When Frogmen Attack! (Blackmor Week Day 3)

 

Temple of the Frog was the first Dungeons & Dragons adventure published by TSR. We are already on Day 3 of Blackmoor Week and what better way to celebrate than with an adventure featuring those pesky Frogfolk? Dave Arneson Game Day 2020 is tomorrow and I hope you are all ready for the big day!  

As with every day during Blackmoor Week, we bring you featured articles and free Blackmoor PDFs. Remember that we also enjoy hearing stories about your games, and what you are doing to participate in the celebration to make this into a joint effort. It doesn't strictly even have to be connected to Blackmoor as long as you would like to join us in celebrating our common hobby of RPGs!

FEATURES

Here are today's featured contributions:

• Thonia: Province of Bleakwood Map Preview. This is something I have been working on for quite some time and hopefully I can have more on this topic ready tomorrow. Check it out at The Piazza here.
• Boddynock at the Gnomish Embassy has an article every day this week. Today's article continues his conversions of Blackmoor to the D&D 5th Edition Rules. Today the focus is on the elves and half-elves of Blackmoor. This article also features a new Cumasti NPC. Check it out here.  

For more details on what's going on, don't forget to visit the following places on the Internet:

• The Comeback Inn Blackmoor Week Preparation Thread
• The Piazza Blackmoor Week Preparation Thread
• Blackmoor Fans on Facebook

FREEBIES

• A free Blackmoor Adventure for D&D 5E. This is the second installment of the Shattered Empires series by MMRPG author Philip J Slama. Both this adventure and the previous installment are available here.
• Blackmoor Rampart, the MMRPG Newsletter #12 is now available here.

WHY DON'T YOU JOIN US?

Anyone can participate in Dave Arneson Game Day. If you have written something that I haven't noticed, ran a game and posted some pictures or a game report, let me know by posting in one of the forum links above. 

Also, make sure to sign up for this year's Dave Arneson Game Day!

-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.

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-Havard

[Races] Tree Lords of Blackmoor

One of the oldest races of Blackmoor, older than the elves by far are the Tree Lords. Sometimes called Ents, these walking tree like humanoids are as ancient as the oldest forests of the planet.  Ordana the Forest Mother is said to be one of the first generation of Tree Lords. After her ascendance to Immortality, she created the elves. From the birth of the elven race, the forests took care of them. As the elven race matured, the elves learned to care for the forests, like children growing up to care for their aging parents. In the North, King Uhlmar instructed the elves to care for the Tree Lords.

The Oldest Tree Lords are known as the Gakkaraks. These creatures are easily mistaken for dark moss covered trees. These ancient ones have grown bitter over the centuries, recenting all but those who show the utmost respect for the woodlands. Gakkaraks have a special connection to the forests they live in, being able to sense intruders of any sort. In addition to the Wizard of the Woods himself, Druids are the only humanoids that the Gakkaraks will fully tolerate. Even the elves are viewed by suspicion by these woodland giants.

The more common of Tree Lords are usually referred to as Treants. In the Age of Blackmoor, Treants are the servants of the elves. Treants are often called for when elven realms are threatened. It is not unheard of to see armies of Treants marching at the command of elven lords. In the great wars of the North, Treants under elven leadership have been known to serve both Blackmoor and Thonia in various alliances.

As the elven race became divided, Treants remained loyal to the Cumasti elves. In the Western Woods, they no longer obey the Westryn, but instead act as they see fit for themselves. A powerful Gakkarak lives within the borders of the Duchy of Ten. His name is Benoit and he cares little for the affairs of man, trying to stay out of the recent conflicts in that part of the world. Still a creature such as Benoit would be a vast source of information, having lived for such a long time. He even remembers Halgred Forestwalker, the first druid in this part of the world.

In the Cumasti Woods, Treants remain loyal to Menander Ithamis. With the elven lord’s alliance with King Uther, it is not unlikely that armies of Treants could once again be called upon in the service of Blackmoor, just like in the days of King Uhlmar.

Behind the Curtain:

Ents are listed in the FFC as available army units for both Vestfold and The Great Kingdom (later Thonia). The term Ents was of course removed from later D&D products along with hobbits and  other terms borrowed from Tolkien.  Still, it is fascinating to imagine armies of Tree-men marching to war in Blackmoor, similar to how Tolkien described in Lord of the Rings. 

The DA modules did not feature Ents, but a new monster, the Gakkarak was introduced there. It was later included in the Creature Catalogue. Gakkaraks are more powerful than the Treants, which is what D&D’s Ents ended up being turned into, but the Gakkaraks are also more hostile towards humanoids. 

Ordana, originally a Treant herself appears in the Mystara product line, but Ordana is also the main patroness of the elves in the ZGG Blackmoor line.




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-Havard

Legend of Uhlmar the Elf-King

Elves believe that they were created by Ordana, thousands of years ago. In the early days, they lived in a paradise-like state, protected by the spirits of the forest. As the elves began exploring the world outside the woods, they encountered other races. Only the Fey Lords still maintained the relationship with the forest spirits that all elves had at one time enjoyed. At the time when the first Thonians settled in the North, King Uhlmar was the ruler of the Northern Elves. King Uhlmar sought to befriend the Thonians and for centuries the two races prospered from this good relationship.

INNOCENCE LOST
It was at this time that a great evil rose in the North. A dark cult, worshipping the deity known as Thanatos, threatened both the Thonian and Elven way of life. This dark army had constructed a stronghold upon the site where the God Temrin was said to have been murdered. The Stronghold was known as the Temple of Id.

