Bleakwood: 1974 "Rumor Monger" Document

[Havard]

Another thing that came out of the recent article at Jon Peterson's blog was the Rumor Monger document written by Dave Arneson in 1974:

this other 1974 piece provides something of an alternative origin story for Blackmoor, and even an aside about Bleakwood, a favorite setting of Arneson's that year.

There are several things that I find interesting in this document (the yellow scan at the bottom of the article). One is that again, Bleakwood is linked to Blackmoor.

Bleakwood also appeared in The First Fantasy Campaign (1977) and as a separate setting in Adventures in Fantasy (1978).

In the First Fantasy Campaign, Dave speaks of a battle run in Bleakwood at a convention (or maybe at The Source?) that was based on the historical Battle of Bannockburn.

I think the Rumor Monger document confirms that in Dave Arneson's mind, Bleakwood was always part of the Blackmoor setting. The FFC also supports this theory. The reason why Dave may have wanted to push the Bleakwood name may have been because Blackmoor became trademarked by TSR. If Adventures in Fantasy had become more successful, I am sure we would have seen other concepts from Blackmoor return to that setting in recycled form.

Has anyone else taken a closer look at the Rumor Monger document? How does this expand on what we already know about the Bleakwood setting?


-Havard

[finarvyn]

I don't know anything about Rumor Monger, but I do know that when I put together game campaigns I often recycle place names and NPCs if I liked them from an earlier campaign. I'm not saying that Dave did this, but it could explain having Bleakwood appear in more than one campaign (or, at least with more than one rules set).

[gsvenson]

In the First Fantasy Campaign, Dave speaks of a battle run in Bleakwood at a convention (or maybe at The Source?) that was based on the historical Battle of Bannockburn.

I don't think that The Source existed in those days.

[Havard]

I don't know anything about Rumor Monger, but I do know that when I put together game campaigns I often recycle place names and NPCs if I liked them from an earlier campaign. I'm not saying that Dave did this, but it could explain having Bleakwood appear in more than one campaign (or, at least with more than one rules set).

Yes, this is pretty common would think.

I am also looking at this as Dave gradually developing a universe, even years before he discovered Blackmoor.

I am reminded of situations like young Ed Greenwood starting to tinker with what would become the Forgotten Realms as early as 1967 (when he was 8). Another example is Greg Stafford who was developing his own world, Glorantha, but was not quite sure how to express that world before learning about D&D (and later RuneQuest).

Although Dave Arneson had to do much of the ground work himself, I could see his world building ideas going way back before things really fell into place with Blackmoor.

-Havard