World of Greyhawk Gazetteer Revised on DMsGuild is Amazing and Free!

This excellent sourcebook was recently released on the DMsGuild from Cannibaal Press. The PDF can be bought for 0 USD or more if you like the book. Also, we just learned that the DMsGuild has promised that they will allow for a Print on Demand version of this book just based on the quality of the product. It is a very professionally presented book that gives a great overview of the setting. 

I came across news of this sourcebook in a discussion over at The Piazza. From what I understand, this book is aimed at new fans who want to learn about Greyhawk, though it is definitely also a very useful reference for older fans. I personally love that both Arn and Blackmoor are used to reference the region so that people who have learned about Arn from the DMG will be able to find their way to the works of Dave Arneson. 

It is also great seeing so many people across the fandom having helped contribute to the book. I am not a hard core Greyhawk fan, but it is always wonderful to see the amazing maps of Anna Meyer along with many familiar names on the list of contributors for art, writing and other aspects. Seeing my good friend David "Big Mac" Shepheard (From The Piazza!) having written a Spelljammer related section for Greyspace was also very nice. 

This is not a sponsored review. The PDF is free from the DM's Guild. My blog has always been and will remain a non-commercial, non profit fan undertaking. I do appreciate feedback and comments though. Have you downloaded this sourcebook yet? If not, I recommend you check it out. And let me know what you think! :)

Click Here to Download the World of Greyhawk Gazetteer Revised

More discussion of this article at The Comeback Inn,

-Havard

Amazing Blackmoor Map by Greyhawk and Blackmoor Fan

(map excerpt only)

This amazing Blackmoor map details Blackmoor as it appears in the World of Greyhawk. It was by a Blackmoor fan named Steven Quigley who allowed me to share it on my website. Sven made this for his campaign which takes place in Greyhawk. 

You can download the full version of the map with a higher resolution  from the Comeback Inn here. 

-Havard

Blackmoor Trademark and Greyhawk Speculation by Semora Verreault and Tenkar

The situation of the Blackmoor Trademark came up in a recent episode on the Vlog of Many Things Youtube Channel. The episode was hosted by Don Semora (Wizard Tower Games), Thomas Verreault and Erik Tenkar and was hosted on the channels of each of the participants. While the video includes discussion about a wide range of topics of less relevance to this blog, but the subject of Blackmoor comes up when  Tenkar brings up the removal of the name Blackmoor from the Greyhawk map of the upcoming Dungeon Master's Guide. The part of the video that is relevant here starts around the 52 minute mark.)

Back in June, I talked about how WotC are now using the name Arn for this part of Greyhawk.Tenkar says he suspects the change was made due to some concern for the Arneson Estate, but the video also brings up possible non-legal reasons for the change. Verrault, however says the recent history of the Blackmoor Trademark is more complicated than that, explaining that the reason the Blackmoor Trademark was not returned to WotC during the recent nuTSR lawsuit where WotC as the defending party apparently won back most of their Trademarks and Icons. He says the reason why the Blackmoor Trademark was not part of this deal is because prior to this lawsuit, nuTSR had somehow "gifted" the Trademark to the Arneson Estate. 

Verrault then goes on to tell a story in which he talked to one of the producers of the Secrets of Blackmoor documentary (presumably Griff Morgan) about the rights to Blackmoor products like Supplement II: Blackmoor in which the producer had given the mysterious answer "we'll see". This lead Verreault to suspect that the Estate (for which the Secrets of Blackmoor producers acts as spokepersons) were planning on awaiting the results of the nuTSR lawsuit and possibly suing WotC themselves (note: this is Verreault speculating). The youtubers then goes on to explain why suing WotC is a bad idea especially over IP that they are keeping in print and selling the items on DrivethruRPG (which includes multiple Blackmoor products). 

When towards the end of the video Griff Morgan actually shows up in the chat section and is asked about the Trademark situation, Morgan says the  and when the youtubers ask him about why WotC have changed the name on the Greyhawk Map, Morgan simply states that the Blackmoor Trademark is owned by the Arneson Estate (it is in fact still listed as pending). 

While some of the content in this video is speculation, but it is nonetheless interesting to follow the discussion.  Blackmoor continues to be a topic of interest to fans, that is for sure. 

-Havard

WotC removes Blackmoor from Greyhawk in 2024

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

Rip Lenard "Len" Lakofka (1944-2020)

 

I was sad to hear about the passing of another legend in tabletop gaming today, Len Lakofka. This blog's main focus is the people involved with the gamers from Dave Arneson's group, but today I feel like paying respect to Mr Lakofka. 

