As mentioned the 3rd Arneson Gameday hosted in New York City is being arranged on October 1st this year. The Mule Abides recently posted this fantastic looking poster by Scott LeMien for the event. I love castle Blackmoor in the background and the interesting looking hands/weapons thrust into the air in homage to Dave Arneson.

Here are some of the games announced for this year's event:

• Luke Crane will be running games of Arneson’s adventure DNA/DOA using a hack of Burning Wheel Gold
• Darren Watts will be running games of Lucha Libre for the HERO System
• Michael Curtis will be running games of Stonehell Dungeon
• Joseph Bloch will be running games of Adventures Dark & Deep, and will have a new version of the Bestiary
• Paul Hughes will be running games of 4E Dungeons & Dragons using his poster of the OD&D random monster charts
• Tavis Allison will be running games of Adventurer Conqueror King

More details at the Comeback Inn. Are you doing anything for Arneson Game Day?


-Havard

A little over a month to go to the 3rd Annual NYC Arneson Memorial Gameday! Previously this New York City based event was held in March, but has now been moved to October 1st which is Dave Arneson's birthday. Although I have yet to get it confirmed, it is believed that it will be held at the Brooklyn Strategist. This year's events include:

• Michael Curtis will be running games of Stonehell Dungeon
• Joseph Bloch will be running games of Adventures Dark & Deep, and will have a new version of the Bestiary
• Luke Crane will be running games of DNA/DOA using a hack of Burning Wheel Gold
• Darren Watts will be running games of Lucha Libre for the HERO System
• Tavis Allison and others will be running games of the soon to be published Adventurer Conqueror King
• Paul Hughes will be running 4E using his poster of the OD&D random monster charts
• Daniel Boggs can't make it, but will be writing a piece for the program book and sending a single-volume collection of Dragons at Dawn & its first sequel
• Panel discussion about Arneson's legacy and how it's shaped modern culture; panelists will include journalists Ethan Gilsdorf (Wired, Salon) and David Ewalt (Forbes) .

More information can be found here. If you are going, make sure to send me the reports, pictures, videos or sound recordings. I want them :)



Image Source


-Havard

After spending last week on a Mediterranean beach, I am now back to making updates here again!  So what have I missed? Well, I recently found out about this project called Adventurer Conqueror King that does look interesting. On the one hand it may seem like yet another OD&D retroclone, but I do like the focus on supporting play across the whole range of levels in the campaign, including what they call "Arnesonian barony building". The scope seems to be wider than many D&D variants out there, perhaps reminiscent of the BECMI approach. Having Blackmoor enthusiast Tavis Alison involved also doesnt hurt from the point of view of this Blackmoor Blog.

Read more about the system and how you can help make it come to life here.




-Havard

I have a confession to make: I have always been a bit reluctant to embrace the so-called OSR. Why? Because, frankly I have not always felt welcome among those who call themselves Old School gamers. On various forums and blogs there are always people trying to define what Old School gaming is about. And when I read some of these posts, I get them impression that they think that I am playing the game wrong.

The very first post on the Grognardia Blog had a statement which I liked:

"I don't think the history of roleplaying games since 1974 has been one of continual decline, but I do think a lot of good stuff has been lost or at least forgotten since then. One of the purposes of this blog is to discuss that good stuff and its importance for and applicability to the hobby today."

Since then I have seen Maliszewski use terms like the age of decadence on the period from 1981 and onwards. Was the initial mission statement forgotten? As someone who got into gaming 1980s, I find it hard to accept that everything that has shaped my experience with D&D as a result of decadence.

However I do like Grognardia's original idea of finding the good stuff that has been forgotten from ages past. If there is something looking into the original Blackmoor game has taught me, it is that the game cannot be played wrong. If you want to add space ships, dinosaurs or aliens in your game, then do it! Old School should not be about limitations but about freedom. As Gary Gygax said, "if you are having fun, you are doing it right."

Now this is the kind of Old School movement I can get behind. If Tavis is right, in his recent post on the Mule Abides blog,  about how the Old School movement is fighting for the DIY attitude and preserving the original miracle of gaming then that is an OSR that I can be a part of. If it OTOH, is an elitist club of grumpy (wanna-be) old men telling me how to play my games, then I have no interest in it.






Image Source: http://www.comicsalliance.com/2011/03/11/ask-chris-49-dandd-with-super-heroes/


-Havard

Return of the Prodigal Son, by Rembrandt

Okay, I am back from my little break! Those of you who know me from various forums will have seen that I havent been completely missing from the Internet Scene, but my access to computers have been too limited to contribute much here or elsewhere.

A few things have happened since my last post. Aldarron has started a project to develop the Outer Works of Castle Blackmoor. This looks like it is going to be really interesting.

Over at the Mule Abides, Tavis posted an interesting tale about Dungeon Mapping in the Dungeons of Castle Blackmoor.

Finally, game designer Jeff Quinn has returned to the Comeback Inn Forum.

What else did I miss? :)



-Havard

As mentioned, this Saturday was Dave Arneson Gameday on which Dave Arneson was honored with gaming activities in New York City. Tavis Alison has a great report on his blog about the exploration of the Blackmoor Dungeon, which keeps attracting adventurers almost fourty years after the Great Svenny first ventured into the Dungeons in Arneson's own game. Tavis is also kind enough to mention the Comeback Inn. I like that :)





-Havard

Tavis just directed my attention to this year's Dave Arneson's Memorial Gameday to be celebrated in New York City:

Here are the descriptions of this year's gameday and the (old-school) games scheduled so far:

When: Saturday, March 27th, noon until 5 pm

Where: Compleat Strategist, 11 E. 33rd St., Manhattan, NY

What: Celebrating Arneson's legacy by playing some of the roleplaying games inspired by his pioneering Blackmoor campaign (a category which includes D&D of every edition!)

Who: Players and GMs of all ages, experience levels, edition preferences, and degrees of old- or new-schoolness

More details can be found at Finarvvyn's OD&D Board. With all these events happening, I hope some of those able to attend will share with the rest of us!




-Havard