The MN Gathering 2025

 

The MN Gathering 2025 is the annual meetup of Minnesota Gamers, including several of the original Blackmoor Bunch.This year the event took place last night. 

Looks like people were having fun! :)

Did you attend the event last night? I would love to hear from you!

Photo: Castle Blackmoor

-Havard

ArneCon 2024 Reports Are Coming In

As mentioned, ArneCon 2024, took place this weekend, from October 4-6. Managed by the creators of the Secrets of Blackmoor documentary (Griff Morgan and Chris Graves), the convention honoring the legacy of D&D Co-Creator Dave Arneson was held at The DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel, in Minneapolis MN. Although I haven't seen any numbers of participants for this year's events, organisers stated early on that the plan was for this to be a small and cozy event. Morgan stated that the convention was a highly successful and my impression is that everyone had a great time. 

It is also nice to see photos of Morgan hanging out with Vic Dorso of DaveCon. It seems that any rivalry that may have existed between the two conventions is now ancient history and Morgan stated that he plans to attend at DaveCon next year. 

I know that some announced guests did end up not showing up and a few events may not have occurred according to the program, but it looks like they had more than enough games and activities to keep the attendees busy. Some of the games were live streamed and can be viewed here. Among the Blackmoor Bunch who were present were Dave Wesely, Ross Maker, Dave Megarry, Bill Hoyt and possibly others. 

In particular, I have to say I found Rob Kuntz adventure particularly interesting, involving legendary Blackmoor characters like Marfeldt and the Wizard of the Woods as well as reference to places like the Duchy of the Peaks and the Realm of the Egg of Coot. 

Did you attend the convention? I would love to hear from you!

More discussion about this article at The Comeback Inn.

-Havard

Photo by: Marianne Wong

The MN Gathering 2024 - Arneson's Legacy Honored by Friends and Minnesota Gamers in August

 

Friends and fans of Dave Arneson have a number of chances to meet up this year. The MN Gathering is organized by The people behind the Castle Blackmoor website and other gamers from the Twin Cities. This year, the gathering will take place towards the end of August. 

In the past the MN Gathering has been organized in October for Dave Arneson Game Day, but this year the convention has been moved to August. The reason given for this is that it will honor the meeting of Gary Gygax, Dave Arneson and Bill Hoyt in 1969. 

It is always great to see the Blackmoor Bunch getting together with other gamers and fans honoring the legacy they helped create with Arneson. 

This blog celebrates all such events and all activities commemorating he early roots leading to the creation of Dungeons  &  Dragons. I wish the attendees of The MN Gathering a great time!

-Havard

ArneCon 2 Early Bird Badges

 ArneCon 2024 takes place on October 4-6 2024. This Dave Arneson themed convention is hosted by Fellowship of the Thing; the producers of the Secrets of Blackmoor documentary and The Lost Dungeons of Tonisborg. 

Guests of honor this year include:

• Malia Arneson
• David Wesely 
• David Megarry 
•  Ross Maker 
•  Paul Stormberg
• D.H. Boggs 
•  Rob Kuntz 
•  Alexander Macris 
•  Ronin Wong

Badges at reduced prices can be bought via the ArneCon website.

Are you going to ArneCon? What is your favorite convention?

-Havard

Blackmoor Player Bill Hoyt Shares Campaign Notes in Free PDF

 

Bill Hoyt is one of the surviving members of the Blackmoor Bunch, the group that played in Dave's Blackmoor campaign and parttook in other gaming activities in the St. Pauk/Twin Cities area of Minnesota in the 60s and 70s. Bill is someone who has shared a lot of information with me to help with my research for this blog. 

I am pleased to learn that Bill Hoyt now, with the help of Rob Ritchie, has compiled the notes from his own D&D campaign and has made them available in a Free PDF! I have not yet had time to go through the document in detail, but we have lots of old school maps and other awesome details for anyone who appreciates learning more about the early days of our hobby. 

Get the Free PDF here.

More discussion of Bill Hoyts work at The Comeback Inn forum

-Havard

Professor Dungeon Master as Special Guest for DaveCon 2024

 

DaveCon 2024 has been announced for April 26.- April 28. This will be the third time DaveCon is organized, still with Victor Dorso at the helm. Dan Masters, known as Professor Dungeon Master, from his Youtube channel Dungeon Craft will be among one of the special guests this year. I have long enjoyed his videos where he promotes our hobby, often with a focus on older editions. 

