[PR] Blackmoor D20

[VorpalBunny]

Don't call me Shirley.

I didn't see it listed on the Necromancer Games Judge's Guild website.

 

[William Ronald]

This sounds good. I am glad to see an old veteran like Dave Arneson (who sometimes seems to be eclipsed by Gary Gygax) back in the business of RPGs.

Originally posted by 2WS-Steve:
People like John Tynes, Jonathan Tweet, and Robin Laws might have a little reason to be offended by that "mired in mediocrity" comment...

I don't consider any of the people you mentioned, Steve, to be mediocre. However, I have seen some D20 products that did little for me and I have seen some products that made me wonder if anyone playtested it or heard of the word editor.

What would be nice would be a project where some of the older and newer game designer's work together. Any takers?

 

[JoeGKushner]

I've seen products that fall into the categories you describe and they weren't done by new comers to the field. I'm really hoping that Blackmoor is great but it's got to have good solid mechanics with a great layout. Lots of people who love Gygax thought that the layout and presentation of say The Canting Crew was below standard. Lots of people who love Rob Knutz didn't like the convention module feel of his Maze series.

These times are different but our hobby has it's own nostalgia. The designers just have to realize that nostalgia is not the same thing as "I don't care what the end result is. it must be mine."

Am I saying this is always the case? No. Necromancer Games made damn certain the Necropolis was a fine piece of work. Wish they could've used a different cover piece personally mind you as I've seen this one on a book and a magazine but..

 

[Dr. Zauberei]

Does WotC own the IP on Blackmoor? Does Dave have to license from WotC, or can he publish without worrying about the giant!?

Just curious.

 

[2WS-Steve]

This sounds good. I am glad to see an old veteran like Dave Arneson (who sometimes seems to be eclipsed by Gary Gygax) back in the business of RPGs.



I don't consider any of the people you mentioned, Steve, to be mediocre. However, I have seen some D20 products that did little for me and I have seen some products that made me wonder if anyone playtested it or heard of the word editor.

What would be nice would be a project where some of the older and newer game designer's work together. Any takers?

Yah, there's been some bad stuff put into print; but I've got a copy of Synnibar to prove that it didn't start with d20 It's just that there's been quite a bit of really good material published over the last 20 years too.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to Blackmoor d20 as well. I had the little white book and always thought it had an edginess that more traditional fantasy settings lacked.

Now if we could only get Arduin d20 out there, co-written by Monte Cook and Jonathan Tweet...

 

[Sidran]

Hmm Hmm

What would be nice would be a project where some of the older and newer game designer's work together. Any takers?


In my sig I have the link to a Yahoo group who is doing this not as creators but as veteran gamers/ with newer gamers turning creators ( maybe there is a template for that sort of thing) Any way so If any of you older creators decide to throw bones in our direction I would be much in debted ( or rather more indebted) to you for your help.

 

[Melan]

Dr Zauberei: as far as I know, during their out of court settlement, Dave got the rights to Blackmoor. The later TSR modules were done under license.

 

[sotterraneo]

These are big news

As soon as I read this press release, I wrote to Zeitgeist Games to ask for an interview to the Editor in charge of the Blackmoor d20 line. I hope they will grant my request and, if so, you will be informed as soon as the interview is ready to be posted to the Dungeons.it web site. The intervuew, if it comes to reality, will be posted in English and translated into Italian so everybody will be able to read it.

I'm crossing my fingers in this very moment!

 

[mikey6990]

I was at DragonCon this weekend and went to a seminar on the history of D&D with Arneson and Ryan Dancey. According to Dave, when he put together the Blackmoor campaign for TSR, they neglected to get Dave to sign the contracts for it. Since there were no contracts, rights to the Blackmoor material never transferred to TSR and Dave has always had it. The thing is, TSR kept paying him royalty checks for it, which he was happy to get. If Blackmoor was a problem in the lawsuit, I would guess this is why. Dave would not talk about his leaving TSR outher than to call it political, but that was his story about Blackmoor's ownership. It was a great seminar. Thanks to Dave and Ryan!

Mike

 

[sotterraneo]

Interview News

I received a message from mr. Dustin Clingman of Zeitgeist Games telling me that mr. Arneson was at Dragon Con and as soon as mr. Arneson will be back he will attempt to 'arrange something': now my fingers hurt 8-]