King Uhlmar had seen many Thonian Kings be born and die since he first encountered this race. He now proposed an alliance of Elves and Thonians against the Cult of Id. The elf Aquassiru, who was Uhlmar’s friend and General of the elven armies warned the king. Thonian attitudes had changed and the current ruler was not as honorable as his predecessors. However, Uhlmar was confident that the humans would do their part. However as the elven army marched on the forces of Id, the Thonians pulled out, leaving the Elves to fend for themselves. General Aquassiru realized that his worst fears had come true. He had to make a hard choice. Drawing his sword, he bravely charged the enemy, demonstrating such courage that all his elven warriors were inspired. The elves came out victorious and the Temple of Id was destroyed. The enemy was defeated, but the victory had taken its toll on the elves. Many elves were dead. General Aquassiru had suffered a fatal wound. Upon his death bed, the General asked that his soul was to be transferred into his sword, so that he might serve future generations of elves as an advisor. The sword would be known as Tel’Aquassiru, or Feyhold.

DECLINE OF THE ELVES
The aging king, Uhlmar, was gravely saddened by the loss of his friend. Many elves now turned against the king, blaming Uhlmar for putting too much trust in the humans. The king was even more deeply hurt to learn that the leader of these elves was his own daughter, Princess Ceridrone. The princess declared herself ruler of the elves of the west. Her followers called themselves the Westryn and wowed never to trust humans again. Uhlmar was dying of extreme old age. As a young prince, he had been one of the elves to first venture outside the forests. At the end of his reign, he was now seeing the decline of the elven race. On his death bed he cursed his daughter and the elves of Westryn, a curse that would lay on this race until this day.

King Uhlmar’s successor was his son, Noris Ithamis, whose wife had recently given birth to their young son, Menander. King Noris became the leader of those elves who had remained loyal to Uhlmar, from now on known as the Cumasti. King Noris did not however, wear the True Crown of the Elves, as it had been lost with Uhlmar. It has been said that this Crown might hold the secrets of restoring the elven race, but many young elves dismiss this as a mere legend.

Ceridrone, now known only as the Black Queen of the Westryn was the ruler of a Cursed Race. She let dark things crawl into her withering forest realm, losing all care for life. Spirits of the dead began to haunt her halls. Today the paths to the City of the Black Queen are all but forgotten.





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-Havard

Redwood Scar

Redwood Scar (2003) was the first adventure to be published for Blackmoor since 1987. Written by Jeffrey Quinn, Luke Johnson and Christopher Reed, the adventure was set in the elven realms of Redwood northwest of Blackmoor Town.

The adventure revolves around the forrest itself, along with its inhabitants being slowly corrupted by a magical abomination; a scar on reality itself. A great mystery to many Blackmoor fans was the origins and true nature of this scar. In a recent discussion over at the Comeback Inn, Jeff Quinn reveals a few new details on this matter:

What "is" the Scar? As described, it is a choke point or eruption of the fabric of magic and reality caused by the huge release of energy during the Mage Wars, the "birth" of sorcerers, and the downfall of the Westrin princess. These events culminate in "festering wounds of malice and evil" on the land itself. To use a more modern 4e approach, the Scar is to Blackmoor as the spellplague is to the Realms.

 Previous theories include some connections to the Valley of the Ancients. In my own campaign, I attributed the scar to the machinations of the Egg of Coot who has reason to bear particular grudge against the elves who contributed significantly to the Egg's forces being driven out of Blackmoor during the last invasion.

A review of the module, giving it the rating A- can be read here. 







-Havard

Elves of Blacklore: A New Look

As most of you will know, the majority of the Classic D&D products which featured Mystara, also included Blackmoor references. This is also true for the greatly underrated Hollow World Boxed Set, by Aaron Allston, which featured an entire culture with ties to Dave Arneson's Blackmoor; The Elves of Blacklore.

Mystara is a possible future of Blackmoor, one where Blackmoor first grew into a powerful technomantic Empire, due to discoveries from the City of the Gods, but which then destroyed itself in the Great Rain of Fire, since combining magic and technology is a tad too unpredictable. 

The Elves of Blacklore were elves from the southern continent who had made contact with Blackmoor some time before its destruction and had become fascinated with the technology of the humans. Being a fairly naïve lot, they quickly abandoned their own culture, absorbing as much as they could of the new technologically based way of life.

Unfortunately, the Hollow World Boxed Set treats the entire Blacklore culture as a joke. Having jokes like this within the gaming products was quite common back then, but although it was a fun read, I think there was an opportunity missed here in this otherwise excellent product. In the past I have presented a more serious take on the Hollow World version of the Blacklore Elves.

What struck me the other day was that the Blacklore Elves could be a factor even in the classic Blackmoor age. We do not need to limit them to elves from afar, but any elf who becomes so fascinated with City of the Gods artifacts or steamtech and clockwork devices can become a Blacklore Elf. I predict some critical comments: "Bah, another elven subrace?". But this isnt really about subraces (at least at this point). These are individual elves who go directly against their own nature to pursue technology rather than living in harmony with nature. Which consequences will this have on the elves themselves. I imagine something sinister, almost like a human selling his soul...






(Elf Image from: http://www.designyourway.net/blog/wallpapers/collection-of-over-70-excellent-dark-wallpapers/ )



-Havard