Other special guests include Blackmoor and Dave Arneson Alumni such as David Wesely, Mike Carr, Dave Megarry, Ken Fletcher and William Hoyt. As with previous years it is great to see the original players and associates of Dave support this convention. I believe that Victor Dorso has shown that he is interested in making this convention a true celebration of Dave's legacy and the origins of Dungeons & Dragons, the game that Dave created with Gary Gygax. 

Are you going to DaveCon 2024? If you were going, what would you be most interested in experiencing there? 

 Read more about DaveCon 2024 

Sign up for the Facebook event

See more discussions of this topic at the Comeback Inn.

-Havard

ArneCon 2023 Announcement - This is the First ArneCon Organizers Say

An announcement was just made about ArneCon 2023. While it is exciting for all Blackmoor fans  that this event is approaching, the announcement also contradicts much of the information provided in the original announcement made in April, including moving the dates almost a month back, and raises some questions.

 

Welcome to the first ever Arnecon! 

 Brought to you by The Fellowship of the Thing, Ltd - creators of the film, Secrets of Blackmoor and the book, The Lost Dungeons of Tonisborg. 

 “...After all, the keynote is, that ‘Anything is Possible’, just that some [things] are more likely than others.”- David Arneson

 Officially sanctioned by the Estate of Dave Arneson Set in an intimate locale, Arnecon is a gathering honoring the creative genius of Dave Arneson and his game group, The Blackmoor Bunch. It is a panoply of game experiences - featuring miniatures war-games, board games, and role playing games. Come game with the people who were there when Role Playing was invented. A celebration of the friendships formed through gaming - where everyone is welcome and "anything is possible". Come, try a new game, make new friends, and explore the unlimited possibilities of gaming. Most of all - have fun! 

Special Guests:

•  Malia Arneson - Dave Arneson’s daughter. 
•  David Wesely - A half-elf in Blackmoor. Known for Strategos - A adaptation of Totten’s Strategos;
• The American game of war, The Braunstien RPG, Valley Forge, and Co-author of Source of the Nile. 
•  Paul Stormberg - Creator of the Legends of Wargaming, and Owner, The Collector's Trove. 
•  Ross Maker - The worlds first Dwarf character in Blackmoor. Co-author of Source of the Nile. 
•  Stephen Rocheford - The High Priest of the Temple of the Frogs, Owner of Lavender Magazine, Minnesota’s premier LGBTQ+ news source. 
•  Gail Gaylord - The first woman to play fantasy RPGs. Known for having typed development drafts of Dungeons & Dragons for Dave Arneson. 
•  Martin Noetzel - The Wandering Elf in Blackmoor and a keen fan of online RPGs. 

Event Submissions Open August 31! More to come... 

 Special room hotel rates for Arnecon will be available on a limited basis. 

 Dates 

Fri, Oct 20 2023, 5:00pm - 12:00am 

Sat, Oct 21 2023, 8:00am - 12:00am 

Sun, Oct 22 2023, 8:00am - 6:00pm 

 Time zone: America/Chicago (UTC -05:00) 

 Location Minneapolis, Minnesota 

 Contact Us (303) 872-7666 

 Venue DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Minneapolis - Park Place 1500 Park Pl Blvd, Minneapolis, MN 55416, USA

Source.

The most exciting thing for me is to see the list of honored guests. It is very nice to see that so many of the original players are able to make an appearance. It would be nice to see even more of the original group make an appearance, but there could be many reasons why not all are able to go. It is also nice to see Malia's name on the list. 

What came as a surprise to many is that this event is designated as ArneCon 1. The name ArneCon was first coined by Original Player David Megarry back in 2019, when the idea of a convention similar to GaryCon, but in other of the other D&D Co-Creator was first mentioned. The name ArneCon was actually used for the convention organized last year in the Twin Cities, so what makes the 2023 convention the first ArneCon?