Perhaps best known as the main whose campaign gave its name to the Lendore Isles of Greyhawk and the Leomund of various spells across all editions of Dungeons & Dragons, Len created the L-series of modules, a project he continued after his departure from TSR releasing L4 for free to fans via Dragonsfoot.

Len's involvement with the hobby goes back to the 1960s when he got involved with the International Federation of Wargamers (IFW) at one point becoming President of that organization and helping Gary Gygax organizing GenCon. 

I never got to meet Mr Lakofka in person, but we were friends on Facebook and I got to discuss some aspects of the history of D&D with him a few months back. He was always very polite and helpful. I am sad to hear that he is gone.

Rest in peace.

Photo is screenshot by Bryan Nystul.

-Havard

Carl L. Sargent (1952-2018)

Matt Forbeck posted the following sad news on Facebook yesterday:

" Word is that Carl Sargent of Games Workshop and TSR fame has passed away. I never met Carl, but we had many mutual friends, and I loved his work. It's been a hard year for RPG legends."

Carl Sargent is perhaps best known for his work on Warhammer for GW and Greyhawk for TSR. This British game designer also wrote Fighting Fantasy game books under the name Keith Martin.

I knew him best for his Mystara RPG products; Gaz 13 The Shadowelves (co-authored with Gary Thomas), PC2 Top Balista and  B11 Kings Festival. B11 formed the basis for one of my most succesful Mystara campaigns based around the Grand Duchy of Karameikos.



Rest in Peace.



-Havard

Greyhawk and Michigan

This map was just posted in the Flanaess Geographical Society group on Facebook. Although this should be well known by most readers of this blog, I think it illustrates well the fact that the C&C Society World Map was based on central parts of the USA.


-Havard

More Blackmoor from Anna Meyer!

Gotta love Anna Meyer and her spectacular maps of the World of Greyhawk. I have talked about Anna's maps before. Once again she turns to the Blackmoor region. Here is the latest sample of her work in progress:

Watch how this develops in the Facebook group here.Thanks to my friend, Big Mac from The Piazza for bringing Anna's latest map to my attention.

As I said, this is a work in progress. More locations will presumably be added later on, perhaps including the ones from the map below:

-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

Greyhawk Mapper Darlene Speaks!

Darlene Pekul, TSR illustrator and map maker, began answering questions to fans today over at The Piazza D&D Worlds Forum. Perhaps best known for the first published versions of the World of Greyhawk maps, Darlene is happy to get back in touch with her fans after decades: "I feel like I'm a comet in an elliptical orbit on a return journey after 30-years" says the 58 year old artist.

Parts of The Darlene Greyhawk Map

In the Piazza discussion forum thread, she talks about her friendship with other well known former TSR employees such as Joe Orlowski, Dave Sutherland,Jon Pickens, Kenneth Reek and Tim Kask as well as her relationship to game designer and Blackmoor alumni, Mike Carr.

In her first batch of answers to curious fans, she also talks about her first jobs for TSR:

"Among the first jobs I was given to do was to design and produce an outdoor sign for TSR's Williams Street building. I made the sign in the shape of a shield and painted The Dragon on one side and TSR on the other. Although I had earned my BA degree in Art, nobody initially associated me with illustration. I was first and foremost associated with graphics design, happy to receive any freelance work I was given..."

It is going to be interesting to follow this discussion with Darlene and listen to her experiences and see what they tell us about the early days of TSR and the early development of Greyhawk.

Also, make sure to visit Darlene's Facebook Fan Page and her website.


-Havard

Anna Goes to Blackmoor

Legendary Greyhawk-mapper Anna has in her process to map all of Greyhawk's continent of Flanaess arrived at the corner which includes Greyhawk's version of Blackmoor. The map above is unfinished, but it still looks so spectacular I wanted to share it with you right away. To follow the process of this map in detail, visit the Flanaess Geographical Society Facebook Group.

-Havard

Greyhawk's Blackmoor (Again)

Some may be frustrated that Blackmoor appears so differently in the versions presented by Arneson from what is seen in Greyhawk or Mystara material and elsewhere. On the other hand you could also see this as three or four different sources to steal ideas from for your Blackmoor campaign! My interest in Greyhawk's Blackmoor has been sparked again by various blog posts such as Mortellan's interview with map maker Rob Lazaretti. I went ahead and dug up an old discussion at the Comeback Inn on Fred Weining's take on Blackmoor which has become very influential on how Blackmoor has been presented in Greyhawk material over the last decades.

The little differences are as intriguing as the countless similarities between the different versions. Ramshead has become Ramsgate. The Peshwah have become the Wolf and Tiger Nomads. The Afridhi have been replaced by Iuz. The Duchy of Ten is now the Duchy of Tehn and has been placed in a very different place compared to where Arenson assumed it was. Ripvanwormer made some excellent suggestions on how to compare the different settings in this discussion we had ages ago.

