THE EGG OF COOT

[Image:Mock Cover module, by Havard]

The Egg of Coot is perhaps the most infamous of Blackmoor’s enemies. Dave Arneson describes the Egg, humorously in the First Fantasy Campaign.

The following is my own interpretation of what the Egg:

Nature of the Egg
The Origins of the Egg of Coot are a mystery. Some scholars believe that it is one of the remaining servitors of the Outer Beings. In the Age of Blackmoor, these servitors are referred to as Elder Demons, and once dominated the entire continent. The Egg appears as a huge globe of mossy gray flesh and eyeballs and mouths randomly scattered across the slimy surface. The Egg is buried deep under ground and almost never moves. Tunnels beneath the fortress known as the Egg’s Nest lead to the Chamber of the Egg which its most trusted servants use to contact their master. The Egg is the definition of Evil. It is highly intelligent and communicates with its fanatical followers through Telepathy.

The Egg has powerful magical powers. It is also a master of technomancy, but the technomancy used by the Egg is a different form of the art than what is practised at the University of Blackmoor. Fusing technology and necromancy allows the egg to created technologically enhanced zombies. Its highest ranking servants are technomantic Liches.

The Egg is also able to produce magical items including:

Juggernaut of Doom
This powerful War Machine is similar to regular Juggernauts and may travel through forested areas without any movement penalty due to huge cutting blades constantly swinging along its sides. Anyone approaching the juggernaut from the sides must save vs Dragon Breath or suffer 3d8 points of damage. The Juggernaut of Doom may carry up to 50 humanoids.

Wraith Blade
These wicked Bastard Swords are enchanted with the Vampiric Regeneration ability (the wielder heals Hit Points equal do damage dealt) which is usable once per day. However, points regenerated this way must be recorded. Once the total number of HP recovered from usage of this ability, the wielder becomes a Wraith himself.

Wraith Crossbow
These heavy Crossbows may fire once per round due to Repeting technology and magic. Long tubes reach from the Crossbow to the bolt quiver.

Wraith Mantle
These technomagical heavy mantles have the Etherealness ability similar to the potion of the same effect.

Potion of Poison
As the magical item of the same name.

Motivation
The goals of the Egg are difficult to grasp for mere mortal minds, but sages have some theories:

The Egg is Evil in a cosmological sense. It is the ultimate manifestation of selfishness at the expense of others and as such sees Blackmoor, a force of good, as a threat to its philosophy. Unlike the Afridhi, the Egg is not Chaotic, but perhaps closer to Lawful Evil, trying to force everyone and everything into submitting to its will. This is why someone like Marfeldt the Barbarian is willing to aid Blackmoor in the struggle against the Egg. It is also possible that the Egg through some precognition has recognized Blackmoor as a possible threat to its existance.

The Egg is interested in magic and technology. It may be what brought the Beagle to Blackmoor in the first place, but it has not been able to retrieve any technology from the City of the Gods itself. Rumours that the humans of Blackmoor have been able to retrieve artifacts from that City is of great interest to the Egg.

The Realm of the Egg
The Realm of the Egg is a place filled with sinister disorienting mists. Large towering structures can be seen surrounded by smaller ruined and abandoned buildings. Cities and towns appear desolate, although there are creatures lurking in the shadows. The land was raised from the sea and some of the structures seen were originally built by Merfolk

The Egg’s Nest is an impenetrable fortress. Colossal rocks enforced by rusting steel bars and huge iron doors are some of the most prominent features of the Nest. Going deeper underground, the halls are a mixture of metal rails, cold rock, mushy swamp like growths covering some of the walls and slime dripping from the ceilings.

Thralls of Coot
The Egg’s servants are known as the Thralls of Coot. They are fitted with a symbiote which make them completely under the control of the Egg. Under certain circumstances, the true nature of the Thralls can be seen. The Thralls get a bluish glow to their eyes and their faces become twisted. These features can be hidden, but become stronger when the Thralls are within the Realm of the Egg. The Champion of the Egg, known as Moorcock the Slayer is the ultimate Thrall of Coot. He was originally a Skandaharian Warrior, but now he has fallen under the control of the Egg. The loss of one of their greatest warriors has created enmity between the Skandarians and the Egg. The Ran of Ah’ Foo is another of the Egg’s creations, but one who betrayed its master and left for the Duchy of Ten. It is possible that the Egg

Egg and the Valley of the Ancients
Being a master of technomancy, the Egg is certainly interested in the artifacts coming out of the Valley of the Ancients. It is possible that it was in fact the Egg which caused the FSS Beagle to crash, drawing it as close as possible to its own realm for further studies.

