Blackmoor RPG same Blackmoor from Oerth?

[Alzrius]

Actually, not so much.

Dave's Blackmoor was an original setting unto itself, predating Greyhawk and the Known World/Mystara both. TSR, at various times, put it in both other settings, but Dave never intended it to be in either. The original was written as its own setting--and so is the new book. Blackmoor, as presented in the new Zeitgeist/Goodman release, has no direct relationship to Greyhawk, Mystara, or any other previously published setting.

Actually, the product titled Greyhawk preceded the release of the product Blackmoor by a few months. Hence why Greyhawk is titled "Supplement I" and Blackmoor is titled "Supplement II".

In terms of setting information, the Blackmoor on Oerth is in no way, shape, or form related to the one on Mystara, speaking in-game. While each world has a location named Blackmoor, and even a location called the City of the Gods, the two have no in-game shared history.

As other people have said, Dave Arneson's Blackmoor was put into the world of Mystara. The Blackmoor on Oerth was put there as an homage by Gygax to Arneson's Blackmoor (though many people believe he was sort of poking fun at it also, since Greyhawk's Blackmoor's capital is Dantredun, which is an anagram of "redundant"...which seems to say that that's what Blackmoor was compared to Greyhawk).

 

[tec-9-7]

or any other campaign world to be honest.

Dustin

Wilderlands!!!!!!

 

[Mouseferatu]

Actually, the product titled Greyhawk preceded the release of the product Blackmoor by a few months. Hence why Greyhawk is titled "Supplement I" and Blackmoor is titled "Supplement II".

Well, yes, Greyhawk was published first. But the way the story's told, Blackmoor was completed and played as a setting first, among the Gygax/Arneson crowd.

But by that point, we're just arguing semantics, and which definition you want to use. The important point is the fact that Blackmoor the Campaign Setting is not the Blackmoor of Greyhawk or Mystara.

 

[Samuel Leming]

Oh, yes, the Judges Guild First Fantasy Campaign from waaaay back? I particularly remember the EGG of Coot that stole everybody's spells

Does anyone know how similar the new one from Goodman Games will be to the old Judges Guild version?

Sam

 

[rounser]

I count five:

1) Castles & Crusades Society Map Blackmoor (It was just a little barony on this wargame map originally)
2) Judges Guild Wilderlands Map Blackmoor (First Fantasy Campaign was published by Judges Guild and it was arranged that Blackmoor's map join to the top of the Wilderlands map)
3) Greyhawk Blackmoor (Gygax referencing Blackmoor by name, but otherwise a different Blackmoor to the others - note that Arneson also references the Duchy of Ten in Blackmoor just as Greyhawk does, think it was on the wargame map)
4) Mystara's distant past Blackmoor (As covered in the DA module series, but the later ones didn't get input from Arneson, so they're someone else's version)
5) Zeitgeist Games d20 Blackmoor (Arneson and Zeitgeist Game's version of Blackmoor in print now)

...although 5) could arguably be an extension or revision of 1).

 

[Ranger REG]

Oh well.

Disappointed?

 

[DClingman]

I count five:

1) Castles & Crusades Society Map Blackmoor (It was just a little barony on this wargame map originally)
2) Judges Guild Wilderlands Map Blackmoor (First Fantasy Campaign was published by Judges Guild and it was arranged that Blackmoor's map join to the top of the Wilderlands map)
3) Greyhawk Blackmoor (Gygax referencing Blackmoor by name, but otherwise a different Blackmoor to the others - note that Arneson also references the Duchy of Ten in Blackmoor just as Greyhawk does, think it was on the wargame map)
4) Mystara's distant past Blackmoor (As covered in the DA module series, but the later ones didn't get input from Arneson, so they're someone else's version)
5) Zeitgeist Games d20 Blackmoor (Arneson and Zeitgeist Game's version of Blackmoor in print now)

...although 5) could arguably be an extension or revision of 1).

That last point is not a bad guess. Dave has stories and long tales about what lies outside of the borders of the Judges Guild map. Because his players were always so happy about the things they could find to adventure with inside Blackmoor, he never got too far in detailing the world. I don't know where he wants to go on that note,but I will say that I agree with him that plenty of stuff exists inside the borders of Blackmoor. How far does one really need to go to find adventure in any fantasy world?

Dustin

 

[Dragonhelm]

City of the Gods

I have the old City of the Gods accessory, and was wondering how it relates to the current Blackmoor sourcebook, as well as Greyhawk and Mystara.

Thanks in advance.

 

[grodog]

I have the old City of the Gods accessory, and was wondering how it relates to the current Blackmoor sourcebook, as well as Greyhawk and Mystara.

The founding D&D campaigns were all inter-related at a basic level in the sense that PCs would travel from one to another with regularity.

For an account of an adventure DM'd by Dave Arneson in the City of the Gods for Gary Gygax and Rob Kuntz's PCs Mordenkainen and Robilar, see Oerth Journal #6 at http://www.canonfire.com/htmlnew/modules.php?name=Sections&op=viewarticle&artid=18

 

[woodelf]

Well, yes, Greyhawk was published first. But the way the story's told, Blackmoor was completed and played as a setting first, among the Gygax/Arneson crowd.

But by that point, we're just arguing semantics, and which definition you want to use. The important point is the fact that Blackmoor the Campaign Setting is not the Blackmoor of Greyhawk or Mystara.

I don't think it's even a contest--Greyhawk, as i understand it, came about as an outgrowth of the "Castle Greyhawk" scenario that Gygax ran when he needed an adventure on minimal preptime (dungeons have that advantage). And only noticably later, as it was pretty much just the dungeons, and the town nearby for supplies, for quite some time. Blackmoor was the setting Arneson used right from the start, long before the Chainmail, much less D&D, rules existed.

At least ,that's what everything i've ever read says, including The Fantasy Role-Playing Gamer's Bible.