Fight On! to End?

I just noticed via the Akratic Wizardry Blog that the Fight On! magazine is approaching its final issue. Fight On! Fight On holds a special place for me, not the least because of the 2nd issue being dedicated to Dave Arneson. It included the last known interview with Dave and also contained Robert Lionheart's report from his game with Dave at Gen Con as well as Greg Svenson's essay on the First Dungeon Adventure.
 

Fight On! #2 dedicated to Dave Arneson

Later issues also contained high quality material relevant for Blackmoor fans such as Rob S. Conely's Wilderlands Map expansion (#3), Dan Bogg's article on Champions of ZED (#13) and much more. You can read more about Fight On! at their website here.

Hopefully the end of the magazine will not be the end of the fight! :)



-Havard

Mystara Chronicles for X-Box/PC/PS3

And just the other day I was writing about how 2013 was looking like it was going to be a great year for Mystara fans. Now it gets even better! Remember the classic arcade games Tower of Doom and Shadow over Mystara? Well they are back! Or will be in June, that is! Both games were set in the Known World of Mystara, focusing on a plotline to defeat Deimos the Lich and his master Synn. Synn should be familiar as she was also the nemesis of Prince Haldemar and his crew in Bruce Heard's Voyage of the Princess Ark series.

This is especially exciting since this is the first mention of Mystara from Wizards of the Coast in a very long time. I also really like the new logo, although it is not as nice as Thorf's logo found on The Piazza. Dungeons & Dragons: Chronicles of Mystara will be available for Xbox Live Arcade, PS3, Wii U and PC in June for $14.99.

I am wondering if this will be the end of it or if this could spawn more products? A comic book adaptation would be great, or perhaps even a third installment in the game series? Based on the Poor Wizards Almanac Series? Yes, as you can see I am already dreaming. I have posted some more thoughts in this thread at The Piazza. Here is the video teaser for the game:




-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

Mystara Marches On!

As I posted in Mystara Community History discussion at The Piazza yesterday, 2013 is significant to the Mystara community as the year when Mystara modules returned to PDF. In addition to that Bruce Heard is posting even more Alphatia material on his blog, giving us the full details on the Kingdom of Ar.

Yesterday I got news that the Vaults of Pandius just got a new update! This update includes many old articles, including material from Bruce Heard there as well. Click here to see whats new.

If you are on Facebook, make sure to join the Mystara Reborn group to socialize with other Mystara fans and authors from the Golden Age. Also 127 people now "like" Aleena the Cleric. Are you one of them? :)

-Havard

Supplement II Blackmoor Coming Back in Print!

Its been all over the social media and forums today. I think the first place I noticed it was TAD's post on The Piazza where he writes that Wizards of the Coast will release a printed premium, deluxe edition of the Original D&D "White Box".

The price is a little steep, 150 USD, but based on the pictures it looks gorgeous. For Dave Arneson fans like myself it is also worth noting that the box includes Supplement II: Blackmoor! That is right. I only yesterday wrote about the DA2 Temple of the Frog returning as a PDF, but now you can get your hands on a real physical copy of the original Temple of the Frog as well!

Those who said Blackmoor was gone forever are sorely mistaken! :)



More discussion of this article.

-Havard

DA2 Back on Sale!

February is Temple of the Frog month it seems! I only just talked about how Monte Cook is sneaking in a reference to the legendary Dave Arneson adventure in his upcoming Numenera RPG. Temple of the Frog was of course the first TSR published adventure, appearing in Supplement II: Blackmoor. TSR later published an expanded version, DA2 Temple of the Frog.

As most of you will know, WotC have been bringing back some of the classic edition PDFs this year in cooperation with DrivethruRPG. It is interesting to see DA2 being so high up on the list of modules being brought back. I am delighted that it is once again legally available to fans.

Several versions of the Temple of the Frog have appeared over the years:

D&D Supplement II (TSR) - 1975
DA2 Temple of the Frog (TSR) - 1986
Return to the Temple of the Frog (WotC) - 2007
Temple of the Frog D20 (ZGG)  - 2007

The Temple also appeared as part of the Blackmoor MMRPG Campaign.

When will we see yet another new version of the Temple?



(More discussion of this article)

-Havard

A Sexier Temple of the Frog by Monte Cook

Aegir over at the Comeback Inn forum pointed me in the direction of this stunningly beautiful painting by artist Matthew Stawicki.

Known as Le Temple De Frogue (I don't know French, so I guess it could mean anything ;) ), this fantastic location is part of Monte Cook's latest endevour of Numenera. According to the Numenerea website Le Temple De Frog is located in the Caecilian Jungle. With its many crosses between fantasy and science ficiton, I could have sworn I had brought up Numenera earlier on this blog, but I guess I never got around to it.

Automaton by Guido Kuip

Ever since Monte Cook walked away from D&D Next, I have been curious to see what this game designer was up to. Running side projects such as the Unbegotten Citadel with James Raggi (LotFP) and lately the news of the Planescape Torment Computer game Sequel set in Numenera with Colin McComb are all things that sound great in my book!

From the start I thought Numenera had a Blackmoor vibe to it with Automatons and other sci fi references tossed into its fantasy(?) setting, but with the Temple included as well, I know I am going to check it out :) By the way, if you like Matthew Stawicki's art you can find more of it in his gallery here.

More discussion of this topic here.

-Havard