Havards Blackmoor Blog: DND50

Showing posts with label DND50. Show all posts

Saturday, July 27, 2024

Happy Gary Gygax Day 2024

Today is Gary Gygax birthday. Together, he and Dave Arneson created Dungeons & Dragons and thus our hobby was born 50 years ago.

Thank you Gary!

-Havard

Thursday, June 20, 2024

WotC removes Blackmoor from Greyhawk in 2024

Wizards of the Coast has produced a new map of Greyhawk where Blackmoor has been removed. I first learned about this when I saw a post by my friend Big Mac at the Piazza the Piazza D&D Worlds forum where he discusses the lastest youtube video from Greyhawk Grognard video from Greyhawk Grognard going through the new WotC produced map.

The map in question is the Greyhawk map that is going to appear in WotC's upcoming 2024 D&D Dungeon Master's Guide. Greyhawk is from what I understand going to be used as a default setting in the new D&D core rulebooks. The new map looks somewhat reminiscent of the beloved map made by Darlene back in the days, but there are some interesting changes. Greyhawk Grognard's excellent video goes through these changes and speculates to reasons why these changes have been made and what might be possible consequences of the large and small changes.

The change that will likely be of most interest to the readers of this blog is probably the removal of Blackmoor. Removal may be a strong term. Rather, Blackmoor has been renamed Arn. Now Arn is a name that could be familiar to hard core Blackmoor fans as it also appears in several of Dave Arneson's writings.

Why has this change been made? Could it be linked to rights issues? Could it be to reduce confusion with the other Blackmoor product lines available that are less compatible with Greyhawk? Could it be linked to this map detailing a different part of Greyhawk's timeline? Or is there another reason?

In any case, the original intent of paying homage to Dave Arneson is retained in the new name.

What do you think of this new Greyhawk map and the changes made?

-Havard

Saturday, May 25, 2024

The Piazza - D&D Worlds Forum Celebrates 16 Years!

One of my favourite places to talk about D&D is The Piazza. I can't belive its been 16 years since fans created that forum. People keep saying discussion forums are going away, but here we are still very much alive and kicking. Since its inception, The Piazza has been known for its friendly atmosphere and immense creativity.

Piazza Birthday Event on Facebook

-Havard

Thursday, February 15, 2024

New Release from Rob Kuntz: The 4th Category

Rob Kuntz returns to exploring the history of D&D in the year of the game's 50th Anniversary.

I just got an email with the following:

The 4th Category: a ground-breaking study which identifies D&D™'s true origins... The 4th Category is Rob Kuntz's major update on Dave Arneson's True Genius, as well as a preview to his upcoming opus, A New Ethos in Game Design. Available NOW from Three Line Studio Store.

Rob of course was there from the beginning of the game's history so it will be interesting to hear more of his thoughts on those events. Rob Kuntz was extremely helpful and supportive when I started out doing research about Dave Arneson. I enjoyed his book, Dave Arneson's True Genius. It is going to be interesting to see what this update contains.

Get this book from Three Line Studios

Did you read Dave Arneson's True Genius? Are you going to pick up this book? Let me know!

Discuss this article at The Comeback Inn

Note: This article is not sponsored. This blog is non profit and not monetized.

-Havard

Sunday, February 4, 2024

ArneCon 2024 Announcement

The Secrets of Blackmoor group just annonced the dates for this year's ArneCon. The convention will take place on October 4-6. Here is the full announcement:

"October 4-6, 2024 are the dates to lock out. Arnecon-2 is coming and you do not want to miss out on the fun of RPGs, War Games, Board Games, Computer Games, and a lot more! Buy a Ticket before March 1st! We have a 20% off early bird special on tickets. You can see last years events in the posted images. Check back for info on Special Guests - not yet announced."

2024 marks the 50th anniversary of D&D and it looks like fans of Blackmoor will have a lot of events to attend this year.

Are you excited about ArneCon 2? Share your thoughts in the comments below! :)

Get your tickets for ArneCon here.

-Havard

Sunday, January 14, 2024

GaryCon2024 - Bob Meyer to Run Blackmoor!

Bob Meyer who played the legendary wizard Robert the Bald in Dave Arneson's Blackmoor campaign, should be relatively well known to readers of this blog. As one of the original Blackmoor players, Bob has always been supportive of my work here on this blog and at the Comeback Inn Forum and has always been helpful in providing answers when I have been struggling with my research of D&D history.

I was talking to Bob the other day when he told me that he would be running Blackmoor at this year's Gary Con which will take place on March 21-24. 2024 marks the 50th anniversary of the merging of the brilliant minds of Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson produced the revolutionary game of Dungeons & Dragons. The process of developing this game had begun much earlier of course, but 1974 was the year that D&D was published and that is worth celebrating! What better way to commemorate this than having Blackmoor at GaryCon?

Bob Meyer, the legendary wizard
(Screenshot from Secrets of Blackmoor documentary)

Bob told me he will be going to the convention with a crew of two helpers and two GMs who will be "carrying on Blackmoor". Bob and the other two GMs will be running a total of six Blackmoor games over three days. In addition to that, Bob will also be holding seminars on the same days.

Blackmoor fans who attend GaryCon will also have the chance of running into other Blackmoor players like Ross Maker, Mike Carr, Michael Mornard and David Wesely. Brent Chumley, the artist who made the Blackmoor hex world map for the d20 version of Blackmoor is also listed as a guest at GaryCon.

Will you be at GaryCon this year? If so, I would love to hear what you are looking the most forward to. Looks like Blackmoor fans who attend this year will have a blast!

-Havard