Just a general question to anyone on the board: what is so interesting about Blackmoor or why do you like it so much? Is it nostalgia, or are there certain elements that you feel are important?

I'm sure others are much more qualified to reply, but for me nostalgia is part of it, in a weird sort of way.

I didn't come across Blackmoor until I was an adult, but this was the start, the beginning of the story.
Everything else builds on this. It's truly epic.

Plus, I like the maps. :)

Seriously:

Difficult to say, really.
It was simply what suited my needs best when I was looking to run a campaign.

Actually, when I run a campaign, I prefer settings or adventures I'm indifferent about -
that keeps me neutral enough to run a story for the players, not just for myself.

Now, eight years after I started gaming in Blackmoor, it's really a habit. I do it, because I know my material,
and it's easiest to me. Game-wise, the proximity to the Wilderlands is also an ENORMOUS asset,
because you have a lot of blank spaces that you can fill.

For example, one my most recent runs in BM was this adventure:




It was easy to insert, and a lot of fun for my players. What more can a DM hope for? :)

For me it's both nostalgia and a love for the origins of the game. I started playing Blackmoor back in the 1970's and it was one of the first examples I'd ever seen on how a world was "supposed" to be built. (I got the FFC and Wilderlands modules at roughly the same time, but of course the Temple of the Frog example module was in my hands even before that.)

Much of my style of DM'ing traces back to reading the FFC and seeing how Dave did it. In that way Dave was much more of a mentor to me than Gary was, since I didn't really discover Grayhawk until some time after Blackmoor. (My AD&D friend ran Grayhawk, I ran OD&D Blackmoor.)

I would not be here, if it was not for Blackmoor.

Great topic! I like how this thread has not turned into a Mystara vs. Blackmoor thread, but instead has focused on what is interesting about Blackmoor as a setting.

I like how Blackmoor is a really focused setting geographically. Though there are always hints of a larger world, the focus is on a small region with the Kingdom of Blackmoor and its immediate neighbours at its heart. This small scale focus means more attention to NPCs, every day life, while at the same time keeping an epic backdrop to the setting.

On the surface Blackmoor is really a fairly gritty medieval setting, with some Cthulhu-eque undertones (at least as I see it), but with the potential for adding alot of weirdness should the DM desire it.

For my part I dont think I would call it nostalgia, but I am really fascinated to be part of a campaign that has been going on for such a long time and even started before the game was called D&D.

-Havard

If I wanted to learn more, are there any old classic D&D products for Blackmoor? Or do they all start with AD&D?