The 2022 ArneCon was originally teased by Blackmoor Documentary makers Griffith Morgan and Chris Graves (AKA The Fellowshin of the Thing), but when they dropped out, local organizers lead by Kevin McColl took over. Kevin at the time stressed that he saw the event as a continuation of the gathering Dave Arneson's Players had continued after Dave's passing, typically organized around Dave's birthday on October 1st, also known as Dave Arneson Gameday. 

This new ArneCon appears to be a clean break from past events with the Fellowship of the Thing taking full charge of the event. Moving the dates also separates the convention from the Blackmoor Social Event announced for Octobers 1st. Moreover the Facebook event for ArneCon 2023 now points to the wrong dates and details.

I wish ArneCon 2023 all the success it can get and I think it has the potential to become a great event. However, from this corner, it looks like there much unused potential in getting better coordination between various groups of Blackmoor enthusiasts. 

UPDATE:

Additional information from Kevin McColl: 

Technically the same people behind setting this up have had two other conventions that had to be cobble together because of peoples health. After the first one we had COVID-19 kick in, and the second one which we still did Chris was in the hospital. Morgan might be listing it as the first one but it’s not. Even though we didn’t have that working title for the first two. In case anyone’s confused

More discussion of this article.

-Havard

Blackmoor Player James Laferriere Has Passed

I am sad to announce that another of the original Blackmoor players has passed away from cancer. James "Jim" Laferriere joined Dave Arneson's Blackmoor group in 1973 when he enrolled as a student of  St. Thomas University in Minnesota. At this time the Blackmoor campaign had already been going on for several years, but Jim still got to experience playing with Dave Arneson long before D&D was published. He stayed in Minnesota untill 1977 when he moved to Massachuseth to study Medicine. After graduating, Jim worked for more than 35 years paediatrician operating out of Osseo, Minnesota. His passing was reported earlier today on the Secrets of Blackmoor Facebook Page.

In the original campaign, Jim played a magic user and the character of Jallapiere who appeared in DA1 Adventures in Blackmoor was likely based on Jim's character from the early days. In DA1 Jallapiere or Jal is described as a very powerful wizard, known for his kindness. He is said to be a teacher at Blackmoor University. In this video excerpt from the Secrets of Blackmoor documentary, you can see Jim and Greg Svenson talk about their early gaming experiences together in Dave Arneson's world of Blackmoor. 

My thoughts go to his friends and family. 

-Havard

ArneCon 2022 coming up this Weekend

 

The Castle Blackmoor Facebook Page shared a posted the other day with a reminder that ArneCon will be taking place this weekend. Back in September I reported that it looked like the Secrets of Blackmoor crew (Griffith Morgan and Chris Graves) would not be involved in the convention, but instead would be organized by Castle Blackmoor's Kevin McColl. Now it seems from the posted that both groups will see at least nominal involvement although it is clear that McColl is doing the heavy lifting on what he has described as a small event mostly for local gamers. It is unclear if the Secrets of Blackmoor group will have a presence at the convention, but at this point it seems less likely. 

Several of the original Blackmoor Players are announced to attend:

• Bob Meyer, doing a Blackmoor game, which will be a continuation of the original Blackmoor Campaign. 
• David Wesely, doing a Braunstein. 
• Bill Hoyt 

The event will take place at the Geek Partnership Society HQ on October 15th. 

Disclaimer: I am not associated with this event and I am also sadly unable to attend.

-Havard

ArneCon 0.2 Announced for October 15 2022

 

As October approaches, new developments are seen in the ongoing saga of various Dave Arneson gaming conventions! 

I previously mentioned  how the team behind the excellent documentary Secrets of Blackmoor were teasing a convention for October. Now, however it looks like documentary creators Chris Graves and Griffith Mon Morgan III will not be involved in the convention. Instead, local Minnesota Blackmoor enthusiasts are taking matters into their own hands. The event will be organized by Kevin McColl, a friend of Dave Arneson and owner of the Castle Blackmoor Website and the group called United Geeks of Gaming. 

The gaming event that now has been given the official name of ArneCon 0.2 was announced at the Castle Blackmoor Facebook Page.

Mark October 15th. ArneCon 0.2 Returning since 2017 We are planning a gaming convention in October, to tie in with the Birthday of Dave Arneson celebrating Minnesota's history of the origin of Role-Playing Games. And cheer all who were involved in the early years! Emphasis on old school style gaming, its history, and how it's history evolved. More to come location: Geek Partnership Society https://www.meetup.com/geekgaming/events/288131139

According to Kevin McColl, this will be a continuation of similar events run by the group before a hiatus during Covid.  

