d20 Blackmoor - Worth buying?

[Akrasia]

*shrug* The fact of the matter is that the product is for d20, and not for anything else. It's Dungeons & Dragons, my friend - the quintessential Dungeons & Dragons, some might say. And Dungeons & Dragons is d20. ... --
CAS

Well Blackmoor was originally designed for the original Dungeons and Dragons game, not d20. I own the original Blackmoor, as well as the first "DA" module for Expert DnD. That is why I would use a "rules lite" system that better captures the spirit of original DnD -- e.g. Rules Cyclopedia Dungeons and Dragons, or Castles and Crusades.

 

[HellHound]

I prefer D20 to Rules Cyclopedia (and I ran Rules Cyclopedia until about a year after 3e was released) for most of my old-school D&D games.

Which is saying a lot, I -LOVE- the rules cyclopedia.

But that said, I prefer classic Blackmoor to the new version. It just doesn't seem to catch me AT ALL like the old Expert set BlackMoor supplements revived my love for the setting from my first days of D&D. It is a great book, heck it is a fantastic book that I could really learn to love, all things considered, but it just didn't grab me and scream BLACKMOOR at me. The worst part is I don't know why it doesn't grab me.

Which saddened me.

 

[dead]

I prefer D20 to Rules Cyclopedia (and I ran Rules Cyclopedia until about a year after 3e was released) for most of my old-school D&D games.

How different is the Rules Cyclopedia from say owning all the boxed sets: Red, Blue, Green, Black, Gold. Did they change the rules much?

 

[HellHound]

No, very little difference. The Rules Cyclopedia does not include the artifact rules or much of the divine ascension stuff from the black box, nor does it cover anything from the gold box.

Instead it includes some optional rules, basics of the Mystara and Hollow World settings, and some conversion rules.

 

[francisca]

I played the Blackmoor demo at GenCon (with Gallo22). I did not really get a good feel for it, as our chars were 2nd level, and we did not get to dig into the "Blackmoor" of it all (well, except for beating up some frog-dudes). So, from that perspective, it felt very much like baseline D&D.

 

[Akrasia]

I prefer D20 to Rules Cyclopedia (and I ran Rules Cyclopedia until about a year after 3e was released) for most of my old-school D&D games.

Which is saying a lot, I -LOVE- the rules cyclopedia.

That's interesting. I don't decisively prefer one over the other -- they are very different games, and encourage very different playing styles (at least IME).

I definitely prefer to DM Rules Cyclopedia over d20 -- it is just a lot easier to prepare, and there are far fewer rules (skill modifiers, feats, attacks of opportunity, etc.) to worry about.

On the other hand, as a player, d20 allows for greater character customization, which can be good for certain kinds of campaigns. Though IME it does not capture "old school" DnD at all.

But that said, I prefer classic Blackmoor to the new version. It just doesn't seem to catch me AT ALL like the old Expert set BlackMoor supplements revived my love for the setting from my first days of D&D. It is a great book, heck it is a fantastic book that I could really learn to love, all things considered, but it just didn't grab me and scream BLACKMOOR at me. The worst part is I don't know why it doesn't grab me.

Which saddened me.

Hmmm ... given your experience with the earlier versions of Blackmoor, this is potentially depressing news.
:\

 

[Steel_Wind]

A friend of mine scanned through it after purchasing and was diappointed to learn that one of his fondest songs/poems from the origninal Blackmoor setting, about the Egg of Coot (Read: E.Gary Gygax), was missing. It used to go:


Might is Right, Might is Right
Don't give a sucker an even break,
By hook or by crook, get what you want,
The ends *always* justify the means used to obtain them!
The meek may inherit the earth,
But that means the strong and the powerful get everything else!
Might is right, Might is right...

Diaglo must have this tattooed somewhere, as any ODD grognard should.

Ah well. Not the same old Blackmoor without it, is it?

 

[Mouseferatu]

(Disclaimer: I did a bit of work on the new Blackmoor. Not much at all--and not, I feel, enough to impact my feelings on the book--but still worth considering.)

HellHound, if I may take a stab at this...

Is it possible that the new Blackmoor doesn't grab you like the old one did simply because it's not the old one?

I don't say that to make light of your reaction. In fact, quite the contrary, I can think of lots of old material that I love, and similar new material that I don't, even though I know there's nothing wrong with the new stuff. Sometimes, it's just a combination of the precise wording of the project and the time of life in which I was introduced to it.

Frankly, I'm not convinced that anything made for 3.5 can ever feel like something created for OD&D or 1E. They're very different games in many respects, and the change in mechanics and philosophy can't help but bleed over into even the flavor of the projects designed for the respective systems.

All that said...

I don't know the original Blackmoor very well. But I've gone through the new one, and I like it. I think it's a really nifty book, and a cool setting. It's a fascinating look back at the thoughts and ideas of one of D&D's creators, it's got some interesting notions that I haven't seen elsewhere. More to the point, it feels "organic," like it's a world that actually developed through play.

I won't promise you that it'll feel exactly like the original Blackmoor. But I really do think, fan of the old or not, that you should check it out.

 

[MrFilthyIke]

Isn't this debate silly? This is a d20 Blackmoor, not a reprint of the original. Let's call it...a "re-imagining" of Blackmoor. I would never want to publish a setting over 30years old that has next to no support without redoing some things and tweaking it for a new generation. Without new players (who are lacking to nostaligic warm-fuzzies) the setting will DIE along with the players who grew up on it.

 

[dead]

I'm waiting for GURPS Blackmoor.