At last the final installment of the classic DA module series is available for purchase in PDF format. The Duchy of Ten was one of the realms just beyond Blackmoor's borders that date back to Dave Arneson's original campaign. This module introduces those lands, now occupied by the invading Afridhi and their evil queen Toska Rusa. In the Duchy of Ten DM's can learn about the evil deity, Zugzul and the Well of Souls.

Of the DA series, this module was the one Dave Arneson was least happy about as he was not consulted or credited for this project. Still, it does seem that David Ricthie did base parts of the module on Dave Arneson's campaign and I think it belongs on the shelves (or HDs) of any true Blackmoor fan!

Find the Duchy of Ten here on the DM's Guild.

What is your opinion on DA4 the Duchy of Ten?


See also:

• DA1 Adventures in Blackmoor Finally Gets PDF Release!
• DA3 City of the Gods
• Blackmoor on DMsGuild.com!

Discussion about this module at The Comeback Inn

-Havard

DA1 Adventures in Blackmoor was the module that brought Blackmoor back to TSR and D&D. Supplement II: Blackmoor and the Judges Guild booklet the First Fantasy Campaign were the Blackmoor releases available to gamers in the 1970s, but in the following decade, gamers would be treated with four high production value modules that Dave Arneson co wrote with SPI designer David J. Ritchie.

DA1 was the first in the new series and gives a great overview of the setting that can be used as a toolkit to run sandbox style adventures in Dave Arneson's original setting. In addition it features an adventure revolving around King Uther being kidnapped. This adventure also has information for bringing AC1000 Known World /Mystara characters back to the era of Blackmoor.

After a long wait, this module is now available as a PDF release at Drivethru. DA2 Temple of the Frog and Supplement II: Blackmoor have been available for a while now, but it is great seeing DA1 finally available for fans of Blackmoor. Let us hope we don't have to wait this long to get the last two modules in the DA series. This is a must-have for any true Blackmoor fan.

Further discussion at the Comeback Inn,




-Havard

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

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

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

In yesterday's entry I mentioned that RPGNow has pdfs of Blackmoor: The First Campaign (4E) for $22,10. At Paizo however, you can get print copies for only $36,00. Print copies of this book have been difficult to obtain, in particular in Europe.









-Havard