Several of the original Blackmoor Players are announced to attend:

• Bob Meyer, doing a Blackmoor game, which will be a continuation of the original Blackmoor Campaign. 
• David Wesely, doing a Braunstein. 
• Bill Hoyt (yet to be confirmed)

In addition, Kevin McColl will be running games, possibly including a beta test of an upcoming RPG he is working on. Kevin stressed that this will be a smaller event with the possibility of expanding it next year. 

-Havard

Greg Svenson's Lost Dungeon of Tonisborg: What Can The Maps Tell Us?

The Lost Dungeons of Tonisborg is an adventure with a history going back to the Blackmoor Campaign of the 1970s. It was created by Greg Svenson, player in Dave Arneson's campaign back in 1973/1974. Greg placed the adventure in Blackmoor and the city also appeared in Dave's campaign, although when the First Fantasy Campaign was published in 1977, Dave changed the name of the city to Vestfold, which was kept in later publications of Blackmoor. The origins of Vestfold and Tonisborg are discussed in more detail in this article.

Greg's Dungeon Maps were thought lost forever untill a copy was rediscovered by another member of Dave Arneson's group, David Megarry, the designer of Dungeon! More details about the dungeon and its rediscovery can be read at Dan Bogg's blog here. A rewamped version of the dungeon is currently in the works to be published as a special stretch goal for the Secrets of Blackmoor Kickstarter. Recently many backers of the Kickstarter have joined the Comeback Inn Forum as the Secrets of Blackmoor creators have promised to share more details with Kickstarter backers there.

Recently, the Secrets of Blackmoor Facebook page shared Megarry's copies of the original dungeon maps for Dungeon Level 1 and Dungeon Level 3 of the Tonisborg Dungeon. It is interesting to see that this map shares certain features with Dave Arneson's dungeon maps that are less common in dungeon maps from later decades. We see the characteristic diagonal corridors, non-standard rooms and long corridors that seem to lead to no rooms.

David Megarry offered the following suggestion to why Dave Arneson may have used diagonal corridors in his dungeons

"My hunch is that it is a consequence of Arneson drawing the roads and streams for table top battlefield maps for the Napoleonic Campaign. Outside of urban areas, roads and streams go any which way; it is only in cities and towns you end up with grid systems (though some older east coast towns road designs may have been drawn by drunken city planners, who knows?;) He did use graph paper to draw his maps but was not bound by those grid lines. If you look at the original Blackmoor town map, you can see that a tunnel from the town to Elf home or the Freehold would follow a diagonal line." 

This theory certainly makes sense, and I do agree that Dave Arneson was probably thinking in terms of what was going on above ground much more than what later dungeon mappers would have been. From the FFC we know that his maps point towards where certain corridors would connect to other dungeons (like the Glendower dungeon connecting to the Blackmoor Dungeon) and other parts of Blackmoor.


Interestingly, this might also tell us how the designers of such maps (in this case Greg) imagined the surface world above the dungeon might have appeared. Upon Greg's suggestion, I placed Tonnisborg on the small island outside of Vestfold. Do I need to revise my city plan map now? :)

-Havard

We Need to Make Sure Both Dave And Gary Are Remembered Megarry Says

David Megarry, designer of Dungeon!, friend to Dave Arneson and Original Blackmoor Player adresses the recent discussions surrounding Dave Arneson's role as Co-Creator of D&D. It's not really about one side supporting Dave and another supporting Gary, Megarry says:



The "sides" are somewhat artificial. Now that ego's are out of the way, we, the living, can moderate the division and start to bring a balance, if you will, to this great creation which was started in basements and is ending up in Fortune 500 board rooms. Just as the Irish figured out The Troubles, let us also do what needs to be done to keep Gygax and Arneson from being forgotten collectively and end the division. It is already happening: their names are relegated to small type on D&D credits. It won't be long before even that goes away. Luke is trying to keep his father's name alive with Gary Con and understands what contribution Arneson had to the collective effort. The Secrets of Blackmoor documentary is our effort to keep Arneson's name alive and maybe the Minnesota crowd needs to start an Arnecon (or whatever...don't worry, Luke, I will guarantee that it will be six months different;) The Kotaku article demonstrates that corporate could take over the narrative and construe whatever makes them the most fame and fortune.



