I was meaning to comment on this sooner, but I have been a bit busy. Not to busy to be pleased however of word from Eldritch Enterprises, the company formed by Frank Mentzer and friends. Apparently they are planning quite a wide range of products:

Eldritch Ent. plans to publish for both the mass and game hobby markets. Current projects include a childrens' book series, a work on baking techniques, recipes, and anecdotes (penned by Frank's wife Debbie, based on their time at The Baker's House), and a series of religious studies by Frank's late father (Rev. Frank Mentzer II, a Methodist minister). The hobby game line includes various works for the "Old School Renaissance" movement as well as Mr. Ward's seminal Science Fantasy game "Metamorphosis Alpha."

 There will also be possibilties to invest in the company as announced here. My main interest is in the gaming side of the product line of course, but I could certainly see the sense in aiming for a broader market. It will be great seeing Metamorphosis Alpha again and I am hoping Aquaria will follow. Rumour is that Frank will be in Europe this summer, and I hope to catch up with him during that time so that I can squeeze him for more information on these projects... 


Picture source


-Havard

I've previously talked about Frank Mentzer's Aquaria setting and of course his BECMI rules which is the version of D&D that I started out with. I just thought I would mention a couple of interesting podcasts featuring interviews with Frank, which I have been listening to over the last couple of days.

Roll for Initiative

Save or Die

In these Interviews, Frank talks about the Gygax statue, his Aquaria project, TSR history, BECMI, the OSR and pretty much everything else. They are well recommended.


The other thing I have been doing is writing about the elves of Blackmoor. I have been posting some stuff on them on the Comeback Inn Forum and I hope to make something more finalized here later on. Stay tuned!


-Havard

A few days ago, I wrote about Frank Mentzer's Aquaria Campaign, and how this setting was getting more attention, opening up to the possibility of getting the setting published. Thanks to the wonderful and hardworking Ashtagon, Aquaria now has its own forum on the Piazza. On this forum you can find Frank Mentzer himself talking about his setting and download free gaming material including a Player's Kit by Mentzer and Dave L's rendering of the Aquaria map. Later, I will reveal how I intend to steal this whole setting and place it within my own Blackmoor/Mystara campaign... :)




-Havard

Aquaria is the name of BECMI D&D author, Frank Mentzer's, home campaign. For a while now, Frank has been talking about getting his setting published. Unfortunately, family affairs kept him busy over most of last year, but recent posts at Dragonsfoot and the Piazza have shown that he has not given up on this idea.

Recently, the Piazza in particular has seen alot of interest in the Aquaria setting, and rumours have it that the first ever Aquaria forum will be created at the Piazza in the near future. With the Piazza community getting interested in Aquaria, we are seeing alot of interesting discussions and creative input. Dave L is already in the process of making maps for the setting based on Thorf's hexes. This has all been done with Mr Mentzer's blessing.




Aquaria is of particular interest to me because of Frank's role in it ofcourse, but also the fact that he uses the cosmology he created for the BECMI system with his setting, including Immortals, 5 dimensional spaces, Dimensions etc. Like Blackmoor, Aquaria is nominally located within the Greyhawk Setting, though if it is published, it will probably be presented as an independent setting. This should be relatively unproblematic as the Greyhawk connection has perhaps not had such a strong impact on the Aquaria campaign in actual play.


Frank recieved alot of unfair criticism in the Blogosphere when he last made an annoucement on this subject, so I am hoping the sceptics will wait and see this time around, rather than attack something which might turn out to be the next really good thing for fans of Old School D&D and younger gamers alike.

A list of existing products tied to the Aquaria Campaign can be found here. 



-Havard