Hey all,

For the new year, our circle of friends here has decided to do something specifically aiming to help new players and DMs interested in Blackmoor and the works of Dave Arneson:

Between Havard, Rob, me, and the rest of the team, we sure aren't the ultimate experts to ask historical, or generally, "meta"-questions on Blackmoor - but let's just say we know our way around how to run a Blackmoor game.

So, if you're new to Blackmoor, are thinking about running a Blackmoor game, or have practical questions for your weekly Friday night bout of D&D, please post your questions right here.

Literally, ask us anything you want to know related to the way we run our Blackmoor games! We might not always have the most sophisticated answers, but... We will have some answers for you.


We cordially invite other experienced Blackmoor DMs (ten years of experience with the setting or more, please) to join in on giving advice to new members, or fellow other DMs in need.

The only rules to consider - please! - are: No holy cows, and no hijacking.
Followers of every edition of D&D are welcome here, and if you want to debate a fellow expert's answers, please do so by opening a separate thread and quoting the respective message.


This thread, however, is meant to be for very focused, down-to-earth problem-solving only.

Thanks,

The management

Because these are some of the most commonly asked questions we get, here's something to serve as a starting point, perhaps:

My personal preferred go-to setting book for actual play is the Blackmoor d20 hardcover by Zeitgeist Games, from 2003/2004.
My personal choice for one of the best "unlabeled" adventures for Blackmoor would be "The Doom of Listonshire" by Ari Marmell - sold by Kentzer & Co, if I recall correctly.
My personal system of choice for Blackmoor-related one-shots is usually Solomoriah's Basic Fantasy RPG, as available via this website: https://www.basicfantasy.org/

(I'm mostly playing the DCC RPG, these days, but that's a relatively recent change.)

--- Mind you that all those are *my* choices, not necessarily *the best* choices one might be able to make, and that they are based on my interpretation of the setting which might positively not match your own. :)

I came to Blackmoor via the "Mystara's distant past" references in the various Gazetteers in the late 80s and early 90s, and it was not until the later 90s that I (finally!) managed to acquire my copies of the DA series of modules.

Unlike Rafe, the version of Blackmoor I developed looked to the future made possible by the tech salvaged from the City of the Gods. in Blackmoor at its techno-magical height -- some unspecified number of years (or is it months?) before the Great Rain of Fire would reshape the world, tipping it on its very axis-- were powered by the Alternity Science Fiction RPG.

The best advice I can give you, fellow DMs: don't be afraid to make Blackmoor your own. Put your own spin on it. Breathe your own life into it, whether you use established rogues, regents & rascals or come up with your own.

Rafe took a humble group of adventurers and a haunted inn and told a great story. Havard has been telling the tale of heroes forging their own place, far to the west of the barony-turned-kingdom of Blackmoor, under the looming shadow of the Afridhi invasion. The descendants of those adventurers could very well be making their own way through the World That Was, the demon-haunted Imperial Blackmoor that is the backdrop of my Throne of Stars campaign.

All of our takes are wildly different from the original game back in the late 60s and early 70s. And all of them are equally valid interpretations. As can be yours.