While there were times of tension between different sides, Megarry stresses that even after the publication of D&D, people Dave Arneson's group worked alongside Gary's other employees to help TSR succeed in its early stages:

You must realize that the bulk of the creative Minnesota people were working for TSR in 1976: Arneson (D&D, Adventures in Fantasy, First Fantasy Campaign...), Megarry (Guerrilla War, Dungeon!, Pentastar...)and Carr (Don't Give Up The Ship, Fight in The Skies, 24 Hours of Le Mans...); the only people not represented were the David Wesely (Strategos N, Braunstein, Source of the Nile, Valley Forge...), Ross Maker (Source of the Nile), The Snider Brothers (Richard: Adventures in Fantasy, Mutant...John: Star Probe and Star Empires) and Professor Barker (Empire of the Petal Throne). Did I forget anyone? (Duane Jenkins with his Western RPG??).

Since TSR already had a creative staff working "upstairs" when Dave Arneson and his friends arrived at the company, the Minnesota group found other ways to help the company that didn't necessarily give them credits on published books:



We embraced the downstairs work as we realized the company would flounder if it wasn't done. Terry Kuntz got the Dungeon Hobby shop in order and it was contributing to the cash flow of the operation as well. Unfortunately (or fortunately from a TSR perspective) Arneson was an excellent shipping clerk and shipping hummed. As the inflationary growth spurt started to set in, Arneson's contribution to the company as a shipping clerk became more and more important. Arneson, of course, felt this was a demotion of a sort and began to rail against the role he had slipped into. When he tried to assert his creative input, it was rejected (almost out of hand). He had been hired to be a designer; that he stormed out after being rejected as such, is not surprising.

Tim Kask, editor of Dragon Magazine, has perhaps been the most vocal critic of Dave Arneson from the time Dave worked at TSR, but Megarry says he understands Kask's frustration:


Tim's dealings with Arneson were jaded with by the experiences we had together in 1976 at TSR Headquarters. From Tim's point of view, Arneson and most of the Minnesota contingent were not very productive on the creative front. The Arneson Basement crowd ended up that year doing a lot of nuts and bolts running the "downstairs" part of the business. It was the time of the 2nd stage of a business [...] Tim was really stretching himself to create a successful magazine and, IMHO, felt that the other "creative" staff was not pulling their weight. You must realize that the bulk of the creative Minnesota people were working for TSR in 1976: Arneson, Megarry and Carr; the only people not represented were the Snider Brothers and Professor Barker. That we produced not one item (other than the Blackmoor supplement) must have seemed to him we lacked the creative spark. Tim was part of the "upstairs" and wouldn't necessarily have appreciated what was happening to the company in the late Fall 1976.


I think Megarry makes some very important points here. If the people who were present at the creation of D&D and the early days of TSR are willing to let old conflicts go, D&D fans should certainly also do the same. While we live in a time when many are attracted to tribalist ideas of us vs. them, those of us who care about the  origin of our hobby have much more to gain by working together to preserve the memories of both D&D Co-Creators as well as the others who played an important role in those early years.

This does not mean that we should turn a blind eye to facts when they present themselves. If evidence is there to suggest credit is due, then we should be honest enough to examine that. Most of the readers of this blog will know that both Dave and Gary deserve tons of credit for bringing forth the game that we all love. We can all do our part to preserve that truth for the future.




-Havard

Richard L. Snider (1953-2009)

In November this year, it will have been 10 years since Richard Leonard Snider (August 29, 1953 - November 17, 2009) passed away. I reported on his passing in this post from 2009. Today I want to take the time to look into Richard's importance for our hobby.

Perhaps best known for designing Tabletop RPGs such as Powers & Perils (Avalon Hill) and Adventures in Fantasy (1978), Richard was an important member of Dave Arneson's Blackmoor Group and went onto become a game designer himself. Richard was also a supporter of the Blackmoor fan community and participated at the Wayfarer's Inn, a precedessor of the Comeback Inn Blackmoor Forum.