My basic understanding based on most of this so far:

Peshwah=Wolf/Tiger Nomads
Duchy of Ten = Duchy of Tehn
Afridhi = Iuz
Temple of the Frog = Wastri
Maus = Mosshold
Glendover = Glendour
Dantredun = Vestfold (Or could that be Gloomy?)
Tonnsborg = Vestfold?
Ramsgate = Ramshold Castle
Dismal Swamp/Gloomy = Gloomfens
Thonia = Great Kindom of Aerdy
The Forest that the Flying Monk burnt down = Burneal Forest (where else could that name come from?)
Bramwald = Bromsage Abbey
The Egg of Coot = The Egg of Coot
Starmorgan = Nevond Nevnend
? = Frost Citadel (AFAIK this is Wolfgang Baur's addition)
?= Kolbenborg (AFAIK this is Wolfgang Baur's addition)
?= Stornawane
?= Trollbar
? = Dearthkettle Keep

While it would be easy to get lost in discussions about what is the right or true Blackmoor, what ultimately matters is what is fun in your campaign and mine, isnt it? :)

-Havard

Nystul and the Duchy of Ten

Many of you will know the story of the player and game designer Mike Nysul who gave his name to the spell Nystul's Magic Aura. Eventually Nystul also became a character in the Greyhawk setting. Later Greyhawk products describe Nystul as a citizen of Greyhawk's Duchy of Tehn where he, during the Greyhawk Wars, was active in evacuating refugees from the realm, as it was being invaded by outside forces.

Time to put on my Blackmoor glasses. Blackmoor's Duchy of Ten and Greyhawk's Duchy of Tehn both come from a realm in the C&C Society Setting. Blackmoor's Duchy of Ten also suffered from invading forces, which we know as the Afridhi under the leadership of Toska Rusa, Bride of Zugzul. Could not Blackmoor also have a Nystul the Wizard? The Tenians sure could use all the help they can get.

This got even more fun when I learned that Nystul also is a wizard in the Ultima games, which is where the image above is borrowed from.

More discussion of Nystul and Blackmoor's Duchy of Ten here!

-Havard

Spelljammer Connection Found!

My fake Blackmoor Space cover, which I posted about a year ago, sparked quite a controversy. We all know Spelljammer is an acquired taste. However, when I made the cover I though of it just as an experiment. I had no idea that there actually was an official connection between the two settings.

My friend Big Mac over at the Piazza pointed me to the following:

A tradesman called The Happy Gauntlet launches from the [Blackmoor Civilization], its captain completing many voyages before stumbling into an illithid ambush. The entire crew, except for the captain's wife, Sharanger Szeltune, are destroyed by the mind flayer's mental powers. She is mortally wounded but is able to unleash powerful spells that allow her to take the helm and retreat. She then retreats to a safe world, lands her ship in a hidden location and transforms herself into an archlich.

The description above is paraphrased from the adventure "I must Go Up to the Stars Again" p 7-8 SJR1 Lost Ships. Granted, the adventure specifies that this is the Greyhawk version of the Blackmoor Civilization. On the other hand, was there really a Blackmoor Civlization on Greyhawk, or just a small region? This can be used or ignored as one wishes. It seems clear that the author, Ed Greenwood, wanted to give a nod to Arneson's setting at least.




Image Source

-Havard

Blackmoor Reference in the Tomb of Horror Prime

Stormcrow over at the Tombs of Horror Blog, made a pretty interesting discovery the other day. When the original Origins I Tomb of Horrors was sold on eBay, the neat sum of $1526.01 was more than the blogger could afford. The packaged included 1 cover page, 1 map page, 1 character list, 9 pages on the tomb contents and 24 pages of drawings. Fortunately, Stormcrow began to examine the pictures distributed for the auction. They were blurry, but he made out the following:

Click on image to enlarge

 Talking to Stormcrow and Grodog about this, we have become fascinated with the references to Blackmoor and the Egg of Coot. Also, as Grodog pointed out, it is interesting that the Egg of Coot was replaced by Iuz in later versions, perhaps suggesting a link between the Egg and Iuz?

The Highest Hill in the Egg of Coot, most likely means the Highest Hill in the Realm of the Egg of Coot. This would probably be somewhere in the Trolltop Peaks or the Locust Hills. The island east of Blackmoor is also interesting. Could it be a reference to the Isle of Dragons? Possibly linking the Tomb to the City of Father Dragon?


-Havard

El Raja Key and Blackmoor

The more I dig into the stories of the early days of the Blackmoor Campaign, the more I see how much it is connected to the other campaign settings being created at the same time. In order to learn more about the Great Kingdom (which later became Thonia) of the C&C Setting, I have been doing some much needed reading up on Greyhawk. However, it seems like what I just as much should have been doing is to learn more about the worlds of Robert J Kunz.

