5 out of 5 Smashed Skulls.

This must be one of the most contents packed adventures TSR ever published. The adventure itself has a decent plot, allows PCs to be brought from the Known World (of Mystara) via Time Travel, and introduces the PCs to an entire new setting, Blackmoor.

While the main plot of the adventure can be solved in a few sessions, the 64 page booklet is filled with details on the lands of Blackmoor, with tons of adventure seeds, allowing for countless of hours of gaming. The most overlooked section of the book is the NPC section, introducing a number of NPCs that do not really feature in the adventure itself, but whose descriptions reveal much more about the world of Blackmoor. Much of this is based on Dave Arneson's own campaign.

This module is the first of the DA line. These modules were co-written by Dave Arneson and David Ritchie. This first module provides a really good overview of the setting in general. As with all of the DA series, the modules assume that Blackmoor exists in Mystara's past and that time travel, is necessary to reach the lands of Blackmoor. However, there is nothing preventing a DM from ignoring that section of the module and run it with PCs that are native to Blackmoor or from Greyhawk or another setting.

David Ritchie did alot of board game design. He also did DragonQuest (The s, not the 1992 Board Game. Ritchie never returned to Blackmoor in the d20 era. He passed away in 2009 so his health may have had something to do with that. More details about David Ritchie, including a complete list of his RPG design credits, can be found .

Like the rest of these modules, DA1 is connected to Mystara and assumes that the PCs will travel back in time from Mystara to Blackmoor.
Remember that Mystara was not called Mystara at the time, it was only called the D&D Game World. I guess the idea was that all adventure modules for the Classic D&D line (Non-Advanved) was supposed to be placed in the same universe. With the organic development of Mystara, I don't even know if the term retcon applies. But the idea of placing it into the setting's past is an interesting one. It is also something that Bruce Heard really followed up on, including references to Blackmoor in almost every subsequent product.

I sometimes get asked about the title Advetures in Blackmoor-
I think it is more of a typical TSR title. You have Greyhawk Adventures, Dragonlance Adventures and Adventures in Blackmoor. The adventures were originally intended to be called the Blackmoor Chronicles actually. I dont know why they changed that.

The DA modules are in a way an attempt to do a combination of a story based adventure and a more open Sandbox style one. While each module contains a fairly streamlined adventure, there is tons of additional information about what to do in this or that area, NPCs that could show up, but don't have to etc. So you could actually ignore the main story adventure and still have many hours of gameplay.

It should also be noted that these modules are for fairly high level play. DA1 is for levels 10-14, which means it takes advantage of many of the special adventure concepts from the Companion Set. This is a pretty good fit for Blackmoor since Dave Arneson's campaign would often involve controlling armies and baronies (Dominons) etc.

The module can be adapted to lower level play though, especially if you ignore the main storyline and simply use the module to explore the lands of Blackmoor. Beware of some really powerful monsters and NPCs though!

These adventures are set 30 years after First Fantasy Campaign. The FFC is a great companion book to DA1. I think DA1 is a great introduction to the setting of Blackmoor however.

DA1 now has a

-Havard

Do you have a copy of DA1?

Let us hope that it soon gets back in PDF form. Although a DA1-4 (or 5!) print collection in hard cover would be pretty sweet too! 8)

-Havard

I was lucky enough to get a copy for a good price on eBay several years ago. I still can't believe the sheer amount of information packed into the module.

Yes. Adventures, plural.

I want, lust after, desire and NEED to own this. I'm just a wee bit broke. I'd still (always) rather have the real thing as opposed to a download. I guess this makes me an old coot. I imagine that PDFs will be the norm before too long.
*sigh*
It's always so much FUN to page thru a new/old book!

-Havard

This module is the first of the DA line. These modules were co-written by Dave Arneson and David Ritchie. This first module provides a really good overview of the setting in general. As with all of the DA series, the modules assume that Blackmoor exists in Mystara's past and that time travel, is necessary to reach the lands of Blackmoor. However, there is nothing preventing a DM from ignoring that section of the module and run it with PCs that are native to Blackmoor or from Greyhawk or another setting.

David Ritchie did alot of board game design. He also did DragonQuest (The s, not the 1992 Board Game. Ritchie never returned to Blackmoor in the d20 era. He passed away in 2009 so his health may have had something to do with that. More details about David Ritchie, including a complete list of his RPG design credits, can be found .

Like the rest of these modules, DA1 is connected to Mystara and assumes that the PCs will travel back in time from Mystara to Blackmoor.
Remember that Mystara was not called Mystara at the time, it was only called the D&D Game World. I guess the idea was that all adventure modules for the Classic D&D line (Non-Advanved) was supposed to be placed in the same universe. With the organic development of Mystara, I don't even know if the term retcon applies. But the idea of placing it into the setting's past is an interesting one. It is also something that Bruce Heard really followed up on, including references to Blackmoor in almost every subsequent product.

I sometimes get asked about the title Advetures in Blackmoor-
I think it is more of a typical TSR title. You have Greyhawk Adventures, Dragonlance Adventures and Adventures in Blackmoor. The adventures were originally intended to be called the Blackmoor Chronicles actually. I dont know why they changed that.

The DA modules are in a way an attempt to do a combination of a story based adventure and a more open Sandbox style one. While each module contains a fairly streamlined adventure, there is tons of additional information about what to do in this or that area, NPCs that could show up, but don't have to etc. So you could actually ignore the main story adventure and still have many hours of gameplay.

It should also be noted that these modules are for fairly high level play. DA1 is for levels 10-14, which means it takes advantage of many of the special adventure concepts from the Companion Set. This is a pretty good fit for Blackmoor since Dave Arneson's campaign would often involve controlling armies and baronies (Dominons) etc.

The module can be adapted to lower level play though, especially if you ignore the main storyline and simply use the module to explore the lands of Blackmoor. Beware of some really powerful monsters and NPCs though!

These adventures are set 30 years after First Fantasy Campaign. The FFC is a great companion book to DA1. I think DA1 is a great introduction to the setting of Blackmoor however.

DA1 now has a

-Havard