Meeting Dave Arneson

Born in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Richard and his brother John moved to Minnesota and joined the gaming club known as the Midwest Military Simulation Association, where Dave Arneson was also a member. In the 1970s and the Sniders became two of the original Blackmoor players in Dave's campaign. The First Fantasy Campaigns makes many references to "The Sniders" detailing the actions of the two brothers in Dave Arneson's Campaign. Richard most memorable character was probably the Cleric who became known as the Flying Monk. Although he was 6 years younger than Dave, Richard was also active in making rules suggestions and  other contributions to the campaign. An entire section in Dave Arneson's First Fantasy Campaign is dedicated to Richard's additions to the game. My own fan sourcebook for Blackmoor, The Eastern Marshes was in part a tribute to Richard Snider's section in the First Fantasy Campaign.

Game Designer and author

Together with Dave Arneson, he co-authored Adventures in Fantasy (Excalibre Games, 1978). In 1983, Richard created the game Powers & Perils, which he was incredibly supportive of throughout his life.  Later in life Richard still expressed an interest in publishing RPGs, though attempts to bring back Powers & Perils on a commercial basis were blocked by Wizards of the Coast. In  2007, Richard stated that he would be interested in bringing his creative ideas to the computer scene in "a computer mega-opus".

Richard was also a published Sci Fi author, having written a novel called The Leather Rose. He also wrote about 35 other unpublished novels.

Bibliography

Tabletop RPGs

• Arneson, Dave First Fantasy Campaign (Judges Guild, 1977) - Additional material by Richard Snider included.
• Arneson, Dave & Snider, Richard: Adventures in Fantasy (Excalibur Games, 1978)
• Asprin, Robert: Thieves World (Chaosium, 1981) - Additional material
• Snider, Richard: Powers & Perils RPG (Avalon Hill, 1983)
• Snider, Richard: Perilous Lands (Avalon Hill, 1984) - Powers & Perils Supplement
• Snider, Richard: Book of Tables (Avalon Hill, 1984) - Powers & Perils Supplement
• Snider, Richard: Tower of the Dead (Avalon Hill, 1984) - Powers & Perils Supplement

Strategy Games

• Snider, John, Snider, Richard etc: Star Empires (TSR, 1977)

Novels

• Snider, Richard: The Leather Rose

Thanks to Bob Meyer, Greg Svenson, Chirine ba'Kal, James Mishler and others for providing additional information. If you have more information about Richard L. Snider that you think should be included, please let me know.


More discussion of this article here.

-Havard

Blackmoor Player: William "Billy" Crolley

NOTE: I got some of the facts wrong when I first wrote this article. I confused Crolley with his father and got the ages wrong. Thanks to Bob Meyer for helping me get the the facts right. This article has now been revised and is hopefully rid of mistakes.

I just learned that William Crolley passed away some time ago through obituary of his father at the Star Tribute: . I first heard mention of Crolley back in 2013.He was not on the list I had originally been supplied of the people who played in Dave Arneson's games, but that list was never a complete list. It has taken me a while to get around to people like Crolley and it is a shame that I never got to talk to him or write to him.

William Crolley's 

Blackmoor player Bob Meyer remembers Bill Crolley well:

"Bill was around at the at the time of Blackmoor, and also played in many of the other games we were playing at the time. He was consumed in working on an invention that he was trying to perfect, and ended up moving in with relatives in a western suburb of the Twin Cities. We did not see much of him after that. I lost touch with him long ago. "

Michael Mornard (Gronan) suggested to me that Crolley may have been present when Dave Arneson had first introduced Clerics into the Blackmoor Campaign. I don't like reporting on people having passed away, because it feels so selfish thinking about the things I would have liked to ask of William Crolley and others. At the same time, I think this blog needs to make a record of everyone who in some way added to Blackmoor.


Thanks to Aldarron for pointing me to the most recent information about William Crolley in a discussion at the Comeback Inn. If anyone knows more about William Crolley, his involvement with the Twin City Gamers or has other relevant information, please share in the comments or contact me directly.




More discussion of this article here.