The Spawn of Coot
The Egg is able to create miniature versions of itself known as Spawn of Coot. The Spawn is intimately tied to the Egg, and there is a telepathic bond between the Egg and the Spawn. At the early stages of the Spawn, the link extends to life force as well, so damaging the Egg will also hurt its spawn. Most likely this bond will be broken when the Spawn grows to a sufficient size. There are rumours that that the followers of Coot were preparing for the seeds of the Egg of Coot to be spread throughout the world.

Thanks to Rafael and others for suggestions and input on this one.

Sources
http://www.dragonsfoot.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=41&t=37535
http://blackmoor.mystara.us/Coot.html
http://mmrpg.zeitgeistgames.com/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&t=151
http://www.thepiazza.org.uk/bb/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=278&p=27385&hilit=Coot#p27385








Havard

THE GAZETTEER OF BLACKMOOR

I will no doubt be talking more about the official Blackmoor products (old and new) later in this blog, but today I would like to draw attention to an unofficial product: The Gazetteer of Blackmoor, by David Ross (aka Zimriel). The author (though he calls himself an editor) has done an amazing job going through the material published for Blackmoor in the 70s and 80s. Ross managed to incorporate material, not only from the First Fantasy Campaign and the DA Modules, but also the more obscure material like the adventure Garbage Pits of Despair and the information from the Domesday Book.

The style of writing is unique in terms of fan RPG products:

I (David Ross) "wrote" the gazetteer... in a very, very technical sense. My aim was to clarify what was really the work of Dave Arneson (1970-1987) and, to a much lesser extent, Dave Ritchie (1986-7); I saw my role as an editor. This ZIP has 13 files (12 RTF's, one XLS) of the history and geography of the world's oldest Role-Playing fantasy world. You will still need the DA series in order to play; there are no warez'ed maps or modules here.
-David Ross(http://pages.sbcglobal.net/zimriel/Blackmoor/)

Ross is not exaggerating. The gazetteer is written in a highly academic style and is extremely well researched. This makes it challenging to read if you aren't already familiar with Blackmoor, but also highly valuable since it doesnt deviate from Arneson's intentions. Ross includes his own speculation and analysis, but is always clear on what comes from Arneson and which conclusions are his own.

The files are highly recommended for any fan of Blackmoor. Rumour has it that the ZGG staff adviced their freelance authors to read through the gazetteer before making submissions for the 3E line. If you haven't already, go over to Blackmoor - Home of the Ancients and download it now! :)






Havard

AGE OF THE WOLF?

In yesterdays entry I mentioned the new line that CMP has planned for Blackmoor 4E is called Age of the Wolf, but what do we know about it really, and is this something Blackmoor fans should be interested in?

A large portion of the old school fans of Blackmoor are concerned about how much of the new products have anything to do with Arneson's setting. Age of the Wolf Player's Guide author, Ari Marmell revealed the following:

In fact, Dave was co-owner of Zeitgeist Games at the time the 3E books were published. Nothing appeared in those books without his personal approval.

Due to illness, he was a little less hands-on for the 4E conversion and Age of the Wolf materials. But before his passing (may he rest in peace), he did approve detailed outlines/summaries of both, as well as request a few changes here and there on a few details. I can pretty well assure everyone that while Dave may not have written much of 3E and 4E Blackmoor, it's absolutely still what he wanted for the line and the setting.

The future of the Blackmoor setting has always been a topic of dicussions among the fans. With so much tension to the setting presented in the FCC and the DA series and the early introductions of technology into the fantasy setting, it is only natural to think about how the future of the setting would develop.

The following priducts have been announced for the Age of the Wolf Line:
Age of the Wolf - Player's Guide
Age of the Wolf - GM's Guide
Age of the Wolf - Ruins of Blackmoor

What is Age of the Wolf all about?
We do know the following:
* It describes Blackmoor 269 (in 1299) years after the First Campaign setting
* This will be the default era for the 4E MMRPG (aka 'Living Blackmoor') and much of the upcoming 4E line
* The Player's Guide will include a new class, the Inventor (adaptation from Clock & Steam)
* Speculation: This era will see fully fledged Tieflings as opposed to the almost human looking Tieflings from the First Campaign. Most likely Dragonborn, Eladrin and other 4E races may also play a bigger part, though this remains to be seen.

The Player's Guide was originally set to be released in August, but has been delayed untill mid October. Barring further delays, this means it should be out soon. I assume the other books in the series will follow.

