Greg Svenson's Lost Dungeons of Tonisborg now available as Softcover

 As was reported over at The Comeback Inn a few days ago, the Lost Dungeons of Tonisborg is now available in Softcover format. For those who don't know, Greg Svenson was one of the early players in Dave Arneson's Campaign and created the dungeon for the town of Tonisborg which was later renamed Vestfold in published Blackmoor maps. 

The Lost Dungeons of Tonisborg was first published as part of the Secrets of Blackmoor Kickstarter, but is now for the first time available for general purchase in Softcover format. 

For those who are interested in experiencing a dungeon adventure as played in the Twin Cities even before D&D was published, this is probably the closest you will get to that experience!

• First Edition Paperback 
•  156 pages 
• 8.5" by 11" Gloss Soft Cover 50lb white uncoated paper with black ink
•  Same contents as the hard cover version, except original map pages are in black & white instead of color $30 US

Purchase the book here.

Greg Svenson often visits The Comeback Inn Forum and you can get several freebies written by him on that website. 

-Havard

Blackmoor Trademark Claimed by Arneson Estate Documentary Makers Say

The company known as The Fellowship of the Thing, creators of the documentary Secrets of Blackmoor  are looking to expand their business into the RPG industry. Recently, they published a new version of the RPG sourcebook "Greg Svenson's Lost Dungeons of Tonisborg", which first appeared in published form as part of the Secrets of Blackmoor Kickstarter.

A few days ago, a more widely available Softcover version of the Tonisborg book was released. On their website, it now says that Tonisborg is an official Blackmoor Setting and that the company is operating under a license owned by the Estate of David Arneson.  

 Published by The Fellowship of the Thing, Ltd. Denver, Colorado, U.S.A. Printed in the U.S.A. ​ BLACKMOOR™ is a trademark of the Estate of David Arneson, LLC. Used under license

Now, ownership of Blackmoor has always been complicated.

Blackmoor was first mentioned in published form in the foreword of the 1974 Dungeons & Dragons ruleset and 1975's D&D Supplement II - Blackmoor. Wizards of the Coast continues to sell these books as well as the old DA series of Blackmoor modules through Drivethru RPG in PDF and Print Format. Meanwhile Zeitgeist Games continues to sell PDFs of the D20 Blackmoor books on the same website. Judges Guild has also had some claim over Blackmoor as publishers of The First Fantasy Campaign, though it is possible that this was settled with Dave Arneson before his passing. 

I have recently learned that the Trademark for Blackmoor was published for opposition on June 13th. That is more than 30 days ago, meaning any party that would be interested in contesting this ownership should have done so by now. Recently WotC has shown an increased willingness to protect its interests through legal measures, though it should also be noted that WotC has expressed a desire to stay on friendly terms with the Gygax and Arneson families. It is also worth mentioning that Fellowship of the Thing have proven themselves not to be troublemakers and have stayed far away from tresspassing on material that could be copyrighted to other companies.

Copyright and Trademark are often confused (sometimes apparently intentionally), but from that I understand as a non-lawyer is that copyright refers to the contents of the material rather than specific brand names etc. The Estate of David Arneson nay likely claim ownership of material created by Dave Arneson that was never published by other companies. It will be interesting to see if more material originating from Dave or his gaming group will appear from Fellowship of the Thing in the future.

As always, the author of this blog remains supportive of the Arneson family and those seeking to promote the legacy of Dave Arneson and his gaming group who did so much for our hobby.

More discussion of this article here

-Havard

Dave Arneson's True Genius Now as PDF from Rob Kuntz and TLS

 

I just got an email informing me about this the other day. Rob Kuntz and Three Line Studios have sold out the first print run of Dave Arneson's True Genius by Robert J. Kuntz:

Now available as PDFs! Previously published in print format and recently sold out, Rob's treatise Dave Arneson's True Genius and iconic adventure module Dark Druids are now – for the very first time – available in downloadable PDF format, exclusively from Three Line Studio Store! And there is more! Special Offer (20% off) when ordering them together as part of the DATG-DARK DRUIDS Bundle (*valid until 5th July 2023). Happy gaming!

Visit the Three Line Studios here

Rob Kuntz is a name that should be well known to all old school gamers and I would also like to say that Rob has always been supportive of Dave's legacy and he was extremely helpful to me when I was starting out exploring this topic on my blog. Dave Arneson's True Genius belongs on the shelf on any self respecting admirer of D&D's origins. 

See also this discussion at The Comeback Inn 

-Havard

Don't Give Up The Ship - No Not Dave's Game

 

Imagine the surprise of this old school gaming fan when he thought he had discovered a new release of Dave's old game.

Still, can't complain about the title! :)

-Havard

ArneCon 2023 Announced for last Weekend of September

DaveCon has just ended and I hope to post more details about that weekend here as more reports come in. However, DaveCon is one of two conventions in Minnesota created in the honor of D&D Co-Creator Dave Arneson. 

The following was posted at the Arne Con website:

Convention update: Event if planned last weekend of September/October 

What is being planned: Document Museum. See some of the original documents either in direct reproductions or the items themselves. Original Minnesota gamers. This is the crew that was there in the beginning Gaming & Program events: Original games as they were played. And some discussion of the variants. Some items we will make available that you can not find anywhere else Artists corner: Showcasing its inspiration and creative side of gaming. 

Dealers: Dealers welcome

The  main organizer of this convention, Kevin McColl of Castle Blackmoor also added:

 

Greg Svenson * William J Hoyt * David Wesely * And many other contributors of importance and their work or effort showcased. just in case anyone’s curious we are not just dealing with Minnesota. This year we are celebrating the formation of TSR as of October it will be 50 years since it’s formed. It went into production by January which I believe GaryCon is celebrating. it’s interesting to learn that it’s incorporated on Dave Arneson’s birthday! this is why we chose October. Celebration of creation of not only the origin of the game but also so many dates align with it.

Two conventions is better than one and this blog remains supportive of all efforts to honor Dave Arneson's legacy and that of the original Twin Cities Gamers group. 

-Havard

DaveCon 2 This Weekend

 

A game of Circus Maximus at DaveCon 2023

Victor Dorso's DaveCon returns this Weekend and reports are coming in. This is the second time this convention is being organized. The convention, named in honor of Dave Arneson takes place in Bloomington, Minnesota. I wrote about the program for the convention back in February. Since then, Dorso has also revealed various merchandise items that I assume will be available for sale at the convention, including dice trays, gaming coins and dice. 

David Wesely, William J Hoyt and Mike Carr are special guests of honor at the convention. I applaud this list of special guests all three are important figures in gaming history and all three were part of Dave Arneson's gaming group. 

Are you at DaveCon right now? Please share your experiences in the comments! :)

-Havard

Happy Gary Gygax Game Day 2023!

 

Happy Gary Gygax Game Day 2023!