two questions related to famous D&D Game designers and see Dave Arneson's name listed as one of the possible answers!

The first questions was about what Game Designers you recognize and the second one was about what names would make you more likely to buy a product. 

Could this mean WotC are considering returning to Dave Arneson's Blackmoor? 

Wishful thinking for sure, but I made sure to click on Dave's name. 

The other names were a combination of current WotC designers and former WotC and TSR era designers. There were several names missing from the list than I would have liked to see on there, but I did like seeing Margaret Weis, Tracy Hickman, Jeff Grubb and David Zeb Cook on the list. Again, it would be cool if this could mean something for Dragonlance, Spelljammer or even Taladas. 

Anyway, I am probably putting too much thought into this, but since I took the time completing the survey, I do think I should be getting something out of this! :D

Take the survey here (vote for Dave!)

-Havard 

X5 Temple of Death One of the Best D&D Adventures Says 5E Designer Robert J Schwalb

The classic Dungeons & Dragons adventure X5 Temple of Death is getting renewed interest. Published in 1983 for the Frank Mentzer BECMI  "Red Box" edition of the world's most famous roleplaying game and set in the world of Mystara, this adventure was written by David "Zeb" Cook as a sequel to X4 Master of the Desert Nomads (Also by Cook). The series would later be concluded in X10 Red Arrow Black Shield by Michael S. Dobson. Beautifully illustrated by Timothy Truman, the module explored a mysterious temple in the lands of Sind and also introduced new monsters such as Dusanu, Genoid, Mujina, Malfera and Spectral Hounds.

Following a reacent discussion at The Piazza, which also spun into that RPG forum's Facebook Page, Robert J. Schwalb was among those giving the adventure praise:

In addition to being one of the designers on the team that created the 5th Edition of Dungeons & Dragons, Schwalb is also the publishing his own RPG Shadow of the Demon Lord. Check it out! :)


As a fan of BECMI D&D and Mystara, it is always nice to see the adventures of that era get more recognition. I am looking foward to seeing X1 Isle of Dread (the original Mystara advenure) return in a collection from Goodman Games next year. Could we see the Desert Nomad Series  further down the line?



-Havard

Earthshakers of Blackmoor!

In 1985, TSR published a D&D module by David "Zeb" Cook bearing the title CM4 Earthshaker! It featured a gigantic humanoid steel construct, which had been revived by Gnomes who had discovered it. Considered one of the great wonders of the world, the Earthshaker was believed to be unstoppable, causing endless havoc in his wake.

Interestingly, this was not the last (or first?) appearance of the Earthshaker. In CM4, David Cook provides only a few clues to the origins of the Earthshaker

"Milos doesn't know who built the Eartshaker, but he knows that it was built at least 3000 years ago, probably by a race of evil gods with skill similar to that of gnomes or dwarves" -CM4 page 10.

3000 years ago? Well, that does place us firmly in the classic Age of Blackmoor. Another clue appeared three years later in the module DA3 City of the Gods:

Notice that humanoid figure to the right of the panel? Could it be the same figure? Granted it does look smaller than the Eartshaker, which is said to be taller than the Empire State building. However the design certainly looks similar. Giant Metallic Automatons as part of the Blackmoor mythos seem to be well established. They also appear to have been instrumental in the design of the Age of the Wolf setting, featuring such unique gigantic constructs as the Herald of Thanatos.

Recently the topic of the Earthshaker reappeared in a discussion over at the Piazza, where a project led by Chimpman has been initiated to develop a historical version of the legendary City of Urzud.





-Havard