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

Vales Campaign approaches Season Finale

Tales from the Vales is my ongoing PbP campaign hosted at the Comeback Inn. It is set in the lands west of Blackmoor, known simply as the Vales. Starting in February this year, the campaign is now approaching its season finale.
 

The Story So Far:
When they first arrived in the Vales, the heroes befriended Thane Arthax, a local chieftain. Arthax was having trouble with local brigands and the heroes agreed to help rid the Thane of this problem. Investigating the  situatuon further, they learned that the brigands were lead by a man called Drunstan the Dog and that Drunstan was also hiring out his brigands to Master Oswin, an emissary of the Wizards Cabal.

The Wizards Cabal formally has no authority in the Vales, but were tracking a renegade sorceress named Madam Wynne who had sought refuge in this region. Having killed most of the brigands, the heroes made contact with Wynne and agreed to help her defeat the Wizards.


Retrieving an artifact for Wynne in ancient ruins, the heroes once again crossed paths with Drunstan the Dog as well as a cult dedicated to the worship of the Frog God. The cult was lead by Thane Arthax' daughter who apparently had seduced Drunstan. Defeating the cultists and killing the Thane's daughter, the heroes, Drunstan and Wynne have now formed an unlikely alliance in order to fight Master Oswin. But will their collective strength be enough to oppose a Master of the Cabal and his Arcane Warriors?

Image Sorce:


-Havard

New Campaign!

I have decided to venture into a new kind of gaming. Finding players in this day and age is difficult and finding time to get together and play even more so. Over the last few years I have been enjoying Rafe's Last Fantasy Campaign PbP. So I have decided I want to try this type of gaming from the DM's side as well. A group of high quality players have agreed to join me as I take my first baby steps into a new kind of DMing. I have been getting good advice from the Comeback Inn posters and preliminary discussions about the campaign have started here.



-Havard

[Rafael]The Lodoss War

Another entry from Official Guest Blogger Rafael on sources of inspiration for his Blackmoor games:

In my (apparently developing?!) series about things of all kind that might make a good inspiration for Blackmoor, I sooo want to take a closer look to a series, or better, a setting I mentioned in the “Northlanders” review:

The World of “The Lodoss War”, where “The Lady of Pharis”, another extraordinary comic book is set: Having long become an all-time classic among anime-fans all over the world, “The Record of Lodoss War” OVA (=direct-to-video-series) is the best product of a franchise that can basically be described as “Japanese D&D”.

Being based on ACTUAL OD&D SESSIONS in which the main author and developer, Ryo Mizuno participated, this is like the closest you can get to classic D&D fiction without relying on ebay, or WotC periodical republications (kudos to Wizbro for rereleasing a lot of the old stuff from time to time, btw).

An entire universe on its own, “Lodoss War” and the RPG it is “officially” based upon, the Japanese “Sword World”, span dozens of gaming books, novels, graphic novels, artbooks, musical CDs and even a few video games. – And, Yours Truly absolutely loves it.

You can perfectly be a friend of fantasy literature today without knowing “A Song of Ice and Fire”, “The Dragonbone Chair”, or “The Name of the Wind”. – However, if you miss “Lodoss War”, especially the first OVA, this is like not having seen Peter Jackson’s “Lord of the Rings”, at least as far as I am concerned.

What connection, you may ask, is there between some Japanese RPG to “my” or “The Maiden’s” Blackmoor? – “Lodoss War” is, more or less, how I visualize D&D for myself! The dragons in my mind look like the Lodoss Dragons, and the Elves look like Lodoss Elves, and the “Evil Island Marmo” is pretty much how thought of the darker places in “The Grim Winter”.

It’s been years since I first suggested the 1990 “Record of Lodoss War” OVA to my players as the kind of introductory material they would want to watch to get into my style of  D&D. For my personal view of roleplaying and fantasy, I think, it’s safe to say that the Lodoss universe was the one that influenced me the most, at least in the last few years.







-Rafael

(Edited by Havard)

The Grim Winter Campaign: Behind the scenes!

Back in 2005 began what would become the longest running Blackmoor PbP Campaign in history. After 5 years of play, the game is still not over. It's sequel, Road to the Promised Land was announce last year.  The players are a group of highly dedicated and creative gamers, including original Blackmoor player Greg Svenson. Blackmoor author Jeff Quinn also took part in the game for a while.Other Blackmoor fans and game designers are avid readers of the game.