I see this as a big test for CMP. Will they be able to keep producing Blackmoor products, and will these products be something the fans are interested in? We will know in the coming months. I am keeping my fingers crossed! :)





Havard

Waiting for the Age of the Wolf

I was really excited when the Blackmoor 4E Sourcebook came out this summer. 4E is not my favorite edition of D&D and there wasn't that much new contents in the book (although I do recommend buying it!), but much more than that, it came with the promise that there would be a new era of Blackmoor products. I had feared that the end of 3E would mean the end of Blackmoor as well. Especially with lisences like Ravenloft, Dragonlance and the Paizo mags not being renewed by WotC. Fortunately this was not the case. Code Monkey Publishing announced that they would not only release this sourcebook, but a whole new setting for Blackmoor called Age of the Wolf. I was particularly excited because this term had previously been introduced for the Blackmoor setting in Rafael's legendary Blackmoor Pbem - the Grim Winter. But this is the gaming industry and problems have been known to arise. Currently the sourcebook is on hold. I haven't given up hope though! From what I understand the book has been written and there are only things involving the printers (in China?) which is causing delays. I am hoping we will see the Player's Guide available this fall, with the other products in the line either in december or january. In the mean time, you can download the Blackmoor 4E Character Creation Rules now available at blackmoor.mystara.us. These also give a sneak preview of some of the things that will be found in the Age of the Wolf Player's Guide.




Havard

PLAYING EVIL

Blackmoor is more than just a game setting. Given Arneson’s role as a co-creator of D&D, he had to develop his own style of gaming. Much of what was Arneson’s campaign style was what became the foundation of D&D, but there are other concepts that were not adopted by TSR as the D&D standard, which it can be interesting to explore. Today, Blackmoor is supported by OD&D, BECMI, 3E and 4E. Regardless of which edition you prefer, many of the elements of Dave’s style can be adopted.

One of these ideas is to allow some of the players to take on the role of the “bad guys”. We are not just talking about playing evil aligned characters here, that is not so unusual. What Arneson would do is that he would divide the players into two teams. One would play the good guys and one would play the bad guys.

What is meant by the bad guys is that these players would take on the roles of monsters and evil NPCs that the players would encounter. My understanding is that these players would take on multiple characters as the good guys would kill off monsters.
Greg Svenson confirms this:

“If I remember correctly, they played different bad guys in many adventures, depending on what the good guys were doing”

However, it also seems like some of these villains would be recurring characters. In his blog, Sham talks about Sir Fang, the Vampire character played by David Fant. Fant originally played the Baron of Blackmoor, but his character eventually became a Vampire. Mark Rein Hagen wasn’t the first game designer to use this concept then! Dave Arneson mentioned another player who took the role of a Vampire:

“Duane Jenkins -- Vampire-Knight; Sir Jenkins (He wanted to be a Vampire but I kept frustrating him. hee hee”

Vampires weren’t the only prominent villains played by players though. John and Chuck Soukup also played evil characters. John played a Balrog (Although this Balrog joined the Great Svenny against the Orc King eventually). Jim Abler played an evil wizard in league with John Soukup’s Balrog. Kurt Krey played the first evil Wizard.

[Frederick Paul Funk III], an entirely decent if somewhat eccentric fellow, and a very nice guy to the punk kid I was, played an orc. In fact, he ended up being Funk the 1st, King of All the Orcs, somewhere down the line. And in particular, was responsible for the idea of the Orkian Way – Badger2305

Curiously though, the most legendary was based on a local wargamer named Greg Scott, who had no interest in roleplaying games.






-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

THE BIRTH OF BLACKMOOR

Blackmoor was created by Dave Arneson in 1970. He developed his own rules for the game, which gradually grew more advanced, before showing it to Gary Gygax, who had been working with similar ideas, in 1971. The two of them went on to create Dungeons & Dragons which eventually was published in 1974.

It must have been fascinating to take part in the early Blackmoor games. Today it is difficult to imagine a world where the phenomenon of roleplaying games doesn't exist. Although most experienced gamers can perhaps recall the wonders of our own first introductions to the game. I imagine being part of the birth of the hobby must have been a bit like that, only even more amazing.


Original Blackmoor player Greg Svenson describes his introduction to the game like this:

During the Christmas break of 1970-71; our gaming group was meeting in Dave Arneson's basement in St. Paul, Minnesota. We had been playing a big Napoleonics miniatures campaign, which was getting bogged down in long drawn out miniatures battles. So, as a diversion for the group, one weekend Dave set up Blackmoor instead of Napoleonics on his ping pong table. The rules we used were based on "Chainmail", which is a set of medieval miniature rules with a fantasy supplement allowing for magic and various beings found in the "Lord of the Rings". I had never played any games like it before, although I had read "Lord of the Rings". Other members of the group had played the game before, but always doing adventures in and around the town of Blackmoor. By the end of the weekend I had fallen in love with the game.
-The first Dungeon Adventure, Greg Svenson

The most extensive documentation fromthose early days is the First Fantasy Campaign (FCC). This book, published in 1977 by Judges Guild, can best be described as a collection of notes, sketches and house rules from Arneson's campaign. To Blackmoor diehards, it is a gold mine of ideas and insight into the mind of a genius. Although many of Arneson's ideas have been published and revised in later products, there are still hundreds of elements in the FCC that are still waiting to be discovered.

***