Joys of DMing

I don't get to play as much as I once did, as a player or as a DM. This is something that happens to us all as we grow older I guess. Due to lack of time, the Blackmoor campaign I started last November fell apart after only a few sessions. So when my old friends and I decided we'd get together for a full weekend of gaming, I saw the opportunity to revive it for a one-shot.

The premise was simple. King Uther was killed during the Afridhi War and a corrupt unsurper has overtaken the kingdom. The players took the role of conspirators, trying to find a way to get rid of the king. But how to kill a king and get away with it? I decided to leave that up to the players. What they did was to start a riot in the poor quarters of Blackmoor Town. This was an excellent diversion, allowing some of the PCs to sneak into the Castle. The King still kept a handful of extremely competent Royal Guards with him, but they were finally defeated and the king was killed. Now Blackmoor is without a King, and the Egg of Coot has launched an invasion. I look forward to getting the group toghether for a followup of this game!



-Havard

A small chat with Jeff Quinn

Last week, I had a small chat with Jeff Quinn. Jeff was one of the main writers involved with the Blackmoor D20 line. He contributed to the D20 Dave Arneson’s Blackmoor Sourcebook and wrote the Redwood Scar. He is also known for his work for Goodman Games. Jeff fondly remembers the days of working with Dave Arneson:

“Dave was a great guy and was so full of ideas for everything he did. Blackmoor was the jewel in my career, and my designs and gaming life are richer for knowing both Dave and Blackmoor”

Jeff Quinn is currently the owner of Dolmen Creative, which is in the process of publishing new RPGs using the D6 Open system. One of the projects Dolmen Creative are working in is Destiny6 RPG. Previously in this blog, I have mentioned how Jeff pays homage to Blackmoor in the Destiny6 Fantasy Setting.
How much of Blackmoor’s heritage will be seen in the final Destiny6 Rulebook?

“Consider this my take on Blackmoor (though I can't use the name) after the Afridhi invasion was repelled and the Egg was defeated... close to 200 years past the d20 version “

Jeff also showed me a few pictures of from the upcoming book. One picture shows a dwarf fighting a strange dragon. The dwarf is armed with twin flint lock pistols. The other picture shows a group of adventurers sitting around a table. One of the adventurers looks like a….Panda Samurai?

“Yes, that's an oriental panda warrior. In the second picture, the dwarf is fighting an evolved dragon. i love dragons... but I wanted Destiny6 to feel unique in its take on dragons... the typical western and eastern style dragons are banished to the monster books as fire-breathing treasure vaults... these guys, on the other hand, will evoke a bit more fear... they are smaller, hunters, and can come right into your home to get you.”

Bearfolk also made a small appearance in the Blackmoor Setting. They first appeared in Rafael’s Last Fantasy Campaign where the Bearman Hrrd was played by the legendary Rizak.

 Jeff Quinn also has a Q&A thread over at the Comeback Inn Forum and drops by regularly to answer questions.









-Havard

More RJK on Arneson

Rob J Kuntz has been posting some interesting thoughts on the movies that inspired Dave Arneson on his blog. I have previously mentioned another post by RJK about Arneson's combining of science fiction and fantasy. I always love reading about RJK's memories of Dave. I think the first thing I read where he talks about the D&D co-creator is the recollections from Robilar's Journey to the City of the Gods. It is no wonder that Arneson refers in the FFC to King Robert I of Geneva as the ruler who once founded Blackmoor.

I especially liked the map Kuntz put up about where everyone lived in Lake Geneva in relation to eachother. I'm stealing it:

-Havard

Jeff Berry

Also known as Chirine Ba Kal, Jeff Berry (1956-) was one of the members of MAR Barker's Tékumel group in St. Paul Minnesota around the time when Dave Arneson was running his early Blackmoor games in the same area.

Jeff Berry in Tékumel Outfit

Jeff started gaming in the Twin City area in 1975 and first met Dave Arneson at the University of Minnesota wargame club. When Dave Arneson started his own company, Adventure Games, in the early 1980s, he hired Berry to be his "Tékumel guy." I have previously mentioned how another member of Professor Barker's group, Debora Naffziger also influenced the Blackmoor Setting. 

Yesterday, at the Hill Cantons blog, ckutalik has posted an interesting interview with Jeff, where he among other things talks about his gaming experiences with Dave Arneson:

"Dave was really one of the most creative people I'd ever met, and genuinely the most fun to play with. He was very nice, very genial, and would do his very best to rip your liver out and feed it to you with Tabasco sauce on it. "

Read the entire interview here. Jeff Berry also has his own Q&A thread over at the Comeback Inn Forum where he talks about Tékumel, Dave Arneson, Blackmoor and many other things. He has been a fantastic source of information about the early days of gaming.

Jeff Berry i 2009

Image source: Der Spiegel


-Havard

James Ward on the way to recovery

 Recently, it was reported that Jim Ward, creator of Metamorphosis Alpha, has been seriously ill. Therefore I was happy to see him back to posting again on Dragonsfoot:

Thanks again to everyone who has wished me well. I'm still very sick, but I drag my sorry body to the computer has much as possible. I have had some great news in being accepted into the Eldritch Enterprises company. I can't think of better people to work with than Frank and the others. We've just started planning and the projects we are working on are wonderful. You readers will be among the first to find out about them as time goes on. I think of myself as rising out of the ashes of one fantastic company to help make another. James M. Ward

As he mentions, he is part of the newly formed Eldritch Enterprises, which  I wrote about yesterday.

James Ward in the early days of TSR, courtesy of Steve Winter

-Havard

[Mystara] History of Dragonkind available!

The Mystara Community is one of the most creative D&D communities that I know of, which can be seen from the vast amount of high quality material available at the Vaults of Pandius, the official Mystara fansite. I have compiled a list of the most comprehensive of these fan productions here.

This week, a new community release was announced at the Piazza. This is the History of Dragonkind, by Simone Neri. Over the years alot of material on Mystara's dragons and what makes them different from the dragons of other D&D settings. Neri has been able to combine all of these sources presenting a great overview of the history of dragons from before the Blackmoor Era, through the events from the Dragonlord Trilogy and up to the modern Mystaran Era.

You can download this excellent fan sourcebook here.





-Havard

Eldritch Enterprises

Tim Kask (left) and Frank Mentzer

Earlier this month, an announcement was made at the KC Game Fair that a new RPG company had been founded by Frank Mentzer, Tim Kask, Jim Ward and Chistopher Clarke. The name of the company is Eldritch Enterprises and will work to publish projects by each of the founding authors. Jim Ward has been suffering from health problems lately, but hopefully he will recover soon.

The project that we have heard most about so far, and which is what I am most excited about is Frank Mentzer's Aquaria Campaign, which I at some point hope to incorporate into my Blackmoor campaign. Currently Eldritch Enterprises are working to set up a new website for the company. Before even having a name, the company was criticized in the Grognardia blog for possibly not being Old School enough. Let's give the guys a chance before we shoot them down shall we? To find out more about what Eldritch Enterprises are up to, feel free to visit the Aquaria Forum over at the Piazza.



-Havard