-Havard

RIP Stephen Lee Lortz 1949-2017

I just learned via Jennell Jaquays that Stephen Lortz (September 7, 1949 - April 23, 2017) passed away yesterday. Stephen Lortz was another of Dave Arneson's original players. In the Blackmoor campaign, Lortz played the Dwarf who became the Regent of the Mines after Uberstar Khazakhum.

"I met him when we hired Arneson's company as temporary consultants to get us through the initial design documentation crunch on Colecovision." Jaquays recalls.

"Steven was an artist, miniature sculptor, and designer who was part of the early Runequest gaming community and worked for Dave Arneson's company for several years. "

Lortz the Dwarf, from Dave Arneson's Blackmoor RPG

Steve Lortz also designed a miniatures games such as Quactica, Perilous Encounters (Chaosium in 1978) and  and contributed to various other games such as Star Rover. Here's an overview of miniatures companies Lortz has done sculpting for.

I posted some more details and relevant links here:



-Havard

Dan Nicholson: The Merchant of Blackmoor

The Merchant of Blackmoor was a character played by Dan Nicholson in Dave Arneson's original campaign. Dan Nicholson was one of the early members of the Midwest Military Simulation Association (MMSA) which was formed in 1964 by Ray Allard and friends. Dave Arneson joined this group when he was in high school and Dan went on to join Dave's Blackmoor game.

Untill recently, Dan's most well known character in the Blackmoor campaign was the Merchant, who would later go on to inspire the Merchant class in Zeigtgeist Games d20 Blackmoor product line. Nicholson was one of the older members of Dave's gaming group which by then had split from the MMSA.

The First Fantasy Campaign documents the game in which Dan Nicholson's Merchant tried to gain control over all the trade in Blackmoor. His organization gradually developed into a kind of mafia-like group. The Great Svenny, Mello the Halfling and the Blue Rider formed a secret organization of their own to try to counter the influence of the Merchant Mafia (FFC p 20). Although it is not mentioned by Dave Arneson, it has recently been revealed that David Megarry's Thief character, was also involved in trying to thwart Nicholson's plans.

The Merchant was apparently not the only character Nicholson played in the Blackmoor Campaign. Yesterday, the Secrets of Blackmoor documentary team revealed a character sheet provided to them by the late Nicholson's widow Helen. It details a Gnome character played by Nicholson in 1975:

It is possible that this Gnome and the Merchant are the same character, but I tend to believe they were two separate characters. This character sheet clearly uses the format of OD&D and looks a bit different from the character sheets used earlier in the campaign before ability scores and other aspects had been finalized. Also, 2000 XP does not seem like all that much if he had been playing the character from the campaigns beginning and all the way up to 1975. I do like that the Gnome character is in possession of gems though. That only seems appropriate for a Gnome character.


Dan Nicholson passed away in 2012 at the age of 72. I don't know much more about him. I do know that he was a computer programmer, working for companies called Coleco and 4D Interractive Vision. If anyone can provide me  with other details about his life and career, that would help make this article even better.


More discussion about this article here.

-Havard

Blackmoor Player Duane Jenkins (1948 - 2016) RIP

Duane L. Jenkins (August 21, 1948 - October 17, 2016) just passed away. He was 68 years old. I learned recently that he was hospitalized and two days ago he passed. I am reporting this because Duane was one of the original players in Dave Arneson's group. I regret that I never managed to get into contact with him.

My impression from reading the First Fantasy Campaign is that Duane played in the early stages of the campaign when David Wesely also participated. There is a place in Blackmoor called Jenkins Hill that was named after him.  Dave Arneson once told a story about how Duane wanted to play a Vampire in the game and how they were all laughing about that. Most likely the Barony of Glendover was the realm that he founded and was later passed on to other players. I would have loved to ask Mr. Jenkins about his memories from the game.

Jenkins Hill on an early draft of Blackmoor Town

Right now though, my thoughts go to his friends and family and the remaining gamers from the old Blackmoor group.



Read more about Duane Jenkins here.