Kuntz was kind enough to direct me to one of his own current projects: El Raja Key. In this upcoming book, Kuntz also details the impact a few adventures in Blackmoor had on the Greyhawk campaign:

"Within 4-6 weeks of our first adventure into Blackmoor Gary had a rough first draft of the new rules and several levels of the new dungeon, Greyhawk, to play-test these.  His daughters and Ernie were the first adventurers; the second one consisted of myself (Robilar), my brother Terry (Terik), Ernie Gygax (Tenser) and Elise Gygax (Ahlissa).  Within 4 weeks of this second adventure and the ones that followed on a daily and nightly basis, I crafted the first levels of El Raja Key, at first with the intent of only judging Gary therein, as he had been pulling double duty with writing the D&D rules as well as designing the levels beneath Greyhawk Castle.  After starting his PCs Yrag and Mordenkainen within it, Gary took his first step at making me the co-DM of the Greyhawk “Campaign” as then understood.  As the play-tests had been fast and furious,  many of the earliest PCs had grown very quickly in level and were moving to the outdoor.  I was allowed to DM these outdoor adventures just prior to completing my journey as Robilar to “China” (which earned me the co-DM mantle permanently and on all levels). ..."

 Robilar and Mordenkeinen may have been Greyhawk PCs, but as they also appeared in Arneson's campaign, they should also be considered part of the history of Blackmoor. It would not be inappropriate to use them as NPCS in Blackmoor along with the Wizard of the Woods, the Great Svenny and all those others.

-Havard

The Piazza Phenomenon

In May 2008, someone at Wizards of the Coast decided they wanted to reorganize their forums. An unfortunate consequence of this was the decision to merge all of the "Other Worlds" forums, that is forums dedicated to settings no longer supported by WotC. Some of these forums were quite dead, but several including Dark Sun, Dragonlance and Mystara were highly active. Others, like the Spelljammer Forum had their small group of loyal fans. The forums were focal points for fan communities of varying sizes. A merger of the forums would result in everything being thrown into one big pot, it would be difficult to find topics you were interested in etc etc. Furthermore, the fans were not warned of this, but a few days in advance and there was seemingly no way of reversing the process either. Frustration lead to action. Fans of different settings, all now found themselves without a "home". Joining forces, these fans set up a forum of their own, which they named The Piazza.

There were other D&D fan forums out there, most dedicated to one setting or to specific editions of D&D. The Piazza's focus was on multiple settings independent of preferred ruleset. It was a huge success! Roughly a year and a half later, the community now has over 500 members and extremely active forums. Moreover, the site is characterized by a highly friendly atmosphere. This might be surprising since the group might have reason to feel bitter about their treatment by WotC. However, the focus has not been complaining about the past, but rather about building somthing new. Lately, the forum has also attracted several prominent game designers, such as Monte Cook, Tim Beach, Colin McComb, Allen Varney, Trampas Whiteman, Andrew Steven Harris, James Mishler, Geoff Gander, Robert S Conley, Aaron Infante-Levy, Adam Miller and others.

In May 2009, Ashtagon, The Piazza's highly dedicated webmaster, made the Blackmoor forum (which had started out as a subforum for Mystara and Greyhawk) into a fully independent forum alongside that of the other worlds. At this point, almost 700 posts have been made in the Blackmoor forum alone. If you havent done so already, go and check it out! :)










Havard

BLACKMOOR MAPS

A few days ago, I asked the wise folks over at the Original D&D Discussion Forum about the origins of the Blackmoor map. Two rumours have been circulating about the maps as told by Finarvyn:

1. Both Blackmoor and Greyhawk campaigns were tied to the old C&C Society kingdoms map. (This certainly fits the Greyhawk=Chicago model that Gary has stated but, since the original Blackmoor campaign was not directly linked to the original Greyhawk campaign, it doesn't really explain Blackmoor's coastline. Also, I can't recall if Dave has ever made this claim, or if it was a Gary-only thing.)

2. Blackmoor was based on Dutch maps, only possibly inverted or reversed or somehow in a way that makes them hard to identify. (I've spent a lot of time looking at Dutch coastlines and haven't been able to match anything up close enough to match Dave's maps. However, since this is Dave's version of the story I'm inclined to put a lot of faith into it.)

Now, it didnt take long for replies to my query. James Mishler posted this excellent article on the connection between the Dutch maps and the original Blackmoor map.

I am still not convinced that the C&C Society maps are irrelevant to the shape Blackmoor took, but James certainly convinced me of the connections to the Dutch maps. His blog article is a real gem!

Havard