Back in 2006, the following add was posted for the campaign:

A Grim Winter has fallen over the lands of the Bitter North, as valiant heroes and vile foes fight for the control over the once so beautiful lands called the Duchy of Ten! While the troops of Blackmoor and Vestfold march on against the cannibal Afridhi, two small bands of rogues and mercenaries travel through the battered lands of the West, following their quests that might come to determine the outcome of this lethal conflict... If you want to come to the rescue of poor Ten's helpless citizens, and join our brave heroes in their perilous attempts to free the lands of men from Toska Russa's iron grip, then read on carefully...

Today. Grim Winter DM, Rafael, revealed some of his secrets over at Dragonsfoot:

What I would suggest new DMs, or DMs unhappy with the course of their games:

1. Keep a slow pace. Daily updates are difficult to manage for most people, but updates two or three times a week are doable. The better you adjust to the gaming rythm to your players,
the more probable is it that you can go playing on the long hand.

2. Don't write a novel. Or, well, do. In any case, keep the measure of the game modest.  This is the most important thing I think many DMs don't understand, IMO. The way I run PbPs, even the standard 32-page adventures by TSR would take more than a year to complete. So, my suggestion would be to have a DM script of, say ten pages, which you can complete in just a few months.

- And then, revaluate if the game has potential for successful continuation. That way, you will get less frustrated, should the group lose interest in the game, than if you go on and prepare a monster project.

 I have been fortunate enough to participate with a small role as the hardened soldier Harwan, who started out as a Sergeant, but has now become promoted to the rank of General. I am looking forward to the sequel and I know the core players are doing the same!





-Havard

PROMISED LAND PREVIEW

Rafael asked me to post the intro for the upcoming new season of his legendary PbP:

21th day of Asum in the year 1032 of the Northern Calendar. Night.

Four years and two days after the conquest of Starmorgan by the forces of the Free Nations.





The kingdom of Blackmoor stands surrounded by enemies.

To the west, Westryn raiders and demons roam the plains of Hak.
Though they haven't yet dared to attack the rebuilding cities of New Duchy,
it's only a matter of time until Tenlish blood will be spilled again.

To the south,the forces of the tyrannical Great Kingdom have taken advantage
of the Free Nation's sudden weakness and are lying siege to Blackmoor's southern cities.
It might not be long, and even mighty Dragonia will fall.

And to the north, an icy stormwind over the sea, The Egg of Coot lets its armies advance.
The town of Blackmoor, destroyed.
The town of Glendower, burned by a raing of black fire.
The city of Maus, sunken into the sea and its citizens eaten alive by mermen
from the darkest depths of the shallow ocean.

A high prize is paid for the freedom of mankind.
A prize so high in blood that it seems unsure if the brave people
of the Northern Marches will be able to pay it much longer.

Blackmoor is in need of heroes.
Now more than ever.





The "Company of the Maiden" is summoned to the Kingdom of Blackmoor's
ancient capital, the city of Vestfold, by the prince regent himself.
Members of the old Imperial guard, the best of the North's remaining knights,
all cled in red armor, lead you into the great dining hall in the old king's
ancient city house, first erected by the time Vestfold's most perilous enemy
was not the Egg of Coot, but the devil-worshipping followers of the Id.

In the dining hall, lit only by the dim gloom of fresh candles,
three men sit around a big round table, made of the Druj Forest's best wood.

The red knights order you to remain standing and bring big and burning coal pans
to the table, so you can see who awaits you at this late hour.
However, you are surprised to find that none of the men sitting in front of you
is actually Prince Mordred:


Instead, you behold, from left to right:

Dressed in black, leaning backwards with his big boots on the table,
as if this wasn't the very royal throne room, but some wayside inn,
the famous rogue Rowell, called "The Blade".

Next to him, grinning from one ear to the other, Zuki,
your loyal travelling companion, and, so is the word, second one behind Rowell
in the criminal organization known as "The Coven".

On the higher seat usually reserved for the king of the Marches alone,
his face pale, yet his eyes narrow in anger and discomfort, bishop Garamond Bolitho,
highest-ranking cleric among the civilized people north of the Misauga river.

To the bishop's right, his hands weaving an invisible web into the thin air as he watches you
with the same fascination a spider would watch a fly approach its nest,
a figure paler and ghastlier than even Sir Garamond at this nightly hour.



It's seems it takes more to kill me than just the wrath of a bearman and two magic blades...



The figure next to bishop Garamond chuckles maliciously, as it leans forward its horned head,
and for a moment your blood in your very veins seems to freeze:

The fourth man sitting there on your own king's table is none but your old enemy,
the Westryn sorcerer Gorileth!


TO BE CONTINUED ON FEBRUARY 1st, 2010!