-Havard

Blackmoor's "Wizard of the Wood" Peter Michael Gaylord (1943-2016) has passed away at the age of 73

Photo by Kevin McColl

I just got the sad news via the Castle Blackmoor page that Peter Michael Gaylord has passed away. Pete Gaylord played the Wizard of the Woods, a legendary character in the original Blackmoor Campaign that was organized by Dave Arneson in Minnesota in the early 1970s, a precursor to Dungeons & Dragons. In addition to being the first Wizard character in the game, he was the source of the super berry magic concept. His character was also known for keeping dragon pets (one named after Pete's cat) and being a  friend of Pixies and other woodland creatures. I wrote about the Wizard of the Wood back in 2010. It is clear to me that Pete Gaylord, like many of Dave Arneson's players made important contributions to what would one day become D&D.

"Always quick to give advice and always A friend to those he played with." says friend and fellow gamer Kevin McColl. Gaming seems to have been a big part of Gaylord's life through his life. He took part in the 2009 memorial gave held for Dave Arneson by Bob Meyer.  Friend's report that Gaylord was gaming untill May 11th this year as part of David Wesely's group. From what I understand, he was hospitalized for some time prior to his death.

My thoughts go to his friends and family.






-Havard

More on this article: http://blackmoor.mystara.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=8528

Orc King of Blackmoor

The realm of Blackmoor has many enemies. Four major Orc Tribes each control their own corner of the North. The rise of the Orcs followed the destruction of the Temple of Id. Although chaotic in nature, all Orcs follow a single king. King Funk III. Plotting the destruction of Uther's Realm from the depth of the 10th level of the dungeons below Blackmoor, the Orc King is an ally of the Egg of Coot. Although Blackmoor is an important enemy, the Orc King also displays particular hatred towards the race of Dwarves. Through their history, six wars have been fought between Orcs and Dwarves, the sixth is still ongoing.

Under King Funk's rule, the Orcs have greatly expanded on the Blackmoor Dungeon, creating the dangerous path called the Orcian Way. Unfortunately, the Orc population of the Dungeon has taken a heavy toll against adventurers from Blackmoor. One such hero who has caused severe annoyance to the Orcs is the Great Svenny who gained the name Orcsbane from his heroic battles in the dungeons. This has resulted in King Funk placing a a hefty ransom on Svenny's head, though none have yet to collect this reward.


In the original campaign, the Orc King was played by Frederick (Freddy) Funk who sadly passed away in 2011. As with many of his players, Dave allowed Freddy to bring his creativity to the world of Blackmoor. He expanded the dungeon with areas such as the Orcian Way where one could hear God Save the Queen played backwards. Freddy also created his own fantasy world known now as Fred's World sharing some traits with Blackmoor.


What is more formidable than an Orc King with ideas?








Thanks to purple purple purple purple for reminding me of the music heard in the Orcian Way.

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-Havard

[characters] The Blue Rider

The Blue Rider is yet another of Blackmoor's legendary characters, just like the Wizard of the Woods or the Great Svenny. He appeared in Dave Arneson's campaign where the character was played by original group member, Bill Heaton. Bill's character was originally only known as William of the Heath and seems to have been a rather rougeish character, at first.

According to Greg Svenson, it was back in 1972 that Bill's character made the discovery what would turn him into the Blue Rider while the group was exploring the deepest levels of the Blackmoor Dungeon. There they came across an island surrounded by lava:

"William wanted to jump down to the island. Svenny was opposed, mostly ss self preservation thing. I couldn't see how we would ever get off the island if we managed to get there. William jumped anyway and managed to land on the island. The rest of us stayed on the ledge and watched. Mello took some chalk and wrote "Kilroy was here" along with the famous sketch of the head peering over a wall on the wall of the ledge. 

The dragon posed a puzzle for William. I don't recall the details, but he solved it and was was rewarded with a blue suit of magic armor and mechanical horse. I have always thought of the armor as a dark metalic blue, but the description was just blue. The armor was more like powered battledress then a suit of plate armor, for Sci-Fi fans. William doned the armor and somehow was back with us on the ledge. We all traveled back out of the dungeon."

Mello the Halfling (Played by Mel Johnson) was one of the Blue Rider's steady companions. The FFC relates how it was the armor that changed the Blue Rider's demeanor into that of a selfless hero turning him perhaps into the first Paladin or Cavalier type character in the history of D&D. After performing many heroics in the Blackmoor campaign, the Blue Rider was eventually made town constable of Blackmoor Town.

More discussion of the origins of the Blue Rider's Armor.
More discussion of this article.

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-Havard